It was quite easy to take breathing for granted. Many ponies had lived their lives without thinking about it and died happily. Many ponies didn’t need to think about what exactly came in and came out of their nostrils nor how to do it.
Lox wasn’t so fortunate.
At the foot of Canterlot mountain was a building that many would mistake for a town-sized water treatment plant. Indeed, the only visible features it had were the train station passing right in front of it, two rows of giant pipes that stretched all the way from horizon to horizon, and a landing pad that matched the size of Canterlot’s airport, but with only cargo zeppelins for traffic. Otherwise, all there was to it was a confusion of pipes and conveyor belts.
At the edge of the landing pad stood Lock Box, also known as Lox, furiously checking the list in his clipboard and occasionally taking a moment to consciously breathe. His shift was almost over. It’d be wonderful to go back home and return to mindless respiration.
A mare came to his side and peeked at the list through his shoulder, her hard hat pushing at his. “Ponyville’s finally came?”
Lox pushed her away from his personal space. “Yes, Lox. I’ll brief you in a minute.”
Liquid Oxygen, also known as Lox, promptly stepped away and stared at the zeppelin being unloaded. Instead of the usual twenty-five pegasi, there were two dragons lugging the carbon dioxide tank from the zeppelin to the factory. She had always marveled at the many new creatures walking around Equestria, seemingly coming out of nowhere and now living together with them. So much so that she turned white.
“Breathe, Lox.”
Lox took a deep breath and her pale face returned to its usual light blue color. “Thanks, Lox.”
Lock Box nodded. “Don’t forget to breathe.”
Liquid Oxygen nodded. “Don’t forget to breathe.”
“Anyway,” Lock Box started as he flipped the list back to the first page, “only Ponyville’s CO2 tank came today. Appleloosa took their share of essence earlier this morning, but the scrubbers won’t be ready until tomorrow. You can see Ponyville’s also getting their carbon essence.” He reached under his helmet and pulled out a piece of paper. “Licorice sent a postcard from the Hive scrubber.”
Lox took the postcard and stared at the picture of Licorice Moxie—also known as Lox—among pony-sized ladybugs. “Hive. What kind of place is that, anyway?”
“The changeling hive,” Lock Box answered. “Remember the changelings?”
“That was when the entire midweek shift checked in full of goop, right?”
“That was the invasion. We’ve been friends for a while now and we’re installing a new scrubber next to their hive.”
“And a new vent, I presume? And electrolyzers?”
Lock Box shook his head. “It’s only a small one. We’re going to put two spare electrolyzers to work.”
Lox sighed. “And install five new ones. And then twenty-five new pipelines. And then a hundred new problems.”
Lock Box chuckled and playfully nudged her shoulder. “At least those are the engineers’ problem for now.”
“It feels like just yesterday we replaced our electrolyzers with the Living Lightning ones.” She looked up again at the dragons, one loading the zeppelin with an empty tank while the other with barrels of carbon essence labeled ‘Sweet Apple Acres’. “Now we have living fire hazards casually walking around.”
“At least they’re handling what’s basically giant fire extinguisher tanks.”
“I still don’t like it,” she mumbled, then took Lock Box’s clipboard and put it under hers. “Anything else I need to know?”
Lock Box turned away and trotted toward the train station. “Don’t forget to breathe.”
Lox took a deep breath and tipped her hard hat. “Don’t forget to breathe.”
A motto of a factory known by so little. Lox occasionally wondered what her life would be if only she worked at the weather factory. She’d probably be famous among her friends and gave a lot of tours for field trips, or maybe she’d fall into a vat of liquid rainbow and turn into an evil villain.
Alas, she worked at The Oxygen Factory, where nothing interesting happened, because interesting things shouldn’t happen. Not when the night lasts forever, not when it’s raining chocolate, not when an electrolyzer blew up and zapped a pony until she lost the ability to unconsciously breathe, not when Equestria was taken over.
Oxygen didn’t grow on trees, after all.
After five minutes of walking, giant water pipes greeted her at the entrance to the facility, connected to the ultra purifiers, lined in rows that made them look like a residential area. Two of the two-story-tall giants were not whirling and making noises like usual. She had noticed it when trotting out from the factory, but only now after checking Lock Box’s notes did she found out they were under their weekly maintenance and hadn’t, in fact, broken down.
At the foot of the closest idle ultra purifier was an old stallion overseeing a bunch of other ponies seemingly disassembling and reassembling the station. He turned around just before Lox called and waved a hoof.
