Chapter 1: Reunion with Teacher and Student
Inside Twilight’s castle of Friendship, Charming Thunder was meditating in his room as objects floated around him. He then began to see memories of his past life when he became the temple guard on Coruscant.
Many years ago....
Charming Thunder waited patiently to be summoned inside for his official welcome to become a Jedi Temple Guard. He wore the armor that was made for his size and held his helmet. The door next to him opened as one of the guards stepped out to see him. “We are ready for you, Charming,” he said. Charming Thunder then followed the guard inside as he was greeted by some other guards with their yellow blades active as he walked through them. Across the way was the head of security; Jedi Master Cin Drallig. Charming Thunder stood before him as he knelt before him. Cin Drallig then activated his lightsaber and knighted him. “On behalf of Jedi Master Yoda, only commitment to the order remains as you--” he said before he felt his head as he felt a presence. Charming Thunder then had a look of concern as everyone in the room then heard blaster fire from outside. He got up and turned towards the door as he activated his lightsaber. The door then exploded as clone troopers entered to open fire on the Jedi in the room. “Run, Charming! We’ll hold them off!” Charming Thunder nodded and made a run for it as he got past the clones. He recognized the armor as Anakin’s battalion. He wondered why his clone troopers would turn on every one in the temple. He arrived at the giant hall to see other Jedi holding the line against the troops. They were overwhelmed. Charming Thunder was shocked to see what was happening as a group of clones saw him and fired. He reflected the shots back at them as he ran for it. He looked across the room to see a group of younglings running across the internal bridges. They stopped when they ran into a robed figure with a blue lightsaber he recognized by the detail of the hilt. It turned out to be Anakin Skywalker leading the clones during the attack. He slaughtered the younglings and wounded the last one. He then turned to see Charming Thunder and decided to go around with his squad to confront him. Charming Thunder decided to make his way to the hangar of the temple to fly out.
“Why would Anakin be doing this?!” Charming Thunder said, running for his life. “He would never do this!” He arrived at the doors to the hangar and saw that his starfighter was still intact. He made his way to it until he heard an activation of a lightsaber behind him. Anakin stood behind Charming Thunder as he turned to face him. “What are you doing, Anakin?! Don’t you see that what you are doing is wrong?!”
“The Jedi are traitors,” Anakin said. “And they must be executed by order of the Supreme Chancellor.”
“I see, so you have fallen to the dark side then. It is not too late to turn away.” Anakin then leaps in the air with a strike ready, but Charming Thunder countered with a powerful Force Push. He impacted on the pillar which knocked him out for two minutes which gave the unicorn enough time to get to his ship and activate its engines. A squad of clones entered and attempted to open fire at the fleeing vessel. The ship then zoomed out of the hangar and began to leave the planet.
“Charming?” Twilight’s voice said with worry as Charming Thunder was laying on the ground as he slowly opened his eyes to see his lovely mare and the princess of friendship. He rubbed his face as he got up. “You okay? You look as if you have seen a ghost or something.”
“Just reliving a terrible memory,” Charming Thunder said. He took a deep breath and looked around to see the objects that were levitating around him earlier now crushed on the ground. “What brings you here, your highness?”
“There is something I want you to hear with the others.”
“Trouble?”
Yes. But not here in Equestria.”
At the library, Twilight and the others gathered around a round table with a book in the center. “The way Sunset Shimmer described them, I think these new girls sound an awful lot like... the sirens,” Twilight said. Charming Thunder’s eyes widened not just only about the sirens, but to Sunset’s name being mentioned.
“Not the sirens!” Pinkie shouted. “I don't actually know what that is!”
“The sirens were three beautiful but dangerous creatures who had the power to charm ponies with their music. But to maintain this power, they had to feed on the negativity and distrust of others. The more of this negative energy they consumed, the stronger their voices became, and the farther they could spread their dark magic.”
“And only negativity also fuels the dark side as well,” Charming Thunder added.
“I don't think I like this story very much,” Fluttershy said.
“If the sirens had their way, they would have divided and conquered all of Equestria,” Twilight continued. “But a certain Star Swirl the Bearded wasn't having it. Rumor has it he found a way to banish them to another world – one where he believed their magic power would be lost. That world must have been the one where my Canterlot High friends live.” Charming Thunder gasped at the discovery as he thought about something else.
