April 12th, 6 PH

1:42 am

Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, Equestria

“You know, we should be sleeping.” Sweetie Belle moaned. Scootaloo, hidden completely from view, shuffled around underneath her blanket and expelled several crunched up balls of paper. Apple Bloom looked up from her own drawings only to sharpen her already-diminishing pencil. Both of them completely ignored her. The light gray unicorn filly sighed and looked down at her own design beside the dwindling flame of the lantern. It wasn’t much light, but enough to see what she was drawing without completely lighting up the clubhouse. Being the younger sister of a seamstress, her artistic skills were well refined, but nowhere up to par with any of the art and paintings she’s seen in museums.

She looked down to the abomination she had drawn. It looked more like a plate of spaghetti rather than the spool of thread that was her initial design. Sweetie Belle frowned at it, flipped her pencil around, and began to slowly erase it. How was she supposed to know what her cutie mark would look like anyway? They appear on their own after a pony discovers their special talent, and there’s no telling what they could look like or even symbolize. Sweetie Belle stared once again at the now blank sheet of paper. Just like her flank. Blank. Just a blank canvas where anything could happen, but there would only be one outcome.

A ball of paper erupted out from underneath Scootaloo’s blanket like it was launched from a catapult. She didn’t even bat an eye as the projectile bounced harmlessly off her cheek and onto the ground.

I wonder what Scootaloo’s been thinking of. Sweetie Belle thought. She leaned over and used her hooves to unfold the crumpled sketch, revealing a very crude and poorly drawn lightning bolt. She’d seen that before, but she could quite tell where. The filly shrugged and slid the drawing away and returned to her own paper. Her mind was completely blank. Just like the paper. Just like her flank.

She sighed heavily, collapsing onto the ground and accidentally knocking over the lantern. The small trickle of light faded. The only other source of illumination now was the lantern Scootaloo greedily tucked away with her underneath her little cocoon.

“Hey! Now Ah can’t see what Ah’m drawin’!” Apple Bloom looked through the darkness, barely making out the figure of Sweetie Belle.

“Can’t we just go to sleep already? I’m tired…” Sweetie Belle moaned.

“No way!” Scootaloo stuck her head out the blanket. Light seeped its way out of the newly made cracks, flooding the clubhouse with color. “We need to figure out what our cutie marks will look like!”

“Hey! Turn that down!” Apple Bloom snapped to the orange pegasus. Scootaloo’s heart sank at the prospect of possibly getting caught awake. She immediately rushed into her blanket and rustled around. The sound of scrapping hooves echoed through the building followed by a loud crash. All light faded at that point, plunging the clubhouse into darkness.

“Heh… Oops…” Scootaloo reemerged with the lantern. It completely got snapped in half. “Sorry, I accidentally stepped on it.”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes in the shadows, unnoticed by the others. “Eh, Rarity’s got plenty of them.”

“Well, turn yours back on!” Scootaloo’s white teeth barely reflected miniscule amounts of moonlight, exposing a cheeky grin. Sweetie Belle leaned over and set her lantern upright, and pressed the button to turn it on. When it didn’t, she tried to pressing it again. When it still didn’t turn on she started to shake the lantern vigorously. The sound of dust and ashes rattled inside.

Uh oh. Sweetie Belle flipped the lantern over and flipped open the trapdoor at the base, exposing the inner workings of the device. She shook it once more and a faint cloud of ash trickled out and onto the floor.

“The meg’s been used up!” She announced. The reflection of Scootaloo’s glistening teeth faded as the filly’s lips closed and formed a frown. “Oh well!” Sweetie Belle beamed, tossing the lantern aside. “Time for sleep!”

“Not so fast, we can still use ta’ meg* in ta’ other lantern!” Apple Bloom opened up the broken lantern’s trapdoor and out popped the large ruby. Rolling over in defeat, Sweetie Belle shoved her lantern towards the farm filly. Apple Bloom eagerly took the lantern and inserted the meg.  She flipped it right-side up and turned it on and the dimmed light eagerly returned and pushed back the dark.

