Twilight Sparkle stared at the masked face of her enemy, with a glare that could melt metal.
Solara was simply standing there, her Lightsaber in hand ready to face off against the young Padawan. Twilight's grip on her own blade was constantly shifting, the girl feeling fear radiating through her body alongside the anger at seeing her. "How did you get in here?" She finally asked, as Solara said nothing. "What's the matter? I thought you'd love to tell me how you got past our pathetic Jedi defences."
"I'm in no mood for small talk," Solara stated. "I've come for the relic. I know you have it. Hand it over and I'll be on my way."
"I don't think so," Twilight told her. "I won't let you have the key. Not if it's connected to the gate I think it's connected to."
"So you know about that?"
"I have a vague idea," Twilight stated. "But if you're willing to let more info slip, I'd love to hear it." She hoped she could keep Solara talking. The more Solara talked, the less Twilight would need to fight her. A Temple Guard or someone had to arrive sooner or later. If she could keep her talking long enough, maybe she wouldn't have to fight her alone.
"I don't really know what Master Sombra has planned for the three keys. All I know is that I need to get them, or I won't live long enough to regret it."
"A master that kills those who mess up. Why do you work for him again?"
"He found me, after my family abandoned me. Raised me and taught me the ways of The Force. I'd be dead right now, if he hadn't saved me. My life belongs to him."
"Your life belongs to nobody but yourself," Twilight stated. "We Jedi have saved thousands of lives throughout the galaxy. Are you saying all those lives now belong to us and they have to do whatever we tell them?" Solara didn't answer. "Exactly. Do yourself a favour and stop before you go too far. I don't know what you've done in Sombra's service. But if you carry on, you'll reach a point where you can't go back."
"I've already passed that point," Solara stated before repositioning her Lightsaber. "Enough talk. I'm taking that relic."
"Over my dead body."
"I really hoped you wouldn't say that." Nothing else was said and she charged forward, Twilight holding a defensive stance as she tried to make a plan. She needed to get somewhere the Temple guards would find them.
As Solara's Lightsaber swung towards her, Twilight blocked with her own blade and felt herself getting pushed backwards. She managed to keep her guard up and as Solara attacked again, she deflected the blow and jumped out of the way.
Solara then thrust her hand out and focused it around Twilight's pocket, pulling on the fabric to try and rip it off. But Twilight quickly recovered and unleashed her own Force push to counter Solara.
This knocked Solara back and allowed Twilight the chance to run away. "Get back here!" She ran after her, as Twilight skirted around a corner and headed in the direction of some Temple guards. But before she could get too far, Solara grabbed a bunch of torches in front of Twilight and threw them at her.
The girl gasped, stopping where she was in order to push them away.
Solara used this to run up and leap over Twilight, blocking her escape before swinging her blade towards the Padawan. Twilight gasped and had to lean back to avoid it, staggering back before retaking a stance and using her Lightsaber. She blocked the next two strikes before jumping back and using The Force to throw Solara backwards.
The Sith gasped as she was thrown away and crashed into the ground, sliding along it as Twilight ran back the way she came.
Solara sighed as she picked herself up. "Don't force me to do something I don't wanna do." She stood up and chased after Twilight, needing to get to her before she found anyone to protect herself with.
In the battle of Canterlot, Flash and Shining had engaged the master of the Sith.
The two Jedi charged, as Sombra did the same and his body exploded into smoke. Both of them were shocked by this, but managed to counter the cloud's attempts to grab them. They jumped away from them and swung their Lightsabers through it, burning the shadows away before it swirled into Sombra's form.
Flash then charged, attacking swiftly but being careful not to get too close. Sombra saw this and easily countered with his own sword, the two clashing sabers with Sombra quickly beginning to get the upper hand.
But before he could use his better skill to take Flash down, Shining ran in and evened the odds. Sombra quickly found himself having to split his focus, though this clearly didn't put him under any kind of pressure. He was easily able to shift his attention between the pair of them, blocking one whilst dodging another's attack and pushing the first away.
"Not bad," he told them. "You're clearly used to fighting together. But it's clear that you're not strong enough to defeat me."
"We won't know that until we try." Flash charged and leapt into the air, swinging his sword down to try and cut Sombra in half. Sombra dodged the attack, leaping back as Flash landed in a kneeling position. But as he did, Shining jumped up and used Flash as a spring board to leap up higher.
As he did, Shining got a good look at the debris behind Sombra and pulled it towards the Sith.
Sombra sensed the incoming attack and burst into smoke, the debris flying through it and doing no damage whatsoever. Shining landed as this happened, whilst Flash pulled himself up. The debris flew past them, both looking around to try and see where the cloud had gone.
As this was happening, Celestia was beginning to slowly recover from her previous injury.
Her body was still smoking from the lightning blasts before, which had caused several of her muscles to become numb. She tried to roll onto her front and push herself up, but she was too weak. And as she tried to get up, visions of her sister's ship crashing, flowed through her head and made the omni fear she was about to cry.
"Focus!" Celestia told herself, as the cloud of darkness flew out and attacked the two Jedi that had saved her.
The pair was back to back and as the shadows tried to attack, they protected themselves with their Lightsabers. But it was only a matter of time before Sombra managed to get them. Celestia had to get up.
