"Come on, guys! We're going to be late!" a purple unicorn called out to her friends as she began loading her bags onto the lower compartment of the train's carriage. The excitement she was feeling could not be matched as she practically winded the stallion next to her, whose job was to assist with loading, as she threw one of her bags to him.
"Alright, sugarcube. We're a comin'!" a light orange Earth Pony called back, straightening her stetson as she smiled.
Four other ponies accompanied her, along with a small purple dragon who was carrying the brunt of a certain Unicorn's luggage. "Have you ever seen Twilight this excited?!" a pink Earth pony practically squealed with delight.
"Of course she's excited, Pinkie. It's like the most Egg-headed thing ever, all dressed up in royalty." replied a cyan Pegasus with a chromatic mane.
"Really, Rainbow Dash, you truly do have a way of making stargazing with the Princesses sound cheap and unappealing." another unicorn commented, her purple mane bouncing as she walked.
Twilight had finished loading her things and was giddily bouncing in place much like Pinkie Pie was prone to do from time to time. "It's like she'd had six cups of coffee." Rainbow noted as she stared at her friend with worry and caution planted on her face. "Twilight, could you remind me what's so exciting about this whole trip? I mean I know you've got like a sick obsession with the Princesses, but stargazing can't be that great, can it?" she asked.
"It's not just stargazing with the Princesses, but it's doing it under Princess Luna's night sky. We'll be seeing stars that haven't been seen in a thousand years. Princess Celestia did her best to fill in for her sister during her banishment, but she could never really capture the night sky as beautifully as Princess luna." she replied, using her magic to levitate everypony's luggage and organise it in the storage compartment in the train car. "It's like Princess Celestia is a writer, and Princess Luna is a painter. A writer who has an eye for detail, can't paint every single star in the night sky, only a painter could do that. You know what I mean?" she asked.
"Absolutely!... not." Rainbow replied. Twilight smacked her face with a hoof.
"Nevermind!" she said in exasperation.
As the train arrived in Canterlot, various ponies stepped off onto the station, our six young mares among them. "What about you, Fluttershy? What do you plan on doing for the day until it's time to see the stars?" asked Twilight as she stepped off. A yellow pegasus with a long pink mane followed her.
"Well, I was thinking of asking the Princesses if I could visit the gardens. All the flowers and the beautiful butterflies that live around there sound just wonderful." she replied, her quiet voice picking up in volume as she spoke.
"I might join you. It certainly sounds relaxing enough." Twilight said, nuzzling her friend who smiled in return. The six mares had made plans for the day and had agreed to meet up at the castle as the sun set. Upon this agreement, they all went their separate ways, Spike, the young dragon was left to carry everypony's bags, much to his annoyance.
Twilight and Fluttershy made their way to Canterlot where the guards greeted them. Recognising Twilight almost instantly, they allowed them both passage.
"Do you miss living in the castle at all, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, keeping close to her friend as the stoic expressions on the guards frightened her.
"Not as much as you think. I mean I miss some of the familiar faces that I'd see from time to time. I got to know a lot of the servants growing up. They made me feel like a Princess myself." Twilight said, nodding to one of said servants who waved at her happily. "You know there was a time some years back when ponies believed that the term 'servant' and 'slave' were one and the same?" she asked.
"Really? I didn't know that. Although now that I think about it, they do sound like they might be similar." she replied.
Twilight smiled at her friend. "True, but it's really just the casual way that both words are said. The term 'servant' refers to one who serves or gives. It's essentially a job, one in which ponies are free to quit if they feel mistreated or if it doesn't suit them. Princess Celestia actually had to explain this to a bunch of ponies who chose to riot over the fact that the slaves had been freed, but not the servants." she began to laugh, Fluttershy following suit.
"Some ponies can be pretty silly, can't they?" Fluttershy asked.
"We all have our little quirks. Even the Princesses have them. Princess Celestia loves cake, and you know about Princess luna's vocabulary and how she refers to herself as more than one pony." Twilight said.
"I've been wondering about that. She said it was tradition or royalty to refer to oneself as 'we'. Why is that?" asked Fluttershy.
"It's because with a diarchy, it was traditional for one sister to speak on behalf of both, therefore, it could not be disputed by the other. Essentially, when it came to giving orders, it was first-come-first-served." she replied.
Fluttershy wondered if that had lead to a lot of arguments in the past. "As I understand it, the sisters would discuss the best course of action beforehoof so as to avoid any infighting amongst themselves." Twilight added, as though reading Fluttershy's mind.
The two ponies came to the courtroom and entered without hesitation. Both Princesses were sitting on their respective thrones, though Princess Luna looked like she was asleep.
"Twilight, Fluttershy. It's good to see you both." Princess Celestia said, waking her sister from her slumber. "But where are the others?" she asked.
"It's good to see you too, Princesses. The girls are out doing their own thing until sunset. I can't wait to see what Princess Luna has in store for us tonight." Twilight replied.
Princess Celestia let out a bemused chuckle as she turned to her sister who seemed to be shying away at the mention of tonight. "On that topic, it seems Luna is a little nervous about tonight. She believes that a thousand years absence has made her rusty."
"Oh, I highly doubt that, Princess. I think your night will be very beautiful." Fluttershy said, earning a smile from the night Princess.
"We shall see, Fluttershy. What about your dragon friend, Spike? Is he not here as well?" the Princess asked.
Twilight's eyes widened with horror as she realised what she'd done. Spike would be carrying everything from the train station to the castle. The poor thing. "Uh... he'll be here in due time." she replied nervously.
