Unthinkable

Chapters

The Battle of Saddle Arabia
Paranoid Preparations
The Unknown - Part 1
The Unknown - Part 2
Galaxy Stars

The Battle of Saddle Arabia

The deed is done. It cannot be reversed.

Early morning rose in the land of Equestria. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight are flying high, closing in on the horizon of Canterlot, just in time for the preparation of the Summer Sun Celebration. After a victorious battle against Queen Chrysalis and her clan, they are glad to be back in a place of harmony.

"What an adventure. I haven't had a battle that intense since the Discord takeover!", Luna exclaimed. "These battle scars are pretty cool too." she directed their attention to a cut on her face.
.
Celestia nodded in agreement while some sweat beaded down her forehead.

"If only we had the Elements, maybe the fight would have been a lot easier," Celestia added, " but the Tree of Harmony needed them more."

"Very true. I'm just ready to see my friends and get ready for the Summer Sun Celebration...and possibly a nap or two." Twilight said with a yawn.

The princesses swooped down and arrived at the entrance of the castle. The Mane 5 ran up to them with smiling faces.

"Twilight, you're back!" They shouted in unison. All of them noticed by their tired faces and the cuts on their bodies, the fight was brutal.

"Hey girls, great news. We've defeated Chrysalis and saved Saddle Arabia from her wrath." Twilight stated happily. Rarity's smile quickly changed to a frown.

"Good heavens, darling! You look awful." Rarity implied and proceeded to levitate a twig out of Twilight's messy mane.

"Thanks, what a polite welcome back." Twilight said sarcastically.

The shiny doors of the castle opened as they all walked in.

"Oh Twilight, we were so worried! Why did Chrysalis come back?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight and the other princesses led the group over to a sitting area to tell the story of their journey.

"As we all know, Chrysalis was shot out of Canterlot with Shining Armor and Cadence's spell. It was foolish of us to think she would not want to return, seeking revenge. As the years went on, she ordered small fleets of her changelings to overrun small lesser-known countries in Equestria. She would then swoop in and suck the love out of each country, making her powerful and strong." Twilight explained.

"Sadly, the smaller countries were new and unheard of. It was too late to save them," Luna chimed in," Soon, we got a distress message from the delegates of Saddle Arabia, stating that Queen Chrysalis had arrived with her changelings. She threated them with magical blasts that would take away the feeling of love and fill them with hate. This was a spell unknown to us." Luna continued.

"How powerful was this spell?" wondered Rainbow Dash.

"Extremely powerful.Upon research, we concluded that Chrysalis used her alicorn powers plus the love she stole to make an almost undefeatable source of energy, a spell known as: Heartless." Luna described it.

The ponies drew in closer to listen better.Pinkie Pie, out of nowhere, grabbed a bag of popcorn. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes.

"Gathering what books we could, we trekked out to the battlefield. It began with an unexpected aerial attack from her changelings. Their magic beam struck right in front of us. We took to the air and defeated the first group with a mystic beam of light, rendering them blind and useless. " Celestia noted.

"We set up camp a few miles away from the field and out of her sight. We spent two sleepless nights conjuring elaborate plans to beat her. All plans from magic bombings to physical fighting seemed to lack the ideal approach to success. That is, until we discovered the counter-spell: Illumination. A spell that requires alicorn magic and direct lighting from the sun to touch the horn of the spell-caster. At the peak of the fight, Chrysalis held hostages, stating that she would use Heartless if we took another step closer. Luckily, the sun was in the perfect position to perform the spell." Twilight announced.

*Flashback*

"The sand, it burns!" Twilight cried, covering her face with her hoof. The wind became fierce as it blasted sand into their eyes.

“Please focus. Chrysalis will be here momentarily. This is our last chance to defeat her and save Saddle Arabia from becoming a cruel, friendless country. We cannot fail them.” Celestia reminded her.

Just remember the spell. It’s our only hope." Luna said.

In the far distance, Queen Chrysalis flew in with a confident look on her face. Although, she had something in her magical grasp.

“What is she carrying?” Celestia thought.

Grabbing a telescope from her saddle bag, she saw two regal-looking ponies, trying desperately to escape. Only then did she realize, those ponies were the Delegates.

“She has arrived with hostages!”Celestia shouted, retracting the telescope.

“Hostages?! Do you know who they are?” Luna questioned.

“The Delegates,” she answered, “this is reaching an all-time low, even for her.”

Chrysalis walked on the field and set the ponies down. She put her face a few inches apart from theirs with a stern expression, one that would pierce a pony’s sole.

“If you even attempt to run away, a magic blast of pure pain is in your future.” She warned them. She took out a rope and tied them up to ensure there would be no escape.

"Queen Chrysalis. It’s one thing to start a fight, it’s another to threaten lives." informed Celestia.

“Give me a break! After your banishment spell used on the former Nightmare Moon, you are not qualified to discuss the concept of life-threatening.” Chrysalis snapped.

Celestia glared back with an angered look, almost with the intent to kill. Luna’s eyes started to fill with tears at the mention of her past, but quickly wiped them away.

“I will give you one last chance. Reverse every horrible crime you’ve committed through these years and join the side of friendship. Trust me, it’s better to make friends than enemies.” Celestia offered.

For a moment, it almost seemed like she would considered giving up her evil ways. It was clear that she wasn’t loved by anyone but the changelings. Sadly, she denied the offer.

“ No! It’s been so long since our race has roamed this land. As other races came into view, especially ponies, we were forced back in the unknown recesses of Equestria to never be heard from again. With my newfound strength, I shall take back our rightful place in this world.” Chrysalis explained.

Luna stepped in, “I’m sorry that our race of ponies have led you to years of relentless suffering and love theft. We don’t wish to fight any longer. In favor of you, we will let your changelings walk around freely amongst ponies and all of Equestria.”

“It’s too late for that! Once we take over Canterlot again, Equestria will be ours!” Chrysalis proudly shouted.

As she continued her monologue, the princesses got into position to perform the spell. They quietly spoke these words:

Through the bonds of friendships
A magic will spark
No matter their differences
No matter how far apart
Let the bright light shine
Leave the darkness far behind

Their horns touched as the sun’s rays charged their magic. As the queen stopped her rant, she noticed a bright beam of light. Her eyes widened at the sight of their magic charge.

“What are you doing? Stop! You don’t understand, I’ve already won!” she said.

Ignoring her, they continued to strengthen their magic. Soon, a ball of magic formed aimed towards Chrysalis. In a blind panic, she attempted to escape the blast but she was left unsuccessful. The magic blast caught her just in time. An array of colors shown brightly, knocking the princess off their hooves. A distant scream could be heard as the queen was shot out of the sky, headed straight for the sun. The princesses were breathing heavily after their magic performance.

“Well, that was unexpected. I never thought a spell could be so powerful enough to knock me down.” Celestia stated.

Twilight rubbed her head and looked around curiously, “Where is she?”

“I heard a scream when we unleashed the magic orb. It’s quite possible she was blasted into distant space.” Luna answered.

“Hopefully, the spell didn’t destroy her. We never wanted to kill her anyway, just try to convert her to the good side.” informed Celestia.

“As long as the battle is over, let’s head back to Canterlot. Everyone is probably worried sick about us. It will take a full night to get there, so we might as well go.” Twilight suggested, taking off into the sky. Celestia and Luna followed close behind.

* End of flashback*

" When the light went away, she was no longer there. Saddle Arabia is now safe. The only downside: Our powers have weaken because of it. We can't perform so many complex spells like normal." Twilight concluded.

"I'm glad that y'all returned safely. Did ya happen to know where the Queen went exactly?" Applejack questioned. Twilight got a shocked look on her face.

"No, not exactly. Maybe she went to the sun. She was blasted in that direction." she said. Pinkie jumped in Twilight's face.

"Well, now that that's over,there are 2 weeks until the Summer Sun Celebration. We need to go over the party games. I was thinking instead of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony', we play 'Pin the Sun on the Sky'!" she suggested, "Also, we need to go over what music artist you want to attend: Octavia or Vinyl."

"I was wondering if I could perform my Sonic Rainboom. I have to show off my sweet new tricks." Rainbow asked.

" Princesses, we still must discuss your formal wear for the Rising of the Sun Ceremony. I want you all to look fabulous!" Rarity insisted.

"I gotta couple of recipes for apples that'll make your taste buds sing! Hopefully, I could make 'em for the big party." Applejack asked.

Twilight gave a big yawn. "I'll be right with you guys. I just got to..." her voice trails off and she collapses on the floor. All the ponies look down at her. Luna shakes her head and levitates Twilight.

"I'll take her to her room. Out of any of us, she's the most tired. She needs her sleep." Luna commented, trotting to the stairs.

**Later that evening**

Celestia and Luna are walking through the castle.

"So do you actually know what happened to Queen Chrysalis?" Luna asked. Celestia looked towards the ground, almost looking for the answer herself.

"It's a strong possibility that she is on the sun. The blast from our magic was powerful enough to knock us down and gave a lot of force on her side." Celestia remarked. Luna shed a small tear. Celestia looked at her younger sister in confusion.

"What's wrong?" she wondered, wrapping her wing around her.

"Nothing's wrong really. It's just that... the way she was defeated....it reminded me of my past." Luna whimpered. Celestia's eyes widened.

"Your past?" Celestia asked, puzzled.

"It triggered an awful memory. It made me remember my banishment." Luna confessed. Celestia stopped walking and stood in front of her.

" Luna. It was just as hard for me to banish you. I didn't want to do it but I thought it would give you time to think about your mistakes. I spent time hoping you would come back to me and accept me as your friend and sister once more." she explained.

"I know I changed but Chrysalis might not." Luna exclaimed, walking over to a window, "But if she is anything like my dark side, she won't cease until she gets what she desires most: Vengeance."

"The only thing we should do is keep a lookout on the sky. Either way, everything is over for now." Celestia said staring into the starry night sky.

Author's Note

This is my first chapter in the story. Tell me what you think of it.

Paranoid Preparations

The warm wind whipped heavily as a mixture of sand and dust flew through the air.The sky was almost invisible with the dust storm covering it. Mysterious rock formations and sand hills surrounded the environment. Walking through the field, Luna could barely see a thing.

"Why am I here? What is this place?" she thought, squinting her eyes to see better.

Little bits of rock felt like blades as they hit her fur while she continued her search for other ponies.

"Hello? Celestia? Twilight? Anypony there?" she shouted but her voice was muffled by the harsh winds. As she trailed off further into the storm, a faint light became visible within her sights. Hoping it was somepony, she started to walk faster.

"Is somepony there? I need to know where I am. How do I get back to Canterlot?" she called out. No answer.

Soon, the storm started to diminish and let more of the peculiar light show through. As Luna got closer, the light started to shine brighter. After a while, it got so bright that Luna had to shield her eyes for protection.

"Celestia, is that you, my sister?" she asked. In the distance, a small cackle of evil could be heard. As the light dimmed, Luna was able to see more of the figure standing a few feet away.

"That's not my sister. But, who is it?" she wondered, becoming increasingly worried.

She slowly inched closer to get a better look. The figure came into view. It was a female pony with holes in her body and insect wings. Her mane was black and a part of it was yellow, as well as her tail. Her cutie mark: a black sun.

"Hello, Luna. Fancy meeting you here!" she said. Luna looked up at her in horror. Despite her new design, she knew exactly who she was.

"Queen Chrysalis. What are you doing here? More importantly, where is here?" Luna questioned.

"We are at the edge of Equestria. A place of new beginnings and horrible endings." Chrysalis explained. Luna appeared confused.

"What do you mean by that? How did you escape your banishment and why do you look different?" she asked curiously. An evil grin grew on the Queen's face.

"Since you asked: Once I was blasted into the sky, some of my changelings found me, unconscious on the sun's surface. In order to save me, they sacrificed their collected love powers to me. This was just enough to re-energize my powers and take over Equestria, steal love and thus, grow stronger. By laying on the sun's surface, it gave me a new design that's rather fitting to my new title : The Sun Queen."

"What has happened to everypony else?" Luna asked.

" As for the citizens of Equestria, they are no longer with us. Since they were filled with love, I drained them whole. This goes for your sister and Twilight, too. In all honesty, it was quite amusing to see them squirm for their last breath." Chrysalis answered with a satisfied smile.

