In the vast emptiness of space, four navy ships were drifting about; a Bunkerbuster, a modified Nebulon-C frigate, a Kuat Drive Yards cargo frigate, and a Mon-Calamari cruiser. All of them were shining lights down on an asteroid field below them. Several parts and pieces of destroyed ships and the station that once was here was now nothing but scrap. The Rebels among this small cell had received a distress signal that required their help, and now they were investigating the remains.

A small collection of X-Wings and A-Wings deployed from the Mon-Calamari cruiser, turning on their searchlights as they dove closer for a look.

“Cobalt Leader to Arcanas, we are beginning our search,” the leading X-Wing hailed to the cruiser.

“Roger, Cobalt Leader. Please be advised of asteroids, and look for any surviving escape pods or starcraft. We may have injured men out here.”

The ships began their search, moving towards the destroyed station. Lights shined through one of the windows which had been broken, now showing tons of rubble and debris floating inside the room that once had gravity. Unfortunately there was also the gruesome sight of some men floating, bodies now frozen solid from the cold vacuum of space.

Slowly turning away to continue the search, the pilots caught sight of something else that caught their eyes. An X-Wing of some kind, although a very peculiar model. Two thrust engines on the front of the fighter that looked like it could split in half, and to their surprise, it looked like a pilot was inside the cockpit.

“Cobalt Leader to Arcanas, we’ve found a single fighter out here. But the pilot seems… dead,” the leader responded. “This is very strange X-Wing design.”

The admiral on board the Arcanas looked at the holoprojector in the middle of the room with the others, taking a look at the projection of the X-Wing that was spotted.

“I’ve never seen this model before,” the admiral responded. “Is it one of ours?”

“Negative sir. The database indicates the Rebel Alliance has no record of any X-Wings with this model,” a technician responded, checking the computer system.

“Hmm. Well, guess there’s nothing we can do now. We’ll have to report to Yavin IV and let them know that the distress signal was a lost cause,” the admiral said, regretfully. “All ships return to the Arcanas, we’re departing home.”

“Understood Admiral. All ships return to home base.”

One by one, the A-Wings and X-Wings rose from the asteroid field to depart for home. The leader’s X-Wing was the last of all, not realizing or sensing something smacking on the back of his ship. All of the fighters flew into the hangar bay of the Raddus, and one by one, the fleet ships jumped into hyperspace. The cargo ship left first, then the bunkerbuster, and then the medical frigate.

The Arcanas was last to leave as the engines were primed to leave. And with one push, the ship jumped into hyperspace, away from the aftermath. What the Rebels failed to notice however was the strange X-Wing model starting to rise up from the asteroid field, engines humming idly in the quiet space. And with a single calculation, the strange X-Wing jumped into hyperspace…

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

THE WAR BEGINS! Months after the destruction of the evil Empire's TIE Defender factory, efforts to gain victory over one another are pushed to the brink, with the Rebels losing more than winning.

Young FLURRY HEART and the Heartstrings family, now accepted as Rebel allies, continue to fight alongside their new friends, while trying to learn new ways of the Force from General SUNSET SHIMMER.

On the quiet world of Terra, we find our heroes undercover as they plan to find out what the Empire's next big project is, unknowing that friends and enemies from the old wars are slowly emerging from the stars...

Terra

Many worlds across the Outer Rim were extremely dangerous; where as so much as the wrong move would mean the end of your existence. Talk to a stranger, make a bad deal, con someone, kidnap, murder, anything could make or break you. Very few planets had calm and polite populations; Terra was one of them. Surrounded mainly by green lands and massive oceans that covered 40% of the entire planet's mass.

While Terra had populations all over the planet, the most popular small town to live in was over in Doomea. It was a small town, with only roughly a thousand and one hundred residents, but it had everything that the residents could ever need; good schools, banks, restaurants, entertainment, homes, strong economy.

The inhabitants of this world, the Terrans, also made coming here a relatively nice time. The Terrans were very warm, very welcoming to just about anyone who came down here. Well, mostly everyone. One potential group of people were making things difficult for them, and they needed help removing them from their planet.

One of the people happy to help was General Sunset Shimmer, not wearing her standard robes or uniform. Instead she was donning a button-up shirt and a skirt, more casual than she would be wearing nowadays. But for her assignment, she had to dress that way. She sat at a café table with another Rebel; Zeb Orellios. He was wearing cargo shorts and a shirt with a collar, also blending in with the fashion of this world.

“In position, how is everyone?” Sunset whispered into her hidden com.

“We’re in position, General. Remind me again why we’re going casual again?”

“We can’t let the Imperials know we’re here. Just stick with your posts until we have confirmation of where they are,” Sunset ordered. She and Zeb both held newspapers in their laps, acting as if they were reading them to keep their cover continuing.

Just then, the waiter came by to deliver their order. The Terrans were very skinny people, with either grey or green skin. But the most distinguishable characteristic of them all were their balding foreheads and bulbous solid black eyes. But despite their freakish exterior, they were still decent people.

“Hello my name is Jarvis, I’ll be your server today,” the man said, holding a pen and paper. “What might I get you two today?”

“I’ll take the simple waffle order please, with a side of juice,” Zeb asked.

“Make that two, but with milk instead of juice,” Sunset added.

“Very well you two. Just wait right here, I’ll be back with your orders,” he said, taking the menus.

Now that they were back to the mission, the two of them held their newspaper covers again.

“I’m sorry I got you lumped with me,” Sunset apologized. “I know I’m not your first choice of partners, but…”

“It’s alright, General,” Zeb acknowledged. “Besides, I’m actually okay with this assignment. It’s a nice change, and I needed something peaceful after a while.”

“Hera’s baby keeping you up?”

“Partially,” Zeb admitted. "I know the baby's not afraid of me, but nothing I do can get it to go to sleep. I just needed a break from it."

"Well you picked the right assignment, Zeb. Only thing we have to worry about now is--oh no..."

"What? Spy? Criminal?"

"No! Worse!" Sunset yelped, eyes glued to the newspaper. "New petition against tax again!?"

--

Elsewhere in town, more Rebel agents were staying in their assigned posts as part of the cover. At a public pool, Bon Bon, Lyra, and two other women; a Nitko and a Kyuzo, were all laying on beach chairs aligned in front of a pool. All of them were taking the cover of sunbathing, with tanning sheets in all of their arms, but their eyes kept looking everywhere, periodically checking for any suspicious activity.

“See anything Honga?” Bon Bon asked.

The Nikto woman’s left eye peered to her right, and she slightly turned her head, acting as if she was staring at one of the signs on the walls. “Negative.”

“What about you Shor? Anything?” Lyra continued.

“No ma’am. If there’s any suspicious targets we’re looking for, they’re not here,” the Kyuzo woman replied. “On the plus side, the sun’s doing wonders for my skin.”

Lyra slowly reached for her drink, taking a small sip as she kept looking around. For a brief moment she set her drink down and she reached for Bon Bon’s hand, interlocking her fingers with hers.

“So how long have you two been married?” Honga asked, moving her head back at the Equestrian couple, still laying back.

“About seventeen years now,” Bon Bon smiled.

“It’s nice to see you two still together,” Honga replied.

“Thanks. You’re trying to find that special someone?” Lyra asked.

“I guess. It’s not exactly easy though, having all the horns in my face,” she admitted with a disappointed expression.

“Just give it time. Love isn’t an immediate thing, these things take time and patience,” Lyra said, smiling softly as she kept her hand on her wife’s hand.

“Beach Team, come in,” Sunset interrupted.

The Nikto woman raised her wrist. “We’re here Sunset. Nothing to report, unfortunately. We’ve been sitting here for half an hour, so far nothing suspicious aside from the one creepy lifeguard who keeps gawking at the Terran women across the pool from us.”

“Understood. Just keep your eyes open and your ears listening in. Sunset out.”

“Soda Pop Company, possible suspect is coming into the diner. Keep a look out,” Sunset whispered.

The local diner was bustling with teenagers, it was their hotspot for them to hang out after school and get some food. The floors had a checkered pattern, there was a jukebox in a corner playing some old tunes in Basic by mostly human artists, booths were lined in red, and it was just an all around great place to hang out.

Flurry Heart, along with Sandbar, Yona, and Ocellus were sitting at one of the booths, infiltrating as high school students to blend in with the crowd. Sure the other-worldy species sitting here stood out like a sore thumb, but the planet was open to species of any kind. All four of them were dressed in casual clothes like the teenagers; sporting jackets, dresses, skirts, pants, etc.

“Okay so I have a question,” Flurry asked, “What’s your favorite food?”

“A burger with meat with a side of a Triple-Topper Twirlshake,” Sandbar replied.

“Twilar’s the spokeswoman for that. She’s the Triple-Topper Twi’lek Girl,” Ocellus pointed out.

“Mmm, she used to be,” Yona shrugged.

“Was that something you ate every day?”

“Not really. My mom was a school teacher, and my dad used to be an officer for the Republic, we weren’t rich, you know?” Sandbar said, shaking his head. “Ocellus, what about you?’

“Hmm. Well back on Alveare, my family and I loved the Virkon plants that grew in our farms. Those were soooo good,” Ocellus squeed with joy. “But since I left and joined you guys, I think my favorite has to be the Golden Crisps, those little honey-covered crackers?”

“Ah, right, yeah,” Flurry nodded.

“It’s more of a once in a while snack. I try to savor them,” Ocellus explained.

“Well it’s not the favorite, but one of mine is Mantell Mix, covered in artificial butter and Quarren salts,” Flurry’s mouth watered just thinking about the food. “The snack vendors on Tatooine always had those on race days.”

“Sounds delicious. Yona?” Ocellus asked.

“Mint flavored ice cream,” Yona said rather straightforwardly. “Sandbar bought me snack after we escaped Empire together, helped cheer me up.”

Sandbar blushed a little. “Heh, heh…”

“Oh, hang on, I think I see the Imp,” Flurry whispered, noting a strange white male approaching a phone-line on the wall. He rotated the wheel on the line, and picked up the piece to speak into it. She didn’t turn her head, but instinctively, the group held up their menus to blend in with everyone else. Unbeknownst to the Imperial, Flurry could see his reflection thanks to a bit mirror that hid a camera in the diner, mounted in the corner of the ceiling.

“… yes, everything’s in position… yes, we should be ready… no, I don’t want any further delays,” the officer said. “… LRC-034, I do not want to hear excuses. If there are any Rebel insurgents, send a squad to take care of them at once. These inhabitants don’t want anything to do with us, and we don’t have enough to take over. … What are you… wonderful. Look, just lock down the facilities until I arrive. Make sure the data does not leave the computer, we don’t need them obtaining anything.”

The Imperial hung up, and then swiftly turned around before tilting his nose up at the lower life forms around him. He didn't even notice a few particular species that had been sitting at one of the booths.

"Sunset, the suspect just left. There aren't enough forces to take over this planet, fighting them should be easy... I think," Ocellus whispered into her comlink.

"That's not like the Empire to not have enough forces on demand... we'll stay vigilant though," Sunset replied. "Just finish up whatever meal you have and then come meet us at the pinpoint."

The outpost was indeed not as heavily armed as Flurry and her friends had overheard. Their base relied too much on being isolated from the populous, especially since the planet was completely unaligned with both Imperials and Rebel Alliance. There was no way that they could think the Rebels would just come here, but they were wrong. Standing at atop one of the towers, one of the officers oversaw the valley through some binocs, scanning for anything peculiar. His scope then tracked a woman, descending upon a cliff, holding a device in her hand.

"Captain, there's someone in the valley. It's... just some woman," the officer noticed.

Sunset Shimmer stood on a small cliff, overlooking the Imperial base that had been set up in the valley. By her count, they had several AT-Ats, a few AT-STs, some TIES, and a huge army. She was beginning to wonder whether or not the help she had enlisted would be enough; but she couldn’t waste time. And standing on top of the fortress was the Imperial commander who could see the general

With the Imperial’s attention turned to her, Sunset spoke as loud as she could into the megaphone.

“Aaaah!” Sunset shrieked. “Raah! Braa baa baaa!”

“… what did she say?”

Sunset was confused; why did the megaphone turn her words into gibberish? Looking at the device, she rolled her eyes and flipped a switch on the settings.

“Attention Imperials! I am Sunset Shimmer, speaking on behalf of the Terran people, as an ambassador,” she declared. “I bring a message on behalf of the Terran populus; we come in peace. We do not want your war on our world. Leave now.”

The Imperial commander scoffed. “Who does she think she is? Give me the responder unit.” A piece of equipment was handed to him so he could reply back. “Miss Shimmer. I am afraid we cannot do that; Terra is now under Imperial occupation, this world has no authority.”

Sunset coughed into her megaphone which made a loud sound that echoed. “I will not repeat. Rescind all forces… or there will be consequences.”

“You and what army? If you think I’m blind, I’ve seen your little spies all over that small town. What army could this planet possibly have?”

The Imperial commander couldn't see her face, but Sunset had the most smug smile. She stood there still smirking while her kama swayed in the wind. Her attention turned to above, waiting for the right time. An entire portion of the sky above them flashed with a loud booming sound, as if a thunderstorm was about to come where they were. But it made no sense, there were clouds, but no heavy storm clouds.

Several cracking sounds echoed across the air. Pieces from the sky started to break apart like someone was breaking the sky, quite literally apart. Pieces of shell fell from the sky, and the flashing and thunderclaps continued to boom. The Imperial forces on the ground looked up, completely flabbergasted by the strange phenomenon occurring above their heads.

The cracks continued to form, making more circular shapes connected through several lines like a grid. And the cracks continued to spread across the sky, directly above where they all stood. Then, the cracks began to pull apart and spread. Several beaming lights leaked through the breaking cracks, and the flashing skies began to change; now they weren’t showing a clear sky with a few clouds. The atmosphere underneath the cracked grid changed to sleek dark gray, like undersides of a massive dock or ship. The circular formations began to hover down from the grids, revealing disc shaped saucers that hovered above the valley. Two of them came down, then three, then four. Countless saucers were spinning above the land as the planet’s natural light shined through the massive and clear sky fortress.

Also flying through the cracks were several A-Wing fighters, ready to join. It didn't take long for the outpost to deploy all of their TIEs, wanting to wipe them from the sky. Although truth be told, some of them were beginning to realize the enemy had outnumbered them from firepower alone. But the mission was still needing to be done; they had to be stopped.

As the TIEs charged forward at the A-Wings and Terran saucers, the ground forces made their move. Several Terran tanks, moving alongside Rebel speeder-bikes raced towards the outpost. Many of the vehicles were being helmed by both the planet's populous and Rebels, as Sunset watched on her bike; Flurry Heart racing on a speeder-bike with a Terran sitting behind her, ready to defend her if any of the Imperials were to chase.

The only heavy tank the Rebels had on hand was a T4-B model, which raced alongside the others with a decent speed. The Gigoran woman clinging to the turrents whooped and hollered, twirling her blaster rifle around in the air as the tank raced.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack hung onto the back of a few speeder-bikes,waiting to jump when it would be time. Soon as they got closer to the gates, the two of them jumped into the air and pulled out their sabers. Confidently, the two of them charged forward, blocking the multitude of blaster fire that was coming their way. A few Rebels with jetpacks joined the assault, including Lyra and Bon Bon, covered in their Mandalorian armors. Lyra blocked more of the shots with her saber, while Bon Bon and a few other Rebels fired like gunslingers in a bar on Tatooine.

"As long as our boys are in the air, we should be able to get the information!" Lyra shouted, looking up to see another A-Wing bite the dust. "But on the other hand, additional help would be nice!"

Outside of Terra, three ships popped out of hyperspace, lined up together in formation. Leading in the front was a N1 starfighter, painted in purple instead of traditional yellow. On it's left was an Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor, painted blue and yellow, held in a hyperspace ring. The last ship, hanging on the right was a YC-123B transport hauler, still stark white with red streaks on the side.

All three ships punched it, diving straight down to the planet's surface, hurling itself towards the atmosphere. Engines were roaring with power, and the pilots in each of the vessels held on tight, making sure they kept a sturdy grip and not lose control. Several lights and alarms went off in each, as they rattled through the bustling storms above the planet's atmosphere, but it didn't last long. Once they had escaped, the three ships were greeted to a beautiful sun-shining day above the valleys where the main populous was located, and off in the distance they could see multiple explosions coming from the battle.

Together the three ships punched it again, racing across the skies to help the Terrans in the sky. The saucers continued to swoop and soar, firing at the TIE fighters who were overwhelming them rapidly. Another one of the Terran saucers went down, spinning out of control before slamming into the ground. One of the A-Wings spun around, being chased by two more TIE fighters. Just as it looked like the Rebel pilot's life was about to be over, one of the TIEs was shot down, and the other one was soon taken out as well. Looking out the side, the A-Wing pilot saw three new ships joining the battle, firing at the fighters.

"General! We have unknown reinforcements!"

"What!?" Sunset perplexed. Looking up, she saw the new ships joining the battle. And out of the blue, Sunset swore she was hearing synthesizers mixed with rock and roll as the ships began to join the battle. Her heart raced, and an excited grin crept on her lips as she looked at them fight.

Go! Mighty Rainbooms!
They’re rising together to fight for what’s right everywhere!
Mighty Rainbooms!
Protecting their friends from the shadows of the evil Empire!
Rainbooms!

The Naboo fighter spun around, barely getting hit by the beams of green that raced past it. The R6 unit sitting in the port chirped with a panic, but the pilot inside reassured the droid that they would be safe. Pulling the trigger, a few lasers fired out of the main cannons, taking out one of the TIEs successfully. Deciding to do a little more damage, the fighter launched a photon torpedo, completely reducing another TIE.

Swooping around the valley, the ship swung around the outpost, dodging all the blaster fire and allowing the fighters to do more damage than she would. Unbeknownst to them, the troop carrier was taking it’s chance and moving towards the ground for a landing, avoiding being shot. Slowly it sat down and landed close to where the Rebels were moving in, blocking an escape route for the Imperials to take. The bolts danced on the armored doors, but no damage was done.

Warriors of justice and friendship
Rise! Mighty Rainbooms!
Attacking the masters of darkness with one mighty force!
Mighty Rainbooms!
Guarding the galaxy from all forms of danger and dread
Rainbooms!
Standing for freedom and friends

The interceptor spun around, looking straight at the huge mass of TIE fighters that were racing towards. There had to be at least ten, maybe fifteen, oh who knows, the pilot lost count, they kept growing. But with an excited grin, the fighter lined up with the hyperspace ring locked on, looking straight at them.

The power in the ring hummed, and the clamps that were locked onto the fighter unlocked, charging straight towards the TIES. Unbeknownst of them, several hidden panels opened up on the ring, with multiple red blinking lights. And just when they were about to get a shot on the mystery fighter--

KABOOM!!!!

A massive explosion engulfed the mass of TIES, a sesmic charge spreading out in the sky with a sound that echoed throughout the valley. Everyone could look up and see the ring of blue transparent energy above as it reduced the enemy to cinders. Sadly the interceptor couldn't escape a lossless victory as one more TIE from the left came around, firing a shot directly into the engines of the interceptor.

Smoke and fire erupted as the fighter hurled towards the ground. Soldiers quickly ran out of the way just in time, and watched as the cockpit popped off the ship. A single person was seen ejected out of the fighter before the crash, watching a parachuted person move down into the forest.

Deep inside, the rest of the troopers who were trying to put up a good fight were quickly overrun, many of the Rebels and Terran soldiers pushing through their defenses.

"Sir, we can't hold them any longer!"

"No, keep pushing forward!" The lieutenant ordered, rather arrogantly.

"Are you blind!? They have won, and you don't realize it," the captain snarled. "All troopers, retreat at once. The Rebels have overtaken this outpost, we will win in our next battle."

Despite being conditioned to follow orders without question, they didn't argue with the captain. They had to leave now, they couldn't stay here and die. Joining their captain, the remaining troopers ran out of the control room moments before Rainbow Dash and Applejack's troops could bust in. Both veterans aimed their blasters at the lieutenant who looked more smug than anything else.

"Alright now, we got questions and you have answers. We know ya'll were illegally minin' resources from this planet for your project. Where was all of that coaxium goin'?" Applejack grit her teeth.

"I'm sorry, but that's none of your concern... Rebel scum."

And before Rainbow Dash could interfere, the man bit down hard and a sizable electric shock pulsed through his body and he dropped to the ground; dead almost instantaneously.

"... dang it," Rainbow growled.

The rest of the Imperials who had escaped moved outside, trying to push through the rest of the battle without drawing attention or being shot at. They just had to slip through the forests and get to the tarmac just beyond. But before the Imperials could escape, the troop carrier landed on the grounds in front of the outpost, forcing the Rebels to get out of the way. The remaining Imperials looked at the front of the transport, not able to see or recognize the pilot that sat in the cockpit above. Just then, the doors on the carrier slammed open, sending a soft thud to the ground as they opened.

No one came running out of the transport, and they seemed oddly vacant. And this carrier this wasn’t Imperial by design, or color scheme. But some noises inside the cargo holds sent shivers down their spines. The group heard growling noises coming out of the transport, very animalistic in tone. Sunset and the rest of the group ran outside to try and prevent the others from escaping, but instead found them defensively in front of the transport that showed up out of the blue.

Soon thereafter, the Naboo starfighter flew above them, roaring across the sky. But then, something started to emerge from the troop carrier. A gurgling noise accompanied by some growling. A three-toed foot clamped onto the metallic door-ramp, tapping against the steel. The rest of the body emerged, showing a large animal with sharp talons on it’s claws and toes as it took in it’s surroundings. To the Midnight trooper’s surprise, it was an Equestrian raptor, a dark blue one at that.

The animal gurgled and let out a soft call to the air, calling for attention as it took notice of the Imperials who were pointing guns. With a big jump, the raptor leapt into the air and pounced one of the troopers to the ground, pinning him down and preventing him before he could fire his weapon. The raptor growled and snarled at the man, threatening to snap it’s jaw at his face. The others were ready to fire at the wild animal, until some more animals start to come out of the hold….

A trio of grey anoobas ran out of the transport, snarling and hissing at the troopers. Individually, each of them tackled a trooper and snapped their jaws at their faces, trying to get them to fight. The troopers unfortunately didn’t stand a chance against the stronger animals; little to no training did not help them. And it wasn’t long until a group of massiffs joined the anoobas, standing in a half-circle formation to block off any avenues of escape for the personnel staff, even getting in front of the other Rebels who were standing in guarding positions as well.

Two more of them tried to leave, until a massive Equestrian Everfree Forest bear walked out on all fours and then stood on it’s hind legs, roaring and waving their arms up to show how massive they were in comparison. The personnel members threw down their weapons and backed off, knowing they were outmatched by the stronger animal. The last one, a captain, tried to find a way out, but there wasn’t anything. She contemplated shooting herself with her own blaster, but found it was out of her holster. Looking back, she saw a bird was chirping and whistling, having gripped the blaster during the chaos. Understanding she had no way out, she raised her hands up to surrender.

Sunset’s heart raced to see all of these animals around her. Who could have even brought them over here? But then she looked at them again. Raptors. Anoobas. Massiffs. Birds. Bears. A few critters who were late to join the party, but stood with the rest of the animals. Only one person came to her head that could wrangle all of these, and it was enough to gasp and cup her mouth in delight. Could it be…?

The animals, while keeping the Imperials trapped, all turned their heads at once hearing her gasp. Sunset froze, now out of fear. These animals could kill her on the spot without a second thought, and she had no idea what their intentions were. And her heart rate elevated when the raptor let go of the unconscious man it had tackled and slowly walked towards her with curiosity. Sunset tried to keep herself calm and not panic, having faced only two of these raptors before on Equestria; and remembering how poorly that experience had gone for her.

The raptor sniffed her, softly gurgling and gazing at her eyes.

“Heh… uhhh… heyyyyy?” Sunset tittered.

The raptor backed up and let out a soft call into the air, as if he was calling for someone’s attention. And without warning, he rubbed his head up against Sunset, almost in an affectionate manner. The general was confused, especially by how the raptor purred against her. But carefully, she lifted her hand up and slowly moved it towards the raptor’s head, patting it.

Slowly stepping out of the dropship that released the animals was a masked woman. Most of her pale-yellow skin was exposed to the warm summer breeze, but she still adorned pants, boots, and a tank top. Armor was present on her shoulders, with one gauntlet on her arm, armor that belonged to the Wookiees of Kashyyyk. A sash hung from her belt along with a lightsaber. Her face was masked, but her relaxed standing as she looked to the Rebels made it clear she wasn’t someone to be worried about. Her head turned to see the other two guests who were walking towards them.

Two mystery pilots; both of them were wearing helmets that covered their entire heads, obscuring any physical features or appearances beneath. One of them looked like she was possibly a Togruta, with the head-tails visibly sticking out of the helmet; although the pure-white face and blue eyes made it clear she wasn't Togruta. That face was familiar to a select few, and words didn't need to be expressed. Only one person they know could have come up with an elaborate disguise...

And last of them all; dressed with a simple cyan blue tank top and skirt, with her magenta-pink hair poofing up like an inflated balloon, a radiant smile was given to them by another old friend. Some bands holding the back of her hair together while the front just moved back to normal. And that smile? That big excited smile was something they couldn’t help but smile back at. There was no way they couldn’t smile at that.

“WE'RE STILL ALIVE, SUNSET SHIMMER!!!”

On board the Mon-Calamari cruiser, the Vigilant, the crews and troopers began to settle in for the journey back to home base. While most of the troopers who were exhausted from the fight went to go rest up, or go to the mess halls for some needed grub, Sunset Shimmer along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash stayed out in the hangar bay where the technicians and engineers worked on repairing starcraft. Parked on one of the spaces was the new additions of the troop carrier, and the Naboo starfighter. Even the Sweetie Drop was taking a rest inside the hangar bay area.

Sunset was too busy giving Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie a huge hug to be bothered by the fact she was covered in dust and scrapes from the fight.

“I missed you girls so much…” Sunset whispered with joy in her voice.

“We missed you, too,” Fluttershy squeaked, still embracing the hug.

Eventually Rainbow Dash and Applejack joined in for another longer hug, not wanting to let them go again.

“Oh it’s so good to see you all again,” Rarity cooed, trying not to cry from joy. “I can’t tell you how many days went by and I just wanted to call you.”

“I know,” Sunset wiped a happy tear from her face. “But I’m glad you all are back, I’m guessing you got my message?”

“Mmmhmm,” Pinkie appeared out of nowhere, now dressed in more casual clothes; a tank top with a Jedi-like skirt hanging above her pants and blue boots. Her hands were holding onto a tray filled with some small glasses of delicious looking ice cream, which everyone accepted, except for Sunset who raised a hand to say ‘no thanks’. “After we got your message, we’ve been trying to find each other for the past few months, and well, here we are.”

“Either way, I’m glad to have you gals back. I missed fighting you all,” Rainbow smiled, enjoying her ice cream.

“I must say, Rainbow Dash, that new arm looks wonderful,” Rarity observed. “It looks better than when we first got your replacement.”

Rainbow flexed her arm around. “Thanks. Though I think we kinda need to bring up the elephant in the room here… did you change species?”

Everyone looked back at Rarity again. No one spoke up on it, but all eyes were locked onto the Togruta tendrils she had hanging down her head.

“Oh-pftt, Rainbow Dash, honestly, I think even you would know that would be impossible to do,” Rarity poised. She lifted the headpiece off, showing a hairnet firmly placed down on her head. Untying the back, her hair poofed up before behaving back into the normal style that everyone remembered her having, curls and all. Although there was one visible gray stripe now streaked on one of her curls. “Having a disguise is helpful when trying to hide from the Empire, especially any unsavory customers in the galaxy…”

"Yeah, but there's one other thing that's bugging me right now. What happened to um... your, uh..?" Applejack hesitated.

The girls looked back, and all jaws slacked on the floor. Rarity reached back and brushed her hair a bit before her hand met her left ear, feeling a sizable chip no longer present.

"Oh, you mean my ear?"

Everyone nodded without making a sound.

"Oh, that's nothing, darlings, I'm alright. I can still hear you all perfectly," Rarity reassured.

“… know what, fair enough, I can’t argue with that,” Rainbow shrugged. She sat her ice cream down on the seat next to her (at least what was part of the seat since she was using an old crate), and felt a soft nudge at her feet. She looked down, and she stifled a gasp. Her eyes teared up, and she was trying hard not to freak out. “N… No way…”

Fluttershy picked up the animal on the floor, lifting it up so Rainbow Dash could see him fully; an old tortoise looking at her with the sweetest, warmest smile a tortoise ever had.

“Omigoshhesstillaliveandokgimme!”

Fluttershy giggled as she carefully gave the animal to Rainbow Dash who immediately hugged him like a plushie. “I missed you so much buddy, I’m so glad you’re ok! W-Where did you find him?”

“I may have taken a stop down at Equestria and picked up a few of my animals,” Fluttershy shrugged. Almost immediately, a bird flew down and sat on her head. And then another bird perched on the small wooden rod that was prodding from one of her shoulder armors. “Ok, maybe more than a few,” she tittered.

Just then, their eyes watched as Spike rolled around the corner, with R2-D2 tailing close behind. Almost immediately, Pinkie yanked Spike up and gave him the biggest hug, somehow having the strength to lift him up.

“HI SPIKE!” Pinkie squeaked.

“Dah! Pinkie!” Spike yelped, his arms flailing.

And two seconds later he was dropped to the ground with a thud, as Pinkie immediately went to hug R2-D2 as well.

“Hi R2!”

“Bwoop boop!”

Spike pulled himself back up on his feet, and was given affectionate hugs from both Fluttershy and Rarity, this time more softly.

“Oh Spikey-Wikey, it’s so good to see you again!”

“Heh, it’s good to see you too, Rarity,” Spike replied, embracing her back.

“And to you as well, R2,” Fluttershy greeted.

“Bwoop bop. Brrt brrt brrrt, bweep bop,” R2 answered back.

"Oh, before I forget, there is someone else I want you all to meet. Well, a few," Sunset continued, looking at the Jedi and Mandalorian couple walking together.

A small squeeeeing sound came from Pinkie Pie as she saw her old friend.

"Hi Lyra! I missed you!" Pinkie scooped her up in a big hug, making her giggle.

"It's good to see you too, Pinkie," Lyra hugged her back.

"Oooh, and who is this lady?" Pinkie asked.

"Bon Bon, I'm her wife," Bon Bon introduced.

The three new arrivals were taken aback by this news.

"You're married?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, I just decided to spend my whole life with her cause I wanted someone to ba--yes I'm married," the Mandalorian deadpanned, getting a soft squeeze from her partner's hand. She looked back at Lyra with the cutest smile as she kissed her on the cheek. "And I don't regret one second of time with her."

"Aww, how romantic," Rarity cooed. "I'm glad you two found each other. And I'm especially glad to see you're still alive after all this time," she said, directing her eyes to Lyra.

"Not just us. You know Twilight's niece, Flurry Heart?"

"Y-Yes?" Fluttershy asked, worryingly.

"She's alive. She's with us, and well... she's our daughter," Lyra said, awkwardly.

"I thought she had perished a long time ago," Rarity asked.

"No, she's still alive. And more importantly, she's with us, and she's safe," Lyra confirmed, watching Flurry sit by the Sweetie Drop with some of the Team Six members. The group was having a few laughs, enjoying a few celebratory snacks for their victory, even if it was a hollow one. Lyra and Bon Bon's hands intertwined as they watched her, hearts warming at the sight of their daughter being so happy.

The rest of the Jedi looked back; Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all taken aback from how different she looked. Now they all remembered her as an infant, but to see her on the cusp of turning eighteenf, and looking like a young fighter? This was a new sight for them to take in for sure. Still sporting the clone trooper arm guards, work pants covered in dust and mud, and wearing a casual tank top.

"I wouldn't recommend crowding her right now," Lyra advised. "And I especially don't want any of you mentioning... you-know-what."

"What do... ohhhhhhh righhhhhttt," Pinkie remembered. "Yeahhhhh I don't know about you, but she has to know at some point."

"... No," Lyra bluntly said.

"Lyra, I know it's scary to imagine how she will react or feel, but you know something? It might make things better for you if you told her the truth. And it might make her better too."

Lyra's eyes narrowed at Pinkie. "Pinkie. I like you. But ARE YOU INSANE!?"

"No," Pinkie shook her head innocently.

"I... no. As long as I'm alive, we're not telling her the truth, she will hate us forever!"

"She'll be more mad if she knows you've been lying to her all this time--"

"--Enough!"

Lyra and Pinkie's eyes moved back to Sunset who looked like she was ready to explode. "I do not know whether it will makes things better or worse if she finds out, but that isn't important, and the last thing we need is more drama, got it?" She grit her teeth on that last remark, making both warriors shut up.

"Yes ma'am," both Lyra and Pinkie squeaked with fear.

"Thank you."

Awkward silence beheld them, until Rarity cleared her throat to try and change the subject. “Perhaps it is time we get caught up. What exactly has the Empire been planning?” Rarity asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out. The past few months, we’ve just been delaying shipments of weapons, stopping invasions, rescuing people in need of help, that kind of thing. We got a tip from an inside source telling us they had some big plan going on, but they erased all the data before we could get more information on them,” Sunset paced back and forth.

“Hence why you were fighting on Terra,” Pinkie surmised.

“Exactly,” Sunset confirmed. “And since they erased all the data there, I need to go visit an old contact of mine to see if she’s picked up anything new.”

“Mind if we tag along? You could use the extra hand,” Applejack offered.

“I dunno, she’s kinda… well…” Sunset hesitated. “Kijimi’s not exactly fun nor welcome for us.”

“We’re wanted fugitives who just came out of hiding; we’re used to no longer being accepted by everyone,” Rarity rolled her eyes. “But more seriously darling, we should help you. Nothing wrong with extra numbers after all…”

“Well… I suppose having more hands would be nice,” Sunset considered.

“Come on, Sunset, we’re your friends, we’re back, let’s do a mission just like old times!” Pinkie pleaded. “Pleaseeeee????”

“Ohhhh alright,” Sunset playfully rolled her eyes. “You girls can come along.”

“Yay,” Fluttershy quietly cheered.

“But we need to get you three registered,” Sunset looked at the new additions, pointing at each of them. “It’s a safety thing; and it helps us keep track of how many of us there are.”

“And uh… maybe we can get lunch?” Rainbow Dash asked with a titter.

“… Didn’t I tell you to eat before we left?”

“Hey, you took the café seats, I was scouting with Applejack!”

Sunset raised a finger and then drooped. “Fair enough, I suppose lunch wouldn’t hurt. Besides, it’ll give you three a chance to get acquainted with the Rebels for a little bit.”

