Star Wars: Galaxy of Disharmony

Castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle; 7:30 am

The world spun and swayed as Twilight Sparkle blindly wandered the barren halls of her castle. Her directionless travel had left her walking the halls in circles for the past half hour and now she was beginning to feel nauseous. The dream from the previous night continued to consume her thoughts and the images haunted and hounded her even now. No matter what she tried, the dream, or perhaps the vision, replayed over and over again in her head as clear as if she was seeing for the first time. The ghostly faces, the skeletal frames, the fire, the death.

Even the emotions she felt when she had the dream stayed with her. Fear, rage, sorrow. Her mind was a storm of emotions. She felt her body sway as she lost her balance. Her shoulder hit the wall and she braced against it to keep herself upright. Confusion churned her emotions further as her heart was wrenched by the pain she felt at such images.

She curled her hand that rested against the wall and placed the other to her head before moving it to her face. Her teeth clenched and her stomach tightened. All she wanted to do was slide to the floor and curl into a ball.

Questions abounded. What was the dream? Why did she have it? Why did it seem so real? What were all of the things she saw?

“Twilight!”

The voice snapped her away from her thoughts and back to reality. She looked up to find the world a blur and wiped her eyes to find they had filled with tears. With her vision clearer she watched as Rainbow Dash flew towards her almost out of control. The pegasus cut her flying and her hooves screeched across the crystalline floor as she skidded nearly a meter to a halt just shy of colliding with Twilight. She stood there a moment, doubled over and panting.

“Rainbow?” As the pegasus took a moment to catch her breath Twilight tried to return to calm, wiping her eyes to clear away any wayward tears. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

Finally having caught her breath, Rainbow looked up. “There’s a bunch of flaming objects falling from the sky! A few pegasi just reported them coming in from high and East. They just came out of nowhere!”

Fear shot through Twilight as the images from her dream resurfaced. She shook her head in an effort to dispel the thoughts. There was no reason to believe that this was related to the dream, more likely a freak meteor shower or something. Of course such a thought bore separate fears and dangers of its own. But not wanting her friend to see her in such a fearful state, she steeled herself for whatever was happening.

“Come on Twi!”

The two headed for the exit with Rainbow hovering ahead and Twilight running behind. In such a panic she found it difficult, even impossible at the moment, to muster the strength to fly. Her mind practically screamed her begging that whatever she had seen in the dream would stay there. She would talk to Celestia later about it once everything had calmed down. A meteor shower brought dangers but would be over shortly. If it was related to her dream…

Please be a meteorite or something.

The two had barely gotten out the door when a shower of flaming pieces of metal rained down on their right. They ducked back in as numerous shards rained down and chunks of various sizes and shapes damaged buildings and bore small craters in the ground. Fire began to spread as ponies scrambled to flee the chaos. The sounds tore at Twilight’s gut.

Taking a quick look over the scene, Twilight noticed a few of the larger pieces that stood out. Familiarity struck her as she stared at the remains of a craft of sorts and a few pieces that resembled the legs of the beetle-like objects from her dream. She made out the mass shell that made up the metal beetle. Fear held her in a vice grip. Her dream had become a reality.

“Twilight!”

Twilight turned to see Rainbow pointing up into the sky as another fire ball hurtled towards the ground. Her eyes went wide as she made out the shape of one of the flying objects from the dream surrounded in flames. They watched a moment as the craft shifted its trajectory a bit before clipping the top of a building. The two held one another and ducked as the craft slammed into the ground and carved up the road. The sound it made sent a chill up Twilight’s spin.

When they looked up they saw the path that it had taken in the crash. It has brought down a building, one fortunately recently built and still unoccupied, destroyed a fountain, and slammed into a small business building with fire starting to spread. They ran towards the scene as ponies fled. Twilight wanted to join the fleeing ponies but found her body simply reacted and charge ahead.

As they closed in on the wreckage Twilight slowed before ultimately stopping. The burning wreck was a mangled mess of metal and broken glass. The left wing had been wrenched off and smoke rose from the top and back. She looked up at the front and the two bubbles of glass that toped the front end. Inside she saw two white figures slouched over and still. Her fears resurfaced in a new light as the side parted slightly, revealing it to be a large door, and a white figure limped out.

Exiting the craft was one of the figures from her dream. White body with a T-shaped slit on the face. Despite this new revelation, Twilight’s fear was pushed aside as worry, even compassion, arose when the figure staggered and fell. It looked up and reached out a hand, pleading. She could sense the pain as the figure struggled to crawl forward.

“Twilight! Wait!”

Twilight ignored Rainbow’s cry as she charged ahead. No pony else was moving. No pony else was helping. She could not blame them. It was all terrifying. Horrifying. More so when she had watched these figures fight, kill, and die in a horrific dream that ended in fire. But as before, she simply reacted.

