April 12th, year 6 PH

1:59 am

Celestial Royal Guard, Pegasus Squad-57, Lance-Corporal Iron Lance

Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria

After the brief mission objective given to them directly by Princess Luna herself, the three pegasus guards emerged in the castle courtyard through the doors the princess had just barged through. They immediately took to the skies and flew off in the direction of the Whitetail Woods, where a billowing column of smoke barely camouflaged itself in the night sky.

“You know, the Night Guards should be taking care of this,” Silver Wing spat out. “Aren’t they better equipped for nighttime operations?”

Captain Sabre Star craned his neck around. “Shut up Private. You need a new experience instead of standing in front of a door all day.”

“He’s right, Silver.” Iron Lance added. “Besides, we were the first ones the princess came across. This seems like an emergency and if she had the time she would likely have gotten some Night Guards. You should feel honored to receive a direct order from the princess herself!”

“Yeah? Well, I’m tired. I should be sleeping, the Night Guards should be awake,” Silver mumbled.

“They are awake you idiot! They’re Night Guards!” Lance groaned at the recruit. “Besides, it’s our fault we were awake and happened to be standing where Princess Luna came in from.”

“No, it’s Dawnstar’s fault that that Dungeons and Draconequus game took more than eight hours!” Silver tried to come up with some sort of excuse.

“Equestria to nerd, even I know those games can take entire days to finish! Sabre and I had to haul you away in case you forgot!” Lance would have gone on had his commanding officer not silenced them.

“Lance! Silver! Shut up! Both of you!” Sabre growled. “It’s about a five minute flight to the Whitetail Woods crash site and I’d like it to be a peaceful one!”

Lance sighed and continued on the flight path as the three flew in a spearhead formation. The column of smoke was becoming less and less visible, hinting there was no fire or at least it was snuffing itself out. Hey, less work for him. They just had to find the space rock, make sure no civilians stumbled onto the site, and then go home when the extraction team arrives to pick it up. Was there an extraction team coming?

“Hey Sabre, somepony’s going to come relieve us at some point, right? I mean, how long will be out here?” He asked.

“Knowing the Princess of the Night? It shouldn’t take so long, maybe a few hours. There hasn’t been a meteorite impact since I was foaled so I’d be easy to imagine researchers would be all over it soon. Why do you ask Lance-Corporal?”

“Like Silver said: I’m tired,” He frowned. Silver stifled a laugh at his discomfort and that was shot down by a stare from Sabre.

Oh, how Lance hated his recent promotion. While it did provide its own benefits compared to his previous ranking, it was very easy to get confused with his name and he was often teased about it. And it didn’t help that he was trained to operate a lance either. The meter long, retractable poles that get built-in to a guard’s armor are very well hidden. A small bulge right above the right shoulder was the only indication anything could be hidden away, and to the untrained eye it might just look like the other shoulder piece was just slightly dented downwards because of a previous skirmish. One probably would not even notice the difference at all.

That’s three lances: his name, his rank, and his weapon, all of which could and would easily be confused with each other.

They approached the out edge of the Whitetail Woods and touched down in a small clearing, trotting up to the larger patch of treeless land.

“Ugh, we’re going to need help. There’s no way the three of us can create a perimeter this large,” Lance groaned at the sight in front of him. Implied by the large mound of thrown up dirt, the meteor must have come in at a shallow angle and hit here first before it bounced or something the remaining kilometer; the smoke cloud still be seen faintly off in the distance.

“Unfortunately…” Sabre eyed the strewn field. Several kicked up mounds of dirt and the segmented troughs hinted that the area to cover would be enormous.

“Hey Silver Wing, go back to Canterlot and get us some help, would you?” He turned to see the Private already heading off in that direction. “And please get some Night Guards!” He yelled. The silhouette of a hoof waving in approval against the moonlight verified that Silver Wing got the order. It shouldn’t be too surprising though. After all, the night was uncomfortably quiet.

“Hey Sabre, want to bet how many of times the thing bounced before it came to a stop?”

“I’m game. Fifty bits says… nine.”

“Shoot, how about ten?” Lance grinned at his superior.

“Are you sure you’re up for counting these small craters? You’d have to do some elementary-level math,” Sabre tautened in return.

“Oh shut up,” he said irritated. Lance took the lead and started counting every considerably sized pot hole in the usually flat ground.

