Equestrian Humanityby negativeGingerChaptersFirst ResponseMedical AttentionWaking Up and Flight PlansNot so Unusual Day in PonyvilleFirst ResponseFirst Response "Keep going," Fluttershy called to her friend,"we're almost out!" Twilight looked past the pegasus to see a break in the tree line. She broke into another spasm of coughs, as the smoke in the air became increasingly thicker. She looked behind her to check on the creature. It was still unconscious, and had only slightly stirred since they found it. Even so, the unicorn had to focus on keeping it as still as possible, lest she risk injuring it further. 'Easier said than done with all this smoke,' she thought bitterly as she started hacking again. She didn't have to wait long however, as they soon ran out of the tree line and onto open ground. Once they were a safe distance from the forest, the two stopped to catch their breath. Twilight looked back to the forest to see a group of pegasi manipulating a large cluster of clouds, which had formed a localized storm, that poured torrents of water onto the raging fire below. They looked like they were struggling to keep the flames from spreading, as well as to keep control of the storm. "Oh. I hope Rainbow knows what she's doing," Twilight thought aloud, her voice tinged with worry. Fluttershy, appearing to have not noticed the struggling pegasi, called to the unicorn. "C'mon, Twilight! We have to get him to the cottage as soon as possible!" She then took off down the road towards her house. Twilight, unsure of her friends sudden boost in assertiveness, but even more unsure of how she knew the creature was a 'he', shrugged her shoulders and took off after her friend, with the creature in tow. Rainbow Dash grunted in her effort as she forced the cloud she was pushing into the next mass of clouds. They had grouped together any clouds they could find into several large masses, both to spread out the water coverage and to prevent the storm from getting too out of hoof. Well... at least no more than it already was. All of the pegasi were soaked with water, and many were sporting small singes on their fur due to lightning. Rainbow looked down to the forest. The fire at the crash had been put out for the most part, with only a few patches still holding on. The fire that had spread to the surrounding forest was still a problem. They had been making headway, but it just wasn't enough. Rainbow let out a frustrated cry, catching the attention of several nearby pegasi. "Uuugh! We need more power!" She complained. "We're giving it all she's got Captain!" One of the ponies protested. "Well we've got to think of something else!" Rainbow argued. "At the rate this thing is spreading, we'll never get it out in time!" "Wait! I know!" A voice called out from behind her. She turned to see a familiar black maned pegasus hovering behind her. "If we take the cloud groups and we put them ahead of the fire, the trees will be too wet to burn right away, so it will be stalled. Then, we can use the funnel formation that we used to clear the snow in Winter Wrap Up to blow the fire out!" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. This Rookie was quickly becoming one of her favorite ponies today. She gave the Rookie an accepting nod before turning to the others. "Alright everyone, you heard him. Gather the clouds an get in formation. If this works, we'll have this warped up and be home by dinner!" The other pegasi cheered, their moral having been boosted, and sped off to do their duties. Though Rainbow held a look of confidence, a small part of her couldn't help but think about if this didn't work. Fluttershy burst through the front door of her cottage, causing several animals to scatter in surprise. She turned around and ushered Twilight inside, who still had the creature suspended in her magical grip. "Hurry," she urged. "Take him upstairs and put him on the bed." The unicorn obeyed, and climbed the stairs to the pegasus' room and carefully set it on the bed there with a grunt as she killed the levitation spell. She sat on her haunches and rubbed her head to suppress an oncoming headache. Never before had the young mage carried something so large for such an extended period of time. 'While running through the woods and dodging burning tree limbs,' she added. "Oh, are you okay Twilight?" The unicorn turned to see that Fluttershy had come into the room, a worried expression on her face. "I-I didn't make you push yourself too hard did I?" A feeling of warmth passed through her when she realized that her friend was genuinely worried about her. "I'm fine Fluttershy," Twilight confirmed. "Just a bit light headed." The pegasus smiled, and put a glass of water in front of the mage who smiled in thanks. Opting to pick it up in her hooves, she quicky downed the glass, soothing her parched throat. Fluttershy excused herself to retrieve some medical equipment, and left the unicorn with the creature. Twilight leaned her head against the bedside dresser and closed her eyes. Feeling herself relax, she exhaled a deep breath from her nostrils. She then looked over to unconscious form of the creature, it's chest rising and falling as it breathed. The unicorn looked closer, only now getting a chance to truly study it. As her earlier observations confirmed, it was very tall and seemed it would be able to easily look the princesses it the eyes at its full height. It had one set of legs, and it's upper limbs being similar to that of a manticore, also, as she observed earlier. It also wore clothes, something that confused her. Through further observation she learned that the creature was seemingly fur-less, with the dark red mane on its head being the only exception. This lead her to hypothesize that due to a lack of body hair, the creature wore clothes to keep itself warm. It was then that the situation fully dawned on the young mage. She ad rescued a creature, an alien, of unknown origin or intention, and had brought it to Ponyville. A thousand thoughts and questions ran through Twilight's mind. Was it friendly? Where did it come from? Was its destination here intentional or accidental? She thought about the vessel, and, noticing no wings or horn on the creature, wondered if that was its method for traveling long distances. This caused her to wonder if the creature was simply the first of many, and if there were going to be more of his kind coming. Countless questions with no immediate answers flooded the unicorns mind in a few moments. Yet there was only one that was more pronounced than the others. Twilight pondered this question as she stood beside the the creature, voicing it as if expecting it to answer. "What are you?" But of course, it did not answer. Medical AttentionMedical Attention Rainbow Dash limped down the path to Fluttershy's house, muttering angrily to herself. Her fur, once completely soaked, had mostly dried. She had several lightning burns on her, with some worse than others. Her left wing hung limply at her side, a large black spot covering a good portion of it. She smiled to herself. 'Twilight is not going to be happy about this.' This was her third injury in nearly a month. While the other two weren't that bad (a clipped wing and a sprained hoof), this was the worst she'd had to date. The lightning strike had damaged several of her feathers and left her with little control of her wing. She knew that the damage wasn't permanent but it still needed to be treated. The damaged feathers would need to be preened out and the wing would need to be dressed to keep it from moving. Even with all that, she knew it would be several days before she could fly again, and that hurt the most. She continued to limp to the door of her friend's cottage of and proceeded to knock on the wood. She heard a scrambling of hooves from inside. The door opened to reveal Twilight Sparkle. Her mane, which usually was nice and straight, was ruffled with several strands out of place. She had spots of soot on her fur and her chest was heaving slightly. The pegasus chuckled to herself. "This has taken a lot out of us all, eh Twi?" The unicorn didn't answer, and simply rolled her eyes as she stepped aside to let her friend enter. Rainbow walked past her into the cottage. Some animals had returned, but they still seemed uneasy, as if they could sense that this wasn't entirely over. The room itself had also seen better days. Bags of animal feed of several sizes and kinds laid on their floor, some of whom's contents had spilled on the floor as well. Twilight closed the door and turned back to her friend. Her eyes fell on Rainbow's wing and she gasped in surprise at the burned appendage. "Rainbow Dash!" The pegasus turned to the mage. Twilight had a look of worry mixed with annoyance. Though the latter did seem more prominent. "What did you do?" Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. "Just got struck by a little lighting," she answered. The total nonchalant way that she answered brought a hoof to Twilight's face, her annoyance rising. "Well why did you come here instead of the hospital?" "Ponyville General is full!" She countered. "It seems like half of Ponyville was hurt in the crash. I didn't want to wait forever to get treated, and I knew that Fluttershy has treated this before, so I came here." The unicorn sighed. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with," she mumbled to herself. She walked to the stairs and instructed Rainbow to follow. The pegasus shrugged and did so. "Hey, did you guys find anything in the forest?" She asked. The mage tensed slightly. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." "What's that supposed to mean?" "It's really best if you just see for yourself." She said nothing more and continued to Fluttershy's room. She stopped inside the doorway and waited on her companion. "What the-?" Twilight giggled at Rainbow's slack jaw expression received at her first glimpse of the creature. "What in the name of Luna's left hoof is that?" She exclaimed. The unicorn was about to relay her lack of knowledge on the offender of the royal footing, when she was interrupted by Fluttershy. "Rainbow Dash!" The two turned to see the lemon pegasus standing behind them, a bundle of medical supplies on her back. Her eyes were fixed to Rainbow's wing. "What did you do?" _____*_____*_____ Meanwhile, in Another Time Period "Doctor! Slow down!" "No time Ditzy! We need to get back to the TARDIS!" A brown earth pony and a grey pegasus sprinted through the halls of Canterlot Castle causing guards and servants to scatter to avoid being trampled by the pair, one of whom was obviously not stopping for anything. Ditzy Doo panted slightly. "Couldn't we have stayed for the after party at least?" The two had recently thwarted the Weeping Pegasi's occupation of Canterlot and the Princesses wanted to throw a party as a thank you. Ditzy was more than happy to stay once she saw the muffin buffet table, but the Doctor got an alert on his sonic screwdriver and had taken of, forcing the pegasus to follow. The earth pony rolled his eyes. "Oh please, it's just one party. I can nearly guarantee that Miss Pie will have a party planned for some reason or another when we get back." The two found themselves at the Royal Baths, where the TADRIS had landed (and created quite the awkward situation with Princess Celestia). The earth pony beeped his screwdriver and the doors of the time machine opened. The Doctor ran the console in the middle of the control room and set to work. Ditzy closed the door behind her and leaned against a spot of railing to catch her breath. 'Wow,' she thought. 'For somepony who eats butter like it's his last meal he has some speed.' "So," she began as she climbed the ramp to the console, "what was so important that we had to miss out on all-you-can-eat muffins for?" The Time Lord continued to work on the control panel when he answered. "The TARDIS detected a disturbance in space-time and sent me an alert to investigate it." "What caused it?" "I'm about to find out..." He trailed off as he pulled a monitor in front of him. "Now let's see-" his eyes went wide at what he saw and he adopted a look of utter disbelief. "Nooooo...." "What is it?" The Doctor didn't answer. "Those slippery basterds. Even across dimensions I can't get away from them. Can't they just stay in one place?" "Doctor?" Ditzy asked in confusion. The brown stallion sighed and flipped a switch, causing the TARDIS to shudder. "Might want to get comfortable Ditzy. I have to fix something, and then we have to make a little trip." ___*___*___ Fluttershy dried her hoof on a nearby towel and brought it up in front of her. She took a deep breath and slowly moved it forward. 'Careful.....careful...' POKE "Yow!" Rainbow Dash recoiled back as her friend made contact with her wing, a stab of pain shooting through her side. She shot an evil look at the caretaker who paid it no mind. Fluttershy sighed in relief. "You still have feeling. Good. At least your nerves are still functioning." The yellow pony reached behind her to pick up some gauze. She brought it to the outstretched wing, causing its owner to draw a sharp intake of breath. "I haven't even touched you yet," her operator sighed. "Oh." Twilight listened to the exchange with mild interest. Fluttershy had tasked her with the job of removing the creature's clothing so the could get an idea of its injuries, and then to preform a medical scanning spell to know exactly. It would seem that her early hypothesis of its clothing being used for warmth was correct, as she already removed the garments and saw that its legs were bare of any fur. At least she did at first. Closer observation led her to find that there was a short layer of fur but it was clear and not nearly thick enough to provide any sort of warmth. She also found his arms were similar in this and made a note of it on a nearby roll of parchment. She discovered that his 'hooves', like his hands, had five small appendages each. But while the ones on his hands were long, nimble, and designed to grab, these were short and had less range in movement. She couldn't see what their purpose was and decided to leave them for now. Turning to the upper body, she lifted the creature's arms and took off its cloak (at least she thought that's what it was as it had a hood of some kind), to reveal a grey shirt. She removed this and exposed its torso. He had a large bruise on his left side. It was possible that it had some broken ribs but she couldn't know for sure until she preformed the spell. She turned her attention lower. For some reason, it had seen it fit to put on two lower garments, with these being shorter and thinner. 'Well that's redundant,' she thought as she lowered them down its legs. 'What purpose could these ser-' when she had the garment at a low enough level, her eyes went wide. She carefully pulled them back up, and sat for a moment. She shook her head and wrote a single word on the parchment: MALE "How is he?" Twilight turned to find Fluttershy standing next to her. Behind her, Rainbow Dash lay curled up in a ball on floor, sleeping soundly. Her left wing was bandaged and a healthy dose of sedative in her bloodstream. "Not sure," Twilight answered. "Aside from a few cuts and bruises I can't see anything to serious on the outside- other than his side- but he could have any number of problems on the inside that I won't be able to identify until I preform the spell." Fluttershy nodded in understanding and took a few steps back to give the unicorn room. Twilight stood, taking a few breaths from her nose. 