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A Stellar encounter (Closed: Szalhi)


KaityKat

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Stellar adjusted the eyepiece of his telescope, looking carefully at the same constellation he'd been examining for the past several hours. Then he picked up a pencil in his mouth and wrote some notes. He looked at the moon for a moment. "Interesting" he mused "I may need to research this more." He wrote a little more.

He put down his pencil and flew inside to look through his library. "I've gotta have it here, somewhere..." he said to himself as he looked though his books. He sighed "That's right." he remembered "They didn't have it in. Maybe they will, now." He flew down to his door and picked up a saddle bag.

 

Outside, he walked down the street toward the library, sort of avoiding ponies as much as he could, like he always did. When he got to the library, the Librarian was only just opening up the doors.

"Oh, hi, Stellar." she greeted "It's rather early, even for you. Celestia hasn't even raised the sun, yet. Are you here for that book, again? Was it 'The history of magic science: stars and celestial bodies'?" "You know me, always burning the midnight oil, so to speak." he chuckled "And yes. that's the one."

She motioned for him to follow, and walked on inside. Stellar followed as she walked to the counter.

"If I'm not mistaken, we just got that in, today." she reached under the desk and produced the book "Kept it here, just for you."

"Thanks, ma'am." Stellar grabbed the book "I'll see you soon."

"One last thing, Stellar?" She called "You really should get out more. Try talking with somepony, today."

Stellar chuckled "I'll try." he waved goodbye, and left the library.

 

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. He knew he wasn't getting any more star gazing done, so he took his time walking. He carried the book in his hoof, trying to read it while he walked. Then he stopped. "She's probably right." he thought "I really should start talking to ponies."

He stood for a bit, but then decided he didn't really know how to bring up a conversation and not just end up bugging somepony, so he continued walking "Maybe another day" he thought to himself.

Just then, his hoof hit an uneven patch of street, and he tumbled into the ground, his book and glasses falling to the pavement. "Oooh, why now?" he said aloud, as he started to search the ground with his hooves for his glasses.

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Some ponies wonder why the two of them would bother to go all the way to Canterlot to satisfy the needs of a single pony. What they somehow don't seem to realise is that if it's Canterlot, then it's no doubt going to be a pony of rich status. While the twins personally weren't ones for achieving great wealth, if there's a free period on the schedule then it's all worth it to spread their services nearby. To be honest, the distance between the two places wasn't so long the more you travelled, you learned to optimise the trips as much as you could. That usually meant grouping all of the external appointments into the same weak. 

 

"Is that all of them? If so we must certainly go on a vacation after this." Placidity mentally sighed towards her sister. "I'm uncertain as to why they insisted on doing it early in the morning." 

 

"Perhaps they had other stuff on in the day? Not stuff that we would consider important, but still, we mustn't question them," Tranquility replied to her sister as she pulled out a notebook. "All of them here it would seem. Alright sister, what would you like to do in this city? Or would you like to catch the next train back?" 

 

"I would hint that you're not particularly in the mood to stick around, are you? Though you know that the next Ponyville train doesn't leave for a while. What about sleeping instead?" 

 

"Right, because bookworms are nocturnal and sleep during the day. No, we're not sleeping," she mentally growled towards her sister, although one wouldn't notice this. 

 

"I'm a bookworm too. How 'bout we make use of such trait and check out the library. Although we've been so many times already."

 

"Don't question yourself. The library is the largest in Equestria and is constantly being updated. It's like you know me so well." Tranquillity smiled at her sister. 

 

"Naturally."

 

On the way towards the library, Placidity noticed quite some disturbance in the path. She warned her sister to watch out and Tranquility halted for a moment before proceeding. "Honestly sister, you need to watch out."

 

"It was almost a single occurrence. Maybe they need to remodel the street," Tranquility rebutted. "Somepony could truly get hurt." 

 

At that moment, they heard a small crash near them. They looked over and saw a pegasus stallion had crashed themselves onto the floor. "Seems like you jinxed us all." Placidity made her way over to the fallen stallion, finding some glasses on the floor. Her horn lit up as she picked them up associating them with the pegasus. "I believe these are yours," She broadcasted as she lifted them in front of him, her artificial voice resonating in the small vicinity. Her sister picked up the book and examined over it not saying anything yet.

