Dark Paradise: the TwiLuna Group Collab

Written by: Cytotoxin

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"Do we have any strawberries left?" - a mundane question, but asked in an odd environs, reverberating against the tight metal walls across the little station. Luna frowned and shook the container. It was dishearteningly inertialess.

"Sorry. We finished them last evening. With whipped cream." - a voice responded from somewhere inbetween metal pipes - "There should be plenty of raspberries, though." Heaving a little sigh, moon princess reached for the container. Raspberry wasnt among her favorites, but... Beggars cant be pickers. She scooped out hefty selection of berries, taking care not to let a single one float away, and dumped them into the shaker. A scoop of cream followed.

"Are you gonna be there long?" - she quipped, carefully doling out raspberry-laden cream onto the pancakes and rolling them up - "Hurry before your lunch floats off on a space adventure." Moments later, a lavender hoof poked out from behind the water recycler, followed by the rest of Twilight Sparkle.

"Well, thats it." - she said matter of factly - "I fixed it, but were down to two hundred gallons. Next shipments in a week, so well have to ration the water a little. Hope you don`t mind sharing showers." Luna blushed faintly. Sometimes, Twilight could be brazenly forward without even recognizing it. Considering they were still in kisses and hugs stage, sharing shower was quite a bold suggestion. Still....

"...What is it, Lulu?" - quipped lavender alicorn curiously, as her companion paused to daydream and blush. A moment later it finally dawned on Twilight just what she suggested. The blush was readily doubled. "Im sorry, Im sorry, Im sorry, I didnt mean it like that!" - she offered quickly, rubbing her hooves together nervously - "I swear, I was just thinking about water conservation."

Luna placed her wing over Twilights back, shushing her. "Its OK." - she proffered back, still blushing, but quite at ease - "Nothing to be ashamed of, dear. After all, it`s just practicality, no?" Twilight grinned back gratefully. Her grin quickly grew sheepish, however, as her stomach growled. With a chuckle, Luna levitated a pancake in front of Twilight. "Say aaah, dear."

Dear Princess Celestia.

We are fine here. A little short on strawberries, but next cargo ship should be here in just a week. Terraforming of Equis Quatro is proceeding as planned. Surface temperature is down to ninety degrees in shade already. In about three weeks, we expect ammonia condensate to settle completely. It would be nice to have the comet here by then, but there is no hurry. Cooling has stabilized and even if we were to abandon the project now, the planet would go through the ice age naturally over the course of next few thousand years. Of course, with extra ice to introduce and silver iodide provoking massive downpours over the surface to stabilize the environs into quarter-oxygen atmosphere, we can expect a Green-2 class climate to establish within two years.

Additional weather restructuring will likely be necessary however, or maybe even tectonic engineering. A mountain range along the equator tends to shape the whole climate in the temperate zones to monsoon pattern, but Im confident its effects can be ameliorated with some judiciously emplaced wind tunnels through the range.

How are things on Secundus? Weve heard the news about Raritys new zero-g fashion line, but past that, we`ve been quite in the news void, as it were.

Speaking of news... I have to say - you were right. Its been awkward at first, but me and Luna had reached an accord quite easily. Im sorry for doubting your insight, and you may consider this letter an IOU for one triple-layered vanilla-strawberry-pishachio Pinkie Pie patented party cake.

Yours, Twilight Sparkle.