'This is going to be tricky.' The medical spell she was about to preform, while it was a higher level spell, was fairly simple. Unfortunately, her earlier actions in the forest had left her magic reserves quite low, the effects of which she was already starting to feel. Under normal circumstances this spell would leave her feeling lightheaded, but now she would be lucky if she didn't pass out after the spell was finished. She took another deep breath as she picked the alien up with her magic. She took a few more breaths as sweat already started to pool on her brow, then initiated the spell. Now, the way the Medical Scan works, is a patient is held in the magic aura of a unicorn doctor while another doctor stands by to initiate the spell itself. When the spell is initiated, a beam of light will start from the patient's head, to its rear hooves, to the head, and back to the hooves. The whole process usually takes about a minute. To Twilight it felt like an hour. Not only did she have to do the work of two ponies, but her 'patient' was nearly twice the length of a pony and much heavier. The unicorn gritted her teeth as sweat poured down her face. As the spell went its course, physical information ran through her mind. When the the final pass crossed his 'hooves', Twilight gently brought the creature back down to the bed. Once he made contact, she killed the spell and fell to her knees. Her breaths were shallow, her face was drenched in sweat, and the edges of her vision was going dark. She felt Fluttershy rubbing her back in small circles as she gave the the diagnosis. "Th-three fractured ribs on his left side. Minor con-concussion." Fluttershy nodded as she helped her friend to her hooves and lead her downstairs. She set the exhausted mage on the couch. The pegasus fetched a towel, sopping up the sweat from the unicorn's face. She brought a blanket to her, placing it over her body. Twilight's last thought was of Fluttershy tucking her in as she slipped into the warm embrace of unconsciousness. ________________________________________________________ AN/ Well there it is! Ponyville is in shambles, Twilight is unconscious, and Fluttershy is caring for an alien! This has never happened before! What's going to happen next? pfft. Hell if I know. I kinda make this up as I go. In all seriousness though, thanks for taking the time to read my story. If you've made it this far, I asume that I'm not as much as a total hack as I thought! Constructive is wanted. Tell me what you liked! More will defiantly be here soon probably! Play me off Pinkie! WOO HOO!! Let's kick the tires and light the fires everypony! Youtube Video I'm ForwardontoDusk. You remember it so I don't have to! *dances out of room* Waking Up and Flight PlansSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Not so Unusual Day in PonyvilleNot so Unusual Day in Ponyville It was a peaceful afternoon in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle sat on the upper balcony of her treehouse with an open book laid out in front of her. It was the latest addition of her favorite adventure series, "Daring Do and the Temple of Gloom". Though, for some reason, she was having trouble concentrating. A very rare occurrence for the unicorn.Not that the book was bad, it was actually a very invigorating read. Though no matter how hard she tried to focus on the pages, Twilight's thoughts continued to wander. Her mind now turned to the events of the Grand Galloping Galla The event had taken place about three weeks prior. She had thought it ironic at the time that the events that had occurred were pretty much what the Princess had intended. "Trollestia strikes again!" as Spike had put it... Since then, nothing really noteworthy had happened, beyond her usual friendship reports at least. And while she would normally enjoy the quiet atmosphere, Twilight found that this was not currently the case. It seems she had grown accustomed to the exciting and random situations she'd often find herself in when spending time with her closest friends. 'Oh well,' Twilight though to herself, returning to her book. 'I might as well relax. I mean, it's not like an adventure is just going to fall out of the sky-' Her thoughts were broken when a sound similar to a sonic boom shattered the calm afternoon air of the small town. The young mare raised her head from the book to find a truly outlandish sight. A large white object could be seen overtop of the nearby Everfree Forest. The object itself seemed to be on fire, a streak of smoke trailing it as it fell. The unicorn had seconds to react before the object crashed into the forest. The impact sent a shockwave coursing through the earth. The ground started to shake , causing her to lose her footing, and sending her tumbling down the stairs into her room. Twilight shook off the rough landing and made her way downstairs to the main area of the library. The shockwave caused the library shelves to eject their contents into heaps on the floor. The purple mare grumbles to herself. It's going to take Spike and her an entire day to reorganize this massive mess. Wait a minute.... "Where's Spike?" The librarian started digging through piles of books in search of her assistant. "Spike!" She cried out desperately. "SPIKE!!" "MMMPPHHH!!" A muffled cry resonated from a pile of books. Twilight turned to the pile to see a small clawed arm sticking out from the heap. She wrapped her magic around the appendage and pulled, freeing the dragon from his prison. The unicorn gently set Spike onto the ground asking if he was okay. The dragon was dazed, but alright. He explained that he was putting away books when the ground started shaking, then he, along with the rest of the books, fell. The baby dragon rubs his head before looking up to his guardian. "Twilight, what was that?" The mare frowns. "I don't know, but I as sure as Tartarus am going to find out," she says with determination. "Send letters to the others telling them to meet me at Fluttershy's cottage as soon as possible," she instructs. Twilight then fills her saddle bags with parchment, quills and any books she might need. Taking a deep breath, she ventured into the streets of Ponyville. To say the town was a mess would be an understatement. The shockwave had caused stalls and carriages to tip, trees to fall, and even the parts of some buildings to collapse. Anyone who wasn't hurt or panicking, were helping those who were injured or in danger to safety. Twilight wished she could stop and help, but she had bigger matters to attend to. "Twilight!" The mage stopped when she heard a elegant, yet distraught, voice call her name. She turned to see a white unicorn mare with a well groomed and stylized blue mane approach her. It was none other than her close friend Rarity. Rarity approached her friend, the confusion clearly written on her face. "Twilight, what on earth is going on?" The mare questioned. "I was just working on one of my designs, when all of a sudden I heard this loud boom. At first I thought it was Rainbow Dash practicing one of her ridiculous stunts. But then the ground started shaking and my fabrics started to fall off the walls. Oh it was just dreadful!" While normally Twilight would be slightly annoyed with the fashion designer's drama, now seemed like a perfectly reasonable time for it. "It'll be fine Rarity," she assured her friend. "I'll try to explain as best I can to everypony once we get to Fluttershy's." And with that, the duo continued the trip in relative silence. After about twenty minutes of walking later the two found themselves at the cottage. A small wooden sign on the path read; 'Ponyville Veterinary Care and Pet Sitting', advertising the business Fluttershy ran from her home. The clearing that the property was sat, normally filled with animals of every shape and size, was now empty. Now, only four ponies could be seen by the bridge leading to the house. A lemon yellow pegasus with a flowing pink mane sat on the bridge. A orange earth pony with a blonde mane stood nearby, a Stetson hat on her head and a piece of grain being chewed absent-mindedly in her mouth. A second earth pony who had a pink coat and a hot pink, excessively curly mane stood next to the others. Despite the situation she still had a smile on her face. Overhead, a sky blue pegasus with a striking rainbow mane hovered above the others, a look of frustration clearly written on her face. The four, who's names were Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, saw the two unicorn's and gestured them over. Twilight and Rarity approached their friends and asked if they were alright. Each confirmed that they were fine, and began to tell of their experience that morning. Applejack explained that she and her brother, Big Macintosh, were finishing up the spring harvest in the apple orchard, when the ground started shaking. "Then all a'sudden," the farm pony explained, "th' apples started to fall off th' trees. Nearly got buried under th' darn things." After that, she received Spike's message and made her way here. Pinkie had a similar experience. " Oh it was just so weird! I was getting the supplies ready to start baking a cake, because the Cakes got a really BIG order this morning. So as I was getting the flour and the flowers out of the cupboard, I heard a