The Mare in the Moon

Day 1 – World Away

After fifteen hours of weightlessness, one would expect ponies to lose interest in the matter. After all the excitement wore off, zero gravity should have become a trivial matter.

Not when Pinkie Pie was in the room. With a bit of effort, Twilight was sure that pony could make something as normal as ‘walking’ as exciting as watching the Cloudsdale annual best young flyers competition.

After perfecting high speed cartwheels across the crew deck, Pinkie had started work on synchronous cartwheels with other ponies. So there they span, tumbling across the space with no wires or magic holding them up or back. With their legs outstretched, they twirled around like the wheels on a cart – all four of them – giggling and laughing all the time.

To add to the effect, a particular grey Pegasus with amber eyes pulled at a bag of apple-chips. As she pulled too hard, the bag literally popped apart, sending chips flying in every direction like confetti dancing around the cartwheeling ponies. Pinkie Pie even managed to scoop one up in her mouth as she tumbled on by.

The spectators were having just as much fun, even the usually uptight royal guard cracked grins. Everypony seemed to be enjoying the long ride to the moon.

Except for some reason the pony who had made it all possible.

Twilight gazed across the space to spot Dare to Dream sitting at the helm of the Moonshine. The chestnut stallion was wearing some kind of helmet over his head, his eyes hidden behind a pair of curved glowing green visors. Steel grey armour bulked out the forehead of the head-gear as well as the region around his mouth and over the top of his muzzle, forming a typical jaw-shape along the sides of his head.

Twilight Sparkle found her curiosity take over. Sure Dare was a crude, rude and grumpy stallion hardly worth her time or effort... but something in her stomach told her she wanted to be friendly to him. Not just because his grasp on science intrigued her. Not to sate the curiosity over whether he had a soft-side, but something told her he hardly had friends. And if anypony should know about the magic of friendship changing the character of a pony, it was Twilight.

Swallowing all doubt about the stallion, Twilight gently kicked off the deck and drifted closer while the rest of the crew were pre-occupied. She caught herself on Dare to Dream’s back-rest and drifted quietly to his side.

“Hi.” The lavender unicorn greeted with a bright smile.

“Hey.” The stallion replied distractedly while he stared at an open notebook drifting in his line of sight. The pages were adorned with blots of ink leaked from the quill he’d used, but also scribbled with diagrams, equations, digits of all shapes and sizes as well as complicated equations even Twilight had never seen before.

Twilight went out on a limb and gave the forehead-plate of the hardened helmet a light tap. As a gesture of interest of course – but also partially as revenge for him shoving her away so roughly earlier. “Why are you wearing that?”

Dare scoffed almost immediately in his reply, his voice muffled against the inside of the helmet. “Seriously? You’re askin’ that? Have you seen that mare?”

Dare pointed out his hoof squarely at where Pinkie Pie was bouncing off the ceiling – quite literally. Just because she could now, didn’t mean she had to. But nopony was able to actually get that fact through her impenetrable skull... seriously, that cranium had to be impenetrable. She was using it to do said bouncing!

“The way she’s burnin’ through our oxygen supplies we may actually suffocate ‘fore we get to the moon!” Dare announced before returning his attention to his notebook. “On my own oxygen supply at least I’ll make it.”

“Oh.” Twilight sighed with realisation. “I don’t suppose there’s room for two in there?”

Letting out a cough that shook his whole chair, the stallion angled his visor up to lock with her eyes. Even though his face was hidden, a smirking Twilight Sparkle knew there was a shocked expression on his face. She laughed into a hoof, hardly able to smother her amusement.

Realising it was a joke, Dare actually joined in. Though, had scholars observed the moment – and not had more important things to get on with – they would for the next thousand years debate that it was more of a laugh of relief at the realisation that comment was a joke.

When their laughter passed, Twilight gave a sniff and mimicked wiping away a tear. “So what are you up to?”

“Workin’ out how long to burn the brakes to kill our speed without wastin’ too much fuel.”

“Why?”

“Cause we’re runnin’ a little hot.” Dare said pointedly.

“Running hot?”

“Goin’ too fast.” The stallion sighed tiredly. “At this speed we might over-shoot our target, which happens to be fairly small.”

“Really?” Twilight Sparkle giggled disbelievingly. “The moon is fairly small?”

