Speak Not Of The End Of The World

by Shaslan

Closer 2

“Oi, Sunrise. C’mere a sec. I wanna show you something.”

Strawberry looked up from her bunk at the door. A one-eyed, one-legged pegasus was leaning against the doorframe, smirking at her. “Yes ma’am.” She set aside her book and made her way out the door, the other pegasus leading the way.

The barracks was mostly quiet, with only a few pegasi lurking and lounging about. The majority were off enjoying their break from training and resting. Getting themselves ready for the next batch of lessons and drills.

Strawberry didn’t pay any of it much mind. She passed the tests and exams with moderate proficiency, did what she was told, and kept mostly to herself. Her fellow recruits respected this at least and left her alone, to the point where Strawberry barely knew any of their names.

She knew the name of her superior though, mostly because she swore to never let them forget it. Rolling Thunder, the mare made of bricks. The unstoppable force, she liked to call herself. She just couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t let her back up in space again. Not like she needed all her limbs in zero gravity!

“Alright, Sunrise. Today I’m gonna show ya somethin’ that’ll change your life. Turn it right over on its head. You’re gonna love it.”

Strawberry sighed internally. “Yes ma’am.”

“Of all the cadets they throw at me, don’t think I’ve ever seen one like you. You’re almost halfway done with your training, y’know that?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Rolling laughed, rough and harsh. “Yeah, you’re almost outta here, and I still don’t know a damn thing about ya! Neither does anyone else, really. You’re just one big red and yellow mystery.”

They left the housing complex, stepping into the sunlight. Strawberry glanced up at the sky, half expecting to see pegasi floating about in between the clouds, before she remembered how much of a danger it was now to even consider spreading one’s wings.

“Here, this way.”

Rolling moved on at a brisk pace, undeterred by her handicap.

“Tell me about yourself, Sunrise.”

Strawberry thought for a second. “What would you like to know?”

“Hmm. Let’s start with what you think about all this space stuff.” Rolling paused to glance back at Strawberry, almost in suspicion.

“It’s fine.”

“Fine?” Rolling let out a surprised grunt. “Y’know, there’s tons of ponies out there that were right frothing at the mouths to get up in space. But not you. You’re just… Well, you’re just here. Ain’t nothin’ more to it.”

Strawberry sighed quietly as they began to climb a hill. “I had a friend who was excited to get up there. Another who loved the sound of flying. Both of them are dead.”

That brought a swift end to their conversation. They continued to climb the hill until Rolling came to a stop at the very top, slinging off her bag and fishing around in it. “Here we go. This,” she remarked as she drew out a long, wooden object, “is a boomerang. Heard of ‘em?”

“Sure.”

“Neat thing about ‘en is that they always come back to you. Now I dunno about you, but to me, that’s what life really is.” Winding up her foreleg and leaning hard on her prosthetic, Rolling cocked back her foreleg and fired away. The boomerang went whipping through the air, arcing back at its apex before returning right to the spot it had left. “No matter what ya do, things come back. Life’s funny like that.”

Strawberry considered that for a moment.

“That’s why you gotta keep an open mind,” Rolling continued, ignoring Strawberry’s attempts at reminiscing. “Can’t get too hung up on petty grudges and all that. Look at me! Where’d I be if I let a lil scratch stop me? Rolling passed the boomerang over to Strawberry.

“Go on. Give ‘er a whirl.”

From the hill, Strawberry could see the sprawling training campus before her. Plain concrete buildings lacking window and character piled into each other, shades of white and gray against the green knolls around it. It looked like a pile of clay dumped in a park, something so horrifically out of place it felt insulting.

She thought of Cherry. Of Blossomforth and Redheart, and of disappointing her mother years ago. From her vantage point, she could almost see her teenage self walking the paths below her. With a deep breath, Strawberry drew her foreleg back, and with all her might, let the boomerang go. It glided through the air gracefully, like a bird.

“See, there you go! Now, you just gotta…”

…

…

…

“... make sure that whatever you do, your tether does not break. If it does, you’ve got no way of reversing momentum, and you’ll go flying off in space like the proper drongo you are. Clear?”

“Yes ma’am!”

The cadets around Strawberry were brimming with a bright, eager energy, looking like a bundle of oranges in their space suits. Rolling scanned the cadets with a cold, calculating glare, finally focusing on Strawberry. “You get that, Sunrise?”

“Yes, ma’am.:

Rolling seemed like she wanted to needle her more but decided against it. “Alright. Get in here, then. You’re up first.”

With a nod, Strawberry pushed past her jealous crewmates and stepped into the chamber.

The door sealed behind her, in time with a drawn-out exhale from Strawberry. Slowly, things became clear. The ceiling became the floor, the walls became limitless. Strawberry’s hooves left the ground as she drifted up into the air like a lost balloon.

Rolling said something over the intercom, but Strawberry zoned it out. She let herself float as if she were in water, closing her eyes and letting the sensation of nothing fill her mind.

Then, she reached up and caught the boomerang.

Comments

[Bicyclette]

She knew the name of her superior though, mostly because she swore to never let them forget it. Rolling Thunder, the mare made of bricks. The unstoppable force, she liked to call herself. She just couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t let her back up in space again. Not like she needed all her limbs in zero gravity!

aww, very Rolling Thunder for her to be rolling around without half her limbs!

Rolling laughed, rough and harsh. “Yeah, you’re almost outta here, and I still don’t know a damn thing about ya! Neither does anyone else, really. You’re just one big red and yellow mystery.”

so true she is just a big red and yellow mystery

“Here we go. This,” she remarked as she drew out a long, wooden object, “is a boomerang. Heard of ‘em?”
“Sure.”
“Neat thing about ‘en is that they always come back to you. Now I dunno about you, but to me, that’s what life really is.”

and of course you had to incorporate her Australianness into the themes somehow, amazing