On clear cloudless nights, the night skies of Equestria came to life with thousands of twinkling stars. Each one was a dancing light decorating the deep azure backdrop that otherwise provided nothing of interest. The gently rolling northern hills of Ponyville provided the perfect location for stargazing. There was nary a polluting light source to be found, it was close to walking distance for hundreds of ponies and the secluded area was perfect for a quiet night of relaxing under the stars.
According to Twilight's schedule for the night, the relaxing part of the event was still over two hours away. She and her friends still had to unpack their respective carts of gear they had packed.
“Spike,” Twilight called out as she rummaged through her wagon, “did you remember to pack my new telescope?” She was looking for one in particular, but it may have been misplaced amongst all the others.
“The one with the super wide viewing angle?” Spike replied, “I put that one together on the way over here.” To show he accomplished the task, Spike pulled out the pre-assembled aperture from Twilight's cart.
“No, the one I gave the custom enchantment,” Twilight clarified. “There is supposed to be a distant astral phenomenon and I want to be able to observe it with crystal clarity.”
“And all these others ain't gonna do she job, Twi?” Applejack chimed in. As a simple farm pony, she just couldn't understand how so many telescopes could be necessary for just one evening out.
“Applejack, dear,” Rarity interrupted as she sifted through her own saddle bags, “perhaps Twilight wants some variety in her stargazing equipment.” Rarity levitated various hats and scarves around as her with her magic. She tried on each one, testing its look alongside her evening dress, “One simply cannot live her life with just one wardrobe, can she?”
“Yeah, don't you know that variety is the spice of life, AJ?” Pinkie Pie had just finished setting up her picnic blanket, snacks and party balloons throughout. “That's why I brought an extra blanket, four different kinds of cake, hard and soft candy, an extra pack of balloons...” Everypony in the group recognized Pinkie's unfocussed rant and tuned it out while they focused on setting up for the evening.
“Ahaah!” exclaimed Twilight. She finally found what she wanted in her cart: a Starvision 300 observation telescope. Powerful enough on its own, Twilight had also devised a spell to enhance its magnification even further. Not only that, it would also track movement autonomously. This way, the observer would not lose track of potentially interesting finds.
“Alright, everypony,” Twilight began, “We're right on schedule for tonight's stargazing.” None were as serious about scheduling as Twilight, but they still took comfort in knowing they did not need to rush for anything. “Assuming no unforeseen or extraordinary circumstances arise, it will be a relaxing evening.”
“Well then, if you fillies don't mind, I'm taking my beauty nap, now.” Rarity had finished setting up her mobile camping tent and already intended to use it.
“You turnin' in already, Rare?” AJ was already lost on the idea of bringing more than two saddle bags of provisions, but hoofing a tent all the way from home just to sleep in it all night instead of staying home?
“Unlike you, dear Applejack,” Rarity began in her somewhat snooty tone, “some of us ponies need our beauty sleep each night.” Rarity had a tone of an aloof teacher weary of giving the same lesson over and over. “This stargazing night is conflicting with my normal sleep schedule. Luckily, I'm flexible with my sleep.” During their conversation, Rarity had already started sifting through her assorted sleeping blindfolds. Applejack was about to weigh in, but Rarity carried on with her thoughts. “Worry not, I shall awaken in time for the festivities.” With the tent flap sealed, Rarity would not be seen before the sights began to show.
~~~
Several hours had passed since nightfall and the gently flickering lights had attracted almost all of Ponyville to the northern hills. Small fillies and colts were awestruck at the captivating display above them. Lovers were spending some quality time over the spectacle. Pinkie Pie made her own fun by making up shapes in the stars as she would with clouds during the day. Having had her requisite sleep, Rarity was now up and as alert as she would be during the day. Twilight was busy cataloging her observations in the sky this night.
“Azimuth, 75 degrees, 22 minutes, 6 seconds; elevation, 45 degrees, 30 minutes, a red giant amongst the Canis Major Constellation,” Twilight said aloud. She found figures and research data comforting in a way that only she could. Even though she had mapped out every notable heavenly body in the sky, there were innumerable other minor ones that were possibly undiscovered.
“Whatcha doin' Twilight?” Pinkie inquired as she pranced circles around Twilight. Pinkie’s curious nature compelled her to ask, but she would make no particular notes even as her questions were answered.
“Well, Pinkie,” Twilight began, “I'm giving my new telescope a thorough field test.” As she explained, Twilight was training her device on a new target. “I heard the Canterlot Astronomical Association came out with a new line of enchantable telescopes and I just had to get my hooves on one.” Even recalling the tale about acquiring the device made Twilight gleeful.
“Neato,” Pinkie replied, not really having any interest in astronomy, but because Twilight was happy, so was she.
“It has a 75mm focussing lens with six different magnification settings.” Twilight wanted to continue recording her observations, so she went to retrieve another roll of parchment from her cart. “With my custom spell I put on it, I can see even further and with more clarity than with traditional equipment.”
“Also, you can see things really far away with it,” Pinkie interjected. Twilight turned back around to find Pinkie messing with dials and switches and aiming the scope directly at her.
