Play Among the Stars
In Equestria, emergencies seemed to crop up every few months or so. Whether it was an infestation of hungry insects, or an attempted coup by a power-mad yeti-thing, there was always no shortage of danger for the otherwise peaceful inhabitants of the kingdom. This was just something that the ponies of Equestria had learned to deal with. And for some reason, whenever something dangerous loomed on the horizon, the fate of Equestria always wound up resting on the shoulders of a certain six ponies. (Give or take a dragon and/or a former cult leader.)
It hadn’t been terribly long since the last disaster had been averted, either. The Storm King, despite his momentary conquest of Equestria, had been defeated. His minions had all, more or less, been reformed. His fleet of airships had been dismantled, or auctioned off to weirdos with lots of money. The only thing left to deal with was all of the now-unsellable merchandise that the King had left behind in the wake of his defeat.
That and the Staff of Sacanas. Nopony had really known what to do with that, so it just wound up getting locked away in a vault in Canterlot.
Staff aside, however, it had looked as if Equestria was safe once again. All of the ponies could go about their lives, throwing parties and learning lessons and just generally enjoying themselves. There didn’t seem to be any reason not to, right?
However, just one month after the Storm King’s fall…
Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to sleepless nights. Whether it was an extra-long study session, a stressful situation that was keeping her awake, or just getting absorbed in a good book, Twilight had a lot of reasons for not getting the recommended eight hours of sleep. The most common reason, however, was when Twilight indulged in her hobby of astrology. She could often spend hour after hour searching the stars, much to her friends’ concern.
Tonight, however, Twilight wasn’t looking at the stars for fun. She was focused intently on the telescope she’d set up on her castle’s balcony. A cup of hot cocoa and star chart had been set up on a small desk off to her side. Spike, ever the faithful assistant, had fallen asleep under the desk with his own cup of cocoa.
Twilight looked away from the telescope just long enough to glance at the star chart. Her eye quickly returned to her lens, and Twilight scanned the sky to double-check her findings. After a few seconds, the telescope was directed at the desired coordinates, and Twilight could see what she’d been looking for. Or, rather, she couldn’t see it.
A triumphant exclamation of discovery escaped Twilight, jolting Spike from his sleep. The young dragon jumped up, banging his head on the bottom of the desk and jostling Twilight’s now-cold cup of cocoa. As Spike crawled out from below the desk, Twilight offered a meek smile of apology in response.
“Sorry,” Twilight said with a chuckle. Her horn lit up as her cup of cocoa floated over to her. Twilight took a sip, grimaced, and set the cup aside. She’d have to reheat that later.
“Did you find your… thing?” Spike asked sleepily, rubbing the spot on his head he’d hit.
“Do you mean definitive proof of my theory?” Twilight asked smugly. She didn’t bother waiting for an answer. “Absolutely! Come over here and take a look!”
Spike, who would have much rather gone back into the castle to curl up in his bed, sighed and walked over to the telescope. He stood in front of it for a bit, waiting for Twilight to realize he was too short to reach the lens. With an awkward chuckle, Twilight realized her mistake and lowered the telescope down to Spike’s level. The young dragon closed one eye and looked through the lens at the night sky.
“Okay. Stars,” Spike said, unimpressed. “What am I supposed to be seeing here?”
Twilight magically shifted the telescope to the right slightly, pointing it at a particular patch of sky. Spike looked up from the telescope, one eyebrow raised. A shift in perspective hadn’t cleared things up for him.
“It’s not what you should be seeing,” Twilight said. “It’s what you aren’t seeing that’s important.”
“Is this, like, a riddle?” Spike asked tiredly. “I’m not good at riddles, Twilight. We both know that.”
Twilight frowned. It wasn’t unusual that Spike didn’t understand what she was talking about. He wasn’t as invested in astrology as her. On top of that, Twilight supposed she was being unnecessarily vague. Twilight walked over to the desk and pointed to a spot on the star chart. Spike watched her, eager to find out why he couldn’t just go back to bed.
“Monoceros,” Twilight said. Her hoof tapped a collection of stars on the chart which, if one squinted, might have looked vaguely like a unicorn. “It has four main stars and thirty-two Neigher/ Flame-Steed stars.”
Twilight raised her hoof off the map and pointed at the corresponding patch of sky. Spike looked up at where she was pointing, but all he could see were… well, stars. It didn’t look too unusual. Twilight felt herself beginning to grow frustrated. She emphatically pointed at a single star in particular.
“It should be right there!” Twilight said fervently. “Since last week, Monoceros has been reduced to one visible star!”
Spike dropped his unimpressed expression. He now looked simply confused. Twilight shifted the telescope and pointed again at the star chart.
“Next, Draco, the dragon.” Twilight saw Spike’s eyes light up a bit at the mention of this constellation’s name. She’d been banking on that. “Out of Draco’s fourteen main stars, more than half are just… gone! It’s like they were never even there!”
Spike looked up at the night sky again. Nothing looked out of place to him; there seemed to be just as many stars as before… Right? Spike had never paid much attention to the constellations. Was he imagining it, or did there seem to be more black spaces between the stars?
