---XLR---
Ponyville Library...
Just a week and a half ago Twilight had suddenly sprouted wings. Luckily, the things complicating the life of Princess Twilight Sparkle finally seemed to be shrinking in number.
Rainbow Dash finally seemed to understand that she couldn’t spend every waking minute of her life learning to fly, Rarity had thankfully run out of dress ideas for every situation (though it took eighty-seven ideas to get there), Applejack and Big Mac had finally ceased addressing her as your Highness, Pinkie Pie had stopped wearing her cardboard wings and horn, and Fluttershy was well, as timid as ever.
Everypony else, however, seemed to insist on being ridiculous. Some historical organization was already trying to declare the Golden Oaks Library a national heritage site, despite the fact that she still technically lived there. Newspaper ponies were always trying to get an interview with her, which meant paparazzi pegasi everywhere. Everypony was always bowing, letting her cut in line, and apologizing for nothing and everything.
Celestia had told her that she could keep living in Ponyville and she would be sent information about how to conduct her princessly duties from there. However, some day she may need to move to the capital to assume a more “permanent role” in the government. Even though she was assured that day could be decades if she chose,
Twilight had recently packed up crates of books and supplies she would want to bring to Canterlot.
She finished hammering a nail in the lid of the last crate. Twilight hung the hammer on a wall of tools, stepping back to admire the stack of alphabetically organized boxes and crates sitting in her underground lab-basement. She noticed the corner of one box was not quite aligned with the others, but as she reached a hoof out...
“SURPRISE!” The lid of the crate flew off with a shower of confetti and Twilight was left staring at the ceiling, panting for her life. She lay on her back, slowly regaining her breath.
“So Twilight, were you surprised?! Were ye, where ya where ya?!”
“Yes Pinkie, very surprised.” Twilight slowly rubbed a hoof down her face. “Why does this seem so familiar?” The princess put it out of her mind and continued her checklist of the stack of crates. “Not that I don’t enjoy the company, but what are you doing here Pinkie?”
“Well this morning my Pinkie Sense was telling me somepony new was showing up in Ponyville; actually many new someponies, so I’ve been practicing my surprise entrance all over town. I just know there is something super big about this one so I wanted their surprise party to be super surprising!”
“Uh huh,” Twilight half heartedly replied. “Well, it looks like everything down here is in order. It leaves me with just enough time to have lunch with all our friends, before I need to get back to work.”
Pinkie Pie looked doubtful. “How can you have time for lunch with all our friends? Octavia is at a concert in Canterlot, Braeburn is in Appaloosa...”
“Pinkie.”
... Soarin is at an airshow, and Derpy disappeared with The Doctor. I mean, unless you have like a week to eat lunch, but then it won’t be lunchtime anymore.”
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight yelled for the mare’s attention. Learning the Royal Canterlot Voice had made getting Pinkie's attention twice as fast. “While you may be friends with everypony, those are acquaintances to the other girls and I. I was just talking about lunch with the girls.” She never could explain to Pinkie the concept of meeting somepony and not being friends, and it didn't look like that was going to change.
“Did you bump your head or something Twilight? Those are ponies, not aquainta-what-you-ma-call-its. Besides, even if we only had lunch with the girls, where can we fit all those ponies for lunch, and won’t all the stallions in Equestria feel left out?”
Twilight had already beat her head on a nearby crate a few times before noticing Pinkie’s tail twitching like never before. Somehow her tail was causing vibrations to travel over Pinkie’s flank and all the way to the tip of her nose and hooves. Twilight quickly jumped under her chemistry table and covered her head with her hooves.
“Pinkie Pie! why aren't you hiding? Isn’t something going to fall?” Twilight asked as she noticed the party mare hopping in a circle with her usual smile.
“Yessiree, but that little sciency table won’t do you any good. We're all doomed! Doom d-d-d-doom doom dooom d-doom doom doom...” She sang with apparent delight, as she continued her hopping.
“You do realize doom is a bad thing right?” If Twilight were asking any other pony, she would have thought she’d lost her mind.
“Yep, but it’s such a fun word that I made a song in case the end ever came. Doom d-d-doom doom—” Twilight yanked Pinkie Pie off her hooves with her magic and raced out of the basement.
