Dreams' Horizon

by DrakeyC

Chapter 4

Wednesday morning saw the first floor lecture hall begin to fill as the crowd of unicorns filtered through the doors and took up seats. Minuette led the way down a row and let the other five sit down in the chairs behind her.

“Are you girls excited? Halfway through our first week!” she grinned widely.

“I know!” Twilight grinned happily. “It’s been so amazing!” She pulled her notebook and textbook out of her bags and flipped to a new divider.

“I’ll be amazed if I stay awake long enough to make it to the weekend,” Lemon replied. She raised a hoof to her mouth and stifled a yawn. “I have been up late all week helping classmates get their stuff in order. It’s third year, you would think they would know by now where to check to get the list of textbooks they need and where to check out equipment for experiments. But you would be wrong.”

Sitting beside Twilight, Luster leaned forward and looked at Lemon. “Uh, not to be mean, but, if you’re feeling tired from helping them, couldn’t you just not help them?”

“Lemon doesn’t work that way,” Twinkleshine said. “In elementary school, for a classmate? She built a diorama of the Cloudsdale weather factory all by herself so they could pass the assignment. And they got a better mark than she did.”

“That is not true!” Lemon wrinkled her nose. “I got an eighty-one, they got seventy-nine. And they did help build it, they provided the materials and a diagram of how they wanted it to look. They just didn’t have time to actually build it themselves, but they had made the effort.”

Twilight smiled and tilted her head. “I think that still proves the point.”

Suddenly, the room fell into total darkness. Several students screamed and gasped. Magic auras in a spectrum of colors appeared around the seats as the unicorns lit their horns for light. Twilight did not follow suit, opting to wait patiently with a wide smile; she had met the teacher for this course earlier in the week. He seemed the sort to want to make an entrance.

A wave of sparkling magic in myriad colors washed over the room from the center of the ceiling. In its wake appeared a vast, twinkling starfield. A voice, deep and booming and coming from unknown parts of the room, spoke. “The history of Equestria is the history of ponykind, and for their history, ponies have defined themselves by the universe around them.”

The stars around the room began to swirl together, ghostly images appearing over them – an ancient castle, a giant bear, an elaborate magic crest. The images moved across the walls and ceilings, as though the entire room was spinning. The various images and stars converged on each other, forming into six planets orbiting around a glowing orange sun.

“Today we stand at the dawn of a new epoch in each of your lives, the day when your understanding of astral mechanics and the world itself reaches new heights! Today—"

The planets lit up and were drawn into the sun. The sun swirled into a vortex that funneled toward the bottom of the room. The lights came back on and the ponies watched the magical energy draw into a small, painted blue box with an hourglass on it, held in the hooves of a middle-aged earth pony with a light brown coat, dark mane, and a collar and tie. He closed the box and held it up with a smile.

“Today, you begin your third-year astronomy classes.”

A moment of stunned silence ensued and was then broken by applause from the students. The professor bowed his head and set the blue box on the table nearby. “Thank you, I’m quite proud of that little device.” He nodded back at the class. “I am Doctor Time Turner, astrophysicist and third-year astronomy teacher here at SGU. I’ll be teaching both the basic and advanced courses this year, so for those of you who’ll be back here tomorrow for the advanced class, expect a fair degree of overlap.”

A student on the right side of the room raised a hoof, and Dr. Turner paused and looked at them. “Ah, a question already! Yes?”

The student stood up from his seat. “Princess Celestia said we won’t be covering anything about the dual eclipse. Is that true?”

Dr. Turner turned away, rubbing his chin. He mumbled for a moment before turning back and speaking up. “Unfortunately, yes. The princess felt that the curriculum should be consistent no matter what celestial events may occur during the year to be fair to students who attended the years before and will attend the years after.” He frowned and let out a light sigh. “Truth be told it’s quite a disappointment. There hasn’t been an event like this in a millennium by most estimates, and the predicted effects on magic will be profoundly revealing.” He became more animated as he kept talking. “I can’t say I don’t know a scientist alive who isn’t at least mildly intrigued…”

“For something he isn’t supposed to cover, he sure wants to talk about it,” Luster muttered, slumping in her seat.

