“As the Thousandth year draws nigh, the warring heavens shall descend into darkness. A lifeless army and a powerful Knight shall do battle above our land. From within enormous metal dragons shall the two clash, exchanging great bursts of light that shall turn their steel hides to flames. They shall fall from the skies in a bright blaze, to be claimed by the Everfree.
The Knight shall fail, but the army shall be stilled for a time. And lo, when the Sun and Moon have reconciled, and Chaos has been banished a second time, the army shall rise. They shall march forth on Equestria, obliterating nature and pony alike, without mercy. A great Evil commands them; they shall remain within the forest, within the metal dragon from whence they came.
So shall the Elements be called upon to finish the Knight’s task; with Evil’s defeat shall one among them take up the Force he wielded. What he leaves behind shall shape the future of our world and those beyond.”
- Excerpt from Predictions and Prophecies: Volume II, composed by Star-Swirl the Bearded in the year 19 B.C.L. (Before Celestia and Luna)
The halls were bathed in crimson as the emergency lights winked on and off. The great ship groaned and shuddered, each impact upon its dense, armored exterior whittling away its superstructure. Klaxons moaned out continuously, the dying battlecruiser’s wails ricocheting from the bare metal of the bulkheads. A low, thundering explosion vibrated its way through the hull, rocking the immense craft as a portion of its hull was blasted to its constituent atoms. The diversionary assault on Malastare had failed, and the Lucid Voice had entered its final hour.
Veshk Raath grunted and stumbled as the durasteel beneath his boots shifted, growling and gritting his sharpened fangs as he made his way to the portside hangar. His pace quickening as another shudder rattled the deckplates, his limp facial tendrils quivering. He could feel the vast Providence-class cruiser collapsing around him, each quake forcing him to reconsider just how long the doomed hulk would stay in one piece. The mechanized crew of the besieged cruiser battled on, their servomotors clicking away with each steady, precalculated motion of their forms. Series of droning, monotone commands buzzed through the air as a squad of security battle droids made their way past him, their thin, skeletal forms clattering past as they continued their patrols. Each was oblivious to the devastation of the immense vessel and its accompanying battle group, their economical, overly simplistic programming unable to comprehend anything besides their immediate task.
He grunted softly as they passed. If they had been live soldiers, he would have considered their dedication admirable. But they were lifeless, brittle constructs, cheaply churned from automated factories, eschewing power and intellect for sheer numbers. Their memory cores were filled with only the most basic of intelligences, and anything more than a basic combat maneuver would overload their feeble processors. Their dedication was not borne of loyalty to their cause or leaders, but of a simple, preprogrammed command, one that could be erased or altered with an access code and the flick of a terminal key. They were nothing like the warriors he had known. This war was nothing like what he’d known.
It wasn't like he had been given much of a choice, anyways. He had known the trance would leave him vulnerable to whomever might stumble upon him, and he’d willingly accepted that risk. His kind had failed in their attempted invasion of the rest of the galaxy, and the forces of light had driven them all the way back to his homeworld, bombarding the planet's defensive emplacements from above as their troops scoured the barren surface, charging their way into the sacred temples as they engaged the remaining forces too proud to surrender. Anything had been preferable to becoming the spoils of the Jedi and their Republic minions. They would have sought a way to capture him, to convert him to their gutless ways. And so he’d sealed himself away, languishing in the depths of Korriban as the centuries rolled past, the power of the Force keeping his form clinging to life.
He had expected to remain in that dreamless, empty sleep for years, perhaps a century or two. To awaken five millennia later had been more of a shock than even he had anticipated.
The human, a man calling himself Dooku, had only added to the disorientation. He had called himself Sith, a fact that had sickened him to no end. Humans may have led his kind to near-victory over the rest of the galaxy, but their kind had also served the Republic that had ended up defeating them. He’d not dared openly express his displeasure, however; from the moment the shadowy, imposing figure had entered his vision, he could feel the power of the dark side radiating in waves from him. Though his presence within the Force was warped and twisted from the practitioners he had learned from, the man clearly held the superior position.
And thus he had accepted the offer the Sith Lord had presented him with: to join his battle against the Republic and participate in the conflict that would become known only as the Clone Wars. To his credit, Dooku had delivered on what he’d promised. He had led Raath up from those dark, dank chambers, and had almost immediately made him a commander in the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the mostly droid-based military that had been raised to oppose the Republic by a power-hungry alliance of some of the galaxy's largest mega-corporations. He had received instruction on rebuilding his lightsaber, the newer iterations of the powerful weapons no longer requiring the power pack or cord that had been ubiquitous in his day. And of course, he was brought up to date on what had transpired in the galaxy since he had descended into the trance.
He had been prepared for some sort of shock to follow his awakening, but he had failed to anticipate the knowledge that awaited him. Over those five thousand years, there had been dozens of large-scale attempts to overthrow the Republic and their Jedi guardians, and each and every one had managed to be foiled. His species had been beaten to virtual extinction; the Sith were now known as those who merely practiced the teachings and philosophies he had been raised with, and even they were pitifully small in number. Only Dooku and his Master, a shadowy, decrepit figure known as Darth Sidious, were known as Sith Lords, and, apart from a few adepts and himself, the knowledge of his people was lost to the galaxy.
When he had first taken command of his own fleet, a sense of hope had permeated his efforts. Though the armies he had once served had long since been obliterated, this new war presented a second chance, one to redeem the failures of his brethren, and to finally achieve the victory the Sith had been denied time and again. He had relished the terror-inducing raids his task force routinely made upon Republic forces.
The Lucid Voice was, after all, a sister vessel to the Invisible Hand, command ship of the feared General Grievous, a monstrosity of metal and flesh the likes of which Raath would have been proud to create. A simple transponder code switch was all it took to convince the cloned soldiers and their Jedi commanders that Grievous himself was assailing them, often sending them into disarray out of fear of the ruthless General. This fear was particularly useful when Grievous himself attacked a separate target on the other side of the galaxy, inciting a sense of turmoil in the enemy forces that had sent shivers of pleasure up Raath’s spine. He had torn into them each time with glee, vaporizing their Star Destroyers with impunity, his droid armies obeying his every whim. On the rare occasion he himself entered personal combat with the defenders of the Republic, he had delighted in terrorizing their soldiers with conjured illusions, sending them to the ground as they clutched at their skulls in horror, their frightened screams only egging him on, until that moment when he choose to end their suffering with the crimson blade of his saber.
And yet, those brilliant, carnage-filled assaults had only staved off the inevitable failure. For each Confederacy victory, the Republic seemed to garner two more. The uncountable numbers and varieties of battle droids at their disposal could not match the efforts of the cloned human soldiers of the Republic, and the sheer number of Jedi overwhelmed the few dozen Force-wielding adepts within their ranks. Throughout those three years, they had been beaten back time and again, and now the Confederacy of Independent Systems had been all but defeated, their bold strike on Coruscant leaving Dooku dead and the Invisible Hand decimated. If that hadn’t been enough of a blow, the recent reports had delivered news that had sealed their failure; Grievous had been slain on Utapau, with the Separatist Ruling Council fleeing to the Mustafar system as their defending armies were crushed by the arrival of superior Republic forces.
In a way, he admired the Republic for their adherence to tradition combat, for fielding trained, albeit cloned, soldiers in the face of the automatons that had been unleashed upon them. They understood that war wasn’t merely a contest of mindless destruction, but of endurance. A tempered, controlled survival instinct was an essential component of a warrior’s arsenal. A battle droid could march fearlessly into a hail of blasterfire, but that obedience was of little use once it had been blasted to cinders. A live combatant, on the other hand, would use every method and means at their disposal to keep themselves alive and fighting. And a live enemy was far more dangerous than a dead one.
