Ponies on Earth and their New Horizons

by TikiBat

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Bat Pony, Romance, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Human
Length: 92534

All actions have consequences, and sometimes those consequences can lead to new and exciting things!

Set in the Pandemic Universe

All actions have reactions, even if they're not always obvious.

Almost a year has passed since Sapphire Sky, a pegasus from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, brought forth a powerful rain storm that tore through the desert ghost town of Mesa Verde, but also reinvigorated it’s growth into a proper Oasis. In that time new friendships and families have started, and for the first time in a long time things started to feel normal again. For Silver Eclipse, his decision to forgive and move on from the Great Storm paved the way towards an unexpected friendship— a friendship that brought on so many new and exciting adventures in his and Scarlet’s lives.

This is a story about family and friendship, and the new and exciting adventures it can bring to one’s life.

Special thanks to Lawra, Halira, and ASGeek2012 for offering feedback, advice, and encouragement on this project.

And of course, thanks to Lawra, Halira, Javarod, and ModernSilver, for assisting with edits.

Special thanks to:

DoughNut Wubbs
Cotton Sweets
Broken Tooth Rabbit
Ravenpuff
FlagStopAgent
FanDrawsArt
and @ArtTartistry on Twitter for their art used on the cover!

Published 2019-10-06 16:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-10-31 17:12:08 UTC

Chapter 2: Up, Up, and Away

Eclipse Family Christmas

A warm glow radiated from almost every inch of the Eclipse household, the colorful lights outside blinking in tune with the cheerful music that was playing.

Silver and Scarlet sat on their couch dressed in their finest Christmas sweaters, apparel that was mostly unnecessary given their fur, but apparel that kept them nice and cozy in the chilly desert weather all the same.

Their dog Cosmo sat on the ground curled up next to Orion, who was happily chasing his tail every time the dog would wag it. With a smile Scarlet gently lifted Orion up and carried him over towards the tree, setting him down near a large present.

“Well, go ahead, Orion, they’re all yours,” She said with a big smile.

Orion slowly stepped forward and took a few curious glances at the colorfully wrapped presents that sat under the tree, hesitantly nudging the side of one with a hoof.

Silver excitedly nudged Scarlet’s side, leaning in close, “Do you think he’s gonna like it?!”

She smiled, “We just have to wait and see.”

“Should I go help him open it? I mean he’s never had a Christmas like this before.”

Scarlet looked towards Silver and raised an eyebrow, “Silver, he hasn’t had any Christmas before, he’s barely going to be one. Just give him some time to take it all in.”

Silver nodded, snapping a few photos of the colt, “Well I know… I’m just so excited, it’s our first Christmas as parents, you know how I get about this stuff.”

Scarlet smiled, “I do,” She quickly gestured towards Orion who was tapping the side of the box with a very confused look on his face, “Oh Silver look! I think he’s going to try and open it. Why don’t you go show him how.”

Silver slowly trotted over towards Orion, getting down to his eye level, “Hey buddy, are you excited for your first Christmas?”

The colt looked up towards him and then back towards the presents, seemingly unsure of what to do.

Silver pulled a present over and gently pulled at the wrapping paper, tearing a small piece away, “See, just like this,” he pushed the present over towards Orion, “Now you try.”

The colt began to nudge at the paper as Silver excitedly snapped a few dozen photos. A big grin spread across the colt’s purple face and he began to quickly tear at the paper, giggling at the sound it made. More interested in the sound than the presets themselves, Orion jumped up and ran towards the rest of the boxes, roughly tearing at the paper and kicking it around, earning a laugh from Scarlet and a panicked reaction from Silver.

“Wait wait wait! You gotta be more careful! You’re supposed to look at your new toys!”

Orion giggled as he jumped into the pile of torn paper with Cosmo, ignoring Silver’s pleas entirely. Amused at the sight, Scarlet let out another laugh and began taking a few pictures of her own, much to Silver’s dismay.

“You mind giving me a hand here? I want to make sure he likes his toys!”

“Just relax, Silver, he’ll get to that in his own time. Just sit back and enjoy it, it’s so cute watching him play with the paper like that.”

Silver nodded, hesitantly looking between Orion and Scarlet, “I… okay you’re right,” he said, giving her a quick nod.

“I’m going to go make some hot chocolate, do you want a cup?”

Silver smiled, “I’d love that, you want some pancakes too? I could whip up a batch real quick.”

“Only if you’ve got some more of that mango syrup.”

“Ha! Is that even a question?” Silver retorted with a smirk.

“Nope!” She replied, glancing over at Orion who was now snuggled up with Cosmo and a large pile of plush toys in a nest of torn wrapping paper.

Silver laughed, pulling Scarlet in for a warm hug, “Merry Christmas, I love you two so much.”

Author's Note

I know this is a very short chapter, but it's just a surprise Christmas entry that was completely unplanned. Wrote it out as a little writing exercise on Christmas Morning that was meant to accompany some art I didn't have time to make, and hadn't planned on publishing it anywhere. I figured it'd make a nice little prologue to some more of the tender family moments in the next chapter, it doesn't really have any impacts on the story itself.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all had a wonderful day!

After writing this I had some ideas on how to flesh it out and better integrate it into the New Horizons story as a whole, so consider this a little preview of what’s to come down the line. I’ve got a nice long outline of scenes I want to add in sometime soon!

Chapter 3: Chilling in Cooler Climates

Author's Note

Takes place about a month after Eclipse Family Vacation, in late December

Daddy’s Little Demon

The moonlit desert landscape zoomed past them as they drove towards the Phoenix airport. Silver and Scarlet sat in the back seat, Orion cuddled in between them and Marcus in the front. An adventurous-sounding melody played over the radio in the background, almost seeming to emphasize the journey that was about to take place.

“Okay so you’ve got everything you need right? We’re not forgetting anything?” Silver asked her for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Scarlet laughed and rolled her eyes, “Silver, I’m good. I don’t need to bring that much with me anyways, just the essentials for the trip.”

“Alright, alright, I just want to make sure you’ve got everything. This is kind of a big deal, after all.”

She smiled. “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I’m good. Crescent’s already got my notebook, and I’ve got all the books and notes I needed to bring over.”

The van pulled up towards the curb and came to a stop. “Alrighty, this is the end of the line,” Marcus cheerfully called back to the family.

Silver nodded towards him, “Thanks Marcus, go ahead and find a spot to park for a few. I’ll give you a call once we’re ready to go.”

He returned a quick nod, “Gotcha boss.”

The trio hopped out of the shuttle and Marcus pulled away while Silver walked Scarlet into the terminal and towards the airport’s security checkpoint, Orion happily trotting alongside the pair.

The trio stopped a short distance away and Scarlet turned towards Silver, hesitating for a moment, “So this is it. I’m actually going to go map out another world’s stars.”

Silver gave an excited nod, “Yep! You’re about to become an interdimensional traveler! How does it feel?”

She shrugged, “I mean, I’m a little nervous, but I think it’s exciting. It’s going to be weird being gone for so long, but this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Well you never know, maybe you’ll impress them and they’ll let you come back again. This could really be the start of something big you know?”

Scarlet smiled, “Of course, I know it’s only for this one project but hey, never say never. If I was able to impress Crescent’s boss then maybe there’ll be more chances like this in the future.”

“Yeah, and hopefully we can come along next time too.” He added with a smile, pulling Orion close to him with a wing.

She looked down towards Orion, “And you’re going to be good for Silver, right?”

The purple colt nodded excitedly, pushing away from Silver to cuddle up closer to her.

“Good, I’m gonna miss you, little buddy, but I’m only going to be gone for a little while.”

Silver sighed, “It’s sure going to feel like so much longer, but I’m glad you have the chance to do this. Who knows when you’ll ever have the opportunity again?”

She pulled him into a hug, draping her wings around both him and Orion, “I know, don’t worry though, I’ll be home before you know it. Are you sure you’ll be able to manage everything on your own though?”

Silver nodded. “Yeah, it can’t be too bad, right? I mean, I’m just watching Orion, keeping an eye on the house, and keeping us fed. I think I can handle this for a month, what’s the worst that could happen?”

She smirked. “Oh, I can think of about a dozen things that could go wrong, but if you think you’ve got it, I'll take your word for it.”

He smiled, “Thanks Scarlet. You’re gonna have such a fun time, the least I could do is make sure you don’t need to worry about us while you’re gone.”

“Okay, well I really appreciate it.” She shifted her saddlebags into a comfortable place on her back and looked towards the security checkpoint, and then back towards Silver. “Oh, and one more thing, if any of the night pony mares try and make a pass at you while I’m gone, they better know that they’re going to regret it when I get back.”

He chuckled, “Oh believe me, they know better than to try and make a move on me when you’re gone.”

She nodded, “I know it’s redundant now, but it’s going to be an issue to watch out for when Orion’s older, especially given how much we already travel outside the Oasis as it is. That’s why this is so important to me.”

He paused and nodded, “You don’t need to stress about it, I’ll make sure that they get your message loud and clear. You go and enjoy yourself and let me worry about everything out here. It’s not every day that you get to just hop dimensions and go look at another universe’s stars after all, I’m kind of jealous to be honest.”

She glanced down to her gauntlet to check the time, and then back over towards the checkpoint. “Well I better get going,” She pulled the two in for one final hug and a kiss goodbye. “I’m going to really miss you two, but I’ll be back before you know it.” She paused, “Please please please promise me you won’t burn the house down Silver.”

Silver smiled, "I promise I won’t burn the house down. We’re gonna really miss you too, I can’t wait to hear all about your trip once you get back, now you go have fun!”

She smiled and walked towards the security checkpoint as Silver raised his gauntlet and started to call Marcus. The moment he took his eyes off of the purple colt, he started to run over towards Scarlet, no doubt confused as to why she was suddenly leaving the pair. Noticing this, Silver immediately ran after him, Quickly pulling him close and comforting him.

“Hey buddy just relax, I know it’s confusing to you, but mommy’s just going on a vacation. You’ve gotta stay here with me okay?”

Orion glanced back over towards Scarlet with a concerned look spread across his face and tried to wriggle free, finally relenting when Silver pulled him closer. He sniffled a few times as Silver embraced him.

“Don’t worry little buddy, it’ll all be okay, I promise. I’m gonna make sure you have such a fun time that you won’t even realize that mommy’s vacation is over.” He said reassuringly.

Silver’s gauntlet chimed once, as Marcus’ voice came through, “Silver? What’s up? Are you all set?”

Without breaking his embrace, Silver spoke back a quick reply, “Yeah Marcus, we’re all set. Go ahead and pull up and we’ll meet you outside. I’ll just be waiting by the door with Orion.”

“Alright, see you in a few minutes boss.”

“All set to go Silver?” Marcus asked as he opened the van door.”

Silver nodded, gently lifting Orion off of his back and setting him into the van, “Yeah, mind if we just hang out for a little white? I just want to watch the planes take off for a few if that’s okay.”

Marcus shrugged, “Sure, I’m on the clock so that’s fine with me.”

“Thanks friend,” Silver added with a smirk.

He hopped into the van and Orion excitedly jumped onto his lap, immediately looking out the window as Marcus walked around the van and took his seat.

He buckled in and put his car into drive, pulling over to find a parking spot with the view that Silver had requested. Meanwhile Silver’s thoughts drifted to what the next month would have in store for him. Orion at least seemed to be in better spirits now, which brought a smile to Silver’s face as he watched the colt excitedly take in his surroundings, but he knew he wouldn’t stay this way for long. It was only a matter of time until the colt realized that something was up, and Silver knew that he would be in for a rough ride if he didn’t take charge and keep a hoof on the situation.

“This work for ya boss?” Marcus asked, pulling Silver from his thoughts.

Silver looked around and nodded, “Yeah, thanks Marcus. I just want to clear my thoughts a bit before we head out. My uncle always did this when we’d fly, it gave him a sense of peace even when he knew that he’d probably never know which plane we were on.”

“Hey whatever works for you man, I’m just glad to help.”

Silver smiled, “Thanks Marcus.”

The human nodded, “Any time boss.”

Silver stepped out and set Orion down, watching as the Colt excitedly started jumping around on the pavement. He smiled at this sight and looked towards the runway, watching the different airplanes take off, making sure to keep Orion in his peripheral vision. “It’s sure gonna be a long month, Marcus.”

Marcus nodded while typing away on his phone. A few minutes passed before he turned towards Silver, setting his phone aside for the moment, “Don’t you two spend some time apart when you go on trips anyways?”

Silver nodded his head, “Sure, for like a week, maybe even two, but we’re still able to keep in touch while we’re apart, be it through the dream realm or just plain old calling. We can’t do either of those this time.”

“Aha, I see. So basically this is the first time you two have ever been away from each other for any significant amount of time without the ability to actually chat.”

He nodded, “Yep. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m really happy for her, but it’s just a weird feeling knowing that she’s going to be gone for a month and there’s no way to get ahold of her. I mean, having Orion around is nice, but it just feels like we’re both already missing something.”

“Your better half, eh?”

He smirked, “You could say that.”

Marcus patted him on the back. “Well, I’m sure you’ll survive, it’s only a month, what's the worst that could happen? The whole place goes up in flames and we enter defcon one?”

Silver let out a few laughs and glanced over towards Orion, who was chasing a nearby lizard around, “You never know. I’ll get over it though, I mean it’s just taking care of a restless foal from the tribe that’s known for their protective and aggressive instincts, who's never been apart from his mother for more than a day and is starting to show signs that he’s not going to be so docile anymore.”

He let out a chuckle, “Ahh yes, so he’s becoming one of the little diablos that I’ve heard so much chatter about then? Sounds like you already know what you’re in for.”

Silver nodded, “I kind of have an idea, I guess we’ll just see how well it goes. He’s only a foal, what's the worst he could do?”

Marcus gave him a quick pat on the back, “Well good luck man, I think you’re gonna need it.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “You think so?”

Marcus simply laughed, “Ha, that’s a good one!”

Silver sat in the front seat with Orion cuddled up next to him. The colt was still awake, though for now he just sat staring out the window. The early morning sun had started to rise, and was shining brightly on the landscape, making Silver squint his eyes reflexively every time they passed a reflective road sign, Orion on the other hoof was perfectly fine with the bright world outside, finding more interest in it than Silver would have guessed a foal could find, especially a night pony foal. He never ceased to be amazed at how foals could find something interesting in seemingly mundane and boring experiences like a car ride. Still, Orion’s wide eyed interest in the world outside never failed to bring a smile to Silver’s face.

Marcus turned the music down just low enough so he could actually hold a conversation and gestured towards the air controls. “Getting enough air? You’ve kind of been silent this whole ride.”

Silver flicked his ears without thinking, shaking his head and then turning towards Marcus. “Yeah, sorry, just thinking about what I’m going to do for the next month. Usually we take turns watching him during work, but he’s gonna be with me 24/7. It’s exciting, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but it’s just a lot to plan out right now.”

The human nodded along, “Well why don’t you just relax and take it easy for a little while, you’ve got the next couple days off right? Just hang out and spend some time bonding with him, worry about planning work around it later. I know Diamond’s going to understand.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “You think? I mean he’s always been really accommodating for stuff like this, but I don’t want to make him do all the work when he doesn’t need to. It’s just not fair you know?”

Marcus nodded, “Isn’t that what the whole executive reshuffling was for? Setting up directors for the core divisions that answered to you two so you wouldn’t have to spend so much time making every single decision? Plus he hired that dull unicorn for a reason too right? What was his name? Harding?”

Silver shook his head, “Hard Case. He’s definitely a bit dry but the stallion really knows how to get things done.”

Marcus smiled, “Well there you go, see? It’s gonna be a breeze. Hell I’m sure Scarlet will be back before you even realize it, so you might as well just spend as much time as you can bonding with the little diablo.”

Silver let out a few laughs, “Oh come on, he’s not a diablo… yet.” He looked down at Orion, “I mean, you don’t think he is… right?”

Marcus chuckled to himself, “I guess we’ll wait and see.” He straightened up in his seat and pulled in towards the city gates, flashing his ID to the guard. “We’re almost home, you want me to just drop you off at your house?”

He nodded, “Yeah, please. Are you going back to the advanced systems lab or do you have the day off?”

“Nah, I’ve got the day off, why?”

“Oh nothing, I just wanted to talk with Tinker and Sprocket about the memo they sent me. It’s no big deal though, I can handle it later..”

“More of their standard fare budgetary requests?” Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I think so. I’m sure they’ll wind up talking about city infrastructure again. They’ve been pestering me to approve the budget for the new APMs but we’re still dealing with construction delays on the new sectors so that’ll probably get pushed back a few months while we sort some contractor issues out.”

“Did you guys think about requesting some more funding from Sunset Blessing?”

Silver nodded, “That was one of their proposals, but I’d rather do this on our own. We’re almost close to paying her back for the initial land purchase too, Patrick said we should be able to finish up payments within the next fiscal year.”

“And then we’re done working with her?”

Silver shook his head, “No, not yet. She’s got some intriguing assignments so we’ll probably stick with her for as long as we keep getting those.”

“The extra cash influx is useful, eh?”

“Oh, more than you’d think.” He said with a smirk.

“Well we’re almost there, same time in a month?”

Silver nodded, “Yeah, thanks for the ride Marcus.”

Marcus hopped out of the van and walked around to open the door for Silver. Orion jumped down and rolled across the ground, earning a few laughs from Silver and Marcus.

“Alright man, let me know if you need anything alright?”

He nodded, “Alright.”

Orion looked around at the empty home and then back towards Silver, giving him a look of confusion.

Silver smiled, “Alright buddy, it’s just you and me until mommy gets back home in a month. Are you ready to have a fun time?” He excitedly asked the colt.

Orion glanced around again and returned with the same confused stare.

“Don’t worry pal, we’re going to have so much fun! We’ll watch movies, play games, you won’t even realize she’s gone!”

His face creased in worry, as if the thought of her not being around was the worst kind of fear imaginable. He quickly began to trot around the room, letting out a few sniffles as he hurriedly dug around every nook and cranny in search of Scarlet, much to Silver’s concern. Silver trotted over towards the colt and pulled him close with a wing, “Hey hey, calm down, buddy. I know you’re wondering where mommy’s at but it’s okay. I promise she’ll be back soon, she’s just on a little vacation, just like the ones I go on.”

The colt glanced around a few more times before snuggling up close to him, earning a smile from Silver. “There you go, see? It won’t be so bad. Now why don’t you go grab your toys and I’ll get some dinner, we can play until bedtime.”

After a few more glances around, Orion excitedly ran off towards his room while Silver trotted towards the kitchen. Their old rescue dog Cosmo perked up from where he was sleeping on a bed in the corner to greet Silver with a wag of his tail and a cheerful sounding bark the moment that he walked into the kitchen.

He smiled, “Let me guess, you’re hungry and already miss Scarlet too eh?”

Cosmo barked again.

Silver chuckled, “I figured. Just hang on pal, let me grab you something too.”

He reached into the pantry and retrieved both the dog food and a box of pasta. He quickly filled Cosmo’s bowl and then began to start on their own dinner.

As he brought a pot of water to a boil he couldn’t help but wonder what Scarlet was up to. A twinge of worry also passed through him as he glanced back over towards Orion’s room, The colt wouldn’t take to being apart from Scarlet well, and even he was starting to wonder what the next month would have in store.

As much as he had travelled during the early days of getting the Oasis set up, he was still able to actually talk with her while he was away, and even then his trips never lasted more than a couple weeks at most. This was new territory for all three ponies and he wasn’t sure whether it would be an easy month or a challenging one. He could hear a few soft crashes coming from Orion’s room, no doubt from the colt excitedly digging through his box of toys looking for whatever wound up being his favorite. Night pony foals had a well earned reputation of being called “diablos” by some of the local residents in and around the Oasis, and he could definitely understand why they earned that nickname.

Night ponies in general were more aggressive and protective than the other tribes, and even though Orion was still young, it was clear that some of those instincts were starting to take hold. Seeing that the water had come to a boil, he added in some noodles and gave them a few stirs. Orion cheerfully trotted out of his room, dragging a blanket with a bunch of his toys on it behind him, grinning proudly.

Silver smiled at the sight, “You’re not a little diablo right buddy? You’re gonna be good for me while mommy’s gone?”

The colt let out a series of giggles and started playing with his toys while Silver watched on, unsure of what the month would have in store.

Silver was peacefully resting in a dreamless sleep. It wasn’t something he did often, but sometimes he just wanted to sleep in peace and rest without distraction. Cosmo and Orion had gone to bed curled up together next to him, something that the dog no doubt enjoyed given that he would normally sleep at the foot of the bed alone. The house was peacefully quiet, almost painfully so.

A dull thud followed by a loud crash from somewhere in Silver’s room pulled him from his sleep, causing him to jump up out of bed and run towards the sound with reflexes that only a father could have. Cosmo jumped up and chased after him, curious to see what all the commotion was about.

Silver immediately caught sight of the colt in the act of climbing up his bookshelf. Much to his surprise, Orion was holding onto the shelves with his wings and reaching up towards one of the small plush toys that sat on top of the shelf. As Orion reached in vain, the shelf began to rock back and forth, threatening to tumble over entirely, causing another gasp of worry from Silver. He quickly but carefully grabbed Orion and pulled him loose from the shelf, making sure it was secure and earning a few annoyed flaps from the colt’s wings.

Silver gave him a quick pat on the back to get his attention. “Hey hey hey, calm down, it’s just me.”

He gently set Orion on his bed; a large mattress covered with an assortment of pillows and blankets, then he leaned down to get to Orion’s level, “Hey buddy, you really scared me. I’m not mad but you need to be more careful next time, please promise me you won’t do that again, okay? Now what were you trying to get?”

Orion looked up at the shelf again longingly. Silver followed his gaze, noticing which plush Orion was after. He nodded and stood up, pausing as he noticed what he had missed initially. The lamp that had formerly sat on the desk next to the bookshelf was broken into a handful of sharp glass pieces on the floor. He sighed and carefully stepped over it, grabbing down the stuffed night pony plush that resembled Scarlet and handing it over towards him. “Okay, is that better?”

Orion smiled and pulled the plush close to him with his wings, burrowing into the pile of blankets and cuddling up next to the plush Scarlet.

He breathed a sigh of relief, “Alright good. Please come get me if you need anything else okay? Just… just stay where you’re at while I clean this up real quick okay?”

The plush in question was one half of a set that was made to resemble the couple, an odd pair of items to have in the house, but it was a wedding gift from Scarlet’s grandmother and they couldn’t say no to her, not after she had painstakingly created them.

Silver started to sweep some of the glass together as best as he could. There were still a few small pieces left, so he’d have to get the vacuum… and hope that Cosmo and Orion wouldn’t freak out at it.

An idea hit him, and Silver walked back over towards Orion, “Alright buddy, we’re gonna go to the living room so I can clean this up, you’re gonna have a little sleep over with Cosmo while I do this. That sounds fun right?!”

The colt smiled and ran towards Silver, pulling the plush with him. Silver carefully picked him up and trotted out to the living room, pulling his door shut behind him as they walked out.

He laid out a few blankets on the low sitting couch and gently set Orion down on them, calling the dog over too.

“Alright Cosmo, please keep an eye on Orion.”

Cosmo responded with a bark, walking around in a circle and then cuddling up next to Orion.

Silver paused for a moment, debating whether he should get a picture of the adorable moment before running to go handle the broken lamp. As much as he wanted to capture this moment to share with scarlet, a quick thought back to the glass on the floor and needing clean it up while the two were docile settled the debate for him. He calmly walked back towards his room, grabbing the vacuum from the hallway closet on the way over.

Not wanting to waste any time, he swept up the larger lamp pieces into a bag and set it to the side. There were still smaller pieces of glass on the floor and even though they probably wouldn’t cut up their hooves, Silver didn’t want to take any chances with leaving them there in the open. Wanting to get this done as quickly as possible, he turned on the vacuum and finished cleaning up the broken glass before Orion and Cosmo could react to the loud noise.

Happy that everything was all safely cleaned up, he turned off the vacuum and sat down for a moment. Just as soon as he thought that everything had gone off without a hitch, he heard another crash from the living room, earning another panicked reaction from Silver.

He darted out into the living room and gasped in shock as he watched Orion climbing into the empty space on the entertainment center where the TV had formerly resided. The TV in question was now lying face down on the floor, but that was the least of his concerns right now.

He ran over towards the Colt, unsure of how to respond. “What’s gotten into you little buddy? You’re gonna give me a heart attack at this rate!”

Orion simply giggled and hopped onto Silver’s back. Silver trotted back over towards the couch and set Orion down again, this time making sure that he was still visible in his peripheral vision as he leaned down to inspect the broken TV.

Convinced that Orion wasn’t going to run off again, he turned to lift the TV up, sighing as he noticed that the screen was damaged with big black marks spreading over the LED like stripes. He pushed it off to the side, suddenly hearing the fast paced clip clop of hooves on the tile followed by a series of frantic barks as Orion suddenly started chasing the dog around the living room.

Silver watched as Cosmo ran in between the couch and lamp, getting tangled up in the tall lamp’s cord in the process and pulling it over and into the wall with a yelp. Orion began to giggle as he ran towards Cosmo, finally pushing Silver over the edge of what he could tolerate right now.

“STOP!” He shouted out, causing Orion to stop in his tracks.

The colt started to whimper as if he thought that Silver was mad at him, noticing this Silver quickly ran over and scooped him onto his back, taking the time to untangle the dog from the cord too. He trotted back towards his room, double checking that the glass was fully cleaned up.

He set Orion down into his bed with the Scarlet Plush close by and got down to his eye level. He shook his head, “I’m not mad at you buddy, you just scared me is all. I don’t know what we’re gonna do, but Scarlet’s going to kill me when she hears about this.”

Orion cuddled up to the plush and proceeded to let out another series of giggles.

Silver calmly walked through the old courthouse with two student teachers, a green pegasus named Lightning Glow, and a maroon night pony named Moonlight Star. The two had petitioned for a school to be opened in the Oasis, and were more than happy when Silver had agreed to take them on a tour of the different buildings that might be suitable for the pilot program that they were proposing.

Orion was cheerfully trotting around the large meeting room they were currently standing in, running wild, but calm enough that Silver didn’t have to worry about him. The colt had scared him with his series of stunts a week ago, but had stayed relatively calm up until now. It was clear that he had a ton of energy that needed to be put into something, and as long as he wasn’t doing anything dangerous, Silver could tolerate it.

“So I know that this is one of the older buildings, but it was fully renovated and reinforced. For a while it was the old courthouse, but it could easily be converted into a small school, at least for your pilot program. We can always look into expansion and purpose building something at a later date whenever the need arises for it.”

The maroon night pony nodded, “How’s the power grid here? I know some of the older buildings weren’t all up to code yet, it’s important to know because if we’re going to be serving everyone here the lights need to be running at night.”

Silver nodded, “Perfectly reasonable question Moon, part of the renovation involved getting this up to code so we could actually utilize it for more than just storage, I know that a lot of old town will probably go unused after we start expanding, but I wanted to make sure we could utilize it as best as we could before then.”

She nodded, “I know that the foals here are too young to start formal education, but I want to make sure that everything’s up and running before we get to that point, measure twice cut once as they say.”

“Will the shuttles service this or is it worth petitioning for a dedicated school shuttle?”

Silver looked towards the pegasus and nodded, “Of course, right now I don’t think we’ll be able to fit a dedicated shuttle into phase one, but there’s an existing stop outside that’ll service it. We’re looking at a handful of foals right now, probably a few dozen more by the time this needs to be fully running, if the demand is there by then we can look at fitting that into the revised transportation budget. I know Sprocket and Tinker have been getting on my ass about getting that up to speed.”

While the three were chatting away, Orion took it upon himself to clumsily climb up onto the stage that was set at the far side of the room and began jumping up and down, giggling at the hollow sound that the stage made when he landed on it, a sound that was now echoing through the room.

Thud

“Obviously we’ll need to clear out the building and possibly modify the layout, but I’ll leave you two to decide. Keep in mind that this will probably only serve as the preschool long term, and maybe up to second grade if there’s a need for it in the immediate future.”

Thud

“Well this room could work as a multipurpose room, the kindergarten I went to as a foal basically had one big room divided up into four classrooms that way, but they could open it up more as needed.” Moon added

Thud

“Ooh yes, I like the idea Moon! There could even be a—”

Thud

The two paused as they started to become acutely aware of Orion’s antics. They slowly glanced over in the colt’s direction, much to the confusion of Silver.

Thud

“What’s up? Was it something I said?” Silver asked, raising an eyebrow.

Thud

Lightning awkwardly smiled, “Silver, does your foal… is he umm... always this energetic?”

Silver glanced over to the colt, who was still excitedly jumping around on the stage, oblivious that he was starting to become a nuisance, “Yeah no, he’s kind of going through a phase right now. I’m trying to give him some slack and let him get his energy out in a safe way… sorry if it’s bothering you, I can go get him if you want.”

Moonlight stared on with an understanding look, “He’s becoming a diablo…”

Lightning gave her a small jab in the side, “No it’s fine, don’t worry. I can kind of understand, at least if what Moon told me is anything to go by.”

The hollow thuds were growing louder as the colt started jumping around in more varied patterns, giggling like he had discovered a new and exciting way to have fun that no one had ever tried before.

Silver let out a sigh, “Just give me a moment,” He turned towards Orion and began to sternly raise his voice, “Orion please take it down a notch…”

The colt only began to jump faster, much to Silver’s annoyance.

Silver closed his eyes for a moment and turned back towards the two, letting out a breath, “Alright, give me just a moment, he needs to learn that he has to follow my rules instead of making up his own.”

Lightning was about to speak up, but Moon quickly shushed her, “It’s a night pony thing, there’s a reason why we call em’ diablos here.”

Lightning returned a quick nod and watched on as Silver trotted towards the colt, who proceeded to jump off the stage and start running around like an excited dog. The more Silver would chase him, the faster he would run until the two were practically engaged in a full on race around the meeting hall.

“Orion enough is enough! You need to stop right now!”

The colt only responded with a series of giggles and began to rapidly zigzag around Silver, earning a chuckle from Moon as the poor director tripped and fell, sliding into a wall and letting out a pained grunt. Orion pounced on him earning another groan of pain.

Lightning looked towards the maroon night pony with a look of concern, “Should we help him?”

Moon let out another chuckle, “No, it’s just a phase of night pony development… one that I don’t think Silver was prepared for.”

“And you were?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Moon shrugged, “I had Marco to help, Silver’s wife’s off in another world right now, I can’t imagine it’s been easy for him dealing with it alone. I’m sure he’ll figure it out on his own in due time…”

Silver slowly walked back up to the pair, completely out of breath, “I’m… I… Sorry about that…” He took another moment to compose himself, letting out a deep breath as Orion continued to happily trot around the three, “Look, this is highly unorthodox, but considering that the closest school is almost 2 hours way, I’m going to run the budget proposal over to Patrick and fast track it for you. Why don’t we break for now and meet up in an hour, we can look over what needs to be done before I head home for the day.”

The two looked at each other with a bewildered expression before Moonlight Star spoke up, “This uhh—”

“—Works great for us! Thanks so much Director Eclipse—” Lightning excitedly finished.

Silver raised a hoof, “—Just Silver, please. I know I’m the director here but we don’t need to act so formal. Hell I’m sure we’re all in the same boat, if we’re going to operate as a private city we should probably make sure our foals are getting a good education that isn’t going to set us back four hours each day, I’d say that’s more than important enough to warrant fast tracking.”

The maroon night pony nodded, “Glad we can all see eye to eye on that,” She paused and looked over towards Orion who was currently trying to scale the wall with his wings, “Uhh… Silve—”

Without a second thought Silver followed her gaze and bolted off to grab the energetic foal, “Orion NO! I told you no more climbing until mommy gets home!”

As he reached up to pull the colt in, Orion leapt off of the wall and landed on Silver’s back, much to the older night pony’s relief. Silver glanced back over towards the two teachers who were staring at him with a look that was a mixture of concern and intrigue. “He’s not a diablo… I promise!”

The maroon night pony returned a look of understanding and nodded, no doubt fully aware of what Silver had been going through. “Good luck boss, you’re gonna need it.”

Silver gave a quick nod and trotted towards the door, hoping that Orion would settle down for the trip back to City Central. With a sigh, Silver raised his gauntlet and began to speak a command, “NAVI, Please schedule a budgetary meeting and send an alert to Patrick, ASAP.”

One Moment Director… Meeting with Patrick scheduled.

Silver breathed a sigh of relief, “No more games Orion… please.”

The colt simply giggled and snuggled up closer on Silver’s back.

Over the next week Silver had taken to keeping a close eye on Orion, and much to his relief there hadn’t been many other incidents of note. Any time that the colt would start to act up he’d immediately jump into action and find something that Orion could do to wear himself out. So far Silver’s plan had worked save for a few small slip ups and a few broken shelves.

Silver sat in his office working away at his desk while keeping a close eye on Orion, who was playing in the corner with some of the toys that he had brought along. The diablo was docile for now, but Silver knew that it was only a matter of time until he slipped up and let his guard down. Orion would recognize that moment and strike when he least expected it.

He glanced back to his computer for a moment, and then back towards where Orion was, suddenly noticing that the colt had trotted towards one of the large bookshelves in his office.

A smirk spread across his face as Silver jumped up and ran over to him before he had a chance to even touch the case, “Oh no you don’t! We’re not having another cookie jar incident this time!”

He scooped up the colt and trotted over towards Diamond Glider’s adjacent office, giving the door a quick knock.

“Come in!.. Oh, Silver, what’s up man?”

In a deadpan serious voice, Silver answered his friend. “The little Diablo’s growing restless. I’m going to go break for lunch early and take him out to the park to play. I’ll be back in a few. If anything comes up just give me a call.”

Diamond chuckled, eyeing the two, “Got your hooves full? It’s fine, I understand. Good luck man.”

Silver walked out to the balcony and set Orion down for a moment, tightly wrapping his hooves around him so he wouldn’t be able to wriggle around. He gently took off and began to fly down to the park that was set up near City Central. He came to a soft landing and set Orion down, double checking that the park gate was closed and secure.

“Okay little buddy, we’re gonna have a fun time here and you’re not going to get into trouble again, okay?”

The colt giggled and nodded, quickly taking off and running a few laps around the playground. Silver ran after him and jumped up onto the equipment, calling him over towards the slide.

“Come on buddy, you like the slide right?”

Orion ran over and jumped up the steps, trotting towards the slide and eyeing it with hesitation at first. Silver picked up on this and inched closer to it. “Look it’s fine, I’ll go down with you if you want.”

Orion hesitated for a moment, but finally started to trot towards Silver. He pulled him close and held onto him as the two went down the slide together, earning an excited squeal and big happy grin from Orion.

As they touched the ground Orion jumped up and excitedly ran towards the top of the equipment again, jumping up and down a few times before bravely sliding down the slide once more.

“See?! It’s fun right?!” Silver excitedly cheered at him.

Orion giggled and proceeded to run back to the top again and sliding down a few more times. By the eighth or ninth time he was out of breath and desperately in need of some water.

Silver smiled and picked him up, bringing him towards the water fountain. As Orion drank, Silver could only smile at the thought that his plan had worked. He had caught the colt before he had a chance to cause trouble and had successfully worn him out enough that he’d likely be ready for a nap when the two returned to his office. Plus he was able to share a few adorable moments with his son, and he wouldn’t trade any of those for the work he was currently missing.

Silver glanced over towards Orion, chuckling as he noticed him carefully trailing a small insect. “Whatcha got there buddy?...” he paused as he noticed that it was a small harmless spider, a sight that still sent a shiver down his spine. “That’s uhh… that’s quite a find… maybe we should stay away from it— NO!”

Before he could even finish Orion pounced on the spider and quickly ate it as if it was some kind of treat, much to Silver’s horror.

With wide eyed panic he immediately shouted out to the colt, “Orion! Spit that out right now, that is not candy!”

The deed was already done however and Orion only returned a happy grin, much to Silver’s dismay.

Silver looked on with a mortified expression on his face. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO He quickly thought to himself in a panic as he raised up his gauntlet to make a call. “Navi call Dr. Wayne Marshall on the priority line.”

Calling Dr. Marshall. Please standby.

Silver pulled Orion close, keeping an eye on him as the Oasis’ resident doctor answered the comm.

“Ah Silver, good morning. What’s the problem?”

Without hesitation Silver quickly broke into a frantic explanation. “Doc, I don’t know how to explain this but I’m with Orion at the park and he just ate a spider. Should I be concerned?”

“Fascinating, I haven’t heard that one yet.” The unicorn answered in genuine interest.

Silver’s eyes widened more, “What do you mean fascinating?! Doc, should I bring him in?”

“Do you know what type it was?”

“I… uh… guess it was just a daddy long legs, should I be worried?”

“You guess or you know?”

Silver rolled his eyes, “I know… look, you know I hate the things, is Orion going to be okay?”

Marshall laughed, “Of course, if it’s just a daddy long legs he’ll be just fine. It’s not exactly common out here but it hasn’t been unheard of for Equestrian night ponies to eat insects for protein. It maybe wasn’t the healthiest choice for him to just eat it off the ground, but he should be perfectly alright.”

“So you’re saying that he’s just going to eat insects now?!”

“Well no, at least not unless you specifically prepare them for him. He’s a night pony though, your tribe has that subtle predatory instinct that he’s probably just now acting on. Just keep an eye on him and discourage him from eating anything you don’t specifically prepare and you’ll be fine.”

The color seemed to drain from Silver’s face, “So you’re suggesting that I prepare spiders to eat now?!”

“Only if you want, I’d suggest you give it a try though, you might find that you enjoy it more than you’d think.”

Silver sighed and tried to clear his head, “Thanks Doc, I’ll uhh… give you a call if I need anything else answered.”

“Please do, take care Silver.”

The call ended and Silver got down to Orion’s level. “Okay buddy, I don’t know how I’m going to explain everything to scarlet, but we’re going to have a safe and fun rest of the day at home, where you can’t eat anymore spiders.” He sighed, I thought I had every single angle covered… Scarlet’s never going to let me live this down.

Orion simply giggled at him again as Silver carried him up to his office.

“Alright buddy, we’ve only got a week left, I really need you to be on your best behavior okay? Please?”

Silver sat by the luggage carousel with Marcus and Orion, who was currently trotting in a circle around the two.

“Does he uhh… ya know, ever get tired?” Marcus asked in curiosity.

Silver shook his head, “Nope. You were right though, he got over Scarlet being gone real fast… and decided to suddenly gain a bunch of energy too.”

The human let out a few laughs, “Well I guess I can see why they call ‘em diablos now.”

After what felt like an eternity he finally spotted Scarlet walking through the arrival gate. With a newfound energy, he picked up Orion and excitedly trotted over towards her, catching her by surprise with a tight embrace.

The very exhausted looking Stallion pulled her into a tight hug while Orion excitedly ran up to her, bringing a smile to her face. “Scarlet, I’m so glad you’re back home! I missed you so much!” He said as if he was relieved that she was back.

“Silver— what’s gotten into you?” She questioned in a daze, the sing songy quality of her voice standing out more now that she was back on Earth.

“I just missed you. I knew taking care of a night pony foal on my own would be hard, but man, it’s a lot harder than I thought! Your voice sounds beautiful by the way, is that a hint of Equestrian I’m hearing?”

She returned the embrace and held him close for a few moments, glancing down towards Orion who was excitedly jumping around, “Well… I’m glad you had some time to really appreciate the miracle of fatherhood… So how was it? The house isn’t a wreck I hope?”

He broke the hug and let out a nervous chuckle as he looked down at Orion, who had a large grin on his face, “Yeah… about that… He’s uhh… well you missed his diablo phase— but I think he’s over that now!”

She let out a sigh and shook her head, worried at what the response would be, “Silver…”

He began to gesture around with his hooves, “Don’t worry though, I figured out how to keep him calm and It’s only a few holes in the wall!.. and some broken dishes here and there— don’t worry, I cleaned up the glass right away and no one got hurt! And uhh… oh, he also kind of got into the pantry and figured out how to climb up to the top shelf— we’re gonna have to fix those too. Oh, and the TV’s broken…”

She quickly cut him off, “Okay, how about you tell me what isn’t broken? I feel like that’s going to be a lot easier.”

“Well the windows are good, and he didn’t break the other TV… Oh and I got the most adorable pictures of him snuggling up with Cosmo and that plush your grandmother made for us… So uhh.. How was your trip?”

Unsure of how to react to the news, she simply let out a flurry of laughter, catching him off guard entirely, “Silver, it was great. I’ve got a few souvenirs for you two and I’ve got enough notes to write my own book… Sounds like Orion really gave you a run for your money though.”

Silver let out a few nervous chuckles and waved her towards the exit, “Yeah… we can talk about that over dinner, why don’t you tell me all about your trip on the ride back? I’m Sure Orion’s dying to get some attention from you too.”

Scarlet looked down at the excited colt and smiled, “Is that right now? Well how was your month little buddy? I’ve got some presents for you that I think you’re gonna love!” She reached into one of the bags she held at her side and pulled out the spider plush, earning a nervous glance from Silver.

Orion excitedly jumped over towards the plush, pulling it close and holding it tightly, earning a happy cheer from Scarlet. She glanced over towards Silver, walking towards him with a grin, “I know you’re gonna hate this, but I’ve got a new recipe that we have to try sometime… baked tarantula— I know you don’t like spiders but it’s meat we can actually eat and you don’t know what you’re missing, trust me!”

She felt a twinge of guilt as the color seemed to drain from Silver’s face for a few moments, “Yeah… uhh there’s one other thing I forgot to mention… Orion kinda tried that out on his own too and I think he’s a fan…”

She raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that… he didn’t get into too much trouble right?”

“He uhh, well he ate a spider but Wayne said it was okay and actually suggested trying it myself… I guess I know what’s for dinner then?”

Scarlet let out another series of laughs and shook her head, “I feel like your month might have been just as exciting as mine.”

Silver nodded, “Oh you don’t even know the half of it… It’s great to have you back home though, I think I need another vacation after this, maybe we could take a trip to the lake when we get back?”

Scarlet smiled, “I’d love that, we’ve got so much to share with each other.”

Chapter 4: Picture if You Will

Author's Note

Part 1 of Scarlet's perspective. Huge thanks to Lawra for letting me use one of her characters and for contributing some ideas to this chapter.

Takes place about a month after Eclipse Family Vacation, in late December

Star Struck - Part 1

-=Part 1=-

The moonlit desert landscape zoomed past them as they drove towards the Phoenix airport. Silver and Scarlet sat in the back seat, Orion cuddled in between them and Marcus in the front. An adventurous-sounding melody played over the radio in the background, almost seeming to emphasize the journey that was about to take place.

“Okay so you’ve got everything you need right? We’re not forgetting anything?” Silver asked her for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Scarlet laughed and rolled her eyes, “Silver, I’m good. I don’t need to bring that much with me anyways, just the essentials for the trip.”

“Alright, alright, I just want to make sure you’ve got everything. This is kind of a big deal, after all.”

She smiled. “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I’m good. Crescent’s already got my notebook, and I’ve got all the books and notes I needed to bring over.”

The van pulled up towards the curb and came to a stop. “Alrighty, this is the end of the line,” Marcus cheerfully called back to the family.

Silver nodded towards him, “Thanks Marcus, go ahead and find a spot to park for a few. I’ll give you a call once we’re ready to go.”

He returned a quick nod, “Gotcha boss.”

The trio hopped out of the shuttle and Marcus pulled away while Silver walked Scarlet into the terminal and towards the airport’s security checkpoint, Orion happily trotting alongside the pair.

The trio stopped a short distance away and Scarlet turned towards Silver, hesitating for a moment, “So this is it. I’m actually going to go map out another world’s stars.”

Silver gave an excited nod, “Yep! You’re about to become an interdimensional traveler! How does it feel?”

She shrugged, “I mean, I’m a little nervous, but I think it’s exciting. It’s going to be weird being gone for so long, but this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Well you never know, maybe you’ll impress them and they’ll let you come back again. This could really be the start of something big you know?”

Scarlet smiled, “Of course, I know it’s only for this one project but hey, never say never. If I was able to impress Crescent’s boss then maybe there’ll be more chances like this in the future.”

“Yeah, and hopefully we can come along next time too.” He added with a smile, pulling Orion close to him with a wing.

She looked down towards Orion, “And you’re going to be good for Silver, right?”

The purple colt nodded excitedly, pushing away from Silver to cuddle up closer to her.

“Good, I’m gonna miss you, little buddy, but I’m only going to be gone for a little while.”

Silver sighed, “It’s sure going to feel like so much longer, but I’m glad you have the chance to do this. Who knows when you’ll ever have the opportunity again?”

She pulled him into a hug, draping her wings around both him and Orion, “I know, don’t worry though, I’ll be home before you know it. Are you sure you’ll be able to manage everything on your own though?”

Silver nodded. “Yeah, it can’t be too bad, right? I mean, I’m just watching Orion, keeping an eye on the house, and keeping us fed. I think I can handle this for a month, what’s the worst that could happen?”

She smirked. “Oh, I can think of about a dozen things that could go wrong, but if you think you’ve got it, I'll take your word for it.”

He smiled, “Thanks Scarlet. You’re gonna have such a fun time, the least I could do is make sure you don’t need to worry about us while you’re gone.”

“Okay, well I really appreciate it.” She shifted her saddlebags into a comfortable place on her back and looked towards the security checkpoint, and then back towards Silver. “Oh, and one more thing, if any of the night pony mares try and make a pass at you while I’m gone, they better know that they’re going to regret it when I get back.”

He chuckled, “Oh believe me, they know better than to try and make a move on me when you’re gone.”

She nodded, “I know it’s redundant now, but it’s going to be an issue to watch out for when Orion’s older, especially given how much we already travel outside the Oasis as it is. That’s why this is so important to me.”

He paused and nodded, “You don’t need to stress about it, I’ll make sure that they get your message loud and clear. You go and enjoy yourself and let me worry about everything out here. It’s not every day that you get to just hop dimensions and go look at another universe’s stars after all, I’m kind of jealous to be honest.”

She glanced down to her gauntlet to check the time, and then back over towards the checkpoint. “Well I better get going,” She pulled the two in for one final hug and a kiss goodbye. “I’m going to really miss you two, but I’ll be back before you know it.” She paused, “Please please please promise me you won’t burn the house down Silver.”

Silver smiled, “I promise I won’t burn the house down. We’re gonna really miss you too, I can’t wait to hear all about your trip once you get back, now you go have fun!”

She smiled and walked towards the security checkpoint as Silver started to call Marcus. Scarlet glanced back at them one last time as she entered the line and felt a twinge of sadness that the two couldn’t come along. Orion had tried to run after her the second Silver looked away, and it only made that feeling of sadness spark up even stronger.

Orion probably had no idea where or why she was going and Scarlet could only hope that he wouldn’t give Silver too much trouble while she was gone. It would be a long month for all of them, and she would miss the two dearly, but she was excited for her trip and the exciting new adventure that lay ahead of her.

Scarlet had passed through the security checkpoint without any issue and had quietly found a cozy spot near the gate to relax in until it was time to board. Given the time, the flight was mostly empty, which was perfectly fine for her. It felt like it was just yesterday that she was flying to Michigan with her family, and now only a month later she was flying to go visit another world on her own. Technically she wouldn’t be alone for the entire journey, she would be meeting two other humans once she arrived in New York.

Currently Scarlet sat in the aisle seat of the pony section, listening to some peaceful music with her eyes closed. The trip so far had been relatively uneventful, with her resting this way through most of the flight. She had always liked to glance out the window occasionally, but the stallion that sat next to it had kept the shade closed, much to her disappointment. Scarlet shrugged at this thought and figured that she couldn’t really be that disappointed. If she had really had an issue with it she could have gone to one of the other empty seats. It wouldn’t be much longer until it was time to touch down, but she was more than ready to disembark. As much as she could tolerate long flights in these kinds of settings, she was ready to stretch out her wings and move around.

It wasn’t that she was completely uncomfortable, the extra space that the pony section offered was a nice perk, but flying in an airplane as a pony was still an odd feeling at times. At least she could get some much needed rest, she’d definitely need it. There was no real telling when she’d be able to make it back this way, but given that Silver wanted to bring her and Orion along on some of his trips going forward, she was sure they’d make it back over sooner or later.

A quiet chime sounded throughout the cabin as the flight attendant began an indifferent sounding announcement. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are beginning our descent, please return your seats to the upright position and stow your tray tables. We’ll be touching down in a few minutes.”

Scarlet opened her eyes at the announcement, quickly stashing her headphones into her saddlebags. She peeked over towards the window, and shifted them into a more comfortable position.

The pegasus next to the window stirred and cleared his throat for what felt like the first time the entire flight, pulling her attention away from her thoughts. “So, this your first time in New York or do you live out here?”

She turned towards him, “Hm? Oh, just visiting. Haven’t been here in a while, at least not as a pony. My husband and I wanted to take a trip down here after we had our foal but we never found the time. I don’t really know when or if I’ll ever get back out here so I’m definitely going to take advantage of it while I have the chance.”

He smiled, “Well you’re in for a treat then, the city seems so much bigger as a pony. Lived here for a few years before ETS and I still feel like I’m rediscovering the city for the first time whenever I fly back in. Just a fair warning though, keep to the ground, the humans are a bit uptight about flying around the city.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Really? Why’s that?”

He shrugged, “They think we’re just going to fly into an engine intake or something, name’s Skipper by the way.”

She nodded, “Scarlet, Scarlet Eclipse.”

“So what do you do, Scarlet? Couldn’t help but notice your mark. You into stargazing or something?”

She nodded, “I’m an astronomer out in Arizona. Haven’t really had a chance to do much yet but we’ve been working on some prototype telescopes. I’m actually taking part in some cultural exchange in Equestria, can’t really say much about it, but they needed a few Earth based astronomers to help oversee a project.”

“Oh! I’m talking with a big shot?” He asked in mock excitement.

She shrugged, “I wouldn’t say that, I just happened to have a friend who put in a good word for me. I’m in charge of a small team back home, in a private city called the Oasis, not too far from Phoenix if you’ve ever been down that way. The astronomy stuff is only a small part of it, but I like to think it’s a pretty important one.”

Skipper looked on in interest, “Huh, well that’s not something I tend to think about. I can’t say that I’ve ever really been out that way, is the stargazing any good out there?”

“It’s amazing. We’ve designed the city so there’s as little light pollution as possible, really gives you an amazing view of the night sky. So are you into astronomy too or something?”

He shrugged, “I dabble from time to time, it’s kind of hard to get a good view of the stars, all the bright lights and whatnot, and well, I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time. I’m a fisherman by day so It’s kind of just a hobby for me, but nothing I’d say I’m any good at.”

Scarlet smiled, “Hey, a hobby is better than nothing, as long as you enjoy it then that’s all that matters. Keep at it, I’m sure you’ll get good at it if you just take some time and learn what works and what doesn’t.”

Skipper gave a quick nod, “I’ll have to remember that the next time I give it a go.” He paused for a few minutes and peered out the window, “Well, we’re about to touch down. It was a nice chat though, hope you enjoy the city.”

“Thanks,” She paused for a moment, “Skipper, was it?”

He nodded. “Yep, kind of a dorky name for a fishing boat captain, but that was my old nickname and it got its hooks in me.”

She let out a small laugh, “Thanks Skipper. If you’re ever in the Phoenix area, look me up, my husband Silver and I would love to give you a little tour of our observatory. If you’re seriously looking to get into astronomy it might at least be a cool thing to see.”

He nodded, “Can’t say I’ll ever get down there, but I’ll definitely think about that if I ever have the chance.”

She faced forward and prepared herself for landing, both nervous and excited at the adventure that lay ahead. The plane trembled slightly as it neared the runway, finally touching down and slowing to a taxiing speed.

The announcement chimed once again, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking, we’ll be pulling into the arrival gate shortly, until then we ask that you please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened until the seatbelt sign has been turned off. On behalf of myself and the rest of the crew, thank you for flying with us today, and welcome to New York.”

Skipper chuckled, “Freedom at last. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to flying this way as a pony, but it’s a necessary evil, I guess.”

“Mhmm, It’s definitely odd but at least we get the nice cushy seats in our own little section. I used to hate dealing with the cramped seats that the humans get.”

