A Beginning after the End

Luna prided herself with her building-sized telescopes. She had lately constructed a new one in which to see even further into space, which was as long as 2 yachts put end-to-end.  This project was expensive, and it still required further effort from the princess to operate, but what would be seen would change astronomy forever, for it would peer into the void of space like never before. The telescope towered above the mountain above Canterlot.

Tonight would be the night of great importance, as it would soon see operation. She had invited her sister’s student Twilight Sparkle to participate in this great and important event. Luna had visited Twilight on Nightmare night, but had not seen her since. This would be a great opportunity to see what Twilight had learned in the time they had not seen each other.

The control room was filled with unicorn technicians and some ponies who were attending the open house for it. It was not a very big room, but Luna had been sure to make it royal. The room looks more like a royal hall, and at the end was the telescope itself, situated on the mechanisms that were designed to move it at minute levels to allow for maximum precision when studying the distant stars. Instead of a throne, there was a simple cushioned seat next to the eyepiece. There was a desk there, and it was filled with blank papers and books on astronomy. Luna sat in that seat, overseeing the entire area.

Soon enough, the sun went down to make way for the moon, and the visitors had left to their homes abroad. The only ones left were Luna and the Professors, Magicians and Technicians that are on-station to power the scope and enhance or repair it as needed. Luna quickly looks around for a certain student of Celestia, and spots her coming in through the door. She has obviously been traveling fast and it shows in her tired expression. She is also carrying a satchel on her back, obviously for study. She sees Luna and gallops to the end, offering quick apologies when nearly missing one of the unicorns there.

She makes it to the royal astronomy table. She makes a quick bow, than rises to greet Luna.

“Hello, Princess Luna. It’s so great to see you again.”

“Likewise, Twilight Sparkle. It is good to be here with you on this important night.”

Twilight giggles at the anticipation.

“Important it is.”

Her eyes dart over the books and papers across the table. She makes room for her own notes and books from her satchel on the table, and tops it off with a quill and inkwell of her own.

Everything was set.

Several hours later, some major discoveries had been found. Wonders of space and the stars were open to pony kind now. The scratching of pen on paper and book is often heard. It is mostly quiet except for this and the sound of working ponies on the telescope to make sure it’s running smoothly and at full capacity. Twilight is struck with an idea when it is her turn at the eyepiece. Instead of looking at the furthest star and formation in space, she should look at the nearest star and see what’s around it. Ignoring the star, she focuses on the space around it.

Seeing 2 glints of light near the star, she gasps in excitement and zooms closer. It was a planet like hers. She zooms closer, looking at all the continents and their outlines through the cloud layer, and which is completed by oceans of deep blue. Seeing this nearly has Twilight running around the room, telling everyone about her discovery. In her excitement, she pulls away and beams at the princess, who is looking back at her.

“Did you find something, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Look!”

Twilight steps aside for Luna, who has her turn at looking through the scope. See gasps as she sees what could be considered a mirror image of their own home planet. Notes are scribbled as they rotate their positions, either making notes or looking into the telescope. Soon enough, they see some strange atmospheric formations.

White lines etched themselves across the sky parallel to each other, racing towards another landmass. That other landmass also had these lines racing across the sky to the landmass that originally had these racing out of their territory. Soon, though, these lines met their destination. Several glints of light marked the end of that line’s journey. The sky now was crisscrossed with these lines, racing past each other to a certain location, where they ended with bright lights that burned spots in the ponies’ eyes.  They didn’t know what was going on, but zoomed in on one of these spots where a bright light had ended.

They saw a strange round dark and yellow cloud formation rise out of the cloud layer, bursting through the white to continue its journey skyward. The ground below is greyed with the same hue as the ball of fire and smoke that rises from the ground. Luna darts the view of the telescope to another point where the fireball had dissipated and a sickly grey cloud was covering the land. When she could see through that layer, she saw ash falling from the clouds, peppering the blackened landscape. She saw what only could’ve been a civilization. Well, not anymore.

The ground is peppered with debris and death. There is no movement, save for the ash falling. She finally sees someone moving. It moves on its hind legs, blindly going nowhere with its arms at its sides. It looks somewhat like a pony, but it wasn’t.

…

Most of his senses are useless now. The only reason he knows he’s walking now is because he can sense that he’s vertical, and his muscles and bones jostle painfully with each step. He’s not sure what he’s stepping in, but he can tell by the vibrations of his feet that it crunches.

Not that he’d want to see the world around him anymore. The sky was greyed with few patches few and far between them. The ground was equally grey. Cement and Glass buildings now lay on the ground in millions of pieces. The only sound that was left in the corpse of a city was the soft wind carrying the ash and gravel around, as well as the shallow breathing of the lone man left.