Luna continuously stood there in disbelief of what she just heard.

"My sister, Twilight, the Mane 5...they're all dead. It...It should've been me. I never helped them during the wedding." Luna's eyes filled with tears.

Chrysalis giggled sinisterly. " It's true. It should've been you. A weak link in the Princess Quartet if I do say so myself."

Overridden with emotions of agony and anger, Luna has had enough torture."You unfit, low-life scumbag piece of shit! How dare you call yourself a Queen!"

The queen appeared shocked by this and got closer to Luna’s face.

“I now have more alicorn power than ever before. It seems to me that your brain hasn’t caught up to what my potential might be. Once your powers become mine, I will be the Ultimate Alicorn.” she sneered.

Luna’s horn started to glow, “Well, I don’t think you understand what potential I have when I’m angry!”

As Luna charged her horn, Chrysalis rolled her eyes and quickly levitated Luna before she could make another move.

“Oh Luna, how I will miss your worthless taunts and threats.” Her magic switched to holding Luna by her neck. It became harder for Luna to breath.

“Now, be a good princess and die for your country.”

The magic slowly became tighter, snaking around her neck. An aura of pink surrounded Luna as she felt herself slipping away from reality.

“N-no…stop…” Luna struggled to say. Her vision became smaller with every passing second.

“Long live the Queen.” Chrysalis whispered as Luna choked on her last breath. Every became dark all at once.

********************************************************************************************

“AAAHHH!” Luna screamed and gasped for air. She frantically looked around, wondering where she was. She was in her bedroom in the castle, not in the middle of nowhere.

“I’m..alive?” she thought. She looked at the clock: 10:30 A.M, it read.

She sighed with relief. “Thankfully, it was just a dream. Although,..it felt so real.”

Throwing her covers aside, she hopped off the bed and walked over to her nightstand. She opened a drawer with a key. Within it held a book: Luna’s Dream Diary. The front was engraved with a moon, representing her cutie mark.

“I must write down every detail. The last time I dreamt of something odd, it came true.” The more she wrote down, the more her fears got the best of her.

She was toward the end of writing when she heard a knock at her door.

“Just a moment.” she called out.

Quickly, she placed her diary back in the drawer and locked it up.

She went to her door to answer it, it was Celestia and she was wearing her saddlebag.

“Good morning, Luna! Did you sleep well?” she wondering, smiling down at her.

Luna cringed and looked down at her hooves. She recollected the recent events of her dream, “Um, not really. I just had a bad dream is all.”

Celestia looked concerned, “Tell me about it.”

Luna started to hold back her words in fear of looking stupid in front of her older sister but she decided to tell her.

“Promise me you won’t laugh?” Luna asked.

“I promise.” she said, doing the Pinkie Promise and followed Luna into the room.

As Luna explained her dilema, Celestia listened and concentrated on her words.
“So, I wrote everything down in my diary just in case this dream came true. It was the most realistic dream I’ve ever had.” Luna finished.

She looked over at Celestia and to her surprise, she had a small smile on her face.

Luna gave a slightly angered face.

“Tia, I thought you weren’t going to laugh?” she questioned.

Celestia covered her mouth with her hoof.

“I’m sorry but this might be a product of over-imagination and fear. I’ve had plenty of dreams like that.” she explained.

Luna wasn’t convinced, “I’m just saying. What happens if it comes true?”

“It probably won’t. The battle was traumatizing only because of who we were dealing with. Just focus on today and you will stop thinking about it,” Celestia assured, “Now, go and get your saddlebag.” Without question, she followed her orders.

Walking out of the room, Luna stopped and asked, “So, why did you come by my room in the first place?”

“Oh right. Today, we have to go see Doctor Royal about our injuries from the battle,“ Celestia said, “This reminds me, I haven’t woken up Twilight yet.” She trotted over to Twilight’s room.

She knocked on the door. No answer.

“She must be really tired still.” Luna said.

Celestia opened the door quietly. Twilight was still fast asleep and mumbling something in her sleep

“No napkin, I don’t want pancakes.” she mumbled. Luna giggled silently.

Celestia nudged her, “Twilight, wake up. We have an appointment to go to.”

She shifted a little in her bed but slowly opened her eyes.

“Oh hi. Sorry, I was still sleeping. I’m just so tired.” Twilight said.

Celestia smiled, “It’s fine. Just grab your saddle bag and let’s just get some breakfast shakes from the kitchen and go.”

Twilight nodded and started to follow them out the door.

“So how did you guys sleep last night? I slept great!” Twilight commented.
“I did. Luna…not so much. She dreamt about Queen Chrysalis returning and killing everyone in Equestria.” Celestia answered.

“Tia?!” Luna shouted.

Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “ It’s okay. It was a dream after all, not real life. I’ve had plenty of those in my lifetime. Like the time I dreamt I failed a test. It was horrible!” she explained.

“See, I told you. Now, let’s hurry to breakfast.” Celestia said.

“I only hope it was only a dream or this will be the end of us.” Luna thought worryingly.

“C’mon Luna! Race you to the kitchen.” Twilight said, running past her.

The light of the sun burned bright through the windows of the castle as the princesses laughed and ran towards the kitchen.

“I win!” Twilight announced, sliding into the kitchen with a halt. Celestia and Luna arrived at the same time, trying to catch their breath.

“I was so close to beating you but fair is fair.” Celestia said, grabbing her shake off the counter.

Luna giggled, “Sure you did!”

The three of them walked outside heading towards the doctor’s office. Sipping her shake, Luna realized something.

“Is it just me or is it hotter than normal today?” she asked, wiping her forehead with her wing.

“Just a little but I don’t control the temperature of the sun, just the rotation.” Celestia informed.

Luna started to worry a little. “You..you don’t think it might be -”

“Luna, honestly. It was just a dream.” Celestia snapped back. Luna looked up just in case there were signs in the sky.

Arriving in the doctor’s office, they were greeted by a blast of cold air. Coping with the change of climate, they walked up to the waiting receptionist.

“We have an appointment with Doctor Royal.” Twilight said. The receptionist tilted her glasses down but quickly tossed them aside at the realization of who it was.

“Good morning, Princess Twilight. No need to ask me, he’s already expecting you three.” she announced, pointing into the direction of his testing room.

“Thank you” she smiled and they entered the room.

A crimson unicorn with glasses was standing there, waiting for their arrival. “Hello Princesses! Take a seat and let me perform a quick examination before taking each of you to go test your abilities.” He pointed to a sofa in the room.

“Of course, doctor.” Celestia agreed and they took their seats.

****************************************************************************************************

After the 3 hours of testing with magic spells and simulators, Doctor Royal arrived back in the room with the results. He passes out three papers to each of them.

“This is bad. According to this, I won’t be able to teleport to very far away places or lift heavy objects with my magic.” Twilight stated.

“I’d rather have that than not being able to feel certain vibes from the sun or use dark magic. What if there’s another threat to Canterlot?!” Celestia worried.

“I have it worst. I won’t be able to feel certain vibes from the moon or go into dreams. This explains why I couldn’t decipher my own dream.” Luna said.

“Now, calm down. Each one of you take some Magic Recovery Pills and try to avoid stress. Drink plenty of liquids and get a lot of sleep. These symptoms should be cured within 15 days,” he explained while adjusting his glasses, “Please check back with me if there are any other problems or question you may have.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Luna said, taking the capsule of pills and put them in her bag. She shook his hand and they headed out the door, back into the heat.

The streets of Canterlot were alive with the sound of witty banter and smiles. The princesses were greeted with bows and “hello’s” from everypony. They response with friendly salutations to their subjects.

“Now, let’s take a train to Ponyville to go see my friends about their preparations for the celebration. It will give us a chance to rest our wings.” Twilight suggested.

“I agree. Hopefully their cooperation will make this celebration memorable!” Celestia said, cheerfully.

“Don’t forget. We get to go out in the field and watch the Northern Lights tonight!” Luna exclaimed.

“I can’t wait for that! Maybe there will be cake.” Celestia wondered, licking her lips at the thought.

“Well, let’s get a move on. I promised Applejack that I would visit her first about her ideas.” Twilight insisted. She gestured them to quickly follow her to the station.

They arrived just as the train rolled up. Many ponies shifted about going to and from their destinations. Hopping abroad, the aroma of delicious pastries on a cart struck Celestia’s nose.

“Luna. Save me a seat while I get a pastry, okay?” she asked.

“Sure,” Luna said, “ Twilight, there’s a good spot, near the window.” She pointed towards a three-seat bench near the back. They stumbled a bit as the train ran on the track trying to get to their seats. As they waited for Celestia, Luna taped Twilight’s shoulder.

“Yes?” Twilight asked. Luna had a panicked look on her face.

“I just had a thought. What if the reason for our powers weakening, an outer force is gaining strength off them and will end up destroying us.” Luna said, biting her lip with fear.

“Really, Luna? I mean, it might be plausible but not completely true. This depends on ‘the force’,” Twilight answered, “ What would this force be?”

“C-Chrysalis.” Luna said, hesitantly.

“Wow. That dream really got to you. Don’t worry. Chrysalis is far away from us, it would be impossible for her to reach any source of magic.” she reassured.

After a while, Celestia came trotting towards the two princesses and sat down holding a doughnut in her hoof. As the train ran through a sunny area, the sun got brighter. Luna sat there, staring at the outside world, still worrying about her dream. A hint of sun ray bounced of a window and landed in Luna’s eyes as she turned around in her seat. Quickly, she lifted her hoof and jumped back in terror. She lifted her hoof back far enough to hit Celestia’s doughnut out of her grasp.

“Luna, what’s the matter with you!” Celestia shouted. Luna blushed in embarrassment.

“I’m..so sorry. The lens flare caught my eye and..frightened me for a moment.” Luna confessed. Celestia rummaged in her bag and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.

“Here,” she said, “ keep these with you anytime we walk outside so this doesn’t happen again.” She shoved it in her face, nearly poking her eye.

“Thank you. Don’t worry about the doughnut. AJ will probably give food samples to us to test.” Luna answered.

The train came to a screeching halt into Ponyville Station. Luna put on her shades and walked off the train alongside Celestia and Twilight.

“Nice shades, Luna!” Twilight commented.

Luna smiled, “Thanks. This should keep the sun from affecting me too much.”

The princesses started their long walk to Sweet Apple Acres in the blazing heat of summer. Keeping their promise to rest their wings became increasingly difficult as the heat became too intense to handle. Sweat constantly dripped from their foreheads as they approached the orchard.

“I’m so glad we made it,” Luna exclaimed, “ I was so close to fainting from exhaustion. It‘s awfully worrying to believe it‘s becoming this hot! Do you think-”

“No, Luna. It’s not who you think.” Celestia interrupted. Luna quickly shut her mouth.

Twilight squinted her eyes and looked for her friend.

“Yee-ha!” a voice in the distant shouted as apples fell from the tree.

“Applejack, over here!” Twilight cried, waving her hoof. AJ waved back and raced towards them.

“Howdy, guys! So glad y’all came over to see my ideas for the celebration.” she said.

She led them to the barn kitchen where the table was covered with food.

“Wow AJ! This is impressive! Everything looks so well done and delicious.” Twilight complimented.

“Thank ya kindly, Twi! I took some dishes from the Apple family recipes and put a twist on some of ‘em. Here’s hopin’ they work out.” Applejack said looking over them.

“Applejack, which would you recommend is the best dish?” Luna asked.

Applejack hustled over to the table and picked up a dish. “These here are Apple Rolls with cinnamon.”

Luna levitated one off the plate and consumed it. Her eyes widened.

“They are good.” she said. Twilight and Celestia took some as well.

“Very delectable! What else do you have?” Celestia wondered.

************************************************************************************************

After spending an hour discussing food product placement, the princesses were stuffed to the brim with food samples. Now, they were headed to Rainbow Dash’s house.

“I-I think I had too much.” Celestia admitted as she struggled up a hill.

“I should’ve stopped when she brought out the lemon pie with apple zest. I’ve made this mistake once before..ugh.” Twilight confessed.

“Maybe we did over-indulge but thankfully we’re almost there.” Luna informed them.

As Luna walked closer to Rainbow’s house, she looked up every so often, scanning the sky for danger. Celestia ran quickly to catch up with her.

