The mid-afternoon sun shone down over the Royal Gardens, basking the Royal Sisters in the glow of its summer rays. Celestia had her interests completely held by a very inviting book that had been recommended to her by none other than her dear sister. Celestia used her magic to levitate her lemonade over to her mouth and upon swallowing the sip she took she turned to her sister to discuss the book.
"This is quite a raunchy title sister, where did you say you found this again?" Celestia asked.
"We believe that it was located in an old thrift store by the name of 'Lace and Leash', if our memory serves us correctly" Luna explained.
"Um, sister" Celestia said with a sheepish chuckle "I do not believe that was a thrift store, it sounded more like an excitement shop"
"Nonsense, they sold many casual items such as chokers and bindings for working stallions, they supplied a wide variety of chains... and... oh dear" Luna said, trailing off at the end of her sentence as she realized that she had indeed wandered into an adult book store.
"Oh dear indeed" Celestia nodded "I was wondering why I hadn't seen this particular title in any of the book stores I've looked in"
"Nevertheless, thou must admit it is a gripping read" Luna shrugged.
"Indeed I must, I never imagined you'd be able to get so much enjoyment out of a simple curved piece of rubber" Celestia nodded, reading a few more pages in before making a comment "Oh, now she seems to have injured herself... as to be expected if you decide to lodge a foot long piece of-"
"Princess Celestia?" Twilight's voice called from around a statue. Twilight emerged with her nose buried in a book as usual. Celestia noticed that the young princess was heading straight for another statue and with a quick use of magic she steered Twilight away from the statue and towards her and Luna. Twilight stopped briefly, taking her eyes away from her book with a puzzled expression.
"Yes my little pony?" Celestia asked, folding the corner of the page she was on and closing the book "How can I help you?"
"I was reading through some old books I found on the solar system and meteorical fly-by patterns and I happened across a few scriptures that detailed a fly by of a comet known as the Searing Star that's, from what I heard, blessed with a certain type of celestial magic that will allow it to perform a strange spell on the planet as it passes by" Twilight blurted out.
"Twilight dear, do you remember that conversation we had about breathing every now and again?" Celestia asked with a soft smile.
"Sorry, but... did you know about the comet?" Twilight asked.
"Indeed I did my faithful student, I believe the last time it passed was well over, ooh what was it, three... four thousand years?" Celestia nodded "And the last time it passed I believe it turned the all the liquids in Equestria into a a brilliant bubble-gum pink colour, it was a beautiful tasting substance also"
"Wow..." Twilight nodded "What do you think it's going to do this time?"
"Well, if our premeditated findings were correct then this year's comet should affect the universal barrier" Celestia said, scraping together the thought from her previous calculations and experiments.
"The barrier?" Twilight asked, blinking in a puzzled manner "Will it bring other things into our universe?"
"It shouldn't, in theory" Luna chimed in.
"You, uh, don't sound too confident about that" Twilight noted.
"There have been times in our lives where issues such as these having summoned other entities from other dimension but we doth very much doubt that anything shall be brought forth this year" Luna responded.
"Well done Sister" Celestia said with an enthusiastic smile "Your modern English is coming along in leaps and bounds"
"Thank you Sister" Luna said, inclining her head in a gesture of thanks.
"You mentioned that nothing should come through this time... what's come through before?" Twilight asked, getting the conversation back on track.
"Well, the event of the comet passing is a rare one and it does not usually cause a dimensional imbalance but when an event such as that occurs, it can range from bringing in a pot with a different design on it from an alternate form of an ancient dragon that nests in a faraway mountain, it is quite unpredictable to be truthful"
"Huh... has anything from our world disappeared through to another?" Twilight queried after a moment's pause. The two sisters looked at each other for a brief second, their lips pursed deep in thought before Celestia shook her head.
"Not that I can recall, the dimensional barrier weaken to approaching objects but most things tend to stay within the confines of our own universe" she answered. Celestia raised her head up to the sky, squinting against the sunlight before she spoke again.
"Would you be interested in viewing the comet pass through the observatory Luna has in her wing of the castle?" Celestia asked before turning to her sister "You don't mind do you Sister?"
