Captain Rogers tapped at the keyboard built into his armrest. His left hand moved along it with swift, confident movements. It was as much part of him as any limb, but more precise and trustworthy. When he needed to input information without assistance, this keyboard was his first choice. "Casey?" The woman looked up at being called. "Any updates on what might have made this pony planet fall?"

Casey closed the window she had been working in and opened another. "Sir, I have some details now. It appears there was an ionizing event, which can create a great deal of radiation. Enough to destroy electronics and possibly other things." She rubbed her head lightly. "I am afraid my guesses about how much damage an event like that would cause to this pony planet are simply conjecture."

Roger rubbed at his chin. "A better guess than we had. Twilight, does this match with what you've found?"

Twilight sprang into in front of Roger. "It does." She perked an ear. "Casey and I were working together."

Roger nodded with a light chuckle. "Should have figured that. I can only imagine what would have happened if you had been struck with a similar event before humanity had finished integrating your gifted technology."

"We'd be back to building things the old way. By hoof and hand." Twilight's mane twisted around as she thought. "Perhaps with some stone tools." She settled down. "While there is nothing that proves it, I suspect that the electromagnetic pulse created by this ionizing event resulted in a complete technological collapse. They had little hope of recovering after that."

Roger pressed his lips into a line. "I don't suppose we know when this happened? How long ago?"

Twilight shook her head. "We are still much too far away."

Casey twirled a finger at her own screens. "When we get closer, we can find out. Something sent that message, so something wasn't completely fried, or they used a technology that didn't care about that kind of interference."

"Ah." Roger looked to Twilight. "All this for a chance at survival." He drummed his fingers on his armrest. "I said it before, but I can see humanity acting just as desperately in the same situation. Don't feel bad."

Twilight sagged. "I appreciate your comment, but I will continue to feel bad, Sir. It was my idea to launch the seeds, and I designed much of the technology involved. I should have prepared for this situation."

"I agree, but you couldn't have known." He stroked his beard with a sigh. "Still, there's no way for us to tell how many civilizations may have perished like this. It's just another filter that keeps civilizations off the galactic stage. It's a miracle your world produced so many different sapient species."

Twilight smiled softly. "That miracle may have had something to do with us ponies. But that may be my bias. I am a pony, after all. Of course I'd like to imagine we were responsible, even a little. It warms my heart to know so many of the others made it out into the greater universe. There is hope yet for this galaxy."

"And then, there are other factors at work." Casey moved a window to a larger screen. "This pony planet was far from habitable. Our best estimates indicate that the only possible biosphere could support incredibly sparse life."

Twilight hissed softly. "That planet was selected for its ancient technology, I remind. The same that also suffered in this ionizing bath. It may have been destroyed." She turned away. "We were desperate, and this roll did not go in our favor. Now it appears that my poor choice of planets may have killed countless ponies."

Roger rested a hand on Twilight's flank. "That is unlikely." Twilight looked up at him. "They were a seed. There were only a few of them, and there'd only stay a few until and unless they had the planet under control."

Twilight skewed an ear back. "You have a point. The odds of 'many' ponies being involved is slender. A bitter consolation prize, but I will take it." She vanished without another word.

Casey let out a long sigh. "This is a terrible feeling. A planet destroyed by its own sun?" She frowned, looking to Roger. "It's very unusual. Any chance you could offer me something that might make me feel better about this?"

Roger let out a laugh, only to color faintly. "Sorry, not laughing at you. We sapients are curious creatures. What can I tell you? Not much comes to mind. We lucked out. No sudden meteors or too-close supernova took us out." He set his hands on the rests of his chair. "Let's celebrate by getting things done. Twilight needs those charts."

Casey shrugged with a soft chuckle. "Celebrate by working? Well, we could do worse. We've already done worse." She went back to work. "Are we hoping to find any ponies still alive there, or is this more of an archaeological expedition at this point?"

"It's hard to say." Roger sighed softly. "This is like no planet humanity has seen before. My experience with alien planets is pretty limited."

Twilight reappeared, sitting beside him in her own chair, though her chair was just as holographic as the rest of her. "Fortunately, this planet has a tolerable atmosphere and biosphere, or I would not have selected it for the seed project. I underestimated the voltility of its sun, clearly, but, other than pathogens, you should be alright."

Casey looked up from her work. "Even so, it's still an alien planet. Could it be carrying anything unusual?"

Twilight rose a hoof. "Vastly so. Of course it is possible. I would advise environmental suits for environmental pathogens alone. Finding out one is allergic to a local strain of protein is hardly a pleasant experience. Well, you are all already immunized, but there are some very strange things out there. Creatures that have proteins only remotely similar to what your species has. Do not eat anything without running it by me first."

Roger reached over to tap Twilight on the nose. "I don't think any of us were rushing to do that. You're clearly worked up. This is your way of expressing guilt."

Twilight sat down, sulking. "That is impossible to dispute."

Roger shook his head and reached over to place a hand at Twilight's shoulder. "We're still a good way from it. Work with Rainbow on the scanners and—" She was gone. "Right. It's an interesting thing, having a ship that has to process emotions like that. She's incredibly intelligent, but there's more to her than that."

