//------------------------------//
// To Infinity and Beyond 
// Story: Wings 
// by Silent Bob 
//------------------------------//


To Infinity and Beyond




I wept for a good few minutes after that. Yes, I know I had only known her for about six hours but... she was literally the first real friend I've ever had. I'm not sure if that makes me crazy or what, but I don't care. After that, I began to mope around the house, sleep, like it is now, eluding me. I didn't want to concern my parents none, so I kept a straight face round em', though my ma, her naturally being keen to detail, seemed to notice a change in my attitude. She asked what's wrong, and I told her that Rainbow Dash had to go. I'm still not sure why she didn't think I was crazy for mopin' about a supposedly 'imaginary friend' disappearing, but I guess she just blamed it on my overactive imagination. She told me that it's normal for friends to have to go eventually, and that she'll probably be back tomorrow.

Then it hit me. If Rainbow had come to me today when she went asleep by wishin' to see me, maybe it could work again the next time she... oh lord forgive me for the pun... hit the hay. 

Or maybe it could even work in the reverse direction. The tales she had told me of her homeland had intruiged me. An entire nation, or world, I wasn't quite sure, populated by ponies, ruled by ponies, and cared for by ponies. Maybe I'd be able to see it? At that thought, my mood took a one-eighty and I decided to try my hand at sleeping.

It was best idea I've ever had. That night I would see it all in more ways than one.



Tom lay in his bed and counted sheep. It wasn't an easy task trying to sleep with the carrot that was the prospect of seeing Rainbow complete with her homeland dangling in front of him. He was beginning to think it might actually have happened easier if he was sad and not excited. However, after an hour and a warm glass of milk later, he eventually began to snooze. He nodded off once, woke up at a thought, and then nodded off again, and this time it was a little more lasting.

However, after an hour or so he guessed of sleeping, he woke up with a startle, though he soon realized he wasn't awake at all. An odd, bright beam of light was shining threw his ceiling somehow and encasing him within it. He then began to float upwards. Now he had had dreams where he was flying before but it wasn't usually like this. Still though, he wasn't startled at it for some reason. Instead, he felt nothing but neutrality, even when he floated through the ceiling as if he were a ghost.

At that, he began ripping through the sky, his house, barn, and cornfields soon becoming nothing but distant specks after a moment. The beam of light seemed to be of an infinite length, it shining further then he could see into the darkness of space. 

And still, despite the fact he had never had a dream like this before, he didn't feel frightened. 

He began to fly away from Earth, him now on an intercept path with the moon that had kept him company through so many nights, the beam extending to its surface and disappearing. It didn't matter though, if he went right through his ceiling unharmed then the moon was probably the same deal. He then began to descend to its surface, and there he was beginning to realize that it was not made of cheese. He flew the sphere, and was somehow able to see inside of what he thought would be a dark interior. He flew through its outer rocky layers, its inner dense minerals, and finally an icy core. 

Apparently, the moon wasn't hollow as one of his books proclaimed.

He then flew out of the other side and into the darkness of space. Mars came into view in the distance, first a small white speck that gradually turned red before finally growing in size. Naturally, that one piece by Holst was playing through his head at the time. He ripped through its upper atmosphere and descended towards its surface, apparantely on a projectile path that would take him close to it but not crash into it like the moon. He half-expected to see his imagination's version of the War of  the Worlds tripods on its surface with a number of strange, evil aliens about them, but alas, there was nothing but barren red rock and dust. Mars, at least according to his mind, was a totally empty place. 

Not that he was sad about that, though. The War of the Worlds aliens were bastards anyway.

He then flew out of its atmosphere and towards the edge of the Solar System. He sailed through a large disk of small, icy objects on its edge, apparently something science had never reported before, (or at least nothing he had heard about in any of his books or classes before), before beholding the emptiness of interstellar space.

The beam continued to shine far into the cosmos.

The sun became a speck of light in the distance, and it was soon joined by more specks of light. They soon formed together into a massive, shining disk of millions of them with great spiral arms that licked out into space hanging off of it,. In all its glory, it was the Milky Way. However, after a time that too became nothing but a dot, a dot among many other dots but a dot nonetheless. 

He continued to fly deep into the universe, eventually growing so far that even the specks of light that were galaxies in the distance faded into nothingness. Still, he only felt a mild apprehension at this, not fear. He had once had a dream where his mother turned into some sort of squid-monster that tried to eat him, after all. This one at least seemed to be grounded in reality.... well, sort of.

Maybe that wasn't the best way to describe it.

Eventually, he spotted something in the vast expanses of nothingness, the beam taking him right to it. It seemed to be two, massive double doors of gray with strange symbols upon it, dwarfing him many times. It was a gate, and as soon as he grew close enough it opened for him. Inside, he saw rolling planes of green and a distant blue skies hanging over them. Was this Equestria?

