The insufferable snow of the blizzard stole the heat from my body while its furious winds cut through my body like a knife. The Force had refused to come at my call and the absence of its power made me feel like the smallest of insects. Then there were the bodies. The bodies of several dead griffons lying in the snow, some familiar to me and some unknown, all displaying severe cauterized wounds similar to the wounds caused by a lightsaber. I was cold, powerless, and so very, very alone.

I knew this was the same dream I had back in Ponyville.

The fact that I knew this was a dream didn’t make me feel any better. There was always the possibility that this was a vision of the future granted to me by the Force and the fact that I was seeing this vision for the third time only furthered my worries. There was the first time at Ponyville, the second time on the roof of Thistle’s hotel when I had that sudden phantasm of Falca’s corpse in the snow. Now this after I just lost Katy to the storm.

A scream pierced the winds of the blizzard.

I know now whose screams that belonged to and desperately didn’t want to see her again. Not looking like that. I knew if I kept walking through the snow and past the several bodies that surrounded me I knew I would eventually find Falca’s body. Then after I found Falca I would find Katy’s deformed amalgamated body next to hers and I didn’t know if I could handle seeing her in that state. Especially now after she had been so aggressively taken away from me.

Her blue scales sliding off her face as if she they were melting. The horrifying sight of a disfigured, wretched hand weakly reaching out to me for help. My Big Sis… the one I grew up with, the one that was always by my side, the one who would poke fun at me but would then hug me like a loving teddy bear. The one I could always trust to go to if I felt I couldn’t go to either Mom or Dad… The one piece of my previous life that followed me into this madness of a living, breathing world from a cartoon.

I couldn’t bear even the thought of seeing her again in that state. My tough Big Sis reduced to nothing but a weak, pitiful blue puddle desperately reaching out for help. Then knowing that there was nothing I could do to help her. I could literally feel my anxiety claw at my chest at the mere thought. I just wanted to close it all out of my head. To feel nothing, see nothing, and just wait for this nightmare to end.

Another of Falca’s screams pierced the wind.

But she deserves to be seen. They all do! No matter how painful it was to look at them! Falca…Katy… even if this was just a dream, their anguish deserves my acknowledgment. I will not ignore them. No matter how much pain the sorrow will bring me I will not give in to apathy. Apathy may have been preferable to the sorrow I felt, but apathy will solve nothing in the end.

Apathy is…

Apathy could lead to their deaths. To all of these deaths if I did nothing to stop it. If this was the Force giving me insight into the future then I must grasp the nature of every detail in order to prevent it. Why was there a blizzard? Was this a battlefield? Would that explain why there are so many bodies of dead griffons everywhere?

As I pondered these questions I continued onwards through the blizzard. Towards the screams.

If the wounds on the bodies were caused by a lightsaber then were they caused by my hand or someone else’s? Someone had to be responsible for all of this? Could it have been me? If not me then who else knows how to wield a lightsaber?

I absentmindedly realized that the screams had been cut off mid-screech. Just like last time.

Why couldn’t I feel the Force anymore? Was it because this was the nature of Force visions or was there a darker reason? Maybe this was how Force Sensitives processed their visions. Wait a minute… last time there was a cave. In the cave, I felt the Force again, but only for a brief moment before I had woken up. Perhaps there was something I was missing within that cave. Maybe there was a clue hidden there. Or maybe it would lead to something even more horrible than what I’ve already seen.

I trudged a few more steps through the white miasma of the blizzard and came upon the bodies of Falca and my sister. Falca, whose cold dead eyes stared out at nothing while snow formed around her like a blanket. Then there was Katy at her side, whose amalgamated body formed a simple blue puddle amidst the white surface of the ground.

…There couldn’t be anything more horrible than this.

With a few more shaking steps I kneeled down close to Falca’s corpse and tried to examine every detail I could find. I tried to avoid her eyes, but some deep uncontrollable instinct kept directing my own eyes towards them. It unsettled me every time but I eventually tore my gaze away from them over time to focus elsewhere. I took notice of my lightsaber clutched in her talons. It was just like the last few visions I had before and couldn’t really find anything abnormal about it besides the fact that she had it in the first place.

Pondering how she had my lightsaber was a question for another time, however. There were no clues to suggest how she had come to possess it and there had to be other details I was missing.

I examined the open burned hole in her chest and could conclude nothing other than that it had to be the cause of death and that it may have been caused by a lightsaber. Whether it was my own lightsaber that inflicted the wound or another similar weapon was unknown.

