knights of the old republic: The lost exile

Rainbow gaped at the scene in front of her. Since her and her friends had returned to Ponyville, she'd been worried sick. The Rainbow maned Pegasus had quite a lot of friends in the little town and the meteors hadn't left much unscathed in its crash. Several of the thatched cottages that made up the town were on fire, their straw roofs sending up plumes of thick black smoke that obscured the sky. Several of the towns occupants were running about, each carrying a bucket slopping over with water in an attempt to put out the blaze. The mare was secretly glad that the meteor had hit somewhere away from the outskirts. Her friend, Fluttershy, a timid yellow Pegasus, owned a house on the outskirts of the town. She didn't want the Pegasus to come back from her vacation to find that her house had been demolished by a rogue meteorite. Rainbow Dash, being the brash Pegasus that she was, flew straight to the center of the town. That was where the thickest column of smoke was. She was surprised to see that the meteor had hit not only several of the houses but it had also hit the town hall. The once majestic hall now had a thick smoking hole blasted through the top. The meteor had come to a stop a little ways off. Steam rose in thick curtains around it. Rainbow frowned at the wreckage as Twilight, Rarity, AppleJack and Pinkie Pie finally arrived at the scene, some Rarity and Twilight both breathing heavily after the stretch of running. Rainbow was easily the most athletic out of her whole group of friends.

"What...what....is that?" Twilight gasped, her head lowered as she struggled to regain her breath. Though her voice was so low due to her lack of breath that it was drowned out by the high amount of shouting. Pinkie, who had quickly recovered her breath, bounced over to the crater and looked down into the hole though it was impossible to tell what was actually in the crater due to the obscuring clouds of smoke. By this time, several other ponies had moved over to the hole in an attempt to get a view of the meteorite. Twilight, finally recovering from the stitch in her side, made her way shakily over to the crater. "That doesn't look like a..." But she stopped. The Unicorns mouth fell open. The smoke had finally started to clear. The crowd gasped. There was no splintered shards of rock or even the gigantic chunks generally associated with meteor showers. Instead of rock, a large, metal, cylinder lay amid the burnt soil. Pieces of molten metal lay, some sticking up from where they'd shot into the ground, looking like bright red lanterns. Some ponies were approaching these pieces but seemed unable to go near them, as they were nervously skirting around them. Some of the braver ones were poking at the pieces with sticks they'd picked up. Rainbow and AppleJack moved forward. Rainbow reached out with her hoof but Twilight, her horn glowing with purple light, wrenched the Pegasus away. "Don't touch it!" The unicorn said hurriedly. Rainbow huffed lightly turning her head away, though keeping one eye on the metal meteor. Twilight walked around the strange cylinder. The end facing the small group was the source of the thick cloud of smoke though the cloud was dissipating. From what Twilight could see, there was a circular piece of glass set into one side. Pinkie Pie was attempting to look through it.

"Ooooh!" Pinkie squealed, screwing up her eyes in an attempt to see into the cylinder. "I think there's something inside there!" Pinkie began to jump up and down in excitement. "Is it a new friend...A BRAND NEW FRIEND!" Pinkie shouted happily. The others sighed. Not even a meteorite crashing right into the center of Ponyville could dissuade Pinkie from her hyperactive attitude. But then the other mares each stiffened. The reality of what Pinkie had just said sank in. Something was inside that cylinder. The others all crowded round the glass window. It was actually quite amazing that the glass hadn't shattered during the crash. Though the glass was covered in such a thick layer of muck, that it was almost impossible to see what was inside. Though, when the group of mares attempted to peer past the muck, they could see a a shadow of...something large and misshapen, occasionally jerking about. AppleJack, her face screwed up with the effort of seeing through the muck, reached up and tapped the window. The shape inside suddenly jerked more violently than before and hit the window with a harsh thump. The group jumped backwards with a with collected shout of fright. "I-I don't think that it likes that AJ." Pinkie said nervously, watching the shadowy lump moving about. "Maybe we should...." But suddenly, the lump gave another thrash and the glass shattered. The group screamed, narrowly avoiding the spray of glass. Something thick and black was now sticking out of the hole that the window had once been. After several seconds of tense silence, Rainbow and AppleJack made their way cautiously toward the thing sticking out of the window. It was an odd looking thing. It was long, covered in what looked like brown faded fabric but ended in a strange, flat, black...thing with several ridges on the underside. The flat object wiggled slightly. There was a soft groaning noise coming from the inside of the strange cylinder.

