The DESTINY Exploration

Chapter 4: Discovery

Twilight had just finished purchasing three boarding passes for the next non-stop train to Galloping Gorge when I entered my typical state of worry for Jonah. I tried thinking back to the time of the crash as we selected a private cabin on one of the train cars. What was perplexing about the time after the bright object fatally damaged the hull was my lack of vision. But the bright light didn’t blind me at all!

A few seconds after the light hit was when the blindness set in, as if my vision was locked into a timer. After a certain amount of time, I became incapacitated, yet I could still feel the sensation of falling at a high velocity into the planet. Then, nothing. No crash, no explosion, no Jonah. It’s remained a mystery why I’m alive, and what could have possibly intervened to make it that way. Or who.

The train began to move forward, leaving Ponyville Central Station at a quickening pace. The attention then turned to me as I stared out the window, deep in my own worrisome thoughts.

“Hey, Tom, you said you weren’t from this world, correct?” Twilight appeared to be in a questioning sort of mood, so I acquiesced.

“Yes, I crash landed here about 15 days ago due to a strange object hitting the hull of my ship. What else would you like to know?”

She had already prepared an entire list of questions on a very thick scroll. She began to check off a couple questions on the list with her quill. This wasn’t going to be fun.

“Where did you come from, exactly?”

Here we go. “Well, the world I come from is very similar to yours: varying climates, terrain, oceans, cities, villages. Everything a life-bearing planet would normally have. But to say ‘where’ I’m from, that’s a gigantic three-headed monster.”

“You mean your planet is a gigantic monster?!”

“Oh, goodness.” My hoof smacked my face in embarrassment. “OUCH!” Smacking my hoof into my face was probably not smart; that hurt!

“I think Tom migh’ be sayin’ its difficult tuh explain where exactly he’s from, Twilight.” Applejack explained my figure of speech perfectly.

“That’s right, Applejack. The way the ship got from my world to here is theoretically impossible. We crossed through a wormhole.”

Twilight’s eyes beamed with excitement all of a sudden. “Wormhole! I know what you’re talking about!”

Shocked, I pressed further to see what she knew. “Do you, now?! What do you know about wormholes?” I sat on the edge of my seat, wondering if maybe these simple ponies had actually unlocked mysterious knowledge that has evaded human kind for centuries!

“Isn’t it like when I teleport with magic?”

“In a sense, that’s very much correct-WAIT, you can teleport with magic! Show me.”

Twilight wove together a performance of popping in and out of different locations within the cabin. The fact that she did this escaped my reckoning: teleportation just happened right in front of me, and I couldn’t say a word more.

Twilight saw my countenance and grinned. “Yes sir, teleportation is very complex magic. I think that wormhole you entered was a natural occurrence, though, not formed by magic.”

Applejack quizzed Twilight further on the issue. “So, yer sayin’ that what Tom said is actually possible?!”

“Yes, Applejack, if I can teleport with magic…” Twilight used the spell a couple more times. “…then what Tom said naturally makes perfect sense. Nothing I do works outside of what can occur in the natural world.”

Twilight began an explanation of how magic is simply using a special reservoir of strength located, in secret, inside of unicorns to enhance, replicate, or manipulate natural events. Enhanced cell growth to repair flesh wounds, transforming an object into another object, or even causing a book to levitate, manipulating the gravitational pull of the planet; all of these examples are merely ways that unicorns can cause the natural to become ‘supernatural’.

The idea of magic then sat very well with me. Initially, I thought it was just some cheat mode that storybook ponies were given to lord over others, but Twilight showed a mastery of the concept without stuttering. How was it that she knew all this?

“Hey Twilight, you sound like a sage when it comes to magic. How did you learn all this?”

Twilight smiled back at me, and pointed out the window. “There. That’s how I learned it all.”

I was gazing up at an immense castle rooted on the side of a steep, snow-capped mountain. Dozens of large and smaller waterfalls poured out the intimidating rock standing overhead. Twilight informed me of the castle and the name of its town, Canterlot.

“Canterlot is where I’m originally from, and it is also where my studies in magic began. Princess Celestia is my teacher, mentor, and dear friend, and she rules all of Equestria from up there.”

A monarch rules this land? I wonder what the king would think of an alien roaming the countryside!

“Twilight, who is the King of Equestria? Would he be furious knowing that you are colluding with an alien being?”

“We don’t have a king. Only the two princesses, Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“Two princesses?”

