Ladies And Gentlecolts, We Are Floating In Space

by PeaceColt112

Act 2, Chapter 3: Feathers Ablaze

The duo sat in silence, their eyes fixed on the massive projector screen in front of them. The very meaning of all of it, the very basis of everything in existence was laid out on the white canvas, blinking at them invitingly. Or rather, the access to it. As scientists, this was perhaps the greatest feeling in the world and at the same time, the most terrifying. They were a single portal away from the foundation of the universe, free of any intruders since time itself became a relevant concept.

To make matters worse, the true purpose of Aeris and her fellow crewmen had been revealed. The dark, hidden goal of the mission, something none of them were supposed to know. And yet, it all seemed meaningless in comparison to the actual scientific implications. The Webway offered the two minds an unparalleled view into the workings of space and time, an intimate gaze into the cogs of the world, hidden from plain sight. What wonders would they discover? What would they find in the very center of well, everything?

Suddenly and without warning, Asimov got up, walked over to the wall and made it disappear, revealing a rather bored Phaedra behind it. Without a word, he grabbed one of her claws and dragged her into the room. For a few seconds, everything was silent. Asimov sighed. Phaedra was confused by what had just transpired, her eyes darting around the lab. Still, she said nothing.

The doctor walked over to the far wall and opened a flap, revealing a button. He pushed it. Silence. With a hydraulic hiss, the metal barrier moved aside, revealing yet another hidden corridor. Phaedra shrugged and followed the pony. She too disappeared into the opening, leaving Aeris alone in her confusion. Slowly, she made her way over to the hole, a small bug of mistrust implanting itself into her mind, telling her to turn around and run. Aeris did not listen, instead choosing to follow her own instincts.

She stepped into the metal opening and, in that very instant, and doubts she may have had fell away, leaving only pure bliss behind.

What stood in front of her could only be described as a window to outer space, a room that stood on the outermost edge of the craft, the whole front wall made out of transparent material. She stepped inside, her mouth wide open, her eyes locked onto the sight that stood in front of her. A star, about sixty times as massive as ours, dominated the scene. In front of it, a tiny black dot, seemingly getting smaller with each passing second. All around the star hung hundreds of thousands of little asteroids and bits of rock, some of them slowly vanishing into the pulsing yellow mass.

"The NLR were fools, utter and absolute fools if they believed that they could brave the universe, that they could control all that ever was, is and will be. They firmly believed that they could master a science of their own device, the science of control. Fools, nothing but fools. None can control the power that we are about to witness." said Asimov "No deity, no supreme being and most certanly no army. But they did not realize or did not care. We are the product of Daedalus's arrogance, the lonely Icarus, about to fly too close to the sun and burn his wings."

She shifted her gaze to the right. Asimov and Phaedra stood together, closely embraced, both of them with their eyes closed, breathing softly. She did not want to disturb them, instead resigning herself to a quiet scientific stupor, her tired eyes locked onto the tiny planetoid hovering in front of the massive star. She had never seen space like this before. It was never this close. Aeris put a hoof onto the window in front of her, the heat seeping into the glass and trough her body. It wasn't so hot that she couldn't keep her hoof on the glass. It was pleasantly warm, almost startlingly so, the warmth reminding her of home.

Pulse after pulse of heat hit her fur, radiating trough her skin, softly exploding as the star swallowed each of the rocks. The pulses became more and more intense as the star swallowed larger rocks. The tiny planetoid was now dangerously close to the burning orb, flames almost licking the surface. Aeris brought her eyes closer to the glass. It was about to go, any moment now the tiny world would disappear in the sea of flame. Maybe it was a planet that someone, or something, once called home. Maybe it was just like the Earth, the only home someone had, a place where everyone it knew had been born and a place where everyone it had died, a place of laughter and a place of tears, a place of hope and a place of sadness. And here it was, slowly descending towards the swirling mass of superheated plasma, the rocks that once formed it's surface breaking away from the gravity, falling, falling down into the flame below.

And then, without any fuss, the world ended.

It came with very little warning, without as much as a sign of what was about to happen. Instead, it simply...went. The dot was no more. The hopes, sadness, laughter, tears, happiness, fears, friends, relatives, societies, worlds and dreams vanished, consumed by the everlasting flame of the star. There was no massive explosion, no violent combustion, no superheated shock-wave. Only a whimper and a silent farewell.

A few minutes passed before Aeris realized that she had tears streaming down her face. She never felt anything like this. Another world, a world she never knew, went. Just like that. Poof. No more. Just dust and echoes. There was no mention of this little planetoid before, no mention of a tiny rock that stood in front of a star, defying it's massive gravitational field to the last second. Instead, it was forgotten. It all just...went away.

Asimov and Phaedra were still holding each other, curious eyes still transfixed by waht had just transpired. The griffon quietly buried her head in the scientist's chest, no sound coming from either of them. In that moment, in that precise second, all of them had realized how small and fragile they were, the ship beneath them about sixty times smaller then the world that just disappeared into the flame. No words were spoken, no sounds were heard, not even the soft breathing.

Asimov turned his head towards Aeris, his eyes aflame with passion, his mind at peace.

“At the end of time, a moment will come when just one pony remains.” His voice blended into the deafening silence “Then the moment will pass. We will be gone. There will be nothing to show that we were ever here... but stardust.“