Chapter 25
In the deep reaches of space, the giant transport ship was making its way to Canterlot.
Thousands of passengers, either travelling to Canterlot or one of the many other planets this ship was heading to, were enjoying themselves about the large ship. On board there were shops, selling a variety of things from the many worlds the ship had travelled to. Food, clothing, games. There were all sorts of things.
There were also entertainment options, such as an arcade, VR simulations and even a library.
It was in this library that we find Twilight Sparkle, the young Padawan going over the many different books that could be found within the aisles of the library. She didn't expect to find anything that could help the Jedi in their fight, since these books were meant to be entertainment for the people on board, but she wanted to be sure she didn't accidently overlook something.
After finally checking the last aisle, she sighed after finding nothing of interest.
Stepping out of the library, she used her gauntlet to open a channel to the others. "Still nothing we need to deal with here. How about you guys?"
"All's clear," Heather replied. "There was a little issue with two aliens that had had too much to drink, but nothing the ship's security couldn't handle."
"Clear here," Applejack rhymed. "Looks like we won't get ta see any action today." Twilight was glad for that. With all the insanity that had been going on the last few months, she was glad to have an easy mission for a change.
Twilight continued down the area of the ship that was designed like a giant mall, watching as many different types of aliens ran around the place having fun. But as she turned a corner, she suddenly found herself slamming into someone who was also running.
"Wow!" They both fell to the ground, Twilight being at the bottom of a two person heap on the floor. "Ow."
"I'm sorry," she heard the other person apologise. They quickly got up and Twilight saw it was an equestrian magi her age, with orange-yellow skin and hair that was a mix of red and yellow. "Here, let me help you up." Twilight nodded and took her head, being pulled up to her feet. "I'm really sorry."
"It's fine," Twilight replied. "No big deal. Maybe don't run so fast next time." The girl nodded, as Twilight looked around. "What had you running so fast anyway?"
"Oh, I heard a store here was serving one of my favourite drinks. Wanted to get there before it was sold out." She then spotted the weapon hanging from Twilight's belt. "Is that a Lightsaber?" Twilight smiled as she held up the device.
"Sure is."
"So you're a Jedi?"
"Only a Padawan. My name's Twilight. What's-" She didn't get to answer as in that moment, the ship was suddenly propelled to the side, causing almost everything and everyone to be thrown to the ground.
"GYAH!" The girl cried, hitting the ground with Twilight. "What was that?" An alarm suddenly went off, causing everyone to start panicking.
Twilight quickly contacted the others. "What's going on? Is it the Sith?"
"Not sure," Heather replied. "I'm on my way to the bridge to find out. Get ready. We might have a fight on our hands.' The call ended and Twilight took off her Lightsaber, ready to use it if needs be.
Meanwhile, her new friend frowned. 'Great. I make contact and before I can trick this girl into telling me something, the ship gets attacked. This better not be one of ours.'
"Follow me," Twilight told her. They ran off, the two girls heading the same place everyone ended when an alarm went off. The escape pods.
On the bridge, the captain of the ship was directing his crew. Suddenly, the ship violently rocked and several people were thrown about.
"Shields to maximum!" He roared, as the door opened and Heather ran inside. The captain noticed her and turned his chair in her direction. "We're under attack by pirates."
"Pirates?" Heather hadn't been expecting that.
A holographic screen appeared between them, showing footage from the ship's outside camera. And there, she saw a bunch of small but fast ships racing around their vessel. "They're a band of thieving psychos I've had the displeasure of dealing with before. They're dangerous."
"What do we do?" Heather asked, fearing someone would get hurt as they tried to deal with them.
"We can fight them off," the captain announced. "But just in case, we need to get all the passengers into the escape pods. That way, if the pirates board us, they won't be able to take any hostages." Heather nodded, as the ship rocked again. "Can you and your Jedi make sure the pods are safe?"
"You can count on us," Heather nodded. She headed out and ran for the escape pods, as she opened up her gauntlet. "Girls, it's not the Sith."
Twilight listened, the girl running beside her doing the same. "We're under attack by a band of pirates."
"Pirates?" Twilight hadn't been expecting that. "So what do we do?" Before Heather could answer, an explosion occurred right beside them. Everyone in the area screamed, as they were thrown to the side and smashed into a nearby wall.
Twilight hit the ground and let out a groan, as her years of training told her to assess her body for damage. As such, she focused on each part of her body and the pain it was giving off. As far as she could tell, she didn't have any broken bones.
She pushed herself up and looked around, seeing other people getting up and continuing to run for the escape pods. But then, she spotted the girl that she had run into before. "Are you okay?" She pushed herself to her feet and moved over to her, rolling her onto her back.
The girl wasn't moving and when Twilight checked, she sighed realising she was just unconscious. A cut could be seen on her forehead, causing blood to spill down her head.
"Not good." She did her best to lift the girl up and onto her back, carrying her towards the escape pods. But with the ship rocking about and the girl weighing probably more than her, Twilight wasn't having the best of times.
At the escape pods, Applejack had arrived with a worried look on her face.
