Chapter 1: Arrival

"Ooooh, today looks like such a beautiful day, doesn't it Spike?"

Twilight Sparkle was in a good mood today. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Twilight had just finished sending her latest report on friendship to Princess Celestia; ruler of the Sun and co-ruler of Equestria, alongside her sister Princess Luna who ruled the night.

"It sure is Twilight!" Spike replied, his voice muffled due to the mouthful of bright and colourful rubies he was currently eating. "Today seems like such a great day to be riding in a hot-air balloon!" Twilight and Spike were already high up in the sky, looking over the small but busy town of Ponyville.

"It sure does feel good to take a break from all the studying for once in a while," Twilight said.

Spike suddenly looked shocked and practically amused at Twilight's remark. "What are you talking about Twilight?!? You're already reading a book right now!!!"

"This is different Spike! This is a handy guide book to know all about the safety of riding in a hot-air balloon! If it wasn't for my 'reading' and knowledge of the situation, then we may be all the way in... oh, I don't know... Manehattan by now!" Twilight had the most deadliest, serious look on her face. She was NOT going to lose this argument.

"Okay, okay, whatever! Geez! I was only kiddin' anyway," Spike chuckled to himself as he pulled out the last gem out of the picnic basket. "The last gem. I need to save you for later little guy!" Spike kissed the green gem and threw it back into the basket. However, Spike's tongue unwillingly came out of his mouth, wrapped itself around the gem, and then returned back to Spike's mouth. Spike happily chewed his delicious gem, until he realized what he had just done.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" The balloon shook as Spike raised his hands towards the sky and cursed himself for his terrible deed.

"Oh Spike calm down, you've had more than enough gems. You've practically eaten the whole bag!"

Spike looked over to the bag and saw what once was an entire pile of all the most delicious and colourful gems you could ask for, that Rarity (yes Rarity) had so kindly donated due to leftover gems from her newly designed dress. Now it was simply an empty picnic basket. But this was more than that to Spike. Spike now looked absolutely miserable. Tears began to form in his eyes.

"These were the last possessions that had belonged to Rarity. Now I've just wasted them, and now they are all gone. Why? WHY? WHY?!!!?!??!!?". Spike lowered his head in shame, feeling absolutely sorry for himself. Twilight simply rolled her eyes and put a helping hoof on Spike's back.

"Oh don't worry Spike. I think Rarity was expecting you to eat all those gems anyway, and enjoy them!" With this said, Spike slowly raised his head and matched his eyes with Twilight's. Instead of shining with tears, they were now shining with hope.

Wiping away tears, Spike sniffled "You really think so?".

"Sure! You'll see! Don't you remember when you gave her that one very special ruby of yours on your birthday? I had never seen Rarity so happy as she was that day! I'm sure that you haven't seen the last of Rarity's kindness and generosity." Spike heard the kindness in Twilight's voice, and with that said he raised himself up and gave her a big hug.

"Awww thanks Twilight! I needed that!" Spike was now squeezing very tightly around Twilight's neck, causing Twilight to turn very red. Not because she felt embarrassed, but because Spike had closed off her ventilation system.

"Spike... can't... breathe," Twilight let out painfully, as Spike suddeny realized what he was doing and released her.

"Hehehe, sorry Twilight".

"That's... quite alright Spike," Twilight gasped. "Now come on, we'd better head back down to Ponyville. I think everypony is waiting for us!".

Spike and Twilight looked over the edge of the balloon to see what looked like to be Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all standing together in the town square.

"Hmmmm, I wonder where Rainbow Dash is?..."

"What did I say? TEN. SECONDS. FLAT!"

As Rainbow Dash had just finished showing off her awesome cloud-clearing skills to a couple of small pegasus fillies in a clearing, she suddenly remembered she was supposed to meet all of her friends at the Ponyville town square today. Quick as a flash, Rainbow Dash waved goodbye to the small fillies and set off like a rocket towards Ponyville. Rainbow Dash looked over towards Ponyville and saw Twilight and Spike riding up high in a hot-air balloon. She gasped in absolute terror and immediately change course towards the balloon. It wasn't the balloon that terrified her, it was what was above it.