“Um, Sunset?” Fluttershy interrupted. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought all the animals with me?”

Sunset looked back at the open hangars of the troop carrier. The animals were all taking a nap, adorably sleeping in their own little nests and spots inside. Although the raptor was still freaky, it was nice to see it too, got along with the others without wanting to snack on any of them.

“I don’t think that’d be a problem. Although I’m not sure how many veterinarians we have in the Rebellion.”

“Actually, I was hoping they could work as a form of animal therapy. With how stressed out we all are with the war, I think it’d be a good idea for these animals to provide the stressfree care and affection we all need from time to time,” Fluttershy smiled warmly.

“That’s… actually not a bad idea,” Sunset grinned.

“I mean it’s working for Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy chuckled, seeing how happy Rainbow was snuggling Tank.

Soon after the cruiser arrived back to Yavin IV, everyone moved their stuff out and got ready to settle back in. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all got themselves registered and provided with passes to ensure the Rebellion could still mark them as allies just in case. Fluttershy moved her troop carrier to one of the hangar bays, in an empty space with plenty of room for her animals to hang out and chill without bothering anyone.

Eventually, Flurry Heart was properly introduced to the new arrival Jedi with plenty of warm welcomes from them all; especially from Pinkie Pie. Despite the fear of the assassin droid, no one hacked apart her family members of former Storm Army association. But the time for lunch was getting closer, with everyone's stomachs rumbling. The group was just about to move to the cafeteria, until Sunset stopped hearing a voice on her com device.

“General Shimmer.”

“Yes Captain, what is it?” Sunset asked, hitting the answer button.

“I’m down by the tarmac, and I think you need to see this. Someone brought in an X-Wing, but it doesn’t belong to any of us. This looks… just come down here.”

“Oookay… on my way," Sunset replied, hesitantly.

Following her, the rest of the Jedi Six walked with her down to the tarmac again to check out the strange vehicle. Nearby, Lyra, Bon Bon, and Flurry were sitting next to the Sweetie Drop in lawn chairs, enjoying the chance to sit still for a little bit, all the while embracing the warm sunshine that reflected on their pastel-colored skin.

And indeed, they could see what the captain was talking around. Surrounded by a bunch of technicians, engineers, parked underneath some trees, was an X-Wing. But this X-Wing wasn’t like anything they had ever seen, no one made this model. The engines looked like it split into halves, it was cleaner and sleeker, like it had just gotten fresh off the assembly line. Colored in golden yellows and purple highlights, with various tattoos plastered on the wings.

“Does this X-Wing belong to any of you?” One of the technicians asked, looking at Sunset and the Jedi Six.

“No, it doesn’t. We don’t have this model, this looks new. I don’t remember sending any commissions for new X-Wings…” Sunset thought.

“Okay, well what about any of you?” He pressed on, still wanting a direct answer.

“I trashed my ship back on Terra,” Pinkie said with no shame or embarrassment.

“I took the troop carrier,” Fluttershy added.

“I flew here in an N1 Starfighter,” Rarity projected.

“Lyra and Bon Bon took the Sweetie Drop to get back,” Applejack added.

“Well, we checked with everyone in the database, this ship doesn’t belong to anyone, yet someone came here. We’ve been conducting searches for the pilot, but there hasn’t been any sign of ‘em,” he continued.

Sunset looked at the ship again, studying the detail some more to see if there was something she was missing. She did notice another graphic; a sigil of a treble clef crossing with a diamond. Something about it seemed… familiar. Somehow. But she didn’t know what it was.

“Keep searching. In the meantime, we better look for our guest as well. If this ship was manned by someone, they can’t be too far gone. Keep your coms intact, eyes and ears open. Don’t let anyone get a drop on you,” Sunset ordered. “We--”

Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh-ahhh

Sunset stopped. "Did anyone hear that?"

Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh-ahhh

“Okay, am I crazy, did that song sound familiar?” Sunset feared, pulling out her lightsaber without turning it on.

“I heard it too,” Pinkie whispered, trying to listen again.

Everyone looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, until all eyes slowly turned around, seeing a figure emerge from the forests. Slow heels marched along the tarmac towards them, as if the figure didn't have a care in the world. Their body shrouded in a dark cloak, covering any physical appearances, with a Phase I clone trooper helmet obscuring their eyes; the blue paint faded from time.

Not hesitating, all six Jedi pulled out their lightsabers, igniting them one by one. Fluttershy's blade was shaped like a spear, with a small blade extended at the end of the staff, a bright green hue. Rarity's weapon, shaped like an ancient katana, sparkled with diamonds as the blade extended with baby blue. Pinkie Pie's sabers were in the form of two axes; each of them lighting with blue and pink respectively. Applejack's more simple saber was pulled out in defensive position. Rainbow Dash's double-bladed saber twirled around as she got into a fighting stance. Last of all, Sunset Shimmer stood with her blade, in an upright and determined position as if to give a warning.

The figure kept marching towards them, humming their ominous song ever more. Just then, rows of Rebel personnel and soldiers charged out of the base, surrounding the X-Wing and the group of Jedi. Lyra, Bon Bon, Flurry, and a few members of Team Six joined them as they surrounded the mystery figure.

“Who are you?” Sunset growled. “Take off the helmet.”

The stranger didn’t speak, but complied with the order. Her hands grabbed the helmet, pulling it off slowly to let her auburn curly locks appear from the hard helmet. And when she took it off, the girls gasped in shock and awe. That same light gold skin and magenta eyes, giving them that same, familiar seductive grin she was known for, still somehow looking fabulous even with the massive claw marks that stretched across her face.

“Sunset Shimmer. We meet again,” she greeted.

Sunset and the Jedi next to her couldn’t believe their eyes. That face was all they needed to know who she was.

“General, do you know this woman?” Admiral Raddus asked, raising one of his eyes.

“Yes, I do. Sith apprentice, Adagio Dazzle,” Sunset said, introducing the intruder to the Rebels.

“Formerly Sith, General. I’m just Adagio Dazzle now,” the Siren replied, nonchalantly. "I'm no longer aligned with them."

“I thought you were dead after the entire galaxy-wide Jedi purge,” Rainbow asked, putting her hands on her hips. “The Empire said you were dead.”

“Your reports of my death were greatly exaggerated, Rainbow Dash,” Adagio said, pulling off a black pilot glove to expose some metallic fingers wrapped around a black fingerless glove. “I escaped with some minor damage to the due, and now I am here. So lovely to meet all of you.”

Adagio looked at the temples her ship was so close to, taking in their structure. “I must say, I admire your choice for a base. This rustic, earth-meshing with technology, it’s a nice little place you have,” Adagio said with a confident smirk. And then over to Lyra and Bon Bon who stood by with Flurry, acting on protective instinct. “I take it she is yours?”

“If you go near my daughter, I will not hesitate to end your life,” Lyra growled.

“I don’t wish to harm her, I do not involve myself in hurting children. Besides, that's not why I'm here; I want to make a real friend, one that won’t stab me in the back,” Adagio said, still keeping that confident flair.

“Cut the crap. What’s the real reason you’re here?” Captain Sentry growled, speaking up.

“I know we’ve had our grievances in the past, and I’ve tried to inflict pain and misery upon you all during the Clone Wars. But as far as I know, the Clone Wars is over, and the Empire is the new threat. I believe the old saying goes ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. So, I thought I would come to all of you in hopes to join your side,” Adagio said.

“Yeah, right,” Rainbow scoffed.

“I’d sooner let Jabba the Hutt join the Rebellion than a witch like you,” Applejack glared.

“I don’t give a womp rat’s behind what she has to say. What could she possibly offer that we would want anyway?” Sunset scoffed, turning her back on her.

“Derpy Hooves is alive.”

Sunset froze in place, like someone shot her in the back. Those words coming from Adagio Dazzle, she knew it had to be something to spite her and make her angry. She knew this former Sith too well. The fiery-haired girl gave her an evil glare with one eye. “Don’t even joke about that, that’s not even a little bit funny.”

“I am not joking. Derpy is alive, she survived Order 66, along with a few others.”

Sunset thought more and more. She still wasn’t sure if she should have believed her or not.

“If you have a punchline Adagio, just use it.”

Adagio still looked at her with a serious face, not breaking into laughter or smirks at all. “There is no punchline, Sunset Shimmer. Because it is not a joke.”

Now Sunset wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Curious to hear where she was going to go with her words, she gave Adagio her full attention.

“You’re serious aren’t you? You’re saying Derpy is alive?”

Adagio nodded.

“And why should we believe you?”

Adagio waited for her to finish, and then looked at Flurry, feigning some somberness in her voice. “Look at you all. You all have a team. You have each other. I have nothing. I’ve lost everything. I have nothing more to lose. Nothing can hurt me anymore…”

“If you think I’m going to fall for that Adagio, you’re dead wrong. You’ve manipulated me before, it’s not going to—”

“She’s not dead you idiot!”

Adagio reached into her side, which made everyone cock their weapons.

“Will you relax, I’m getting my projector,” Adagio rolled her eyes, pulling out her handheld device. The holoprojection turned on, revealing a planet on the display. “Ajan Kloss. Not too far from this world. Jungle environment, best place other than Sorgan to find krill. Popular in the summertime, perfect vacation residence, and popular to Trandoshans for sport. But she is located here, and she’s not alone.”

“And how do you know she’s there?” Rainbow folded her arms.

“I took a stop there to buy some food from local farmers. But when I wandered about, I saw a very interesting structure made out of old Republic vehicles, along with a handful of clothes that I can imagine belong to her; especially since none of the villagers are close to her figure. And I believe the last time I checked, she was living with a handful of men.”

“And you’re telling all of this to get on our good side?”

“If you’re not willing to trust me, then I’m just going to have to earn your trust. I know none of you are stupid enough to just let me waltz on in, so I thought if I did everything I could to be supportive to your cause, maybe I might get a chance at redemption.”

Sunset and the girls looked at each other, each one silently shrugging or giving some expressions that showed clear distrust. Even Pinkie Pie didn't like the idea of bringing her on, but Sunset let out a sigh. Her friends may not have trusted her, and she herself didn't believe her either. But if she was telling the truth, even if it was on the tiniest chance of possibility, she'd have to.

“Okay Adagio. You want a chance to prove yourself? We’ll give you that chance,” Sunset agreed. Adagio smiled briefly, but stopped when she felt the metallic cuffs slapped on her wrists. She could move her wrists slightly to reach, but not that far. “… But until you do, I’m afraid you’re going to have to wear those for a little bit,” Sunset said, rather sternly. “Only as a precaution; don’t want you wandering around with a possibility you could be lying. We have a rather unfortunate history with letting Dark Siders being free.”

“I’d argue with you, but you are much more fair and forgiving than the Empire. I’ll agree. I must admit, it’s not my first time being in cuffs you know,” she said suggestively, giving a naughty wink.

“Yeah, let’s not delve into any of your personal private times, can we? We do have non-legals here, I’d rather not them hear what you like to do in your off time.”

“Oh, hush. I wouldn’t dream of it; not near the seventeen-year-old of course,” Adagio said, noting Flurry’s disturbed and confused face. “But to the other adults…” Adagio chuckled lightly. “Oh I can certainly turn a few heads.”

“Whatever,” Sunset rolled her eyes, stepping away from Adagio. “Lyra, Bon Bon?” The married couple looked at Sunset. “I know we just got back, but do either of you mind going on a quick search mission?”

Lyra shrugged and Bon Bon gave an affirming shrug as well.

“I’m okay with that. Need us to take the Siren here?” Lyra deadpanned.

“Yes please. And if you need to, please take some more numbers with her. She may have given herself to us to start anew, but I don’t trust her,” Sunset sighed.

“You were a Sith at one point, weren’t you?” Adagio called.

“Apprentice. I chose to join the Jedi on my own free will,” Sunset explained.

"We'd be happy to investigate Sunset, no worries. We just a few more volunteers, and we'll be good to go," Lyra looked around.

The surrounding Rebels said nothing as they glared at Adagio. No one volunteered, or made a peep to the rest of the group. Winds whistled in awkward silence, accompanied by one person in the background coughing, and another blowing their nose.

"Oh come on, we can't go alone, pleaaaaaseeeeee?" Flurry begged like a six-year-old.

"Eh, I'll go, beats mop duty," Gallus shrugged, grabbing his weapons.

"I'll go as well," Smolder volunteered.

"... Begging like a child actually worked? Okay, that's not a good lesson to let me think will work, just saying," Flurry puzzled.

Several minutes later

Everyone awkwardly sat outside the tarmac, eating lunch. The conversation was lackluster, so to speak. Adagio Dazzle's prescence didn't help matters either, and even she kept her mouth shut except when enjoying some deliciously cooked meals. Sunset and the rest of the Jedi had daggers glaring right at the Siren, and Adagio just kept eating as if nothing was wrong. Despite the fact she was in cuffs, she had enough wrist movement to enjoy her food without it being a hassle or inconvience.

"Mmm. This is tasty," Adagio wiped her lips. "My compliments to your chefs."

No one responded.

"... Okay, this is really awkward, um. I'm just going to eat in the ship, let me know when you're all ready to go," Flurry deadpanned, getting away from the group.

Adagio Dazzle casually walked towards the Sweetie Drop with IG-11, Gallus, and Smolder marching behind her, adding extra security to make sure she didn't pull any fast ones. Everyone was expecting annoyance from the added precaution, but she still remained calm and casual as if none of this was bothering. Even her demeanor felt genuine, and not a facade.

Lyra and Bon Bon waited by the cockpit, flipping the switches to prepare for take off.

"All crew members in?" Lyra asked into the coms.

"Cheep, G-G, Eleven, Gallus, Smolder, Adagio, and I are all here and accounted for," Flurry replied back.

"Great. Now strap yourselves in, we're getting ready for take off," Bon Bon finished.

At the same time, Sunset Shimmer and the rest of the former Jedi Council were gathered and heading off into their own freighter for Sunset's mission. Spike and R2 followed behind them, moving into the vessel. Each of the Jedi strapped themselves in so they were safe, all the while Sunset and the droids moved to the main cockpit. A pilot was already sitting inside; a dark, tall, sleek droid with slender arms and legs that reached controls beyond most humans reach.

"I trust everyone will stay in their seats and won't move about when we prepare for liftoff?"

"Yes, K2. Everyone is safe."

"Would you like the probability of them completely disregarding safety?" K2 asked.

Sunset, R2, and Spike all slowly turned their heads to glare at him as he focused on the general.

"It's high."

"Let's just get going."

"It is very high."

The ship's engines rumbled and shook, making everyone a little jittery from the shakes. But eventually, the freighter pulled itself up into the air and took off for the skies, leaving a trail of dust behind it. The Sweetie Drop wasn't too far behind, both ships leaving together into Yavin IV's atmosphere before both moving in their own separate directions.

"We'll be in touch if something goes wrong," Sunset said into the coms. "Just be careful about Adagio. I want to give her a chance, but somethig still feels off about her."

"You're not the only one, Sunset. We're keeping the cuffs on her like you said. I just hope she wasn't lying about Derpy."

"You and me both. Let's just stay optimistic on this one. Over and out," Sunset smiled.

"See you in a day or two, Sunset. May the Force be with you."

Sunset pulled the lever, priming the hyperdrive engines. Light flashed outside of the ship and with a single jump, the freighter holding Sunset Shimmer and her friends left Yavin IV, now on their way to meet the contact. At the same time, the Sweetie Drop left a few minutes later, punching it into hyperspace as well, moving their way to Ajan Kloss, hoping their old friend was still alive after all this time.

Lightning surged above the barren lands surrounding the fortress Midnight resided. Despite the intensity in the skies that was dangerous to ships smaller than a snubfighter, it didn't strike at the ground unless a metallic rod directed its path.

Inside the castle was just as protected as the Star Destroyers that hovered above the atmosphere. Lightning echoed, with very few tremors that shook; only creating mild annoyances to the officers working. It especially wasn't annoying for the teen who entered a large empty room, shrouded in a cloak. A few white lights turned on, making the darkness showcase many metal plating reinforcing the floors and walls.

The teen stood silent, slowly breathing in and out. Inhale and exhale, as her master had instructed many times before. Quiet filled the room as she calmed her mind, listening carefully.

Click.

She moved her head to the side, facing a barren wall. Just then, a pair of metal feet slammed onto the ground behind her. And another. And another. And another. All four pairs of feet moved around her, before the hands of the guards began twirling their batons around, each of them sparking purple electricity from their ends. The droids were all repurposed IG-100 Magnaguards, warriors from the Clone War long ago. Once they fought for the Separatists before they were turned to the Storm Empire, now they served as training droids for the teen in this fortress.

The first one twirled his staff around at the student's head, forcing her to duck and roll to the side, igniting a simple red plasma blade. She brought up the blade in a defensive position, just as the second guard swung his electrostaff down, blocking it. Once he was locked on target, she pushed back with her strength before lifting up her hand, throwing the guard across the room into a metallic spike that was protruding out of the wall.

The third Magnaguard swung from behind, making her quickly turn around to defensive position, locked in a battle between one force of strength versus another. The first guard was about to attack just as she was vulnerable, but the student let herself go with enough strength to allow the guard to swing, and straight at her third opponent. The attack was short, allowing the apprentice time to charge forward and slash the first guard's head clean off, and make a strike through the red glowing eye in the chest, ensuring it wouldn't come back online.

Stepping to the side as the fourth guard charged forward, the second one was coming towards her once again. Changing tactics, the student waited as it got closer before holding her blade like a dagger, pushing it straight into the chest of the oncoming guard, making sparks fizzle and a series of malfunctioning beeps emit from the voicebox.

Now all that remained was herself, and the fourth guard. She stood up, turning around to face the fourth. It turned into a standoff, one against one. Her eyes tensed as she quickly became attentive towards her foe, who was taking several steps forward to begin a running charge. Twirling the staff around, the Magnaguard got ready for one final blow; but the apprentice made no step nor change in her stance.

The Magnaguard was getting closer and was about to lunge at her, until it was locked in the air by an unseen force. It kicked and struggled to charge, but an energy prevented it from striking. The apprentice looked forward, a pair of golden eyes glowing sinisterly as it focused on the droid. Both hands lifted up, palms open before slowly closing with clenching muscles.

Sparks began to burst all around the droid's body, his head looking with fear as parts and pieces were flying off his structure. Plates were falling apart, and bolts bounced on the floor. Just then, some of the plates started to crush from within, breaking as if someone were denting them with a blunt object, and the eyes turned to shattered glass. All of the pieces that began to break were being forced against their joints, twisting and turning into a metal pretzel before being crushed into a sphere of garbage, no longer resembling the droid that once stood.

A soft breath emitted from the student as she calmed herself down, having used much of her energy to try and destroy it. The only thing left on her mind was whether or not she had done well today.

The doors opened up. The figure standing outside the room marched into the room, artificial breathing echoing to kill the silence. Midnight herself looked at the damage done to the Magnaguards, disarmed and defeated with no means of rising back up right away. She looked to her student, her breathig still echoing.

"Well done, my student. You have passed another test."

The hood came down, revealing a pink-skinned girl with golden curled hair, a chipper smile on her face.

"Thank you, Master. You really think I passed?"

"I do. I saw your performance; moving swiftly without causing too much destruction, channeling your hatred into just your enemy and not the environment around you, and you have successfully defeated your enemy and ensured they won't rise back up right away. You're getting stronger with the Dark Side, Luster."

"Thank you, Master," Luster bowed.

"Now, have you gotten any breakfast?"

"... um... no," Luster hesitated.

Midnight's head tilted forward. "My apprentice, what have I told you?"

"... Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," Luster defeatedly said.

"You need your strength in battle, but you also can't start with an empty stomach," Midnight's hand softly rubbed her student's shoulders like a mother. "Now go get yourself something to eat, I will call the cleanup crew."

"Yes, master," Luster nodded before making her exit.

Shortly after she left the facility, she went back to her quarters to grab a few personal items. It didn't take long for her to find them, and soon she started to walk through the fortress halls. Stepping out of her wing, she entered a hall with a few guards posted at a few doors, and a few troopers standing by, awaiting orders from any superior officers. Luster took a deep breath before walking forward, past a few of them.

"Hey Luster," one of the Midnight troopers greeted.

Luster smiled adorably as she stopped in front of one of them. "Hey RC-2351."

"Ready for a rematch later today?"

"Of course, love to!" Luster squeaked.

"Sounds good to me. Getting breakfast?"

"Yeah, I kinda neglected to get some food," Luster blushed.

"Alright then, I'll let you go about your business," the trooper nodded.

"Bye!" Luster waved as she set off again. Turning left, she gave a small nod to two particular guards; clad in red armor and cloaks; black visors resembling the shape of Mandalorian warriors with more angular visors. The two of them didn't move from position, but did get a resounding nod to Luster as she went past them, recognizing the student of their employer.

Just around another bend, swinging past a small squad of soldiers were two officers; one Equestrian and a black human, talking to one another.

"I heard supposedly Lady Midnight herself has an interest in Dathomir," the Equestrian said, picking up where their conversation started.

"What can be so important down there? Isn't that place crawling with witches and voodoo?"

"No idea. Supposedly the Storm King led a raid down there back in the Clone Wars and wiped them out, but I wouldn't know, I wasn't there," the officer replied.

Luster stopped in her tracks, turning back around to step in briefly. "My master is interested in Dathomir?"

"Possibly."

"Hey, don't get her hopes up, you'll just disappoint her," the other officer said, sternly but calm.

Luster shrugged off the remarks. "It's okay. I'll believe it when my teacher gives me the okay. See you two around."

The student finally made it to the front doors of the spotless cafeteria. While most of the Empire's resources for food was reliant on simple rations that provided the nutrients their soldier needed, the cafeteria on Midnight's castle was a little more special; the food provided had more substance and above all, flavoring, something the lowest of ranks could only dream of tasting.

Luster's first stop was the drink station, settling for a healthful dispense of blue milk in a medium-sized cup. Next came her actual meal. Freshly cooked stacks of griddle cakes steamed from the hot plates, with a variety of toppings including syrup, fruits, and small portions of butter. Last of all were her utensils, and soon she found a spot to sit down, not bothering any of her collaborates within the mess hall.

Most of the tables were open for anyone to come and sit, but the student chose to just sit by a table with some officers sitting around. They didn't mind her presence, it was rather refreshing seeing the bright and chipper student every now and again, especially in a dreary fortress such as this one. Besides, the Inquisitors never sat themselves among 'their kind', mostly because their ranks were higher.

Despite the company, the ones surrounding her today weren't very interested in talking to her, judging by the disinterested expressions as they averted their eyes. But in turn, Luster also put on a disinterested expression, focusing on her breakfast. But for the rest of the hour, Luster internally wondered if anyone would accompany her, or want to spark a conversation. Or if there was anyone here or outside of the Empire she could talk to...

Elsewhere in hyperspace, the freighter holding Sunset and her friends was moving at a steady speed. Despite hesitation from Fluttershy and Rarity, Sunset reassured the girls that K2-SO was more than capable to drive them despite being an Imperial droid. Realizing they still had hours ahead, Sunset led the girls out of the main cockpit down a hallway through the ship. The fiery-haired girl was desiring some much needed catching up time, and this trip was the perfect chance to have it. Besides, K2-S0 was in control, he could keep the ship stable while they were in hyperspace.

“Can we make an agreement?” Sunset proposed as she led the girls down the hall to the living area on the freighter.

“Sure,” everyone agreed, following her.

“One; I want us to become friends again like we used to be, and for us to find ourselves and bond with each other whenever our free time permits us. Can we agree to that?”

“Yeah,” the girls agreed, not having any complaints about that request.

“Two; I want us to watch each other’s backs, as well as those of our allies and people we may not understand. We’re in this war together, and we should help each other. Can we agree to that?”

“Okay,” everyone answered, still on board with her terms.

“Three; I want us to be completely open and honest with each other, so we can clear any drama amongst ourselves, and keep our heads focused where they should be, and not have any animosity towards each other. I also want you guys to make friends with people within the Rebellion, even if it might be shocking and painful.”

Sunset poured the last of the blue milk into the cups and slowly pulled the tray over to the booth. Pinkie and Rainbow pushed chairs from the small control station built into the wall and sat across from the four girls who sat in the cushiony booth.

“Okay, now that we have that out of the way… I honestly don’t know where to start, I'm still too happy to see you guys,” Sunset squeaked, getting a giggle from her friends. It was adorable seeing her so happy.

“What have you guys been up to all this time?” Rainbow asked, leaning back in her chair.

“Yes, please, tell us!” Sunset insisted.

“Pinkie, why don’t you start us off,” Rarity offered.

“Okay!” Pinkie chirped. “Wellll, I kinda went off to the edge of the universe for about five minutes, I got really bored. I bounced over to Daiyu, but I couldn’t find work there, I didn’t want to make money in spice. I tried working on Ord Mantell, but no business opportunities for me; at least, not for someone who used to be associated with… the Republic,” Pinkie emphasized sadly. “Buuuut I did manage to settle down on a nice spot over on Carpenthia! The people there are really nice to me... and, well, someone else I haven't had time to mention."

“Funny you say that, we actually have a few Carpenthians in the Rebellion,” Sunset forewarned. “I’ll admit, I did find them a bit creepy when I first met them. I know that’s their natural skin, but they look so rotting and decaying, I was honestly wondering if I needed to call a doctor,” she shivered.

“Eh, it’s not new to me,” Pinkie shrugged off, taking a sip of her milk. “It did take some time to get used to not fighting anymore. Especially when the Empire rose up.”

“Yeahh…” everyone sighed.

“What about you, Fluttershy?” Applejack interjected, wanting to pick up the conversation.

“I stayed on Kashyyyk. The Wookiees took me and gave me a home,” Fluttershy replied. “They even gave me this armor to welcome me into their kind,” she said, gesturing to the shoulder and chest armor. “But when the Empire started to attack Kashyyyk I had to run. I tried to fight back, but they just kept coming. Even after escaping, I tried to do what I could to help free them from prison camps, but I can’t do any of it on my own. So, after that… I was just on my own.”

“In a troop carrier?” Sunset asked. “That’s not exactly something I’d imagine you driving in.”

“I went down to Equestria to hide again. All the animals I took care for managed to bring me to safety, and I wanted to keep them safe as well. So, they showed me an abandoned troop carrier on a landing pad. It basically became my house, and so I just kept flying around, trying to find a home. Until I got your signal.”

“Uh-huh,” Sunset said, understanding.

“What about you, Rarity? Where’d you go?”

“I tried to find an apartment on Naboo, but the prices inflated to an absurd degree, and the Empire inflicted its will on everyone, I had to get out! I thought about going back home to Equestria and going back to Ponyville, but the Empire went there too!” Rarity complained. “And I hope she’s okay but, I… I…”

And everyone braced themselves for another freakout, knowing how much Rarity over-exaggerated. This however was definitely not going to be an exaggeration.

“MY HOUSE WAS RUINNNNNNEEEEDDDDDD!!!!” Rarity wailed, hitting her face against the table. “My entire house, burned to the ground! I was HOMELESSSSSSSSSS!”

Pinkie softly patted Rarity’s back, frowning.

“Wait, if you were homeless, where’d you go?” Applejack asked, wanting to know more. "And what about Sweetie Belle?"

“I DON'T KNOW!!!! I tried to find her, but she wasn't there! I hope Sweetie Belle is still okay, but I couldn't find her, or my mum and dad. I had no choice, so... I went to Daiyu! I had to get a small apartment filled with rats, and I couldn’t even fall back on making clothes! All the major clothing factories in the galaxy weren’t opening, and I was a wanted criminal! I had to go for a.. less than classy line of profession,” Rarity shivered.

The girls didn’t like the sound of what she was implying.

“I had to make spiceeeeeeeeee!!!!” Rarity wailed some more.

“… okay, that’s not at all what I thought you were going to say,” Rainbow winced.

“Honestly, Rainbow—” Rarity went in a complete 180 to suddenly calm and uptight like this was a daily occurrence. “—I am much more classy than to put myself through debauchery. I could never dream of it!” She said, sticking her head up in a rather snooty behavior. And two seconds later after taking a sip of her drink she went back to wailing like a child. “—But I still had to make spice! Do you know how hard it is to make something that makes you sneeze and crazy?”

She slammed her fist against the table. “I could have made so many unique dresses, vests, pants, outfits to help people blend in and stay hidden from the Empire and protect them from predators! And the only job available was spice! Can you even imagine!? Not making food, clothes, furniture, fixing spaceships. All of these possible openings, and all of these things people need and like… And they like CRACK!!!”

The sound of squeaking wheels rolled into the room as Spike pushed a small ramp from the corner towards the table. And he slowly rolled to the top of it, finally meeting at everyone’s eye levels.

“Sorry, just wanted to make sure K2 still kept on course. What are we talking about?” Spike asked, his little claws holding each other.

“Pinkie's caught up with the Carpenthians, Fluttershy's living in a troop carrier, and Rarity became a crack dealer,” Sunset bluntly answered, not beating around the bush.

The response was enough to make Applejack spit-take across the wall, hacking and coughing.

“… I think I need context, but I’m not going to ask right now,” Spike rubbed the side of his dome.

“But we are catchin’ up, at least tryin’ to,” Applejack quickly wiped away the milk that was spat against the wall. But when she sat back down, she remembered something. “Say, we never really heard what you’ve done since we’ve gotten back together.”

“Yeah, what gives Spike? Come on, what have you been doing since the end of… well?”

“Girls, I’m not sure he’s comfortable going into that detail,” Sunset feared.

“But if you want to, we are more than willing to listen darling,” Rarity reassured.

“No, it’s… it’s okay,” Spike said. “Sunset knows, but I can tell you myself.” The astromech sighed for a moment, sounding a bit sad to be telling this story. “After the war ended, I kinda lost myself. I stayed with Flash since Sunset went off to Ord Mantell with R2. For a while, I tried to make myself useful in more peaceful work, but I just couldn’t. Some months passed, and Flash and I agreed to try and help Jedi who were still out there and in hiding.”

A hologram projected in front of them, showcasing several wanted pictures of Jedi who had survived Order 66. The girls only recognized some of them; Ahsoka Tano, Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, Mystery Mint, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia Melody, to name a few.

“But with each rescue we attempted. With each passing Jedi we found and tried to help… it always ended the same.”

New photos displayed, showing profile shots of select Jedi from the Equestrian Jedi Temple; Watermelody, Velvet Sky, Tennis Match, Indigo Wreath, Brawly Beats, Sandalwood, and even Micro Chips. All of their posters marked with big X’s over their pictures.

“They died. Captured. Executed publicly. We were always too late, or one step behind the Empire.”

The pictures continued to flash, showing more friends that had died throughout the years. Friends that the girls couldn’t have imagined getting killed, or even the Empire having the chance to wipe them out. And the list of names didn’t help either.

Spike turned off the holoprojector and sat quietly for a second. “After a while, I just… I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to hope or think we’d have somewhat of a chance to help anyone. So I just… went offline.”

There was a solemn silence around the table. Sunset understood this well, but everyone else? No one had any idea what had gone on.

“Spike…?”

“You… went offline?”

“Oh Spike…”

Spike sighed. “I just, I didn’t know what else to do! I couldn’t help anyone, all I did was make things worse, and every time I did try to help, something horrible went wrong, and it only furthered why everything just wasn’t worth it. And don’t tell me that wasn’t the answer, because what else was I supposed to do!?”

The astromech stopped himself before he yelled more. His friends didn’t deserve that, he didn’t need to go off on them.

“You’ve held that in for a long time, haven’t you?” Applejack frowned.

“I’ve had to live with this every day for the past sixteen years. All of you were gone, I barely knew Flash. I thought I was better off being a piece of junk rusting in a corner that didn’t hurt anyone than to be someone who just made things worse.”

A solemn bit of silence filled the room once more.

“W-Well, I mean… we’re back together now, right?” Pinkie asked, trying to find some way to spin this conversation into a positive direction. “And now that we are, we can definitely stop Darth Midnight for real this time.”

“Yeah… we could,” Spike said, unsure of what the outcome would be.

“Bwoop boop.”

R2-D2 rolled around the corner, wanting to be a part of the conversation.

“Oh, hey R2. Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you back there,” Spike rubbed the back of his dome awkwardly. “I’ve uh… I needed to speak to them.”

“Beep. Beeep brrrt boop brrrt.”

“Thanks buddy. I appreciate it,” Spike acknowledged.

“R2, how much farther are we til we arrive?”

“Bweep boop brrrt booop,” R2 replied.

“Perfect!” Sunset climbed out of her seat (literally), throwing herself across the table and back on her feet just to run up to the cockpit. The girls were left a bit confused and disgusted by their food now splattered on the floor and the ground.

“You could have just asked us to get up!” Rainbow shouted as Sunset went to the cockpit. “Just saying!”

The ship jumped out of hyperspace, outside of their destination; the Mid-Rim world of Kijimi.

Kijimi was surrounded by mountainous landscapes. Weather conditions consistently cold and icy. Thick blankets of snow draped across the mountains and cities. Populations were limited to citizens looking for home away from Imperial regiments, and criminals looking for work regardless of the job. Thievery, villainy, and debauchery of all kind were present here; while not on par with Tatooine, it was still aplenty.

The transport landed softly outside of the main city, hidden behind the cover of some mountain rock. The door opened up, and the group walked out. The first to exit were the Jedi, all draped in hoods and ponchos to cover themselves; somehow even Rarity managed to get a hoodie for the Togruta headdress she applied before stepping out the ship. The group had no clue if anyone would recognize them or not, but the more conspicuous they were, the better. And right behind them was Spike, R2, and K2-S0.

“Well, here we are. Kijimi. Not the most popular place in the galaxy, but it’s a place,” Sunset said, adjusting her poncho.

“Who’s this contact you got here, anyway?” Applejack asked, adjusting her hat.

“Her name is Ackmena, she’s a good person to talk to. A bit sarcastic, but only if you ask her stupid questions. Now remember, we must blend in,” Sunset summarized. “You guys,” she said, looking at the droids, “stay with the ship.”

“I can blend in. I’m an Imperial droid, and this city has numerous Imperial occupants,” K2 suggested.

“Maybe so, but if you’re seen walking by, they might question what you’re doing and where you’re going with us, and frankly I didn’t have enough time to conjure up an alibi,” Sunset replied.

“We’ll be back soon, darlings!” Rarity cooed, waving to them, hiding her eyes behind a pair of glasses.

K2 just stood there awkwardly, looking back at Spike and R2. “I suspect Imperial occupations are going to find them before they even set one foot into that bar.”

R2 just blew a raspberry at K2, rolling back inside the ship.

“I’m capable of finding them on my own, thank you very much!”