She had heard the explosion over the radio and when Twilight refused to answer her, she realised something bad must have happened. "Everyone inside!" Applejack cried, as families started piling into the many escape capsules. Each capsule held about twenty, which means multiple families could fit inside one.
Applejack watched the pods fill up, the people inside waiting to either leave once the attack was over, or be shot into space to await pickup.
The ship rocked again and as Heather arrived, she saw Applejack and frowned. "Where's Twilight? She's not answering her communicator." Applejack gestured that she had no idea, making Heather grow even more worried.
But before they could think about going to find her, another explosion caught her attention. This one was close by and as soon as it settled down, an alarm rang. "Intruder alert. Intruder alert. We are being boarded!"
"Not good," Heather took out her Lightsaber and Applejack grabbed her axe.
"Escape pods, deploy. Escape pods, deploy." The ones that had already been filled began to fire, leaving the ship. Meanwhile, those still getting people in remained as targets.
And sure enough, a bunch of people started running towards the area with blasters in hand. But as they ran towards them, they were met with the two Jedi and found Lightsabers swinging around in their faces. One attempted to shoot Heather, but she easily sliced through the gun and pushed the pirate back.
A few more fires, but Applejack swung her axe around and deflected the lasers back to where they came from.
Heather then thrust her hand back, sending a bunch of the pirate flying backwards and knocking several others over. This gave the escape pods more time to fill up, several managing to launch as soon as the last person was strapped in. With each passing minute, more and more pods flew into space.
Applejack watched another shoot off and frowned. "Are they gonna be okay?" She turned to Heather, who cut through another gun before throwing the pirate into a wall. "What if they get attacked?"
"They should be fine," Heather replied. "The pods are equipped with scramblers to keep ships from targeting them." She ducked another laser and Forced the pirate into another. "They should lock onto the nearest M-class planet and fly to it, sending out an emergency beacon as they do."
"A'h hope ya'h right," Applejack gulped as she punched one of the pirates in the face. A loud snapping sound filled the air, as the guy fell to the ground. "Any idea where Twilight is yet?" Heather shook her head. She could only hope that Twilight managed to get somewhere safe and didn't run into any of these pirates.
Twilight continued to run through the ship, seriously weighed down by the girl she was carrying.
She knew she was close to the escape pods and prayed some were still there. But as she turned a corner, she was greeted to a terrifying sight of several figures in black leather clothing and gas mask-like face coverings, that left the top of their heads clear.
They were all carrying guns and when they saw her, they took aim and she barely managed to get behind a pillar in time.
But as the lasers flew towards her, she could feel the metal pillar giving way. She had to do something, so she carefully put the girl down against the pillar and leapt out from behind it.
Drawing her Lightsaber, she began to deflect the blasts coming her way and even sent a few flying back towards the pirates. She eventually reached them and started cutting through their blasters, several staggering back at this whilst the others took out some knives.
Seeing no other choice, Twilight stabbed her Lightsaber into them and they cried out in pain.
She cut the head off another and used The Force to throw the last ones back, making them crash into the walls and a few pillars. Twilight sighed in relief, seeing all the pirates either dead or unconscious. She didn't waste any time and rushed back to the pillar, happy to see the girl was still unharmed.
Hoisting her back up, she kept running as fast as she could.
Applejack and Heather watched, as one of the final escape pods was launched.
There were still a few pods left, but nobody was inside them. The pirates were all taken out as well, though they knew there would be more coming. As such, Heather tried to get through to Twilight. "Hello. Can you hear me?" But Twilight continued to be silent. "Alright. Let's go find her."
Applejack nodded as the pair prepared to leave the escape pods. But before they could, they heard movement and turned towards the source.
Both held up their weapons, waiting to see if it was friend or foe. And when the figure came around the corner, they sighed in relief. "Twilight!" Heather ran over to her, seeing the Padawan was carrying someone. "Are you okay? Why weren't you answering?"
Twilight looked down at her gauntlet and they all saw it was damaged, likely due to the impact she had had with the wall.
Applejack hoisted the unconscious girl off Twilight's back, as they headed for the escape pods. "Who is this?" Twilight shrugged.
"I don't know. We met right before this all happened. I wasn't able to get her name before we were blasted into a wall." Suddenly, the ship rocked and the alarm sounded again.
"The ship's been compromised!" The captain yelled. "All hands, abandon ship!"
Heather activated her gauntlet and connected to the bridge. "Captain. We can hold the pirates off until you get here, but we can't do it forever. You need to hurry."
"We're not coming to those escape pods. We've got our own up on the bridge. If everyone else is already gone, you need to get in a pod and go."
"Understood," Heather nodded. She cut the call and turned to the girls, both already heading into an escape pod. They got to work, strapping the unconscious girl into one of the seats before strapping themselves in. The ship occasionally rocking didn't help, but they were eventually ready to launch.
As Heather began the launch procedure, they heard laser fire approaching and realised they were about to get attacked again.
"No time to connect to the other pods." Heather hit the launch button and the doors locked shut, the pod exploding out of the ship by being shot through a long tunnel like a cannon ball. Eventually, they flew out the end and were flying into deep space.
