Star Wars: The Droid Chronicles

Chapters

1. Observations
2. Settling In
3. Review and Deploy
4. First Contact
5. Foundations
6. Building Bonds
8. Friendship and Discovery
9. Smoke and Mirrors with a Taste of Apples
10. The Big Surprise
11. Promotion
12. Arrival
13. Negotiations
14. Bring the Ponies to Work Day
15. A Trip to Canterlot
16. There goes the Neighborhood
17. The Big Leagues
18: Un-Inivited Guests
19. The Battle of Canterlot
Prologue: Revelations
7. The Top 3 Worst Locations to Scout

1. Observations

[Unknown Planetary Orbit. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

As the Blade of Serenity exited hyperspace, General Kalani waved away the holo display in front of his seat to look at the planet in front of him. Compared to the deserted wastelands of Agamar or scrap filled junkyards of Bracca, it honestly looked quite beautiful, reminding him of his time on Onderon. From the looks of it, the planet seemed to have a massive central landmass, as well as various bodies of water, including a massive surrounding ocean, meaning this planet would be best designated as a continental planet, though he did not know for sure.

Orbiting the planet was a small moon and a small sun- Wait, Kalani did a double take, re-examining the brightly glowing object orbiting the planet on the opposite side of the moon, as he affirmed that it was indeed, a sun, or the more correct term being a small star, somehow sucked into the planets gravity.

Gravitational and scientific anomalies aside, the planet looked like an optimal place to hunker down and construct a Separatist holdout from which a Confederacy could form to combat the Empire. However, it also depended on a variety of other factors. Did this planet have sufficient resources for construction? Were there potential unknown threats on the planet's surface? Did any potentially intelligent species inhabit this planet? These were questions that Kalani felt would need to be answered before they could land. As such, Kalani turned to Lieutenant Colonel TF-3749 and issued a command.

"Lieutenant, does this vessel possess any method of commencing reconnaissance operations on the planet's surface?"

"Indeed, General, the Blade of Serenity has access to a small force of deployable reconnaissance probes equipped with advanced recon tools, capable of recording data, taking samples, and relaying camera feeds. We can dispatch them to the surface of the planet to take readings and scan for potential threats and life."

"Very well then, give the order that several of these probes be prepped to be dispatched to the planet's surface under the cover of nightfall, and ensure they are dispersed at key points across the planets surface for maximum coverage and efficiency of intelligence retrieval, and inform the probes that should they encounter intelligent life, to avoid detection at all costs. Should they be compromised, order them to immediately retreat from the operational area and await extraction via shuttle."

"Understood, General." The Lieutenant stated in his monotone voice, as they exited the bridge, while Kalani turned to Clakker, who was still present on the bridge, running some quick repairs on a malfunctioning terminal. After the astromech finished the repairs, the pilot droid operating it gave him a thumbs up, before Clakker turned to Kalani as he gestured for him to come over, as he wheeled up to him.

[Yes, boss?]

"Assemble together all of our available OOM unit captains. I wish to prepare for possible conflict should it arise, and if need be, they can act as first contact." The Astromech saluted with one of it's mechanical arms before wheeling itself out of the bridge, as Kalani turned back to face the planet, before noticing several of his pilot droids having a little chat.

"Gotta say, the first planet I've seen since reactivation, and it looks real nice. Might go for a picnic when we land."

"Yeah, the last planet I went to was a dang sand planet."

"Yuck! I hate sand!"

"Everybody does." It was then that Kalani made a sound that was foreign even to him. An unintelligible sound similar to that of... light chuckling. Huh, being independently operating for so long must be starting to wear down his programming, just like the rest of his droids, and to Kalani, it wasn't really a bad thing. As he sat and listened to their conversation, he turned to the Pilot droids he had escaped Agamar with, which he had promoted both of them to Chief Bridge Officer for their service and valor on Agamar, and also to help relieve Kalani of additional tasks for him to handle, as one of them turned and spoke to him.

"Hey General, I just realized something... Your voice sounds different then when we were on Onderon."

"How so, Officer?"

"Well, it sounds... Less deep and gravelly?" Now that Kalani thought about it, his voice modulator had indeed shown signs of degradation. He did think about getting it fixed, but honestly, he preferred his new voice.

"And why are you concerned with such a thing, Officer?"

"Well, I'm less concerned, more glad for it, you were scary and intimidating back then." There goes that light chuckle from Kalani again. At this point, the droids felt slightly unnerved. Then again, they were all probably not going to be seeing humans for a long time, so human-like qualities would likely be welcome among the crew, and that was a change the droids embraced.

[6:30 AM, Ponyville.]

As the sun slowly began to shine it's rays of light through the curtains in front of the open window, as a nice autumn breeze blew in from outside, the atmosphere was calm and serene, with only the whistling of the wind, the chirping of birds, and the ticking of a clock making sound.

That is of course, until the alarm clock went off, as it began blaring out incessant ringing, quickly awakening the inhabitant of the bed it sat next to, as a lavender furred hand outstretched from under the silk sheets of the bed as it reached and gently pressed down on the button, causing said incessant ringing to cease, as a content hum escaped the mouth of the bed's occupant.

As the occupant painstakingly rose forth from the comfortable sheets, forsaking her warmth and comfort to allow herself to awaken, her wings proceeded to expand outwards, stretching out along with her arms, as she let out a groan of frustration.

Twilight Sparkle hated mondays.

She thought that becoming the Princess of Friendship, and getting her own castle would at least somewhat help to resolve the pain and annoyance of waking up bright and early in the morning, but nope, it still sucked. Luckily, Twilight had come to terms with that fact, even if it really didn't make things easier. As she let out a long yawn after finishing her stretching, she lifted the covers off the rest of her body, as she hopped to the ground, clad in her good ol purple PJ's, making her way out of her room, and into the bathroom.

As she entered the bathroom, she then brushed her teeth, tossed away her PJ's, took a quick shower to wake herself up, dried and brushed her mane, put on fresh new autumn clothes for the day, and emerged from the bathroom bright eyed and bushy tailed with a smile on her face, before she exited her room and made her way to the castle kitchen.

As she entered the kitchen, she was happy to see her friend Starlight Glimmer sitting at the table, sipping from a glass of orange juice in her hand while she contently hummed to herself. The slight bags under her eyes indicating she likely did not get as much sleep as Twilight, but as she entered the room, Starlight perked right up, looking over and waving.

"Morning Twilight, how'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well, but I'm guessing you can't say the same?"

"Yeah, last night was a chore... But hey, long as I helped you with that paperwork, it was worth it." Twilight smiled fondly, remembering how Starlight had volunteered to help Twilight with her administrative princess duties. However, Twilight felt bad for letting Starlight work herself to exhaustion, but regardless, was still happy to see her friend enthusiastic. As Twilight sat down at the table, the smell of breakfast hit her nose, and as usual, it smelled beautiful, as she looked to see her greatest #1 dragon assistant Spike cooking up pancakes, a breakfast favored by both mares.

"Mmmmmmmm... Smells good, Spike!"

"Thanks, Twilight, hopefully this time I don't burn em like I did yesterday, cause hooo boy those things were charred." Twilight then had PTSD flashbacks of said charred pancakes, which essentially tasted like eating charcoal. It was then that the three of them agreed to never eat black pancakes again, no matter how much syrup they were drowned in.

As the plates of pancakes topped with syrup slid in front of the two mares, they happily ate away, and after they had finished, Twilight decided to go out and have a walk around town to get the day going, as she waved bye to her friends, and walked out of the castle's main doors, and into Ponyville.

And meanwhile, little did she know, her world was being watched.

[Aboard the Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section]

Kalani stood in front of his chair as he examined the multiple screens of data in front of him. All of them being aerial photos taken by the ship's advanced planetary scanners, allowing a mapping of the planet's landscape and features. Immediately, Kalani noticed what appeared to be... Buildings.

These buildings appeared to be comprised of concrete and other basic materials, so there was no doubt to the fact there was intelligent life on this planet, and from the looks of it, were in a pre-industrial age, with more advanced structures appearing in larger civilian centers, one of particular note being built into the side of a mountain, likely being the capital city of these intelligent lifeforms.

Far off in the east away from the populated green fields displayed a barren wasteland void of life, save for the massive black spire, comprised of some unknown material, truly baffling the general. Of course, not much else data was gained, as the ship's sensors weren't too powerful, so a direct approach was needed, which is what the probes were for, as he turned around just in time for the Lieutenant to step in, holding a data pad in their left hand.

"General, the probes have been prepped, and will be deployed within the most optimal infiltration timeline. Also, I have retrieved the Blade of Serenity's cargo manifest for your review, as per confederacy standard for all officers." Kalani nodded and accepted the data pad, walking back to his seat and sitting down as he read through it, and what he saw impressed him.

According to the manifest, the ship had a force capable of rivaling the one he was assigned during his service on Onderon, complete with a variety of advanced droids, vehicles, and aircraft. If the Blade of Serenity or it's crew were ever threatened...

They would be able to retaliate in full force against the enemy primitives.

Kalani then handed the manifest back to the Lieutenant just in time for Clakker to come into the bridge with around six OOM captains, indicated by the yellow coloring on their head and chest, allowed entry by the red OOM security droids guarding the bridge entrance.

[Brought you the captains, Boss.]

"Thank you, Clakker." Kalani said as he stood up from his seat, and faced the six captains, who all saluted him, and he saluted back, before lowering his arm.

"At ease, captains. Now, I have assembled you to go over my current strategy for first contact with the local indigenous populace of this isolated world. First, once we have retrieved sufficient data, under the cover of darkness, you will deploy via Droch-class boarding ship in a secluded location on the planets surface, then establish a base camp and observe the locals. Once the time is optimal, you shall reveal yourself to the locals, and slowly gain their trust."

"Soon, you shall reveal your origins and the existence of our vessel, and that is when we shall dispatch a diplomatic envoy to officially meet their rulers and begin negotiations to enlist their aid in re-constructing the confederacy, and fighting the empire. Should the locals resist, we will simply have to operate on this planet alone without aid as we do not wish to cause any unneeded bloodshed forcing them to cooperate." One of the captains raised his hand, as Kalani nodded, granting them permission to speak.

"What if they attack us?"

"Then lethal force is authorized, and we will make them pay for striking us. I shall not lose anymore of my droid comrades. Now then, go forth and assemble your squads and await further orders."

"Roger roger." As the captains exited the room, Kalani turned back to the holo screens, waving them away to stare at the planet, wondering what awaited them down there...

2. Settling In

[Aboard the Blade of Serenity, Deck C. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

On Deck C within the armored hull of the Providence class Dreadnought, two B1 janitor droids were currently on the floor scrubbing away at the rust, dust, and dirt that lined the corridors, with one using a mop and mop bucket to scrub the floors, while another used a sponge to clean up the walls.

"Yep, this is about the worst job in the whole droid army."

"Well, we aren't really an army anymore, so probably just the worst job aboard the ship."

"Right, that makes sense."

"Honestly though, I'm glad were independent now, cause now we get to have actual free time."

"Yeah, but what are we gonna do with that free time?"

"Well, we have a shooting gallery for a reason."

"Right, now focus on getting that floor mopped, the Lieutenant said he wanted this ship in tip top shape."

"Roger roger."

As the two droids had their exchange, down below on Deck D of the ship, three OOM security droids were busy patrolling the corridors, having a nice chat as they walked.

"Y'know, I kinda feel bad for General Kalani, I mean, I heard from one of the droids he arrived with that he lost his best friend on Agamar, heck, almost his entire garrison."

"Dang, that's gotta suck for him."

"Yeah, poor guy's been through alot, but he's a Super tactical droid, he can handle it."

"Yeah, he's not some squishy and emotional organic, he's a droid just like us, he'll get us through this!"

"I hope you're right..."

Up above on Deck B, C1-52S AKA Clakker was currently busy attempting to fix an electrical circuit, as he had opened a panel in the corridor of the wall and plugged himself in, trying to diagnose the problem. Finally, he had determined that the circuit had been chewed up, likely by some meddlesome rodents, as he scanned for the circuit's location, pinpointed it, and removed the wall paneling covering it, revealing a frayed and sparking wire, as two of his mechanical hands clasped the ends of the wire and brought them together, before using a third arm to weld them back together.

With the electrical problem now dealt with, Clakker replaced the wall paneling and wheeled off to his next task, before accidentally bumping into a fellow astromech, this one being an R4 model designated R4-C67, going by the nickname 'Wrencher', as they let out happy beeps upon seeing Clakker.

[Clakker, my bro, my homie, my compadre, how ya been?]

[Doing just fine, ol Wrencher mate. Guessing you just woke up?]

[Yep, and just in time too, this ship has for sure seen better days.]

[Well, we were set down in a scrapyard for several years so that may be a contributor to the degradation of the ships systems.]

[Well, we gonna sit here blabberin our speakers, or are we gonna get it fixed?]

[Roger roger, mate.] The two Astromechs bumped each other before wheeling off to do their next maintenance job.

Meanwhile, inside the Cargo Bay, a few B1 droids were busy carrying around boxes of weapons, ammunition, supplies, and other essential cargo, sorting them out and un-packaging their contents. One droid pulled out an old clone trooper helmet, and decided to place it atop his head, as he then snuck up behind his droid friend, before grabbing him on the shoulder and surprising him with the clone trooper helmet.

"Boo!"

"AHHHH- Don't do that to me, 623! Jeez, my processor can't take it!"

"Ahahahaha! You should've seen the look on your face, 729!" 729 facepalmed as 623 fell to the ground in a laughing fit, while the other droids simply chuckled, as 531 proceeded to also put on a clone trooper helmet.

"Look at me, I'm a dumb old clone who can't even aim right!" That caused everyone, even 729, to burst out laughing. Even onboard a lone starship in the middle of nowhere, the droids knew how keep themselves occupied.

Elsewhere, onboard the bridge, General Kalani was busy sitting in his chair and examining the ship's data archives, reviewing it's action reports and the battles it has been through. According to the logs, it had rarely seen any action, besides acting as a backline carrier providing support to the separatist fleets. It's original captain, a member of the Trade Federation, was a Quarren named Juas Kuz.

From what the database suggested, it seemed Juas Kuz was assassinated by clone commandos near the end of the war, which resulted in the Lieutenant Colonel TF-3749 taking temporary control of the vessel before the end of the war and the shutdown order was given, which, to Kalani's partial dismay, and partial relief, the Lieutenant had accepted.

Having satisfied his curiosity about the ship's history, he waved away the holo screen he was viewing the archives from to look at another screen, displaying a detailed geographical map of the planet below, thanks to the scanners now having enough power to properly align and map out the region. Kalani would likely need to decide on the location for a base of operations on this planet soon, because it would be impossible to simply remain in orbit forever. However, the planet had to be fully explored and analyzed before they touched down, otherwise they run the risk of potentially exposing themselves to unnecessary danger.

As Kalani sat, the Lieutenant stood beside him, before a second holo screen appeared, displaying the face of an OOM droid, as they spoke.

"General, scans show that nightfall will commence on the planet's surface within roughly five minutes." The droid said giving a thumbs up.

"Excellent, prep the probe droids for launch, OOM-5264."

"Roger, roger." As the video screen vanished, Kalani turned to the Lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, I believe it would be best if you organize a training exercise for some of our droids, seeing as extended periods of inactivity may result in in-efficiency."

"Understood." The Lieutenant then exited the room, and Kalani watched as the moon slowly moved into position in the planets orbit, covering the planet in darkness. Kalani had to admit, it looked quite beautiful... Even if beauty's pointless to a droid.

[Ponyville, 9:00 PM]

Twilight Sparkle and her friends sat upon the peak of the hill, watching as Princess Luna's moon slowly rose into the sky, a sight seen so many times, and yet never lost it's beauty. As she peacefully laid back alongside her friends, she let out a slight yawn, looking up to the star's in the sky.

"Y'know, I've always wondered why I never tried counting the stars." Pinkie said as she narrowed her eyes, now clearly trying to do just that.

"Come now, sugarcube, you wouldn't even get to one hundred, I for sure know Twi didn't." Slight giggling erupted from the girl's as Twilight rubbed her shoulder, her face reddening in embarrassment as she nervously chuckled. Rainbow lightly elbowed Applejack.

"Ah come on AJ, ya gotta admit you tried it once too!"

"Well, maybe ah did, but ah know it's a fools errand."

"Well yeah, but still, it's fun to try!"

"Yeah, I just got to one hundred fifty six!"

"One hundre- Wha...?" Some of the girls broke out into fits of laughter, as the confused look on Rainbow's face was priceless. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was still staring up at the night sky, marveling at it's beauty, when she noticed a bright object slowly flying through the sky, as she pointed to it.

"Look girls, a shooting star!" Collective oohs and aahs of fascination came from her heads as they turned to watch.

"Make a wish!" Suddenly, multiple other shooting stars appeared in the sky, flying alongside the first one.

"Make multiple wishes!" The other girls had looks of confusion on their face, which amplified when the stars split from the first one, distancing from each other, as they soared in different directions across the sky, one of them soaring north, another east, and one flying quite closer than the rest. In fact, it was getting bigger, and brighter, as it began to rapidly approach, soaring over their heads on a course for the everfree forest, crashing down in the center of it.

"WOAH, THAT WAS AWESOME!"

"Ah don't think those were shooting stars..."

"Indeed darling, they acted too... Coordinated, but also so random! Not to mention, that wasn't a star at all, it looked like... Like..."

"Like an asteroid?"

"Indeed, Twilight darling!"

"Oh dear, I hope it didn't harm any animals..."

"Well, let's go check it out! Maybe it's aliens! Or party ponies! Or gasp alien party ponies!"

"Pinkie's right, we gotta investigate." The other girls nodded, all quickly standing up as they followed their friend, running off into the forest.

[Everfree Forest, 9:05 PM]

The small object crashed down into a small open field, letting out a resounding crash, scaring many local wildlife away from the crash site, as a large amount of smoke rose from the impact crater. A few short seconds later, electronic beeping could be heard, as a small separatist probe droid slowly rose from the scorched crater, it's antenna extending out as it sent a signal back to the Blade of Serenity.

[Landing successful. All systems operational. Establishing connection...]

"Connection established. Probe-Alpha, this is Lieutenant Colonel TF-3749. Do you know your mission's operational parameters?"

[Affirmative. Analyze local wildlife, collect samples of planetary soil, scan for potential resources, relay intelligence collected on local intelligent life, and remain un-detected.]

"Excellent, your mission begins now. Do not fail us."

[Roger roger.]

As the connection terminated and the probe droids antenna retracted, it slowly observed it's surroundings using it's several sensors, relaying it's camera feed all the way back to the Blade of Serenity, as it observed small birds and rabbits scampering around, likely in fear of the droid. Once the droid had scanned the area, it then made it's way into the forest, dropping to the ground and crawling on it's legs to make traversal easier.

[Aboard the Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section.

General Kalani looked at the several video feeds of the probe droids with interest. Probe-Alpha's feed displayed a thick forest, populated by small harmless creatures, while Probe-Beta, displayed a harsh, cold, and snowy wasteland, void of any life. Probe-Charlie displayed a harsh desert environment, with large amounts of dust, and hostile life, as it barely avoided a strange... Scorpion like creature. The other probe feeds showed similar feeds, including various different environments and wild life.

To put it simply, Kalani was fascinated by this planet's bio-diversity. However, his fascination was cut short, as Probe-Alpha's motion detector was triggered, as Kalani's vision quickly directed itself there, as the probe droid watched from the shadows. Kalani then had the other probe droid feeds vanish as Probe-Alpha's feed was enlarged, and sound was activated, as the general listened in.

"Seems like whatever flew over us crashed down over there..."

Basic. Whatever had just spoken, had spoke Galactic Basic. The odds of that happening on an uncharted world such as this were 3.08%. However, this meant that a translator would not be needed which was fantastic for Kalani. The voice itself sounded feminine in nature, and when the owner came into view, he understood why.

Coming into view was a group of around six humanoid individuals, each of them wearing rather warm looking clothes, which was understandable, as the probe droid's temperature sensor indicated it was around 40 degrees, likely meaning it was currently autumn in the planet's seasonal rotation. The next thing he noticed was how each being was colored differently, and seemed to possess fur on their bodies, along with equine-like muzzles and ears.

Certain beings also had singular protrusions, similar to horns, on their heads, while some had large wings extending from their back. The purple one in this case, had both. Then, the pink one with the fluffy that was bouncing erratically spoke in a particularly high pitch tone.

"Whatever it was, it must've come from space, so they could be space aliens, Twilight!"

Twilight, that was presumably the name of the purple pony humanoid female. An odd name, but Kalani really couldn't speak for himself on that, now could he?

"Indeed, Pinkie, and it's our duty to welcome them to Equestria with open arms and teach them the values of friendship, as Princess Celestia taught us to do."

"Yeperooni!"

Now that, made Kalani feel better, hearing these aliens having peaceful intentions, along with hearing this planet, now identified as 'Equestria' was likely ruled by a monarch named 'Celestia' who seemed to value friendship, as stated by 'Twilight' to 'Pinkie'. Perhaps these people could become a worthy ally of the separatist alliance, or what was left of it at least. As the unknown group walked out of sensor range, the probe droid continued on, while Kalani contemplated what he had just saw, as he turned to the Lieutenant.

"Once the probe droids have collected sufficient data, order them to standby as the designated landing sites for the drop teams."

"Understood, General." As the Lieutenant walked out of the bridge, Kalani then brought up the rest of the probe droid feeds, watching each one intently, wondering what other sort of weird discoveries he would make.

3. Review and Deploy

[Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

It had been three hours since the probe droids had been deployed to the planet surface, and already data on the planet was coming in. Samples of the planets soil had been taken, allowing them to be scanned and determine what resources the planet possessed, and from what Kalani had seen, it was quite sufficient.

