Rainbow Dash let out a yawn she didn't deserve. She rolled over to gaze at the night sky.
"It's a great night to be lazy," she mumbled with half-lidded eyes.
The Wonderbolts were taking a break from practice, the Friendship School was out for the holidays, and the next nightmare to plague Equestria was still probably a few months off.
The perfect time for a vacation.
Like many vacations before, Rainbow Dash had just chosen a random direction and taken off at full speed for a few days, stopping only to rest. As far as she could tell, she was somewhere near Las Pegasus, the tallest buildings of the cloud city just barely peeking over the horizon. Small, colorful explosions of light cracked above them; some fireworks celebration for who-knew-what.
A shooting star traced its way through the night, burning itself out in a long streak of light. Rainbow Dash made a wish to find a good souvenir this vacation; postcards could only do so much for her. She yawned again, inspecting stars for anything interesting. After a bit of aimless stargazing, she saluted.
"Spitfire, sir, all stars accounted for."
She then switched her voice to a poor imitation of her commander's. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash. You're promoted."
Rainbow Dash was just about to roll back over and take a nap before she noticed a particularly bright star in the sky. Just left of the moon, twinkling brightly. Really brightly.
She squinted at it, puzzled.
The star grew, and began to move. It fell out of the heavens, moving south towards Las Pegasus at a speed Rainbow Dash had never seen. A trail of smoke followed in the fallen star's wake, leaving a sickly black cloud behind it.
She watched, amazed, as the star descended. She shook out of her stupified awe and jumped to her hooves, ready to follow the rogue object.
With a determined raise of her wings, she backed up a few feet on the cloud and then took a full running start, giving chase to the heavenly object. As she followed it, she noticed tiny sparks of light splitting off from the main star, burning themselves out almost instantly. Picking up speed, she screamed past the top of Las Pegasus in hot pursuit.
Her world began a bright mix of colored flak for only a moment as she rocketed past the fireworks display, then vanished with Las Pegasus already far behind her. She could feel resistance mounting in front of her, and she held out booth hooves as the pressure wave began to build. With practiced skill, she gave herself that final burst of speed to push her past the sound barrier and into a Sonic Rainboom, hurling her towards the falling star. It mattered little; the speed of it put even her records to shame. The star kept going, its trajectory slowly dipping downwards as it raced over a forest. Even with the drop in speed, it was still far ahead of Rainbow Dash when it dipped into the treeline, disappearing under the thick canopy.
Rainbow Dash rushed ahead, determined to find where it had landed. She was too far away to see where it had crashed for sure, and could only keep flying until she was above a part of the forest where it was last seen.
She didn't have to look long. Even far up she could see a trail of trees broken apart like twigs, slowly tapering off until only healthy, unbroken ones remained. She flew down to the ended of where the broken trees ended, hesitantly approaching the fallen star.
Now up close, she saw it wasn't a star at all. What it was, she wasn't certain. Vaguely cone-shaped and upside-down from the crash, the object had what was clearly a set of doors on one side of its frame, and all around the outside were runes that only Twilight would understand. Half-buried in the ground, the object had pushed up a huge pile of dirt and snapped-off tree trunks in front of it, before apparently finally stopping when it hit a boulder. Steam and smoke poured out of it, the heat hissing against the cool night air.
She slowly walked forward, expecting at any moment for some kind of magic bolt to shoot out of the thing. When she was right next to it unharmed, her interest turned to towards the large door on one side. Flying up, she looked inside the thick window on the top but could not see anything inside, save smoke and dim lights in the haze.
Putting one hoof on the handle outside, she threw all her weight downward attempting to turn it. The handle refused to budge. She then opted to pull it the other way, and yet the handle stubbornly stayed stuck.
With a grunt, Rainbow Dash flew away from the door before coming back with a full kick from her hind legs. The door flew inward, disappearing into the smoke as more poured out of the new opening. Most of it into Rainbow Dash's face, making her bat it away with her wings while gagging.
