Author's Notes:

Merry Hearths Warming Day EveryPony! I hope you all have a blast reading this extended chapter, I have been working on this for the past four days or so to give you all a special present on Hearths Warming Day, and I hope you enjoy. Now I am off to enjoy some happy times with my family and hopefully i can get some of that eggnog before it's all gone... Good-Day and have a wonderful night!

It was a new morning everybody slept well and were waiting for me to have it the walkway to the Temple. The children were all waiting patiently for me to arrive, I told him to go on without me because I need to get ready know what non-microbes grabbing my light saber although fun stuff that it has to grab. Walking through town I received varying looks from everyone him, some more of surprise while others were friendly and appreciative. Granted I’ve being here almost 3 months, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from looking at me oddly every now and then, giving me looks that said “oh my goodness when the hell get here,”. It didn’t take me very long term get to where I was going seen the looks on everyone’s faces I was kind of happy that I took my time.

Reach the clearing I found everyone just sitting there either looking at the clouds, or were talking to each other about anything. I waved to them, garnering the attention, and walked on over. All the back when as it got up and trotted over to me, each of them getting a happy hello to your’s truly.

“Ryan!” The CMC shouted, the three little filly is run up to me and hugged my leg along with Spike and Luna.

“Daddy!” Luna shouted as she jumped into my waiting arms, she nuzzled into my chest as I rubbed her head making her giggle softly in my arms. “So Are you going to show everybody the Temple today?” She said excitedly.

“Yes darling, want to be showing us this ‘Temple’ today?” Rarity asked as she trotted up next to me, smiling.

“You’re darn tootin he is! Right Ryan?!” Applejack declared from the back of the group, giving me a slight smile.

“That’s the reason I brought you here isn’t it…” I said giving them smile, Twilight groaned as she facehoofed causing the rest of them to chuckle at her exasperation. “Hey Rainbow, how about you go make sure the pathways clear, the workers should have cleared it last night, but who knows what moved in while we were gone.”

“Sure, whatever you say Ryan!” She shot up in the air, gave a quick salute, and shot off towards the pathway.

“Hey Twilight, did you by chance pack food for you guys?” I asked her as I moved learned my right shoulder.

“Should know me better by now Ryan, of course I did.” Twilight motioned towards her saddlebags, horn aglow, and a couple of containers of food floated out, showing me that indeed, she had packed food for everyone.

“And you Pinkie?” I asked smiling it did hyperactive pink menace, whom was doing acrobatics for some reason…

“Of course I did silly, why do you cupcake!” Pinkie asked excitedly as she bounced around everybody to get to me. Suddenly she was in my face with a cupcake in her right hoof, just inches away from my nose.

“Now I’m good Pinkie, spread and save those for the trip.” I said with a small smile. She nodded her head vigorously and went back to standing next to Twilight. “So shall be going?” I started walking towards the path, the rails just telling behind me, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo ran up on my left side, while Spike took my right. We led our happy little group of ‘explorers’ along the path, quickly catching up to Rainbow. She was on the path, picking a fight with a pair of Timberwolves.

“Hey! Get out of here, go on shoo!” She yelled as she flared her wings at them, neither of them were even vaguely threatened. That is until I came into view.

“What seems to be the problem Rainbow?” I asked, a slight smile ghosting my lips as I looked at the dogs before me.

“Just trying to get these guys out of the way… But they won’t budge!” She growled. “They aren’t even actin like normal wolves either!” She exclaimed.

“Well… that’s actually a Good thing… Seeing as the rest of their pack is in the bushes around you…” I said chuckling at her then fearful visage.

“R-really?!” She said before getting behind me.

The fillies and Spike were clinging to me like a fly on honey, making it rather hard to move from my spot. As we stood there, me staring down the wolves while the rest of them ‘cowered’ around me, the rest of the girls showed up and were shocked to see us just standing there before a pair of Timberwolves. The girls all screamed and rushed over, which made the wolves growl.

“HEY! Don’t you go growling at them!” I barked, making the wolves snap their maws shut and bow to me slightly. “Better… Now, would you clear the way for us? I and my friends would like to get to the Temple before noon.” The wolves nodded, the entire moment making the mares and children gape at me in astonishment, save Luna who just showed mild interest in what was said. The wolves ran off, the bushes to either side of us rustled as the wolves there in ran to catch up.

“RYAN!” Twilight yelled out once the wolves were gone. “Have you lost your mind?!”

“No, or rather, I think I haven’t… Why, what makes you ask?” I say with a cheeky grin plastered on my face as I turn around to answer her.

“The fact you just talked with a group of Timberwolves! That’s what!” She growled. “How could you put the girls in danger like that!”

“Well, for one, the only one in danger here was Rainbow, but that was because she tried to make them leave. Another thing is this, I KNOW THEM, remember that little run in I had with the wolves my second day here?” I was referring to the second day I had spent on Gaia… Moreover, she knew what I meant.

“You mean to say, that those wolves…” she pointed a shaky hoof in the direction the pack went. “Are the very same ones you ran from back then?!” She asked slightly furious. “How in Celestia’s name did that not turn out to be a fight?!”

“Well, I guess I kind of became their pack leader or something… I don’t know really on how to explain it… I just tell them what to do and they do it, simple as that… Ish.” I shrugged and shook the little ones from my legs, Rainbow had shot away when the rest of our friends had come into view, not wanting to be seen as weak… Good thing Scoots didn't see her…

“Well, the way should be cleared by now… Let’s go!” I motioned forward with my free arm, much to the protest of everybody else, save the crusaders and Spike, Luna was just humming peaceably on my shoulder.

“HEY! If you don’t want to come, that’s fine, BUT don’t ruin it for the ones that do!” I yelled back as we increased our pace to out walk Twilight and the mood killers, whom consisted of her, AJ, Rarity, and Rainbow, while Fluttershy and Pinkie walked up with us..

As we walked Fluttershy and Pinkie soon caught up to us and began making small talk with the fillies and Spike about what the place was like. “Don’t spoil it for them Young ones!” I chided playfully, Pinkie and the girls made disappointed ‘awh’ noises while Spike, Luna and surprisingly Fluttershy snickered at their disappointment.

