Observatory

..Celestia forbid that this would be pinned against her for all eternity. Not that it would matter to her little ponies now. After a frantic getaway from the earth's collapsing atmosphere, she felt it was finally safe to slow the rapid beating of her wings to a gentle, weightless glide as her body propelled towards the only place she could now consider a safe destination. Two figures stood on the dusty surface of the moon, and as superb as her vision was, she wouldn't be able to identify the two ponies that waited for her. Or any others for that matter. But she knew who they were. The others were not here. And whose fault was that? The princess's eyes brimmed with tears. She was moving fast through space, and with a final beat of her wings, she prepared for a rough landing.

***

That light, by Starswirl's beard it was ungodly bright. With a lot of morning effort, Princess Luna's horn flared in a cobalt luminescent glow, as her window's beautifully hoof-crafted portière was pulled together, becoming responsible for the sudden absence of sunlight. Sighing in slight frustration, she wondered which moronic servant left the princess of night's drapes open. Luna rolled over in her grand bed, and resumed the business of sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, a thin stream of amber sunlight was peeking through the crack across the bottom of her bedroom door. With a not-so-graceful yawn, Luna rolled twice towards the edge of the bed, right off the side. She landed unsteadily on all four hooves and as she put one hoof in front of the other advancing forward, her horn lit up again. This time, the two sheets of fabric that adorned her large bedroom window slowly moved apart, revealing the sunset that her sister was busy lowering past the distant skyline. The ‘window’ technically doubled as two doors that swung outward onto a patio. Soon, Luna would have to walk through said doors to do her part as the princess of night, and raise the moon into the night sky that she was proud to have decorated. But not yet.

A hesitant knock was heard through the bedroom door, and with a loud "Enter," a servant of the castle was granted access to the room of royalty. A mocha-colored unicorn mare cautiously entered Luna's room with obvious discomfort hidden behind a brave face. She levitated a tray that held coffee; accompanied with cream, sugar, a spoon and a ceramic mug. Without a word, she brought the tray over and lowered it onto a nearby table. Luna smirked and nodded towards the mare. She was apparently new. This must have been the mare to leave her drapes open. With a fleeting thought the princess wondered where her usual servant, Copper Hoof was. Not that it really mattered, he was just somepony nice to watch as he moved. With a dismissal flick of Princess Luna’s left wing, the mare bowed her head and made her leave.

After consuming more than a few cups of coffee, Luna stood outside her room, her body resting against the balcony rail. She watched as the sun disappeared over the horizon, coffee still floating in her levitation spell. She set it down as her turn to command the world’s sky was approaching in a matter of seconds. Celestia was sure to lay for slumber soon. Powering her long, elegant horn with the usual cobalt-colored glow, she reached out towards the universe, creating a connection with her longtime friend, the moon. They had been familiar with each other for thousands of years, Luna even being housed by the moon for a thousand. In that span of time, Luna came to recognize that the moon herself was alive and had a personality. It was distant, and couldn’t, or wouldn’t communicate with the moon princess, but the connection was always there. It wouldn’t be described as a warm feeling, knowing that you had a mental connection with a friend that would be there forever, yet the moon had a cool and calming aura to it. Much better than the heat of the sun, in Luna’s opinion.

Having an active connection with the moon, Luna closed her eyes and gently eased the giant mass higher and higher into the sky, where it would be encouraged to move across the night sky on its own until it was time for the sun to regain control. She had done this millions of times and it was no longer an overwhelming task. Taking a deep breath through her nostrils, she exhaled quietly as the moon was given a final push. Releasing the magic around the lunar structure, she smiled and opened her eyes, bidding the moon farewell until tomorrow.

Re-entering her room, Luna walked towards her bedroom door, now ready for what the night awaited. But first it would be night court for three consecutive hours. She groaned. At the same moment her horn lit to open the door she was about to walk through, a pegasus guard burst into her room, rambling about the request of an urgent meeting with both Royal Sisters, concerning the Guild Of Astronomy. Irritated, Luna cast a silencing spell on the pegasus, her eyes flashing with anger.

