//------------------------------//
// Chapter 28 
// Story: Hegira: Rising Omega 
// by Guardian_Gryphon 
//------------------------------//

Earth Calendar: 2117
Equestrian Calendar: 15 AC (After Contact)
December 14th, Gregorian Calendar

Hutch

"Why am I so nervous?  This will be a cinch, right?  Nothing to it."

Fyrenn smirked at me.  Smirked outright, as he tightened down my borrowed ceremonial sash;  Someone in the JRSF, another Gryphon, had one in my size, and had graciously lent it on short notice.  

Fyrenn had, somewhere in between all his meetings, and letter writing, and sneaking about with Skye, managed to make time to borrow all the awards, service ribbons, and various decorations that I would have had if I still held an active commission.

Once upon a time, I'd've cried 'sacrilege!' at the idea of a discharged officer wearing a formal dress uniform.  Boy how the times had changed.

How *I* had changed.

Fyrenn's smirk changed to a warmer smile as he stepped back to admire his work.  I moved my eyes from his, to the mirror that made up one of the only three pieces of furniture in the ante-chamber.

As Fyrenn spoke, I was hit with the strangest sense of both familiarity, and unreality, seeing myself reflected there in reds, browns, and grays, decked out in a Gryphon's JRSF duty armor, and a formal dress sash that weighed almost five pounds with all the adornments.

"It isn't nerves, exactly.  What you're feeling is *anticipation.*  This is something both of you have wanted for years;  And now here you are.  About to start the first day of the rest of your life...  Together.  Everything is going to change for you;  More than it already has, if you can believe it.  And you're gonna love every second of that new reality, because she loves you so much, and you love her right back."

I titled my head, and cocked a wry grin, contemplating my reflection for a few moments longer before I rose from my haunches, and got my thoughts into something resembling logical order.

"Ya know something?  You've gotten a whole lot more sentimental, and emotionally intelligent since you became a father.  It's a good look on you."

He snorted good naturedly, and shook his head.  I reached out, seized by a sudden impulse, and grabbed him in a hug with both wings, and forelegs.  After a moment, he got over his surprise, and responded in kind as I spoke into his ear from my position, resting my head on his right shoulder.

"Thank you.  For everything.  For being a stubborn bastard about seeing into that crate.  For not giving up, countless times, when everyone else was stumped, or had their hands tied.  For always doing what you felt was the right thing, even when we gave you hell for it...  But most especially...  For being family.  For making the choice to invite us into your family."

He squeezed my shoulders with his claws, and pulled back slightly to offer me another smile with his words.  I could feel the warmth down in my bones, coming from his smile, and his tone.  God...  How had I lived so long, feeling so alone, before this?  Before Aston, and Fyrenn, and Neyla, and the rest of 'em...  

How had I even survived?

"Thank *you* for giving in, and bending the rules when it mattered.  And for not decking my jaw.  And for being there with me when I did things that frightened everyone...  And for making the choice to let all the rest of us into your heart.  I'm so happy, and honored, to be here beside you for this."

He stepped back and glanced at the entry door to the conference room, the smirk returning in full to both beak, and voice.

"Speaking of which...  I do believe It is part of my responsibility as best man, to get you to the church on-time."





Aston

"Promise me you are going to stay with us."

Alyra's words were like an electric shock, as if someone had stuck the end of my tail into an open power outlet.

I'd more or less made up my mind fairly early on;  We'd be fools to turn down Fyrenn's invitation.  For all my frustrations with some of the decisions he had made, I could not fault his character, nor his excellence as a soldier.

And my new husband-to-be loved him like a son.  

I'd sooner pluck out all the feathers on my head than drive a wedge into that relationship.  

To say nothing of how much I'd grown to love the growing little fur and feather-ball that was carefully pinning awards and emblems to my sash.

And was now piercing me with the kind of begging, longing, wide-eyed expression all children, and young adults, somehow seemed to know how to make instinctively.

I waited until Alyra had finished with the last service ribbon, then reached out with both claws and pulled her close to my chest.  It felt good to say aloud what I'd been thinking about all day, but been too busy to really discuss with anyone.

"Would I ask you to be my maid of honor, and then say no to that?  Of course we are going to stay with you.  Someday if you ever take a shine to a special someone of your own, I want to be there to stand beside you.  And if not?  I still want to be there to make sure your father doesn't keep you out of too much trouble."