She pulled her legs up and tried to balance on them. But as soon as she pushed up, she lost the strength in her legs and feel to the ground. "Augh!" She hit the ground, flinching in pain as Flash and Shining leapt out of the circling cloud.
"Enough hiding!" Flash cried. "Show yourself, you villainous snake!"
"A snake, am I?" Sombra appeared with his cloud before being lifted upwards. "Perhaps you'd like to see how snake-like I can be!" The shadows formed a shape and morphed into a serpentine form, with his body disappearing into the head that formed a snake-like version of his face.
He let out a hiss, his smoky tongue having the blade of his Lightsaber sticking out of it. He then swung his tail around and tried to hit the pair, who either leapt over or ducked under it before Sombra's mouth shot down to try and bite them.
But before it could make contact, Shining grabbed a piece of a building and threw it towards the snake.
It shot past the Lightsaber tongue and hit the back of its mouth, causing it to dispel as most of the smoke swirled around the Lightsaber and shot past them. It then swirled back into the snake, which Flash and Shining ran forward to attack.
They both slashed at its neck, cutting through it with the pair landing on the other side as the head fell off the main body. But as soon as it struck the ground, the smoky head exploded into a hundred smaller snakes.
Flash and Shining saw this and quickly started slashing at them, whilst Sombra formed his physical form and walked towards them with his Lightsaber drawn. And once he reached Flash, he slashed at the Padawan who managed to shield himself from the blade at the last minute.
Shining tried to get to him, but there were a bunch more snakes between him and the two. As he cut them down, he watched Sombra push Flash staggering back before charging with his weapon drawn. Flash did his best to defend himself but Sombra was stronger and more experienced.
Flash quickly found himself overwhelmed and if Shining didn't help soon, Flash was gonna be in serious trouble.
Up in the Destroyer ship, Lightning, Rarity and Ruby were in the power core.
They had attempted to take down the droid's control system, but found the ship's consoles were completely electrified. And an even more shocking discovery, was that Lightning's father was there waiting for them. Doom Raizer stared at the three, having just stepped out from behind the power core.
"Dad," Lightning whispered.
"Hello, son." He looked him over. "You've grown since the last time I saw you." He spotted the Jedi and frowned. "Though I never thought I'd see you with a pair of Jedi. Don't you know what they did?"
"I know," Lightning nodded. "But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is stopping those droids and fighters from destroying Canterlot."
"No," Doom stated, "what matters is making sure the Jedi pay for what they did to me." He took out his Lightsaber and ignited it, Lightning staggering back as Ruby and Rarity stepped forward. "Move aside, son. I have business with those girls."
"Dad," Lightning whispered, "what are you doing?"
"They ruined my life," Doom stated. "Turned me into a criminal and forced me to spend almost two decades on the run. The Jedi must pay."
"Celestia admitted their mistake," Ruby stated. "You could have come back at any time after you were cleared. But instead, you chose to join the Sith and become the criminal you were wrongly accused of being."
"Wait!" Lightning cried, "I told you. He's not a criminal. He's just pretending to be a Sith in order to take them down from the inside." He turned back to Doom. "Come on, dad. Tell them that's why you joined." He looked around. "Are there cameras in here? Can you not say, because it'll blow your cover?"
Rarity and Ruby shared a look, feeling sorry for Lightning. They knew the truth about Doom and it wasn't what Lightning was thinking. They prayed that Doom's next words wouldn't be a lie, to try and trick Lightning into helping him.
"No," Doom stated, "the cameras are on but that's not why I'm telling you that. I didn't join the Sith to be a double agent or anything. I joined because they promised I could get revenge for all that happened to me."
"What?" Lightning whispered, "no. That can't be!"
"Enough of this!" Doom swung his hand around and Lightning was suddenly thrown through the air and crashed into a console, getting a horrible zap in the process.
He fell to the ground and as he hit it, Doom shot forward and attempted to cut Rarity in half. The Padawan gasped, as the blade flew down towards her. But before it could touch her, Ruby used her sword to block the attack.
The two glared at one another, as Ruby pushed Doom away and Rarity raised her sword. Master and Student nodded before they ran forwards, whilst Doom regained his balance and raised his weapon to defend against the two.
He and Ruby clashed blades and the two appeared on an even footing, both in skill and speed. And with Rarity also attacking whenever Ruby was on the defensive, Doom found himself at a bit of a disadvantage.
Lightning groaned, as he picked himself up and saw Ruby and Rarity fighting his father.
As he watched them fight, he could hardly believe it. He had thought about this moment so many times. Had expected it to be a great reunion, with his father being heralded as a hero. But now, he was watching his father fight to protect the droids that were attacking his home.
"Dad!" He pushed himself to his feet, as Doom pushed both Rarity and Ruby backwards. "Why?" Doom glanced over at him. "Why are you doing this? Canterlot is your home. Why are you attacking it?"
"This place hasn't been home to me in a very long time. Not since I was forced to leave it in disgrace. My wife died on this planet and it's the place where those that ruined my life reside. So long as the Jedi call this place home, it will be nothing but a place of vial to me."
"Doom," Ruby called out, "give yourself up. You can't expect to beat us."
