Ch. 30; All For One
“So, what do ya fillies’ think’s goin’ on, anyway?” whispered Applejack to her friends as they sat in the royal chariot that was currently winging its way through the skies towards Canterlot.
“It could be nothing more than a social call,” pointed out Rarity, “Our Princesses can be a tad eccentric, after all.”
“Oh, oh, maybe they need help with a super-secret surprise party!” suggested Pinkie, her eager grin threatening to split her muzzle as she bounced in her seat.
“Maybe, Pinkie, maybe,” Twilight could only smile at the party pony’s boundless enthusiasm, “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
Not long after, the chariot banked and started to descend, but when it headed to the train yards rather than the palace, the six mares began to shoot questions at their guards, who had been oddly closed-mouthed the entire flight.
“Oh dear,” said Fluttershy, pulling her friends’ attention from the still silent pegasi, “I don’t think there is going to be a party,” she added sadly as she pointed a hoof at the guard express train they were headed to, with Luna, in full armor, pacing impatiently beside it.
Pinkie’s ears fell, “Bummer,” she sighed dejectedly.
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As they made their way down the train’s corridor, the seven ponies passed squads of Royal Guards and Night Guards as they stowed their equipment and settled in, while a glance through a window showed Twilight several of the EFA’s apprentices in another car, “Princess, what’s going on?”
“Patience, Twilight Sparkle, ‘Tia will explain,” the lunar alicorn said as she opened a door emblazoned with the royal seal and waved the younger mares through, “I must speak with the engineer, and then I will join you all.”
Entering the car, the Ponyvillians were greeted by the sight of the elder of their sovereigns bent over a tiny, fold-out desk as she read a report, “Twilight, fillies, come in,” Celestia waved them at the few seats and two beds in the rather bare car, “I’m sorry to have summoned you all so suddenly, but we have a situation.”
“Of course, Princess,” Rarity replied, “Whatever we can do to help, just ask,” the other mares nodded in agreement, even as Twilight nervously bit her lip as she noticed Celestia’s armor and halberd racked along one wall, with Luna’s wingblades beside them.
“Thank you,” Celestia sighed and reached up a hoof to rub at the bridge of her muzzle, “Twilight already knows some of this, but several days ago, I asked Revan and the three top apprentices at the Force Academy to investigate the Nightmare Woods … it didn’t go well.”
Applejack tipped her hat back as she frowned at her liege, “Jus’ how bad are we talkin’ here, Princess?”
“The three students are awaiting our arrival as they recover from their injuries in GreenWood. As for Revan ….”
“A madness has taken Revan Vao,” Luna declared grimly as she stepped into the car, “Although she retained enough of herself to order her apprentices back to safety while she stayed behind to fight something called a ‘terentatek’.”
“Oh no!” Fluttershy’s horrified words voiced the thoughts going through her friends’ minds, as, with a shriek of the steam whistle, the train lurched forward and started on its way.
‘It’s not over!’ thought Twilight adamantly as she swallowed the lump in her throat, ‘The Princesses wouldn’t bring us here if there was no hope!’ “Do we know any specifics of Revan’s psychosis?”
“She claimed to see ghosts,” replied Celestia, “She was talking to, and even attacking, ponies who weren’t there, she even believed that the ponies who were there were different individuals. And she was drawing heavily on her dark healing against the terentatek.”
“I should have gone with her, ‘Tia,” Luna broke in agitatedly as she began to pace through what little open space remained in the car, “There must have been something, anything, I could have done!”
“The mind-block spell wasn’t even experimental when Revan left,” Celestia reminded the younger diarch, “And if you had gone, we could be facing the possible loss of two sisters right now.”
“We’re going to do something, right?” demanded Rainbow, “We’re going to get Revan back, right?”
“That is our hope,” the solar alicorn smiled gently at the weatherpony, “Lulu, why don’t you inform our little sisters of the plan?”
‘Oh goodness,’ Twilight blinked as, despite the seriousness of the situation, her cheeks – and her friends’ – turned hot for a moment, ‘We’ve all figured out what Revan was calling us, but to hear Princ— to hear Celestia refer to us as her sisters ….’
