Chapter 9
Sunset wouldn’t ever say it to Celestia’s face but unlike the princess of the sun Luna was a true artist. During the day the pegasi manipulated the clouds across Equestria and Celestia brought the shinning orb to the peak of the blue sky. But the blue sky was not art; Celestia did not create it, because it was merely a reflection of the atmosphere. Twilight could explain the exact scientific facts on why the sky was blue. The blue sky was a veil that hid the true beauty of the space beyond their planet, space unobtainable by pony kind.
Luna was the artistic sister of the two. The rising of the glowing orb would cast away the infinite blue sky. It would illuminate the perfect void of darkness surrounding all of creation. But unlike the blue sky that held only clouds in reach of pegasi, the black void glowed with millions of tiny white dots arranged in various shapes, sizes, patterns, and conjoined in clusters. They were the envy of those bound to the ground and the limits of the sky.
Sunset missed the human world when she looked at the sky. Though the sight of the rising moon and the arrival of the stars came with an air of magical energy it was unexplored and it’s sight was unobtainable. The human world had crafted the technology to see into the vastness of space and even travel there. Ponies were still far from those technological feats.
But this is where being an advisor to a princess of Equestria had its perks. Since part of the castle had been destroyed in the aftermath of the Cutie Mark Crusaders lab experiments Twilight decided some renovating was required. An observatory, similar to the one she had back in Canterlot, was built on the east wing of the palace in order to further Twilight’s astrological work. She had been neglecting this part of her life ever since she became a princess. Royal duties had been tedium and studying the magical puzzle box had also consumed most of her time.
Sunset, Trixie, and Twilight all sat in the open dome observatory taking turns on the large telescope. While Sunset would have preferred a more romantic evening with Twilight stargazing two variables prevent this: Twilight’s thirst for knowledge, and Trixie.
“Sunset! My quill broke!” Twilight gasped.
Sunset levitated a new quill over to the purple mare. This was probably her seventh one. Twilight had been scribbling down notes as such a furious pace there were waifs of steam rising from the paper.
Trixie giggled. “My my Sparkle. Careful or you’ll get a horn cramp.”
“To late for that.” Twilight winced and kept writing with her magic.
Trixie gawked and stared at the purple princess with a look of bemusement. “Is she always like this?” She motioned to Twilight.
Sunset sighed. “You have no idea. But then again I can’t blame her. Our knowledge of space is limited and the farthest any pony has gone has been the moon.”
Trixie looked up at the night sky and the glimmering stars it contained. “Does she think all this studying will get pony kind into the stars any quicker?”
“No, but it keeps her from burning the town down.” Sunset stifled a laugh.
“You know I can still hear you two!” Twilight grumbled but didn’t take her eyes off the telescope or cease her scribbling.
Both mares laughed at Twilight. In truth they hadn’t gotten one look through the telescope. Twilight had been hogging it the entire time. Sunset was only there to assist Twilight and Trixie was there… for reasons Sunset didn’t trust. Trixie exuded the same behavior that boys did when they flirted with girls back at Canterlot High. Sunset however would only say something if Trixie crossed the line. For now though she had to help emphasize peaceful coexistence.
“Sunset?” Trixie brought Sunset out of her thoughts and the mare looked up with a questioning look.
“Huh?”
“What’s this about a Lunar Celebration coming up?”
Sunset tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “We’ll it’s a new event made by Princess Luna. Since we have the Summer Sun Celebration signifying the beginning of the summer solstice, it’s only appropriate we have a Lunar Celebration for the winter solstice.”
“Isn’t that the point of Nightmare Night?” Trixie asked.
Sunset waved a hoof. “That’s more of a party than anything else. This was actually Princess Celestia’s idea to have the celebration in order to maintain balance between them.”
Trixie looked up to the night sky and smiled. “That’s actually kind of sweet when you think about it.” Then she pouted. “Trixie wants a holiday made for her.”
Sunset shot her a ‘are you joking look’. “Um Trixie, neither Princess Twilight or Cadence have holidays made for them.”
