Chapters Prolougue
The Doctor stood at the console of the Tardis, before him, coiled around the central Time rotor lay a tendril of the Parasite know as Axos. It had been crudely hardwired into the drive systems of the Tardis linking the two together, Axos had become a Tardis and the Tardis had become a part of Axos.
The engines whined and groaned as they struggled to create a stable time vortex for the huge bulk of Axos to travel through. "Come on you must take the load!" cried the Doctor in frustration "you must", this was his only hope of saving earth, if the Tardis couldn`t remove Axos from the planet then its parasitic claws would absorb all life from it, leaving nothing but a lifeless ball of rock in its wake. In desperation he channeled more power into the engines pushing them dangerously close to overloading, the engines screamed in protest and with a final juddering groan the ship took off taking Axos with it.
"Your sacrifice was in vain Time lord" echoed the monotone voice of Axos "you are joined to us forever in this loop of time" "our fate is yours". After the Tardis had taken off, Axons had materialised within the console room and pinned the Doctor to it, preventing him escaping, if Axos was to be forever trapped then it would ensure that its jailer would be trapped with it. "Not if i can break through this time loop" grunted the Doctor as he desperately strained to reach the emergancy drive override lever. The Axons had him securely pinned and it took all his strength to strech his arm so the tips of his fingers just brushed the lever, with a final grunt of effort he flung the lever over. The entire ship heaved as the crude links were violently severed allowing the Tardis to break free from its parasitic hitchhiker and make its escape.
Axos was drifting, the violent disconnection from the Tardis had paralysed its nervous system leaving it drifting helplessly through the same points in space and time in a never ending loop. "Emergeny""emergency" came the same monotone voice "nervous system crippled", "fuel systems exausted", "activate suspended animation cycle". All across the ship systems began to enter suspended animation, temperature dropped rapidly, brain activity reduced to minimum levels and the heart reduced its pulse rate to less than one beat a year. Axos could survive like this for millenia if it had to and indeed it had in the past as it travelled the vast distances between stars. However this time there was no prey to be found at the end of its journey, only an unending torturous loop and a slow demise as its last remaining energy reserves were eaten away by the passage of time. Its only hope of escape and indeed survival would be if an outside source interfered on one of its passings through the loop. Fate being the fickel being that it is provided just that in a form that non would ever have expected, it came in the form of a little naive Alicorn looking up at the heavens from her new home in Canterlot Castle.
Systems slowly began to revive themselves, something had roused Axos from its slumber. "investigate" "sensory detectors picking up unknown energy build up" "investigate". Outside the ships protective Chitin a slight glow had begun to form around it, slowly it grew in intensity until the entire ships midsection was encased in a briliant Violet coloured band which proceeded to constricted to fit around the ship locking it in securly in place, from the band streched a chain of violet energy that seemed to anchor itself to a nearby planet. "Emergency" echoed the voice, fear starting to creep into in monotone anouncments "hostile energy source detected" "absorb, proccess and adapt". The violet band had secured itself and with slow deliberate movements, the connective chain began to carfully alter the trajectory of Axos. Inside Axos its unique biology began analysing the energy that had captured it, biofilters screened the sampled particles and sent messages containing newly generated adaptations to glands embedded in the chitin. "Adaptation complete" announced the voice, suddenly the grip of the band weakened and began to slip off like water running over grease, the chain pulsed with energy as if attempting to reinforce its hold but it was no use the band could not regain its grip, slowly the band slid entirely from the shell of Axos and dissapated into vaporous wisps of energy leaving Axos to once again drift through the void. Only this time it would remain in this time stream, the event that had just unfolded had been enough to disrupt the time loop. Axos was free.
"Attention" came the voice "disruption in time loop detected" "sensory systems detect viable nutrition planet" "inteligent life detected". Now was the time to feed, after its long imprisonment Axos had grown weak and could not afford any confrontation, if it was going to gain access to this desperatly needed fuel source it would require a non violent approach. Using its last reserves of strength Axos pushed itself towards the planet on a landing course, as it traveled it began to transmit a distress signal using both radio frequencys and telepathic fields. "Axos calling surface" "fuel systems exhuasted" "request immediate assistance" "Axos calling surface".
Deep in the Everfree Forest a pack Timber Wolves howled and whined while manticores growled fearfully, they sensed a change in the atmosphere, they could smell something foul and unknown on the wind and it terrified them. With a briliant flash the night sky became day for an instant before returning to Lunas beautiful night, what followed next was a deep rumble as Axos touched down in the center of the Forest. Upon landing thick long Tendrils deployed from under the body of the ship and began to burrow deep into the planets crust anchoring it to the rock, the main body submerged itself into the dirt to both conceal its true size and provide some protection for itself. Now it would wait until the natives of this world came to investigate and when they did it could begin the first stage of its plan.
Axos had come to Equestria and soon the nutrition cycle would begin
The mysterious Comet
The full moon cast its silver light over Equestria, Luna had really outdone herself this evening. From the Canterlot city square the clock stuck two and a night guard began the hourly patrol. As usual there wasn't much to report, nothing really happened in Canterlot any more apart from the occasional pony who had had a little to much hard cider and needed to be escorted home. The night guard performed his regular sweep of his allotted sector however nothing caught his eye this evening, all houses were dark now, their residents having long since turned in. With his patrol complete he returned to the Barracks to begin filling his report ready for the regular guard to take over.
Not every light was out however, from her new room in one of the taller towers in Canterlot Castle Twilight Sparkle sat with her eye glued to one of her Telescopes
. "Hmmm" Twilight thought to herself.
"Find something Twi?" Spike asked while trying to supress a yawn. He`d been sat there for over 4 hours waiting while Twilight scanned the heavens, somehow she had managed to persuade him to assist with her stargazing, which meant staying up half the night waiting to take notes on any new astral bodies that she may find. So far the only excitement to occur turned out to be a bug on the lens.
"Nothing yet, but iv got a feeling that this will be our lucky night" replied Twilight with a hopeful note, though in truth she was close to calling it a night she wasn't finding anything of interest at all.
After another half hour her patients wore thin and she sighed "I guess its not our night after all", she turned away from the telescope and began to head back inside.
"Come on Twi cheer up, you cant expect to find something every night" yawned Spike as he made his way to his basket.
"I guess so" said Twilight as she turned to look one last time at the night sky "but I was sure that tonight would be the night I made a major discov......". Her voice trailed of when she noticed something strange in the sky, "SPIKE" cried Twilight as she raced back to the telescope" get the quill and Ink hurry, I think I may have been right after all.
"Ugh this better not be that bug on the lens again" he grumbled as he climbed out of his basket, he had just lay down and got comfy when Twi had called.
"Ok tracking object 2.3 degrees north by north east" said Twi as she spooled off a load of co-ordinates, the excitement in her voice made evident by the way she was practically dancing on the spot.
"Tracking object 2.3 degrees, wait did you say 2.3 or 3.2?" asked spike as he desperately tried to keep up with the mass amounts of data being hurled at him.
"ugh spike! please pay attention" groaned Twi "I may have just found a brand new Comet and as the new princess, I want to make sure I get every detail right before I present my findings".
"ok ok but could you at least slow down a bit?" replied spike " its nearly three in the morning and I should have been asleep hours ago dreaming of Rarity", Spike clapped a claw over his mouth as Twilight looked up with a mischievous grin on her face.
"Dreaming of what now" she asked with an amused look.
"errrrr... r. rare Gems! yeah that's it rare Gems" he replied in a very nervous tone "anyway why do I have to do this?" he said as he desperately tried to steer the conversation in a safer direction, "couldn't you have got Owlicious to do this?" he's always up at this hour anyway".