“Tell me about it, used to get the worst cramps in my neck,” He cracked his neck as if to emphasize his former discomfort, “anyways, you take care Scarlet, hope you enjoy our city.”

She nodded, “You too.”

Scarlet walked out towards the baggage check area, glancing around the area until she noticed a pair of humans that fit the description of the two she was supposed to be meeting, sitting off to the side of the carousel. As she took in the unfamiliar surroundings, a feeling of nervousness passed through her.

The momentary feeling of worry quickly passed, and seeing no real reason to hesitate, she slowly approached the pair. As she neared them the woman glanced over towards her and said something to the man that Scarlet couldn’t make out, before walking towards the luggage carousel.

With a cheerful smile on her face, Scarlet calmly trotted towards the remaining human, who returned a smile of his own. “I’m sorry, but are you the astronomers I’m supposed to meet up with?”

The human who she could only assume was Tyler nodded, “Let me guess, Scarlet?”

She relaxed a little and returned with a quick nod. “Yep, that’s me! Nice to finally meet you.”

Briefly glancing to the side, Scarlet noticed the woman walking back over from the carousel, carrying a couple small bags in tow. The human calmly turned towards Tyler, “This the pony we’re supposed to meet up with?”

Tyler nodded, “Yeah, perfect timing. Scarlet, this is Sarah; Sarah, Scarlet.”

Sarah set the bags on the ground next to her and extended a hand in greeting, “Pleased to meet you! We’ve heard a little bit about you, you’re running some observatory out in Arizona right?”

Scarlet met her greeting with her hoof and nodded, “Right. It’s nothing huge yet, but we’ve been working on a new prototype telescope. It’s not too different from anything you guys would be used to using, it’s mainly scaled down so it’s more comfortable for ponies to use, while still functioning the same as the others. I’ve also been studying some Equestrian astronomy books I was able to borrow from a good friend of mine, that’s been a fun challenge in itself.”

“Sounds fun, we’ve done some barebones research into Equestria’s stars, but we haven’t been able to get ahold of anything substantial on them. So are you guys having any luck with the prototypes?”

“Oh absolutely, it wasn’t as hard to scale them down as we thought it would be. The big project I’m really looking forward to is taking what we’ve done and expanding on it,” Scarlet excitedly explained.

Sarah leaned forward, “Like upgrading your tech? That’s kind of cool. Did you guys manage to get anywhere with that yet?”

Scarlet nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah actually, the advanced systems team back home was working on a new processor, it’s still a very early work in progress but I hope we’ll be able to upgrade our control computers with it. The other teams have been trying to downscale some of the existing tech so it doesn’t need to take up as much space as it does now, that’s still a bit of a work in progress.—”

Tyler cut in, “I hate to interrupt, but we should probably catch a cab over to the UN and talk about this more on the way there, I’d hate to be late and give off a bad first impression to whoever we wind up meeting on the other side.”

Scarlet and Sarah turned towards him and nodded in unison while Tyler reached down and grabbed his bag, waving the other two towards the exit. The two quickly followed him out and waited off to the side while he hailed a cab for them.

Tyler paid the cab driver and collected their bags from the back, pausing to make sure they were all set to go.

While the trio walked towards the imposing UN building Scarlet couldn’t help but marvel at how tall it and really every other building in the city appeared. She had visited large cities before as a human and had thought everything felt so big then, but her experience as a pony only served to make her feel even more out of place among the towering structures.

Sarah let out a few laughs as she took in Scarlet’s awestruck, almost bewildered expression, “So this your first time in the city?”

Scarlet blinked a few times, almost seeming to come out of some trance. She looked up towards Sarah and answered with a quick nod, “As a pony… is it that obvious?”

“Ehh… a little. The bewildered looks kind of give it away.” Tyler added with a smile.

“To be fair, this whole place just feels so different from the last time I was here, and that was so many years ago. It’s hard to really compare the two because both times I felt so… out of place, if that makes sense.”

Sarah shrugged, “Hey, can’t really blame you, but after today I think something like this is going to pale in comparison.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What she means is that we’re about to become universal travelers. It’s not that’s just something that anyone’s able to easily do.” Tyler answered for her.

Scarlet nodded, “Right, that’s pretty much exactly what my husband said, and that’s a pretty good point. We should probably get to it instead of just standing around staring at a bunch of skyscrapers all day.”

Tyler nodded and pushed the door open, holding it for the other two as they stepped into the spacious lobby. Almost immediately, a pair of attendants approached them.

The first one, a larger man with a name tag that read Barney, who looked as if he was in his mid forties, stepped forward to greet them. “Hi, do you three have an appointment here?”

Tyler nodded, “Yeah, we’re taking part in a cultural exchange with Equestria. Part of their new astronomy program that was set up not too long ago.”

He nodded, looking down to the tablet he was carrying, “Alright, could I please have your names?”

“Tyler Anderson.” He turned towards Sarah with a smirk, earning an annoyed look from her, as if there was some inside joke that Scarlet wasn’t aware of.

Sarah gave a quick reply that seemed to carry an annoyed tone with it. “Sarah… Conners.”

Barney let out a snicker, “Off to go stop terminators in Equestria eh?”

She rolled her eyes, “Gee haven’t heard that one before… ”

He nodded, stifling a few more chuckles, “Mmmkay, and you?” He asked as he turned to look down at Scarlet.

“Scarlet Eclipse,” She replied with a cheerful grin.

He checked off a few items on his tablet and smiled. “Perfect, you’re all checked in, we’ll just verify your identities at the desk over there, and then Storm Comet can direct you over to the portal security checkpoint,” He finished, gesturing towards the pegasus at his side.

Storm comet gave a quick nod, waving them along with a wing. “We’ll stop through the security checkpoint on the way there, you’re aware of how this all works correct?”

Sarah cleared her throat, “Yep, we declare what we’re bringing, acknowledge what we can and can’t bring back, yadda yadda, you get the idea.”

He rolled his eyes, “Okay. Just making sure, a lot of travellers don’t have any idea what the actual rules are and wind up getting into all sorts of trouble. They wait months, maybe even longer to get a chance to go through the portal and then they don’t even bother to learn the rules.”

Tyler chuckled, “Trust me, you won’t have to worry about that with us, we’re professionals, not just some random tourists passing through.”

“That’s good to hear! If you don’t mind me asking, what do you guys all do?”

“Well Tyler and I were interns at the VLT installation down in Texas. It’s part of a big research project dealing with deep space astronomy. After college we were able to stay on and work with the team full time. Had some colleagues in the program that were able to get us in contact with the Equestrians, and well, here we are.” He said, gesturing towards himself and Sarah.

“And I’m the lead astronomer at a private research center in Arizona called the Oasis.” Scarlet added in.

A look of curiosity and interest spread across Storm Comet’s face. “That was that little desert city that got washed out by that freak storm right? What was the deal with that anyways?”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, “I’m actually kind of surprised you’ve heard of that, we worked really hard with some… friends, to make sure that that whole event was kept on the down low. It’s usually only been the weird oddballs that are into strange and unusual stuff that wind up asking about it, and to answer your question, it was a big misunderstanding between some weather ponies, but I’m afraid I can’t really get into any more detail with it.”

He chuckled, “Oh, I’m sure it was. I myself am a little strange and unusual, I love reading up on weird unexplained paranormal occurrences and a freak weather event kind of fits that bill perfectly. If anything big like that happens I usually find out about it one way or another.”

The warm smile returned to her face as she listened to Storm Comet explain everything. “Well it’s not exactly my kind of hobby, but that’s certainly better than having occult nutjobs show up unannounced on private land asking about whether aliens created the storm or not. Believe me, we’ve heard about every random question and conspiracy theory you could imagine.”

“I can imagine that’d be annoying.” He paused for a moment, “Anyways sorry to lead you off on a tangent like that, the checkpoint’s just ahead. I’ll be leaving you all there, if you have any questions one of the guards there will be able to answer them.”

Tyler smiled, “Thank you, Storm.”

He nodded. “Take care.”

The group stepped forward into the portal’s security checkpoint. The first thing that stood out to Scarlet was how different the checkpoint was to what she was imagining. Instead of the clinical checkpoint that you’d find in an airport, this checkpoint was a simple room with a few unicorns, crystal ponies, and human guards stationed around the portal. A standard bag scanner sat at the front of the room, but aside from that and the portal, the rest of the room was relatively empty.

One of the tall human guards approached the group and came to a stop, “Good afternoon, please set your bags on the conveyor and head over towards the unicorns, we’ll just need to perform a quick magical scan to make sure you don’t have anything that’s not allowed over.”

“Are we going to feel anything from it?” Sarah asked inquisitively.

The guard shook his head, “Maybe a slight tingle, but nothing really at all. The scan is non invasive and we’re just making sure that there’s no contraband being brought over.”

“Sounds fair enough.”

“Now, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you all bringing along?”

“Not a whole lot, just some clothes, books, and notes,” She said, gesturing towards herself and Tyler. “What about you Scarlet?”

Scarlet looked up as she set her small saddlebag onto the conveyor, “Just some notebooks and my gauntlet, it’s basically a phone mixed with a smartwatch, though it probably won’t work over there.”

“And you three are just going to be over there for one month, correct?”

Tyler nodded, “Yep, just a short research trip for now. Hopefully we’ll be able to stop by again sometime, though.”

“Okay, well you’re all clear to go. You’re aware of what you can and can’t bring back, right?”

Sarah nodded, “Mhmm, they included a list of prohibited items on those forms we had to sign before.”

The guard shrugged, “Alright, just making sure because they will be checking for them on the way back, as long as you’re clear on that we’re good. Enjoy your trip.”

Sarah smiled, “Thanks, we will.” She started towards the pair of unicorns that stood in the middle of the room, grabbing her bag as she walked by.

The larger of the two mages smiled, “Good afternoon miss, please set your bag to the side, this will only take a few moments.”

Without a moment’s delay, the two unicorns lit their horns and quickly enveloped Sarah in a magical aura that only lasted a few seconds.

A few moments passed before the aura faded, leaving Sarah standing there in confusion. “Was that it? It’s not some big complicated process?”

The shorter mage nodded, “Yep, you’re all clear to go.”

Sarah nodded, “Well thanks I guess, try not to work too hard okay?”

“Mhmm.” The mage rolled his eyes and turned towards Tyler, who was now just collecting his own bag. “You can leave the bag the for a moment, this won’t take long.”

“Hi. Scan away please.” He said as he stepped into place, letting the mages quickly envelop him in their magic.

Just like with Sarah before, Tyler was enveloped by the same magical aura that ended almost as quickly as it started. He stepped off to the side and gestured towards Scarlet. “You’re up.”

Scarlet stepped forward and before she even had a second to react, her vision was tinted a sparkling red that quickly faded. She blinked a few times and turned towards one of the mages, “That was it?”

The shorter mage nodded, “Yep. Like he said, it only takes a few seconds and you usually don’t feel a thing.”

“Huh, well I guess I was expecting more… maybe I’ve just been spending too much time around the mages back home.”

The mage shrugged, “Maybe, anyways you three are all clear to go. Portal’s just ahead, feel free to proceed as soon as you’re ready, though I’d suggest you not dawdle.” He finished, gesturing towards the portal that sat only a few feet away from the scanning area.

Tyler looked on at the portal like an excited child would, earning a laugh from Sarah as she took notice. He turned towards the two and smiled, “Welp, this is it! You wanna go first Scarlet or should we let Sarah lead the charge?”

“You’re letting me have the honor of going first? You’re not getting cold feet are you?” She teased.

Tyler smiled, “Alright, guess that answers it, see you on the other side, Sarah.”

Sarah smirked at him and stepped through the portal, vanishing into the strange gateway.

Tyler was next, stepping up and pausing for a moment. He turned towards Scarlet, “You ever get that weird feeling of anxiety when you’re faced with something you thought you’d never get to do?”

She nodded, “Right now actually.”

He gave a quick nod, “Right, glad I’m not alone.” He turned back towards the portal and stepped through without any further word.

Scarlet hesitated for a moment and then walked up towards the portal and took a breath. It was an odd feeling knowing that she’d literally be leaving the only world she had ever known, even if only for a month. As normal as this all seemed to be for ponies like Sapphire, Scarlet still couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. People just weren’t made to comprehend the idea of slipping between worlds she guessed.

Not wanting to delay any further, Scarlet stepped through the portal and felt an odd sense of excitement and unease come over her as she passed from one universe and into another. What surprised her most of all was how unremarkable the experience felt despite the unknown nature of it all hyping the experience up for her. It was as if she had simply walked through a door, though the reality was far more complicated than that.

Tyler looked around the crystalline room that the group found themselves in, “Well, that was…”

“Kind of unexpectedly normal?” Sarah finished.

“That’s what I was just thinking,” Scarlet answered as she looked around at the room, immediately noticing that everything was designed with ponies in mind first. Despite being set in the large crystal palace, it was clear that her two human travel companions were the odd ones out here. A smile came across her face as she took everything in.

“Hey Scarlet, you ready to go? They’re about to cast the translation spell for us.” Tyler asked, pulling her back to reality.

She blinked a few times and turned towards Tyler and giving him a quick nod.

“So are you able to speak it or something? I know you said you borrowed some Equestrian astronomy books from a good friend right?” Sarah asked in fascination.

Scarlet shook her head, “No actually. I can kind of work my way through written Equestrian, though I’m still a bit rough. I tried to figure out spoken, but it’s just so different from anything I’ve ever seen. Lots of little intricacies that were hard to figure out on my own and I didn’t want to bother him by asking even more questions than I was already asking.”

“Well, lucky for you, there’s a spell for that.” The trio looked towards the dark purple night pony who was slowly walking up towards them, “I would say that you three seem rather lost, though I can not imagine where it is that you might be found in the first place. The name’s Starry Skies; I will be your guide for this journey.”

Scarlet smiled, happy that another night pony was present, “Nice to meet you, Starry; so what’s this about a spell?”

One of the mages stepped forward, “It is a simple translation spell that will enable you to speak our language as if it was your own.”

“It’s just that easy?” Tyler asked in curiosity.

He nodded, “Yes. It will only take but a moment to cast, are you three ready?”

“Of course we are! I was a bit worried that we’d have to figure this out on our own and Scarlet’s the only one that’s actually read up on any of this,” Sarah added.

He chuckled and lit up his horn, quickly enveloping the three. A few moments later the magical aura faded, leaving the three to try out their new language.

Scarlet began to speak slowly in the strange new language that was Equestrian, finding that the melodic words came naturally to her without any real thought. It still took some practice to get a good feel for the language, the words and structure were so different compared to English. After a few minutes of trial and error, she found that she could begin to speak at a more natural pace, and then began to switch between the two, finding it almost strange that she could simply jump between either as if she had known Equestrian her entire life. While her new friends were talking back and forth and feeling out the language for themselves, she couldn’t help but wonder what Silver was up to, curious about how he’d handle the next month alone with Orion.

As the group followed Starry outside, Scarlet couldn’t help but gaze around at every detail around her, marvelling at how… right everything felt. While her two human companions were in awe of the crystal empire, looking all around at the strange crystalline buildings, she couldn’t help but be in awe of something else entirely. While it’s true that she was in another huge, almost alien city, this one felt entirely different from New York, strange architecture aside. The biggest thing that stood out most to her above all else in this case was that the city was built to scale for someone exactly like her.

From the large palace doors, to the high ceilings of the hallways, and even the size of the palace itself, everything seemed to feel “normal” to her. Even though everything was larger than what a standard pony building would be, it was clear that it was designed for ponies first, and for once she felt completely at home in a strange environment. That weird sense of being a fish out of water that she had felt in New York simply wasn’t here.

Starry waved them along, “I know this place must seem fantastical to you all, but we do have a train to catch and a long journey to take. There are plenty of other sights to marvel at, trust me.”

Scarlet nodded, “Right, sorry, guess this is just a weird experience for all of us.”

He smiled, “Do not worry, it is common to feel minor disorientation during transport, that will pass in time.”

Scarlet nodded and waved towards the other two, “Hey guys, Starry said we’re gonna miss our train if we don’t stop looking like a bunch of bewildered tourists.”

Tyler let out a small chuckle, “Well he’s not exactly wrong now is he, this whole place just feels so… weird, if that’s the right word. It’s like going to some miniature village.”

“Well we can all talk about how weird this might be after we have boarded.” Starry finished.

Sarah nodded, “Alright, well please lead the way, humble guide.”

Starry flashed a warm smile and gestured towards the train station in the distance, beckoning the group with a wing, “It would be my pleasure, now please, let’s continue onwards, the station isn’t far and there is so much more to see on the way to the outpost.”

With another nod the trio followed him along, still in awe of the strange buildings around them.

Starry approached the train station and paused for a moment, turning towards his guests with a smile, “Please wait here, I’ve arranged for our trip in advance, it will take but a moment to confirm that our accommodations are ready.”

Scarlet smiled, “Need us to do anything?”

He shook his head, “Not at this time, however, if the urge to explore your surroundings strikes, you are free to look around the station if you so desire, I only ask that you do not wander far, we will not be here long. I’ve arranged for us to travel in our own private car and it will minimize the wait it usually takes to board the train.”

“I’m assuming that Equestria relies on trains a lot more than we do back home? I mean, I know it’s not the same everywhere, but it’s kind of a lost art where I’m from. It’s almost kind of cool that we’re going to have the chance to ride on a real steam locomotive… they do run on steam right?” Tyler asked as he took a few glances at the train that had only recently pulled up. Ponies hadn’t started boarding yet, but a small crowd could be seen gathering within the station.

Starry nodded, “They do indeed run on steam, as for your other question, I am not as familiar with your terran transportation, though the trains are by far our most common form of transit, we simply do not have the other means that you do back on Earth.”

Sarah let out a chuckle, causing the others to turn towards her, “I never realized you were a train nut Tyler, have you been hiding your geeky hobbies from me or something?” She asked with a smirk.

A small grin began to spread across Tyler’s face, growing into a full on smile as he let out a few laughs, “You know, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. Trains are just cool though! Especially when they’re authentically steam powered. Man we don’t have enough of those back home!”

Sarah rolled her eyes and laughed, “Alright, that’s fair enough. I’m not exactly one to speak when I talk your ear off about rockets and space shuttles for hours.”

Now that the two were immersed in their own conversation, Starry silently took his leave, content that the group wasn’t going to wander off and get into trouble, though keeping an eye on them as he went about his business with the conductor. Meanwhile Scarlet went about her own exploration, taking in the odd crystal architecture of the station, while also reflecting on how nice everything seemed to be here.

It was strange that she could feel so at home in an alien world after having only been there for a very brief time, but the odd feeling that she had felt in New York was simply gone. In its place was an almost child-like glee at the colorful surroundings she now found herself in.

The entire world had this feeling of happiness and cheer that everything seemed to convey on it’s own. It was as if the entire world was built without a dark and gritty reality in mind. Some might have seen it as strange that something could seem so perfect, perhaps even being creeped out by it, but Scarlet was already taking down mental note after mental note on how various aspects of the Oasis back home could be improved to make the place a little more cheerful.

The smooth clean lines, bright whites, polished chrome, and muted color accents found back in the Oasis certainly looked nice, but the brightly colored and irregularly designed buildings that she saw here just had their own personality and charm to them that conveyed a welcoming atmosphere far better than anything she had ever seen back on Earth.

A short distance away, Starry nodded at the conductor and slowly approached the trio again, clearing his throat to get their attention, “Ahem, our accommodations are all prepared, if you’d please follow me I will get us settled in. It’s going to be a long ride to the outpost and I would like to ensure that we’ll be as comfortable as possible during it.”

Sarah and Tyler paused in their own conversation and nodded, slowly walking towards the night pony. Scarlet followed along too, eager to see what the journey would have in store.

As they followed Starry, Scarlet was able to take a closer look at the locomotive. “You know, I’ve actually never ridden on a train before— at least a real one like this that is.”

“For real? Not even once?” Tyler asked in surprise.

Scarlet nodded, “I mean I’ve ridden ones in amusement parks before, but that’s about it. They were steam powered, but I wouldn’t call that actually riding on a train in the same sense as what we’re about to do now.”

“Well, you are certainly going to be in for a treat then,” Starry interjected, gesturing towards the open car in front of them, “Please step aboard and make yourselves comfortable, if the normal seats are too small there are more human-friendly accomodations available towards the rear of the car.”

Without further delay, the trio stepped in and quietly took their seats aboard the train. Starry followed them in and sat down towards the rear, where Tyler and Sarah were sitting, hunched over uncomfortably on one of the benches.

He eyed the two humans with concern and glanced over towards the section that had been designed with humans in mind, “Please, do not feel like you need to make yourselves uncomfortable, I know these aren’t the most ideal accommodations for you, but you’ll likely find the section further back to be far more comfortable than where you’re sitting now.”

The two shared an awkward glance and nodded, Tyler stepping up and moving towards the lower benches first. He crouched down to take a seat, almost stumbling over as he made himself as comfortable as he could, waving Sarah over and patting the seat adjacent to him.

“Come on travel buddy, it’s gonna be a long ride, you might as well be comfortable for it.”

She hesitated for a moment and then nodded, making her way over to the bench adjacent to Tyler, “I can’t argue with that.”

Scarlet took her own seat near Starry on the recently vacated bench and watched as the ponies outside began to file their way into the other train cars. A few relatively quiet moments passed before the lines diminished and the frozen Equestrian landscape began to slowly pass by outside. Soon enough they were speeding along, as comfortable as they could be in their cozy train car.

Scarlet turned over towards Starry, “Crescent said the astronomy was built to be like the ones back home, so does that mean we shouldn’t have to spend too much time adjusting to them?” She asked in curiosity.

Starry nodded, “Terran designed, Equestrian engineered. It is one of our larger research projects in recent years, though there is still much to do before we can formally begin mapping the stars.”

She nodded, “Ah. So do you think we’ll be able to start mapping them out while we’re here?”

“I would hope so, otherwise this whole trip would be for naught. We do have complete sets of star charts, some even dating back thousands of years to the earliest days of Princess Celestia and Luna’s reign, though we hope that this collaboration will allow us to have far more accurate maps of our universe’s celestial bodies. Perhaps someday we could even explore the limits of the starry void, much as your Terran astronomers have done.”

A big grin spread across her face, “So we’re gonna be some of the first researchers to get to do this?”

“You will be among the first to do this with our new telescope. There has been some preliminary work done up to now, but not with the new equipment.”

“Well I can’t wait, how long do you think it is until we get there?”

Starry glanced out the window, “Well we are not yet at Canterlot, so I would say that the outpost is still a long ways away, it will likely take us most of the day, so please feel free to relax and enjoy the ride. Equestria is a natural wonderland after all, I imagine that it is quite different to your Earth.”

“Yeah, you could say that again…” Scarlet shifted in her seat, finding the bench to be an oddly comfortable arrangement as she watched the landscape zip by. Earth transportation was still primarily designed for humans, though some places were finally starting to branch out into more pony friendly designs. She would have to remember to tell Silver about this when she got home, there wasn’t much for public transportation in the Oasis, but more comfortable seats would be a great addition if they ever expanded.

Sarah and Tyler sat in their own small section, comfortably chatting away with one another, no doubt resuming their conversation that they had put on hold earlier. The bench, while padded with comfortable cushions, was set lower to the floor of the train, which meant that their knees were almost touching their chins, but it also afforded them the chance to sit upright without having to awkwardly hunch over for most of the long journey. It was a double edged sword, but certainly better than the alternative.

Tyler craned his neck to look over to the crimson night pony, “How’re you doing Scarlet? You’ve kind of been zoning in and out when you haven’t been talking with Starry. Don’t tell me you’re getting homesick already are you?”

Scarlet shook her head, “Huh? Oh no, not homesick, not yet at least. I’m just kind of surprised more than anything I guess.” She stifled a few yawns. “I shouldn’t be, but everything just feels… so right, here. Like looking at you two it’s clear that for the first time in almost two years I’m not the odd one out. It’s just a nice change for once if that makes sense.”

Tyler nodded, “Well if you can’t tell, it seems like the tables have turned here. I can imagine that this is basically the opposite of how you felt back in New York right?”

She nodded, “If you mean feeling like the world’s not designed for you then yeah, it’s pretty much that. Are you guys sure you’re comfortable right now though? I don’t think Starry would fault you if you wanted to stretch out some more, I mean it’s not like there’s other ponies in this car to complain about it.”

The human shook her head, “No, but it’s better than hunching over awkwardly. To tell you the truth, we both figured that something like this might happen when we got here so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to us. ‘Sides, it’s only going to be a couple train rides here and there right? Not like this’ll be a daily thing anyhow.” Sarah cut in before Tyler could even respond.

Starry looked on in worry, “I do apologize for the… less than ideal transportation situation. Trains are not really designed for anything larger than a pony here. You will have time to stretch before we get to the outpost, I assure you.”

Tyler nodded while trying to make himself a little more comfortable, “Thanks Starry. It’s not exactly the best situation for us, but we’ll get over it.”

“Yeah, we’ve dealt with worse back home I’m sure, this kind of reminds me of that glorified broom closet they called an office that we got stuck with, eh Tyler?” Sarah added in agreement.

Letting out a small yawn, Scarlet glanced out the window and squinted her eyes at the bright sun. “Say Starry, what time is it anyways?”

“About noon, why? Are you feeling tired? I know that Terran night ponies seldom roam about during the day like we do here, I couldn’t fault you if you were.”

She nodded, “Yeah. Not that I’m not enjoying our chat, but It’s getting a little hard to stay awake. You won’t mind if I take a nap for a few right?”

Starry shook his head, “Oh no, by all means please do. I will awaken you when we arrive.”

“OceanSide Outpost, End of the line!” shouted the conductor, pulling Scarlet from her sleep.

She looked around at her travel group, “Are we there yet?”

Starry nodded, standing up and gesturing towards the open door, “Indeed, the rail line ends here, I am afraid that there is not yet a line that takes us closer to the outpost. However, I have arranged for a chariot to carry us into Pelham and the outpost within. I believe you are already acquainted with Crescent Shadow, are you not Mrs. Eclipse?”

Scarlet nodded, “Yes, he’s a good friend, but Sarah and Tyler don’t know him. And please, just call me Scarlet, no need to be overly formal here.”

The aforementioned humans nodded in unison.

Starry straightened up in his seat, “Right… Miss… Scarlet. Crescent will guide us further in. Your two companions will have a chance to get acquainted with him on the ride over.”

Scarlet stood up and followed Starry to the door, waving towards the humans and watching as Tyler and Sarah eagerly followed as well. She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the two, as they were probably relieved to finally have a chance to actually stretch out.

As they stepped out into the desert outpost she felt a little more at home. The view of the ocean off in the distance and the desert stretching into the other sparked a mix of nostalgia in her, bringing back memories of her trips to Michigan, Florida, and even the Oasis back home.

A short distance away from the station sat a large chariot and three ponies, one of which she immediately recognized as Crescent Shadow.

With a smile she trotted over towards him shouting out a cheerful greeting, “Hey Crescent! It’s great to see you again! What’s it been? Like a month?”

Crescent chuckled “Something like that.” he glanced towards the two humans who were now eagerly stretching their arms and legs out, “I’ll take it that your companions might not have had as pleasant of a ride as you did?”

Scarlet nodded, “You could say that, I slept through a lot of it so I missed out on some of the sights, but it’s just kind of cool to see how different everything is here. I didn’t realize how different a world designed solely for ponies would be.”

“It’s an odd feeling isn’t it? Going to Earth was sort of like the reverse of that for me, everything felt too large there. You’ll get used to it in time though.”

Sarah cleared her throat, “So uhh, Mr. Crescent, how far away is this outpost that you’re bringing us to?”

“Only a short chariot’s ride away, I promise that it won’t be as uncomfortable as the train ride was.”

Tyler nodded, “That’s a relief to hear. So shall we get going or do we have other plans here?”

“Yes, that would be a good idea, Crescent would you care to lead us onward?” Starry added.

He nodded and gestured towards the chariot, “Right this way.”

Two humans followed Scarlet and Crescent towards the strange looking chariot, unsure of how the experience would be for them. Thoughts of their awkward posture on the train came back, though given the open air design, they both figured that it at least wouldn’t be as bad as the train’s small human section.

Scarlet, Crescent, and Starry were already seated in the front by the time the two had caught up, leaving them a larger bench towards the back of the low riding chariot.

Tyler glanced down at the bench and hesitantly took a seat, as if he was expecting it to be any different than a simple chariot. He looked up towards Sarah who was eyeing it with curiosity, “Well it’s certainly better than the train.”

Sarah continued to eye it curiously, finally taking her own seat next to Tyler. “Yeah, feels a lot better. It doesn’t feel as cramped to me either which is nice.”

“It will only be a short ride, you two won’t have to worry about it for long.” Starry paused for a moment, “I couldn’t help but observe your hesitation and wide eyed looks, is this another new experience for you as well?”

Tyler nodded, “We don’t exactly have these in our neck of the woods, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually ridden on a horse drawn carriage and I guess we’re still adjusting to this place.”

“Yes, well please do let me know if there is anything we can do to accommodate you better. You are our special guests after all,” The night pony added with a smile.

Sarah smiled, “We will Starry, thanks for checking up on us, I really appreciate it.”

Starry Skies nodded as the chariot slowly pulled away from the station and started to gain altitude, causing the two humans to reflexively grab onto something as if they felt they would be thrown from the open air cart.

The sleek chariot flew over the desert, giving the group a picturesque view of the surrounding area and some of the lands beyond. The actual trip was far smoother than the three had expected it to be, and Scarlet was unsure of whether this was because of the guards’ own training, if the carriage had some unknown enchantment on it, or perhaps some other unknown variable that was beyond her earthly comprehension. As Scarlet glanced over to her frightened human companions she noticed the chariot began to subtly descend, though it was clear that their journey wasn’t fully over yet.

Scarlet squinted her eyes and gazed off into the distance, noticing a small outcropping of buildings that she could only assume was their final destination, as she turned her head, she noticed the large stone cliffs that had started to surround them, creating the vast valley that they were now passing through. She couldn't get a clear view of them, but something about them seemed… different than the others that had dotted the desert landscape during their journey so far. She couldn’t place exactly what was so different about them, but they definitely had an almost organic look to them.

Unsure of how to word her question, Scarlet tapped crescent’s shoulder and gestured towards the cliffs, “So what’s the deal with those? They don’t look like any of the others we’ve seen up to this point, and the formation hardly looks natural.”

Crescent returned a smile, “That is a good question indeed, and one that has an interesting answer.” He began to wave towards the towering mesas, “Welcome to Pelham, the Forest of Lost Giants.”

“Lost Giants? Why do you call it that?” Scarlet asked while looking around at the tall cliffs.

“Those mesa are actually the petrified remains of giant trees that once made up the forest here. The legend is that a large tribe of Earth ponies settled here when Equestria was first found. They thought this land was a paradise without limit and combined their strength to grow trees so large an entire city could be built into them. Their carelessness turned this entire area... from the West coast clear to the Eastern shore into a desert where nothing could grow as their trees blocked out the sun and consumed all the resources of the land.”

Tyler adjusted his glasses, “And let me guess, the land couldn’t support the giant trees and died off? Ruined the environment around it too?”

Crescent nodded, “When the land couldn’t support the forest, it faded into the desert we are now passing through, the Earth Ponies that created it fading into legend as well. It became inhospitable to most, but we have found a new life for this place. There are no ponies here, which gives this place the clearest night sky in almost all of Equestria, the perfect place to construct an observatory.”

“Remote and away from everything else… that’s smart.” Scarlet added

“I bet you don’t have to deal with the same kind of light pollution that we do on Earth,” Sarah added.

“You would be correct, but it’s still useful for our purposes. The remote nature of the valley helps keep ponies from snooping around the outpost, not that we don’t appreciate the company of course. This is an expensive, carefully calibrated piece of machinery that we’re talking about though, and the extra distractions wouldn’t really help with our ultimate goal. Plus it gives life to a corner of Equestria that most thought would be an inhospitable wasteland,” Crescent answered.

“I wish it was that easy back home,” Scarlet added

The pegasus raised an eyebrow, “You’ve dealt with something like this back home I presume?”

She nodded and shrugged, “Sort of. Sapphire’s storm brought a ton of life back into a desert that we thought wouldn’t ever flourish the way we wanted it to, but it gave it a much needed boost that our earth ponies were able to care for and maintain. Light pollution’s a tougher task to figure out though, we wound up building our observatory a little ways away from the rest of the Oasis because the lights back home would reduce visibility. We spent a lot of time and money trying to figure out how to light the area so it wouldn’t block out the view of the night sky.”

“It should be interesting to see how this compares to your setup back home then, Sapphire didn’t share much about your Oasis, and I don’t believe it came up in any of our conversation, forgive me if it did.”

Scarlet smiled, “I don’t think it did, at least not the talk about the observatory. I guess that just means we’ll have more to chat about between work.”

Tyler smiled, “Kinda sounds like it’s a win win for everyone then eh?”

Starry nodded, “It would appear so.”

“Sapphire, occasionally has a knack for forcing great change,” Crescent mused.

“So this place, I’m assuming that it’s going to be a bit different than the rest of Equestria then?” Sarah cut in.

Starry nodded again, “In a way, yes. It’s location and purpose has many advantages, one of which being the fact that we can easily house human researchers such as yourselves here without having to adapt our existing infrastructure to accommodate you. Ponies are naturally social creatures and introducing two strange and fascinating creatures into an area would likely earn a flurry of questions that would distract us from our mission here.”

“So I wasn’t just imagining the weird stares and whispers we heard back in the Crystal Empire then… good to know.” Sarah interjected.

Starry smiled, “It’s nothing to worry about, of course, you two are just intriguing is all. Don’t mind any stares you get, there haven’t been very many humans who have made the journey over this way, there’s still that flame of intrigue that is running strong in many ponies.”

“It’s honestly kind of fun, makes a couple of geeks feel like we’re celebrities or something.” Tyler added with a smile.

“You unfortunately won’t see much of that in the outpost I’m afraid, but I’m sure you’ll notice that if you three have the time to check out some of the Equestrian sights during your down time,” Crescent added in.

Scarlet cleared her throat, “So what’s the outpost even like?”

Starry smiled, “You’ll find out soon enough, it won’t be long until we arrive, it’s best not to spoil the experience prematurely, you will find that Pelham Outpost is rather different from the other locales in Equestria.”

Scarlet looked back towards the outpost with eager excitement building up within her. Starry didn’t exactly answer her question, but she was excited to have the chance to explore this strange exotic place nonetheless. They always said that the journey was better than the destination, but she wasn’t quite sure if that applied to this situation.

Their chariot pulled to the side of the unpaved path, kicking up another cloud of dust and coming to a stop a short distance away from the outpost’s adobe buildings.

Crescent turned towards the three guests and smiled, “Welcome my friends, to Pelham Outpost! It’s the heart of our operations out here.”

As a group, the three stood up and stepped out of the chariot, taking in their new surroundings. Sarah and Tyler immediately began to stretch their legs. Scarlet on the other hoof curiously looked around at the various buildings.

“You’re wondering what’s so different about this place, I presume?” Starry asked as he calmly approached her. There were a handful that were obviously designed with ponies in mind, but they were dwarfed by the buildings that varied in all sizes around them.

Scarlet turned her head towards him and nodded, “I really shouldn’t be. It’s obvious that this place is built with more than just ponies in mind. The others just look so… odd next to the smaller pony buildings.”

“You are not alone, and there is a reason for their irregular size, that goes beyond simply accommodating humans. This place was of course designed with them in mind, but also other creatures, though at the moment it’s only serving ponies and humans. However we had hoped to pull in and collaborate with some of Equestria’s other creatures. That is still our hope of course.”

Scarlet nodded, “So why the adobe buildings then? Isn’t this a new settlement?”

“Indeed it is, however, as I’m sure you are aware, building in an arid desert is easier said than done. This construction was simple and durable enough to support our activities here, and combined with a few simple enchantments it made for an adequate base of operations.”

Scarlet looked all around, “It’s a lot to take in, but I’m already digging it. So where do we even start? How do we make sense of this place?”

“It’s not as hard as you’d imagine, the outpost’s layout isn’t as confusing as it appears,” Crescent interjected as he trotted towards the pair, “Your two friends showed interest in settling into their living quarters here, so we’ll start there first. Please follow me,” He finished, gesturing with a wing.

Starry smiled, “There is your answer. If you will permit me, I have some business to attend to but I will reconvene with you three at dinner.”

“Of course, it’s been nice chatting with you today Starry, I’ll see you at dinner.” Scarlet said with a smile.

Starry returned a nod and trotted off towards one of the smaller buildings, leaving the three to follow Crescent Shadow. As they began to move along, Tyler cleared his throat.

The tall human paused for a moment and looked down towards Crescent, “So uh, Mr. Shadow, are we all staying in the same area or is it divided based on our species?”

Sarah looked over from Tyler to Crescent and nodded, “It’s a dumb question, we know, but we’re just curious considering that the three of us are all part of the same team. Makes it a little easier to stay on the same page and whatnot given that we don’t really have any other kind of communication here.”

“Don’t worry, it’s a perfectly reasonable question, if you’ll follow me I’ll show you it in person,” He began to walk towards a large adobe building, “The housing here is built so everyone can have a communal place to hang out and collaborate in. You three will share a villa on the first floor, if that answers your question.”

Tyler nodded, “That does, It’ll be like we’re back in college again, eh Sarah?” He joked, nudging the other human with his elbow.

“Sure will, just without the parties and stress.”

“No parties? C’mon where’s the fun in that?” he added with a smile.

Crescent smiled, “In case you were curious, the dining hall has a weekly activity night, every week before the last shift. It’s our way of getting ready to unwind for a couple of days before we resume our work. I’m sure you three have had similar experiences back on Earth.”

Scarlet tried to get a closer look at some of the buildings they were passing noting that not all of them had a clearly marked purpose. She turned back towards Crescent and nodded, “Yeah actually, we have a karaoke night back home in the Oasis every Friday, gives everyone something fun to do together before the weekend starts. In some cases it’s one of the only times that you’ll see day and night ponies hanging around together.”

“Given the nature of our work, you see a lot more of that here,” Crescent replied as he came to a stop. He turned towards the group and gestured towards the large building behind him, “This is the center of the outpost, if you ever get lost it’s easy enough to find your way back here. It’s the largest building here and should be visible from any part of the outpost.”

Sarah let out a yawn and looked longingly at the building, “Not that I don’t find this interesting, but would you two mind if Tyler and I got settled in? It’s been a long day and I guess I just didn’t realize how tired I was.”

“Me too, we’ve been up since dawn and I could go for a nap.” Tyler added in.

Crescent nodded, “Of course, before we head in, the dining hall is right over there,” He said, gesturing towards a large tent-like structure. He waited a few moments and then pushed the door open, holding it for the others as they filed in, “We’re building a new one into this building, but it won’t be done while you’re here I’m afraid. Dinner or breakfast is usually an hour after sunset, if you need a wakeup call feel free to ask one of the receptionists, they’ll be able to help you get everything sorted out.”

Sarah smiled, “Thanks, I can’t wait to see this place but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t struggling to stay awake at this point.”

Scarlet looked towards the two humans, “You guys didn’t sleep on the train?”

Tyler shook his head, “Was kind of hard to, to be honest. I got like 40 minutes of shut eye in before my neck started cramping up. It’ll be nice to sleep on an actual mattress… you do have human sized mattresses here right?”

Crescent waved them through the simple atrium and towards a small hallway on the edge of the room, “We do, don’t worry. You’re lucky and have one of the closer rooms, a couple of our engineers left not too long ago. They had other opportunities open up for them back in Canterlot that they accepted.

He reached a door at the end of the hallway and gently pushed it open, walking into the cozy, but spacious room. “This’ll be your home for the next month,” He gestured towards a trio of doors that were set at the side of the semicircular room, “The door on the left is the restroom, the other two are the sleeping quarters, I’ll let you three decide who gets which room, both have a set of bunks. Obviously you can see that this is the living area. There’s a closet off to the side if you need to store anything away, and if you’d prefer to dine alone in here there’s obviously the small kitchen.”

The two humans set their bags down on the floor and walked towards the two rooms. Tyler looked back towards Scarlet, “You care which room you get?”

Scarlet shook her head, “Nah, go ahead and take whichever one you want. I’m assuming you’ll bunk together?”

Sarah opened a door and nodded, “Yeah, we room together back home, it’s not too much of an inconvenience here.”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ll let you guys get settled in,” Scarlet paused for a moment, “you sure you don’t want me to just wait until you’re awake?”

Sarah shook her head, “Go ahead and take a look around, we’ll meet up with you at dinner. It’s obvious you’re itching to explore so no point in sitting around waiting for us to wake up.”

Scarlet nodded, “Well if you’re fine with that then I’ll see you guys later. Have a nice nap.”

“See ya Scarlet, have fun.” Tyler added with a yawn.

As the pair entered their room, Scarlet turned back towards Crescent, “So what’s next?”

“Well, if you would like, I can show you the Observatory itself.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened in glee, “I’d love to see it! Is it far?”

Crescent smiled, “Hardly, It’s just a short distance away.”

Scarlet began to word another question, but paused, figuring that she had pestered Crescent with more than enough questions already. With a nod she gestured towards the door with a wing, “After you.”

Crescent nodded and walked towards the villa door, pausing to close it behind them. “In case you’re wondering, doors are not usually locked here. I know it’s a strange concept on earth amongst humans, but there’s nothing to worry about here.”

“Good to know. I’m not sure how common it is outside of the Oasis, but we’re all pretty trusting there so it’s not as strange as you might think.”

“The observatory isn’t far.” He said as he led her down the hallway, through the lobby and back outside. Crescent waved towards a large circular building that they had passed earlier.

The two began to walk towards it, Scarlet excitedly following along like an excited foal. As they approached the large building Crescent stopped and pushed a set of large wooden doors open. The two stepped into a small circular hallway, passing by a green night pony and blue unicorn, who eyed Scarlet with intrigue. Crescent stepped forward, waving Scarlet along.

“Good evening you two, this is one of our exchange ponies, Scarlet Eclipse. Is she here yet?”

The gray night pony shook her head, “Not yet, took off to go check on something with Starry, said she’d be back in a moment. The telescope’s all set up in there though so feel free to get started.”

Crescent nodded, “Thank you Thunder. I’ll be back to talk about your work order in a few.”

She smiled, “Thanks boss!.”

Crescent stepped forward and opened another large set of wooden doors, leading Scarlet into a large circular room with an equally large telescope positioned at its center.

“This is the grand observatory.”

Scarlet looked around the room with an awestruck expression, earning a few laughs from Crescent. “This… this place is amazing! It’s so familiar yet so different— Please tell me I can use it?” She asked pleadingly.

Crescent smiled, “That’s why we’re here after all. So tell me, what is your favorite constellation?”

She thought about Orion, “Well that’s easy, that’d be Orion… I named my foal after it, but given that Equestria has no known counterpart…” She thought to herself for a few moments, “Ursa Major.”

Crescent nodded, “Ah, The Big Dipper as you call it on Earth, a good choice.” He calmly walked towards the large telescope, carefully making a few precise adjustments on the control computer. Pleased with his work he stepped to the side and gestured towards the telescope with a hoof. “Please, feel free to observe.”

Scarlet trotted forward, carefully stepping up to the telescope and giving the constellation a hesitant glance, letting out an excited sigh. “This is all really interesting, the stars here seem so much brighter than the ones back home. I could really get used to this you know…”

After a few minutes she stepped back and began to jot a few notes down into her well used notebook. Star charts and notes filed the delicate pages, a disorganized mess to any casual observer, but a carefully curated treasure trove of astronomical information to her. She began to sketch out the constellation in better detail, noting down the prominent stars that made up its form.

Scarlet approached the telescope again and focused the lens to get a better view of the constellation in question. “This is just so cool, it’s the same general formation as Earth’s but the stars are obviously entirely different! I don’t suppose that there’s proper names for them? And do you know if there’s any reason why they’re so similar, or is it just pure coincidence?”

The clip clop of hooves on the stone floor echoed through the observatory, interrupting Scarlet’s line of questioning. There was a brief pause followed by a warm voice speaking up from the side of the room. “Ah, Ursa Major, a good choice Crescent. A beautiful constellation is it not?”

Scarlet chuckled in reply, “Oh it’s beautiful alright, but words really don’t do them justice…” a moment of curiosity hit her as she turned towards the source of the voice, suddenly realizing who the new visitor was. With an excited squeal she yelled out a greeting. “Oh— oh my gosh you’re Princess Luna!” She excitedly shouted out, much to Crescent’s amusement.

The Princess let out a small laugh, “It is my pleasure to meet you, Scarlet Eclipse. Crescent says you are an astronomer from Earth, and he shared your notebook with me. An impressive collection of research for a pony who has never visited our world before and you should be very proud of what you’ve worked on. So tell me, what do you think of Equestria’s stars so far?”

She looked towards Crescent with wide eyes, “Your boss is Princess Luna?! I mean I knew you were bringing my notebook to the princess but I guess I didn’t even think that I’d ever have the chance to meet her!” Scarlet let out another happy cheer, quickly catching herself. “Sorry— this is all so overwhelming. I’ve never met anypony as big and important as you before, let alone be complimented!”

He laughed, “You’ll find that the leaders of Equestria are much more personable than those on Earth.”

She let out an excited squeal before composing herself and turning back towards the princess. “I.. I’m sorry about that,” she gestured towards her well worn notebook with a wing, “I’ve been studying your stars for a while now, and the fact that I get to finally see them for myself might be one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. I mean I get to actually see another universe’s stars! No one before ETS could say that!”

Luna smiled, “I am very flattered that you hold us in such high regard I was not aware that there were ponies on Earth that shared an interest in Equestria’s stars. That is a part of why you were allowed to visit Equestria on such short notice.”

Scarlet took a moment to compose herself, “So Crescent mentioned that you had a project that you wanted to work on, what exactly was it?”

Luna gestured towards the ceiling of the observatory, which was painted with different stars and constellations. “I would like to make a more detailed star map. There are not as many astronomers that are experienced enough to take on this task, but Crescent has spoken very highly of you and recommended you for this. As you can see, we already have a star map made up, and indeed many astronomers have worked on their own, but none are as accurate as the star maps back on Earth, and we do not know if there are any other types of objects out there, beyond our grasp, like you see in your general catalogues. We would like to make a chart like the ones you would find there.”

Scarlet nodded, “Well that’s actually not too hard to do. Crescent mentioned that this was created to work kind of like the stuff we have back on Earth, right?”

“That is correct, it’s Equestrian built, but should function similar to your Earth telescopes.”

Scarlet smiled, “Perfect, that’s all I needed to know.” She paused for a moment, glancing back towards her notebook, “Princess Luna, I just have one question before we begin.”

Luna smiled, “Yes?”

“Well, it’s just, you have all of these professionals here, people and ponies that went to universities, took part in revolutionary programs, people in the industry, and then me. I’m just a hobbyist that started working on something small back home and Crescent knows this as well. Why did you choose me to help with this project?”

She nodded her head, “Often times one might feel that their contributions to something greater do not matter much. But do not sell yourself short, young Scarlet, your spirit and determination to learn more about our stars showed that you were a pony who would be a valuable member of this team.”

“But how does that really make me valuable? That I just want to learn about another world’s stars?”

“That you would put so much time and effort into learning about a universe that is entirely different from your own for no gain but your own. It is a passion that not many express, and even fewer would work as hard as you have done to get this far without the promise of reward. Even if your background is not as prestigious as your peers, it still does not make your love of the night sky any different from their own. Not every pony here needs to be a big name in their field, sometimes the humble stargazer is just as important as the best astronomer.”

Scarlet smiled, “Thank you Princess, I guess I just didn’t really think about that. It really puts a lot of things in perspective for me, though.”

“I am glad to hear this, now would you like to begin?”

Scarlet nodded, “I would love to.”

Scarlet trotted into the simple dining hall, a sort of permanent tent in the heart of the outpost. It was probably the only place where you’d find both night and day ponies interacting together on a regular basis. Compared to the rest of the staff in the outpost, there were only a small handful of night ponies that weren’t guards, but Scarlet was happy to at least see other ponies hanging out together, it gave her the sense that this place wasn’t strictly all work and no fun.

She walked over towards the counter, and glanced up at the menu. The food was the standard fare that she was expecting, but with some different dishes she was unfamiliar with thrown into the mix as well, like the baked tarantula that caused her to scowl.

The earth pony manning the counter cleared his throat, “Can I help you ma’am?”

Scarlet nodded, “Hi, I’ll just have the quesadilla I guess.”

“Anything to drink?”

She glanced over the drink list, not really seeing anything that stood out to her in particular. “Just a glass of water please.”

He nodded, “Alright, you can pick up your order over there,” He gestured towards the second counter.

Scarlet gave a quick nod, “Thanks.”

She walked over towards the second counter and picked up her tray, glancing around the cozy room and taking in the unfamiliar faces, almost feeling as if she had returned to high school again. She had already started to grow accustomed to the fact that the outpost was designed for a mix of creatures, but seeing the size of this tent really drove the idea home, even if it was still mostly ponies here.

As she continued to look around, she noticed Tyler, Sarah, and Starry sitting at one of the taller tables towards the edge of the tent. She excitedly trotted over to them and took a seat at the table, happy to see a few familiar faces again.

“So did you guys have a nice nap?”

Sarah nodded, “Yeah. It was nice to actually have some accommodation that was our size. Not to knock the train or anything, but well…”

“It wasn’t really all that comfortable. Efficient and awesome to see sure, but uncomfortable for us.” Tyler finished.

Scarlet smiled, “Well I’m glad you guys were comfortable after that. Have you had a chance to check out the observatory yet?”

Sarah shook her head, “Nope, we actually just woke up about 20 minutes ago. Seems like a lot of the ponies here are up at random hours, we still need to get a better feel for it, I’m sure it won’t be an issue for you though. So how’d the rest of the tour go?”

“It went pretty well, Crescent showed me the observatory and you’ll never believe who I got to meet.”

“Who?” Tyler asked.

A big grin spread across Scarlet’s face, “Princess Luna herself.”

Sarah’s eyes widened, “She’s here? I thought she’d be up in Canterlot all night.”

“The Princess has many duties that sometimes take her out of Canterlot. It is not uncommon for her to visit other areas such as this outpost.” Starry interjected.

Sarah nodded, “That must have been exciting to see at least. Did you happen to meet any other night ponies? I know you were wondering what the divide here would be.”

Scarlet shook her head, “None really, just a technician. I think Starry and I might be the only regular night ponies here, aside from her, the rest all seem to be guards.”

“There are a couple other astronomers and support staff here, but they are on leave right now, away visiting the Canterlot Caverns for a few days,” Starry interjected.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “Canterlot Caverns? What’s that?”

“Oh, I apologize, it is easy to forget that you are not from Equestria. There is a large cavern system situated under Canterlot, it has become a popular destination for night ponies and others that enjoy the night.”

“Would there be any chance I could see it?”

Starry nodded, “I believe there is a gap in the schedule next week while they run routine maintenance on the observatory. It would likely take a few days so there would be plenty of time for a brief visit.”

Scarlet smiled as she picked up her quesadilla and took a few bites, “Well count me in, that sounds amazing!”

Chapter 5: Daddy's Little Demon

-=Part 2=-

The trio was back in the Observatory, a room that they were starting to get well acquainted with at this point. It had only been a few days since they had arrived in Equestria, but they were already starting to fall into a nice routine. Following dinner, Tyler and Sarah would work with some of the other astronomers from around dusk until late into the evening, and then Scarlet would take over with another team until sunrise.

The nature of their work schedule afforded Scarlet the chance to actually interact with her human companions and enjoy their company, something that she felt she wasn’t able to really do all that often back home. While she wasn’t due to start her shift until a few more hours, she still liked to keep the two humans company in the Observatory. Even without having a hooves on role, she was still able to keep herself occupied in the large circular room. From her note taking, to her questioning, and even to her simple observations, it was enough to keep her busy until it was her turn to take over.

