Discovery
Sweet apple aches was quite and peaceful, moonlight gently bathed the orchard in a silvery glow. Inside the farm house the Apple family was sound asleep in preparation for the harvesting of the east field that was to begin later that day. Applejack and her older brother big Macintosh had spent the previous day preparing by setting up large buckets under each of the trees, now all that was needed was to buck the apples off the tree and load the filled buckets up into the barn for storage ready for market.
At the foot of Applejacks bed, curled up into a little ball, was her trusty farm dog Winona. She slept peacefully until one of her ears suddenly perked up, followed quickly by her head. Sensing that something was wrong she began to growl towards the window before erupting into vicious barks. Awoken by the sudden racket A.J. sat up groggily in bed.
"What in the hay has got into you Winona?" she yelled over the dogs frantic barking,
Winona ignored her and continued barking at something outside, at this point lights had come on in the rest of the house as the others were also woken up. A.J. heard a knock on her door which proceeded to open to reveal a bleary eyed Applebloom and a non to happy Big Mac.
"What's wrong with Winona sis?" asked Applebloom while trying to supress a yawn
"Haven't a clue, ah aint never seen her actin like this before" replied A.J. as she tried to calm the crazed dog " come on now Winona what's got ya`ll so spooked"
It was at this point she finally looked out of the window and saw just what had spooked her dog.
"What in the name of Celstia is that!?" she cried backing away from the window.
Applebloom and Big Mac rushed to the window to see a large object hurtling towards the Everfree. It was long and reminded A.J. of a hearth warming eve cracker in its shape, it was on a downward trajectory leaving a blazing trail in its wake. It continued its rapid Decent until they saw it begin to brush the top of the tree line, sending branches and debris flying in all directions.
"Its goin to crash!" cried Applebloom mere seconds before the sky was lit with a blinding light followed by a deep tremor that shook the house to its foundations. A.J. and her younger sis screamed as object were shook from the walls and on top of wardrobes, Big Mac grabbed them both and leaned over them to act as a living shield, just as the window shattered, sending glass shards everywhere. Winona cowered under the bed having seen her masters reaction and cleverly followed suit.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was really no more then 45 seconds the trembling subsided. cautiously Big Mac stood up allowing his sisters to move and take stock of what had just transpired.
"Is it over?" wimped Applebloom clinging to her brothers leg, tears were free flowing down her face and her nose was running, it was one of the most frightening things she`d ever experienced.
"Eeyup" came the gentle reply from her brother as he comforted her "its over now"
"Ah think there's someone at the door dearie" came a voice from the doorway.
The three looked up to see Granny smith standing in the doorway with hair curlers and a face mask still on, she appeared to have just woken up and was still coming around to realise the look of terror on her grandkids faces.
"Granny there's no one at the door" replied A.J. bluntly
"But ah could have sworn ah heard someone knockin" said granny taping her chin with her hoof, "must be real important If they knockin so hard it woke me up"
"Granny! please just go back to bed we`ll talk about this later" said Applejack knowing full well that to try and argue with granny when she was still half asleep was next to impossible, it was hard enough when she was wide awake.
"Alright fine but don't leave whoever it is out there waitin to long, and tidy ya room missy I didn't bring ya up to be a slob" said granny noting that A.J.s room looked like Dash had performed a sonic rainboom in it.
A.J. sighed and watched as granny went back to her own room before closing the door. Applebloom had calmed down and was now looking out of the window to where the crash had occurred. Not much could be seen about what had just hit apart from a lazy billow of smoke from the forest. In the distance she could see Ponyville was rapidly coming to life. Lights came on and front doors opened as the locals began to investigate what had happened.
"Looks like everyponies headin to the edge of the Everfree" noted A.J. looking over Applebloom " Mac im goin down there and see what goin on, you alright stayin here and tidyin up?"
"Eeyup" replied Mac with his usual answer
"I wanna come too" Applebloom said as A.J. started heading towards the door.
"sorry sugarcube but I cant let ya do that, it might be dangerous" came a firm reply "sides ah need ya`ll to look after Granny and Winona"
Upon hearing her name Winona cautiously poked her head out from under the bed before quickly curling up next to Applebloom.
"see she needs comforting" said A.J. with a smile " ah wont be long ah promise."
Applebloom seeing Winona in her cowed state saw the logic in her sister statement, even though she was really curios to see what had just crashed she couldn't leave her friend like this. "alright fine, but promise ya wont be long"
"Ah pinkie promise ah wont be long" replied Applejack as she went through the motions of the promise before heading out towards the Edge of the Everfree where it seemed quite a crown was gathering, as she made her way down the path it suddenly dawned on her that all the buckets left at the base of the trees the previous day were full top the brim with apples.