As Twilight and Spike made their descent down towards Ponyville, a sudden sound of thunder came from above them. "Hmmm that's strange, the weather isn't forecast for a storm today," Twilight curiously said, gazing up at the sky above her.

"Yeah that does seem strange. Maybe the weather ponies decided to make up for bad time from last wee -" Spike's emotions suddenly turned shocked as he saw Twilight's stunned and terrified facial expression looking above.

"Uhhh Twilight? Are... are you ok?" Spike was now fully concerned.

"L- l -look!" Twilight gasped. Spike now looked up to where Twilight was pointing. The sky above them was now fully black. A single, enormous, black cloud was positioned right above the hot-air balloon. Lightning then began to appear out of nowhere. The balloon began to shake heavily as the lightning was ever so close to striking it.

"This is not good, this can't be right, there are no weather ponies around to be the cause of that! How is this possible?!!" Twilight was now in full panic mode, trying to steer the balloon clear from the bizarre storm.

Spike suddenly dived into the picnic basket away from harm. "What are we going to do Twilight!?!"

"Hold on Spike, things are going to get a little bumpy! Now, I need you to blow a flame into the balloon and -"

Twilight was once again unable to finish her sentence as she was distracted not by the weather, but by something else. Something even more terrifying. "SPIKE, THERES A PONY OUT THERE!!" Spike gazed ahead to where Twilight was looking, and saw something completely out of the ordinary.  Looking closer, he could only make out what looked like to be a large figure falling from the center of the cloud. At incredible speed.

"Spike, we have to save that pony! Help me turn this thing around!" Twilight shouted, as she attempted to twist the hot-air balloon completely around and towards where the large figure was spotted. At closer inspection, Spike could make out the 'pony' much clearer.

"I... don't think thats a pony," Spike said as he slowly turned towards Twilght.

"What do you mean?? It HAS to be a pony!!! What else could it be?! A Griffin?! Or a Dragon!?" Twilight was now screaming at the top of her lungs. It was at this point in time that Twilight realized there was no need for shouting and screaming anymore. The thunder and lightning had stopped, the weather had cleared and the mysterious black cloud had disappeared. Everything seemed back to normal. Everything seemed so... quiet. The only single thing that was left now from the storm was the large and lifeless 'figure' plummeting from the sky towards Ponyville. Twilight and Spike could now finally get a full glimpse at what was it was.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Spike gasped, as if he had seen a monster.

"I have no idea Spike, but whatever it is, we cannot let it fall. Come here and help me!" Twilight grabbed the harness of the balloon and tried turning it towards the mysterious figure.

"Twilight, we're never going to make it!"

The mysterious figure looked as if it were unconscious, or worse... dead. Its eyes were closed, and it seemed very damaged by the storm. Twilight knew that she was too far away from the lifeless body and could not make it, but she still would not give up. She looked around the sky desperately to see if there were any pegasus around to help catch the body. Just when all hope was lost, Twilight could just make out somepony traveling at very high speeds towards the falling figure from very far away. Rainbow Dash!

Many ponies, including Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy all looked up to the sky to see what all the commotion was about. They were all terrified at what had just transpired, but also amazed and curious at the conclusion. What they saw falling from the sky was something they couldn't make out, plummeting towards to Everfree Forest.

"What in tarnation is that?" Applejack asked, pointing a hoof at the figure falling from the cloud.

"Ooh! Maybe it's a meteor!" Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly. "Twilight's always telling me about them!"

"Oh- oh my," Fluttershy said, following the object's path with her eyes. "I hope that no pony or animals get hurt when it lands."

All of a sudden, they saw Rainbow Dash flying incredibly fast towards the 'meteorite'. This confused all them, and made them much more curious as to what that object was. The remaining Elements of Harmony decided to travel to the source of importance and find out what was really going on.

Twilight and Spike could not tell if Rainbow Dash had caught the mysterious body or not, as they were lost in sight from the large trees that surrounded the Everfree Forest. They could only hope for the best as they made their way towards the forest. Twilight had absolutely no idea who or what that thing was and how it came to be falling from the sky, but all she knew inside was that she wanted it to be alive. She wanted it to be okay.