“… Maybe Princess Luna’s doing some spring cleaning?” Spike suggested.
“It’s autumn,” Twilight pointed out.
As much as she hated to admit it, however, Princess Luna doing something with the stars was the only explanation Twilight could come up with. If that was the case, though, wouldn’t Twilight have been told what was going on? She was Celestia’s former student and a princess in her own right. This seemed like something Twilight would be kept in on.
“Whatever’s going on, I’m sure the Princesses have already noticed.” Twilight began to roll up the star chart. She didn’t need it now that she’d confirmed her suspicions. “We should get the girls together and head to Canterlot tomorrow. The Princesses will know what to do.”
Spike frowned. “Disappearing stars and all of us headed to Canterlot? Whenever something like this happens, Twilight, we usually get pulled into some sort of adventure.”
“Well, hopefully nopony gets turned to stone this time,” Twilight said with a hopeful little smile. She was mostly joking.
Mostly.
When Twilight’s friends heard about the vanishing stars, none of them seemed to share her concerns. Everypony had more or less assumed that Princess Luna was doing something with them. The only pony who might have shared Twilight’s worries, Starlight, was off visiting Thorax in the Changeling Kingdom, and so Twilight was the only one worried about what this could all mean.
Despite not sharing Twilight’s fears, however, her friends had all been more than willing to head to Canterlot with her. It had been a month since they’d all last been to Canterlot, and while that trip hadn’t exactly started off well, it had ended on a pretty good note. Hopefully, they’d be able to enjoy this trip a bit more.
And so the six friends, plus Spike, boarded the first available train to Canterlot. They arrived in the early afternoon, and upon disembarking, made their way to Canterlot Castle.
The streets and sidewalks were full of ponies going about their daily lives. Just form looking, it was impossible to tell that Canterlot had been subject to a hostile takeover just a month ago. Ponies in Equestria tended to bounce back from tragedies pretty quickly. Maybe they were just conditioned to these kinds of disasters.
“What do you think they did with the Storm King’s chunks?” Rainbow Dash asked, much to the disgust of several of the others. Twilight couldn’t help thinking that Dash could’ve chosen a better word for that topic.
“I assume his… remains were placed in Tartarus,” Twilight said as they trotted along on the path to the castle, “Just in case anyone tried to somehow put him back together. Better safe than sorry, after all.”
“Oh, man,” Dash muttered. “I wish I could’ve grabbed something when he shattered.”
“Say what now?” Applejack asked flatly. Everypony stopped walking to give Rainbow Dash a confused look.
“What?” Dash asked defensively. “It’d make a good conversation piece! Besides, he got turned into stone; he wouldn’t mind!”
“It’d still be rather ghastly, darling,” Rarity said as they began walking again. The group rounded the corner, walking down the road that led directly to the palace. The entrance was in sight, guarded by a pair of stoic-looking pegasus stallions. “I wouldn’t want a stone eyeball or something sitting on my mantle, reminding me of that horrid Storm King.”
“Um, could we stop talking about keeping our enemies’ petrified remains?” Fluttershy had lowered her head, and looked as if she was going to start shaking any minute now.
Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was continuing to bounce around without a care in the world. “Ooh, but it’d make a great Nightmare Night decoration! You could put them all together and make a super spooky Storm King statue! Ooh!” Pinkie’s eyes lit up as a new idea occurred to her. “Or you could take the pieces he left behind and make a pair of tiny Storm Kings! I’m getting some great ideas for next Nightmare Night!”
By the time Pinkie had started talking about cobbling together the remains of their enemies into a sort of grisly monument, the group had reached the castle’s doors. Neither of the guards looked particularly comfortable with what they’d overheard Pinkie talking about. The two of them opened the doors to the castle and wordlessly allowed the group to enter.
Before too long, the doors to the throne room were open, as well. Celestia was seated in her throne, all set for receiving royal petitioners. When she saw she was being visited by Twilight and her friends, the small, polite smile on her face grew ever so slightly.
“Well, this is a pleasant surprise!” Celestia stepped down from her throne and lowered her head in a polite bow to Twilight. Twilight returned the gesture. When she lifted her head, she rushed to her mentor’s side for a brief hug.
“I wish I had known you would all be arriving,” Celestia said as she withdrew from Twilight. “I would have had refreshments prepared. What brings you all to Canterlot?”
Applejack briefly removed her had in a sign of respect to Celestia. “Actually, Princess, this ain’t a social call. Twilight’s got something she thought you’d be interested in.”
Celestia looked at Twilight, curious as to what could have brought the small group all the way to Canterlot. Celestia didn’t look particularly concerned; that made Twilight feel better. However, as Twilight began to lay out her findings regarding the vanishing stars, she saw a look of worry begin to form on Celestia’s face. When Twilight finished, Celestia had a hoof to her chin, her brow furrowed as she thought about Twilight’s discovery.
“It’s probably nothing. Princess Luna’s probably just… getting rid of some clutter, right?” Twilight smiled hopefully. It was a silly thing to hope for, but Twilight would have preferred it over something bad happening.
