Chapter edited by Shadowgohstalex

"His tale was different than ours, and yet, it was so similar. Finally, we may be getting some answers..."

Sunburst glanced around the street, trying to get his bearings. He hadn’t been to Canterlot since he left Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and the city had changed quite a bit since then. Levitating a map of the city in front of him, he recognized where he was and soon found himself passing through the palace gates, nodding to the guards as they checked his documents.

About a month ago, an invitation had arrived at his home to come to the palace and observe the planetary alignment that was taking place tonight. When he reached the top of the main spire, where a temporary observation deck was set up, he found that his old friend Starlight Glimmer was there with her teacher, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess Luna had yet to arrive, but the sun wasn’t quite finished setting yet, so that was to be expected. At the sound of his hoofsteps on the balcony, Starlight turned towards him.

“Sunburst! You’re here!” She trotted over to him and gave him a warm hug before sneaking a quick peck on his cheek.

Sunburst let out a nervous chuckle and started fidgeting with his glasses, a furious red glow apparent through his coat. Normally, he wouldn’t be so embarrassed by her affection, but Twilight Sparkle was watching them, and the princess’s gaze made him a bit fidgety. “It’s good to see you too, Starlight,” he finally said.

Princess Luna arrived within the hour, along with Princesses Celestia and Cadence. It turns out, the three had been sharing a meal downstairs. With their arrival, everypony was now present. Twilight let out a happy little squeak.

“This is so exciting!” She said as she started clapping her hooves together while Sunburst walked around the balcony, taking a look at the equipment she had set up. “Just think of all that we can learn from this! These alignments only happen once every few generations, and we’re getting to see it!”

Celestia smiled at her student’s typical enthusiasm for learning. “It certainly is a rare treat. Even Luna and I have only seen a few planetary alignments in our lifetimes. They are a strange and wonderful thing, and full of magic that we don’t understand yet.”

Luna nodded, gazing into the vast expanse of the stars as she picked up where her sister had left off. “Indeed. Many scholars and wizards who have witnessed such a spectacle have sought to understand it, even the great Starswirl the Bearded, and each have contributed some portion of knowledge, yet the magic produced when the planets align is something that eludes our comprehending.”

“And tonight, we’ll be able to contribute our own findings to that knowledge!” Twilight finished. “IT’S SO EXCITING!!”

Sunburst continued surveying the equipment on the observation deck. "You certainly have an impressive setup, Princess Twilight. I dare say that, with all this data, we'll be able to contribute more knowledge than anyone ever before!"

"Look everypony!" Princess Cadence spoke up. "It's starting!"

All conversation ceased as the six present turned their gaze skyward. The planets were coming closer and closer together, glowing brighter as they neared one another. When their lights met, the earth shook. It wasn't a major earthquake, in fact it was mild enough that no damage was caused, but it still caused them to lose their balance for a moment. The instant she regained her bearings, Twilight flew over to one of her monitors and read the data with a shocked expression.

"This is incredible! Equis's magic field has already doubled in power!"

"Look!" Starlight shouted, pointing a hoof at the ground far below. "What is that?"

Everypony leaned over the railing to see a glowing, writhing fog now blanketed the ground and was expanding in every direction.

Sunburst let out a low whistle. "The Terra Meridiem."

"What does that mean?"

"The Terra Meridiem is Equis's natural magic field. Normally, it's impossible to see without the proper enchantments, but during a planetary alignment, it becomes visible to everypony all over the planet."

Celestia nodded in approval. "Every planet has its own magic field, and when the planets align, their respective fields combine their power, and this in turn amplifies the magic of every living thing. At least, that's what we think."

Twilight continued checking monitors and adjusting various instruments. "Starswirl the Bearded theorized that if the planets ever came into a completely perfect alignment, their magic fields would become completely synchronized, though we have no clue as to what the ramifications of that would be."

Suddenly, all of their horns ignited simultaneously. The glow spread from their horns and worked its way down until all six of them were glowing from horn to hoof. They became blindingly bright for a few moments, but when the glow faded, Sunburst couldn't believe his eyes. For starters, each of them was slightly larger, with more defined characteristics. Starlight's and Sunburst's manes were floating around like gravity had ceased to exist, though not quite like the princesses, as they were still made of hair. Luna, Cadence, and Twilight were each now as tall as Celestia and Twilight and Cadence even had the magical flowing manes and tails, but it was Twilight who drew the eye. Not only had she taken on the same build and cosmic mane as Celestia, but she also seemed to have similar features as whenever she and her friends used their rainbow magic. She had streaks of yellow in her mane with the purple and pink, and her feathers were tri-colored, deepening from lavender to magenta to violet as you neared the tips of her majestic wings. While Sunburst's and Starlight's coats glowed with the magic overcharge, and Celestia, Luna, and Cadence pulsed with cosmic energy, Twilight Sparkle literally radiated power, violet waves of raw magic cascading off her flank and shock waves rippling out from her hoof steps. Sunburst could only imagine the combined power she and her friends could muster right now, had they all been here.

Luna was the first to recover from her shock. "It appears that we now know the effect these alignments have on ponies."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, apparently oblivious to herself.