Walking along we all began to relax in the morning sun, the warm light helping to wake our still somewhat drowsy bodies from slumber. The coolness of the forest helped to keep the edge off the slowly rising heat, which wasn't much of a heat wave, but made a slight difference. The other four had gone to talking amongst themselves as the rest of us enjoyed the relative silence, which was extraordinary for pinkie, seeing as she is a hyperactive word-slinger extraordinaire… aka chatter box mark five…

With the breeze at our backs and the sun in front, we came upon the majesty of the front gates. Their gold and ebony colors emblazoned brightly in the morning sun. The white and blue trimmed walls rose majestically towards the skies above, looking rather royal and resolute with the green vines already creeping up their foundations. Standing there, with Luna on my shoulder, I took in the sight of my beloved Academy. The crusaders and Spike shared in my wonderment.

The girls, all paralyzed by the sheer magnitude and scope of the place in front of them, just gaped and looked on in amazement. WE had all moved forward some, making it to where the morning sun framed the Temple grounds perfectly in its kind light.

“It…its beautiful darling… simply magnificent…” Rarity said breathlessly, still trying to come to terms with the grandeur before her. It would have put Celestia off if she had seen it, which she hasn't yet!

“Is this really what all the Temples looked like?” Twilight asked as she strode up next to me, plopping down on her haunches as she continued to take in the sight.

“Awesome….” Was all that escaped Rainbows lips as she fell on her ass as well, she was also taken by the size and beauty of the place.

“Mighty fine… mighty fine…” AJ said as she tilted her Stetson back to get a better look.

“It’s wonderful…” Fluttershy said as she scooted closer to me, I flashed her a happy smile before looking back at the sight before us.

“Well… To answer you question twilight… This is small compared to some of the other Academies I have been to… The one on Osus, before the attack, was about the size of Canterlot, just in size.” Nostalgia took me as I remembered the lush jungle planet; it was great running through the underbrush playing tag with the rest of my classmates… Then the 'GA' attacked and about leveled the place…

“Small! This is massive!” She exclaimed as she waved a hoof at the complex.

“For here it is… but I wanted to plan big… and reusing the fallen pieces from the castle was something I wanted to do for Celestia… Making this as much hers as it is mine… even though she gave me the land. However, that’s not what we’re here for! Let us go about seeing the Temple!” I brushed off Twilight’s continued questioning and stepped towards the gates.

“Everyone, I welcome you to… 'The Jedi Academy'!” I yelled as I pushed the giant gate open with a gesture. The sunlight poured out from the inner courtyard, bathing everyone in the suns stunning rays. As the light faded, they were able to see the large gardens contained on the other side. All the fillies and spike ran in and started playing games and just having a good time among the trees and other fauna. They stayed clear of the river though, trying to stay dry in the morning’s cool air. The girls all moseyed on in, taking care to look at everything they could.

“This here is the outer yards, It goes all the way around the Academy and is just one of the many gardens scattered about. The walls here act as a first line of defense against any fauna trying to gain unwanted entrance to the Academy grounds.” I explained as the girls all slowly walked around me, taking in the sights. “The seven of us will be looking around the grounds before coming back and grabbing the younglings and heading underground. Any questions so far?”

"Can we throw a ‘Welcome to the Academy!’ Party after this?!” Pinkie said with an excited smile threatening to break her already stretched features.

“I don’t see why not, but it will be after we get everything sorted out.” I said while giving her a knowing smile. I knew she would want to, so I had already gotten over the dread of it long ago.

“Cooly-ooly-oh!” She said as she bounded to the forefront of the group.

“Luna, Spike, I’m leaving the two of you in charge until I get back… so no doing anything extreme and eventually painful, okay?”

“Yeah, sure dad!” “Sure Ryan!” My daughter and Spike yelled as they ran from Scoots, they seemed to be playing freeze tag… Fun!

“Okay then, let’s go.” I ushered them through the doors on the other side of the river and went inside. This was going to be an interesting day…

After that, Dad left us to our own devices, much to our enjoyment. We had just finished our game of tag when we decided to try playing king of the hill, something I had seen the colts at the school playing before. It looked fun and the rest of us weren't exactly the most frilly of fillies, so we decided it was a good idea… For now.

I ran for the hill and tackled Spike out of the way; AB jumped over us and dove for the hill. She landed and stood tall over us.

“Will y’all defy me?” She giggled manically; WE looked up to her from our tangle of limbs and glared at her halfheartedly. Suddenly Scootaloo barreled into her, sending her flying off the hill. She squealed in surprise and rolled down the hill, landing on top of us.

"Get her!" I yelled as Spike pushed AB. non too gently, off of us and ran up after Scoots. AB and I ran up after him, we all tackled Scoots and, somehow, ended up all rolling down the hill and landing in the river... Don't ask, we were at least a good three yards away from it... So we ended up getting wet instead of becoming king, or queen...

"Dang it!" Complained Scoots as she tried to shake the water out of her wings. We were all drenched from head to hoof, of foot if you want to count Spike... granted he is a dragon and the water just kind of rolls off him.

Spike walked over to Scootaloo and began using his dragon fire to create a hot wind over her feathers and fur, trying to dry her off faster than just shake drying would do. Once he was done with her he moved onto Ab and Sweetie, saving me for last... Cheeky little bastard...

Once he got to me he grinned, seeing that I was shivering and glaring at him for taking so long. He then balled his hands up in front of his mouth and blew fire on them, and his arms a second later, warming them up. I looked at him wearily as he walked over.

"What do you plan on doing with those?" I asked wearily, hoping, if anything, that he would wrap himself around me.

"Oh... just gonna hug ya!" He said cheekily before embracing me in the warmest hug I had ever gotten! It was like heaven had opened up and given me an angel, one with warm arms and a body made of silk... I was putty in his claws...

"Mmmm"

"What was that?" He whispered in my ear.

"Mmmm, feeeeels...gooooood...mmm" I smiled as I leaned into his warm embrace. I breathed in softly, inhaling his scent, unwittingly I might add, but nonetheless. It was nutty, and sweet, like crushed nuts and roses... with a musky kind of undertone... Like dirt and sweat... It was relaxing and put my mind at ease after the sudden dip in the frigid icy water.

"Um... OK..." He said, rather cautiously. The other three had long since gone off to look for something else to ravage with their spare time... Most likely making a tower for a 'Builders Cutie Mark'... Granted I may be older than them by a year or two... but I still took pleasure in helping them... even though it was risky sometimes...

