A Beautiful Night

by bakersong

A Project

It's been two weeks since since he had to leave for Manehatten for this business trip. He was extremely exhausted after listing off why his research should go through and arguing that it would benefit the project. A lot of the other researchers on the project still had quite the doubt in his work, but he been doing work on this for nearly a decade since he began work at the Royal Observatory.

As he entered his hotel room he plopped down on the bed releasing s stressed sigh as he started to relax. After a few minutes he finally sat up a little bored and in the first time in the two weeks he finally had some free time. So he decided to check out some pictures that Twilight had hid in his bag before he left, and while getting them he saw a letter he had received only three days after he arrived.

"That's right I still gotta send a letter to her." He let out another sigh as he remembered what the letter had told him.

So instead of getting the pictures he grabbed a piece of paper, and inkwell, and a quill and sat down at the desk in his room. Though he was having trouble concentrating on writing the letter as he thought about what happened shortly after he left. The thought made him a little upset at the fact that he wasn't there to at least try to do something to stop them. But he knew he still had to write the letter and so he began.

"Dear Twilight,

I have received your letter only three days of being here, and I must say that I wish I could have to been there to at least try to stop them. Though that will not stop me from telling you how much I do miss you though. As promised I'm going to tell you what's been going on and what exactly this project is. To put it simple as I told you it deals with space travel, though my particular part is that of having to deal with navigation.

You see when I started at the Royal Observatory I was apart of a group that was supposed to design a navigation system for the rockets and the space base. Though after a little while I was the only one left to work on it, and through the years I've finally made a break through. And since I'm the only one who still worked on the project you can guess that it's hard to convince the others that the work I did is in fact correct.

But so far I have managed to hold my ground and it looks like my project will be approved by next week, and please don't get your hopes up about this. For that is what I expected, for it'll still take another week after that to get everything processed. So now you know what that project I've been working on is.

Though as I said no matter what has happened I still want you to know that you are always on my mind here. And hey some of my colleagues seem jealous that I have such a wonderful and heroic mare like you as a future wife. I really do miss you and even though I keep saying it I really do mean it for you are and will always will be my starred princess.

For what you have done to me I have never felt like before, for you were the first to not be affected by my condition. You were the one who gave me friends, a little more of a social life. The only way that I can think to ever repay you for that is by giving you my love as cheesy as that sounds.

I hope that the next two weeks will fly by and we will be able to see each other again, I can't wait to hold you in my embrace again. I can't wait to have a life together, and even have a foal or two. Shot I would be willing to give you a dozen if that would make you happy. Now I must finish this letter unfortunately for there is still much I want to tell you, but I have to get some sleep for another day of arguing. Just remember that I love you and I just can't wait to see you when I get back.

Sincerely,
Your star gazer Onyx"

He sat the quill down and looked at the clock which read eight, he only finished the letter so he could send it as soon as he could. So he got up and sealed the letter in a basic envelop and wrote the required information. As he carried it outside of the hotel where a mailbox was only a half block away he couldn't help but smile a little.

---

Two days after Onyx sent his letter she had received it from Derpy, and the two mares made some small talk before the grey mare had to get back to her work. As she shut her door she was thrilled to finally receive a letter from Onyx. It's just been over two weeks and she was still working on a plan for when he came back.

As she read the letter she couldn't help but smile at the fact that his life work might actually be accomplished before he grew old. Though as she continued to read her smile kept growing and she let out a light laugh as she read about his colleagues, and again when she read about giving her twelve foals. But at that an evil grin grew across he face as she planned on using that in the future.

She finally put the letter down and let out a happy sigh to finally know how he was doing. Though she wished he was still here with her, at least he seemed to be making progress. She decided to go look in the mirror yet again to see how she looked.

Once in the bathroom and looked into the decent sized mirror she gave a satisfied nod as her mane was a little longer than it had been before he left. She had started to let it grow after she had let her curiosity get the best of her and she read his journal. Apparently he had a dream of her with long hair and with some socks on, and ever since Cadence cast that one spell on them she couldn't help but want to try some new things.

Though for now she wanted to get a report done for Princess Celestia and go see her friends. They all wanted to go look for Song and Luna but Celestia assured them that she had her best men looking for them. She hoped that both of them would be alright since from what they all could guess they were headed to the Changeling nation, but again it wasn't their concern right now and she walked out of her house making sure to lock up.

"Oh there you are Twilight, you know darling I do love what your doing with your mane." Rarity said as she walked up.

"Thanks, I figured I might try something different." Twilight replied.

"Yeah, but why grow it out?" Rainbow asked.