Twilight rolled her eyes "Spike you know Owlicious is still in Ponyville helping to look after the Library while we`re away for royal duties" "besides how's he supposed to hold a quill and write?" she asked, apparently oblivious to the irony of the question, "now if your done grumbling lets continue".
After two more minuets of constant observation Twilight was suddenly struck dumb by what she just witnessed. "Its gone" she spluttered
"what do you mean its gone?" asked Spike in confusion
"I mean ITS GONE" she replied "it just faded from view right before my eyes". In all her years of Star gazing she had never once seen a comet just fade away as if it was nothing but mirage, it was impossible, wasn't it?
"I'm starting to think you may be seeing things now Twi" sighed Spike "maybe your more tired than you thought".
"NO" exclaimed Twi stomping her hoof to punctuate the point " I know what I saw, and I saw that Comet or whatever it is fade away as if it was never there".
"Well maybe we should ask Princess Celestia or Princess Luna for advice in the morning" yawned Spike as he put down the parchment and quill and headed back to his basket "but right now its gone so im going to bed, goodnight".
Twilight sat there perplexed, how could something as large as a comet just disappear? She decided she would take Spikes advice and ask Celestia in the morning, but right now bed didn't sound like a bad idea. The excitement of her discovery and the shock of it sudden disappearance had left her feeling exhausted, she yawned as she climbed into bed and lay there looking up at the ceiling " how could something like that be possible" she thought to herself as she slowly drifted of to sleep, she didn't know but she got the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time she would see that mysterious comet.
The Experiment and arrival
The Experiment and arrival
Celestia was awoken form her slumber by a knock on her door, she looked out of her window and saw the moon had just started to lower to make way for her to raise the sun. Slowly she roused herself from her bed whilst bidding the knocker to enter, for someone to have disturbed her at this hour meant it must be important. The door opened in response to her reply to reveal a large dark blue Allicorn, her hair, the colour of the night sky gently flowed in an ethereal wind." Luna?" asked Celestia in a sleepy voice" what brings you here at this hour, is everything alright?"
Before replying Luna quickly checked to make sure the corridor was empty before closing the door. "Sister we would speak with thou" said Luna with a regal tone.
Celestia gave her sister a disapproving look "Luna you know we've spoken about this before, we don't use words like thou in everyday speech anymore".
Luna grimaced as she realised that she had once again slipped back into her old speaking habit. "Apologies sister we..." she caught herself "..I am still finding it hard not to use the old language anymore, what I meant to say is I wish to talk with you".
Celestia made her way over to her dresser and picked up a brush to try and tame her wild bed hair. "Of course sister I`m always willing to talk, but would you mind if I freshened up first?" Luna nodded and made her way to the door "I will meet you in the library then".
After finally managing to tame her hair and grabbing a cup of coffee from the kitchens Celestia made her way toward the library. Upon entering she found Luna out on the balcony looking through her Telescope. "Find anything of interest?" she asked causing Luna to look up from her viewing,
"We have sister and it is most perplexing, I have just witnessed something which should not be theoretically possible"
Celestia looked around the room with a confused look on her face "who's we Luna?",
Luna gave her sister a look as if to ask "really?", "very well, I! have discovered something."
"That's better" chuckled Celestia as she made her way over to Luna's telescope and peered through the eye piece "so what have you found then?".
Luna made her way over to a nearby desk and lifted a note pad with her magic, "I have discovered a comet that does not follow the plans that I have laid out", she flipped over a few pages in the note book before levitating it over to Celestia, " as you can see from the notes I have made this Comet appears to be rouge, and to make matters more confusing it disappeared without a trace as I was observing it".
Celestia arched an eyebrow "it disappeared, how?"
"That is what I am struggling to understand" Luna replied with a hint of frustration in her voice "im worried Tia, what if im loosing my control over the night, what if this rouge comet is just the start and more will follow. Tears began to form in her eyes "what if becoming Nightmare moon has affected me more than I thought, and the effects are only just starting to show".
Celestia embraced her sister in her wings comforting her "Luna don't worry about such things im sure there is a reason for this, you've still yet to regain your full strength since that time so maybe this comet has just slipped through a crack".
Luna seemingly calmed a little by this raised her head to look her sister in the eyes, "thank you for being here for me".
"Luna since that night I vowed to never neglect your feelings again" said Celestia in a reassuring tone "and I intend to keep that vow" After a short period of time the two sisters concluded their discussion on this mysterious rouge comet, having agreed to discuss it at a more appropriate time before returning to their duties (or in Celestias case her bed).
Later that morning Celestia had raised the sun as usual despite only managing a few hours sleep that night, before heading to the thrown room to deal with the regular duties of running a country. Shortly before noon her regular routine was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a particularly excited purple alicorn. "Twilight what has you so excited?" asked Celestia as Twilight made her way to the foot of the throne, she bowed before her former teacher
"Your majesty iv made a fascinating discovery" she announced with pride before stopping short when she noticed the amused expretion on Celestias face.
"Twilight there is no need for such formality with me now, you are also a princess don't forget and therefore we are equal in my eyes" chuckled Celestia as Twilight sheepishly looked at her hooves. "im sorry princess I guess I still need to get used to that", Celestia smiled "there's no need to apologise, now what is this discovery you have made?".
Twilight immediately shifted back to her giddy excited mood " well I was up last night doing some astronomy and I think iv discovered a new comet. but that's not the best bit, this comet just disappeared before my very eyes"
Celestia listened intently to what her former student had discovered before smiling " it would appear you also caught sight of Luna's mysterious comet".
Twilights mood instantly nose dived "you mean im not the first to discover it?" she asked in a crestfallen manner.
Celestia noticing her former students disappointment replied " while it may be true that you were not the only one to have noticed the comet it does not mean that you cannot have the honour of naming it and studying it further"
Twilight perked up a little upon hearing this "really?" she asked in a hopeful voice.
"of course" replied Celestia "now I am about to go for lunch to meet with Luna would you care to join me?"
"Id be glad to" replied Twilight as they made their way to the dining room.
On their way there they talked more about what could have caused the comet to have just vanished without a trace. Celestia had theorised that it may have been a remnant left over from Discords rein that had been long forgotten about till now. She explained that Discord had caused so much chaos in his time that it had damaged the very mechanism of their solar system leading to the need for Celestia and Luna to manually keep the system running by raising the sun and the moon. When they finally made it to the dining room they found Luna waiting for them already munching her way through her dinner.
"Ah their you are" she said through a mouthful of veggie burger "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten to eat again, oh hello Twilight" she said as she noticed Twilight following her sister into the room.
. "After our little talk last night I made it a point not to forget about lunch" chuckled Celestia as she took a place at the table "it would seem that you weren't the only one to see this comet last night, Twilight saw it as well".
"Oh?" asked Luna, turning towards Twilight "tell me what do you make of all this?"
Twilight who had taken her place at the table looked thoughtfully for a moment, "in all honesty I don't know what to think, iv never before seen or heard of a comet acting like this before".
Celestia cleared her throat to get the twos attention " I may have an idea to at least determine whether or not this comet is a remaining fragment of discords time",
Luna paled "sister please tell me you are not going where I think your going with this line of thought".
Celestia merely nodded " we need to ask him in person".
"And there it is, the words I really didn't want to hear" groaned Luna as she finished off her dinner "sister please do we really need to bring him into this?"
Celestia chuckled "I know you find him annoying, but if you want to try and find the answer to this comet then we must look to all sources of information."