“What are you searching for?” Celestia wondered.

Luna adverted her eyes from the sky to the ground. “ Oh, nothing. Just scoping out my surroundings.”

“Right. Listen, nothing’s going to happen. Focus on our daily tasks, please.” she said, annoyingly.

Luna sighed. “I’m sorry, sister. I’m just on edge. Also, the fact I can’t use my full powers doesn’t make it any better.”

“If anyone has to be worried, it should be me. I control the sun.” Celestia admitted.

Luna was about to respond when the sound of fast flying and giggling could be heard from above. Rainbow Dash was headed at full speed to come greet them in the field surrounding her house. Kicking up some dust, she landed safely in front of them.

“Hey, so glad you’re here!” she cheered.

“If you have a great contribution to the celebration, of course we’ll be here.” Celestia said, “Apparently, you want to show off some flying tricks. We’d be delighted to see them.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Okay, just stay here and watch.” She flew to a high altitude, just enough to not run into them during her performance. A series of aerial acrobatics and fast flying took place with the princesses in awe of the show. After her last stunt, she flew down to greet them.

“I was also considering doing the Sonic Rainboom but that can wait until the celebration.” she said. The princesses clapped their hooves and smiled.

“After what we saw, they’re wouldn’t be a need for the Sonic Rainboom. ” Celestia responded.

“Routines like that should definitely be at the celebration!” Luna cheered.

“Rainbow, you’ve really improved! I guess being in the Wonderbolts Reserves has truly increased your performance levels.” Twilight commented, smiling.

Rainbow slightly blush. “ Thanks. Do you expect to do any flying during the party?”

“No, I’ll be kind of busy doing royal business but I will make time to hang out with my friends.” Twilight answered.

“Awesome! Well, I’ll see you three at the light show tonight!” she said, waving goodbye and flew back into her cloud house.
The princesses were off once again, strolling into town. This time to visit Rarity. As they walked, some clouds rolled in and covered the sun. Luna, unaware, didn’t realize it and assumed the worst.

“She’s back!” she screamed and starting running. She could barely see with her sunglasses on so her vision was darkened. Her head immediately struck a tree, sending her tumbling to the ground. Twilight and Celestia raced over to her.

“What in Equestria are you doing?!” Celestia yelled, “If you didn’t notice, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

Luna eyes were wet with tears. “It was…just..so..real. I‘m scared.” she admitted between sobs. Twilight slowly helped her up and put her arm around her.

“I know this isn’t saying much but I’ve learned this lesson before. The lesson is: Solve problems as they come. Don’t worry about the future because it isn’t here yet.” Twilight advised her.

“Thank you, Twilight,” Celestia said, “ Although, I think she just needs a rest. It might be the heat.” Celestia used her magic to craft three leaf umbrellas. Then, she levitated her sister onto her back.

“Please, sister. Just rest for your sake and mine.” she pleaded. Without arguing, she nodded her head in agreement.

Making their way down the street, they finally arrived at the Carousel Boutique. Twilight could hear distant humming from inside.

“Hello, Rarity? Are you home?” Twilight asked, knocking on her door. A few crashes were heard and a cat meowed before her answer. “Just a moment.”

Celestia turned to Luna who hopped off her back.

“Are you alright?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. I apologize for my outburst.” Luna said.

“It’s alright.” Twilight answered with a smile.

The boutique’s door opened and Rarity greeted them with a smile.

“Hello, your highnesses! I’m so honored that you’ve arrived to view my dresses.” she said, bowing. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Um, Rarity. You know us on a personal level. There’s no need to bow.” Twilight said.

“Oh, sorry. I’m just so nervous about your reactions to my designs. This is such an important event, you know.” she responded.

“With all your dresses from the past, I’m positive they will be excellent.” Luna encouraged her.

Rarity squealed in delight. “Alright, ladies. Follow me.” She led them to her workshop up the stairs. A giant tarp covered the dresses while Opal playfully tugged at it.

“Opal darling. Don’t touch it!” Rarity commanded, levitating her away and onto her bed.

She happily trotted up to the tarp. “Now, may I present to you, your Summer Sun Celebration Dresses!” She threw off the cover, revealing elegant and shiny attire.

Celestia’s dress was white with yellow and blue lace. Luna’s dress was blue with black lace. Twilight’s dress was purple with hot pink lace.. All their dresses had a clip of their cutie mark on the front to tie the dresses together.

“These are gorgeous!” Luna exclaimed, giving her dress a closer look.

“Don’t worry about being hot in it. They were made with aerodynamic fabric to make them breathable.” Rarity informed.

“Thank you, Rarity. They’re perfect!” Twilight said.

“Thank you!” Rarity responded. She walked closer to Twilight and smiled. “Maybe this dress will impress a certain royal guard.” she giggled.

Twilight started to blush. “W-what do you mean?” She darted her eyes away from Rarity’s stare.

“Flash Sentry, obviously.” she smiled.

“Really? I don’t have a thing for him. He’s just a friend, trust me.” Twilight answered, nervously.

“Suit yourself.” Rarity said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Beautiful designs!,” Celestia added, “Please send them to the castle since we’re too booked with appointments with other ponies. Hope it’s not too much trouble.”

“Not at all! I’ll send them post-haste.” she reassured. She recovered them to keep their pristine look fresh.

“Thank you for showing them. I’m sure everyone will love them!,” Twilight said, “ See you at the celebration.”

“Of course, dear. Goodbye!” Rarity said, waving and they walked out of her shop.

“So, what’s this I hear about a royal guard?” Celestia asked, curiously. Twilight’s eyes widened.

“It’s not important! Let’s hurry over to Fluttershy’s Cottage.” Twilight suggested and raced off towards the forest.

Celestia just brushed it off and with Luna, ran after Twilight to catch up.

The sun shined down on the riverside near her house. The animals played, making cheerful noises and eating their food. Quietly in the distant, soft singing was just audible enough to be heard.

“She’s just around this bend.” Twilight notified. Fluttershy’s back was turned to them. She was busy picking flowers and talking to a squirrel.

“Oh yes, Mr. Chipper.,“ Fluttershy said, “I can’t wait to show the princesses my craft ideas. I hope that everypony will -”

“Hello, my dear.” Celestia interrupted.

“Oh!” Fluttershy jumped and dropped a flower she held in her mouth.

“My apologizes. I didn’t mean to scare you.” she said, picking up the flower. She placed in her flower basket.

“It’s okay. I was just picking more flowers for my crafts.” she admitted.

“I see. So, do you have anything to show us?” Luna asked.

“Yes, I do. One moment, please.” Fluttershy flew into her house. Flying back outside, she brought out a basket of pre-made crafts for display.

“For my contribution, I want to hold a crafts booth. I want to make things like flower crowns, bracelets, and necklaces.” she explained. She took out a couple of examples as she talk about her ideas.

“This is a great idea!” Twilight exclaimed. She levitated one of the flower crowns ad placed it on her head. “ The petals are so soft.”

“Indeed. The array of flowers are perfect. Everypony will love them.” Celestia said.

Fluttershy beamed brightly. “Thank you so much. I can’t wait until the celebration day.”

“Us too. Now, we must be on our way!” Luna said.

“Yes, Pinkie is expecting us.” Twilight added.

“Okay then. Goodbye!” Fluttershy said.

“See you tonight for the show!” Twilight answered back and walked away.

“How do you suppose my friends’ ideas are turning out?” Twilight wondered.

“Great! Having your friends involved will make this party very exciting.” Celestia complimented.

“Agreed. This will be my second one ever since you joined us on stage, Twilight.” Luna said, smiling.

Walking up to the door, Twilight’s hoof was inches away from knocking when it suddenly swung open. A pink pony’s face was quickly pressed against hers.

“Hi there!” she shouted. Twilight jumped back a bit in surprise.

“Um, Pinkie? How did you -”

“No time to explain! I want to show you everything now.” Pinkie interrupted and pulled them in by their hooves.

She pulled out various objects from the closet and put out a boom box with a few CD’s.

“Alright. I have a few game suggestions such as: Twister, Pin the Sun on the Sky, Bobbing for Apples, Pony Pony Revolution, and Cards Against Equestria.” she said, demonstrating each activity.

Celestia smiled. “Sounds amazing. I know -”

‘Hold on, There’s more!,” she continued, “ For music purposes, we could play Sapphire Shores’ new music CD that was just released or something from Katy Pony. Either way, it’ll be the hit of the party!”

Twilight giggled. “That’s great! This will really hype everypony up.”

“Thanks! I want this to be an epic party.” Pinkie admitted, “I’ve been doing so much planning that I had to ask AJ to do the cantering.”

“She did a nice job, don’t worry. Also, will we see you at the light show tonight?” Luna asked.

“You betcha! It’s gonna be so sparkler-rific!” Pinkie said, jumping with excitement.

“Well, see you there, Pinkie!” Twilight said.

“Bye, Twilight!” she said, waving and smiling.

*************************************************************************************************

The late evening was vastly approaching. The streets of Ponyville that were once filled with liveliness became soothing and quiet. Ponies opened their doors, picnic baskets and blankets in hoof, making their way towards the open field near the Everfree Forest. It was almost time for the Northern Lights Show. Celestia had a clear view of the ponies from her bedroom window, as well as Luna. Her horn lit up as she slowly grasped the sun, taking it below the horizon. Luna took hold of the moon, raising it slightly as the sun went down. She placed at the position of where the lights could gain maximum illumination for the show. A delicate process for the alicorn sisters to master.

“Perfect.” Luna said, “This is the ideal placement. Just enough time to get to the field.” Lifting her saddlebag on her back, she stepped out the room and knocked on Celestia’s door.

“C’mon, sis! We’re going to be late.” she said, happily.

Celestia opened her door and looked down at Luna in surprise. “Does this mean you’re feeling better?”

“Kind of. I’m just excited to witness the lights. I’ve always admired them and I want to have another experience with them. They make my night shine bright, for once.” Luna explained.

“Luna, your night shines bright even without those lights,” Celestia admitted, hugging her., “ Let’s get Twilight and go.”

Knocking on Twilight’s door, various squeals of nervousness and book shuffling could be heard.

“Don’t worry. I’m coming!” she shouted.

After a while, she opened her door with a panicked look.

“I have my telescope but do you guys know where my book on: Mysterious Space Happenings went?,” she asked, worried, “ I need to see if I could find out exactly why the lights show up like they do around this time.” Luna pointed to her saddlebag on her back, which contained a book.

Twilight sheepishly blushed. “Haha…oops. There it is.”

“Let’s get a move on.” Celestia insisted while Luna giggled.

The night was reaching the time for the show. All ponies from Ponyville to Cloudsdale gathered in the safe zone of the field, far enough from the Everfree. The princesses arrived and were greeted with smiles. From afar, a colorful group of ponies could be seen having fun.

“Girls!” Twilight shouted, racing towards them. All of them smiled and came together for a group hug.

‘Hi Twilight! So glad you’re here. We’re five minutes away from the show.” Pinkie informed her.

“ Glad I arrived in time! The process of the Northern Lights has always fascinated but I’ve never had real time to study them.” Twilight announced, flipping threw her book.

“Egghead at it again!” Rainbow rudely said. Applejack ran up behind her and knocked her in the head with her hoof.

“Ow! What gives, A.J.?” she shouted.

“For bein’ rude. Also, let’s not forget the last time y’all called Twi an egghead. She beat ya at a race!” Applejack corrected her.

Rainbow mumbled angrily to herself as she took a seat on the blanket.

“Anywho, how have you two been lately?” Pinkie asked the other two princesses.

“I’ve been great. Our powers are still kind of weak, though.” Celestia said.

“Yeah, those pills we received do help but it still hurts to hold the moon sometimes.” Luna added.

“That’s good to hear!” Pinkie said, hopping away.

“Princess Celestia. As for the dresses, they will arrive at the castle doorstep at 9 in the morning tomorrow.” Rarity notified her.

“Thank you, Rarity.” she responded.

“Hey AJ, where is the CMC?” Twilight wondered.

“At their clubhouse, havin’ a sleepover. Told ‘em as long as they were responsible, they could stay there overnight. I’m gonna check on ‘em after I’m done here.” AJ said.

