Lost in more ways then one
Fallout Equestria: Across The Stars
Chapter 1: Lost in more ways then one...
Their mission was supposed to be simple, rescue Aayla Secura and any other survivors from her ship from a Seperatist attack. Captain Rex cursed under his breath, why couldn't things ever be simple? To be fair... Life serving as a squad Captain under the famous Anakin Skywalker in the seemingly endless war couldn't possibly make for an easy ride...or a sensical one.
Countless missions with his comrades and commanding officers Skywalker and Admiral Yularen, each one more dangerous then the last; but these rescue missions always had very slight margins of error... there was so much that could go wrong.
Fire and shrapnel exploded all around them while an endless barrage of blaster bolts rushed at them from both directions like a crimson downpour of slaughter. Only the occasional flash of bright blue cut through it like bolts of lightning. He though back to his training on Kamino, when he'd thought up a sort of game he would play that would help him as he trained. The game was simple, yet very complicated; Act as though every drop of rain was a blaster shot aimed at you, fired to kill. He smiled under his helmet. Little did he realize how far that little game would help him reach in this war...
They charged to catch up to General Skywalker, who had gone ahead to secure them a foothold on General Aayla's ship which had been overrun by droids, Each one firing at him and his squad. The kid, Ashoka, was the only one who could deflect them, as good as she was for her age, it was still only her; He and his brothers had to pray for a break in this carnage or some cover before they had to reload.
There he was. Slicing down super droids, or as he and his brothers had taken to calling them, "Heavy Clankers", with the grace and fluidity of a Twilek dancer. He pulled one of them into his waiting lightsaber before using that same invisible power to launch it forward, making it plow into an entire platoon's worth of the flimsy B1 Clankers. and a couple of the heavier ones.
That's when Rex saw the blue of another lightsaber. they'd found Aayla and her second in command, Commander Bly. "...Nice entrance, Skywalker!" she called over the chaos as all three jedi now twirled and snapped their lightsabers in every which way to deflect the blaster shots from the droids before them. Still they continued to run, shoot, dive for cover, and run to catch up with their jedi commanders. "...I hope you have a plan to get us out of here!"
Anakin deflected shots in between his words. "Well... we have... a ship... docking in the...lower hanger...as we speak!" the corridor shook all around them, presumably the ship continued to take more and more damage... the fact that they were breaching atmo and were starting to burn up outside certainly wasn't helping...
The ship quaked even harder as the rounded a corner to see a single battle droid standing there. seemingly grasping the futility of its situation as it reluctantly raised its blaster.
Anakin raised his own weapon and was about to take a step forward to slice the droid in half when the the blast doors opened and- "...Sith's blood..." he cursed.
The droid was quick to revel in its reinforcements. . yet began another crimson downpour of blaster fire...
They had to retreat. there was no getting around it... so the group backtracked a small ways before going down a slightly less... exploded hallway... on and on they went... finally they'd made it to the lower Hanger where the ship that would take them back to the Resolute was waiting... "We made it!" Ashoka cheered. Finally...
Rex was about to breath a sigh of relief when Skywalker cut in... "It's too late!" he shouted before he pushed all of their group through the door
"Master!" Ashoka called out in terror. as he turned his back to them to face an oncoming wall of flame...
The next thing he knew, The kid was melting a hole through the blast door and pulling an unconscious General Skywalker through. To say he was in rough shape was a pretty obvious understatement... there were burns and cuts on his face and doubtless more under his clothes...
"Get to the bridge! I'll get General Skywalker to the Medbay!" Rex barked.
"...and you stay with him, Captain!" General Secura ordered.
"Yes Sir!" he shot back as he picked up the injured Jedi and carefully carried him down the corridor while Bly and Secura hurried down another.
........................
The ship approached the Resolute when they were hailed by Admiral Yularen. Aayla opened the transmission.
"We have no choice, Admiral! General Skywalker's condition may be critical. We must get him aboard the Resolute"
The admiral sighed. <...reckless...> Aayla merely smirked.
............................................
They were about to dock when a sudden explosion wracked the bridge. The clone who piloted the ship next to Commander Bly slumped forward onto the sparking remains of the console before him.
