The Journal From the Stars
Chapter 1: The Book
It was a clear warm day in the Everfree Forest, yet those who knew the forest would still keep their eye’s open to their surroundings as it was place where nature took care of itself, making it both unpredictable and untamable. Anything could get caught by surprise and fall victim to the forest, such as these two ponies, the purple unicorn Twilight Sparkle, and the yellow pegasus Fluttershy. The two had come to visit a friend that lived in the forest, a zebra named Zecora. However the two never made it to Zecora’s hut.
“Run!” Twilight shouted as a pack of Timberwolves burst through the underbrush of the forest.
The two ponies ran as fast as their legs would carry them, trying to get away from the Timberwolf pack that gave chase. The wolves barking and sniping at the ponies, yet at the same time making no real attempt to stop them from escaping.
“Somethings not right Twilight!” Fluttershy yelled, “They could have had us -”
Fluttershy was cut off by the sound of a wolf’s mouth clamping shut right next to her. The sound of its rock teeth hitting each other caused the frighted pegasus to yip and shoot up into the air. Twilight looked back to see Fluttershy fly into the air only to see the the pegasus quickly come back down as black dark storm clouds started to form into the sky.
“Really!” Twilight shouted as it began to rain and thunder, the storm steadily building up it intensity.
“Twilight! There's a cave over their,” Fluttershy said point her hoof in the direction of a nearby cave as she flew back down towards the ground, “We could lose the wolves and shelter from the storm,” She said flying above Twilight.
“That sounds good, make sure you get in first!”
Fluttershy flew ahead of Twilight knowing what she was planing. Fluttershy flew as fast as she could. the wind at her back causing her to fly at breakneck speed that she normally couldn't fly at and crashed on the cave floor trying to land. Twilight entered a moments later with a flash from a teleportation spell and quickly turned to cast a barrier spell over the entrance.
“That should keep them out,” Twilight said panting after erecting the barrier over the cave entrance.
The two were quiet for a moment, recovering from the run, shaking the water out of their coats and catching their breath.
“Twilight, those Timberwolves, something wasn't right. That wasn't normal behavior, there was multiple times they could have had used pinned or worse,” Fluttershy stuttered.
“I know, it was more like they were herding us instead of hunting, then the sudden storm.” Twilight said shaking her head, "it doesn't make any sense."
She looked out the cave through the barrier she had erected. The Timberwolves all sat in a straight line, looking into the cave, emotionless like statues and unphased by the raging storm. The look of their glowing yellow eyes fixated on the entrance unnerved Twilight sending a shiver down her spine. Her attention was soon averted by a flash of lightning and a loud gasp coming from Fluttershy’s that could barely be heard by the thunder that followed.
She turned to see Fluttershy staring into the darkened section of the cave, a hoof over her mouth and eyes watering with tears. Curious on what had her friend upset, Twilight walked over to her side. Unable to see past the darkness, Twilight casted a spell to emitted a light from her horn. She too was taken back at what was in the dark corner of the cave.
Laying on the ground was a skeleton, but not a skeleton of any creature she had ever seen. It was long and slender, clearly bipedal by how the limbs were positioned, It reminded her of a minotaur but it was clearly not as bulky. Shreds of tan clothing hung off it bones showing that it wore clothes, and was possibly intelligent when it was alive. One of its arms lay across its chest, the other was laying on the ground next to him. Oddly the hand of that arms was wrapped in thick vines.
After her initial shock at the site, Twilight walked up closer to it.
“I wonder what it was?” Twilight asked herself as she began to examine the skeleton.
Twilight grabbed a shred of cloth with her magic to bring it up for a closer look. As she did, the vines around the creature's hand suddenly come to life with movement. Twilight jumped back while Fluttershy gave a startled cry as the vines started to creak and unwrap from the skeletal hand. The two watched as the vines moves, slowly but steadily, unwrapping themselves from the hand and each other. Soon three vines could be seen, all straightened out going from the ground to the ceiling of the cave, but before the two ponies could react to them they sunk into the ground faster than the ponies could blink. With the vines gone Twilight's attention was brought back to the skeleton.
“No way,” Twilight said as she stared at the hand that was just unwrapped, and the book held in the skeletal hand.