"What...the Hay is that?" Rainbow Dash asked, moving forward and poking at the thing with her hoof. Twilight and Rarity looked at one another. The Alabaster Unicorn had covered her mouth with a hoof and was looking slightly green. Twilight couldn't blame her. A disgusting smell was emanating from the smashed opening. A stomach-churning combination of wine and....Twilight covered her mouth as well. The Unicorn thought she was going to be sick. Unless she was mistaken, a smell of wine and waste was pouring out of the hole. It was like some-pony had taken the cover off of a manhole and left it to simmer in summer. Holding their noses, the mares moved forward ever so slightly, not feeling as keen as they had done. Twilight frowned as the object continued to wiggle about. The groaning noise was getting louder now that they were closer to the metal cylinder. Rainbow Dash was continuing to poke the object, with an amused expression on her face. "This looks like one of those hoof-boots we have to wear in Winter." Rainbow muttered, smiling as she poked the boot again, watching it wiggle about. Twilight, Pinkie, AppleJack and Rarity, rather than risk inhaling the horrible smell all gave soft grunts of agreement. Twilight stole a glance at the brown robed part. If the black thing was a boot, then the brown thing was obviously a leg. Rarity, who was known through-out Ponyville for having a Phobia of dirt and muck, moved closer, holding her breath and examined the black leather boot.

"Whoever made this...thing," Rarity mumbled, her upper-class style of talking adding a slightly snobbish accent to the words, "Has to be the worst fashion designer I've ever seen." The others stopped to stare at the Unicorn. They knew Rarity had a tendency to focus on the material things like fashion but that really was the limit. The mares couldn't believe that the Alabaster Unicorn was looking at a shoe when there was a possible new form of life in front of them. Rarity grinned sheepishly at her friends. "Well I mean..." Her voice tailed away slightly as the deadpan looks on the other mares faces did not fade. "I-I mean," the Unicorn stammered, "Well, first impressions and all that." Twilight raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Rarity, giving a soft squeak of embarrassment turned back to examine the boot. The Unicorn, now blushing with shame, pulled a piece of the brown fabric that was covering the leg and began examining it. "Bit tacky." The Unicorn mumbled, the styled curls of her mane helping to hide her red face. Twilight, who by now had acclimatized to the disgusting smell, moved forward to take her own look at the leg. Then she jumped as another voice, this one slightly slurred and most definitely male, sounded from inside the metal cylinder.

"I swear....If whatever is out there doesn't stop poking my foot, I'm gonna stick this vibro-sword somewhere very painful!" The five mares turned to look at one another. Each one could guess what the other was thinking, based on the expressions of surprise and confusion plastered across their faces. Pinkie Pie, ignoring the warning stares of her friends, moved forwards and pushed her head cautiously closer to the opening. The Pink mare drew in a deep breath and then shouted, as loud as she could:

"EXCUSE ME MISTER?! WHAT'S A VIBRO-SWORD!?"

Princess Celestia jerked her head up from the desk. The Alicorn had been sitting at the desk in her chambers, writing up reports and deciding whether or not it was worth falling asleep for a few hours to spare her the agony of spending another fifteen hours writing up the reports, when it had happened. It wasn't something physical. It was as though something invisible, almost like a ghost had blown gently into her ear. A shiver ran down the Princess's spine. Things like this, an invisible thing, made her nervous. It couldn't be dispelled by magic or written away like a report. It was an internal thing, something that wormed into her soul and eroded her concentration. It was a powerful foe. Unable to restore her focus to the report in front of her, Princess Celestia put her quill down, noting with some annoyance, that the ink had dripped all over the parchment, leaving large, thick dots and looked around. The fire she had lit in the hearth, which had been blazing merrily a moment before, was now flickering as though a fierce wind had blown through the chamber. The golden hoof-plates clipped to Celestia's hooves clinked slightly as she got up. The reports could wait. Whatever was bothering her was more important though she couldn't be sure why.