--

Under the guise of cloaks, the Jedi Six walked into the cold, snowy, city. The wind blew harshly, making their faces sting as they trudged along the cobblestone steps and streets, despite some covering their eyes with goggles. Around them, they could see civilians minding their own business in winter wear just like them. Some of them were the usual races you’d see; human, Ithorian, Twi’lek, Rodians, etc. And to her surprise, she saw a few Talz species, and some Kyuzos.

And while the wind blew cold, the girls felt a few short bursts of warmth flow right past them. In the alleyway next to them where some garbage bins laid, they could see some people huddling near some burning canisters, presumably hobos or homeless people trying their best to make do with what little they had.

“I can’t believe there are still regions of the galaxy that have to deal with this kind of environment,” Rarity whimpered, looking at a poor little Twi’lek girl trying to stay warm next to her father. She stared for a moment, depressed by the sight. The others could see her looking back at them, but they nudged her to keep moving.

“I know you want to help them, but we can’t right now,” Sunset said, sadly. “We need to keep moving.”

“Yes, I… I suppose we should,” Rarity sighed, walking away.

"I promise when this war is over, and we get the New Republic in place, we're going to ensure things like that don't happen to anyone ever again," Sunset said, with a little seethe in her voice.

"Sounds like you've had experience," Fluttershy inquired.

“I know what it's like to be in poverty, hoping to find a home. Takobo, Tatooine, Lothal, Coruscant. It wasn’t until I made a mistake of going to Garel City, somewhere, I don’t remember the planet, but that’s where Tempest found me and took me in,” Sunset explained, looking around them.

The girls took another turn, walking into a path that could lead to four different ways. One up a flight of steps leading higher up the mountain city. Another just leading to another street. A third path that cut directly into a bar. And the last direction that just went further below the city which was where they just walked up.

Before they could think about making another turn, they froze in their tracks. All of them heard a very audible click of a blaster priming. Mainly at Sunset Shimmer, as she felt a barrel at the back of her head. Slowly she raised her hands up and turned her head to look at whoever was pointing the gun. It was not someone she knew, but Sunset knew straight away the mystery voice was armed. She was clad from the neck down in a burgundy jumpsuit with bronze straps and braces up and down her arms and legs. Over their head she wore a shimmering gold helmet with a black visor that obscured her face.

“It’s been a long time since a Jedi came waltzing into this cesspool,” said the woman behind the battered gold mask. “I thought, ‘hey, they’re not stupid enough to come back here’. Apparently I was wrong.”

“How do you even know I’m a Jedi?’ Sunset questioned.

“You’re doing a poor job of hiding your weapon,” she continued, gesturing to the glaringly obvious weapon on her belt. “And that goes for all of you.”

“What if we just happened to steal… those…” Rainbow and the others finally saw who was aiming the blaster at their friend. At first, she didn’t know what to think. But without restraint, she started to snicker. “Um… what are you wearing?”

And Pinkie was snickering as well.

“It’s a spacesuit,” she said, not showing any signs of laughter.

“You look like you’re auditioning for Coruscant’s Top Model!” Rainbow burst out laughing, with Pinkie cracking up as well.

And the masked woman replied by shooting a blast into the ground near her feet. “One more joke and I blast your brains into the snow. I don’t think that would be a pretty image.”

Pinkie giggled. “She was complimenting you, silly!”

“Is she always this stupid?”

“No I’m—hey!” Pinkie glared.

“She’s not dumb, she’s our friend. And who are you?” Fluttershy folded her arms.

“You won’t live long enough to find out. Now I have a question for you—” And when she clicked her blaster again, several more masked figures in similar style appeared out of nowhere to join her. “A few years ago, a Mandalorian did business with me. And I know she was with a minty green Jedi, something you ladies would know a lot about. Where are they?”

Silently, the Jedi exchanged glances. They knew who she meant. But it was not like they were going to flat out reveal who they were.

“Look, ma’am, I don’t know who you are,” Sunset began, lowering her arms. “I’m sorry that a Mandalorian did something lousy here, but I have no control of it. We’re looking for someone. Do you know where Ackmena’s bar is?”

“Even if I did know, I still wouldn’t tell you.” The woman’s head turned, hearing several communications a few blocks away. She looked over, seeing a few Imperials talking to each other, chatting about random things. “And you just bought my ticket off this planet…”

“Now, listen, let’s talk about this darling,” Rarity insisted, stepping forward. “We just want to discuss this—"

“Jakangah!”

“--Oh well,” Rarity sighed.

Sunset swung her leg around, kicking the weapon out of the woman’s hand. And she made another swing when she was about to pull out a second gun. Rainbow Dash Force-slammed one of the gunmen against a brick wall, with a blanket of snow falling on his body. Rarity and Fluttershy yanked the weapons out of a few hitmen through the Force, and then waited as Pinkie and Applejack performed a few powerful punches to throw them to the ground.

And as the leader of the pack tried to get back up, she was met with a blue lightsaber blade ignited and pointed at her face.

“I’m going to try this again. Where is Ackmena’s bar?” Sunset tried again.

“You’re insane if you think I’m going to give you an answer,” the leader grunted.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this out here,” Rarity said. “There are a few Imperial patrols coming our way, we don’t want to be seen.”

“So what do we do with her then?” Applejack asked, looking at the helmeted woman.

--

“Girls, this is a really bad idea!” Sunset stressed.

The group was now deep in the basement of this stranger’s home. All around, there was a bunch of spare parts and machines around; a droid workshop. Computers, wiring, all sorts of equipment integrated into the stone walls and floors. And as for the woman that tried to sic her gang on them? She was now tied to a chair, hands and legs all tied, and a blaster pointed at the back of her helmet to keep her aware that any sound she made would get her shot.

“Did we really need to tie her up?” Fluttershy questioned.

“She was going to call the Empire, wasn’t she?” Rainbow shrugged off, leaning against a metal shelf that thankfully did not rock or fall from her weight.

“Even then, I don’t think kidnapping was the best option,” Rarity frowned.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to be here that long,” Applejack replied. She looked to Sunset. “Wasn’t there something that you were looking for? Didn’t you have a plan?”

Sunset turned around to look at her friends, standing still in complete silence. She was quiet for a moment or two, thinking. Her friends were waiting for her to say something, anything.

“… I completely forgot why we came here.”

All of them collectively facepalmed.

“Wait, agh, sorry. Ackmena, we need to find Ackmena,” Sunset rubbed her temples. “Sorry, I kept thinking about where an Imperial might show up.”

“Well, we should be asking her questions,” Rainbow glared at the tied up woman.

Fluttershy pushed Applejack’s blaster away from the helmeted woman’s head. “Okay, we’re going to try this again. Please tell us where we can find Ackmena’s bar? … And do it in the next five minutes, we can’t stay,” Fluttershy pleaded with those beautiful blue eyes that anyone could get lost in.

And Pinkie extended a lightsaber, holding it out and pointing at her with a straight face. “You have the right to wear gold, so please tell us what we need to know!”

The woman groaned in exhaustion. “Fine. You need to go a couple of blocks up the stairs and make a left past the neon sign. Do not step into the building with the Xesh’s on them, that’s the strip club. You’ll find a bar a few stores past it, facing off into a frozen fountain.”

The girls looked at each other, nodding approvingly.

“Now was that so hard?” Applejack asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“It was,” she glared.

Pinkie walked behind her with her lightsaber still out, and the woman’s eyes closed, waiting to hear the slash. A slashing sound was heard, but it wasn’t against her body or her skin. Instead, she felt her hands no longer held together and coming loose. Slowly she pulled them out, gripping her strained wrists.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“You’re free, silly,” Pinkie said, putting her weapon away.

“Why?”

“Well, why not? You helped us!” Pinkie replied.

“You’re not going to kill me, or rip my skin off my body, or… rip my skull out as a trophy?”

Now all of them were looking at her with disturbed faces.

“I don’t know what kind of people you hang out with, but that’s not what we do,” Applejack shook her head.

“Miss, you helped us with information we needed. We weren’t going to keep you locked up in here, we’re not Sith Lords,” Rarity said, waving her hand around. “Come, come, everyone. Let’s go find Ackmena.”

One by one, everyone walked up the stairs and left the woman as she got back on her feet. Rarity was first, then Rainbow Dash, then Fluttershy, and Applejack, then Pinkie Pie, and last of them all was Sunset Shimmer. But before she left, she looked back at the woman in the red jumpsuit.

“What’s your name, again?”

The woman was hesitant to speak, but after thinking momentarily, she spoke again. “Zorii. Zorii Bliss.”

“Thank you, Zorii Bliss. I hope whatever business you have here continues to run smoothly. May the Force be with you,” she smiled before leaving. And all the while the woman in the burgundy jumpsuit stood there, baffled by what just happened.

Why didn't they kill me? Why were they being nice to me? ... Kidnapping me still, but no hate? No anger?

The trip on board the Sweetie Drop was… awkward, to say the least. Lyra and Gallus sat in the pilot seats keeping the ship in hyperspace, while the rest of the crew stood around to keep an eye on Adagio. They were gathered in the family ‘living room’ of sorts, with Adagio sitting at the holochess table, while everyone else either sat in a different booth away from her, or in the computer chair. Smolder leaned against a wall, staring at their ‘prisoner’, all the while Bon Bon sat in her chair, glaring at the new arrival with guardian eyes, ready to pounce if she made a wrong move.

Flurry Heart was over in the kitchen, getting herself and some of the crew members some snacks, mostly out of a request from her mother to keep her far away from the Siren as possible. Despite being in handcuffs, Adagio’s mood didn’t change. She just casually leaned back in the cushioned booth, legs crossed looking very comfortable.

“Does anyone want to sit; I can scoot over if you’d like?” Adagio offered.

“No thanks, I tend to make it a habit to not be within a few inches close to potential predators,” Bon Bon snarled.

Adagio rolled her eyes. “If you think I’m going to do something harmful to your daughter, forget about it. I have no desire to hurt her."

“Kind of hard to forget when you’ve learned about every ounce of history and horrid acts that you’ve done,” Bon Bon said, keeping her arms folded.

“And just what have I done that could be so bad?” Adagio asked, still casual.

“Oh I don’t know, being a Sith?”

“Former Sith, Mandalorian. I switched sides when I discovered I had no purpose within their cult,” Adagio shrugged.

“Attacking Jedi?” Bon Bon added.

“I was young and naïve, I still believed I had potential to be a Sith,” once again, she was calm and casual with her responses.

“Well then how do you explain a certain event on a casino world?” Lyra asked, walking into the room with a manifest. Gallus followed her right behind, joining her to take a break from staring off at the flashing hyperspace view.

“What casino world?”

“Canto Bight, do I have to spell it out for you?” Lyra grit her teeth.

“And just what did I do? Outside of maybe having a bad lay, and a drink or two?” Adagio asked, folding her legs again.

“Well, gathering the reports that the Rebels had on you, both current and old,” Lyra said, flipping through. “You apparently decided to slaughter a bunch of patrons and guards inside the casino and incited a riot. And apparently had used a stolen X-Wing to obliterate many of the buildings.”

“… And?” Adagio asked, not caring.

“Okay, I loathe Canto Bight as much as the next guy, but I just want to ask; why? Why were you there to begin with?”

Adagio blinked as she looked at the Rebels and shrugged once again. “I was bored.”

“… Bored. You were bored. So you just decided to get drunk, have a lay, then slaughter a bunch of people, because you were bored?” Smolder asked, smoke blowing out of her nostrils.

“No, I decided to get drunk, slaughter people, and then I’d have a bad lay,” Adagio corrected with a shit-eating grin. However, that did not make the former Jedi happy. “Do you want me to give more reasoning? Alright,” she said, thinking for a second. “Those billionaires were ugly.”

“That’s not a reason,” Gallus puzzled.

“Actually, in this case, I’ll give you that, those people are kinda ugly,” Smolder shrugged.

“Smolder!” Bon Bon snapped.

“What? They are, have you seen them! Everyone looks so bloated, they wear too much makeup, and the games aren’t even that fun! And I don’t even understand this, they’re so… so… xenophobic. If you don’t look like them, you’re out. Also they kinda keep child slaves…”

“And that’s another reason I was down there,” Adagio added. “I didn’t just go down there to slaughter the ugliest scum in the galaxy, I had a purpose in mind,” she said, giving a bit of a proud smirk.

“That is?” Lyra questioned.

Soon enough, Flurry came around the corner holding a tray with some cups, a kettle, and a plate of cookies. “Would anyone like some blue milk and cookies?”

“I would,” Smolder asked, snatching a cookie.

She set the tray down on a side-table, pouring some milk into the cups. “Adagio, do you want one?”

“Oh yes please, thank you,” she said, not joking or passively this time. It was brief, but even the parents had to admit, they did hear some genuine gratitude from her. Flurry passed a cookie over to her, and accepted it. “Anyways, what was I saying… oh yes. So, I was on the run from the Empire. I knew they were going to want me dead, since I no longer had relevancy to the old ways. So, a few months ago, I decided to initially settle down on Canto. After all, a sexy thing like me could make some good cash there, and at first, I was taken in by the place. It was just sooo gorgeous. I made a good living performing, singing in jazz lounges… even had some fun doing dances around a few poles if you know what I mean,” she winked.

They did know what she meant, but it didn’t change their initial faces or current stances. Gallus and Smolder were still keeping distance, wanting to listen carefully if she was going to try anything. Flurry was still standing with a tray of cookies and milk, listening with some curiosity mixed with disturbance. Lyra and Bon Bon however were praying that the next thing she said wasn’t going to be too graphic for their almost 18-year-old child.

“However, as time went by, I started to notice something. Any real conversations I had were non-existent. Sure, the endless seas of humans, bloated potatoes and snout-faces talked of politics and activity of the Empire… but there wasn’t anything else. You may think whatever you want of me, but there is more to me than a former Sith who yearned for power,” Adagio said, acknowledging the clear disdain that had come from the two parents.

“I find that hard to believe, but go on,” Lyra said, allowing her to continue speaking.

“After a while, I just started to become bored. Everything started to look the same. Any charm that once existed was starting to vanish… And then something else had kicked in. Everyone around me had nothing to them. There was no charm. There was no personality, no activity, nothing of substantial value to them. The ones who owned Canto Bight were nothing more than self-absorbed, narcissistic, exploitive, assholes. And then when I looked further, any familiarity that the rest of the galaxy had was gone. No meiloorun fruit snacks, no Nuna legs, no sexy Twi’lek girls, no hunky Trandoshans, nothing of familiar comfort or valuable substance existed here in this boring town.”

“Oh gee. What a shocker. A place full of super rich jerks who exploit the lower-classes is actually a bad place,” Lyra deadpanned with a dead-eyed stare. “Do you have a point to your story, Adagio, or are you just going to tell us that being rich was just sooo boring?”

“Yes, please, go on about how being rich became so boring, while we were trying to make sure we got enough credits to pay for groceries in the next month,” Bon Bon snarked, folding her arms.

“I have a point, if you will allow me to explain,” Adagio said, starting to sound a bit angry herself.

A moment of silence passed, until Flurry spoke up. “Adagio, please, can you tell us more?”

Adagio slowly breathed in and out, letting go of that anger. “Of course, young Flurry. Now where was I…? Oh right,” she cleared her throat. “So, I finally saw the true colors of the place. It made me depressed, and so I decided to drown my annoyance with the strongest alcohols they had. And since I was a former Sith apprentice, I decided to use my anger to go on a bender… word of advice, do not drink before you try and start a riot. Because, well…”

--

“Aaaaahhhh!” Adagio yelled/slurred. She held her lightsaber with a tight grip and started to swing it side to side, making multiple slashes as she could. “Think you’re so pretty!? I’ll show you who’s the real beauty here! Ahhhhh!!!” She kept slashing and slicing everything in front of her—

--But to the patrons who were not drunk, all they were seeing was a drunk woman slicing and slashing at a perfectly nice wall like a moron. Some of them stood around, staring at her with confusion, others were laughing. A select few were horrified that someone who they had known for awhile started to wreck something so beautiful.

It wasn’t until the policemen walked in and shot her with the electric darts did they finally tame her and get her to drop. But it didn’t stop her yelling as she flailed her arms up at the ceiling. “I’ll get you, you laughing little bastards! You’ll regret watching me strip!”

“That’s real nice ma’am, but you’re under arrest,” the officer deadpanned, dragging her by the arms across the floor.

--

“So after my failed attempt at a bender, I got tossed in jail. It didn’t last for long mind you. But as I was in prison, I heard talk from some of the guards about several group of Rebel organizations causing some trouble for the Empire. And then, it hit me… a chance for me to turn a new leaf, and a way to put the Empire down a peg. So, I tricked the guards into letting me free, and so I set off to give Canto Bight a little taste of vengeance.

“And you did so by inciting a riot in a casino?” Lyra asked.

“Sort of. I wanted to catch your attention, and judging by that report you read, it seems my actions did. I decided to try and do something nice for once and my life; I slaughtered some of the more powerful members in the casino, I hacked apart their piss-poor excuse for a game parlor, and just to top it all off… I decided to use one of your own ships.”

She flickered her hologram device on, showing a model for an X-Wing type, only difference in the ones they had were the engines that unfolded with the wings.

“I found out that one of the billionaires wanted to pitch a design for a stronger, faster, more swift X-Wing fighter than the ones you currently possessed. So out of spite, I erased all data of the file and took their prototype for a spin… and blew up a few buildings in the process. I must admit… I think I brought out its true colors that night.”

She let out a soft giggle, thinking back to before, and looked at everyone around her. Innocently, she ate a piece of her cookie, and judging by her noises, it sounded like she enjoyed it. “This is delicious, did you make these yourself?”

The Sweetie Drop jumped out of hyperspace, orbiting a moon with green land masses and a few oceans. Moving down to the surface, the crew got a better view of the world around them. It had much resemblance to Yavin IV; plenty of jungles and forestry as far as the eye could see. Mountains that arched with cliff dwellings, waterfalls, and caverns. Rivers stretching around the forests with plenty of krill and other sea animals often caught for the purpose of consumption.

A clearing was found for the ship to land, the engines whinding down after the long journey. The hatch opened up, and the group walked down. Gallus was first to walk out, being exposed to the sounds of birds singing in the air. “So what is this planet’s name again?”

“Ajan Kloss, or something,” Smolder said. Her nose twitched and she felt her sinuses become tickled. “Ah… Ah… AHCHOO!” A burst flame escaped her breath as she accidentally set a patch of flowers on fire. “… Sorry.”

“Now you understand why I said not to park here,” Adagio pouted, walking out of the ship with her arms folded. “I told you these parts of Ajan were filled with allergy-inducing plants, but noooo, you had to pick a spot where you would be hidden.”

“It’s called playing smart, honey!” Bon Bon snapped, stomping down the ship in her Mandalorian suit. Quickly she put the helmet on, and saw Flurry Heart come down in a standard set of pants, short-sleeved shirt, and armored vest. “Lyra, come on!”

“Agh, hang on!” A loud clang echoed inside the ship. “Ow!”

Lyra tumbled out of the ship with an oddly clean and shiny gold helmet strapped to her head with a black visor retaining most of the face, and with a fin out of the back of the head. “Bonnie… why did you take this from that Zorii girl?”

“Because she tried to rob me,” Bon Bon explained, keeping her arms folded.

“This wasn’t worth stealing! This thing is tight, it is pinching my neck, it’s heavy in the back, how did she wear this thing?”

Lyra yanked it off her head, throwing it to the ground with an angry toss. And it certainly left it’s mark, showing visible pink teeth marks around her neck.

“Oof. You were not kidding,” Gallus hissed.

“No, no I wasn’t,” Lyra feeling her neck. “Ow.”

“Your partner steals parts from droids, and you draw the line at that thing?” Adagio asked, raising a brow. “You could melt that helmet down and turn it into gold.”

“At least Bon Bon does something with the parts she has, at least fixes her friends,” Lyra scowled. “Unlike you who just steals from clones you murder on the spot.”

“Used to!”

“Can we please get on with this?” Gallus snapped, breaking their fight.

“We don’t have all day, the weather looks like it’s going to rain!”

“Right, right,” Bon Bon said, composing herself together. “Okay, let’s get going. IG-11, you coming with?”

“I am right behind you,” the assassin droid replied, marching right behind.

“Great, come on everyone, let’s go.”

--

The jungles of Ajan stretched all around them. And all around them as they pushed past trees, flowers, bushes, and ledges, they could hear the sounds of the jungle all around them. Birds chirping in the distance, some nearby animals, and many other sounds you’d hear in the wild jungles.

“So tell us something, Adagio. Why are you helping us? I know you told us why back at base, but what’s the real reason for you helping us?” Bon Bon asked. “I heard stories about you from my wife.”

Adagio looked at Lyra with a little smirk. “You’ve told her little lies about me, mmm?”

“If by lies, you mean stories about you massacring members and associates of the Republic and Storm Army, then yes, I have,” Lyra glared.

“Oh come now. That is the old me, I haven’t killed anyone… today.”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Just shut up and show us where she is.”

“Maybe if you parked closer, I could, but you chose to park so far away, so this means we’re going to need to go on a little bit of a hike,” Adagio pointed out, now sticking with a straight face. “There should be a village not too far from here, that’s where I found the path to Derpy’s location. I must admit, for such a clumsy Jedi, she made herself quite an abode.”

Lyra and Bon Bon rolled their eyes, forcing Adagio to just keep walking. Up ahead they could see Gallus, standing there. Rather… stiffly.

“Gallus, you see anything?” Bon Bon asked.

There was no reply. It was almost… deafening.

“Gallus? Are you okay?”

Flurry quickly skipped over to where he stood, and he didn’t even react to her presence. Almost as if he was caught in some sort of trance.

“Gallus?”

The Griffon finally snapped out of it, catching her attention.

“Are you okay, bud?”

“Hmm, what? Sorry, I thought I heard something,” Gallus quietly remarked.

“What do you mean?” Smolder asked.

Gallus’s eyes shifted all around, looking for the source of the noise he swore he saw. Nothing was in sight, but he could still feel something wasn’t right.

“It’s nothing,” Gallus said, cocking his gun. “We better keep moving.”

The group pushed through some more trees, occasionally having to cut their way through. When they made another turn, everyone stopped to look in awe. In front of them was a cute little village, bustling with inhabitants. Children laughing and playing, adults wandering around to attend to their jobs or personal business. The houses and buildings were made with assortments of bamboo, wood, adobe, metal, and many other various materials.

“Would this be the village you were describing?” Bon Bon said, pushing Adagio forward.

“Yes, this is the place. Unfortunately, I never went to her home. I only learned she was alive after seeing her come through here,” Adagio explained.

“If she even is alive,” Gallus folded his arms.

“Tough crowd, aren’t we?” Adagio mused. “Well if you don’t believe me, why don’t you ask one of the folks here? I’m sure someone will be amenable.”

Curiously, the group trudged forward through the village, passing by the citizens. The Rebels had to give these people credit; it was amazing how well they constructed these homes with just the materials laying around here on the planet; even with the inclusion of other-worldly materials, like the Tatooine colored adobe, or the ship metal.

At the end of the town, they found a small shack with an open door. Walking inside, there was an Ithorian with a metal translator device near his mouth to communicate. The floors were padded down with metal sheets, the walls made of adobe, and some bamboo acting as extra paneling near a display window at the front. Even on the window that faced farther deep in the jungle.

“Welcome,” the man greeted. “I see we have some new faces. And hello again, Miss Dazzle.”

“Hello,” Adagio nodded.

Inside, the group could see a wide variety of knick-knacks, weapons, trinkets, all sorts of antiquities. Helmets from various eras of time, even current helmets being used in the present. Blasters, jewelry, small antique busts of famous historical figures, old toys, you name it, this man had everything.

“See anything you like?”

“I think I like just about everything,” Smolder admitted, completely in awe.

“That’s what I like to hear,” the Ithorian man smiled, if he was, no one could ever tell with their kind. “My name is Dok Ondar, and this is my place. If you see something you like, I’m the man to ask.”

“Actually, I did have a question to ask, Mr. Ondar,” Lyra interrupted, stepping forward.

“I’d be happy to answer. What do you need?”

“First, I’m sorry that we’re not really… customers, I guess. We’re looking for someone in particular….”

As Lyra spoke, Smolder and Gallus took a long around, even Flurry. The group eyed some helmets mounted on one of the walls, seeing a variety of helmets adorned by clone troopers from long ago; Phase II, scuba, scout, slicer, assassin, commando, etc. Even Stormtrooper helmets were available on the wall for potential purchases.

“Think you’ll get a helmet? Maybe you can get a Mandalorian helmet to match your moms,” Gallus said with a cheeky grin, elbowing Flurry’s shoulder.

“Oh hush,” Flurry playfully shoved. “I haven’t even thought that far. I’m not even sure if I even want any of these, none of them scream… me.”

“What about this one?” Smolder asked, pulling a helmet off from a shelf; a TK trooper helmet to be precise.

“No, that doesn’t really fit me. And no, it’s not the sizing problem,” Flurry corrected.

“—You better not break any of that,” Bon Bon said overtop of them, despite not looking at them.

Bashfully, Smolder put the helmet back on the shelf, not wanting to anger the store owner.

“… about my height, eyes facing opposite directions…?” Lyra asked.

“Ohhh. Her? Yeah, I’ve seen her. She came here once in a while to trade; got some great old pieces of Stormtrooper armor from her she collected,” Dok answered.

“So she is alive?”

“I would hope so. I admittedly haven’t seen her in the past few weeks. Don’t know if she’s busy, or just isn’t feeling like coming down to visit, but I hadn’t seen her come by. I did however get frequent visits from the few men living with her.”

Lyra and Bon Bon both had confused looks, and then gazed at Adagio. She just plainly shrugged her shoulders at that comment.

“Who exactly are these men?”

“Family, I suppose. All of them look pretty closely alike. They come down here every so often to trade with the rest of our village,” Dok continued to explain, twiddling his fingers on a small bust that had dust on it. “They even helped me out with fixing up some of the damage my shack had gotten during a storm at one point. Real nice boys.”

“How old would you describe them?”

“Physically, I’d say roughly 25. But I think facts would say otherwise.”

“And Derpy’s suddenly living with a bunch of them? Is this some kind of… um…” Lyra questioned with some scary implications running amok in her brain.

“It’s not that kind of living arrangement, honestly! The places people's minds go to…” Dok shook his head. “Those boys are the sweetest, kindest guys I’ve met in a long time. Especially for humans; much kinder than those Imperial slogs who drove me out of business on Ord Mantell.”

“Where are they? Where is Derpy, any of them?”

Dok looked out the window, gazing at the old path that went farther through the rainforest. “Follow that trail for about 20 clicks. There will be a fork in the road, take the left. You’ll find a mansion made out of Republic metal,” the shopowner explained. “But I must warn you. These men you’ll find… you’re a Jedi, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Why?”

Dok’s eyes looked around, almost as if he knew something but wasn’t going to say it. “Well… they’re not exactly the type of men you’d probably want to see.”

“Why is that?”

“I better not say. Better you see for yourself,” the Ithorian answered. “I just sell antiquities; I don’t want to get involved in any potential… issues. Say, is there anything else I can help you with? Beads, Twi’lek dolls, old books? I have great deals and prices for everything.”

“How much are the helmets?” Smolder asked.

“Smolder! We’re not here to shop!” Lyra argued.

“I brought my own money, I swear!”

The group continued their search, following the advice of the Ithorian shop owner as they progressed. Nearby animals continued to wander, climb, swing, and fly all around them in continuous nature.

Making a turn around a corner, the group all froze when they saw a sight that almost gave them a fright. Sharp sticks ripped apart from trees, mounted up in the ground, holding several helmets of departed troopers of old. Stormtrooper and Phase II clone trooper helmets, with faded paint, worn away by time.

“Curiouser and curiouser…”

The group kept trudging forward, but Flurry stopped momentarily and looked behind her. There wasn’t anyone out here, but something felt off. She felt a disturbance in the wind, feeling like something else was here.

“Flurry? You coming?” Gallus called.

“Oh, yeah, I’m coming!” Flurry said, turning around and running up to catch up with the group.

The group made another turn on the path, and Lyra almost jumped with a squeak. Another series of sticks mounted with more helmets mounted.

“Sheesh, how many heads did she collect?” Smolder asked.

Not wanting to be frightened any longer, the group kept walking on their trail, looking at the trees all around them. This was one heck of a jungle, that’s for sure. Nothing like the forests on Yavin IV, or Sorgon. Just then, the team heard something rustling in the woods, like something was moving about.

Lyra pulled out her lightsaber and Bon Bon twirled her pistols around, ready to shoot. The noises got louder and louder, like something big and ferocious was coming their way…

Out of the bushes was a fluffy gray loth-cat with a few black spots all over its body. The kitten looked up at the new people and sat straight up, mewing softly.

“Awww…” Flurry melted.

Even Adagio couldn’t help but gush. “Okay, that’s adorable.”

Flurry squatted down, sticking her hand out to let the kitten sniff her. The cat was curious, sniffing her hand for a few seconds and looking at her curiously. And very affectionately it started to paw at her hand making adorable little noises.

“Eeeee, it’s so cute!” Flurry squeed, picking up the cat and giving it a soft hug. “Hi there little buddy.”

“Flurry, put it down, you don’t know where that cat came from,” Bon Bon said.

“But he’s adorable!”

“Yes, and he could also… wait a minute,” Bon Bon stopped. She walked up to Flurry, looking closer at the kitten in her arms which was enjoying the attention, judging by the purring sounds. Around it’s neck, she could see something bright red around it, along with a little metal tag. “This loth-cat has a collar.” Her hand moved underneath it, looking at the tag written in Aurebesh. “Whiskers.”

“Someone’s adopted it,” Lyra thought. “But right now, we can’t find the owners. We need to find Derpy.”

Mew.

The loth-cat jumped out of Flurry’s arms and onto the ground, prancing along the path to where they were about to go. Tilting it’s head like it wanted them to follow it.

“I think he wants us to follow him!” Flurry said. “Come on!”

She led the way, with Gallus and Smolder running after her, and eventually Adagio running too. Lyra and Bon Bon both equally shared a look of fear, and so they darted after Flurry to make sure their daughter didn’t do anything stupid.

After what felt like hours of walking, the group stopped in a clearing, where cobbled stones and metal torches arched to create a path. But what caught their eyes wasn't the structure, it was what they saw on their left.

“Is that a hot tub?” Gallus asked, raising a brow.

Smolder and Flurry kneed down, putting her hand in the water to feel the pool of water, connected to a machine that was turned off. Smolder didn't react, but Flurry hissed and immediately pulled it back. “Sheesh, that’s scalding!”

“There’s your answer,” Bon Bon said. “Even then, I’m still not sure we’ll… whooooa.”

Everyone froze in awe at the sight before them. A large house was found in the trees, but this wasn’t like any of the other farm houses or dwellings in the jungle. This house was made entirely out of junk; old Republic walkers sat as the foundation base, and several platforms and boxy-homes were held on top of it, including a ramp/ladder to climb up it. Some walker and gunship hulls were in pieces, held together to keep it all connected in the junk that it was. More platforms sticking out with some tarps and more pieces of metal for cover, most likely from the rain.

Off the ledge of one of the railings, some eyes gawked at some more clothes hanging on a wire to dry. Similar to the ones that Smolder reported before.

“Who built this place? This is quite a homestead,” Bon Bon said, looking at some of the drying shirts.

“Wait, someone’s coming,” Flurry said, sensing footsteps.

A group of boots clanked on the second floor of that makeshift home, walking out onto the ledge of the mansion. All of them the same height, bodies, and facial features. Two of them shared a short black hairstyle, one had a short blond-cut style, another had a full head of hair, mustache, and beard growing, and the last had no visible hair, aside from the mustache and a short but visible braided ponytail out the back of his head. All of them were wearing warm clothing, shown by the black tank tops and spandex shorts, held by white belts.

“Pfft. Just a bunch of similar looking… guys,” Gallus rolled his eyes.

“Well armed similar looking guys, I might add,” Smolder corrected.

The five men stared down at them, analyzing them individually. One man who had a cybernetic eye whispered, “That’s Heartstrings, she’s alive.”

“That’s her?” The middle man whispered back.

“Yeah, I know her, but I don’t know anyone else,” he answered.

Despite the small distance, Lyra could hear them each talking. She didn't understand who they were, but as she thought more and more, her heart started to pound. Five men; same faces. Same voices. Even the same body builds. "No... no, that's impossible... they can't be."

“Hey, hey,” Bon Bon whispered, squeezing her partner’s hand. “It’s okay. I’m right here.”

“Well let’s find out,” the middle man said. Each of the other lookalikes nodded and turned their attention back to the Rebels, keeping a stern glare down, to show any lack of fear they had.

“What do you want?”

“We’re looking for someone," Flurry spoke up for the group. "Do you know someone named Derpy Hooves?”

The man with the braided ponytail spoke up. “I’m sorry?”

“Um… Derpy Hooves?” Flurry repeated.

The men looked at each other, clearly unsure and with some disagreeing faces. The man in the middle, silently decided to continue the conversation, in hopes of driving these trespassers away. “I’m sorry, but Derpy Hooves doesn’t exist anymore, she’s dead. Died a long time ago.”

Lyra’s heart sank and she glared at Adagio. “Liar.”

“I am not lying, Jedi! Ask 7567 over there!”

The middle man piped up again. “What did you just say? I haven’t heard those digits in… wait. That’s my birth number!”

"They're clones!" Lyra growled. "Everyone, get back, now!"

But one of those men, one with a cybernetic eye, didn't react to the Jedi's reaction. Instead, he took notice of Adagio who was among this little group. “Wait a minute… the Siren! She’s come for revenge!” He pointed a pair of pistols at Adagio, ready to kill.

“Bubbles, no!”

“Just try and fire on me!” Lyra was ready to go full bore. “I dare you, come on!”

“Hey, wait, wait!” Flurry raised her hands up. “We’re not here to attack you! We just want to talk!”

“And what about the rest of them? That one is a Jedi!” The man at the end snarled, pointing at Lyra.

“Vargas, listen! They aren’t the ones who betrayed us, remember?”

The clone slowly set his gun down, sighing heavily to try and calm down.

“I’m sorry. We haven’t seen another Jedi in… well, a long time as you can imagine,” the man in the middle said.

“You don’t say…” Smolder deadpanned.

Ignoring Smolder’s sass, Flurry tried to see if she could salvage the situation. “Anyways, my name is Flurry. That’s Gallus, Smolder, Lyra, Bon Bon, and, well, you clearly know Adagio,” Flurry hesitated. “Nice to meet you, um, 7567,” Flurry said, struggling to remember.

