Of the skies and stars

Of the skies and stars
By
Kippershy

Prologue: ...From the skies

Celestia's sun shone down upon the moon which pressed down the light onto the land below, bathing it in a gentle glory that only Luna could bring.
The other ponies had always called me weird when I looked into the night skies, the radiant sparkling of the stars above enticed me with their dances.
Though few stars themselves moved, the way their light flickered and lit up the night sky was like even the most passionate waltz... or that's how I saw it.

Everypony else was always too tired to sit with me and watch the stars. Mother would tell me to come indoors and stop being so silly, that I would catch a cold outside during the night. Dad didn't think the same though.
While he rarely came out and sat with me, Dad still encouraged my amusement in the stars and bought for me a series of telescopes, progressively getting bigger and more expensive as I grew older.
He understood my love of the stars, much like he'd had a love for his things.

Sitting just out in the front garden, I laid upon my back and crossed my hooves over my heart as I looked up on awe. I'd always wondered what it would be like to see the stars up close, though I knew there would never be the chance.
There was just something so special about them, so alluring, so wonderful and curious.
The stars were the things of my dreams.

"Midnight Mystery, really." The voice of my mother called. "If I had known you would've grown such a strong obsession with the night skies, I would have called you something like 'Luna the second'"
A half giggle came from her muzzle as she looked out to me from the living room window, though a serious set of eyes told me I'd had my fun for the night.
"Come indoors now, I know you're a mare now, but that doesn't mean you get to stay up all night."
"But mum!" I whined. "Can't I stay out just a little longer?"
A caring tone filled her voice after a soft sigh, her head gently shaking. "No."
"Please?" I begged, hoping just for that little bit longer.
"No, Midnight. Come on, it's late and it's cold."

Wistfully, I rolled over and rose from my stomach onto my hooves. The night sky would have to wait for the next night, it seemed.
Taking one last look for the night, I noticed something different.
Orion's Belt should have only had three stars... not four. That star wasn't meant to move, either!

Looking back at my mother, she was right. It was late, it was cold and I did have to go indoors... but she never said I'd had to go sleep.
Running indoors, I made my way up to my room and carefully pulled out the high power telescope and set it up within an instant. Something told me that this was important, though I wasn't sure what.

Dad came into the room and let out a small laugh before kissing my head and brushing my mane, making me blush.
"You really do love your stars, don't you?"
Not looking out from the telescopes view as I carefully nudged the focusing rings until the image gained clarity, I chuckled.
"You always say that Dad!"
"And then you always tell me how much you love me for giving you whichever latest telescope you have."

Taking my eye from the scope, I looked up as his creamy coloured coat and short white mane before nuzzling in and wrapping my hooves around him.
"Because I do! You're amazing and I love you, thank you Dad."
"Whatever makes you happy sweetie, you mean the world to me and I think your fascination is a good thing. Speaking of, what's this latest thing you've gotten excited over now then?"

Looking back into the eyepiece, I steered the lens towards the moving star and zoomed further, hoping to find the anomaly.
"There was a shooting star or something, though I couldn't tell for sure. It looked different to normal though." Within a moment I had a better sight of what it was... and it surprised even me!
Stars weren't meant to flash green!

I recoiled in shock, that wasn't meant to be! Stars shimmered, but they didn't flash! Definitely not green, either.
Dad put his eye up to the instrument and looked through. Though he wasn't as interested in the stars as me, he was interested in what I took interest in, and thus understood to some extent that things weren't normal with what he saw.

"Mystery..." He began. "That isn't right, is it?"
"No." I stammered back to him.
"Do you have any clue what it could be? Have you seen anything like this before?"
"Never! I mean... no. I mean, red, yes, but green?"

Dad pulled back and shot me a worried look, he could tell that something wasn't right though he didn't know what to do about it.
"Who do we contact?" He asked, as if he was the child and I was the parent.
"I honestly don't know. Celestia? No, we'd never be allowed inside her castle without royal permission, let alone direct communication. Luna? I mean, she is the princess of the night after all... but she's just as hard to try communicate with for her very own reasons. Neither have the time for normal ponies like us."

Sighing, he nodded in agreement. Trying to contact the princesses over something like this would've been impossible unless the situation got serious, even then they would have their own personal guards investigate rather than simply approaching random ponies and asking if they saw anything.
To make matters worse, the only official astronomy centres nearby we're the Canterlot centre and the Ponyville Library centre, which even then acted just as much as somepony's home as it did for a true centre.
Even then, both were over a hundred miles away! Too far a distance for a simple walk and chatter over what could've been nothing after all.

