“Twilight, come on! Everyone is probably already there by now!”
Spike opened the door to the cold gentle breeze of the night air.
“Go on ahead Spike. I’ve still got to grab my telescope and bag.”
He rolled his eyes at Twilight and rushed out, closing the door behind him.
The night had chilled the warm summer day. A normal occurrence in the peaceful town of Ponyville, but today was special. Twilight had been studying the stars closely for the past few weeks. Through her studies she predicted a meteor shower that would light up the sky brighter than any firework show.
Rushing up the hill, Spike met with his friends whom had gotten comfy while waiting for the shower to begin. They sat on a blanket that was sprawled out across the grass, staring up at the sky patiently.
Well, all except for Rainbow Dash.
“Come on! Start already!” She said as she flipped impatiently in the air.
“Oh, come now darling. I’m sure it’ll start just as Twilight and Spike arrive. Just like all beautiful things, it knows to wait till all the eyes are on it before beginning.” Rarity explained as she brushed Fluttershy’s hair. The two sat together closely to keep each other warm, or perhaps that was just an excuse Rarity used in order to brush Fluttershy.
Spike jumped a few inches off the ground and onto the blanket. “I’m here!” He said with a chuckle.
Rainbow groaned. “FINALLY! Maybe now it’ll begin. Wait, where’s Twilight?” She said as she looked down the hill.
“She’s bringing her telescope.”
“I didn’t think we’d need a telescope to see meteors?” Applejack said before taking a bite out of a cupcake.
Spike sat down between Applejack and Pinkie. “That’s what I said! But apparently she wants a glimpse of the stars after the shower too.” He took one of the cupcakes and shoved half of it into his mouth.
A snarl came from Rainbow’s nose. “I cleared the sky like FIVE HOURS ago. If I knew it was going to take this long I could have been napping for five hours and just cleared them now!” She smooshed her cheeks into her eyes with her hooves.
“Oh, um, I… I think it’s starting.” Fluttershy pointed out.
A single meteor fell in and out of sight rather quickly in the far off distance.
“AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she landed and sat next to Rarity and Fluttershy.
A few more lights flew in and out of existence.
“Twilight is sure gonna be upset if she misses this.” Applejack said as the sky started to light up more.
“Not to worry, I’m here right on time!”
Sure enough, Twilight arrived just as the shower began to get heavy. Lights in the far off distance shined almost as bright as the dawning sun. Others were a bit closer, but were gone just as quickly as they arrived.
Pinkie Pie spat out some words as she continuously stuffed the cupcakes into her mouth. “Ifthh suuuu-“ She swallowed her mouthful. “-pretty!”
“Man! I want to be just as fast as them! They’re so quick!” Rainbow Dash said. Her eyes were wide and mouth agape, all from the thought of speed matching those fire space rocks.
“Their speed matches their beauty. And here I thought gemstones were the brightest rocks.” Rarity said.
“Actually, the meteoroids aren’t bright. They only become bright once they enter the atmosphere and start to burn up. That’s when the meteoroids become meteors.” Twilight replied with her usual nerdy attitude.
The shine of the meteors became more and more rapid as more entered the planets gravity.
The ponies and Spike stared up in awe at the massive influx of space debris.
“It appears that some may actually make it to the planet.” Observed Twilight. “Hopefully they remain meteoroid size.”
As if on cue, a large meteor began making its way to the planets ground. The flight path it was set on was for the Everfree Forest. It flew directly over the group of friends sitting on the hill.
“SOOOO COOL!” Rainbow Dash yelled as they watched it soar above head and land in the middle of the Everfree.
The crash sent out a shockwave that was felt by the ponies and perhaps everypony in Ponyville.
As if it was the last one, the meteor shower ended with a kaboom in the distance as the last meteor blipped out of sight.
“Oh dear, t-that was q-quite the loud noise. I hope th-the animals of the forest are okay.” Fluttershy trembled in fear as she hid behind Rarity.
Applejack rose to her feet. “Listen y’all. It may be chilly tonight, but this summer’s been dryer then last. As much as I’d prefer to not go into the Everfree Forest, we should probably make sure that them there meteor didn’t spread ah fire and burn the forest down.”
“Well, actually since it landed it’s a meteorite.” Twilight corrected Applejack.
In return, Applejack gave Twilight a stern look with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, um, right. Let’s go check it out, we may be the only few who saw where it landed. Let’s go ponies!”
Twilight took charge and started off down the hill with everyone following behind.
Fluttershy took a moment. “Go into t-the f-f-f-forest?” She said, shivering in fear.
“Come now darling, if there are animals hurt or in danger we’ll need you.” Rarity said as she trotted down the hill after the group.
A squeak could be heard from the yellow pony, followed with the stomping of hooves as she stood in place. Fluttershy psyched herself up for her duty to the animals as she quickly followed her friends into the dark forest.
The forest was as dark as coal in a cave, but a light still managed to shine through the trees as the ponies rushed towards it. Rainbow Dash flew high above the treetops to reach the site first. A fire roared bright in the distance as she closed the gap. She stopped at the edge of the freshly made crater. Tree’s had been knocked down and covered with the dirt that kicked up by the stone from the heavens.
“Holy moly!” Rainbow hovered in the air, slowly descending to the ground at the sight of the burning rock.
Luckily no trees had caught fire as the circle around the stone, along with the stone itself, were the only things still burning after its landing.
“This way everypony! There’s Rainbow!” Applejack yelled as she made her way out of the forest to Rainbow’s side.
Everyone else trotted out of the forest one at a time only to be struck with a powerful wave of heat emanating from the stone’s crater. Rainbow had already started to sweat from the temperature since she first arrived.
“Is it still a meteorite if it’s on fire while in the ground?” Rarity asked.
“Well, technically it’s landed on the planet so it’s no longer just a meteor.” Twilight replied, unsure of an answer or maybe a little dumbfounded by the pure awe of the flames.
A rustling from the bushes behind the ponies went unnoticed as they stared on.
“As interesting as your conversation may be, would you be inclined to lend some aide to me?” The rhyming pony shuffled out of the bushes carrying two buckets of water on a stick on her back.
“Zecora!” The group of friends shouted as they greeted her.
She placed the buckets down on the ground. “The fire must not spread, or surely the forest will be dead. If you pegasi would be so kind to fly above, the water could give the fire a little shove.”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy nodded as they picked up the buckets with their teeth and flew above the meteorite.
“Only two buckets? Is there a lake near by Zecora?” Asked Applejack.
“These buckets should die the flame, this rocks damage has been very tame.”
The two pegasi poured the bucketed water in a spiral around the meteorite to cut off the flames from reaching out. As they began to pour the liquid onto the stone it let out a loud shriek that could be heard coming from inside the rock. Fluttershy dropped the bucket out of fear and covered her mouth.
The fire died down as a bright orange flame struggled its way out of the meteorites side.
“Ooooh! What’s that?” Pinkie asked, pointing her hoof to the flame that spread away from the rock itself.
The flame popped out of the meteorite and rolled along the ground before coming to a stop. Rainbow Dash flew over and poured water directly onto it. “You’re not getting away!”
It let out a loud screech yet again, this time causing Rainbow to drop her bucket and cover her ears. The bucket fell directly onto the flame. Except it wasn’t a flame at all. A bright orange creature about the size of a filly stood in the dirt with a bucket atop its head.
The other ponies stood in shock of this small strange creature, as it ran around in a circle trying to remove the bucket atop its head.