Chapters It all began with the lights. From my bedroom in my small, otherwise empty house, I could hear the sounds of commotion and wonder outside, and I found it to be as good a distraction from my tedious work as any. I pushed my chair out from my desk, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge on my way out, and strode onto the porch. My beagle hound Bessie trotted over to me, seeming a bit distressed with all the people outside at once, and I gave her a reassuring scratch on the head. Everyone living on my street must have been outside, looking up at the night sky, so I craned my neck upward to join them.
I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn’t the Northern Lights spiraling around in the sky, above the Midwest, America. However, I found myself at a lack of anything else to classify the amazing lightshow as. The lights and colors swirled far over our heads, radiating from one spot, though there didn’t seem to be anything immediately special about that spot. All I could see there was clear, deep blue night sky.
The desire to get a closer look suddenly struck me, and I rushed back inside to retrieve my trusty telescope. I also decided to grab a portable radio from the shelf to see what the news was about this, and my cell phone. I flipped the radio on, and got a broadcast talking about the lights right away. No one knew quite what they were or what the cause was yet. While they looked a lot like the Northern Lights, they were not caused by anything natural; in fact, no one could find a cause or source at all. They just… were. It also seemed that they were not just over the Midwest, but everywhere in the world that wasn’t getting sunlight at that moment. Since they only shimmered in the night sky, they had been dubbed the Lunar Lights, until someone could figure out what they really were.
I set up the telescope as quickly as I could, and began calibrating and positioning it to the source point of the lights. While I was doing this, my phone rang. Almost on cue… I thought, as I positioned it between my shoulder and chin to keep both hands free.
“Kurt, are you seeing this?” Duncan, one of my co-workers, asked.
“Find me someone who isn’t seeing this, and I’ll be impressed.” I replied, looking through the telescope. “I’m trying to get a lock on the center of this whole light show… you have any idea what it is?”
“I had one, yeah, but it’s a little… abstract. I wanted to see if anyone else had something before I put that on the table.”
“Well…” I started, making a tiny change in the telescope’s angle, “It seems like the lights radiate from a fixed point in space, almost as though there should be some tangible source, unlike the Northern Lights. I’ve got my eye on the ‘origin point’, but there’s nothing there. I mean, there might be something light-years away, but definitely nothing close enough to do something like this… And I doubt it’s just a really elaborate practical joke, it’s just too large scale for that. I don’t suppose anything unusual entered the Earth’s atmosphere in the last hour or so?”
“Nope, nothing.” Duncan replied, and I found myself at a lack of possible explanations again. “So, you don’t have any idea what it is, either?”
“None yet, though to be fair, I’ve only been seeing it for a few minutes. Let’s hear your idea.”
“Alright, well, notice how the lights are spiraling outward , not inward. After I had a thought about it, I looked into it, and black holes seem to work similarly to this, only flowing inward. So, bear with me here, but what if this is the other side of some black hole?”
I shook my head. Can we save the crazy theories for later? “So you’re saying that one of the drain plugs of the universe is letting out right above our heads, is that right?”
“It’s just a theory, can’t know anything for sure just yet. But it would make sense that we’re only seeing lights right now. It just opened up and, you know, light travels fastest. If we start seeing actual objects falling out of the sky, then maybe there’s something to my idea.”
“I still have my doubts.” I stated, adjusting the telescope’s zoom slightly. “Seems a little sci-fi to actually be happening. But I guess I’ll keep that idea in mind.”
“Right. Give me a call if you hear anything new. Later!” I heard a click, and snapped my own phone shut. Little did I know, the real answer to this problem would be a lot more sci-fi than Duncan had predicted. I spent the better part of the night observing the lights, but when it became apparent that they weren’t going to do anything else but look pretty, I decided to sleep on the problem and work on it more in the morning. After all, as a scientist with a fair understanding of astronomy, this really was my most pressing concern. I doubted anyone would expect me to do anything else when there was research on something new and affecting the whole planet to be done.
When I awoke the next morning and looked out the window, I saw no lights in the sky, which was a little disappointing. However, when I sat down to watch the morning news, cup of coffee in hand, I saw that the lights were still shining bright on the other side of the world, in the same exact point in space. Well that’s one thing all but confirmed… I thought, and jotted down a few thoughts on a notepad, the lights aren’t tethered to Earth at all. Unless it’s moving with Earth along its revolution of the sun, rather than revolving the Earth itself… but how would it even do that without moving like the moon? Ugh, I don’t understand what’s happening here… it’s like the lights have their own set of physics.
I shrugged and loaded up Netflix. I always liked to set aside an hour or so in the mornings to watch something before working, as it tended to brighten up the day. The two I watched most were Doctor Who, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I have enough weird science stuff on my plate today as it is… I thought dryly. Colorful talking ponies it is. I hit a button on the remote, and kicked my feet up on my desk as the familiar theme song began.
Just as the episode started, however, my home phone rang, and I paused to answer. As expected, there was only one person who would call me at this time of day, and considering it was my boss, Damon, I had little choice but to answer.
“Kurt? I trust you saw everything that happened last night?”
“Provided it was just the lights, yeah. I went to sleep when it became apparent that was all that was going to happen.”
“Yes, that was all. However, it’s still quite the unusual phenomenon by itself. I’m calling everyone to get their take on it.” I told him everything I had theorized so far, as well as Duncan’s idea. I still didn’t believe it for half a second, but everything had to be laid out, no suggestion ignored no matter how improbable.