"Twilight! Look at you!" Starlight seemed unnaturally excited. As the princess turned to study herself, understanding seemed to dawn on her face. Celestia walked over and draped a wing over her former student's shoulder, though it was a bit more difficult now that they were the same height.

"It seems that the increase in power in Equis's magic field amplifies the magic in ponies, as well as awakening any dormant magic they may have," Sunburst explained, understanding where the princess was going. “Judging by these readings, as well as the magic my horn is sensing, all of our powers are amplified, but it doesn’t stop there. The alignment has also unlocked dormant abilities that we may not have had before. I can feel in my own body the ability to perform every spell I know, even though I wasn’t able to before. Starlight’s inherent ability for magic has been increased, putting her likely on par with Starswirl, and the three other alicorns are basically gods for the duration of the alignment. You’re not like the other alicorns, though. Their magic is all on the surface, but you have some magic in you that’s normally dormant and inactive, not to mention the fact that, while the other princesses have special talents controlling the day, night, and love, your special talent is magic itself. The alignment has amplified your raw talent for magic, your alicorn magic, and the friendship magic the Tree of Harmony infused in you and your friends, all at once!”

Twilight’s eyes widened at the idea. To think that she had so much magic potential, just resting inside her like a sleeping manticore. She’d have to test that more later and see if she could figure out a way to tap into it on her own. It also occurred to her that her friends had probably undergone a similar transformation as the magic of the Elements was suddenly awoken in each of them. Oh, how she wished she had brought them with her! There were so many tests she could have run!

Celestia came over and seemed to get lost gazing into Twilight’s mane, a smile playing at her lips. “In this state, I would venture to say that you are the most powerful pony in Equestria; even more powerful than Luna and myself.”

Twilight’s awestruck face instantly tightened into an expression of sheer panic at the suggestion of being better than the princesses in any way, shape, or form. However, she never got the chance to start ranting, because right then, something caught all of their eyes. Turning upwards, they saw that the “star” created by the planets’ combined light pulsing strangely, its glow becoming a little stronger with each beat. The ground unexpectedly shook once more, this time causing the entire tower to sway like a cat-tail in the wind.

“What was that?” Cadence asked when the shaking calmed down a little.

Twilight rushed over to one of her monitors and stared at it with a slack-jawed expression. “This can’t be right! According to these readings, the Terra Meridiem just tripled in power from its already doubled state! Not only that, but it’s starting to destabilize, which shouldn’t happen until the end of the alignment, which isn’t for another six minutes, which means that something is very wrong!”

Either by fate or by total coincidence, the instant she finished her sentence, a geyser of light erupted behind her. Rushing to the railing, they immediately recoiled as another column shot up in front of them, seemingly coming from the glowing fog below them. Within a matter of seconds, another erupted at the base of the mountain, then another over the train tracks, then another, and another, and another, until there was no more gap. Each eruption of light began before the previous one ended, now with multiple erupting at a time, getting more and more powerful.

“I don’t know why this is happening!” Twilight practically screamed over the roar of the constant barrage as tears welled up in her eyes. The magic in her mane was going wild with the surrounding instability.

“The system’s overloading!” Sunburst replied.

Another, this time significantly louder sound drew their attention to the north. Far against the horizon, past the Crystal Empire, the brightest light of all had erupted in the mountains, stretching far into the heavens and lighting up the sky like a nuclear strike. Even from here, Sunburst could feel the magical radiation it was giving off, clear as day, but there was something...foreign about it. Twilight must have sensed it, too, because her mane was going absolutely nuts! As he watched, though, his face went slack. Twilight’s body was pulsing with radiance and glowing brighter by the second, the waves of energy coming off he flanks now one continuous current with white hot tendrils of electrified magic arcing every which way, like a really intense plasma ball. Her eyes were glowing white, but what concerned him most was the fact that her horn was beginning to fire off various spells at random, the same way it had during her entrance exam to Celestia’s school. The magic overload was too much for her, even in this more powerful state, and she was becoming unstable herself. If she didn’t find a way to release all that energy soon--

His thoughts were cut off when Twilight let out an agonizing scream, and a crackling wave of raw magic exploded from her horn with enough force that everypony was nearly thrown from the balcony and all of her instruments were overloaded on the spot. As the wave passed over him, surging out in every direction, Sunburst dropped to the ground, his mind and body overpowered by the shock as he slipped quickly into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

Hey everypony!

First of all, I do apologize that this took so long to get out. I've actually had the chapter finished and edited for several days now, but I don't have internet at my house, so I haven't been able to paste and upload it. From now on, I'm going to try to have something new on my page at least once roughly ever two weeks, though I'm hitting a bit of a block with this story and I'm having trouble getting it from point A to point B. Additionally, I will be taking up co-authorship of a new story fairly soon, so I won't be putting my time into this story explicitly.

On a brighter note, I have an editor now! Thank you to Shadowgohstalex for going through my chapters and helping me smooth over the wrinkles. He has edited almost everything I've published up to this point, and I will be uploading those versions shortly.

As usual, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome, and constructive criticism is encouraged. Let me know how I'm doing and what you guys think!

Thanks guys!
Moon Guard