Final Frontiers

The closer Twilight got to the library the more ominous the cloud became, and by the time she had reached the library it was a churning mass of shimmery dark grey fluff. The center was completely black, judging from the light put off by the numerous arcs of energy that were lashing out to any lightning rod, weather vane, or street lamp in range in a shower of bright sparks. Twilight's mouth hung open for a second before realization hit her like a buck square to the face.

Spike.

"Spike! SPIKE!" she cried out, glancing up at the bedroom window of the tree house. "Oh no. Ohnoohnoohno-!" Just as she was about to make a beeline for the door when a voice came from a short distance behind her and around the corner of a nearby building.

"Twibight?" Without a doubt it was her stuffed-up Number One Assistant and when her head whipped around sharply she found him peeking around the stonework and waving both arms to get her attention, "Twibight, ober here!"

She had never galloped so fast in her life and the instant she was close enough she was wrapping her hooves around the little dragon, "Oh, Spike! I was so worried about you! Are you okay?" Amid the nuzzles and squeezes she failed to notice his eyes bulging out and a slight blue tinge growing in his face from the embrace.

"Twi-*gag* li-*wheeze*" Spike tried to say around the hug but found trying to speak let what little air he had left escape his screaming lungs.

"Easy there, Twilight. Might wanna let the fella come up fer some air."

The distinct drawl of another of Twilight's friends brought an end to her almost assaulting-levels of nuzzling against the nearly passed out dragon. "Applejack! I'm so gla-" she was mid-sentence when she finally processed what she was seeing, her eyes growing to twice their size and her mouth falling open.

The first thing that caught her eye was a familiar produce cart set next to the wall they were hiding behind and covered in scorch marks, some of which were still smoldering; that, however, had barely drawn any of Twilight's attention as next to the cart was an orange earth pony absolutely covered in apple chunks and dripping with juice to the point it looked like she had taken a quick swim in a pool of apple sauce.

Knowing full well what she looked like, AJ gave the unicorn a stink eye so mean even one of the Princesses would think twice before opening their muzzle. "Twilight, if'n ya so much as giggle..." Applejack growled through gritted teeth as an apple chunk slid from the brim of her drooping hat and down her mane to land in the street with a wet PLOP!

"BWAAAAHAAHAHA!" the loud guffawing erupted from up near the roof. There was only one pony that laughed like that...

AJ's ear twitched ever so slightly though one could almost hear her quickly-boiling blood like a tea kettle on the range.

A rainbow-maned head poked into view over the lip of the roof, "I guess what they say is true," she paused so the incoming punchline would hit that much harder, "the Apple family's produce is just BURSTING with flavor! HAAAHAAHAAHAA!"

"Rainbow. Dash...." the orange, and quickly turning red, farm pony ground her teeth as the pegasus rolled around on the roof laughing uproariously at her own joke, "GET DOWN HERE!"

Twilight attempted to intercede before things got any more out of hoof, "Girls!"

"Hey AJ, let me guess what was in your cart... ZAP apples? AHAAHAAHAA!"

"I'M FITTIN' TA RE'RANGE THAT RAINBOW STRIPE O' YOURS!" Applejack was beyond hopping mad and contemplating the possibility of bucking the building to the ground to get at the pegasus and several apple cores, scorched and visibly mushy, sailed upward in an attempt to dislodge the out-of-reach annoyance.

"GIRLS!" Twilight tried again, this time gaining their attention though muffled giggles could still be heard from the rooftop and every so often Dash's eyes would dart to the farmpony shooting daggers her direction and the fit of giggles would start again, "What happened here?"

"Beats me, darn cloud came outta nowhere! I saw it swirlin' round yer library on my way to the market-"

"It was SO cool!" Rainbow Dash excitedly butted in, "First there was this big bang! Then all the other clouds just kinda disappeared!" she swooped down and hovered at head level, seemingly unaware of just how hard AJ was staring at her and grinding her teeth, willing herself not to wallop her now that she was within range, "I was helping the Weather Team get clear of the cloud when I notice AJ yellin' at Spike, who was standing in the library door with lightning cracking all around the place. Then she just takes off toward him, cart and all!" RD jerked a hoof over at Applejack, who was beginning to calm down ever so slightly because of the praise directed at her. "She must have picked up on some of my awesome moves because she was ducking bolts on her way in, apples exploding all over the place, then she tossed Spike in the cart's storage spot and made a beeline back here, dodging bolts the whole way out! That's when you got here."