"Annoying is an understatement" Luna mumbled under her breath "fine if we must we must, but lets at least wait until after dinner".
After they had finished eating they made there way to the library to perform the summoning spell. Celestia ensured that everypony had vacated the room before heading to the library centre. "Ok are you ready?" she asked.
Luna and Twilight simply nodded while mentally bracing themselves for whatever chaos that may be about to ensue. Celestias horn began to glow and arcane symbols began to fade into existence around her, they slowly rotated, getting faster with each revolution until their spinning became nothing but a blur. Just as Twilight began to feel slightly dizzy from the spinning symbols there was a sharp crack followed by a brilliant flash of light.
When the light finally faded a new figure could be seen in the centre. It looked like a bizarre fusion of several animals, the legs were that of a dragon and horse, the arms of a lion and a bird of prey, its body appeared to be serpentine in nature but was covered with fur instead of scales. From its back sprouted two mismatched wings, one from what appeared to be a bat, the other a normal birds wing. Its tale was that of a dragons and finally its head appeared to be that of a goat. All of this fused into one being which currently now lay stretched out in a hammock that seemed to be held up by nothing but thin air, it wore a large pair of sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt that would have caused Rarity to faint in shock if she had seen it.
"Tch has the sun gone down already, Celestias getting sloppy with her time keeping" Discord grumbled as he lifted his glasses, noticing for the first time that the Alicorn in question was now right next to him "why my dear Celestia how marvellous to see you again" he said as he slithered out of his hammock which proceeded fold itself into a origami goose an fly off out of the window, "I was in the middle of a holiday to the south pole, but it appears Equestria is lost without me" he chuckled "now what can I do for you?"
Choosing to ignore the slight against her time keeping Celestia merely put on her best, if somewhat forced smile "Discord I apologise for disrupting your holiday", though how anypony could class the south pole as a holiday destination was beyond her "but my sister and Twilight here made a rather interesting discovery last night and would like to ask your advice".
Discord vanished and appeared with his claw around Luna " ahh so little Luna here wants my advice, do tell im all ears" he said as he literally turned into a giant ear with two little eyes on top.
Luna for her part was trying to resist the urge to use her royal canterlot voice while he remained in that form " last night while I was star gazing I noticed a rouge comet that wasn't obeying my plans for the evening, before I could cast a spell to move it to a proper place however it vanished".
Discord who had been listening with only vague interest perked up upon hearing this point, " so your saying it just vanished without a trace?" he asked, as he himself vanished only to reappear floating inches about Twilights head " and you saw the same thing did you?"
Twilight Eeped and scooted back a bit, after a second recovering from her shock she replied " yes I did and iv brought the notes I took as well in case your interested" pulling out a small notepad from a nearby saddlebag,
Discord took it from her and with a flash now wore a long white lab coat and ridiculously thick glasses "mhm, mhm oh I see yes very good" he muttered to himself before closing the note book and clearing his throat "vel vhat ve have here is defiantly a disappearing comet".
Luna facehoofed "we know that but what we want to know is do you have anything to do with it"
"Me?" asked Discord looking hurt " why would I have had anything to do with it?" "im reformed after all" as a halo appeared above his head.
Celestia deciding that this conversation may start to go south stepped in, "what Luna means is, is this comet a remnant from when you ruled Equestria before we imprisoned you?".
Discord pondered for a moment "hmm I don't think this is my handiwork, I didn't bother messing with space much back then"
"you messed with it enough to damage the mechanism" snapped Luna.
"Well if somepony hadn't interfered I wouldn't have accidently snapped off the brake lever now would I? Discord retorted, summoning a large broken lever with the words BRAKE written on the side in large red letters."its also the reason why I didn't get a chance to play with space for very long".
Twilight was struck dumb by the argument accruing before her, while Celestia was simply watching the proceedings, waiting for the two to finally burn themselves out, after several minutes both seemed to have calmed down enough for Celestia to continue. "Are we both finished now?" she asked in a disapproving tone, the two nodded, " good, now Discord you say this comet isn't your work, have you any idea where it may have come from then?"
"My best guess would be that it isn't from our solar system and that its drifted in from a neighbouring system" he replied as he began to rummage through the books on the shelves "as for why it disappeared I don't know, maybe it didn't like you watching it" he chuckled "however if your really worried why not simply grab it and give it a new home here if it decides to show up again?"
"That was my intension" Luna replied feeling slightly relived that she may not be loosing control as she feared "however I do not know if or when it will show up again and I cannot afford to spend all my time watching to see if does, I have duties to attend to".
"I could keep watch" Twilight suggested.
Luna and Celestia looked at each other "Twilight are you sure you are up to that sort of task?" asked Celestia with a hint of concern.
"of course its not like I haven't pulled an all nighter before" replied Twilight without hesitation "though il admit it would be a bit easier if I had a team who could take turns to search for it and compile notes".
Celestia smiled "I think that can be arranged, very well twilight if your sure you can handle it then this would be an excellent test of your new status"
Discord suddenly appeared next to Celestia "while she is on this comet hunt why not show her how to move it herself" he suggested.
"I can do that?" Twilight asked with sudden excitement.
Celestia shook her head sadly "im sorry twilight but the tomes that contained the spells used to move the astral bodies before we arrived have been lost for centuries".
Discord looked sheepishly at the floor" oh about them I may or may not have checked them out of the library before I was imprisoned"
"By checked out you mean stole" sneered Luna.
"No by checked out I mean checked out" Discord replied appearing behind the librarians desk with a pair reading glasses on the end of his nose "ah look and here's me returning them now" as another Discord appeared carrying some large dusty looking tomes, he walked over to the desk and handed the books to himself, the Discord behind the desk took it and proceeded to stamp them back in, the other Discord then handed over a huge bag of bits to himself and vanished as quickly as he appeared.
" late fees" the real Discord said in answer to the confused looks on the three Alicorns faces " there, now if that is all you need me for ladies then I shall be heading back to my holiday".
"thank you for your advice "Celestia said as Discord snapped his claw and vanished in a flash of light.
"Well we have the tomes back now so I guess I can teach you the basics of astral control" Luna said to Twilight " however I will need some time to revise the spells first, our knowledge of magic has grown greatly and many of these spells will now be outdated and unnecessarily longwinded, in the mean time you can gather your team and begin a vigil for this comet".
Twilight nodded "il begin at once, I already have an idea who I want for a team so that wont be hard to do, il let you know if we find anything"
Several days passed with no sign of the comet. Twilight ordered the search to be focussed mainly around the area where it was originally spotted reasoning that if it did reappear it would do so in the place where it disappeared. With no sign of the comet for a further week everypony began to think that maybe this comet was just a one off random occurrence and it would never show up again, that was until 2 whole weeks had passed and visual was made once more. The comet was found in exactly the same place as the first time, it followed the exact same route and disappeared at the exact same point and time as it had previous. Twilight, after taking extensive notes compared all the data with her original notes and found them to match perfectly, she was amazed this comet seemed to done a complete loop following everything it had before. With the reappearance a note was taken of the date and a timer set to see if it appeared again two weeks from then, if so then they could at least determine a time scale of when it would appear.
Twilight and Luna stood on the balcony of Luna's tower, as this would be Twilight first experimental attempt at Astral control Luna had drawn a large arcane circle on the floor which would be used as a focusing aid. Twilight sat quietly going through her mental exercises in preparation for the task ahead, when the comet was at an optimum distance Twilight began the experiment.