“Actually not true.” Twilight said, still not pulling her eyes away from the telescope. “Since Cadence is the Princess of love most ponies tie her to Hearts and Hooves Day.”
“Okay so Twilight is the only one without a holiday.” Sunset restated.
Trixie gawked. “Really? After saving Equestria ten times you still don’t have a holiday?”
Twilight giggled. “I really don’t mind. I’d feel bad if ponies went out of their way to celebrate me. Besides we’ve been rewarded for our heroism. Like when we defeated Discord we received a big award ceremony.”
“More like the ending to Star Wars episode four from the way you described it to me Twi.” Sunset chuckled.
Both Twilight and Trixie turned to Sunset. “What’s Star Wars?”
“It’s a movie series from the human world.” Sunset explained. “It’s a shame that there isn’t a counterpart of it here in Equestria. Oh! That reminds me the new one is coming out this Christmas! I’ll have to return back to see it!”
The two mares continued to stare at her. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “So why are the stars at war?”
Sunset shook her head. “No, no don’t take the title literally. It’s about a young farm boy going on a journey to fight an evil empire. Along the way he meets unlikely allies, rescues a princess, and learns about the mysterious power he has called the force.”
They still looked at her in confusion. Sunset waved a hoof. “Look, it’s better if I show them to you. Remind me to go back to the human world and buy a laptop and the movies and I’ll show them. I’m pretty sure you would like them.”
“Does it have monsters?” Trixie asked.
“Yes.”
“Violence?”
“Yes.”
“Feats of magical power?”
“Technically the force isn’t considered magic but in a way yes.”
“Can we see it now?” Trixie’s eyes sparkled.
“No.” Sunset deadpanned. “I have to go to the human world to get that stuff.”
“Can you go now?”
“Trixie, I’m not going there right now.” Sunset deadpanned again.”
“Aw.” Trixie pouted.
Twilight giggled at the two and went back to looking at the telescope. While the aspect of watching a movie that took place in space was intriguing it didn’t stop her desire for knowledge in the here and now. When she peered back through the telescope however something caught her eye. “Huh… that can’t be right.”
“What is it Twilight?” Sunset asked, getting up from her seat, and walking over to her marefriend.
“The Anmareda galaxy… I can’t see it.” Twilight swiveled in the chair left and right in an attempt to adjust the massive telescope.
Sunset cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘can’t see it’? Do you have the right setting?”
Twilight grabbed a stack of notes with her magic and levitated them in front of her. Her eyes darted back and forth between the console and the papers. “The coordinates are exact and I just calibrated the lens before we started. It’s just gone!”
“Here let me look.” Sunset leaned over Twilight and peered into the scope. Ahead of her in the vast amount of space was darkness. No stars or planets, no swirling vortex with a bright spot at the center. Anmareda was not there, there was just black space. “Did they forget to pay their electric bill?”
Twilight pushed Sunset out of the way and looked again. “This isn’t funny Sunset, this is serious! A galaxy doesn’t just disappear like that!”
“What about the fourteen dwarf galaxies around it?”
Twilight pulled up her notes and magically switched the lens to pull back. “M32, M110, MGC 185, MGC 147…” She went off the list on her notes and turned the telescope pinpointing each on. After listing all fourteen she sat back in her chair. “They’re all there… that doesn’t make sense.”
“AAAAH!” Trixie screamed. Twilight and Sunset snapped to attention at the mare and saw she had backed up.
“Trixie what’s wrong?” Twilight hopped out of the chair and walked over to the terrified mare. Trixie was staring up at the upper wall of the observatory, right where the wall and dome ceiling meet.
“It’s looking at me.” Trixie stuttered and she was visibly trembling. Twilight raised an eyebrow and followed Trixie’s gaze. Surrounding the dome were crystal pillars that led up to the ceiling, atop each pillar were stone pegasus statues. Each was positioned to look up at the dome and night sky as if they were flying toward it.
“The statues aren’t looking at you Trixie. What are you-“ Trixie grabbed Twilight’s face with one hoof and pulled it against hers. She pointed to the statue above the door. It was looking at them.