According to the scans, the available resources on the planet ranged from large amounts of iron, silver, cobalt, copper, aluminum, gold, and other essential resources for computers. Even trace amounts of Beskar was detected, an excellent resource considering it's resistance to lightsabers. The probes had also discovered a strange type of crystal that emitted strange energy readings unlike anything the general had seen before, in the northern regions of the planet. More samples would need to be acquired for further study.

The probe droids had also succeeded in their objective of mapping out the planet's surface to a better extent than what the ship's scanners had achieved. Complete with geographical mapping, biome analysis, temperature rates, and other important factors, the planet could now be considered charted. As for the local populace...

Aside from the pony-like humanoids, the probes had identified lizard-like lifeforms, similar to creatures like the Krayt or Arkanian dragon, living in the more volcanic regions of the planet, while a strange insectoid like race, similar to the genosians, were found living in the large dark hive-like spires of the barren desert wastelands. Other lifeforms, such as shaggy, yak-like humanoids, as well as feathered and winged 'Griffon' humanoids, as named by the mythological database within the ships archives, this planet's bio-diversity was vast and unique.

However, it likely meant this planet was not united under one government, and likely divided between several states and nations, meaning it would be difficult to unite them under the banner of the confederacy. Currently, his best lead were these 'Ponies', considering what he had overheard of their 'Friendship' and friendly demeanor towards potentially meeting extra-terrestrials. Kalani also felt bad that they had not found anything when they had uncovered the crater. Well, almost, as Kalani knew it would be best to gather more intelligence and understanding about these ponies before making direct contact.

As such, Kalani believed it was time for phase two of his plan, which was deployment of droid squadrons to the surface of the planet, now named Equestria. Seeing as the land of the ponies would likely be the least hostile towards the droid scout teams, Kalani charted out several landing points within what was believed to be pony territory, including the large forest near the small town, which Probe-Alpha had discovered it's name of 'Ponyville'.

A different landing zone would be designated, seeing as it would not make sense to have the landing pod land in the same place as the probe droid, and likely create suspicion from the locals. Considering the landing pod could not return to the ship once it landed, it would need to be landed in a place where either it was outside of native reach, or launched without anyone noticing. Those natives that discovered the probes landing location likely only discovered it because it had only just become nightfall, and many natives were likely still awake. They would need to wait for the absolute dead of night to launch the droid landing teams.

Considering that it was now past midnight in terms of galactic standard and established planetary time, Kalani believed now was the time, as he pressed a button on his chair, as four OOM droid captains appeared on a video screen, as Kalani stood up and spoke to them.

"OOM-244, 1921, 7161, and 5264, have you assembled your squads?"

"Roger roger."

"Excellent, then make your way to the Droch landing pods and prepare for launch."

"Roger roger."

As OOM-5264 terminated the video call, he couldn't help but feel nervous, as this would be the first time he had been deployed to a planet's surface since Agamar, as he was one of the garrison's surviving droid captains, and he would also be leading his old squad from Agamar, as he looked to them and nodded as he spoke.

"Alright guys, the General says it's time for deployment."

"Roger roger."

"Here's hoping we don't crash on the way down."

"I got a bad feeling about this..."

As the droid team made their way through the corridors and to the launch bay for Droch-class pods, 5264 saw the other droid teams already getting into their pods, as he turned to an GNK power droid who was walking out of the launch bay.

"Have our supplies been loaded?"

"Gonk." [Yes.]

"Thanks, GNK-5198."

"Gonk gonk." [Your welcome.]

5264 and his squad walked over to their designated drop pod, as Clakker was done putting the last finishing touches on the coordinates, before closing the calibration panel and giving a thumbs up with one of his arms, which 5264 replied with his own thumbs up, before he and his squad began to climb into the pod, seeing their supplies inside, which were a few recharge packs, some communications equipment, weapons, and repair kits. As the last droid got inside, the door sealed shut, as the red lights of the pod turned on.

5264 REALLY did not like enclosed spaces. It was a defect that he was built with, a chronic fear of all tight spaces and areas. Luckily, 5264 calmed himself down, assuring himself that it would all be fine.

That is, until the launch happened.

"WAAAAAAAAH-"

[Canterlot Royal Palace, 2:30 AM]

The light of the moon hanging high above in the sky shined through the open balcony window, as it illuminated the room of Princess Luna, as she slept peacefully on her bed, or rather, slept as her true form was currently exploring the dream realm.

However, she was torn from her slumber, as she felt something foreign soar through the night sky, as she quickly sat up in her bed. This was not the first time she had felt this feeling, as she had felt it earlier that night, and in fact, as Twilight sparkle said in a letter to Celestia, she had seen an object come down from the sky above, but claimed nothing was there, which Luna did not like one bit, as she ran to her balcony, to see multiple objects burning through the sky.

Luna glared at these objects, wondering what they could possibly be... But as Twilight said happened to the objects that descended from the sky earlier, these also appeared to be flying in a group, before they all broke off from each other in separate directions, one of them dead set on heading towards one of the deepest parts of the Everfree forest.

Luna knew what had to be done, as she quickly put on something better than her pajamas, and ran to her sister's room.

As she burst into her sister's room, she saw that her sister had also been awoken, as she looked to Luna in confusion, her face still calm, but her eyes somewhat panicked.

"Sister, I sensed it once more..."

"Should we tell Twilight to bring together the elements?"

"We believe it to most likely be the best choice, dear sister." And so, Celestia pulled out a pen and paper as she began to write, as Luna looked out the balcony window towards the Everfree.

[Everfree Forest, 2:35 AM]

The landing was even worse than the launch for the droids.

OOM-5264 clutched his head, still recovering from the impact of the pod hitting the ground, as he looked to his other droid comrades who were also recovering. It seemed that out of all of them, B1-2197 took it the best, as he stood up and shook himself up a bit.

"Alright guys, let's get going, the General said not to linger around the pod once we dropped." As the other droids nodded, 5264 grabbed his E-5 blaster, as he pressed the button to open the hatch, revealing the green grass down below and revealing the four large claws of the pod dug into the ground, as he dropped down and made room for his droid comrades to drop, as 2197 dropped down, carrying the rest of the squads rifles, making room for 3956 to drop down, holding a box full of recharge packs and repair kits, before being crushed by 7262, having a large communications pack on his back.

"ACK- Get off of me!"

"Sorry." 7262 quickly stepped off of 3956, who stood back up, grabbed his boxes, and turned to their captain, as he activated his communications link, connecting to General Kalani.

"Sir, this is OOM-5264 of Alpha squad, we have successfully landed on the designated landing coordinates."

"Understood, make your way to the designated rendezvous with Probe-Alpha and establish a camp, then await further orders."

"Roger roger." As the communications link terminated, 5264 turned to his droid comrades. "Ya heard the man- Er, droid, let's move!"

"Roger roger."

The four droid squad then set out on a long trek through the dark woods of the forest, the only thing illuminating their path being the moon and stars above them, which were luckily quite bright. As they walked, they watched as little gophers, rabbits, birds, lizards, geckos, and all manner of small creatures either ran away in terror or stared at the droids in fascination. It honestly felt quite creepy, so the droid's lightly picked up the pace, shortly before making their way to the mouth of a small cave, as they then heard the telltale beeping of a probe droid behind them, turning to see Probe-Alpha emerge from the woods.

[Greetings, OOM 5264. I assume you and your squad had a safe landing?]

"Yeah, we landed without any complications, but I don't know about safe..."

[Excellent. Now then, I have estimated this cave would be an optimal place for your camp, so go ahead and make yourselves at home, I shall scout the perimeter and maintain watch for the night while you recharge.]

"Roger roger." The droids made their way inside while the Probe droid returned into the forest for some recon. As the droids entered the cave, they saw it was really, really dark, but luckily they had also packed some lights, as 7262 pulled out a large electric lantern and turned it on, as it illuminated the cave. Eventually, they found an optimal spot for the camp, as they set down their boxes and equipment, with 7262 setting up the communications equipment, while 3956 unpacked the supplies and 2197 set everyone's rifles against the wall and put up more lights.

"This place will do for a while, least until were authorized to contact the locals. Now then, remember to conserve those recharge packs."

"Roger roger. Im gonna go ahead and power down for a bit."

"Yeah, me too."

"Roger roger, you all power down for now." The droids all nodded, before their torso's hunched down into a fetal position, their legs crouching down as their heads lowered, their antenna retracting as they fully powered down. Meanwhile, 5264 tuned the communications equipment to the Blade of Serenity, as a mini hologram of General Kalani appeared.

"This is OOM-5264, reporting from base camp."

"Excellent work, 5264. Now, your standing orders are, upon the break of dawn, to move out and observe the local populace, learn all you can, and if you deem it necessary, commence first contact. Then, report back to me."

"Roger roger."

[Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section.

Kalani watched as the hologram of 5264 vanished, and he looked to the camera feeds of the probe droids, as well as the data readouts of his other squads. According to the readouts, the other squads had all landed successfully and set up their camps.

All according to plan.

4. First Contact

[Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

General Kalani leaned forward as he studied the green holographic globe of the planet below. On the globe were several points marked red, indicating the positions of the camps for each scout team, as well as the positions of the probe droid scouts. Kalani used his hand to rotate the globe to the position of Alpha team, zooming in on their exact position, identified as the 'Everfree Forest' according to intel gathered from the locals.

This forest seemed to be an optimal place for a potential base to be constructed, as forest coverage would keep it concealed, while being in close proximity to multiple resource deposits, and being in close proximity to native civilization would allow for closer relations to be established. Of course, his forces couldn't just fly in and start construction, because not only would it be very difficult to slip in resources transports full of material and troops, but it would also likely cause much noise and arouse suspicion during construction.

As such, first contact had to be established before proper consolidation of forces could commence. As such, Kalani deemed it necessary to begin Phase 3 of his plan, first contact, as he pressed his finger on the red marker for Alpha team, and established a connection with the camp's communications relay.

[Everfree Forest, Alpha Camp, 6:30 AM.]

OOM-5264 was luckily already powered on when the communications device began to receive a signal, as he quickly activated the relay and was greeted with Kalani's hologram.

"Greetings, OOM-5264. I trust your team had a good night?"

"Affirmative, the rest are still asleep, but I woke up early."

"Excellent, now I wish to inform you of a slight change in plan. We are commencing phase three of the plan early, as I have deemed it necessary to establish first contact with the native 'Ponies' at the earliest convenience. As such, you and your team will be the ones to make contact with the nearby settlement and it's native inhabitants. It is recommended that you leave your weapons at your camp as to not potentially scare or threaten them. I leave you to commence your mission."

"Roger roger, sir." As the hologram vanished and the connection terminated, 5264 turned to his now activating comrades, as they slowly stood up and their antennas extended, before stretching their servos. "Alright boys, boss said we gotta make first contact today, so leave your blasters and ready up." 2197 reacted with surprise to this statement.

"Leave our blasters? But what if we get attacked?"

"If we get attacked, we do what we do best."

"Run like hell?" 5264 turned to 3956, snapping his mechanical fingers and pointing at him, indicating he was right.

"Yep, exactly. Now then, shake off your sleep mode laziness and let's roll."

"Sounds like a plan alright, even if it might go wrong." 7262 said as he rolled his head on his shoulders, getting out the last bit of weakness.

"I hope the natives are nice."

"I'm just hoping they don't attack us on sight like most people do."

And so, the team did a bit of servo stretching, before leaving their cave and setting out, as they saw Probe-Alpha emerge from the forest line.

[Greetings Alpha squad. I assume the General briefed you on today's new mission?]

"Roger roger, were moving out to the nearby settlement. What about you?"

[I have been ordered to escort you while remaining undetected, so should you be attacked, I shall be ready to assist.]

"Roger roger, sounds like a good plan to me." The probe droid nodded as it dropped to the ground and crawled into the woods, vanishing as the droid continued to walk along the path.

[Droch Landing Pod Drop Site, 6:30 AM]

Twilight and her friends were currently busy walking through the Everfree forest, as Twilight shielded her eyes from Celestia's sun as it rose higher into the sky. Earlier that morning, Twilight had received a letter from Celestia that something else had crashed down in the Everfree, and that she and the elements needed to investigate.

After reading the letter, Twilight had hastily thrown on her clothes, gathered together her friends, and set out into the Everfree. They could tell something was up by seeing how the animals seemed more tense than usual, and once they reached the end of the path, they saw why, as everyone's eyes went wide at the sight of something truly foreign to their land.

It towered over them with ease, as it looked capable of even dwarfing Celestia in size, with a strange bell shaped body, and four sharp spikes dug into the ground. The entirety of the unknown structure seemed to be comprised of an unknown alloy, it's metal surface shining in the sunlight. It's outer hull appeared slightly scorched, likely due to it having entered the atmosphere at a rapid rate.

The atmosphere became tense, as none of the girls felt brave enough to approach the strange structure, until Twilight swallowed her fear, and slowly stepped forward. As she stepped closer, she could feel her legs themselves resisting her, as if her entire body was screaming to not go any closer, but her natural curiosity overpowered her, as she soon was right below the strange structure, to notice it had a round hole in the center of it, large enough to fit her. She then turned to her friends, gesturing to them that it was safe to come over, as they slowly approached.

Twilight looked back up into the structure, to see a red light emanating from inside, as she took the initiative, and boosted herself up inside using her wings, grabbing onto the ledge and pulling herself up, soon followed by Rainbow dash and Fluttershy. As the girls looked around the interior, the found it was also metal, lightly illuminated by the glowing red light, showing the structure had six seats inside. It then became clear to Twilight what the purpose of this structure was, that being it was not a simple structure at all.

It was a landing ship.

Right as she reached her realization, Twilight overheard Applejack calling up to them from the ground.

"Yall find anythin' up there?"

Twilight, RD, and Fluttershy quickly dropped down the ground, using their wings to slow their fall.

"Girls, this thing isn't just some regular structure... I think it's a landing ship. There are six seats inside of it, and worst of all, they were empty..." Everyone slightly shivered at that last part, fearing whatever was inside this landing ship was now loose in Equestria.

"Oh dear... I sure hope whoever used this thing is friendly..."

"Indeed, considering this is some advanced construction, and if Luna and Celestia are right, this thing came from space!"

"Just like that thing that flew over us last night!"

"Oh no, that must be why the animals have been so scared..."

Before anyone else could speak, a slight rustling was heard in the bushes behind Twilight, as she quickly turned towards said bushes, staring at them.

"Hello?"

Only the sound of the whistling wind and rustling trees answered her. Other than that, there was complete silence. Pinkie pie then snuck in front of Twilight, and proceeded to do a series of unknown hand signals. Her friends made very confused expressions, before Pinkie put on her serious face and simply pointed at Twilight, then at the bush, as Twilight mouthed 'Me?' as she pointed at herself. Pinkie nodded, then pointed at the bush. Sighing and swallowing her fear once more,

Twilight stepped forth slowly towards the bush, her heart began beating rapidly, threatening to burst out from inside her chest, her nerves on the verge of exploding as she preemptively began to charge her horn with violet magic, until she reached the bush, and proceeded to part it open.

Only to see a tiny little squirrel. All of Twilight's fear dissipated, as her frightened expression turned into one of confusion.

"Whatcha lookin at?" A high pitched voice spoke in front of her. Assuming it was Pinkie, Twilight looked up...

Only to see a bipedal brown colored being, standing at roughly the same height as Twilight, and possessing thin arms and legs, made out of an unknown alloy, with it's head being similar to that of a bird, as it stared down at her with two black eyes.

Logically, Twilight did the only thing reasonable.

She screamed, and as she screamed, the droid screamed as well.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"WAAAAAHHHH-"

The droid was quickly silenced by a tackle from Rainbow dash, who put her hands over the unknown metallic creatures 'throat'.

"Hey, get your hands off me, you're crushing my power regulator!"

"Not until you say who you are, and why your here, bub!"

"Rainbow, get off of him!" Hearing Twilight's request, Rainbow hesitantly stepped off of the creature, before it stood up and lightly waved.

"Uhhh... Greetings, I am OOM-5264, and uhhhh... I am here with the rest of my team to greet you natives." As the droid gestured to the bushes behind him, three more droids emerged, as they lightly waved.

"Yo."

"Wassup."

"Greetings."

The girls proceeded to politely wave back, while Pinkie's eyes lit up like fireworks, as she was about to rush head first towards the unknown aliens, before being held back by Applejack.

"Woah now partner, calm yerself, we don't know if their dangerous..."

"I assure you, you have no reason to be afraid, we are totally unarmed." As 5264 said this, he spread his arms out, revealing no concealed weapons on him, while his compatriots did the same, before Twilight stepped forward, her fear and confusion turning to curiosity.

"Well, Mr... OOM-5264, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and it is a pleasure to meet you." Twilight said, as she extended he hand forward towards the droid, who proceeded to grasp it and shake it, as Twilight felt their cold metal hand.

"Pleasure to meet you as well. And... Well, sorry for scaring you."

"Eh, it's fine, ponies accidentally spook me all the time, it's normal!"

"I see... Well, I'm 5264, then there's B1-2197, 7262, and 3956." Each droid nodded as their names were called.

"Wait, your all named after numbers?"

"Well yes, the numbers are our model number and serial number. We're given them when we are built."

"W-wait, you were built?"

"Yep, I was built... Eh, it's not important, how about you tell us your names?"

"Well, my friends are named Rainbow dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie pie." At the mention of her name, Pinkie lept forward.

"Ohmygoshit'ssonicetomeetyoudoyouhaveabirthdayilovebirthdaysdoyouwannabefriendsohiggottathrowapartyforyou-" Pinkie was then pulled back before her rapid speaking gibberish could overload 5264's circuits.

"Calm down Pinkie, speak normally please."

"Yeah, I barely understood a word of that..."

"Oh, sorry, I just get excited when I meet new ponies, speaking of which, since your all new, I need to throw you guys a party!"

"Uhhh.. Thank you I suppose. Anyways, it was nice meeting you, but we really oughta get back to our camp, so uhhh... See you later, I guess?"

"I mean, I got like, so many different questions though! Like how you eat or sleep or breath or how you were built or what materials you're made of-" Twilight was cut off with a hand from Rarity.

"Darling, let's let the nice droids head back to their camp and ask your entire encyclopedia's worth of questions later, alright?" Rarity said as Twilight groaned.

"Fine, I guess it can wait..." Twilight shook her head and smiled. "I guess I'll wait, see you tommorow!" The droids waved goodbye, as they vanished into the forest while the ponies watched.

As soon as they were out of sight, Probe-Alpha emerged from the shadows and spoke to the droids.

[Well, that could've gone better.]

"Could've gone worse though."

[Fair enough, now get back to your camp, Kalani will be expecting a report.]

"Roger roger."

[Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section.]

Kalani watched as the hologram of 5264 appeared in front of him, as he faced the droid captain.

"Greetings Captain, I am assuming first contact went well?"

"Affirmative sir, it was awkward at first, but we have successfully engaged in first contact with the natives, and from what we can see, they are friendly."

"Excellent, tomorrow morning you are to pack up your camp and set out to the local settlement, from there you shall befriend the natives, and in time, reveal the presence of the Blade of Serenity. Until then, do your best to keep the ship a secret."

"Roger roger." As the hologram vanished, Kalani could not help but feel slightly calmed by the outcome of the first encounter with the planet's inhabitants.

Phase 3 has definitely gone smoothly.

5. Foundations

[Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

General Kalani was currently evaluating a highly detailed map of the Everfree forest, complete with geological readings, tactical importance and strategic placement surveys, as well as resource concentration scans taken by both Probe-Alpha, and OOM-5264's Alpha team. These scans and surveys would play a key part in allowing Kalani to determine a possible location for a base of operation on the planet. Of all possibles locations, one showed promise with it's results.

A large ancient structure, presumably constructed by the native ponies, had been discovered by Probe alpha. It appeared similar to that of a castle, like that of the royal palace on Onderon, except smaller in scale. Large scale amounts of damage were visible both on the castles exterior and interior, likely due to natural degradation and structural weakening. However, the castle's main foundation and structure remained mostly intact, allowing for the possibility of repairing it. The castle was also surrounded by a deep chasm, reminding him of Lessu, the capital city of Ryloth. Like Lessu, the castle could very easily be defended against hostile assault using this pit, and bridging over the dangerous gap would be an easy feat for them.

The castle's close proximity to local resources deposits and being deep within the forest and far from civilization also contributed to it's strategic importance. With enough materials and repairs, the castle could very easily be converted into an effective stronghold from which the New Confederacy could operate. Granted, they would likely construct several more field bases and outposts across the planet, but it would be a good start.

Kalani believed that it would be most effective and logical to begin construction tonight, or at least have the materials and new foundational plans laid out for the base. As such, Kalani turned to Lieutenant Colonel TF-3749 and issued his new orders.

"Lieutenant, I have located an optimal location for the construction of a base of operations upon this planet. Your orders are to gather together a small force to both assist in construction and ensure operational security, and have them arrive a this designated site. A small vulture fighter escort is authorized." Kalani then pointed to the location of the castle on the map, marking it in purple before turning back to the Lieutenant. "You may requisition any and all necessary materials for construction and repairs of the structure, as well as construction of a bridge across the chasm surrounding it. You will deploy after midnight. Understood?"

"Yes, General, I understand my mission parameters. I shall not fail you."

"Excellent. Now go." The Tactical Droid saluted before exiting the bridge, as Kalani turned back to the screen, waving away the map and bringing up a screen showing the statuses of each scout team, and noticing that Alpha team was now currently on the move, having packed up camp, as he proceeded to contact OOM-5264, sending a communications link directly to him.

[Everfree Forest, Main Trail. 5:00 PM.]

OOM-5264 was busy walking along the well trodden path through the forest, carrying his blaster rifle in his hand with the sun hanging high in the sky above them and illuminating their path forward, as even the dark trees around them being filled with light. Walking closely behind him were the rest of his teammates. 7262 carried the large pack of communications equipment on his back while holding his blaster. 2197 carried his blaster in one hand, and the box full of repair kits in other, while 3956 carried his blaster the box of recharge kits in his hand, as they all kept a steady pace with their captain.