“But Star Swirl must have sent them there ages ago,” Applejack said. “How come they're just surfacing now?”
“I don't know. But if my hunch is right and it is the sirens who have come to Canterlot High, this spell they've cast is just the beginning. My friends need me. I have to get back to them.”
“Not just you, Twilight,” Charming Thunder said. “Let me tag along. I happened to know about Sunset long ago before your time.”
“Enlighten me.”
“She used to be my Padawan. Not officially, but she wanted to understand the nature of the Force. She....only knew too much of the dark side when Celestia was holding stuff back from her. I’m not sure if she will be happy to see me.”
“I’m sure she will when you see her.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, Twilight, but the connection between their world and Equestria will still be totally cut off for a super long time,” Rainbow said.
“Okay, first of all, if there was bubble-blowing going on, why wasn't I told about it?!” Pinkie demanded. “And secondly, if the connection is totally cut off, how was Sunset Shimmer able to get a message to Twilight?” Twilight gasped.
“Pinkie,” Twilight said. “You’re a genius!”
“She gets that a lot,” Charming Thunder said.
“I know right?” Pinkie said.
Charming Thunder helped Twilight carry some stuff while she made a device that looks like a mirror. “And the interval between the two points is defined as the square root of the sum of the squares of the separation between the points along three spatial dimensions,” Twilight said.
“Say what now?” Spike asked as he scratched his head.
“Duh!” Pinkie said. “She's gonna take the magic in here and put it in there. That'll make the portal open up so that whenever she wants to, she can go from here to there. There to here. Here to there. Here there! Here there! Here--”
“We get the deal,” Applejack said.
“Now to see if it actually works,” Twilight said before Twilight used her magic to levitate a book to an empty space on top of the mirror and it began to make magic noises when placed.
“Don't suppose we could join you this time around?”
“Better not. It could make things pretty confusing if Canterlot High all of a sudden had two of all of you.” The group then nodded.
“So, it’s like a multiverse thing?” Charming Thunder asked. Twilight nodded.
“But I still get to go, right?” Spike asked. “There isn't another one of me at Canterlot High. And you never know if you might need your trusty assistant.” Charming Thunder stood next to Spike and Twilight.
“We won’t be long. Ready, guys?”
“Ready!” Spike and Charming Thunder said in unison. Twilight and Spike ran through the mirror and then Charming Thunder last.
Sunset held a book as she laid next to the school statue waiting for Twilight. Applejack and Pinkie were playing cards as they sat on top of the statue. Rainbow Dash sighed and said, “I'm starting to think she's not coming.” She spoke too soon when the portal opened as Twilight and Spike flew out and landed far from the group.
“Twilight!” the group shouted as they ran to her.
“I’m back,” Twilight said as she got up. Sunset helped her up as the group came and hugged Twilight. “And I've got some bad news about those new girls. We just need to--” The portal opened again as Charming Thunder flew out and impacted the ground like a meteor. “Ah, there he is!” Twilight rushed on over to Charming Thunder to help him up from the small crater he made with his head. His head became dizzy after being pulled out. Charming Thunder wore an eyepatch with the blue Jedi Order logo on the center as he also wore a dark gray hoodie with his cutie mark on both of his arms, blue jeans, and brown shoes. He had his lightsaber still attached to his belt. “Take your time to look around before getting used to this form.” Charming Thunder shook his head as he looked at his hands and gasped.
“Where are my beautiful hooves?!” Charming Thunder said. “My beautiful hooves are gone!” He then realized that he is a human in the world he is in and tried standing up with his two feet. He almost lost balance at first, but he managed to stand properly. He then looked at the group that looked similar to his friends back at Equestria. Sunset recognized him and slowly walked up to him.
“It’s been a while, Charming,” Sunset said with a smile and then looked away. “Hasn’t it?” Charming Thunder walked up to her and placed his hand on her cheek to turn her head to meet his eyes. He smiled as tears began to fall out of her eyes.
“I have missed you, my friend.” Sunset then hugged Charming Thunder tight.
