“Daw, there ain’t no favor too big for a friend,” Applejack answered, grinning. “So where ya'll headed off to again?”

“There's a library that's a kilometer or two away from Ponyville that has a book on arcane kinesis I want to take out.” Twilight responded. "It's a bit faster to take a shortcut across your farm instead of taking the main road. Now before you ask, I don't know why somepony would build a library in the middle of nowhere, but from what I've read it gets a lot of visitors from the crossroads."

Applejack's response was almost lost in the beauty of the day. Sun rays crept in-between the branches and leaves of the apple trees, creating a dark-green like shade over the scene. There were many different kinds of apples they was passing, each looking healthy and strong. With such a wide variety of types, Twilight was quickly reminded how well the apple family tends to their fields, and how hard they try to keep their crops looking juicy and ready to eat. The sky was a clear, light blue, probably because of the Cloudsdale Weather Team’s cloud control duties. Twilight wondered if Rainbow Dash was up there right now, helping to clear out the white pillows, or if she was sleeping on the job as usual. A flock of cyan and beige birds were flying among the clouds, singing their songs with cheery bravado.

The vast array of apple trees ended abruptly, leaving Twilight from the sudden glare of the sunlight. Twilight shielded her eyes, letting herself adjust to the bright rays. When Twilight lowered her hoof, she was taken aback by the gorgeous nature before her.

She stood before large emerald stalks of grass swaying in the soothing south breeze. The sun’s rays shone brightly off the prairie plants, causing a magnificent but glaring shine effect. The grass seemed to dance underneath the soft, calming whispers of the wind. On the horizon you could see a single, lonely tree, standing in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Behind the tree was more cerulean sky, clearer to observe than before. Twilight could barely spot a few stray clouds floating in the distance, left there to add balance to the atmosphere.

“Ah, this here’s a new plot of land we’ve just bought. We’re gonna use it to expand our apple tree line so we can get more produce.” Applejack clarified. “We're hopin' to plant more Gold'n Delish' here. They've been growin' more popular as of late, and mah family could really appreciate the extra bits. Ah know I would.”

Twilight looked towards Applejack while she continued her explanation. Once again Princess Celestia did a fine job position the sun in just the right spot so everything within its reach could prosper from its energy. The two of them traveled all the across the plain to the sole tree hanging on a hill that marked the boundary of the newly created Sweet Apple Acres boundary. Taking refuge underneath its leaves, Twilight close her eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air. It made her feel like a new mare. When she opened her eyes, something sparkled in the distance. She raised her eyebrow, checking her field of vision for what she saw.

There was something in the sky: a dark blue-like dot, just floating in the open air. She squinted and tried to mentally zoom-in her sight, making sure she wasn’t just seeing things. It was in the same spot, but now, she noticed that it was flickering different shades and colours of blue.

“That blue flickering dot in the sky. Do you see it?” Twilight repeated, pointing towards the blue dot so her friend could see it.

“What dot? Ah don’t see no dot…” Applejack replied, looking in the direction that Twilight was. “Wait…”

Twilight had no answer. While pointing to applejack, she noticed that the blue dot was moving slightly to her left, curving itself across the sky. It's size was progressively getting larger, and after Twilight got a better look she could see ultramarine flames flickering off the sides of the anomaly . Also, it had a strange brown circular object in the center of it, with a veil of azure covering it up. After a few seconds, the blue object got to about the size of her hoof. Twilight felt like she's seen something like the blue ball in the sky before, but couldn't tell what. She was rapidly searching the depths of her memory to try and figure out what it was. It seemed to be a lost air mail package or a pegasus trying out a new trick. It couldn't have been Rainbow Dash though, for the shade of blue it was emanating was too dark to be her colour.

Then, it suddenly hit her. It was very strange to see it during the middle of the day, but not unheard of. In fact, she believed that Luna would have been on top of such matters to prevent ponies from getting hurt, but she thought she was wrong. The purple unicorn recalled seeing similar flaming objects tear through the night sky through her telescope. It had to be some kind of meteor, no doubt about it. Flames encompassed the object due to air friction as the main mass, the lump in the center, fell at immensely high speeds.It came to her that it was becoming larger and larger in perspective, and her eyes widened in fear and shock.