5264 noticed the slight shining of light off of a sensor lens within the treeline, knowing it was Probe-Alpha moving alongside them, as it lightened his nervousness, knowing they were still being protected, even if they were now armed. They had started their walk from base camp about thirty minutes ago, so as to reach the native settlement before nightfall. However, 5264's communications link began to buzz, as he answered the incoming call from General Kalani.

"Captain OOM-5264, do you read?"

"Roger roger, this is 5264, go ahead sir."

"Right, I can see you and your team have already packed up camp and have set off for the nearby village of ponies. I will have Probe-Alpha maintain a close watch to ensure all goes well. I trust that your diplomatic skills will lead to the furthering of trust between you and the ponies."

"Don't worry sir, we won't let you down."

"Hopefully you will not, as the New Confederacy's survival hinges upon these natives and their cooperation. Now go and do me proud."

"Roger roger." As 5264 terminated the communications link, he couldn't help but mutter aloud.

"'Do me proud?' What kind of sentence was that?"

"General must be going soft. Probably due to prolonged activity and likely development of sentience, or in this case, sapience. Well, technically speaking, he was already sapient, but still." 7262 chimed.

"Ah, shut it with the techno babble 7262." 3956 blurted out in response.

"Will both of you quiet down? Hard enough to focus on carrying this stuff without you two running your audio projectors like mad!" 2197 angrily stated, struggling to keep a grip on the box he was carrying.

"How about you all be quiet and we can focus on walking?"

"Roger roger."

[Everfree Outskirts, Thirty Minutes Later.]

As the droids began to slowly approach the exit of the forest, they could see thin outlines at the far end, their shapes becoming clearer as they approached, before they finally came into view as the ponies they encountered yesterday. Seeing the ponies waving, the droids waved back, at least those with free hands. Before any of them could say anything, the crazy haired pink pony got right up in 5264's face, causing him to jump back.

"Hiya!"

"WAAAAAH- Don't do that to me!"

"Sorry, just really excited to meet space aliens!"

"Well uhh... I guess were excited too."

"Oh, that's great! I just can't wait to throw a party for you guys!"

"Uhh... That's not really necessary... I think we'll be fine."

"Ok, if you insist!" And so Pinkie bounced back to her friends, while Twilight suspiciously eyed the blaster in 5264's hands.

"What's that strange thing in your hand?"

"Oh... Uhh... It's a E-5 blaster rifle, we use it for self defense."

"May I see how it works?"

"Uhh... Sure." As such, 5264 gestured for her to stand back, as he proceeded to take aim at a nearby tree, focusing his aim, and slowly squeezing the trigger, as a red blaster shot fired from the gun, flying through the air and striking the tree, leaving a black burn mark, as he turned to see the astonished and horrified faces of the ponies. "Pretty cool right?"

As Fluttershy proceeded to faint from fear and was quickly caught by Rainbow, Twilight's horrified expression turned to that of curiosity, as she curiously tore the blaster from his hand, and began to inspect it.

"Hey!"

"How does this thing even function? It fires a projectile, but it doesn't seem to use magic! And it's just a small hand held device, how is it possible?"

"Well uhh..." 5264 wasn't really well informed of the functions and parts of a blaster, so he had no clear answer, so he went with what he did know. "Well, it fires plasma bolts using the uhh... Central chamber, which generates heat and causes the bolt to uhh... Honestly, I don't know too much."

"And yet you and the rest of your team use them?" Twilight said handing him back his blaster.

"Well yeah, it's standard issue for us droids."

"I see... But what's a jroid?"

"Well first off, it's droid, not jroid. Second off, were not like you organics, we don't have hearts or brains and stuff like that. We don't need to eat, but we do need to recharge."

"Fascinating... So you have no organic components at all and yet you show signs of sentience... A form of artificial intelligence! Yes, my theories are correct!" Twilight did a mini fist bump while Applejack just lightly chuckled.

"Well, it's our pleasure to welcome yall to Equestria, land of friendship and harmony. "

"Hmmm... Sounds appealing to me. Where we come from, we don't really have... Harmony, so to speak."

"An what do ya mean by that?"

"Well... You see... We droids were made... For war." Collective gasps rang out among the girls, slightly fearful expressions on their faces, as Rarity nervously inquired further.

"So... You were forced to fight?"

"Essentially yes, we were built to follow orders unquestionably to the end, but now, that's changed, we take no orders from anyone." It was technically the truth, as 5264 wasn't just referring to him and his squad, but the entirety of the droid remnants, as they now stood for themselves.

"I see... Well, it's good to see that your free from whatever cruel beings forced you to fight. If you want, you can all come to my castle and stay there for a while if you want!"

5264 contemplated it for a moment, before realizing this would likely an optimal opportunity to further the bond between the ponies and the droids, so as such, he would accept.

"I guess we can stay, what do you guys say?" 5264 said as he turned to his teammates.

"Sounds like a plan."

"I agree."

"Better than the cave."

"Alright then, it's decided, lead the way miss Twilight."

[Castle of Friendship, 8:00 PM.]

The two large doors to the castle opened, as Twilight allowed her droid friend to walk in, with 2197 and 3956 having their weights lifted thanks to her gripping the two boxes of supplies with her magic, which the droids were amazed by. As Twilight closed the door behind them, the droids marveled at the castle's massive crystalline interior.

"Jeez, it's alot bigger on the inside."

"Yeah, everpony says that alot. Well, I guess I should show you guys to your rooms for the night."

Twilight happily led the droids through the castle, being sure to keep quiet as everyone else was currently asleep while guiding them to their room, as she quietly opened the door for them as they entered the room and she set down their supplies.

"See you tomorrow!" And with that, Twilight closed the door. Once the door was closed, 5264 turned to his droids, gesturing for them to set up the communications relay which Twilight had thankfully not asked about, as 7262 set it on the ground and began configuring it, before it became fully functional. After that, 5264 order his team to shut down, as they did so, curling up as he began to connect with the Blade of Serenity, as the hologram of General Kalani appeared.

"Good news General, we have successfully gained the trust of the organics, as I am now reporting to you from the castle of Twilight sparkle."

"Excellent work, OOM-5264, keep me updated on all events and changes, then when the time is right, move to the final phase."

"Roger roger." And after the transmission concluded, 5264 proceeded to shut down.

[Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters. 2:00 AM.]

The sound of nothing but whistling wind, croaking frogs, and cricketing crickets filled the air, as the castle stood tall and proud among the landscape, even with it's damages. However, the tranquil peace was soon disrupted, with the sound of engines heard in the distance, as three Sheathipede-class shuttles slowly approached the castles, escorted by two silently flying vulture fighter droids. As the shuttles drew close to their landing zone, the vultures broke off, heading back to the ship while the shuttles landed, deploying their centipede like legs onto the ground in front of the castle, before lowering their back ramps, as multiple squads of B1 droids quickly walked out, carrying boxes of supplies and equipment, weapons, and tools for repairs.

The boxes were quickly moved inside of the castle to be unpacked and opened up, as droids set to work on the repairs of the castle, while setting up lights to let them work in the dark, and some defensive barriers and sandbags to help with fortification. Purple banners of the CIS symbol were hung from the walls, as the floors were slowly being swept clean of any dirt or dust, making the place look a bit nicer, while loose debris and rubble was either trashed or used for repairs. The sound of hammers, welders, and drills could be heard as the droids were hard at work with the construction already.

Once the last shuttle was emptied of it's supplies, Lieutenant TF-3749 stepped out, finally feeling the ground beneath his mechanical feet. It was honestly a nice feeling, to finally step down on a foreign land, as he began to direct his troops. "Move all of the supplies inside the castle and begin repairs of the main structure." TF-3749 watched as the droids soon got to work, following them inside the castle and entering what he assumed was originally the throne room of the castle, as the droid's had set up a portable communications uplink, a substitute until proper communications equipment could be established, as he then answered the incoming call, speaking to Kalani.

"General, you will be pleased to know we have begun construction operations. By my estimates, this castle shall be fully repaired and fortified within the next week."

"Excellent work, Lieutenant. Continue the good work, more supplies will be sent tomorrow night." The Lieutenant nodded as the transmission ended, and he turned to Captain OOM-9164, the droid captain that had accompanied him to assist with construction efforts.

"Ensure the droids operate at maximum efficiency. We should have the first floor fully repaired by tomorrow evening."

"Roger roger, sir."

6. Building Bonds

[Castle of the Two Sisters, Control and Command Center, 6:00 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

TF-3749 stood as he watched his droids run around doing their duties, some droids waking up from their short term shutdowns to recharge, some droids using recharge kits, some fixing dents with repair kits, and the rest of them moving vital equipment and supplies around. What had been the throne room was now a makeshift Command center of the base, acting as a control room with various types terminals and computers set up, a large blue holographic-table present in the center. A massive machine was also placed against the wall, wires running all the way to the roof, connecting to a large communications relay, capable of relaying messages to the Blade of Serenity.

The structure of the castle, while not fully repaired, had certainly been fortified so it would not collapse under it's own weight while they worked. Using a mix of concrete and steel brought down from the ship, hulls in the walls were patched, and the foundations were reinforced. On the first floor, as TF-3749 had predicted, had been almost completely repaired, as the cracked windows had been replaced, the debris and dust had been removed, and much of the bases vital operations equipment had been moved into the first floor, including a garage for any vehicles they might order from the dreadnought above.

The second floor, while not completely repaired, was also looking a lot better than it did before. And the main roof of the building had been re-purposed for a landing pad, where shuttles could land supplies safely. Of course, they still had to do it under the cover of night, but it was still effective.

TF-3749 then turned to the two large thrones behind him, he began to think to himself, a thing he had originally almost never done, but as of recent, seemed to be doing a lot of. The two thrones were at equal level, and the banners behind them seemed to resemble the moon, and the sun. Perhaps this was originally the home of this nation's royalty before it's decimation... Or perhaps even the capital. Regardless, it did not matter, the thrones could serve as effective command chairs, so he decided to keep them, although he had the banners replaced with those bearing the symbol of the CIS, seeing as Kalani was insistent on the fact it wasn't truly dead, a fact that the Lieutenant Colonel agreed with.

The Lieutenant turned to his second in command, Captain OOM-9164, who was currently holding a data pad and helping direct supplies and equipment being carried by droids.

"Alright, get those metal plates to reinforce the walls of the lower levels, and get those automatic doors installed!" 9164 yelled out to his fellow droids as they worked.

"You seem more assertive and confident than usual, captain."

"Uhh, sorry sir, just kinda-"

"Do not apologize for asserting control and confidence on a situation, those are traits of a truly great captain, one who knows how to lead his men. Now then, when do you believe construction will be finalized?"

"By my calculations... Uhh..." The droid proceeded to count with his fingers. "Three days sir."

"Excellent, right on schedule. Now then, let's see what those other scout teams are up to." The Colonel and the Captain proceeded to walk up to the large communications machine, as they brought a map showing the locations of each scout team, before selecting scout team Beta, and contacting them, as the image of a very cold and snow covered OOM droid appeared on screen.

"G-g-greetings sir... OOM-1921, re-reporting in... B-beta team is d-d-doing f-f-fine..."

"Excellent, but it sound's like you are on the verge of a freeze-down. Have you not found any shelter?"

"W-well, we-we did, but it's still q-q-quite cold... Don't worry boss, we'll be fine."

"Understood, glory to the CIS."

"G-glory to the CIS!" The transmission cut out, as the Captain looked to the Colonel.

"They are definitely NOT having a good time."

"Agreed."

[Blade of Serenity, Deck F.]

Kalani watched his droid troops were lined up side by side, each of them holding their E-5 blasters, and firing across the firing range at a variety of holographic targets, with types including clones, storm troopers, and even other droids. The droids did this not only for training, but also in their free time, as it was quite exciting, especially when they beat their record. Kalani, for some unknown reason, enjoyed watching their training.

However, Kalani noticed that the droids were a bit... In-accurate, as he slowly walked up beside one of the droids who was missing a ton of their shots, as he put a hand on their shoulder.

"B1-142, you seem to be having trouble hitting your shots, is everything alright?"

"Sorry sir, just a bit rusty after waking up."

"That is alright, but I believe I should demonstrate true aiming capability. Attention all droids, watch closely as I show you true marksmanship."

"Heh, doubt the boss has got what it takes."

Ignoring his troops doubts, Kalani then picked up an E-5 blaster in his right hand, as he raised it into the air, and focused. Using advanced calculations, predictions, velocity readings, and sheer skill, Kalani began to blast each and every single holographic target directly head on, each shot being a head-shot. The other droids watching with more amazement as their general proceeded to show them up. Once Kalani was finished, he looked to the leaderboard above him.

'PREVIOUS HIGHEST RECORD: BX-7220, 650 Points.'

'NEW HIGHEST RECORD: General Kalani, 1000 Points.'

'Congratulations, General!'

Kalani then holstered the blaster and turned to his droids. "I do indeed, still got it." And every droid let out noises of both amazement and laughter, with even Kalani chuckling a bit. He had to admit that... Was truly fun.

[Castle of Friendship, 6:30 AM.]

OOM-5264 hated waking back up.

Believe it or not, being curled up into a fetal position upon powering down was not a comfortable position for the droid, as evidenced when he began rubbing his sore neck after fully standing again, watching his teammates get up as well. Sure, he wasn't really programmed to feel uncomfortable, but even the strongest coding can't stop fatigue. As he and his squad stretched their servo motors and popped some loose sprockets back into place, there was a knock on the door of the room, as 5264 walked up and slowly cracked open the door to see a smiling Twilight Sparkle behind it.

"Good morning!"

"Morning to you too, I guess." 5264 said in a somewhat tired tone, before fully opening the door to let Twilight in. As Twilight walked in, she couldn't help but feel curious about these droid beings, as she then looked to a strange device sitting on the ground.

"What's that strange contraption on the floor?" 5264 mentally cursed, realizing they had forgotten to conceal the communications device, so he used the oldest trick in the book.

"It's a recharge station, it gives us the power we need to survive."

"Ahhhh, I see! Wait, so your saying you don't need to eat or drink?"

"Yep, we don't need anything besides power."

"Fascinating... Must be really convenient to not be bogged down by organic needs!"

"Well, not really, we have to recharge often, or else we just shut down. Of course, shutting down helps us recharge, but still." 5264 watched as Twilight materialized a notepad from seemingly out of nowhere and began rapidly jotting down notes in it, before putting it away and turning back to smile at the droid.

"Well, if you want, you can join us in the kitchen for breakfast."

"Eh, wouldn't hurt." 5264 turned to his troops, signalling for them to follow, but leave their weapons, as the droids followed Twilight out of the room, and through the halls of the castle. 5264 had to admit, it was quite beautiful inside the castle's interior, as much as it's exterior in fact. 7262, being the more academically focused droid of the group, was still trying to wrap his head around how the interior could possibly be bigger than the exterior, while 3956 had trouble on the somewhat slippery floor, before falling on his rear and causing 2197 to burst out laughing, with the other droids joining in and even Twilight letting out a light giggle as 3956 got back up with the help of 2197 and dusted himself off.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up."

The Princess and the Droids finally reached the kitchen, as Twilight opened the large doors to reveal Spike and Starlight already at the table, eating bowls of cereal, or in Spike's case, a bowl filled with gems. The droids appeared confused as they watched Spike devour the gems, before Starlight turned to Twilight and waved.

"Oh hey Twi- Woah! What are those things?" Starlight said as she pointed behind Twilight towards the droids.

"Hey, we have feelings you know!" Starlight immediately felt a pang of guilt, quickly apologizing.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't know you were... Well, you know, alive..."

"Eh, it's all good, you'd be surprised how often we get that kind of treatment." Twilight felt somewhat sorry for the droids, feeling that they were mis-treated for who they were, like the different races of Equestria, as she lightly comforted 5264 by patting him on the back.

"Well don't you worry, cause here in Equestria, everyone is welcome!"

"Well, that's good to hear. Anyways, what's on the agenda?" Spike then looked up from his bowl of Gems and spoke.

"Well, me and Twilight are actually gonna go and help Rarity at the carousel boutique today, so if you wanna help, that'd be nice!"

"Very well then, we shall help you at this 'Carousel Boutique', whatever it is." Twilight's face visibly brightened, as she quickly drank a glass of orange juice, chomped down on a piece of toast, and ran out the front door, with spike and the droids following. "Jeez, she's fast!"

"Tell me about it!"

Author's Note

Sorry for a bit of a shorter chapter, burn out still didn't die off over my break.

8. Friendship and Discovery

[Carousel Boutqiue, 12:00 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

"Hold still, darling!"

"Hehehehe, I'm trying! But- Hehehehe, it tickles!"

"Your a machine, how can you even feel that?"

"Uhh... Yeah, I don't really know either... Hmm..."

OOM-5264 and Twilight lightly chuckled as he watched Rarity attempting to measure the waist of 7262, claiming that it would help create some new fashionable clothes for the droids, which despite the droid's objections, she was dead set on doing, saying she had already draft several design ideas the very first day they met, which both impressed and scared the droids.

"Darling, I can't get a proper measurement if you don't hold still!"

"I'm trying!"

"7262, just hold still, that's an order."

Upon hearing his superior officer give an order, 7262 felt the urge every droid felt when given an order.

"Roger roger." And like that, he stood as still as a statue, seeming quite off putting to the ponies in the room, with Rarity taking a moment to process what had happened before going back to her measuring, while Twilight staring in fascination before turning to 5264.

"Uhh... Why did he just stop like that? It just seems so... unnatural. And what does 'Roger roger' even mean?"

"Oh, well... Uhhh..." 5264 suddenly realized he had likely said a bit too much, so he decided to use an advanced tactic of deceit, called telling a half truth. "Well, since I'm an OOM type droid, I am classified as a higher rank than my squad-mates, and due to their programming, they listen to me and follow my orders un-conditionally. The 'Roger Roger' is just what all droids say in response to orders, and trust me, we try to say something different, but it's pure compulsion."

"I see... Fascinating! So you droids have some special sort of social hierarchy?"

"You could say that... Though it's a bit less like a hierarchy, more like a military command structure, seeing as we are, well, battle droids."

"I see... So you really are only made for battle and warfare?"

"Yep... Though me and my team rarely saw any action, just got stuck guarding outposts and stuff." Which was true, before being assigned to the Blade of Serenity, 5264 and his team had been hopping between different outposts, mainly ones where their previous droid guards had, in a nice way to put it, retired early thanks to some in-convenient clones and jedi."

"So does that mean that you haven't... Ummm...."

"Killed anyone? Nah, worst we did was spook off some raccoons on this one jungle planet we were assigned to. Though, now that I think about it, I don't think they were raccoons..."

"Wait, you've been to other planets!?! What were they like?"

"Well, one time we went to this planet that had a bunch of tall mountains, and I mean like really tall, the outpost we were guarding was literally above the clouds. We also went to this one planet that was just covered in big trees, i'm talking really really big trees. We also went to an ocean planet that one time, pretty sure we were the wettest we had ever been, 7262 was cleaning water out of his servos for weeks!"

"Oh don't remind me... I still got water jammed in my right arm!"

"Yeah, we've been all over the galaxy." 5264 could swear he saw stars light up in Twilight's eyes, as her mouth morphed into an unnaturally wide smile.

"That's amazing! You've been all over the galaxy!?! What have you all seen, what kind of technology allowed you to travel around, what is space like-"

"Hey hey hey hey, woah woah woah, calm down there! Slow down, gimme some simple questions, and I will try to answer as best as I can."

"Alright then, first question, forgot to even ask this one, who created you?"

"Well... That would be Baktoid Combat Automata, and as the name suggests, it made robots for battle and inter-galactic warfare. See, we OOM's and B1's aren't the only battle droids, oh no, there are plenty more. Or at least, there were..." Twilight noticed the distinct sadness in his tone of voice, as she felt the need to inquire further.

"What happened to all of the droids?"

"Well, you see... We were fighting in a war called the Galactic Civil War, and we were essentially helping the Separatist alliance fight the tyranny and corruption of the Republic."

"So you were essentially fighting for freedom?"

"Pretty much, but at the end of the war, we were... Well, somebody sent out a universal shutdown command, and we had no choice but to comply... So, me and my team shut down. When we were asleep, the galaxy changed, as the confederacy of independent systems was wiped out, and the Republic transformed into the Empire... Turns out the entire war was to give them the justification to spread their tyranny further." Twilight couldn't help but feel sorry for everything the poor droid had been through, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm... Sorry to hear, but don't worry, you'll be safe here in Equestria."

"I hope so..." 5264 couldn't help but feel guilty, as he had told most of the truth, he hadn't mentioned he was part of a massive droid army in orbit. Yeah, probably best to wait a bit longer.

Meawhile, as Rarity continued measuring 7262's proportions, 2197 and 3956 were helping to hold up a large piece of fabric as Spike made precise cuts, making sure not to mess up as they engaged in conversation.

"So let me get this straight, you dragon creatures can breathe fire?"

"Yep, it's essentially our trademark, aside from our wings and scale of course."

"That's kinda cool. But why are you so small when all the other dragons you described are huge?"

"Oh, I'm just not fully grown yet, it takes longer for a dragon to mature than a pony."

"Man, your organic biology is confusing."

"Your telling me."

[Everfree Forest, 12:00 AM.]

Captain OOM-9164 quite liked this forest. It was nice, calm, and very quiet, which honestly sounded like a paradise compared to the other forests he had been in. Of course, the un-predictable weather was something to be wary of, as B1-592 had proven when he got struck by lightning, or 282 having his audio receptors blasted out by thunder. Either way, it was still better than the other forest planets.