When the front door of the library flung open, they could hear a faint roaring sound above Ponyville. Twilight slowed to a stop in front of her house, noticing something streaking towards them. Pinkie plopped to the ground near Twilight, the earth pony’s eyes bulged as she stared dumbly up at the sky. At the moment, this thing could have been mistaken for a Cloudsdale delivery van, but Twilight could tell it was far bigger. Besides that, there was no post on sundays. She thought perhaps it was a dragon that had lost control or maybe a meteor.
Twilight grabbed the entranced mare once again, teleporting to her balcony. Through her telescope she could see the falling mass getting larger by the second as it raced for the planet’s surface. From what she could tell, it appeared blue, and looked metallic. It was hard to make out the details because a flaming cone was forming around the front of the mystery object. It was likely nopony had ever seen anything like it before, but she could tell atmospheric friction from re-entry was taking its toll.
“I wish for my very own pony.”
“Pinkie Pie, you are a pony, and that is not a shooting star,” Twilight said in a snarky tone while estimating the object's size and mass, among other things.
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie said before hugging herself.
The Unidentified Falling Object must have been at least four hundred hoofs tall. Whatever this thing was, parts where breaking away and scattering across the landscape, trailing streaks of smoke and flame.
“Hmm, it doesn’t look natural, and yet it’s certainly not pony made.” Twilight scribbled something on paper. So Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense says new ponies are coming, then this U.F.O shows up. “Pinkie, I think this thing might have something to do with those new ponies you were preparing for. Now the question is, how do we stop it?” She pointed a hoof past her telescope.
“Oooh let me see, let me see!” Before Twilight could object she was hip checked out of the way. Twilight’s world was spinning with little pink ponies circling her head.
---XLR---
One would think that careening uncontrollably through space at ludicrous speeds would be terrifying, and one would normally be right. However, after hours of this sort of thing, fear becomes angst, boredom, and eventually hunger.
Kiva ran her hand through her red bangs and got up from the back seat. Normally she would be monitoring MEGAS’s systems or finding a solution to whatever trouble Coop and Jamie had caused, but there was not much she could do now.
They were running on manual auxiliary power, which would never be enough to drive the thrusters even if they weren't broken. The best she could do was fire the minor adjustment rockets to slow the mech down little bits at a time. To make things worse, Coop was too out of shape and Jamie too much a scrawny wimp to crank the auxiliary dynamo within MEGAS. This meant that Kiva, a former resistance soldier, was the only one capable of going below the cockpit to keep life support running. At least the back seats of the Plymouth Barracuda were surprisingly comfortable for napping between her shifts. Although, it would be much more restful if her two companions would stop yelling right now.
“Coop, hand it over! I deserve the last one!” A scratchy shout could be heard from the passenger seat.
“Jamie, I need to maintain my figure! How am I supposed to pilot MEGAS if I get all skinny?”
“Wait, did you just say last one?” Kiva leaned forward, snatching the half wrapped food ration from Coop and Jamie’s sweaty hands. “We may be stuck out here for weeks or longer and you two have eaten almost all our rations?!” She raised her hand and shook the food parcel.
“Well don’t blame me, I tried to stop him. It’s Coop’s fault we’re even in this mess,” Jamie said defensively as he swept a food wrapper off of his lap to the car floor.
“Hey, I didn’t ask for the glorft to attack us. Besides, I was going to save that last food bar thingy for Kiva. They taste nasty anyhow,” Coop said as he frowned at one of the many wrappers in his lap.
“The glorft didn’t make you install another faulty upgrade to MEGAS either,” Jamie quipped while looking out the window with his arms crossed. “If you let me drive, I bet we wouldn’t even be in this mess.”
Coop couldn’t keep from laughing. “You, drive MEGAS? You were barely able to pilot my robot, even when you had Kiva’s help. Besides, this is my robot. Mine.” Coop poked a finger at himself.
“Maybe if you let me drive more you would see that I could be an excellent pilot,” Jamie whined.
Coop was silent for a few seconds before turning to the back seat. “Hey, Kiva. What are our chances of surviving all this?”
The redhead opened her holographic laptop-like device and started analyzing their situation. “I appreciate that you at least thought about me before eating all the food Coop, although I have no idea how you managed to eat so many highly concentrated food supplement packs.”
Kiva broke of a small corner of the ration and popped it into her mouth. “These packets are meant to serve six people for three days, they're not meant to taste good.” She paused in her typing. “Based on my calculations and on MEGAS’s condition, I’d say we have less than a twelve percent chance on finding our way back to colonized space, and less than a seven percent chance of living for longer than a week out here.”
