The DESTINY Exploration

Chapter 6: Penance

Twilight stood still, confounded by Celestia's imposition of guilt towards her.

"But, Princess, he needed to find his ship! I..."

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Ship, Twilight? What ship?"

"Tom said that he is not from this world, that he comes from a distant planet in space. He's trying to-"

Celestia shushed Twilight. “Twilight, how long have you known this Tom? And you, Applejack?"

"One day," muttered Twilight. "A couple o' weeks, Yer Highness," Applejack proclaimed.

"And have either of you determined that he is to be trusted?" The Princess intently stared at both of the mares standing next to me.

Twilight was the first to speak. "Well, Princess Celestia, I trust my friend Applejack. She told me how hard Tom has worked the apple orchard, his courtesy to her family, and his improved honesty. If she can trust him as a friend, then I will, too."

Applejack took another approach with her explanation. “Well, Princess Celestia, I will admit that when I found Tom, and our family took him in, he acted all suspicious-like. We took him to the train station, and he confessed everything. It gave us quite a shock. But we saw his heart for the first time, and I…I can’t let a thing like that go unrewarded, Yer Highness.”

Princess Celestia drew a breath, and smiled. "Girls, the reason I ask is because right now, Tom is swimming with magical energy that's not his own." The Princess directed her gaze right at me.

Twilight whinnied in alarm at her words. "MAGICAL ENERGY? You mean from..."

"Yes, Twilight; he came into contact with the meteorite, didn't he?"

Twilight's countenance weighed downward, her facial expression full of remorse.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't think that rock would be a threat somehow."

The Princess walked over to Twilight, lifting up her chin and smiling down on her.

"Not a threat, my faithful student, just an obstacle to overcome. Did you read the entire book I sent you? Read the 13th chapter. You did read that one, didn’t you?”

Frantically undoing the knot tying her pack, Twilight relinquished a staggering book entitled "Discovering Latent Magical Energies: Stellar Objects". She flipped through the pages until she arrived at a chapter called ‘Interpreting the Chemical Response of Meteorite Samples’. Once she found what she was looking for, she began to read out loud:

“Once the reaction for each ethereal object has been documented, it is crucial to understand what each color means. A reaction to the red solution denotes an object containing properties that enhance the physical abilities of creatures (see: Ironclad the Terrible, King Sombra’s right hand during the Dark Crystal Empire’s rule). A reaction to the blue solution means contact will enhance a pony’s intelligence by a significant amount (see: myself, Starswirl the Bearded)-“

Twilight stood back from the book in shock. “You mean STARSWIRL had contact with one of these meteorites?! And he wrote this book?!”

Princess Celestia smiled weakly at Twilight’s reaction. “Starswirl was never naturally as gifted as you were, Twilight. His raw magical talents were trumped by his reckless nature and half-brained decisions. Yet, he remained honest and tender-hearted, and when we touched one of those meteorites, he transformed into somepony he never would have become alone: one of the wisest unicorns in Equestria’s history.”

Twilight turned back to the book. “…The green solution will grant whoever makes contact with it perfect health, strengthening the immune response of the body to supernatural levels (see: the Griffon King, Gilgar). A reaction with the clear solution is terrifying: the pony that touches an object reacting to this will be flooded with incredible magical energy and without a way to release it, will poison the pony and die (see: Commander Hurricane, pegasi leader, pre-Equestria).”

I’m going to die?! I cannot die! Without Jonah, I cannot get home, and now this?

“I didn’t read it all, and now I’ve condemned Tom. I’m so sorry…I failed…” Twilight sobbed over top the book she didn’t finish.

Celestia lifted Twilight’s chin up and hugged her. “Twilight, you know that nothing is ever as it seems.”

The weight of the revelations I had heard were continuing to press on my heart. The thought of dying here before my time, being wrenched from my only hope of finding Jonah and getting home safely; all this was too much. All I wanted was to travel to new worlds and explore them without repercussion.

Those blasted astronomers should have done more research before sending me out here to die!

With a loud slam, the throne room’s door swung open, and three unicorns dressed in black robes sprinted in our general direction. The first one flung her robe left of her, and the other two unicorns followed suit. In the hoof of the lead pony was a massive key made of solid gold, encrusted with a single diamond. The Princess glared at the key, and then exchanged some words with the pony that interrupted our meeting.