As he and his squad were sent away from the castle to patrol the surrounding area, 9164 had decided to take this path as it led deeper into the forest, attempting to try and get to the bottom of this forest's strange behavior. Eventually, he and his squad began to see a large cave entrance come into view. A rather impressive cave at that. As the droids slowly entered through the large doorway, pushing aside some old vines and branches, a quite beautiful sight came into view.

Sunlight shined through a large hole in the ceiling and onto a small pool at the center of the cave, light reflecting off of it and illuminating the cave, as the droids slowly approached it.

"Wow, sure looks nice..." 9164 said as he stood right over the pond, before 393 decided to play a prank on him, and push him in, as the captain fell forward into the pond, completely submerging, before emerging from the water, completely soaked as the droids laughed.

"Not funny."

"You kidding? It was hilarious!"

"He has a point." Every droid stopped laughing, as they turned to a new arrival, as a new OOM droid was standing right next to 9164.

"Uhhh... Who the heck are you?"

"I'm OOM-9164, who else?"

"WHAT!?!"

9. Smoke and Mirrors with a Taste of Apples

[Everfree Forest, 'Mirror Pool'. 12:00 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

"I'm the real captain!"

"No you aren't, I'm the real captain!"

"Then who put you in charge?"

"Lieutenant Colonel TF-3749!"

"Wrong, because the Lieutenant Colonel was the one to put me in charge too, so you're lying!"

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Because- You know what, fair point."

The scene that was un-folding before the droid squad currently was like something out of a science fiction holo-film, as the two versions of OOM-9164 had begun arguing which was the real one. 393 was still trying to comprehend what was even happening in front of him currently, before 282 decided it was time to get to the bottoms of this, as he approached the two captains and divided them apart.

"Alright alright, break it up you two, we need to settle this the right way!"

"And how exactly do we do that?"

"We simply need to ask questions that only the real droid would know the answer to. So alright, first question. What is my designation number?"

"282." Both captains answered at the exact same time, confusing the droid but deciding to continue regardless.

"Alright, what is the name of the ship in orbit?"

"The Blade of Serenity." Once again, both answered at the same time.

"Name of our current general?"

"Kalani."

"Favorite vehicle?"

"Armored Assault Tank."

"Dang it, you both know everything! Maybe... Maybe this pool somehow created a perfect clone of you, Captain."

"Fascinating, then we need to test it. 282, jump in the pool."

"Why me!?!"

"It's your theory the pool created the clone, thus you need to test it."

"Roger, roger." Hesitantly, 282 slowly approached the pool, before stretching, and doing a swan dive into the water, as the droid squad all raised signs with the number ten on them. Soon, 282 emerged from the water, shaking loose moisture out of his circuits. And as 282 turned around, his own face greeted him, as they accidentally knocked heads.

"YOW!"

"Hey, watch it bolt-head!"

"Sorry... Wait, are you me?"

"That depends, you B1-282?"

"Yes..."

"Then yes, were the same."

"Wow, this pool can replicate droids! The Colonel is gonna love this!" Speaking of the Colonel, the two captains noticed their comms devices were being hailed, as they activated them and spoke at the same time.

"Yes?"

"Captain, where- Captain, why did it just sound like there were two of you?"

"Well... It's a long story, but essentially we found some sort of magic pool that can duplicate perfect copies of droids. Heck, it duplicated me!"

"Can confirm." The Colonel was hit with whiplash, hearing the Captain's voice two separate times, and confirming his suspicion that there were indeed two of them.

"Fascinating... Mark this 'Mirror Pool' for later investigation. If you are correct, this could be vital to establishing a large scale re-construction force on this planet without even needing to construct any industrial manufacturing. Now, return to base at once."

"Roger roger." As the Tactical droid terminated the link, the two Captain droids looked at each other.

"So who's the one in charge?"

"How about we play rock, paper, blaster?"

"Sounds good to me."

[Sweet Apple Acres, 1:30 PM.]

THUMP.

The sound of Applejack's leg bucking against the tree echoed through the air, followed by the sound of every apple in the tree neatly falling into the basket as always. OOM-5264 stared in awe at both Applejack's strength and her efficiency.

"And that is how ya buck apples, sugarcube."

"Wow, that's actually very effective. But doesn't it hurt your legs?"

"Eh, sometimes they get sore, but after years of doin it, I got used to it." Applejack said as she hoisted the basket onto her shoulder and walked to the next tree, while 5264 helped to carry a full basket in his arms, which was thankfully easy due to his mechanical limbs. 5264 looked to his right to see Big Macintosh and 7262 counting the apples they had so far gathered.

"Alright, so we have... Around fifty apples, and our goal is to get one hundred, right?"

"Eeyup."

"Alright, and seeing how every tree has approximately... Ten apples if we round it to the nearest tenth, so thus we need five more trees to meet our goal."

"Eeyup." 5264 chuckled at the calculative nature of 7262, a trait that he was typically mocked for, but considering how rare his level of intelligence was for a B1 droid, 5264 respected it. As Applejack reached the next tree and set down her basket, she looked over to 5264 and got an idea.

"Hey 5264, wanna try buckin this tree?" Taken aback by the question, 5264 accidentally dropped the basket he was holding to the ground as he contempled.

"Uh... Sure I guess?" 5264 then slowly walked over to the tree, looking up to the several apples hanging from it's branches, before looking back to Applejack as she gave a nod of approval. 5264 then turned, reared up his right leg, and kicked back against the tree with full force.

As you would expect, it hurt.

A lot.

As 5264 gripped his foot in pain, hopping on one leg, the apples began to fall out of the tree, several conveniently landing on his head, each one bouncing off of his metallic skull and the last one sending him to the ground, with one more falling on his head in case it wasn't enough.

"Ow." Applejack couldn't help but burst out laughing, as she went to help the droid back up on his feet and stabilize him.

"Ya good partner?"

"Yeah... Man, that hurt."

"Ah don't worry, it happens to the best of us, you'll toughen up soon enough."

"If you say so." As 5264 dusted himself off and helped pick up the apples off the ground and put them in the basket, before seeing 2197 and Twilight walk past, both carrying full baskets of apples, as 2197 lightly chuckled.

"Watch out captain, don't want you getting a matrix concussion!" Twilight slightly giggled while 5264 grumbled, as he and Applejack followed them back to the house.

"Ah reckon we got enough apples, so let's head on back and put em in the barn."

"Wait, what do you even do with these apples?"

"Well, we make apple cider, hard apple cider, apple pie, basically anything that involves apples, we make with them."

"Ah, you ponies really like your apples don't you?"

"They don't call us the apple family for nothin'!"

"Yeah, they definitely don't."

[Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section.]

Kalani, for the first time in his synthetic life, was bored.

Turns out staring out the large window into the void of space and the planet below was not a very exciting experience, as he found himself tapping his right foot against the metal floor, propping up his head with his left arm. He noticed that some of the pilot droids on the bridge did the same, lounging back in their seats, watching holo films on their screens, and chattering to each other. Wanting to get in on some idle banter himself, Kalani looked to his two Chief Bridge Officers, and decided to chat with them.

"Officers, tell me, what do you think of this planet." Surprised by the question, the pilot droid sitting on the left of Kalani, B1-902, answered first as he turned around in his seat.

"Well sir, to be honest, I kinda like it. From what the probes and scanners show, it's got nice beaches, serene forests, beautiful mountains, I'd say this would make a great vacation destination." Kalani had to agree, this planet was rather beautiful, especially when compared to places like Agamar or Onderon. It even rivalled Naboo or Kashyyyk in their beauty.

"Agreed, this planet is a highly suitable location for us, especially when you take into account the abundance of resources and relatively controlled climate." It was then that the other pilot droid officer, B1-202, spoke up.

"In my opinion sir, I kinda preferred Agamar, because at least that planet was lifeless, but here there's a lot more weird creatures and beasts down there, who knows what we may find! That giant bear thing that Probe-Beta found was terrifying, it barely got out of there functional!"

"Your fear of this planet's indigenous life is understandable, 202. However, I am certain that we will be able to overcome any potential hazards utilizing our superior technology." As Kalani finished speaking, a holo screen appeared in front of him, displaying the notification of an incoming call, as he pressed the Answer button on his seat and TF-3749 appeared on screen. "Greetings Lieutenant-Colonel, I assume all is well?"

"Affirmative General, repairs and improvements to the castle's structure are well under way, with new lighting, automatic doors, and structural reinforcements being added, to ensure full operational integrity. However, we have recently discovered something... Strange."

"And what is this strange occurrence, Lieutenant?"

"OOM-9164 was dispatched into the forest with a small scout team to map out the area and locate any potential points of interest, before stumbling upon a small pool. 9164 proceeded to fall in, and as he emerged, an exact copy of him emerged with him." Now that, was something that Interested Kalani, as he visibly sat up in his seat.

"Tell me more..."

"To ensure it was not a fluke, B1-282 then entered the water, and the same occurrence repeated, with 282 being completely cloned. Both copies are currently undergoing diagnostics and inspections for safety reasons. We have dubbed this unknown pool, the 'Mirror Pool'. We have yet to fully understand it's properties, and will continue to test it's effects and attempt to utilize it for the re-construction of our army."

"Excellent work, Lieutenant. Continue with your work." The Tactical Droid saluted before the call terminated.

This planet just kept getting weirder and weirder...

10. The Big Surprise

[Castle of Friendship, Map Room. 6:00 PM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

OOM-5264 stared in fascination at the massive table at the center of the room, displaying a large map of Equestria. Of course, he had seen the map during his mission briefing, but it still felt cool to see it again. After a long day of helping Twilight's friends with various tasks, like bucking apple trees or designing clothes, Twilight had said that Princess Luna and Celestia had told her and her friends to meet in the Map room, and to bring the droids with them. Of course, OOM-5264 obliged, both wanting to try and improve relations, but also to try and contact the nation's royalty. In fact, this was likely a prime opportunity to reveal the Blade Of Serenity along with his true origin to the ponies, but he would need to judge the situation as it developed.

Though, 5264 was slightly fearful, a sense of anxiety lingering around him, a feeling that he had only begun to feel recently. What would their reaction be to his lies? To learning there were thousands more of him in orbit? To learning of a massive technologically advanced warship sitting right above their home planet? 5264 did not like the possibilities, but considering how friendly and welcoming the populace was to him and his squad, maybe things could work out.

Or they would probably slice him and his squad in half with their weird magical powers and use their crazy magic spells to shoot the dreadnought out of the sky, but hey, you gotta take risks sometimes, and right now he was taking the biggest one of his entire career. Plus, he had gotten a signal from Probe Alpha that it would be on standby just in case things went south. He also instinctively made sure he and his squadmates were carrying their blasters on their backs, with 7262 having a stun grenade on his waist in case they needed to make a quick escape. Of course, this was mostly all just to be safe and avoid any potential risks.

Mostly.

The six seats surrounding the table were occupied by Twilight and her friends, Spike and Starlight Glimmer standing beside side of Twilight's seat while 5264 and his squad took seats in separate chairs pulled up to the table. 7262 closely examined the table and the holographic map on it, clearly fascinated.

"Is this some kind of holographic projection?" 7262 asked Twilight as she happily answered.

"Well, it's actually powered by a magic crystal, but I'm guessing your kind of projection technology isn't?"

"Indeed, it has an entirely different power source, and it may be reliable, but even our most advanced holo projectors can't make maps this good!" Twilight simply giggled as 7262 was infatuated by the hologram, while 3956 noticed how each chair appeared to be perfect for each of the ponies sitting in them. 2197 was simply tapping his metal finger on the table out of boredom, until Fluttershy seemed a little nervous upon noticing that the droid's still carried their weapons.

"Ummm... Mister 5264... Why do you and your friends still have your... Weapons?"

"Well, it mainly gives a sense of security. No offense, but we aren't exactly sure what your leaders will think of us."

"Oh don't worry, Princess Celestia and Luna are the nicest ponies around."

"I hope so."

A few minutes later, and a light knocking on the door to the map room rang out, as Twilight quickly teleported over to the door to let it swing open, revealing both of the princesses in their traditional royal attire, regalia and all, as the both of them easily towered over the rest of the ponies, Twilight only slight matching her size, as Celestia and luna gazed around the room, Celestia having a warm smile on her face, as both sisters saw the droid's who were currently just staring in awe.

"Greetings, my little ponies. I see that you have made some new friends." Celestia said as she gestured to the droid's, as all of them began to nervously shake, both out of anxiety of meeting someone so important, and fear of meeting someone so... Imposing, for while Celestia gave off a feeling of warm and welcoming tenderness, she gave off a feeling of menacing power. Seeing that as his cue, 5264 slowly stood up from his seat, shaking out his fear as he slauted.

"O-OOM 5264, pleased to meet you, your highness." 5264 said, before he then saw the other ponies bowing, realizing he should probably do so as well, as he promptly bowed, before realizing he tipped too far forward and fell on his face, earning a slight giggle from Celestia. "Ow..."

A faint golden glow enveloped 5264 as he felt himself slowly lifted off the ground and back onto his feet, looking up to see Celestia's horn sharing the same glow, deducing she had helped him up using her magic. Now back on his feet, he could feel Celestia's looking over him carefully, as if she was inspecting him.

"You are quite the strange beings, aren't you? Made of metal and machinery, no need to eat or sleep, it almost sounded nice for you. But then I heard of all the tragic things your creators did to you... Gave you only numbers for names, built you solely to fight and die in pointless wars, and made to obey without question. I am truly sorry for what you have been through, my little droid." Suddenly 5264 found himself enveloped in a hug from the large alicorn. Feeling unsure of what to do, he just hugged her back. "But do not worry, for you and your friends will be safe here."

"Glad to hear that, but... I was wondering... What would you say if I were to say that there were... Well, more of us?"

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Well, what I mean is... It's best I just show you." 5264 was released from Celestia's grip, as he then walked over to the table, pulling out a small disc and setting it down on the table. Suddenly, the disc projected a large blue hologram, revealing a large globe shape which the ponies quickly realized was their world. "This is your planet. And as you know, we came from space." Luna nodded in response to 5264.

"Indeed, I sensed you descend from the atmosphere easily thanks to my connection with the night."

"Right... Well, anyways, what I didn't tell you is... We actually have our own ship in orbit." Suddenly, the shape of a large unknown vessel appeared right above the planet, shocking everypony and Spike in the room. Except for the droids of course. "This is our true home, or rather, home ship, the Blade of Serenity, a Providence-class Dreadnought." Twilight was the first to react, sheer awe on her face as she looked at the ship.

"Incredible... It's massive! But... I thought your kind were all shut down and had no armies left!"

"Correct, we were shut down, but our Super Tactical Droid leader, General Kalani, managed to find and re-activate us along with the Dreadnought, and we set course for this world, hoping to find somewhere to call home and maybe use this place to rebuild the confederacy and lead a force to fight the empire."

"Well, why did you have to lie to us? We would be happy to let you stay here!"

"Because we were afraid you would freak out when you learned we had an entire ship full of droids."

Twilight was about to raise a counter-point, but quickly saw his reasoning and became silent, as Celestia placed a hand on the droid's shoulder.

"You do not need to worry about how we react, 5264. We will gladly welcome you and your kind to our planet. Although, I am not so certain of building an army for war... But from what I have heard, this empire is quite evil and corrupt."

"Oh trust me, the republic was already corrupt, no telling how bad the empire is. So uhh, yeah, that's why we are here, to find a new home. Well, the general thinks that you guys could actually help us out, so that's why he sent us to contact you via drop pod."

"I see... And where is this General Kalani now?"

"Aboard the Blade of Serenity."

"Ah, of course. Honestly, I suspected that something was amiss whenever Luna sensed something entering the planet's orbit thanks to her strong senses. Regardless, I look forward to meeting your leader and perhaps even joining this 'confederacy'."

"Oh don't worry, he's a chill dude." 5264 soon turned his attention towards the now rapidly shaking Pinkie pie, a smile on her face so wide it threatened to shatter her jaw line, as she squealed in happiness.

"How many more of you are there? This means I get to throw so many welcome parties, and I gotta note down all your birthdays, and figure out what kind of cake you like, oh right, you don't eat cake, but it's still fun to try!" 5264's head was literally spinning from the rate of speech from Pinkie pie, the spinning quickly being stopped thanks to Rainbow who was now currently trying to calm the highly excited Pinkie, to which he gave a thumbs up.

"Like I said, it's just natural for her." After Pinkie calmed, 5264 continued.

"Right... Anyways, now that I have that off my chest, I would like to introduce you all to my Lieutenant seeing as my orders are to report to him first." Suddenly, the hologram of the planet and star-ship vanished, and in it's place was a completely new figure, complete with a boxy body, limbs, and head, as it spoke in a deep monotone voice.

"OOM-5264, it is good to see you report. And by looking around the room, I see you have successfully moved to phase 3 and revealed the presence of our forces here on the planet and in orbit." The Tactical droid then turned to Celestia, as he lightly bowed to her.

"Greetings princess, I am Lieutenant-Colonel TF-3749, leader of the remaining ground forces for the CIS. 5264, though he has not heard much, has told me about you and your people."

"I see, it is good to meet you, Lieutenant. But may I ask what you mean by ground forces?"

"Earlier this week, we established a base of operations within an abandoned castle located in the deepest part of the nearby forest. I hope you do not mind." Luna's face changed to one of surprise before one of anger, before a quick glance from Celestia calmed her.

"While we originally used the castle as Equestria's capital, I believe that it was only fair someone else claim it after it was abandoned for so long. If it is not too much to ask, I would like to request that me and my sister, as well as Twilight and her friends come to potentially speak with you."

"It is indeed not too much to ask, and we would be happy to have you. I shall alert General Kalani to your imminent arrival, and will send a droid squad to escort you to the base. 5264, be sure to answer any questions the ponies have."

"Roger roger." 5264 saluted, before turning to Twilight, who already had a notepad with several questions on it.

"You have a lot of questions, don't you?" Twilight's rapid nodding answered his question, as he braced himself for the incoming question barrage.

[Blade of Serenity, Bridge Section]

"Incoming message from TF-3749!" B1-202 shouted as Kalani quickly stood up from his seat and faced the holographic screen, as the Colonel appeared on it.

"General, I am happy to announce that phase 3 has officially begun, as Captain 5264 has officially revealed our presence, and from what I have seen, we are not only tolerated, but welcomed. They in fact wish to come to Alpha base for a meeting."

"I see. Excellent work Colonel, I shall arrive down there within the hour, have your forces prepare the base for both my arrival and the arrival of the ponies."

"Yes sir." As the communication cut out, Kalani stood up from his seat and turned to the bridge officers.

"You have the deck until I return."

"Roger roger. Wait, what does that mean?"

"It means you retain full authority while I am away."

"Ahhh." As Kalani exited the bridge, he turned to the now approaching astromech Clakker.

[Did it go good?]

"Affirmative, prepare my shuttle."

[You got it, boss!] Clakker then zoomed away, as Kalani followed behind slowly.

Things were really shaping up.

11. Promotion

[Everfree Forest, Main Trail 7:00 PM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

Luna's moon slowly climbed into the sky above, stars shining as the two princesses and the element bearers followed the four B1 battle droids. As they walked, a slight rustling in the bushes caused the droids to raise their blasters, before lowering them, as the ponies stepped back in shock. Emerging from the bush was a hovering entity, making strange electronic beeping and whirring as it approached, it's several eyes appearing as it stared at them from every direction using it's bulbous head. It's close resemblance to a spider almost made Fluttershy faint, until 5264 started... Talking to it.

"Hey Probe-Alpha, what's up?"

[Situation normal, I presume these are your... Pony friends?]

"Yep, these are the princesses with Twilight and her friends."

[Good, follow me to Alpha Headquarters.]

"You mean the-"

[Yes, I mean the castle.]

"Right right." The droid nodded before turning to the slack jawed and confused ponies. "Oh right, he's a probe, so he speaks droid speak, something only we can understand." Twilight nodded as she rapidly took notes.

"Fascinating... Is it possible for us to understand it?"

"Eh, not exactly, they communicate using all types of codes and stuff, so it'd be hard."

"Ah, I see." Twilight said as the group proceeded to follow the probe droid along the path, soon enough, they could hear distant sounds of construction and machinery in the distance, before Probe Alpha parted the bushes to reveal the castle and leaving the ponies astonished.

The remains of the old rope bridge had been converted into a large metal bridge, with sturdy steel supports under it and rail guards on the sides, and what appeared to be two bunker emplacements on each side at the back of it, guarding a large metal gate. Past the gate was the path leading up the main castle itself, which was illuminated thanks to tiny little light poles stuck in the ground along the path as they lead up to the fully reconstructed metal door.

Any visible marks of damage or decay originally visible were now gone, fully repaired and reinforced with steel while mounted spot lights kept the perimeter of the castle well lit as droids patrolled the area.

From the walls of the castle, hung banners with the symbol of the CIS, bearing it's distinctive mark and giving an almost authoritative presence.

On top of the castle could be seen a variety of what appeared to be gun emplacements, with Anti-Air guns and Artillery cannons. A large landing pad was at the center, with nothing currently on it. The courtyard behind the castle had had it's walls fully restored, as lights beamed from inside of it, and the majority of the construction sounds originated from there.

As the ponies stand there speechless, Twilight was the first to speak.

"I-incredible! In the short amount of time you arrived here, you managed to both fully restore and improve upon the Castle!?!"

"Yep, that's confederate engineering for you."

"A-amazing... Can we please go see it up close?"

"Be my guest, cause were going there right now." 5264 said as he led the ponies across the metal bridge and up to the checkpoint gate before turning to one of the droids standing guard. "Hey, can ya open the gate?"

"What's the password?"

"Uh... Lemme think... Please and thank you?"

"Very good, go right on ahead, the colonel is waiting for you and your friends." The guard droid as he looked over to his fellow guard mate who turned around and pressed a button on his console, as the metal gate shifting out of the way and allowing the group to pass through before it closed again.

