Ever Wonder What's Up There?
Twilight had always appreciated clear, peaceful nights like these. Not a cloud in sight, and Luna's moon was bright and full. It was the perfect kind of night to stargaze. Twilight levitated her telescope over and settled in, peering into the viewing glass and turning it to the night sky.
For weeks now there had been an increase in incidents of meteors passing through the planet's atmosphere, referred to as shooting stars, and even more than a few cases of some falling onto the planet proper, though never anywhere near any settlements. Twilight had taken to watching these meteor showers, hoping to learn a few things from watching them and their trajectories. They'd been falling at random, it seemed, but Twilight was certain she'd be able to ascertain something.
I've found they mostly pass through over the Everfree. I hope there's no connection there Twilight mused, adjusting the lens on the telescope for a better focus. She shifted it in its mount and turned it towards the moon as it hung high above their world, directly above the Everfree Forest. She hadn't seen any shooting stars just yet this night, but she was certain there'd be some falling any moment.
Even as she thought it Twilight caught glimpse of something passing through the planet's atmosphere, streaking across the night sky in a blaze of yellow light, gone as soon as it had come. It shocked her just how fast these meteorites were, often appearing and fading away in but a blink. Soon after the first one had passed another two or three came through, grouped tightly together. Seven seconds after they'd passed by there was a subtle rumbling, thought Twilight was sure that none of the meteorites had actually landed on Equus. Most tended to burn up in the atmosphere, and these ones were only passing by anyway. Still, it was a peculiar thing.
Such a rumbling could be caused by the meteorites breaking the sound barrier, but they'd have to be travelling so fast, and entering the atmosphere would normally slow them down so much. That's why I find this to be so odd; there seems to be something to it, but what?
Turning the telescope left Twilight watched to see if she could see any of the meteorites as they entered the planet's atmosphere. Perhaps that would give her a better idea of what she was working with. Truth be told she was rather hoping that one of them would actually land on the planet in a place where it'd be easy to find, if only she could have a chance to study it.
As she watched the skies several more meteorites passed by, there and gone in but a second. Twilight bumped up the zoom on the telescope and tried to follow one as it shot by, but they were just so fast.
"Argh. Darn meteorites. Just...slow-- What the?" Twilight uttered under her breath. She adjusted the microscope and strained to see through the haze of the midnight sky, through the veil of the atmosphere. There was something there, an odd shape just barely perceptible amidst the black velvet of the starry void.
As Twilight stared at the barely visible shape there was a kind of dull flash, and not even a tenth of a second later she watched as a 'meteor' streaked across the night sky. The shape moved, not errantly, but rather with purpose, and it moved away from the planet, leaving her sight.
"What...did I just see?" Twilight asked aloud, uncomprehending. It was unlike any celestial phenomenon she'd ever witnessed. She gazed back into the telescope and turned it towards Luna's moon, hoping to see one or more of the meteorites pass in front of it. With the moon creating a backdrop it'd help Twilight get a rough idea of the distance and direction the meteorites were coming in from, and--
Something moved.
"What..." Twilight breathed, turning the telescope's magnification up as much as possible. An odd shape had moved rather close to Luna's moon, frustratingly close to edge of the light it cast upon Equestria. The glow drowned out any objects near it, but there was always the hope that it'd move into view.
It did.
Twilight gasped and her heartrate spiked as the object glided directly into view, silhouetted perfectly by Luna's moon, and turned. It had a kind of bowling pin shape, with a bulbous midsection and an elongated prow. Two brilliant orbs of light flashed forward from its prow and raced into the cosmos, vanishing from sight. Twilight turned the telescope and struggled to track them, to see what they were and where they were going. She watched as they streaked across the infinite void, and suddenly winked out in blossoming fireballs as they struck something.
A few minutes later, a few 'meteorites' passed through Equestria's atmosphere. A few more streaked down onto the planet, landing Celestia only knows where. Twilight stepped back from the telescope and sat down, her eyes wide, and struggled to comprehend what she'd just seen.