"You really think my son will attack me?" Doom asked. "He could never. I'm all the family he has left. Without me, he'll be all on his own." He pointed his sword at them. "The same way he's been alone, ever since you Jedi destroyed his family." He charged and slashed at them both, the girls leaping back as the doors of the room opened.
More bug troopers arrived and all pointed their weapons at them, Rarity standing back to back with Ruby as they fired. She began to block the attacks, whilst Ruby thought Doom. The Padawan did her best to protect them both, but the number of lasers flying at her were more than she could handle for too long.
But as the troopers prepared a second wave of attack, they suddenly found themselves getting blasted.
Doom turned to Lightning, who was pointing his weapons at the bugs and firing at them. "What are you doing?" Lightning looked at him, a heartbroken expression on his face.
"You're not my father," Lightning fired at another trooper. "My father was a hero. Someone who put his life on the line to protect the galaxy. I don't know who you are, but you're not my father!"
Doom growled, as he dodged Ruby's attack. But in doing so, Ruby accidentally cut through one of the consoles and the ship let out a warning light. "What have you done!?"
They all heard the siren and began to worry. Whatever that console did, it was clearly something important. And Doom let out a roar, as he attempted to behead Ruby whilst she was distracted. And as she leapt back, she feared things were about to go from bad to worse.
In another part of the city, Cadance and Thorax were fighting together against Chrysalis.
The bug trooper queen was far more skilled than the two of them individually, since Cadance had injured her wing and lost that advantage, but together the pair were proving a match for her. Whenever Chrysalis countered one of them, another rushed in to attack before she had a chance to breathe.
At one point, Thorax leapt forward and slashed his sword down at Chrysalis. His mother blocked that attack and before Cadance could attack, Chrysalis thrust her hand out and pushed the Knight back. This meant she could push Thorax away and catch her breath.
Thorax panted as he stared at her. "I have a question," Thorax stated. "What is the name of our race? What were we before this...plague you told me about?"
Chrysalis smiled. "You betray our people, but still wish to know our name?"
"Call it curiosity." As he said that, Cadance ran forward with her and Chrysalis slashed at one another to try and disarm the other. They then locked swords and pushed against one another, staggering around in a circle until Cadance got Chrysalis' back to Thorax.
The Padawan charged, but Chrysalis pulled away before he could strike and Cadance staggered forward. Thorax had to jump to the side to avoid cutting his master, as Chrysalis re-positioned herself. "Our species was known as the changelings. Before the plague, we held great power that made us feared throughout our home galaxy. A power I hope to restore with Sombra's help."
Thorax and Cadance frowned, wondering what this great power was.
Back in the Jedi Temple, Twilight kept running through the halls in search of a guard.
She glanced back and saw Solara was gone. She was somewhere behind her, but had managed to outrun her. But this made Twilight feel uneasy. It was one thing for Solara to be in the temple whilst Twilight was there. But having her in the temple with nobody around to watch her was even worse. At least Twilight knew what she was doing, so long as she could see her.
She turned another corner and knew a group of guards were likely close by. If she could just get to them-
"RAAAH!" Suddenly, Solara leapt out of another corridor and tackled Twilight to the ground. Neither of them had their Lightsabers on, so the pair fell to the ground with Solara trying to grab at Twilight's pocket.
Twilight quickly struggled against her and the two were rolling around like a pair of toddlers, Twilight doing her best to keep Solara from getting the relic.
She grabbed the Sith's wrist before she could reach into her pocket and pulled it away, Solara pulling her other firt back to punch only for Twilight to grab that as well. The two kept struggling, groaning as they did their best to overpower the other.
Eventually, Twilight managed to push Solara's upper body away from her before throwing her away. Solara grunted and rolled to her feet, whilst Twilight jumped up and reached for her saber. But the blade was missing.
She looked around and saw that during the scuffle, her Lightsaber had been thrown away from her. But it wasn't all bad news, as Solara had also dropped her saber. And before Twilight could summon it back to her hand, The Sith rushed forward and started throwing punches and kicks in Twilight's direction.
Twilight had never studied much hand to hand combat. As Solara threw a punch at her, Twilight barely managed to dodge it. But Solara then spun around and slammed a foot into her chest, knocking her backwards.
She hit the ground and Solara ran forward, ready to deal another kick to her. But Twilight was able to hold up a hand and stop her foot cold, knocking her back away from her. And as she tried to pick herself up, she saw her Lightsaber behind Solara and summoned it.
But as the weapon flew towards her, Solara held up a hand and actually caught the weapon without even looking.
Twilight's eyes widened in shock, as Solara ignited the green blade and pointed it towards her. Twilight panicked, stepping backwards as Solara approached. "Give it up. Just hand over the relic and we can go our separate ways."
"Never." Twilight spotted something on the ground and despite how much she didn't want to, she held out her hand and Solara's Lightsaber flew towards her. She caught it and as soon as she ignited the blade, a wave of dread washed over her. She had used several Lightsabers before, not just her own, but none of them had felt like this.
Twilight was suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of negative emotions. Fear, anger, depression. They were radiating off the blade, most likely coming from the red kyber crystal.
"What have you done to this Lightsaber?"
"You wouldn't understand," Solara told her. "Do yourself a favour and drop it. The dark power within it is probably too much for your wimpy little Jedi spirit to handle."