"Now remember what I have taught you don't over exert yourself, keep calm and focused or you run the risk of loosing control of the spell" explained Luna as Twilight entered the circle "I understand" she replied as she took a calming breath, "begin when you feel ready" said Luna as she retreated a distance to give Twilight room to work.
Twilight closed her eyes and began to channel Mana into her horn, she ran the spell through her head shaping it and forcing it to take form. Her horn glowed brightly as more Mana was channelled and the spell began to take shape, a long thin chain began to shimmer into existence starting at her horn and reaching into the sky. After several minutes the chain became a brilliant beam of violet light " iv got it" Twilight gasped.
"Excellent now remember what I taught you and begin to guide it to the place iv picked out for it" said Luna with a hint of pride in her voice, Twilight certainly is a quick learner she thought to herself.
With care Twilight began to guide the comet to its new home in the night sky. "ngh" twilight let out a sharp grunt "something's wrong, im loosing my grip on it, its starting to slip out of the spell" she cried as she focused more Mana into her horn in a desperate attempt to keep her grip.
"Twilight calm down and focus, if it is to much for you simply let it go" replied Luna with concern.
"I cant keep my grip" said Twilight panic evident in her voice, determined not to fail she threw all the Mana she channel into her horn, she instantly regretted the decision as she felt an uncontrollable flood of Mana surge through her, blood began to leak from her nose and her horn began to smoke
"Twilight stop now your loosing control of the spell" commanded Luna as she began changeling an emergency cut off spell. The spell wrapped around Twilight instantly cutting her off from the flow of Mana, the violet chain immediately began to dissipate before disappearing altogether.
Twilight collapsed to the floor unconscious her horn smoking and blood flowing freely from her nose. Luna rushed over to her and felt for a pulse, to her relief she found one. with a flash she teleported both of them to the infirmary where doctors immediately rushed over and began stabilising Twilight.
It was during this time that the message began, it started faintly before growing in volume "Axos calling surface" "fuel systems exhuasted" "request immediate assistance" "Axos calling surface". The doctors looked around in confusion, was this a message? no one knew, it wasn't in any language heard before,
Luna was first to speak "ensure that princess Twilight is kept safe, I must speak with my sister about this new event" and with that she turned and hurried to find her sister.
All across Equestria the message was heard, from Cloudsdale to Prance the same message was transmitted, though its meaning as well as language was unknown to anypony.
Just on the edge of Ponyville a large and grand looking cloud house floated Inside a cyan blue Pegasus with a brilliant rainbow mane slept peacefully but the peace wouldn't last. Rainbow dash was slowly roused from her sleep by the sound of a voice
"Axos calling surface" "fuel systems exhausted" "request immediate assistance" "Axos calling surface".
She looked up with a start thinking that someone was in her house " who's there" she called, when she received no reply she looked around confused "did I just dream that voice?" she thought to herself "no I definitely heard somepony".
With some effort she untangled herself from her bed sheets before heading downstairs, after a thorough search of her house she realised she must have dreamt it after all "jeez Dash get it together" she scolded herself as she made her way back to bed,
lying down she was just drifting off when another noise could be heard. It started as a low rumble which quickly grew into a roar
"ugh now what" groaned Dash as she sat up " cant a pony get any sleep around here".
She made her way to the window and unlatched it, looking outside she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary yet the roaring was quickly growing to a painful volume.
" What the hay is goin on" Dash cried, clamping her hooves over her ears, it was then she noticed a large object falling from the sky it was getting dangerously close to her house "oh Buck" was all she managed as the object passed over her house.
Skyglass shattered as the force of the objects passing blew out the windows. Dash dove for cover as skyglass rained down around her, when the last tinkling of skyglass stopped she slowly looked out from her cover
"Tank! TANK! where are you?" she cried as she carefully picked her way around the skyglass fragments, to her relief she found him hiding in his shell under her bed "you ok little guy"
Tank slowly poked his head out and give a little nod
"good just stay there im goin to find out what the hay that thing was" she said as she made her way to the door, looking around every pane in her house had been shattered, it would cost a fortune to replace it all skyglass wasn't cheap after all "and l also want to know who to send the bill to" she added as she took flight following the trail left by whatever it was.
Had she known what it was the broken skyglass would have been the last thing on her mind.
Author's Note
phew finally got this chapter done, sorry for the wait folks but as I said working shifts kind of makes it tricky for me to find time to sit down and write I also had a bit of writers block here so that didn't help XD. Anyway with luck the other chapters should start arriving quicker, I hope you enjoy this one there is probably a load of grammar mistakes but this is the first time iv tried to write anything so I hope to get better as I go along :)
Crash site
Dash tore after the blazing ball of destruction, her initial shock and anger about her house had cooled leaving only curiosity and concern in its place.
Her concern sprang from her sense of duty, as ponyvilles weather team manager it was her job to ensure the skies were kept clear and that the locals were kept safe from the adverse weather conditions that drifted in from the Everfree forest from time to time.
On the other hoof her curiosity came from a side she kept hidden from others, particularly Twilight. She would never hear the end of it if Twi out her recent reading material was more science based than her reputation should allow. After some late night flight training she had become fascinated by the night sky, she wondered how Luna kept everything in order and had decided to check out some books on the subject from the library to learn more about it. With Twilight back in Canterlot to begin her duties as the new princess Dash had found it a lot easier to make up an excuse as to why she really wanted them.
"Hmmm now what did the books call this again?" Dash wondered to herself as she continued her pursuit "was it a Comet or a Meteor? ugh where's Twi when you need her." So caught up in her thinking she barely missed a branch sticking up from a tree, "Woah where the hay did that come form?" she gasped before realising her pursuit had taken her over the Everfree forest.
The unknown object was getting closer and closer to impact by the second, it was already smashing through trees leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. Only then did Dash realise that being near the thing when it actually hit probably wasn't a good idea, however that revelation came a fraction to late.
With a blinding flash the night became day for a brief moment. the sudden intensity of it left Dash reeling and half blinded,to late did she register the large tree branch that had been thrown into the air by the impact. The branch smashed into her left wing causing her to plummet into the forest canopy, her wing hanging uselessly at an unnatural angle Branches snapped and scraped as she fell, each impact lessened her decent speed but only marginally. With a sickening crunch Dash impacted with the forest floor and her world went Black.
"Am I dead?" was the first thing that slowly drifted through her mind "I cant be, where's the summer lands?"
Pain was the next thing to go through her mind, her body was screaming in protest, pain seemed to encase her left wing in its cruel grip. Her eyes fluttered open slightly, blurry objects began to appear in her vision, slowly focusing on a large boulder.
"Ok Im guessing this means im alive at least" she thought as she tried to lift her head up.
A powerful wave of dizziness soon saw her stop in her attempt, lying there waiting for her world to stop spinning she felt something warm and sticky begin to trickle from her temple down to her left cheek. Lifting a hoof up to her cheek and bringing it down again revealed what she had feared, blood coated her hoof. "Oh this is bad" she groaned. Raising her head slowly she looked back at her wing, it was in bad shape, the joint was at a disturbingly unnatural angle and there were visible tears through the skin revealing the muscle beneath. Seeing the extent of the damage she gave a small cry of panic which she instantly regretted as pain lanced through her skull again and her world once more began to spin, forcing her to lay her head down. Focusing on the boulder again as her vision cleared she suddenly realised that whatever she was looking at wasn't a boulder.