The sapphire comet was approaching the two mares at an alarming rate. Twilight reasoned it must have been flying at a very extreme angle to have been heading directly towards them. It was then that she realized that the object was longer than it was wide, which should not have been the shape for a normal meteor.

The two mares stood there, gawking at the shining blaze before them. It took a few seconds for one of them to register the danger at hoof.

They both ran across the clearing, trying to reach the treeline. Twilight, checked over her shoulder and made the horrifying realization that they weren't going to make it. The meteor was traveling just too fast for them to pass the distance in time. She began making frantic calculations in her head, planning out the situation in front of her as it unfolded. She could try teleporting the both of them, but it would be difficult because both of them were two different objects with two different velocities and masses. The only reason she was able to teleport with Spike was because he was on her back and she was able to do the extra math for the extra mass, but since Applejack was definitely not on her back and they didn't have the time to completely stop for the teleport, well, jumping across planes was out of the question. Twilight passively placed a motor enhancement spell on the both of them, but it could only do so much. She briefly considered casting a barrier, but they would still get squashed by several thousand Newtons of force all too easily.

Twilight wasn't watching and she accidentally tripped on a dirt mound while Applejack leaped over it with ease. When it occurred to her that her friend hadn't followed, her sprint ground to a halt and the farm pony turned around.

"Keep running!" Twilight screamed, pointing in the direction behind Applejack. Her rear legs were jarred from impact and she bumped her chin when her head hit earth.

Suddenly, there was a large flash of light, and a deafening *BOOM* coming from behind her. Twilight’s senses did barrel-rolls; her sense of direction thrown off, her balance tossed upside-down and her nerves were squeezed by an intense pressure. The only thing that the unicorn knew for sure was that she was currently soaring in midair, launched by the explosion and impact of the meteor. Pain erupted from Twilight's back as she did a small, pitiful bounce off the bare dirt. She rolled on the ground, unable to stop her momentum. Small rocks and piles of dirt did not stop her, and crashing through them added small nicks to her quickly deteriorating coat. Small pricks of stings started to poke at her sides and a steady soreness appeared in her right front leg. Large rubble fragments from the explosion pelted at her. She continued to act as a pony wheel for several gruesome seconds until she slid to a stop.

She didn’t move. Her torso was so jarred she couldn't will her lungs to breath, and instead they sat stationary while her brain was screaming for her nerves to respond. The rest of her mind was trying to get past the fuzzy haze that was born from the impact. When she did wrestle grasp of her body again, she inhaled and got multiple clouds of dust and dirt. Coughing and sneezing, she slowly opened her eyes to a squint while trying to focus on the surroundings before her. Her eyes immediately started stinging as her eyelashes were not enough to keep a wave of soil from settling on her eyes. She groaned as she painfully rolled to her stomach. Her first coherent thought was that she needed to get up. She wanted to get up as fast as possible. She needed to get up so badly. The urge to rise from her current position despite pain and injury was overwhelming. Only her calm collective mind kept her from listening to her instincts and instead take it slow to further address the situation. Her vision faded in and out while she carefully got to her hooves, almost falling forwards from imbalance in the process.

When she was standing, she shook herself out of her stupor and got her head to work. Her eyes focused themselves on the devastation around her. The area was a vast barren brownness, stretching as high as the eye could see. Dirt was everywhere, filling up craters in the ground, floating steadily in the air and otherwise took up most of the volume of space around the purple unicorn. Dirt piled to several feet high in some places. The lighting around Twilight was very dark. With the sun nowhere to be seen, there was just barely enough light for her to see more than 20 feet in front of her. She realized that there was a strange blue glow coming from the direction that the meteor hit. She immediately started walking in the opposite direction, biting her lip and keeping a sharp eye for what she was looking for next.

“App-Applejack! *Hack* Appleja-*cough*jack!” Twilight called to the surrounding area. The dirt in the air caused her lungs to clench in detest.

Twilight looked around the newly formed wasteland with anxiety in her eyes. There was nothing left alive in the path of the explosion.The natural ambiance of the world screeched to a halt, and birds sung no more. It was virtually silent, except for some pebbles and dried up mud pieces creating crackles on the ground. Sweat was dripping off of Twilight's forehead as her heartbeat pounded against her temples.