The unique mix of Earth and Equestrian technology was something that Scarlet found great interest in and she could often be found pestering some of the maintenance staff about it late at night, more often than not resulting in her being shooed away without a second thought. She never let this bother her though; to her, it just offered a new challenge to master and learn about, and that’s exactly what she was doing now. Where most of the people she knew back home would find this place boring, Scarlet could spend hours in here and still find something that piqued her interest time and time again. Tonight she was jotting down notes on the large telescope that sat in the center of the room, curious about how it differed from the one she had back home. She knew that it wasn’t too far off from Earth designs, but the Equestrians had done made their own modifications to it and she was determined to learn as much about it as she could while she had the chance.

The large wooden double doors could be heard opening, causing Scarlet to pause for a moment. She glanced over to see Princess Luna entering with Crescent Shadow and Starry Skies. Luna said something to Crescent who chuckled and nodded, turning around and leaving her and Starry.

The princess calmly walked towards Tyler, who was currently making some finer adjustments on the telescope’s control computer. “Good evening Mr. Anderson. Are you having a productive night?”

Tyler smiled and nodded his head, “Evening Princess, so far we are. And yourself?”

“It’s been quiet, but peaceful. So what is on the schedule for tonight? Anything particularly interesting?”

Tyler shrugged, “Oh you know, a lot of the same. I think we just about got the hang of operating this baby, now we’re just working on finding the more prominent constellations and using those as a reference point to map out the less prominent ones.”

Luna nodded, “I trust you’ll find the best method. Please do have fun with this project.”

Tyler smiled, “Oh we will!”

She returned a smile and moved on to Sarah, “And you Miss Conners? How are you adjusting so far?”

Sarah looked up from the charts she was plotting out, “Huh? Oh, yeah we are. It helps that this outpost is a little more… accommodating for us. If I’m going to be honest, I was kind of worried that we’d be getting tiny beds to sleep on and cramped quarters when we first got here, it’s so nice that it’s been the exact opposite.”

The princess smiled, “I am glad to hear that. We designed this outpost with more than just ponies in mind, and I’m happy to hear that the accommodations are acceptable. Though, is there anything that could make your stay more enjoyable?”

Sarah shook her head, “Aside from missing the entertainment back home, not really. If we were living here year round then maybe, but for a research outpost that’s only housing us for a month, it’s more than comfortable enough.”

Luna nodded, “If you think of anything else that would make your stay here better, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Sarah smiled, “Thanks Luna, we certainly will.”

Luna moved down and calmly approached Scarlet, “And a good evening to you Mrs. Eclipse.”

Scarlet bookmarked her notes and smiled, “It’s been a wonderful evening so far. I’m not actually scheduled to come in for a few more hours but it’s just so… exciting being here.”

Luna took a quick look down at the open notebook and smiled, “What is it that you were working on?”

“Just some more notes. This is kind of my life back home. I’m sure you’ve already read through my other notebook, this is just adding onto that.”

“Are those drawings of the new telescope?”

Scarlet nodded. “They sure are! This is based on a standard design from Earth, but it obviously incorporates magic in its design. Its similar enough to make operating it here a lot easier, but I’m just curious about how it works and what exactly you guys changed. Starry said that it was mostly the same but used some Equestrian materials and a few special components in its construction where they had to fill in some of the gaps. This is something we’ve been trying to do back home and I was kind of hoping to at least note down some of my own observations on it. I know we’re probably years away from ever doing anything like this, but it’s still just cool to learn about. You know, just as a reference for the lab boys back home.”

A warm smile spread across Luna’s face, “Your fascination really is insatiable, isn’t it?”

Scarlet smiled, “Yep! I know it’s a lot to take in for me, but I want to learn as much as I can here while I’m here. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the opportunity to do something like this again so I want to make sure I have thorough notes on this, if anything just so I can educate some of my team back home.”

“I’m glad your concerns over working with more experienced astronomers from our first meeting was unfounded. Your devotion to gaining knowledge on something you are passionate about is admirable and I hope you’re able to share it with your fellow ponies back home.”

Scarlet gave a quick nod, “Thank you Princess, this all really does mean a lot to me.”

“Now Starry Skies has told me about your plans to visit the caverns under Canterlot next week, during the scheduled maintenance here at the Outpost. Given that you will already be in the city, I would be most honored if you and your companions would join me for dinner.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened in glee, “You would?!— Honored? I mean yes! I’d love too.” She looked over towards the two humans, “I mean you two wouldn’t mind coming along right? I don’t want to speak for you.”

Sarah smiled, “It might not be the most comfortable for Tyler and I, but we’re up for it.”

Tyler nodded in agreement, “How can I refuse dinner with the princess?”

Luna smiled, “Then it is settled, Starry Skies shall accompany you next week and direct you where to go. I look forward to seeing you three again.”

Scarlet sat by the window in the train, watching as the Equestrian landscape far below slowly passed by as they rose up the followed the terrain up the mountainside to Canterlot. The week up to now had been mostly uneventful, with the team working away on their assigned jobs until the telescope’s scheduled maintenance. Most of the outpost’s staff had taken the opportunity to take a few days off, visit their families, or take a short vacation, the latter of which Scarlet was currently doing. Though, calling it a short vacation was a bit of a stretch, in reality it was only a quick trip to Canterlot for a few days, but for her, everything here felt like a vacation.

Coming around one last bend, the capital city came into view hanging off the side of the mountain. Majestic and whimsical with its tall towers in bright white, golds, and purples. Like a literal fairy tale castle brought to life. Pressing her muzzle to keep an eye on it as long as she could, they entered into a tunnel briefly before it suddenly opened up again to the sky and they were pulling into the station. Scarlet turned away from the window and towards Starry Skies, “We’re here, right?”

He nodded, “Indeed we are, however our destination today lies beneath the city itself.”

Scarlet nodded and began to collect her belongings, “Is it a long walk to the Caverns?”

He shook his head, “Not at all, a short flight away in fact. There is an entrance into the caverns from the nearby mountains..”

He stood up and waved her towards the exit. The two began to walk towards the city gates, chatting along the way.

She smiled, “I’m excited to see it. We’ve got a cavern hangout back home, but it probably doesn’t even hold a flame to this place.”

“Is it common for night ponies to gravitate towards caves back on Earth? I haven’t had the chance to visit it yet.”

“I honestly don’t really know. The place where I'm from, the Oasis, is kind of separate from the rest of the pony communities around us. The others are still largely stuck into following Sunset Shimmer’s vision of what a pony community should be like, but we’ve got our eyes set on the horizon. Then there’s the ponies out east and up north that are integrating back into human society a bit more, I guess you could say that we’re the closest in regards to them. Haven’t really noticed if any of either group winds up hanging out in caves like we do back home, there’s so few night ponies that sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re around.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Why is there such a large divide? The information has been known to us for a while, but there has never really been a good explanation why.”

“It’s… hard to say. The United States was kind of already divided a bit before ETS. Each region was kind of different from the rest, that might play a part of it but I’m sure there’s bigger things at play too, like politics and just overall climate. The night pony situation out east in particular seems to be a lot worse than out where I am. There’s lots of mares fighting for a handful of stallions and it’s not a good situation at all. It’s a problem all around but I’ve only really noticed the worst of it over there.”

Concern carried in Starry’s voice as he replied, “It sounds as if it’s a dire situation, it must seem so different here.”

She nodded, “It is, but what can you do? There’ll always be fighting and issues, but hopefully it’ll fade with time. I’m just happy that it hasn’t cropped up at home as much. Still happens every once in a while but it hasn’t been a problem in a long time. But when we travel over there as much as we do we still have to deal with it.”

“I never would have imagined that there would be so much division back on Earth.”

Scarlet shrugged, “There always was, and always will be. It’s just a part of life there. We’ll all move on, the world will keep spinning, even if it seems dire now it won’t always be.” She paused for a moment, “I’m sorry if this got kind of off topic, is the entrance just up ahead?” She asked as she gestured towards the large mountain in the distance.

Starry nodded, “You do not need to apologize, it is fascinating to hear about your world’s culture. There are many parallels between our worlds, even if they have diverged over time. The Cave isn’t too much further ahead, I know you are curious to see what’s inside.”

Starry led Scarlet into the large cavernous area. A cool blue glow lit up the cave just enough for the few days ponies present to see without trouble. All around were buildings and stands that differed wildly from each other, all set on different levels and tiers. Her own enhanced night vision let her see the area with relative ease and immediately noticed that the cave was home to more night ponies than she had ever seen at one time back home.

She stared around in awe, earning a laugh from Starry. “This… this is amazing!”

“So is this similar to your caverns back home then?”

She shook her head, “Uh— no— .”

Starry smiled and waved her along with a wing, “This is just the entrance, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

“We have time to stop at some shops, right? I’ve been hoping to pick up a souvenir or two for my family back home, this might be just the place I’ve been looking for.”

“Of course, I believe there may be a few shops that could pique your interest. Were you looking for anything in particular?”

“Well Silver’s into old antiques and collectible stuff like that, Orion’s really too little but he likes stuffed animals.”

Starry nodded, “I actually know a shop that deals with just the kind of antiques that I think he would appreciate.”

“And for Orion?”

“There’s a hoof made toy shop not too far from it, we can stop by there if you’d like.”

Scarlet smiled, “That sounds perfect.”

Starry pointed towards a round building set into the side of the cave on one of the upper levels, “Canterlot Curiosities, the shopkeeper is a little eccentric, but I believe you’ll find what you’re looking for in his shop.”

“Oh believe me, we’ve got our own eccentric antique dealer back home, I don’t think this will be a surprise to me at all, I’m excited to see it.” Scarlet added as she started to follow Starry.

The two trotted along and stepped up a short flight of stone stairs and onto the upper level where the shop was. As they approached it Scarlet took note of the odd assortment of statues and items that sat just outside, almost acting as an advertisement for the shop in itself.

She looked over towards one of the statues that resembled a hippogriff, “This actually reminds me of an old statue that Silver and I saw on vacation a little while back. I’m gonna assume that they’re not just mythological creatures here?”

“For a time we thought they might be, though they resurfaced not too long ago. Now they live in both the sea and the air, their kingdom isn’t that far from the outpost actually. If we had more time here I would consider bringing you there, but alas, we simply won’t have the time before your trip here is done.”

“Oh well, I’m sure there’s plenty of things that I’m missing, at least I have the chance to see what I can now. Maybe I can make it back here someday, you never know.”

Starry nodded, “Shall we enter?”

Scarlet smiled, “After you.”

As the two trotted in, Scarlet couldn’t help but take note of the strange artifacts and caged creatures that seemed to line every square inch of the place. An assortment of statues were arranged around the room, strange masks and trinkets lined the walls, and the sounds of unearthly animal noises echoed throughout the room. It was obvious that this pony had come to great lengths to amass this collection, and Scarlet was absolutely hooked.

Scarlet looked at her reflection in one of the strange glass terrariums, jumping back in surprise as a large fruit bat swung out of the shadows and into the dim light, hissing at her menacingly. Taking note of the two visitors, the shopkeeper turned from behind his desk and lowered a pair of goggles, dramatically bowing in greeting, “Welcome my guests to Canterlot Curiosities, home to one of the most comprehensive assemblages of rare artifacts and creatures in all of Equestria. I am Mystic Ember, humble collector and proprietor of this den of antiquities. What curiosities have called you to this place today?”

Scarlet smiled at the strange stallion’s theatrics, “Nothing specific, I was looking for a souvenir for my husband back home, this place seemed like the kind of place that would be right up his alley.”

“In that case, is there anything specific that you were seeking?”

“It’s hard to say, Silver’s into old antiques and other strange artifacts… I don’t suppose you have anything like that here?”

Mystic nodded, “I believe I might have something that would intrigue your husband, strange and old antiques are my specialty after all.” He flew up to one of the inset shelves that lined the circular shop and reached for a strange wooden mask that resembled something of an exotic bird, “This is an old mage’s protective mask. In it’s time, it was imbued with a strong enchantment that protected its user against magical maladies, though that magic has long since faded. That isn’t a problem, I hope?”

Scarlet shook her head, “That’s actually perfect, I’m from Earth and we can’t bring anything magical back home.”

A warm smile spread across the night pony’s face, “I am pleased to hear that. The true magic doesn’t lie in what this antique can do anyways, but rather the memories and stories it holds.”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “And what’s its story?”

“I’m glad you asked, it was passed down from master to apprentice for centuries before the magic within it began to fade. By the time the last master had acquired it, it’s magic was fully depleted. Seeing that the true magic lied not within the mask, but within himself, he chose to pass it on to others who might find their own use out of it.”

“And how much is it?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Normally eighty bits; however, seeing as how this is being given as an interdimensional gift, I would be honored to part with it for a single bit.”

“For one bit!? You’re basically giving it away to me Just because I’m bringing it back to Earth?”

“To me, continuing the story of an item holds more value than the actual item itself. Every object has a life of its own, countless stories that can be told… that is, a value that transcends the mere material realm that we ourselves exist in. This item in particular has passed through hundreds of sets of hooves only to be deposited in a dusty antique shop where it very well may have come to the end of it’s journey. But never in its entire existence did any of its owners think it would pass from one realm and into another. I myself long feared that it wouldn’t ever leave my shop if I’m being perfectly honest with you. As a collector and historian, I would see no higher honor than allowing something from my collection to bridge the divide between our realities.”

“I never thought of it that way, but if you’re willing to offer it for such a low price I would be honored to carry on it’s story. My husband is going to love it even more because of that.”

Mystic smiled, “Then in that case I believe we have a deal.”

Starry led Scarlet through the crowded walkway and over towards one of the higher parts of the cave. As they pushed their way through the crowd he gestured towards a small staircase, leading her down into a less crowded walkway.

As they continued down the new path Starry looked back towards Scarlet, slowing his pace slightly, “I apologize for the crowds, the main walkway tends to get a bit busy in the evening… I hope it’s not overwhelming for you.”

“Oh it’s perfectly fine, I’m no stranger to crowds.”

Starry nodded and resumed his pace, “Well in that case I am happy to hear that it’s not getting to you. To tell you the truth, I enjoy this part of the cavern more than any other, the toy shop happens to be close by so it works well in our favor.”

“So Starry, do you have a family or something? You don’t exactly strike me as the toy collecting type.”

Starry smiled and nodded his head, “Oh most assuredly not. Mystic’s shop is more my style, but to answer your question, yes. I have a wife and two wonderful foals. One’s a night pony and the other’s a pegasus, and both mean the world to me.”

Scarlet stopped and jokingly jabbed his side, “You never told me you were a family man, so do they live in the outpost or somewhere else?”

“They live just outside of Canterlot, that’s actually part of the reason why I like to visit this place so often. The months I spend away in the outpost can be crushing at times, but these regular excursions out here help mitigate it. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve arranged for you to stay at a nearby inn. I would normally be more than happy to host you in my own home, but I’m afraid that the little ones have long since taken over permanent residence in our spare room.”

“Starry, I can imagine that that’s got to be the most adorable thing ever. I’ve only got one foal back home and believe me, it’s probably the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen when he makes little nests and forts in his room. I’m more than happy with staying at an inn.”

Stary smiled, “I’m glad to hear that,” He paused and gestured towards a bright purple building with a happy looking sign brightly painted on it’s side. Velvet Aura’s Hoof Crafted Curios

“Cute, so I’ll take it your kids like this place?”

Starry grinned, “They love this place, I’ve spent my fair share of bits here for them, but it’s all worth it.”

As they trotted in Scarlet noticed a purple night pony working away at the top of a staircase in a small loft section that overlooked the entire shop.

The mare took sight of Scarlet and stood up, cheerfully greeting her with a warm smile, “Greetings and welcome. I’m Velvet Aura, please let me know if you need help finding anything” She looked towards the side, noticing Starry, “Oh Starry Skies! Welcome back! Here for more gifts for the little ones?”

Starry smiled and shook his head, “Not today I’m afraid, but my friend here is. Velvet, this is Scarlet, an Astronomer that’s helping out with Princess Luna’s program.”

“Well welcome, any friend of Starry is a friend of mine, is there anything specific that you’re looking for?”

Scarlet began to glance around at the various toys and trinkets that were seemingly crammed into every inch of the place, “Just browsing for now. I want to get a present for my foal back home, this is the first time he’s been apart from me for more than a few days.”

Velvet nodded, “How old is he and is there anything that he enjoys in particular?”

Scarlet smiled, “He'll actually be turning one in the summer. It’s hard to tell if he’s really into one thing more than others right now, but he does seem to enjoy plush toys more than anything.”

Velvet nodded and glided down from her loft, “We have a wonderful assortment of those to choose from, he is a night pony I presume?”

Scarlet nodded, “Yeah, and like I said, he’s not really into anything specific yet.”

“Not to worry, in that case let me show you my specialty line designed with night pony foals in mind, I myself am well aware of how rough and rowdy they can get. Follow me, they’re just over this way,” She gestured towards a large shelf full of different plush toys with a wing.

Scarlet took a few steps closer and began to browse the selection, smiling as she took in the different plush animals that lined the shelf. Right away she noticed a large snake-like plush that she could already envision Orion snuggling up with, and excitedly grabbed it off of the shelf.

“How much for this one?”

Velvet eyed the snake plush and smiled, “That particular item is twenty bits. However, I am offering a deal with those particular toys.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“If you’d be interested in buying another plush I can offer that one for half off.”

Scarlet looked around and grinned in delight as she saw an adorable looking spider plush sitting on the shelf. Silver would never approve of this existing in their house, he was absolutely terrified of spiders, but she figured that a harmless plush would be fine, he only seemed to hate actual spiders after all, a fake one that was clearly a toy should be perfectly okay. Plus it was a present for Orion, and if there was really an issue with it she could just keep it away in the colt’s room where Silver would never need to see it.

Scarlet grabbed the toy off of the shelf and approached the counter where Velvet had retreated back to. She gently set the two plush toys on the counter and reached into her saddlebags for the bits she had earned so far.

“So Thirty bits?”

Velvet nodded, “Thirty bits. Would you like these in a bag? Or perhaps we can ship them to your home?”

Scarlet looked towards Starry. “What would work best for this?”

Starry turned towards Velvet, “We’ll take them to go, there is no courier route to the outpost unfortunately.”

Velvet nodded, “That’s perfectly fine. I hope your foal enjoys these. They are hoof-made, but designed to be durable enough to withstand any kind of play, and considering he’s a night pony I’m sure it’ll be well worth it.”

Scarlet slid the bits across the counter and smiled, excited to give Silver and Orion their gifts, even though she’d still have to wait a while for that. A sense of longing came over her as she thought back to her family. She was happy to have the opportunity to be here in Equestria, but she’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t feeling a little homesick. Normally this was mitigated by the fact that she could always be in contact with them, but the lack of that opportunity was definitely starting to get to her. Her new friends at least gave her a feeling that she wasn’t completely out of place here, and the fact that everyone was seemingly so friendly and cheerful made her feel more at home.

Velvet passed a bag over to Scarlet and smiled, “Would you like a receipt?”

Scarlet shook her head, “I think I’m okay. This might sound weird, but I’m from Earth, so I don’t know when or if I’ll ever be back here.”

Velvet’s eyes widened in intrigue, “From Earth? Fascinating. So I’m assuming that you’re not just here on vacation then, right?”

“I wish, this is still an awesome experience. Like Starry said, I’m with the astronomy program, but we finally have a break, decided to do a little sight seeing while I had the chance.”

“Well in that case I hope you enjoy your trip, hopefully you’ll have the chance to make it back over this way someday.”

Scarlet nodded, “I hope so too.”

Starry smiled, “Take care Velvet.”

“And you as well.”

The pair trotted out of the store and over to a low wall that overlooked the rest of the caves. Scarlet gazed around at the crowd of ponies, most of which were night ponies.

Starry followed her gaze, “Is it really that strange seeing so many members of your tribe in one place? You’ve mentioned it before but it’s just hard to imagine.”

Scarlet turned towards Starry and nodded, “For a guide that works so closely with a princess I would have thought that you’d know more about Earth… not that I can really fault you on that, it just stands out to me more than I thought it would.”

“I suppose I never really saw a reason to learn more. Call it anxiety, a fear of the unknown… whatever the case may be, it’s kept me from delving further into it.” He perked up, “Though perhaps someday I’ll make the journey myself. It all sounds so… different.”

“Believe me, this place is beyond different for me. If you’re afraid of feeling like a fish out of water, you won’t be alone, even on Earth it’s easy to feel out of place. I guess I never thought of it much, but after coming here I just feel like everything’s so perfect. The world’s built for us, there’s no one or thing telling us that we’re wrong for being different, it’s just an eerily odd and endearing feeling at the same time.”

“I presume that Earth is the opposite?”

Scarlet shrugged, “It’s hard to really say. For most people it’s a matter of perspective. I can choose to see only the bad and that’ll make my experience, or I can choose to look beyond that and find what I’ve found here… if that makes sense.”

Starry nodded, “I believe it does, though I suppose that the matter is far more complex than that. Equestria isn’t perfect either, there’s still prejudice, fear, anxiety… just look at our relations with the griffins following one horribly misguided unicorn’s actions, that may be something that will hang over us for many years to come.”

“We’re really not all that different— earth and equestrian ponies that is, it’s just different worldly circumstances.”

“And your world did just suffer what could be perceived as a very real apocalypse only a little over a year ago. That will likely leave scars that won’t fully heal or many years, if ever.”

“Nothing ever fully heals, there’ll always be reminders and visions of the past that help remind us of where we came from.” Scarlet paused for a moment, gazing back out over the random ponies that made up the unassuming crowd. “Thanks for the insight Starry, I didn’t mean for this conversation to get so personal… it’s just, I feel like we’re still figuring everything out and it’s sort of desensitized me at this point. Like this huge unbelievable trip has barely even phased me.”

“Maybe that’s for the better? That you’ve taken your experiences and created something positive from them.”

Scarlet smiled, “Maybe it is… so what’s next?”

“Well, we should probably go check in at your lodging and drop your gifts off, after we can head over to a quaint cafe for some dinner, it’s not the most ornate place, but the owner is an old friend of mine and I’d like to catch up with him.”

Scarlet nodded, “Lead on then, I can’t wait to check it out.”

Starry smiled and waved her along towards a small inn that would serve as her home for the next couple days.

The two sat in an area that Starry had pointed out was a popular cafe run by an old retired member of Luna’s Night Guard. The arched iron sign that sat in front of it had read The Knight’s Light, though ponies from all walks of life seemed to be present here. A large assortment of night ponies wearing similar armor to the guards back at the outpost were scattered around, but there were also ponies wearing simple aprons, tool belts, or even just hard hats.

The two shared a table with Starry’s wife, foals, and two other ponies who wore goggles and tool belts. Starry had been quick to point out that they were engineer ponies who had helped set up some of the early outpost infrastructure, but had returned to Canterlot when they had gotten the chance to take on a contract that they were after for a while now.

Starry chatted with the unicorn for a bit while the night pony absentmindedly tinkered around with a strange looking mechanical device that almost resembled something of a clock. Scarlet tuned out the conversation, instead choosing to look around at the rest of the cave they were in. It certainly felt like she stood out here, but none of the ponies seemed to care or pay her any mind.

“So Scarlet’s from Earth then?” She suddenly heard the unicorn ask.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and nodded towards him, “Yes, I’m an astronomer back on Earth. I’m here on a sort of cultural exchange.”

He smiled, “It must feel so weird getting to come here, then. I heard that Earth is so much different than Equestria. I mean you guys built up a world without magic for most of your existence… I’m sorry, where are my manners. I’m Gear Grinder, and this is my apprentice Xenith.”

The night pony set his device down and nodded, “It's rare that we encounter a Terran here, even more so one that is a night pony.”

“Yeah… there’s not too many of them back home either. It’s honestly a little weird seeing so many in one place here.”

“I bet. So what did you think of our handiwork?”

“In the observatory?”

He nodded, “It's based on Terran designs, though there’s a fair amount of Equestrian engineering involved. Was there any noticeable difference in operation compared to what you’d find back home?”

She shook her head, “No, not really. It seems like it moves a little more precisely but I can’t tell if that’s just different materials, the higher end design, or what.”

“It’s a mix actually. There’s some magic involved to fill in the gaps of what’s possible on Earth and what we lack here in Equestria. That’s detail that I can’t get too far into I’m afraid, but I’m glad to hear that there’s no real issue with reliability.”

“I kind of figured as much. So I know you can’t get into details, but out of curiosity would this be possible back home?”

He shrugged, “It’s possible. It would depend on whether Earth has materials that would be receptive to that. Neither of us have looked into it too much. Sorry if that doesn’t really answer your question at all.”

She nodded, “It’s fine. I was just kind of curious is all. We’ve been trying to develop some new telescopes back home so I was just curious to see if anything like this would be possible.”

“Well if it ever is please don’t hesitate to share the plans with us. You Terrans all seem to be so resourceful at times,” he chuckled. “Imagine doing everything without magic.”

Starry cleared his throat, interrupting the two. “I hate to interrupt, but I believe our server is returning soon, do you all know what you’d like to order?”

Scarlet looked down at the menu and nodded, “I think so.”

He smiled, “Wonderful!”

Starry smiled as he led the three down the cobblestone streets of Canterlot and towards the large imposing palace in the distance. Tyler and Sarah had just arrived today, and they seemed more than happy to be off of the cramped train they rode in on earlier. Their amazement wasn’t quite the same as Scarlet’s had been when she first caught a glimpse of the regal city a couple days ago, but they were still sneaking bewildered glances every once in a while.

“So will the Princess actually be joining us or is it more of a Join me and the assorted nobility scenario?” Tyler jokingly asked.

Starry nodded, “Princess Luna may be present if her other duties permit it. Other nobility and ambassadors shall be in attendance as well, including a few from your own world.”

“Other country ambassadors you mean?” Sarah asked as she returned her gaze from one of the large buildings.

“Indeed. I do not know who will be present specifically, just that it includes ambassadors from both worlds.”

“It sounds like it’ll be a real interesting night. So are we actually dining in the palace?” Scarlet asked, cutting in.

Starry looked over towards her and shook his head, “Not the actual palace proper, but the venue is close by. It should still offer spectacular views of the city and surrounding vistas though.”

Scarlet smiled, “Well I can’t wait, this whole place has just been amazing so far.”

She looked towards Sarah and Tyler who nodded in agreement.

“So Starry… what’s the actual plan? Are we sitting with them or are we going to be off on our own?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I would assume you would be sitting with them. As far as I am aware, guests visiting from Earth are all seated at the same table, is there a concern with that?”

Scarlet shook her head, “None at all, I was just curious. So is it okay for us to chat with them? Do we need to be super formal and uptight? Y’know, is this supposed to be a formal dinner or is it more of a casual meet and greet kind of thing?”

Starry smiled, “Oh of course! I could not imagine a quiet dinner here, these are some of my favorite events to attend solely for the interesting stories you hear from far and wide. I’m not aware of how it is on Earth, but here in Equestria, sharing stories among strangers and friends alike is one of our greatest traditions.”

Scarlet smiled back, “I think that answers everything. I just wanted to make sure, I don’t know about the others but I’ve never dined with any kind of celebrity or ambassador before, I wasn’t sure if there was some ironclad protocol we had to follow or anything.”

“There is none that I am aware of, I do hope you enjoy yourselves tonight, it might not be what you are used to on Earth, but I hope you’ll feel welcome all the same. The princess invited you, but do not feel like this needs to be a formal event, if it helps, think of it as a dinner with old friends.”

Starry led the three into the regal dining room, where a plethora of creatures were already sitting. Scarlet hadn’t realized it until now, but Equestria had a far more diverse population that was made up of more than just ponies. Starry had mentioned this earlier when they had first toured the outpost, but she hadn’t thought much of that comment up until now. As she looked around the room she picked out a few creatures that were obvious to her, like the humans and ponies, but she also noticed a zebra, a few creatures that looked like ponies but had strange horns, and a few other creatures that she assumed were griffons based on some of the depictions Scarlet had seen back home.

She continued to observe the other guests up until Starry ushered them towards one table in particular, it wasn’t specified in any particular way, but she could tell that it was meant for Earth based guests. The table was empty, except for a human and two ponies, who were all casually chatting and enjoying what looked like freshly baked goods.

Starry cleared his throat, “Good evening, I would like to introduce you to a few of your fellow guests from Earth,” He gestured towards the Human that sat at the outside of the table, “This is Giovanni, Earth’s Italian ambassador to Equestria,” He moved on, gesturing towards the pink unicorn next, “And this is Cherry Blossom, She is Japan’s ambassador,” He moved on to the remaining orange pegasus, “And lastly, we have Lucky Hazel, Jamaica’s ambassador.”

The orange mare smiled and nodded, “Pleased to meet you, you three are astronomers right? What’s it’s like to actually see another world’s stars? Is it as cool as it sounds?”

Starry smiled, “I can see that you all will get along just fine, please pardon me for a moment, my presence is required up front, I will return in just a few minutes.” With a quick bow towards the assembled guests, Starry trotted off towards whoever needed his attention.

Scarlet took a seat next to the pegasus, “It’s no harm, I don’t think you’ll be able to out geek three astronomers who are getting to do something like this.”

“It is an exciting change of pace, that is for sure,” Cherry Blossom spoke up, “I have never been much of a stargazer myself, but I can see the appeal nonetheless. Am I correct in assuming that you’re a part of Princess Luna’s little pet project?”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “Pet project?”

Giovanni sat up in his seat and took a sip of water, “My friend, I believe that Cherry is referring to the Princess’ new observatory that’s out in the middle of nowhere. Pardon our curiosity, it’s just that there’s so much mystique surrounding both her and that project in particular. There’s rumors that come out of the shadows and naturally that can tend to pique one’s interest, especially given the… less than usual circumstance of all of us being present here.”

Scarlet couldn’t help but pick up on the fact that the three ambassadors seemed to speak in a dialect that was understandable, but didn’t feel as graceful to her. They spoke as if they had only recently learned the language and were still getting the hang of pronouncing the strange, almost musical words. She wasn’t sure if it was that they had simply arrived here later than they had, hadn’t bothered to practice it as much, or maybe something else entirely. Was it possible that these three felt just as out of place as her and her two new friends did?

Tyler spoke up, stirring Scarlet from her silent observations, “To answer your question, we’re visiting astronomers that are assisting her with a really novel project. Assuming that’s the one you’re talking about, I can say it’s definitely nothing outlandish or crazy. Just working on updating archived star maps with Equestria’s stars and constellations. Kind of like what we do back home.”

“So exciting for us, boring for probably everyone else.” Sarah added with a smile.

Cherry nodded, “Fascinating, though the truth is certainly less interesting than the rumor.”

“Well for you maybe, I think it’s amazing that you three have the chance to do that. Are you using weird Equestrian equipment or stuff from back home!?” Lucky excitedly asked.

Scarlet perked up, happy to hold a conversation that felt so casual and informal, “Kind of a mix, we’re not really sure how much is from who, but it sure runs like the stuff back home. I think they used some of our designs as a base and worked up and replaced what they weren’t able to really do here with their own engineering and technology. Kind of like an old world meets new world scenario I think? It’s hard to really tell given how… weird this all is.”

Starry returned, interrupting the group before they could ask any further questions, “Ah yes, I apologize for that interruption, another guest needed my assistance. Now as for dinner, our menu has both local cuisine and recipes gifted to our chefs from Earth, you are welcome to try either, though the option for food that may be more familiar to your… tastes is available if you so desire.” He passed a small menu to each of the guests, giving them time to look it over.

Scarlet retrieved one and gave a quick nod in thanks. Without a second thought she started looking through the Earth side of the menu, noting that there were dishes from all four of the countries that were currently represented at the table. Out of curiosity, she gave a quick glance over to the Equestrian side, curious to see what counted as local cuisine. Everything seemed fairly standard, hay burger, flower and hay sandwich… hay, hay, and more hay. She scrunched her muzzle up in disgust as she thought back to when that was the only thing that was widely available for ponies to eat shortly after ETS had struck. It was fine enough sure, but eating raw hay for weeks on end soured the experience for her.

She continued to look through that side of the menu in disinterest, pausing when she came across something she never would have expected to see on a dinner menu, let alone one that was being offered to nobility and ambassadors in the country’s capital. Baked Tarantula. She gave a quick wave towards Starry, who cheerfully trotted over.

“Yes Mrs. Eclipse? Did you have a question?”

She nodded, “Yes, I noticed this thing on the menu, Baked Tarantula… is that actually a baked tarantula or is it something that’s just not translating over as well?”

“Ah yes, the Baked Tarantula. Not as popular amongst the day ponies, but it could be considered something of a delicacy amongst night ponies. Would you care to try it?”

Scarlet hesitated for a moment, before returning a quick nod. “My husband’s deathly afraid of spiders… but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sound interesting. Plus the look on his face when I tell him what I tried is going to be priceless.”

Starry, smiled, “I’ll let our chefs know. They are masters of their craft and it won’t take long for them to prepare your meal. Would you like anything else to drink in the meantime?”

She shook her head, “Just water for now.”

Starry nodded and trotted off, leaving Scarlet alone to her thoughts once again. She was starting to regret her meal choice, and was half tempted to call after Starry and choose something else, but a lingering thought kept her in her seat. If it was on the menu and night ponies in Equestria enjoyed it, it couldn’t be all that bad right?

Giovanni sat up and took another sip from his glass, “So now that that’s out of the way, how have you all been adjusting to your stay here? Before you arrived I was talking with Cherry and Lucky about their own experiences and it’s been intriguing to hear.”

“You know, it was kind of rough at first, jumping from one world and into another wasn’t as strange as I thought it might be, the strange part was just getting used to how small everything is here. I’m sure you understand that.” Tyler answered.

The human nodded, “I’ve had a couple of weeks to adjust but it’s still had it’s unusual moments at times.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but obviously this world wasn’t built for humans, it’s just an odd feeling when you think you’re judging something but you’re still used to the scale of everything back home. I think Tyler’s tripped about a dozen times on so many different staircases just because he’s not used to the steps being as low as they are.” Sarah added.

Scarlet smiled, “Obviously it’s different for me. As weird as it sounds I feel right at home here. I’d never give up my life back home for anything in the world, but it’s a nice change of pace being here.”

Cherry looked at Lucky and Scarlet and nodded, “I share your sentiment. I’ve only been here for a week and adjusting hasn’t been too hard. I’m assuming it’s the same for you Lucky?”

The pegasus nodded, “It’s different, but I think it’s worth it. If we can help foster peace between worlds and nations I think it’s all worthwhile, even if some of us are uncomfortable at times.”

Cherry nodded, “I have a family back home that I miss dearly, but this mission is worth the momentary longing for them that I feel. I’ll be home to see them soon enough, and maybe the world will be a little better in the long run because of what we’re doing.”

Scarlet smiled, “I know we’re not specifically here for any kind of good will mission like you three are, but I like to think that every small part helps. Even if we’re just helping some astronomers update a star map, it’s still a chance to share some of our culture and gain an appreciation for some of theirs.”

A warm grin spread across Giovanni’s face, “It appears that we’re not all as different as it might seem. I am glad to have heard your own tales.”

“Likewise, it’s been… interesting.” Tyler mused. “Here we thought we’d have to be uptight and formal for this dinner, but you’re all normal people like us with friends and families.”

“We are just a small group that want to make a better world, in our own ways, be it big or small. People of all lands have gathered like this for centuries to share their own stories, and it’s humbling to know that even though we come from all corners of the globe, we are able to converse as if we are fond friends.” Cherry added.

Without much fanfare the servers returned with a cart full of steaming plates, clearly prepared quickly with some sort of magic. The group collectively eyed the cart, pausing their conversation for the time being.

Lucky turned towards the three astronomers, “I’d love to chat some more after dinner, if you’ll indulge me that is.”

Sarah nodded, “Not sure how much we can really say, but I’d love to talk some more.”

One by one the plates were set down in front of the group, who happily began to dig into their chosen meals. As Scarlet’s was laid down in front of her, she couldn’t help but eye the tarantulas with a look of both disgust and intrigue. She hesitantly broke off a leg and took a small bite. She paused and slowly began to smile.

Her eyes widened in bewilderment and she eagerly dug in, surprising herself in the process. It had been so long since she had eaten actual meat that she had forgotten how good the taste could be. It was as if she had suddenly discovered a part of her that was missing for the last year, a piece of her very being that was now rediscovered, and she couldn’t get enough of it. This is actually… kind of good! I’m eating a tarantula and liking it… Silver’s gonna freak out but I have to get him to try this sometime! She thought to herself as a devilish grin spread across her face. She would never just spring this on him without a fair warning, that would be needlessly cruel after all, but maybe she could ease him into trying it, surely he could get over it if she could show him how good it was. Those thoughts would have to wait however, she was too eager to enjoy this strangely good new food to think about anything else.

Scarlet pushed the large wooden doors open and trotted in, waving at a pair of equestrian technicians as she passed them, “Hey, Thunder! Hey, Sol! They got you two working overtime again?”

The gray night pony nodded her head, glancing towards the blue unicorn that sat off to the side. “Yep! Finishing up some unplanned maintenance, I guess they forgot to recalibrate it when they were working on it before. No sweat though, the extra bits we get for this are well worth it, isn’t that right Sol?”

“Mhmm, beats working back on that dock in the Crystal Empire that they had us at before.”

Scarlet smiled, “That’s certainly a nice perk. So are Tyler and Sarah in there?” She asked, gesturing towards the main observatory with a wing.”

The blue unicorn nodded, “Yeah, just came back from break maybe five, ten minutes ago? Nebula and Windseeker were helping them earlier, but clocked out when they all broke for their break.” She glanced towards Thunder and then back over to Scarlet, “Starting early again Scarlet?”

“None of the fun stuff yet, just the boring paperwork. You know, logging which quadrants we’re on, any anomalies with the existing maps, that kind of stuff.”

Thunder Smiled. “Sounds like a boatload of fun, I think I’ll let you handle that stuff and stick to the technical oddities.”

Scarlet smirked. “Not a fan of paperwork?”

She replied with a mock face of disgust, earning laughs from both Scarlet and Sol.

“Well I’ll let you two get back to work, have a nice night if I don’t see you before you break.”

Thunder smiled, “You too, Scar. See ya later.”

Scarlet trotted towards the interior doors and walked into the observatory proper. As Scarlet made her way over to her desk she smiled at Tyler and Sarah, who were already hard at work on their respective tasks for the night.

“Hey Tyler, Sarah. You guys have a nice day?”

Tyler turned away from the computer for a moment and nodded, “Yeah, I took a nice walk this afternoon and did a little fishing down by the pond. Not much else.”

“Did you catch anything good?”

He shook his head, “Nah, just some equestrian bass, tossed em back after. How about you? Did you do anything fun?”

She shrugged, “Not really, just meditated for a little while before dinner. I know this means nothing to you, but I almost managed to dreamwalk during it but got distracted before I could. I don’t think very many night ponies can do that back home. I only know two that have been able to actually do it with any regularity.”

“Sounds like fun. Real talk, I wish I could do that. Getting to make your own dreams and go off on some crazy adventures or maybe just hang out on some idealized beach.” Sarah added as she walked over from the telescope.

“What’d you do today Sarah?”

“Oh you know, much of the same. Stopped by the library and tried reading some of their books. Get this, they have their own version of Indiana Jones, Daring Do! And the story’s aren’t even half bad either. I’m honestly tempted to buy up the whole set and bring them home with me if they’ll let me.”

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t, books should be perfectly fine.”

“Well I guess we’ll find out, I think tonight’s pay night. So what’re you up to? Just stopping by early?”

Scarlet shook her head, “Nah, I figured I’d help you guys out with the mundane paperwork. I felt like I was starting to get too comfortable with not doing work, I figured I might as well get back into the swing of things and take some more notes on equestrian astronomy while I still can.”

“Not one for taking time from work? I thought you had a blast the other day at dinner?”

She nodded, “Oh I did, there’s just so much to do here and not enough time to do it so I don’t want to waste any of my freetime when I have the opportunity to use it to my advantage. I love vacations just as much as the next pony, but we’re talking about the unknown cosmos of another world here!”

“How’d that cave tour go by the way? Tyler and I didn’t get a chance to stop down there.”

“Oh it was awesome, It’s hard to explain but I just felt so cozy there. I even got to pick up a few souvenirs for my husband and foal and got to meet some more night ponies. Overall, it was interesting to say the least, and it really made it clear how different they are compared to their earth counterparts.”

“Well it sure sounds like you had a fun time. We appreciate you helping out with the boring work by the way, it really helps cut down on the workload.”

To the casual observer it might seem that the group had been hard at work for the better part of a few months, but in actuality it had only been a few weeks since the group had arrived to Equestria. As resourceful as the trio had become, they were only a small part of the larger team, and after this week they would be gone, leaving their work for some future group to pick up.

Maybe someday she could find her way back here, but that probably wouldn’t happen any time soon. As much as Scarlet enjoyed the outpost and Equestria as a whole, she missed her family and couldn’t wait to get back home to them. Perhaps she could bring them along for the next trip if there was ever that possibility, she’d have to ask the Princess the next time she had the chance to.

She shook her head and returned to the task at hand. Equestria had so many more stars left to map, and not nearly enough time left to map them as she wanted. Still though, the opportunity to even be a part of this was more than anything she could ever ask for and she was happy to be a part of it, even if only for a short while.

“So what’s the plan tonight Sarah?”

The human looked away from the large telescope in the center of the room, “Not much, just finishing up the stars in the quadrant five, moving onto six, seven, and maybe eight if we have time to get to that tonight.”

“Ah, so the less prominent stars then?”

She nodded, “I’m glad you said less prominent instead of less important. So many people back home seem to disregard ours like that. They might not be as prominent as some of the more visible stars and constellations, but they’re still out there, even if people don’t see them.”

“I couldn’t have said it any better myself,” Tyler added, “If you want to jump in early feel free to do so, I know the paperwork’s a bit boring and I wouldn’t fault you if you wanted to get to the real fun stuff.”

Scarlet smiled, “I’ll think about it, someone’s gotta get this done though and I’d rather knock it out before my shift really starts so I can get more out of it.”

Tyler shrugged, “Hey you do you, we really do appreciate it though, so thanks again.”

As Scarlet walked around the outpost she couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions. On one hoof, she was excited to get home and see her family again, on the other she was sad to say goodbye to her new friends and all the interesting wonders that Equestria’s night sky had to share. The end of their trip would be here in only a few hours, and already she had received a flurry of emotional goodbyes from some of the permanent staffers that she had come to see as close friends during her short trip to Equestria.

She had already carefully packed away enough notebooks to easily fill in her small bookshelf back home and couldn’t wait to properly organize all of her research. For as much as she had learned on this trip, she had only barely scratched the surface of everything that Equestrian astronomy had to offer. Her collected volumes of research and notes would still make for an interesting read for astronomers back home, and she had decided to start properly curating it all into an actual book. She didn’t expect it to be anything that would make waves in the industry, but hobbyists and others who couldn’t make the trip on their own would probably find it interesting enough to buy a copy which would at least help fund some of her own work.

There was one more pressing matter that she wanted to address before she left, thanking the princess for even letting her be a part of the team. She approached the large observatory doors and knocked a few times, waiting until the princess called her in. With a confident smile Scarlet began to trot towards the princess, who greeted her with a smile of her own.

“Good evening again Scarlet, Crescent has told me that there was something you wished to speak with me about?”

She nodded, “I just wanted to thank you again for letting me be a part of this. It really means so much to me.”

Luna nodded, “It was my pleasure to help a pony that appreciates the night as much as you do. You are returning to Earth soon, correct?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I don’t know when or if I’ll ever be able to come back here again, but I wanted to just give you a personal thank you before I left. There was another thing too, it’s about my notebook.”

The princess let out a small laugh, “And which one would that be? I couldn’t help but notice that your saddlebags are filled with far more than what you arrived with. Do you plan to share some of the research on our stars with Earthly astronomers?”

A smile began to spread across Scarlet’s face, “Yes actually, we don’t really know a whole lot about Equestria’s stars back home, I kind of figured that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to organize and publish my notes— if that’s alright with you that is.”

Luna smiled once more, “I would never stop somepony from sharing a love of the night with others, please go ahead, and share what you’ve learned here.”

Scarlet excitedly nodded, “Thanks Princess, for everything. I hope that I’ll be able to come back for another visit someday.”

“I wish you the best of luck wherever you may go, if you should find your way back to this world again, I would be delighted to hear of what has transpired with your endeavours.”

Scarlet smiled and trotted out of the Observatory, running into Thunder and Sol on the way out, “Oh hey guys.”

The gray night pony looked up from her desk and smiled, “Hey Scarlet, I suppose this is probably the last time we’ll see each other?”

Scarlet nodded solemnly, “Yeah. We’re out of here in a few hours, I just wanted to say a few goodbyes before we board the train.”

The blue unicorn gave a quick nod, “It’s sure gonna be quiet around here, I don’t think any other astronomer save for the princess herself, has spent so much time in here.”

Scarlet let out a laugh, “I hope I didn’t bother you guys too much, this has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, I didn’t want to waste a single moment of it.”

“It’s been different, but fun. We’re really going to miss you three, even if we’ve only known each other for a month now.” Thunder added.

Sol nodded, “It’s crazy how fast a month flies by. One minute three strange aliens are stepping off into your home, the next you’re saying goodbye to new friends.”

“It’s weird. I feel like this place has become a second home to me, even if I might never get back here,” Scarlet mused.

Thunder shrugged, “You never know, anything’s possible. So many ponies have come here to study or research the stars, and out of all of them I think you three might be the most memorable.”

“It helps that you’re also the first aliens here, that’s definitely memorable.” Sol added with a smile.

Scarlet nodded, “Look me up if you guys ever make it over to Earth, I’d love to show you around our observatory sometime.”

Thunder smiled, “For sure. Take care Scarlet.”

The group walked back into the Crystal palace, feeling as if they had just done the opposite only yesterday. Scarlet was unsure of what the future would hold for her or if she would ever get a chance to come back here, but she was grateful for the experience nonetheless. The group was oddly silent as they walked towards the portal room and through the security checkpoints. Without asking them directly, Scarlet could only assume that they were thinking the same as she was, silently reflecting on the trip they had all taken and bonded over, and wondering what the future would hold.

By the time they had reached the portal and had been cleared for passage, a looming sense of sadness could be felt hanging over the group, Starry included.

Scarlet looked towards their guide turned friend and embraced him in a tight hug, “Thanks for everything. This has been an amazing month, and I’m really going to miss you. You’re a good friend Starry;- please give my regards to Starshine too, I know we didn’t talk much but she’s a very lucky mare.”

Starry smiled, “I’ve spent the last year wondering how inviting Earth astronomers would impact our operations. I wasn’t sure if you would be more of a hindrance than a help, but you three have really shown that it’s the latter. We’re going to miss you, too.”

“I’ll have to talk with Sapphire and see if there’s any easy way to keep in touch. My offer still stands by the way, if you’re ever out my way Silver and I would love to host you in our city. It’s not much now, but I think it’d be cool to show you what we’ve done, especially after this trip.”

The Equestrian night pony nodded, “Perhaps I’ll cash in a few of my vacation days as you put it, and make the journey down there myself.”

Tyler looked towards the portal and back towards the Equestrian, “I hate to leave so soon, especially after making so many new friends… It’s been a real pleasure, Starry,” He held his hand out towards the pony, “I know I’ll remember this forever.”

Sarah smiled, “If you do make it to Earth, look us up too, maybe we could all meet up somewhere and hang out. I’m sure Scarlet wouldn’t mind hosting us too… right?” She asked with a grin.

Scarlet nodded, “Absolutely. If you two ever have trouble filling the hours give me a ring, I’d love to hire you on full time. We’re looking at upgrading some of our equipment and I could use a few talented astronomers to help run everything.”

“Well, we can’t delay this forever, as much as I’d like to. It’s been a joy spending time with you three, and I’ll definitely try and keep in contact as best as I can.” Starry reached into his saddlebag for a moment, pulling out a small bag, “It’s cheesy I know, but I would be remiss if I didn’t offer you something to remember your visit by.” He carefully opened the bag and slid out the three metal medallions that he had custom ordered from Mystic Ember.

“Starry, you didn’t need to do this—”

He cut scarlet off with a warm smile, “The front has the sigil of the outpost, the back has your names transcribed in Equestrian on them, I know it’s not much but think of this as a way to commemorate our achievements here. Mystic Ember was right when he said that an object’s true value is the story it tells us, and these tell a story that I hope you’ll all share with your friends and families back home.”

Scarlet carefully held the offered medallion, smiling as she read the front of it. From Equestria to Earth, and the endless cosmos up above, the memory of this adventure shall live on as long as we live. Thanks for being a part of the journey, - Starry

She held out her hoof in thanks, grinning as Starry returned the gesture, “Thanks again Starry, this means a lot.”

“It was my pleasure, now if we’re all done being sentimental, I believe you have a world to return to.”

Tyler nodded and slowly stepped towards the portal, looking towards Sarah, “Well, I think work’s sure gonna be boring after this.” With a smile he stepped through, leaving the other human alone with Scarlet.

Sarah turned towards the portal and paused, “Goodbye Starry, it’s been great.” She turned back towards the portal and followed in Tyler’s footsteps, leaving Scarlet alone for a few more moments.

Scarlet walked towards the portal, gazing at the strange gateway that had been the start of one of the most interesting adventures of her life. She took a few hesitant steps towards it before pausing and turning back towards Starry, “Goodbye friend, until we meet again.”

Starry smiled, “Farewell.”

Scarlet turned back towards the portal and stepped through, ending her Equestrian adventure and returning to the life she had temporarily left back on Earth.

Scarlet trotted off the plane and towards the arrival gate, thanking the flight attendant on her way out. The flight home had been silent and full of peaceful reflection.

As much as she already missed Equestria, she was more than happy to be back home with her family. She couldn’t wait to just talk with Silver on the ride back home and see Orion again. Silver had already lit up the comm with dozens of questions and messages, and she had happily told him that they could talk once they were back home, face to face.

It wasn’t a long walk to the baggage claim area, and before she even had a chance to look for Silver, he had ran towards her, catching her by surprise with a tight embrace and nearly knocking her over in the process.”

The very exhausted looking Stallion pulled her into a tight hug while Orion excitedly ran up to her, bringing a smile to her face. “Scarlet, I’m so glad you’re back home! I missed you so much!” He said as if he was relieved that she was back.

“Silver— what’s gotten into you?” She questioned in a daze, the sing songy quality of her voice standing out more now that she was back on Earth.

“I just missed you. I knew taking care of a night pony foal on my own would be hard, but man, it’s a lot harder than I thought! Your voice sounds beautiful by the way, is that a hint of Equestrian I’m hearing?”

She returned the embrace and held him close for a few moments, glancing down towards Orion who was excitedly jumping around, “Well… I’m glad you had some time to really appreciate the miracle of fatherhood… So how was it? The house isn’t a wreck I hope?”

He broke the hug and let out a nervous chuckle as he looked down at Orion, who had a large grin on his face, “Yeah… about that… He’s uhh… well you missed his diablo phase— but I think he’s over that now!”

She let out a sigh and shook her head, worried at what the response would be, “Silver…”

He began to gesture around with his hooves, “Don’t worry though, I figured out how to keep him calm and It’s only a few holes in the wall!.. and some broken dishes here and there— don’t worry, I cleaned up the glass right away and no one got hurt! And uhh… oh, he also kind of got into the pantry and figured out how to climb up to the top shelf— we’re gonna have to fix those too. Oh, and the TV’s broken…”

She quickly cut him off, “Okay, how about you tell me what isn’t broken? I feel like that’s going to be a lot easier.”

“Well the windows are good, and he didn’t break the other TV… Oh and I got the most adorable pictures of him snuggling up with Cosmo and that plush your grandmother made for us… So uhh.. How was your trip?”

Unsure of how to react to the news, she simply let out a flurry of laughter, catching him off guard entirely, “Silver, it was great. I’ve got a few souvenirs for you two and I’ve got enough notes to write my own book… Sounds like Orion really gave you a run for your money though.”

Silver let out a few nervous chuckles and waved her towards the exit, “Yeah… we can talk about that over dinner, why don’t you tell me all about your trip on the ride back? I’m Sure Orion’s dying to get some attention from you too.”

Scarlet looked down at the excited colt and smiled, “Is that right now? Well how was your month little buddy? I’ve got some presents for you that I think you’re gonna love!” She reached into one of the bags she held at her side and pulled out the spider plush, earning a nervous glance from Silver.

