//------------------------------// // The new stars // Story: Harmony Installation // by Jhonn //------------------------------// In the distant past.....In a distant place "You can not be serious Elián, we already bought the tickets!" David exclaimed angrily at his friend. "David is right brother, you can not say no now ! Besides, you're just going to buy new technological items from your game, it was a joke about the disguise." Pleaded Ari to Elián in an attempt for the boy to disguise himself for Comic-con. The boys had planned the trip to the Comic-con for months, but Elián had simply refused to go in disguise, his sister had put on a simple white paper horn, with a colored wig, to simulate one of the princesses of his favorite show, while his best friend David had disguised himself as a bandit from a Fable game. The three were not more than 17, but their parents had given them permission to go alone only if they went together, which could be ruined if Elián refused, but a small joke before the event gave Elián satisfaction. "That you should have thought things through before playing that joke with the horn Ari, I admit that I also like MLP, but not enough to disguise myself as one of them, besides, we did not spend anything on the tickets, mom and dad did." Elián said vainly, but trying with all his strength not to laugh at the faces of horror of his companions. "Do not do this to us, Elián, I'll buy you whatever you want!" Said David desperately in an attempt to get Elián to not screw them over in a vain attempt at payback. "Whatever I want huh?" Elián whispered as he smiled deviously. Ari started to worry, being his sister, she knew him when he was plotting something, so she realized that they fell right into his trap, so now maybe he could get something beneficial besides personal satisfaction that is. "You only wanted to take money from me, right?" David said tiredly, it would not be the first time that Elián did that to him of course, he is a very nice boy and a great friend, but from the beginning Elián did not want to go, but they needed for him to go along with them to get their permission. With a change of attitude and mood that could be considered almost abnormal, Elián decided to accept the deal. A deal that might be a key point in the future of many, while he, his sister and his friend left the house, Ari was happy for at least not having to pay. Their parents had not bought the tickets, so they were going to pick them up when they finished buying their things. Another of Elián's conditions was that of only going to buy things that he agreed on, something they reluctantly accepted, but in the end they had not choice if they wanted to get their tickets. "What did you want to buy, brother? You only mentioned something about halo" Ari asked Elián as they made their way towards the first of many shops. "I want to see if they sell a replica of the Spirit of Fire, or at least something that has its technical specifications, I had heard that the original designs had come to light!" Exclaimed Elián excitedly as they walked forward toward the first shop. "I still do not understand your fascination for those things dude, but hey do not worry, your best friend is going to buy it!" David said proudly in an attempt to downplay the fact he got outplayed into doing what Elián desired. At the end of the trip, as expected, there were enough people, but with luck they managed to get in quickly. Ari was very excited as expected, and begged Elián to let her go to a shop about MLP. David did not like the idea because to him MLP is a little too 'girly for a guy like him', but accepted to accompany them in the end. But while they were on the way to the place, something strange Elian noticed, a specific point separating a section from the rest of the store, and it was empty. "Wait here, I want to see what's in the end, maybe it's a hallway that leads to another section." Said Elián curiously as he walked towards that specific section. "Are you sure? It does not seem like a place for the public," David answered worriedly not wanting to get in trouble with the authorities. Ari also did not like the idea, if her pleading expression meant anything. "It will only be quick, I promise," Elián said with a smile, as he walked quickly down the hall. What he saw was something he had not expected, sincerely he had thought it was the way to an emergency exit, but was surprised to find a lone booth, with a man dressed as a merchant of the famous game of zombies attending to it. But what was most surprising was what came with the booth, all kinds of items quite amazing all on their own, from swords, bows, jewelry, books, etc. "Welcome boy, do you see something that catches your attention?" Asked the masked salesman with a deep and hoarse voice, which brought Elián out of his stupor. "No, yes, maybe! Excuse me, sir, but it has quite a lot of amazing things, much better than the rest of the shop." Said Elián timidly unsure in how to proceed with this, admittedly strange and intimidating character. "Good eye boy good eye, be free to look at my merchandise," said the merchant. Elián looked at the articles with astonishment. Honestly, he wanted several things, but he could only buy one, and that without counting the possibly high price of these quality items. So he gathered his courage, and asked the merchant about his initial goal and why he came to his booth. "Excuse me, do you have something about the halo saga, specifically about the UNSC ships?" Elián asked hopefully. "Halo hmm?, Let me think ..." Answered the merchant while looking into space. After a long and uncomfortable amount of time, Elián was about to give up, but was surprised when the merchant simply pointed to a box of his merchandise, It looked like a polished metal box with silver edges, but