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

Shikoya was a barren planet, barely able to sustain any life. Multiple deserts covered its surface, along with several large oceans. Very little vegetation could be seen from orbit, but it was still brimming with life and was a well known spot for ships to stop and resupply between big space journeys.

One such ship had just come out of hyperspace, it being a gray YT-2000 freighter ship with light blue trim.

Inside the ship, a young man was walking through the corridors. He was a white skinned humanoid individual, with blue hair on his head and coming out of his rear to form a tail. He had a long white horn coming off his forehead and instead of feet, he had a pair of hooves keeping him up. Other then those parts, he looked like a perfectly normal humanoid.

He was dressed in a purple shirt and black pants, which were beneath some silver armor that was located on his chest, shoulders, arms and elbows. A strange tube-like instrument, was hanging from his belt.

He arrived in the main cockpit of the ship and when he got there, someone else was sitting there piloting the ship.

That someone was the same species as him, only her skin was purple and her hair and tail were a darker shade of it with pink and purple stripes running through them. She was wearing a dress that was bluish purple at the chest and arms, dark purple around the waist and had a dark blue skirt that went to her knees. A purple cloak-like addition was flunk over her shoulders and was tied together at the front, going down to just above her waist, whilst a pink tie was hanging from her collar.

She was also wearing black knee high boots over her hooves and around her waist was a black belt, holding a similar tube-like device the other one had.

The older male sat down and looked the planet over, "so this is it?"

"Shikoya," the female nodded. "You sure this is where the kidnapped children are supposed to be?"

"The investigation turned up some pretty big leads on several planets the trafficking ring has been working out of. Shikoya was one of the most likely places. Despite being in the Galactic Republic, it barely has any law enforcement controlling it. That means it would be easy to set up a base of operations here."

The girl sighed, "what's the senate thinking? If they're not gonna take care of this place, why bother absorbing it into the republic?"

"So they could use it as a transport hub without needing to pay any tolls or tariffs," he replied. "But you're right. It's not a great place. Especially for a young girl like you." She rolled her eyes, "it would have been better for me to come alone."

"You know why the council didn't want you to," she replied. "If you're not gonna take an apprentice of your own, you'll have to deal with Master Celestia sending me." The ship was about to enter the atmosphere and as it did, the computer systems connected to the planet's database. "There's a large city on this side of the planet that we can touch down in."

"What's it called?" He asked.

"Klugetown."

Klugetown was one of the largest cities on the planet. It was built atop a number of large flat rocks, all of differing heights that made the town uneven in places. It was also one of the few places on the planet to get fresh water, so many beings flocked to it to keep from dehydration.

The tallest and largest of these rocks was in the very middle of them, which acted as the city's main ship dock. There, many different businesses were setup to peddle merchandise to the crews stopping to refuel and resupply. One of these businesses was a small store that had a bunch of machine parts and random junk.

In one of the back rooms, a human was busy working on something. He was a teenager with orange skin, blue hair and wearing ragged black clothing. He was also wearing a pair of goggles, protecting him from the sparks of the laser he was using on the machine. Said machine was the head of a blue protocol droid.

As he worked, someone stepped into the back room. That someone was a klatooinian, the individual staring at him. "Flash. You finish that thing or not?"

"Almost," he replied as he continued to laser the inside of the droid. "And...done." He closed the back of the head before moving over to the droid's main body, the human screwing it onto the head. As it did, the droid activated.

"Oh?" He looked around, "where am I? This doesn't look like my master's ship."

"Don't worry," Flash told him. "You're in a repair shop. Your masters will be here to pick you up shortly."

The klatooinian rolled his eyes, "don't know why you bother to care about these things. It's not like they have feelings." Flash rolled his eyes, having had this argument many times. "Whatever. Get on to the next thing you need to fix." Flash nodded and moved back to his work bench, whilst his boss pushed the droid outside to return him to his owners.

Another two hours passed and Flash managed to complete quite a few repairs, his boss sat at the front of the store selling the spare parts and other stuff to anyone stupid enough to believe his word. Eventually, it was time to close up the shop.

Flash finished his last repair and sighed, putting the tools down before getting up and heading to the front of the store. "Alright," he told the klatooinian, "I'm heading out."

"Whatever," his boss replied as he counted his takings. Flash continued to stand there for a moment, eventually letting out a cough that caught his attention. "Oh yeah." He took a few coins from the pile and threw them towards Flash, the teen catching them before he reached into a draw and took something else out. It was a small battery, Flash catching it as it was thrown at him as well. "Now get out of here."

Flash frowned, but pocketed the items and pulled his goggles down. He also pulled up the front of his shirt collar, using it as a mask as he stepped outside. The surrounding area was full of smog and other nasty things to breath in, making the mask necessary.

Many different aliens lived in Klugetown, some looking like lizards, fish, pigs, bats, moles and whatever else you can imagine. Many of them were running stalls, whilst others were just loitering around. Flash was making a beeline through the streets and as he did, he heard someone calling out.

"Step right up. Step right up. Try your luck and find the ball." He looked around and saw a rat-like alien standing behind a stall with a large sack of many besides it. On the table were three wooden cups and a ball. "Find the ball and win all the money I've already won. Lose and your money gets added to the sack."

Flash watched as someone, likely their first time on the planet, step up and put some money in the sack. "I can win. My eyes are great."

"We'll see," the rat replied before putting a cup over the ball. He then started sliding them around one another, moving at incredible speed. "Find the ball, win the sack. Find the ball, win the sack. Don't take your eyes off the prize." The player followed the cup with the ball and so did Flash, both able to keep up with it.

But only Flash noticed when the guy did a trick and flicked the cup in a way that the ball flew into another cup, the action so fast nobody else was able to see it.

"Alright," he stopped, "pick a cup." The player pointed at the middle one and the rat held it up, revealing it had no ball inside. He then held up the other two and revealed where the ball was. The player groaned and walked away, the rat asking for another customer.

Flash took out the few coins he had been given and smirked, walking forwards and throwing them into the sack. "Let's do this." The rat smiled and started moving the cups around, moving at an incredibly high speed. As he did, Flash focused on the cup with all his concentration. And as he did, the rat flicked the side of the cup up and made the ball move out of it. But before if flew out of the cup, Flash carefully flicked his finger and the ball suddenly moved back into the wooden structure.

The rat was completely unaware of this, having kept his eyes on Flash. He finally stopped, "pick a cup." Flash pretended to think for a moment, looking like he was gonna pick the left cup. But then, he picked the cup on the far right and the rat smiled before lifting it up. "Too-huh!" His eyes went wide as he saw the cup had the ball in it, everyone around them cheering as Flash picked up the sack. "What? How?"

"I've got very good eyes," Flash told him. "You look surprised. Like you were sure the ball wouldn't be there." He raised an eyebrow and the rat could see Flash had caught onto his scam.

He didn't say anything, Flash taking the sack and walking off. He was careful as he made his way through Klugetown, since the place was infested with criminals. He took a bit out and used it to buy himself some food, spoiling himself by getting double what he normally bought. He eventually managed to get out of the main port and arrived at a bridge, which led down to another rock that was lower down. This area was the slums of the town, though the whole place could be considered slums, as it was full of a bunch of rickety buildings.

As he reached the bottom of the bridge, he spotted a bunch of kids playing. One would think they were in the greatest place in the galaxy, considering how happy they all looked.

One of the kids turned to him and smiled, being a blue ortolan of around ten years old. "Hey Flash!" Besides him was a smaller ortolan, who looked about six or seven.

"Hey Ryduck. Hey Synch." The younger ortolan waved before spotting the sack Flash was holding.

"What that?" He asked, his way of speaking not perfect yet.

"Just a little something I managed to get off of a scam artist." He held the sack out, "go take it to your parents and tell them to split it with everyone else. Should get you all a hot meal." Ryduck smiled and nodded before running off, Synch following behind him.

Flash smiled, knowing his parents would share it with the rest of the families in the slums. In this place, if you didn't stick together you didn't survive.

He continued through the slums until he reached an old looking shack, that looked like it would fall apart any minute. He stepped inside and looked around. "Springer, you in here?"

"Right here." He smiled as his droid friend appeared in front of him.

He wasn't like most other droids Flash had ever seen. This one was a dog-themed robot whose body was mostly blue. His main body was a box-shape, with two blue rectangular front leg-like limbs at the front of his body. The front of his body was black and his neck was yellow, whilst his head was mostly blue with a black section around his eyes and down the top of his metal snout.

Said eyes were, in fact, a series of metal lines that alternated between dark and light red. On the sides of his head were a pair of blue ears that stuck up, with black teardrop shaped parts hangin from below them. Underneath his neck was a white bone-shaped panel that looked like it opened up. In fact, a lot of his body looked like it was made out of many different compartments. "Hey man," he spoke as his eyes flashed.

"Hey bud," Flash moved over to a busted up mattress and sat down. "How was your day?"

"I managed to beat my record for counting the number of cracks in the wood," Springer replied. "Other than that, as boring as all the other days I've been in here."

"Sorry bud," Flash sighed. "But if you go floating around town, anybody could snatch you up. And if you tried to defend yourself, who knows what'd happen."

"Yeah," the droid nodded, "but it still sucks. We've been here for seven hundred and forty two days and I've spent seven hundred and five of them stuck in here. I just wish we didn't go from being stuck on one planet to being stuck on another."

"I hate it too," Flash nodded. "But it's not like we have any way of getting transport off this planet. If I could, I'd send us straight to Canterlot." He reached into his pocket and took out the food he had bought along with the battery. "Here, you must be feeling low." Springer nodded and stopped floating, deactivating his hover skirt and allowing Flash to carefully push him onto his side.

Flash then opened up a compartment located beneath him and quickly changed out the battery inside for the new one. Once the compartment was closed, Flash put him right side up. "Much better," Springer sighed as Flash ripped open the food packet and dug in. As he did, Springer opened up a compartment on his back. "It's still safe by the way."

Flash looked inside the compartner and smiled at what he saw, nodding. "Thanks. Knew letting you hold onto it was smart."

"I just hope you don't end up needing it. This ain't exactly the friendliest place in the galaxy." Flash nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly as he continued to eat his food. The sun would soon set and Flash would need to be up early again tomorrow, so he would need to get to bed.

As he did, he thought about what Springer had said. There had to be a way for them to get off the planet and head to the destination he had heard so much about. But how?

At the same time, two individuals were making their way through the city limits.

The pair had docked their ship in one of the hangers and had dawned dark cloaks they could use keep themselves from drawing attention, as they looked around the city. The female of the pair split off from her brother and hid in one of the alleyways. As she did, he heard some bird aliens as they talked.

"You hear about the Storm King's gang?" One of them asked in a hushed whisper, "apparently, they managed to grab a bunch of kids from another town."

"Dude, you know you shouldn't talk like that. This place is crawling with the Storm King's goons. If they catch wind of use talking about them, we'll be joining those kids in the mines."

"His goons can't be everywhere," he told him. "And why would they want old buzzards like us. We're too big to fit down those shafts." We walked off and as he did, the girl took a device out of her cloak.

"Shining, you there?"

"I'm here, Twilight. What's up?"

"I think I might have found something. Someone called the Storm King is apparently the one in charge of the slave trade on this planet. They're stealing children to send down mines shafts."

"I see," Shining frowned from his spot. "This planet has a lot of active mines. We're gonna need to find some more information if we want to locate these kids."

"Alright. I'll keep looking around. You be careful."

"You too," Shining nodded before cutting the call and hanging up. He was about to step out of the alleyway, when he suddenly sensed something and spun around. As he did, something shot towards him at incredible speed. But not fast enough.

Shining raised his hand and as he did, the tube on his belt flew off and into his grasp. With the flick of a switch, a blue laser flew out of the end to form a sword that Shining swung around. This allowed it to deflect the laser that had been fired at him back towards the source in the shadows.

A scream of pain filled the air, as someone staggered out of the darkness. It was a brown alien that dropped a blaster on the ground, Shining rushing over to point his sword at him. "Who are you? Working with the Storm King?"

"What if I am?" The alien asked, "you're a jedi...aren't you?" Shining said nothing and moved the tip of his sword towards his neck. "You don't kill."

"No," Shining smirked, "but I doubt your boss will have much use for you if you're missing all your limbs." He moved his sword to the alien's elbow, ready to slice through it at the flick of the wrist. "Now, where are the slaves you've kidnapped? Where's this mine of yours?"

The alien's stared at him, as his brain tried to figure out if this guy was bluffing or not. But then the heat of his blade grew hotter and the sword drew closer. "Alright. Alright! I'll tell you." Shining smirked, glad they could come to an agreement.

The next day.

Flash was busy working on another droid, this one an old astro mech that looked like it had been through some pretty intense space battles.

"Okay," He reconnected two of the wires inside it, "how does that feel?" The machine beeped and booped, Flash nodding as if he actually understood him. "Alright." He reconnected another two wires, "and that?" The mech's head spun around, as it gave off a bunch of happy beeps. "Glad you're satisfied. But try and stay away from asteroid fields. I get they're the faster path, but the extra time's useless if you end up crashing and floating through space. The droid beeped before rolling out of the back room, Flash smirking as he got to work on something else.

But before he could, he heard a beeping coming from his pocket and out a communicator. One that only Springer had the code for. "Springer? What-"

"FLASH!" Springer's voice called out, "we're under attack. It's the Storm Brigade!" Flash's eyes went wide as he realised what Springer was talking about. The Storm Brigade were a group of criminals under the control of the Storm King, who ruled the planet with an iron fist.

Flash quickly jumped up from his seat and ran out the room, out of the shore as his boss called out to him. Getting fired was the last thing on Flash's mind, as he ran through the city trying to get back to his home. He eventually reached the bridge leading down to it and as he did, he saw the wooden shacks were all on fire.

Running down the bridge, he prayed that Ryduck and his family were all okay. He reached the bottom and as he did, he saw several members of the Storm Brigade running around the place. They were giant white ape-like creatures, carrying staffs that sparked with lightning at the end.

Flash ran towards them, as they ran towards the edge of the rock. Once there, they leapt off them and down towards the desert ground. It was a good twenty meter fall, so Flash thought they were nuts. But then he reached the edge of the cliff and saw that there were a bunch of ropes attached to the rock. The Storm Brigade were scaling down them, towards where a bunch of speeder bikes were located.

Some of these speeders had hover carts on the backs, with large cages atop them. And Flash had a feeling he knew what were in those cages. "LET THEM GO!" He cried, about to leap down the ropes himself.

But before he could, several lasers shot towards him. He was forced to jump to the ground, looking over the edge and seeing more of the apes on the ground with blasters. Once the last of the apes reached the sandy ground, they all rushed to their speeders and prepared to escape.

"NO!" Flash cried, holding out his hand. The speeders began to take off, the ones with the cages at the front. But one of them shuddered to a stop, the one riding it unable to figure out why it wouldn't activate.

Instead of trying to fix it, they leapt off and climbed onto the back of another. It sped off and the Storm Brigade were gone, with all the slum's children alongside them. Flash could only stand there and looked absolutely shocked, only to hear a voice.

"Flash." He looked around and saw two older ortolans, Ryduck and Synch's parents. Both of them looked injured, but would live. They were upset though. Scratch that, they were absolutely heartbroken. "They took them," the mother cried. "They took my babies."

Flash felt terrible for the parents, then looked around at the remains of his home. So many parents, all injured trying to protect their children, were staggering towards him. Rage flew through his entire body, as he thought about what those monsters could be doing to the children. But he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that anger would only make him less effective at finding a solution.

He then noticed Springer floating towards him, the robot not looking damaged but Flash could tell he was rattled. "I'm sorry," he told Flash. "I tried to protect them, but their electro spears forced me to shutdown and reboot."

Flash knelt down and patted him on the head, "it's okay. Thanks for calling me." Springer's head nodded as Flash looked out towards the desert, then down at the broken speeder. "I'm going after them."

"What?" One of the aliens asked, "we appreciate you want to help. But how could you possible get our children back from those monsters?" Flash turned to Springer and nodded, Springer nodding back and opening the compartment on his back.

Something then shot out of it and Flash caught it, revealing the device to be a silver and black tube-like object with two spikes sticking out the end. The slum livers stared at it in confusion, until Flash pressed a button and revealed what it really was.

It was a laser sword, but not like the one Shining had used. Instead of being a round blade, this one's laser was flat like a traditional metal sword. It shined light blue and the two metal spikes that had pointed forwards had moved down ninety degrees, transforming them into a crossguard. The sword gave off a regal appearance.

The slum livers all went wide-eyed, the lot of them knowing exactly what it was. "Flash," one of them gasped, "are you..." He could finish the question, as Flash deactivated the sword and crouched down.

Springer floated up to him and pushed himself higher into the air, allowing him to place his legs on top of Flash's shoulders. As he placed himself against his back, chords shot out the bottom of his legs and wrapped around his arms before connecting to slots in the bottom of his body.

This allowed Flash to stand up and keep him connected to him like a backpack, the human jumping off the side and grabbing the rope the crooks had used. He quickly scaled down it and landed on the sand. "Springer, scan for any metal under the surface."

Springer's ears moved back and forth as he did, then picked something up. "Ten degrees to your right and three meters ahead." Flash moved in that direction, "stop." He did and knelt down, placing his hand in the sand and pulling out a device of some kind. It was a part of the speeder that had broken, Flash stepping over to it and plugging it into the bike.

When he did, the machine revved into life and Flash climbed aboard. Once he was sure Springer was properly attached, he hit the gas and the machine rocketed across the sand.

Due to the bike's high speed, the wind caused by them was enough to carve a groove in the surface of the desert. Given enough time, these grooves would be filled by the wind. But Flash was hot on the criminal's tails, which meant he could follow the groves before they filled in.

However, it was clear these criminals were based someplace far from Klugetown. As such, the sun had begun to set before Flash managed to track the criminals down.

As the last rays of the sun's light filled the horizon, Flash rode up a tall sand bank and came to a stop. He did this because he had spotted something in the distance. A large building, located upon a giant rock sticking out of the ground like Klugetown.

Flash knew this building had to be the place the children had been taken to. And he knew the place was going to be heavily guarded. But he couldn't let that stop him. He revved up the speeder and raced towards it, knowing the darkness of the night would be his best friend at this moment.

Flash was not the only one who had found this building.

Atop another sand dune, Twilight and Shining were both lying on the sand looking at the place through binoculars. "Okay," Shining nodded, "this has gotta be the place."

"I can't believe that guy sent us on a wild goose chase," Twilight frowned. "If we weren't the good guys, I would have actually agreed with chopping something off of him." Shining nodded, annoyed that the alien he had interrogated had given him a bunch of different places to look for the children. Unfortunately, the real place had been the very last one they ended up searching.

Shining looked through the binoculars, finding the entrance to the mine at the base of the rock that the building was on top of. The rock itself had been transformed into part of the building, with several vents and windows sticking out the side of the rockface. No doubt whoever was in charge was living in the large mansion atop it, whilst his underlings and maybe even the slaves were living in the rock.

"We need to find a way in there," he told Twilight. "But how the heck are we gonna do that without getting seen?" Twilight was wondering the same thing, but then noticed something on the side of the rocks.

"Hey, what's that guy doing?" Shining looked through the binoculars and Twilight directed him where to look, the older horned individual spotting a human climbing up the side of the rock face. On his back was a droid of some kind. One that Shining didn't recognise. "Is that a K-9 Multi-Droid?" Twilight asked, looking amazed. "Why is such a rare make of droid on this planet?"

"Doesn't matter. What matters is what the heck that guy's doing." Shining looked higher and realised the teen was climbing towards a vent. "He can't be serious."

Flash grunted as he finally reached the ventilation hole, which he knew had to lead down to the mines.

The hole was large enough for him to crawl through and Springer to float inside of. He just hoped it didn't get smaller at any point. "Alright, bud." Springer hovered off his back and down the tunnel, "I'm counting on your night vision." Springer nodded as they began to make their way through the stone tunnel.

Ten meters in, Springer came to a stop. "The tunnel becomes a drop here." Flash nodded and had been expecting this, taking out a rock he had found outside and dropping it. He counted and when he heard the clattering, he did the math in his head.

"Thirty two meters," he gulped. "How wide is this tunnel?"

"Not too wide," Springer replied. "You should be able to grab onto the other side." Flash nodded, but he got the feeling he was not gonna enjoy this.

Back outside, Twilight and Shining managed to sneak over to the mine's entrance. Instead of going in the vents, they decided to use the front door.

Said front door was being guarded by a bunch of security droids, which were five foot tall white robots with human upper bodies. Their lower bodies had four legs, each with a wheel on them that they used to more around. Both hands had a blaster on the end of it, whilst their heads had looked like that of a mantis.

There were four of them and the pair managed to sneak behind a bunch of barrels located outside the mine, both trying to see if there was a gap in their defences. But there wasn't.

As such, Twilight focused her attention on a bunch of barrels opposite them. She raised her hand and focused, as one of the barrels fell over and made a clattering sound. This caught the droid's attention and they all started moving over to investigate. The pair quickly used this chance and rushed over to the entrance of the mine, rushing into the cave and finding an elevator lift.

They got on it and hoped the machine didn't make any noise, Shining activating it and sighing when it barely made a squeak. As they flew down into the mine, the pair each took the hilt of their laser swords off their belts. Twilight's was an entirely different design to her brother's, but was equally well built. They both looked down into the darkness, hoping they could find a way to get all the slaves out before anyone in charge could cause them any trouble.

Flash groaned as he carefully shuffled down the stone vent shaft, Springer on his back.

They had been doing this for a while and Flash's arms were starting to get tired, but he wouldn't need to worry about going much further. "Bottom of the shafts five meters down."

"Perfect." Flash closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating before letting go off the wall. They fell and Flash spun through the air, landing perfectly without injury. He didn't need Springer's night vision to tell him how long the tunnel was now, since he could see a light coming from down it.

He rushed over and found a large metal grate blocking the exit, Flash and Springer looking through it.

In front of him was a large open space, which was full of droids and multiple aliens that were all chained up. The aliens were busy slamming away at the rock walls, using old style pickaxes and drills. Whenever a rock was ripped off the wall, it was thrown into a large metal minecart. Theses carts were connected to speeder bikes, being driven by the same type of ape creatures that Flash had seen before.

The droids were pointing their weapons at the aliens, clearly attempting to prevent anyone from causing a disturbance.

Flash spotted several mine shafts littered around the room, which several alien slaves were being led into on a speeder pulled flattop. Flash frowned at the horrible treatment, the teen and his droid knowing they couldn't let this happen. They would find a way to free all these aliens, but he needed to find Ryduck, Synch and the rest of the children.

He took out his sword and used it to carefully cut through the metal grate, being sure nobody was looking his way when he did so. Once the grate was open, he snuck through it and leapt down. As he did, he noticed several cages being suspended from the ceiling.

