Odysseed

by AuroraDawn

Chapter 5

Luna and Applejack both stood side by side in the cramped little study across the hall from the library. They were focused on a chalkboard in front of them, and while Luna magicked her chalk over it, Applejack listened and focused intently.

“...known as a supernova.”

“So like a nova, but, heh, super?”

This earned her a coy smile. “Precisely, Applejack. Many elements in Equus’ crust come from events such as these, where the intense gravity and nuclear forces smash atoms into even heavier ones.”

She set the chalk down and then lifted up a new scroll, a dark blue picture with a myriad of dots and lines on it.

“Do you recognize this?” Luna asked.

“That’s uh, Magnus’ Shield constellation, right?” Applejack responded, unsure. It had been quite a while since their lesson on constellations.

“Correct as well. The “new star” that you believed you had found and wrote to me about is not new at all, actually. It’s regularly unobservable by eye, but it’s the fourth star from the peak, here…” she paused, picking her chalk up and and replicating the constellation on the board before putting a large cross over the star in particular. “This one that you identified.”

“Aww, shucks, so it weren’t no new discovery after all.” Applejack pulled her hat off and rubbed it against her chest, feeling a weirdly heightened embarrassment. When a hoof rested on her withers, she froze and felt once again that rush of blood to her cheeks.

“On the contrary, dear Applejack, it is a stellar discovery.” Luna was silent for a moment before she snorted, which brought both of them to light laughter.

“Y’know Princess, I don’t think Twilight would believe me if I told her how much you liked puns.”

The hoof on Applejack’s back rubbed back and forth before pulling her in, and Luna hugged her lightly for a small moment. “She probably wouldn’t believe me if I told her how much you knew about space. Twilight knows much and observes even more, though sometimes I believe she gets too absorbed on what she thinks is important to notice the finer details. Details, like when a star in a constellation has gone supernova.”

“So it was important?”

“Very much so. Our astronomers had missed it as well, though in all fairness the Royal observatory is hindered by a mountain peak on the southern side. While these sort of events are considered frequent, it’s frequent on a cosmological scale, and therefore to be able to observe and record data on a supernova that’s so bright and close… it’s really the chance of a lifetime. I must thank you for writing to me.”

“You’re more than welcome! Thank you for teaching me! I’ve gotta say, when I was in school I was always itching to get back to the farm, frustrated with the teachers making me feel stupid for not getting things immediately. But you’ve really made learning about space and astronomy just so interesting!”

It was Luna’s turn to blush. “You are kind, Applejack.”

She looked up to the star chart and closed her eyes, suffusing the room with blue magic once again, and Applejack’s eyes spread wide in wonder as the image of Magnus’ Shield shimmered to life before them. Applejack noticed that the walls and floor had also slid away into nothing, and it was as if Luna had teleported the two of them to the edge of the atmosphere in the middle of the night, looking up upon the actual constellation. Her jaw dropped wide, and a soft whoah escaped her lips as an infinite number of stars and stellar gas surrounded them.

“Though I am adamant that it is not me who makes celestial study fascinating, but the universe itself. One does not need to be a scholar to appreciate the beauty of the night,” Luna said. While she spoke, Applejack focused on her face, and silently agreed with her. “I do appreciate hearing that you enjoy my lessons regardless. Your interest in the subject alone makes the work worthwhile, and of course,” she said, catching Applejack’s staring eye and turning to meet it, “it is your appreciation that brought us together in the first place.”

The shimmer around her horn stopped and abruptly the two found themselves back in the cramped study, lit only by the flickering torch on the wall now and no longer bathed in interstellar light.

Luna thought for a moment, her face tilted up, before she nodded and smiled, and then leaned down and placed a quick kiss on Applejack’s nose.

“I believe that should count as an adequate thank you,” she said, giggling at the mirthful shock that had overcome Applejack.

“Hoowha. Whahue. Ih… Wha? Oh, uh…” Applejack blinked a few times, smooshed her hat back down onto her head, and then looked back at the chalkboard and tried and failed to appear deep in thought on the descriptions and drawings upon it. “...Yes,” she said, giving up and tilting her hat down over her grin, “That’s a mighty fine thank you, Princess.”

Luna giggled and then started packing up the materials she had brought out. “Anyway. The reason I had not gotten back to you yet was because we had organized a team to go to the secondary observatory in the San Palomino desert. We wanted to confirm it was correct before I responded to you with the good news, but they had just returned this morning and by then…” She trailed off while Applejack nodded sardonically.

“Then the world turned itself upside down.”

“An impossible occurrence, but your metaphor is sound, yes.”

There was a knock at the door, and a guardstallion poked his head in shortly after. “Princesses Celestia and Twilight wanted me to inform you that they have finished, your Highness.”

“Excellent,” Luna said, standing up and dusting the small amount of chalk that had settled on her coat off. “Well, Applejack? Shall we find just how upside down Equus is?”