“Everypony, look. The show is starting.” Flutterhsy said, pointing to the sky.

All of them quickly sat down and turned their heads towards the light. Everyone snuggled up close, enjoying the beautiful array colors displayed across the sky. Expect for Twilight, who was too content with gathering evidence for later research. The ponies were in awe of this amazing phenomenon. For once today, Luna wasn’t on edge because of her dream.

Celestia hugged Luna tightly. “So, are you having a good time?”

“The best. It’s a beautiful, peaceful night and I’m spending it with my friends and sister.” Luna smiled as she grabbed a s’more from the plate next to her.

“Princess Celestia!” a male voice from behind shouted. Immediately, she looked behind her and saw a unicorn running towards her. She quickly got up to greet the panicked stallion.

“What’s the problem?” she asked, confused.

“As apart of my research, the other ponies and I were calculating the star movement near the sun.,” he explained, “We can still see the sun using our advance telescope in the Canterlot Astronomy Research Center. Everything was running smoothly until there was a flash of light coming from space.”

He quickly showed a photo taken of what appears to be the sun with a giant blast of yellowish-orange light behind it. Celestia’s eyes gazed upon the picture in fear.

“I have a strong hypothesis that this could be a potential threat to us.” he continued. At this point, the Mane 6 and Luna were actively listening.

“I- I see. This is something I’ve never seen before.,” she said, “Thank you for this information…um, what’s your name?” she asked.

“Astrolight, your highness” he said, bowing.

“Astrolight, thank you for your services! Please keep me informed if the situation gets worse.” she implied. He nodded and ran back to the research center.

Celestia turned around to find nothing but shock and fear across the mane 6’s faces. The one mostly terrified was Luna.

“Tia, what’s going on with the sun?” she asked, shaking.

For the first time, Celestia was unable to answer a question about her astronomical symbol.

“I…don’t know.” she admitted, sadly. She saw the rising fear in their eyes. Knowing this, she had to quickly change her mood.

“I’m pretty sure whatever it is. The astronomy ponies can figure it out.,” she said, “Let’s just enjoy this light show that is bestowed upon us.”

The ponies looked confused at first but soon became mesmerized by the lights once more..besides Luna. Sitting back down, she started to contemplate what has just happened.

“I can’t just sit here looking at the sky, knowing there might be a threat to Ponyville.. Or Equestria for that matter! I need to find out more.” Luna thought, “I won’t let Equestria fall because of negligence of my older sister. I’ll wake up first thing in the morning and head towards the Canterlot Library to do some research…if I can sleep, that is.”

Suddenly, her emotions took over as she started to sob quietly into her hooves. Celestia wrapped her wings around her for comfort.

“Shhh. It’ll be alright. I’m sure of it.” Celestia whispered.

Despite it all, Luna knew this was far from the norm.

“I hear what you’re saying, but this is not what I’m seeing.” Luna thought. She put her head down in silence as everyone watched the sky in amazement.

Author's Note

If my writing is terrible, I'm sorry.

Leave a like if you enjoyed it!

The Unknown - Part 1

The shimmering moon above created a blanket of soft light over Ponyville. The view was perfect from Luna’s perspective as she admired her masterpiece. Luna’s eyelids drooped a little with tiredness due to her short slumber. The constant worry of last night’s situation had left her in a state of tossing and turning in bed.

“I should get an early start. The Canterlot Library opens at 6 am.” she said.

Holding the moon at the edge of the horizon, she turned on her bedroom lights. They blinded her slightly as she stumbled to her closet. Her eyes blinked in rapid succession until her vision came to. Opening the closet door, a few miscellaneous objects flew out, including her saddlebag.

“How did that get in there?” she wondered and placed it aside.

Searching through her closet, she found some things from her precious past. Things like dolls and a fake plastic crown for when she played princess as a filly, before she became one. Digging deeper, her hoof touched something hard. Reaching into the darkness, she brought it out into the light. It was a shoe made for her other persona….as Nightmare Moon. Shaking her head, she tossed it into the abyss of the closet.

“Never again.” she uttered. “I’ve caused Equestria enough trouble, it’s time for me to fix a problem for a change.”

After a while, she found a black cloak.

“Here it is! Hopefully, nopony will notice.” she said, wrapping it around her and placing the hood on her head. To not raise suspicion, she lowered the moon a little more, just in case anypony was viewing the sky at this hour. Luna raced over with her bag to her bedside table. She stuffed a water bottle, her recovery pills, and a few oat bars in the bag before turning off her lights.

Luna peered through the crack in the door to be aware if any guards went by.
The coast was clear.
Taking precaution, she widened the door’s opening slowly to which in response, it creaked. She held her breath until it was enough for her to slip through. Slowly closing it back, she tiptoed quickly through the halls and ducking behind plant pots for cover.

Across from her, a window was slightly ajar and next to it, a guard. Thinking quickly, she scooped up a rock with her hoof from the plant pot, tossing it far away. Fortunately, it hit something metal and made a hollow sound. The guard turned his attention towards the noise and walked over to investigate. Stealthily, she moved across the room and quickly opened the window to climb out.

“That was close.”, Luna huffed. “I was nearly caught.” Placing the window back, she went down into the bushes outside of the castle. With the moon looming overhead, she took a moment to adjust its position.

“I must keep an eye on the moon in order to keep it in proper motion.”, she thought,
“ Celestia will be up soon, it’s almost time for her shift.”

She zipped throughout the streets, trying not to be seen by early risers or store owners opening for the day. Making her way down the street, a store light came on and Luna quickly bolted as to not be caught. Suddenly, she bumped into something. Making her stumble to the ground, she didn’t get a proper look at it.

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry.” said a female voice. As Luna regained her sight, the figure was indeed a pony, an aqua green colored unicorn to be precise, and she held out her hoof to help Luna up.

“I can’t let her know it’s me.” Luna thought. Then, she got an idea: Talk in a deeper voice. Luna took her hoof as the unicorn helped her up.

“It’s fine. I was just in a hurry to get to the library.” she said in a low tone.

The unicorn nodded, “Well, that’s good. Glad you’re not hurt.” Then, she trotted off in the other direction.

A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she ran towards the front door of the library. The librarian walked outside, opened the doors, and started to sweep the front entrance. Luna raced past her without acknowledgement. Running down the corridors, she found the door that lead to the space section.

“Excellent. This area will have something on the patterns of the sun” she said.

Overlooking each title of the books, she came across the “Astronomer’s Guide to the Sun”. Taking it off the shelf, she scanned the room for a hidden spot. A beanbag was comfortably sat at the corner of room and Luna headed that way. She noticed a window and quickly remembered her job.

“Dang it, almost forgot.” she said.

Dropping the book, she swiftly lowered the moon out of sight, just as the few peaks of sunray were showing. Satisfied, she grabbed the book and walked over to the corner to read.

“If Celestia doesn’t know what’s going on, maybe this book will. Worth a shot.” she thought to herself. Then, she settled down for a long, exhausted read.

************************************************************************
As the sun rained its brilliance upon Ponyville, its residents were overjoyed with talk of the upcoming celebration and were basking in the sunshine. Except for the Mane 6. They all were busy having a relaxing day at the spa.

“Oh my”, Fluttershy exclaimed, “this is so nice. What an excellent idea to come here, Twilight.” She happily sniffed the air as she enjoyed her Flower Aromatherapy.

Twilight smiled, “Why, of course! I feel like I owe it to you all. You’ve all been hard at work with your contributions to the celebration. Also, Spike is in the Crystal Empire helping Shining Armor and Cadance with royal business, so it just us mares!”

Rarity lifted a cucumber from her eye and looked over at Twilight.

“Nonsense, darling! In all honesty, you shouldn’t have. We would’ve done the work for free, no reward needed.” Rarity said, repositioning the cucumber back on her face.

Some bubbles formed in the spa bath and quickly emerged the pink party pony wearing goggles. She dripped water over the edge as she hung over the side, smiling.

“Yeah, Twilight. If anything, I would’ve been okay with being paid with candy..or cupcakes.” Pinkie admitted, diving back into the tub.

Applejack was having a calming massage when she overheard the conversation.

“Thank ya kindly, Twi! Been working hard trying to get those recipes done right. I was lookin’ for a way to spend my down time.” Applejack stated.

“Me too.” Rainbow chimed in, “ I nearly sprained my hoof trying to do my signature stunts.” She gently rubbed her backhoof as she sat under the hairdryer.

Fluttershy looked down in fear but finally asked, “Um guys? Do any of you know what situation went on last night?”

Each pony looked at each other silently, waiting for one of them to speak.

“Not really, sugarcube.” Applejack said, “ Although, I saw Princess Luna lookin’ a might shakin’ up. I could see it in her eyes that something was wrong.”

“I didn’t truly know what was up but it got Celestia worried too.” Twilight admitted.

Pinkie suddenly sprang up out of the tub and dropped on the floor. “Maybe the princesses are hiding some underlying secrets of Equestria that are too horrific to reveal to us and if we knew, there would be widespread panic and ruin the festival hype!”

Rarity sat up and looked at Pinkie in confusion, letting the cucumbers fall off her face. “Or…” , she started.

“Or maybe it’s another monster that they don’t want us to worry about. It‘s just a guess at this point.” Pinkie said with a shrug.

“ I know that keeping Equestria safe is their priority but we do that too. I would love to fight another monster with my hooves: Thunder and Lighting!” Rainbow exclaimed, punching the air.

“Regardless, their privacy must be respected unless we are summoned by them. I may be a princess but I’m still new at this job. Therefore, I have to wait like everyone else and frankly, I’m alright with that.” Twilight noted and went back to relaxing.

**********************************************************************

Looking out the open window, Celestia sighed. A warm breeze brushed against her face as she remembered last night’s scary situation.

The flash of light.

The sun.

Potential danger.

These words swirled around in her mind as she observed the commotion below.

“What could this all mean?” she wondered, “ In all my years of existence, nothing this peculiar has happened to Equestria..or outside of it for that matter.” She began to pace back and forth across her bedroom floor, pondering the possible reasons for this event to occur.

“A shift in the polarity of the world? No, too extreme.”

“A parallel universe? Impossible.”

She put her hoof to her head, thinking hard about the answer. Walking past a mirror, the sun’s glow ricocheted off it and hit Celestia in her eye. Rubbing her eye, she came to a conclusion.

“A mythical sun beast?!” she exclaimed. Quickly shaking her head, she realized her outburst. “Okay, that is completely ridiculous. I’m starting to sound like Luna” she chuckled.
“Perhaps, an unnatural force beyond our reach has gravitated the sun towards us, making our world hotter. Soon, it will be close enough to-”

A low rumble interrupted her thoughts.

“Maybe I’ll think more clearly with some breakfast.” she said, rubbing her stomach.

Making her way down the corridors, she couldn’t help but notice the sun’s extreme glow through the pane glass windows. Some of the windows held Equestria’s history.

The Rebirth of the Elements of Harmony. The Defeat of Discord. The Coronation of Princess Twilight.

Celestia thought, “ Hopefully, we won’t need to take away the Elements from the tree in order to solve this problem. This may be an unusual experience that will turn out good. Who knows at this point.”

The air filled with the smell of fresh oats as she entered the dining area. The chefs were hard at work, preparing the morning meal. Their focus quickly changed as Celestia entered the room. All bowed down to her, forgetting their cooking duties for a moment.

“Please,” Celestia said, “ no need to bow. Just came to see what was on the menu.”

A bowl of oats and a cup of tea was placed in front of her. Licking her lips, she dove in. Even with her constant worrying, it was still a nice day. Everypony was doing their daily errands or gossiping in the streets.

“Why should I even worry?” she thought, “ Nopony is freaking out or questioning anything. Maybe I should -”

“Princess Celestia!!” a guard exclaimed as he burst through the dinning room doors.

“What’s the matter?” she wondered, anxiously as some oats flew out of her mouth.

“It’s about Princess Luna…she’s missing!” he said. Celestia gasped.

“W-What?! Do you have any idea on where she could be?” she asked, panicking.

“No, Your Highness. One of the royal guards checked to see if she was still in her room and she was missing. No clues left behind anywhere. She could be miles away from here.” he explained.

Celestia gulped, nervously but quickly collected her thoughts. “Please send out a search team to find her. I’m afraid she might do something drastic out of fear.”