He heard a bunch of crying that were coming from them and as he rushed over to hide behind an empty minecart, he managed to get a better view and saw a pair of large blue bodies. Ryduck and Synch were both there, both crying for their parents. And they weren't the only ones, for every child from Klugetown's Slums were in the cage.

Their cries broke Flash's heart, so he looked around and managed to spot a rock on the ground.

Once he was sure nobody was looking, he threw the rock and hit Ryduck on the arm. The ortolan looked around and Flash made just enough movement to catch his attention, the child gasping when he saw him. Flash quickly made a shushing motion, Ryduck nodding as the other children noticed him.

Flash quickly ducked down to avoid being seen by a security droid, whilst Springer continued to scan the area.

He saw that the manacles holding the slaves were all electrical ones, designed to shock them if they tried anything. But that also meant they were all being controlled by a single computer. "I have an idea," Springer told his partner. "If we can find a control room, I can hack into the security system and deactivate these droids. I can also turn off the manacles."

Flash smirked. "Without the droids, there's no way the Storm Brigade will be able to subdue this many people. Great idea, bud. Any idea where this control room will be?"

"Probably near the entrance, since it's likely the slaves all dug this entire place out." Flash nodded and looked back up at Ryduck, mouthing that he would be back for them. They nodded and he started making his way through the mine without being seen. It wasn't easy, since the droids were well programmed to constantly be vigilant.

He managed to get out of the area and headed into the oldest looking tunnel, believing that would be the way to the entrance. Luckily, there were no droids along this route and Flash was able to get through it into another large open space. This one had barely anyone in it, but several more shafts that made Flash thankful he had found the children when he did.

He spotted a large metal box-like room in one corner of the room and headed over to it, the pair looking through one of the windows and seeing a bunch of computers. "Looks like we found it," Flash smirked as Springer got down off his shoulders. He flew over to the door and as he did, the end of his nose extended to revealing what looked like a blaster barrel.

A laser shot out of it and hit the door, blowing up the lock and causing the door to swing open. But as he did, an alarm suddenly sounded. "Oh that can't be good," Springer gulped as he flew into the room. Flash frowned whilst looking around, expecting the droids to arrive at any moment. And sure enough, sounds came from out of the tunnels that were getting closer.

Flash stepped forward and took out his weapon, "you get in there and work on taking down the defences. I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"Flash," Springer would have looked concerned if he had moving facial features. "You can't fight off all those droids on your own."

"Don't worry," Flash activated the sword. "I was trained by one of the best." The first droid arrived and Flash charged forward, the robot firing its blaster only for him to swing his sword around and deflect it. Before it could fire another blast, Flash reached it and sliced its head off.

More droids arrived and Flash took up a defensive stance, blocking every laser that came his way. Some of these lasers, he deflected back into the droids to destroy them. But others he simply charged at and cut down with a single swing of his sabre.

Springer took this moment to get into the control room, moving over to the computer as his ears turned towards it. The ends opened up and the ears extended metal tubes, which plugged into a socket on the machine. His eyes flashed as he worked on getting through the firewalls and other defences this computer had. "Hold on Flash. I'll get this done as quickly as I can."

Flash sliced the head of another robot and as he did, several more rolled into the cave.

The teen spun on the spot, deflecting several blasts back at the droids around him before throwing his sword towards the new arrivals. The blade spun through the air and cut through them before they could try and blast him, then boomeranged back towards Flash whilst cutting down several more droids along the way.

Temporarily weaponless, Flash jumped around doing several kicks and flips through the air. This caused the lasers to miss him and some ended up hitting other droids instead. The machines that were hit fell to the ground, as Flash landed in the middle of the room whilst his blade spun towards him.

One droid drove up to him, hoping that being at point blank range would allow it to not miss. But as it fired, Flash ducked down and the laser completely missed him. What didn't miss was the laser sword, which spun over Flash's head and impaled itself into the droid's chest.

As it dug itself into the metal, Flash jumped back to his feet and grabbed the handle of it. The droids fell to the ground, slicing itself through the blade as it did whilst Flash ran towards the final group of droids. They all tried to blast him as well, but had as much look as the others. Flash reached them and in the blink of an eye, dispatched the lot of them.

Droids all dealt with, Flash remained on alert. He knew that any second now, more droids could arrive to attack.

It was then that Flash heard a sound coming from a nearby doorway, the teen figuring that must lead to the outside. Which means something or someone had arrived inside and was heading their way. "Springer! I need you to seal the doors so they don't come in."

"I'm not even through the firewall yet!" Springer called back, making Flash groan as he moved over to the doors.

"Fine." He took a deep, "need to be careful. These might not be droids, so I can't just cut them apart. If they're living things, I'll need to incapacitate them without doing any harm." He groaned, since holding back wasn't something he was very good at. But no matter what, he would save the captives and free them all. "Bring it on!"

The door dinged to indicated it was about to open, making him get into a battle stance. Then, they slowly began to open and Flash charged forward.

"RAAAAAH!" He yelled, pulling his sword back ready to attack. But then, he saw who was on the other side and instantly slid to a stop. "No way."

Twilight and Shining stood in front of them, the pair having dropped their cloaks whilst their blue and green laser blades were in hand. The pair stared back at him, as Flash stared at them and focused his attention on the blades in their hands. Slowly he realised who he was looking at, whilst the pair of them focused on the laser sword he was carrying.

"Are you...jedi?" He asked, the two unsure how to reply to him.

Up in the mansion located atop a rock, someone was enjoying themselves in a large room filled with music.

In the centre of this room was a large couch that had an satyr alien, with cloven hooves, white fur and short black horns sticking out of his head. He was dressed in fancy clothing and sitting on the couch, as scantily clad female aliens stood around. Some were fanning him, whilst others were feeding him grapes and several were dancing o the music being played.

He sighed as he enjoyed the lavish life he was leading, only for the doors of the room to slam open as one of the ape aliens ran inside.

"Boss," he yelled, "we have a serious situation." The satyr alien growled as he sat up.

"This better be good. If you ruined my leisure time because the ice cream maker broke again, you're gonna be in serious trouble." The ape shook his head, "well what is it?"

"An alarm went off in the mine. We tried to activate the security footage, but it refused to activate. Something's going on down there." This got the satyr growled at this and got up, telling the females to leave him.

They did so as he moved over to a drinks cabinet and poured himself something. So, someone was trying to mess with his operation. Well, he wouldn't allow that.

He turned towards the ape, "get everyone kitted up. We're going down there." The ape nodded and rushed out of the room, the satyr taking a deep swing of his drink. Whoever these fools are, they were going to wish they never messed with the Storm King's son.

Flash Sentry stared at the two people that had just appeared through the doors of the mine he and his friend were attempting to overthrow.

Flash looked them over and realised they were both a type of being known as equestrians, but the species wasn't what had his most attention. Instead, it was the laser swords the two of them were holding. The blue and green swords were the type of weapon only one group were known for using, which made Flash's heart stop as he couldn't believe he had actually run into two of them.

"Are you...jedi?" The two stared at him for a moment, clearly unsure how to reply to his question. They were more focused on the laser sword he was holding.

"What if we are?" The male asked before pointing at Flash's weapon, "where did you get that Lightsaber?" Flash frowned as he looked at the sword, whilst the male turned to the female. "Twilight, you know this guy? He looks about your age."

Twilight shook her head, "I've never seen him around the temple." Flash looked back at her, "who are you?" He knew this was gonna be a long and awkward conversation, but he also knew he didn't have time to explain it right now.

That realization was shared by the other two, as a bunch of droid sounds once again filled the air. They were coming from the surrounding tunnels, making the three of them be on edge. "I'll explain later. Right now, we've got some robots to cut up."

The two frowned at one another, still wanting answers but also knowing they needed to focus on saving the kidnapped hostages. As such, they stepped up on either side of Flash and readied their Lightsabers. "I'm guessing you're the cause of the alarms we heard?" Twilight asked, Flash nodding with a sheepish look.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Springer and I were trying to hack into the control room and accidently set it off." Twilight was about to ask who Springer was, but Flash turned his attention towards the metal box that was nearby. "How's it coming, bud?"

"Almost through," Twilight looked through the door and saw the robot dog she had seen earlier. "Once I'm in, I should be able to switch off the droids and manacles." The jedi both realised what the pair were up to, as the droids finally arrived on the scene.

As soon as they were in sight, the machines started firing at them. Flash and the two charged forward, using their Lightsabers to shield themselves until they were close enough to start cutting the robots down. Flash used the same techniques he had before, catching the two's attention.

"Form one?" Twilight asked, wondering where the heck this boy had learned a jedi sword form and become so proficient with it. It was clear from watching that his way of using it was slightly altered, but it was effective. "Who is this guy?" Her attention was then drawn back to the droids she was fighting, the girl using a slightly different style of sword fighting then Flash was wielding.

The same was true for Shining Armor, who seemed to have a more steady fighting style. Instead of being fast and attacking in a flurry of motion, Shining's movements were more precise and he didn't waste energy with pointless movements.

Twilight, whilst able to defend herself, clearly wasn't as good a sword fighter as Flash and Shining. In the time it took her to cut down one droid, the other two managed to beat three or four. Instead, she thrust her hand out and caused several droids to be thrown backwards by an unseen grasp. They each slammed into the walls and broke apart, Twilight then grabbing several other droids the same way whilst defending herself with her Lightsaber.

Inside the box, Springer continued to work on breaking into the security system. And finally, he managed to do just that. "YES!" He cheered, "I'm into their systems. Now to switch off all the droids."

The others heard this and expected the robots to fall to the ground. But what they didn't expect, was for the lighting above them to suddenly go off and for them to be dropped into complete darkness. Only the lights of their swords allowed them to see everything, whilst giving the droids a target to shoot at.

"Springer!" Flash cried, barely managing to avoid the blaster fire.

"Sorry," Springer called out as he tried to find the light controls again. It took a few moments, in which time the three were forced to fight blind, but he managed to get the lights back on. As he did, Flash managed to slide along the ground to avoid some lasers and cut the legs off several droids.

This caused them all to fall and accidently shoot one another, whilst Twilight turned some of the droids around so they were pointing at each other as they fired. Shining managed to block several more blasts and as he was about to slice one in half, the droid's lights suddenly turned off and they all went dead.

"Got it!" Springer cheered, as the robots all fell to the ground and were completely defenceless.

Flash sighed as he switched off his Lightsaber and moved over to the box, Shining and Twilight following him as he jumped into the control room. "Way to go, bud. Now, try and switch off the manacles."

"No problem," Springer smirked before the lights went off again. "Oops." The lights switched back on and after a few more beeps, he nodded. "There, the manacles should be deactivating." As he said that, he switched on several screens and they were shown security footage of the mine.

And sure enough, the slaves all found their control manacles deactivating and falling off of them. The slaves looked shocked and quickly revelled in their freedom, whilst Shining noticed several apes in armor that did not look happy. "Does this control room have a way announce stuff throughout the whole mine?"

"Um?" Springer began looking and nodded, "yes it does. There should be a microphone somewhere." They looked around and Twilight found it, holding it up for her brother to take.

"Alright. Send this out on all channels." Springer looked to Flash, who nodded telling him to do as Shining said. Springer opened the channel and Shining began to speak. "Attention hostages. You may have noticed your manacles have been released. Please don't use this as an excuse to go nuts and rampage. If we're going to get you out of here, we need order."

"What's he doing?" Flash asked Twilight, who smiled.

"Establishing himself to them."

"I am Shining Armor," the man continued. "Jedi Knight. I have come to help free you and that's what's going to happen. All of you, try and make it towards the entrance. And if there are any slavers who are down here, thinking you can regain control, then forget it. We won't let you get away with such an apoorant act. So do yourselves a favour and surrender." He put down the microphone as Springer continued to look through the systems.

"I'm logged into their security feed. There's no monitors in here to show you, but the slaves are heading this way. And they're fighting back against the captors that are trying to regain control."

"What about Ryduck and the other kids?" Flash asked, surprising Shining and Twilight. "Are they okay?"

"I see them. They've been let out of the cages and are heading this way." Flash sighed in relief, then turned to the Jedi as they gave him a look.

"Those kids all live in the same area as me. They were kidnapped and that's why I came. I was trying to save them."

"They live on this planet?" Shining asked.

"A bunch of the slaves lived here. The Storm Brigade have been terrifying the people living here for a while. And nobody's able to fight against them."

"That's horrible," Twilight frowned. "Well don't worry. We're gonna free those kids and get them back home to their families."

"Thanks," Flash nodded. "Though I doubt that'll keep them safe." This confused the siblings, "this entire planet's practically under the Storm Brigade's heel. So unless you Jedi are planning on taking them all down, these kids are gonna stay targets. Unless you're willing to take them and their families off planet."

"They'd be willing to leave?"

"They live in the slums," Springer stated. "Trust me, not a great place to live. If they could afford it, they'd have left this planet a long time ago." Flash nodded whilst the siblings shared a look, only for Springer to notice something. "We got problems."

"What's wrong?"

"The elevator's been called up. Some kind of master control is blocking me from stopping it. The Storm Brigade must be coming to try and regain control."

"Great," Flash growled, "now what do we do?"

"I'm not sure," Shining frowned. "That elevator up might be the only way to escape."

"It might not be," Springer told them. "I'm looking through the mine's mapping systems and I think I've found a way out."

"How?"

"There's a large shaft located in section eight of the mine that goes in a steady incline for several miles. The end of the shaft is only a meter or so below the bedrock. If we break through it, we'll have a clear route to the outside."

"Except for the few trillion tons of sand that would come raining down on us," Twilight points out.

"There are a bunch of shafts coming off of this one that we can hide in. The force of gravity would push the sand passed those shafts and continue to fill the mine. We'd be safe and have a way out."

"Then that's what we'll do," Shining grabbed the microphone as Springer opened the channel. "Everyone listen. We have a new plan. You have to get to the tunnel in section eight. It's blocked off now but we have a way to open it up. Get there, quickly." They waited as Springer watched through the security footage.

"Looks like they got your message," Springer announced. "They're heading that way now." They nodded as Springer continued, "but the elevator's reached the top. The reinforcements will be here any minute."

"Then let's not stick around," Flash stated. The others nodded and Springer unplugged himself from the computer, Flash letting him back on his back. Once he was in backpack mode, the three rushed out of the control room with Springer giving them directions on how to get out of there. "Question. You said you had a way to open the passage up. How?"

Shining smirked before holding up one of his arms, showing he had some kind of wrist mounted computer on it. Pressing a few buttons, it formed a hologram of a ship.

Outside the mine, hidden within the dunes of the desert, the ship Shining and Twilight had arrived on was parked.

But suddenly, the ship's systems activated and the engines began to power up. The ship slowly began to lift itself off the ground, blowing the sand away as it did. One of the consoles then lit up with words appearing on it. 'Pilot Tracking System Online'.

"The Shooting Star's on it's way."

"The what?"

"Our ship," Twilight explained. "When it reaches us, Shining will use the weapons on board to blast the tunnel open. Then we can escape."

"But there's almost ten feet of sand between your ship and the rocks?" Springer pointed out. "Are its weapons gonna be enough to blast through that?" Twilight and Shining smirked at one another, only to then hear sounds coming from up ahead. As they turned a corner and arrived at a circular intersection, they saw a bunch of aliens running down several more corridors.

When they saw them, the former captives held up the mining tools they now had as weapons and prepared to charge. "WAIT!" Shining cried, hoping to get as much of his voice to them. "I'm Shining Armor." The slaves looked surprised by this, Shining holding up his Lightsaber as if that was meant to prove them wrong.

The slaves didn't look convinced, but then someone pushed their way to the front. "FLASH!" It was Ryduck, Flash's eyes going wide as he, Synch and several more of the children ran towards him.

"Guys!" Flash ran out and hugged them, "are you okay? Those creeps didn't hurt you, did they?" They all shook their heads, Flash sighing in relief. "Okay. Now let's get you out of here and back to your parents." He stood up and turned to the slaves, "you can trust us. We're the ones who undid your manacles." The kids told them he was telling the truth. "Look, we're gonna get you out of here. But to do that, we're gonna need you to follow us."

The slaves all shared a look, then turned back to them and nodded. "Alright," Shining stepped forward, "now let's get out of here. Springer, lead the way." Springer nodded and told Flash to head down one of the corridors, Flash running ahead of everyone as they made their way through the mine.

As they did, several more slave groups joined them until they were a large group that was having trouble keeping ahead of whoever was coming after them. All they could do was hope whoever was leading this group, wasn't the smartest cookie in the tin.

Back at the entrance, the elevator reached the bottom and opened up.

The Storm Brigade's leader stepped forward, holding a large blaster in hand as he wore a bunch of strong looking armor. The rest of the ape creatures were also wearing similar devices, as the leader put on a pair of shades.

When he did, they started glowing and allowed him to look through the walls of the mine. Eventually, he came across a large heat signature. "Ahh, there you all are." He charged up his weapon, "remember to keep them on stun. We don't want to do any permanent damage. I want these slaves back mining before the sun's up. Got it?"

"YES SIR!" The cried before charging forward, ready to recapture their hard caught mining equipment.

Springer continued to lead them through the mine until, eventually, they came to the opening of another tunnel and Springer stated that this was the entrance to the mine.

"Alright," Flash stopped and turned to everyone. Shining and Twilight stepped up next to him, Shining holding up his computer. "Is it here?"

"Should arrive in about one minute." Shining then turned to everyone else. "Listen up. This tunnel is closed off and we're gonna use our ship to blast a hole in it. When that happens, a whole lot of sand is gonna start pouring in here." This got the slaves worried. "Don't worry. We were told this shaft has several tunnels that you can hide in. We'll blast the mine open and let the sand pour in. Once that happens, everyone make a break for it. Okay?"

They all nodded as Shining and Twilight began to lead the slaves up the path. But Flash stayed behind, looking around and catching sight of several strong looking slaves. "Hey, you guys need to stay behind!" The slaves stopped and looked at him, "it might take them time to get us out of here. If the Storm Brigade show up, they'll start blasting us. He have to give the others the time they need."

The slaves all shared a look, clearly not happy about being the last one's out. But it was better then not getting out of there at all. So, they all nodded and stayed where they were. Eventually, the last of the slaves made it into the tunnel. Flash headed up it along with the other strong slaves, all of them holding their tools ready to fight.

Up at the front, they reached the end of the tunnel and found it ended just like Springer had mentioned. "What now?" One of the slaves asked, as Shining checked his arm guard again. The ship should be right above him, the Jedi Knight turning to his sister and nodding.

Twilight took a deep breath and sighed before placing her hand on the wall, the purple skinned girls focusing to reach out and connect to the sand. As she did, Shining changed the hologram to a screen. The image it showed was of a large plain of sand, this being footage from his ship's external sensor.

As he watched, Twilight continued to focus. "What are you doing?" One of the slaves asked, only for Shining to smirk as he showed them the image. They all saw his gauntlet and watched as part of the desert began to move.

"My sister's moving the sand away." More and more sand began to spread apart from itself, forming a circular hole in the desert. "Once the hole's big enough, we're gonna blast it with our ship." He looked down the tunnel, "everyone get inside one of the side tunnels. You'll need to protect yourself when we blast this place wide open." The slaves didn't argue and did just that, as Shining looked around for Flash and the others slaves.

As the rest of the escapes began to file into the other tunnels, Flash and his group of strong slaves prepared themselves.

Springer was sending out scans to tell when they were about to have company. And sure enough, one scan detected something. "They're coming." Flash activated his Lightsaber and stepped forward, as footprints filled the air and signalled their opponent's arrival.

The leader of the Storm Brigade was at the front and when he saw Flash and his laser sword, his eyes went wide. "Jedi?" He started firing at Flash, who used his Lightsaber to block the laser. The others started firing as well, but Flash just kept blocking more and more of them.

The others slaves wanted to help, but her forced to jump into a tunnel to prevent themselves from getting blasted. Flash could only remain on the defensive and as he did, the Storm Brigade got closer and closer. "Hurry up!" Flash yelled back to the others, hoping their little plan was gonna be underway soon.

Twilight groaned as she forced more and more of the sand away from the rock.

Shining watched the video and saw that the hole was almost big enough. "You've almost got it!" He told his sister, as the last of the sand was pushed away from the rock. "Alright, let it go!" Twilight did so, the pair hoping the sand wouldn't fall back atop the rock. "Let's get to safety." Twilight nodded and they ran down the tunnel, getting into the first side tunnel they could find.

Shining activated the weapons systems on his ship and targeted the hole, making sure to charge them up as much as possible without making them explode. "Everybody ready?" Twilight called out, making Flash realise the blast was coming.

"And here...we...GO!" Shining hit fire and the ship launched the lasers, which flew into the hole and exploded. At the same time, the entire mine shook violently.

"What's happening?" The leader cried, only to hear a rushing sound. "What was that?" Flash deactivated his Lightsaber and ran into one of the tunnels, as the rushing sound got louder. Seconds later, sand exploded down the tunnel. Much like Springer had suggested, the angles of the tunnels meant that all the sand ended up rocketing down the main passageway.

As such, the Storm Brigade quickly found themselves staring down a tsunami of sand that rolled towards them at forty miles an hour. They all screamed and tried to run for it, but the sand quickly caught up with them and they were pushed back down the way they came.

The sand kept passing the other tunnels, so much so that those inside them fear the sand would end up settling and they would become trapped.

But to their relief, the flow began to soften and the sand level slowly went down until the entrances to the main tunnel were clear. "Everyone okay?" Flash asked when he got out of his tunnel, with everyone else coming out and appearing no worse for ware.

"Let's get out of here!" Shining cried, the others nodding before they began to rush up towards the exit. Flash stayed behind, focusing his attention back on the sand filled lower section of the mine. But once he was absolutely sure nobody was coming out to get them, he followed the slaves up the surface.

What they didn't know, was that someone had managed to survive the sand tsunami.

On the other side of the sand blocked tunnel, someone's hand exploded from the pile. This was followed by another hand, which clawed against the ground to pull the one they belonged to out of the sand. The leader of the Storm Brigade gasped as he managed to breath, pulling himself free of the sand and coughing.

"They won't get away with this," he growled before taking out a communicator. "All ships, scan the area around my signal for any life signs above ground. Destroy them!"

Twilight and Shining were some of the first out of the tunnel, the hole blown in the side of the mine allowing them to climb up using the sand ramps that had formed.

As they got out, the Shooting Star a short ways away. Then they looked back at the tunnel that the slaves were flowing out of. "We can't fit all of them into the ship," Twilight pointed out.

"You're right," Shining frowned. "Get the kids on board. I'll try and figure out what to do." Twilight nodded and started telling the children to make their way towards the ship, whilst Shining tried to figure out the best thing to do for the rest of the slaves.

