Reaching For The Stars

The train ride was once again soothing. The hum of the train rolling down the tracks was one that provided much serenity for me; it really cleared my mind. The conductor was going from coach to coach to see if any of the passengers wanted anything. I had bought a bottle of water from them earlier and still had some with me, so when they came back around this time, I was all set.

Presently, we were leaving the Coltlumbus station. According to the conductors, it was the last scheduled stop before we were to reach Ponyville in the evening. I glanced at the gift I got Mom in Coltlumbus proudly, knowing very much that she would really enjoy this gift. I got her a small book that made me laugh upon reading the title: Mom! Maaaaa! Mom! Mom! Mom! MOM!!! Inside the book, all the pages had sentences that praised moms everywhere, followed by “I love you.” My favorite page was the last one, which stated: “Finally, mom, I want you to know that I love you so much, have I mentioned that? Oh, and that I’m clearly your favorite pony of all time. That too. LOVE YOU, MOM! Da end.”

In Indianeighpolis, I bought Mom some coffee cups with our names on them. I thought they looked cute and, despite the fact that I never drink coffee, I thought I could get a good use out of the Astral glass.

I pulled out one of my astronomy books and began reading it once more. The book - appropriately titled Exploring the Night Sky: The Equinox Astronomy Guide for Experts by L.N. Stellar - discussed the vast depth of Princess Luna’s night sky and all the stars that she shows us, including a number of stars that cannot be seen through the normal pony eye.

The book began by talking about the Ponima Centaur, which was a star that was located near Princess Celestia’s sun. It was interesting because the star was considered to be a flare star since it has a brightness that varies significantly. The book showed a picture of the star on the adjacent page and made me smile, since the light it gave off seemed to form a rainbow around it while also forming a giant X through it as well. I know the rainbow part was almost impossible, especially since nearly all color, when looking in outer space, gets absorbed because of the darkness that space really is known for. The telescope that was used to take the picture of the Ponima Centaur was really good and took a clean and crisp photo, which, again, made that rainbow illusion.

I continued to read some more of Ponima Centaur, then took out a quill, marking the page for later so that I could attempt to either locate it in the sky or on a map for myself. I flipped the page and was about to continue reading when somepony called out to me. I looked up and had noticed that it was the same pony I had spotted earlier on the Green Hay platform. She smiled at me and started talking more to me.

“My name is Summer Lily,” she said softly. She pointed to my beanie, “I really like the flower that you have on your beanie.”

I blinked, then took off my beanie to see that there was a flower laying on top of it. I took it off, then placed my beanie back on top of my head, thanking Summer for letting me know that it was there.

Summer seemed displeased with something. “I thought that daisy looked cute on top of your beanie though.”

I shook my head, “I’m not really a flower kind of pony. I don’t think they’re my kind of thing.”

Summer took notice of that. “What is your kind of thing then, if you don’t mind me asking.”

I lifted my book up for her to see. “I’m more of a starry kind of pony. I’d like to-”

“Oh, what kind of star is that one?” Summer asked, interrupting me.

I looked at the page and noticed that it was Vega, which was a rare, albeit bright star in Princess Luna’s night sky. I studied a lot about Vega and some of the other bright stars, so I actually knew more than what the book was letting on to know.

Smiling, I answered Summer’s question. “That star is called Vega.”

Summer took a seat next to me and stared deeply at the picture of Vega on the adjacent page. She wanted to know more about it and politely asked me if I knew anything else.

I nodded, “Vega is considered to be the fifth brightest star in Princess Luna’s sky, but it’s supposed to be a unique kind of star.”

“What makes it so unique from other stars?” Summer wondered.

I pointed towards the shape of Vega, specifically towards its equator. “This star rotates at such incredible speeds that it has a sort of bulge here at its center.”

Summer got closer to the picture and tried seeing the bulge, but had a hard time noticing it. I didn’t blame her since noticing something that unusual was hard, especially since stars typically are spherical. I pointed at the other end and showed Summer what I meant.

“Vega is spinning so fast that it looks like an egg here,” I continued, “and it’s particularly interesting since it has the potential to rip itself apart because of how fast it moves.”

“Rip itself apart?” Summer repeated.

“Yup,” I answered, “because it’s spinning somewhere between eighty-five and ninety percent of its maximum possible rotational speed. If a star reaches one hundred percent rotational speed, the spin would overwhelm the star’s gravity and rip it apart.”

“Fascinating…” Summer admitted. “What other kind of unique stars are there?”

I flipped through some of the pages, trying to find another star that matched Summer’s question. I don’t know why, but as I was flipping through the pages, the urge to study had died down and the urge to show off my knowledge began to rise more. Towards the end of the book, I saw one star that looked pretty unique. I showed it to Summer and allowed her to make out the name of it.