The guard bowed his head. “As you wish,” he said and ran off to rally up a team. Celestia made her way to the throne room, slumping in her seat. She put her hoof to her head, leaned back, and sighed.

“Why Luna? Just…why?” She asked. Then, silently, she started to cry.

************************************************************************

“Was she in the café?” said a faint, husky voice.

“Negative.” another voice responded.

“Was she in the castle labyrinth?” questioned the husky voice.

“No.”, another male voice said, “ Part of the search team in Ponyville claimed she wasn’t seen there either.”

Luna opened her eyes a little at the sound of other ponies talking in the hallway. She didn’t realize she fell asleep while reading. As she regained consciousness, her hearing became clearer.

“Well, for Celestia’s sake, we must find Luna.,” said one stallion, “ We don’t need another catastrophe on our hooves.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “The Royal Guards.” she thought. She couldn’t risk letting them see her here. She wasn’t finish with her research. Upon hearing their hoofsteps, she dove behind a library bookcase. She peered through the books as she saw two unicorn guards searching the area.

“Maybe she could be in here?” said the yellow unicorn.

“Why,” repiled the orange one, “ I kind of doubt she would be here. It seems pretty random.

“Doesn’t matter. We need a full scale search.” They started to look in every bookshelf corridor, quietly calling the princess’s name.

Luna closed her eyes tightly. “Just go away,” she thought, “I need to study. There’s something wrong with the sun and I need to-”

Suddenly, fast trotting could be heard in the main hallway. Luna quickly ducked lower into her hiding spot. “This better not be another guard.” she hoped.

“This may be disastrous.” Astrolight said, rushing through the halls. “I need to get to Princess Celestia and warn her. Then, I’ll come back and do more research.” Making sharp left and right turns, he avoided ponies while trying so desperately to escape the library.

“Ow!”, he exclaimed. He rubbed his head in pain.

“Watch it, bub!” a stallion retorted. He brushed the dust off himself with his wing and continued to stand at attention, ignoring the pony that ran into him.

“Sorry. I was in a rush and..” Astrolight came to realize that he accidentally ran into a royal guard.

‘My apologies.” he said, straightening his glasses and bowing. “Well, as long as I’m here, I would like permission to see Princess Celestia. This is a dire emergency.”

The pegasus was still annoyed at the situation. “No way. The Princess is already in distress about Luna’s mysterious absence today and there’s no need to have her go into a mental breakdown.”

“Luna’s missing?! That’s awful.” he said. “But still, I need to talk to her. This could have effects on the entire nation.”

“Sorry, Four-Eyes! I can’t afford, rather Equestria, can’t afford to lose a princess and have another princess have a breakdown in the same day.” the guard rudely proclaimed. At this point, Astro had enough of this pony’s remarks and was about to give him something to complain about. Then, he realized he had a photo.

“Look, I see that you’re really annoyed and I’m the last pony you’d want to see today but..” he quickly lifted the photo to his face “ look at this photo.” Viewing it, the guard eyes widened and shook his head. “

Alright, you win. Just follow me.” Astro nodded and both ran into the direction of the exit. “Thank you, sir.” he said aloud. “Even if you were an asshole.” he commented in his head.

“I knew it…I fucking knew it!” Luna thought. She repositioned herself in her hiding spot as the guards came back to their original starting point.

“Where could she be?” said the red guard. He removed his helmet, wiping sweat from his brow.

“I don’t know…Maybe we should check the left side.” the orange guard replied.

“Good idea” Both were quickly approaching Luna’s hiding place.

“Crap,” she thought, “ I need to leave now!” She quickly reviewed all the spells she knew in her head. Then, she finally got it. The Invisibility Bubble. A second level spell for any unicorn to learn on a whim. It’s second nature to an alicorn. Thankfully, that little power nap gave her some strength to muster up a spell. Luna’s horn sparked and lit up as she quickly performed the spell. Luckily, the guards didn’t noticed the beam of light emitting from the bookshelf. She slipped on her cloak to get some extra cover-up.

“This is our last chance to find her.” one said.

“Highly doubt she’d be here. She’s a full-grown mare. There’s no where else to hide.” said the other, “Even behind this bookcase.” He lifted the bookcase and…nopony was there. Luna flew out of the room as quietly as possible so she wouldn’t knock anything down to gain their attention on the exit.

“Phew, that was close.” she stated, flying down the main hallway. “Now, I need to know what the photo had on it. Forget the research, I’m on a mission! I can’t miss what possible information this pony has for me.”

************************************************************************

The atmosphere on the outside of the castle may be bright, but inside, Celestia was worried sick. Her head was in her hooves, sporting a despaired expression on her face that no one could see. Sitting there, she thought about why her sister would do such a foolish thing.

“I-I knew she was upset”, she started, “but I never thought she would do something like this.” Everything seemed to be taking a horrifying turn for the worst. “Maybe I should’ve taken this mission myself. I am her big sister and best friend, basically.”

Celestia grew more and more sad as the minutes passed by, although, they felt more like hours. To her, the outside light seemed dimmer in her eyes.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the castle halls. Celestia came out of her sorrow state and lifted her head up. “Luna?!” she asked, aloud. Sadly, no. A green unicorn with a scared look on his face was approaching her fast.

“My deepest pardons, Your Highness.” Astrolight said in between breaths. Celestia rose from her throne. “No, It’s quite alright. What brings you to the castle?”

Without hesitation, he pulled out the sun photo from his saddlebag and presented it to her. “I was doing research in the observatory when I found this on the sun. Then, I traveled to the library to find out what it meant.” Celestia lifted the picture for a closer look. A highly developed photo of the sun was shown with an giant, ominous black spot in the center. Celestia’s eyes widened in fear.

“It turns out it’s called a ‘Sunspot’ that can unleash millions of particles into the universe. Ones that could possible harm everyone.” She shook her head in disbelief. How could this be happening? What could this all mean? She stood there, motionless, in a trance, observing the picture.

Astro took noticed and shook his hoof in front of her face. “Um..Princess?”
Celestia blinked rapidly. “What?..oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking.” She gave a weak grin to him but internally, she was losing it.

“Well, Astrolight. I’m glad that you have brought this to my attention. If it’s not too much trouble, could you go back to library to gather more information, just in case.” she wondered.
Astro nodded. “Of course. I will do my best. There shouldn’t be that much left to look up because it-”

BAM!

Celestia and Astrolight looked up. To their amazement, Princess Luna burst into the throne room. Her mane was slightly awry, her cloak was falling off her body, and a serious, angry look in her eyes.

“Luna.. You’re alive!” Celestia exclaimed, running over to her. Just as she was about to take her beloved sister in her hooves, Luna raised a hoof and stopped her in her tracks. Celestia stood back in shock.
“Look, I’m just here for one thing.”, she pointed at Astrolight, “ Let me see the photo.” He was making his over to Luna when Celestia stopped him. “No.”
“What?” Luna asked.
“Where were you? I had to send a search squad out. I was worried sick thinking that something horrific happened to you.” Celestia explained.

Astrolight slowly backed away from the arguing sisters. “I will just leave now.”, he said, “I’ll come back with some more information on the situation.” Without acknowledgement from either Princess, he ran out the room, towards the library.

“That is exactly what I am talking about!” Luna shouted, “ You’re withholding important information from me.”

“Listen, I don’t need you to get paranoid again. I don’t want you to worry about anything.” Celestia replied.

“If you don’t know what’s going on, the least I can do is figure it out myself.” Luna stated, “I don’t want Equestria to fall due to YOUR negligence as a leader.”

“Luna?!” Celestia gasped, “How dare you say such things! Of course, I don’t want this country to fall but why accuse me of such a giant act of betrayal?”

Luna’s eyes started to well up with tears but she fought it back. “ There were numerous times that you led Equestria to almost being annihilated: The Paraspirtes Invasion, Discord. You couldn‘t even fight Chrysalis back!” She lowered he head in disappointment. “You couldn’t even fight me off when I was Nightmare Moon.”

“Please, don’t bring up our rough past. This isn’t the time for petty altercations.” Celestia said.

“There wouldn’t be any arguments if you just let me in on what’s going on.” Luna shouted.

“Luna,” Celestia pleaded, “ I’m doing this for your own good. I don’t want my little sister to worry about something big like this. The sun isn’t even your object to control!”

The door of the throne room swung open to reveal Astrolight carrying his sattlebag overflowing with papers.

“Princess Celestia”, he huffed, running to her, “ I found out about what the Sunspot means…and it’s not good.” Luna bit her hoof at this statement.
“It turns out”, Astro started, “the spot radiates a magnetic field in the area. It can cause a great phenomena like coronal loops”

“And the downside?” Celestia asked.

Astrolight sighed. “It..it can cause a solar flare. This event causes the sun to emit mass energy volts into the universe. If it reaches Earth, it can wipe out electricity and every living thing on it can be destroyed by its radiation. Unfortunately, for us, this is the year for the solar flare to expand its reach extremely close to Earth‘s range.”

“W-What does this mean?” Luna asked, choking on her words.

Astrolight stayed silent for a moment but reluctantly said, “ We can’t survive. Not a single soul.”

Luna angrily stomped both her front hooves on the ground. “NO!”, she cried, “this can’t be happening! It can’t end like this!” She runs out the room and down the hallway, heading upstairs to her room. Astrolight looks up at Celestia in regret.
“Princess, I truly didn’t mean to upset her.”

“I know.”, Celestia replied, “ I appreciate the help. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a public letter to write. Expect something in your mailbox when you get home.”
He nodded and walked out of the room to allow her to think.

“Of course it had to be something uncontrollable.” Celestia thought, “ I have to send a letter out to all the citizens of Equestria. Everyone must know of this imminent doom.”
She cleared her throat and called out, “Royal Guard?” A white unicorn trotted through the doors and bowed at the Princess. “Yes, Your Highness?”
“I need this copied and sent to everypony in Equestria.” Celestia levitated some fancy parchment and a quill to him. “ Please, take a letter.”

The Unknown - Part 2

To the loyal subjects of Equestria:

As far as I’ve seen, the preparations for this year’s Summer Sun Celebration have been outstanding. Better than all the past years combined! Unfortunately, I write to you all about a depressing matter. Most of you have noticed the sun getting progressively hotter, beyond normal temperatures. I received some information about the sun from a trustworthy source. Apparently, there is some magnetic field on the sun that collects heat rays that shoot out into the atmosphere. This is a solar flare and it can have harmful effects. Not only does this force wipe out electricity, it can destroy a civilization if the range gets close with radiation and heat. This is the year that event occurs. As a leader, I will try my best to resolve the problem. This dilemma is too dire for me to be disturbed from my planning, so I will rarely be in the public eye. I advise everypony to disregard the celebration and spend time with the ones that matter most.

Respectfully yours,

Princess Celestia

***********************************************************************************************************************

The letter slowly drops to the floor beside her bed. Twilight’s head laid on the pillow, completely speechless. Too many thoughts combated in her mind to speak aloud. How’s and Why’s colliding together, eventually making her feel sick. Silence was the only necessary option.

After what felt like an eternity, she gathered enough strength to raise her head and breath a little better. Laying directly on her eyes made her vision a little blurry, so she looked around trying to focus her eyes on objects. Finally, her sight returned but what she saw gave her heart-wrenching feelings.

It was a picture of her and her friends, smiling in front of her shiny, new castle. They’ve come such a long way. Twilight remembers when she thought making friends seemed like a waste of time and studying was more important. Her friends have been with her through thin and thick. All the great memories they’ve made and the adventures they’ve been on. To the point where she became the Princess of Friendship.

Her emotions were getting the best of her. “In a world where there is endless magic and spells for bad situations, how could something like this happen? It doesn‘t make sense.”, Twilight wondered, “ I don’t want it to end…not like this.”

She sighed, “There are so many grand memories that I’ve had being here: Meeting my very best friends, defeating numerous villains, traveling to another world, and…discovering Flash.” She blushed a bit. “Maybe since the world is ending, I should tell him how I feel. Wouldn’t matter if he said no.”

She looked back at the picture but another object flashed in her eyes. She looked down and rubbed her eyes, trying to recover. Hopping off the bed, she walked closer to her nightstand and saw the crown. At this point, she couldn’t hold anything back. A seemingly endless stream of tears flowed from her face.

