The memoirs of Princess Brighter Skies

by Disembodied_Pony

(pre-release)Chapter ??: Universes Compassion

Author's Note:

I had an urge to write some of the meat of the story out-of-chronological order. Here's what I have so far: Done!

So many titles this entry could have; Miracles and Sacrifices, My Greatest Failure, Life in Balance?

For you see, where I came from, humans never had contact with other kinds of intelligent life. Whether by chance, or some other happenstance, they never encountered anything more advanced than microorganisms amongst the stars by the time I left them. Leading to the belief that life was more spread out and rarer there, than it is here.

In their isolation, humans perceived the universe as a rather indifferent place to exist in. Occurrences of misadventures throughout time, had led to that perspective.

In contrast, what I have lived through and seen with my very eyes, has changed that belief in me; in this one.

Meaning that my ponies and I, have seen a widespread miracle happen, a thing beyond our complete comprehension... And I and my ponies, were never before or since; both more humbled and honored, to be a tiny part of it.

However, that honor was tempered by another's loss.

Which leads us to the matter of the world of: Everwind, and their connection to the Gilata Chi'n T'ali.

The latter is... was... the name of a species, and roughly translates to; 'Life's purpose'...

They themselves, I can't see as bad creatures. It was what they believed, that made them... enemy.

Had I the foreknowledge, or the wisdom, I hold that could have stopped what happened.

However, I didn't have either of those, then. And now they're gone. The result placing me, I feel, in the same shoe as they lived.

...

...

I don't know if they'll return someday, as the Gliders, which they once slew all of; miraculously did.

To this very day, I still don't have the heart to try and find the answer to that question.

It's possible that, in finding that answer, will be the fulfillment of why I was brought here?

Perhaps the Gliders was the 'Why'?

...The universe may be compassionate, but it still keeps its secrets.

---

I suppose I should start with the Gliders, and their world Everwind;

The Gliders are slightly longer in leg, and broader in wing compared to their Equus pegasi counterparts. Their form, is adapted to contend with the occasional strong storms which naturally form on their world.

Everwind, has little in natural predators. Leaving the primary cause of mortality of the Gliders; to misadventure by storms. However their numbers remain quite stable as the mortality rate is low, and their foalings similarly few.

These pegasi do not live amongst the unpredictable clouds, but rather live in conventional structures as land bound ponies would.

In this way, they maintain a safer and more stable culture and population.

Nonetheless, they are renowned weathermasters, and their crops bountiful all year long.

With their numbers consistently modest, and their needs always met, they remain content.

The Gliders are not technological, and it remains to be seen if they will ever venture out into the stars. However because of the Gilata Chi'n T'ali and our interventions, their imaginations might have been forever influenced?

The Gilata Chi'n T'ali, saw intelligence in other forms as a test against their own. As if their very existence in the universe would be violated if another persisted. As other forms were a mockery of intelligence as they knew it.

So they lived, expanding their territory and purging mockeries as they went.

I'll probably never know how many times they were tested, but whatever they encountered, had led them to develop into a force to be reckoned with.

Space faring and technologically advanced, their abilities were ahead of us in some ways, and behind us in others.

We learned of them covertly. My ponies may reach out into the stars, however they are not what I would call bold or reckless.

Being a stranger in a strange universe myself, early on I bid my ponies to develop stealth technologies, over combative types.

And reaching outward into the depths slowly, stealth probes charted worlds and phenomena.

The probes themselves would remain silent in their work, never transmitting until their return to our space. And should they experience an unpredicted or unhandleable event, they would implode and self vaporize to leave no clues behind to their origin, at the cost of their collected knowledge.

A scant couple decades before our encountering the Gilata Chi'n T'ali, the first shift-phasing cloak was deployed to the probes designs.
Still in its infancy, it wasn't known how effective it could be against the unknown.

Our first probe to discover intelligent life, did so through intercepting a short communication transmission.

Slowly coming to a halt through randomized counter-inertia thrusts (another stealth method of disguising emissions as intergalactic phenomena), it waited and listened, going no further.

---

Nearly a month overdue, the probe was considered lost and its course marked as a risk zone. However it returned intact with its logs stating that it returned after drifting slowly for a great distance in accordance to its programming.

Inspection of its recorded data had us ecstatic, as the first space faring life outside of ourselves was discovered!

However the recorded transmissions puzzled my ponies; For they were very short bursts, and regular like clockwork, yet the contents were always varied. So they weren't merely complex tracking data.