“Actually, my name is Rex. Captain Rex. Captain of the 501^st Battalion. These are Commanders Bubbles and Hurricane, Corporal Mix, and trooper Vargas.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Flurry smiled. “But wait, is Derpy really--?”

“We said she was dead because we didn’t know what your intentions were. Derpy Hooves is still alive,” Bubbles confirmed.

“How are you all still alive, and so young? If memory serves correctly, by this time-span, I would assume all of you would be, well, elderly,” Adagio asked, raising a brow.

“If not dead,” Bon Bon added.

“We’ll explain everything. Would you all like to come inside? I’m afraid we have a storm coming on the front, you wouldn’t want to be stuck out here. It’s going to rain pretty hard tonight.”

Judging by all the nodding faces, it was clear they were saying yes. Everyone walked up set of steps, taking it up to the second floor of the makeshift mansion. And the clones came down, opening up the doors for them to come inside.

“Wipe your feet on the mat, Derpy would prefer that guests have their feet clean and not track any mud,” Bubbles advised.

Once inside, everyone wiped their feet (even Adagio did so) and surprising them more, was a small rack to the side with some blasters mounted. “May I also ask that you please put any of your weapons here?” Bubbles asked, albiet indignantly.

“How come?”

“We’ve had guests before, and frankly we like to take precaution on who we invite in. It’s a safety thing,” Bubbles said sternly, but softly.

Flurry turned her weapons in first. Then Gallus, and Smolder. Lyra was hesitant to respond, just looking straight at the clone, still shaking.

"If anything happens to my weapon...," Lyra threatened quietly. Slowly she set her lightsaber down on the rack, and Bon Bon turned in her blasters.

“Vac tubs are down the hallway,” Bubbles said, gesturing to the first hallway on the left.

“I’m gonna go use them, be right back,” Bon Bon said, walking down.

Bubbles led the company through more of the house, taking them down another hallway. Some things hung on the wall, looking more like objects for display. Some pictures were about, most of them of Derpy and a clone company with bright blue paint on their armor on various planets. Flurry especially caught her eye on a pic of the young Jedi posing for a silly picture next to Bubbles with a deceased Rishi eel.

After leaving that hallway (and sliding past a ladder leading to the next floor above them, they found themselves into the kitchen/dining area. A massive circular dinner table made out of wood, held above some stone and pure tree that had the floor built around it, lit by warm yellow. A few plants set up in little pots, and over against a wall was a mantel, hanging above a giant telescreen. On the mantel were a few random objects that the company assumed had held sentimental value.

“Quite the setup,” Gallus commented, looking around.

“Yeah, I mean it’s, well, just a cozy, humble little place,” Vargas said softly.

Bon Bon finally came back from the bathroom, finding her way to the dining room. And at the same time, Smolder was looking over to the balcony, seeing some clothes hanging on a clothesline. Although she did question the pair of female undergarments as she pulled them off the hangar, looking at them.

“Um… any of you have any lady friends over?” Smolder joked, stretching the underwear.

“That would be Derpy’s.”

“Dah!” And Smolder flinged it away from her hands. “… I just touched some old lady’s thong, great.”

“I wouldn’t really say old,” Bubbles pointed out.

Smolder just backed up from the balcony, not wanting to touch anything else (not that she should have been), almost backing right up in the hallway. Behind her, in the darkness of the hall, a small red light flickered with an activation sound, making her jump. She jumped back into the light, fists up in a fighting stance. But the source of the light did not respond the same way.

A pair of boots walked down that hallway, coming into the dining room, revealing herself in the light. Light gray skin, and flowing blond hair. Some leftover scars and bruises from years of experience, but still visible was a friendly face. Dressed in the same black spandex and a few pieces of worn out clone trooper armor she had worn during her last few days in the war.

“Bubbles, who are these people, I don’t… Lyra?”

The Jedi gasped. “Derpy? Is… is that really—?”

A wave of emotions washed over the blond Jedi. So many memories of fighting alongside her resurfaced, so many wonderful times they had together, hanging out with their friends, and making new ones with people they met on several planets and the clones they fought alongside. And then the pain, the agony that came when Order 66 hit the galaxy; so many Jedi brothers and sisters lost to the ambush, and losing so many loved ones after. And now one of them was back; one of them was still alive, and someone she treasured very, very much.

Lyra moved in a little closer to try and offer a hug, wondering if that would break Derpy’s trance. Without even needing to speak, Derpy swooped in and yanked Lyra in a big hug, holding her tightly. Lyra didn’t even resist, she just held one of her closest friends in a warm embrace.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Lyra said, holding her.

“I missed you too. I thought after… I…”

“As long as I exist, no one is doing anything to her,” Bon Bon said with pride.

Derpy’s eyes blinked, still facing opposite directions. “A Mandalorian?”

“I don’t think you two have formally met. Derpy, this is my wife, Bon Bon. Bon Bon, you’ve heard of Derpy Hooves, haven’t you?”

“I believe so. You’ve told me many stories about her,” Bon Bon smiled. “Oh, and this is our daughter, Flurry Heart.”

“H-Hi,” Flurry greeted.

Derpy smiled. “Nice to meet you, little one. I can’t believe you’ve gotten so big, I remember when you were just a baby.” She ruffled up her hair, making her giggle. She turned her attention to the last few members, but growled at one particular one. “You.” A pistol cocked and pointed straight at Adagio. “What is she doing here?”

“You know her?” Gallus asked.

“Me and Bubbles know her especially well. She killed one of my troops and tried to sabotage our mission, my first mission! And…” It took her a while to notice, but she saw something else. “You… still have his helmet…”

She kept her blaster pointed at her, and raised her other hand. She let her palm open up, showing how worn out the fingerless glove was; raggedy and full of holes. But keeping her hand up, she tried to levitate the helmet off Adagio’s head.

Nothing happened. Everyone stood in awkward silence, watching as she stood there, waiting for something to happen. Her face made various expressions, getting more and more frustrated as she tried to use the Force to lift it up. But still, nothing happened. Adagio just stood there as well, although she found her angry faces more adorable than threatening.

Lifting it up, she placed the helmet by her hip as she looked at her with a raised brow and a smirk.

“Lost your touch?”

Derpy’s face turned red with embarrassment and anger mixing together. She tried her hardest, but she couldn’t get the helmet away from her clutches. Upset, she let her arms down and swung around, kicking the helmet out of her hands violently, letting it roll on the floor to Bubbles’ feet. Adagio was truthfully surprised, she hadn’t anticipated the surviving Jedi to be a bit more physical.

“That helmet belonged to their brothers. It doesn’t belong to you,” Derpy glared. “Get your own helmet.”

Adagio snorted with derision. “Oh, so you’re a sister to them now? You’re not even bred in the same lab as them—agh!”

And in a complete 180, Derpy had slammed Adagio against the wall, pinning her up with her bare hands and with flared nostrils. She was furious, even scaring the clones in the process.

“Don’t you dare talk about them that way!”

“Derpy, I know this is hard to believe, but she’s on our side. She’s agreed to a partnership to help us against the Empire,” Lyra said, trying to calm down her friend.

“How do I know she won’t just turn on us and try to kill us the first chance she gets?”

“If I wanted to kill you all, I would have done it by now, swiftly and painfully,” Adagio snarked back, resisting the urge to push Derpy away from her with her feet. “And if you want to know how we even found you, it’s because of me. I found you, and I thought the Rebels would want to know of another survivor of the Order 66 ambush. I know we’ve had our grievances in the past, but surely you can look past them for a little bit, can you? After all I thought a Jedi didn’t hold onto such things as anger…”

Derpy was now snarling. “Lyra…”

“That is enough,” Bon Bon said. “Adagio, if you’re going to be helpful, I would recommend you shut up RIGHT. NOW.”

Adagio playfully exaggerated her terror. “Oh noooo. Well I guess if I won’t stay quiet, then you’ll have to make me then, won’t you?”

“I don’t think you heard me,” Bon Bon glared.

“Hey, hey! I love fights as much as the rest of you, but this isn’t why we came here,” Smolder said, trying to break up the fight. “Weren’t we going to talk? You know, about… you know?” Smolder asked, not finishing the sentence.

Bon Bon sighed, throwing her head back. And even Lyra let out an upset sigh, scrunching her temple with her fingers. “Right. Derpy, we came here because, well, Adagio was telling the truth. We were looking for you, and to be honest, I am happy that you’re alive. Kinda terrified, but I’m happy.”

Derpy tried to keep that ferocious stance on Adagio as she kept her pinned, but slowly her hands let go of her. Adagio wasn’t held down anymore, but she still smirked.

“I must admit, I am rather impressed. I didn’t know a Jedi had that much passion, wasn’t aware they were allowed to have such things.”

Derpy glared at her still. “You don’t know anything about me. And I…” she looked at Lyra who remained concerned for her old friend’s situation. “… have other things going on.” Derpy’s hand was still shaking from the anger, but she slowly began to simmer down. “I’m sorry. I’ve… It’s been a while,” Derpy said, her anger melting away back into joy. “Oh, but please, sit, sit.”

Derpy invited them back to the massive dinner table with the clones, and Gallus and Smolder just stood with Adagio with exasperated faces.

“So no introduction, we’re just… okay, sure whatever, we’ll just stand here, waiting for your reunion to end,” Gallus rolled his eyes.

“Sit, please,” Hurricane said, pulling up two chairs for them.

The two smiled and sat down at the massive table with the rest of them, all the while Mix was helping Bubbles in the kitchen, preparing a meal. As they sat with the others, they could smell the fresh foods being cooked in the kitchen, enough to make their mouths water. And as Rex had predicted, the rain was hitting harder. They could hear the rain dance on the plated roofs and awnings outside; but they were okay, they were inside, they weren’t getting drenched.

“So I don’t understand, the clones were bred in a laboratory, right? And their growth was sped up so they could be part of the war, how are they still so young?” Bon Bon asked.

“Even then, after Order 66 commenced, I thought every Jedi had been eliminated. How did you survive?” Lyra asked, sitting back down with Flurry and her wife.

“I’ll explain everything, I promise," Derpy reassured.

As lunch was served to the guests, Derpy began to explain her story. She went into immense detail regarding the strange occurences that had happened during her end on the final day of the war. How her soldiers had turned on her, forced to by a hidden inhibitor chip that had been implanted in their brains since creation. Derpy then went on to explain how she and her remaining troopers had to bury all of their fallen soldiers during the escape, her words sullen with each description.

"... Wow," Gallus said, in awe. "I'm... I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how that's gotta feel."

"You weren't there, it's okay," Vargas reassured. "But yeah. Losing all of our brothers hurt us. And sure, we lost many of our brethren during the war, but after that? It's hard to move past something like that."

"But something doesn't add up," Bon Bon asked. "How are the five of you still so young? You never explained that."

"I... I'm not proud of this," Derpy sunk in her chair. "After some time, I may have sorta... pushed them to go into cryogenic freezers for a bit. I kept them online for over a decade, and when I found this world... I freed them. We worked together to make our home; along with the help of the village."

"But why?"

Derpy took a sip of her drink. "They never got a choice to live how they wanted; a life without fighting or war. I wanted them to have that chance."

The Mandalorian couldn't help but smile wistfully at the thought. "That's how me and Lyra thought when we raised Flurry. We were caught up so much fighting, and after everything... we just wanted to have a chance to live."

"And you chose to hide on Tatooine," Smolder rolled her eyes.

"We didn't exactly have much choice, dragon," Bon Bon snarked.

"But you took that chance to get the life you wanted," Hurricane interrupted, fingers moving to get any crumbs out of his beard. "That's something I respect; especially Rex here."

"Not at first, Hurricane," Rex corrected. "Let's not forget; we didn't just abandon everything we stood for."

"Your right, we didn't. And look what happened; we lost," Mix glared.

"The Empire was growing, they outnumbered us..."

But as the conversation continued, Lyra heard nothing but silence, the conversation dying in her ears with only her heart beating as she weakly ate her food. Derpy's company was good, but being surrounded by clones still in their prime? Her heart raced at the thought of what they could do at any moment, but didn't. She so desperately wanted to get away from them and just take her family and friends back to the ship, never to return to this planet.

Instead, she just quietly got up, taking her leftovers to the kitchen and sat them down next to the sink. And without another word, she moved herself to the balcony, protected by the awning that blocked the rain. Her hand stroked an awning's post, eyes looking forward at the rain dancing on the trees and the ground. The sounds calmed her down, bringing her back to reality once again. She knew the others would see her soon and get worried; but right now, she was going to enjoy her only moment of stress relief outside in the humidity.

Following Zorii’s directions, the girls found the bar. Inside, they could hear music playing from the band over on a small stage with plenty of elbow room for the musicians to play. Plenty of tables and chairs for all the patrons that came here to drink their troubles away. Soft blue neon lights shining around the bar, and mounted trophies on the wall; either animal heads, skins, helmets of clone or stormtroopers, or other oddities that someone would find value in. Some holo-screens were also around, showing current sports activities from around the galaxy; droid-ball, Sabaac, podracing, you name it.

And standing behind the bar counter dealing with a Chagrian customer was the woman they needed; an older woman with gray hair in a red outfit, looking as if she was done with everyone’s B.S.

“Well I’m not going to be rich with customers like you, I thought I told you to drink faster than that. Well at least you’re steady,” she sighed, going to get another drink from the bar. She heard it, but she didn’t see it happening; the girls, one by one, pulled themselves up at the bar, sitting on the stools.

“Hello, Ackmena,” Sunset said simply. She adjusted her arms, making sure she didn't bump into the cloaked patron next to her.

The woman knew that voice anywhere. Turning around, she saw a familiar face. One that did not bring much sourness to her world, but a nice warm ray of sunshine. “Hello Sunset, darling how are you doing?” She said, reaching over for a brief hug. Sunset giggled as she hugged her back. “How goes the Rebellion leadership?”

“It’s going really well, actually. We just got more additions to our alliance,” Sunset smiled, gesturing to the Jedi next to her.

“So wait, you’re Ackmena?” Rainbow pointed with a raised brow.

“No, I’m Anakin Skywalker in drag,” she deadpanned. “Now can I get you anything?”

“Can we take a couple of those?” Sunset pointed to a particular drink on the wall; the Jawa Juice.

The bartender grabbed the carton and poured some into six individual glass cups for all of them, sliding them down the table for them all to grab. The patron in the cloak took one last sip before stepping off his chair, leaving the bar and lessening the chances of a conflict with the Jedi.

“So tell me, Sunset. Are they Jedi just like you?”

“Shh! Not so loud,” Rarity whispered. “We don’t know who could be listening.”

“Listen, the only thing the patrons in here are listening to are either blaster fire, the droid-ball game, the vomiting on and off in the vac-rooms, or the loud noises of happy hour,” she replied. “None of them are going to be paying attention. Besides, I have security to keep an eye out,” the bartender gestured to a buzz droid up on the ceiling, clinging and watching the patrons party below.

“But to answer your question, yes, they’re Jedi like me. And there are actually two others like them, well, one and a half,” Sunset explained. “But we came here to see you, how is business running here?”

“Well we’ve had ten people die in here in the past month, so it’s hunky dory,” she said with a very displeased look on her face as she poured another drink to the next customer.

“Are you upset you’re stuck here instead of Tatooine?”

“No, I’m upset because Mawhonic lost another race on the Boonta Eve Classic,” Ackmena said, with a bit of deadpan in her voice.

“Aww, he lost again?” Pinkie frowned.

Ackmena stared at Pinkie, blinking only once as she held her glare.

“She doesn’t exactly grasp sarcasm, just warning you ahead of time,” Sunset interrupted before the snarky barkeep could speak again. “Still though, why did you even come here, I never understood.”

“The Empire’s been shutting places down. Ever since they started inflicting their will in Mos Eisley, I just couldn’t stick around anymore. I run bars by my own rules, and I’m happy I’m still making money here. Thankfully the Empire hasn’t been so picky with my place here,” she said, multitasking. She served another drink to another nearby customer, and mixed up some fruits in a blender for the next order. “Now what else are you here for?”

Sunset looked over her shoulder. She looked at the various patrons who were busy dancing, partying, laughing. They were too occupied with their own activities to notice her, thank goodness. Even Fluttershy and Applejack looked over to make sure no one was paying attention to them. Sure a few men had a few lovey-dovey faces as they saw the ladies, but that was it.

I can put up with a few smitten kittens, but no more than that, Rarity thought internally. “So, um, Sunset tells us you have some information about the Empire. Did you hear anything juicy?”

Ackmena washed out another cup before setting it on the rack. “I have. Although I’m not sure now is the best time to tell you.”

“I thought they would be distracted by the bar activities,” Pinkie tilted her head.

“For now. But every once in a while, there’s some Imperial who likes to come in, either to scare my customers or to throw a fit like a child,” she replied, decking her head out so she could check to see if anyone was around.

Around the corner, one of Ackmena’s assistants came by with a tray of drinks for a group who were playing Sabacc in a private room.

“Shall I put this someplace?”

“No Rose, go to the corner and open a stand,” she pointed to the outside door with a straight face, still not expressing any other emotion outside of ‘I am so done with these people’. Rose however got the message, and went to the game table to hand them their drinks. “Listen, I can’t talk about too much, but I will say this. I have been hearing reports from the Empire that they have finished work on a secret project. They’re planning something; something big.”

“Anything specific?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t know. The only thing I know is that they say when their testing is complete, they will finally make the galaxy bend to their will,” the woman replied. “But if you want something a bit more detailed, I heard they had gathered a large shipment of crystals.”

“Crystals? What kind?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know. Only thing I know is that they gathered them from some planet called Ilum.”

Sunset set her drink down. “Wait, Ilum, is that right?”

“It is. Why?”

“Ilum is the only place in the galaxy to find Kyber Crystals. Every generation of Jedi have gone there to get those crystals,” Sunset explained.

“What’s so special about those crystals?” Ackmena asked, checking on a pulse of another patron who had fallen asleep at the bar. Her attention wandered to a fresh rag, scrubbing at a few dirty spots on the bar counter, trying to get them away.

“They’re the power sources for the lightsabers. But if the Empire isn’t using them to power lightsabers for a Sith Army, then what could they be using them for?” Rarity continued, rubbing her chin.

"Maybe they're harnessing them for a machine, something that requires a lot of power. The question is... what is it?" Sunset thought, tapping her finger on the counter.

Rainbow Dash however, had her mind set on a different subject matter. "Say, Ackmena, is it? Do you ever get any bounty hunter customers in here, or spice runners?"

"I do. This place is popular for them, they often come here to meet with potential clients for payment; the public setting and my eyes prevents the possibility of any deals going violent," Ackmena answered.

"Do any of your customers happen to be ladies in red jumpsuits and gold helmets?" Rainbow asked.

"I see you met Zorii Bliss then," Ackmena put together. "She's a regular in here; just wants off planet. Been stuck here the last fifteen years."

"Only fifteen? Yikes," Rainbow hissed.

"Compared to the others in here, most of them wish they only had fifteen. In fact--"

Just then, there was a buzzing sound coming from the doors. Now most of the patrons had to be let in through by a bouncer, (most of the time checking if anyone was armed or if they were someone Ackmena never wanted), but this time, Ackmena hereself stepped from behind the bar to check out the call; most people never even used the buzzer.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming, sheesh,” Ackmena said, taking her time as she mockingly took slow to the door.

She hit the button to let the door slide open. Standing on the other side was Captain Phasma with several Midnight troopers by her side.

“Step aside—”

And Ackmena shut the door on the captain without a second thought. With an angry buzz, Ackmena opened up the door again. “Do you not know who I am?” Phasma snarled.

“Well of course I do, that’s why I slammed the door in your face,” she said sarcastically with a smile.

“Let me in, now.”

“Go hug a landmine,” And Ackmena slammed the door in her face again. She dropped the sarcasm when she looked over to Sunset and her friends. “You’re not going to want to stay here that long, the Empire is here.”

"Wait, now!?" Rarity shrieked.

"Yes!"

"We got what we need, bye!" Sunset said quickly before tossing the cup to the side of the bar. All of the girls quickly ran out of the bar as fast as they could, going out through the back doors to avoid being seen. Ackmena stared at the huge mess left on her counter, rolling her eyes passively as she began to clean up again. Another day, another mess, same old thing.

The door buzzed again, but this time, brute force slammed the doors wide open, with Captain Phasma slowly stomping inside. She observed the bar, seeing patrons just sitting and drinking like nothing had happened. Of course, there were a few who were cowering quietly at the sight of the Imperial; they hated them just like everyone else, but they didn't want any trouble here with them.

The Midnight Trooper captain turned towards the woman behind the bar, who was still busy with the cleanup.

"Can I help you?" Ackmena asked, as if she hadn't done anything wrong.

"We are looking for any Rebel cells that have come through here. An old barmaiden such as yourself must have seen them come through."

"Oh yes, they did. About an hour ago," Ackmena lied with sarcasm dripping with every word. "But now I've hidden them again, so you can find them."

"I do not appreciate your reluctance to help us."

"Why would I lie? I have nothing to hide," Ackmena sassed with a smile.

The captain's helmet was rattling and she snarled underneath. "I grow tired of your false niceties, bug. Now tell me the truth; where are they?"

"Captain," a trooper interrupted. "Trooper DG-423 just spotted them going through the city, should we cut them off?"

"Don't let them leave; keep them there long enough for the Inquisitors to take care of," Phasma ordered. She looked at Ackmena with a shaking head. "Why must you detest the Empire; we provide you with work, and yet you choose to stay here in this slum hole."

No more words were expressed, and so the captain departed the town bar.

Elsewhere, the Jedi were running through alleyways, streets, and anywhere they could to get far away from the bar and from people. No sense in dragging innocent civilians, bounty hunters, or more of that gang that Zorii girl had if they were that serious on turning them in. The cold air stung their faces as they ran for it, winds howling in the night sky. Fluttershy was thankful her cloak was long enough to cover her bare skin, all the while wondering how Rarity's montral headdress didn't fly off her head.

But their luck just about ran out the moment they turned around the bend. All six of them ground their heels against the cobblestone when they looked ahead. Multiple Midnight troopers were marching down the street, led by their captain who spotted the group upon their run. Looking at their odds, the girls all gave a shrug and pulled out their sabers one by one for a fight, standing together in the town's square.

The commotion had died down since the Midnight troopers left, and the atmosphere finally returned to normal once again. The door to the bar opened with nary a buzz; the spice runner the girls met earlier walking inside. Everyone was still drinking, laughing, playing games, whatever. The ruckus that had occurred with the Midnight troopers had long passed. No one paid any mind to her as she walked in, parking herself on the counter. Not even Ackmena paid much mind to the animal skin blanket she had wrapped around herself. Kijimi would freeze anyone who came here unprepared for the harsh weather.

“Ackmena,” Zorii spoke.

“No snorting the spice in here, I don’t want to clean up more overdosed junkies,” Ackmena said, scrubbing out a juicer.

“I’m not doing any lines of spice,” she snarked back. “I wanted to talk.”

Ackmena put the clean juicer back on the blender machine, putting in some more fruits for the next drink order.

“What about?”

“Have you seen any Jedi come through here?”

“Yeah, they came through here half an hour ago. Why?”

Zorii looked around, making sure no one was watching her. And seeing that the coast was clear, she spoke. “I wanted to find them. I found them in the streets, and they were looking for you. I wanted to take them in—”

“—And get enough money to get your bubbly purple butt off this cesspool?” Ackmena finished. Zorii didn’t speak again, mainly because Ackmena kept going. “You’re not the first person here I’ve seen try to pay their way to escape this place. But if you ask me, there’s only one way you can leave.”

“And what’s that?”

Ackmena turned around to look back at her, leaning over the bar and staring her straight through the black visor on her helmet. “I don’t think you want to know. Because I’m telling you now, it doesn’t involve spice.”

“Then what is it?” Zorii insisted, getting a little impatient.

“You’re going to need to leave with the Jedi,” Ackmena said.

Zorii was about to speak up again—

“—Before you talk, let me say something. I know not everyone believes in the Jedi, and not everyone believes they were good. But those girls that you failed to take down, they’re some of the nicest people you will ever find. Not many of those exist. And I think if you want to get out of here, you should join them. And before you argue, I want to ask you something else; what did they want with you when you failed to take them down?”

“All they wanted was to find you. They could have killed me, but they didn’t. They should have just blasted my brains in the snow.”

“Did it ever occur to you that not everybody is like that?” Ackmena asked.

Zorii was about to finally speak, only this time… she didn’t. Ackmena didn’t interrupt her again, and she let Zorii think about her question. Truth be told, the spice runner didn’t think about that before. And with every gang that hired her, every boss she had, every master she knew, no one had any form of kindness in the thirty plus years of her life.

“Listen. Before you walk out that door, I want to give you one last piece of advice. There aren’t that many genuinely good people in this universe. Those girls? I recommend you go with them. They spared your life because they are the nicest people you will ever meet. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life rotting here? If you want to live, go help them. You haven’t lived until you fought side-by-side by a Jedi Knight.”

With that said, Ackmena started to focus on serving the rest of the patrons in the bar. Zorii looked at her gloved hands one last time, and she walked out of the bar. Standing back outside in the snowy night, she looked around her. A few flaming barrels in some of the alleyways, showing homeless people trying to stay warm. Looking at them reminded her of her teenage days, wanting to run away from poverty and gain fortune and glory.

She reached into the back of her head, opening a small compartment. A small sliver of gold credits pulled out, and she looked at them in her hands. She made some credits, and she had been saving up for her chance to leave. But then her mind thought back to all the major bosses that she had been forced to work for. She was promised more pay, more credits, enough to get her carcass off this planet. But with every passing year, it seemed as if her credits only decreased more and more. The more she saved, the more she ended up needing to pay for food and ammunition.

Well she had enough. No more rotting, no more wasting her life away doing pointless run after pointless run. Today was going to change. And she knew just what to do first. She looked over to an alleyway, seeing an innocent little Twi’lek girl trying to stay warm in the alleyway, hidden under a blanket next to her presumed father.

She walked towards them, and the little girl cowered in fear at the scary lady. Zorii understood why, but slowly she opened up her palm, offering the father and daughter the gold credits in her hand. None of them saw, but she was softly smiling under the helmet.

“This should be more than enough to buy a home. A real home,” Zorii softly said, waiting for them to take it. Slowly, the father’s hand extended out and took the credits, and looked at her with a thankful smile.

“T-Thank you.”

“Stay safe. And don’t worry. Things will get better. I know they will.”

She nodded at them, and she jogged up the steps to another street. She looked back one last time, and smiled under the helmet. She didn’t know what they would be doing, but she had hope they would be okay. For now, it was time to find the Jedi. She knew they weren’t too far from here. She turned her head to the right, seeing a group of Stormtroopers running, some halting as they called for reinforcements.

“Haven’t lived til you fight with a Jedi huh? Well… let’s fight with some Jedi.”

Everywhere, all around, Midnight troopers were coming in to box them in, trapping them against the two buildings. They blocked every blast as they could, taking out a few Midnight troopers here and there. But their numbers were overwhelming them, there were too many of them to count.

“They don’t stop coming!” Pinkie squealed, blocking another laser shot as she was getting boxed In with the other.

“They’re everywhere!” Applejack said, bouncing between blocking with a saber and shooting them with a blaster

It looked as if their situation was bleak. But just then, they heard more gunshots coming from the street on their left. Midnight troopers were dropping, and soon some of them turned around to fire on the individual killing their troops. To the Jedi’s surprise, it was Zorii! She stood in the street in a confrontational pose, holding her blasters in the air clenched tightly. Once they were clicked, she charged right at them, guns ablazing and not hesitating to take out the troopers that were attacking. They dropped like flies, and with the addition of her precise shots, the Jedi started to hit more of the troopers, finally eliminating them from everywhere they attacked.

Once they were down, the Jedi put their lightsabers away and looked over to Zorii, smiling at her.

“Nice shootin’, partner,” Applejack complimented.

“Thanks,” Zorii nodded, slipping her blasters back in her holsters.

“You helped us. Why?” Sunset asked.

"You could have killed me, and you didn't." Zorii shrugged her shoulders, almost nonchalant. "Frankly, that's a point in my book now." Her head dipped, as she admitted, "Second, I'm done running spice. I'm wasting my life here." She lifted her up again, to look Sunset square in the face, "So, I guess if none of you mind... I'd like to join your little resistance movement. Rebels, right?"

“Exactly,” Sunset confirmed. “And I say, welcome aboard.”

“Just like that?” Zorii asked, completely baffled. “You’re going to let me in, just like that? Why?”

Sunset walked towards her, making Zorii step back in fear. Sunset’s hands slowly rested on her shoulders, but she looked straight through the visor and into her eyes with the warmest face she could offer.

“Everyone deserves a second chance. And I’m willing to give you that chance.”

Zorii once again was surprised. But happy on the inside. Just then, they heard the clanking sound of footsteps, and an Imperial security droid came walking around the corner with a weapon in hand, and out of fear, Applejack fired with her pistol-half of her lightsaber, shooting the droid right in the central processing-unit.

All of them gasped when they saw who she shot, and Applejack yelped.

“Oh sweet Celestia, what did I do!?”

The security droid’s eyes went out, and it dropped. And out of nowhere, another one of the same model walked out, staring down at the fallen droid. Only he didn’t react right away. He looked at the shot droid and raised his head up to stare at the group of women in front of him.

“Did you know that wasn’t me?”

All of them sighed in relief (except for Zorii) that he was still alive.

“Well…”

“Um…”

“Sorta…”

“Nope!” Pinkie yelped loudest of them all.

“Who is this?” Zorii asked, ready to pull out her gun.

“Relax, he’s with us. Zorii, this is K2-S0. K2, this is Zorii, she’s now on our side. Now what are you doing here, I thought I said to stay on the ship,” Sunset said, putting her hands on her hips.

“You did,” K2 acknowledged. “But I thought it was boring and you were in trouble.”

A running Midnight trooper tossed a grenade at them, but K2’s movements were swift and his hand caught the grenade.

“There are a lot of explosions for a group of women blending in.”

He threw the grenade straight back at the Midnight trooper who tried to run, but was too late. A massive explosion was set off, engulfing the trooper and killing him instantly.

“… You’re right. I should have just waited on the ship,” K2 stated, looking at the dead body.

“Is he always like this?” Zorii asked.

“Yeah. But he means well,” Sunset smiled.

“Dang it, K2!” A little voice shouted from one of the alleys.

“Brt bweep bweep brrrrtbop.”

The Jedi stopped when they heard those voices.

“Spike? R2, are you two back here?” Sunset called out.

“Shoot, um… no, no we’re not!”

“Responding to them is not going to convince them you’re gone,” K2 replied.

“Guys, come on, get out here,” Sunset called again.

Shyly rolling out from the alleyway was Spike and R2-D2 who were grumbling at K2.

“We tried to stop him,” Spike insisted.

“Your lie is unconvincing,” K2 snarked back.

“Enough!” Sunset threw her arms out. “Look, we got what we needed, so let’s get out of…”

The general suddenly stopped all of her thoughts, dropping dead silent. She felt something in the wind, something wrong. Not only in the wind, but she felt a disturbance. A dark presence looming on the right, standing in the middle of the street. She turned her head towards the presence, with the rest of the girls turning around to look where she was looking at.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy gulped.

“What? What are you looking at?” Zorii asked, looking at the same dark alleyway.

Suddenly, a red blade shined in the darkness, and another blade shone as well. Two figures emerged, staring straight at the group of ten. Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other before smirking and turning back at them.

“Two of them, huh? Okay, that’s not so bad,” Rainbow smirked, pulling out her double-bladed lightsaber out for a spin.

“Six of us against them should be fine,” Applejack agreed.

One by one, the rest of the Jedi activated their lightsabers. Pinkie twirled her axes around with a crazy grin that just screamed excited. Fluttershy kept a steady focus, using her famous stare technique as she locked onto the Inquisitors, twirling her bo staff. Last of all; Rarity gripped her katana-saber with no fear in her eyes.

“Two of them against the six of you. There’s about a 26% chance of failure,” K2 summised.

“Droids, Zorii, go back to the ship,” Sunset ordered. “We’ll hold them off.”

Not questioning orders, the four of them got ready to leave until—

“Ah, ah, ahh…”

Sunset’s pupils shrunk and her heart started to beat. Slowly turning around, she saw a new figure walking out another alleyway, red eyes glowing in the shadows. Two red plasma blades emitted as they unfolded out of the dark.

“Leaving so soon?” The new figure taunted with a smirk under the mask.

“Uhhhh… who is that!?” Pinkie pointed her axe at her.

“I forgot about her,” Sunset worried. “That's the Grand Inquisitor. Zorii, go, now!”

“We’re not leaving without you,” Spike insisted.

“We’re not leaving yet, Spike! Just go! We’ll catch up!”

“I don’t even know where your ship is parked,” Zorii asked.

“We do. Come! There’s a 76% chance of us surviving if we actually run instead of standing around,” K2 suggested, attempting a run down the block. R2 and Spike immediately spun around and rolled quickly after K2 to go back to the ship. Not seeing any other chance, the spice runner hiked up her boots and ran after the droids to join them.

The Grand Inquisitor watched the four of them run for it, before a droid detached from her back, hovering in the air. Several claws extended out and snipped together, showing intent to attack. "Keep tracking those four; we'll send troopers their way, but do not deviate from your path."

The droid made a chirping sound and so it hovered in the air and began to fly right after them. The girls' hearts sunk when they realized the danger the droids and their new friend were in, until Applejack tightened her hat and began to run.

"I'll keep 'em safe!" Applejack shouted before disappearing into the city.

Sunset stayed in defensive formation as the now three Inquisitors circled around the Jedi.

"All members of the Council of Friendship back together again; how sweet," the Grand Inquisitor continued. "And one traitorous apprentice leading the revolt."

"I gave up the Sith title a long time ago, Nightbird. If you're going to taunt me, get your facts straight," Sunset finished before charging forward.

The Inquisitor brought her sabers up and crossed the blades together in an “X” shape, easily catching Sunset’s strike. As the two grappled their weapons, trying to break the other’s guard, Rainbow Dash surged forward with her saberstaff held high; but the Fourth Sister intercepted her with a downward sweep of her own lightsaber, forcing the Jedi to parry.

At the same time, the Second Sister lunged at Rarity with a malicious laugh, and the glamorous one of the Jedi Six had to dodge back to avoid being bisected. The other two Jedi instinctively split up, each to help a friend: Pinkie spun her axes as she rushed in close to help Rarity push back the Second Sister; while Fluttershy moved, quiet as a ghost, to try and circle around to help Sunset against the Grand Inquisitor.

