Letters
Twilight, after exhausting the limits of her imagination on what this panel with a light breeze coming out of its many holes could be used for, finally notices the addition of something new in the room. There! The circular… things, where the gate had been… Right. The gate. She glances momentarily around the room; the strange mare- still not having had any of that potion- is starting towards those circular things. So, she refocuses.
She doesn’t remember that bucket being there. She’s pretty sure the pitcher is also new- and the water she watches appear in it is definitely new.
Only, she doesn’t feel any magic happening. But wait! This tingle in her horn feels almost like a wall between her and her power. Perhaps that wall is also preventing her from feeling nearby spells? Hmm… Maybe that circle thing is a hole in that wall? She bounds over, pausing just outside the ring, and sticks her horn in.
She can feel when it crosses the barrier. On that ring, the wall isn’t as solid- it’s more like a fence. A pretty solid fence, but still a fence. She steps all the way onto it, powering her horn- which stutters a little, but smooths to a steady glow. She then focuses on what is perhaps the most important part- teleportation. Enough of her mind is still processing enough priorities to inform her she needs to verify her escape route before she continues exploring. Though, she admits, she was probably reminded by the evident teleportation of that water in. Except, simple teleportation isn’t what she’s worried about- more importantly, she’s worried about teleportation all the way back to the Castle of Friendship. That should be well within her abilities… Huh? It’s letting her spell get through- but for some reason, the Castle of Friendship is a lot further away than it ought to be.
She powers the spell anyways, though- and, four seconds later, finds herself in her throne room, completely exhausted. She rises to her hooves, glances around- and sighs. She hadn’t been able to save that strange mare- but, on second thought, that mare had seemed at home there. Perhaps that’s where she lived…? But that doesn’t explain the gateway- she wasn’t a unicorn! Unless somepony else was opening it for her… Either way, she’d opened it- and stepped through it- like she does it every day. Maybe… She locates a piece of parchment and a quill, and starts drafting a letter. It’s prohibitively difficult for her to teleport all that distance herself- but a letter is far easier. As a matter of fact, in a few minutes, she will have recovered enough to send it over! Given how everyday that mare had treated the gateway, perhaps they can meet in her castle, make friends, and use the gate to return to that… room?
She finishes her draft, strikes out a few words and sentences, rewrites some others. Then she pulls out a fresh sheet and makes a second draft. This letter will be perfect in every way, and nopony will prevent that. While she works, she drafts a letter to Princess Celestia, neglects to subject it to such studious re-review, stamps it, and sends it to Spike. She used to be amused by how it would float through the air, doors opening and closing for it, to wherever he happens to be; now, she ignores it, focused on editing her welcome letter- and invitation. She’s tempted to separate the two, or to invite Pinkie to help- but no, that wouldn’t be helpful. She’s a Princess, making it her duty to invite this foreign pony! Pinkie… She’d have to tell her. Her quill makes a mistake- but this isn’t even her second-to-final draft yet, so she corrects it instantly.
She’d have to tell Pinkie at some point, and Pinkie would throw a party. She simply can’t stop that from happening- both physically, and as a friend. Besides, Pinkie’s parties are fun- but if there’s one thing that should happen before the party, that’s getting to know the pony a bit… Enough to know what kind of party would be best, at least- no, wait! At least enough to understand the pony. To cross the language barrier. THEN a party becomes reasonable! But, should she keep the meetings secret from Pinkie Pie, or try to convince her of that…?
She spends a minute considering, rereads her latest draft, and makes her decision: Find out which one the new pony would prefer. Adding this question to the letter only takes a minute before she edits the draft, correcting mistakes, rewording sentences, paragraphs. Finally, she moves on to make her next draft.
Almost a full hour later, she finally sends the letter- took a lot more power than she’d predicted when she started- right before Spike steps in, carrying one from Princess Celestia.
“Afternoon, Spike,” she greets.
He nods. “You too, Twilight. The Princess sent a reply.” He offers her the scroll.
She nods. “Let’s hear it, then.”
He pops the seal, opens the scroll, and clears his throat. “Dear Princess Twilight,” he begins.
Two minutes later, he finishes off the letter, and Twilight’s head can be found on the Cutie Map, her forehooves above her horn. She’d told Celestia about the mystery pony and its weird home, but hadn’t connected it to the thing resting on the South Luna Ocean. Celestia had not outright declared that there was a connection, but she had suggested the possibility. Of course, the language issue is another problem- and she had touched on some of the things she’d mentioned in her letter. As is her way, Celestia had pointed out something Twilight had missed: The futility of writing a letter in the first place. If the new mare can’t speak Equestrian, she almost certainly can’t read it. Bonus, whatever unicorn was teleporting those supplies for her probably doesn’t know where to send a reply, even if they could read it!
Spike turns his head, looking at the stack of parchment next to the Cutie Map. “That the letter?”
Twilight looks at it. “Uhhh…” She teleports it- all of it- away for disposal. “No. That was the drafts.”
Spike sighs- but somepony else had just walked in behind him, in time to witness the stack.
“How many?” Rainbow asks. “Two hundred?”
“... Twelve, actually.”
“Egghead!”
She’s relaxing in a beach chair, on the roof of the Observation Deck at the back of her ship- the highest point, as a matter of fact. She might have been worried about the native teleporting herself first, instead of testing with the water- except that, unlike most technology-based teleporters, the native had the sense to wait until it had a firm grasp of the tunnel- meaning, until tuning was complete- before actually performing the jump. She should have come out the other side completely unharmed- physically, at least. She does hope, once again, that the natives’ teleportation ability isn’t nearly as deadly as her ship’s.