The crimson-skinned, pure-blooded Sith jogged the last dozen meters to the docking bay entrance, charcoal robes flowing around his form, his lightsaber dangling from his belt. If he had been a warrior, a Massassi, then he would have stayed at his station, as the mindless battle droids did, committing his last breath to annihilating every last Republic craft in his sights. But he was born a Kissai, a priest, and honor did not demand that he die in battle.
When the blast door to the hangar hauled themselves open, Raath half expected to be dragged out by escaping atmosphere. The vast, gargantuan hangar deck was filled with dozens of droid starfighters and transport vessels, most of which were damaged to varying degrees, their insectlike hulls charred and warped by the blasterfire they had endured. PK repair units milled between each of them, the short, stocky drones repairing what craft they could. Hangar cranes descended from the ceiling to drag away the salvage. A low thrumming from the magnetic field generators lining the hangar apertures joined the rhythmic, echoing moans of the klaxons.
He set off into a jog again when he had spotted his personal craft, allowing a sensation of relief to flow through his veins. The massive, double-winged Trade Federation landing craft dominated the hangar, its broad, towering form casting the deck in shadow as it loomed above, its great “foot” planted firmly upon the ground. Nothing obstructed its path from the hangar; the immense carrier vessel had been positioned to face the starboard side of the battlecruiser, providing an escape route that skirted Malastare before giving way to open space.
The Sith glanced to the other side of the hangar, staring out of the transparent magnetic shield at the raging battle outside. Support destroyers were snapped in two under the heavy guns of the Republic’s angular Venator-class Star Destroyers, fiery explosions blossoming along their lengths as they succumbed to the assault. Starfighters swarmed between the immense battleships, weakening their shields with quick bursts of laserfire and proton torpedo salvos. And as the surrounding vessels were turned to molten debris, the advancing Republic ships had finally turned their guns upon the Lucid Voice itself. The oblong vessels shields glowed opaque under endless waves of blue-hued turbolaser bolts, its own weaponry blasting pitiful crimson volleys in return, each shot splashing harmlessly against the undamaged shields of the Star Destroyers. Another loud shudder coincided with a flicker of those powerful shields, once again reminding Veshk of the dwindling lifespan of the great cruiser.
He had nearly reached the personnel entrance of the immense lander when a nasally voice shouted over the din, seemingly directed at him. He paused, and the voice sounded again, “Commander Raath! Sir!” The tall Sith turned about, his facial tendrils twitching with disgust as he laid eyes upon the source of the call. A dozen Neimoidians shuffled towards him, moving as rapidly as they could beneath their ridiculous, stuffy robes. The grub-based species irritated him on every possible level; their vaguely maggot-like appearance was revolting, and their cowardly, greedy mannerisms only served to increase his intense dislike of them. How the sniveling, worthless little beings had managed to become such an integral part of the Confederacy, he had no idea.
The one who had spoken reached him after another few seconds, gasping for breath as he slowed to a stumbling walk, “S-sir…th-the captain is dead! W-we cannot access his shuttle!” His immense red eyes pulsated, secondary eyelids flickering over the unreadable orbs briefly as he stammered, “W-we must be allowed to board your ship, sir!”
The crimson-skinned Sith felt his lip curl upwards into a sneer; arrogance was yet another entry on the list of Neimoidian flaws. For a moment, he said nothing, allowing the greenish, pale-fleshed creatures to quiver beneath his gaze. Then, he merely raised a hand, his fingers slowly curling into a fist over the course of a second or two.
A sharp, earsplitting squeal emerged from the Neimoidian’s throat, causing his comrades to gasp and flinch in terror. The sound was abruptly cut off as the crackling of cartilage filled the air, and suddenly he slumped to the hangar deck, hands clutching at his crumpled windpipe, red eyes staring blankly. Raath turned his gaze briefly to the others, cementing his answer as he gave them one final, parting glare. He turned about, leaving the other Neimoidian crew members to wander away aimlessly around the hangar deck as their ship collapsed around them.
A short lift ride up the central foot of the landing craft sent Veshk to its command deck. The lift doors slid open to reveal the lander’s control center. The ovoid room stretch forth twenty meters before him, an immense observation window filling the front of the great space. Consoles and computer stations lined the walls, each one crewed by a single battle droid, the yellow paint adorning their skeletal skulls and limbs confirming their status as command units. Every few meters, a pair of maroon-striped security droids stood at the ready, blaster rifles clutched in their mechanical claws. The center of the bridge was mostly empty, save for a single, glossy-black pod, a transparent viewport on its top revealing its absent contents.
Raath strode forth through the control center, milling battle droids stepping aside as he made his way to the fore of the deck. A single command droid rose from its console as he approached, addressing him once he’d entered a preprogrammed range, “Commander, we are ready for departure.” Its nasally voice buzzed through the air, the unpleasant monotone another side effect of Neimoidian involvement in the war.
“Launch immediately. Execute protocol Omega-thirteen.”
“Yes, sir.” The droid turned its head towards the rest of the artificial crew, its vocorder raising in volume as it ordered, “Initiate immediate launch. Set for vector two-one-five-mark-zero-zero-two.”
A chorus of “Roger roger”s followed in acknowledgement, and Raath grimaced at the idiotic reply. He stood back as the lander’s deckplates began to thrum, staring out of the immense observation port as the vessel rose from the hangar deck. Though he could no longer see the Republic fleet laying waste to his vessel, they had clearly begun to break through the shield; the hangar itself had begun to collapse. A ceiling crane hauling a droid starfighter crashed to the deck as the cruiser was rocked by an explosion, landing in a heap as the lander slowly drifted forward on its repulsorlifts. When the smooth-hulled starship had cleared the atmospheric containment field, the glowing ion engines adorning its stern hummed to life, blazes of golden particles providing thrust as the transport hurtled away from its dying mothership.
Raath loosed a rapid, huffing sigh of relief as the view of the hangar gave way to open space. As the double-winged lander veered off on its slow, arcing course away from mottled blue and green sphere that was Malastare, the crimson-skinned Sith could glimpse the remnants of his defeated fleet. His destroyer squadrons had been mostly obliterated, their thin, oblong hulls drifting in fragments, tumbling end over end amid the chaos Fiery detonations tore through the ring-shaped carriers surrounding the command cruiser, their round cores cracking apart like eggs under barrages of turbolaser fire and proton torpedoes. Though he could not see them, he knew that thousands of droid starfighters were suddenly shutting down mid-flight during the battle, their forms unable to function in the absence of their respective control ships.
And in the midst of that one-sided frenzy, he could see the Lucid Voice, its massive, imposing form taking the full brunt of the Republic assault. Its shields flared brightly as each and every laser bolt seemed to converge upon it, before winking out of existence as their projectors finally overloaded. Starfighters swooped down to make their firing runs upon the doomed vessel, punctuating their attacks with a fatal volley of proton torpedoes, the powerful warheads piercing the bridge the moment the cruiser’s shields had failed. Massive explosions blossomed along that massive length, shattering the once-magnificent vessel’s superstructure, breaking it into immense chunks of molten debris.
Raath felt a small pang within his chest as the great battleship was torn asunder; though his efforts onboard it had ultimately been futile, he had relished the victories he had earned from its bridge. He had almost begun to call that fearsome dreadnought home, and he found a twinge of regret at its destruction working its way through his body. But it hadn’t been his home, not really, anyways. His home had been lost to the universe, all traces of it fading into the haze of time. He had known such an occurrence was inevitable, and had thus planned accordingly.
He turned away from the observation window, stepping back towards the center of the bridge. The Confederacy had been losing the war for the last several months, and when the order had been given for his fleet to stage its diversionary assault, he had made sure to prepare for the worst. Should the Republic again emerge victorious, he knew he would be forced to enter hiding, to evade their dogged pursuit of their enemies until time had wiped their memories of him.