Luna dropped onto a bed with a sigh, somehow squeezing herself between Applejack and Rarity, “Once we have conferred with Silver Chaser, River Breeze and cheeky Blaze, we, the eight of us, will seek out Revan Vao in the Nightmare Woods, relying on the mind-block enchantment to protect us from the forest’s fell influence.”
“Um, excuse me,” Twilight interrupted, her hoof raised like a schoolfilly, “What is this ‘mind-block’ spell?”
“It’s something that Lulu and the Magus Corps have been working on,” Celestia explained, “It should protect us all from the illusions, madness and hostility that the Nightmare Woods generates, unfortunately, it is still too cumbersome for anypony other than an alicorn to cast.”
Luna resumed her tale, “Once we have found Revan Vao, ‘Tia and I will engage her in battle and keep her distracted so that you six may use the Elements of Harmony, and the Makers willing, return her to her proper mind. After that,” the lunar diarch shrugged, “We will have to see.”
“So, what’s the deal with all the guardponies?” asked Rainbow, “Are they coming with us after Revan?”
“The guardponies, and the other Force Academy students, are accompanying us to ensure the safety of the ponies of GreenWood,” replied Celestia, “And to oversee the town’s evacuation if it proves necessary.”
“Ya think it might get that bad?” Applejack asked quietly, “No offense meant, but ah have ta ask, why haven’t ya burned tha dang place down already?” The farmpony gave Fluttershy an apologetic look, “Ah mean, tha Everfree is a right nasty place sometimes an’, sure, it’s got monsters living in it, but ah remember my uncle, Apple Strudel’s, stories, an’ this Nightmare Woods makes ponies inta monsters!”
“It is not so simple, fair Applejack,” Luna wrapped a comforting wing around the earth pony, “The Nightmare Woods are over twenty-six thousand pony-lengths wide, and more than three times that in length, we simply do not have the guardponies it would take to besiege it. Even if we were to rain fire down from the heavens, as happened in Revan Vao’s old wars, the monsters and twisted animals within would merely flee out into Equestria and Germane. As objectionable as it may be, allowing the Woods to stand protects the bulk of our little ponies by restricting its horrors to one small corner of Equestria.”
“Enough of such depressing talk,” Celestia said, clapping her hooves together, “We have work to do, and only two days until we reach Fillyville in which to do it.”
Twilight’s ear twitched as she glanced at her mentor, “Do you have something you want me to study?” she asked, eager for a distraction.
“Actually, we have tasks for all of you,” the solar diarch smiled down at the purple alicorn, “You, Twilight, need to learn the mind-block spell.”
“And I had the guards bring extra weapons and harness so that we could properly outfit each of you,” Luna added with a merry grin, although it was clear to the watching ponies that her good cheer was rather forced.
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The ponies of GreenWood packed the roadside to stare and cheer as the small column of armored ponies marched through the town, with the three princesses at its head. Walking between the two diarchs, Twilight did her best to hide her anxiety as she smiled and waved at the watching crowd.
“You’re doing well, my faithful student,” Twilight blinked as she learned another thing about her mentor – she could talk without moving her lips! “I’m afraid that you will find that putting on a tranquil front is a regrettably necessary talent for a Princess.”
“It will not be much longer, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna consoled the young alicorn, her own muzzle never changing from its shy smile, “We are almost to the gendarmes’ blockhouse.”
Not long after, with the gurdponies and apprentices dismissed to erect their encampment in the fields just beyond the town, the diarchs and the Elements of Harmony managed to extract themselves from the nervous Mayor Fluffernutter and went into the blockhouse to meet the ponies waiting on them.
“Your Highnesses,” the three worn-looking ponies said as they bowed, “We’re ready to depart for the Woods whenever you are,” River added as they rose back to their hooves.
“While we appreciate your dedication, my little ponies, we wouldn’t think to ask you to accompany us, especially with some of your injuries still healing,” said Celestia gently, “We only require directions to where you last saw Revan, and warnings of any hazards along the path, and then you will remain in GreenWood to continue with your recoveries.”
“What?” asked Silver as he exchanged bewildered glances with his fellow apprentices, “What do you mean we’re not going with you?”
“Just what I have said,” replied Celestia, her tone was still kind but brooked no argument, “You have been through much on Equestria’s behalf already, and I will not subject you to more without need.”