'This...this is heaven...' I said to myself as I held Luna in my arms, the sent of her coat was extraordinary! It had the comforting scent of Lavender and honeysuckle.... interesting combination I know, But very enticing nonetheless. She also smelled like sweet gems, though in an enticing sort of way, not edible in the slightest...

"Luna... Shouldn't we go find the others?" I was slightly hesitant, for the fact we had still been embraced. I looked down at her, now dry form, and smiled, she was one of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen, even my old crush, Rarity, could not hold a light to her... Granted I did have feelings for Sweetie belle as well.... And after last night I think they don't mind that like them both... given they live i the same house and all.

"Yeah, let's go find them before they bring the temple down around us..." She smirked and gave a low chuckle. We both sighed and I released her from my embrace and we headed off down the fight side of the gardens, in the more likely direction they went. Remembering that the gardens went around the whole place I really didn't see a difference in which way we went.

As we walked I decided to strike up a conversation.

"Luna... I Was curious about last night..." I said as I had my claws clasped up behind my head,

"Um... Well... I can't say I remember..." She said with a sly smile arcing across her angelic features. "Would you care... To ... remind me?"

'TEASE!' My brain yelled as I tried not to stumble from the shock.

Brain, report...I think we have just received confirmation of FEELINGS from opposite gender...

"Apt conclusion my fine scaly friend... What seems to be the problem?'

Um...Reaction please?

'Kiss her you fool!'

'I concur, IF she wishes for another kiss, than give her another kiss!'

You two are useless... Small organ that is almost use less... what's your shtick?

'Involuntary time of request... Please send request when bedroom is active and two opposing genders are present...

That is all. '

...Wow...

'Agreed...'

'Same... Weird little guy isn't he?'

Yes... Now boot me!

"Um sure..." We stopped walking and I looked her in the eyes and slowly leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, Granted i was more nervous than all hell in a snow storm on a Sunday in Church... Don't know where that came from but sounds apt enough... I was almost to her cheek when she suddenly shot forward and pressed her lips to my own...

It stole my breath away... There was an energy flowing through us that I just couldn't get enough of, apparently the same could be said for her as she moved closer to deepen the kiss we were currently sharing... Yay KISSING! Her lips tasted like sweet water and a slight citric-y after taste, it was WONDERFUL! one of the best things I had ever tasted! As we moved closer to each other I moved my left hand behind the nape of her neck and cradled her head softly as I positioned her to deepen the kiss even further...

After a short while we both gave out a slight moan in wonder and passion and released our long held breaths. We both fought to sit down with out falling, we made it to a bench and tried to catch our collective breaths.

"That... was ... amazing..." I said in between pants.

"You... have no... idea!" She said with a massive smile threatening to break her face, it was one of the most gorgeous things I had ever seen her do in a long time.

"We... We should... do that... again some time..." I said as I finally got my breathing under control.

"Are you asking me..." the stunningly beautiful filly next to me pointed to her self. "To be YOUR Mare-friend!?" She asked with a incredibly happy smile on her face, tears were trying to fight for their debut as she looked at me.

"It would be silly of me not to after that kiss..." I said with a cockeyed grin on my snout. She hen threw her arms around me and 'squeed' emphatically.

"ye-ouch! My ear!"

"I'm so sorry!" She said as she shot back and quickly started to rub my ear.

"It's fine Lulu... um...oops..." DAMN IT BRAIN! 'Sorry!' I just said a nick name that might just get me killed.

"NO! I like it..." She saw my look of 'OH SHIT!' and quickly put me back in happy land with her quick thinking.

"Oh...really?"

"Yeah... it's cute... Spiky..." She said, making me blush, It was one of the nicknames Rarity had used... but to hear it coming form her lips... The sound of angels was all I could hear... So I could care less what she called me...

"I Like it too Lulu... But we may want to keep this to ourselves fro now... And what about Sweetie?!" I started panicking slightly, that is until Luna smacked me in the back of the head, causing me to yelp slightly.

"HEY! WE can worry about her later... When we talked last night... I asked her 'What if we both got with Spike...' She wan't exactly the most responsive to that... but she did enjoy your 'little' gift that you gave us in front of her sister and my dad..." I sighed and then gulped at how I had somehow forgotten that they were all standing there when I did that... No wonder Twi was so kind to me this morning.... she pry thinks I'm going to be dead...

"And no, my dad isn't mad at you... yet... he's fine with everything going on, apparently he has seen similar things before... but it may be that he hasn't had it sink in yet, being a new father and all..."

"Yay... so he only reason I'm not dead is delayed reaction... Well, lets go find the others and see if we can't track down your dad and my executioner..." My face was a haggard thing by the time we actually got around to finding the three phantom menaces... those three could bring down a whole empire if they set their minds to it... and it would all be on accident too!

"This is the archives..." I motioned to the dozens of tomes that had been brought back thanks to Vet's Vast memory banks, he had stored a large section of the old Jedi archives at one point for a quick transfer and still had a ghost memory of everything from the transfer. "Here are some of the histories from the old and current Jedi orders of my Universe, here you would be able to do research for class and other things. A new section is being created to the collected books from all of Gaia." I explained as I led the six mares through the vast rows of books, we were on the ninth floor in the western tower.

Twilight was trying not to have a Bookgasim as she stared open mouthed at all the books and tomes that had been recreated on parchment and other textiles. The rest of the mares were just looking about in mute wonder at the massive scope of the place, not to mention the height of the ceilings, each floor had consisted of a twenty foot space letting for a secondary floor on each main floor. We quickly made our way through the rest before heading on to the training area's and then the dormitories, and then to go get the younglings and head underground.

"Dude, This place is HUGE!" Rainbow flew up to me and explained emphatically, she was flying about trying to take in all the sights as we waked through the Academy. "How did you get this thing built in a month?!"

"Well... The girls asked that before, I used my force powers to levitate and cement most of the blocks in place, meaning that I did most of the manual labor. That was why I was usually so tired most of the past few weeks." I said while still walking towards the far corridor. Fluttershy had been staying by my side during the whole tour and was very taken with most of the soft colors and ambient light being used, I could tell that it calmed her and helped her take in most of what she saw.