She giggled, and pressed her head into the feathers of my chest, before pulling away, and straightening my sash one last time, slowly, almost absently.

"You know...  Sonya and I used to talk about all the things we wanted to do...  After we escaped to  Equestria...  It was never easy to think about all those good things that seemed so far away.  But I knew we had to have something to hope for...  So I kept pushing.  Kept making her talk about it.  She always used to say she wanted us to be in somebody's wedding.  We didn't even care who...  Just to be there.  To be a part of  it.  To see that kind of love, and know that it was real..."

Alyra smiled, and my heart just about broke inside my rib cage.  In that moment she looked older than me.  Sounded older.  Wise.  Weary.  Sad.  But grateful too.  And joyful.  An aching mix of wishing for what could have been, but also being so glad for what already was.

I wrapped my left wing around her and pulled her to my side, staring at our twin reflections in the mirror that someone had thoughtfully provided to the otherwise sparse entry antechamber.

Motherhood was not something that had been on my radar.  Not for a decade or more.  Career was my love, and my life, until I'd met Hutch.  And even then, I don't think I could've ever reached a point where I knew him so well, and loved him so much, if we hadn't been able to bond over that shared part of our lives.

The one time I'd actually seriously considered the idea, before the barrier, before Equestria, before any of it...  My conclusion had been that there were already too many starving mouths on the planet.  Adding another one...  Bringing another life into the world, and having to raise that bright eyed wondrous creature on the truth...?  That they would inherit a dying rock, and have at best a half chance of seeing the Human species get better, rather than worse, in their lifetime?

'Anti-natalist traitor.'  'Good for nothing bitch.'  That's what my mother had called me.  It was one of the last things she'd said to me.  Before she died.

The irony of the woman who birthed me, chewing me out at age twelve over my decision to one day be sterilized, as she died of a rare mutated cancer that even nano-tech treatments couldn't hold off.  A byproduct of the strange gray hell we'd all been born into;  Too little real sunlight, too much synthetic food.  Too many industrial pollutants in the water.  

One small sequence that would have been caught, and treated in-utero, if her own mother had just bothered to get tested when she got pregnant.

My mother hadn't gotten tested either.  I suppose I was lucky to have avoided the same fate;  The defect had a one in three chance of passing on matrilineally.

I suppose the risk of genetic disease didn't matter now.  Neither did my sterilization, for that matter.  Conversion had stripped both away.  Reforged my body completely.  Nothing left physically of the old.

I sighed, and reached down with my beak to preen a small part of Alyra's crest that had gotten out of sorts when she pressed her head to my chest.

Equestria didn't change the calculus, and neither did my new body;  There were still too many hungry mouths in the worlds to consider bringing a new one into them, in my book.

But that didn't mean that I couldn't be a mother.  

Neyla was a mother now, and Alyra had once been one of those starving mouths, abandoned in the street...  I'd never considered adoption before.  Not because it didn't appeal to me;  I felt the concept was noble, and right, and beautiful...

More because I'd always been a soldier.  

In Human society, it was hard to be a soldier, and a mother.

Sorven did it, somehow...  But it had clearly been hard on her, and her sons.

But for Gryphons?

For Gryphons it was different.  Neyla had told me a lot about the way their society worked on and off over the years.  Gryphons placed utmost value on people, and on life.  To them, time and money were just tools.

Where Humans would often have so little leeway, or grace, Gryphons didn't bat an eye at the idea of going to almost any lengths to ensure their people didn't just exist, but that they lived, vibrantly and happily.

It was one of the things we seemed to share much in common with the Ponies;  At the end of the day, money, and time, and goals, and deadlines, were all tertiary to people.

In that kind of world?  I could see myself as a mother.

Something I would have plenty of time to talk to Hutch about.

If we survived the war.

And if we didn't?

I shoved the thought to the side, and mustered a warm smile.  If we died, we would die together, happy, and fulfilled.  A better ending than most could hope for.

With a sigh, I released Alyra from my wing, and gestured towards the door.

"I think it's time."





Martins

From the youngest age, I knew I wanted a career that would take me to the stars.  It had come in a roundabout way, through science, politics, and then finally a strange mix of the two...  But one day soon, if things fell out just right, I would get to live out my wildest dreams.

Never in the wildest of those wild imagings had I ever thought that one of the happier mileposts on that road to the stars would be 'officiant of a wedding between two Gryphons,' where one of them was a former jarhead turned dear friend, and the other was nearer to a sister to me than not.