“Well to tartarus with that!” snapped Blaze as she stomped forward to glare at her diarch, “If you’re going into that nightmare to get the Boss back, we’re coming too!”
Luna placed a wing on her sister’s shoulder as she stepped forward to meet the young pegasus’ glower with one of her own, “This is a matter of the Thrones and the Academy, young Blaze, and a family affair what’s more. Mine sisters and I could well be forced to banish Revan Vao, or seal her away for the safety of Equestria,” Luna’s manner softened as she continued, “We would spare you three from such anguish, as well as spare you from yet another journey through the perils of the Nightmare Woods.”
“The Boss is your family, but she’s our teacher, our leader,” retorted Blaze, her voice beginning to roughen, “And we left her back there!”
Silver put a comforting hoof on the young mare’s shoulder, “The Legate ordered us to retreat without her, Blaze.”
“That doesn’t make it right,” the pegasus replied, her voice muffled by a face full of puffy mane as Pinkie bounced forward to wrap the teen in a hug.
“With all respect, and apologies for Blaze’s outburst, your Highnesses,” River spoke up, “We are going back after the Legate, on our own if we have to.”
Twilight looked between her friends’ sympathetic faces and the apprentices’ resolved ones, before she turned back to the elder alicorns, “If they are so determined to go, would it not be better for them to come with us? Actual guides would be faster than following directions, and we can shield them with the mind-block enchantment.”
“Very well,” Celestia sighed, “You may accompany us. However,” the three apprentices snapped to attention as Celestia’s usually motherly tone sharpened, “I expect you to follow orders and show proper discipline! Understand?”
“Yes, Princess!”
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“This is far enough,” said River as she brought the band to a halt, “Once we clear this rise, we’ll have a clear view of the Woods … and it’ll start playing with our heads. Princess, you said something about a spell?”
Luna nodded as she turned to her fellow alicorns, “With such a large group, I think it best that Twilight Sparkle and I both cast the mind-block to ensure our defenses. I am unsure of how long the spell will endure, so we will likely have to recast it a few times throughout the day,” she smiled reassuringly at the ponies, “The mind-block should ward us all against the Nightmare Wood’s influence, although you may experience some minor dampening of your emotions, but it is nothing to be fretful over.”
Despite the lunar princess’ assurances, the cluster of ponies fidgeted anxiously as Twilight’s and Luna’s horns glowed with the power they were gathering, after a few moments, the alicorns were ready and unleashed their magic, causing Twilight to stumble as the spell’s backlash left her dizzy.
Applejack reached out a quick hoof to steady the librarian, “Ya a’right there, sugarcube?”
“Just a little lightheaded,” Twilight smiled reassuringly at her friends.
Cresting the hill, the group paused as most of them took their first glimpse of the Nightmare Woods, “Well, it definitely has the whole ‘creepy haunted forest’ look,” Rainbow admitted.
“Where are the lights?”
“What lights are you talking about, Mister Silver?”
“The last time we were here, Silver and Blaze saw lights moving in the fog, Lady Rarity,” River explained, “I saw vague figures instead, while the Legate said she saw ghosts … was it all in our heads?”
“At least the mind-block seems to be working properly,” said Luna with a satisfied smile, “Still, the Woods possess numerous physical dangers, we must stay on our guard.”
“Don’t ya worry none, Princess … err … Luna, we’ve got yer backs,” Applejack gave an annoyed glance at her armor, “Even if we’re still tryin’ ta get used ta all this ironmongery.”
“Is it really so hard to address us by our names, Applejack?” Celestia teased the farmpony, “Still, the day is getting shorter and we should be on our way,” she added soberly, letting her playful smile fade.
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‘After long enough, I guess even the sinister can be reduced to the merely irritating,’ Twilight mused hours later, as the group trudged through the forest. Despite the sounds hidden in the haze, and the shared certainty among the ponies that something had kept pace with them for almost an hour, not a single bird, beast or even insect was to be seen, ‘Celestia, Luna and the apprentices are still on full alert though. I almost wish something would happen, just so everypony could relax, this stress can’t be good for them.’
As if summoned by her thoughts – or by a malicious deity – a pair of deformed bears suddenly loomed out of the mists, snarling and snapping their jaws as they locked glowing eyes on the surprised ponies.