It was still night, but the sun would rise in an hour or two. If they didn't get these people someplace safe, they would either day of heatstroke, dehydration of be captured again when the Storm Brigade recovered. He watched as more and more slaves filed out of the tunnels. He then tried to find Flash, but the teen was nowhere in sight.

Shining wasn't the only one who noticed Flash's absence, as Ryduck also noticed. He was waiting to board the ship, but was too worried about his friend. "What if he didn't get away from the sand in time?" He asked, deciding to head back towards the mine. However, halfway to it the person in question ran out of the cave.

"Anyone else in there?" Shining asked him, Flash shaking his head. "Good. Now we just have to worry about what to do with all these people."

"We sure could use some more ships," Flash sighed as he tried to think of what to do. But before he could, they all heard a sound that made them look up.

Doing so revealed four ships flying towards them, all being about the same size as the Shooting Star. But they knew that this far away from civilization, they couldn't be friendly.

And sure enough, the ships all opened fire. The lasers rained down on them, making the people scream and try to run. But the only place to run was back into the mine. Back into their prison.

Flash and Shining both activated their Lightsabers, but realised the blasts from these ships were too powerful to block. Meanwhile, Twilight managed to get the kids on board the ship. There was only one that wasn't accounted for. "Where's my brother?" Synch cried, making Twilight look back.

Ryduck was running for his life, the lasers exploding the sand around him as he tried to get back to the ship. But one laser hit the ground close to him, the shockwave knocking him flying. His screams filled the air and Flash heard them, the teen looking around and gasping when he saw who was in trouble.

Twilight was about to run to him, but Flash got there first. "Come on!" He cried, but another ship launched a laser that flew straight towards them. He sensed this coming and looked up, right as the laser got in closer.

Twilight gasped, flinching since she didn't want to see them be destroyed. But there was no explosion from that area, making her open her eyes.

When she looked back, she was in for the shock of her life. For the laser was suspended right in front of the two, having formed a red orb that was vibrating right above them. She knew what this was, but it couldn't be possible.

Shining was also shocked by this, the man looking over at his sister and trying to see if this was her doing. But it wasn't. In fact, the one who seemed to be doing it...was Flash. The teen's arm was out stretch, the orb floating right in front of his open hand. A look of great concentration could be seen on his face.

"That's it, Flash!" Springer cheered, as Flash let out several grunts. And as another ship flew by, he roared before swinging his arm around. The orb moved with him, flying off in another direction and slamming into the ship. This caused it to explode against the vehicle and make it fall towards the ground, crashing into the sand as it did so.

Flash fell to the ground in exhaustion, panting as Ryduck picked himself up. "Flash...how did you do that?" But before he could try to answer, another laser exploded near them as Shining rush up.

"Come on!" He cried, grabbing their arms and pulling them towards the ship. Several of the escapees had fled into the ship, packing it full. "Twilight, activate the EMP field generator!" Twilight nodded and rushed into the ship, pushing through the people inside until she reached a section of the ship.

She started flipping several switches, as Flash, Shining and Ryduck reached the ship and got inside as well. As soon as they did, Twilight activated something.

An antenna extended from the top and when it did, it sent out a blast of energy that struck every other ship trying to blast them. When they did, those driving the ships found their controls going dead. They all cried out as they tried to regain control, but nothing worked.

One by one, they crashed into the sand and slid through the dunes. They were all completely dead, now nothing more then just hunks of metal.

With the laser rain stopping, the slaves once again began to leave the mine. Shining, Flash and Twilight all left their ship, Flash telling Springer to stay inside since it was the only place he wouldn't be shut down. They each looked around and saw the ships that had crashed around them, the pilots all beginning to pull themselves out of the ships.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Shining asked his sister, who nodded back.

"What?" Flash asked.

"Those ships should be able to carry all these people," Twilight explained as she took out her Lightsaber. "I think we should discuss compensation for what these Storm Brigade goons did to these poor people." Flash smirked, liking that idea.

They all held up their Lightsabers, as the Storm Brigades pulled out their own weapons. And so, the three charged forward.

Back at Klugetown, the families of the slums were trying to repair their damaged homes as best they could.

They could only hope that by the time they were repaired, their children would be back. But they held little hope of this, given who Flash was going up against. They all knew it was more likely for them to never see Flash or any of their children ever again. And that broke their hearts.

However, as the sun began to rise, one of them noticed something being illuminated in the distance. A ship.

They all moved to the edge of the rock, as it flew closer towards them. And it wasn't alone, as a bunch of identical ships appeared behind it.

The ships flew closer to Klugetown and whilst one remained level, flying only a few feet off the ground, the other ships took to the skies and flew higher and higher. Eventually, they flew out of sight whilst the first ship came to a stop right next to the rocks and landed on the sand.

The people living in the slums watched in confusion, until someone stepped out of the ship.

Flash Sentry walked out into the sand, looking up at the rock that he had called home for over two years. He saw his friends and neighbours, all staring down at him looking hopeful. He then smiled before looking back at the ship, as Ryduck and Synch walked out.

This was followed by the rest of the children, making the parents scream seeing them. The adults quickly began climbing down the rope and when they reached the bottom, they ran to hug their children. "Oh, my babies!" The ortolan's mother sobbed as she held both her children, whilst the father turned to Flash.

"Thank you."

Flash smiled, "I'm not the one you should be thanking." He turned back to the ship, as Shining and Twilight stepped out.

Shining walked forward, looking like a general about to address his troops. "Everyone, listen up." The slum livers focused on him, curious about who he was. "My Name is Shining Armor. I'm a Jedi Knight sent to investigate slavery going on on this planet. Be assured, that we're going to investigate these acts. But for now, the lot of you are still in a lot of danger."

"Didn't you stop the Storm Brigade?" One of the men asked.

"We stopped this group. But who knows how many more of them there are out there. Until we can be sure this slave trade has ended, there's a chance you could all be attacked again. That's why, I'd like to offer you the chance to leave this place." That statement shocked them all. "Your friend, Flash, told us how you would happily leave this place if you could. My sister and I are happy to give you transport off of this planet."

"Where would we go?" One of the men asked.

"Well we'll be heading straight to the Planet of Canterlot. The Jedi will be happy to house you until you can figure out what to do with your lives. You can either stay on Canterlot to try and make a life there, find transport to another planet, or try to make enough money to get your own ship and go wherever you want. It'd be up to you."

The people all shared looks, the individual families beginning to discuss what they should do. Shining and Twilight returned the ship, Flash following them as Springer was still on board. After a minute or so, Ryduck and his family began to make their way to the ship.

They got on board, the father speaking up. "We would like to go with you, if that's okay?" Shining nodded, as another family arrived and said the same thing. One by one, each of the slum living families agreed to get on board.

"Looks like that's everyone," Flash smirked once the last group boarded. Twilight had gotten them all situated in the two cargo holds, since it would be a bit of a long voyage. The families didn't have much room in the two cramped spaces, but they were used to that sort of living.

Shining was busy doing pre-space flight checks, the Jedi eyeing Flash and his Lightsaber as he did. He knew he should ask about it, but with everything that was going on he needed to focus. It appeared Flash intended to come with them, so there would be plenty of time to ask who he was.

Twilight stepped out of the cargo holds and as she did, she spotted Flash and Springer looking around the ship.

"Wow," he whispered, "this place is really awesome. Best ship I've been on."

"It's nothing special," Twilight smiled. "how many ships have you been on?"

"Including this one? Two that could actually fly." Twilight raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant by that. But before she could ask, Shining's voice called out.

"We're ready to take off!" They looked around to see him heading towards the cockpit, the three of them heading there with him. Shining sat in the main pilot's seat with Twilight sitting next to him. Flash sat on a chair behind them as Springer pushed himself onto the last one, Shining activating the ship's power and causing the engines to power up.

Flash smirked as he felt the ship vibrate, looking out the window to see the desert below moving away as they lifted out. This was gonna be a fun trip.

Or so he thought.

Suddenly, the console beeped and Shining barely had time to read the warning light before the entire ship rocked. An explosion occurred above them, likely caused by a laser hitting the outer huel.

"What the heck?" Flash cried, "what was that?" They got another warning light and Shining reacted as fast as he could, hitting the boosters and making the ship rocket forward. Another laser flew down and would have hit them had they not moved, the blast instead making the sand explode.

They all looked up and saw a ship flying above them, its gun trained upon them. It was another of the Storm Brigade's ships, the three realising they must have had more. But who was flying it?"

"You're not getting away!" The leader of the Storm Brigade roared, as he opened fire on the ship.

The Shooting Star managed to avoid these attacks, as it swerved back and forth and even did a barrel-roll. It attempt to get higher into the air, but he accelerated and the ship got above the freighter to block its rise.

"You tried to make a fool out of me. You ruined my operation and put me in a very dangerous situation. You will make up for it when I throw you all down that mine." He fired again and hit several parts of the ship.

The four held on as the ship rocked, Twilight getting several warning signs from her computer.

"The shields are holding but we can't take another blast like that." Shining nodded, looking up to see the ship preparing to fire again. It only had blasters on the bottom of the ship, so they would be safe if they could get above it. But with this ship keeping them from doing that, they would have a hard time escaping. Unless...

"Hang on!" He cried, pulling on of the leavers down. This caused the Shooting Star to rocket to a stop, causing the Storm Brigade ship to zoom ahead of them. He then punched it and the ship flew forwards and upwards, getting above the enemy ship before it could adjust itself. "Twilight, get us ready for hyperspace!"

Twilight nodded as she started typing away at the console, plotting a course to their intended destination.

But before she could finish entering the coordinates, the opposing ship spun around so its guns were pointed upwards and fired. The laser slammed into the bottom of the ship and caused several explosions, rocking the ship as alarms went off.

"Uh oh," Twilight gulped.

"What?" Shining asked.

"That blast just took out our shield generator. If we enter hyperspace without a proper shield, we'll be ripped to shreds."

"Can you fix it?" Flash asked.

"Not from within here. If we wanna repair it, we'll have to land and go outside to do the repairs." The ship shook again, as another laser hit them.

"Oh yeah," Flash nodded. "I'm sure that guy will let us take a ten minute break to fix up the ship he's trying to damage." The ship rocked again, "isn't there anything we can do?"

Twilight frowned. "Not unless you know how to fix a shield generator, and have a way to keep yourself from falling off a moving ship being blasted at." It was then that a cough filled the air, making them look down and see Springer. They all realised what he was insinuating.

"Can your droid really fix our engines?" Shining asked, Flash frowning at him for both doubting Springer and treating him like he was just some machine.

"Yes I can." The droid leapt off the seat and floated down the corridor, Flash and Twilight going with him. And as Twilight took Springer to the ceiling hatch, Flash headed for the cargo hold.

"What's going on?" Ryduck's father asked, as a the ship rocked again.

"Our Storm Brigade friends can't seem to take the hint!" Flash cried, holding onto the side of the door to stop himself falling over. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you to safety. We promise."

"You ready?" Twilight asked Springer, who stopped hovering as his feet glowed.

"Magnetic clamps on!" He announced, Twilight nodding before she activated the hatch. A glass container dropped down from the ceiling, trapping Springer inside before he was lifted into the air. The hatch opened and he was pushed outside, the robotic canine praying his magnets were strong enough.

Shining had flown back down towards the planet, having spotted a large rock field that he hoped to use to outrun the other ship. The Storm Vessel fired, but The Shooting Star swerved around a rock to avoid it. Springer pulled himself along the outer haul as he did, reaching the underside as Shining pulled up to avoid crashing into a large rock.

"Careful!" Springer cried, the force of the wind almost pushing him off the ship. But he managed to reach the damaged area that had a large hole in it, the droid's body compartments opening up to unleash several tools that he started using to repair the damaged systems.

Flash and Twilight returned to the cockpit, as Shining continued to try and escape this insane pilot.

"Over there!" Flash then pointed to a hole in the rocks, "looks like a tunnel system." The siblings didn't like the idea of flying in a confined space, but another near miss made them decide to use it.

Shining flew them into the entrance and sure enough, it was a tunnel system. But there was one problem. "I need a sonar sweep."

"I'm trying," Twilight hit several buttons. "But that blast must have also damaged the sonar." The light from the entrance was fading. Soon enough, they would be in pitch darkness. If they didn't do something soon, they were gonna crash into something because they couldn't see.

Flash was staring into the darkness and as he did, he sensed something. "Turn left!" Shining didn't argue and did so, turning enough to avoid smashing into the rock wall that had just appeared. "Right!" Shining did so again, bringing them into another tunnel as the storm vessel followed and tried to blast them. "Straight up!"

Twilight looked back at him, shocked to see he had his eyes closed. He wasn't seeing through the darkness.

'The force is heightening his sense of direction,' Shining realised when he saw this to. 'That's hard to do, even for an skilled Jedi. Who is this kid?'

"Left! Right! Turn us on our side!" Shining swerved them and they flew through a narrow passageway, the other ship doing the same.

As this was happening, Springer was getting closer and closer to repairing the shield generator. "Almost done." The shipped rocked and he almost lasered the wrong part. "Do you mind? Droid trying to work here." A laser then nicked the ship again, doing a tiny amount of damage. "You guys better lose this guy before he breaks something else I have to fix."

Flash could sense something up ahead and had an idea. "Get ready to shoot straight up."

"When?" Shining asked, but Flash remained silent and felt out through the force. The siblings were impressed he could do this, since this wasn't something a Jedi with his experience should be able to master. But they could sense he wasn't going to let them down, so waited for him to speak. But as they did, the ship behind them fired a few more shots and almost hit them. If they didn't get out of its way soon, they were gonna take too much damage to even fly."

The Storm Vessel began to draw in closer and closer, as the targeting sensors locked on to their main propulsion. "I have you now."

"And," Flash extended as the pilot hit the trigger, "NOW!" Shining shifted the ship upwards and it curved, managing to get into a hole in the ceiling, seconds before the laser fired and exploded in front of the ship that had been chasing them. The smoke caused by the explosion blinded the pilot, stopping him from seeing the curve that was coming up.

"WOW!" He cried at the last moment, pulling to the left but not before the side of his ship ground against the rock. As he did, several alerts came up. One of them saying his shield generator had been damaged. "NOOO!" He roared, attempting to get out of this rock and find his prisoners.

The Shooting Star shot through the tunnel and as it did, a light appeared in front of them. A way out.

"Yes!" Shining cheered, as Flash opened his eyes and Twilight smiled. As they did, an alert came up that caught their attention. The shield generator was back online. They could go to hyperspace. "Twilight, set a course."

Flash got up and headed over to the hatch, stopping by each of the cargo holds and telling the others they would be off this planet soon. They all cheered for this, as he reached the hatch and opened it up for Springer. The droid was lowered down, the hatch closing as he did so.

When he hit the ground, the glass retracted and Flash smiled at him. "Springer, you did it bud." He hugged him and Springer patted his shoulder with his head, showing his own joy.

The ship shot out of the rock and flew straight up into the sky, breaking out of the planet's atmosphere. As they did, the storm vessel escaped through another hole. The ship scanned for the Shooting Star and found them in orbit, as its warp engines were beginning to power up.

"NO!" The pilot shot up and tried to chase them. If he could get in close before they jumped, he could still blast them out of the sky. But before he could get close enough, the ship vanished in a whoosh of motion. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

As the Shooting Star flew through hyperspace, the children were in the cockpit staring at the majesty of it.

They were all amazed and wanted to see more, but their parents told them it was time for them to rest after the busy day they had had. They all moaned, but were brought back to the cargo bay. Flash watched them go, happy that they were safe and could now start a new life somewhere better. And not just them.

He knelt next to Springer and patted him on the head. "It won't be long now bud." Springer nodded. But before he could say anything, he noticed Shining coming up behind them and raising his hand.

Suddenly, Flash's Lightsaber flew off his belt. The teen gasped as he felt his weapon fly into the hands of this stranger. "HEY! That's mine!"

"This is the weapon of a Jedi," Shining stated. "You're skilled with it, sure, but you're not a Jedi." Flash glared at thim, along with the rest of the freed slaves. Twilight then stepped up to him.

"You can use the force," she pointed out. Flash frowned as she carried on, "and you've been trained in saber combat. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were Jedi. But I don't know you. So who are you? And who taught you to use the force and a Lightsaber?"

Flash remained silent for a moment, then knelt down and patted the droid on the head. Springer nodded and suddenly, the bone shape on his front opened up to reveal a compartment. And inside that compartment was some kind of flashdrive that Flash picked up.

He stood up and moved over to the Jedi, holding the drive out to them. "My name is Flash Sentry. And you're right. I wasn't raised in your Jedi Temple. But I was raised to be a Jedi."

Twilight took the drive and looked it over, realising it was meant to be placed in a holo-imager. "What's on this?"

"I don't know," Flash shrugged. "It was given to me by my master. He told me that if I ever met a Jedi, I was to hand that to them with the instructions that it's meant for the Jedi High Council."

"And who is your master?" Shining asked, crossing his arms.

"A powerful Jedi that would have gone missing almost two decades ago. He was a member of the Council before he went missing. Master Grand Hoof." Shining and Twilight's eyes went wide, the pair clearly knowing that name. They looked at one another, then back at Flash. Clearly, there was more to this teen then they originally believed.

What they didn't know, was that this meeting would affect their lives and the lives of many more in the galaxy.

Many systems away.

In a dark corridor, someone was marching through it towards a location. This figure was equestrian, based on their hooves and horn, but their features were hidden beneath black leather clothing that covered their entire body.

Their head was covered by a black mask, with an forehead lump to hold their horn inside. On their belt was a black and gray Lightsaber, the figure walking with great purpose as they turned a corner towards a set of large doors.

Guarding these doors were a pair of creatures that looked equestrian, but had insect wings and bits missing from their horns. They were wearing black armor over gray suits and carried long spears, the pair standing to attention as the figure approached.

They didn't even give them a second glance, as they walked passed and pushed the doors open.

These doors led to a large throne room, cloaked in darkness with only a few torches providing the little amount of light that filled it. And at the back of the room, a large throne sat atop a small staircase. And sitting upon that throne was a figure in dark black and gray armor, with a red cloak trailing down his back.

The figure reached the bottom of the stairs and knelt, then spoke in a muffled voice. "Lord Sombra."

The figure leaned forward, their face appearing within the light to reveal another equestrian. They were gray, with black hair and a red horn on their head. "Solara." The figure reached up and pressed something on the side of their mask, causing it to open up and allow them to pull it off their head. Doing so revealed a young equestrian woman with orange skin and flowing red and yellow hair. "Report."

"One of the Storm King's mining operations has been compromised. Reports say that Jedi were the cause of the issue. I'm afraid all mining on Shikoya has ceased." The one named Sombra growled at this.

"That fool was an idiot for using slaves on that planet. Should have used droids. He had better find a new source of ore and fast. I will accept no delays." The one named Solara nodded, "what of our other projects?"

"No word yet from Tirek or Doom Raizer," she replied. "Chrysalis is currently completing the training of our next batch of soldiers. They should be ready within the month."

"And what of Armalum?"

"The last he checked in, he appeared to be on schedule. But I haven't heard anything from him since." Sombra nodded as he leaned back.

"You had best be ready, Jedi. Soon, the sith shall rise and your old ways shall be left in the dust where they belong." He laughed at this, as the teen girl replaced her helmet. When it was in place, her eyes glowed red.

The Shooting Star finally came out of Hyperspace and as it did, Flash and Springer finally got their first look at the Planet of Canterlot.

He had only ever heard stories of the planet from Grand and others. A colossal cityscape, which covered the globe's entire circumference. It was surrounded by three large forest moons, one of which apparently belonged to the Jedi and was their main source of food and nourishment for the order.

"Amazing," Flash whispered as Shining set in a course for the Jedi Temple. A beeping sound filled the room and Flash looked confused, Twilight noticing this and smiling.

"Security Code. To make sure we are who we say we are." She typed in said code and the beeping turned to a ping before stopping.

"I thought Canterlot was open to anybody?" Flash asked. "Why do you need security codes for a planet that's meant to be home to thousands of different races?"

"It depends on where you intend to land," Shining replied. "Certain areas of the planet are designated for specific roles. Since we're heading into the Jedi area of the planet, we need to show that we are Jedi or have some connection to the Jedi. You never know who might try and take us out."

They flew into the planet's atmosphere and were surrounded by clouds, which blinded them for a moment before finally breaking through it and being surrounded by many tall buildings and towers.

Flash and Springer looked out the windows and down towards the planet's surface. As they did, they saw that only the top layer looked pristine and well maintained. Below those areas, a lower level could be seen that appeared rather glum looking. Stream and smoke were coming out from these levels, Flash frowning as he leaned back.

"You're not gonna send Ryduck and his family down there, are you?"

Shining frowned. "That depends on what they want to do. If they wish to make it out in the universe on their own, they may find the lower levels are the only places they can find work. But if they decide to let the Jedi protect them, they can be given housing in one of the Jedi colonies and planets."

Flash nodded, hoping his friends chose to do that.

They kept flying through the city and eventually arrived at what appeared to be a large pyramid, whose tops had been cut off, with sections sticking out the sides. "Is that the Jedi Temple?"

"Yup," Twilight smiled. "If the council let you in, this'll be where you'll call home." They flew down to an area surrounding the temple that appeared to be a large number of ship hanger, Shining flying over to one of them and pressing some buttons on the console.

The top of the hanger suddenly opened up, as a platform was raised up to replace the roof.

Shining manoeuvred the ship around until they were above the platform, then slowly lowered it down and landed atop it. Once the ship had landed, Shining cut the engines as Twilight and Flash began to tell the rest of their passengers that they had arrived.

"Alright everyone," Twilight told them. "When we disembark, you'll need to let our medical facilities take a look at you. If any of you are injured, they should be able to help. Also, we need to make sure none of you are accidently carrying something that could spread and cause issues to the rest of the planet. Shikoya isn't exactly the most sanitary planet and you might have picked something up that you're not aware of." They all nodded, as Shining lowered the landing bridge.

Twilight lead them all out onto the hanger, where a blue protocol droid was waiting for them.

"G-4-C-E," she told the droid. "Can you take these people to the medical centre and ask the doctors to do a complete medical check up on them.

"Of course," the droid bowed before turning towards Ryduck and the rest of the refuges. "Please, follow me." The droid began to walk away and the large group began to follow, the parents making sure to keep their children close so they couldn't run off.

Flash and Springer climbed off the ship, waving goodbye to his friends as Shining followed them. Once he was off, he closed the ship's docking bridge and they stepped off the top of the hanger, towards a walkway leading in the direction of the temple. As they did, the platform began to descend into the hanger as the roof slid down.