There was a short pause as I finished, then Damon continued: “An interesting theory. However, there is one piece of new information that makes it slightly more complicated… just before sunrise this morning, there was the slightest shimmer in the area of the lights. We aren’t sure what it was yet, but it was something that interrupted the stillness in that spot in space.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Like what? An object? A different sort of light?”
“A… distortion might be the most accurate way of putting it.” He explained. “Almost like a mirage, but of nothing in particular. Labs all over the world have their sights locked on that spot now, so the next time the space distorts, or if anything else happens, we will have more information about it.”
“Good to hear.” I commented, “All these lights in the sky, and it feels like we’re feeling our way around in the dark.” He chuckled slightly, and the phone conversation ended shortly thereafter. The rest of the day passed by comparatively uneventfully, with my TV and radio both tuned into news about the Lunar Lights. When night rolled back around, along with the colorful display, I was on top of things, and prepared my work station on the front porch. Bessie wandered over again and curled up at my feet. My telescope was quickly set up to observe the source point again, and I kept my eyes peeled for this ‘distortion’ Damon had told me about.
For a while, I saw nothing. The lights themselves were quite entertaining, but I wasn’t here to be entertained. I needed to figure out what they were, and this distortion was the only lead I had. An hour passed with nothing new to speak of, but halfway through the second hour, my vision through the telescope blurred. At first, I thought it was a smudge on the lens, or perhaps my glasses. When it turned out to be neither, I hit myself in the head for being stupid, and realized that the ‘distortion’ was back.
It was as though there were some heat signature standing out from the space around it, but considering it was outside the Earth’s atmosphere, I doubted that was the case. Still, it seemed like something were shimmering in that space, different entirely from the lights around it. In that split second, I thought there was something distinctly familiar about the sight, but it passed a moment later. I got out my notepad and jotted down everything that I thought could have been relevant, which at this early stage was almost everything.
I must have fallen asleep outside at some point that night, because I woke up slumped back in the lawn chair I had been sitting on. Bessie was still on the porch, though she had moved slightly to bask in the sunlight. I shook my head, trying to wake up. Somehow I can tell this is only the beginning of my sleep schedule being thrown into chaos… With my eyes half-open, I flopped back in my chair, my view of the sky and pale setting moon blurring past. However, my eyebrows lowered in thought a moment later. There’s something not right here… I opened my eyes and raised myself back up, squinting at the moon still in the sky. What… what is that?
I quickly stood, knocking over the lawn chair in the process, and strode out onto the road as fast as I could. High in the sky, the moon I had seen hung heavily above, but I realized with a start that it looked nothing like the moon I was familiar with. Not one of the familiar craters or ridges was there; in fact, not even the colors remained. While it was still hazy in the morning light, it almost looked like a distant reflection of Earth, with swatches of green and blue, and masses of fluffy white clouds. I knew it couldn’t be a true reflection of Earth though, because none of the continents lined up: the ones on the ‘moon’ were completely different shapes. In addition, this ‘moon’ seemed to have an additional smaller moon of its own. To top it all off, when I spun my head around to see if anything else confusing was in the sky, I found the Earth’s real moon in a different part of the sky, just the same as it had always been.
Thinking fast, I whipped out my cell phone and set it up to take a video. I don’t know what’s going on at all, but I’ll need to have evidence of this. I tried to get a decent shot at the object in the sky, but it was still too hazy in the morning light, and it would barely show up on the phone’s camera. The telescope! Maybe I can see what’s actually going on up there. I swung back around and peered through the lens, ready to adjust it to view the ‘second moon’, but what I saw caused my heart to race even faster.
The object was already focused on by the telescope. The device hadn’t moved, but it was already right where it needed to be. I quickly tried to steady my thoughts before getting a closer look. Does this mean… the object is right where the distortion was? Could this thing have… materialized there? I put my eye to the lens, and was able to see the object in much clearer, though it was still hard to see in the morning light. I experimentally put my phone up to the telescope lens, and it seemed to be able to record well enough.
It was a good thing I started recording, as something seemed to be happening up above. The clouds on this object were moving around at alarming speeds, and seemed to be stretching to cover the entire surface. Within the span of about twenty minutes, the object had been completely obscured by its own clouds. How is any of this possible…? How can clouds move that fast, and more importantly, how can there be clouds and grass and water up there on that object? To be technical… I don’t think it can even be classified as a second moon. That’s practically a whole planet, and it’s quite possible that there’s life up there…
I shook my head. But that doesn’t make sense either! If a whole small planet materialized in the Earth’s sky, our gravity should have shifted dramatically without delay. Since nothing’s changed, it’s as though that planet doesn’t exist. As though it were nothing more than a mirage or illusion… could that be…? Considering the small planet had stopped all activity, I put my eye up to the telescope lens again. To my interest, it seemed to be ever-so-slightly translucent, furthering the idea that it could be an illusion of some kind.
First the Lunar Lights came, visible all over the planet, and they spiraled from one fixed point in space. That space began shimmering, and in that place appears a tiny planet, complete with its own even tinier moon. However, none of this has any adverse effect on the Earth, only serving to amaze and confuse. What’s the point in all of this…? If it turns out to be an illusion, who’s pulling the strings and why? And if not, what the bloody hell is happening to the planet?
A Shift in the Heavens, from Hell
-Equestria-
“Alright, we’ll see you later Rarity!” Twilight called, walking happily out of the Boutique. Spike bade her farewell a moment later, and hurried to catch up with his companion. Twilight wasn’t moving fast though, and was taking the time to enjoy the sunlight. As he caught up and matched step with her, Spike tried to do the same. While it had been a rather hot summer thus far, the weather was now pleasantly breezy, and the sun didn’t beat down quite as hard as it had been.