Coop scratched his head, not quite understanding. “So are we all going to die or what?”
“Yes Coop, we’re all going to starve to death in the cold vacuum of space,” Kiva deadpanned. “We don’t have enough energy to get anywhere, we're in uncharted space with little food and water, and we have no way to call for help.”
“Great!” Coop exclaimed, before turning to Jamie. “If you think you can do a better job, then here!” Coop pressed a button labeled ‘never in a million years, or when we're all going to die anyway.’ There was a whirring of gears and hiss of pistons before Coop was relaxing in the back seat, Kiva now riding shotgun, and Jamie appeared in the pilot’s chair.
“Awesome. Now watch and learn as the great and powerful Jamie saves us all with his expert giant robot skills,” He said, adjusting the driver’s seat for his small frame. Just as he set his hand on the wheel...
“WARNING, CAUGHT IN GRAVITATIONAL FIELD OF UNIDENTIFIED PLANET. PREPARE FOR EMINENT REENTRY.” The feminine computer voice rang out through the red convertible.
Jamie started mashing buttons and jerking around joysticks at random. Luckily there was no power for most of MEGAS’s main weapon systems. “Coop! What do I do?!”
“You're the pilot now, Great and Powerful Jamie, ask Kiva if you want help.”
Jamie looked over to the passenger’s seat to see Kiva buckling up a six point harness and bracing for her life.
Coop was strangely content. They may have been falling to their doom but he had turned over MEGAS just in time for this not to be his fault, and he wasn't all that hungry. The only problem was that Jamie wouldn’t stop screaming like a little girl, oh, and they were all going to die.
---XLR---
Ponies all over town stopped to look at the glowing streak in the sky. Some remained frozen in fear, while others ran around in a panic. The roaring intensified as the large object got closer until... BOOM! A shock wave radiated outward, the falling mech going supersonic.
A dull roar continued to emanate from the falling robot. Some of the loose pieces of MEGAS were also heading for areas of Ponyville. Twilight made her way to town square at a full gallop, while Pinkie hopped close behind. In the short run, Twilight started making plans in her head along the way. Even with her vast knowledge, she felt she was grasping at straws.
Spotting the princess, an orange pony in a leather hat came running from a nearby apple stand. The mare had been in the middle of packing up what she could.
“There ya are Twi. Ya gotta do something!” Applejack said, her ears folded back as she clutched her hat nervously.
“I... I don’t know what to do!” It’s too fast; it’s too big!” The young alicorn covered her face in her wings and sank to the ground. Ponies nearby all looked at her with pleading eyes. “I can’t even fly that well yet.”
Suddenly Twilight felt a warm breath in her face. Pinkie had appeared within her feathery vail. “Just use your crazy new princess godpony powers!” she blurted out, before being pulled away by her tail.
“Now Pinkie, you can’t just demand Twilight to use her magic. She’s one of our friends, and a princess no less.” Applejack laid a comforting hoof on Twilight’s back. The purple mare smiled slightly, just before one of MEGAS’s damaged thruster rockets crushed a house not thirty feet away. Eeverypony nearby jumped for cover.
“Hey Twi, would you please just use your magical princess powers and save us all?!” Applejack pleaded.
Twilight looked from Applejack lying on the ground, to the other ponies. Most of their faces were covered by their hooves, but she could see them trembling. The few fillies and colts around stared at her with big puppy eyes.
She couldn’t take it anymore. All this attention was driving her crazy. No wonder Luna felt overwhelmed when she had come to visit. There was no time for a good plan and she knew it. She also knew she was the town’s best chance of making it out of this. “Being a princess... sucks!” she grumbled, disappearing in a flash.
It didn’t take long for Applejack and other ponies to find where the princess had gone. A small spark of light appeared at the uppermost walkway of Town Hall. Ponies shielded their eyes as the magenta glow from Twilight’s horn continued to intensify.
“Alright Twilight. Let’s give this your best shot,” she whispered to herself.
The princess reared up to brace her front hooves on the small wooden railing, spreading her wings wide. Her eyes changed to luminescent orbs as she tapped into her magic. She was commanding arcane forces the likes of which few ponies had witnessed before.