Flash and Springer watched that in amazement, whilst Twilight and Shining moved towards the temple. "Are my friends gonna be okay?"

"They don't appear to be injured," Twilight assured him. "So long as they're not carrying anything dangerous, they'll be perfectly fine. Once the medical checks are over, they can start making a decision about where they want to go." Flash nodded, happy his friends would be able to have a better life. "You should probably focus on what's gonna happen to you."

"Huh?"

Shining looked back at him. "Whether you can enter the Jedi Order will be up to the council. You might have been trained by a Jedi, but that doesn't guarantee you'll have the right to join. You'll want to focus on making yourself look as presentable as possible."

Flash gulped, wondering what might happen if the Jedi refused to let him join. Would he have to leave with Ryduck and the others? To try and find a new life out there in the galaxy?

They arrived at the entrance of the temple and as they did, they spotted two people walking towards them. One was a pink skinned woman the same race as Twilight and Shining, only she had a pair of wings on her back. She was dressed in a light blue top and a black skirt, with a brown cloak over her back.

The other was a black skinned individual shorter then any of them. He had big blue bug eyes and a short curved horn, whilst wearing a green shirt and brown pants, with a cloak of his own over his shoulders.

Shining came to a stop, Flash and Twilight doing the same as the pair reached them. "You're back," the woman smiled. "I'm guessing everything went well."

"You have to ask?" Shining smirked, "this is me we're talking about."

"Exactly," she sighed before noticing Flash and his droid. "Who's this?"

"It's a long story," Shining replied. "Do you think you can help him get cleaned up and into some better clothes? He's probably gonna end up meeting the council and I don't want him looking...like this." He gestured to the teen and Flash frowned, the woman laughing.

"Sure," she nodded. "Thorax. Can you head to the clothing district and get our guest some new clothes? And maybe something to clean the droid off with."

"Yes Master Cadance," Thorax nodded before running off. The woman named Cadance then gestured for Flash to follow her, Flash and Springer giving the other two a look.

"Don't worry," Twilight assured him. "Cadance will look after you. Just don't go wandering off." Flash nodded and followed the equestrian into the temple, Springer heading in with him. As they did, Shining and Twilight entered the temple and headed in a different direction.

They navigated the place with ease, thanks to years of living there. They soon found an elevator and rode it upwards, Twilight looking nervous. "Would you relax. Celestia will be proud of what you did."

"Thanks," Twilight nodded, "but that's not what I'm worried about."

"The kid?" Shining asked, Twilight nodding as Shining took out the holo-drive. "There's no guarantee that he's telling the truth. He might be lying to try and get into the order. It'll be up to the council to decide if he can be trusted." The elevator finally stopped and they stepped out into a corridor, which had a woman sitting behind a desk next to a large set of doors.

She looked up from her work and smiled at them. "I'm sorry, but you'll need to wait until the council finish discussing another matter of great urgency." They nodded, as she typed something on a computer.

The pair sat down and waited. Unfortunately, whatever this matter was took over an hour to resolve. As they waited, Twilight went over everything they did during the mission. She had to make sure she had her reported properly memorised so see wouldn't leave out any details.

Then, finally, the woman they knew as Merigold got a message and smiled. "The council are ready for you now." They nodded and after giving their thanks, headed towards the entrance the council chambers.

As soon as they stepped into the room, Shining and Twilight were greeted to the sight of the Jedi Council. The most powerful Jedi alive and the ones currently leading them into the future.

Many Jedi of different races were amongst them, but two stood out in particular. They were both Equestrians, like Shining and Twilight, only these ones had a pair of wings on their back. There was a tall one with white skin and hair that was pink, blue, green and teal. She was wearing white Jedi robes and held the central seat of the council room.

The other had dark blue, almost black, skin and her hair was two shades of lighter blue. Her Jedi robes black and she sat to the right of the other Equestrian.

As the two stepped into the centre of the room, the taller Equestrian smiled. "Welcome back. I trust your mission was a success."

"Yes Master Celestia," Twilight nodded. "We located the slaves and were able to free them. But..."

"But?" The other Equestrian asked, "were there complications?"

"Not exactly," Twilight replied. "We were assisted by one of the residents of the planet. He managed to sneak into the slave camp and it was only thanks to him and his droid that we were able to escape so easily."

"I see," Celestia nodded. "I sense there's something about this individual you believe we must know about."

Shining chose this moment to step forward and speak up. "His name is Flash Sentry. And he's been trained in the ways of The Force." This statement surprised the council.

"By trained," the other Equestrian stated. "You mean he's strong in the force?"

"No Master Luna," Twilight shook her head. "He's been trained. Like actually trained, by another Jedi. We saw him use The Force with the kind of ability you wouldn't normally see unless someone had instructed him in our ways."

"I see," Celestia hummed. "I don't remember a Flash Sentry ever being part of our order. How old is he?"

"My age," Twilight replied. "Maybe a year or so older. But he doesn't just have skill with The Force. He had his own Lightsaber." Again, the council were shocked by this. Shining took this opportunity to show them the Jedi weapon, which instantly floated out of his hand and over to Celestia's.

As it did, another master caught sight of it and seemed to recognise it. "That's Grand Hoof's Lightsaber!" They all turned to him, as he stood up to take a closer look. This Jedi appeared to be human, in his late sixties, except he had a pair of wings like Celestia and Luna. Only one of them was real, as the other had been replaced by a metal prosthetic. He had purple skin and blue hair, a scar running over the bridge of his nose.

He took the device in his hands and turned it over, examining it. "Skybreaker," Luna spoke, "is that really..."

"There've been some changes, but I can sense Grand Hoof within it." He activated the blade and was surprised to see the flat, sword-like, shape the Lightsaber produced. "A Broadsaber? Grand's Lightsaber wasn't like this."

"Flash said he was trained by Grand Hoof," Twilight stated. "He didn't say much else, but he gave us something to give to the council." She took out the hologram drive and Celestia brought it over to her. "He said his master gave it to him."

Celestia hummed, having a feeling she knew what was on this device. She chose not to play it, instead asking for all the details on the mission. The siblings began to retell everything that happened to them, the council nodding as they spoke and asking an occasional question.

But then they got to the part about Flash and were amazed when they heard how much skill Flash seemed to have, a few gasps escaping their lips when they heard a select few moments explained. Finally, the tale came to an end and they were quite amazed by it.

"You both did amazingly," Celestia told them. "You bring honour to the Jedi Order."

"Thank you Master," Twilight smiled. "So...what's going to happen to Flash?"

"We will review what is on this data drive," Celestia explained. "Then we will wish to speak to him. You said Cadance took him to get cleaned up?" They nodded. "Once he's finished, please bring him here." They nodded and were both excused, the Masters waiting for them to leave before speaking. "Your thoughts."

"This slave trade gang is worrisome," Luna told her. "We will need to increase our efforts to find and dissolve them. This Flash Sentry might be a mystery, but he can't be all we focus on." The other Masters nodded, but they also knew they had to see what was on that hologram drive.

Celestia gave the drive to Luna, who took out a holo-imager and plugged it in. As soon as the lights were off, the device protected the hologram into the centre of the room.

Said hologram was of a man in his late fifties, early sixties, with light gray skin and dark grey hair. He was wearing Jedi robes and he had a scar over his eyes. "Grand Hoof," Skybreaker's eyes went wide as the man spoke.

"If you're watching this, then you must be the Jedi Council. If you're not the council, then please stop watching and try to get this too them. And if you're Flash..." He looked annoyed, "stop being so nosy!" The Jedi laughed at this, those that knew Grand knowing that was exactly him. "Now, I'm sure the only ones watching this now are the council, so I'll begin."

"Please do," Celestia smiled despite the hologram not being able to respond to her.

"I am Jedi Master Grand Hoof, of the Jedi Order. Many who know of me probably think I'm dead. And to make sure we're all up to speed, I'll explain what happened to me." They nodded, glad to finally have some answers. "Years ago, I was chasing down a member of a rogue terrorist faction, who had targeted a transport cruiser hoping to send a message to the people of that planet they were opposed to."

"I remember that," Skybreaker nodded. "Grand chased him onto the cruiser and managed to get on right before it took off. I followed him in our ship and tried to contact the bridge to tell them they had a stowaway on board. But I couldn't get through to them or Grand."

"I managed to capture the terrorist, but he had already attached some kind of device onto the ship. The device sent the hyperdrive into overload and caused it to activate at full power, without any navigation or the proper shielding. Because of that, the ship went into hyperspace and the engines blew out. I'm sure whoever saw it thought the entire ship was destroyed." Skybreaker nodded. That had been what he thought, especially with the debris that had been left.

"So they went into hyperspace without active shields or navigation?" One of the other masters asked, "the ship should have been torn apart."

"The ship was blown out of control. I was thrown into another sector of the ship and it took me several minutes to return and find the device. I managed to destroy it with my Lightsaber and the ship was finally able to come out of hyperspace. But by then, it was heavily damaged and we had no idea where we had gone. The ship's power failed and we could barely had enough oxygen to survive a day. I rushed to the cockpit and found the captain was already searching for someplace to land."

Everyone watched as the hologram suddenly changed to show an image of a planetoid, which was a combo of land and water. Most parts of it were forested, but there were a few desert continents and an ice cap on top of it.

"Anybody recognise it?" Skybreaker asked, the masters all shaking their heads as Grand spoke.

"A forest moon on the outer rim. I don't know much more about it. But it was the only location we could reach that had a breathable atmosphere. We barely managed to reach it before our propulsion gave out. We were forced to make an emergency landing and crashed down in a forested area. Let me tell you. It wasn't a smooth ride and we lost several individuals."

"Don't those cruisers have escape pods?" Luna asked, the others shrugging as Grand reappeared.

"After the crash, we did what we could in order to survive on this planet. We reconfigured the remains of the ship into shelters and created as many emergency beacons as we could. But we later discovered the planet's atmosphere was laced with ion particles, which made getting a signal out difficult. As far as we could tell, we were going to be stuck there for a long time. And that's where Flash comes in."

"Finally," one of the masters stated.

"You see, a couple were travelling on the cruiser to planet that had just discovered some ruins. Their names were Misty Vail and Trail Blazer, a pair of archaeologists studying ancient cultures on distance planets. However, it turns out Misty was pregnant. It was only a few weeks, but she quickly began to show and we realised we were going to have to make this hospitable for her and the child. That child was later named Flash Sentry and he was strong in the force. And I mean really strong. Every time his cried, he caused the entire building he was in to shake."

"A baby could use the force that well?" Celestia was surprised. Mostly, force sensitive babies could only knock off a book or lift a cuddly toy.

"When I learned of his power, I realised this was the will of The Force. I had been marooned on the planet, so that I could teach Flash the ways of The Jedi. And as soon as he was able to understand, I began training him. It wasn't easy, especially with his parents. They were scared I wouldn't allow Flash to be anywhere near them, but I promised to let them stay close to their child. His training went on and I taught him everything I could. I taught him our history as best I could. I trained him in trusting The Force and letting it guide him. And when he was old enough, I trained him to wield a Lightsaber."

Skybreaker looked down at the weapon in hand, seeing how Flash had clearly altered it. He couldn't help but wonder if that was because of need or desire.

Grand Hoof seemed to frown as he noticed something. "This holo-drive doesn't have a lot of space left. I'm afraid this is where I have to cut the story short. If Flash is with you, he can fill you in on anything else. All I can say now is to please consider allowing him into the Jedi Order. I know he might not have been raised there, but he's been working his entire life to one day join and become a Knight. One of his first words was Jedi. If you're watching this, then I'm not there to finish his training myself. So all I can ask if for you to take him in and give him a chance to show you what he can do."

The masters all frowned at this. It was unheard of to take in a Jedi hopeful after a certain age. But those were usually candidates that knew nothing of The Force. If Flash had been trained since childhood...

"I pray this message reaches you safely," Grand bowed. "This may be the last you see of me, but I hope things are well with the Jedi. May the Force be with you." With that, the holo-message ended and the Jedi Masters were left to wonder about this boy.

"What do you think?" Skybreaker asked.

"I'm honestly not sure," one of the masters stated. "If this boy had been raised to be a Jedi, then we should at least give him the chance to prove he has what is needed to be one."

"He might have been trained as a Jedi," another master countered. "But he has not lived the life of a Jedi. He has not gone through the trials of the Padawan and is far too old to take them now. He hasn't even made his own Lightsaber. Rebuilding Grand's doesn't count."

"Maybe," Luna looked indecisive. "But it's not like he's had the chance to do so. Being raised on a forest moon most of his life and then who knows how long on Shikoya. If he's really dedicated his life to the Jedi, it would be wrong of us to simply turn him away." She turned to Celestia, "sister? Your thoughts?"

Celestia took a deep breath and tried to think, eventually nodding. "I would like to meet this boy before actually making a decision. There is still much we do not know." She pressed a button on her chair, "do we have anybody waiting for us?"

Marigold's voice replied. "Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor have returned with someone. They seem to be waiting for you."

"Send the boy in." She closed the line and they turned their attention back towards the door, as they waited for this mysterious Padawan to show himself.

And sure enough, the doors opened and he stepped inside. As he did, they took in his appearance and found he was wearing less ragged versions of his former clothes. Gray Jedi pants and a blue Jedi shirt now accommodated him. He was wearing the same boots and now had a pair of black leather bracers around his arms. His hair was now cleaned and he had styled it to try and look as presentable as possible, though they could tell it was already starting to shift back into its normal pointed up appearance.

He stepped into the centre of the room and stood straight, trying to look as Jedi-like as he thought possible.

"Welcome," Celestia told him. "We are the Jedi Council. And you are Flash Sentry? Am I correct?"

"Yes Master," Flash nodded. "Can I just say, it is an honour to meet you all. I've waited my entire life to stand here and ask for your acceptance."

"I see," Celestia nodded before holding up the holo-drive. "Be thankful your master chose to record this message. Without it, we might not have been so keen on meeting you." Flash sighed at this. "The message told us how Grand got onto the Forest Moon you were born on and how he came to train you. But nothing about what happened to him or how you got to Shikoya."

Flash sighed again. "He made that message five years ago. Three years before I left the moon and found my way to that giant oven." He looked sombre. "He...never made it off that moon."

Skybreaker sighed, Celestia and Luna also looking upset whilst Flash stared down in shame. "What happened to him?" Skybreaker then asked, Flash thinking for a moment. Clearly, he was trying to figure out the best way to explain. Then, he seemed to have an idea.

"Would it be possible for me to bring Springer in?"

"The K-9 droid Twilight told us about?" Celestia asked, "what for?"

"Springer was with me when it happened. He has the memory of it stored in his databanks. He could plug into the holo-projector and show you what happened." The Masters shared a look and all nodded, giving Flash permission.

Springer had been outside, Merigold being given a message to let him, Twilight and Shining into the Chamber.

When they did, Flash quickly got to work plugging him into the holo-projector. They were all pretty impressed with his technical skills. If being a Jedi didn't work out, he could have a promising career as a mechanic. "Alright," Flash plugged in the last cable. "You got the day's recordings, bud?"

"Yup," Springer nodded. "Apologies in advance if I failed to record something you wanted to see. A lot was happening and I was trying to keep from getting blown up." Flash activated the projector and a holographic screen appeared, showing images of what had happened that day.

Flash frowned at the sight of his younger self, using his master's Lightsaber. Watching this caused him to remember that day. Remember it vividly.

Over two years ago.

Flash was in a forest clearing. The same forest clearing he had spent every day in training. He swung the normal blue Lightsaber around, Springer standing to the side of the clearing watching as he practised his saber skills. Flash's gaze was focused on perfecting his katra, repeatedly swinging the blade the same way over and over, until the movement was made reflex.

After the hundredth time doing it, he stopped and deactivated the Lightsaber. He then clipped it to his belt and turned to Springer, whose storage opened to allow him to take a towel out of it. Flash quickly began to wipe his face as they made their way back home.

Along the way, Flash and Springer took a short detour. Eventually, they arrived at a small but sizeable field. In the centre of it was was a large three, which Flash stepped up to. As he approached, he saw the large trunk of the tree had a small collection of words burnt into it.

These words were the names of those who had past on, which thankfully was only a small number of people. Most of them were from the initial crash, but others were those that had gotten sick, injured or were simply too old to go on living.

Those individuals had all been cremated, their ashes buried at the base of the tree before their names were inscribed onto the tree's trunk. This place had become somewhere very few people like to spend time, but also a place of remembrance.

Flash arrived at the trunk and two names stuck out, these two one on top of the other with a heart around them.

Flash placed his hand on these names, sighing as he stood there. He tried to come as often as he could, but knew he shouldn't let himself be so attached. A Jedi could not allow his emotions to get the better of them. He remembered how badly he had reacted when it happened. He couldn't let himself lose control like that again.

He remained there for a few minutes, then turned away and headed back towards the settlement. He took several deep breaths as he did, letting the pain of his loss fade from his heart.

Several minutes later, he finally arrived at the only home he had ever known. The remains of the giant space cruiser, that his parents had come to this planet on. It was mostly stripped bare at this point, used to make other devices needed by those trapped on the planet.

It was also surrounded by many buildings, either metal ones constructed from the hull of the ship or wooden ones made from trees that had been cut down and stripped bare.

Flash saw two children running around the village, the teen sidestepping to avoid them. He smiled as they ran off, remembering when one of them's parents got together. Flash had been at their makeshift wedding.

There had been over a hundred people on the cruiser when it crashed. Many of them were couples already, but many others were single and eventually ready to mingle and Flash found he wasn't the youngest member of this community for very much longer.

He and Springer arrived at one of the buildings, which had a large satellite on it, and moved the animal pelt door to look inside. There, a caphex was sitting at a strange device that looked like it had been made out of several pieces of junk. On it was some kind of radar screen, which kept pinging.

"Hey," he smiled, "find anything?"

"No," the caphex replied, "nothing. Like every other day over the last decade and a half."

"Hey," Flash told him, "we'll find someone. This part of the galaxy can't stay abandoned forever. A ship's gonna pass by sooner or later. And when it does, we need to be ready."

The caphex nodded, but clearly didn't think anything was gonna happen. But it seemed the universe was eager to prove him wrong, as in that moment something appeared on the screen. "Wait," he fiddled with the dials, "what was that?" Flash looked closer as well, as the radar pinged again and an image appeared on the screen. "A ship!"

"YES!" Flash smirked, only for the image to disappear. "What's wrong?"

"It must be on the edge of our range," the caphex stated. "If we can just boost the signal." Flash didn't need to be told anymore, he and Springer climbing behind the device and opening a panel.

"You ready bud?" Springer nodded as they got to work, Flash tweaking with some of the circuits. Whilst Springer connected to it and used some of his own power to boost the signal.

"I got 'em!" The caphex cheered. "Sending the signal now." He began transmitting, praying the hip picked it up.

Many people heard the commotion and began to make their way over, wondering what was happening. "They getting it?" They heard Flash ask, the caphex laughing.

"Signal has been received. They know someone's here and calling for them!" He kept watching the screen and his joy increased. "The ship's coming closer. You can stop the boost now. They're close enough." Flash and Springer got out from behind the device and stepped out of the building.

Seeing everyone, he smiled and spoke up. "A ship's just got our signal. They're coming to help us!" People cheered, as Flash looked around. "Anyone know where Grand is? He'll wanna know about this."

"I think he went out to gather food," someone spoke up. Flash nodded as the caphex continued to track the approaching ship. As he did, he noticed more ship suddenly appearing. Their signals were much weaker then the first's.

"I think they're sending smaller ships to comb the planet for us." Sure enough, the larger ship stayed above the planet whilst the smaller ones got in close. As Flash looked up to the sky, he had a curious thought.

"The signal should lead them straight to us. Why send a bunch of ships to search?" They kept watching the sky and eventually, a ship appeared. It was some kind of two man star-fighter, an older looking model based on what Flash had seen in the ship's databanks.

It flew down towards them and as it did, Flash suddenly got a very bad feeling.

"We need to move, now!" The others didn't seem to understand what Flash was saying, wondering why they would move when they could finally get off the planet. "EVERYONE! TAKE COVER!" They might not understand, but they knew to trust in Flash when he got a bad feeling.

And moments later, they understood why. For as the fighter got closer, parts of it opened up and folded out a pair of blasters. The next thing they all knew, lasers were raining down from the sky.

Screams filled the air, as the lasers caused the settlement to start exploding. Some weren't able to escape the blasts and were either killed instantly, or sent flying and killed when they crashed into something. Those individuals would be the lucky ones.

Flash took out his Master's Lightsaber and when deflected the blasts heading to him. Luckily, the laser's weren't too powerful. He was able to keep himself in one piece as Springer rushed over to him. Flash then held out his hand and one of the destroyed shelters was lifted off the ground, then sent hurtling towards the ship.

It smashed into its wing and caused it to spin out of control, eventually crashing into a tree and exploding. But as the wreck fell to the ground, more ships began to show up.

Springer climbed onto Flash's back and once he was secure, the teenage Jedi rushed after the other surviving members of his settlement. But the ships kept blasting at them and many others were gunned down.

Several ships shot past and flew in the direction they were running, clearly planning to cut them off. "Why are they attacking us?" Springer asked, as they barely managed to avoid getting crushed by a shot down try.

"I don't know!" Flash cried, hating himself at that moment for making the signal reach that ship. Another explosion then forced Flash to back-track a few feet and run in a different direction, leading to them being separated form the others.

They ran as fast as they could and the ships weren't appearing to follow them, Flash taking this chance to stop and catch his breath. He panted, as more explosions and screams filled his ears. He couldn't stand that sound and wanted to cover his ears, but another sound stopped him from doing so.

A twig snapped and he spun around, his eyes going wide seeing a figure in dark blue armor marching towards him.

The armor appeared insectoid in appearance, a pair of mandibles coming off the cheeks that appeared to be for show. They were carrying black laser rifle, which they quickly pointed at Flash. But Flash already had the Lightsaber at the ready and as soon as it fired, he deflected it away and charged forward.

"RAAAAH!" Flash could feel his anger welling up inside of him, the teen deflecting another blast as he got in range. He then cut the end of the blaster off and the attacker staggered back, tripping over a rock and falling to the ground.

Flash pointed his Lightsaber at the armored individual, looking ready to impale it through the chest. He could feel his anger growing stronger, but took a deep breath and pulled the blade back. The figure was surprised. "I'm not a murderer. Not like you!" He turned away from him, the figure picking itself up and pulling a knife out from behind it.

It charged at him, but Flash spun around and cut his arm off.

The figure screamed and Flash pushed him back with The Force, smashing its head into a tree and knocking him out. "I'm not a murderer. Doesn't mean I won't defend myself if needs be." But as he said that, more noise filled the air and signalled the approaching of someone else.