Pinkie threw the axe in her right hand towards the Fourth Sister, who had been pressing the attack against Dash. However the Dark Sider, with a speed brought only by the Force, side-stepped the projectile attack, and then activated the double-blade function of her lightsaber. Pinkie pouted, as she shifted the axe in her off hand to a ready position, and moved to get in close for a swing. The Second Sister, who had been probing Rarity’s guard with several small, quick strikes; suddenly broke away from her to pull Pinkie Pie off-balance with the Force, and launched a strike at her back.

Rarity leapt to knock the Inquisitor’s blade away, even as Pinkie flailed to regain her balance and move away from the Fourth Sister, who had begun to advance on her, spinning her saber blade like a buzzsaw. Meanwhile, Sunset had been pushed back by the Grand Inquisitor, and now stood on the defensive. She feinted once, and then slashed at her opponent’s right arm to try and take it off, but the leader of the Inquisitors managed to deflect her strike.

Sunset growled, the Force around her agitated, as she tried to calm her mind and the fear that seemed to hum in the air, like an electric charge, all around. Fluttershy, throughout all of this, had moved in a counterclockwise circle around the duelists, until she was nearly directly behind the Grand Inquisitor. She gathered her courage, readied her lightsaber pike, and then thrust the metal end of her staff at the back of her adversary. Nightbird grunted, stumbling at the impact; Sunset seized the moment to lunge forward again, striking for her enemy’s right hand once more. But, with an agility that would have been impossible for a normal human, the Inquisitor righted herself, and caught the attack with her saber blade. Sunset growled, her temper rising as the fight continued on.

“Too slow,” Nightbird sneered, shaking her head in disappointment. “I expected more from the great Sunset Shimmer.”

The Fourth Sister made a move to swing for Sunset’s legs, but Rainbow Dash intercepted her, and the two of them locked blades with a crackle of red and blue plasma. Time seemed to slow down for the prismatic Jedi, as she thought hard and fast about the ongoing standoff. Three Dark Siders versus five Jedi, and none of them were getting anywhere fast. And the longer this stalemate continued, the more likely that Imperial reinforcements would arrive, and turn the tide completely in the Inquisitors’ favor. She had to even the odds somehow.

Rainbow’s eyes flicked around the area, as she tried to calm her thoughts, and let the living Force guide her. Her gaze flicked from an alleyway, over to an abandoned storefront, and then up to a rooftop. A light even flickered on top of it, almost as if saying “notice me!” Dash grinned, and suddenly broke her deadlock with the Fourth Sister to fall back, and leap to the side and out of immediate range of the fight.

“Hey, bucketbrain!” she hooted to her opponent, “You want me?” Dash raised her artificial arm, and shot a grappling line to the edge of the rooftop. It went taught, and then with a jerk, she was whisked into the air.

“Come and GET me!”

The Fourth Sister snarled under her breath, spinning her saber blade in agitation. Giving chase, she raced forward, and leapt high into the air; the Force propelling her two stories up onto an overhang, and then again onto another ledge, as Rainbow Dash pulled herself up over the top of the roof and out of immediate sight. As she ran across the rooftop to leap to the next one, and hopefully draw her opponent further away from her friends, Rainbow Dash found herself hoping that this would actually work, and that they’d all make it out in one piece…

Through the cities, Zorii and the droids moved as fast as they could, avoiding bounty hunters, civilians, and Imperials at every turn. Spike kept the lead, trying to find the safest way back to the vessel, but the constant turns and changes in direction made it hard to navigate.

Mistaken for a safe turn, the group turned around a corner, and there enough was a small squad of Midnight troopers communicating with one another. Their attention was soon grabbed by the four fugitives they had been targeted to find, enabling them to give chase.

"I know this street, come on, follow me!"

Zorii led the group through an alleyway, leading behind the back of another store.

“That is a bad idea,” K2 said, running after her.

“What else are we supposed to do!?”

Sure enough, the Midnight troopers kept chasing them, and they saw the group of four run into one of the low-class shops. One of the troopers opened up the door, running inside with guns at the ready. The troopers pointed them around the store, looking for the fugitives, but they were not in sight. There was a Gran, but he had his hands up, clearly only interested in shopping. There was a Twi’lek woman and a Gungan, they two were shoppers. The only other person they saw was a Mimbanese woman who snarled at them.

“Did any of you see a woman in red or three droids?”

Unbeknownst to them, the four of them hid in a closet behind the Mimbanese woman. However, the closet was so small, trying to cram them inside was a pain. K2 was basically trying to hold onto the wall and squat a little. Poor R2 and Spike were trying to cram themselves against the walls and not move a muscle, and Zorii ended up having to cling onto K2’s body and not slam herself against the door.

“This is very uncomfortable,” K2 murmured.

“Now you know how I feel,” Zorii grumbled.

“Let’s just hope this pays off. Otherwise, I’ve got a little toy I wanna use on them,” Spike whispered.

“… how are you able to talk, anyways?” Zorii asked.

The group waited for a second. The closet door opened, with the Mimbanese woman in the way.

“They’re gone. But I suggest you run while you still can, they won’t fall for the lie forever,” she said.

“Appreciated. Thank you, Grundal,” Zorii said, squeezing out of the closet.

Taking their chance, the group moved out of the closet and into the streets again, only to find a few troopers outside waiting. Their numbers weren't massive, thankfully. Taking her chance, Zorii whipped out her blasters and started shooting at them. She ducked behind some flimsy piece of cover, with a few blaster sparks bouncing off the trashcan cover she was using.

K2-SO decided to step in as well, grabbing one of the troopers with his bare hands and slammed him down against another soldier before reaching for his weapon. A blaster shot hit him in the shoulder, but it wasn't enough to do damage. K2 reciprocated the attack with a blaster shot at another trooper, striking a central nerve that made him drop to the ground.

A few more troopers remained as Zorii and K2 worked together to combat against them, taking out two more in the process. Spike and R2 however didn't stay hidden behind the building's doors, instead, opting to move past them to try and attack. Spike rolled out with his middle wheel, his legs hovering behind him as he spun around. Two nozzles extended from his torso, and massive bursts of flames spread to two more troopers, engulfing them in flames as they tried to run away from the pain, but ultimately couldn't. R2's retaliation was using a zapper tool, and striking the officer in the leg, immobilizing his ability to run for a temporary time.

Looking back, the officer was ready to destroy the droid with all of his might, but R2 struck before he had a chance. The officer was tazed again, and he dropped to the ground. Six troopers and an officer down for the count, the group started to pick up the pace again. But before they could move any further.

"Oh dear. I believe we have a problem in the air," K2 noted.

Zorii looked up, seeing the probe droid spying on them. Grabbing her blasters, she fired them like crazy, trying to take care of the robot, but with no luck. Extending its claws, it dashed down and threw itself against Zorii, pinning her down. K2 was ready to step in, until a powerful force lifted the probe into the air and away from the spice runner. Turning their heads, Zorii grinned under the helmet to see Applejack finally arrived, holding the probe in a vice-grip pose, keeping it locked in place.

"Sorry partner, but you ain't comin' with us," Applejack declared. Her hand clenched into a fist, crushing the probe droid internally and externally, falling to the ground as a massive dent. "Y'all okay?"

"We would have been fine, with or without your interference," K2 replied. "Not that anyone cares."

"Come on, y'all! We gotta keep movin'!" Applejack ushered.

With the Fourth Sister led away from the group, Pinkie and Rarity were able to focus on the Second Sister. Two to one, both sides were on even ground in terms of power. Pinkie swung her axes around like a madwoman, making the Inquisitor unsure of how to fight her opponent. She swore this Jedi had a lot more intelligence to fighting than just going straight at her.

Taking her chance, she moved her saber to try and stab her, only for Pinkie to jump out of the way and throw one of her axe-sabers towards the Inquisitor. The blade swung around and lodged itself in a brick wall, missing the Sister entirely. Using the Force, Pinkie yanked the axe right back to her hand, clenching it tight. She hacked at the Sister some more, getting her to block with her double-bladed saber.

"Hmm... Oooh! Rarity, I have an idea! Give me a minute!" She said, zipping away in a flash. "Can you hold her there for just a wee bit, okay thank you!"

Rarity wanted to protest, but memories of Pinkie's antics flooded her memory, making her giggle. Knowing her, she had something dastardly to fight; Rarity would have no problem keeping her occupied for just a minute.

The Second Inquisitor let her double-bladed saber spin around like a fan, slashing the ground as she moved herself closer to Rarity to attack. Rarity looked for a chance to intervene or deflect her strikes, not seeing a chance to make her move. But as she was pushed further, the Inquisitor took her chance and stopped spinning her blades, raising it up to attack.

Rarity held her katana out, blocking the attack against her. Grinding her heels against the cobblestone, Rarity pushed the Second Sister back, and extended a hand out, using the Force to push her farther from her space.

"I never liked fighting, not even in the Clone Wars, it's just never been my thing..." Rarity stated, adjusting her fake montrals. "But if you ever hurt my friends...," her eye twitched as she focused her glare. "I WILL RIP YOU TO PIECES IF YOU TOUCH ONE HAIR ON ANY OF THEIR HEADS!"

Rarity pushed the Second Sister back some more, making her foot slide over a button that had been placed on the ground. A loud beeping sound started to rapidly emit, and the Sister turned around to the source of the noise. A bright pink cannon was mounted on the ground, and aimed right at her.

A spark was lit on the end of the wick, and a massive explosion of confetti blew into the Second Sister's face, sending her flying back. But when she turned around, she was met with a bazooka aimed at her head again, courtesy of Pinkie Pie looking at her with a crazy grin.

"SURPRISE!"

Pulling the trigger, another explosion of confetti and streamers fired in her face, throwing her off balance. Despite the protection of the helmet, she was so close to the weapon that her ears started to ring, making her groan from the pain as she held onto her head.

Pinkie and Rarity stood back, defensively waiting for her to get angry and attack. But the Sister never did, instead, her hands reaching for her helmet were furiously trying to yank it off her head, as if it was stuck. One final tug and the helmet was removed before being tossed to the ground, revealing the face beneath the mask.

But when the woman underneath was revealed, Pinkie let out a big gasp in shock. Rarity's jaw dropped to the ground.

"Oh... ohhh... OH FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!!!!"

Fluttershy brought up her lightsaber pike, activating its blade just in time to catch and deflect a strike from the Grand Inquisitor’s lightsaber. The kindhearted Jedi locked blades with her opponent, working to keep her opponent from overpowering. Sunset joined in, catching Nightbird’s other lightsaber in a lock, and together the two Jedi reached out to the Force to push the Inquisitorius’ leader back and away. Nightbird, if she was impressed by their resistance, did not show it; instead, she responded in kind.

Briefly deactivating her own sabers, she thrust out her hands, and the living Force screamed as a telekinetic blast slammed into both Jedi and knocked them off their feet. Fluttershy was the first to get back upright, but the Grand Inquisitor didn’t let up: she made a sharp sweeping gesture with her left hand, and another Force push knocked Fluttershy up and away. She tumbled through the air to bounce against the wall of a nearby tenement and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Sunset grimaced, wiping some blood from her lip, as she stood back up and planted her feet firmly on the ground. She brought up her saber in an overhead guard, willing herself to work through the pain and let the Force move through her. The general brought her saber down in a mighty forward strike as Nightbird advanced; the Inquisitor brought both blades up to deflect the blow, and for one moment as both sets of lightsabers rebounded, the space between the two fighters was open to attack.

Sunset Shimmer tried to bring her blade back down for another overhead swing, but in the instant it took to redirect the momentum of her lightsaber, Nightbird was just a little bit faster. The Grand Inquisitor’s dominant lightsaber flicked out, like a stinger, and the tip of the plasma blade burned into Sunset’s right shoulder. With a winded scream, Sunset dropped to one knee. Her arm spasmed from the agony of the burn and the hole left behind, but she refused to give up. She would not let herself fall. Not like this…

Nightbird shook her head, in a parody of sorrow, as she brought up her lightsaber and held the tip of the blade towards Sunset’s throat. “Not at all what I’d been hoping for,” she mused, “I came here to slay a legend of the Clone Wars. Instead I found a washout with her best days far behind her.” Sunset grit her teeth, and bit back several choice Huttese oaths. She tried to raise her arm, bring up her saber again, but it may as well have been made of wood for all the good it would have done her. The Grand Inquisitor flicked two fingers out, and the Force slammed Sunset like a cannonball, lifting her off her feet and pinning her against a wall. Sunset Shimmer, General of the Rebellion, choked, wind knocked out of her, as she felt the Dark Sider’s will keeping her stuck in place; the feeling was like being submerged in something foul and decayed, and it grew heavier and heavier by the second as she struggled to try and break free.

Behind the dark mask covering her face, Nightbird was grinning like a nexu about to pounce. “Oh, do yourself a favor and stop struggling,” she almost cooed, sauntering towards her trapped opponent, “It’s all over for you now.” Nightbird’s eyes, behind the dark red lenses of the Inquisitor’s helmet, were glinting like those of a spice addict about to get their next fix. She could feel the other woman’s desperation, her fear, through the Force, and she savored it. Savored it so much, that she quite forgot about the other, fainter presence, that had come back, and had retreated into the shadows nearby, waiting for the right moment.

And just as Nightbird brought her blades out and slashed them preparatory to what would be a killing strike, Fluttershy stepped out of cover, and threw her lightsaber pike like a javelin.

Nightbird screamed, as the plasma blade struck her from behind, and sliced through her right shoulder in an instant. The Grand Inquisitor’s dominant arm dropped to the ground, still clutching its weapon in its still-twitching fingers. Fluttershy scrunched up her face at the grisly sight, and at the thought of inflicting such pain on anyone, even a Dark Sider, but she willed herself to focus on helping her friend. Sunset, the Inquisitor’s hold on her having faded with the loss of her arm, picked herself back up to a standing position, and half-limped, half-ran, to stand at Fluttershy’s side. Together, the two Jedi watched Nightbird stagger and turn to face them. Her posture unsteady, her breathing ragged; the Grand Inquisitor was livid with rage as she seethed, through gritted teeth: “Why don’t you Jedi ever, ever, STAY DEAD?!”

Nightbird started to make a move like she was about to charge them, but Fluttershy summoned her pike back to hand with the Force and brought it up with a simple but elegant flourish, and the Inquisitor halted. Maddened with pain and fury as she was, the Dark Sider could see from the steely looks on her opponent’s faces, that this was a fight they had no problem finishing for good. “I’m not going to kill you, even if Rainbow Dash really thinks I should,” Fluttershy said, warningly. “But if you keep chasing us, you will lose that other arm.” She let out a short breath, and added, “So please… don’t.”

Nightbird ground her teeth behind her mask, her lightsaber trembling violently in her remaining hand. Thoughts of murder and retribution danced in her mind, but even with the red haze over her vision, she knew that to attack would be a fatal mistake. She watched the two of them, Jedi healer and Rebel general, move for the rooftops, and swore a thousand times over that when she next caught the two Jedi, she would inflict vengeance that would make Darth Midnight herself weep for them.

Rainbow Dash leapt the space between another set of rooftops, still doing her best to lead the Fourth Sister away from the rest of her friends. Though she was beginning to wonder, in spite of herself, how much longer she could keep going; her heart was hammering in her chest, the breath burned in her throat, and her legs were aching, an all-too-unwanted set of reminders that she was not the young Jedi she’d once been.

When I get out of this – not if, when, she would NOT think that way – I’m never slacking on exercise again, Rainbow swore to herself as she approached the edge of the current building she was on. She braced herself for the jump, timed it as she closed in… and then let the Force flow through her, as she pushed off and soared over the gap. She landed rough, stumbling, and nearly fell; Rainbow wondered for a split second if she might have twisted her ankle. Then she heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber activating and hurried to draw her own blade, barely in time to catch the Fourth Sister’s strike.

“So, this is the mighty Rainbow Dash?” taunted the Inquisitor, pushing her blade against Rainbow’s, forcing the other woman back. Rainbow Dash knew that the Sister was trying to knock her off balance, and resolved to beat her at her own game: she drew on as much of the Force as she could, and flicked out her hands to send the Inquisitor back, almost knocking her over the side of the ledge of the building they were on. (To Rainbow’s disappointment though, the Fourth Sister didn’t fall, and managed to right herself just in time.)

Rainbow Dash brought up her saber in a guard stance, her blade angled low in a resting position; ready to snap it up to deflect any strikes at an instant. As the two of them took a moment to ready themselves anew, Dash pondered her next move: withdraw further? No, that had been too close a call already. Leap in close and try to hammer her back and over the side? Risky, even for her taste. Old memories of the last time she had tried a relentless attack on a Sith flickered through her thoughts, and the spot where her prosthetic arm met her shoulder ached.

“Scared, Rainbow Dash?” the Fourth Sister sneered, as she raised her lightsaber in a mock salute.

“You wish,” Rainbow huffed, as she planted her feet and braced herself for whatever would come next. The Inquisitor activated the second blade of her saber, and let the twin plasma beams spin like a buzzsaw as she stepped carefully forward. Rainbow knew that this was a display, meant to intimidate her; she scowled and tried not to let the anger cloud her focus.

There is no emotion, there is serenity...

Their lightsabers met in a clash of colors; blue and red sparks hissed as the Fourth Sister moved and lunged around Dash from one side to another. Rainbow swung her saberstaff to deflect the oncoming strikes, but she was tiring, bit by bit. The standoff on the ground, and the chase across the roofs, were taking their toll, and she knew she was paying for it. And then, quite suddenly, that toll came due in another way.

The Fourth Sister angled her blades, spinning them again like a buzzsaw to hammer at Rainbow’s guard; the Jedi tried to break her attacker’s offense with a pushback, but the Inquisitor sidestepped her lunge, and in the few seconds Rainbow was off balance, flicked out her saber, and cut through Rainbow’s prosthetic arm just beneath the shoulder. Rainbow gasped in pain, and staggered, gaping in shock as she saw her limb once again laying on the ground like so much trash.

The Fourth Sister grabbed her with the Force, and slammed her down to the rooftop, pinning her in place. “Aww. Did I break your arm?” the Inquisitor cooed mockingly, “What a shame, it looked so nice…” The Fourth Sister brought her lightsaber blade down and swiped it through the wrist of the severed arm. With another flourish, she then cut through the elbow of the prosthesis, before stabbing her blade through the handle of Dash’s lightsaber, cutting it in half. She finished up by scattering the pieces with the Force, clearly savoring every moment of the act.

Rainbow watched, helpless and sickened, fear pressing in on her more and more by the second. She was trapped like an animal in a snare, and the hunter was just toying with her now. “I’ve waited months for this, Dash,” the Fourth Sister said, her voice now dangerously sweet, “Ever since Tatooine. I’d say it’s a shame it had to be this way, but, eh, you know…” She shrugged one shoulder, then brought up her saber and spun it around, before swiping it against the rooftop, sending sparks flying over Dash’s prone, paralyzed body. She was gearing up for another swing, maybe this one to be the killing strike… Her heart racing, Rainbow tried to think of some way out. The Force had not abandoned her yet, she would not die like this. And as she thought, suddenly she recalled something from the mission to Scarif from previous months…

“She’s not Trixie anymore, Shimmer. That’s a name long of old. She’s now one of the highest-ranking officials of the Galactic Empire."

The words hit her like a thunderbolt, and Rainbow knew what she had to do. “Stop! This isn’t you!”

The Fourth Sister paused, for a fraction of a second, before slashing again and sending another burst of sparks at her. She brought her saber up, high, like an executioner at the chopping block…

“I know it’s you, Trixie!” Dash half shouted, half pleaded.

The blade froze, its wielder twitching in shock. The Force seemed to shudder around them, the Inquisitor’s psychic grip on her prisoner slackening, and Dash struggled up, pulling herself into a crouch.

“What did you say?” the Fourth Sister hissed. She held up her blade, pointing it right at Rainbow’s heart.

“I said I know it’s you, Trixie,” Rainbow Dash repeated, heavily. “That’s your name, that’s who you are. Not an Inquisitor, not a ‘Fourth Sister’… you’re a Jedi, like me.” She raised her remaining hand, and held it up almost in way of offering. “You’re a magician, you liked to show off what you knew to the younglings—”

“No,” the red blade shook, its owner’s voice hissed quietly.

“This isn’t you. Not the real you,” Dash pressed on, pleadingly, “You loved fireworks shows and those peanut butter cracker snacks. You liked to rib Twilight about spending all her time in the Archives. Your best friend is Starlight Glimmer—"

“Shut up.” The masked face shook back and forth. The red blade swiped to one side, but it did not stab at the Jedi standing across from its wielder, and so Rainbow continued: “We never got along, I know that, but I also know that you are better than this! You are not an Inquisitor!”

“It doesn’t matter who Trixie was!” the figure in the dark mask and Inquisitor’s garb screamed. The red lightsaber clattered to the ground, forgotten. Silence fell, for a long moment. Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything, as she slowly, carefully, approached the Inquisitor, and reached up her hand to their mask. She wondered if she was doing the right thing, the smart thing, or if she was about to die, but she did not stop; she had to see this through. She reached out, and pressed her fingers to the mask, and the Force whispered to her, and she felt for the release mechanism that would disconnect it from the rest of the helmet. The person in the garb of the Fourth Sister did not resist.

There was a faint “click,” and then the mask came away, and Rainbow saw the face beneath. Once-bright blue skin, a face that had grinned and boasted lively expressions, now bore a muted color, and a sullen, exhausted look. The eyes were a murky, tainted yellow, devoid of the old pride, the old cheer. Her face bore the marks of long-ago cuts, some of them horribly surgical looking in nature. There was a healed, but still notable, burn mark, left on one cheek, that puckered the edge of her mouth there.

Trixie, once great and once powerful, looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment before averting her eyes. Without the mask, it was like all of her previous anger and viciousness had been bled away. What was left… was little more than a shell of a person. Rainbow stared at that faded, wounded face, and her eyes watered. “Trixie,” she said, her voice rough, and she put her hand on the other woman’s shoulder, and tried to bring her into a hug. Trixie froze for a moment. And then she melted into Dash’s grip, throwing both arms around her, shaking like a leaf.

There was a rustle of movement behind them. It was Sunset, and the other Jedi, having followed Rainbow’s Force signal up to the rooftop. They stopped at the sight of Rainbow, her arm missing. Pinkie nearly drew her axes, but Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder, and shook her head in warning. Rainbow Dash didn’t pay attention.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, to the broken woman clinging to her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to fight anymore. It’s okay…”

“Do you know, what they did to me?” Trixie’s voice was little more than a whisper. Yet in the quiet that had settled over Kijimi City’s rooftops, it seemed to carry like a full bellow. “Years of misery, agony… they tortured me. Broke me, broke anyone else they wanted f-for the Inquisitorius. They broke me again and again, took me apart until I let them put me back together as… whatever I am now.”

Tears were running freely down her face, and the woman who had been the Fourth Sister looked, more than anything, like a child who had been hurt and didn’t understand what had just happened. “I remember, but I don’t… know anymore. I’m not… not what I once was.”

She suddenly let go of the embrace, and pushed herself away from Rainbow Dash. Trixie’s mouth twitched, and she said, in a dazed, brittle voice, “I’m not her. Not anymore. It’s too late.”

Sunset tried to step up. "Trixie, w--"

"It's too late, Sunset!" Trixie growled with fury in her eyes. "It doesn't matter if I leave with all of you, they will never accept me. I'm dead!"

The Inquisitor was shaking a little bit, from the anger and fear washing together. She looked at the girls around her, slowly breathing to calm down.

"I don't have much time. But I need you all to listen carefully; the Empire is building something. Something big. The Defender project you destroyed is nothing compared to what they have planned for you all."

"What, what are they making?" Rarity questioned.

"A station. Bigger than anything you can possibly conceive. They're moving it outside of Dath..." Trixie trailed off. There wasn't any reason for her to just suddenly stop, but when she looked to her left, her breath started shaking with her body. The girls looked towards that direction, but they didn't see anything; not even an Imperial or Inquisitor in sight. Trixie took a small step backwards, horrified by something only she could see, the sounds sending chills down her entire spine.

But what the rest of the Jedi saw frightened them more. As if coming out of nowhere, a silhouetted figure seen only by the moonlight, stood on the building across from them. Her cape swished and dropped from her shoulders, before the figure leaped from the canopy they stood on. She stepped into their vision, her breathing echoing through her filters.

The girls looked at each other, then back at new arrival.

"Sunset... is that--?"

"--It's her," Sunset confirmed.

Midnight focused on the girls as she slowly moved behind Trixie.

"I have been waiting a long time to see you all again. Unfortunate that we aren't on the same sides," Midnight greeted.

"At least we stuck together," Pinkie growled. "The only thing that was tearing us apart was you."

Midnight said nothing more. Her saber ignited, finally breaking Trixie out of her trance. Realizing what was to come, she looked at her old friends one last time before giving them one soft if bittersweet smile. A pained groan followed as a bright red blade was seen prodding out of her heart.

Trixie was gasping for air before the blade deactivated, leaving a gaping hole in her chest where her heart once was.

"Pr... Promise me..." Trixie wheezed. "S... Stop her..." She dropped to her knees. "Stop... the Empire..."

"We'll bring them down," Sunset whimpered. "I promise."

"T... Thank you," Trixie wheezed. "Now, I... I am finally... free..." she said with a grateful smile as she dropped to the ground, her last bit of energy finally escaping her body.

Midnight looked back towards the Jedi Six, not moving a muscle. Realizing they had no choice, all six of them dashed to another rooftop, running as fast as their legs could take them, leaving Midnight to stand there.

"All Inquisitors, bring the Jedi down. And do not fail me," Midnight ordered.

Sunset didn't say another word during their escape. As all of them leapt, dashed, and ran across the rooftops of Kijimi City, they did not dare look back. No one had expected to see their former friends here tonight, nor were they ready for Trixie's departure. Despite their loss, none of them could express even a little bit of sadness right now; War, bringing on so many deaths of friends and family over the years had left them all numb to the pain.

But inside, Sunset was screaming at herself. They were so close to getting an entire clue, and now they were back to square one with barely a hint at the Empire's plan. A station? What kind of station, what were they even making? She'd have to investigate this some more, provided they all would survive this chase. The Inquisitors were catching up to them, their agility on par with the Terrialian Jango Jumpers.

Only a few more rooftops and awnings left and they would be home free. The Inquisitors were dangerously close, ready to slash them once they had the chance. Just as they made it to the next rooftop, the Jedi's ride soared across the sky and moved itself down above the last building just off the edge of the mountain. Zorii stood at the bottom of it, waving for them to come on board. One by one, the Jedi climbed inside, with Sunset being the last of the group. Looking behind her, she watched the Inquisitors continue to give chase until the ramp closed up, sealing everyone inside. The Inquisitors all leapt up, using their blades to spin around like rotor blades, added with the Force to propel them.

But it was too late; the freighter blasted off into the skies and into hyperspace, leaving Kijimi behind. All the while, the Inquisitors growled at their failure. Midnight wasn't going to be happy about this, and who knew how she was going to take their failure this time.

Lyra stood on the second platform ledge, arms hanging over the railings. Thankfully she wasn’t pelted by the rain, underneath the tarp that kept her dry. She stared at the forest across from her, hearing the sounds of some nearby critters minding their own business, enjoying their natural habitat. And over near a pond, she saw a small little dock with some baskets and fishing tools. She lightly chuckled, but her smile died in seconds.

“Mom?”

Lyra broke from her quiet, looking back to see her child having stepped out on the balcony with her.

“Yeah kiddo?”

“You’ve been quiet ever since we ate dinner. Is something wrong?”

Lyra scrunched the bridge of her nose with her hand. “Flurry, I do not feel comfortable being around those troopers.”

“Why? They seem like nice guys. I mean they all look the same, but they’re nice,” Flurry asked. “Is it how they’re dressed?”

“No.”

“Well, what’s wrong with them?” Flurry insisted.

“Kiddo, what happened between them and us was a long time ago, and I’m not sure that’s something I will ever get over,” Lyra said, with a bit of animosity in her voice. “You don’t understand. They are dangerous. They could—”

“—Derpy trusts them, doesn’t she? And I thought you trusted her,” Flurry interrupted, putting her hands on her hips.

“… I do.”

“Well then what is wrong with them? I don’t know why you hate them so much, but they seem like good guys to me. And if Derpy trusts them, shouldn’t they be fine? I thought Derpy was your friend…”

Flurry pouted and looked away, folding her arms as she just stared out into the forest. She listened to the rain dancing on top of the cover. It was a nice sound to listen to, and she did admittedly enjoy hearing it, much nicer than the sounds of all of the explosions and battle cries.

The minty green Jedi’s eyes looked at Flurry, observing her returned cold stance. She looked back out at the forest, and spoke.

“It was another day in the Clone Wars…”

Flurry perked up, and she turned around to listen to her mom speak.

“… at least, for my Jedi friends. A long time ago, I decided to leave the Jedi Order because I could not devote my life to more war and fighting. I left and that was when I chose to stay with your mother, and live with her for the rest of my life. She made me happy, and it made me happier that I had an actual family, I felt like I had real purpose for once. And raising you was something I never regret, not even during the worst days.”

The teenager didn't interrupt, as much as she wanted to ask what all this had to do with clones.

“Anyways, your mother and I found some means of making money during the final days of the war, and we were doing very well for our own. Unfortunately, we had ourselves some tough luck and got caught between a battle between some Stormies and my former clone comrades. Bon Bon and I chose to stick around to help out a little bit, mainly just to get some of our fighting kicks in and keep the Storm Army off our backs.”

Lyra lightly smiled. “I must admit, it felt nice to fight with them again. I had lost my entire battalion when I was trying to protect you from them, and that was when I first met your mother.” Her smile then faded away into a frown. And underneath the doorframe was Gallus, Smolder, and Commander Hurricane who wanted to listen in. “But, something changed that day.”

As Lyra thought more and more about it, she swore she heard explosions echo back in her head from that day. Sounds of lightsaber swings, blasters firing, explosions, cries of droids and clone soldiers being killed left and right.

“Without warning, I suddenly felt this… disturbance. I felt as if something was wrong, a sharp pain hit my head, and I felt a disturbance in the Force. I couldn’t understand what it was. I didn’t know what happened until your mother said something. To this day, she doesn’t understand how or what, but she heard something inside her helmet. Someone ordering the clones to… ‘Execute Order 66’.”

Flurry still wasn’t understanding. But then she saw her mother’s hands start to shake as she leaned on the railing.

“The clones… without so much as another word or warning, suddenly primed their blasters and pointed them at me. And one them… oh God…” her voice cracked. “One of them turned on you while you were in your crib. He almost… ohhh…” Lyra’s eyes were now watering and a wave of Force started to shake and rumble around her.

“Mom!”

Flurry grabbed her mom, pulling her out of her small trance. Lyra’s powers stopped, and the ledge stopped trembling. She wiped her eyes clean, and cleared her voice to try and keep talking.

“If it wasn’t for your mother, you would not be alive today. I have not forgotten that day, that day where they almost killed you…” Lyra choked. “We… we ended up fighting our way back to our ship and went on the run. Soon we started to hear a bunch of news reports all over the galaxy; clones turning on their Jedi generals, orders being sent out to hunt down any Jedi survivors, and the Republic was being turned into the first Galactic Empire to ‘unite’ the galaxy as one.”

Flurry’s expression softened and she moved in to give her mom a much-needed hug. Lyra sniffled a bit, and she accepted the hug, wrapping her arms around her daughter.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about, you did not know any of this happened,” Lyra replied, holding her shoulders and staring at her straight in the eye.

“None of us had a choice,” said a new voice; Hurricane had come out onto the platform. He walked out onto the ledge to join them, with Lyra still defensively moving to protect her daughter. Hurricane however did not argue with her. “I know this hard to accept, but none of us had a choice.”

“We were all told that one day, we would be free from the war, and when it would be over, we could be free men.... and look at where we are now," Bubbles added with a heavy sigh.

Lyra turned her head, not wanting to give the troopers any more attention. Both commanders looked at each other inquisitively, until Derpy stepped out on the ledge. The two troopers silently nodded, and stepped away, allowing their friend to talk to her more privately.

“Lyra?”

The former Jedi looked up, noting Derpy’s worried expression. “I didn’t mean to make you upset. I’m sorry.”

Lyra sighed again, and this time she gave Derpy a brief hug. “Derpy, you have nothing to apologize for. I was expecting people, but I wasn't... I wasn't prepared to see war veterans."

After breaking from the hug, Derpy looked back to Flurry. Then back to Gallus, Smolder, Adagio, and then to Bon Bon who all gathered together on the balcony as well. Lastly, she moved her head back to Lyra.

“So, why have you come back here?”

Bon Bon was the one who spoke up this time. “Derpy, we need your help. Adagio was surprisingly telling the truth about you being alive, and we want your help in our Rebel alliance. Well, you and your clones.”

That sentence made Derpy frown, closing her eyes. “No.”

The Rebels were shocked. “No?”

“Why not?”

"I can't go back. I don't have the Force, I'm not strong, and I don't have it in me to fight anymore," Derpy explained.

"We've worked with way less," Bon Bon shrugged off.

Derpy's sad face turned more into a stern glare. "You aren't hearing me, are you. I said, no. Actually..." she stopped for a moment. "Come with me. I want you all to see something," she said, leading them back inside the house.

The group followed Derpy and company down a path behind their house. But she didn't say what specifically she wanted to show them, wishing for their eyes to see first.

“Derpy, I don’t understand, what was it you wanted to show… Oh… my… gosh…”

Several tree stumps left in the open, with the rest of the tree it was once part of, cut away to create this massive field. A few paths made with stone and cut concrete led into an open clearing, surrounded by benches and several markers. Derpy led them down one of the paths, and everyone started looking at the various stone markers around them. All of them looked polished, made from a shiny rocky material. But what drew their attention to these, were the names that were listed on many of these markers.

Lyra, upon looking at just one, felt her heart sank. She recognized these names, and not in the best of ways. Her partner could feel her sadness growing, squeezing her hand and her shoulder, and giving a loving hug from behind, making sure she felt that she wasn’t alone.

“Sometime after our escape, I did some research/hacking into every remaining Alliance archive I could, downloading every file on everyone we had lost so I could keep track of them all... and so I didn't have to go chasing after friends who had died. Once I had all the information… that is when I started making these,” Derpy said.

The Rebels looked towards one stone beam, eyes lingering down the list of names that were right there, open in front of them.

“Clones, Jedi, senators, civilians, anyone that we called a friend… I made sure their names were placed. The Alliance may not exist anymore… but as long as these markers stay, so do their memory, and the tragedy of everything they fought for.”

