Cousins Among the Stars

Dear Princess Celestia,

I find myself unsure whether I am right in addressing this to you, or whether it is a matter better suited for Princess Luna. However, I suspect she'd still be sleeping. Several minutes ago, a bright light passed overhead and caused the library to shake terribly. I wonder if it may be a fallen meteor, but such a mistake seems unlikely of your sister. I have already taken measures to calm the townsponies*, and my question warrants no urgent response. I trust you were already aware of the curiosity and have the situation well in hoof.

Yours faithfully,

Twilight Sparkle

*Pinkie threw a "Celestia's sun has a new friend" party, and would not listen when I explained that, were that the case, everypony at her party would be unfortunately reduced to ash.

Tia,

Many of our subjects were awoken suddenly, several moments prior. Something to consider.

Luna

Luna,

Something just burned up over Ponyville, headed south. How likely is it that you lost track of a meteor?

C.

Everything is in place. If it is from beyond your sun, it must've arrived quickly to have gone unnoticed.

L.

The white alicorn looked up from the newly received scroll and set it aside. She surveyed the throne room, maintaining her regal, neutral countenance. After several seconds pause, she motioned for one of her guards to approach. "Gather two other pegasi from the barracks and fly south to Ponyville. Offer your assistance to Princess Twilight; if she declines, follow the rail to Appleloosa and assess the situation there. It is likely something passed overhead, and ponies may be hurt. If no one needs aid, use your judgment on whether to attempt to locate a fallen meteor. Go with haste."

The stallion gave a quick nod and bow, then turned and galloped from the room.

Many ponies find that their best rest comes when waking up naturally. Others swear by the quality of sleep maintained by a rigid schedule. Not one pony on Equus or anywhere else, however, will ever vouch for being knocked unconscious and awoken by falling two meters onto torn metal plating. Steady Steel did not reflect on this in quite so much detail when it happened to him; he settled on a hollered profanity and some groaning.

Looking around, he realized that he was laying on what should have been, under better circumstances, the starboard wall of the vessel. It was bent severely and open to the outside at several points—he could faintly discern the orangish-brown haze of sand through the slits in the ship. Turning his head to face the frontmost section, Steel saw that the starboard cockpit had been smashed in and almost completely destroyed. It appeared partially embedded in a rock-face, and was at least a meter above the sand below.

Having found his bearings, Steady Steel stood up and felt a stab of pain. It was only then that he realized how badly bruised and cut his hind legs had become. He carefully leaned against the wall—formerly the floor—and called out, "Who's not dead? Sound off."

Silence. His ears flicked up and he tilted his head, listening intently. He tried again. "Somepony else is welcome to speak up... Any time at all now." He looked up at the three sleeping compartments above him. Two were locked shut, while the third—his own—had slid open just enough for him to fall through. Below his hooves, the other three rooms were shut as well. He tried forcing one, but met with no success.

With a final, nervous glance around him, he sat down with a sigh and waited.

Headstrong grinned into the wind as he flew. He enjoyed few things more than travel, but being a royal guard stationed at the palace did not afford him many opportunities to do so. Thus, he felt thrilled when the princess asked him to investigate a meteor sighting in the far south of Equestria. He glanced briefly at his companions, both of whose names he had already forgotten, and then fixed his gaze on their nearing destination.

His hooves touched the ground first in what passed as the middle of town, followed shortly by the blue-coated stallion and red-coated mare on either side of him. Headstrong spun in place for a moment, scanning the quiet town and looking for anyone officious. He settled for a passing earth pony with a nice hat.

"Excuse me, sir," he began. "Has anything strange happened here in the last several hours?"

"'Roun'about an hour'n a half ago, this brigh' light jist blew past an' had a clap of thund'r! Was li' the prin'ess herself came down! An' angry!"

The guards all stared blankly at him for a moment, parsing the drawl. "Right," Headstrong said at length. "Did you see which way it went?" The Appleloosian pointed. Headstrong gestured for the others to follow him and took off in the indicated direction.

"Oh!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed so suddenly that Spike dropped his ice cream. Wincing, he turned in his seat at the library and faced her, who stood halfway up the stairs to the second floor. He gave her an inquisitive look before leaning over to clean up the new mess. "I should thank the princess for sending her guards to help," she elaborated.

The young dragon finished slurping up the ice cream and hurried to retrieve a writing implement. Quill in claw and paper nearby, he indicated to Twilight that he was ready. "Dear Princess Celestia," the mare dictated, "Thank you for your consideration and foresight in sending some of your guard to assist with the situation here. While it proved unnecessary in this instance, the gesture is appreciated. Yours faithfully, Twilight."

She paused for a moment and gave Spike an expectant look. He rolled up the paper, held it in front of himself, inhaled, and lit it on fire.

Spike had already released the scroll as the flames engulfed it—it fell to the ground and smoldered for a moment, crumpling in on itself and singing the floor beneath it. Twilight cried out and rushed over, stamping on it frantically to extinguish the fire.

"Spike!" she screamed, once the threat to her library had passed. She recognized her volume a moment later and corrected it, speaking again in a softer tone. "Spike, what just happened?"

Initially, he could do nothing but shake his head in response, visibly stunned by the accident. "I... I don't know, Twi. I did the same thing as always, but this time it felt different." Twilight drew her friend in for a hug with one hoof.

"I know you didn't mean to, Spike. We'll just have to head up to Canterlot soon and get you checked out by someone a bit more knowledgable than me." As she spoke, she turned idly to the blackened paper on the ground and prodded it with her magic to determine the temperature. She felt nothing. A complete absence of stimuli. Frowning, she tried to levitate it and found that she could not.

The beginnings of a complaint about the proposed doctors-visit died in Spike's throat as he saw the unicorn's expression souring. "Something the matter?" he asked instead.

Twilight barely heard him. By that point, she had attempted to levitate every object in the room without success. "Nothing's working..." she muttered. "Magic's not working."

It wasn't a meteorite. He was unsure exactly what it was, but Headstrong could tell it was not a meteorite. It was too smooth and too reflective. Red only noticed it because of the glare. Headstrong had made the decision to investigate anyway, and now that they had closed to a reasonable distance, he found it was clearly pony-made. He did not recognize the material, though.

The three guards made a close pass around the object, circling it before they landed. It sat in a large field southeast of Appleloosa, on the edge of the badlands. The object was propped up slightly by a large boulder, and Blue noted that the rock had evidently shattered a window occupying the space previously.

The three pegasi now stood several meters distant from the craft, looking uncertainly at it.

"What do you make of it?" asked Blue.

"Maybe... We're near changeling territory—maybe this is something they made? It's certainly not any metal I've seen," Red offered.

"Are you suggesting it's the source of the light over Ponyville? How could it possibly get so far?" Blue countered.

"Have you considered," began Headstrong, "the possibility that-" THUD

A banging sound came from within the object. The guards all fell silent, watching. Several seconds passed before another noise sounded. THUD

Several seconds more. CRR-WHUMP A large metal panel flew out of the opening near the glass shards and landed on the sand below. Headstrong frowned, turning toward Blue to complete his earlier question.

"Any-" Thud. A grey earth pony stallion fell out of the object and landed motionless in the sand.