//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Falling Skies // by Adrian DeWiartt //------------------------------// He smiled, the human actually smiled. That's something no human has done since... Ever, really. It would appear that this obviously abnormal human was attempting to comfort Applejack to present a non-hostile atmosphere, however upon seeing that his second attempt at peaceful contact had failed, he retracted his hand and purged the smile from his lips. He slowly returned to his full heighted stance, staring down at her just as curiously as she looked at him. Although his face was relaxed and his expression now detached, Applejack could see almost the same amount of surprise in his eyes as she had. He opened his mouth as if he were about to speak, only to flinch, hissing while gingerly touching his throat. The human was covered in so much grime, soot, and Celestia knows what else that she almost didn't see the several wounds the human had on his body. It seems that his throat sustained damage of some kind, it was hard to tell since his massive hand was wrapped around it. After a few short moments of deep thought, the human turned his back to Applejack and marched over to the pod, examining it closely as if he were unaffected by the immense heat radiating off of it. Applejack watched with a mixture of fear, shock, and curiosity, still completely baffled by the experience thus far. She cautiously paid audience to the human's actions, fearing that if she tried to make a run for it he would probably give chase. And considering how big and athletic he is, with those long legs, he would catch up to her in no time. It seems the human was interested in the opposite side of the pod that was facing the charred dirt, looking for a way to access it somehow without sustaining injury. The human would approach one of the few destroyed apple trees, examining the sturdiness of their branches and shrapnel, pondering if they were sturdy enough to lever the pod safely out of the crater it was lodged within. After searching for a potential lever to aid in his intention, the human let out a growl of defeat and slowly approached the crashed pod from behind, giving it another glance over to gain his bearings, before squatting down and grasping the ledges on each side of the steaming ship. "S-Stop! You'll burn yourself!" Applejack tried to force out, but it only came out as a terrified squeak that he probably didn't hear since he was roaring loudly from the pain and straining. Applejack had her doubts at first, that thing probably weighed a ton or two yet he was attempting to move it with his bare hands. Her doubts quickly faded however as the large pod began to move slowly inch by inch from its crater. "Y-You're burning yourself! Please stop!" Applejack tried to call out again, holding out her hoof, worry spreading across her face. She worried for the human, but feared him at the same time. Thousands of thoughts were racing through her head as she watched this human, unsure if he even was a human, or at least the kind she knew of, lift the massive metallic pod from the charred earth. She was concerned for his well being, it's only natural for her well rounded moral compass to encourage her to feel concern for him. Then again, her instincts were screaming at her to run and run away as fast as possible without looking back. Her thoughts were interrupted when the human managed to actually lift the blistering hot pod out of its crater and flip it onto the ground to where the bottom was now facing up, revealing yet another canopy only this one was void of glass. The human was studying the canopy, looking for a way to open it despite the painful burns on his hands. However, before he could find what he was looking for, he was startled by the sound of approaching voices. "Over here!" she heard Twilight's voice call out, followed by several other voices of who she could only assume were royal guards. The human clicked his tongue, narrowing his eyes in the direction of the voices before glancing back to Applejack. He paused, as if contemplating if he should stay, however since Applejack seemed to still fear him he seemed to have decided that it was best if he retreated for now. The human took off running at incredible speed, faster than any other human, or pony, that she's ever seen. Just as he disappeared into the darkness, Twilight accompanied by a few royal guards and fire response ponies arrived at the scene. "Applejack!" Twilight exclaimed, galloping over to her earth pony friend and giving her a concerned hug. "Twilight, I'm... I'm glad you're here" Applejack said, returning the hug, looking a bit dazed. "Applejack, did something happen? We heard a scream a few minutes ago on our way here, we rushed as fast as we could!" she said while pulling away. "I'm fine Twilight, I was just a bit startled is all" she explained, pointing at the metallic pod. Twilight's reaction was pretty much the same to Applejack's: shock confusion, and bewilderment, only her expression held quite a bit more curiosity than Applejack's did. "What in Celestia's name is... That?" Twilight asked, her along with many of the other ponies that came along looked absolutely shocked by the sight of this alien-like mechanical pod. She slowly began to approach it