Symmetrical design, movement with purpose... Intelligent life...?
"Twilight?"
"Ah!" Twilight screamed, and jumped. She turned to face the speaker, Spike, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Goodness, don't startle me like that, Spike." Her young dragon brother just shrugged and stepped forward.
"Studying, or stargazing?"
Twilight shook her head. "Spike, take a look at this" she said, and gestured to the telescope. Spike walked up to it and placed his eyes over the lenses, and adjusted the zoom. "Focus in on Luna's moon and tell me what you see."
"I see her moon. Uhh, am I looking for something in particular, 'cuz all that's there is a bunch of rocks and--" he stopped. "Oh my gosh, Twilight, something's there! It's moving!"
"I saw it too, Spike. What does it look like?" Twilight asked, looking up at the moon with her naked eyes. She could faintly see the small, dark shapes, moving back and forth before the brilliant moon.
"It's...kinda boxy. Like a big brick. There's these little orange flashes of light coming off of it. Hold on, it's turning... Holy guacamole Twilight, there's another one! It looks kinda bulbous, and there's these little blue fireworks going off on it. It's massive, Twilight. There's... Its side is glowing, like this little line that's running across it is glowing. It's projecting a beam of magic at... At the boxy brick?" he explained.
Even without the telescope Twilight could see the magnificent flash of white and orange in the dark of the cosmos, the fireball winking for but a second as the flames died in the vacuum. As expected, a few minutes later the 'meteorites' came, raining down all over Equestria. Twilight and Spike watched in silent awe as the flaming chunks came down in the distance, most landing in the Everfree forest and Whitetail woods. There was a distant sonic boom as a few breached the sound barrier, one that made the windows rattle. A few landed near the edge of the Everfree and Whitetail, and Twilight saw more than one light come on in the houses and cottages throughout Ponyville.
"Twilight? What's going on...?" Spike asked, and Twilight turned to face him, noticing he looked pale and praying she didn't look the same.
"I don't know... Let's go get the girls and take a look." Together they trotted out into the cool night air, feeling uneasy.
Thirty minutes later Twilight, Spike, and the rest of their friends were at Fluttershy's cottage in various states of nightwear and drowsiness. There was a gentle whistling from the kitchen and a minute later Fluttershy came out, balancing a tray of tea on her back. Twilight took the cups in her magical grasp and passed them out to the others, unsure of what to say, if anything.
"Mind tellin' me what's got ya runnin' around town, waking us all up at the dead of night?" Applejack asked, and Twilight's eyes passed over the five of them, Spike at her side.
"For the past few weeks now I've been observing little meteor showers and shooting stars passing over our planet. Each time I've observed them they've passed by in the same places, or come down in the same places. Until tonight, I thought they were isolated coincidences, but half an hour ago, Spike and I saw...something. More than one something, actually. After we saw it, there was another meteor shower, and some of them came down awfully close by" Twilight said.
"I'll say. Stupid thing is lucky I was still awake, or it'd have woken me up!" Rainbow exclaimed, her forehooves folded and expression hard. She relaxed some as Fluttershy sat next to her, though. "So you rounded us all up to talk about these dumb rocks?"
"Now hold on there, Rainbow. Twilight said she saw something, so let's let her finish. Go on, sugarcube, tell us what ya saw."
Twilight hesitated. "I...don't know what I saw. They...moved with purpose, they...looked as if they'd been designed by...intelligent life."
There was a moment of silence as the others processed Twilight's revelation, the tension rising. "Like...aliens?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know..."
"If some of these meteors came down nearby, shouldn't we go take a look? They might be dangerous, or start a forest fire" Fluttershy commented. Some of the others nodded and looked to Twilight, who found herself in agreement. if they took a look at the meteors, maybe it'd answer some of their questions.
"OK, let's head out. A few landed nearby in the Everfree, as well as in the Whitetails. They probably won't be too hard to find" Twilight said. After a moment the seven of them were out and traipsing down one of the few paths that led into the dark forest, like they'd done so many times before. The darkness loomed around them, bathed in a soft glow from the moon above. "Rainbow, I want you to fly up above us and see if you can spot any smoke."