"Cooool..." She drawled out as she floated next to me. Twilight Rarity and AJ were behind us just lolly gagging along, not exactly being slow but not fast enough to warrant a faster pace.

After ten minutes of walking and looking at some of the other small office areas and mediation rooms we came upon the training rooms. I went through the whole thing with the mares, the same way I did it with Luna and the other four. To say it was amusing would be an understatement. Rainbow was the one to challenge it this time, She tried flying into the room and was almost instantly slammed to the floor, she then proceeded to crawl all the way to where I was standing.

"I won!" She said with a pained breath.

"Yep..." I chuckled and motioned for the gravity and fog to disperse.

"So how'd I do...?" She asked as tried to catch her breath while pealing herself up off the floor.

"Um, well, not to burst your bubble... But Luna did this too... But she was able to stand and at least walk half way... You did the easy bit of crawling here..." I said as I rubbed the back of my neck in nervousness. "But she didn't make it as far so that is a plus for you..."

"Damn it! Well... at least you told me... Didn't hurt my pride as much as I would have thought..." She chuckled and Got to her hooves.

"Well ,lets finish up and go get the fillies... I just hope they haven't destroyed anything..." I say as we walk out of the room.

"Fire the catapult!" Scoots yelled as we came into view of the large fort they had made out of left over stone blocks and wood beams. Me and spike were behind a small garden wall, being pelted by little snow balls that sweetie was getting from over the wall, apparently the EverFree had a snow storm that somehow skipped over PonyVille and the Academy.

"Spike... WE need to get behind their wall... Got any ideas?" I asked as I huddled closer to him.

"Well... you could fly over while I draw their attention... But we could also try and make a shield and just run up on them..." He said while ducking back over the wall, avoiding a snow ball to the head.

"Lets go with plan A... I'll go get some Snow from outside and drop it on them before they know what hit'em!" We grinned and bolted over the garden wall.

"Run Luna, run!" Spike said as he dashed behind multiple pieces of cover in quick succession. I jumped up in the air and gave my wings a few good strong beats and took off like a rocket. I quickly flew over the wall and landed on the snow covered ground surrounding the EverFree, I still couldn't figure out how the Academy wasn't covered in the stuff... But I paid it no mind as I rolled up a large snowball and clutched it in all four hooves as I began to take off. I carried the massive thing, slowly, back over the wall and maneuvered it right over the top of the CMC's 'Base' and let it go, I saw that spike had dived for cover when I let it go. I quickly flew over to him and Tackled him to the ground, hugging him tightly. I was freezing from carrying the snow, and he obligated to hold onto me and try to warm me up.

"Nice one Lulu... And I think your crushing one of my spines..." He said with a slightly pained voice, I quickly released him and Blushed profusely and apologized for hurting him.

"It's okay, Luna, Lets go check on our targets...." He chuckled and pulled me to my hooves, and right into his awaiting arms.

"Thanks..." I whispered as he released me and climbed over the garden wall, being careful not to harm nay of the flowers.

"Hey girls... are you OK in there?" I yelled when we got close enough. WE heard a few mumbled words of accent as the snow started to move, three heads poked out and smiled down at us.

"That was a good one Luna!" Sweetie said, brushing snow off out of her mane.

"Yeah, darn near took our heads off, but ya did good!" AB yelled as she pulled herself out of the snow with an audible 'POP'.

"I CALL TRUCE!" Scoots yelled as she gave us a withering glare, though it fell moments later after a piece of snow fell on her head.

"Okay, lets go back to the front and see if my dad is there waiting for us..." I said as the three snow dusted fillies came nearer. They nodded their heads quickly, making more snow fling from their manes, some of it hitting me and Spike making us laugh.

"TO THE GATE!" Scoot yelled as she fluttered her wings quickly, making her hover in the air for a few seconds before shooting off on all fours toward the gate. We all chuckled and giggled at her antics and strolled out after her.

After a few minutes of waiting my dad came out, along with the rest of the Girls, Dad and Fluttershy were talking about something, they were both talking in hushed voices and were laughing and giggling at random intervals, It seemed they were having a heart to heart right then, so I motioned for the other s not to bother them. It had been roughly ten hours since my dad had gone in there, But thankfully the sun was still up and the chill was not all that bad.

"Well younglings, lets get a move on, We got an underground to see!" My dad said out of nowhere, he was standing at the top of the stairs and had his hands planted on his hips as he looked at us.

"YAY!" "FINALLY" WOOHOO!" and many other things could be heard coming from our large group as we charged after him back into the Academy. We all followed him through some of the inner passage ways and finally cam upon a large smooth stone door...

"If you do not wish to be privy to some of MY secrets... I suggest you back out now... For once you come through here, you will never, ever, be able to divulge this information to anyone, pony or otherwise, or I will know..." My dad gave a dramatic pause, letting his words sink in, we were all to excited to even think of leaving, and he raised his arms up to the door.

"NOW, I welcome you all... To 'THE UNDER GROUND'" The door then began to shake and spread apart, it had a diagonal line going across it from the top left to bottom right, and it seemed that there was also a second door on the other side with the reverse in it too.

"Now let us begin." He said as he led us through the threshold.

I was giddier than a Jedi on knighting day! This was going to be the most nerve rending point, currently, in my young life! I was going to introduce everyone to Vet and show them to my Starfighter... this is going to be a very interesting night...

"Alright, Before I go any further... I want to warn you about the first thing we are going to see here tonight..." I turned around to face everyone, they all nodded and gathered into a small semicircle in front of me. "This thing is one of my closest companions from before my time in this galaxy... and he has been my rock when it came to coming to terms with this new world... He is not living, granted he never was alive in the first place," this drew confused looks from everyone present. "His name is Vet... and I will be taking you to him... so don't get over excited, that means you... all of you..." I just sighed and rubbed the side of my head, already telling that I was going to get a headache after this.

Everyone just eyed me oddly and shook their heads in accent, not really getting what I had meant.

"Alright follow me." I led them down a few corridors, I had had glow Crystals placed in the walls every so often instead of having electricity put in... seeing as it cost an arm and a leg here for the damned stuff... after a few turns and everyone trying to get into my workshop, I didn't need them seeing all the different weapons I was working on in there...

We made a few more turns, going farther into the depths of the Academy. After another turn we finally made it to our destination, a large smooth stone door. I raised my left hand up to it and used the force to move it to the left, allowing everyone access to the large room on the other side.