along with the guards.The fire response ponies were combing the area looking for any more possible fire hazards as the alicorn mare and the guards examined the pod closely. One of the guards suddenly yipped, putting her hoof in her mouth, trying to sooth the pain of being burned. "Careful! The atmospheric friction from descending so high up and such high speeds makes that pod hot enough to practically melt through skin like butter" Twilight explained as she used her aura to scan and examine each and every part of the pod. Applejack thought to herself, if what Twilight said was true, then how did the human manage to lift that pod out of the crater while sustaining only second degree burns? Applejack pondered for a moment, before standing up and trotting over to Twilight once the alicorn mare had finished scanning the ship with her magical aura. "Incredible, unlike anything I've ever seen! This technology has not a single trace of magic, and appears to rely completely on scientific engineering! The royal scientists have only just begun experimental tech like this, yet this pod looks like its hundreds, if not thousands of years ahead of us!" Twilight explained to Applejack upon noticing her approach. "That's... Interesting" Applejack replied, staring at the pod and then over at Twilight. "Is something the matter?" Twilight asked, noticing Applejack's disconcerting frown. "Twilight... What would happen if a human touched this pod, even for a few seconds?" Applejack asked in a whisper. "Um... That would be very bad, their skin isn't protected by fur like ours, not that it would matter, the human skin would melt away and you would be down to the bone in a matter of minutes, they'd possibly suffer a third or fourth degree burn even if a human touched this pod for a few seconds" Twilight explained, confused by Applejack's whispering. "Why do you ask?" Twilight inquired, whispering as well to oblige Applejack. "Twilight... There's something I need to tell you... But you cannot tell anypony else, not even the princesses or your family, understand?" Applejack spoke, causing Twilight to give Applejack a concerned stare. "Um, I... Okay, alright, I promise to keep it secret" Twilight responded after a few long moments of contemplation. "Thank you, we can talk later" Applejack whispered in response. The meteor crash in Sweet Apple Acres had become the talk of the town, a lot of ponies would ask Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac about the meteor all the time. They always gave vague or casual responses, especially Applejack since she was the only one to see the 'meteor' considering Big Mac and Apple Bloom left the farm to go get help and Granny Smith was sleeping like a baby. Nobody really got a chance to see the meteor with the threat of possible radiation, at least that's what the royal guard reported. Celestia wanted this pod-like vehicle to be kept as confidential as possible until they knew what came out of that pod and what else was in it. Twilight kept her vow of secrecy with Applejack, playing along with Applejack's claims of not knowing what came out of the pod. A search mission was issued to track down and find whatever exited that pod, because based on rumors shared throughout the royal guard, there's some sort of alien armor and weapons found within the pod as well as flesh samples. Twilight had brought Applejack to her castle the next day so they could talk privately, considering news reporters were practically stalking AJ and her family. "Alright AJ, it should be safe to talk here, nopony else is here and Spike is hanging out with the crusaders" Twilight said while sitting down on the sofa that her human, Max, was also sitting on while eating a stick of celery. "Alright... Well, you saw how the pod was... Not exactly in the place it crashed, right?" Applejack spoke up. "Yes, I noticed that... What about it?" Twilight asked, curiosity written all over her face. "Well... It's because what came out of that pod moved it..." Applejack spoke, causing Twilight's ears to perk up, and her eyes to widen slightly. Max's eyes had also locked onto Applejack strangely enough, he was probably curious of the shifty tone in her and Twilight's voice. "Go on" Twilight spoke excitedly, scooting to the edge of her seat. "Well... It looked like he was trying to get something that was in the other compartment of the pod, but it was facing the ground so he couldn't access it. And so, he grabbed a hold of it and... Lifted it" Applejack explained, causing Twilight to gasp, shock on her face. "B-But... The atmospheric friction from descending that high and that fast made the pod hot enough to melt skin off the bone! Also... He? Who, or what, is he?" Twilight responded, licking her suddenly dry lips. "Human... It was a human" Applejack responded, causing Twilight's eyes to bulge. "H-Human? But... That doesn't make any sense!" Twilight exclaimed, fanning her self with her wings while trying to wrap her mind around this whole conversation. "Twilight I swear that's what I saw, it was a human, or at least something something that looked exactly like a human!" Applejack explained. Twilight bit her lip, gazing off into nothingness while she contemplated deeply about all the information she recieved. She then glanced back at Applejack, letting