Smart Cookie could not sleep. It was hard to, after all that happened. Traveling the edge of the Everfree Forest was the quickest and safest route to their destination, supposedly anyway. That seemed to change when the two shadowy figures appeared in the sky, looming over like some predator. Rubbing tired blue eyes, Smart Cookie tried to lie back down on her make-shift bed.
It was short-lived, as the Earth Pony sat up, hearing shouts from outside. One hoof threw off the covers off her cream-colored fur and the other reached around before grabbing her familiar hat, and she left her tent.
The flap fell behind, and Smart Cookie a group of guards moved about and circled around something. Finding her voice, Smart Cookie said, “What is going on here?”
One of the two guards at her tent, an Earth Pony, said, “The last of our scouts has just returned, councilor. He says he has found something. "
It took a moment for the words to reach Smart Cookie’s addled brain, and she could only wonder. Then, a voice, posh with the tone of authority, cut through her addled brain. “Oh, put it on right!”
Smart Cookie saw Platinum, named after her coat’s color, coming out of the only other tent in the camp. Her servant moved with her, finding it hard to fix the Unicorn’s cape and crown as Platinum moved and demanded, “Smart Cookie, what is going on here?!”
“Our scout just came back. He might’ve found something,” she replied, rubbing her tired eyes.
“A flyer out here? We must question him and–do be careful!” Platinum said, cutting herself short to chastise the servant fastening the purple cape.
Sarcasm clear on her face, Smart Cookie turned from the poor Unicorn to her fellow Councilor of Equestria. "Maybe you should sit this out. After all, you seem to be busy."
Just as the servant adjusted the crown, Platinum let out a huff. “I am more than capable to handle such an endeavor, Smart Cookie. And I must look the part while doing so, shan’t I?” she said, brushing her mane’s purple curls off her shoulder with a hoof.
Snorted, Smart Cookie followed Platinum. The crowd made way, and the two councilors saw a Pegasus with grey armor in the center. His blue muzzle sputtered as he bowed, “C-Councilor!”
Platinum composed herself and greeted the messenger, "Greetings flyer. We have heard you have discovered something of great interest."
“Y-yes, I’m Private Lightning Dash, ma’am.” Raising his head, the Pegasus hesitated. "As for what I found… well, um..."
"Well, speak up! We've woke up at this hour. What have you found?"
Smart Cookie curiously studied the stallion, whose eyes darted back and forth. Such a reaction was not normal, and Smart Cookie knew a stallion of the Equestrian Guard was not easily frightened. So, what was scared this one so much?
"Councilors, there's something coming out of the forest! It’s–AH!"
As Smart Cookie and Platinum turned, they ducked their heads. The pony who shouted was suddenly flung from group, straight over everypony and crashed on the other side of the camp. All eyes whirled to the source, its form hidden in the bordering trees and bushes of the Everfree Forest, and all were shocked to see what came out of its shadows.
It strode into the open on its two legs, bringing forth a figure that was akin to a mare’s. The form-fitting ebon armor covered its almost petite body from top to bottom, save for a furless fair face and a fiery red mane that flourished as the dark cape.
Four guards closest to the strange female approached with raised shields and pointed spears. “Stay back!” one of them warned.
Turning, the creature raised one of it strange paws and gestured to the guard. Something grabbed the pony and yanked him off to the side. The others stood gaping, enough for the stranger to wave its other forelimb, and the one hit the other three, knocking all three guards aside.
Smart Cookie gawked at what she witnessed. Was that magic? There was no colorful aura, no horn, or anything to suggest it was. The creature just motioned with its ‘paws,’ and the guards were tossed around like rag dolls!
Clearly, Smart cookie was not the only one, but out of the silent envoy, only Platinum’s voiced her thoughts. “What is the meaning of this?!” Her glare focused on the new Pegasus, who cowered on the ground. “Explain yourself, flyer!”
Hooves on his head, the pony cried out, “I’m sorry, councilor! I was on my way when I bumped into them! They forced me to take them to you! I had no choice!”
