The sun goddess woke. It had been a good night’s rest, and she had quite enough energy to perform her daily task. Her sister passed her in the castle’s hall, and nodded. Celestia’s horn glowed as she crossed the passageway to the courtroom, and the horizon became a deep red as the sun neared. Her hooves clopped against the stone steps as she ascended to her post. She turned, faced the doors, and magically swung them open.
The day had begun.
The pure white aura of Celestia’s eyes faded. Living the memory was painful in more ways than one, but despite the magical and psychological energy it drained her of, it was more important to search for any important information. That brief glimpse of Luna had brought a tear to her eye. No! She could not allow herself to get hung up on personal concerns. As horrible as it was, soldiering through was vital. At that point, it was much more important to lead than to allow herself the luxuries of emotion. She closed her eyes, and when they opened, they were once more ablaze with magical energy.
Celestia had hoped for it to be a quiet early July Tuesday in the court, and, for the moment at least, her hopes were aligned with reality. Evidently nopony had business that her subordinates couldn’t handle, so she was able to relax. She loved days like this. Her life hadn’t been consistently peaceful and enjoyable for almost two millennia, now. Peaceful mornings were largely her only solace. She breathed deeply. Almost as if in response, a green flame materialized before her, and a scroll formed. It began to drop, but she caught it with a swift magical outreach. She unfurled the scroll. Spike’s familiar scrawl appeared:
Dear Princess Celestia:
Today I learned that even though a good friend might make decisions that are obviously not the best, it doesn’t mean you should put them through the proverbial hell and high water for it. If you do, you might end up with a big conflict. It’s much better just to let them know what you think peacefully.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Written By Spike
Celestia smiled. It was nice to see a report from Twilight again. Her friend’s letters were quite satisfactory, but Celestia had seen a dearth of letters from the apprentice herself lately. She furled the scroll, considering if Luna might like to see it. Deciding against, she tossed it aside.
She settled in, and called an attendant over to fetch her breakfast. She ate in silence, glancing over some official papers, which proved to be neither interesting nor important. Zoning issues, more complaints from Blueblood, she signed them all and sent them away. Exercises in futility, all of them. Celestia really didn’t know why she needed to deal with them. The endless paper-pushing was dull, but at least it was more peaceful than what she had to contend with most days.
The hours began to blur into their neighbors, and the morning marched on towards noon.
The alicorn released her magical grip on the past again. It had occurred to her that Equestria was heating. The sun had been up for much too long. She needed to conserve a bit more of her energy while she set it. The last while had been a constant assessment of priorities. Drawing solar energy, she sent it on its journey down to the horizon. Feeling her body, she realized she had been sweating. Her own health was vital too. If she kept up this routine, her body might give out on her. Even worse, the sun could flicker and go out.
She strode over to the window, an exhausted look in her eyes. The Royal Guard, looking more ragtag than she imagined possible, stood by the Canterlot perimeter. The multiple magical barriers were bright and strong, except perhaps for her own, which had faded to such a dark yellow it was nearing orange. She summoned a guard. He was bruised, with multiple dents in his armor and his normally pristine wing bent and matted with blood.
“Erect another barrier, I will take mine down shortly. Tell the force to be as watchful as possible. I must sleep.” He nodded, and left. She strode toward the mattress that had been dragged into her command post and lied down on it. Her long horn flashed briefly with a yellow glow, and her magical barrier faded from the city limits. In its place, a light blue field appeared. She wondered briefly whose it was, but she fell quickly enough into desperately needed slumber.
Celestia was in a dark place. It had a surface underhoof, but one utterly lacking of texture or feeling. It was a surface to move on, but invisible and intangible. The area around was black. She could breathe, but the air was impossible to describe. It had no quality. She turned, and suddenly Twilight Sparkle was there. "Twilight! Are you alright? I've been so worried, where are your friends? What's happened in Ponyville? Nopony and nothing's been able to leave Canterlot, or enter for that matter, are you alright?" Her constant stream of questions to that effect continued, but Twilight didn't respond. Instead she stood, smiling slightly. Celestia glanced to the side, and when she looked again, it wasn't Twilight. It was a very young dark blue pegasus filly. Perplexed, Celestia moved closer. "L-luna? What are you doing here?" A second later, an even more perplexing question came to mind. "Why are you so young? You're a pegasus! You haven't been like this since before the Ascendance! You're not Luna any longer, even. You're..." she paused, remembering the name from ages past. "Nightwing. How...?" The pegasus looked up at her, smiling in wonder.
Celestia blinked, and suddenly she wasn't in that strange dark place. She was in a warm field on a late spring evening. Nightwing was playfully fluttering below the clouds, Celestia looking up from below. She extended her wings to join the pegasus, but they wouldn't. She looked at her sides, and found them absent. Looking up, she found her horn also not present. She wondered... she looked down. Her suspicions were correct, there wasn't a foot and a half of space between her head and the ground. Giggling, the earth filly ran around, chasing her friend only ten feet above. Solaris' sun slowly fell onto the horizon as the fillies ran and flew through the field.