Dare chuckled in a matter-of-factly tone. “Relatively speaking, yeah.”

Twilight grinned interestedly. “I suppose in the grand scheme of things we are hurtling through a massive void at a few thousand kilometres per hour.”

“That’s it. Kind of like launching a dart out a cannon at a target the size of a dessert spoon ten miles away. One slight miscalculation-...” Dare paused...

... so Twilight was able to finish: “And we go hurtling off into the universe.”

“Yeah.” Dare breathed gleefully with a smile. “Never a dull moment. Thank you laws of physics.”

“Rainbow Dash ought to be excited though. She pulls these speeds whenever she makes a sonic-rainboom.” Twilight noted one of the dials had digits marked with ‘kmp/h’. “Is that our current speed there?” she pointed out.

Dare absently followed her hoof to check, then nodded. “Yeah.”

Twilight gave Dare’s notes a look over then double checked the speedometer. It only took one look for her to understand the equations. It was all clearly and easily formatted. The formulas all flowed naturally, and in her translation of the scrawled out proofs and checks she only stumbled twice, having to refer back up the list of equations to double check herself.

Eventually she said: “You know we’re not really going that fast.”

That caught Dare to Dream off guard again. Perking his helmeted head up again, he glanced between her and his notebook. “Huh? What do you mean? We’re going about ten percent faster than what we’re supposed to be doing.”

“We aren’t. We’re actually doing the right speed, give or take a few metres-per-second.” The mare said in an educated matter-of-factly tone. “Technically speaking anyway. Your calculation here is wrong.”

“W-... what!?”

“Here, see?” Twilight pointed.

Dare had to lift up his helmet to reveal his confounded expression as he squinted at the notes Twilight Sparkle was pointing to. His head shook a moment later.

Twilight jabbed her hoof at the air in front of the equation she was attempting to correct. “I’m pointing right at it.”

Dare scoffed confidently. “Uh... no!” he snapped, dropping his helmet back down over his face again.

“There!” Twilight laughed. “You forgot to carry the one, which over here,” – she pointed at the next string of complicated squiggles, symbols and equations – “Changes the amount to square root. If we weren’t running hot; by your original calculations we’d have missed the intercept vector for a lunar orbit by about a mile. Well, a mile, three feet and two-and-one-third inches. Though, it’d be negligible. A small correction with the thrusters and we’d be right as rain. See?” she indicated the fuel consumption dials, then flipped over a page in Dare’s notebook to review the chart of estimated fuel consumption predictions. “A two second burn would hardly cut into the fuel reserves. I punch those numbers into my calculator,” – she cutely bopped her head with a hoof while she smiled – “I get a smiley face.”

Dare gaped. She was right. Buck him sideways, she was damn right! He had to run the numbers twice before he picked up on his own negligent math. They were going the right speed, by pure chance. If Dare had initiated the brakes they’d fall short of their target and he’d have to waste fuel reserves for a catch-up burn. At their current speed, the moon’s gravity plucked them out of space quite nicely and dragged them into a perfect orbit.

“Here, I can easily change those with a simple re-inking spell.” Twilight announced as her horn began to glow.

Seeing the same purple glow swallow up his notebook, Dare felt a surge of adrenaline course through his system. “NO!” the earth-pony snatched his book out of the air and hugged it tight and protectively in front legs. Throwing the shocked mare a daggers look, Dare to Dream growled, quite literally like an angry dog. “Well, what then? You want a cookie?”

“What?” Twilight yelped in confusion. “No! You just seemed so precise about everything else! I just wanted to help out!”

Dare gave a ‘don’t-make-me-laugh’ kind of chuckle. “Help out, huh? Do I look like I need help from a two-bit magician?”

The unicorn gasped angrily. “Two-bit magician!? Hey, I’ll have you know, I’m-...”

“Princess Celestia’s finest student in the art of magic!” the earth-pony stallion finished in a patronising tone. “Yeah, I heard, toots.”

“Hey, if this is how you accept help-...”

“Seriously, I don’t need your help, okay?” Dare’s voice grew louder, but no less muffled through the faceplate. “In fact, just to teach you a hard life lesson about stickin’ to your talents, I’m just gonna sit back and ride out what you think is the right math. I’ll be willin’ to bet on your calculations we won’t be gettin’ to the moon at all-...”

Beep-beep-beep!