“We still need to visit Pinkie Pie and make sure the sweets and party decorations are all set up.” Twilight explained, more to keep herself on track than to inform her assistant. “I’ll be honest; it’s a little strange being the one to set up the ‘thank you for saving us’ party this time!”
“Yeah, I still keep expecting someone to come up and say ‘no, no, you saved us all! Let us handle it, you just relax!’ ” Spike agreed. “Still, it feels just as weird that we didn’t help out with the battle this time.”
“True, but I think it’s better this way.” Twilight explained. “If the Elements of Harmony go around fixing every problem in Equestria, we’ll become overtaxed, and everypony will begin to expect too much of us, for us to be perfect when we’re just normal ponies like them. Besides, think of it from the royal guard’s point of view. The citizens of Equestria need to have faith in them, to know that they are strong, willing and able to protect them from danger. It’s better that we let them take care of things in Canterlot without us getting involved, even if we might have wanted to.”
Spike shrugged. “When you put it that way, I guess you’re right… still feels like we’re being a little lazy though.”
Twilight sighed. “I know. I probably would have suggested we help anyway, if Shining Armor hadn’t insisted. Figures that it would be him to kick the royal guard back into action!”
“Um, Twi…?”
“So at the very least, for him, I don’t mind being on the sidelines this time…”
“Twilight, I think somepony’s trying to teleport in over there.” Spike stated, pointing a claw to a nearby tree slightly further down the path. The patch of air around it was shimmering brightly, the same as when Twilight used her own teleportation spell.
“Oh! Looks like their destination point is a bit off… I bet I can just nudge it over a bit…” Twilight readied a spell on her horn, pointed it at the tree, and turned it slowly until the shimmering had been completely detached. As soon as it was free of obstacles, a pair of ponies- both clad in the gold armor of the Canterlot Royal Guard, one a unicorn and one a pegasus- materialized there.
“Ugh, I’ll never get used to that…” the pegasus complained. “Coulda’ flown here with how long that seemed to take, anyway, and my stomach wouldn’t be as upset with me…”
“Hey, I can hardly be blamed for that, either.” The unicorn countered. “Captain Shining Armor had to teach me that spell in a hurry, and it probably didn’t go as smoothly as it should have.”
“You two gentlecolts were being held up by that tree.” Twilight pointed out, getting the attention of the two soldiers. “Good thing I found you, or you might have been stuck in magic-space for hours!”
“Ah! Miss Sparkle!” the unicorn exclaimed, and the two royal guards saluted. “Your presence has been requested in Canterlot. Please come with us immediately.”
Twilight’s eyebrows raised in alarm. “In Canterlot? What happened?”
The two looked to each other. “We can tell you what we know on the way. It’s an urgent matter though, and I’m sure you understand that as such, it’s sort of classified.”
Twilight hesitated. “Can’t you tell me anything about it? Just so Spike and the others will know where I am and not worry about me?”
The royal guards paused for a few seconds, then the pegasus stepped forward. “It’s about the recent monster attack, and its aftermath. Captain Shining Armor, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have all requested your immediate presence.”
Both the princesses and my brother? She thought. “Alright, I suppose it must be important. Spike, can you hold down the fort here and finish preparations for the party?”
Spike gave her a mock salute in confirmation, and Twilight trotted over to the two soldiers. “You’d better let me do the teleporting for all of us, if it’s that urgent.” The unicorn chuckled and shook his head, but allowed Twilight to charge the spell upon her horn with a flourish, plucking the three from the grassy paths of Ponyville and depositing them on the grand streets of Canterlot. Twilight began trotting briskly towards the castle, with the two soldiers in-step at either side.
“Alright, now tell me everything you can.” Twilight demanded as the three walked. “It would be best not to waste the captain’s or princess’s time.”
The pegasus began. “I trust that you knew the gist of what happened yesterday?”
“The outbreak of monsters from the gates of Tartarus near Canterlot, correct?” Twilight said, “But I thought they were all contained!”
“They were, but…” the pegasus paused, “The public was… misled slightly, about the nature of the conflict. They assumed, and we allowed them to believe, that it was a simple outbreak and nothing more. However, in reality… it was a raid. An organized attack, led by the witch Hecate.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise. I didn’t think there was anything in Tartarus that was capable of such planning… “But, you still contained the attack, right? I suppose this means it did a lot more damage than I thought, and you need me to help manage things?”
The unicorn sighed. “It did a lot more damage, yeah. Unfortunately… it’s not all done yet. It seems as though we’re in for a lot worse, and we’re not even sure what we’re in for anymore.”
Twilight began to feel very apprehensive. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what had happened, but knew she had to. “Tell me what happened.”
After a considerable pause, the unicorn continued. “The witch Hecate had something with her. Some kind of artifact that let her cast a really powerful spell. More powerful than anything we’ve ever seen. It even took princess Celestia by surprise.”
“What did it do?!” she asked, almost shouted.
“Look up, Twilight Sparkle.”
With a racing heart, the young unicorn raised her eyes to the sky, and what she saw made no sense at all. Above the city of Canterlot swirled an array of colors, ending in wispy streams around the edges of the city. It was unlike anything she had ever seen, and with how the two soldiers seemed to react to it, she got a distinct gut feeling that the lights could not be good.
“What is it…?” Twilight asked in wonder.
“It’s a massive spell, and it’s only just begun to be cast. Two hours ago, it was just above the castle, and now it’s covered the whole city. That’s part of why you’ve been summoned, Twilight. We need to calculate how long it will take before it engulfs the world, and if it can be stopped before then.”