"EXCUSE ME MISTER? WHAT'S A VIBRO-BLADE?!" Demanded Pinkie-Pie loudly through the smashed window. The others stared at the Pink Pony in surprise. The mares were used to Pinkie's disregard for caution and tact but this was a new-low. After whatever was in the metal meteor had delivered that threat, every single pony in the group had agreed that it was better to stay away from the unknown creature. But Pinkie did not seem scared at all. Instead, she pushed her head slowly closer to the opening, smiling expectantly, as though expecting to see another smiling face pop out at her. Instead, the leg that was sticking out of the window shifted slightly and the male voice spoke again. This time however, it was more cautious instead of threatening.

"You...You speak basic?" The mares looked at one another. Twilight frowned. She had never heard of a language called basic. She knew that most ponies spoke Equestrian, the native language but she had never heard of Basic. "Hey, anything there?" Shouted the voice. The mares traded uncertain glances. They weren't against helping ponies in need per-say but an unknown element wasn't grounds for throwing away their safety. "YO!" Shouted the voice, now losing some of its slur. None of the mares moved forward now, not even Pinkie, who had pulled a confused face at the word Basic. A sloshing noise was now coming from inside the cylinder, rather like something heavy moving through water, while the leg that was still sticking out of the smashed window, moved backwards and forwards. Grunts coming from the inside the cylinder, told the gathered mares that the creature inside was attempting to pull itself out of the cylinder. However, there was a loud crunching noise and a shout of: "DAMN IT!" Made the mares gathered around the cylinder back off. Twilight, feeling the familiar urge to gather knowledge about the unknown creature, moved forward, careful to keep her snout away from the opening, in case something nasty appeared through.

"E-Excuse me?" She called, trying to ignore the muffled grunts and oaths that were pouring out of the opening. "Are you okay in there?" The creature inside stopped grumbling and the sloshing noise stopped. The creature inside was clearly listening to what she was saying, though whether or not this was a good thing, she couldn't be sure. "Um..." she mumbled, doing a pretty good imitation of her friend Fluttershy, "Um...What's your name?" Twilight ignored the scoffing noises her friends made. She wasn't really sure what you should say to a potentially dangerous creature that you couldn't see. There was a silence for a second, then....

"I'm called The Exile." The creature grunted, the leg next to Twilight once again attempting to pull itself back into the cylinder. "And no I'm not okay! I've just sat on top of a bottle and its piercing through my robes....And i'm soaked in oil." Twilight guessed that was what was making the sloshing noise. But her musings on this were stopped when the Exile, as the creature had called himself, spoke again. "Listen, I don't suppose you could give my leg a tug could you?" the Exile mumbled, sounding embarrassed. "I'm stuck in the seat of this blasted pod and I can't get out." There was silence for another few seconds before the Exile mumbled another word, so quietly that Twilight could barely hear it. "Please?" Twilight pulled her head back to look over her shoulder at the group of mares standing behind her. Twilight shrugged, motioning with her hoof, before enveloping the leg with her purple magic. Rainbow, AppleJack and Rarity, all wearing expressions of disgust, took hold of the leg and pulled. The was a loud shout of pain, before a large figure slid out of the smashed window and hit the ground in front of the mares with a loud splat. Spread on the ground, in full view of the crowd gathered around the crater was....

"Hey, It's a Monkey in clothes!" Rainbow said loudly. Twilight sighed. Sometimes she really didn't know why she ever bothered with Rainbow Dash. She really did not know.