Purple Moon on the Horizon
Princess Twilight fired her spell at the moon. After a minute of nothing happening she turned to the group of costumed foals. “See? I told you it wouldn't work. Now, how about we- What’s wrong?” Everypony, including Princess Luna and Spike, were still looking up at the moon. "Oh no..."
"Oh yes..." Spike nodded
When she turned around and looked at what she had done, a number of thoughts flashed through her mind, including 'What is the rest of the world going to think when they see this?'
Daring Do bucked one of the thugs away but was tackled by another. The others quickly joined in and held her down.
Dr. Caballeron looked down at her as she struggled. "So. Should we 'depose' of her now or...?"
"No." Ahuizotl stepped forward. "I want her to see my victory first. Bring her to the shrine."
The familiar feeling of rope around her body was an unwelcome complication as her wings were bound tight and a lead was thrown around her neck. With little choice in the matter, she followed along. It was a short trip to the ancient shrine. An intricately carved pedestal that weathered time and neglect far better then the ruins around it. She hadn't had enough time to think of a plan and now Ahuizotl was almost there.
He turned and grinned at her. "You may have gotten lucky before. But there will be no confused henchponies or mysterious cloud cover tonight. This time, when the pure moonlight shines down on the nightmare diamond, the world will be mine!" He stood on his hind legs and started his well practiced villainous laugh. Once he finished he walked up to her and rubbed his chin. "Then maybe I'll feed you to a ponyranha for all the trouble you've caused me."
He turned away and went back to the shrine where he started to very carefully lower the diamond into place. He was about half way through setting it in place when he noticed the colour changing. At first he grinned but then looked around and noticed that the entire area was off. He looked up at the moon and saw it turning purple. "WHAT?" He dropped the diamond and it fell crooked.
The henchponie stood slack jawed as they stared up at the moon. With all the attention focused on the moon, Daring Do was able to slip away and cut her wings free with a stolen knife.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Ahuizotl yelled at the moon.
She didn't waste anytime in making a dash for the shrine. Her wings snapped open and she was airborne in time to fly over the pedestal and grab the diamond.
He heard the noise she made in passing and turned around just as her tail was out of reach. A quick glance confirmed what she had done. "CURSE YOU, DARING DO." Moments latter she quietly disappeared into the night.
Prince Rutherford glared up at the moon. "Moon not perfect. YAKS SMASH!" He was answered with a series of shouts as the yaks started throwing rocks and snowballs at the moon. Despite their stubbornness they soon realized that they were coming up far short of their target.
The pronghorn priest stood on his hind legs and held the ceremonial knife over the tied down sacrifice. A nearby bonfire illuminated the area and the chanting from the others was reaching the right time. He raised the knife up and looked to the moon. "AAAUuuu... um?"
He slowly lowered the knife as the chanting stopped. The crackling of the fire was the only noise as they all stared at the now purple moon.
"So... Are we still doing this?" The sacrifice asked. "Because if not then I've got work tomorrow."
"Hu?" The priest looked down at the sacrifice. "Oh right!" With a little help the sacrifice was back on his hooves. "Hey, are you up for bowling next week?"
The former sacrifice thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "Sure. I didn't have anything planed after tonight so I should be free."
"Ok, see you then."
"Good night."
The priest looked back at the moon and scratched his head.
The yak catapults fired another volley of large rocks and snowballs at the moon, and missed. Prince Rutherford continued to frown. He picked up a rock and marched over to a reset catapult. He pushed the snowball out and sat down in it's place then pointed at the moon. The two yaks operating the catapult shrugged at each other and pulled the lever, lunching their prince at the moon. "YAKS SMASH!" He threw his rock at the moon. He watched it fall short of his target and then realized where he was. Fortunately there was a lot of snow between him and solid ground.
A diamond dog was busy loading gems into a cart when the guard at the entrance came up to him.
"Something strange, moon purple."
A large dog, with a fist bigger then his head, stopped digging and scratched his head. "Why moon purple?"
The first one looked between the two for a moment. "No care!" He pointed at the hole. "Keep digging!" He turned to the guard and pointed at the entrance. "Back to post!"
Things inside went back to the way they were while the guard spent the night looking up at the strange sight and wondering if there was a way to see it better. 'Ponies have things for looking at sky real close. Maybe ask ponies about the moon.'
The increasing commotion drew more and more tatzlponies out of their burrows. The new arrivals were quick to notice what was wrong and joined in on the conversations as they gathered together.
