Designation: Archie

Luna's wings beat hard as she raced towards where the meteor had landed. She would have liked to have gotten there sooner, but her Guard Captain had talked her into taking a small detail of her night guards, while he gathered the experts that would be needed. Behind her, the guards struggled to keep up, and more than once she had to stop and let them catch up. Looking behind her again, she saw that her guards were no longer within her sight. Again. With a sigh, she slowed herself down to a stop.

"At this rate, it will be time to lower the moon by the time I get there!"

Turning her gaze towards the moon, she waited.

'An asteroid survives entry into our atmosphere for the first time in centuries, a wealth of knowledge in rock form, just waiting for me to study it!' The Princess had to resist the urge to squee at the thought, 'And I'm stuck waiting for a group of guards I did not even want to bring with me... curse that Steel wing and his silver tongue.'

Just as the sound of her guards wing beats reached her ears, she also felt a tingling sensation in her horn. Before she could even ponder the reason behind it, a bright flash erupted from the field from where the meteor had landed. Looking towards the area, her eyes were meet with a bright beam of light shooting into the sky, dispersing the clouds.

Just as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" One of the guards yelled, as they neared.

As she turned her head to address them, a small blast of wind blew past her, making her drop a few feet out of the air. Once she righted herself, she turned her attention to her guards, who were recovering from the surprising ordeal. One of her guards, Aegis is she remembered correctly, approached her flustered.

"Your highness! Are you alright!?" He asked, concern written across his face.

"I am fine." She replied, then turned her attention towards the area where the light had come from, "see to your fellow guards, I will go ahead."

"But your highness-!"

"This is no simple meteor." She interrupted.

Turning her head back towards Aegis, her eyes locking onto his.

"You will wait in this area till Guard Captain Steel Wing arrives, then you inform him that I have gone on alone. I will take no argument on this."

"Y-yes, your highness..." Aegis responded weakly.

Nodding, Luna gave a strong downbeat of her wings, and was off. Soon reaching top speed, without the need to stop, she arrived at the crash site in seconds. Slowing herself down greatly, she then landed. A bit harder than she meant to, but when thoughts of scientific study, and high energy discharges are on the mind, who wouldn't miss judge the landing?

After the displaced snow had cleared, the trail of destruction from the objects landing laid before her. A few hundred feet away from her, laid the object. Jumping into a most undignified galop for a princess, with an even more undignified gleeful smile on her lips, she bolted towards the object. When she was a few feet from the object, the princess seemed to remember herself, and slowed to a canter. The smile lessened, but was still present.

Looking at the object up close, her theories of the object not being a meteor were all but confirmed.

"The outside seems to be some kind of metal," She spoke out loud to herself, "It appears to be highly damaged, most likely from impact, or other unknown instances." As she looked over the object, she couldn't help but notice a persistent humming. Dismissing it as snow melting against the obviously still hot metal. "I wonder, what kind of metal could withstand not only entering the atmosphere, but the impact as well..."

"Well, its not meant to withstand either of those, but its a very strong titanium alloy." A voice responded in a chipper tone from her right.

"Titanium, hmm... I guess that would work for impacts, but it still doesn't explain how it made it through the atmosphere."

"As I said, its not meant to. Your guess is as good as mine on that one." The voice replied.

'Hmm'ing in agreement, Luna began to fire up her horn... then she realized that somepony was talking with her. Whipping her head to the right, the sight of a floating sphere greeted her.

"Hi!"

The princess of the night screamed like a little filly.