Beyond

Today started out like every other day. It started to end the same way too, but then something horrible happened. Our water purifier malfunctioned and stopped working. Now our tap water, bath water and any water that comes from the pipes is no longer safe to drink. All we have left is bottled purified water. We have a surplus of it now, but it will run out eventually. Spare Parts says he can't fix it, that the part he needs to do so isn't down here in the bunker. The part he needs is somewhere up above. That faces us with a lot of problems. A small number of us will have to go to the surface to find the part to fix it. That in itself presents even more problems.

Even if the ponies who go to the above world find the part and come back, it'll only be a matter of time before it breaks again or before something else breaks. Our perfect little world down below is coming to an end, whether we like it or not. A lot of ponies have expressed clear feelings of absolute disgust and hatred for ever going up above, mostly just the older ponies. As much as I hate to say it, this bunker wasn't made to last forever. I doubt it was ever supposed to last this long. I'll be frank, the thought of going up above and what might be up there roaming the land scares me. Even though it scares me, I'm just as curious to know what's up above. Earlier today, Mayor Moonlight called a city wide meeting in the atrium...

******

"Attention citizens of Evermore, please report to the atrium as soon as possible in an orderly fashion. Mayor Moonlight has an important announcement to make," the feminine voice of the mayor's assistant boomed from the overhead speakers and echoed throughout the halls of Evermore.

After a short pause, she repeated her message and added a 'thank you' to the end of it. My friends and I had been in the school library, surrounded on all sides by tall, looming shelves filled with books, most of which I had never read. We had been sitting at a rectangular shaped table, text books out and sheets of notebook paper all over the place as we studied for our upcoming math exam.

"Must be serious if she needs the whole city up there," my friend, a unicorn filly named Rainbow Quartz, said as she rose from the table.

"I think it may have something to do with the water purifier," my other friend, an earth pony colt named Loose Screw, said as he too rose from the table "you know, since it broke and all."

"I feel so bad for Moonie. Poor thing, first her dad, then her mom and now she's got to deal with running a whole city that's falling apart all at the age of nineteen," another friend, a pegasus filly named June Beetle, said sadly as she too stood up.

"Have you talked Moonie recently? How is she doing?" Rainbow Quartz questioned as she turned to me.

"Other than stressed out of mind? Doing well," I said as I joined them in standing next to the table "she promised that either tonight or tomorrow night she'd take a break from her duties and come spend the night with me."

"Oooo, a sleepover with the mayor? How scandalous," Rainbow Quartz teased as she playfully booped my nose "will you be having any scandalous, passionate love making as well?"

"Now that," I started as I playfully booped her back "is noooone of your beeswax, Quartz."

"You're so grooooss, Rainbow," June Beetle teasingly whined "why would want to know if they're gonna to do private stuff like that?"

"Because she's a pervert," Loose Screw teased as he playfully elbowed her shoulder.

"I'm not a pervert! I was just teasing Feather Stitch!" Rainbow Quartz said defensively with a frown.

The rest of us laughed at Rainbow as we made our way towards the doors. Rainbow's frown melted away as she, too, began to laugh along with us. The four of us made our way out of the library and to the elevator that would take us to the atrium, making idle chatter and teasing one another. We finally arrived at the elevator and the four of us joined a cluster of other Evermore citizens inside. The four of us settled into the right corner of the elevator and continued our idle chatter as the doors closed and the elevator began to hum upwards.

"What do you think is going on?" Somepony nearby whispered.

"My wife heard from Mango's husband that the mayor is going to send ponies to the surface," Another pony nearby whispered back.

"The surface?? Nopony has been up there in centuries! Is she crazy?? There probably isn't even a surface anymore!" The first pony exclaimed in a harsh whisper.

"Mind your mouth, please. She isn't crazy," I whispered as I turned to the whispering ponies "besides, with the way things have been going, with this place falling apart, do you really think we can stay down here forever?"

The two ponies- a pegasus mare and an earth pony stallion- looked at me with surprised expressions on their faces, both ponies completely caught off guard by polite scolding. They looked at each other and stared for a moment, before looking back at me and smiling apologetically.

"Ah, sorry. You're the mayor's marefriend, right? Uh, Feather something or another?" The mare questioned, raising her voice to a normal level.

"Feather Stitch, and yes, that would be me," I said, doing the same with mine.

"She has a point, though, I guess. If this place falls apart anymore than it has, we'll have no choice but go upwards," The stallion said to the mare.