“Twilight, I don’t think we found this cave by accident.” Fluttershy said with a slightly shaken voice.
“I was starting to think the same thing, first the Timberwolves just chase us, passing up many chances to make a meal out of us. Then the storm out of the blue bring you back to the ground after you took to the air. Now this, this is just too weird,” Twilight said as she wrapped the book with her magic and levitated it towards her, “Though I hope this book has some answers. Those vines were protecting it if I was a guessing mare.”
Twilight set the book down and opened it. She stared at the page for a second, not enough time to read its contents, before flipping to a new page.
“No,” She said as she flipped a page.
“No,” She said again, slight irritation filled her voice as she flipped to another page.
“No,” another page
“No, no, no,” Twilight said as she quickly scanned the pages till she hit the end of the book.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked seeing the irritation in Twilight’s eyes.
“It's not in Equestrian!” Twilight shouted, “Or any other language I’ve studied! I actually have no clue what this is written in!”
“Oh, umm I guess -”
“But I still have another way to find out what it says.” Twilight said cutting off her friend.
“Really, how?”
“Its an experimental spell I was reading about. It’s supposed to be how Star Swirl was able to translate the dragon language. It goes off the theory that one not only puts their thoughts down on paper but also unknowingly put a little bit of their soul into their writing. Basically I’m going to bring out that soul bit in this book and use it to translate it.”
“Umm, Twilight, that sounds a little...evil...”
“No more evil than a tool. The soul bit that is left behind is no longer part of a living being thus making it impossible to twist on a moral level.”
“Ok,” Fluttershy said hesitantly not full understanding Twilight before looking around the cave, “but this isn’t the best place to try out something experimental.”
Twilight let out a sigh before responding. “Fluttershy, This book has something important in it, something that my gut is telling me we need to know now, The events that lead us hear were to… coordinated,” Twilight then looked towards the entrance at the Timberwolves and the raging storm, “that and we can’t really go anywhere for a while. So instead of waiting for an answer to find us I’m going to find an answers.”
“I… well I guess that makes sense. So how are you going to go about it?”
“First, ” Twilight said as she shot a beam of magic on the barrier, “extending the life of the barrier just in case this takes longer than planned.”
Twilight then set the book on the ground.
“Now, the tricky part,” Twilight’s horn started to glow and pulsate with magic, “Got to get this just right and… THAT'S IT!” Twilight shouted as she released the spell from her horn.
The book started to glow in the purple light, brightly at first then slowly fading till it soon glowed no more.
“Did...did it work?” Fluttershy asked confused and unsure of what was happening
“I think so, let's open it up and-” Twilight said as she open the book before being silenced.
As soon as she opened the book a blast of blinding purple light and gale force winds came from the pages. The two ponies could only put a hoof to their faces to block the light from their eyes and wind from their faces .
“What’s happening!?” fear filled Fluttershy’s voice as she yelled.
“I don’t know! This isn't supposed to happen!”
The light changed to a dome of energy that glowed in a lavender light as the wind died down to a small breeze. The two ponies lowered their hooves to see what was going on.
“What the-” was all Twilight was able to get out.
The dome had started to grow at an alarming speed. The walls of the dome passed right through the to two ponies as all they could do was watch. They felt a wave of energy course through their bodies causing their fur to stand and a prickly feeling all over their body before causing them to passing out.
The ponies hit the ground as soon as the dome reached the barrier Twilight had erected. As soon as the dome and barrier touched each other they both shattered as magical sparks were sent flying and flashing. Then everything went dark inside the cave once again.
The Timberwolves lifted their heads as they saw the sparks of magic fly from the cave entrance. They stood up and slowly began to walk towards the cave. With each step the wolves took towards the cave, the more the raging storm would calm. When the pack had reach the cave entrance, the storm had died down and a blue sky started to peek through the clouds. The wolves then formed a semicircle around the cave mouth and positioned themselves facing away from the cave, looking out into the rest of the forest. Their wooden ears flicking every now and again to the sounds of breathing coming from the two sleeping ponies, along with the sounds of flipping pages.
Author's Note
A few things some are spoiler.
1. My life is a little hectic right now, i like to write but only getting an hour or 2 a WEEK to work on my writings so updates are going to be slow.
