Parcly: Though my trip to South Korea was long and wonderful, I still had to make my way back to Canterlot for my birthday party. Having packed my luggage alongside the daily drawings, photos and diagrams that I would bring to Luna later, I found a wide plain with healthy air currents in which I scraped a magic circle. One flash of my horn and I was one with the winds, ready for home.

The very day I was foaled, a spaceship launched carrying Node 1 (Unity) of the International Space Station. I have carried this in my heart ever since I knew about it, but there was still the deeper meaning to explore. Was I destined for the final frontier, an explorer to bring all sentient species together?

My cutie mark is a galaxy, a set of stars — though varying in every way imaginable, they remain bound by their common traits of mass and light. Significance and knowledge, in other words: the two things I have brought to the world from my research.

If I had moved into gardening, my cutie mark would have been a lotus. If singing had come naturally to me, it would be an octave on the piano arranged in a circle. But here I was, 12 kilometres up with a stack of papers to my name large enough to fill an entire bookshelf.

The sky when I set off was coloured like Celestia's mane, light blues with a band of green. As her sun outpaced me, the green became a vivid yellow contrasting with cirrus clouds, thinning into a line; later this disappeared altogether and everything below the horizon was black.

Then I saw the stars above, clearer than the purest of waters. Their movement was intensified by my own flight, playing host to meteors and other rare astronomical phenomena. It had been my lifelong dream to see deep space like this, free of city lights and clouds; to have it on my birthday made it doubly amazing.

As soon as I smiled, however, I felt my body tearing. I was locked in that smile — concentrating on myself was now impossible, and once my horn frayed into fibres I couldn't cast any spells to counter the disintegration! I could only feel as energy converged in my heart, which vibrated and then dissolved into thin air…

——

When I could open my eyes again, Luna was present. "There, up there… you found eternal happiness," she explained. "Everything I've done for you has culminated in this; you became a galaxy, the fulfilment of your cutie mark. I just took a star from there and formed it into your old self."

Through a telescope I eyed my presence in the cosmos, then turned back to see a chocolate cake. "There's still one more thing to do."

"Happy birthday, Parcly."