Twilight frowned. She could feel the crystal within the weapon, suffering from whatever Solara had done to it. But she needed it, at least until she was able to get her own Saber back. "No. I'm keeping it. Not just for this fight, but afterwards. I refuse to let you cause this saber any more harm. I don't know how, but I'll find a way to cure it once you're beaten."
"I doubt that very much." Before Twilight could say any more, Solara ran forward and the pair were once again duelling. Only this time, it was with each other's blade.
They cut and slashed at one another as fast and with all the skill they had, neither side giving an inch as they danced around down the corridor. Solara was squarely focused on her, whilst Twilight was trying to steer them towards an area where the Temple guards were located. It was a long-shot, but Twilight had to hold out until then.
"RAAAAH!" Flash slashed at Sombra with all his might, but the Sith easily blocked the blade before pushing it up and dealing a swift kick to his stomach. "Gaaaah!"
Off to the side, Shining had finally killed the last serpent and spotted Flash getting kicked to the floor.
As he laid there, Sombra approached and looked ready to cut Flash in half. But Shining managed to close the distance between him and Sombra and used his saber to block the Sith's, the pair glancing at one another before Shining pushed him away.
"I expected more from the two of you," Sombra stated. "After all the trouble you've given me, I was expecting more than this."
"Careful what you wish for." Shining started slashing at the villain and the two danced around one another, their sabers not touching for more than a millisecond as they tried to get the upper hand. And after Sombra leapt over Shining's leg strike, the villain flew over to a piece of debris.
"How disappointing." He rushed forward, partly morphing into a cloud of smoke as he attacked. Shining managed to block, his defensive style of saber fighting working to his advantage at this point. But Sombra's skills with a blade were just too strong. "Surely, you can do better." Shining pushed back before leaping to a safer distance.
As this was happening, Flash was starting to pick himself up. Sombra noticed this and smirked before pointing his hand over to him, Shining noticing this and his eyes going wide when he saw bolts of red lightning shoot towards Flash.
Flash also saw it and luckily, his Lightsaber was in hand and he managed to ignite it at the last moment. The lightning slammed into it and Flash hissed, as the energy was deflected by the heat was still making him uncomfortable.
Shining ran forward, forgetting his distance strategy and charging ahead to make Sombra focus on him. He started attacking and the Sith ceased his lightning attack, instead focusing all his energy on Shining's attack. The two blades collided and as they fought, Flash sighed as he began to pick himself up.
"Flash." He looked around and saw Celestia, who was still in a bad way after getting shocked herself. She had managed to get her Lightsaber back and as Flash stood up, she threw it towards him. "Take this!"
Flash caught it and whilst having no idea why she would give it to him, he nodded and ran over to the fight.
Sombra managed to catch Shining off guard and as the equestrian was knocked off balance, Sombra unleashed a blast of lightning that hit him. "GYAH!" He was thrown backwards and Sombra smiled, intending to keep electrocuting him until he was dead.
But that plan disappeared, when he felt an approaching threat.
He burst into smoke, as Flash swung his Lightsaber at him. The Padawan went flying through the cloud, which moved away before swirling back into a physical form. Flash then charged and as he did, Sombra unleashed another bolt of lightning.
The red energy flew towards him, but Flash wasn't scared. And seconds before it struck, he ignited Celestia's blade and the golden energy blocked the red lightning. Sombra saw this and was rather shocked, as Flash pushed forward with the golden Lightsaber shielding him. As such, once he got close enough, he was able to slash at Sombra with his other sword and forced the Sith to block.
Sombra smirked. "Now, things are getting interesting." The two began to fight, Flash showing a lot of skill with the two blades despite how little control he had with them both. He remembered everything he had seen Rainbow and other dual wielding saber users do, trying to copy those movements as best he could.
Sombra was managing to counter him well enough, but could tell this boy was a threat. All it would take was one lucky blow. Sombra couldn't allow that.
Back on the Destroyer, the alarms were still going off and everybody was starting to worry.
The bug troopers were looking around, having no idea what they were supposed to be doing in this event. Doom glared at the Jedi and his soon, whilst the three feared the ship was about to come crashing down on Canterlot and thousands of people.
Doom growled as he glared at the three. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Not really," Ruby stated. "This isn't our ship." The core began to glow a different colour. "But I'm guessing that's not normal." The core began to spark and they all leapt back.
"It's going to blow!" Doom growled, as he rushed over to a control console and started working on it. Whatever had happened, had clearly stopped the consoles from being electrified. But as he worked, more energy escaped the core.
"I think that's our cue to leave," Ruby stated. She quickly thrust her hand out and the bug troopers were sent flying, Ruby grabbing Rarity and Lightning before pulling them away.
"But what about taking down the droids?" Rarity asked, as the ship's lights began to flicker.
"I think it's safe to say that if this ship blows, the droids will lose any command they're currently being given." They nodded, as Lightning glanced back at his father. Doom was running about, trying to get everything under control. As he did, he happened to lock eyes with Lightning and the pair stared at one another for a moment.
This might be the last time they ever saw each other. if they did see one another again, they would be enemies.
The Sith turned his attention back to the power core and Lightning looked away, turning to leave as he followed after the girls. "I don't think we have enough time to get back to that hatch."