Her head whipped wildly around, turning to try and take a better look through the polluted fog. Her eyes dilated rapidly and she began to get dizzy from spinning so much. Ignoring her subconscious's urges to stop, she took a few steps forward and immediately a burning sensation in her back leg. It didn't matter to her. Twilight's eyes darted from place to place, desperately examining every single detail along the desecrated field.

Halting her movement, she craned her ears and listened hard while catching her breath. Nothing but the void of darkness around her answered back to her. Her eyes started to hurt from all the tears they were producing.

“Ah-*cough*-ah’m here!” a familiar voice shouted from a distance. Twilight saw Applejack arise from a nearby pile of dirt, covered in multiple bruises, scratches and mud-spots with her hat missing.

“Applejack!” Twilight ran towards her friend despite her restrained leg. Both of the mares embraced as they were delighted to be reunited with each other.

“For a second I-I thought th-that–” Twilight stuttered while choking on her emotions.

“Shh.” Applejack hushed, petting Twilight's mane. "It's all right. Ah'm here. We're both here. We're both safe."

The two friends stood still for a minute or two, thanking Celestia that the worst didn’t happen. Twilight took a moment to forget all the scrapes and bruises and cracked bones her friend of she had and drink in the most important fact to them: they were safe. They made it though the explosion. They were alive.

But then the Twilight remembered the meteor. The scholar in her started asking all kinds of questions. What was it, exactly? Was it something truly alien? Was it a botch science experiment from Canterlot that had found it's way to Sweet Apple Acres? Was it something from a completely different world? Why was it glowing blue? Was that magic? Was magic envelope the object? And if so, why? Why was is surrounded in blue? What purpose did it have to be imbued with such power? Was it charged with energy by design? Did it get enchanted by mistake? Was the glow an aftereffect of a violent spell hitting the meteor? Was it specifically aimed her at this exact location at this precise time? There were too little facts, and too little answers for the mare to make any conclusions.

Nervousness caught Twilight's throat. She ended the hug and gazed deep into Applejack's emerald eyes.

Applejack suddenly remembered that a meteor landed in the first place. All of her worries melted away when she saw her friend safe and sound. She tilted her head and looked back, giving all of her attention to Twilight's next words.

“W-we need go find where it is. We need to go and figure out what it is and where it came from. I understand that it might be a better idea to get the royal guard to handle the situation, but we shouldn't leave it here unattended. If somepony stumbled onto the crash without supervision, who knows what will happen to them!" said Twilight.

Applejack didn't need to consider Twilight's logic for long. "O-ok, let's be quick about it then."

Twilight nodded her head. “Ok. I, uh," she looked from side to side. "I think it landed somewhere over there."

She pointed to her left and started walking. Their line of vision hadn't improved much in the last few minutes, so she couldn't exactly tell where it was, especially since her sense of direction was thrown out of the window while soaring through the air. The dirt was thinning, but bits and pieces of earth were still raining onto the ground, rocks and clumps of soil lightly buffing the two mares and their coats. But Twilight was following her gut, and her gut told her that the impact site was somewhere along the lines to her East side. Still, she was only going out on a whim, and was hoping they'd get lucky enough to somehow stumble across it accidentally.

Applejack trotted behind Twilight in the silence. The Apple farmer forced herself to calm down a bit, and her heartbeat stopped pounding on her temples after a few moments. Applejack's heart broke as she observed the meters of plain, grassless earth on the ground. The land was obviously ruined, and any fertile soil that previously existed had been blasted out from the ground and scattered everywhere, making the dirt absolutely useless. Her ears folded back and her pace slowed down. She just bought this land with her family's hard-earned money! How was she ever going to get its worth with it in such a terrible state? How was she going to break it to Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom? How would Granny Smith react?

Twilight only had about a minutes trip before she caught a glimpse of a blue shine in the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened and she started to gallop (to the best of her injured ability) towards the light. Applejack saw this and started to run after her, briskly figuring out what caught Twilight’s attention. Soon enough, they came to a large ledge with a steep slope that the two slid off of a few times before managing to stay at the top.