"Huh looks like that earthquake saved us some time on the apple harvest" she said to herself "guess that means we`ll have some free time to ourselves."
Edge of the Everfree forest
"Fillies and gentle colts please try to calm down" Mayor mare was stood on top of a large boulder trying to calm the crowd that had gathered at the edge of the Everfree. Most were worried about what had just occurred near there sleepy little village and wanted answers, while a few were furious about the damage that had been done to their property and were demanding to know what was going to be done about it, "I have already sent an urgent message to the princess so help will be arriving any moment".
Applejack who just arrived looked around the crowd and spotted her friends in a small group to one side, slowly she began to squeeze her way through the press of ponies to get to them
"Hey galls what goin on?" she asked breathlessly as she finally made it out of the crowd
"I haven't a clue darling" replied rarity "one minute im enjoying my beauty sleep, then the next thing I know there's this simply awful noise and shaking, my poor little Opal was scared out of her wits", she held up a facemask for all to see
"Oh my what happened to that?" asked Fluttershy meekly, noticing several claw marks over the left eye pad.
"That is what Opal did when she was panicking" replied rarity with a trace of dread in her voice " I shudder to think what might have happened had I not been wearing this"
The group grimaced not wanting to think to deeply into the subject.
"Wait a minute where's dash?" asked A.J. suddenly noticing a distinct lack of the cyan blue Pegasus,
"Don't know we've not seen dashie at all since we got here" chirped up pinkie. "Strange, I would of thought she would be the first one here" she mused, rubbing her chin.
"This calls for detective pinkie!" she proclaimed pulling out a detective hat and bubble pipe from seemingly nowhere.
"Oh no ya don't, not after last time with that hoo haw on the cake train" said A.J. sternly
"Aww but I was going to solve the mystery of the missing dashie" whined pinkie as she grudgingly put the hat and pipe back from whatever weird dimension she dragged them from.
"She's probably still asleep at home" said rarity "I know she wears earplugs from that time we went camping at rainbow falls, so she might not have heard the explosion"
" Huh celestia knows that filly can sleep through anything" chuckled A.J. "ah once caught her sleepin on a thundercloud DURING a storm"
"But what about all the shaaaaaking?" asked pinkie punctuating the question by shaking all over " how could anypony sleep through that?"
"Um pinkie, rainbow dash live in a cloud house so it wouldn't have felt any shaking" replied Fluttershy softly.
"Oh yeah silly me" giggled pinkie "ok girls to dashies house" she proclaimed in an heroic pose, before casually heading in the direction of the cloud house.
The others merely shrugged and followed.
Dashes house
"Ok fluttershy you'll have to knock and see if she's in" said Applejack as the reached the plot of land dashes house floated over.
Fluttershy nodded and slowly flew up to the porch of the cloud house. upon landing she noticed that nearly every window was shattered, glass littering the floor under every frame causing Fluttershy to remain airborne to avoid the shards.
"Oh my I guess her house was hit after all" she said to herself as she gently knocked on the door.
After several seconds had passed without any sign of life she knocked a little harder causing the door to slowly swing open.
Fluttershy peeked her head around the open
"Hello? Rainbow dash are you home?" she whispered as she pushed the door open fully and made her way into the living room.
A strange humming coming down the stairs caused her to squeak in fright, it got louder and louder until the familiar shape of a tortoise entered the room, the humming noise came from an unusual propeller device strapped to his shell.
"Oh thank goodness its just you tank" sighed Fluttershy with relief "do you know where Rainbow dash is?"
The tortoise slowly nodded his head and hovered over to the window. Once there he began to slowly jerk his head in the direction of the plume of smoke rising over the canopy Everfree forest.
Fluttershy gasped as she suddenly realised what the tortoise was trying to tell her.
"Well is she there?" came a shout from below. Fluttershy quickly grabbed tank and hurried back down to the ground.
"Shes not there, but tank told me she went after whatever crashed into the forest" said Fluttershy with an edge of panic in her voice.
The three remaining mares gasped in unison.
"Is she loco in the coco?" cried pinkie "we don't know what super scary thingy could have crashed there"
"Of all the things that filly has done this one has to be one of the worst" agreed rarity "it could be very dangerous in there"
"We gotta tell the mayor and organise a search party" said A.J. as she began running back towards the edge of the forest.
