Dear Princess Celestia
My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover.
Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary, but you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don’t care what your cover is; its the contents of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
“It seems kind of obvious, doesn’t it?” Spike commented from behind parchment and quill. He was standing behind Twilight. Twilight stood at her podium. She was staring at her copy of Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-Alls that are Simply Super.
“Yes, it does” she agreed. With her magic she lifted the front cover of the book. The spine cracked loudly.
Spike yawned a fiery yawn. With the flames he sent the letter to Princess Celestia. In short order he went upstairs.
Twilight discovered quickly that the book was fascinating. The insight it gave into the zebra way of life was astounding. Before she knew it, she was looking at the book’s back cover. A million questions arose to ask of Zecora about the world from which she had come.
She pulled down another book.
Twilight stayed up to all hours, reading anything that hadn’t quite caught her interest when she first read it’s spine. She read obscure texts on history, magic, music, literary criticism, geology, theology, biology, medicine, nutrition and occasionally took a break and read some fiction. Every book had been lovingly crafted by some hardworking pony, hoping that she or he could instill knowledge on it's reader.
As the candles burned low, Ponyville fell completely silent. Twilight sensed an unnatural rhythm in the air. She stopped reading. She stood still. She held her breath. Something, somewhere, was making noise.
She stuck her head out the front door curiously. It was a little louder outside. She trotted down the streets, stopping occasionally to change direction according to where she thought the sound was coming. In this fashion, she visited most of sleeping Ponyville, but was ultimately drawn to the edge of the Everfree forest. There was no doubt the sound was coming from within it. It was music.
She listened for a very long time. The music was muffled beyond recognition, but she could tell when the song changed by the rhythm.
There was no going back: She had to find the source of the music. She turned to her left, and headed east along the forest’s boundary.
Miles and miles she walked; the late-summer constellations fell under the horizon behind her, and the brilliant stars of the winter skies rose before her. The mysterious figure of Orion led her. Nopony knew who Orion was, or indeed what he was. His name had been passed on from parent to foal for generations stretching back to the chaotic, forgotten days of before Celestia came to rule. Only legends went that far back, and none mentioned Orion. Twilight had always quietly admired Orion. To exist as nothing more than a name, and still be remembered by ponies looking to the heavens, could only be done by a figure of truly divine stature and merit.
Now Orion accompanied her as she sought the source of the mysterious music.
The mystery had her feeling enchanted. The Everfree forest didn’t seem so dark and scary with music coming from within it.
The lateness of the hour began to weigh on her. She dozed lightly as she walked. When she awoke, the music was much louder and clearer. She could now make out that it was an intense orchestral piece.
The music grew in intensity, and as it peaked, a fiery green trail streaked into the sky. It flew for what must have been miles, and then fizzled out. Twilight saw it glint in the sky, and realized that the sun must be about to rise.
The metallic object plummeted back towards the Earth. It disappeared when it fell out of the sunlight. A minute later, there was a muffled pop deep within the forest.
She waited. At some point she became aware that the music had stopped.
The smell of smoke wafted her way. An orange glow arose from the treetops.
She watched in awe as the fire spread. She felt the wind change direction, sucked into the forest by the hungry blaze.
After what could have been an hour, the fire came to her. Flames reached out of the forest, trying to find purchase beyond its boundaries. If Twilight Sparkle had stood much closer, they would have accepted her.
Flaming debris fell around her. The spell the music had cast on her was broken. She knew she had to get away from the blaze. Her horn glowed to teleport herself away when a raindrop landed squarely on her nose.
She looked up, and saw a pitch-black storm cloud, easily ten miles across, being pushed from behind by a hundred Pegasi. Twilight recognized a dozen of them from the Ponyville weather patrol, but the majority of them must have been from other towns nearby. Zipping from one end of the cloud to the other, giving orders and keeping the spread-out ponies in synchronization, was Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow!” called Twilight, but Rainbow didn’t hear. All of her energy was spent on extinguishing the dangerous blaze. With breathtaking speed the torrential downpour put the fire out. The troupe continued onward, pushing the fire back until it was out of sight. Twilight was alone once again.
When the smoke had dispersed, she was blinded by sunlight. She reasoned that it must be mid-morning by now.
The sun illuminated her surroundings, and she was now standing before a gaping hole in the foliage. The trees still stood, but they were naked and bleached. It was as if the forest were inviting her in. It was as spooky as it was enticing.
With a deep breath, Twilight Sparkle stepped into the forest, toward something she didn’t try to imagine.
The sun rose above the treetops, illuminating the devastation that stretched before her. The forest had been stripped bare by the unstoppable force. Everything was coated in powdery ash.
The silence was beyond unnerving, and yet it drove her forward. She felt as though one of her pony friends was in trouble. Through music, some living thing had begged her attention, brought her miles from her home, and summoned her with a failed firework display. She sensed a great and urgent need emanating from deep within the forest, and it was this that kept her going, despite being tired, hungry and scared.
She hoped that she wasn’t too late.
Her journey brought her to a clearing. It was covered with ash. The ash reflected the midday sun harshly onto her eyes.
It looks like the moon, Twilight thought to herself.
At the center of the clearing was an enormous black object.
Without hesitation, she walked up beside it and sat down.
Whatever it was, it was destroyed.
Twilight placed a hoof on the side of the enormous hulk of twisted metal. She could feel the heat through the cartilage, telling her it was very painful to touch with bare skin.
She walked gingerly up the metal staircase that protruded from it. It was logical to her that at the top should be a door leading in. Sure enough, she found it. It was welded shut by the fire. Some lights on the door flickered and died.
She walked down the staircase and circled the thing, trying to find clues as to what it was.
It had wings, so it must be built to fly, she reasoned, but aside from that she could tell very little.
On the side opposite the staircase, which she’d decided was the back of it, were two piles of ash. She leaned in to inspect one. It was a pile of burnt wood. In her peripheral vision she caught sight of the second pile moving.
Twilight backed away and faced the thing, stifling a gasp. The thing did not hear her.
The pile of ash shifted, then balled up and ceased moving.
Very carefully, Twilight inched closer to the thing and studied it’s details. She could make out the profile of a face. An unfamiliar, alien face, but unquestionably a face. It breathed fast, shallow breaths. She searched the face, and found an eye. It was staring intently forward, at nothing in particular. It’s body was still just a heaving mass obscured by a coat of ash.
Twilight didn’t know how long she stood watching it.
She nearly choked as she asked,
“Hello?”
Edited by KeatsLocksley