"Not at all" Luna said, shaking her head "I think it could be fun for all of us"
"Sure" Twilight nodded, her face beaming "I'd love to"
"Then that settles that, we can all meet in the observatory in the Lunar wing tonight and watch the comet pass by" Celestia smiled, lifting up her book and opening it again "Now if you excuse me, I need to find out how this naughty little rabbit is going to remove this without tearing herself in half... again"
The rattle of plates and the murmurs of the soldiers in the mess tent created a pleasant sound that kept the screeching, howling wind at bay and helped the military to push the thought of the cold out of their minds and allowed them to think warm thoughts. At the centre table sat a pair of young alicorn brothers. The eldest, a white alicorn with a short, ruffled and messy blue mane with the jutting tufts becoming a lighter shade of blue the higher up it went. His angular, watery blue eyes held a certain friendly charm despite his sharp and, while extremely handsome, aggressive features. His tail was a shorter, ruffled mess of blue shades that lightened the further down they went, much like his mane. His brother was an ever-so-slightly shorter dark blue alicorn with a mane of two different colours, with the sides being a very short, few centimetres of black hair with the top was a ruffled and matte head of thick hair that was a deep blue colour, much like his body. Like his older brother, his tail changed shades but went from a solid, night blue to a midnight black final few inches of hair. His lower legs were the same black as his mane and also, a trait shared by the two brothers, were much thicker than their upper legs with very wide and flat hooves.
The two brothers shared the same strong, sharp features and angular eyes but unlike his brother's Artemis's eyes were much colder when he stared off into the distance. The two sat at the table eating a bowl of warm tomato soup with buttered bread to add a splash of flavour to the meal. Artemis had already wolfed down three bowls of the soup whereas Solaris was slowly nursing his first bowl. Artemis mopped up the last of his current bowl with the bread before looking up at his brother with a bored expression.
"I've been wondering-" he spoke up, his voice thick with his rougher-than-posh but posher-than-rough London accent, getting his brother's attention "Are we going to be doing anything out here with the squaddies or are we just here to freeze to death?"
"In my opinion-" Solaris responded, his accent the same as his brother's but in a slightly softer tone "I think we're here to observe how they do things... at least that's what Mum said anyway"
"Then I think we're doing a terrible job right now" Artemis said cynically.
"How so?" Solaris asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Because we can't see anything out here!" Artemis growled "It's snowing so much that I can barely tell the difference between a brick wall and a cliff, and the fact that it's so cold I can't go for a piss without having to worry about my cock receding back into my body"
"I'm sure it's not that bad Art" Solaris said with a quizzical look.
"Oh yeah?" Artemis challenged "It got so cold last night when I looked down I thought I had three balls... I had to sit in the bath trying to coax the bastard back to life!" The brother's looked at each other for a brief second and from the moment that Solaris cracked a smile his brother's anger dissipated and the two of them burst out laughing, trying their best to keep their voices down as to not draw attention to themselves.
"Alright, fine-" Artemis chuckled "Maybe I was exaggerating a little"
"Fucking. Never" Solaris sniggered, setting the two of them off again. There suddenly came a loud ringing of a bell, signifying that the breakfast session was at an end and that they needed to leave the mess tent to go about their regular daily duties.
"Ugh, bollocks" Artemis growled, stacking his bowls on top of one another and getting off the bench he sat on "I'm stuck in the guard outpost all day today learning how to spot and deal with threats in a low visibility environment"
"That sounds somewhat enjoyable" Solaris shrugged.
"Well it isn't, I just stand around freezing my arse off while pricks in a warm bunker lob snowballs at my gob" he said, shivering at the thought of having to endure that training round again.
"Well you're used to that, taking a few balls to the face every now an again right?" Solaris taunted, relishing his brother's angry glare.
"Ha ha ha-" Artemis glowered, walking away from the table "Cunt" Solaris laughed again as he stacked his bowl on top of his brother's and headed out himself, having to spend the day with a room of delegates learning how to negotiate in times of war and in times of peace.
"Yay for me" Solaris sighed "I wonder how Mum's doing right now?"
