Chapter 1: Findings in a Forest
“Spike, where are you?” Twilight Sparkle’s voice rang out through her library. A few books and scrolls floated around the purple mare before she levitated them into the saddlebag in front of her. Closing her saddlebag, Twilight turned to the silent library. “Spiiiiiiike!” she called out once again.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Spike called back before he walked down the stairs.
“Ah, there you are!” Twilight said as she levitated her saddlebag on her back. “Come on Spike, we need to leave.”
Spike yawned and rubbed his tired eyes. “But Twilight, it’s past midnight. Can’t we just put this off till morning?”
Twilight glared at him as if chastising a filly. “Spike, did you even hear what Princess Celestia said?” Using her magic, Twilight took from her saddlebag a scroll, the same scroll that forced Spike from his comfortable bed minutes ago. It had the royal Canterlot seal, meaning it directly came from Princess Celestia herself.
Twilight unrolled the letter and began reading:
“My dearest Twilight,
I’m sorry for sending this message to you so late, but I’m in of need your assistance. Some minutes ago, my sister and I noticed there was something strange. From what I know, the source of this comes from the Everfree Forest, not too far from you. I wish for you and the other Elements of Harmony to search for this.
Now, I must warn you to use extra caution, Twilight. This disturbance felt unlike anything in Equestria. Neither Luna nor I know what it is. Please be safe.
Signed,
Princess Celestia.”
By the time she finished, Twilight saw Spike dozing off on a nearby pile of books. “Spike!”
“Huh, what?!” Spike snapped up his tired head. “Oh yeah. Thing in Everfree, need to go there and find it…” The little dragon murmured the last word before he yawned again.
Rolling her eyes, Twilight turned around for the door. “Come on Spike. We need to get the others.”
Spike got off of his pillow of books and asked, “But what if somepony else is up?”
“I don’t think so Spike. It’s late at night, so I don’t think anypony…” Twilight opened the door and her ears drooped, “… would be up.”
Staring outside, Twilight found all of Ponyville to be up and about. The light of every single household was on and everypony stood was in the middle of the streets. Some of them were already out, while most had disheveled looks that meant they recently gotten out of bed. Twilight could hear chatter from the tired ponies as they wondered about the source of their sudden awakening.
Spike popped his head beside her. “Looks like the entire town’s up,” he commented.
“But why?” Twilight asked as she trotted out with Spike in tow.
“Twilight!” they heard a familiar voice.
The pair turned and saw more ponies rushing through the crowded streets. Those ponies were the other Elements of Harmony: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. The two pegasi flew, while the others trotted. “Girls!” the purple mare said as the five ponies approached her. “What’s going on? Why’s the entire town up?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Rarity asked. “There was an explosion!”
“An explosion?” Twilight repeated.
“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie zipped in front of the purple mare, “we were all sleeping, but there was a loud ‘BOOM!’ and now, everyone’s up and really, really worried!”
After Pinkie’s rapid-fire talking ended, Twilight spoke up, “How come I didn’t hear it, then? I’ve been inside my library and I haven’t heard a thing.”
“Didn’t you put up that sound-proof shield so you could sleep better?” Spike spoke up.
Twilight glanced at her home and noticed the small magical aura surrounding it. “Oh… right,” she gave a nervous chuckle to her friends and mentally kicked herself.
Rainbow Dash landed beside “So why are you up, then?” Rainbow Dash asked as she noticed Twilight’s saddlebag. “And what’s with the bags?”
Twilight cleared her throat a bit. “I received a letter from Princess Celestia. She said that she and Princess Luna noticed a disturbance in the Everfree Forest, and she wanted me to investigate.” She paused before adding, “Maybe this explosion has something to do with it.”
The news made the others even more curious as Applejack stepped forward. “Did she say how we can find it, Twi’?”
“No,” Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof. “We need something to trace it with. Maybe some kind of magical signature or…”
“Something like that?” Twilight’s assistant cut her off.
The six ponies looked at Spike with a raised claw, pointing past them. Turning their heads, they saw the Everfree Forest past the many houses of Ponyville and all of them were surprised to see… “Smoke?” Rarity gasped at the large black trail rising from the Everfree Forest treetops.