The collision of worlds had brought a lot of strange things into everyones' lives, for good, and for ill.  This was most definitely one of the better gifts it had given, as far as I was concerned.

So there I stood in one of my semi-formal suits;  A steel bowl full of burning coals atop a chest-high stand in front of me, an enormous blue Dragon behind me, a Unicorn to one side, a Gryphoness to the other, and not another soul in the room.  

Hutch and Aston had insisted that the ceremony be quick, small, and intimate.

Taranis and Skye were the remainder of the groom and bridal parties respectively, Neyla would help to handle the more Gryphon-specific required aspects of the ceremony, I would otherwise officiate, and Fyrenn and Alyra would act as best man and maid of honor.

In many ways it was a heart-warming sight;  So many different kinds, backgrounds, and outlooks, even in that small group, all joined together in celebration.  It struck me that for all the worries I had about the balance of species numbers in Genesis, that if this was the kind of thing that diversity would bring for our future, then it was something well worth having.

I'd been told beforehand only what Hutch and Aston wanted me to say by way of some hastily written formal speechcraft that was apparently equal parts Gryphon and Human in its inspirations, and that besides the need for the burning coals in the brazier, that Neyla would be singing, and that Skye needed a small length of rope.

It still shocked my socks off when Neyla opened her beak, and began a wordless lilting polyphonic chorus of notes that filled the room the way an acapella orchestra of five or six Humans might have.

I kept forgetting how amazing a syrinx was as a musical tool.  For a moment I was completely lost in the tune as she sang in multi-part harmony with herself, something that sounded equal parts slow triumphant march, and sweet comforting lullaby.

The doors to both antechambers opened, and Hutch and Aston approached the stage, both beaming, each escorted by their chosen companion.

They were each led to an opposite side of the brazier, both rising to their hind legs, as Fyrenn raised Hutch's right claw, and Alyra raised Aston's.

With a huge smile, Skye trotted forward, and lifted the small length of synthetic twine rope in her magical field, deftly tying it off to both right wrists, leaving Hutch and Aston bound together with a couple of feet of leeway.

Fyrenn and Alyra stepped back, and with a nod from Neyla, I stepped forward, steeling myself and drawing on years of practice to speak words I'd had very little time to memorize, both correctly, and in a way that would not sound rote, or mechanical.

"My dear friends;  You are here today to take part in a joining of two souls in bonds of love, and family.  One and all, we share in the elation, and the peace, and the fulfillment, of hearts knit together by unbreakable bonds.  In fury of battle, and in tranquility of rest.  In happiness, and sadness.  Through the mundane, and the extraordinary.  In throes of illness, or strength of wellness.  In life, and in death;  Will you each vow to guard, uplift, enliven, enrich, embolden, and empower each other, in love, forevermore?"

Their answer came in unison, as much with warmth, and peace, as with an edge of surety.

"We will."

They opened their bound right claws, and placed them side by side over the fire, the two claws forming half each of a bowl shape.  Neyla stepped forward beside me, and extended an index talon.  I braced myself, and continued speaking.

I didn't like to see wounds inflicted intentionally, but I understood both the ceremonial meaning, and the biological necessity.

"Then with the sharing of blood, and the heat of sacred fire, pledge your love to one another, nevermore to be severed by any force, on Earth, or beyond, from heights of Heaven, or from depths of Hell."

Neyla offered her friends a wide comforting smile, and then somehow gently, but forcefully, made a precision slit in the palms of each proffered claw, deep enough to draw significant amounts of golden-red blood to the surface of the scaly outer covering.

She then reached into the fire with the tips of her talons, extracted a red hot coal, and deposited it into their waiting bleeding palms.

The pair clasped their right claws together, hard, mixing blood from both wounds freely, the excess dripping down to sizzle in the remainder of the coals below.  

After a moment, eyes locked, smiling broadly at each other with expressions that seemed to radiate light all on their own, they plunged their clasped claws fully into the fire.

To their mutual credit, neither of them so much as winced.  Intellectually I understood that while the maneuver was mildly painful, it was not nearly as painful as it would have been for Human hands.

The heat of the fire burned away the twine bond around their claws within moments, and after another heartbeat, they leaned forward and shared a long kiss overtop the flames.  I felt like the moment would go on forever, my stomach churning at the thought of the heat on their claws and forelegs.