The rest of her body was relatively untouched as I examined it with my naked eye. Trying to be as respectful as I could I extended her left wing to examine it and checked for any damages. Then I checked her other wing and could find nothing to suggest that they were injured. This confused me because if she was screaming for her life then why didn’t she fly away? If she could hold her own by flying in a raging supernatural sea storm then she could probably fly through a blizzard too.

My hands were beginning to shake. Not from the cold but from the revulsion I felt for myself for what I was doing. Falca is my friend and I was touching and examining her body like it was some specimen in a lab.

FOCUS…I need…to focus. Damn this dream felt too real.

I found nothing of note as I examined the rest of Falca’s lion half. After that, I moved back up to her upper avian half to check underneath her feathers. They hid more underneath them than her fur so maybe I missed something. I shifted through the feathers around her chest wound and found nothing at first but then I continued further up to her neck and found something unusual. Underneath the feathers around her neck, I saw a long uneven red line blemishing the skin. It looked like something had held her by the throat.

Was someone choking her? How was she screaming then? Hold on a moment, I remember very recently in this dream and during the last one that her screams had been cut off mid-screech as I was making my way here. That must’ve been when it happened but who was the one choking her? Was it done by hands? It couldn’t have been done by talons, paws or hooves. The marks on her neck were too thin.

I desperately tried not to jump into any rushed conclusions.

Not finding anything else in the rest of her plumage I stood up and took a deep breath and tried to settle myself before I moved on to the next examination. This was absolute hell but I kept trying to remind myself that this was a dream and not reality… not yet anyway.

I exhaled slowly from my deep breath and couldn’t help but notice the visible warm condensation leaving my mouth in the cold open air. An oddly elaborate detail for a dream…

Again, this dream is NOT real.

I moved on to Katy’s amalgamated blue puddle and tried to prepare myself as I started to shake again. I knew she would reach out for me. Ask me for help I couldn’t provide. Then she would look at me with that awful melting eye. I waited for it to happen as I stood over the puddle but no amount of self-assurance that this was a dream could stop me from shaking.

Over a minute passes, nothing happens.

Another minute, still nothing.

I could actually feel my anxiety eating me from the inside out as I continued to wait.

Suddenly I remembered something from the previous dream. I remembered that I had accidentally stepped into Katy’s puddle before she began to form a melting hand and head. I think I needed to motivate a reaction out her physically so she could respond.

“Sorry Katy, I need to know what happened to you. To all of you.” I said as I kneeled down again and reached out tentatively towards the puddle.

My clawed hand was barely a centimeter away from the puddle. I softly grazed the puddle’s surface with a claw and was beginning to slowly withdraw my hand until…

Another hand, blue with melting scales, erupted out of the puddle to violently grab my wrist!

“Gahhh!” I barked softly as I gasped for breath and opened my eyes.

Everything was murky and dark at first but things slowly started coming into focus. A mahogany wooden ceiling with baroque carvings, a small crystal chandelier bolted into the wood, dim morning light filtering through a round porthole window, my back laid against a soft bed with linen sheets… was I in a bedroom? My spine popped as I sat myself up with a grunt. Every muscle was weak and it felt like they were all igniting themselves on fire with every little movement.

“Damnit…that dream…damn it all.” I whispered to myself while closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose with my right thumb and index finger. I must’ve jumped myself awake with a fright when Katy grabbed my wrist. Whatever hidden hints I may have missed before will have to be discovered whenever I have the vision again. If it could ever happen again.

When I opened my eyes I released my nose and flexed my muscles around to test the level of damage done to them. Most were slow to move, inflamed in some areas, but all-around just very, very weak. I noticed that my right arm and hand were the hardest to move out of all of my appendages and discovered that they, besides my fingers, were covered in thin wraps of white gauze. It was easy to figure out why they were wrapped in the gauze when I remembered the blue streaks of lighting that had struck me down on the deck of The Extravagant.

And then I was clinically dead for over a minute… That happened.

‘Wait a minute, lightning?’ I thought as I raised my left, less burnt, hand. ‘I was struck by lightning, but I also created lightning as well. I…I created LIGHTNING!’

