Chapter 1

Luna stared up at the night sky as she stood on the castle balcony. She knew every star, every constellation by heart. There was something different about the sky this night though. While any other pony would never notice it without looking hard enough, it stood out to Luna as clear as day. There was an extra star in the sky.

There were many questions that Luna asked herself as she looked at the single, seemingly insignificant dot. Where had it come from? Why was it here? Why was it blinking? Indeed the star was blinking. For a week she had observed the strange anomaly, patiently waiting for the dot to do something. Whatever it was that Luna was expecting never came and she soon decided to yet again go to bed with no closure as to what exactly the little blinking dot was.

In the past, when the dot first appeared, Luna thought about using her magic to move it or do away with it entirely. It would have been easy. One quick spell and she would no longer have the dot weighing on her mind. She was more patient than this though. She knew that tampering with the night sky was not something somepony just did lightly, despite what other ponies believed.

Before Luna finally decided to retire to bed, there was one more thing that she noticed about the dot. Not only had it stopped blinking, but it had grown larger and was rapidly moving toward the horizon. She watched in curiosity as the dot got closer and closer to the darkened edge of the earth until finally there was a large flash of light as the dot, that had seemed so insignificant only seconds earlier entered the atmosphere, illuminating the entire sky in the process.

The object shimmered and sparkled as it moved downward, leaving a streak of grey smoke across the sky like a paint brush. Only moments later it disappeared over the horizon accompanied by a faint thud as it made contact with the ground. All went quiet, and the only thing left of the object that had once decorated the sky, was the streak of grey smoke left over from its flight and a column of much thicker black smoke growing out from where it had landed.

Twilight trotted through the Everfree Forest at a moderately rushed pace with Spike on her back. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but Princess Luna's letter had made it seem very important. It was very early morning, probably not even six yet, which made it somewhat hard to keep track of the black pillar of smoke that rose from the canopy into the dimly lit sky above.

"Are we almost there?" Spike asked tiredly as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Almost, Spike," Twilight answered. "I think I see some tents up ahead. It must be where we're supposed to meet Luna." She sped up as the two approached the large camp. There were several royal guards standing watch, each dawning a set of dark blue and purple armor indicating that they served under Luna.

"Halt," one of the guards said firmly as he held out a hoof. "This is a restricted area."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," the purple unicorn began, "I'm supposed to meet with Princess Luna."

The guard looked over at his partner who stood a few feet to his right. He nodded, giving him the all clear. "The princess is waiting for you inside. Go on in."

After being let in through the main entrance, Twilight looked around in search of Luna, a task that would appear to be easier said than done. There were tents everywhere. There was a tent where guards were equipping themselves with spears and other armaments. There was a tent where a group of ponies were examining some kind of large metal object. There was even a tent set up as a small hospital, indicated by the large red cross printed on the roof.

Twilight wasn't exactly sure what was going on that warranted all this stuff, but she did know that if she was going to find Luna, she would need some help. "Excuse me," she said to a pair of passing guards, "Could you point me in the direction of..." she didn't finish as she watched the guards continue walking. "Could you tell me... Do you know where... Sorry to take up your time, but..." She continued to attempt to get directions, but no one stopped for her. No matter who she tried to flag down to ask for directions, they would just keep walking. As a matter of fact, it seemed to her that everypony she saw was in some kind of rush.

"What's everypony's problem?" Spike asked, only barely awake and more than ready to find a spot where he could rest his head for a few hours instead of lying on Twilight's back.

"I don't know, Spike," Twilight said. "Everypony is in a huge rush for some reason. We need to find Princess Luna. She'll know what's going on."

Twilight walked on for several more minutes. The camp was fairly large and seemed to be mostly consist of guards' tents and tents full of ponies who wore lanyards with special name tags. She finally came to a large blue tent with the royal Lunar seals woven into it. It had to be the one. She walked up to the entrance only to be stopped by another guard in the same fashion as before. Upon stating her name and why she was here, the guards let her pass and she and Spike entered the tent.

"Twilight," Luna called from the other side of a large wooden table that was littered with many metal thing-a-ma-jigs. "I'm glad to see you made it. I'm sorry to have dragged you from your slumber at such an early hour."

"Princess Luna, hello," Twilight greeted back. "What is all this? What's going on?"

"Come, I shall show you," Luna said as she walked around the table and toward the entrance to the sizable tent that they were currently in. "First you will want one of these, though." She levitated a lanyard with a small laminated name tag that had a gold seal on it and large black letters that read "SECURITY CLEARANCE LEVEL 3" along with her name. "It should remove the inconvenience of being stopped by any of my guards at any point in time."

"Security clearance level three?" Twilight questioned as she observed the tag.

"Indeed," Luna confirmed. "You will need it for where we are going. Come."

Twilight followed Luna out the door curiously. Whatever was happening seemed very important.

"I'm am sure," Luna began as they walked through the encampment together, "that you are more than curious as to why I called you both out here. Before I answer your questions though, tell me, are you aware of what has occurred in the last seven hours?"

Twilight shook her head no.

"The fact that you are here tells me that you followed the directions I sent you, instructing you to follow the pillar of smoke that now fades as we speak. It may surprise you to learn that that pillar is not from a signal fire of any kind, but from something out of our own control. Within the twelfth hour of the night, an unidentified object fell from the sky and impacted with our planet. After locating said object, via the smoke trail that it left, it was discovered that the object was artificial in nature, but not of pony origin."