“Why in Celestia’s name was I chosen to be a leader of anything?”, her body shook and she sobbed, “ I-I don’t have any solutions. I mean, I can’t even fight Chrysalis without having my powers weakened. What kind of princess am I?!”

She let her body fall to the ground as she cried in agony. “I’m just…completely worthless. I‘m an alicorn. I‘m suppose to be immortal! But… I don‘t want to see all my friends d-die before I do. That is not my wish.”

Sadness quickly turned to rage. “Why do I have wings?! I don’t deserve ANY of this if I can‘t think of one DAMN solution!”

Grabbing the nearest object, her crown, she screamed and threw it across the room, letting it hit the wall and causing some paint to chip off. Upon realizing her outburst, she went over to it and picked it up. She examined it carefully for scratches and dents.

Nothing.

She placed the crown on her head and turned around to look in the mirror. She sighed, “Maybe…I’m overreacting. This isn‘t the time for a solo pity party.”

Looking past her face in the mirror, behind her, the curtains of the window were slightly ajar. She spotted a building that loomed high over Ponyville: Her castle. Suddenly, all the memories of her best moments recollected in her mind. Wiping the remaining tears from her face, she gave a small smile.

“Alright. Enough moping around. If I want to save this world from destruction, I need to think of something.” she said. “ I care about my friends way too much to let this kind of tragedy take place. After all they’ve done for me, the least I can do is try.”

Feeling somewhat confident, she opened a drawer and grabbed some parchment, a quill, and ink. She started writing down as many combination spells as she could think of. “ By doing basic magic alchemy, combining certain spells may help to make the magic stronger with little effort.”

Then she wondered, “What do my friends think of this scenario? Hope they’re doing alright. Not only am I doing this for Equestria, I‘m doing it for them.” She smiled and continued to write. Maybe it will all work out.

***********************************************************************************************************************

“WAAAAHHH!” Fluttershy was hysterical. No words or sentences were coming out properly. Only shouts of sadness and pure heartache were all that she could muster. The shouting almost seemed unnatural as the whole place shook from end to end. All the animals were covering their ears and hiding in corners, trying to figure out what their caregiver was so distraught over. She was three tissues boxes down and there was no sign of her stopping soon.

A brave squirrel came out from his hiding place and went over to her sofa. One of her hooves hung over the side and the squirrel lovingly nudged it, trying to make her feel better. She slowly opened her eyes and saw him sitting there. Without thinking, she swiped him up and held on to him tightly, crying even harder.

“Oh, Almond!”, she struggled to say, “I-I can’t believe this to be true.” He tried to get away but it was too late. She accidentally blew her nose into his fur and continued to cry.

“Why would this happen? Out of all the bad things that appear in Equestria, why must it be an unstoppable force!” At this point, the squirrel gave up trying and stayed there pissed off as she proceeded to bawl her eyes out.

Angel bunny had enough. He made his way over to her, clenching his paws, and stopping the ground with every step. He hopped onto the sofa and stood on her chest. Fluttershy felt the fuzzy bunny on her and opened her eyes once more.

“Angel…Angel! Don’t be scared. I’ll promise to-” she was abruptly cut off when a strong force slapped her across the face. It caused her to drop the squirrel as it scurried back to his hideout, leaving her in a state of shock.

She lifted her hoof and rubbed her check, realizing what Angel did. “Listen here, Angel! For the millionth time, don’t ever do that to me again! You know it’s not nice to hit other ponies.” she explained to him, angrily.

Angel gave no facial remorse towards her.

“Answer me, mister!” she yelled. He pointed his paw in the direction of the wall where a picture frame hung proudly. It was the same picture that Twilight had in her room. Fluttershy soon calmed herself and finally understood. A new set of tears were arising and luckily, they were full of joy.

“I get it now.”, she started, “ I’m acting like such a scaredy pony. Angel, it is appropriate to get out your feelings.” Angel lowered his ears in annoyance. “But, it’s not solving any problems with me crying over them. I should be brave, like Rainbow Dash. She’s always been there for me, as well as my other friends.” Angel folded his arms, smiled, and nodded in agreement. “I know now what I must do. I have to face the facts of reality and be brave...” , She smiled as tears ran down her cheeks, still staring at the picture. “ For my friends.” Angel sighed with relief, knowing things would be okay, for now.

**********************************************************************************************************************

Pinkie sat there with the letter close to her face. Her eyes darting left and right, intensely reading the words before her. This act was not for clarification, but to find a loophole or some misjudgment in writing.

Sadly, there was none to be found.

Her head hung, ears lowered, and hair slightly deflated. “Whatever I said at the spa, I didn‘t mean for it to come true.” she said in a solemn, yet serious voice. Her voice didn’t have the same high-pitched tone like normal.

Looking around her room, she saw all of her party supplies: balloons, streamers, confetti, and her party cannon. Tears formed in her eyes as she reminisced about all her past parties. She couldn’t come to terms with what was going on.

“ Well, what if I can throw a party in the afterlife?”, she questioned while wearing a fake smile, “ It could be a ‘Welcome to the Other Side’ party and all my friends would be there”.

A failed attempt at cheering herself up. Her smile quickly faded and thought, “No. That’s impossible. Nopony, not even Twilight, knows what’s on the other side.”

She got up slowly and made her way over to the balloons to deflate them. Suddenly, a sharp pain struck her right hoof. “OUCH!”, she yelped, stepping back. Lifting her hoof, she revealed some darts she left from her last lawn darts game with Applejack. She made up her mind, grabbed the darts, and walked as far away from the balloons as possible. One by one, she threw the darts and popped them with every sentence she spoke.

“This is more efficient then popping them manually. I just can’t believe any of this is real. What am I suppose to do? The cake twins - they may never grow up?! My friends - they had more than enough problems going on and now this. I wish this was a big, scary monster destroying Ponyville. At least, I’d know that the problem would be solvable. I won‘t be able to have parties for anypony anymore ”.

She sighed and accidentally threw a dart too hard, making it hit something on the top shelf of her dresser. The object quickly smashed onto the ground. Pinkie ran over to inspect the damage. It was a framed photo, broken but recognizable: Her friends standing outside Twilight’s castle. Pinkie eyes were quickly blinded by tears.

“For all my life, I just wanted to make ponies smile and to party. Now, I won’t be able to. I’ve..let them down.” She continued to sobbed..until a scaly texture rubbed against her pink fur. She looked and saw her gator friend trying to comfort her.

“Gummy, I’m sorry.”, She wiped some tears off her face, “ I was getting deep into thought. Something, I rarely do.” He still looked at her and blinked out of sync. “I know. Tears won’t solve this mess but what can I do?” She picked him up and stared directly into his eyes. Then, she realized it.

“It’s obvious. I should throw a ‘Farewell to the World’ party. If this is going to be my last party, might as well go out with a bang!” she exclaimed, happily. She just understood her poor word choice. “ Um, hopefully that won’t happen during the party.”

With a genuine smile on her face, she skipped out the door in search of more balloons.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Mascara and tears ran down Rarity’s face as she laid on her fainting couch. The letter covered her eyes, so no pony could see her in such an un-ladylike manner. After Sweetie Belle heard the news, she ran off to the Crusaders’ Clubhouse to join her friends. She was left alone to wallow. She quietly cried into her purple velvet robe, leaving behind stains.

“This is simply awful!”, she cried, “ Why couldn’t this have been some dreadful thunderstorm to mess my mane up or a swarm of Parasprites to shread my new line of clothing?”

After a while, she decided to walk around her bedroom and think to herself. “Never in a thousand years has an issue such as this ever come about. I don’t believe anypony is prepared and what’s worst, I’ve never made a Fashion Bucket List. All the glamorous couture that shall never see the light.” She could feel tears in her eyes once more. “I won’t be able to pick up another piece of fabric ever again!”.

She yelled and banger her head against the wall, causing something to fall on her nightstand, next to the bed. She looked and lifted the rectangular wooden frame with her magic. It was the same picture her friends had in their homes. Rarity sniffed, “The most tragic part of all of this is not being able to make creations for my best friends.” She let her tears flow again as she hugged the picture. She had not felt this terrible in years.

Opalescence stretched and yawned on her bed after taking a good cat nap. She then noticed her owner next to her, looking rather dismayed. Something was obviously amiss, so she lovingly rubbed her face against Rarity’s.

“Opal, dear. My apologizes for waking you.” she kissed her head and Opal purred in response. “Everything has been so difficult lately. A world-ending catastrophe is hard to imagine but I wish I could do something.”

Opal meowed. Rarity thought for a moment. “Maybe I should write some apology letters to the ponies I made feel bad back in school. Wait-No, I can’t. I don’t even know where they could be at this point.” Opal rolled her eyes, hopped off the bed, and walked over to the pony-shaped mannequin. Rarity was still unaware. “Perhaps, I could tell each one of my friends how much they mean to me and give them a gift of friendship.”

Her thoughts were interrupted by Opal’s loud growl. “What’s wrong, Opal?” She turned her head in the direction of the growl and noticed her standing in front of her mannequin. Rarity sat there a while and finally realized what she could do.

She gasped, “IDEAAAA! It makes perfect sense now!” Rarity ran to her designer desk and grabbed her sketchpad and pencils. “I will design a line of clothing for everypony to wear during these apocalyptic times and make them heat resistant. It must go with the theme of the disaster and I shall call it: Fire Power! I will create special ones for my friends and they’ll be fabulous, daring, and bold!” She giggled happily as she began to scribble down her vision of designs on paper.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Rainbow Dash could not sit still. Anxiousness to control of her as she continued whiz around her house in pure confusion.

“This is impossible.”, she stated. “It’s madness! It can’t end? There are so many epic things I haven’t gotten a chance to do!” She started to run out of energy and fell onto her bed. She sighed heavily, “There are so many monsters that I haven’t fought yet, so many races I haven’t won, and so many adventures I’m missing out on.”

For the first time, she actually cried a bit as she thought about if she’d ever see her friends or Tank again once she went to the afterlife. Being loyal to her friends meant everything. What’s the point of life if she couldn’t be with friends?

She pondered what ‘life’ would be like after this. Although, thinking that hard gave her a headache and proceeded to lay her head on the pillow. “I think I’m just going to sleep on it.” she yawned. She was almost asleep when she heard an annoying buzz enter the room. She opened her eyes to find Tank hovering above her.

Then, an idea struck her.

“That’s it!“, she grabbed Tank from the air and held him close, “I need to have some last minute adventures with my friends.”, she exclaimed, happily. “Maybe we should all go skydiving or travel around Equestria before doomsday arrives. Maybe even ask Daring Do if I could go on one final adventure with her to defeat her enemies.”

She stopped her train of thought for a moment. “Okay, I think I’m getting ahead of myself.” she realized, “I should just stick with having a fun adventure with my friends. Making memories and being there for them brings me joy, regardless of what’s going on.” Rainbow smiled as she grabbed her favorite Daring Do book off the shelf and got cozy for a long read.

“Hopefully an adventure will come to mind while I read.”

***********************************************************************************************************************

Applejack thought strongly about the situation while she gathered apples. The harder she thought, the angrier her bucking got.

“Nothin’ ‘bout this situation makes a lick of sense.” she said as apples fell into her baskets. “This world has so much magic that even if the princesses powers are weakened, it should still be fixable. Shouldn‘t be that tough.” AJ shook her head in disappointment. “Been on this here farm for years and I’ve never heard of something called a solar flare.” She bucked the tree a bit harder in frustration. “Times like these were I wish I had some type of magic powers, just so I can fix problems ma’self.”

Her family was always prepared for everything from Parasprites to evil Apple company rivals, but this was different. A seemingly unstoppable force was going to obliterate them all and there seemed like no possible solution. A first in Equestrian history.

“Granny had herself a fit once she found out. Applebloom went runnin’ to her friends, and Big Mac, well, he just cried silently. Poor Applebloom, I feel for her the most because she may never get her cuite mark!“, Her eyes started to water, “There ought to be somethin’ I can do!” AJ wondered. At this point, she was livid. She wasn’t paying attention to how hard she kicked the tree..until a branch landed on her head.