"Shucks, I werent 'bout ta leave a friend out there!" Applejack said confidently before jabbing a juice-soaked hoof into Dash's ribs playfully, but still a little harder than normal, "If'n it had been you, on the other hoof, I'd a hafta thought 'bout it"

There was one question that rocketed to the front of Twilight's mind, and the same one that she was always afraid of asking when her experimental magic was probably to blame for something happening in Ponyville. "Was anypony hurt?" Twilight asked worriedly, searching her three friends faces for any form of answer.

Spike casually dismissed the question with a wave, "Na, ebrypony hab scabtered before tha lightbing starteb. Couble bwoken wimbows is all."

Applejack wrung out her hat before cocking her head to one side to look inquisitively at the unicorn, "Say Twilight, that thing you were talkin' 'bout this mornin', that got anythin' ta do with this?"

Her ears flattening back, Twilight suddenly found it hard to look at her friends. "Oh, um, m-maybe?" she said meekly with a nervous grin though she couldn't stop her shoulders and head from slumping, I feel absolutely terrible for putting everypony through all of this. Several arcs of lightning striking nearby weather vanes in rapid succession caused Twilight to jump, startling the answer out of her "Yes, probably."

Seeing one of her friends like this, Rainbow decided to take initiative, "Hey, don't worry about it! You three sit back and let The Dash handle this!" She took off before anyone could say anything.

Rainbow was halfway to the cloud when something large - larger than the cloud itself - launched out of it with a deafening boom and spewing cones of fire in front of it. It Rainboom'd... without the Rain!? she barely had time to register before she was hit by the shock-wave and was thrown back onto one of the thatched roofs. Meanwhile on the ground, Applejack, Twilight, and Spike had all hit the dirt and could only watch as a fire-spewing something barreled by overhead.

The firing of the thrusters caused Titus to whip forward and smash into the console as the shuttle came out of the other side of the anomaly, even with the inertial dampeners running well past the maximum safe-operating output. Wherever we are, there's gravity, Titus watched the drops of blood streak down the inside of his visor as proximity alarms blared and view screens that had displayed the empty vastness of space suddenly displayed dark clouds in a blue sky, a large forest behind a hill, and the rapidly-approaching ground.

Got to act fast.

To his luck, the cracked screen of the console before him still accepted commands. Emergency shutdown of reactor...done. Equalize pressure to exterior levels to avoid explosive decompression...done. Brace for impact...do- a sudden contact on the exterior of the ship sent it flipping over onto its roof, tossing everything inside around violently. The human was able to get his arms up to cradle his head and curl-up in his seat as best he could before he was thrown into the edge of his console. His already throbbing head, exacerbated further by the state of being upside-down, exploded in pain as he felt ribs break and if not for the smart-armor in his bodysuit hardening on impact to absorb much of the blow, Titus probably would have been looking at something much worse.

The cacophony of straining metal against the whine of shields attempting to hold and the g-forces tugging at his harness as the ship spun on its axis saw him off into unconsciousness.

Rainbow was quick to catch her bearings. Good thing this soft roof was here, but sweet sisters, my ears are ringing! Balance is all out-of-whack. Recovering sufficiently, Dash scanned the sky for who - or what - she had nearly collided with. Finding it, she followed its flight down to the ground, cringing as the right side of it smashed into a hill outside of town with enough force to cause a pseudo-earthquake - the buildings of Ponyville visibly shaking and knocking several onlooking ponies from their hooves. She lost sight of it as it flipped behind the hill, dirt and debris being flung everywhere in a spectacular fashion. Rainbow hovered, awestruck that something that large could have been moving that fast, before she snapped back to reality from the growing sound of concerned ponies emerging from their hiding places and flew down to converse with her friends on what to do next.