"Dammit! he's down!" Bly cursed.
Ashoka stared in terror at the console as it flashed and sparked. "The hyperdrive!" she cried. "...we're going to jump!"
"...No no nononononono..." Bly repeated in near panic as he frantically tried to disable the drive core.
"Turn it off!" Aayla ordered.
"I'm trying!" he shot back as he continued furiously at the severely damaged console... "Grrrr... I can't!" he slammed a fist down on to the console. "...Nothing's going to stop it!"
Admiral Yularen asked over the comm.
"Our hyper drive is damaged, admiral..." the jedi declared urgently. "...We're jumping into hyperspace; detach, detach!!"
As they frantically worked to bring their battered ship away from the Resolute, they could hear the voice of the admiral shout.
Not seconds after coming away from the flagship, did their transport make the jump. The stars became long streaks of white across their view port and were replaced by waves of white and blue rushing by them as they entered hyperspace.
.........................thousands of parsecs away, on an uncharted world............................
.........................Stable 55.........................
A young unicorn pony stared forward, she looked over her shoulder to see several armed ponies glaring at her. In between them was the Overmare of the Stable. "...do you have anything to say...?" she asked.
The young unicorn in question, named Goldenshine, stood before the massive sealed door that protected the ponies of Stable fifty five from the irradiated wasteland of Equestria that would kill them in mere hours from the constant exposure... or so they were all told... Goldenshine looked down at her bare left hoof. Her pipbuck was confiscated as ponies accused of treason against the stable, or any severe crime, were...well... banished to the surface... and their pip-bucks taken, it wasn't like they could just make more... She looked back at the Overmare. "...I didn't do it..." she said softly.
The Overmare gave her a disdainful sneer. "Stubborn to the last..." she hissed. "...You killed a pony in cold blood so you could claim his position!" she bellowed. "You had to see this coming..."
"I did not!" Goldneshine cried desperately. "...Why doesn't anypony believe me?" she looked out into the gathered crowd behind the security line. many of the face watching were ponies she knew... many were sad...no. not sad... it was that 'I'm so very disappointed in you...' look, while others were every bit as hateful as the overmare. "...why...?" she was in tears again...
Her "crime" was apparently that she had killed another pony who had been promoted to a high level technician were she was passed over... She didn't even care about the position!
her special talent was Magic, not maintenance! And Star Specs was her friend, no less. Everypony was always quick to agree with the overmare, though... and they all hopped on the band wagon. "Open the door!" the overmare barked. the guard was quick to comply. The multi century old machinery rumbled loudly as the massive sealed door began to open. "
Mechanical arms lowered from the sealing and bolted themselves into the door, all the while creaking from age and wear; rust flaking and falling to the floor around Goldenshine's hooves as the massive system cycled through the process. The overmare and all the other stable ponies watched in a cold silence until the she stared at the opening that led to what looked like a mine shaft.
"Goldenshine!" the overmare called. drawing her attention as well as everypony else's. "For the crime of murder and treason, and by my right and authority, I hereby exile you from Stable Fifty-Five!" The overmare's features hardened further. "Leave immediately, or you will be fired upon."
She stared forward once more; again, she was unable to take another step. She shook in fear, in sadness...in hate... tears welled in her eyes. Wiping her eyes with a hoof, she took a shaky step forward.
a sot from one of the guards seemed to be what she needed as the sparks from the ricochet sent her galloping in a full out sprint into the unknown cave.
Goldenshine sobbed aloud as she ran through the dirt and rubble. her hooves crunching the brittle dirt and what appeared to be bits of concrete... How could this happen? why? she knew she didn't have anything to do with her friend's death, but...nopony else believed her; her family... nope... her friends? they all just cast her to the flames... or, in this case, the cold dark of this cave... her chest heaved and her body ached from the exertion of her getaway sprint.
She dropped back on her haunches and looked down at her cutie mark. A swirling cloud looking symbol that resembled what text books would portray the galaxy. splashes of blue and green decorated with tiny white specks that twinkled like stars, all swirling out counter clockwise... Not many ponies understood her destiny, in truth, she didn't either.