Decrypting them, which took many months, showed what appeared to resemble duty reports, and little else. The communique were entirely regimented, yet seem to be made by living creatures and not machines.

Getting an uneasy feeling, my ponies suspended probe deployments into that sector, as well as all adjoining sectors for a great radius.

My ponies are very wise.

As the deciphering of the language progressed, discussions over how to proceed, were had.

We had two options before us;

Attempt to learn more of them through surveillance, or avoid them all together.

Both were a risk. Should we avoid them and have no contact, we would never know if they were friendly, nor if they posed an eventual threat.
Should we survey them, we ran the risk of being discovered. And if they were potentially friendly, our efforts to evaluate them would work against us by turning potential friends into enemies should we be caught doing so.

After months of debate, a consensus was reached that we wouldn't pursue them in any fashion until our stealth technology was more refined. Leaving them be until our chances of success had increased.

While the decades after; passed, we stayed far clear and quiet of that area of space, hoping that our presence would not be discovered.

...

The lives of my ponies and myself continued as normal, with only our curiosity of them remaining unsatisfied.

When nearly a century had passed by, the debate was broached again. The desire to reach out to the other space faring species and befriend them hadn't dimmed.

Passionate speeches of differences and similarities were made, and the prospect of learning more about the universe through them was argued favorably.

Little did they know the immensity of future efforts then, that their arguments would realize in the coming decades.

Nearly every single pony, including mothers with their foals at their sides, would be aboard ships eventually, in a combined effort against the Gilata Chi'n T'ali

The little ones would remember their parents looking sad, and looking down to them with tear filled smiles as they worked, but not then understanding why.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Risking much on our revised stealth technology, we pressed into their space; slowly and cautiously.

Observing their movements, my ponies shadowed their ships at a distance, all the while; recording their transmissions.

Having deciphered their language, other ponies back home, poured over what was in them, building a small window into the mind of the Gilata Chi'n T'ali.

What they assembled, showed to be; a difficult task in approaching a species so very different from ponies. However, they were ready to make the effort.

As more detail of them reached my ears, the more I expected this to be a great burden on myself; Of maintaining relations with the species.

Such is the weight of being a princess, and nothing worthwhile is ever easy...

In hindsight, I'm not sure which weight would have been lesser; the burden of relations, or the guilt?

Where was I? Ah yes;

In shadowing their ships, we were led to many worlds that they inhabited. Mining resources there, they kept small contingents of labor to extract resources; A familiar sight.

One world however, stood out like a sore thumb...

Having no resource extraction, a small group lived there. Merely keeping a presence on that world, perhaps as a future resource, or a claim?

Waiting for a window to open up, one of our ships tarried to perform some scans. Abandoning the unwitting escort, we waited for it to clear sensor range, and then scanned.

When...that ship, returned back home to us... Our hearts sank, and our hopes were crushed...

This world; was Everwind.

Ponies... wiped out, gone. Our Kin

...

We would never get to know them, or so we thought Then.

My ponies which had to pour over the scan data, had troubled sleep for a long time after.

As the other surveling ships returned home from their missions, none were sent back out to continue the efforts.

All hope of establishing relations with the Gilata Chi'n T'ali died.

Rational debates that followed, compared what we already knew of their culture and ways, against the possibility that they might have changed since the extincting of the ponies of Everwind.

Perceiving the minds and ways of the Gilata Chi'n T'ali, convinced us that they had not changed, for this was a core principal that they held.

Already at this time, some broached the specter of abandoning Maneous, and getting as far away from these creatures as possible. Expecting their territory to expand to our space in the coming centuries.

In the back of my mind; I kept thinking of Equus...

They couldn't flee, on their own. And why should they? But would our choice to flee, eventually doom them to a similar fate as the Gliders?

Whatever the span of time would be, we were the only thing standing between these two polar opposites.

The more I thought about it, the more my wariness and sorrow, turned to fire.

That never, would I abandon my adoptive kin, in all ways imaginable; to such a fate. I would perish before that.

What I now faced, was either a relocation on a scale incomprehensible, or a war. Either way, the cost would be immense.

The worst part was; I did not see ponies being the successor. We were outnumbered, outclassed in aggression, weaponry, and mobility.

As it stood, with even a century or two of preparation; I was convinced that time would not see pony kind as the survivors in a battle of attrition.

Troubled by this, I sought the council of my adopting sisters.

Over time, we had talked about the things that impacted our lives, and the Gilata Chi'n T'ali had come up a number of times throughout the many decades of idle chitchat. So they were not out of the loop in things which played beyond the skies of Equus.

