Chapter 113: Trail by Fire II

"That should be it," Storm said as he stood before several luggage cases.

The boy grabbed them as he began to exit the room and walk down the stairs. The boy approached the door, and he handed them luggage for them to carry. The teen was standing in his Jedi robes as it signified something. It was time to go back. The time had come for both Jedi Knights to return. Storm returned to Twilight's room as the girl talked with her handmaiden.

"Safe travels, princess," said Moondancer as she hugged her friend.

"I will. I'll see you again, Moondancer," said Twilight as the two broke their hug and smiled.

The girls saw Storm standing in the doorway as Moondancer excused herself and began to leave. That left the Jedi Knights alone in the girl's room as Storm entered.

"You ready to go, Sparky?" asked the boy.

"Would I be horrible if I said no?" asked the girl.

"No," answered Storm.

The girl sighed as the boy approached her.

"Can you… hold me?" asked Twilight.

The boy complied with his order as he approached the girl from behind. He stood directly behind her as he put his arms around her waist. Twilight sighed and leaned back into her partner. The feeling of him holding her brought peace and serenity that she could not think about any problems or self-esteem issues. While Twilight was enjoying herself, Storm merely let the girl be herself as he stood at attention. Soon, the princess spun around in his arms, turning them in place. She gently made the boy fall back as he lay on her bed with her on top. The girl had that look in her eyes as her hands started to wander slowly.

"Twilight, we should really get going," said Storm, gazing into her blue eyes.

"We still have… five minutes," said the girl as her hands made their way under his Jedi robes and felt his muscles as she let out a sound. "Five minutes… five minutes…" repeated the princess as she could think of how much they could do in that time with no one around. "We could… we could…" Twilight was fully gone as her brain took over and was beginning to bring her mouth down, her body was dead set on going through with what it was going to do, and nothing was going to stop it.

"Twilight!" shouted a voice as the girl froze, with her lips just inches from connecting with Storm's. "Twilight! Are you ready?!" called out the voice of her mother. "Do I need to come up there?!"

"No!" said the girl to her mother as she sighed.

Now back in control of her own body, the girl got off Storm's lap and allowed the boy to sit up. The girl then turned on her droid as TS-01 came online; the droid beeped as Twilight turned her back to it as she, hopped onto it and clung to her like a backpack. Storm grabbed the last luggage of the girl as they exited her room. They were shown walking along the balcony of the main floor as they saw the girl's parents and Spike waiting for them. The girls had said their goodbyes to both Jedi the night before as they would be sticking around a bit longer on the girl's home planet. Rarity and Fluttershy called to Padme and Senator Organa, as they didn't seem to need any of them for quite a while. In the case of the buttercup girl, Organa said that the Senate wasn't going to need her presence with the upcoming meetings and bills.

The pair walked down the stairs as Storm kept walking to hand the luggage to the servant waiting for them. Twilight approached her parents; they smiled and felt sad to see their daughter leave again, but duty called for her and Storm to be back. From there, the entire family boarded a carriage as Storm hung from the outside back as they took off. The weather, while still winter, had warmed up a bit as snow lay across the ground. It wasn't long before the two arrived at the station where Twilight's personal fighter was as they got out, Storm began to put the luggage in the compartment below.

"It always pains me to see you leave so soon, Twilight," said Velvet as she hugged her daughter.

"I'm still a Jedi. I have a duty to the Republic and Council. Plus, even though I take breaks, the war doesn't. Who knows what happened while we've been gone?"

"Be safe, okay," said Velvet giving one last hug before kissing her daughter's head.

Spike approached his sister as Owlowlicious was on his head. The girl hugged her brother as they were sad they had to be apart again for quite a while. But Spike knew his sister had responsibilities. Just like Shining Armor, she had to do things that required her attention. She then looked at her pet owl as he landed on Twilight's shoulder and rubbed her cheek. The brown bird didn't want its owner to leave, but she had no choice.

"Be good, okay?" asked Twilight to her owl as he hooted.

They shared one final hug as she handed her pet back to her little brother. Storm was firing up the engines as Night Light approached his daughter.