Twilight felt a shiver go up her spine but she ignored it. “It’s probably always been like that. It’s right over the door way so it was probably designed differently than the others.”
Trixie released Twilight’s head and shook her own. “N-no. It was like the others, then the next moment it wasn’t.”
“That’s impossible, everypony knows statues can’t move. Well not unless it’s Discord moving it.” Twilight waved a hoof dismissing the notion of a moving statue.
Sunset got down from the observatory and peered at the statue. “So what? You blinked and it just moved?”
“Yes!” Trixie yelled. “One moment looking at it, blink, and now it’s staring at me.”
“Alright Trixie I’ll humor you.” Twilight giggled and patted the mare’s head. “On three all of us will blink. The statue won’t move and you’ll just see your eyes have been playing tricks on you.”
“It moved I swear!” Trixie pleaded.
“Let’s see, okay, on three.” Twilight refocused her gaze on the statue. “One, two, three blink.” All three of the mares staring at the statue blinked. They just let their eyes fall and open naturally like they would without thinking about it.
Both Sunset and Trixie screamed. The statue was on the ground in front of the door, staring at them. In that instant it had moved from it’s position high on the pedestal and was now on the ground. The other statues atop of the pillars had also moved and were now looking at them.
Twilight however only had a look of curiosity on her face. “Huh… alright Discord I know it’s you. Come out.” Twilight called out to the air but received no response. She looked back at the angels and they were all on the ground now. She jumped back. “U-um… seriously Discord this kind of creepy.”
“T-Twilight.” Sunset stammered. “Discord isn’t in Ponyville. Fluttershy said that she was going with him to Canterlot to visit the royal gardens.”
Twilight’s ears drew back as a look of horror spread across their face. “Then… what are they?”
Blink.
All three mares screamed as the statues moved closer. The normal pegasi were now on their hind legs, with fangs for teeth and wide stone eyes. Above them the sound of metal shrieking rung in their ears and Sunset looked up to see the dome closing.
“The ceiling is closing up! H-how?”
“I think they’re doing it.” Trixie pointed to one of the statues that had its hoof pointed towards the ceiling. Light from the outside dissipated as the dome closed up and the statues became shrouded in darkness. Twilight quickly activated a light spell from her horn and the two mares followed suite.
The dome sealed with a bang and the statues had practically jumped from across to the room. The three backed up to the telescope shrieking. Twilight charged her horn and shot a beam of magical energy at the lead statue but it was absorbed like an object falling into water.
“Don’t blink girls.” Twilight said with a shaky breath.
“What are we going to do?” Trixie. “Both of you can teleport right?”
Sunset gulped and felt her eyes strain as she glared at the pegasi statues infront of her. “I need to see where I’m going in order to teleport.”
“I need deep concentration to teleport myself plus you two without seeing where I’m going.” Twilight added.
Trixie gulped. “My eyes hurt.”
“Don’t blink.” Twilight said forcing her eyes to stay open. “They don’t move as long as we can see them!”
Twilight’s horn flickered for a moment. “Huh?” Then Sunset and Trixie’s flickered as well.
“What’s going on?” Trixie shrieked and clung to Twilight.
Sunset was too terrified and too focused on the pegasi to glare at Trixie. She felt a pit form in her stomach and her whole body visibly shook. She was afraid. All of them were. It wasn’t the creepy fact of stone statues coming to life that made her afraid, no, it was the unknown of what the statues would do to them when they got close. The trio’s horns flickered again and the statues moved again through the dark. “Their turning off our magic!?” She shouted making it both a question and a statement of disbelief. This was answered by Trixie’s horn going out.
“Aah! Why!” The blue mare strained to create a spark from her horn but there was nothing. Her magic wasn’t responding to her.
“This is impossible, this is impossible.” Twilight repeated, her chest heaved up and down as she pressed up against the telescope. “Statues can’t move. They can’t close domes. They can’t shut off magic! Some pony explain what the buck is going on!” She shouted.