Then all at once they raised their claws free of the fire, dropping the coal they had clasped between them, and then tightening their grip as they raised their clasped digits to the sky.

I winced, but managed to remember to clap as the sound of Equine whinnying, Draconic roaring, and Eagle-like keening assailed my poor Human hearing from before and behind, as everyone joined the newly mated pair in celebratory natural noise making.

And just like that, it was over, and my ears and stomach were very, very grateful.  

There was a great deal of hugging, into which I found myself begrudgingly, but happily enfolded, more than once.  There were some tears as well.  Mostly not mine.  Mostly.

And then almost as quickly as it had begun, the ceremony became a tearful goodbye.

I think most of us understood that it was likely to be the last time I crossed paths with anyone else in the room.

Fyrenn had all but said his goodbyes before, so he choked back his tears admirably, said one last word of heartfelt thanks for my role in his Conversion, a promise to send all the help from the Kingdoms for Genesis that he could, should the war go in our favor, and then excused himself;  I guessed to avoid becoming overcome entirely with emotion.

Neyla likewise offered my thanks, a quick peck on the cheek, a hug, and then waited while Alyra did the same, before they both departed to go with Fyrenn.

Skye proffered me a hoof, which I bumped with clenched fist.  And then, grabbed by a moment of my own emotion, I knelt, and placed a small kiss on her forehead.  She smiled forlorn up at me, and pressed her head briefly into the crook of my shoulder, before departing wordlessly.

Taranis knelt to shake my hand with one of his enormous claws, and then offered a quick snap of a salute, and an almost monotone thanks, that still felt deeply genuine and emotional, before lumbering away.

At last, I was alone with just Hutch and Aston, each seated before me in their splendid armor and sashes, both doing a poor job of keeping their own tears in check.

After a moment of amicable silence, I leaned forward and embraced Aston.  We who had, in many ways, shared a mother for many years.  There had been a short time where we'd been inseparable, like sisters ourselves, before we grew apart.

"I'm glad we got the chance to be sisters again, for a little while."

She clutched my shoulders tighter as I murmured the words in her ear, and pressed the side of her head into mine as she replied.

"So am I Janet.  So am I."

We held the embrace for several more tearful moments, before I pulled away, and straightened the hem of my jacket, sniffing to clear my sinuses of emotional blockage.

I turned to Hutch, and first offered him a hand to shake, but ended up in another close embrace in spite of myself.

"You know, Martins...  If you're the future of Humanity's politics?  Out there in the black?  I think we're gonna be ok."

As we pulled away from the hug, he smiled, and clapped me on the shoulder.

"Thank you.  For everything."

I inclined my head, inhaling deeply to steady my voice before speaking.

"And thank you.  If what we've experienced together is the future, for all of us?"

I glanced back over my shoulder at the burning coals, and smiled as I finished the thought.

"...Then I think we're all going to be far better than 'ok.' "





Celestia

Fyrenn said he wanted to call them 'Shrikes.'  

Though it was the name of a kind of song bird, I wished he had picked a less aggressive songbird after which to name such a beautiful craft, that I hoped would see more use as a vehicle of exploration and peace, than of war, or even defense.

I had suggested perhaps 'Wren,' in an amusing twist of glad irony.

But no, he had insisted, and it seemed to have stuck like glue;  Shrike it was.

Councilor Martins had graciously offered the use of three of the vehicles for a 'sub-orbital atmospheric skip flight,' to get us back to the Durham crossover point, so that we could be there as swiftly as possible.

One vessel for myself, a single guardspony, Fyrenn, Neyla, Alyra, and Skye.  Another for Hutch, Aston, and Taranis, with barely an inch leftover to breathe between them.  And a final one for two other Gryphons, and their adoptive Pegasus foal, as well as the remainder of my guard contingent, despite their protestations.

Once again, Fyrenn seemed to have pulled an unconventional group of creatures into his orbit, as if by magnetic attraction.  I'd learned that the once orphaned foal, and the male Gryphon, were converts, while the female was a native.  Striking commonalities to Fyrenn, Neyla, and Alyra.

I smiled as I watched them exchange a few final words before boarding;  Every time I saw lines of species, and origin, and culture being crossed for friendship's sake, it felt as if a small piece of the void of worry, fear, and sadness inside me was filled in.

