Trixie and Her Homestead

Five years had passed since Equestria’s encounter with the evil ram Grogar and the dark forces which conspired to uproot peace and order in Equestria. Now, more or less, the general state of order has been returned to a manageable status quo. The Mane 6 were flourishing in their own ways and living generally peaceful lives; however, something in the back of the mind of some ponies in Equestria at the time made them think that things were a bit too peaceful. As if standing on the edge of an abyss, every pony felt that something momentous was about to happen, they could not place their hoof on what it would be.

Twilight was reading over some of her old spell books when Fluttershy dropped by to check on her.

“Hi, Twilight!” Fluttershy said, poking her head through the door to Twilight’s home which had been left ajar in the early summer heat.

“Oh, hey, Fluttershy,” responded the purple alicorn. “How are you today?”

“Oh, uh, the same old I guess….”

“Is everything okay, Fluttershy,” asked Twilight,”you seem a bit dow-“

“SURPRISE!!!!!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she barged her way through the door of Twilight’s home, “I hope you are all ready for the most amazing party ever!”

“SHIT, you scared me,” reacted Twi as she jumped up in fright. “What the hell…Jeez, just use an inside voice, Pinkie,” she reprimanded her friend, “and what’s with this party anyway?”

“It’s a tiny little thing for the MOST AMAZING total eclipse Equestria has seen for the last 10 years!”

“Oh, of course,” remembered Twilight, “that’s this afternoon! We shouldn’t miss that; I hear it's lined up to be a pretty special event!”

As a group, the Mane 6 gathered together to go to the main square to find the best location for viewing the once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. With the familiar faces of the group in the same place once again, they smiled as they passed familiar ponies along their walk through town, with the two halves of the Mane 6 trying to find each other in the crowd. At that moment, the afternoon sun began to wane in brightness as the citizens of Ponyville piled into the town square & found more permanent viewing spots. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie made their way through the bustling crowd, joining Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity who had already staked out a perfect spot to watch the eclipse.

Rainbow Dash was zipping around excitedly. "I've been looking forward to this all week! The best part of being a weather pony is having the inside scoop on these celestial events; I knew EXACTLY when it was going to happen at least 2 weeks out."

Applejack adjusted her hat, looking up at the sky. "Sure is somethin'. I’d reckon I ain't seen the whole town this excited since cider season."

Rarity, with her usual flair, had set up a small picnic with elegantly arranged snacks. "Darlings, I do hope this eclipse lives up to the immense hype it has built up. It would be such a waste if it turned out to be... well, anything less than spectacular."

Twilight smiled at her friends, "Don’t worry, girls, I have read more than one account from some ancient wiseponies and mages; they all say that events like this are unbelievably transformative…they even say that they help to prophecy major cosmic changes, but those could just be stories…."

The sky began to darken as the moon slowly moved to cover the sun. The ponies around them started to murmur in awe, the atmosphere filled with a deep sense of anticipation. Just as the eclipse reached its peak, a series of bright green and red lights flashed across the sky, casting an eerie glow over the crowd.

"What in tarnation is that?" Applejack exclaimed, her eyes widened with surprise & shock.

Fluttershy cowered slightly behind Twilight, her voice trembling. "I-Is that supposed to happen during an eclipse?"

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she focused on the lights. "No, it’s not. This feels... magical, but not in a way I recognize. I have never come across any accounts of something like this in all my years of study…"

Pinkie Pie's usually bubbly demeanor seemed to shift as she tilted her head, pondering the lights. "Maybe it's a party in the sky! Although, it does feel a bit... strange." She looked behind her at her tail, “Uh oh, my tail just twitched, that’s not a good sign…”

Rarity gasped, clutching her wide-brimmed sun hat. "Oh dear, I do hope it isn't something dangerous. The colors are quite astounding but rather unsettling."

“What the everloving FUCK was that,” screamed Rainbow Dash.

“Language!!” shouted Twilight.

“Sorry, but I have no idea what that was,” apologized Dash. She flew up a bit higher to get a better look. "I don't know about you guys, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Those lights don't look like anything the weather team planned."

“Well, of course it isn’t something from the weather team, darling!” shouted Rarity, “It’s happening in the sky, not in the clouds, don’t be a dunce!”

The lights began to swirl, forming strange, almost runic patterns before vanishing with a sickly blue flash. The sky returned to its darkened state, the moon still casting its shadow over the sun.

Twilight turned to her friends, concern etched on her face. "We need to figure out what that was. It could be a sign of something important—maybe even a new existential threat to Equestria."

Applejack nodded firmly. "Alright, sugarcube. Don’t fret, now, ya here. We'll stick together and get to the bottom of this. Ain't nothin' we can't handle if’n we stay together as a team."

“Cut out the bullcrap,” said Rainbow Dash, we just need to follow the direction of the lights, maybe we can follow it to the pony that did this.”

“Christ,” interjected Rarity, “don’t you get it, it’s probably not even a pony that did this, right Twilight.”

Twilight snapped back to the conversation after being lost in thought for a moment, “Right,” she assured, “it’s probably just something easily explainable by science, I’ll do the research on it.”

Even though she seemed confident in her answer, her facial expression belied her definitive tone.

The other ponies in the crowd looked concerned as well; while problems of this sort and magnitude were normal for the Mane 6, the rest of the townsponies truly hoped that this was some odd magnetic phenomenon that would not yield any changes to their lives. However, as the calm of a nice summer afternoon once again returned to the crowd, the Mane 6 were on guard.