Bright Stars & Dark Clouds

by Fuzzyfurvert

Continuity, Baby! Yeah!

Author's Note:

This has continuity with several prompts I wrote for the Twiluna Collab, so if you've read those you should be familiar with everything going on here. You need not have read them, they just come before the start of this. Consider this the official 10th entry in that prompt continuity.

It is 7am and I haven't slept yet. So sue me if this is stupid.

Bright Stars/Dark Clouds
by FuzzyFurvert
***

The Ultra High Altitude Geo-Stable Observatory Cloud, ironically, is practically unobservable from the ground. It floats at the very edge of Equestrian airspace; the very edge of Equus itself, so high up that most other clouds except the tips of the tallest storm-heads and occasional contrail fail to visit it. The Observatory perched at the nearest boundary with the black beyond that a mortal pony could reach, it’s own upper limits extending into the turbulent stratosphere that circled the world.

If a pony were to topple off the the lowest platform of the facility, assuming they are not otherwise capable of flight, it would take almost five full minutes before they reached the ground.

The UHAGSOC, as it is referred to in the kingdoms’ official documents, is made from the same cloudcrete as much of Cloudsdale and other Pegasus communities are crafted from. The substance is a dozen times over more resilient and solid than naturally occurring cloud material and as such was considered the ultimate form of pegasus natural magic and one of the greatest creations of all Ponykind. The Observatory was built with special considerations for its placement and purpose; only the thickest, densest and heavy with the promise of rain cumulus was used to make the cloudcrete that it was constructed from with each ‘slab’ enchanted and blessed by the Princess herself.

Celestia had the Observatory built for her sister, Luna, six hundred and forty seven years after her banishment. The cost to build such a structure was immense and many in Canterlot spoke out against it. They argued that Luna would never return and that Celestia should not try to assuage her guilt by bankrupting the nation. Publicly, the Princess agreed with her detractors. In private, however, she pushed hard on her stable of unicorn enchanters and pegasus engineers to complete the project.

It took twelve years to complete construction and development of the spells that would keep the structure safe from the winds at such high altitudes. Once all was said and done, the project claimed a half million bits(accounting for inflation) and the lives of four construction workers. A telescope was originally part of the plans for the Observatory, but complications with international relations with the Minotaur nation at the time lead to the abandonment of that phase of the project.

And so the Ultra High Altitude Geo-Stable Observatory Cloud would sit empty and unused for the next three hundred and forty one years until the return of Princess Luna. Three years after her return, the Observatory is finally being used as it was envisioned by Princess Celestia, with the installation of the Archimedes Twelve Longview Telescope.

~A Brief Historical Overview of the Ultra High Altitude Geo-Stable Observatory Cloud