Them? Smart Cookie would have questioned the private, if Platinum had not shouted, “Guards, surround it!”
The guards snapped out of their daze and followed their councilor’s orders. They surrounded the female in a ring, but Smart Cookie warned, “Platinum, be careful. We don’t know how powerful this creature is!”
“Don’t fret, Smart Cookie. I shall deal with this nuisance! If this creature is looking for a fight, then I shall be happy to oblige!” Platinum declared, lighting her horn and face with determination.
Yet the words did not unease Smart Cookie’s worries as she looked to the strange female. Though the ponies kept their formation, she kept her stance and studied the group before her. Then, Smart Cookie saw her raise a paw, except there was no invisible force yanking at the guards.
Red flashes surged from the shadows of the Everfree Forest and struck at the guards’ hooves. Dirt exploded, and the ponies forming their ring coughed it up. For those fortunately far away, they watched the smoke clear away to reveal more two-legged figures coming out of the forest.
They all wore similar ebon armor, completed with helmets and faceplates shaped like skeletons of some kind of creature. With long rod-like objects in their grasps, they marched closer, and the ponies break their ring formation and backed away. The armored monsters came to a stop, right behind the still two-legged, red-maned female.
The air fell eerily silent, and the light around Platinum’s horn faded away. "Well…" she cleared her throat and gave a sheepish smile, "…perhaps we should do things more diplomatically."
The female did not answer Platinum’s defeated look. Her two legs walked a couple of peace towards the councilors. Pointing a digit of her paw at them, the female moved thin lips, and a voice, strong as it was demeaning, commanded, “Come.”
The two targets gave each other hesitant glances. Then, they trotted up to the presumable leader of the two-legs slowly, catching the uncertain eyes of their guards.
Smart Cookie creaked up her neck, and meeting the other party’s stare, she shivered. Dark pupils rested in the center of yellow and red irises that screamed of a hellish existence. They were so unnatural that Smart Cookie almost did not notice the female’s mouth move again. “Name?” she said.
“I…” Smart Cookie began, but stopped. For some reason, she felt compounded to tell her. She tried to resist the urge but failed. “I’m Smart Cookie, and this here is Platinum. We are members of the council of Equestria.”
To Smart Cookie’s displeasure, the female stared down for another moment. At last, she gestured one of her strange limbs. “We must talk,” she said.
The two councilors share another glance. Both of them knew there was no point in arguing, so Smart Cookie gestured a hoof. “This way,” she offered, and she and Platinum led their new ‘guest’ to the camp.
Rendar flexed his finger, careful to not pull the trigger, as he pointed his blaster rifle. The strange equines, all in primitive armor and ranging from those with horns, wings, or neither, stood before sergeant and his men, eying them with suspicion as he did with them. For how long, he was no sure. It had felt like hours since then, but maybe it was his anxiety getting to him.
Every now and again, Rendar would glance over to General Jade and the only two equines who stood out from the rest. The three of them sat together, talking, he supposed. What about, he had no idea.
When he glanced over one more time, Rendar saw Jade finally approaching towards him. The ponies quickly backed away, some with fear in their eyes, while Eliza’s eyes were dead set on the sergeant. “Call the shuttle,” she immediately ordered.
“General?” said a surprised Rendar.
“Our friends here have been snooping around,” Eliza explained, “Turns out, they’ve noticed another ‘metal’ beast flying around and landing somewhere in this forest.”
Rendar caught on quickly. “The Republic?”
Eliza nodded, and Rendar’s hand grabbed the bulky commlink on his belt. “Pilot,” he ordered, “bring the shuttle around.”
When Rendar returned his commlink to his belt, Jade added, “Once more thing. We’ll be having these two coming with us.”
At that, Rendar looked past his general’s shoulder. The two ponies, whom Eliza talked to, trailed behind her, their widen eyes gazing at Rendar’s skull-shaped faceplate. Already, the sergeant had a good idea what was going on. “Hostages, general?”