The sound was kind of like the microwave alarm to indicate a hot-pocket was ready for consumption. Flustered, the pony at the helm grabbed his helmet in both fore-hooves and pulled it clean off his head with a hiss. Tousling out his ‘helmet-mane’ the stallion leaned over the red light flashing on the dash-board and flicked off the alarm.

“Oh, look!” he squeaked a little sheepishly. “We’re here.”

Twilight smirked slyly. “Well, then. Clearly you did need the help of a two-bit magician.”

His ego bruised more than his ability to talk, Dare threw off his helmet and glowered at her. “Your mouth is talkin’. You might wanna see to that.”

All eyes flitted from current activities to the viewport at the front of the crew deck. All ponies on board, having heard the announcement drifted closer. They all crowded around Dare’s back to look out the viewport as they slipped into a lunar orbit. They drifted elegantly around the dark side of the moon, observing the shadowy cracks and rolling hills marred by impact craters.

And then they made it around the bright side reflecting Celestia’s sun. The windows tinted over immediately in the blinding glint to save their eyes as they were witness to what no other pony had ever seen before. Sure, all ponies had seen the moon. They had seen the mare in the moon. But never un-obscured by layers of Equus atmosphere. Never separated only by a pane of tinted glass. Never this close up.

The moon was marred by valleys, pale faces of reflective rock and deep, shadowy impact craters. Twenty-seven percent of Equus’ diameter and a fraction of her mass. But the moon’s weak gravitational pull was still what controlled the Equus tides.

In a synchronous rotation with Equus skewed only when Princess Luna willed it, the lunar satellite always showed the same face with her near side marked by the dark outline of a unicorn’s head. That was the mare in the moon, a dark volcanic maria filling the space between the bright, ancient crustal highlands. Seeing her that close in such detail was rather imposing.

The moon had always been bigger in the sky than the sun, chiefly because of the moon’s nearer orbit. But right there and then they were only a thousand or so kilometres from the surface, held in place by her weak gravitational pull. In comparison to a pony, the moon was still massive. Not as big as Equus or the sun, but still big enough to leave a grand impression.

Dare reached out to touch the Moonshine’s control yolk as his other hoof stirred up the thrusters. Any minute now he’d tweak them into position for the surface landing. Their landing zone would be right on the edge of the mare in the moon on the high ground overlooking the dark volcanic rock.

That was when he noticed the mass of ponies breathing down his neck.

Clearing his throat obnoxiously he managed to draw their attention. “For everypony who hasn’t noticed; I’m an elephant today, so I’m gonna need lots of personal space... more space than what I currently have. Also, a bowl of peanuts wouldn’t go amiss.”

A little sheepishly the crew retreated from the helm to find their seats and buckle up in preparation for landing. All except Princess Luna. The midnight blue alicorn stood affixed to the ground, the aura of her magic engulfing her horn and her hooves, keeping her glued to the deck. While her magical mane billowed and swayed in the weightless environment she kept her eyes affixed on the lunar view.

“You might wanna take a seat.” Dare said non-chalantely. “Landin’ is still half an hour away. B’sides, I need everypony seated for the moon-walk briefin’. Since it’s clear to me nopony bothered readin’ any of the pre-mission documents, I’ll have to show all of you how to use the EVA gear.” He added in a low grumble: “I swear, we’re only goin’ to the buckin’ moon. One’d think you’d prepare with trainin’ and what not. You’d almost think these ponies were just goin’ for a stroll through the park.”

Luna tore her eyes from the sight and looked at the earth-pony. “There will not be any need for environment suits.” The princess announced in a regular tone.

“No?” Dare chuckled. “So how are you fixin’ on bein’ able to breathe?”

“Simple.” The princess responded. “We shall be inside that.”

She pointed with a hoof out the viewport as Dare manoeuvred them into their approach angle. As they rotated in the lunar orbit, his viewing angle on the mare in the moon changed drastically. Growing larger as they approached, he found himself gazing across the dark space that formed the unicorn head’s shape. The volcanic maria had changed. It wasn’t just a dark patch of darker rock and shadowy impact craters. It was a collection of towers, chambers, bridges and walkways.

“By the power of Grey-Mane.” Dare wheezed in awe realising he was now looking at a massive city. He had never seen anything like it...