“There we go! I reckon it’ll probably last another week or two.”

Suddenly the whole clubhouse shook like a rattle. And it shook violently, even if it was only for a few seconds. The three fillies were thrown from their respective positions and into the air and came back down in a tangled heap of limps in the center of the floor.

“What ta’ hey was that?” Apple Bloom kicked out.

“Sweetie Belle, get your marshmallow butt off me!”

“Oh, sorry Scootaloo…”

“I’m gonin’ ta’ repeat myself. What was that?”

Scootaloo shoved Sweetie Belle off her and stood up on all fours, flapping her juvenile wings to readjust he feathers. “I haven’t got the slightest clue.”

“Well, I kind of want to find out now…”

“I thought ya said ya wanted to sleep?”

“Yeah, but it’s obvious we won’t be sleeping now!”

Scootaloo picked the still burning lantern up with her teeth. “That’s the spirit!”

Apple Bloom grinned in the faint light and nodded. Sweetie Belle smiled and looked at Scootaloo’s confident smirk.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders go!” The three shouted in unison and bolted out the door, crossing Sweet Apple Acres in the midst of the night.

\x\x\x\x\

“Uhm, where we going?” Scootaloo stopped in her tracks after they emerged just outside the farm’s boundaries. The other two fillies came to a stop as well, eyes scanning the meadow in front of them for any signs of what caused the tree their clubhouse was in to shake like it did.

“Maybe it was an earthquake?” Apple Bloom mused aloud.

“Doubt it,” Sweetie Belle responded. “Earthquakes usually last longer than that, and are soon followed by a series of aftershocks. It’s been maybe thirty minutes and there haven’t been any aftershocks yet.”

“You would know, dictionary.” Scootaloo teased.

“I think an almanac would be more accurate, actually. Earthquake definitions in dictionaries tend to only be-“

“You proved my point.” Scootaloo smugly retorted and walked away into the open. Apple Bloom giggled and followed the orange pegasus. Not daring enough to be stranded in the middle of the night, the white unicorn filly quickly ran to catch up to her two friends.

“Alright then ‘almanac,’ what do you think it was?” Scootaloo asked sarcastically as Sweetie Belle trotted up.

“Um… I don’t know. There are not too many things that can shake the ground just once like that. Maybe a meteor or some sort of explosion?”

“Wow! Do you really think it could be a meteor? Oh, could you imagine if we found it? That would be so awesome!”

“What’s a meteor?” Apple Bloom asked.

“A giant rock that falls from outer space,” Sweetie Belle answered. “…Actually, they aren’t always big. The last one to land in Equestria was decades ago and it was kind of small.”

“Giant rock?” Apple Bloom rubbed her chin, her gaze working its way into the night sky. “Like ta’ moon?”

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment. “Yeah! Just smaller!”

“Hey, maybe we can get our meteorite hunter cutie marks!” Scootaloo exclaimed. The three fillies stopped their brisk walk through the meadow to exchange glances.

“Yeah! I reckon that could work! If there hasn’t been a meteor to hit Equestria fo’ decades, we could be ta’ first in years ta’ have a cutie mark like that!”

“Only problem is we don’t know where it landed…” Sweetie Belle deadpanned. The three fillies’ ears drooped back in unison as they stared at each other, contemplating what to do.

“Hey wait a minute…” Scootaloo mused. “Isn’t this the Dreamy Gates meadow?”

“Yeah, it’s right next to ta’ farm. Why?”

“Fluttershy’s house is near here then! Maybe she saw something!”

“She’s probably asleep Scootaloo…” Sweetie Belle sighed. “And we’re supposed to be asleep too. We probably will get in trouble if Rarity finds out we’re not sleeping, let alone that we’re outside in the middle of the night.”

“The whole point of a slumber party is not to sleep, Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo hissed.