After the smoke had cleared a bit, she landed on the very edge of the new entrance, pushing her head through the opaque wisps of smoke to see inside.
It was like looking at the inside of some machine Twilight would make. A panel full of information Dash didn't comprehend danced across a score of screens on the far side of the interior, sparks flying out of several while others were only screens of static. Wires and loose panels hung from the floor, now the ceiling, and someone was hanging upside-down on a strapped chair on the flipped floor. There was all kinds of equipment scattered around, too, and-
Wait, someone?
Dash rushed over to the limp figure, its arms dangling loosely. The glow from the consoles gave some illumination, but she had trouble making out any real details. What she could see was some tall figure in armor of some kind, face hidden behind a helmet with a smooth, reflective visor.
They'd apparently strapped themselves onto the chair, and were knocked out during the crash. Wasting no time, Dash fumbled with the straps, eventually causing them to snap open. The limp being tumbled downward, but Dash caught them and flapped her wings, pushing them both backward out of the ruined craft. After some struggling, she had lifted themselves out of the open hatch and hovering out, slowly descending to the ground and laying the mysterious figure down feet-first.
Moving back through the air, Dash fully laid out the stranger on their back, then placed one ear on their chest.
Muffled by the suit, was a slow breath.
Dash wiped her forehead in relief. Whoever this was, it was a miracle they weren't a fine paste.
Now out in the full moonlight, she could see the figure far more clearly. Like she'd first witnessed, the stranger's clothes were mostly white, with various tubes and armored plates configured all up and down its bulky frame. Its helmet was likewise similarly colored, with a short, rigid antenna sticking out on the right side of the head. All up and down the suit, a soft blue light could be seen in small grooves etched into its surface.
On its right arm Rainbow Dash saw a patch made in an unfamiliar pattern; a combination of colors and sharp shapes she'd never seen before. A flag?
She reached out to touch the fuzzy badge, only for the stranger to stir in its stillness and slowly begin to move. It moaned, shifting its legs as it brought its torso upwards. Dash quickly stepped back, giving the crash victim room. Once it had sat up, it immediately jumped and began furiously rubbing the back of its head.
It hadn't seemed to notice her yet. Better now than never.
"Yeah, you took a pretty good tumble there. You okay?"
The figure turned its strange helmet towards Rainbow Dash. After staring at her for a moment, it suddenly jumped up in a panic and scrambled backwards, reaching for something at its side. Whatever it had planned to bring out, it came up empty-handed, and when it felt nothing reach its hand, it frantically patted itself down before scrambling to the ground, pushing apart grass and dirt.
Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow as the figure sorted through the ground. "Uh, you lose something?"
The masked being said nothing and began to type on its left forearm, flashes of light flaring up with each touch of its fingers. A screen appeared above the visitor's arm, and it turned its visor to her, making a gabbing motion with its free hand.
"Uh? You want me to say something? Like what?"
As Rainbow Dash talked, she saw the line on the screen move in relation to her voice.
"Are you trying to record me?"
The screen suddenly spoke; in Rainbow Dash's voice. However, it spoke in a language Rainbow Dash had never heard, and after a few words of her simulated voice, the screen vanished as the stranger's arm sparked and arced with electricity. The being from the stars held up one hand to shield its face, and a moment later the sparks subsided with a small trickle of smoke wafting up from where they'd been typing.
An electronic sigh came through the speakers on the stranger's helmet. They tapped the ruined device a few times to confirm its failure and turned away from Rainbow Dash, studying its surroundings. As soon as its gaze was upon the ruined craft's, it did a double-take and ran forward, its visor whipping to every broken part of the thing from the heavens. The damage was apparently bad enough for the being to put both of its gloved hands on is head, and then fall to its knees, muttering something Rainbow Dash couldn't understand.
Dash let the being grieve for its fallen chariot for a bit, before finally walking up behind it. "I'm guessing this thing was yours. Looks really expensive."
