/* This story takes place after season 3, soon after the movie. The plot begins in the observatory of the castle in Canterlot with Celestia taking some readings. */
A standard clear sky let the stars and moon easily be seen that night by any stargazer. It was peaceful and quiet with little breeze in the air to stir much noise but the gentle whistle between the branches of the trees. Autumn was soon to be upon them and the start of the school year about to begin. Leaves had begun to yellow and talks of a race in the Running of the Leaves were approaching. There was no particular reason to be looking up that night. Nothing special was happening like the alignment of the planets or any eclipses in the horizon.
But there was reason. Meanwhile in Canterlot, a princess was gazing at the stars. At the tip of the northern most tower of the greatest castle in the land was the observatory with a large telescope peering into deep space for signs of any disturbances. In the room were open books and messy notes filled with scrawls of spidery handwriting as a pen held by no hand swiftly kept filling pages of blank paper.
Celestia was deep in thought. Every now and then she checked the angle and depth the telescope was aimed at and the pen would burn furiously into the paper. Finally, the princess sighed and threw the pen down.
"Nothing." Speaking aloud to herself, she looked over her notes and kept referring to the books strewn over the tables and floors.
"I'm sure I saw it, I'm sure." In the end though she swept all the paper into a pile and stacked it into the corner. Several other piles were already there counting back the number of days this had been going on for. "Time to call it a day then." It was way past midnight. Midnight was when most things happened but apparently not tonight. As Celestia made to turn off the light the door opened.
"Still at it dear sister?" the other pony asked, entering the room and looking at the piles. There wasn't much point counting as she already knew how long this had gone on.
"I think I'm going to finish for tonight. I may have been seeing things that time."
"Well, you should get to bed soon. You have to attend the school tomorrow morning and teach magic to the new ones."
"Thank you Luna, you get a good nights rest as well." Luna went to peer into the telescope. "It's a beautiful night tonight, isn't it."
"Thanks sister. I thought if you're going to be looking up every night it'll be nicer to see something prettier." Tonight, the moon had a silver sheen to it compared the hinted red of last night. Whilst the slight colour changes were subtle, it gave Celestia something else to look at every night. Also, she had requested to those in charge of the weather to keep the skies clear while Celestia checked the stars.
As Celestia was putting the last of the books away she backed into Luna accidentally, nudging the telescope suddenly.
"Sorry, are you okay?" Luna didn't reply straight away.
"I think I see something." Instantly, Celestia was taking notes and checking the new angles. Then, she took hold of the telescope and peered deep into space. "On the upper left star," added Luna. Skilfully, Celestia tweaked the telescope to centre that star. Maybe she just missed it but she thought she saw something black that had been blocking it out a little. After a good ten minutes, she saw the black dot again moving across a different star.
"It's moving much faster than I thought." In the back of Celestia's mind she was making a mental plan of what to do next. There was a few moments silence.
"So it's really going to happen again?" asked Luna as worry began to show on her face.
"Yes," replied Celestia. "Yes. They're back."