Twilight gulped. “What happens if it isn’t stopped? What kind of spell is it?”
“You ought to recognize it.” The unicorn continued. “It may be a much larger and slowed-down version, but it’s the very same spell that brought us here. It’s a giant teleportation spell.”
A teleportation spell… that’s going to envelop the whole world?! “I think it’s best if you wait to have the rest explained to you.” The pegasus stated. “The princesses know more about the issue than we do.” Twilight was about to object, but realized that they were right. These two had only been sent to retrieve her, and it would be better to ask the princess to explain what was happening. Still, the ultimate question hung in the air, felt by all: If Equestria is going to be affected by a giant teleportation spell, then where will it go if we fail?
The three made their way quickly through the grand doors to the castle, up the massive staircase, and headed for the throne room. The second set of huge doors swung wide, and Twilight could see the Princess of the Night on her throne. The Princess of the Sun was in the center of the room, eyes darting across the contents of a simple table, covered in charts, maps and documents. Around the room was a collection of other ponies, largely unicorns, though with a few pegasi and earth ponies interspersed.
“Princess, I’m here.” Twilight announced, moving to her mentor’s side.
Celestia looked up from the papers momentarily to greet her pupil gratefully. “Twilight, thank goodness you’re here.” She said, turning her gaze back to the table. “We need every brilliant mind we can get, and yours is one of the brightest there is.”
“My escort told me the basics of the situation, princess.” Twilight explained. “A giant teleportation spell is taking effect over all of Equestria, starting with Canterlot. What can we do to stop it? And if we fail… what happens to us?”
The princess shook her head. “That’s what we need to find out, and quickly. We do not know where Equestria would be sent if this spell succeeds, as it is not far enough along to detect. However, one conclusion has been drawn right away: if we leave this spot in space, my connection with Equestria’s sun will break, and I… in the worst case scenario, it’s likely that I could perish without that connection.
Twilight gasped in alarm. “N-no! Princess, don’t say that! What would Equestria be without you? What would I be?!”
Celestia nodded. “This is exactly why we need to hurry and stop this madness before it begins.”
Twilight cast a glance towards Princess Luna, who was directing several unicorns in performing various detection spells. Celestia noticed this and answered Twilight’s next question before she asked: “I do not know what would become of Luna if this were to come to pass. It is quite possible that the moon would be enveloped by the spell as well, and she would retain her power and life force, but… it’s just as possible that it would remain here as well. There are too many elements we do not yet know.
“We do know one thing though. In the event that we fail, and Equestria is taken from its place in the universe, then it is extremely likely that we will no longer have a sun to nourish life. As a last-resort plan, it would be possible to set up a grid of Sun-spot spells around the planet to provide adequate lighting and warmth for pony kind to survive, but even then… it will be cold. Very cold. Additionally, we would need to organize the world’s pegasi to completely cover the sky in clouds, to keep in what heat we can get.”
Twilight’s mind spun, and she felt physically dizzy. If we lose all sunlight and view of the sky, then… then it will be incredibly difficult to grow any crops. The citizens of Equestria could survive for a little while on preserved goods, maybe even several years, but sooner or later the lack of food production would catch up with us, and… She shook her head. “I’ll do anything I can to help keep that from happening.” she promised.
Celestia nodded. “I know you will. Thank you. Right now, we’re trying to figure out just how far we can push our own magic, in the hopes that we’ll be able to devise a counter-spell powerful enough to stop the teleportation spell.”
Twilight nodded and moved over to one of the stations at the table. We have time, but not a lot. Due to the concentration of magic in Canterlot, and the counter-measures these unicorns were able to put in place early, the spell is being slowed considerably. However, once it breaks away from the borders of the city, it will begin expanding at an insane rate. Unless it becomes impaired or stopped by another counter-spell, it will envelop Equestria completely in… one hundred and twenty-five days? Give or take a few days. I’ll need to devote my full attention to this, so…
Twilight excused herself from the table, located an inkwell, quill and blank paper, and quickly wrote out a message for Spike saying that she would be too busy to return to Ponyville, but that the celebrations should proceed as planned. They don’t know what is happening here, and as long as they can, they should keep their spirits high. I believe that we WILL find a way to save Equestria, but if not, we’re all in for hard times… with a shaky horn and an unfamiliar spell, Twilight successfully sent the message to her faithful companion. She sighed heavily, bracing herself for the task at hand, and trotted back into the throne room.
Twilight stirred, waking from a restless sleep in one of the castle’s many guest bedrooms. She had spent the entire day, and a good part of the night, running calculations. Equestria had never seen a spell this massive, except in the case of the princesses’ spells to raise the sun and moon. As such, a good portion of Twilight’s findings thus far were based only on estimations and guesswork.
She rubbed her eyes and pulled herself from bed, then walked over to the desk on the other side of the room. She splashed some water over her face and ran a brush over her mane, then trotted out the door to get back to work. Halfway down the hallway though, she was stopped by a single royal guard.
“My apologies, Miss Sparkle,” he began, “but captain Shining Armor has asked to see you.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up. In her haste the previous day, she had let the thought of her brother completely slip her mind. After such terrible news, she was looking forward to seeing her brother and sister-in-law, Cadance. “Of course!” she replied. “Where is he? I’ll see him immediately.”
“In the infirmary wing, room sixteen. Lady Cadance should be there with him, too.” The guard stated simply.
“Th-the infirmary?! What happened? Has he been hurt?”