“Thou shall speak NOW why thy have entered our room without permission!” Shaking, the guard frantically pointed towards out the door, beyond the bedroom chambers and out into the hall. Following the direction of his hoof, there stood a crowd of ponies staring at the princess with mixed expressions. Releasing the spell, Luna’s gaze shifted back to the intruding guard with a more patient regard, a questioning look on her face.

“T-The GA requests a meeting with the Royal Sisters as s-soon as possible. Night court has been canceled as it’s quite urgent,” The poor guard stammered as he addressed his princess with a hint of fear. “It is asked that the meeting take place in the observatory.”

The princess nodded and brushed past the guard, nodding at the crowd as she briskly walked to the observatory. If this required both regal sisters, the matter at hand would be very serious. Luna hoped nopony would be in danger. The crowd that gathered in front of her door followed a few paces behind her, struggling to keep up as the princess had longer legs than any of them. Finally making it to the observatory, the princess barged through the doors in a haste.

“What art thou meaning of thy disturbance??” She blared into the room. Taking in her surroundings, she first noticed her sister, Celestia, whom had a solemn look on her face and with hard eyes, was staring back at her lunar counterpart. Standing adjacent from Celestia was an old unicorn. Luna was familiar with this colt, as she spent many days in the observatory, teaching him about the history of her night sky. He also looked as if something was very wrong. The ponies that trailed behind her caught up, flooding into the dimly lit room muttering to themselves and each other. Most of the lighting came from her own night sky, the moon shining brightly through the rounded glass ceiling, which gave the room a beautiful white glow. Celestia motioned her sister and the others over with a wing, to the table everypony was now standing around. Luna took her place next to her solar sibling, waiting for an explanation.

“Luna, everypony,” Celestia nodded towards the ponies. “There is a situation here that needs to be addressed immediately. We do not know of the cause, nor the solution, but it is dire that it is fixed as soon as possible. If possible. That’s why you’re all gathered here tonight.” Gasps were heard among the ponies with the exception of Luna and the old colt, though a small stab of fear pierced Luna’s heart. What could possibly be bad enough to bring together the rulers of Equestria and experts in multiple fields of profession including geology, geography and astronomy? She would soon find out, she mulled.

“I have seen many things threaten Equestria and it’s peace,” Celestia continued on. “Including outside threats that come from the depths of space. But this time, the danger that is being imposed upon us has an unknown source.” Everypony erupted in frantic speech, trying to talk above each other. Celestia tapped a hoof adorned in a golden shoe, twice on the table and waited for her subjects to quiet down. Once they did, she carried on the confusing story as Luna quietly listened.

“It seems that my beloved Equestria, and the entire earth is becoming unstable. Evidence is seen in the ground if looked for carefully enough. Cracks are appearing on the surface, and they run very deep to the core. The normal temperature of the sun is also rising rapidly. She grimaced. I do not know what this means, but if my subjects are in danger, action must be taken immediately.” Luna found now to be the time to speak up.

“But sister,” she started above the ponies that began to try yelling over themselves again. “What is expected of us to fix this danger?” Celestia turned an eye to her sister, drawing in a deep breath.

“We may have to leave our homeworld, and find another to settle on.” Everypony stopped cold and looked up towards their beloved leader, their minds turning over the implications of what was just said. Luna’s heart skipped a beat.

The earth may soon be gone, from right under their hooves.

Author's Note:

I'm not a writer, I've never been a writer.
But I want to be one, kinda. This is my first serious, serious attempt at writing a story and I don't know if I'll continue past the first chapter. It all depends on reader feedback. If I get enough positive feedback, I'll continue my story. If not, well, I tried!
(If I continue, I'll be looking for a trustworthy proofreader/editor.)

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