“Well, it shouldn’t hurt nopony ta’ just see if she’s awake, would it?”

Scootaloo decided this was motif enough to run off towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Apple Bloom eagerly galloped after her and reluctantly Sweetie Belle followed close behind. The cool breeze of the night ruffled their manes and occasionally tossed them in their faces. Nonetheless Scootaloo pushed on leading the charge. Luna’s moon hovered in the darkened sky above like a satellite watching their every move. As they continued their trek, the flat meadows slowly turned into rolling hills, and with the clearing of each mound the crusaders got ever closer to Fluttershy’s cottage. After five minutes of blind running, they ran up one final embankment and standing before them was the house meticulously carved out of a tree, just like Ponyville’s library. But probably unlike the library, the lights were on. Every light inside Fluttershy’s house was on.

“She’s awake!” Apple Bloom cheered.

“Woo hoo!” Scootaloo cried and bolted down the hill, dragging the lantern with her.

“Wait… for… me…” Sweetie Belle crawled after her friends, gasping for breath.

One after the other, the three soon found themselves standing at Fluttershy’s front door. Light poured out like a waterfall from every window and crevice it could find. Scootaloo eagerly pounded on the door in a rush, but got no response. The orange filly repeated her method of knocking, but the only answer came as a hushed squeak.

“Fluttershy? It’s us: Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle! We were wondering if-“

The door suddenly flung open with such speed it was almost blasted off its hinges. A very distressed yellow pegasus stood in the doorway, and with a single motion she wrapped all three of the crusaders in a foreleg and swept them inside. The door recoiled from its original swing and came back around at full force, slamming itself shut. The whole series of events took no more than two seconds.

Fluttershy threw the three of them onto her couch and glared daggers at them. It wasn’t quite as powerful as The Stare, but the message was sent and received: she was not happy with them.

“What are you three doing outside at this time of night? You could have been hurt!” Her out of character scream forced the trembling fillies to huddle up in the deepest crevice the couch could provide.

“I… I… We-we’re so-sorry…” Scootaloo was able to whimper.

“We we-were just c-c-coming ta’ ask ya s-something…” Apple Bloom sputtered.

“I t-tried to t-tell them…” Sweetie Belle hesitantly spoke.

Fluttershy sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so mad,” She popped down on her haunches in the middle of the floor. “You three should not be outside at night! Especially at a time like this! Who knows what’s out there? Did you not feel the ground shake or see the fireball? For all anypony knows it could have been some sort of monster! That’s why I have all these lights on. Monsters tend to stay away from the light…”

“A fireball?” Scootaloo suddenly leaned over the couch as if the previous ordeal had not happened at all. “It must have been a meteorite then! Do you know where it crashed Fluttershy?” The other two fillies immediately appeared alongside their friend, grinning wide. Fluttershy flinched backwards and almost fell over.

“Um… I saw the fire maybe two kilometers east of here…” Her heart sank at the sudden realization of what she’d done. The cutie mark crusaders were standing on the couch, their eyes glistening and smiling mouths agape.

“I-I-I mean… four hundred kilometers up in the sky! There’s no way a-anypony could go up there to investigate it! I guess you’ll just have to go home now, or you can stay here for the night if you want... if that’s alright with you…”

“Cutie Mark Meteorite Hunters GO!!” The three shouted in unison. Apple Bloom grabbed the lantern in her mouth and the three were already on their way out the door.

“WAAAAAAIT!!” Fluttershy wailed, taking off after them. She burst through the front door to see them already running towards the Everfree Forest, the dull ball of light from the lantern illuminating them. “Wait you three!” She yelled and flew after them.

Fluttershy you stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid… Oh how she wished she brought a lantern of her own or something. Angel would have to watch the house while she was out which she prayed wouldn’t be long. The three fillies had just crossed the boundary into the forest, and Fluttershy was maybe fifty feet behind them and closing. She burst through the screen of foliage and reemerged surrounded my more trees and bushes, but no ponies in sight. The yellow mare knew the forest like the back of her hoof, but the crusaders did not. More than likely they were already lost wherever they were, and the Everfree Forest is no place for a pony to be at any point in time, let alone a filly in the middle of the night.