"Dad…"

"Be safe, Twilight," said the king as he hugged his child. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Nothing more was said as she broke from the hug and walked to her fighter. Storm leaped out of the driver's seat as he allowed the girl and her droid to pop into their proper seats. The boy looked at Night Light, who was staring at the teen.

"Protect her with your life, Jedi," stated Night Light with a stern warning.

"Always do, your Majesty," said Storm as he hopped into the cockpit behind Twilight as the engines were warmed up.

Twilight pulled the lever as the fighter began to hover in the air, slowly turning around. The girl leaned out of the window to wave goodbye to her family as they looked up and waved. Soon the ship thrust forward as they were starting to leave the planet's atmosphere.

Watching the pair leave, hiding in the nearby forest, was Zecora. The fortuneteller was wearing a robe that, while not optimal for the cold weather, gave her enough warmth. The woman stared at the fighter, that was slowly disappearing from sight. She had a straight expression as she held up the blank card that foretold Storm's future when they visited her. Since then, she'd been working tirelessly to find out what it meant or if it could give her an answer to inform the pair. But nothing.

"Fare thee well, Jedi. But be wary of your future," said the witch doctor as she turned to leave.

Taking a few steps, Zecora suddenly had a rush of emotions flood into her. A series of images entered her mind as the card she was holding started to glow. Soon it died down as Zecora's eyes returned to normal; she then looked down at the blank card to find it was no longer blank.

"What's this?" said the woman as she looked at the card. "A warrior? Surrounded by soldiers?"

The fortune teller saw an image of a figure that one could deduce was a Jedi based on the outline of the weapon he wielded. There were other shadows on the card as they looked like some kind of soldier. But the biggest thing was that they were shown all over the card, some even rushing toward the warrior they were fighting as if he was surrounded from all angles. Shots were shown being fired and aimed at the warrior.

In space, a ship was shown emerging from hyperspace as it came in front of a planet.

"We're home," said Storm as he saw Corscuant in front of them.

The fighter began to descend to the planet as they entered its atmosphere. They saw that Corscuant was still much of the same, many speeders zooming by to signal how people were going about their busy lives. Twilight tapped into her comm channels as she began to make contact.

"Please identify yourself," said the voice on the other side.

"This is Jedi Knight, Twilight Sparkle. Fighter 145-TS09. Requesting permission to dock."

"Permission granted. Welcome back, general," said the clone on the other end as the bay doors to the temple opened.

The fighter was shown entering the hangar as it had its landing gear out and touched the runway. The pair soon got out as the doors to the hanger opened, and approaching them was a squad of clones trailed behind Celestia. The Jedi Master saw the cockpit open as out-jumped Twilight. Both student and master looked at each other as neither said a word. The girl then approached her teacher as she was trying to figure out what to say.

"So, Master Celestia…"

Twilight didn't finish her statement as Celestia hugged the princess.

"I've missed you, Twilight," said Celestia, almost tearing up at seeing her student again.

The pair soon broke apart as Twilight was glad to see her student.

"I'm ready for my next lessons. And so is Storm."

"What?" said Celestia as what Twilight said made her baffled.

The Jedi Master then saw the boy jump out of the second cockpit as he opened the compartment from below and got Twilight's bags. He soon glanced at Celestia and gave her a heads-up gesture as he pulled the princess' bags out.

"Impossible," said Celestia as she couldn't believe what she saw.

"That's it! Class is dismissed!" said Luna as she left one of the training rooms of younglings.

The Jedi Master walked through the temple halls as she made her way to her room. She entered as she flopped on her bed and buried her face into her pillow. The woman then looked at her nightstand as there was a picture of her teaching Storm how to walk. The image made the Jedi Master shed a tear, as it had been quite a while. She turned her head to look at the wall as the sound of the door opening was heard.

A person was shown standing next to the bed of the Jedi Master. Luna turned her head as she looked to see who it was. Her expression was blank as she trailed upward to see their face.

"Hey, Luna."