The luminescent meteor glowed a soft blue, eerily sliding back and forth between various intensities of light. It lay dormant and unmoving like a cut sapphire crystal, its edges smooth and accented with poise. It was easily twice the height and width of Twilight and four times the length. The sight of the lights the meteor was displaying was somewhat hypnotizing to the two mares, but the brightness made it hard to stare at for too long. It sat at the bottom of the humongous crater that it had just created seconds ago. This crater was easily a few meters deep, and even then some all around the perimeter. There was nothing but scorched earth and pebbles around the sides of the crater. Twilight bit her lip. At her current distance, she couldn’t exactly tell what the meteor was made out of, or what contents it held, but she did know that she would find out soon. Taking precaution not to slip and tumble head over hooves, Twilight stepped over the lip of the crater and began sliding down a steep slant towards the meteor, her limbs locked and steady.

“I will!” Twilight answered back. Hastily arriving at the bottom of the slope, Twilight dusted off her ankles and legs and looked up to her target.

She slowly approached the blue sphere with her magical senses extended and her ears pointing straight up, just in case something alien might jump out and attack her. As she got closer, she began noticing a magical presence coming from the meteor. At first it was fairly faint, barely noticeable to the normal unicorn, but then it became stronger and stronger as she took her time towards it. The light became more intense as well, forcing Twilight to squint her eyes before she could get any closer. She held her front left hoof up, trying to further shield her eyes from the magical glare of the meteor.

She was about seven feet away from the meteor when she was suddenly truly aware of its presence. Right before her was a possibly alien object that had fallen from outer space! It most likely was dangerous and crawling with extra-terrestrials, waiting to devour her insides! Maybe there was an highly technologically advanced security system inside the meteor that would turn her skin into particles the moment she got too close! Maybe it was poisonous to even breathe the air that was around it! Twilight never felt more naive in her life. Her mind betrayed her, briefly thinking back to that one time at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns when she was seven, but that was at a completely different setting, in a completely different circumstance! Never the less, Twilight felt the pressure of finding a meteor from Luna's outer domain hit the back of her head like a ton of bricks. She could feel her head pound, her breaths quicken and her heart nearly burst out of her chest. She took one more step towards the meteor.

The meteor abruptly toned down the intensity of its light, smoothing out its curves to the point where it became completely spherical. Twilight then realized that there was no rock or metal sealed inside the orb, but instead an object that was floating inside! Twilight put the puzzle pieces together and realized that the orb wasn't some kind of cosmic gem, but instead a immensely powerful arcane shield. There was no doubt about it. The round before her was magical. She had seen her brother cast one so many times before that there was no way that it couldn’t be a shield. But she still couldn't believe it. This was the strongest, most durable shield that Twilight has ever seen! Not only did it fly through the atmosphere at several hundred kilometers per hour while on fire and still stay intact, but it also flew head-first into Applejack’s farm, and still had enough power to leave a residue of light and seemed to be settled down at the bottom of the crater, still pulsing with energy! She could feel the magical pressure against her horn it was that vicious! No everyday unicorn could of cast this powerful of a spell; it would have taken dozens, maybe hundreds of extremely powerful unicorns to have put their magical reserves into a shield in order to make it this firm and sturdy. Not even Shining could do this himself, even though the magic was the colour of his Magical Imprint.

The shield was only in such a dim state for about three seconds. Without warning, it flashed outwards, filling the entire crater with blue light. Twilight was knocked to her rump, covering her eyes with her forelegs while squealing. At the edge of the crater, Applejack shut her eyes while putting her hoof in front of her, wishing she had her Stetson to help her against the brightness. The meteor gave out a wave of focused and pure magical energy, almost rendering poor Twilight unconscious from the sheer force and power that came from the meteor. Of course, the wave had no effect on Applejack. Twilight was seeing stars beneath her eyelids and her balance wavered. The magical shield then shattered into a thousand pieces, shedding the brilliant light it once had. The shards harmlessly turned to pixie dust when pieces collided with the purple unicorn. When Twilight opened her eyes, she could see some of the remaining shards floating in midair, slightly twirling in position. Twilight held her breath. Then, the shards flew back into the object in the center of the shield in a blink of an eye, traveling faster than it had been while mid-air. The floating object that was in the shield began to give off a blue glow of its own, except it was substantially softer than the magical shield’s glow. After a few seconds, it seems that gravity seized control of the meteor and let it hit the ground with a whump. It seemed like the magic show was finally over; the object ceased to glow, and there was no telekinetic grip holding it.