And it was her fault they were lost. If only she was faster. If only didn’t tell them about the fireball. If only the fireball hadn’t started in the first place. A soft giggling echoed through the soundless night and Fluttershy took off towards the right. No, it was to the left. The source was coming from the left. No, the right. In front of her? Where? Oh no… Fluttershy was lost too. She helplessly squealed, her wings impulsively locked to her sides. A sudden ball of light emerged behind her.

“Fluttershy? You don’t need to scream.” A voice spoke.

“Yeah, we was right behind ya!” Apple Bloom said. Fluttershy twirled around to see the three fillies staring back at her.

“Girls!” Fluttershy went limp and leaped forward, covering them with her wings. “Why did you run away? You could have been hurt, or worse! What if a manitcore found you before I did?”

“But we wanted ta’ find the space rock…”

“And get our cutie marks…”

“And how do you know it’s a meteor?” Fluttershy hissed.

Scootaloo pointed up a tree with her hoof. “Because it’s right there!”

Everyone craned their necks towards where the orange pegasus was pointing. High in the pine tree above them, a large block-shaped object dangled in the branches from some sort of rope.

“Wait here,” Fluttershy tapped her hoof on the ground. The crusaders eagerly watched as Fluttershy spread her wings and floated up to the strange object. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t a meteor. The object in question resembled a chair with no legs, and something was securely strapped to it. Whatever it was it had to be important enough that nopony wanted it to break and more so that whoever hid it hid it high up in a tree. Although they could have done a better job securing it to the tree; several of the ropes that held it up were frayed, some of them snapped completely. What strands remained intact traced about forty feet up to the peak of the tree where a sheet of fabric clung on top, it too tearing and falling apart.

“It’s not a space rock,” Fluttershy explained from high up. She might have been relieved but the three fillies were not. “Somepony wanted to hide this up here.”

“Well ah reckon they did a poor job! That’s no way ya hide somethin’!” Apple Bloom said, spitting out the lantern in the process.

“Oh well…” Fluttershy shrugged in her hover beside the object, taking advantage of the situation. “We better no disturb it. Time to go home!”

“But what about the meteor-“ Scootaloo went to speak but got caught up by a loud snap. Fluttershy turned to see the object slowly sliding down tree, only three ropes holding it up.

*snap*

Two ropes. Fearing that the thing would fall, Fluttershy reached out and grabbed one of the ropes in her teeth right when the other broke. Fluttershy might not be a strong flyer, but she’s carried her share of weight before. And this thing was beyond what she was capable of. The pegasus desperately flapped her wings in an attempt to at least stop the thing from crashing into the ground at significant speed. She lowered it the some forty or so feet to the soft ground of the Everfree Forest.

“What is it?”

“Was it heavy?”

“That’s not a space rock!”

“Where did it come from?”

“Why would somepony want to hide it?”

“What is it?”

Fluttershy immediately stopped the crusaders before they could get any closer.

“Listen, girls, um… don’t… touch this. Okay?”

“Why?” Scootaloo asked. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Girls… you’re in enough trouble as it is.” Fluttershy tried to act assertive, but it came out in a more sympathetic tone. “I’m sorry… but you really shouldn’t be up this late! And you ran off into the Everfree Forest all on your own! Um… y-your families’ are sure to hear about this. You should go back home before… anything… before you get in more trouble.”

The three fillies stood still contemplating the situation. Deciding that Fluttershy was right, they ran off towards Fluttershy’s cottage taking the lantern with them. Hopefully they’ll stay there. Fluttershy now turned her attention the mysterious thing that fell out of the tree. She couldn’t just leave it there. The pony who hung it up would probably think the worst if they found it on the ground like this. Fluttershy had to leave a note or something. She hastily dug around the forest floor for anything to use, but decided it’d be best to just write a message in the dirt in front of the thing. It was too heavy to put back in the tree anyway.