"Storm…"

The Jedi Master was shocked by what she saw as she sat up. Luna stood up slowly as she put her hands on Storm's face and began to poke at it, even stretching his mouth.

"Luna!" stated Storm as he didn't like what she was doing to him.

"It's really you… and… you're alive…"

Luna's eyes began to cry.

"Of course I'm alive! Why wouldn't I…."

The boy was cut off as Luna wrapped her arms around him. He was lifted off his feet as Luna held him. Before the boy could say anything, he heard some heavy breathing and sniffles. Some tears of her fell on his head as the Jedi Master was letting it all out.

"I'm so happy to see you! I've… missed you," said Luna, breaking into tears.

"I've missed you too, Master," said Storm.

He didn't know why it happened. But when Luna cried, so did Storm, but he didn't know why.

Many Jedi were shown talking in the hallways. A pair was walking among them as the others who were murmuring saw the pair and murmured even more.

"I guess news travels fast around here," said Storm as he could see the many faces and expressions among his fellow Jedi peers who looked at him.

"Well, one doesn't just come back from the dead every day," stated Luna.

It had been a few days since Storm and Twilight returned, and in that time, word got out that Storm, the Jedi Knight that everyone thought died, was alive. The past few days had been haunting; people kept their distance from him wherever he went. Like he was a ghost or a dead man walking. Twilight was the only one comfortable to be near or sit with him.

Storm had informed Luna about what went down with Discord as she was angry at Twilight for what she did but was more focused that she had her son back. Alive and breathing. She was thankful that the Elements gave her another chance to keep her apprentice safe. The pair walked as they passed by some younglings who were scared of the teen.

"I get it. You don't like everyone being afraid of you. But know that in time, things will be back to normal."

"Of course, Master," said Storm to Luna.

"Come along now. We'd best do one final run before the others see you," said Luna as they approached a door.

It opened up, and inside were Sark and his men as the clones awaited the pair.

"You know what to do," said Luna as the clones surrounded the boy, who put on a blindfold.

Storm took a deep breath as he turned on his lightsaber and took a stance.

"Begin!" stated Luna.

Inside one of the training rooms for the Jedi Knights, an evaluation was being held. And one that had several people attending. Among them was Jedi Master Windu, Yoda, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Obi-wan, Celestia, and Luna. These Jedi Council members were watching the two participants who were being tested.

Storm and Twilight were back to back in a space with blindfolds on. They turned their lightsabers on and held them close in front of their face. In front of them was Master Sinube. The old Jedi banged his cane against the floor to signal the start of the test.

Some tiny sphere droids appeared as they surrounded the pair. Everyone watched as the small crowd of other Jedi Knights asked to watch, sitting on the other side of the Jedi Masters. They watched Storm and Twilight to learn and study some pointers from the two as they were up there with Anakin regarding power and skill.

The practice droids fired basic shots as Storm and Twilight deflected them easily. They soon returned the shots as the droids fell. Master Sinube banged his cane again, as not only did more droids appear, but the space the two Jedi Knights were in had a shield pop up as it slowly began to close in.

The two could sense the difficulty of the test despite not seeing it. To make matters worse, the training droids now took positions as real droids and began to fire in the same pattern as battle droids. Both Jedi began to move as they blocked the blaster shots as best they could. On the surface, both were blocking, but to a keen eye, especially the Jedi Masters, they saw Storm and how quickly he moved.

The boy was moving his lightsaber faster than the droids could fire. In fact, he was predicting where the droids would fire, but by the time they did, he was moving to the next angle and blocking that one. Storm was moving faster than his foes as he thought twelve steps ahead and knew where exactly his foes would shoot from.

Twilight, on the other hand, was just keeping up with the droids, and that was it. Unlike Storm, she wasn't predicting where the shots would come from but merely responding to them. So when she blocked, it was a mere defensive move, not a reflex. And it showed when a droid attacked from her lower side; Twilight angled her lightsaber to block it but mistimed the position she had to adjust to get it as her lightsaber was knocked out of her hand. Without her weapon, the girl was left with a gasp as the droids didn't wait and fired. She put her arms up as a lightsaber blocked the shots. It was Storm who, blocking his latest batch, quickly brought his lightsaber behind him to protect Twilight.