Flurry and her moms felt a wince of pain in Derpy’s words as she continued. Then her eyes looked at another wall, with a smaller list than the others.

“Ace. Bolt. Bounce. Coil. Fuse. Knight. Mohawk. Patch. Stinger. Stretch. Tap. They weren’t just any soldiers to me… they were family. Even during the hardest of times, I felt as if they were always there for me to make me smile. And I was there for them when they needed it too. And when Order 66 came… they were gone. Just like that.”

Bubbles, Mix, and Vargas all shared equal frowns as they looked at that same column, that same list. Good soldiers who always followed orders without question… now nothing more than more bodies added to the expendable troopers that the clones were thought to be.

Flurry Heart stared at another marker, looking at more names. Derpy came back around, standing next to her.

“We may have been trying to be peacekeepers… but in the end, it was for nothing. Everyone who just wanted to defend innocent people, everyone who just wanted to do what was right... they’re gone.”

Lyra walked up next to Derpy, noticing a small tear leaking down her face. Her hand gently hesitated, but she slowly moved and wiped it from her face, with Derpy’s artificial eye whirring to look at her. The Jedi looked over to the married Force-user, still carrying that same look. Lyra softly nudged Derpy, and pulled her in for a hug, longer than the one she gave upon realizing she was still alive.

“Derpy…”

Derpy pulled out of the hug, and looked back at the markers, gazing at them with an emotionless stare; sadness and anger melding together.

“I’m happy you’re still alive, Lyra. I really am. But I’m done fighting. I’m tired of fighting, I’m tired of killing, I… I just don’t want to do this anymore. And if something happens to my best friends, if something happened to any of the last loved ones I have left in my life, I… I don’t know what I’d do.”

Lyra wiped another tear from her face, hearing her softly whimper, trying not to cry.

“Oh, Derpy… Hey, hey, look at me,” Lyra said, lifting her chin to look at her. “I understand you don’t want to fight. And if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But you should know that we are still alive, and we’re not alone. There are others who survived the Order 66 ambush. The Rebels that we are now serving alongside, we’re all fighting to put an end to the Empire, to stop Darth Midnight, and put an end to everything she started. We’re fighting so that the lives of everyone who died in the Clone Wars are not in vein. We are not alone, and you are not alone. You are never alone.”

The survivor hadn’t heard those words in a long time. Truth be told, after hiding for fifteen years, and only freeing the Clones several months ago, she had felt like she was alone. No one to talk to, no one who understood her pain, aside from her brothers. However…

“I’m sorry. I’m not going back,” Derpy answered, still standing her ground.

“… Are you kidding me!?” Smolder snapped. “We come all the way out here to look for you, and you don’t even want to come back? You seriously don’t want to bring them down?"

That last remark made the poor girl snap. Derpy gave the Draconoid a heavy glare, and she breathed heavily, trying to keep herself contained. “You think I didn’t try to stop them? Do you honestly think I didn’t try to fight them?”

She marched towards the Draconoid, towering over her. “I tried to fight. I almost died, more times than fighting Stormtroopers, Umbarans, and battle droids. I fought them, only to try and escape and survive, and to make sure that the clones who had no choice could survive to the next day! And you know what happened? We LOST!”

Smolder was now regretting making that comment towards the veteran. “We lost, all of us. The entire war amounted to NOTHING. And you know what happened to all the clones? After being forced to kill the Jedi? They lost Kamino!” Derpy looked at the brothers who didn’t look as saddened by her, but the pain was still visibly there. “They just… lost their home. After the Empire thought they outlived their purpose; they just… destroyed it. Sure, some clones made one last stand to try and fight back, but do you know how well that went?”

Derpy was almost on the verge of breaking down. A single tear went down her face as she thought back.

“They had to kill their own brothers. They had to watch as their own brothers killed each other,” Derpy gestured to the five brothers near her. “And not only did they have to watch as their own brothers killed each other, they had to watch as the very Republic they swore to fight for, turn into an empire that we didn’t want to become… and then that very empire destroyed their home. Their bloodline is gone. Their brothers, are just… gone.”

Smolder's nostrils puffed more smoke, shaking her head.

"Well then that's all the more reason to not stay here and come help us so this doesn't happen again. Wouldn't all of the cl..." Gallus stopped himself. "Wouldn't all of your brothers want you to avenge them for everything they fought for? So they didn't just die for nothing?"

Derpy wanted to argue. She couldn't. Instead she just looked away, shamefully. Gallus was right; and she knew it. But she couldn't bring herself to agree.

"Enough," Lyra decided. "If Derpy and the... boys," she said, with hesitation, "don't want to come back, they don't have to. We're not going to drag them into this again." She looked at Derpy with a wistful frown. "I... I guess this is goodbye."

Derpy was frozen. She looked down, in shame, still clutching her exposed left arm. Bubbles patted her shoulder, giving a little bit of comfort, at least what he could provide. Lyra still wanted to try and push, but she realized it was going to be futile. Her friend had suffered enough, and she didn't want to make her feel worse. She cared for her friend, and if she had to move their separate ways, then so be it.

"Eleven, Cheep, G-G," Lyra spoke into the coms. "Is the ship still safe?"

"Chirp chirp churp churp. Churp chirp choop churp."

"Okay. We're on our way back, stand by for us when we come back. And if you detect any proximity that isn't us, let us know."

"Chirp chirp!"

Lyra set her arm down, gesturing for her crew to come with. One by one, they turned around to get ready to leave, not looking back at the fallen Jedi or the retired clones. All except for Smolder and Gallus. The two of them still stayed there, looking at them with disappointment.

"Just so you know; we thought the Empire would leave us alone because our planets was out of their way. But they came for us too. How long do you really think you and your family will have before Midnight's forces decide to put their mark on your world?" Smolder asked before rejoining Flurry and company. Gallus didn't say anything else, just moving quickly to come back to the others.

Once the group was far gone, Derpy and the boys were left there, just standing. Most of them were unsure of what to do, or what to say. Some were hesitant to the idea of coming back, they didn't want the Clone Wars final days to repeat and make it all for naught. Others were considering going back. But Derpy was the most conflicted of all, still standing there as shy as ever.

Bubbles stayed with her, looking out at the vast jungle as far as they could see.

"If you want to go back, I'd be more than happy to join you again. I followed you into battle before, I'd be willing to join you again," Bubbles offered with a friendly smiled.

"I... But you all deserve a life away from war. I don't want that being all you know. They didn't even give you skills or anything to prepare you to retire! Just remembering poor Fireball and Nemec," Derpy whimpered.

"--Derpy," Rex decided to interrupt. The 501st captain turned to her, getting both her and Bubbles attention. "We were made for war; it's what we were bred to do. I know you want us to make our choices, and I respect that. But right now... I want to make a choice; I want to go back. The Empire's done enough; and I'm not just going to stay here and let them continue to reign. Whether you join me or not, I'm going."

Derpy looked back at the jungle. Then she looked back at the home she had crafted together with the friends she had made here on Ajan. She didn't want to leave it... but so many people were going to suffer if she didn't help. Lyra needed her help. With a slow sigh, she rubbed her face with her fingerless gloved hand. She looked forward, and her eyes narrowed.

The walk through the jungle was quiet again, aside from the chirping of birds and bugs around the group. Lyra sulked throughout their walk, with Bon Bon trying to keep up with her and provide some comfort, even if it was just by holding her hand. Adagio was slipped back into cuffs again, with Gallus and Smolder making sure she kept moving. Flurry just walked in the middle of the group of six, feeling awkward about the situation.

“I’m sorry Mom,” Flurry said, trying to break the silence.

“Hmm?”

Flurry quickly skipped a few feet closer, walking side by side with her mother. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted her back. I’m sorry she’s not coming.”

Lyra patted her shoulder and pulled her close for a small squeeze. “You have nothing to be sorry about, kiddo. It’s her choice, if she wants to live here, then she deserves that freedom. She’s suffered enough. Still shocked how the clones aren’t making her suffer but… it is what it is.”

“At least with the Republic, she had something of a purpose. But I suppose trying to find purpose again in a post-Republic time is rather… difficult,” Adagio said, rather passive-aggressively.

“I’m normally restrained, but frankly Adagio, you’re being a bitch,” Bon Bon sneered, not looking back.

“Am I wrong? You saw how she looked, even I don’t need to be a narcissist to see that,” Adagio protested, rolling her eyes. “War does things to you.”

“We get it, Adagio,” Lyra said. “Now do us a favor and shut up.”

“Just like back at her house. I admire the fire,” Adagio clicked her tongue.

“Adagio, if you don’t shut up—”

“—Oh no. I guess I’m being a little naughty, aren’t I? Why don’t you just—ack!”

And without warning or even hesitating, Adagio’s entire body was lifted in the air and she was slammed against a tree, body pressed against it like she was strapped down despite her hands being all that was cuffed. Adagio tried to break out, but couldn’t. Lyra’s gaze had turned from mildly annoyed to deadly furious.

“I have had it up to here with your antics, Adagio. The only reason I took you along was to show me where she was, and guess what? Even if you were right about where she was, our entire trip meant nothing!” Lyra barked.

Adagio still didn’t back down. “I’m still a woman of my word! And I thought anger wasn’t the Jedi way.”

Lyra growled. “So that’s how we’re going to behave? Okay. Let me show you my way.”

She lowered her closer to the ground and pulled out her lightsaber, igniting the blade and pointing it towards her face. Adagio pulled her head back as far as she could, no longer laughing. That anger was genuine, and she was on the bad side of this situation.

“If I had my choice, I would have just ended you the moment you arrived. And judging by your massive background and role you played in the Clone Wars, I wouldn’t have hesitated. What was that you had said earlier? You have nothing.”

Even Bon Bon took a stand with her. “And for the record Adagio; my wife is not a Jedi. So all those little rules and wisdom that you read from a single piece of text, means nothing to her anymore.”

Adagio was quiet, slowly nodding in understanding.

“Oh, I’m sorry, what’s that? No more wisecracks, no more funny jabs at my history or perhaps the most horrible thing that’s ever happened to the galaxy? I didn’t think I heard them all! I’m just dying to hear more!” Lyra deadpanned.

“You’ve made your point!” Adagio yelled. “I’m sorry!”

“Yeah, I don’t think you are—”

“MOM, PLEASE!” Flurry begged.

“—Guys, stop!” Gallus pleaded, trying to break their silence. “What are you doing!?”

And to attract their attention, Smolder let out a breath of fire that caught Lyra and Bon Bon’s attention, just from the light. “Look, I know you’re pissed, but guess what! It’s her choice, you wanna be mad, be upset at Derpy for wasting your time and coming here! I haven’t been around this woman long enough to have a hate-scale for her, but all she did was show us where we were supposed to go; even in spite of her annoying comments.”

Lyra and Bon Bon halted their actions. The Draconoid had them beat.

“Now let’s stop with the death threats, and get out of here. I don’t wanna be here any more than you do,” Smolder suggested.

Lyra let out a sigh, slowly breathing in and out. She didn’t say anything, but she did turn off her lightsaber and softly let Adagio back onto her feet. Lyra gave her another glare, and then moved forward again.

“Oh and if I hear one more word out of you; I’m slapping a gag on your mouth,” Lyra glared. “And don’t even think about adding any suggestive or lewd comments on that, there’s a not-legal child around you!”

And despite the awkwardness of the situation, the group begrudgingly pressed forward. Flurry truthfully was scared of how that situation had gone down, fear paralyzing her voice the moment Lyra behaved more aggressively. She didn’t need to look at her mom’s face to feel the anger and sheer power that had emanated through her body.

However, as they walked through the forest some more, they failed to notice a pair of floating but transparent blue lenses flashing on one of the tree arms behind them, watching them march through the path. The eyes watched them for a few more seconds, softly clicking from their spot.

The noise was enough to make Adagio suddenly stop in her tracks and look behind her. Gallus and Smolder stopped as well, but didn’t remove their weapons from being aimed at her.

The family in front of them stopped as well, noting Adagio’s sudden freeze.

“Hey. Let’s go,” Lyra said, starting to lose her patience. “Are you deaf?”

“Stop,” Adagio quietly said. Her head turned left and right, looking around in the trees. Nothing. Nothing in sight.

“What’s got you so jumpy all of the sudden?”

“We’re not alone,” Adagio said, taking a few steps backwards. “I know your trust in me is lacking, but I would recommend freeing my hands right now.”

“Fat chance, Siren,” Bon Bon sneered. “I don’t think we’re… Lyra?”

Now Lyra was getting stiff too. She looked around, moving at the same speed Adagio was. Her eyes bounced all around, trying to look for something. She felt a disturbance in the Force, feeling something unnatural and off. Slowly she backed up, trying to look around her.

“Someone’s here. She’s not wrong,” Lyra whispered.

Everyone instinctively pulled out their weapons, trying to look around. They could hear some more silence around them, but the words of Adagio and Lyra combined had them scared. Who or what was this thing that supposedly is here? A monster? An animal? A person? What?

“We need to just—ag-gagagagagagaahhhh!” Lyra shrieked, feeling several jolts of electricity running through her body, and collapsing onto the ground.

“Lyra!” Gallus shouted.

Bon Bon was about to shriek as well when she saw a laser blast fire into a bushel near a tree, and instinctively she pulled out her guns to fight. Knowing how much of a risk it was, Bon Bon fired a shot at Adagio’s cuffs to give her a fighting chance. Smolder and Gallus got into fighting positions, and Adagio whipped out her knives. Even Flurry as she pulled out her lightsaber. That shot came from somewhere, and they were going to fight.

Everyone listened carefully, looking all around them for something, anything that could have shown a hint of where the source was. And as they listened, they heard a strange clicking noise - almost like the pincers of a massive insect. Everyone spun around, looking for the source of the noise, it had to have been from somewhere.

The clicking continued yet again, and this time another bolt came flying out, this time zapping Adagio, sending powerful jolts through her body. She screamed as the electricity was pulsating through her skin, until she dropped to the ground. Not dead, but the shock was powerful enough to render her unconscious. Scared for their lives, Smolder, Gallus, and Bon Bon started blasting at the source of the blast, taking note of where it had come from. But blasting the branches and the arms of the trees didn’t do a thing, as nothing visible came into view.

That is until an unknown force out of nowhere pummeled Bon Bon to the ground, sending the same jolt of electricity through her body again. This time however, Gallus and Smolder could see something translucent in front of them, and opened fire, seeing a few sparks bounce off of whatever they shot. Suddenly, lights flashed in front of them as a figure finally emerged from a cloaking device. A hulking creature covered in armor and a metal mask, with the skull of some unidentified species on his left shoulder. A cannon sat on his right shoulder, and they could see long tendrils flowing out of his back, dark silver ones at that. Skulls of his victims dangled like trophies, and badges of random factions stitched into his kama.

“Get him!”

Gallus charged first to fight, but the masked hunter was prepared. He got out of the way as Gallus lunged, but was tackled to the ground when the Griffon came running back. Gallus tried to pin him down, but it was no use as the hunter kicked him off of his body, and fired several shots out of his shoulder cannon.

"What the hell are we fighting!?" Flurry asked as the monster attacked. "Wait a minute! Multiple tendrils..." she noticed a few spots over the man's body as he whipped around. "Genetic spots... this guy's a Nautolan!" Flurry identified.

The identified species could only growl at them, refusing to use real sentences to talk to his prey. His shoulder cannon primed and fired a stun blast at Gallus, subduing him for the count, leaving only Smolder and Flurry left.

"Okay, well that narrows that, but who exactly is he?" Smolder yelled, spitting fire out of her breath, hoping to burn some of that armor off his body.

Flurry deflected some of the shots from the predator's shoulder cannon, but she couldn’t deflect the shots back at the hunter’s body. At the most, she deflected them towards some empty patches in the ground, away from her friends but that was it.

Smolder took her chance with the hunter distracted and flew straight towards him. Sadly her effort was for nothing. The hunter held his feet into the ground and grabbed Smolder’s charging arms, clutching them tightly as he threw her to the side, slamming her against a tree. She hit the ground with a thud, the wind knocked out of her. Flurry felt her heart racing when she saw Smolder was knocked down as well. Even more when the hunter turned its head towards her, clicking underneath the mask.

Realizing the odds were against her, Flurry ran as fast as she could as the Nautolan stood there, creepily watching her run. With a button press, the hunter activated the cloaking device and leapt up into the trees, ready to continue the chase. Gallus, still not knocked out but in severe pain, pulled himself up as best as he could, watching as an invisible force leapt through the trees, fearful of what would happen if he got closer to his friend.

--

Flurry panted and heaved as she ran through the forest, desperately trying to run. Her friends and family were all knocked out, at least she hoped, and she was all alone. There was no escaping, and she didn’t remember where they parked the ship. She couldn’t even contact IG-11, no way he could reach her in time. In the midst of her running, she threw herself into a hollow space beneath a log to hide.

She tried to be as quiet as she could, hearing the clicking coming from the hunter. She listened as the hunter’s feet leapt on top of her cover, fighting the urge to scream. She cupped her mouth and listened to the sound of the creaking above her, praying that her cover would collapse from his weight and crush her. The log moaned from the feet grinding into it, until it finally stopped making noise. She was shaking, and she still kept her hands covering her mouth to silence any breathing or loud hyperventilating. She could see a glimpse of the Nautolan's bare feet stomping away, before running off into the jungle to continue his search.

While he did run, she didn’t remove herself from her cover. There was no way she was going to run out in the open and attract more noise towards her. She looked down at her wrists, and stopped. Only now did she realize she still had a com device attached, and slowly turned it on, whispering in a hoarse voice.

“Please… someone… anyone, please help me…!”

But that was soon proven to be a terrible decision. The Nautolan stopped running, hearing the faint sound of a transmission device clicking. He turned his head around, softly growling underneath as he turned around and slowly walked back towards the direction of the sound, looking for the source of the call.

Unbeknownst to the hunter, he was being watched. A few eyes were seeing him from multiple spots in plain sight, spying on his movements. Hiding behind a fallen tree, a Phase I clone helmet with a baby blue pattern on the top peaked up, staring at the hunter. Her disheveled armor was dangling off her shoulder, but she quickly pushed it back up, before it slipped off a little more. A small antenna stuck out from the side of the helmet, as it was extended down over where the eye would be peaking out. The bounty hunter’s body was detected with the eye-finder, watching his every moment. The figure raised their wrist to speak into the com device.

“Vargas, Mix, take the left side, hide behind the cargo crates. Bubbles, Hurricane, take positions from the awnings. Rex, can you flank him from behind? Use the flash bombs.”

“Right away, ma’am. Nice touch on the flash bombs,” Rex complimented.

“They were a gift from an old Jedi, I think they’ll be useful here,” the masked trooper replied.

The hunter kept getting closer to the source of that transmission, looking for any tech or radio waves of any kind through his helmet. He clicked some more under the helmet, snarling and looking all around. The helmet’s infrared vision kept scanning, but there was nothing in sight. But all the while, Flurry stayed put, still cupping her jaw to keep herself from screaming or panicking. Her heart raced for what felt like 100 miles a minute, she felt like it was about to pop out of her stomach.

Her chance to escape came very soon, as without noise or any kind of warning, the hunter turned around and was met with explosion of smoke hitting his face. Now under the mask, his face was protected, but he couldn’t see thanks to the bomb. And it did not help that more smoke bombs were being thrown at him, clouding a good chunk of his vision.

“Showtime boys!” Rex hollered.

Now with the hunter distracted, Mix and Vargas popped out and held their guns on the crates, firing several shots towards the hunter, hitting him in the shoulders and chest. The hunter growled as he tried to clear away the smoke, and even firing several blasts from his shoulder cannon at random directions, but the clones weren’t hit.

“Get down!”

Mix and Vargas ducked, watching as a blast flew right over their heads.

“That was a close one!” Vargas stated.

“Now how about we make him mad?” Hurricane cracked a grin under the mask.

The smoke was clear, and the hunter growled in anger, looking around for all the targets. His shoulder cannon fired at where Hurricane and Bubbles were, who got out of the way from the blast.

“Remember boys, we can’t let him near Flurry Heart, keep him distracted,” a voice yelled from their coms.

“Why spoil the fun? We haven’t been shot at in years!” Hurricane grinned, blasting at the bounty hunter again.

Vargas snuck up behind the hunter while he was distracted, thwacking him at the back of the head with a massive bat. The hunter growled and swung his claw around to try and slice the clone’s skin open, but failed as Vargas dropped to the ground to duck. The distraction worked again, as Rex and Bubbles shot at the hunter with their pistols, charging forward and standing together in attack positions.

“Argh!!” The hunter growled.

Hitting a button on his wrist, he raised a shield up to block as many shots as he could. And despite how many shots he blocked, the Nautolan hunter still got hit in a few vulnerable areas which made him cry out in pain and anger. Realizing how enraged he became and the shoulder cannon visibly charging, Vargas tossed a smoke bomb to create a distraction.

Out of anger, the hunter’s shoulder cannon started to fire like mad towards the group, but thanks to the bomb, his shots went at random directions, unable to track where the heat sources came from that weren’t his own. But the distraction was perfect timing, as Derpy reached into the log, grabbing Flurry's attention.

"Flurry, it's me, Derpy! Come on, I'm gonna help you get out of here!"

Recognizing the disheveled uniform, Flurry crawled out of hiding to join up with Derpy.

"Go! We'll keep him distracted, get her to where the ship is!" Rex ordered.

"Okay, thank you! All of you!" Flurry graciously shouted.

She took Derpy with her and the two of them escaped into the jungle, turning their hops into urgent running, hoping to get far away from the hunter's scopes.

Once the smoke cleared, the hunter looked around with quick haste, trying to find his target. All he saw were the clone troopers who were surrounding him again. Bubbles swatted him in the back of the head with the butt of his blaster, before Rex punched his helmet with a rock, making a sizable dent.

He dropped to his hands and knees from the attack, giving all of them the chance to kick him down even more. All five of them kicked and punched him, working to overpower him and keep him down. Hurricane pulled out his blaster, setting it to stun, but the hunter was quick to respond. He swatted at his hand, kicking the weapon away, before punching Mix and Vargas out of his vision.

The troopers weren't knocked down, and were soon rejoined by Smolder who soared above, breathing fire on an empty patch behid him to block him off from escape. Gallus hovered next to her, aiming his blaster rifle at the predatory intruder, set to kill.

Lyra, Bon Bon, and Adagio joined not long after, moving in between the clones as they locked on target. Weapons were primed and ready to go to unleash all kinds of pain on this monster.

"Who is this guy!?" Lyra and Bon Bon screamed.

"That's what we want to know!" Gallus and Smolder yelled simultaneously.

"All we know is he's some freaky Nautolan," Smolder continued, snorting smoke from her nose. "Seriously, I thought Trandoshans were bad, this guy's in a competition with them!"

"Alright, where is she!?"

The hunter didn't say anything, at least not with his own voice. He stood there, claws out in a pose that screamed 'come at me'. One voice did come through, echoing Lyra's.

"Where is she? Where is she?"

"Errgh! Where's my daughter, you freak!?"

The hunter still didn't change his position. Bon Bon twirled her blasters forward, aiming at him.

"If you don't tell us where Flurry Heart is, I swear to Celestia's spirit, I will put a bolt through your brain and your hunting days will be over, tail head."

The hunter's pose hadn't changed. But then, as everyone was ready for another fight, the hunter loosened his stance, standing up straight. His helmeted head looked to the right, clocking in on two heat signatures running to the edge of the cliff that this section of the jungle was sitting on.

Ignoring the group, he leapt up to the trees and began to jump across them, running from the Rebels. The combined team of Rebels and clones pursued him without question, running as a group as they tried to lock onto the hunter and not lose him.

Across the jungle was Flurry Heart and Derpy, still trying to run from the predator as he lunged across the trees.

"Okay, Flurry I need you to listen to me. I have an idea, but it's very risky! We're going to go further, and slide down that path just up ahead!"

"What!?"

"It'll drop us into a riverbank, we can hide from him there, the cold will block out his heat signatures, I'm sure of it!" Derpy theorized.

"Well... okay, I got no other idea!"

Without seeing where she was going, Flurry tripped and started to slide down the hill as Derpy said. Not too long after, Derpy threw herself forward, sliding down on her belly like a penguin from the northern regions of Equestria. Her speed accelerated as she caught up with Flurry, who was trying not to freak out at how fast they were going.

"I forgot how fun this was! Wheeeeee!" Derpy squeed with excitement, all the while Flurry just looked at her with worry for her sanity.

I'm about to die with a 42-year-old woman who doesn't want to fight.

Both Flurry and Derpy fell off the paved ‘slide’, right off the edge of the waterfall. No longer at an angle, they were falling straight down, going right down into the riverbank below.

“Put this on!” Derpy warned, giving her the scuba mask she had taken with her.

“What!?”

“Just do it!”

Flurry, realizing she had no choice slipped on the scuba mask just in time as she and Derpy splashed into the riverbank. But it wasn’t going to be over for long. Once the masks were applied, both Flurry and Derpy swam towards the bottom of the riverbank (despite it not being deep enough for them to take a deep dive), and pressed themselves behind some rocks for cover. Despite the bright light, they had enough cover to hide.

Another force came splashing down in the riverbank and descended towards the deeper part of the bank; the hunter. Both Derpy and Flurry softly breathed in the masks, praying and hoping that the hunter wouldn’t see them. The Nautolan swam around, slowly gazing and searching. Derpy peaked her helmeted face through a crack in the rock to gaze, and saw him floating there, looking around. He didn’t don the mask right now, and he didn’t need it anyway. His tendrils floated and waved as he gazed all around him. No sign of where the target had hidden. It didn’t matter. He had done what he needed.

Slowly, he swam back up, emerging from the riverbank, sinking his feet into some of the mud and stone, and getting back up on dry land again. He picked up his helmet which he had set on a rock, putting it back on his head. Slowly he hissed as he looked back at the riverbank, applying a scanning vision with the mask. They were in there after all.

It still didn’t matter to him. Knowing his mission was done, he marched into the jungle, leaving only his nasty footsteps behind as he made his way back to his ship.

--

Some time after he had vanished, the recovered Rebels and the Clones ran down to where they last saw Flurry, standing at the edge of the riverbank.

“Are they in there?” Lyra asked.

“I’ll take a look,” Vargas said, placing a scuba-trooper helmet on his head. He slowly walked into the river-bank and dove right in, kicking the water behind him with his flippers. Everyone backed up, feeling the big splashes the clone had kicked back at them, and so they waited.

They waited for a moment or two, until finally faces emerged from the water. Vargas was first, and then Flurry who took a big breath of air once she took off the scuba mask.

“Flurry!”

Lyra didn’t hesitate running into the water, she was just happy to see she was okay. She yanked her daughter up and held her in a big hug.

“Thank God, you’re okay…”

“Mom, I’m okay, I promise,” Flurry said softly, hugging and shivering.

“How did you even get away?” Gallus asked.

“I wouldn’t have gotten away. Honestly, thanks to the clones,” Flurry said with a smile, getting a few smiles out of the troopers, “and Derpy, I would have been skinned alive if it wasn't for them. I thought I was dead!

Vargas took his mask off. “If he wanted you dead, he would have just shot you.”

“You think so?” Flurry asked.

“I know so. If you want someone dead and you have that chance, you take it. Whoever that Nautolan was, he didn’t want you dead,” Vargas concluded. "I have a feeling he was contracted to come find you."

“But if he didn’t want to kill her, then what did he want?” Bon Bon questioned.

Just at that moment, Derpy finally emerged from the water, hair now completely sopping wet and laying limp against her armor. She took the helmet off, also taking a big breath of air as she slowly pulled herself out of the water. Everyone’s attention turned over to her as she slowly walked up, shivering just like Flurry.

“Uh.. anyone have some t-t-towels? I think I should have taken one of the scuba-trooper suits,” Derpy squeaked, shivering as she stood.

--

After some time, everyone finally loaded onto the Sweetie Drop to head back to Yavin IV. The ship took off from the jungle grounds, and the clones took one last look at the jungles. Their new home was going to be left. But maybe when this was over, they could finally return to it again. Maybe…

The ship took off into the atmosphere until it finally made it into space. Once the appropriate distance had been made, the ship took off into hyperspace to go back home. Inside, everyone was settling in once again. The clones along with Derpy had brought a few trunks to take with them, stuff they considered necessary to bring along; some extra guns, ammunition, medical kits, stuff that would be beneficial to not just themselves, but even the Rebel Alliance. They even brought a few blank clone trooper suits for them to customize however they pleased. After all, they were Rebels now. They could do whatever they wanted with those suits; and some of them wanted to have brand new suits for battle.

And for every possible contingency, they brought scuba, scout, and space suits as well. The only rule Derpy insisted on was that the clones stuck with Phase I helmets, to remind everyone of the good old days before the fall of the Republic, and the faces of the troopers who would then descend to the Midnight troopers. Outside of that, the clones had free range to do whatever. Currently inside the ship, the clones were just hanging out. Vargas and Mix were playing the chess game, while the other clones took seats in the booth area with Flurry. Adagio had been ordered to keep her distance, courtesy of Lyra, and while she didn’t sit with them, she did smirk and stare at them like a creepy stalker.

“Can you stop staring at us?” Bubbles asked, sounding a little impatient.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help but stare at the bubbles painted on your helmet,” Adagio joked, walking away from the room to go somewhere else.

“… Is she always like this?” Bubbles questioned.

“I don’t know, I only met her this morning,” Flurry shook her head. “Oh do any of you want something to eat or drink? I do have cookies and blue milk.”

The men exchanged a few grins. That sounded great to them.

“Sure, kid. Yes please,” Rex asked.

“Coming right up,” Flurry smiled, getting up from the booth to go to the kitchen.

As the clones sat, Hurricane turned his blank Phase I helmet to face him, having placed it on the table. He stared at it momentarily, thinking back to all of the battles from the past. He would be happy to give it a fresh paint job, matching his old battalion's colors from long ago. But he still couldn't help but wonder how a particular someone would think upon seeing him back...

“What are you thinking about?” Rex asked.

“I don’t know… I guess I hadn’t considered what to really say to General Dash,” Hurricane commented. “The last time I saw her, I was…” he sighed. “Wasn’t in the right state of mind.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Hurricane. You need to stop blaming yourself for something that wasn’t in your control,” Rex said, sternly but calmly.

“I know I should. But I just have this feeling she’s probably going to shank a lightsaber through my heart if I come anywhere close to her,” the commander stated.

“Think of it this way,” Rex started. “Out of all of the clone commanders and captains that used to fight alongside the Main Council, you’re still alive. You survived and escaped, the other commanders and captains aren’t here. And unlike them, you have a chance to make amends and start things over with her again. I don’t.”

Hurricane glanced over to Rex, and gave him a soft but sincere smile. “I understand. I’ll see if I can make things right with her." He looked at the lenses of the helmet, frowning softly. "I hope."

After her shower, Derpy got back in her modified spandex and clone armor, and sat in the gunner’s seat to stare off into space. There wasn’t much to look at aside from the utter blackness, but it was calming to see no starships or cruisers outside. It had been so long since she had fought in the war, and it was rare to see space so empty.

Bubbles, Mix, and Vargas came around the corner, seeing Derpy sitting at the end of that hall. They joined her in the small but still spacious corner of the gunner’s area, standing beside her as they looked around.

“How was your shower?” Bubbles asked.

“It was good. I needed it,” Derpy confirmed. “Are Lyra and Bon Bon being nice?”

“They… we’ll work on that,” Mix said, not giving a straight answer.

Derpy sighed with disappointment.

“Oh, hey. Look up there,” Bubbles pointed. “See that nebula up there?”

Outside the gunner window, the ship was passing by a massive nebula that glowed brightly like the morning dawn's light. The sight made Derpy smile, remembering a time when she and a pilot squadron had to fly through a nebula to make it to another destination.

“Oooh! Look! That nebula, I think I know that one! It’s the uh, the uh, b-b—”

“—Balmorra Run,” Vargas realized. “That’s the Balmorra Run!”

“That’s the nesting ground for the giant Nebray Mantas, isn’t it?” Derpy continued, getting equally excited.

“I flew through that!” Vargas said.

“You flew through that?” Derpy asked.

“Yeah! Well, okay, a long time ago. I was assigned to a gunner’s position to help General Skywalker in destroying the Malevolence. We had to fly through there as a shortcut,” Vargas explained. His eyes then saw something else. “Wait! Look!”

Something large was emerging from the nebula. Several tendrils floated behind the objects as they emerged from the bright yellow and orange anomaly. Wailing noises echoed in space as they flew out, and the Baker’s Batch could see a big blue body with small eyes.

“Are those… purrgil?” Derpy gasped like a little girl.

“I think so. I only heard about these things, they’re massive!” Mix said, moving closer to the glass to get a closer look.

The animals sung in the open space, swimming right past them despite not being in water.

“Karabast! Everyone, brace yourselves!” Lyra shouted from the cabin.

“Wait! Don’t shoot!” Derpy insisted. “They won’t attack!”

“These things wreck starships!” Bon Bon argued.

“Not intentionally! Just let them pass us, they’re harmless,” Derpy insisted.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive! I think? Master Fluttershy said these things don’t intend to cause trouble, just move with them,” Derpy pleaded. “Please!”

Lyra let out a sigh through the internal coms. “Okay, we’ll move with them.”

“Thank you!” Derpy squeaked.

The purrgil didn’t surround the ship or try and get in their way. They were just swimming in their own little school right by the ship. Derpy and the Baker’s Batch looked at them with awe and wonder, watching as they sung together, flowing gracefully in space.

“They’re so… what’s the word I’m looking for?” Derpy asked.

“I think one would use ‘majestic’,” Bubbles answered.

“Yeah! That. I can’t believe I never saw them in any of our missions,” Derpy pressed her face against the glass, trying to get a better look.

“It’s hard to believe that for such a cruel universe, there’s always something beautiful beyond the horizon,” Bubbles said, watching a smaller, possibly younger purrgil swim close with its mother.

For the next half hour, the four of them just stood there, watching the pod of purrgil swimming past them. Mix even swore one of them was staring right at them the entire time they passed by the ship. The sight was calming to all of them, and for once that day, they all felt at ease.

The cockpit's status however was very different. With Lyra and Bon Bon back in the pilot controls, both of them were looking to each other with worry and concern. Deep down they knew they should have been happy they received more allies to be a part of the cause; having more soldiers as the Empire cracked down harder was a good sign. But having clone troopers back? Lyra could only imagine how the rest of the Rebellion was going to act once they saw them. Or worse, what would happen when the former Jedi Council saw them...?

