Once every 500 years, the stars in the night sky begin to enter the end phases of their lives, causing their brightness to diminish and eventually fade away. The last part of their celestial life cycle is to “fall” from the sky, creating a natural phenomenon called a shooting star to be seen streaking across the sky.
A purple aura encased the history book, gently levitating it back into the bookshelf where it belonged. The purple unicorn paced back and forth across the room, a look of confusion upon her face. “Why would Luna just let the stars fall like that? Where do they even go? Oh Celestia this just doesn’t make sense!” Twilight though aloud. She sat back down, a loud grunt escaping from her lips in the process. She placed her head down in her hooves, letting out a long, loud sigh as she suddenly heard a gentle knock at her door.
Twilight stood and magically opened the door, allowing her to see Fluttershy standing there. “Oh, hi twilight…” she said softly, looking down towards the ground. “I-I heard you talking as I was walking by coming back from the market… It-it sounded like you were frustrated, and I wanted to come make sure that you were alright…” She began to poke the ground with her hoof, a slight blush in her cheeks.
Twilight smiled warmly at her, motioning for her to come inside as she retrieved the book once again. “I got a letter earlier from the princess, asking me to put together a Festival of sorts, kind of like the one we all did back in the Crystal Empire. She also sent me this book with a section marked out for me to read. It spoke of stars falling from the sky as they die, creating almost what seems to be a light show in the sky. None of it makes sense though!” She opened the book back up to a page with a very old image, showing a group of ponies looking into a telescope, a streak seen across the background of the image.
As twilight spoke, Fluttershy examined the page, reading what little words were there describing the image. “It-It sounds… scary” the timid Pegasus said as she sat on the ground, covering her face with her hooves. “The stars belong up in the sky, not falling down to where all of us ponies live. What if… what if one lands in Ponyville! Or Canterlot! Oh my… this can’t be good!” she said as her breathing became slightly more rapid, nervousness becoming clear as she began to shake slightly.
“It’s ok Fluttershy, I promise you that nothing bad like that is going to happen. From everything I’ve gathered, the stars aren’t actually falling to earth, they are just passing by a little closer than they usually do. I just wish I could find out more about this whole thing before I plan out an entire celebration for it.” Twilight said as she moved close to her friend, trying to comfort her the best that she can. She smiled softly at her friend, gently nudging her so that she would look up at her. “Besides, you know that Luna would never let something of her own creation cause harm to her subjects.”
Fluttershy let out a tiny squeak as she felt the nudge, looking up at twilight as she spoke, gently nodding in agreement. “I-I know Twilight, it will all be… nice.” She looked over towards the door, slowly making her way towards it. “I should… probably be going. I think I hear Angel Bunny calling me!” suddenly, she darted through the doorway, leaving a very confused Twilight to continue sitting and thinking about what to do.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I seem to be having some trouble comprehending this whole shooting star phenomenon. No matter how many books I look through, I can’t find any information on them at all. I know that you asked me to set this whole celebration up for the occasion, but I really need to know more about everything, so that I don’t mess something up. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Your Faithful Student
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight sighed, sitting down in the middle of the large, open library as Spike sent her letter to the princess. “Spike, what do you think I should do about this whole thing? On one hoof, I want to make this the best celebration that I possibly could, but on the other hoof, I feel completely clueless about this entire thing, and I’m not sure if I could do it! This whole thing is just so confusing!” Just as she finished her quick ramble, Spike burped, sending green fire and a letter flying into the air. The letter was soon enveloped in the aura of Twilights magic, unrolling so that it may be read.
My Faithful Student Twilight,
I can see where the confusion and frustration may stem from, and I shall do my best to explain. I am going to assume that you completed the books that I have sent to you, which tell the vast majority of what is actually known about the phenomenon. Not very much research has been done on this subject, seeing as it comes only once every 500 years, but nothing about it is dangerous in any way. The falling stars are symbolic of the beauty of life, and the life cycle. An old legend spoke of the stars having magical powers, having the ability to grant wishes to those who wish hard enough. I know that this may not exactly have been what you were expecting, but this is the extent of our knowledge on the matter. I hope that this has been of some assistance to you. I know that you can make this the greatest festival that anypony will ever see.