“The captain suffered some moderate injuries in the battle with the forces of Tartarus. Nothing fatal though, don’t worry. The docs say he should be back on his feet within a few days. He’s mostly just resting and recovering all the energy he spent up using spells to protect his men.”
Twilight thanked the guard and turned around, trotting quickly in the direction of the medical wing. That’s my brother, alright, she thought fondly, running himself into the ground to keep everyone else going. She soon found her way to the infirmary, and located her brother’s room.
“Twiley!” Shining Armor exclaimed happily, embracing Twilight when she ran up and did the same to him. With all the insanity of the situation swirling around her head, it was reassuring to her to be able to lean on her big brother again. After a full minute of silence, simply allowing their breath and heartbeats to communicate and alleviate their fears, Twilight rose again and composed herself. At the foot of his bed, looking just as worried as the siblings was Cadance, Shining Armor’s wife and one of Twilight’s oldest and best friends.
Twilight and Cadance embraced wordlessly as well. Shining Armor shifted slightly in bed, and Twilight turned her attention back to him. “Are you alright?” she asked. “I heard you were wounded in the battle…”
“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Shining insisted. “Just a few scratches. I honestly wish I could do more though… Once I get out of this bed, I’m going to help you with that witch’s spell. You and all the others will need as much magic power as you can get, and you know I’m one of the strongest there is. ‘Course, that seems to run in the family, as well.”
Twilight blushed. “Thanks, big brother.”
“I’ll watch over him for both of us.” Cadance said reassuringly. “You should get back right away and help stop all this from getting so much worse.
Twilight nodded solemnly, and left the medical wing a few minutes later.
Almost two months passed. The scientists of Canterlot had broken some ground, but it still wasn’t enough to completely stop the spell. Several days prior, the spell had finally broken the bonds placed on it by Canterlot’s excess magic, and reports said that the lights were now over the skies of Ponyville, as well as being visible from Los Pegasus and several other towns. Questions and cries of alarm were flooding in from all of these places and more. The time had come when the story could not be hidden from the rest of the world any longer.
“I’ll give the announcement.” Celestia stated to her research team. “Some of the ponies of Equestria may think we’ve been keeping secrets from them, lying to them, and they’ll want to hear the truth from their princess.”
One of the other ponies nodded, and switched on the radio transceiver brought fourth for the princess. This would be the most convenient way to spread the word to all the citizens of Equestria as quickly as possible. The pony stepped forward and pressed a button on the transceiver, and spoke into the attached microphone: “Attention, Equestria. We apologize for interrupting your regularly scheduled programming, but the princess Celestia has an urgent announcement for the entire kingdom.”
He stepped back, and Celestia took up the microphone. “Attention, citizens of Equestria. I’m sure that by now, you have taken notice of the lights in the sky, emanating from here in Canterlot. I wish to alleviate your fears, but at the same time, I want you to know the truth, so I will not in any way lie to you. During the battle against the forces of Tartarus around a month ago, a monstrously powerful spell was cast, and as you can see, it remains in effect yet. I assure you, Equestria’s finest are doing their best to put a stop to it before it takes effect, and while we do not yet know what will happen should they fail, unlikely as that is, you should also be aware of what type of spell it is. It seems to be an enlarged version of the standard teleportation spell. As I said, we are unaware of how this will affect us as of yet, but trust me, we are working as hard as we can on finding the solution. Please remain calm, patient and understanding during this time. Thank you.”
She turned off the transceiver, and several long moments of silence followed. Finally, one of the scientists spoke: “How do you suppose they are reacting to this news? Even though they were told not to panic, I’m sure some are regardless.”
Celestia sighed. “Until the problem is sorted out, there will be unrest. All we can do is resolve to end this chaos as soon as possible. Now, everypony, back to work. We have no time to waste.”
Twilight nodded, and shortly went back to her calculations. The rest of the day passed without major incident or discovery. She returned to her chambers at the end of the day, but did not go right to sleep. It was hard enough to sleep with her mind racing all day, every day, but she didn’t feel like fighting that night. She stepped out onto the balcony that adjoined her room and the room next to it, and gazed up sadly at the stars.
Her heart grew heavy and sped up at the same time, when she realized she was not looking up at Equestria’s stars. The constellations were all unfamiliar to her. It’s already gotten to this point… she thought despondently. We haven’t physically left the universe yet, but the skies are changing. The skies of the place we’re being sent to have already begun to imprint themselves in our sky… we need to hurry…
The next day, the skies were dark with heavy rain and clouds, but Twilight’s hopes were high. She had scheduled several test stations, in which they could project the results of possible counter spells with slowed-down, miniature teleportation spells. Now that they were more confident that they knew how the giant spell was working, they could begin testing on a smaller scale and devise a spell powerful enough to counteract it.
Twilight trotted to the room in which the testing stations had been set up. There were five different stations, all with tiny, rough replicas of Canterlot and the other cities affected by the spell so far. They also varied ever so slightly in the conditions of the spell, as there were still several possibilities of side-effects that could take place.
“Alright everypony,” Twilight began, “you know what to do. Divide up into teams of three and get testing!” Twilight stood back to let the other unicorns in the room hurry to their stations, and began making notes immediately about the behavior of both the teleport spells and counter-spells.
As the tests concluded, the results of one caught Twilight’s eye. “Station three, I’m going to need you to replicate that test, especially the first five minutes, before the counter-spell went into effect.”
The unicorn scientists nodded, and the teleportation spell thrummed to life. Twilight kept her eye locked on it, until it began quavering at around five minutes in. Strange bolts of magic began to strike at the miniature cities launching tiny pieces into the air at high speeds. Nearly everyone in the room jumped in surprise. Most of the pieces managed to get themselves lodged in the high ceiling of the room.