"Darling, did you happen to see exactly where this meteor came down? It might help to guide Rainbow" Rarity said, and Twilight nodded.
"It looked like it came down in the west, not far from Zecora's" Twilight answered, and Rainbow Dash took off. The rest of them continued on, deeper into the forest. A few times they passed near some debris, metal and rock, but nothing of interest.
"These meteors have any kinda shape to 'em? You said they moved with purpose" Applejack said.
"The shapes up in space moved with purpose; these meteors just kinda came down, faster than they ought to have" Twilight told her. The fleeting scent of smoke caught their attention, and they all came to a stop. "Anypony see anything? A fire or glow? It can't be far."
"Umm, I do" Fluttershy said, and raised a hoof, pointing ahead and to the right. "It looks like it's, um, dying out, though." The group followed her gaze to where she was pointing and turned towards it. With a careful pulse of her horn Twilight moved some of the brush aside, being careful to watch out for poison joke, and her friends followed. There was a short distance before they got near the dying fire, and paused as they took in what they saw. The branches on some of the trees had been smashed away, and the ground was lightly cratered. In the center of this crater was a hunk of purple metal, scorched and charred around the edges. its clean surfaces had a pattern of octagonal scales running along it, and it was smooth as ice.
"What...is it? Just some metal?" Spike asked, looking to Twilight, who stepped forward.
"It certainly doesn't look dangerous" Rarity commented.
"I guess it's not... But it's definitely not a normal meteorite. We'll have to come back tomorrow with a carriage to get it out of here, so we can study it" Twilight said, trotting around it. She took a moment to extinguish the last of the fire near the meteorite before turning back to focus on it, lighting her horn. It had no magical properties, and was seemingly a non-descript chunk of unknown metal.
"Hey! You all might wanna come check this out!" Twilight heard from above, and looked up to find Rainbow hovering above the treetops. She swooped down and landed next to Applejack. "There's this big egg thing a couple hundred yards over there" she exclaimed, gesturing vaguely, and took off towards it. Twilight and the others galloped off in pursuit, Twilight wondering just what Rainbow had meant.
"An egg? Are you certain?"
"It's shaped like an egg! It's all metal and has these weird markings on it" Rainbow answered, and Twilight's apprehension lessened. Had it been an actual egg, she wasn't sure how she'd have handled it. Alien metals were one thing; life forms were another.
"What kinda markings?" Applejack asked.
"I dunno! They're all weird looking! Plus it's kinda dark, so it was hard to tell, AJ!"
In less than a minute they'd made it to where Rainbow's metal egg was, and they all stopped dead in their tracks, save for Rainbow herself, who slowed to a canter near the metal 'egg.' It was tall, seven feet or more, and indeed roughly egg-shaped. Twilight lit her horn to cast light on it, and they all began to circle around it. "Sweet Celestia..." Twilight breathed, her eyes scanning it top to bottom. its front end had what appeared to be a hatch of some manner, with tinted windows along it. Along the right side was a sigil depicting a majestic eagle perched atop a planet, a banner furled around the globe, the letters U N S C stencilled on the banner. As Twilight went back around she inspected the left side, and saw another sigil, this one depicting what appeared to be a flaming skull, the letters O D S T stencilled below that.
"What is this?" Rarity asked, her own horn alight. The 'egg' had landed upright, as far as Twilight could tell, but it didn't seem to have any purpose, despite bearing some markings and windows. Twilight came back around to the front, and tried desperately to peer through the tinted glass. On the front panel the letters 'Sgt Mjr M. Preston' were painted in small print; yet another mystery. Twilight noted other markings as well, from the '105th Drop Jet Platoon' at the top of the hatch to the sequential numbers and little acronyms across the egg's surfaces.
"Whoa! Hey, back up, everypony! Back up back up!" Rainbow shouted, and the seven of them scrambled back at her warning, though nothing seemed to happen. Twilight looked to Rainbow, who hovered cautiously above them all, eyes carefully watching the egg.