Its visor came upon Dash again. She retreated a bit; who knew what was behind that mask.
"Hey, you don't mind taking that big helmet off, do you?" she asked, "You might have a bump."
Dash tried to put on her best friendly face, curved and reflected back at her on the visor.
"Bump? Like when you do a trick wrong?"
It leaned its head back, and again jolted in pain, bringing a hand up to rub it. Again it felt the helmet in the way. It tried to fiddle with the device on its forearm one more time, but it only succeeded in spitting out a last, pathetic puff of smoke. The stranger mumbled something, then brought both hands to its neck. It fiddled with several switches on the side, then brought them to the side of its head and lifted. The helmet slid upward, revealing the stranger's face as it put the helmet under one arm, and used the other to slowly rub the sore spot.
"Woah."
It was like the face of the Tirek, or the Storm King's; flat, pale, and centaur-like, but much less furry than either. A small mat of blonde hair pressed down from the helmet sat upon the creature's head, and below that, two blue eyes. She recalled Twilight's description of the beings on the other side of that mirror, but she couldn't be sure; she hadn't paid very much attention.
Dash didn't want to assume, but this thing seemed female.
It took a deep breath with its nose, slowly inhaling before letting out all out of her mouth with a deep sigh. After a moment, she took a final breath and the slotted the helmet back onto her head, pressurized gas shooting out from the neck as it clicked into place.
"Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash said to herself. She read her comic books. Star from the sky, strange craft, mysterious passenger...
"Are you..." she began. She pointed up towards the stars. "You know, from up there?
An alien?"
The being followed her hoof, looking up towards the sky. It seemed to understand her gesture, and nodded.
A childlike awe washed over Rainbow Dash's face. It transitioned into giddiness, and then pure glee.
"This. IS. AWESOME! An alien! Here! And I'm meeting one! This is the-"
She watched the tiny horse go into an excited session of talking. At least, she thought it was talking. To her, it sounded mostly like a long string of nickers and whinnies, high-pitched and slightly raspy. She let the colorful tiny equine go on its tangent; it wasn't like she could understand it anyway.
"-Captain of the Spacebolts!" Rainbow Dash finished with a cheer. She'd been so wrapped up in her own geeking out that she'd nearly forgotten about the Visitor standing above her, tapping its boot.
"Heh. Guess I got a little carried away. So are you an explorer, I guess? Because there was this one Daring Do fanfic I read where something kinda the same happened, but your spaceship is way too small. It also doesn't have lasers, and alien inside it had all these tentacles and stuff so-"
The alien held up a hand.
Before she could ask another question, a stirring came from the edge of the woods. They both heard the heavy stomps and scratching wood closing in on them, and bellows louder with each step.
Dash's muscles tensed. "Uh oh."
With a final crash, a cranky manticore erupted from the treeline. Pounding towards the two of them, it singled out The Visitor, throwing its powerful body towards her. Rainbow Dash flew up, calling out to the stranger on the ground.
The alien didn't budge, simply watching the manticore bound toward her. She suddenly threw her hand down to a large pouch on the side of the leg. Dash nearly did a double-take when she saw the alien's hand become surrounded with a blue glow; the unmistakable aura of magic. She brought her hand upwards, lifting up an ancient hardback book from the pocket, surrounded by the same blue aura. The book shot up to her shoulder and opened, its pages turning wildly.
With disciplined precision, the alien brought its glowing hand to bear on the manticore. A huge wall of blue light sprang up between the two, forcing the manticore to skid to a halt. It hesitantly crept forward, poking the shield with one paw. The shield reacted, a spark of energy flying between the manticore and the wall. It yelped, scrambling back while clutching its paw.
The manticore glared at the alien through the barrier, then just lazily swatted the air in its direction, deciding it wasn't worth the effort. With a huff, the creature turned tail and ran back into the forest.
When the manticore was well out of sight, Dash landed next to the alien with awestruck eyes
"You can use magic?" she exclaimed.