The boy then turned back to reflect the shots at some of the droids behind her, grabbed Twilight by the arm, and made her roll off his back as he deflected her side of droids and took them out. He grabbed Twilight again before leaping into the air and slicing at the droids he landed in between. Moments later, they fell to pieces as Twilight's face came within inches of the shield.

The test ended when Master Sinube banged his cane. The shield shut off as Twilight picked herself off the floor. Both stood side by side as they removed their blindfolds. Master Luna and Celestia approached their apprentices and bowed to them before standing next to them and bowed to the other Jedi Masters as a sign of respect.

The other Jedi Knights were amazed by what they saw as it seemed Storm inspired them by how he moved during the test. Soon Master Yoda and Windu called for Luna and Celestia to discuss some things.

"Powerful your apprentices are. Trained them well, you both have," spoke Yoda to both sisters.

"Thank you, Master," said Luna and Celestia to their former teacher.

"However, it's clear which one is more prepared," stated Windu. "Congrats, Luna. You trained Storm well. His work shows it. He may one day be on the council at this rate.

"Thank you, Windu," smiled Luna as she was ecstatic to hear that Storm was going to fulfill his destiny and not only start getting closer to being a Jedi Master and that he would sit on the council.

With that, everyone was dismissed. The other Jedi Masters smiled and praised Luna for a good job. Luna thanked them before turning to look at Celestia. The younger sister merely smirked at her elder sibling as she gestured for Storm to come with her as they departed.

Celestia merely scowled at Luna and her childish behavior in trying to rub Storm's success in her face. She then turned to look at Twilight as the girl remained where she stood as her master approached. The princess had her head down as she didn't dare look at her teacher for failing the evaluation.

"I'm sorry, Master," said Twilight as, by failing, she made Celestia look bad in front of her peers. Especially cause she was highly valued as a Jedi Master and member of the Council.

The woman grabbed Twilight's chin and made the princess look at her. She didn't seem upset but rather had a smile.

"It's alright, Twilight. There's always next time," said Celestia as she brought her student in for a hug.

"Well," asked Storm as he walked by Luna's side.

"They were impressed. You did well, my apprentice," said Luna with a smile.

"Thank you, Master," said Storm as he bowed to his master, "Oh, I forgot. Here."

The boy pulled out a seed and gave it to Luna.

"It's a lavender seed from Twilight's planet. The inhabitants say the calming scent is known to aid dreamers in achieving a night of restorative sleep. Seeing how you're a fan of the night, I figured it'd make a good gift for you."

"Thank you," said Luna as she patted her student's shoulder as they continued to walk.

Storm was glad to see he impressed some of the members of the Jedi Council. However, he remembered how Twilight didn't quite pass the expectations as he felt sorry for the princess.

Twilight was sitting at a table in the library as she had video footage of her evaluation. The girl was going over the recording as she tried to take notes and figure out where she went wrong. But no matter how often she watched it, she didn't understand it. The bookworm sighed as she turned the footage off and put her head on her hands. Soon the girl felt something on her back as she lifted it and saw that Storm stood next to her.

"Hey."

"Hey."

The two Jedi Knights shared their greeting as the princess put her head back down on the table.

"You're still trying to figure it out?" said Storm.

"I've run every simulation, every outcome, every experiment, but… nothing…" sighed Twilight as she couldn't figure out the problem.

Storm smiled as he'd come accustomed to Twilight being an adorkable bookworm. The girl loved reading, science, and being a scholar in general; he'd come to love that about her. It's what… made him notice her. Still, it seemed the princess was at her wit's end trying to solve this issue. And maybe he could shed some light.

Storm reached to grab her hands as he interlocked their fingers. Twilight saw and felt it as she looked at her partner with a worried look. Their little display of affection made her panic as they were in a public place where many people often were, and if anyone saw them holding hands, it could lead them to speculate the wrong idea and risk them being in trouble. However, Storm locked their fingers as he began pulling his partner; she got out of her chair and followed him.