---XLR---
“Jamie! MEGAS is burning up! Deploy the flaps and shift power to the heat shielding!” Kiva unsuccessfully yelled at Jamie. Her words were drowned out by the sound of the alarms, the deafening roar from re-entry, and Jamie’s continued screams of terror.
MEGAS’s arms and legs were uselessly pointed outward while the mech fell towards the foreign continent in a swan dive. They had already lost several parts, including one of the shoulder fins, what had remained of the thrusters, a few fingers, and everything from the knee joint down on the right leg. All three occupants were pressed firmly against the seats by the g-forces of their descent.
Jamie was the first to black out, followed by Coop. Kiva was used to harsh g-forces and clung onto consciousness. Slowly, she stretched a hand towards one of the many game controllers nearby that were plugged into the main controls. There was no way she could die now. She had to stop the glorft. The fate of humanity was at stake.
“Almost... there–” With a screech of metal, MEGAS lost it’s right arm and flew off to who knows where. The sudden shift in weight pinned Kiva further away from the controls.
Kiva could feel consciousness slipping away, along with a strange tingling sensation throughout her body. She figured she must have been hallucinating when she saw a pink glow enveloping the dashboard and herself. MEGAS seemed to be slowing down. The fire obscuring the windshield dissipated with the reduced speed. When the view outside was no longer blocked, Kiva became certain she was seeing things. They were heading for some sort of primitive tower, in the middle of a small, archaic, brightly painted settlement.
---XLR---
Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy gathered near the base of Town Hall. They all watched Twilight perched on the upper walkway with anticipation and fear.
“I... can... do this!” the alicorn grunted under the strain of her telekinetic power working to slow MEGAS.
“We believe in you Twilight! Just be careful dear,” Rarity shouted from the base of the building. She had a parasol saddle on, as if it would protect her from the rain of destruction fast approaching.
Fluttershy covered her eyes with a wing. “I... can’t watch,” she squeaked.
“Go Twilight!” Pinkie cheered, shaking pom poms all of the sudden. “We won’t be able to have any parties if Ponyville is pulverized into a pancake!” She licked her lips at the thought of pancakes.
The young princess could tell her crude plan was working, she just needed a bit more time. She was simply using telekinesis to slow and alter the course of MEGAS. She didn’t have to lift it, just slow it down and give it a constant nudge. Amongst the immense weight of whatever this thing was, there were signs of life as well. Twilight considered the loss of potential scientific research, and of course the lives of potentially sapient life forms. She couldn’t let whatever, or whoever was in there get hurt.
Applejack came galloping back into town after evacuating ponies to the edge of Ponyville. “Celestia help us.” She paused beside the central fountain to catch her breath, only to start running once more. The giant metal wreck was heading straight for the center of Ponyville and all her friends. “Twilight, move!” she yelled at the top of her lungs from across town square.
It was too late for her to move now. Twilight looked straight at Applejack, fast approaching across the square. Time seemed to slow as she stared at the fear stricken earth pony. There was only Applejack, her friends below, and the tremendous pressure on her horn. Within mere moments, Twilight charged one last teleportation spell, her friends disappeared in a pink flash, and re-appeared to cut off Applejack’s desperate charge. Twilight could almost make out Applejack's look of surprise and anger before she collapsed in exhaustion, and time resumed its unrelenting course.
MEGAS slammed into one of the many streets at a semi steep angle, raining dirt, wood, and rocks everywhere; the mech’s shoulder demolished a small house on impact, before MEGAS bounced off of the street and did a semi graceful twist in mid air. The robot crash landed upon its back, sliding headlong through the town center. MEGAS continued to carve a trough right through half a dozen stands in the market and obliterated two more buildings before slamming into the side of Town Hall. Finally the beast came to rest, sitting on a throne of wreckage. Its girth now took up the space previously occupied by the large rotunda.
A plume of dust obscured the scene, mixing with the smoke billowing from the wreckage of the mech. The remains of Town Hall collapsed onto MEGAS and slid off the robot’s marred metal plating. Only the rattles and thumps could be heard from beyond the obscuring clouds. Soon townsponies started filling the square, their curiosity having overpowered any remaining fear. The four Elements of Harmony waited anxiously for the smoke to clear, hoping to reveal any signs of Twilight Sparkle, and fearing whatever horrors had descended from beyond the stars.
---XLR---
End Episode One.