Though they didn't have the amount of detail on what I knew, they could see into me and in there; the weight that I was under.

Both often teased that their long accumulated experience had left me as an open book to them.

With few words from my muzzle, they could gleam how serious this matter was.

Luna...

In the manner that I cherish her most deeply, spoke directly;

"It is war, is it not?" To which Celestia closed her eyes in resignation of the issue laid bare.

Where Celestia was the olive branch of Equestria, Luna was the sword and shield, should the branch be trampled upon as it was offered. Things now had passed beyond the olive branch, and were firmly in her area of expertise. Her keen eyes were quick to see past my reticent words.

After a moment, I replied;

"Yes, one that I do not see any of our beloved ponies winning."

Their eyes widening for a moment, then looked down and closed their eyes as my meaning settled upon them.

After a time, Celestia looked back up and over to me.

"What will you do?" she asked.

"I don't know yet, but perishing... is not an option."

"Mm-hmm. Flee then?" Luna asked.

"That depends. It will be immensely difficult. Are you ready to forsake Equus, never to see it again?" I asked them both.

After moments of silence had fallen between us, I took a deep breath and answered my own question;

"Neither am I."

With those three words, I decided which course would be taken. And in turn, set in motion things that would be joyous, as well as regrets, when I learned of them.

---

Returning to my ponies council, I informed them of Equestria's position on the prospect of permanent relocation, and that we'd have to find another way to resolve the problem of the enemy.

A few threw their hands up in defeat, however another stood up and spoke;

"Why don't we look at this relocation issue from a different angle? Why should we, and the Equestrians; be expected to give up everything short of our very lives, to the Gilata Chi'n T'ali? They may be greater in numbers than we are, but we outnumber them in purview, two to one. Already one world has had ponies removed from it, and with that alone, they've already expended any deference that they're afforded. No more, I say; it's time that They be moved, and nopony else!"

With that speech, the ears of ponies who had already given up, turned their ears up again.

The words were spoken by Paradox; A stallion with a penchant for literature of dramatic irony. In listening to the discussions of fleeing the enemy, he was compelled to turn the tables around on them.

In this he had all of our attention, transforming our melancholy into hope.

Asked to go on, he replied with a simplified version of; putting all of the Gilata Chi'n T'ali back on their home world, and smashing their ships, all done in cloak. Effectively pulling their teeth out, and stranding them for a time, on a world that was already theirs. In one fell swoop, we'd have the leg up for as long as we remained vigilant.

It would be more complex than that, of course, but I remember thinking;

Yes, why couldn't we pull that off? Sure, the cost would be great, however it would be lesser than our terraforming multiple distant worlds to relocate to... which is already off of the table. There would be no open warfare, no attrition, and even... no bloodshed! Stars above, he's a genius! We can win this, and without emulating them!

Murmurs filled the room as, one by one; they came to the same conclusion.

Eventually cheers and tears of joy erupted as the weight of unwinnable war, melted away.

When I told my sisters of this, they were at first; simply relieved. As they thought over it, they both eventually broke into gales of laughter at the incredulity of winning a war of unimaginable devastation without any loss of life whatsoever.
Never had such a thing been done.

This pleased both of my mentors greatly. Celestia; by the non-violent solution. Luna; that the danger would be thoroughly routed, and be made neutralized for the foreseeable future.

So began our Un-War against the Gilata Chi'n T'ali

---

A brief summery of the Un-War;

Nearly all of it consisted of the preparation.

Over twenty years were spent dedicating our excess energy to shipbuilding. The ships that were constructed, were of two designs;

One was of low cargo capacity, but was our fastest design, even at the expense of navigation precision. These were for ferrying the Gilata Chi'n T'ali from their far flung ships and outposts, to their nearest core world.

A great fleet of these were made, ponied by skeleton crews. In fact, nearly all of the ships were thinly staffed.

Due to their vast area of habited space and number, relocating them all to their home world, was impossible. Time constraints, and their own home world resource availability made such a thing impossible. So we had to settle for a few worlds to constrain them to.

The second design, was a more balanced design of large carrying capacity, versus speed. These were for the more closely located ones, and performed the bulk of the relocation effort.

Both ship types carried an armory of implosion torpedoes, high power tractor arrays, and MmJ emitters. The last was used for spell casting purposes; in this application was a sleep spell, combined with a mild stasis.

The stasis didn't provide us much latitude, due to the planetside Gilata Chi'n T'ali. Casting a spell worldwide sounds great in theory, however keeping an entire world in stasis for days at a time becomes untenable the longer it persists.