To whom it may concern:

I found your thing hanging in the tree.

It was going to fall, so I lowered it down as gently as I could.

Hopefully it’s not too damaged, and I’m sorry if it is.

However you should really find a better place for your prop~

Some unknown sound reverberated through the woods. Fluttershy’s hoof sailed off before she could finish the message.

“Um… hello?” The pegasus looked around her surroundings, but the crusaders took the lantern with them when they left so her visibility was shortened. Wherever that noise came from, it sounded like an animal. Fluttershy waited patiently for the sound to happen again.

“Hello? Is anypony out there?”

\x\x\x\x\

…

…

…

…

The pilot groaned one more time, hanging his head.  His vision was blurred as he could barely make out his own legs through the cracks in his visor. He tried moving them but felt restrained, not in the sense of being tied down but forgetting how. His attempts with his arms fared no better. The last thing he remembered was…

Fuck. He thought. He couldn’t remember what he was last doing, or where he was, or his own name for that matter. If only he could get a grip on his surroundings, he might be able to jog his memory. However when you’re so weak that the only muscle that moves is your own heart, you aren’t going anywhere or doing anything soong. Something prodded his shoulder sending a jolt of pain through his arm. He winced. His injured heart couldn’t deal with skipping a beat, so he tried to best to stay calm. He bit his lip as another poke sent a surge of pain through his arm.

He somehow found the ability to flex his fingers. Even if it was an involuntary reaction to the pain, it meant he could still move them. Whatever was poking him wasn’t letting up. This time it came up and rested against his neck. A shrill cry could be heard when it reacted, sending his ears into a deafening ring. It wasn’t so bad, after all he could hear now. But from his neck down, his whole body hurt. It even hurt to breathe; not that he wasn’t getting any oxygen but from the motion of his chest moving with his lungs.

“Probably a few broken ribs…” he muttered. His vision was still blurred and black, so he was either blinded or it was dark. There was another crying sound, but this one sounded more like intelligible language. He couldn’t understand it, but it was soothing; something along the lines of a horse’s nickering crossed with the sound of a crackling campfire. It wasn’t Human, but it wasn’t Covenant either. Whatever or whoever it was that had been poking him applied pressure to his chest, almost like being sat on. A brief coughing fit ensued and the pressure was immediately relieved. The next thing to happen was the feeling of a soft cloth or similar being wrapped around his neck like a noose. He did little to protest (as if he could anyway) and succumbed as it became tighter and tighter. The wrap became less constricting for a bit after he started gagging, but it stayed around his throat.

A few clicking noises could be heard and then he fell over. Rather, he was actually gently leaned over onto his side, but regardless it caused him to become nauseas. Thankfully he was in too much pain to vomit. His entire body ached like he was given an acupuncture treatment with white-hot steak knives. Whoever laid him down turned him over onto his back, face up to the night sky, evident by the moon.

Vision slowly started to come back with the small amounts of moonlight, but it was insufficient. Something, presumably the person who was treating him, leaned over his face and eclipsed the moon. All he could tell from the figure is that it had long hair. Extremely long hair that tickled his nose. He smelt strawberries for some reason. That was the last thing he remembered.

\x\x\x\x\

She freaked out initially when she noticed the blood on her hoof from where she touched it, which ticked off that this was an animal. Fortunately there was a bunch of vines nearby, so she could make a crude tourniquet around the animal’s neck without constricting it. It wouldn’t be sufficient, but it’d stop the pressure long enough until she could get home and grab her medical kit. Fluttershy had grabbed the tearing fabric from the tree and made a makeshift sled for the creature as she dragged it along the ground with her teeth, careful to avoid potholes and other objects that could tear apart the cocoon. Her quick diagnosis showed that it had several broken ribs, possibly broken legs, a concussion, and several lacerations to the neck and limbs. The strange animal was obviously furless; evident by the pink skin and bulkiness of the clothing and the helmet it wore to protect itself from the elements. She had no choice but to leave the chair-thing behind since it was too heavy to drag too. Hopefully nothing would disturb it; the chair could explain more about the animal and why it was hanging in a tree.

