Celestia 1: An Account

Chapter 1: Departures

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"Isn't it exciting?!"

Twilight was an energetic mess, pratically bouncing off of the walls of Fluttershy's house.

"Oh, um...yes. Very...thrilling..." Fluttershy replied, glancing away.

"Its amazing! To be at the forefront of scientific advancement! Think of what we could learn!"

"As...incredible as it is, I just don't understand why I've been invited too. I mean, I'm no great scientific mind...or anything..."

"Oh Fluttershy, think of all the sea creatures! There are bound to be some new species discovered, nopony has ever been that deep down for so long, you're special talent with animals makes you an obvious choice in a project like this." Twilight replied, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, but I couldn't possibly be gone for so long! Who will look after my animals? They'd all miss me, and what if they get scared that nopony is here? And I'd miss my home, and all my friends and-"

"Relax, Fluttershy! Everything is being taken care of, the girls said they were fine with taking care of your animals while you're gone, and you'll still be able to talk with them too! This place has a super advanced communications area, the whole thing is state of the art! Plus, I'll be there too, so its not like you'll be alone." Twilight said with a re-assuring smile.

Fluttershy was very uneasy about the whole thing. She'd been selected to be a biologist on Celestia 1, which, as Twilight had explained to her, was an enormous underwater science lab. They'd chosen her for her experience working with animals, since they were expecting to discover a lot of new life. She had to admit, it was an exciting prospect, but she just couldn't bear to leave her home behind. Although, thanks to Twilight she was starting to come around to the idea. She did say it would all be taken care of... And if Twilight was there with her, she would be much less anxious about meeting all the other ponies at the lab.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

~

It was a little over two weeks since Fluttershy and Twilight had been made aware of their inclusion on the Celestia 1 team. It was an early start for them, waiting at the dock at dawn. It was a chilly morning, wisps of their breath visible in the air. Both of them were still recovering from Pinkie's 'You're going away but not forever so its okay' party, it had been a late night, which is never a good thing preceding an early start. Still, they were here, and they were excited.

The rest of the crew that were to man the station had spent the night on the docked ship. It was a large cargo ship that had been converted to be able to carry ponies and freight. Twilight and Fluttershy were waiting for the boarding ramp to be deployed to allow them onto the ship, but it seemed the crew hadn't woken up yet.

Getting impatient, they decided to just fly onto the deck, Twilight bringing their luggage up with her magic.

"Ah, you're here! I'd just come to lower the ramp, but I'll just go alert the captain that everypony is onboard. We'll be departing shortly, somepony will be below deck to show you to your room." The sailor trotted off towards the bridge of the ship, and the two mares made their way to a door marked 'Stairs'.

They didn't bother unpacking anything once in their room, the journey should only take a day and a half, so it wasn't really worth it. The sea was pretty calm at the moment, but Twilight had been informed by the crew member that led them to the room that it was meant to get rougher towards the end of the day. It didn't really make any difference, it was just something to talk about. Looking out the porthole, Twilight noticed the boat had crawled to a start. This was it, they were on their way.

"Looks like we're on our way!" Twilight practically squeed.

"Oh, I can't wait to see all the little sea creatures!"

"I can't believe I'm surrounded by Equestria's finest scientists! And to think I'll be working with them!"

"Oh yes, its all very...sciency..."

"Come on Fluttershy, lets have a look around this ship, we have plenty of time to kill before we arrive."

The two of them left the room to walk around the giant vessel they had found themselves on. The interior wasn't much to look at, it was just rooms and cargo bays, but it distracted them from the journey, if not only briefly.

Eventually Twilight found herself on the deck, looking out on the vast ocean ahead of the ship, with Equestria behind, growing smaller by the minute. Fluttershy had gone back to the room to catch up on sleep she had missed the night before, leaving her alone on the bow of the ship. She looked off towards the horizon, the ship steadily heading towards it.

"For science."

~

The engineering crew  had been residing in Celestia 1 since the station had been capable of supporting life. It saved a trip to the surface if nothing else, and it sure as hell beat decompression. At the moment they were ensuring everything was fully functional prior to the arrival of the science crew.

The station was built in sections on the surface, and assembled together on location on the sea bed. At the moment they were making sure all the different sections were working together with each other for smooth operation of the facility. Finding only minor faults, engineering reported the 'O.K.' up to the ship's crew.

Rusty Bolts, the leader of the engineering team stared out the window. There wasn't anything left for him to do now, until the science team arrived. Hell, he couldn't even look out the window, one of the faults the team found was that the outside lights in the admin module weren't fully operational, and daylight doesn't reach this far down.

He grumbled to himself, for the time being he was stuck with a section of the facility essentially having mirrors instead of windows. Still, it was a minor fault, nothing that could disrupt the planned order of events. Rusty returned to his desk and brought out a bottle of wine. Well, there was nothing else to do...

~

"Come on Fluttershy! We're here!"

Fluttershy blearily opened her eyes, having slept for much longer than she had planned. The clock told her it was 10:03 AM, she'd gone to bed at 7 last night, so she must have done some serious sleeping.

The ship was making its way to a floating jetty at a grindingly slow pace. That was where they'd all disembark the ship and board the shuttle submarines that would take them to the station.

Twilight had already eagerly made her way up to the deck with her and Flutershy's luggage. Fluttershy took this opportunity to clean herself up a bit before joining Twilight and the others. She was nervous about being around that many ponies out in the open, but if she stuck with Twilight she knew she'd be fine.

The majority of the science team were now milling about on the deck, waiting with great anticipation to get to the research base. Eventually the boat moored with the jetty, and the ramps were lowered. After a few minutes, the first of the submarines arrived. The subs were a small affair, each capable of taking 10 ponies and their cargo.

Twilight and Fluttershy were among the first into the the machines, Fluttershy's nerves picking up a bit now that she was in such a confined space with ponies she didn't know. Still, she was eager to see what lies on the ocean floor, everypony was. There was a sudden crackle as an intercom came to life.

"Helloooo science team! This is Rusty Bolts, head of the engineering team here at the base. Your journey should last about 10 minutes, give or take a few. Enjoy the ride, and welcome to Celestia 1!"

The submarine began to gently glide forward, diving as it went. This was it, they were on their way.

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