Author's Notes:

Feel free to add your own STAR WARS music.

Twilight was quick to run back to the village as fast as she could. She scurried down the hill and into the forest connecting to her village, tripping on a few sticks and logs here and there, but never failing to be persistent in her efforts. She had grown exhausted, but she had to do something; anything to save her village. Just before she reached the settlement's border, she was pulled down behind cover. Her mouth was covered so she wouldn't scream. She of course struggled, but calmed down once she realized who it was.

"Shh!" Scootaloo shushed her, whispering the best she could "I'm ten and even I'm smart enough not to go near them!"

"Yeah, that was a pretty dumb idea, Twilight," Sweetie Belle popped out from behind Scootaloo, whispering as well "You should be more careful next time the Galactic Empire shows up."

"The... Galactic Empire..." that name rung through Twilight's brain several times. She had read all about them in her books, but never once did she think they would ever come to her home. Of all places to go, why did they have to go there? No, perhaps the better question was: Why was the empire there in the first place?

"G-Girls, look!" Apple Bloom pointed up to the sky.

A large silver ship was seen approaching the village. It had three wings; one stationary dorsal wing on its back and two wings folded downward that appeared to be connected to the landing gear. It had a very pointed nose and two twin blasters on the side of the cockpit. Twilight recognized this model as a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, a type of transport mainly used by the empire. It landed dead in the middle of the settlement, folding it's side wings upwards and allowing the gear to touch down safely on the ground. A ramp opened up underneath to not only add support, but allow those on board to step onto the planet.

Several ponies in white and black armor marched out from the shuttle as well as another pony who looked slightly more important than the others. His coat was purple and his mane and tail were yellowish blonde. He wore a tight, grey felt vest with five blue and red buttons on the chest area, as well as a grey naval hat and tight black pants. A pair of wings was neatly tucked on his sides

"Stormtroopers..." Twilight recalled "Foot-soldiers of the empire. They're everywhere nowadays in all shapes and sizes, but I've never seen that stallion before in my life. Not even in my history books."

"Well, ya might find out soon," Apple Bloom pointed out "Looks like he's about ta give a speech."

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?" he called out "My name is Commander Stormchaser. I am here on behalf of Lord Sombra to complete a mission of utmost importance. Recently, we have tracked down an individual living on this planet who is force-sensitive."

The crowd muttered amongst themselves.

"Naturally, if you hand over this individual to the Galactic Empire, not only will each of you be given a handsome reward, but we will leave your village and never return to this planet again," Stormchaser announced "Unless, obviously, you have another force-sensitive individual here, but my case stands."

"Stormchaser?" spoke a voice familiar to the entire village, the empire commander and, more importantly, Twilight "Is that really you? My god, it's been an age."

"...Night Light," Stormchaser turned to face Twilight's father with a slight grimace on his face, but also joyous eyes "Of course, that would make sense... I cannot count the amount of times you and your wife have trumped the empire. But look at you now; old and tired, simply wanting a chance to rest."

"Stormchaser, you're making a huge mistake," Night Light confidently stated "Even you know that she'll triumph over you and you stupid Galactic Empire."

"Oh, once she's in our possession, I highly doubt it," Stormchaser smirked.

"Who're they talking about?" Sweetie questioned "Someone in this village is force-sensitive? What does that mean?"

"I'll say it only once, Night Light," Stormchaser got closer to Night Light's face "Give us your daughter or we will burn down this entire village with everyone still inside."

"...m-me?" Twilight gasped "Dad knew? Dad... knew..."

"Make me," Night Light confidently said in the commander's face, causing the latter to scowl more than he already had been. He raised a hoof and prepared to give the command to destroy the village, had it not been for a sudden outburst of anger on Twilight's part. She simply couldn't believe her father lied to her.

"WHY?!" she stepped out from behind her cover and shouted across to the two stallions. It wasn't long before Twilight got out from behind the safe area and angrily stepped toward them.

"T-Twilight, look, I-"

"Don't you 'Twilight' me, dad!" she yelled at him "I can't believe that you would lie to me about something as important as my having powers! You knew... You knew about this and you lied to me."