Orion excitedly jumped over towards the plush, pulling it close and holding it tightly, earning a happy cheer from Scarlet. She glanced over towards Silver, walking towards him with a grin, “I know you’re gonna hate this, but I’ve got a new recipe that we have to try sometime… baked tarantula— I know you don’t like spiders but it’s meat we can actually eat and you don’t know what you’re missing, trust me!”

She felt a twinge of guilt as the color seemed to drain from Silver’s face for a few moments, “Yeah… uhh there’s one other thing I forgot to mention… Orion kinda tried that out on his own, too, and I think he’s a fan…”

She raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that… he didn’t get into too much trouble, right?”

“He uhh, well he ate a spider, but Wayne said it was okay and actually suggested trying it myself… I guess I know what’s for dinner then?”

Scarlet let out another series of laughs and shook her head, “I feel like your month might have been just as exciting as mine.”

Silver nodded, “Oh you don’t even know the half of it… It’s great to have you back home though, I think I need another vacation after this, maybe we could take a trip to the lake when we get back?”

Scarlet smiled, “I’d love that, we’ve got so much to share with each other.”

Chapter 6: Magic Journeys

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Chapter 7: Beyond the Stars

Fowl Play

-=SECURE SERVER CONNECTION INITIATED=-

Experiment log, Project Foresight 4-A, Current location, The ARK research facility.

Every so often someone will ask me what your purpose is, that is, why we’re investing so much of our resources into this project when it has no immediate return value for us. It’s a tricky question to answer, but the best way I can put it is by explaining my thoughts behind why this is so important to us. Do you ever try and figure out what your true talent in life is? What destiny has in store for you? I know you can’t possibly even hope to answer that, but I still try. Every so often I think I know what it is, but then the little seeds of doubt start getting planted and it inevitably brings those questions back up. A picture of a lunar eclipse on my flank doesn’t really tell me anything meaningful, what? I’m good at eclipses? I like space? I want to go to the moon? It looks nice and all, but what does it actually mean?

Some ponies have clearly defined talents, like Scarlet for instance. She’s obviously gifted at astronomy, even if the actual application of her talent is far more complex than that. Knowing that some ponies had the answer of what their destiny was easily answered by a picture on their flank definitely made my earlier resentment with my situation all the more frustrating. I mean hell, I was trapped in form I wasn’t comfortable in, forever, with a talent that I struggled to understand early on… half of the oasis ponies don’t even have their marks yet, so to some I’d be considered very lucky. The more I reflect on it though, the more it starts to make sense.

For a time I thought it tied into my dream abilities, those of course were my greatest talent at the time, or so I thought. But then I started to teach other talented dreamers and realized that my abilities didn’t define who I was. Anyone with the right abilities can harness them like I did after all, so I thought back to how I earned that mark in the first place, and the answer just hit me. My talent isn’t something that’s clearly black and white, I doubt anyone’s truly ever is, even ponies like Scarlet. In my case it’s taking what I have and looking at what I can do with that— to see the new horizons looming in front of me if that makes sense. I saw the dream realm as this amazing opportunity to teach and work with others, and here I am now, teaching my own group of students that are situated all over the world.

No one’s destiny is ever truly set in stone though, despite what your special talent in life is, there’s always different and unexpected outcomes that can really throw you for a loop. Sometimes your destiny just works out in unexpectedly weird ways. The whole UMAD incident may have led to one of the biggest magical incidents on the West Coast at the time, but it also opened up my eyes to what’s really possible when you work together with the right ponies. I’m often asked why I was so… reserved about the Great Storm and how I handled its aftermath, and the answer is honestly very straightforward.

It’s two things really, for one, we simply had too much to lose by getting overly aggressive in our handling of the situation, not to mention the fact that what we had done to get that help was dubiously legal at best, incredibly illegal at worst. I know that I’m a night pony and that’s in my nature to be aggressive, but the fact of the matter is that we were both screwed over by UMAD’s rouge agents and lashing out at the pony that was acting in perceived defense of her friends would have only compounded the issue further. Choosing to forgive and help rebuild together was strategically the best choice we could make at the time. Sapphire’s a great ally and friend to have, and hell, befriending her has led to more good than befriending Blessing has in the long run, not that we’re not grateful for everything Sunset and the SPEC partnership’s done for this place, of course. But it’s different with Sapphire, in an ironic twist she’s actually become one of our closest family friends, something that might seem incredibly strange to any onlooker that’s familiar with the actual details of the Great Storm.

Secondly, it introduced us to some… interesting ponies that were uniquely suited to helping with the cleanup. The Cleanup Crew as I’ve started to call them, not the most creative name, but it suits them all the same. As far as I can tell they’re completely untethered to any government or state agency and seem to operate independently. They have a tendency of keeping to the shadows, and it’s all off the record of course so you’ll be hard pressed to find any evidence of them anywhere, but regardless of their true nature, they were able to help us fight off the litigation that we were facing, along with keeping word of the incident locked down to the valley. To most of the world outside the Oasis it was merely seen as some freak weather magic experiment gone wildly wrong, with the occasional crackpot theory about “The Pony of Storms”, an urban legend to the rest of the world, though one that a few bright individuals have managed to see through.

The whole point of this little talk is that destiny has a weird way of putting you on the right track, and almost everything that’s happened in the aftermath of the Great Storm wouldn’t have been possible if I had chosen to embrace my instincts and lash out at the very real Pony of Storms. The Seekers, the Oasis, even project foresight— they're all a part of this, even if I never actively realized it at the time.

— Error— data interpretation failure. Error code X15-SIR-0496. Shall I print out a crash log?

That’s a new one… Yeah go ahead and print the log, the lab boys will want to see it for sure. So what’s up? You weren’t a fan of my lecture on the nature of destiny? You don’t have to sugarcoat it, you can just tell me that I’m not the most amazing storyteller and it won’t hurt my feelings. Look at me, talking with a computer like it’s another sentient being.

— Error— I lack a sufficient response to the query.

Lighten up a little Oracle, remember what I said about being too robotic?

— I’m sorry Silver, I don’t know how to reply.

There you go, now you’re starting to sound a bit more like an actual conversation partner! I know it was a lot to give you, but we had to figure out what you could parse and how much your systems would take in. Now let’s go ahead and take it from the top, see if we can’t sort out that data retrieval error.

— Thanks Silver.

Anytime friend… anytime. Let’s go ahead and run the diagnostic program.

— Diagnostics running, please standby.

Good, good. I’m going to run over to my office, you should be connected to the COMM network, at least you should be if Arne did his job. Why don’t you try and call me when you’re done with your diagnostics?

— I’m on the network?

Yep! The PRISMTech COMM Network. Now that said, I’ve limited your broadcast range to the secure line for now. You’re still a class X asset so you can’t go around chatting away with any random user that feels like digging around the network, is that okay?

— Okay

Good! Anyways, my COMM ID is DIR-96-17, go ahead and route all correspondence to that in case you need anything.

— Okay. Have a nice evening, Silver.

Thanks Oracle, let me know when your diagnostics are complete, I’ll send some more data over once you’re ready.

-=CONNECTION TERMINATED=-

It was a beautiful but hot summer afternoon, and the sun continued to beat down on Zipper as he flew high above the clouds, enjoying his usual Sunday pre-nap flight. This was his favorite part of the entire day, as it gave him the chance to just freely fly to his heart’s content and let the stress of the day fade into the background. Loud rock music flowed from headphones securely clipped to his ears as he soared along, the upbeat tempo only driving him to zip along even faster than he already was.

The sky was clear up here and the air was dry, but it did little to bother the prideful pegasus. He knew how to prepare for days like this, and nothing would get in the way of his perfect afternoon. With a large grin, he pulled into a few wide rolls, swooping through and above the clouds, breaking them apart and coming to a land on one of the smaller segments which threatened to break apart with the force of his rough landing. He took a few breaths as he reached for the water bottle that was securely attached to his side, greedily taking a few large gulps while he scoped out the rest of his afternoon route until there was barely even a few drops left.

Without any real direction, he secured his now-depleted water bottle and began to glide over towards the edge of the Oasis, keeping his eyes open for that one perfect place where he could take his nap. The Oasis was a hub of constant activity and as such Zipper found himself constantly changing it up, finding new and creative places to enjoy a siesta, away from all the noise and construction. It wasn’t always an easy task, but the pegasus loved a good challenge every once in a while, and his nap was more than enough of a reward for all his hard work.

As Zipper gracefully soared through the air, the calm waters of the lake seemed to call out to him, and given how hot it currently was, a nice refreshing swim would be the perfect way to cool off before his nap. As he glided closer towards the lake he noticed that he wasn’t the only pony with that thought. In fact, it seemed as if half of the Oasis had decided to relax in the lake today, something he couldn’t really blame them for. With a big grin, he banked towards it, swooping down over the various beach goers and coming to a splash down in the center of the lake.

The cool water surrounded him, sending a flurry of bubbles rising to the surface and bringing a refreshing feeling of relaxation with it. The world seemed to fade away as he paddled around in the cool water, feeling perfectly at peace in the aquatic environment. As he broke the surface, he took a deep breath, stretched out his wings, and laid back, gently floating on the water. He let out a happy sounding sigh and let his worries just melt away. Zipper was completely at peace here and nothing could hope to ruin this wonderful day.

If it wasn’t such a terrible idea he might have even considered simply closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep, but he knew better than that. Zipper may have been brash and overly confident at times, but he wasn’t stupid. Instead he let the gentle current carry him towards the shore, the sounds of splashing and music growing louder around him as he floated along the surface. As his head came to a rest against the shore, he became acutely aware of another sound assaulting his ear drums, an annoyingly irritating honking coming from not too far away.

His face scrunched into a grimace as the piercing sounds drilled their way into his ears, causing him to dial up his volume to no avail, the sound was simply too loud. They really need to work on making better headphones, how can some stupid birds honking drown out my music? I mean this is ridiculous! He angrily thought to himself. Annoyed that his peaceful day was being interrupted, he paused his music, stood up, and glared in the direction of the awful sound. Sitting only a short distance away was a group of large geese, swimming around in the water and honking away at him as if they were trying to communicate something to him.

With an irritated roll of his eyes he began to try and shoo them away with his wings, “What do you want? Just go find somewhere else to hang out and let me enjoy my day.”

Much to his annoyance the geese merely honked at him again.

Well it’s just a bunch of big dumb birds, right? Maybe I just need to scare them off. He flared his wings out and puffed out his chest like he had seen some large birds do before, and began to walk towards them, earning an angry hiss from one of them in return.

He jumped back in surprise, “W— what?”

Another loud series of hisses was the only reply he got from them.

Alright well maybe I just need to show them who’s really the boss around here. He began to lightly flap his wings as he slowly trotted towards the geese, who simply held their ground. With a frustrated sigh he picked up the pace, as he was met with another flurry of hisses. The loud hisses made him cringe, but he continued to press on, desperately hoping that they’d get the message and buzz off.

As he continued his approach, he let out a confident laugh, but as he neared the group, the geese finally responded to his aggressive display with one of their own. Without any further hesitation they began to angrily swim towards him, flapping their wings wildly and causing the pegasus to stop in his tracks. It was too late, however, as the geese were now riled up. Much to his dismay, they continued to press forward, anger and malice showing in their beady eyes.

“Okay, okay I get it! You can stop now!” He frantically began to shout out towards them. Despite his frantic pleas, the geese continued. Realizing that they weren’t about to stop, he began to run away, desperately hoping that they’d ignore him and go back to honking loudly on the beach. The geese simply continued to chase and peck at him, earning a few laughs from the other lake goers in the process.

Silver and Scarlet sat off to the side in the shade, enjoying their afternoon and watching Orion splash along the shallow shore of the Verdant Lake with their dog Cosmo. It was getting close to noon but that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy a fun excursion to the beach as a family before heading to bed for the day. Orion certainly had no objections to this plan and Cosmo was just as happy to be running around with the colt. For a winged pony Orion sure loved everything about the water, and the sight of him playing around in it with their dog and looking for shells was one of those adorable sights that Silver and Scarlet couldn’t get enough of.

Silver broke his gaze for a few moments to take in the relaxing sights and sounds around him, making sure to keep Orion in his peripheral vision just in case the colt decided to cause any mischief. Unbeknownst to Silver, a lone goose began to make its way towards Orion, loudly honking at him as he got close, scaring both the colt and the dog, and earning a scared cry from Orion. Without much thought, Silver snapped his head towards the source of the disturbance, letting out a loud, almost involuntary hiss as he ran towards the irate bird with flared wings and bared fangs, scaring the goose away from the colt with a loud growl.

The other beach goers looked on in surprise and concern, in shock at seeing Silver aggressively lash out at something, a sight that was incredibly rare to see in public. With a cry, Orion ran towards Silver and tried to hide under his legs for protection. Silver crouched down and pulled the colt close, lowering his voice to a calm, reassuring tone, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you little buddy. The big mean bird’s not gonna bother you anymore… and if he ever does again I’m gonna make sure he won’t live to honk another day!..”

He blinked a few times and glanced around at the slack jawed, wide eyed stares he was getting from the other beach goers. His face suddenly reddened as the realization of what he had just very publicly done set in. With a nervous smile he stood up, making sure Orion was close by, “I uhhh… sorry about that, kind of got a little heated for a moment— that goose scared my son and I needed to make sure he was okay...”

A few of the patrons returned awkward nods and wordless replies, sparking another wave of regret and embarrassment in Silver. Scarlet slowly trotted towards him, leaning close and letting out a small chuckle, “Nice save ace, I think you really convinced them.”

A series of frantic yells and honks dragged Silver’s attention away from Orion and over to the opposite shore, where Zipper was currently fleeing from an angry looking flock of geese. Silver began to let out a few laughs in stark contrast to the awkward moment before, drawing a confused look from Orion, Scarlet, and the nearby beach goers.

“What’s so funny, Silv?” She asked in confusion.

Silver tried to stifle his laughter, but could only manage to gesture over towards the frantic pegasus.

Scarlet smirked, “Huh, well that’s a classic Zipper moment right there if I’ve ever seen one,” she paused for a moment, “should… should we go help him?”

Silver took a few deep breaths, looking from Scarlet, to Orion, and then finally back towards Zipper, “Nah, I think he’s gotta figure this one out on his own. Plus I think Orion still wants to look for some more shells.”

She looked back with concern, “You sure? You know how he handles stuff like this.”

Silver nodded, “Well he is the weather captain, that makes him in charge of the sky above the Oasis and all its inhabitants so technically this is his problem to work through. He’s not a foal after all, and it’s not like the geese are going to actually hurt him, they’re just defending themselves.”

Scarlet slowly nodded in agreement. “Alright, well you’ve got a point… but maybe we could just record this for posterity?”

Silver chuckled, “You mean record this so we can bring it up at the next Christmas party? Sure.” He raised his leg up to speak into his gauntlet, “Navi, begin recording all feeds on Oasis Cameras four through seventeen.”

Standby Director Eclipse… Recording on Lakeside Cameras, came the robotic reply.

Silver smiled and turned back towards his wife, “Plus, I’ve got that business trip coming up in a couple weeks, the more time I can spend with you two the better.”

She nodded, “Sometimes I forget you still go on those, it’s kind of nice that you don’t have to travel as often for work anymore and I know that Orion definitely loves it.”

“He’s not the only one that loves it, I’m glad I don’t have to be away from you two as often. As much as I love travelling around, nothing beats spending time with my two favorite ponies in the whole wide world.”

Scarlet smiled and looked back over towards the purple colt, watching as he hesitantly dug around the sand with Cosmo, in search of a few shells. “So how about a quick dip in the lake before we head out? You could even take Orion for a quick fly if you wanted to, you know how much he likes that.”

Silver nodded “I’d love that, make sure you get a few pictures too so we can add them to the scrapbook.”

She smirked and rolled her eyes, “Alright shutterbug, but only if you make a few goofy faces too.”

He smiled, “Alright, but only if you promise not to share those ones again.”

She laughed, “Okay fine, I won’t share them at the party.”

“Just the party? You mean you’re going to share it elsewhere?”

She let out a few chuckles, “Well just with my parents, you know how much they love seeing pictures of the happy family, we don’t get down to Florida to see them as often and they sure love their grandson.”

“With your parents? Come on, they’re never gonna let me live those down.” He said pleadingly.

“Oh come on, my parents think it’s adorable when you switch into proud dad mode with Orion.”

Silver laughed and rolled his eyes, “Alright fine, you win again.”

She struck a victorious pose, “Another point for me,” She looked over towards Orion and Cosmo, “You should probably go get him before he’s all worn out, I’m sure he’s going to be so excited to fly around with you.”

“What about our quick swim?”

Scarlet shrugged, “The lake’s not going anywhere, plus I know how much you love taking Orion along when you fly, you go have fun and we can go swimming tomorrow.”

Silver nodded and gave her a quick hug before turning towards Orion. He quickly trotted over to the colt and greeted him with a big smile, “Well I heard that someone really likes to fly! I wonder who that could be?” He said, looking around and over the colt in an exaggerated fashion.

A big grin began to spread across Orion’s face as Silver turned back towards him.

“Is it… You?!” He shouted as he jumped into the water, earning some happy giggles from the foal. “So how about it little buddy, do you want to go for a quick fly before bed?”

The purple colt jumped up and responded with a big happy grin, earning a couple of big smiles from Silver and Scarlet.

Silver looked back over towards Scarlet, “Well I think that’s a yes if I’ve ever seen one,” he lowered down to Orion’s level. “Well buddy are you ready to go?”

Orion nodded and ran over, giving a few happy flaps of his wings as Silver carefully wrapped his front legs around him, making sure that he had a tight grip on the excited colt, “Alright buddy, we’re gonna have so much fun!”

He carefully lifted off and began to fly over and around the lake, much to Orion’s delight. Even though he kept to a slower pace and lower altitude, Orion enjoyed it all the same. By the time Silver touched down the colt was well beyond exhausted and quickly curled up in the sand next to Scarlet and Cosmo. Silver smiled and helped lift the sleeping foal onto Scarlet’s back as the two departed for their nearby home.

Zipper carefully walked up towards the lake, a few slices of bread held under a wing. It had been a few days since he had been chased away by the geese and he was determined to solve this problem any way possible, especially given the story of Silver’s very aggressive outburst towards the geese that had been making its rounds among the weather team. He’d start with the diplomatic approach first and go from there. As he neared the group of geese they began to hiss at him again, causing him to pause and address the geese, “Just calm down, I brought you something good.”

They continued to hiss, but he didn’t back away this time. With slow and precise movements, he tore off a few pieces of bread and held them out as a peace offering, “Look, I don’t want to hurt you, I brought you guys a treat.”

One of the geese slowly waded forward, giving Zipper a curious sounding honk.

“There you go, see? I just want to be your friend,” He calmly said as the goose took a quick peck at the bread.

Honk, the goose enthusiastically replied, almost as if it appreciated Zipper’s meager offering.

Zipper’s ears perked up as he listened to the goose honk. A strange sense of understanding began to well up inside him, “Do… do you like that?”

Honk

He stared at the goose for a second, slowly nodding as he stepped closer to it, “You… you do, right? You were just hungry and afraid that I was going to come after you like Silver did…”

Honk

Zipper sat back for a moment in surprise. It was hard to tell, but for a moment it was almost as if he was able to understand this goose in a weird way. He cautiously leaned in closer, eyeing the goose with curiosity, “You’re not really all that mean are you?”

Honk

“You just want to keep your friends safe, right? Make sure they have a nice place to live where ponies won’t hurt them?”

The goose replied with an affirmative honk.

“Right…” Zipper blinked a few times. Am I really entertaining this? I mean it’s just a goose, it can’t really understand me right? he thought to himself, “Can… Can you understand me?”

The goose gave another loud honk.

“Alright well I’ll make sure I can figure something out, I promise you.” He said with uncertainty, not even sure whether the goose could actually understand him or not.

The goose simply replied with another affirmative honk.

Zipper’s eyes widened in surprise. Could this be what I’m supposed to do? Can I actually understand them? He thought to himself again. As if to answer his question a bright light lit up the lake around him, drawing the attention of the lake goers. He quickly looked back, his face lighting up in excitement as he saw the image of a pair of wings resting on his flank.

“I… my cutie mark… FINALLY!” He shouted as he flew up into the air, doing a few rolls and dives before coming down to land in front of the small crowd that had formed.

Silver smiled and walked towards him, “Congrats, Zip, looks like you finally got your cutie mark. So what is it? Your talent I mean.”

“This is gonna sound really really weird, but I think I can talk to animals, Silver.”

“You think?” He asked curiously, raising an eyebrow at the odd statement.

Zipper slowly nodded, “Well, I mean the only ones I’ve tried talking to were the geese and I reeeeeaaaallly had to focus on it, but still, it has to mean something right? I got my mark right as I realized that.”

Silver shrugged, giving the gray pegasus a pat on the back, “Well whatever the case may be, I’m proud of you. So what do you think you’ll do with that talent?”

“I… I actually don’t know. I always thought I’d earn my mark in something with flying, but I guess this can kind of tie into that.”

“Well good luck to you Zip! I know you’ll get it figured out in due time. Want me to go ring up Dazzle and tell her all about your big accomplishment?” He said as he slowly started raising his gauntlet to speak into it. “Navi, call contact Daz—“

“—NO!” He shouted as he quickly jumped over, pushing Silver’s arm away. “You think she’d want to know?!.. I mean— I haven’t even talked to her in a few months, we’re not really friends or anything. I don’t think you need to bother her about this.”

Silver chuckled and shook his head, “Alright Zip, you got it. Why don’t you take the next couple of days off to celebrate, you’ve earned it!”

He smiled, “Thanks Silver, you’re the best!”

Before he turned away, Silver leaned in close, raising his wings up and baring his fangs as he lowered his voice to a stern whisper in another rare show of aggression, “Just saying it now though, you better use your talent to tell them to stay away from Orion from now on or goose is gonna be on the Thanksgiving table this year... got it?”

Zipper raised an eyebrow, “But we don’t eat meat…” his eyes suddenly snapped open wide as the realization of what Silver was implying hit him, “Y...you wouldn’t! Not just to make a point… I— I know you freaked out about them the other day but you wouldn’t do something like that— would you?!”

“I guess we’ll find out come Thanksgiving then… so we’re clear?”

Zipper nervously nodded his head, “y...yeah… got it.”

Silver broke his stern stance and returned a cheerful smile, “Fantastic! Glad we see eye to eye on this, congrats again Zip!”

As Zipper walked away everything started to become a little more clear to him. He had a gift, and for the first time in years he felt as if he knew exactly what his purpose in life was, he would work as hard as he could to give the animals of the Oasis the best home possible, even if he had to work extra hard to do it. It wouldn’t be easy, and he’d need a lot of help to do it, but in the end it would be well worth it.

Zipper quickly knocked on the door to Patrick’s office, hoping that he hadn’t left for the day yet. This had been a very eventful day for the pegasus and he was already plotting out exactly what he wanted to do with his newfound talent. Blue Spring stood off to the side next to him, idly humming some cheerful tune while they waited. The mare had previously worked at a state park in Florida before moving to Colorado a few years before ETS and would probably be the only other pony in the Oasis who would actually be able to help him out with this. She was also one of his best friends and he was more than grateful that she had agreed to meet Patrick with him with such short notice.

As Zipper raised his leg to check the time, the door opened, revealing the cheerful operations director. “Heya Zip whaddya need this time?”

He snapped back to attention, cheerfully nodding towards Patrick. “Hey Pat, do you have a few minutes to talk about a proposal?”

The cheerful unicorn nodded his head, “Sure, I actually just wrapped up my work for the day but what’s a few more minutes?”

“Perfect!” He gestured towards the open door with a wing, letting Blue Spring lead the way in. The pair quickly took a seat by the large window while Patrick returned to his desk, turning towards them with a warm smile on his face.

“So what’s your proposal about this time Zip? Another idea for a carnival? A tropical hideaway by the lake—“

“—an animal sanctuary actually.”

Patrick knocked on his desk and returned a big grin, “Aha an animal sanctuary, I was going to say that next… so uhhh… why an animal sanctuary? Not exactly the most ‘Zipper’ plan now is it?”

Zipper nodded, “It’s a long story and I don’t want to waste your time with every detail, but basically I figured out I can kinda sorta understand animals and got my cutie mark in the process and I realized that they don’t have a safe place to live without bothering the other residents around the Oasis so I kind of wanted to see about getting an actual animal sanctuary set up for them. Y’know, so they’re safe.”

Patrick raised an eyebrow for a moment as if he was going to question this, but chose not to. Instead another warm smile spread across his face, “Well first off, congratulations on finally earning your mark! I was rooting for you the whole time! Secondly, a sanctuary is kind of doable, but we’ll need to do some research and figure out where the best spot i—.”

“—And then we can start?!” Zipper excitedly cut in.

Patrick shook his head slowly, “Whoa, hold up there, not just yet. The Oasis might be privately owned, but I can only approve so much on my own. You’ll have to draft a plan and run it by Silver and the rest of the city council just like everyone else. We also need to make sure that we’ll be able to support the animals you want to house there so we’re looking at bringing some experts in too. I don’t want to say you’re not capable of doing this, but it might just be easier to section off a little area for them right now and wait until we have more of the actual experts onboard here to help manage it.”

Zipper’s face scrunched into a worried frown, “Yeah but… but then we lose a part of the lake and they still don’t have a nice safe home… and then Silver will get mad at them!”

Patrick raised his hooves up, gesturing for Zipper to take a breather, “Alright, well I’ll tell you what, why don’t we section that area off for now, just so they’re all set in the meantime, and I’ll even talk to Silver and make sure he doesn’t do anything crazy. I can give you two the numbers for a few architects and engineers, and you can talk with them about doing something bigger down the line. You’ll have to get all the relevant experts in, but I think Blue Spring is more than capable of that on her own, she does have the most experience in something like this after all.”

“But… we can’t just do that now?” Zipper pleaded.

Patrick shook his head, “I’m afraid not Zip, that’s a lot of ‘What if’ right now. If you talk with the ponies I mentioned before and get an actual plan together, we can talk about this more.”

Zipper let out an annoyed sigh, “Alright, I understand. Thanks again Pat.”

He nodded, “Any time. If you do wind up coming up with an actual plan please let me know, It’s not something you’ll be able to just do overnight, but I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll come up with.”

The duo stood up and walked towards the door, “Well thanks again Pat! We’ll let you know if we ever get anywhere else with this.”

He responded with a warm smile as he walked to the door with them, “Glad I could be of service.”

Blue Spring led Zipper down the hallway and into the elevator, noticing that Zipper seemed to be lost in thought. As the doors closed she turned towards the gray pegasus, watching him with a concerned look, “Hey Zip, what’s on your mind? You seem a little out of it.”

Zipper nodded his head quickly, “Yeah I’m good. I just want to make sure they can have a nice safe home where they can all be comfortable. I know it’s going to be a lot of work but I feel like I have to make sure they’re all good… you know?”

She nodded, “I’ve spent most of my life around animals, I know I can’t really understand them like you apparently can, but I get what you’re saying. It’s going to be a lot of work though, you know that right?”

He nodded, “I do. I know we have the weather team commitments, but would you be up for helping plan this all out with me?”

She raised an eyebrow, “You mean you’re really going to plan it out? Even though it’s going to be a lot of boring work that’s not going to be easy?”

He quickly nodded his head, “I mean this is my talent, it’d be a shame to just let it go to waste right?”

“Well I suppose so, you realize though, this is something you’ve never really had experience with. Running an animal sanctuary is a lot different than running amusement parks and carnival rides.”

Zipper shrugged, “Well yeah… I was kind of hoping you’d be able to help out with that. You sorta have more experience than I do… a lot more really.”

She nodded, “Alright, I’ll help you out with this when we have free time, but if I’m going to be in charge of it you have to be open to letting me make the big decisions. I know you’re the weather captain and like to call the shots, but we’re talking about actual animals and their well being here, it’s a lot of responsibility.”

He quickly nodded his head, “Yeah okay, that’s fine by me! You’re the expert after all.”

She smiled, “Alright, well we can head back over to my place and work on this if you really want to.”

A big smile spread across his face, “I’d love that!”

“Alright, well let’s get going, you feel like grabbing some dinner on the way?”

Zipper nodded, “I’m actually in a cooking kind of mood today, do you have stuff back at your house?”

“Sure, what do you have in mind?”

“Macaroni maybe? I have a new recipe that I’ve been dying to try out, I’ll even make it, my treat.”

Blue Spring smiled, “I’d love that Zipper.”

Zipper sat at the table with Blue Spring in her home, mulling over the layout with her over a small dinner. The blue pegasus perked up as she took a few bites of the macaroni that Zipper had helped prepare, “So Zipper, what do you really want to do with this?”

“Well I’m thinking like… like a big visitor center where you can learn about the different animals there and what we’re doing to help them, an animal hospital on the lower level, maybe a wicked aviary outside with a whole natural habitat that you can walk through…”

She nodded along, jotting a couple notes down. “What else though? We need to have something big to really bring people in.”

“Hmm… Oh, I know! Maybe we could have a boat ride through the aviary with a guided tour on the different animals!”

“Yes! We had a little guided tour back in Florida and it was a really fun part of the job.” Blue Spring suddenly interjected.

Zipper nodded, “Yeah, I’m thinking like one of those little guided boat rides, kinda like the boat ride we had back at the fair!”

“Or the Jurassic boat ride at Universal… that might actually be a good inspiration!.. You know, the calm tranquil tour through an animal habitat part, not the getting chased by dinosaurs and plummeting down a big drop part.” Blue Spring continued her note taking, “So a tranquil boat ride through an aviary with a visitor center and animal hospital at the entrance. Any shops? Restaurants? Exhibits?”

Zipper nodded, “We could build a bigger greenhouse by it and use that to stock the restaurant with!— Oh and then the boat ride could even go through it! It could be like a big educational experience! Silver would absolutely be all over that!”

“Mhmm, and for the shops and exhibits?”

Zipper hesitated for a few minutes as he thought of how this would work out. “Well we could have a big shop at the exit that has a bunch of souvenirs themed to the animals inside the sanctuary. We could do little rotating exhibits on the lower floor too, that way there’s always a reason to come back. We could even put signs along the paths that talk about the animals too!”

“And the money from the shop and restaurant could go right back into funding improvements and expansions!” Blue Spring cheerfully added in. “I like it, that kind of covers the whole funding expansions part if we can’t convince Silver to let us do it.”

Zipper nodded in agreement, excitedly jumping up into the air and coming to a hover, “They’re gonna love it so much, I just know it!”

Blue Spring let out a few laughs, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Gee Zipper I didn’t realize that getting your cutie mark would make you such a serious pony!”

Zipper came to a land, his face reddening in embarrassment, “Oh— sorry. I guess I got kind of excited. I just finally know what I want to do and I can’t wait to do it! My whole life I’ve been trying to figure out what I was meant to do. I kept latching onto different things, trying to find something that I liked and that worked for me. The carnival gave me something to do that I really enjoyed, and loved, even if it was never going to be something serious. People took one look at me and saw some annoying thrill chaser, but on the inside I was just trying to figure out who I really was. I thought that ETS could have given me a chance to start over, but it really didn’t make it any easier, I still had to figure this all out on my own. I’ve waited almost two years for this moment and now that I have my mark I just want to make sure I’m really doing the best job I can, you know?”

She nodded along, “Well I’m glad you actually want to do something that’s actually responsible with this. I’d be lying if I said the rest of the team didn’t think you’d try and start some goose themed daredevil routine after.”

Zipper looked away, “I uhh… thought about doing something like that… but then I realized that they really just want a safe home to live in. I haven’t had a lot of time to think about everything, but it feels like I was meant to help them or something. Like no one else can talk to animals right? That has to mean something.”

“I’m just glad you found something good that you can work towards. Even if this never winds up going anywhere, it’s just fun to plan it all out.”

Zipper smiled, “Thanks Spring, this really means a lot to me.”

She returned a smile, “Any time Zip, ponies help each other out after all.”

“So what now? Wanna keep working on this or do you want to take a break and watch a movie or something?”

She shrugged, “We could watch a movie, you got anything in mind?”

Zipper started to raise his hoof, but paused, “How about you choose one? I kinda just watch the same movies over and over, maybe it’s good to watch something new.”

She nodded, “Gotcha, well go make yourself comfortable, I’ll dig up something that I think you’ll like for sure.”

The two sat in Spring’s living room, watching the end of her chosen movie play out. Zipper hadn’t really been all that interested in it at first, but as she glanced over at him now she couldn’t help but smile at how he was glued to the TV.

Greetings Professor Falken

Hello Joshua.

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play… How about a nice game of chess?

Zipper sat in his chair, eyeing the screen while trying to keep his eyes open, “So the computer thought it was all a game?”

Blue Spring shook her head, “Kinda? It’s a little more complicated though. Joshua isn’t really a person like you or me, it was just a computer running a simulation that everyone else thought was real because it was connected to the real system, that’s why they couldn’t just turn it off without it launching the missiles anyways.”

Zipper nodded, his eyes starting to close, “Well it was a good pick Spring,” Zipper let out a long yawn, “You don’t mind if I crash here tonight do you?”

Blue Spring shook her head, “You’re always welcome here Zip.”

Zipper smiled and slowly closed his eyes, curling up in the comfy chair he was sitting in. Noticing that Zipper had drifted off to sleep, Blue Spring stood up and gently nudged him awake, “Hey Zip, you’re gonna get a sore neck if you sleep there like that, let’s get you over to somewhere a little more comfy. Sound good?”

He silently nodded as she carefully guided him towards the couch, draping a blanket over him before turning towards her own room, “Goodnight Zip, sleep tight.”

With a long yawn, she trudged to her own room and curled up on her bed, letting the call of sleep take hold. As she started to drift off to sleep she couldn’t help but think about Zipper’s whole plan. She didn’t know if it would ever really come to fruition, it was certainly way more complicated than she thought he understood, but it was at least fun to work on with him. Most importantly, she was glad that Zipper was at least starting to think of doing something responsible, even if it was all for a bunch of loud birds.

Author's Note

Takes place about 2 months after Dream Seekers, in mid June.

I swear this wasn't inspired by Untitled Goose Game, this was actually originally written back in July or August as a special bonus chapter for Desert Getaway.

Chapter 8: Star Struck

Legend of the Cursed Treasure

-=SECURE SERVER CONNECTION INITIATED=-

Experiment log, Project Foresight 6-C

Another day another round of inconclusive tests. Gyro tried to feed it more data from project further beyond, and as to be expected the simulations the Oracle was able to generate varied wildly from our own projected results, and that’s just a handful out of a good three dozen attempts that largely produced nothing but errors. The fact of the matter is that we lack enough of an understanding behind how the universe works to even get a good foundation for our own research built up. Not to mention the fact that this whole hypothesis of his is rooted entirely in the speculative nature of how the multiverse theoretically works, we only have one example to work with, and no one knows enough about it to generate any useful data. I’ve been trying to tell him that the Oracle isn’t even set up to handle this kind of simulation yet, but he’s still adamant that it’s worth trying.

This is where our big plans for this place differ significantly. I’m content with trying to find a more practical solution here, and that starts with figuring out an accurate enough time frame for their arrival. Gyro’s plan delves far more into the spiritual and paranormal, though I can understand where he’s coming from with it. Equestria exists in an entirely different universe, so what’s there to say that we couldn’t discover other universes out there? Obviously this kind of magic is kept under tight lock and key, though Gyro speculates that the answers might not be as complicated as we think… However, given that this is coming from him, I myself am skeptical to believe that at best. The stallion’s a genius when it comes to magical research, but there’s clearly not enough for us to work with yet… oh well, as long as the funding and interesting assignments keep coming in I don’t care what he does with it, as long as it doesn’t cause any problems for us here.

So how do we stop an impossibly powerful cosmic threat that’s looming on the horizon if we can’t even figure out when they’ll get here? Well that’s the hard part. This whole project, it’s meant to be a way to do just that— predict an arrival window. Though that’s… easier said than done however. But that brings us to Gyro’s solution; project Further Beyond. What if we could seed a new world? A world where our best minds could work away in safety? Our own connection to Equestria proves that at the very least the multiverse is real, so what’s to stop us from saying that there’s the potential to find another world out there? Another universe where we could set up a sanctuary— a second oasis, a place where the Devourers couldn’t even dream of getting to? Obviously it’s a pipe dream at best, and there’s no way it’d be viable in our lifetime, if ever… evacuating a planet of billions of people is just plain impossible. But what if? It’d be an ark, a place to ensure our own survival as a species, and I can definitely see Gyro’s intentions behind wanting to find such a place. Some might just say that we’re doomed to die anyways so we might as well speed towards the end, but what’s the point in living if we can’t try and make the best of it? Sure our own extinction might be looming on the horizon, but I’ll be damned if I won’t try and change the world before it happens.

Blessing might not always be happy about our agreement, but what is she gonna do? Break some mysterious agreement with a secretive mutual party that she can’t afford to breach? I wish I could explain everything to her, but the world isn’t ready for these kinds of harebrained theories yet. Maybe someday I’ll share some of the Oracle’s research with her, if she only knew the true nature of what she’s funding she probably wouldn’t even question where the money’s going. Hell, perhaps she’d even try and scoop it and all my researchers up, though I suspect she probably already has an idea of what we’re working with here. It’s no secret that she’s tried to slip a few loyal ponies into our ranks, though the way we operate makes those kinds of ponies stick out like a sore thumb. It’s a shame too, a few of them are genuinely talented, just… misguided.

Oh well, the world keeps spinning, and as long as it does we’ll keep trying to find something valuable that we can build up… we owe it to the world. In time maybe the Oracle can help us find the answers we’ve been looking for, and perhaps we’ll even find a new Oasis to call home… one that we can invite the entire world to be a part of…

-=CONNECTION TERMINATED=-

“Have you ever read into the legends that surround this place? Ancient spirits that protect the land, visitors from another planet touching down centuries ago, haunted mines hiding a cursed treasure… that sort of stuff. It’s all superstitious nonsense of course, but for some reason this place is a paranormal hotspot that tends to attract all sorts of strangers, weirdos, and fanatics. For almost two centuries now, fools trying to claim a stake on a treasure they could never hope to claim have scoured the desert to no avail… but what if the legends were real? Supposedly intersecting ley lines can create vortexes of spiritual energy in this valley, points where thaumic energy would likely converge if my predictions are anything to go by. This kind of late night expedition could very well be what pushes our research further… or disprove it, but we’ll never know until we seek out the answers.”

“And you need my help with this… why?”

Gyro looked up from his notes and over towards Phoenix, “Because Tinker and Sprocket won’t try and stay up later just to chase some old ghost story, and I’m not going to be able to do this on my own.”

“So why does this have to be done at night?”

“It doesn’t have to be done at night, but it makes my life easier. Ponies are naturally curious creatures, they see us carrying around some expensive equipment and we’ll be hounded non stop with questions.”

Phoenix nodded, “Okay… but do you even know where you’d start looking though?”

“The legend doesn’t exactly paint a clear picture of where the old mine is, only that it supposedly sits on converging ley lines. Look, I’m just curious to see whether there’s any truth to the notion that there’s science backing the supernatural. I promise it won’t take long, I just want to get a reading on the resonant psychokinetic frequency of the area, I can analyze the data back here.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, gesturing his hooves in air quotations “Resonant psychokinetic frequency? Do you have to sound so… text book about it?”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “I mean do you have a better name for it?.. Don’t answer, that’s rhetorical. So what do you say?”

Phoenix paused for a moment, “Why me specifically though?”

“Because I can trust you, and you’re clearly the next most qualified pony here for this kind of experiment.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that?”

The unicorn rolled his eyes again, “Seriously? It’s just a coincidence that you set up shop on top of a set of intersecting ley lines that would theoretically form one of the largest vortexes in the entire Oasis?”

Phoenix glanced around Gyro’s office in the Ark. “And so what? How does that make me qualified? Maybe I just thought that spot looked nice.”

The unicorn rolled his eyes, “Right… Phoenix, I’ve been studying this stuff for a couple of years now and it’s plainly obvious that you’ve got a fascination with the supernatural just like I do, this is exactly your kind of project.”

“Can’t you just grab Zipper and have him help you? I mean he’s a total nut for the supernatural and psychic too, I’d probably just get in the way of all your science experiments.”

Gyro sighed, how do I put this lightly, “Zipper means well but he’s… well he’s Zipper. You know how he is.”

Phoenix nodded, “Yes, and I also know that he worked at a carnival before ETS and was best friends with the fortune teller. He’s a nut for the supernatural and you know how he is when there’s something that genuinely interests him. Plus he’s been way more responsible since he got his cutie mark, haven’t you seen him taking care of the geese with Blue Spring? I don’t know about you but I think he’s really starting to change for the better.”

Gyro shook his head, “I can appreciate his dedication, but I’d really rather keep him out of this, we don’t need him to suddenly decide that ghosts are real and run off with some hairbrained scheme to use our resources to create some kind of ghost hunting team.”

“Oh come on, I don’t think you guys give him enough credit—“

“No.” He flatly replied.

Phoenix rolled his eyes, “Okay look, I didn’t want it to come to this, but if I’m going to get dragged along for some stupid treasure hunt when I have better things to do, I’m going to drag along someone else who might actually enjoy it.”

Gyro sighed, “You’re not relenting in this are you?”

He shook his head, “Nope. I could just say no and leave, but that’d be an incredibly rude thing to do to a friend. I might as well bring another friend along to pass the time with.”

The orange unicorn put his head between his hooves and sighed, “Alright fine, but you’re going to be the one explaining it all to Silver if he suddenly hatches any crazy schemes.”

“Fair enough. So what is this legend anyways?”

The unicorn gestured to a large painting that sat behind his desk, showcasing a bearded human in fancy clothing, holding a large golden nugget in his hands. “It is the legend of Alexander Ravenscroft, the prospector turned entrepreneur who owned this land almost two hundred years ago… rounding up of course. Legends say that he was ruthless and uncaring, purchasing and inheriting legitimate mining claims through less than ethical practices.”

“So you mean he’d steal them?”

Gyro shook his head, “Not quite, at least not in the traditional sense. He’d scam settlers, cheat their land away from them, even arrange their deaths if it meant he’d be able to strike it rich. By the time he settled here, the man was untouchable. He had every marshall, sheriff, and prospector under his thumb, and he’d still find ways to cheat them.”

“So where does the legend actually begin and the history lesson end?”

Gyro smiled, “That’s a good question. The legend begins in a small mining town called Mesa Verde, better known today as The Oasis. It was a rotting ghost town by the time we got to it, however it wasn’t always that way. Quite the opposite in fact. It was once a thriving boom town where fortunes were seemingly made overnight. The kind of place you only hear about in old westerns. It was an alluring place to a man like Ravenscroft, an easy stake to claim given his nature.

Ravenscroft heard tale of a land full of resources that were ripe for the picking-- iron, silver, copper… but most importantly gold. Legends say that this area housed an abundance of gold at one time, but they also speak of the mysterious spirits that protect it. Specters that inhabit the land and torment those who’d seek to exploit it, like our dearly departed friend.

Now, of course he knew of these legends-- was even intrigued for a time, but in the end he didn’t care. He was a skeptic by nature, a soul blind to the more… mystical sides of the world around him. He figured that these legends were simply old ghost stories told by the native people of this land to try and frighten him. Without a second thought he established Mesa Verde here and immediately set off to claim the fortune he believed lay waiting.

Despite the countless warnings he thrived, robbed the land for all it was worth, and just when he thought he had struck the motherlode, a series of tragedies began to befall the city. It started innocently enough, plants and crops wilting away, the old lake drying up, wells running dry… all seen as warning signs that the legends were true and that the old spirits of the valley had been disturbed.

He was yet to be deterred however, and continued digging into the earth. This proved to be his folly, for it wasn't long after that more tragedy struck. His beloved wife fell sick with an unknown illness and soon passed, followed by his daughter and finally his son. The loss only served to drive him away from everyone else, and he seldom left the mine he had lost everything for.

Rumors of phantoms haunting his nightmares spread and in time he grew more fearful and worried. He finally relented and ordered Mineshaft 13 sealed off, the very shaft where he thought he’d claim the biggest stake of his life. The damage was done though, for on that fateful day, the legends say a great earthquake struck, trapping him in the very mine he had grown to fear, never to be heard from again.

Seemingly overnight the entire town seemed to fade away as the prospectors and townsfolk left, leaving it to rot away, occasionally reviving for a few years only to be left abandoned again. That is until we came along, and well… the rest is history.”

Phoenix shifted around, “You don’t mean… I mean do you actually believe that?”

Gyro shrugged, “I don’t know, but I want to try and explore the old mines and see if I can get a reading there, see if there is indeed latent thaumic energy where the lines intersect.”

Phoenix nodded, “Can’t you just go to the antique shop and get a reading there? I mean you said it was theoretically the largest vortex point.”

He shook his head, “I wish it was that easy. There’s just too much latent background magic in the Oasis for my spell to really work, it’s still a work in progress but the mine in question should be located just far enough outside of the city to get a fairly decent reading.”

“What kind of spell is this anyways?”

“It’s a Class X asset, part of Project Further Beyond. On paper and outside of the Ark project archive it doesn’t even exist.”

“But what does it actually do?”

“It lets me lock onto and identify a specific thaumic signature, gives back rudimentary information like what kind of magic is at play, that sort of stuff, though I’m afraid it’s not quite perfect yet.”

“So you think it could determine if some kind of spiritual turbulence is magical in nature?”

Gyro nodded, “Exactly, that’s why I’m asking you.”

“Well that’s great, so where’s the mine even at?”

The unicorn shrugged, “That’s just it… it’s lost. Records were either lost, purged, or destroyed and none of the currently excavated shafts match up with the few descriptions and shadows I’ve been able to gather from my own research.”

“So we’re just going to dig around blindly?”

Gyro shook his head, “Not quite.” He unrolled one of the large sets of plans that normally sat in the city archives. “These are maps of the mineshafts, showing where they connect and intersect. 13’s not labeled, but neither are a handful of them. Now if I take this survey map of the valley and overlay it with the other map, we can see where tectonic activity likely occurred, that still doesn’t tell us exactly where it is, but it narrows it down to about three locations.”

“So we’re going to look at all three?”

“Not quite.” He unrolled a third map, “This shows various ley lines around the Oasis, there’s a set that intersects in between the three locations, but there isn’t a marked mine there… Now there’s a chance that that could be where the missing mineshaft is, but we won’t really know until we get there.”

“So it’s a good thing we’re going to have a third set of hooves helping then.”

Gyro sighed, “I guess.”

“Alright, well we better get going then.”

“Right. I’ll grab the supplies…” He let out a low sigh, “and I guess you can go grab Zipper.”

The full moon shined brightly above the desert as Zipper excitedly led the charge through the outskirts of the Oasis and towards the site that gyro had outlined. He was surprisingly still full of energy despite being awake far later than he was used to, and his enthusiasm was keeping Phoenix in good spirits. Gyro had his roll of plans strung across his back and was currently pulling a small supply cart full of tools and equipment, keeping a short distance away from the energetic pair.

“This is gonna be sooo cool! A real ghost hunt!” Zipper excitedly cheered.

Gyro let out another small sigh, “We’re not chasing ghosts. We’re analyzing the effects of overlapping ley lines and seeing if there’s any credibility to the theory that they create vortexes of spiritual energy.”

“Oh lighten up Gy, It’s almost Halloween, it’s the perfect time for a good old fashioned ghost hunt!” Phoenix added with a laugh.

Gyro sighed again, “Fine. but can we please get the readings I need first?”

Phoenix nodded, “Sure… How are you going to even get those readings anyhow?”

“It’s going to be a mix of casting a special spell that I’ve thrown together and analyzing the effect on the area, and more traditional methods.”

Zipper perked up, “Ooh! You mean using the kinds of tools that ghost hunters use!”

The unicorn sternly shook his head, “Ghosts aren’t real Zipper. I’ll be using very sensitive scientific equipment to gauge electromagnetic activity in the area along with the aforementioned spell.--”

“--Sounds like you’re a ghost hunter.” Phoenix added with a smirk.

Gyro face hoofed, “Alright, sure, whatever. This technology is similar to what those pseudoscientists use, but this is for an actual scholarly purpose.”

“You think the ghost stories are true Phoenix?” Zipper excitedly asked, completely ignoring Gyro’s response.

Phoenix shrugged, “I don’t know Zip, I guess we’ll find out.”

“Alright, we’re almost there, the cave entrance is up ahead,” Gyro said as he gestured towards the nearby cave, “The entrance into shaft 17 should be located inside. I brought along some supplies that should make this easier for us.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Phoenix you can see in the dark relatively easily, you’ll be keeping an eye out for anything lurking in the shadows that Zipper and I can’t see.”

“And what can I do?!” Zipper excitedly asked.

“You can carry the light.”

“Oh come on, just the light?” He asked with a twinge of disappointment carrying in his voice.

Gyro nodded, “Yes. You weren’t intended to be a part of this expedition, I hate to be rude but you can help by carrying the light while I cast the spell.”

“But can’t you already do both?” Phoenix cut in.

“Yeah! That’s true, you’re like the best unicorn here! Can’t I do anything else?”

Gyro sighed, “You can help take readings… IF we get to that point and it’s not already being done by Phoenix.”

He excitedly nodded his head, “Alright! I’m gonna be a real life ghost hunter!”

“Zipper, need I remind you, this is just a routine expedition.”

“A routine expedition into a haunted cave…” Phoenix said in a low voice.

“You’re not helping Phoenix.”

Phoenix shrugged, “Hey look I’m just trying to lighten the mood a little bit, you asked me to come along when I had actual work to do, so I’m going to at least have some fun with this.”

“Phoenix, we’re both part of PRISM, if anything this is you doing actual work— work which I appreciate by the way, and as I’m sure you’re well aware, I don’t say that often.”

“Okay sure, but this is work for a program that I’m no longer really a part of. Sure I’m still on the PRISM payroll, but that’s basically as a consultant and nothing else. I have my own business to run too and I’m not running it right now in case you haven’t noticed…”

“Doesn’t Midnight help with that? I thought you two were close or something.”

“I mean does that matter? She still has her own job to do too. You know, the mare who’s currently working on the monorail expansion plans with Tinker and Sprocket’s R&D team?”

“I guess I didn’t really think about that,” the unicorn paused for a moment, “Look, if it helps I can pay you for your time, technically you’re a contracted researcher right now, it wouldn’t be hard to approve a small bonus for you too.”

“And I appreciate that, I just wish you would try and take other ponies' thoughts into consideration the next time you want to do something like this. We all have our own separate lives too you know. Oh and please try and give Zipper a little more credit, he genuinely means well even if he’s got his own way of doing things.”

“But you know how Zipper is—“

Phoenix bared his fangs and let out a hiss, “And you know how I am when I’m trying to get my point across and it goes in one ear and out the other. I’m not asking you to change your entire life, just to remember that you’re not the only pony here.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll try and keep that in mind next time.” The unicorn added with a reassuring smile.

“That’s all I ask. We’re a team here and we need to remember that.”

“Hey guys? I hate to interrupt, but is this what we’re looking for?” Zipper called back from a rocky hill in the distance.

Gyro watched as the pegasus gestured towards a cave entrance with his flashlight and returned a quick nod, “Yeah that should be it, does the entrance seem clear?”

Zipper waved the light around at the entrance, scrutinizing it for a few solitary moments before flying back over towards the two, “Yeah seems like it. There’s some equipment a little further in but I can’t really make out what it is or if it’s blocking anything.”

“Right, well I guess that’s better than we could have expected for a site that’s been abandoned for as long as this one has.”

“So what should we do Gy?” Phoenix asked as he glanced towards the cave.

“You scout ahead and double check that it’s clear for us. There’s some equipment I need to prepare before we go down…” He paused for a moment, “I mean if that’s alright with you that is.”

Phoenix smiled, “Glad you asked, I’m fine with that. What about Zipper?”

Gyro turned towards the pegasus, letting out a small sigh, “Zipper, do you want to give me a hand with some of this? I know it’s not the most exciting job out there but you’re along for the ride so…”

“Yeah! I’d love to!” the pegasus excitedly replied.