As soon as the operation began, the clock was ticking on how long we could hold it together. From far flung outpost, to core world; it all had to happen at the same time, lest they would realize something was occurring and react violently.

One thing we learned of the Gilata Chi'n T'ali, was that they keep a tight grip on each other at all times.

During our shipbuilding years, we watched them. Close enough to track their movements and look for anything that might change our minds, but not too close.

My ponies learned their outpost maps, schedules, and even their ship identifiers; Giving us a precision number of ships that they kept in service, and where to likely find them when the time came.

...

When the time came, Maneus was practically exodused. Ponies everywhere boarded ships for the relocation effort, however unlike the plan posed earlier, they would return to their homes a short time later.

By the time our invisible armada entered their space, all ships with their clocks synchronized; Had Two Weeks to find their designated target. Once found, they would shadow it until the mission clock reached zero. No communication was to be made, and all transmitters were disconnected.

Once zero time was reached, some ships would project its sleep stasis field, and transport the entire target crew aboard.

Others, cast it upon the worlds they orbited. Others yet; launched their implosion torpedoes upon uninhabited relay stations, defense satellites, shipyards, dry-docks, and outposts.

An hour after zero time, communications were allowed to resume. Reconnecting their transmitters, ships checked in with each other and managed the variables in logistics.

Nearly four days later, it was done. The Gilata Chi'n T'ali were safely placed into rooms, offices, halls, anywhere they were protected from the elements upon one of their core worlds. Their interstellar infrastructure was gone without a trace, and all of their emptied ships were towed into suns, leaving no wreckage behind.

Had they any world bound ship production facilities; they were cleared of their slumbering occupants, and the facilities were removed with precision.

In the end, we had evicted the Gilata Chi'n T'ali from space. Should they wish to enter it again, they would have to rebuild it from ship: one.

Had the Gilata Chi'n T'ali any confusion whether this was somehow an unexplainable natural phenomenon, I left them a simple message that it was not. A message that their handiwork did not go unnoticed.

Upon the courtyard of their central governance of each world, I carved a symbol into the stone a meter deep. Deep enough that it would not be repaired by the automated systems for weeks, certainly enough time for them to awaken and take notice amongst the confusion.

That symbol, was the emblem of the Gliders:

A hoof print, with a pair of wings adorning its outer sides.

On their home world however, I carved something slightly different. Into the stone there, I carved the Glider's Cutie Mark, once I collected him from their tableau of proof of successful testings.

The fact that he was the only pony there provided little solace to me, and I have to admit that all of my doubts of the mission had left me for a time thereafter.

Pulling out of their core space; I declared the mission a success, and I made for Everwind to return the Glider to his home in an opaque container.

He had more than his share of eyes look upon him as it was.

---

The after un-war;

Stepping hoof on Everwind; Myself, a few guards, and a couple advisors laid the unnamed stallion to rest in a silent ceremony outside their ruined stone city.

Afterward, I walked through the streets among the toppled structures and between the growth that had begun work reclaiming the land.

Entering one of the larger buildings, I looked for anything that would help me in some way, to know the pony that I laid eyes on.

Entering a darkened room, I lit my horn so see what was within.

I found a collapsed bookshelf, and stooped down to pick up one of the moldy books littering the floor.

Opening it, I turned a couple of the pages.

Not being able to read the words in it bothered me. That in all my travels, I had learned so many scripts... and here I was, for the second time; presented with a pony language which was now dead.

A feeling of wrong-ness filled me, that this was not supposed to be. Something happened here, and it was false.

Taking the book with me, I left the room and walked back out into the daylight.

Spreading my wings, I flew up to the highest point still standing in the city.

Looking down at the vista below, my imagination could almost grasp what the city was like in its hayday. But not quite.

Looking to the book in my hands, I made up my mind.

This city will rise again. It may not be quite the same, nor will be the ponies... But hooves will walk these streets, wings feel the air, and voices call this home, once more.

Hopping from where I was perched, I glid down to my ponies, where I told them;

"The un-war is over, and after a respite; the recovery is to begin."

Leaving Everwind and making my way back home, I felt restless. Even though I was exhausted, thoughts of Everwind and the Gliders remained in my thoughts. Already I was making plans to undo the terrible event that had fallen there.

---

The restoration project;

Two years after I left Everwind, my hooves touched the stone of the city streets again.

In orbit over the planet, was a contingent of ships.