The pirate ships noticed them and they suddenly started firing at them, the three all praying to The Force that the scrambler would protect them. There were a few close calls, but none of the lasers hit them. And eventually, they got far enough away that the pirate ship broke off pursuit and returned to the larger ship.
"That was too close," Twilight sighed.
"Well don't celebrate too soon," Heather told her. "We're still in trouble."
"What did you mean before?" Applejack asked, as the pod flew through space like a spiralling bullet. "When you said there wasn't enough time to connect to the other pods."
Heather sighed, as she started typing at the control panel next to her seat. "The pods are all connected wirelessly. Or they should be. But we needed the ship's computer to make the connection. The pods are all meant to head to the same place, once one finds an M-Class planet to fly to. But since we didn't have time to connect, it's likely we'll be heading somewhere completely different."
"So we'll be stuck on our own?" Twilight asked, Heather nodding as they heard a beeping sound.
"Looks like we found a planet to land on." She checked the coordinates and frowned. "Thirty four hours until we make planet fall." The Padawans didn't like the sound of that. "Don't worry. We'll be fine. If you're hungry, there should be some ration bars or something in one of the containers."
They girls weren't hungry, Twilight instead turning her attention to the injured girl that was still unconscious.
The cut on her head was worrying Twilight, who looked around before spotting what she wanted. "Applejack, can you hand me that first aid kit?" Applejack used The Force to bring the box over to her, then handed it to Twilight.
She quickly got to work, taking out a scanning device to determine what injuries she might have sustained in the explosion.
The light flowed over her body and determined she had a concussion and gash on her head. Strangely, Twilight noticed that she also had a bunch of old scars that had been a part of her body for a while. Several broken bones that had barely repaired themselves properly and some minor damage to her internals that looked rather recent. Whoever this girl was, she had clearly been through a lot.
Twilight followed the device's instructions, using a special spray to seal the wound on her head. She then wrapped some bandages around her head, above and below her horn, and used the spray on a few scratches she had also received.
"I'm no Jedi Healer, but this should be good enough until we can get some real medical attention." Heather and Applejack nodded, as Twilight finished treating the girl. After that, they had nothing else to do except sit around and wait for the pod to reach the planet.
Twilight chose to spend the time, trying to repair her gauntlet. There were a few tools in the pod, but the damage done to it was much greater than she had expected. She could probably get it working, but she wouldn't be able to connect to any Jedi systems. The best she could do was get the coms working.
Heather had been working on her gauntlet as well, trying to boost the signal so she could contact the Jedi. But there would be no way to do that without a powerful transmitter. And whilst the pod had one, she wouldn't be able to connect to it without direct access. And the transmitter was outside the pod.
Hour after hour passed and as it did, the Jedi were forced to do nothing except meditate. It was the only thing they could do to pass the time without going stir crazy. They started having some of the rations in the pod, but they weren't exactly thrillingly tasty. And since the pod didn't have a bathroom, they chose not to eat too much.
As the twenty-eighth hour passed, a moan filled the pod and the Jedi turned towards the girl that had been knocked unconscious.
Twilight removed her seat binds, the pod's zero gravity causing her to float out of the chair. She pulled herself in front of her and as the girl opened her eyes, Twilight was the first thing she saw. "Are you okay?" She asked, as the girl clutched her head.
"Hurts." Was all she could say, Twilight nodding as she took a pain relief device out of the medi-kit.
"This should help." She placed the device against her neck and a hiss filled the room, the girl pulling back from it as she looked back at Twilight. "You suffered a bit of a head injury. I'd say we'll get you to a doctor, but I don't know how long we're gonna be out here."
"Where...where am I?" She asked, before a worried look appeared on her face. "Forget that. Who am I?" This surprised the Jedi, as they realised she must have been more gravely injured than they had originally believed.
"You don't remember who you are?" Heather asked, the girl shaking her head.
"No, sorry. I have no idea." she flinched, as she held her head. "Ow."
Twilight frowned. "this should have dealt with the pain."
"It can only make the pain manageable," Heather stated. "Hopefully, the pain will die down in time. But this isn't good. Getting hit in the head must have caused damage to the memory section of her brain. This isn't good."
"Do you think she'll get her memories back with time?" Applejack asked.
"I'm not sure. I'm not a medical Jedi. I can make a few healing salves from plants, but I don't know enough about anatomy to say anything for certain. But...I think I remember First telling me something once. Minor head injuries can cause issues creating new memories or remembering recent things, whilst more serious head injuries can cause complete loss of all memory...sometimes permanently."
The girl looked worried. "So you're saying I might never remember who I am?"
"It's possible," Heather frowned. "I'm sorry." She could tell the girl was panicking, as she looked around the pod. "I know you're probably scared. Don't be. You're safe with us."
"What are we even doing here?" She asked. "Who are you people?"
"We're Jedi," Twilight explained. "Do you...know what a Jedi is?" She frowned, as she clutched her head some more.
"It...it sounds familiar. But I'm not sure."
"Well," Twilight kept going, "Jedi are guardians that protect those in need. The three of us were on a ship, acting as extra security. That's how you and I met. But before we could say anything to each other, the ship was attacked. You were blasted into a wall and got knocked out. After that, I carried you to the escape pods and everyone got away. But since we were the last to leave, we got separated from the rest of the pods."