Before her a large Oval shaped alcove made from what she thought looked like some kind of yellowish stone, lay on its side. Built into the middle was what seemed to be some kind of dome but it was deep red and was split into sections running out from the centre. As she watched the segments of the dome began to move, the whole dome slowly opened out like some grotesque flower, leaving a gaping hole in the centre. Clouds of mist leaked out of the hole followed by large fleshy looking tendril, at first glance it looked like a long elephant trunk but it was a sickly yellow colour and ended in three sharp looking pincers. It waved around in the air as if examining its surroundings before turning and focusing on Dash.
"Oh this cant end well" she cried as she tried to get up only to collapse again as another wave of dizziness hit her like a steam train.
The tendril sensing its prey may be trying to escape lashed forward grabbing her by the neck in its pincers. Dash desperately tried to wrestle the thing off her but her head was pounding and the pincer was making it hard to breath, she tried to grab hold of anything as she was slowly dragged toward the gapping hole.
"SOMEPONY! ANYPONY! HELP ME!" she screamed as she disappeared into the hole, the segments of the dome closed behind her cutting off her cries of terror.
Canterlot Infirmary 2 hours later
Luna paced back and forth in the Infirmary waiting room, waiting for news on Twilights condition. Sitting calmly on a bench nearby was her sister who seemed to be deep in thought and calm, it annoyed Luna that her sister could seem so calm in even the most dire of perils
Is she not worried that her once personal student and now a royal princess could be lying through there dying she thought to herself. "How can you be so calm at a time like this?" she asked "aren't you worried about her?"
Celestia slowly opened her eyes to regard her younger sister
"Of course I am, but I know Twilight is strong and wont let something like this keep her down for long" she replied "she will be fine Luna trust me"
Luna sighed in resignation and took a seat next to Celestia
"I know she will but I cant help but feel im the one who put her in here in the first place. I should have stopped the experiment the moment I noticed she was loosing control"
Tears began to flow down Luna's cheek,why do I keep messing up she cried to herself. Celestia used her wing to draw her into an embrace.
"Its not your fault, you are an excellent teacher and you wanted to give your pupil a chance to prove herself. I would have done the same, in fact in the past I have done just that"
"Yes but when you take the chance it always seems to work out in the end" replied Luna with a trace of anger in her voice
"Not always" replied Celestia sadly, thinking back to that fateful day "there is one chance iv always regretted taking and it nearly cost us one of the elements recently"
At this point the large double doors swung open and a grey maned unicorn walked through. Luna practically tackled him to the ground in her haste for any information.
"How is she, is she alright, is there any permanent damage?"
The doctor somewhat taken aback by the sudden appearance of a large midnight alicorn in his face, took a second to compose himself and readjust his glasses.
"she is fine you highness. she has just awoken and is requesting your presence"
The words had barley left his mouth before Luna was through the doors into the ward.
Celestia sighed with quite relief before getting up and following her sister, making sure to thank the doctor as she went.
Twilight was sat up in bed looking a little dazed but other wise seemed fine, at least she did before the princess of the night came rushing into her room and proceeded to crush in a large bear hug.
"Twilight im so glad your alright, im sorry I let this happen to you I should have stopped the experiment sooner"
Twilight for her part was beginning to turn a rather worrying shade of blue.
"Princess...cant...breath" she gasped
Luna released her bear hug allowing Twilight to gulp in mouthfuls of sweet air
" Apologies" she replied sheepishly as she sat down next to her bed.
Celestia entered the ward and also took a place next to Twilights bed
"It is good to see you awake and well Twilight, you had us worried for awhile. Do you remember what happened?"
Twilight put her hoof to her head as she thought back to the last memories she had before she woke up in the ward
"I remember starting the experiment" she replied " id just secured the comet in my magic grip and was guiding it over to where Luna wanted it when I felt something change."
Celestia raised an eyebrow " change how?"
"I don't know it felt suddenly like I was trying to keep a grip on wet soap, my magic was just sliding off it like water over grease". Twilight sighed " I tired to feed more Mana into the spell to keep a grip but I guess I lost control and next thing I remember im waking up in here"
Twilight suddenly perked up "no wait the last thing I remember was a voice inside my head. I cant remember what it said fully but it didn't sound like a language iv heard before"
Celestia and Luna exchanged looks
"We also heard the voice Twilight and you are correct in that this language is unknown to even us" Celestia replied with a trace of concern "we also have had reports coming in that something has recently fallen from the sky and crashed in the Everfree forest near ponyville"
"The comet crashed into the Everfree?" asked Twilight shocked " Princess im sorry I didn't mean to cause it to crash"
"Calm yourself Twilight you were not the cause of the crash" Luna said in a gentle tone " I saw with my own eyes that whatever this comet is it changed its course on its own after you lost consciousness, im not sure that this is a comet at all now"
Twilight suddenly got out of bed and bowed (if a little unsteadily)
"Princess.." she began
"Twilight need I remind you of a pervious discussion, you are a princess now and you need not bow or refer to us as princess" Celestia said with amusement
Twi stood upright again and scratched the back of her head
"sorry force of habit" she replied " very well I would like to lead a team to the crash site to investigate what it is we are truly dealing with here"
The sisters exchange looks of surprise
"Are you sure you are ready for this Twiight?" asked Celestia
" I am" she replied adamantly
Celestia smiled with pride " very well this will be your first official royal duty, but do not forget that we will always be here should you require help"
" Thank you Pri... Celestia, I wont let you down" Twi replied before wincing in pain as her head sent little reminders of what she had just been through.
" I think you should rest a little more before you leave" Luna said with a chuckle " when you have recovered we will talk in more detail, but until then try to sleep"
Luna and Celestia both bid their farewells and exited the ward leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts
If it isn't a comet then what could it be? she asked herself.
Inside Axos
The monotone voice of Axos echoed around the Holding chamber rousing Dash into consciousness. She felt herself floating, the amniotic fluid that filled the pod felt greasy and unnatural against her fur.
She slowly opened her eyes but found her vision obscured and blurry from the fluid, it was like trying to see through frosted glass. She tried to squint through the pods wall but could derive little of the outside.
Suddenly a thought stuck her, she was underwater how was she breathing. It was this revelation that brought her attention to what appeared to be a fleshy tube that was clamped over her mouth and nose. Her eyes widened in shock, she screamed and tried to remove it only to find her muscles wouldn't respond to her requests.
Panic began to build in her chest, what was happening? Where was she? Why was this happening to her? She tried to recall what happened after that freakish claw had grabbed hold of her, but only brief flashes of slime coated walls and a strange rhythmic thumping ran through her head.
"Analysis pattern reveals Locomotive Controls normal, Sensory preceptors acute, Species typical of earth Equines" came a eerie Monotone voice " Begin DNA and cerebral fluid sampling"
Dash felt a chill run through her, what did it mean DNA sampling? and what in Equestria was cerebral fluid?
The answers was soon in coming as she felt sharp spikes of agony run through her chest and head causing her to cry out and crease her eyes shut, After the pain had subsided somewhat she opened her eyes and choked in horror as she saw long thin tubes had penetrated her chest just under her ribcage and several similar tubes had implanted themselves into her head. A small stream of blood could be seen flowing through it from her chest into the floor where the tube seemed to grow from the pod wall, while from the ones in her head came a translucent liquid with a slight yellow tinge.
"Analysis pattern reveals specimen has advanced cerebral capabilities, speech capabilities and logic application far beyond earth Equines" came the voice again."This specimen is valuable to nutrition cycle plan. Analyse language, link neural web, Process and Eject.