“A knock-back shockwave…” Twilight thought, her mind kicking into overdrive. “The equivalent of that effect at actual scale could be powerful enough to tear a small building from its foundation, or knock small objects, or even ponies…” she gulped, “straight into space.”
The other scientists attempted to remain calm, but it was plain to see that panic was quickly setting in. One of the unicorns exclaimed “Is that going to happen to us?! How long do we have?!”
Twilight shook her head, and spoke up above the commotion of the others. “Ponies, please calm down! We don’t know if this instance is the same as the one we’re dealing with!”
“But what if it is?!” another scientist, slightly younger than the others, retorted. “If we waste too much time, who knows how many lives could be lost?!”
Twilight sighed angrily, then dove for a pen and paper, and began scrawling calculations. After a tense five minutes, she raised her head and wiped her brow. “There. If it does happen to be this instance of the spell, we have two weeks before it should begin to take effect. Now, can we focus on determining whether or not that’s the case? I don’t want to cause any more panic than necessary.”
The rest of the day dragged by, as well as the better part of the next, and despair began to set in. All signs pointed towards their initial reaction being correct, that the massive shockwave would indeed take place. With a heavy heart and racing mind, Twilight quickly composed a letter for her loyal assistant in Ponyville, managed to send it off, then rushed off to alert the princess.
Without Twilight around, Spike had been incredibly bored. He had floated around Ponyville for the last two months, trying to fill in for some of Twilight’s previous obligations, but mostly just lazing around with his other friends. Once or twice he had considered attempting to make a move on Rarity, but decided against it each time. For the most part, his life had remained unaffected, if a bit lonely.
As he was walking back to the library, Spike began to feel a familiar tingling sensation in his throat, and he realized with a start that somepony was sending him a message. He made sure not to face anything flammable as the note arrived, and caught it in one claw as the green flame and smoke subsided. He unrolled the tiny scroll and scanned over what was written, then slower a second time.
“Tell everypony to stay indoors all day, exactly two weeks from now, on the twenty-third. Also, tell them to stay as low as they can. Basements are good, but they should be just as safe as long as they are on at least the ground floor and under some kind of cover, like a desk. That includes you, Spike. Stay safe. ~Twilight”
Spike gulped slightly, but nodded in determination. He took off for the town square of Ponyville quickly, but slowed to a halt a few moments later. Even if he had become fairly well known and trusted by the ponies of town, he was still a baby dragon. They might not take him as seriously as they should if it was just him talking. He thought on the matter for a moment. Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? Nah, if they wouldn’t take me seriously, they probably wouldn’t listen to either of them, either. Fluttershy would never get up in front of people like that, especially since she’d probably be panicking… And between AJ and Rarity, Rarity’s closer.
Spike nodded, then changed direction again and headed for the boutique. He burst through the door, drawing Rarity’s attention immediately.
She put down the garment she was working on and moved over to the panting dragon. “Darling, what’s wrong?”
“You’d… better read this…” Spike said between breaths, handing Rarity Twilight’s note. “I’ll need… your help, telling the rest of town…”
Just as Spike had, Rarity quickly read over the note, then read through it again to make sure she had read correctly. Her outer composure remained calm, but inside, she was already beginning to feel panicked. She was no expert on the finer details of magic like Twilight was, but she could tell that this was incredibly dangerous business that was knocking on Equestria’s door. As much as she wanted to panic, though, she had to retain her posture and composure, so the young dragon, and her young sister in the other room, did not worry more than they had to, and would not think less of Rarity as someone who would protect them.
“Alright…” she said at length. “What can I do to help, Spike?”
“We need to tell everypony about this, and if they get the message the first time around, they have more time to get ready. I figured they’d listen to you more than they would me, since I’m just an assistant and a baby dragon, and you’re a pretty well-known and respected pony around here…” Spikes cheeks flushed slightly at the end of his sentence, as he had let instinct take over without thinking, but he was glad that he managed to get the message across.
Rarity beamed at the compliment and nodded. “I suppose you’re right. Come along then, we’ll go to the town square and gather everypony we can, and tell them all at once. Then… then we’ll talk to mayor Mare, and have her distribute the warning in the newspaper, so it will reach anypony we miss. Let us hurry, we only have two weeks to tell everyone!”
-Earth, approx. One Month Later -
My eyes cracked open, after another barely restful night. Groaning, I lifted myself off from my bed, and walked lazily into the kitchen. A pot of coffee was soon set to boil, and I stood before the calendar for a minute. This makes the fortieth day since the lights began, and the planet appeared in our skies. And since then, we’ve discovered jack about any of it. You’d think someone would have a bright idea after all this time… Grumbling to myself, I reached into the cupboard for a box of cereal, tossed it onto the table, then grabbed the milk. I poured some into a fresh cup of coffee, then into the bowl of breakfast cereal.
To top off the otherwise fantastically normal morning, I turned on a random episode of Doctor Who to watch while I ate. As I did, I subconsciously made half-brained theories, as I had been the past month and a half. I wonder what kind of time properties the mini-planet has. It’s not really where it appears to be; otherwise our gravity would shift dramatically. No-one wouldn’t feel it. So it’s got to be an imprint. Now, according to Duncan’s theory, it might be coming in from another dimension, or at least another area in space, through a black hole. Or, it could be the same principle as stars, and it’s giving us the image before it actually physically appears… no, wait, that’s not right, stars are visible after the physical stuff happens. That theory doesn’t work; Duncan’s is still more solid.