“HV 2112?” She thought. “What kind of name is that?”

I giggled softly, “That’s its scientific name. I like to call this star ‘The Cannibal Star,’ for specific reasons.”

“And what might those reasons be?” Summer asked politely.

I pointed at two different locations on the picture of HV 2112, letting Summer see what I meant. “These are two different stars. One of them is inside the other one.”

Summer raised both her eyebrows and appeared to be amazed by that statement. She turned to me with a quizzical look on her face. “How is that even possible?”

“Well,” I said, “the outer star is a giant star and this little one inside the outer one is a neutron star. Because of this, elements such as hydrogen and oxygen are manufactured in a slightly different way there than they are here. This is an amalgamation that has ponies here wondering what really constitutes as a real star now, since a red giant and a neutron star are completely independent of each other and, really, have no business with each other.”

“Interesting,” Summer replied, looking back up towards me, “you know a lot about stars. Are you an astronomer pony?”

I nodded, “I study astronomy a lot since it is just super fascinating to me, though I do open myself up to some astrology every now and then.”

“Like myself and flowers,” Summer smiled, pointing to a flower she had hanging in her mane, “bet you can’t tell me what kind of flower this is.”

I looked at the flower extensively and tried guessing what kind it was, but couldn’t seem to come up with anything besides “daisy” and “rose.” The flower in her mane didn’t appear to be either since it was completely different from the daisy I had stuck on me and since the flower itself was not red.

Summer giggled softly, “Give up?”

“Yes,” I meekly answered, “what kind of flower is that?”

Summer took it out of her mane and showed it to me. “It’s a ghost orchid flower. It’s a really rare kind of orchid and aren’t really found in places like this.”

“Why’s that?” I wondered.

“The orchid is something that thrives in marshlands and areas like that,” Summer stated, “so it can’t really grow in conditions where it’s cold half of the year.”

That got my attention. Since it needed to be in warm places, why was the one she was holding still living? I asked Summer that question, which made her smile some more as she placed the flower gently back in her mane.

“My mane is warm enough where it can support this orchid,” she told me, pulling my hoof to touch her mane.

Her mane was soft to touch and very warm, as she stated. I was very surprised by this and wondered how that was possible, but didn’t entertain the idea.

“This orchid was given to me by somepony close to me,” Summer continued, “and I wish they were still here to witness what I’m doing with my life right now.”

“What happened,” I wondered, “if you don’t mind me asking, that is?”

Summer shook her head slowly, “I don’t mind. Honestly, it’s better that I do tell this to somepony, otherwise if I keep it bottled up for too long, it won’t be good for my lifestyle. My grandma gave me this orchid when I got my cutie mark.” She pointed to her mark, which was a set of flowers. “She said that this was her favorite in her garden that she worked so hard to take care of. About a year goes by and she grew sick and spent all of her time inside that garden. I haven’t seen her since then.”

“Oh,” I said, blushing slightly, “I’m sure she’s still working hard on her garden and wants it to be as beautiful as possible.” I wasn’t particularly sure if that was a good thing to say or not.

Summer looked up at me and smiled once more. “That’s what I keep thinking, honestly.”

I sighed quietly, feeling relieved that my response didn’t cause a scene or anything.

“Where are you headed to?” Summer asked me curiously.

“I’m headed to Ponyville,” I replied.

Summer beamed happily. “I am too! What are you doing there?”

I blinked a few times, but decided to stretch the truth slightly. I wasn’t too comfortable just yet in admitting I was going to the School of Friendship.

“I hear it’s a good town to visit if you’re looking to start over and new,” I answered, scratching the back of my neck slightly.

“I’ve heard that too,” Summer responded, “it is a town that really has grown a lot over the last few years.”

“Have you been there before?” I wondered.

Summer nodded, “Yeah! It’s a wonderful town that has lovely flowers that grow near the forest. I try to go at least twice a year to see the flowers bloom. It is a magnificent sight to see. You should visit them sometime.”

I smiled softly, “Maybe one day.”

The public address system sounded off shortly thereafter. “Attention passengers, we are now beginning our approach to Ponyville. We will be in the station and finish the journey in about fifteen minutes. Crewponies, please prepare the train for the standard braking procedure.”

I looked at a nearby clock and was baffled. Wow, the journey seemed to fly by this time around.

Summer rose herself from the seat and smiled once more at me. “Well, I do hope I see you around in Ponyville. It was a pleasure meeting you!”

“Likewise,” I politely replied, watching Summer walk out of the coach and into the next one.

I turned towards the window and looked out of it, watching as the train got closer to the platform. The closer we got to Ponyville, the more nervous I began to get.

Time for new beginnings, I suppose, I thought, collecting my breath slowly.