Yours Truly,
Princess Celestia
At the thought of magical power, Twilights face instantly lit up. She excitedly began jumping around the room, doing circles around a very confused Spike who just sat there and watched. When she came to a halt, she began frantically looking around the library. “Oh Celestia where is it! I can’t start planning without my…” she was interrupted as she noticed Spike holding up a long sheet of parchment and a quill. “Yea… those…” she said, turning bright red as she strolled over to the little dragon, pulling him into a hug. “Oh Spike, what would I ever do without you!”
Food from Pinkie and AJ
Music from Fluttershy and her bird orchestra
Skies cleared by Rainbow and her weather team
Decorations by Rarity
Spike continued to write everything that Twilight said, making a list that seemed to go on forever. She continued to spout out some of the most ridiculous ideas, but usually she seemed to know what she was doing, so he just continued to write. After what seemed like forever, the list was finally done. Spike wiped the sweat from his brow, a look of accomplishment upon his face. “So where should we start Twi?” he said, scanning the list one last time before she levitated it away from him.
“Well spike, I think first we should probably round up the girls. If this festival is going to be the best it can be, we’re going to need all the help we can get. Not to mention Celestia and Luna are counting on us!” She then used her magic to open the door of the library, taking off at a decent clip, spike holding on for dear life. She had a task to complete, and minimal time to take care of everything. This festival was going to be incredible, and everypony will be talking about it for years to come.
After spending what felt like hours running around Ponyville rounding up the girls, everypony sat quietly inside the library. Twilight stood above them all, with the list encased in her magical aura. “Everypony, you are probably curious as to why I have rounded you all up in such a hurry.” The rest nodded silently, watching Twilight as she paced in front of them. “If you have not heard, there is a big meteor shower coming in the next couple of days, and the princess herself has asked me to put together a festival of sorts. In order for this to be able to happen successfully, I am going to need everypony to help me out.” She looked out at her friends, who returned her gaze with nodding heads and large smiles. “Good. Let’s get started then shall we?”
Twilight stopped pacing as she began to skim the long list of what needed to be done, underlining certain things with a quill. “Alright, first things first, Rarity, I am going to need you to do your thing with decorations for the town. I saw what you did for the summer sun celebration, and there isn’t anypony else I would trust with this task.” She smiled down as the white unicorn stood up.
“That shall not be a problem darling. I promise that I will do my best to make this little town shine like the stars in the sky!” She sat back down, a look of concentration taking over her face as she began running through ideas in her head.
“That is exactly what I wanted to hear Rarity. I’m sure that everything will come together nicely,” Twilight said, looking back down at her list. “Hmm, next, Applejack. I’m going to need you and your family to come up with some amazing treats for the festival. If it would be possible, maybe even make them themed to the event?” She looked up from her list to see Applejack smiling up at her.
“Of course ah can sugarcube! Delicious star themed treats shouldn’t be hard at all. I’ll get granny smith to help with ideas, and have mah brother and Applebloom help the actual making of the treats!” A look of pure satisfaction came across the farm ponies face as she finished her statement.
“Great AJ!” The purple unicorn then looked down at Fluttershy, who was slowly inching her way towards the back of the group, trying to go unseen. “Fluttershy! I’m going to need your orchestra of birds to perform again during the actual meteor shower! We already have somepony for the festivities themselves, but some quiet, beautiful background music would be absolutely amazing! Do you think that your birds would be up for it?”
The shy Pegasus looked down towards the ground, gently poking it with her hoof. “I…I think that they could be up for it… I’ll just have to go and talk to them. I’m certain that they will help out though,” She said softly, barely audible to anyone as a tiny smile, accompanied by a slight red blush overtook her face.
Suddenly, seemingly out of midair, the pink party pony began jumping around in circles around Twilight. “What about me! What about me!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly. “What do I get to do! I could throw a giant party for the stars! NO! A giant party for EVERYPONY!” She began jumping higher and higher, almost hitting her head off a low bookshelf. Pinkie continued to jump around in circles, spouting out random ideas as everypony else just sat and watched her.
Eventually Twilight began calling out her name, quietly at first. “Pinkie… Pinkie! PINKIE!” Pinkie finally stopped and looked at her, smiling brightly. “Thank you. Now that you have… calmed down a bit. I need you to create, then post fliers all around Ponyville. Some ponies know about what is getting ready to happen, but most don’t. I need you to go out there and spread the word, like only Pinkie Pie can do! Think you’re up to the challenge?”