Flash readied his blade and as he did, he found more of those armored individuals stepping out from behind several trees. They were all pointing their blasters at him and Flash realised he couldn't deflect them all. And he couldn't throw this many individuals back.

One of them fired and Flash barely managed to deflect the laser back, as the others opened fire. The teen quickly found himself overwhelmed, as the lasers flew towards him. He deflected as many as he could, but one finally hit him in the leg. "AUGH!" He staggered back and clutched his leg, as another fired at him.

He tried to deflect, but the pain in his leg made him miss and the blast hit the end of his saber's hilt.

"GYAH!" Flash was forced to drop the Lightsaber, the laser vanishing whilst the hilt fell to the ground and smoked. Flash could barely believe what he saw, whilst the others prepared to kill him. Flash closed his eye, preparing to become one with The Force.

But just as they fired, the soldiers suddenly found themselves spinning and pointing their weapons at each other. As such, the lasers flew around the forest and hit the suited figures, their armor doing nothing to protect them as they all fell to the ground.

Flash was surprised by this, but then heard more movement. "Flash!" He spun around and gasped at the sight of his master, Grand Hoof running towards him and frowning. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Flash nodded, "we're good." But then he looked down at his master's weapon and picked it up, a look of shame apparent on his face as he saw the damage done. "I'm sorry. Your Lightsaber..."

Grand saw the destroyed weapon and frowned, clearly knowing that surviving this attack wasn't gonna be easy without it. "It's okay. Losing your Lightsaber is practically a Jedi rite of passage. I certainly needed to rebuilt mine a few times. And it doesn't look too bad. Just the emitter and beam containment. Those shouldn't be too hard to fix."

Flash nodded and hissed as he held his leg, the burn he had gotten from the laser blast stinging like heck.

"You sure you can walk with that?" Grand asked. Flash nodded as Springer asked to get down, Flash letting him off his back. Springer quickly scanned his leg and determined it was only a flesh wound, but suggested cleaning it up to avoid infection.

Grand nodded and picked Flash up, carrying him bridal style as Springer floated behind them. He also used The Force to summon two of the blasters, which floated behind them as they made their way to a stream that was used to gather water.

By some miracle, they didn't run into any more soldiers along the way and Flash explained what had happened. "It wasn't you fault," Grand told him as they reached the stream. "Did you know they were gonna attack us?"

"No."

"Then you were right to summon them. This was the risk we all agreed to when we built the transmitter." He used the water to clean Flash's laser wound and ripped some of his cloak in order to bandage it up. "Listen, we need to get off this planet."

"How?"

"Those soldiers didn't just appear. They had to have landed somewhere. And since they won't be using them anymore, we can make our escape with their fighters." Flash nodded and once Grand was finished wrapping his wound, they began to make their way through the forest. Flash could walk, though his leg still strung. But he was a Jedi and could tune out the pain when needed.

They eventually ran into more soldiers, forcing them to take cover behind trees and rocks. The pair nodded, Flash making sure his blaster was ready. They then leapt out and started firing, hitting the villains before they could fire back.

Flash realised this was the first time he had taken a life, but he didn't get the chance to think about it. He was quickly forced to keep running, as more of these armored figures attacked.

They ran and shot and eventually outran the remaining soldiers, as they spotted what they were looking for up ahead.

One of their fighters was just sitting there, completely unguarded and just waiting to be taken. "It'll need an activation code," Grand replied. "Springer, think you can hack into it?"

"I'll try," Springer agreed as they ran up to the ship. Flash carried him up into it and opened the cockpit, placing Springer in the pilot's seat and seeing the other seat behind it. It was gonna be a squeeze for the three of them.

As Springer hacked into the ship, more explosions caught their attention and they looked ahead to see several soldiers were approaching. "Flash! We gotta give Springer time!" Flash nodded and jumped down, the pair beginning to open fire and avoiding the incoming lasers.

But with every shot, their blasters drew closer to running out.

Flash leapt behind a tree and waiting for an opening, then fired whilst Grand used The Force to push several of them back. There seemed to be no end to them, but eventually they stopped coming.

Flash took a deep breath, glad that was finally over. "Springer, how much longer?"

"Almost done. Just need another minute." They nodded and kept an eye out for any more soldier, but it appeared they were all gone. However, Grand could sense someone close by and moving even closer.

It wasn't until the presence was right on top of them, that Grand managed to pick up where they were and spun towards them. But as he did, the figure leapt out of the bushes and pointed a blaster at Flash. "NO!" Grand reacted on reflex and grabbed Flash with The Force, throwing him out of the way. But as he did, the assailant fired and the laser flew past Flash and hit him in the chest. "Augh!"

Flash hit the ground and saw his master receive a deadly strike to the chest.

Time seemed to slow down, as the attacker fired three more times and hit Grand in the chest, arm and stomach. Grand fell to his knees, but raised his own blaster and fired into the attacker's chest. The soldier cried out as he staggered back, Grand firing two more times before his strength gave out.

Flash picked himself up off the ground and saw the two fall to the ground, "NOOOO!" He got up and rushed to his master's side, "Grand Hoof!" He sat him up, but Grand gasped in pain as he did. "Hold on. You...you're gonna be alright. Just stay with me!"

"No," Grand shook his head, "this is it for me. My time in this form has ended. Now, I will become one with The Force!"

"NO!" Flash cried, tears beginning to fill his eyes. "Please don't go!"

"I have no choice," Grand told him. "Now, you have to go. More soldiers will arrive eventually. You have to get off the planet before it's too late." Flash shook his head. "Do you still have the holo-drive I gave you?" Flash nodded, "good. Go the Canterlot and give it to the Council. I'm sure they'll take you in and help you complete your training, with a new master."

"I don't want a new master!" Flash yelled, as Grand smiled.

"Remember the first rule I taught you. Don't be attached to the master, but to the lesson." Sounds began to fill the air. Someone was coming. "You have to leave, now!" Flash stood up and tried to pick his master up, carrying him to the ship. But he was too heavy and Flash's leg still wasn't one hundred percent. "GO!" Grand pushed him away and wheezed as he did so. He fell to the ground and the light was beginning to leave his eyes. "You will be a great Jedi one day." With that, he went still and Flash could only stare at him.

Springer, though sad for the loss, knew they had to leave. "Flash, come on!"

Flash finally nodded and got up, rushing up to the ship and climbing into the cockpit. He moved Springer to the back seat and sat down, as he looked around. "How the heck am I supposed to fly this thing?"

"Just follow my instructions," Springer replied as he plugged into the rear controls. He managed to get the engines going and told Flash which buttons to press, the ship's power booting up as the thrusters began to fire. "Alright, the leaver to your left is currently at ten percent power. Slowly push it forward to increase that power."

Flash grabbed the leaver and slowly did as Springer told him, resulting in the ship taking off. As it did, Springer retracted the legs and the fighter flew higher and higher up. Once it was above the trees, Springer told Flash to grab the joystick between his legs and push it forwards. He did so and the ship suddenly shot forwards, Flash and Springer being pushed into their seats by the speed.

"WOOOOOO!" Flash couldn't help screaming, as the ship shot through the air. Springer began explaining what everything else could do, Flash quickly understanding. But before he could try and do any tricks, more ships suddenly appeared.

"Oh geez," Springer gulped. "I just got a message. They're asking why we've taken off." Flash didn't like that. "I don't think we're gonna be able to trick them."

"So what do we do?"

"We gotta either outrun them or...destroy them." Flash nodded and pushed the joystick forwards, increasing the fighter's speed to its max.

The other ships soon followed behind and began to catch up, looking ready to lock their weapons on him. But Flash quickly spun the ship onto its side and pulled back on the joystick, causing the fighter to pull away and change direction. The other ships followed suit, but this distance allowed Flash to fly over to a bunch of mountains in the distance.

He started swerving around them, Springer needing to use his magnet clamps to keep from being thrown about. "How are you doing this?"

"I have no idea!" Flash cried, as the ships followed him into the mountains and tried to fire on him. But he swerved around one of the peaks and found himself behind the approaching ships. "Guns!" Springer activated them and started firing the lasers, which struck one of the ships and made it explode.

The other ship followed Flash's advantage and flew around a mountain, getting behind him and opening fire.

Flash began swerving around the mountains, using them to avoid the lasers. He then flew straight down towards the ground and the attacker followed suit, the pair picking up speed as the ground got closer and closer.

"Flash?" Springer asked, "pull up!" Flash didn't, as the other ship was waiting for him to do that and leave himself open. "Pull up!" But he remained on target, "PULL UP!" The other ship took his advice and pulled up, but that was what Flash wanted.

The fighter's guns were on the top, which meant the only place to shoot from was when level or below the target. As such, Flash pulled up and also fired, the lasers unloading into the ship above. This caused it to explode, but Flash's fighter barely managed to change direction before hitting the ground.

Once they were back in the air, Flash pushed his ship to its limit to speed up towards the atmosphere. As he did, he looked back at the forest moon he had called his home his entire life. He said goodbye to his parents, to his master and to the many friends he had grown up with.

Realising he never figured out what had happened to the others, he suddenly hated himself even more. This feeling meant that when he left the planet's atmosphere, he barely noticed the great majesty of space.

"Flash!" He blinked and as he did, he realised he couldn't be lost his his own thoughts. He had just flown into the path of a massive black ship, which was staring at him like an angry whale ready to swallow him whole. "We have to get out of here."

"How?"

"This ship has a hyperdrive. But using it will take all our fuel."

"Can it get us to Canterlot?"

"No. But there is another planet that's inhabited in range. We might be able to get more fuel there."

"Do it!"

"Plotting a course!" But as he said that, the larger ship seemed to realise something was wrong and began pointing its guns at them. "LOOK OUT!" Flash pulled the ship away, seconds before the mother-ship fired. He barely managed to avoid getting a wing blown off, as he flew away from the ship.

The mother-ship began to pursue, sending out several more fighters to give chase. "Springer!" Flash cried, as his droid continue to set a course. He zoomed to the left, then to the right, then did a barrel roll to avoid the other fighters.

"Almost...got it!" Springer cried, as they levelled out. "We're ready. Punch it!" Flash grabbed the hyperdrive leaver but as he pushed it, one of the ships fired a laser that was dead on target.

As such, as the ship was pushed into hyperspace, one of its wings was struck. This didn't affect it in hyperspace, but when it came out Flash would have next to no control. They barely managed to make it to the desert planet, but lost control as they flew down into the atmosphere. They crashed into the desert and it was a miracle neither of them were hurt.

They would spend the next week marching through the desert, barely surviving with the limited food and water the fighter's storage had had. Flash had also gather all the spare parts from the fighter that he could carry, eventually using them to repair his master's Lightsaber. Alas, he had had to reconfigure the beam in order to work for the parts he had.

That was how Flash came to be stranded on Shikoya, forced to wait over two years before he met Twilight and Shining and could finally leave. But now, his future seemed uncertain.

Flash shut down the holo-projector, having shown the Jedi what he had wanted them to see.

Silence filled the chamber, as the masters let themselves absorb everything they had seen from Springer's memories. Flash then looked over at Twilight and Shining, both staring at him with very different looks. Twilight was giving him a look of pity, clearly feeling sorry for Flash and everything he had gone through. Shining, meanwhile, stared at him with a look Flash couldn't quite read.

Finally, Celestia spoke up. "Well, you've certainly been through a lot in your young age."

Flash nodded as he stepped into the centre of the room. "I know you have very little reason to let me into the order. All I can do is ask you to give me a chance to prove myself." The masters stared at him with a variety of expressions. Some looked willing to give him this chance. Others did not, whilst the rest looked unsure.

"Twilight," Celestia turned to her apprentice, "please take young Sentry and his droid to the Padawan quarters." The other masters looked at her in shock. "Until we decide whether or not to allow him to stay, he will remain in the temple. If we do decide to let him join us, it's best he get to know the other Padawans right away." Twilight nodded and gestured for Flash to follow her, he and Springer leaving the room to the Masters and single Knight.

Once they were gone, Luna turned to her sister. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking this is a very unusual situation we're in." Celestia turned to Shining. "You saw him in battle. How different was he then from what he saw of him two years ago?"

Shining remembered the fight they had with the droids and nodded. "He was highly skilled, through it's clear he's only been taught one form of Lightsaber combat."

"I noticed that too," Skybreaker nodded. "Grand was a good Jedi, but his skills were more in The Force than in Lightsaber combat. He only ever mastered the form one style of Shii-Cho. Flash is gonna find himself in trouble if that's the only Lightsaber technique he knows."

"The boy might have been trained from birth," a master stated. "But one teacher is not enough to help a youngling grow ready to take the Padawan trials. There's a reason Knights only take apprentices once they've reached a certain age."

"But what would you have him do?" Another master asked. "This boy has spent his entire life working to join us. You can see how dedicated he is to the course. Should we really deny him this chance? His strength with the Force cannot be ignored."

"And this is Grand Hoof's final request," Luna stated. "He had faith in this boy. To say no to this would almost feel like we're dishonouring him."

Celestia let all this sink in and realised they weren't going to make a decision right now. "I suggest we convene for the day and meditate on this decision. Tomorrow, we'll vote on whether we should give this boy a chance to become a Jedi. Is that agreed?" They nodded and the council got up out of their chairs, many of the masters heading out of the room.

The only ones that stayed behind were Celestia, Luna and Shining. Celestia turned towards one of the windows and stared out at the city around them, an upset look upon her face. "Those soldiers that attacked Flash were a group I've never seen before."

"What do you think they were after?" Shining asked. "Attacking a bunch of standard civilians like that is unheard of. They weren't doing anything wrong, so why did they just open fire like that?"

"I don't know," Celestia frowned. "But this happened over two years ago. The fact that there haven't been any sight of them since then is worrying. They're clearly working in secret, waiting for the right moment."

"You think they might be planning a large scale attack?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Celestia repeated. "We don't know anything about them. And until we learn something about them, all we can do is guess. And I don't like making guesses."

Luna nodded. "If we knew where that moon was, it might help us find something about them. But there's nothing we can use to start investigating."

Celestia frowned, getting a feeling that this group of assailants were going to be dangerous in the future. But Luna was right, they had no way of investigating them. "The holo-projector recorded what Springer projected through it. We should send the recording to the archives and have them get the best image they can find of these soldiers. We can then send that image to all the Jedi outposts and tell them to keep an eye out for them."

"Very well," Luna nodded as she took the projector and headed out. This just left Shining and Celestia alone.

"Is there anything you want of me, Master Celestia?"

"Yes," she turned to him. "If the boy is allowed to enter the Order, he will need a master to train him in the ways of the Jedi." Shining's eyes went wide. "You have seen his skills already and have been made aware of his backstory and situation. You would be an excellent teacher for him."

"Master Celestia," Shining looked a little unsure how he was supposed to answer her. "With all due respect, I'm not teaching material. Taking on an apprentice was never my plan."

"One often meets his destiny or the road he takes to avoid it," Celestia pointed out. "Would taking on an apprentice really be that hard?" Shining frowned. "Besides, most of the job has already been done for you. Grand Hoof taught Flash everything a normal Padawan would need to learn from their teacher. All you would need to do is look out for him whilst he puts what he learned into practise."

Shining let that info sink in, "can you give me some time to think about it?"

"Of course. I'm not forcing you into anything. If you don't wish to train him, we will try and find another Master to take him. However, Flash is much too old to take part in the tournament. If there are no masters willing to take him, he may not be allowed to become a Padawan."

Shining had a feeling she was trying to guilt trip him, but he wouldn't let that get to him. If he did take this teen on, it would have to be because Flash was worthy of him. If he was gonna become a teacher, it was going to be to a Padawan who could become one of the strongest Jedi in the order.

Flash, Twilight and Springer continued to make their way through the temple.

As they journeyed towards the Padawan sector, Twilight began pointing out parts of the Temple that Flash would need to become familiar with. "Down there are the archives," Twilight pointed. "If there's anything you wanna know about our history, it'll be found in there."

"Got it," Flash nodded as they kept walking. As he did, he couldn't help but glance over at her. This, of course, was something Twilight noticed.

"If you wanna ask something, ask it."

"Sorry," Flash scratched the back of his head. "It's just...you and Master Celestia are the same species, right?"

"Yes. We're both equestrians. Why?"

"Well...why does she and her sister have wings whilst...you don't."

"Oh," Twilight nodded. "I see. Well, equestrians come in multiple different types." She corrected her glasses. "Every equestrian is especially attuned to the force. Not in the same way a Jedi is, but they're still connected to it. And each type of equestrian can use that connection in a different way. My brother and I are Magi Equestrians. We're able to use our horn to channel the force in different ways. Not only can we lift objects easier, we can also shoot lasers or rebuild objects."

"Really?" Flash was surprised by this.

"Yup. What usually take Jedi years to accomplish, we're able to master by the time we hit double digits."

"Huh. Cool. What about the others?"

"Avians can fly and walk on clouds. Then there are the terrans, who are able to use the force in order to increase their physical strength."

"What about Master Celestia and Luna?" Flash asked, only to then remember the woman he had met earlier. "And that...Cadance woman."

"They're Omnies," Twilight stated. "That's a very rare breed of equestrian, who have the powers of all three equestrians in one. It's not really know how Omnies come into existence. Celestia and Luna were born that way and Cadance evolved into one, but how she did it isn't public knowledge."

Flash nodded as they continued through the temple, Twilight continuing to show him the many parts of it that he would need to know about.

Then, as they turned a corner, something suddenly came flying at them and tackled the purple Equestrian. "TWILIGHT!" Flash leapt back, reaching for his Lightsaber only to remember he didn't have it. "You're back."

Twilight let out a chuckle, using the force to pull her attacker off her. "Hello Pinkie." Flash stared at the girl and saw she was some kind of alien he didn't recognise. Her skin was pink and looked like it was made out of silly putty, whist her hair was a bunch of pinkie smoke that looked like it was a giant mass of curls.

"Twilight!" He then heard another voice call out, making them look around and see four other individuals heading towards them. Two of these individuals were human, one being a blue skinned girl with rainbow coloured hair, whilst the other was yellow skinned girl with flowing pink hair. Next to them were two alien girls whose species Flash was also unaware of.

One was a white skinned girl with purple hair, looking almost human. However, her eyes were strangely cat-like whilst her ears were pointed.

Next to her was a tall orange skinned girl, with blonde hair who had a pair of cow horns on the side of her head above a pair of black cow ears. Each of these girls were dressed in a different manor, though most of them had a Lightsaber strapped to their belts. The blue girl had two whilst the horned girl had what appeared to be a bladeless axe on her back.

"We heard you had returned," the cat eared girl smiled before they all noticed Flash. "And who's your new friend?"

"This is Flash," Twilight replied before turning to Flash. "And these are my fellow Padawans. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack."

"Hey," Flash told them. "Nice to meet yah."

"You too," Rainbow nodded before seeing Springer. "Hey, cool droid. He yours?" Flash nodded, as the girl named Fluttershy knelt down and started scratching him like he was a real dog.

"He's cute," she smiled as Springer seemed a little confused.

"Flash will be staying with us for a while," Twilight told everyone. "It's a long story, but he might be joining us as a Jedi Padawan." That took the five by surprise, "I'll explain later." She kept walking and the others followed, eventually arriving at an area of the temple where the Jedi Padawans resided.

As they did, they past a window and Flash looked out to see a bunch of young children of multiple races playing in a courtyard. Some were running around, others were moving objects with the force and more were training with what he assumed were practise Lightsabers.

Twilight noticed him staring at them and realised what he was thinking. "If you hadn't been trapped on that moon, you probably would have spent your childhood playing down there with the rest of us."

"It's fine," Flash assured her. "I'm not going to worry about what might have been. What matters is what has happened and what will happen. That's all I care about." Twilight nodded, knowing that kind of thinking was what being a Jedi was all about.

They continued through the area of the temple until they finally arrived at an empty Padawan room. "This is where you'll be staying," she opened up the room and allowed Flash to step inside. The place was pretty spartan, having nothing but a bed, table and chair.

Flash stepped inside and Springer followed, the teen sitting down upon the bed and nodding. It wasn't anything great, but compared to the beds Flash had grown up with it was perfect. "Thanks."

Twilight nodded as she pointed towards a wall. "There's an electric outlet there. Springer can plug himself in and recharge himself if he needs to."

"Great," Springer nodded, "thanks a lot." The girls nodded and left Flash to get some rest. Even though he didn't look it, Twilight could tell he was exhausted. As the door closed, Flash laid down and let everything that had happened finally sink in.

"We made it, bud. We're finally at the Jedi Temple."

"Yeah," Springer nodded, "but do you think we'll get to stay? Some of those Jedi didn't look too keen on letting you join them."

"All we can do is hope. The Force led us to running into Twilight and Shining Armor. It wouldn't have done that if we weren't gonna become part of the Jedi Order." They pair remained there and let the exhaustion of the two days he had been awake finally catch up with him. He let out a yawn, whilst Springer went into sleep mode and plugged himself in to recharge his battery pack.

The next day.

The council had once again convened to decide whether or not Flash Sentry should be allowed to join the order. As they all sat down, Celestia began the meeting. "Alright. We've had time to think about this. I have also been meditating about it and made my own decision. Now it is time for us to place it in stone." Each of them took out a tablet.

There were twelve members on the council and each of them would secretly cast their vote. Flash would need at least seven Masters to acknowledge him if he wanted to become a member of the Order.

Each Master cast their vote and located in the decision. Once the last one had made their choice, most placed their tablets down and Celesta nodded to them all. "Okay, time to reveal whether Flash stays or not." Luna pressed a button on her tablet and a hologram appeared in front of them. It was two numbers, one in red and one in blue. If the blue number was higher, Flash could stay. If red was higher...he couldn't.

Speaking of Flash, Twilight had gotten him up that morning and the pair had arrived at the Jedi canteen.

Droids were currently serving a selection of different foods, the Jedi getting the type of breakfast they liked best. Flash and Twilight joined the line, Flash getting many looks from the Padawans that clearly didn't know him. He couldn't help but feel a little self conscious about that, but did his best to ignore them as he got the food.

Having spent most of his life eating food that had been gathered or hunted, then two years eating whatever he could afford on Shikoya, Flash stared at the strange food Twilight had recommended. Apparently, it was something called cereal and some strange white stuff that was apparently milk.

"Twilight!" They heard Pinkie's voice and looked over to see the girls Flash had met the previous day. They were sitting a bunch of young kids who appeared to be around ten or eleven.

They moved over to them and sat down, the younger kids staring at Flash. "You're that guy that's trying to get into the Order?" One of the girls asked, being an orange skinned human with purple hair.

"Yeah," Flash nodded.

"Scootaloo," Fluttershy told the girl. "Be nice. He would have already been in the Order if he hadn't been stranded on a moon." The girl named Scootaloo looked embarrassed.

