//------------------------------// // Follow the Force [R] // Story: Unlimited Power // by DarkZonker //------------------------------// Golden Oaks Library Observatory Balcony Twilight Sparkle sat on her upper balcony watching the sunset, waiting for the stars to come out to find the new constellation Princess Luna mentioned last time she was in Ponyville. The sunset cast beautiful shades of red and purple on the horizon and Twilight couldn’t remember the last time she watched a sunset this beautiful. Twilight noticed that the moon rose a little later than usual but thought nothing of it. As the moon finally rose above the horizon, Luna painted the stars into sight. She saw her telescope pointing to the heavens, just waiting to be analyzed. Giggling in excitement, Twilight pulled out a notebook and a quill, and rested her rump on a nearby stool. A magenta glow enveloped her horn as she peered into the eyepiece. The glow spread to the dials, which were attached to the hinges of the telescope, and started spinning. The white pinpricks in the sky slowly resolved into many large and small dots, some red, a few blue, but mostly white. She dialed in on the constellation and began writing in her notebook. She had scrawled five pages of shorthand when a shadow moved slowly across the stars. Twilight looked up from the eyepiece and at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. Looking back in the telescope, the shadow had resolved a little. It was a large brown geological shape. Twilight had never seen this asteroid before. She began to fervently take down notes, estimated size, estimated speed, and visual composition. Dials spun as the telescope tried to keep up with the orbit of the asteroid. Just barely staying within Twilight’s vision, the asteroid started speeding up. Three cones of blue light erupted from the back of the asteroid as the image grew. It’s moving closer? What the hay is this thing? Twilight racked her brain for an answer but came up with nothing. She looked away from the telescope and saw the… thing. She couldn’t call it an asteroid anymore. It was flying into the atmosphere, smoothly cutting across the night sky leaving an icy-blue contrail behind it. The… whatever it was, was intelligent as it flew across the sky. It sped towards Canterlot mountain cutting a tight circle around the mountain face and disappearing behind it. Twilight’s breathing quickened as the implications of this discovery made itself real. Aliens. Real live aliens. And she found them first. Her! Twilight giggled like a maniac. But what if they’re hostile? What if they’re here to abduct everypony and perform experiments on us. A hair sprung out of her mane, then a whole lock of hair popped out of place. Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks as they scoured her notes. The Princesses need to know about this! Twilight thought hurriedly as her horn lit up. With a pop, the next thing she saw was her desk, her parchment and quills ready. She dipped the levitating quill into the inkwell and scrawled three quick words, the quill breaking as she pricked the parchment with a period and making a large, dark splatter. Twilight didn’t care, she just slapped her notes onto the ink soaked letter and rolled it up, she had to get this to Princess Celestia as quickly as possible. She picked up Spike’s basket, that he was still sleeping in, and tipped him out onto the ground. He fell with a hard thud and jerked awake with a start. “Ugh, why do I always have to wake up like this,” He muttered, rubbing his head. “Spike, you need to send this letter to Princess Celestia. Now! It could be a matter of national security,” said Twilight manically, gripping him tightly by the shoulders, the hooves digging painfully into his scales. “Ow! Okay, Twilight. Just let go of me for a second,” Spike sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth as she squeezed a little harder then let go. “Jeez,” he muttered as he rubbed his arms. Twilight levitated the scroll to Spike who pinched it between his thumb and index claw. He took a deep breath and exhaled softly, but intensely. A thin gout of emerald flames erupted from his pursed lips and enveloped the scroll. It burned quickly, the ash that fell from it was quickly grabbed by a nonexistent wind and floated out of an open window. As Twilight watched the scroll disappear, her mane slowly fell back into place and her pupils dilated back to their normal size. Her horn glowed, and with a pop and a bright light that momentarily blinded Spike, was back on her balcony, combing the night sky for any sign of the… Aliens. Spike rubbed his eyes and shrugged. “Who?” A hoot came from Twilight’s bed. Spike looked over and saw Owlowiscious perched on Twilight’s footboard. “It’s Twilight,” He stated. “Who?” “Twilight,” Spike was already getting irritated, it was too late for these kinds of shenanigans. “Who?” “The crazy pony who just woke me up in the middle of the night, that’s who!” He growled at the owl, who just cocked his head. Spike let out a huff of anger and crawled back into his basket, mad because now he knew that tomorrow was going to be a long day. Freighter Cave Morning “Master, our comm array is shot,” Anakin remarked as he looked into the sparking, charred mess that used to be their communications. “We need to send out a distress signal, but I doubt it can reach to Barungana, let alone all the way to the Temple,” said Anakin running a grease stained hand through his short hair. A moment later he stood up from behind the complicated machinery covered in grease and oil. He grabbed a nearby towel and started wiping off his face and hands, but it did little more than just move it around. “Maybe the locals have something to transmit off planet. It’s possible they aren’t as primitive as we think they are.” “Let’s hope that’s the case, Master.” The pair walked out of ship’s landing ramp and into the brisk mountain air. Snow whipped around Anakin already chilling him to the bone. He pulled his cloak tighter around him to fend off the biting wind, but to little avail. Obi-Wan led the pair to a cliff overlooking the hanging marble city. Anakin pulled out his macrobinoculars and saw the residents, which looked like brightly colored splotches against the white background. He zoomed in and increased the resolution, training it on what looked