“Do these troughs count?”

“I thought that’s what we were counting! There are more than just those?”

“Great...”

“You know what, screw the bet.”

The two guardponies walked across the exposed land making mental notes of the numerous potholes and kicked up dirt. The meteorite must have been going real fast to skip across the ground like a stone on water. It also had to have been pretty flat to do so, but then again meteors aren’t just perfect spheres. It shouldn’t be that big of a surprise.

“Oof!” Lance cried out and fell face first into the ground.

Sabre stifled a laugh. “Hey, you should watch where you’re going.” The Captain walked in front of him and knelt down grinning. Lance, irked, brought his head up.

“Cut me some slack, it’s the dead of night and I’m not fully awake,” he sighed.

“Neither am I and you don’t see me stumbling over rocks!” Sabre couldn’t contain his laughter at this point, but was kind enough for it to leave as a small chuckle.

“Hey, I didn’t trip over a rock! It’s…” Lance craned his neck around at the mound he tripped over. “What is it?”

Lance stood back up and the two walked over the mysterious object. The unrecognized stone was roughly the size of a foal, but it was badly burnt and had jagged and sharp edges. Sabre kicked the stone getting it to inharmoniously vibrate a low hum. The Captain brought his hoof back down again and underneath the stone, turning it over.

A small cloud of soot kicked up when the rock fell back over, but it wasn’t a rock. Rather, some odd chunk of metal looked back at them.

Lance mused at the strange sight. “Is that steel or aluminum?”

“Not a clue,” Sabre murmured, looking back to the column of smoke that was no more than a faint trickle at this point. They were about halfway through the field now and another half kilometer to the meteorite. Barely visible, the silhouette of the space rock stuck out of the smoke.  

“I don’t like this,” Lance pouted. Sabre nodded in silent agreement and spread his wings. Lance took the hint and the two pegasi flew off towards the fallen stone as fast as their wings could manage. And this stone more and more resembled a box the closer they got near it. A big, metallic box. It sat against the tree line, the column of smoke seeping out from holes in the container.

From fifty feet in the air above the box, they could clearly see it wasn’t a meteorite. Looking back at them was a long, rectangular metal box. A rough estimate put it just under a hundred feet long and maybe fifteen or so feet wide. If you counted the large triangular blades underneath it, it was probably sixty feet wide. The end of the box closest to the field was considerably thicker, as if there was another box attached to the larger one. The thicker end came into a fine point like the nose of a zeppelin, and the other end flattened out like a beaver’s tail. The closer they inspected it, the more and more qualities of a ship started to emerge.

The two guards touched down, cautious of the site.

“You want to bet this was some Gryphonic contraption that took a turn for the worse? I highly doubt this thing is a meteor,” Sabre mused.

“No doubt it isn’t a space rock, that’s for sure. Aliens, maybe?”

“Unlikely. It looks like something the Gryphons would have made.”

“Maybe the aliens helped them build it?”

Sabre snorted. “Yeah, and aliens helped the Gryphons build the Great Pyramid of Gizzard. Here, set up the perimeter and wait for Silver to get back.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think you fully comprehend the concept of perspective. Two ponies don’t make a perimeter. Four or five maybe… but not two. Especially for a zone this large.”

“Well I just know we’re going to get chewed out by our superiors if we don’t do something.”

“It’s the dead of night. I highly doubt anypony is out here, let alone saw anything fall from the sky. Princess Luna is likely the only one who knows what this thing is.” Lance stomped a hoof to emphasize his point. Sabre looked at Lance and then to the strange box.

“Well, what in Celestia’s name is it?” Sabre asked.

“My Guess? A zeppelin of some sorts. But I’ve never seen anything like it. The balloons are probably crushed underneath it or floated away.”

“Doubt it’s a ship. Why would the flying Gryphons need some misshapen zeppelin?”

“Good point.”

The two trotted over the wreckage and started inspecting what they could see without actually touching it. They quickly deduced that it indeed was some sort of ship, evident by the glass screen that covered the pointed nose which is presumed to be the front end. Several unusual markings stood out from rips and tears in the metal; white and orange symbols occasionally obscured by scorch marks. And on the wall of the larger portion that gave way to the beaver-like tail, Lance found the source of the smoke. A small crack between the wall and the rest of the frame trickled out the thick black smoke.

