Marvel not if the family of Heaven still dazzle thee.
It is a messenger that comes to invite all to ascend.
—D. Alighieri
CHAPTER 1 – DINNER FLIGHT
Twilight was hanging on for dear life.
As a long-time resident of Canterlot, favored by the Princess Celestia almost as an apprentice, Twilight had often ridden pegasus-chariots reserved for the elite. It was among the best ways for ponies without wings to travel, and had never been a frightening experience. But then, she had never ridden a chariot pulled by Rainbow Dash.
"Slow down!" Twilight pleaded as she wrapped her forelegs around the guard-rail of the passenger cockpit. "This is just a prototype!" As if on cue, one of the running-lights tore free of the yoke and fell, hopefully to land somewhere uninhabited. The outskirts of Canterlot were almost a mile below, and Twilight was also worried about the effects of altitude on the spells she had cast upon the chariot. The panicked words were all but lost in the wind-noise though, and Twilight resorted to grabbing Rainbow Dash's tail in her teeth and tugging to get the headstrong pony's attention.
"Oh, all right," Rainbow Dash grumbled, easing her pace. "I just wanted to see how much drag your 'performance chariot' generated, that's all!" She looked back over her shoulder and laughed. "You can let go of my tail now."
Twilight released her driver's tail and gingerly stood up in the chariot, noting with dismay where cracks in the framework had appeared. At least the wheels hadn't fallen off, and the passenger platform was intact. "Next time I'm going to bring a parachute. And some reins. And a buggy-whip."
Rainbow Dash snorted in response. "The pegasus-guards don't have reins."
"The pegasus-guards have self-control! You can bet that they have to show restraint when they pull the Princess. They're orderly and professional and disciplined. You'd hate it. Why in the world would you want to be in the Guard anyway?"
"Because they have that cool armor! And they get to kick butts when ponies get in the Princess' face too much!" Rainbow Dash made a little bucking motion, causing her passenger to duck.
Twilight sighed and shook her wind-tousled mane. "When have you ever heard of the Guard actually 'kicking butts'? They're soldiers, not bouncers at a nightclub!"
"Yeah, well, I'm really doing this because I saw the Wonderbolts pulling stunt ponies on air-skis once. If they know how to tow, I gotta know too! Besides," Rainbow Dash said with a Rarity-like toss of her head. "Princess Celestia said I was the best flier in Equestria. She might want to get somewhere in a hurry someday. And might want to look cool doing it too, y'know?" She accelerated for a moment, just enough to allow her rainbow-trail to manifest.
A splintering sound interrupted Rainbow Dash, and Twilight watched with dismay as a wheel-fender and a few inches of guard-rail fell away. Twilight's horn glowed a moment as she telekinetically snatched the fragments of the chariot before they were lost. "I'm going to need air-skis if this thing falls apart. The integrity spell is damaged, and the frame is too light to hold together without it. Can we land? Gently, please?"
"Sure," Rainbow Dash replied as she began a slow, spiraling descent. "I'm getting hungry anyway. Hauling you around is hard work!"
Twilight almost snorted at the mention of 'hard work' from Rainbow Dash, but managed to keep quiet... Rainbow Dash did indeed put a great deal of effort into perfecting her flying skills. 'Credit where credit is due', as the saying went. Twilight pointed a hoof downward at a plaza near the royal palace. "There are some wonderful places to eat there. My treat!"
Rainbow Dash laughed, "Those are the magic words!"
Several minutes passed, with the chariot slowly coming apart. The sun was setting, its light reddening upon the west walls of Canterlot. Twilight's horn glowed as she kept the chariot together, reinforcing the failing integrity spell. It was not difficult, as the spell was already in place; it just needed active management. As they approached the plaza, a mail-clad pegasus flew up to meet them, banking around to parallel the chariot. "This is restricted airspace! You must— oh, it's you, Miss Sparkle." The pegasus guard pointedly ignored Rainbow Dash. "Do you need help landing your... vehicle?"
