//------------------------------// // Prologue – Landfall // Story: The Dream Guards // by Lusaminia //------------------------------// Crash! Applejack nearly jumped at the sudden noise, head turning towards the ceiling as her brain jumped from asleep to fully awake in a matter of seconds. Her ear twitched at the sound of boards above her creaking and breaking. She jumped out of bed, paced around her room, and refused to move her eyes from directly above her. She had absolutely no idea what had just occurred, and she was more than ready to give the pony responsible for breaking the roof a good talking to. One ear swerved to her door, the sound of hooves getting closer and closer to her. The sound of her bedroom door opening led her eyes to those responsible but then immediately turned back up. She trotted over to them slowly, giving one last death glare at her bedroom ceiling, and finally turned to her brother and sister. As she was around her own family, the frustration that had previously been on her face fell away to fear and worry. “You two alright?” She asked. “Yeah, outside of getting woken up in the middle of the night,” Applebloom whispered. Big Mac gave a nod instead of anything verbal. “Have any idea what that was?” "Granny slept through it,” Big Mac told Applejack. “As if I didn’t need more confirmation she sleeps like an apple tree in winter,” Applejack said, eyes turning back up. “Also, no, I don’t know. We should probably check it out before any more damage is done.” The group of earth ponies before her nodded, Applejack’s brain too awake yet too busy to worry that Applebloom shouldn’t join them. They made their way to the front door, opened it, and walked into the dark chill of Luna’s night. Crickets and other animals could be heard, but no one paid attention to them. They had immediately turned to look at the roof, eyes going wide at what they saw before them. It looked like a small meteor had impacted their roof, an entire section of wood and roofing having been destroyed as if it was nothing. It had been right above Applejack’s room too, making the earth pony slightly more glad she was outside right now instead of inside. Not that whatever this was would be of harm to her, given her natural strength, but getting buried was not on her agenda for the day. She eyed the hole in their roof carefully, looking for any detail that could tell her what had done this. Then she saw the slightest tint of red on one piece of broken wood. There was blood, and that meant that whatever had hit them hadn’t been a rock or meteorite. It had been a pony. “Big Mac, get the ladder. Applebloom, wait here for right now,” Applejack commanded, looking back at them both. “We got an injured pony on the roof.” Neither argued, because they knew no sane pegasus would fly around at this time of night unless they were a thestral. Even if they were, the force and impact to break through a roof made it clear this wasn’t some standard flight accident. Something had happened, and as an Element of Harmony she wouldn’t just leave somepony to die. She only hoped the impact hadn’t somehow done just that. Big Mac leaned a large ladder against the wall, making sure it would lead right to the broken part of the roof. As soon as it was steady Applejack started her climb up, heart racing in fear of what it was she was about to see. A piece of her feared the worst, knowing that whatever had caused the pony or non-pony to hit the roof had done it in hopes it would kill. There was a high possibility that what she was about to see could be a dead body, and she knew no matter how much she prepared herself the sight might make her nauseous. As she reached the top of the ladder, she peered into the hole in the roof. She did her best not to look at the streak of blood that had found its way onto the wooden board to her left, and one look at the pony below her did just that. It was indeed a thestral, though their coat and mane was unlike any she had ever seen before. Typically their coat and mane were darker colors to make them blend into the darkness of night, a fact Twilight had taught her about. She had met very few of Luna’s devotees, but her friend’s words had remained true for every single thestral. Dark mane, dark coat, all to blend into the night and snatch away unsuspecting small prey and the occasional fruit. This one, however, had a coat of pure white and a fiery orange mane and tail. At least those would have been their colors, but they had been scraped and banged up beyond belief. She stood out like Princess Celestia in the middle of a crowd, and looked as if she was about to meet death itself. If her moving eyes and heavy breathing made any indication, the thestral was not going to be taken without a fight. With a sharp breath from her nose, Applejack decided she would help them in that battle. “Hang in there, sugarcube. I’m coming in to help you,” Applejack told the thestral, getting off the ladder and onto the roof. “That accent… voice,” The thestral replied in a heavy accent that Applejack couldn’t place. She watched as the earth pony came down into the shattered roof towards her, too delirious to see anything odd about it all. “Ameri… American? I’m in America? How….” “Easy. You can explain everything once we get you all bandaged up,” Applejack told them, nudging the thestral onto her back. “I’m Applejack. My family and I are gonna get you to Ponyville General, don’t you worry.” “I’m… fine,” the thestral said, very clearly not fine. Her vision blurred heavily, she could barely make out Applejack’s slow ascent from the crater she had made in their house. “Yo… Yolina.” Applejack looked back at her for a moment. “What?” “Yolina… Yvanova,” the thestral explained, her face looking as if it was trying to grin. Something was keeping her from doing so, no doubt a result of the major concussion she was facing. “Howdy… cowboy.” Applejack knew this was bad already, but hearing the thestral try to speak further solidified that fact. The damage her crash had done must have done a lot more than given her a concussion. The words “Yolina” and “Yvanova” sounded like complete gibberish. She needed medical attention fast, and that meant getting her off the roof and to somepony at Ponyville General Hospital immediately. “Mac, lend me a hoof getting her down,” Applejack called from over the edge of the roof. Big Macintosh climbed up the first few rungs of the ladder, then raised his hoofs toward Applejack. Slowly and carefully, Applejack bent her head down to let the thestral off her back, catching her in her forelegs. Then, slowly and carefully, she was given from orange hooves to red hooves. As soon as Big Mac had the thestral firmly held in his hooves, he started climbing down the ladder. “Heh, everythings… horse,” the thestral muttered. In a show of strength, she raised a hoof and looked to it. The family of earth ponies all assumed she was looking at the cuts and bruises on it. “That’s not… where hand?” “We’re gonna get you help little lady,” Applejack said, watching as Big Macintosh set the thestral on the ground.  Applebloom tried to walk up to get a look at them, but the stallion immediately covered his youngest sister’s eyes. She knelt down for a moment, getting the barest of glimpses before Macintosh covered her vision again. He hadn’t been fast enough, the sight of a pony covered in deep cuts causing her heart to skip a beat. She stumbled back at the mental image it had placed in her head. “Is she gonna be okay?” Applebloom asked her siblings. “Not if she stays here,” Applejack replied. She once again lifted the thestral onto her back, then started to trot as she looked at Macintosh and Applebloom. “Come on. We gotta get her to the hospital pronto.”