Sunset put herself between Twilight and Trixie and charged her horn. It kept flickering but she forced using her will power to keep it aglow. “Get back, what ever you things are! What do you want anyway!?”
The statues didn’t respond and only stared, moving ever so closer with each flicker of the two remaining horns. Sweat tricked down Sunset’s forehead and she reared up on her hind legs, trying to look intimidating but also trying to put more space between herself and the statues. However these were not changelings and showed no signs of fear.
Twilight’s horn went out. “N-no!” She shouted. “Alicorn magic! How can they stop alicorn magic? They’re just standing there!”
Sunset’s horn was the only source of dying light and she forced it to keep going. She could feel the magic slipping from her horn as the light faded. She didn’t know what would happen when it went out but she didn’t want to find out. They had no options, no way of escape. They were cut off from the exit and the outside. Sunset did all she could do, all any pony would do out of desperation.
She shrieked. “Somepony help!”
Her light went out.
She couldn’t see anything and neither could the other two. She tried desperately to get her magic going but there was nothing, no response. Her neck tingled as something breathed against it. Whatever the statues were doing they were right on top of them. She could feel them all around them. She back up against Twilight and Trixie and all three of them huddled and shrieked.
There was a loud groaning sound and a thunk.
“Phew! Now that was a close one!” A male voice called out.
Sunset opened her eyes and light flooded her vision. She blinked a couple times as her eyes adjusted. “Um… are we dead?”
“Dead? Ha! No far from it!”
Twilight and Trixie opened their eyes as well and all three looked around them. They were in a large room, with sleek steel floors, round things in a row on the catwalks above them with a tall ceiling that spun at the center. In the middle was a cylindrical tube that came down from the ceiling into an octagonal dash board with lights and switches. A stallion poked his head out from behind the console. He had a brown spikey mane and a light brown coat. He fancied a green tie around his neck, which actually complimented his deep blue eyes. Sunset swore she saw something in those eyes; stories, fire, and age.
“Hello Mrs. Shimmer! Lovely to see you again.” The stallion said.
“D-doctor?!” Sunset stammered. The two mares next to her gave her questioning looks.
“You know this pony Sunset?” Twilight whispered.
Before she could answer Trixie stomped her hoof on the ground. “Who are you? What the buck were those things?! And where in Tartarus are we?!” She shouted and pointed an accusatory hoof at the pony Sunset addressed as the Doctor.
“You don’t know me? But I just saw you a couple days ago unless… ooh right you aren’t there yet.” The Doctor flipped a switch on the console and the groaning sound started up again. “I’m the Doctor.”
“Doctor who?” Twilight asked.
“Just the Doctor.” He smiled, it was one of those annoying smiles somepony gives when they think they are being clever. “Those things I just saved you from, which by the way you haven’t thanked me for yet, were weeping pegasi. Creatures from the beyond that feed off potential energy.”
Trixie felt her stomach lurch. “So they wanted to… eat us?”
The Doctor stifled a laugh and danced around the console flicking more switches. He took a hammer and smashed it against a cushion causing the room to buckle. “Not exactly, they throw sentient beings back in time and feed off the energy that is left behind. This forces the being that time traveled to live out the rest of their life in the past but still be born in the future creating a perpetual cycle for the pegasi to feed off of.”
Trixie gave him a deadpanned stare. “Time travel? That’s impossible.”
Both Twilight and Sunset coughed. “Actually…” They both said. Twilight then looked to Sunset. “Wait… I was talking about the spell in the Canterlot archives. What were you referring to?”
Sunset motioned to the Doctor with a hoof. “I’ve met him before.”
“When?”
“Back during the water purification incident. Which reminds me, where’s-“
“I’ve got muffins!” Sunset was cut off by a squeaky yet adorably familiar voice come from down the stairs of the room. Derpy flew up with holding a tray of steaming hot muffins. “I made blueberry, apple cinnamon, banana nut, and chocolate!”