Dash barely had time to register what it had said when a large tendril sprouted from the pod wall and implanted itself in the base of her skull. Her world exploded in agony, the implanted tendril began to sprout smaller nerve fronds from its tip which began to entwine themselves around her spinal cord. She began to convulse as nerve endings misfired causing muscles to spasm and contract as the invading fronds began to redirect neural control. With a final spasm she went limp, her vision began to darken at the edges, is this how it all ends? she thought sadly as she slowly lost consciousness.
"Link complete, Process and Eject" came the voice, it was the last thing she heard before her world finally went black.
Author's Note
sorry about the long wait but work has been making it next to impossible for me to find the energy to actually sit down and write. Hopefully from now on I can start to get these out quicker, anyway I hope you enjoy and any feedback is accepted as it helps me learn how to structure and pace things better :)
Discovery
Sweet apple aches was quite and peaceful, moonlight gently bathed the orchard in a silvery glow. Inside the farm house the Apple family was sound asleep in preparation for the harvesting of the east field that was to begin later that day. Applejack and her older brother big Macintosh had spent the previous day preparing by setting up large buckets under each of the trees, now all that was needed was to buck the apples off the tree and load the filled buckets up into the barn for storage ready for market.
At the foot of Applejacks bed, curled up into a little ball, was her trusty farm dog Winona. She slept peacefully until one of her ears suddenly perked up, followed quickly by her head. Sensing that something was wrong she began to growl towards the window before erupting into vicious barks. Awoken by the sudden racket A.J. sat up groggily in bed.
"What in the hay has got into you Winona?" she yelled over the dogs frantic barking,
Winona ignored her and continued barking at something outside, at this point lights had come on in the rest of the house as the others were also woken up. A.J. heard a knock on her door which proceeded to open to reveal a bleary eyed Applebloom and a non to happy Big Mac.
"What's wrong with Winona sis?" asked Applebloom while trying to supress a yawn
"Haven't a clue, ah aint never seen her actin like this before" replied A.J. as she tried to calm the crazed dog " come on now Winona what's got ya`ll so spooked"
It was at this point she finally looked out of the window and saw just what had spooked her dog.
"What in the name of Celstia is that!?" she cried backing away from the window.
Applebloom and Big Mac rushed to the window to see a large object hurtling towards the Everfree. It was long and reminded A.J. of a hearth warming eve cracker in its shape, it was on a downward trajectory leaving a blazing trail in its wake. It continued its rapid Decent until they saw it begin to brush the top of the tree line, sending branches and debris flying in all directions.
"Its goin to crash!" cried Applebloom mere seconds before the sky was lit with a blinding light followed by a deep tremor that shook the house to its foundations. A.J. and her younger sis screamed as object were shook from the walls and on top of wardrobes, Big Mac grabbed them both and leaned over them to act as a living shield, just as the window shattered, sending glass shards everywhere. Winona cowered under the bed having seen her masters reaction and cleverly followed suit.
"Is it over?" wimped Applebloom clinging to her brothers leg, tears were free flowing down her face and her nose was running, it was one of the most frightening things she`d ever experienced.
"Eeyup" came the gentle reply from her brother as he comforted her "its over now"
"Ah think there's someone at the door dearie" came a voice from the doorway.
The three looked up to see Granny smith standing in the doorway with hair curlers and a face mask still on, she appeared to have just woken up and was still coming around to realise the look of terror on her grandkids faces.
"Granny there's no one at the door" replied A.J. bluntly
"But ah could have sworn ah heard someone knockin" said granny taping her chin with her hoof, "must be real important If they knockin so hard it woke me up"
"Granny! please just go back to bed we`ll talk about this later" said Applejack knowing full well that to try and argue with granny when she was still half asleep was next to impossible, it was hard enough when she was wide awake.
"Alright fine but don't leave whoever it is out there waitin to long, and tidy ya room missy I didn't bring ya up to be a slob" said granny noting that A.J.s room looked like Dash had performed a sonic rainboom in it.
A.J. sighed and watched as granny went back to her own room before closing the door. Applebloom had calmed down and was now looking out of the window to where the crash had occurred. Not much could be seen about what had just hit apart from a lazy billow of smoke from the forest. In the distance she could see Ponyville was rapidly coming to life. Lights came on and front doors opened as the locals began to investigate what had happened.
"Looks like everyponies headin to the edge of the Everfree" noted A.J. looking over Applebloom " Mac im goin down there and see what goin on, you alright stayin here and tidyin up?"
"Eeyup" replied Mac with his usual answer
"I wanna come too" Applebloom said as A.J. started heading towards the door.
"sorry sugarcube but I cant let ya do that, it might be dangerous" came a firm reply "sides ah need ya`ll to look after Granny and Winona"
Upon hearing her name Winona cautiously poked her head out from under the bed before quickly curling up next to Applebloom.
"see she needs comforting" said A.J. with a smile " ah wont be long ah promise."
Applebloom seeing Winona in her cowed state saw the logic in her sister statement, even though she was really curios to see what had just crashed she couldn't leave her friend like this. "alright fine, but promise ya wont be long"
"Ah pinkie promise ah wont be long" replied Applejack as she went through the motions of the promise before heading out towards the Edge of the Everfree where it seemed quite a crown was gathering, as she made her way down the path it suddenly dawned on her that all the buckets left at the base of the trees the previous day were full top the brim with apples.
"Huh looks like that earthquake saved us some time on the apple harvest" she said to herself "guess that means we`ll have some free time to ourselves."
Edge of the Everfree forest
"Fillies and gentle colts please try to calm down" Mayor mare was stood on top of a large boulder trying to calm the crowd that had gathered at the edge of the Everfree. Most were worried about what had just occurred near there sleepy little village and wanted answers, while a few were furious about the damage that had been done to their property and were demanding to know what was going to be done about it, "I have already sent an urgent message to the princess so help will be arriving any moment".
Applejack who just arrived looked around the crowd and spotted her friends in a small group to one side, slowly she began to squeeze her way through the press of ponies to get to them
"Hey galls what goin on?" she asked breathlessly as she finally made it out of the crowd
"I haven't a clue darling" replied rarity "one minute im enjoying my beauty sleep, then the next thing I know there's this simply awful noise and shaking, my poor little Opal was scared out of her wits", she held up a facemask for all to see
"Oh my what happened to that?" asked Fluttershy meekly, noticing several claw marks over the left eye pad.
"That is what Opal did when she was panicking" replied rarity with a trace of dread in her voice " I shudder to think what might have happened had I not been wearing this"
The group grimaced not wanting to think to deeply into the subject.
"Wait a minute where's dash?" asked A.J. suddenly noticing a distinct lack of the cyan blue Pegasus,
"Don't know we've not seen dashie at all since we got here" chirped up pinkie. "Strange, I would of thought she would be the first one here" she mused, rubbing her chin.
"This calls for detective pinkie!" she proclaimed pulling out a detective hat and bubble pipe from seemingly nowhere.
"Oh no ya don't, not after last time with that hoo haw on the cake train" said A.J. sternly
"Aww but I was going to solve the mystery of the missing dashie" whined pinkie as she grudgingly put the hat and pipe back from whatever weird dimension she dragged them from.
"She's probably still asleep at home" said rarity "I know she wears earplugs from that time we went camping at rainbow falls, so she might not have heard the explosion"
" Huh celestia knows that filly can sleep through anything" chuckled A.J. "ah once caught her sleepin on a thundercloud DURING a storm"
"But what about all the shaaaaaking?" asked pinkie punctuating the question by shaking all over " how could anypony sleep through that?"
"Um pinkie, rainbow dash live in a cloud house so it wouldn't have felt any shaking" replied Fluttershy softly.