His retreat had been carefully chosen: his ship would set its course for the Tyus Cluster, an infamous array of black holes that had formed a shell around the thousand light-year radius within. The navigational hazard dominated the majority of the sector for which it was named, rendering most of it unreachable by normal hyperspace travel. Over the centuries, many had tried to plot innovative hyperroutes between the gravity wells of the black holes, with usually fatal results, their ships smashed to subatomic particles by the immense mass shadows projected into hyperspace by the singularities. The only known explorer that had survived skirting that barrier had been caught in temporal flux near one of the more massive vortices, emerging fifty years later in the same condition he had entered in. Those navigators, however, had never attempted such an endeavor with the power of the Force at their disposal.
Raath had plotted his course himself, utilizing his own knowledge of hyperspatial physics and the Force itself to navigate the maelstrom of gravitational forces that warped all hyperspace routes into the uncharted territory. Through its all-permeating field, he could feel each and every pull on hyperspace by the surrounding singularities, and would then adjust his course accordingly. Though the techniques he utilized were from his own age, he had learned that the advent of navicomputers had rendered them mostly obsolete, with few Force users actually able to duplicate such a feat. His actions would therefore seem suicidal to anyone who managed to see him attempt his escape, and they would presume he had been obliterated by one of the deadly singularities. Though there was a good chance they may indeed be correct, he did not question his own actions; if he succeeded, he would be safely hidden away from the galaxy, free to emerge only when he chose. And if he perished, then perhaps he was not meant to return at all.
He placed a hand upon the black, glossy pod, gazing at his shadowy reflection within its surface. The stasis unit would make his sleep more comfortable, at least. He had hoped he would not have to enter the trance again so soon, but he knew it was the only option he had available. The lander would emerge in the center of the maelstrom. From there, it would set down on the first habitable world it could locate, providing his form a suitable defense as he waited. He would enter that empty blackness for a time, and would emerge once again when the galaxy had forgotten him.
His fingertip slid over a single control on the side of the pod. The hiss of compressed air sounded as the airtight seal was broken, the upper half of the stasis unit sliding backwards to allow his entry. The Sith managed to clamber into the puny chamber, his tall form barely managing to squeeze into its length. His hand brushed against an interior control, and the top portion slid back over his body, completely encasing him within the stasis pod.
Veshk exhaled slowly as the temperature within the claustrophobia-inducing pod rapidly dropped, the air chilling as a drowsy sensation slowly worked its way through his limbs. His eyes closed, and as his senses slowly dimmed he concentrated on the Force, clinging to it as the chill of the stasis chamber numbed his form. He stayed within that dark cloud, allowing it to envelop his mind as he drifted from reality. He would stay within it until it lifted from his mind. Then, he would arise, and would attempt to rejoin the galaxy once again.
“I can’t shake ‘em! Somebody get these guys off my six!”
“Hold your course, Gold Leader! I’m on them!”
Garreth Dorahn hauled back on his controls, sending his starfighter into a hard snap-roll left. Scarlet laser bolts carved through the space it had occupied, forcing its Vulture-droid pursuers to follow his weaving, winding course as he arced back towards the flight of bombers. The space between he and his charges was a maelstrom of laserfire and debris, forcing him to send the cobalt-painted, agile Eta-2 Actis interceptor into a series of rapid jukes and dives to avoid each deadly volley of energy and every hurtling hunk of melted durasteel. Each maneuver sent a jolt of adrenaline through his limbs, his body pressed into his seat as the acceleration compensator struggled in its function. Outside of the cockpit, R2-A7 warbled insistently, the astromech droid’s domed head turning to face him as it rode in its socket. “I know, I know!” He replied hastily, growling in slight frustration at the persistence of the droid forces.
As he brought the front of his forked-shaped starfighter into position, the massive, looming shape of the Providence-class Separatist command ship filled his cockpit, its shields alight with the impacts of turbolaser fire from the Republic forces. Amid the hail of turbolaser fire and the swarms of droid and Republic starfighters, he could spot his charges: a single squadron of ARC-170 starfighters. The broad-winged bombers swerved and weaved on their course towards the immense enemy capital ship, their swooping, diving forms pursued by a sextet of Tri-fighters. The compact, nimble vessels spat a hailstorm of laser fire at their targets, the lethal energy darts splashing against their rear shields, the impacts generating bright, brief flashes upon their matrices.
Dorahn approached the chase from below, his straight course marred by a pair of jukes as his pursuers fired in vain, their bolts flying wide to either side of him. His targeting system remained offline as he began to trace the lead Tri-fighter, lining up its form with the crosshairs projected by his Heads-Up Display. As a Jedi pilot, he rarely required such an aid; the Force determined his targets, allowing him to carve through enemy fighter groups, enabling him to guess their next maneuver before it was made. His fingers clenched around the triggers, ready to unleash their deadly barrage. One of the fighters’ scarlet energy bolts met its mark, the energized plasma melting through a portion of one of the bombers’ wings. A frantic cry issued forth from the comlink a moment later, “I’m hit!”
His finger squeezed the trigger. From the tips of his laser cannons, bright emerald laser bolts lanced up in pairs towards their targets, draining the weapons’ capacitors as he shifted his aim down the line of pursuing fighters. Each volley met its target, the energy bolts stabbing into the droid starfighters, their hulls vaporized as the bolts pierced their engines, exploding them in brief balls of flame and debris. The entire trail of fighters fell to the assault, each one turned into chunks of molten durasteel before it had time to calculate a proper evasive course.
A sigh of relief flooded through the comm, “Thank you, General. I thought they had us for a moment.”
Dorahn juked as a pair of crimson energy bolts darted past his cockpit, his hand reaching down to the throttle control, yanking it back. As his fighter slowed, a pair of shapes whizzed by, and his R2 unit gave a loud hoot as they emerged in front of him. There was a brief flicker within his mind, and he jabbed the trigger. Another volley of green laserfire caught his pursuers as they overshot him, and a pair of explosions blossomed before his fighter. He sighed softly in relief, smirking as he replied, turning his fighter back towards the advancing bomber group, “Anytime, Venn. Now, let’s finish what we’ve started, shall we?”
“With pleasure, General.”
His fighter hurtled past the bomber squadron as he joined their attack run, darting and swooping towards the massive, oblong battlecruiser. Their laser cannons blazed as they softened up their target, raking green laserfire up and down the thickly-armored hull, the starfighters evading the massive, slow-tracking returning fire from the starship’s turbolaser batteries. As the cruiser’s main shields flared under combined assault of the starfighters and their Star Destroyers, his R2 unit warbled another message to him. The Jedi Knight nodded to the droid, relaying the information to the bomber flight, “Hold your course, Gold Group! Ace’s reporting those shields are going critical! When they fall, target their bridge and let them have it!”
“We copy, General! Torpedoes are armed and locked on!”
He watched the cruiser’s shield glow brightly beneath the hail of enemy fire, the massive barrier holding as their ships hurtled within a few kilometers of their target. The turbolaser fire grew thicker with each meter lost between them, and those massive energy blasts grew closer to swatting the starfighters from the skies. For a moment, the shield flickered, and a single volley carved into the hull, blasting away armor plating by the ton. He stayed at the head of the squadron, his own torpedoes held in reserve as he waited. The turbolaser fire hurtled dangerously close as the fighters closed within a single kilometer of their targets. A moment later, Dorahn shouted over the comlink, “Open fire!”
The broad-winged bombers instantly obliged him, and the space between the starfighters and the Separatist cruiser was suddenly filled with a massive volley of proton torpedoes. Twenty-four of the potent warheads shot ahead of their launchers, bright cyan energy shrouds glowing in their wakes as they neared the bridge. In that fraction of a second before their impact, the deflector shields of the massive vessel flickered offline under the continued turbolaser barrage from the Republic fleet, and suddenly, those devastating warheads had plunged forth into the heart of their target, tunneling their way into the hull of the enormous starship before finally releasing their combined destructive energy.