Twilight cast an eye her way. “Not a fan of astronomy?”

“Not really.” Luster shrugged. “The stars and planets and all that stuff are, well, up there. I’m interested in subjects I can actually apply here.”

On the other side of her, Moondancer sniffed. “That’s a rather short-sighted perspective.”

Twilight looked down at the instructor – he was still going on about the eclipse. She turned back to Luster. “You can learn all sorts of things from astronomy, Luster.”

“Like?”

“The history of Equestria for one.” Twilight flipped open her textbook to a diagram of the solar system. “You can practically chart our cultural evolution by the planets and the moons.”

Luster perked up a bit and turned closer. “Really?”

“Of course!” Twilight flipped a few more pages until she found a large picture of Equestria’s primary moon. “To ancient Equestrians, the moon was a symbol of evil, because it blocked out the sun every night, making things colder and darker and life harder for ponies.”

“Wait, they had an eclipse every night?”

“Not at all. Back then they thought the sun and the moons revolved around Equestria, so every time the sun went away and the moons appeared, they thought the two of them were chasing the sun away, until the morning when they weakened and the sun could return.”

Twilight pointed to a sketch on the opposite page of a unicorn with a large beard and pointed hat with bells dangling from the brim. “Eventually the great wizard Star Swirl the Bearded realized this was totally wrong. He noticed the moons never rose like the sun did, they were high in the sky every night, and sometimes you could even see them during the day. The reasonable explanation was that it wasn’t the moons and the sun that orbited Equestria, Equestria orbited the sun, and as our planet rotates the sun comes into view and then fades away again. A few years later after documenting the phases of the moons and their positions in the skies, he was able to create a calendar of the lunar cycle to explain how the moons orbited Equestria.

“Ponies were hesitant to believe him at first, but a few other unicorns began to apply Star Swirl’s studies to their own observations, and it all clicked. Then over the years, Star Swirl established his theories that the phases of the moons have direct links to magic, even pegasi and earth pony magic. And once everypony knew that, well, they figured out how to use the moon phases to their advantage - earth ponies had an easier time working the land at this time, pegasi could fly further at this time, and so forth. Ponies began to schedule their lives around the moon, and a few decades later the lunar cycle was used as the basis for the first system of months and years.”

“Wow.” Luster raised her eyebrows. “I knew Star Swirl was credited with discovering the moon’s effect on unicorn magic, but I didn’t know he did all that.”

“Oh that’s nothing!” Twilight waved a hoof. “There’s a story about Star Swirl and an ursa major you have to hear.” She looked through her textbook and frowned. “I don’t think he’s in this one, hang on.” She flipped to the back of the book and began scanning the index.

“Uh, Twilight?”

“Hm?” Twilight raised her head at Luster’s voice. She froze when she took notice of her surroundings.

Every student in the class was watching them, as was Dr. Turner at the end of the row.

Not again. Twilight gulped and slid into her seat. “Sorry?”

To her profound relief, Dr. Turner laughed. “Sorry for being exuberant about class, don’t be ridiculous! You are absolutely correct, the history of the stars is the history of us all!” He paused and gave a small frown and tilt of his head. “Although, the class should keep in mind that the existence of Star Swirl is purely apocryphal, so please do not place one’s stock entirely in the stories of him.”

Twilight replied, “Actually, there’s some very strong evidence that there was a unicorn living approximately eleven hundred years ago that may have created an early lunar calendar that was adopted by the local land holders as a guide for growing their crops.”

Dr. Turner raised his eyebrows. “Are you by chance acquainted with Professor Byblos?”

“I have his ancient history class this afternoon.”

