//------------------------------// // A Decision // Story: Jedi Exile // by makey101 //------------------------------// Morning arrived in the Everfree Forest with a dim, pale sky. Twilight had not slept soundly due to a particularly stubborn rock digging into her side. Her sleep filled reverie was broken by a cackling growl and low rumble. Twilight jump onto her hooves and frantically search for the noise. She was in the midst of channeling a spell when she discovered that the noise was not a predator, but the sound of... snoring? She looked down at the creature named Warden sprawled on the ground in a fashion that couldn't possibly be comfortable. Seeing this as her chance to get a good look at Warden. Twilight noted that he had a short brown mane with a pale, fur-less skin. The garments he was wearing were a silly looking tan shirt that criss-crossed his torso into a pattern that even Rarity might even consider fashionable. It's arms and legs had a similar pattern of criss-crossed cloth, tapering towards the extremities. Over all of this, he wore a simple ash-grey hooded robe that seemed to be several sizes too big for him. His face struck Twilight as strange: It had many of the same features as a pony, but in slightly different places. The most notable change, Twilight thought, was the eyes. The eyes are so small! How can he even see with those? In all of Twilight's experience, all of the creatures expressed much of their emotion with their eyes. With this in mind, Twilight began to wonder how his species expressed emotion without speaking. Perhaps is is merely more subtle. The other notable difference was the absence of any sort of snout. The face seemed to almost be flat with the exception of the nose which protruded sharply from the face. Beside Warden, lay two metal tubes no larger than a hoof and a half each. Twilight noted it was about the length of his hoof. Both tubes were cylindrical with one end flat and black, while the other end tapered to a point, much like her horn. They appeared to be reflections of each other in the way they were constructed. Each tube was made with thick metal bands that looked like they had been woven together into some sort of braid. The bands themselves were not cylindrical, but a more geometric shape similar to the cut of a diamond with the edges rounded. The bands themselves were made of two different materials. The thicker, upper part of the band was made of a frosted steel-grey metal. Conversely, the thinner part that made most of the grooves were made of a silvery-white material that gave reflections an ethereal color. The only difference between each of the tubes was the color of the gemstone set a few inches from the top. One gemstone had a deep crimson hue while the other had was blue. Various runes were etched down each band in a language that escaped Twilight's understanding. The marks were etched into each band with obvious precision and care. The twin tubes enraptured her and tickled her curiosity. Twilight picked up the blue tube and was astonished at what she sensed. Se felt like her levitation spell was being attracted to, and flowing through the cylinder. This feels like a unicorn's horn! "Those are not toys to be played with." Twilight broke the spell and shuffled backwards. She had been so distracted with the tubes she forgot about Warden, who was staring at her intently. "I am sorry. They are beautiful. What are they?" "The tools of my trade. It is a right of passage for every Jedi to create their own. They are also my sole possessions." Warden said after an undignified stretch. "Well, and that hunk of metal I suppose. I doubt it's owners will want it back..." Warden then used the Force to grab the lightsabers off of the ground and turned them on. Each blade came to life with the sound of tearing, followed by a distinct hum. Each blade was a distinct silver color fading into a white core. Twilight stood motionless transfixed on the twin pillars of light that was conjured from the tubes. "They are called lightsabers. They are as dangerous as they are useful. I would elaborate, but we should get moving before too long." Twilight and I headed through the forest after a bit of complaining (mostly from me). Deciding this was as good a time as any, I decided to ask a few burning questions. "I meant to ask earlier: male or female?" Twilight appeared to be taken aback by this question. "W-what?" I gave Twilight as flat a look as I could muster. "Gotta ask. I've seen some messed up genders in my time" I shuddered as the thought of a Hutt passed through my mind. "I-I'm female. We call ourselves mares, while the males call themselves colts. ...and you are..." Twilight shrunk at the question, afraid to offend. "Male. Or colt I guess. I apologize for the question, but I have this thing for making people uncomfortable." "Apology acce-HEY!" I gave out a hearty laugh as she jabbed me with her horn. Perhaps this Twilight isn't so bad. "And we are ponies." "Excuse me?" "We are ponies. Not persons." "Of course you are a person. everybody is a per-" "Everypony" Twilight corrected. "Tell me, do you have a body?" "...Yes" "Therefore everybody" Quod Erat Demonstrandum. I gave as smug a look as I could give. I have had a lot of practice giving one so I pulled it off perfectly. "You say potato and I say potato." Twilight's face scrunched in confusion. "But you said those both the same way!" I suddenly found my fingernails to be very interesting. Twilight fumed for a while before calming down. "I have a few questions on your culture. I am going to be stuck here a while and would like to know what I am getting myself into." Twilight perked up at this. "Sure! I have plenty of books for you to read!" "...uhhh, I can't read your language." "But you are speaking Equish!" "Well yes and no." How am I going to explain this? "How can it be both? I can understand you so you obviously are." "Hmm... let me see...." I stroked my chin for luck. "You mentioned magic a wile back?" "Yeah. I saw you do some a while ago." "It is magic then. I when I speak, I am also putting magic into my words so that the meaning behind the word is embodied by the word itself. It is the same as what people call 'incantations'. But back to my questions. My first question is this: What kind of government do you have?" "We are ruled by two princesses, Celestia and Luna." "Princesses? Why not queens? Whatever. So you have a Matriarchal Diarchy. What is this place called?" "Equestria." "Hmm...fitting." My questioning went on for some time with topics ranging from "Why wasn't a caste system developed between the three pony species?" to Twilight's friends. She had five of them. Their names escaped me shortly after Twilight said them. The way I see it, they aren't THAT important. As we approached the edge of the Everfree, Twilight turned to me and asked the question that burned in the back of her mind. "When we get to Ponyville, what will you do?" I had been wondering that same question for most of the journey through the forest. I am unsure if Twilight was aware of this or not, but my questions were an attempt to determine if I could continue my search on this planet, and if their culture would be drastically changed with my influence. The answer was, and glory be to it, maybe. I could deal with maybe. Hell, the Galactic Republic was founded in maybe. Species have become great off the back of maybe. Maybe is the place where life happens. And the Force is where life happens. "I think I would like to talk to your Sovereigns about buying a fair amount of land out in these woods." Twilight seemed both excited and confused at this. "Why in Celestia's name would you want land in the Everfree?"