Fear and worry were common emotions but as time went on and nothing happened most of it turned to confusion and finally boredom as they started returning home.
One mare tapped her lower jaws with a hoof and hummed to herself before she suddenly gasped. She had a smile on her face as she ran back to her den.
It was pandemonium in kludgtown as the various beings ran around in a panic. Some were trying to sell everything they had and make a run for it. To where exactly? Even they didn't know. Others were trying to buy anything they could grab in the hopes that it would help them survive the impending disaster. Others still had barricaded themselves inside their homes and nervously peeked out between the boards over the windows.
On a nearby pirate ship, the captain looked over the side and down at the chaotic town below. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "So what, the moon is purple. Probably just some pony thing going on." She turned to her crew. "We'll hold here and wait until morning. See if they calm down by then." They all nodded to her before she went to her cabin for the night. She stopped at the door and grinned. "Do we have any fireworks we can shoot at them?"
Yaks knew how to make fireworks. So they knew how to make bigger fireworks. They also knew how to make the fireworks not explode. This is why Prince Rutherford was sitting on what basically amounted to a trashcan full of 'BOOM'.
He pointed his hoof at the moon and held onto his rock while his fellow yaks lit the fuse.
Yaks did not know much about flying. Yaks did not know much about aerodynamics.
The rocket left a pillar of fire as it jumped into the air. It immediately went off course and flung the prince into a snowbank before smashing into the side of the mountain. The resulting explosion triggered and avalanche. Fortunately their efforts had taken them away from the city and only the yaks first space center was destroyed instead.
Prince Rutherford poked his head out of the snow and looked around. After thinking about things, he turned to the others. "Rocket not perfect, YAKS SMASH." He was answered with a series of shouts as the yaks charged at the debris and started trying to smash the already broken rocket.
Once they were finished, they marched triumphantly back to the city.
Purple Moon on the Horizon
Princess Celestia sat at her personal desk. She really liked that desk, despite it's age. An exquisite item made of solid oak with a polished granite top. That had wear marks in it from years of use.
She finished writing her letter and sent it off with a flash of magic. She scratched another name off the list and grabbed another sheet.
To Queen Novo
I am writing to you in regards to last night's incident involving the moon.
I assure you it was only a minor magical accident and is already being taken care of. I apologize for any hardship this may have caused you or your people.
Princess Celestia
Queen Novo stared at the letter for a moment longer. "What happened to the moon?"
A Yak sat at a drawing board looking at sketches of fireworks and the rocket they made last night.
A new drawing was being made. It had different ideas and was missing things, but it was the start of something. Something big.
They were going to need a lot more of those 'trashcans full of boom', and yaks brave or dumb enough to sit on them.
One orange and blond tatzlpony was feeling proud of herself that morning. Her family had a large number of fruit trees, including several plumb trees. She had sent out her younger sister, a little yellow and red thing, to go play with her friends. ...and talk about how the moon looked like a plumb last night. The results being that she was almost out of plums and her only real competition for providing food being another family of farmers who had some grape vines.
A diamond dog wearing iron armour and carrying a short spear had wondered into ponyville and eventually ended up at 'Scopes and Scopes' thanks to some of the less intimidated ponies.
The sales pony smiled at his unusual customer. "Yes indeed my good stallion- err sir. This will give you a nice close view of anything you can fit under the lens."
"Moon?"
"Moon?"
The dog picked up the microscope and started trying to look around with it. "Moon!" He pointed it at the ceiling and frowned when he couldn't see anything through the eye piece like he was told.
"I see. You're not looking to see small stuff up close. You want to see far away things up close."
The dog pointed at him and grunted.
"Then you want something from the other side of the store." He grabbed the microscope and set it back on the shelf. A quick gesture with his head and they walked over the the telescopes. "A budding interest in astronomy. Hmm?" He looked his customer over for a moment before grabbing a more rugged, collapsing telescope by the mouthhold. A flick of his head and it opened up completely. "Perhaps start with this one."
Two minutes latter the dog had a tight grip on the telescope, clearly now wanting to part with it.
"There is still the matter of payment. Do you have bits, or something else?"
After thinking about it he pulled the spear off his back and looked between the two items before offering up the spear.
A quick look at the gems embedded in the shaft and the pony took it in hoof. "Normally I wouldn't take a weapon as payment but I'll make an exception. Happy stargazing."
That night, a diamond dog did indeed enjoy looking at the sky, and telling the others what was up there.