“Are you kidding?! I was born ready Twi! I could get everypony in Ponyville excited in no time!” She exclaimed, a huge smile filling her face.
“Well good, I’m glad that you’re up to the task! Now, last but not least, Rainbow Dash! I am going to need you to gather up a few other pegasi and keep the skies clear for the main event. Nothing really out of the ordinary for you.” She smiled at Rainbow, who was lazily floating around the room on a cloud she somehow managed to bring inside.
“Yea, clouds, sky, clear. Got it,” She said, a yawn creeping its way from the cyan Pegasus’ mouth as she stretched out her wings.
“Rainbow, this is important! You have to be on top of your game for this! If there is even one cloud in the sky, the entire thing will be ruined!” A worried expression crept upon Twilights face, her pacing resuming as she thought.
“Twi, I promise you, I got this. Nothing is going to be ruined. You have my word! Besides, we both know that I could clear the sky on my own in ten seconds flat.” She finished her statement with a wink, bucking the cloud that was lazily hanging around now, causing it to dissipate into nothing.
Twilight continued to pace back and forth, lost in her own thoughts of the other things that she needed to accomplish, looking over her list over and over. Her friends sat there and watched, wondering what they should do. Eventually, she snapped back to reality, looking out at her friends. “Well everypony, we have a huge task at hand. Lets not waste any more time than we already have, and lets get this festival moving!” She smiled brightly, her horn casting a magical aura over the entire room, opening the door as her and all her friends made their way from the library.
Early the next morning, Twilight yelled upstairs to Spike. “Spike! Wake up! Its time to go check on all of the preparations out in town!” The little dragon rolled over, mumbling incoherently as he attempted to pull the blanket over his head.
“Five more minutes Twi, it’s Friday…”
“Exactly Spike! The festival is tomorrow, and there is still so much that needs to be done in order for it to go off as planned!” She exclaimed, levitating the blanket off Spike, causing him to cover his eyes as the bright morning light encased the entire room. She ran off out of the room, leaving spike to get himself ready for the day. Shortly after, the smell of a fresh, home cooked breakfast wafted into the room, causing the little dragons stomach to rumble loudly. “That smells amazing! I should go see what she’s making!” he thought to himself as he ran down to the kitchen.
“Twi! What are you cooking that smells so.. so amazing!” Drool fell from his lips as he looked around, trying to find the source of the delectable smell that was driving him crazy. Twilight seemed to ignore him, continuing to cook as she was looking through yet another history book. “Figures you would be reading..” He mumbled under his breath, his eyes still scanning for the food. His eyes finally met with the frying pan on the stove, fresh eggs being cooked up. Soon after, the sound of a waffle machine dinging drew his attention to a stack of waffles, steaming slightly. His mouth dropped open, his body bringing him to the table seemingly of its own accord.
“Wow spike, you got down here quickly.” She let out a small laugh as she levitated two plates to the table. “Don’t forget, we have a big day ahead of us. We have to go make sure everything is coming along as planned, as well as taking care of a few things ourselves for the festival.” Twilight walked over to the table, levitating the food all onto both their plates. Spike hungrily started shoving food into his mouth as Twilight ate at a slower pace, laughing at the dragons eating habits.
The two ate in silence as Twilight thought about the day that was unfolding in front of them. After they finished, the pair hurried out the door, wanting to begin their rounds as quickly as possible. Twilight's nerves were kicking into full overdrive as they left the library, heading towards the town center. Not wanting to waste any valuable time, Twilight placed Spike on her back, allowing her to run at a much quicker pace, finally slowing once they reached their destination. Spike jumped off her back, both of their heads turning every which way as they see a very noticeable change in the town square. Beautiful white stars hung from the light posts, gently illuminated by a magical glow. The poles were also wrapped in soft white lights, giving the appearance of what could be perceived as fireflies sitting still on them. In front of the office, a small stage had been constructed, which too had lights around the entire perimeter of it. A small skirt encased the rest, hiding anything that could be underneath.
As Twilight continued to wander, she suddenly heard somepony talking quite fast and loud. As she turned the corner, she spotted a bouncing Pinkie Pie, happily going about through the town, telling any and everypony that she came in contact with about the festival, handing them brightly colored flyers as she moved onto the next. She smiled as she trotted over towards the excited pony. “Pinkie Pie! Over here!” She yelled as she got closer to her.