"Sorry."

"It's fine," he told her. "The name's Flash Sentry."

"I'm Scootaloo!" The girl replied before the ones next to her spoke up.

"I'm Sweetie Belle," a white skinned cat girl like Rarity stated

"And I'm Applebloom," a yellow cowgirl like Applejack called out.

The last member of the group was a purple boy, who appeared to be some kind of humanoid lizard. He had a human face, but it was covered in scales. He had green spikes on the top of his head, which appeared to be running down his back and disappeared beneath his clothes before coming out on his tail. "I'm Spike," he introduced himself.

Flash nodded as he began to eat his breakfast. He found the milk tasted just like the milk he had grown up with, though the others had given him a funny look when he asked why it wasn't pink. As he ate, he learned that Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie and Applebloom were all Jedi younglings. None of them had been cleared to take the trails of the Padawan or had their own Lightsabers yet.

Flash went on to tell them some of his own story, many sharing their pity when he explained how he got off his birth world.

By the time he finished his story, they had all finished their breakfast and were preparing to begin their day. Flash wondered what he was supposed to do, but in that moment Twilight's wrist started beeping.

Holding it up, Flash saw some kind of bracelet on her wrist that she pressed a button on. Doing so caused a holographic screen to appear above it with Celestia's face. "Twilight, is Flash with you?" She nodded, "can you please bring him to the master's tower. We've made a decision concerning him."

Flash gulped at this and as Twilight hung up, he finally felt his nerves beginning to build. "Don't worry," she told him. "Even if they don't let you join the Order, they won't just abandon you. They'll help you find a place in the universe."

"I hope you're right." Flash let Twilight lead him through the temple, the place still a confusing maze to him, eventually leading to the Jedi Council Chambers.

"Good luck," Twilight told him before he stepped inside. He really wished he hadn't left Springer in his chambers right now, the teen seeing the twelve Jedi Masters staring at him.

"Flash Sentry," Celestia announced. "We have considered your situation and voted one what we should do. And the results were...a dead split."

"Huh?"

"It was a perfect six vs six," Luna stated. "Half the council wanted you to join and half wanted you to leave." Flash frowned, wondering which ones that was. "Normally, the leader of the council would break the tie. But we had another idea. A test."

"A test?"

"You're too old to take the trials of the Padawan," Celestia explained. "But we've decided to test you and see if you would pass the trials. There will be three tests and if you can pass all three of them, you will be allowed to enter the Order."

"Great," Flash smirked, "when do I get started?" The Masters smiled, either liking his confidence or thinking his arrogance would do him in.

"You start right now," Celestia told him.

Flash was sitting in a small room, a tablet sitting on the desk in front of him.

Flash gulped, seeing the test he was going to have to take. "Is this really necessary?" He asked Celestia, who was the only other person in the room with him.

"Of course," she nodded. "One of the most important parts of being a Jedi, is adhering to the Jedi Code. All younglings must prove they can recite it before they are able to move on to the rank of Padawan." She pushed the tablet towards him. "You will be asked a series of questions based on the Jedi Code and will have to answer them with direct quotes from the code itself. If even one word is out of line, that question will count as a fail."

"I see," Flash sighed.

"I know this seems harsh, but it's the only way to determine if you're capable of joining us. Most younglings start learning this by the time they can walk. I understand if you don't think you can do it."

"No," Flash told her. "I'm going to pass this test." Celestia smiled and stepped back, sitting at her own desk as an electronic timer began to count down.

"You may begin." Flash instantly started reading the questions and after a few moments, began typing his responses. Celestia watched, wondering just how well he would do if he had never even seen the code before.

A few hours later, Luna, Skybreaker and even Shining Armor arrived at the room and found Celestia outside of it staring at the tablet.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked. "Did he not do well on the test?" Celestia didn't reply and instead, simply showed them Flash's score. They stared at the tablet and saw it read a seventy nine. "I see," Luna nodded. "He passed. Why do you look so shocked?"

"Think about it," Celestia told them. "Most Padawans spend hours studying the Jedi Code. And the only digital record of that code is kept in our archives."

Skybreaker was the one that realised what she was shocked about. "He shouldn't have been able to read it."

"Exactly. The only way he could know all of the Jedi Codes is if Grand recited it to him. Grand was always a strong believer in the code and could state it without even needing to think. But the fact that this boy was able to remember so much of the code, simply from what Grand told him, is incredible."

"Yeah," Shining nodded. "And Grand died two years ago. So either Flash has a photographic memory..."

"Or this boy continued to recite the code from memory on his own," Luna gasped. "That's incredible."

Celestia nodded. "If Flash had some actual tutelage with the Education Core, I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to get a one hundred percent score the next time he did this test."

"Well either way," Skybreaker nodded. "He did pass the test, so I guess we'll be moving on to the next." The others nodded, as Celestia opened the door and asked Flash to come out.

When he did, they lead him to an open courtyard. Except it had a bunch of odd shapes littered around the place. "Your next task will be to show us you control over The Force," Celestia told him. "Shining already mentioned how you're able to use it to see without seeing, which in of itself is a rather advanced technique. But this test should give us a better understanding of your control."

"Okay," Flash stepped forward, "what do you want me to do?"

"It's quite simple," Luna told him. "We want you to lift these blocks with The Force, then place them together to make a perfect cube in the allotted time." Flash spun around, seeing the many different shapes.

"Okay," he nodded, "I'll try. Never was a lot of good at puzzles though." He raised his hands and took a deep breath, as Shining and the Masters watched him beginning to focus.

"What do you think?" Skybreaker asked the others.

"The kid was able to stop laser fire," Shining pointed out. "I don't think this'll be all much harder." And sure enough, one of the blocks were lifted off the ground. The block was almost as big as him and just as heavy. Lifting it wasn't something a novice would be able to do.

Then, a second block was lifted into the air. This was followed by a third block, then a fourth.

They were amazed by this, though it seemed that was the limit Flash had as he brought them over. But they were curious whether it was a matter of weight or divided focus.

Flash stared at the pieces and tried fitting two together. When it didn't work, he pulled them apart and tried one with another piece. This seemed to fit into place and Flash nodded, especially when the pieces clicked together. He put the combined pieces down and lifted another two pieces, using them with the original two.

It was a slow process, but bit by bit he managed to place more and more blocks together. He then started combining some of the linked up pieces together, slowly building up the main body. But his time was running out.

"Come on," Flash groaned as two of the combined pieces refused to go together. "I know you go together. Come on." The others frowned, seeing Flash was starting to panic and lose his cool. They expected Flash to maybe throw the pieces down in frustration any minute.

But instead, Flash stopped and put the pieces down. He then took a deep breath, calming himself down.

"Grand clearly helped him learn to control his temper," Skybreaker looked impressed. They watched as Flash then lifted the pieces again, this time spinning them around to take a closer look.

"Oh, I get it." He removed one of the three pieces that made up that section and was able to connect it to another second. Then he returned the removed piece and they clicked together perfectly.

Flash's time was running out, but he remained calm and kept trying out the different floating pieces until, finally, they snapped together and formed a perfect cube.

"YES!" He lowered the cube and Celestia inspected it, wanting to make sure Flash didn't leave out any parts. But it really was all together and she couldn't help but smile.

"Well done. You not only had the dexterity with The Force to build this, but when things got tricky you were able to stay calm and look at the situation from a different angle." Flash smiled back, "you've passed this test."

"Hahaa!" Flash pumped his fist, only to see Celestia get serious.

"However, your final test will likely be the toughest one yet." Flash stood to attention again. "It'll take a little while to set it up, so why don't you take a break and centre yourself. You'll need your energy for this final trial." Flash nodded as the Masters left, leaving Shining to keep an eye on him.

The two made their way through the temple until they were once again in the cafeteria, which was beginning to fill up with Jedi looking to refuel themselves after a hard day of training.

The pair grabbed something, Flash getting to enjoy his first ever burger whilst Shining had chosen soup.

"Don't go eating too many of those," Shining could see Flash was enjoying it. "You really need to put some skin on your bones, but you need to have a proper diet if you wanna be able to do the work of a Jedi."

"I know that," Flash assured him. "But you try spending two years eating the cheapest food you can find on a planet that can't grow vegetables and has barely any animals living on it to use for meat." Shining had to admit, he had a point.

They ate and as they did, Flash looked around. "Looking for someone?"

"I figured Twilight and the others would be here." Shining looked around and realised his sister and her friends weren't there.

"Probably doing their Core work." Flash raised an eyebrow at this, not knowing what he meant by that. "They'll probably get something to eat when they have the time. But you need to focus on your upcoming trials. I don't know what Celestia has planned, but she's gonna wanna push you to the limit. If you become a Jedi, you'll be trusted with protecting the lives of many others. If you can't handle a fight, you'll be putting yourself and others in danger."

"I know," Flash nodded. "And yeah, I didn't get to do much practising over the last two years. But I'm gonna give this test everything I've got." Shining nodded, as the pair finished their meal. When they did, Shining's bracelet beeped like Twilight's had.

"Looks like everything's ready," he read a message sent over the hologram screen. "Hope you're ready." Flash nodded and the pair left the dining room, once again making their way through the temple until they arrived at an area Flash hadn't been too before. "This is the main training area. Once Younglings are promoted to Padawans, we bring them here to train for the dangers of the galaxy."

"How?" Flash asked, as they walked through a hallway with several doors on either side of them.

"You'll see," Shining smirked as they arrived at their destination. The door in front of them opened and they stepped into a large room, with many strange consoles on the walls. On far end of the room was a large glass wall, with a door leading into another room.

Celestia, Luna and Skybreaker were there, but they weren't alone.

"What are you girls doing here?" Flash asked Twilight, as she, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie were there.

"We're not sure," Twilight replied. "Master Celestia summoned us here." Flash raised an eyebrow and turned to the Jedi Master, who smiled as she stepped forwards.

"This is your final test," she gestured to the six girls. "A test of your Lightsaber ability. Because though Jedi are keepers of peace, we are not afraid to fight for it when the need falls upon us."

Flash turned to the six, shocked by what she was saying. "You mean I have to fight the six of them?"

"Not at the same time," Luna assured him. "You will face each of them individually. How you fair against their different styles of combat will help us determine your overall skill."

"Oh," Flash nodded, "cool. I think I can do that."

"So we get to fight this guy?" Rainbow asked, the masters nodding. "Awesome! I wanna go first!"

"Actually," Celestia smiled, "we've already determined the order you will face him. And Rarity will be the first to challenge him." Rarity nodded.

"I understand," she bowed. "I will do my best to make you proud." The masters nodded as Rarity unclipped her Lightsaber and handed it to Luna. When she did, Flash noticed the design of the handle was rather elegant in appearance. It was silver, with a black section in the middle. Not what Flash thought of when he imagined a weapon used by the normally simplistic Jedi.

Luna placed the weapon into a slot within the console, then took out Flash's own blade. He watched as the weapon was also placed in a slot, as a door opened up and Celestia gestured for them to enter.

Flash followed Rarity into a white room with gridlines, the pairs standing on opposite sides of the room as Flash looked around. "So...what are we supposed to do here?" It was then that the gridlines began to glow before the light filled the entire room, blinding Flash for a moment. When it faded, the pair were in a stone room with wooden benches lining it. "What the..."

"This is the temples holodeck training room," Rarity stated. "It allows Jedi to train in many different environments, without needing to worry about getting hurt."

"But how are we supposed to fight without our-" Flash stopped as a light suddenly shined in front of him, his Lightsaber appearing out of it when it faded. Rarity's Lightsaber had also appeared and the girl took it, activating it to summon a blue blade. "Also a hologram?"

"Yes," Rarity nodded. She then raised her arm and sliced her Lightsaber through it, her hand exploding as she did. "When these holosabers cut off a piece, the room removes that part. You still have it, but can't perceive it." Another flash appeared and her hand returned, the girl grasping her blade with both as she got into a battle stance.

Flash smirked, liking this way of training. He took his own sword and activated it, the pair staring each other down as Celestia's voice called out through the loud speaker. "The battle will end when one of you surrenders, is disarmed or incapacitated. Are you both ready?" They nodded and Flash took a battle stance, everyone watching as he took the basic beginners stance.

"Oh man," Rainbow smirked. "Rarity's gonna crush this guy."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Twilight stated. "Flash is anything but a newb."

Celestia nodded and turned back to the two. "Alright...BEGIN!" As soon as she said that, the two ran towards one another.

Flash was the first to attack, swinging his blade down to try and overpower Rarity. But Rarity managed to block with her own blade and used it to shift the direction of Flash's, his momentum causing him to stagger to the side as Rarity did some fancy footwork in order to move a safe distance away.

Flash quickly regained his balance and turned towards Rarity, who remained in a defensive stance and she began to circle the room and force Flash to follow her movement.

"I can see why you chose Rarity to go first," Shining nodded. "Her skill with form two is second to none amongst the Padawans. With Flash only knowing form one, he'll have a hard time against the form that was made to replace it."

"Maybe," Skybreaker nodded, "but form one does have its benefits. Especially with Flash's blade." The teen rushed forward and started attacking Rarity, who danced around the room showing incredible footwork. It was almost like a ballerina, Rarity's feet barely touching the ground as she moved.

Meanwhile, Flash was keeping up with her. He was fast, able to quickly recover whenever he was thrown off balance. He knew that if he let Rarity get on the offensive, he would be out of this fight.

"Shii-Cho was developed before the creation of the Lightsaber," Skybreaker stated as Flash leapt into the air and slashed his sword downwards. Rarity dodged the attack and finally went on the attack, thrusting her sword like it was a fencing saber.

Flash leaned back and the sword missed his chest, allowing him to swing his blade up and knocked the Lightsaber away. Rarity was also knocked staggering and Flash used the opening it gave him to attack, Rarity spinning around and barely blocking his strike. But the impact of Flash's strike was felt all throughout her body, forcing her down onto one knee.

Flash continued to push Rarity down, their blades locked together and preventing her from escaping. He thought he had her beat, but then she turned her attention towards one of the wooden benches.

The next thing Flash knew, the bench was flying towards him. "WOW!" He pulled back and the bench sailed between the pair, Rarity using this opening to jump back to a standing position and attack. But as the blade flew towards Flash's head, the teen held out his hand and the saber hit a wall of force energy and bounced off.

Flash then rushed forward and in the blink of an eye, sliced the end of her Lightsaber off.

Rarity gasped as her weapon was destroyed, only to then have the tip of Flash's blade pointed directly at her face. "You still wanna go?"

Rarity sighed and dropped her ruined weapon, raising her hand defensively. "I give up. You've already won." Flash smirked and deactivated his sword, as Rarity moved towards the door.

"You did great," Pinkie told her as she stepped into the control room. "Flash was just..."

"Flash was able to think on his feet," Twilight stated. "He didn't know he was allowed to use the force in this fight. But as soon as he did, he quickly incorporated it into the battle."

"Yes," Celestia nodded. "I probably should have mentioned that beforehand. My bad." She turned to the girls, "Fluttershy." The girl in question looked very nervous. "Don't worry. Winning or losing has no consequence. We just want to see how well he does against different forms of saber combat."

"I understand," she bowed before stepping into the room. Flash was swinging his sword around to stay focused, as she stood opposite him.

Her weapon appeared in front of her, Flash noticing it appeared to be made out of wood with metal around the top. She ignited the green saber and took a different stance to Rarity, Flash figuring she would likely fight in a different manner. But just looking at her, Flash wasn't sure how a girl like this was supposed to be a warrior.

"Are your ready?" Celestia asked, as Flash took his own stance. "Begin!" Flash shot forward and Fluttershy remained still, Flash wondering if she had frozen in fear.

But as he swung his blade down to strike her head, she raised her own to defend. She barely moved her weapon at all, shifting her stance just enough to block Flash but keeping herself steady. He pulled his sword back and struck from a different angle, Fluttershy countering in the same barely moving way. He did this several more times and Fluttershy barely took two steps as she countered.

"I see she uses form three," Skybreaker noted. "A very different style to one and two."

"Indeed," Celestia nodded. "Soresu focuses on economy of motion. Protecting oneself with the smallest amount of movement to keep one's energy high and their defences up. It is the ultimate expression of non-aggressive Jedi philosophy." They kept watching, as Flash began expending more and more effort whilst Fluttershy kept her defences raised.

Flash slashed at her neck, but Fluttershy blocked and spun on the spot. The momentum Flash expelled pushed him forward, as Fluttershy spun away from him. And as he did, she reached out and jabbed him in the shoulder. "Gyah!"

Fluttershy flinched, the act of causing pain clearly not one she enjoyed. "Sorry." Flash turned to her, raising his sword again and charging.

Once again, she defended with barely any movement whilst Flash kept pushing himself. "That's it," Twilight told her friend. "Keep him on the attack. Let him tire himself out. Then you can knock him down." The two locked blades and pushed against one another, Fluttershy quickly getting overpowered until she leapt back.

Flash frowned as he began to pant, clearly realising he was in trouble.

He then seemed to have an idea and rushed forward, looking ready to swipe at her. But as Fluttershy prepared to counter, he suddenly leapt into the air. This surprised the others, as Flash landed behind Fluttershy and slashed at her. The girl barely managed to spin around in time, blocking it but being knocked back due to her footing being off.

Flash capitalised on this and thrust his blade towards her, Fluttershy staggering to the side and attempting to once again raise her defence. But Flash leapt to the side and quickly struck her at her, once again barely missing as he jumped up.

"Ataru?" Twilight asked, as Flash bounced off the wall and attacked with speed. "I thought he only knew form one?"

"He does," Skybreaker nodded. "That's not Ataru. Flash is just using something he realises can get around Fluttershy's defences. Even though he never heard of it, he's beginning to develop into a new form of saber combat."

"He is good," Shining realised. As he said that, Flash summoned another bench over to him and used it as a springboard. He leapt at Fluttershy and spun through the air, Fluttershy attempting to block but getting overpowered by the repeated slashes Flash dealt to her.

Her saber was forced from her hand and she fell back, hitting the ground as Flash landed and held up his hand. Before Fluttershy could reach for her weapon, it flew into Flash's grasp and he ignited the blade.

Seeing she was now defenceless and facing two Lightsabers, Fluttershy raised her hands. "I surrender!"

Flash smirked and retracted the blades, throwing the wooden hilt away before offering a hand. Fluttershy took it and looked a little upset, but Flash smiled. "You were great. Forced me to fight in a whole new way."

Fluttershy smiled at this, "thank you. You're really good too." She headed out the room, the others there to console her.

"You did amazin', sugarcube." Applejack patted her on the shoulder, Fluttershy nodding as Celestia turned to the next one that would be facing Flash.

"Pinkie Pie. I think it's time Flash sees how unpredictable life in the Jedi Order can be." Pinkie nodded and skipped into the room with a smile, Flash noticing her and getting into a fighting stance.

She laughed, "isn't this fun? Getting to face off against one another and test our skills."

"I guess," Flash nodded. "But this is a test for me. I'll enjoy it when I pass." Pinkie smiled as her weapon appeared in front of her. And it was certainly a strange weapon, that was for sure.

It appeared to be a normal Lightsaber, but the end had a round cage-like structure surrounding it. When Pinkie grabbed it, she swung it around and something shot out of the end.

That something was a long blue blade, almost two and a half times longer then the standard blade. And as it completed extending, the blade suddenly went limp and fell down to form a long noodle-like structure. Pinkie then whipped it around, the laser chord sparking and buzzing as it moved through the air. With a flick, she struck it against the ground and it made a loud crash like lightning.

"What the heck?" Flash looked genuinely scared by this device, clearly having never seen anything like it. "What is that thing?"

"Lightwhip," Pinkie smiled as she kept swinging it around. She then whipped it upwards and the chord retracted, becoming about as long as a normal Lightsaber but still remained flexible. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Flash stared at it in shock, but quickly shook his head and focused himself. "Just another battle."

"Are both of you ready?" Celestia asked, the two nodding. "Then begin!" Flash charged whilst Pinkie whipped her weapon around, extending the chord as she tried to hit Flash dead on.

Flash leapt to the side and rolled along the ground, as Pinkie started twirling the laser ribbon around her. How she didn't accidently hit herself, Flash had no idea. But he had to attack.

He rushed forward and as the whip swung towards him. He blocked with his Lightsaber, but was shocked to see the chord coil around his sword and grip it tightly. "Wow!" He tried to pull it free, but Pinkie flicked her wrist and pulled his Lightsaber from his grasp.

Everyone watched as Flash's blade hit the ground and extinguished, leaving him defenceless. Pinkie then started spinning the coil around her, making it impossible for Flash to hit her. She then extended the whip forward and it shot straight for Flash's chest, the teen barely able to flip backwards so it flew above him. And as it extended, Flash completed his back-flip and landed back on his feet.

As he did, he summoned his Lightsaber back to him and charged.

Pinkie flicked the whip around again and Flash jumped down, sliding along the ground and eventually reaching the strange pink doe girl. He quickly ignited his blade and thrust it towards Pinkie's stomach, but she somehow stretched said stomach out of the way before leaping back.

As she landed, she retracted her whip to about a foot before swinging it downwards and extending it.

It shot straight down towards Flash, how barely managed to role out of the way in time. This made a loud crashing sound echo through the room, Flash picking himself up as Pinkie retracted her blade before extending it with another whip.

Flash saw it coming and knew this was his chance, so raised his Lightsaber hard and let the whip strike it whilst he ducked down. The chord quickly wrapped around the Lightsaber and before Pinkie could try and pull the weapon out of Flash's hand, Flash pulled as hard as he could and Pinkie was pulled flying towards him.

Flash hadn't been expecting that, but quickly reacted and leapt up to kick her in the stomach.

His foot sank into her body and stretched out the back of her, his eyes going wide at this before he sprang back in the opposite direction. "WOW!" He lost his grip on his Lightsaber as he was flung backwards, eventually crashing into the far wall and sliding down it.

He let out a moan and fell to the ground, but Pinkie didn't seem much better and held her stomach. "Oh...I hate it when that happens." Her face turned green and she was looking rather queasy

Skybreaker turned to the others. "Let's bring this match to an end before we have to clean up the training hall." They nodded and told Pinkie to leave the room, the girl rushing out as Twilight handed her a waste bin.

"Does that still count as a win?" Shining asked, Flash picking himself up and summoning his Lightsaber.

"I don't know," Celestia stated as she turned to Rainbow. "You're up." The girl cheered and rushed inside, Flash wait for her as she smirked.

Flash raised his blade and wondered if she would have a crazy weapon as well. But he would soon find her weapon looked rather normal. Or should that be, weapons.

Two Lightsabers appeared in front of Rainbow, both looking exactly the same as they were silver metal with black leather around the handles and a slightly curved bottom. She grabbed them both and when she ignited them, a pair of blue blades extended. However, these blades were shorter than a normal blade by between a half and a third.