Well, not entirely true. He recognised the general influence behind the architecture almost immediately. He was looking at a dark and twisted lunar version of Canterlot.

The way it was built, looking straight down upon it – it just looked like a collection of dark rocks and craters. Nothing special. However, approach from a shallow angle one would spot the distinct skyline of twisted towers and walkways hewn into the dark, craggy basalt. Complicated walkways and covered bridges stretched between the domed chambers and high towers. There were arched windows etched into the craggy, uneven walls, covered in either panes of glass, or some kind of shimmering energy.

“What is that?” Dare whispered. “Is that a buckin’ city? The mission brief said nothing about this!”

“That is the mare in the moon’s true face, Dare to Dream. Nightmare Moon’s ancient temple.” Luna sighed. “The temple to which she was banished while inhabiting my body. It receded into the depths when Nightmare Moon escaped. It resurfaced three years ago for no apparent reason, and I’ve been having recurring dreams of it ever since.”

“Why?”

Luna shrugged, surprising Dare to Dream with such a simple gesture of unknowing. “There!” – she pointed out a hallway, or a tube, stretching out along the ‘neck’ portion of the mare in the moon – “Can you attach the ship to that?”

“Yeah.” Dare nodded. “I should be able to dock and engage kinetic clamps. Piece of cake... very convenient cake.”

“And everypony loves cake!” Pinkie Pie cried from the back.

Dare puffed the thrusters, lowering the ship out of orbit and bringing them in for landing. And every inch he closed in on the lunar temple, the more his dread grew. None of this had been in the original mission parameters. Did Celestia know about this? Why would nopony tell him about this? Was there risk involved? Was there danger? Was there a risk of Dare having refused to build, or even allow the ship to be launched if he’d been told about this earlier?

Dare was smart. He definitely liked to think so anyway. But for some reason he was at a loss. He felt incredibly stupid while trying to figure this out.

“What are we really doin’ out here, princess?” he asked eventually.

“We are explorers, Dare to Dream. We are here to explore.” With a clip-clop of her metal slippers clattering against the deck, Princess Luna elegantly turned on the spot to return to her seat.

Watching her go, Dare very slowly turned his gaze back to the lunar temple. Something didn’t sit right. Something didn’t sit right at all. He could feel it in his gut. In his bones even.

“Here to explore, eh?” Dare mumbled to himself as slowed their approach, preparing to line up to the docking tube. “With an aesthetic re-development team?”

***[]***

The whole ship jolted as they made contact. Kinetic locks clamped down and held them in place, neatly perched up against a long hallway sticking out of one of the temple’s main structures. The seals closed down tight over the open doorway and provided an air-tight seal.

After a few adjustment on the kinetic tethers anchoring them to the lunar temple, Dare was satisfied they had become a stable extension to the structure that just seemed to go on forever. From the low angle he could just about make out several miles of sprawling basalt temple stretching out further across the surface of the moon. And that was only what he could see on the surface. What about the basement and sub-structures? Surely a structure of that size had foundations.

And then there would be some other intricacies to investigate, like that sinking feeling dragging Dare to the deck. He’d expected some gravity on the moon, but nothing this strong. He could move normally, like he was standing in Equestria!

As everypony undid their belts and found their Equestria-norm-gravity-legs, Luna stood by the airlock and addressed them with a tall stature and her typical royal Canterlot voice.

“We shall be making this temple our home for the rest of the mission. The mission is to explore this structure and learn as many of its secrets as we can. Dare to Dream, would thou perhaps have a method of mapping this temple?” Luna asked.

Dare shrugged, honestly having no idea. “I have some sonar equipment. I could make some modificati-...”

“As soon as the camp is erected you are to see to it.” Luna commanded drawing a grim nod from the earth-pony. “Now please open the airlock so we may access the structure.”

Dare frowned with some worry. “You’re sure there’s air inside that temple?”

Luna nodded without hesitation.

Dare sighed with a shrug as he moved to the door controls. “Well, you’re the all-knowing god-princess.” he punched a few keys and watched some readings appear on the holo-board projected from his personal computer.

He started by measuring the pressure beyond the airlock. It was a little high, but not much more above Equus normality. There did seem to be some sort of gas pressurising the inside of the temple. Whether or not it was breathable, Dare to Dream had no idea.

Barely hiding his worried expression, Dare equalised the crew deck. With a distinct hiss and a light pop of their ears, everypony was slightly startled.