2. Feed back please. honest words(both good and bad), and constructive criticize motivate the crap out of me. Tell me what you think and more chapters will follow more quickly.
3. I haven't abandons my other stories, i will still be working on them... when the mood hits me.
SpoilerIf you looking for a human vs pony battle, sorry not happening. humanities end isn't that glorious in this story.
Journal from the Stars
Chapter 2: The Departure
“Uh, what happened?” Twilight asked as she started to wake up.
Her eyelids flickered and she let out a yawn as she picked herself up off the floor. Once she got on all fours she then took in the sight before her, or more accurately the lack of one. Everything was white and cloudy with a slight tint of grey to it, the same as a thick fog before the morning.
“This… this is not good,” Twilight mused trying to figure out what had actually happened.
“Twilight! Twilight where are you!” Fluttershy shouted from the distance.
“Over here Fluttershy.”
The sound of Fluttershy’s hooves clopping on a hard surface echoed as she approached. The sound being the only sound heard in the fog was unnerving leaving Twilight with an uneasy feeling in her gut before Fluttershy was close enough to see through the fog.
“Twilight what is going on?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’m still trying to figure it out. Even if my spell failed, it shouldn’t have brought us to, where ever this place is.”
“What if, we're dead.” Fluttershy said lowering her head.
“What? Why would you even think that?” Twilight was clearly shocked by Fluttershy’s statement.
“Well the Timberwolves were right outside the cave. Maybe all your spell did was knock us out, and the barrier fell before-” Fluttershy was silenced by Twilight hoof.
“Don’t think like that Fluttershy. I’m positive we are not dead. Just, well I don’t… I don’t…” Twilight trailed off her voice almost a whisper now, “I don’t believe it.”
Twilight could only stare with her mouth hanging open. Fluttershy gave Twilight a confused look before turning to see what Twilight was staring at. Once she saw it she let out a small squeal of alarm as she quickly hid behind her friend.
Black lines started to dance in the air, twirling around before stopping in certain spots forming certain shapes. Those shapes being letters of the Equestrian alphabet. Minutes passed before all the lines found their places. The two friends had been watching in fascination and fear at the spectacle that had taken place before them. Yet they still jumped as a male voice began to read out loud what had been written on the wall of fog.
“Well Daniel today is the day. There is going to be a celebration then we are off to planet 10875, also known as Hope on this ship, the Second Chance. Honestly I don’t think it's what the big wigs say it is, but I got nothing left on that dieing rock to hang onto so I figured what the hell why not. Then “Lady Luck” found it fitting that out of all the volunteers to chose from I get to be one of the active crew, so I’m going to get to stay awake for the trip, all ten years of it. Goody!(sarcasm). On the bright side, I think I’m going to be the most glorified swappie in history so, yeah me!(more sarcasm).”
The voice went quiet and the black lines that formed the words squiggle away disappearing into the fog. Twilight and Fluttershy were left to try and figure out what it was that they had just witnessed.
“What? Was that...what?” Twilight said trying to wrap her mind around what just happened.
“Twilight. Can you get us out of here now, that is if we're really not dead.”
“Fluttershy. For the last time we are not-”
In the blink of an eye the fog disappeared as if blown away by wind. Twilight and Fluttershy found themselves suddenly on a stage in front of a large crowd of creatures they had never seen before. They looked similar to the Minotaurs but not bulky, and were hairless save for a little on the top of their heads. They all were lined up and stood at attention, and clothed in tan colored uniforms
“-dead,” Twilight finished.
Twilight and Fluttershy were lost in the scene of it all. Not only was there a large crowd of creatures they had never seen before but beyond the crowd they saw a city that could only exist in fantasies. It was huge, buildings as far as they could see and tall enough to reached into the clouds and reflected the light of the sun making them sparkle. An uncountable number of sky chariots whizzing through the air with unbelievable coordination and speed as they weaved in between each other and the buildings.
“Wow.” The two ponies said in unison over the magnificent sight.
Their attention was soon redirected to the stage they were on as the sound of footsteps could be heard behind them. The two ponies turned around to see one of the creatures walking up behind them, then through them as if they were never there.
“We are dead! And now we are ghosts! Twilight I don’t want to haunt anypony, or whatever these are,” Fluttershy said as she started to hyperventilate.