"Want to stay up tonight and keep track of it? I know how much this would mean to you... and you do have the day off from work tomorrow after all." My father asked.
Looking back to him, I jumped into his hooves with nothing but pure affection as he smiled at me. He really was the best Dad in the world.

"Yes please, Dad.Thank you." I smiled from side to side.
"No problem. I'll go make you some hot chocolate and get some marshmallows for you so you've got something to drink, too."
Hot chocolate, marshmallows and watching some strange event in the sky I'd never seen or heard of before? This night was turning into the best night ever!
The grin on my face was too much and he just chuckled as he made his way out of my room and downstairs. Tonight would be interesting, I knew that.

Looking back into the eyepiece, I let out a small sigh as I tracked the movement of the strange object.

Three and a half hours passed as the night went on and the faintest cracks of dawn light came from across the horizon as the moon made its way behind the Canterlot mountains. The object had gotten bigger and its movements were less erratic and more structured now, though it still made no sense as a luminescent green glow emanated from it. The glow was only gentle, but it was definitely there.

Dad had long since gone off to bed and fallen asleep, so my supply of hot chocolate and marshmallows had dwindled until the last of it was gone, but I didn't mind at this point. The thrill of seeing something so different was an adrenaline rush of its own for me.

Over the time however, my head had begun to feel weary and my eyes heavy. As interesting as the night sky and the unknown object was, nothing could hold back the restful slumber that drew towards the end of the day, or end of the night in my case.
Leaving the telescope all set up still, I pulled away from it for the last time for the night and sleepily eyed my bed.
"It'll be there still when tomorrow night comes," I mumbled to myself. "it'll be fine."

My sleep was disturbed by the sudden sound of alarm as my Dad knocked on my door before opening it up and gently nudging my shoulder until I awoke and opened my eyes.
Without a thought I waved my hoof at him, as if he'd just disappear and let me sleep some more if I did.

"Wake up Midnight! Wake up!" His voice sounded worried, though I still wasn't taking everything in properly and wasn't sure.
"Wake up! The thing in the sky! It's still visible!!"
The thing in the sky? I spent a moment thinking about what he meant... Oh! That thing!
My eyes shut closed once more, there was nothing to worry about- wait.

"Wait!" I shouted, my eyes opening in shock as it hit me. "You mean that object I was tracking last night is visible in broad daylight?"
"Yes!" His cry wasn't of terror, though it was something more than fear.
Shooting stars weren't uncommon enough that even somepony like my Dad would worry about them, but this had seemed more serious to begin with.

Rolling over to my hooves and making my way to the window, I immediately saw what he had meant.
Up in the sky, a large object flew in our direction, the ominous green glow that flickered on and off that I'd noticed before was obviously coming from it even still.
Even worse, it seemed to be entering the atmosphere now, flickers of flames tenderly licking the sides of the white object!

Whatever this was, it was something different for sure. Nopony had ever told tales of anything even close to this and there was nothing in the books that ever detailed events like this.
Shooting stars were not white. They would be black, brown or grey, but not white.

"What do you think it is?" My mother asked as she now anxiously stood beside father, the rising tension and uneasiness filling the room.
"I don't know." I began to respond. "I just... don't know."
Though one thing was for sure... as soon as it landed, I would find out.

Getting myself prepared for the upcoming day, I washed and ate breakfast. The object was rapidly approaching with flames now encasing the entire front as a meteorite would, though I still knew it was different.
Taking no time, I ran out of the house with a banana balanced on my muzzle and my mane barely having finished being brushed, there was no time to wait around.

Ponies lined the roads of the village, jaws agape at the sight above. Shooting stars were uncommon but not rare.
Meteorites however, were extremely rare and to see one looking as if it could crash into Equestria in any minute was both stunning and terrifying for the best part of the villagers.
We wasn't some backwards country place with no education, but even still something of this magnitude was impressive in every way.
Running along the roads as I looked up into the sky, I had to make sure I didn't lose it. I had to keep track of it.

It was only fifteen minutes later that it came crashing into the ground and slid across the fields surrounding our part of the region. It was impressive that it managed to land so solidly, but even more impressive was the fact that... well, somepony's argued over it, saying that it was some optical illusion.
However, I was certain that I saw a... parachute fly out of the back of it as it glided over the orchards to the east.

I needed to find the crash site. To find out if I was right. To find out what it was.

Hey! just another note, mostly to make the chapter "feel" finished. (I'm not used to writing short chapters, unless you count 10k as short.)
I just want to say - feel free to leave any comments or criticism! All I ask is that you please don't downrate purely on the fact it's HiE rather than the quality of the content (and context) inside.
If you have any issues with my writing style or how the story plays out however - let me know!

Lastly, description of Midnight Mystery to come next chapter! Don't worry, I just didn't want to make it out of place.