She was always a bit of a black sheep in Stable. When she was a young filly, she started having these strange visions of things that hadn't happened yet. Usually they would come to her in the form of dreams they were usually hazy and unclear; she wasn't sure what it was she was supposed to see half the time... eventually, it became known that she possessed some form of low level clairvoyance, but no pony could really figure out how it worked.
As she got older, she began having these dreams while she was still awake. apparently she would completely freeze up when they happened. Star specs had told her once that she'd frozen in place and was staring as though entranced... apparently her eyes started glowing too... but the vision she'd received that time was a premonition of the power reactor beginning to overheat which would have lead to serious trouble, possibly a mass evacuation had she not warned engineering about it.
perhaps she could sense a way out of this cave? She had to keep moving forward. They would all kill her if she returned. or they would just seal the door back up and leave her to rot... she wiped her eyes with a hoof and took a deep breath to calm herself and closed her eyes. She began to focus her magic in her horn and she felt her senses extend beyond her body. Slowly but surely she was aware of so much more... The vast network of chambers and corridors surrounding the main atrium of The stable at her back, the forking tunnels before her... one of which, she wasn't sure how, but she had a feeling that if she followed her instincts, they wold lead her to the surface. Suddenly, there it was; the image of the entrance of the cave rippled across her mind.
A small smile tugged at her lips. "Well...I have my heading now, at least." with a last sorrowful glance over her shoulder, and a sigh, she stood back up and pressed on for the surface...
.................................Republic ship................................
Ashoka Tano stood over her injured master, her mind racing with worry. Aayla walked in urgently. "Ashoka, I need you on the bridge with Commander Bly, right now!" the seasoned jedi ordered.
Ashoka didn't even look at the older woman. "Commander Bly doesn't need my help; Anakin does!"
Aayla could understand what the young padawan was going through. She had gone through something very similar with her own master years ago, before this terrible war had begun. "You can help him by getting the ship to safety." She said, her tone less harsh then before, but still serious. "For now, we must trust in the medical droid to keep him stable."
She didn't have time to say anything else to ease the girl's mind as the doors to the med bay opened and Commander Bly himself walked in his yellow marked helmet tucked under his arm. "General Secura, we have a problem." he said gravely.
Aayla could sense Bly's worry, and she knew the padawan could as well, as he did little to conceal it. "What's wrong, Commander?" she asked.
He sighed. "In our haste to escape, the navicomputer's coordinates were inputted incorrectly, and well..." he turned on a terminal showing their course. "...We're headed straight for a star!"
Aayla's eyes went wide. "...No...!" the two Jedi rushed out of the med bay toward the bridge. They ran passed Captain Rex, who was trying to fix a sparking conduit on their way, who saw them running and dashed to catch up.
Ashoka jumped into the Co pilot seat next to Bly and began pressing buttons and flipping switches all over the dashboard. Bly himself punched the panel in frustration. "It's no good, the navigation system is completely FRIED!" he growled.
Aayla turned to Rex. "Shut down all power circuits. that will reset the coordinates!"
The blue marked clone nodded and set to the power junctions to do just that. Ashoka however spun in her seat to face the commanding jedi. "...But that will shut off Anakin's life support!" she protested.
Aayla shot the padawan a stern look. "I don't like it either, but it's a risk we're going to have to take or we're all dead!"
Ashoka didn't like it, but she knew that Master Secura was right... "...Shutting off primary power units..."
Bly watched the trajectory feed anxiously. "...come on...we're cutting it too close..."
"Ready to shut off auxillary power!" Rex called from the power junction.
Ashoka nodded. "On three!" she called back.
"One...
"...Two..."
"...Three!"
Rex nodded and pulled the lever down, and suddenly they were all very much aware of how fast they were going without the inertia dampeners to stabalize the ship as Rex was flung off his feet, pressed against the back wall. Aayla was hanging on for dear life from the pilot's chair behind Bly, who was pressed against his chair by the g-forces same as Ashoka next to him.
Their ship dropped out of hyperspace and sure enough, there was a star directly in their path. "We're out of hyperspace! get the power back on!"