"Ya'h family's probably on one of those pods," Applejack pointed out.
"Maybe." Heather hummed. "I don't remember anyone calling out that they were missing a member of their family. If your family was on a pod, wouldn't they stay until you showed up."
The girl frowned and looked out one of the pod's windows, out into the depths of space. "So we're in an escape pod?"
"Yes," Twilight pulled herself back into her seat. "We'll be making planet fall in a few hours. You should use this time to try and rest. You might be able to remember something if you let yourself sleep and recover." She took out one of the ration bars. "Here. You've been out for more than an entire day. You must be starving."
She nodded and took one of the ration bars, opening it up and looking it over.
When she took a bite, her face screwed up and she was struggling not to spit it out. "I don't know who I am, but I'm clearly someone who doesn't like these things." They laughed at this, as the girl forced the rest of the ration bar down her throat and moaned at the taste.
Once she had finished her less than delicious meal, she took their advice and let herself go to sleep. It came rather easy for her and once she was asleep, the Jedi looked at one another. "So what do we do?" Applejack asked. "If she doesn't remember who she is, she'll have nowhere to call home."
"I'm sure we can find out who she is once we've been picked up," Heather explained. "The ship must have had a passenger manifest. She'll be on there."
"You think she has a family?" Twilight asked. "If nobody was waiting for her at the pods, she must have been alone. Either that or they didn't care about her."
"Let's not jump to speculations," Heather told her. "For now, let's just focus on staying alive long enough to get rescued. Once that's out of the way, we'll focus on helping her get her memory back and getting home to her family. And you never know. By the time we're rescued, she might remember who she is and where she comes from." They nodded and let the subject end there.
Twilight looked out the window and saw something in the distance. "The planet." They all looked out at the celestial body and realised Twilight was right. They were heading in that direction and despite being in visual range, they were still a long way off from the planet.
As they got closer, they noticed the planet appeared to be purple in colour. There were section of orange on it as well, which they assumed was some form of rock or desert.
As they got closer and closer to the planet, they were able to make out more details. Soon enough, they realised the orange parts of the planet weren't rock, but water. Large oceans, coloured orange instead of the normal blue. And by the looks of things, the purple parts of the planet were due to the colour of the plants on it.
"Amazing," Twilight whispered. "The sun in this sector must be a rare type of colour. That's the best way to explain why the plants evolved to be that colour."
"Maybe," Heather nodded. "But looking nice isn't going to help us." She tried to get a scan of the surface. "The planet might have a breathable atmosphere, but we're gonna need more food and water. Those ration bars won't last forever and if the planets are poisonous, we could starve before a rescue team has any chance of getting here."
"You're right," Twilight nodded. "But this pod doesn't have any way of steering. If we don't land somewhere hospitable, we're not gonna last very long."
"Let's just hope we don't crash into the sea," Applejack stated. "A'h wouldn't call that hospitable." The others nodded, as the planet got closer and closer. And eventually, they were pulled into the planet's gravitational pull and the pod's engines stopped.
The sudden jolt, caused the amnesiac girl to awaken and look around. "What's going on?"
"We're about to land," Twilight told her. She looked out the window and saw the planet they were heading towards. And as they were pulled down towards it, she saw they were headed for a purple forested area. "Hold on tight."
"We're gonna crash!" She cried, but the Jedi weren't worried.
"Preparing to fire landing thrusters!" Heather typed at the controls and as they drew closer and closer to the ground, a quartet of explosions occurred above them and a bunch of jets caused them to slow down. As they slowed down, they reached the forest canopy and fell through the leaves.
Said leaves were soon burned away by the jets, which luckily didn't cause the entire forest to catch fire. And slowly, they were lowered to the ground. Once they were only a foot or so off the ground, the jets stopped and the body fell the rest of the way.
A loud clunk could be heard, as they bounced off the ground and almost tipped over. But a whirring sound filled the air and the pod remained upright, finally having landed on the planet. "Not the smoothest of landings," Heather stated. "But I've had worse. Alright. Let's see where we are."
They all nodded and prepared to leave the pod, Twilight turning to their new friend. "You should stay here." She gave her an odd look. "You're still recovering from a head injury. Overexerting yourself right now won't be good for you. Stay here and continue to rest."
"Okay." She remained seated, at Twilight, Heather and Applejack headed out into the forest.
Looking around, they were happy to find the planet had pleasant air. Just because a place was breathable, didn't mean you wanted to spend all day breathing it in. But the air here wasn't just breathable, but clean and had a rather nice scent to it.
Heather instantly moved over to one of the trees, pulling a leaf off the bottom most branch and using her gauntlet to scan it. "Well, this foliage isn't toxic. So we don't have to worry about that right now."
"We still gotta find water and food," Applejack stated. "But a'h don't like the idea of strayin' far from da'h pod."
"Applejack's right," Heather nodded. "We need to find water, but we can't go too far." She moved back to the device and used her gauntlet to scan it, Applejack doing the same. "Alright. We'll go in different directions, but continue to keep a link to the pod. If we lose it, we head back as fast as we can."
