Unthinkable

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.”