"Oh! Hello, Lieutenant Cloudmane," Twilight replied. "I think things are under control. Thank you though!"
"Hey, am I invisi—" Rainbow Dash started to protest the snub, but then recognized the guard-pony. It was one of the soldiers whom she had taunted weeks ago in Ponyville. She silenced herself, and flew sulkily ahead, making a show of ignoring the guard as surely as he was ignoring her.
The guard nodded his head to Twilight in a small bow. "My pleasure, Ma'am. Welcome back to Canterlot!" He saluted Twilight with a forehoof, glared distastefully at Rainbow Dash, then turned away toward the palace.
After the guard was out of earshot, Rainbow Dash asked "You know Mister Stuffypants?"
"Of course I do," Twilight said. "There aren't that many—" She paused a moment to straighten one of the wheels which threatened to come off of its hub, a brief sparkle from her horn marking the magic in action. "—that many guards at the palace grounds. He used to be assigned to the Royal Observatory, when I was in Celestia's School." Twilight grinned impishly at Rainbow Dash. "Why, would you like me to introduce you? As far as I know, he's single..."
"No. We've met," Rainbow Dash sullenly replied. "Now lemme concentrate. We're about to land!"
She was quiet for a few moments as she lined up their approach to the plaza, their slower speed turning the thermal buffeting of the sun-warmed evening air from sharp jolts to gentle bounces. The light cross-wind was corrected for by lowering her upwind wing and steering slightly into the breeze. The plaza ahead was sparsely populated; there was plenty of room. Rainbow Dash cupped her wings, shedding speed for more lift and a slower sink-rate.
The cobbled pavement loomed below them as they approached the ground. Twilight braced herself...
The landing was surprisingly gentle; for all her bluster and inexperience with pulling carts and chariots, Rainbow Dash did know how to fly well. The chariot's wheels touched, then Rainbow Dash's hooves. Three powerful reversed wing-flaps brought them to rest. As soon as the chariot came to a halt, Twilight relaxed. The spell binding the chariot together evaporated, and with a clatter the chariot collapsed into a heap all around Twilight. Rainbow Dash grinned saucily at her as she shrugged out of the harness.
"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Now let's eat!"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash sat at an outdoor table covered with a red-and-white checkered tablecloth. Before them, the crusts of a veggie-combo-super-deluxe pizza were all that was left of their dinner. Twilight had been right; "Momma Gaspacho's", though somewhat fancy as pizza parlors go, was excellent, and both Twilight and Rainbow Dash enjoyed eating outdoors. The night sky was starting to show after a spectacular sunset. Tonight was the night of the new moon, and the stars were especially brilliant. Already there had been several dazzling shooting stars, much to Twilight's surprise; her astronomical ephemeris had said nothing about meteors on this date. Even Rainbow Dash, normally unimpressed by natural displays, was entranced by the streaks of light. Both ponies found themselves intently watching the sky for more.
"Well, hello, my faithful student! And you also, Rainbow Dash."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash leaped in surprise to their feet, having not heard anyone approaching. They turned to face the elegant white alicorn who had quietly alighted behind them. They both bowed deeply, as did the restaurant's waitstaff and other customers. Princess Celestia nodded in acceptance of the formal greeting, then smiled at the two ponies. "I was informed of your visit. I'm glad I caught you before you left." She moved her head slightly, her long horn indicating a guard-pegasus standing at the patio gate. As she turned back to the two at the table, the guard stuck out his tongue at Rainbow Dash, who gaped in surprise. Lieutenant Cloudmane chuckled quietly, muttering something about sauces and geese.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash quickly invited Celestia to join them. Celestia sat at the table, a purple cushion placed under her by their waiter just before the royal rump met the ground. "Are you here for the falling stars?" Celestia asked. As she spoke, another waiter set desserts before all three, unbidden; the house specialty, bak-klover, a sweet, nutty, flaky pastry atop a bed of shamrock-like wood-sorrel.
