Falling from the Stars

by Wannabe Scholar

Chapter 1 (EDITED/REVISED)

“Elara? Elara?”

Hearing her name, the young Padawan stirred from unconsciousness. She raised her head from her computer terminal and opened her eyes to see her master’s concerned face. “Master? What’s going on? Where are–ow!” Elara began quickly, but a headache stopped her.

“Glad to know you’re alright,” Ren smiled as he stood.

Rubbing her aching head, Elara asked, “How long was I out?”

“I don’t know. I got up not too long ago,” he turned to the bridge, “and it seems things aren’t that well.”

Elara looked at the bridge of the Enlightenment and found out what her master meant. Many officers were sprawled all over the floor, while the technicians were working on the now damaged computers. To the young Padawan, the crew looked like they had gone through hell and back.

“Just what happened here?” Elara gazed at the bridge. “I remember the Ragnos’ Scepter going into hyperspace and then…”

“… we were pulled into the hyperspace lane,” Ren finished.

She looked at him. “So where did we end up, then?”

Her master did not answer that question. Instead, he left the computer terminal and headed down the walkway with a curious Elara following him. When the two Jedi approached the window, Elara’s eyes widen at what she saw. “What the…”

Outside of the Enlightment lied not the darkness of space, but the whiteness of moonlight surrounded by a night sky. There were white cloud hanging about, and down far below were blue oceans and green landmasses that reminded Elara of other worlds like, like Alderaan or Dantooine.

But where ever they were, this certainly was not Bothawui.

“Master, where are we? What is this planet?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Ren answered.

Elara turned to her mentor, incredulous. “What do you mean ‘you don’t know?’”

“I mean I don’t know,” he stated calmly without looking away. “According to our technicians, this planet, this system, isn’t even in the star charts.”

While Elara reeled in her thoughts, Ren noticed a figure approaching them. Striding down the walkway of the bridge was a dark-skinned woman, donning the red uniform of a Republic officer. “General Incerto,” she greeted, stepping beside the Jedi Master.

“Captain Leth,” Ren returned, “anything to report on the ship?”

The captain hesitated and slightly fiddled with the cap on her brown hair bun. “Well general, it does not look that well. The ship is fine, save for a few bruises, but there’s the problem of our… displacement. We’re having trouble pinpointing our location, but we know we’re no longer is within the Mid or Outer Rims. We could be in Wild Space, for all we know.”

Elara thought about that for a moment. Alright, they were no longer in the Outer Rim, but perhaps it was not too bad. “Can we return to Known Space?” she spoke up, her voice holding a sliver of hope.

The captain shook her head. “Not without the right calculations. That may take time, since the position of the stars here are different. And then, there are the starboard engines we need to worry about…”

The Padawan drowned out the rest of the conversation, frowning at this development. Just great. Here they were, stuck in an unknown sector of space with no way of returning. As if that was not bad enough, there was that Sith ship across from them–wait, what?

Elara’s eyes widen again this time seeing a Sith battlecruiser. It was a distance away from the Enlightenment as it remained hovering in the strange planet’s sky. “Master,” Elara said, catching the attention of the other two, “is that the Ragnos’ Scepter?”

It was the captain, not Ren, who answered, “We’ve already scanned it. Its identification tag doesn’t match the Ragnos’ Scepter.”

“It must have been the other Sith ship that was sucked into the hyperspace lane,” Elara thought aloud. “Has it done anything?”

“No, nothing yet. It’s just floating there. Lucky for us, the Ragnos’ Scepter is nowhere in sight. It’s either destroyed or far away from us.”

“Maybe, captain,” Ren spoke warily, his eyes on the Sith battlecruiser. Again, the Jedi Master felt something from the vessel. There was that presence, the same one he felt near Bothawui. He hadn’t felt it since…

“So master,” Elara’s voice caught Ren’s attention, “what do we do?”

He pondered for a minute before turning to the captain. “Have you scanned the planet below?”