As I cinched down a set of Equine-specific straps, planting my legs firmly between upright deployable pads made specifically to be the Pony equivalent of an acceleration chair, I could not shake a new, and tremendously disquieting feeling.

An overwhelming sense that this would be the very last time I stood in a Human vehicle.

That it was the very last time I would bid farewell to planet Earth.

I kept silent, churning over the thoughts in my head, and my heart, as Fyrenn, Neyla, Alyra, and Skye talked softly amongst themselves about the wedding they had just attended.  I had been invited, but been forced to decline;  The medical examinations had been seemingly interminable, but they were deemed necessary before allowing me to depart on a high-relative-G trip.

And I hadn't wanted to overshadow Hutchinson and Aston's moment.

I knew that, above all, they had wanted a quiet ceremony.  Though I was their friend, I certainly did not rise to the level of 'family' for them, and that was not something that bothered nor offended me.

If I had my way, I would get another chance to see a Gryphon wedding, soon enough.  I'd just need to play the hoof I'd been dealt very carefully, and tactfully.

As the Shrike passed out of what the Humans called 'Max-Q' and the intense acceleration of launch and initial flight phase gave way to a few moments of less intense high upper atmosphere cruising, Neyla leaned over and began to preen some of Alyra's crest feathers that had gotten out of sorts during boarding.

Fyrenn and Skye shared a few words, so low and quiet that even my ears could not pick them out across the transport bay, and then Skye passed Fyrenn a small cylindrical object made of Equestrian brass, dangling from a chain of fine, but strong steel links.

When he twisted it slightly, opening the outer casing to reveal an inner network of intricate silver filaments, the thing glowed with an ethereal light that it took me several seconds to recognize as raw energy pressing into the arcanic spectrum, rather than visible light that might've been apparent to any other being.

Fyrenn held the claw-sized cylinder for a long moment, staring at it as if it were a fell thing that he would rather not have in his possession, before he snapped the protective shield shut again, cutting off its arcanic signature entirely.

He then placed the chain around his neck, secreting the cylinder itself away into the hollow where the joining of his neck, right wing, and right foreleg created a small protected space, as Gryphons were often wont to do with precious objects.

As he looked up from his work, he caught my questioning gaze.  The way he averted his eyes frightened me.  Whatever was inside that cylinder, it was something he very much preferred not to discuss with me.

The implications of that, given the kind of tactical thinker he was, and the sort of things he knew I'd disapprove of, were the stuff of worries that I knew would lead to more than one sleepless night.  For us both.

He rifled through his small Equestrian canvas rucksack for a moment, then withdrew something that I recognized, with a wince, as all that was left of his sword.  

For the better part of fifteen minutes, I watched him stare morosely at the scarred remains.

Skye had told me of what the Nightmare had done to the weapon, leaving behind only the hilt, and a small ragged bit of the formerly well honed alloy blade itself.

Gryphons were seldom materialistic;  Often, because of the unique bent of their culture, their weapons were some of their most treasured, and carefully kept possessions.  Even as one who eschewed violence, I could sense his feelings of loss.  

And I could even empathize.

I'd had my own share of armors and weapons in the past.  Many had served me well.  Quite a few had been damaged beyond repair, or destroyed in battle.  It always felt akin to losing an old friend.

The sword had been a symbol of his rebirth.  And of his love for Skye, whom I understood was soon to formally be his sister.

That thought forced out some of my darker musings, and summoned a soothing warmth in my chest.  For every harsh word, or terrifyingly brash action, Fyrenn seemed to also do something tender, generous, or unexpected in kind.

The vision of his family;  A future without national boundaries dictated by species, where culture could be a force to unify rather than divide, and differences were celebrated rather than feared...

If we could but end this War of Night...  Make it over this great final hurdle...

Perhaps I would live to see that dream be born in full, and take its first steps in the warm light of the Sun.

I grit my teeth inside my muzzle, and closed my eyes, concentrating on my breathing as the Shrike began aerobraking and rapidly descending.

'You will live to see this done.  Luna will sit your throne.  Twilight will ascend to your sister's place.  You will watch as they all come together;  Gryphons, and Ponies.  Dragons, and Diamond Dogs.  Native born, and Humans remade...  The journey through the fires of this Hell will bring true Harmony at last.  And you will live your gift-life walking among them.  And at last, you too will have peace.'