My mind was flooded with memories of the events after the lighting strike. My heart was failing, my consciousness was slowly fading into darkness, my rage acting as the only fire keeping me alive. Then the mysterious entity that manifested the storm ripped Katy away from me with its harsh winds and the fires of my rage erupted into a violent chorus of righteous fury. I pushed the limits of my Force senses and had found the formless chaotic mass the entity had projected and hoped that it would be my true target instead of an illusion designed to trick me.

I took the pain the lighting had imparted within me and learned from its paralyzing, burning hot kiss. Without thought, I willed the Force to mimic the lighting’s energy out of pure instinct. Purple sparks had danced on the tips of my hand, which had been made mobile by the pools of Dark Side energy I had willed within it. My wrath had reached its peak and the sky was set ablaze with the purple light of my Sith Lightning!

‘Sith Lightning… a skill the Empire’s Wrath had never been able to perform in the game. I made that happen! Not some trace of experience from the memories of a neural implant. I learned it and created it all on my own. Not only lightning, but I also had taken my first steps into Battle Meditation. A technique that few Jedi and Sith could claim mastery over.’ I thought to myself silently proud.

My left hand was still raised in front of me and I examined it with tired but curious eyes. I wanted to reenact what I did in that storm. I wanted to create Sith Lighting again. Not true lightning of course, my current bedroom environment could make such a curious venture unfavorable. But surely a few tiny sparks would be satisfactory and safe?

I took my experience from the storm and willed to life tiny, short-lived purple sparks in-between my clawed fingers. I touched the tips of my index finger and thumb together and pulled them apart to create a steady current of lightning flowing between each finger. I widened it, intensified its voltage, and then crushed it with a pinch. After that I allowed the small sparks of electricity to dance in a chaotic performance across my fingers.

After a minute I allowed the spectacle to continue before I eventually had to finish it with a closed fist. The amount of Force energy I had been channeling had been miniuscule but it was still draining me. My body was still fatigued and I needed to conserve my energy.

I considered the room I was in with a fuzzy glance before I closed my eyes and slowly reclined back onto the bed and its comfy linen sheets. I was certain that I was in a cabin on board The Extravagant and felt reassured that I was safe at the moment. If I was safe then I needed to get more rest and have my body revitalize itself as fast as it could. My body was too tired to begin the day and I wasn’t even sure if I could stand upright for more than a couple of minutes.

I needed to find Katy. I needed to find out what happened to everyone after the events of the storm. But I need to meet that challenge when I was at least semi-awake enough to comprehend it all. Just a few hours of meditation and I’ll be strong enough to handle today’s challenges. Just a few hours, nothing more.

‘I need to meditate. Come up with a plan. I need to…rest. I will find you again Big Sis.’

I breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. I allowed the Force to flow through me and used its power to calm the body and focus the mind. However, I still couldn’t shake a feeling of discomfort. I was more comfortable sleeping in the nude but was too tired to lift myself off the bed to disrobe.

Whoever placed me in this bed couldn’t be blamed for NOT taking off my clothes of course, but I was still unpleasantly uncomfortable. I tussled and turned across the sheets blindly for a few moments and desperately tried to search for a more comfortable position. I tried to sleep on my right side but hissed as I absentmindedly remembered that my right arm was the arm that had been burnt and struck by lightning. Then I shifted onto my left side and breathed a sigh of relief as I found the new position far more comfortable.

I even found a new pillow as my arms stretched across the bed! Eyes still closed, I wrapped my right arm across the surprisingly soft feathery pillow and pulled it to my torso. The pillow was even warm to the touch! I nuzzled my faced into the feathery pillow and breathed a sigh of relief as I begun to delve into my mediations. I was now perfectly comfortable enough to start revitalizing my body.

…Then the pillow started to moan.

“Mmmphhff.”

My eyes slammed themselves wide open and saw a sea of dark brown feathers with an occasional golden highlight. The feathers were fashioned around an elegant avian head facing away from me and as my eyes continued to roam I noticed that the avian head belonged to a brown furred torso. My bandage wrapped right arm was wrapped tightly around that very torso.

‘Why is there a griffon in my bed? Also, why does this griffon look so similar to Falca? Well that’s because the griffon is Falca you idiot!!!’ My blinding exhaustion was replaced with complete alert awareness and it took everything I had to not move a single muscle. Fear and surprise were great motivators for waking someone up.