She nodded. “We did. The planet appears to be breathable. We were getting some strange readings from down there. Our sensors could be a little haywire from our sudden jump, though.”

Slowly, the gears in Ren’s mind started turning, and he gave his orders. “Alright, let’s give the crew some rest. Everyone has to be ready in case of another battle.”

“And the planet, sir?”

“I want to take a look at this place. Prep a shuttle and an away team,” Ren answered, glancing at Elara. “My Padawan will come with me.”

Elara blinked. “Master, are you sure about that? You’ll need someone to command the Enlightenment.”

“Our captain’s more than capable,” he assured. “Besides, do you want to be stuck on a ship with nothing to do except stand around and give orders?”

Knowing her master was right, she said in a defeated tone, “No, master.”

Ren turned back to the captain. “When you get communications back up, try contacting the Sith warship. They’re stuck too, so I don’t think they’ll try anything yet.”

It was the captain’s turn to look surprised. “Uh, yes sir…” When Ren turned to leave, the captain called out,

“General, if I do manage to contact the Sith, what should I do?”

“Keep in contact with me and let me know what’s happening!” Ren answered as he led Elara down the walkway.

“But what should I say to the Sith?”

“That’s up to you, captain!”

The captain would have asked again if the doors did not close behind the two Jedi. She glanced around, finding herself alone on a damaged bridge with all eyes on her.

---

From the window, Councilor Clover of Equestria, or Clover the Clever, watched the night sky with unease. Hours ago, she had been studying the stars and weather patterns, checking on the progress of the working unicorns and pegasi.

That changed when Clover had spotted something in the sky. Somethings, to be precise, outlined by the sliver of moonlight; one, thin and with a giant hammer, and the other was shaped like a hook. They hung in the sky and were partially hid in the shadow of night clouds. Where they came from, nopony knew, and it only gave Clover a sense of curiosity and fear just by looking at them.

“Has anything changed?” inquired a tired voice.

Clover turned to see stallion closing the chamber's doors behind him. “They’re still up there, Hurricane,” Clover answered.

Hurricane, former Commander of the Pegasi Tribe and now member of the First Council of Equestria, gave an irritated sigh as his hooves left heavy trots on the chamber’s floor. “And there’s nothing? They haven’t even moved?”

Clover regarded her fellow councilor with a pensive look. “We should be grateful, Hurricane, they’re not attacking.”

“If there was an attack, at least we would know what’s going on,” a huff left him before he went up beside Clover and glanced out of the window. “All of this waiting makes me uneasy.”

Clover didn't argue with that. She had her own concerns about these things, whatever they were, and simply waiting left the Unicorn a little antsy. Besides, it was pointless to argue with a veteran who slightly towered her. With little sleep, Hurricane’s neck, wings, and shoulders sulked as if heavy weights dragged them down, and the stallion without his armor left him naked, figuratively and literally.

Finally, Clover asked, “Anything from our scouts?”

“Nothing,” Hurricane blew his dark, disheveled mane out of his tired eyes. “Whatever those things are, they’re too far up for anypony to reach.”

“I didn’t think they would.” Clover wrapped her white cloak close, protecting her pink coat from the chilly air. “I’m surprised Master Starswirl isn’t here. He might have an answer to this.”

“Where is that old pinhead anyway? He would be jumping out of his ugly hat by now.” Hurricane glanced around while Clover silently frowned at the Pegasus.

A light rap of hooves ran from outside. “Maybe that’s him,” Clover thought aloud.

The two mares turned to the closed doors, waiting for them to be open. The trots grew louder until they finally came to a stop. Then, then door was pulled from outside…

… only to stop in its frame.

“Uh, hello?” a chirpy voice called from the other side. “Anypony in?!”

An annoyed Hurricane groaned. “Clover, please…”

Sighing, Clover tossed blonde strands aside and powered her horn with a similarly colored magical aura, which also surrounded the door handles. When the door swung inward, a yellow and brown form fell flat on the floor with a plop. A yellow hat tilted forward atop a puffy head of red, showing the other two ponies its pudding-like top, and its owner, an Earth Pony with a magenta coat, lied there in front at the door.

