"Moon River, come in, Moon River." Twilight frantically demanded into the radio. "Something's wrong. You seem to have turned off your engines and your connections are low. Moon River, you've got to get back. Now!"

A dreamy voice came from the radio. "I know. I know. Calm down, my friend. I have nowhere to be and no transmissions to send."

Twilight Sparkle, head of the Celestial Investigation Space Program, was furious. By her side were Rainbow Dash; Deputy Head, Doctor Whooves; space travel expert, and Space Odyssey; Moon River's sister. None of which were ready to lose their traveller to the never-ending void of space.

"This no time for rhymes, Moon River!" Twilight barked. "We've got to get you back! Your oxygen systems would fail, your life supports would blink out, then what would you do? Just float forever in a tin can miles away from home?"

That was when Twilight had hit a soft spot. Not on Moon River; on his sister. Space Odyssey started crying, not massive flows of tears, but a weak, whimpering choke. Rainbow Dash started slamming buttons in a vain attempt to bring Moon River back while Doctor Whooves kept his eyes on the monitors and hooves on the dials.

"I bet my sister's crying now, I'm pretty sure I know why. I'm floating in a rusty tin far above the sky," came the crackly voice from the radio. "But floating through space is really the best place for me, I always was a dreamer and that's all I'll ever be."

"No!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "You could be much more than that! You could... you could be a poet! Or a scientist! Or a teacher! Or a father! Or a hero!"

There was a long pause. Space Odyssey stopped crying. She suddenly looked full of hope.

"Thank you, Rainbow Dash, for showing faith in me, but I always was a dreamer and that's all I'll ever be."

"No!"

Space Odyssey began crying again, sobbing deeply. Twilight Sparkle looked determined.

"We're not letting him go. I'll do everything in my power not to let him go."

With a flash, she was working so fast you could barely see her. Pulling all the levers, pushing all the right buttons, turning the dials and working the systems like never before. Rainbow Dash had never seen her so determined. She wasn't going to let Moon River drift into space and die. Not on her space investigation program.

"Is... is my brother going to die?" came a weak voice from the corner. Doctor Whooves turned and looked into Space Odyssey's scared grey eyes.

But he didn't answer.

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Rainbow Dash said suddenly, breaking the silence. "I remember his voice, his personality, but for some reason I can't remember his face."

Space Odyssey smiled. "He was like me, but shorter. He had shorter hair than mine, of course, but it was the same colour; dark blue with white speckles. He had my grey eyes, my dark blue coat, my moon-rock wing tips, and his smile..."

She slowly drifted off. That shut her up, Doctor Whooves thought. Nice one, Rainbow Dash.

"I remember when I was in flight school with him." Rainbow Dash mused. "He wasn't a good flyer, but he was a good thinker. He always spoke in rhyme. He once wrote a poem, I can't remember all of it, but the first few lines somehow touched me."

This town once had a hero,

But he left the town in shame,

He wasn't that heroic,

But a hero all the same.

"It meant... it meant that even if you didn't succeed, if you at least tried to make a stand, tried to be a hero, you could be a hero, even if you failed."

"Rainbow." Doctor Whooves said. "Get a grip. You're choking up."

Twilight let out a frustrated grunt. "I've lost him!"

Everyone ran over to the far monitor. Twilight Sparkle's head fell into her hooves and she began to weep. She had failed. But she had tried to be a hero. At least she had tried.

"He always used to talk about the 'Great White Infinite'." Rainbow Dash whispered, her voice quiet from fear. "Apparently, it was a white span in the depths of nothingness, where you could achieve all of your goals with a mere touch, where you could have all of the answers to all your questions, and he used to dream about this... nothing but a dreamer..."

"Is this it?" Odyssey interrupted. She was choking with tears, her voice was near unrecognisable. "Is my brother going to die in the cold, vastness of space?"

Nobody answered.

They just stood there, thinking. Twilight had failed. She had let him go, but at least she had tried. Rainbow had remembered, and shown that sometimes, fear is mandatory. Space Odyssey had been taken to the peak of her fear and sadness, but she had to remember the good times.

Doctor Whooves didn't feel a thing. He'd lost many companions. And he knew that life went on.

All of a sudden, a crackle came from the radio.

"I'm stepping out the door now, but just before I go," said the scratchy voice. "Tell my family and friends I love 'em, but I'm pretty sure they know."

Everpony leant in to the radio. Space Odyssey was cracking up with tears, Rainbow Dash looked vaguely hopeful and Twilight Sparkle looked as serious and as driven as ever.

"I'm staring into the Great White Infinite, its light is holding me..."

Slowly there was a pause and everypony feared that the line had gone dead.

"It's even more beautiful than I ever thought it'd be."

Then the line crackled once, and went dead forever. Odyssey wept silently as Doctor Whooves showed her the way out. Rainbow Dash took one look at the space program central, its cold machinery, its buttons and levers.

"Too many memories." she said unconsciously, slipping out the door.

Twilight Sparkle was alone in the cold metal room.

"Moon River... wider than a mile... I'm crossing you in... style... someday..."

Dream... maker...

"You heart breaker."

Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way...

"Two drifters, off to see the world..."

There's such a lotta word t'see..."

"We're after the same rainbow's end...

Waitin' round the bend."

"My huckleberry friend...

Moon River...

"And me."

And slowly, the music coming from the shot wires faded, and it left Twilight Sparkle sitting in the silence with a heart full of guilt and a mind full of sorrow.