A massive explosion tore its way through the dorsal section of the cruiser, the miniature supernova bursting forth from the ruptured hull in a fiery fury. Whoops of excitement rose over Dorahn’s comm link as the bombers dived out of the way of the ensuing explosions, his own fighter soaring away with the squadron as the starship’s superstructure was ripped apart by secondary detonations. Ace gave a series of excited whistles as they hurtled away from the destroyed command ship, and he grinned to himself, “We did it, Ace.” Though the battle itself brought him no joy, the end of a force that routinely ravaged planets and fleets and had caused millions, if not billions of deaths ignited a blaze of pride within the Jedi Knight’s chest. The Clone Wars had been a brutal, savage conflict, the likes of which he had never seen, and the knowledge that his actions had brought it that much closer to ending sent a sense of relief coursing through his veins. The fact that the massive battle had been one of the relatively fresh Jedi’s few large-scale victories only served to sweeten the moment.
He sighed in relief as he and Gold Squadron brought themselves around to face the flotilla of Republic Star Destroyers, the wrecked hulk of the Separatist command ship filling his cockpit’s view, “Excellent work, Gold Squadron. Let’s head home, I’m sure-”
He cut himself off abruptly as a massive shape hurtled past, the large vessel rocketing away from the wreckage of the Confederacy fleet. As it passed near his starfighter, the sense of relief retreated instantly from him, replaced with a sense of dread that was all-too familiar. He broke off from his squadron, turning back to face the fleeing ship. Dorahn turned his head as he maneuvered to face the vessel, flicking on his targeting system as he looked towards its retreating shape. The immense, double-winged transport was instantly identifiable as a Confederacy landing ship, a common sight among their fleets, something that normally thought. Except, of course, for the fact that it was heading away from the planet the Confederate forces had been assaulting.
“General? Do you copy?”
Dorahn shook his head, pushing his throttle forwards as he began to pursue the tan-hulled starship, closing the gap between them as he scanned his targeting display, “I’m fine, Venn. We’ve got a single landing craft fleeing the battle. I don’t think the ship is crewed by the normal droid compliment alone…” He shivered when he reached out with the Force, the icy tendrils of the darkside extending back towards him. “I believe we’ve finally cornered Veshk Raath, Captain.”
“I copy, General. We’re right behind you. Torpedoes locked and ready to fire.”
Dorahn nodded, his vessel coming within optimum range of the lumbering lander, his targeting reticule hovering steadily over its massive form, “Wait until my order to fire. I want to disable it, if possible…perhaps we can take him alive.” Though the tales of the mysterious, Force-wielding warrior had struck fear into the men of his fleet for most of the past three years, the sense of compassion that his position as a Jedi gave him demanded that he at least attempt a nonlethal solution to ensuring the elimination of the Confederacy Commander. The war had already brought about the deaths of billions, and one more would serve no purpose now that it neared its end. His fighter pulled within range; his targeting reticule glowed green as it gained a lock.
And in that fraction of a second, the lander flickered briefly before it vanished from realspace entirely.
“Blast! He’s gone to hyperspace!” Venn growled over his comm system a moment later.
Dorahn let out a brief sigh as the tension within his chest faded, shaking his head even as he turned the forked end of his fighter around, angling himself on a vector that would return him to his hyperspace ring, “No, I’ll handle him myself. My hyperdrive should be fast enough to intercept him before he has time to make a second jump.” He glanced out the cockpit at his astromech, “Ace? Have you plotted a course on his last vector?”
The R2 unit whistled in acknowledgement, and his primary display was suddenly filled with a navigational grid. The droid’s calculation of the most probable hyperroute seemed fairly straightforward, projecting itself “north” along the galactic plane, twisting and turning occasionally to avoid mass shadows and other navigational hazards. That is, until the linear path plunged itself directly into the great, sprawling mass of black holes that was the Tyus Cluster.
He frowned, shaking his head in disbelief, “Ace, this can’t be right…” The droid gave an indignant-sounding blat, seemingly irate that the Jedi Knight would suggest an error in his calculations. Dorahn paused, his mind struggling to process what might have gone through his enemy’s head. Had he plotted the course as some sort of suicide attempt, designed to draw any pursuing Republic forces to their dooms? It seemed likely, though he doubted that Raath had chosen to destroy himself in such a manner; the war had proved he was a survivor, able to appear on the scene months after he was presumed dead. The only logical choice, therefore, was that, despite the astronomical odds against such an occurrence, Veshk Raath had somehow plotted a course into the cluster itself.
Dorahn paused as he neared his hyperdrive unit, a ring-shaped craft that would encircle his fighter once he’d docked with it. The odds of Raath surviving were slim, yes, but the thought of the dark Force-wielder roaming with impunity throughout the galaxy was something he could not ignore. The Confederacy Commander had a history of valuing his own life above most everything else, and he would not have plotted such a course, unless he had intended to emerge from hyperspace intact on the other side. And Garreth Dorahn was not about to let him escape so easily. It would take the deepest concentration to make any sudden changes in his course mid-jump, should the course prove lethal…but he would be able to. The Force would allow such feats to be accomplished, and he trusted that its guidance would be sufficient to ensure his survival. And if he were to die, then he would accept as much. The will of the Force would come to pass regardless of his efforts.
He exhaled slowly, flicking his communications back over to Gold Squadron as he began the docking sequence with the hyperdrive ring, “Stay with the fleet in case of any late reinforcements. Have our forces clean up on the ground. With luck, this shouldn't take too long to wrap up.” He didn't bother informing the rest of the squadron of the Separatist commander's apparent course; their attempts to follow him would most likely end in their own demise, as they would be unable to make the necessary split-second hypercourse corrections the plunge into the black hole cluster would require. They could always attempt to follow him in via more conventional efforts, but attempts to probe the dense shell of singularties had been made before, and the probes that had managed to blaze their unstable trails into the cluster found little of interest beyond a few star systems drifting within the void. The combined effort would not be wasted upon one man. If he entered and was rendered unable to return, he was likely to remain there forever.
“Yes sir, General. Good luck, sir.”
Dorahn smiled a bit, “Thanks, Venn. Keep them safe.” His fighter shook as the docking ring locked itself into position around his craft. Once a connection between the unit and his starfighter had been established, his R2 unit began the transfer of hyper coordinates, warbling a confirmation once the quick task had been finished. As the immense, cobalt-striped ring oriented itself on the proper vector, he stared off into the faint, starry blackness, shivering ever so slightly as he waited for the jump, watching as the stars were pulled into rays of infinite length before him. His hands slowly fell away from the controls, and his fingers briefly grazed the hilt of his lightsaber.
He knew he should have felt confident; his fleet had decimated the Confederate battle group, and the Clone Wars were nearing their end. And yet the dark cloud of uncertainty and dread had failed to lift itself from his view of the Force. If anything, the haze had grown thicker, obscuring any attempts to discern the nature of anything future or present. Despite the victories of the Jedi, the dark side had failed to retreat from the galaxy, and as he prepared for his journey, he could feel it slowly suffocating him as he stretched out to the Force, the fear it carried with it assailing his soul at a steady pace, as the tide slammed itself against a shoreline. Though he knew not where or how, the dark side of the Force was growing steadily stronger, its forces readying themselves to overwhelm the galaxy.
Then the starlines stretched themselves around his cockpit, and his starfighter flickered out of existence, plunging into the winding rivers of hyperspace.
Celestia stepped out onto her balcony, the cool wind gently blowing through her flowing, multicolored mane. The faint glow of the moon illuminated her spotless white coat, the gentle rays playing over her fur. She let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes as she attempted to clear her mind.
It was another night without sleep; another night spent warding off the thousand clamoring thoughts that sought to overwhelm her. It was indeed fortunate that the alicorn did not require sleep herself, or else she would have been rendered unable to perform her duties long ago. After a minute or so of silence her eyes fluttered open, and her gaze drifted down to the capital city below.