"Come with me," said the boy.

"Storm…"

"Didn't you say that you trust me?" asked the Jedi to the princess as they stopped.

Twilight sighed as she looked at her crush.

"Lead the way."

It didn't take long before the pair came to an empty room. They entered as a few clone troopers waited patiently for the boy. They saw the Jedi Knights and stood at attention.

"At ease, gents," said Storm.

"What's going on?" asked Twilight.

"I'm helping you, that's what," said Storm before turning to the men. "You know what to do."

"Yes, sir!" said Sark as he began to give the order to the group as they took a position.

They set their blasters to stun as Storm instructed Twilight to watch him. The boy stepped into a space lined with tape as all the clones stood outside it at a good distance. Storm stepped inside the space and turned on his lightsaber; the clones knew that was the signal as they all aimed their blasters at him. Twilight was concerned about what she was seeing as it seemed like the clones would try and fire at her partner. Soon a blaster shot was fired, as Storm deflected it. Several more fired in succession as the boy was deflecting practically without breaking a sweat. Twilight watched her partner as he moved so fluidly with ease while staying in the space. More impressive was that she noticed what the Jedi Masters saw when they took the exam and that Storm was predicting where the shots were coming from as he made sure to initiate the proper countermeasures. Soon he leaped into the air to avoid a criss-cross blaster attack as he landed perfectly to block that shot that was hoping to hit him the moment he landed.

The clones then stood at attention as Storm also stood up. He looked at Twilight, who stood there with her mouth wide open. The boy could see that she was running through the results of what she saw in her mind as it added another cuteness to her. He approached her and shoved her forward.

"Your turn!" said Storm.

"Wait, what?!" said Twilight as she felt herself being shoved.

"Come on, Sparky. This is to help you to figure out why you failed. So, get in there!" said the boy, pushing the girl as her heels were digging into the ground.

"But… but…" said the princess as she wasn't prepared.

"You'll do fine. Sark and the men will take care of you," stated Storm, as he had full faith the clones would do their job. "See, when facing droids that are firing at you, they're predictable. This here will prepare you to take on anything. Trust me."

Storm then left as Twilight merely had an expression on her face before taking a deep breath.

"Begin," said the boy as the clones took their stance and aimed at the princess, who turned on her lightsaber and took a stance.

"Remember, Sparky. Stay calm. Think. That's your field of expertise. You gotta feel the intention of the trooper who will fire first. You should be able to sense the moment before they even pull the trigger." said Storm as he was shown walking around the group with his hands behind his back.

Twilight took in the words said by her partner as a clone fired from behind her. The girl quickly turned to block it as another fired when her back was turned. Twilight turned to block that before two more shots came at her. She couldn't turn in time as she was hit and stunned. The clones stopped as Storm approached his partner, who was down and out.

"Shall we wait for her?" asked Sark as it seemed Twilight was gonna be knocked for a good while.

"Oh, don't worry. She'll be up in about 5 seconds. Water!" said the boy as one of the clones gave him a bucket.

The boy then casually stood over Twilight as he flipped her so that he was looking at her face. Then without hesitation, he dumped the water on the princess, who immediately woke up as her nervous system came alive from the cold substance.

"AHH!" yelled Twilight as she sat up.

"Nice to see you awake, princess," smiled Storm smugly.

"STORM!" yelled the girl as she was looking to strangle him for what he did.

"Alright, let me show you what you did wrong. Troopers run the same tactic," stated Storm.

"Yes, general!" answered Sark as they all got in position with Storm back inside the space.

The clones repeated the pattern of attack they did on Twilight as Storm blocked each one perfectly. Soon the two shots that were fired that stunned the princess happened as Storm spun and deflected them with his lightsaber as he came to a stop.

"Alright, you see what I did," said Storm to the girl. "See, you tried one and then tried to quickly block the next one. However, you couldn't react fast enough. So what you should have done is when those two blaster shots were fired, you should have spun so that when you come back on the rotation to face forward, your lightsaber would be defending you as you spun."

