Harmony.exe

"No, they're out of range of our radios." The lights in the room turned on and I smiled for a brief moment, before my face went neutral again. "We could try and get the Destiny's communications working. I never tried before because we had little power, but now that we're recharging, I can check. We should be coming out the star soon."

Okay. Okay, that's good! That means that we can just talk to them as soon as we get out of the star!~

Selene smiles and bounces around, still ecstatic from the rush of survival.

"Let's call them as soon as we possibly can, alright? We can't let them get too far away!"

yaaaaaaay, we're not dead.

The fish pone turned a really lovely shade of luminescent orange once she heard the news. I began laughing as she tackled me and swung around. "Oh my god we're alive."

 

I instantly stopped moving and my eyes widened. "Oh my god! The others! They don't know the destiny survived! We need to contact them!"

"Uhhhhh, I don't know how to do that how are we supposed to get them to turn around oh no oh no oh nooooo"

Selene immediately runs out to try and find somebody who can help with this... Or maybe...

Suddenly, Selene runs back over to you. "Scarlett! The radio! What about the radio?!"

I opened my eyes, and I looked around. I was still holding Selene tight. My eyes widened to a ridiculous point as I looked outside the window and saw the star. Or more specifically, the inside of a star. I put Selene down and jumped up screaming "Yes!" I grabbed Selene "We're in the star! We didn't die! Oh my god yes!"

 

The Destiny was flying through he star towards the core. Several pods lowered down from the bottom of the ship and began to take in some of the star itself.

 

https://youtu.be/-rMWGS-yElU?t=55s

Selene opens her eyes quietly, before coming over to watch, her eyes, and pupils, wide open as she turns a beautiful, awestruck bronze orange.

"... The... the ship! The ship-ship is sticking thingies into the shiny fire-lake!~"

Selene laughs ecstatically, tackling you and swinging around happily.

I stopped performing calculations as she jumped out from on my lap. I grabbed her gently and tried to hold her still. "They're fine" They're fine! Don't worry, that was me. You said you couldn't hear my thoughts when I went too fast, so I decided I'd try thinking extremely fast. I figured it would block other thoughts, sorry."

Selene sighs, calming down again before laying down on top of you... she's surprisingly light.

The light of the sun starts to get rather bright now... you're probably moments away from dying from it. It's... kind of beautiful, actually. As if the entire window was on fire.

"Well he's a robot. He doesn't exactly have thoughts you can see. And me, I'm quiet because I'm fast? Give me a moment." I began to run thousands of complex calculations to do with the ship through my head in the background and spoke to Selene again. "How about now? Anything?"

Selene's eyes go wide with a very scared and concerned look.

"What happened to everyone?! Are they OK?! I can't hear them anymore!"

She gets up, flailing around worriedly as she tries to figure out what the hell just happened... Maybe you shouldn't do that anymore...

"His name is Spectre, but Dinklebot is cute as well." I adjusted myself so that she wasn't cutting off the blood supply to my legs. "But what do you mean I'm quiet? Do you mean my thoughts?" Now I'm curious, what are the limits of her telepathic abilities and why am I quiet?

"Yeah! You sound like you're mumbling really quiet and fast all the time, like, 'abubhzhhzhzhhhshhmhmhmhhhmh.'"

She giggles quietly, her tail swishing around a bit.

"And Dinklebot's just completely silent, like a rock. But... yeah. You two are the only ones who aren't always loud with their thoughts. It's... calming."

Did she mean sleep as in just fall asleep? No, wait. She means when we die. Oh. I stroked her head a little again in the hope to calm her down. "Do you always hear what other people are feeling and thinking? I can imagine it might be quite crowded in there when that happens."

"Well... it's kinda like with their voice. The farther away they are, the harder it is to hear... b-but sometimes, they're so loud that I hear it anyways..."

She pauses, lying back down on your lap, cooing quietly.

"You're quiet, though, like the flying robot. Does he have a name? I'm gonna call him Dinklebot, cuz that sounds cute~"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R39e30FL37U

Guys, guys, we get it. Mario's character screwed up. Don't beat each other up OOC.

All right, her senses are stronger than mine. That is in a lot of detail. "At least someone misses me. They're probably just distraught that we're all about to burn." I'm a lovely person. "Sorry... Talking about feelings, how are you feeling about this whole thing?"