‘Good god, why is she in here with me!? Did I wake her up?’ Her eyes were still closed and she shifted around a little bit underneath my arm, but she didn’t show any signs that she was fully awake. She sighed through her beak a couple times and I had to move my eyes downwards when I felt her tail slap against my thigh underneath the covers. She was missing the coffee brown jacket she wore for the trip but was still clad in nylon hosiery and had the thin black bandana tied above her brow. ‘Okay, she’s still asleep, thank goodness for that small mercy. Now I can panic silently in my head for a moment…’

‘…ahem…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!’

‘What the fuck is she doing here? Okay, I just need to stay calm and…what the hell am I saying? How can I stay calm when anyone could walk into the room right now and would see that I was practically spooning a princess? Also, who knows how many griffon social taboos I was currently breaking right now? What if Falca wakes up and she-’

My thoughts were halted when Falca shifted around in my arm again and shifted the back of her head against my face. I couldn’t help but get a face full of small feathers and it took everything I had to remain calm and not express my panic vocally. I slowly inched my head away as steadily as I could but couldn’t help but get a whiff of Falca’s scent. It was a gentle but sensual musk that curiously reminded me of the sea. Traces of mint, grapes, and nameless flowers with a dominating seawater presence.

‘Falca has great taste in perfumes. Gaaahhh…stop it! I need to think of a way to get out of this.’ I glanced around the room and found the door leading out of the cabin. ‘I just need to slowly get out of the bed and tip-toe out the door. I can meditate elsewhere and revitalize my body in the hallway or something. Pleassseee let griffons be heavy sleepers.’

I slowly began to lift my arm off the slumbering griffon princess, but all my plans were brought to a halt when Falca groaned and lazily reached for my arm to hug it to her torso. The palm of my hand now pressed firmly to her feathered chest with my elbow prodding her soft underbelly. I tried to steady my breathing and gently reached over Falca with my other hand to pry her talons off my arm. Before I could even begin to lift the first talon, Falca growled like an annoyed lioness and tightened her grip on my arm.

“Eeep!”

I yelped as Falca’s talons dug into my arm and I immediately slapped my mouth with my other hand as Falca began to stir from the sound. She groaned and stretched her hind legs then rotated her head around to shake off any stiffness. Her eyes opened to reveal golden irises and she yawned as she smacked her tongue against her upper beak. She then looked down to notice the bandage wrapped crimson arm she had locked in a death grip. She slowly released my arm, then had her eyes travel up the arm to stare at the torso it was attached to. Then I could only wait in horror as she spun her body around to face me and looked into my eyes with a dumbfounded expression.

We stared at each other awkwardly for what felt like an eternity until Falca thankfully broke the silence first.

“Ummm…Jack? Why are we in bed together?”

“Uhhhhh…”

‘SAY SOMETHING IDIOT!’

“I-I-I swear I only woke up and found each other like this. You were asleep… you grabbed my arm and uh… I’m so sorry!!!”

Falca looked at me weirdly then laughed amusingly.

“Jack it’s okay. Breathe!”

I nodded quickly and tried to calm myself down. Falca gave my chest a pat consolingly then turned her gaze across the room as if she was searching for something. Her gaze stopped at a nightstand next to her side of the bed and she reached for a note that I hadn’t noticed before now. She reached for it and brought it close to me so we could both read it together. The note’s handwriting was transcribed in a beautifully intricate cursive font and was admittedly hard to read at a first glance.

Dear Jack and my most beloved sister Falca:

You two are heroes worthy of a ballad. You saved yourselves and everyone aboard this ship. All except…well… rest assured Jack that while you two have been bedridden we have begun a search for your darling little Katy and will not set sail for home till we have found her. I swear to exile myself to the sea if we can’t return her to you without a single misplaced scale.

Jack, after my little brother informed me of your ‘electrifying performance’ the other night, your golem HK-55 carried my exhausted sister from the skies after saving her from a most fatal plummet to the sea. Your golem then informed me that you were to be protected at all costs while he returns to your ship to assess its current damages. He was quite vivid in his description of what would happen to me should he find you any more damaged upon his return.

To quote, “Statement: Feathered meatbag, I will burn you, twist you, and lastly will break your fragile organic wings beyond any hope of repair should I find a single missing hair follicle on my master’s head.”

Then when I named him as a golem, he educated me on proper torture techniques when handling a certain avian species he called Rishii for 5 minutes. I must say, your gol-, droid, is quite a charming little machine if I do say so myself.

Hyde and I have seen to both your injuries as best as we could, but ultimately we found that all you need is rest. Bountiful amounts of rest. Hyde originally separated you two into two separate cabins but I found the beds too… inadequate in keeping you both warm. I then came across a most brilliant idea! Why not have them share each other’s body heat!

