Pony Power Battles

Trixie’s whole body was beginning to ache from her long journey on this Celestia-forsaken planet. She had no idea that being a Jedi involved ‘this’. Yavin IV housed the old Jedi training grounds, and for some stupid reason, the terentatek, a monster of force-devouring evil, chose to live here. Mud and vines coated her aching hooves. She looked up at her other Jedi companions, Archimedes, an orange baby dragon with green eyes, followed by Moonlight Scroll, a blue unicorn with a red mane. Moonlight Scroll's cutie mark rose and fell with each trot, a bound scroll set beneath the moon and stars. She sighed at their toughness and determination. Why was she even supposed to be here?

“When will we be there?” She asked Moon with a complaining whine in her voice.

“We’ve still got a while to go, do you want to rest?” Moon explained, comfort in his voice.

Archimedes piped up at this response, almost indignant, “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. The more we trek today is less we have to trek tomorrow. Are you sure you want to rest with that knowledge?”

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. Another piece of the Jedi code came floating back to Trixie as the throbbing sensation in her hooves distracted her from the mission, and Archie’s question. It would be nice if knowledge could dry her legs and take this mud away, she thought. Her scrunched up face must have drawn attention, however, as both of her companions had stopped and were awaiting her reply.

“Oh!” Trixie was taken aback, “I guess we can move on a little further…” She sighed as they began again. She didn’t really want to, but she would press on as long as time allowed, though not without complaint. She almost got caught again as she saw Moon looking back at her, thoughtfully.

“If you really need to stop, just let me know. Here, have some water,” he said, using magic to hand the water skin to her. She drank deeply of it with a nod of thanks before handing it back. Refreshing!

“I just don’t understand why a terentatek had to be all the way out here, in the middle of nowhere!” Instead of on some civilized world like Coruscant, Trixie thought.

“It’s here, because this is where the old Jedi lived,” Archimedes began, not stopping the march, “Their latent force energy remains still. That legacy is what drew it here. If it weren’t for Luna’s connection to the force, none of us would even know of its existence, or that a terentatek decided to take up residence here. Come on, we’ll stop at the base of the next ridge,” Archimedes finished.

The three of them continued to trudge through the jungle for the whole of the next hour, climbing a hill before finally catching sight of the run-down temple. In the middle of the jungle, overrun by wildlife, there stood a barely discernable metal spire, shooting towards the stars. It looked like old world tech, though it was completely run-down; and almost another day of travel, mercifully downhill, to get there.

Trixie gawked at the majestic sight before her. If she weren’t so tired, she’d drink in the view even more. Instead, she plopped herself down onto the ground amidst the vines and brambles where she stood, bringing out a mat for her to lie down on. Just then she noticed Archimedes and Moonlight Scroll collecting firewood from the jungle.

“Uhh,” Trixie started to offer, but was hesitant. It had been a long day, and she wanted to rest some. She almost let out an audible sigh as she began to surrender to her conscience.

Noticing her apprehension, Moonlight Scroll said warmly, “Hey, just take it easy for now, we’ve got this. It’s just firewood.” Trixie stayed seated at this, exhaling in relief.

“Yeah, if you want to be lazy and get weak, be my guest,” Archie replied, not even looking up.

“Hey, just be a little nicer to her, okay?” Moonlight interjected, though not unkindly.

Archimedes just scoffed and stayed silent. Trixie felt terrible, like she was caught in the middle of two warring dogs. She lifted a piece or two of firewood from nearby without rising, bringing it to a place in the middle of where they planned to sleep. She then cleared out a little space around the logs, making sure all the brush and flammable jungly things were out of danger. Feeling better, she decided to go into her pack, fishing for food.

“Shit,” Archimedes said under his breath, almost falling over with an enormous stack of firewood. He stumbled but caught balance quickly. He set the large pile down next to the makeshift fire pit and threw a few logs onto the soon-to-be fire. Noticing the clearing his features softened somewhat.  “Thanks,” he said genuinely.

That’s a switch, Trixie thought to herself, almost scoffing. She then looked for Moon Scroll in the jungle from her spot as afternoon turned to twilight. Archimedes heaved back, breathing in a huge amount of breath before letting the inferno of cerulean flame wash over the wet branches, drying them and starting a blaze almost instantly.

“Moonlight Scroll isn’t back yet,” Trixie noted with the sound of worry in her voice.

