knights of the old republic: The lost exile

The crowd that had gathered around the crater all gave a collected gasp. Twilight, Rarity, AppleJack and Pinkie Pie all stared at Rainbow Dash, all stunned at the Pegasus's rude behavior. They were completely astounded that Rainbow Dash, who admittedly did have reputation for action before thought could have said something so stupid, especially to a new and possibly dangerous life-form. The Pegasus, who was still grinning down at the creature that had spilled out from the metal cylinder, did not seem to notice the extremely aggravated looks that the other mares were giving her. Instead the Rainbow-maned Pegasus resumed poking the black boots covering the Exiles feet. The Exile, as the creature had called himself, was still spread out, rather limply on the muddy ground. The Exile was a rather lanky creature, with two long arms and legs, which was covered with the same brownish robe that the group had seen on the leg sticking out of the cylinder. The arms ended in two, five fingered appendages, rather like claws without the sharpened nails. They reminded Rainbow Dash of the hands that Monkeys had. The Exiles head was covered with a shock of what looked like black hair, while a pair of brownish-green eyes stared at Rainbow Dash in slow-minded indignation. In place of a snout, a small nose stood out over a pair of reddish lips. Pushing himself up into a more dignified sitting position, rather than being sprawled flat-out on the ground, the Exile continued to stare at Rainbow Dash, his mouth hanging open stupidly.

"A horse....with Wings....and a rainbow for a mane..." The Exile mumbled, shaking his head slowly like a dog trying to rid itself of water. Then, to every-ponies surprise, the Exile brought one of the "Hands" to his head and bashed himself hard on the forehead. The cracking noise was surprisingly loud. The Exile, wincing in pain from the blow, looked back up at Rainbow. "So....I'm not dreaming then." The creature said matter-of-factually. Rainbow who was clearly struggling not to laugh from the Exile's antics, moved forward and waved one of her cyan hooves in front of the creatures face. "Stop doing that," The Exile grunted, sticking a pink tongue out of its mouth. "It's not nice doing that in front of a drunk man." Rainbow stopped waving her hoof, and retreated a few steps, as though the Pegasus thought that the Exile might suddenly spring forward and attack her. Rarity however, moved forward and tugged slightly at the brown fabric, some of which was now spattered with mud and churned up grass.

"Excuse me...erm...Exile was it?" The Unicorn asked cautiously. The Exile turned his head to look at the Unicorn. Rarity took a step backwards. Twilight couldn't blame her friend however, as the look the Exile was giving her was rather frightening. The green eyes had widened so that they looked like giant, brownish-green saucers. A slightly maddened smile had spread on his face, revealing slightly yellow, filth stained teeth. But at a slight nod from the Exile, Rarity moved forward again and pointed with her hoof at the muddy fabric, which now Twilight only realized, was the source of the nasty smell of wine and waste. "Well..." Rarity said, screwing up her snout in a expression of disgust. "Why in Equestria are wearing such disgusting garments Darling? They look absolutely hideous!" The Exile burst out laughing. The change was so sudden that the crowd around the crater all jumped back. In contrast to his downtrodden appearance, the loud, happy laugh that was bubbling out from the Exiles lips as he toppled backwards into the muck was incredibly surprising. Pinkie Pie, who AppleJack was trying hard to restrain, in case Pinkie's famous, though entirely over-the-top way of greeting people startled the Exile, finally managed to break free from AppleJack's restraining grip and jumped over, joining in the Exile in laughter.

"Wow, He laughs." The Pink Earth Pony said happily, as though no other creature was capable of laughing. Though the Exile, who was now finally starting to calm down from his laughing fit, suddenly returned to his silent, wide eyed staring act. Pinkie, sensing something was wrong, moved, almost uncomfortably close to the Exile's face. "What's wrong friend?!" She asked, leaning in slightly closer, her mouth stretched wide in a friendly smile. The others glanced at one another, before each of them moved backwards. Twilight, who had been examining the Cylinder that the Exile had fallen out of, tried to wave at Pinkie to attract her attention. But Pinkie had eyes only for the Exile who's eyes seemed to grow ever wider as the pony moved closer. "What?" Pinkie asked pulling her head back from the Exile, who had still not moved. AppleJack, sensing something was brewing, moved forward and finally managed to drag her friend away. In place of Pinkie, AppleJack watched the Exile as he attempted to right herself.

"Sorry about that Sugar-cube." AppleJack said to the creature, who was now eyeing her cautiously. "Pinkie's got a weird way of greeting new...er?" She seemed unable to finish that sentence, as they still had no idea what sort of creature the Exile actually was. To cover her confusion, the Stetson wearing pony moved her head slightly, so she could see the metal cylinder. "So...um...what is that thing. Your' home or somethin'?" The Exile shook his head, turning his head to look up at the night sky. AppleJack watched the Exile curiously. Then, the Exile shook his head and pointed over his shoulder with one of his fingers at the cylinder.