boom. Not the kind of boom you get if you accidentally drop mentos into your soda and then screw the top back on, but a BIGGIE BOOM boom! At first I thought Dashie had preformed another Sonic Rainboom. But then my tail started twitching! And this one was REALLY BAD! I thought my tail was going to pop off my rump and walk away! It was actually starting to hurt! Then the ground started shaking, and ALL of the cooking ingredients just started throwing themselves on the ground! And then when it stopped, I got another Doozie!" The pink pony then started shuddering violently. "You see? There it is again! What ever this is about, no one here is going to expect it!" Now, anyone else would be questionable about this behavior, but Twilight had become used to it. But the fact that Pinkie was having a Doozie about this, it didn't exactly bode well. Fluttershy explained that she was caring to her animals when she had pretty much the same experience. The animals were frightened by the loud noise and ran off. The shy pegasus looks into the forest with worry. "Oh I hope no one is hurt in there." Rainbow Dash was the only one not on the ground when the incident occurred. She had been assigned to clearing the clouds that drifted in from the Everfree. This had to be done periodically to keep the rogue clouds from drifting into Ponyville. If they were left to their own devices the storms the clouds would cause would flood the water systems and roads, and cause massive amounts of damage with wind and lightning. The weather pony shuddered at the thought. Could there be any weather more chaotic than that? Doubtful... "So I'm just kicking clouds y'know. Just minding my own business," she continues, "when all of a sudden I hear a really loud boom. I thought it was thunder, so I'm looking around for storm clouds, so I don't get my tail fried." The pegasus gestures with her hooves, apparently acting out the scene. "So I turn around and see this... just this big blue and white thing coming toward me. It had these large fin-looking things coming out of its sides, kinda like wings I guess." "Wait," Twilight interrupted. "You saw it?" The pegasus rolls her eyes. "Oh course I saw it! It almost took me out! I barely got out of the way in time!" Rainbow's look changed to one of concern. "But Twilight." The unicorn raised her head back to her friend. "That thing was trailing massive amounts of smoke. If the fire that's producing it spreads to the other forests...." ".....it would easily burn Ponyville to the ground," Twilight finished. "Well what are we waiting for? We've got to do something," Pinkie spoke up. "But what about the ponies in town?" Rarity argued. "Twilight and I passed many ponies helping each other on our way here. There may be more that need help." "There isn't going to BE a a Ponyville for much longer if we don't get that fire out!" Rainbow countered. Fluttershy took the opportunity to speak up. " But what about the forest? There may be animals-even ponies-who were hurt in the crash." "But whut about those outside th' forest?" Applejack countered. "We can't be th' only ones who came to investigate. Others might get hurt." The argument continues. Twilight is listening, but just barely. By now her accelerated mind has already started analyzing the situation. Within seconds, she has already formulated the beginnings of a plan. It's time to do what she does best. Organize. "Enough!" The you g mage calls out. Her friends stop arguing and turn to her. She points a hoof at the weather pony. "Rainbow Dash. Get as many members of he weather team together and use the clouds for tomorrows storm to put that fire out." The pegasus gives her a salute before zooming off. "Applejack, you stay here and watch the border of the forest. Unless the princesses themselves show up, don't let anyone through." "Yes ma'am," the farm pony confirms with a tip of her hat. "Rarity and Pinkie Pie," she states turning to them. "You two go back into town and help anypony you can." The two respond with a nod. "Fluttershy and I will go into the forest to see if anyone has been hurt there." With that, the rest of them went their separate ways to preform their tasks, leaving the librarian and the caretaker standing next to each other. Twilight turned to her companion. "Do you know any paths through the forest the will take us close to he crash?" Any sign of her usual shyness gone, Fluttershy nodded and led them through the forest. After a short time the pair could see a break in the tree line. Beyond it, they could see the vessel lying in a clearing. But... they could see something running towards them. It wasn't a pony, it was running on two legs. They didn't get time to get a closer look however. Because at that moment, the air was shattered as the vessel exploded with an enormous roar! Up above, Rainbow Dash shielded her face from the heat of the fireball that just erupted from the crash beneath. She looked down to see that the fire had spread immensely from the explosion. "We're gonna need a bigger cloud," she mumbled to herself. She turned to the pegasus nearest to her. A blue stallion with a cutie mark depicting a breeze blowing. He had just joined the weather team a few weeks ago. She couldn't remember his name. "Hey Rookie!" She called out to him. He responded by turning to her, having gotten used to the nickname by now. "Tell he others to get as many clouds from over the forest as they can." "But I thought you cleared them already!" He countered. Rainbow rolled her eyes. "C'mon. This is me we're talking about. I'm fast at everything, except work." The Rookie rolled his eyes. "Alright then come on," he urged, flying past the tom-colt "Let's see if this fire can stand up against monsoon level rain." Twilight and Fluttershy watched in horror as the creature was flung into the air by the explosion's force. It smacked into a tree and landed hard on the path. It didn't move. "Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed before galloping towards the creature. Twilight paused for a second before following. She stopped on the other side of the creature, her friend already having rolled it onto it's back. Twilight had no idea what she was looking at. The creature was tall, and had no fur on its body except for on its head. It only had one set of legs. The limbs closest to its neck had appendages on their ends similar to a minotaur. It also appeared to be wearing clothes, something quite abnormal. "He's hurt pretty badly." Fluttershy announced. She nudged the creature gently. "Can you hear me?" The creature moaned in response. "It's ok," the pegasus eased. "I'm here to help you. Do you have a name?" The creature mumbled something Twilight couldn't make out. She was pulled away however when she felt an uncomfortable heat. She turned to see that the explosion had caused the fire to spread in their direction. "We need to leave Fluttershy," she urged. The pegasus nodded. "Help me get him up," she instructed, gesturing to the creature. "Are you crazy?" The unicorn responded. "We don't know what this thing is! or where it comes from. What if its dangerous?Heck, for all we know it could be responsible for this!" During one of her research binges, Twilight had studied texts about the creatures of the Everfree Forest. The fact that she didn't know what this being was... scared her. Never the less, the caretaker would not back down. "It may be true that we don't know anything about him. But what I do know is that he's hurt, and he needs my help. And if you think that I'm just going to run home and leave him here then you have another thing coming!" In all her time in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle had not witnessed the famous 'Stare' used in action. Now, it was in full force, and directed at her. "Now," the yellow pegasus continued, "you can help me get him to safety. If not, then back off and let me do my job." Twilight shook her head. Currently unable to find words she simply nods in response. Summoning her magic, she wraps the creature in a bubble. "Careful!" Fluttershy warned. "I don't know how badly he's hurt." Taking extra care not to move it too much, Twilight lifts the creature off the ground. Her concentration is almost broken however, when a burning tree falls onto the path behind them. Realizing their situation, the two gallop down the path back towards the cottage...