The mare simply nodded her head and the two turned away and began a new conversation. I turned back to my own friends and opened my mouth to make a joke, but was interrupted by the dinging of the elevator as the doors slid open. We followed the crowd out of the elevator and towards the area where the rest of the city was gathered. At the far end of the room was a large stage with a podium. A row of colorful flags depicting Evermore's crest- a mole, ironically- hung at the back of the stage. At the front hung a row of lights that shone down brightly on the podium. As we approached the very back of the crowd, a short unicorn mare with a light pink mane and tail styled into buns, bright blue eyes and a tan colored coat trotted up to us and smiled. She wore a pair of red framed glasses with a white beaded glasses strap that connected around her neck.

"Hello, everypony. Mayor Moonlight asked me to save seats for you close to the stage so she may speak to you before and after her announcement," The mare, whose name I knew to be Bubble Bounce, said as she gestured towards the stage.

"Oh, how sweet of her," June Beetle said with a soft smile.

"Indeed. Follow me, please," Bubble Bounce said politely as she turned around with her back facing us.

The four of us followed after Bubble Bounce as she led us around the left side of the tightly packed crowd of Evermore citizens. We came to a stop at a group of chairs with a nearby table topped with snacks and refreshments a few feet from the left side of the stage. We thanked Bubble Bounce as we took our seats.

"These snacks and drinks are for you. Help yourself to as much as you'd like," Bubble Bounce said with another smile before turning and leaving us to chat amongst ourselves.

We waited there for a few minutes. As the three of us fillies cheered Loose Screw on as he attempted to balance a stack of cookies on his nose, my vision was suddenly obscured by warm hooves. I could tell by the sweet smelling perfume who was covering my eyes, but played along by pretending to be confused. A sweet chuckle came from the pony behind me as the hooves moved away from eyes and were wrapped around my neck lovingly.

"Hello, darling," I said with a smile as I turned my head to look at the pony behind me.

Mayor Moonlight- Moonie to my friends and I- placed a loving kiss on the top of my head as she smiled. Moonie was a unicorn like Rainbow and I. She was tall and beautiful, her coat soot black, her eyes big and blue and her mane and tail cherry red with strips of silver, styled short and curly.

"Hello, sweetie," Moonie said as she looked from me to our friends "hey, guys. It's been a while. How are you doing?"

"Hi, Moonie," Rainbow and June said unison "we're doing good."

"I'm doing good too," Loose Screw said, causing the stack of cookies to fall from his nose "darn it."

"Come to my office after my announcement. I've made some time to hang out with my bestest friends for a little while," Moonie said as she rubbed her head against mine.

"We'd love to," June Beetle said with a grin "we've missed hanging out with you."

"Yeah, sounds good," Rainbow Quartz said, with a grin as well.

"I'm on board," Loose Screw said as he shoved the cookies into his mouth.

"Awesome! I can't wait then," Moonie said with an excited grin.

Moonlight let out a small sigh as she unwrapped her hooves from around my neck and trotted a few steps towards the stage's steps. She turned to face us and sighed again.

"What's wrong?" June Beetle questioned "nervous?"

"Sort of, but not for the reason you probably think," Moonie answered as she looked at the crowd of ponies "my announcement? Not at all nervous about it. Just, very nervous at how they'll react. I know we've been down here for a very long time, but... I know some of them will be very much against what I have to say."

"You're going to send some ponies to the surface, aren't you?" I questioned as I shifted forward in my seat "that's the rumor everypony seems stuck on, at least."

"The rumor is right. Eight seems like a good number to send," Moonie answered with a nod "I plan on sending eight ponies to the surface. Anyways, I'd love to stay and chat more, but... duty awaits. I'll see you all later."

Moonie gave us a small wave goodbye before turning and trotting to the stage and going up the steps. We said our goodbyes to her as we watched her trot away and take her place at the podium. Moonlight tapped the microphone, causing the sounds to come out loudly from the speakers, ensuring that it was on and we could hear her. She then cleared her throat, put on her best smile and began speaking;

"Attention, everypony. Could I have your attention, please? Thank you. I apologize if this meeting has interrupted anything important you might have been doing, but I can ensure you that this announcement is just as important, if not more. As some of you may already know, our water purifier has malfunctioned and stopped working. That means any water that is not bottled is unsafe to consume, bathe or cook with. The pool is being shut down until the purifier can be fixed and all fountains will be turned off.