Even as the two twisted ursines began their charge, and the ponies readied their defenses, Fluttershy, staggering slightly under the unfamiliar weight of her armor, charged forward with a cry of “Stop!”
The yellow pegasus held her ground as the two bears lurched to a halt, looming over her, “I’m sorry if we wandered to near your cave,” said Fluttershy firmly, “But we can barely see in this horrid fog, and that is no excuse for being bullies and trying to hurt us! You should be ashamed of yourselves! I have a mind to find your mothers and tell them what you’ve been up to, what do you have to say for yourselves?”
The bears looked at each other sheepishly at Fluttershy’s scolding, until one snarled irritably and lashed out with its paw, while the other roared and lunged forward to bite at the shy pegasus! Fortunately, a trio of shields – golden, magenta and turquoise – enveloped Fluttershy before either blow could land.
Luna, Silver and Blaze were quick to come to Fluttershy’s aid, with Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity only a step behind, as they descended upon the bears in a flurry of hooves and weapons. The ensuing fight was brief but bloody, and ended with Luna driving her wingblades into the back of the second bear’s skull as it was reaching out to crush River, heedless of the spear the unicorn had run through its heart.
“What is wrong with this danged place?” asked Applejack as she wiped the sweat and blood from her brow, “Never mind that those were tha freakiest bears ah ever done see, but bears don’t push a fight like that unless they’re mad or protecting their cubs.”
“They were both ‘boars’,” Fluttershy offered from where she was checking the other ponies’ injuries while resolutely keeping her eyes away from the carcasses, “Colt bears. Actually, they shouldn’t have been traveling together at all.”
Celestia walked over to give Fluttershy a brief neck-hug, “You were able to get them to stop and listen to you, even if just for a moment, and that is a wonderful sign.” She smiled at the gathered ponies, “Now at least we have hope that the creatures of the Woods may return to normal in time, if the source of the corruption can be found and dealt with.”
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A few hours later, they stopped to wait as the apprentices conferred, the other ponies exchanging confused looks as the three struck out on a new path, perpendicular to the way they had been going the entire day, “Hey, what’s up?” Rainbow flapped ahead to ask their guides, Pinkie bouncing along beside her, “Why are we changing our course?”
“There is a place ahead, a village,” replied River tersely, “We need to go around it.”
“Why?” asked Pinkie, her eyes bright with curiosity, “Is it full of grumpy, meany-pants ponies or something?”
The three apprentices paled as their faces froze as if turned to stone, “If it pleases you, Lady Pinkie,” said Silver through clenched teeth, “Never ask us that again.”
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After a night of uneasy sleep, the companions pushed deeper into the twisted forest. Having learned her lesson the day before, Twilight maintained her vigilance, straining to catch any hint of the Wood’s creatures, but hour after hour passed with no sign that anything other than the ponies moved in the forest. Eventually, their guides waved them to a halt, “We’re almost to where we last saw the Legate. It’s not pretty,” River said quietly with a glance over at Pinkie and Fluttershy, “And we don’t know if that terentatek is still about, so we need to be on our guard,” their warning given, the apprentices continued forward, while the two elder alicorns dropped back to flank the group protectively.
Advancing slowly through the mist, the ponies soon came upon a copse of broken, withered trees, while a few scattered bones were all that remained to mark the manticore that had fallen prey to the terentatek days earlier.
As they looked over the scene, Fluttershy’s quite cough drew the ponies’ attention, “It looks like they went that way,” she said, pointing down a trail of ravaged and scarred trees.
“Would you look at all this,” whistled Rainbow after several minutes of walking, “Must have been one hay of a fight.”
“Quite true, Rainbow Dash,” Luna agreed as she looked at the ruined landscape they could barely see through the omnipresent fog, “But this devastation causes me great concern, for reasons beside the obvious power of this terentatek creature. Was Revan Vao so lost in the addictive nature of her dark healing that she was indulging it through the battle? Or was it such a vicious contest that she had to embrace her darker nature merely to survive?” the lunar alicorn shook her head sadly, “Both possibilities fill me with dread of what we may find.”