I repeated the mantra thrice more, and then suddenly the ear-splitting whine of the engines spun down, and the jolting and vibrations stopped.

As the rear ramp dropped, I opened my eyes, and set to work with my magic, undoing the multipoint safety harness that had kept me in place during the flight.  My bodyguard stood by, eyes front, head level, staring off into the middle distance, yet somehow watching me keenly all the while.

I could smell his discomfort.  At both the moment of transition between secured vehicles, yes...  But also at the sight of me.  A cruel reminder of my vulnerability, and mortality.

And I could smell the intense scents of hot metal, and warm duracrete from outside.

Along with the stench of unwashed Humans and Ponies alike.

I'd seen the camps at the crossover point several times.  The sights, smells, and sounds were not new to me...

But every time still felt like the first, in the worst way possible.

I moved down the boarding ramp, towards a familiar looking golden chariot, pulled by six Pegasus guards, and flanked by a dozen of my sister's Night Guard in new heavy Gryphon-made tactical armor, painted deepest non reflective black, with subtle matte dark blue trim.

Oh Luna.  

Overreacting as always.  

Though the gesture was certainly appreciated, if for no other reason than it betrayed the sheer depth of her love, and concern for me.

Skye hopped up onto Taranis' back as he dropped a wing, and he Neyla, Fyrenn, Alyra, Hutchinson, Aston, and their three new guests, took up a diamond formation ahead of the Night Guards, as I stepped into the back of the chariot.

A hundred JRSF officers of various species, all in menacing angular combat armor and brandishing enormous railguns, kept a one thousand foot square perimeter around the entire landing zone;  Keeping back the gawking crowds of Humans, Ponies, and others, with the sternness of their expressions, and the open display of their very large weapons.

As the chariot began to rise, it struck me just how badly we had failed.  Humans, and Equestrians both.

How badly I had failed.

With all the resources on both worlds, this kind of mad, dirty, exhausted, fraught scramble should not have been the defining image of crossing over into a new life.

I bit back tears as the ground hurtled away, and we began to move forwards towards the barrier.  

That inescapable sense of finality was back.  And stronger than ever.

I swiveled my head, and fixed the camp with my gaze, staring down into the eyes of the massed converts until the shimmer of the barrier passed over our group, and began to occlude my vision.

As Earth vanished in the distance, I set my wings, and my teeth, and murmured a promise aloud, but for my own ears only.

"We must do better.  We *will* do better."





Earth Calendar: 2117
Equestrian Calendar: 15 AC (After Contact)
Twelfth Month, Fourteenth Day, Celestial Calendar

Alyra

Flying in such a big formation was a lot of fun!

Taranis took the lead, and Skye sat there on his back, wind in her mane, looking very pleased with herself.  Mom was on the Dragon's left flank with Shierel, Dad on the right with William, and I was immediately behind and above with Miles.

The Night Guard Pegasi spread out in a V shape ahead of, and beside the chariot, Celestia's remaining Day Guard brought up the rear in a phalanx, and six gleaming white Pegasi pulled the vehicle at amazing speeds.

It was a lot of work to stay ahead of the group, but somehow we managed to keep pace.

It took me almost ten minutes to realize that the Pegasi were working together to create a large pocket of reduced relative mass, intense tailwind, and hugely reduced drag, allowing us all to match a pace over several hours that no creature could never have maintained long-duration under normal circumstances.

For a few minutes, I spent all my brian power on nothing but enjoying the sensation of clean, cool, Equestrian air through my feathers, and the smells of a living, breathing ocean.  The sights of the setting sun, and rising moon.

It wasn't until Earth had disappeared over the horizon that I realized, with a start, that I would probably never see it again.

The last time I'd left, Dad and I had both been sure it was for good.  We weren't exactly welcome after all we'd done, and said.  And the feeling of distaste had been mutual.

This time it was different.  

There was a sudden, strange sense that Earth itself might not be there when next I looked;  Like a dusting of spring snow that had melted away under the morning sun.

The latest science said there were between eighteen and twenty years left for the planet.

But suddenly I couldn't shake a feeling of intense, gut wrenching certainty;  Earth would be gone much, much sooner than that.

I couldn't have said why I felt that way...  Given any kind of rational justification for the impending sense that everyone on the other side of the Barrier was deluding themselves...

But it felt as sure and fixed as the patterns of the stars above my head.

My morbid train of thought was mercifully interrupted by the sound of a clearing throat.