"So how do we get out?" Rarity asked, as they turned a corner and found themselves under fire from the bug troopers. The Jedi quickly started fighting against them, whilst Lightning pulled out his own blasters and shot them down. Once they were dealt with, Ruby spotted a terminal and rushed over to it.
"I think it's about time we get a map of this ship." She quickly connected her gauntlet to the computer and whilst the other two were worried they were going to run out of time, Ruby knew running around aimlessly wouldn't do them much good.
She quickly found a schematic of the ship and uploaded it to her gauntlet, as some more troopers arrived.
Ruby and Lightning quickly dealt with them, as Ruby found what she was looking for. "Got it!" She disconnected and began to head down a corridor. "This way!"
Back with Chrysalis and her opponents, the two kept fighting in unison whilst trying to cut her down.
Chrysalis continued to parry them, as she occasionally looked over at where Pharynx was knocked out. She knew she could easily escape if she wanted to, but that would require abandoning her son. And that was something she would not do.
Cadance thrust her saber forward and Chrysalis pushed the blade away before leaping back, only for Thorax to attack. He slashed at her, which was blocked, then tried to throw a kick at her. But Chrysalis stopped it using her hand and threw Thorax away, allowing her to focus back on Cadance.
The two charged and clashed with several more saber strikes before they both pushed one another back, Chrysalis skidding to a stop in front of Pharynx whilst Cadance landed in front of Thorax. The two stared one another down, both wondering how much longer this fight would last. But the answer came quicker than they expected.
Suddenly, a bunch of wasp droids flew into the scene. Following their programming, they targeted the Jedi and left the other two alone.
Cadance and Thorax were forced to defend against these droids, freeing up Chrysalis to turn to her son. She quickly checked him over and found him unconscious, but overall unharmed. So as the Jedi were focused on the droids, she lifted him up and ran back in the direction of her fighter.
Thorax saw them leaving and tried to follow, but a scorpion droid suddenly arrived and unleashed a laser between him and his rediscovered family. "STOP!" Thorax yelled, but they didn't and disappeared in the dust that had been kicked up.
Thorax roared, as he turned to the droid and leapt into the air. He spun through the air, cutting through the machine whilst Cadance dealt with the droids. She then saw her Padawan, cutting through the scorpion with real anger in his roars.
"Thorax!" She rushed over to him and as the scorpion collapsed dead, he kept slashing at it until she caught his wrist. "Calm down!"
"But they're getting away!" Before Cadance could say anything else, a bunch of battle droids arrived in the area and the pair had to take shelter.
"For now, we have to focus on staying alive. We'll get another chance at beating them." Thorax frowned, but knew she was right. They had to stay alive or there was no telling what might happen. As such, they both mentally prepared themselves before leaping out and fighting against the droids.
Twilight and Solara's Duel inside the Jedi temple continued and as they continued to fight, Twilight could feel the rage and anger from the red saber effecting her more and more.
Every time Twilight swung the blade towards Solara, she felt herself growing more and more angry. She didn't know what Solara had done to the blade, but it was screaming out in rage every time Twilight attacked with it.
The pair charged at each other and with a mighty swing, their sabers clashed and locked onto one another as they pushed hard against the other. Doing so caused them both to stagger around, moving in circles until they both stumbled to the top of a flight of stairs.
They glared into each other's eyes, though Solara's eyes were blocked by her mask, and kept pushing until Twilight found herself at the very edge of the staircase. And this was just what Solara was waiting for.
At the last moment, she pulled the green blade away and allowed Twilight to stagger forward a bit. She then thrust her hand forward and Twilight was thrown backwards. She fell over the edge of the stairs and rolled down them, crying out as she hit her head and several other body parts on the hard stone edges.
Eventually, she reached the bottom and kept rolling down the marble floor until she finally stopped and appeared to have fallen unconscious.
Solara stared at her body for a few moments, as if expecting her to get up. But she didn't and Solara began to march down towards her. And once she reached the bottom, she extinguished Twilight's Lightsaber and moved over to her. "You didn't have to suffer like this. If you had just let me have the relic, none of this would have had to happen."
She stepped up next to her and reached down to open her pocket. But that was when it happened.
Twilight suddenly rolled onto her back and swung her arm around, igniting Solara's Lightsaber as she did so. The red blade extended and Solara was barely able to pull herself back, as the laser flew up her body. The tip missed her body, but hit the mask covering her face and carving right into it.
"AUGH!" She screamed, feeling the heat of her own Lightsaber as it missed her face by inches.
She staggered back, her mask having a large gash running up it. Twilight then used her other hand to push her backwards with The Force, the Sith being sent flying until she smashed into a pillar.
The impact caused her to lose her grip on Twilight's Lightsaber, whilst her helmet's gash began to spread into a crack going up the middle of her helmet. Twilight didn't notice this, as she picked herself up and summoned her Lightsaber to her hand.
Red and green blade now in hand, Twilight charged as she was still being fuelled by the anger of the red Lightsaber. She ran at Solara and prepared to finish her. But as she swung the red blade around, the helmet finally broke in half and fell off her head. This allowed a bunch of red and yellow hair to fall into view, Twilight stopping as she recognised it.
The red blade hovered above the girl's head, as Solara recovered and looked up. Doing so revealed the face of someone Twilight cared for and trusted. "Sunset?"