surprisingly Elián scolded himself for not recognizing it when he laid his eye on it. "Sorry boy, but the only thing Ihave in my possession from the Halo franchise is this." Said the merchant while opening the box, leaving Elián breathless. "It cannot be ..." Elian whispered in total awe. "These are the things that pretty much made everything in the forerunner empire, ranging from buildings to spaceships, and even the everyday tools they use. It is a fairly new article, only one of it's kind really. It is difficult to replicate this thing," said the merchant, mumbling towards the end. Elián was marveling at the beauty that was laid out before him, he did not want to know its cost, but if he had the possibility of buy it, he will take it, even if he had to spend all his money it. "What is the price for it?" Elián asked hesitantly, seemingly afraid of the price. "It's a thousand dollars, but seeing that you're the first to ask, I'll give it to you for five hundred." Said the merchant, Elián was scared, even with half the price, he only had 250, and probably David too. But his friend was a man of his word, something he took very seriously, so if he explained maybe he would give him the money. "Wait a moment, I'll be right back!" Elián exclaimed as he ran to the end of the corridor, receiving a nod from the merchant, which he didn't see. When he arrived to where he left David and Ari, he looked quite tired, but with a silly if unsure smile on his face. "What happened Elián? Why do you look so tired but happy at the same time?" Ari asked. "I know that smile, you found what you were looking for and you need my money, right?" David said sadly. "I swear I'm going to pay you back somehow, I'll even do your homework, but I need you to give me two hundred and fifty.'' Elián rapid-fired at Davis completely ignoring his sister's question. ''They have an article that is unique and I really want it please." Elián pleaded, surprising David and Ari. After all Elián rarely pleaded, but when he did, it was for a good reason. So reluctantly David gave him the money, only for Elián to go off, snatching David's money right out of his hand. As he ran back to the merchant his friend followed him and saw him disappear as he, somehow passed through the wall as if it wasn't there, but when they tried to go through it they were met with only a wall. ''What the hell,'' David exclaimed as he tried to use his hand to somehow find a secret entrance for the wall, even though Elián didn't do anything for him to be able to pass through it. ''Do you think we should call the cops,'' Ari asked David on what to do. Already she was panicking at seeing her brother disappear like that, as if by magic. "Here are the five hundred dollars good sir," said Elián happy at the idea of having is very own for runner construct. Taking the money the merchant replied. "I hope you enjoy your trip young man, though you will need a lot of help on your journey." Replied the merchant cryptically, intriguing Elián in the process, only for him to be swallowed by the darkness. Equestria - Canterlot - Present time Things were not going well for the ponies of Equestria, a few months ago from the other side of the ocean, came reports of huge aerial warships from an unknown nation. When the explorers approached to confirm their intentions, big was their surprise to see that they were griffons, but not Equestrian griffons. Those were much larger and much more different then the griffons they knew, almost twice the size of a normal one, rivaling the size of Princess Celestia, and even surpassing her size with some of them. When trying to send both ponies and griffons, both returned mutilated, the pegasi and griffons were without wings, and the unicorns without their horns, while the earth ponies were never seen again and when asked those that returned would end up breaking down crying, screaming, or sometimes both. The message was clear, they are not here to make friends, nor with their Equestrian allies, their wanted their lands, their riches, and everything else they possessed. From that moment, the princesses organized for the first time a joint army operation with the griffons, changelings and deerfolk, and all other races that were at least closer to the coast. King Thorax agreed to help his friends the ponies, Princess Cadence promised help and refuge for the displaced of the future conflict, but since they were still rearranging their own society from Sombra they couldn't do much in the upcoming conflict. "Twilight you have to rest, we do not know anything about this new breed of griffons, even though you read all the books in the library. If my sister and I did not know them, I doubt you will find any mention of them here, " said Celestia with a soft voice. She, like her sister, had not slept much, even in the years of her rule they had never faced a threat of this magnitude. Her student and companion, Princess Twilight tried to find something about this new species, and she is still trying, but even with the little information of the chancellor and his personal library, and the books of the royal library, he did not find any information about them. After all they had never seen one of them in Equestria before, perhaps in the golden days of the Griffin empire, but that was thousands of years ago, before the funding of Equestria. "I know princess, but there must be something, maybe the reason why they want to invade is in here somewhere." Twilight replied wearily from her non-stop, and non-lucrative search. Celestia saw that her student was dead tired on her hooves, she was about to fall asleep at any moment. "What do you think of this Twilight? I'm sure you remember that today my sister will manage the stars, to help raise the morale of citizens. What if you were to go watch my sister do her work, maybe