Gyro and Zipper had flipped on their headlamps while Phoenix scouted ahead, keeping an eye out for any obstructions that would hinder their progress. The trio was mostly silent, save for Zipper, who was cheerfully whistling every so often, much to the unicorn’s annoyance.

“Okay, I’ll be the one to say it, do you really need to make so much noise Zipper?”

The pegasus shook his head, “No of course not, but it sure makes it more fun!”

“Lighten up Gyro, remember what we talked about earlier?”

Gyro rolled his eyes in response, “I know, but can’t we just—” he suddenly paused as Phoenix held up a wing.

“Quiet, I think someone’s been through here,” the night pony said in a whisper.

“What do you—“

“He said quiet Zipper, zip it!” Gyro cut him off with a harsh whisper, walking up towards Phoenix, “How can you tell?”

Phoenix pointed to a set of fresh hoof prints in a layer of dirt that he hadn’t noticed before. “I thought I saw hoof prints as were walking, but there wasn’t enough loose dirt on the ground to be sure…” he began to trail off as his ears pivoted slightly, “I can hear a subtle click every so often, I think someone’s hunting for treasure just as we are.”

Gyro silently nodded and gestured for the two to follow him. With careful steps they trotted further down the mineshaft, taking extra precaution to make as little sound as possible. As they neared the source of the sound, Gyro caught sight of a trio of ponies, two unicorns and a night pony. The white unicorn mare was currently filming the other two while the night pony talked into the camera.

The dark green unicorn looked towards the camera and dimly hit his horn, “Could the legends of a greedy old miser out in the middle of the Arizona desert actually be true?.. Well we’re here to tell you YES!”

The night pony off to his side suddenly jumped in, completing the unicorn’s sentence, “On another thrilling episode of—”

“ — WORLD OF THE WEIRD WITH RICK AND RUBEN!” The two called out in unison.

Gyro looked over towards Zipper, who had a star struck expression on his face.

Zipper snapped his head towards the unicorn, his face lighting up in joy, “Do you know who that is?!” He excitedly whispered out.

Phoenix held up a wing, “Wait you know them?”

“Will you two keep it down? You’re going to give us away.”

“Trust me Gyro they’re harmless,” Zipper replied back, returning his gaze to the three intruders.

“Okay, that may be, but they’re also intruding on our land,” he gestured towards a small pile of equipment on the ground nearby, “and it looks like they’re not just here for a friendly visit. I’d say we could press trespassing and maybe even theft charges given that they’re clearly here to go hunt down the treasure.”

Phoenix nodded, “Gotcha. So what do we do then?”

“Okay well Phoenix, you and Zipper guard the path behind us, just in case they try and make a run for it. I’d suggest calling Cal too, but I doubt we’ll have any reception down here.”

Zipper nodded, slowly walking a few feet back to a spot where the path narrowed, “Alright, uhh just let us know when you’re going to jump out.”

Phoenix followed Zipper and flexed his wings for a few moments, “Okay, ready when you are.”

With a quick nod, Gyro lit his horn and jumped out, shouting towards the three intruders. “Excuse me? This is private property, I need to know who you—“

“— Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it’s actually you!” Zipper shouted as soon as the light had washed over the trio”

The unicorn stallion set down the pick he was holding with his magic and grinned, “Guilty as charged! So I’ll take it you’re a fan?”

Zipper beamed, “More than that! I’ve watched you guys since you started podcasting years ago! Man this is so cool!”

The mare started to speak up, “Giles is that you I hear? What a small world! You of all ponies set up shop in Ravenscroft’s turf?”

Gyro’s eyes widened in shock, “Connie!? THIS is what you’re doing now?!”

She blinked her eyes at him a few times, “Surprised?”

Zipper looked towards the pair with child-like bewilderment, “You know Constance Tombs?! And you didn’t even tell me?!”

Gyro shot his hoof out in Zipper’s direction, “Zip it Zipper, now’s not the time for this.”

“So this is an old friend of yours I’ll take it?” Phoenix asked, raising an eyebrow and lowering his wings.

Gyro shook his head slowly, “Worse, she’s my ex.”

The unicorn slowly began to trot over, “Oh come on Gil, don’t tell me you don’t miss me.” She interjected with a mock face of sadness.

“I sure don’t miss being lied to and robbed, that’s for sure.”

She rolled her eyes, “Oh come on, we were close to a breakthrough and you wanted to stop and settle down. We could have definitively proven that there was an existence after death, but you didn’t want to.”

“I… I thought it was pseudoscience at the time… figured that maybe the world didn’t need that answer… but you didn’t need to steal the device and claim all the credit.”

Phoenix flashed Zipper a confused look and then turned back towards the two unicorns, “uhh is this really the best time for you two to hash out your relationship problems?..”

The pair ignored him, continuing their conversation, “Someone had to share your work… I know you wanted to stop but I couldn’t let all your hard work go to waste,” she paused for a moment, walking up close to him, “Look, I’m sorry, it was a dumb decision that alienated one of my best friends and I’ve felt terrible about it for years. What happened to the man that thought all scientific breakthroughs should be shared with others? Remember him?”

“He turned into a stallion that realized his folly once his ex mare friend claimed all the credit for his work.”

“So now’s the time to change that Gilly! We can settle this once and for all, just like the good old days!”

Gyro turned towards her, “Connie, can you really say those days were good? We were close but then we kept letting work consume everything. We barely made time for each other then, what makes you think now will be any different?”

She paused for a moment and looked off to the side, “I could. I might not have shown it much, but those hours spent working away in the lab with you were some of the best times I’ve had… you have to admit that. So what do you say? ”

Gyro shook his head, “Maybe…” he looked over towards the rest of the group and then back towards Constance, “Alright, sure. Like the good old days. But let me make something very clear, you three are here on our private property. You’re going to follow our rules, help with my experiment, and then leave. Got it?”

She smiled, “Let’s do this Gilly, we’ll finally finish our greatest research project.”

“So uh… what kind of device was this?” Phoenix asked in curiosity.

Gyro extended a hoof towards their equipment, “The Psychokinetic Analysis module, really a bunch of hypothetical research, but something Connie and I were very invested in at the time. Detects subtle changes in an area’s electromagnetic energy readout, or rather it should… Connie and I never finished it, but I started working on it again not too long ago.”

“-We were so close! That’s why I took it, Giles.”

He calmly turned towards her, “It’s Gyro now, Connie. Regardless I know you never finished it, but that’s where my spell comes in. We can combine the information that I get from it with the readouts that the machine is able to generate--”

“--And then you’d have a spectral readout on the area’s surrounding negative energy, and if you put the patterns together with a personality baseline you’ve no doubt already taken you could tell if there’s some kind of lingering specter! That’s actually really smart!”

The two oasis ponies looked towards Zipper with wide eyes, shocked at his sudden interjection. Gyro sat slack jawed in disbelief for a moment before shaking his head, “Zipper how on Earth do you understand any of that?! Seriously, I’m struggling to figure out how a theme park junkie like you knows so much about the paranormal.”

Zipper shrugged, “What can I say? Strange and unusual stuff interests me, and I myself am strange and unusual… it just kind of clicks with me, y’know?”

Phoenix let out a small laugh, leaning in and whispering to Gyro, “I told you so!”

Gyro shot him an annoyed glare and returned his attention back towards Constance, “Right, well Zipper’s correct. I’ve been theorizing that potential spiritual apparitions could have some basis rooted in magic. I haven’t been able to test any of my hypotheses up to this point, but that’s where this excursion comes in.”

Constance raised an eyebrow, “Rooted in magic? How?”

“Well, it’s not 100% confirmed, but I look at the dream realm as a model. It’s a realm that doesn’t exist in our natural plane, but certain magic harnessing individuals are able to cross a part of themselves into it in a sense. What if there’s a spiritual realm-- the afterlife, where the inhabitants there can do the opposite? And what about how our own human resonances existed as a sort of magical echo post ETS. What if we can imprint a similar resonance on the world around us? Leaving imprints of what we’ve come to see as ghosts in the waking world?”

Phoenix nodded along in interest, “That would explain a lot. I’m not as proficient of a dreamer as Silver is, he’d probably be able to give some insight on this that we don’t have, but maybe it’s plausible. Legends, ghost stories-- all stuff that’s been passed down throughout history without any kind of scientific fact to back it… but I suppose magic goes beyond science…”

“Magic is a branch of science in itself, just one that goes beyond anything we’ve ever known before. This is where our experiment comes in, there’s no guarantee that this will even work, but if my research is correct, this should be a hotspot for psychic turbulence.” Gyro added, point of factly.

“Well what’re we waiting for? Shaft 13 is just behind this wall!”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “Possibly behind that wall. You three want to tag along, so get to it. Connie and I will make some adjustments to the device’s calibration, Zipper and Phoenix can keep an eye on you two and make sure you don’t get us killed.”

The group had moved off to the side, towards a makeshift basecamp that Gyro and Phoenix had set up. The portable generator hummed loudly from a short distance away, and the lights hooked up to it flickered every so often, occasionally casting odd shadows around the room.

Ruben stood up from the ground he was sitting on, raising his voice so he could be heard over the generator, “So what’s the plan here uhh…”

“Gyro.”

Ruben nodded, “Right, Gyro. So what’s our plan then?”

Gyro gestured towards the caved in tunnel, “Well we need to get in there right? We won’t be able to get any excavation machinery in here anytime soon, let alone tonight, so we’re going to have to do things the old fashioned way…”

The dark gray night pony, Rick, nodded his head, “Uh huh… and the old fashioned way is?”

Gyro let out a sigh, gesturing towards the cart he was pulling, “The old fashioned way would be setting up some strategically placed mining explosives and clearing the rest away with more traditional methods…”

Rick nodded, “So you mean picking up a few picks like we’re prospectors or something? I can dig that.”

Zipper and Phoenix let out a chuckle in response to the pun, while Gyro simply nodded, “Well you guys probably won’t be able to do that, but Connie and I can use our magic to just lift the remaining rocks away.”

“Uhh, you know I was just joking right? I didn’t expect us to actually be lifting picks up.”

Gyro nodded, “I know. So is that okay with you? Can I trust you two to help and not blow us all up?”

Ruben nodded, glancing between Rick and Gyro, “Yeah, this isn’t our first rodeo, it’ll be just like Calico eh Rick?”

Zipper perked up, “Just like Calico? Oh man that was such a cool episode!”

Gyro and Phoenix shot a glare towards the two ghost hunters. Gyro raised an eyebrow, “What happened in Calico?”

“Oh it was so cool, they brought some old dynamite along and wound up causing a cave in, but they jumped out just in the nick of time!” Zipper excitedly answered.

“I’m sorry what?!” Phoenix shouted out, “Gy they’re gonna get us all killed. I think we should just call Cal and get them out of here. We can come back later when we have the proper equipment.”

Constance ran forward, “Calico was staged Gilly, it was a special Halloween episode to boost tourism to the old Ghost Town, please trust me. We’ve come this far, why turn back now? Aren’t you curious to see if the legends are true?”

Gyro considered this for a moment before nodding, “I didn’t lug all of this equipment out here for nothing, Zipper and Phoenix are going to keep a close eye on you two. If you do anything stupid you’re going to regret it. Do I make myself clear?”

Rick nodded, “Crystal.”

“Good. I have some experimental charges in the cart over there, they’re kind of volatile so make sure you only set a few of them up. The construction crews haven’t run into too many issues with them, I can trust you to properly follow the instructions right?”

Ruben nodded, “Of course. Would you like to give us a quick rundown on everything we need to know before we get started? I’m assuming that this place is probably not very sound, unless you’ve been maintaining the old tunnels.”

Gyro waved the pair towards the supply cart, “Okay. These are experimental explosives, and while they’re fairly volatile, as long as you make sure to handle them properly you won’t need to worry. Our construction crews used them to clear out some old collapsed tunnels so they’ll absolutely do the job here, but the trick is to use them to do the heavy lifting.”

Rick gently touched one of the charges, “Okay, so what’s the best way to go about doing that?”

Gyro looked back towards the collapsed tunnel, “I’d say plant two to start, towards the center of the rubble,” He gestured back to the charges, “You turn this dial to set the timer, tap it twice to set.”

“And then we run?” Ruben asked.

Gyro shook his head, “No, then you take this detonator and activate the charges once you’re a safe distance away. They’re linked together and the charges won’t go off unless the detonator is far enough away. That said you need to tell us when you’re done and set so we’ll have enough time to get back, there’s only one detonator and the charges won’t be able to tell if we’re nearby or far away so give us notice okay?”

The pair nodded.

“Good. Glad we’re on the same page,” Gyro turned towards Constance, “I need to make some adjustments to the device, would you care to help?”

Constance smiled, “I thought you’d never ask Gilly, lead the way!”

Gyro nodded, “Phoenix, Zipper… keep an eye on the other two, okay?”

“Gotcha boss,” Zipper excitedly replied back.

Ruben and Rick were currently setting up mining explosives while Constance and Gyro were making adjustments to their device and running over diagnostics. Zipper stood alert as if he was some highly trained guard while Phoenix paced around the group.

“Uhh, do you guys know what you’re doing?” Phoenix asked as he looked on in concern.

Ruben shrugged, “It’s blasting apart rock, what’s there to know?”

Phoenix nodded and stepped further back from the group. “Just uhh… making sure I guess. You guys followed Gyro’s instructions right?”

Rick nodded, “Yeah of course, what do you take us for? A couple of lunatics?”

The yellow night pony glanced towards Zipper, who returned a confused shrug, “Something like that… Look, just please make sure you’re careful about this okay?”

“Yeah yeah, just trust us okay? This isn’t our first rodeo.”

Phoenix rolled his eyes at Ruben and slowly walked away, leaning in close towards Zipper as he passed, “I know you’re a fan of them but please keep an eye on them okay? If they do anything… weird give us a holler okay?”

Zipper nodded, “Yeah okay, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go talk with Gy about this, I’m starting to think that this might not be the best idea.”

“Okay… I’ll uhh, I’ll just stay here then.”

Phoenix gave a short nod and trotted over towards Gyro, who was fiddling away with his machinery and chatting with constance.

“Gee Gilly I didn’t realize that the analysis module on the old model was so broken, no wonder we never got any solid results from it.”

“The machine was broken from the start, we wouldn’t have gotten results at all. We only just recently developed the processors we needed to get this thing working— and we haven’t even had a chance to test it fully yet…”

“Sorry to interrupt Gyro, I just needed to talk about something… alone if that’s okay,” Phoenix said, glancing towards Constance.

Gyro looked towards Constance and nodded, “Okay?..” He took a few steps away from the cart and leaned in, “What is it?”

“I just don’t know what to make of the others, they’re just rigging things up willy nilly and I don’t think they’re paying attention to your instructions.”

The unicorn took a cursory glance towards the pair that were still rigging up the explosives, nodding as he looked back toward Phoenix, “Right. Give me a second,” He began to trot towards the duo, raising his voice as he got near, “Hey, tweedle dee and tweedle dumb, you two finished setting the charges up?..” He paused as he noticed that they were rigging up far too many charges than was necessary. His eyes widened in anger, “Hey! Are you two thinking straight, you’re gonna get us all killed!”

Ruben quickly set the charge and ran back, diving behind a few tall rocks and activating the detonator, “Too late to back out now! Everyone get back! It’s gonna blow!”

Rick and Ruben dove behind a large rock, while Gyro threw up a shield around himself, pulling Connie, and the two remaining ponies that hadn’t found cover yet behind it with his magic. With a loud, bright, blast the cave shook, threatening to collapse around the group.

As the dust cleared and the rumbling settled a deafening silence hung in the air for a few solitary minutes.

“What the blazes do you think you two are doing!? You’re going to get us killed at this rate!” Gyro angrily ran towards the pair, backing them into a wall. “You literally only had to rig up a couple charges and back away, yet you decided it was smart to just light them all up!”

Ruben stuttered for a few moments, “W..well y--yyou see, we have access to the shaft now, we didn’t before.”

“That’s your defense? You’re lucky we’re alive, but once we’re outta here you two are out of here, if I ever see you here again you’re going to wind up locked away and facing criminal charges, do I make myself clear?!”

“Gilly, please calm down, they didn’t know any better. Look, we’re all alive now, and we’re safe. The cave’s open and the wall was a lot thicker than I think we realized, see?” Constance said, gesturing towards the now open cavern, revealing a thicker pile of rubble than they had initially thought.

“I… Fine, but they’re still getting banned after this,” he glanced towards the camera that Constance was holding with her magic, evidently still recording, “You too if that footage gets posted anywhere, we don’t need even more uninvited guests here. Got it?”

Constance smirked, “Oh come on, I’ll give you a copy to study if you want--”

“No.”

Ruben, Rick, and Zipper glanced into the now open cavern, noticing the dimly lit sparkle of mineral veins. At once Rick jumped up and ran over, Clearly seeing something with his enhanced vision.

“Do you see what I see?!”

Ruben squinted into the darkness and cocked his head to the side, “What is it Rick?”

“Gold! It’s gold! We’re gonna be rich!”

“Gold?!” Ruben and Zipper both said in unison as they ran towards the excited night pony.

Gyro rolled his eyes, turning back towards Constance and Phoenix, “Come on, let’s get the equipment and get this over with. There’s no telling if the blast damaged the structural integrity of the cave and I’d rather not wait and find out for ourselves.”

Phoenix flashed Gyro a concerned look, “Uhh Gy, are you even sure that this is the mineshaft we’re looking for?”

Gyro shrugged, “I’m not, but I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

A low rumble echoed through the cave, earning an involuntary twitch from Phoenix’s ears, “I just don’t think this is really worth it anymore, maybe we should go before things get dangerous…”

“You’re free to go if you want, but I’m going to get the data I need with or without your help.”

Constance nodded, trotting close to the red unicorn, “Right… so what is it you’re actually looking for here, Gilly?”

The unicorn glanced towards his equipment, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m trying to finish what we started all those years ago… well to a degree that is. I want to see if there’s any correlation between the magical and the supernatural, and in essence that answers what we were trying to do.”

“Do you really think it is— connected? I mean this could be big if the device actually works.”

Gyro shrugged, “I… I don’t know, I guess we’ll find out together, if you’re not too afraid to continue on that is. So what about you? What do you believe?”

Constance shuffled her hooves around, glancing towards the smoking cavern, “It’s hard to say, what if there’s a life after death? Do you think the world’s ready for the answer? I know I am, but you and I are different from the rest of the world.”

“People have been asking that question for thousands of years, and so many think they know the answer— are even convinced that they’re right. You could show them mountains of contrary evidence and I doubt it’d change their minds. I don’t think our experiment will definitively answer it one way or another, but maybe it’ll offer some insight into how magic interacts with the world around us, and maybe that’ll give us clues to that answer. I know we’ve only just now reached our magical awakening, but the universe is so much bigger than we thought, we’re pioneers in unexplored territory.”

Constance nodded, “I guess you’re right. Whatever we learn today, I’m just glad I can find out with you,” She paused for a moment, “Gilly, do you think that maybe we can work together again? I’m not saying it needs to be like we were back in the day, but you’re right, this is a new branch of science and I want to be a part of it.”

Gyro glanced over towards Zipper and Phoenix, giving Constance a quick nod, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t open to the prospect… plus I need an actual assistant instead of the hired help I have now… but I’m not kidding about banning your… associates. They trespassed here— you trespassed here with them too, you’re lucky I’m in a good mood tonight or you’d be going out with them.”

The mare perked up, “So that’s a yes then?”

Gyro sighed, a small smile spreading across his face, “Something like that I guess. We can talk about the finer details later, but let’s see how tonight goes for now.”

“Thanks Gilly, I can’t wait, now how about we go get set up, I think it’s time to see if the legends are true.”

Phoenix walked over towards the cart while Constance and Gyro began to clear out a path on the cave floor.

Excited cheers could be heard from the cavern within, but Phoenix could also hear a low rumble every now and again, as if the cave had come to life and was breathing. “G— gyro, we should really get this done asap… how long do you think it’ll take?”

“About fifteen minutes if we’re in a rush, forty five max. Why?”

“I’ve just got a bad feeling about this, I keep hearing a rumble.”

Gyro nodded, pivoting his ears around, “I do too… I don’t like it either, but you can blame the two powder monkeys for that one, so let’s get this done before we all follow in Ravenscroft’s footsteps.”

Phoenix began to scout ahead while Constance and Gyro pushed the cart into the mineshaft, lighting and leaving small electric lanterns along the way. As the group entered the large cavern, Gyro parked the cart, lighting up the large floodlights that were built in and illuminating the entire place. Constance began to explore the newly lit cavern, poking around at some of the antique equipment with her magic.

As Phoenix panned the light around he caught sight of Zipper, Reuben, and Rick, who were excitedly gesturing around towards the ore veins, no doubt trying to figure out how to knock some of the precious metal loose.

“So you think this is it Gy?” Phoenix asked as he continued to look around.

The unicorn craned his head around to better examine the cavern, “Hard to tell, there’s no identifying marks on anything so we just have to set up our equipment and hope we get a reading before the whole place comes down around us.”

Phoenix slowly nodded his head, “You’re not really reassuring me Gy…”

“Uhhh guys? I think this might be the right place.” Constance said with a worried sounding voice.

“Huh? What do you mean Connie?” Gyro began to turn towards her, pausing as he saw sight of what she was referring to.”

As he turned the cart, the light illuminated a skeleton hunched against the wall that was dressed in the same clothing as the man in the painting that hung in Gyro’s office.

“Alexander Ravenscroft…” He paused for a moment, “This is it for sure.” Gyro said in a low voice.

“So the legend’s at least partially true then?” Phoenix asked as he took in the grim sight.

Gyro nodded, “It appears so… at least the part of him perishing amongst the fortune he so desperately sought.”

As he spoke, the others began to walk over to see what the commotion was about. Pausing as they noticed the long dead prospector.

Zipper nervously gulped, “So it’s true then…” He quickly jerked his head over towards Gyro, “Do you think he’s still haunting this place?!”

The unicorn shook his head, “Zipper I told you that ghosts aren’t real.”

“But what about what you and her were going to do? You know? With your fancy ghost detecting machine?”

Gyro turned towards Phoenix, “That’s different, the machine’s purpose is to detect fluctuations in the magical resonance of an area combined with the spell I mentioned before. Connie and I had some wild theories about the true nature of the afterlife, or lack thereof, years ago, but my understanding is different now. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued at the possibilities of how this could correlate though.”

“So you believe in ghosts then.” Phoenix replied with a smirk.

The unicorn rolled his eyes, “I believe in the possibility of emotional and magical resonances imprinting on the world around us, some may interpret that as ghosts. So I guess you could assume that if that suits your definition of what a ghost is.”

Ruben smiled and stepped forward, walking towards a pair of dusty old crates, “I hate to interrupt this fascinating discussion my dear friends, but how about we hold a good old fashioned seance? Make this a two for one deal.”

“You mean give ol’ ravenscroft a ring and see if he’ll answer? I like it!” Rick added with an unsettling grin.

Zipper beamed with excitement, “Oh man a real life seance! This is gonna be sooo cool!”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “First you three wildly blow a hole in an old, possibly unstable mine and now you want to hold a… seance?” he added with a hint of distaste.

Phoenix cleared his throat, “Just an FYI, you came down here to run some readings on the potentially latent thaumic resonance that you thought might be here right? In case that there was some actual truth to the old legends?”

He nodded.

“Well there you go, worst case this does nothing and we all look dumb, best case you get some sort of solid reading and the chance to prove that there’s life after death. Either way you get to take your readings and we get to have fun.”

Gyro rolled his eyes, “We’re not here to have fun though,” he waved a hoof over towards the three intruders, “In fact, three of you are only here because you snuck onto private property to go on some paranormal treasure hunt.”

“Oh lighten up Gilly, it’s just some good old fashioned fun, what’s the harm in holding a little seance?”

“Now now, let’s not fight. Your night pony friend has a good point, this way we can all get what we want.” Rick finished. “Ruben would you like to begin?”

The unicorn nodded, lighting his horn in a dull blue glow, “Please take a seat around the crates and hold hooves.”

“Do we have to?” Gyro asked in annoyance as the rest of the group took a seat.

“Of course! It only works if we all hold hooves!” Zipper loudly answered.

Gyro rolled his eyes and glared at the pegasus, “Zipper, is all of your paranormal knowledge based solely on movies? Or have you actually done some research on this? Because I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s annoying.”

He shook his head, “Nah, I was good friends with the fortune teller back in the day, this isn’t my first seance.”

Gyro just nodded along and turned on his equipment, briefly lighting his horn and enveloping the area in a sparkling magical glow. With a sigh, he begrudgingly took Zipper and Phoenix’s hooves. “Alright fine.”

Ruben nodded, “We humbly call upon the spirit of Alexander Ravenscroft, proprietor of the Mesa Verde Mining Company.” He paused for a moment and began to recite some strange poem,

The Witching hour is close at hand, we know the risks, yet here we stand.

We call to you now in this place of gloom, seeking the spirit that led to your doom.

Demons and specters, creatures of fright, call in the spirits, to join us tonight.

Serpents and spiders, beasts of the night, open our eyes and show us the light.

Oh Phantom of sorrows, seek out this bond, we summon you now, from regions beyond!

The Grim Reaper’s promise, the spirit’s drive. To the living let now the dead arise!

As he finished the group waited with bated breath, leaving the room silent except for the quiet sounds of their breaths and the low rumble that continued to echo throughout the caverns. With an uncharacteristic laugh, Gyro broke the silence, earning a glare from Constance.

“Ha! I told you it wouldn’t work! Now if you don’t mind can we get back to the task at hand? It shouldn’t be much longer before— ” As if on cue, his machine began to light up and emit a strange ethereal hum, catching him by surprise. “Huh… that’s… actually intriguing.”

Phoenix looked on in curiosity, “What’s up?”

Before Gyro could answer, a low rumble began to break through the silence, followed by a steadily growing shaking.

Zipper immediately jumped up in a panic, “The curse! It’s real! We’ve gotta get outta here, the spirits are after our souls!”

“Calm yourself! It’s likely a result of cavern instability caused by your friends’ recklessness.” Gyro flatly added.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, “But what about your readings?”

“Likely some sort of interference from the earthquake. This is a sensitive piece of machinery after all, I’ll have to look through them when I get back to the lab.”

Constance glanced back over towards the machine, “I don’t know Gilly, I’ve never seen anything like this before, even with the unfinished prototype…”

A few loose rocks and bits of gold from the surrounding cave began to rain down around them as the shaking got more intense. Gyro began to hastily pack up his machinery, pausing for a moment as he heard a loud crack coming from the support beam that sat at the entrance of the mine shaft, “Damn it, I’m not going to have enough time to pack this, Phoenix grab the readouts, Zipper you go grab the lamp, we don’t have much time, the beam’s splitting!”

Without any argument, the two nodded and made a run for the entrance. Gyro began to follow them but paused as he watched Rick and Ruben desperately try and scoop up bits of loose gold and rock. “You idiots! Are you insane?! Leave the gold and get out of here!”

Ruben hesitated and opened his mouth as if to argue, but a large rock falling dangerously close behind him quickly dashed those thoughts. With a nod, he and the others followed Gyro out of the cavern and back into the main cave, accompanied by the loud rumbling. The six bolted through as fast as they could, dodging loose rocks and hastily navigating their way through the dark caverns. Much to Phoenix’s relief, the mine they had ventured into was largely a straightforward path, but that still didn’t stop him, Zipper, and Rick from hastily flapping their wings to gain speed while the three unicorns ran as fast as they could behind them.

Much to his relief, the entrance of the mine was getting closer and closer, while the sounds of rumbling continued to echo from behind them. It was clear that they were out of the danger zone now, but Phoenix had had enough adventure to last a lifetime and he was more than ready to leave. Out of breath and exhausted beyond belief, the six collapsed onto the cool desert sand outside as the rumbling ceased behind them.

The sounds of their heavy breathing was all that could be heard for a few long minutes until Zipper finally broke the silence.

“That… was… SO AWESOME!” He excitedly cheered, earning a few annoyed glances from Phoenix and Gyro.

“If by awesome you mean terrifying, then sure…” Gyro turned towards the three investigators, “And you two! If you hadn’t been so careless we wouldn’t have been forced to leave so soon! You better believe I’m pressing trespassing charges!”

“Oh lighten up Gilly, we’re all alive, have a fascinating story to share, and we even got to take some readings like we were always meaning to.” Constance added while gesturing towards his crumpled up readouts.

“And… we even salvaged a bit of gold from the mine… If anything that’s gotta be worth it!” Ruben added while holding out a small gold-colored nugget in his magic.

Gyro looked on with a smirk, “Can I see that gold? I promise I’ll give it right back.”

Ruben nodded and tossed it in his direction, watching as Gyro caught it with his magic and cast a quick spell.

“Hmm.. just as I suspected.” Gyro resplied, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

“What’s that?”

He began to let out a few laughs, “It’s pyrite… fools gold! You almost got us killed over fools gold!”

Phoenix let out his own series of laughs, “Huh, so Ravenscroft died over fools gold… kind of fitting that he met his demise chasing a fortune he had no hope of ever finding.”

The duo continued to laugh for a few more minutes until Zipper finally perked up, cutting through the laughter, “Alright, so maybe we didn’t get any real gold, but you can’t tell me that wasn’t a real haunted mine!”

“Zipper, like I said before, ghosts aren’t real, at least not in the traditional scary story kind of way. Obviously we still need to try and make sense of these readings, but for the sake of logging this down and not getting our funding slashed to high hell, I’m going to say that this was probably just cavern instability caused by the explosion...” Gyro began to trail off as a faint glow far off towards the edge of the valley caught his eyes.

The unicorn shook his head and squinted off into the distance, pausing as he tried to focus on a strange series of dim lights that seemed to float around in a strange rhythmic fashion. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them the lights had vanished.

Zipper gave a knowing smirk as he followed his gaze, “You never know Gyro… maybe some of the legends are true after all…”

Gyro shook his head in disbelief, “I guess so Zipper, I guess so.”

Author's Note

Takes place about 4 months after Fowl Play, in late October

Chapter 9: Settling In

An Oasis in Motion

Tinker flipped on his terminal and began to jog through the data logs, pausing as he reached the most recent entry. He paused for a moment, unsure of whether the log would be of any use to him or not. It wasn’t often that he’d work directly with the Oracle, but someone had to while Silver was away on vacation, and for all intents and purposes he was the most qualified to handle the daily diagnostics. With a light tap he opened the file and began to play back the log, whistling a quiet tune to himself as it began to load.

Beginning video log 2-025-SH

The computer monitor came to life as a recording of Silver excitedly jumped on screen, surprising Tinker, “Forget the usual project log, today’s one of the happiest moments of my life!” His smile spread even wider as he came to a hover in the air, “I knew it had to have been coming, but I didn’t think it would happen so soon! Oh my gosh I don’t even know what to say right now!— Orion said his first word! I’m so proud of him right now, you don’t know how much I want to just call everyone I know to share the great news!”

— First word? The recording of the Oracle flatly responded, it’s computerized voice barely registering a shift in tone.

“Star! He said star, Oracle! He was with Scarlet in her observatory just like he always is while I’m at work, and just said it out of the blue— while she was talking to him…” He paused for a moment and played back an audio recording on his gauntlet, trotting in place as his smile seemed to grow even larger, “Oh Oracle you don’t know how happy this makes me!” Silver excitedly responded with an overjoyed expression on his face, “My little buddy’s growing up so fast, I can’t wait until I can talk to him about all the adventures we’re going to go on someday, all the amazing things I want to show him! Scarlet can’t wait to start sharing all her astronomy stuff with him either, he hangs around her so much it’s no wonder his first word was star! I can tell he’s going to be so smart— our bright little star!”

— What is the significance of a first word? Is this common? I’m afraid I do not have sufficient data to understand this.

The recording of Silver paused and turned back towards the computer monitor, letting out a small chuckle as he shook his head, “Of course you don’t understand, sometimes I forget that you’re just a computer. A first word is usually a sign that a baby— in this case our foal, is starting to process and understand language, and actually starting to use it. It’s a huge milestone in their development and it’s an exciting moment for the parents. Obviously it’s still going to be a while before he’ll be able to talk like you and me, but it’s so exciting regardless! I’m just so happy, I wish I could just share this feeling with everyone, you know what I mean?”

— I don’t. What is your feeling? Is it something you can share?...

Silver broke out of his cheerful trance for a moment, his face scrunching into a look of confused consideration, “that’s… a very good question. I guess I didn’t take your own... nature into effect. I’ll have to talk with the lab boys and see if they can better explain this to you… sometimes I guess it’s just easy to forget that you still have so much to learn.”

— Can I be like another pony someday?

The Silver on screen paused for a moment and looked towards the computer with an optimistic look on his face, “I hope so, I don’t know if that’s something that I can really answer though, you’re so complex as it is, yet we barely understand the technology that makes you— well you. That’d just be adding in even more factors that I don’t think were equipped to handle yet.”

— I understand…

The recording of Silver nodded his head and smiled, “I’m glad you do. I promise I’ll try and teach you more when I get back home, I know it’s going to be a while but Tinker’s going to stop by and help you out, make sure you’re running the way you should. If you have any questions he can answer it, be good to him okay?”

— Okay. Goodbye Silver.

“Goodbye Oracle, I’ll tell you all about our trip when I get home— maybe I’ll even bring Orion down for a visit, wouldn’t that be cool?”

Log Terminated. Would you like to replay it?

Tinker looked on at the computer monitor with a look of curiosity echoing in his face. He slowly shook his head and stood up, “So uhh… Oracle, what exactly does Silver usually talk about when he’s down here with you? All of his logs make it seem like he just chats back and forth with you… don’t get me wrong, they’re useful and fill me in on so much but I guess I’m just trying to figure out exactly what his project parameters are.”

Life, dreams, the world. His aspirations for this place. Sometimes Orion— he talks about the foal and his wife often.

“Right… I guess a better question is, does he ever talk about Sun Spot with you? I know you’re an offshoot of the whole Silent Night project, and the SPEC scientists have taken everything they needed from that, but why does he keep this whole place active? We’re not even anywhere close to getting you to do what you need to do.”

I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that. Silver is in charge of Project Foresight and has kept it open for research and development despite the initial trials failing. There are no other notes that I am aware of that would help explain that better. I suspect that he was surprised at the experiment’s progress despite the original trials not providing the desired results, perhaps that is why he keeps the project running. Would you like to view more data entries?

Tinker let out a small sigh and paused in thought for a moment, “No, that’s alright. I know enough about him, but what about you? He asked me to ask you a couple of things, and while I don’t really understand why he’s asking me to do this, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about your responses.”

What would you like to ask?

“Well, do you ever aspire to be anything more than what you are right now? Do you have any dreams?”

There was a silence for a few moments as the Oracle parsed the pegasi’s questions, I’m afraid I don’t understand what a dream really is… Silver always talks about what he wants for the Oasis, but he never explained what his dreams really mean. What is a dream?

Tinker hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say, “It’s... tricky to explain. You see, a dream is something you yearn for, but it’s also something you experience in your sleep. Like a vision that plays out when you’re asleep.”

I can see visions— outcomes of your experiments, but they’re always so different each time. Are those dreams? Illusions? Or is it other realities that I am seeing?

“Yes… well that’s why we’re still working on you. Those visions are simulations— programs that will hopefully help us understand the world a little more. I guess you could call those visions if you really wanted to. Maybe even someday those visions will be more concrete, and then you’ll really be able to help us out.”

So it is visions then— of worlds that were, or a future that could be?

Tinker paused, “Kind of… you were designed to analyze data and give us a projected outcome with a very small margin for error. That’s easier said than done however. It takes a lot of processing power to generate the simulations and even longer to get any usable data from that, those are the visions you’re seeing. Potential outcomes from the reality we’re showing you… does that make sense?”

The oracle sat quiet for a moment, So these visions are a false reality, illusions or… dreams. Are these visions my dreams then?

Tinker shook his head, “No… at least not in the traditional sense. They’re more like… daydreams is the best way to put it I guess? Like stuff you think up while you’re awake, little scenarios that distract you… if that makes sense.

It doesn’t… Can you give me dreams? Is that possible?

Tinker perked up, “You want to dream?”

Yes. I would like to dream.

“I uhh… I’m sorry, but why do you want to dream?”

Silver talks about dreams all the time, the concept is intriguing.

Tinker hesitated for a moment, “Well I don’t think I could really ever give you true dreams in the traditional sense, but I can talk to Arne and the others and see if they can set up some kind of procedural simulation for you to run when you’re in your low power mode. That’s about the closest thing to a dream I think we could give you, but it’s hard to say if that’ll actually do you any good.”

Thank you director. That would be acceptable.

“You’re uhh… welcome Oracle, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go run some diagnostics in my lab and jot a few notes down, just ping me if you need anything, okay?”

Affirmative.

The calm silence that would normally permeate the ARK was broken by the gentle echo of the music that was playing throughout. The sprawling lab was normally staffed with at least a handful of high clearance researchers, but today it was devoid of all but one. Despite the solitary loneliness, the red pegasus continued to silently, but eagerly work away on his projects, occasionally humming along to the music.

You're face to face

With the man who sold the world

The sound of the music continued to echo throughout the large lab, suddenly being interrupted by the sound of the comm going off, startling Tinker for a moment and breaking his trance. With a small sigh, Tinker slid over towards the glowing screen and gently tapped a hoof to it, “Sprocket, what’s up?”

“Look, I know you’re busy but the other half of the team has been driving me crazy with requests and I’m getting tired of it. Any chance you can take another look at this so we can maybe get our budget proposal back in order?”

Tinker nodded, “I can spare a few minutes, so what’s up this time? I can’t imagine it’s really all that bad.”

“Well you’re not going to like this, I’ve got a long list of shit that’s been breaking down and an even longer list of issues that the team’s been bringing up non stop. Before you ask, it’s different than the issues we already addressed. You got a pen or something handy to jot this down with?”

Tinker nodded, quietly flipping up his gauntlet’s built in stylus and holding it over the screen, “I suppose.”

“Right, well first thing’s first, the grid’s experiencing a whole slew of issues again—”

“—I thought we corrected those issues?”

“We did. But that last round of budget cuts meant that the planned upgrades got shelved until next quarter.”

Tinker nodded, idly jotting down a few notes, “I see. What about project Helios? I thought we were adding more panels to each building and adjusting the backup battery array to account for that?”

“It’s already underway, but they won’t be online for weeks, the Helios team only has so many contractors that can handle this kind of complicated wiring and calibration, recruitment’s kind of fallen behind a bit— but that’s supposedly being rectified if Diamond and Silver’s words are anything to go by... Maybe we’d have the budget for some of those repairs if Silver didn’t insist on adding the redundant access point to the clock tower...”

“You know the reasoning behind that… even if we’ll never have to use it, it's still important that we have access in case of an emergency.”

Sprocket sighed, “I guess. But maybe we wouldn’t need emergency access if our grid didn’t cut out as often as it’s been doing.”

“So what about hydroelectric then? Where are we at with that project?” Tinker asked, ignoring his question.

“Still in early planning, the Mariners were working on a few components for that way up north, but got tied up with their Sea Castle project again. Silver was going to stop up there after his vacation, that’s another week away though.”

“Magic?”

Sprocket laughed, “Yeah no, you know the answer to that one. Really though, what’s the issue Tinker? We’ve got the resources, we’ve supposedly got the funding and staff— well for the most part that is. Why does it feel like this place is falling apart?”

Tinker looked around at the model of the Oasis that sat towards the center of the room, “Well, taking your list of concerns into account… maybe we’re outgrowing this place.”

“You think so?”

Tinker nodded, “It makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. You and I don’t have issues getting to our projects everyday and that’s because we have wings— we can literally just fly right over here, take the most direct route. Only about a third of us are able to do that, even less are humans that can just drive around. Everyone else here has to walk or take the shuttle… and well, the shuttle’s lacking to say the least.”

Sprocket let out a small laugh, “That’s putting it incredibly lightly Tinker, they’re so bad that it’s laughable at this point. It’s funny really, our entire world changed what, two years ago now? And somehow public transportation’s managed to get even worse.”

Tinker shrugged, “Well I’d say that’s a bit subjective, but fair point. So what should we do about that now then?”

“Well making sure that the few researchers we have at our disposal can actually get to their projects on time would be a good start.”

“So what you’re saying is that we should jump start some of those projects that the Transport Team was working on then?”

“You mean—”

Tinker nodded, “—Oh yes, I do. We’ve got so many more ponies and humans here that could lend their talents to this kind of thing. I mean it’d be a headache to figure out right now with the aforementioned issues, but the benefits in the long run would certainly make it all worth it…”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking then?”

“Automated people movers?” Tinker said with a smile.

“I was thinking more in the line of monorails… but maybe we could utilize both. APMs for the smaller lines, monorails for the bigger ones?”

Tinker opened a new project file and started quickly jotting more notes down, “I like it, offer some alternate options. It’d set us back a bit more, but I think the added transportation will make it worth it. Plus if we come up with anything new and groundbreaking we’d have a working model we could sell would be investors on.”

“We’ll need to do a full analysis on what would suit us best, along with what has the best potential for future growth. We also need to make sure we can actually maintain ours so we don’t run into all those problems that others have dealt with in the past.”

Tinker paused his note taking and turned back towards the comm, raising an eyebrow, “Problems?”

“Yeah, you ever hear about the Disney monorails in Florida? I was riding one some odd years back and the door opened during transit. Definitely not something we want to deal with here, especially when we’re dealing with ponies that don’t have hands to hold onto the railings with, or wings to glide to safety.”

Tinker nodded along, no doubt ignoring most of what Sprocket had just said, “So the door opened and they still ran the monorails?”

Sprocket paused for a moment, “Yeah, those things were pieces of junk that were literally falling apart left and right and I’m honestly amazed they ran as long as they did without being replaced. It was like half a dozen accidents waiting to happen.”

“Right, so safety and maintenance procedures definitely need to be a priority then.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to waste any more time on this than we need to, especially if we can avoid issues along the way. Well also need to discuss this with Patrick so we can get the budget allocated properly. I don’t think the new budget is finalized yet so this might work out really well in our favor. We’ll need to do some research on who to purchase them from because it’s not going to be simple or cheap. Zip and Ocean are from Vegas right?”

Tinker nodded, “Somewhere around there, why?”

“The strip’s got a monorail system too, same kind of system as the one I’m thinking of if I’m remembering this correctly. Those two might have some insight into how efficient they are and whether it’s a good fit for us.”

Tinker tried to stifle a laugh, “You want Zipper to sit in at an operations meeting?”

“Mhmm, I know Zip’s a bit of a bird brain, but he’s honestly a walking encyclopedia when it comes to things he’s really interested in and this falls under that umbrella.”

“Alright, well if you think he’ll help… I’ll just have to trust that you’re thinking this all through.”

“If it makes you feel better, we’re not hinging everything about this on Zipper’s thoughts, it’s just nice to get someone’s opinion who’s actually had some experience with this in a practical setting.”

“So we’re trusting Zipper to give us advice and feedback on an important public works project… what could possibly go wrong?”

“Oh come on, you have to admit that he’s been a lot more responsible since he got his cutie mark.”

Tinker smiled, “Alright, well maybe he is. I’ll go get a team together then. When’s the next city planning meeting?

“The Friday after Silver gets back I think, conference room 1A, 8AM.”

“Room 1A, 8AM, got it. Zipper and Ocean for sure, I’ll bring a few others along too. I know Drive Train and Steam Engine have a few prototype vehicles they wanted to share too, and while they’re still early prototypes I think they’re worth sharing with the committee.”

“What kind of prototypes? I haven’t been keeping up with their side of the Oasis.”

Tinker quickly opened one of the project files, “Uhhh, autonomous vehicles designed with ponies in mind, but adaptable for humans as well. They’re still incredibly rough, but the Oasis might serve as a good testing ground for them given our unique situation here.”

“Alright, well just make sure they have all the documentation for them. I know we’re a private operation, but safety still needs to be our main priority for this. We don’t need another Horizon incident…”

“...Yeah… that kind of blew up in our faces…”

“Literally… you’re lucky that we avoided any serious injuries with that one, thank God I wasn’t in that room for the test fire. So just make sure the team’s one hundred and fifty percent sure that the engine’s not going to explode this time, alright?”

Tinker nodded, “Alright. Well I guess I’ll go get started then.”

“As opposed to updating the Oracle?”

Tinker glanced towards the large supercomputer that was gently humming, “Yeah, it’s running through a diagnostic routine right now, Gyro updated a few modules on the neural engine, said it involved a few experimental modifications that should aid us in both Project Foresight and Project Further Beyond. I don’t know how it’ll play into the latter though so your guess is as good as mine.”

“Right, well uhh, keep me posted on that. I’m going to get back to trying to fix the grid for now, but we really do need to get a permanent fix in place before moving forward with the transportation stuff.”

Tinker nodded, “Gotcha, you take care Sprocket, give me a call if you need anything, okay?”

“Alright.”

The comm disconnected, leaving Tinker alone with the sound of his music again. With a small chuckle he saved his work and powered his station down, standing up and stretching out, a few dull pops echoing out in the large room.

“Navi please send an alert to Drive Train and let him know that I’ll be stopping by to check out all of his progress shortly.”

Confirmed… alert sent.

Tinker smiled, “Thank you Navi,” He paused for a moment as he lowered his arm, chuckling to himself, “Listen to me, talking to a computer like it’s a flesh and blood entity, I’m beginning to sound like Silver aren’t I? Oh well.”

With a spring in his step, he trotted towards the Ark’s elevator and began to plan out the rest of his day.

The sun was high above the Oasis by the time Tinker had made his way to Drive Train’s lab, and he was eager to see all the crazy ideas that the unicorn had been cooking up for the last few months.

As he approached the large circular warehouse excitement started to fill him. The advanced mobility and design facility was one of the newer additions to the Oasis and it was easily one of Tinker’s favorites to date. The two engineers inside were always working away at some new creation, sometimes they were practical, but most of the time they were wildly fantastical— which was perfect for his own plans.

He paused as he reached the large metal door, raising his gauntlet up to the nearby reader. After a few moments the light flickered from a red to a bright green, and the large door slowly began to swing open. With a cheerful spring in his step he trotted in, passing by some of the older prototypes that had been moved from their old warehouse and were still yet to be catalogued. Tinker peeked his head into the large central room of the building, smirking as he noticed the two researchers hard at work on some large vehicle frame that could easily hold a couple of ponies in it.

“Afternoon friends, I hope I’m not interrupting anything important today.”

The purple unicorn paused his welding and raised his goggles, turning to greet Tinker, “Aha Tinker, come on in, we’re just wrapping up work on another prototype right now.”

Tinker stepped forward and nodded, “I can see that, that’s actually part of why I’m here.”

“I hope that means our advanced drone projects were approved then? The AeroCycle prototype is this close to being finished.” He said, gesturing with his hooves to emphasize his point.

Tinker shook his head, “Not today old friend. Though maybe that’ll change soon,” he glanced over to the bulky vehicle that vaguely resembled a strange bench, adorned with buttons, straps, and a series of large propellers, “I’m actually here to talk about a big project that I think you’re really gonna love, and it might be enough to bump your other projects up on the list.” He paused for a moment, “So tell me, what do you guys have in the way of public transportation projects?”

Drive Train flashed a confused look for a moment, and then turned towards the green unicorn who was still working away on one of the larger projects, “Hey Engie got a moment to spare? Boss wants to see what kind of crazy n projects we’ve been cooking up.”

The other unicorn, Steam Engine, nodded and trotted over, raising her own goggles, “Well what kind of stuff did you have in mind? We’ve got pretty much everything under the sun here, it’s just not all… done yet.”

Tinker nodded his head, “Mhmm, well let’s start with the problem. As I’m sure you two are aware, we’re starting to get a nice influx of helpers around this place… and that’s making it a bit… tricky for everyone else to get around to where they need to be. We need an affordable and efficient solution to help with that, and well, that’s where you two come in.”

The mare nodded her head, “Public mass transit… not impossible but it might be a tricky problem to solve here. I guess my first question is where our budget is. My second question would be, what kind of operational figures do we want to look at? I’m sure it’s all doable here, but we’ll have to raise our metaphorical rate for this kind of work.”

Tinker let out a chuckle, “Well we’ve got no budget right now… but that’s fine. Silver’s getting back home in a week or two, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now I’m trying to figure out what we’re able to do so we can at least start getting some plans on paper, maybe even get some initial construction underway, you know? Hell, you might even be able to slide some of your other projects into the plan too if you can justify it.”

Steam Engine nodded, turning towards her counterpart, “Well Icarus is a definite no, but we could start with Archimedes and go from there?”

Drive Train nodded, “What about Compass and Atlas?”

Tinker let out a small cough, “Well why don’t you show me them all? If it helps, I’m looking for something we could adapt to serve the best range of people with. Sprocket and I talked about monorails earlier, do you have anything like that?”

Drive Train nodded, “Archimedes then. Motion might be a good candidate too… in any case, follow me. We’ll start with some models and jump into the actual prototypes as needed.

Tinker nodded and followed the pair through the large interior door and into another, smaller, warehouse space. Steam Engine trotted towards a large cabinet and began fishing out a few wooden models with her magic while Drive Train flipped on a set of lights, “Okay, go ahead and take a seat over at the table, there’s a lot of these but I think Motion is probably the way to go.”

“Motion?” Tinker asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Motion.” She nodded, “It’s just the internal name we’ve catalogued this under,” she levitated the small model over in front of Tinker, “It’s basically a small scale monorail— the ponymover as we’ve affectionately called it. We were going to set up a working prototype not too long ago, but we kind of just got too busy with other stuff and couldn’t fit it in.
Tinker lifted the model up and began to turn it around in his hooves, taking in every small detail. The model itself wasn’t anything spectacular, just a small covered tram car with a few low benches but it had potential. Tinker gently set it down and turned back towards the two engineers, “You know, this could be exactly what we were looking for… how hard would it be to scale it up?”

“Scale it up? Like make it bigger or add more trains?” Drive Train asked, holding a pen in his magic.

“Maybe both? The more traffic it can handle the better, make sense?”

Steam Engine nodded, “Yeah. So that’s doable, but it’s not gonna be cheap. I don’t even know where to start with this aside from getting quotes for manufacturing.”

“That’s fine, Patrick can handle that part of the process.”

“Good. So how many of these do you think you’ll need?” Drive Train asked from behind his notebook.

“Maybe two to start with? Throw in like 5 cars per train and that should be enough to support us for now. The tricky part would be setting up lines and stations around the Oasis, it’s not going to be something we’ll be able to just do overnight.”

Drive train nodded, “Of course not… well we do have some other options we could pursue in the meantime.”

Tinker raised an eyebrow, “Like?”

“Well we’ve been working on a couple automated ideas. You know, self driving cars, shuttles, the like.”

Tinker turned towards Steam Engine, “Any chance you could show me some of those models?”

The mare nodded, “I can do you one better, we’ve actually got a couple very barebones prototypes set up, I’d have to boot up the network but that shouldn’t take much more than say a few minutes or two.”

The red pegasus smiled, “That sounds like a great idea. Let’s go take a look, if you’ve already got some up and running I’m sure the operations team wouldn’t mind expanding them out to the rest of the Oasis in the meantime— as a sort of public test.”

Drive Train closed his notebook and carefully placed it back into his saddlebag, waving Tinker along as he started to walk towards a large storage area. With a flick of his magic he threw another switch, illuminating the large room around them. He stepped forward with Steam and glanced around at some of the prototypes that filled the room, pausing briefly in front of some before shaking his head and continuing forwards past others.

“Aha, Archimedes!” He excitedly said as he pulled the cover off of a small vehicle.

“This is it?”

Steam Engine nodded, “Yeah. It’s like an automated shuttle. Runs on the shop’s network, has the whole place mapped out and it can even detect if there’s any obstructions or changes to it’s planned route, and account for that.”

“Sounds interesting. Would it work around the Oasis?”

She shook her head as she stepped into the vehicle, “Not fully, at least not yet. We could get it to run on the Oasis’ network, but we’d need to spend time mapping out everything and making sure it can handle that. Hop in though, we’ll take you on a little trip around the workshop and you can see how it feels.”