“Dammit!” she yelled, “Now that makes two things I’m mad at.” She got up and brushed the leaves and dirt of her. She aired out her hat that was collecting sweat and placed it back on her head. “Still, from what knowledge I learned from Ponyville’s history, Celestia had a close relationship with ma kin folk. Wonder why she hasn’t called for Granny, or even me?”

She sighed and looked towards the sky. “Guess I’ll never know. Well, Imma go drink some cider to cool off.” She wiped some sweat from her brow and walked into the farmhouse.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Aside from the Mane 6, the CMC were dealing with their own problems.

“I can’t believe this!” Applebloom exclaimed, “Can’t the end of the world be scheduled for another millennium?” She stomped around angrily, trying to understand the situation but it was hopeless. “Why hasn’t Celestia called on ma family to fix the problem with her. They’ve been ‘round for so long that they should qualify.”

Scootaloo quickly got into Applebloom’s face. “AB, listen. It’s not only about your family. This is about everypony. Celestia is the princess. Let her handle her business. Beside, we have a major problem for our group: We may never get our cutie marks!” she exclaimed.

Applebloom frowned. “Don’t remind me. Being the leader of this group-”

“We’re a team.” Scoots corrected.

Applebloom rolled her eyes. “This, team, needs to discover new, quick solutions to find our special talents.” She quickly noticed someone wasn’t voicing their opinion: Sweetie Belle. She was too busy keeping to herself in a corner, crying.

“Sweetie, are you okay? You’re not talking to us.” Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “H-How can you guys be so calm in such a stressful situation such as this.” she sobbed. Applebloom and Scootaloo walked over to her.

“Truthfully, we ain’t.”, Applebloom admitted, “But we’re tryin’ to think rationally to find a solution-”

“There isn’t a solution!” Sweetie shouted, “This problem is only going to get worse!”

“C’mon. Don’t say that. I’m pretty sure Twilight and her friends have a plan.” Scootaloo assured.

“No! You don’t understand.”, she said, “Applebloom, you may never truly know if it’s your destiny to stay on the apple farm. Scoots, you may never know if being a daredevil is your calling.” Both fillies lowered their ears in sadness.

“As for me, I may never know if I was meant to be a singer.”, she exclaimed, “ I won’t get my happy ending with him wither.” Applebloom’s ears perked up. “Him?”

Sweetie Belle covered her mouth with her hoof. “Nothing, forget I said anything.”

“No, we gotta know. Who is he?” Scootaloo wondered.

Sweetie remained silent.

Applebloom thought for a moment and then she shouted, “Button Mash!”

“Shhhhh! Do you want all of Ponyville to know?” Sweetie said, blushing.

“I’m not one to get into gushy romance but it seems almost obvious you two like each other. Plus, Button can’t keep his eyes off you in class. Which explains why he continues to get C’s on his report card.” Scootaloo said.

“Sure Scoots.”, Appebloom mocked, “Because you doin’ tricks in front of Rumble at recess don’t count as romance.” Scootaloo blushed, but gave a serious face. “Rumble is just a friend, trust me.”

Applebloom turned back to Sweetie Belle. “Now, why don’t you just tell him how ya feel. It is the end of the world after all.”

Sweetie sniffed and let a few tears drop to the floor. “I’m not sure that I’m ready for a possible relationship. I’m only so young.”, she explained, “Plus, you guys are right. I need to apart of this team and figure a way out of this mess with you.”

Scootaloo smiled and held out her hoof. “Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle smiled back and said, “ Forever and Always.”

All three cheered and gave a three-way hoof bump.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Evening arrived in Equestria. The place once filled with happy, lively ponies now lays quiet in a blanket of sorrow and fear. Out of all ponies, nopony was as depressed as Celestia. She quietly sat on her bed, thinking of ways to stop this solar flare from happening, but no plausible answers came about.

“Never in all of Equestrian history has a dilemma this serious occurred.” she said. She put her head in her hooves. “I’ve let my country down. I don’t deserve to be a princess.” She lifted her head to reveal tears on her face. “ I never asked for this.” She banged her hoof on the springbed in heated anger.“I need help“, she thought.

“Guard?!” she called out. The same white unicorn appeared at her door, bowing.

“Yes, Your Highness?” he asked, respectfully.

“Send for Princess Twilight down the hall. It’s an emergency meeting.” she commanded.

The guard nodded and made a swift exit. A few moments later, a knock was heard at her door.

“Enter.” she said.

Twilight appeared before her, wings dropped at her sides, dragging on the ground. “Hello, Celestia.” she said solemnly.

“I hope you know why I called you in.” she asked her.

Twilight shrugged, “Maybe because there’s an earth-shattering disaster looming over us and there are no answers.”

Celestia looked at her, shocked at her former student’s response. “I never thought you would think so negatively about this. I mean, you of all ponies could have the least bit of notion to fixing-”

“I tried, okay! I spent a solid four hours trying to come up and perform magical combo spells to fix it but I couldn’t.” Twilight started to cry. “My element is magic, yet I can’t even make a spell to solve this hellish occurrence. I even finished one of Starswirl‘s spells, for pony‘s sake!”

Celestia sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight. It’s just that..” Celestia paused a moment, biting her lip but continued. “I’m out of ideas as well. I just wanted a second opinion on what I could do. Wow, some princess I am, huh?”, she admitted as she de-crowned herself, “Luna should’ve killed me off a long time ago.“

Twilight got out of her state of pity and levitated her crown back on Celestia’s head. “Don’t ever say that! At least you tried something.” she said, smiling. Celestia smiled back.

“If only there was a way to make a shift in the universe to stop the flare from arriving early. It would take a real talent to do a task such as that.” Twilight wondered.

Celestia nodded in agreement and a sudden smile appeared on her face.

Twilight took notice and stared at her in confusion. “Um, Celestia? You alright?”

She nodded. “Luckily, I know just the pony who can help.”

Galaxy Stars

The once lively world of Equestria, now wrapped in a blanket of silence. As the sun rose, its residents no longer showed excitement towards a brand new day. Everypony stayed inside their air-conditioned homes, instead of enjoying the weather. As if there was any decent weather to enjoy. Most of the ponies played indoors or attempted to sleep through the relentless heat, trying anything to forget about the unfortunate event. Near Celestia’s castle, there were numerous condos for higher-ranked students of hers. Many of which were visiting one another, discussing the issue of the sun and trying to come up with solutions. However, one pony was interested in her studies more than socializing.

She sheltered herself from the outside world. Her room was littered with books and scrolls. Sheets of balled-up paper overflowed her small, blue trashcan near her white study desk. The panicked, light-brown unicorn ran over to her bed and laid out a large-scale map of the sun. She levitated a pencil, encasing it in a lavender aura, and scribbling complex, mathematical figures on the map.

“Shoot!” she exclaimed. “ I forgot to rescale my solar system model. The distances must be accurate.”

Hustling through the scrolls and nearly falling over books, she arrived at her desk. She tinkered with the planets, adjusting them at perfect heights and distances. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth and she made eye contact with herself in the mirror. Her mane, wavy and black with a hot pink streak, was heavily ruffled and tangled. Her work was far from complete.

“I’m can‘t stop my progress.” she admitted. “ I need to find a way to stop this solar flare from obliterating us all.”

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Her thought were quickly interrupted by a knock at her door. She hates when anypony disrupts her from her thinking process, especially in dire circumstances.

Using her magic, she forced open the door to reveal her excited sister, levitating a piece of paper.

“Wow, Galaxy! You opened it this time.” she said, walking in. She suddenly stopped in her tracks as she noticed the messy state of her younger sister’s room.

“Seriously? Please tell me you’re not on an impossible mission to solve this problem.”

“Yes, I am.” Galaxy confirmed. “It’s not impossible, though. It’s all about thinking outside the box and letting your mind expand to find answers with scientific research.”

Silver Stars rolled her eyes. “Sure…Anyways, I have an ad that may actually protect us from the oncoming event.” She set the paper down in front of Galaxy’s workspace. Aggravated with her sister’s antics, she read it, hoping it would cease her enthusiasm.

“The Flim Flam Brothers’ Ultra Solar Flare Capsule 6000?” she shook her head, disappointedly. “Everypony in Canterlot knows how those two are scam artists. With them, it’s all about the money. Little do they know, if the problem isn’t resolved with any legal research, they won’t be around to scam others for much longer.”

“We could at least try. See? Money back: Guaranteed, it says so.” Silver pleaded, pointing at the ad.

“No, Silver! Just go back to your room. I’m extremely busy, if you couldn’t tell.” Galaxy shouted, angrily writing down spells.

“Well, somepony isn’t going to be written nicely about in my memoir.” she mocked.

“I understand you’re a writer but why write something at this moment in time?” Galaxy questioned. “ We need answers, not a ‘final chapter in your life’ story. It’s not going to get us anywhere.”

Silver sighed. “I’m well aware of my talent but…it’s truly all I know how to do. I’m only good at writing fiction and I got this stupid cutie mark to prove it!” She pointed to her flank, displaying a singular, yellow pencil.

“Although, your cutie mark is rare and special. It has more than one meaning.”

She pointed at Galaxy’s cutie mark: A light bulb, half hot pink and half blue, with five light rays in those assorted colors. “ Truthfully, I wish I could expand my talent as widely as yours.”

Galaxy looked up from her work at her sister. “ You mean it?”

She nodded. “Of course! I couldn’t have been prouder to hear that you got into Celestia’s school because of your intelligence and outstanding performance in the entrance exam.”

Galaxy smiled . “Thanks, sis!”

She put down her work and ran over to give her sister a hug. “You know, if you try your hoof at some non-fiction, it might help to expand your talent.”

“What non-fiction writing could I do to train?”

Releasing her from the grip, Galaxy explained. “Well, my notes can get overwhelming sometimes and disorderly. I could use some help when asked.”
Silver smiled. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, positive! I’ll call for you when I need them written in a different format.” she reassured. “Also, read this book on how I write them. This will help too.”

She levitated a book over to Silver: The Ultimate Guide To Writing Notes.

She rolled her eyes at the sight of the title. “Alright, whatever you say sis!”

Suddenly, a loud tapping could be heard from the window.

“What could that be?” Galaxy wondered, trotting over to the source of the sound.

Drawing back the curtains, she saw a small blue bird with a paper in its talons. She opened the window and let it in. It dropped the paper and flew off into the city.

“What does it say?” asked Silver.

Galaxy removed its red ribbon and read it to herself. Her eyes widened.

“It’s from Princess Celestia! She wants me to come to the castle for an important meeting!” she shouted, happily. “I’ve been summoned!”

Galaxy, for once, showed pure excitement as she scrambled to pack up her saddlebag with her ideas. Multiple quills and scrolls flew into her bag as she stuffed it in a blind daze of joy.

Silver looked at her sister, confused. “Why carry all that useless junk?”

Galaxy dropped her belongings in shock. “Useless?! These are my findings and research. They are far from useless!”

Looking around her room, she knew she was forgetting a crucial item.

“Ah, I remember!”

She reaches into her bag and grabs a golden key with her cutie mark shape at the end of it. She trots over to her nightstand and uses it on the drawer. Inside is a brown book with gold writing on the cover.

“What’s that? Never seen that in your book collection.” Silver said.

“It’s special.” Galaxy said and placed it and the key in her bag.

“Silver, I might not be back till later. Can you hold down the place while I’m out?”

“As I always do.”

“Excellent!” she said and raced out the front door.

“Good luck!” Silver shouting, waving bye to her over-hyped sister.

****************************************************************************************************************

Despite her joyous attitude, Galaxy had forgotten about the unbearable weather. Her strong gallop quickly turned into lightly tiptoeing across the hot pavement. The stationery paraphernalia moving in her saddlebag made this strategic maneuver quite complex.

“Ouch! I don’t go outside normally but at least, today, I have a solid reason.”

Stepping in and out of shady areas, she finally arrived at the front door of the castle. Standing up a bit straighter, she approached the two guards.

“Evening, gentlemen.” she announced, walking up to the door. Suddenly, two sharp spears were pointed in her direction.

“Halt! Who goes there?” exclaimed the blue pegasus.

Confused, she answered, “Princess Celestia has called for me for an important meeting in her room. I must enter!”

The orange unicorn asked her, “State your name and occupation.”

She rolled her eyes. “Galaxy Stars. Honored Student of Princess Celestia.”