Our supply of bottled, purified water is limited and will only last us a short while, that 'short while' being three months at the very least if we carefully ration it, which we will in fact do. Until we start rationing, any bottled water you have in your homes should be used conservatively, not liberally. I know now you may be wondering; can the purifier be fixed by then? The answer to that question is... Hopefully. However, according to our head of Repairs & Engineering, Spare Parts, the exact part we need to fix the purifier is one we cannot get down in Evermore. Making it ourselves is completely out of the question, I'm told. It's something we will have to find.... above ground."

A wave of murmurs, gasps and whispers erupted from the crowd. Moonlight briefly looked at me and smiled worriedly. Before she looked away, I blew her a kiss and gestured for her to continue. Moonlight faced the crowd, cleared her throat once again and continued with her announcement;

"I know what you must be thinking. It's crazy. It's ridiculous and incredibly dangerous. You'd be right, but this is something we must do. If we continue to live down in Evermore, we will all die. Evermore is falling apart. She is becoming unsafe to live in and the malfunction of the water purifier is just the icing on the cake. More things will break. More things will fail. Our generator is on its last leg and will fail after a little over a year from now. Maybe two. The air filtration system isn't doing any better. We were not meant to live down here forever, and I highly doubt we were even supposed to be here this long.

That is why I've decided it is necessary to send a small party of volunteers to the surface. Tomorrow morning, I will be choosing eight citizen volunteers to go up above. Once you leave the safety of Evermore and make it to the surface, you will have two missions. The first- and slightly more important one- is to find the part needed to get the purifier back into working order. The second is to find a viable location for Evermore to move to. Our volunteers will be given much more information tomorrow morning, but for now, that is all I feel you need to know. Please consider volunteering. I can ensure that, if your missions are successful, you will be handsomely and sufficiently rewarded.

I know that many of you harbor... strong opinions... against going to the surface. I ask that if you are one of those ponies, please express those opinions in a peaceful, respective manner. Change is scary, but this change is necessary for our survival. I hope that, upon the success of the missions and the safe return of our volunteers, you will change your minds and opinions and come to realize the truth. To any and all potential volunteers, please do this. If not for you, for then your children and all future generations. Your names will not be forgotten and your efforts will go far from unnoticed, I will make sure of it.

That will be all. You may resume your daily lives and continue as you were. Please do remember the situation with the water. Do not use or consume any water that is not already bottled. Do not waste any of it, not a single drop. It must last for as long as possible. Use it conservatively, please. As you continue on about your night, please consider volunteering. Any and all potential volunteers please meet back up here tomorrow morning. Oh, one more thing, before you all leave. For the rest of the night, I will be completely unavailable. Any questions, comments or concerns will be addressed tomorrow after the volunteers have been picked. Until then, please hold onto them. Now you all may leave. Have a wonderful night. Goodbye."

The stage lights turned off as Moonlight stepped away from the podium and trotted off the stage. She made her way back over to us and let out a loud sigh. Nopony said a word as we all looked at the murmuring crowd of ponies as they dispersed from the atrium.

"Now that that's finally over with, are you guys ready to hang out?" Moonie questioned as we looked at each other.

A noise of agreement came from the four of us as we rose from our seats. Moonie beamed happily at the four of us and led us to the private elevator meant for the mayor, security and other authorized ponies. Idle chatter bounced between us as the four of us and Moonie relayed the happenings that went on for us during our times apart.

"I know I was going to spend the night at your place, Feather, but how about we all do? It's been a while since all of us have," Moonie said as she pushed the button on the elevator door.

"That's perfectly okay with me. We haven't all spent the night together at once like that since, well... since middle school, I do believe," I said happily as the elevator doors slid open.

Moonie chuckled as she grinned happily. She trotted up to me and hugged me tightly. I gladly returned the hug and brought my muzzle to her ear.

"Don't worry, we can sneak away once they're all asleep and have some 'executive time' together," I whispered as quietly as I could.

Moonie chuckled again as she pulled away and gave me a wink. Moonie then turned and led us into the elevator, pushing the button that would take it directly to her office. As we chatted and rode the elevator back down, I couldn't help but feel this strong desire to volunteer. My heart raced a little at the thought of leaving Moonie, my friends, my mother and Evermore behind. The thought of becoming a hero, especially for Moonie, made my heart race even more. I couldn't make a decision just yet. I had many things to consider, but more importantly, it could wait until tomorrow morning. For now, it was more important to focus on my friends and Moonie, spending time with them, because if I did volunteer for Moonie's expedition, it would be the last time I would be able to.