"You never told her?" Stormchaser chuckled "Wow, you really are a- OOF!"

"Shut-up!" Twilight punched him before turning back to her father "...why? Why would you lie to me?"

"To keep you safe," Night Light tried to reason with her.

"Oh, to keep me safe, huh?" Twilight scoffed "No one ever leaves this planet to spread rumors about things, and I'm damn-well sure no one here would really care if I had powers or not! So please, just tell me why you would lie to me. Why would you go such great lengths as to tell your own daughter that she-"

"Because I never wanted you to be like your mother!" Night Light finally shouted back.

"...what?" Twilight paused.

"I've known her since childhood, and I can tell you that since the day she discovered she was force-sensitive, she was never the same person," he continued "She began acting brash and loud, never once returned to the same soul I met all those years ago. Even when she was pregnant with you, she did the stupidest things!"

"D-Dad, I..."

"I just... I just didn't want you to grow up acting like her," Night Light sighed "I loved your mother, but I didn't want to see another person I love get hurt because of stupidity..."

"Mom was..." Twilight attempted to wrap everything up "She... was like me?"

"Yes, she was," Night Light, now reduced to tears, nodded "Twilight, I'm so sorry for lying to you. I just didn't want you to get hurt. I just wanted to leave this whole Jedi thing behind and start a life anew..."

"Dad..." Twilight sighed.

"...ahh!" Stormchaser finally got up and rubbed his now black eye "Quite the punch for a mare your age. If you weren't against us, I would be happy to let you join the empire."

"...Dad?" Twilight began.

"Y-Yes, Twilight?"

"I'm going with the empire,"

"W-Wha-"

"Dad, please, trust me," Twilight assured "I don't want anyone here to get hurt. It would be better if I just left everyone and did as the empire says. Don't worry; I'll find a way home, I promise."

"Twilight, please, you don't know what they'll do to you!" Night Light plead.

"And I don't know what they'll do to you if I don't go," Twilight brought up "You may have lied to me, but you're the only family I've ever known. If something happened to you, I... I don't think I would be able to live with myself."

"Yes, yes, very sappy," Stormchaser rolled his eyes "Do you want to hurry up so I can finish the mission?"

"Of course," Twilight nodded with a sigh, walking up the shuttle's ramp and into the ship. Before she entered completely however, she turned back to her father and winked. This caused him great confusion, but noticing the metal rod still attached to her waist, his eyes lit up in understanding of what she meant.

As soon as all the stormtroopers had collected themselves back on the shuttle, the ramp slowly closed and allowed the shuttle to take off of the planet. Naturally, it began a course back towards the empire's home base somewhere in the unknown region of the galaxy. The villagers watched as their home had been saved by the same mare who never usually showed her face most of the time. It was around this time when the three fillies from before had approached Night Light and had begun talking to him.

"Twilight's gonna be okay!" Scootaloo nodded.

"...what?" Night Light looked down at the orange Pegasus and her friends.

"Yeah! After all, she managed to get that old TIE fighter hatch open with her weird powers," Sweetie Belle brought up "This is nothing for her, we know it!"

"Ya don't need powers ta sense when someone's gonna be okay er not," Apple Bloom smiled.

"You... You're all right," Night Light smiled, looking back up into the sky "Stay safe, Twilight. And Velvet, you better damn-well protect her or so help me..."

Meanwhile, on board the shuttle, Twilight had been restrained and forced down onto a seat in the transportation area. All of her personal items excluding her clothing had been confiscated and brought before the commander, who was now about to judge it. He stepped out of the cockpit area and stood tall and proud.

"Sir!" one of the stormtroopers spoke, his helmet muffling his voice and making it sound slightly robotic "These are all the items that were on her. I think you may find this in particular to be of interest."

"Show me," Stormchaser nodded before the trooper presented the metal rod, causing him to become shocked "This... This is Velvet's lightsaber... By god, it's been an age."

"What's a lightsaber?" Twilight asked before getting hit on the back of the head by a nearby trooper.