They were the same large ones used in the un-war, however now their cargo holds were filled with supplies.

Another contingent had split off from the rest, to begin a patrol maintaining a border in space which sundered this sector of space from the Gilata Chi'n T'ali, and protected it from any future incursions by the enemy, should they appear.

Whatever the enemy was engaged in, we were unawares. For the time being, our attention was committed here; on Everwind.

Many of my ponies heeded my call to reverse, as much as could be done; the loss of the Gliders.

Linguistic experts, engineers, architects, casters, analysts... the latter; some of which were graying in the mane upon their second visit to this world.

Long having come to terms with what they saw from afar decades ago, were ready to enact some form of closure; in pony.

Our first task was to record everything we could find, in attempts to learn the culture of the Gliders.

The second task, was to rebuild the stone city in the finest detail, to what it was before the enemy came.

The casters and myself were heavily involved in this task. The unicorn casters were trained by me personally in a couple of magics that I recovered from Tailus.

Time scrying;

Perilous, if used to decide your own actions based on what is seen with it. But if used to perceive the past, is as safe and accurate as any taken image.

Setting up recording scanners around the viewing glass, every aspect of the city could then be seen, measured, and inspected, as it appeared centuries ago. With this method, even lost tomes could be recreated through using it.

However it's a magically exhausting endeavor, even with a dozen combined unicorns, and therefor its application sparingly used.

Outside of the city, a complex was constructed. There, the efforts of the analysts would bear fruit.

As I did with my ponies in the beginning, ponies would grow from a single cell. The cell would be provided by those who heeded my call, however inside that living cell, would be the recovered dna of every glider that perished in that fateful event.

Once grown, we would rear them in everything that we learned of their foster culture. With good fortune, they would not be reliant on us as they took to what they'd learned.
Though it would never be the same as it was, their prosperity would be all reward we could ask for.

As proud parents, and at the same time not, we would leave them to live their lives and their memory of us fade with the generations.

Such was the plan.

As the decades passed, some ponies entered and left the project, and I came and went as my duties allowed.

My sisters saw less of me than they liked, and I had to compensate them with a tour of the Gliders restored city.

In that time, I and the Linguistisists learned their spoken word, as well as the written. The former was the result of the scrying. In order to teach the new generation of Gliders their native tongue, we had to learn it first; first hand. Which is a little more difficult when one is an unseen third party centuries after the fact.

My ponies scoured the land and seas for every Glider that was lost, specifically in that time. It was a long and morose task, but we prevailed. Dna was collected, and physical details were recorded

Finally having every piece of the puzzle that we could think of, the conception phase commenced at the complex.

---

Wonder;

Little more than four months had passed since the beginning of the incubation phase of the Gliders' heirs; when one of the medical engineers made a startling discovery while performing routine checkups on the rapidly growing foals.

One of the immature foals had... a cutie mark

Getting the attention of her colleagues, the entire complex's staff was soon in an uproar.

I was notified immediately via the emergency communications channel. Not believing my ears, they were quick to show me the side of the incubator:

Floating inside: There she was; an unborn filly, with a peach fuzz brown and white coat, and a tiny cutie mark bearing a grey cloud with rain drops below it.

Dropping everything, I boarded a ship to Everwind at maximum possible speed.

When I got there, I saw it with my own eyes; It was true. But how? What did it mean?

As I marveled at her, one of the medical engineers approached me, and handed me a pad without saying a word.

Looking at it, my eyes widened as I beheld the brain scan of the filly.

The neurotransmitter presence was astronomical! No young filly, not even a prodigy had this much. Let alone an unborn foal!

Being advised to look at the previous days scan by Graph Chart, I did;

Normal, only trace amounts.

"We searched the database for her cutie mark your highness. We can't be sure, but we think it's also a match to the dna source of this filly." He said, handing me another pad.

Looking at the next pad, there was just the biographical data listed next to a rough sketch of a cutie mark;

"Brown and white coat, approximately Fifty Years age, Found eight hundred meters from the city, aside a foal; Colt, Beige and white coat, approximately Ten Years age, presumed.."

Turning my head from the pad, I had to stomp down my emotions and squelch the images in my mind.

Returning back to the first part of the data;

"approximately Fifty Years.." I mumbled.

"Yeah. Consistent with the levels of neurotransmitters we see in this filly. Fifty years worth of memory..." Graph Chart added while looking to the incubator.

"Stars above..."

From the corner of our eyes, a dim flash came from inside another incubator.

As Graph Chart went to investigate, I stayed, as I felt what it was. It was what always happens when a pony learns of their special talent.

