The indigo sky was dotted by a myriad of stars, some brighter than others, though all eclipsed by the great white orb that was the Moon, which hovered over the landscape on its zenith. Below, in the great field neighboring the small town of Ponyville, the inhabitants had all gathered together in a great crowd to watch the light show that was about to play out before them. Tonight, a meteor shower was scheduled to occur -one that occurs only every few years, in fact- and neither a certain magenta mare -nor her devoted friends- were going to miss it.

Amid the crowd of ponies, Twilight Sparkle and her friends sat at the apex of a taller hill, sitting around each other on top of a checkered red-and-white blanket. Two simple-woven baskets marked the center of the group, once filled to the brim with food, but as time had passed, the supply had dwindled down to a mere three apples and an apple fritter.

“Dibs!” called Pinkie Pie, diving head-first into the small basket and disappearing completely, though the dimensions of said container should have denied that as a possibility. After a moment, her head popped back out like a gopher, munching on what remained of the tiny dessert, crumbs spilling from her mouth as she ate. After an exaggerated gulping sound, she fell into a fit of giggles, falling over and tipping the basket with her.

Twilight sighed, having been eyeing that fritter for the last ten minutes. But fritters were the last of her priorities, because as the time neared midnight, so did the impending astronomical air show. Afterwards, she had planned to go out into the fields and possibly find any stray fragments of the extraterrestrial minerals for study, though not until the morning, as it would be nigh on impossible to find anything with the current level of lighting, even with the magnificent radiance of the moon -which seemed quite larger in comparison to the night prior, Twilight had noticed.

“How much longer, Twi?” asked Applejack, stifling an impending yawn with her hoof. “Ah gotta wake up early tomorrow for apple buckin’.”

“It should just be another half hour,” she replied. “Afterwards, we can all go-”

“Ooh, it’s starting!” shouted Pinkie Pie, raising a hoof up towards the sky.

“Wait, what?” she said incredulously. “That’s impossible, it’s not supposed… to… huh?” Up in the sky, a small yellow light began crawling across the sky, traveling at the speed of a snail from the perspective of the crowd, who had all silenced to watch the show. For a minute, everyone sat silently, observing the dot tediously crawl across the sky. “That’s not right,” she said. “I don’t understand.” Another minute passed, and idle chatter began to emerge from the congregation, the majority sounding off in a questioning or unimpressed tone. A couple ponies even went so far as to begin packing up their things.

However, Twilight noticed something peculiar. Wait… is it getting bigger? She wondered to herself. The size of the anomaly was indeed growing, at a pace that made her very uneasy. How could it be getting bigger? ...Wait, no, it’s probably just getting closer. But at the rate it’s growing, that would mean… A sudden realization hit her hard.

“We need to leave,” she said with urgency. “Now!”

“Huh?” said the group synonymously, giving her varied expressions.

“It’s heading right for us!” she stated rather loudly. Others in the large crowd began to murmur amongst each other in confusion, and some in worry.

“Oh relax, would you?” Dash said reassuringly. “It’s not coming for us, see?” She pointed up at the sky in the direction of the yellow fireball. Currently, it was perhaps thrice the size of a nearby star used for reference, and it’s crawling seemed to travel even slower. “If anything, it’s slowing down!”

"Rainbow Dash, just trust me," she pleaded. "The shower isn't supposed to start yet! We need to go!"

"Uh, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack at last said, squinting up into the sky. “It does seem t’ be gettin’ bigger.”

“Oh, not you too, Appleja- Wait, what’s that sound?” The cyan pegasus’s ears flickered once, before perking upwards. Twilight did the same, honing in on the newfound audio. The sound itself was very bassy, and at first near-impossible to decipher. After a few seconds, however, it became identifiable as a low crackling sound, like that of burning wood. And even later still, Twilight had begun to feel the ground beneath her hooves vibrate. Looking upward, the tiny point of light that at first seemed to saunter across the cosmos had grown a hundred times larger, the dark center of mass having taken its form amid a torrent of fire that enveloped it.

Twilight’s eyes seemed to grow with horror. Okay, think Twilight. From the angle it’s coming in at, and the speed it’s going, it won’t hit us. That’s good, that means we’re all safe and-

“EVERYPONY RUN!”

