Is that what I think it is?
Twilight was excited. Tonight was a supermoon. She has everything set up to enjoy the night until the moon hit it's peak.
Several books, candles for light, a thermos of hot chocolate Spike made for her, a small telescope for stargazing and for checking out the moon, a comfortable and warm blanket, and a soft pillow for Twilight to lay on.
She was enjoying the night, reading the books on astronomy and charting the stars on the night sky. She had gotten involved enough that she didn't notice the moon until midnight.
The moon was as close to Equestria as it will be for several years and show give a great view to all those looking at it.
Twilight was all set to enjoy the view when she noticed something. Something that would probably be causing confusion amongst every stargazer out there.
A cape.
The moon had a cape on it.
'That shouldn't be there.' Thought Twilight. 'It can't be real, it has to be an illusion. If it was real that would require the entirety of the textiles industry to work solely on it for several years. Since Rarity hadn't turned into a raging demoness about the lack of materials, that didn't happen.'
She grabbed several other more powerful telescopes to get a better look. It didn't take long before she had tried every one she had. Spike was still sleeping so she took off and flew towards Canterlot.
Knocking of the door had little affect so Twilight had to take a more direct approach to waking the large form laying on the bed. Waving a cup of freshly brewed coffee underneath the white muzzle caused it to twitch. Soon enough a drowsy Solar Diarch was dragging herself out of the bed.
"Celestia, somepony messed with the moon." Twilight said semi-franticly, pulling the much larger alicorn to a window to show the moon to her.
"Mmhrmph. Moon problem, moon princess. Luna's job." Celestia sleepily mumbled before crawling back into bed.
Twilight darted out through the castle to find the Lunar Diarch. It didn't take too long as the princess had a routine she followed.
"Princess Luna." Twilight said loudly as she came up on her.
"Princess Twilight. What may I ask precipitated this visit?" Luna asked.
"There is a cape on your moon." Twilight explained.
"I know." The older alicorn replied.
"You know?"
"Yes. I put it there. A wonderful illusion if I say so." Luna stated.
"Why would you put a cape on the moon?" Twilight questioned.
"Because it's a supermoon." Luna said matter-of-factually.
Author's Note
So since I need at least 1000 words, and I can't think of much more to add to this chapter, you get both of them. Originally I only planned to do this, and if it was popular enough I would make the second. Enjoy.
"What." Twilight said. "You put the cape on the moon because it's a supermoon?"
"Yes, that is what I said." Luna replied.
"But that isn't what supermoon means. It is only used to denote that the moon would be bigger than normal due to it's proximity to Equestria." Twilight explained.
"I know, but I don't feel that there needed to be a word for that specific phenomenon. It'd be like called Celestia SuperCelestia after one of her cake nights." Luna said.
Twilight took several breaths to calm herself down.
"Now, I don't have much planned for tonight, would you like to join me in the royal observatory for some stargazing?" The larger alicorn asked of the smaller.
"Yes, that'd be wonderful." Twilight stated, following Luna as she set off.
The two found themselves sitting next to a large telescope taking turns looking through it at the moon and other stars.
"I must admire the improvements that have been done over the years on these contraptions. Oh that reminds me. We haven't the chance to show you the latest addition to the observatory." Luna began before moving to a cabinet.
She returned with a box that had a view screen and some controls on it.
"A pony by the name of... Humbug, no that's not it. Dubble, Hubub. Whatever. He said that putting a telescope above the atomosphere would provide a better image. It took a little doing to figure out how to connect a camera to one and be able to access it long-distance. He's designing a more complicated one for P.A.S.T.U.R.E. to put up so the scientific community would be able to have one as well." She explained.
Fiddling with the controls quickly brought about a very clear and beautiful image of the moon on the view screen. Twilight was enthralled with it. Luna showed her how to work the controls and left her to it.
Twilight was soon pointing it at other stars and planets and enjoying the images she was getting back. She would have to return with her books so she could take far more detailed notes.
"Another good thing was that we can record the scenes we see." Luna said before plugging a crystal in the side of the box, changing the view screen to that of a nebula. "Celestia wants to figure out a means of taking images of the sun. We've already had to replace the camera twice due to her burning it out."
"If you cover the sun for the image, you could probably see the edges of it without damaging the camera." Twilight offered as she took in the nebula.
"This one is one of my favorites." Luna mentioned as she changed the image to one full of stars and galaxies. "Had to prove a point to Tia so I left the shutter open and focused on a small area of the sky that seemed empty. In fact." She trailed off.
Luna floated a bit out and moved it so it covered just a tiny portion of the sky. "What you see amounts to what this bit is covering."
Twilight was speechless as she alternated between the screen full of stars and the bit. Her wings twitched as a slight wind blew past her bringing the night's chill with it.
"She had asked why I left so much of the sky blank, so I showed her that if I didn't the night would be as bright as the day. Ponies wouldn't be able to appreciate my moon if the stars drowned it out. Of course I only cover the stars far enough away that very little light comes from them." Luna stated, looking up at the sky.
Twilight leaned against the larger alicorn, feeling a cool warmth emanating from her, bringing to Twilight's mind the times she sat next to the much warmer Celestia doing much the same. Shifting the controls to active feed she began to search the night sky some more.
Luna felt another wind blow past them and how the smaller form against her shivered lightly at it, so engrossed in stargazing that she seemed to forget the temperature of the night. Luna wrapped a wing around her and pulled her close to help keep her warm.
Author's Note
Pony Aeronautical and Space Technologies for Understanding, Research, and Exploration.
PASTURE is Equestria's NASA.