Falling to my knees, I was overcome.

...

I didn't have the words then. I still don't, even now.

---

Kindred;

Taking a risk, I bid my ponies to accelerate the growth of the filly to full physical maturity. Thinking that if she was what I thought, and her colt was going to rely on her... she would need to be fully grown.

A few weeks later, she was foaled, dried off, and tucked into a bed in one of the staff quarters.

Sitting at a table on the other side of the room; I waited for her to awaken.

Stirring slightly, she then awoke with a start.

Leaping up onto her shaky legs, she looked around in a panic.

Spotting me, she spread her wings wide, pinned her ears, and adopted a threatening posture.

This was a challenge. A natural response to a stranger with unknown intentions.

"Who are you!? Where am I?! Where's my son?!" she spoke in her native tongue.

She spoke... This is no foal that's confronting me; She's indeed, herself. I thought to myself.

If I was going to establish any dialog with her, I would have to answer her challenge, first.

Getting up, I spread my wings out fully, but kept my ears up, and my expression confident and neutral; Responding to her challenge.

After a number of moments of silence, staring eachother in the eyes, the mares wings sagged and she broke eye contact. Lowering her head, she acknowledge that she lost the challenge against a stronger pegasi.

Swinging my wings behind myself to be less threatening, I replied in her tongue with a soft voice;

"Don't loose heart young one. I am no enemy to you, or any of the gliders, but a friend. I may be strange to you, but I am a pony as well. We'll reunite you with your son, if we can."

As her ears perked and her head tilted, I was worried if anything I said made sense to her, and if what I spoke was complete gibberish in her language.

"You talk strange" she said.

Smiling a little, I folded my wings and sat down on the floor before her.

"Maybe I didn't get your tongue completely right?" I asked, and she nodded.

"It's all changed around" she said.

"I apologize, we had to learn it by ourselves. There was nopony to teach it to us..." I let slip.

"Nopony?" She asked me bearing a heartbreaking expression.

Looking down, I nodded.

"But, I..I'm..." She spoke with rising angst

Smiling back, I replied;

"Wonderfully, yes, you are."

Beginning to tear up some, I continued with my voice thick with emotion;

"Whatever exists amongst the stars... Deemed it too soon, for you to....go. And held you in its embrace, in slumber. Until now"

While I had waited for her to awaken, I worked out in my mind; the answers to the big question she would ask. Though I didn't know, I knew that she would need answers. So I gave her the best one I could give. Something that made sense to me.

Swallowing a lump in my throat, I said;

"I think, the same power brought my ponies and I here...to wake you again"

Wiping a few tears from my eyes, I told her;

"It's an honor to meet you. I was worried that.. I wouldn't."

Not meeting my eyes, she asked me;

"Am I the only?"

A little louder than I meant to, I answered;

"No. So many, are nearly ready to wake up again. Will you help me? Help me greet them with a familiar face?"

Her eyes wide, she asked me;

"W-Why me?"

"I ask myself the same question often. But I also ask myself, why not me? I'm here when I might not have been, so I... just do."

Looking at me with a confused expression, I said it more plainly;

"I too, should not have awoken again, a time ago. But I did. We have that in common. And I don't regret it."

Thinking back, I became lost in reflection for a moment, when I realized that I hadn't introduced myself.

"Oh, I forgot. I am princess Brighter Skies. I'm the ruling leader of my kind of ponies. May I have your name?"

Slowly, she pushed out her name. She was still quite nervous, though I didn't expect her not to be. She had been though a lot, thought I didn't know the extent.

"I'm..Rain Drops"

"It's wonderful to meet you Rain Drops. Am I wrong to presume your special talent is mastering rainfall for crops?"

Nodding, Rain Drops added;

"I'm the sixth in succession to lead of the fruit trees orchard, in the east"

To that my expression fell slightly, and she picked up on it.

"What's wrong?"

Signing, I answered her;

"In your absence, the trees have either grown wild, or perished, I'm afraid. The other crops, had fared even worse. There's much work to do, though my ponies have restarted a small portion of each crop."

Getting no reply, I filled the silence a bit;

"I'm sorry, we should have prepared better. But we weren't sure... It will be some time before everypony wakes"

Jumping up, Rain Drops demanded;

"I must see them!"