"What about me?" Twilight showed them her still damaged gauntlet, Heather humming.
"Stay here and keep an eye on things. We don't want to leave our injured friend defenceless." Twilight nodded and the two headed off, leaving her to look around before putting her focus on the pod.
She headed back to it and could now see what type of technology it had. First, she had to find the transmitter so Heather could send out a high powered signal to the Jedi. She looked around and after a few minutes of searching, found an access panel.
Using it, Twilight found the top of the pod suddenly opening before something folded out of it. "What's going on?" The girl inside asked, as a robotic arm extended before a satellite opened up.
"Just checking to make sure the transmitter's okay," Twilight told her. It was then that she had a thought. "Hey," she headed inside, "we never checked. Do you have anything on you that might help with figuring out who you are? You don't have a gauntlet or anything, but you might have some kind of ID."
She started checking her pockets, starting with the ones in her jacket. But they were empty. So was any other pocket she could find. "I don't have anything."
"That's odd," Twilight frowned. "I would have thought you'd at least have some form of credit transfer device. What were you doing on the ship's entertainment deck if you didn't?"
"I...I don't know." She clutched her head, obviously trying to force herself to remember. "I don't know anything about myself. It's like whenever I try to remember, something's stopping me."
"Don't force it," Twilight told her. "That could be doing more harm than good. I know you're scared, but you have to let your memories come naturally. I'm sure you'll eventually see something that'll spark and make you remember something similar."
"I guess," she sighed. After a few more moments, she got up out of her chair.
"What are you doing?"
"I can't sit around here. Head injury or not, I'm not gonna let my new memories be nothing but the inside of this pod." She walked for the door and Twilight wanted to stop her, but knew she probably couldn't and chose to let her walk around outside. She would be there to help if something happened.
The girl headed outside and looked around, marvelling at the sight of the trees around her. Twilight stepped up beside her, as the girl noticed something. "What's that?" They looked around and spotted a blue glow in the distance, causing the forest to shine an almost supernatural radiance.
"I'm not sure," Twilight replied.
"Let's check it out." She walked forward and Twilight frowned.
"We shouldn't stray too far from the pod." But then she saw what the girl had in mind, as she moved over to a tree and started climbing up it. "I don't think that's such a good idea. With your head injury..." But the girl just kept climbing and Twilight sighed before following her.
The pair made their way up the tree, Twilight finding it difficult with her hoof legs. Strangely, the other equestrian didn't have any issues and soon reached the very top of the tree.
Twilight eventually got there as well, pushing herself up the branches and through the canopy. There, she and the girl turned their attention to the light and realised what it was. "Sunset," the girl stated.
The planet's blue sun was beginning to set on the horizon, causing a brilliant glow that covered the entire forest. Whatever the planet's atmosphere was, it was causing the light from the sun to shake and vibrate. "Look at that shimmer," Twilight whispered. She then smiled as she turned to the girl. "i know it's not your real name, but we gotta call you something. So how about that?"
"Shimmer?" The girl asked.
"Sunset Shimmer." Twilight watched the girl think about it, eventually smiling as she clearly enjoyed the name. "Alright then, Sunset. I promise we'll find out who you really are. Until then, we'll protect you."
"Thank you," the girl smiled. "I just wish I knew one thing about myself."
"Well...we know you're probably from Canterlot." The girl raised an eyebrow at this. "You're an equestrian and you were on a ship heading for Canterlot. So you're probably from there or have friends or family there. Once we get there, we can start looking for any information about you."
"Thanks," Sunset smiled. "But how long will it be before we're rescued."
"It won't be that long. The transmitter on the pod will be able to reach Canterlot. Once Heather's back, we'll use it to send a distress signal and a ship will arrive to pick us up in a few days." Sunset nodded, hoping Twilight was right about that.
Twilight glanced back at the sunset and realised that it meant night would soon be upon them. And there was no telling what might come out in the darkness. "We should get down before it's too dark to see where we're climbing." Sunset nodded and they began to climb down, all the while hoping Heather and Applejack would get back soon.
Applejack had been walking for a good while, keeping her eye on her gauntlet to make sure she didn't lose track of the pod.
She soon noticed the light was getting dimmer, making her realise that night time was approaching. "Better get back to the pod." But just as she was about to stop, she noticed something to the side of her. "Huh?" She stepped towards it and found it was a tree stump. Once that was perfectly smooth, meaning the tree that had been a part of it was likely removed by a sharp blade. "What coulda done this?"
She suddenly heard a snapping sound and was put on guard, the Jedi jumping away from the stump and hiding behind a tree. She grabbed her axe, ready in case whatever it was wasn't friendly.
She heard more movement and slowly, the cow girl looked around the tree and saw something walking along the forest floor.
It was a creature standing at around seven or eight feet, being a mixture of pink, blue and yellow. Its head was yellow, looking like it belonged to a lizard or something. And coming out the back of its head were a bunch of pink leaf-shaped blades, which overlapped to form something resembling a slicked back hair style.