“Hey Lane, I think I know what happened.” Sabre called out from wherever he was.

“Uh-huh.” Lance was too preoccupied analyzing the hole the smoke billowed from.

“Okay, so this thing comes down low and fast, making it easy to get confused with a meteor, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“It comes in for an emergency landing, hits the ground back there, skids for like half a kilometer, gets caught in something, flips over, and skids the rest of the way only to be stopped by these trees.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah, I think it’s upside down. It wouldn’t be very aerodynamic if… hey, are you even listening?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Lance!”

“What? Oh, sorry. I’m just… thinking…” Lance trailed off deep in thought. He looked at the indiscriminate pocket on his shoulder, and then back to the hole in the ship. Daring to step onto the thing, he walked over to the gash the black smoke steadily escaped from. Twitching both his shoulders in a singular and uniform motion, the meter long, cone-tipped lance extended forward.

“Hey, what the heck do you think you’re doing?” Sabre jumped up beside him.

“Help me with this,” was all he responded with before he stabbed his lance into the smoke. Twisting side to side, the wall began to slowly bend with him widening the gash. Sabre let out an audible and clearly irritated sigh, but he produced his own lance and pushed his in as well, twisting and turning with Lance. With each inch, more and more smoke escaped and began to rush into their faces. Holding his breath, Lance gave a final tug that was soon followed by a loud snap. The metal wall began to groan and creek on its own, causing the two guards lances retract and forcing them to stand aside at the menacing groans coming from the ship. Sabre hesitantly approached the wall again and kicked it, narrowly avoiding the chunk of metal as it came crashing down and exposed the inside of the ship.

“I thought it was a door!” Lance cheered as the large amount of remaining smoke escaped in a gigantic wall of black smog.

“Gack!” Sabre coughed, stumbling away from the entrance and off the ship only to fall onto his stomach beside where Lance once stood. The eager guard trotted into the vessel the first second the smoke cleared, leaving the gagging Captain to catch his breath.

The inside of the ship was unique to say the least; several boxes, dozens of unusual stick-things littered the floor, and a couple L-shaped objects were scattered around among them. A large tear in the ceiling (actually it was the floor of the ship) exposed dozens of dangling wires and was also the apparent source of the smoke. On both sides, strange metal covered forms were strapped to the walls. Each one had four appendages that loosely dangled towards the ground. At the far end, a much smaller door than the one he just pried open closed off another part of the ship. Sabre appeared in the entryway as Lance once more took a stab at the second door. After a brief struggle, he turned and kicked the door in with a thunderous smash.

“What the… what are these things?” Sabre nudged one of the objects on the ground; a long cylindrical piece of metal took up two thirds of its overall length, and the object was certainly the longest of all the others. Another was one of those L-shaped things... actually they all had some sort of an L-shape to them, but some were just more oblong than others. He looked up to the strange metal things strapped to the walls with their appendages hanging useless towards the ground. If the ship was upright, they looked like they would be designed to hold any one of the objects.

“HOLY HORSEAPPLES!! SWEET CELSTIA WHAT THE HAY!?!?” Lance screamed as he retracted from the doorway.

“What!? Lance!” Sabre’s own lance erupted at a moment’s notice and he hopped over to the trembling pegasus guard, aiming his weapon directly through the doorway. “What the hay is it!?”

All Lance could do was stutter inaudible gibberish. Even though the guard’s coat was bleach white to begin with, he looked paler than normal. Daring a glance into the opening, Sabre peeked into the chamber and gave a similar reaction, but unlike Lance he retched all over the floor, mixing his stomach contents with the blood.

Oh, there was a lot of blood.

The room was tiny to say the least, and the smell of burnt flesh stung the air. Two more of those object holding things hung from the ceiling, their appendages dangling like vines that dripped with blood. On the ground, right beside the kicked in door, a similar form laid sprawled out across the ground. Most of the metal had been torn off; exposing underneath it a creature of unknown origin, and it was dead. Or at least Sabre hoped it was dead. No creature deserved to have its organs on the outside of its body. He hoped they were its organs. Sabre backed away from the entryway and looked to Lance as he stood there trembling, his eyes staring off into nothing. Sabre took a second to look at walls lined with similar bodies, all strapped tight against the ship.

He let out a sigh, trying to act calm behind his dumbstruck fright. “Yeah… aliens.”