She smiled a bit as she took in the gorgeous view, her wings shifting upon her back for the briefest of moments as she sought to take flight and see her magnificent city from all angles. Canterlot dazzled her as much as it did anypony, even after centuries of residence within the immense castle at its center. The mountainside metropolis was a symbol of everything she’d hoped for her people; that they would not only endure, but would flourish and thrive, enhancing the beauty of the world around them. They had exceeded every expectation she could have set for them, building a civilization free of strife and pain. The Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth ponies had remained united throughout the centuries, weathering each challenge that had presented itself, each remaining as pure and virtuous as the day Equestria had been founded.
Celestia glanced up towards the starry night sky, her eyes drinking in the glittering, brilliant lights that stretched across her sky. Her people had endured much in their early years, both before their unification and in the millennia afterward. She had struggled to keep them safe in those early years of her and her sister's rise to the throne, forced to shroud and shield them from those that would abuse the powers they possessed, powers that were drawn from that same energy that permeated the very universe. The alicorn felt a small twinge of regret as she looked up at those distant points of light, distant memories attempting to push their way to the forefront of her mind.
That regret grew into a deep sorrow as her gaze shifted to the full, bright moon hanging over the land, its gentle light illuminating the shadowed valley below, a constant reminder of what she had been forced to do, all those centuries before. What she had done to Luna, how she had trapped her upon that barren, lifeless moon, the same moon that dominated the night sky she had once held control over, when she had been at her rightful place, her older sister’s side. But Luna had lost control in the decades after they took up their mantles, wielding her powers against her sister in a fit of pent-up jealousy that had brewed for years and years, committing the very acts of violence against their people Celestia had sought to protect them from and plunging their world into darkness.
Celestia sighed once more, her eyes turning back towards the earth, a sense of guilt intermingling with her sadness. Luna had been the one to lash out at their subjects, but she knew that the blame could not be placed entirely upon her younger sister. Their decision on the future of their people had been one of fierce, almost violent contention between them, and Luna had fought her at every turn before she had begrudgingly agreed to stand with her sister, though Celestia had felt the resentment growing within her at such a decision. That sense of being sidelined, of anger at her older sister’s subtle tyranny had only grown as they enacted her plan, swelling as memories of past events were buried and knowledge carefully erased, her discomfort bolstered by her own recollection of the vast, wondrous world she and her sister had once been a part of, the one Celestia had sought to bury. And when she saw that her own people favored her sister and her work over her own, she had finally snapped, undergoing that terrible transformation and spreading the very terror they had sought to banish from their world.
And then they had fought, and Celestia had been forced to utilize the Elements of Harmony against her sister, drawing power directly from the artifacts that had become the symbols of all her people held dear. She had imprisoned her upon the lunar surface, far from her people, forced to wait for centuries until her sentence had finally been completed. That sentence was nearing its end; within twenty years, her sister would be freed. Then, they would both have to face the consequences of their actions.
The white-furred alicorn closed her eyes briefly, the hint of a smile returning to her face. Though the idea of meeting with her sister after all those years should have been worrying to her, she could feel that she and Luna would weather the ordeal together. Somehow, she and her sister would be all right. And when she returned, Celestia would make sure that she was welcomed as her equal.
She moved to turn back from the balcony, when a pair of the shimmering lights in the blackened skies caught her gaze. Pausing, she glanced up at the pair, watching as they grew steadily larger, moving about each other as they descended in the distance. Her eyes widened as she witnessed bright flashes of light erupting from the pair, the bolts of red and green crisscrossing through the atmosphere. Each impact upon their increasingly resolved forms caused a faint shade of blue to obscure them. As they descended, it was clear that the first was much larger than the second, its pair of broad, metallic double-wings illuminated by the ruby and emerald energy bolts as it dropped at a slower, continuous pace. The puny shape accompanying it was barely visible, the forked, compact body darting and buzzing about its plodding, immense counterpart, assailing it from all sides as it swerved and dived, its form shuddering whenever a crimson blast managed to intercept it.
Celestia moved to the edge of her balcony, her jaw agape as she watched the pair engage in their aerial duel. The sight was one she hadn’t witnessed in a thousand years, one she had hoped would never again enter her vision. Memories buried under centuries of her rule burst forth like a flood from a ruptured dam, beings and events lost to history flashing to the forefront of her mind, the emotions they stirred pulling with the strength and ferocity of a hurricane. Wonder, despair, warmth, anger, all were caught in the swirling vortex, amalgamating into a mass of confusion as those years surged forth, nearly threatening to overwhelm her. Above the storm of emotion, however, one sensation rose to the forefront.
A shiver trailed down the alicorn’s spine as an overwhelming dread coursed through her, ignoring her attempts to shove aside her distress. The strange craft that hurtled through the sky above her lands were not merely strange interlopers that had brought their battle to her ponydom. There were everything she had hoped to protect her people from, everything that she had sworn to leave behind. Her horn began to glow as her expression turned from shock to a determined stare, a readied spell charging at its tip, the glowing ball beginning to swell as the Princess of the Sun mustered her powers against the two invading craft.
Then, she hesitated, the rapid buildup of power within the regal alicorn halting abruptly as a sudden, vaguely familiar sensation gripped her form. Though she wished to remove the foreign entities from the skies above her people’s lands, an almost subconscious warning echoed within her mind, its subtle cue slowly degrading her sense of determination. Somehow, despite her own wishes, she could feel it would be a mistake to interfere with the pair of objects that dueled across the night sky. A moment later, her adherence to the warning would prove itself correct.
A slow, orange pulse burst forth from the plodding, double-winged shape, tracking its way around towards its compact target, its speed and maneuverability increasing with each passing second as it neared its target, finally drawing near the forked shape. A fiery explosion blossomed in the darkened skies above, the brief supernova casting its glow upon the land below. The blast caught the puny craft with its rapid expansion, setting it ablaze as it began hurtling out of control, its course turning into a shallow dive as it struggled to right itself.
As the little thing fell from the skies, a second pulse of light was loosed from its falling form, the smaller, cyan-hued burst smaller and faster than its larger counterpart. The burst slammed into the rear of the immense, metallic invader, the bluish glow failing to rise as the projectile impacted against its target. The resulting detonation tore through the craft’s metallic hide, and it too caught flame as its descent became more and more uncontrolled, the double sets of wings wavering and tipping towards one side as it careened downwards on a separate path from its attacker. Celestia stared as the two defeated craft hurtled down towards the horizon, their flaming forms eventually disappearing somewhere beyond the treeline of the distant, darkened forest on the other side of the valley that stretched out beyond Canterlot’s boundaries. Any impact went unheard within the vast depths of the immense wood, and the night skies were tranquil once more.
Celestia stared out into that distant point on the edge of the horizon, watching wordlessly as her mind churned. She thought of going to examine the downed objects herself, to try and piece together why they had chosen to annihilate each other in the skies above Equestria. But that same dissuading whisper rose within her mind, the powerful suggestion that she had learned to adhere to throughout her many, many years keeping her from considering that course of action. There was a certain clarity that accompanied the brief invasion of her thoughts, enough to reassure her that the occurrence would be dealt with, though by whom she could not yet be sure of.
The Solar alicorn gave a small shake of her head, shoving aside her doubts as she turned her gaze back towards the distant, shining stars suspended in the blackness above. She would trust the otherworldly guidance as she always had, relying upon it to make sense of the swirling maelstrom of events and emotions. For a moment, she stretched her senses out towards those stars, attempting to discern the state of the world she’d once known.
A gasp escaped her lips, and she recoiled almost immediately, her eyes widening with fear at what she had found. The vile, chilling tendrils of darkness she could feel twisting their way through the stars engulfed all within the range of her awareness, the thorny grip of fear curling itself around the galaxy itself. The darkness itself had always existed, occasionally pooling into a twisted mass around a location in turmoil. It migrated from place to place as distress shifted from being to being; it was a necessary, if unfortunate, fact of life. The thought of it taking hold across the thousands of systems spread throughout the stellar void sent a shiver of terror through Celestia, her mind racing as she attempted to comprehend what could have possibly happened in the centuries since she and her sister had left. Had those she had known all those years ago failed in their efforts to defeat the darkness that had plagued their entire civilization? Had the followers of that shadowy evil truly risen up to defeat those who had upheld peace and justice for millennia before Luna or herself had been brought into existence?