The same pink leaf-shapes also covered a large portion of its body, with the only other part not covered by it being its chest and stomach. But that was only because its chest and stomach, were covered by a hard blue carapace. Meanwhile, its arms, shoulders, sides, back, legs, feet and long tail were covered in the pink scales. A blade stuck out of the creature's elbows whilst the end of its arms, had three sharp claws that were roughly a foot long and had a hooked end.
The creature sniffed the ground, moving closer to the stump Applejack had been at. The Jedi had a worry that if it was carnivorous, this creature would likely be able to track her down. Would she have to kill it?
The creature reached the stump and sniffed at it, clearly noticing a smell. But instead of following it to Applejack's spot, it turned away and began to walk off.
Applejack sighed in relief, glad to see the creature wasn't interested in her. She didn't waste any time and once the beast was out of sight, she started making her way back towards the pod.
Twilight had been busy working on the transmitter, trying to use what little light she had available to figure out how to connect it to their gauntlets.
Sunset was sitting in the doorway, looking out at the quickly darkening room. And as the light got dimmer and dimmer, she suddenly felt very nervous. "I hope this place doesn't have any night time predators."
Twilight said nothing in return, not wanting to lie to her and not wanting to say that there probably were night time creatures here. She just focused on the transmitter and eventually, she heard a rustling in the bushes.
The two stiffened and Twilight slowly reached for her Lightsaber, ready to use it if the time came. But then the cause of the rustling stepped out to reveal it was Heather, returning after she had finished checking her direction of the area. "Hey," she told them. "Good news. I managed to find a river and my gauntlet determined it's not hazardous."
"Great," Twilight nodded. "I managed to get the transmitter working. I'm just trying to figure out how to connect it to the gauntlet. It's kind of tricky." Heather stepped over and noticed the girl with them.
"You feeling any better?" She nodded. "Good. Remember anything?"
"No," she replied. "And until I remember my real name, you can call me Sunset Shimmer." Heather looked surprised by this, but nodded as she turned back to Twilight.
"Okay. Let's see how this transmitter works." She and Twilight began to work on figuring out how to connect the two devices, but it was easier said than done.
And as they tried to get it connected, another rustling sound filled the air. The three were all on guard, but sighed in relief when Applejack stepped through the trees. "Hey," she waved, "I the last one back?" They nodded, as they focused on the transmitter again. Applejack nodded as she stepped up to them. "Well we now know life's on this planet."
"Really?" Twilight looked amazed, "what kind of life?"
"Well it ain't intelligent," Applejack announced. "It was some kind of weird lizard creature, standing on two legs with large claws and weird armor. Not sure if it's predatory or not, but I don't think we have to worry about it."
"I hope so," Heather frowned. "The last thing we need, is a predator hunting us down." But as she said that, she was suddenly overwhelmed with a powerful wave of killing intent. She staggered forth and quickly shook her head, as the Padawans looked confused.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, as Heather turned towards the forest.
"There's something here. Lots of somethings." She took out her Lightsaber and held it up, Twilight and Applejack doing the same. Sunset reached for her belt, purely out of instinct, but realised there was nothing there to grab. Instead, she hid behind Twilight as they looked out into the forest.
"We're being watched," Applejack stated. "A'h can feel the eyes on me." They nodded, feeling it too. The kept looking around, but there was no sign of anything anywhere.
They listened, but there was no rustling. Not even from the window. The forest was oddly silent. "Where are they?" Twilight asked, the others wondering the same thing. Then, Sunset happened look up and gasped.
"Up there!" They all looked up and saw something hanging from the trunk of a tree. It was one of the lizards that Applejack had seen, using its hooked claws to dig into the tree and hang from it. And it wasn't alone.
Several more of these creatures were hanging from branches and trunks, all staring down at them with a glare that could make steel melt. As soon as they realised they had been seen, the creatures all let out a hissing cry before leaping off the trees.
The Jedi ignited their blades and as the creatures landed, they stood defensively of Sunset and the pod. "Get back!" Heather cried, but one of the creatures ran forward. "I'm warning you!" He leapt into the air and prepared to swing its claws at them.
Twilight acted and thrust her hand forward, causing the creature to be blown back until it crashed into a tree. And to her surprise, the tree's trunk broke as the little creature fell to the ground. As it fell, the other creatures charged in for an attack.
Applejack was the first to retaliate and swung her light-axe at one of them. But the creature did something they hadn't expected and raised one of its arms in defence. They expected to see the arm go flying off, but it didn't.
Instead, the laser of the axe blade bounced off the pink scale and Applejack staggered back. "What the?"
"No way," Twilight gasped. Another of the creatures ran forward and spun its tail towards her, Twilight defending with her own sword. But like Applejack's, the blade simply bounced off without causing any damage. "Impossible."
"Their armor is Lightsaber proof?" Heather asked, as another one charged. She swung her blade at it, but also got no result other than the blade acting like nothing but a club. "What the heck are these scales made out of?"
"I'm not sure," Twilight frowned. But this isn't good." One of the creatures then curled up, forming a perfect sphere with the spines sticking upwards to form a spiked wrecking ball.
The creature suddenly started spinning in place and eventually, it shot forward and moved towards them at high speed. "Look out!" Sunset cried, with Twilight attempting to grab the creature with The Force. But it was moving too fast and before she could get a hold of it, Sunset tackled her and the pair hit the ground.