"That's none of your business Rainbow." Twilight answered.

"Fine fine, I just hope Onyx like's what you did." Rainbow said with a knowing smirk.

"Yeah, at least we aren't known for doing it in public. Which by the way the next time I catch you and Quick in the Library's branches again I'll call the guard." Twilight shot back.

"So to change the subject, what are we going to do about Song and Luna?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, I hope they aren't hurt." Fluttershy said.

"Don't worry sweetie they both are powerful unicorns, well a powerful unicorn and a powerful alicorn. So I'm sure they can take care of themselves." Rarity said wrapping her hoof around Fluttershy's in a comforting manner.

"Yeah, after all Luna is an alicorn who can raise and lower the moon as we all know. And Song has the magic of the original Changeling. Which according to my research she was a powerful ancient unicorn before she was corrupted by black magic, and with that kind of magic her own power increased though as we seen it had some very bad side effects." Twilight answered.

"Wait, how do you know that? I thought there wasn't any record of the unicorns or anypony before the three tribes got here." Rainbow said.

"Well actually just a year ago there was an ancient library discovered that dated back before the three pony tribes came here. So I've studied a few of these ancient scrolls and books and I did manage to find information about The Mother as the Changelings call her. Though not much." Twilight replied.

"Oh, well that's interesting but still what about Luna and Song?" Applejack asked.

"It's out of our hooves for now." Twilight simply answered. "But I think after Onyx returns we'll start our own search for them."

"That sounds dangerous." Fluttershy said.

"Don't worry I won't make anypony come if they don't want to Fluttershy." Twilight said with a reassuring smile.

"O-okay." Was Fluttershy's response.

"Now, let's talk about strategy." Twilight said as she turned back to the rest of the group.

---

The last two weeks had gone by painfully slow and he was wide awake even though he hadn't got any sleep the night before. He was now on board the train heading towards Ponyville, and he couldn't wait to get back and wrap Twilight in his forelegs. According to the schedule he would be there in only an hour, of course he been on the train for about six already.

As the train continued he looked over his approved work, and he even been approved to hire an apprentice to teach how to work the navigation system. The reason why he wanted the apprentice was because he didn't want to leave Ponyville for long. Though now his only problem was finding one.

"His mister!" He jumped at the sound, and when he looked over he saw a little filly said. "Oh, sorry I didn't mean to scare ya." The filly giggled a little.

"It's fine, but do you need anything?" He asked with a smile. "And where's your parents?"

"Oh, well actually I'm uh, going to visit them. That's why I'm here, but do you mind if I have a seat?" The filly asked giving him some puppy dog eyes.

"Well sure, but don't you know not to talk to strangers?" He asked.

"Yeah, but if it makes you feel better I'm Night Bright." She replied hoping up in the seat just opposite of him.

"Well nice to meet you, my name is Onyx Illusion." He said taken aback a little. "So how old are you?"

"Oh, I'm seven." She answered.

"And where are you going?" He asked.

"To Ponyville, my parents live there." She replied picking at the seat a little. "You know you have funny looking eyes Mr. Onyx."

"Oh, yes unfortunately they weren't always like this. But that's something I don't feel comfortable telling such a young lady." He said.

"Young lady?" She asked tilting her head in confusion.

"Yes, in my eyes such a well behaved filly like yourself I consider a young lady." He answered with a small smile.

"Oh, that's cool." She said.

"So whose your parents, maybe I know them?" He asked. "After all I'm also going back to Ponyville, I've been living there for a little while now."

"Oh, um..." She trailed off.

"It's fine you don't have to tell me their names, but why are you on this train by yourself though?" He asked.

"Well my granny didn't want to come with me." She had a little bit of a look of fear in her eyes at the mention of her granny.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense. So I take it you just got on at the last stop?" He asked.

"Yeah, only thirty minutes away by train." She put on a smile. "Hey what do you do?"

"Oh me, well I'm an astronomer. You know a pony that looks at the stars." He answered and he also saw a glimmer in her eyes.

"Wow that's so awesome! I wish I knew what I be doing, but I don't have a cutie mark yet." She let out a small sigh but then laughed a little and put on a determine look. "But that won't stop me from finding my special talent!"

"Well that's good to hear, but just a little advice. You really aren't defined by your cutie mark, yes it tells you what your best at but to be honest you can be whatever you set your mind to. For example I have a friend named Baker Song, he's probably one of the best baker's you would ever meet. But instead of having a bakery he works at a restaurant, granted that may sound the same but it isn't. Though it does involve cooking he doesn't just stick to what he's best at, in matter of fact he once told me that he was at one point a horrible cook. But he didn't give up and he ended up as a head chief at a fancy restaurant in Canterlot. So again if you put your mind to it you can honestly be whatever you want." He said looking away from the window to see her listening and hanging on to every word he had said.

