The Sun and Stars: Lightning Round

by JKinsley

Exploration - Fuzzyfurvert - Jan. 17, 2015

By Fuzzy Furvert

Twilight held up a hoof to block the glare coming off the huge spotlight that was attached to the forward prow. The light beam it cast in front of the airship illuminated the wet, grey-colored walls of the nearest cliff face. The craggy surface dripped with moisture coming from the thick fog bank that surrounded and all but blinded them.

The cliff was the one thing outside the ship that existed in the depth of night. Twilight kept her eyes glued to it as the HRMS Eclipse sailed onward, using it to gauge their relative speed and position. She’d been at it for hours and so far there had been little change of worthy note.

Twilight tried to stifle the yawn, but when it hit her she couldn’t stop it and stretched her jaw to the point of popping. That was all it took to get her to feel the weariness in her hooves and the ache in her neck from standing watch for so long. She rolled her head to ease the tension and did a little dance in place to get her blood moving again.

“Hey, Twi, any change?”

Twilight started at the sudden intrusion of another pony into her world of ship, cliff, and fog. She turned and smiled tiredly at Rainbow Dash. “Huh? No...no change.”

“Why don’t you take a break?” Rainbow walked up next to Twilight and blew quietly out through her nose as she gazed at the distance rockface. “It’s been hours since dinner and I can take it from here.”

“If you’re sure.” Twilight flexed her wings and yawned again. “Call me if anything happens.”

“Sure thing, Twi.”

“Oh, and Rainbow?” Twilight lowered her voice and leaned in slightly to the other mare. “When you inevitably take a flight on your own to see what’s out there, be careful, ok? We don’t even know where we are, getting separated would be a bad idea.”

Dash grinned and inclined her head to butte Twilight’s forehead. “I will. You stay focused on getting us all back to Equestria, ok?”

Twilight laughed softly. “I will. I promised, didn’t I? I’m going to see if Princess Celestia has made any headway on that problem.”

She left Rainbow Dash at the lookout and headed back to the captain’s quarters where the Princess had set up as her bunk and their de facto planning room. The doors were closed, but soft, golden light seeped out from under them rather invitingly. Twilight knocked and after a moment the door opened with a hint of Celestia’s yellow aura.

Twilight stepped in and closed the door behind her. Celestia was sitting at the large table that held their notes and charts and now useless navigational tools. The Princess waved Twilight over and one of the stools slid across the wooden floor for the smaller alicorn to sit on. “Any good news?”

Celestia looked up and smiled. “Some good news, I think.” She gestured at the star chart on the table. “As we already know, none of these stars have been visible since the storm, and the few we have seen don’t match any of our charts.”

“And you,” Twilight continued robotically, “have lost contact with the sun.”

“Ah, but that is where I have a bit of good news!” Celestia chirped. She levitated a blank page over and pulled out a quill. She rapidly sketched out a rudimentary grid of the sky. “Here is where the sun should be.” She pointed at a spot on the basic map. “I’ve been searching for it this whole time within that general area with no luck. However, after dinner, I thought I would try something new and I reached out further afield to see if I could pick up anything.”

Twilight brightened. “And...you did?”

Celestia nodded, but she quickly held up a hoof to stall Twilight. “I found a sun. It’s not my sun, and it is really far away.”

Twilight blinked and stared at where Celestia was now pointing at the map. “So, you found a star...but not Equestria’s sun? How does that work? How are we going to get back home?” Twilight licked her lips and ran her hoof through her mane. “I promised everypony I would get us home.”

“And you will. I believe you will, Twilight” Celestia gently put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I think we can use this information to begin figuring out our position and then…”

“...we can reverse the magic that brought us here.” Twilight finished for her. The junior princess brightened again and smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. We can do this. We can!”

Celestia nodded and laughed when Twilight sprang out of seat and wrapped her arms around the older mare. “Yes, we can, Twilight! We’ll see home again, I know it.”

Twilight giggled and pushed herself up to bring her muzzle to the tip of Celestia’s. Maybe it was the stress of the situation and the need for relief, or maybe it was the hint of relief the news had given them, but whatever the reason, their nuzzle quickly morphed into a full kiss.

Celestia knew she could stop it, she could easily push Twilight away, or say something that would remind her former student of their positions and way friends didn’t normally kiss friends. But a part of her didn’t want that. Part of her wanted to see where this might lead. Part of her wanted to forget the danger they were in, if only for a moment, and revel in the feeling of being held by another pony that she respected.

The kiss seemed to go on forever. Neither one of them pausing except to get a fresh gasp of air, neither giving ground to the other as they dueled. The world shrank to just the two of them, the room with the map table and their exploratory tongues and hooves. Nothing else mattered until the door burst open a moment later and a very wet Rainbow Dash tumbled in.

“Hey, you guys! I found something amazing and...what the heck is going on in here?”

Comments

[Dream Volt]

and this is why you knock Rainbow. Not that I'd expect her to do anything else, but still.

[Raven Flight]