First ResponseFirst Response "Keep going," Fluttershy called to her friend,"we're almost out!" Twilight looked past the pegasus to see a break in the tree line. She broke into another spasm of coughs, as the smoke in the air became increasingly thicker. She looked behind her to check on the creature. It was still unconscious, and had only slightly stirred since they found it. Even so, the unicorn had to focus on keeping it as still as possible, lest she risk injuring it further. 'Easier said than done with all this smoke,' she thought bitterly as she started hacking again. She didn't have to wait long however, as they soon ran out of the tree line and onto open ground. Once they were a safe distance from the forest, the two stopped to catch their breath. Twilight looked back to the forest to see a group of pegasi manipulating a large cluster of clouds, which had formed a localized storm, that poured torrents of water onto the raging fire below. They looked like they were struggling to keep the flames from spreading, as well as to keep control of the storm. "Oh. I hope Rainbow knows what she's doing," Twilight thought aloud, her voice tinged with worry. Fluttershy, appearing to have not noticed the struggling pegasi, called to the unicorn. "C'mon, Twilight! We have to get him to the cottage as soon as possible!" She then took off down the road towards her house. Twilight, unsure of her friends sudden boost in assertiveness, but even more unsure of how she knew the creature was a 'he', shrugged her shoulders and took off after her friend, with the creature in tow. Rainbow Dash grunted in her effort as she forced the cloud she was pushing into the next mass of clouds. They had grouped together any clouds they could find into several large masses, both to spread out the water coverage and to prevent the storm from getting too out of hoof. Well... at least no more than it already was. All of the pegasi were soaked with water, and many were sporting small singes on their fur due to lightning. Rainbow looked down to the forest. The fire at the crash had been put out for the most part, with only a few patches still holding on. The fire that had spread to the surrounding forest was still a problem. They had been making headway, but it just wasn't enough. Rainbow let out a frustrated cry, catching the attention of several nearby pegasi. "Uuugh! We need more power!" She complained. "We're giving it all she's got Captain!" One of the ponies protested. "Well we've got to think of something else!" Rainbow argued. "At the rate this thing is spreading, we'll never get it out in time!" "Wait! I know!" A voice called out from behind her. She turned to see a familiar black maned pegasus hovering behind her. "If we take the cloud groups and we put them ahead of the fire, the trees will be too wet to burn right away, so it will be stalled. Then, we can use the funnel formation that we used to clear the snow in Winter Wrap Up to blow the fire out!" Rainbow raised an eyebrow. This Rookie was quickly becoming one of her favorite ponies today. She gave the Rookie an accepting nod before turning to the others. "Alright everyone, you heard him. Gather the clouds an get in formation. If this works, we'll have this warped up and be home by dinner!" The other pegasi cheered, their moral having been boosted, and sped off to do their duties. Though Rainbow held a look of confidence, a small part of her couldn't help but think about if this didn't work. Fluttershy burst through the front door of her cottage, causing several animals to scatter in surprise. She turned around and ushered Twilight inside, who still had the creature suspended in her magical grip. "Hurry," she urged. "Take him upstairs and put him on the bed." The unicorn obeyed, and climbed the stairs to the pegasus' room and carefully set it on the bed there with a grunt as she killed the levitation spell. She sat on her haunches and rubbed her head to suppress an oncoming headache. Never before had the young mage carried something so large for such an extended period of time. 'While running through the woods and dodging burning tree limbs,' she added. "Oh, are you okay Twilight?" The unicorn turned to see that Fluttershy had come into the room, a worried expression on her face. "I-I didn't make you push yourself too hard did I?" A feeling of warmth passed through her when she realized that her friend was genuinely worried about her. "I'm fine Fluttershy," Twilight confirmed. "Just a bit light headed." The pegasus smiled, and put a glass of water in front of the mage who smiled in thanks. Opting to pick it up in her hooves, she quicky downed the glass, soothing her parched throat. Fluttershy excused herself to retrieve some medical equipment, and left the unicorn with the creature. Twilight leaned her head against the bedside dresser and closed her eyes. Feeling herself relax, she exhaled a deep breath from her nostrils. She then looked over to unconscious form of the creature, it's chest rising and falling as it breathed. The unicorn looked closer, only now getting a chance to truly study it. As her earlier observations confirmed, it was very tall and seemed it would be able to easily look the princesses it the eyes at its full height. It had one set of legs, and it's upper limbs being similar to that of a manticore, also, as she observed earlier. It also wore clothes, something that confused her. Through further observation she learned that the creature was seemingly fur-less, with the dark red mane on its head being the only exception. This lead her to hypothesize that due to a lack of body hair, the creature wore clothes to keep itself warm. It was then that the situation fully dawned on the young mage. She ad rescued a creature, an alien, of unknown origin or intention, and had brought it to Ponyville. A thousand thoughts and questions ran through Twilight's mind. Was it friendly? Where did it come from? Was its destination here intentional or accidental? She thought about the vessel, and, noticing no wings or horn on the creature, wondered if that was its method for traveling long distances. This caused her to wonder if the creature was simply the first of many, and if there were going to be more of his kind coming. Countless questions with no immediate answers flooded the unicorns mind in a few moments. Yet there was only one that was more pronounced than the others. Twilight pondered this question as she stood beside the the creature, voicing it as if expecting it to answer. "What are you?" But of course, it did not answer.
Medical AttentionMedical Attention Rainbow Dash limped down the path to Fluttershy's house, muttering angrily to herself. Her fur, once completely soaked, had mostly dried. She had several lightning burns on her, with some worse than others. Her left wing hung limply at her side, a large black spot covering a good portion of it. She smiled to herself. 'Twilight is not going to be happy about this.' This was her third injury in nearly a month. While the other two weren't that bad (a clipped wing and a sprained hoof), this was the worst she'd had to date. The lightning strike had damaged several of her feathers and left her with little control of her wing. She knew that the damage wasn't permanent but it still needed to be treated. The damaged feathers would need to be preened out and the wing would need to be dressed to keep it from moving. Even with all that, she knew it would be several days before she could fly again, and that hurt the most. She continued to limp to the door of her friend's cottage of and proceeded to knock on the wood. She heard a scrambling of hooves from inside. The door opened to reveal Twilight Sparkle. Her mane, which usually was nice and straight, was ruffled with several strands out of place. She had spots of soot on her fur and her chest was heaving slightly. The pegasus chuckled to herself. "This has taken a lot out of us all, eh Twi?" The unicorn didn't answer, and simply rolled her eyes as she stepped aside to let her friend enter. Rainbow walked past her into the cottage. Some animals had returned, but they still seemed uneasy, as if they could sense that this wasn't entirely over. The room itself had also seen better days. Bags of animal feed of several sizes and kinds laid on their floor, some of whom's contents had spilled on the floor as well. Twilight closed the door and turned back to her friend. Her eyes fell on Rainbow's wing and she gasped in surprise at the burned appendage. "Rainbow Dash!" The pegasus turned to the mage. Twilight had a look of worry mixed with annoyance. Though the latter did seem more prominent. "What did you do?" Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. "Just got struck by a little lighting," she answered. The total nonchalant way that she answered brought a hoof to Twilight's face, her annoyance rising. "Well why did you come here instead of the hospital?" "Ponyville General is full!" She countered. "It seems like half of Ponyville was hurt in the crash. I didn't want to wait forever to get treated, and I knew that Fluttershy has treated this before, so I came here." The unicorn sighed. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with," she mumbled to herself. She walked to the stairs and instructed Rainbow to follow. The pegasus shrugged and did so. "Hey, did you guys find anything in the forest?" She asked. The mage tensed slightly. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." "What's that supposed to mean?" "It's really best if you just see for yourself." She said nothing more and continued to Fluttershy's room. She stopped inside the doorway and waited on her companion. "What the-?" Twilight giggled at Rainbow's slack jaw expression received at her first glimpse of the creature. "What in the name of Luna's left hoof is that?" She exclaimed. The unicorn was about to relay her lack of knowledge on the offender of the royal footing, when she was interrupted by Fluttershy. "Rainbow Dash!" The two turned to see the lemon pegasus standing behind them, a bundle of medical supplies on her back. Her eyes were fixed to Rainbow's wing. "What did you do?" _____*_____*_____ Meanwhile, in Another Time Period "Doctor! Slow down!" "No time Ditzy! We need to get back to the TARDIS!" A brown earth pony and a grey pegasus sprinted through the halls of Canterlot Castle causing guards and servants to scatter to avoid being trampled by the pair, one of whom was obviously not stopping for anything. Ditzy Doo panted slightly. "Couldn't we have stayed for the after party at least?" The two had recently thwarted the Weeping Pegasi's occupation of Canterlot and the Princesses wanted to throw a party as a thank you. Ditzy was more than happy to stay once she saw the muffin buffet table, but the Doctor got an alert on his sonic screwdriver and had taken of, forcing the pegasus to follow. The earth pony rolled his eyes. "Oh please, it's just one party. I can nearly guarantee that Miss Pie will have a party planned for some reason or another when we get back." The two found themselves at the Royal Baths, where the TADRIS had landed (and created quite the awkward situation with Princess Celestia). The earth pony beeped his screwdriver and the doors of the time machine opened. The Doctor ran the console in the middle of the control room and set to work. Ditzy closed the door behind her and leaned against a spot of railing to catch her breath. 'Wow,' she thought. 'For somepony who eats butter like it's his last meal he has some speed.' "So," she began as she climbed the ramp to the console, "what was so important that we had to miss out on all-you-can-eat muffins for?" The Time Lord continued to work on the control panel when he answered. "The TARDIS detected a disturbance in space-time and sent me an alert to investigate it." "What caused it?" "I'm about to find out..." He trailed off as he pulled a monitor in front of him. "Now let's see-" his eyes went wide at what he saw and he adopted a look of utter disbelief. "Nooooo...." "What is it?" The Doctor didn't answer. "Those slippery basterds. Even across dimensions I can't get away from them. Can't they just stay in one place?" "Doctor?" Ditzy asked in confusion. The brown stallion sighed and flipped a switch, causing the TARDIS to shudder. "Might want to get comfortable Ditzy. I have to fix something, and then we have to make a little trip." ___*___*___ Fluttershy dried her hoof on a nearby towel and brought it up in front of her. She took a deep breath and slowly moved it forward. 'Careful.....careful...' POKE "Yow!" Rainbow Dash recoiled back as her friend made contact with her wing, a stab of pain shooting through her side. She shot an evil look at the caretaker who paid it no mind. Fluttershy sighed in relief. "You still have feeling. Good. At least your nerves are still functioning." The yellow pony reached behind her to pick up some gauze. She brought it to the outstretched wing, causing its owner to draw a sharp intake of breath. "I haven't even touched you yet," her operator sighed. "Oh." Twilight listened to the exchange with mild interest. Fluttershy had tasked her with the job of removing the creature's clothing so the could get an idea of its injuries, and then to preform a medical scanning spell to know exactly. It would seem that her early hypothesis of its clothing being used for warmth was correct, as she already removed the garments and saw that its legs were bare of any fur. At least she did at first. Closer observation led her to find that there was a short layer of fur but it was clear and not nearly thick enough to provide any sort of warmth. She also found his arms were similar in this and made a note of it on a nearby roll of parchment. She discovered that his 'hooves', like his hands, had five small appendages each. But while the ones on his hands were long, nimble, and designed to grab, these were short and had less range in movement. She couldn't see what their purpose was and decided to leave them for now. Turning to the upper body, she lifted the creature's arms and took off its cloak (at least she thought that's what it was as it had a hood of some kind), to reveal a grey shirt. She removed this and exposed its torso. He had a large bruise on his left side. It was possible that it had some broken ribs but she couldn't know for sure until she preformed the spell. She turned her attention lower. For some reason, it had seen it fit to put on two lower garments, with these being shorter and thinner. 'Well that's redundant,' she thought as she lowered them down its legs. 'What purpose could these ser-' when she had the garment at a low enough level, her eyes went wide. She carefully pulled them back up, and sat for a moment. She shook her head and wrote a single word on the parchment: MALE "How is he?" Twilight turned to find Fluttershy standing next to her. Behind her, Rainbow Dash lay curled up in a ball on floor, sleeping soundly. Her left wing was bandaged and a healthy dose of sedative in her bloodstream. "Not sure," Twilight answered. "Aside from a few cuts and bruises I can't see anything to serious on the outside- other than his side- but he could have any number of problems on the inside that I won't be able to identify until I preform the spell." Fluttershy nodded in understanding and took a few steps back to give the unicorn room. Twilight stood, taking a few breaths from her nose. 