Upon arrival they were confronted with the sight of several royal guards setting up a perimeter around the forest. The message sent by the mayor had been acted upon with great haste, much to the relief of the mayor herself who could relax a little as the guards began to disperse the crowd.
" Mayor mare we must speak with you at once" said rarity quickly making her way over to boulder where the mayor still stood.
"Ladies please as I have said this will all be dealt with accordingly, its no use complaining to me" said the mayor with a weary sigh.
Seeing the four ponies gathering around the mayor, several guards began to move forward to clear them away.
"Come along now ladies we have this all under control, please return to your homes" said a chalk white Unicorn with a large steel grey handlebar moustache, he spoke with a distinct Trottingham accent.
"Ah aint goin anywhere while ma friend is missing in there" said Applejack stabbing a hoof towards the forest.
The guards, taken aback by this sudden outburst stopped in their tracks
"Your friend is missing in their?" asked the moustachioed guard raising an eyebrow.
"Is something the matter sergeant?" asked Mayor mare noticing the sudden halt in the guards advance
" Yes ma`am" replied the sergeant "these fillies are claiming their friend is missing in the everfree forest"
The Mayor raised an eyebrow " how do you know she is missing in there?" she asked waving a hoof casually towards the forest.
"Um because her tortoise told me" replied Fluttershy while hiding behind her hair " that is he didn't actually speak b-"
"The point is we know the dash is in there and we need to get a search party together to go look for her" snapped Applejack.
The mayor and guards eyes widened "The element of Loyalty is missing in there?" gasped the sergeant "alright men I want a patrol formed up and ready to go 30 seconds ago, this is a top priority mission find miss dash and get her back safely MOVE"
The guards saluted and quickly formed up into a team of five before heading of into the forest.
"We`re comin to" said Applejack moving to follow them, only to find her way blocked by the sergeant.
"Im sorry miss but I cant allow any of you to enter until we know exactly what it is we`re dealing with" he said bluntly "I assure you we will find miss Dash, but until then I would ask you to return to your homes and let us do our jobs."
"Nope not happenin bub" said Applejack stubbornly " ah cant just sit at home knowin ma best friend could be lyin in there injured or worse".
The sergeant pinched his nose in frustration "I understand your concern miss, but I simple cannot and will not allow any more of the element bearers to get lost in that celestia forsaken forest while we have a unknown object crashed in there." his voiced raised and grew more strained as he reached the end of his sentence. With a sigh he rubbed his forehead "I apologise for my outburst, but with the situation as it is I cannot risk anything, if something went wrong and somepony got hurt I couldn't live with myself."
"Its fine ah guess" sighed A.J.in defeat, she knew that he was right but the thought of just going back home felt like she was abandoning her friend "come on girls lets go home and try and get some shuteye"
"Um I don't really feel like sleeping on my own tonight" said Fluttershy.
"Me neither" said pinkie looking a little deflated knowing she couldn't do anything to help.
"I must say I feel the same way" announced rarity meekly.
Applejack chuckled "well we got plenty O room at the farm y`all can sleep at ma place tonight"
As the other three began to make their way towards the farm Applejack turned back towards the sergeant "Ah want your word you'll let us know the moment you find anythin"
The sergeant simply saluted "miss I give you my word as a member of the royal guard that you will be the first to know of any developments"
This seemed to satisfy the orange earth pony who simply nodded "Ah appreciate it sergeant?"
"Sergeant steel mane ma`am at your service" he said saluting again.
"Thank you sergeant steel mane" said Applejack before turning to follow the others.
Two hours later,Everfree forest edge
Steel mane was busy reading the latest status report from the search crew, with the crowd finally dispersed the Mayor had decided to retire home and leave steel mane and his guards to do there job. The area leading into the forest had been cordoned off to ensure nopony entered.The sound of approaching wings suddenly caught his attention. Looking up he saw two day guard pulling a small carriage behind them, the carriage was modest for a person of such importance, simple silver in colour with a violet star gem set into the middle. Sitting upon the purple cushions inside was a lavender coloured alicorn, which steel mane recognised immediately.
"Princess Twilight a pleasure to see you again" steel mane saluted briskly.
Twilight smiled awkwardly, she was still getting used to being a addressed in this manner. Steel mane was one she had personally chosen during the forming of her own personal twilight guard. His dedication, loyalty and sheer refusal to back down in the face of danger reminded her slightly of a certain cyan Pegasus she knew. He was also known to have a shrewd sense of humour but it was rare he let that trait slip out.
"Thank you sergeant" said twilight beaming "what have you to report"
"The forest area surrounding Ponyville has been secured ma`am and there is no sign of any threats as of yet" steel mane suddenly looked hesitant.