Rainbow swung the blades around as fast as she could, Flash barely able to tell where they were they moved with such speed. When she stopped, she held one blade forward and the other in a reversed grip. "You ready to lose?" Flash's response made her smile.

"Now we're talking."

"Are you ready?" They nodded at Celestia's question, "then begin!" Rainbow shot forward at the B and moved with blinding speed towards him, Flash only blinking and finding her right in his face.

She spun around and swung her blades, Flash barely able to raise his weapon in defence. He stood his ground and both blades bounced off him and were pushed away, Rainbow sliding back before leaping into the air. As Flash was rebracing himself from the attack, Rainbow spun around and tried to kick him in the head.

He ducked under the strike and Rainbow landed behind him, the girl attacking with one blade that was blocked before attacking with the other. Flash was barely able to keep up with her, blocking one strike and narrowing avoiding another. It was like being struck over and over by waves of wind. Before he could recover from the last hit, he was forced to take another.

Flash blocked her double strike and pushed her back with The Force, Rainbow's light body making it easy to shove her away.

She managed to land and Flash ran forward, but she began spinning the blades around her at high speed to keep him from getting a clear target.

Flash watched the twirling blades of doom, trying to determine when they weren't protecting Rainbow. And when he believed he had it, he thrust his Lightsaber forward and the blade was stopped by Rainbow's cross sabers. "Nice try!" Using all her strength, she forced her swords up and pushed Flash's up with them.

She then did a backflip and slammed her feet into Flash's chin, knocking him staggering backwards. But Flash refused to be beaten and as Rainbow began to complete the circle, Flash threw his sword towards the ground.

It spun through the air and as Rainbow landed, it reached her and struck her right leg. "AUGH!" She cried, as the laser sword cut through her ankle and cleanly removed the foot. The dismembered limb exploded and Rainbow's stump hit the ground, the girl flinching as she was now unable to stand.

Flash quickly got back up and summoned his saber, whilst Rainbow started spinning her blades around to protect herself. But Flash simply ran forwards and leapt over her, the girl unable to properly turn and face him. As such, by the time she managed to hop around, Flash slammed his blade into one of hers and knocked it away. He then struck the other and cut through the hilt, destroying it.

Rainbow was now footless and weaponless, Flash pointing his blade at her head. She could summon her first blade, but Flash would cut her in half before it could reach her. "Okay," she raised her arms, "I give."

Flash groaned as he fell to the floor, feeling exhausted as Rainbow's foot suddenly rematerialised. "Do you need a break?" Celesta asked him, Flash replying that he just needed a minute. As he did, Rainbow got up and headed for the doorway.

She past Applejack as she left, the two nodding at each other as Rainbow huffed. "We'll need to talk to your Master about improving your training," Luna told her. "If taking out your feet is all that's needed to stop you, real opponents will start to target them as well."

"Got it," Rainbow sighed before they turned to the room.

Flash stood up and had regained his wind, whilst Applejack's bladeless axe appeared before her. "First the whip and now an axe? I thought Jedi were supposed to use Lightsabers?"

"Most do," Applejack replied as she hit the button. Doing so caused a green blade to appear on the end of the weapon. A smaller green blade appeared on the other side, Applejack swinging it around like it was the easiest thing in the world. "But some of us have our own thing."

Flash nodded and raised his own blade, knowing this might be tricky. "Are you both ready?" Celestia asked, the pair nodded as they took a battle position. "BEGIN!" They charged, Applejack's heavy footsteps causing the ground to shake a little.

The girl let out a roar, as she swung the axe down. Flash blocked with his sword, but the impact caused his entire body to shake. When Applejack pulled back, Flash staggered around with little balance as the cowgirl swung the axe around to try and cut into Flash's side.

He recovered in time to leap back enough for the blade to miss and when Applejack swung it back in the opposite direction, Flash raised his sword and shoved it into the metal behind the smaller axe blade. He expected the Lightsaber to cut through the metal, but it didn't.

"What?"

"Nice try!" Applejack pushed him away and when Flash tried to slash his sword down, she raised her weapon's staff and used it to block the attack. "A'h made this out of special metals, that are completely immune to Lightsaber blades." She once again pushed him back and the pair charged at one another, both swinging their blades at one another and locking them into place.

Applejack showed greater strength and was able to push Flash's sword to the ground, then spun around to try and kick him in the head. Flash ducked under it and leapt back, the jumped forward for another downwards slash. The cowgirls fell to one knee and blocked the blade with her axe handle, then pushed him back before charging.

Flash performed an upwards side swipe as Applejack swung her blade down, the blue Lightsaber stopping the green axe before Flash hocked the blades together. He then spun around and used the momentum and leverage to throw Applejack over his back.

"Wow!" She hit the ground rolling and barely managed to get back to her feet, as Flash charged and tried to cut her in half.

She quickly scrapped the smaller blade of her axe along the ground. The sparks this caused flew towards Flash and forced him back, allowing Applejack to rush forward and leapt into the air. "RAAAAAH!" She swung the blade down and Flash side-stepped it, the blade hitting the ground as Applejack quickly pulled back.

Flash slashed at her as she stepped backwards, but she used her axe to block both slashes. The two then swung their legs at each other, kicking the other's leg, with Flash following it up with a punch Applejack spun to the side in order to avoid.

She then thrust the butt of her axe into Flash's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and pushing him back with enough force to send him staggering to the ground. "Ahhh!" His Lightsaber went flying out of his hands, as Applejack raised her blade to deal the finishing blow.

But Flash grabbed two benches with the Force and brought them between the two, Applejack cutting them in half, which allowed Flash to force Applejack backwards before summoning his Lightsaber.

As Applejack bounced off the wall, Flash charged and she raised her axe to defend. But strangely, Flash struck it with the flat of his blade.

The reason became clear when Flash suddenly scrapped the sword down the handle of the axe before Applejack to push him away. In doing so, he cut right through Applejack's fingers and she screamed out as her axe fell out of her grasp. She fell to her knees, looking at the stumps that had once been her most dexterous body parts.

Flash pointed his blade at her and gave her a serious look, but also looked completely wiped.

Applejack sighed, "a'h give." Flash pulled the blade away and Applejack's fingers reappeared, only for the battlefield to then disappear.

"What gives? I thought I still had Twilight to face?"

"I don't think that's necessary," Celestia told him. "You've proven your skills and are clearly exhausted from five continuous battles. Continuing now would just be cruel." The two stepped into the room, Applejack going to stand beside her friends. Meanwhile, Celestia, Luna and Skybreaker stared him down.

"So..." Flash wasn't sure what to say, "what happens now?"

Celestia smiled at him. "Flash Sentry, you have passed all three of the tests we set you. Not only do you know the code, despite never officially reading it, but you showed great control over The Force's power, showed restraint when you faced an obstacle and showed your skills with a Lightsaber against many different foes. We see no reason not to grant you the rank of Padawan." Flash's eyes went wide, a smile appearing on his lips. He could hardly believe it.

Skybreaker stepped forward, Flash seeing he was holding his Lightsaber. "You might not have originally built this, but I know Grand would want you to have it." He gave Flash a serious expression. "But remember, this is a weapon meant to protect and defend. Never wield it in anger or hatred. Do you swear to this?"

"I swear," Flash nodded before being handed his sword.

Everyone smiled, but then Luna spoke up. "We still have one issue." They turned to her. "Flash has nobody to call Master." Flash frowned at this, still unsure how he felt about someone taking Grand's place. "If we can't find anyone, Flash cannot truly become a Padawan."

Flash sighed, not liking the sound of that. Who would want to take on a Padawan with no real experience?

"I'll do it." They all spun around, Shining Armor leaning against the wall. "I'll take him on as my apprentice."

"Really?" Flash asked.

"You've got a lot of potential," Shining told him. "The Order could use someone like you." Flash smiled, only for Shining to step up and poke him. "But don't expect me to go easy on you. I expect you to become a knight before anyone else your age. Until you're ready for that, you won't be allowed to eat, sleep, or scratch your backside without my say-so. Got it?"

Flash gulped, but knew he couldn't let Shining think he was scared. "Bring it on. I'll take anything you throw at me and more. Just watch."

Luna turned to her sister. "Are we sure this is a good idea?"

Celestia smiled. "I think it'll work out quite well." Flash and Shining stood side by side, Celestia getting a strong feeling that these two would do great things together. And she would come to realise that feeling was right on the mark.

Things were stirring in the galaxy and the Jedi would soon find themselves up against foes greater then any the Order had ever faced. It would take every Jedi they had to overcome it. To help keep balance in The Force.

Flash could hardly believe he was letting himself do this.

The newest member of the Jedi Order was currently sat in a room with many other Jedi. Except these Jedi were all between the ages of ten and twelve. Many of them were talking to themselves, or playing a game of some kind, whilst others were practising with training sabers or on their Force control.

Amongst the group were Spike, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who were sitting a short distance away from him. Despite the four having met Flash and learned of his story, they and Flash were still like strangers to one another. In the month since Flash officially joined the order, he hadn't seen them at all.

That was mostly due to Shining Armor, putting him through hell.

From sunup to two hours past sundown, Shining forced him through every kind of exercise imaginable to get him up to speed with the rest of the Padawans his age. Hours upon hours of saber training, helping Flash slowly learn to use something other than form one, an endless number of obstacle course in the holo-chamber, constant studying to teach Flash the Jedi Code and their history. Shining hadn't been joking when he said Flash wouldn't eat, sleep or do anything without his approval. And Flash was loving it

Whilst most people would think Shining's training would be going overboard, Flash knew he had a lot of catching up to do. He had to make up for the years he spent unable to get the proper training he needed.

But now, the boot camp from hell was over and Flash had developed a lot. It was time for him to look into other aspects of Jedi life. Which was why he was currently there.

"The Jedi Cores?" Flash asked as he and Twilight were in the Jedi Archives studying history together.

"Master Grand never mentioned them?" Twilight asked, with Flash shaking his head. He was pretty sure he had never heard anything about that. But as he thought about it, he did remember something being mentioned. But not by Grand.

"Wait, Shining mentioned something about Core. We were having lunch and I looked around, wondering where you and the others were. Shining said you were probably doing your core work."

Twilight nodded, as Springer floated onto the scene from one of the archive servers. Since Flash had joined the Order, Springer had been registered to the Order as well. Alas, since he was a Padawan, Flash wasn't allowed to claim ownership of him.

Shining had agreed to become Springer's owner until Flash was a knight. Once that happened, he would transfer Springer back to him. As such, Springer had been helping out wherever he was needed. The Jedi didn't have many droids, but the ones they did have were treated well and used to maintain systems in the order whenever they weren't assisting Jedi in the field.

Springer floated next to Flash and handed over a new pad, which was filled with new info Flash had to memorise.

"So what exactly are these cores?"

"There are four cores inside the Jedi Order. The Education Core, Medical Core, Agriculture Core and Exploration Core. Each core has a specific purpose and helps the order function. The Education Core focuses on maintaining and updating the archives, for future Jedi to use. Its members are also in charge of teaching the younglings all the basic skills and abilities they'll need, such as reading, writing, doing math and that kind of thing."

"So basically...it's a normal school but run by Jedi."

"Pretty much. The Medical Core is focused on healing, either through the basic methods you find in hospitals or with special techniques using the Force."

"The Force can heal?"

"The Force can do anything. It's just the ability to use The Force to do it is difficult. Anyway, Healers either treat Jedi here at the temple or go out into the field and act as paramedics whenever they're needed. They're an important part of the Order." Flash nodded, understanding that. "The Agricultural Core is for farming and other necessities the Order needs. Where do you think the food you eat comes from?"

"Huh, never thought about it. So they're Jedi Farmers?"

"The core also goes out into the universe, to help planets suffering from famine or other issues that could make growing food difficult. If it wasn't for that core, many worlds would have died by now."

"Wow. And what about the last core?"

"That's the Exploration Core. Or the Jedi Seekers. Their mission is to explore the vast unexplored areas of the galaxy. Seeking out new life and new planets that can be used to establish colonies by the rest of the Republic. It's not easy and they end up facing many unknowns whilst they're out there, but they also discover many amazing things."

"Like what?"

"Like lost Jedi Temples. Former homes of Jedi, that were forced to aimlessly wander the galaxy during a time of great evil. When the Jedi were finally united and established their base on Canterlot, many of the temple locations were lost. But every now and then, the Seekers find one and discover many of their hidden secrets."

"So there's the Jedi Teacher, Healer, Farmers and Seekers? And I have to pick one of these cores?"

"Pretty much," Twilight nodded. "When we're Younglings, we're made to choose which core to join. Some know right away which one they want to be in, whilst others need a little help deciding. Eventually, each Youngling chooses a core and starts studying aspects of it. That way, they'll be ready to join whether they become Padawans or not."

"What do you mean, whether they become Padawans or not?" Twilight frowned at this, looking around as if she was about to say something taboo.

"Not every Youngling becomes a Jedi," she told him. "Most of the time, only one in four Younglings earn the rank of Padawan." Flash was shocked to hear this, whilst Twilight looked upset. "Nobody likes it, but that's just the way it goes. Not every Youngling has what it takes to be a Jedi. Remember those tests you took to join?"

"Yeah?"

"Younglings have to go through something similar. A tournament to show off their skills. If a Jedi Knight sees a Youngling they think has potential, they make them their Padawan. But not every Youngling gets chosen. And if they're not chosen by a certain age...it's decided they're not meant to be Jedi."

"So what, they just get kicked out?"

"Of course not. They're allowed to stay in the Order, but they won't be able to become Jedi. That's why they have the Cores. Most of the work done in the Cores is done by those who couldn't become Jedi. If the Youngling chooses to stay, they spend their lives in the Education, Medical, Agriculture or Exploration Core, doing what they can to help the Order. If they don't wanna join one of them...they're free to leave the Order and make their own way in the world."

"That feels kind of harsh," Flash frowned.

"It's worked that way for hundreds of years," Twilight stated. "And the same is done for Padawans who aren't able to gain the skills needed to be a Knight. And if you're serious about being a Jedi, you need to join one of the cores."

"Alright," Flash nodded. "But how am I supposed to pick one?" Twilight smiled at him, making the Padawan worry.

The door opened and a human woman stepped into the room.

She was middle aged and smiled as she looked over the group, then spotted Flash. "Hello Younglings. I notice we have someone with us that's a little older than the others." Every eye in the room turned to Flash, who let out a nervous chuckle and waved. "That doesn't matter. Today, we'll be visiting the many different cores of the Jedi Order and helping you decide which one you wish to join."

The Younglings all looked really excited about this, as she turned to lead them out of the room. Flash sighed, following at the back of the group.

They made their way through the temple and eventually arrived at the Archives. "Now," the woman said, "I'm sure you're all familiar with this large room." The younglings all nodded, as they saw the many Jedi searching through the multiple servers containing thousands of years of knowledge. "Well each piece of info you use in here, was catalogued by a member of the Education Core. And those of you who choose to join this core, will be responsible for protecting that information and updating it when necessary. Future generations of Jedi will use that knowledge to help them in their missions."

"Boring," Scootaloo whispered with Applebloom and Sweetie giggling. Flash had to admit, the idea of acting like a librarian didn't sit well with him.

"Ah," the woman smiled, "here comes one of our core's best young Jedi." Said you Jedi turned out to be Twilight, the girl walking out of the stacks carrying a tablet she was working on. She looked up and smiled at the Younglings, then at Flash as she stepped up besides the woman.

"Good day, Crescent Glow."

"Good day, lady Sparkle. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to explain the many important tasks done by the members of the Education Core."

"Of course," Twilight nodded. "As you've probably been told, we at the Education Core are the guardians of knowledge the Jedi Order uses. Whenever a Jedi needs information, they come to us. You were all taught how to read and write by the Education Core and when you become Jedi, you'll require our assistance when investigating a situation. Knowledge is power and those who protect knowledge will always been seen as heroes."

Several Younglings looked interested in this, as Twilight pointed towards a nearby table. "Why don't we try and see how well some of you are at researching." They all moved over to the table and found it covered in info pads. "Pick a random pad. Each one has a particular subject. Imagine a Jedi has sent a message asking for everything we know about that subject. Your mission is to retrieve that info as fast as possible."

The Younglings all looked excited by this and each grabbed a pad, Flash deciding to wait until everyone else had one before picking on up himself. Activating it, he found the subject he needed to research.

It was some kind of plant, yellow in colour with black lines running down the petals. He frowned, wondering how he was supposed to locate information on on it. He then noticed something written beneath it and scrolled down. "This plant unleashed a green mist that caused my Padawan to fall ill. He started sprouting yellow spots and his irises turned blue." The other Padawans were reading the clues they had been given, many of them scratching their heads whilst others rushed into action.

Flash looked up and tried to think. "Okay. It's a flower, so maybe it'll be stored under F." He rushed through the maze of servers until he arrived at the one that had a large F on it.

Once there, he found an access terminal and typed in the word 'flower.' However, he got over a million different results.

"Right. More specific." He typed in yellow flower with black lines which narrowed the list down to a few hundred. "Come on." He then typed in that it sprayed green mist, which caused yellow spots and blue eyes. Again, this narrowed it down to a few dozen. "How am I supposed to figure out which one's the one I'm looking for?" He held up his pad and saw the flower, then brought up the first flower on the list and saw the petal shape wasn't the same. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere."

For the next several minutes, he compared the plants with little success. And just as he was about to to reach the last few, Crescent Glow spoke up. "Okay Younglings. Time's up." Flash groaned and turned off the terminal.

Heading over to the group, he found several kids were already there. Spike, Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie weren't amongst them, soon coming out of the stacks looking annoyed. Seems they couldn't find what they were looking for either.

Twilight smiled at them. "As you saw, locating the information requested isn't easy." She gestured to the four who had managed it, whilst all the other Younglings had been unsuccessful. "Can you tell us how you found your subject?" She asked a girl, who nodded and showed the others a flower of her own.

Flash wondered if they had all been given plants, but then glanced at Spike's pad and saw it was some kind of alien creature.

"My subject was a red flower with green spots, which shoots out a blue mist that caused a Padawan to start spouting mushrooms. At first, I thought about looking in the F section for flowers. But then I thought, wouldn't something like this be placed in the medical database."

Flash's eyes went wide and he groaned, as she went on to explain the rest of what she did. Twilight smiled at her, "well done." She looked towards the rest of the Younglings. "What we do here might not seem exciting, but it's an important role. We have to get information to the Jedi as soon as possible. Time is always of the essence."

Flash groaned. The idea of someone being in trouble, because he couldn't figure out how to find something in this maze was kind of stress inducing.

The Younglings who had succeeded in finding the info, started showing the other Younglings how they could have found the info they were looking for. As they did, Twilight stepped over to Flash. "So? What do you think?"

"I think this core needs eggheads who find this kind of thing fun," Flash told her. Twilight frowned at this. "And that's definitely not me."

"Fair enough," Twilight nodded. "But this isn't the only Core. I'm sure you'll find one that's suitable for you."

"I hope so," Flash sighed as Rarity suddenly stepped out from the stacks. "Rarity? You're in the Education Core too?"

"Of course," Rarity smiled as she fiddled with the red glasses she was now wearing. "Honestly, it was the only Core I could stand to be in. The Agriculture and Exploration Core requires you to get all muddy. And the Medical Core is...a difficult Core to get into."

"Really?" Flash asked, "why?"

"Welcome to the Medical Core," Cadance smiled as the group arrived at the area that housed the Order's Medical Facility. "Here in the Medical Core, we use The Force in order to protect the lives of many creatures out in the universe."

Flash was still confused about why this core was so difficult to get into.

Cadance led them through a long corridor, which had many glass windows allowing them to look into other rooms. When they did, they saw Jedi of different ages and ranks, attending to injured individuals. Some were simply wrapping up an injury or giving someone an injection. But others were holding their hands over a patient as they glowed green, whilst others were waving theirs over an open wound and causing a strange purple substance to flow out.

"The Medical Jedi spend years honing our skills, to become the best healers in the galaxy. I'm sure many of you fear you can't become Jedi, because you're skills with the Lightsaber aren't as great as they could be. But there are other ways you can be of use to the Order."

They arrived at an empty room and there, they found Pinkie and Fluttershy setting something onto a long table. Flash wasn't surprised to see Fluttershy there, since her demeanour gave her the perfect bedside manner. But Pinkie...

"This is a basic exercise for Medical Jedi to practise with. You're all going to try it to see how well you can use The Force in a Medical Manner." Cadance, Pinkie and Fluttershy held up a glass, which was filled with a strange brown liquid. "As you can see, this glass contains coffee milk." The three then used The Force to make the glasses float. "Now, you're going to use The Force to separate the two components.

Everyone watched, as the liquid inside the glasses began to spin and swirl around. As they did, the brown liquid either grew darker or lighter. Eventually, two completely different liquids were swirling within the glass. One was white whilst the other was dark brown, with the brown liquid eventually sitting atop the white liquid.

Everyone was amazed by this sight, as the three brought the glasses back and Cadance explained. "If your teammates are poisoned, either by a venomous animal or from an enemy attack, you'll be thankful you learned this skill. But it's not an easy task."

Flash gulped, wondering if he was gonna be any better at this than he was at the last challenge.

They all stepped up to the table and stared down at the coffee milk, waiting to be separated. Cadance gave a basic explanation of what to do, but it just went over Flash's head. As such, he placed his hands over the cup and focused on making the liquid spin. Maybe he could find a way to force it apart.

The liquid began to rotate and he wasn't the only one. Everyone began trying to separate the milk and coffee, some appearing to have better luck than others.

Flash then heard a gasp and looked around, seeing Sweetie beginning to separate the milk and the coffee. The others looked around and also saw this, the two liquids quickly splitting apart with the brown one sitting atop the white substance just like the demonstration.

"Yeah!" Pinkie cheered, "you did it!"

"I did it!?" Sweetie whispered. "I actually did it?" The others applauded, making her blush whilst Flash returned to trying to separate his own coffee milk. The others also tried, with a few more managing to extract the two substances. But others were simply spinning the liquid in the glass. One made his milk spin so much, the glass broke and spilled it all over them.

"Well," Cadance laughed, "this skill isn't for everyone." As she said that, someone stepped into the room.

He was a tall gray skinned human with dark gray hair, wearing half-moon glasses and a pair of Lightsabers on his belt. "Ah, the Younglings have arrived." He turned to Cadance, "have any shown signs of being a potential comrade, in our fight against illness in the universe?"

"A few," Cadance nodded. "Everyone, this is Jedi Knight First Aid. One of the best healers to have ever been in the order."