The Doctor turned from the console to face them and grabbed a muffin. “Thank you Derpy.” He took a bite and smiled. “Ah, perfect as always.”
Derpy blushed and giggled. “Thanks Doctor.” She held the tray out to the three mares. Sunset took a muffin but Trixie and Twilight just stared at the two ponies.
“What is going on?” Twilight said. “Thank you for saving us by the way, but why were those things attacking us? How did you know to come and save us? None of this makes sense!”
“We’ll you see Mrs. Sparkle, it’s all very wibbly wobbly – timey wimey.” The Doctor finished his muffin. He spun around and flicked more switches on the console. “Time travel is very complicated. I only knew because you told me you were in danger.”
Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “But I’ve never even spoken to you before! I’ve seen you around Ponyville but that’s it.”
“Ah, well you haven’t told me yet. But you will tell me in the future. Well your future, my past, again very wibbly wobbly time travel is.” The Doctor pulled a lever down and the room stopped groaning. “Don’t worry it will all make sense later. As for why the weeping pegasi were attacking you I’m not entirely sure but I’m assuming it has something to do with this.” He trotted over to the twin doors of the room and swung them open.
The three mares stepped over to the doors and gazed out in wonder at the sight before them. The cosmos completely unfolded in brilliant colors of stardust and nebulas spread across the vastness of space. Twilight’s jaw practically dropped. “W-whaaa h-how?”
The Doctor smirked and leaned against the railing off to the side of the door. “We’re currently sitting on the edge of your galaxy at least 6 billion miles from your home of Equestria.”
“I-I… n-no that’s not possible. We’ve only been in here at the most five minutes… 6 billion miles in that time doesn’t add up.” She stammered in disbelief.
“Well of course it adds up, this ship travels in time and space! I swear this was much easier when we first met.” He shook his head.
“But we haven’t met yet!” Twilight broke her gaze from the expanse of space and spat with a hint of mild annoyance.
“Again, you haven’t met me but I’ve met you. It’ll make sense when it happens. Which gives me faith we’ll get through this catastrophe.” He pointed out to space. “See what’s missing?”
Sunset had kept her gaze locked on the space ahead of them and had already taken notice. “The Anmareda galaxy is missing.”
“Precisely, and you’re here to figure out why. A galaxy doesn’t just go missing without a trace.” The Doctor rubbed his chin and walked back over to the console.
“Why us exactly?” Twilight asked.
“We’ll while I am incredibly clever on my own I lack that one little thing you three have, magic.” He pointed to his forehead showing no sign of a horn. “I am an earth pony as you see. Which by the way is not fair!” He whined and pouted. “I’m an earth pony and I have a brown coat! For once, it’s not much to ask, I would love to be a unicorn! Also ginger!”
Derpy rested a hoof on his head and smiled. “I think you look fine just the way you are Doctor.”
The Doctor returned the smile. “Thank you miss Hooves. Now then where was I? Ah yes, you three can use magic and, while all ponies have some type of magic inside them, unicorns have the most accessible form of it.”
“Ha.” Trixie laughed and tilted her head upwards. “It seems the Great and Powerful Trixie’s reputation precedes her!”
“Oh excellent!” The Doctor clopped his hoof on the floor. “Where can I find her?”
Trixie gawked and growled. “No I’m the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
“Oh, huh, why talk in the third person then? Pretty egocentric if you ask me.” The Doctor scoffed.
The show mare stammered and stomped her hoof on the ground. “Hey!”
Twilight stifled a giggle. “Calm down Trixie.” She then focused her gaze back on the Doctor. “So there are weeping pegasi, a missing galaxy, and you’re a pony that has a time traveling space ship.”
“Pretty much.”
Twilight stared at the Doctor then raised a hoof to her head. “…. My head hurts.”
“Oh Mrs. Sparkle we’re just getting started.” The Doctor flicked another switch on the console and the TARDIS rumbled to life again.
“Why do you keep calling me Mrs?”
The Doctor looked to her then Sunset then gave the pair an awkward smile. “Ehehe, sorry, time travel, spoilers.”
To Be Continued