It was unnatural for there to be smoke in the first place since nopony lived there, besides Zecora. Also, it was larger than a smoke trail from a mere campfire. Some of the Ponyville ponies noticed it as well, and wondered as to what it was. The six ponies and Spike had an idea as to what it was.
Pinkie jumped. “Looks like somepony’s throwing a party!” That was not it.
Ignoring Pinkie, Twilight faced her friends. “We need to find that smoke! It could be the disturbance the princess warned us about!”
“Then what are waiting for?!” Rainbow shouted as she flew up into the air. “Let’s go!”
“Wait, we need to stick together!” Twilight shouted, but Rainbow was already gone. She sighed and turned to the others. “Come on, girls!”
And they were off like a shot, with a frightful Fluttershy in tow as she repeated “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness!”
In the Everfree forest, smoke emerged from the mess that was the mysterious starfighter. The exterior was still hot from reentry and the nose of the starfighter was buried in the ground with a long dirt trail behind it, a mark left from its “landing.”
Treading away from the craft in slow and heavy steps was its biped pilot. His body was wounded with multiple scratches and his uniform was dirtied. One hand was on his side, while the other held onto an object that gave a glowing red hue.
“Ow,” the pilot winced from his wounds, yet continued walking.
Things were not going as the pilot expected. First, he ended up in the middle of nowhere, then crashed, and now he was stuck on a planet that probably little to no sign of civilization. To add to that, he was hurting all over, with a bleeding side and a bruised leg.
“What I would do for a bacta tank right now?” the pilot chuckled to himself, but a cough cut him short.
The simple cough turned into a hack and a jolt of pain shot through the pilot’s entire body. His hand released his grip on the object and covered his mouth. It did little, though, as blood flew from his mouth to his palm. The pilot collapsed on his knees and bent over, hacking out more blood. The coughing stopped a moment later, but the pilot’s body was so weak he collapsed on the ground.
As he laid there, a small wheeze escaped his lungs. There was no point in sugarcoating it. The pilot knew he would die on this world, far away from the academy, far away from home.
Despite the hopelessness of his situation, the pilot felt calm, at peace, and he knew why. The artifact was safe, far away from the reach of any creature to use. That was made the pilot smile.
Closing his eyes, the pilot relaxed his body as his final breath left him. His flesh, instead of being left for the worms, began to fade away. A moment later, and the pilot was completely gone, leaving his clothes to collapse on the grass.
Not too far away, a small object lied on the green grass. Its glow was casted on its surrounding, and covering the greens and browns in blood red.
Both Twilight and Rarity’s horns glowed, lightning the way as they and their friends trotted down the Everfree Forest. They were rushing, desperately trying to catch up with Rainbow Dash, who was flying far ahead of them. “Rainbow, wait up!” Twilight called out, but it went unnoticed as the speedster took the lead and flapped her wings.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash came to a screeching halt and her eyes widen at what she saw. “Woah,” she uttered. Rainbow called over her shoulder, “Hey, I found something!”
Soon, Rainbow saw her friends coming towards her, one by one. First came Twilight and Spike with Rarity, the two unicorns depowering their horns. Then Applejack came with a bouncing Pinkie, and finally, Fluttershy, who was frightfully glancing around her. As they lined up, they all saw what Rainbow found.
“Oh, no!” Rarity’s eyes widen in horror. “It’s… it’s…”
Lying on the grass were clothes, a white and red tunic to be more precise. Though the forest was dark, there were evidence of small rips stretching from sleeves down to the matching pants and boots. It looked like a manticore mauled it and the large rip on the side only supported that.
“It’s a disaster!” Rarity cried out as she rushed to the “victim.” “Who would dare ruin such clothing?!”
“Uh… yeah, who would?” Applejack said before turning to Twilight. “Just what do you think happened here?”
Twilight answered. “I don’t know. This just seems… well, odd.”
“Whoever did this must have been crazy!” Rainbow exclaimed as she hovered over the ruined clothes. “I mean, who leaves their clothes lying around?”
Rarity, still a little distressed, glanced at her. “Perhaps, somepony who didn’t wanted to wear it after being so… damaged.”
She glanced back down. “I mean, it’s torn in so many places. It would take days to fix this!”
As Rarity lamented, the rest gathered around the ruined clothes. “Still,” Applejack spoke from across Rarity, “what fella wears this kind of clothes? I mean, don’t they look strange to y’all?”