"We were, um, just in the area testing something," said Twilight. In the nearby street, the civic maintenance-ponies were loading the last of the remains of the chariot into a cart to be hauled back to the Ponyville library for a post-mortem. Celestia was politely pretending to not draw a connection between the 'test' and the 'results', though Twilight knew Celestia well enough to be certain that she would have immediately come to an accurate conclusion. Twilight felt the need to change the subject. "I didn't know there was a meteor-shower tonight. But this would be a great place to watch them from!"
The cafe's patio had a splendid view of the sky and nearby palace, and Celestia nodded agreement. "Luna is particularly excited about the shower. She informed me there would likely be a star-fall tonight, then excused herself to the observatory earlier this afternoon. I believe she has been there ever since." Celestia lowered her head as she magicked the dessert up and began nibbling at it. Twilight and Rainbow Dash immediately began on their own, protocol and manners having been satisfied by waiting for the princess to start eating first. The other patrons of the restaurant returned to their meals, and the waiters to their duties.
"It's good to see her so interested in things like this," Celestia continued. "My sister is turning into quite the little bookworm! I may need to send her to Ponyville to make some friends, though." She winked at Twilight, who blushed. Celestia then turned to Rainbow Dash. "And what of you, my favored flier?"
"Oh!" said Rainbow Dash, a little startled. She had been keeping her silence, intimidated by (and a little jealous of) the camaraderie between Twilight and Celestia. "Um, well, your Majesty, I've been working on my flying. That's kinda why we're here, Twilight was helping me..." She trailed off for a moment, as the results had not been brag-worthy, then hastily went on. "I gotta be as good as I can if I'm gonna get into the Wonderbolts someday!"
Celestia laughed merrily. "Oh, I have no doubt that you will. But there's so much more to being a Wonderbolt than flight skills."
Rainbow Dash looked a little puzzled. "What do you mean, Princess—" She suddenly stopped and stared. Overhead, behind Celestia, a tight formation of pegasus-ponies streaked across the sky from the direction of Cloudsdale, marker-lights attached to ankle-bands on their hooves showing the group clearly. It was the Alpha Team of the Wonderbolts, and they were in a hurry, heading toward the royal palace.
Celestia, curious as to what had Rainbow Dash's attention, turned and watched the flight squad as they landed on a balcony on the upper reaches of a tower into which Twilight had never been allowed. "What a strange coincidence," she said mildly. But there was a slight frown of worry on Celestia's face, a frown which intensified as another pegasus-guard flew down from the palace to the restaurant patio. The guard's bow was hasty, and without waiting for the princess to prompt him, he immediately leaned forward to whisper into the princess' ear.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked quizzically at each other. There was an uncomfortably long hushed exchange between the princess and the guard. Celestia then stood and turned to face the palace. She looked back over shoulder, her manner having suddenly become aloof and formal. "I am afraid I am needed elsewhere." A chill went down Twilight's spine; she had seen the princess like this before, and it always had preceded something serious. Celestia continued as she spread her wings, "Until I see you again, I hope you are—"
Celestia stopped, paused a long moment as she considered Twilight and Rainbow Dash, then said "Actually... would you both join me, after you have finished your desserts? I may need your help."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash both took a moment to absorb that. Almost in unison they answered "Yes, Princess!"
Celestia dipped her horn. "Thank you. I will send someone to fetch you." Twilight and Rainbow Dash bowed as Celestia took flight along with her escorts. Almost as if on cue, a meteor overhead left a glowing trail, then flared as it silently burst into nothingness.
Rainbow Dash pranced a moment in excitement at having been personally asked to help the Princess over a mysterious matter. "She needs us! She needs us!" That excitement quickly turned to nervousness as she saw the concern on Twilight's face and the implications sank in. "Waitaminute. Why would she need us?" Rainbow Dash's usual self-assured attitude was suddenly gone as visions of dragons filled her mind.
Twilight shook her head, "I don't know." But her eyes followed Celestia in the distance. The princess was heading not to the palace, but to the observatory.
...next chapter...