“Yes, Princess Celestia raises and sets the sun, while Princess Luna controls the moon and her night sky.”

Hearing her say that was a proper dig into the very foundations of systematic astronomy that I couldn’t bear to hear. But using magic to manipulate planetary rotation and lunar phases could no longer be considered out of the question. As Twilight demonstrated, magic works within what already occurs in nature.

The train went into a tunnel hollowed inside of the mountain where the city of Canterlot was erected. We soon after exited the northwest end of the mountain, and up in the sky on my left was a scattered array of clouds with rainbow falls pouring out like Canterlot’s waterfalls. Applejack informed me that was actually the pegasus city of Cloudsdale.

Both of my female companions told me about their two mutual friends, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, both of whom were born in Cloudsdale before moving to Ponyville after receiving their cutie marks. I didn’t have the foggiest idea what a cutie mark was, so better to ask than to remain ignorant of their culture.

“What the heck is a ‘cutie mark’? Do you get it for graduating from school?”

Both Applejack and Twilight gave each other smirks, as if I was a moron. Well guess what, ladies; I am technically qualified as a moron here! Applejack attempted to explain it all to me first.

“Tom, hon, a cutie mark is a pony’s special talent that they discover while they are growin’ up. Some ponies get theirs early, some later.”

Twilight asked me a pointed question next. “Didn’t you notice the marks on our flanks when you first met us and the Apples?”

That’s true, but I thought it was normal for these ponies to have tattoos stamped to their butts. Figured it was a common cultural practice, but that’s what you get for assuming, you make an as-

“Hey, Tom! You don’t seem to have a cutie mark of your own! I guess that’s a sure sign you aren’t somepony…normal…what?”

Twilight’s words cut deep into me more than it should have, because I immediately assumed the fetal position, and wallowed in my inadequate form.

“It isn’t my fault I haven’t found my special talent!” Wait, I’m not even from here!

Twilight shook her hooves left and right, attempting to console me. “Sorry, Tom, I didn’t mean to make you feel depressed! Just an observation, nothing more.”

I withdrew from my vulnerable state, understanding that she didn’t actually call me out on a reality that I couldn’t control.

“You’re fine, Twilight, I shouldn’t be theatrical like this, I’m sorry. I wonder if not having a cutie mark is going to bode ill for me in my search of Jonah.”

Applejack entertained my idea with concurrence. “That’s quite a thought, there. You really think finding his special talent is gonna be helpful in finding this Jonah feller, Twilight?”

“It’s certain an intriguing proposition. I suppose the only way we’ll know for sure is when we discover where the meteor impact site is located. If Jonah is there, I suppose it wouldn’t matter.”

The train had already crossed the plains adjacent to the Unicorn Range and arrived at Vanhoover Junction. The split in the tracks led west to Vanhoover, and north towards the north side of Galloping Gorge. After a short stop at the junction, the train began moving again and toward our final destination. Sunset was fast approaching, and we weren’t given a place to stay; the search would happen overnight.

The air inside the cabin chilled as we witnessed an expansive sheet of ice bisected by a rail bridge on the horizon. The twin lakes, Twilight said, were liquid water only four months out of the year. The lakes were also entirely fresh water, so anypony could drink from them without concern. But for eight months, the lakes were frozen solid, and in turn, chilled the air near ground-level, leaving the coastline in a state of prolonged winter cold.

The train had finally reached its last stop, with the conductor shouting his “All aboard!” for the travelers heading to what I guessed was the Crystal Empire beyond those mountains. How anyone could possibly bear to live in the ‘Frozen North’ was not something I wanted to personally experience.

Our expedition party got off the train, and began walking due east of the train station, along the northern edge of the forest. Twilight showed us the box where she guessed the meteor had landed. It encompassed part of a hillside northeast of the gorge, a section of the coastline east of the tracks, and the northeast corner of the gorge.

Twilight formed a plan of attacking this search. “Listen, we will all split up once we reach the center of this square I’ve drawn out. We will all look around the three landmarks I’ve indicated here on the map: the hill, the coast, and the gorge.”

Applejack and I took out our compasses, radios, and flashlights, and hooked them on the outside of our packs for ease of access. By now, the sun had been set for about 20 minutes, and the darkness crept into the valley between the hill and gorge. Fortunately, the landscape was lit by the waxing gibbous moon.

“Twilight, you planned this expedition two weeks in advance for the best illumination possible; good on you!”