"Still your tongue, whelp," Stormchaser acted all high and mighty "If you must know, the lightsaber is the weapon of a Jedi. It may not seem like much now, but if I was to press... um... this button here..." a purple beam of light extended out of the metal rod's top, activating with a sound very pleasing to the ears "Ah, here we are! It becomes a weapons capable of cutting through most, if not all, material. Certainly something a child such as yourself shouldn't be using."

He deactivated it.

"Place this in the cargo hold and make sure the child doesn't even think about taking it," Stormchaser handed the weapon back to the stormtrooper and allowed him to carry out his orders. He then returned back into the cockpit where the pilot was waiting for him.

"Do you hear that, kid?" the stormtrooper chuckled, placing it in the cargo locker above one of the seats "You ain't getting this back! And if you try anything funny, we'll blast a hole right through you, got it?"

Twilight nodded in understanding, not speaking in case she was hit yet again.

"Good," the trooper stepped away and got back into his seat.

As of now, the shuttle was just exiting the atmosphere of Ultaar, too early to go into lightspeed just yet. Twilight still had time. She figured, nay, hoped that her powers would come in handy this time. She focused in on one of the stormtroopers and, in her mind, said something to him.

"You will get up from your seat and open the cargo locker holding the lightsaber," she said inside her mind.

Nothing happened. She tried again.

"You will get up from your seat and open the cargo locker holding the lightsaber," she said once again.

Again, nothing happend. She tried to remember what she did back when she found the TIE fighter. Thinking long and hard, she finally remembered how she thought of ways to open the lock. She remembered sitting there, on the ground and feeling... at peace. That was it; she knew what she had to do. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and removed all thoughts except the one she was trying to focus on. She was finally at peace.

"You will get up from your seat and open the cargo locker holding the lightsaber," she said once again "You will also pass me the lightsaber so I may escape."

This time, she got a reaction out of the stormtrooper as he tilted his head up in a sort-of brainwashed fashion. Seemingly under her control, he went over to the cargo locker and unlocked it, revealing the lightsaber that once was Twilight's mother's.

"LT-1664, what do you think you're doing?!" one of the stormtroopers shouted at him.

"He's under her influence! Blast her!" another shouted. But it was too late. The trooper known as LT-1664 tossed the lightsaber over to Twilight who caught it with her powers and activated it just in time to block the blaster bolts coming from the troopers' weapons. She then sliced open her restraints and grabbed the saber, attacking each of the stormtroopers and successfully killing them.

That took a huge toll on Twilight's mind, however.

"I just... I just... killed people..." she breathed heavily, trying to fathom what she just did "N-No, I did it out of self-defense. Relax, Twilight, just relax..."

The cockpit door swung open and revealed Commander Stormchaser who had heard the commotion in the back. Seeing his prisoner had now possessed the lightsaber, he pulled out his own handheld blaster and attempted to shoot her. It was quickly sliced in half by the heat of the saber, however. Twilight then put her weapon up to Stormchaser's neck.

"They had one job..." he sighed.

"Are we in hyperspace yet?" Twilight questioned him.

"No, not yet, but we will be soon," Stormchaser confidently answered her.

"Take me back to Ultaar, if you don't mind," Twilight ordered him "I would like to spend my time with my family again. And just a warning that should you ever come back, I'll tear you all down."

"Idle threats," Stormchaser scoffed "You don't even know half of what you can do with the force, if even a quarter. How would you of all people dare stand against the Galactic Empire? Short answer: you can't. We are simply too powerful for a mere force-sensitive young mare to go up against."

Suddenly, the shuttle was pumped into lightspeed causing the stars around the ship to look like streams of light to all those aboard. Twilight had never seen something so beautiful before, but she had to remain focused.

"In a few minutes, we will arrive at Rakata Prime, the home base of the Galactic Empire," Stormchaser proudly stated "I would highly advise that you sit back down in your seat and await your trial."

"And in a few seconds, I'm about to do something really, really stupid," Twilight brought up "I don't know what I'm going to do, but I think I'll do it in three... two..." she quickly darted her eyes around the ship until they focused on the control panel behind Stormchaser "...one... and... NOW!"