'This is going to be tricky.' The medical spell she was about to preform, while it was a higher level spell, was fairly simple. Unfortunately, her earlier actions in the forest had left her magic reserves quite low, the effects of which she was already starting to feel. Under normal circumstances this spell would leave her feeling lightheaded, but now she would be lucky if she didn't pass out after the spell was finished. She took another deep breath as she picked the alien up with her magic. She took a few more breaths as sweat already started to pool on her brow, then initiated the spell. Now, the way the Medical Scan works, is a patient is held in the magic aura of a unicorn doctor while another doctor stands by to initiate the spell itself. When the spell is initiated, a beam of light will start from the patient's head, to its rear hooves, to the head, and back to the hooves. The whole process usually takes about a minute. To Twilight it felt like an hour. Not only did she have to do the work of two ponies, but her 'patient' was nearly twice the length of a pony and much heavier. The unicorn gritted her teeth as sweat poured down her face. As the spell went its course, physical information ran through her mind. When the the final pass crossed his 'hooves', Twilight gently brought the creature back down to the bed. Once he made contact, she killed the spell and fell to her knees. Her breaths were shallow, her face was drenched in sweat, and the edges of her vision was going dark. She felt Fluttershy rubbing her back in small circles as she gave the the diagnosis. "Th-three fractured ribs on his left side. Minor con-concussion." Fluttershy nodded as she helped her friend to her hooves and lead her downstairs. She set the exhausted mage on the couch. The pegasus fetched a towel, sopping up the sweat from the unicorn's face. She brought a blanket to her, placing it over her body. Twilight's last thought was of Fluttershy tucking her in as she slipped into the warm embrace of unconsciousness. ________________________________________________________ AN/ Well there it is! Ponyville is in shambles, Twilight is unconscious, and Fluttershy is caring for an alien! This has never happened before! What's going to happen next? pfft. Hell if I know. I kinda make this up as I go. In all seriousness though, thanks for taking the time to read my story. If you've made it this far, I asume that I'm not as much as a total hack as I thought! Constructive is wanted. Tell me what you liked! More will defiantly be here soon probably! Play me off Pinkie! WOO HOO!! Let's kick the tires and light the fires everypony! Youtube Video I'm ForwardontoDusk. You remember it so I don't have to! *dances out of room*
Waking Up and Flight PlansSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Not so Unusual Day in PonyvilleNot so Unusual Day in Ponyville It was a peaceful afternoon in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle sat on the upper balcony of her treehouse with an open book laid out in front of her. It was the latest addition of her favorite adventure series, "Daring Do and the Temple of Gloom". Though, for some reason, she was having trouble concentrating. A very rare occurrence for the unicorn.Not that the book was bad, it was actually a very invigorating read. Though no matter how hard she tried to focus on the pages, Twilight's thoughts continued to wander. Her mind now turned to the events of the Grand Galloping Galla The event had taken place about three weeks prior. She had thought it ironic at the time that the events that had occurred were pretty much what the Princess had intended. "Trollestia strikes again!" as Spike had put it... Since then, nothing really noteworthy had happened, beyond her usual friendship reports at least. And while she would normally enjoy the quiet atmosphere, Twilight found that this was not currently the case. It seems she had grown accustomed to the exciting and random situations she'd often find herself in when spending time with her closest friends. 'Oh well,' Twilight though to herself, returning to her book. 'I might as well relax. I mean, it's not like an adventure is just going to fall out of the sky-' Her thoughts were broken when a sound similar to a sonic boom shattered the calm afternoon air of the small town. The young mare raised her head from the book to find a truly outlandish sight. A large white object could be seen overtop of the nearby Everfree Forest. The object itself seemed to be on fire, a streak of smoke trailing it as it fell. The unicorn had seconds to react before the object crashed into the forest. The impact sent a shockwave coursing through the earth. The ground started to shake , causing her to lose her footing, and sending her tumbling down the stairs into her room. Twilight shook off the rough landing and made her way downstairs to the main area of the library. The shockwave caused the library shelves to eject their contents into heaps on the floor. The purple mare grumbles to herself. It's going to take Spike and her an entire day to reorganize this massive mess. Wait a minute.... "Where's Spike?" The librarian started digging through piles of books in search of her assistant. "Spike!" She cried out desperately. "SPIKE!!" "MMMPPHHH!!" A muffled cry resonated from a pile of books. Twilight turned to the pile to see a small clawed arm sticking out from the heap. She wrapped her magic around the appendage and pulled, freeing the dragon from his prison. The unicorn gently set Spike onto the ground asking if he was okay. The dragon was dazed, but alright. He explained that he was putting away books when the ground started shaking, then he, along with the rest of the books, fell. The baby dragon rubs his head before looking up to his guardian. "Twilight, what was that?" The mare frowns. "I don't know, but I as sure as Tartarus am going to find out," she says with determination. "Send letters to the others telling them to meet me at Fluttershy's cottage as soon as possible," she instructs. Twilight then fills her saddle bags with parchment, quills and any books she might need. Taking a deep breath, she ventured into the streets of Ponyville. To say the town was a mess would be an understatement. The shockwave had caused stalls and carriages to tip, trees to fall, and even the parts of some buildings to collapse. Anyone who wasn't hurt or panicking, were helping those who were injured or in danger to safety. Twilight wished she could stop and help, but she had bigger matters to attend to. "Twilight!" The mage stopped when she heard a elegant, yet distraught, voice call her name. She turned to see a white unicorn mare with a well groomed and stylized blue mane approach her. It was none other than her close friend Rarity. Rarity approached her friend, the confusion clearly written on her face. "Twilight, what on earth is going on?" The mare questioned. "I was just working on one of my designs, when all of a sudden I heard this loud boom. At first I thought it was Rainbow Dash practicing one of her ridiculous stunts. But then the ground started shaking and my fabrics started to fall off the walls. Oh it was just dreadful!" While normally Twilight would be slightly annoyed with the fashion designer's drama, now seemed like a perfectly reasonable time for it. "It'll be fine Rarity," she assured her friend. "I'll try to explain as best I can to everypony once we get to Fluttershy's." And with that, the duo continued the trip in relative silence. After about twenty minutes of walking later the two found themselves at the cottage. A small wooden sign on the path read; 'Ponyville Veterinary Care and Pet Sitting', advertising the business Fluttershy ran from her home. The clearing that the property was sat, normally filled with animals of every shape and size, was now empty. Now, only four ponies could be seen by the bridge leading to the house. A lemon yellow pegasus with a flowing pink mane sat on the bridge. A orange earth pony with a blonde mane stood nearby, a Stetson hat on her head and a piece of grain being chewed absent-mindedly in her mouth. A second earth pony who had a pink coat and a hot pink, excessively curly mane stood next to the others. Despite the situation she still had a smile on her face. Overhead, a sky blue pegasus with a striking rainbow mane hovered above the others, a look of frustration clearly written on her face. The four, who's names were Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, saw the two unicorn's and gestured them over. Twilight and Rarity approached their friends and asked if they were alright. Each confirmed that they were fine, and began to tell of their experience that morning. Applejack explained that she and her brother, Big Macintosh, were finishing up the spring harvest in the apple orchard, when the ground started shaking. "Then all a'sudden," the farm pony explained, "th' apples started to fall off th' trees. Nearly got buried under th' darn things." After that, she received Spike's message and made her way here. Pinkie had a similar experience. " Oh it was just so weird! I was getting the supplies ready to start baking a cake, because the Cakes got a really BIG order this morning. So as I was getting the flour and the flowers out of the cupboard, I heard a boom. Not the kind of boom you get if you accidentally drop mentos into your soda