“Don’t worry. The pressure you’re feelin’ in your ears is just the cabin slowly equalisin’ with the environment inside.” Dare informed calmly. “This way our heads don’t explode when we open those doors.”

One of Twilight’s friends, the Element of Generosity, a particularily pretty unicorn gave a soft laugh. “Now why in Equestria would our heads explode?” Rarity asked.

“Why would our heads explode? Hah!” Dare joined in on the laughter before turning suddenly very serious. “Good one. Somepony tell me she’s just here to look pretty and is not actually in charge of anythin’ important!”

“If that is yer’ job, may I say yer’ very good at it.” Aeons whispered softly to Rarity.

The marshmallow-white unicorn gave a grateful bow, showing off her lady-like elegance. “Why, thank you. It is nice to see there is at least one gentlecolt on board.” She added grimly in the earth-pony’s direction.

Dare rolled his eyes as the chamber finished equalising. Just in case, he took a deep breath, puffing up his cheeks as his lungs reached maximum capacity. Better to be safe than sorry. Only when he was satisfied he had a reasonable supply of oxygen held in, did the earth-pony pop the seal and open the airlock.

The doors parted down the centre, either half swishing away into their respective wall.

Dare coughed out the breath he held in an instant. He could barely believe what he was looking at. It was just a hallway. No endless vacuum gaping and sucking them in. No scary space monsters waiting just beyond the threshold of the ship. No poisonous gas itching to suffocate them. Just a long dark hallway stretching on into a pitch-black void. The air smelled cold and moist, but it was breathable. Perfectly breathable even.

“Huh.” The stallion hummed. “That’s convenient.”

“Isn’t it just?” Captain Shining Armour noted as he moved past the earth-pony with a contingent of his guards. “I want three stallions to stay with the ship. Rest of you, with me! Everypony else follow closely.” the unicorns lit their horns and took the lead, the magical lights cutting through the darkness.

Everypony moved into groups, huddling close to unicorns who projected lights so they could see while they moved. But while everypony else bunched up into miniature herds, Dare to Dream seemed to remain solitary. The chestnut earth-pony tapped at his holo-pod. It spluttered a few times as he accessed one of the un-tested features. Essentially it was a light projector, so theoretically it could also serve as a flashlight. If the damn thing worked, that is.

Grinning, Twilight Sparkle walked over and lit up her horn with a splutter of bright pink energy. In an instant the magical appendage glowed vibrantly like a dozen candles jury-rigged together.

“You can walk with me, Dare.” The lavender pony offered kindly.

Dare scoffed immediately at the notion, casting a disgusted scowl at her magical light. He gave his chest one more pound of his hoof and the holo-pod finally lit up. He had bypassed the hard-light features and projected a simple beam of white light in a wide forward facing arc.

“Why would I?” Dare snapped as he walked off on his own, guided proudly by his own light.

Leaving Twilight flustered in his dust, she felt her eye twitch, inches from an angry outburst. What was that stallion’s problem!? She’d done nothing but try to be helpful and kind, and how did he repa-...

“Hi!” her thoughts were interrupted by a peculiar accent.

Turning her head, Twilight found herself face to face with a leafy green unicorn sporting a pair of thick brimmed glasses and a head of fiery red mane. “Hello?” the mage greeted unsure.

“Aeons Past.” Aeons introduced as he nodded for Twilight to walk with him. “I’m prob’ly the only pony who understands Dare ta’ Dream.”

“There something worth understanding?” Twilight asked disbelievingly as she followed the unicorn.

Aeons chuckled. “Yeah, I like ye’ already. Look, jus’ don’ let Dare get ta’ ye’. He don’ mean ill, he jus’ don’ like magic much. And ‘e’s stubborn.”

“Stubborn as a mule.” Twilight mumbled.

As she did, Aeons broke out in a panicked cough before glancing around to make sure nopony heard her say that. “Few rules ‘round Dare.” Aeons warned sincerely in a whisper. “No magic, and no mentionin’ mules.”

“Why, he’s got something against mules too?” Twilight whispered back.

“Trust me. ‘Yer better off not knowin’. It’s worse than ‘is magic-peeves, and jus’ as irritatin’ly complicated.” Aeons chuckled as the convoy came to a halt. “Look, jus’ keep ‘yer chin up ‘n stick with ‘im. He’ll warm up to ye’ eventually.” The Scottish stallion grinned reassuringly. “Honestly, I think he might even like ye’ a little.”