Princess Celestia knew every face Twilight had ever pulled, and she knew when the young Unicorn was lying, or bending the truth. "You left him at the station, didn't you?" she asked, making both mares stiffen in fear. Celestia sighed, a light smile on her face as her horn began to glow and in a flash, Spike appeared in front of the four mares. He took a moment to clear his mind before spotting Twilight and Fluttershy, whom he proceeded to growl at with unveiled irritation. "Your bags have been placed in your respective rooms. I assumed Fluttershy would like to wander the royal gardens, so I had the gardeners tend to it earlier than scheduled." she added, motioning to Fluttershy that it was okay for her to go.
"Thank you, Princess." the timid pegasus said, nodding to Twilight before leaving.
"Thank you, Princess. Fluttershy was so looking forward to wandering around the gardens." Twilight said, gathering her composure after Spike's appearance.
"I'm aware. After all, your friends are my friends too. Luna and I have been looking forward to spending this night with you all for a while, despite her nervousness." Celestia replied. Luna nodded in agreement.
"On that subject, Celestia has something for you she believes would be very useful for tonight." Luna replied.
"Oh, yes! I almost forgot. It's in your room, Twilight. I think you'll know what it is when you see it. If not, just look for the object with a purple bow on it." Celestia said, chuckling with her sister as Twilight ran straight to her room with excitement in her eyes.
"Just like a filly when she learns she has a present waiting for her." Celestia commented.
Everypony had gathered outside on Luna's balcony. As the sun was setting, Luna was trying to psych herself up to the task. Twilight struggled to stay still as she kept adjusting the angle on her new telescope, the purple bow wrapped around one of the legs of the tripod. It was the latest model that didn't actually require looking through the eyepiece. A bit of magic and a pony could essentially bring up a screen large enough for everypony to see through the scope. It was the perfect device for a night such as this, where she wanted to share this sensation with her friends.
"Remember, Luna. What made it so much fun to do back then? Don't think of it as something you have to do, but rather something you want to do." Celestia said, as the sun began to shine its last few rays. Luna said nothing as she began to breathe in a calm and methodical manner.
As the last few licks of sunlight shone over the horizon, Luna took her position, and waited for the sun to go completely. Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One. Luna took to the skies in the blink of an eye. Immediately, her ethereal mane and tail seemed to grow and spread throughout the dark sky, giving the black canvass a hint of blue, and tiny white sparkling dots of light that were the stars began to glint just that bit brighter than usual.
The edges of what was once Luna's mane and tail shot across the sky like a wave, blanketing the world with it's beautiful white eyes. And as it reached the horizon, Luna flew higher and higher, curling in on herself before releasing a huge explosion of light that formed the moon, and every star around shone twice as bright. Some stars began to fall, creating a beautiful scene.
Everypony gazed in awe at the marvel that Luna had created. And even Rainbow understood what Twilight had said about Celestia being a writer and Luna a painter.
Luna rejoined her friends and took a seat beside her sister to examine her work. "The shooting stars are a nice touch." Celestia said.
"They were too excited to stay still." she replied, looking down as Twilight activated the magic within the telescope. The magnification of the stars brought about a different kind of beauty as the magical image began to move across, showing the moon and the many craters on its surface.
Twilight had finally calmed down and stared at the scene before her, each star reflecting in her eyes. She was mesmerised by the night sky. "How could anypony sleep through this? It's like the stars are mirroring our own activity." she said aloud as she gazed in wonder.
Celestia chuckled. "Well, you've done it now. Between her loyalty to me and her love of your night sky, she's never going to sleep again." Celestia joked, causing Luna to do the same. Everypony else, including spike were just as fixated as Twilight.
"Huh, that's odd." Luna suddenly said, drawing everypony's attention to her.
"What is it?" Celestia asked.
"Looks like a stray star." Luna replied, taking control of the telescope through her magic. She forced the telescope to zoom in further on the stray star. Upon closer inspection everypony gasped.
"That ain't no star!" Applejack cried out, causing a panic as they all realised that whatever the object was, it was coming right for them. Rainbow and Fluttershy took to the air, carrying Spike and Pinkie Pie with them. Celestia and Luna grabbed Applejack and Rarity. Twilight grabbed her new telescope and teleported out of the way of the oncoming object just in time.
A round spherical object crashed into Luna's tower and lodged itself in there, causing a panic with the guards who either took flight around it or prepared for it to hit the ground. Luna stared at the strange object, specifically, its red eye. What was this thing, and where did it come from.
Without warning, the object broke apart and something fell out. She would have caught it herself were it not for the fact that she had Rarity in her hooves. She didn't even have the foresight to consider using her magic to catch it, she was so stunned. Apparently nopony had that foresight as the creature hit the ground hard.
"Looks like it's been through Tartarus and back!" said one of the guards that had approached. Luna and the others landed just near the creature and Luna herself examined it. It wore clothes over its lower half, though even that had seen better days. Around the midsection was a different coloured cloth that indicated that the creature might have worn something over the top half also. The guard was right, this creature looked like it had played with fire and had gotten burned as a result.
Luna jumped back as the creature suddenly began to move. It sounded like it was in pain. Though its actions gave her the opportunity to examine its teeth. Most of them were flat edged like her own, though it had some canines like a predator's. An omnivore maybe? she thought. The creature opened his eyes part way and seemed to look at her. It smiled this goofy grin and even chuckled before losing consciousness once again. Luna was immediately hooked. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she'd made the decision then and there.
"Get a stretcher! We need to get this being to a Doctor immediately!" she ordered.