The sound of a loud clang from within the tiny room made them both jump. Sabre gulped and turned back to face the doorway, his lance drawn. The three bodies hadn’t moved, but the small tapping of something inside made him crane his head around the corner. Being careful to avoid the mess, the guard stepped onto the fallen door before he started his search of the noise.

It didn’t take long. An unusually black, metallic box dangled by a cord from the ceiling. The cord gave way and snapped and the box landing into a pool of blood splashing some of it on the Captain’s shins. It took some will power not to vomit uncontrollably again, but he kept his eyes on the black box. On the top of it was a glass screen, several dials and a few switches.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Lance, still in complete shock, staring at the box as well. Sabre looked back down at the thing, and overcome with curiosity he took the tip of his lance he carefully poked it.

\x\x\x\x\

He could feel even though it hurt.

He could breathe even if it was hard.

He could see even if it was blurred.

He could hear even if all he heard was nothing.

His nose is clogged with blood.

And that’s the only thing he can taste too.

Captain Troy Higgs went to take off his helmet but the slightest motion made him nauseous. With little option, he hung upside down from his seat in the Pelican and went to take in his surroundings. All along the walls, the eight men of Fireteam Zulu dangled upside down with him. He was probably the first to regain consciousness after the crash. The Pelican was dully lit; what light there was seeped in from the bay door which was now mysteriously missing.

All he could remember was that the crew chief explained they were going in for an emergency landing in a forest, and it’d be best everyone strapped themselves in for dear life. And that’s what everyone did.

After a few seconds of not moving he tried to flail his arms, and this time he could do so without getting dizzy. Plus, they didn’t seem to be broken. Troy bit his lip as he carefully removed his helmet. The ODST took a second to look at the reflective visor, which for the most part was completely shattered. Several scratches and a large dent in the back indicated he hit his head, so it’d be best to take things slow. Troy carefully set the helmet on the ground above him and glanced at the gaping hole into the outside world.

Odd… it was day when we left Africa. How long was I out? Troy was pleasantly surprised by this, but the next thing he noticed was more confusing than anything.

At the entrance to the cockpit, a white horse stood in the Pelican visibly trembling, and it hadn’t noticed him yet. Something about this horse was off (aside from the fact that a friggin’ horse had wandered into the turned over Pelican,) and the closer he scrutinized it the more he saw, and the more he was taken aback.

First off, the horse was small, probably four to five feet high. Secondly, some features were too disproportionate for a normal horse. For starters, its eyes were disturbingly huge and took up maybe a fourth of its face, and its legs looked too short for the rest of its body. The third thing he found uncomfortable about this equine was that it was armored from practically head to toe (or hoof?) with a glistening helmet and what looked like an enormous saddle protected its back. He could barely make out that the armor on the horse was gold, so whoever owned it must have been of some nobility. At least the Pelican crashed someplace where there was a human civilization. Oh, and the horse had wings.

So, yeah… Troy didn’t know what to make of that. A pegasus?

Troy watched the horse’s ears flare up and it looked inside the cockpit where there was another armored horse. The first one went in and stood beside the second. Both of them took interest in something, and the later leaned down as if to pick something up.

”Flight Log: November 5th, 1972 hours.”

The two horses reeled back on their hind legs in complete surprise.

“Location: Unknown. Standby... Location unlisted.”

“D77H-TCI Pelican Dropship Lambda 02.”

“Cockpit Recording damaged. Recovering executable audio files. Standby…”

“Files recovered. Reconstructing. Standby…”

“Cockpit Recording reconstructed. Audio file after reconstruction is 2:31 in length. Playing. Standby…”

The horses calmed back down, nickering in the room. One of them snorted. The sound of the cockpit recording echoed through the air.

--Voice 1: “We’re going down! Mayday, Mayday, I repeat! This is Lambda 02 and we’re reentering Earth’s atmosphere! Last known position-“

*static*

--Voice 2: “How are comms?” *inaudible* ”…Dammit. Well, it’s better than-” *inaudible*

--Voice 1: “Yeah, Spade’s having just as much luck as we are.”

*static*

--Voice 2: “Fuck! We need to get the engines back online now!

--Voice 1: “Don’t you think I’m trying!? Electronics are shot!”

