//------------------------------//
// ~Chapter 6~Is there Life in Space? 
// Story: To the stars and beyond 
// by punkrose 
//------------------------------//

"May I have your attention,please..."

Their attention flew out of the window countless minutes ago.The room roared in happy reunions and carefull hush's as the spotlight dropped to a single light.

Had he not tapped with his hoof on the conference desk that his presence would've pursued to be an abstract notion to the audience.He bestowed them by his entrance like the fall of the night on the day.His bright sunset orange coat and face framed by flamming red wicks proved ineffective to carry a similar metaphor.

He rided up for the last time his loose glasses.All dressed up in his perfectly cut suit,his perfectly organized stack of papers between his hooves,and yet...he gave an awkward grin to his public,and his professional appearences threatened to break under his awkward posture.

"Hello everypony,I would like to welcome you in my first conference in the Ponyville Astronomy Observatory,wich I am gratefull to be part off.My name is Sunburst Shimmer from...uh...,"the hint of hesintation,"Trottingham!Yes...that's what it says on the paper..."he rummaged trough his pile,trowing out volatile sheets all around.

Fluttershy immediatly related to him.

The audience greeted him in return,a choir of voices elevating high in the air to fall into modest whispers.A certain yellow pegasus hoped he could see her encouraging smile,taking aside she was in the middle of a crowd of thousands.

"In this special night,and we all know the reason behind,..."

A few laughter agreed with his statement.

"...I am going to answer every question related to this astronomic event.Any question is welcome...don't worry there are no dumb ones,feel free to start."

Just as he finished his sentence that a hoof idly rose from the crowd.And what a suprise was it for both Fluttershy and Rarity.The three of them were rewarded the most coveted title for having assorted hats.They weren't easily distinguable.

"Oh,well.I guess we're off for a good start,"the unicorn chuckled to himself,"will you give us the honor to present yourself to the audience?"

The cyan pegasus let her arm fall heavily to her side:

"Name's Dash.Rainbow Dash."It took a great deal of self-control for Fluttershy not to encourage her with her laughter.

"And my question is:how long do these kind of things take?"

"Huum,"the stallion tought through a genuine answer,briefly joining in on the laughter of the crowd,"it depends normally.But if we're invested enough we won't see the time pass."

And they did.But it was not for the hypothetical reason.Everypony was passionate about their questions,even the dumb ones,and the really dumb ones.No,there are no aliens.The scientist picked in favor of hasard,and anypony who would get chosen would be bestowed by utter silence...or confusion in regards of the ambiance.

To what eventually led to a deadly silence,hiding behind the lone single question nopony dared voicing aloud.They didn't,they just let it happen.

Fluttershy noticed the pile of notes on Sunburst's conference desk.Thinking out their original purpose,she let a heavy sigh escape her lips.It looked like she had to be the hero of the day.

Sunburst'eyes lit up from his momentary distress,noticing a new hoof rise:

"Yes!You from the third row?"

The spotlight aimed directly at the designed pegasus:

"Oh,right.It's me,"she giggled knowingly as all eyes set on her,"my name is Fluttershy and I have one question Mr.Shimmer:what are your own theories on the astronomical event?"

For a moment he looked taken back by her words.But wasn't this just what he needed for his conference?It was until she noticed that she struck the right line.

"Actually I do!It's what I came here for in the first place..."The unicorn lit up his horn as to project a ray of light on a white board nopony noticed was behind him beforewards.Creating the image of three dimensional starry sky,white orbs flotting gently arround the air and plunging the room into the cosmos.It was outer-wordly.

All of the audience echoed an impressed "ohhh",prompting a certain cyan pegasus to daze off of her slumber:

"What'd I miss?"she snored.

Rarity hushed her quietly,leaving a remark on behalf of her manners for latter.

"Based on my research towards the Alicorn's constellation,"his voice echoed trough his microphone,carried carelessly on his face,"I'm going to tell you why such an astronomic event is,realistically speaking,impossible..."

The projection swirled and shifted,presenting the era of classisicm,old school minds and refined litterature.An old-looking unicorn,his white beard being his signature trait,was scribbling.Occupied in his work environment.

"The first account of the constellation was in one thousand,six hundred forty five,by a sorcerer and astronom named Starswirl the bearded.He described her apparition in the night sky,near the Oursaminor constellation,as stars arising one by one until a constellation in the shape of an alicorn was formed."

To punctuate his words,the projection followed the given description.New orbs manifesting to form the famous star alignment.The display of such ease in magic captivated the public.

"And they accounted another constellation this late in History without any questions?"Fluttershy asked,invested despite herself,"Wasn't it in Antiquity that they were naming them?"

"That's a good point Fluttershy,"Sunburst proudly praised,"the majority of the sky has been explored in the eyes of the astronoms then,but this time it proved them wrong.The position of the stars was relatively fixed,and so to find out after many verifications that at least fourteen celestial bodies appeared?No one knew how to explain that..."

The light orbs hang heavily on the air.Brushing with finesse the original space construct.

"As you may know,the Alicorn constellation only lasts for the maximum of six hours in our planet's visual field.After that...,"the orbs vanished simutaniously into thin air;the public letting out a suprised chortle,"...any sign of the constellation is nowhere in the sky."