In the center of the room stood Vet, his large green dome swiveled around and spewed a string of whistles, beeps, and chirps at me in irritation. all the others just stood there in mute shock at the sight before them. Not even Celestia had seen Vet nor my ship, and Vet was getting a little pissed at me for not introducing them.

"Vet, This is Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie and the lovely Fluttershy." I pointed to the mares in turn, I gained a deep blush from Fluttershy and a few odd stares from the rest of them. "These are the Crusaders, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, Sweetie is Rarity's sister and Applebloom is Applejack's, and Rainbow is like Scoots older sister... so that counts. This here is Spike and Luna," I motioned to them and brought them forward, they were all just speechless at what was sitting right in front of them. "Spike is Twilight's assistant and one of my dearest friends, and Luna is my adopted daughter, so that means you get to answer to her as well..." I smirked when he shot a string of insults at me.

"Yeah, yeah, blow it up your exhaust pipe!" I chuckled and looked to everyone. "This is vet everyone, he is an Astromech droid from my galaxy... he saved my life during my last fight before coming here... he is not alive nor is he dead... he runs on electricity and is able to communicate fairly well... he just wants his privacy right now since he is working on a few more works from our home. If you have questions, now is the time to ask."

"ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, A real droid!" Rainbow exclaimed. "How did you get him and how long have you known about him, and why haven't you told me this before!"

"One, that's why," I chuckled before continuing, "Two, he came here on my ship with me... Remember that story I told you and Luna... That was all true..." That made her calm down and go slightly wide eyed.

"You mean... you really went through that... before coming here?!" Rainbow asked quietly, she then fluttered over and slung her arms around my neck and whispered in my ear. "I'm sorry... I'm so...so..sorry..." she let loose a few tears and tightened her embrace.

I returned the hug and whispered back, "It's alright Dash... I have already mourned them... They will never be forgotten... Not by me or by anyone hat survived..." I then eased us out of the embrace and set her on the ground. "I have known him for over four months now... and he has been out in the woods with my ship, bringing it back up to flight capability until now."

"What story are you talking about Ryan? we'd like to know too..." Twilight said, inching a little bit closer.

"... I will tell you all later... Oh and Rainbow... I'm fine, we'll go for shakes later, Pinkie willing." I said with a large smile adorning my face.

"That sounds good man." Was her only reply before going over to Fluttershy, they started whispering to each other as I talked to the others.

"Twilight, you will be able to have some access to some of the blueprints and such from my galaxy... But I must ask that you not MAKE ANYTHING THAT YOU SEE WITHOUT MY STRICT PERMISSION!" I emphasized every word to her, making myself very, very clear.

"YAY, thank you Ryan! and I won't I Pinkie promise, Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" she did the motions, thankfully remembering to close her eye.

"That's all I ask."

"Darling... why is he such a garish color of green?"

"Well, The reason being, is that he was made for ground missions on heavily forested planets, the green would help camouflage him during transport." I replied to Rarity's question.

"Ah, that explains it, but I must say that it doesn't suit him...maybe a dark blue or light grey would go with his other color scheme?" She remarked looking at the scorch marks all over his chassis.

"Um Rarity, those aren't colors... those are burn marks... from the battle I told Rainbow about... and seeing those always remind me how close to death I was... Cause all of those are glancing blows..." I shivered and walked out of the room, getting an angry bleep from Vet.

"Damn it Ryan... Must you frighten them so...?"

"Sorry Vet, it wasn't my intention... You can reprimand me later if you wish...I know I have been neglecting you." I said without turning around. I was surprised by how quiet everyone had been, I didn't get any questions from Pinkie, Applejack or Fluttershy, or the kids for that matter... strange.

"Let's get going everyone, there are just a few more things I would like to show you before we leave." I said while motioning for everyone to come with me, i left the door open in case Vet decided to come with us for some reason.

"Daddy... I..I" Luna tried to say something, but I quickly picked her up and cradled her in my arms, keeping her close to my heart in everything I did... she was special to me and I didn't like to see her cry.

"It's okay Luna, I'm fine." I gave her a warm inviting smile and nuzzled the top of her head, causing her to giggle as my scruffy beard tickled the tip of her nose. "Now let me show you something really cool!" I said as i placed her on my shoulder.

"Alright everyone we're almost there." We took a left at the next intersection and headed off in the direction of the forest, though the girls and spike didn't know this. I took us through many different turns and intersections, passing many different rooms an storage closets on the way, all in all it was a very quiet stroll through the catacombs of the Academy, everyone just spoke among themselves in hushed tones and paid attention when I called out an important room or glyph etched into a wall or floor section. I tuned to Spike, seeing as he somehow was able to stay walking next to me at the pace I was setting.

"Hey Spike, How are you and Luna doing?" I motioned with my free hand to the sleeping filly in my arms.

"Um... well... Will you get mad if I tell you?" Spike said, making me slightly anxious, 'What had my angle done with Spike... cause I know he wouldn't do anything in fear of my wrath, granted it was a small wrath, but wrath nonetheless.'

"No Spike, I promise I won't get mad... And, IF I do, you have everypony else here to save you." I said with a menacing enough grin.

"um...um um um..." He looked like he saw a ghost, be it his own or not I didn't know. But I chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm just kidding Spike, now tell me... what's up?"

"Well... I hugged her... after she fell in the Icy water... I didn't want her to get a cold or anything. So, I warmed up my scales and the rest of my body and gave her a nice big hug... she kind of melted into me and we stayed like that for..." He trailed off and got a look of utter infatuation as he stole a glance at Luna's sleeping form, he blushed and regain his composure when I tapped him on the head lightly. "Sorry, We then went and looked for the Crusaders and we started to talk... one thing led to another and I kissed her, again on the cheek... but after that, and a few snow balls later, I found myself being slammed by Luna and then being kissed on the lips.... PLEASE DON"T KILL ME!" he pleaded and fell to his knees shaking his clasped claws in front of me in a comedic style.

"... As if I would destroy the one thing, besides me, that make my daughter happy... the only thing I ask is that you don't break her heart, and you already know the consequences... other than that... I just wish you to wait till she's older for the rest of your relationship to... 'evolve'" I said while making quotations around 'Evolved'. I liked Spike, he was a good kid and had a clear head on his shoulders, he never lied to me, but when he did, he did it so bad you couldn't help but laugh it off and just look at him in pity.