At last, Twilight got to take a look at the true form of the meteor without light nor shield blocking her view. She was slightly horrified, yet intrigued at what she saw. She never had seen anything like it before. Countless pages on information filed within Twilight's deep brain were rendered useless as Twilight could not match up the creature with the known species of Equestria. While focusing her eyes on the creature before her, she could hear Applejack slide down the crater and trot up behind her.

Twilight shook her head, having absolutely no ideas herself. The object appeared as if it came from a great work of fiction, from a mind so unattached to reality it should not have existed within the bounds of the laws of life and quantum physics. It appeared to be either unconscious or asleep for now. Whether it was hostile or not, she could not tell. So far, all she could classify it as was an alien. It made sense to call it that; it came from the sky, it didn’t look like anything she’s seen before, and she might have seen something similar in a sci-fi movie before.

The creature in front of the two mares was easily at least a few feet in length and a foot in width. Twilight was assuming that the alien was bipedal, considering that its legs were lying completely perpendicular to the ground and also resembled Spike's body type: Two legs and two arms. It wore two pieces on its arms and another on its legs. Twilight could only identify the top part as a red sweater with a golden zipper running along thin strips cutting through its centre. Beneath the sweater was a dark blue shirt with an outline of an object right beside the opening for the neck. The librarian remembered that she'd seen a object like it before when DJ PON3 came to town a while ago, and briefly recalled the outline being called a pair of 'headphones'. Stretching down its legs was a black material that wrapped themselves around the creature. There was a long white stripe running down the left leg. On it's bottom feet were two white sneakers, with a black check mark embedded into the side of the material.

Its skin was a light peach colour, with uneven patches of tanned skin adorning some areas of its arms and face. Its head was much smaller than any natural being in the known realm of Equestria, being less than half the size of its body. The mane that stuck to the top of its head was in several brown curls and ringlets, which was a strange mixture between Rarity's beautiful and well-kept mane and Pinkie Pie's crazy poof. Its hair stretched down to the bottom of its ears, which jutted out from the sides of its skull, but also was sticking up in every direction, akin to some sort of half-afro. The organism’s minuscule eyes were separated by an equally small nose, which sat right above some blood red lips.

Both Applejack and Twilight let themselves take a minute or two to soak in the visual information that their eyes were sending. The creature that was stored inside the meteor definitely looked as if it came from another planet. An alien. At one point in time, Twilight did relate the creature to several species of apes that were identified on Equis, but quickly dismissed the thought, seeing as there were too many differences. After a few more moments, an earth-shattering crackle shook the air. Twilight and Applejack immediately shot their heads up to see that the dirt in the air had cleared enough to reveal an ominous, dark sky, crammed with storm clouds that probably created the thunderclap that the two mares heard. There was a blinding flash that came from the sky, followed by another window-shattering kaboom.

“Now where the hay did those thangs come from?” Applejack asked, hints of annoyance in her tone.

Twilight looked back at the still alien. The gears of her head rapidly turning, trying to determine what would be the next best step. She considered the fact that it might be dangerous to approach it, even though the alien appeared to be asleep or unconscious. There still could be ancient, unknown magics still in place around the creature, even if they weren't visible by mortal eyes. They could be assaulted by arcane powers they've never witnessed before! She did not want to approach the centre of the crater any more than a good seven feet away from the meteor.

Just then, Twilight felt something tap on her muzzle, bringing out of her brainstorm. Her eyes went to the sky. She felt another tap on her back, and she turned around. Her coat was a little wet where she felt the tap drop. More patters of sensation began touching her all across her body. They were raindrops.

“Huh?” Twilight said aloud, looking skyward once more. She felt more and more rainwater drop on her head, back and flank, slowly increasing in number. the storm accelerated at a breathless pace and soon there was a total downpour or rain that showered the weary young mares.

Twilight huffed, blowing the bangs hanging over her forehead upward. She looked around to the wall of trees behind them, searching for a solution. "Applejack, where is your nearest barn?”

“Well, if mah sense of direction is righ', it should'n be more than a few ways that way.” Applejack directed, pointing back to the orchard Twilight was gazing upon.