She shook off the adoration. "I mean, good job on that manticore. I could've taken him myself, though."
Saying nothing, the alien brought the book down and pushed it into the side holster on its left leg, patting it before turning back to the ship.
Before Rainbow Dash could ask the alien something else, they once again heard movement off in the distance. However, this wasn't any monster. There were voices, frantic and angry, tearing their way through the bush. Ponies.
Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air, both hooves on her face. "Oh Jeez! We can't let other ponies see you! Equestria isn't ready!"
The alien had already brought out her spell book once more, its pages flipping to and fro from the magical aura and her right hand glowing with magical power.
Rainbow Dash ran up to her, pulling on her arm. "No, no, no! You'll make it worse!"
She tugged at the Visitor's readied arm, pulling them towards the forest. "Come! On! We have to go!"
The alien looked down at her through the expressionless blue sheen. Rainbow Dash persisted, continuing to tug at her until the Visitor sighed, grabbed her book, and allowed Dash to lead her to the treeline, both of them ducking inside a bush just as the posse of ponies arrived at the crash scene.
Most of them appeared to be soldiers, wearing olive green armor with spears at their sides or swords in their mouths. A few skinny scientists brought up the rear, clad white in their lab coats.
In front of all of them was a large and very stern-looking pegasus pony. Nearly the size of Big Mac, the brown-furred, black-maned pegasus wore an ornate general's uniform, a score of shiny medals hanging off the front of his neatly-pressed tan attire. An oversized peaked cap sat upon the pegasus' head, his eyes hidden under the shadow of the black brim. His wide flank showed a cutie mark of a cloud raining into a cup of water, and his entire gruff look was accented by a scruffy five o' clock shadow that hung on his square jaw.
He walked in front of the craft, bringing up one hoof to raise the brim of his cap, revealing two tiny blue eyes. After gawking at the crashed ship, he brought his hat back down, his eyes vanishing into the darkness under the cap.
"I knew this day would come," he growled. He turned to the soldiers, chest puffed out. "Didn't I say this day would come?!"
All the soldier ponies stood at attention and saluted. "Yes, General Watcher, sir!"
He turned toward the scientist ponies, then pointed at the craft. "I want a full quarantine on this thing. Nobody gets in or out without my say-so! Got it?"
One of the scientist ponies, a lanky unicorn, rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, Stalwart."
The general reached out and grabbed the scientist, bringing their face against his. "My mother calls me Stalwart. You will call me General Watcher or Sir. Understood?"
The scientist rattled his head up and down. Content with the answer, the general released his grip and looked up at the crashed spaceship.
"Sweet Celestia," he breathed, "After all this time, I finally have proof. We ain't alone."
"This guy's nuts," Rainbow Dash whispered to her companion. One of the soldier's ears perked up, and General Watcher noticed.
"What is it, soldier?"
Rainbow Dash's heart went into overdrive as it pointed a spear directly at them. "I heard something over there."
The general barked an order to three of the soldiers to go investigate. They fell into a small formation and marched forward, spears pointed threateningly.
Dash had to think fast. She looked at the alien, somehow expecting them to have the answer, but found only a visor staring back at her with no solution. As the soldiers approached, she saw the Visitor slowly reaching for her spellbook. It couldn't come to that. She acted.
"Sir!" Rainbow Dash announced, shooting out of the bush. "Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts, reporting for duty!"
The soldiers recognized her at once, scrambling to return the salute.
General Watcher walked over with a frown. "What's this now?"
One of the soldiers looked over to the general. "It's Rainbow Dash, sir. One of the Wonderbolts? Element of Loy-"
"I know who Rainbow Dash is!" the general yelled. "What I want to know is what she's doing here, next to this alien craft, in a bush, in the middle of the night, far away from any real civilization?"
A sweat drop rolled down Dash's head. "Uh, reconnaissance! Gotta be vigilant against threats to Equestria!"
"Hmph! And what does your recon intel say about this thing?"