"Wow, that sounds cool. Maybe sometime I can meet your friend." She said.

"Well maybe someday, but not to ruin it for you but right now my friend is away on a...vacation." He said almost slipping.

"Then I can't wait to meet him." She said looking out the window.

The next ten minutes of the train ride went by in silence, but he couldn't help but wonder what happened to this filly. She seemed so upbeat, but he knew that she was hiding something that was hurting her. Though at first he thought it was impossible for somepony so young to have such problems and not show it, but before he could ask the train grind to a stop and she jumped out her seat.

Though he thought about making sure she got home fine he knew that Ponyville was a pretty safe place. So he grabbed his bags and walked out onto the platform his eyes scanning for a certain purple pony. But his heart sunk when he wasn't greeted by anypony, not even a friend.

As he sat down in confusion his eyes full of hurt as he would have figured that Twilight would be there for him, and if not she would at least have one of their friends tell him why she wasn't there. But no pony was there for him, and he sat there and waited. He knew he sent a letter telling them he would be back today at about this time.

After waiting for twenty minutes he finally decided to go ahead and leave, his thoughts were slightly depressed. Only one thought was good, and that was if they were all summoned by Celestia for something and couldn't be here. He grabbed on to that hope that they might be busy with something, and he managed to reach his house.

He unlocked the door with a hidden key under the welcome mat, and when he went inside he could see a difference. Everything looked neat and organized, and everything looked like it had been dusted a thousand time's over. But that still didn't ease the sinking feeling of not being greeted by the one pony that now only mattered. So he put his bags down in a corner and went up to his room, his exhaustion seemingly catching up to him.

Though before he got to his bedroom door he decided to go to the kitchen as he hadn't really eaten since lunch, and that was only a bag of peanuts. So after making himself a lettuce and pepper jack cheese sandwich he finally started to make his way up the stairs. Once to his bedroom door he froze when he thought he heard something on the other side.

He slowly crept his way to his door not making sound, and once to the door he put his ear up to it. When he heard nothing he leaned back in confusion swearing that he heard something, so he slowly turned the knob and the door slowly opened. Though he got a nervous tick he didn't arm his horn with any kind of spell, which was a smart thing for what he saw made his jaw drop as he froze in the door.

"Welcome home my star gazer." Twilight said giving him a cute little look.

---

"Has there been any new news on my sister or Song?" She asked a guard standing in front of her.

"There has been a rumor that Song has been spotted making his way through the country side, and as for Princess Luna she has been spotted over Manehatten." The guard answered.

"Have any of your men been in contact with either of them?" She asked.

"Two of my men managed to track down Song, but they were overpowered by his magic. Neither one of them were hurt, but Song managed to get away." The guard answered.

"I figured as much, and what about Luna?" She asked with a little hope.

"We have four men flying behind her to keep an eye on her for now, I ordered them to not engage just in case." He answered.

"Good, because just like Song they would be easily overpowered. Why did I ever issue those uniforms, they do absolutely nothing to actually protect against magic. It's just like that one science fiction novel that Luna reads, 'Celestial Wars'." She said under her breath.

"So what do you want to do?" He asked.

"Keep tabs on her, and see if you can't track down Song and this time to engage him again. I'll send somepony else that'll be able to get them back." She replied.

"Yes Ma'am, and what about our prisoner?" He asked, which he immediately regretted as her eyes lit up with pure furry.

"Get whatever you can out of that Changeling, and do whatever it takes. Make him tell you what they did with Feather and how did they get the Minotaur's to help them make the exchange!" She replied with such venom that the guard almost wetted himself.

"Y-yes y-y-your highness." He replied and scampered off to find the nearest bathroom.

She sat there for a moment and took a deep breath, her heart had been broken just about a month ago. The reason being that somehow the Changelings convinced the Minotaur ambassadors to help them. They somehow snuck a Changeling drone in and replaced her sunshine with an impostor. Though she didn't know how or when, all she knew was that it was during her meeting with the Minotaur's and Feather was standing by her side the entire time.

"I swear if they hurt her, or the baby, our baby then they shall pay dearly." She spat and released a magic beam that completely vaporized a pillar.

Author's Note:

Yes an interesting chapter wouldn't you all say? Now would you stand in Celestias way right now? Hope you all enjoyed though, and remember to smile smile smile.