On clear cloudless nights, the night skies of Equestria came to life with thousands of twinkling stars. Each one was a dancing light decorating the deep azure backdrop that otherwise provided nothing of interest. The gently rolling northern hills of Ponyville provided the perfect location for stargazing. There was nary a polluting light source to be found, it was close to walking distance for hundreds of ponies and the secluded area was perfect for a quiet night of relaxing under the stars.
According to Twilight's schedule for the night, the relaxing part of the event was still over two hours away. She and her friends still had to unpack their respective carts of gear they had packed.
"Spike," Twilight called out as she rummaged through her wagon, "did you remember to pack my new telescope?" She was looking for one in particular, but it may have been misplaced amongst all the others.
"The one with the super wide viewing angle?" Spike replied, "I put that one together on the way over here." To show he accomplished the task, Spike pulled out the pre-assembled aperture from Twilight's cart.
"No, the one I gave the custom enchantment," Twilight clarified. "There is supposed to be a distant astral phenomenon and I want to be able to observe it with crystal clarity."
"And all these others ain't gonna do she job, Twi?" Applejack chimed in. As a simple farm pony, she just couldn't understand how so many telescopes could be necessary for just one evening out.
"Applejack, dear," Rarity interrupted as she sifted through her saddle bags, "perhaps Twilight wants some variety in her stargazing equipment." Various hats and scarves danced around as Rarity tried on each one, testing its look alongside her evening dress, "One simply cannot live her life with just one wardrobe, can she?"
"Yeah, don't you know that variety is the spice of life, AJ?" Pinkie Pie had just finished setting up her picnic blanket, snacks and party balloons throughout. "That's why I brought an extra blanket, four different kinds of cake, hard and soft candy, an extra pack of balloons..." Everypony in the group recognized Pinkie's unfocussed rant and tuned it out while they focussed on setting up for the evening.
"Ahaah!" exclaimed Twilight. She finally found what she wanted in her cart: a Starvision 300 observation telescope. Powerful enough on its own, Twilight had also devised a spell to enhance its magnification even further. Not only that, it would also track movement autonomously. This way, the observer would not lose track of potentially interesting finds.
"Alright, everypony," Twilight began, We're right on schedule for tonight's stargazing." None were as serious about scheduling as Twilight, but they still took comfort in knowing they did not need to rush for anything. "Assuming no unforseen or extraordinary circumstances arise, it will be a relaxing evening."
"If you fillies don't mind, I'm taking my beauty nap, now." Rarity had finished setting up her mobile camping tent and already intended to use it.
"You turnin' in already, Rare?" AJ was already lost on the idea of bringing more than two saddle bags of provisions, but hoofing a tent all the way from home just to sleep in it all night instead of staying home?
"Unlike you, dear Applejack, some of us ponies need their beauty sleep each night." Rarity had a tone of an aloof teacher weary of giving the same lesson over and over. "This stargazing night is conflicting with my normal sleep schedule. Luckily, I'm flexible with my sleep." During their conversation, Rarity had already started sifting through her assorted sleeping blindfolds. Applejack was about to weigh in, but Rarity carried on with her thoughts. "Worry not, I shall awaken in time for the festivities." With the tent flap sealed, Rarity would not be seen before the sights began to show.
[space]
From a planet's surface, one can see all sorts of wonders in the night sky. In the vacuum of space, however, there is little if anything in the way if peaceful views. In fact, it is where there seems to be nothing that the most violence happens.
Two massive battleships careemed through space at ludicrous speeds. On one side, the ship resembled a massive cathedral bristling with cannons and was adorned with golden arches and statues. Not one detail was left unrefined or unpolished, for anything less than perfection was an injustice to the glory of the Emperor.
In almost direct contrast, the opposing vessel was about as crudely constructed as could be while still being space worthy. No two components were even close to similar, but common themes of beast-like skulls, red paint and ramshackle craftsmanship pervaded throughout. Orks were not the most ingenious beings by human standards, but their sheer numbers and unquenchable thirst for battle more than compensated for that deficit.
The command bridge above Cadia's Fury was even livelier than the space battles outside. Commanders struggled to keep pace with the action, cogitator consoles were brightly lit with alarm signals, and with all that was happening now, anybody was lucky to get a word in edgewise.
"Lieutenant Greaves, this is Captain Braze," the officer-in-charge bellowed over his vox-comm, "Can you get us any closer to the Ork flagship?"
"Negative, sir," came the helmsman's stressed response, "we can't risk another hit from their main gun." Cadia's Fury was built to take some pretty serious punishment, but even she had her limits. Running on only two primary engines and auxillary power, even a glancing blow could prove catastrophic. The Fury's primary gun was already destroyed from an earlier engagement. They had to deal with the situation with whatever they had left.
