What we Believed to be Gone

by IGIBAB

Part 6

The unicorn without a name woke up a few minutes after. When she looked around, she realized.

"I'm in the ship...?"

She stood up and went to one of the windows. The planet was gone. She was simply drifting through space, although the landing gear was still deployed.

And she was alone.

She immediately took her radio, turned it back on.

"Schim? Schim!"

"What the...?" the radio answered.

But that wasn't Schim. That voice was...

"Explorer twelve?" Control asked, surprised. "I thought the communication would only come back in an hour or so."

"I don't care about that! Schim, answer me!"

But no one else answered. The radio stayed silent, until Control asked:

"What happened...?"

The mare didn't reply. She looked around, in the ship, everywhere. Her friend was nowhere to be found. She had just vanished.

"We are receiving strange data from your sensors," Control added with uncertainty. "It looks like the planet is gone...?"

"Schim's gone! Holy-"

She was cut by an indicator bell going off. The alarm for a life form in the airlock. The unicorn didn't hesitate one moment and rushed to the doors, looking through the windows. She almost fainted when she thought she was seeing a worm. But it wasn't. It was gray. A filament.

She opened the airlock, fearing what it might be. The doors moved and she was faced with it. It was looking at her. Silence fell.

"Schim...?"

The filament nodded, before it slowly made its way towards her.

"I told you I would be back," it said in a pulse, sounding like she was almost smiling.

"You-" the unicorn began, furious.

"I did what I had to do," Schim cut.

"You used soul magic!?"

"And Harmony. To save us all. I thought I could just vanish but then, I realized that it's one of the mistakes Twilight Sparkle made. She left her friends alone. Even the elements. She saved them, but she did not save herself. So, here I am. Here, and there."

"There? What do you mean there!? And what happened to the rest of you!? How did you even use soul magic!?"

The unicorn heard a giggle from the filament, before it replied:

"It's a long story. But I'm in a place where the worms won't harm anyone anymore. Don't worry."

"You're with them!?"

The filament felt silent for a moment.

"Schim...?"

"Yes," she replied, clearly smiling mischievously in her tone. "I'm with them, in a way. But they can't harm me."

"Well, where are you then? I'll look for you!"

"You can't really..."

"Bet."

"Explorer twelve?" Control suddenly cut, as it was only hearing the unicorn's side of the conversation through her radio. "What is happening?"

"... Long story."

---

Schim looked up in the sky. That planet really seemed almost as big as the moon from here. The crater was so recognizable.

She was sitting in a grassy field, under a nice wind and a blue sky. She heard birds chip in the distance, with songs she had never heard before. She took a deep breath.

"That was a nice idea."

She looked at the filly right next to her. Lily was smiling, looking at her with pride.

"How did you get it?" she asked.

"Well," Schim began. "It's all thanks to you three. Loyalty, Honesty and Magic. You all looked like you were safe, in some way. And you told me Twilight had calibrated the elements to preserve you. The trial of Loyalty showed me this place. So, I figured it might exist. Inside the elements themselves. With you all."

"But bringing the worms with you?" Lily asked.

"There is so much good in this world. The elements are a manifestation of that, I understood it thanks to Twilight's memory. So, my guess is, that world wouldn't get corrupted by them. Looks like I was right."

Lily looked around, still smiling. She saw colts playing, mares discussing, and other creatures that looked nothing like the ones on Weil.

"You even saved all of those they had eaten away..." the small unicorn congratulated.

"Yes, but..."

Schim looked around, still waiting for a silhouette to show up. Lily lost her smile and cut her, sorry:

"She's not here."

Schim's ears flopped down.

"I had hoped that... That some part of her would be here."

Lily looked around again, then suddenly had an idea.

"Hey," she said, attracting the pegasus' attention. She nodded upwards. "Maybe she's up there. That thing, it's her cutie mark after all."

"You think so?" Schim asked, suddenly feeling a bit of hope.

"I don't know, I just wonder why she printed her whole butt-mark on a planet. Unless it was to make sure people would remember her."

The "butt-mark" thing caught Schim a bit off guard, but it's true that this eight years old filly had been eight years old for eons. She looked up at the planet, wondering. On her side, Lily suddenly noticed someone with surprise.

"I'm going to take a look..." Schim murmured.

"Have fun," Lily wished, before running back towards a stallion. "Dad!"

Schim smiled, but didn't look away from the planet. She stood up, spread her wings, and took off. She wanted to meet that mare now, more than ever. She had a thousand questions for her.

She flew up, looking at the crater. She could see the shape of a long worm, laying in a circle calmly. And the purple crystal in its center.

Author's Note:

Let it be known that I rushed the last 4k words in a night and I haven't done that in... a long time. It's also the first time that I'm leaving so much up to interpretation on purpose, despite my desire to always explain everything.
Thanks for reading.

Comments

[Darkness-Dreamt]

i dont know how commenting works i just want u to know this made me feel things

[IGIBAB]

11902979
Thank you very much

[Raugos]

Poor Twilight.

[IGIBAB]

11907861
She met a terrible fate...

[The Hat Man]

Hello there, fellow contestant! Here's my review of this story:

This has a really good introduction. The initial setup is solidly intriguing and draws the reader into the mystery. It draws on some great sci-fi/horror tropes. And the premise of unleashing a great ancient evil and preventing it from spreading is great.

However, the story goes off the rails in the second half and starts turning into more of an action movie, with Donker spouting one-liners while Schim actually carries the plot. And on that point, who are these other characters representing the elements? Why not Twilight's actual friends? And once Schim begins to acquire the elements, it feels a bit by the numbers, so interspersing it with Donker's bits slows down the pacing even more. Fortunately, it has a decent conclusion which claws things back a bit in an interesting way.

While the story has its flaws, the story's strengths, especially in the beginning, set up a lot of momentum and interest for the piece, and it makes for a solid space/survival horror adventure overall.

[IGIBAB]

11926973
Thank you for your comment.
The tone shift wasn't completely unintentionnal, but is also probably due to the fact I had to rush a third of the story and me not being used to writing horror. But I also felt like not going for a grim end like I would do for that kind of story. I wanted to tell the story of Twilight's failure, of an evil that must be stopped quickly. And quickly means more action. I can envision a version of this story where I took my time, having a slower antagonist that progressively overwhelms the heroes, but it wouldn't fit the word limit or the time limit. Still nice to think about what could have been tho, thank you. I think the oneliners are to blame on my poor dialogues solely, though.
And as for who are those other characters, well, that's my fault for not clarifying things. I have a headcanon that I use so often that I forget not everyone has the same. Since Twilight is immortal, she outlives her friends and seeks to replace the elements every generation. I felt like the Twilight from the show would not have the mindset to sacrifice her own soul or her friends, even for the "greater good". But a Twilight a few hundred years older, who knows.
I was planning on releasing the story of what happened the day Twilight fought this foe after the contest results are in. Maybe it'll bring some answers.

Either way, thank you again.