"I'm just really tired... all of this yelling and worrying and being angry and scared... I just don't feel like doing it anymore. I wanna... I wanna just go to sleep. Maybe when I wake up, I'll be an adorable little baby again, like all of the priests kept on telling me will happen, if I'm good."

"I wish I could help in the shuttle as well. They do seem agitated." I stopped because I had just realised something. "Wait a moment. Wait a god damned moment. How do you know that they're worried and angry?" Can she sense emotions like I can? Maybe there's some relation to changelings in the Vashti species.

"I can hear them... Lightning's angry at 'Solar', but really sad, too... and the two ladies are really worried about each other... The... the one that's your daughter... she misses you."

Selene frowns with concern, turning a little... bluer. Also, the way she says it, it doesn't sound like just emotions...

I smiled as much as I could given the current situation and carried on stroking the little fish pone. "Hey, so. Is there anything you wanna do? We have a few minutes before we plunge to our deaths into the fiery abyss we call a star." I am so good at speaking to people.

Selene pauses, looking off in the distance quietly.

"... I wanna help the people on the shuttle. They sound worried, and angry. I wanna make sure they're OK."

... This raises a lot of questions. The narrator would post a meme, but that is frowned upon in the society of narrating folk.

I gently stroked her head as she was lying on me. There wasn't much else to do at this point. The shuttle was out of Radio range, and assuming they didn't slow down while escaping the star, they'd be out of sight already. All there was left to do would be wait for a fiery death.

Selene closes her eyes silently, waiting for the inevitable as she just sits there, cuddling with you for some amount of comfort. Her skin turns back to its cool gray, as she becomes completely calm and focused, accepting her fate aboard this doomed ship.

The being curled up beside her lost the to oestrogen bit of her color, which I figured meant she was sad that she'd never swam. "I don't know what it would be like for you, but I love it. The freedom to move in any direction is good. It's part of the reason I go to space. The freedom.

She pauses, tearing up a bit as her skin becomes a confused, muddy color.

"Uh... Heh... that sounds fun~... Heh..."

She just sorta... lies down with you, laying her head in your lap as she stares out the window with a slight look of concern at the slowly encroaching solar object.

I walked into the room after her and lay down on my side facing the front window. "Yea I have been swimming before" I said as my mind drifted back to my adventures on the Equestrian Seas. I forgot to take Caramel and Tyra on that trip I promised. Damn. "Have you?"

"Er... no. I'm a land-born... s-so I thought maybe you could tell me about it. Is it fun?~"

Selene looks at you hopefully, trying to remain happy even though she knows, deep down, she'll never get to experience something that she should have been born into. Her gray darkens slightly, almost impercievably.

I genuinely smiled as she curled up onto my lap. She was like a big cat, which was adorable. Going with the behavior, I stroked her head a little. "Hey, do you wanna go to the observation deck? It would be a nice thing to see before we, well, you know whatswhats happening."

She rolls around to face you. "Hmm... Sure!~"

She bounces off, walking back to the observatory, with you, assumedly, following along. She plops down near the wall, waiting for you to sit down so that she can cuddle some more.

"Hey, have you ever gone swimming before?"

I grinned at her reaction. Even in a time like this, she was still happy. Pure. Innocent. I grabbed a bunch of chocolate bars in my magic. I teleport Ed the chocolate out of their wrappers and eight in front of Selene. I grabbed one with my hoof out the air and started eating it as I sat in my haunches, leaving the rest floating.

Selene grabs each one, systematically tearing the wrapper open and snarfing it down, and the bars are quickly just... gone.

She burps happily, flopping down onto your lap as she coos and turns a neutral, cool gray, her tail swaying peacefully... Wait, did she just purr?...

I managed to put on a fake smile as we walked to the soon-to-be-burnt-to-a-crisp storage room. We hadn't even unpacked anything. I navigated us to one of the crates and opened it. Protein bars. Yay. "Here we go. Protein bars galore. Some are even chocolate bars. What fun."

"CHOCOLATE!"

She turns into even more excited, happy colors, bouncing around and doing rapid little squats as she waits for you to search the crate, chanting with each bounce. "Choc-late, choc-late, choc-late, choc-late, CHOCLAAAAAATE!!~"

You get the slight feeling that she wants a chocolate bar

.