A knot of fear began to grow in Twilights stomach, in the short space she had known him she had picked up on that hesitancy being the prelude to bad news. "is there something else sergeant?" she asked figuring he may as well get it out in the open.
Steel mane sighed and hung his head slightly.
"Yes ma`am there is" he said "I must inform you that at this present moment of time the bearer of the element of loyalty is lost in the forest"
Twilight gasped, one of her best friends was missing in there with an unknown object she accidently dragged from the sky. "dash is in there?" she asked with a hint of panic
"I'm afraid so your highness" nodded steel mane slowly "but don't worry I have a search team in there right now looking for her, im expecting another progress report any moment."
As if waiting for their cue the search party burst back through the clearing. They were a mess, their armour was caked in mud and scratches, while bits of twig and leaves stuck out of there coats.
"Sergeant! we found her" panted the lead guardstallion as he approached
The remaining team quickly moved aside to reveal a bright cyan blue Pegasus floating in their combined magic aurar's. If the guards looked bad she was worse, her mane and coat was covered in mud, leaves and twigs while one wing was bent at an unnatural angle, she appeared to be unconscious.
" Dash" cried twilight as she rushed over to her friend "what's happened to you?"
"We found her like this Ma`am" replied one of the guards " she was lying in a bush next a unidentified structure, we believe it may be the object that crashed"
Twilight was only half paying attention as she examined dashes wing.
"his wing is broken pretty badly get a stretcher and take her up to Ponyville general" she ordered. "I'm sorry private, could you repeat that for me please" she said when she realised she was ignoring her guards report.
The guard for his part didn't appear to have minded being cut off mid report.
"yes ma`am as I said we think we have located the object that crashed here" he explained "it appears to be some kind of large rock or boulder however we did notice a odd pattern at one end"
"An odd pattern?" asked twilight her curiosity now piqued.
"Indeed Ma`am" replied the guard "one end appears to have some kind of large dome on it with large grooves running from the middle to the edge, it reminded me of an unopened flower actually" he added thoughtfully.
At this point two guards arrived with a stretcher, they gently levitated the unconscious Pegasus onto it before picking the stretcher itself up in their telekinetic grips.
"If you'll excuse me ma`am I must report to sweet apple aches to report our findings to the other element bearers" said steel mane with a salute " I made a promise that I would inform them the moment we found something"
"Very well sergeant" nodded twilight with a smile, this type of dedication to duty was exactly the reason why she had picked him "I would ask you to bring them to the hospital straight away though, tell them I'll meet them there"
"At once your highness" steel mane saluted once more before quickly heading towards the farm.
Twilight followed the other guards as they made there way quickly towards the towns medical centre. Upon entering nurse red heart immediately called for the doctor and took her through into the emergency room, leaving twilight to sit in the waiting room until her friends arrived.
fifteen minutes later
The door to the waiting room was nearly ripped of its hinges as a bright pink blur suddenly whizzed through.
"whereissheissheokwhatwasthatthingthatcrashed" said the pink blur which turned out to be pinkie pie. Twilight for her part had only just registered that the door had opened and was suddenly taken aback by the sudden appearance of a pink face gibbering at her at a millions miles a minute.
"Pinkie darling do try to let twilight answer the first question before you ask the next one" sighed Rarity as she entered the room followed closely by A.J. Fluttershy and steel mane.
After recovering her wits Twilights face lit up with a huge smile.
"Girls" she cried as she ran towards them all and embraced them in a big group hug "iv missed you so much"
"Ah shucks sugar cube its only been a month since ya moved back" grinned Applejack as the group broke out of the hug " though Ill admit It been mighty quite round here with ya gone"
"Im glad you came back" said Fluttershy with a soft smile, which quickly turned upside down. "I just wish it was under better circumstances though"
There was a sudden knock on the waiting room door which promptly opened to reveal doctor feel well he wore his traditional white lab coat and stethoscope around his neck.
"Ladies im pleased to report that there are no lasting injuries" he announced with a smile "she has suffered a broken wing which we have set and splinted, so she wont be flying for at least a week.
The group exchanged knowing looks with each other, they remembered the last time she broke her wing and nearly went stir crazy with boredom, luckily Twilights idea of reading had averted disaster.
"Apart from the wing she has suffered cuts and scrapes and a mild blow to the head" the doctor continued "there doesn't appear to be any sign of a concussion however we would like to keep her in for overnight observation"
" Can we see her?" asked Twilight hopefully.