The twilek jedi's grip failed her as she flew back, crashing into Rex and leaving them both reeling. while they shook off their impromptu crash, they heard Bly over the roar of the ship. "What are you waiting for? Hurry and get the power back on!" he barked from his seat.
Aayla shook her head and reached her hand out toward the lever on the power junction. reaching out with the force. "...I have it..." she said, however it was inaudible over the noise. with a loud 'ker-chunk!' the lever was flipped and power systems began humming back to life; the first of which was the inertia dampeners in the ship, evident as she and Rex fell to the floor. then power to the controls.
Ashoka and Bly began redirecting the crumbling ship away from the rapidly nearing star as their crippled ship thundered towards it. "...come on..." Bly whispered. Little by little, the clone and the young jedi managed to steer the ship away from the star and they passed it as the ship slowly became more and more stable. despite this, however, this effort brought a new problem in their path.
A planet with large patches of cloud cover loomed before them now. "Well, we aren't going to crash into a star, but we'll definitely hit that planet!" Ashoka said.
Their ship erupted into a blazing mass of flaming metal as they entered the atmosphere of the unkown world "Brace for impact!" Bly called. they had no way of knowing what kind of terrain to expect down there, but to fall from orbit? This had quickly turned into the worst mission in his entire career...
.............................................
Goldenshine had wandered around the tunnels fro what felt like an eternity, stopping to take a break every now and then, gathering miscellaneous items along the the way that looked like they might be useful.
She'd come across an old tool box and picked up a couple screw drivers, a hammer and a roll of duct tape. All in all a good find.
Next was a mining pickaxe, though she highly doubted that mining was what she'd use it for. she had a feeling that there was something in these tunnels with her; there was a plethora of desiccated pony skeletons scattered throughout, some of the old, but most of them seemed more...recent. The pickaxe levitated in front of her as she turned a corner and discovered something that made her stomach lurch and her face blanch.
Before her was a group of...creatures that resembled ponies, but their bodies were... putrefying... looking like they'd been rotting in a swamp for a few months... there was no way that they should be moving at all, but there they were, six of them, swarming and mauling at the carcass of what looked like a two headed cow... tearing it apart with their jagged, chipped teeth...their grotesque faces and bodies covered in the blood of their kill...
...No...
...No... No...
Her heart started beating faster and faster the longer she watched the stench of gore and decay was enticing her lunch to pay her a visit when one of them seemed to finally notice her as it stood up more fully and stared at her for a moment before uttering a guttural roar.
"Kyaaaaaahhhhhh" Goldenshine shrieked at the top of her lungs in response, making the other five snap to attention and look at her. her body entered panic mode as the first one charged at her. the form of a decaying stallion twice her size barreling toward her with the fury of a biblical prophecy whilest the others just seemed to expect him to succeed as they seemed to take a more leisurely pace as they advanced.
The putrid stallion's attack was cut short as she swung the pickaxe at his head, connecting with his bottom jaw, eviscerating the bottom half of his already desiccated face. his momentum kept him going as her attack knocked him off course, her pickaxe ripping off what remained of his bottom jaw as he charged passed, crashing into the wall of the cave. Upon seeing this, Goldenshine dropped the pickaxe in disgust, having it clatter loudly to the ground as another one of them charged at her.
Using her telekinesis, she jerked the zombie pony's front right hoof backward in mid stride, making it faceplant. "I can't believe that worked..." she panted. but growling behind her alerted her that the big one was back on his hooves. she looked over and true enough, he was. His glaring eyes murky and bloodshot as he slowly turned toward her once again. his growling sounding more like gurgling as putrid black ichor oozed out of the gaping hole in his face...
Picking the pickaxe back up she readied for the next attacker to strike, the lumbering beast took another lunge at her and she swung once more, this time, embedding the weapon deep into its skull. the shambling creature attempted to shake free, but it slowly began to sway back and forth. the She tried to pull it back out, but found it was stuck, and he took the pickaxe with him when he dropped lifelessly to the ground. She was defenseless now.
her horn emanated a golden glow as she focused her energy into it. it began building in power as the it began swirling around her horn with growing intensity. Time seemed to slow for her as the remaining three creatures, and the one she tripped all attacked. She released the energy and it exploded out in a powerful blast wave, sending her attackers flying back. Goldenshine dropped to her knees, panting heavily.