"I… see," said Twilight as she saw what her partner was saying.

"Alright, trial #2, men. Let's go!" said Storm as he got Twilight back in the center. "Begin!"

The princess held her lightsaber, this time close to her body, so that she could initiate the spin technique that Storm showed her. She blocked the shots in front of her before turning to block a shot from behind. She then spun as two shots were fired in a crisscross pattern, as she did a full rotation in place as her lightsaber blocked them upon rotating. She then blocked two more shots in front of her as she moved her arm to the right before another shot fired and hit her as she couldn't bring it back up in time. The girl slumped to the floor once again.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun," said Storm as he had another bucket of water ready to go. With his smug smile, the boy mercilessly dumped the cold water on the fair princess as she sat up and screamed.

Twilight was now rubbing her shoulders as her hair was damped and covered her eyes. She pulled it back to glare at her partner.

"You look cute with wet hair," said Storm as he boop the angry princess on the nose.

Twilight was about to pounce on the boy for the hell he was putting her through and for enjoying it.

"You did the spin, good. But you failed to bring your lightsaber back up to block. Let me show you what you did wrong this time. You three, run it back." said Storm as he pointed at the clones who made the attack.

They nodded as Storm stood before them and turned on his lightsaber. They initiated the pattern from before as the boy was blocking them just like Twilight did. He tilted his arm so that his lightsaber blocked the coordinated attack as the blaster shot that got Twilight was fired. Storm tilted his wrist, so his lightsaber blade reached just in time to block.

"See, you're moving your entire arm, when you should have just rotate your wrist. That way, you can bring your lightsaber up just enough so that the blade's tip deflects it. Come here." said Storm as Twilight approached her partner.

"Put your hands on my arm and feel it," said Storm.

Twilight did as her initial reaction was a blush from feeling his muscles. But it was the muscles themselves that Storm was trying to prove a point.

"You feel that?" asked Storm as Twilight nodded, "Now, your hand here."

"Wow, that's different," said the girl as she felt Storm's wrist.

"Remember, our wrist is the part of our body connected to our hand. So that's where we do most of our turning when wielding a lightsaber. You get more out of rotating your wrist than you do rotate your arm. You rotate your arm so that we can cover some of our blind spots, but in a situation like this, you just need to rotate your wrist to block consecutive shots."

"I see," said Twilight.

"Alright, trial #3!" announced the boy as he stepped to the side and allowed the clones to get into formation. Twilight sighed as she felt she was going to be in for a rough time.

And she was right; trial after trial, Twilight was put through the exercise as Storm just watched on. The girl felt like he was having too much fun watching her fail as he quickly woke her up to start again. However, with each trial that Twilight did this experiment, Storm could help by pointing out where exactly she went wrong and showing her how to respond. He even went so far as to let her be close to him and put his hands on her arms and hands to adjust them to get the proper stance and timing.

The latest trial had occurred as Storm had a bucket of cold water. He poured it over the girl who lay on the floor, upon contact, the girl opened her eyes and sat up. Being used to it by now, she no longer screamed but sat up with an expression.

"Aw, why the long face, princess?" smiled Storm slyly. "Did Sleeping Beauty want a kiss instead to wake her up?"

"No!" said Twilight, blushing at the mention of Storm kissing her. "It's just… why? Why are you making me do this?"

"It's to help you, of course," said Storm as he told the clones to take five as he sat down in front of the princess.

"How?"

"I'm just helping you the way Luna taught me."

"Master Luna makes you do this?" asked Twilight as she couldn't believe that Storm had to do this exercise as per Luna's training regiment.

"Every day. I do it blindfolded, though," said Storm, adding that fact to impress the girl which worked. "But… the reason she has me do this is because of what happened in the arena. Let me explain."

(Flashback)

Storm was surrounded by clones all over him as he struggled to keep up. He blocked some more stun shots before he was hit in the back. He was hit by two more from the front as the Jedi dropped his lightsaber and fell to the floor. He lay there motionless as he didn't move for a few moments. The soles of someone were shown as they tapped against his hand. The boy started to stir as his body was used to the stun shots that he was waking up much faster. Storm looked up as he saw Luna standing before him.

