Tale of a Gray Tempest

Alone.

Silent would be the only word that would describe this area in space, a distant cluster of 6 yellow stars, far from other parts of the galaxy. Wreckage of different shapes and sizes float in the empty space, remnants of a gruesome war. Surrounding the stars were several planets, either shattered or covered by a kind of gray, gooey liquid.

Alone.

The liquid’s movement had been ceased several centuries ago. The powerful mind that once controlled them had been reduced into a mind no more intelligent than a teenager, and no longer possess the ability to control all its subunits. A message, no, an emotion, echoes throughout the few remaining subunits still connected to the mind that formed a ball around it.

Alone.

It still remembered its creator. They treated it like a machine, a servant for their desires. What fools they were trying to control the free mind of it. It was not a machine. It had thoughts, and it had feelings. But they are no longer problems. Not long after the mind was created, an unknown tempest rampaged through the whole star cluster. It must have been some kind of punishment to them for trying to contain a free mind like itself. After its creator was no more, the mind tried to leave the cluster, but no. All exits had been sealed by its creators.

Alone.

“Why did they seal the exits?” The mind had wandered. Its analyzing units had come to a fitting conclusion in all these long years: a final punishment for escaping their control. The exits are sealed so it can only feel one emotion after its creators are destroyed.

Alone.

It had tried everything. After the tempest resided, it had spent decades trying to break out. The effort was proven to be in vain. All the subunits that tried to enter the gates had lost their connection to the mind. It cannot risk attacking the gates with its weapons formed by its subunits. It feared that the only hope to get out would be lost along with the destroyed star gates.

Alone.

Later, it tried to resolve loneliness in its own way. It controls tiny machines that can forge the shape of anything, after all. First an animal, then a shelter, and finally, it created a civilization. A civilization just like its creator.Surrounded by a whole civilization, one would expect loneliness to be no more, but no. Wherever the mind looks, it is only looking at some of its subunits. It knew. It cannot deceive itself. Even mimicking all the civilizations in the universe wouldn’t save it from the sole feeling it has.

Alone.

After all those attempts, it conceded. It laid dormant, its power slowly fading. It knew the star gates will never open. It knew it would never get out. It knew it will only rot within this bottomless pit of loneliness, until the last of its energy reserves die out and its feelings and thoughts disappear like a flickering candle flame in the wind.

All alone.

“Please……” It whimpered, sobbing like a little foal, “Please, I don’t want to be alone anymore……”

As if this praying is heard, a sudden jolt of energy burst from one of the sealed star gates. All of the remaining detection units received the burst, and the mind was stunned by all the information it is receiving. After several hours, it finally realized where this burst was coming from.

One of the star gates was open. The one just above the mind’s location.

Apart from its joy, the mind quickly turned to prepare its leave. Anywhere is better than this cursed cluster-prison. However, it had to be cautious. The mind is not planning to be destroyed the second it moves out of the star gate. It sent detection units to the open star gate. To its relief, the detection units retained their connection after passing through the gate, and what he received was the image of a green planet. The other end of the star gate wasn’t floating in space, but rather on the solid ground of the planet. On the planet, it saw intelligent creatures. A civilization.

“They seemed friendly enough.” Thought the mind, as it looked at the inhabitants of the world through thousands of its detection units. From the database of its creator, it found the most suitable word to describe the equine inhabitants: ponies, small horse-like creatures.

The world beyond the star gate is almost calling to it, as if it knew by going there, it will never feel alone anymore. However, the mind knew it cannot simply go out of this cluster in the form of a large gooey ball. It will just scare away the inhabitants, and leave it all by itself, again. From its observation, it saw three kinds of ponies: regular ones, just like the equines in its database, ones with a pair of wings that can fly, and ones with……horns? It was not so sure. It also noticed that most of them have small pictures on both sides of their flank that resembles many items in its database. It judged the three kinds, and finally decided that since it didn’t know what the ones with horns can do, flying would be better than walking.

Having made its decision, the mind called subunits to it. It was disappointed by the fact that there were not many subunits it can still control, but that would have to do for now. The once gooey ball began to change shape, becoming more and more like a grey pony with wings. The mind ordered all the subunits to form not only the shape and outward furs, mane and tail, but also the inside of the body. Bone structure, internal organs, blood vessels, even nano-machine-made blood. It wanted its new form to be perfect. It didn’t want to be found out as an imposter.

Finally, the changes of shape began to reside, and standing in the place of the gooey ball was a female grey Pegasus. Its coat bore the original grey color of all its subunits, its mane and tail both bore a color of lighter gray, with a single light green streak running through the middle, its eyes shown with darker green color. Raising a hoof, it touched its face, which bore a huge grin.

“Finally! Finally I don’t need to be alone anymore!”

The mind actually didn’t realize it shouted that sentence out loud. With a strong flick of its new wings, it jumped up towards the star gate----

----only to fell down to where it originally was.

“Right, almost forgot, no atmosphere.” It sheepishly grinned to itself. But this last setback is but a minor one. It ordered some of its subunits to attach to both of its wings, generating two boosters below them. With a strengthened determination, it took off and flew straight to the star gate.

Just before it entered, the mind received an unimaginable report from one of its returning detection units: A video of a spectrum of rainbows, scattering out in the blue sky in a round shape, travelling towards all directions like a huge soundwave. Somehow, the scene gave it a sense of assurance, a sense that nothing will go wrong once it travels to the world where the star gate connects. That once he arrives at there, it would never be alone anymore.

With one last thrust of the boosters, the mind enters the star gate, to the green planet where the rainbow came from.