Farewell to the Moon

It was another soft quiet night in Ponyville, calm and serene with the occasional pony on a midnight walk through the sleeping town, hoof steps clopping softly throughout the streets. The massive tree library was still lit up on the inside, the unicorn who lived inside was doing her usual nighttime studying.

“Twilight?”

The purple unicorn gave no indication that she had heard. Spike sighed, and continued cleaning up the other books. He glanced at Owlicious, who was on his perch watching Twilight continue her reading, the quill she held ensconced in her magic occasionally making a note on the parchment that sat beside her.

“Twilight?” Spike asked again, not fully expecting her to answer.

“What is it, Spike?” She replied, sparing him a quick glance before returning to her book. He glanced at the notes she was making, it looked like some complicated chart involving the cycles of the moon, though he didn’t dare ask what it was for. It was late and he was afraid she would go on a long tangent about it, eventually forgetting what they were talking about in the first place.

“I just wanted you to know that I finished putting those books on magical theory away and that I was going to head up to bed. It's getting pretty late.”

“Oh, alright.” She stood up and with a burst of purple magic, Twilight rolled up the parchment and floated the book back to join the other volumes on lunar movements.

“Why are you even reading those books?” Spike asked, as she followed him upstairs,  the seven thick volumes floating behind her.  “I mean, the moon doesn’t move by itself. That‘s Princess Luna‘s job.”

“I know, Spike.” She replied with a smile. “It's still interesting to read the works of other ponies who had different theories on how the moon moved.”

Spike shrugged. “I guess so. I just don’t see what you like about those old books.”

Twilight allowed herself a soft smile, shaking her head as she passed Spike, heading towards the balcony to look up at the sky. The moon looked even bigger tonight, which had been worrying her. The moon had been growing steadily larger each night, almost as if it were falling towards Ponyville. She had never seen anything like it, not even in storybooks and old fables, although there was a brief section on how the moon appeared to be various sizes in different regions of Equestria.

Even now, Twilight could have sworn that it was growing larger. She hadn’t sent a message to Princess Celestia, thinking she was stressing herself out over something that didn’t exist. The real reason she had been researching lunar cycles was trying to determine what caused the moon to appear larger over the course of a few weeks. But now… she was starting to feel real worry over the matter.

I’ll send a letter to the princess first thing in the morning, Twilight decided, walking over to the telescope that had been being used to monitor the moon’s progress over the past week. She peered into the eyepiece and was shocked at how much detail she could see on the lunar surface. The telescope wasn’t amazingly powerful, but it was still able to see individual rocks on the surface at this point.

As Twilight pulled away from the telescope,  she felt the ground begin to tremble. It was soft at first and began growing progressively more violentat an alarming rate. “What in the name of Celestia?” She muttered, looking around for the disturbance, expecting another stampede of bunnies. She peered over the edge of the balcony, almost being shaken off due to the tremors. There was nothing but other sleepy ponies emerging from their houses to investigate the source of the rumbling earth.

Twilight could hear Pinkie Pie yelling, “Oooh, is this a pajama party?! Why wasn’t I told?! Why haven’t we done this before?!” She was bouncing around, oblivious to the tremors that were shaking Ponyville apart. The dim moonlight suddenly grew much brighter, almost as bright as daylight, causing ponies to yell and cover their faces. Twilight turned to look at the moon and squinted, her eyes instinctively widening in horror. The lunar surface was glowing orange which could only mean one thing: the moon was actually falling. And it was headed right towards Ponyville.

“Oh no…” Twilight whispered, entranced by the glowing surface, floating books thudding to the ground.

     * * *

Celestia woke with a start at the castle shaking violently, almost as if it were under attack. She bolted out of bed, and was on her balcony in an instant, her eyes scanning for the problem. What she wasn’t expecting was to see what looked like the moon embedded in the earth on the horizon, no longer in the sky.

“Guards!” She commanded, and they were there instantly, their expressions unreadable. “I need you to investigate… that right away. And find Princess Luna. I need to see her immediately!”  The two guards nodded once, and took off, disappearing quickly. Celestia felt her stomach tighten in worry. The moon, or whatever that thing was, wouldn’t just fall out of the night sky for no reason. Luna was the one in charge of the moon, and it was her duty to guard the night. A rustling of wings informed her that one of her guards had already returned.

“Yes?” She asked, not turning around. “I’m assuming you have found Luna?”

“We have.” He replied, his expression bordering indifference. “She was found down in the gardens, in hysterics. She is claiming that she lost control of the moon and couldn’t regain power over it.”