The girl gasped and reached up to touch her face, looking around and seeing her helmet in two pieces besides her. "No." Twilight stared at her in shock, her grip on the Lightsabers slacking and causing the red blade to fall from her gasp.
She stepped backwards, as Sunset began to push herself up to her feet. "I don't understand. Why are you dressed like that?"
"Twilight," Sunset sighed, "I...I am Solara."
Twilight's head slowly moved back and forth, shaking in disbelief. "No."
"Yes," Sunset told her, "I am. I...I tricked you. I got you to think you were my friend, so you would bring me to the temple and I could take the relic key back." She looked down and saw her Lightsaber, summoning it to her hand and igniting it. "Now, give it to me."
"No," Twilight repeated, "this can't be. You...we were friends. All the stuff we did. All the fun we had."
"I only did all those things, to get you to trust me! You were duped. You and the rest of those Jedi fools." Twilight kept shaking her head, as Sunset stepped forward. "I won't ask you again. Give it to me!" Twilight's entire body shook, as she thought about all they had done and what Sunset must have been thinking during it. "Give it to me!"
"NO!" She charged forward and began to slash at Sunset, who easily blocked with her own Lightsaber. Twilight was clearly in a rage, as she attacked without restraint. "WAS EVERYTHING A LIE!? OUR TIME ON THAT PLANET!? HELPING THE SHRUBS!? TRAINING TOGETHER!? STOPPING THAT TRAIN!? WAS IT ALL JUST A PLOY TO MAKE US TRUST YOU!?"
Sunset grunted, as Twilight smashed her black down on her sword. "Mostly." She didn't know why, but she wanted Twilight to know the truth. "I actually did have amnesia when we were on that planet. But when I discovered my Force Abilities, it all came back to me."
"And everything else?" She pushed harder, but Sunset was able to spin and cause Twilight to stagger forward.
"When I came to this temple, I was only after the relic key. That was all that mattered to me." Twilight glared at her. "I'll admit, the training was interesting. But I had already mastered everything you tried to teach me. Master Sombra drilled those lessons into me much faster than you could have."
"And the train?" Twilight asked. "Was that you? Did you set that whole thing up, just to get us to trust you?"
"What?" Sunset frowned, "no. I had nothing to do with that. Honestly, I don't even know why I agreed to help. I could have so easily died when that happened." Twilight gave her a look.
"Was any of it true? Everything you said? Everything we did? Was it all just a trick to get us to trust you?" Sunset was about to say something, but stopped. She didn't know why, but she was having a hard time announcing that it was just a trick.
But she soon stole her reserve and gave Twilight a venomous look. "It was all a trick. You Jedi are so gullible. Another reason you will fall. We Sith trust nobody, so we are never betrayed."
Twilight couldn't hold back the tears. "I thought we were friends. But you're not my friend. You never were. You were my enemy."
Sunset sighed. "There's a chance we could still be friends." She held out her hand to her. "Come with me. Join me in The Dark Side. We'll take the relic to Master Sombra together and he'll welcome you into our order. Master Sombra can teach you so much more than Celestia ever could."
Twilight's tears stopped, as rage filled the girl's body. "I would never join you!" She swung her sword towards Sunset's hand, as if trying to slice it off. Sunset managed to pull her arm away and as Twilight charged, she stood her ground and countered the girl's attacks. "The Dark Side is nothing but a Path to ruin and pain. I will never join that side!"
Sunset grunted, as she staggered back. "Very well. But just know. I gave you the chance." She started attacking back and the pair found themselves in some kind of dead even. Their attacks were at equal power level, both fuelled by anger and hate. But whilst Twilight was new to channelling her rage into her attacks, Sunset was an old pro. As such, Twilight's attacks her sloppy whilst Sunset's were precise.
As such, when Twilight made a mistake in her anger, Sunset was able to capitalise on it.
She spun around as Twilight thrust her sword forward, then brought her own down on the blade with all her might. The impact forced Twilight's Lightsaber out of her grasp and it fell to the ground, Sunset then spinning around again before forcing her hand into Twilight's chest.
The girl was sent flying with incredible speed and before she could recover, she smashed into a pillar and fell to the ground in a daze.
Sunset sighed as she walked forward, kicking Twilight's Lightsaber out of sight so she couldn't summon it. and once she was closer to Twilight, she used The Force to pull on the girl's pocket. And sure enough, it ripped causing what was inside of it to fly towards her.
Sunset caught the object and quickly unfurled it, finding the metal triangle she had been sent to collect.
She smiled, but that smile vanished when Twilight let out a groan. She opened her eyes and saw Sunset, the girl placing the relic in her pocket before turning to leave. "Stop," she groaned out. "Please, Sunset. Don't do this. It's not too late."
"Yes, it is." Sunset glanced back at her. "Sunset Shimmer never existed. I am Solara, Sith Lord and a future ruler of the galaxy." But as she said that, she suddenly heard footsteps approaching. Their fight must have attracted the Temple Guards.
Solara reached into her cloak and as the Temple Guards arrived, she pulled something out and threw it to the ground.
A massive blast of smoke filled the room, blocking everyone's sight. But Solara already knew what she needed to see and reached up, holding her hand out before clutching it and pulling. That caused a shattering sound, as the area they were in had a glass roof that had just been destroyed.