Twilight let herself pause for a second, biting her lip while re-considering her possible moves. The rain continued to pour all around her, steadily turning the crater they were standing in into a bowl of mud. At this point, Twilight’s mane and tail were drenched in water and slowly had strings of water fall through her fine purple coat into the ground below them. Twilight's bangs were slightly blocking her vision and she began to lift her hoof out of the brown slop she was standing in to fix them, but decided that she did not want pieces of mud falling onto her forehead and getting in her eyes.

“Applejack, I need you to lead me to that barn while I telekinetically carry the…" Twilight looked back to the sleeping creature. "… meteor behind us. Is that ok?”

Applejack tried to go through the reasons why Twilight would want to bring the creature with them. "Can' y'all just put a magical shield 'round the thang and leave it there while we go git th' royal guard or th' police or somethin'?"

“We don't know when it will wake up," Twilight reasoned. "And if it does wake while we're away, who knows what kind of mayhem it will cause! If I trap it in a shield, it might get mad and start wrecking Sweet Apple Acres. If I can somehow get the alien to the library I might be able to subdue it long enough to calm it down. From there, we could start trying to communicate with it and see what it's doing here.

Applejack let out a short breath of air. "Sounds like a good plan as any. Ah'm with ya all the way, Twalight."

Twilight smiled, glad that she had someone to watch her back. She began to activate her magic and her horn cut a purple light through the massive downpour they were experiencing. The creature was lifted up in the air, mud sticking to its clothes and skin. Twilight tested the weight of her haul and decided that it wouldn't be much of a hassle to get themselves to where she had in mind. She was just hoping that the alien wouldn't wake up while they were on their way. Then she thought back to what Applejack said about deadly traps and her blood froze. She gazed up and down the sleeping monster slowly, suddenly ready to cast a shield spell and throw the object as far away from her as possible at a moment's notice.

Twilight let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding in. "The alien hasn't reacted poorly to my telekinesis yet, so so far so good. I mean, I already grabbed the darn thing, so the worst it could do is attack us while we're making our way down to the barn."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight said, forcing a grin on her face while casting a shield spell over her cargo. "Let's get going."

Twilight led the climb up the crater with Applejack following close behind her. The two of them wanted to get out of the bowl as fast as possible before it became too muddy to climb and they would end up swimming in a slog of wet dirt.

"First, we need to get to your barn. We need to put the alien in one of your apple carts so we can carry him through Ponyville without raising too much suspicion. I don't think the other ponies will react well when they see me carrying a large, otherworldly creature all over the place." Twilight explained, lifting herself over the lip of the crater with a huff.

"Ah agree with that. Ah can just imagine how Lily would react at a sight like this." Applejack pondered.

Twilight stopped to make sure the alien was still where she sensed it was behind her, then saw Applejack clear the rim of the circle too. She thought back to the pink mare in Ponyville that was a little bit overdramatic at times…

The two friends looked at each other shared a small snicker, taking a break from their constant onslaught of stress. The moment was quickly ripped away when another thunder struck again, causing both ponies to jump.

The two mares briskly trotted over the empty, ruined field and entered the apple orchard once again. The pitter-patter of the raindrops hitting the trees’ leaves could be heard all around the setting. Twilight felt a bit safer once she was under the protection of the leaves of the apple trees. The creeping fear of darkness and the unknown steadily filled Twilight's mind, the bright flashes of lightning making her heart jump up her throat. The echo of thunder bounced back and forth between the bark of the trees near them, warping the sound and making it difficult for the pair to determine where the electricity was hitting exactly. Twilight gulped, and hoped that the barn was closer than she thought it was.

The unicorn timidly checked behind her to see if the meteor was still following her, and if it was still unconscious. To her relief, it was. When she looked back, she could see the outline of her orange cowgirl friend, right in front of her. Twilight wondered if Applejack was as scared as she was. To Twilight, Applejack always seemed like a pony with her head screwed on straight. She had a rock hard determination to her that no pony could shake, and her Earth Pony strength was second to none. Twilight bet that Applejack has experienced storms like the one they were in before, because unlike Twilight who lived in Canterlot all her life, Applejack lived a farm pony in Ponyville, where weather like this was essential to keep Pony valley growing and prosperous. Their journey kept silent as the both of them decided to not speak.