The last thing he ever saw before going blind and deaf was a great ball of light several miles away. It seemed to blot out the very sun in with its own substitute light. He had been fortunate enough to fall down several stairs into his several-storied basement. At the bottom, he had nearly gone insane. He could not see, nor could he hear, so even he could not hear his

despair-filled screams. He had clawed his way out of what was left of his house and family and future. He was walking alone now, his arms and hands swaying by his sides, his skin now pale and sick with impending death. He almost didn’t notice when he ran into a light pole that somehow stood up to the shockwave.

The only reason he knew he had been stopped was because he felt only more pain. He turned around slowly, and leaned against the pole, trying to stare at the sky with his blackened vision. He slid down into a sitting position. His legs were two testaments of pure pain, lying limply from his waist. His arms, which hung from his shoulders, were shriveled and torn. The t-shirt and jeans he was wearing were torn from escaping the house. His breathing became even shallower. He tried to thank whoever was in charge of reality for his incoming death, but the glassy ash he had been breathing had already done the damage to his voice box, and the radiation doesn’t help, either. He prayed for death, but it didn’t come. Even when he despaired with his tears running down his cold, wrinkled face, the world seemed not to oblige him.

…

Luna and Twilight Sparkle are glad that they found something alive, but it looks it wouldn’t be for long. Luna sees the thing rest against a pole that was somehow still intact. She quickly forms an idea in her head for it. Using her vast cosmic magical influence, she could perhaps bring it here. She brings her eyes back to the telescope, and she sees the thing stirring.

…

He allowed himself a ragged sigh of relief. His hand withdrew from his pocket, revealing a useful Swiss army knife that he had used in utility fashion before this. He would have but one more use for it, and he would end his pain. He thought something about going down streams, not just across them.

…

Luna sees the thing jab itself in the arms. She could not lose any more time. She steps away, but Twilight did not go to the eyepiece for her turn. She was looking at Luna, who had started a spell of massive proportions. She floated to the center of the hallway, with everypony looking at her. Her eyes were glowing, and it is obvious that she is in deep concentration. Twilight remembers something about the princesses and powerful magic. She looks to the moon. It is no longer moving across the sky in the fashion that typified the night. Far away, another princess notices this. She heads to the observatory where she knew Luna would be.

Luna uses her powerful magic to reach through the very void of space between her and her goal. Unwittingly, she also goes through time, as the medium she used was the telescope, and the light hitting them marked events millions of years ago. She reached into that event, and carefully plucked the unconscious creature out of its world, and with a flash of light, it was in hers. She stood above it, panting.

The thing was as big as she was when she stood. It had a chalk-white skin and it was obviously dying. The physical and mental requirement for the spell had done some magical wears and tears on Luna. She was bleeding from her nose, and she fell over sideways, also unconscious.  It was then that Celestia entered the hallway. Wasting no time, she beckoned for medical teams.

…

Luna awoke hours later. She jerks her head up and looks around the white hospital room. Her personal assistants, as well as Celestia and her student were in the room. She opens her mouth to say,

“What happened?”

Celestia answers.

“My dear sister, you saved a life.”

Luna’s memories flooded back in, and a question burns in her mind.

“Is it alright?”

“Yes, yes he is. We’ve never seen anything like him before. His medical conditions were also unlike anything we’ve

seen before, but the nurses assure me that he’ll be fine. They’ve taped up the arms and they’ve also done some magical

scans on him, just to be sure. He’s sick with something we’ve never seen before.”

Luna rises and nearly gallops out the door of the hospital room. Everypony follows. She runs the hallway to the emergency wing, where she knew she’d find him. Sure enough, the ER had the thing in custody, performing many healing spells on him in an attempt to revive him. Chatter could be heard through the window, and Luna stares at the way that the ponies didn’t seem to care about the fact that this isn’t something they’ve seen before.

So there is that selflessness that overrides the fear of the unknown. That’s a good start. Luna waits outside the window of the ER, watching the pony doctors, nurses and even veterinarians work with the dying thing. She almost didn’t notice Celestia and Twilight come in behind her to join in watching the procedure.

The doctors frantically try to restore the irradiated cells with their spells, and the efforts make slow progress. Assumptions were made, and several mistakes were made. These were corrected, and the assumptions were replaced with a sense of caution. The tense feeling of urgency was still in the air, and it was felt by all the ponies in the vicinity.

Due to the nature of the injuries and the medical conditions of the unknown creature, there was talk in the room that carried over into the hallway that the creature might not make it.

…

Several hours later, the lead pony in charge stepped out the double doors to see the regal sisters and the star student camped out on the chairs for visitors, obviously fighting sleep. When she walked out, the ponies had snapped to attention in such a manner that would make a drill instructor proud. She trots up to them. Princess Celestia addresses her.

“Is he going to be okay, Doctor Serenity?”

Serenity hangs her head low and replies, “We’ve done all we could.”

Twilight Sparkle blurts out,

“Is he okay?”

Serenity is a bit surprised at the outburst, but calmly says,

“Judging by what we do know about mammals like him, we can guess that he’ll make a slow recovery.”