“I’ll go look for him in a minute, if he isn’t back by then. I’m sure he’s fine,” Archimedes said, placing his hands in the fire. It wasn’t cold, but Trixie could see that little flakes of dirt and grime flew off and into the sky as the flame cleaned his hands. She almost caught herself being impressed as she pulled out a thing of cupcakes from her pack, munching on one eagerly. She was famished.

“I’m sorry, Trixie. I don’t mean to push you so hard, but we’re Jedi now, and we’ve got a job to do,” Archimedes explained softly.

“Oh, that’s fine,” Trixie said, though she still didn’t like him. Still, this new turn of events was interesting…Archie…apologizing?

“Still, you’re right, it is getting late, and Moon isn’t back. I’m gonna go look for him, would you join me?” Archimedes offered, walking over to the mare.

Trixie was apprehensive. She didn’t like the thought of going off into the jungle at night, but if Moon needed help, it was her duty as a friend to help find him! “Alright,” she said in reply, “But you don’t get to ride me!”

Archimedes just smirked as she rose, bringing out her lightsaber. Archie also readied his double-bladed lightsaber, a testament to his skill in battle. Together, they trudged through the forest in Moonlight Scroll’s direction, being careful not to trip and to stay within sight of the fire. It was dark by now, and the going was slow. They carried on in silence, trying to sense his location in the jungle around them. Trixie couldn’t feel anything, though, except the fading remnants of the Jedi masters of old, still humming their old codes in the fabric of the force.

An hour passed, maybe two, as they continued through the density and closeness of the forest. The jungle itself seemed to be playing mind games with them as evil faces appeared and vanished before their eyes. Trixie started to feel a very real shiver of fear run down her spine, though she felt nothing except the low drumming in the force. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but something was watching them.

Trixie looked back at the fire, now a long ways off and dwindling. “Maybe we should go back and look for him tomorrow? Or maybe he’s already back at the campfire, I mean, if we can see it, so can he, right?” She whispered nervously.

“Trixie,” A voice called to her left. Suddenly, she couldn’t see Archimedes in front of her.

“Archie? Archie where did you go!?” She whispered as loud as she dared, looking this way and that, almost in full panic mode. The darkness seemed to creep all around her as she allowed the soft violet hue of her lightsaber to ignite in the blackness. Immediately, in its light, she saw the faces of many horrors in the leaves and branches of the jungle, and, startled, she began to gallop straight back to the campfire, running for her life.

Minutes passed as the panic subsided into a low fear, the adrenaline coursing through her system. She never tripped, oddly enough, as she looked this way and that, hoping somewhere to see something besides spooky faces in the dark of the night. She sorely wished to be back on the spaceship, or even on Coruscant, lovely Coruscant with the Jedi masters giving her accolades and telling her how special she was.

Tears started streaming down her face as she reached the campfire, the flames almost fully dead. She switched off her lightsaber as she put more wood on the fire, hoping it would catch. For the first time since the completion of her training, she sorely wished Archimedes were there. It wasn’t working. The flame seemed to hate the idea of wet logs being placed on it and choked, sputtering out.

Trixie almost screamed, “Come on!” prancing on her hooves, reigniting her saber and drowning the blade in the moistened wood of the fire. This had to work, come on come on! Initially, the saber only made a small hole where she placed it, setting the surrounding wood to melt mode and causing a tiny amount of flame to catch on some of the smaller logs. Then the wood around it felt the heat of the saber and the melting log and decided to get with the program, catching fire and spreading grudgingly over the rest of the logs. Trixie almost cried out in joy, instantly looking around for any sign of Moonlight Scroll or Archimedes.

She saw nothing in the denseness of the jungle, only the darkness stared back at her in the ominousness of the night. It all seemed quiet as she took out another cupcake, sitting on her mat facing away from the fire, afraid something would sneak up on her. She munched on another cupcake, then another, nervously eating. She held her lightsaber out and ignited, fully prepared for anything to come at her. Cupcakes and lightsaber, her two best forms of protection.

After a while, she dug into the package for more cupcakes, but didn’t find any. Her heart sank. She felt so alone, and so hopeless. She looked into the night sky, hoping to see some kind of moon, some sign from her beloved master; but only inky blackness met her, not even stars. It was as if the doom of this planet had covered itself even from the small light of distant suns. It was then she heard rustling in the jungle. She went right back into panic mode, leaping behind the fire, lightsaber at the ready. If need be, she’d use her magic as well.