Twilight Sparkle sighed.

It was going to be a long day again.

For starters, Pinkie Pie was recovering from a sugar hangover and she didn’t even know that was possible until it happened. But, to be fair, it was better than the alcoholic alternative.

Secondly, some ponies in Ponyville had been talking about strange lights in the night that had kept them awake.

Thirdly, she had suddenly been appointed head of all problem solving in Ponyville, which is why the previous statement was going to be even more of a problem.

She sighed again and rubbed her temples, sipping her tea lightly. Yes, this was definitely going to be a long day.

That door bursting open as Rainbow Dash charged in, making her jump, certainly did not help.

She yelped as the cup of hot tea dropped out of her magical grip and spilled over her legs, scalding her instantly.

“Oops, my bad,” Rainbow said meekly, ears flattening against her head. “You need some help with that?”

“Towel!” Twilight yelled, fanning her burning legs with a nearby book and pointing into the bathroom.

“Gotcha!” Rainbow yelled, saluting and shooting away to grab the towel.

She returned a moment later, holding the towel in her teeth and a bucket of cold water in her hooves. Twilight made protesting gestures, but Rainbow was already pouring the bucket over her. She squealed as she was drenched in the icy cold water and shivered, teeth chattering.

“D-Did y-you h-have to?!” she yelled in frustration, snatching the towel off of Rainbow and wrapping herself in it tightly.

“Well, cold water always treats a burn well,” Rainbow replied with an innocent smile.

“Not i-in that a-amount!” Twilight stammered, drying herself with the towel quickly. “Why was there a b-bucket of cold w-water left in th-there anyway?!”

“I don’t know, but who cares?!” Rainbow yelled, seeming to forget that she had just dropped bucket of cold water over her friend’s head. “Princess Luna is back in town! She’s brought like a whole army of her night guards!”

“Please tell me that’s an exaggeration, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight replied, hovering over her hairbrush to brush her mane as she dried it.

“Oh, it’s no exaggeration! There’s like ten of those guys out there!”

Twilight sighed. “One day, we’re going to teach you the real meaning of exaggeration, Rainbow Dash.” She shook the last of the water out of her coat and stepped out of the chair towards the door. “Then let’s go. The town probably want me to go and find out what it is anyway, after being appointed chief problem solver.”

“Whoa, really?” Rainbow grunted in annoyance. “I’m not chief of anything. I bet it’s cool to be chief of something.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what it’s like on the way.” Twilight wrapped a thick coat around herself quickly. “What? It’s cold and I’m still freezing after that water you threw over me.”

“I wasn’t gonna ask anyway,” Rainbow said as she headed back over to the door quickly. “Now come on! We’ve got a problem to solve, chief problem solver!”

Twilight sighed again and followed her. “Spike!” She called over her shoulder. “I’m heading out to see Princess Luna! Can you mop up that massive puddle of water and tea by my desk, please?”

She heard Spike groan, probably still waking up, but she took that as a yes as she closed the door behind her.

-=-=-=-=-

Princess Luna had been searching for the source of the noises and lights for an hour now, but still no luck.

She had been watching over a troubled pony’s dreams when they’d heard a noise from beyond the dream world and woke up. She’d taken it as a sign that something was coming, because her thoughts on the sound were that it was not of Equestrian origin.

It sounded alien.

Naturally, she’d been the first one to rally a detachment of her guards to bring to Ponyville, but her sister was currently forming a group of the more familiar guards to bring along just to put the citizens’ minds at ease. They hadn’t come along just yet, so Luna assumed that her sister was giving her complete control over the situation, as she’d had essentially none over the wedding that had been only two days ago now.

“Princess, we’ve found what looks like could be their vessel,” said one of the guards as he stepped out of the shadows, like they usually did.

It still made Luna giggle just to think about that: a bat pony stepping out of the shadows and appearing or disappearing whenever they liked. It was sort of comical to her.

“Good. Take me to it, please,” she replied, stepping closer to him. “We might be able to find these aliens and approach them peacefully.”

“I hope so, majesty,” said her guard as he led her into the Everfree forest. “Not that I’m not prepared, but I think this alien species would kick our sorry behinds if we got into a war with them.”

These guards were always so informal, too. They’d been ordered by Celestia to be a little more formal, but they and Luna had all joked about it and laughed at her.

It was kind of a running gag, by now.

“What makes you say that?” she asked.

“Well, Cosmic found it first, and you know how much he loves his science, and he said that it looked like a self-powered carriage of some sort. We don’t even have that tech just yet, and this looks like it’s old and beat up. It’s gotta be a few years old, so what are their new things gonna be like?”