For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, best friends Nightwing and Sunbeam Swirl were once again simply playing.
Ponyville hadn't seen much peace lately. What had once been a sleepy, quiet settlement near Equestria's border had become a hub of activity, and fairly often conflict. In fact, the whole of the nation had been odd lately. First there had been Nightmare Moon's return, and not a year later that damned Discord had come out of the woodwork and turned Ponyville into a logic-defying bizzaro world. "I think we're due for another shake-up around here. A big one." Lyra sat irregularly on a sofa. "It won't be long before some other powerful force comes along to ruin our day," she informed her marefriend.
Bon-Bon rolled her eyes. "Lyra, you're also obsessed with bizzare bipedal monsters. Maybe start thinking your theories through a bit more."
Lyra looked back. "What if this goes beyond Ponyville, though? Just in the past couple years, we've had Nightmare Moon. Discord. Just a few months ago, the Changelings! This is all over Equestria. For hundreds of years before, we've had peace. What if those were harbingers of something even bigger? Something is happening."
Bon-Bon was unimpressed. "So we've had a lively past while. Nothing is happening. You're paranoid." She kissed Lyra on the nose. "Don't worry so much. Everything's fine."
Lyra nodded. "I'm sure you're right." Bon-Bon swallowed, unconvinced that Lyra's last statement was entirely truthful.
Somewhat to the North (and substantially above) of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was surprised. Her home sat one-hundred sixty four feet above the ground, a structure composed of wispy clouds and liquid rainbows. It was an indulgent home, large, architecturally complex, and adorned with items to remind whoever happened to be looking what the first half or Rainbow Dash's name was. She was looking out her window, at Canterlot such a long way away. The craned her neck, quite simply unable to fully comprehend what she was seeing. Does anypony else in town know about this? She did have the best view of the Capital, and it was hard enough for her to make out the... things. She decided the best thing to do would be to take to the air. But she also needed documentation. She fetched her camera, and lightly bit down. It clicked, and she had a photograph. She took it in her mouth. Extending her wings, she trotted to door. The sky-blue equine launched herself out.
She flew at a pace she knew was maintainable. The last thing she wanted to do was to exhaust herself and have to land. Even worse, she could fall if she tripped up, and she was at least two hundred feet up. Who should she go to first, though? She wanted to tell her friends, but the authorities needed to know, too. It wouldn't be a couple days until the next train came into town from anywhere, and if Canterlot dispatched somepony now to let them know what was happening, it would be unlikely they'd arrive in less than twelve hours. Suddenly, Dash stopped. Maybe I should go to Canterlot and find out those are first... no. She was the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, after all, she had to go tell her friends that something was odd, first. A slightly more honest voice in her head said That also kinda creeped me out, too. The prideful side of Dash's mind responded wittily with a shut up.
She flew on. In short order, she found herself on Ponyville's outskirts, above Fluttershy's cottage. The pegasus folded her wings and descended on the dew-wetted grass. Dash galloped to Fluttershy's door, and rapped quickly on the wood. A few seconds later, the knob turned and Rainbow Dash found herself face-to-face with a scowling rabbit. "Oh, hi, Angel. Where's Fluttershy?" The small animal, his face unmoving, gestured off to his left.
After Rainbow Dash finished recounting what she had seen, Fluttershy gave a bit of a whimper. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, I... um... don't think that... I, um... I think I'll just stay here. You go tell the others and do whatever you think is best. I'll... keep... watch?" Fluttershy grinned sheepishly.
Dash rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy! We're not even going to Canterlot. Whatever, stay here. I'll be back once we figure out what's going on."
Trotting out the doorway, Dash lifted off into the clouds again. It wasn't much farther to Ponyville proper. She figured she could drop by Carousel Boutique, and after informing Rarity, head to Twilight's library. Finally she would arrive at the Town Square, where she could speak to Pinkie Pie and the Mayor. Lastly she would arrive at Sweet Apple Acres, situated on the opposite end of the town. She could do all that fairly quickly, if there were no hold-ups and she spoke and flew quickly.
Dash soon found herself above Ponyville itself. Rarity's home and store, the Carousel Botique, was becoming visible in the early light. The prismatic blur flapped her wings twice, gliding the short remaining distance, as she descended to a stop beside the structure.
The proprietor of the Boutique wasn't hoping for anything unusual that July morning. She certainly had no interest at being awoken at sunrise. Even less so by a frenzied pegasus. Unfortunately, all of these unwants had decided to come true on that day.
There was a loud and fast thump-thump. Rarity moved the ornate blinder off her eyes, opened them, and blinked groggily. "Whaat...?" she muttered. Her voice became firmer. "I'm sorry, we don't open until eight-thirty! You must come back later." The sound came again, louder.
"Rarity, open up! I'm not a customer." Of course, it's Rainbow Dash. Rarity knew that voice, and waking ponies up at ungodly hours was just the sort of thing she expected its owner to do.