"Greetings," he nodded. "I am happy to see so many young Jedi are interested in the healing arts. It is a difficult road to travel and requires even more hard work and study, than the Education Core. But if you tough it out and keep going, I know you will be able to do it."

Flash wasn't so sure, whilst another Jedi stepped inside. This one was a green skinned human with pink and blue hair and a copper Lightsaber on her belt. She was currently carrying a box full of flowers and plants. "Now, now, First Aid. Don't go trying to force them into a Core they're not comfortable in."

"Hello Heather," First smiled. "And I would never force a Youngling into this Core if they were not up to the challenge. That would only hurt the Core's strength."

The woman named Heather nodded as she put the box down. "Hello Younglings. My name is Heather Bloom. I'm one of the Jedi in charge of Ponyville, a section on Fengari. Can anyone tell me what Fengari is?" A few of them raised an arm and Heather pointed at Applebloom.

"It's the Canterlot moon the Jedi use to farm our food on."

"Exactly. And it's not just our farm. It's also where the Exploration Core do their camping and survival drills. After lunch, you'll be brought up to the moon to see how things work."

"Yes," First nodded, "after lunch. Right now, they are supposed to be focusing on the Medical Core work." Heather laughed as she turned to leave, telling the Younglings she looked forward to seeing them. "Now, where were we?"

For a little while, Cadance and First started teaching the Younglings many basic first aid skills. Even if they didn't join the Medical Core, knowing this stuff would be useful for them.

And whilst Flash did find some of the medical treatments interesting, he realised this wouldn't be the Core for him.

Eventually, lunch came around and the Younglings were sent off to get something to eat, whilst preparations were made to take them to the moon.

In the cafeteria, Flash grabbed a sandwich and a jello cup. As he sat down, he was quickly joined by someone else. "So," his teacher smiled, "how's your day with the Younglings going?"

"Well, I'm definitely not cut out for the Education or Medical Cores."

"Yeah, I couldn't handle those Cores either. Twilight was the brain-box in the family. I've never been one to sit around and do nothing."

"Oh yeah," Flash realised he should have asked this before. "What Core are you apart of?"

"Exploration," Shining stated. "I was with a team of Seekers, who discovered a lost Jedi Temple a few years back." Flash was amazed by this. "Let me tell you, that place was crazy. Those old Jedi knew out to boggle the mind. Almost didn't make it out of there."

Now Flash was curious. "Maybe that's the Core I should be in. I mean...I'm guessing most Knights take on Padawans from their Core...right?"

"Not always," Shining stated. "Sure, most Knights like to take apprentices who have similar interests to them. But that's not always the case. Look at Cadance."

"Is Thorax not in the Medical Core?"

"Nope. Agriculture. A lot of people wondered why Cadance chose him, since he didn't seem to have anything that stuck out. But she took him under her wing and the two have been training pretty well together. It's only been a year, but Thorax has gained a lot of confidence since she started teaching him."

"Huh."

"I think your friend, Pinkie, also has a Master in a different Core. He's a Seeker, like me. You'll probably meet him later. His name's Tidal Wave." Flash let this info sink in, glad to hear the choice of Core didn't affect your selection by a master. "Seriously, you shouldn't let me being a Seeker decide what you want to be. If the Farming Core speaks to you, go for it. And if it turns out you enjoy the life of a Seeker, Great."

Flash nodded and quickly ate his lunch, seeing a lot of the Younglings were already finishing up their meal as they were excited to go off planet. It might have just been to the nearby moon, but it was still the first time many of them would be going into space.

Once Flash finished, he and Shining bid goodbye and he headed off to where they would be meeting Crescent Glow.

Thirty minutes later, he and the rest of the Younglings were being escorted out of the Temple towards the Jedi ship hangers. This time, Flash wouldn't be leaving on the Shooting Star. Instead, it was a simple transport ship that looked like a minibus with rockets.

Leaning against the ship was none other than Rainbow Dash, the multi-haired girl smiling at them as they approached. "Hey pipsqueaks. You all ready to head off into space?" The Younglings cheered, Rainbow smirking. "Thought you would be. Lucky for you, the best Jedi Pilot is here to take you there. Climb in!" They began to get in, Flash being in the back with the kids whilst Rainbow and Crescent were up front.

Once they were strapped in, Rainbow powered the ship up and they lifted off towards the moon.

The Younglings watched the planet drift away, amazed at how incredible it was for them. The ship flew higher and higher, eventually breaking the planet's atmosphere and allowing them to get their first look at space. And boy, were they all impressed.

"Awesome," Spike whispered.

"Yeah," Flash smiled, "it is pretty cool." He couldn't help but wonder how he would have been, had his first time in space been like this instead of escaping a planet being attacked by bug aliens?

They flew through the space between the planet and the moon, which was very much like the moon Flash had grown up on. As they approached, he saw it was one large forest-like plantation. Several large sections were treeless, but instead had farmland and other settlements.

As they flew down towards the moon, fields upon fields of crops could be seen. Streams ran between each of the fields, keeping them well watered and allowing the food to grow healthy. In another area, open meadows were allowing animals to graze and live to grow and breed. One day, Flash might end up eating one of those creatures.

They arrived at the section of rocky concrete that the ship could land on, next to a large building Flash assumed was where the farming plans were made.

Standing beside the landing pad was Heather and Applejack, the two smiling as the Younglings disembarked. They were all amazed by the sight, as Heather stepped forward. "Welcome. I'm sure you're all looking forward to doing some hard work here on Fengari." The Younglings cheered, making her smile.

"Well, we welcome you to Ponyville. It's one of Fengari's most productive settlements. We have every type of crop you can imagine, originally harvested from all over the Republic." She began to walk towards one of the fields, with their guests following behind them. "As members of the Agricultural Core, it's our duty to tend these fields and protect the crops so they can grow feed many people. It's not just the Jedi that use these crops. They are also delivered to planets suffering food shortages."

"What about the animals?" Spike asked, as Heather smiled.

"The animals too. We need to make sure they're as healthy as can be. I'm sure none of you would want to eat something that was once very sick." They all nodded, as they arrived at an empty field. On that field, a red skinned individual the same species as Applejack and Applebloom was looking through a sack of something.

"Big Mac!" Applebloom cheered, making the man look up and smile with a wave.

Flash leaned down to Scootaloo, "do they know each other?"

"He's Applejack and Applebloom's older brother," Scootaloo explained. "He's not a Jedi, but he works the fields and is super strong." Flash nodded as Applejack used The Force to float a bunch of hoes over to them.

"Alright Younglings," Heather told them. "This field is open to be seeded. But first, it needs to be prepared." Applejack raised her hoe and used it to slam into the ground. She then pulled back and upturned the soil. "Each of you needs to dig a line in the soil, removing any roots or weeds you come across. It's hot and sweaty work, but it's important."

"Seriously?" Spike groaned as he Younglings all stood in a line on the field. "Isn't there a droid that could do this so much easier?"

"Of course there is," Applejack smirked. "But where's the fun in that? Besides, you can't expect a machine to do all your work for you. A strong body is one of the biggest requirements for being a Jedi. If you can't even plough a field, how'd ya'h expect to beat someone that's attacking you?"

Spike sighed, as Flash began to dig his hoe into the ground. Everyone watched him get to work, the farmers all seeing from the way he moved he had done something like this before.

"Isn't he the boy that grew up on a distant moon?" Heather asked, as Flash continued to turn up the soil and rip up any root or weed that had been hidden underneath.

"Eyup," Applejack nodded. "Guess we should have known he was used to farming. He probably did it as much as he did his Jedi training." They watched as Flash continued to cut through the earth, creating a perfectly straight trail whilst the others curved and connected to the lines next to them.

Some of the Younglings took to this much easier than the others, Applebloom chief amongst them. After Flash, she was the first to finish her line with Spike close behind. Eventually, the Younglings all completed their plough lines with some looking better than others.

Once that was done, they returned to Heather who handed each of them a sack of seeds. They swung these seeds around and started scattering them into the lines. They had to be careful not to drop the seeds outside the lines, this causing it to be a slow process.

Some of the Younglings started complaining, stating it was too hot or this was too boring. But eventually, they reached the end of their lines and were handed watering cans. Sprinkling the water into the lines, this caused the walls of the ploughed areas to fall upon the seeds and bury them. They had to be careful that just the right amount of soil covered each seed. Too much and it would never bloom.

Heather watched, as the Younglings completed the task. All had done a splendid job, but she could tell several weren't enjoying the task as much as the others.

One of them was doing extraordinarily well. "I hope that Sentry boy decides to join us," she told Applejack. "He's got a real talent for this work." They watched him wipe his brow, as he and the other Younglings all finished their work.

Big Mac had brought a bunch of drinks with him, everyone taking one to rehydrate themselves. As they did, Heather mentioned the other activities they would be doing. The work of the Agriculture Core was never done. From sunup to sundown, they would need to work to their hearts content in order to get the job done.

Some of the Younglings looked excited for that, whilst others looked like they were already ready to collapse from exhaustion.

Back on the planet, Celestia was in a room doing some meditation.

It was rare for her to get time to centre herself. But it was important she did in order to remain in balance, so that she could continue to run the Jedi Order to the best of her ability. She took a deep breath and felt herself let go of everything, allowing her mind to go blank and be one with The Force.

But just as she was feeling at peace, a beep signalled someone was at the door.

She took a deep breath and slowly breathed out, then spoke. "Enter." The door opened and Shining Armor stepped inside, Celestia levitating a round cushion chair like the one she was kneeling on in front of her.

"You wanted to see me," Shining sat down.

"Yes. How goes Young Sentry's training?"

"It's been smooth so far. We've mostly been focusing on improving his saber skills beyond the basic form one. We've also been testing his reflexes in a variety of different environments. Honestly, I see no reason why he wouldn't be able to go on Seeker Missions with me."

"Oh?" Celestia raised an eyebrow, "has he already chose the Expedition Core?"

"No. But if he does, he'll be ready. And honestly, I'm pretty sure he'll choose that one. It just seems like it fits him the most."

"Remember, Shining Armor. Leaping to conclusions can often lead to trouble. You should wait and see what Flash chooses for himself."

"Yes Master," Shining nodded. "But if he does choose the Seekers, I think he has what is needed to go on missions already. Best way for him to learn at this point is through experience."

"Very well." Celestia floated something over to her. "Then it's a good thing I called you here." Shining raised an eyebrow until Celestia handed him the pad over to him, allowing the Jedi Knight to look at the information on it.

"I see," he nodded. "I'll look into it. Will it just be me and Flash?"

"No. I've already appointed Skybreaker to investigate. You and Flash will be supporting him and his Padawan. It'll be a good way to show Flash what a Jedi Mission is all about. You'll be leaving tomorrow." Shining nodded and after giving his thanks, he stood up and headed out the room. "Good Luck, Shining. And you, Flash Sentry. I sense this mission will be an interesting one for you."

Shining Armor was making his way through the Temple, as he read the report on his upcoming mission.

As he turned a corner, he noticed Skybreaker and another Jedi walking towards him. This Jedi was a young man of maybe nineteen or twenty, with gray skin and darker gray hair. He was wearing a black shirt and white pants, with arm bracers and black gloves on his hands. On his back was a long black metal tube.

Skybreaker looked ahead and spotted Shining, nodding as he did so. "Shining Armor. I understand you'll be accompanying us on our next mission."

"That's the plan."

"Good. I sense this mission will require all the help we can get. Speaking of, will your new Padawan be joining us?"

"That depends. Would you rather he stay here?"

"He's already proven he has the skill to keep up. I think this would be a good chance for him, to test his metal in a real situation. However, this is a Seeker Mission. Only those of the Expedition Core can join us. Which Core is he joining?"

"That's to be decided," Shining looked up at the window.

"So he's not a Seeker?" The youngest of the three asked. "Why the heck is he coming if he's not a Seeker?"

"Iron Core," Skybreaker turned to him. "Calm yourself. There's no guarantee he'll be joining us. If he chooses to join another Core, that's his right. Though it will mean it'll just be the three of us."

Iron huffed. "That's fine. We don't need anyone else. We can handle this on our own."

"Don't be foolish," Shining stated. "Even if Flash joins us, that might not be enough. There's no telling what's going to happen. All we can do is prepare as best we can and hope we come out of this in one piece." Skybreaker nodded, whilst Iron frowned.

This was gonna be an interesting mission. That was for sure.

Back on the moon, Heather, Applejack and Big Mac had put the Younglings through their paces when it came to farm work.

Aside from planting crops, they were also feeding the animals, repairing fences and other things that need fixing, collecting the milk, eggs and other items and many other tasks that the Agriculture Core needed to do in order to keep the Jedi and many other worlds fed.

Flash and some youngsters were carrying bags of feed towards the nearby barn, when Flash noticed a greenhouse off in the distance.

As he stared at the building, he felt something. The Force was strong in that greenhouse. Or whatever was in there was strong in it. "What is that place?" His interest in the greenhouse caught the attention of Heather, who was walking by when she saw him staring.

"That's the medical greenhouse."

"Medical greenhouse?"

"You remember those flowers I was carrying, when I interrupted First's lecture?" Flash nodded. "They were special plants, grown through manipulation of The Force. Those plants have incredible healing properties and require great mastery of Force growing techniques. It's not an easy task, helping those flowers grow. That's why we keep them safe in that greenhouse."

"I see."

Heather walked towards the bark and Flash followed. "There are no small roles in the Jedi Order. Our lives aren't all about laser swords and reading minds. Even if something looks boring and difficult, that doesn't make it any less important. The simple fact is, people need food to live. And someone needs to make sure that food isn't dangerous. That's where we come in."

"I understand," Flash nodded as they all reached the barn. There, they placed the equipment away and Heather stepped in front of the group.

"Well done, all of you. I'm sure you all had fun today and I hope you were shown how great the Agriculture Core is. I'll probably be seeing a lot of you in the near future. And if any of you don't pick this Core, feel free to come give us a hand if you're ever feeling in need of doing some honest hard work."

Several of the Younglings looked like that had actually had a good time, a clear indicator that they would choose to return to this work when they became Jedi. But now, it was time to try out the Core many of them had been excited for.

Rainbow had returned and she wasn't alone.

Along with her was another woman, who was older with yellow skin and yellow and orange hair. "Sup squirts!" She smirked as she looked them over, "name's Spitfire. I'm the Jedi Knight that'll be helping you twerps get a taste of the Exploration Core lifestyle. Who's ready to go on an adventure!" They all cheered, with Spitfire beginning to lead the group into the forest.

Walking in a single file line, they made their way through the woods along a dirty path that had clearly been walked through many times. Flash stood at the back of the line, he and Crescent making sure none of the Younglings wandered off.

After a little while, they came across a large building that was a large dome with a glass roof. They stepped inside and were lead through the round building, until they came to an area with a large glass wall. Said wall was surrounding an indoor forest, which looked like the building had simply been built around. The glass roof allowed light to flow in, whilst what appeared to be a stream ran through the terrain.

"This is our Forest Training Dome," Spitfire stated. "If you wanna be a Seeker, you gotta be able to survive in any environment. We've got several other domes with many different biomes, but we're gonna start you off easy and see how well you do at surviving here."

Spitfire led them towards a door and they headed into the forest, which was a lot warmer than the forest outside given there was no wind to cool them down. They made their way through the trees until they came to a large clearing, with several logs for the Younglings to sit upon.

"Alright, time to see how much you kids know about survival. Who here can tell me the best way for a Jedi to make a fire?" Several Younglings raised their hands. "You."

"Two rocks?"

"Not a bad idea, but that takes the right kind of rock. Anyone else?" More hands went up, "you?"

"A stick on a log."

"Again, not a bad idea. But that can take a long time and the last thing you wanna do when you're tired is spend ages spinning a stick around." The Younglings all thought, with Flash remembering how he grew up. He raised his hand and Spitfire smirked. "New kid, shoot."

"Lightsaber." The Younglings all looked at him curiously, whilst Spitfire raised an eyebrow.

"Really. You wanna demonstrate how you'd make a fire with a Lightsaber." She stepped aside and pointed to a nearby fire pit, which already had a log and some sticks within it.

Flash got up and walked over to the pit, taking out his Saber as he did so. He held it over the log and ignited the blade, the Younglings looking amazed at the sight of the broadsaber beam. It hummed as Flash held it over the log, the laser inches from the wood's surface.

Slowly, part of the wood turned black from the heat and started smoking. As soon as it did, Flash extinguished his blade and got down to blow on the wood. Slowly, the smoke was replaced by a small flame. It quickly spread to the rest of the log and everyone was amazed to see how easily Flash had been able to make a fire.

"Impressive," Spitfire nodded. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Grand Hoof," Flash replied. "He used to light the fires this way on cold nights. Way easier than rubbing two sticks together." Spitfire nodded and turned to the Younglings.

"Yup. That's definitely the fastest way to make a fire. This is a pretty common tactic for Jedi Seekers to use. Remember, kids. When you're out in the universe, you need to use every trick available to you. The galaxy can be a harsh place. So when you have an idea to protect yourself, then you'll need to do it. Doesn't matter what that might be."

Rainbow stepped forward. "Mind if I tell them a story?" Spitfire nodded. "It was one of my very first missions. We were investigating a snow planet and one of the scientists we had been sent with got lost out in a blizzard. My friends and I had to go out on snow steeds and by the time I found him, it got so bad there was no way to find our way back to the base. The scientist had been out there so long, he was close to catching hypothermia."

"What did you do?" Scootaloo asked.

"I used my Lightsaber to cut open my snow steed and stuffed the guy inside." The Younglings let out several cries of disgust. "Hey, it was thirty below out there. I think he'd rather smell like Tauntaun innards than get frostbite."

Spitfire nodded. "Being a Seeker might sound fun and exciting, but it comes with risks. We go out into the unknown and seek out danger, wherever it might be. If you can't handle it, you should go join the Education Core or something." She then grabbed two sticks off the ground. "Now, let's get to work on learning how to make a fire."

"But I thought we could use Lightsabers to make fires?" Spike asked.

"That might be the best way, but do any of you have a Lightsaber right now?" They all shook their heads. "Exactly. And even after you get one, you might not be able to use it. What if it gets lost or damaged? Only knowing how to do something one way, is a surefire way to get yourself killed. You kids are gonna be learning a bunch of different skills today."

The Younglings broke into groups and each gathered sticks and rocks to start their fires with. Flash was with Spike, Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Currently, Scootaloo was spinning a stick between her hands to drill into the log.

"Come on." No matter how hard she spun it, the log refused to catch fire.

"You need to move your hands downwards," Flash explained. "And go faster." Scootaloo took this info and spun the stick faster, as her hands moved down towards the end. And just as she was about to touch the log, smoke came off the wood.

"Jackpot!" She pulled the stick away and blew on the long, causing a small fire to start whilst the others cheered.

Spitfire saw this and smirked, as Rainbow stepped up next to her. "That kid spent years living in the wild. Guess it makes sense he'd be good at this kind of stuff." Rainbow nodded, as Flash demonstrated how to hit the rocks together in just the right way to start a fire

Once the Younglings had mastered the art of making fire, they moved on to building shelters. Again, Flash's years living on a forest moon certainly came in handy. He was able to help build a small but effective tent that out of trees and leaves, which was just big enough to fit the kids inside.

After that, they collected berries and other foods that could be useful to fill their stomachs. Of course, they weren't allowed to eat anything without showing it to Spitfire. Each of the Younglings ended up finding something that was poisonous. But Flash seemed to have a perfect knowledge of all the dangerous plants and fungi, despite never having been in this particular forest.

He then showed his team how to cook the stuff, using the fire and a flat rock he held over the flames that he used to fry some of them. Others, he cooked by using The Force to lift water out of the stream and held it over the flames. As it boiled in his telekinetic grip, the others threw some of the vegetables into the water and watched them all get cooked without the need for a pan.

Spitfire and Rainbow watched in amazement, neither of them having ever done something like that. If they weren't surrounded by kids expecting them to be masters of these kinds of things, they would both be seeing if they could do that themselves.

And as time went on, Flash showed the two a few more things they didn't know. Like how to set traps in case something wandered into one's campsite.

"Tie it like this, then loop it around here and voila!" The Younglings stared at the branch turned snare trap, all of them amazed by it. "You guys will be able to get it if you try." Everyone nodded and started practising themselves.

As they did, Spitfire stepped over to him. "Kid, you're a natural at this stuff."

"I'm not a natural," Flash replied. "Anyone would be this good if they spent their whole life doing it. Knowing this stuff wasn't a cool thing I was interested in learning. It was something I had to learn in order to survive."

"I get that," Spitfire nodded. "Must have been hard. But it clearly did you some good." Flash nodded, as the sun was beginning to set on the moon. "So, you decided what you're gonna pick. You've seen all the Cores and got a taste of what life's like for each of them. Any one take your fancy?"

Flash let the question sit with him, as the Younglings enjoyed the meal he had showed them how to make. He remembered all those years he had been on his birth moon. All those years he had spent, wondering what else was out there. He always told himself that when he got off the moon, he would make sure he saw the rest of the galaxy. And he knew there was only one way he was ever gonna do that.

"Yeah," he nodded, "I have." He gave his answer and Spitfire smirked, knowing the teen had made the right choice.

The next day.

The transport ship flew down to Canterlot and as it did, the Younglings were all talking about the Core they had had the most fun with. Many were talking about the Education and Expedition Core, whilst the vast majority stated how much fun the Agriculture Core had been for them. Only a select few had found the Medical Core their favourite, which included Sweetie and a few others.

As the ship landed, Flash smiled at all their excitement and also felt excitement himself. He had chosen his Core and now, he just needed to tell his Master.

Speaking of his master. When the doors of the ship opened, Shining Armor was there waiting. Springer was with him, along with Skybreaker and Iron Core. By the bags they were carrying, Flash had a feeling they were heading somewhere.

"Hey," Shining smirked when Flash moved over to him, "have fun?"

"Yeah," Flash nodded. "And I've made a decision." Shining raised an eyebrow. "I wanna be in the Expedition Core. I wanna see what's out in the universe and help those that are in trouble. I don't wanna be stuck on one planet again."

Shining smiled, "I knew you'd pick that one. Which is why I told Celestia we'd take the mission."

"Mission?" Flash asked, only for Shining to throw him a bag.

"You wanted to be a Jedi. This is what being a Jedi means. We're heading to another planet and there's a chance we might get ourselves killed. You think you can handle that." Flash stared at him, then smiled before throwing the bag onto his back.

"Let's do this!" Shining smiled with Skybreaker nodding and Iron Core looking at Flash sceptically. They all headed off towards the Shooting Star, and Younglings cheering for their new friend who was getting to go off on a Jedi Mission. Flash might have no idea what was waiting for him, but he wouldn't let those that believed in him down.

No matter what, he was going to prove himself and complete this task without issue.