Pinkie, hearing her name, perked up and smiled as she saw Twilight coming towards her. “Oh hey Twilight! What’s up?! Beautiful day out today huh?! Look at the fliers I made last night!” She said excitedly, holding out a flier for Twilight to see. “I decided that using a lot of color would be a great idea, seeing as everpony loves colors! But then I thought what if there’s too much color! So I changed it, and took some of it away. Then it just didn’t look right, so I added more colors and changed the design!” She finished, finally pausing for a brief moment to take a breath, which Twilight capitalized on.
“Pinkie, they look amazing, and judging from how you have been presenting everything, everypony seems to be pretty excited about everything. It also helps that Rarity has been obviously hard at work with all the decorations!” She began looking around again, handing Pinkie the flier back as she noticed Rarity off in the distance. She smiled warmly at her friend, noticing a new group of ponies behind her now. “Hey Pinkie, I have to run! I have a ton of preperations to take care of still, but keep up the good work! There’s still plenty of ponies who need to be informed!” She smiled again, pointing to the group who appeared behind them, motioning for Pinkie to show them what’s going on. She then turned and headed off towards where she saw Rarity working, finding her pretty quickly.
Rarity, engrossed in her work didn’t even notice Twilight coming towards her from off in the distance. “No, no, no, oh heavens no. These just will not do!” She continued to go through different fabrics, looking for the perfect color to overlook the main entrance into the center of town. After much more searching, she finally came across a color that seemed fit to her, levitating it over the entrance, creating a spectacular greyish blue banner. As she looked up, she noticed her friend watching carefully, seemingly bewildered by the decorations. “Oh Twilight! I didn’t see you there! What brings you around here darling?”
“I’m just… going around, working on preperations for everything, seeing how everypony was coming along. These decorations look absolutely amazing Rarity!” She smiled, looking all around at the new decorations all around the town center. One thing in particular caught her eye, causing Twilight to go investigate. “Hey, what is this big star supposed to be? It’s so much different from all of the others. Is there something special about it?” She questioned as her eyes scanned the large star.
“Oh Twilight, have you not been reading up on this whole meteor shower thing? It is said that they hold magical powers, and that if ponies wish on them, their wishes will come true! There is no actual magic however, but the idea behind this large star is to provide a motivation factor to everypony to make a wish,” She finished, an accomplished look on her face as she polishes a small part of the shiny star. “It’s absolutely fabulous, is it not?”
A look of confusion enveloped Twilights face momentarily, being quickly replaced by a large smile. “I love it! I could talk to the princess about it, and maybe even have her tell everypony exactly what it is, and what it’s for! You’re a genius Rarity!” She looked around again excitedly, eying all of the different decorations. “I have a lot of stuff I still need to do today, including talk to the princess now! I need to run! Keep up the great work Rarity!”
Twilight ran off, spike on her back again as she went about to take care of a few minor details for the festival. She stopped by Vinyl Scratch’s house, helping her bring some of her wubs down to the town center for the next day. She also went around to the different booths that were now being set up by some of the local ponies throughout the streets, making sure that everypony was ready for the next nights festivities. Everything was going perfectly, and Twilights long list was slowly coming to the end. As she continued to go around the streets, she heard the sound of birds singing a little ways off in the distance. “That sounds amazing!” she thought to herself as she slowly made her way towards the clearing she new Fluttershy used for practices. As she approached the clearing, she saw the birds all in a tree, accompanied by Fluttershy, who was leading them all through the different songs. As they finished, Twi finally approached them slowly, not wanting to disturb any of her birds like she did last time. “That sounded incredible everypony! You have really outdone yourself Fluttershy! Everypony will love this tomorrow night!” She said as she looked out at all the birds.
As Fluttershy landed softly on the ground in front of Twilight, a slight blush was easily seen on her cheeks as she smiled warmly. “You… you really mean it Twi? You really think everypony will like it?” She said nervously, lowering her head to hide her brightening cheeks. “We have been working so hard, and I even taught my birds a couple of new songs, which they have all picked up on quite quickly!”