Luna’s concerns put a damper on Rainbow’s enthusiasm, and the ponies walked on in silence for a few more minutes before they came to an opening in the forest. Bare, cracked earth, surrounded by lifeless trees marked what had once been a sylvan glade, but all eyes were quickly drawn to the massive, bipedal form lying motionless in the dirt.
“It’s dead, the Boss beat it,” Blaze gave a relieved sigh as they gathered around the carcass, their muzzles wrinkling at the stench, “… but where is she?”
“This beast has been dead for several days,” River observed, “The Legate could be anywhere now.”
As they helplessly looked around at the mist-filled forest, the ponies’ ears twitched as the sound of a familiar voice raised in song came to them from out of the haze.
Yoshibelle is a gypsy lass,
She’s survive through any pass,
A third rate ship, but a first rate ass.
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Eagerly setting out in pursuit of the strangely cheerful, considering the situation, singing, the band quickly came upon Revan herself, strolling through the trees, her riven armor hanging around her in tatters, as casually as if she was taking a turn through the palace gardens.
You think it’s easy, maybe you would,
To have more choices than one man should,
There is ---
The twi’lek’s singing cut off, her poisonous-yellow eye widening in surprise and her hand falling to her saber hilt, as the ponies burst out of the mist, “Well, well, what do we have here?”
“It’s us Revan,” Celestia said, flaring her wings to keep the others back, as she stepped forward to confront the twi’lek, “Your vod and ade, don’t you recognize us? We’ve come to bring you home.”
“My vod? My ade?” Revan shook her head in confusion as her eye darkened back to green … before it returned to yellow and Revan’s lightsaber crackled to life in her hand, “What lies are you spewing? I have no vod!”
“Guard the Bearers of Harmony!” shouted Luna over her shoulder at the apprentices as she sprang forward to assist her sister, while a golden shield wrapped around Celestia, protecting the solar diarch from Revan’s stroke as her saber lashed out.
Twilight snapped her mouth shut as she shook off her shock and reached inside herself for the bonds of magic and friendship that connected her and the other fillies … but instead of the sudden, overwhelming rush of power she had felt when they faced Nightmare Moon and Discord, the magic answered in a sluggish stream.
The librarian could only grit her teeth as the Power of Harmony slowly swelled within the six Bearers, watching helplessly as Luna and Celestia used their martial skills to keep Revan contained, while their shields kept the twi’lek’s murderous aura from reaching out to ravage the other ponies.
Finally, after what felt like long, agonizing minutes to the young alicorn, but likely was only a few moments, the magic reached its peak, causing her body to vibrate with its power, “Celestia! Luna! Now!”
Two things happened as the blast of rainbow light leapt from the six mares, firstly, Celestia and Luna’s shields dropped, allowing Revan’s dark healing aura to lash out at the other ponies. Secondly, Celestia failed to fully block one of Revan’s strikes, causing the lightsaber to tear into her muzzle just as the Power of Harmony smashed into the twi’lek, driving her into the ground and causing the grasping tendrils of lethal power to fade away before they could claim any victims.
The ponies gathered around the prone twi’lek, Celestia holding a hoof to her injured muzzle, while they waited anxiously to see what effect the Elements had had on Revan.
Twilight let out a relieved breath she hadn’t realized she was holding as Revan rolled over and blinked at them with a confused, green eye, “Twi’? Girls? Ade? What are …” Revan reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose as she shook her head in disgust, “Great, I’m hallucinating again.”
Applejack, Rarity and Silver all “hmphed” in annoyance at being mistaken for a mirage, while Rainbow and Twilight started forward only for Luna to beat them to the punch as she reached out a wing and whapped Revan on the back of the head.
“Hey!” pouted Rainbow, “I was going to do that.”
“Elder sibling’s privilege,” Luna smirked at the weatherpony.
Revan watched the byplay in stunned silence for a moment, and then lunged forward to wrap her arms around Twilight in a bone-creaking hug as she buried her face in the librarian’s mane, “You’re here! You’re real! The Force and the Emperors, you’re real! I didn’t just imagine all of you!”
“We’re not a delusion, Revan,” Twilight assured the twi’lek as she gently stroked Revan’s lekku, while Celestia re-cast the mind-block charm and the other ponies grinned at the pair, “We’re real, and we’re taking you home,” she pulled back slightly to glare at the older woman, “And don’t you ever put me through that again!”