“Puddinghead, are you alright?” Clover asked, somewhat tempted to trot over.

The hat rose to show a goofy grin from Equestria’s third Councilor. “I’m fine! Just a little wobbly, that’s all,” she replied.

“Maybe you wouldn’t be if you pushed instead of pulled,” Hurricane shot at her.

Puddinghead let out an hmph as she stood on her magenta-colored legs. “Well, somepony’s cranky.”

“Puddinghead,” Clover cut in quickly, “has something happened? Has Master Starswirl said anything?”

“Right!” Puddinghead pushed up her head her hat. “He says not to worry. There doesn’t seem to be any danger yet.”

“Did he say anything else?”

“Not yet. He says he’ll be in his lab, looking for any magical disturbance,” she continued with her hooves patting down her yellow ruff and blouse.

“Aaand?” Hurricane pressed.

After patting down her brown skirt, Puddinghead looked up. “Aaand that’s it.”

Again, the lone stallion groaned. Clover regarded Hurricane with a patient look. “Starswirl’s doing his best, Hurricane.”

“Doesn’t change the fact he’s such a recluse,” he muttered.

“Actually, he's very outgoing for a pinhead–oops!" Puddinghead’s gray eyes widen, and she covered her hooves over her mouth. “Sorry Clover! I forgot we're not supposed to use that word.”

“I don't see the big deal. It’s just a bunch of words,” Hurricane said. “It’s no different than calling Earth ponies dirt-diggers.”

“Or feather brains for Pegasi!” Puddinghead chirped in, only realize her mistake. “Oops! I did it again!”

While Hurricane forced himself to not glare, Clover forced herself a smile. “It’s alright,” she said. “Just be careful in the future. More importantly, we need to think how we’re going to deal with this.”

Puddinghead, tapping a hoof on her muzzle, suggested, “How about we send a message?”

Hurricane replied with half-lidded eyes of exasperation. “And how do you propose we do that?”

“Easy. We just write in the ground saying not to attack us, or we’re peaceful.”

“They’re too far up in the sky for any Pegasi to reach them. How can they read a single word of Equish?” Hurricane deadpanned.

“… We could write in big letters.”

As the two argued, Clover mentally sighed. ‘You’ve dealt with this for five years, Clover. Just hold it together,’ she told herself, then aloud to the others:

“Councilors, can we please focus?”

Turning from Puddinghead, Hurricane said, “Alright, what do you suggest we do?”

“Well… I…” Clover began, but her voice and mind came up on a blank. With strange things in the sky, what could she say? What could she do to calm the two ponies down?

After a moment, a yawn forced itself out of Clover’s throat. “Maybe,” she began tiredly, “we should just get some sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

“Best idea I’ve heard,” and Hurricane turned for the door in his slouching manner. “Wake me up when something interesting happens.”

“Don’t sleep too long,” Puddinghead interjected, hopping alongside him, “This might be a milestone in the history of Equestria!”

“Oh, be quiet!”

The Unicorn stared at the departing Earth Pony and Pegasus. “How Smart Cookie and Pansy handled them is beyond me,” Clover mumbled before she followed them out.

Unbeknownst to the trio, a small dot left one of the strange figures in the sky, passing over the white face of the moon and traveling down to the forest beyond the capital’s barrier…

Author's Note:

Alright, this chapter had more work than the prologue. I thought it would be better if I changed the latter half. I personally think it's better for it, but please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

-W.S.

Comments

[snowblind]

Mandalorians NAO!

[treegrowth]

“Master, where are we? What is this planet?” she asked.

“Master, what is this planet?” she asked.

Hey, it's a broken rec-rec-record.

[Cross Lament]

one, thin and with a giant hammer, and the other was shaped like a hook.

Invasion of the Space Communists!

[Bronzer]

7063920
More like a weird combination of communist and fascists within an oligarchy/theocracy fusion (the Sith Empire, that is).