Fluttershy, who hovered with Dash, added. “They don’t look like a pony’s.”
“Of course not, Fluttershy,” Rarity cut in. “I’ve had many customers and these clothes certainly do not belong to a pony.” She laid a hoof on a sleeve. “And this fabric isn’t like anything I’ve seen.”
Next to Rarity, Twilight took her turn. “Also, Rainbow brought a point. Why would anypony just leave their clothes? It looks like whoever was here just… vanished.”
“Like there’s no trace left,” Spike finished from Twilight’s other side.
“But what about this?” Pinkie asked, directing all eyes on her.
Pinkie was on the other side with Applejack, and her hoof was pointing to the other sleeve. It seemed to be bulging out, like some limb was inside of it. The others were not too sure as it was still a little dark to make it out. Then, Pinkie’s hoof tapped the sleeve twice.
CLANG! CLANG!
Everypony else almost backed away and stared at the clothes. “What the hay…” Applejack said, voicing everypony’s thoughts.
“Just what is that?” came from a surprised Rainbow.
Before more could be said, Twilight quickly lit her horn again, and everypony saw the bulge was really a limb. From the shape of the sleeve, it was less like a pony’s foreleg, and more like an arm. The small rips revealed glinting light to the seven pairs of eyes, making them even more curious.
“What do you reckon that is?” Applejack was the first to ask, adjusting her Stetson while doing so.
“I don’t know.” Twilight eyed the limb as her light went down the arm and fell on a strange claw. “It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before.”
Spike looked at her. “It looks like a limb. Maybe a minotaur’s?”
“But minotaurs have four fingers, not five,” Twilight noted, pointing a hoof to the claw’s five digits. Seeing the claw shine in the light, she added, “And it’s made of some kind of metal.”
“There’s also this thingy,” Pinkie intruded once again.
They found her hoof not on the arm, but to a metallic cylinder with one end hooked to the belt. It was strange, much like the metal arm, ten inches long and made of several segments. “Any ideas, Twilight?” Rainbow asked the brains of the group.
“I don’t know. Some kind of tool, I g-Pinkie, be careful with that!” Twilight exclaimed when Pinkie unhooked the cylinder from the belt.
As the pink pony held the cylinder in her hooves, she noticed a stud on it. “I wonder what this button does,” Pinkie wondered aloud.
Applejack extended a cautious hoof. “Pinkie, I don’t think…” But Pinkie’s hoof already fell on stud.
SNAP-HISS!
A great beam of yellow energy shot up, and it was so sudden that Pinkie dropped the cylinder in surprise. The yellow beam, now a blade, swung down as the cylinder fell with it. “Watch out!” Twilight shouted, and everypony backed away.
“Woah!” Rainbow nearly yelled as she and Fluttershy narrowly dodged the blade.
Rarity, Twilight, and Spike leapt away, and the blade struck the ground they stood on. The green grass that the blade touched burned black as they were incinerated. Then, the yellow blade retracted into the cylinder with a hiss and the hazard was over.
Pinkie found a few glares on her and sheepishly smiled. “Oops.”
“Just what the hay was that thing?!” Rainbow demanded.
Twilight grabbed the unlit cylinder with her magic and lifted it to her face. “Whatever it is, we need to keep it safe.” She glanced at the ruined garments. “Same with these.”
“I shall deal with this,” Rarity offered, her magic already wrapping the garment around the metal limb.
“Alright.” Twilight looked at the others. “We should look around. Maybe there’s something more around.”
The others nodded and split up, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash going one way, and Pinkie Pie and Applejack in another. Seeing Rarity remain behind, Twilight put the cylinder in her saddlebag and went in her own direction. “What do you think we’ll find?” asked Spike as he followed.
“I don’t know. Maybe something to do…” Twilight’s voice trailed off as her eyes caught something.
“Twilight, what is it?” Spike’s question was ignored as Twilight ran forwards.
What caught the mare’s attention was a red glow not too far away. Twilight and Spike approached the light and saw its source came from a small object. It was shaped like a four-sided pyramid that was covered in some kind of glass.