Like two comrades in arms in the midst of a grueling campaign. Both cold, tired, and drained after days of marching and fighting, only to comfort each other by sharing a nest to stave off Princess Luna’s brutally cold nights.

Also, no Falca, I did not share with Hyde my most brilliant idea. Our brother would be too skittish to even consider it! So I took the liberty of enacting my idea by myself. You can thank me later. A polite gesture of gratitude will suffice.

Nonetheless, join us on the top deck whenever you two are ready. We will notify you of our progress in the search.

Sincerely,

Prince Thistle of the Shattered Isles

P.S. - Your energy sword is in the first drawer of the nightstand.

After reading the letter I glanced over at Falca and was surprised by her relatively neutral expression.

“I’m gonna kill him,” she deadpanned. “I don’t care if he’s my brother, I’m going to kill him and laugh during every moment of the process.”

Falca then sighed heavily as she crushed the note between her talons and absentmindedly tossed it over the side of the bed. She softly mumbled something to herself then rolled her neck around her pillow until I heard a soft ‘pop’ and she sighed pleasurably at the sound. She then looked to me and laughed as she issued an apology.

“I’m so sorry Jack. My brother thinks he’s being cute by putting us in this awkward little position. I assure you that I will find some way to make him pay for it.

“I hope so, I don’t think his “brilliant idea” is cute at all,” I said before I heaved a big sigh and began to lift myself off the bed. “I should find another cabin and leave you to rest in peace.”

I was at the edge of the bed and ready to stand up until Falca spoke up again abruptly.

“Oh…uhhmmm… You don’t have to leave Jack. I don’t mind the extra company and you are very warm.” Falca then cringed at her choice of words and I couldn’t help the heat slowly spreading through my cheeks. “What I mean to say is… you don’t have to leave if you don’t want to. I don’t mind if you stay.”

I could only stare blankly into space and hoped that I didn’t look as befuddled as I actually felt. ‘She doesn’t mind if I stay? Is she…noooooo…but if… is she giving me a hint or something?”

I looked away from Falca and rested my elbows on my knees.

“Are you sure?” I asked

“Of course… I mean, there is a lot to talk about and it might as well be in the comfort of a warm bed.” She answered nonchalantly, making me glad that I turned my head away so she wouldn’t have to see my drastic change in facial expressions.

‘Why did she have to say it like that!? It made it sound like we’re some married couple setting up their plans for the rest of the day! Okay just remain calm… be a man and just… tell her what? Yes, griffon lady who has practically been my best friend, I would love to lay in bed with you and talk about the madness that is our lives. Or, no griffon lady, I find this way too uncomfortable and would rather forget about all this awkwardness in a lonely dark room far away from this cabin. But then I would feel even MORE uncomfortable if I felt like I was insulting her in some way by denying her invitation. Am I just reading too much into this? GAAAHHHH… I’m taking too long to respond!’

“Uhh, okay, I’ll stay with you Falca,” I said finally, but then instantly regretting it.

‘Damnit this feels like the intro to a horrible porno film. Guy wakes up in bed with a foreign princess, princess then asks the guy not to leave her alone. Then the princess… STOP, STOP IT BRAIN! Don’t you dare go there.’

I settled back into the bed and tried to keep my focus on the ceiling. That focus was instantly lost when Falca nestled herself close to my side and the combination of heat from both our bodies created an instant, relaxing warmth. We’ve hugged each other in the past but this just felt weird and… kinda soothing actually.

“So, I take it from Thistle’s note that Katy is missing. Something must’ve happened then. Jack I-I’m so sorry.” Falca said somberly as she briefly nuzzled her beak into my bicep. Her apology immediately sobered me up and any feeling of awkwardness I felt before had immediately evaporated.

“It wasn’t your fault Falca. Everything had happened so fast, we-… Vigilant’s barrier broke then Katy tried to keep everyone safe and I couldn’t react fast enough to the lightning. I-I got hurt and then… EVERYTHING just went to shit!” I sighed to myself and paused as a rush of anger and guilt overwhelmed me.

“Let me start first Jack. I’ll tell you what happened from my perspective of the storm and then you’ll tell me yours. It’ll give you a little time to collect yourself. Does that sound all right?”

“That sounds like a wonderful plan,” I answered with another sigh.

