In orbit of the planet Equus, the moon stood deathly still, it's surface reflecting the bright light shone by the nearby star that was the sun. The giant, rocky satellite had never been stood hoof upon in its days, as ponykind had not invented anything capable of space travel yet. Despite such inabilities, the inhabitants of Equus still wondered as to whether or not they were alone, hoping that somewhere in the universe, something or someone was out there, waiting to discover another sentient species among the stars...
And the moon was going to be the first to bear witness to their arrival. The ground started to rumble slightly as an enormous shadow slowly covered the surface, blotting out the sun. The shadow continued to cover more and more of the moon's surface as it was soon covered in darkness...
-Ponyville-
1:13 AM
The field of stars was a wondrous sight to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her six friends, who all stared at them while the former looked through a telescope she had brought with her to the fields for stargazing. The girls usually would have been in bed to rest for the next day, but since it was one of the most gorgeous nights they had seen in a while, and since there wasn't too much going on in the world right now, they decided to make the best of this occasion.
Pinkie Pie pointed at a spot in the sky as she squeed, "Oh! Look! There's a shooting star!" The rest of the gang oohed along with her as they watched it streak across the night sky.
"Oh, yes, quite a bright one too." Fluttershy said as she watched the shooting star disappear into the darkness of space, turning back to Twilight as she turned the telescope towards another constellation.
"Oh, Canis Major's brighter than I've seen it before." The purple alicorn said as she heard Rainbow Dash speak up.
"Maybe it's 'cause you cleaned it earlier?" Twilight gave an unamused look at the blue pegasus as she opened her mouth to retort, only for Rarity to interject before she could say a word.
"Or perhaps, something is happening up there?" The fashionista pondered as she stared up into the sky.
Twilight also pondered for a moment, then looked back towards her friends as she replied. "That may be the case, stars do get a bit brighter when they get older..."
Applejack gave a quizzical look to the stars as she asked, "Ya know? The stars DO seem brighter from what I'm seein'. Y'all sure it isn't darker than usual?"
Pinkie shared the same look after taking her own second look at the night sky. "Hmm... Yeah, it does seem darker. Don't you notice it Fluttershy?" The pink party pony said as she turned to face her friend, but her face turned to one of concern as she saw the yellow pegasus' face. It was one of shock, of fear, like she had seen something no one would want to see. Curious, Pinkie turned to where her friend was looking, as did the other four. Upon seeing what Fluttershy was seeing, everyone shared the same worried expression as they stared at the unnerving sight.
The moon's surface was being enveloped in a shadow that was slowly growing from the once brightly lit side. The girls gave a faint gasp as they watched the once bright rock become almost completely covered in darkness. Twilight, curious of what was going on up there, shook herself out of her trance and turned the telescope towards the moon. After shifting it slightly, she gave another gasp, one that sounded like she had seen a ghost.
"What's wrong, Twi?" Applejack asked as her alicorn friend slowly turned toward her, motioning a hoof for all her friends to come and look. As they peered into the small visible image on the telescope, their faces became ones full of terror. Near the moon was a large object, the upper section looked like a near half dome with a circular section on it, while the underside of it bore two long, sharp fins that swept back behind the rest of the structure. It almost rivaled the moon in size.
Rarity was the first to break the silence, "What in the name of Celestia is that?!" She pointed a hoof towards the image on the small eyepiece as Twilight looked up to the moon.
"I... I think it's some kind of spaceship." The purple alicorn replied as she and her friends looked up at the moon, the shadow now more prevalent than ever.
"Sure looks like one." Rainbow Dash said as she stared at the unnerving sight.
"Sh-should we inform the princesses?" Fluttershy said shakily as she looked to her friends.
"Yes. And qui-" Twilight started to say, but was cut off as she noticed something changing in the picture. Moving a hoof to shift the picture again, she peered into it. Her eyes went wide at what she was seeing, several smaller objects began to break off of the underside of the larger vessel. Looking at the smaller ships, they were similar in design to the mothership, though they looked to be simply dome shaped. Twilight could make out much from the view she got, so after shifting the picture once more she could see it better. The vessel did not have a perfect dome, on what must have been the front of the ship was a long, tall section sticking out of it.
As they all slowly turned upright, they began to make their way towards Equus, the mothership now sitting still over the moon. After taking count, she counted over 30 of the ships in the fleet, all of them dispersing and heading for different parts of the planet.
Lifting her head away from the viewing scope, Twilight began disassembling the telescope as she spoke. "Girls, I want all of you to come with me to the Castle of Friendship. I'll send a letter to Princess Celestia and see what she wants us to do next." As she finished, she put all of the telescope pieces into her saddlebags before looking to her friends.
"We're right behind you, darling." Rarity replied as all six mares turned towards Ponyville and broke into a gallop, racing towards the town without wasting a breath.
-Canterlot, Royal Palace-
2:05 AM
It had been a long and tiring day for Princess Celestia, having to deal with countless meetings and plan special events was tiresome, but worth it at the end of the day. It had been almost an hour since she saw her nephew Prince Blueblood depart for Las Pegasus to spend some leisurely time there, and her sister, Princess Luna, had already went to her private chambers to watch over the dream realm. Now it was time to get some rest herself.