“We are not dead Fluttershy, it’s… it’s just an illusion. Like one of Trixie’s performances,” Twilight said trying to comfort her friend. “I hope,” she mumbled to herself unsure what was really going on.
“Greetings,” came a booming voice from the creature that had walked through the two ponies. His voice was loud, much louder than anything they were use too. They put their hooves to their ears to try and muffle some of the sound but to no avail. “You all have been selected to be part of the Second Chance project. You are Humanity's best chance of survival in these dark time. As you know the voyage to the planet we have taken to calling Hope will be long, too long to sustain such a crew for a ten year journey with the limited cargo you will be able to take with you. So you all will be put into a cryo sleep. This you already knew, or should have already known. However, Second Chance does need a small active crew for the voyage. Most of those members are already on board. However we are still in need of two more with mechanical knowledge to help maintain the ship's systems.” The man then pulled out an envelope and started to open it, “We have already chosen the two who will be part of this team passed on physical condition and mental wellbeing. The two are Lilith Hachfield and Daniel Comick. Would you two-”
The man’s speech was cut off by a loud boom from the sky, as if something had exploded. It caught everyone's attention as they looked up into the sky. The two ponies watched with gaping mouths as the sky above them was replaced by a massive rectangular object. the object came closer and closer to the ground before stopping just a hundred feet above ground. Winds started to pick up blowing in all directions and constantly shifting, blowing debris and dust around. Yet the whole time the man on the stage and the people in the crowd remained unaffected by its presence, as if it was something of commonplace.
“Looks like she is ready a little early.” the man on stage said before looking back down at the crowd in front of him. ‘Alright everyone! To your boarding craft!” He shouted “Hachfield and Cormick are to report to the bridge! Everyone else to the Cryo-Bay! MOVE! The Second Chance is moving out early!”
The crowd dispersed in a rushed but orderly fashion while the man on stage began to walk off, again passing through the two ponies as he walked off, not noticing them in the slightest. His passing threw Twilight, causing the pony to snap out of her aw gazing trance at what she assumed was the Second Chance.
“Huh...Hey Wait!” She yelled out to the man, knowing he had more information, but he didn’t stop or even notice her call out.
Twilight began to run after him but stopped halfway across the stage and looked back only to see Fluttershy still staring wide eyed at the mammoth hanging in the sky. She looked back at the man as he was about to step off the stage before letting out a sigh and running back to Fluttershy, and possibly losing an easy chance to learn where they were or what was going on.
“Fluttershy, hey” Twilight said as she put a hoof to Fluttershy’s shoulder and began to shake her, hoping to break her trance.
“Huh...What?”
“Good, you're out of it now let's go before he gets-”
In that moment the world around them changed in an instant. It was like waking up in a room different than the one you fell asleep in. They were no longer on the stage overlooking a city with a metal mammoth in the sky. Instead they were in a small room with grey metal walls and a single square window which the night sky could be seen out of. Only three pieces of furniture could be seen in the room, a bed, a desk with a chair, and a dresser, all of which seemed to be made of the same metal as the wall.
“- away!” Twilight finished then started to blink in confusion at her new surroundings.
The change however was too much for Fluttershy however and with the sudden change she fainted, unable to mentally keep up with the strange events that had been happening.
“No, Fluttershy get up-” She stopped in surprise as she caught a glimpse of a creatures that she only knew as “humanity” as it walked through her as sat at the desk. He opened one of the doors and pulled out a book and pen and began to write, whispering as he wrote.
Curious, Twilight began to walk closer to hear what he was saying. Slowly she began to walk towards the desk, placing her hoof down gently as to not make any noise on the metal floor. She was but a few inches away from the chair when she could finally hear him speak.
“... bright side, I think I’m going to be the most glorified swappie in history so, yeah me,” he said before putting the pen down, “hell Daniel, who you trying to kid?”
“No way.” Twilight said softly thinking out loud, not believing her ears. It was the same voice that spoke in the fog, and the same words that were spoken there.
“Hu, Liz is that you?” Daniel said and turned around in his chair. His eyes went wide as they met Twilight’s gaze. Slowly he reached his hand out, and touched Twilight’s horn. “...What?”
As soon as Twilight felt the creature touch her horn, the world around her shifted again, back to the foggy void that they started in.