“Soul Seeker, what’s happened in the Prophecy Chamber? Did a mirror break?”

The pony, Soul Seeker, caught her breath before speaking. “Your…*huff*…Your Highness, one of the Cobalt Mirrors shattered in ‘that’ room. It broke into hundreds of pieces, and relinquished a single scroll. But we can’t approach it without you! Please come with us!”

Princess Celestia motioned everyone to follow her out of the throne room. We all pursued after the Princess and the unicorns that informed us of the mirror.

The whole herd galloped up a flight of stairs that led to a waterfall at the very top. The unicorns and the Princess launched themselves into the falls and disappeared. Oddly, without hesitation, Applejack, Twilight, and I leaped forward, and found ourselves in a mansion-sized hall of mirrors. Each mirror hung on its own individual wall, each one with a different name and number written on them.

At the end of one of the isles was a gated area, and shattered on the floor was the Cobalt Mirror that Soul Seeker mentioned earlier. A scroll with a white bow sat on the shattered remains. Princess Celestia approached the scroll and carried it over to us to read. The scroll read “Cosmic Prophecy #5: Starswirl the Bearded”.

Twilight was dumbfounded at the scroll’s contents. “Princess, since when was Starswirl a prophet? This can’t be…he knew this meteorite would strike?”

“Not exactly; just read what it says, Twilight…”

The rock of ages past descends,

A zephyr of change blows.

Cursed is he who cannot control it,

It siphons the life from his marrow.

Release this burden from him,

And my power will be his possession.

Equestria will be his refuge, its ponies, his light.

The prophecy brought a bit of comfort to my ordeal. It sounded like I could have this curse lifted from me and that I could be saved from it. After the prophecy was read aloud, the paper burned in Celestia’s hoof, and she dropped the fragments on the ground. The whole scroll evaporated into smoke, and my whole body started to grip with intense pain.

“Aaaaaaah! What in the heck’s…aaaaaah, help!” I collapsed to the ground, writhing in torment. I felt everything inside my body moving around, as if all my organs and bones and muscles were switching places. But nothing showed that taking place on the outside.

Twilight conjured up a spell, and casted it on my face. The world began to turn dark around me.

Is this it…is she…putting me out of my misery? Oh, Jonah…I’m sorry…

“…”

“…h…wh…”

“…Twilight… something he made up to get access to the asteroid…”

“But if that were true, why would he willfully pursue it, knowing he would die?”

“Perhaps he had found a way not to die when coming in contact with the rock. If he didn’t know what it could do, common sense would say not to touch it.”

“But, Princess, nothing about it suggested it was dangerous. I had already tested it, and everything!”

“Twilight, you know what kinds of threats pop up all over Equestria from time to time…”

I kept my eyes shut as I awoke, not informing the ladies that I stirred. Did they really suspect me of wrong-doing or deceiving them? I know my tale was an unbelievable one, but I’ve demonstrated my lack of knowledge about their world and its ponies. I’m sure the Princess wants to protect her subjects, but am I really a threat, now that I have this inside me-

“Aaaaaaah! …I’m still in pain, wow.” I couldn’t believe how sharp it felt still, every muscle in my body started to flex.

The Princess approached my bedside with caution. “At any point, Tom, your body could erupt with magical energy, and you will pass away. There is a solution to this, but I do not trust you enough to implement it right away. I need your permission to dive into your memories and confirm your story.”

Applejack took offense to the Princess’ request. “But Princess is that entirely necessary? His mind is a real private place. Yer askin’ him tuh expose his personal thoughts to a complete stranger!”

“I know what I am asking, dear Applejack, but I cannot have another Sombra or Chrysalis roaming the countryside with incredible power, and threatening our world again. It is for everyone’s benefit that I ask this of you, Tom.” The Princess waited expectantly for my positive response.

She is about to have access to everything. She will know me personally more than anyone I have ever met if I allow her to do this. If this is the only way to gain her trust…

“Ok, Princess, I will allow it, but I have a question for you first. Who did you use this ability on the last time?”

“…I used this ability on my dear friend, Starswirl the Bearded.”