Both guards lowered their weapons and opened the door. She proudly trotted in and was quickly taken aback by the elegance of the interior design. The ceiling art was crafted in gold and white, silver and blue tapestries hung upon the walls, re-telling great Equestrian history, and the floor was freshly polished and shined in the light.

“Beautiful.” she said, taking in her surroundings.

Another guard spotted the awe-inspired unicorn and walked up to her, knowingly.

“Ah!” the guardpony started, “You must be Galaxy.”

She snapped out of her trance and gave the guard her attention.

“Uh..oh, yes. That’s me.” she said, awkwardly.

“Well, make your way up the staircase, take a right, and state your name to the guards for entrance.” he explained.

Galaxy nodded. “Thank you.”

Trotting up the stairs, she couldn’t help but to gain a goofy grin on her face.

Thinking to herself, “This is so great! The princess, out of all her students, asked me to meet her for a secret meeting. What an honor!”

Looking down the hallway, she spotted the guards and graciously made her way towards them.

Once again, two spears were in her face.

“Please, calm down! There is no need for this much hostility.” she informed them.

“Extra security to protect the princesses. What’s your name and what business do you have here?” the red earth pony asked.

“I’m Galaxy Stars. Honored Student of Princess Celestia. I was called upon her for a meeting here this evening.”

The earth pony faced turned from serious to friendly. “My apologies, Ms. Stars. Please enter.”

“Thank you.”

Opening the door, light quickly reflected into her eyes from the open curtains of the window. Squinting, she could make out a tall figure in an outline. Getting closer, she realized it was Celestia.

Bowing, she said, “Good evening, Princess Celestia. I’m here for the meeting.”

Celestia slowly turned around to see her student bowing before her. Instead of hearing Celestia’s commanding tone, she heard a rather friendly voice towards her right.

“So you must be Celestia’s most honored student, huh?” the voice asked.

Galaxy quickly turned her head and a saw a purple alicorn smiling at her. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Twilight Sparkle, in the flesh! She never once thought she’d be meeting one of the Elements of Harmony.

“P-Princess Twilight?” Galaxy stuttered, “What are you doing here?”

“For the meeting, of course.” Celestia interrupted, “ I didn’t want to inform you of Twilight’s arrival because I knew you would have tons of questions for her, seeing as you are kind of a fanpony.”

Galaxy blushed a bit. “Well, everything the Mane 6 do is incredible and fascinating! I don‘t fan over all their adventures that much.”

“Regardless, this isn’t what I called you up here for. As you know, the sun is getting hotter each day. A solar flare has form upon its surface, threatening all the civilians of this land. Both Twilight and I have ran out of ideas in attempts to prevent the solar flare from reaching us. So, do you have any ideas on how to stop it, seeing as you are an Astronomy major.”

Galaxy was shocked. Not only was she in the presence of one of her idols but she was presented with a major assignment.

“Me? Out of all your best students? Are you sure-”

“Galaxy, after Sunset Shimmer and Twilight, your power in magic is almost as strong as theirs. Also, you advanced knowledge in astronomy as proven worthy of what talents you possess.” Celestia reassured.

Galaxy smiled. “Well, lucky for you, I did come up with a few solutions.” She pulled out a small list of answers from her saddlebag, letting scrolls and quills fly everywhere.

“How about if you lower the sun and stop it from rising?”

Celestia shook her head. “That would caused a severed ice age. Also, my magic isn‘t as strong as it use to be, thanks to fighting Chrysalis.”

“Right,right. Uh….oh! What about shrinking the sun to make the impact of the solar flare less violent?”

“I hate to intrude,” Twilight started, “but that would cause a shift in the orbital cycle of the planets, entirely,”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Galaxy continued to scroll through the list. “Wait! What about moving the Earth slightly to the left or right?”

“If its moved too fast, the poles could shift.” Celestia informed.

Galaxy sighed and allowed the list to fall on the floor. “I’m sorry, Princess. I’m all out of ideas. Guess I’m not as bright as thought I was. My cuite mark is a joke.”

She solemnly started to pack her belongings and make her way out the door.

Twilight thought, “If only there was a way to ‘manipulate’ the solar flare away from us, without moving planets.”

Galaxy ears perked up. “The book.”, she thought to herself, “But, it might be risky to say I have the answer.” Stopping in her tracks, she decided to reveal the secret.

“Princess Twilight, if I may have some input, I might know how to stop it.” Galaxy said.

“Really? That’s wonderful. How?”

Galaxy bit her lips and said, “I may have a book that tells me how to do a specific type of magic.”

“And that book is?”

“Manipulation Magic: StarSwirl’s Forbidden Spells.” she admitted, placing her hoof in her head.

“Galaxy Stars!! That type of magic is illegal. How ever did you obtain that book in the first place. I discarded that book from the library, personally.” Celestia shouted in anger.

Galaxy felt tears welling up but remained calmed. “I-I found it during a class trip in the Everfree Forest. It was during my first year here.”

“Have you been using this book to get better grades on your exams?”

“I would never. After I reviewed the list of forbidden types of magic, I didn’t even bother reading it.”

“But..” Celestia pestered.

“I did read the titles.” she confessed.

“You know, that is a crime in Equestria and having this book in your possession can expel you from the program, permanently.”

“I know…I’m so sorry.” A tear streamed from her eye, “I will take any punishment you deem worthy for this act of crime.”

“Hold on!” Twilight explained. “Why haven’t I heard of this book.”

Celestia sighed. “Before either of you were in my program, Sunset Shimmer found this book after learning about the portal and used a spell on it. After that I didn’t want another pony to find it, so I threw it into the far recesses of the Everfree, hoping a creature would eai it. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.”

“Well, this explains why StarSwirl can open rifts in other universes. The more you know.” Twilight said.

“Celestia, how powerful is her magic exactly?”

“Extremely powerful. Although, I will confess, Galaxy was the next pony up after Twilight’s entrance exam. She too passed with flying colors and I decided to take her in as well. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have both of you be my prodigies. This is why I created the most honored student status, in order to keep Galaxy around.”

“What? Why both of us?” Twilight wondered.

“I wanted to give each of you the test to see which one of you were ready. At first, both your studies were heavily involved with magic. Galaxy, however, started to gear towards astronomy and with that, her power levels increased. At that point, I decided to ask her to go and make some friends in Ponyville one weekend. Turns out, she read a lot and reported back to me about befriending two ponies. Not the results I desired of a future leader.”

Galaxy bit her hoof in embarrassment.

“As for you Twilight, I decided to give you the same assignment in a different context and thus, you passed. This is how I knew that you were capable of leadership and becoming a Princess. If you hadn’t completed the assignment, Galaxy would have been the Princess of Friendship.

Galaxy gasped. “Really? I don’t think I would’ve ever been capable of to be a leader of anything.”

Celestia turned back to Galaxy with disappointment in her eyes.

“I see that clearly now. Galaxy, I’m sorry. I must let you go. You broke a mandatory rule here at my school and I can’t have such an act go unpunished. I now remove you from your status as-”

Stop!” Twilight shouted. Celestia and Galaxy both gave their attention to Twilight.

“Celestia, please. She was just trying to help. Don’t punish her just because she broke a rather mandatory rule. This book just might have the answers. At least put her on probation.”

Celestia looked at the both ponies and made up her mind. “Alright. Galaxy, you are now on probation. That means you will not be sent to jail, but I forbid you from studying any sort of magic, except the spells in that book. To make sure you don’t study other subjects, Twilight will be watching over you.”

“Wait, does this mean I get a second chance?” Galaxy wondered, anxiously.

Celestia nodded.” Only if you promise me two more things.”

“I’ll do anything, Your Highness.”

“Find a way to stop the flare from arriving to Equestria, which is on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration. Also, try to make some friends.” she asked.

Galaxy looked slightly worried. “Um..I do have..two friends.”

“You barely speak to them.” Celestia giggled.

“Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll teach her all I know.” Twilight reassured, putting her wing over Galaxy’s shoulder.

“Excellent. You are dismissed.”

Galaxy turned to Twilight and smiled. “Princess Twilight. I can’t begin to say how grateful I am that you saved my entire reputation.”

“Honestly, there is no need to thank me. I will admit, you remind me of me when I was a student in her school.”

“I do?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, “Let’s get out of here and talk a walk in the shady areas of Canterlot.”

“Okay, whatever you say, Princess Twilight.”

“Also, don’t call me Princess. Twilight is just fine.”

“Okay…Twilight.” she silently squealed to herself and followed Twilight out the castle door.

***************************************************************************************************************

Outside, the air seemed cooler as night approached but the heat on the pavement still remained. The guard ponies held door for the mares as they walked down the city strip. Certain shops were closing up for the evening, but most stayed opened. Twilight waved and smiled to her subjects and turned to Galaxy with wonderment.

“So, this is random but how exactly did you get into Celestia’s school? Why did you want to join in the first place?” Twilight wondered.

Galaxy smiled. “Ever since I was a filly, magic was the most interesting subject to me. I was really into reading and learning at an early age. I became such a bookworm that I spent days upon days in the library alone, rather than playing with my older sister or other ponies. Due to my obsession, I brought my books to class, specifically StarSwirl books.”

Suddenly, her ramble was broken by a squeal of delight.

“StarSwirl, really?! Uh…I mean, wow, that’s awesome. Also, I understand the whole wanting to learn so much about one specific subject. Reading is a great way to learn.”

Galaxy nodded in agreement. “Very true. Unfortunately, all my reading made other ponies bully me. Barely anyone knew my name but I became known as a social outcast….a nerd…an egghead.”

“I’m sorry.” Twilight apologized.

“Please, Twilight. Don’t apologize. Nothing is your fault.” She put her hoof on the back, comforting her.

“As the years went on, my mother decided that I should try something new, which is joining an astronomy club. I will admit, it was fun, especially when we got to do independent learning. I wasn’t fond of group projects, though. Somehow, this little endeavor of making me get out more sparked my interest in the outer universe. Thus, my interest in astronomy grew,”

“Fascinating. So you have your mom to thank.” Twilight said.

“Yup.” Galaxy admitted, “It was a nice gesture, even though I denied it at first. During a club meeting outside, we were looking into the atmosphere through telescopes. I noticed how old and inaccurate the equipment was, so that night, I went home and designed my own telescope that could be adjustable and focus sensitive. I had a little help from using magic, of course. Once I showed my prototype to the club, they decided it would be perfect to use and now it’s sold all around Canterlot. That is also how I got my cutie mark.”

“You’re the pony that created the Star Seeker Telescope?” Twilight asked, excitedly. “That’s incredible! Why haven’t you told anypony?”

“I truly didn’t want anypony to know it was me, so I had my initials on it, instead. If I was ever interviewed for it, I couldn’t do that. I’m too camera shy.”

She cleared her throat and continued her story.

“After a while, I overheard other ponies talking about Celestia’s school and I decided to try out. I want to try a spell that rarely anypony had attempted to do because of its complex magic level. Something from the book StarSwirl’s Gravity Decoded. A personal favorite of mine. I studied like a madmare, using all my thinking skills, in attempts of making the cut. Like all ponies, I was nervous but I entered in with the spell: Comet in a Bottle. I succeeded and Celestia asked if I wanted to be her most honorable student. I accepted.”

Twilight was in awe. “And I thought my friends’ stories were interesting. Seems like you’ve come a long way from then.”

After walking for a while, the two of them finally turned the corner to where the condos were located. Twilight looked at Galaxy and asked, “Since you truly don’t know any ponies, why don’t I personally invite you to meet my friends in Ponyville tomorrow.”

“Meet your friends? Oh, ok.” Galaxy responded, nervously.

“Don’t be scared. They all have unique personalities and something tells me that you’ll get along with them just fine.” she reassured.

“Well, see you then.” Twilight quickly took to the skies, back towards her castle. Galaxy waved goodbye to her new friend.

“This is unbelievable. I’m actually going to be hanging out with the Elements of Harmony. This is a dream come true.” she cheered, “Wait until I tell Silver!”

Her excitement quickly turned to fear. “What are they going to think of me? I’m just so awkward and weird….I guess I’ll see, won‘t I.”

She started her walk up the stairs to her home.

“After all, never thought that Equestria’s fate would rest on me making friends…like, ever.”