The white alicorn shook her head, breaking the train of thought abruptly. It was not her place to worry about what occurred among the stars. She had spent enough time among them already, and she had made the decision to keep her people separate from that realm centuries ago. Perhaps, when her subjects were ready to enter that complex, wondrous world on their own, and when the time was right, she would allow them to venture forth and experience the galaxy for themselves. Until then, she would keep them safe and protected as she always had, allowing them to remain blissfully ignorant of the incredible and terrifying aspects of existence that lay beyond the veil of stars.
Taking one last glance at the moon, Celestia turned back towards her chambers, pushing the stressful worries from her thoughts as she left the balcony. She would leave the future to unfold as it was meant to, and would not allow her fears of the future to interfere with her duties as ruler. The sun would need raising in a few hours, and though the Princess of the Sun did not strictly require it, a small nap sounded like the perfect balm to soothe her harried mind.
It Came From the Everfree
...U:/TFOSV7SP3/SF327/sys/THX/1138.ctrl (1234684938467/1234684938467)
...System recovery completed...
...Self-diagnostic completed. Control processing systems running at 100% efficiency. All operational files remain intact. Restarting vessel operations...
...TF-Lander-EFFDB94-Control Online. Re-establishing peripheral connections...
...Connections established. Time since last self-diagnostic: 020:14:18:46:05. Running Self-Diagnostic Level I...
...Systems analysis completed. Primary system conditions identified...
...Emergency Power Systems: ONLINE...
...WARNING: Remaining power levels below 10% capacity. Attempting to transfer...
...Main Reactor: OFFLINE...
...Auxiliary Reactor: ONLINE. Initiating transfer...
...Transfer complete. Auxiliary reactor operating at 90% efficiency. Resuming diagnostic...
...Navigation Systems: OFFLINE...
...Turbolaser Units: OFFLINE...
...Variable Warhead Launcher: OFFLINE...
...Sensor Array: OFFLINE...
...Sublight engines: OFFLINE...
...Hyperdrive: OFFLINE....
...Deflector Units: OFFLINE...
...Shield Generator: OFFLINE...
...Hull Condition: CRITICAL. Breaches in Storage Wing 1 and 3....
...Life Support Systems: ONLINE.
...Stasis Unit 1: ONLINE. Temperature Control Units and Atmosphere Recyclers operating at 100% efficiency...
...Central Control Computer: ONLINE...
...Communications Array: ONLINE. Attempting to re-establish Droid Control Signal...
...Processing...
...Processing...
...Droid Control Signal re-established...
The piercing hiss echoed throughout the space as all light suddenly vanished, the sharp decompression ricocheting off unseen walls as total blackness descended. A gasp followed in its wake, ringing softly before it was swallowed by lifeless, frigid air. She tried to still herself, but the shivers demanded control of her limbs, forcing her legs to quake with a startling intensity. Her breaths came short and fast as she yanked something from her bag, struggling to keep it held before her as it glowed in her faint, flickering purple aura. She could feel her control over her magic fading with each tremble, unable to summon even a simple illumination spell as she fumbled with the object, its form constantly slipping within her mental grasp. Finally, she managed to press the stud protruding from the metallic cylinder, and she jumped as the air erupted with a sudden snap-hiss.
A brilliant lavender light illuminated the area around her, the glowing blade emanating from the cylindrical object keeping the darkness at bay. Its low thrum drowned out the low creaks and rumblings that had taunted her perception, its permeating vibrations wavering as she aimed the purple blade at the blackness before her, eyes wide as they scoured the void in terror. She summoned her voice, a shaky shout managing to burst free from her throat as she challenged, "C-come on! Show yourself! Wh-who are you!?"
A hollow, sickening laugh reverberated in response, and Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt every ounce of confidence she'd managed to gather drain through her quivering knees.
"You already know me. I am the terror that pulses through your veins, the fear that haunts the recesses of your mind. Your pitiful existence has brought you a mere fragment of the power I wield, and your world is weakened by its rejection of my ways. But my arrival is nigh, and soon I shall claim both you and your world as my own."
Twilight gasped as the desolate, grating voice rasped at her from all sides, the ragged, low-pitched call echoing through the surrounding blackness. Her throat constricted as a fresh burst of adrenaline forced its way through her heartbeat, her purple-furred flesh crawling in the chilled air. She managed to choke out as she swung the glowing purple blade about, her voice quaking in time with her dwindling magical grip on the blade, "Th-that's not true! Y-you'll never take me, o-or Equestria!" She tried to reach out, to sense his presence around her, willing her way into the void. The great cloud of darkness failed to yield to her probe, however, and the lingering terror in her heart swelled anew as the voice began to answer.
"But I have already begun to take you. I can feel the fear flowing through you, influencing your every action. How it erodes at your very will...but, of course, you can feel it too, can't you?"
The unicorn froze as she heard the faint impacts of footsteps, and the blade whipped towards the sound, its glow illuminating the metal floor before her as she stared into the abyss before her, eyes wide in terror as she saw a shape materialize from the void.
"I can teach you to wield that fear. It need not be a vulnerability...it can be a weapon. A tool to focus your power. Your passions fuel your abilities...your terror, your anger, your hate. You are indeed powerful, my little friend..." A single, biting laugh tore through the air, "And, in time, I shall make your power my own."
Twilight stumbled backwards as the terrible being entered the faint light from her blade, yelping as she found herself pressed against a wall. She struggled to angle her shaking, thrumming blade at the approaching, towering being, her form shaking beneath the bipedal being's gaze. She could see his eyes, yellow and faintly glowing, high above her. Strange tendrils hung to the sides of his sharp-fanged, grinning maw, his black robes blending with the surrounding darkness as he stepped forth. The unicorn gasped as he moved towards her, and her levitated blade swung towards him, the thrumming blade ready to cut him down.
The young unicorn cried out as a second crackling hiss filled the air, a crimson blade rising into existence. The blades crashed as they collided, and suddenly Twilight's grip slipped on her blade. The purple blade hissed out of existence as the metal cylinder was batted aside, its shape giving a distant clatter as it hit the floor somewhere out of sight. The towering being laughed again as he loomed above the defenseless, terrified unicorn, his red blade casting a demonic glow upon he and her as he raised a single, claw-tipped hand. Twilight screamed as a searing pain gripped her body, his unseen hold sending a burning sensation through to her extremities. He spoke for the final time as she began to writhe pitifully before him, the unicorn able to take one last glimpse up at his grinning, monstrous form.
"You will join me...embrace your fears, your anger, and your suffering, and take the first step on the path to the dark side..."
As Twilight whimpered and writhed as her mind succumbed to agony, she could feel a prodding at her side, and a familiar, faraway voice suddenly rose to her ears, growing in volume as her world collapsed upon itself.
"Twilight...Twilight...hey, Twilight! Wake up!"
The purple unicorn slammed into consciousness, a breathless gasp escaping her as her eyes snapped open. Gone were the searing bolts of pain; only a mere fraction of a quiver remained within her limbs. She stared as the relieving sight of her library replaced the shadows and horrors that had seized her vision, glancing all around as she regained her bearings. Her desk and haphazard piles of notes lay before her. Sunlight streamed through the second-floor window, its beams casting their glow upon her bed and the bookshelf that held her own private collection of tomes. And at her side stood her number-one assistant, a look of great concern adorning the stout baby dragon's features as he stared up at the unicorn he had accompanied since his hatching.
"Hey, you okay Twilight?" He asked again, reaching up to touch the startled unicorn's shoulder with a clawed hand.
