Prologue: The Arrival

A lone lavender unicorn stood observing the stars in atop a grassy hill overlooking a small town.  By her side was a notebook titled “Twilight Sparkle’s Observations on Solar Movements.” Every now and then she would levitate the book up to her face and jot a few words in with a pencil held in her mouth. She also had a hoof-held telescope in a bag she had brought with her.

Noticing no more interesting spatial phenomena, she packed her notebook and telescope in her bag and right before she was about to leave a bright light in the corner of her eye momentarily blinded her. When she could see again she turned around to see what had caused it only to find a ‘meteor’ flying towards her at astonishing speeds. She had no time to run to safety and instead brought a shield over herself as a last ditch effort. Right as she finished casting, the ‘meteor’ crashed into the ground. The resulting explosion was so loud that when the unicorn put her hooves on her ears she felt a warm fluid dripping out. Taking a look she noticed it was blood. For the first time since seeing the meteor she screamed. All the pony saw though was her mouth open and her vocal cords straining. It was completely silent. A few seconds later though she began to hear.

The sound of embers and fire was everywhere. Flames began to crop up all over the fields. All the trees around her had either been incinerated or charred beyond recognition. And directly in front of her was a giant hole, with the most bizarre thing she had ever seen in her life smack dab in the middle of it...

Whatever it was freaked her out. Even that was an understatement. The Creature had a mix of pale orange and black leathery wings, almost like a dragon. Its head had an oddly shaped ‘mane’ that was brown with black streaks in it. It wore a strange assortment of tight fitting(and relatively revealing) clothes, which clung to its form. The Creature was very masculine and had a ‘male’ atmosphere to it which led the unicorn to deduce that this was a man. The Creature had what appeared to be two legs and arms, an odd sight in the area the unicorn lived in. It had burns covering most of its body, probably due to the crash it had. Every instinct in her body told the unicorn to walk away and not look back, but she could not resist the urge to discover something new, and eventually her curiosity got the better of her.

She trotted closer and closer, avoiding the fire and jumping over it when she couldn't avoid it. When the unicorn was a few feet away she stopped checking to make sure it was safe to get closer. She was only two feet from it when its eyes shot open. They were smaller than hers, with purple irises and black pupils. The creature quickly sat up and began to look around. When his eyes landed on her she nearly jumped.

“Hoc est non Lyrkourgas. Sed hoc nihil sit in medio terræ. O scis ubi ego sum? Etiam ... quod est iustum. Nec intelleges quid loquatur mihi. Hic ego tibi reddo. Ah, that’s better. You should be able to understand me now.”

The unicorn just stood there in shock, her jaw dropped and her eyes seemingly glazed over. The creature stared at her, and only then realized the horrible burns on his body.

“Aaaaaaagggghhh! Where did these come from!?!? And how did my escape pod break up?!”

He continued to look around trying to decipher where he was.

The unicorn finally managed to speak, “What are you?”

The creature had started to heal himself, and to the astonishment of the pony, without a horn.

“Well, seeming as I might be here awhile, I might as well get to know everyone. I’m Zephyr, SCL of the Imperial Berenian

Navy…. oh you probably didn’t understand that at all. Okay let me start over. I’m a Gortoss, a winged magical race, with psychic abilities. I have two brothers and a sister. My brothers' names are Zihark and Hugh, while my sisters is Elina.  Our parents died a long time ago but I have grown used to it. I’m thirty-four mil… I mean I’m twenty four. I live on a planet named Berenia, which has three moons and one sun. And thats about it. Enough about me, who are you?”

“Uhhh... well, my name is Twilight Sparkle.  And this is Equestria.”

Twilight Sparkle gestured to the surrounding area.

“Such a beautiful place…” Zephyr remarked. “Reminds me of home, but with more highways and more technology...not to mention all the OBDs.”

"Whats an OBD?" Twilight asked.

"OBD stands for Orbital Battle Defense. My race is in a Galaxy-wide war with... umm I guess I can't translate their name. They are the reason I'm crash-landed here. They blew up my Flagship." He replied.

"Uhhh, ok... well anyway, I think it would be a bad idea if you walked into Ponyville like that.” Twilight suggested, indicating his looks.

“Ok… well lets see then.” Zephyr replied.

He closed his eyes and started to glow. After about two minutes a mist surrounded him that Twilight could not see through. When it dissipated she was clearly shocked.

“Hows this?” He asked grinning.

In Zephyr’s place was a pegasus with tan colored fur and a brown masculine mane. His wings were large, roughly six feet in length when fully outstretched. His tail had a mixed color of brown and tan. Zephyr’s eyes were blue, and if you looked into them, it would seem like their depth went on forever.

“You look great, I’m sure you’ll fit in perfectly. Lets go back to the town. I’ll need to find you a place to stay and its getting late. Follow me! You are going to love everypony!" Twilight said happily.

*Everypony....?* Zephyr thought confused, having never heard the word before.

"Why are you just standing there? Come on!" Twilight yelled.

"Ok, I'm coming! Sheesh..." He replied.

As Zephyr and Twilight galloped down the hill, the Reign of Fire began....