Astromancy
by Toratchi888
“Spiiiiike…” Twilight groaned, trotting as slowly as was possible without turning into a trudging walk, jingling the bells on her tall wizard’s hat and making her long white beard and star-painted robes wobble ever so slightly.
She barely lifted her head to the decorated stalls around her—decked with spiders, bats, stars, and ghosts—or looked at their costumed occupants, such was her apparent misery.
Spike swayed on her back, dressed up like a Diamond Dog. “Oh, come on, Twilight! Pinkie’s always good for a laugh!”
“Ugh, Spike, look: I know I promised Pinkie AND Princess Celestia both that I would try to be more open-minded about Pinkie’s… Pinkie-ness… but look, even if Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense does work—and I admit, it does something—I doubt that using it is going to give her the power of crystallomancy.”
“Huh?”
Twilight stopped, craning her neck around at her passenger. “Predictive crystal-gazing. The reason we’re going to see Pinkie in the first place?”
“Oh, right.” Spike had the good grace to look sheepish.
Twilight rolled her eyes. ““Well, here we are.” She stood before a small tent, purple-pink with half-drawn curtains and a trio of jaunty yellow balloons in place of the top-post pennant. It looked like something from Saddle Arabia.
Spike hopped down, drawing a small bit-bag from his pocket. “I have the bits.”
“Is that the sound of Spike the Dragon I hear?” The voice which had spoken had a “mysterious” quantity to it… if by “mysterious” one meant “stereotypical wise pony.”
Though in the case of the tent’s occupant, it was more along the lines of “wise-cracking.”
“Hello, Madame Pinkie!” Spike replied cheerfully, trotting through the tent flaps. Twilight followed slowly.
Inside the tent, the only light available—in addition to the ambiance provided by lanterns on stalls outside—were two pairs of candles, secured in the puddles of their own wax to either of two tall, thin, square-topped pedestal tables.
At a central round table sat a bright-pink mare. She wore a purple and grey silk jacket, as well as a white turban wrapped in a “V”, with the cloth’s end dangling down the mare’s left side, in the center of which was a deep purple stone and a white feather.
The mare sat with her hooves together, eyes hooded. Before her on the table was a round object, probably about the size of two or three hooves, covered with a pink cloth.
“Come in, come in!” Pinkie intoned, an amused smile playing about her lips. “Welcome to Madame Pinkie’s House of Fortune. Two bits the price; your fortune, so nice.”
“Hahaha, you’ve been spending time with Zecora, haven’t you, Madame Pinkie?” Spike giggled, bowing.
“Hello, Madame Pinkie,” Twilight added, smiling politely as she could.
“Would you like to go first, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, gesturing to the cushion.
She’s taking this quite seriously. She’s actually sat still since we arrived. Suppose I can play along… “Thank you.” Twilight took a seat on a grey cushion, opposite Pinkie; Spike stood on Twilight’s left, looking eager.
Pinkie slowly grasped the pink cloth in her hoof, lifted it minutely, then whipped it off. Spike gasped in awe, and the corner of Twilight’s mouth cocked up.
The crystal ball was perfectly smooth and midnight-blue. “That is a lovely ball, Madame Pinkie.”
“Thank you, Twilight. I asked Princess Luna if they had anything suitable on which I might gaze, to tell ponies their fortunes; she was most happy to lend me this.”
Pinkie touched the crystal with one hoof, carefully. “It is set.”
She drew back her hoof and gazed into its depths. “Gaze with me, Twilight, so we may both see what lies ahead.”
Twilight peered at the orb, looking at it thoroughly. It indeed looked totally unblemished.
Twilight gave a start when, inexplicably, there started to swirl inside it… smoke? And were those… stars? The outline was… equine…?
Pinkie’s left ear twitched. Then her right. Her forelegs wobbled back and forth, as though a wave passed from one to the other through her body: left to right, then back. She wobbled upright, involuntarily, like a snake, and her chattered a half-dozen times as her pupils contracted…
…before she finally jumped, legs splayed, and let loose a mighty “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!” as confetti popped from nowhere behind her, swirling briefly into the shape of a large pony before falling to earth.
Pinkie thumped down onto her rump, panting. “Woweeeeeee!”
“Not-another-doozy, not-another-doozy, not-another-doozy…” Twilight muttered rapidly through clenched teeth.
“Twiiiilight…” Pinkie intoned. “In your futuuuuure… I seeeee…”
Twilight covered her face with both fore-hooves, peeking between them.
“…a tall, dark stranger; it must be!”
…
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Spike fell on his back, rolling and clutching his sides in his hysterics. “H-hey, Twilight… Maybe… maybe it’s Nightmare… Moon… AHAHAHAHA! ‘Cause it’s… Nightmare Niiiiight…!”
Twilight snorted. “Thanks, Spike.” Twilight turned a small smile on Pinkie. “I guess if Spike’s amused by all that, it’s worth the two bits.” Twilight bent down to retrieve the bit-bag from Spike, who was still chortling on the floor, and plopped it on the table. “I have to get going; you don’t mind watching him, do you?”
“Not at all,” Pinkie replied, her smile huge. “I mean, I don’t usually stare into dragons to predict the future, but maybe if we stare into a really big diamond—”
Spike’s laughter died instantly, and he sprung onto the table, fumbling in his pockets. “I have a little diamond I was saving for a snack! Maybe we can use that—”
* * *
Twilight trotted out of Madame Pinkie’s tent and down a darker side street. She avoided most of the other revellers, keeping her head low, giving polite, absent nods to the few ponies who caught her eye.
Eventually, she found herself away from the main square, where the lanterns and revellers were few. She removed her hat and robes, and set them down on a low stone garden-wall.
She sighed. Quiet. I hope Spike and Pinkie have a good time. I don’t know about Spike, but I just can’t get behind Pinkie and her predictions and senses.
She stared up into the night sky.
A tall, dark stranger.
Maybe it’s Nightmare Moon!
Twilight blew gently. Not a chance. “Not a chance,” she repeated aloud. “Princess Luna definitively proved last Nightmare Night that she’s just Luna. I don’t care what Pinkie saw in her crystal ball; the Elements of Harmony definitely got rid of Nightmare Moon for good!”
She blinked. Was that…? In the spaces between the stars, something like dust—glittering dust, like the light that shimmered in the Princesses’ manes—seemed to seep, drawing out a pattern in the sky.
Twilight blinked again. A horn? A head held high, mane swirling? She lidded her eyes, peering up. The stars twinkled quickly, quickened under her gaze.
For the briefest instant, a flash in the sky, the Mare in the Moon—
It was gone. Twilight gasped. “…no. No.” She shook her head, blinking a few more times. One single star shone brighter than all the others…
…then vanished.
“…okay, I’m betting that was just a prank. It’s probably Luna making an entrance.” She turned back towards town. “I’m no more likely to meet her than any other tall, dark stranger—”
Stranger? Not hardly, my dear Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight stopped dead.
And there before her was the Mare in the Moon, in all her dark, armoured glory.
A tiny salt-stick floated in her midnight-blue aura; she drew it slowly down her muzzle, licking it slowly. “Trick or Treat, Twilight Sparkle,” she grinned, showing her fangs. “Want to share the night?”