With everyone in hyperspace, the group finally had a chance to sit and calm down. Sunset and K2 stayed in the pilot seats while the rest of the girls in the cockpit chatted to each other, with R2 and Spike present as well. And Zorii just sat uncomfortably, wrapped up in the animal skin blanket. She was visibly shivering and shaking, even if she didn’t make much noise.

“Zorii? Darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked.

“I’m fine, thank you,” she said, rather quietly.

“You look and sound cold,” Fluttershy observed.

“I’m just not used to warmer conditions,” she said, still trying to stay warm. “Still reeling a little bit from the outside.”

“Sorry the heat’s not inside the cockpit, I keep putting in a work order to get it fixed, but it keeps getting pushed back by several weeks,” Sunset apologized, just gazing at the flashing of hyperspace around them. “You’re welcome to hang out in the kitchen or the living area, it should be warmer in those spots.”

Pinkie Pie zipped away without warning, and then back over to the masked woman with a coffee mug in her hand, extended to Zorii. “Here. Hot chocolate is always the answer when you’re feeling cold.”

Slowly she looked up at the very eccentric Jedi, but she hesitantly put a hand out and took the mug she offered. “I… don’t know what to say. No one’s offered me anything aside from money.”

“Well, it all changes today!” Pinkie squeaked.

Her other hand tapped a button on the side of her helmet. The girls were curious and moved closer, wondering who it was underneath the mask. Sadly, they didn’t get a chance, as all they saw was the bottom of the mask transform and reveal the mouth hidden underneath. All they saw anyway was a light purple skin and lavender lips as they took a sip of the hot chocolate. She slowly moved the mug away and wiped her mouth momentarily.

“This is good. Thank you,” she said, softly smiling. And that smile was enough to make the rest of the girls return the expression.

“So what are you under there? You’re wearing a mask, but just based on lips alone, you don’t seem freaky or having anything necessary to hide,” Rainbow asked, trying to til her head to see if there was any glimpses of other features besides her lips.

“Rainbow Dash, in this cold and unforgiving universe, masks are a necessity for some who need to do what they can to survive,” Rarity said, defending the spice runner. “Although I do have to ask, how heavy is that thing? It doesn’t look very… comfortable.”

Zorii looked at her, still letting her mouth be exposed. “It does its job. Besides, I’ve worn this thing for many years, I’ve gotten used to it.”

“But why hide, what’s there to hide?”

“When you’re stuck on a place like Kijimi, you need what you can to hide,” she explained. “You can’t exactly trust anyone in the Outer Rim, especially when most people you meet try to screw you over, sell you to a gangster as a slave, imprison you… need I go on?”

Everyone was quiet for a moment or two.

“Nope.”

“Nah, I think we get the picture.”

“How long will it be until we arrive to your base or whatever?” Zorii asked.

“Should be about two hours or so, so until then, just kick back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Also there’s a vac tube down the hall if you need it,” Sunset pointed behind her without looking.

“Thank you,” Zorii acknowledged. “So, is there anything I should know before we arrive?”

“That depends on what kind of races you can tolerate,” K2 asked, tilting his head back to look at her.

“I have no prejudices, if that’s what you’re asking,” she replied.

“Well then I should warn you about the girls you’re currently with. They’re Equestrian,” K2 said, continuing.

“And?”

“No one’s given you that warning? I do not understand why no one ever warns anyone about this. Well, you should take note of this now for the future; Equestrians have a habit of singing. And breaking into surprisingly choreographed musical numbers at random,” K2 explained. "I would also recommend not tuning in to Buried Lede’s podcasts. Very angry, and despite his status, his opinion on the Jedi and everyone who participated in the war isn’t a kind one.”

Zorii didn’t know how to respond. “Um… okay. Is there a reason they like to do that?”

“It’s in our nature!” Pinkie squeaked, zipping from the ceiling for no reason at all. “Also we sang a song in Ackmena’s bar before the Midnight troopers could kill us!”

Zorii’s head looked up. “How are you even hanging from the ceiling, how did you get up there?”

“The less asked, the better your life will be.”

R2’s dome shook back and forth, sighing. “Brt brrrp berp berp brrrp boop.”

“Agreed,” Spike replied.

“If anyone minds, I think I may need to use the refreshers,” Zorii said, standing up and setting the hot chocolate down.

“Just down the hall,” Spike pointed out. “Swing past the living area, it should be on the left.”

“Thank you,” Zorii said, walking down the hallway to take care of her business.

Once she stepped away, Sunset let out a bit of a sigh as she leaned back in her chair, hands grasping her face, no longer able to keep herself composed.

“Sunset? Darling are you alright?”

“No,” Sunset moaned. She spun around in her chair and looked at the girls with a face that no longer looked non-chalant but now expressed trauma and fear. “I… it's my fault."

"That wasn't your fault, you didn't kill her," Applejack reassured.

“She was our only chance to find out what the Empire was planning!” Sunset suddenly snapped, making them all jolt. "I didn't step in, I didn't help her, and now Trixie's dead! She's dead because I wasn't there for her, and we're now back to square one with figuring out the Empire's newest project!"

Sunset groaned as she spun her chair back around, looking out into space. "Look, let’s just focus on making sure we get back home before I screw up anything else today, hopefully we don’t get yanked by any gravity wells on the way back,” Sunset’s voice turned more stern and angry.

"Sunset, it isn't your fault, we didn't know Twilight was going to show--"

"--Midnight," Sunset corrected. "That... that wasn't Twilight. Not anymore."

“Darling, you understand we just want to help. We’re not trying to make you upset—”

“—I’m fine, Rarity!” Sunset suddenly snapped! “Just…” she stopped for a second, recognizing how mean she was starting to sound. “Just… leave me alone right now.”

The rest of the girls didn’t want to leave. But it was clear Sunset wasn’t in any state to talk some more, so they decided to step out of the cockpit to let her breathe. Maybe once she had some time to calm down she would be more receptive, but not now. The uncomfortable silence filled the cockpit once Sunset was by herself, with the exception of K2SO. The droid looked at her briefly, eyes studying her now tense posture and shaking demeanor.

“You’re making a grave mistake getting upset with them,” K2 informed. “Perhaps you should tell them how you've been feeling before your emotional state deteriorates and you chase more of your friends away."

Sunset slowly turned her head and glared at the former Imperial droid, daggers forming in her irises.

“But what do I know? My only intellect is in strategic analysis.”

After exiting the vac-tubes, Zorii wandered back out, trying to adjust her suit again. She kept yanking on the part of her gloves and her hips making sure none of the leather was bunched up or riding up on her.

“Hey Zorii!” Pinkie greeted, somehow coming from the ceiling.

“Ah!” Zorii yelped. “Please, don’t do that. I would have drawn my blaster on someone if they did that.”

“But you didn’t!” Pinkie pointed out, plopping off the ceiling and on the ground. “Anyways, while we’re going to be in space for a while since we have a few hours until we get back to Yavin IV, I had an idea on some fun we can have while we’re on the road!”

“Fun?” The spice-runner questioned.

“Yeah! Didn’t you ever have fun on Kijimi?” Pinkie asked, not liking her potential response.

“Well… I don’t know. Fun isn’t exactly something I could afford to have, if I wanted to stay alive. Honestly dipping my body in nice hot water after a long day was the closest thing I had to any real fun.”

“Wh… never? You didn’t do anything fun growing up?”

“No. My ideas of fun were considered childish. It was either ‘grow up’ or ‘stay a baby’.”

Pinkie’s hair suddenly deflated. “You… you weren’t allowed to fun? Not even as a little girl?”

“I didn’t have much going for me, Pinkie. Where I’m from, you weren’t allowed to have fun, nor were you allowed to just be a little girl. You weren’t allowed to be yourself, or receive some form of unconditional love, no, no, it was something you had to earn! Because something as simple respect just couldn’t be given naturally!” She suddenly growled.

Pinkie took a step back, now afraid of what this woman was about to say or do. But it wasn’t until Rarity and Applejack walked into the area did they make Pinkie’s comfort better.

“Uh… how much did you hear that?” Zorii asked, concerned.

“Darling, we heard enough. You weren’t… allowed to do anything?”

“No.”

“Did your parents even know how ya felt?” Applejack asked.

That question finally did the thing. Zorii’s fists clenched and were visibly shaking. They didn’t see her face, but the rattling on the back of her helmet was enough.

“No, there’s nothing to tell. It wouldn’t matter if I told them anything, nothing I said mattered! What would I even say to them now?” She said, starting to pace back and forth now. “I wish you helped me when that neighborhood bully put permanent slash marks on my face, I wish you didn’t put me down when I wanted to show you how fun dancing was, I wish you let me get a lothcat so I have some fragment of joy in my life, I wish you didn’t teach me how to smuggle spice because that’s not what girls do! And you know the reason why I could blast like a little girl at six, it’s because I AM A GIRL.”

None of the girls ran away. They stayed in the room, waiting for her to finally let everything out. They could hear her breathing heavily as she tried not to break down in front of them.

“You’ve held that in forever, haven’t you?” Applejack said softly.

Zorii couldn’t bring herself to speak, still trying to breathe and not explode. But the farmer knew just what to do; she walked towards her and pulled her close, holding her in a hug. The spice-runner was worried when she got that close, but stopped trying to fight her when she felt Applejack’s warm embrace.

“Easy… I’m right here,” she whispered.

Zorii slowly moved her arms up and embraced her back, hugging her tightly. Applejack could feel the spice runner trembling anxiously, a feeling she knew all too well. She let Zorii hug her for a few more minutes, at least as long as the new Rebel needed.

"Okay... I think I'm okay," Zorii said, breaking out of it. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you all, it was uncalled for, and... I don't know where that came from."

"That's okay, sweetheart," Rarity reassured. "But just know, if you want to talk about it, we will listen. And if not, we won't pry you any further."

"I... thank you," Zorii sighed. "Although if it's all the same to you... I think I need to be alone for a minute," she said, looking for a space to sit.

"There's some bunks down the hall," Pinkie pointed. "Oh, actually..." she reached into her bag, pulling out some devices from Equestria; a headset and a cassette player with a cassette already loaded. "Listen to this; it's always helpful to listen to music to calm down after a stressful day."

Zorii wanted to push her gift away, no reason someone would be this kind to her, no one should be. The only response she was accustomed to with screaming or letting loose was people telling her to 'smile more' or to 'stop complaining'. The lack of those replies and instead offering to help or listen was... strange. Wasn't it?

"T... Thank you," she said, softly, accepting the player.

Walking off to a separate section of the freighter, she found one of the bunks; two of them clearly designed for some of the Jedi in mind; as shown by the bedsheets covered in graphics of their marks they always had blazed on their outfits. But regardless, she just slowly slumped into the empty bunk covered in party balloons, no longer feeling the energy she had earlier. Slwoly her fingers reached up to grip her helmet, the back of it letting out a hiss as she pulled it off her head.

With a sig, she removed her gloves and put her blasters down, along with her boots. Reaching for the player, she looked at the tape inside, reading the label. Curiousity enticing her, she put the headset on and lowered the volume, closing her eyes as she allowed the music to fill her world as she sat still, slowly drifting asleep...

Some folks like to fight for land
Others like to fight for friends
But if it means that we'll save the day
Well I'mma fight til the end

Punching out of hyperspace, the freighter arrived outside of Yavin IV ready to descend to the surface.

"Yavin IV, this is Amity's Hand, sending you clearance codes now to land," Sunset spoke into the coms.

"Amity's Hand, we have received your codes. You are clear to land."

The freighter's engines thrust towards the atmosphere, brushing past the clouds until it saw the base just up ahead. Inside, the girls were getting ready to gather their stuff to get off, with the exception of Pinkie who knocked on the bunker door.

"Zorii! We're here!"

".. mm, hmm, wha, what? What's going on?"

"We're here!" Pinkie chirped.

"Give me a minute!" Zorii was heard fumbling on the other side, adjusting her boots and gloves to go back on her body. And there was also various clicking and whirring of metal, Pinkie could only guess she was getting her helmet back on. The doors opened, with Zorii looking ready to step off. "Sorry, I think I passed out," Zorri apologized before handing the headset and tape player back to Pinkie. "Thanks for lending me this, it was... rather nice," she said, earnestly.

The freighter landed back on the ground, and some crewman came out to welcome the girls back. Sunset Shimmer was first to come out, along with the droids. And eventually the rest of the Jedi came out, with Zorii Bliss slowly emerging with them.

“General Shimmer, welcome back,” General Dodonna welcomed.

“Thank you, Dodonna,” Sunset nodded softly.

The older gentleman looked at the woman in the fur-skin cloak and gold helmet. “May I ask who is your new friend here?”

“General, this is Zorii Bliss. She’s agreed to join our cause. We helped her escape Kijimi, and she helped us fight off the Imperial forces,” Sunset explained. “Have you heard back from the Heartstrings company?”

“Negative,” he shook his head. “We tried contacting them, we haven’t heard a thing.”

“Well I have some information to share, come on, let’s take it inside,” Sunset said, walking with Dodonna into the base.

The others stood with Zorii for a moment, thinking of what to tell her or give her something to do.

“Zorii, darling, I know you were cold on the ship, but it isn’t so cold here. You don’t need the fur coat, no matter how lovely it looks on you,” Rarity suggested.

Acknowledging her words, Zorii slowly removed the fur coat, letting Rarity lightly fold it up nice and neatly. And to the spice runner’s surprise, Rarity was right. It wasn’t cold. She didn’t feel so chilly anymore. In fact when she walked around on the landing pad, she felt the sun touch down on her. It felt nicer than Kijimi; a sensation she had not experienced in such a long time.

“It’s… not cold. This is oddly nice,” Zorii smiled underneath. She looked at Rarity. “Are there other planets out there who are just as nice as this one?”

“There are. Some nicer than others,” Rarity admitted. “But perhaps if I get the time, I could compile a list of the best planets to go to. There are so many out there that are just so gorgeous.”

Zorii smiled even more, despite it not being visible. “I would love that. Now then, as long as I’m here, do you require me to do anything? Clean some weapons, ships, maybe run diagnostics, kitchen duty, what do you want me to do?”

“Come with me,” Applejack suggested. “I think maybe you should get more acquainted with the base first. Get registered, meet some of the folks you’ll be working with.”

“Fair enough. Lead the way.”

And so, Applejack and Rarity walked together with Zorii into the base to show her around for a needed tour. Meanwhile, Sunset met up with General Dodonna in the briefing room to discuss her latest findings, with K2-S0, R2, and Spike by her sides.

“I think that mission went rather well,” K2 replied.

Sunset glared at K2. “You know, sometimes I swear why no one has deactivated you.”

“Because you would be wasting opportunities for infiltration missions, and I’m one of the best droids you can ask for.”

Sunset sighed. “Anyways, General. I’m afraid our mission on Kijimi went less than smooth.”

“How come?”

“Let me explain. Ackmena told us the Empire has a brand new project. One that is almost done being made, although she has no idea what it is. The only thing we know is that apparently this project will finally make the galaxy completely obey their rule, whatever that means,” Sunset rubbed her chin. “The Fourth Sister mentioned of their weapon is something related to ‘Dath’, whatever that means, although any chance we have of learning more is lost.”

Dodonna was intrigued. “Why?”

“Because the Fourth Sister is dead,” Sunset admitted. “Midnight killed her before we could get any information. And now with her gone, we lost a potential lead to this new weapon.”

“We’ve been losing leads left and right, Sunset. We’ll figure something out,” Dodonna said, understanding her position.

"General," one of the technicians called. "We've received clearance from the Sweetie Drop, they've returned."

"Good, hopefully they have better news. I'll go make sure there isn't any issue down there," Sunset said, not letting anyone else have a chance to speak up. She just walked out briskly and left the rest of the staff alone to conduct whatever business they still had to attend to.

The Sweetie Drop’s legs unfolded and parked on the landing spot, the hatch opening up with Lyra and Bon Bon being the first to come out. Sunset and the rest of the girls soon ran out to greet them as they started getting out of the ship.

“So, how did it go?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“Well… we have good news and bad news. The good news is, Adagio was telling the truth, so I think we can trust her… for now. But yeah, Derpy is alive, and she’s back,” Lyra began.

“Eeeee! I’m going to have to make a ‘Welcome Back’ party!” Pinkie squeed.

“That’s wonderful news, darling,” Rarity clapped her hands. “Though wait, what’s the bad news?”

“That’s the other thing… she’s not alone. She brought company with her, and they aren’t exactly guys you all would want to see,” Lyra said with a bit of a sneer. “Let’s just say they brought up some… rather traumatic memories that I’m not over.”

“Trandoshans? Weequays?” Sunset asked. “… You didn’t by chance get tricked into a cult--

“—We didn’t bring a cult with us, Sunset,” Lyra said, rather flatly. “But well… know what, I can’t even bring myself to say it, I’ll just let you see for yourselves.”

The girls watched as some legs climbed out of the ship, those first legs being Flurry’s, then Adagio’s, and then Gallus and Smolder’s. G-G and Cheep rolled down the ramp and to the ground to join them, standing by as they awaited for the clones. Rex’s footsteps were first, as his feet were the first to touch the ground of the Rebel base. But when that same armor, and familiar Phase I helmet made it’s appearance to them… the girls all froze in fear. It couldn’t have been, that was impossible…

And then some more walked down. Bubbles, Mix, Vargas all came down to the floor, holding their weapons down so they didn’t scare anyone as they came out. And last of them all, Hurricane. The Jedi Six were in shock at the sight of them; and not in a good way.

“No… it can’t be… it’s not over…” Sunset’s voice started to shake, hearing sounds of distant blaster fire from long ago.

“Stay back! All of you!” Rainbow yelled, igniting her lightsaber.

The other Jedi did the same, turning on their lightsaber blades in defense and out of fear. The clones backed off, holding their hands up to show they weren’t armed.

“Still think it’s a good idea coming back to the fight?” Bubbles muttered to Rex.

So many questions went through the heads of the Jedi. How could there still have been clones alive? How was it even possible? Worse, were they still under the influence of Order 66? Were they still willing to turn on them so quickly?

As for the clones, they were honestly surprised to see there were still Jedi around that had survived. There was some relief to see this, but now all of them were second-guessing as to whether or not they should have even come here if this was the welcome they were going to get. In retrospect, they weren’t expecting anything warm, but this was not what they had in mind.

“Why did you bring back clones!?” Rainbow snapped, trying not to panic.

“Wait, stop! We’re not here to attack any of you,” Rex protested. “None of us have inhibitor chips, we’re safe!”

“How can you be safe? You all were ordered to wipe out the Jedi!”

“We didn’t have a choice! None us knew we were going to be used like that!” Mix argued.

The tension was still among everyone, the clones still kept their distance just like the Jedi. Rex looked over at Hurricane, giving him a silent nod. The commander understood, and so, he took his chance. Slowly, he took his helmet off, revealing the same face that Rainbow had fought beside so long ago; now with a big bushel of a beard. Rainbow still kept her distance, even reaching for her side-arm weapon if he was gonna get closer.

“General…” Hurricane paused, changing his mind on how to speak. “Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow didn’t react.

“A long time ago, when I had become your commander, the only name I knew was CC-7827. My brothers could not find me a name, and neither did I. But after our first mission, you picked a name; you called me Hurricane. You called me Hurricane because you said I reminded you of one of your planet’s founders, known for strength and resilience. That stayed with me ever since the start of the war to the very end, and I never forgot.”

Rainbow didn’t know what to say. His words caught her off guard, but she still stood in a warrior pose, unsure of how to handle this. He spoke truth, and it didn’t seem like he had any intention to kill her.

“I… we…” Rainbow said, trying to find the right words.

“Get away from the clones, now,” Sunset grit her teeth. “They’ll kill us all!”

“These clones are—”

“—brainwashed, ready to kill us—”

“—THEY’RE FREE MEN!”

Everyone stopped shouting as they looked at the source of the voice, yelling at them. Derpy Hooves was the last of them to come down from the ship, slowly approaching them. But she didn’t look like herself, no. She had redressed in the clone trooper suit that she cobbled together back on Ajan Kloss. The girls watched as she stepped down, while the Heartstrings family stood off to the side, waiting for everyone to lower their weapons. No way they would get involved on this, at least until they would have to. Needless to say, it shocked them all when the more spandex-revealing trooper took off their helmet, revealing that same friendly face and hair; wall-eyed as she was from birth.

“Derpy?”

The blond Jedi’s eyes focused on Sunset Shimmer.

“Sunset.”

Some more awkward silence passed between them.

“You’re… alive,” Sunset said, trying to figure out how to start a conversation. Frankly speaking, she didn’t know how. What could she even say after being gone for all this time?

“Yeah. I am,” Derpy stated.

And more awkward silence.

“Derpy, darling, why… why are you dressed like them?” Rarity asked, getting some glares from her fellow Jedi and the clones.

Derpy didn’t respond right away, and instead looked down at her hands. She looked at her bare fingers, wiggling through the fingerless gloves she applied to her hands for combat. Then she looked back at her old Jedi friends. Realizing she wasn’t going to answer that, Sunset instead spoke up. “It’s… it’s so good to see you again,” Sunset interjected, trying to see if she could get a smile on the wall-eyed girl. And it did work, seeing the adorable smile Derpy had on her face. She was also so dang cute, whether it was just being herself.

“Thank you,” Derpy acknowledged.

“So… you… have been, um…”

“—Living with a handful of men, as I did suggest,” Adagio said, playfully purring.

“Hush you!” Smolder elbowed the Siren.

“I can assure you it is not that kind of relationship as she seems to be implying,” Bubbles glared.

And once again, there was another vow of uncomfortable silence.

“How… how did you escape? How did you even live all this time?”

Derpy was quiet, but quietly spoke. “Ajan Kloss. The Empire never came near it; which meant a perfect home for me… and my brothers.”

Sunset couldn’t even believe what she said. Brothers?

“I never wanted to come back. I only agreed to come because Lyra is my friend; and she needed help. But now…” her eyes almost looked normal as she glared at Sunset, but they did. She took a step forward, fists slowly balling up. “I’m starting to have second thoughts.”

Some more accompanying silence was among the others.

“… So,” Pinkie interrupted awkwardly. “Um. They haven’t aged a day.”

“Derpy, I… wh…w… may I ask, why are you… um—”

“—If you’re asking why I’m living with clones, it’s because I value them like my own family. They’re all I have. And they’ve done more for us than I can even imagine,” Derpy said, softly this time. “And I’m going to say this.”

She took a step forward, her wall-eyes looking right at Sunset. “I only came because Lyra’s daughter was in danger. I held that little girl when she was just a baby, and I swore I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her; especially predators who come charging at her with intent to kill,” and she stepped further, which forced Sunset to take a step back.

“I don’t want to fight; I gave up fighting a long time ago. But I’m willing to come back, because Lyra told me you need everyone you can. But I’ll only come back under one condition…” she looked to her brothers who were standing there, who were now having equally disdaining expressions just as much as the rest of the Jedi Six. “If I’m coming back, then so are they. If you don’t want them… then you can forget about me staying.”

More silence arose among the two sides. Jedi vs clones, negative emotion ready to bubble up and explode at any second. Adagio, for once, stayed quiet and didn’t say anything to set anyone off, instead choosing to take a temporary vow of silence. Sunset had considered protesting, but she was still trying to reel herself from another big surprise today, this was becoming too much for her.

No more words were expressed between either side. Derpy just simply walked away into the base, without another word. The rest of the clones soon joined her, with Hurricane looking wistfully at Rainbow Dash before moving to join the rest of his brothers. Rex was the last to leave, and took the longest to leave. He considered speaking up, but ultimately decided not to. Everyone was too mad right now to consider having a peaceful conversation.

Sunset let out a sigh. “I… could have handled that better.”

“You’re not seriously considering, I mean… they, well… they tried to kill us!” Rarity whined.

“Because they were under control of an inhibitor chip. Like it or not, they didn’t have a choice in how that particular factor played into your survival,” Smolder said with some snark, folding her arms. “Look I’m not sure I’m on board for having a bunch of look-a-likes with us, but they saved our butts back in the jungle from a hostile predator.”

Sunset rubbed her temple. “I’m still not sure. I thought I had moved on but—” Sunset stopped. “Wait a minute--saved you from what?”

“A predator. A hunter, some Nautolan with trophies all over him, armed to the teeth,” Gallus reported. He flicked a hologram on, showing the image of who they had seen.

“Oh dear… I recognize him,” Fluttershy feared. “Sleestak.”

“You know him, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

“He's a hunter. Takes from everyone; Republic, Separatist, gangster, he even kills innocent woodland creatures and makes them into trophies,” Fluttershy glared with grit teeth. "They were all just a big game to him!"

Sunset silently thought about their situation for a moment, seeing the two concerned parents who were folding their arms, waiting for a response.

“We’ll have to look into him later; the important thing is Flurry is still safe,” Sunset said, reassuring the parents fears. “We have bigger priorities.”

“Looking into whatever Trixie was tell—”

“—Figuring out what we’re going to do about Derpy and the clones,” Sunset suddenly derailed. Her eyes looked back at the troopers and Derpy who were still walking over to the registration offices.

“… Oh. Okay, that’s important too,” Pinkie awkwardly replied.

“We didn’t have a choice, it was either leave with all six, or don’t come back with anyone,” Lyra shook her head.

“Well, we’ll have to deal with it, I suppose,” Rarity sighed, looking back at the troopers. “I suppose since it is only five of them, it won’t be too bad. There aren’t any other clones in the Rebellion that we know about, do we?”

“Not that I’m aware of, and I want to keep it that way,” Sunset said, firmly. “Oh, has our new ally gotten herself registered?”

“You found a new trooper?” Lyra asked, her interest suddenly piqued.

“Sunset!” A familiar voice shouted. Bon Bon recognized that voice instantly, enough to jolt and turn around. “The advisor was kind enough to prepare a bunk for me, which I appreciate. And he offered two potential jobs, but I wanted to talk to you about… them…”

Complete silence fell between all four adults. That is until both Bon Bon and Zorii shouted in unison.

“YOU!”

Following up their shout, they pulled out their blasters at each other, ready to shoot. Not surprisingly, the two adults had attracted everyone’s attention.

“Uh... did we miss something?” Gallus asked.

The spice-runner snarled. “I guess she hasn't told you. We used to do jobs together on Kijimi, until she decided to up and leave me.”

The Mandalorian held her stance. “I didn't sign up to become part of a drug cartel.”

Lyra stayed by her wife, kicking part of her jacket aside to show the lightsaber on her belt. She didn’t draw it, but she wanted the drug-dealer to know she was willing to swing.

“You’re the Jedi. Glad to finally see your face, I didn’t recognize you with the hood on. Who is she? Your lover?

“Try again, Bliss.”

“You… ohhh. So you two are together now? I'll admit. I didn't think you swung that way.”

Bon Bon shrugged her remark off. “Neither did I, but guess what? I do. Now, I'm going to make this clear honey. I don't know what you're doing here, I don't know what business you have here, but lemme make this simple. This woman here, and that little girl over there... they are my life. And if you think about talking, or touching... or getting anywhere near them, then you better listen to these words; I have no problem going back to prison.”

There was some… more awkward silence than before. Everyone surrounding them was dead silent, not sure how to defuse the two acquaintances. But it seemed like their presence wasn’t necessary as both bounty hunters slowly put their weapons away, not pulling them out to shoot one another.

And only one voice spoke up; Pinkie Pie’s. “You know, maybe bringing her back here wasn't such a hot idea...”

Far from Rebel and Imperial eyes, hanging in the lawless Outer Rim was a single freighter drifting in space. Power was still present, but the occupant inside was winding down after a long day. Walking into the cockpit, the figure marched past a wall with several pieces of disturbing ‘art’. Trophies from all over the galaxy were mounted, including some pieces of armor and several badges.

Among the trophies were skulls of various animals like a nexu, a reek, a mynock, several anoobas, etc. Armor remained plastered, belonging to various clone trooper battalions along with a few odd ones from random mooks and mercenaries no one would miss. But he also had collection of more recent trophies; badges. Badges belonging to various Rebel factions and cells across the galaxy, ones that the current ones on Yavin IV never knew about. Pegasi Insurgency. Irontail Railway. Storm Revolutionaries. Separatist Sympathizers. Partitionists. Partisans. Sectorists. Many, many, many cells that were nameless to the common word.

Looking around as his victories, the hunter clicked, deciding to pull off his helmet. The mask went down, exposing his face in the light. Tendrils remained loose as they had been before, but as he stepped forward, new features unveiled. Sunken-in eyes, with various scars permanent on his cheeks, lip, and under one of his brows. He clicked some more as his bare feet met the warm feeling of the fur rugs that led to the pilot chairs.

A small med patch was applied over his cuts as he healed himself, clicking more as he grabbed another helmet to take a break from his previous ones. Just as intimidating as the others, but providing more breathing. With a click of a button, a new hologram projection came through, showing an Imperial in an officer’s uniform.

“State your business, bounty hunting scum.”

The Nautolan clicked some more as he looked at him, slowly leaning forward. “Tell your master, Sleestak has information to provide to the employer.”

“I do not have any frame of—”

“—Step aside, Captain,” a new voice entered.

A Grand Admiral outfit stepped forward, dressing a colored woman with a harsh gaze. “Sleestak, I presume. Midnight herself told me to anticipate your call.”

“I have information to report to her directly,” he said, slowly tapping his nails against the console. "Mission completed. I'll be on my way to meet her, personally to relay some information. We can discuss payment... later."

Dinner that night became extremely awkward with the new faces joining the crew. Bon Bon took her helmet off (no longer caring about who saw her face anymore, thanks to living with Lyra), and she just stared at Zorii across from her with a ‘you-are-dead-to-me’ glare. Zorii did not take her helmet off, only opening up the panel to let her mouth be visible as she ate. Everyone else around her just ate awkwardly, not sure what to say to break the tension. Even Adagio had to admit, this was a rather awkward dinner.

“Is this the worst dinner you’ve been at?” Flurry whispered over to Adagio.

“I haven’t been invited to any family dinners, so I’ll say no,” Adagio whispered back, taking another sip of her Jawa Juice.

Even the clones felt awkward sitting at the table. After they had gotten registered and cleared to join the Alliance, they weren't sure what to do afterwards. They did get settled into their new rooms (Derpy even got to have a room with her brothers), but looking for something to do after that seemed futile, since they were completely new, and they still felt unwanted. Some did want to upgrade their armor, or at least have a change in uniforms to make them more personable, but were too afraid to speak up about it.

“Maybe we should just go sit at another table?” Bubbles suggested, ready to stand up.

“No, no no,” Bon Bon said, putting her hand out. “It’s fine, we’re still having a nice dinner, aren’t we?”

“… This is really awkward,” Derpy squeaked.

“Agreed. Maybe we should just eat somewhere else—”

“Don’t,” Bon Bon said with a soft growl.

“Okay then,” and Vargas immediately sat back down. “Sooooo anyone want to talk about anything?”

“Can I ask something?” Derpy raised her hand.

The Jedi Six all collectively gasped and sighed in relief.

“Yes!”

“Please, say something!”

“Absolutely!”

Derpy cleared her throat. “I uh, I hope no one minds… I kinda brought my cat with me.” And poking out from Derpy’s lap was her pet; Whiskers.

Mew.

And more awkwardness continued. It was enough to make Rex groan. “You know what?” Rex said, pulling out from the table and grabbing his tray. “I think I’ll go eat my dinner somewhere else, if no one minds.”

And so the former 501^st captain left the mess hall with his dinner half-eaten. Derpy was about to protest and beg him to come back, but she didn’t. She could tell he wasn’t feeling welcome, and if he wanted to be alone for a bit, she wasn’t going to argue. Not wanting any more time spend in the seething angst of the new arrivals, Rex just went back into one of the main hallways where more Rebels were wandering about. Luckily there were a few benches nearby for sitting, so the captain just settled himself down on one.

Out of the way, Rex could sit in peace and enjoy the last bits of his sandwich. He was seen by a few Rebels, but none of them bothered him, thankfully.

“… --Well how was I supposed to know? I told him his hair gets stuck in the drain!” A familiar voice ranted.

The golden-plated protocol droid himself, C-3PO was stumbling about, upset about something. Rex couldn’t help but smile, he remembered him anywhere. He was about to say something, but the droid kept waddling away.

“I can’t talk right now, I’ve got to find Princess Leia!”

And Rex slowly died down and just laid his back against the wall he was against. So he was being ignored for now, no issue.

“Bwoo boop?”

Rex perked at that chirp. He recognized that binary beep anywhere. And when he looked to his left, his face lit up at the most familiar droid he had ever known.

“R2?”

The astromech unit sounded almost excited for a second as he rolled up to him. As the astromech’s dome swiveled back and forth, looking at him in full, he wiggled in excitement, beeping something that clearly sounded happy. Even the captain had a good chuckle as he put his plate aside and patted the astromech’s face.

“It’s so good to see you, R2! I thought I was long forgotten.”

“Bwoop boop. Brrr-brrr-brrr bup.”

“I’m glad you still remember me, R2,” Rex smiled, patting him. “What have you been up to all this time?”

“Beep. Bweerp boop.”

“Fighting the Empire, huh? Well I’m happy to say I’m coming back to join you and everyone else here,” the captain responded. This clearly made R2 happy judging by another happy wiggle on his legs. “Hehe. Say, by any chance is General Skywalker around?”

R2 shook his dome. “Bwoop boop. Brrt brrt bop brrt.”

“Ohhh, right… yeah, I forgot he had left a long time ago,” Rex chuckled. “I assume General Kenobi isn’t around either?”

“Bwoop bwoop.”

“Thought so,” Rex nodded. “Well… is there any chance she’s still around? Ahsoka, is she…?”

R2’s beeping slowly got quiet, and sad. “Bwoop… bwooop…”

“She’s… gone?”

“Bwooop…”

Rex frowned some more and his head lowered slightly. “Oh… if only she had known, I… I don’t know.”

One of R2’s panels opened showing a small little claw extending. Trying to show some form of companionship, he slowly gripped one of Rex’s fingers, lightly tapping his hand. Even if most of the friends and allies he knew once before weren't here, he was still glad to at least have some still around.

Midnight's Castle

“How is this possible?” Midnight questioned in her cold, low voice. She didn’t yell, but her tone was more than clear to understand she was upset. The Grand Inquisitor, Captain Phasma, Commander Dust, Luster Dawn, and the Second Sister were all cowering in fear as they stood in a straight line together, getting chewed out by their leader.

“You had the Jedi right where we wanted them. Capture should have come easily. Lost locations of Rebel cells due to incompetence… and yet the Dark Trooper forces on Ferrix, and Luster, my student who isolates herself from all of you and barely leaves the planet, is the only one who has something other than an excuse.”

Midnight then glared at the Grand Inquisitor, growling softly in her mask.