"Rainbow?" Twilight asked.
"The egg had some kinda warning on it. 'Explosive releases' or some such. I think it's a bomb!" Rainbow warned, and several of their group backed up further. Twilight took a tentative step forward and inspected the egg again, and sure enough along each side, near the top and bottom, were the words 'caution - explosive release primers' painted along small cylindrical capsules.
"it's...not a bomb. I don't think so, anyway. It looks like it opens up, but I don't see how. There's no handle or knob, or-- Hold on, there's a lever here" Twilight side, leaning in on the righthoof side. A quick check revealed there was another one on the other side, and Twilight reached up to it.
"Hold on, tell me ya ain't gonna open it. Celestia only knows what in Equestria might be inside" Applejack said, and some of the girls nodded.
"It doesn't seem dangerous, but if it is it'd be better to find out now rather than later. There might be more of these things spread across Equestria, and if anypony were to come across one without knowing what it is they might be hurt" Twilight said, her hoof still on the release latch. Her friends looked amongst each other before nodding, and Twilight released the latches, one after the other, and pulled on the hatch, the heavy cover briefly pulling forward before sealing shut again. Lighting her horn Twilight wrapped the hatch in her magic and pulled, the hatch lifting up into the air on an unseen hinge, revealing to them all just what was inside.
Nothing.
"It's...empty? Surely there must be something" Rarity said, though the egg was indeed empty. Rather, it was empty of anything of note. There was a small chair, with two joysticks along either side of it, and in the inside of the hatch were several small glass tablets, adhered to little cases of some unknown composite, but the egg was otherwise devoid of anything. No alien life forms, no capsules of alien goo, nothing.
Although...
"What's this?" Twilight asked, levitating out some manner of odject. It had a small telescope mounted to its top, with a little square of glass below and behind it. It had all manner of unusual bits and switches attached to it. Near the rear of the object was a thin, rectangular hole, empty. Twilight gripped a knob on the side of the object and pulled, and some type of port opened near the rear. She looked through the telescope and saw a number of lines and numbers, but couldn't make sense of it. There was a crescent-moon shaped switch inside a small loop, next to what appeared to be a handle, and Twilight pressed it. There was a sharp *click* but nothing else happened. A quick check of the egg's interior revealed there was nothing else. Nothing to put in the strange device, or attach to it, or to explain what it even did.
"Twilight?" AJ asked.
"I...don't know. I don't know what any of this stuff is. See, there's this marking here" Twilight said, pointing a hoof at it. "'M392 Designated Marksman Rifle. Misriah Armory.' What does that even mean? It doesn't even do anything! What does this button do?" she asked, and pressed it. The small glass square atop the device lit up and displayed a number: 00. "I don't understand."
"Armory? So like, it's a weapon?" Rainbow asked, and Twilight shrugged.
"I guess? I can't even imagine what kind, or what it would even do. I guess I'll take it back to the library and see what I can learn. Did you see anything else, Rainbow?" Twilight said.
"Nah, just this big egg. I didn't see any smoke anywhere or any fires, so I guess the forest won't burn down. Not that it'd hurt the Everfree" she huffed, and slowly descended down to ground level. "Should we go back?"
Twilight didn't answer at first, still looking the strange device over. It wasn't particularly heavy, nor was it that light. It seemingly had no purpose, and there was nothing else to the metal egg. "Yeah... Let's go back to the library and take a look at this. I'll have Spike take a letter to Princess Celestia, and tomorrow we can come back and see about carting the bigger stuff out of here."
As the group got under way, Twilight paused and took one last look at the egg before casting her gaze to the cosmos above. Even with the beautiful glow of Luna's moon nothing more could be seen; no shooting stars, no meteorites, no odd shapes moving purposefully across the void. They were alone again, and Twilight couldn't help but wonder what was up there. Mayber after some study of the strange objects she'd glean some kind of understanding, but something told her all she'd ever be left with is more questions than answers. Maybe, she thought with unease, that is for the best.
Twilight never saw any shooting stars again after that night.