like a market setting. There were hundreds of brightly colored four legged animals. The strangest part was that they wore only half of some outfits, like only a vest and a tophat. One such being pulled in a rickshaw by another dirtier looking one. Like a primitive taxi, Anakin thought “Wow,” said Anakin breathlessly. “I’ve seen a lot of different species but these take the cake. They’re all so colorful, it’s like watching a kids holodrama.” “They are certainly different,” Obi-Wan said a he focused his macrobinoculars on a squad of golden armored beings wielding some pointy looking spears that were clearly on the lookout for something. “It seems that we are being hunted, and I have the feeling that they don’t just want to talk,” He clipped the binoculars back onto his belt and moved to sit cross legged. “What’s the plan, Master?” Anakin asked curiously. “We trust in the Force to guide us,” Obi-Wan said sagely, motioning Anakin to sit across from him. Anakin sat down and rested his palms on his knees. “Clear your mind, and let the Force flow through you,” Obi-Wan said as he took a deep breath. Anakin followed his master’s lead and calmly breathed. He hadn’t realized he had so much anxiety, fear and adrenaline cluttering his mind, until it had flowed away. It felt like a breath of fresh air, and he felt the steady beat of the Force enter him. The cold he was feeling earlier melted and Anakin was filled with energy. He felt a small tug, barely even perceptible with all of the perceptions the Force was giving him, but he felt it nonetheless. Anakin opened his eyes and looked towards the pull. It was a large, dark looking forest bordered by a small town. The town was sandwiched between the forest and an expansive orchard that stretched for acres. “Now what is the Force telling you?” Obi-Wan asked. “There, Master Obi-Wan,” Anakin pointed to the forest. “We need to go there.” “Very good, my young padawan,” Obi-Wan smiled. “I also felt the pull to go there.” The praise warmed Anakin further, who hopped to his feet in one swift motion. “Well let’s go, what are we waiting for?” Excitement dripped from Anakin’s voice. Obi-Wan chuckled and stood up as well waving Anakin to follow. Fwip Fwip! The two liquid cable launchers shot into the rock, anchoring themselves into the wall. The lines pulled taut as the Jedi swung across the chasm. A roar echoed from the bottom of the chasm, shaking some stones loose, falling into darkness. They walked without incident to the foot of the mountain that led to the outlying plain. The grass was taller than Anakin’s head, but Obi-Wan’s just peaked the golden sea that stretched for miles. They occasionally saw a primitive train that pumped sickly looking black smoke into the sky roar past in the distance every hour or so on the train tracks that connected the orchard town and the mountainside city. As they neared the forest, the hairs on the back of Anakin’s neck stood on end. Goosebumps broke out on his arms and an otherworldly chill passed over him. “Master, something’s wrong here. This isn’t a normal forest,” said Anakin warily. “Yes Anakin. There is darkness here, but the Force called us here for a reason. This is a test, it seems, that we must pass.” “Yes Master,” said Anakin as he readied his hand over his lightsaber, ready for anything. The two Jedi made their way into the forest, and were slowly swallowed by its darkness. The trees curled around the humans and bramble bushes cut and scratched them. Tree branches, claw-like in appearance, hung above the Jedi ominously. Deeper and deeper into the forest the Jedi went; silhouettes dashed at the edges of their vision. Hands drifted to the lightsabers on their hips, and remained ready to defend themselves. The faint sound of screaming came from deeper into the forest. Without hesitation, the peacekeepers dashed off into the darkness to either rescue the poor soul or guide its passing into the Force. What they found was a small, bipedal lizard. It was screaming for help in Basic, running on stubby little legs into a dead end. The Jedi put away their shock that it spoke Basic and focused on the moment. The lizard had backed itself into a rock wall that curved around it like a U. The reptile was below them while the Jedi were up at the top of the wall. A moment later they found out why the reptile was running away, three predators covered in sticks and tree bark burst out through the bushes growling and snarling.They circled the lizard cutting off any hope for escape at that point; the lizard cowered, putting his arms in a protective shield around his head. The Jedi jumped down from the wall and landed right behind the lizard, and without missing a beat activated their lightsabers. Anakin took the larger one, which was closest, while Obi-Wan herded the other two back. Dodging a swipe from some dangerous looking claws, Anakin swung his lightsaber diagonally across the creature. The blade missed the head of the wood monster, but cleaved the long sticks that jutted out from its withers. The creature howled and stepped back. Seeing his opportunity arise, Anakin swiftly beheaded the wood monstrosity, the wood of the body bursting into flames while the head fell apart into the sticks and twigs that composed it. Anakin looked to his Master and saw him gracefully chop the wood monster into three clean parts and Force push the last one into a very large tree. “Come, Anakin,” Obi-Wan ordered, and Anakin obeyed. The two shot off into the dark forest leaving the reptile confused, afraid, and relieved all at the same time. The reptile brushed itself off and looked into the woods and jogged after them. Once they were sufficiently deep into the forest, the two Jedi stopped. “You did well Anakin. You kept your emotions in check and let the Force guide you, you are learning well,” said Obi-wan. The padawan beamed at the praise given to him, but his thoughts were interrupted by his Master’s voice, “-but there is still more at work in this place than saving that being.” “I feel it as well, Master. It feels like the Force is pulling me this way,” Anakin pointed into a lighter part of the forest, where the trees were a little younger letting thin shafts of light into the underbrush. Ahead, Anakin could see a dilapidated rope bridge barely holding together. This is going to be a long trip, he thought tiredly.