Nodding, I conceded her demand;

"Of course. I will take you to where they are slumbering and growing. But I must tell you. By just looking at myself, and this place, that our ways are strange to you. And though they are strange, they work well. Same as would a new form of cloud busting or weather making. I ask that you keep that in mind as you see them. Though it will look strange, it is how you slept and became healthy before waking in this bed"

Nodding again, I got up and turned toward the door;

"If you will follow me Rain Drops, we shall visit the place where you were only a few hours ago. Along the way, you will likely see some of my ponies. Please forgive them if they stare. They are a a friendly lot, and are as honored to see you awake, as much as I am."

Leaving the staff quarters, we walked to the lift, where I had a hard time convincing Rain Drops to get into a tiny room with a stranger pony.

Eventually reaching the lower level, her bumping her read on the ceiling of the lift along the way down; we walked out with me stifling giggles as she rubbed her head and gave me an evil eye.

"You should have warned me" Rain Drops grumbled.

"I would have, had I thought you would try to fly in a tiny little room. Why would anypony bother to do that?" I asked her.

"It moved! What pony would just stand there when the floor falls away?" she asked in exasperation.

Realizing that Equus ponies had lifts, where the Gliders didn't, I replied with a simple shrug.

Giving me a huff, Rain Drops stayed in the air, while I walked down the corridor. Every so often we'd pass by a pony that greeted us; Where I introduced Rain Drops, and she learned what a fist-hoof bump was.
My ponies were well familiar with it because of the visitors from Equus.

With a double door sliding open, and a jump from Rain Drops in response, I led her into the incubation room.

Levitating a pad from a console we passed, I walked to the unit Rain Drops was in previously.

"How did you do that?" she asked me.

"Hmm? Do what?"

"That thing, it just came over to you?" she elaborated.

"Oh, I used my magic. My horn"

"That's what that thing does? I thought it was for spearing things?" Rain Drops answered.

"Ouch. No. That would hurt. And just so you know, never hit a pony's horn. Its more unpleasant than you can imagine, and more infuriating to a unicorn than you'd want to experience. If you did, you'd likely consider a spearing, a better alternative" I said with a grin, trying to discourage any thoughts she might be entertaining about weak spots.

"Hmm...Whats a unicorn, and why do some not have wings or a horn?" She asked me.

"There are three types of ponies where I'm from. Some have wings, some horns, some neither, and then there's me; who has all three perspectives of those types"

"Ponies that never fly? That's terrible!" She blurted out, to which I laughed.

"It's not so bad. When you don't have wings, being off of the ground is scarier than the floor falling away. I know."

"You didn't have wings?" she asked incredulously.

"Nope. Nor was I a pony, once" Looking over to her shocked expression, I said with a smile; "but I got better"

Interrupting her reeling mind, I directed her to an empty incubation pod;

"Here we are. This is where you were a short time ago, resting comfortably"

"What do you mean, its a...thing?"

Nodding I answered; "Right, it's just a thing. But it can do much. My ponies ancestors came from such a simple thing, much like the seed of a tree, and fertile ground. I was the seed, and this was the soil. Wonderful futures can grow here, like trees. Its up to the tree and the wind that blows through its leaves, to do the rest"

Thinking it over, Rain Drops asked me;

"Then I came from you?"

Shaking my head, I kept my answer vague;

"No, you were always you. Remember, that you were never really gone. Part slept somewhere I know not where, the rest, was where you lived..."

Pausing for a moment, I couldn't restrain myself from asking;

"If you'll forgive my curiosity, and you don't have to answer, but....what is the last thing you remember before waking and seeing me?"

Landing on the floor, Rain Drops grew sullen.

"I remember... it."

Crouching down, I grasped one of her hooves.

"I'm sorry Rain Drops. I wish I could take that last memory away... But I can't. Many things are beyond my ponies and I"

"Me too. I don't want to remember that."

"Please forgive me, I shouldn't have asked you"

Shaking her head, she told me;

"It's the foals that I'm sad for. They'll remember, too"

Taking a moment to collect herself, Rain Drops asked me;

"My son?"

Giving her a nod, I turned my head to the pad in my hand;

"Of course, give me a moment, please"

Trying to avoid any more questions about those final past moments, I entered Rain Drops unit number on the pad, and cross referenced the Colt she was found with. His was just above hers.

"Could you tell me about him? What did he look like? Had he a cutie mark yet? And, his age?" I asked her.

"He's Nine years old, beige coat with white hooves, yellow mane like his sire, no cutie mark yet"

The description matched the unit above hers. Checking the brain scan showed greatly elevated levels of neurotransmitters.

Standing up, I peered into the incubator with a little colt floating inside.