--Voice 2: “Quick! Get the-“ *static* *inaudible* ”-and go into full afterburner when-“

*static*

--Voice 2: “Shit. Sorry Shamrock, sorry Heart. We’ll come back for you.”  *inaudible* *loud clang*

--Voice 1: “Hey Spade! Where the hell do you think you’re going!? We agreed-”

*static*

--Voice 2: “Is everyone buckled in?”

--Voice 3: “Yeah, and I advise you do the same.”

--Voice 2: “Already-“ *static* *inaudible* *static* *loud clang* “-got it?”

--Voice 1: “Alright, easy does it. What’s our speed?”

--Voice 2: “It’s-“ *static* *inaudible* “-four thousand feet and falling.”

--Voice 1: “Get ready, things are going to get bumpy!”  *inaudible*

*static*

*loud crash*

--Voice 1: “Hold on!” *inaudible*

*static*

*loud crash*

--Voice 1: “We’re going in to fast! We won’t-“ *loud crash* *creak* *grinding noise*

*static*

*explosion*

*static*

*grinding noise* *loud crash*

*…*

”Ending audio playback. Standby…”

\x\x\x\x\

“What the hay was that about?” Lance spurted out the words between his chattering teeth. He looked around the room he was in, doing his best to avoid catching sight of the corpse(s). Out through the shattered glass window in the front of the ship, an enormous tree trunk blocked any view of the outside world. He groaned and looked back to Sabre who was still giving breathless stares to the black box.

“I… I don’t… I didn’t understand any of that. All I got out of that was a bunch of hollering and other inaudible crap.”

“I could hear the sound of… or I think it was the sound of, this thing crashing.” Lance tapped a hoof against the doorway making a small clang.

“So it’s some sort of magical recording box thing?”

“I told you… aliens…” Lance was able to conjure a grin out of his unease. Sabre shot him a look.

A loud crash echoed through the ship.

\x\x\x\x\

“Fuck!” Troy screamed after he landed headfirst on to the metal. He must have been weaker than he though after he undid himself from his seat; his hands slipped free the straps he wrapped tightly around them and he quickly sat up inspecting himself.

“Legs… not broken. Ribs… possible bruising but not broken. Ankles… sprained but walkable. Arms are okay. Neck is fine, and my back…” His spine popped. “Ah, that felt good.”

\x\x\x\x\

Lance and Sabre stood motionless as if a cockatrice decided to stare them down. One of the alien beings had fallen off the wall it clung to and was now tending to itself.

“Is… it talking?” Sabre whispered.

“Not in any language I know,” Lance replied.

The two Royal Guards didn’t dare move.

\x\x\x\x\

The two horses, if not aware of him before, were now. They were motionless in the doorway of the cockpit, both of them staring at him and Troy couldn’t help but stare back.

“Hello? Anyone here?” Troy called out. The two horses flinched. “Your horses shouldn’t be here! Hello?”

He shrugged and tried to stand back up, but his legs gave out from underneath him. He was still too weak to so much as do anything. There was a Fuck-This in the cockpit, and he’d have to get around the horses to get to it.

\x\x\x\x\

“Yeah… that thing can talk.” Lance mused.

“I don’t understand what it’s saying. Is it trying to talk to us?” Sabre asked Lance, not fully expecting an answer.

“Possibly…?” Lance took a step forward. “Hello?”

The alien blindly looked at them from where it sat.

“He-Hello? Can you understand me?” Lance took another step towards the being. Sabre quietly watched from the doorway.

\x\x\x\x\

One of the horses was nickering and giving other equine-like sounds, but the way it did so it seemed intent on aiming its ‘words’ at him. Troy sat on the floor dumbfounded. The horse moved its lips as if making intelligent conversation.

\x\x\x\x\

“The thing looks kind of harmless. I’m taller than it is.” Lance called back to Sabre. The Captain slowly walked up to and stood beside him. The two ponies stared at the alien in complete fascination, no more than a few feet from it.

\x\x\x\x\

The horses kept moving their lips as if trying their luck at talking to him. They looked scared, not really wanting to stand close to him yet they were.

Those facial expressions… so human yet… they’re not. Troy never broke eye contact with the horses for more than a second. They stopped neighing at him and went to do so with each other, deep in some sort of verbal and intelligent conversation.

Troy took his arm and wrapped it around the dangling harness of his seat, pulling himself up. Now that he stood on two legs, he could see these horses were about four and a half feet tall, the top of their heads coming about midway up his breastbone. The two armored horses took a step back, gawking at his height and taking glances between themselves, himself, and more specifically his legs.