Luna was silent, thinking about it for a moment. She didn’t like the idea that it might turn out like one of those books about alien invaders, where ponykind was nearly wiped out and then saved at the last minute by some superhero of some sort. As amusing as it was to read them, the real thing would be terrifying and heart-breaking.

They marched on in silence, neither of them wanting to break it for some reason, until they finally reached the vessel.

Luna gasped. It had crashed into a tree, but it was still mostly in one piece. She would have to examine it in great detail or have one of her sister’s scientists take it apart so they could study it.

It was a black, metal construct that looked like it seated five with what could be assumed was the driver’s tools up at the front. It had wheels, so it must have been equipped for land travel. What looked like giant plastic bags of air were inflated in the front, and one of them had an unmistakeable stain of blood on it. There looked to be words written on the rear end of the ship, and Luna squinted at them to read them better.

She cocked her head to one side. What was a ‘Volvo’?

-=-=-=-=-

“I thought you said she was here?”

“She was here like two minutes ago!”

“Well she’s not here now!”

“Then she must’ve gone somewhere, but she can’t have gotten far!”

“Hear that?” whispered Twilight as she hid behind a fallen tree. “Sounds like someone’s gotten lost!”

“Betcha we could help out!” Rainbow replied quietly.

They’d headed into the Everfree forest after a guard at the edge had told them Luna had already gone inside. He’d told them that she hadn’t gone too far and that she was looking for something. He’d also said that this was official Princess business and that no other little pony should be interfering.

Then he’d said not to worry and just go in, being two of the Elements of Harmony and having a lot more sway over him than other ponies would.

“Where the hell has she gone?!” yelled one of the voices, unmistakably male.

“I don’t keep all her actions in a freaking book all the time!” yelled the other, also male, by the sounds of it.

“Jenny?! Jenny, where are you?!”

“Jennifer Gray, you get back here right this second!”

“Never heard a name like that before,” Rainbow muttered, peeking out over the tree. “Think we could help out?”

“You just said you bet we could help out, Rainbow,” Twilight giggled. She motioned with her head and hopped over the tree. “Come on. They’re probably worried sick about their friend.”

“Jesus Christ… First we get abducted by aliens, then we crash the car, and now Jenny’s gone missing!” The sound of a snapping branch could be heard. “Yeah, just my luck. That makes sense.”

“Jack, calm down,” said the other. “She’s probably just as scared as we are. She must’ve panicked. We’ll find her, though. Don’t worry.”

“Excuse me!” Twilight yelled through the trees. “Do you need any help? We heard you were looking for someone!”

“Yeah, we’ve had an accident!” one of them yelled back. “We left our friend here and now she’s gone missing! We’d really appreciate the help!”

“Twilight, if their friend is lost in the Everfree forest, then we’ll be lucky to find her!” Rainbow hissed.

“We can still try!” Twilight whispered in reply.

The two of them stepped through the trees and into a small clearing, where the two…

What?

“No,” said one of the strange looking creatures. “No, no, no.” It took a step back. “Ryan, you see those too, right?”

“I’ll handle this,” said the other one quietly, pushing the other back gently. “Uh… Hello! We come in peace! We’re looking for someone! Could you please help us?”

“Ryan, those things are from a goddamn TV show!” the other one hissed. “Jenny watched it all the time!”

“I know that, Jack,” said the one closest. “My niece watched it once or twice while I was there.”

“What the heck are you?!” yelled Rainbow Dash, snapping out of her slack jawed state at last. “Are you aliens?! Are you going to destroy Equestria?!”

“Rainbow Dash, quiet!” Twilight whispered, grabbing Rainbow Dash’s tail in a magical grip and pulling her back. “I can handle this! We might be the first to encounter an alien species on the planet! Do you really want to make them angry and start a war?”

“I can see both of our friends are a little bit… hot-headed,” said the one that had been called ‘Ryan’. “Do you think we could maybe negotiate a few things before it gets out of hand?”

“O-Of course!” Twilight replied with a forced smile. “We don’t want to… start anything bad!”

Ryan laughed weakly, but had the same forced smile that Twilight had. “Y-Yeah!” he stammered, stepping closer to her. “We don’t want any trouble. We don’t even know how we got here. Do you think you could help us get back home?”

Before Twilight could say anything else, there was a shrill scream that echoed throughout the forest.

“JENNY!!” roared the one called ‘Jack’, taking off at a sprint in the direction of the scream.

“Rainbow, go with him!” Twilight yelled as he vanished into the thicket.

Rainbow was after him in the blink of an eye. Twilight and Ryan stood and stared at each other before coming to the same conclusion and hurrying after them.

