//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A world of Equines // Story: A Jedi's Journey // by Postwarmonkey50 //------------------------------// Sure enough, Luke was able to fly through the planet’s atmosphere. It was daytime when he entered, but he kept a normal course, wanting to make sure no one would spot them. R2 came over and beeped a few times to Luke. ‘No advance civilization?’ said Luke when he heard R2 right. He then thought out loud ‘Maybe this world is still in its primitive state. Possibly far from ever of performing space travel.’ Luke was able to see a clearing up ahead. ‘Artoo, let’s land over there by that clearing.’ Sure enough, the Ebon Hawk flew straight towards a clearing, which happened to be near a forest. Slowly it landed whilst critters and creatures were scattering, afraid of the metal giant landing. Sure enough, after some steam were hissing, the docking ramp lowered itself, allowing Luke to walk down, with R2 following him. Luke looked around and never realized how beautiful the place was. ‘Amazing.’ he said whilst he looked at the surroundings. ‘This place is so beautiful, and lush. I think the world would be better off if it would discover space travel and technology of its own.’ ‘, , ’. said R2 whilst he was near Luke. ‘A village on the other side of the forest?’ said Luke. ‘Then there must be a population that can help me.’ ‘, .’ ‘No, stay with the ship Artoo. We don’t want any unwanted attention. However, if something happens that you picked up from the scanner, you can use the ship to get to my location.’ R2 responded and headed back inside the ship in order to close the ramp, whilst Luke decided to continue with his journey, whilst his Lightsaber continued to hang from his belt, making his way into the forest. Sure enough, R2 was able to close the ramp and Luke made his way into the forest. Luke continued on his quest, looking around, trying to find a way to the village that R2 picked up earlier. He scanned the forest and could sense everything going on. ‘The Force is unbelievably strong here.’ said Luke whilst he continued to look around ‘Could the Jedi from before really have made their way towards this world?’ He suddenly heard screaming, coming from a few feet away from where he was standing. He instantly ran towards the noise, wanting to help those in danger. But as he got closer, he decided to hide behind a tree, trying not to run into danger. When he took a peek, he saw something he didn’t expect. He saw strange beings with four legs. A white one with a horn on its forehead and purple hair and tail. One who was yellow with wings and had pink hair and tail, whimpering. One was aqua blue with wings and rainbow hair and tail. One was orange with yellow hair and tail, along with what appeared to be a hat. One was pink with a dark pink mane and tail, and one was purple with a dark purple mane and hair with two different stripes on both of them. He saw that they have strange marks on their flanks. But they weren't the only ones there. There was also a four legged creature, with dark green mane and tail, with light green fur. There was also a large creature with horns, one with wings and a scale, ones that nearly resembled to a bird like group, but very different, and the last one was a strange looking creature that he had never seen before. ‘Is this the world’s population?’ said Luke to himself as he watched. ‘If they live in a world far from space travel, then I need to approach this carefully.’ At the same time, from their perspective, they were the ponies and creatures of a magical land of Equestria. The six ponies were the Mane 6. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity. Whilst the other creatures were their students. A pony named Sandbar, a Yak named Yona, a Griffon named Gallus, a Hippogriff named Silverstream, a Changeling named Ocellus and a Dragon named Smolder. Apparently, the Mane 6 decided to take the students to the Everfree forest for a tour, to find out what kind of magic it contained. But…they ended up running into a bit of a snag, for a large plant kind of creature, grabbed them and had the roots wrapped around them, making them struggle as they tried to get loose. ‘ “Sure,” ’ said Applejack as she gave an annoyed look at Rainbow Dash as she quoted what she had said earlier ‘ “Let’s go over and investigate that there plant, looks safe enough.” ’. ‘How the heck was I supposed to know that it was a carnivorous plant?!!’ shouted Rainbow Dash as she glared back at Applejack. ‘Isn’t everything in the Everfree Forest?!!!’ shouted Rarity back as she agreed with Applejack. ‘Uh, not to be rude or anything?’ said Smolder as she gained their attention ‘But can you talk about this, after we’re freed?!!!’ ‘I’m trying.’ said Twilight as she struggled to use her magic ‘But the plants are making it difficult for me to use my magic, I don’t want those things to rip my horn off.’ ‘Well you’d better think of something,’ said Gallus as he was getting scared ‘I don’t think we can handle this much longer.’ ‘Excuse me.’ said Luke when he decided to reveal himself. As the Mane 6 and Young Six looked over, they were shocked to see a creature they’ve never seen before. ‘Do you need some help?’ ‘Uhh…’ said some of them, not sure what to say about this. Luke chuckled, seeing that they were surprised. ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ Luke stepped off the large rock and walked towards them, however, from out of nowhere, a Chimera appeared, gaining Luke’s attention, but shocked the ponies and their students. ‘Ooh, what do we have here?’ said the tiger head. ‘Fresh meat we haven’t seen before.’ said the goat head. ‘Gonna love every bite.’ said the snake head. Luke however, only flexed an eyebrow as he looked at it. Suddenly, he began to wave his hand. ‘You don’t want to eat the creature before you.’ said Luke to it. Suddenly, the creature was in trance. ‘We don’t want to eat the creature before us.’ the Chimera responded. The ponies and the students were stunned by what was going on. ‘You’re not interested in eating the creatures you see around you.’ ‘We’re not interested in eating the creatures I see around me.’ ‘You want to go back where you came from and rethink your life.’ ‘We want to go back where we came from and rethink my life.’ The Chimera suddenly turned around and walked away. The ponies and the students on the other hand were both shocked and stunned by what was going on as they looked at the Chimera leaving, and then to Luke, who somehow convinced the creature to leave. ‘How did you do that?’ said Silverstream as she was the first to respond. ‘I used a mind trick on the creature,’ said Luke whilst he answered Silverstream’s question ‘It only works on the weak minded. Thankfully, the creature was very weak minded.’ ‘Huh,’ responded Sandbar as he was impressed ‘Good to know.’ ‘Um, excuse me new creature,’ said Yona as she responded with a nervous smile ‘But could new creature free Yona, teachers and friends. We trap in bad plant.’ ‘Of course.’ said Luke as he walked over to them. He pulled out his Lightsaber hilt, which made them curious of what he has in store. He stood in front of them as he said ‘Hold still.’ Luke activated his Lightsaber, revealing a plasma sword that generated from the hilt, surprising the ponies and creatures in the process. He used his Lightsaber to cut the vines that were holding them. One by one, all of them were freed from their vine prison. ‘Wow, thank you so much,’ said Ocellus as she was happy to be freed ‘We thought we were goners for sure.’ ‘It is no problem,’ responded Luke as he looked at the young one. Clearly, she and her friends have a lot of potential. He turned to the Mane 6, whom he could feel have powerful auras, as if…the Force was strong within each and every one of them. Luke ignored it and asked ‘But what were you lot doing out here in the woods?’ ‘Well, see…’ began the pink hair and yellow Pegasus, whose name was Fluttershy ‘We wanted to take our students our here for a fieldtrip. To help them learn of just how dangerous the Everfree forest can be.’ ‘Everfree forest?’ asked Luke with a flexed eyebrow. ‘Oh, you see darling,’ said the purple hair and white fur unicorn known as Rarity ‘The forest contains its own magic. Everything grows unnatural in its own way. Us ponies on the other hand are in charge of growing and maintaining balance of this world ourselves.’ ‘I see,’ said Luke, but asked again ‘But how did all of you get caught?’ ‘Well Rainbow Dash here,’ said the orange fur pony with the Stetson hat known as Applejack ‘Wanted the students to investigate one of them plants there, ended up abusing it, and the darn thing attacked us without warning.’ Rainbow Dash groaned, for she really didn’t like the way Applejack brought it up. ‘And may I ask who all of you are?’ said Luke as he wondered about who they were. One by one, each of them introduced themselves. ‘Oh, my name is Ocellus. I’m a Changeling from the Changeling Hive.’ ‘Sandbar. Obviously a pony of Equestria.’ ‘Gallus. Griffon of Griffonstone.’ ‘Silverstream. Hippogriff of Mount Aris.’ ‘The name’s Smolder. Dragon from the Dragon Lands.’ ‘My name is Yona. Yona Yak from Yakyakistan.’ ‘I’m Fluttershy. Caretaker of the animals of Sweet Feather Sanctuary.’ ‘Rarity’s the name darling, Fashionista and costume designer of Equestria.’ ‘Rainbow Dash. Proud member of the Wonderbolts and fastest flyer in all of Equestria.’ ‘Name’s Applejack Sugarcube, proud owner of Sweet Apple Acres.’ ‘And I’m Pinkie Pie, party planner, organizer and arranger in all of Equestria.’ ‘And I’m Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.’ ‘A Princess?’ said Luke with a flexed eyebrow whilst he crouched to be at their eye level ‘Should I bow?’ Twilight giggled at his gesture ‘Oh, there’s no need. I’m comfortable with ponies greeting me normally. And you are?’ Luke stood up straight and told them his name. ‘My name is Luke Skywalker,’ said Luke as he introduced himself ‘I’m a visitor from the stars.’ Many were surprised by what he had said, but none were more surprised than Twilight. ‘You’re…from the stars?’ said Twilight. She suddenly flew in the air, all excited and was close to Luke’s face whilst holding her cheeks and a smile on her face. ‘This. Is. So. Amazing!!! A real life traveler from the stars!! And a creature we’ve never seen before in recorded Equestrian history!!’ Luke was a little surprised at first, seeing Twilight go on like this. Thanks to Rarity, she used her aura to pull Twilight away. ‘Sorry about that,’ said Applejack as he apologized to Luke for Twilight ‘She tends to get excited over something she’s never heard of. You know, like new creatures, new artifacts, new books, especially more books.’ ‘I see,’ said Luke ‘So she’s somewhat of a knowledge seeker?’ ‘More like an egghead.’ said Rainbow Dash as she crossed her hooves. ‘It is a wise move, being curious of gaining more knowledge.’ said Luke as he looked at Twilight ‘But there is something that is called being “too curious” when it comes to learning.’ ‘That’s what we tell her.’ said Fluttershy as she agreed with him. Luke then looked to the Young Six, then to the Mane 6. ‘Are these six your students?’ ‘Yep, they sure are.’ said Pinkie as she appeared next to Twilight, then she suddenly bounced around as she said ‘We were busy learning about friendship and relations through the years, until we decided to open a school and teach others the same thing, that’s when we brought them in, although they got off to a rocky start, they instantly became super duper best of friends, even though they’re different.’ As Pinkie stopped bouncing, Luke chuckled over her bubbly good nature. Luke smiled as he looked at Twilight ‘It’s good to teach others that. You passed on what you’ve learned.’ ‘Not everything,’ said Gallus as he spoke ‘We still have a lot to learn. No one said that learning friendship would be easy.’ ‘Hmm, I can relate.’ said Luke as he agreed. ‘So, if Yona might ask,’ said Yona whilst she was curious about something ‘Why friend from stars here?’ ‘It’s a long story,’ said Luke as he looked around, then back to them. ‘Perhaps we can talk where there is no danger?’ ‘Oh, of course,’ said Fluttershy as she flew up ‘We can go back to our school, you can talk from there.’ ‘I’ll get us back there, hang on.’ said Twilight as he horn glowed. And within an instant, she teleported all of them out of the Everfree forest. At the school of friendship’s courtyard, Starlight and Spike walked on the pathway as many of the pony students were going back and forth, learning what they could with whatever book they could find from their library. Starlight looked worried whilst she looked at the school’s clock. ‘What’s taking them so long?’ said Starlight as she got more worried. ‘Relax Starlight,’ said Spike as he calmed her down ‘Remember, the Everfree forest is a big place. I’m sure Twilight will teleport them back any…’ Spike was cut off the moment Twilight and the others appeared, taking Starlight by surprise, with Spike saying ‘See, I told you.’ Starlight ran over to Twilight and stopped in front of her. ‘I’m so glad all of you are safe. What happened out there, I thought your trip through the forest would’ve been over by now.’ ‘Well we would’ve come back sooner.’ said Smolder. ‘But miss Rainbow Dash ticked off a creature eating plant that nearly ate us.’ said Gallus as he finished for her. ‘Of course she did.’ said Starlight as she rolled her eyes. ‘So she’s done this before?’ asked Luke whilst he whispered to Rainbow Dash’s friends. ‘Yup,’ said Applejack as she started ‘There was a time when all she cared about was winning competitions.’ said Applejack when she remembered the times that she got super competitive during the Iron Pony competition and that she nearly endangered her friends. ‘And when she always rudely flew into somepony.’ said Fluttershy of the times Rainbow tried to make her do things she wasn’t comfortable with. ‘And has no patience when it comes to doing what their friends like.’ said Rarity when she still remembered the time when she and Rainbow Dash wanted to stop being friends because they didn’t want to give each other’s hobbies a chance. ‘And when she rudely threw away all the baked goods I baked for her and she didn’t even tell me the truth.’ said Pinkie Pie when she remembered that Rainbow Dash kept throwing her pies away and not telling her the truth. ‘And when she kept charging into danger and never think things through.’ said Twilight as she remembered when Rainbow Dash always wanted the praised as a hero by saving ponies and not because it was a right thing to do, which is why she and her friends were resorted into using the “Mysterious Mare Do Well” persona. However, Rainbow Dash overheard her and then told them one by one of her friends’ failures and blunders. Rainbow hovered in front of Twilight ‘At least I didn’t go overboard of delivering a friendship report and got turned into a statue by a possessed chicken and caused the Para sprites to eat half of Ponyville.’ Rainbow hovered in front of Pinkie Pie ‘At least I’m not the one who’s always constantly into other ponies’ faces and tried to force friendships with us and Starlight with your sister whilst also trying to force pie down my throat even after I said no, especially with the whole Pinkie Pie clone fiasco.’ Rainbow hovered in front of Rarity ‘At least I’m not the one who thought that spending time with her sister was uncool and wanted to spend more time with snooty royals instead of actually going on their friends’ birthday and stupidly asked Applejack, a pony with no fashion sense, to be one of the judges.’ Rainbow hovered in front of Fluttershy ‘At least I didn’t take the assertive thing too far and ended up hurting other ponies’ feelings and ended up making Rarity jealous that you were getting more attention and were too scared to sing when she really wanted to.’ Rainbow hovered in front of Applejack ‘And at least I wasn’t the one who lied so much when I was a filly that sent my entire family to the hospital and never bothered to tell her sister the truth about her friends trying to get their Cutie Marks when they actually could’ve told them what they could’ve done.’ The five friends remembered all too well what she meant, causing them to groan loudly whilst feeling embarrassed about it. However, they noticed Luke was chuckling, making them wonder what it was about. ‘The way you six argue,’ said Luke as he spoke to them ‘You remind me of myself and my friends whenever we’re in the middle of an argument.’ ‘Oh? said Starlight as she just noticed Luke. ‘Who are you?’ ‘My name is Luke Skywalker,’ said Luke as he introduced himself,’ I’m…’ However, he was interrupted when they heard a loud thud. When they looked up, they saw that a bunch of mover ponies, accidentally bumped into Derpy, whilst delivering mail. And before they knew it, a handful of large heavy objects, fell from the sky, hurtling towards a student, an Earth Pony, who was walking out of the building. ‘Whoa, watch it!!’ shouted Spike, gaining the young filly’s attention. She shockingly looked up and saw the objects falling, causing her to yelp loudly as she closed her eyes. But instead of feeling the impact, she slowly looked up, and to her surprise, saw that the objects were floating above her. Spike wiped his forehead, relieved that the crisis had been averted. ‘Whew, that was close. Nice one Starlight.’ ‘Uh, Spike,’ responded Starlight as she watched ‘That wasn’t me.’ ‘Um, guys.’ said Ocellus, gaining everyone’s attention. She pointed towards what they wanted to see. And to their surprise, the one who saved them, was none other than Luke. He had his hand reached out, closing his eyes as he concentrated. Many of the ponies were also surprised when they saw what they were looking at. Luke moved his right arm to the left, lifting the heavy objects to a clearing. He slowly placed them on the ground, as if nothing had happened. He looked at the young filly and walked over to her. He stood in front of her, stood on his right knee whilst looking at her face to face. ‘You should be more careful little one,’ said Luke as he spoke to her ‘For even though in times of peace, danger can lurk anywhere. And even though we prepare for the worst, life can be unpredictable that not even the older and more experienced ones could predict. But if you chose to believe in yourself, and to those around you, you can overcome anything that might drive fear into one’s heart.’ Luke picked up her book and handed it to her. ‘Trust within yourself, and let your own heart be your guide.’ The little one smiled, for somehow the way he said it, made her see life more differently. She then accepted her book back and placed it back in her bag. ‘Thank you mister.’ ‘You’re welcome.’ said Luke as he smiled back at her. ‘Now off you go now, your friends are waiting.’ The young filly ran towards her friends who were waiting for her. When she reunited with them, they continued walking together, with Twilight and the others watched Luke as they were amazed by what he did. Luke stood up and looked at the building, smiled as it reminded him of something. ‘Uh, Spike…’ responded Twilight as she leaned close to him, but kept her eyes focused on Luke. ‘Already on it.’ said Spike as he quickly took out a parchment and wrote to the princess.