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"O-oh, um. Thank you." He said as he grabbed the spectacles, and plastered them on his face. He blinked for a moment "Sometimes, I wish I didn't need these confounded things." He complained "Where's my book?" he panicked he looked about for a second before sighing in relief. He picked up the book and hugged it for a moment, but hen he blushed, embarrassed at the no doubt strange way he revered his book "I, uh... waited moths for this to be ordered. I'd hate to lose it." He started to leave, but then remembered his desire to start socializing.

"If this isn't the stars aligning" he thought "to give me an excuse to talk to somepony, then it'll never happen." he reasoned to himself. He breathed in to gather his courage and stuck out a hoof in greeting, speaking almost robotically "Hi. My name is Stellar Drift. It is nice to meet you." he flustered and spoke more naturally "Sorry about the mess, and thanks for helping me."

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"Please, it's no trouble at all, we both know it's not your fault. It would seem that the street is a bit hazardous today, isn't it sister?" Placidity replied looking towards her sister. 

 

Tranquillity huffed a bit. "Like I said, one near occurrence. I would expect an issue like this to not last very long if reported correctly. I should probably go do that soon," she wrote it down in her notebook before looking over at the book. "The history of magic science: stars and celestial bodies'. That expresses you have some sort of interest or profession in astronomy would it not? I think we read that book before haven't we?"

 

"You read it back then. I wasn't there. I sort of read it by proxy because you were transmitting yourself," Plas smiled towards her sister. She probably would have giggled if she had the capability of doing so, which she sort of did, but it wasn't instinctual. "I don't remember much about it." 

 

"Neither do i believe it or not." Tranq turned towards Stellar Drift. "I am Tranquillity."

 

"And I am Placidity. It is nice to meet you Stellar Drift." She hummed mentally. "That name resonates quite well."

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Stellar found himself perplexed but intrigued at the mares' behaviors. He'd chuckle, but that would be rude. Then he thought he noticed something that gave him pause. He decided he'd be sure before he said anything.

He smiled when Tranquility mentioned his book. He was very excited to continue his research with it."Oh, um yes. It does." He gestured to his cutie mark which is the pegasus constellation in front of a crescent moon "I'm an astronomer. I've been doing some research on the magical effects of interactions of stars and the moon and the implications and applications it could have for us in Equestria. It's really quite riveting stuff.... I-I mean.... yeah."  He chuckled awkwardly. He hadn't gotten into the whole social thing, but he was pretty sure being nerdy was a one way ticket to being avoided by most ponies.

Then he thought actually, these ponies seem pretty quirky themselves, so he might be relatively safe there.

Then the thought came up again. "Hey, uh. At the risk of being completely nuts, a-are you guys.... telepathic?"  He scrambled to explain himself "I-i mean, your mouths don't move when you talk, and your voices seemed a bit strange, not that that's a bad thing, but with that and the mouths not moving, and I probably sound like an idiot, but..... I'm right, right?"

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Tranquillity glanced at the cutie mark that the Stallion pointed towards. She had noticed it before, but she didn't want to assume, sometimes cutie marks could be... weird. Except this one wasn't. "I remember it being quite interesting when I read it. You mentioned before that you waited months for it to be ordered. I wonder where the original copy I read went off to then." 

 

"It wasn't your fault was it?" Placidity accused privately to her sister who in return just rolled her eyes. "We studied here in Canterlot for our degrees," She elaborated to the pegasus. "I had to pull Tranquility back to her proper studies from that book if I recall. I think she was quite into it at the time."

 

"Don't listen to her, she recalls wrong, it was free time really. We made it in the end, no big deal."

 

Oh, there it was. The pegasus asked the inevitable question. It came in average time if Placidity had to recall. Tranquillity probably had a record of it. She knew how much her sister liked records. "Hey, you're not nuts. Unless you are, are you? We should help you if you are," She offered, stopping before she went nuts herself. "We sure are Telepathic. The easiest way for us to communicate. Better than any of that writing stuff, we could never talk 'normally'."

 

"Our mouths are basically just food and air holes," Tranquility chimed in. "Mostly food holes." 

 

"Food holes huh, way to put it," Placidity commented secretly. "We've tried to make our voices... more normal, less strange, but I guess magic just wants to be different."

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"Oh, I'm not upset. The books in the library are there for everpony to enjoy. I actually read it before. A great read. This time, however, I needed it for a reference. I was waiting them to receive a second copy so I could own one. I may be good at the stars, but without my copious notes and extensive library on hoof.... Well, let's just say, I'd forget my head if it weren't screwed on tight." he chuckled "And besides, I always prefer to be exactly right on my research with not a dot on the i or cross on the t missing. Better to have the reference handy, if you know what I mean." he winked

 

Stellar seemed genuinely very interested in the twins' descriptions of their abilities. He hung on every word and nodded in understanding.