Why is that unicorn so significant all of a sudden?! Is she trying to tell me something?

Twilight had lept in front of the Princess, almost to tears. "Puh...Princess, there was no literature on Starswirl's life prior to his rise to power as a magician. Why was this never told to me?! You hid this from us! And you...you...you have a lot to explain..." She then stood aside, and Celestia shared her grim expression.

"I'm sorry, girls. Tom, I will explain after this is done. But we must hurry."

I closed my eyes, grimacing still from the pain that traveled throughout my entire body. Celestia casted her magic onto my skull, and I blacked out. Soon after, my vision changed to an expanse of darkness, and images appeared, depicting major events in my life. I could tell the Princess was filtering through each one, soaking in the memories I have collected my entire life, some that I even I couldn’t recall.

She stopped at my birth, and watching my mother and father hold me in the operating room. Both of my parents were smiling right at me, while I cried in their faces, not cognizant of my entry into the world. The image changed to the time I was 15, and I completed my first computer program for my class in high school. I went home with my flash drive, and showed my parents my accomplishment proudly.

My mind was then carried to my graduation day from college, where my core group of friends and classmates went to a huge get-together at the student union for a pizza party. All of us were enjoying talking about the various moments that stood out in our graduate careers. During that party was when I got a summons from the AEA about Project DESTINY. I had qualified for their program, and everyone celebrated my success.

The Princess shifted to a board meeting in the program’s conference room, where we were discussing the future manned mission to leave the Solar System. This part is where Celestia finally listened to the words being said...

“Gentlemen, I have called you in here today because DESTINY needs a couple pilots to man the spacecraft that will be our inaugural launch into the depths of our own galaxy. The one stipulation we received from the U.S. government, however, is that they must be in-house volunteers, no astronauts on the government payroll.”

One of my programmers spoke in protest. “But we don’t have anyone qualified yet to even attempt this mission! They are asking us to fail! We can’t do that!”

An engineer chimed in agreement. “Well said, Jim, this isn’t right!”

The entire assembly of engineers, programmers, developers and team leads threw a slew of protests in the manager's direction, citing every issue ranging from lack of funds for training to a wedding reception coming up for a family friend. Everyone had something to complain about; it wasn't anything new, the government short-handed us this year, and we had to make due with the resources we had. But this time, something within me spurred me to speak. I wanted things to change right there.

“I’ll go.” The world stood still in that moment. All my co-workers stopped and looked towards me in disbelief. I knew how every meeting like this went. It usually deferred to me to accomplish anything on this team. I didn’t like it one bit, nor was I perfect. There was a time when we needed to fix the code for the auto-pilot A.I. and somehow, I had swapped it out with the coffee maker.

The pilot had manned his seat on the bridge, and attempted to move the ship forward. But instead, a decaf vanilla latte began to pour behind him from the coffee dispenser. When he moved backward, a dark Columbian brew poured into another cup. It was definitely the most embarrassing moment of my time with DESTINY, by far.

But this moment was when our DESTINY was going to shine, and I would be the progenitor of its success. There wasn't anything stopping me aside from fear for my life. Space is relatively unknown to our race; we can observe it from afar, but going into that darkness is not for the faint-hearted. And I would say right then when I volunteered, I was pretty faint-hearted. Sometimes, you have to take that first step out of fear, right?

“Tom, you know what you are saying right? You’ll probably never come back!” Jim wore his concern well; there was that possibility, but, I didn’t care.

“Jim, this is an opportunity to explore parts of this universe never seen before! I’m freaking terrified, but I also feel like this is a cool thing to do. Sir, I would like to train to become the pilot.”

The project manager sighed, and gave me a confident grin. “Very well, Tom! But there is something else I didn’t mention. There will be two pilots on this mission, not just one. We had someone from the construction team volunteer as well. He designed the hydrogen conversion system on the ship. I think you know him, Tom.”

The door cracked open, and a man walked into the conference room. I turned my chair on a swivel to catch a look at who appeared. There he was, the man who was going to join me in our daring adventure in space. He stared right at me, and threw up a thumbs-up and grinned with intense joy at my presence in the room.

So, Jonah, you couldn’t wait to get out in the void, too, could you? Let’s rock and roll, my friend!