The Orks had cobbled together enough hardware to create a cannon almost as big as the vessel itself. It was wielded with neither precision nor reliability, so it was anyone's bet whether it would end up landing a fatal blow or miss the Imperial destroyer completely. In addition, countless smaller guns littered the hull and peppered the Fury with little effect, but it was only a matter of time before the small impacts started adding up.
"Maintain your distance and bearing," the captain ordered, "We shall deal with them from afar." There was still enough ammunition aboard to deal significant damage, even from long range.
"Aye, sir. All deck cannons, report to battle stations! Prepare to engage!"
[Ponyville]
Several hours had passed since nightfall and the gently flickering lights had attracted almost all of Ponyville to the northern hills. Small fillies and colts were awestruck at the captivating display above them. Lovers were spending some quality time over the spectacle. Pinkie Pie made her own fun by making up shapes in the stars as she would with clouds during the day. Twilight was busy cataloging her observations in the sky this night.
"Azimuth, 75 degrees, 22 minutes, 6 seconds; elevation, 45 degrees, 30 minutes, a red giant amongst the Canis Major Constellation," Twilight said aloud. She found figures and research data comforting in a way that only she could. Even though she had mapped out every notable heavenly body in the sky, there were innumerable other minor ones that were possibly undiscovered.
"Whatcha doin' Twilight?" Pinkie inquired.
"Well, Pinkie," Twilight began, "I'm giving my new telescope a thorough field test." As she explained, Twilight was training her device on a new target. "I heard the Canterlot Astronomical Association came out with a new line of enchantable telescopes and I just had to get my hooves on one." Even recalling the tale about acquiring the device made Twilight gleeful.
"Neato," Pinkie replied, not really having any interest in astronomy, but because Twilight was happy, so was she.
"It has a 75mm focussing lens with six different magnification settings." Twilight wanted to continue recording her observations, so she went to retrieve another roll of parchment from her cart. "With my custom spell I put on it, I can see even further and with more clarity than with traditional equipment."
"Also, you can see things really far away with it," Pinkie interjected. Twilight turned back around to find Pinkie messing with dials and switches and aiming the scope directly at her.
"Pinkie! I had that telescope trained on a very specific spot!" This sort of behavior was not unexpected with Pinkie, but it would be several minutes of readjusting back to what she had. Pinkie stepped back and allowed Twilight to take control of the aperture. Sometimes Pinkie was unaware of how much onconvenience she sometimes caused.
"That was a very interesting find, too," Twilight continued, worrying that she would miss out on a valuable observation. "Oh, I hope I can find it again."
"Oooh, is that the interesting thing you found, Twilight?" Pinkie asked as she turned the telescope towards her own field of view.
"Pinkie, be careful," Twilight cried out as she tried to stabilize from the sudden movement, "This is a very delicate instrument. I'd appreciate it if you-"
Something caught Twilight's attention and held her tongue. Whatever it was, it took precedence over the importance of carefully handling expensive tools. All she could do was stare into the eyepiece, her jaw agape in utter disbelief at what she saw.
"I know, don't shooting stars just take your breath away?" Pinkie asked without realizing that Twilight's reaction was more serious than just stunned silence. After a few moments of no words from Twilight, Pinkie finally got the hint that something was wrong. Waving her hoof in front of Twilight's face didn't get her attention and after nudging her shoulder didn't work, Pinkie ran out of ideas.
"Hey Applejack, can I have a new Twilight?" Pinkie asked mostly in jest, "I think this one's broken." Pinkie even tried examining Twilight's inner ear, but it shed no light on what could be causing her strange behavior.
"Ah think we've got bigger problems, sugarcube," Applejack replied, somewhat distressed. Every pony in the park was now fixed on one particular spot in the sky. Even Pinkie turned her gaze there, just in case she was missing out on something fun.
Two large objects streaked through the atmosphere with enough velocity to set them alight. Was this what shooting stars looked like up close? The pair was on course to pass directly overhead. As they approached, some ponies fell into fits of panic, fleeing for their lives. Young fillies cried, frightened by the commotion around them.
Without warning, an ear-splitting explosion errupted from one of the falling stars, sending it into a wild corkscrew. In its wake, the explosion ejected a large projectile past the other star, nearly hitting it. As the projectile disappeared into the night sky, the other star seemed to pull out of its nose dive and began to ascend back into the sky. These things must have had minds of their own to act the way they did.
Twilight could only stare in utter disbelief at what she just witnessed. Acts of Celestia were so astronomically unlikely that she considered them negligible for planning purposes. Nonetheless, here she was unprepared for such an event. In due time, she would learn jus how inprepared for the future she truly was...