by T.S.

~~~~~~

Twilight drummed her hooves on the table in the main viewing chamber, her notes shifting slightly with the vibrations. The clock on the wall ticked quietly, counting time as day wore into night. Outside and thousands of leagues above her, Twilight knew, Equus’ moon was rising above the horizon, its guardian and namesake hoof-guiding its course.

Normally, Twilight would have her eyes glued to the viewfinder on the Archimedes, watching the rising unfold and tracing the lines of Luna’s magic as it hauled a practically uncountable amount of tonnage across the sky. Not tonight, however. Luna had made her promise not to while trying to look serious. Her marefriend was terrible at lying and keeping a secret. One one hoof, Twilight was curious what it was that Luna was planning, on the other hoof, she was growing increasingly bored.

She glanced at the clock again. The moon should have been up by now, with Luna on her way back. Part of the promise was to not use the telescope until her return to the Observatory. Part of Luna’s powers as the Princess of the Moon and Night was her ability to fly in zero-gee without an atmosphere. Her re-entry into Equus’ mesosphere looked like a meteorite’s plummet from space, leaving a long silvery trail behind herself before splitting the sky with a rainboom.

Twilight drummed her hooves faster until she heard the familiar crack and rumble of her love’s return to the realm of mortal ponies. The thunder of Luna’s re-entry barely faded before the hatch opened from the outside and the dark colored mare stepped through.

“I’m back!”

“Yes,” Twilight rolled her eyes, “I can see that. Now will you explain why you told me not to watch the moon rise? I rather like watching you work, you know.”

“I know. I am sorry about that Twilight, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.” Luna smiled sheepishly as she grabbed her enchanted parka off the peg by the door. Now that she had returned and her goddess powers returned to a semi-dormant state, her body was starting to feel the cold again.

Twilight sighed and moved over to the counter where their much loved and abused coffee maker had a fresh pot on the warmer. She poured two cups and passed one to Luna. “Ok, out with it. What’s the surprise?”

Luna chuckled and grinned at Twilight as she took the cup from her magical grip as she trotted over to the telescope. Luna took a sip as she adjusted the angle of the view, checking the clock on the wall and the notches of degree measurements carved into the dome above them.

“Now you can look. I wanted to be here so I could see the look on your face when you saw.” Luna grinned again, her eyes becoming soft as she looked at Twilight.

The younger alicorn raised an eyebrow and stepped up to the telescope. She took a quick sip of her own coffee and bent to look into the viewfinder. Luna stood silently by Twilight’s side, watching her face as her expressions changed. First, Twilight’s brows knit in confusion, her mouth setting into a cute frown. Twilight’s cheeks twitched as her forehead smoothed. Luna could almost hear her thinking, doing the calculations in her mind as she used the scopes on-board scale and distance graphs. She loved the way Twilight bit her lip when presented with a tough puzzle.

After a minute of starring through the viewfinder, Twilight looked up and at Luna, her face painted with her interior struggle to accept what she had seen.

“W-what… is… what is that?”

Luna smiled gently and leaned in to plant a kiss on Twilight’s muzzle. “You know those old romance films we watched together a few months ago?”

Twilight nodded numbly, her mind still processing.

“Well, in one of them there was a couple, a pegasus stallion and an earth pony mare.” Luna moved around the telescope’s viewfinder and rested one of her wings over Twilight’s back. “They were both very much in love, but came from poor families, the stallion much more so than the mare. And when he was confronted about the destitute state of his personal wealth, he said, very tenderly to the mare something to the effect that he would give her anything she wanted, no matter what. That he would do whatever it took to make her happy. That if she wanted the moon itself, he would make it hers.”

Twilight blinked. “I remember that. What does that have to do with…” She gestured vaguely toward the distant lunar orbit.

“Well, as you might have guessed, I cannot give you the moon even though it is far more within my power than that stallion in that movie.” Luna raised her hoof and gently turned Twilight to face her. “So, I did the next best thing. I made another moon. And it’s yours, Twilight. I even named it after you.”

Twilight blinked again, rapidly. “You did what?! Are you insane?!”

“Um…”

“You’ve put an additional moon into orbit around Equus! Right behind the first one! Did you even stop to think about the tidal forces that this will affect? What about gravity? Or what ponies on the ground are going to think with it suddenly showing up like that?!” Twilight’s left eye twitched.

“Um...Twilight…”

“WHAT WILL PRINCESS CELESTIA THINK?! WHAT IF YOU DROP IT?! HOLDING ONE MOON HAS TO BE TAXING ENOUGH, WHAT HAPPENS IF IT EXHAUSTS YOU TRYING TO KEEP BOTH OF THEM ORBITING THE PLANET?!”

“Um, Twilight…” Luna’s smile quivered as she leaned away from Twilight. “Happy anniversary?”

Comments

[Pearple Prose]

static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1503/15037917/2371600-9530080022-13605.gif

[Ebonysdagger]

Twi, chill. Luna's got this.

[Hungryman]

Oh finally! The Sun, the Moon and The Twilight.

[ultra1437]

The UHAGSOC

I am unnaturally excited seeing that actual acronym, since i'd come up with it in my mind like the third entry in.

Edit- Now that i've read the chapter, i can't help but agree with Twilight. I mean two moons? That'd be as bad as like... a double rainbow, or something.

And now i can't stop imagining Celestia doing something very similar. Twin suns, and now i'm thinking Equestria is on Tatooine. On the side of the world they never showed.

[Fuzzyfurvert]

3844150
hehe. It'll be somewhat worse than a double rainbow. All the way across the sky or not.

[Cast-Iron Caryatid]

The Ultra High Altitude Geo-Stable Observatory Cloud

I can't decide if I should ship this with my own Royal Observation Cloud, or just imagine that they're the same and it's undergone some upgrades

[Fuzzyfurvert]

3844448
That would be quite the crackship.

I see them more as frienemies. Like they're at different ends of equestrian airspace and try to out observe each other in a senpai-please-notice-me kinda race.

[horizon]

Viewed, upvoted and commented in hopes of a hat-eating.

I like the worldbuilding, but I should warn you that I will most definitely NOT be stealing this for the origins of Harshwhinnia. Everypony knows that that was made from the sweat and tears of the world's top athletic competitors, compressed into crystal by Harshwhinny's own mighty hooves and bucked into the sky. That was how she earned her princesscorning and triplecorning (respectively).

[Fuzzyfurvert]

3846055
OMBA!!! LUther comentd on my story! FIMFICtion Acheevment unlock!!

Wait, so was the crystallization of the sweat and tears the achievement for her princesscorning, and then bucking said crystal into the sky the separate achievement for her triplecorning?

[Knight of Cerebus]

media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqygr3HThq1qc03m3.jpg

Luna just better be glad she's a horse and so won't ever lose her vegan powers.

[Astarea]

Twilight's Thought Process Checklist
- Intense thinking? ✔
- Realization? ✔
- Freakout? ✔
- Acceptance? ✘

[Lambda462]

If this makes it to the Feature Box I will eat my hat.

The writer 'bats' once made a similar promise with the outcome of him eating a hat.

[twilight the scribe]

Well, I made the box within hours of posting my story. Don't see why you wouldnt either. What is your hat made of? Would you need something to go with it?

[twilight the scribe]

But I have to say I agree with Twilight. Two moons? seriously? Did Discord have something to do with this?!

[TheLastBrunnenG]

Nicely done!

lease be a dear and bring together all the UHAGSOC-verse stories into one collection. Maybe just paste them together into a single longer doc, with {HR} breaks between, and post separately or even insert them here as Chapter Zero / Prologue. They're too much fun to lose in the maelstrom of the prompt tag collab.

Also, I owed you a follow from the first time I read Pony Dreams but somehow missed it, so here, have one of those too.

[dlazerous]

my only problem with this story is how it's centered in the middle instead of to the left, it's hard to follow like that.