//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Liftoff // Story: Through The Starry Sky // by Valtyra //------------------------------// Celestia sat on her throne and looked down at her science advisor, her calm exterior hiding her boredom. She ruffled her wings slightly, their muscles cramping from the long hours clamped to her sides. "So, that's how we figured out the fluctuations in the gravity field." The unicorn looked up at Celestia proud of his latest discovery and saw the Princess staring out of the stained windows overlooking the metropolis of Ponyville. "I should have changed the name centuries ago..." The Princess thought, sighing. "Princess, are you okay?" Her advisor asked, "I can come back later if you'd like?" Celestia turned back slowly and shook her head, taking a second to breath deeply. "As much as I like to hear about your... Theories, Brain Surge. I'd much rather listen to how we could use these materials?" She thought for a moment, "How would they impact life on Equis?" Surge opened his mouth and closed it again. He looked down and thought about it. After a few minutes, he looked back up to see the Princess patiently waiting with that motherly look she so often had. He only had one word to reply with, "Space!" The Princess blinked, "I'm sorry. What do you mean, space?" "Well, the minerals exquisite properties mean that they affect a sub-level of reality. Their affect differs on how we use them, but almost all of the ones we have found have somehow warped space, nullifying mass." He paused to let the Princess process this information. A few seconds later he heard a quiet, "Continue." "Okay. Basically because of that property, if we use enough of the minerals, we could break the atmosphere, even travel through space." The princess raised an eyebrow, "You mean to say, we could travel to the moon?" "Yes, we could travel anywhere really... But of course, this is just a dream at the moment. We'd need to research it some more..." Surge rubbed the back of head and blushed, "Sorry for getting carried away." Celestia smiled and rose off her throne, "Thank you, Brain Surge. I'll talk to more soon." She turned to her guards, "I'm going to my chambers, tell everypony to come back tomorrow." The guards saluted and walked out the door. A chorus of whines could be heard as Celestia exited the throne room. ~~~ Celestia laid on her bed, wings out by her side, "Travel anywhere..." she whispered, shivering as a breeze passed over her. "Shame I can't leave..." She rolled over and jumped back screaming as she came face to face with Luna, "Luna, what the hell!" Celestia picked herself up off the floor and glared at her sister, who was having a hard time keeping a straight face. "I'm sorry Celly, you know how I get on a full moon." Luna grinned and patted the bed next to her, "I decided to spend some time with you rather than night court." "You really shouldn't, you know how the public get if there isn't a court." "No, I don't. Nopony still comes to mine, remember." Luna's glare was enough to stop Celestia from replying. Instead she laid down next to her sister. "Either way, I got word on your advisors new discovery." Luna grinned, "Exciting isn't it?" Celestia sighed, "I guess, for our ponies. Not so much for us." "What do you mean? Surely we'd be the first to travel the stars, I've never seen them up close..." Luna stared off into the distance, imagining what other planets would look like. "No, we wouldn't. We have to stay here to make sure the sun and moon move correctly, remember!" Celestia huffed, "We can't have something nice, for ourselves can we?" "Careful sister, this is what I thought." "I... I know, I've been doing this for so long. Why can't I get a break." An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Celestia removed herself from the bed and walked over to the window, looking up at the moon. "You know, this planet only needs one of us..." Luna whispered into her sisters ear, walking over and massaging her shoulders. "We could take it in turns?" While it was more of a suggestion, Celestia still felt a need to reply, "I don't know, what would the ponies think?" "Screw the ponies, they are not us. Our word is law, they couldn't stop us if we both wanted to leave." Luna stopped her massage for a second, "You do want a break." "I do," Celestia agreed. She looked back at her sister, "How long would our breaks be?" "Hmm..." Luna placed the tip of her hoof under her chin, "How about... One hundred years?" "Come now, we couldn't spend that long away from each other after... You know." "My possession, you can talk about it you know. I'm not going to be angry; it's been long enough." Lune have half hearted smile and nuzzled her sister, "Okay then, ten years?" Celestia thought about all the possible things she could do and how Equestria could change in only ten years and nodded, "That seems reasonable. We should increase our science spending then..." "I'll go do that on my way to night court. If I'm going to be alone for the years, I had better learn." Luna turned and trotted to the door. Opening it, she turned her head back and smiled at Celestia, "Good night, sis." "Good night," Celestia whispered, a long needed smile making its way onto her face. ~~~ Celestia had long been anticipating this day. The day she would finally say goodbye to this world for ten long years. It had taken three long years since that night with her sister, but finally she could see the stars she had helped move not so long ago. She rose from bed, her hair frazzled and tangled from a night of uneasy sleeping. Luna had done verifying in her power to help her, but couldn't beat all the worries that were natural after watching over a nation for centuries. Celestia walked over to the window and pulled open her curtains and smiled at the mountain sized ship docked next to Canterlot. Of course, there had been ships launched before, survey ships and experiments, though they paled in comparison to her majesties. At a glance, one could assume she had gone crazy and ordered a luxury liner, but the size was only due to the amount of life support and maintenance that would be needed to keep her majesties flagship afloat. "Your majesty?" A voice called out from behind her door, "Are you awake?" "I am indeed," Celestia replied, a grin now adorning her face, "Come in." The door opened and her personal maid walked in, "I hope that grin stays for the entire journey." She