Twilight flushed at the compliment. “Thank you, Tom, for noticing. Near the full moon stage is the best time to go on searches like these. Just be cautious at all times of your surroundings. When you find something that looks like something big crashed, inform me on your radios, ok?”

Both Applejack and I affirmed her command. “Yes ma’am!”

We began our search after splitting off from the center of our search radius. Twilight went northwest towards the coastline, and Applejack went northeast towards the hillside. I went south towards the Galloping Gorge, although never having to go up the cliff side was a relief. I still have to get used to my footing, although trotting has not hindered me one bit so far.

The flashlight became unnecessary, so I tucked it away in my pack for later, but I kept my radio handy in case things got out of hand. Periodically, out of concern for the ladies (totally not to have a voice to talk to…), I would click the radio and ask how their searches were going.

“Applejack, Twilight, find anything?”

Applejack responded first. “Nah, nothin’ out uh the ordinary, bud!”

Twilight’s radio clicked on soon afterwards. “Nothing on the coast line at all, Tom. I’m heading back towards the rendezvous point now. Keep up the Gorge search.”

Easier said than done, the bottom of the Gorge ended up very muddy and treacherous to walk. Each step felt like one of those mounds of gelatin that would stick to your hand and slowly unstick off and fall onto your plate. The descent into the bottom of the Gorge was quite the challenge; each step ate at your stamina and made the trek very slow-paced.

Applejack checked in with everyone, coming up short as well.

“Nothin’ by this here hillside. I’m headin’ back tuh basecamp, ya hear?”

“Loud and clear!” Both Twilight’s voice and mine echoed the same affirmation.

One positive from being in the Gorge is it shielded anyone from the frigid conditions closer to the coast. Galloping Gorge was warmer than the upper air temperature, so I didn’t suffer from a cold sweat.

My muscles relaxed and I kept trudging along, until I noticed a pattern of craters coming from the east. A large object appeared to have skipped across the ground a while ago.

JONAH!

My feelings betrayed my instinct, and for the first time, I composed a full-on sprint, heading towards the first set of craters farthest east. Remembering to report in to the girls, I swiped my radio from a pocket of my pack.

I then tripped on the ground, and fell face-first into the muddy grass beneath me. Picking up the radio I dropped, I sprinted again towards the procession of craters in the ground.

“LADIES! I found something big! A trail of immense craters east of the Gorge! Hurry down here!”

“We’re heading there now, Tom, stay put!”

I couldn’t just stand there; the ship might need immediate repair, and I had to find it. Each crater I saw had no trace of any aluminum casing, steel frames, or irradiated objects.

This can’t be! That crash had to have been fierce for these craters to be this huge!

Each crater returned my investigations with the same result: no evidence of a ship crashing.

Jonah, where are you?! I need to get to you now! Show me where you are!

I saw at the end of the series of craters a hill blocking my view of the Gorge. The last crater was located near the bottom of the hill. There was only one other place to look. I began my approach to the hill; there was a thick expanse of fog obscuring my vision into the valley below.

Behind me was the sound of irregular galloping which I concluded were the girls chasing me down. Both of them, gasping for air as they trotted up the hillside, called me down.

“Tom! Why are you up there? Come down and talk to us!”

“Twilight, you need to come up here. Beyond this hill is the crash site, I know it. See the trail of craters?”

Applejack and Twilight carefully ascended atop the hill I stood, and couldn’t see more than a foot in front of their faces due to the fog.

Applejack became visibly nervous. “Uh-uh-uh Tom, is it a bright idea tuh go into that valley? Looks like it might swallow us up fer good.” She stepped backwards a bit, frightened by the smoky abyss in front of her.

Twilight, however, was far bolder than her rustic companion. “Whatever is down there, we must know for certain if Jonah is there. Are you guys ready?”

I re-affirmed my earlier decision to travel into the valley to see what landed here. All three of us marched forward and down the slope into the sea of obstructive fog. After about a couple minutes of walking, the fog started to lift away from our line of sight, and a silhouette of a large, irregular sphere began to form ahead of us.

Jonah, I’ve found you at last, I-

Oh no…please…I wanted you to…JONAH!

It became very clear to us what our discovery had been. I sunk as low to the ground as I could, distraught at what I had seen. The two mares came down to comfort me as I wept openly in the suffocating valley that housed all my hopes in returning home.

Our discovery had been the remains of a large asteroid. Jonah was not here.