She told me everything that happened from her perspective when she left the ship to combat the storm. She told me about how exhausted she felt as she combated the storm and then she explained to me this strange power that came over her all of a sudden just as she felt like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. I knew all too well what and where this power came from but I decided to hold off my clarification until she had finished her story. Telling someone that they were Force-sensitive was not something I wished to rush.

After Falca finished describing her sudden rush of power she then went on to describe a curious sensation that overcame her all of a sudden as she was using her newfound powers to combat the storm. She described how her heart felt like it had been turned into liquid magma all of a sudden and how the power left her only to return after she desperately prayed and searched within herself. Of course, the coincidence that her sudden heart problems happened just as my own heart was having problems of its own was not lost on me. This could have been an unintended consequence of using Battle Mediation to assist Falca but that would be extraordinary if that was the case.

I’ve never read or seen Battle Mediation practitioners triggering this type of reaction in Star War’s expanded universe before but this could be a special case. Or maybe the Force was working through Falca and me in a way I’ve yet to consider.

After Falca’s power had returned to her she then went on to describe her confrontation with the mysterious entity that caused the devastating storm.

“It was like the entity was actually made out of the clouds themselves. It was smoky, blue, and the head was like a storm cloud given life and a pair of eyes. Then it started to form lips of some sort and literally spat lighting at me! If I hadn’t somehow created that shield with my power in time I’m sure I would’ve been fried to a crisp.” Falca shuddered as she considered the thought. “Then after that… suddenly there was this purple flash of light. I couldn’t see what had happened underneath my wings but when I unfolded them I saw the entity roaring in pain and it looked like it was desperately trying to keep itself together. It eventually gave up and I saw it fly into the upper atmosphere.”

“Do you think it’s dead?” I asked more than a little worried.

“Maybe, if an enormous sentient cloud can actually die. I hope it’s dead, it hurt my brother and…” Falca paused to stare at my bandage wrapped right arm. “It hurt you too.”

“I’ll be fine Falca. My arm can be healed through the Force and if the Fury has survived then I have plenty of medical equipment to help me as well.”

“Good, does it hurt at all?”

“Not really,” I answered as I inspected the arm. “Honestly it just feels a little numb and slow to move.”

“That’s a relief, I’ve heard plenty of stories of griffon weather teams who’ve actually been struck by uncontrollable lightning strikes and none of them are pleasant. Some griffons are burned to the core of their skin and have to shave off their fur and feathers to obtain new skin grafts. I’ve even seen reports where griffons have had their whole appendages split open and even their hearts suddenly stop functioning.”

“Yeah… about that.” It was my turn to tell my side of the story.

“So that purple flash of light was you? That was your lightning?” Falca asked after I finished my account of events.

“Yep, take a look.” I raised my left arm with my palm facing away from us as I willed to life purple sparks of Sith Lighting between my fingers. I couldn’t help but grin when I turned my head to the side to Falca’s awed reaction.

“Also that power giving me the strength to fight the storm? That was you too?”

“Partially, you see after I got struck by the entity’s lightning was I incapable of maintaining my Battle Meditation. When you confronted the entity you met it with your own power, not mine.”

“I-I have your powers? I have the…Force? Why? HOW?” Falca asked as she sat up on the bed bewildered. “How can I have control over a supernatural power from an alien fictional universe?”

“I honestly don’t know for certain,” I said hating the fact that I really didn’t have a concrete answer to give her. “All I know is that when I channeled the Force through you with my Battle Meditation it triggered something within you that allowed you to call upon the Force at will. Has anyone in your family history ever displayed abilities like mine before?”

“No, not at all. I mean, some have taken up arcane study like my brother Hyde but no griffon in my family, or really any griffon in general, has ever performed abilities like yours without a magical focus of some sort.”

This was all so confusing. Magic in My Little Pony had elements very similar to the Force of course but there were other elements where they differed as well. In some similarities, it could be argued that ponies like the Mane Six were like the Jedi of Star Wars. Defenders of a benign belief of friendship with entities like the Tree of Harmony acting as an avatar of peace and tranquility. Much like the Jedi who sought out balance/harmony in the Force by acting as keepers of the peace who followed the will of the Light. There were even people like the dark magic wielding King Sombra from season 3 who was practically Sith-like in his ploy for power and domination.