This allowed the curled up creature to fly past them and crash into the pod, the metal getting torn apart by the impact.
The four gasped, as the pod was pushed over by the impact. The top slammed into a tree and the transmitter was broken off, horrifying the girls as the rest of the creatures charged forward.
"Move!" Heather cried, she and Applejack jumping out of the way. Several more had curled up and spun around, turning into giant cannon balls that barely missed them. They all flew around until eventually hitting a tree and ripping them down, and causing the surrounding forest to get a lot thinner.
One flew towards Twilight and with all her strength, she swung her Lightsaber towards it. And like a baseball bat, it caused the creature to go flying off in the other direction.
This caused it to slam into several more of the creatures, who appeared to be the only thing able to withstand getting hit by themselves. They were still knocked over, though, allowing Twilight to run over to where the pod's transmitter had been broken off.
The satellite dish was bent and missing a piece, but Twilight prayed there was some way they could fix it. They just had to get out of there to do it.
Applejack used her axe to bat another of the creatures away, whilst Sunset was forced to only stand there and pray nothing attacked her. "We have to get out of here!" Heather cried, batting a creature away from her. "Before these things tear us to pieces."
Twilight agreed and tried to pick up the transmitter, but it was really heavy. "Applejack!" The cow girl saw what she was doing and nodded, rushing over to her as several of the creatures charged in after her. Twilight saw them coming and refused to let them damage the transmitter anymore.
As such, she used all her concentration to grab, the creatures suddenly finding themselves floating up into the air.
They struggled against the hold, but Twilight was able to keep them from escaping or getting close to a tree. All they could do was swing them claws around wildly, not slashing at anything whilst Applejack began to pick up the transmitter.
"Alright," she hoisted the device up, "where we goin' with this?"
"Try the river," Heather cried. "It was pretty wide and deep. If their armor's that strong, it must weigh a ton." They nodded and started heading in the direction Heather had originally gone in, with Twilight stuck standing where she was. "Come on, Twilight."
"You all go! I'll follow once you're far enough away."
"Twilight!" Heather cried, "you don't know where the river is!"
"I'll find it!" Twilight argued back. Heather frowned, but began to run. Twilight began to count, wanting to give them as much time as she could before she attempted to chase after them. And after hitting one hundred, and feeling herself beginning to tire out, she used all her strength to throw the creatures as far as she could before running in the opposite direction.
The armored monsters hit the ground and a few trees, several finding themselves getting stuck to said tree, the ones on the ground picking themselves up and hissing as they saw their pray was nowhere in sight.
Twilight ran as fast as her legs could carry her, her lungs burning from the amount of pressure she was putting them under.
She heard the beasts beginning to give chase and used her Lightsaber to cut through any tree she passed, praying it would at least slow the creatures down. But she soon heard smashing sound and realised they were barreling through the fallen trees, Twilight crying out as the sounds got louder and louder.
But eventually, she heard the sound of water and prayed the river was near.
And sure enough, she pushed her way through the foliage and found herself staring at a massive current of orange water. It was rolling along at an incredible speed and the water was so wide, three Shooting Stars could land in the river front to back.
On the other side, Twilight spotted Heather and Applejack standing there. She didn't see Sunset at first, but then spotted the girl floating above the water. Heather and Applejack were working to lift her over it, Twilight still wondering how the first two got across.
Sunset was only halfway across and wouldn't be able to lift her up for another minute or two.
But Twilight didn't have a minute, as she heard the creatures getting closer and closer. Any second, they would burst through the foliage and attack. Twilight had to find a way to get across.
It was then she had an idea. It was insane, but it just might work. Or she could be killed.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." She reached out with her mind and focused, using every ounce of concentration she had left. And slowly, a large sphere of water was lifted out of the river.
Applejack and Heather saw this, both wondering what Twilight was gonna do. Then, they watched the sphere flatten out into a disk. Once that moved right in front of Twilight. And to their shock, Twilight moved to step onto it.
"There's no way that'll work," Applejack cried.
"No, it might. If she can add enough pressure to the water to make it dense enough. But that level of focus might be beyond her." They watched, as Twilight stepped onto the water. And to their shock, her hoof didn't fall through.
Twilight brought her other foot onto the water disk and whilst she felt it difficult to balance, she was able to stand on it without falling through the water. But as she did, the creatures finally arrived and Twilight felt herself panic. But she remained calm and commanded the water to move towards the other side.
The disk moved and she was able to stay upright, as the beasts arrived and seemed rather worried about the water.
But one brave beast curled itself up and spun on the spot, tearing up the ground as it picked up speed. Then, she shot forward and flew off the edge of the riverbank. There, it was sent flying towards Twilight and she found herself the target of its attack.
But at the last moment, Twilight lifted the water disk upwards.
The spinning ball missed her, barely scratching the water disk's surface. The water rippled, but Twilight was able to keep herself from losing control and kept the disk dense enough to stand on. But the creature wasn't so lucky and crashed into the water, sinking just like Heather had hoped.
