All of them had held their breath when the blast wave had struck Rarity's barrier. And the moment that had happened, all had gone dark. None of them knew exactly how much time had passed, but eventually, and to their profound relief, they started to come to. Sunset was the first, nursing a sore spot on her head, and she looked over to her side to see Twilight, fumbling on the ground to find her glasses, which Sunset quickly picked up and handed to her. One by one, all of the others began to stand up slowly, groaning with discomfort. They weren't hurt by the blast, thanks to Rarity, but it had still knocked them about and taken the wind out of them. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about their immediate surroundings, much to their shock. Where once there had been a peaceful-looking nighttime woodland, now every tree had broken branches or was otherwise covered with dust from the fall of whatever had hit the ground. They all knew that this was simply one, small part of the wider Everfree Forest, but even so, it was a noticeable blemish. "Well," Pinkie began. "If Miss Daisy was stressed about looking after this place before..."
Her friends frowned to the remark, though mostly because they knew it to be absolutely true and didn't want to think about it. But, they also knew that they had more important matters to worry about, such as whatever it was that had crashed. Applejack, squinting to see as well as she could through the dust and the gloom of night, pointed in the direction of the collision. "Ah think...yeah, it looks like it fell in the caves where we found our gemstones!"
Sunset nodded to her. "Then that's where we're going."
Fluttershy's head snapped towards her. "You want to go towards the thing that nearly killed us?!"
"Flutters, something just fell out of the sky and nearly wrecked us," Rainbow remarked. "You don't just walk away from that and ignore it."
Twilight began walking towards the impact site first. "And besides, we've dealt with worse."
"Only just!" Fluttershy insisted. But, one look at all of her friends heading in that direction in spite of her concerns was all it took for the animal lover to try and resolve herself for it. Taking a deep breath, she put on a brave face before marching off to join them.
The group walked in silence for a time, all of them looking around with concern and fear as the devastation of the surrounding woodland became increasingly worse as they progressed. But ever they moved, knowing where they needed to go and that they needed to be ready in the face of whatever they would find there. Eventually, they reached their destination, the large rock formation at the very centre of the Forest, where they had obtained the gems that gave them their extraordinary magical abilities. Unfortunately, it was not as they remembered, as an enormous, smoldering hole was now there in the side of the thing, a clear sign of whatever had crashed into it. Rarity, stepping ahead, took one look at it and, knowing they were likely in for a dangerous time, whispered to herself. "Well, once more unto the breach then."
Indeed, the group continued, Rainbow making sure to have her hand on Fluttershy's shoulder so as to comfort her during this admittedly tense time. Their approach was slow and cautious, with Sunset and Twilight at their head, and soon they set foot into the edge of the hole. The former peered within, trying to make out anything. "If something is in there...we'll need to go in all the way."
"Oh, I just knew you'd say that!" Fluttershy muttered to herself.
And so, in they went, step by step, just in case the impact had left the ground itself less-than-safe to walk on. It was difficult to see, and even the once-glittering insides of the cave were no longer there to help them, having undoubtedly been muted by whatever had hit it. Then, it happened. The first glimpse of the cause of all this. Sunset halted in her tracks, and so too did everyone else. Spike whimpered with fear and retreated behind Twilight, and the latter took off her glasses, giving them a quick wipe before putting them back on her face. "Um...Sunset?"
"Yes, Twilight?" the other girl replied.
"I'm...I'm not crazy, am I? Because I'm seeing..."
"Yeah, well, if you are crazy, then so am I, because I'm seeing it too."
"So...anybody else gonna say it?" Rainbow asked. And when nobody answered, she elected to do the honours. "Okay, fine...it's a friggin' spaceship!" Indeed it was. A vessel unlike anything else they had ever seen, sort of orange-yellow in its colouring, and massive to boot. It's mere presence had forced the cave to expand far beyond what it had originally been, like the impact had dug in deeper and excavated it all in one. With smoke and steam billowing all over, nobody dared approach any closer, with only Rainbow having the nerve to continue speaking. "Okay...so what now?"
Only now did Twilight step forward, still looking to the vessel with awe. "I'm...I'm not sure. This completely upturns how we'll need to look at the universe!" She spun around, looking as excited as anyone had ever seen her. "Imagine it! Proof of life outside of our world!" Then, after hearing Sunset deliberately clear her throat, the young scientist took on an embarrassed blush. "I mean...besides the worlds we already knew about."
Applejack, who seemed more concerned than enthusiastic, narrowed her eyes to the ship. "This ain't some kinda...attack, is it?"
"I don't think we need to worry about that, Applejack dear," Rarity reassured her. "After all, it seems rather odd that any attackers would arrive here in such a...shall we say, less than elegant method of landing?"
Pinkie, smiling as happily as ever, shrugged her shoulders before skipping closer to the ship. "How about we just ask em?"
The other girls looked on in horror as she merrily approached the ship and, with a balled fist, knocked on it a few times. "PINKIE!!!" they all called together.
But the girl was unconcerned, waiting a few moments to find that there was no response, leading to her turning around and shrugging again. "Huh, guess nobody's home." Then, as if to answer her, a loud whirring sound was heard to the side, causing all to look and see an enormous door start to open. "Um...then again..."