Not soon after Twilight had that pondered that thought, Applejack started to increase her pace, forcing Twilight to a brisk trot with the sounds of her hooves hitting puddles playing beneath her. Twilight caught Applejack quickly checking her sides and searching off in the distant trees, searching for something. When the purple mare looked, there was nothing there. Not a few moments after, Applejack began to break into a light gallop, forcing Twilight to exert even more and making her nervous in the process. Twilight tried to process why Applejack was moving faster all of the sudden, but then Applejack suddenly broke into a full-tilt sprint. She almost left Twilight in the dust before Twilight managed to call out:

Applejack immediately slid to a stop and stood still for a moment, catching her breath even though she wasn’t legitimately tired. When she heard Twilight catch up to her, she turned around to face her equally exhausted friend.

Twilight gave a sympathetic look to Applejack, taking a moment to catch her breath. “That’s ok. I've got your back. Remember, we're in this together.”

The farm girl smiled. “Thanks, Twi,” But then, she looked around wildly, realization hitting her as her eyes went wide. “Oh! Wait a second!”

Applejack turned to her right and walked a few steps forward. When Twilight followed, she began to barely make out an outline of a building. Her spirits lifted instantly when she recognized the outline of the barn, with Applejack's house behind it. Both ponies rushed forward towards the massive building, carefully making their way down a small hill before reaching the large double doors of the red wood. Applejack swiftly jutted to a halt, grabbed one of the door handles and hauled it back just before Twilight could ram herself into the entrance. Twilight ran through without stopping and jumped into a pile of hay at the other side of the barn while placing down the meteor beside her.

Applejack pulled the door shut behind them and heard a sigh of relief come from Twilight.

"Ahh, thank goodness we're out of the rain!" Twilight said, not caring that bits and pieces of hay were getting stuck in her damp coat.

The weary Apple took off her hat, shook it to get some of the wetness out of it and flicked back the ponytail tied into her mane. "Hoo wee! That was one heck of a downpour! So, what's next, Twalight?"

Twilight put her hoof to her chin. "Well, we're gonna need one of your apple carts now."

"Oh, yeah," Applejack said, her eyes lighting up. "Now ah remember! Hang on, let me just fetch it."

Applejack went off into the background somewhere behind a wall of shadow where Twilight couldn't see. The unicorn closed her eyes and leaned back her head, relishing in the moment of peace while the rain fell down on the sturdy barn walls. It was relaxing, and she felt her mind slowly sink back into a nap even after the rush through the apple orchard. She had trouble opening her eyes again when her ears picked up Applejack's hooves along the ground, heading towards her again.

"Will this be big enough?" Applejack inquired, pointed to a wooden apple cart with a tarp on top of it that Applejack attached to he back.

Twilight’s face broke out into a wide-eyed grin. “This is perfect, Applejack! Fantastic! Now, let me just lift the meteor into the thing and we’ll be on the road in no time.”

Applejack nodded as Twilight lifted the tarp off of the cart, carefully lifted and placed the alien into the open box and placed the tarp back over it. Twilight hoped that it would have enough air under there to breath, but then thought about if the alien was actually breathing their air or not. Then she thought about if it was even alive after impact. Her memory showed her the chest of the creature moving up and down while it was still in the centre of the crater, before it started raining. She figured that if there were any problems about it's health then the two of them could figure it out after they got to the library.

"So, what are y'all plannin' to do once we get to th' library?" Applejack asked as she opened up the barn door.

(Well, I am considering getting Fluttershy to help me identify the meteor. We don't even know if it's an alien or not.) Twilight thought to herself. "I have a few ideas, but my main concern is—"

Twilight stopped when she saw the heavy rainfall that assaulted the outside world.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The world has turned
The land has grown
From dusk till dawn
And through the Void

Comes a boy without meaning
A boy without purpose
To learn his light
And find the way

Through pony pairs
And perilous trails
The seven will walk
To never see again

Against the ravaging wrath
Of the empty path
In the face of the storm
From the light of the moon

Chronicles of an Unknown World: The Awakening

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make sure you comment, track and rate before you leave this page!

Also, be sure to check out my blog for updates, author's notes and much, much more!

Chronicles of an Unknown World - The Awakening

by Blue Blaze {COMET}

Prologue