Rainbow Dash fluttered out of the bush, flying over to the alien craft. She tapped it a few times with her hoof, a metallic clanging ringing out with each hit. "Hmmm. Yeah, I've seen this before."
"Really."
"Yeah!" she responded. "Weather balloon," she explained, leaning against the ruined craft. "We find, oh, probably five a month around Canterlot. Pretty common, actually."
"You expect me to believe that thing is a weather balloon?"
"I mean, it's obviously a higher-end one. Gotta feel sorry for the weatherpony that sent this one up!"
"What kind of weather balloon glows brighter than a star before it crashes?"
"Hey, science marches on."
The general stomped one heavy hoof on the ground. "Just get down here. I don't need you touchin' it any more before we confirm this thing's origin."
"What, you don't trust me?"
"I don't trust anyone. Now if you'll kindly-"
"Sir!"
Everypony spun towards the soldier that had cried out. He'd found the Visitor, caught trying to crawl away from the bush.
"Sweet Celestia!" General Watcher whooped, "It's an X-Ray! Get it!"
The soldier pony lunged forward, but the Visitor was ready. Throwing herself on her back, she lifted her feet and caught the earth pony on both her boots. She thrusted her legs forward, throwing the soldier backwards, and into the side of the spaceship. The rest of the soldiers sprang into action as she got back up onto her feet and sprinted into the forest.
One of the other soldiers ran forward, spinning once to throw the spear from his mouth right at the Visitor. The alien didn't notice their impending impalement, forcing Dash to race down and karate chop the spear in half, breaking its momentum and sending both pieces of the weapon clattering to the ground. She took off into the forest behind the Visitor, calling out for them to wait up.
The general screamed in a rage. "Dagnabbit, that wasn't Rainbow Dash! It's some pod pony clone! Get her too!"
The soldiers obeyed, taking off into the forest with weapons lifted.
She saw a spear land right in front of it, thrown from one of the horses giving chase. How were these animals so dexterous? She heard the rainbow-maned pegasus squealing something at her, but was far too busy avoiding sharp death to pay it heed.
With an awkward motion of her hand, she levitated her spellbook up and used its power to focus in blindly shooting magic behind her. The sound of impact and a painful shriek confirmed her success, and she started to throw back bolts like an arcane litterbug.
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash called out, interrupted every time a blast of magic cut close. "Watch! Where! You're! Aiming!"
She looked back to see the soldiers had thinned out somewhat, some of them knocked out by magic and others failing to keep up with the speed of either Dash or the alien.
Running until the squad was temporarily out of sight, both of them heard something call out to their right. Poking out from one of the trees was a green unicorn with an afro, waving both its hooves.
"Over here, man!" he called out.
Dash considered the strange pony for a moment before banking right and flying towards them. Any help at this point was welcome. The Visitor ran for a little longer before throwing up its arms and running towards the unicorn as well; whether they liked it or not the blue pegasus was their only guide in this strange land.
Both Dash and the Visitor came up to the tree to see the unicorn holding a fake door at the foot of the tree open, disguised as more moss and leaves. Dash jumped in, with the Visitor following. The unicorn ducked inside, and the fake door slammed to the ground. All three were left in total darkness, but could hear the stampede of soldiers running past them before fading into the distance.
Moments passed in the darkness of wherever they were. Someone coughed.
Finally, a dim candle of light appeared on the edge of the unicorn's horn, illuminating himself and the two he'd rescued.
"Man, that was a close one."
They both saw him walk over to another part of the darkness, and flip a switch. The room suddenly filled with light, revealing their sanctuary.
It was some kind of bunker; a rectangular room of concrete. One one side of the wall was a map of Ponyville, covered in black and white photos all strung together with red string. Below that, a radio, with empty cans of food strewn all about the table it sat on. Across from the radio and map was a small couch, covered in peace signs, crystals, and food crumbs. The far end of the room was slightly ajar, reading 'SUPPLIES', and a single bulb hanging from the low ceiling was responsible for the room's light.