'Overclocking' herself as she liked to refer to it, always left her feeling almost completely drained. her skull throbbed painfully as she struggled to get back up, the monstrous ponies around her also slowly getting back to their hooves. She had to get out, NOW! "...gotta get away!..." she whimpered as she pushed herself to run. All the while her body screamed in agonizing protest. her legs burned from the exertion as she pushed up out of the cave.
In her retreat, she came up on a metal box that looked like an ammo box, but opted to keep running... and running... still they followed, ever just behind her.
her lungs burned. her head throbbed. her legs ached. She ran and ran until she just couldn't run anymore... stars and shadow fogged her eyes as a new shape seemed to appear before her in the form of what seemed like a pony in a tattered cloak, reflective goggles and some kind of leather mask readied some kind of rifle. she collapsed and remained conscious long enough to hear the first shot...
................................................
Darkness...
Inky shadows...
Muffled voices...impossible to make out...
little by little it became clearer. A big flaming...thing... punching through the darkness before fading away... a big explosion...
...that hooded pony from before... she's talking... "...No target ever escapes my scope for long..." she says calmly, looking over her shoulder...
another shape... a pony...the same one? ...no... this one is different... an armored trench coat... goggles like the other... but Glowing red... this one's a soldier... a deep, rumbling voice speaking through mechanical filters... "...I have known the terror of war... after the bombs fell... i had to find a new purpose..." ...A green glow envelopes his horn as he turns to look directly at her... "...Wake up...!"
Goldenshine woke with a start.
Author's Note
Okay! time for my new fic to step out of development hell and into the world! let me know what you guys think. It’s starts in the events of the episode “Jedi Crash” of clone wars, but instead of the Lurman colony, they discover the planet on which the ruined equestria lies shortly after the events of fallout equestria... Red Eye is dead and the Enclave military has disbanded...or has it? The ponies can see the sky again, but with a republic ship falling from it, its bound to bring a new string of problems.
alright! that’s it for now... peace out!
Fallout Equestria: Across The Stars
chapter 2: Found...kind of...
Goldenshine's breathing was heavy as she sprang up with a starteled yelp. She looked around sharply to see that her attackers were gone... next to her was a simple 10 mm pistol and a couple clips... but why? she never collected them...
Wait...that hooded pony... did the hooded pony with the rifle leave it for her? but why?
Finally she'd had a moment to take in her surroundings. a bombed out city loomed around her; charred and bombed out buildings almost seeming to sway around her, like the whole thing could come down at any moment... the sounds of gun fire could be heard in the distance. she couldn't even discern where she'd originally come from in this gigantic forboding labrynth of concrete, metal and rebar.
"...where am I?" she asked, more to herself to anyone else. She looked up; the sky a blotchy swamp of vibrant blue and murky grey. Goldenshine grunted with effort as she hauled herself back to her hooves, and looked ahead of her. the corpses of the desicated ponies littered the otherwise abandoned street.
She'd also noticed spent shell casings from a high powered rifle. A sniper rifle that apparently packed bullets that looked lke they could drop a dragon if the shot was well placed... that hooded pony was carrying some major fire power. "...you're getting sidetracked again, Goldy..." she said to herself.
It felt so sureal, being on the surface. Like in her dreams or premenitions. it just didn't seem real. She conituned to look in all directions. "well...just pick a direction and start walking i guess..." she said glumly as she started walking down a street.
..............................................................................................................
The clone troopers Bly and Rex had finally managed to pry the escape hatch door open and look outside their grounded ship at the planet they'd crashed on. Around them was a barren waste covered in brown wilting plants; Rex looked through his range finder to see bombed out cities... "...there used to be people here..." he said sadly.
Aayla Secura took a moment to look around herself after tending to Anakin, carefully laying him down on a spot on the ground that didn't look too bad. she was silent for a moment before speaking up. "...and I sense they might still be, Captain..." she said sagely. "we just need to figure out how to find them..." she also sensed that this world was scarred and warped by the dark side, but she held on hope that it wasn't completely consumed by it.
