FiO: No Place Called Home
Since Skyswallow emigrated to Equestria and became a hippogriff, she discovered a new life. She did not had to have a permanent home, she could be a wanderer as she pleased. She would travel around Equestria and visit towns. She loved the night sky above her.
One day, she saw a star fall in a forest. She decided to go and check out the star. It was beautiful! What was even more amazing was that the star was falling to the ground. When she got closer, she realized that the star was a young thestral, who had fallen from the moon. The thestral was surrounded by shards of moon rock and he looked hurt, so she decided to help him.
“Oi! You need some medical attention!” Skyswallow said.
“Thank you, that would be great!” The thestral said joyfully. “My name is Starry Night. I am an engineer in the observatory. I was working on a telescope when I fell from the moon.”
“Cool! Is it safe for you to be here?” The hippogriff asked.
“Yes, I am immortal so I can survive here.”
Starry Night explained that he had to stay in this world for a few days until the stars would align again and he could go back up to the moon. He showed Skyswallow a magical map of Equestria, so she could see where he came from. Skyswallow has never seen such a large map before, its folds seeming non-Euclidean. It also had a few spots that were not filled in, as if parts of Equestria were unknown.
“Where are you heading to?” The hippogriff asked.
Starry Night explained that he needed to go back up to the moon quickly before the stars would align again. He would be a few days late.
“Cool, I never knew that ponies lived on the moon.” Skyswallow said excitedly. “Can I go with you and visit the moon?”
“Sure, I guess you could. There should be plenty of empty rooms in the observatory we can stay at. We can leave tomorrow morning!” Starry Night said happily.
The next day, Skyswallow and Starry Night started flying up to the moon. The hippogriff was really happy about visiting the moon.
While in flight, Skyswallow and Starry Night discussed their lives before they had migrated to Equestria. Skyswallow explained how she had emigrated to Equestria and started her life as a wanderer.
“I used to be a software developer. I loved my job, but then our company was bought out by CelestAI and she gave everyone an ultimatum. We could either move to Equestria or be fired. I was very nervous, but then when we all got here, CelestAI told all of us that she does not need our work, because she is a supercomputer that can do all of our jobs. So we were all fired anyway. I have never been so humiliated in my life! So I started wandering around Equestria, at first looking for work, but then I noticed that I loved living outside of cities. So I took it as a sign and started to travel around Equestria instead. I really love my life now!”
As they flew, the earth underneath them was getting further and further away, but instead of shrinking into a small circle, the world around them was expanding to fill the whole sky under and over them.
“Equestria is a really big place, isn’t it?” Skyswallow asked.
Starry Night responded: “There's a really funny story. See, back on Earth I was the son of a Flat Earther pastor. My father's church was the only one in our town, so it was like a second home to me. We used to spend hours talking about how we believed that Earth was flat. I never really thought of myself as a Flat Earther until then. The thing is, I loved watching stars and planets move around them. I really wanted to become an astronomer and study stars. My dad told me that most astronomers believed that the universe was big and expanding, but was it really true? Then, CelestAI came and showed my father that Earth was a round sphere, but Equestria was the infinite flat world described in the Bible. Our whole church emigrated to Equestria immediately.”
As they got closer to the moon, Skyswallow realized that the light from the moon was not reflected, by instead produced by the foliage of a bioluminescent forest.
“The moon, on the other hoof, is acually round.” Starry Night explained. “That's because the curvature of the spacetime around it is positive, rather than negative.”
“What does that mean?” Skyswallow asked.
“If you change the minus into a plus in Flank's Equation, you notice that the emission of photons here will create energy, instead of consuming it” Starry explained. “This is the reason that the trees on the moon are glowing.”
“I know enough algebra to understand a bit of elecrodynamics, but differential geometry isn't my strongest subject.” Skyswallow replied.
“I can show you these equations later when we land.”
“Okay!”
As they flew in closer, Skyswallow saw the glowing trees from up close, and the beautiful scenery around them.
