Stardust

It had been a productive day for Zecora. She had gotten her house straightened up, her medicine ingredients rearranged and restocked, and she had just finished her weekly shopping. The ponies in town were still a little wary of her but that was alright, at least they didn’t hide like they used to. Tonight there was supposed to be a meteor shower and she could not think of a better night for one. The sky was clear and there was a slight breeze, but it wasn’t too chilly.

She was heading back to her home in the forest when she heard laughing from a nearby hill. She squinted at the crest and saw twilight and her friends having a picnic and preparing for the shower. She recognized the little pony, Applebloom, with them and smiled at the memories of her. She turned and started into the forest still smiling but it was a sad smile now for she had no pony to spend the night with. She had no friends who liked her enough to come to her adobe and watch the meteors with her.

It was not very long before she reached her hut. She immediately got to work cooking food and setting up a little area for her to watch the falling stars in comfort. She had always enjoyed the shows that Princess Luna put on. Ever since she had returned from her imprisonment on the moon, the nights had been more welcoming and more vibrant than before and she frequently put on shows like these so the ponies would learn to enjoy the night instead of hide from it.

It was not long before she could see the moon coming up and the stars coming out. The show would begin soon and her food was not finished cooking yet. She anxiously kept glancing out the windows to see if it was starting for she did not want to miss a single second of what was sure to be an excellent show.

Her food finished cooking and she grabbed it and galloped to her viewing platform on the roof of her hut. She arrived just in time too for the meteor shower had just begun. It was spectacular. Meteors were falling everywhere and the sky was alive with light and colors she could not have dreamed to have existed. She was so caught up in the show she forgot about her food that she had spent so much time cooking.

Finally after about an hour the show was over and she headed down to reheat her food for it had grown cold while she was immersed in the show. She lit the fire again and waited for her food to heat. She got up and walked to the windows to look into the starry night.

She saw a bright star that appeared to be moving and wondered what it was. She trotted back up to her viewing platform to investigate the moving star through her telescope. She saw nothing more than a bright circle that was moving across the sky. She took her eye away from the telescope and rubbed her head in thought. She had read about comets that orbited a certain area bit this looked like no comet she had ever seen.

She looked back to have another look when she found much to her surprise that the object had stopped and was now growing larger and larger every second. She panicked and stared at the object that was very large now.

“Wait!” she exclaimed “that thing isn’t getting larger, it’s coming right at me!” she galloped down to her door and burst through it panting. She then began to hurriedly look around for the potion that would deploy a brief barrier to defend her home. She kicked herself because she had reorganized her house and it seemed like more of a mess than before. She gave up and abandoned the search to run outside to check the meteors’ progress.

“Boom”

She heard (and felt) a loud explosion and saw the glow of a fire a little ways beyond her home. She galloped toward the crash site being snagged by all kinds of vines and roots in the process. She slowed her pace so she wouldn’t keep tripping but was still going at a good fast tempo.

She was nearing the crash site when she heard a noise. It was probably harmless but she slowed to a crawling speed anyway. She then thought why she hadn’t gotten to get help first. What was a zebra with no magic or potions going to do against a forest fire?

As she neared the flames she picked up the pace now curious as to what the meteor looked like. She had never seen a meteor and was sure the science pony Twilight Sparkle would want a sample. “Maybe if I brought the unicorn a sample” she thought “it would get Twilight to like me more and we could be friends and spend time together”.

With that thought in her mind she set off toward the meteor to get a sample. “I should get one for me as well” she thought aloud “it might have magical properties for making potions”. Surely there would be enough for her and Twilight.

The flames were very hot as they closed in around her but she still kept going despite the heat. When she reached the crash site she was sweating profusely because of the intense heat of the fire around her. She quickly clambered into the crater the crash had made and gasped at the immense size of both the crater and the meteor.

The crater was at least a mile in diameter and probably just as deep. She was on the low side and started toward the object. It took her a while and a few tumbles before she reached the meteor. With another gasp she looked at the immense size of it and started to circle the object.

The material was one that she did not recognize but she was sure that it was a metal of some sort. She began to beat on it trying to break a piece off but the surface was harder than the metals she was used to. She walked to what she saw was the narrow end and looked at it. The more she stared at it the more that she was sure there was small windows on the front. On the back there were little cone shaped objects attached to the main body.

“This isn’t an asteroid!” she exclaimed with horror “this is a…” she trailed off as a door opened on the side of the spaceship. A pony stepped out and asked.

“Please tell me where the hell I am.”