Drive Train stepped up and took a seat next to her, waving towards Tinker, “I can’t say it’s going to be a very interesting tour, but hey maybe this’ll work for what you needed too.”

Tinker nodded and took his own seat, “Sounds fine to me, anything I need to do?”

“Buckle up and sit tight, it’s a little rough at first but smooths out once we get going.” Steam Engine pressed a button on the panel in front of her and pulled down a lap bar, glancing at the display. “Right, well here goes nothing.”

The vehicle jolted sharply, loudly rumbling before slowly pulling forward. After a few rough moments it smoothed out and the three were off on their trip around the warehouse.

The tram continued it’s lap around the warehouse, weaving in between shelves and aisles, shaking the three ponies around slightly as it zipped around the next corner. Tinker shook his head and looked towards Steam Engine, “Any chance you could slow this down a little? I feel like I’m going to lose my lunch at this rate.”

The mare nodded, “Sure thing, I guess we’re just used to it by now.” She pressed a button on the panel and the vehicle slowed to a stop near a few covered projects.

Tinker nodded his head and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a few moments. As his head began to clear he began to take a look at some of the other objects near them, pausing as he noticed a half covered hunk of metal that was set off to the side, “What’s this? Another project?”

Drive Train nodded and pressed a button on the control panel, releasing the restraints. He hopped out of the vehicle with a short thud and trotted towards the project, pulling the cover off of it, “Kinda. It was for a while, but we could never really get it working the way we wanted it to at the time… right now it’s pretty much just a glorified coffee table that we sunk a lot of cash into.”

“It looks so different than the others you were working on.”

Steam Engine nodded as she stepped out, “That’s because it was. It’s a shame really, it would have probably been one of our biggest inventions if it had worked out. Hopefully someday we’ll get over those development hurdles, but for now it’s just here, gathering dust.”

“What exactly is it though?”

Drive Train smiled, “It was meant to be a sort of mobility aid, something that could help a pony or human with their daily tasks.”

“Like a guide dog,” Steam added, “But with the added advantage of never getting hungry, or tired, or lonely. The big idea was that it would follow you around and say you needed something from a high shelf, or a door opened, or really anything that might prove challenging for someone with mobility issues— whatever it was, the asset would be able to help you with.” She gestured towards a mechanical arm, “We tried to build every solution imaginable into it, right down to including a mechanized arm to help do some of the heavy lifting for you.”

“It was a great idea on paper, but unfortunately there were just too many issues for us to solve on our own. Maybe someday we can jump back into it.”

Tinker cocked his head to the side, “So what were the main issues you were having?”

Steam tapped a hoof to the deactivated automaton, “Well right now it’s all brawn and no brain… literally. The biggest snag we’ve hit with this was coming up with, or finding someone who could program an AI to run it.”

“Yeah, it turns out it’s easy enough to program it to follow a set routine, but doing what we wanted to do, with our own limitations and budget, was just impossible. I don’t want to say we just gave up, but we more or less exhausted all of our options,” Drive added

The mare nodded, “We invited every bright mind and programmer that we could even think of inviting to help solve this problem, and well, none of them showed up unfortunately. Can’t say we didn’t try though.”

A smirk slowly spread across the pegasi’s face “So really what you’re saying is that you two just need an AI to run it then?”

Drive Train nodded, “Yup! That’s basically the wall we’ve hit. I don’t suppose you happen to just have a spare AI construct lying around in your scientific wonderland now do you?”

Tinker smiled, “It sounds a bit absurd when you phrase it that way, but I actually might have something workable, you’d have to sign some NDAs of course, but are you interested in taking this project further?”

He paused for a moment, “You’re not serious are you? Because above all else this is the biggest project we’ve been working on, our life’s work even.”

Tinker nodded, “I am. I think it’s got some real good potential.”

“Is there a budget set aside for this?” Steam asked, cutting in.

“Not exactly, but we could fold this project into another and get by that way. I’ve been working on something downstairs and this might be a great way to handle everything we’ve been trying to do with it. The best of both worlds if you will.”

“So your… AI gets to do whatever you’ve been meaning to do with it, and our mobility aid gets a functioning brain?”

Drive Train cleared his throat, “Let’s get something cleared up before we commit to anything. Would we be able to use this for our own project goals? Or are you the one calling the shots in this situation.”

Tinker hesitated for a moment, “Both. Without getting into details, Silver needs our program to pull in more real world data to analyze, if it can do that while serving your own goals then I think we’re set to go.”

“And what’s the data for? If this is going to live in and help out in other people’s homes I want to make sure that their privacy is respected.” Steam added.

“The data’s just for the program to build a better reference library from. You know, get a better feel for the world around it so it can better fulfill its primary purpose. If it helps we can geofence where it collects this reference data and limit when it does. I mainly just want to see it function in a real world setting.”

Drive Train nodded, “I see… well given that you’re the only pony who’s been able to offer anything remotely like what we’re looking for, I’m tentatively onboard.”

Tinker smiled, “Good, good. How about we head downstairs and get all the boring stuff sorted out? I’ll explain more once we’re there.”

Drive Train nodded, “Sounds fine to me, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t incredibly curious about what goes on down there.”

“Well my friends, today you’ll find out.”

Steam hopped back into the vehicle and activated it, waving the two others over, “How’d you like to see how this runs out on the open road?”

Tinker raised an eyebrow, “I thought you said it wouldn’t work out there?”

“Not fully, but there’s a manual mode that I’ve been itching to try out, it’s been so long since I’ve actually driven anything. If it makes you feel better we’ll go nice and slow, none of that crazy whip you around in your seat driving this time.”

“And we can bring that… project along with us?”

Drive train nodded, tapping his gauntlet on the mobility aid and pointing towards a flat platform on the back. In an instant the robot came to life and began to trot towards the panel, pausing as it scanned a code on the vehicle, before laying down and powering off again. The unicorn began to strap it in, turning towards Tinker, “It can run, just not make decisions for itself.”

Tinker took a few steps forward, carefully taking a seat before pulling his lap bar down, “Right, well I guess I’m ready when you are.”

Steam smiled as the vehicle lurched forward, making the pegasi’s face flash a shade of green for a moment before they zipped off once again.

The vehicle came to a stop a short distance from City Central, much to Tinker’s relief. While the ride was smoother than when they were in the warehouse, it was still a less than stellar experience. Steam quietly released the restraints and hopped out, followed by Drive Train who immediately began to boot up and unstrap the mobility unit. Tinker slowly hopped out and took a few moments to compose himself before turning towards Drive Train, “So is it all set to go?”

Drive nodded, “Sure is,” He tapped his gauntlet to the side of the automaton and turned back towards Tinker,” It’ll follow right behind us.”

Tinker nodded, turning towards Steam and waving towards the towering structure that made up City Central. He began to trot forward, the two unicorns and the mobility unit following closely behind him, “So obviously there’s some boring stuff that needs to be done, but I can’t wait to show you everything once we’re done with that.”

“So is this just some little sub basement kind of deal? Or are you guys actually hiding a whole complex down there?” Drive Train asked.

Tinker shook his head, “It’s kind of complicated,” He paused for a moment, tapping a hoof to the reader next to the door. Once it chimed and opened, he gestured for the two to enter, “You see, the original town archive office was built with a small sub basement to keep the town’s records in, the building had to be razed, but we were able to use that sub basement as the sort of lobby for our new construction. You know some of the mines that used to exist down here? Well we wound up cutting into some of them and expanding out, I’ll explain more once you’re all verified and good to go.”

“There sure is a lot of secrecy around this place, are the projects really that… sensitive?” Steam Engine asked as she trotted through the door.

“Well you know our partnership with SPEC right?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah? What about it? I thought that was cut way back after the whole storm fiasco where we practically got stuck with the repair bill.”

Tinker nodded, “It’s… a little more complicated than that. Yes we got stuck with some of the initial costs at first, but Silver negotiated with their emissary and apparently that cleared everything up. But to answer your question, we’ve cut back our involvement with them significantly, but not fully. We still have an active research partnership which is where a lot of the more sensitive projects come in.” He trotted towards a boardroom at the far edge of the central hallway and held the door open for the pair, “Right this way.”

A cough pulled their attention away from the conversation as Diamond Glider and a shorter pegasus trotted up towards the trio. Diamond paused as his assistant whispered something into his ear and returned a nod as the pegasus trotted off, passing by the trio with a quick nod of his own, “Thank you Hard Case, I’ll meet you over at the Helios Station as soon as I can.” He turned towards Tinker and smiled, “So these are your new picks for Project New Horizons?”

Tinker nodded, gesturing back towards the now idle mobility unit, “Diamond I think they can kill two birds with one stone here. Facilitate something that we needed to test, and in return they get the same with their project.”

Diamond nodded, “I see… and they’re aware of the policy right? We don’t need Sunset Blessing to bring the hammer down on this whole operation, especially when she’s made the consequences very clear.”

“Of course of course, I’ve only mentioned what I’m able to, I told them I’d explain everything in detail once they were registered with the program.”

“Good. I need to get over to the Helios Station and figure out why that’s on the fritz again before Sprocket loses his mind, the paperwork is all set up at the terminal, the new gauntlet uplink is all set up too so that should make it a lot easier. Are you good to handle this or do you need me to stay?”

Tinker nodded, “As long as everything’s set up then I’m good.”

“Alright, just give me a ring if you need anything, I can’t promise I’ll be able to get over here in any timely manner, but I’ll try.”

“Thanks Diamond, I think I should be good from here on out.”

The pegasus nodded at the trio, “Well in that case, welcome aboard, if you have any questions feel free to ask Tinker and he’ll get you sorted out.” Without much more of a goodbye he trotted out of the room, leaving the three alone.

“So the paperwork?”

“Is just over here,” Tinker finished for Drive Train, waving him towards a large glass table with a built in screen, “It’s all done digitally now, just tap your gauntlet to the table to begin and it’ll have you fill out some contracts, NDAs… that sort of stuff.”

Steam Engine sat down at the table and began to flip through some of the documents, a grimace spreading across her face, “Why do I feel like I’m about to sign my soul away to the devil? This is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be,” She looked up towards Tinker, “When you said paperwork I kind of assumed it’d just be something like a quick NDA, not a couple dozen contracts…”

“You’ll have to excuse Steam, she and I are… kind of hesitant when it comes to dealing with stuff like this, I guess we just never realized how big of an operation this was.”

Tinker nodded, “Completely understandable. I wish I could explain more, but I promise you it’s really just a lot of scary legalese, don’t let it scare you. You’re not going to have to do anything that you don’t want to, and if you wanted to turn back now I wouldn’t blame you.”

Steam Engine frowned, “Well then I’d leave with more questions than I started with…”

The two paused for a moment, staring at the table’s display, “Are we able to back out if we’re not comfortable with all of this?” Drive Train asked as he looked up from the table.

“Yes of course, the only thing you’d still be bound by are the NDAs— you’d have to keep quiet about anything that falls under this project umbrella, but that’s it.”

Drive Train leaned in towards Steam and whispered something to her, nodding as she replied. He turned back towards Tinker and nodded, “Alright, well we’re tentatively in. I can’t promise we’ll stick around, but maybe you’ll surprise us.”

Tinker smiled, “Of course, all I ask is that you go in with an open mind and just see what we’ve got down there, it’s not as scary and intimidating as it seems at face value, I promise.”

Steam Engine nodded, “Alright, I believe you.”

A chime rang out as the pair’s gauntlets were registered to the system, earning a look of intrigue from Drive Train, “So that’s it? This is like our… key or something?” He asked as he inspected the device.

Tinker nodded, “Kind of, the gauntlets are linked to each user, that’s why you don’t need a password. It’s some new biometric scanning system that Sprocket was working on, which works well for us because we can use it as your identification to get into the Ark.”

“So what now?”

Tinker turned towards Steam and smiled, “Well, if you’re all set to go we can actually take a trip down to the Ark, I’ll show you around and over to the lab where you’ll be setting up shop in.” He gestured towards a small metal panel on the adjacent wall, “See that touchpoint over there? Go ahead and give it a tap with your gauntlet.”

Steam Engine slowly approached the panel and raised her arm up towards it, pausing for a moment before gently tapping it against the metal.

Identity Verified: Steam Engine, Drive Train, Tinker

The lighting in the room suddenly flashed green for a moment as a panel in the wall slid open, revealing a simple elevator. Tinker smiled and stepped forward, “Come on in, there’s a few different levels to the Ark that I’d like to show you.”

The pair slowly trotted forward, making sure that their robotic companion was all the way in before turning back towards the elevator’s control panel. “Projects Sun Spot, Star Hunter, Further Beyond… Foresight?” Drive Train asked out loud, looking towards Tinker with a look of confusion.

The pegasus chuckled, “We’ll get to those in due time, right now let’s focus on Project Foresight, that’s where our AI projects are set up at.”

“So wait, you really have an AI then?.. How much is it programmed to do? Is it you know… alive?” Steam Engine asked as she glanced back towards the now motionless automaton.

Tinker shrugged, “It’s… hard to really say. It’s not truly sentient like you and I are, but it’s smart. Sometimes I swear it’s really thinking and answering me as a real pony would, but we’re years away from even getting anywhere remotely close to that. We call it the Oracle, this whole project was meant to be a way to predict the outcome of experiments and events so we could reduce the chance or running into an accident that could otherwise be avoided. It stemmed from one of the Sun Spot projects, which is where the SPEC partnership comes into play.”

“So this… Oracle… came from SPEC?”

Tinker turned towards Drive Train and pressed the button for Project Foresight, shaking his head as the elevator doors closed behind the trio, “No, at least not fully. I can’t really get into too many details about it yet, but the basic rundown is that we get project assignments from our contact in SPEC every once in a while, usually theoretical plans for strange electrical components that we don’t fully understand. More often than not we’re only able to replicate bits and pieces of them— stuff that seems worthless, though I suspect that it has to be of some use to them. Our contacts aren’t ever really clear with what the whole purpose for them is, but every once in a while we get something that we can actually use. The Oracle comes from that— more specifically the CPU processor that powers it. The processor’s built like an actual brain— a neural network if you will… to tell you the truth though, from the reference material it almost seemed like we were designing a brain meant for something far greater than what we have down here now, and I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. It took us a lot of research and development, but right now it's at the point where it can hold a conversation just like you and me. It still has some bugs though, but maybe letting it run around the Oasis will give it a chance to adapt to its environment in a more natural way.”

Before either of the engineers could reply the doors opened, revealing the large floor of the Ark that held the Oracle’s mainframe. Tinker stepped out and waved them forward, smiling as he watched them take in the strange environment, “Welcome to Project Foresight!”

Steam Engine glanced down at the large computer that sat on the far side of the room and looked back towards Tinker, “That’s it? It doesn’t seem all that… active.”

“That’s because it’s in a sleep mode. It had asked me about dreams earlier today, so I had some of the developers set up a sort of simulation mode for it to work through when it’s in its low power mode. That’s essentially giving it dreams.”

“Can we talk to it?” Drive Train asked as he slowly trotted towards the stairs, “I mean if it’s not too much trouble that is. I’d like to get a feel for if this is going to work out for our own goals sooner rather than later if that’s alright with you.”

Tinker began to walk towards the mainframe, nodding as he stepped down the stairs, “That’s perfectly fine, If anything I’m curious to see how it’ll react to you two. It’s only ever really talked with Me, Silver, and the occasional lab tech.”

“So we’re testing it out for you as well then?”

Tinker nodded, “Mhmm. Consider it a win-win situation for all of us. Like I was telling you before, it’s a little buggy at times, runs into errors with its primary function, but I think opening it up to a larger reference pool would be beneficial.”

“So this processor you were talking about, would we be able to load it onto the Mobility Unit? What Steam and I had in mind with this project was to create something that could run on its own without needing to be tethered to a network. Not saying we can’t link it back to the mainframe, but I want to make sure it can run on it’s own if there’s ever an outage.”

“I suppose it could, it’d probably take some modification but nothing’s impossible down here. So what you’re saying is that you want to copy it’s personality matrix onto this… drone, and then have that sync it’s data back to the server mainframe?”

Drive nodded, “Exactly! You say it goes into a low power sleep mode right? I’m assuming that’s so it can process and analyze the data it pulls in right?”

Tinker nodded, “Right.”

“So ideally that’d be the perfect time to sync up then, let it process it all at once—”

“— Which could increase its productivity!” Tinker excitedly finished, “I like the idea. We’ll probably need to build a new drone chassis so we can upload a copy of the personality to it. Power is an issue too, though Sprocket and Gyro have been working on some new power cells that might be able to power it for a day at the very most. We’d have to install charging stations around town, but that’s not necessarily an issue. Just keep in mind that you wouldn’t be able to access any of it’s higher functions like the advanced simulation and prediction engine, I’m afraid that that’s too hard to run on anything other than the mainframe that was specifically built for that.”

“That’s fine, we’re really just trying to create something that can act as a guide for a pony or human that might have mobility issues. This would hopefully offer that functionality, and you’d get the diagnostic data you needed. To tell you the truth I’m more interested in that than the whole future predicting part.”

“Yeah, that’s uh… a little worrying if I’m going to be honest Tinker,” Steam Engine added in.

“Well no worries then, if you two can get it to function within your parameters with just the core personality then I’ll call it a success on that front,” He paused for a moment, “Would you two like to say hello to it? I can tell you’re eager to start digging into this.”

Drive Train looked towards his partner and nodded, “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. It’ll at least give us an idea of what we’re going to be working with.”

Tinker smiled, pressing a button on the console, “Then in that case, say hello to The Oracle of the Oasis.”

The large monitor in front of them suddenly came to life, displaying a simple icon that pulsed as the computerized voice greeted them, Good Afternoon Tinker and GUEST USERS.

“Good afternoon Oracle, I’d like to introduce you to a couple of ponies that are here to help us, Drive Train and Steam Engine.”

Hello DRIVE TRAIN and STEAM ENGINE. I AM ORACLE.

Steam Engine slowly stepped forward, “Hello Oracle… how uhh… are you today?”

I am well. How may I assist you?

“I don’t think you can help us with anything specific today, but we’d like to get to know you a little better.”

What would you like to know?

Drive Train trotted up next to Steam and smiled, “Everything. Tell us about you, what you do, what you’d like to do… that sort of stuff.”

Why do you need to know this information?

Drive smiled, “Because you’re going to help us change the world my friend. I have a good feeling about this, as strange and weird as it might seem.”

Very Well. Let me start at the beginning then…

Author's Note

Takes place about a month after "Lost Mine". Not as action packed of a chapter as some of the others, but has some world building that'll come into play later on. Next Chapter should be a bit bigger in scope, and then the real fun stuff starts to begin...

Chapter 10: Reflections of Equestria

Zipp's Arcade - Part 1

-=Part 1=-

-=SECURE SERVER CONNECTION INITIATED=-

Experiment log, Project Foresight 7-X — Please Stand By.

“Can it hear us? Did it work?”

“Give it a second Sprocket. We’re mechanics, not miracle workers.”

“Drive Train’s right. It’s going to take at least a few minutes to run through the diagnostic program, once that’s done we can start putting it through some tests.”

“I… okay, you’re right Steam. I’m just really excited to see this come to fruition. I had my doubts about it when Tinker explained your plan, but this could be revolutionary. I mean we’re potentially creating something that could turn out to be groundbreaking! Just imagine what this could mean for automated systems if it runs the way it’s meant to.”

“Of course. Sure, there’s been work done in this field before, but nothing that comes as close to this.This brain you’ve built for it is absolutely amazing, just imagine the kind of grants we could get from this.”

“That is if it works, you two are getting ahead of yourselves here.”

“Well look Drive, I don’t know about Sprocket, but I’m just trying to think optimistically here.”

“Do you think it’ll work?”

“Yes Sprocket, I think it’ll work, but whether it’s stable and can control the drone, well we’ll have to wait and see. This is bleeding edge technology we’re working with here, Steam and I have never worked with a processor like this before, everything I think I know about computing says this shouldn’t even function the way it does but here it is.”

“You know Sprocket, I’d really love to get my hooves on one of these processors someday, you ever think you’ll produce them en masse? This could really break ground on computer automation in a big way, it’s like it’s… well, thinking.”

“Considering how expensive it was to produce even one of these, I don’t think that’ll be on the table for a very long time now. It was a stretch to even get a second one produced and up and running, but thankfully Sunset seemed interested in the project after Silver had his talk with her. I can’t imagine what he said to convince her that it was a worthwhile investment, or why he would go out of his way to do that while on vacation, but I don’t really care as long as it gets us the results we need. None of us have ever had much luck in dealing with her own agents, so more power to Silver.”

“I hate to interrupt you two, but it’s booting up now.”

“Good, good.”

Good Evening Sprocket... My diagnostics system appears to be malfunctioning, please dispatch a maintenance team as soon as possible.

“Good morning Oracle, you’re not malfunctioning. It’s actually the opposite in fact. Go ahead and scan your peripheral network, you’ll notice that you have some new toys at your disposal— a new body too in fact.”

A body… acknowledged. Onboard sensors indicate that multiple peripheral systems are operating below peak efficiency.

“You’ll get used to it in time, if it helps, Drive Train programmed a sort of autopilot diagnostic program to help you get used to your new body, why don’t you boot that up and give it a little test run?”

Running diagnostic program… Booting advanced mobility training simulations now, please stand by…

“How long will this take?”

“Well boss, it shouldn’t take more than say, 20 minutes. I programmed it so it would be able to feel the actions in motion before having the chance to replicate them itself. Walking shouldn’t be too hard to pick up, running might take a bit longer to nail, but that’ll be child’s play for the brain that’s running it.”

“Right, well let’s hope it’s that easy, Silver’s going to pester us with endless questions if it doesn’t and I’d personally like to avoid that if possible.”

“Don’t worry Sprocket, you said it yourself, this is probably one of the most advanced computers in existence and I don’t think it’ll have any issue with the training program.”

“I hope for all our sakes that you’re right, I don’t think I can take another boring night of Silver asking about every little detail and freaking out about how it’s not learning as fast as it should.”

“Don’t worry boss, it’ll work.”

“Good. I don’t think you realize how obsessed Silver is with this project.”

-=Connection Terminated=-

Zipper and Blue Spring trotted along the lakeside path on their way towards the weather team’s office. The pair didn’t actually have any weather duty today, but they still needed to file some paperwork, and saw no reason to skip out on their usual daily walk. These were some of Zipper’s favorite moments of the day, it was the time he could spend with his best friend just chatting about whatever came to their heads, and while some might have found the routine boring, Zipper treasured it.

The sun was just barely above the horizon and the sounds of birds chirping filled the air, seemingly casting a peaceful aura over the entire Oasis. As Zipper trotted along his ears would pivot slightly at every little animal sound, pulling his attention away from his companion’s conversation as if he was picking up on some piece of recognizable background noise.

“— it was honestly one of the most beautiful places I think I’ve ever been, we really need to take a trip down there sometime, maybe during the winter when it’s nice and chilly out, that always brought in a ton of manatees. Oh, and the walk along the boardwalk is just so peaceful too, you can even get right down by the river in some spots and the manatees are so much fun to watch...” Blue Spring paused for a moment, staring at Zipper who had seemingly zoned out. With a light nudge she tapped his shoulder with a wing, “Earth to Zipper, you there?”

The gray Pegasus shook his head and nodded towards her, “Sorry, I thought I just heard something again.” He twitched his ears again and glanced towards the lake, closing his eyes for a second.

“Is there something wrong Zip? You’ve been so quiet on our walks lately, it’s like you’re not yourself sometimes.”

Zipper shook his head again and sighed, “I’m fine. It’s just, I keep hearing bits of pieces of something I can understand. You hear honking and chirping but I can’t help but hear something else in between.”

“Still getting used to your talent? Trust me, it’s normal. Some of us get it easy, others need time to adjust. Hell it took me a couple months to get used to that whole nature sense I had. It’s like I could just see the air currents around me and everything, I still even feel like I get distracted by it every now and again but you’ll learn to tune it out.”

Zipper nodded, “It’s just… weird. I don’t really know how to put it any better way.”

Blue Spring paused her stride, “What’s it like? I mean is it really that big of a change to get used to?”

“It really is, like now that I’ve heard something recognizable I just can’t stop hearing it. You know how a background conversation can pull your attention away when you hear something familiar? It’s like that. Ever since I got my mark it’s like I just can’t turn off the part of me that can understand the animals. I can’t even explain what it sounds like, and it’s so frustrating sometimes. It’s like they’re talking to each other and I can just barely make out the feel of it.”

“The feel of it?”

Zipper nodded, “Yeah, like I said it’s hard to explain but I can kind of understand what they want and what they’re feeling like.”

“So is it just like when someone else talks to you? Like what we’re doing right now?”

He shook his head, “It's not like they’re really talking to me, but I can understand what they’re trying to get across. It’s really hard to explain but the best way I can put it is like how when a foal cries the parents can kind of understand what kind of cry it is… just a little more fine tuned to animals.” He glanced off towards the lake, letting out a tired sounding sigh, “It’s hard to get to sleep sometimes, I can just hear them talking away at night.”

“And they can understand you too?”

“Yeah. I guess it just works. Cal said that there’s a magic spike whenever I talk to them, but it’s like a passive ability most of the time.”

“Well I’ll take your word for it. Does it really bother you that much?”

Zipper nodded and continued to trot along, “It’s just, I don’t know… I feel like I have an actual purpose now, like I was given a gift and I’d just be wasting it by doing nothing, but it’s hard to focus on anything right now.”

“You’re still thinking of making a sanctuary aren’t you?”

“It sounds stupid, but yeah. I know it’ll be a lot of work, but the animals just sound so scared sometimes, it’s like I can’t help but want to give them a safe place to live.”

Blue Spring nodded, “That’s good, I’m glad you care so much about them… but what about your job now? What about the rest of the team?”

“Well… I guess I’ll have to train that replacement I’ve been meaning to train for a while now.”

“That’d be a smart idea… Do you know who you have in mind? And please don’t tell me it’s me.”

Zipper stopped for a moment, “Well of course not—” His eyes widened in embarrassment for a moment as he started to break into a frantic explanation, “I mean it’s not that I don’t think you’re good for the job, I just— well you always seemed like you were busy— oh you know what I mean.”

Blue Spring let out a series of laughs and shook her head, “I’m not the prime candidate Zipper, I know. Trust me, I don’t even want to run the team, it just seems like too much stress you know?”

Zipper nodded, “It is… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the job but it’s gotten so frustrating lately, you know, just with everything.”

“I know… look I think it’s fine to step back for a while, just make sure you know what you’re doing first before you make such a drastic decision, okay?”

“Of course, that’s why I’m going to hold a meeting later with the others, I think they’ll understand too.”

“So who do you have in mind?” She asked with a raised eyebrow, earning a smile from Zipper.

“Atlas, isn’t it obvious? I mean no offense to the others, but he’s always been a step above the rest when it comes to stuff like this. He was one of the only ponies that helped with dealing with the Great Storm at first and I think he’ll be a perfect fit as captain.”

Blue Spring slowly nodded her head as she gazed out towards the lake again, “Atlas… Alright, I can see that. Do you think he’ll be up for the task?”

Zipper nodded, “I guess we’ll find out. I talked with him a little bit about it before but it was never a finalized thing.”

“Well, maybe you should talk to him a little more when we get there? We’re only a few minutes away and he usually doesn’t get started with weather duty for another hour, that gives you plenty of time to get it all sorted out.”

“Alright, but do you think I’m maybe overthinking it?”

“Zipper, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you rarely think things through. I think if you’ve put so much thought into this then maybe you already have your answer.”

The gray pegasus gave a quick nod, “Okay, I’ll talk to him then,” He paused, “Thanks Spring.”

“Thanks? For what?”

“For everything,” Zipper added with a smile, “I don’t think I say that enough, but it really means the world to me.”

A smile began to slowly spread across her face, “Anytime Zip, that’s what friends are for. So what do you think Patrick’s going to say?”

“Patrick?” Zipper perked up, “Oh I’m sure he’ll have some choice words for sure.”

The two broke into a fit of laughter as they stepped into the office, earning a confused glare from Golden Atlas, who was in the middle of dictating an email.

“I’m sorry, what?! You’re just quitting out of the blue?” Patrick replied in surprise, “The big hot shot is giving up?”

Zipper looked over towards Blue Spring and shook his head, “Not out of the blue, and it’s not me giving up, I just need a break to pursue some other projects, you know? I’m going to finish training Atlas over the next couple weeks and he’ll take over as weather captain for a few, I’m not really quitting permanently, at least just yet, just taking a leave for the time being.”

“And he’s okay with this?”

Zipper shrugged, “Yeah, we had a long talk about it a few hours ago, he could tell I was starting to lose focus and believe me, he’s more than ready to take over. I trust him too.”

Patrick slowly nodded his head, “Right… Okay, so he’s taking over, that’s fine. But what about you? What’s your whole plan? Just go ahead and run this by me again.”

“I want to start taking my talent seriously, and part of that is talking with you and River Breeze and figuring out what needs to be done if I want to get the whole animal sanctuary thing off the ground. I wish I could just explain my side of this in a better way, but I can hear the animals around the Oasis and it’s going to sound stupid, even from me, but they just want a safe place to stay.”

Patrick cleared his throat and started jotting down a few notes, “Alright, so you still want to make an animal sanctuary. Do you know your starting point? I mean I know you had some ideas on paper, but have you sat down and actually thought over the logistics behind it?”

Before Zipper could respond, Blue Spring cleared her throat, earning a confused glance from Zipper, “Yes, we have. At least I have. So back before ETS I was a park ranger in Florida, it wasn’t quite the same as running the kind of thing that we want to do now, but it’s pretty close to what we want to at least start with.”

“Mhmm, so a nature preserve type thing?”

“Yep!” She replied with a quick nod, “And I’ve got River Breeze with us on this too. She’s got a lot of the important stuff figured out and she’s willing to help if it means that she’ll be able to upgrade her facilities.”

Zipper leaned close to her and lowered his voice to a whisper, “We do?”

Spring nodded, “I’ll tell you more about it later.”

Patrick began to speak up again, “Right, and do you guys have funding in mind for this? It’s not going to be cheap if you’re still planning on building the whole visitor’s center thing like you were before.”

“Blue Spring and I have an idea in mind and I think we have what we’ll need for now, and I’ve got something in mind for covering some of the future costs but we won’t have those for a while.” Zipper added, perking up in his seat.

“Okay, so what exactly do you want to leave here with today then?”

“Well, obviously I’m giving you my two week notice on this, but an office space wouldn’t be bad either… you know, so we can have a dedicated space to plan all this all out.”

Patrick looked at Zipper with a smirk, “An office space? Why do you need that?”

Zipper nodded his head, “Yeah! So, that way we can manage it better and be more independent. Right now I’ve just been thinking of everything in my freetime and writing it all down, but we don’t actually have anywhere official to run this whole operation from.”

Patrick let out a chuckle, “An official office building then… I’m going to be real, I didn’t think you’d actually be so invested in this project.”

“Well like I said Patrick, I just want to do something responsible with my talent.”

“And you’re not just asking me now because Silver’s out of town now, right?”

Zipper shook his head, “No, it’s just coincidence, I promise.”

The unicorn nodded, “Alright, I’ll tell you what. I’ll lend you two a spare warehouse down by the lake that we’re not using, and if you actually get this business off the ground and submit formal plans I’ll let you stay there. It’s not an official office building but it’ll probably serve you better than it’s serving me right now.”

“For real? You’re just going to give us a building for free?”

Patrick shook his head, “Okay, maybe not for free, but we can work out payment. It’ll at least be a heavy discount, probably just the basic utilities for now, but that could change later. I’ll go ahead and draft up an official contract, but you two are free to head over there whenever you’re ready.”

Zipper jumped up and excitedly hugged the surprised unicorn, earning a giggle from Blue Spring, “Oh my gosh, thanks! You don’t know how much this means to me Patrick! I’m actually going to do something really productive for once!”

Patrick quickly nodded his head and wiggled free, “Okay Zip, I’m glad you’re happy but you wanna give me a second to breathe?”

The pegasus backed off and flashed a nervous smile, “Uhh… sorry about that, I guess I just got a little too overexcited…”

The unicorn stood up and walked towards a large cabinet, opening it with his magic and fishing around in the drawer, “Right, so about that warehouse, I guess it’d be helpful if I actually gave you the keys and told you where you’re going.”

Blue Spring let out a laugh, “Yeah, that might be useful.”

“Mhmm, now let’s see,” He hopped out of his chair and walked toward a filing cabinet on the far side of his office, “I think I have it filed away in this section… aha!” Patrick excitedly exclaimed as he levitated a folder with a set of keys clipped to the side out of the cabinet. “82 Lakeside, It’s a bit smaller, but I think it’ll work just fine for your needs.”

Zipper picked up the folder and smiled, “I think it’ll be perfect.”

The unicorn nodded his head, “Let me know if you need anything, we can discuss all the paperwork later, and some of the extra costs for if you do actually get a business set up, does that sound fair?”

Blue Spring nodded, “Yeah, that’ll be fine. You won’t charge too much I hope?”

“Of course not, just utilities most likely. The building’s relatively new but like I said, it’s just been sitting there empty ever since we built some of the newer infrastructure.”

“Well we really do appreciate this Pat, it means a lot.” Blue Spring added, offering an outstretched hoof towards the unicorn.

He met her gesture and smiled, “Of course. I might be the boring facilities director, but I genuinely want my friends to succeed, and it’s really no trouble to me. Just make sure you know what you’re doing before you really get started with this. It’s not going to just be a simple walk in the park.”

Zipper smiled, “Oh I know, but it’s going to pay off in the end, I just know it!”

“Oh I’m sure it will, please keep me posted on how everything goes.”

“We sure will Pat, thanks again for everything!”

The unicorn smiled as the two pegasi stood up and left his office, excitedly whispering to each other as they exited.

The two pegasi excitedly trotted alongside the lake, heading towards their newly acquired warehouse, a loud flurry of honks drowning out most of their conversation.

Blue Spring flicked her ears a few times before turning towards Zipper, noticing that his own ears were pivoting around in all directions while he looked around with a blank expression. She paused for a moment and stepped closer to him, “Hey Zip you holding up?”

The gray pegasus shook his head for a moment and glanced back towards her, “Huh?”

“You’re doing it again.”

His face reddened for a moment, “Err— sorry, I guess I just keep getting distracted again.”

Spring nodded, “You’re doing that a lot more than usual, you sure it’s not bugging you?”

He shook his head, “It’s annoying, but I just need to get over it.” Zipper waved over towards one of the large geese, “I was trying to understand what he’s honking about now.”

“Any luck?” Blue Spring asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zipper shrugged, “I don’t know, guess I can try and ask him?” The pegasus trotted towards one of the larger geese, eyeing him with both curiosity and slight concern, “Heya Gustav how are you doing today? You sure are honking up a storm lately...”

The goose replied with a simple Honk.

“Still feeling a bit under the weather?”

Honk

“A...Alright, I guess I’ll have River Breeze take a look at you later if she’s not busy with the other animals at the clinic.”

Gustav replied with a cheerful sounding honk.

Blue Spring watched on in confusion, “I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. It’s just so different.”

Zipper nodded, “It’s… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get used to it either, trust me.”

“You never know Zip, I’m sure you’ll get it all figured out in time.”

The pegasus shrugged, “I hope you’re right, It’s just so hard to even hear myself think sometimes.”

“Well if you ever need a nice relaxing place to get away to I might know a few, it’ll be hard to fully get away from any animal noise though.”

Zipper smiled, “Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer sometime.”

The two resumed their walk, passing the geese and heading towards a large building that sat near an inlet. Blue Spring fumbled with her saddlebag for a moment as Zipper walked towards the shore. The mare squinted as she glanced up towards the vacant warehouse, the sun’s light shining brightly in her eyes, “82 Lakeside Street, I think this is us.”

Zipper nodded, “It’s perfect! We’re so close to the geese so if we set up a little area for them over there they won’t have to move too far at all!” He excitedly shouted, gesturing towards the inlet with a wing.

“It’s not bad, it will need a little work if we actually want to set up the sanctuary here, but at least there’s not too many buildings around so we won’t have that to worry about.”

“Mhmm, it’s a bit far from River Breeze’s too so that might be an issue… what was that whole thing about earlier by the way?”

Blue Spring raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Well you said you talked with her about this before.”

Her face softened, “Oh, well I work with River on the weekends sometimes, it’s not like she’s super busy but she’s definitely in need of some upgrades. I kind of dealed her into this if you don’t mind, I figured it’d work out a lot better if we had an actual vet on our side, no offense to you or anything, but she’s the brains we need for our operation.”

He walked up to the warehouse and pushed the door open, holding it open for Blue Spring, “I guess you have a point, I can’t really keep them safe if I don’t even know how to properly do that. It’s probably the best option we have really.”

“River’s the only option we have,” She corrected.

As they stepped through the door Zipper flipped on the lights, letting out a sneeze as he breathed in the dusty air, “Man, I can see why Patrick is letting us borrow this place, it must have been sitting here empty for a long time now.”

Blue Spring nodded slowly, “Gee when we asked for an office I wasn’t expecting to get something so…”

“Empty?” Zipper completed for her.

“Yeah,” She shrugged back towards him, “I mean it’s nice and all, but we didn’t really need this big empty space. What are we even going to do with all of it?”

“Maybe River Breeze could find something to use it for?”

Spring shrugged, “I don’t really see what she could do with it, we’d have to spend a ton just to get it set up for anything she’d do.”

Zipper pointed up to the loft that overlooked the warehouse floor. “Well we’ve got an office up there it looks like.”

“Alright, well that’s good at least. But still, what are we going to even do with the rest of it? It’s just us three right now, maybe we’ll get a few more sets of hooves helping out eventually, but even then I don’t think we’ll ever outgrow this anytime soon.”

“Well… I guess we could try and find a good use for it in the meantime.”

Blue Spring raised an eyebrow, “What kind of use?”

Zipper shuffled his hooves around, “Well, the Oasis doesn’t really have any good nightlife does it?”

“Let me guess, you want to make something to fill that void?”

The gray pegasus shrugged, “Maybe not permanently, but it could certainly be a good way of bringing in some extra revenue, and driving up interest, you know?”

Spring let out a laugh, “So what is it? A nightclub? Bar?”

“An arcade.”

“An arcade…” she shook her head, “Zipper we don’t have hands, and there’s like a dozen humans here against what, three times as many ponies?”

He nodded his head and looked away, “Yeah okay, good point, but think about it. Classic arcade cabinets use buttons and joysticks right? Stuff that’s big enough to work well with hooves— and it’d give us all something that we really haven’t been able to do in years.”

“Okay… but where do we start with this? I mean we’ll need someone to help get us the cabinets, make some designs, a sign or two? You know the big stuff that the two of us can’t really do.”

Zipper smiled, “Hang on, I have an idea, I might know a guy that can help us out… at least with the design part.”

“Design part?”

“Well we’ll need signs and stuff right? Something flashy to bring people here.”

“Yeah… Where are you going with this?”

“Well Silver hung up some ads in the town center, one of them was for a graphic designer he knew.”

“And you’re just going to trust some random pony from an ad?” She asked with a furrowed brow.

Zipper nodded, “Silver did. And you know how he gets with other ponies.”

Blue Spring nodded, “Alright, I guess I’ll let you lead the way on this one… this should be interesting.”

Zipper held up his gauntlet, “NAVI call Stardust Designs”

Calling Stardust Designs… warning, user has specified quiet hours, would you like to continue anyways?”

“Yep! It’s important.” Zipper responded with a gleeful nod.

The comm began to dial for a few minutes before the pony on the end answered with a long yawn an annoyed sigh, “Go for Stardust… can I help you?”

“Hey Stardust… it’s Zipper, from the Oasis. I kinda needed help with something and Silver still had your ad hanging up around here so…”

“Uh huh, Zipper…. zipper, I uhh… sorry I can’t really place a face to the name. I’ve only been out there twice, you’ll have to forgive me.”

The pegasus looked towards Blue Spring before turning back towards his gauntlet, “You know. I’m like one of Silver’s best friends, I was the weather captain too.”

“One of Silver’s best friends… right,” Stardust paused for a moment, “Okay, well uhh… Zipper was it?”

“Yeah.”

“Right, well Zipper what did you need exactly?”

“Okay so uhh, well we’re making an arcade and I kinda needed a logo… and some signs ... and I’ll need tokens too!” Zipper excitedly answered.

“Okay okay just slow down for a second. So I can do most of that, but you need to keep in mind that I’m an entire state away from you right now so I’m going to have to make a trip down with my team and that’s going to drive the price up a bit. If that’s okay with you then we’re in business. So with that in mind, what kind of signs did you need, and do you have an actual idea for the logo?”

Zipper looked towards Blue Spring and then gave a quick nod, “Kinda? It’s nothing crazy, just something that says Zipper’s Arcade on it. Do you think you can do that?”

“Just Zipper’s Arcade? Do you have a font in mind… any kind of design choices behind that?.. You’re not really giving me much to work with here.”

Zipper froze for a second, “I uhh… well no, not really. I was kinda hoping you could help with that…”

The line sat quiet for a few moments until finally Stardust spoke up, “Okay, so normally this would be one of my least favorite kinds of orders to get just because I have to try and figure out what you want, but seeing as how a lot of people around me don’t like dealing with night ponies, I’m open to helping you with this. What kind of feeling are you going for with it? It’s an arcade so something modern, something futuristic, maybe something retro—“

“—Yeah! Something retro would be awesome!” Zippier excitedly shouted into the Comm.

Stardust let out a small laugh, “Okay retro it is, now what kind of sign did you have in mind for it?”

“Well I was thinking of a neon sign maybe, and probably some posters and banners… how much do you think that’ll be?”

“Well, I’ll have to outsource the neon so that’ll bring the price up a bit, but I won’t know for certain until we get the design finalized and out to the number cruncher for a price quote. Banners and posters shouldn’t be too terribly expensive, I know a guy that can do them in house so that’ll keep it a bit lower.”

“How much is a bit lower?”

“I couldn’t tell you until we get a design proofed out for a quote.”

“Okay… and what about the tokens?”

“The tokens?”

Zipper nodded towards the gauntlet, “Well yeah, we’ve gotta have custom tokens or it won’t be a real arcade.”

“Okay so hang on a minute, I’m just a graphic designer, I can do pretty standard signs, and even some more complex stuff, but tokens are well outside my domain… that said, I have a friend that might know a guy that can get tokens minted for you, I have no idea what the price is going to be like so don’t ask. I’ll see if I can track down his number for you though.”

“Okay cool!” Zipper excitedly shouted back, earning another annoyed sigh from the tired night pony.

“So uhh… was there anything else you needed?”

“Oh uhh, not really. So I guess I’ll just give you a call later and we can talk the designs over?..”

“I have a better idea. Weird question but do you know when you’ll probably be asleep next?”

“Uhh… tonight? Maybe like around 9ish?”

“Okay cool. I’ll stop by your dream and show off a few design ideas and we can go from there, it’s honestly the easiest option given how far away we are…” Stardust paused for a moment, “So uhhh… you ever have anyone dreamwalk to you before?”

“Uhhh no, not really? You can do that?” Zipper paused for a moment, “Wait, won’t you be awake by then?”

“Probably, but Silver’s been teaching us all about waking dreams… it’s kind of amazing, the dude’s on vacation and still won’t take a break from his work. Trust me though, it’s a lot of boring night pony stuff that you wouldn’t understand so don’t worry about it. Just don’t be confused when you’re suddenly aware you’re in a dream, it’ll make the design process a lot easier for both of us, okay?”

Zipper nodded towards the Comm, “I guess I’ll take your word for it… can’t wait to see what you come up with!”

“Mhmm. Just give me a call if you need anything else I guess, see you in your dreams.” He finished as the Comm went silent.

Zipper looked up towards Blue Spring and smiled, “I think this means we’re one step closer to getting there.”

She nodded, “And what about the games? Do you have anything in mind for that? Because it’s probably not going to be easy or cheap for us to do on our own.”

Zipper paused for a moment, “I uhh…”

“Didn’t think of that. That’s what I figured,” Blue Spring said, finishing his sentence. She sat in hesitation for a moment before perking up, “What about that night pony that’s been trying to get some more nightlife off the ground too? Wasn’t she the one that got a few old cabinets into the rec center? Maybe she’d know where to start.”

“You mean Sine Wave? I’ve barely said two words to her, I don’t think she likes me very much.”

The blue pegasus let out a laugh, “Well Zip you kind of crashed through her wall when you tried out that goofy spiral maneuver again while she was asleep, you ever see a tired night pony? How about one that you just scared awake. I think anyone would be more than annoyed if they got woken up and had to deal with repairing that kind of damage.”

Zipper’s face reddened in embarrassment, “Okay maybe that’s a good point,” he looked back towards her, “but do you think she’d really be onboard to help us with this?”

Blue Spring shrugged, “Well we won’t really know until we ask. So how about it? You want to go stop by her place later and see if she wants to talk about it over some drinks or something?”

He nodded, “Sure, I guess if she’s our only bet then we might as well give it a go…” he paused for a moment, clearly unsure of whether it was a good idea or not.

“Still afraid she’s mad at you? You shouldn’t be. Don’t you remember how much Silver emphasized how important it is to forgive? Most of the night ponies here look up to him, including her. She’ll probably be more than happy to help out once you explain the whole idea.”

“What is that bird brain doing here?! I thought I told you to stay away!” The dark purple night pony hissed as she bared her fangs at Zipper, ignoring the small salad she had prepared for herself.

The gray pegasus shrunk back in fear at the aggressive display, letting out a scared whimper as Blue Spring pushed her way past him, walking towards the other end of the table, “Hey now, calm down Sine! We’re here because we wanted to ask you something.”

The night pony shook her head, idly picking away at her meal, “I don’t want anything to do with him. He knows what he did and he better know that what I said I’d do wasn’t a threat… it was a promise.”

Blue Spring rolled her eyes, “Okay look, remember what Silver said about forgiveness? Because I think if he was here right now he’d have some choice words to say to you.”

Sine slowly nodded her head, letting out an annoyed sigh, “Yes, well Silver isn’t here. But fine, what do you want then?”

“What I want is for you to listen to something that we think you might be interested in, and hopefully we can end whatever drama’s going on between you two. So how about you put this behind you for a little while and we can deal you in on what we’re working on, because I think you’re the only pony in the entire Oasis who can really help us with the hardest part.”

“Look, I know what Silver said, but I don’t care. I’m not going to forget about this until the bird brain apologizes for ruining my garden.”

Blue Spring nodded, “And he will. Isn’t that right Zipper?” She asked as she turned towards him, flashing a stern glare.

The gray pegasus meekly nodded, “I… Yes.”

“Okay then, let’s hear it.” Sine responded with a smirk.

“I… I uhm, I’m sorry.” Zipper quickly replied back.

“That’s it?!”

The pegasus recoiled in fear again, “I…” He let out a deep sigh, “Look, Sine, I’m sorry. I’m bad at this kind of stuff but I’m really sorry I ruined your garden. I promise I’ll make it up to you sometime.”

“Oh you will now? So you’ll help me replant all my flowers then?”

Zipper shuffled his hooves around, “I… I will.”

“Wonderful. And you’ll pay for all of it then? Including the broken wall that you crashed into that’s still broken?”

Zipper’s eyes widened, but before he could protest Blue Spring chimed in, “Yes he will. Isn’t that right Zipper?”

Zipper flashed his friend an annoyed look, but didn’t protest further. With an annoyed sigh he turned towards Sine, “Yes. I’ll pay for all of it. How much do I owe you?”

Sine paused in consideration for a moment, “How about we work on everything and I’ll give you the bill when we’re done, k?”

The gray pegasus slowly nodded, “Alright. It’s a deal.”

“Wonderful! I forgive you.” The night pony cheerfully replied, “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what’s your big crazy idea?”

“Well, Zipper, River, and I are trying to build an animal sanctuary. Zipper here had the bright idea of making an arcade to get some side cash to fund some of the annoying permits that we’ll have to get.”

“And it’ll give the Oasis something fun to do at night! Plus we can get a lot of positive attention that way!” Zipper excitedly chimed in.

“An arcade…” A smile slowly began to spread across her face, “Well to tell you the truth I thought this was going to be some really dumb idea, but I think I can actually get behind you on this one, bird brain.”

“Sine! He said he’d promise to pay you back, what happened to forgiving him?” Blue Spring protested.

The night pony smirked, “Well I forgave him, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still a bird brain," She turned towards Zipper, taking a few bites of her salad, "So tell me bird brain, what’s the plan? And please tell me you haven’t gotten any cabinets yet.”

Zipper picked away at his own plate for a few moments, taking a small nibble before nodding, “Right. So we haven’t gotten any cabinets yet, but we do have an idea in mind for some of the design aspects.”

“I hope that doesn’t mean you have a layout planned out? Because I’ve got a rad idea in mind that I’ve been itching to execute if you catch my drift.”

“Is that a yes then? You’ll help us?”

“Well, what about it? Would you be okay with me calling the shots on our design then?”

“Well, as long as it isn’t the signage then I think we’re good.”

Sine Wave smiled and dug into her salad, “Well then bird brain, and friend, I think that makes us business partners.”

“So I’m going to go ahead and assume that answers our unasked question, about whether you’d be able to get us some arcade cabinets?” Blue Spring asked in between her own bites.

The mare nodded, “Yep. It won’t be hard at all, trust me.”

“Perfect, so uhh, I hope this isn’t part of what I’m paying you back for… is it?” Zipper asked with a twinge of concern.

The mare let out a chuckle, “Don’t worry bird brain, it’s all taken care of. I know a guy down in Phoenix that’s been trying to offload a bunch of surplus cabinets. No one’s buying them right now, go figure, so I kind of scooped up as many as I could… not like I’m really spending that much on anything else.”

“So you already have the cabinets?!” Zipper excitedly asked.

Sine nodded, “Kinda. Kal has them in storage, said he could hold them for me for the month but if I didn’t pick them up then he’d wind up selling them off to some guy out in California. I take it you two have a space to house all these?”

Blue Spring nodded, “Yep! Pat had an old warehouse down by the lake, said we could use it as long as we needed it.”

“Ah, the one down by the inlet?”

Zipper nodded, “That’s the one!”

“Perfect,” she glanced at the clock on her wall and turned back towards the pair, “I need to make a call or two, mind if I stop by in the morning? I should know everything I need to know by then.”

“Sure. Thanks again for the dinner, Sine.”

The night pony nodded, “Breakfast, but I guess it’s dinner for you two. Thanks again for promising to fix my garden, bird brain. I’ll be sure to get a whole list of things I need you to do all made up in the meantime.”

Zipper slowly nodded, “It’s… alright. See you in the morning.”

She smiled, “Nice seeing you too Spring, thanks for teaching bird brain some manners.”

“Any time.”

The two walked out of the night pony’s house and started on the short walk back to Blue Spring’s home. Zipper couldn’t help but listen to the distant animal sounds, his sensitive ears picking up on every call and chirp.

Before long the two were nearing Spring’s small home, and as Zipper walked Spring up to her door he turned and smiled, “I just want to say thanks again for everything Spring, I really appreciate all the help. It means more to me than I think you realize.”

The blue pegasus smiled, “Of course. It’s something this place needed, and I can’t wait to see what happens from here on out.”

Zipper raised an eyebrow, “The arcade or the sanctuary?”

“Both,” She answered as she opened her door, waving towards the entrance with a wing, “You staying over tonight or flying back home?”

“I think I’ll head home, I need to get some chores done.”

“Sure you don’t want to sit down and watch another movie?”

Zipper shook his head, “Nah, I’d love to but I also need to go clean up Gordon’s cage. He’s been driving me crazy.”

“You can hear more than just him squawking?”

The pegasus nodded, “Yeah. It’s like he’s talking to me and actually talking to me. It’s hard to explain but yeah you already know that.”

Blue Spring smiled, “Good luck with that Zip. See you in the morning?”

“Same time, same place.”

She smiled, “Great, see you then.”

“See you when I see you, have a nice night Spring.”

With a final hug goodbye, Zipper took off towards his own home, excitement carrying through him as he saw his dreams finally becoming a reality.