Fluttershy made her way back to the cottage and kicked in the door, almost sending it off its hinges. She’d have to buy a new one again if it kept being abused like that. The lights were still on, and the yellow pony dragged the unconscious animal and the makeshift cocoon into the center of the living room, almost passing out herself from sheer exhaustion. But the creature’s life depended on her, so she shrugged it off and darted upstairs to grab as many supplies she could carry in a single trip. On her way back down, she noticed the crusaders weren’t in her cottage, so hopefully they went home. She couldn’t worry about them right now anyway.

Her main focus was the animal’s chest, so the hind legs could wait to be stripped. Fluttershy started taking apart the animal’s (surprisingly several) layers of clothing, confirming her suspicions that it was completely furless. Other oddities about the animal were that it had no tail, small eyes, and a flattened face with a pointy nose; no snout. She couldn’t verify its gender, but muscle mass implied it was male. Scars, both old and new, randomly spread themselves along its abdomen. The position of its joints in its legs noted that it wasn’t a quadruped, so it had to be bipedal. But how could something balance itself on two legs? After removing the helmet, she saw a very short, dark brown mane sat only on the top of its head and didn’t go down much further along its neck. Fluttershy carefully removed the crudely made tourniquet and replaced it with a much more efficient wrapping of gauze, careful not to constrict the throat.

What are you… Fluttershy thought. She was able to stop the bleeding, patch possible infected wounds, and deal with some of the bruising, but this animal was beyond her expertise. The pegasus pony spent the rest of the night on her haunches, closely examining the animal and standing by incase anything happened.

\x\x\x\x\

April 12th

5:30am

Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria

Princess Celestia had just sent the spell in motion that would push the sun above the planet in half an hour, giving the moon enough time to dip below the western horizon. She smiled as a hint of orange began to emerge, pushing away the black of the night. In thirty minutes the first of the sun’s warm rays would be visible across all of Equestria. Now that that was out of the way, she could turn her attention to the meteors she promised to help her sister out with. However Luna had sent her a letter almost two hours ago that she had neglected to read. Hey, it’s not her fault a peaceful demonstration against the new tax rates in Sacramaneto need dealing with; somepony just had to bring out the paintballs and make it a federal case. Who’d have thought that such a hassle could come out of raising the tax rate to two percent? Celestia trotted into her private study where the scroll waited for her idly on her desk. The royal alicorn took the time to prepare herself some tea before she sat down on her favorite plush pillow. Levitating the tea and boiling the water with a simple spell, she took a small sip to test the temperature. A little warm, she cooled it down a bit and drew the scroll out in front of her, unraveling it and reading the hastily scribbled message.

‘Tia, something of dire importance has been discovered. It appears that when I felt dubious earlier tonight, it was for good reason. The meteorites that fell were no meteor, but some sort of extraequestrial vessel. Even though the one ship in the Canterlot Mountains is destroyed beyond recognition, we have already recovered a superb amount of information. There is reason to believe that the other three meteors are alien ships as well, and I request that you immediately dispatch units to search for the two that crashed in the Everfree Forest and back up the squad in the Whitetail Woods for they are understaffed.

~Princess Luna

Celestia took a sip of her tea as she read, and promptly spat it out after reading the third sentence. Celestia reread the entire letter again and again to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Feeling more or less satisfied, and slightly angry that she hadn’t read the message earlier, she destroyed the letter. The Princess wasted no time pulling out her own parchment and a quill, writing to the commander of the Royal Guard her orders for him in the Everfree Forest. He is to take two patrols of the elite and loyal Helios Platoon and conduct a search in the Everfree Forest for the two unknown objects. Since Luna gave the vaguest of descriptions, Celestia told them to look for anything out of the ordinary and quarantine them off the public. No unauthorized ponies were to accidently stumble on to the sites. After the scroll was bound and magically sent to its intended recipient, she went to write another for Luna. After that she stood and was about to go assist the group in the Whitetail Woods when there was a knock at her door.