As it did, Twilight pushed the disk closer and closer to the other side. But the disk started losing water and shrank down, Twilight feeling it getting smaller.
"Jump!" Heather cried, as she and Applejack finally lowered Sunset to the ground.
They watched Twilight losing her balance and after a few seconds, she managed to crouch down and propel herself into the air. The Padawan fell through the air and drew closer to the riverside, only to fall short.
Sunset ran forward and as Twilight hit the water, she reached out and grabbed her arm. But the river was so strong, it almost pulled her into the water. Luckily, Applejack was able to grab her hand and Heather grabbed hers.
Together, they were able to pull Twilight up and out of the water.
Now safe on the other side of the river, they all side in relief as they sat there. "Everyone okay?" Heather asked, the girls all nodding as they turned to the other side of the river. There, they spotted the creatures trying to figure out how to cross without sinking. But there wasn't a way and after a few moments, they turned to leave.
Sighing in relief, the girls looked around and realised they were now in the middle of nowhere. No food, no way of containing water and no form of shelter to protect them.
"We're in trouble," Twilight gulped.
"So what do we do?" Sunset asked. "Try and find somewhere else to call home?"
"Not a good idea," Heather stated. "It's pitch black and we have no idea what the terrain is like around here. One trip and we might all end up with head injuries." She sighed, looking around at all the trees surrounding them. "We'll stay here for the night and hope we can find shelter tomorrow." They nodded and all settled down.
They quickly grabbed some sticks off the trees and built a makeshift campfire, Applejack using her axe to light it and stare it up.
As they sat there, Twilight tried to see how damaged the transmitter was. But it was so dark, she couldn't figure out if it was fixable or not. "What do we do?" Sunset asked. "If you can't fix the transmitter?"
"Get comfortable," Heather replied. "We might be here a long time." They all frowned at this, not liking the idea of spending too long on this planet.
They all sat there, waiting and hoping nothing came out to attack them again. The four chose to take it in turns standing guard, Heather being the first to stand watch whilst the younger members of her group finally got some shuteye.
Heather sat there, letting the sounds of the wilderness around her fill the air uninterrupted. She spent the next hour trying to keep calm and keep a watchful ear out. She prayed they would not be marooned upon this planet for long. And if they were, that they could find a place to safely call home.
As the hour passed, Heather felt herself beginning to get tired. But she needed to stay awake for at least another two.
However, a sound suddenly caught her attention and pushed any thought of sleep out of her mind. A rustling sound, which Heather hoped wasn't another of those creatures. She turned to the source of the sound, taking out her Lightsaber whilst moving over to shake Applejack awake.
"Huh?" Her Padawan asked, "ma'h turn?"
"Wake the others," Heather told her. "Quietly." Applejack could see the worry in her eyes and did just that, shaking Twilight awake but covering her mouth to keep her from crying out. She then moved over to Sunset and did the same, the three all getting up and preparing for a fight.
The bushes suddenly began to glow, as a light green light began to stream through the gaps in the foliage. This put them on edge, fearing some horrible monster was about to step out and use a glowing lure to hypnotise them into being its lunch.
The bushes rustled some more, as the light shined brighter. And eventually, the source of the light stepped out of the foliage.
Before they could activate their weapons, the girls realised it was a small creature of around a foot and a half in height. It was humanoid, but had stubby arms and legs. Its body was made out of wood, or a wood-like substance, was white in colour and covered in lines. Three leaves were sticking out the top of its head, whilst a bunch of vines were coming out the end of its arms to make fingers.
In the creature's grasp was some kind of wooden torch, with some kind of glowing green moss-like substance on the end.
The Jedi stared at the creature, whilst it stared back. The Jedi couldn't sense any malicious intent coming from it, so lowered their weapons. The wooden creature continued to stare at them, only to make several clicks and clacking sounds as it spoke.
None of them understood it, which the alien seemed to figure out. Instead, it turned away and gestured them to follow before heading back into the undergrowth.
The four shared a look and after a few moments, all nodded before Applejack hoisted the transmitter onto her back. With that, they all followed their new friends deeper into the wonders. Only time would tell if they were right to trust him or not. Hopefully, they wouldn't come to regret this.
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Here's hoping Sunset doesn't get her memories back, otherwise they could help Sunset be a better person and she realized that what she did was wrong.
Yes, Solara is Sunset Shimmer the entire time… you guys probably already figures that out… to those who didn't figures out this one out, did you read Chapter 2? The description of her appearance did give away who she is… I am looking at you, FanOfWriting and Postwarmonkey50.
Anyway, Solara or rather Sunset lost her memories in the process but it does help her to bond with Twilight.
But would that bond last long? Who know.
Solara being Sunset is interesting. I guess it was hinted at from the start, but that was awhile ago. Her getting amnesia from hitting her head seems a little too convenient. I think this could be either a good or bad thing, depending on how it is played. She might be faking it, but that would be a bit too easy. I've seen scenarios where a bad guy loses their memories and gets them back, where they either go back to being evil or decide to turn good permanently. Just look at Darth Revan for one example from Star Wars.
So, is this a white Baby Groot kind of creature?
Also, what's going to happen when Sunset gets her memories back?