said, pulling a cart in bedhind her. "It looks good on you." "Thank you, Dust. It's been too long." Celestia pulled her attention from her ship to her maids, "You're coming with me, right?" Dust nodded, "I am indeed. somepony needs to make sure you look good, Luna know's you don't." Celestia chuckled, "Good, How did your family take it?" "They... wern't happy. But they know it's only for ten years, so I'll see them again." "There's pods in the ship if you change your mind, they'll fly you right back," Celestia said, sitting in front of her vanity. She closed her eyes as Dust picked up a brush in her magic and started brushing the Princesses mane. "Don't you worry about me, I'll be fine as long as we don't meet any scary aliens." Dust went for a few strokes. "Do you think there are any?" She asked. "Any aliens?" "Well, yeah?" "Possible, the universe is big..." The Princess thought for a moment, "I'd like to think they'd be nice. It would be rare you meet a a new species in space." "I'd like that as well." Dust finished off brushing the Princess and stepped back, allowing her to stand. "All done." "Thank you." "I have one question," Dust asked. The Princess nodded. "Why did you name it, HMS Twilight?" Thr Princess looked away, back to her ship. For the first time that day, her smile wavered. "She... She would have come with me." Celestia closed her eyes to hide her tears, "In a way, she is." ~~~ Celestia walked along the cobbled street, her subject's mouths agape at the sight. She looked out at the noon sun and breathed in the relatively fresh Canterlot air. She had chosen the path around the outside edge of the city; where rock met open air. There would be less ponies about. Alot had changed in the time since the elements. One of the changes was that Ponyville had gotten larger, rivaling Manehatten for size, it all but took up the east skyline. Canterlot didn't expand outwards; instead it expanded vertically. It reached the bottom of the mountain and spread out while the tip almost reached the upper cloud layer. The castle managed to stay relatively unchanged, only because the Princesses shot down all petitions to modernise or change it. "There are too many memories in the stone," was the reason they gave. No pony argued. Ponies stopped and bowed for her, like they had always done and Celestia smiled down at them, like she always did. Celestia carried on past a group of ponies that stopped and asked her for her autograph, not giving them a thought. "They act as if I'm a TV star..." She shook her head and wandered her way through the city till she reached her destination, the docks. She could hear the shouting of ponies from streets away and sped herself up, she needed to see it for herself. Turning the last corner, her eyes widened at the sight of HMS Twilight in all its splendor. The pale blue side was lit up with hundreds of spotlights, highlighting where each panel of its hull intersected. Celestia trotted past various ponies lifting and moving crates and made her way towards the cargo dock. She stopped infront of the quartermaster's booth and tapped on the window, seeing the pony taking a nap in his chair. "Excuse me, sir," She said, tapping again. The pony jolted up and turned, angry his nap had been interrupted, "Who is i-" He stopped and hisbeyes widened, "Y-your M-majesty, how c-can I h-help you?!" Celestia smiled, "I would like to help." Thr quartermaster blinked, "I'm sorry, you want to help?" "Yes, is that a problem?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Oh no, of course not. Why would you want to though?" "You've all helped me so much, I'd like to help you. Even though it's small..." "When you put it that way... Come on, I know what you can do." the pony left his booth and walked around the Princess, "So, how much can you lift?" ~~~ Celestia sighed and relaxed. It had been a long time since she'd use that much magic in one day, let alone one hour. She sat back in her chair and looked around her private room. Unlike her room back in the castle, this room was plain and streamlined. Her eyes passed her mementoes that hung on the walls and sat on her shelves; memories she couldn't bare to part with: the elements. They sat on her shelf in glass cases, lit up from behind. "I can almost hear their laughter," Celestia thought, imagining their reactions to such an occasion. "Pinkie would probably throw a party..." Celestia laughed. "Applejack wouldn't leave her family, not without Rarity." Celestia smiled. "Rainbow would say something along the lines of 'still not as fast as me!'" Celestia frowned. "Rarity would call it ugly and want more gems welded on." Celestia closed her eyes. "Twilight... She'd probably want to pilot the damn thing..." Celestia choked back her tears. "Why... Why can't she be here with me!" She shouted lashing her magic out, flipping her table and smashing the glass counter. She looked over and rose, moving into her bedroom. She flopped down onto the king sized bed, spreading herself out over the silk sheets and gazed out of the window. "Is that...?" She rushed over to the window and used her magic to magnify her vision and sure enough, she could see her sisters room from where she stood. Outside on the balcony sat her sister with her own student waving goodbye . It raised her spirits but did nothing for her mind. She reached out for Luna using their bond and felt a connection. "Luna." "I'm here, sister." Luna replied. "What is the matter?" "She should be here..." "I know, I miss her as well." There was a pause. "I didn't tell you; I wanted it to be a surprise, but... I found Spike." "How is he, is he unhurt?!" "Tell him yourself, he's onboard." Celestia could almost feel the smugness from her side and shook her head, "He's coming with me?" "Yeah... Though I had to agree to a date with him... You're welcome." Celestia chuckled and asked, "Where did you find him?" "In the Everfree heart, he'd been there all along. Since..." "Yeah." "It's almost time for your departure." There was a long pause this time. "Come back..." "Of course; I love you." "I love you too, Celly." Celestia broke their link and lowered her head, feeling the vibrations from the engine start to increase. She braced herself for the acceleration and watched as her sister, her city and her world slowly sped away from her past the cloud layer. "I'll come back to you, Twilight," she whispered a tear making its way down her cheek, picturing Twilight's grave.