"Oh yeah silly me" giggled pinkie "ok girls to dashies house" she proclaimed in an heroic pose, before casually heading in the direction of the cloud house.
The others merely shrugged and followed.
Dashes house
"Ok fluttershy you'll have to knock and see if she's in" said Applejack as the reached the plot of land dashes house floated over.
Fluttershy nodded and slowly flew up to the porch of the cloud house. upon landing she noticed that nearly every window was shattered, glass littering the floor under every frame causing Fluttershy to remain airborne to avoid the shards.
"Oh my I guess her house was hit after all" she said to herself as she gently knocked on the door.
After several seconds had passed without any sign of life she knocked a little harder causing the door to slowly swing open.
"Hello? Rainbow dash are you home?" she whispered as she pushed the door open fully and made her way into the living room.
"Oh thank goodness its just you tank" sighed Fluttershy with relief "do you know where Rainbow dash is?"
The tortoise slowly nodded his head and hovered over to the window. Once there he began to slowly jerk his head in the direction of the plume of smoke rising over the canopy Everfree forest.
Fluttershy gasped as she suddenly realised what the tortoise was trying to tell her.
"Well is she there?" came a shout from below. Fluttershy quickly grabbed tank and hurried back down to the ground.
"Shes not there, but tank told me she went after whatever crashed into the forest" said Fluttershy with an edge of panic in her voice.
The three remaining mares gasped in unison.
"Is she loco in the coco?" cried pinkie "we don't know what super scary thingy could have crashed there"
"Of all the things that filly has done this one has to be one of the worst" agreed rarity "it could be very dangerous in there"
"We gotta tell the mayor and organise a search party" said A.J. as she began running back towards the edge of the forest.
Upon arrival they were confronted with the sight of several royal guards setting up a perimeter around the forest. The message sent by the mayor had been acted upon with great haste, much to the relief of the mayor herself who could relax a little as the guards began to disperse the crowd.
" Mayor mare we must speak with you at once" said rarity quickly making her way over to boulder where the mayor still stood.
"Ladies please as I have said this will all be dealt with accordingly, its no use complaining to me" said the mayor with a weary sigh.
Seeing the four ponies gathering around the mayor, several guards began to move forward to clear them away.
"Come along now ladies we have this all under control, please return to your homes" said a chalk white Unicorn with a large steel grey handlebar moustache, he spoke with a distinct Trottingham accent.
"Ah aint goin anywhere while ma friend is missing in there" said Applejack stabbing a hoof towards the forest.
The guards, taken aback by this sudden outburst stopped in their tracks
"Your friend is missing in their?" asked the moustachioed guard raising an eyebrow.
"Is something the matter sergeant?" asked Mayor mare noticing the sudden halt in the guards advance
" Yes ma`am" replied the sergeant "these fillies are claiming their friend is missing in the everfree forest"
The Mayor raised an eyebrow " how do you know she is missing in there?" she asked waving a hoof casually towards the forest.
"Um because her tortoise told me" replied Fluttershy while hiding behind her hair " that is he didn't actually speak b-"
"The point is we know the dash is in there and we need to get a search party together to go look for her" snapped Applejack.
The mayor and guards eyes widened "The element of Loyalty is missing in there?" gasped the sergeant "alright men I want a patrol formed up and ready to go 30 seconds ago, this is a top priority mission find miss dash and get her back safely MOVE"
The guards saluted and quickly formed up into a team of five before heading of into the forest.
"We`re comin to" said Applejack moving to follow them, only to find her way blocked by the sergeant.
"Im sorry miss but I cant allow any of you to enter until we know exactly what it is we`re dealing with" he said bluntly "I assure you we will find miss Dash, but until then I would ask you to return to your homes and let us do our jobs."
"Nope not happenin bub" said Applejack stubbornly " ah cant just sit at home knowin ma best friend could be lyin in there injured or worse".
The sergeant pinched his nose in frustration "I understand your concern miss, but I simple cannot and will not allow any more of the element bearers to get lost in that celestia forsaken forest while we have a unknown object crashed in there." his voiced raised and grew more strained as he reached the end of his sentence. With a sigh he rubbed his forehead "I apologise for my outburst, but with the situation as it is I cannot risk anything, if something went wrong and somepony got hurt I couldn't live with myself."
"Its fine ah guess" sighed A.J.in defeat, she knew that he was right but the thought of just going back home felt like she was abandoning her friend "come on girls lets go home and try and get some shuteye"
"Um I don't really feel like sleeping on my own tonight" said Fluttershy.
"Me neither" said pinkie looking a little deflated knowing she couldn't do anything to help.
"I must say I feel the same way" announced rarity meekly.
Applejack chuckled "well we got plenty O room at the farm y`all can sleep at ma place tonight"
As the other three began to make their way towards the farm Applejack turned back towards the sergeant "Ah want your word you'll let us know the moment you find anythin"
The sergeant simply saluted "miss I give you my word as a member of the royal guard that you will be the first to know of any developments"
This seemed to satisfy the orange earth pony who simply nodded "Ah appreciate it sergeant?"
"Sergeant steel mane ma`am at your service" he said saluting again.
"Thank you sergeant steel mane" said Applejack before turning to follow the others.
Two hours later,Everfree forest edge
Steel mane was busy reading the latest status report from the search crew, with the crowd finally dispersed the Mayor had decided to retire home and leave steel mane and his guards to do there job. The area leading into the forest had been cordoned off to ensure nopony entered.The sound of approaching wings suddenly caught his attention. Looking up he saw two day guard pulling a small carriage behind them, the carriage was modest for a person of such importance, simple silver in colour with a violet star gem set into the middle. Sitting upon the purple cushions inside was a lavender coloured alicorn, which steel mane recognised immediately.
"Princess Twilight a pleasure to see you again" steel mane saluted briskly.
Twilight smiled awkwardly, she was still getting used to being a addressed in this manner. Steel mane was one she had personally chosen during the forming of her own personal twilight guard. His dedication, loyalty and sheer refusal to back down in the face of danger reminded her slightly of a certain cyan Pegasus she knew. He was also known to have a shrewd sense of humour but it was rare he let that trait slip out.
"Thank you sergeant" said twilight beaming "what have you to report"
"The forest area surrounding Ponyville has been secured ma`am and there is no sign of any threats as of yet" steel mane suddenly looked hesitant.
A knot of fear began to grow in Twilights stomach, in the short space she had known him she had picked up on that hesitancy being the prelude to bad news. "is there something else sergeant?" she asked figuring he may as well get it out in the open.
Steel mane sighed and hung his head slightly.
"Yes ma`am there is" he said "I must inform you that at this present moment of time the bearer of the element of loyalty is lost in the forest"
Twilight gasped, one of her best friends was missing in there with an unknown object she accidently dragged from the sky. "dash is in there?" she asked with a hint of panic
"I'm afraid so your highness" nodded steel mane slowly "but don't worry I have a search team in there right now looking for her, im expecting another progress report any moment."
As if waiting for their cue the search party burst back through the clearing. They were a mess, their armour was caked in mud and scratches, while bits of twig and leaves stuck out of there coats.
"Sergeant! we found her" panted the lead guardstallion as he approached
The remaining team quickly moved aside to reveal a bright cyan blue Pegasus floating in their combined magic aurar's. If the guards looked bad she was worse, her mane and coat was covered in mud, leaves and twigs while one wing was bent at an unnatural angle, she appeared to be unconscious.
" Dash" cried twilight as she rushed over to her friend "what's happened to you?"
"We found her like this Ma`am" replied one of the guards " she was lying in a bush next a unidentified structure, we believe it may be the object that crashed"
Twilight was only half paying attention as she examined dashes wing.