"Twilight's ears shot up and her eyes opened wide as she heard this. "Are you saying that an alien ship crash landed here?"

"Yes," Luna answered, "I am. As a matter of fact, there it is now." She pointed ahead of her.

Past a thick row of trees, sat the subject matter of their short conversation. There were many more guards, at least twenty, standing around the large wreck as several other ponies looked over pieces of shrapnel that had broken off of the main craft. The ship itself was a bright white color, with traces of black soot that had formed from entry into the atmosphere. It was also very large. It stretched what Twilight estimated to be about thirty yards in length and ten in height. The overall design was very geometrical, with straight edges and flat surfaces. The area around the craft was torn and shredded with pieces of entire tree trunks tossed in every direction. There was a large groove in the ground left from where the craft had first touched down to where it now laid.

"That's amazing," Twilight whispered to herself in disbelief as she ran forward a few meters, waking up Spike, who had still been napping on her back, as she did so.

"Whoa!" Spike panicked as he fell off of Twilight's back and onto the ground. He moaned, before finally standing up next to Twilight who was entranced by the ship before them. "Whoa," Spike said again, this time out of aw rather than reaction.

"Whoa, indeed," Luna said as she too stepped forward. "It is a very impressive piece of technology, but my sister and I fear that it may be dangerous if the situation is not handled properly. The ship has simply rested there since it crashed, without anypony coming out. We decided that the best course of action was to be the ones that established contact. You may have noticed the field hospital. It was set up as a precautionary measure. Upon entering, though, no signs of life were found."

"You mean it was empty?" Twilight questioned as she continued to stare at the wreckage.

"Yes," Luna confirmed. "At first, we were afraid that whatever species had built the ship would find it unruly of us to enter uninvited, but after nothing happened, the decision was made to enter. It took several hours just to get the door open. Even still we have restricted our studies to debris that detached from the main wreckage. We are uncertain if someone, or something, has plans to recover the ship."

"That's incredible!" Twilight exclaimed happily. It was like every one of her science fiction fantasies were coming true right before her eyes. It was scary though, knowing that another intelligent life form was somewhere out there. Or perhaps it was scary because of what they didn't know. They still, after all, had no clue as to whether the aliens were friendly, or if they planned on invading like Haywood movies would have everyone believe.

"Indeed, it is very much a marvel of technological advancement," Luna agreed. "Would you like to see the inside?"

"Would I?! I mean, can we?" Twilight asked, trying to tone down her excitement in order to keep it from getting her carried away. "Is it safe?"

Luna smiled a little. "Yes, I assure you it is safe," she answered. "A few others and I have been inside on several occasions in order to inspect interior systems. I am quite sure you will find them much to your liking. Shall we?"

"Yes, please!" Twilight almost shouted with excitement. As she and Luna walked toward the alien crash though, Twilight began to think. Her curiosity eventually got the better of her and she asked her question. "Princess?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Why exactly did you call me here? Not that I'm ungrateful that you did and that your trusting me with all of this, but why me?"

"I will not lie to you," Luna began. "Equestria is at a substantial risk because of what has happened here. As you may have guessed, there are many variables at play at the moment, many of which I fear we are entirely unaware of. For these reasons, we wanted are best minds on this project and your name was certainly toward the top of the list. It is my hope that you would be willing to lend your assistance in this project."

Twilight blushed a little at the thought of her being one of the smartest ponies in Equestria. "I-I... I'd be honored."

"Excellent." Luna smiled happily. "Let us proceed then."

Luna and Twilight walked on for only a few more seconds before coming to the sealed entrance of the craft. Luna gave an order to the guard standing watch. He nodded in response before his horn lit up. The door made a popping sound as it jutted out of the side of the craft and slid down the length of a few feet to grant them access.

The two entered, followed cautiously by Spike, who now did not seem so tired anymore. He peered inside the large craft as Luna and Twilight entered. The inside was dimly lit with only a few electrical lanterns acting as light sources. They cast long dark shadows on the already bleak gray interior. Spike shuddered at the site as he too entered and looked around nervously. Every second that passed only made him feel more and more like something hostile and alien was lurking in the shadows, just waiting for a chance to grab any of them.

The little dragon backed up slowly from one of the darkened corners as his eyes began to play tricks on him. He would have been fine had he been watching were he went. He backed up straight into one of the walls, only to feel the back of his head push something small out of its position. Upon noticing a bright glow from behind him, he noticed that a rectangular button of some sort was glowing brightly. What came next, nearly scared him out of his scales.

There was a loud thud noise from the rear of the craft, catching even the attention of Twilight and Luna, who were examining what they believed to be an inactive console. It had sounded as if something big and metallic had fallen to the ground from the ceiling. The noise was followed by a series of high pitched hums.

Spike jumped back and hid behind one of Twilight's legs. The three stared silently at the rear of the room where the light from the lanterns did not reach. There were several more sounds made. The clanking noises of what sounded like metal hooves making contact with the cold metal floor echoed through the room as someone... something stepped into the light, for all to see.

Author's Note

So yeah, Spike bumped into something and awakened something else. I know it's kind of cliché, but it works. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I've been working off and on, on this story for a few months now. I wasn't planning on releasing it until it was completely finished, but I've decided to give into my urges of releasing it early to see what you guys think. Right now my story Husklands is taking priority so this probably wont have any updates anytime soon. The second chapter is written though so you guys can enjoy that. Hope you like it.