out a deep sigh to calm herself down. "O-Okay, um... T-Tell me about this human, how would you describe him?" Twilight asked, hovering a clip board and pen over to her with her magic, prepared to write down notes. "W-Well..." Applejack pondered deeply, recalling as many details as she could remember from last night about this mysterious human. "He was a giant, about seven feet tall. He was built like a minotaur, and covered in all sorts of weird scars, the biggest scars on him looked surgical. His skin was light like Max's, but seemed slightly darker. His face was clean shaven, so was his head. And his eyes... His eyes were an unnatural blue. From the way the moonlight struck his face, it made his eyes look as if they were glowing" she described while Twilight wrote down every single word of it onto the clip board. "A-And you're telling me that this massive human moved the pod while sustaining only second degree burns?" Twilight asked, a nervous expression crossing her features. "Not only did he move it, he lifted it up and carried it out of the crater..." Applejack stated, causing Twilight to pause, biting her lip anxiously, her eyes drifting elsewhere in deep thought. "This isn't good, we have to find this human... Applejack, we should tell Princess Celestia about it, she could be a major help" Twilight spoke, but Applejack shook her head. "We can't, it's not like I don't trust Celestia, or Luna for that matter, it's just that... I don't trust any of the nobles. Their political views aren't exactly diplomatic, they're all xenophobic morons and they'd probably demand that the human be executed... We don't even know if this human is hostile or not" Applejack explained, causing Twilight to pause and daze off in deep thought once more. "What do you suggest we do?" Twilight asked, her expression was filled with worry. "Well... I could take him in on my farm. He's certainly not lacking in physical capability. I'll take care of him there and you can come over and look him over, work your smart stuff, and find out exactly what the hell he is and why he's here" Applejack answered. "I... See" Twilight responded, thinking deeply. "After we gather enough information about the human, we'll be able to present him to Celestia while having ammunition to fire back at the nobles if they do decide to attack him" Twilight said while writing down notes on her clipboard. "Right, that sounds better than approaching Celestia unprepared" Applejack responded with a small smile. "Now, there's just one thing we gotta do" Twilight said as she set her clipboard down and looked at Applejack. "What's that?" Applejack asked. "We have to find this mystery human, and we must find him quickly" Twilight responded. Hours passed after Twilight and Applejack's discussion, it was some time around late afternoon now and everypony was going home for the day to settle down. All except for Fluttershy that is. Fluttershy had let her bunny Angel go wondering about, and he's been gone for quite some time now. Fluttershy was beginning to get worried, and had decided to go look for him. It was starting to grow dark, and Fluttershy's concern for Angel grew higher and higher as time flew by. "Angel! Angel where are you?" Fluttershy called out with her soft voice, trotting along the tree line of the forest near her cottage. She glanced around with worried eyes, she couldn't find any trace of Angel near the treeline where he usually would be near, mainly to relax under the shade of the trees. She wondered if he wandered into the woods and got lost, so she decided to fly up and comb around the forest closest to her home. She circled around the skies for quite some time before she noticed a small fuzzy white spec in an opening within the woods where a river ran through. She let out a sigh of relief, and descended carefully down to the opening. "Angel! There you are, you nearly gave me a heart attack" Fluttershy spoke in a soft yet scolding tone as she landed a few feet from Angel. The bunny perked his head up, glancing back at Fluttershy before quickly hopping over to her, frantically waving his paws in an attempt to communicate something with her. She tilted her head in confusion, wondering what Angel was trying to convey. "What's wrong Angel? Why are you out here so far into the forest? You know it's not safe to wander in these woods alone" she said, before Angel started pointing beyond the bushes by the river he was crouched behind. She glanced at the bushes, and then at Angel, slowly piecing together what he was conveying. She wondered if he was hiding from something. And if so, she figured she had just given away their position. Before she could contemplate any further, her thoughts were interrupted by heavy thudding footsteps approaching her. She froze, shaking like a leaf as Angel squeaked in surprise, his head craning up to meet the eyes of the being that towered over them. Apparently, Angel's position was compromised a while ago, and whatever he was hiding from knew of his location already. This creature approached from behind, casting a looming shadow over the cream colored pegasus and snow white bunny. Fluttershy whimpered, her entire body shaking as she slowly turned her head around, looking up at the two piercing unnatural blue eyes that stared back down at her.