Can’t do anything without interruption… Celestia sighed and swung the door open; one of Luna’s Night Guards came rushing into the doorway.

“Princess Celestia! Thank heavens I found you!” The guard gasped.

“What is it?” Celestia asked quizzically. “Why aren’t you asleep? The Night Guards are supposed to be-“

“Forgive me for the rush, Princess…” The guard interrupted. Celestia was slightly taken aback in surprise at the informality. “But we need assistance in the Whitetail Woods immediately! A group of interlopers has just been detained from some sort of large ship and are on their way to Canterlot for… analyzing.”

Celestia cleared her throat. “Well, I was about to head out there, but the situation appears to be under control. Why are you addressing me right now?”

The Night guard cleared her throat. “Because one of the Royal Guard has been critically injured by one of them, and regulation is that you need to be notified in such a case.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. Where they under some sort of alien attack? The Night Guard continued, “The guard is in a stable condition, but he might not fully recover. I have sent back the research team that tried to come to the site on account of their safety, but nothing else has been recovered from the crash site.”

“Alright, thank you…”

“Amber, 1st Lieutenant Amber.”

“…1st Lieutenant. I’ll investigate this site myself, and I want all recovery and research teams from all sites to be called back and put on hold until further notice. There’s no telling how dangerous these things are. When the… interlopers are back in the castle, put them in the maximum security medical wing. I want all-“

“Four.”

“…Four? I’d have thought there’d be more considering the size of the object you described.”

“There was eleven, but only four show signs of life. It’s… a really gruesome scene over there.”

Celestia frowned. “Come with me. We’re going to the Whitetail Woods.”

\x\x\x\x\

April 12th, 6 PH

5:35am

Canterlot Mountains, Canterlot, Equestria

In a puff of smoke, the scroll materialized itself in front of Luna.

About time… Luna silently hissed. She looked up from the strip of metal she was looking at to read the letter Celestia had written in response to her own… two hours to late. At least she found the time to raise the sun…

Dear Luna, forgive me for my tardiness with this letter. Something had developed that required my immediate attention, and I fear something else requires both of ours. First and foremost, these craft contain some sort of extraequestrial life, and it may be hostile. A Royal Guard member has been seriously injured by one of these interlopers in the Whitetail Woods, so I urge you to push extreme caution. Secondly, all research teams and civilians are to be suspended from accessing these crash sites. At your request, I have dispatched a unit to the Everfree Forest to search and close off the other two objects. I myself am about to go investigate the Whitetail Woods crash site. And finally, please watch after yourself and your fellow guard.

~Princess Celestia

Luna frowned at what she just read. Fortunately the research team hadn’t arrived yet, so that would one easy problem to solve. She brought her head up from her work and looked across the ravine at the still burning wreckage of the alien ship. While she would put the fire out, doing so might destroy invaluable pieces of information. And it was already too late to recover any bodies, for if they weren’t burnt already they would more than likely be crushed by the impact the ship made. Luna brought her gaze up to the mountainside the ship had apparently slid down. A large gouge in the rock showed the ghastly series of events as the ship came into contact, slid down the enormous face of the rock, hit a bump and then careened to its final resting place. Luna looked back down the burnt sheet of metal she was trying to get information from, but other than titanium the rest of its properties remained unknown.

“Princess Luna,” Major Apollo landed beside the Princess. “We found the origin of these tracks, and you won’t believe it.”

Luna looked skeptical and glanced down to the odd wheel tracks in the ground. Her horn glowed and one of the plaster molds she had taken appeared next to her. “You mean these?”

