//------------------------------// // Chapter One: A Faint Glow // Story: A Distant Star // by Dr Atom Discharge //------------------------------// A Distant Star Chapter One: A Faint Glow It was a warm, clear summer night in Ponyville, the full moon sharp and bright in the sea of stars. Everypony in the town was asleep, save for one; Twilight Sparkle. She stood on her balcony, her eye to her telescope, observing Luna’s beautiful night sky. It had been too cloudy at night for Twilight to stargaze in recent weeks, and she was determined to make the most of the clear skies. As she scanned the skies she was able to pick out and name each and every star she could see. Astronomy had always been her favourite hobby, save reading, though the two often overlapped. Eventually, after she had scanned as much she could, an out of focus, over magnified image of the leaves from the branches by her balcony were all that filled her view. She sighed 'Nothing new tonight I guess, it’s a shame I didn't catch the shooting star scheduled to pass by.’ She thought, feeling a little disheartened. She was just about to walk away, when she got the urge to peer back down the telescope, but when she did, she was met by the same image: Out of focus leaves. Suddenly a slight gust blew up out of nowhere, moving the leaves just a little, and just enough for Twilight to be able to see through, and she couldn't believe her eyes. Just through the small gap, she was sure she could make out a small, almost unnoticeable speck of light… what appeared to be a star, but in an area of the sky that, to the best of her knowledge, should be clear. She blinked a bit and looked back, but the leaves had covered the view once more. She rolled her eyes. ‘How silly of me, I should have thought of that earlier.’ She thought as she looked down the telescope again, her horn glowing as she moved the leaves out of the way. And there it was, the faint glow of a very distant star, but the light from it was so little, that she could determine nothing from it. She stepped back ‘I’m sure that nothing is supposed to be there…’ she thought, her mind now hard at work trying to figure it out. She walked back into the mane part of the library, her horn glowing as she lifts several books down from the shelves and started scanning over them frantically. She was determined to find out what that star was, despite how late it was. Her desire for sleep was now replaced by an insatiable hunger to investigate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Next Morning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spike stirred and gently woke up. It was early in the morning, like it always was when he woke, he always woke up early to get chores and errands done. He got up out of bed, still half asleep and headed out the door to the stairs. He slowly came down the stairs and then stopped in his tracks, suddenly waking up, his eyes going wide. "Oh no! She’s done it again." He cried in dismay as he looked at the state of the library Every shelf of the library was emptied onto the floor in a large pile, with a sleeping purple unicorn perched on top. She was laying at an odd angle, with a book covering her face, snoring lightly. Spike sighed lightly and started to climb the mountain of literature. When he finally reached the summit, he gently nudged Twilight to wake her up. "Come on Twilight, you have to wake up so I can clean this mess." He said gently, Twilight groggily opened her eyes and was so surprised by the text directly in front of her eyes that she rolled backwards; down the mound of books landing with a hefty thud at the bottom. Spike quickly jumped down to help her, and with his assistance she managed to get onto her hooves, her eyes still spinning from her rude awakening. She looked at Spike, still a little discombobulated from her fall. “S-Spike, what’s going on, why am I-“ Her words cut off as she noticed the pile of books. The memories of her frantically emptying the shelves last night in a bid to find any kind of reference to that faint star sprang into her mind. She gasped suddenly ‘THE STAR!’ She shouted in her mind, as the thirst for answers came flooding back into her mind. She knew that her resource of knowledge from these books was exhausted after last night. ‘What I need is more information about the star… but there is no way that my telescope will be able to see anything useful, the star is just too faint.. What I need is an observatory… I guess I’ll have to write to Princess Celestia and ask if I can go back to Canterlot for a bit to use the telescope in the observatory,’she thought to herself. She turned to Spike who had already begun to tidy the books away, a point that Twilight, as usual, had over looked. “Spike! Take a note.” She ordered as she lifted a quill and scroll over to him and began to dictate. “Dear Princess Celestia, Last night I was stargazing, as I usually do on such a clear night, and happened to notice a star that I hadn’t seen or heard about before, after intensive research I have not been able to find a reference to it. Would it be ok if I were able to come and stay in Canterlot so that I can use the observatory to find out more about it? Your faithful Student; Twilight Sparkle.” “Twwwwiiiillliiiggghhhttt Spppaaarrrkkkle” Spike said as he finished writing. He then took a deep breath before engulfing the scroll in a burst of green fire, sending it on its way to the Princess. Spike went back to tidying the books as Twilight paced in a small circle, eager to hear a response, as her hunger for information grew and grew. A small rumble emanated from Spike’s belly just before he burped up a spurt of magical green fire which quickly formed into a new scroll. Twilight quickly opened it and read it’s contents: Dear Twilight Sparkle, My Most Faithful Student. You are always welcome in Canterlot, though I am afraid that the observatory is closed for the foreseeable future due to repairs to it after Luna tried to ‘See how it worked’ So I am afraid that you shall not be able to use it for a while. Although, if memory serves, there is an old observatory just outside of Ponyville, perhaps you could ask one of your new friends about it, one is bound to know about it. Your Teacher, Princess Celestia Twilight simply stood there, stupefied, "There was an Observatory in Ponyville and no pony told me!