In Canterlot, Princess Luna was swearing in both X'ibian and Rom as she stared through the eyepiece of her beautiful and very precise telescope. Princess Celestia looked up from her own observations, which were going very well. The last “adjustment of the heavens” had done exactly what was needed for the world of Equestria.
Apparently, Luna’s adjustment of the orbit, rate of rotation, precession, axial tilt and alteration of the plane of the moon’s orbit relative to Equestria had not gone as planned.
Mildly, Celestia stretched her big white pinions and asked, “What happened, Luna? Is it another big metallic mass like last time?”
Growling more swear words under her breath, Luna paused in recording her adjustment results long enough to reply, “Yes! Not quite as massive as the first one! At least it did not throw a big burst of random energy like that first one did.
“This one is still up there, in orbit, not like the first one. It hit the moon. This one being in obit is going to make it a total pain to be sure that it does not interfere with my next correction! It keeps applying power and shifting its orbital elements!”
Luna’s teeth ground together in her rage. Still steaming at the damage to her delicate but enormously powerful application of Creator Magic, she sat at her working desk and pulled out her big circular slide rule. Sighing, the Dark Alicorn, Princess Luna of Equestria, Midnight among the Rom, began to reduce her observations.
Princess Celestia of Equestria, Alicorn of Day, known as Tia among the Rom, stepped close and used her magic to massage the knotted muscles of her sister. Luna sighed in relief and remarked, “Thanks, Sis. That does make this easier.”
Her swearing reduced to nearly inaudible, Luna returned to her task, setting the scales on some circles and flipping the hairline about to read answers on other scales. Entering results into tables, turning tables to graphs and assessing the graphs by different functions, Luna began to see how the ruin of her hard work could be salvaged.
Celestia nudged her sister Luna gently. “Time to put the maths aside, Midnight. The Mong Superweapon Test is going to happen soon. We need to go to the Thrones Room.”
Reluctantly, Luna put down her quill and nodded. The two left the observatory, carefully locking it behind them. A courtier, hiding behind a hanging, cursed quietly as another possible opportunity to obtain a Scroll of Creation was thwarted. The lock could not be picked. That had been tried. The door itself, by some unknown magic, was fused to the frame, though the Twin Rulers of Equestria opened it easily enough.
The sisters paused just long enough for Luna to take out her irritation on the hapless Count hiding behind the tapestry. He began to whine and blubber tears, gripped in the waking nightmare that Luna gave him.
She leaned close and whispered, “If you think this mere DAY DREAM is bad, wait until you try to sleep!”
Chuckling, Celestia inquired, “What will happen to him when he goes to sleep?”
Luna smiled but it was ghastly to see as she explained, “Nothing. He will have a pleasant, gentle dream. It will still be a nightmare, but only because he will keep looking for something horrible.”
Chuckling, they retired to the Thrones Room to await news of how the Mong Superweapon test preparations were going.
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Star Admiral Hissin ordered, “Make for the wreck of the Chain of Empire. We will pick up survivors and document the wreck. A Displacement Engine failure not due to an Enemy action is unheard of. After we recover what and who all that we can, I wish to return to orbit around the planet, however difficult that may be.
“Whatever has drawn the attention of that many aircraft operating under stealth protocols is likely to be of importance.”
The sensors technician raised furry eyebrows at that. “May I inquire what about it could be of importance? It could help me to prepare for recording the event.”
The Star Admiral smiled at the sensors tech. “An hour ago, I would not have worried about anything here. Apparently, some of the natives have the power of flight, like any of several other winged species that we already know of. All of the other natives rely on what appears to be primitive machines that travel on surface roads or trackways. Some even pull carts themselves. There was no obvious sign of any technologically advanced culture on the planet.
Since then, we have learned that the natives have hypersonic aerospace planes with completely hidden bases. Something that was not even aimed at us as a weapon caused a massive distortion of the local space-time complex, nearly wrecking our ship in the process. We cannot maintain a proper orbit because not even G is constant here.
“With the whole world using surface transport of many primitive sorts, they posses hypersonic vehicles capable of flight half around the planet or more with major amounts of loiter time?
“The ancient blast craters might account for it. Perhaps a wrecked society recovering unevenly from a disastrous nuclear war? Unfortunately, that does not fit observed data either. There is no sign of the radiation that should still linger.”
The Admiral pointed to innocent looking world below. “Something here totally fails to fit our understanding. We need to learn as much as possible.”
The sensors tech nodded sagely. “I shall set my arrays as wide as possible. While checking out the wreck of the Chain of Empire, I have found a small thing of possible interest.”
“And that is?”
“The natives have visited the surface of their satellite moon. They appear to have had a permanent colony there. The colony structure is abandoned now, but the vegetation and weather cycle have continued to function.”
Admiral Hissin’s eyes widened. “On an airless globe?”