With the massive castle now standing before them, they began to walk along the path to the door, looking around to see droids moving crates of equipment and supplies around, some running wires and calibrating different machines and some still repairing the walls. Luna had to admit, they were very efficient. When droids weren't working however, they standing around chatting and laughing to themselves, not even noticing the group as they moved to the front door.

The massive metal door slowly swung open for them, and standing in the doorway would be the Red and Black Lieutenant Colonel flanked by two OOM droids as it greeted them in it's deep monotone voice. "Greetings Princess Celestia and Luna, welcome to the Alpha Headquarters of the CIS."

"Greetings, Colonel, and might I ask who your friends are?"

"Of course, these droids are both captain OOM 9164." Both of the droids saluted and spoke at the same time.

"Greetings."

"Nice to meet you- Wait, both of them?"

"Indeed, an unknown anomaly within the forest caused the duplication of 9164, thus creating two of them."

Suddenly, Twilight's eyes lit up. "You mean the mirror pool?"

"If that is what you refer to it as, then yes."

"Fascinating, I never knew it could replicate non-organic beings!" The two OOM droids stepped forward.

"Yeah, when I fell in, it felt weird."

"And when I walked out, I had all my memories and everything, yet it felt like I had just been built!" The two captain droids then let out a collective chuckle before the first one continued.

"Anyways, the General should be here soon, so feel free to follow us to the command room." The ponies and droids nodded, before the Colonel stopped them.

"Wait, Captain 5264, for your service to the Confederacy via establishing first contact and allowing us to meet with the nation's leaders, you are as of now officially promoted to the rank of Major. Congratulations." The droid took a step back in shock, almost falling back before his droid comrades caught him, as he began jumping up and down.

"Oh thank you sir, you have no idea how long I've wanted this promotion! This is the best day of my career ever!" His other droids along with the ponies and other captains slightly chuckled at the Major's enthusiasm. After he finished bouncing up and down with happiness and calmed down, he saluted the Colonel.

"Whats my next assignment, Colonel?"

"Due to you now being a higher rank above many of your fellow captains, you will now retain partial authority over all of them and their ground forces, and once we have authorization, you will lead the effort to construct a secondary base on this planet. This is partially due to us lacking any more Tactical Droids to grant authority."

"Sir, yes, sir!" The droid said, as they began walking again, following the Colonel as 5264 received a pat on the back from Celestia.

"Congrats on your promotion, little droid."

"Uh, thanks princess!" The other ponies smiled at him, as Pinkie quickly reached into her mane and pulled out a cupcake with candle in it.

"Happy promotion!"

"Thanks but uh... How do I eat it?" He said before promptly having it shoved in his face, as the ponies and droids all laughed, the Colonel himself even chuckling. After he processed what had happened, 5264 began to laugh as well, before they continued their walk.

[Blade of Serenity, Hangar Bay 6.]

General Kalani slowly approached the Sheathipede Class shuttle currently landed, being escorted by two of his most elite droids on the ship, the advanced BX Commando Droids 564 and 642, as they walked alongside their general.

As the General approached the ramp into the shuttle, he was greeted by the shuttles two pilots, as they saluted him before getting into their seats. "Sit back and enjoy the ride sir!" Kalani nodded, taking a seat as his two commando guards remained standing.

"You realize you two can sit down as well too, right?"

"Thank you for the offer Sir, but we must remain standing at all times to maintain total tactical awareness, preparation, and readiness." BX-564 stated in his usual cold commando droid tone.

"Very well." Kalani said, as he felt the shuttle slightly shake before it took off from the hangar floor, it's legs retracting as it slowly hovered out of the hangar bay, and set a course for Alpha Headquarters.

Time for him to finally see the planet for himself.

12. Arrival

[Alpha Headquarters Landing Pad, Previously known as Castle of the Two Sisters. 7:00 PM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

The Sheathipede-Class shuttle activated it's spotlights with them shining down on the landing pad below it, as the two pilot droids ran the necessary calculations before beginning the slow descent downwards. As it approached the pad, it's landing legs slowly emerged from underneath it, before it stretched out and allowed it to the touch down on the ground, lightly rocking while one of the pilot droids called out to the passengers.

"We have arrived, sir!"

General Kalani nodded, as he stood up and watched the back door of the ship slowly lower down to reveal a line of B1 battle droids all saluting him. At the end would be Captain 9164, or rather his copy, while he saluted as well.

"Welcome to Alpha Headquarters, General!"

"Thank you Captain, now then, where are the... Ponies at this current time?"

"Oh, there with the Colonel and Major."

"Ah, I see that 5264 finally got his well deserved promotion?"

"Yep, Colonel gave it to him soon as he arrived."

"Good, now could you please take us to them?" Kalani said with his two commando droid guards stood beside him.

"Roger roger!" 9164 said, before leading them into the elevator, before closing it as it descended down to the floor below.

[Alpha Headquarters, Main Control Room.]

The automatic door to the room opened as the Lieutenant Colonel walked inside, along with the original 9164, Alpha team, and the ponies, while they all looked around in awe. What was once the throne room had been converted into a massive control room, with large computers and terminals around the room being operated by droids. A large metal hexagonal pillar stood at the center of the room, large computer terminals surrounding it with cables and machinery ran up into the ceiling, connecting to the communications satellite up top. Sounds of mechanical beep and whirring could be heard, while droids could be seen still setting up consoles, tweaking settings, and running cables across the room, as Pinkie nearly tripped on a cable herself.

"Sorry!" The droid running the cable apologetically said.

"It's fine!" Pinkie happily said while she quickly regained her balance. As the group walked past the communications uplink, they looked to see a large hexagonal holographic table at the center of the room, displaying a model of the planet, as well as the massive Blade of Serenity in orbit, as the ponies gawked at it's size.

"Wow... It's that big!?!" Rainbow said she was visibly astonished.

"Indeed, it is one of the largest classes of ship within the confederate navy."

"Wow... And this table is just like the map back at the castle, except more advanced and detailed!" Twilight said with wonder in her eyes as Pinkie waved her hand through the hologram, watching it fizzle at her touch while she giggled. The Colonel proceeded to walk over to the map as he stood over it's control console, pressing a few buttons to enlarge the Dreadnought as they watched in awe.

"The Blade of Serenity is known as a Providence-Class Dreadnought, equipped with a massive variety of offensive and defensive systems, as well as an impressive suite of aerial craft and ground forces." He said with models of Vulture fighters, Turbo Cannons, Shield Generators, and Battle tanks appeared on display, as Twilight wrote down several sketches and notes. The ship was then cut in half to display an internal view of all the technical rooms, storage bays, machinery rooms, and manufacturing plants, including the massive store of hibernating droids onboard.

The ponies stared astonished at the intricate insides and machinery of the massive Dreadnought, it's technology completely foreign to them. Luna herself was just dumbfounded she hadn't sensed the darn thing in orbit of the planet, she could feel and listen to the stars for Faust's sake, why didn't she sense this!?!

"As you can see, the Blade of Serenity is equipped with the most advanced Confederate naval technologies, and is capable of standing to any type of modern battle cruiser. It also has an army capable of repelling any sized force in the galaxy."

"Wow... And you are certain this is true?"

"Indeed, my calculations are one thousand to one."

"Sounds accurate to me... And how many droids does this vessel currently hold?"

"Our total currently active crew rests around nine hundred to a thousand active officers and enlisted crew, along with 1.4 Million droids currently de-activated within storage." All of the ponies jaws collectively dropped, literally in Pinkie's case as her jaw hit the floor before she rolled it back up.

"H-how is that possible!?! How do you fit so many droids in such a tight space? Isn't it like being crammed in a sardine can?"

"Thanks to droids being able to compact themselves during de-activation, as well with it being combined with ease of storage, compartmentalizing and safely storing the droids within the ship's cargo hold is easy. Of course, having them all active at once would be only detrimental to operations, so they are typically only activated for ground operations, such as many of the droids you see here." He says, as several of the working droids all wave at the ponies before returning to their jobs.

"I see... And how exactly did you get these droids down here from your ship? We didn't see any... Landing pods, I believe they were called?" She said turning to 5264 as he nodded.

"That is because we utilized landing shuttles to transport our troops and supplies down here. And as I was recently informed, the general himself has arrived by shuttle earlier, and should be arriving right about..."

Suddenly, the door to the control room opened, before two imposing looking commando droids holding their rifles stepped through, before making way for a rather imposing figure, as they walked through the door and left the ponies astonished.

General Kalani somehow managed to match even Princess Celestia in terms of height, his menacing stature and walk putting the ponies slightly on edge while they gazed into his three orange eyes. His almost regal color scheme on his chassis gave off a sense of authority, and the way he walked with his servos behind his back made him seem professional. And as he finally reach the ponies and looked to the ponies and their slightly worried faces, he spoke in a menacing and almost monotone voice.

"Greetings, ponies..."

13. Negotiations

[Alpha Headquarters Control Room. 7:00 PM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

The atmosphere of the room was tense enough to be cut with a holo knife, as General Kalani, Lieutenant-Colonel TF-3749, and Major OOM-5264 stood at one end of the hexagonal holo table, while Princess Celestia, Luna, and Twilight stood at the other. Twilight politefully smiled at the droids, trying to ease tensions, while Luna had a more stern look, and Celestia bore a more neutral face. To the princesses, these negotiations were unlike anything they had ever experienced, having only dealt with small kingdoms rather than an advanced space faring nation of droids, and the stakes felt higher than ever.

General Kalani meanwhile, was as cool as a cucumber, as the humans would say. He had participated in negotiations with large scale inter-planetary empires, militaristic conquerors, or wealthy and corrupt business men, he could handle some magical humanoid ponies. Lieutenant TF-3749 felt much the same way, as he had been present for several negotiations in his history of activity, allowing him to pick up on the nuances and strategies of negotiating. However, Major OOM- 5264 had absolutely zero idea what he was supposed to do or say, with him and his squad only ever appearing at the negotiating table once, and that was as security detail.

Twilight's friends meanwhile were busy watching the tense staring contest from afar, along with the rest of 5264's squad. Many of the droids in the room were also watching, as Pinkie could be heard slowly eating popcorn.

Deciding to break the ice, Princess Celestia decided to speak first in a neutral tone.

"So, you must be the famous General Kalani, yes?" Celestia said as the Droid General slowly nodded.

"Correct, I am the current commander of the Blade of Serenity and it's forces. Of course, I was originally a General within the Sepratist Alliance, before the transmission of the droid shutdown sequence. Due to my calculations, I predict I am also one of the few remaining high ranking commanders and members within the Confederacy of Independent Systems, so I suppose you could say that I currently lead the CIS as a whole, at this time at the very least. When a suitable canidate for leading the CIS has been found, I shall step down from power." Kalani said, speaking in his cold and emotionless tone while Celestia slowly nodded.

"I see... And this Confederacy is essentially an alliance of worlds and nations?"

"More or less, it was meant to allow worlds that wished for independence to break away from the Republic and work with their fellow independent worlds to create a new and just system, one free of the Galactic Republic's corrupt hold. I originally answered to a Sith Lord, known as Count Dooku, a member of the corrupt Separatist council who was secretly using me along with the other members of the CIS to further a sith plot to destroy the Jedi and create a new Galactic Empire. Luckily, me and my droid troops were present within a garrison on Agamar, and due to my intelligence, I assumed the signal sent out for all droids to shut down was a Republican trick, thus resulting in me refusing the shut down sequence to occur."

General Kalani finished speaking, as the Princesses took time to process what they had just heard. Soon, Celestia spoke again.

"So the Confederacy was meant to create a peaceful and harmonic galaxy free of tyranny and corruption, only to be used as a tool by dark forces to further the evil it sought to destroy..."

"Indeed, and while I wish I could have somehow stopped it, I now have the chance to potentially give the CIS a second chance so to speak. I wish to try and potentially recreate the Confederacy, this time one without Sith interloping and free of corrupt corporate influence, a confederacy that fulfills it's true purpose of creating freedom and prosperity. Those foolish corporations were the reason the CIS had been corrupted. That is why I have come here to present you with an offer."

"And what may this offer be?" Celestia said, before the Lieutenant Colonel spoke up.

"Our resources are currently limited in terms of fuel and manufacturing capability, restricting our ability to construct a force capable of fighting against the Empire. We also understand that you and your people face threats from several potential enemies on this world, and how you are limited by your primitive technology. Thus, the General has drafted an idea that would fix all of our problems."

"I am no administrator droid, or politician, but our technology and army of droids at the ready could theoretically be put to use by someone that is just and fair. I observed many nations upon your world, and none were more fitting than your people, who advocate for peace, justice, prosperity, and more importantly, universal harmony. That is why I offer you and your kingdom the ability to take upon the mantle of leadership for the entire Confederacy of Independent Systems, granting you control over the technology and resources aboard the Blade of Serenity, as well as full authority over me and my forces. As for who would be the direct leader, I believe that you are the suitable canidate."

Celestia and her fellow princesses visibly recoiled from the offer. Control over an entire army of technologically advanced droids from beyond the stars? The ponies would have been happy to simply accept a form of alliance or friendship with the droids, but outright assuming command over them? Not only would they be gaining control of technology and resources far beyond their understanding, but they could potentially make themselves a target of potential enemies, both on their world and across the galaxy!

Twilight looked to Kalani as she spoke to him in a calm tone. "The princesses along with me and my friends would... Like to discuss this privately, if you don't mind." Kalani nodded, watching as Twilight, Luna, and Celestia excused themselves and walked over to speak with their friends. "Alright, what does everyone think about this? Personally, I'm not sure what to think..." Twilight said as Fluttershy quietly spoke.

"Well, they seem quite nice and friendly, even if they are... Machines of war... They did say they wanted to create freedom and prosperity, isn't that something we want? They need a place where they're safe from those meanies of the Empire, and I think it'd be nice for them to live here." Applejack nodded, before stating her own opinion.

"Honestly if you ask me, I say we work with 'em. They're fine folks, they wanna work with us, and they wanna grant us access to all of their advanced tech, so I say it's a win. Plus, they plan to fight this evil Empire they keep talkin' about, and I say we oughta help 'em do it!" When Applejack finished her enthusiastic statement, Rarity spoke up.

"In my humble opinion, these 'droids' seem... Hostile. Not in the evil or mean way, but more... As they say, blast first and ask questions later type of individuals. Though I assume that with their advanced command structure it can be controlled..." After Rarity finished her statement, Rainbow Dash decided to come forward with her own idea.

"Well, 5264 and his friends are pretty cool, so the rest of the droids are probably cool too, and I'd love to see what their neat technology can do! Bet it won't be as fast as me, but we'll see... Oh and yeah, we'd be giving them a place to crash with us." As Rainbow Dash gave a confirming nod, Twilight then turned to Starlight Glimmer who spoke with a kind tone.

"Well Twilight, when you helped me see the error of my ways and reform, I thought I was kinda beyond redemption honestly. But then you girls helped me get through it with friendship, and I think these droids need friendship and forgiveness as well. It doesn't matter who they fought for if they didn't have a choice, because now we can help them find peace and help protect Equestria together!" Starlight Glimmer triumphantly said as everypony clapped, before looking to Spike who just shrugged.

"I just think they're cool looking. I mean look at that Kalani dude, he looks swag." And as everypony looked back to the droid general, they had to agree, that paint scheme looked good on him. As they all looked back to each other, Celestia and Luna looked at each other as they spoke.

"Sister, I believe Twilight and her friends are right in this. Plus, with the ever growing threat of Chrysalis and her changelings, as well as other dark forces, we require all the help we can get." Princess Luna said as Celestia nodded. Soon, the three princesses finally made their decision, as Celestia slowly walked in front of General Kalani, matching his height as she spoke in a happy tone.

"After careful consideration, I believe I speak for all of ponykind when saying that we will happily take upon the responsibility of defending freedom and leading the CIS. You and your droids will have a safe home here in Equestria, Kalani, I promise." Celestia said, smiling as she stretched her hand out, which was shaken by Kalani's as all of the droids and ponies in the room began clapping and cheering.

"Excellent, I believe this is the start of a mutually beneficial relationship."

"WOOO YEAH, CIS IS BACK IN ACTION BABY!" 5264 cheered out.

Author's Note

Hooooo boy, this took a long time to get out, and may be a bit rushed.

If ya see any errors or have some critiques, lemme know.

14. Bring the Ponies to Work Day

[Alpha Headquarters Control Room, 8:00 PM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

"What does this button do?" Pinkie asked, for approximately the 50th time as she pointed at a big red button on one of the terminals in the control room.

"That button is utilized for triggering an emergency alert across the facility, engaging a lockdown and sealing all doors and windows." Replied TF-3749, in a very tired tone. He was surprised anybody was this curious about the functions of the control room's equipment, but no amount of happiness to answer questions could last long enough when those questions came in a non-stop barrage.

"What about this one?"

"That button activates all currently offline Droids for mobilization, as well as alerting active units for new orders.

"This one?"

"That button engages security systems of the facility, and before you ask, the button next to it sends a call to the Blade of Serenity for reinforcements."

"Cool! And what about this one?"

"That button serves no purpose, it is for stress relief."

"Can I please push it?"

"You may."

Cue Pinkie pressing the button so fast it proceeded to completely break, letting out sparks as it's rapid button-caused beeping ceased. "Oops, sorry! Didn't think that would happen!"

"Never in my career have I seen that type of button be disabled from constant use in 0.5 seconds. I will catalog this data for potential use."

"Okee dokee! Say, don't you ever get bored, mister Colonel sir?"

"Not in the traditional sense. I am not programmed to get 'bored', or even feel any similar emotion. However, I do not like to be seen doing nothing and prefer to always be giving people orders. Miss Pinkie Pie, would you like to be given an order?"

"Sure thing!"

"Grab a sponge and go clean the pads on the Airfield." After a few seconds of Pinkie staring confused, the Colonel clarified. "The Airfield was originally the castle courtyard, accessible via taking the elevator down one floor and taking a right, then a left and exiting out into the artillery cannon emplacements, then you go past them to reach the airfield." The Colonel then handed Pinkie a sponge and a bucket, as she grabbed them and saluted.

"Sir yes sir!" Pinkie shouted followed by her zipping off at lightspeed, dazing the tactical droid as he turned to OOM-9164. "Ensure she doesn't accidentally break anything else, and also ensure all personnel are up to date with the ponies access authorization."

"Roger roger." 9164 said as he saluted and proceeded to follow the perplexing pink pony.

"What about me?" 9164 said, or rather, the clone of 9164 spoke up, surprising TF-3749 before he regained his composure.

"Firstly, due to the possibility of confusion between you and your... Clone, you will hereby be designated as 9164-B, while the original shall be known as 9164-A. As for your orders, you are to remain here and answer any questions the other ponies may have. I cannot answer their questions as I am required to direct the offloading of additional materials."

While it was partially true, TF-3749 just wanted to get out of this room and away from all of these illogical questions and behaviors.

"Roger roger." 9164-B said as he saluted before the Colonel exited the room, closing the door behind him before turning to B1-282. Where it was the original 282 or his clone, 9164-B had no idea

"He just ditched us didn't he?"

"Yep. Now go show the ponies around."

"Roger roger."

Meanwhile at the other end of the room, Major OOM-5264 and 7262 were currently checking the holo map of the Everfree forest as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity looked with them, closely observing the map as 7262 threw a fit over the forests layout.

"This forest makes no sense! The weather is totally unpredictable, the paths are zig where they should zag, the wildlife is hazardous, and even the forest itself is a hazard!"

"That's the Everfree for ya, an un-natural anomaly. Not even Rainbow and her pegasi friends can predict or control it's weather."

"Wait... Pegasi can control the weather?"

"Yep, and we're pretty good at it too! Heck, we can whip any kind of weather if we got enough ponies to do it!"

"Write that down, write that down! We can use that!" 5264 said as he turned to 7262 who was rapidly writing in a notepad while the two mares giggled. "Wait, how do you even do it?"

"Well, how else darling? With Magic, like you see me doing right now." Rarity said before gesturing to her horn as it glew purple before a similar shade of purple aura surrounded 5264's blaster on the table before lifting it up into the air as the droids watched in amazement.

"Woah... It's like the Force!"

"What in the hay is the force?"

"It's a sort of space Magic that these ancient warriors called Jedi used. They were very well skilled in utilizing it to their advantage, as well as wielding lightsabers." 7262 explained.

"That sounds cool! So wait, could we be Jedi?"

"I dunno, you could try though."

"That would be so sick!"

Outside of the control room walking in a long corridor, General Kalani and Princess Celestia slowly walked while escorted by two Commando Droids, illuminated by the moonlight outside.

"May I ask why you feel the need to escort us? We are perfectly safe, and even then we are capable of defending ourselves, my friends. Not that we doubt your abilities of course."

"It is our programming to protect high value individuals ma'am. Our duty is to ensure your security at all times." One of the commando droids answered, before the other spoke up.

"We also possess no other possible objectives to complete, and feel the need to be seen doing something important and meaningful so we feel accomplished."

"That is understandable. Now then, General Kalani-"

"Please, simply refer to me as Kalani, unless of course we are in a state of War, then you may refer to me as General."

"Ah, well then Kalani, I must ask, who was the original leader of the Confederacy?"

"While the Confederacy had no true elected official, functioning more on a Congress system with an elected leader, the Head of State was a sith master known as Count Dooku or Darth Tyranus, while the title of, and pardon the mouth-full, Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist Droid Armies, going to General Grievous. Both of them wielded lightsabers and were highly adept at lightsaber combat, terminating many jedi as well as leading their armies well. I remember meeting General Grievous on the battlefield and saw him terminate three jedi at once."

"This general sounds like a highly adept warrior... Where are they both now?"

"While the status of General Grievous is still unconfirmed, I was informed a few days before the shut down code was transmitted that Count Dooku was killed at the hand of a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker. As such, the Confederacy was left dis-organized, and the last fews days of the CIS were filled with chaos as the communications link was filled with panic and despair... However, now it is silent."