Twilight lifted the curious thing with her magic. Beneath the glass, she could see a crystal, the source of the red light, placed in the center. Etched on each face were strange symbols, but they did not look like runes or pictographs. Not the ones she read about, anyway.
“Man, this just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Twilight heard Spike. Twilight said nothing as she put the object in her saddlebag and closed it.
“Hey!” the two heard Rainbow Dash. “You should see this come and see this!”
Following Dash’s voice, Spike and Twilight found her and Fluttershy on the ground. For some reason, the two pegasi’s hooves covered their noses. Twilight and her assistant found why when they started coughing from the stench of smoke. “What…” Twilight coughed, “What is that?”
“That,” Fluttershy said, pointing a hoof forward.
Twilight and Spike looked, and their eyes widen. “Woah,” said the latter.
Surrounded by broken tree branches was some kind of craft. Its body was long, over twelve meters, and a red stripe ran across it. Its front was buried in the dirt, and in the center, a window was popped open to reveal a compartment. A black trail of smoke emerged from the back end, where four wings stuck out and formed an “X.”
“Well,” Twilight coughed a bit, “we found what’s causing that smoke.”
“What did you fin-holy horseapples!” the four heard Applejack as the orange pony joined them. “What is that?”
“I believe that is a vehicle of some kind,” Rarity stated matter-of-factly as she trotted beside Applejack. The garment they found were on her back, and she kept a hoof over her snout. “I wonder what is it?”
Pinkie showed up, completing the entire group. “Maybe it’s aliens!” She beamed at the idea. “Do you think I should to throw it a welcome party?!”
Twilight wondered about that. Aliens? There were facts about other worlds, but anything about aliens were mainly conspiracies or fiction. Then again, there was no other explanation to make sense of the strange craft.
All seven eyes looked up at the sound of flapping wings and saw two ponies descending. Twilight recognized their bat-like wings and the lavender-colored armor. “It’s Princess Luna’s guards!” she announced.
The two guards landed in front of the ponies and Spike. One stared at them with their cat-like eyes and spoke in a deep voice, “Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. We were sent by their highnesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, to find a disturbance in the ‘Everfree Forest.’” He turned to the craft. “It seems you have already found it.”
The other guard spoke, his voice a little lighter than his comrade. “More guards will arrive to secure this … thing. We will stay to make sure that nopony will come.”
“But wait,” Applejack interrupted, “what about us?”
“We can handle it from here. There is no need for you to be here,” the first guard answered. “You may return to Ponyville.”
“If you’re sure,” Twilight said. “Come on, girls.”
The ponies and Spike glanced at each other with uncertainty. Still, they followed the purple unicorn away from the craft, leaving the two guards to their duty. “Finally!” Rainbow exclaimed once they were out of earshot. “I couldn’t stand being near that thing without breathing!”
“I’ll say,” Applejack agreed. “This is a lot better than over there.”
“I agree. That smoke was very disgusting,” Rarity said before shivering. “I hope to never experience that again.”
While the others conversed, Twilight was silent. She could only think of what she found. First, the clothes, then the strange sword, and then that craft. There were so many bizarre things, and all just from answering a letter.
Twilight made a mental note to write a letter to Princess Celestia. After that, there was still a lot more work to be done. It definitely was going to be a long night.
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Yellow Lightsabers strictly belong to the Jedi Sentinels, who are normally not found inside of Jedi Temples and instead traverse the galaxy on priority covert missions to root out the Dark Side and investigations, these Jedi are rarely known openly by other castes of the Order because of their secrecy. The Sentinels serve as liaisons between the Jedi Order and the Republic, along with investigating worlds for Force-Wielders that could become members of the Jedi Order when the time is right. Judging by the obcurity of this mission, he was in the process of delivering a holocron, and it's a Sith Holocron (Based on the fact that Jedi Holocrons are normally cubical while Sith Holocrons are Pyramid-shaped). Though I wonder why this Sentinel only had ONE Lightsaber on-hand, Jedi Sentinels normally operate with Two Lightsabers while on missions in the field, though you could argue that his second lightsaber was destroyed on his mission and that he fled into hyperspace before he could requisition another from the Academy due to him becoming One With The Living Force.
...
4072402 Just wait and see.
-W.S.
... GYAAAAARRRRGHHHH!!
It's been a month already! When's Chapter 2 coming out?!?