Author's Note
Hi. this is my first story. It probably sucks. Feedback is appreciated.
One
As dawn rose again for the ponies of Equestria, things didn't quite feel the same. Some would wake to see the dance of life drastically different, while others might only get a slight sensation. But all of them would know what it was. How could they not?
There was no way that one could have missed the very distinct feeling of the magic fading. It wasn’t gone, but it was not the same. Not any longer.
The Unicorns had no doubt. Not when they felt the leylines weaken, and the auras of their spells dim. It was a little funny when the local prankster- who intended to drop a bucket of water on their neighbour- soaked themselves instead. They probably had it coming. Nonetheless, they knew.
They couldn’t quite seem to fly as high or as quickly. Not anymore. The mail ponies were fifteen minutes late that day. The clouds didn’t seem to be quite as fluffy to stand on or lay in, and the weather seemed to be just a bit more wild. That was how the Pegasi knew.
The Apple harvest was down to a tenth of its normal amount. The plants didn’t grow quite as fast, neither did they have the same glow or taste, as if they were just a little bit less alive. And they couldn’t quite make the trip from the farm to Baltimare in a day anymore. Not if they didn’t want to collapse from exhaustion. The Earth Ponies knew.
The vivid blues, purples, and even greens of the night sky had always shone in the vision of the Bat Ponies. But now they seemed just a little bit less distinct. It was not as if their vision had weakened, but the heavens above seemed murkier. So they knew too.
Up high in the tallest towers of that grand castle in the city on the mountainside, the White Alicorn felt everything her little ponies did. But this was not how she knew. As she looked from her balcony up to the mare on the moon, the piercing gaze the visage of the nightmare gave off faded and faltered.
There would be no return.
No joyous reunion, no making of amends, no sisters together again.
No, there would be no return.
That was how Princess Celestia knew.
The room was dim, the familiar voices of the others around her blurring with each other to form a chorus of conversation that Princess Celestia now thought she could never live without. And right on schedule came the sounds of a struggle and the muffled voices of the guards outside tackling a rowdy Stallion down as he attempted to break through to the door.
“Sir! I need you to stop resisting! This’ll only get harder for all of us if you don’t!”
“You can’t hide it forever! I’ll show all of Equestria the real truth!”
Perhaps she should’ve been worried that anypony had managed to get this far- and this wasn't the first time it had happened, either. As a reflection of the state of her guards, and perhaps of the more questionable things that some of her little ponies believed, it probably wasn’t ideal.
It was a far cry from the world back then, of which there would be no return. In some ways, it was now a world worse off than it had been. But she was used to it now. How could she possibly leave? Maybe it was far from ideal, but there was always the appeal of having things stay as they were. Even the unplanned was expected, as it was. Wasn’t it nice? Everything in its right place. And soon, she knew a voice she always heard would speak yet again. It was like the world stood still as it moved.
“Eighty-second mark has now been passed. We'll go on full internal power at the 50-second mark in the countdown. Guidance system goes on internal at 17 seconds leading up to the ignition sequence at 8.9 seconds.”
…
It felt like that. It wasn’t actually like that.
This was the sign of the times changing. This was the world moving on. Even what seemed to stay the same always changed. Little by little. Bit by bit. Slowly but surely, this was the world she was used to being left behind, which she would never return to again.
She didn’t know how she would leave. She didn’t know what would await her in the new world that was coming towards her.
But would she leave in a positive way?
“We've passed the 50-second mark. Power transfer is complete - we're on internal power with the launch vehicle at this time. 40 seconds away from the…”
No, she would not leave in a way anypony could even begin to describe as “positive.”
Not as the banishment fails. It will not confine her, but neither will it provide. She will be a free mare, but her prison was her life. There she was fed, now she will be fed no longer.
She will be alone In a hostile world nopony else has ever been, that nopony alone could ever survive in.
Not on the dark side as it falls to well over hundred degrees below freezing. Not as the vacuum of space provides no air to breathe. She will be alone, and the new world coming towards her will kill her.
But she won’t be alone for much longer.
“Twenty seconds and counting.
T minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal.
Twelve, 11, 10, 9, ignition sequence starts…”
Her home will reach out for her, and she will not return to her prison. She will leave, and she will look up at the night sky she so embodies and see not a sign of her failures, but a sign of her redemption.
There will be no return. Not to her old prison, nor to the ashes of her old mistakes.
There will be a return. A return to life, and to a world so different but somehow familiar.
“...6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero, all engines running, Lift Off! We have a lift-off, 32 minutes past the hour. Lift-off on Selene Ten!”
Hang on, sister! We’re coming for you!
