I. Stars and Rainbows
Trying to suppress a shudder as the night air took a turn for the chilly, Twilight Sparkle let out a soft grunt as she hefted the telescope out of its box and into position with her magical grasp, warm sweat turning cold as it dripped down her forehead. Her hot breath immediately crystallised as it was claimed by the icy breeze that encircled the hilltop. With an ease that came with countless hours of practice, she ignited her horn once more and made a few small adjustments to the viewing angle of its lenses. Peering through the eye-piece, Twilight muttered a silent, “Mm.”
Her mulberry eyes flicked upwards, scanning from one side of the horizon to the other, taking in and reflecting the glittering starlight that shone so brightly this far out from Ponyville, away from its many distractions. “Not quite,” she said, gritting her teeth to stop them from chattering. Another small adjustment followed and she looked again. “Perfect!”
Despite the cold freezing her bones, Twilight managed a contented smile as she hopped from side to side; it was one of those rare, one-in-a-million days that would likely never happen again in her lifetime: the pegasi had cleared the winter clouds away ahead of schedule and there would be an unimpeded view of the Horsehead Nebula tonight. That was exciting enough by itself, but several of the nearby stars had also shown signs that they would be undergoing periods of increased activity in the next few hours, creating an effect that was described by Celestia as fireworks in space.
“Note to self: write a proper thank-you note to Celestia’s astronomer.” It had been he who had informed her of the stars’ activity, and he had even gone to the trouble of repairing and polishing her telescope’s lenses so that they would be in tip-top shape for the night ahead.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to be more specific as to when exactly the best time to view the nebula would be, only that it would be somewhere between the hours of midnight and four AM.
All that remained now was for her to wait.
W
A
I
T
“I should really go back for my hat and scarf, shouldn’t I?” Twilight said frostily to nopony in particular. She’d left them by the door while she’d gone to pack up the telescope for the journey ahead. It wasn’t a long trek back to the Castle of Friendship, but by the time she got there, got her gear in order and made some hot chocolate or tea – no way she was coming back out here without something warm to put in her belly – the whole show could well be over. “I don’t want to miss this,” she said, poking her eye to the telescope and seeing that the stars were still remaining stubbornly inert. “But-” she shivered once more “-I also don’t want to freeze to death.”
Hefting an impassioned sigh, Twilight made ready to box the telescope up and trudge back home when she felt something pleasant enveloping her like a gentle hug. Before she could even blink, she found herself kitted out in a fetching multicoloured scarf, boots and hat. Eyeing the items curiously, she discovered that they were the very ones she’d left by the Castle of Friendship’s door earlier in the evening. Could Spike have …? No, he was staying over at Rarity’s for the evening. And no way he could move that quickly, even with his new wings. “What the heck is going on here?”
Twilight’s eyes roved the hilltop, searching for any clue as to nature of this strange force which seemed to have fulfilled her immediate demands. “And where were you when I wanted that red bike when I was twelve?” she asked in a low voice. She noticed something gleaming on the ground in the pale, waxy moonlight. It was a small metal container sitting beside the telescope. A flask of some kind. The lid was unscrewed and a sweet, minty scent wafted out from it and hit her square in the nostrils.
Hesitantly, she approached the flask; there didn’t seem to be any signs of danger on the hilltop, but that didn’t mean much. Igniting her horn, Twilight prepared for trouble. The desire to be warm inside as well as out grew within her, though, and the beverage was so painfully sweet-tasting. Cautiously, she poured a small measure into the lid/cup and let a small drop hit the tip of her tongue. It was hot chocolate infused with peppermint. It didn’t appear to be poisoned or interfered with in any way that she could detect, so she drank more deeply from the cup, letting out a deep exhalation of satisfaction when it was finished. “Thank you, who- or whatever you are,” she said whilst fastening the lid back into place.
Making her way back to the telescope, Twilight felt the uneasiness gnaw at her now-toasty stomach; it was difficult to put the past few minutes out of her mind, but she also knew that she had to get back to the task at hoof or she might end up missing it altogether. It nagged at her, however. She hated mysteries. Mysteries that went unsolved, anyway. All of a sudden, her heart just wasn’t in the minute corrections and careful adjustments she was making.
Life was full of mysteries, and some just didn’t have an answer; with an effort of will, she tried to focus her attention back on the heavens above, but suddenly the secrets of deep space suddenly seemed trivial when compared to what was happening at ground level. Some weird but apparently benevolent force had taken it upon itself to make sure she had everything that she needed for the night ahead. Why?
Fortunately for Twilight’s sanity, she soon got an answer to her question when something soft, blue and feathery tapped her on the back.
What she wanted to do was jump out of her skin and run back to her Castle, but she settled for simply making a restrained, “Eep!” noise in the back of her throat as she turned to confront her assailant.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said in shock, mouth agape. “What are you doing out here? Besides scaring me out of my wits, that is.”
Amused cerise eyes took in Twilight’s attire and the flask lying askew on the grass nearby. “Wasn’t that obvious?” A grin that could best be described as smug split her muzzle practically in two. “I’m looking out for you, egghead. You were so excited to get out here that you forgot your stuff. You’re just lucky I was passing by the Castle at the time.”