"So... what of Sweetie then?" I knew that he had feelings for the little filly as well, and couldn't fault him for it either, I knew that such relations were abundant here, seeing as the male population, even though it was generous in number, was outnumbered five to one by the females... meaning that herds and such were common in some places... though usually small in occupancy.

"um... we don't know yet... Luna had talked to her last night, but she never got a straight answer... I would love to be able to love them both... But... If Sweetie doesn't want it that way than I can respect that, I'm with Luna and I won't be backing out anytime soon... Or ever." He said with such conviction that I almost thought I was talking to Ben again after so long...

"I can understand that Spike... I will try and help you along if you do so wish, But I must say that you have a lofty goal of taking care of two such fillies... You will have your work cut out for you that's for sure" I chuckled and led us down another corridor, we were almost there.

"Thank you Ryan..." He looked up to me, I could see that a weight had been lifted off his body after our little talk, I was happy he didn't think I was going to skin him or anything anymore.

"Yep... Ah here we are!" I said as we came across a Very large cavern and a set of large stone doors. "Everyone! I present to you..." I pushed the doors to the side and revealed a large open area with a tarp covered object in the center. "My SHIP!" I walked to the center of the room and tore the cover right off, revealing the mat grey Starfighter sitting underneath. The quad linked cannons were almost shinny in their care they had received along with the rest of the ship. It all shined in the moonlight that seeped through the massive whole above us.

"Whoa! Is that what you flew in here on!?" rainbow asked as she dashed over and looked over the ship. Everyone else came over too and started looking all over it.

"Yep, this is my pride and joy... the 'Herald Black' My personal Starfighter." I said, Pride and joy dominated my voice as it echoed around the circular room.

I just sat down and enjoyed the view of all my friends gawking at my ship, their questions ranged from 'How does it fly?' To 'what is it made of!' and 'Can I get in it?!' The last one being from Pinkie of coarse.

"Well, at the moment I don't have that much fuel for it... I need something called Tibana gas... I'll tell you what that is later Twilight, cause i will need your help in getting it. If I had enough I would take you all for a joy ride in it... But I don't so I don't want to take just a few of you and leave the rest out... And if you notice those four large cylinders on the back there, those allow me to fly the ship through the air based on thrust. And as for what it's made of... I don't know... But I know that Vet knows, so we could ask him later." I said while trying to keep up with all their questions. The Crusaders came trotting over and sat at my feet, looking up at me with big eyes.

"Would you leave once you had enough fuel?" Sweetie asked.

"Yeah, would you be leaving?"

"Wha' kind ah questions are those girls!" Applebloom snapped.

"Applebloom's right girls, why would you think that?" I asked as I knelt down to their level.

"... We just thought that... since you were showin' us this you might be leaving, since you said you came here on it..." Sweetie and Scootaloo blushed. Both of them were bowing their heads in sorry for jumping to some rather far fetched conclusions... Though that isn't to say the thought hadn't popped into my head once or twice before, that was before I had gotten so attached to all of them.

"It's okay girls, You're not in trouble..." I noticed out of the corner of my eye that everyone else had stopped looking at the ship and were listening in on our conversation. "I would never, EVER, leave you girls... You are all to precious to me, even though a few of you give me headaches on a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis..." I jerked my head in Pinkie's, Rarity's, and Twilight's directions. "But that's what friends do, they annoy the living tar out of each other, but are there when they are needed." I chuckled and heard a few annoyed 'humphs' coming from the girls, We ALL know which ones... Haha!

"YAY!" Scoots and Sweetie yelled as they jumped up to give me a hug. I quickly moved Luna out of the way and caught them in my left arm, I even levitated Applebloom up and set her on my head.

"I guess that means no more moping around?" I asked with a laugh. All three fillies nodded their heads furiously, making me laugh even more. "Good!"

"Um, Ryan, what in tarnation are these here spoke things for?" Applejack said as she tapped on a piece of my ship. I turned around and went deathly pale, She was hitting, I repeat HITTING, one of the quad-laser cannon... WHILE HER HEAD WAS IN FRONT OF THE DAMNED THING!

"APPLEJACK, MOVE AWAY FROM THERE!" I shouted before blasting her back with a hasty force push. Thankfully I did so, the cannon somehow misfired right as she moved out of the way. This struck me as completely impossible since the thing was off and the cannons were disconnected...

"What the hay was that fer Ryan!" Applejack asked as she got back on her hooves. She then looked at everyone around her, we were all slack jawed, everyone was holding their ears while I was just as pale as a sheet.

"...I... I... I don't understand.... How... How did that just fire..." I mumbled as I Let all the fillies drop to the ground, to stunned to really perceive what I had done, I walked over to the fighter and started giving it a good thorough check over.

"What... Was that Ryan... It was loud and it blew a HOLE IN THE WALL!" Twilight exclaimed as she flailed her forelegs about in anxiety.

"That... My dear Twilight and friends... Was a Live round... Applejack here almost killed herself..." I said, my voice had lost all emotion, I was in paranoia mode and I was going to find out how the fuck that just happened.

"...Ya mean I..." Applejack pointed towards the cannon and went pale before looking back at me. "How in the world did that jus' do tha' Ryan!"

"I DON"T KNOW! That fucker should have been uncoupled and unable to fire... I disconnected each and every one of these cannons before letting you guys see them..." I went and crawled over to the cannon and checked all the couplers on it.

"..."

"Ryan?" Fluttershy murmured next to me.

"..."

"..."

"Ryan dear, you're scarring us..." Rarity said while bringing the fillies around her legs for comfort.

"..."

"Ryan, Tell us now what is wrong OR I'm calling Celestia..." Twilight threatened, to bad for her I was going to have her call her anyway.

"...Someone... someone has reconnected the cables... And set the cannon to gather excess power while the ship sat here... This was no accident..." I flopped back on my ass and looked at all of them, conviction and fear evident in my voice.

"Wha?" Applejack spluttered, "How's tha' possible pardner, WE," she motioned to our friends, "Only found out about this room just now..." She fumed, thinking that I was accusing any of them for doing this.