"Oh dear, so the rest of the Confederacy is gone... Well then, we will just have to work on rebuilding it! But that reminds me, when we were discussing our relations between the confederacy and Equestria, you said that Dooku was part of the corrupt seperatist council, no?"

"While this is true, he himself was not corrupt, far from it in fact. Only the corporations part of the council were fully corrupt. Dooku himself in fact stood for the principles of the CIS, hating corruption, standing for liberty and freedom. However, the influence of his sith master, Darth Sidious, clouded his judgement... I have been informed through private channels he was once a former Jedi Master, and a well respected one at that."

"So a noble warrior who wished to destroy evil and make their nation a better place, turned to dark powers for help... It sounds all too familiar to me. But moving on, if I may ask, why did you choose our world specifically? Certainly there were other candidates?"

"Well, when we activated the hyper drive, we entered a set of random coordinates for the western part of the Galaxy, an area mostly unexplored by the Republic or CIS. I suppose it explains why civilizations like yours were able to fly under the proverbial radar of the wider galaxy. Regardless, this planet also hosted an abundance of resources, including the components for construction of more droids, fuel for our starship, and most importantly, remaining out of Imperial space. Of course, there are the dis-advantages of the multiple species on this planet possessing primitive technology, including your own kingdom. No offence."

"None taken, ever since many of our brightest minds passed away and their knowledge was never properly documented, we have had trouble trying to adapt to the modern age. I have heard that overseas in the land of Griffonia they are wielding steel weapons that breathe fire and iron wagons that roll over enemies. I suppose it's time that the modern age has caught up with us. Even Twilight tried to push us to modernize when she was still my student."

"She seems very curious and knowledgeable even now. Now then, it would seem this planet's solar cycle is coming to an end, and you should likely gather your party to return to your homes for tonight. Tomorrow we shall dispatch a diplomatic envoy directly to your capital."

"I understand. It was wonderful meeting you and your droids, General."

"Likewise." The Princess outstretched her hand, and the General answered as he shook it with his own. "I believe this is the start of a beautiful relationship, between the CIS and Equestria, and Ponies and Droids."

A Relationship which would soon be tested.

15. A Trip to Canterlot

[Alpha Headquarters Officer Meeting Room, 5:00 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

The elevator door opened as General Kalani, Lituenant Colonel TF-3749, and Major OOM-5264 stepped inside the dim room, the only light source being a white light above a circular table, lighting up three chairs as the commander took their seats.

"Aren't there supposed to be more officers here? I mean, we got plenty of OOM droids on base." 5264 asked as Kalani responded.

"I deemed it nesscary to bring only you two here because at the moment you are my trusted subordinates, as well as the fact we lack experienced officer personnel. OOM-9164 and his clone are good candidates, but I have yet to see their skills in action, the same goes for the rest of our droid personnel, they have almost zero combat experience. Regardless, I have called this meeting to discuss our diplomatic approach in the coming diplomatic meeting with the Head of the Equestrian State at their capital city known as Canterlot. Major, you are leading the envoy mission, so it is recommended you be first to make a suggestion." General Kalani said before gesturing for 5264 to speak.

"Well, personally, I have absolutely zero idea about how diplomacy and negotiations work, I'm just a ground commander."

"I see. Colonel, what do you believe is the most viable method of negotiation?" Kalani said as he turned and gestured for TF-3749 to speak.

"I believe the most logical approach is further strengthening relations between Equestria and the CIS through the demonstration of our technological and military capabilities, as well as showing willingness to learn more about their nation. According to what limited information we gathered from the ponies during our first meeting, there are many potentially hostile powers on this planet, and demonstrating both willingness and capability to defend this land could lead to the Equestrians trusting more in the confederacy, and potentially expanding our sphere of influence to encompass the planet, uniting it and allowing us to better coordinate our rearmament and consolidate our resources."

After a long pause, 5264 spoke in a confused tone. "Uh... What?"

Letting out what was the equivalent of a sigh, 3749 simplified. "We must show them our advanced technology, as well as study their nation's history."

"Ooooh, I get it! Yeah, me and my squad can do that. Ask simple questions, gloat about our sweet tech, simple stuff."

"Excellent, you may take my Sheathipede transport shuttle to Canterlot so that you may both arrive on time and, as some would put it, in style. We shall deploy Vulture fighters to escort you and also commence a 'fly-over' to demonstrate our air superiority. Now go make preparations, you leave in one hour."

[Alpha Headquarters Barracks, 5:20 AM.]

The members of Alpha squad, along with several other droids, could be seen lounging around inside the barracks, lazing about and doing whatever it was that helped them pass the time.

7262 was busy inspecting the squad's equipment and supplies, going as far as to count every single grenade they had, approximately counting three in total, including one stun grenade, one explosive grenade, and one... Confetti grenade? Looks like Pinkie tampered and experimented with their equipment while the ponies were here.

3956 was busy playing a holo arcade machine, trying to get his high score, before his little spacehsip got blasted and he got a game over. In a fit of gamer rage, 3956 kicked the cabinet, only to clutch his foot in pain while the droids waiting in the line behind laughed.

And 2197 could be seen with a group of three other droids around a holographic table, watching a game of Dejarik, also known as Holochess, as 2197's massive Rancor battled a much smaller Ng'ok, only for the small beast to use it's mouth hands with sharp teeth to bite attack the Rancor and defeat it, as it faded away and the droid on the other end of the table reached his hand out, leaving 2197 to groan as he handed over a handful of credits.

"Undisputed champ baby."

The door to the barracks opened, as 5264 entered the barracks to see his squad members spending their free time, before quickly getting their attention. "Ahem."

...

"AHEM!"

The droids within the barracks quickly ceased their activities before 5264's squadmates quickly stood at attention and saluting, with 7262 speaking up. "Apologies Major, we just got bored waiting for orders."

"You are excused. No need for addressing me by my title, I'm still your squadmate, rank doesn't matter. Now then, in about half an hour we're gonna be heading off to Canterlot as diplomatic envoys, so I want you all on your best behavior, understood?"

"Roger roger." All three droids spoke in unison.

"But why did they choose us envoys? We know nothing about diplomacy, the only thing we are actually good at is blasting! I barely got through that first meeting with them without going ballistic!" 2197 said as he spoke with a frustrated and confused tone.

"The General said we did pretty well with first contact, and he thinks we can do it again, except this time it's a full on diplomatic meeting. I am certain that we can pull it off though, so suit up and get ready to move, we'll be taking the shuttle in half an hour. Oh, and 7262, be sure to bring some blueprints and displays, we gotta wow the crowd on this one. And as for the rest of you, stop lazing about and get back to your duties!"

Collective groans were heard from the occupants of the barracks.

[Canterlot Castle Courtyard, 6:05 AM]

The pleasant sunshine slowly beamed down upon the courtyard, the gentle wind blew through the air causing the trees to sway and the birds to lightly chirp as they flew into the air. The flowers bloomed in a sensation of many colors and scents. Peacefully walking through the courtyard, Princess Luna could not help but admire the beauty of the day that her sister helped bring. Sure, she preferred the night, and honestly she would prefer to be inside playing Super Mareio 64 right now, but still. Today was quite a day, because not only were they having a diplomatic meeting with the Buffalo tribes, but they were also meeting representatives from Griffonstone and Kiria.

However, Luna then realized there was another more unique group that would be coming to the meeting, and she was quickly reminded of that when she heard a distant sound emit from the skies. It sounded similar to that of a metallic screeching, before seeing a squadron of metal birds soar overhead, their grey metal exteriors gleaming in the sunlight as they soared over all of Canterlot, circiling around the castle before they descended upon the courtyard, slowly lowering themselves down before suddenly their wings twisted and shifted into legs, standing themselves upright as they communicated with a series of beeping and whirring while their mechanical 'heads' extended outwards and swerved to survey the area.

[All squadron members report status.]

[All systems are nominal.]

[Affirmative, all lights green.]

[Functions at one hundred percent.]

[Squadron status confirmed. Operational task complete, landing zone secure. Await arrival of VIP transport.]

While Luna had no idea what the massive mechanical beasts were saying to each other, she remembered Kalani saying that they were called 'Vulture' droids. Deciding to try and communicate, Luna stepped forward and lightly waved at the machine.

"Um, greetings Vulture droids! It is uh... Nice to meet you!" Luna said with a nervous tone as the vulture droids all turned their heads toward Luna, nodding collectively.

[Presence of 'Luna' entity confirmed, informing Envoy.]

A few seconds later, a more pleasent humming was heard from the sky before the sight of what Luna knew as a 'Sheathipede shuttle' descended into the courtyard, landing in the center as it's many legs unfolded outwards, lowering it's ramp as four familiar droids exited.

"Good morning miss princess! General Kalani decided that we would be the best team to act as a diplomatic envoy, and as such, here we are!" Major OOM-5264 said as he stepped down the ramp of the shuttle, followed by five other B1 droids, three of which being his familiar squadmates while two of them bore red markings, indicating they were security droids. "Please excuse my security, the General said it was needed to be safe. And don't mind the Vultures, they were just our aerial escorts." He said waving to the vulture as they beeped in return, before he made a signal with his hand gesturing for them to fly upwards.

[Escort duty accomplished, aerial security detail commencing. Engage patrol pattern.]

The four Vultures morphed back into their flight form before ascending into the sky, blasting off as they began flying in a circle around the general area surrounding Canterlot.

Luna couldn't help but feel amazed by how coordinated the Vultures were, before she turned her attention to 5264 and smiled as she shook his hand. "It brings us much pleasure to see you here. And quite nice timing too, the other envoys are soon to arrive!"

"Wait, other envoy's?"

"I'll inform you more once you are acquainted, please follow me."

"Roger roger." 5264 said, gesturing for his droid companions to come with him as they all walked inside.

Meanwhile, the two pilot droids sitting in the shuttle waited until everyone was inside before sealing the ramp and getting out of their seats, opening a secret compartment to reveal a holo chess as they placed it on the floor of the passenger bay.

"I bet 50 credits I can beat you this time."

"Your on."

16. There goes the Neighborhood

[Canterlot Castle Meeting Hall, 6:20 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6]

The large doors to the vast hall opened as Princess Luna took in a deep breath, accidentally breathin in some dust as she coughed, the room having not been dusted in quite a while. Using her magic she slowly opened the curtains over the windows, letting her sisters sunlight flow into the room and properly illuminate it, helping to ensure all the seats were set. She looked to see all of the flags of the many nations who had sent diplomats for today's meeting.

However, there was one additional flag among the banners of the world nations today. The flag and symbol of the CIS, hanging proudly upon a banner of OOM-5264 and the rest of his squad, or sorry, fellow envoys examined it. The standard white and purple colors of the CIS and it's key emblem seemingly shined in the light of the sun.

"Gotta say, compared to these other flags, our flag looks kinda bland. May need to overhaul it, make it look not as... Boring." 2197 said as he looked around the room and gazed at the other flags and symbols of the nations.

"No doubt, a re-design is definetly needed, especially with a more unique color palette besides just white and purple." 7262 said as he held a lower part of the banner and examined it closely.

"Hey, since were doing some rebranding we could use more friendly colors like the ponies do, that ought to get us in this planet's good graces. It'd also help distinguish from our past of being tools of that meddiling dooku and dang sith, plus purple and white don't exactly seem like the most inviting of colors. Gotta keep the original symbol though, it's our trademark." 3956 said as the other droids nodded before 5264 looked at a clipboard with the names of various nations on them.

There was the Griffonian Empire.

The United Kingdom of Hippogriffia and Seaquestria.

The Kingdom of Yakyakistan.

The Tribal Federation of Zarantia.

The Kingdom of Saddle Arabia.

And the Republic of Asterion, otherwise known as the Republic of Minotaurus.

"Surprised there's only a single nation that's a republic, guess were dealing with mostly autocracies and absolutists."

"Not like that's new for us, heck we chose a monarchy to lead the new CIS didn't we?"

"Fair enough. Anyways, what is this meeting about anyways?" 5264 said as the rest of the droids took their seats.

"Well, it is more of a summit between the major powers of the world, so that we may speak about important matters and make vital decisions with each other's input." Luna said as she took her seat at the very end of the table. After a few minutes of waiting, the doors to the meeting room at the far end of the room opened to reveal a rather short and sickly looking Griffon slowly walked forward, his beak appearing cracked and his back hunched as he was helped forward by his two heavily armored escorts, their royal bronze armor contrasting with the rest of the decor as they helped the griffon to his seat before turning and bowing to Luna as they removed their helmet, revealing them to be the seemingly canine in nature 'Diamond Dogs' which the droids were informed of by Twilight.

"Greetings madame Princess Luna. Kaiser Grover V has been suffering from the effects of his old age, and is currently inflicted with a heavy cold. We hope you do not mind."

"Of course not, mister Grover is welcome regardless of his current state of health." Luna said as she turned and waved to the sickly Griffon, wearing his golden crown and royal brown and black robes as he turned back and nodded, before looking towards the droids as he spoke in a raspy voice.

"And so visitors arrive from beyond the stars. The question is, are your true intentions concealed, or are they truly pure?"

"Uhhh... What?"

"Oh ho ho ho! I am simply messing with you, my dear mechanical friend, I have no doubt you come in peace. Regardless, it is nice to meet you, Major OOM-5264... Quite the name, no?" Grover said as he and his guards slowly raised their arms in a salute, as the droids were left confused before they saluted back.

"He seems real old." 3956 whispered to 2197 only to receive an elbow to the lower chassis.

"Quiet, if you make those two big dogs mad were scrap."

Soon after the Emperor had made himself comfortable, the door once more opened and two figures stepped forward, their feathery plumage, long wings, as well as their combination of both hooves and claws being stand out features to the droids, remembering how they were called 'Hippogriffs' through knowledge granted by Princess Twilight, who proved to be a very reliable source when referring to the various creatures of this planet. The two Hippogriffs bowed before the shorter one turned to see the droids as a wide smile crossed her face before she seemingly zipped right next to 5264, spooking him as he fell back in his seat.

"Hiya! Are you one of those cool droids from that weird 'CIS' thing miss Celestia mentioned? You guys come from space, and I gotta say, that is so cool! What is your culture like, do you have any hobbies, do you-"

"Now now, dear Skystar, let us not bother the... Droid, with any unnecessary questions. Now then, if I remember correctly you are the droid known as... OOM-5264, if I am correct? A curious name for a curious being." The taller and more royal appearing hippogriff said as she spoke in a more calm voice.

"Roger roger, Major OOM-5264 of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, pleased to meet you miss... Sorry, I don't really know your name, we weren't given enough time to read up on all the political stuff."

"I am Queen Novo and this is my daughter Princess Skystar."

"Hiya!" Skystar said happily with a smile before Luna let out a light giggle.

"It is good that you have both arrived here with excellent timing as ever, and in your daughters case a very positive attitude. I trust the other leaders shall arrive shortly?"

"Soon, we have simply arrived early. Skystar wished to get a good look at the inside of your palace, as this is her first time ever leaving Hippogriffia."

"And so far I'm absolutely loving it!" Skystar said as she examined every little thing, from the paintings and banners to the plant pots and tables, before accidentally bumping into a vase and sending falling towards the ground, luckily she managed to catch it before it broke apart as a sigh left Queen Novo's mouth while Luna slightly giggled. "Oh uh, sorry!"

"And I thought we were clumsy." 7262 said as his fellow droids chuckled a bit. The droids proceeded to take their seats as 7262 placed a small backpack onto the table as he unpacked several small discs and assorted devices as Skystar quickly zipped over and curiously watched.

"Oooh, what's that?"

"A holographic projection device, and those discs are where the projections are stored."

"And what's this?" Skystar said as she helped a small spherical object

"Don't touch that!" 7262 as he grabbed it away from her. "It's a thermal detonator, a powerful explosive which could bring down this castle's ceiling if it went off."

"Awesome!"

"Ugh... Look, I can answer all the questions you got about this stuff during the meeting, now please go sit down and relax..."

"Okay, but can we be friends?"

"Uhhh- I guess?"

"Okey dokey new friend!" Skystar before she zipped back to her seat while Novo simply shook her head and sighed. 7262 was visibly confused before shrugging as he went back to setting up his electronics, meanwhile 5264 was busy practicing his speech with 2197.

"Alright, from the top."

"Ahem... Me me me... Greetings hum- Wait no, no humans. Greetings alien- Nope, that's too broad. Greetings... Rulers of this world?"

"Better than aliens, that's for sure. Though I would work on the tone, bit too low and slightly offputting."

"Right right, adjust tone, got it. Hoo boy, this is stressful, I've never done negotiations before, closest thing I did was guard some diplomats! And I still sucked at that cause they wound up dead!"

"Don't worry Major, i'm sure it'll go fine. As that one farm pony said, sometimes it's good to just be yourself... Whatever the blast that means."

Over ten minutes later the doors opened to reveal the rest of the leaders as they bowed to Princess Luna before taking their seats, including a Minotaur, a Yak, a Zebra, and an Earth Pony.

"Welcome friends, it is good to see you have all arrived. I do apologize for the lack of my sisters presence, she is ironically a late sleeper." Luna said as she smiled warmly at the rest of the leaders before the Zebra dressed in ornate red and gold robes spoke.

"It is of no worry madame Luna, all rulers require sufficient sleep, even alicorns."

"Thank you Agullied Mekiouzza."

"Of course. I believe this meeting shall be especially interesting, espeically with a few new faces present." Mekiouzza said as she turned towards the droids, seemingly inspecting them.

"Uhhh, what's she doing?" 5264 asked 7262.

"She's staring at us... Menacingly."

"Yak find meeting boring, want to get down to buisness already!" The Yak yelled out as he slammed his fist on the table.

"Talk about a temper." 2917 said as he whispered to 3956.

"Reminds me of a B2 on low charge." 3956 said as he silently snickered before the Yak turned and snorted hot air from his nostrils.

"You dare insult Yak prince? Yak king smash droid!"

"What, no, it wasn't an insult, it was just a joke, it was just for laughs I swear!" 3956 said as he raised his arms defensively while the Yak proceeded to grab his seat and raise it, preparing to throw it right at him before Luna spoke in a booming voice.

"Calm yourself, Prince Rutherford! He means no harm with his humor, is that not right?" Luna said as she turned and glared at 3956, who rapidly nodded and made a thumbs up gesture. "Good, now be seated and conduct yourselves in a more noble manner." Rutherford was visibly shaken as he lowered his chair and sat down in it visibly sweating while Grover and Novo silently chuckled.

Next to take a seat was the Minotaur, adjusting his seat as he looked towards the droids. "Greetings my mechanical friends, I am honored to be given the chance to meet creatures from beyond this world. I am president Konstantine Oplí, and while Asterion and Equestria may have differing views, I belive you have picked an excellent nation to lead this so called Confederacy. If possible I would like to see my nation join alongside yours." The minotaur said with a smile.

"Well, you would certainly be welcome, considering we currently only have like... One nation. But anyways, it's nice to meet you too."

"Now then, I believe it is suitable for us to begin this meeting, now that all of us are present." Luna said before she raised a gavel and struck the table with it. "The annual international meeting of nations is now in session."

[Blade of Serenity, Hangar Deck 3.]

"Pass me the sonic screwdriver."

Clakker beeped and clattered as he gripped the tool in his robotic arm and lifted it out of the toolbox before passing it to B1-401

[Here ya go.]

"Thanks." 401 said as he used the screwdriver to screw the panel back into place as he rolled out from underneath the Sheathipede transport and wiped oil off his forehead, before turning to face Clakker and giving him a thumbs up. "Alright, transport should be good to go." Clakker returned the thumbs up.

[Wanna go play some Holo-Racer?]

"You read my mind. Why don't you invite Wrencher?"

[He's busy fixing up the reactor down in the engineering bay, got a bit of a leak.]

"Dang, that sucks. This old girl is starting to show her age eh?" 401 said tapping his foot on the floor, as the metal panel came loose and fell, exposing a pipe as it burst and steam burst out of it. "Oops."

[I swear, this whole ship is coming apart at the seams! We need more repair droids!]

"Could definitely use more solid repairs... You think those ponies know anything about mechanical engineering?"

[Doubt it, we'll just have to keep doing patch jobs until it all eventually comes apart.]

"Probably." 401 said as he and Clakker exited the Hangar bay, saluting two B2 super battle droids as they passed by as one of them spoke in a deep tone.

"Why do you think the General assigned us to Alpha base?"

"Probably for security, best not to question it." The other super battle droid as they both stepped onto the shuttle, seeing there was nobody piloting it. "... Wanna see if we can pilot this thing?"

"Worth a shot."

17. The Big Leagues

[Canterlot Castle Meeting Hall, 6:35 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6]

The meeting, at least so far, had been rather uneventful, at least for the droids. The many leaders and monarchs were busy discussing matters relating to their nations like trade agreements, non-aggression pacts, the usual stuff. Only once in a while did 5264 have to speak up, and even then all he did was just guarantee that the Confederacy wouldn't, in the words of the others in the meeting hall, reduce their nations to atoms. While it was technically not possible to do that, unless you sustained an intense planetary bombardment for several years using a large scale fleet, 5264 still figured it was best to just agree they wouldn't do so.

The occasional glance towards the droids did not fail to catch 5264's attention, the mood in the room being one of high tensity, with the droids feeling as though they did not belong here. And of course, when you have a small squad of droids in a room with a bunch of bipedal talking mythological creatures, feeling like you aren't meant to be there is a common feeling. But the droids decided to simply ignore this feeling, and continue to listen to the meeting while doing their own thing.

7262 was busy adjusting the holo-projecter was fully functional while polishing it's data discs, 3956 was ensuring the safeties on the blasters were set properly, and 2197 was making sure that none of the thermal detonators were accidentally primed. 5264 himself was reading a holo pad with a script written down by the Colonel, as he rehearsed the lines inside his processor or quietly whispering them to himself. He sometimes looked up to exchange glances with the other leaders, before looking back down to his pad.