Twilight's eyes were locked on where the cloud was now dispersing; all that remained was a vapor trail that led over the hill and a dull roar that grew quieter by the second while Applejack could have probably fit half the farm's apples in her mouth for how far it was hanging open.

"Wab thabt a drabon?!?" Spike, the first to recover from the shock, shouted as he ran over to the pegasus.

The mention of a dragon snapped Twilight out of her trance, "D-dragon?" She'd accidentally summoned dumb beasts before on several occasion, but never a dragon and the thought of it made her eyes go wide at the prospect. The Princess is going to banish me for sure!

Rainbow was silent for a moment as she went over her encounter, tapping a hoof to her chin, "Na, not a dragon. It was too fast for a dragon-"

"Well, what else would ya call somethin' big, flyin’, an' breathin' fire?" Applejack interrupted with sound logic as it was the size of some of the lager dragons they had seen in the migration a few months before and it most certainly was breathing fire.

Twilight shook her head, her denial of what she had seen half born because Rainbow, currently the pony to have gotten the best look at it, was saying it hadn't resembled a dragon and the other half being her absolute desire to not have to explain to the Princess why she needed to leave Canterlot to stop a rampaging dragon from destroying Ponyville, "We shouldn't jump to conclusions, but if Rainbow is saying it didn't fly like a dragon I think we should trust her judgment, at least until more evidence comes in."

Shrugging his shoulders, Spike chimed in, "So, if nobt a dwagon, whab oes tha leab us wibth?"

Twilight’s eyes followed the vapor trail, “I don’t know Spike, but we need to find out what we’re dealing with.”

“It crashed on the other side of the hill,” Rainbow performed a wobbly corkscrew to get above the rooftops to point a hoof in the direction, her flight still affected from the shockwave and her recovering equilibrium, “the one south of town, toward AJ’s farm.”

“I reckon if it’s NOT a dragon, it still might be some other critter. With critters involved who better to have on hoof than Fluttershy?”

“Good call, Applejack!” Twilight praised, a plan beginning to form in her mind. “Dash, go get Fluttershy and meet us on the road near the hill-” she had barely finished her instruction when the pegasus had shot off in an almost straight line for the cottage on the outskirts of town. Continuing on with her plan, Twilight was turning to Spike when she finally noticed ponies gathering around, expressions ranging from nervous to near-panicked, causing her to lean in and whisper to her assistant, “Spike, go and find Pinkie Pie; we tell her we need to diffuse this tension. She’ll know what to do.” Spike gave a little salute and turned on his heel to go look for the Party Pony.

“Oh and,“ the voice over his shoulder said after he had only traveled a few steps, “Spike, I need you to send a letter”

“Ugh…” was all he could manage as he looked visibly sick to his stomach.

It wasn't long before Dash, followed by Fluttershy, returned to Applejack and Twilight at the base of the hill where Twilight briefly explained the situation to the yellow pegasus who had stated she had heard the loud boom and had been dealing with several of her startled animals when Rarity, with Spike on her back, came trotting over the bridge.

"Ah, darling, I'm so glad we caught you before you had departed!" Rarity said with a wave of a hoof while Spike hopped down.

"I talked with Pinkie, she's setting up a party and said to leave everythi-"

"SPIKE!" a shocked Twilight interrupted, "You're not all stuffed up anymore!"

"Oh! The poor thing!" Rarity exclaimed, hugging the little dragon close, "I was on my way from the boutique when I came across my little Spikey-Wikey having a terrible fit of sneezes. Just as any mare would, I offed the gentledragon my hankie, and well..." she looked away, a hoof across her forehead, "It was simply horrendous."

"Yeah..." Spike revealed a somewhat-soggy letter to Twilight.

Had Princess Celestia responded to my letter this quickly? Twilight unrolled the parchment with her magic and read it to herself.

"To my faithful student,

I'm so sorry to hear that Spike is feeling a little under the weather and I hope that the delivery of this letter did not bring him any further discomfort. Please pass along my wishes for his speedy recovery; should you feel that Spike's condition necessitates the delay of your project or his absence puts any strain on you do not hesitate to postpone further experimentation and any reports stemming from it until his full recovery.