She takes a sip of the drink resting in her chair’s armrest, smiling out at the ocean she’d landed on. Too bad all the beach space contained inside her ship’s defensive barriers is overshadowed by the ship itself.
Either way, she’s satisfied with her ship’s repair state; her fusion plants are online once again, though the rift reactor continues to supply the ship with all her power needs. If need be, her ship is fully capable of traveling amongst the stars- even self-defense. Enough sensors are online nothing can sneak up from any angle; most of her shields are back online (though most are on standby), and she’s got at least a few of each weapon functional. She’s even recalled one of the giant Starcracker missiles; watching that reattach itself had been a fairly amusing show. All of her warp engines are working, and the second of the two main Rift Engines launched into its startup procedure just fifteen minutes ago.
She takes another sip of her hot chocolate… Hmm, it’s getting cold. She swirls it for a second, tapping the mug with her pinkie, and takes another sip- oh yes, that’s the ticket.
She smiles gently now, gazing down at the point where her ship’s shields meet the uninterrupted water. She would have picked a beach further from her ship, except she’s not entirely certain how the local rift fields would react to her presence- or vice versa. She’d figured out why the rift reactor works here; the Rift Wall, normally sturdy enough a rift engine is required to pierce it, is thin here. Rift energy seems to seep through it, encapsulating the entire planet in a cloud of energy. Normally, this gradual seep would build up to unmanageable levels and, after about five hundred years, result in the planet’s destruction. However, it would seem that problem was solved.
Another sip of her drink- and now, the cup’s getting pretty close to empty. A tap on the tablet control panel next to her other hand, though, orders an instant refill through the transporters.
Whenever rift energy crosses the barrier into N-space, it simply must be tuned, else it will instantly disappear, scattering across the universe. As such, whenever these seeps occur, the energy tunes itself. The particular tuning it does is unique to the location; it is extremely rare for the collected energy to be harmless.
Thus, of course, this world is a one-of-a-kind, as far as she’s aware of. Not only is the seeping energy tuned in such a manner as to be harmless, but it appears to magnify the speed at which the locals heal- making it beneficial. Bonus, the natives have found their own solution to the oversaturation problem. It would seem that they- sentients and monsters alike- have adapted some manner of rift energy manipulation. Most of them seem only to use it for self-healing, but she’s seen some weaponize it- and those sentient ones seem to be the most advanced, what with that teleportation ability. What’s more, whenever they use it, the particular energy they use is, once it completes its task, vented back into rift space- exactly what her ship is doing.
A beep from the tablet draws her attention, and she lifts it up as she takes another sip… Cold again. Another swirl and another tap of her pinkie finger fixes that for this cup, while a couple touches on her tablet’s sidebar fixes it for future cups.
Finally, she reviews the alert that had come through. It’s a fairly standard inbound teleport penetration notice, on the pad; if it were elsewhere, the internal defences might have kicked in. A tap shows a camera view of the arrival… A stack of pages, but no natives. Interesting. Another sip, and she puts the cup down for a minute, passing orders to her ship. Each page is to be scanned on both sides, and analyzed for written language; once this is done, the pages are to be stowed in a dry stasis capsule. They might be important, after all.
Orders passed, she sets the tablet down and returns to her drink… Cold again. More swirling, more tapping. She’s very specific about what temperature she likes it.
A half cup later, the pling comes again- but it’s a different tone, indicating a task complete. She raises the tablet, lifts an eyebrow, and sets her mug down, after another sip. She strikes a few controls before she stands up, leaping off the edge as her chair, drink, and tablet are teleported back inside.
It’s the morning after Twilight sent her letter, she’s waiting in the throne room. They’d planned to meet here again today, to discuss the next step of their investigation. And, by the sound of it, they’re getting here. She opens the door for them.
Rainbow is first in the door, with Applejack and Pinkie right behind her. “Hey Twi-!”
All four- now six- ponies in the room freeze. The air is glowing, right in front of Rainbow- and right where Twilight had arrived the previous day, after her strange adventure. It doesn’t glow for long.
In a momentary blaze of light, a thick book appears in midair, dropping solidly to the floor. Rainbow looks down at it. “What-?” she asks, cutting off as she stares at it.
Rarity, at the wrong angle to read the title, instead comments on the ribbon tying it shut. “That’s a beautiful ribbon,” she smiles. “Where’d you get that?”
Twilight hops off her throne, trotting towards them as Rainbow mouths something.
“What?” Applejack asks, also at the wrong angle. “Is it a new Daring Do novel?”
Rainbow shakes her head, recovering. “Nah, just the egghead got an egghead’s letter.”
“Oh?” Pinkie asks, bouncing up and down. “Somepony sent her a book? What’s it called?”
Rainbow looks back up at Twilight, and down at the book, where she reads the cover directly.
“A Letter to one Twilight Sparkle, from Aria Vioda, Starship Athena, Commanding.” She looks back up at a now open-mouthed Twilight. “Who…?”
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There are a few with watermarks, but you can probably use the visit site option to find one without, or search on similar (drag the image into the Google Images search bar). I saw a few that would work really well, though.
I suggest downloading the image (view in new tab, then save as) and storing it somewhere safe (Photobucket tends to remove access, so not there) if actually using it as an illustration. I see a lot of them that are saved in cdn.fimfiction, so there's got to be some way to upload them here.
Have a (not so) new song I found!