Chapter Two: First Contact
Like every day before, the sun in Equestria rises in the sky just as the moon begins to set. All around, ponies are waking up to begin the day wither it will be going to work, attending school, or some other tasks that needed to be done.
Rainbow Dash, who was one of the best weather ponies in Ponyville was currently clearing the skies around the small town. Today was to be clear skies and while the pegasus would have liked to have kept a cloud to nap on; she knew that her duty was more important than catching up on some sleep. As she was clearing the skies though, she notices something appearing in the corner of her vision. Turning her head to get a better look; her eyes widen at the sight.
To be honest, she wasn't sure what she was looking at. It appeared to be in the shape of a bird yet it was larger and the morning sun was reflecting off it. There were also no visible signs of fur or feather or even any kind of natural material. Curious, she hovers towards the creature to get a closer look. Upon getting a few feet from it, she noticed that there was a glass bubble on top of it and inside of that bubble was what looked like the sleeping form of some creature. There was also what looked like a metal box resting next to it.
Now Rainbow Dash wouldn't have anything to fear from what she was seeing but there was something...otherworldly about this that made her feel hesitant. She first thought about bringing Fluttershy but her friend would most likely faint from seeing this strange metal bird thing. So instead she angled herself towards the Crystal Tree Library where she knew Twilight would be at this time.
After some time explaining, Rainbow Dash was leading a curious Twilight Sparkle and a tired Spike towards the location of the metal bird. Sure enough it was there, towering over them like a monolith. While Dash had more or less gotten use to it to a point; Twilight was in awe at the sight and she couldn't help but let out a small ooh of delight. Her magic summoning quill, ink and parchment; she got to work on studying the strange object that was in front of her.
Spike was awake at this point and while he was a little curious about the strange object; he also wanted to stay as far away from it as possible. So he instead assisted Twilight with her note taking as she moved around the strange object and mostly talking to herself.
"Hmm...whatever this is; it seems to be made entirely out of metal yet I have no idea what it is suppose to do." Twilight eventually concluded as she makes her way back to where her friends are. Pondering the dilemma, she eventually says "Perhaps if I was to take a closer look at what is inside..." Concentrating her magic, her horn lights up and it doesn't take long before an aura of purple magic surrounds the object.
Inside Aphelion, Ratchet and Clank were just starting to wake up when the nav-screen starts beeping before Aphelion says "Warning. Warning. Unknown energy detected." Ratchet was quick to spring into action and starts punching in some buttons on the touch screen. However no matter what he input, he was unable to figure out where the source of the energy was coming from. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Ratchet leans back into the seat for a moment before saying "Clank can you trace the source of the energy?"
Clank nods his head before remaining silent. The seconds past before Clank finally said "Now that can't be right. According to my readings the energy seems to be coming from...somewhere nearby."
Clank looked back at his friend and saw that look that he knew all too well. That kind of silent determination that meant that he was going to stop whatever was causing this and basically anything and everything that was in between. The Lombax grabbed his constructo pistol before saying "Wait here. I'll go take care of this." A simple button push releases the hatch and Ratchet wasted no time in jumping out and just barely hearing his partner say "Oh dear, here we go again."
Rainbow Dash watched as the strange object was surrounded by the aura of magic coming from Twilight. While she wasn't entirely sure what kind of spell her friend was using, she knew that it was probably something to help get a better understanding of what the thing was. The pegasus was slowly lowering herself on the comfy grass to get some sleep as there was nothing else that she needed to do.
"Look. Something is happening." Spike said causing both ponies to become alert and aware of what was going on. Sure enough that glass part that Rainbow notice before was opening and quickly popping out was that strange furry creature that she also notice. However this time said creature was holding some sort of strange metal object in its hand.
Rainbow didn't have much time to get any more details as she saw the creature do something which caused the object to shot a orange beam at them. Reacting quickly, she dodged out of the way and was prepared to do so again when she notice that the creature had turned its attention on Twilight who remained rooted on the spot. Once again there was that familiar action and Rainbow Dash quickly pushed her friend out of the way but was unable to completely dodge the beam herself. She let out a cry of pain as the beam grazed her back and she slumped on the ground.
Twilight could only look in horror before she turned to face the strange creature with anger in her eyes. Her gaze was met by a similar determined expression. Spike was quick to make sure that Rainbow Dash was away from what was going to happened and all he could do was watch as his caretaker faced off against what he could only describe as an alien.