“I’m sorry,” sighed Revan with a grimace, “But I can’t leave.”
“What?”
“What are ya talkin’ about, Revan?”
“Are you under some kind of hex or something?”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Revan turned, her arms still around Twilight, to look at the others, “It just that I … holy shit, Sunbutt! What … I did that to you, didn’t I?”
“It is alright, Revan,” Celestia gently touched the cauterized gash that ran most of the length of her muzzle and nearly reached her eye, “You were not yourself. Though, I must admit, it itches horribly. Now why can’t you come home?”
“Because I found the source of all this,” Revan explained, waving at the fog-shrouded trees as she got back to her feet, “And I can’t just walk away, not when I have a chance to destroy it.”
“Do we have to destroy the source?” asked Twilight, “Couldn’t we at least try the Elements first?”
Revan shook her head, “Too much risk, and I doubt it would work anyway, come on, it’ll make more sense if I show you.”
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After almost an hour of hiking through the trees, the fog faded away to a thin haze as they came to the lakeshore, and the ponies all stopped in their tracks to stare at the hulk of the crashed starship sitting offshore, a crude metal bridge running between a hatch in the ship’s side to the shoreline.
‘It must be over two hundred pony-lengths long,’ Twilight thought, even as she itched to get her hooves on the records and datafiles the ship’s archives surely must contain.
“This is. So. Awesome!” Rainbow’s rush towards the wreck was arrested by Rarity clamping the eager pegasus’ tail in her cornflower blue aura, but Rainbow was so excited she barely noticed, “There are even more aliens in Equestria! Wait, does this mean these aliens are the bad guys?”
“The aliens are long dead, RD,” Revan replied with a small smile, “Ladies and gentleman, allow me to present the Kyozist, an over-sized example of the ancient Derriphan-class battleship, and the home of our problem.”
Fluttershy cocked her head at the Jedi, “But you just said that the aliens were all gone?”
“The Kyozist’s crew isn’t the issue, ‘Shy,” explained Revan, “The holocron they left behind is.”
“And what is this ‘holocron’ thou have found, Revan Vao?”
The twi’lek idly dropped to her heels, starring out across the lake at the wreck as she explained, “A holocron is … think of it as an interactive archive, only the librarian is the ghost of a Sith Lord or a Jedi Master. Often, the ghost, or gatekeeper, is just a tutor and archivist, and the most it can do is locking out portions of the holocron’s data if it feels the need, but some, some gatekeepers are vastly more powerful.” Revan glanced at her companions, “And this holocron is strong enough to create the Nightmare Woods, to reach Amber Moonlight’s mind back in GreenWood … and to sink me in my Darkness and convince me that all of you were just a dream.”
Rainbow scratched her head, “So … why can’t we Harmony-blast this holocron thing?”
“Because there’s no person for you to target, RD, just a … memory of someone long dead inside a talisman. And even if the Elements did work,” Revan added, “To hit the holocron you’d have to go inside the Kyozist, within the gatekeeper’s reach.” The Jedi frowned, “When I stumbled across this wreck I … think I was still mostly in control, but then I found the temple compartment and the holocron … and it only needs to get its claws into one of your heads to disarm the Elements, assuming it doesn’t have more directly lethal abilities, like Force-lightning, at its disposal.”
“So, if going after the holocron directly is out, how were you planning on dealing with this, Legate?” inquired River, breaking the silence that had followed Revan’s analysis.
“See that breech in the hull?” asked Revan as she pointed at a great rent in the ship’s side, “That’ll let me into the cargo hold, and from there I can hopefully get to engineering. After that, I’ll manually disable the failsafes, set the reactor to overload, and then … ‘boom’.”
“Hmmm,” Celestia tapped her chin with a hoof as she thought, “Before any decisions are made, we really should see if we can even reach engineering,” the Princess of the Sun grinned, “And, truthfully, how could we pass up a chance to look around a starship, even if it is only the hold?”
“What? Wait! We don’t know if it’s safe yet!” Revan found her protests ignored as the ponies, heedless of possible dangers, eagerly trotted into the lake and started swimming, or the case of the pegasi and alicorns, flying, for the wreck.