Annoyed as she was at Rainbow Dash’s antics, Twilight was still grateful all the same for the trouble that she’d gone to on her behalf. Abashed, she said, “Thank you. I was about to give up and go back home.”
“Couldn’t let that happen, could I? You’d never get over it if you missed this, right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” replied Twilight a bit defensively, but it was true. She would’ve been crushed if she’d had to miss this just because of her own lack of foresight.
Rainbow Dash settled comfortably on to the ground nearby while Twilight worked. Every now and then, she’d look up and offer Rainbow Dash a fleeting smile of gratitude. She wasn’t sure what else there was to say, and Rainbow herself didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere else tonight. “If my calculations are correct-”
“-And they probably are.”
Ignoring the interruption, Twilight went on, “If my calculations are correct, it should just be a matter of minutes now.” She sounded breathless with anticipation.
For her own part, Rainbow Dash just didn’t get all this fuss about stars and constellations; to her way of thinking, all of that was just a backdrop, a canvas for her to impress her own polychromatic image upon. Still, it made Twilight happy, and it made her happy to see her friend happy. “You know,” Rainbow Dash said teasingly, “you’re kinda cute like that.”
“Like what?” asked Twilight, not really hearing her properly as she fiddled with this and that.
“Wide-eyed, tongue hanging out. You’re like a little filly on Hearth’s Warming. A little filly about to go straight to the biggest present.”
“I always went for the smallest first. More chance of it being a book,” Twilight said distractedly.
“Of course you did.”
Looking pointedly at her, Twilight’s muzzle formed into a pout of annoyance, but she couldn’t keep it up for very long before breaking down in a dry smile. It was difficult to be irritated with somepony who’d gone to so much effort for her, even if they were now intent on hanging around for the sole purpose of mocking her passions. “You really don’t have to stay, you know.”
“I know. I got nothin’ else going on right now.”
Twilight was about to open her mouth to reply, but all of the air was forced from her lungs in one astonished gasp. “Rainbow, you have got to see this!” Without even bothering to wait for a response or for Rainbow Dash to move of her own volition, Twilight gently shoved her in the direction of the telescope and politely put her head to the eye-piece.
“All right,” Rainbow Dash said in a cross voice as she was manoeuvred against her will, “Twilight, calm d-”
And then, she saw it.
The night sky was ablaze; the Horsehead Nebula was an angry, swirling flame of red, vermillion and magenta punctured by frenetic bursts of orange and yellow all set against the unchanging, velvety canvas of space. It roiled and spat in an explosion of colour. In that moment, as she tried to catch her breath, Rainbow Dash finally got it. She understood Twilight’s love of science and the stars. She wanted so desperately to tell her that, but all that came out was a winded cry of, “Wow!”
“Right?” said Twilight, pleased at both having been able to see this and being able to share it with somepony that she cared about. That it was the notoriously science-averse Rainbow Dash of all ponies expressing her admiration just made it all the sweeter. Her voice was one of pure joy.
It was all over much too quickly for their liking; Twilight happily jotted down her findings, and while Rainbow Dash couldn’t pretend to understand a single word of what she wrote, she would at least hold the memory of how it had felt to see what looked like the entire universe on fire in front of her for the rest of her life. A sudden revelation hit her: for Twilight, this was her equivalent to a sonic rainboom. That split-second of everything in your life coming together in an explosive cataclysm of pure, unbridled perfection!
“Hey, uh, d’you want to walk home with me?” asked Twilight, breaking into Rainbow Dash’s musings. She was already carefully putting her telescope back in its box.
“Sure.”
They trotted down the hillside in amiable silence until Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped.
“Is everything all right?” Twilight’s voice radiated concern.
“Yeah, uh, I was just wondering-” Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck nervously “-when d’you think you’ll be coming back out here again?”
Twilight thought for a moment. “Well, Bronco’s Comet is going to make its closest approach in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully some time then. Why?”
“Would you mind if I came with you?”
Delighted that she’d awoken something in Rainbow Dash other than a love of all things flying, Twilight smiled broadly. “It would be my absolute honour if you did so.” With a sly grin, she added, “I mean, I could always use somepony to fetch my hat and scarf, couldn’t I?”
Rainbow Dash laughed and gently nudged Twilight in the ribs with the elbow of one of her forelegs.
It wasn’t long before they reached the Castle of Friendship, and Twilight pulled Rainbow Dash into a gentle embrace. “Seriously, though, I really appreciate you bringing my stuff out to me. It would’ve been a shame to have missed all of that over something so stupid.”
“I’m glad I was able to be there, too,” replied Rainbow Dash sincerely. She was still finding it difficult to put the experience into words, but that didn’t matter so much, did it? What mattered was how it had made her feel. “I guess I need to stop being such a stick-in-the-mud about this science-y stuff, don’t I?”
“You took to reading well enough, remember? Don’t be afraid to try new things just because you’re afraid of what other ponies might think of you,” Twilight said kindly.
After bidding each other a good night, Rainbow Dash departed for her home in the clouds and Twilight headed into her Castle. Neither pony ended up getting much sleep, however, both so elated with what they’d seen in the stars above.