“So the moon crashed into Equestria?” Celestia felt her mind begin to race. Lunar dust was highly toxic and if the moon had actually crashed, millions and millions of dust particles would be entering the atmosphere of Equestria. Thousands of pony lives were at risk now. “Where did the moon hit?”

“A few miles away from Ponyville. The city is devastated but there are survivors. It seems that the shockwave mostly destroyed building. The survivors are being evacuated right now, and are being brought to Canterlot on trains.”

“I want all of the residents away from the site as soon as possible. The dust from the moon is very dangerous to breathe, so you’ll need to hurry.” Celestia ordered, spreading her wings. “I must speak with my sister.”

     *   *    *

Twilight coughed, her entire body was hurting and it hurt to breathe. She felt herself being carried, and opened  her eyes, but everything was crimson tinted. She closed her eyes again, trying to calm her heart. She heard someone calling her name and she tried to answer weakly, her voice rasping slightly.

“Twilight!” She heard Rainbow Dash calling her name as if from far away and she opened one of her eyes weakly, the image of her friend swimming in front of her. “Are you ok?” Her voice was echoing and shifting wildly all over the place.

“What happened…?” She managed to whisper, Rainbow having to lean in to hear her.

“The moon crashed outside of Ponyville.” Rainbow replied, her voice shaking. “I was over the Everfree forest when I saw it. The shockwave was huge! It knocked me out of the sky even though I was really far away, but… Twilight?”

The two stallions carrying Twilight managed to get her to the train and laid her in a bed where others were helping ponies with varying degrees of injuries. Rainbow Dash paced nervously, keeping an attentive eye on Twilight. Her breathing was a bit irregular and her mane was black in some areas, but she seemed to be alright.

Rainbow heard coughing followed by several ponies entering the compartment. It was Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie’s mane was down and flat, much like the time when Rainbow had seen her act insane. She was supporting Fluttershy, who was silently weeping.

“Are you guys alright?” Dash asked, trying to keep her voice even. “I didn’t know if you guys had been hurt.”

“We’re fine.” Rarity replied, wiping her brow. “Although I can’t say the same for the rest of the town, it's completely devastated.”

“Yeah, Sweet Apple Acres got hit pretty hard too.” Applejack coughed, her hat singed in several places. “Poor old Granny Smith is with them doctor ponies. Her old heart ain‘t what it used to be.”

“What’s wrong with Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, as ponies outside began yelling for the train to move. The doors on the outside of the train were closed and an all clear shout was given.

The others shifted uncomfortably. “The animals… They didn’t make it.”  Fluttershy buried her face into Pinkie’s mane and sobbed harder than ever, her whole body shaking. Pinkie wrapped her legs around Fluttershy, still not saying a word.

“How’s Twilight?” Applejack asked, walking over to the unicorn. “She alright?”

“I don’t know.” Rainbow Dash admitted, her worry showing on her face. “They pulled her out from under the balcony, but they said she didn’t have any serious injuries. I’m guessing she protected herself with magic.”

“What happened?” Rarity asked, to no one in particular. Everyone shared an uneasy glance, unable to answer.

* *    *

“What happened?!” Celestia demanded, her voice filled with fury. Luna looked horrible, her mane wasn’t waving with magic like it usually did, instead it hung lank around her neck. She was crying, but managed to still look her sister in the face.

“I..I lost control.” She whispered. “It’s never happened before. I-It felt like someone else was controlling the moon. I tried my hardest to stop it, b-but it didn’t even slow down.”

She broke down into hysterics again, sobbing into her hooves. Celestia didn’t know how to even respond to that, her mind reeling at the thought of Luna being unable to even to stop the moon from falling into Equestria. There would have to be someone incredibly powerful out there who could manipulate the moon, let alone wrest control from one of the Princesses.

“We’ll worry about blame later.” Celestia told her, embracing her sibling. “Right now, the most important thing is putting the moon back where it belongs.”

Luna nodded dumbly, sniffing. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery but when she spoke, her voice was steady. “I’ll need your help to  raise the moon and put it back.” Celestia nodded, spreading her wings. Luna clambered uneasily to her feet, trying to calm her hiccups. She followed her big sister into the sky, headed towards the moon.

We'll set this right, Celestia thought. Then we'll find the one responsible.

* * *

In the darkness, a figure watched the two princesses fly towards the moon. They didn’t see him, nor did he wish them to. The plan had gone off without a hitch, even with Luna’s magic trying to stop the moon. His Master’s wishes were coming to fruition and soon Equestria would know his name.