All it took was one, lone voice amongst the crowd to cause a frenzy. Ponies went every which way, screaming, running into -and trampling- anything in their way. Twilight looked back and forth between the crowd and the inbound havoc-wreaker from space. What do I do, what do I do?! I can’t have everypony going berserk! They need to all stay together, here, where it’s safe! But how exactly do I do that? She looked once more up at the sky. The fireball was only seconds from flying overhead of them at this point.

...Wait a second… Is it getting slower? Twilight shook her head violently, as though something that affected her vision needed to be shaken away. It is getting slower! But how?!

As the great anomaly finally flew overhead, she also noticed another puzzling detail; the fire she had seen before did not envelop the entire structure, but rather just the front -far too violently to be caused by trans-atmospheric friction, in fact- and at the back, several parachutes -at least she thought they were parachutes- had been deployed, for the seemingly-obvious task of slowing the object down.

And another oddity was the shape of the object itself; if she didn’t know any better, she would have thought that it resembled that of a bipedal creature with an outstretched arm carrying a sandwich. No, she thought, that’s just ridiculous. But why is it slowing down? ...Unless… A fictitious light bulb radiated inside of her mind, and her mouth hung agape.

“It’s a spaceship…” she breathed faintly.

“Come again, darling?” asked a semi-panicked Rarity.

“Don’t you see it?” Twilight questioned excitedly. “That’s engine exhaust! It’s a spaceship landing!”

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie emerged from behind Rarity. “Yay, space friends!”

“Well, if it is a spaceship,” Applejack interjected, “then where’s it gonna land?”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight stated, speaking rather quickly, “but it looks like it’s going to land in-town. Aliens, girls, aliens! What do you think they’re like? What would they look like? Oh, I have so many questions to ask them! But what if they’re not friendly? What if this is the beginning of an invasion? What if we’re all about to be enslaved for a thousand years? What if-”

Her words -and train of thought- were brought to a screeching halt as a yellow hoof blockaded her mouth. Fluttershy looked up at her with cautious -but not panicked- eyes. “Um, Twilight?” she began. “...They’re landing now.”

Twilight redirected her gaze to the sky, following the trail of thick black smoke that now stretched along the open field, and met the slowly-falling spacecraft as it prepared to land right at the center of town.

“C’mon, Sugarcube,” said Applejack slowly. Her anxiety was clear both on her face and in her words. “Let’s go meet yer aliens.”

-----

By the time they had arrived, the crowd that had once existed in the open field now surrounded the space anomaly, giving it a wide berth as they waited for something to happen and speaking amongst themselves in an inquisitive and fearful tone. The spacecraft had landed on its “feet” just meters from the Town Hall’s entrance, and the parachutes were nowhere to be seen. The moment she set her eyes on the now-grounded starship, her suspicions were validated; it did indeed greatly resemble a fictional, bipedal creature in red-and-white checkered overalls and a happily-grinning face, carrying what was a massive sandwich, with only a few identifiable ingredients: tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. On the overalls, the words “Frisch’s Big Boy” were clearly visible in a black, stylized font.

“I wonder who this ‘Frisch’ character is,” Rarity said. “You don’t suppose he’s the one inside, do you?”

“I haven’t the foggiest,” Applejack responded. “I’m more curious as to what he -or it- is doin’ here in the first place.”

“Maybe they have some super-secret intergalactic party supplies!” Pinkie loudly contributed. “Like comet-streamers or star-balloons!”

“I just hope they’re friendly,” Fluttershy added.

“Well if they’re not,” Dash interjected, rubbing her hooves together, “then we’ll send ‘em right back to where they came from!”

Her friends’ idle chatter was lost to Twilight, as she was pondering the events that have unfolded. First contact, this is incredible! This is history in the making, and we get to be a part of it! But I still can’t help but wonder why they would come here, of all places. Are they lost? Are they in need of help? ...Are they friendly..? She gazed back up at the now-unsettling grin that donned the statuesque spacecraft. Smiles usually mean friendly, right? ...But if they’re friendly, then why haven’t they come out yet? It’s been almost half an hour since it landed. Oh, what if they’re hurt? What if something malfunctioned and they need our help? If we tried to help, and they didn’t need it, they might see it as aggression. But if they do need help, and we don’t help them, they might die! Oh, think Twilight, think!