Best wishes and warmest regards,

P. C."

Finishing the letter, Twilight let out an audible sigh that caused her companions to exchange worried glances.

Applejack was the first to speak up, trotting over and putting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder "Everythin' okay, sugarcube?"

"Well," –Twilight leaned into AJ's gesture – "no. The Princess told me I could postpone my research." All she could bring herself to do is stare at her hooves as a cloud of guilt slowly built over her, "I'm sorry! This whole situation was avoidable but because I put my desire to finish a paper before the well-being of a best friend I put all of Ponyville in danger." She was trying not to cry, fighting hard to suppress the weariness from working all night as it clawed its way up her throat, leaving her to speak in small hitches, "On top of that, whatever just flew over Ponyville may be hurt and lost and scared. And i-it's my fault," the letter from the Princess fell into a puddle at her feet when both hooves moved to cradle her face in an attempt to stem the tide of tears that had started rolling down her cheeks, "It's all my fault."

She would have said it a third time but she was smothered in hugs from her friends.

"There, there, dear. It's nopony's fault."

"But you're sorry, and that's what matters."

"Shucks, 'erypony makes m'stakes now an' again!"

"Yeah, even me! And I'm still this awesome!"

"If anyone's to blame, it's me, Twilight. I'm the one who had a letter stuck in his snout."

Twilight still felt she was responsible for all of this but she wanted to show her friends that their support was appreciated, so she dried her eyes and did her best to squeeze all of them at once into one hug.

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt..." Fluttershy meekly whispered, shifting from hoof to hoof and glancing at the hill behind them "but we really should get going, shouldn't we?" Even the thought of a hurt creature, even something as big and imposing as a dragon, lost or hurt somewhere in the forest was enough to cause the pegasus obvious discomfort.

“I’d love to join you on this little outing, but I promised I’d help Pinkie with the cleanup before the party preparations,” Rarity said, starting to head back toward the bridge.

“Rarity,” Twilight called, “do you think you could take Spike with you?”

Spike was about to voice his disapproval at missing out on the adventure but the white unicorn spoke first, intentionally cutting off his protests. “Certainly dear, I’m sure the muscles of a strong gentledragon such as Spike's will prove useful,” she replied, batting her eyelashes at the young dragon as a beckoning for him to follow.

Resistance was futile. Any objections Spike would have put forward immediately faded as a goofy smile took over his face and his eyes glazed over. He practically floated behind Rarity as the two returned over the bridge.

Applejack hitched herself back up to her cart in the off chance they needed it and whipped her hat in the air enthusiastically as she hollered, "Alright 'erypony, let’s get this wagontrain rollin'!"

A group cheer (accompanied by one quiet "yey!"), and the hill was stormed by a multitude of technicolor ponies. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow was the first to reach the top. Applejack came next, her strong earth pony frame easily bearing the load of the empty cart while Twilight and Fluttershy were close behind. Dash did a wonderful job summing up the group's thoughts in one word. "Whoa."

Part of the hill in front of them - a part that had not been visible from the bottom - had been completely pulverized away; debris was scattered all over and none of the ponies could readily identify what it could have come from off-hoof though it didn't look like anything that could have come from a dragon, save for one or two large scale-like pieces jutting from the dirt. Following the gouge in the hill down the other side, a short distance past the bottom, a deep trench cut a line across the grass field and into the tree line of the Everfree Forest where it continued on for a distance until the tree canopies obscured vision of it. In the distance a plum of billowing smoke was rising, serving as a rather unsettling marker of their destination.

Twilight trotted down the hill into the trench, the bottom of which was speckled with puddles as rain from the surrounding earth coalesced. "If we use this as a path," she stomped a hoof into the dirt with a squelch!, "we can follow it right to, um, whatever it is." Twilight looked up at her friends for approval of her suggestion.

"Ah reckon it's prob'ly the fastest way, too. 'Cept fer the mud we won't hafta work the cart 'round all those trees an' roots," AJ added as she carefully descended into the wet trench, towing the cart behind her while Fluttershy wordlessly glided down with her to land next to Twilight.

With Rainbow leading the way, the group made their way into Everfree Forest.