No Pony's Sky

I can almost imagine seeing it from here. Twilight Sparkle peered out of the front canopy of her starship. This close to my goal, and yet I’ve never felt further. She kept her eyes glued on a patch of glowing clouds and brilliant suns. No different in appearance from any other direction in space, this particular portion of endless sky led to the core of the galaxy.

She pictured it now; settling herself in the worn but comfortable pilot’s seat, performing the same processes she had done countless times before, seeing the blurring prismatic palate of ever changing patterns, and then finally arriving at her destination. The universe would stretch back into normalcy except that she would not be in any normal solar system. Unique in its composition, this final system had something at its heart that it shared with no other place in the entire galaxy.

A super massive black hole. Four million suns worth of matter, crushed into an infinitesimally small point, warped space around its center so harshly that nothing can ever escape. This point of no return extends in a horizon that stretches outward for nearly fifty million kilometers. All of the magic in all of the galaxies could not help me escape once I cross that line, yet I still intend to make that journey. Twilight thought the temperature had dropped in the cabin even though a quick glance at her life support systems told her otherwise.

I have run the numbers again and again. She reminded herself, trying to stave off the anxiety that had plagued her thoughts with increasing occurrence over the last few days. My warp drive should be able to weave around the singularity and jump me safely to a nearby galaxy. The intense gravitational gradient should boost the FTL capabilities of my ship enough to bridge that inter-galactic gap.

In the middle of Twilight’s musings, her ears swiveled back when the sound of fabric rustling from behind interrupted her own brooding thoughts. She stood up in her seat and turned around to face rest of her slender ship. A short passageway extended past several shelves of stores and various equipment banks before ending at a bulkhead containing her living quarters.

The tiny compartment could not accommodate many amenities, but it still had enough room for a comfortable living space. Pictures of many of the wonderful things she had seen adorned each wall. From frozen mountain peaks dominating the sky underneath a shimmering polar aurora, to giant vistas of glowing nebulas serving as stellar nurseries for the next generation of stars, she had seen everything in between. Her favorite sights earned the honor of having a place in her cramped quarters.

It was one of these various snapshots taken during her long and tedious journey that caught the attention of a pony climbing out of her bed. One forehoof still encased in a damaged, yet un-breached layer of polymer touched a particular snapshot of a garden world she had visited several weeks prior. An ivory beach sloped away from a luscious verdant forest down to a cool blue sea. A small wave had just crashed, sending a torrent of frothy bubbles racing up the shore to be followed by a small flock of flying creatures hunting for a meal in the surf. This moment, frozen in time, was one of her fondest memories and she never wanted to forget it.

“This reminds me of a beach I once used to visit.” The pony spoke after a lengthy silence. “Every year, my family traveled south when I was out of school. I spent many summers as a young colt playing in the waves.”

Twilight felt a lump grow in her throat. The stallion’s words had dredged up memories of a place she had tried so hard to forget. Equestria….

Thankfully, her downward spiraling thoughts were momentarily dispelled when her visitor’s reflective faceplate turned towards her. “How long was I out?”

“Three hours.” She spoke quickly, staring at the pair of lavender eyes mirrored back at her, making it impossible to hide from her own discomfort. “Your life signs stabilized as soon as I brought you on board so I let you rest.”

The pony nodded and took stock of his situation, studying the space suit he still wore. Several scorch marks marred its surface, and a few deep punctures had nearly breached its final protective layer. His gaze returned to hers and she answered his unspoken question.

“Your suit was damaged and I was afraid of hurting you if I tried to remove it on my own.”

She could have sworn that he laughed. His shoulders bounced somewhat jovially and he placed a suited forehoof against his helmet. A small shake of his head preceded a long moment of silence, only broken by the intermittent buzzing and beeping of her ship’s venerable mechanisms. Finally, he spoke and asked the one question she had been dreading. “Why did you leave?”

Twilight swallowed thickly. “It was for your safety.”

“My safety?” He asked almost more as an accusation, than a question.