“My sister is able to move the stars,” Celestia mused, “but she cannot make them disappear.” The Princess looked over to Fluttershy. “Are you all certain that this is not a prank by Discord?”
All eyes were on Fluttershy, and the young pegasus flinched a bit at being put on the spot. She was a great deal less shy than she had been when Twilight first met her, but Fluttershy seemed like she’d always be at least a little bashful.
“Um… I don’t think Discord would do something like this,” Fluttershy said. “His pranks are usually a lot less, um… subtle.”
Everypony considered this and then nodded in agreement. Discord didn’t actually seem like he understood subtlety that well. Besides, just making a few stars disappear? That wasn’t much of a prank, even for someone like Discord. No one would notice the stars were missing except for eggheads like Twilight.
“If it isn’t Discord, then I must admit that I’m at a loss for what could be happening to the stars,” Celestia confessed. “I suppose Luna may know something, but we will have to wait for her to wake up. She’s evidently had a long night.”
While the princess chuckled politely, conversation broke out among the gathered ponies. While Twilight’s friends discussed what they could do while they waited for Luna to wake up, Twilight found herself beginning to wonder something. It had been about a month since she’d been to Canterlot last, and Twilight was a bit out of touch in one regard.
“Princess,” Twilight said, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you’d heard anything from Fizzlepop.”
Twilight’s friends’ conversations died down when they all heard her question. None of them had really gotten to know the Storm King’s former minion, but the initial spark of friendship had been there. More or less.
“Who’s Fizzlepop again?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Tempest Shadow,” Twilight said, smiling politely at Dash from over her shoulder. “I haven’t heard from her since the festival. She said that she needed to work some things out.” Twilight turned back to the Princess, who had a small smile on her face. “I was wondering if Fizzlepop might have said anything to you.”
“Your ability to befriend your enemies never ceases to amaze me, Twilight,” Celestia said proudly. “Rest assured, Tempest Shadow is fine. She’d performing a bit of… community service while she works at finding her place in the world.”
Community service? Twilight supposed it made sense that Tempest and the redeemed forces of the Storm King wouldn’t have gotten off scot-free. Twilight was certainly glad that Princess Celestia was giving them all a chance, especially after the whole thing where Fizzlepop had turned her to stone. That was pretty forgiving.
As if she somehow knew what Twilight was thinking, Celestia gave her former student a reassuring smile. She placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder and nodded wordlessly before making her way towards the throne room’s doors.
“Now, I’m sure you all have things you’d like to do while you wait for my sister to wake,” Celestia said over her shoulder. “Don’t let me stop you. I have business I need to tend to myself.”
“I suppose I could check in on the boutique while I’m here,” Rarity said thoughtfully. Soon, she and the others began following Celestia out of the throne room. When the doors closed behind them, only Spike and Twilight were left behind.
Twilight’s attention had moved to one of the many stained glass windows that lined the walls of the throne room. This one depicted both Celestia and Luna rising up against a starry night sky. What was this window supposed to commemorate? It was vague enough to be anything, Twilight supposed. Maybe it was just a tribute to the Royal Sisters themselves.
“Twilight?” Spike asked as he came to her side. “Uh… are you okay? Everyone’s kinda gone.”
“Hmm?” Twilight turned back to Spike, almost started to hear his voice. She laughed and offered a small smile in apology. “Sorry. Guess I got a little lost in my thoughts.”
“Whatcha thinking about?” Spike asked. It certainly wasn’t unusual for Twilight Sparkle to get sidelined by whatever was going on inside her head. Usually when she did that, however, she was reading a book, or doing research; not staring at a window. Spike found himself feeling a bit concerned.
Twilight considered Spike’s question. She didn’t know what answer to give to him. Twilight had quite a bit on her mind; the vanishing stars were at the forefront, of course. Thankfully, Celestia had eased some of Twilight’s worries.
Twilight supposed that was what she’d been thinking about. She felt grateful for the bond she had with the Princesses. Twilight had always admired Princess Celestia, and by this point, they were practically family. Twilight felt a sense of peace knowing that whatever problems she had, she could come to Celestia; if not for answers, then for support.
With that thought in her head, Twilight used her magic to lift Spike up onto her back.
“I’m just thinking about how good life is,” Twilight said as she began trotting towards the throne room’s doors. “And speaking of good times, let’s go see if Pony Joe still sells those bear claws we used to get.”
“Bear claws?!” Spike repeated excitedly, his concerns completely gone. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Twilight and Spike both laughed as Twilight trotted on out of the throne room. Things were good, and it seemed like they’d stay good for a little while. Once they figured out what was happening to the stars, things would get even better. For now, though, all they had to worry about were donuts.
If they’d been outside to see a shadowy shape darting cross the sky in the direction of the Royal Vaults, however, they may have reconsidered their priorities.
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I am enjoying it so far. I know how hard it can be to post a fic at times as I took a month to gain courage to post mine. Glad you are posting this one.
8533127
Heh, yeah. Doesn't help that I keep wanting to go back and rewrite the stuff I haven't posted yet. Thank you for your kind words, though.