Twilight let out a heavy sigh of relief, shaking her head to clear the remnants of the dream from her mind, "Whew...I'm all right, Spike." She gave the little dragon a reassuring smile, "Just a nightmare, that's all..." She failed to stifle a yawn, groaning as she moved back from her desk and stretched, her ligaments gently popping with her motions. She looked towards her bed as a mild wave of soreness overtook her, belatedly wishing she'd made the short journey from her desk to the comfortable mattress. Her gaze was drawn to the window, and she found herself wincing at the blinding rays of sunlight that shone forth, "Ooh...how late was I up?"
The young dragon chuckled a bit at Twilight's question, shaking his head as he rolled his eyes, "I couldn't tell ya, since I went to bed at a normal time like everypony else. You were passed out when I woke up, so I guess you must've been up pretty late." He glanced at the chaotic clusters of parchment strewn about the desk, raising an eyeridge as the majority of Twilight's notations escaped him, "See anything interesting last night?"
The unicorn nodded in reply, her eyes darting back over her notes as she gave them one last look, her horn and the pile of parchment glowing the same hue of purple as the notes shuffled themselves back into a single pile, "As a matter of fact I did! I spent most of last night observing the stellar spectra of the stars within Canis Major and Minor." She flicked eagerly through her notes, seemingly losing all trace of fatigue and worry as she elaborated, excitement taking hold of her tone and expression, "I classified them based on their absorption lines, and the results were staggering! There are three stars in Canis Major alone that are the same class of star as our own sun! The possibilities are-"
Twilight paused as she turned back to Spike, her momentary burst of enthusiasm fading as she spotted the perplexed expression on the dragon's snout, "You didn't get any of that, did you?"
Spike shook his head once, his eyeridge raised as he regarded the gifted unicorn. "Uh, can I get a translation?"
Twilight sighed a bit as she slid the stack of notes to the side of her desk, unable to suppress a brief eye roll as she explained for her assistant, "If those stars are anything like our own sun, then that means they might have planets surrounding them. And if even one of those planets is anything like this one, then that means they might be able to support life. Life, Spike!" Her energetic tone returned in force, her eyes lighting up at the thought, "And I've barely even started classifying the stars in the major constellations! There could be countless worlds out there, and each one has the potential for the development of an intelligent species, just like us! Isn't that exciting?"
Spike took a moment to process the torrent of words that flowed from the purple unicorn, shrugging as he turned towards the stairs, "Oh...that's pretty cool, I guess."
Twilight shook her head at the baby dragon's answer, the disbelief at his lack of interest surging into her tone, "Pretty cool? "'Pretty cool'? Spike, this is scientific progress at work! These studies are the first steps towards discovering exactly what's up there! Aren't you even the slightest bit curious about what's up there?"
Spike shook his head at the unicorn's insistence, halting and turning about as he near the stairs, "Uh, not really. C'mon Twilight, " He added in his own defense. "it's not exactly easy to get excited about something nopony's got a chance of seeing!"
Twilight smirked a bit, fighting the urge to give the dragon another eyeroll as she rose to her hooves, quick to counter her assistant's assertion, "Maybe nopony in our lifetime will meet another life form, but it could still happen someday. Even if there's nothing out there after all, it's still important that we continue to increase our understanding of the world around us."
She took a glance at herself, tossing her mane a bit and ensuring her appearance was presentable before descending the stairs leading to the expansive, tree-housed library below. Ponyville's repository of knowledge had been her home for the past two years now, a residence she had gladly taken up ever since the end of her first adventure, the same one during which she had been fortunate enough to join forces with the five best friends a pony could ask for. "Besides, just because the stars are out of our reach doesn't necessarily mean another species hasn't figured out how to travel between them!"
Spike followed Twilight down the steps, his eyes widening as the implications of her words hit him, "Wait...so you're saying that they might come here? To Equestria?" He shivered at the thought.
Twilight glanced back just in time to catch the flash of nervousness, laughing, "It's a pretty exciting thought, isn't it? It's totally improbable, of course, especially given that there's no record of any encounter of that kind in Equestrian history. Still, could you imagine it? I'd give just about anything for that kind of opportunity...I could write libraries of books filled with what I could learn!" She sighed happily at the thought.
Spike smirked a bit at the unicorn's imagination-induced grin, "Yeah, I bet you'd have a field day with the whole thing." He paused, chuckling a bit as he stepped over to shelve a small stack of books resting on the table in the center of the library, "Heh, I wonder if they'd look anything like us..."
"I don't think so. If there is life outside of our own planet, it would be adapted to its own environment, which would probably be vastly different from our own. There might be a few similarities, but the odds of us being all that alike are pretty small." She paused, frowning a bit as she continued to ponder, "And that's just their biology. Their culture and ours could be equally disparate. They could have already encountered a hundred other races by now. A multi-species coalition wouldn't be out of the question if that's the case...although they could just as easily be warlike conquerors instead..." Twilight blushed a bit as she managed to catch herself rambling, ending her line of thought with a shrug as she finished, "I guess we wouldn't have any way of knowing unless we were to actually contact them."
Spike just rolled his eyes as he clambered up the ladder leaning against the bookshelf, a heavy-looking tome clutched in his claw, "Right..." The purple and green-scaled baby dragon changed the subject, attempting to draw Twilight from her hypothetical line of conversation, "So, anything interesting happening today?"
"Not much. I'm meeting the girls for lunch, and then I'll begin editing my notes from last night-" Twilight's eyes widened as her gaze fell upon a window, able to see that Celestia's sun had already risen a ways into the clear blue skies, "Oh no...Spike, how late did I sleep in?" A hint of worry entered her voice.
"Well, you definitely slept through breakfast...come to think of it, I think it's almost lunchtime n- Woah!" The baby dragon yelped as Twilight broke into a gallop, the heavy slam of the library door bending her causing the ladder he was on to quake unsteadily. He sighed in relief as his perch stabilized, shaking his head as he climbed back down, "Sheesh...I said almost, didn't I?"
"I'm starving! Twilight's taking forever!"
Applejack snorted softly as she eyed the cyan-furred pegasus hovering to her right, the Stetson-wearing, orange-coated Earth Pony admonishing the impatient mare as they waited at the Ponyville street corner, standing out of the way of the multicolored equine traffic, "Calm down, Rainbow! It's only been five minutes. 'sides, we still got Fluttershy comin', don't we?"
Rainbow Dash sighed and folded her forelegs, her steadily flapping wings effortlessly suspending her in midair as she groan, " Great, another pony we've gotta wait for...c'mon, they'll probably just meet us there anyways!"
Pinkie Pie, who had been happily bouncing in place, halted in place and giggled, shaking her head, "Don't be silly, Ranbow! We always walk together when we go out for lunch! We can't leave anypony behind!"
Rarity nodded in agreement with the energetic, curly-maned pink pony, the delicate alabaster unicorn flipping her luxurious, carefully-groomed purple mane once as she added, "Pinkie Pie is right. We should at least wait for one of them to arrive before we set off!"
The athletic pegasus growled in annoyance at the elegant, snow-coated mare, dropping back down to the Ponyville road with a soft huff, her small, feathered wings folding snugly against her back. The last ten minutes of idleness had already tried the prism-maned pony's patience, and a rumbling stomach wasn't helping. "It's not like we're really leaving them behind or anything! We've been to the Hay Cafe like, a million times! Twi and Fluttershy'll show up!"
Applejack shook her head, about to issue another reply to quiet the restless pegasus when the sound of hooves rapidly impacting the earth reached her ears. The peach-coated Earth pony sighed in relief, smirking back towards Rainbow Dash, "See? No need t' get yer feathers ruffled." The colorful mare growled a bit as Applejack turned her attention to the approaching form of Twilight Sparkle, calling out her usual warm greeting, "Howdy, Twilight!"