Grinning at them from the light switch was their savior, a goatee-wearing green unicorn with a brown afro. He wore a tie-dye shirt, and his cutie mark clearly showed a flying saucer.
"Who the hay are you?" Dash asked. As the unicorn opened his mouth to reply, the Visitor tried to stand up in the cramped underground room. The ceiling was far too low, especially for an upright walker like the alien, and she bumped her head on the ceiling with a clang, forcing her back down to her knees.
"Woah!" the unicorn cried out. "Watch your head there, outsider. Don't need you to have a bad first impression about our primitive architecture."
Dash gave the Visitor a reassuring pat as the alien pushed one hand to its helmet, then turned to their rescuer. "Seriously. Who are you?"
The unicorn gave a goofy smile. "Name's Far Out, man. Been waitin' for years for her people to finally arrive."
Dash remained nonplussed. "What are you talking about?"
Far Out gestured towards the Visitor. "C'mon, you can't tell me you don't know. She's alien, man. Traveler of the Stars. Walker of the Cosmos. Hop Scotcher Between Galaxies."
"Yeah, I figured out that much. Why'd you show up when you did?"
He pointed towards the map. "I knew this day would happen eventually. Connected all the dots. Saw through all the lies, man. Knew the first landing had to be around here. So I built this bunker a few decades ago, and have been waiting ever since."
Dash looked over to the Visitor. They were still clutching their whanged head, but put up one free hand, palms up, in an 'iunno' expression.
"So!" Far Out said, walking over to the Visitor and extending a hoof. "On behalf of all ponykind, I welcome you to Equestria!"
The Visitor seemed to recognize the gesture, clasping his hoof with her hand and slowly shaking it up and down.
The unicorn beamed wildly, a shiver going up his spine. "Ooooh. First Contact. This is neat, man."
As he continued to shake with the Visitor, Rainbow Dash continued her questions. "So you're telling me you were expecting this person?"
"Well, not this one in particular, but definitely someone like 'em. I couldn't exactly know the specific fellow sentient the Galactic Commune would send, know what I mean?"
He turned his thoughts back to the alien, clearing his throat. "Hope my accent isn't too bad. Ahem. Eegog oooar furor eek orob immcakl eerg tii uuug?"
The alien listened to his complete gibberish, before humoring him with a reply in her own alien tongue that sounded nothing like the nonsense he'd just uttered.
"She says 'hello'. And I think something about the secret to Faster-Than-Light Travel. Sorry, I'm a little rusty."
"That's cool, but what do we do? We can't stay in here forever."
"Oh no, definitely not," Far Out agreed, "We gotta leave this bunker soon; General Screwy up there's gonna have the whole forest shut down before long. Luckily, I know a real place we can crash. A haven full of freethinkers, like myself."
"Great," Dash uttered. "When are we leaving?
"As soon as things calm down a little out there. In the mean time, Aigi Jur Funn Kaog Ebellin Purururuur."
Dash could only give him a dumbfounded stare, prompting him to lean in and wink at the Visitor. "That means 'my bunker is your bunker' in her language. We'll chill here for a bit, then get going."
Neither of them had noticed the Visitor scoot past them. Only when they heard a loud whump did they turn to see the alien had thrown herself on the couch belly-first, her helmet removed and securely clutched in one hand. Far too tall for the furniture, only the top two-thirds of their body was able to lay on the couch as her long legs dangled off the end.
After a few seconds of stillness, the alien began to loudly snore.
"So, where do we crash?" Dash asked.
"Plenty of room in the supply closet. Just gotta move some of the canned beans out of the way."
"...I'll just sleep here, thanks."
"Suit yourself," he said, walking off towards the door on the far end and slamming it behind him. Snores flowed out from behind the door shortly after.
Despite the recent excitement, it was still late and Dash needed her speed sleep as badly as she always did. With a powerful yawn, she curled up on the flat concrete floor and soon became the third person in the bunker sawing logs.