Like a knife through warm bread, a sharp hissing noise cut through the communications of the conversing congregation of citizens, causing all to be silent. Gazing at the statue that stood directly in front of the Town Hall, Twilight saw a jet of white gas eject from the statue’s… rear -to which she heard Pinkie erupt in a quiet series of giggles. Along with the gas, a panel slowly slid out and away from the ship, unfolding downward and becoming a ramp to a large compartment that was left in its wake. And shortly after that, an shiny, egg-shaped object rolled out of the small space, falling down the ramp and landing on the stairs to the porch of the Town Hall, effectively crushing them under its weight and propping the object narrow-end up.

Twilight took a deep breath, and gulped. This is it, she thought to herself, only able to take a few steps out from the crowd and towards the object before her movement was brought to an immediate halt by Rainbow Dash grabbing hold of her tail. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Dash questioned.

With a swift and gentle yank, the tail slid out of Dash’s now-slack hooves. “Well somepony has to greet them,” she replied.

“But what if they’re dangerous?!” Dash said worriedly, before quickly righting herself. “I mean, I could probably fend them off, but you might still get hurt in the crossfire.”

“Rainbow’s right,” Applejack chimed in. “I think we should wait fer the princess to get here.”

“I don’t think we have the time,” Twilight said honestly. “And what better way to greet them than with the Elements of Harmony?”

“Well then we should all go,” Dash submitted.

“Wait, what?” Fluttershy said anxiously, slowly backing away. “Oh, uh, actually, I think I have to go feed my-”

“No you don’t,” was Dash’s curt reply.

“B-but I also need to water m-my-”

“No, you don’t.”

"B-b-but-”

“C’mon now, sugarcube,” came Applejack in a reassuring tone. “We don’t even know what they look like yet. Fer all we know, they might look like, uh…”

“Big, fluffy bunnies!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, wrapping a hoof around Fluttershy and pointing to the stars. “Just imagine it; big extra-fluffy bunnies from outer space! And those big fluffy bunnies are gonna need someone to take care of them, right?”

“Well, if they came here in a spaceship, then they can probably help themse-” Dash was made mute by a purple hoof covering her mouth. Twilight shot her a glare that said something along the lines of are you kidding me?!

“...W-well, I guess so,” Fluttershy ceded, “but-”

“Then it’s settled!” Pinkie shouted, hugging Fluttershy tightly. “The aliens are staying at Fluttershy’s house!”

Fluttershy’s pupils shrank. “B-but I didn’t-”

“Now come on!” she said, “let’s go say hello!” And with that, Pinkie rolled Fluttershy onto her back, and began bouncing off towards the giant metal egg, with the others close behind. As they approached, Twilight took notice of other peculiar details concerning the pod, such as the large square that was cut in two on the front side. Twilight assumed that they were doors that would open for the creature inside. But another peculiarity was what looked like a small, frosted-over panel just above it. The panel was completely obscured by ice and frost buildup, but emanated a faint red light from beneath it.

I wonder what’s under the ice..? she thought, before looking up at Rainbow Dash. “Do you think you could wipe off the ice there?” she asked.

Dash nodded once, before flying up to the top of the object -which stood maybe three or four times their height- and rubbing her hoof up against the ice patch. Twilight’s vision was obscured for the most part, but after a moment, she saw a large, flat chunk of ice fall down to the ground, almost immediately melting in the warmer climate. The moment it made contact with the earth, however, Rainbow Dash flew backwards and up a good 10 meters, a look of panic having found a home on her face. “What is it?” Twilight asked urgently, before looking towards the panel herself. The moment she did, her jaw dropped.

A large, red-print six-unit clock was counting down, going from what Twilight read years, to months, to days, to hours, to minutes, to seconds. The time was from eight seconds when she first saw.

It’s a bomb, her thoughts raced. It’s a bomb! This wasn’t a spaceship, it was a weapon! All Twilight could do at this point was watch the seconds count down. Four, three, two, one… She shut her eyes tightly, bracing herself for the impact.

“Auto-thaw sequence initiated,” came a synthetic male voice.