Ashoka rushed to her master's side once more. "Okay, you and the clones go for help, and I'll stay with Anakin." she said a little more harshly that she'd intended.
Aayla shook her head disapprovingly. "No, Padawan Tano, I need you with me so we can cover more ground." she said sternly. "Captain Rex will stay with him."
Ashoka scowled. "I won't just leave him!" she shot defiantly.
Aayla imediately spun on her heel and glared at the young Tegruta. "We aren't just abandoning him Ashoka!" the Ti'lek jedi barked back without missing a beat. "If we don't get him to a doctor of some kind, then He. Will. Die!" Ashoka recoiled from the woman's words as though she'd been slapped in the face. She said nothing, but whimpered softly as she shrank back and her gaze fell to her injured master.
Aayla sighed as she walked over to the pair and knelt next to the girl. "I am sorry, Ashoka..." she said softly as she put a hand on her shoulder. Ashoka flinched at the contact and looked up dejectedly at the Twi'lek woman. "I don't like it any more then you do, but we need to find the people who live on this world and convince them to help us..."
Commander Bly finally broke his silence as he watched the tension continue. "...we also need to figure out a way to contact the republic." he said solemnly. "...if we don't get some kind of signal out, then we're as good as gone and forgotten by the rest of the galaxy..."
"What about Admiral Yularen?" Ashoka asked. "Surely after what happened, he'll come looking for us?"
"I'm sure he will, but he will still have no idea where to look if we don't set up a beacon." Aayla said somberly.
...............................................................
The remaining clone survivors were filing out of the reckage; five in total. Ace, Lucky, Cruncher, Bishop and Sander had been ordered to try and salvage a distress beacon from their demolished ship. they had salvaged several pieces that, theoretically could be assembled into a transmitter, but they didn't have any of the proper tools to even begin!
"Form up boys!" the voice of Commander Bly rang out. "We're moving out!"
"What's the mission, Sir?" Bishop asked, pieces of machinery still in his arms.
"We're heading out to find whatever passes for locals on this rock." the commander replied.
"...and hope that they will help us." Aayla added.
"Very good sir!" Bishop nodded.
"What have you got there, Bishop?" Rex asked.
"We've collected a few parts, per Commander Bly's orders, that could theoretically be pieced together into a makeshift transmitter, but we couldn't find any tools to properly assemble them..." Cruncher answered.
Rex walked over. "give em' here." he said holding out his arms. "...I'll see if i can do something with em while you boys and the general are scouting."
Bishop did as instructed. "...well, good luck then, Captain; we can't even figure out where to start."
Commander Bly waited as his men...well a couple of them came with General Skywalker and technically answered to Rex rather then him, passed off their salvage to Rex and regrouped in front of their Twilek commander. "Okay, men; we all know our mission, so let's move!" Bly declared.
And so, they set off down the seemingly abandoned road, unaware that their crashed vessel would soon garner attention...
.........................................................................
Good bye looming city ruins, hello, bleak and desolate fields. The grass, if you could call it that, was tall, but brown and prickley. The trees on either side of the road were gnarled and dead, and the road itself was overgrown, riddled with potholes, and lined with what probably passed for vehicles back in the day. Wagons and-is that a tank?! was this the site of some kind of battle?
Goldenshine trotted uneasily through the graveyard of wagons and transports that cluttered the road, many of them still carried the remains of their occupants. The dry, withered bones of ponies sat in the seats and scattered about the wagons.
That's when images started flashing in her mind. Everything was intact the wagons aroound her had living ponies in and around them. Ponies in what looked like military uniforms stood by the tanks stopping every group that went down that road... No, not a battle; this was... a millitary checkpoint?
That feeling of approaching danger had returned, but it more subtle; easy to miss if you weren't actively alert. With only the sounds of her breath and heart beat to keep her company, she took a deep breath to try and releive the tension that wracked her whole body.
A shiver ran up her spine as she exhaled. She levitated the pistol out of her bag and looked at it, realising that she'd never shot a gun before...
She pointed the pistol at a near by wagon and pulled the trigger... or she tried to. It seemed to be stuck. "Huh?" the trigger wouldn't budge. She pulled again, a little harder; still nothing... "Is it broken?"