There was no time to think. Whoever the figures were, they were in pain. Twilight reached the wounded figure just as it slumped once more. She grabbed it up and slung its arm over her and began dragging it from the wreck. Rainbow hovered over and helped, taking the other arm.

As she carried the figure, she noted the “skin” was in truth armor, though was not made of metal. It was comprised of multiple plates that covered the body with some sort of cloth material underneath. The helmet covered the entire head and had a short fin on top. There appeared to be no injuries on the body nor blood, but the lack of movement and limp stated clearly indicated injury of some sort.

Finally far enough from the fire, Twilight called out to bystanders to get a doctor or any pony who could provide medical help while she and Rainbow carefully set the being on the ground on its back. She slowly reached down and took hold of the helmet and carefully removed it to reveal the face beneath. The face was flat and was primarily hairless, limited to just above the eyes and on top of the head. The mane was solid black and was short, cut close to the scalp. A gash on the top left side of the head wept crimson, indicating one of possibly several injuries.

The being, likely male by the body features, opened his eyes which grew wider at a new sound from above. All heads turned as a full flight of the strange craft flew over as an explosion rang from above. As the flight soared passed the town another shower of metal rained down just passed where Twilight and Rainbow were, towards the direction of travel of the flight. The sound of metal striking the ground and buildings echoed through the streets as well as a series of disgusting cracks just in front of where she was. Despite the danger, Twilight found herself opening her eyes to see that she was huddled over the being she had rescued.

She sat up as the being stared at her before cringing in pain. A doctor and a pair of nurses finally arrived and the two friends stood to let them work. She watched for a second as they pushed aside their fears and began removing the armor. Twilight looked ahead to find the source of the cracks. Lying on the ground was the mangled body of another armored being. Each limb bent at odd angles and the head turned to the side. It did not move.

A look around showed her the chaos of the situation. Ponies fled in terror or watched in frozen fear as the fires began to spread. The injured being screamed in muted pain. Despite all this, Twilight could only stand and stare. Even the appearance of a platoon of Royal Guards did nothing to faze her. The guards scrambled to help ponies escape the area and organize an effort to put out the flames. Fear abounded and drove all actions.

“Princess!”

Twilight came back to herself at the voice of the guard that stood before her. She had not even realized that he had been standing there, much less trying to get her attention. Worry was plastered across his face as he looked her over.

“Are you alright, Princess? Are you hurt at all?”

She stood silent for a moment and looked down at her hands which trembled violently. She clasped them together and tried to put on an air of calm and control to keep others from panicking further. But the calm would not come.

“Yes. I mean…No. Forgive me.” She held her hands close to her chest. “I am alright. I am…fine. Just…fine.” She shook her head to try and dispel her fears, even to drop her hands a bit to display calm as she looked back at the guard. “Why are you here? Did Princess Celestia send you?”

“Yes Your Highness. I don’t quite know all of the details but she sent us to aid with a disaster that she said she sensed.”

The way the guard said “sensed” seemed almost…questioned. As if he was unsure if that was even the correct word. He clearly did not understand Celestia’s reasons and had likely not taken the time to question the orders of the Princess. Such reasons Twilight would have to ask about soon.

Nothing seemed to make sense. Not only did Twilight have a strange, premonition-like dream and just witness some of what she saw literally fall from the sky, but the Royal Guard had been dispatched in advanced to aid in a situation that just happened. What was going on? What was all of this? Was Celestia in the dark as much as Twilight was now?

Twilight needed answers to the flood of questions that surged through her head. With the immediate crisis, speaking to Celestia would have to wait until things calmed down a bit. She looked out towards the direction that the other objects flew. That was where she would find some answers. The Guard seemed to have things under control in keeping every pony safe and the fires contained.

“I want you continue with the relief effort here,” she told the guard. “If you find any of them,” she motioned to the one being treated by the doctor, “provide any assistance necessary.”

“Yes Your Highness.”

The guard was about to leave before Twilight stopped him. “I need you to stay with me.” The guard held his position, standing in mid-step and looking at her in slight confusion. “Rainbow.”

The pegasus seemed to almost snap to attention. “Whatcha need?”

“Stay here and help with putting out the fires and recovering these…creatures from the wreckage. Get Applejack to help too. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie can help calm every pony down.”

“What about you?”

Twilight turned to the guard. “I need a squad to come with me.” She turned and started walking towards where the other objects had gone as the guard called for the squad.

She was stopped as Rainbow grabbed her arm. “Where are you going?”

“I have to find some answers and maybe…” she looked back at the creature from the wreck, now stripped of the armor and the top portion of the black body suit which revealed new injuries, “help them.”

She started to move as Rainbow’s hand lost its grip and fell. But Twilight was stopped once more as a large chariot, filled with the requested squad of guards, flew over and hovered just in front of her.

“Princess, we’re ready.”

She hopped on and directed the driver to her destination. The chariot banked and took off, leaving the horrific scene behind. She spoke to the driver.

“We land after a little while and go on hoof. I want to try to avoid startling these newcomers as much as I can.”