“Pinkie! I had that telescope trained on a very specific spot!” This sort of behavior was not unexpected with Pinkie, but it would be several minutes of readjusting back to what she had. Pinkie stepped back and allowed Twilight to take control of the aperture. Sometimes Pinkie was unaware of how much inconvenience she sometimes caused.
“That was a very interesting find, too,” Twilight continued, worrying that she would miss out on a valuable observation. “Oh, I hope I can find it again.”
“Oooh, is it as interesting as that, Twilight?” Pinkie asked as she turned the telescope towards her own field of view, the small traverse and elevation gears grinding in protest.
“Pinkie, be careful,” Twilight cried out as she tried to stabilize from the sudden movement, “This is a very delicate instrument. I'd appreciate it if you handle it a bit more gingerly.” Twilight was a bit frustrated, but not mad. She knew Pinkie was not destructive by nature, but it was her very nonchalant nature that could potentially ruin a 9,000 bit telescope. By some miracle, Pinkie was almost dead on with her inattentive aiming of the lens. A small cluster of shooting stars were making their way through the upper atmosphere. The phenomenon Twilight was looking at earlier was gone, but a new one was now in view.
“Your enthusiasm is appreciated at times, Pinkie,” Twilight began explaining as she began readjusting her telescope to its previous focus point. Pinkie was paying more attention to the shooting stars than Twilight. “but there is a time and place for it. Now is simply-”
Something caught Twilight's attention and held her tongue. Whatever it was, it took precedence over the importance of carefully handling expensive tools. All she could do was stare into the eyepiece, her jaw agape in utter disbelief at what she saw.
“I know, don't shooting stars just take your breath away?” Pinkie asked without realizing that Twilight's reaction was more serious than just stunned silence. After a few moments of no words from Twilight, Pinkie finally got the hint that something was wrong. Waving her hoof in front of Twilight's face didn't get her attention and after nudging her shoulder didn't work, Pinkie ran out of ideas.
“Hey Applejack, can I have a new Twilight?” Pinkie asked mostly in jest, “I think this one's broken.” Pinkie even tried examining Twilight's inner ear, but it shed no light on what could be causing her strange behavior.
“Ah think we've got bigger problems, sugarcube,” Applejack replied, somewhat distressed. Every pony in the park was now fixed on one particular spot in the sky. Even Pinkie eagerly turned her gaze there, just in case she was missing out on something fun.
The small cluster of unusually bright shooting stars was now a large collection of objects streaking through the atmosphere with enough velocity to set them alight. Was this what shooting stars looked like up close? A stray pair was on course to pass directly overhead. As they approached, some ponies fell into fits of panic, fleeing for their lives. Young fillies cried, frightened by the commotion around them.
Without warning, an ear-splitting explosion erupted from one of the falling stars, sending it into a wild corkscrew. In its wake, the explosion ejected a large projectile past the other star, nearly hitting another. As the projectile disappeared into the night sky, several other stars seemed to pull out of their nose dive and began to ascend back into the sky. These things must have had minds of their own to act the way they did.
Tracking their trajectory, many of the stars disappeared over the horizon. Some landed beyond the mountain peaks, others directly in front of it. The largest object in the cluster, however, slammed squarely into the side of the tallest peak of the White Mane mountain range. In a blinding flash of light, every pair of eyes watching slammed shut and turned as far away as they could. Even so, the intense light broke through the ponies’ eyelids, creating a blinding red light instead of a burning white one.
Mere moments later, the effects of a devastating explosion rumbled through the quiet town. Tremors from the impact steadily grew from a low rumble to a violent rocking to a lurching that could be mistaken for a rolling ocean wave. At this point, the collective mass of Ponyville escalated from panicked to utterly disorganized chaos. Discord would have been proud.
The largest objects had landed, sending the most violent shockwaves through the terrain, but dozens of minor stars continued to strike the ground as they fell. As the chaos grew more and more uncontrolled, Twilight attempted to restore what order she could.
“Don’t panic, everypony,” Twilight cried out, trying to regain her bearings. As her vision returned, she did her best to hide her own uneasiness, “I have a plan written out for just such emergencies.” In her magical grasp, a roll of parchment hovered next to her head but still displayable for a crowd. As Twilight unrolled the scroll, it cracked and crinkled, indicating she had not used this particular scroll in ages. Even if the townsponies were unprepared for this situation, Twilight was putting on a calm and confident expression, however fake it was. Ponies still ran amok, afraid for their lives and worried about their children, as if Twilight’s words had no effect.
“Step one:,” she began, though none paid her any mind, “Document the event(s).” Her expression returned to its former state of shock and awe as she turned her gaze back to the inferno rising from the face of the mountains. It was no longer a blinding light, but the very shape of the mountain range was different. Just one minute ago, the tallest peak was defining the western mountain ridge line. Now, it was gone. It had simply vanished into thin air. Instead of the pristine white snow caps, there was fire. The last few fragments of the event crashed down with lesser magnitude of effects, but pale in comparison to the biggest of the lot.
Twilight couldn’t proceed with her emergency plan. She could only wordlessly stare jaw agape in utter disbelief at what she just witnessed. Acts of Celestia were so astronomically unlikely that she considered them negligible for planning purposes. Nonetheless, here she was unprepared for such an event. In due time, she would learn just how unprepared for the future she truly was...