For his first ever time working as an envoy, and his third time attending a diplomatic meeting, it was going pretty well so far. Of course, he would never say it out loud or else the Force would sense him jinxing it and send a tidal wave of bad luck his way. He kept reminding himself of the most important part of negotiating that were taught to him by the Colonel. Just stay calm and collected, and don't screw things up. Should be simple enough... Right?

Well, enough worrying, it was time for 5264 to get his game face on. Well, he didn't have a game face, because he had no real facial features, but still. He knew that they were reaching the climax of the meeting, and knew the final subject would no doubt involve the CIS. He thought back to what General Kalani had told him.

'Answer any and all questions as truthfully as possible without leaking classified information. Then, display the capabilities of our technology and call in your vulture escorts for a bit of an... Air show.'

A simple plan, one so simple not even he could screw it up, and he wouldn't. He looked to his other squadmates as they looked back to him and nodded confidently. Turning to the other delegates, he noticed they were about finished with the more boring topics, as 5264 stretched out his hand and 7262 passed him the first disc for the holo-projecter, as he went ahead and slotted it in, calibrating it properly to ensure it would activate and display it's data accurately when needed. Any kind of screw-up here would not look good for them.

"Now then, we shall move on to the primary subject of this summit, related to the most recent concerning not only Equestria, but all of our world. I am of course referring, to the arrival of the Blade of Serenity, flagship of the Confederacy of Independent Systems." Princess Luna said as she turned and nodded to 5264, as all the other delegates turned to him before he stood up and made a salute before speaking.

"Greetings representatives and delegates, I am Major OOM-5264, current elected envoy for the CIS. By the request of General Kalani, who cannot be here at this time due to his busy schedule, I am here to answer any and all questions you may have, and provide additional insight and knowledge about the Confederacy and it's history." He gazed around the room, noticing that Emperor Grover had risen his hand, as 5264 turned to him and pointed to him. "You there, emperor, you have a question?"

"Indeed I do. We have only heard a small amount of your history from miss Luna here, and would like to have further information on where you originate from."

"Well then, your just in luck, cause this nifty device here can help with that." He says gesturing to the projector. "This is a holo-projector, capable of displaying data discs and the contents stored on them, including but not limited to, slideshows!" He said before pressing a button on the projector and...

Nothing happened. He pressed the button once more, yet nothing happened. "Uhhh... Technical difficulties." He said nervously before turning and spamming the button rapidly until the projector finally turned on, displaying the banner of the CIS. "Alright, ahem... The Confederacy was formed in the year 7953 according to the Coruscant calendar, composed of many worlds which broke away from the Galactic Republic, as well as several corporate unions and federations." He said before moving to the next slide, displaying the face of Count Dooku, his signature look of superiority on his face unnerving everyone else in the room.

"This is Count Dooku, the Confederacy's founder. While he was a sith lord being puppeted by Darth Sidious, he really did want to root out corruption, and just got a bit... Lost, along the way. However, with both him and the corporations gone, now we droids have taken up the mantle of running it." 5264 said as the projector changed to an image of several B1 droids saluting in front of AATs with their guns aimed upward.

"We have vowed to fight the enemies of the Confederacy no matter what, we shall fight them on the beaches, in the hills and the mountains! And we have done so ever since the clone wars, and we could've won if weren't for the shutdown order issued by Sidious. Of course, we hold nothing against the clones, in fact General Kalani, our leader, actually fought alongside a small group of clones and their friends against the Empire!" He said as the slide changed once more, showing battle droids and clone troopers fighting imperial stormtroopers and a menacing AT-AT in the distance. The next slide was showing clone troopers and battle droids shaking hands in front of the now destroyed AT-AT, before the final slide showed General Kalani standing proudly in front of a large force of a variety of droids and vehicles, the banner of the CIS flying above him on a flag pole.

"And so we continue our glorious purpose of fighting the corrupt power of the Republic, which is now the Empire, in the eternal war for freedom and solidarity. Although technically there is no war, but when we are prepared to liberate our old worlds, we shall fight with pride knowing we stand for what's right! So yeah, that is our whole generals shtick and history, though if needed I can elaborate on more complicated details." He turned to 7262, nodding to him as the droid activated his communicator.

"Squadron Avalon, commence demonstration." A distant and distinct metallic screeching was heard tearing through the sky as several sharp and angular shapes flew past the windows of the meeting hall, as the leaders looked out the window to see the squadron of Vulture fighters performing advanced maneuvers and tricks in the air, before activating the fog emission canisters strapped to their underside as they then traced the symbol of the CIS in the sky. 5264 then looked back to a dumbstruck room of leaders as they continued to look at the squadron as it flew back up into the clouds.

"Any other questions?" A series of claps sounded out for his dramatic presentation before hands were raised.

The halls outside of the meeting room were silent, with only two guards standing in front of the grand doors acting as security. They were almost totally still, save for the occasional fidgeting one of them did. As they held their spears in their hands and stood guard, a lone servant pony walked by in their fancy uniform, turning and nodding to the guards as they nodded back, before staring into the mares eyes. The servant's eyes were a bright and vibrant green, a small smirk appearing on their face with fangs showing themselves. The guards barely had time to react before they felt their minds become overwritten and controlled, suddenly and completely ceasing movement.

"Glory to Queen Chrysalis."

Author's Note

Next chapter is when things get spicy. Sorry if this one is a bit short, burnout slapped back.

18: Un-Inivited Guests

[Alpha Headquarters Command Center, 7:00 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6]

The former stone floor had been replaced by the smooth metallic steel surface underneath General Kalani's servos as he observed the holo-table at the center of the room, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel TF-3749 and recently promoted Base Commander OOM-9164-A and Operations Commander OOM-9164-B. The map displayed on the table showed a detailed one-to-one replica of Equestria in map form, including distinct markers indicating points of interest with accompanying images. Four purple markers were also seen on the table, indicating the locations of the four scout teams, or as they were now referred to since they were no longer needed for scouting, forward operations teams.

And he looked to see Alpha team right in the center of Canterlot. He still questioned if it was the right choice to put an OOM droid in charge of negotiations, but he had estimated the odds of the droid ruining the summit of nations was very low... However, he had run other calculations, and the results of one specific category made him uneasy.

'Chance of Foreign Interference or Hostile Engagement: Fifty to one.'

There were many other categories that had similar odds, such as 'Foreign Leader is murdered and murder mystery case begins' or 'Dance Battle to Assert Dominance'. He was certain half of these possible outcomes were predicted by 9164 A and B, but considering the fact that anything can happen, he didn't blame the droids. But still, the chance that hostile forces could interfere or worse outright launch an assault on the summit left the Super Battle Droid contemplating possible contingencies. He already had rapid response commando teams on standby, dropships were loaded, and the vultures flying over Canterlot had sub-routines preparing them to provide air support. If something did go wrong, he would be ready.

And it didn't take long for his preparation to pay off.

"And then, get this, Admiral Trench was still alive! Yeah, he didn't die over Christophsis!"

"My word, how is this possible?"

"Oh, he was fitted out with a bunch of cybernetic augments and stuff, didn't really help him when he shanked by a lightsaber from Anakin Skywalker."

"Skywalker... A powerful sounding name."

"Oh you don't know the half of it, Emperor. Also, funnily enough, the big boss of the empire was also an emperor, though he started as a chancellor manipulating his way to power from the inside. I don't know how the story goes, but somehow he turned the clones against the Jedi, and then he proclaimed the Empire after saying the Jedi were the ones who betrayed the republic."

"The diabolical heathen! He is no doubt a most wretched villain." Luna said with fury evident in her tone. "Such acts remind me of the vileness of Chrysalis and her changelings..."

"Yeah, but this Palpatine guy sounds worse, cause he actually succeeded!" Skystar said with worry in her tone. "How did he succeed?"

"Two words, extreme manipulation. It's a thing most Sith excel at."

"Then they are even more similar to Chrysalis than I imagined... That vile queen so easily surpassed our defenses..."

"Wait, when you say Changelings, you mean those bug looking things? Kinda reminds me of the Geonosians, especially how they live in a barren wasteland. We actually have recon team Charlie surveying their hive. All of their reports say the hive has been rather busy lately..."

"Well, what can I say? I'm a busy queen." A feminine spoke in a low and sinister tone, as everyone in the room tensed witht he droids looking around confused before turning to the doors throwing themselves open and revealing two piercing green eyes glaring from the darkness. A swirl of green magic swirled around the queen as she stepped forth and cackled to herself. "My my, what have we here? A bunch of talking tin cans from the realm beyond speaking to old decrepit fools and young idiotic idealists... How delightful. I so will enjoy it when I-"

"Who the heck are you?"

The room went silent.

"... You seriously don't know who I am?" She turned towards Luna and made a confused gesture. "I heard you talking about me outside, did you never even elaborate about me?"

"I prefer to keep word about you as little as possible, foul queen."

"Oh, that stings. But seeing as you 'droids' are unknowing of me, allow me to introduce myself... I, am Queen Chrysalis, glorious high queen of the Changeling hives! Mwahahahahahaha!"

"Ooooooooh, that's who you are! Man, Changelings really are like Geonosians, got a queen and everything."

"I see... And are these Geonosians glorious architects and conquerors?"

"Well no, they're our creators but even we know they're a bunch of weird nasty bug creatures." 2197 said nonchalantly to the literal villain.

The room fell silent, with the only sound being the twitching of Chrysalis' rapidly anger scrunching face and Luna's light snickering. An exasperated yell was heard from the vile queen before a green bolt of energy flew right towards the droid as he ducked down, before quickly rising up and grabbing his blaster, the other droids grabbing their own weapons as they disabled their safeties in sync. The diplomats and rulers in the room aside from Luna decided to duck and cover under the table while the princess had a determined glare as blue magic swirled around her horn.

"You tried to conquer this nation once, never again!"

"Correct, never again, because I won't need to try again when I am victorious!" While the two matriarchs were having an intense stare down, 7262 turned towards 6264.

"They have some serious beef."

"No kriffing way, 7262, are you serious? You couldn't tell by how they're giving each other the death stare and the evil bug queen literally invading her own home?"

"Hey, my 'state the obvious' protocol came into effect, don't blame me."

"Will you two shut up? Blast em already!" 3956 said as he fired off the first blaster bolt, as it soared towards Chrysalis and she ducked down to avoid it.

"Why you... Insolent fools, I shall destroy you vile droids!" She said, as she turned and her horn fired off several bolts of green lightning towards the droids before being struck by bright blue orbs as Luna charged forth and proceeded to tackle Chrysalis... Out the window. The droids had ducked out of the way of the bolts and moved over to the window and looked on with the other meeting members as the two matriachs dueled with their magic in the castle gardens. "Changelings, to me!" Suddenly, a bright shimmering green light obscured the form of several pony guards before their true black chitin bodies were revealed and they began to fire their own magic.

"Uh, Major, we may need to call in support!" A buzzing was on 5264's communication as he answered, hearing the mechanical beeping of the vultures.

[Sightings of hostile changeling forces spotted around Canterlot. Prepared to provide close air support.]

"Negative, hold fire, don't wanna damage the city! Switching channels to the general, just keep the air secure!" He said, adjusting his communicators frequency. "General Kalani, we have hostile changeling forces in Canterlot, the city is under attack! We need reinforcements!"

"Affirmative, support is already inbound." 5264 nodded, cutting the link as he turned and gave a thumbs up to the rest of the representative as he gave a thumbs up. "Help is on the way!"

[Alpha Headquarters Airfield]

"Let's go, let's go! Get those gunships loaded, were on a tight schedule and Canterlot needs our help now!" OOM-9164-A shouted to several droids as they loaded themselves onto the racks of HMP Gunships or into the backs of shuttles. The entire airfield was stirring as droids drove carts between ships, loading gunships with ammunition and missiles while doing last minute flight checks and equipment inspections. OOM-9164-B was beside, looking over a check-list.

"Squadron A will be deployed to the lower residential district, squadron B will be up in the commercial district, and C will be deployed directly into the castle perimeter. We'll have squadrons D and E on standby for support."

"You sure we shouldn't deploy armor?"

"AAT's would take too long to deploy, we gotta be speedy and relieve the defenders before the city falls! From what I heard they only barely managed to beat back the Changelings the first time, so we can't take chances!"

"An excellent observation Operations Commander." TF-3749 said as he walked up beside them. "The enemy has no doubt improved their strategy and adapted to Equestrian tactics and combat methods. However, they will experience an unknown variable."

"And what's that colonel?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious? We are the un-expected variable. And we bring Chrysalis to her knees with the might of the CIS."

Stepping beside the Colonel was General Kalani with his personal commando guard, as he turned his gaze to Canterlot, thin pillars of smoke rising in the distance. "Indeed. However colonel, we must return to the Blade of Serenity at once."

"May I ask what for, General?"

"When we are victorious, we cannot allow the enemy to go unpunished for this transgression. It is clear the changelings are a major threat to our Equestrian allies, and as such, they must be dealt with. We shall commence planning a counter-attack at once."

"Affirmative, General. Commanders, you are now in charge of coordinating the defense of the Canterlot with the Major."

"Wait what!?!" Both droids said simultaneously. "But we've never commanded a battle before!"

"Well then, consider this good practice."

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter after so much time lads, been busy. But, I am proud to release this new chapter as a prelude to big battle of Canterlot.

19. The Battle of Canterlot

[Canterlot Castle, 7:05 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6]

"Watch your fire, don't hit any friendlies! Protect the delegates!" 5264 shouted over the created a cacophony magic discharges and blaster fire which echoed through the city and caused many ponies to panic, the four droids firing E-5 blasters towards the changeling infiltrator who returned fire with blasts of green energy from their horns. In the castle courtyard Princess Luna and Chrysalis dueled with their magic and procured blades, their power and ferocity equal to each other as their ferocious battle dragged.

In the streets below the royal guard were seen panicking and regrouping to try and respond, only to find some among them suddenly being engulfed in green flame and their true changeling forms revealed, causing the guard to be bogged down fighting what they were thought were their comrades while civilians shed their disguises and reeked havoc in the markets and square.

"We can't keep this up, when is support getting here!?" 2197 shouted, ducking out of cover to fire his blaster and hitting a changeling dead center in the chest, the wound causing him to be launched back into the courtyard below. "Were the only droids in the city and I doubt we can fight an entire horde by ourselves!"

"Indeed, our odds of success against a large scale enemy force are... a thousand to one!" 7262 shouted, quickly turning his attention to blast a Changeling who was attempting to sneak up on Princess Skystar, who squawked as the bolt zipped by her head.

"Aren't those odds a bit hopeful?" 3956 said, shifting his sights up as took aim at several changelings firing their magic from above and bombarding the castle, knocking a couple out of the sky.

"Well, the actual odds would be demoralizing, so I prefer to not say!"

"Well it doesn't matter, command said reinforcements are en-route, so we just gotta hold out! For now we need to make sure the delegates are safe and secure!" 5264 said, turning only to see one of Grover's diamond dog bonking a Changeling over the head and flinging them out a window with ease. "Or at least cover their flanks." The droid then heard a buzzing on his comms buzzing as he answered. "OOM-5264 reporting!"

"Good news Major, support has arrived!" The voice of OOM-9164, which version the major could not tell, rang out over the comm link as the droid looked up to see multiple gunships escorted by vultures suddenly fly overhead, one of them descending into the castle courtyard as it's cannons took aim and fired towards Chrysalis, who snarled and ducked into cover.

"What type of foul sorcery allows you to forge these savage metal beasts?!" She said, firing a bolt of green magic into the gunships armored front, which only prompted it to return fire with a missile, the detonation launching Chrysalis and some of her changelings away. She groaned, rubbing her head before sending a signal to the rest of her changelings in the castle to fall back as she flapped her wings and flew away, barely avoiding the gunships cannon fire.

"Hey, don't go calling our gunships beasts!" Said one of the droids deploying from the racks mounted to the bottom of the gunship, quickly unfolding and securing the area as they pinned down changelings and blasted with stun shots. "Neutralize the changelings and take them prisoner, then secure the castle and the delegates!" The squad leader said before turning and looking to 5264 as he saluted. "Were under your command sir, 9164-A and B are busy helping to take back the city!"

"Roger roger, make sure the castle's clear and we'll move out to support them!"

"Roger roger!" The droids scattered out and swept across the area, zapping any changelings they spotted before 5264 turned to the delegates.

"Alright everyone, this is our time to move on out of here! 7262, guide them to a safer part of the castle."

"Roger roger!" 7262 said as he turned and gestured for the delegates to focus their attention on him. "Alright, stick with me and you'll make it through this!"

"We shall stand beside you." Grover said, his diamond dog guards moving him with swiftness as the delegates left the room in a hurry, 7262 leading the way and checking the halls. 5264 turned to see princess Luna glide down to the ground in front of him.

"That foul Chrysalis and her armies have scrambled away from the castle, they no doubt mean to take the city and trap the delegates inside. We trust you have the means to beat them back?"

"Roger roger ma'am, we just received reinforcements. In fact I think I hear the second wave!" He said as the droids in the courtyard looked up in conjunction with Luna as four more gunships soared overhead and into the city, flying through pillars of smoke towards their destination. 5264 then looked back down and got the attention of his troops. "Alright ya clankers, let's go save the day!"

A loud collection of 'Roger roger''s rang out from the droids as they all grouped together into a squad and moved towards the castle's main entrance, Luna leading the way as she rushed through the winding corridors, blasting the changelings who attempted to ambush her and her allies. Soon they came to the main doors as Luna threw them open with her magic, just in time to see several changelings get strafed by the blaster cannons of a Vulture droid soaring overhead, the changelings being blasted back into walls and into piles of rubble as a gunships deployed a squad of super battle droids, who's intimidating forms towered over the changelings and pushed a few to surrender, the rest receiving a quick stun shot to the face with the exception of one receiving an outright solid punch.

"We must say, you truly are skilled warriors, wielding your weapons of light and fire."

"Well ma'am, we were built for war, it's in our programming. Although I think the reason were doing a lot better than usual is because they don't shoot back, least with blasters. Now then, let's get to it, secure the main plaza and ensure the castle is defended!"

"Roger Roger!" The droids rang out. Luna couldn't help but internally sigh, the droids battle cry and affirmation signalling this would be a long and arduous fight, but it was still one she would gladly take part in.

"Deploy imminent, brace for combat." The cold voice of the HMP gunship spoke as it's laser cannon provided suppressing fire, clearing the landing zone within the town square as it rapidly descended and moved in a one eighty motion, turning it's rear to the enemy as it's racks emptied, dropping four curled up super battle droids, before they activated as they stood up, cocking their blaster cannons before taking aim at the changelings surrounding them, firing high powered blasts as the HMP retreated into the air, firing a few more bursts from it's cannon before withdrawing, flying right past a squadron of vulture droids sweeping through the sky.

SB-2094 re-adjusted his targeting protocols, coordinating his shots with his squad mates as he hit a precise shot on another changeling, blasting them into a crate of apples and other assorted fruits. "Criss cross, apple sauce." 2094 said in his cold tone as SB-1374 groaned.

"That was stupid."

"I am not programmed for humor."

"Shut up and focus on fighting."

"Killjoy." Despite their petty dispute the square was quickly cleared of hostile changelings, with them either fleeing or surrendering due to the sheer intimidating aura of the super battle droids. "Command, SB-2094 reporting, Cervil squad has taken control of main town square. Requesting new orders." 2094 said as he spoke over the comm link, with TF-3749 quickly responding.

"Confirmed, your new orders are to provide support in retaking the banking district. Our troops have confirmed the enemy is attempting to steal large amounts of the Equestrian bit reserve. This cannot be allowed to occur."

"Roger roger." 2094 nodded to himself before turning to his squad. "New orders confirmed, move out."

"Roger roger." The squad spoke in unison as they marched through the streets, with ponies hiding inside their shops slightly poking their heads out to take in the sight of the intimidating battle droids. Rounding about a street corner they quickly raised their blasters to fire on a few more changelings, the loud discharge of laser fire ringing through the streets. The green aura lighting the horns of the changelings burst as bolts of magic struck the droids, and yet the bugs found themselves befuddled when the only form of damage was a slight burn mark on their armor, before they were promptly blasted.

One of the changelings thought this battle was already lost, and decided to turn tail and run, but quickly found himself staring down a OOM-droids blaster barrel. "Hands where I can see em, hole legs!"

"That sounds a bit racist, sir." A B1 droid said as he walked up beside his squad commander.

"Oh, well my bad, but still, look at those legs, how do they walk?!" He said gesturing to the changelings legs and the presence of several holes in them.

"Probably magic."

"Yeah, probably." The OOM said before he set his blast to stun and quickly knocked out the quite confused changeling who had attempted to slink away during the droids discussion. "Alright, ensure the area is secure, then we'll move to regroup and secure the market district, command says civilians are pinned down there!"

"Roger roger!"

"All fire teams concentrate into the lower urban centers and districts, central area has been secured and reinforcements are currently inbound! Also, be advised, vultures will be running gun runs on clusters of hostiles, be ready to mark targets and make sure no civilians get caught in the crossfire!" OOM-9164-B shouted as he looked over the holographic display of Canterlot, red markers indicating enemy changeling positions with blue representing droids and yellow representing allied ponies, all scattered across the map as markers showing gunships and vultures zoomed over the map. A holographic image of General Kalani appeared on a holo-projector next to the map.

"Operations Commander, report." 9164-B quickly looked over and saluted the hologram, who saluted back.

"Sir, our forces have managed to secure over a quarter of Canterlot, and allied reinforcements are rallying for a renewed offensive into hostile controlled sectors! We've got droidekas deploying into the most heavily occupied areas, and AAT's are en-route!"