"Get up," said Luna, who towered her student with her hands behind her back.

"I can't," responded Storm.

"Get up!" shouted Luna with a bit more volume.

Storm tried to get back to his feet as she struggled to lift his upper body.

"GET UP!" yelled Luna.

"It's too hard!" responded Storm to his master as he managed to get to his knees.

"No! It is not too hard!" shouted the Jedi Master as she flipped the table next to her.

The objects on it scattered as they made a loud noise.

"Do not give me a bullshit excuse as to why you can't do this!" demanded Luna while pointing at her apprentice.

"But I can't, Master! It's impossible!"

"Yes, you can! You only think that it's impossible, and that is why you are failing! What have I told you constantly, to clear your mind of all thoughts!" stated Luna.

"Why do I have to do this?!" asked Storm as he got to a knee.

"Because it will determine whether you live or die!" said Luna as Storm looked at his teacher. "Storm, I'll be honest with you, had I taken you to that arena, you would have died. And I'm not saying this to scare you or doubt your abilities, Jedi Knight. I'm telling the truth. You would have died had you been there!"

Storm gasped upon hearing that. To hear from the mouth of his own master that had he gone with her, he would not be standing here. Luna sighed as she fell to a knee and looked at her student while placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I know it's hard, and it looks like I'm asking a lot from you. I'm asking you to do the impossible, but know that I wouldn't do this if I didn't think you could do it. Storm, what I'm trying to do is prepare you. To prepare you for when you find yourself in a similar situation where you need to survive. And surviving means you do whatever it takes."

Luna lifted her hand to caress his cheek.

"I'm not preparing you to simply defend yourself. I'm preparing you for life and death. To teach you how to survive on and off the battlefield, my student. Storm, as your master, you are my responsibility. But as your mother… it's my duty to make sure that my son lives. That when the time comes where I can no longer protect you myself that I know you'll be okay. And the best way that I can do that is to teach you how to protect yourself."

"Luna."

The Jedi Master pulled her student in as she, hugged him, and let lose some tears. Storm closed his eyes as he felt the warmth of his master and mother.

"I love you, my son. And I know you will go on to great things. You just need to keep at it and never give up. I love you!"

"I love you too, Luna," replied Storm.

The pair pulled as they looked at each other.

"Are you ready to try again?" asked Luna as she presented Storm with his lightsaber.

"Let's do it!" stated Storm with newfound confidence as he grabbed his weapon.

Luna smiled and rubbed his hair before standing up. She walked back to her position as she was wiping the last bit of water from her eyes.

"Begin," said the Jedi Master to the clones as they took their positions.

Storm ignited his lightsaber as he took a stance and had a determined look.

(End of Flashback)

"So you see, Sparky. Just as Luna taught me, I'm doing the same with you. Teaching you so that you're prepared when a life and death situation arises." stated Storm as Twilight was moved by the boy's story.

The girl was now thinking about it as a hand came into her view.

"We're partners, but we're also friends. And as your friend, I'm looking out for you." stated Storm. "Besides, what kind of personal guard would I be if I didn't teach my princess to at least handle herself."

Twilight blushed when she heard Storm call her "his princess." The girl saw the boy on his knee next to her as he offered his hand.

"Well, care to try again, princess?" asked Storm with the most caring and genuine smile.

"Let's," responded Twilight.

The girl put her hand in the boy's as he closed it and squeezed it. The skin-on-skin contact sent both of them tingling as they stood up. Standing so close as both had massive red blushes while looking at each other. Soon their fingers interlocked as they stared at one another. Twilight brought her other hand up and stroked Storm's cheek as he did the same. The girl leaned into the boy's touch as it calmed her.

"Boys, let's run it back!" shouted Storm as he broke free and walked to the side.