<...CHECK THE SAFETY...> a metallic voice stated from just behind her, making her jump and shreik in terror.
"Hyaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!" the young unicorn wailed as she spun on one hoof to see who or what had snuck up on her. In her panic, she dropped the pistol and it clattered to the ground.
the sight that greeted her was a strange looking...robot? a spherical metal machine that looked more like a flying radio hovered before her silently with insect like wings. it spoke again in its matallic monotone.
"What are you?" Goldenshine asked shakily. "and...where am I?"
The strange machine hovered silently for a moment. it asked aloud. Watcher, as it had called itself turned back to the ruins behind them. it turned back to her.
"Uh...yeah."she said awkwardly. The reason for leaving the stable resurfaced in her memory. "...I was...banished from the stable..." she said, her somber gaze falling to the crumbled pavement.
Watcher was silent once more. <...I SEE...> the two sat in uncomfortable silence for a while before it spoke again. <...WELL , I WON'T PRY FOR DETAILS THEN, BUT I CAN HELP YOU LEARN HOW TO USE A GUN.> It looked down at the dropped pistol. <...PICK IT UP, ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE RECEIVER, THERE'S A LITTLE SWITCH BY THE GRIP. THAT'S WHAT'S CALLED A SAFETY...>
...............................................................................................................
Aayla, Ashoka and their clone troopers continued down the path. It wasn't long before unfamiliar sounds could be heard ringing out in the distance. the sounds of explosions were peppered through those other sounds however. "...The sounds of battle..." Master Secura mused.
"Then there ARE lifeforms on this planet..." Ashoka confirmed.
"The twilek looked at her; a slightly amused expression on her face. "You cannot sense them?"
the young padawan averted her eyes awkwardly. "well, this planet..." she stammered. "...it's like Nar Shadaa; alive with the force, and yet, dead to it at the same time..."
Aayla nodded approvingly. "Indeed, Padawan. like trying to see through a thick fog; but if your senses are keen enough, then you can peer through the interference for brief moments." she returned her gaze to the road ahead of them. "This is an opportunity for us both to better hone our senses and adapt to the inherent chaos of this world..."
One of the clones, Cruncher looked through his range finder. "General, there appears to be some kind of camp ahead." he offered the device to the commanding jedi, who took it and peered through it herself. "I could see glimpses of a fire, and you can see the smoke from here..."
Aayla nodded. "...yes, Cruncher. Well done." She herself had caught a glimps of movement in between what appeared to be a series of crude barricades. As she lowered the range finder, something tugged at her senses. her eyes whent cold and focused as she quickly turned to look out into the desolate wasteland. An anomally in her senses. she could feel it was somewhere near by, but... it was as though it could activly conceal itself from the force... that was a disconserting thought...
"Is something wrong, General?" Sander asked.
"Yeah, you trailed off a bit." Ashoka observed. Everyone was now looking at her expectantly.
The twilek jedi leveled a serious look at her comrades. "We are being watched..." she said quietly, earning nervous looks from the clones and Ashoka. "Everyone, don't let your guard down, we could find ourselves in the midst of some less then desirable company..."
Commander Bly hefted his blaster. "From the look on your face, general, I'd imagine that's barely the half of it..."
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Not far away, they were indeed being watched. Next to a large gnarled tree, a shape shimmered in the light, and seemed to slowly materialize out of thin air. The shape of a pony was obscured by a dark cloak that billowed in the wind. A leather mask covered her muzzle and a pair of reflective goggles covered her eyes. strapped across her back was a worn but well maintained sniper rifle.
she raised one armored hoof to push the goggles up to her forhead. Her cold crimson eyes locked on the bizarre new wanderers that were slowly approaching a raider camp. She'd made a mental note that the blue skinned one almost seemed to sense that she was watching them, and would not be easy to sneak up on them and discern their purpose if they were ready for her.
something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. she leveled her rifle in it's direction and looked through the scope.
She smirked as the figure of one of the most enygmatic ponies in the wasteland slowly made his way toward them from the opposite end of the road. The stallion wore an armored trenchcoat, millitary grade combat gear and heavy breather helmet with a hole in the front to accomadate his battered horn. She could even see the red glow of his optic lenses.