“You were bested by two Jedi. They should have been easy prey for someone of your caliber. Do not fail me next time. Or else that arm isn’t the only thing you will be losing,” she threatened, gazing at Nightbird’s new artificial replacement.

“Yes, Lady Midnight,” Nightbird apologized, quietly but calmly.

Midnight walked past some more, gazing at Captain

Midngiht then walked over to the Second Sister, focusing on her. “Well, Sister? What is your excuse?”

The Second Sister looked down in shame. “I… have none, Lord Midnight. The Fourth Sister and I did not anticipate Sunset’s numbers, and we were defeated. And the Fourth Sister has been… terminated.”

“How could you three lose against a two Jedi?” Midnight scowled, turning away from her Inquisitor.

Nightbird looked over to the Second Sister, tilting her head at her hesitantly. The Second Sister gave her a glare, shaking her head no defiantly.

“Is there something you two are not telling me?” Midnight interrupted.

Both of them locked up.

“We, um… well…”

“They… uh…”

“Phasma. Luster. Dust.”

The three of them raised their heads up, standing up straighter than ever.

“You are excused. I wish to speak to these two alone.”

Not hesitating, the three of them walked out of the room to go attend their tasks they had to get back to. Now the only people left in the room was Midnight, Nightbird, and the Second Sister.

“Now… is there something you two would care to tell me?”

“The rest of the Equestrian Jedi Council are alive. The other two the Fourth Sister and I encountered on the Tatooine were there, but now the other three are back," the Second Sister explained.

Nightbird pulled out a hologram, displaying a few images of the Jedi that they encountered. Sunset, Rainbow, Applejack were already known to have returned. And then new images displayed; more old friends of Sunset Shimmer. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy. Former members of the Jedi Council presumed dead, now appearing on her holoscreens like a ghost.

“So, it is true. Sunset is uniting all her old allies to come and fight. Smart. Bold. But futile, regardless. Go.”

The two Inquisitors understood, and so they turned around and left the room, letting the doors close behind her. Midnight was ready for another moment of peace, but that didn’t last long. The doors opened up again, and Midnight was greeted to the sounds of clicking and snarling. The hulked up Nautolan assassin who attacked the Heartstrings group not too long ago was back, covered in bruises, but still standing strong.

“Sleestak. You have returned,” Midnight stated.

The Nautolan clicked and growled underneath the mask, standing there before her.

“Tell me you have good news.”

The Nautolan stopped clicking and growling. Reaching for his side, he grabbed a small bottle before lifting his mask up slightly to drink. After a moment or two, he cleared his throat and spoke. A voice that sounded monstrous, and yet calming at the same time.

“Abducting one of them was harder than anticipated. They were ready for me, and they called for more help on Ajan Kloss. Some woman, and five men who look-alike. However, I did learn the name of one of the Rebels responsible. The daughter of the minty Jedi and Mandalorian; they said her name was… Flurry Heart.”

There was silence. Midnight did not move.

"...We're done here, then. You’ll receive your payment before you leave."

The bounty hunter left the room, making Midnight in isolation. Midnight stands still, her eyes locked on the window before her, as memories come back to her - remembering Shining and Cadence, and their happy little baby whom she had known so very briefly...

"Flurry Heart... After all these years. You still live."

Ferrix

Multiple bodies laid strewn all inside of Hotel Rix, one of the few hotel residences for the people in town. Nearby Gavalox Communications, the place was a modest, if humble abode of temporary dwelling. However most of the residents or people who came there to stay had fled the scene long before blaster-fire came down inside the building. Heavy footsteps marched up a flight of stairs, coming from a hulking droid. Imperial model, the Dark Trooper, were the newest makes of Imperial weaponry dispatched by the Empire. No longer wasting human lives, and instead relying on the strength of droid intelligence for their designs.

While the Empire kept their ground forces to just people and the very elite Death Troopers, Dark Troopers only became necessary when all other soldiers failed in their operations. And to their design; Dark Troopers were impossible to take down. Fortified armor, swift detection censors, and their feet were equipped with jet boosters for flight modes. These experimental troopers were now occupying Ferrix's main town, with many of the civilians running in terror from the troopers. While Midnight troopers would open fire upon civilians who ran from them, these troopers didn't fire at them; only if anyone was caught with arms of any kind.

One of these troopers, who had laid waste inside the Hotel Rix, was looking for the last remaining Rebels who were occupying this residence. Twelve troopers in total; all of them didn't stand a chance. Now only two remained, oh they tried their best to attack, but their blasters were useless against the armors. Most conventional weapons wouldn't work, forcing the Rebels to think more creatively about how to combat against them, most of their attempts barely getting a scratch. But now they had one last attempt to truly stop it...

Drawing the attention of the Dark Trooper away, the captain of the cell stood in one of the cell's rooms; armed and ready for a final stance. He had been waiting for it's attention to come to him, as part of the plan. And in the nick of time, the Dark Trooper's metal boots marched towards the door-frame of his room, going inside to confront him. Raising the blaster, the trooper got ready to fire and end another target.

But as the leader was about to be shot, the Dark Trooper met heavy blasts from the back end, followed by a plasma-blade shanking right through the main central processing unit. The trooper looked down before it's legs collapsed and it fell onto the floor with a heavy slam. Standing there, still in the stabbing position was the last trooper of this cell; an Equestrian woman in clone commando armor, with adobe sand armor with red and blue shades, and a few orange-yellow highlights. Two vibro-daggers were extended, having struck directly into the main circuitry of the droid, cutting directly into the power.

"If that was just one trooper, I don't want to imagine what the rest of them are like," the commando stated, looking at the finished kill.

The captain pulled himself up, looking through the small windows. Throughout the town, Dark Troopers were marching, looking for any Rebels nearby. To make matters worse, many of them were pushing civilians against the walls, even slamming some of them through; more brutal than the Preox-Morlana Corps.

"We need to get out of here," the captain ordered. But when he was set to leave, he saw something else. A Dark Trooper walking in the center of the main road; Rix Road as many called it. He was marching towards the hotel they hid in, his feet slamming against the orange sands. This trooper however looked way different than the others; much more... human, than the others, if you could even call it that. One of the red lights in it's eyes stopped working; with two sets of horns present on the head. The shoulder armors were covered in badges, nearly impossible to tell how many there were. Even a kama was wrapped around it's waist, warrior style.

"Correction; you need to leave. Go back to the ship, and head back to base. Tell them the operation on Ferrix has failed," the captain ordered.

"What will you do?" The commando worried.

The captain looked back with a heavy sigh. "I'll keep their focus on me; buy you some time. You must go."

"Sir, I can't leave you! If you stay, so do I," the commando insisted.

The captain looked back at the commando, looking into her amber eyes. "If you stay, you'll die with me. You need to escape, so you can live to fight another day. This isn't running from the fight. You must go, I promise I will be safe, Zap Zap."

The commando let out a small breath of shaking anxiety. She didn't want it to come to this, but she understood the dangers she was in now. If she didn't leave, she'd die with the rest of her friends who had sacrificed themselves to fight til the end. Realizing what needed to be done, she put her helmet back on her head; the tinted blue light replaced with yellow; horns also adjacent on the dome.

"Now go, I'll keep them focused. May the Force be with you," the captain said, one last time.

"Godspeed, Captain Zanatas." And so, the commando ran out into the hallway to go through the back entrances of the hotel, hopefully getting far away as possible. Hiking up his boots, the captain grabbed his gear and made his way down the steps of the hotel. But his walk took much slower than normal; looking around the hotel, he wanted to take in the residence's sights possibly for one last time. Many memories were made in this base, some happy, some depressing, but he would take them all with him wherever he would go to from here.

Making his way to the entrance, he stepped out and stomped his boots into the ground, ready for a fight. The Dark Trooper across the road continued to march, almost intentionally slow as if he was taking in what he saw before him.

"So you're the captain of this cell. You have such a beautiful world. A community thriving in harsh environments with very little abundance of life, I commend you all for your fortitude," the trooper taunted.

"Terrorcolt," the captain growled, looking forward. "I was warned about you."

"Then you know you won't leave this planet alive," the trooper concluded. "Where every sloppy Inquisitor fails, I complete what can't be done. The Dark Troopers are reserved for when all others fail, and we never fail our mission."

The trooper and Rebel captain now stood several feet away from each other, almost ready for a standoff. Pacing to the left, the leader of the Dark Troopers kept its gaze to the fleshling, menacingly so.

"My master grows tiresome of inept failure from sloppy officers and arrogant Inquisitors. Surrender now, and this town doesn't suffer for your crimes."

"The only crime committed is from you; scaring these civilians into submission. It didn't work when the Empire came before, it's not going to work now. I'm sure someone as smart as you remembers the riot at this very road?"

"Mmm, I do," Terrorcolt continued. "Such a waste of soldiers; completely missing the uprising before their very eyes. But I'm going to make sure that never happens again..."

And without hesitation, the Dark Trooper fired a powerful plasma-blast from his wrist, striking directly across the shoulder and into a lung. The captain gasped and wheezed from the strike, watching as his arm was now dangling loosely from the open veins and insides now about to come apart at the seams. With one last breath, he dropped to the ground, scaring everyone who had witnessed this extremely grotesque murder before them.

The Dark Trooper marched forward and gazed at his prey, still as if no thought or remorse had entered the processor. Then, turning around, he faced the rest of the townsfolks who were beyond mortified. The Empire was brutal to them before, but this was much more than their usual tactics. This was becoming a horror show with this set of troops around!

"I'll make this clear to you all; a new decree from the Empire has been announced. If anyone is found harboring Rebel, insurgent, or partisan activity, even if so much as look at them... you will not be spared the fates of this cell who thought they could hide on your beautiful world. Refusal to abide by this law, or give us locations of any partisan activity... we make you suffer like so many others already have..."

Yavin IV

The next morning following the awkward dinner, everyone was pulled to do a morning workout with Sunset Shimmer; it only consisted of going for a short run/race to get the blood pumping for the new day. But the animosity from the night before was still present with all parties not saying much in terms of words. Lyra and Bon Bon stayed with the Jedi group, while Flurry tended to hover around between them and the clones, not bothered by their existence.

By the end of the race, only Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, Rainbow, and the Heartstrings family had 'won'. Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all out of shape; fighting was one thing. Running was another thing. Derpy and the clones however remained as a group, instead going at the race like a brisk jog; getting the blood pumping, but not hurting themselves so they wouldn't be out of breath.

Soon after all members were done with their workout, everyone started to make their way to the showers. Sunset and some of the girls walked inside, noting a few other of their comrades were showering as well. Not that they paid any mind, they were teammates after all.

“Hey Numa, how are you?” Sunset said, claiming one of the spots for the shower.

The Twi’lek woman acknowledged her presence with a nod. “Ba'enik, go toyi t'ary .Dan?”

“Doing okay. How’s your uncle by the way?” Sunset asked, applying some of the shampoo to her hair.

“Nie clo gu, arni'soyacho toe banirkan,” Numa smiled softly, rubbing out the last bit of soap to her tails.

“Hi Numa,” some of the other girls nodded as they claimed their own individual spots within the shower walls.

Numa waved back to them and grabbed her towel, walking over to the lockers to finish cleaning herself up and get dressed.

“… So did anyone know her?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I do. She was a little girl when the Storm Army attacked her home-world,” Sunset nodded. “Joined our side when the war with the Empire began.”

Everyone gave a few nods and ‘ahhs’ and ‘okay’s before going back to getting clean.

“Say, didn’t we see Hera earlier? Where did she go?” Rarity asked.

“The baby kept her up at night, so I suggested she try to get some extra sleep before working,” Sunset replied, getting the last of the shampoo out of her hair.

Sunset stopped scrubbing herself for a second, eyes looking up to the ceiling and thinking.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know, I feel like I’m forgetting something…”

“Say, where did Derpy go? The showers shouldn’t be too hard to find,” Rarity asked, scrubbing the soap between her armpits.

--

At the same time, Derpy and the boys had finished up their workouts and were getting ready to clean up. The clones walked towards the showers first (not acknowledging the sign that said Men) and Derpy followed right behind them. That is until Flash Sentry stepped out of the showers and blocked Derpy from going inside.

“Uh, Derpy? Where are you going?”

“I was going to shower,” Derpy answered.

“Derpy, the blue banners mean men only,” Flash said, pointing to the sign. Derpy only tilted her head in confusion. “The red banners mean women, the blue banners mean men, the yellow means unspecified gender.”

“Oh,” Derpy blinked. “I thought… huh. Never mind,” Derpy skipped over to the women’s shower room.

--

Derpy finally emerged in the showers, albeit a bit bashful as she walked in. Not that she hadn’t seen people in the nude before, but mainly because she was still reeling from the idea that the showers and locker rooms were not unisex around here. “I thought the showers were for everyone.”

“… Oh now I know what I forgot,” Sunset realized. “Sorry Derpy, I meant to say something earlier. I hope that wasn’t too confusing?”

“No, it’s okay,” Derpy brushed off with a smile. And then she set foot into an empty space, courtesy of Pinkie Pie being done with her shower.

“Wait now I remember. Where did Adagio go?” Sunset asked.

“I already bathed,” Adagio said, peaking her head out from the side, leading to the lockers. “I got clean earlier, better to be prepared for whatever you may ask me to do and whatnot.” And she poked her head back to the lockers to finish getting dressed.

“Okay, that answers that, but where’s Zorii?”

And that question was answered with a bare woman with lavender skin walking into the showers, claiming one of the free spaces. The spice runner tested the hot water for a second, and eventually started to get clean. “Ohhhh… that feels nice,” she said, sighing softly into the mask. “Never had many nice hot showers like these on Kijimi…”

“Careful, Rarity just might faint,” Rainbow teased.

Instead, Rarity let out an overdramatic gasp. “Oh good heavens! No hot showers!? How do you ever stay clean!? More importantly, how do you still look ravishing without any—”

“—Rarity, I dealt with drugs,” Zorii deadpanned. “Looking good was not a priority to me.”

“Just don’t take too long, Zorii,” Sunset advised, grabbing her towel. “Can’t afford to waste good water.”

“Understood,” Zorii nodded.

“Shouldn’t you take the helmet off? Isn’t it hot in that thing?” Applejack asked.

“… I rather not,” Zorii admitted.

“Zorii, you’re not gonna get clean if you keep that thing on all the time. Besides, we’re your friends now. Whatever you look like under there, we are not going to judge, alright?”

Zorii thought their words over while she scrubbed her pits, unfazed by her words. But she still didn’t bother to remove her helmet.

“… Alright. But I’m just sayin’, you should get that helmet cleaned at somepoint.”

Applejack finished her shower, and grabbed a nearby towel, walking off to the locker rooms to get dressed. Zorii waited patiently for the girls to leave, sighing softly to herself. Hesitantly, she reached to the back of the helmet, unclicking a switch to pull it off her face. Despite her being out in the open, exposed to any other girl who would walk in, she just focused on herself, making sure she was completely scrubbed and clean for the day. She even did her best to ignore the looks from the others who saw the permanent scars on her face, years of abuse out in the open for all to see.

Once they got their breakfast, Derpy and her clone brothers sat at a table for them to eat. The food was surprisingly good. Most of the food they had to eat as their time as clone troopers were, less than great. Sure they provided all the nutrients that they needed, but they tasted extremely bland, as opposed to the many colorful foods that were all throughout the universe. And while the Rebels did continue the usage of rations, they did at least have some colorful alternatives. Mostly thanks to the help of Dexter Jetster, and the multiple cooks from Equestria.

And of course, living in the few months with Derpy did get them a chance to try a variety of real, honest-to-god, delicious foods. Currently they were all enjoying some wholesome blue milk, with some space waffles and syrup.

“Hmm… now that’s the stuff I live for,” Mix grinned, enjoying the sweet aroma of the foods. “I’m going to have to learn how to make these waffles at some point.”

“I heard Dexter’s open to teaching people. Perhaps there’s an opportunity there after all,” Bubbles pointed out.

“Still preferred that time on Naboo,” Mix said, taking a sip of milk.

“Which I still don’t understand, you said the chef just suddenly left?” Rex questioned.

“Left and quit. I barely said a word to him, and yet he quit,” Mix said, confused.

“Well luckily that was seventeen years ago. We do not have to worry about angering chefs again… I hope,” Derpy squeaked.

As they ate, some Rebels passed on by, sitting at other tables as well, enjoying breakfast and waking up. One of the newest faces eventually came to get breakfast; Zorii. She held a tray in her hands, with the assortment of waffles and blue milk. She looked around for a place to sit. Sure there were a few options available, but she learned on Kijimi to never place yourself in an area where you aren’t wanted.

She questioned whether to just sit on a floor by herself, or maybe just going to her assigned quarters, but she soon saw someone hailing for her. Derpy of all people stood up, waving to her to come over. The spice runner was surprised to see them offering her a seat. But realizing she had no other options, she walked over and parked herself next to Derpy.

“Thanks for the seat,” she said, softly.

“No problem. We’re all new here, we need each other,” Derpy innocently smiled.

“Maybe,” Zorii said, not smiling. The only part of her face they could see were her lips as they curled up. “I know I’m new, but I swear it feels like everyone’s judging me.”

“I think that would be us they’re staring at,” Vargas pointed out. “Bon Bon mentioned you used to be a spice-runner, right?”

“Drug dealer, yeah,” Zorii confirmed.

“Compared to us, you’re not the biggest outsider to join the Rebellion,” Vargas pointed out, taking a sip of milk.

“You… oh, wait a minute. That Jedi partner of Bon Bon’s mentioned you five were clones, right? Weren’t you all soldiers in that war with the Storm Empire?”

“That is correct,” Bubbles nodded. “And that war ended very quickly.”

“With no one winning,” Derpy added, shaking her head.

“I don’t understand. The war ended, and no one won? If none of you won, then who did?” Zorii asked.

“It’s a long story,” Rex said, holding his hand up. “One that I think would take too long to explain over breakfast.”

“Fair enough,” Zorii said, sipping some milk.

“I must admit though, I do think it’s odd that you’re okay with us. Everyone around here’s done nothing but give us weird looks like our faces are on backwards,” Mix questioned.

“Considering that it’s been well documented how we all just turned on the Jedi and killed them all, I can’t blame them for looking at us like that,” Rex said, noting a few Rebels who gave them some nasty looks.

“Either way, I feel more comfortable talking to you six than I am anyone else. … Especially that Mandalorian.”

“What’s your trouble with her, anyway?” Vargas asked.

“Let’s just say she and I didn’t leave each other on good terms,” Zorii said, weakly chewing on another piece of waffle. “She wanted to just steal jewelry, I was dealing drugs, you know.”

Derpy blinked. “I don’t. Everyone keeps telling me to stay away from spice,” she tilted her head.

“For good reason,” Bubbles said, patting her hand. Derpy might have been older, but she still had that sweet innocence that the clones appreciated about her.

Their attention was drawn to two Rebel girls; a Devaronian and a Rodian, who were passing the group of newbies. By the looks on their faces and words said, it was clear they weren’t too happy about them.

“Those are clones. You know from that old war?”

“Didn’t they wipe out the Jedi?”

“And force Shimmer and the other Generals into hiding? Yeah, that’s them. Can’t believe General Shimmer’s even thinking of letting them back in. That cross-eyed Jedi sure, but them?”

Derpy growled softly as they walked away.

“Derpy, it’s fine. We’ve gotten used to being seen as nothing but curses,” Bubbles said, begrudgingly. Frankly, he didn’t want Derpy to go all out on them, not that they saw her go too far.

“But it’s not fair. None of you had a choice, it’s not your fault—” and Derpy took notice of one of the waffles on her place got stuck to one of her fingers. “Oh no.” She threw her hand backwards, which did manage to get it off… and slap right in the back of the head of the Rebel girl who just mocked them earlier.

“Errrh… who threw that?” She grunted, looking backwards.

Derpy slowly sunk in her seat.

“You? What the hell, lady?”

Derpy gulped. “S-Sorry. I didn’t mean to throw it, it got stuck on my fingers.”

The Devaronian growled. “You will be sorry.”

“Hey, hey,” Bubbles intervened. “Easy there, friend. It was an accident. I’d suggest you just move on about your day, and leave us in peace.”

Some silence was among them. The little dispute caught the attention of some of the others in the mess hall who were trying to eat. The two Rebel girls glared at the other Clones who were giving them glares back, even Zorii as she looked at them, still helmeted. The two Rebels glared still, until the Devaronian woman scoffed.

“Just keep your distance, lab rats,” she grunted.

Turning around, she and the Rodian walked away. This however did not sit well with Hurricane who’s face turned into anger. The moment the two were far from the group—

BAM!

A lunch tray was slammed right at the back of the Devaronian’s head, clattering against the ground. The action got the attention of the entire room who all saw, and the two Rebels turned to look at the source. Commander Hurricane, who held another lunch tray with a shit-eating grin.

“Oops,” he said smugly.

“THAT’S IT!”

“Oh yeah!!!” Hurricane shouted, chucking another tray towards the Rebel. This sent the Devaronian into a fuming rage and she charged at Hurricane. The former clone commander jumped out of the way as she slammed her horns into the wall by accident.

The Rodian man then took his anger out Rex who immediately got out of his seat, tackling him to the ground. Rex didn’t take kindly to his attack and promptly shoved him off. Mix and Vargas nodded to each other as they saw more Rebels getting ready to pick a fight with them. A Snivvian man shoved Vargas, only to be shoved back a lot harder. Mix upped the ante by punching him right in the face, sending him to the ground.

A nearby Klatoonian grabbed a tray and smacked Mix on the head, making him fall. Mix wasn’t knocked out, most likely from how light the smack was, and he pulled himself before he could continue further. Mix punched the Klatoonian back, but the man didn’t appreciate it. He shoved him hard enough to fall onto the table where Bubbles was trying to ignore the fight and eat his breakfast. But now that his pancakes and juice were gone, he growled in anger. Slamming his fist on the table, he grabbed a tray and smacked the Klatoonian across the face.

Poor Derpy tried to back away, but the Devaronian woman was back for more. Zorii decided to step up and help her, smacking her on the head with her helmet. The slam was hard enough for her to fall to the ground, finally subduing her. Derpy looked back up at Zorii, holding her helmet.

“Ohhh… so that’s what you look like under there,” Derpy realized.

“You didn’t see anything,” Zorii ignored, placing her helmet back on her head. And deciding to escalate things even further, she saw one of the Rebels moving towards her with intent to attack, and she grabbed her lunch tray. She swung the tray like a boomerang, flipping him onto his back.

Sunset walked into the open cafeteria with her tray ready, and stood there, watching the fight. Several of the employees and soldiers fighting with each other inside the room, creating a large mess of food and tables, and screaming men, women and genderless beings all around. But not once did she flinch or hesitate to put her food down and move. Instead, she just casually moved herself to a wall table, sliding herself down to eat. The rest of the girls joined her, but were frankly horrified to see her reacting so calm.

“Um, Sunset? You know there’s a big fight happening right now?” Applejack asked.

“My hat!” One of the Rebels yelled, as shown by a fedora hat landing on the group’s table. Sunset just used the Force to levitate the hat and fling it straight back at whoever lost it.

“Yes, I know,” Sunset said, nonchalantly.

“Wh-ju—don’t you care!?” Rainbow asked, appallingly.

Sunset held a finger up, taking a big sip of coffee. “It’s too early for me to step in, and I’ve had to break up fifty-seven cafeteria fights in the time I’ve put together this alliance. They’ll stop in a few minutes and believe me, I have some very strong words to convey. But I need my coffee.”

“… Huh. I’ll admit, this is a side I don’t think we’ve ever seen before,” Pinkie stated.

“Well I’ve never had the need to step in and stopping disputes over things that don’t matter,” Sunset said, also nonchalantly. “Oh, hang on, duck guys.”

Everyone ducked their heads as a piece of waffle hit the rocky wall their table was against, sticking to it like glue.

“That’s a lot of good waffles that Dexter’s made, now gone to waste,” Sunset said, not caring anymore and just eating another piece of her breakfast.

Fluttershy and Rarity looked at the fight continuing, both horrified to see how big it was becoming. Almost everybody was becoming involved, with only a few outsiders just standing by and actually eating. Zorii Bliss was seen trying to eat her food the best she could, but that peace soon died the moment Mix was slammed onto the table, shoving her tray right off the table.

And they could see, understandably so, she lost her patience. She slammed her fist on the table, and grabbed a nearby tray, flinging it like a boomerang and knocking out one of the Rodian engineers in the process. They even watched as Mix and Bubbles threw a nearby Patrollian across a table, sending him sliding across and hitting the floor.

“Shouldn’t we do something?”

“Girls, don’t. Let’s just try to eat before we get forced to engage,” Sunset finished, taking a sip of her milk.

Very hesitantly, the girls continued to get back to their breakfast, trying not to think or look at the fight going on. Though the amount of noises made and yelling did not help matters. Once in a while they looked back to see who else was still fighting, though the numbers stayed the same. But there was occasionally someone new participating in the fight.

“Waffle fight!” Silverstream yelled, chucking the breakfast like rocks.

Food splattered against her fellow rebels, and she got splattered back. But unlike everyone else, she was giggling at how silly this whole debacle was. That unfortunately wasn’t the same for the clones though. Rex kicked some Selkath off his body, while Hurricane jumped off a table, bodyslamming some Nitko to the ground. Poor Derpy was flung through the air and crashed right through the kitchen pickup window, straight into the kitchen. The sounds of kitchenware breaking echoed throughout, and even poor Dexter sounded upset.

“What’s going on out there!?”

And then there was some voices throughout the fight that the girls had to admit made them giggle a bit, shamefully.

“My God man! You’re being slathered in syrup! Don’t you care!?”

Sometime later the clones, the Rebel Six, Lyra, Bon Bon, Flurry, Zorii, Adagio, along with the rest of the Jedi were gathered in a small conference room. Even the droids were present as they stood by, idly waiting for their assignments. Although poor Derpy was just sinking in her chair, embarrassed and worried about what Sunset was going to say. Sure she didn’t intend to hit those passerby’s, but she still engaged in a fight in the mess hall.

Even Flurry had some jitters about what Sunset was going to say. Now she didn’t engage or continued to add fuel to the flames in the fight, but she was still part of the group, and she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Eventually Sunset came in, and everyone stood up, as they naturally did whenever a higher officer was approaching.

“At ease men,” Sunset said, calmly as she walked in. "Now before I begin passing out assignments, I wanna talk about what went down in the mess hall—”

“—Sunset?”

“That’s General, to you,” a woman acting as a guard grunted.

“It’s fine, Jira,” Sunset said, giving her a serious look. “What is it, Derpy?”

The wall-eyed girl slowly stood up, meekly looking down. “If you’re going to be mad at someone, be mad at me. It’s my fault that the fight started in the mess hall.”

Sunset frowned softly, patting her shoulder. “Derpy, it’s fine. I checked the security footage, I saw what happened. Now I don’t appreciate the fact that all of seven of you decided to jump in and continued to egg on a riot,” she said, glaring at the clones and Zorii included, “but this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with a fight in the mess hall. Believe me, after fifty times you stop caring. I’ll talk to those two later, but right now, I wanna make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Everyone was dead quiet, looking at one another.

“I know from yesterday, things were a bit heated. I know it’s not going to be easy to work with, um. Old acquaintances, but the only way we’re going to stay alive is if we work together. I know it sounds cliché, but we’re not going to stand for long if we’re going to be at each other’s throats. This is uncomfortable for myself, as well as all of you. So from now on, I expect all of you, including myself, to try and get along, okay?”

“… Yes ma’am,” everyone solemnly said.

“Thank you. Okay, let’s discuss assignments,” Sunset continued, not wanting everyone to stay in that awkward moment of silence. “Zorii, I put in a request to do a shift over in Hangar Bay 7, you’ll be helping Myria, she’s a Tholothian woman, you’ll recognize her by the head-tails. You know how to do repairs on ships?”

“I do.”

“Excellent,” Sunset smiled. “I’m sure you’ll do great. Just do what she says, you’ll be okay. Alright, Bon Bon, I know you wanted to get some more time in building some more astromech units, you’ll be in the droid-bay. Bulk Biceps just picked up the newest shipment of scrapped droids, I want you to get creative with them,” Sunset said with a fire in her voice.

“Oh I’m going to be swimming in parts,” Bon Bon grinned, getting a giggle from her wife.

“Ocellus, I know you and Silverstream wanted to talk to me after this, so I’ll be sure to speak to you two,” Sunset acknowledged, tapping the console on her datapad. “Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity, I need your help. We need—"

“General Shimmer to the command center, General Shimmer to the command center.”

Sunset looked up at the PA system, and then back at the group. “I’ll be right back, just give me a minute.”

--

Sunset paced over to the command center, passing by some troopers on their way to the training grounds for some more practice. A few turns led her back to the command center, where General Dodanna was waiting for her.

“General Dodanna, what is it?”

“Our technicians picked up a distress signal, coming from the Outer Rim Territories,” Dodonna explained, staring down at the holoprojection.

“Anything new? Anything that requires us to send attack teams or armies?” Sunset asked.

“Actually… I’m not sure,” Dodonna admitted. “This isn’t a typical distress signal. I thought you should come and hear it for yourself. Play it back, Ix’an.”

The technician nodded and rewound the message. After a moment of silence, the recording came through.

“Anyone out there! This is Captain Hiro of the 356^th Battalion! I don’t know what happened, I must have been stuck in cryostasis! I’m stranded out here, if there is any Republic frequency, please help me!”

The message abruptly stopped, mostly because of the ongoing static at the end, but it was enough to pique Sunset’s interest.

“Where did this come from?”

The General tapped a button on the holoprojector, displaying a planetary system with several fact-boxes highlighted on the edges of the planet projection.

“Agamar.”

Sunset stopped for a second. “Can you just hold on for a moment?”

Briskly she walked back to the conference room where the others were waiting for their assignments. “Captain Rex? Can I ask you to come with me for a second?”

“Uh, sure. What’s going on?”

Rex followed Sunset out of the room and back down the hallway, trying to keep up with her and go to the command center.

“Our technicians just picked up a transmission; I don’t know how legitimate this is, but I thought maybe you would be the best to judge. Play it back.”

The technician played the message back as Captain Rex’s face turned from curious to shocked. Curiosity had piqued his interest, now he knew what Sunset meant.

“I don’t believe it…”

“Do you know who this Captain Hiro was?”

“Vaguely. He served under Jedi Master Thunderbass in the old war,” Rex replied, folding his arms. “The last mission his battalion fought was the Siege of Borgo Prime. But why is he suddenly on Agamar?”

“Do you suppose after the mission was over, maybe he and the others were called to a possible distress beacon or mission that led them there?”

“It’s possible. Agamar was a site for a battle in the Clone Wars. But I can’t tell if it’s a trick.”

Sunset didn’t hesitate to speak. “Would you mind possibly going with a few others to check it out?”

“I think I can do that,” Rex nodded.

“Excellent. I’ll call Flurry and Lyra, tell them they have a new mission,” Sunset said, clapping her hands briefly as she stepped away.

Lyra was quiet as her ‘crew’ walked with her over to the Sweetie Drop. Bad enough she had to take Adagio with her which she still had no good feeling of trusting, but she also had to take the clone with her? Out of everyone in the base, it had to be him. Yeah, Sunset made a point about his experience, but she still didn’t feel like taking him. At the very least, IG-11, Cheep, and Flurry would be coming along with her. And K2-B4 was still resting on the charging dock inside, so there was some good there.

“Eleven, go on ahead and start the ship,” Lyra ordered.

“Yes ma’am,” Eleven nodded, marching towards the ship.

“So, do you mind if I sit up front with you too?” Adagio asked. “In case you want to, you know, keep an eye on me? Maybe more?” she continued, flirtatiously.

Lyra rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome to sit in the cockpit, but you’re not driving. And need I remind you, you are trying my patience.”

“I didn’t think I was,” Adagio shrugged off, walking behind the assassin droid.

Cheep rolled behind her, leaving Lyra alone with Rex.

“General, er, Lyra, shouldn’t we wait for Flurry to arrive?”

And the former Jedi turned in a complete 180. “Listen, clone,” Lyra sneered. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly thrilled to be working with you.”

“Really? I never would have guessed,” Rex deadpanned, folding his arms.

“I just want to make something clear, trooper; if you ever touch my daughter, if you ever hurt my daughter… I will not hesitate. Let’s just go to Agamar, find that signal, and then get back here. Got it?” Lyra growled, stepping to the side, waiting for anyone else to come to the ship and up the hatch.

The captain, a bit frustrated by how this was going, had to admit he couldn’t blame her for being upset. Still though, it didn’t make their current situation any more pleasant. But realizing that they were missing one person, he just stood at the front of the ship, waiting for their last crew member. Finally, after a minute or two, the captain saw a tuft of purple and blue hair running towards the ship, trying to keep a satchel close by her.

“Hey Captain! Glad to see you’re coming with us,” Flurry apologized. “Sorry I’m late.”

Rex couldn’t help but smile. “It’s okay, kid. You made it.”

“I just got called a few minutes ago, Mom said we were going on a mission. What are we doing?” Flurry asked, walking with the captain onto the ship. “Are we stealing something? Liberating people?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” Rex replied, following her inside.

Now that her crew was assembled, she was ready to leave, only to see Bon Bon and G-G racing after them.

"Oh, sweetie, are you coming with?" Lyra asked.

"Can't, I have some business here to attend to. Besides, Sunset needs me to work on droid repair for a little bit, the current engineer's on sabbatical," Bon Bon explained. "Are you sure you're going to be okay with the captain?"

Lyra looked back at the inside of the ship, sighing softly. "I'll be okay. I just don't want this to drag out any longer than it has to," she said, holding her wife's hands.

"You'll be in and out, I'm sure of it," Bon Bon smiled, moving a hand up to stroke Lyra's cheek. Lyra adorably leaned into her wife's embrace before pulling her in to kiss her on the lips. Bon Bon's eyes slowly closed as she embraced the kiss back, holding her longer than ever. The two of them stayed there for what felt like an eternity, not wanting to let go of the sweetness of their love.

"You stay safe, okay?" Bon Bon requested. "And if you find any droid parts, bring them back for me, I'm feeling an itch for creativity."

Lyra giggled. "I promise, Bonnie." She gave another kiss to Bon Bon's cheek before hiking up the ramp to the Sweetie Drop. With her mood lifted and a smile on her face, Bon Bon and G-G watched as the family ship lifted off the ground and raced off into the atmosphere, setting off for Agamar.

"So, what do you say you and I do a little repairs?" Bon Bon asked, looking to the R4 unit. G-G only responded by shaking with a happy sounding beep. "Heh, I thought so. Come on buddy."