"Hmm" feel well scratched his chin "I don't see why not, she is awake but doesn't appear to be entirely... with it yet shall we say"
The words had barely left his mouth before a pink streak rushed passed him out of the room. the others stood there mentally counting down from 3..2..1. Pinkies head reappeared around the door sheepishly
"Erm which room is she in?" she asked awkwardly.
Feel well chuckled "this way ladies and sir" he said nodding to steel mane who had stood silently to attention since he had arrived.
"Oh sorry sergeant" said twilight rubbing the back of her neck, she had completely forgot he was even there after seeing the girls "you are dismissed for now, thank you for your help"
"Not at all ma`am, just doing my duty" he said before saluting and heading toward the exit.
Rainbow dash felt weird, she was awake this much she knew, but everything seemed to be slightly blurred and out of focus. Flashes of memory would suddenly run through her head without rhyme or reason and the unnerving sensation of floating never quite left her.
As much as the memories flashed before her she couldn't remember how she had got here, nor what had occurred to actually put her here in the first place. The last thing she did remember was a something falling from the sky and nearly hit her house, or had it actually hit her house? she thought.
"Ugh why cant I remember" she cried out in frustration.
"Remember what?" asked a voice next to her
"How I got here" dash replied without even thinking, before noticing a pink earth pony standing a little to close to her for comfort." Gahh! Pinkie when did you get here" she asked with a start, she was almost convinced the door had never opened.
"Just now silly" answered pinkie as if it was obvious.
The door promptly opened and her remaining friends quickly gathered around her.
"Rainbow dash darling what in equestrian were you thinking" said Rarity with a hint of rebuke "going into the Everfree Forest without telling anypony."
"Dash ya done some pretty dumb things in the past but this one takes the apple" Applejack said sternly " we were worried sick about ya, what if that thing that crashed turned out to be dangerous?"
"Im just glad she's ok really" squeaked Fluttershy.
Dash hung her head " im sorry guys guess I wasn't thinking at the time" she admitted "The problem is I cant even remember why I went in there in the first place"
"Well from what my guards have told me they found you near the object that crashed" stated Twilight "are you sure you cant remember anything at all about what happened?"
"Im positive Twi" replied dash "no matter how hard I try I cant remember anything after whatever it was nearly hit my house"
"I see" said Twilight thoughtfully "maybe that bang on the head caused some temporary amnesia"
"Well whatever happened its annoying" huffed Dash "its like the memory is there but when I actually try to focus on it, it disappears"
"Im sorry to interrupt but it may be best if we let miss dash get some rest now" Feel well suddenly cut in "we can discharge her tomorrow provided nothing develops"
"Ok doctor" agreed Twilight, she turned back to dash "we'll be back tomorrow when your ready and if your up for it we are going to examine that object"
"Are you sure that's a good idea darling" asked rarity with concern "what if its dangerous"
"Don't worry the guards will be with us at all times" Twilight reassured " beside part of the reason for me being here is to actually discover what it was I pulled down." Twilight suddenly realised what she had said and clamped a hoof over her mouth, but the damage was already done.
"Come again sugar cube?" asked A.J. raising an eyebrow " what do ya mean pulled down?"
Twilight sighed, she had been wanting to explain this in a better way but now the cat was out of the bag she may as well get it over with.
five minutes later
"So your sayin that this thing crashed because ya lost control of the spell?" asked A.J, after Twilight had given a brief explanation of the events.
"Well when you put it that way I guess I am" muttered Twilight
"Wowee" exclaimed Pinkie bouncing up to Twilight "that's soo cool"
"Cool isn't exactly the word I would use darling" Rarity said "though I will admit it is rather impressive, that you managed to move a celestial object, even if it did go wrong" she added hastily.
The sound of a rather forced clearing of the through suddenly brought their attention back to the doctor, who was looking a little annoyed that his last request had so far been ignored.
"Oh right sorry" Twilight hastily apologised " come on girls lets leave rainbow to rest, se you tomorrow"
Dash simply waved goodbye to them, she was feeling incredibly tired all of a sudden.
"I suggest you try to get some sleep miss Dash" said Feel well as he ushered out her friends " if you need anything press the red button to you left"
"Thanks doc" Dash said as he closed the door.
It didn't take long for Dash to drift off to sleep, however her rest was not a peaceful one. Her dreams were filled with flashes of memories some she recognised as her own but others were unknown to her. Visions of alien landscapes flashed before her feelings of isolation plagued every vision but what disturbed her the most was the unsuitable hunger that was slowly growing stronger with each flash of memory.