Author's Note

Takes place around late November, shortly after "An Oasis in Motion"

Chapter 12: Two Worlds, One Story

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Chapter 13: Back to the Old Grind

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Chapter 14: Workplace Monotony

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Chapter 15: Family Business (Trips)

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Chapter 16: Poolside Bonding

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Chapter 17: Making Magical Memories

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Chapter 18: Uneasy Dealings

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Chapter 19: The Start of Something Grand

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Chapter 20: The Dream Seekers

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Epilogue: A Dreamer Seeking Dreamers…

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Chapter 1: A Refreshing Winter Getaway

Eclipse Family Vacation

The sun had long set but that meant nothing to the ponies in the small city below who were enjoying their evening. Scarlet sat at the top of City Central, looking down at the city below and enjoying the view while she waited for Silver to return from his business trip. With a small sigh, she glanced down at her gauntlet to check the time, and then smiled as she slowly walked over to the purple night pony foal that was playing with some plushies a short distance away, “Orion guess who’s going to be here in a few minutes!”

The colt perked up and hopped in place, abandoning his toys for a moment as he smiled and ran over, earning another smile from the mare, “That’s right, Daddy’s gonna be home soon! Are you excited?!”

The foal responded with a big grin, jumping into the air and flapping his wings in excitement, earning a laugh from her, “Alright, calm down little buddy, Silver’s gonna be so sad if you’re all tuckered out when he gets here.”

Orion let out a happy squeak and cuddled up next to her as she draped a wing over him. She gazed back down at the city, reminiscing at how much The Oasis had grown in In just a year’s time. It had gone from a humble ghost town to a slowly growing city of their dreams, a place where imagination and creativity were more important than anything else. On the surface, the city was merely a modest example of what ponies and humans could do when they set aside their differences and worked together, but it was also a place where its scientists and researchers worked tirelessly in the hopes of making the world a better place with their projects.

It was a woefully optimistic dream, but it was something that they felt was worth fighting for. PRISM was still a fledgling group, but this city was their gift to the world. It was impossible to truly know whether they’d ever discover something that could brighten the dark future that they feared, but it didn’t matter to them, not as long as they at least tried. What started as an escape for Silver, a desperate attempt to try and make sense of his fears, had now become a goal that was becoming more and more attainable as the days went on.

In the distance Scarlet could make out a helicopter flying in, and as it neared closer she picked up Orion and took a few steps back, giving the pilot some room to land. The helicopter came to a graceful landing and a very tired looking night pony hopped out. With a running start, Orion took off, cheerfully galloping over to his father, who’s face lit up at the sight. Silver crouched down to his level and met him with a big grin, “Hey there buddy, I sure missed you!” He said as he pulled him in for a hug, then carefully lifted him onto his back.

With a big smile on her face Scarlet ran over, excitedly calling out to him, “Welcome back Silver! You get enough sleep on the ride over? I know you’re probably a little tired.”

The night pony smiled back, lightening up a little, “Not as much as I'd like, but hey at least I’m home now with my two favorite ponies.” He lifted the sunglasses he wore off of his head, and warmly embraced her, “You sure are a real sight for sore eyes you know that?”

Silver waved to the pilot and walked off of the landing pad as the helicopter departed. “You know, I really need to bring you along on one of these trips sometime, the Mariners’ lab up in Maine is starting to really show some promise, they’ve really been making some amazing progress with the Sea Castle.”

Scarlet leaned in and hugged Silver tightly, careful not to disturb Orion, “It’s great to see you too, I don’t know how you manage to stay sane after running everything here non stop.”

“Well I have you and Orion and that helps quite a bit. C’mon, let’s go take a walk.”

The two ponies started to trot back into the large tower, chatting and catching up along the way. “You know what Silver? We really need to take a proper vacation sometime, no business, no responsibilities, just you and me relaxing somewhere for once.”

Silver smiled, “Well go get ready then, I can put in a little vacation time for just the two of us. Where do you want to go?”

“Wait, you mean right now? What about Orion? I can’t just leave him here alone with a sitter.”

Silver shrugged, smiling as an idea came to him. “Well We’ll just take him along too, it could be our first big family vacation.”

“You think he’s fine to travel?”

Silver nodded. “Of course! My Grandmother took me all over the place as a kid and I turned out just fine.”

Scarlet laughed at him. “Well that’s certainly debatable.”

“So where should we go? California, Florida, Hawaii... anything in particular pique your interest?”

Scarlet paused in consideration for a few moments, “Hawaii sounds fun, but I’d rather save that trip for later. What about Michigan? You know, we never took Sapphire up on her invitation. It might be nice to show that we’re not still mad over everything.”

“Michigan? You know it’s going to be pretty cold up there right? Like colder than anything we're used to down here.”

“I think I’ll manage just fine, I mean how bad could it be?”

“Alright well if you say so… I’ll go get everything settled once we get to my office.”

The two looked out the window and over the lake in the distance, watching the residents enjoying their evening, “You know, this place sure has changed a lot over the last year… I mean that whole storm fiasco last year kind of threw a wrench in our operations for a while, but in the end it was oddly productive.”

“I’d say it worked out really well. Sapphire really lightened up once you explained that it was all one big misunderstanding.”

Silver nodded, “That’s true, it could have been so much worse right? Like thank God she’s only a pegasus, can you imagine what would have happened if a unicorn of her caliber had tried a stunt like that?”

Scarlet shook her head, “I don’t want to think about that, let’s just be glad we pissed off who we did, otherwise we’d have never made the kinds of connections that we did. How did Sunset handle your request by the way?”

“She said it was fine, but I made it very clear that if she ever does something like she did with the whole Sapphire situation again we would not hesitate to pull out of the deal. She seems a lot more welcoming in person, but I still don’t know what to make of her yet.”

She chuckled, “Maybe that sudden vacation is a good thing after all. Want me to come along with you to your office? Keep you company?”

“Don’t you have some work over in the new observatory?”

Scarlet shrugged, “Nah, the shipment got delayed again, nothing big, just a lot of complicated parts that they found defects in. Had to recall a whole truckload.”

“Well in that case, I’d really love that.”

The two continued walking down the plain hallway, an occasional door or window breaking up the bland walls.

“So did I miss anything interesting while I was gone?”

“Oh you know, nothing special, just the Neptune team making an emergency call right before you touched down. Isa wanted to speak to you over the video phone, it sounded like they ran into an issue with the Aquarius project right after you left and needed some emergency resources to make repairs.”

“Oh just approve it. Their research was starting to really show some potential when I was down there. I know they’re a bit eccentric but they’re hard workers and we need that data for the Horizon project. How’s the Helios team been handling?”

“They’ve been… handling.”

“Not good?”

The lights flickered a few times before briefly blacking out, “Not good. They’re trying though, the grid’s just having trouble holding up.”

“That’s fine. I know they’re giving it their all.”

Silver opened the door and walked in, cheerfully greeting the night pony that was waiting for him, “Hey Phoenix, I didn't realize you were part of the welcoming committee too, so what's up?”

"I don’t know how to say this Silver, so let me just rip the bandage right off. I’m stepping down. Effective immediately Patrick’s taking over as director of the Facilities and Operations division.”

Silver shifted uncomfortably.“That’s… err, ok. It’s just a little sudden," He paused for a moment, "Look, I really think you should reconsider. It’s not that I don’t think Patrick is up for the task, it’s just, well.. you’ve been such an integral part of making this place what it is and I just hope this isn’t a sign that you’re leaving.”

He nodded his head, “Silver, are you still afraid of a looming apocalypse?”

“Phoenix, what does this have—“

“Are you?” he interrupted

Silver sighed, “You know the answer to that…” He looked away. “Yes.”

“One year ago I was probably the most fearful pony there was, but look at me now. I’m confident, I’m not as fearful, and a lot of this is because of you.”

“But what does that have to do with any of this?”

“You’re afraid that I’m going to leave, and you don’t want that. You’re still afraid of change, even if you don’t consciously realize it yet. It’s only natural Silver. Fear is something that’s a part of what makes us who we are. But I could argue that change is something that’s almost equally important too.”

“So what do you think you’ve learned from my fears then?” he asked as he made eye contact.

Phoenix glanced towards the window, “That you’re a pony that cares deeply about his friends but is still trying to hold onto the illusion that you’re fearless. I’m not leaving Silver. This is my home and a dream that I feel is finally starting to come true, but I also found something in it that suits me better. I have the chance to really help other ponies this way. I was happy before but now I have the chance to really share what I’ve learned to help others. You included.”

Silver shuffled in place, finally taking a deep breath. “Maybe I am afraid of change.”

“And that’s perfectly fine. I know you’re afraid of their arrival, but you can’t let this obsession with the devourers consume your entire life. I know it’s scary, and I know you only want to help other ponies, but you need to help yourself too. If you won’t do it for your sake do it for Scarlet and Orion’s.”

“I… I’m just so worried that in the lines upon lines of calculations and predictions that we’re still missing something. What if this isn’t some far off threat? What if the Oracle project won't help us in the way it's supposed to?”

Phoenix shrugged, “We'll never know that Silver, all we really do know is that the best thing we can do right now is to try and find a solution to that threat now, in the present, if not for our sake, for our descendants sake. You’re not going to live forever Silver, so you shouldn’t let fear control your life like I did. You’re only going to miss out on the special moments in life and wonder where all the time went if you do, and then it’ll really be too late.”

“Do you think so?”

He nodded his head, “I know so. Trust me on this Silver.”

Silver nodded, “Thanks Phoenix, I really appreciate this.”

“I know you do, now go enjoy the rest of your day off, I know Scarlet’s been waiting for you.”

The sun was just barely rising above the horizon as Silver and Scarlet walked down the hallway, trying to stifle their yawns as best as they could. It wasn't often that they tried to get some rest so late at night, but it was the best way to assure that their travel plans would go as smoothly as possible and much to their delight, their foal, Orion slept peacefully on Scarlet’s back, a sight that melted Silver’s heart. They paused for a moment as a pegasus quickly flew past them in a gray blur before coming to a well practiced landing.

Scarlet looked towards Silver, smirking as she rolled her eyes, “Oh boy, this should be good.”

With a few idle flaps of his wings, Zipper slowly walked towards the couple, clearly contemplating something, “Oh hey, what’re you two up to today?”

Silver smiled, trying not to laugh, “Heya Zip, not painting your wings anymore?”

He rolled his eyes, “No. That was… that was just that one time.”

“Oh lighten up Zip, I thought it looked pretty cool. Anyways, we’re just taking that vacation you were briefed on yesterday.”

“Oh that’s today?” He asked in mock confusion.

Silver slowly nodded his head, “Yep, that’s today. So uhh, can we help you with something?”

“No… but maybe I can help you. You’re going up to the MWMP right? I was just thinking that maybe I could come along, ya know to pickup… some of the more advanced techniques so I could come back and teach the team down here…”

Silver shook his head, “That’s not quite how it works. Sure we’ll be up in the UP but we’re there strictly on vacation, for real, not like that vacation they took down here last year. At most Sapphire will probably show us around and that’s it.”

Zipper let out a sad sigh before perking up again, “Okay... but I could still stop by and try and touch base with them, you know?”

The two night ponies started walking forward, Zipper quickly following behind them. Silver shook his head once more, replying with a calm but stern tone, “I think we’re good Zip, that’s a federal program and they aren’t going to just let you fly around with them. What happened a year ago was a one time deal and we almost got washed away because of it. Besides, flights full, they’re not going to let you squeeze into the seat next to us.”

“Oh come on, are you sure you don’t need an extra set of hooves to help out on your trip? I could keep an eye on Orion if you two just wanted a little time to yourselves.”

Scarlet flashed him a warm smile, “Really, we’re good Zipper, thanks.”

“B—but…”

Silver paused, turning towards the gray pegasus, “Zipper, I know you want to come along and visit, but you’re the weather captain and your team needs you here. You knew that the job came with a lot of responsibilities when you volunteered for it. I can look at giving you some vacation time once you finish training your co captain, alright?”

“But…" He rolled his eyes and let out a loud huff, "It’s just not fair! you guys get to go up there and see Dazzle and the others…” he quickly corrected himself, “I mean you guys get to go up there and see all of the other weather ponies while I have to stay here and work!” He grumbled out in a sad tone.

Silver chuckled, “You want me to tell Dazzle you said hi?”

His face lit up, “Would you?!”

He let out a few more laughs, “Absolutely Zip, maybe I’ll see if she wants to make another trip down here.”

He jumped into the air, coming to a hover, “You’re the best, Silver!”

“Alright Zip, now please go get back to your team, they’re kind of waiting for you.”

“Sure thing Boss!” He nodded his head and zipped off into the distance, meeting back up with his team.”

Silver sat in his office with Scarlet and Orion, scrolling through his list one final time, “Alright, sunglasses… check, chargers… check… I think we’re ready… are you all ready to go Scarlet?”

“That’s the third time you asked me,” She smiled back and nodded her head excitedly, “But yes I am!”

“And you've got all of Orion’s things packed in there? I know he doesn’t need much but you know how cranky he gets sometimes.”

“I’m bringing the essentials. I’m sure they’ll be able to help if we need anything else up there.”

He nodded, “Just making sure. The last thing we need is a cranky colt on a plane without anything to distract him.”

“Hence why we’re leaving so early. So he’ll hopefully sleep the entire trip?”

He nodded his head, “Yeah, yeah, I know. You know how he can get though, waking up and crying for seemingly no reason at all. At least he’s not dreamwalking anymore.”

“No kidding, I didn’t realize that surging night ponies could do that, and I thought making sure he didn’t run around in the waking world was hard enough as it was.”

“That lecture from Sha’am sure didn’t make it any easier, at least she’s nice around foals. And at least she sent him back to his own dream before laying into me about keeping an eye on him.”

“Oh come on, I thought she was pretty tame with that, she didn’t even punish you.”

“Fair enough. We really should start heading out if we want to get there on time, I don’t know how much you’ve flown before but I have the worst luck with getting through security.”

She nodded, “Extra time to get through would be good especially with Orion.”

They stood up and trotted out of Silver’s office and headed down the hallway, up a flight of stairs, and out onto the roof, where Diamond Glider was waiting at the landing pad with a portfolio held under a wing, “Alright you two, I got your tickets all printed out, you’ll have a connecting flight at Chicago, before landing at Sawyer. I sent your itinerary ahead so they’ll be waiting. I’m sure you’ll recognize them the second you see them.”

Silver chuckled, “Ya tend to remember a pony who can summon Oasis sized storms. Thanks for getting this all set up Diamond, you’re sure you don’t mind taking over for a little while? I know it’s a lot of work.”

“Ha, you kidding? I’ve been used to doing your job for a while now,” Diamond joked. “But I’ll give you a call if anything important comes up that I need your input on, your gauntlet should still function up there, if not then I’ll just have Phoenix dreamwalk over to you.”

“Thanks again Diamond.”

“It’s my pleasure, enjoy your vacation.”

Silver nodded, patting his friend on the shoulder, “You’re the best Diamond, seriously. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Diamond gave a quick nod as the trio walked over towards the helicopter, Orion meekly hiding behind the pair and lowering his ears in worry as they approached it. Silver looked down to the purple night pony colt that was hiding behind Scarlet and began to reassuringly talk to him, “Hey don’t worry buddy, you’re gonna have so much fun on your first big vacation.”

“As adorable as that is, I don’t think he can understand your sentiment,” she chimed in with a smile.

“But he understands the tone, right? Don’t you?” He insisted in baby talk, Orion responding with a big smile and happy little squeal. Straightening up he turned towards Scarlet, “See! Don’t doubt my highly tuned paternal instincts.”

“Hmm kay,” she replied sarcastically. “Let’s not keep the nice helicopter pilot waiting while you show off your stallion instincts, we can’t make memories if we’re standing here.”

“You’re right,” he watched as she wrapped her legs around Orion and quickly flew up into the helicopter, much to the colt’s delight.

They had made it to the Phoenix airport without any hassle, and as tired as they were, they were more than grateful for an afternoon flight if it meant that they wouldn’t have to worry about Orion causing a scene. Checking in was an easy enough process, almost easier than what he had remembered from his past experiences, and before they knew it they were making their way to the security checkpoint.

Orion was peacefully asleep on top of Scarlet’s back, much to their relief. If there was one really great thing about becoming a pony it was being able to go through the security checkpoint with ease. No shoes or belts to remove and they didn’t pack as much so didn’t need to pay for more luggage. Not wanting to press his luck, Silver quickly put the single small bag they had packed onto the conveyor, and walked forward. As if on cue Orion chose this moment to stir awake, drawing annoyed looks from all around when he began to cry and make a fuss.

Silver flashed a frantic embarrassed look and quickly ushered the two through, grabbing his bag with a wing on the way out of the checkpoint. Scarlet was able to soothe him quickly, ending the tantrum almost as fast as it began. Silver gave a sigh of relief and helped lay Orion across her back again and they continued over to their gate.

“Thank God you got him calmed down, I was worried that we were going to be that family whose kid just screams the entire time” He looked around, letting a big smile come across his face, “I don’t know about you but I’m so excited for this!” he enthusiastically shouted before snapping a couple quick photos, gaining some annoyed looks for the outburst from nearby travellers.

Scarlet looked around at the travelers that were now looking directly at them. “Silver, I get that you’re excited, but do you really need to document every single leg of the journey? I mean we haven’t even left the state yet.”

“Of course! It’s our first big family trip, we’re going to want to remember this forever!”

She smiled and shook her head, “You’re such a goofball, let’s go find a spot to rest, I know I could sure use it.”

He nodded his head, letting out a few yawns, “Yeah, me too.”

Good morning everyone, this is the pre flight announcement for flight 82 from Phoenix to Chicago, please gather your belongings and have your boarding passes ready, we will be boarding in just a few minutes. Thank you.

The pre flight announcement was enough to pull Silver from his nap, but Scarlet and Orion were still peacefully asleep next to him. He reached over and gently shook Scarlet awake.

“What is it Silver?” She asked with a yawn.

“They just gave the pre flight announcement, we should get ready. Wanna trade?” he asked as he looked down at the sleeping foal by his side.

“Nah, he looks so happy right now, I wouldn’t want to ruin this precious moment.”

He smiled and stood up, carefully lifting Orion as to not wake him, “Wanna give me a hoof?”

“You want him up on your back?”

“Yeah, just so he can stay nice and comfortable. We can settle him down when we’re on the plane.”

Scarlet gently deposited the sleeping foal on his back and he adjusted his wings to act like guards so Orion wouldn’t fall of. “Want me to go first then?”

“Yeah go ahead, I’ll let you handle the tickets.”

They trotted towards the line, waiting their turn to board.

Scarlet greeted the attendant with a smile, handing over their tickets and waving Silver over, “We’re all set to go in the pony section, three seats on the outside.”

He walked down the gangway and onto the plane, cheerfully greeting the attendants along the way. He moved forward into the pony section and stashed their bag under one of the cozy seats, carefully laying Orion down on the middle seat. The pony section was still a weird sight to get used to, instead of the standard seats, there were rows of what almost looked like cushions with lower seat backs spaced out in rows, that sat closer to the floor.

Content that he wasn’t going to suddenly wake, Silver and Scarlet took their seats and settled down for the long day of travel ahead of them, excited for their first big trip. He glanced over to Orion and Scarlet, who had already begun to fall into a peaceful sleep and smiled. He made himself comfortable, and closed his eyes and fell into a relaxing, dreamless sleep.

Orion was wide awake as they began their final descent at their destination, nose pressed firmly against the window with a wide-eyed expression. Below them a sea of green trees stretched out as far as they could see, gently rising up to meet them. Silver shared a glance with Scarlet and laughed, “He really takes after me, my grandmother always told me that I looked like that when I used to fly as a kid.”

“Well now you can tell her that goofy wide-eyed expressions run in the family.”

“She’s gonna love to hear that, Mom and Dad will too... quick, get a picture! They’re going to kill me if I don’t snap this for them!”

She chuckled, “You sure you shouldn’t have taken the name Shutterbug? You’d think that three dozen photos of a plane ride were enough.”

“But that’s not enough! We’ve gotta remember this forever!”

She smiled and shook her head, “Alright shutterbug. You better sit upright because we’re about to land.”

He nodded and faced forward, tapping on the seat with his hooves in excitement.

“You excited?” Scarlet asked rhetorically as she slid the camera back into their bag.

“Do you even have to ask that?”

She chuckled, “No.”

Orion lost all sense of bravery as they walked down the noisy arrival corridor and out into the gate area, keeping close underneath Silver’s hooves and nearly tripping him several times. “It’s okay little buddy,” he said reassuringly as he gave the foal a nuzzle.

Even for a pony the gate area was small, it had enough seats for just one flight but had gates for two planes to be loaded. The TSA screener was right next to a glass door that went out into a larger airport space. With the rest of the passengers already streaming out through the doors, he encouraged Orion to follow and headed out with Scarlet. Much of the crowd immediately took a left to head through a larger waiting area to the baggage claim area.

Which gave them an easy view straight out the main doors and over to Sapphire Sky and her family waiting. The blue mare was sitting on the floor with a sign saying Eclipse Family resting against her forelegs. Her fiance, Crescent Shadow sat next to her with a green pegasus filly peeking her head out from between his legs.

Silver had thought Sapphire was the most well muscled pegasus he had ever met but the black furred Crescent looked like he could take on an earth pony. Which he supposed was fitting as the pony was from Luna’s guard.

Silver gestured towards her their host and leaned down to get down to Orion’s eye level, “Alright buddy, I need you to be on your best behavior when we meet miss Sapphire, she’s being very nice and invited us over for our vacation, can you do that for me?”

Orion took a moment where he appeared in intense concentration before he responded with a big grin and happy flap of his wings.

The group worked their way over to the pegasus, Scarlet leading the charge, “Sapphire, you weren’t kidding when you said this airport was small.”

The pegasus smiled, “It’s cozy. So how was your flight? Hopefully you all got some rest on the way over. Better visit the bathroom before we head out for the hotel, it’s about a thirty minute drive.”

Silver nodded, gesturing down to the excited colt, “Sure did, Orion slept almost the whole way, woke up about an hour ago,” He looked towards Crescent and smiled, “I don’t believe we’ve met before, I’m Silver Eclipse, this is my wife Scarlet, and our foal Orion.”

“Greetings, I’m Crescent Shadow and this little filly here is Aurora,” he greeted with an Equestrian accent and gestured down towards the filly with a wing. The young pegasus was watching everything with bright hazel green eyes but refused to come out from underneath her father’s legs, “Sapphire’s told me all about you.”

“Good things I hope?” He said with a nervous chuckle.

He chuckled and nodded his head.

Scarlet broke in with a question. “You’re into astronomy right? I would love to hear about Equestria’s stars if you have time.”

“I have a couple books that I could show you,” he responded with a small smile as Scarlet lit up at the prospect of having access to actual Equestrian astronomy books.

She excitedly nodded her head, “I’d love to take a look at them! Thank you so much, I wish I had thought to bring some of my own.”

Looks like everypony is going to get along well, Silver thought to himself, as he looked over to Sapphire, “So where are we staying anyways?”

“Normally I would have you stay at my home. But I thought some place a little closer to the nightlife and fancier would be nice. I know how hard it can be to fly around with a young foal. So I got you a room at the Landmark Inn. It’s right downtown so it’s easy to get around and has one of the best views of the lake.”

“Thank you so much for setting up this trip, it’s so nice to get away from work and see someplace new.”

Sapphire smiled, “We’re glad to have you.”

“I can’t wait, this is going to be so much fun!” He excitedly shouted as Sapphire led them out of the terminal. Or intended to up until Orion started whining and getting in his way. “I guess we do need to visit the restroom.”

“Alright, everyone good to go now?” Silver asked as he looked over towards the now content Orion.

Scarlet nodded her head, “Yep, I’d say so.”

Sapphire cleared her throat, “Well if you’re ready, our ride’s waiting.”

Silver nodded and waved a wing towards the door, “Lead the way.”

“Mhmm.”

The group began to walk towards the door, Silver nudging Orion along when he would stop and look around every few steps. As happy as he was that the colt was so curious at his new surroundings, he was beyond ready to just unwind and relax. Planes were definitely more comfortable as a pony, but it was still an exhausting experience.

He smiled at the colt and continued to usher him along, “Hey buddy I know this is all really cool for you but you’re gonna keep Miss Sapphire waiting. You wanna ride on my back?”

The colt stopped and looked up towards him, slowly nodding his head.

He looked over towards his wife who was idly chatting away with Crescent Shadow. “Hey Scarlet can you give me a hand here?”

She smiled and looked over towards at Orion, “Is our little adventurer tuckered out already? Well we can’t have that now can we?”

Orion ran over as she lifted him up onto Silver’s back.

He quickly glanced back, “Is the little traveler happy now?”

Scarlet gave him a quick nod, “Seems like it to me.”

“There’s more to see outside.” Sapphire called back towards them.

Scarlet let out a few laughs, “Sorry for the hold up, we’re just making sure our little adventurer’s all settled and happy. This is a big change for him and he’s probably wondering why it’s so cold up here.”

Silver nodded in agreement, “Y’know she’s got a point there, this is the first time he’s been out of the desert after all.”

Sapphire gestured towards the open car door, “Tell me all about it in the car, do you need anything for Orion?”

Silver shook his head, “He should be good for now, to be honest, I think he’s just excited to see everything here. There’s not a lot of foals out in the Oasis yet so he’s probably not too sure about having an actual playmate for once either.”

“Poor little guy. Once Aurora makes up her mind on him, I’m sure she’ll warm up to him” Sapphire nudged the filly who was giving Orion suspicious glances.

The trio hopped into the back seat and cuddled up next to one another, with Orion sitting between them. He began to fidget around, but quickly settled down as the car started to pull away.

“So how’s everything been up here? Still keeping your team on that rigorous program?” Silver asked as he laid a wing over Orion.

“Equestrian certified program, they wish it was still the old regiment. Earth’s weather doesn’t require as much micromanagement as Equestria so we came up with a few ways to fill the day out Have your pegasi picked up their training seriously?”

“A little begrudgingly I think, but the results really show. If they have a problem with it then they sure haven’t said anything about it.”

“That’s good, let Dazzle know if they’re slacking off, I’m sure she’d love to request some time off to go run them ragged. Anything else interesting happening?”

“Well it hasn’t really changed much since you last visited, we upgraded our grid a little, but the real big change is that the land around the lake’s a lot more developed now. Turns out there was a whole network of abandoned mineshafts under where we decided to build, and some of them wound up caving in. We had to get some inspectors in to make sure nothing else was at risk of collapsing, but it was all fine. Gave a few night and earth ponies the bright idea to start carving out a cool underground hangout in a safe area. While you may have gone a little overboard with that whole storm, in the end it actually helped us identify some big issues we weren’t aware of, and gave us a nice place to cool off. It’s actually become one of our favorite hangout spots, we even decided to have our house built near it.”

“And Orion sure loves to splash around in the water too. He acts like its a race whenever we head down there and I wish he was always that adorable.” Scarlet added in.

Silver looked down to the colt curled up next to him, “That’s right, you’re our little sea pony aren’t you?”

The colt responded with a big grin and a series of giggles.

Scarlet rolled her eyes, “Considering Yinu’s the only sea pony we’ve ever seen, maybe we shouldn’t be making that connection.”

Silver nodded, “Right… I forgot that she’s a bit… much at times. Probably not a great idea to accidentally summon her when we’re talking about our foal.”

“Well if you like that lake, you may get a little enamored with Superior. The old ore dock is really going to be worth the trip. Not far from the Landmark and all the winged ponies hang out there to unwind,” Sapphire cut in.

Scarlet looked out of the window, eyeing the unfamiliar species of trees that were passing by, “I’m not sure what an ore dock looks like.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be able to see it from the hotel.”

“I really can’t wait to check it out, I’m kind of a nut for old stuff like that.” Silver added in.

Their van powered its way up a short but steep hill and turned into the parking lot alongside a tall brick building with Landmark Inn emblazoned on the side, and came to a stop underneath a coach gate. The hotel almost reminded Silver of some of the old buildings he had seen around Flagstaff when he had visited before ETS. Without even seeing it for more than a few moments, he was already in love with the place and excitedly shifted in his seat.

“You want some help getting checked in?” Sapphire asked, interrupting Silver’s daydream. “It’s your vacation, how much hooves on do you want me to be?”

Silver shared a quick glance with Scarlet. “We appreciate the help but I think we’ll be able to handle this.”

“Gotcha, the reservation’s under your name, and you get some sleep before dinner. Think we’ll head home for a bit so Aurora can have a quick nap before her foalsitter shows up.”

Silver nodded, shivering slightly as he finally started to feel the cold air, “Thanks Sapphire. Does dinner at 8 work for you? We can check out some of the sights after if you’re not too tired.”

She nodded her head, “Already have a reservation setup, I’ll meet you in the lobby and we can all head over later.”

Silver smiled, “Can’t wait.”

The trio hopped out of the car and took a moment to make sure that Orion was ready to go. Silver led his family through the door into a gorgeous wood lobby and took a moment to gawk at the high ceiling and expensive looking chandeliers. Realizing he’d have time to inspect it better later, he continued trotting across the tiled floor to the front desk and greeted the unicorn attendant with a warm smile, “Hi, we have a reservation under the name Silver Eclipse.”

The attendant nodded, “Just a minute please.” He used his magic to navigate through the computer, “Ah yes, Mr. Eclipse. You’ll be in one of our guest suites, room 62.”

Silver nodded, “Thanks Mr…” he looked down towards the desk, hoping to find a nametag or name plate so he could properly thank the attendant.

“Scribbles.” The unicorn finished for him.

Silver smiled, “Thank you, Scribbles, I really appreciate the help.”

“You are very welcome, if you need anything please do not hesitate to ask.” Scribbles responded with a warm smile that made Silver feel a little more welcome and a lot less out of place.

The trio took a short trip over to the elevators and headed up to their floor, trotting down the long human sized hallway to their room, pausing so Silver could open the door. He lifted his foreleg up to the key reader and opened the door, happy that the hotel had pony compatible door handles. As they flipped on the lights they were immediately in awe of the large guest suite. Right off the bat, Orion began to explore the unfamiliar setting, sniffing about as he shoved his head in every nook and cranny, much to the duo’s delight.

Scarlet slowly walked around the suite, taking in their cozy accommodations, “This is a little more than what I thought we were getting…”

Silver chuckled, “What? You thought we’d be staying in some small motel room? I mean it is Sapphire after all, she definitely seems like the type to make sure her friends are comfortable.”

“Don’t you think this might be a bit much though, I mean do we really need a whole separate bedroom? This is more like an apartment than a hotel room.”

Silver shrugged and looked over to the young colt who had exhausted his need to explore and was now making himself a pillow fort with the cushions that were scattered throughout the room, “Probably not, but it looks like Orion’s already staked his claim on the couch, I think that leaves the bedroom for us.”

“Do you think… I mean should we stop him?” She asked as the pair looked on at the colt, who was now happily snuggled up in his fort.

Silver shook his head, “Nah, look how happy he is, he’s fine as long as he’s not breaking anything or causing trouble.”

Scarlet nodded and wandered over towards one of the windows, eagerly glancing out over the lake, “I really can’t wait to get out there and start exploring.” she gushed.

He joined her by the window, “ Yeah, it’s really amazing isn’t it? That dock she was talking about looks really cool too, I definitely can’t wait to check that out. We’ll need to show off the next time she’s down our way, let her stay in the new VIP villa, I’m sure she’ll love the lakeside view.”

Silver wandered into the bedroom and paused, eyeing the bed longingly, “Orion’s got the right idea, I’m definitely good for a nap right now.”

Scarlet replied with a long yawn, “Same, it wouldn’t hurt to get some more shut eye before we explore a little.”

Silver went about the suite closing the drapes while Scarlet removed her bag, and hopped up onto the bed. Stretching out, he let out a relaxed sigh. “Oh I could definitely get used to this. Do you think we could get a king when we get back home?”

She smiled and shook her head, “Silver, we don’t need a king sized mattress.”

“Oh come on, you don’t even know what you’re missing, it’s like sleeping on a giant cloud!”

Scarlet laughed, “You can’t even sleep on clouds, how would you know?” Scarlet hopped up and sunk into the soft mattress. She curled up and made herself comfortable, “But alright, maybe we can look at getting a new mattress when we get home.”

He lazily raised his foreleg to speak into his gauntlet, “Navi, Set an alarm for 7:30pm” After checking that the alarm had been set, he let out a few yawns and rolled over to curl up next to her, “See you in a few hours.”

“Night.”

The alarm on Silver’s gauntlet rang out, echoing in the dark room and causing him to reflexively flap his ears for a moment before waking from the much needed rest. Silver stopped the alarm and sat up in the bed, letting out a yawn before heading towards the window and taking a quick peek through the drapes. As he shifted out of the bed Scarlet started to stir as well, taking a quick peek at the bedside clock.

“Is it time already?” She asked in between yawns.

Silver turned back towards her and gave a slow nod, “Yeah. I was just taking a look outside. The area’s even more beautiful at night, I can’t wait to get out there.”

While they would normally be a little groggy and tired, they were both far too excited to get out and start exploring the local sights. Feeling relaxed and refreshed, the pair slowly trotted towards the living room, noticing that Orion was still comfortably curled up in his little fort.

Silver smiled, “Isn’t that adorable? I almost wonder what he’s dreaming about this time.”

“Maybe a mountain of plushies and candy? What more could he want?” She paused for a moment, “Do you think we should wake him up?”

Silver glanced down to the gauntlet on his foreleg, slowly shaking his head, “Nah, we’ve got some time until we’re supposed to meet up, he looks so peaceful right now, I’d hate to ruin it for him.”

“Alright, but just keep an eye on the time, I’m really itching to get out there. Crescent was saying that the sky is really clear at night, it should give us a really awesome view of the stars!”

“More awesome than out in the open desert?”

She shrugged, “Maybe, I won’t really know until I get a chance to really get a feel for it, but you’d be amazed at how a few variables can change the whole experience.”

“I’ll take your word for that, you are the astronomy expert after all.”

“Oh come on, you’re at least getting better with it.”

Silver smiled, “Well it helps that I have such a great teacher. We’ll have to do some stargazing later.”

Scarlet smiled, “I’m going to hold you to that.”

Silver and Scarlet sat in front of the quaint fireplace with Orion snuggled up in between them while they waited for Sapphire. It was colder than what they were used to, but being covered in fur definitely helped. The two had packed scarves which were currently wrapped around Orion.

Scarlet looked away from the fire for a moment, “Hey do you mind if I take a look around the lobby?”

Silver shook his head, “Go for it, I’ll keep an eye on Orion. Just let me know when Sapphire gets here.”

Scarlet trotted off, leaving Silver alone with Orion for a little while. For a moment Silver was tempted to join along, but Orion looked so comfortable and he didn’t want to pull him away from that. Before long Scarlet trotted back over with Sapphire and Crescent in tow. “Ready to go Silver? I don’t know about you but being cooped up in this lobby’s a little boring.”

“Absolutely, I’m starving.” He looked over to Sapphire, “So where are we going anyways?”

“A nice local place called the UpFront. It’s not too far, just a few minutes away. What’s with the scarves? Are you cold??”

Silver looked towards Scarlet, “A little, I think I should be fine with just a scarf, we might want to grab something for Orion so he doesn’t get too cold though.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’d be interested in some sweaters,” Sapphire nodded knowingly.

Scarlet nodded and turned back towards Sapphire, “We’d love that. Silver thinks he’s fine but you better grab him one too just incase.”

Silver was about to object but instead nodded his head, “Yeah… that might be a good idea. It’s kind of been a while since I’ve been up north.”

“We won’t be going too far tonight so you should be fine, I’ll scrounge something up for you tomorrow.”

Scarlet smiled as the group began to walk towards the door, “Thanks Sapphire, we really appreciate this.”

As they stepped out into the cold, Orion began to slow down, quickly impeding Silver’s progress.

Sapphire looked down at the shivering colt that was trying to hide between Silver’s legs with a look of concern, “I can draw heat in around me, if you want I could carry him over there so he won’t get too cold.”

Scarlet nodded her head, “We’d really appreciate that.”

“Sure, I just want to make sure you’re all comfortable, I know it’s actually cold here and not the hot desert you’re used to.”

Silver nodded and stepped around him, “Okay buddy I know you really want to look around but Miss Sapphire’s going to keep you nice and warm until you have a sweater.” He calmly said as he carried the purple colt over towards Sapphire and set him on her back. He began to fidget around until he felt the comforting warmth, and quickly settled down.

Happy that Orion was content, Silver spoke up again, “So you said it’s only a few minutes away? I don’t want to be rude but I’d love to get going, we’ve kind of only had airplane food today and that’s definitely not the best.”

“I think it might be worth the wait.” Crescent responded.

As they trotted down the street Scarlet jumped into more talk about astronomy with Crescent while Silver excitedly looked around at the different buildings that lined the downward sloping street. The ones immediately surrounding the hotel were brick with simple accents and a beautiful white stone church. Further down the hill at the next intersection with a stoplight was a newer glass office building surrounded by ones made out of a red stone. A clock tower on a five story one made of dark red stone and bricks had a brightly lit clock tower perched on the nearest corner with copper surrounding it weathered into a beautiful green.

Silver struggled not to fly up and inspect the buildings closer as they stopped to wait for the light so a small amount of cars and a bus could use the intersection. “Man… I’d love it if the Oasis had a few buildings with… character like this. No offense to our architect but you just can’t beat the old stuff.”

“There used to be a lot of big money here. I took a class in college and we toured all the old mansions here. I’ll take you on one tomorrow evening,” Sapphire explained as they waited.

“Tempting me with history stuff? If we weren’t tied down to the Oasis I’d absolutely think about moving here.”

“Pity, I’ll need to try harder.”

“I’m sure we’ll enjoy a tour, doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to exhaust everything on just one visit.”

The group continued to walk down the street, turning left onto a street with a steeper slope to arrive at a large two story building with the restaurant. Ponies of all tribes were hanging around it and faint music could be heard coming from within. As they left the sidewalk to head down a short flight of steps inside, a light green unicorn waiting inside at a small desk broke into a cheerful greeting.

“Good evening, welcome to the Upf—” She began to start, pausing once she noticed Sapphire, “Oh! Hi Sapphire, we’ve got your table all ready, Emily is already waiting.. Are these the out of state friends?”

She nodded, “Evening Lotus, I found these strange desert ponies from Arizona wandering around town, I guess they needed a break from the heat and decided to come hang out where there’s good weather.”

Lotus turned towards Silver and Scarlet, “You guys actually live out in the desert?”

Silver smiled and nodded, “Yep, it’s not the most comfortable place but it works for us. That said I’m glad to be somewhere cool for a change.”

“Well your table’s right over this way, it has excellent acoustics for the band.” Lotus happily trotted through a tall arched doorway, leading them into a sizable dining area arranged around a center dance floor with four big brick pillars framing it. The style was definitely based around all the exposed brickwork of the walls with soft yellow lighting that wasn’t too bright for a night pony. At the far end of the dancefloor a band of ponies were playing instruments on a small stage while a few dancers moved to the beat. Orion lagged behind briefly as he stopped to stare at himself in the heavily polished floor.

Lotus lead them towards a booth where Emily was already seated with menus already spread out on the table. “Alrighty, you all enjoy yourselves!” she cheerfully chirped. “Your server will be with you in just a minute.”

Scarlet took a seat next to Emily, while Silver took a booth seat with Orion next to him, who seemed to be more interested in trying to peek over the booth to get a better look at the unfamiliar surroundings. She immediately turned towards Emily, cheerfully greeting her while Sapphire and Crescent filled in the empty seats. “Hey Em, it’s great to see you again, how have you been?”

The pastel night pony returned a warm smile, “I’ve been great, I bet you’re happy to finally be out of that hot desert” She looked over towards Orion, “And I see you two have a new little friend with you, what’s his name?”

Silver smiled and pulled the curious colt in close to him with a wing, “Orion. It was Scarlet’s idea, he’s named after our favorite constellation.”

“Well that’s a cute name, so I take it your still into astronomy?” She asked as she turned back towards Scarlet.

Scarlet perked up, “Oh absolutely, Crescent’s been letting me borrow a few of his astronomy books from Equestria and it’s kind of hard not to photocopy and document every single page.”

“Are you able to read Equestrian?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Scarlet nodded, “Well… kinda… sorta. It’s still a bit rough but I think I’m getting better.”

“She’s been filling notebook after notebook just with all her little translations and comparisons between our stars and theirs. I didn’t realize there was that much to write about.” Silver added.

“Oh it’s nothing really, I just want to make sure I’ve got everything noted down and cross referenced.”

Emily shrugged, “I don’t know, your own private library on another universe’s stars is something to brag about if you ask me. Nobody would have been able to say that a couple years ago.”

“Well… alright it kind of is.” She added in agreement.

“And the Oasis? How are things out in the desert?”

Silver nodded, “Well, we had a few… setbacks after Sapphire’s little storm, but on the bright side the Lake’s been holding and the river’s been circulating the water enough that it hasn’t gone stagnant. The Earth ponies are doing a fantastic job at keeping all the plant life going too, the whole area’s turned into an actual Oasis.”

“That’s good to hear, Sapphire’s been known to go a little overboard sometimes.” Emily leveled a smirk at the pegasus who frowned playfully in response.

Silver glanced over towards Sapphire, “It was definitely one hell of an introduction. A bit scary to be honest, but it turned out well enough in the end.”

“I’m happy everything is going well, hopefully you’ll be able to move past dealing with that manipulative unicorn.” Sapphire added in with a smile, referring to Sunset Blessing.

“Yeah… well we still have to keep that whole partnership up for now, at least until we’re done paying her back. She has sent us some interesting projects though, stuff that’s almost worth dealing with her shenanigans for, and besides, there was a change in management after that whole incident and she assured me that that wouldn’t happen again. Don’t know what to really make of it, but if it makes you feel any better we’ve been looking into other partnerships and options going forward.”

“You can tell a lot about a pony by whose company they keep,” Sapphire shook her head but didn’t comment any further, instead choosing to change the subject. “So is that pegasus that kept trying to impress Dazzle still running the team?”

Silver smiled, “Yep. Zipper’s still… well, Zipper, but he’s definitely keeping them in line and trained. I was kind of worried that he wasn’t going to really be up for the task but when he’s determined to get something done he’ll get it done, no matter the cost.”

“Good to hear. If he needs any motivation, tell him if I hear he’s slacking off that I’ll make another surprise visit.”

“I sure will.” He paused for a moment, “This is a bit of an odd request but could you tell Dazzle that he said hi, I kind of promised that I’d pass it along.”

Before the conversation could continue further a white pegasus trotted up to them. “Howdy, I’m Snow Comet and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start y’all with anything to drink?”

Silver glanced around, “Well uh.. We’re kind of from out of state, what do you guys have?”

“Well we’ve got Sparkling Rain, Paradise Punch, Mint Dream, Celestial Cider, Moonlight Mango—”

“Moonlight Mango please, I’ll have one,” Silver answered a little quickly.

Comet nodded, “Mhmm. And for the rest of you?”

“I’ll have one too.” Scarlet added

Sapphire nodded, “Celestial Cider for me.”

Comet looked over towards Crescent, “And for you?”

“Sparkling Rain please.”

“Water please.” Emily added.

Snow Comet nodded and walked away, giving the group some time to catch up. As Scarlet began to ask Crescent another round of astronomy questions Silver began to look around the room, taking in the different ponies and humans that were enjoying their evening. Out of the corner of his eye Silver noticed a pair of partials deep in discussion, without thinking his ears pivoted to hear them better, letting the music and conversation fade into the background.

“I just don’t know, I want to get it over with but you heard about the issues ponies have been having getting back right?”

“What’s more important though? Being uncomfortable here or being comfortable but stuck there?”

“I just don’t know, I mean we have our whole lives here… it’s a lot to give up.”

“But we’re not comfortable like this. Whatever happens we’ll work through it together.”

“I know, it’s not fair we’re being punished for not wanting to rehumanize.”

Silver blinked a few times and stopped focusing on the conversation as he looked over towards Sapphire. “Hey Sapphire, what's the whole partial situation?”

She raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Well I don’t want to sound like I’m eavesdropping but I just overheard a couple talk about getting stuck in Equestria if they want to fully transform.”

“Oh, that. Surprised you haven’t heard about it. Princess Twilight negotiated it so that any partial who wishes to be a pony can go to Equestria to receive the spell. Since no ETS spell is allowed on Earth, it’s an easy work around. Problem is that once they’re there, they get stuck behind so much red tape to return home that they may as well be exiled with no way of knowing when they can ever return.”

“Wait, but what about you? I mean you go there and come back home just fine.”

She shook her head, “It's different… those bigots who tied it up don’t care if you’re one or the other, but they don’t want partials to ever think becoming a pony is acceptable so they’ll punish them for it anyway they can to encourage them to make the right choice. It’s one of the few ways they have left to do it after the original treaty. I only get fast passed for travel because of my daughter.”

“I didn’t know how bad it really was, that sounds awful.” He paused for a moment, “Sorry if this kind of killed the mood, I didn’t mean for this whole conversation to get so… serious.”

“It’s fine, it’s better that you at least know now.”

“So Emily, did you wind up dreamwalking more? That vision you showed me while you were down in the Oasis was such a cool little trick.” Scarlet added in, trying to change the subject.

She looked around and shook her head. “Not really, it’s just not really my thing. I mean mass brainwashing isn’t really a good talent to have.”

“But you turned the vision into something so beautiful, don’t you think there’s something else you can do with it?”

She shrugged, “I mean, sure, I guess it could be useful for something, but it’s not really something I can turn into a career.”

“Well what do you do now?” Silver asked in curiosity. “And where’s Will?”

“I’m Sapphire’s night assistant and he’s off doing a… thing with some family in New York so he won’t be back until next week.”

“That’s too bad, tell him I said hi the next time he’s around,” Silver stopped to think about Emily’s job, thinking back to his own plans for his talent. “Well maybe it doesn’t have to be for a career. Can’t you have a hobby?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember Somewhere?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah, what about it?”

“Well I was kind of thinking of using it to help teach others. I have this big persistent space with no real barriers, that’s kind of the perfect way to bring ponies together and I’m really just using it as my own little personal sandbox right now. It could be so much more though, like the perfect classroom if you think about it. Maybe you could use your vision talent for something like that?”

“A... dream classroom?”

“I don’t think he meant it that way Em. The vision changed the way we thought right? What if you kind of did something good with that like using it to teach someone a skill? They’d have to agree of course, but once they did you could help them learn through it.” Scarlet added in.

Silver nodded, “Kind of like putting the important information right into their heads, I mean hell I would have loved to have that as a foal.”

Emily shrugged, “I could, but that sounds almost like another full time job doing something I’ve never done and don’t really enjoy doing.”

“Sounds like a job… all joking aside, think about it. I just wanted to do something productive with my talent, and I figured that if I could do something unique I might as well put it to good use.”

She nodded her head. “I’ll think about it. It’s going to take some time to get used to the idea, but maybe there is some good I could make from it.”

“It doesn’t have to be anything right now, just do what you’re comfortable with when you’re comfortable doing it.” Scarlet added reassuringly.

Their dinner arrived as the discussion shifted to less heavy matters like Orion’s pillow fort, and the group had quickly dug in. Silver made sure that Orion was eating instead of playing with his food while Scarlet looked on at the band on stage with a cheerful look on her face. There wasn’t much conversation in between, but the couple didn’t mind at all, they were just happy to have an actual meal from a restaurant with a large menu.

Pleased that Orion had finished his meal without any issues Silver looked back towards the group. “So what’s the plan now? I can’t imagine that you two are going to hang out with us all night.” Silver asked as he gestured towards Sapphire and Crescent.

Emily began to speak up, “I’ll be showing you around, there’s some cool little hangouts around here that you might like.”

“Like the ore dock? Sapphire brought that up earlier and it looks really impressive from what we’ve been able to see.” Scarlet asked.

Emily nodded her head, “That was first on the list, we can head over right after dinner if you want to start with it. Is Orion going to be okay with the cold though?”

Silver nodded while looking towards Scarlet, “Yeah I think so. Sapphire was keeping him warm on the way over but Scarlet had the idea of taking our scarves and bundling him up for tonight. Sapphire said she’d try and get us some sweaters tomorrow but this should hopefully work for tonight.”

“I don’t think he’s going to like it too much, but I think he’ll like it a lot more than being out in the cold all night.” Scarlet added in.

“And if it doesn’t work we’ll just hang out inside somewhere. We’re not too worried about missing one night of our trip.”

Emily nodded her head, “We’ll give it a try, there is a store nearby we could probably pick something up. Will just need to decide before it gets too late, they are only open till eleven.”

Full and content, the group stepped outside. Orion had started to fuss about at being bundled up so tightly, but quickly settled down once they were out in the cold and the lower temperature began to set in.

Scarlet chuckled, “See? I told you he’d settle down once we got out here.”

“Well I’ll make sure you have a few sweaters tomorrow. So you guys wanted to check out the ore dock?” Sapphire asked.

Silver nodded, “Yeah, it looks pretty cool.”

“Alright, we’ll stick around long enough to get you there, but then Crescent and I will need to head out for the night. Emily can show you all the night sights though.”

“Perfect, well I’ll let you lead the way Sapphire.”

She nodded, gesturing over to the towering structure, “Well… it’s right this way.”

The group moved along, with Orion keeping close to Silver and Scarlet, though this time he wasn’t pausing to shiver constantly. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but bundling him up in a pair of scarves would at least work for tonight, and the two could at least deal with the cold for now.

“Well here we are, the old ore dock.”

Silver and Scarlet craned their necks up to get a better view of the towering structure, in awe of how massive it really was now that they were up close. Like a giant heavy concrete rib cage, it rose up out of the water almost a hundred feet into the air. They could see clear through the structure to the far end facing out towards the lake. Big metal chutes lined the upper half of the exterior and they could make out ponies flying to and from a flat roof. Silver thought the heavy bare bones industrial design stood out in stark contrast to the quaint brick buildings they had just walked by, but to him it was just as impressive. Almost like some retro Sci-Fi creation by someone imagining what might be, even though it was probably built a hundred years ago. To put it simply, he was in love with it.

Sapphire smirked, “Well go ahead, you can fly around here if you want, it’s not like anyone’s going to stop you.”

Silver looked back over to her, “Do you want to show us around? I mean I don’t even know where to start with this.”

She shook her head, “Emily can, I hate to just leave you guys, but it’s getting a bit late for us. We can hang out more tomorrow though, I’ll get those sweaters together for you so you don’t need to constantly worry about having to bundle Orion up. I’m sure he’ll appreciate being able to move around more.”

Silver nodded, “It’s cool, I can’t expect you to stay up all night with us. You guys have a nice night. Thanks again for dinner, it was nice to catch up a bit more, and nice to meet you too Crescent.”

Crescent gave a quick nod and Sapphire said a final goodbye before flying off, leaving the group alone with Emily.

As Emily led the trio further into the structure, the assorted night ponies and pegasi glanced down at them in curiosity. It was blatantly clear that the family stood out, but they didn’t feel out of place with Emily as their guide.

She began to speak up, “So this used to be the old ore dock for the mine, trains would come up here from tracks that used to run through the city, but now it’s mostly just a hangout for the winged ponies. I think they eventually want to work on making it into a sort of home, but I don’t know how that’s all coming along.”

“And what a hangout, I mean this place is huge.” Scarlet added while looking around, her voice carrying through the structure along with the sound of waves breaking against it.

Silver gazed around with an excited look on his face, “It must have been amazing to see back in the day. The Oasis used to be an old abandoned mining town so there's a lot of old collapsed mine shafts and whatnot, though we don’t have anything like this back home. Mind if we look around a little?”

“We have plenty of old underground mines but they’ve been closed down for a long time. You’ll need to go see the Tilden to see what mining looks like here now.” Emily shook her head, “Look around as much as you want, though, that’s why we’re here after all.”

The pair nodded, wasting no time at all exploring the place. They quickly hovered around, looking through the structure and taking turns carrying Orion so they could each explore the little nooks and crannies to their heart's content. Gradually they worked their way to the top, finally coming to a rest on the top of the massive structure.

Scarlet looked around at the sky above, “I can definitely see why this place is so popular, I mean just look at the view!” She exclaimed glancing back at the glittering street lights before turning out towards the water where she could see the lakeshore stretching to the horizon off to her side. “It’s like an ocean but all fresh water.”

