//------------------------------//
// What Are The Stars?  
// Story: The Starry Sky 
// by One Punch Man 
//------------------------------//

Written from the perspective of Twilight Sparkle




What are the stars?

Are they the eyes of God? Are they the letters of the Heavens? People revere them so. So many songs and poems mention them and how people pray to them. Children wish upon them. All that faith and adoration concentrated onto little dots in the sky.

Just what are they really?

Gaseous giant balls of burning space fuel? The remnants of some cosmic accident? The natural formation of all free roaming debris in the great void of darkness and unknown?

I wish I knew.

But today I'll settle just for seeing some.

I have glasses with astigmatism, I don't have telescopes for eyes.

It just so happened that Sunset's birthday had come recently and she received an odd gift: a telescope. It was brand new, expensive, and apparently very powerful. But Sunset has no who she even received from. When she showed me the letter that came with the package all it said was, “They say astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another. But maybe it can help you look towards something more perhaps?”  Though I do think I may have an idea of who it was from, I decided not to say anything. 
Despite this, Sunset had no idea how to set up or operate it.                                                                                                                    

Fortunately for her, I know how to read manuals.

I did some light reading on the topic of telescopes and how they use curved lenses to achieve perfection positioning of the focal points to enhance the imaginary image size. Of course, I also happened to do some light reading on the topics of stars, galaxies, and planets as well. Not to mention the abundance of constellations both ancient and recent.

The grass is cool to the touch, as is the air.

Sunset fumbled around, getting the telescope stand in position. She was in charge of assembling it while I would do the fine tuning. I sat on a picnic blanket, leaning back. The palms of my hands ran through the grass. It tickled a bit and it felt nice, kind of like running my hand over a cat's fur.

"I think this piece goes here… or was it there…? Hmm… okay, this triangle peg goes into the triangle hole but why is the peg red and the hole blue…?" Watching Sunset trying to set up a telescope was like watching a toddler clean up their own mess.

Sighing and adjusting my glasses, I got up to help her.

"Let me-"

"No no no! I got it! I insist. Besides, I invited you and it would be pretty terrible of me to let the guest do the heavy work and assembly," Sunset said waving me off.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, you did invite me to help you know. Inviting someone over to get help from them only to not take that help is somewhat disrespectful to the guest who wants to help you, wouldn’t you agree? That sort of attitude can also leave a bad impression on your ‘guest’, you know?"

"Huh, good point."

Sunset stayed silent for a moment.

"Okay, how about you have a hand at this?"

"Gladly," I said.




Within moments, the telescope was assembled and perfectly calibrated. The moon fragments would be perfectly visible tonight thanks to the clear side and bright illumination. It would pure white. Even without the telescopes the major craters were visible. From Mons Huygens and Mons Hadley to Vallis Rheita and Vallis Schrodinger, it was all there in its shattered glory.

"Well there, it's prepared," I said. Standing aside, I offered Sunset the first look. It was her telescope after all.

"Guests first," she replied.

"Well… okay, if you insist," I said barely able to contain my excitement and amusement. Perhaps a bit of guest pampering wasn’t so bad. Leaning over, I peeked into the glass and began roaming my sights throughout the great formations upon the moon.

We took turns afterwards.

After we looked at the moon, we looked at the comets zooming throughout the system. Then came the other planets and the stars and the asteroid belt and the many stars twinkling on and off in the distance. The white dwarfs and supernovas - all so peculiar like glass marbles filled with living flame.

"... did you know we are all formed from space dust?" I mentioned offhandedly.

"Really?" Sunset seemed bewildered by the realization.

"Yeah. When the Big Bang occurred, most of the elements on the periodic table was formed. First hydrogen then helium then everything up to iron and lead. And from there, even more elements were formed and these elements combined to form molecules and compounds. Then from that primordial soup of molecules, primitive cell walls and mitochondria and proto-bacteria began to form and engulf each other until evolution took its course and brought us. We are descended from that same primordial stock of star dust and matter, from ourselves to our parents and their parents and their parents all the way back before memories and our place in this universe was even realized."

Sunset blinked.

"I lost you after 'Big Bang'."

I sighed.

"We can go over it again another time."

Sunset scratched her chin. "You sure do know a lot of science and philosophical stuff, eh Twi? That's actually pretty impressive! Sure I don’t mind a good read though that’s more along the lines of a good fantasy novel, not the Origins of the Universe….not that there’s anything wrong with that of course. Honestly, as of late I’m more a do know and worry later kinda girl. I guess you could say I‘ve started let my heart guide a lot more of my actions now. "

"How does that work out for you on multiple-choice tests?"

"...badly."

"Figures," I laughed.

"Hey! You're laughing at my expense!"

Covering my mouth, I apologized. She still looked downcast and slightly annoyed. "Hey there there. I didn't mean it like that. If you want, we can study together. It'd be a shame if you got put on academic probation and had to drop out. What will Miss Cheerilee go without her favorite student?"

"Really? I'm her favorite student?"

"No, but the thought is what counts."

Sunset clutched her heart and, again, I giggled at her expense.

"We should get something to eat later."

"It's late… that's not good for your metabolism," I explained with a sigh. I was a bit hungry and a late night snack did sound good. Unfortunately it would be serious murder on my diet and by murder I meant that Rainbow Dash and Rarity would kill me if I went against the diet they so generously created for me. (Seriously, why do I need to go on a diet?!)

"Well I was thinking of trying that new fad. You know, the one with raw fish slices… sushi or something…"

My glasses glimmered at the mention of sushi. To hell with the diet. Raw fish slices and sushi sound amazing right about now.

"I'm okay with that."

Sunset turned to me and smiled. "It's a date then," she joked.

I turned at her to tell her it wasn't a very funny joke but her gaze wasn't at me. Sunset had taken off her boots and laid on the grass. Her eyes were primed for the night sky, as if it were looking for a connection in the stars between all the inhabitants of the world and firmaments of heaven.

She looked up in perfect silence at the stars. I thought she looked absolutely beautiful.

And I couldn't help but join her as I placed my head on her shoulders as we both looked up towards the starry sky.

 Fin