Twilight opened one eye, to look up at the now-green timer that read all zeroes. “...Wait, wha-”

A point-blank shotgun blast of cold gas shot into her face as the pod hissed loudly, the frost –along with a myriad of tiny stringy objects– stinging her now-squinting eyes and burning her throat and nasal passages. She flew onto her back, coughing and rubbing her eyes. When she opened them, the gas had thinned out to the point where she could see the two doors of the pod slowly open outward, swinging on mechanical hinges that emitted a loud, grating noise. After another puff of gas was ejected -the remainder of the gas trapped within the compartment- Twilight stood back up in order to peer into the pod. What she found filled her with both horror and intrigue.

There sat a single, four-limbed creature of approximately six feet in height, in a chair that appeared to be built into the pod itself. The creature’s skin was grey, and its small –yet bulbous– eyes were closed. It had a large projection on its face –Twilight assumed it was either a beak or a nose– obscured by a yellow sort of mask that covered its mouth and connected it to a large green cylindrical tank behind the seat. It had odd-looking ears on either side of its head, just above the center of his face. The alien was also completely devoid of hair anywhere on its visible body; it wore a light grey uniform and a pair of brown shoes covering all but its hands and face, so she did not have much to go on. A small IV was buried in its wrist, injecting a clear liquid, and several small screens showed a series of numbers, letters and symbols that Twilight could neither understand nor imagine their purpose. The only screen she understood was the one in the far back, behind its head –the recurring trailing line that wobbled slightly and beeped with each pass was clearly recognizable as a heart rate monitor. Also, covering everything in the pod –alongside the packs of ice and frost– were thousands of tiny ice-covered fibers. Maybe that was his hair, she wondered.

Slowly, the number on the heart monitor rose, and the line traveled faster and stronger. Vents all around the pod ejected hot air into the cabin, melting the ice and blowing the small fibers out of the pod and into the air outside. Twilight spared a look behind her, to find that not only her friends, but several others had crowded behind her, watching the spectacle unfold.

The artificial voice sounded once more. “All systems nominal. Body heat approaching desired temperature in ten seconds.” The voice then began counting down from ten. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Reanimating client now.”

Twilight gulped. Well, here it comes.

Nothing happened at first. After a few minutes, however, Twilight could’ve sworn that she saw one of its fingers twitch. Then, another. The creature’s chest slowly rose and fell, and its eyes fluttered visibly beneath their eyelids. It rolled its jaw idly from side to side, and at long last, its eyes opened to reveal icey-blue pupils that stared straight ahead. A couple ponies behind her gasped.

Like that of an old dog, its movements were slow and trembling. It sluggishly brought up a shaky, bony hand up to its face, removing the mask that it wore and letting it go, allowing it to fall and hang out of the pod by the clear hose that still connected it to the tank. Doing so revealed that the creature had an angular nose, and a strange grey mouth that only stretched across by a few inches. Using that same hand, it reached down and grabbed the IV, yanking it out swiftly and allowing the clear liquid to drip out of the needle, which now hung with the mask outside the pod. That hand oozed a dark-red ichor –though very slowly– and the alien’s face donned a look of pain. Once more with the same hand, it retrieved something from beside the chair, placing it on its wrist. The creature mumbled something incoherently, before holding one hand over its mouth and coughing violently, causing all in the small crowd to flinch. Already, its skin began to change from its grey color to a pale tan tint.

With the sound of several joints popping at once, the being slowly pushed its torso forward and out of the chair with its arms, extending one leg out to touch the grass underneath it. The crowd backed away as the alien left the small cabin of the pod, standing upright on its legs and finally seeming to observe its surroundings. Its eyebrows raised as it examined the faces of each and every pony in the group, and then to the larger congregation that surrounded them. At last, it spoke.

“What’s with all the frickin’ horses?"

Author's Notes:

So a year later, and I finally start typing again! Now, I know that not a lot of people will be happy with the abandonment of "One Million Bits," but I hope that my newest work will sate your desire for our balding bad guy!

While it's similar to my first story in that it's about the doctor visiting Equestria, it runs a bit deeper than what my first story would've ever touched on, with an interesting story, funnier and more original jokes; the whole shebang!

All in all, I hope you enjoy this frickin' story!