But there were clear differences as well. There was yet an episode I can remember where a magic wielder could foresee events as fast as a blaster bolt deflecting Jedi or Sith. Also, ponies like Twilight Sparkle have shown that they are not especially attuned to Harmony’s will like the Jedi were to the Light Side of the Force. Where some Jedi like the famed Master Yoda could meditate and seek guidance from the Force like it was some sort of omnipresent god, ponies like Twilight would have to seek out disharmony or have it come to them in Ponyville in order to fight it.

‘Although if you consider the cuite map after season 4…”

“Jack what do I do with this? Is it possible for a griffon like me to use the Force as you do? Or was it all just a fluke?”

I seriously considered my answer before I spoke.

“It most certainly was no fluke Falca. The Force in a lot of ways is similar to your magic here on your world. There are entities that suggest that magic here may have a will, and there are multiple ways different races have manipulated its currents as well. Like the various pony tribes and their different connections to magic, there are many kinds of Force powers but not all of these powers were available to a single person, race, or faction like the Sith and Jedi. There were some isolated clans of unique Force users who could easily bend all the natural elements to their will and some alien species’ had especially unique connections to the Force that allowed them to manipulate space for instantaneous teleportation.

“So if we consider that the people of this world are just another unique sect of Force users,” I continued. “It’s possible that you may be able to imitate my powers. But to discover the reasons for this possibility we will require research and study. My Battle Mediation may have awakened your Force Sensitive capabilities but you’ve had to have been born with these powers to begin with. Simply channeling the Force through a person cannot give that person a direct connection to the Force.”

Falca raised her talons and looked down at her palms in deep thought. She furrowed her brow and squeezed her talons together as if she were testing them.

“So I may not be the only griffon capable of using the Force,” She said slowly.

“Considering what happed to you, I would not discount the possibility.” I agreed with a nod.

“Who else do think could use this power?”

“Well… if we consider genetics, the rest of your family are possible prime candidates. You’ve said before that your bloodline has had significant connections to magic and the presences your father and siblings present have always seemed stronger to my senses compared to other griffons.”

Falca looked to me then nodded before she returned to looking at her talons again. She was still deep in thought about something and it kindled my curiosity. I reached out with my empathic Force senses and discovered that beneath her thoughts and her projected calm, curious demeanor, there were small traces of fear. Fear of the power she now wielded and whether or not she could actually use it and control it properly. I immediately felt the desire to reassure her.

I reached out to take her talons into my own hands.

“Falca you won’t have to learn these powers alone. If you’ll have me, I will gladly teach you all that I know. I’m still learning if I’m being honest but it would make me happy if we could learn about our powers over the Force together.”

Falca stared at me amazed for a second then I felt those small traces of fear I felt before being replaced with newfound confidence and reassurance.

“I would like that very much, Jack. I would be honored to have you as a teacher.” Falca paused to look down at our hands and talons before she looked back up at me again with a smile. “Can you show me how to use a little bit of the Force’s power now? I’d like to feel that strength again. It felt really good.”

“Sure I don’t see why not. Let’s start with something simple first.” I broke away from Falca and raised myself up to lean my back against the bed’s headboard before I looked around the cabin to search for ideas until my gaze settled on the chandelier on the ceiling. “A little telekinesis seems like a good place to start. Why don’t you give that chandelier a small push and force it to swing.”

“Okay, where do I being?” Falca raised her right talons towards the chandelier and squinted in concentration.

“From what you’ve told me about your confrontation in the storm you seemed to have already tapped into using the Force to enhance your natural senses and physical strength. It also sounds like you used an overpowered but simple Force Repulse to scatter the storm and you used a Force Shield to fight off the entity’s lightning. The Force Shield doesn’t really surprise me because in the heat of the battle your natural instinct to protect yourself would’ve compelled the Force to form a simple shield around your wings.”

“Okay but…Jack, where do I begin? How do I tap into the Force and push the chandelier?”

“Oh sorry, I’m rambling. Not really used to teaching. Anyway, just take a deep breath.” I paused so Falca could carry out my order. “And focus on remembering how the Force felt inside yourself as you battled the storm. Hold on to that experience and when you feel the Force again within the core of your very being let it flow through your body like a current of water.”

Falca’s eyes were still focused on the chandelier but they were distant and blank. As she was focused on her task I reached out with my senses and monitored how the Force flowed within her. The strong but natural currents that flowed through her were normal at first but those currents were beginning to change and shift as if under Falca’s command.

“I-I think I feel it. It feels like it- wait! It’s slipping away!” Falca’s grip over the Force was indeed slipping and the more she thought about bringing it under her control the more she fumbled.