"That's an escape pod." He said, looking back into AppleJack's eyes. Since he was sitting, AppleJack was about the same height as the Exile, though Twilight was convinced that if the Exile managed to stand up, the creature would tower over the whole lot of them. "The ship I was on was traveling through this sector when it was attack. I climbed in and the Pod landed on this planet." The Exile turned on his backside for a second to appraise the "Escape Pod" before looking back at the group of gathered mares with a contented smile on his face. "Pray tell, what Galactic sector are we in?" The group of gathered mares all looked at one another, all sharing the same expression. Galactic sector? None of the five mares knew what the creature was talking about. The Exile cleared his throat for a second still smiling the same contented smile though it had become slightly fixed. "OoooK.." he said slowly, clearly not liking the confused look on the mares faces. "Where's the nearest comm station? Is it close? I need to call the republic for help." The mares continued to stare blankly at the Exile. The Exile's face fell slightly. He stared at the ponies in front of him, a disbelieving look on his pale face. "Please tell me you're not being serious. You do HAVE a communication station here don't you?" The mares looked at one another for a third time, then Twilight, looking slightly nervous, approached the Exile.

"Well," The Unicorn began, looking up into Exile's face, which was rapidly losing the smile and was growing increasingly red with anger. "We do have ways of sending messages. Like," She said, growing increasingly alarmed at the look on the Exile's face. "We use parchment with ink and..." But the rest of her words were drowned out as the Exile let a roar of fury, jumped to his feet and ran at the metal cylinder behind him. The Exile drew his long leg back and gave the Cylinder an almighty kick. There was a painful crunching noise and the Exile crumpled to the muddy ground again, clutching his foot, still screaming in pain. Twilight looked over at her friends who were all glaring at her now. "What did I say?" She asked helplessly.

The chamber was dark, cold and uninviting, cloaked in shadows so deep that it would be impossible for any intruder to see. It was completely silent inside this room. So quiet it could be described as unnerving. A single light shone from the center of the room, where a crimson crystal was hanging weightlessly, twirling slowly as though suspended by an invisible line. The crimson light that was shining from the crystal threw its light on metal walls. The metal was made of some black material which, in the light of the crystal looked like thick coats of oil. A figure was sitting just underneath the crystal. Hunched over slightly, the figure was garbed in a black robe, that obscured every inch of the figures body. The crimson light emanating from the crystal above the figure revealed a large black robe covering the figures head. The only thing that escaped the obscuring folds was a pair of pale skinned hands, clasped together as though in prayer.

"My lord." The crackling voice had spoken suddenly as though it had just entered. The hood rose slightly, revealing a pair of blue eyes. Standing in front of the seated figure was a shimmering hologram. The blue light that the holo was made up of, mixed with the crystals red light, turning it an ugly purplish color. The holo showed a large figure with what looked like pieces of chunky armor covering the long legs and arms. The new arrivals head was covered by a thick helmet, shaped like a birds head, with a sharp, beak-like part protruding from the front. "We've completed our search of the wreckage." The voice had an artificial, grating quality to it. "There's no sign of the Exile." The clasped hands tensed up slightly. "I mean," The hologramatical figure said quickly as though determined to find something positive with the report. "We did find several of our soldier slain, so he must have been..." But the shimmering figure fell silent. One of the hands of the robed figure had risen and waved at the hologram. "Y-yes sir." The hologram shut off with audible click. The room returned to its state of silent semi-darkness. The hood lowered but the eyes stayed open.

"So you hide from me do you Exile?" The voice that emanated from under the hood was soft but deep. The blue eyes narrowed. "I sense you Exile. I see you. You shine to me. I'll find you Exile. You will be mine." The crystal floated down from its position and into the figures open hand. The crimson light faded, returning the room to constant darkness. "Just one more." The voice whispered into the darkness. "One more. Then the march of the darkness can begin."

Twilight sighed as she sat on the hospital bench. Since the Exile had kicked the "Escape Pod," Twilight and her friends had taken him to the Ponyville hospital. Taken...may have been the wrong word however. The Exile had been yelling with anger and pain so much that Twilight had been forced to summon a stretcher and tie his limbs down. The purple Unicorn shook her head as she heard another roar of pain from the Exile's room. Pinkie and Rarity had dashed over to the Ponyville library, Twilight's home, to fetch Twilight's assistant Spike, a baby dragon who would be able to send a message to their Princess. Twilight was confident that her mentor would know what to do. Though what exactly they were going to do was something that Twilight hadn't figured out yet. Rainbow who was sitting next to her gave a great groan of boredom.

"Why'd you have tell him that Twilight!" Demanded Rainbow, turning an angry glare upon Twilight. Twilight stared at her in disbelief. "I don't think he liked what you told him Twilight." The Pegasus shook her head looking annoyed. "Listen Twi," Rainbow said cautiously turning her head slightly with one eye closed. "I know it's a bit rich of me to say but, maybe you shoulda' just offered to help and left it at that." Twilight got up off the bench and walked off down the corridor. She wasn't sure why but what Rainbow had said had really affected her. It was like a pain. Like some-pony had hit her. As the Unicorn wandered down the hall, a disturbing thought entered her mind. Was Rainbow starting to doubt her again? It wouldn't be the first time. Twilight shook her head. She was being stupid. Her friends had doubted her once and that had almost led to the end their civilization. It couldn't be happening again. Could it?