Rarity lifted herself off the bed and, grudginly, walked down the stairs. Before she even arrived at the door, Dash called again. "This is important!"
"Rainbow Dash, I'm coming. For Celestia's sake what could be so important it couldn't wait for me to get my beauty sleep?" She arrived at and opened her door. As she had guessed, a rainbow-maned pegasus stood just outside. "Rarity! Things! Outside! Canterlot!" the sky-blue pony sputtered out. Confused, Rarity tilted her head. "What?" she said. Rainbow Dash gave her the photograph. Rarity's eyes widened. she galloped off, photograph hovering beside her, in the direction of the town square. She simply had to show this to Mayor Mare.
Twilight Sparkle groaned. She had spent most of the previous night studying, and had had little luck in the early morning. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and it wouldn't for another few hours. "One more time..." The unicorn's horn shone with magical power. Grunting, she bent the energies into what she thought was a reasonable approximation of a spell. This is as good as it's going to get, she thought, and released the spell. There was a flash, and a brief whooshing sound. For a moment, violet light coalesced in a spot on the floor into a vaguely circular shape. Then another flash appeared, accompanied by a bang. A blast mark was all that was left on the library floor before her. Twilight sighed. How hard can a simple matter generation spell be? I'm just trying to make a stone, for Celestia's sake. It had been an easy decision. Rocks were simple, so she wouldn't have to do anything more than the core of the spell to get it to work. Unfortunately, even that had proved very difficult. She sighed, and closed the book containing the spell. She needed a break desperately. "Spike? Can you please make me some tea?" Twilight asked.
"Sure, Twilight," came the dragon's reply.
Momentarily, the unicorn was curled up and drinking Zecora's best tea. With her hooves, as her horn ached slightly from magical stress. She sighed contentedly. That spell wasn't urgent. She was stressing too much again. She pressed a hoof into her forehead on either side of her horn. She exhaled in relief, the aching had yielded. She leafed through the book she had on the floor before her. For once, it wasn't an academic text. Instead, she was reading a novel. Fillydelphia Dusk was a classic, and one that she, for all her love of books, had never read. The unicorn blinked slowly. I didn't get very much sleep last night. Maybe I should just... Unable to even finish the thought, she dozed off.
When Twilight awoke several hours later, the tendrils of dawn were snaking their way up to the horizon. She slowly stretched.
Maybe I'm not performing the Starswirl Chromatic-Warp function correctly, she considered. She squinted, and her horn was once again lightly aglow with violet energy. The textbook quivered, then levitated off the desk and moved towards the unicorn. The relevant pages revealed themselves Twilight's eyes slid over the pages, thin with concentration. They briefly closed once, then she forced power through her horn. Twilight's mind went through the steps to pull the stone out of the energy that permeated the world. Twist the maseomorphic chord, extend the fibrous matter membranes, focus the energetic-mass current. She closed her eyes fully, and continued.
The matter-generation spell was going fairly well. She found that the matrices had stabilized well, and were completely under her control. If she could just manage to properly warp the ethereal fold... There was a crack at her door. "Achh!" she screamed. Almost instantaneously, the violet magical energies dissipated. For a few moments, there was silence. Twilight stared apprehensively at the spot she had been trying to summon the stone in. Then, a flash of light, accompanied by something reminiscent of a thunderclap. Twilight was knocked to a bookshelf. Dazed, she got to her hooves. She looked around. Much to her chagrin, the blast, while mostly harmless, had once more dislodged all her books from their rightful places. She let out a sigh. Her horn glowed as she began to levitate them, then remembered that somepony must have been at the door. She opened the door, and was greeted by a very flustered-looking Rainbow Dash.
"Twillight! Ohmigosh, Rarity took my picture, but -- but -- things! In Canterlot! From the sky!"
"Whoa there, slow down," instructed Twilight. Dash nodded. "Now tell me -- slowly," she stressed, "what happened?"
Rainbow Dash swallowed, took a breath, and began. "I was looking, and, and there were these, uh, things! I took a photo, but then Rarity took it and went to go see the mayor, and I don't think anypony else knows what's happening, and it's really scary," Dash paused to take a breath before continuing, "and maybe I should take you to go see."
Twilight hadn't managed to properly absorb most of that information. She had, however, understood the last bit well enough. "Alright, that's a good plan. You can take me, and we can go see those, uh, things, as you put it," she told Dash.
Rainbow Dash swept Twilight off her hooves, quite literally. "Rainbow, be careful, don't go so --" she was cut off. The wind was battering her mercilessly, now. In only a few seconds, Rainbow Dash had accelerated to speeds Twilight found somewhat insane. I don't even know what we're doing, thought the unicorn.
It wasn't long before the mountain city of Canterlot came into view, so far away, but so large, it was obvious even from halfway across Equestria. Above the city, white points were hovering. Twilight looked closer. No, not hovering. Descending. The stars were falling, and had chosen to land on the capital of Equestria.