“For a lack of a better term, yes,” Eliza admitted,
A feeling sunk to his stomach, and though he wore a helmet, Rendar tried to keep a still face to hide any doubts. If the general noticed, she did not bother with them. “See if you can spare a helmet for them,” Eliza said, “we can’t have them unwell from motion sickness.”
“But what if they don’t agree?” Rendar wondered aloud.
A loud groan echoed and the wind picked all around him. The sergeant glanced up, as did his men, to see the dull grey form of the Sith shuttle hover over the tree tops, the thrusters roaring under the inverted wings. The shuttle descended, followed by the lowering ramp, and Rendar turned back around to the jaw-dropping expressions of the ponies.
Ah, he realized and chastised himself for it. These were a primitive race, which had no experience with anything like the Sith. Of course, they would be in awe of such advanced technology and perhaps, if told to, follow the orders of those who possessed it.
Wordlessly, Rendar followed General Jade up the ramp. Soon, he heard the hooves of two new passengers cautiously follow them up the ramp.
“How much longer are you going to sit there?”
The white alicorn did not answer the question. She sat on the balcony, eyes closed as they had been for the past ten or so minutes. Her soft breaths dissipated into the cool breeze that ruffled her long mane slightly. The physical world around her seemed so distant, as she looked past her ponies, past the homes that lied below, and even past the furthest of her kindgom’s borders. She could feel them, even now, but it was just a glimpse, just barely touching the surface of whatever they were…
“Aura?”
Giving in, she opened her eyes and the physical world returned to her. Aura looked over her shoulder to her darker husband at the doorway. “I’m fine,” she told him.
The concerned look on the ebon-like muzzle did not change. “Aura, please come inside.”
“I said I’m fine, Lumen.”
“Aura,” her husband persisted, “staying outside like this won’t do you any good. You have to rest. At least eat something.”
“I can’t,” she admitted, staring up at the two unmovable figures in the sky. “How can I when we have that to worry about?”
The question was not spoken out of anger or frustration, but the fear in Aura’s tone was obvious. Lumen trotted up beside his wife and looked upon her. The hours after detecting that strange presence gave Aura the rest she needed, but it did not hide her worry.
Lumen looked to the sky and said assuredly, “It shouldn’t be anything to worry about. I bet this is just one of Starswirl’s experiments gone wrong.”
Aura shot a glance to him, her golden eyes sparked with worry. “Aren’t you afraid?”
To that, he chuckled, “Honestly, I’m terrified.”
“And yet, you’re laughing.” She could only sigh. “I sometimes why I married you.”
“Because you’re attracted to my eccentric charm,” was the reply, complete with a goofy grin.
Her spirits lifted, if only slightly, Aura smiled before closing her eyes once more. “I can still feel them,” she said. “There are two forces at work. One light and one dark. But they’re beyond my reach. I can’t pinpoint where they are.”
“The guards reported they didn’t see anything within our borders,” her husband said nonchalantly.
“No. It’s not here,” Aura told him. “I think they might be in Equestria.”
Now, Lumen’s face grew pensive, gears turning and plans formulating in his head. Aura recognized it, and immediately said, “No.”
Lumen turned to his wife, whose eyes were open and on him. “I didn’t say anything.”
“But you were thinking it,” she retorted Lumen’s oh-so innocent statement.
Lumen had to hold in his own sigh. “Aura, don’t worry. I won’t do anything rash.”
“You won’t do anything! Not without my help.”
“I’m afraid I have to this time. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, and somepony needs to look out for our kingdom in the meantime. Besides,” he gently rubbed a hoof on his wife’s large belly, “I don’t think the baby will like all the fuss.”
For a long moment, Aura glared at her husband. Then, her glare slowly softened, until she told him, “Come back when there’s trouble, alright?”
“Understood,” Lumen said with a playful salute.
Aura just smiled as she watched her husband phased down into the floor of the balcony, spiriting himself away. Alone, she stared out into the distance. Not at the shadowy forms above, but at the walls that surrounded her domain. There, the soft fuzz of first light came over the horizon, shining softly on the pearly mountains of Dream Valley and on Aura's worries.