Lox returned it with a smile. “How’s it going, Cog?”
Cog gestured at the other engineers. “As you can see, perfectly. Other than the dead fish in one of the filters, nothing’s out of place.”
Lox flipped a few pages in her clipboard and readied a pen on her mouth. With her teeth clenching the pen tightly she said, “When will it be finished?”
“Cleaning should be finished by evening. Would take a couple more—you forgot to breathe again.”
Lox took a deep breath, then let it out. “Thanks.”
Cog shook his head. “Anyway, I expect about twelve hours after that until she spins back up.”
Lox scribbled through the note and nodded. “Anything else?”
“Don’t be surprised.”
Lox whipped her head up and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Cog winked. “You’ll know when it happens. Don’t forget to breathe.”
Lox shook her head smiling. “Don’t forget to breathe.”
Over the ultra purifiers were steel-plated tanks, each with two pipings coming out from the top and a circular window that periodically sparked blue otherworldly lights. A unicorn and a pegasus stood by each window, either watching intently or chatting amicably. One pair was having a heated argument, and Lox trotted over.
Closer to the pair, Lox could hear the pegasus saying, “...not how you pronounce it!”
The unicorn huffed. “Not you, perhaps, but everypony else does! Everyone, even!”
“Alright, what’s happening here?”
The pair looked at her and their faces brightened in unison. “Lox!” exclaimed the pegasus. “We need your help. You know that citrus fruit that’s not lemon?”
“...Orange?” At this, the pegasus raised her snout high and bopped the unicorn with her wing. The unicorn, in turn, gave her a deep frown. “What? Did I say something?”
“Orange,” said the unicorn, trying (and failing) to stop the bop barrage from the pegasus. “You pronounce it ‘ah-reinj’ and not ‘uh-reinj’. Why?”
Lox gave them a look. “Really? That’s what you’ve been talking about?”
The pegasus shrugged. “Not like the electrolyzers need much maintenance. Uh, Lox, you’re turning pale.”
Lox took a deep breath, then let it out. Deep breath, let it out. “Thanks.”
The unicorn chuckled. “Don’t forget to breathe.”
Lox tipped her hat and moved onward. “Don’t forget to breathe.”
Next to the electrolyzers was a gondola station. Lox hitched a ride with a dozen other workers and stood next to the window overseeing the facility.
Looking down from that height, Lox was convinced that the gondola was made for the sole purpose of giving ponies a perfect view of the mess that was the pipelines. One of the pipes from each electrolyzer went directly to the air pumps that sent oxygen all across Equestria, but this was where the simplicity ended.
The other pipes went to the Sabatier engines positioned awkwardly by the mountain slope. Another line came from the very beginning where the carbon dioxide tanks were, joined together by the Sabatier to make water and methane. The water was sent back to the electrolyzers, while the methane piping snaked downhill to the pyrolysis reactors. A hydrogen pipe from there was then sent back to the Sabatier engines, while the black blocks of carbon it outputted were sent through a conveyor rail back to the landing pad, where some were distributed via zeppelins and others via train.
“How do they do it?”
Lox looked up to a worker standing next to her, her face still young and full of energy, staring at the conveyor railing with small black things resembling a neat line of ants. “Who?”
“The Everfree Forest,” she said in a musing tone. “The trees there grow on their own. How can they do it without getting essence?”
Lox shook her head. “Nopony knows. Although I’ve heard stories that those trees are different from ours.”
“Oh?”
Lox nodded. “They say that the trees there have existed before ponies. They’re more like treants from the myths and not wood golems.”
The mare shifted. “But they still need to get their carbon from somewhere, right?”
Lox shrugged. “Maybe they breathe carbon dioxide or something.” She gestured at the window, slowly gaining a view of the office building right next to the Sabatier engines. “Maybe they have all this factory inside them, and maybe they breathe out oxygen.”
The mare scoffed. “So like animals but reversed?”
“Who knows?”
“Uh, ma’am, you’re turning pale.”
Lox took a deep breath. “Thanks.”
The mare shook her head. “What just happened? Are you okay?”
Lox gave her a smile. “You’re new around here, aren’t you?”
The mare blushed and scratched the floor with her hoof. “Sorry. Is that something I’m supposed to know?”
Lox shook her head. “No, not really. Just make sure you don’t forget to breathe.”
The mare gave her a look. “Is there some inside joke there? I feel like it’s too… humorous to be our official slogan.”