"Now, if that isn't the most fantastic thing I've heard!" he exclaimed excitedly then stepped over himself trying to not be rude "I mean... not the 'not being able talk' bit, but you've learned to use telepathy either passively or near passively. And it's almost as natural as talking! It's really quite extraordinary!" he laughed at the last remark in agreement "Yes, magic certainly does have a way defying our expectations and throwing us for loop. I've been dedicating my research, lately, to just such a phenomena, in fact, and I may be on the verge of a breakthrough." he held up the book to signify he meant the research he needed it for.

He chuckled and waved his hoof dismissingly "But I'm sure stars aren't exactly what you'd call the most engaging subject. I just find them fascinating. What is your area if interest, anyway? You mentioned studying in Canterlot, so it's got to be something cerebral. Hang on, I might guess. Your cutie mark is two stitched hearts, so my first guess is relationship counseling, but yours is.... oh, it's on the tip of my tongue.... I don't know, I recognize it's ancient unicornian, but I'm at a loss- wait!" he pulled out his book, thumbed through it a moment and pointed, more for himself than anything "Yes! The constellation Psi! So named for the ancient unicornian symbol, for psychology, it resembles! Not a constellation many ponies remember. It should be visible tonight, if I'm not mistaken." he paused and chuckled uncomfortably "I am so sorry, I'm talking your ears off. I just get a little easily excited.... I don't get out much." he smiled awkwardly

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  • 2 weeks later...

"References are kind of essential to have in the research world. Ponies are more likely to believe you when others can vouch indirectly for you. It also keeps your level of discovery in check. I wouldn't want to come off as more knowing than I am, that could backfire on me someday," Tranquility explained. "I'm personally writing a psychology textbook now. As much as I like my work, in the future, I may switch to a teaching position."

 

"I honestly figure I can't get enough of my work. That's why I sort of joined the Twilight guard," Placidity added on herself.  "It's more of an auxiliary role, like a sort of partnership. I spread myself out more. There's always the risk of stretching myself out too much, but that hasn't quite happened yet." 

 

"It has been almost pretty much confirmed that our natural passive connection has allowed ourselves to develop our skills faster and father than what could be considered normal. If we weren't born how we were than who's to say we would be talking this way right now?" 

 

"Our passive connection is really strong. When we split up quite far once, We were still able to talk to each other. That was quite a long distance. I'm surprised nopony has experimented on us. Though, we haven't really told many have we?" 

 

"No we haven't actually. I'd prefer to do the experimentation myself, maybe put a section of it in my book?" Tranquility paused for a moment. "Though in a way, that's kind of narcissistic. Maybe an outside source would help."

 

Placidity watched as the stallion went through his book. "If you haven't caught on enough already, yeah we are basically therapists. We are based mostly in Ponyville, but we do come by here sometimes. Although, I am more of a Psychiatrist than Tranquility, she's more of a psychologist. Just some weird semantics that some ponies care about." 

 

The twins didn't seem to express much physically. "Don't worry about our ears. When you have the voice in the back of your head, you basically get used to listening all the time."

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"Yes, exactly!"  He exclaimed excitedly "As a result, I have quite an extensive library, at home. Some of it is completely unrelated things that I doubt I'll ever need. but hay. One can never have too many books, amirite?"

Stellar was impressed with Tranquility's claim to be writing a book. He dreamed of one day writing a research book that became an industry reference remembered for years to come.

He had to admit, he was very curious about their telepathy, and if he didn't think it would be unpleasant for them, he'd probably be tempted to experiment with them. Although, his specialty was more in the stars, his inquisitive mind still wanted to know more.

"That's fascinating! To be able to communicate over large distances would be utterly incredible. You know, if you actually are interested in having somepony help you experiment with your telepathic abilities, I have a friend who is an expert with all kinds of magic." Stellar paused and cautioned "She's kind of obsessed, tho, so you'd have to be careful with her. But she has a very unique perspective that could be incredibly helpful, I think. Plus, she's a unicorn. Better suited for magic studies than a pegasus like me." He rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "We pegasi have our heads in the clouds, and I'm no exception." He  laughed some more.

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