… Why would my friends keep something like that from me!?" She cried despairingly, upset no pony had mentioned the observatory to her, and was confused as to why they hadn't. Spike just sighed and got back to work, every time Twilight went looking for answers, Equestria almost got destroyed, he could see this ending badly. She rushed out of the door to find somepony she could ask about the observatory, but it was still early and the town seemed to be asleep. She sighed, her original determination fading away, and she turned back towards the library, when suddenly there was a gust of air and a familiar cyan pony with a ruffled rainbow mane landed in front of her with her usual confident grin on her face. “Hey Twilight! You’re up early today, come to watch me clear the clouds?” She asked brightly before spotting how down Twilight was looking. “Hey… what’s wrong Twi’?” She said in an empathetic tone. “Oh, Hey there ‘Dash. Well I’m was just feeling a little down. Do you know why no pony ever told me about the observatory before?” She asked in a sad tone, with a hint of accusation towards , as she realized that Rainbow Dash must have also been keeping it from her. ‘Dash rubbed the back of her neck and looked away “Oh… you heard about the observatory then..?” She asked trying to stall so she could think what to say, or how to get out of there. “Yes.” Twilight said flatly in an irritated tone, glaring daggers at Rainbow Dash. Dash grimaced when she heard that, and started to sweat a little. “Er… Well… you see… the thing is…” Se said desperately looking around in one last attempt to find an escape route, sighing when nothing presented itself to her. “Oh ok then, the truth is, we knew if we told you about it you’d want to go and take a look at it bu-“ “OF COURSE I WOULD!” Twilight shouted at her, her bad night’s sleep and frustration getting the better of her Rainbow Dash jumped back startled, and Twilight sighed a little, “I’m sorry ‘Dash, bad night’s sleep.” She explained with a regretful look, “What were you saying?” She asked calmly. “Yeah… uh… well like I was saying, we didn’t want you to go up there… we didn’t want to put you in any danger.” She said in a worried, but caring, tone. “Why would it be dangerous? Is the building unsafe?” Twilight asked, a little confused. ‘Dash looked away a little, “No, but that’s kinda’ the problem, you see, there is this weird pony living up in the observatory, some kind of weird science unicorn, but no pony ever sees him, except when he comes into the town every now and then to get things, but never really talks to anypony. Everypony says he is dangerous. There are a lot of stories about flashing lights and strange noises coming from the observatory. Even I try to avoid going near it and I’m the coolest pony around, but the place just gives me a bad feeling.” Dash explained, trying to convince ‘I hope she doesn’t go to explore, everypony here knows to stay away, but she’s an egghead and is probably thinking too much about all that science stuff to worry about what else is there…’ Dash thought to herself. Twilight thought for a minute, and Rainbow Dash fidgeted nervously, hoping her friend would not decide to go. Twilight then chuckles and smiled a little. “You should know better to listen to stories like that Rainbow Dash, I’m sure that this pony isn’t that strange, I bet he is just a little shy or something. Anyway, where is it?” She asked, slight amusement in her voice, ‘Dash’s heart sank in her chest. “But… but… I…” She stammered trying to think of something that she could say to make her change her mind. “Don’t worry Dash, we defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord and that huge bunch of Changlings. I’m sure I’ll be ok dealing with some ” She said trying reassure Rainbow Dash. “I-I Guess… but be careful, please…” ‘Dash said, a rare amount of concern evident in her voice. “Don’t worry, I will… but where is it?” Twilight asked, not really taking on-board how worried Rainbow Dash really was. ‘Dash simply pointed in the direction of the Everfree Forest, “It’s just on the edge of the forest.” She said, still a little worried. Twilight smiled and nodded. “Thanks Dash, I guess I’ll go and have a look tonight.” She said as she trotted off back to the library. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That Night ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight slowly wandered down the old path out of town, so disused that it could barely be called a path. Once again, it was a clear and calm night. ‘Another perfect night’ She thought, looking up at the sky, then looking down as she went over a hill, and the large observatory loomed in front of her. Rainbow Dash hadn’t been quite right on where it was; it was in fact just inside the forest, not on the edge. Which explained why Twilight had never seen it before. The large imposing structure looked old and could definitely do with some repair work, at least so far as she could tell from the outside. As she approached it the structure towered over her, it was much larger than she had first realized. When the path reached the building it followed it around to a large metal door, with small sign loosely nailed onto it, which read "Dr. A Discharge." For the first time Twilight started to feel nervous. ‘What if all those stories had been right? What if this pony was crazy? What if I am really was putting myself in danger?’ She thought, too late as she had already raised her hoof and knocked automatically while she had been thinking. There was nothing for a second and Twilight sighed in relief, ‘There must be no pony home’ She thought. She was about to turn around until she heard the soft pattering of hoofsteps echoing in the distance, slowly getting louder, and coming from inside. Her insides froze. She was terrified. The hoofsteps stopped just on the other side of the door. She a loud grinding noise, and the door swung inwards showing a dark corridor, the only light being at the end, which seemed far in the distance. Twilight didn’t even notice these things, what had her attention was the tall, thin unicorn that stood before her. He was easily taller than her, was a menacing dark crimson, almost the color of blood, wearing a jet black mane, save for the strip of white through the middle, dazzling in comparison to the rest of his mane. His tail looked almost like a black razor blade, with a blue segment dyed into it. The glow Faded from his long, and unusually sharp looking horn. He had used magic to open the door, and he leaned down so they’re faces almost met. He studied her intently through the dark blue glasses balanced on his face. Neither moved as he continued to study her. She was rooted to the spot in fear. After a few minutes, but what felt like hours to Twilight, his mouth twitched slightly, and then spread into a large, almost menacing grin. Twilight’s stomach flipped as her fear become pure terror… End of Chapter One Dramatic reading by myself