My eyes turned back to the TV. What if it’s just like in Doctor Who? Planets in the sky… Right now, that actually seems like the more likely case. The planet is appearing here, but isn’t all the way here yet. When it does, it will cause all kinds of chaos with our gravitational field and atmosphere. Trouble is, we don’t know what the blasted thing is or where it’s coming from, so it’s nearly impossible to judge when it’s actually going to materialize here. And there are a lot of other pieces of the puzzle that don’t fit yet, either, like why this is happening in the first place, or how the planet was able to cover itself in clouds so quickly.
I drank the excess milk from my cereal, and with coffee still in hand, I walked out the door to my car. Bessie raised her head in greeting as I passed, then promptly continued with her morning nap. I climbed into the front seat, started the engine, then stepped back out and opened all the doors to let the hot air rush out. Once it had cooled down enough to operate, I climbed in and started driving towards my actual office downtown. Lately, Damon had been telling all of us to work there as much as possible, so we could compile our results more quickly and easily. I wasn’t complaining either, as the better equipment was there.
As I turned the corner, my cell phone rang, and I flipped it open. Damon’s voice came on, and he sounded unusually shaken. “Kurt, where are you? Are you still at home?”
“No, I’m in my car, on the way to the lab. I’m about to hit the highway. Why?”
“Don’t.” he said immediately. “Just find somewhere with cover, and stay there. The object is coming in. We can’t have more than five minutes. Just find cover, now!”
I felt an immediate chill of fear, but nodded. “Alright. Thanks for the heads up.” I clicked the phone shut, and spun the car in a sharp turn down an outer road lined with shops and businesses. I pulled into the first parking lot I could get into, and ran into the small café.
“Everyone, take cover!” I yelled, grabbing the attention of the few people sitting in the shop in the morning, and the employee currently running the place. “Just trust me, I’m a scientist. We’re about to have the mother of all earthquakes here! Just get under a table, hold the legs, and try not to clench your teeth, or they’re going to be grinding a lot. Also, might want to finish your drinks.” After giving them this extremely helpful advice, I dove under a table myself, and after a few brief moments of hesitation, the other four in the café followed my lead and took cover.
Almost a full minute passed, and just as I could sense the others getting curious and restless, it began. It felt like a roller coaster ride (which I never cared for), like the ground under us had suddenly disappeared, and we were drifting upward before falling. It felt like were tumbling forward, like we were in zero-gravity. For some reason, I imagined when I was little, swinging a basket up in the air by its handle and bringing it down just as quickly, in wonder at how the contents stayed right where they were, and I felt as though I were in that basket.
It continued for ages. I felt sick to my stomach from so much motion, but managed to keep it in. That was more than I could say for one of the poor guys in the café with me. Luckily for the rest of us, the mess managed to stay in one general place. I was surprised at how well the building was holding together through all this, but several pieces of wood and drywall did splinter off and fall to the ground around us. Finally, the rocking began to slow, and after several minutes’ wait, it was bearable enough that we were able to stand.
“Alright, gents,” I stated, finding my voice. “The worst of the earthquake is over. However… It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen next. Outside right now, or in the near future, I can only guess at what’s happening.”
“Hey, you said you were a scientist, right?” one of the others asked gruffly, “So what the hell just happened? Why was there a huge earthquake, and what’s gonna happen now?”
“I told you, I don’t know what’s going to happen now. But what happened up until now basically boils down to this: the second moon you’ve been seeing in the sky? It was a ghost image of some kind up until now. We’re still not sure exactly what that means, but it didn’t seem to exist. Only now, it does. It just came into being above us, and that threw our gravity out of balance. In all likelihood, it’s moved the planet entirely. Now, we’re most likely still in orbit around the sun, and it’s very unlikely that this alone is going to kill everyone. We won’t be crashing into the sun or anything. Still, the effect on the tides is probably doing a number to the coasts already…”
The others in the café had heard enough, and all dashed outside. I sighed to myself. Way to go, Kurt. Always on the positive side, aren’t you? Ugh… Shaking my head, I helped myself to the remnants of the morning’s coffee, left a dollar bill on the counter, and stepped outside.
The first thing I noticed sent a chill down my spine, though ironically, the fact that it was cold outside did not affect me much physically. My eyes drifted skyward, and I was greeted only by a gloomy gray mass of clouds. Another shiver ran through me, this time from the cold. Looks like winter came a lot earlier this year… The other planet must have done a bit of pulling as well as pushing, and it may have contorted our path around the sun… We can only hope that it’s only reversed the seasons, otherwise when this summer ends, we could all…
I felt something wet hit my forehead, and I looked up again. A lone snowflake had hit me, and more were drifting down to earth after it. One hit me on the nose, and in that instant, reality caught up with me. This was all happening. I wasn’t dreaming, or watching a sci-fi scenario unfold on TV. The world had just been radically altered, thousands were probably dead already from tidal effects alone, and it was going to get slowly worse and worse.
I was standing in the middle of the apocalypse.
I promptly stopped standing, and sank to my knees, stunned tears in my eyes.
-Equestria, approx. One Month Previously-
“Do you think there’s anyone in town that hasn’t been warned yet?” Spike asked, wiping his brow. He, Rarity, and everypony else they could get to help them, had been running around Ponyville for the past two weeks, warning everypony they could about the impending ‘gravity storm’. With the swirling lights ever-present above their heads, they were all hungry for an explanation, and while it was far from the one they were looking for, they all for the most part accepted it and prepared accordingly.