"I would never accuse any of you for this... I doubt you could have even figured out how to put this back together even with a manual... It's written in a different language anyway... This just means... there are others on the planet... others from the same galaxy as me... others that hate the Jedi and their friends..."I shivered as I thought of the untold millions that that could encompass, not to mention the thousands of races and cultures that hated us too...

"Well, what could we do to help man, we won't be letting you go through this on your own!" Rainbow said as she puffed up her chest and floated in the air across from me.

"Heh, thank Rainbow, But there isn't much you all could do against the evils of my galaxy... I would never forgive myself if any of you were hurt thanks to one of them..." I sighed and gave her a sad face, showing my despair.

"Dude, who bad could they be! I mean really, we all took on nightmare moon and destroyed her!" She flailed her arms about in exasperation. "Ryan, if they are SOOO bad why don't you tell us about them and we'll see for our selves." The rest of the girls gave an affirmative to her statement. The determination o their faces and in their force presence gave me pause as I looked them over, I let a small tear run down my cheek as I looked in their eyes.

"Very well... " I took a moment to gather myself and let them gather in front of me. "Okay, But first I want all the children to go and stay with Vet. He will understand once I send him a quick message, I just don't want to scare them... not this young, that means you too Spike, sorry man, but I just can't bring myself to tell you this..." He nodded hesitantly, not liking the fact that I was treating him as a child, but he understood why. The girls and Spike then walked back towards Vet and left the rest of us to our talk.

"Alright, First off, you all wanted to hear this so don't even try to blame me afterwards..." I cleared my throat and began. "Now, the Jedi order has been around for over a hundred thousand years, we have protected the galaxy from all forms of evil, be it external or domestic... At one point there was JUST the Jedi, no fallen Jedi or anything like that... But at one point we discovered the darker side of the force, there was a split in the foundation of the order and we became two, the Jedi, protectors of the galaxy, and the Sith, Destined conquerors of the galaxy... At first we were matched evenly against each other, for we had the same fighting styles. But after a while they began to learn much more... brutal ways of killing and destroying, like this." I stretched out my hand and pointed it at the far wall, where the laser cannon had shot earlier, and released a massive gout of Force-lightning. It made everyone flinch and stare at the large darkened area, it was now much larger than what had been left by the laser round, roughly a ten foot radius of charred rock. "That is but one of the baser attacks they came up with... They eventually came up with ways to torment their captives in their dreams and how to summon force ghosts to do their bidding... It became the dark age of for the Jedi... But once we defeated them we came into a time of peace, ragged by minor wars across few sectors of the galaxy, until the Mandalorians attacked around four thousand years ago... " I paused for breath and to drink from a canteen I had on my belt.

"They just about conquered the entire galaxy in the span of ten years... whipping out hundreds of worlds and civilizations... they are a warrior culture, not a race, for they have hundreds of races to their cause... During this time the Jedi were Few in number, Still recovering from a past war with a dark Jedi named Exar Cun, the Jedi council at the time refused to help the Republic in its time of need and held back their support of the war effort. They had sensed something dark about the coming war, but were unable to divine its secrets from the force. But two Jedi, Revan and Malak, along with many others who thought the same, raced to the republics rescue. Revan was a master tactician. He had the Mandalorians beat within a three year period... But then he told the republic and the Jedi council, whom had forbade him from going, that he was going to search in the unknown regions for the remnants of the Mandalorian armies... " I paused and let the information sink in.

"What did he find?" Surprisingly Fluttershy asked, though it was starting to become her norm with me... But I digress.

"No one knows for sure... But he came back less than two years later... with a new fleet of war ships of the likes none have ever seen... They were a grey color and all were shaped like giant beaks... each one had the power to demolish an entire planet of life and population... One such instance was Taris when Malak had bombed the place in vengeance for an attack on his armada... But as I was saying, They came back, But not as heroes... But as conquerors... What ever they had found had turned them to the dark side, turning two of the eras most powerful Jedi into the most Powerful Sith the Galaxy had ever seen... They had the power to Move planets and drain stars... they were a terrifying force to recon with... They had become Sith... Going by the titles Darth Revan and Lord Malak, who later claimed the title of Darth. But after a few freak accidents and a few betrayals, the Jedi had somehow turned Darth Revan back to the light and ended the war with Malak's death... But only five hundred years later another massive war broke out with a hidden race of Sith, marking another tumultuous time in galactic history... But then we fast forward another few thousand years and some major battles we come to my time... Well still before me, but whatever."

"That... all sounds horrible..." Twilight and Fluttershy murmured, both in different tones. while Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack were just sitting there, eyes slightly glazed over as they thought about all the war that had happened. Pinkie was sitting off to the side, her mane and tail deflated and flat against her face and body. I motioned for her to come and sit with me, But she declined and moved over next to Fluttershy and plopped down next to the yellow pegasus.

"Yeah, But that's not all... There was also the 'Galactic Empire' ruled by an evil man Named Emperor Palpatine... A very Powerful Sith lord... and his Apprentice... Darth Vader... They had taken over the galaxy in the span of four years, squashing all resistance and destroying any and all who opposed them, bringing to heel more beings than any other Sith before them... Not to mention they were THE most power full Sith and Jedi of their times... Darth Vader Used to go by a different name... Anakin Skywalker... Father To Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa..." This drew concerned stares from all of them.

"You don't mean the same Luke that was your master Right?" Rainbow said with raised brows.

"Yes the very same... Now let e continue..." I cleared my throat and drank a little more Water. "Now, Vader and Palpatine had been ruling over the Galaxy for around forty years... though Vader had only been doing so for eighteen of those years... Palpatine had taken control of the government behind everyone's back during the war before their rise to power. But onto the rest of the story... Luke, being the son of a very powerful Jedi was given instruction by Vader's old master, Obi Wan Kinobi... One of the last remaining Jedi after the Purge... I'll explain that real quick. The purge is what happened at the end of the war, Darth Vader was tasked with killing all remaining Jedi and eradicating them from the galaxy... He was able to kill all but a small hand full of them, those being the ones that found places strong in the force and hid there. Now Obi wan was able to teach Luke some of the basics, But after Destroying the Empires main weapon of astronomical destruction he was sent to a swamp planet to finish his teachings with the last Grand Master of the Jedi...a little green midget named Yoda, very odd fellow form what my master told me. My master was able to receive the last of his training there before having to face Vader in an attempt to save his sister and their friends from certain death... IN the same event my master also found out that Vader was his father and also lost his right hand... But thanks to advanced medicine he got a new one... DIGRESSION! Point is ... there are many out there who hate us, there are also pirates, inter-galactic invaders with a loathing of things they do not understand an even our own people that turn to the dark side... "

"At one point, one of my old masters had even turned to the dark side... His name was Jacen Solo... Son of Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo... My masters sister and brother-in-law... Jacen became very controlling and hateful during his spiral into darkness... he even tried to kill his own family on multiple occasions... Hell he even tortured an innocent woman into telling him where his parents were so he could kill them... which pissed off a man that hated Han more than anything in the galaxy... In short... WE are fucked if one of any of those things comes here... It would take the Princess's help to defeat one of them..." I sighed and fell back on the canopy of my ship, knowing that they were pry all scarred out of their minds right now.