“Don’t think about it at first. Search your feelings, keep hold of the memories, and let instinct be your guide.” Falca took my words and successfully put them into effect. Instead of directly applying her conscious will over the Force she allowed the Force to fill her being and simply enjoyed the feeling of power that came with it.

“The first few times I used the Force, it came to me out of unconscious instinct rather than through direct will. I was jogging through the forests of the Heartland Isle and I was trying to conserve energy to save it for any obstacle that I may come across. I didn’t know it at the time but the Force was actively enhancing my body and helped me manage my physical energy consumption. Then when I came across my first physical obstacle, a fallen tree trunk, I jumped over it with my first Force Jump and reached a height taller than any of the other trees.”

“It was all instinct, just like when you tried to defend yourself with a Force Shield when the entity tried to strike at you with lighting,” I finished.

Falca nodded her head in understanding and kept her eyes focused on the chandelier.

‘Very good.’

“Now don’t think about pushing the chandelier as if you have a long-reaching invisible hand. Push it as if it were right in front of you.”

Falca did as I asked and extended her talons outwards in a push. The Force coalesced invisibly between her talons, its energy thriving through her limbs. From my perspective, she looked like she had done everything right.

But nothing happened.

The chandelier remained perfectly still. Nothing, not even the small little crystal chains lining it surface showed any indication that Falca had compelled it to move. The Force simply remained coalesced within Falca’s talons.

“Did I do something wrong?” Falca asked as she looked up at me.

“I’m not sure, you did everything as I would have done it,” I answered as I rubbed the bone spurs on my chin in thought.

‘What are we missing here? She’s willed the Force instinctively into her talons but it’s not projecting itself from her.’

Falca hummed and continued to try and push the chandelier telekinetically again. Sadly to no success.

‘Do I need to channel the Force through her again with Battle Meditation? No that wouldn’t make any sense since she channeled the Force just fine when I was struck out of commission.’

Falca waved her talons left and right and tried a different variety of talon gestures but none had any more effect than the last. After a while, her various gestures were now starting to appear comical. I could feel her slowly becoming frustrated and I honestly couldn’t blame her.

‘The power is there but it is refusing to leave her talons. Perhaps her talons are not the proper limb for her to project her will over the Force. Her wings perhaps?’

Falca continued to grow more frustrated with each failed attempt. She huffed and struck the mattress with closed talons before she returned to her attempts at telekinesis. Still succeeding at nothing but pushing the air between her talons.

‘Would the wings work? Technically a Force Sensitive doesn’t need physical gestures from their limbs to project their will over the Force but it does help give focus to what they want to do.’

Falca’s frustration was now shifting into outright anger. Her feathers were now starting to bristle and she glared at the chandelier as if it had insulted her.

‘The wings are however a heavy component to what makes a griffon in the MLP universe. Like pegasi magic, I suspected that their natural ability to control the weather is heavily connected to their wings. Falca did say she covered herself with her wings when the mysterious entity tried to strike her with lighting.’

I was about to suggest to Falca that she use her wings until she growled like a lioness and thrusted her talons out into the air violently. The Force finally left her talons and, before I could even react, the chandelier smacked itself loudly into the ceiling!

Falca and I jumped in surprise as shattered crystal shards rained onto the wooden floor and at the foot of the bed. The chandelier continued to swing violently around its column chain and we could only watch as it eventually snapped and joined the crystal shards on the floor. Falca and I slowly turned to each other with wide eyes.

“I think I overdid my push a little bit,” Falca said as she gave a hesitant laugh.

“Indeed, but… I think we found the missing component to using your Force abilities.”

“What is it? I only got a little frustrated. Is anger all that I need?” Falca looked at me confused.

“Not just anger…” I said softly. It was more than just pure anger. When Falca left The Extravagant to fight the storm she left with a drive to protect those close to her. Emotions had burned within her and they were amplified when I had used Battle Mediation to tap into her core with Force energy. Then when she was cut off and at her most desperate, the pinnacle of emotional duress, the Force came to her call and she used its strength to continue her course. I may have awakened the Force within her but it was her strong emotions that brought its power under her will.

“Passion,” I said simply. “It is your passion that gives you power.”

Author's Notes:

The Sith Lord now gains an apprentice.

I hope I'm not drawling this semi-vacation arc too long. I hope to have it wrapped up after about 3 more chapters.