"I believe he is here. The lack of a cutie mark makes it a little harder to be sure however"

It hitting her like a ton of bricks, she slowly realized that the containers were full of ponies. It had just not clicked with her before.

Turning around, she took in the sight of the hundreds and hundreds of containers; all filled with ponies.

It was a good thing that she had already landed, because she swooned and her legs collapsed under her.

Tapping her leg, I offered her a glass of water.

"What happened?" she mumbled.

"You became dizzy and passed out. Here, some water"

Eyeballing the clear cup, she sniffed the contents and grabbed my wrist to tip the cup.

A moment later, she got back up on her legs and said only two words;

"Which one?"

Placing my hand on a container on the third row up, she hovered up to it, and looked inside.

"I want him out of there, now!"

Nodding to her, I said;

"He can come out now, but he'll be only Eight years old, in pony. If he is to be Nine years old as he was, he must stay in there for a week more, and grow stronger. He's your son, choose his age"

Rain Drops looked angry and conflicted.

"You can stay with him for the week if you wish. I can bring a bed here for you, if you would like?"

With a grunting huff, she conceded to wait.

As the week passed by slowly, I talked with her to pass the time, as did one of the linguists who could speak her tongue.

From time to time, she wandered a couple aisles, looking at the ponies inside. It was like she was trying to find a familiar face.

She helped me put some names to cutie marks, which helped my ponies in deciding which order to accelerate growth and foal from the incubators.

When the week was over, her son was foaled again. He was quite scared at first... echo's of the past.

The strange surroundings at the complex didn't do him any favors either.

Later that day, I showed them both to the exit, the colt buzzing next to his mother. Where they took off and flew over the city a few times, and into a couple of the buildings.

When they came back to the side of the city where the complex was, she talked about how clean it was, and that there was no sign of what happened.

I thanked her for the compliment, and admitted that I couldn't have accomplished it without my ponies help.

Feeling a bit more trusting of the strange ponies she met, Rain Drops vowed to help me wake the others.

She also insisted that they wake up in a room in the city, rather than in the complex. Which made perfect sense.

Over the next half a year, the Gliders all woke, and were reunited with their friends and families.

Though they were friendly, under the surface I could see that they were a little skittish about us. Not surprising after what they remember happening like it were yesterday....

In the end, only their orchards would be of poor production for the foreseeable decade or so, but they compensated for that with larger crops.

Taking down our complex, we replaced it with the crop of their choosing; A carrot-like taproot, I believe.

Bidding Rain Drops and the rest farewell, my ponies and I left Everwind. I placed a few satellites in orbit so we could make sure there were no unforeseen consequences of the compromised orchards.

Beyond that, I let them be, as we had planned in the beginning.

They are still going strong today, unchanged as far as we can see from afar. But who knows?

Hopefully, I lived up to my special talent; in bringing life to a world. And in the process, maybe made the horizon, the skies; just a little bit brighter.

---

The other shoe;

A little while after we left Everwind, and with our attention freed again; More than just my thoughts returned to the Gilata Chi'n T'ali.

More than three decades had passed since we last had dealings with them, and the patrols never encountered as much as a single transmission this far out from their core space.

As the second part of our plan required staying vigilant, it was required that we know if a problem was reasserting itself far off.

The patrols were diverted to the Gilata Chi'n T'ali core worlds' space, to evaluate the situation.

...

They were gone. The core worlds were not just empty of Gilata Chi'n T'ali, but life altogether, save for maybe some subterranean microbes that we haven't found.

What still remained in the upper atmospheres; told the story of what they would do, should they fail their tests of their place in the universe.

I refer you to the analysis reports, should you seek the morbid details, for I will not write them here.

Sufficed to say, that they found themselves bested by another. One of the mockery's, had outplayed them, and I did not appreciate what that meant to them, and what they'd do as a result.

Their cities still stand, the planetside infrastructure still maintaining itself, though it's starting to fail.

Empty tombs, sterile and clean. A monument to so much, yet at the same time; nothing.

I thank the stars that the message I left there has at least been erased, as it was in a way... a mark of death.

Despite my best efforts... I failed, there.

---

We placed all of the ships we built in that time on a planetoid, including the ones used for the patrol. Serving no purpose any longer, it was discontinued.

Storing them all in hopes that they would never be called on again. So far, that has held.

Life continues on for ponies, whether they remain on land, the skies, or amongst the stars.

I hope that the universe, in its course; shall continue to smile on us all, and will forgive me my shortcomings in it.

Comments

[midnight arrow]

interesting chapter