“Fluttershy, if it sounds anything like it did as I was walking up, you will provide the soundtrack to the most memorable night everypony will ever have! Trust me on this.” Her face lit up brightly, a welcoming smile across it to assure Fluttershy of her sincerity. “Everything is going to be perfect, you have my word.”
The yellow Pegasus looked over at Twilight, a smile slowly finding its way back to her face as she blows her mane from in front of her eyes so she can see. “I trust you Twilight. I just get nervous when a big group of ponies is involved,” She said softly, almost to the point that she couldn’t be heard. She turned back towards her orchestra of birds, raising her hoof in the air as she took off from the ground gently. “I don’t mean to be rude, but we have some more practice to do before the sun goes down. You understand, right Twi?”
Twilight turned around, levitating Spike back onto her back as she began to head away from the clearing. “Of course! I still have a couple more things on my list to take care of anyways.” As she headed down the path back towards town, she noticed one lone cloud in the sky, a rainbow mane visible falling from the side of it. She ran ahead, calling out Rainbow Dash’s name as she got close. The Cyan Pegasus poked her head over the side of the cloud, looking down as she approached.
“Oh hey Twi, what brings you out here to my humble cloud castle?” She said with a laugh. “The skies are all clear, and they have been all day. Flitter and Cloudchaser have been doing a great job taking care of any little things that pop up, and anything they can’t handle, I take care of,” She said, spreading her wings and gliding down to where Twilight was standing. “I told you that I could handle keeping the skies clear!” A look of satisfaction came across Rainbows face as she landed next to Twilight. Off in the distance, the two purple pegasi could be seen having trouble with a rapidly growing rain cloud. “Ugh. Do I really have to do everything around here?! Sorry Twi, but I have to go take care of this before somepony gets hurt.” Rainbow Dash took off, leaving a cloud of dust as she sped off into the horizon towards the other two pegasi.
“Well that was… interesting to say the least.” She began heading back into town, a slight breeze picking up, causing the smell of delicious treats to waft in front of her nose. “Mmm, that smells delicious! That must be the Apples working on all those treats for everypony!” She ran off towards the Apple Family Farm, only to be greeted on the path by Applejack and her sister pulling their apple cart towards town. “Oh, Applejack! I was just heading towards the farm! We could smell everything from across town! Have you been working all day?”
The yellow earth pony came to a stop with her cart, wiping the sweat from her brow as she looked up at Twilight. “Sure have sugarcube. Ah been out there all day buckin’ apples with Big Mac, while Granny Smith has been hard at work cooking up the treats! We have everything from apple pie, to apple tarts, apple dumplings, apple jam, double apple turnovers, apple cake, and so much more!” She finished by pulling out a small sampler of all the different treats. “Care to try some?”
Spike began to drool at the sight of the treats, reaching out to grab one as Twilight used her magic to grab a piece of the pie. The two quickly ate all of the treats, a look of content coming across their faces as they finished. “Those were absolutely delicious AJ! If that’s just a taste of what will be there tomorrow, I can’t wait!”
“Well thank yah kindly sugarcube. If you don’t mind though, me and Applebloom gotta get this here cart into town and set up before dark! It ain’t easy when yah can’t see five feet in front of yah.” She said as she picked up the cart again, getting ready to start walking again.
“I apologize AJ, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I just wanted to check up and see how things were going. I’ll see you tomorrow!” She waved as the earth pony headed down the path towards the town center. She pulled out her list again, crossing off the last couple things on her list. She then smiled down at spike, putting him on her back as she started back towards town, the sun beginning to set on the horizon. The lights from the decorations illuminated their path all the way back to the library, where Twilight finally put spike down. The yawning dragon started towards his bed as Twilight spoke up. “Well spike, today was a pretty successful day if you ask me! Everything for the festival is coming along amazingly! We only have one last thing to do before we can call it a night! Spike, take a letter!”
Dear Princess Celestia,
After a long day of preparations and hard work, everything is coming together quite nicely. I spoke with Rarity, who came up with a brilliant idea that I wanted to run by you. Since the falling stars are fabled to hold magical abilities, she created a big star decoration, and put it right in the middle of town. She was telling me how it would be there to show everypony the magic these stars hold, and to give them a motivation to make a wish on the stars! I personally thought it was an amazing idea, but I wanted to get your opinion. All in all though, I think you will be quite pleased with what we have come up with.
Your Faithful Student
Twilight Sparkle.
