It took Nova a few seconds to realise what he was looking at. It was a colossal room, so tall he couldn’t even see the top, as it was hidden in shadow. But the room itself was not what rendered Nova speechless, it was what occupied it.

It looked almost like a long white tree, only without leaves or branches, and made of metal. Nova could just make out a bridge connecting the top of the ship to the wall. Steam erupted from sections of the ship at random intervals from different areas of the long tube. One of these outbursts snapped Nova out of his awestruck gazing as he realised Cobalt hadn’t stopped, and was waiting in an elevator further down the room. Nudging Star, who was similarly paralysed with awe, Nova continued towards the elevator. Looking around, he realised the sheer scale of what he suspected Cobalt had planned. Ponies scurried about everywhere, all seemingly having some task to do. Some wore high-vis outfits, while others carried stacks of papers in saddlebags.

“Impressed?” asked Cobalt, a slight smile spreading across his face. Nova could only nod, his voice refusing to work for him. “I thought so” said Cobalt, “I would be disappointed if you weren’t” the elevator doors hissed shut as Star entered, and it smoothly began to descend. “How deep does this facility go?” Nova asked, as the level screen flicked over to -20, meaning that they were 20 floors below ground. “Only about 40 floors or so” Cobalt said casually. Nova was staggered, 30 floors below ground was not something casual, especially in this day and age. The elevator stopped at -34 and the doors opened to reveal a long cold metal corridor, with doors every few metres. Cobalt led the group to about halfway down the corridor, and opened a door with a scan of his eye from a wall mounted scanner. It beeped and Nova entered to a room dominated by a large table, around which sat 2 ponies.

One was a unicorn, who sat in the corner reading a stack of papers sitting on the table. He was short, probably only about Star’s height, and she must be at most half his age. His mane was well kept, forming a wave of purple hair spilling over a chocolate brown coat. The other pony was almost hidden, standing in the corner of the room, glaring at the group as they entered. She was an earth pony, as far as Nova could tell, spotting no wings or a horn. Her coat was dark green, and her mane was kept short, but it was still a shade of pale blue. “Have a seat” Cobalt said, gesturing to the multitude of empty seats.

“I’m Monoceros Gagarin” Said the unicorn pony, nodding in welcome “But no one calls me that, too much of a mouthful, everyone calls me Buck instead” Star started laughing as soon as Buck was done talking, “What is so funny?” Nova asked, glaring at his sister so hard he could have drilled a hole to the planets core. “Buck!” Star giggled, “That’s a bad word, what we say instead of fu-” she was cut short by the hoof covering her mouth, kindly placed there by Nova. “You know that’s not true Star, don’t be immature” she nodded as Nova removed his hoof, followed by an apologetic glance to Buck. “And because I doubt she’ll introduce herself, that is Alfriston” Cobalt said, gesturing at the earth pony in the corner. A glare from her added the second half of Cobalt’s sentence “But if you ever call her that she’ll break your legs” he said in a voice that betrayed the fact this was an often repeated line. Nova glanced over at the pony “What do I call you then tough gal?” he asked. The pony stared at him for a moment before saying “Alf”

“Well now, you’ve met everyone” Cobalt said, as he walked further around the table towards a projector placed on the table. “I would highly recommend you pay attention now Nova” he said as the projector began to spit out beams of light onto the wall. “This is the Equuleus” he said as a computer generated image appeared on the projection, and immediately Nova was struck by a problem, “That’s bigger than what’s out there” Nova said, nodding his head towards the door. “I’m surprised you noticed” Cobalt said “You aren’t quite the idiot you were back in the day” Nova smirked as Cobalt continued “Nova is quite right, this is bigger than what is in the hangar, and that’s because most of the ship is already in orbit, ready to go” the projection flicked over to a picture of a ship in space, exactly the same as the image previously shown, except missing a piece on the end, which Nova presumed was the cockpit. “We are only missing one piece, and once we have that we will be ready to go” Cobalt said.

“And what piece is that?” Star asked excitedly. Both Nova and Cobalt smiled as Star stumbled right into the verbal trap that Cobalt had set. “Why, that piece is a pilot” Cobalt said. “And who is that?” Star asked, once again falling into one of Cobalt’s traps. Cobalt snorted as he said “Well that depends on Nova” Star gasped as she realised what was happening “You mean that you want my brother to fly that big piece of metal through space?” she asked. Everyone around the table nodded and sighed as the penny finally dropped for her. All Star could manage was a weak “Oh” followed by “Why him?” Cobalt glanced at Nova, who nodded. “Because Nova is one of the last Pegasus ponies left in the world” Star spun around and looked at Nova incredulously, staring at him as if trying to determine the nature of existence. “You’re not a Pegasus, I’ve never seen you fly, or have wings” but her jaw dropped as Nova slowly shrugged off the vest he was wearing, and a pair of powerful wings snapped out.

“But why?” Star asked “Why keep this a secret?” Nova struggled to find the words to explain. “Because I wanted to keep you safe” he said “Pegasus ponies are highly sought after, made into slaves to control the weather” Star slumped into her chair as Nova looked at her. “You’re not mad are you?” he asked nervously “Or upset with me?” it took a moment for Star to reply as she shook her head “I have a brother that can fly, how awesome is that?!” she cried as she ran over and hugged him.
Everyone in the room couldn’t help but smile.

Author's Note

Well Chapter 3. To those who actually give a damn here it is. Sorry the gap between 2 and this is bigger than between 1 and 2, got distracted by other goings on. Enjoy!