She darted past Stormchaser and swung her saber down upon the control panel, absolutely destroying it. The heavy sparks that followed afterward killed the pilot and sent the shuttle tumbling out of hyperspace and headed toward a planet Twilight had never seen before. The empire commander looked at her and scowled.

"What have you done?!" he shouted at her.

"Well, I'm already here, right?" Twilight smirked "Hell, may as well make this an adventure. If you don't want to die, I would very much advise you to take a seat."

He spoke not a word as he strapped himself in and continued to give Twilight a look that could kill if it was possible. She sat down and did the same as the shuttle continued falling down to the surface of the planet. While the ship was shaky, Twilight managed to get a good look at the planet; one entire side of it was completely covered in city lights, and she was willing to wager that the other side was nothing but city as well. That's all she got a glimpse of before the g-force took a hold of her and knocked both her and Stormchaser out.

She came to when the shuttle had finally crashed on the planet's surface, skidding along solid ground. She quickly unstrapped herself and looked out the cockpit window; it was pitch dark outside as the ship spun around on the ground, finally jumping into the air from all the spinning around. Twilight braced herself for the hard landing, which came on her like a bullet train. Thinking fast, she grabbed onto the floor of the shuttle and hoped for the best.

"This was probably a bad idea!" she shouted to herself before getting hit on the head by a piece of debris "OW! Okay, yeah, I definitely regret doing this now!"

After a long trip, quite literally, the shuttle slowly stopped skidding until it finally came to a complete stop, much to the relief of Twilight. She breathed heavily as she tried to catch her breath after something as traumatic as that. Realizing the ramp was now blocked off, she activated her lightsaber and cut a hole right through the ship's metal hull, confirming Stormchaser's explaination.

"Speaking of..." Twilight went over to check how Stormchaser was holding up "...dead. Crap. Well, there goes pretty much the only company I ever had, even if he was a total-"

"Wow... Quite the crash you just made," a cocky female voice appeared behind Twilight "I mean, seriously! How are you still alive by this point? You must be some sorta super-pony or something."

Twilight slowly turned around and saw a mare that seemed to be only slightly older than her with a cyan coat and a very messy, rainbow colored mane and tail. She wore a brown aviator's jacket, complete with the tan fluff around the collar and all, as well as baggy black pants and a grey belt around her waist that held a rather large handgun in the holder. She gave Twilight a rather smug expression, which the former was not particularly pleased with.

"And you are?" Twilight asked the mare.

"...you're kidding, right?" the mare questioned with a rather surprised look on her face "You don't even know this face? THIS face?! As a matter of fact, I feel rather offended right now..."

"Um... Should I?" Twilight looked more and more confused by the second.

"...y'know what? Never mind!" the mare gave up "Clearly my reputation isn't NEARLY as good as some of the other hunters out there, so why bother? Ugh..."

"Wait, I just-"

"Nah, it's okay," the mare sighed, smiling a bit "This just means I gotta try harder at being the most infamous, badass bounty hunter in the galaxy! The name's Rainbow Dash, but you can just call me Dash. You?"

"Twilight Sparkle," Twilight greeted with a grin "Nice to meet you."

"Sparkle, eh?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow "I swear I've heard that name somewhere before... Anyway, I don't think you want to spend the night in a crashed shuttle, especially if you happen to be on Coruscant. Lucky for you, I just so happened to be going on a walk before you crashed next to me and nearly killed me."

"Yeah... sorry about that..." Twilight apologized.

"Hey, no damage done," Rainbow shrugged "Since I'm feeling nice today, wanna come over to my place? I'll cook up something to eat for you, no worries."

"You're being kinda nice to me... for a bounty hunter, I mean," Twilight skeptically stated.

"Trick or not, I don't think you wanna stick around here much longer," Rainbow brought up.

"Why not?"

Suddenly, a siren was heard not too far from their location. Even Twilight figured out they meant something either precautionary or bad, and she wasn't about to take a risk to find out. Without question, she followed Rainbow Dash through the night and away from the crash site, hoping to find some shelter somewhere.

She just hoped she could trust the bounty hunter.