"Dude... Your galaxy sucks... I mean a lot..... Fuck dude... I can see why you don't want to leave..." Rainbow said as she flutter up to sit by my side, Fluttershy did the same thing and placed a hoof on my chest.

"Ryan... Thank you for telling us..." she leaned down and nuzzled the side of m neck, trying to calm me down after remembering all the hate and violence that has happened in the galaxy... Not a very pleasant place is it guys?

"Thank you..." I slowly lifted a hand up to Fluttershy's head an held her against my chest. She slowly got down and laid next to me, sprawling her wing over me as we both teared up after the darkest conversation i had had in a long while...

"Ryan... I... I see why you don't want us to help... But we will anyway... It's what friends do..." Twilight said, her voice wavering slightly as she spoke. "But we will have to tell Princess Celestia about all this..."

"I had already planned on it Twi... Just send her a letter detailing that I want to talk to her on the outskirts of town... She should know where I will be taking her." Twilight nodded.

"Pardner... I got tah say, You lot sure do get into the most hairy of situations don'cha?" Applejack asked as she tried to brighten the mood with some light humor.

"Yeah, Flying around black holes, taking down empires and fighting Xenophobic aliens is all in a days work for a Jedi... and stopping moons from destroying planets and ending Civil wars before they start... Yep Hairy situations is a Jedi's middle name!" I laughed, surprising everyone.

"And what's so funny dear?" Rarity chimed in.

"Yeah what?" Pinkie asked, slightly cross for some odd reason.

"Oh, just thinking of what my master could be getting into right now... The man is in is early Sixties and he still finds time to take on a Sith army and beat them into submission... Single-handedly I might add.... The mans impossible to predict and has learned almost everything about the force.... Ah forget it..." I yawned, stretching my arms and legs after sitting for so long... I Looked over to Fluttershy and saw that she was stifling a yawn as well. Then everyone started yawning left and right, I checked my chronometer and saw that it was a little past Midnight.

"Well girls... It seems that we will be staying here for the night... And seeing as there is an assassin on the loose... You will ALL be staying in the same room with me and Vet..." They all nodded numbly as I slid off the canopy, holding Fluttershy in my arms as I did so. Rainbow followed me down and landed next to me. We all then took off down the opening towards Vet and the Crusaders.

After we picked up everyone, that included Vet, we headed to my personal chambers, I had had a large bed installed in my room, Just encase... You never know who you might fall in love with so don't judge me!

I had everyone climb up onto the bed, save for me and Spike, we were going to sleep on the far side, away from the girls. I had pulled out all of my comforters and sheets from my linen closet just so everyone had enough covers, and pillows... since there were about twelve of us that needed them... shortly after that we all went to sleep, Vet just stayed in the far corner and turned on his security scanners and trained them on the only doors in or out of the room. We had done an extensive search before we had all gone to sleep, searching for voids in the force and other anomalies that most wouldn't think to look for.

A few hours later I was awoken from my dreams, I looked around the room to try and find what had startled me awake and found that Fluttershy had moved all the way from one side of the bed to lay herself down next to me. I poked her in her side, eliciting a short giggle from her.

"Flutters... what are you doing?" I whispered in her ear, making it twitch.

"I was... scarred... and I... wanted to be next to you... If that's okay..." She whispered as she buried her, now blushing, face in her pillow.

"That' fine Flutters... but won't the others get suspicious?" I whispered back, ignoring her blush.

"I don't care... what they think..." her voice was slightly higher than it was before, conviction range true in her tone. "IF they think bad of me for sleeping with a handsome.... oh my..." She caught herself as to little to late...

Brian... I believe we have just received flattery... Response...?

'Um... I don know...'

Brain... you're useless... Heart Respond...

'...Compliment her back, AND DON'T MAKE HER AWKWARD!'

Cool... thanks.

'You know what to do...'

...

'...'

'...'

Whatever...

"And If they do, than they better be mad at me too, for sleeping with a rather gorgeous mare..." I say knowing that she may just freak out on me... But hoping for a positive on this... for once!

"Um, wow... thank you... You don't mind?" She turned over and looked at me, her blush threatening to takeover.

"Don't mind what?" I ask, Yeah, I can be the densest douche-bag to ever live... but excuse my language.

"That... I'm... a...a pony..." She whispered, turning tomato red as she finished.

"Hun, I adopted Luna and have been flirting with you every chance I got... Of course I don't mi-" I was cut off as a pair of the softest lips known to human kind graced my ever so dull lifeless ones. They formed perfectly to mine, being softer than silk, they were plump, yet firm... and the taste... mmmm I can't describe it.... The sweetness... the taste of roses and sun.... if it had a taste... In all? Perfect... I reached around and cupped the back of her head in my hand and placed my other one on the small of her back and pulled her gently towards me... She maneuvered herself to where she was laying on my chest, with her legs straddling my right leg.

We kept this position for what felt like hours, though it was only a few minutes. During the whole experience, for that is what it was, we could feel a certain... electricity running through our veins. Every few minutes One of us would let out a slight moan in pure bliss, but after a few more seconds we separated, much to our chagrin, and lay down, her, curling up in my arms while I continued to kiss the side of her neck.

"That... my dear... was a kiss I shall never forget..." I whispered in her ear, I tried staying awake as long as I could.

"Mmm, same... 'ere..." Fluttershy mumbled as she finally fell asleep, I soon followed her and we all left the world of the waking to join the world of the dreamers.