The Temple Guards heard this and quickly raised their hands, attempting to catch any of the glass that fell.
As this was happening, Solara had taken something else out of her cloak. A miniaturised grappling device, which she fired upwards. The rope wasn't that much, but it was just enough to reach the edge of the broken window and grab on. It then pulled Solara upwards and she was propelled out of the smoke, moving at incredible speed.
By the time she reached the window and the grapple completely retracted, her momentum pushed her through the window and she spun through the air before landing on the roof of the temple. As she did, she opened her gauntlet's coms. "This is Solara. I've got the relic and I'm ready for pick up." But there was no response. "Hello. Ready for pick up. Come on! I can't stay where I am!"
Back in the ship, Doom was doing his best to keep the core from blowing.
"Come on," he tapped at the controls and flicked several switches. But there was no way to stop this overload. "Damn it!" He saw no other option. "Prepared for power core hard reset!"
"Sir?" A bug trooper asked, "that's only supposed to be for when we're in space. If we do it here, we'll drop like a rock and there's no guarantee the power core will come back online."
"I'd rather risk everything on a chance, rather than definitely blow up. Now do it!" The troopers nodded and all rushed over to their consoles, typing away at them as they prepared for the hard reset.
As this was happening, Lightning, Ruby and Rarity had arrived at their location.
"Get ready. There'll probably be a ton of bug troopers in there!" Rarity and Lightning nodded, as Ruby opened the door and rushed inside. And sure enough, there were a lot of bugs all over the place. None of them appeared to have any weapons, but they did have tools that could be dangerous.
They quickly looked around and spotted their way out. The force field ship doc that the fighters were being dropped out of.
The bug didn't notice them at first, likely used to hearing the doors open, but one finally spotted them and dropped the box he was carrying. "Intruders!" The other bugs looked around and spotted them, many grabbing laser torches and anything else that could hurt them.
Ruby and Rarity acted fast, thrusting their hands and sending out a Force Push. This knocked the aliens flying, as the three ran towards the drop bay. Lightning shot a few that pushed themselves up, stunning them as they reached the whole in the ship. But then they noticed the force field and realised they had to shut it down.
But the leaver that likely opened it was on the other side of the room and as the Jedi tried to Force it to move, the bugs started firing the laser torches. This forced Rarity and Ruby to defend with their Lightsabers, as Lightning shot back at them.
It was at that moment that Doom completed the force reboot, the ship's power core going completely offline. As that happened, the force field shut down.
Lightning saw this and fearing it would come back online any second, he grabbed the girls and pulled on them. The pair screamed out, as they were pulled down through the whole. They barely managed to hold onto their Lightsabers, as they looked up and saw the ship seemed to be having troubles.
Lightning activated his gauntlet and quickly called his cruiser down to them, the ship shooting towards them from where he had attached it to the outside of the ship. And before they could slam into another ship, his flew under them and he opened the canopy to land in the driver's seat.
Rarity and Ruby had extinguished their Lightsabers and grabbed onto the cruiser, pulling themselves inside. Once they were in, they looked up and saw the ship was beginning to fall. Lightning flew out from under it, but they feared the damage that was about to happen.
All over the city, the Jedi were fighting against the droids when they suddenly found them stopping.
The machines beeped, as they suddenly found themselves without any orders. They just stood there, not firing or even defending themselves as the Jedi cut them down. Which was something the Force wielders all noticed. "What's going on?" Thorax asked, as Cadance poked a battle droid and found it falling to the ground.
"Something must have stopped the droids from working." She quickly cut them down and Thorax did the same, the rest of the Jedi using this chance to destroy as many of them without worry as possible. But as they did, the Star Destroyer fell towards the city and was less than a minute away from crashing into the buildings.
Back in the power core room, Doom was doing his best to restart the ship's power.
He could feel them falling downwards, the artificial gravity cutting out. It wouldn't be long before the ship crashed into the city. "Come on." He grabbed a leaver and pulled, "power on!" But nothing happened and he typed at the computer again. "I said power ON!" He pulled the leather again and this time, the whole thing exploded in his face.
He roared in pain, as he was thrown across the room. But as he was, the power core came back online.
The ship's systems powered back up and the thrusters were the first thing to power up, causing the ship to stop seconds before hitting a building. Those controlling the ship, quickly pushed the Destroyer back into the air whilst those in the power core room made sure there wasn't another power surge.
All the while, Doom laid on the ground and was rolled onto his back to show the burns covering half his face. The troopers flinched and got him to the medical bay, the ship now without anyone to lead them.
Down on the ground, Flash continued to dual wield the Lightsabers against Sombra. But no matter what he tried, the Sith Lord was able to counter everything he threw at him.
He slashed at the Sith, but Sombra burst into smoke and flew to another area before reforming. He then shot forward and tried to cut Flash in half, but the Padawan was able to spin around and cross his swords. This allowed him to block the attack, but the force pushed him downwards and he soon found himself on his knees.
Shining saw this and feared for his student's life.
His body was still numb from the lightning, but he managed to push himself up and charge at the Sith Lord. He summoned his Lightsaber from where it had fallen and tried to attack from the side, but Sombra once again exploded into smoke and flew away from him.
