Ponyville, Equestria
"Alright Twi, why have you got us up 't midnight to talk to you?" asked a tired Applejack as she sat at the table in Twilight's library.
"Yes darling, some of us need our beauty sleep," a white unicorn mare with purple mane and diamonds for a cutiemark stated.
"Rarity, I wouldn't interrupt your beauty sleep without a good reason, now can I ex...." the purple unicorn mare was responding to the white unicorn before she was interrupted by a bubbly pink earth mare with balloons for a cutiemark.
"OH OH OH OH, IS IT A SLUMBER PARTY!?!?" The bubbly mare asked excitedly.
"No Pinkie Pie..." Twilight responded, barely hiding her frustration.
"Yeah, Pinks. I don't think Twilight would wake us up at midnight for a party of any kind." A cyan pegasus mare with rainbow mane and tail, and cloud and rainbow lightning bolt for a cutiemark stated matter-of-factly.
"You have any guesses why she called us out Rainbow Dash?" a somewhat curious AND nervous yellow mare with pink mane and tail and butterflies for a cutiemark asked quietly.
Rainbow sighs, "Not a clue Fluttershy, not a clue......"
"Rainbow, Fluttershy, please, this is serious. Did any of you see that object that flew over town so high up?" Twilight asked.
"Now that you mention it, I was on my way home when that happened.... was kinda loud too. I've never seen anything that fast."
"Nothing at all?"
"Nope."
Twilight let out a sigh.
"I saw it too actually.... Did you see it Fluttershy dear?" Rarity stated, then asked when she saw the curious mare get a little nervous at the mention of the object.
"I only heard a loud rumbling and saw it flying away...." she said, apparently having been frightened by the object.
"It looked like some artificial structure though my telescope...." Twilight thought out loud.
"A flying, falling building? No way..... actually, that would explain its size.... and why I saw a huge flash when it disappeared over the horizon to the north too...." Rainbow pondered.
"Twilight and Rainbow Dash are correct," everyone looked up to see that the one who said it was a particular green stallion up at the top of the steps.
"What are you doing up Gunnar?" Twilight asked, bewildered, "Did you recover that quickly?"
"It's uh... kinda to be expected that I recover quickly since I was trained rather harshly since I was a colt...." Gunnar replied sheepishly.
"Whoa whoa whoa, trained for what since you were a colt?" Dash asked suspiciously.
"To be a soldier of course. You might say I'm a type of supersoldier... but I wasn't altered physically in any way except for being made stronger from all the exercises."
"You were trained to be a soldier from that young an age?" Rainbow asked, bewildered herself now.
Gunnar shrugs nonchalantly, "Yeah pretty much."
"Prove it"
The girls all looked at the rainbow maned pegasus kinda nervously when she said that.
"Excuse me? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Gunnar asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, prove it." the competitive pony smirked.
"Alright, come at me and try to hit me in the best way you deem fit."
Rainbow didnt hesitate coming at him, reeling back a hoof to hit his face, but just as she did, Gunnar snapped into action, grabbing her hoof and her left wing and throwing her against the bookshelf, causing some of the works of literature to fall to the floor. Then he quickly approached and pinned her down, holding a hoof to her throat, not letting her move, but not choking her either. All of this happening in a mere two seconds. The girls all audibly gasped at the sudden move, expecting the worst, but after a few seconds, Gunnar simply let her go.
"Satisfied with the proof?" Gunnar asked as if nothing happened.
"Uh... y-yeah... um... remind me never to try that again," Rainbow said sheepishly.
Gunnar used his magic to put the fallen books back, then offered a hoof to help Rainbow up, which she took, letting him pull her upright.
"Okay, now THAT gave me the willies right there," Applejack admitted.
"I assure you I had no intention to harm her, only prove something as she had requested in the manner she had accepted," Gunnar mused, "Now as for the falling object in question, I believe I can enlighten you. If it is a symmetrical structure, then it is likely a ship."
"Huh!?" the girls said simultaneously in confusion.
"A symmetrically shaped object falling from space having a large size and the effects you all described can only explain that it is a ship from another world," Gunnar explained, "Though it may not necessarily need to be symmetrical to be a ship, if it had symmetry, it would likely be an artificial construct, in this case, a ship capable of traveling the stars."
"Now that you mention it, it was rather symmetrical," Twilight realized,
"Then the most logical assumption would be that it's a space faring vessel...." Gunnar trailed off for a moment, "But that could lead to problems if there are sentients from another world arriving in Equestria. Two possibilities existed before now: either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Either scenario would frighten a pony if it was given enough thought. My point is, if we are getting visitors from another world, is it necessarily a good thing, or should we assume the worst?"
The girls all looked at each other with worry and no small amount of fear in their eyes now.
"Do we know where it went?" Gunnar asked curiously.
"I tracked it and watched it fall somewhere near the Crystal Empire... I'm pretty sure it missed the city entirely though," Twilight pondered.
The military stallion pondered for a moment.
"Any ideas?" Twilight asked.
"We could inform Princess Celestia for starters, which I recommend you do right away. Then we will either be investigating, or watching and waiting," Gunnar concluded.
Twilight nodded and went to wake up Spike for a moment, sending every detail of what was seen and discussed to the Princess. A few minutes later, and a fiery belch was heard before Twilight came down with the response and showed it to Gunnar.
"It would seem she wants us to investigate and is sending the Elements.... a peculiar decision," Gunnar mused as he read through the letter, "And it would seem that she wants me to accompany you since i have recovered and have training and materials that could be used in the investigation...." He hesitated with a worried look in his eye, "And possibly in your defense."
With that, a bright flash filled the room, causing everypony to look away from the table for a moment to shield their eyes, then they looked back to see the chest containing the Elements of Harmony.
"I guess that's that....," Gunnar stated with a surprised expression, "I suggest everypony get some rest, then meet back here in the morning.... but I'll leave the decision to you girls."
"What do you think girls?" Twilight asked them.
"I could do for another adventure" Dash chuckled.
"I s-suppose we should...." Fluttershy quietly stated.
"Would hate to ruin my mane or hooficure, but it would seem that this is more important," Rarity sighed, then looked up with a look of determination, "I'll accompany you."
"WEEEEEE, ADVENTUREEEEEEE!!!!" Pinkie mused loudly and happily.
"Shoot Twilight, we'll always be there for you sugarcube," Applejack smiled, "I guess we're all goin. Have to say, I'm starting to like this Gunnar feller. That was smart of him."
"Haha, yeah, I think you found yourself a keeper there Twilight," Dash smirked jokingly.
"WAIT WHAT!?" Twilight and Gunnar said simultaneously, both blushing intensely.
Rainbow snickered.
"I didn't find that funny Rainbow, and I'm pretty sure Twilight didn't either," Gunnar scolded.
"Okay okay, sheesh, I was only joking," Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Back on topic, so we'll see you girls here tomorrow morning then?" the military stallion queried.
The girls all nodded.
"Alright, then I guess its settled. We set out for the Frozen North and locate the crash site tomorrow. See you all in the morning," Gunnar smiled and trotted back upstairs with a friendly wave, before closing the door and heading to bed.
"See you tomorrow girls" Twilight waved as the others filed out, saying their goodnights for the evening.
As they all headed home to sleep till morn, they missed a subtle bright purple streak in the sky, unlike any of the stars, as it flew through some distant clouds, creating a very subtle flash of lightning and thunder in the distance as it went.