Casey got up to move closer to Roger. "She's alive. That makes her complex. No less worthy of our help than if she were built from metal and plastic." She waved a hand towards the side of the room. "She may be a program now, but she started the same way as any one of us. Her brain didn't suddenly stop having its ups and downs."

Roger depressed a button with a soft beep. "You considering getting synced when we get back then?"

Casey shuddered at the very notion. "I'll accept my end with dignity. I'm honestly not sure how ponies deal with that idea, of something that's just like me, but isn't me, walking around forever? Thank you, but no. I think I will take my normal, short life span instead." She leaned back and crossed her arms. "What about you?"

Roger pressed his lips into a line I mumbled aimlessly. "Possible. But haven't made up my mind." He chuckled, eyes on the main screen. "Sunset's the only human we have on record to take that offer, and she was a pony before she was a human. Does she even count?"

"She counts." Casey considered it a moment. "I wish I could just walk up and talk to her. Ask what she's feeling. It's so strange, isn't it? The history we've seen and experienced is now."

Roger lifted his shoulders. "What's stopping you? Pretty sure she takes visitors. Her wife has been real helpful in getting Sunset out there to interact with everyone. Keeps her busy. Better than letting her just hang around in the library."

Casey rose an eyebrow. "You think that's a good idea? I mean, I just want to talk to her about, well, being her."

"Can't see why not." Roger waved towards the exit of the bridge. "You've gotten your part done. I'll call you if something comes up, but we're mostly drifting. If you want to go have a conversation, now's a fine time. She usually takes lunch around now, I think?"

Casey took a deep breath. "It would be rude to just drop by, wouldn't it?"

Roger chuckled. "Doubt it." He settled back in his seat. "From what I hear, she's a bit prickly all the time, but just be a decent person and you'll be talking soon enough."

"Alright then." Casey turned towards the door. "Thanks, Captain." She left the bridge with quick steps.

Roger gestured ahead. "Now that we've settled that, eyes on the systems. It'd be a shame to fall apart when we decided to take it easy."

Elsewhere, Sunset leaned against an aisle of false books, reading one held in her hands. The book was, of course, fake as her own body, but she smiled at the simple act of actually reading one page to the next. "If you're going to be reading anything, do it right."

Rarity emerged from behind a shelf. "And what are you reading?"

Sunset closed the book and winked at Rarity. "Cute little story about this amazing pony named Sunset Shimmer."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, but really, darling. What is it that has your attention?"

Sunset waved the book at Rarity in a little waggle. "I'm not lying. It's an autobiography I wrote ages ago, when I still had to breathe. Probably never going to sell a lot of copies, but it felt important at the time. And even if I wasn't the first or only human, I am the first one to start out as a pony."

"Point." Rarity approached on two legs, as forced into a human shape as Sunset was in any othe rroom. "We all have our unique aspects, don't we, dear? But if you wrote it, what is it that's pulling you back to it? Surely you can't have any new ideas about your own life."

Sunset tilted her head to consider that. "Eh, kinda." She tapped the book with a finger. "Past me had a lot of ideas, and new me has more information, but a different perspective." She shrugged gently. "And don't give me that 'because you're a hologram' thing. I mean, sure, that's a part of things, but anyone would change over time. Just part of existing. And I'm still mostly the same person."

She snapped her fingers. "But the old me didn't have a wife, to start."

Rarity burst into soft titters. "That much is without a doubt. Mmm, but I do recall the old you had a boyfriend at one point, dear?"

Sunset looked away from Rarity with a blush. "I might have dated some colts before deciding I wanted a marefriend, yes."

"Of course." Rarity grinned and winked. "Nothing wrong with that, darling." She poked Sunset on the nose. "You are simply adorable when you get defensive, dear. Never change that."

Sunset huffed, brushing aside Rarity's hand. "No promises. Anyway! I was just a little kid back then, a teenager." She waved over herself. "Now we're both ancient. You wouldn't want me calling you out for things way back then, now would you?"

Rarity let out a gasp. "Sunset Shimmer!" She gripped at her chest in mock offense. "I can't believe you would think me so shameless as to change that much." Her titters renewed. "I am proud to say I am largely the pony that first synced. Fashion and presentation remain my specialties, dear. I may have abandoned thoughts of business ownership, but not much else."

Sunset rose an eyebrow. "Well, if it works." She slipped the book into a pocket in her coat. "This place is more a library than I thought. Why do we even need this stuff?"

Rarity turned in place. "Dear, sometimes it pays to know things. You were just reading a book yourself, and you ask that? Darling, you're in charge of this place. I would hope you'd see some benefits to having it around. Or would you like to run off and abandon all your responsibilities?"

Sunset sagged as she waved a hand around her. "They just told me I'm supposed to keep track of this place. At first it was just that, a place to idle." She let out an annoyed grunt. "And, thanks to family life, the idea of 'idling' feels really strange. I haven't gone offline in weeks! I can barely remember how long it's been since I just... I dunno, did nothing for a while."

Rarity gave Sunset a gentle smile. "Is that really a bad thing?"

Sunset shoved Rarity, but only got laughter for it. "I guess not entirely." She looked up as the door to the library swished open. "Hello, can I help you find a book?" She turned to see Casey walking in.

Author's Note

There are countless ways and chances for it all to suddenly be over. Be thankful for every instant.

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