“You’ll be surprised.”
The gondola reached the station before the mare could say anything else. Lox tipped her hat and trotted away to the administration building.
As the building came to sight, Lox froze on her tracks. There was somepony standing at the entrance. Somepony white. Somepony tall.
Really tall.
And getting taller.
Wait, no, she was getting closer.
“Breathe, my little pony.”
Lox took a deep breath and shook her head. “Y-your Highness!”
Celestia chuckled. “You don’t need to call me that anymore, Lox.”
Lox bowed. “Of course, Princess.”
Celestia covered her grin with a wing. “I’m not a princess anymore, Lox.”
Lox shot her head up. “What!? I-I mean, uh—”
“It’s alright, Lox.” Celestia gestured to the office building. “We should talk inside.”
With her mind going numb, she noticed nothing but the arrival at her desk. Here, the constant thumping and humming from the factory were still audible, but more an ambiance rather than a constant barrage. A few papers were in the input bin, a lot less than usual. She sat behind her desk and watched dumbly as Celestia towered her from the other end.
“Tea?”
Lox took the cup of tea appearing out of nowhere.
Celestia frowned. “Breathe, Lox.”
Lox breathed. “T-thanks.”
“I don’t think we’ve ever talked again after your accident,” Celestia started. “I would’ve if I hadn’t been so busy.”
“I-it’s alright, Your Highness.”
Celestia took a sip from her own cup, also appearing out of nowhere. “I have retired from princesshood. Didn’t you attend Princess Twilight’s coronation?”
Lox shook her head.
“When was the last time you went out of the factory?”
Lox tapped her hooves together. “...When was the accident again?”
Lox was sure Celestia choked on her tea, but that was impossible. Princesses don’t get surprised. Not by somepony such as her. “My little pony, that was more than two decades ago.”
Lox gave her a nervous grin. “I… guess I’m too scared I’ll forget to breathe.”
Celestia gave her a concerned look. “Is it getting worse?”
Lox shook her head. “It’s not getting worse, but it’s not getting better either.” She gestured vaguely around her. “I have friends here reminding me when I forget, though.”
“Friends are always a good thing to have around.” Celestia turned her head at the door to the side, decorated with a sign saying, ‘Home Sweet Home’. “How is production going?”
“Everypony’s breathing,” she answered automatically. Then quickly added, “I-I mean, it’s going just as intended. There haven’t been any interruptions.”
“Have there ever been?”
Lox tapped at the edges of her cup. “There was one time when the purifiers were clogged by chocolate milkshake. And another one when we had to switch to our old electrolyzers because the pegasi and unicorns lost their magic. I think that was it.”
Celestia stared down at her steaming cup. “Didn’t your friends tell you about the new princess?”
Lox slid her hooves down to her lap. “I… asked them not to. I’ve heard about Princess Twilight and that she was the one that stopped a lot of calamities from happening, but that’s about it. Thinking about the outside world made me feel… sad.”
“Would you like to go outside?”
Lox shook her head but stopped. After a second, she slowly said, “The noises in the factory remind me of breathing. They wake me up when I sleep, so I don't need to rely too much on the ventilator. I can't hear them outside, I’m afraid I’ll suffocate.”
Celestia raised an inviting hoof. “I’ll remind you if you ever forget to breathe.”
Lox stared at her. “Y—are you…”
“The last few years with my sister has told me a lot about ponies being in isolation. I don’t want that happening to anyone ever again.”
“But what about—”
“Lox will take over your shift.”
Lox couldn’t help but chuckle. “Uh, which one?”
Celestia winked. “Lumber Fox.”
“Is he alright with it?”
Celestia gestured at the input bin and the little pile of papers. “He’s more than happy to.”
Lox rubbed her shoulders. “Well…” She smiled. “I’d like that.” She looked up at Celestia. “I don’t know what to say, prin—I mean, Celestia.”
“Don’t forget to breathe.”
Lox took a deep breath, then laughed. “Yeah, don’t forget to breathe.”
And so Lox and Celestia trotted away from the factory, for the first time since she first forgot to breathe.
Author's Note
Shoutout to Velvet who pointed out that one line from season one:
Applejack: The Everfree Forest just ain't natural. The plants grow...
Fluttershy: Animals care for themselves...
Rainbow Dash: And the clouds move...
Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash: All on their own!
Makes me wonder if ponies had to condense water from the air themselves since clouds were manufactured from water in liquid form. Arrakis-style, perhaps?