I couldn't agree with what. Nor could I disagree. "Yea" I said, "let's go with that."

 

I glanced back at the shuttle for a moment, glad that my daughter and her marefriend would survive this. I turned back to Selene and said "Right, let's go get some crappy space food shall we?"

Selene bounces excitedly, turning a bright golden shade. "Yaaaaaaay!!~ Crappy space food!~"

She seems rather excited to eat what will undoubtedly be something that's effectively flouride-free toothpaste. Then again... you have no idea when she last ate.

For the first time during this whole ordeal, I genuinely smiled. Even after all of this bullshit, she still retains her innocence and adorable nature. "Yes Selene, we can get you some food. It's not like we're going to have a use for it after the next hour or two." If flame didn't take off now, they would die as well.

"Okay!~"

She pauses at the bit about not using it, coming over and leaning on you in the equivalent of a platonic hug.

"It's okay, Scarlett. The worst that can happen now is if we let our last moments be negative, right? It's not like we weren't going to die eventually, anyways. All that matters is dying in a happy place."

After several posts moments of sitting in the observatory trying to sleep while she stares at the sun, Selene remembered something.

She was still hungry.

@@Mentis Soliloquy, @, @@1Bit, @@Unicorncob, @@Mario3D13, @@Ethan Sawyer,

Selene suddenly comes sprinting down the hall, slowing down once she arrives. She pauses, looking at the ship just as the door closes... and then turns to Scarlett with a sad, sympathetic look on her face as she huffs and puffs from the exertion.

"I, uh... wanted to say goodbye... to them. I mean, I barely had any time to meet them, but at least they could use some sort of farewell, right?..."

"... Too late, I guess... D-does the offer for food still stand after I... yelled at you and stuff?..."

Selene walks back to the gate room, groggily going back to the way the two ladies had gone... and simply lying down in front of it, curling up and closing her eyes in the middle of the floor. Easily stepped over, but easily noticed.

 

She breathes deeply and steadily, falling asleep rather quickly...

She is woken up by an accidental kick from a random pony. Getting up, she just sort of... wanders around, going through hallways, until she eventually ends up in a room with a huge window, with the sun smack-dab in the middle of it.

Huh... this room looks great for... watching stuff in. Isn't it called an... observatory?... oh, well. Might as well just sit here and wait.

Selene leans against the wall, relaxing quietly. She closes her eyes, so as to not look directly at the star.

Selene walks back to the gate room, groggily going back to the way the two ladies had gone... and simply lying down in front of it, curling up and closing her eyes in the middle of the floor. Easily stepped over, but easily noticed.

She breathes deeply and steadily, falling asleep rather quickly...

I snapped. All emotions I had been feeling were suddenly visible through my eyes. "Because one of those two ponies is my fucking daughter. Because the moment they stepped through that next door, they would have been burnt alive from the I side out. Because I k ow there is no way we can save this ship." I stepped towards here with a rage in my eyes that I had never exerted before "And I will not let you stop me. From saving my family."

 

In the background my magic has been I teaching with the console, opening up a direct route to the shuttle from the corridor Solar and amber were in.

Selene tilts her head quietly. She didn't know that Scarlett was related to one of the two ladies. Nor did she know that going outside would burn them.

In fact, at this point, the only thing that Selene knew was that she was tired. Very tired, in ways she hadn't known before. So tired that she didn't feel like... feeling, anything. She just wanted to sleep... and wake up back in Ponyville, where she belonged.

Selene walks back to the gate room... a heavy, unsteady walk, leaning against the wall as she slid along.

I turned to face the Vashti, still keeping my calm appearance. "I'm trying to save eveyon. We have less than 10 minutes before were too close for the shuttle to escape the stars gravity, which means they need to go now." I realised the nearby radio was on, broadcasting to God knows who. I turned it off with my magic and Co to used to face the Vashti.

She just sort of stares for a moment, processing this...

"You're going to just... crush everyone's hopes? You'd rather save two extra people... than prevent dozens of others from dying a horrible death, with the last thing they experience being fear?..."

She just continues staring, her cold, unsympathetic glare seemingly going past your eyes, and just... directly into you.