"But it should be somewhere,"Fluttershy wondered,the public setting their sight back on her,"despite being immobile in our eyes,the stars still move,it's only the wide light-years distances that make us seem the opposite..."

"I see where you're going"Sunburst blinked,slowly coming to realisation,"and speaking of wich,the appearences weren't the only random notion about this constellation.The distance varied much...going from a hundred light-years away based on the wave frequency of its light in the first apparitions...,"he coped with his high investement by pacing,forever moving to an end and letting the many eyes roll with him.

"...but then,in one thousand,height hundred forty six,researchers found that the spectrum of the stars was closer to the red end.Meaning the constellation was closer to our planet with the wave frequency being smaller and thus quicker to reach us."

"How about the other celestial bodies used as references for its position?"the yellow pegasus recalled,"If the constellation moved closer then we could've known from the surroundings,like maybe the Oursaminor constellation?"

"That's right!"the audience almost snapped their neck trying to follow the interlocutor trotting on the scene,not the least worn out,"The position of the constellation varied constently in the course of years based on the the spectrum of its stars.They,admitidely,all changed in unisson like being the same entity."

Sunburst stopped straight in his pacing.A rare occurance.

"Even stranger,in a telescope observation in the Ponyville Astronomy Observatory,we found the constellation near the planet Mercuris!Despite having been thirty light-years away from it and the time period not matching its position without having been somewhere in the sky before."

"But the constellation always vanishes before dawn,"the pegasus counter argumented,to the quick interest of the public,"maybe the Sun is a demeaning factor to its observation like for many stars because it deviates their light when the position we witness from our planet isn't the original one."

The integrity of the audience had to keep up by jungling their stare back and forth,back and forth and on.Each word knocking to the opposite end and taking shape of a tennis match.

"No no no,it wasn't that actually.The accounts of the constellation didn't mention it anywhere at daytime,"Sunburst assured before settling on his previous coy position,fidgeting nervously in place,"and I may have my own theories on the matter,but keep an open-mind..."

Confused smiles filled the room,it wasn't as if he was going to ramble about an alien form of existence either.Someone already did it.With grace,Fluttershy raised her head,encouragement painting her expression:

"It's what we came here for,right?"

"Well,the way this constellation took form as well as her free-willed appearances,not to speak about what she represents...,"he clumsily tripped over his own words,"this gives away the explaination that magic might be behind this."

He waited for anypony to give away a disaproving scowl...anything,really...

He waited long enough to notice that nopony reacted as such.He dared himself to breath again...and to almost reach suffocation when he got interpelled once more:

"We're no specialists in magic,but we're sure you could elaborate on the process...,"a nameless stallion encouraged,a hoof in the air,"Right,Mr.Shimmer?"

"Oh,well then.As everypony knows,magic needs a magic caster.I'm sure you've all heard of ancient history depicting alicorn royalty with the prowess to raise celestial bodies such as the Moon and stars."

The public exchanged puzzled looks between them as to what exactly he was getting onto.Noticing their lack of positive feedback,the scientist chose the explicit way:

"Think about it!What if-and it's just a theory-an alicorn,because only one could hope to display such magical abilities,cast a spell on the stars to take this shape years ago?What if the spell still runs strongly after all those centuries?What if the caster wants to send us a message trought the skies?"

The more he went on,the more his speech seemed to be directed to...an alien form of existance.Sure,magic needed a caster.We'll give him that,but years of researchs and subtle clues would never equal the lack of proof towards alicorns.Their soveraign could give a plausible answer.But he always dismissed it.

Such was the direction Fluttershy's encouragements aimed at.Her cheeks flushed pink as ponies started to grow concerned by whispering among themselves,mean and resentfull.

The scientist of the day didn't seem concerned the least,an eyebrow arched in confusion.For him he made a good point.

A first hat turned to her friends,shrugging helplessly.Meeting their equally confused eyes under their strained caps.The third,and boldest persay,nudged the most timid in an encouraging attempt:

"Does that mean you win?"





Fluttershy idly closed the door with her lower hoof.It has been a long evening to say the least.A  group going-out still always made things better.Cones of ice cream and heated discussions were the final stroke to achieve it with a neat bow.

She turned to face the living room...and gasped in horror at the sight of a dragon sitting in her reading sofa.This one nonetheless was a drake,and he was wrapped in a silky robe far too large for him and red a book far too voluminous for his petite size in a severe frown.

All he needed was glasses to complete the set:

"Good evening."

"Um...to you too?What are you doing?"

"Have you heard of anything related to dream-walking?"his question emerged out of the blue,but she understood.

The genuine concerne in his voice promped her on avoiding giving him a realistic answer.And to end the swirl of fantasy he launched into.Instead she dutifully picked the right volume meeting his stantards:

"The only mention of dream-walking is in Nightmare Moon's legend,"she dropped the book in his claws,before adding playfully,in the best Nightmare Night voice she could muster,"she is said to visit ponies in their dreams.Beware of the nightmares she bestows upon us..."

"Nah,all I get is nerds."

Fluttershy dropped her game to face him in the most bewildered look of the century,but deciced not to dwell on it for too long.The night was for the young.And she was tired.

"Anyways,don't stay up too late..."she peeked trough the doorway,taking in sight his indolence.Immersed,he flipped trough the pages,incarnating her worst fears for many young years.She gave a smile:

"...and have a good read."