I glanced to the right, refocusing my vision away from my imaginings, and saw Miles staring at me wide-eyed, as if he were just seeing me for the first time.  He'd not uttered a single word to anyone but his Mom and Dad in the few hours I'd known him;  He seemed withdrawn, in a way I recognized with a sad familiarity.

"Are...  They real?!"

He gestured upwards with a hoof, but it took me a whole three seconds to realize that he was talking about the stars.

I nodded, and extended one talon to point out an especially vibrant blue-white pinprick of light, dancing on the edge of the blue velvet carpet of a distant nebula.

"That one is my favorite.  We Gryphons call it Yllen'ùal;  The Guide-Star.  No matter the season, the time of night, or where you are in Equestria, it is always in the same place in the sky."

He squinted, his soft brown eyes offset by the shock of silvery mane between his ears.  When he spoke again, I was surprised, but glad to hear curiosity, and a little confusion in his voice.

He'd seemed so sad before.  To see any emotion take the place of that deep, cloying depression, was a welcome sight.  He couldn't have been more than a few months younger, or older than me, and I could feel the same demeanor of an old soul, forged in pain and loss, radiating off him like an energy field.

"That's not possible...  Unless this world isn't a rotating oblate spheroid.  If we're on a planar disc of fixed position, and the star is very luminous, and very very far away, that would give it the appearance of being in the same place at all times..."

I more or less understood everything he'd said;  Auntie Skye loved astronomy, and I always enjoyed hearing her talk about it.  Miles had a piercingly sharp mind behind those sad chocolate colored eyes.

With a nod, I dipped my right wing and took up a position just beside the dark gray furred colt, lowering my voice to a more conversational level as the wind became less of an auditory obstruction.

"That's right.  At least, based on what Skye says.  All of Equestria is like a giant contact lens shape, and we're on the convex side.  No one knows for sure, but Skye says she agrees with the astronomers who think that the Sun is actually an orbiting object that's much smaller than a natural star, and much closer to us."

Miles blinked several times, then his ears shot up as he reached the same conclusion I had when Skye first broached the idea to me.  His voice was filled with wonderment as he stared up at first the stars, then sideways into my eyes.

"An artificial self-sustaining moon-sized fusion reactor?"

I grinned, and cocked my head, one ear perked, the other out to the side, making no attempt to hide my curiosity.

"Where did you learn all this?  You're a heck of an astronomer for someone our age."

His face fell, and I knew I'd accidentally hit on something close to the source of his pain.  I grit my beak, and prepared to press ahead as he answered in a low murmur;  I knew from raw personal experience that it was better to get the bandage off fast.

"Mom was an astrophysicist at Berkeley.  She was coming here with me and Dad, to take a position with the Canterlot Royal Library.  They wanted her to study the Sun, and the Moon;  To understand how it seems like there are two of each, one that the Alicorns control, and one that they don't..."

Shierel was not a Convert.  'Mom' was, in this case, obviously.  That loss certainly explained his pain.  I certainly knew what that was like...

'So be there for him.  You beat this monster.  He can too.  You can show him.  You can be friends.  You both need a friend.'

I knew it was my own voice inside my head.  But it sounded so much like Sonya in that moment.  It's exactly what she would have said, if she was there.

And I knew in a flash that there was a future for that friendship.  It was already real.  I just had to reach out, and take one small step, to give it life.

For the first time in years, and the first time with anyone outside my new family, I felt ready.  I wanted to make the connection.  The sensation was not entirely alien, but it had been so long since I last felt it, that it almost flipped me over mid-flight, like a real physical impact.

Inhaling deeply, I stretched out a fisted claw, and offered Miles the best smile I could muster.

"I'm Alyra."

Dad had introduced everyone from both families to each other briefly, but it still felt right to make my own reintroduction, now that we were actually talking.

He returned the tiniest hint of a smile, and bumped my outstretched claw with his hoof.

"Miles."

I gestured up to Skye and Taranis, and let my smile morph into a mischievous grin.

"Skye, up there?  She has access to the entire Canterlot Royal Archives, and Science Academy.  I know for a fact that they have the biggest optical telescopes in Equestria.  It won't take much prodding to get her to give us a tour."

For the first time, I saw Miles' expression dissolve into more anticipation, and happiness, than sadness.

I returned the smile contentedly.

It was a good start.  For us both.