Several groans came from the room. Both Twilight and Dr. Turner ignored them as he continued. “Not terribly surprising. I should say you seem the sort that will find his classes of great intrigue. And I’m sure you’ll do well in them, of course. But if you don’t mind, perhaps discussions of the historical impact of astronomy can be saved for after class?”

“Of course.” Twilight bowed her head. “Sorry, again.”

“Not at all, not at all!” The doctor’s enthusiasm returned with gusto as he trotted down the steps back to the front of the room. “I am pleased to know I have students in the class with such an interest in the subject! It was some decades ago in this very hall that my own fascination with the stars was intensified by the lectures of one…”

---

Twilight kept facing Luster and trotted backwards on the stone path as they continued forward. “The ursa almost broke a young filly’s horn in its rampage, and that was the point Star Swirl had enough. He drove the ursa back with a magic blast so powerful, it sent it up into the air and it punched a hole in the sky, shattering the ursa into pieces. And that’s where we got the constellation ‘ursa major’ from.”

“Wow.” Luster lifted her eyebrows and looked up at the sky. “Yeah, I’m gonna take a guess that story isn’t true.”

“No.” Twilight shook her head. “Like Dr. Turner said, a lot of the stories about Star Swirl are purely apocryphal, and there’s a lot of speculation that the official evidence about him are about two or three different unicorns living in the same time period that have been conflated into one great wizard. But it still offers insight on what the ancient ponies thought of him.”

The two unicorns were strolling through SGU’s central concourse shortly after classes let out. The grounds were still full of students milling about, but large crowds were making their way into town or to the chariot boarding platforms to go home. Twilight and Luster, however, were making their way down the path to the Royal Canterlot Archives.

“There’s this great book I enjoyed as a filly, ‘Great Myths of the Pre-Classical Era’, that has a lot of the stories about Star Swirl in it. I think the Archives has a copy.”

Luster scrunched her nose. “A filly’s book?”

“Oh, no, it’s an intermediate reading level.” Twilight shrugged. “I just had a very advanced vocabulary.”

The two reached the doors of the archives and waved at the receptionist at the front desk. Beyond the self check-out counters, rows and rows of books stretched back and around the sides of the building. The Royal Canterlot Archives was the largest library in all of Equestria, not merely because of the mountains of bookshelves that made up its three floors, but also for the underground vault where more fragile or dangerous texts were kept in safe storage out of public view. If one could not find a book within the walls of the Archives, it was fair to say that book did not exist anymore.

“I also need to pick up a couple textbooks on mental magic while we’re here,” Luster said.

“Sure. Follow me.” Twilight beamed happily. “I know where pretty much everything in here is.” She let her smile fade. “What do you need textbooks on mental magic for?”

“My thesis,” Luster replied. “I’ve a couple rough ideas in that ballpark, but I want to research them more before I commit to one.”

“Makes sense to me.”

The end of the bookshelves were in sight ahead, where a balcony overlooked a recessed study area. Twilight walked ahead and looked down at the crowd of unicorns.

Sunset Shimmer looked back up at her.

Twilight’s breath caught in her throat. Sunset? There was no mistaking her, the waving red and yellow mane and bright orange coat were as vibrant now as when she had dreamed about her days ago. Sitting right in the middle of the study area, nopony else around her. And her eyes, glimmering teal, stared right at Twilight, as though Sunset had been waiting for her.

Twilight knew she ought to head down and say hello to the other unicorn, but found herself unable to move.

“Twilight?” A touch to her shoulder made Twilight jerk from her trance and blink rapidly. She turned her head to Luster and found the other pony giving her a concerned look.

“Luster?”

“You were just standing there and staring off into space.” Luster lowered her hoof. “I asked which way from here and you didn’t even hear me.”

Twilight snapped her head back to the study area. There was no sign of Sunset. Twilight quickly scanned the room, but found nothing. The study area was accessible by staircases around its perimeter, a door outside, and a passage under the balcony to the bathrooms, but all of those exits were too far for Sunset to have run to during the few seconds Twilight had looked away.