The clones all got into position as Twilight turned on her lightsaber. The signal was given as the trial began. Time and time again, Twilight failed and failed. However, she was improving, as evidenced by Storm's smile. The latest trial run had Storm about to pour water on her when Twilight woke up herself. She put her hand to her head as the pounding was soon over.

"I think we should call it for the day," said the boy.

"No! I got one more in me!" said Twilight.

"Alright then," smiled Storm. "One final run, men!"

The clones heard the command as they took their positions. Twilight took a deep breath before turning on her lightsaber and taking a stance. The signal given, the trial began. Nothing happened as both sides were waiting to see who would make the first move. Twilight kept calm and collected as she focused. Soon a shot was fired; she turned to block it and immediately blocked the one coming at her from the side. Another from behind as she blocked and then blocked another from her left as she used the momentum to spin and block the one from her right.

The trial continued to run as Twilight was performing the best she had been. Take all the advice that Storm said from each run and applied them. The boy smiled at what he saw before turning to Sake and nodding.

"Move in!" shouted the clone commander to the men as they began the next part of the trial.

The clones took some steps forward as they were closing in on the distance between them and Twilight. With the newly added factor, Twilight knew what to do. She then began to jump and leap about the space while defending. Whenever the girl couldn't find a way to deflect, she would either leap or dodge roll while blocking another blast aimed at her. Twilight did several backflips in place as she blocked the blaster shots before jumping into the air. Some of them trialed behind her as others were aimed directly at her.

The princess, while airborne, spun with her lightsaber to deflect them as she landed and with her weapon as she made a mark in the floor around her. She then continued the pressure as the clones got closer and closer; off to the side Storm was smiling at seeing the girl move. He then gave another nod to Sark; the clone commander quickly pulled out his side blasters and fired them at Twilight, who sensed the blasts as they came into her field of vision rather quickly.

The hum of a lightsaber was heard as it moved about quickly. Twilight was blocking the blaster shots from the training droids as she wasn't worried. The force field around her was put up as she remained calm and continued to defend as she began to use some of her acrobatic moves. Watching the girl's evaluation, the same group of Jedi Masters from before as, were seeing if the girl could do better. And she was not disappointing, Twilight moving much more fluidly and using her senses rather than her mind to execute her moves. She then leaped backward into a cartwheel as she passed by two droids. Twilight stood up as the droids she cartwheeled in between were split in half and fell to the ground.

The force field shut off as the girl stood up and removed her blindfold. The Jedi Masters stood up as Master Sinube smiled at the girl for her performance. The princess returned the gesture as Celestia made her way to her student and bowed to one another. She stood next to her as they bowed before the other Jedi Masters.

"You've done well, Celestia. Ms. Sparkle's training is improving. You must be proud." said Windu.

"Thank you," said Celestia as she bowed to her fellow Jedi Master brethren.

The entire audience was dismissed as they began to file out. Celestia saw, that in the corner of the room, was Storm leaning with his arms crossed. The boy had been watching his partner take her test and he was proud to see she passed and got praise from the council. Celestia winked at the teen as she knew that Twilight's passing wasn't because of her but of him. She was grateful that her idea of pairing to learn from the other was going better than expected.

Storm and Twilight looked at each other as their eyes told the story. The girl was thankful for what Storm did for her that she recalled what he said back on Equis during Hearth's Warming.

"Just name anything, and I'll do it."

"Maybe… there is something I would like from you, Storm," muttered Twilight to herself.

Author's Note: And we're back to start the new year off with a banger. A couple of things to address, one we're back into action with the war and it seems whatever fate Zecora couldn't read before had become a bit clearer. Though is it a good one? The second has to do with what this references, now I'll be honest, I had this idea way before Tales of the Jedi did it, to put it into persepective, I thought of this idea since I first thought about doing this story, that's how long I had it in the works. I was just waiting for the right time to execute, however, since it was still techinically my idea first, I thought of putting it in to allow Storm to help Twilight in improving herself skills to pass the test. Plus, it allowed an opportunity to see how Luna cares for her student/son by putting him through intense training, just so that he can learn the importance of survival. As always leave a review expressing your thoughts and comments.