“Yes… and they started up there.” Apollo pointed up to the peak of the mountain where the assumed initial impact was. Luna stared.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Luna looked off to where the tracks had left the canyon beyond the barricade that was set up. The tracks went on for another hundred meters before they were lost in a river. There’s no telling where in Equestria the carriage that created them could be. Luna sighed.

“Unfortunately there is nothing we can do. Send out a report to all nearby villages to be on the lookout for an unusual carriage or cart. Urge them not to approach it but to alert the Guard immediately.”

Apollo saluted. “As you wish. And, if I can make a suggestion-“

*KA-BOOM*

Luna reactively threw up a spell that would protect herself and the major. The sudden expansion of the force field-like ball kicked up the table she had all her findings and instruments on, sending them flying forwards. Then the objects stopped and flew back at them as the shockwave hit, harmlessly bouncing them off the shield.

“What the hay was that?” Apollo squeaked, his hooves covering his ears.

“Is anypony hurt?” Luna called out, getting muffled replies from disoriented guards, but everypony was accounted for. Some had a few minor scrapes and burns, but nothing serious. The alien craft had violently exploded, sending a large chunk of it through the air that landed a few yards away from the Princess. Luna looked to the blazing inferno that had just tripled inside, and the recovered evidence that had just been destroyed.

“Maybe we should put the fire out…”

*Meg (noun)- short for Magically Enchanted Gemstones. They’re my little explanation for how “electronics” are powered in the FiM universe. A meg is essentially a battery, and when it runs out of power (magic) it turns to ash. Megs can be enchanted from any sort of gemstone, but the length of time one will last depends on the following variables:

Crystal structure, type of gemstone, size, amount of magic stored inside, what sort of machine it will power and for how long.

Megs however are generally extremely weak, so they tend to not cost anything or are bought in bulk as they usually last a few days to a few weeks. Most unicorns can simply craft them themselves, and the only ones sold are generally of high quality can last several months if not years without being replaced. One that could last a single year might cost close to two hundred bits, and Applejack sells apples at a bit apiece so there’s the sense of their value. Most ponies sell things for only a few bits each, so a meg that will last a year would be hard for your average pony to buy. An average meg that lasts a month would cost around twenty bits, and one that lasts a week close to five bits. However prices vary depending on the vendor.

If a unicorn is extremely lucky and he/she finds a high quality gemstone and enchants it, they could sell it for a high price. This is generally how it goes. Also, enchanting a gemstone does little to raise its value. Rarity specializes in finding gemstones, but enchanting high quality ones takes a considerable amount of concentration to make. As little value could be made, Rarity generally doesn’t bother selling megs. Instead she uses the gemstones for her dresses to hike up their prices, so she makes more money selling dresses then she would if she sold megs.

This also explains why Diamond Dogs have an obsession with them. When the kidnapped Rarity, they used her to find gemstones and then they could sell them at higher prices later. Dragons like to eat gemstones, but the lower quality stones are easier to come by so they aren’t too picky when it comes to eating. High quality gemstones are seen as deserts and other delicacies.

Lower quality gemstones are commonplace and include rubies, sapphires, emeralds, jadeite, diamonds, and essentially any other gem that would be considered very expensive here on Earth.

High quality gemstones include ones found commonly on Earth, yet they are rare in Equestria. This includes quartz, opal, amethyst, turquoise, amber, and garnet as well as mythical ones like Fire

Rubies.

Now with the above information, when Apple Bloom uses the ruby on the lantern, the lantern should be able to create light for up to two weeks on account of the gem’s quality, size, large amount of magic, and that it would run a simple machine.

Another thing, like I said before megs are very weak. That ruby could probably power a lantern for a couple weeks, but it’d die in an hour if it had to power something complex like heartbeat monitor all by itself. Most large machines however allow for multiple megs to be used at once, but even a dozen or so of those types of megs would only last half a day. Small, simple machines like a light bulb take little power so a weak meg can power one for a while. Machines with numerous moving parts and other complexities usually require more power to operate.