Ponyville Observatory 7:30 am

Awards and prizes. Fame and fortune. Even the chance to be the pony to represent Equestria in meeting with the bizarre visitors from other worlds. Lyra had it all. Or did until her world was torn asunder by an explosion.

Her pleseant dream ended violently as Lyra was shaken awake and sent tumbling to the floor as the sound of something like a mix between the roar of a dragon and heavy machinery screamed from outside. She scrambled on her hands and hooves in a blind panic towards the table across the room and curled herself into a ball underneath the likely useless cover. With her hands pressed against the back of her neck, she pushed her face into the floor as the sound screamed for two agonizing and terrifying minutes. It took another three minutes after for Lyra to work up the courage, and curiosity, to crawl out from under her impromptu cover.

Moving cautiously, she made her way towards the door to the building before being stricken again by fear as another roar screamed from above. Frozen in fear, she hesitated for a second, debating whether to dive back for cover or rush out to investigate. For whatever reason, she charged for the door and swung it open to a horrifying sight.

Before her, the land was charred and ravaged with pieces of jagged metal strewn about. Small fires flickered in a gash in the ground. Still trying to take in the scene, a new sound caused her to turn her head to see a new sight. She looked up as a large group of fireballs screamed overhead towards Ponyville. As they passed over, one of the fireballs billowed black smoke and dove towards the ground. A second later, an explosion sounded as the fireball disappeared into the midst of the town, already exhibiting evidence of small fires starting to spread.

Looking back at the mess before her, Lyra mustered the courage, or some semblance of it, and creeped forward to the edge of the gash. As she peered into the long crater, she took note of the various pieces of metal that were strewn across the pathway of whatever had struck the ground. From small slivers to large sheets and chunks, she followed the trail until her eyes landed on the mangled remains of a large object. In its wrecked state there was no way to clearly identify what it was. The only thing she did know for sure was the obvious conclusion. This was no meteorite.

Ignoring her better judgement, Lyra carefully climbed into the gash and began wandering the site. Not only did the pieces once belong to something she had never seen before, the metal itself seemed a bit…strange. She picked up a few smaller pieces to find them different from any metal she had ever held or touched. Even the occasional glass was unbelievable. Truly alien.

Things became much stranger as she noticed something amongst the wreckage that did not appear to be a part of whatever had crashed. Lying in the charred dirt was a rounded object that was open at base. Though not familiar with military gear or even protective equipment she could see that it was a helmet of some sort. It looked to be designed to cover the entire head, though not a pony’s head by the look of it. Solid white with a short fin on top, the real defining feature was the black T-shaped slit and a feature that looked like a frown.

Lyra stared at the helmet for several moments then looked around at the wreckage surrounding her. Was the owner of the helmet here in the wreckage? Her stomach clenched at the thought of finding a new creature, dead and likely mangled beyond any sort of recognition from the impact. This was not how she wanted to prove that they were not alone.

Her musings were put on hold as another explosion caused her to throw herself to the charred ground and cover her head. The ground shook and a sound like a dragon clawing along the ground filled her ears. She waited a minute for the shaking and gut-wrenching sound to die down before she defied her better judgement even further. She crawled to the edge of the gash where she had entered and peeked out to see that another object had slammed into the ground.

The new object, something that looked like a cylindrical container with flaps on one end, was in much better shape than the one she had just investigated. A mix of fear and excitement surged inside as Lyra watched a creature emerge from the new object, visibly shaken but standing firm. It wore the same helmet she had found which led her to assume that the rest of the white on the body was a full set of armor or at least protective gear of some sort. The body frame was only slightly similar but ultimately different from any pony, having thin legs which ended in pointed and flat feet. It carried a strange, long black object and held it with one end tucked under the armpit and the other pointed towards the ground.

The strange creature looked around at the area and examined the observatory a moment before looking over at the wreck location and Lyra’s direction. It moved its head as though taking in the scene before stopping. Lyra could practically feel eyes on her as the creature tilted its head slightly before taking a few cautious steps forward, taking full grip of the object it held and raising it slightly.

With her heart in her throat and her stomach clenched so tight she felt like she would vomit, Lyra burst from her cover and charged towards the observatory. She thought she heard a voice as she ran but she could not look back. She could only run and hope she made it to the door before the creature attacked her. The fear and desperation drove her to run faster than she had ever ran before.

She nearly slammed into the door and fumbled with the handle a second before opening it and slamming it behind her. She pressed her back against the door and dropped into a fetal position, fearful that the creature would enter at any moment. She sat for what felt like hours, unable to move, as tears streamed down her face.

For so long she dreamed of finding evidence of life beyond what she knew. Whether it be new animals hidden away or something entirely unknown altogether. To find life beyond the stars would have been her crowning achievement. Now she sat in fear of what she had hoped and dreamed to find. Were they hostile or had she overreacted? Either way, this was defiantly not how she wanted to meet new life.