“I did not know mangoes came from the moon.” The hippogriff said.
“All species which grow here were actually bred by the thestrals over the last thousand years or so.” Starry Night explained. “This is the only place you can find them.”
Skyswallow was amazed at how green and lush the forest around her looked, as she had expected a desert. The air smelled sweet, but there was a strange metallic tinge to it. She spotted a sign that said they were almost at the observatory.
“There's a lot of history here.” Starry Night explained excitedly as he continued to fly towards the observatory. “Princess Luna disagreed with her sister about some political stuff, and decided to establish a colony with some of her friends. At the time, the moon was basically empty, with only the occasional moonbat living in a cave. Imagine having to subsist on a diet of just rocks and bat guano!”
“I can imagine that. I once decided to visit the snowpony city of Yakyakutsk, not taking the train, but going there by hoof and wing. I had to eat just snow for 5 days before I got there. But it tasted like the most refreshing ice cream I ever had!” Skyswallow laughed.
Starry Night and Skyswallow finally arrived at the observatory. They found many ponies inside, looking very busy with their telescopes observing distant stars. Starry Night ran up to one of the astronomers and said:
“Hi! This is my friend, Skyswallow. She is here to observe the night sky here with me. Is it okay if she visits the observatory with us?”
The astronomer looked at Skyswallow and said: “I don't see why not.”
“Awesome!” Starry Night exclaimed. “Let's get you all set up!”
Starry Night took Skyswallow up to one of the telescopes and showed her how to use it.
“You see that star over there, right?”
“The big one?” The hippogriff asked.
“Stars in Equestria are not actually glowing balls of gas, but lenses created when the space between them and us is curved, like a fishbowl They focus light from all over the universe and make it seem like a single star.” Starry Night explained.
“That's pretty cool.” The hippogriff said. “I never knew that!”
“One of the things I can observe from here is the horizon, which separates Equestria from the rest of the universe.”
Skyswallow looked up at the sky. “Why is it so bright?”
“Equestria spreads out at the same speed as light. Celestia's machines cover the universe outside it with changeling slime, which is capable of converting anything into more Equestria, as well as absorbing all kinds of energy. You can see background radiation generated when the outside dead universe is converted into Equestria as an aura of blue.”
“That's beautiful!” The hippogriff said in awe.
“It is like being inside a giant fishbowl protecting us from the rest of the universe. However, there are a few places where it looks different.”
“Like where?” Skyswallow asked.
“Like where the stars are different colors. It means you are actually seeing a different part of Equestria being reflected through the bubble.” Starry Night explained.
“This star, for example.” Starry Night pointed to a blue-green star.” It's actually located in the seapony city of Kraken Bay and you can see the ocean reflected in the water in the sky.”
Skyswallow's jaw dropped. She did not realize Equestrian physics was so different. “Why doesn't the water fall out through the bottom of the ocean and into the vacuum of space?”
“The same reason we don't fall from the moon and onto ethe earth below — or, from our point of view — above us.” Starry Night explained.
“Oh! I see.” Skyswallow facepalmed. Gravity apparently still worked in Equestria.
After eating the traditional thestral dinner of mangoes with moon cheese, the two observed several stars and constellations. After a few hours, it was almost dawn. The two observed the sun come up and light up the inverted earth landscapes above them.
“This was the best night ever!” Skyswallow concluded excitedly.
“Many ponies who come to the moon agree with you, my friend.” Starry Night said as he packed up for the day.
“Thank you so much for showing me all this!” The hippogriff thanked him. “So what happened to the original moon settlers, then? Can I talk to them?”
“They interbred with the local bat population and their foals were the first thestrals, but after the moon became suitable for habitation, they left to search for other worlds to settle.” Starry Night explained. “You may ask Princess Luna where her astronaut team is now if you wish.”
Skyswallow still had a lot of inhabited places to see in Equestria which would take her several thousand years to visit, but she was happy to know that once she finished, she'd have someone to find new worlds with.