“I very much doubt it.” Rarity assured him. “Our warning has traveled by both word of mouth and newspaper. If anypony is still in the dark about this, they will catch on quickly and take shelter before the storm begins later today. Now… I suppose we should get to shelter ourselves. Since Twilight is still working in Canterlot, would you like to take shelter with Sweetie Belle and I in the boutique?”
Spike nodded gleefully. Even he was able to see that huddling together, hiding from danger and death outside, was not the most romantic setting, but he still felt like it would be good to be there with her, to provide and be provided moral support. “I think Twilight said it should start about… an hour from now? Less? Either way, we should get inside, quick.”
“Right. Now, hopefully Sweetie Belle has decided to be cooperative today, and will be at the boutique when we get there…” Rarity and Spike shortly made their way to the Carousel Boutique near the center of town. Upon entering, Rarity called through the building: “Sweetie Belle, are you here?”
She received no answer. Rarity frowned, but kept her composure. “She may be upstairs or outside. Spike, would you help me do a quick search for her?” Spike nodded, and the two split up to search the large building. When they convened several minutes later, neither had found a trace of the unicorn filly.
“I told her time and again that she had to listen to me…” said Rarity, worried. “She knew to be here by now… Oh, she might still be outside! Spike, we have to go find her!”
Spike nodded, and the two rushed back out of the Boutique and onto the streets of Ponyville. They quickly ran through all the places that sprung to mind that she might be hiding- the school playground, Raritys’ parent’s home, her favorite park- but they found no sign of her. Time was running short, and Rarity was growing close to panic, but Spike was managing to keep his cool, for her sake.
“Maybe she’s at the Sweet Apple Acres, with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Spike suggested. Rarity nodded vigorously, eager for another possibility, and the two moved quickly to the apple orchard near the edge of town. The skies were beginning to darken, and the swirling lights overhead took on a sickly pale radiance. The two had a matter of minutes before the storm began.
Before they even reached the gates to the Acres, Applejack emerged with a young white filly in tow. “Sweetie Belle!” Rarity exclaimed, running faster to reach her sister. “What in Equestria were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how much danger we’re all in now?”
“I know…” Sweetie Belle said quietly, as though she had already been lectured on the subject and didn’t feel like going through it again. “It’s just, Scootaloo didn’t have a place to stay at ground level, and Applebloom asked if we could all hide out in their cellar, and…”
“I decided ta’ go ahead and let Scootaloo stay here until the storm passed.” Applejack explained. “But I knew Sweetie Belle was supposed ta’ be at the boutique with you, so I was gonna take her back there.”
Just then, the sound of heavy thunder interrupted the conversation, and the ever-present lights overhead shook and contorted slightly. “Shoot, we ain’t got time to bring you three back there…” Applejack muttered, “Alright then, c’mon, all of ya’. We got plenty of room in the cellar.”
With that, Applejack led the way back to her home, with Rarity, Spike and Sweetie Belle in tow. The sky continued to rumble. The group picked up the pace. A moment later, a bolt of lightning shot down and struck a nearby tree, tearing it in half and launching the severed half high into the air. Seeing the huge branch arc high overhead and crash back to the ground sent the four running with all their might for the barn cellar, to safety from the storm that had already begun.
The lightning around them was becoming more frequent, and they had to begin actively avoiding the bolts. Spike was panting, but he could see in his bobbing vision that they were closing in on the cellar, and safety. He was no longer looking behind him at his companions, only at his goal.
“Rarity, I can’t… Woah!” Behind him, he heard the sound of Sweetie Belle tripping over something, and Rarity stopping to help her sister. The storm still raged overhead. Spike cast a glance back at the cellar, then turned back and rushed to help Rarity. A bolt struck the ground not five feet in front of him, but he pressed on until he reached the sisters.
“I skinned my knee…” said Sweetie Belle, “but I think I’ll be okay.”
“Come on, it’s just a little further…” Rarity assured her, and helped her to her feet. The sky almost seemed to shake with thunder, and Spike was just in time to see a bolt of lightning streak down, straight for Sweetie Belle and Rarity. He had just enough time to shout ‘watch out!’ before it struck between the two sisters, sending them both spiraling into the air.
They both let out a surprised gasp, Sweetie Belle’s turning into a weak scream. Rarity’s hooves gripped hers as tightly as she could, holding onto her and keeping her anchored, but it was doing little good. Rarity was slowing her sister’s ascent, but she couldn’t stop it, and she was already too high into the air for Spike or Applejack to help.
Her hooves began to slip. She couldn’t have guessed if they had been in the air for only a few seconds or a whole hour, but she was almost out of time. Her eyes squeezed shut in concentration, but she couldn’t hold on any longer. The two sets of snow-white hooves separated from each other, and Sweetie Belle was sent rocketing into the sky, towards the writhing mass of lights and colors. From the ground, Spike could hear her cry out ‘RARITY!’ in a high, scared voice, before she disappeared completely. He was absolutely stunned, but had to shake himself out of it when he realized Rarity was falling rapidly to the ground.
“Applejack, help me!” He shouted, trying to position himself where she was going to land. The strong earth pony simply nodded in agreement, and stood next to him, braced and ready. Rarity soon approached, and the two caught her as she hit the ground, softening the blow. Tears were already flowing down the unicorn’s face at the fate of her sister.
“Rarity… I’m so sorry… We need to get ta’ the cellar, now.” Applejack stated, a lump in her throat. “I… I don’t want anypony else joinin’ her. C’mon, just a bit further… “
Rarity couldn’t speak through the tears, but she nodded shakily, and allowed Applejack and Spike to lead her to the apple cellar in absolute stunned silence.