it could help in some way?" She said hoping that her ex-student would follow her recommendation, and that watching her sister manage the star put Twilight to sleep, hopefully. "I guess I could watch a little, but only a little I've got work to do," said Twilight followed with a tired sigh. "Wonderful ! She is in the observatory of the castle, I think it is about to start too." Said Celestia happy her student was following her advice, all the while carrying a teleportation spell. "Here let me help you," and before even answering, Twilight was teleported to the door of the observatory, leaving her quite confused of the princess's insistence on the matter. Leaving those thoughts aside she walked into the observatory, while walking, Twilight remembered the moment when Celestia called her to Canterlot for an emergency meeting. Terror and the fear of war swiftly followed after the meeting. It scared her for the whole night, and the nights afterwards were no better, and even more when Celestia asked the elements to help in the organization of their respective areas. She didn't want her friends involved in this mess! But following Celestia's reasoning she understood that it would help greatly in organizing, and that them being national heroes would also increase the moral of the citizen and the military knowing that their heroes is there helping them through this mess. Just as she was about to open the door, she met Luna, walking slowly across the white corridor, and just as she did, Luna seemed not to have slept much in the past few days. "Good to see you Luna" Twilight called to the lunar princess with a smile, although tired it was a sincere one. "Twilight! It's good to see you too, although we do not want to sound rude, what brings thou here ? Did my sister sent you to help me plan the show?" Luna asked. "Not really, since I couldn't find anything about them in the library, Celestia suggested I watch you manage the stars for tonight." Answered Twilight while yawning, she had troubles keeping her eyes opened at that point, no wonder Celestia sent to do something else. As they entered the room, Twilight and Luna sat on a chair in the center of the room that overlooks the night sky. The room, for the most part, had white marble walls, but the ceiling was glass, letting the light from the moon and the stars bathing the place in the night's calming light. "Excellent decision my friend, seeing art at it's finest might give you some ideas or insight on where to search next." Luna exclaimed, happy that one of her dearest friend was there to watch her work, and maybe even help her. As she started working on her night, Luna cast a to the side towards Twilight silently wondering if making her work with her on the night sky would be a good idea. With a shake of her head she decided that yes it would be a good idea. ''Twilight would thou come for a moment, maybe we could use your expertise in organisation for tonight.'' Twilight looked up surprised by such a generous offer, after all it wasn't every night that one of the high princess asked for help in their regular duties. ''Of course Luna what do you need my help with precisely,'' and so they spent the next hour working on the night sky uninterrupted. It wasn't until Luna rechecked her work to take care of any anomalies that she spotted something different in her night sky, something that wasn't there before. "Indeed, although in principle they are few, leaving aside the stars that are vital for navigators, I want to change these two," said Luna pointing to the constellation of the dragon and the wolf. "Won't the dragons get angry?" Twilight asked nervously unsure if it was a wise idea. "Not when they notice that we did it in their honor!" Luna exclaimed proudly, lighting up her horn with magic, while also calming Twilight's worry in the process. The science behind this according to Twilight, Luna is moving the stars with the same principle and power that she uses with the moon, but to see it directly, it was always a wonderful sight. The white light of the spell mixed with the light of the moon and the stars, it seemed like something from another world, and at the end of the spell work Twilight marveled at what it turned out to be. There were no words, but something worried the princess of the night since her expression cha,ged from a satisfied one, while she saw her work, to a frown. "What's wrong Luna? Your job is wonderful as always, oh no did I do something wrong didn't I?" Questioned Twilight fearfully, she did not know what she did wrong, but she just knew that it must have been something terrible. "Can you move the telescope to the dim star that is below the dragon's head Twilight? I want to confirm something" Luna said curiously completely ignoring . Afraid that if she didn't do as Luna said she would get in even more trouble, Twilight quickly moved the immense telescope of the observatory with her magic, and focused it in the direction that Luna requested. While Twilight waited for Luna to finish her examination of the night sky, her worry grew as she saw that Luna's face looked more and more pale as time went by, if not also scared of much she blundered Luna's work, and before she could do anything else the night princess fainted without any notice. "Luna ?!" Twilight shouted in worry of her friend. After verifying that she was fine, she turned to the telescope to verify the reason for Luna's fainting, only to find something that would terrify even the dragon in the night sky. "Oh well... that ... explains it," said Twilight before fainting too. What they saw could easily be mistaken for a star, but the observatory telescope was able to look at a distance of 9 million light years, with a fairly good resolution, and even as far as 90 light years if they pushed it with the help of certain spells.