"his wing is broken pretty badly get a stretcher and take her up to Ponyville general" she ordered. "I'm sorry private, could you repeat that for me please" she said when she realised she was ignoring her guards report.
The guard for his part didn't appear to have minded being cut off mid report.
"yes ma`am as I said we think we have located the object that crashed here" he explained "it appears to be some kind of large rock or boulder however we did notice a odd pattern at one end"
"An odd pattern?" asked twilight her curiosity now piqued.
"Indeed Ma`am" replied the guard "one end appears to have some kind of large dome on it with large grooves running from the middle to the edge, it reminded me of an unopened flower actually" he added thoughtfully.
At this point two guards arrived with a stretcher, they gently levitated the unconscious Pegasus onto it before picking the stretcher itself up in their telekinetic grips.
"If you'll excuse me ma`am I must report to sweet apple aches to report our findings to the other element bearers" said steel mane with a salute " I made a promise that I would inform them the moment we found something"
"Very well sergeant" nodded twilight with a smile, this type of dedication to duty was exactly the reason why she had picked him "I would ask you to bring them to the hospital straight away though, tell them I'll meet them there"
"At once your highness" steel mane saluted once more before quickly heading towards the farm.
Twilight followed the other guards as they made there way quickly towards the towns medical centre. Upon entering nurse red heart immediately called for the doctor and took her through into the emergency room, leaving twilight to sit in the waiting room until her friends arrived.
fifteen minutes later
The door to the waiting room was nearly ripped of its hinges as a bright pink blur suddenly whizzed through.
"whereissheissheokwhatwasthatthingthatcrashed" said the pink blur which turned out to be pinkie pie. Twilight for her part had only just registered that the door had opened and was suddenly taken aback by the sudden appearance of a pink face gibbering at her at a millions miles a minute.
"Pinkie darling do try to let twilight answer the first question before you ask the next one" sighed Rarity as she entered the room followed closely by A.J. Fluttershy and steel mane.
After recovering her wits Twilights face lit up with a huge smile.
"Girls" she cried as she ran towards them all and embraced them in a big group hug "iv missed you so much"
"Ah shucks sugar cube its only been a month since ya moved back" grinned Applejack as the group broke out of the hug " though Ill admit It been mighty quite round here with ya gone"
"Im glad you came back" said Fluttershy with a soft smile, which quickly turned upside down. "I just wish it was under better circumstances though"
There was a sudden knock on the waiting room door which promptly opened to reveal doctor feel well he wore his traditional white lab coat and stethoscope around his neck.
"Ladies im pleased to report that there are no lasting injuries" he announced with a smile "she has suffered a broken wing which we have set and splinted, so she wont be flying for at least a week.
The group exchanged knowing looks with each other, they remembered the last time she broke her wing and nearly went stir crazy with boredom, luckily Twilights idea of reading had averted disaster.
"Apart from the wing she has suffered cuts and scrapes and a mild blow to the head" the doctor continued "there doesn't appear to be any sign of a concussion however we would like to keep her in for overnight observation"
" Can we see her?" asked Twilight hopefully.
"Hmm" feel well scratched his chin "I don't see why not, she is awake but doesn't appear to be entirely... with it yet shall we say"
The words had barely left his mouth before a pink streak rushed passed him out of the room. the others stood there mentally counting down from 3..2..1. Pinkies head reappeared around the door sheepishly
"Erm which room is she in?" she asked awkwardly.
Feel well chuckled "this way ladies and sir" he said nodding to steel mane who had stood silently to attention since he had arrived.
"Oh sorry sergeant" said twilight rubbing the back of her neck, she had completely forgot he was even there after seeing the girls "you are dismissed for now, thank you for your help"
"Not at all ma`am, just doing my duty" he said before saluting and heading toward the exit.
Rainbow dash felt weird, she was awake this much she knew, but everything seemed to be slightly blurred and out of focus. Flashes of memory would suddenly run through her head without rhyme or reason and the unnerving sensation of floating never quite left her.
"Ugh why cant I remember" she cried out in frustration.
"Remember what?" asked a voice next to her
"How I got here" dash replied without even thinking, before noticing a pink earth pony standing a little to close to her for comfort." Gahh! Pinkie when did you get here" she asked with a start, she was almost convinced the door had never opened.
"Just now silly" answered pinkie as if it was obvious.
The door promptly opened and her remaining friends quickly gathered around her.
"Rainbow dash darling what in equestrian were you thinking" said Rarity with a hint of rebuke "going into the Everfree Forest without telling anypony."
"Dash ya done some pretty dumb things in the past but this one takes the apple" Applejack said sternly " we were worried sick about ya, what if that thing that crashed turned out to be dangerous?"
"Im just glad she's ok really" squeaked Fluttershy.
Dash hung her head " im sorry guys guess I wasn't thinking at the time" she admitted "The problem is I cant even remember why I went in there in the first place"
"Well from what my guards have told me they found you near the object that crashed" stated Twilight "are you sure you cant remember anything at all about what happened?"
"Im positive Twi" replied dash "no matter how hard I try I cant remember anything after whatever it was nearly hit my house"
"I see" said Twilight thoughtfully "maybe that bang on the head caused some temporary amnesia"
"Well whatever happened its annoying" huffed Dash "its like the memory is there but when I actually try to focus on it, it disappears"
"Im sorry to interrupt but it may be best if we let miss dash get some rest now" Feel well suddenly cut in "we can discharge her tomorrow provided nothing develops"
"Ok doctor" agreed Twilight, she turned back to dash "we'll be back tomorrow when your ready and if your up for it we are going to examine that object"
"Are you sure that's a good idea darling" asked rarity with concern "what if its dangerous"
"Don't worry the guards will be with us at all times" Twilight reassured " beside part of the reason for me being here is to actually discover what it was I pulled down." Twilight suddenly realised what she had said and clamped a hoof over her mouth, but the damage was already done.
"Come again sugar cube?" asked A.J. raising an eyebrow " what do ya mean pulled down?"
Twilight sighed, she had been wanting to explain this in a better way but now the cat was out of the bag she may as well get it over with.
five minutes later
"So your sayin that this thing crashed because ya lost control of the spell?" asked A.J, after Twilight had given a brief explanation of the events.
"Well when you put it that way I guess I am" muttered Twilight
"Wowee" exclaimed Pinkie bouncing up to Twilight "that's soo cool"
"Cool isn't exactly the word I would use darling" Rarity said "though I will admit it is rather impressive, that you managed to move a celestial object, even if it did go wrong" she added hastily.
The sound of a rather forced clearing of the through suddenly brought their attention back to the doctor, who was looking a little annoyed that his last request had so far been ignored.
"Oh right sorry" Twilight hastily apologised " come on girls lets leave rainbow to rest, se you tomorrow"
Dash simply waved goodbye to them, she was feeling incredibly tired all of a sudden.
"I suggest you try to get some sleep miss Dash" said Feel well as he ushered out her friends " if you need anything press the red button to you left"
"Thanks doc" Dash said as he closed the door.
It didn't take long for Dash to drift off to sleep, however her rest was not a peaceful one. Her dreams were filled with flashes of memories some she recognised as her own but others were unknown to her. Visions of alien landscapes flashed before her feelings of isolation plagued every vision but what disturbed her the most was the unsuitable hunger that was slowly growing stronger with each flash of memory.
Author's Note
ok finally got around to doing the next chapter sorry for the wait, I may or may not have got distracted a bit by the elder scrolls online :P