The alicorn mare narrowed her eyes and widened her stance. “I could not allow any more harm to come to the ponies of Equestria. Since the day I moved to Ponyville, Equestria has been attacked over and over again. Whether it be from corruption, chaos, changelings, or any of the other countless threats we have faced, there was always one common denominator.”

“And what was that?” The stallion mirrored her pose and the two ponies squared off against one another.

“Me! It was I who brought this upon you and the only way to keep you all safe was to leave; forever if need be. It was the only way.” She flared her wings for emphasis. “It was the only way to find peace.”

“Is that so? Then what did you find on your journey, Princess?” Twilight felt the venom lacing his tone as it grew in volume. “Did you find any friends? Did you find any allies? Did you find the peace you were looking for?”

Twilight felt herself shirking involuntarily away from him as each accusation felt like a physical blow. The pony took a step forward as his voice increased to a shout, and she tried to back away from him, only to feel her pilot’s seat bump against her rear, trapping her. She shrunk down, flinching at every harsh syllable directed at her when all of a sudden, the stallion stopped and froze.

Standing right in front of her, he finally noticed the terror plastered on her face. His shoulders sagged as he lowered his head in deference to her and he let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, Twilight.”

“It’s… okay.” She had trouble forming the words and her voice was only a mere whisper. Twilight felt no animosity towards the pony in front of her. However, his words still cut deeper than the sharpest knife because they had more than just a hint of truth to them, and she had refused to see it until now. What did I find on my journey? I’ve met several alien civilizations, but none of them had any of the answers I sought. They only brought me misery and pain.

One race seemed obsessed with nothing but war and conflict. Their whole society was built upon the ideals of confrontation and triumph. With the sentinels who endlessly patrolled the galaxy, they found a natural adversary, and. Twilight remembered many a dark night lit by the ambient light of their orbital engagements. Her own little science vessel only served as target practice to them and so she learned quickly to give their ships a wide berth.

Another race searched for enlightenment and they had given up their living bodies ages ago. Hiding behind blinking faceplates, they either paid no attention to her, or they chased her around with terrifying invasive experiments. What could a life form still trapped in living flesh ever hope to offer them, except to act as a test bed for some new painful laboratory procedure? Spurned by their apparent disregard for her wellbeing, Twilight kept her distance from them.

The third most common race were almost entirely comprised of shrewd traders. Many times they had tried to swindle her out of her ship, leaving her stranded forever. Her life and future held absolutely no value to them. All they cared for was what she could do to increase their wealth, no matter the consequences to her. Twilight learned she could never trust them, no matter how good a deal sounded.

The more she thought about the alien civilizations residing in the galaxy, the more she began to miss home. Am I just fooling myself that I would find answers out here? She blinked her eyes back to focus on the suited hoof held out in front of her. Reaching forward with her own, she grasped the stallion’s foreleg and he helped her stand back up.

“Twilight, what you have done for Equestria created something wonderful; something worth taking. That is the real reason why you have had to fight for it, over and over again. You ushered in a new golden era that has enriched so many lives. Not just for ponies but dragons, griffons, and many others owe so much to you and your friends.”

The stallion placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder before continuing on. “The best part is that you don’t have to carry this burden on your own. No matter what the future might bring, you will always have your friends and family to stand by your side. You aren’t alone anymore.”

Her vision blurred in and out of focus, forcing her to blink away the moisture threatening to build up. She fought to say something, anything, but her throat completely seized up. I don’t know if I can.

“Come home, Twilight.”

Memories poured forth of their own accord. She saw her friends again, smiling at her, beckoning her. Faces she had tried so hard to forget, she now remembered as if she had seen them yesterday. But it’s been so long.

“Come home with me.”

Twilight felt her legs wobble, threatening to give out under her. A wheezing grew in her throat as her lungs worked too hard to draw in short rapid breaths. She might have collapsed right there when a pair of steady hooves caught her and drew her in the first hug she had felt since the day she left.

Come home.