Her smirk turned into a grin. It was possible that she was in for quite a show, depending on how they reacted to eachother. she would continue to watch them for a while longer...
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Goldenshine's talk with Watcher had been informative, to say the least. She now had a basic rundown of the great war two hundred years ago, the Baalfire bombs used by both sides, the lingering side effects of said bombs which included all manner of mutated abbarations, he'd also informed her that those horrific dessicated pones that had attacked her before were refered to as 'feral gouls'.
then was an abridged version of more current events. The "Light Bringer" who was named Little Pip who had orchestrated the defeat of and earth pony warlord by the name of Red Eye, and the grand pegasus enclave both, only to sacrifice herself for some kind of wheather control machine.
Another pony named Blackjack, who'd been dubbed "Security" by the local surface ponies who had taken down a criminal syndicate run by somepony named Sanguine and then merged with the spirit of Princess Luna? it got very convoluted after a while. she was starting to think that half of those stories were embelishent.
Lastly, he told her to stay clear of the Smokey mountains as apparently both a murderous revenant and a crazy raider cult were lurking around there...
Goldenshine continued along the abandoned road until a she neared a massive structure that was dotted with small fires that trailed smoke into the air. could this be...? she remembered her vision. The large metal thing that had fallen from the sky; this was it!
It was getting dark now, if she didn't find shelter soon, then she'd be poking around in total darkness. it was this big thing or she was screwed.
As she got closer and closer, she had to squint her golden yellow eyes to see the darkening road. finally she'd reached it. "Holy shit!" she whispered to herself. "this thing is HUGE!"
She marveled at the massive structure's utter enormity as it towered over her. She took a moment to look it over from side to side. This thing had to be twice the size of the stable, maybe even bigger! "...now, to find an opening while there's still enough light to see..."
She trotted and trotted for what felt like an eternity just to get around the blasted heap of scrap. hunger and exhaustion made her whole body weak as she became more and more aware that she hadn't eaten anything since her exile... her stomach growled loudly.
Cold, hungry, and tired, the young unicorn whimpered softly. "I'm beginning to think that there is no way in there..." she whined as she stumbled through tall grass trying to find the road again. "...and I'm gonna die out here..." she sobbed quietly to herself.
She'd managed to make her way around one end of the massive object as she continued through the tall brush. "If I could just find the road again..." she grumbled before she finally found a break in the tall grass that seemed to coincide with a... slight dropoff... "Hwaaaahhh!!!- Ooouughh!!"
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Captain Rex was fiddling with a spare blaster that had been found in the wreckage, when he heard something approaching through the tall grass that surrounded his makeshift camp. A small group of hideous insect like creatures had attacked them already. They were easy enough to dispatch, of course, but he couldn't help but feel that those were hardly alpha predators on this planet.
He readied his blaster and scanned the surrounding area until he could see the grass shifting almost directly across from him. with no time to pich up his helmet, which had been on the ground next to him, he focused down the sights of his weapon with his naked eye. Closer and closer it got. wait... a voice? "...if I could just find the road again...". A female voice. Not much older then Commander Tano, he'd guess. then it came out of the brush.
An odd pink quadroped had stumbled out of the bushes only to slip down the drop off and faceplant into the dirt. It had a Mane and tail of firy yellow with pink streaks through them and It seemed to be wearing a blue jacket of somekind. But a distinguishing feature that caught his eye was the mark on its flank. the image looked like a child's drawing of a galaxy map.
The pink quadroped uttered a pained groan as it slowly hauled itself to its hooves. that female voice from before...came from this creature? was this the native species of this planet? "...Ugh..." she shook her head and took a moment to brush the dirt from her muzzle before she saw him and froze.
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Author's Note
Sweet Celestia's mercy!
this took WAAAAAYYY too long! I'll have to make a policy of working only on one project at a time instead of trying to do several at once, cause that certainly hasn't done me any favors. well, that's chapter two of Fallout Equestria: Across The Stars. The next update will be on my other story, The Great And Powerful Fairy Tail. if you haven't read it, give it a look. 