Outside, the sound of metal scraping on metal got Troy’s attention as did the horses. Someone was approaching the entrance into the wrecked Pelican.

“Hello?” Troy called out. “I found your horses! I’m an ODST of the UNSC and I’m going to need-“ He stopped when three more winged horses walked into the doorway. “Great. Did we crash on a ranch or something?”

\x\x\x\x\

“The hay is this?” Silver Wing stood in the doorway to the metal box accompanied by two Night Guards. Their purple armor and darkened coats stood as exact opposites to the Royal Guards’ white coats and golden armor. The young recruit and the two bat-winged pegasi stared at the tall, lengthy creature that stared back at them. Behind it, Sabre Star and Iron Lance looked around the creature to meet the eyes of the three pegasi.

“The hay is that?” One of the Night Guards asked, pointing a hoof at the thing.

“…An alien?” Sabre shrugged.

“…It doesn’t look harmful,” Lance added. “There’s more in here… dead ones…”

The creature stood between the two groups of guards, and looked down to the floor. It slowly bent down and picked up one of the smaller L-shaped objects that littered the floor and held it with both of its palms. The alien gripped it tightly in one palm and with the other it supported its body against the wall, fumbling in place. The creature’s lips moved and it said some indistinguishable moans and grunts, slowly advancing the three pegasi in the ship’s doorway.

“Stop!” Silver commanded and drew his lance. The pointed tip came within inches of the alien's torso.

The creature immediately lifted up the L-thing and pointed it at Silver.

A loud bang echoed throughout the night.

Silver stumbled back, eyes wide, and collapsed.

Sabre tackled the creature from behind, stomping a hoof into the back of what he thought was its head.

\x\x\x\x\

April 12th, year 6 PH

2:28 am

Canterlot Mountains, Canterlot, Equestria

Princess Luna arrived on the scene of the crash site in the Canterlot Mountains. As her chariot rounded the corner from behind one of the mountains, she placed herself somewhere between excitement, horror, and unbounded fascination at the burning mess below. A few of the Night Guards in the seven-pony formation went off to gather clouds and snuff the flame but Luna quickly called them back.

“There’s no risk of the fire spreading. Plus, you’d destroy the rock’s crusted surface.” She sternly told them.

“Forgive us, Princess of the Night.”

“Please, I though we’ve been over this. Call me Luna, or Princess Luna if you desire.”

“Forgive us, Princess Luna.”

Luna smiled to herself. The flight formation touched down a hundred yards from the still burning stone and they started to put together a base of operations at the mouth of the canyon. She dispatched four of the guards to block off the other side and then do a patrol over the air. The other two and herself began setting up the command tent, several tables and other geological equipment. The research teams would be arriving in the morning so she had to get everything prepared for their arrival.

And now morning was four hours away, yet they were already done assembling the camp.

“Princess Luna, do you know what these tracks are?” One of the guards spoke to her.

“What is it Major…”

“…Apollo, Princess.”

“Major Apollo. Forgive me; I’m not too well with names. Now what is it you inquire?”

“These tracks are most unusual,” Apollo pointed to the ground. Some thick-wheeled carriage or cart had previously been through the area, and the tracks were still fresh.

“…And there appears to be some sort of design to them as well,” Apollo added. Luna hummed in agreement at the checkerboard style pattern left in the markings.

A loud roar echoed through the canyon.

Probably just a manticore, Luna thought. “I hope whoever they were they didn’t take too many rocks before we got here, if that was their intentions.”

“What if they set the meteorite one fire!?” The other guard cried out after emerging from the newly erected tent.

Luna turned to him. “I do not think that is the case Lieutenant…”

“Lieutenant Nightshade, your highness.”

“Lieutenant Nightshade,” Luna continued. “I saw this rock and others like it as they fell out of the sky. Two of them trailed smoke as they crashed, so it’s more than likely it was just some flammable gas inside that’s simply burning out. Although we cannot denounce the possibility this fire was set on purpose.” Luna had just finished her address when another guard flew in, hovering a few meters above the ground.

“Princess Luna! Come quick!” He called down to her. “You’re going to want to see this! It’s unbelievable!”

She cocked a brow. “What? What is it?”

“It’s no meteorite! It’s some sort of extraequestrial craft!”