Blaze paused to throw a glance back over her shoulder, “Boss? Are you coming or what?”
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Despite her enthusiasm, and the images conjured forth by her Daring Do books, Twilight knew better than to expect much too come of their little expedition. Almost a millennium of exposure to the elements and the lake, never mind the effects of the crash and any salvage efforts by the Kyozist’s crew, would almost certainly have reduced the cargo bay to bare walls and piles of decayed refuse. When she alighted inside the partially submerged hold, her horn one of several lighting the darkness, she found her expectations to be disappointingly accurate.
As the ponies wandered through the maze of rotted casks and crates, the most interesting thing they found was a scattering of canisters that where still sound despite their age, and a set of strange metal frameworks that formed a row of massive, open-sided cubes, all connected by heavy cables to a group of large, boxy devices. “What were these for Revan?”
“Hmm? What have you found?” the Jedi soon slogged her way over to where the ponies had gathered to examine the strange structures, “Well, I’ll be damned,” she whistled as she looked the objects over, “Stasis cages, and hooked up to a bunch of generators to keep them powered if the ship’s main reactor went down. What the chaos were these guys carrying?”
“I found something like your datapad on one of the walls,” offered Pinkie as she poked at one of the sealed containers they had found, “Would that help?”
“Sounds like a cargo terminal, I should be able to call up a manifest if it still works. Thanks, Pinkie, where did you see it?”
Her curiosity piqued, Twilight followed the twi’lek and earth pony and watched eagerly as Revan powered up the computer and began punching away at the keyboard, “Have you found anything?”
“Patience, pika,” Revan smiled at the alicorn, “A lot of this data is corrupted … Ah, here we are … Bones of the Emperors, were they insane?”
“What? What was the ship carrying?”
The Jedi turned to face the two mares, her face grim, “Two breeding nests of shyracks and a pair of terentateks!”
“So, another one of those terentatek meanies is around here?”
“Maybe, Pinkie,” sighed Revan as she ran a hand over her lekku, “Or it could be in hibernation somewhere, or dead, or ten thousand kilometers away, for all I know. We better tell the others.”
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“So, what’s a ‘shyrack’ anyway?” asked Applejack as she leaned against the stack of a half dozen cases that the ponies had recovered.
“A kind of blind, flying, cave-dweller,” Revan explained, “Sort of like a bat nearly as big as me that hunts in swarms and can bite through armor. They’re a dangerous pest if you have a blaster or other modern weaponry, and their numbers aren’t too great, but they’d be a real terror for folks only armed with swords and spears.” The twi’lek frowned in thought for a moment before she continued, “Since none of you have heard of them, I think they either all died out or they don’t leave the forest …or no one has ever survived an attack to report them.”
“Let us focus on the matter to hoof for now,” Celestia reminded them, “Revan, did you find what you needed?”
“I located the hatch to the engineering bay,” the Jedi replied, “I still have to see if I can get inside, and then I’ll need some time to kill the failsafe systems and rig the reactor, that’ll give you time for everyone to get clear of the blast zone.”
“Are you sure that the explosion will destroy the holocron?” asked Rainbow, “I mean, this ship is kinda big.”
“Holocrons are tough, but they aren’t that tough, RD,” Revan reassured the pegasus, “Between the reactor, the fuel cells and these extra generators, not to mention whatever missiles are still in the magazine, the Kyozist will go up like a second sun. And since the interior bulkheads are a lot weaker than the armored hull, the entire temple compartment should be consumed before the superstructure fails.” She glanced over at the ponies’ scavenged containers and smirked, “Getting some looting in before we go?”
“Salvaging, dear,” Rarity corrected primly, “We are gathering salvage from an unclaimed derelict.”
“Uh huh,” the twi’lek nodded, “So what did you find, anyway?”
“Three crates of those nasty ration bars you poor aliens live on,” said Pinkie, waving a hoof as the stack, “One crate of ‘all-weather blankets’, one crate of ‘powercells’ and one crate of ‘medpacs’.”
“That’s … actually not a bad haul,” Revan admitted, “Well, you should get started now if you want to get your loot --”
“Salvage!”
“-- safely away from the lakeshore,” the Jedi continued, “I’ll meet you in the forest once I’m finished with everything here.”