How could I have seen her? Was Twinkleshine right? Is Sunset really another student I just don’t remember meeting? But why would she avoid me? And how? Could she have teleported? Maybe, but teleportation isn’t allowed on school grounds. Unless she was just that desperate to get away from me… The last thought sat uncomfortably with Twilight.

“Hellooooo? Twilight?” A pale red hoof waved in front of Twilight’s fade and she turned to Luster again. “Are you okay? We can do this some other time if you’re not feeling well.”

Twilight clenched her eyes and shook her head. “No, I’m fine. It’s fine. I just…” She glanced at the study area again. “Did you happen to see an orange unicorn with a red and yellow mane down there?”

Luster shook her head. “No. But, I wasn’t really looking for anypony specific. Who is that?”

“Sunset Shimmer.” The name came from Twilight’s mouth as if she had known it for years.

“Is she another friend of yours?”

“It’s… complicated.” Twilight rubbed her forehead. “Nevermind. Um, mental magics are this way.” She began walking around the balcony, keeping one eye on the study area. She examined each pony down there one at a time, but none of them even bore much of a passing resemblance to Sunset. I couldn’t have just mistaken somepony else for her. I know I saw her.

Twilight diverted her attention back to their walk just in time to catch the shelves they wanted. She turned and felt her body loosen its tension as it moved away from the study area. She furrowed her brow. I wasn’t tense or worried like this in the dream, or when waking up from it. Why now? She glanced at the shelves and paused, sweeping her hoof over them. “Here we are. This shelf down, and the one behind us, are all about different kinds of mental magic.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” Luster smiled and began browsing the books.

“I’m going to get some books of my own, did you want to meet up before we leave?”

Luster shook her head. “I’m good, thanks though. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Twilight turned and headed down the shelves to the stairwell. Maybe a few books on mental magic would be good for me, too.

---

Sighing, Twilight opened her eyes and lifted her head. She saw the lecture hall stretching before her and gasped. “Oh no. Did I fall asleep in class?” She looked around, and then up.

The glowing image of the solar system filled the room above her, planets circling the central sun. But they weren’t moving as quickly as in the classroom demonstration; they seemed to be moving as if in an actual orbit. They also felt different somehow, but Twilight couldn’t put her hoof on what it was.

“Dr. Turner?” She didn’t see any sign of him below. In fact, the room seemed to be empty of students. She frowned. This seemed familiar. “Hello? Anypony?”

There was a low moan and Twilight snapped her head to where it had come from. From a row on the other side of the room an orange mare with a red and yellow mane rose into view, rubbing her head.

Twilight blinked. “Sunset?”

The mare noticed her and lowered her hoof. “Twilight?”

Twilight walked to the end of her row and paused at the stairs. Opposite her, Sunset approached and stood at the end of her row, the stairs between them. After a moment of silence, Sunset waved. “Hi.”

“Hey.”

Sunset scanned the room and raised her eyebrows. “Fancy seeing you here again.”

“Yeah…” Twilight looked the pony over. Every detail was exactly as she remembered it. The same two-toned hair in the same wavy style, the orange of her mane, the sun cutie-mark, the bright teal eyes that were giving her a curious stare. Twilight blushed and shook her head. “Sorry. Just, you look the same.”

“Well, yeah.” Sunset shifted her weight from side to side and looked herself over. “Was I supposed to go get my mane cut or something?”

“No. You look great.”

The motion of one of the illusory planets circling the air above drew Twilight’s gaze up to watch. She swept her eyes through the image to the sun at the center, crackling and glowing bright orange and yellow. “Why are we here?”

“You tell me.” Sunset shrugged. “I’ve never had much interest in astronomy. Barely even know the names of the planets.”

