Ferric Fiery Fillaments Falling from the Firmament
Spike and Twilight stood atop the upper balcony of the Ponyville library. It was late in the night and the only light came from the army of candles that surrounded the two. Overhead was a dazzling display of the stars completely free of clouds and competing light sources, save the array of candles that illuminated the several books scattered around the balcony. Twilight stood with her eye affixed to the telescope, constantly monitoring the sky with intense fascination.
“Spike!” Twilight shouted, her eye remaining affixed to her telescope. “Did you see that?”
“See what? You're the one hogging the telescope,” Spike mumbled as he kicked a leaf off of the balcony.
“This is unbelieveable! Spike, take a note.” Twilight said as she began to recollect the event. “It was a giant fiery ball that fell from the sky,” she said with a wonder filled voice.
“That's a meteor, Twilight,” Spike said as she rubbed his forehead with his claw. “It isn’t special.”
“This wasn’t just a meteor,” Twilight said with a frantic voice. “It came before midnight!”
“So? I don’t see why that matters, meteors don’t know the time.”
“Its not the time that dictates when a meteor falls, its the orientation of the world!” Twilight shouted. Spike’s confusion was epitomized by the blank stare on his face. “If it isn’t midnight, we aren’t on the leading edge of the planet.” Spike’s stare grew even more distant. “If we aren’t on the leading edge, we can’t be hit with anything.”
“Twilight, I’m pretty sure it was a meteor.”
“Well, that’s your opinion. I’m the one with the telescope, and I think it was something much more sinister.”
“Sinister? Really?” Spike rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you go to bed. It’s been a long day and you need your re-”
“But this could be really important!” Twilight protested. “Besides, I don’t have a bedtime, I’m an adult.”
“This is insane, I’m going to bed,” Spike said as he walked back into the warmth of the library. Before Twilight could protest, the door slammed shut.
“I just know it wasn’t a meteor,” she whispered to herself as she used her magic to extinguish the candles around her and plunge the balcony into darkness. Walking into the bedroom, she whispered, “I just know it.”
Twilight’s sleep was less than restful, her mind still plagued with the image of the ferric fiery filament that had fallen from the firmament. She tossed and turned, agonizing over the endless possibilities of what that strange occurrence could have been. Was it a rogue dragon falling to its demise? Was it a star that had whizzed by the planet at incredibly fast speeds? Was it an alien spacecraft that had been pulled into Equestria? Whatever it was, it could not have been a meteor.
The next morning was equally filled with questions. As Twilight went about her morning routine of getting ready for the day, she continued to ponder the origin of the strange meteoric object.
“I just don’t understand what it could be,” Twilight mumbled as she dispassionately stirred her cereal with her spoon.
“Are you still going on about that meteor you saw last night?”
“It wasn’t a meteor,” Twilight said through clenched teeth. “You didn’t even see it.”
“And whose fault is that?” Spike shouted as he faced the purple unicorn. “You didn’t even let me have one look through that telescope.”
“If I had then I might not have seen that thing.”
“And this wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place,” spike muttered as he sat down across from Twilight who continued to ponder the question.
“What if it was an alien spacecraft?” Twilight asked excitedly.
“No.”
“Maybe it was a gryphon who caught on fire and fell to th-”
“No.”
Twilight slammed her hoof down onto the table, sending the milk in her cereal over the edge of the bowl. “What do you think it is?” she asked in a condescending tone.
“A meteor.”
Twilight let out a loud groan and threw her head down onto the table. In her bout of frustration she had forgotten about the cereal bowl, and had planted her face squarely in it. Spike fell of his chair in laughter at the sight of a furious, milk covered Twilight.
“Its not funny!” she shouted.
Spike was unable to respond between his bouts of laughter.
“Cut it out!”
More laughter erupted from Spike.
“Fine, I’ll go figure out what it was on my own,” she declared as she toweled her face off and trotted to the door.
“Bring back the meteor if you find it!” Spike shouted as Twilight slammed the door shut behind her.
Twilight’s journey was not an easy one. The object, whatever it was, had landed far beyond Ponyville, but how far was difficult to determine. After gathering information from everypony who had seen the meteor, about a dozen or so, she finally concluded that the object had been on a trajectory for Canterlot palace. Immediately she boarded the next train to the castle and paced the train car through the entire journey.
“The entire castle is up in arms!” Twilight shouted as the train came to a stop next to the castle.
“What in Equestria are you shouting about?” the conductor asked as he opened the door to her traincar.
“But the guards…”
“The guards are always armed. That’s normal.”
“O-Of course,” Twilight stuttered as she walked off of the train.
“What about your luggage?” the conductor asked.
“What lugga… Of course!” Twilight shouted, interrupting herself. She quickly peeled off the segments of wallpaper that she had used as an impromptu surface upon which to sketch her calculations.
“What are you doing?” the conductor shouted.
“There’s no time to explain!” Twilight responded as she raced off toward the castle.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted as she kicked open the doors of the royal hall.
“Forgive me,” Celestia whispered to the rest of the delegates that had convened around the table to discuss the matters of their respective nations. “This is Twilight, my understud-”
“Something awful has happened, none of you are safe!” Twilight interrupted.
“What seems to be the problem?” one of the delegates asked with a thick accent.
“Last night I saw something falling from the sky, and it was heading right for the castle!”
“What did it look like?” another delegate asked. Twilight’s tantrum seemed to be worrying them quite a bit.
“Yes, did you see it?” asked another.
“Yes, it looked like a small ball of fire streaking across the sky,” she said. The room grew uneasily quiet. Finally one stallion could not take the tension any more and erupted in a deep bellowing laughter. Within seconds the entire table was in tears. “It’s not funny!” Twilight protested. The laughter quickly engulfed her voice.
“Quiet please!” Celestia said in a calm, but powerful tone. The room immediately fell silent. “Twilight, are you sure what you saw wasn’t a meteor?”
“Yes!”
“Then what was it?”
“I… I don’t know…” Twilight said, her confidence wavering at the thought that she was unprepared. “B- But I know it wasn’t a meteor.”
“How do you know?”
“Because meteors only hit the planet after midnight,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Its simple logic.”
“Yes, and it is also simple logic to remember to set your clocks back an hour during the winter season,” the first delegate said in the same matter-of-fact voice.
Twilight’s face grew a bright shade of red as she realized how foolish she had been. Spike was in charge of changing the clocks, but that only changed the time, not the rotation of the planet. The meteor had struck at 12.
“Now, shall we get back to our discussion?” the delegate asked, breaking the uneasy silence with his thick accent. “I think we were talking about trade between Saddle Arabia and Equestria and why Equestria should be getting a better deal than just a few hundred tons of cotton candy.”
“Our cotton candy is the best this world has ever tasted.”
“Then why can’t I taste a diff-” A loud explosion tore through the room, shattering the windows and rocking the floor.
“Mother of Celestia!”
“My mother had nothing to do with this,” Celestia chided.
“What was that?” one of the delegates asked.
A group guards galloped into the room. The leader began barking out instructions to his inferiors concerning where to take the delegates and the princess. “Your highness,” the guard said as he took a moment to bow. “We must leave this place. somepony or something is attacking the palace. A giant meteor-like thing just crashed into the courtyard.”
Celestia pulled Twilight to her side as she followed the guard through the chaos to the safehouses deep within the castle.
“Twilight,” Celestia said as they hurried to keep pace with the guard. “What exactly did you see?”