and then screw the top back on, but a BIGGIE BOOM boom! At first I thought Dashie had preformed another Sonic Rainboom. But then my tail started twitching! And this one was REALLY BAD! I thought my tail was going to pop off my rump and walk away! It was actually starting to hurt! Then the ground started shaking, and ALL of the cooking ingredients just started throwing themselves on the ground! And then when it stopped, I got another Doozie!" The pink pony then started shuddering violently. "You see? There it is again! What ever this is about, no one here is going to expect it!" Now, anyone else would be questionable about this behavior, but Twilight had become used to it. But the fact that Pinkie was having a Doozie about this, it didn't exactly bode well. Fluttershy explained that she was caring to her animals when she had pretty much the same experience. The animals were frightened by the loud noise and ran off. The shy pegasus looks into the forest with worry. "Oh I hope no one is hurt in there." Rainbow Dash was the only one not on the ground when the incident occurred. She had been assigned to clearing the clouds that drifted in from the Everfree. This had to be done periodically to keep the rogue clouds from drifting into Ponyville. If they were left to their own devices the storms the clouds would cause would flood the water systems and roads, and cause massive amounts of damage with wind and lightning. The weather pony shuddered at the thought. Could there be any weather more chaotic than that? Doubtful... "So I'm just kicking clouds y'know. Just minding my own business," she continues, "when all of a sudden I hear a really loud boom. I thought it was thunder, so I'm looking around for storm clouds, so I don't get my tail fried." The pegasus gestures with her hooves, apparently acting out the scene. "So I turn around and see this... just this big blue and white thing coming toward me. It had these large fin-looking things coming out of its sides, kinda like wings I guess." "Wait," Twilight interrupted. "You saw it?" The pegasus rolls her eyes. "Oh course I saw it! It almost took me out! I barely got out of the way in time!" Rainbow's look changed to one of concern. "But Twilight." The unicorn raised her head back to her friend. "That thing was trailing massive amounts of smoke. If the fire that's producing it spreads to the other forests...." ".....it would easily burn Ponyville to the ground," Twilight finished. "Well what are we waiting for? We've got to do something," Pinkie spoke up. "But what about the ponies in town?" Rarity argued. "Twilight and I passed many ponies helping each other on our way here. There may be more that need help." "There isn't going to BE a a Ponyville for much longer if we don't get that fire out!" Rainbow countered. Fluttershy took the opportunity to speak up. " But what about the forest? There may be animals-even ponies-who were hurt in the crash." "But whut about those outside th' forest?" Applejack countered. "We can't be th' only ones who came to investigate. Others might get hurt." The argument continues. Twilight is listening, but just barely. By now her accelerated mind has already started analyzing the situation. Within seconds, she has already formulated the beginnings of a plan. It's time to do what she does best. Organize. "Enough!" The you g mage calls out. Her friends stop arguing and turn to her. She points a hoof at the weather pony. "Rainbow Dash. Get as many members of he weather team together and use the clouds for tomorrows storm to put that fire out." The pegasus gives her a salute before zooming off. "Applejack, you stay here and watch the border of the forest. Unless the princesses themselves show up, don't let anyone through." "Yes ma'am," the farm pony confirms with a tip of her hat. "Rarity and Pinkie Pie," she states turning to them. "You two go back into town and help anypony you can." The two respond with a nod. "Fluttershy and I will go into the forest to see if anyone has been hurt there." With that, the rest of them went their separate ways to preform their tasks, leaving the librarian and the caretaker standing next to each other. Twilight turned to her companion. "Do you know any paths through the forest the will take us close to he crash?" Any sign of her usual shyness gone, Fluttershy nodded and led them through the forest. After a short time the pair could see a break in the tree line. Beyond it, they could see the vessel lying in a clearing. But... they could see something running towards them. It wasn't a pony, it was running on two legs. They didn't get time to get a closer look however. Because at that moment, the air was shattered as the vessel exploded with an enormous roar! Up above, Rainbow Dash shielded her face from the heat of the fireball that just erupted from the crash beneath. She looked down to see that the fire had spread immensely from the explosion. "We're gonna need a bigger cloud," she mumbled to herself. She turned to the pegasus nearest to her. A blue stallion with a cutie mark depicting a breeze blowing. He had just joined the weather team a few weeks ago. She couldn't remember his name. "Hey Rookie!" She called out to him. He responded by turning to her, having gotten used to the nickname by now. "Tell he others to get as many clouds from over the forest as they can." "But I thought you cleared them already!" He countered. Rainbow rolled her eyes. "C'mon. This is me we're talking about. I'm fast at everything, except work." The Rookie rolled his eyes. "Alright then come on," he urged, flying past the tom-colt "Let's see if this fire can stand up against monsoon level rain." Twilight and Fluttershy watched in horror as the creature was flung into the air by the explosion's force. It smacked into a tree and landed hard on the path. It didn't move. "Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed before galloping towards the creature. Twilight paused for a second before following. She stopped on the other side of the creature, her friend already having rolled it onto it's back. Twilight had no idea what she was looking at. The creature was tall, and had no fur on its body except for on its head. It only had one set of legs. The limbs closest to its neck had appendages on their ends similar to a minotaur. It also appeared to be wearing clothes, something quite abnormal. "He's hurt pretty badly." Fluttershy announced. She nudged the creature gently. "Can you hear me?" The creature moaned in response. "It's ok," the pegasus eased. "I'm here to help you. Do you have a name?" The creature mumbled something Twilight couldn't make out. She was pulled away however when she felt an uncomfortable heat. She turned to see that the explosion had caused the fire to spread in their direction. "We need to leave Fluttershy," she urged. The pegasus nodded. "Help me get him up," she instructed, gesturing to the creature. "Are you crazy?" The unicorn responded. "We don't know what this thing is! or where it comes from. What if its dangerous?Heck, for all we know it could be responsible for this!" During one of her research binges, Twilight had studied texts about the creatures of the Everfree Forest. The fact that she didn't know what this being was... scared her. Never the less, the caretaker would not back down. "It may be true that we don't know anything about him. But what I do know is that he's hurt, and he needs my help. And if you think that I'm just going to run home and leave him here then you have another thing coming!" In all her time in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle had not witnessed the famous 'Stare' used in action. Now, it was in full force, and directed at her. "Now," the yellow pegasus continued, "you can help me get him to safety. If not, then back off and let me do my job." Twilight shook her head. Currently unable to find words she simply nods in response. Summoning her magic, she wraps the creature in a bubble. "Careful!" Fluttershy warned. "I don't know how badly he's hurt." Taking extra care not to move it too much, Twilight lifts the creature off the ground. Her concentration is almost broken however, when a burning tree falls onto the path behind them. Realizing their situation, the two gallop down the path back towards the cottage...