He grinned in anticipation as he entered this strange, new world. A little visit wouldn't be anything, anyway. He would only be here until he woke up. He flew over said brilliant, shimmering green fields as well  as massive blue mountains, his mouth gaping open in awe at the sights. The whole world just seemed to have so much more color then his own. Eventually, he approached a large city, it hanging somewhat perilously off the side of a mountain and composed of a number of old-style buildings. In the center of it was a large, extravagant castle with brilliant towers that challenged the heavens. Was this where Rainbow Dash lived? 

He supposed he would find out soon, as the beam of light, now much less visible, was taking him right through the city. There, he got his confirmation that he was where he wanted to be, his eyes widening at the sight. Down below in the city's busy streets were ponies. Oh so many ponies. However, many seemed to be much different from Rainbow Dash. Some had horns instead of wings, and some had neither. Apparently there were more than just pegasi living in this distant land. Also, many seemed to actually be wearing clothes. The clothes were all fancy-like like the ones he had seen on his trip to Montgomery, and some of the horned ponies actually seemed to be wearing monocols. 

There were unicorns wearing monocols.

If he wasn't so sure this place was real he would have liked to get his head checked after waking up.

There were a multitude of buildings of sort of the same style he had back on Earth. Many sported shop-signs, ones he could read surprisingly, though it made sense that if Rainbow Dash and him spoke the same language then he could probably read its writing as well. The shops seemed to be the same kind you'd find on Earth, except ponified. Instead of shoe shops there were horse-shoe shops, and instead of hair salons and barbershops you'd find mane-care stores. In addition, he saw something labeled 'Starswirl Spellbook Emporium.'

Spellbooks? Were there witches living in Equestria or something? 

He shivered at the thought. 

Eventually, the castle came into plain view once again, and he sailed right through its outer walls and into what he guessed was some sort of throne. It was an extravagant place, with a large red carpet stretching from two ornate doors all the way to a massive throne (one that strangely enough seemed to be fit for a human, not a pony.) Upon it sat a larger pony that what he had seen before, who had the distinct feature of sporting both wings and a horn. This must have been the immortal princess who Rainbow had spoken of.

Though he couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, she seemed to be in a heated conversation with another pony who stood before her, both struggling to keep their tones in what he guessed was a normally calm and practiced demeanor. The other pony sported a short mane of the same color as his fur, brown, and a strange marking upon his flank, one looking of an hour glass. Unfortunately, he only caught a brief glimpse of this before he flew through another series of walls, out of the castle, and out of the city. 

He flew over massive forests and farmlands before eventually sailing over a somewhat large town with a somewhat bell-shaped building in its center he supposed was their town hall. He swooped low over it, spotting a significantly higher number of the non-winged and non-horned ponies here than in their capital city. However, he only had a brief amount of time to gaze upon this place. He gazed upon where the beam of light was taking him, and it appeared to be a large city made entirely out of clouds that bore a somewhat Greek style architecture. It was extravagant and massive, obviously reflecting a culture of a long and expansive history.

And it was beautiful.

He ripped through the skies towards it, feeling no wind against him. Apparently, he was as hollow as Rainbow Dash was on his own planet. It was the reason no ponies had gazed upon his flying figure before. That didn't matter, he would be satisfied with only one pony being able to see him.

And then it struck him.

"Your house is really weird. Nothing is made of clouds and there are these weird thingies everywhere..."

Made of clouds....

His eyes widened. So this was Dashie's home.

Giddy with excitement, he wished the beam would carry him faster, and so it did. His eyes widened in surprise as his progress sped up by at least a factor of three. He entered cloud city and immediately had his confirmation that this was where his new friend actually spent her days. There were winged ponies everywhere, and the adult ones and some of the fillies were even flying with them.

First monocol-sporting ponies, now flying ponies. This was getting kind of weird. 

And he freakin' loved it.

The city didn't seem to be that much different from the capital, though there were a few additional shops here including a place that sold potions that a sign on the front proclaimed 'will increase your wing-strength to a Wonderbolt level.' He raised an eyebrow. What in the world was a Wonderbolt? And potions? Were there witches here as well? Apparantely, they seemed to be accepted into this society as well. With that, he struggled to fight against the idea that ponies were in league with Satan, eventually shoving the idea to the back of his mind. There was no way in heck that was true. 

In addition to the weird shops, he saw something labeled 'Kingdom of Gryphonia Embassy.' He had heard of gryphons before, them being of Greek mythology. Apparantely, Equestria was just one nation it seemed. He wondered how many other nations were out there, as well as other mythological creatures. At this point, he was beginning to have trouble taking everything in. Not only were there talking ponies, but talking gryphons as well? Was this whole world created by the mind of some Greek scholar? It was insane....

He then began to think. Was it possible that the connection had had with Rainbow Dash wasn't the only one that ever existed? Was it possible that in the past other connections were made that eventually led to stories of mythological creatures on Earth?

The implications of this were astronomical. 

Still though, he wasn't here to study pony culture like some sort of scientist. He was here for one thing and one thing only, and he supposed that something was within a large house made of clouds that he was heading right towards.