“Really?” Twilight gave her a surprised look. She pointed a hoof at the outermost planet, pale red and orange. “That’s Ninurtu, the planet that encircles the solar system gathering the sun’s rays.” She moved her hoof to a much smaller planet, this one various shades of blue. “Then comes Eniku, the planet that brings light and joy to the universe.” She then pointed to a planet within it, a deep red. “And then, just beyond Equus’ orbit, Negalu is the planet that defends us from outsiders.” Twilight moved her hoof to a tiny yellow planet and a large grey planet within it. “Finally, within the orbit of Equus, Inashu shields us from the sun’s heat and light when it grows too harsh, and Bunabu guards the sun itself.”

Sunset scrunched her face. “Who says all that stuff?”

“It’s why they’re named,” Twilight explained. “Ancient words for Healing, Hope, Bravery, Beauty, and Strength. Virtues of great importance to the first pony tribes who founded Equestria. They gave every planet a role to play in the cosmos and came up with stories about how they filled those roles.”

“Oh. Cool, I guess.” Sunset stepped closer, watching the planets with Twilight.

“Then, of course, there’s our planet Equus, and our moons. The primary moon is Nasenu, and the secondary moon is Elinu.”

“Primary?”

Twilight nodded. “Elinu reflects much less light than Nasenu, thus it’s darker in the sky and less explored. So, Nasenu is the primary moon and Elinu is the secondary moon.”

“Huh.” Sunset lifted her eyebrows. “I’d heard it the other way around. But then I never paid much attention to this stuff.” She tilted her head. “I heard there’s gonna be some kind of eclipse soon?”

“Yup.” Twilight pointed towards the image of Equus. “We’re not exactly sure when, but in the near future, Nasenu will be completely in the shadow of Elinu in regards to their positions between Equus and the sun. Normally the two orbit Equus at different speeds, so a dual eclipse like this is beyond once-in-a-lifetime, more like once-in-a-hundred lifetimes.”

“Wow. I guess I’ll keep an eye out for that.” Sunset gave a small chuckle. “I never thought I’d learn something new from a dream. Thanks, Twilight.” She raised a hoof and gave a gentle punch to Twilight’s shoulder.

Twilight inhaled sharply and cried out. An electric shock went through her body, setting every nerve on fire and her senses on high alert. Her hooves buckled under her and she tumbled forward.

“Twilight!”

As she rolled down the stairs, the white and grey study hall and the colors of the planets and Sunset all blurred together.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs and flopped on her back, the swirling colors above her looked like faces watching her. Then as one they dropped from the sky and fell towards her.

---

Twilight sat up suddenly in bed, staring at the wall. Her heart pounded in her ears, yet she felt a strange sense of peace. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and looked around the room. Twinkleshine was still sleeping peacefully, and the open curtains were letting in hints of morning light from outside. She squinted at the clock hands over the door – shortly before six.

Too early to start moving around, I’d wake her up. Twilight lay back in her bed and sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

One dream is nothing. Two dreams is weird. She shook her head. You spent a lot of time yesterday chatting with Luster about astronomy. It’s just really heavy on your mind, so of course you dreamed about it. And then Luster has a sun cutie mark and a two-toned mane, so you thought of Sunset. Makes sense. Nothing unusual.

A part of her brain reminded her that she had dreamed of Sunset before she met Luster.

Twilight ignored that part of her brain and turned her head on her pillow.

Comments

[The Voice in the Water]

Hm, I take it that Sunset and Twilight's world are sort of like enantiomers if the comment about the moons and their names / roles is any indication. And this Equestria being Heliocentric is a nice twist on the FiM mythology.

[Workable Goblin]

Twilight nodded. “Elinu reflects much less light than Nasenu, thus it’s darker in the sky and less explored. So, Nasenu is the primary moon and Elinu is the primary moon.”

Seems like there's a little bit of a mistake here, since Twilight says both moons are the primary after saying that Elinu is the secondary a moment earlier.

[DrakeyC]

10211583
Yes, typo, whoops! Thank you.

[justheretoreadstories]

I see history in this story is even more of a myth then in the show.