Shining's attack hit the ground and before he and Flash could respond, Sombra reformed again and thrust his hand out.
The pair felt an almighty wall of motion hit them both and throw the pair backwards, both crashing into the ground and crying out in pain. They tried to move, but felt themselves being pinned to the ground. Neither could move and felt their backs digging into the debris behind them, as Sombra approached.
"This is over." His other hand sparked with lightning and he prepared to unleash it on the pair. But before he could, he suddenly felt movement approaching and turned to see a pair of blue Lightsabers flying towards him.
He burst into smoke and the attacker flew through him, quickly spinning around as she reached the other side and skidded to a stop. Flash and Shining gasped, feeling the hold on them end. They then saw who had saved them and gasped.
"LUNA!" Celestia cried, clearly happy to see her sister was still alive. But by the state of her clothes and the burns on her face, she hadn't escaped her ship's explosion unscathed.
"Well this is certainly a surprise," Sombra stated. "I was sure you were done for back then. Guess I shouldn't have assumed."
Luna glared at him, as she prepared her Splitsabers. "You die here, you monster." Sombra smiled, but then spotted Flash and Shining getting up. Whilst he wasn't at all worried, Luna was a strong opponent. And as he glanced over at Celestia, he saw she was finally starting to recover from her zapping.
But before he could think of attack, his gauntlet beeped. "Master Sombra." It was one of his bug troopers. "We just received a transmission from Solara. She states that her mission was successful. We've sent a fighter to retrieve her."
"Excellent," Sombra smiled as he extinguished his Lightsaber. "Well, this has been fun. But I'm afraid that me and my servants are going to need to be off."
"You're not getting away!" Luna charged, but Sombra brought his hands together and created a sphere of lightning. One that he slammed into the ground and unleashed in a wave of energy.
The Jedi were forced to block with their sabers, whilst Celestia simply held up her hand and stopped it in its tracks. But this gave Sombra the opening to escape, the Sith bursting into smoke and shooting into the sky.
"Get back here!" Luna tried to fly after him, but flinched when she opened her wings. One of them had been injured and refused to move the way she wanted, making her groan. All she could do was watch, as the dark cloud flew up towards the Destroyer.
There were barely any fighters in the sky at the moment, most having been destroyed whilst the others had been landed after running low on power. This allowed Sombra to fly through the air without anyone getting in his way, Celestia, Luna, Flash and Shining watching the Sith disappear into the ship.
"Why did he leave?" Flash asked. "Was he scared we'd beat him with Luna?"
"No," Celestia shook her head, "he wouldn't run from a fight. Even if his opponent was stronger than him. No, he left for a reason." She thought and slowly realised what had happened. "This hasn't been about conquering Canterlot. This was all just a distraction."
"A distraction from what?" Shining asked, but they all had a feeling they knew the answer.
Back at the temple, Solara stood atop the roof with a worried expression.
She had no idea if her message had been received. She could only hope that it had and they were tracking her gauntlet signal at that moment. If they weren't, she was gonna be in serious trouble. Especially when the Temple guards arrived.
She looked around the city, which barely looked like the planet was under attack.
"SOLARA!" The Sith froze as she looked around and saw a purple dot moving towards her, surrounded by a bunch of white dots wielding double-ended orange Lightsabers.
Twilight ran as fast as she could, having retrieved her Lightsaber and was now rushing to where Solara had gone. The look on her face wasn't one many had seen before. A look of betrayal and rage.
Solara panicked, as she tried to think of a way to escape. But as she looked around, she realised she was trapped. There was nowhere for her to go.
But then she spotted something and smiled, as Twilight got closer. The Padawan locked eyes with her and as Solara stepped backwards, she fell off the edge of the temple's roof and began to fall. "NO!" Twilight cried, only for something to suddenly shoot past the temple. A bug trooper ship.
The fighter flew down out of view and as they got closer to the edge, the ship flew back into the air. And sitting on top of it was Solara, who looked back at her whilst the ship zoomed off into the sky. Twilight could only stand and watch, whilst the Temple Guards tried to use The Force to pull the ship back. But before they could lock onto it, the ship went full speed and was gone.
Twilight's legs gave out, as she fell to the ground in absolute disbelief.
Back at the battle site, the Destroyer had begun to fly up and out of the atmosphere.
Several equally large ships were heading their way, having been called as soon as the communications were back online. They locked their weapons on the machine and prepared to fire. But before they could, several more Destroyers arrived.
These were the ones that had arrived with the lead Destroyer, having been waiting for just this moment. And before the other ships could fire, these ones launched several shots that quickly disabled the ships' weapons and allowed the lead Destroyer to rejoin its fleet.
As it did, the other ships unleashed their EMP attacks. The weapon that had begun this attack, would be the one to end it. The wave was quickly unleashed and hit the ships along with a large section of the planet, causing the ships to be knocked offline.
Pursuers neutralised, the armada began to make their way out of the solar system.
On the bridge, Sombra and Chrysalis were waiting for their newly retrieved ally to arrive. And sure enough, Solara stepped onto the bridge. Sombra smirked at her, as she held up the relic she had retrieved. He laughed, as he summoned it over to him. The Sith now had two keys, whilst the Jedi had none. Victory was all but assured.