Twilight gasped for breath as she skidded to a halt before her group of friends, smiling broadly as each of her friends greeted her in turn, "Whew...hello everypony! I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long!"
Rainbow Dash blushed a little at her own impatience in light of the purple-coated unicorn's apology, dropping her head a bit and chuckling sheepishly, "Heh, no problem, Twilight. What's up?" She asked, noting the less athletic mare's breathlessness and slight fatigue.
"Oh, it's nothing." Twilight was forced to pause as a yawn escaped her, shaking her head a bit as she continued, "I was just up late doing a bit of research, that's all."
Rainbow snorted softly and rolled her eyes at the explanation, glancing over the tired unicorn before her, "You really go overboard with this egghead stuff sometimes, Twi. What, were you working on some urgent stuff for Princess Celestia or something?"
Twilight laughed weakly, taking her turn to blush, "Hehe, no. It's more of a personal project, really. I was taking a few measurements on the stellar absorption spectra produced by the stars within Canis' Major and Minor!"
Rainbow stared blankly, her brow cocked in perplexity, "Okaaay..."
Applejack chuckled, shaking her head at the confused pegasus, "She means she was stargazin' , Rainbow. Y'know, like she did that whole week before the big cenntennial meteor shower?"
Pinkie Pie's eyes lit up at the mention of the memory, the exuberant pink equine unable to keep herself from leaping into the air again and again, as though she might sprout pegasi wings in midair, "Ooh, the same one with all the pretty shooting stars, and the cookies that Spike made that I said were dee-lish, and then he fell asleep in the punch bowl, and then I said that the punch had been "spiked", and then we all laughed and laughed?"
The other three mares turned to the bouncing, baffling Earth Pony, with Rarity speaking for the trio of the confused ponies, "Pinkie, that party was nearly a year ago. You remember all of that?"
Pinkie landed on her hooves for the final time, still wearing the goofy grin she'd been sporting the entire time as she nodded, emitting a snorting giggle, "Heh, sure I do! I never forget a party, silly!"
The other three shared a glance among themselves before laughing along with the jovial mare. Applejack chuckled as she glanced around, "Well, we're only missing one of us now...why don't we see if we can't catch Fluttershy over at her place before we head on down?"
Twilight nodded with the others as they unanimously agreed, the entire group falling into step as they made the short walk up the Ponyville road towards the edge of the Everfree forest, "That's a good idea. I'm sure Fluttershy's probably just gotten a bit caught up with one of her animals. We'll just make a quick trip out and pick her up!"
Rainbow Dash rose back into a hover as she struggled to tolerate the relaxed pace her earthbound friends trotted at, wincing at a hunger pang as she remarked, a hoof upon her belly, "Oof... 'quick' being the key word here!"
The squeak of appreciation brought a gentle smile to the butter-colored pegasus' face, and she bowed her head down to the crutch and cast-bound chipmunk, her long pink mane partially shrouding her face, "Oh, you're welcome, little one...Now, you come straight back if that leg starts bothering you again, okay?" She pulled her head back as the little rodent nodded in the affirmative and turned to hobble back into his hollow, stepping away when he disappeared within the towering oak.
The Pegasus sighed happily as she turned from the edge of the Everfree forest, her pleasant smile tinged with a slight blush as she laid eyes on the white-furred rodent who had been impatiently stamping his paw behind her the entire time, "Oh! I'm sorry you had to wait so long, Angel Bunny. Are you ready for your lunch now?"
The rabbit huffed with irritation and rolled his eyes, gesturing back towards the cottage, leading his equine owner back towards his now-late meal. Fluttershy smiled warmly as she followed, ready to give her favorite charge the same love and care she'd always given him.
K-tk, k-tk, k-tk...
Fluttershy's ear twitched as the soft series of clicks reached out from the dense, shadowy depths of the Everfree forest, the Pegasus halting immediately as a gasp escaped her. Her large, startled gaze stared back into the thick overgrowth, but by then the strange noise had vanished, and an insistent poke to her side from Angel Bunny managed to pull her attention back from the forest.
K-tk. K-tk. K-tk.
A second gasp seized the gentle, butter-colored pegasus as the noise reappeared, its volume steadily growing as she froze mid-step, her eyes widening as her head jerked back towards the forest. She could hear the sharp, perfectly timed clicks punctuating a continuous, low whir, the shuffling and snapping of leafy branches and undergrowth muffling the strange, alien sound. By this time Angel too was able to hear the approaching disturbance, his ears perked up as he too stared into the foreboding, dangerous expanse of forest. Fluttershy finally managed to summon her voice after several moments, stammering out towards the intruder, her call shaky and breathless, "Wh-wh-who's th-there?"
All at once, the rhythmic click-whirring ceased, the sound of her voice echoing through the dark forest before the usual din could flood back in through the air. The silence persisted for a moment or two, long enough for the shaking in Fluttershy's legs to reach a heavy quake. Then, from the stilled, unmoving depths, a single, monotone voice called, its buzzing tone seemingly grating at the air itself as it called forth.
"Unknown lifeform detected. Investigation is required. Check it out, corporal. We'll cover you."
Fluttershy's muscles seized as the low, grinding voice reached her ears, a shiver of terror crawling up her spine. Whatever was rustling about just beneath the thick barrier of undergrowth, it sounded unlike any creature she'd ever encountered. That voice was rigid, sharp, completely lacking the fluidity inherent in the speech of an intelligent being...was it even alive at all?
A breathless yelp was coaxed from the frightened Pegasus as an identical reply sounded, the droning buzz much closer than its companion,
"Roger roger."
Fluttershy was ready to flee, ready to dash back to the safety of her cottage and wait until the clicking, droning, terrifying creatures had passed on their way. Angel Bunny seemed to agree with this sentiment; the sound of the harsh, buzzing voice had his paws clamped firmly about her right foreleg, his little eyes bulging as the Everfree Forest rustled and snapped. The air was again filled with the rhythmic footfalls and unnaturally-timed click-whirring of the approaching creature, the growing cacophony a reminder that she could not possibly flee in time before the unknown, frightening thing burst forth and showed itself to her.
The undergrowth contorted and writhed as it was shoved open, the marching advance of the creature shoving the leafy, lush plant life aside. Fluttershy's eyes bulged, her jaw nearly hitting the soft grasses beneath her hooves as the weird, towering monstrosity stepped into view. The spindly, gaunt being loomed over the Pegasus' quivering form, its erect, bipedal stance giving it a distinct advantage in height, if not necessarily in size. Its thin limbs evoked the chilling image of a reanimated skeleton, a mental picture further imposed upon the little pony's mind by the stark, bleached color that stretched uniformly across its form. Its joints were rounded and cylindrical, emitting the same gentle whir as they jerked about erratically. In its clawlike, fingerless hands, a solid black, hefty object was firmly clutched, its crafted length angled so that its owner might level or point it about. Though the reason eluded her, Fluttershy could tell by the way the object was brandished that she probably didn't want to discover its function.
What was most horrifying to the butter-coated, pink-maned Pegasus, however, was the alien creature's face. Its snout hung low, the mouthless, expressionless surface staring her down. The angular, narrow head was suspended only by a stick of a neck, one so thin it all but precluded the presence of a throat. The only thing familiar about the smooth, rigid surface was the pair of tiny, beady black eyes in the usual spots, though even those seemed as though they were merely painted on. Fluttershy's breath vanished from her lungs as the towering, spindly being stared down at her, whimpering as she hid behind her mane, her tail drooped as her legs began to buckle.
Just as it seemed that silent, unblinking stare would become unbearable, the droning, skeletal creature spoke once more.
"Biological intruder identified. Perimeter defense must be secured. Elimination required."
The towering, gaunt being suddenly lurched into motion, and Fluttershy barely had time to shriek in terror and scramble backwards as that bulky black shape was hefted, a burst of blinding, fiery crimson arcing forth to intercept her.