________________________________________
Revan looked over her preparations one final time, ‘Engineering bay and reactor chamber doors jammed open … check. Maintenance hatches to the fuel cells open … check. Failsafe systems deactivated … check. Stasis cage generators cranked up to full and their safety systems disabled ... check. Exit route cleared … check.’ Turning back to the computer, she took a deep breath, ‘Reactor ready to begin a catastrophic overload as soon as I hit the switch … check.’ Closing her eye, Revan opened herself to the Force, letting it flow through and empower her, before she reached out and hit the execute command.
Spinning around, she dashed for the hull breech as fast as her legs could carry her.
________________________________________
Celestia watched her little ponies with concern as they regained their bearings; between the ground shaking, the blast wave that roared through the trees, and the brilliant light that had managed to burn away the ever-present fog for a moment, it was no surprise that their legs were unsteady and their wits a bit scattered.
“Oh my, that was a bit unpleasant,” murmured Fluttershy as she got back to her hooves, “Do you think Revan is alright?”
“I’m well enough, ‘Shy,” came the reply as Revan, muddy and bleeding, limped out of the trees, “I may have cut it a bit close, though.”
There was an audible “thump” as Twilight dove into Revan, “I told you not to do that to me!” she growled at her fillyfriend, her forelegs wrapped around the Jedi.
“I’m sorry, Twi’eswo,” Revan apologized as she gently stroked the alicorn’s mane, “I’m yours, heart and soul, and I’d do anything for you, but I can’t promise to never go into danger.”
“Really?” deadpanned Applejack as her two friends continued their embrace, “Ya call that a marriage proposal?”
“Applejack!”
“What? Ah’m jus’ sayin’.”
Revan shook her head at her friend as she knelt down to bring her eye even with Twilight’s, reaching out, she took the purple alicorn’s hoof in her hand before dropping her head shyly, “Twi’ … Twilight, I know what I do scares you sometimes. Some of the things you get into scare me too, but nothing scares me as much as the thought of life without you. I know you deserve the best, someone who will back you up without limits, and love you without end. Will you let me be the one?”
Twilight could only stared at her fillyfriend for a moment, tears in her eyes, before she threw herself into Revan’s arms with a glad cry, “YES!”
This was another of those chapters where I could see it (or at least parts of it) in my head, but getting it down on paper was an exercise in aggravation. 
I’m of two minds about Celestia and her scar, should it stay, or should it be healed away? What do you think, oh readers?
Oh, and Revan was singing Spaceman’s Dilemma by Leslie Fish and Vic Tyler, a YouTube recording is linked below.
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Well that spell goes a lot better than the Force Protection technique used by the Counsular, this one doesn't slowly kill you as you use it.
You got featured again.
image.prntscr.com/image/780d08aa911041df8d156d174a8c4ffa.png
The feels at the end!
There's a lot of swapping back and forth between referring to Twilight as an alicorn and as an unicorn in this chapter.....
Also, several wrong incorrect uses of "too":
Should be "to"
Should be "to"
"too" and "to" should swap places
7810803 Heh, still that kind of self-sacrifice dose seem very appropriate for the ponies. Good thing it wasn't necessary
7811133
Editing ...
... and Fixed.
Apparently I'm still not used to thinking of Twilight as an alicorn ... and the to/too thing ...
Thanks for the heads-up
7810964
7811338 I don't remember the earlier chapters having either problem. Were you just particularly tired while writing this one?
7811348 I'm going to put it down to me being so glad that the struggles with this chapter were over, that I failed to properly edit it in my eagerness to finish it up and post before I leave on vacation.
Hopefully I'll stay more on the ball in the future
7821247 Actually, Twilight's ascension was mentioned back in chapter 27 as something that had already happened. (Specifically, Celestia asked how Twilight was handling it.)
Interesting premise here. I think I'll give this a read eventually.
Please heal Celestia. She has to have a spell for that, given that she used to be in battles more but has no scars. She'd at least hide it with a spell too, while it healed, so as to not worry everypony. The way she, like a boss, said it just itched tells me she's had that kind of thing happen many times before, so it stands to reason she will heal with time.
7863856 I'll see if I can't point some out later. I really need to sleep now so work doesn’t suck tomorrow. Already well into the AM here.