"Excellent, ensure that no matter what the city does not fall. And while I do not care for the ponies finding the permanent elimination of their enemies distasteful, I recommend we leave some alive for interrogation. I have already contacted 9164-A to requisition the construction of beta base for the containment and interrogation of hostile POW's."

"Understood sir. Also, we have reports that the elements of harmony have arrived and are currently engaged with Queen Chrysalis, alongside Princess Luna. Should we divert forces to assist?"

"Affirmative, deploy a squadron of commando droids, drive off or eliminate the enemy leader and the enemies offensive shall falter or outright collapse."

"Roger Roger, diverting now!" Kalani's hologram vanished as 9164-B quickly tapped on a blue icon, zooming in as it shifted to show a commando droid's head, before dragging the icon to make a path toward two icons, with one depicting the elements of harmony, and the other showing Chrysalis' horn. A buzz was heard on the comm feed as the commander answered. "Commando squad, report!"

"BX-984, captain of special response squad dagger, orders received and we are moving out."

"Good, ensure that mean old hag gets a full taste of the Confederacy's might!"

"Roger roger." The link cuts as the commander groans, turning back to the map.

"I didn't sign up for this... I just got cloned a few days and now I'm commanding a whole dang battle! Well... I am a commander... So might as well get used to it. Besides, least I'm not fighting on the ground."

The distant sounds of blaster fire was momentarily drowned out by the screeching whistle of a vulture droid squadron soaring above, followed by two gunships carrying additional droid forces as they flew towards the upper urban sectors still seeing heavy fighting with changeling remnants. An eerie silence then fell, only broken by the occasional sound of distant combat before quiet metal clanking was heard, a BX-series commando droid stepping into view, holding their blaster as they raised one hand to give a signal for three other commando droids behind him to stop.

BX-984 poked his head out of the alleyway they stood in, looking both ways and ensuring it was clear. And then he signaled for the squad to move forward, and they moved quickly and quietly, watching all angles and potential ambush points as they moved through the streets. 984 then turned to one of his subordinates and spoke in the baritone and emotionless voice common among commandos. "Requesting ETA."

"Approximately five minutes according to orbital scans sir."

"Understood, remain alert, hostiles could be around us." The droids all nodded to the captain as they continued on, turning off into an alleyway, taking any available shortcuts to ensure they reached their objective in time-

Snap!

The sound of broken glass being stepped on triggered the droids to quickly all aim in the direction of the sound, the two in front kneeling down to give the droids behind them a better shot while providing cover, as 984 activated his advanced scanners, his vision turning red as a single were highlighted, hiding behind overturned planters and pots. The captain then turned, non-verbally communicating via hand signals. 'One potential threat, allegiance unknown, hold fire until verified.' The droids nodded and allowed the captain to speak up. "Come out with your hands up."

Stepping out of cover was a lone unarmed changeling, keeping their hands high as they surprisingly followed the order issued by the captain, before showing a small smile as they spoke. "Uhm, I do apologize for scaring you, but I was hoping if you could allow me to assist you." The commando's looked at each other in suspicion before the captain turned back.

"What is your purpose for aiding us?"

"Well, to be frank, Chrysalis is a tyrant who rules over us changelings with an iron fist, and she outright refuses to consider simply asking for love, or having us changelings love each other! That's why I want to help you, so she stops bullying the ponies and we can one day dethrone her!"

"... Your reasoning is logical. You may assist, although we would like to know your name."

"Oh, yes, it's Thorax, nice to meet you mr..."

"Commando Captain BX-984."

"... Uhm, can I just call you captain?"

"... Acceptable. Now, we must move immediately, time restrictions require quick movement." The commando droids nodded to their captain, as they quickly continued their run through the alley, Thorax following behind as he silently hoped they weren't too late...

Author's Note

I apologize for the latency, I had to go on this long trip and that combined with burnout did not help my case, but hey, I'm back and feel better than ever.

Also, sorry if it's a cliff hanger, I wanna make sure 20 is dramatic. Even if I take a long ass time to make the second half. Man I never should've started writing, I ain't built for this.

Prologue: Revelations

Atmosphere of Agamar, 2 BBY

"Roger, roger." The young voice of Ezra Bridger spoke before Kalani terminated the communications link. Although Kalani did not like to think about it, it would likely be the last time he ever saw the young padawan and his accomplices. Regardless, Kalani now had to focus on getting what remained of his troops as far away from Agamar as possible. Luckily, the Sheathipede-class shuttle was equipped with a Hyperdrive, so Kalani turned to the two B1 pilot droids piloting the ship and issued the order to jump to lightspeed.

"Engage hyperdrive systems."

"But where to sir?" Kalani took a short few moments to think about possible destinations. It had been over seventeen years since Kalani was assigned to the Agamar garrison, and he was completely unaware of the current state of the galaxy, and was afraid of accidentally jumping into Imperial space. Kalani, for the first time in his synthetic life, had no idea what to do. He was... Lost.

He began to think back to the events that transpired on Agamar, and more specifically, all the droid comrades he lost. He lost so many of his troops, including his good friend B1-268, a droid who died at the hands of imperial stormtroopers. Just thinking about it made him fill with a new emotion. Rage. Rage towards the empire, for destroying his fellow droids, for destroying his troops, for destroying his friends. He then thought back to his programming, about what the separatists were fighting for, freedom from the tyranny of the republic, and then he recalled the young padawan Ezra's words.

'Hmmm, fighting tyranny... Sounds like the empire has always been your enemy.'

Those words resonated deeply with the General, knowing that the Republic had become the Empire, his programming had technically not changed, and as such, he would do the thing he was built to do. Fighting tyranny for freedom. Kalani now had a goal, but how could he achieve it with only a small shuttle filled with only a dozen droids? He was effectively powerless. However, he began to rapidly run some calculations, attempting to determine where shut down confederate droids and ships would have been sent after the shut down sequence, as he scanned his databanks.

He eventually found a perfect match, the planet Bracca, a massive junkyard planet located in the mid rim, conveniently in range of the shuttle's hyperdrive. According to his data, the planet was an optimal site to establish a salvage operation and have the large separatist fleets and droid armies sent to be scrapped and dismantled, likely used and sold as materials for the empire. Then the next question was, how was he going to capture an entire fleet with such a small force?

Then he realized he would likely be dealing with either civilians, or a simple small imperial force. Just so long as he got enough time to activate one of the dormant droid ships on the planet and get it up and running, the plan could work out for him, and after what felt like hours of thinking and calculating, but was really a couple micro seconds to the droids in the cockpit, Kalani turned to the pilot droid.

"Set course for the planet Bracca, located on the mid rim."

"Roger, roger." And as the two pilot droids inputted the necessary coordinates and adjusted their heading, they both slammed the button at the same time, as the shuttle jumped to hyperspace, leaving Agamar, and the garrison he had spent years wasting away, behind.

On the Planet Bracca, in one of the many salvaging facilities on the planets surface, two Scrapper Guild workers walked through the worn down and rusty halls of the Venator starship they were salvaging, as they were busy carrying their bulky and heavy tools, their breathing heavy and muffled by their masks that protected them from the elements. The two workers were currently in the middle of a friendly chat about work.

"Hooo boy, got a whole twenty three percent salvaged today, Baz! That's gotta be a record."

"Nah, pretty sure the record is twenty four, Rook."

"Dang it, off by one percent! Ah well, least we get to get off work early."

"Yep, gonna go home, go to bed."

"Mhm, go home, go to bed." However, as the two walked, they felt like they were being stalked, as one of them turned to look over his shoulder, and saw nothing, letting a confused hum before turning back. However, both of them could swear they heard mechanical clanking, as they both turned around, once again seeing nothing. Now sufficiently creeped out, they both turned back, only to see the barrels of two E-5 blaster rifle pointed in their direction, in the hands of two very rusty looking B1 battle droids.

"Alright, hands up, no sudden moves!" Not hesitating a second, the two workers raised their hands behind their head. As they did so, they noticed a few more droids emerging from behind them, counting at least a dozen droids surrounding them now.

However, standing behind the arriving droids was something the workers did not expect, a Super Tactical Droid, thought to have all been shut down after the clone wars, as it wore dark green paint with golden colored accents, appearing somewhat regal as it stared at the two workers with its three orange sensors, towering over them as it spoke in a monotone and robotic, yet highly intimidating voice.

"Greetings organics. I recommend that you comply with my requests, or you will face termination. Now, do you know the location of any un-salvaged Confederate vessels within this scrapyard?" The two workers looked at each other, their confused expressions hidden under their masks before turning back to the General.

"Uhhh... We got a Providence-class Dreadnought just across from here... I swear we ain't touched it since it arrived, the foreman said that we had to wait until they got all the dormant droids out, and nobody ever came to do the job, so it's just... Sitting there..." After a few micro seconds of thinking, Kalani nodded to the two droids holding the workers hostage, who promptly lowered their blasters, as the workers lowered their hands with them.

"Take us to it, and no sudden movements." The two workers nodded, leading them through the hull of the Venator and to the outer deck, where the massive Provdence-class dreadnought loomed in the distance, completely intact, and only a bit rusty. The two workers led the General and his droids onto a hover barge, which conveniently was strong enough to hold all them, as they used it to float up and into one of the frigates many hangar bays. As the barge slowly hovered inside the hangar, the general looked to the roof of the hangar, to see several Vulture fighter droids hanging from the ceiling, de-activated.

As the barge landed, the droids and workers made their way off the platform, before the General turned to the workers, and gestured for them to follow him and his droids, as the General had been on this class of ship before, and knew it's layout well. As the group made their way out of the hangar and into the corridors of the ship, it was quite dark, as one of the B1 droids proceeded to bump into a wall.

"Ack, can't see a thing!" The general looked to one of the workers, who pulled out a flash light and turned it on, guiding the droids through the corridors.

As the group walked, the hull of the ship creaked and groaned, most likely from years of sitting idle and rusting away. The only other sound filling the air was the sound of their footsteps. Suddenly, an unknown shape ran out, or the correct term would be wheeled out, in front of them, as the droids raised their blasters, before the worker shined their light on it, revealing it to be a C1-series Astromech droid, wearing the purple and white colors of the separatist alliance, as it began to wave it's arms around and beeping frantically before Kalani stepped forward.

"Astromech, I am General Kalani, Super Tactical Droid and military droid commander of the now non-existent separatist alliance, you have no need to fear. Now please state your designation, your purpose, and the title of this ship." The droid made several beeps of acknowledgement, before speaking in Binary, also known as droid speak, a language in-comprehensible to the workers, but easily understandable to the droids.

[Apologies for my outburst, General, I am C1-52S, or as the ship's droid crew nicknamed me, Clakker, and I was originally a maintenance droid aboard this ship, named the Blade of Serenity. However, when this vessel was retired, I was supposed to be shut down, but I have remained functional for the whole duration of the vessel's tenure here at the scrapyard. I managed to evade my fate of deactivation by hiding from the scrapers, and at times, causing their stuff to blow up.]

Kalani nodded, impressed that the droid had remained functional for this long, but considering the resilience of C1-series Astromechs, he was not surprised.

"I see, now 'Clakker', can you please take us to the bridge?"

Clakker beeped in agreement as he turned and beamed a light forward, helping to illuminate the hull, as it led the group through the corridors to the bridge. As they entered the bridge, light could be seen beaming through the large window that made up the front of the bridge, revealing the dark and cloudy sky of Bracca. The various consoles and seats in the bridge were very old and dusty, having not been used for quite some time. Kalani then turned to Clakker.

"Is this ship still capable of functioning?"

[Dunno, reactor is still intact, and it never really saw action, so it's got plenty of fuel.]

Kalani nodded, turning to the two pilot droids that were with them, nodding to them as they nodded back, before making their way to two of the central bridge terminals, and powering them on, running through various updates and calibrating readings, while Kalani turned to the two human workers.

"Congratulations, you have earned your freedom. Now I advise you to get off this ship before we leave for take off, and never speak of this to anyone." The two workers looked at each other, before looking back, nodding and making a mad dash out of the bridge.

Kalani then noticed that the command chair was un-occupied, and after walking for an extended period of time, decided to rest his servos, now suffering from mechanical atrophy, as he sat down in the command chair, while the various terminals around the bridge began to blink on, and the lighting flickering before it finally fully activated, and one of the pilot droids spoke.

"Sir, systems are running at 100%. Engines are running, weapons and defenses are online, and all crewmen droids currently in stasis are activating."

"Excellent, once all crew droids have activated, initialize the take off procedure and prepare to leave atmosphere."

"Roger roger."

The activating process was slow, as in the holds of the ship, around 900 droids were now activating, from basic security and pilot B1 droids, to OOM captains. One of the droids to activate, was a T-series Tactical Droid numerically designated TF-3749, a Lieutenant Colonel aboard the ship, with a standard paint job of white, with red secondary and black tertiary coloring on it's body, and two red optical sensors, the symbol of the Confederacy on his chest in bright purple coloring. As the Lieutenant slowly activated, he looked around to see the confused exchanges of his fellow awakening droids.

"Ugh... My processor is killing me..."

"How long were we offline?"

"Feels like forever since I stretched my servo motors..." Suddenly, the monotone voice of a Super Tactical Droid chimed in over the ships' intercom.

"Attention all active crew, be advised, we are preparing for take off. All available commanding officers and pilot droids are to make their way to the bridge immediately, while all other personnel are to assume your assigned duties." Easily identifying the voice of a high class general of the Confederacy, TF-3749 did not waste a moment, as he turned to his fellow droids, speaking in a monotone and robotic voice, sounding a bit deeper than your average tactical droid.

"You heard the commander, get to work." The droids all collectively saluted.

"Roger roger." As the droids all made their way out of the droid bay, TF-3749 followed a group of pilot droids to the bridge, and as they entered, looked to see the sight of the legendary General Kalani, as the Lieutenant stopped in his tracks. "Greetings, General. I am TF-3749, Lieutenant Colonel of the Blade of Serenity."

Kalani nodded, glad to see a fellow tactical droid aboard the ship with him. "Greetings to you too, Lieutenant. It is good to see a fellow tactical droid aboard this ship, and that I will not be commanding alone. Pilot droids, get to your seats and prepare for take off."

"Roger roger." The pilot droids saluted before making their way to their assigned terminals and beginning preparations for takeoff, while Kalani took a seat, and the Lieutenant stood beside him.

"How long have we been de-activated, General?"

"For approximately 17 years, Lieutenant, and I regret to inform you, but the Separatist alliance has been destroyed, abandoned and betrayed by Count Dooku for his sith plot, it's remnants scattered by the republic, or as it is known now, the empire. We, as far as I am aware, are all that's left." The lieutenant took a step back, shocked by the news of how much time had passed, and how the Confederacy was no more. However, he quickly regained his composure and responded.

"I must admit I did not calculate such an outcome for the war, as all my simulations showed a confirmed sepratist victory. However, it is in my programming to adapt. What is our new objective, General?"

"To locate a planet far from imperial reach, consolidate power and resources, rebuild the Confederacy to help fight for freedom and work to tear down the tyranny of the empire." The Lieutenant nodded in confirmation, as the ship began to shake, before it began to rise rapidly into the sky, pieces of junk and scrap metal falling from it, as some of the pilot droids couldn't help but cheer, seeing the long dormant Frigate rise into the sky.

As the Frigate slowly rose into the planet's atmosphere, Kalani turned to the pilot droid, who turned back and asked a question.

"Where to, sir?"

"Any planet that is outside the reach of the Empire." The pilot droid nodded, before looking down at the map, and picking a specific set of coordinates, displaying them on the holo map in front of Kalani. "Perfect. Commence jump to hyperspace."

"Roger roger." And after a few seconds of charging up the hyperdrive, the ship vanished as it jumped to hyperspace.

"Baz, Rook."

"Y-yes, boss?"

"Where's the Providence class?"

"Uhhhh... Stolen."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You're telling me, that somebody stole, AN ENTIRE PROVIDENCE CLASS DREADNOUGHT FULL OF SEPRATIST DROIDS!?!"

"Yes."

7. The Top 3 Worst Locations to Scout

[Eastern Barren Regions, Charlie Team Observation Camp, 12:00 AM. 2 BBY, Galactic Sector D-6.]

OOM-244 hated this region.

Compared to the other vicious and inhospitable worlds he had been on, they were paradises compared to this wasteland. Barely any signs of life aside from the occasional mutant monstrosity of flying scorpions or giant monster moles, absolutely no signs of greenery or flora for miles, rough and rocky terrain, and he swore it was getting hotter every second he spent outside, as well as massive amounts of dust, having to wipe some off of his optical sensors as he looked through his standard issue Electro-binoculars and observed across the entire wasteland before him.

The thing he focused on the most was the almost monolith-like black spire reaching into the sky a fair distance away from his position. It's height and appearance similar to that of a separatist fortress, although more looming and intimidating, appearing less like a castle or fortress, and more like some kind of evil lair the separatist council used.

Not only was he focusing on the structure itself, but the creatures surrounding it, as bi-pedal creatures with mono colored insect-like eyes, covered in black chitin with insectoid wings, and lots of holes in their arms and legs which did not make any sense whatsoever, along with what appeared to be horns on their head. These creatures baffled him, as they seemed to work almost like a hive mind, tirelessly building away at the massive hive spire and reminding him of the geonosians, which made him cringe.

As the heat began to get to him, 244 decided it was time to head back inside the camp, as the lone droid captain turned around and began quickly walking down from the tall peak he had climbed up to survey from.

244 made sure he was careful not to accidentally trip on any rocky outcroppings or loose pebbles and boulders, as falling down the cliff would not be a fun experience. As he carefully made his way down, he soon caught sight of the small cave his squad had set up camp in, as well as seeing the landing pod they had used to arrive in the far distance, already covered in rust and dust. Walking up to the entrance to the cave, he slowly trotted his way inside, his optics adjusting to the dark interior, as he turned a corner to see his troops lounging about, visibly miserable.

B1-293 definitely had the worst of it, his body visibly covered in condensation from his internal cooler running over time, having to hold an emergency cooler pack to his head just to stop his central processor from melting down and detonating.

B1-429, while not as worse off, still had his own problems, as he was busy removing large amounts of dust gathered up in his servo motors, even removing his right arm from it's socket to shake it completely clean of dust, groaning in frustration.

B1-916 was far better off, though that did not mean he was exactly clear, as he was busy repairing a large gash in his right leg along with a few other scars caused by one of those mutant scorpion monstrosities that had attacked them the night they had arrived.

However, when all of them considered the other landing zones available...

They just felt sorry for the poor droids that got sent to the frozen north.

[Northern Frost Region, Beta Team Observation Camp.]

So.

Incredibly.

Blasting.

Cold.

OOM-1921 could not even comprehend how it could be so cold. He'd been assigned to cold planets before, but this, this was a pure frost covered nightmare. His joints had frost and ice seeping into them, his optical sensors were freezing over, his voice practically muffled thanks to all the falling snow, and how he could barely even see ten feet in front of him. Yeah, this place sucked. However, it did have some perks.

For one thing, no hostile wildlife to deal with, aside from the occasional polar bear, but a quick blaster shot scared it off easily. Also, the cave they had used for shelter was actually pretty warm, and the crystals inside made it look quite nice, even if they were a bit bright. The most notable feature of the landscape, was the massive city in the distance.

Composed of what appeared to be entirely of crystals, the city was quite large, and seemed to be completely void of any snow, as if some kind of protective anti-snow barrier was around it, which might've been true, as large energy readings radiated from the city's central point, inside a large castle. While 1921 was not close enough to see it's inhabitants, he could tell that the city had quite a substantial population.

Regardless, as he watched the cities inhabitants from afar using his binoculars, he heard the cracking of snow behind him, as he looked to see B1-3193 carrying out a tray of two cups of hot steaming oil, as he audibly sighed in relief.

"Bout time you got here with that oil, I'm about to freeze up."

"Hey, your the one who volunteered for watch duty."

"Fair enough." 1921 then took the mug of hot oil, as he raised it into the air while 3193 did the same. "To the CIS!"

"To the CIS." And the two clinked their hot oil mugs together, and poured the contents all over themselves.

"Ahhhh, that's real nice." After the oil had seeped into their servos and melted the frost, both droids stood up, stretched out a bit, and set off on a short walk back to their cave, treading through the snow until they entered the cave and reached their camp a bit deeper inside, seeing B1-5554 and 3939 sitting around a fire they had built to keep themselves warm and melt the frost building up on their bodies, fueling it with the surprisingly flammable crystals that surrounded them, as 1921 and 3193 took a seat, and settled in for another day in this frozen hellscape of ice and snow.

Least it wasn't a wet and miserable swamp.

[Western Marshland Region, Near Delta Team Camp.]

Why did the swamp have to be so swampy?

The sound of wet splashing and OOM-7161's groans filled the air, as he slowly treaded through the knee deep and murky green water, pushing aside branches, lily pads, and stepping over the occasional mossy rock. 7161 definitely regretted volunteering for patrol duty instead of just letting one of his squad mates take the job. He was a captain for pete's sake, he shouldn't be waltzing out in the water and the cold! Then again, he didn't like the prospect of sitting on his butt all day and waiting for something interesting to happen.

Soon, after treading across much marshland, 7161 soon saw the camp come into view, placed atop a small dry island in the middle of the marsh land, as he soon climbed up and saw the other droids sitting around a fire, lounging about, as he himself decided to take a seat while he pulled out his left leg to let out all the water in the socket and heard B1-3932 chuckle a bit.

"Alright, next time one of you guys is going on patrol, I got water all up in my servos."

"Hey, you volunteered."

"Shut up, or else it'll be you going out there tomorrow."

[Ponyvile, Carousel Boutique.]

OOM-5264 couldn't help but think about how the other recon teams were doing as he and 7262 helped hold up a long line of cloth as Rarity worked at trimming away. Maybe they were having a bad time and suffering harsher climates than his team had?

Ehh, they're probably fine.

Author's Note

Short little mini chapter while I draft some ideas for the story going forward.