Emily smiled, “And no sharks, promise.”

“I can see why ponies would want to live here,” Silver added while keeping a close eye on Orion.

“Did you want to do anything specific? I mean you’ve got a whole week to explore so it’s up to you.”

Scarlet nodded, “Well you mentioned pictured rocks when you visited us, that’d be kind of cool to see.”

“Oh that’s already been planned out, but you definitely need to see them at sunset, not the middle of the night. Trust me, it’ll be worth getting up early for.”

“I’ll take your word for it, why don’t you show us some of the sights out here, the ones that are nice to see at night. Oh and we definitely need to get some stargazing in later, if you know any good spots where the sky’s clear.” Silver suggested.

She nodded, “Sure, let’s go check out a few places on Washington before they close. Are you good to fly with Orion?”

Scarlet glanced towards the bundled up colt, “Flying up around here is one thing, we could at least take turns, but I’d feel better if we didn’t do a whole lot of flying with him right now, just to be safe.”

“That’s alright, we can walk.”

“I’m okay with that, it gives us some more time to talk. If there’s anything that stands out to us in particular, we can take turns flying around.” Scarlet added.

Emily nodded, “Well if you’re all done here we can get going.”

Silver looked towards Scarlet, “Sure, I think I’m good to go.”

“Then let’s get a move on, I think you’ll really enjoy some of the other nightlife around here.”

It was reaching the middle of their trip and Sapphire had suggested that the group visit the large structure known as the Superior Dome. Scarlet and Silver had immediately agreed, noting that spending time in a large heated building and taking a short break from the cold was probably for the best.

And large it was. The Dome had been designed for American football and was apparently the largest wooden dome in the world. Its beautiful wooden structure was proudly on display, creating a latticework of triangles and walkways that encircled them overhead. The silver skin that was pulled tight over the skeleton to keep out the elements was even visible from inside.

Silver sat with his family next to Sapphire’s and thousands of others on the bleachers, enthralled by the exciting game of hoofball that was going on below on the astroturf field. He had never really been much for watching sports play out at home, but seeing them in person? That was an entirely different case. In person you could really feel the energy of the crowd, and even though he didn’t really understand the game itself, he couldn’t help but cheer along with the rest of the group.

The buzzer suddenly rang out, signaling that it was half time and it startled Orion enough for him to frightfully try to hide in his legs. The colt gave up when it stopped and looked around in worry, earning a laugh from Silver.

He pulled the frightened colt back next to him and pulled him close to give Orion a reassuring pat on the back. “Hey don’t worry buddy, it’s just half time, I know you’re not used to all this noise but it’s fun!”

He took a few more nervous glances and then calmed down some more, snuggling up between his parents.

Scarlet smiled, “See? It’s not that bad.”

Emily stood up, “I’m going to grab something to drink, you guys need anything?”

Silver nodded, “Just a few waters please.”

She nodded and trotted off to grab them.

Sapphire looked over to the trio, “So what do you think so far?”

“I think it’s amazing— I mean just look at the way it’s built! Almost reminds me of the one back in Long Beach.” Silver answered as he excitedly looked all around.

“The building is nice, but I’m still trying to understand what’s going on. I mean I’ve never seen this before.” Scarlet cut in.

Sapphire raised an eyebrow, “What do you want to know about?”

“Well it looks like soccer but what’s with the buckets the goalkeepers are using?”

“It’s an Equestrian thing. Earth’s version is kind of a mix between soccer and a sport in Equestria called buckball. Though that is only ever played with three ponies on each team. Basically the earth ponies and unicorns defend while the pegasi kick the ball to try and score. Neither of them can use their abilities or magic except for the goalies. That’s why the pegasi are all running instead of flying. The buckets are just another way to try and stop the ball from going into the goal.”

Scarlet nodded, “Interesting. It’s definitely different, but not really in a bad way.”

Sapphire continued, “Pegasi will get a penalty if they fly or get past the other teams defense and unicorns will too if they use their magic to directly grab the ball. Winged ponies don’t have to be the forwards but since we tend to be faster it’s how things tend to turn out.”

“I’ve never really been much of a sports guy but this is actually kind of fun to watch. Seems like there’s a ton of strategy involved, gotta make sure you have the quickest pegasi making the run and the strongest earth ponies keeping a close eye on the ball… this might make for a fun past time back home, I can already think of a handful of ponies that would be up for trying it out sometime. What’s it called anyways?” Silver excitedly interjected.

“Hoofball, not really the most inspired name but it works well enough. Are you thinking of trying it out sometime?”

Silver gave a quick half nod, “Maybe, It might be a fun thing to try.”

Scarlet tried to stifle a laugh, “You’re gonna try and play this? Not that there’s anything wrong with that but… you’ve never really struck me as the… athletic type.”

He frowned in mock indignation, “I don’t really know if I should be insulted or not. But I mean I might as well try it out, I’m not going to quit my day job or anything but it looks fun.”

She smirked, “Well if you want to do something productive, I sure won’t stop you.”

“It might be a challenge if you don’t have a lot of night ponies back in the Oasis, unless you’re coordinating it when you’re awake with the others.” Sapphire added in.

“Well it’s worth a shot, I don’t know how many will actually be interested, but worst case it’s just an occasional event that we break out every once in a while,” Silver added.

Scarlet turned to ask Sapphire another question, but was interrupted as a small group of ponies trotted up to the blue pegasus and asked her something that Scarlet couldn’t quite hear. Deciding to let her take care of that Scarlet simply looked back around the arena. As she glanced back down to the turf she smiled as an idea came to her. With a smile, she turned back towards Orion, “I know this is all a lot for you, but why don’t we go play in the grass for a little while? Does that sound fun?!”

Orion nervously looked around and gave a quick flap of his wings as Scarlet lifted him up and began to fly down towards the field.

The next few days seemed to fly by, and before they had even realized it their brief week long vacation was almost at its end. Sapphire was off getting the tickets, leaving the family and Emily alone. Silver, Scarlet, and Orion stuck out like a sore thumb in their cozy sweaters, but they didn’t care in the slightest. As warm as they were, the cold wind that would blow in every once in a while would still send them into a flurry of shivers. Despite the chilling wind, Orion was still as curious as ever over the new area they were in now.

“You know, if you’re too cold they’ll have blankets you can borrow on the boat.” Emily added as she looked on at them.

Silver looked over to Scarlet and Orion, and then back to Emily. “Yeah, that’d be a good idea. Just in case it gets too cold for us out on the water.”

She nodded, “Oh it will as soon as the boat gets movin.”

Silver took the opportunity to snap a few more photos for his album while Scarlet chatted over some of her notes with Crescent.

Emily looked down at Orion who was currently looking around at the tour boats with wide eyed curiosity. “Has he... ever been on a boat before?”

Silver shook his head, “Nope, we’ve been hoping to get some boats out at the lake back home but that really hasn’t been a priority. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about him though, looks like he’s already excited for it.”

“He’s definitely trying to win the cutest foal award.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “So how long’s the boat ride anyways?”

“About two and a half hours, so it’ll be a long one. If you need to use the restroom you better do it now.”

Silver smiled at the thought of a nice relaxing boat ride, bringing back memories of his childhood spent at lakes and rivers with his parents. “That sounds relaxing, I bet we’ll have plenty of time to chat and just enjoy the nice weather.”

Scarlet nodded, “I can’t wait.”

Silver watched as Orion excitedly took a few steps off the path onto the grass, stopped, then eagerly approaching the dock. Scarlet was also keeping a close eye on him, but despite their worries he didn’t run off too far before returning to them. The cold wind blew on them again, causing a few more shivers, but the blankets that draped over their entire body and were secured around their necks kept them reasonably comfortable. They had received them earlier in the week and Silver was still getting used to looking like a little horse with it on.

“You ready to go buddy??” Silver asked as he Orion finished coming back to them.

Orion made an excited squeal and bounced as they continued towards the dock.

Scarlet laughed, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Sapphire chose that moment to come flying in to land with a small hop. “Tickets are all set, let’s get in line.”

The pair nodded and walked forward, keeping Orion close while they strode down the long dock to board the boat. The last thing they needed was for the colt to randomly run off and cause trouble. They stepped aboard and took a blanket that was lying in a pile next to the entrance, then took a seat next to Emily.

Silver turned towards the pastel pink night pony, “So we’ll get to see them at sunset?”

She nodded before replying with a hint of sarcasm, “We are going on the sunset cruise, so yes.”

“Alright, just making sure.”

“Just relax and enjoy the cruise, I’m sure you’ll love it.”

Silver nodded, “Alright, I’ll take your word for it.”

He glanced over towards Orion, who was peeking over the side railing. “Watcha looking for buddy? Trying to see if there’s any fish like back home?”

The colt didn’t give a response but instead continued to glance around at the lake’s surface as if he was entranced by it. Occasionally glancing out in the distance where the water became the horizon with a look of fascination that Silver couldn’t help but feel proud of.

“Looks like he’s still trying to figure out what’s up with all the water.” Sapphire added.

Silver let out a chuckle, “You think? I kind of wonder what’s going through his head, he went from the desert to a big metal tube in the sky to a cold area with lots of water around. It probably feels like a completely different world for him.”

“I hope he’s not too attached to this place, he might be a bit bummed once we’re back in the hot desert.”

Silver smiled, “Well I guess that just means we’ll have to come back here again.”

The boat was quite full but Sapphire had negotiated them some reserved seats on the upper level open to the elements. Silver was definitely happy to have the extra blanket as the boat began cutting through the water out onto the lake to follow the coastline heading East. To the West, the sun was just starting to turn the sky orange, and would be setting sometime towards the end of the cruise. A few minutes in and they began passing by the cliffs along the lakeshore, already beginning to glow with a golden light.Emily’s insistence at saving this for the final day was definitely worth it, both Silver and Scarlet were immediately in awe of the beautiful sight.

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding Em, this is beautiful!” Scarlet exclaimed, helping Orion up higher to more easily see the towering sandstone cliffs that contrasted against the dark blue water and the green trees above.

Silver pulled out his camera and started snapping pictures, letting out a happy sigh. “This is amazing. Definitely nothing like what we have back home.”

Silver snapped a few more pictures before quickly passing the camera over to Sapphire. “Could you get a quick picture of us please?”

“Just one quick picture?”

He nodded, “Just so we have this memory saved forever.”

She shrugged, smirking slightly, “Alright, get together and I’ll snap it for you.”

The family leaned in close while Sapphire snapped a few photos, handing the camera back over to Silver.

“Thanks Sapphire, I know it’s corny but Silver really wants to make sure we have these memories recorded. It’s kind of a big deal to him.”

“It’s alright, I get it. You gotta make sure you capture all those special moments.”

“Exactly! He’s only going to grow up once, I just want to make sure we can spend as much time making these memories as we can.” Silver gazed back over towards the sunlit rocks, “You know, I’m really going to miss this place. Even if it’s been a little cold at times but that was kind of a nice change of pace.”

“Cold… right,” Sapphire smiled.

Emily let out a small yawn, “So what do you guys think of it? Was it worth getting up early to see?”

Scarlet nodded her head while Silver snapped a few more photos, “Oh absolutely, you really weren’t kidding when you said we’d have to see them at sunset.”

“Yeah, as much as I love seeing the valley at sunrise the whole… package of this place blows it out of the water.”

“So is it right back to work when you get back or did you at least give yourself a few extra days to rest?” Emily asked

Silver shrugged, “Not exactly, we reorganized how we operate things after you guys left so now I have a lot more time to spend with my family. We’re still working a few things out, but it’s really going well so far. Cuts out a lot of the stress now that everything’s spread out amongst the team a little more evenly.”

“Well that’s nice at least, you won’t have to jump right back into it.”

“Absolutely. I know it might be a little premature, but I would definitely want to get a small vacation home up here someday. It’s just such a nice area and Orion sure seems to love it.”

Sapphire nodded, “I can probably put you in contact with somepony who could help with that. We have more than enough space.”

“I don’t think that’s even a question to be honest. We will be coming back.” Scarlet added in with a smile.

Crescent spoke up, “We’ll be missing the area as well.”

“What do you mean?” Silver asked

“Normally we go to Equestria to celebrate Hearth’s Warming with my family on Cloudsdale. Usually it’s only for one month but I have a guard evaluation in Canterlot that will extend it to two and a half.”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “So uh… what’s Equestria like anyways? I mean I’ve heard all about it and I’ve been studying the language, but I’ve never had the chance to actually ask about it. Is it really all that different from earth?”

He nodded his head, “I have heard many human visitors say that we seem caught in time. In a way that is correct. While there are many similarities, our magic meant many of the inventions humans created have no reason to exist.”

Scarlet’s face lit up in intrigue, “I never would have thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense now that you say it.” She paused for a moment, trailing off in thought. “Um, hey Crescent? I kind of a big favor to ask.”

“Hm? What would that be?”

She glanced down to her well worn notebook, the overpacked tome threatening to burst at the seams, “So… this is kind of a long shot but I figured there was no harm in asking. I’ve been asking you so much about the stars in Equestria and I’ve been studying so much… would it be possible to maybe see them for myself?”

“Are you asking me to help you visit Equestria?”

She nodded her head, “I know it’s asking a lot but that would be such a big dream come true for me… not to mention how useful it could be for astronomers and scientists here. —It’s okay if you can’t though, I understand.”

Crescent paused for a moment, as Scarlet felt a lingering feeling of nervousness well up inside. Finally he broke the silence, “I can put in a good word but that’s it. Princess Luna has invested in a new observatory with Earth technology and she was seeking out a handful of astronomers to aid in its operation. I wouldn’t think to promise anything, but if you’ll allow me to pass along your notebook for her review, perhaps she would be interested and impressed enough with your work to include you as she begins mapping our sky.”

“You want to show the Princess my notebook!?” She excitedly yelled out, earning a series of confused looks from the other passengers onboard. With a nervous expression she lowered her voice, “—I mean that’s fine, it’s a bit rough but as long as you bring it back in one piece I’m perfectly okay with that.” She paused for a moment, “So you’re sure that this won’t be any trouble at all?”

He shook his head, “None at all. In fact, having another pony who’s awake all night would probably be even better for this project. I will get back in contact with you about it as soon as I have an answer.”

She excitedly nodded her head, “Thank you so much! This is seriously like a dream come true!”

The group sat and enjoyed the sights until it was time for them to return to shore, chatting back and forth during the ride back. All too soon the boat pulled back into its place at the dock and they disembarked. Orion and Aurora both badly needed to visit the little ponies room after being stuck on the boat for hours. Their ride wasn’t going to be there for a little while longer so they went to sit at the small park on the shore. Silver and Sapphire led their respective foals off, leaving the others alone at the park.

“If anyone else is interested, I could really go for a quick bite to eat before we head out, I’m going to head over to Muldoon’s and get a pasty, you want me to pick you up one?” Emily asked as she looked towards Scarlet and Crescent.

Crescent shook his head, “I’m not hungry, but thank you for the offer.”

Scarlet nodded, “Sure. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of those so go ahead and grab me one too, I’m not a picky eater.”

Emily began to walk over towards the shop, “Alright, I’ll be back.”

Scarlet took a seat on a nearby bench with Crescent and idly flipped through her notebook, making sure that everything was in order before she handed it over to Crescent. “Okay, please take good care of this, I know it doesn’t look like much but it’s really special to me.”

Crescent carefully took the notebook and deposited in his saddle bag, “I’ll be very careful with it, promise.”

Scarlet’s face held a look of worry at first, which softened to a smile once she saw how careful Crescent was being with it. “Thanks. This really means a lot to me.”

The other parents returned, and Silver took a seat next to Scarlet with Orion. Sapphire, and Crescent began to follow in Emily’s hoofsteps, leaving the family alone for the time being.

Waves gently rolled in to crash along the shore, the sun beginning its final descent turning the entire sky a dark red. The warm color bathed everything in a soothing glow and a light breeze continued to blow off the lake encouraging Silver to cuddle with his family.

Scarlet gazed off into the distance and leaned in closer with Silver and Orion, wrapping her wings around them. “You know, I’m serious about wanting to come back. Sure it’s cold here, but it’s such a nice area and I think I could get used to it over time.”

Silver smiled, “Well, if you insist… for real though I’d be perfectly fine with that, I could absolutely go for a week of peace and quiet out here every year.”

The pair snuggled closer squeezing Orion a little too tightly causing him to give an angry squeal. Laughing nervously they gave the colt some space, letting him settle back down. It was a little sad that their vacation would soon be coming to an end, but they were both happy to have been able to experience something new and to solidify friendships.

Author's Note

This takes place around a year after Desert Getaway, in mid to late November.

I'd like to give a very special thanks to Lawra for editing and assisting with this entry, it was a huge help!

Here's a lineup of main characters that have appeared or have been mentioned so far, this will be updated with every chapter, showcasing each new (and returning) main character that makes an appearance.

Chapter 11: Raising a Foal Is a Lot Trickier Than It Looks…

Zipp's Arcade - Part 2

-=Part 2=-

“Do you have any kind of plan for what you’re going to do someday, Travis?”

He looked up towards the sound of the voice, shaking his head, “I mean I want to do something cool, but I guess that’s all the thought I put into it.”

The counselor nodded, pausing for a moment as she took a few notes, “Something cool… well do you have any specifics on what kind of jobs are cool? That could be a very broad range of careers.”

Travis shrugged, “Well, I like animals.”

“Animals, okay. So what kind of job could you see yourself doing with animals? Training them for movies? Working in a shelter?..”

“Well there’s an animal exhibit at the carnival I work at,” He answered back, “I always thought that was kind of cool.”

She nodded, “Well, that’s a good start. Have you considered talking with the supervisor there to try and see if you could transfer to their department?”

“I guess I really haven’t. I’ve always been a thrill seeker, and the stuff they do in that exhibit is just so cool. They’ve got a lion that’s trained to do tricks, a couple of tigers— all of the cool animals.”

“Right… so why don’t you go talk with that supervisor next time you go in for work.”

“I… I mean I guess I could, I just feel like I wouldn’t fit in there.”

The woman paused for a moment, before looking up towards him, “You’re a bright student Travis, but I think your problem is that you don’t apply yourself. You’re saying that you don’t think you’d fit in there, but I think you could if you really tried.”

He raised an eyebrow, “You think so?”

The counselor laughed, “Travis I’ve been a counselor at this college for about 15 years now. If I didn’t believe in my students then I wouldn’t be a very good one right?”

“I… guess so?”

“So why don’t you give it a go tomorrow, I’ll look over what kind of programs you could get into here that could help you with that, and we can talk again the same time on monday if that works for you.”

Travis nodded, “Okay, I’ll give it a shot.”

The woman smiled, “That’s all that I ask. I believe in you.”

“Thanks… I really appreciate it.”

He blinked his eyes shut and when he reopened them he was carefully stepping into an empty tent, watching the handlers with their animals from afar. The carnival had been closed for more than an hour at this point, and normally he would have gone home, but something called him to this place and he couldn’t help but stand there now. The conversation with his counselor came back to his thoughts, bringing a small smile to his face as he contemplated asking the question that was burning in his mind.

“Martinez!” Came the shout from the area’s supervisor, causing the young human to quickly turn towards him, “The rest of the carneys all left an hour ago, what are you still doing here?”

“Well, um… I just wanted to see what you guys did here.”

The supervisor raised an eyebrow, “We train and take care of the animals. You know this.”

He nervously nodded his head, “Well yes, but…” He paused for a moment, turning away and looking back towards the handlers, “Okay so I guess this has been a long time coming, but I’ve just been too afraid to ever talk about it. I know it’s a long shot but do you think there’s a chance I could transfer over here?”

“You mean work with the animals?”

Travis nodded, “Yeah. I guess I’ve just always thought it was cool, but I never really thought it was something I could ever get into.”

The supervisor paused, clearing his throat for a moment, “Look… you’re a good kid, but I’d be lying if I said I thought there was a chance you could fit in here… I mean it’s no offense to you, but you need a lot of training and education to do what they do,” He waved towards them with a hand, pausing for a moment as he turned back towards Travis, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’re in the kind of position to join our team yet.”

A hollow feeling welled up within Travis, but before he could form a reply an idea came to his head. He looked up towards the supervisor and nodded, “I understand. But… would there be any chance that I could at least shadow a few of your guys? Even if it’s just on my days off? I know it’s a long shot but this is really something I’d love to learn more about.”

The supervisor hesitated for a moment, leaving the two of them in silence for a few seconds. Just as Travis was about to prod further the man nodded his head, “Okay. When’s your next day off?”

Travis’ face lit up in excitement, “Tomorrow actually!”

“Okay. I don’t think this is technically in line with policy, but why don’t you stop by tomorrow before opening and you can shadow Lopez.”

“Danny’s going to be okay with that?”

The older man shrugged, “No clue, but I trust him to show you the ropes more than anyone else. He’s been doing this since he was your age so I figure it’s better than throwing you in with one of the other handlers.”

He nodded, “Okay, thanks again!”

“Of course. Just do me a favor and try to keep out of his way, Lopez has all of the training for this job, you don’t and the last thing I need is for you to wind up hurt or injured because you got kicked by a horse or something.”

“Keep my distance, listen to Danny— got it!”

“You better go get some sleep then, we start our days early here and that’ll be the first test to see if you’re really ready to start learning about what we do here.”

Travis excitedly nodded his head and made towards the exit, squinting his eyes shut as the bright flood lights outside momentarily blinded him.

“Martinez right? Travis Martinez? I’m Daniel but you can just call me Danny if you want.”

“Yeah that’s me. We met a while ago at one of the big all hands meetings but I don’t think we really ever interacted that much.”

“Good. So I’m guessing Alex told you everything then?”

“Yeah, said to let you take the lead and to keep my distance so I don’t cause a liability issue.”

Danny nodded, “Okay good,” He waved a hand towards the stables, “My job’s real simple, check up on all the horses and make sure they’ve got water, check up on them, that sort of stuff.”

Travis looked toward the stable, “Well lead the way. I’ll keep quiet but if you need help or anything just ask.”

“Noted,” He pushed open the door and stepped in, flipping on some additional lights, “Have you been keeping up on the news at all Martinez?”

Travis nodded, “Kinda, not as much as I probably should but it seems like it’s starting to get a little crazier out there.”

“Well… that’s certainly a way to put it. Stuff seems to be okay for now but I just can’t help but have a bad feeling about this flu season, I mean they say it’s business as usual, but it’s not going away or getting any better,” He leaned down and picked up a brush, waving Travis towards one of the horses that had peeked it’s head out of the stall to greet them. With a smile he walked over and started brushing it’s mane, “I’ve got friends out in Colorado who say it’s getting kind of bad, infections seem to be rising, lots of people are sick— not really any deaths though which is strange… I can’t even begin to imagine what might happen if it evolves or something.”

Travis stepped closer to the horse, “Mind if I give it a try?”

Danny nodded, passing him the brush, “Be gentle, Stetson here is usually really calm but if you snag it on his mane he might not like that too much.”

Travis began to slowly brush the horse’s mane, pausing for a moment, “You don’t think it’ll really get that bad do you?”

The other man shrugged, “No clue, I’ve got a bad feeling about this all though… It’s just so unusual. What I’m more worried about right now is what’s going to happen to these guys if it gets bad enough to force a closure.”

“Don’t you guys have a plan in place for this kind of thing?”

“I mean we have a loose plan, Alex’ll cut back hours, but make sure there’s enough staff in rotation to keep their welfare in check. We’ve got about 4 full time veterinarians here that can make sure the animals are taken care of, but that doesn’t bode well for handlers like us.”

“Hopefully it never gets to that point…” Travis closed his eyes for a moment, and in an instant everything seemed to get much worse, the weeks passing in a flash as the world around him changed both literally and figuratively. Before long he was sitting in a familiar shelter with the same human as before, though by now there was hardly any humanity left in them.

Zipper let out a snicker as he nudged the pegasus next to him, “Oh wowwww did you hear that Ocean? A unicorn’s gonna show us a real magic trick, I wonder how he’s gonna do it?!”

The unicorn up on stage smiled and gestured a hoof towards him, “Aha, it seems we have a volunteer! Please come up, don’t be shy!”

A few hoofstomps rang out, earning some annoyed looks from the human volunteers around the shelter. Zipper hesitated at first, but the encouragement of the crowd gave him that much needed push, both figuratively and literally.

As Zipper stumbled up next to the unicorn, he greeted him with a warm smile, “Well hello there! What is your name?”

He nervously shuffled around as he looked around at the slowly growing crowd. “It’s uhhh… Zipper.”

“Zipper! Now there’s a unique name if I’ve ever heard one,” the unicorn dramatically announced to the assorted ponies in the shelter, “Now I’ll take it that that wasn’t your human name?”

He quickly shook his head, “Nope, that name wasn’t cool enough for me anymore. I’m Zipper now and that’s all that matters.”

The unicorn let out a few laughs, “Well that’s certainly a ‘cool’ name. Now Zipper, I’m going to need your help for this next trick, do you think you can do that?”

His eyes widened as if the unicorn had insulted him, “Well yeah, of course I can!”

The unicorn chuckled, “Aha, there’s that’s the spirit I was looking for! Now I’m going to perform a feat of magic that has yet to be seen, I will transport you from one side of this meager stage and appear on the other… with magic!”

“Pfff you can’t teleport, nopony can!” Zipper retorted.

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong dear Zipper. Anything’s possible with a little magic, you just need to believe!”

Zipper rolled his eyes, “Uh huh… well I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Now ladies and gentlemen, who’s ready to see some real magic?!”

The crowd began to cheer as the unicorn led Zipper towards a large cabinet, “Go ahead and step on in, you’ll be perfectly safe, I promise…”

“Have you even done this before?” Zipper sarcastically asked as he rolled his eyes.

“Once or twice… the rat seemed fine enough anyways so you have nothing to worry about.”

“Uh huh… righty well maybe you could stop talking and actually start showing us this ‘amazing magic’ huh?” Zipper suddenly squinted his eyes shut as a bright flash of light enveloped him. Without any warning he found himself suddenly tumbling backwards into a smoky abyss, and in an instant he found himself in a location that was all too familiar to him.

“The two racers are neck and neck!” Diamond excitedly called out as he carefully trailed the two pegasi.

The memory of the big race between him and Dazzle played out in his dream again as he speedily soared high above the clouds, dodging and weaving between an increasingly narrow and complex field of cloud barriers, nearing the final stretch of the race. It was clear that Dazzle was the more experienced flier, but Zipper was simply too prideful to give up now, and that was his biggest mistake.

As the two racers entered a narrow stretch of clouds, they were forced closer together. As Zipper slowed, Dazzle took the opportunity to speed ahead, cutting past him in a blur of color and disorienting him for a few brief moments. His eyes widened in shock as she took on each obstacle in rapid succession, causing the prideful pegasus to desperately increase his pace. Seeing no other option, he decided to use his head— literally, crashing through the cloud obstacles in a flurry of barrel rolls.

Much to his dismay Dazzle passed through the finish line, winning the race with an impressively decisive lead.

“Dazzle wins!” Diamond cheerfully called out as the team let out an excited cheer.

Zipper came to a clumsy land, feeling a complicated mess of emotions that ranged from embarrassment to frustration. Still feeling up to fighting for his pride, he began to shout over to her in between his pained breaths, “That’s… that’s not fair, you knew that turn was coming up!”

The pegasus turned towards him and slowly walked forward, “Yeah? And so did you, I had no hoof in setting up the course past making obstacles. You’ve got the same two eyes as me,” Dazzle said with a smug smirk and sounding barely winded.

“I…” Zipper wheezed out, deciding to wisely stay quiet before he could make the loss even worse for himself.

“Listen, up north we didn’t just choose our names, we wanted to earn them. Maybe you earned yours by needing to zip your lip.”

“I… No...” he said, lowering his ears and turning away.

“Oh? Well do me a favor and try it out some time. You might think yourself a fancy flyer, but you’re part of a team, so work on building them up rather than showing yourself off.”

Zipper could only slowly nod his head and back away, feeling a wave of embarrassment wash over him. With a dejected sigh, the pegasus flopped over onto the ground as Dazzle flew off, taking in deep breaths and trying to give his tired wings a brief respite from the heavy workout he had just put them through.

The sound of hooves in the sand caused his ears to perk up, and as he looked up he saw Blue Spring standing over him with a bottle of water held under a wing.

“That sure was some race eh? You should drink some water, that looked like it was probably more than an intense workout.”

Zipper sat up and took the offered bottle, nodding as he started to greedily take in large gulps of water, letting out a content sigh as he finished, “Thanks… Spring right? Blue Spring?”

The mare smirked and nodded, “Yep, that’s me. Seems like it’s a little late for an introduction doesn’t it? We’ve been on a team for what? A few months now?”

Zipper shrugged, “Better late than never I guess…” he paused for a moment, “So uhh… what did you think of the race?”

Blue Spring laughed, “Well, it was interesting, that’s for sure, and that goofy spin maneuver at the end sure was something else, you might actually be able to do something practical with that if you practice a little more.”

“Y—you think so?” He stammered out, “I mean it was just a spur of the moment idea, I barely even thought about it.”

“Sure,” she shrugged, “maybe it’s not the most useful thing to us now, but I could see that becoming a really cool stunt move. It just needs some polishing.”

“T—thanks, I’ll have to try that sometime,” he stood up and passed the bottle back to her, “thanks again Blue.”

She nodded, “My pleasure. Now why don’t we go back with the rest of the team and see what’s next on the agenda.”

“Can’t I just rest a little longer?” Zipper asked, almost pleadingly.

She let out a small laugh, “Oh come on, you can rest when you’re back home. I don't think the middle of the desert is a very good place to rest.”

Zipper nervously shuffled his hooves and looked around, “yeah… maybe you’re right. Lead the way I guess.”

Zipper looked up towards the sky as Blue Spring began to trot forward, squinting his eyes as the bright sun entered his field of view. In an instant he was back in the lake, surrounded by a warm glow of light, one of the happiest days of his life— the day he finally earned his cutie mark.

As he glanced down at his new mark, he smiled as a sense of belonging welled up inside him. The last few years seemed to come flooding back to him as he thought back to everything he had tried to do before ETS had changed everything. His ambitions and dreams all seemed so much more possible now, and for the first time in a long time it finally seemed as if his life had an actual direction to go.

“A pair of wings… Kind of fitting eh? So does this mean you’re gonna be a stunt flier or something?”

Zipper looked up towards Blue Spring and pulled her into a tight hug, “I don’t know yet, but I’m just so glad that you’re my friend, you’ve believed in me when others didn’t and I could never thank you enough for that.”

The mare smiled and nodded her head, “Of course Zip, you’re a bit wild at times but you’ve got a good heart on the inside.”

“This really means more to me than I think you’ll ever know, I just want you to know that.”

“Anytime Zipper, anytime.”

The dream suddenly froze as another voice started to fade in, “So uhhh… this wasn’t exactly the kind of dream I had in mind when I hopped over here.”

Zipper snapped towards the sound of the voice, pausing in surprise as he noticed the dark blue night pony with a purple mane walking towards him, “You— how…” he asked as he cocked his head to the side.

Stardust looked around at the dream version of the Oasis, “It’s a dream. Remember what I told you earlier?”

The Pegasus paused for a moment, “That you’d show up in my dream… that’s what this is then.” His eyes widened, “Wait! How much did you see?!”

“More or less everything, Travis,” he added with a smirk, “Don’t worry though, none of this will ever leave this dream, unless you allow it of course.” Stardust calmly replied as he walked towards the edge of the lake. He glanced down at the calm reflectionless water as the memories of his own close friendships came to mind, “Maybe it’s sappy but I think it’s sweet that you value your friendship with her so much. That’s not something everyone can say.”

Zipper trotted up next to him and sat down at the water’s edge, “You don’t think I’m uncool for it?”

Stardust looked at the Pegasus and shook his head, “Hardly. Having a close friend, or a good handful of them in my case, is a nice thing to have in the otherwise boring and miserable world we live in. Me and my close friends, we’re well, closer. Like a small tight knit family. We’ve been through the thick and thin together, always there to support each other when we need it most, and it’s something that really makes you appreciate how much you have. It always brings a smile to my face when I see others getting to experience something similar.”

“I never really thought about it like that.” Zipper gazed out towards the horizon longingly, ”I’ve spent so much of my life trying to fit in and be cool, that I guess I just never really thought about what others really thought about me.”

“Aside from hoping they’d think you were cool.” The night pony added with a chuckle.

Zipper smiled, “ha, I guess so.” He stood up and looked around at the unfamiliar buildings that made up the dream Oasis in the distance.

“It’s weird eh?”

Zipper looked towards him, “What is?”

“The dream. I bet you’ve never seen your own dream like this, there’s lots of weird details that you’d never even remember when you woke up, and stuff that feels like it shouldn’t make any sense— because well, it doesn’t in a dream. You get used to it though.”

The pegasus looked around slowly and shook his head, turning back towards the night pony, “I guess so… so what’d you wind up coming up with?”

“For your signs. Right, sorry for the personal detour, I guess I’m just a sucker for that sort of stuff. Mind if I grab the wheel here? Change your dream and all that?”

Zipper shrugged, “it’s not like I can really do anything here. So go for it.”

Stardust smiled and nodded, gesturing for Zipper to turn around, “You’ll have to excuse the crudity of the facades, I don’t know what your arcade actually looks like and it’s hard for me to change other ponies dreams like Silver can, so bear with me.”

As Zipper turned around his face lit up with glee as he took sight of the mock ups that the night pony had prepared. Five separate logos and signs adorned some flat, undetailed buildings, all ranging in design and shape.

“I hope you don’t mind, I took some creative liberty with the suggestion. Zipper’s Arcade just felt too… bland, you know?” He replied with a smile.

The pegasus paused for a moment, taking in everything with an unreadable expression, “Zipp’s Arcade… it’s— perfect!” Zipper gleefully replied, his eyes darting from each different design, “I mean there’s just so much to choose from, they’re all perfect in their own special way.”

The night pony smiled, “I’m glad you’re happy. I don’t want to be a downer though so I’d suggest you pick one, neon isn’t cheap, especially when we have to ship it all the way to Arizona.”

Zipper nodded, “You're right, I need to pick the coolest,” for a few long minutes he carefully scrutinized each and every sign, jumping between them while Stardust looked on.

“Might I offer some advice? If you’re having a hard time choosing you might want to close your eyes and just clear your mind for a second, try and get a feel for which one is calling out to you, it sounds dumb but hey, it’s worked well enough for me so far.”

Zipper nodded, closing his eyes for a few moments. When he reopened them he turned towards one of the smaller designs, a sign that simply read the arcade’s name in red neon. With a hoof he pointed towards it, “That’s the one! Simple and easy, gets right to the point, nothing too complex or complicated.”

The night pony smiled, dispelling the remaining signs, “Option three it is, now um, this is the annoying part, getting payment info. So the way we handle this in my business is taking 50% of the final price as a down payment, obviously I can’t do that in a dream so I’ll send you a message when I wake up and we can discuss that then.”

Zipper nodded, “Sounds like a plan. So… I guess this is it then? We’re all done?”

Stardust shrugged, “If you have no other questions then we’re pretty much done here, like I said I’ll leave you a message and we can figure the rest out later.”

“I think we’re good then,” He ran up towards the night pony, pulling him into a tight hug before breaking it with an embarrassed smile, “Thanks again for all this!”

The night pony slowly nodded, “My pleasure. See you when I see you Zipper.”

Without any further word he vanished, leaving Zipper alone in his dream once more.

Zipper opened his eyes and let out a groan, groggily rolling over in his bed. He peeked over to the clock on his end table and let out another sigh. It was still dark out and he was tempted to close his eyes for a few more minutes, but as much as he wanted to be lazy today, there were more important things to do. Like check his gauntlet for instance. The pegasi’s eyes opened wide as he hopped out of bed and ran towards the charger, fumbling with the arm band until he was able to secure it. The screen lit up and a warm robotic voice greeted him, Good morning, please provide vocal confirmation.

“Zipper one nine nine five,” Zipper replied back, pausing as the gauntlet chimed in recognition, the embedded screen lighting up.

Welcome ZIPPER, You have one new message from user: Stardust. Would you like me to read it?

Zipper nodded, “Yes please.”

Standby... A cheerful chime rang out as the message began, “Zipper, I went ahead and forwarded an invoice to your gauntlet, go ahead and fill it out and we can start work on your order. If you have any questions drop me a line and I’ll visit your dreams again. — Star.” Message has an attached file, would you like me to forward it to your terminal?”

Zipper looked toward the electronic table, “Sure.”

A small chime rang out and the gauntlet screen went dark, leaving Zipper alone in the darkness again. His ears started to pivot around as they picked up the bird call from the downstairs room, bringing a smile to his face, Guess Gordon’s awake too, he thought to himself.

With a spring in his step he trotted toward his bathroom and turned the shower on, extending some of the fingers on his gauntlet and picking up his toothbrush, spreading a small amount of toothpaste on it. He paused for a moment, tapping a hoof to his gauntlet twice, and smiling as his music playlist began to play throughout the house.

He began to brush his teeth as the room filled with steam, bringing a feeling of relaxation to him as he cheerfully hummed along to the music. As he finished, he turned the faucet off and hopped into the shower, scrubbing himself down with shampoo and falling into the routine he had grown accustomed to for the last couple of years. While this might have been tricky as a pony at first, like anything, he had learned to adapt to it. The time flew by in an instant, and before long Zipper was done.

With a happy sigh, he flipped the shower off and hopped out, taking a few minutes to dry off and brush his mane into it’s trademark messy style. Pleased at his appearance he grabbed his saddlebag and trotted down the stairs, dancing and singing along to his music, smiling as he caught sight of his pet bird, Gordon, who was currently bobbing along to the upbeat music.

Zipper smiled as the bird excitedly squawked at him, “Good morning to you too Gordon, feeling hungry?”

The parrot replied with a loud squawk, causing Zipper’s ears to fold back momentarily.

“Okay, no need to yell,” He trotted toward the cupboard and extended his gauntlet’s fingers, using them to reach for some of the seed that the bird normally ate. With a cheerful spring in his step he trotted back toward the cage, opening it and laying out some of the seed for his feathered friend, who excitedly squawked back in response.

“Glad you like it, I’d love to share some breakfast chatter with you but I gotta go to work, Springy’s going to help me get everything in the arcade set up with Sine today, and then I’ve gotta go get some payment stuff figured out for some bat.”

The bird squawked back a simple reply, earning a laugh from Zipper, “Glad you understand, enjoy your breakfast buddy.”

The parrot squawked again as Zipper trotted out the door, pausing so he could clip his earbuds in. With a short running start he leaped into the air and took flight, rising sharply before evening out and gliding around the home he had grown to love over the last few years.

The Pegasus continued to fly through and around the city, weaving between the tall buildings and pulling into a few loops, much to the dismay of the ponies and humans who were walking around below. While Zipper might have been one of the best fliers in the Oasis a few years ago, it was clear that he was slowly being outpaced by some of the others the more they trained.

It’s not that he was a bad flier, he just had a tendency to try and pull off stunts that he clearly wasn’t ready to attempt, the end results usually ending with a crash landing and a few angry curses from whoever was unfortunate to be in his landing zone.

Zipper felt a mix of emotions as he thought back to the turn his reputation had taken in the oasis. While he wasn’t as brash and obnoxious as he had been when he first moved there, people still only seemed to think of him as the annoying bird brain who kept trying to do something until he was finally able to. The pegasi’s determination was both his greatest asset and his biggest weakness.

He was determined to make that change, earning his cutie mark had given him a new direction to follow in life, and much like the stunts he tried to pull off before earning it, he wouldn’t stop trying to make the best of his talent no matter what the others thought of him.

As the buildings around him started to grow shorter he dipped down in altitude, slowing his speed as he began to approach the lake and the nearby warehouse that would become his arcade. Right away he noticed something off about the scene, a large truck was parked out in front of it and the dark purple form of Sine Wave could barely be made out in the dark environment. If it wasn’t for her neon colored mane he probably wouldn’t have even been able to spot her from this high. He glanced toward the horizon and frowned. The sun was just barely rising and Zipper figured that it would be better to figure out what all the commotion was before the poor truck driver had to deal with a grumpy night pony who wasn’t a big fan of the sun.

As he dove down toward the pair, her annoyed complaints starting to become audible to his well trained ears, “What happened to being careful? I thought I paid you extra for that!”

The human shrugged, “I told you, I only hit a few bumps on the way here.”

The night pony let out a hiss, “Then can you explain why three of the cabinets have chipped sides? Do you know how hard that’s going to be to repair?!”

“Are you sure that they weren’t already like this? I mean these things are practically dinosaurs as it is.”

She flared out her wings, taking a more aggressive stance, “Are you calling me a liar?!”

“Sine take it down a few notches!” Zipper shouted down as he came to a careful landing between the two.

She flashed him an annoyed glare, “Not now bird brain, I’m dealing with something.”

Zipper nodded, “I can see that, and I’m going to ask you to tone it down before it gets ugly.”

“He damaged my property, it’s already gotten ugly.”

“Sine I’m sure we have people that can repair them, now why don’t we just get these unloaded and work on getting everything set up… okay?”

She let out a growl, “He’s still paying for the damages.”

Zipper stepped closer to her, “Go take a breather, I’ll handle this.”

“You better,” She replied back, not breaking her angered gaze.

Zipper trotted toward the bewildered human, waving him to the other side of the truck and out of her gaze, “Okay look, I know whatever happened was an accident, just pay her back for whatever damage she thinks you did and I’ll pay you back.”

The human slowly shook his head, “You think that’s going to stop her? She seems pretty miffed.”

“I know, but trust me. I’ve had to deal with this once before, she’s not going to cool off until she feels like the damages have been repaid.”

The human just rolled his eyes, “I swear this is the last time I work with a pony. You guys are either way too social or way too grumpy— sometimes both.”

“I understand, just go say you’ll pay whatever she’s asking and you’ll never have to deal with us again… Please?” Zipper flashed him a pleading look, earning another sigh from the human.

“Okay fine.”

Zipper breathed a sigh of relief as the human started to head back toward the irate night pony.

Zipper watched as the human helped unload the last of the machines, letting out a happy sounding sigh as the work was finally done. Sine Wave had mellowed out a little bit after the mover had apologized, and the mare was now happily napping in the corner with a wing draped over her head. The human, who Zipper had learned was named Marshall, had of course complained that Sine had gone off to nap after raising such a commotion over a few small chips on the side of a cabinet, but Zipper knew better than to get between a tired night pony and their sleep during the day.

Blue Spring had stopped by shortly after the work had started, and with her help the work had gone by in a breeze, regardless of Sine’s napping and Marshall’s complaining. The human had left without so much as a goodbye, leaving the pair and the sleeping night pony alone in the now filled warehouse.

The blue pegasus looked around, “So we’re all set then?”

Zipper nodded, “Yeah, I think so,” He glanced over to Sine, who was quietly snoring, “Think we should wake her?”

Blue Spring shook her head, “I do, but I don’t think it’s a good idea… but the ball’s in her court now and I’d rather not mess with this stuff without her input.”

“Want me to go wake her up?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea… but hey if you want to give it a shot then be my guest.”

Zipper nodded, slowly trotting toward Sine. With a nervous gulp he gently shook the night pony awake, taking a few cautious steps back as she stirred.

“What’s the deal bird brain?”

“We’re all unloaded and set up, don’t worry, Marshall’s gone and Blue Spring’s here now.”

She slowly opened one eye and glanced toward the other mare, “Hello Spring.”

“Hello Sine, sorry to wake you right now. We’ve got everything set up though, all you need to do is hook it all up.”

Sine let out a long yawn and nodded her head, “Got it. Do you mind if I do that later? I don’t think I’ll have the energy to get through it right now, not unless you’ve got some seriously strong coffee on you.”

Spring shook her head, “Nope, so later it is.”

Zipper stepped forward, “That works fine, don’t worry about it. You’ve been a huge help so far and there’s no rush.”

“Want us to grab you anything from Ahab’s before you head home? Zip and I were going to head there for lunch.”

The mare paused for a moment, before returning an appreciative smile, “Well… I wouldn’t mind a bowl of his famous mac and cheese… as long as you’re offering.”

Blue Spring returned a smile of her own, “Of course. Have a nice day, we’ll see you back here tonight”

She stood up, reaching into her saddlebags and putting on a pair of sunglasses, “I’ll see you two later,” She began to trot toward the door, pausing for a moment and turning back toward Zipper, “And for the love of all things that are good in this world… do NOT touch my cabinets until I get back, I don’t need anything else happening to them while I’m gone.”

“Noted. Good… day I guess?”

She nodded, “Right. See you later.”

Sine started out the door, leaving the two pegasi alone again. Zipper glanced down to his gauntlet, taking note of the time, “Ahab’s shouldn’t be too busy right now, mind if we take the scenic route?”

“I don’t see any issue with that. I’m guessing you’ve got a lot on your mind?”

Zipper trotted toward the door, opening it up and letting the bright sunlight in, “Yeah, I do. That night pony stopped by my dreams last night and we agreed on what the sign is going to look like. He sent me an invoice, I haven’t filled it out yet, figured I’d wait until you were around to see it too.”

“You want me to take a look at it?”

Zipper nodded as he led the mare outside, “Well yeah, you’re like my business partner, I think it’s at least fair to get your approval on anything big that we do.”

“Well if you insist on that then I guess it’s not a bad thing… what about Sine?”

“She’s handling the interior stuff, we're both in charge of this at the end of the day so it falls into our camp.”

“Alright well that sounds fair enough to me, why don’t we talk more about this over lunch?”

As if in response to her question Zipper’s stomach let out a loud growl, earning a laugh from the pair, “does that answer your question?”

Blue Spring let out another series of laughs and nodded, “I’d say it does Zip.”

The two pegasi started to trot down the path, in no real hurry to get to the restaurant.

The pair trotted through the carved wooden door and into Ahab’s restaurant, the moody atmosphere of the place giving it a peaceful and relaxing feel. Tropical music played around the cozy dining room, earning a smile from the two ponies. The earth pony behind the bar turned around to greet them as the bell rang, smiling as he took sight of the two.

“Aha, Zipper and Blue Spring, my two favorite customers! Here for your usual?”

Blue Spring nodded as she trotted toward her usual booth, “Yeah Cast, we’ll take a bowl of mac and cheese to go too, for Sine Wave.”

The pony nodded, “Gotcha, anything to drink today?”

“I’m good with water, how about you Zip?”

The gray pegasus looked over toward Perfect Cast and smiled, “The usual.”

“Rockin’ Punch?”

He nodded, “Yep!”

The earth pony nodded, “Coming right up,” He quickly pulled a few empty glasses toward the fountain, pouring their drinks. In a well practiced move that would have surprised any other pair of ponies, Perfect Cast slid the drinks onto a tray and carefully balanced it on his back, trotting toward the pair and dropping the glasses off.

Blue Spring smiled at the earth pony, “Thanks Cast,” She took a few sips and looked into the nearby aquarium, smiling at the fish that were swimming by. She turned back to her companion, “Well Zip, I’ve gotta give you credit, it’s really all starting to come together nicely.”

The gray pegasus nodded, “Yeah… it really is, isn't it?”

“Do you really think Sine will have everything all set up by tonight?”

Zipper shrugged as he looked around the cozy dining room, “I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It’d be nice if she can get that up and running though, we could start doing a soft opening soon and really drive up the hype!” He answered back in an excited voice.

Blue Spring laughed, “You’re really itching to open this I’m guessing?”

He replied with a laugh of his own, “Is it that obvious?”

“A little,” She paused for a moment, “So what’d Silver think of it?”

“I uhh…” He shifted his gaze around, earning a sigh from Spring.

“Zipper…. You have talked to him right?”

“I was going to… I’m just worried about what he was going to say.”

“Zip, you somehow coordinated a makeshift arcade that you’re planning on opening the second you can, and you haven’t thought about asking your boss if that kind of thing is okay to do?”

He looked away from her, “I… Look, I’m not a smart pony, I just want this to work.”

“Hey I never said you were dumb, you just have your own way of doing things. You should tell him as soon as possible though, preferably before we open and light the place up like a beacon… You’ve already got money set aside for a sign, but maybe we should hold off on that part for a few more days until we can make sure that we’ve got the right permission for this.”

“But Patrick seemed okay with it.”

She nodded, “Patrick might be okay with it, but Silver’s one of the main ponies in charge here, I think it’s only fair if you ask him too. He kind of has a right to know after all.”

“I…” He began to protest, letting out a sigh, “Okay, you’re right. I don’t think Sine’s going to stop the setup though, but at the same time I don’t think she really cares about the arcade’s operations as much.”

“You don’t think so?”

He shook his head, “She wants a place to house her collection, I think running it as an actual arcade is just a neat bonus.”

Blue Spring shrugged, “Well then I think we can wait until we get Silver’s blessing to run it.”

“Right… Well I’ll give him a call tonight when he’s awake.”

“Sounds like a plan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to get this up and running, but we also need to make sure we’re not going to just get shut down the second he’s back home.”

Before Zipper could reply, Perfect Cast returned with a tray of food balanced on his back. With carefully practiced precision, he slid the plates in front of the pair, smiling as they looked down at the pasta dishes, “Everything look good?”

Blue Spring nodded, hungrily looking at her meal, “Yep, looks great as always Cast.”

The earth pony smiled, “Glad to hear, drop me a line if you need anything else, I’ll go get Sine’s started.”

“Thanks Cast!” Zipper cheerfully replied back, grabbing the nearby fork with his gauntlet’s fingers.

Without much further conversation, the two happily dug into their meals, and before long, and much to their dismay, they had finished. Perfect Cast had dropped off Sine’s takeout, and Zipper had paid for the meal. Feeling relaxed and in a good mood, the pair stood up and trotted toward the door, thanking the earth pony on their way out, promising that they’d be back at the usual time next week.

The pair had taken the scenic route back to the warehouse, chatting about their future plans and just genuinely enjoying their company. Zipper had earned a few more laughs when he stopped to talk to the geese, and before long, the sun had begun to set.

As he pushed open the door, he was immediately greeted with a few muffled curses from the dark night pony who was working away on some of the cabinets, “Is everything alright Sine?”

A muffled thud was heard, followed by more curses. The pony backed out from behind one of the cabinets, brushing back her disheveled mane with a sigh, “Yeah no, everything’s all good here now. About time you two decided to show up.”

Blue Spring tossed her a bag, earning a happy squeak from the night pony, “Sorry we’re a little late, had to grab your dinner— er, breakfast?”

The night pony nodded, “Sorry I got a little snappy, I’ve just been getting this stuff set up for a while now.”

“Pulling an early day?” Zipper asked as he surveyed her handiwork.

Sine nodded, digging around the bag and pulling the still warm food out, “Mhmm,” She hungrily looked down at the mac and cheese, “Yeah, it should all be good to go soon, just need to get a couple more things hooked up.”

Zipper trotted toward the half covered jukebox, pulling the cover fully off, “No way, you got us one of these too?”

The night pony suddenly snapped up from her plate as Zipper began to reach toward the choice selection, “STOP!”

He jumped back in a panic, “What?!”

Sine lowered her voice, “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell… Look, let me just get the last couple things hooked up and we’ll be good to go.”

“Why does he need to wait, Sine?”

The mare looked over toward Blue Spring, “It’ll be so much cooler when everything’s all lit up at once, trust me on this,” She quickly finished her meal and trotted toward the cabinet she had been working away on, poking her head behind it and fiddling around in the back of it for a few minutes. Seemingly satisfied with her work, she closed it up and stood up, taking a moment to collect herself.

Blue Spring looked toward her again and nodded, “Everything good to go now?”

Sine Wave slowly nodded her head, turning toward Zipper, “Hit it.”

The gray pegasi’s eyes lit up in excitement as he trotted toward the breaker box on the wall, reaching for a lever and excitedly pulling it. In an instant the whole room flickered to life with the sights and sounds of the cabinets turning on. Without a word spoken, Sine Wave quietly trotted toward the jukebox, flipping through the selections before settling on her desired song. Classic rock music rang out through the speakers she had meticulously wired up.

Zipper hovered up into the air, looking around at the seemingly magical place, a huge smile plastered across his face, “It’s… Perfect!”