As she trotted up the stairs to her room, Celestia hummed a soothing tune to herself before she was stopped in her tracks by a flash of magic. As the magic swiftly dissipated, a rolled up scroll fell onto the steps ahead of Celestia. Picking it up in her magic, the princess opened up the scroll and began to read.
"Dear Princess Celestia, while my friends and I were stargazing near Ponyville, we noticed a large shadow on the moon's surface. Upon closer examination, I found a large object coming towards Equus. After it stopped moving, several smaller objects detached from it and are making their way towards our planet. From what I can tell, they must be some kind of alien fleet. As to their purpose, I don't know for sure, but it doesn't seem good from the looks of it. I'm writing to you so that we can discuss our next plan of action. I hope to receive your response soon. Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Celestia's eyes were left wide open upon finishing the letter, worried by her former student's supposed findings. If what Twilight was saying was true, then they were bound to make first contact with another species from the stars above. Curious as to whether or not Twilight was right, Celestia made her way up the stairs to her room. After opening the door and stepping inside, she trotted over to the window to see the moon. As she had feared, the moon was almost completely darkened, a large shadow covering the once lit surface. After giving the shadow a closer look, Celestia seemed to notice that the shadow did have a strange look to it.
Diverting her gaze from the window, the princess raced out of the room and downstairs and back into the lobby. Celestia then made her way up another stairway, one that led to Luna's chamber. After knocking a hoof to the door, Celestia heard shuffling on the other side, then hoofsteps.
After a few hoofsteps, the door opened to reveal a slightly disgruntled Luna looking up to her sister. "What is it, Tia?" The Princess of the Night said, trying to hold back the irritation in her voice.
Celestia gave an apologetic expression on her face. "Forgive me for the sudden interruption, dear sister, but something's wrong."
"What do you mean?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Come here." Celestia said as she and Luna trotted over to the nearby window. Celestia then pointed a hoof towards the moon. Upon seeing the sight Celestia alerted her to, Luna let out a horrified gasp before looking to her sister.
"What's happening to the moon?!" Luna asked fearfully.
"Fortunately, nothing is wrong with the moon, but something near it is the cause of that shadow." As Celestia finished, she opened Luna's closet and pulled out her telescope before assembling it. After setting it up, she opened the window and positioned the telescope towards the right side of the moon before motioning for Luna to look into it. As she peered through the viewing glass, her eyes were wide when she saw the sight before her, a large, irregular dome-shaped vessel with two large fins underneath.
Luna snapped her gaze away from the telescope and looked up to Celestia "What is that thing, Celestia?"
"From what Twilight told me in her letter, it's some kind of space-faring vessel, and apparently, several more have detached from it and are heading to various places around the planet." Celestia replied grimly.
Luna looked to the floor, sharing her sister's grim expression on her face before looking back up to her. "..What shall we do?"
Celestia's face grew with determination as she answered her sister. "Twilight wishes for me to send a letter back to her to discuss our plan, so I'll start once I return to my chambers." Her expression was broken with a yawn as she began to feel tired.
"Uh, perhaps just a letter could do until morning." Luna said with slight concern.
"Yes, that sounds good. Hopefully, nothing too big will happen tomorrow." Celestia said tiredly.
"Hopefully, now you get some rest, sister. You've had quite a day." Luna replied.
"But what about the let-" Celestia started to say, but was cut off by her sister.
"I'll write it for you, is that alright?" Luna asked as her sister smiled thankfully.
"Of course, good night, sister." Celestia said as she made way for the door.
"Good night, Tia." Luna replied as her sister shut the door lightly. Now that she was alone, Luna trotted over to her table and picked up a piece of paper and a quill before sitting down. Dipping the quill in ink, Luna began to write her letter.
"Dear Princess Twilight..."
-Abyssinia-
4:53 AM
The dark, star-filled sky was a wonder to the anthropomorphic felines of Panthera, some stopping to admire the view they were seeing. Though the night time sky was a common thing to see every day, it still mesmerized them whenever they saw it. However, on this night, the sky was slightly darker than usual, the stars seemed brighter than they were before, and, seemingly from nowhere, a low rumbling was heard constantly since late into the night. Some of the citizens were a little unease from these strange abnormalities, but they pushed it off, maybe it was just someone using some new, loud contraption, or maybe there were a large herd of animals passing by the city and the noise would stop eventually.
But others knew otherwise. On the higher, bustling buildings and at the edges of the city, citizens got a clear view of the source of the noise. An enormous, fiery cloud that slowly moved across the sky. It looked so big that it could cover the entire city of Panthera. Occasionally, a loud howl would sound from the unnerving anomaly, but some of the citizens pushed themselves to go back to what they were doing. Unbeknownst to them all, however, that this strange sight would bring destruction, pain, and death to their city in due time, and they would most likely be powerless to stop it.