-=-=-=-=-

Luna had seen the manticore long before hearing the scream.

She’d seen some tracks leading away from the ‘Volvo’ machine, and had instinctively followed them. There were four sets of tracks, three of which belonged to something that didn’t look even remotely Equestrian. The other’s was definitely of Equestria, but something that would definitely not be good for a first meeting.

The manticore had been skulking through the forest quietly, clearly hunting something. She’d lost sight of it a few minutes ago, but the scream that pierced the silence told her enough.

She’d charged through the forest towards it and, lo and behold, it was pouncing upon some poor creature that looked terrified, regardless of where it came from.

In a heartbeat, she’d reacted to the danger.

Her horn ignited and loosed a spell at the beast, stunning it and sending it hurtling away. The creature hugged itself tightly and dropped to the ground, shaking like a leaf.

“State thy intentions,” Luna barked, her military side taking over. She shook her head and crept towards it slowly, hearing it sobbing and whimpering defencelessly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh. Are you alright?”

“Y-You’re… P-Princess L-L-Luna,” it muttered in a squeaky voice. “A-Am I d-d-dead?”

“No, you’re absolutely fine,” Luna whispered sweetly. She reached out and touched it with a shaky hoof. Its heartbeat was about twice that of a normal pony’s, or it was just terrified. “In f-fact, you’re so very much alive that you need to calm down. Everything is g-going to be fine.”

She didn’t mean to stammer. It was her nerves getting the better of her. She may be the first to interact with an alien species, but if she made one wrong move, she may doom the entirety of Equestria.

“B-But… y-you’re not r-real,” it sobbed, gently taking her hoof and squeezing it warmly. “Why am I-I here if I’m n-not dead?”

Luna could feel a great deal of responsibility overcoming her. This poor thing needed help. The scientific or official questions could wait until later. Now was the time for care and attention.

“Come now,” she whispered soothingly. “We don’t have to worry about that. Dry those tears and let’s get you something to cheer you up, and I know just the pony for that.”

There was a rustling behind her and, before she could turn around, the sound of stomping steps approaching at an alarming rate could be heard.

“GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!!” roared the one that leapt onto her back and put her into a chokehold suddenly.

The way he was holding her… It was like he wanted to kill her! She had to put a stop to this.

She did the only thing she could think of. She let out a shockwave of force, knocking him off her back. It also knocked the other one back and into a tree.

She gasped as she saw the blood on the sharp branch, no doubt from the cut it had caused as she brushed against it so forcefully.

She whimpered and clutched at it gently, collapsing to the ground. She began to sob again, blood dripping out onto the ground.

“No!” she exclaimed, reaching out to her. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!”

“WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!!” the other bellowed, charging at her again.

“Jack?!” called a voice from beyond the trees. “Jack, what’s happening?! Did you find her?!”

“HELP ME!!” shouted ‘Jack’, ducking under a stunning spell from Luna’s horn. “THIS THING WANTS TO KILL HER!!”

“N-No!” Luna protested, holding a hoof up. “I was merely…!”

He tackled her to the ground and punched her hard across the face.

“Jack, don’t do anything stupid!” the voice yelled. “I’m coming now! Just keep her safe until I get there!”

This was going way too far.

“Guards!!” Luna screamed as she teleported out from under the creature. “I need assistance!!”

“Princess?!” yelled a voice that sounded like Twilight Sparkle’s. “What’s going on?! I’m on my way!”

The creature that was attacking her leapt up and kicked out at her, knocking her back. She charged up a stun spell as he stood up straight and charged at her again. He jumped up, ready to slam her head into the ground. She heard a rustling of leaves as she loosed the spell. It hit him straight in the face.

He fell to the ground, stunned. She heard a gasp from behind her, but before she could turn around, something else tackled her to the ground.

“JENNY, YOU HAVE TO RUN!!” her new attacker screamed. “GRAB JACK AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!”

The sobbing female whimpered in reply and merely curled up tighter.

Luna struggled in the creature’s grip, but did nothing.

“Ryan, let her go!” yelled Twilight, hurrying over to the two of them. “She didn’t mean to hurt him! It was self-defence!”

“Whatever you are, get the heck off of our Princess!” barked a guard as he entered the clearing.

She heard someone approaching very quickly.

“Jack, don’t!” ‘Ryan’ shouted.

She glanced up just in time to see a large stone held by the creature she’d stunned shooting towards her.

She screamed in fear, but could do nothing in time to prevent it.

It slammed into her skull and everything just seemed to stop.

Author's Note

This story was proofread by me.

The cover art sketched way too quickly to be any good by me too.