Twilight smiled weakly, appreciating the pep-talk. But to be honest, she didn’t really care anymore.  The way Dare to Dream behaved most – if not all – of the time... she wasn’t sure if she even wanted him as a friend anymore, interesting grasp on science or no. Everypony deserved to have friendship in their lives, Twilight Sparkle knew that better than anypony else. But Dare to Dream? Heck, that pony was a lost cause.

As the crew of the Moonshine was waiting in the dark hallway, Aeons lifted his head to look over the ponies in front of him. Looking back he could make out the pinprick of light way back where they had started. The hallway had no branches, no recessions, nothing. It was just a shaft of smoothly paved floor, ceiling and wall. No windows, no torch-sconces. Absolutely no distinguishing features.

Meanwhile at the front where Shining Armour and his guards stood there was an excited cry.

“Holy crab-apples!” Dare cried. “Lookit that!”

Where he stood his light brightly illuminated a set of doors similar to that on the Moonshine’s airlocks. Only these doors were unpainted, bare glimmering steel. The double doors were set on a sturdy looking rail-system, and strutted in place by curved crossbars jutting out from the frame and locking across the centre.

As if reacting to Dare’s presence, the locking struts very slowly retracted into the walls with a slow ‘shlink’ of metal on metal. As they receded, the doorway parted down the centre and silently removed itself from their path.

“That’s cool.” The earth-pony breathed as Shining and his guard took the lead once more. Not wasting any time, Dare excitedly followed.

The hallway led into a massive cavernous chamber. The floor was black polished marble that reflected the magical lights and even Dare’s artificial torch. The walls were smooth, dull basalt like the vaulted chamber started out as a hill and had been hollowed out from the inside. The walls were adorned with carvings, some recognisable as pictograms of ponies, others were obscured text scribbled in a foreign looking language. It was almost alien.

There was a single massive window overlooking the chamber, spilling some sunlight into the dark confines of the temple. The glass was distorted and stained, so it was impossible to see thought. The chamber seemed to be some kind of hub, with several dark corridors and vents leading off from the main floor into the rest of the lunar structure.

As he stood in awe, Dare hardly noticed a pony canter up beside him.

“Hey, Aeons.” He mumbled with an absent glance at his friend.

“Dare...” the unicorn nodded. “Y’know she’s worth a little patience, right?” Aeons suddenly blurted out. It wasn’t really his fault, he couldn’t help it. He’d looked across the chamber at where Twilight Sparkle stood with her friends. She was still looking in Dare to Dream’s direction with an all too familiar look.

Aeons recognised that look from a filly they’d gone to highschool with. She’d been a unicorn. Pretty  enough too, kind of like Twilight. And she’d asked Dare to go with her to the Hearts ‘n Hooves dance.

Dare had behaved like his usual self. That was the look on Twilight Sparkle’s face. A look of hurtful rejection, like Dare had transformed her olive-branch of friendship into a broom-handle and thwacked her in the face with it.

“Who are we talkin’ about?” Dare asked absently.

Aeons looked away from Twilight Sparkle and blinked at his friend. He wasn’t even paying attention. With a sigh and a meek grin, the unicorn shrugged. “Nopony.” He lied with a defeated sigh.

“Good.” Dare mumbled as he walked over to something. “Hey, check this out.”

Dare audibly cantered across the empty chamber to one of the walls where an engraving was carved across the stone. The carving was cut into the dark basalt, depicting the profile of a stoic looking earth-pony with a back-swept mane. His eyes were empty, but his expression was resolute as he stood with his chest puffed out and one leg cocked up in preparation for a charge. The etching’s chin was held high too, as if looking up to a foe.

“Hey, Aeons. Who’s that handsome devil remind you of?” Dare matched the engraving’s heroic pose with a cocked eyebrow and charming sideways-smile.

“Ah, a late lunar republic depiction o’ Nightmare Moon’s elite eunuch guard.” Aeons claimed without hesitation. “Rumour was she always favoured the earth-ponies as guards ‘fer their hardiness.”

Dare processed that information before his pose slowly faltered. “Eunuch guards? As in... snip-snip?”

“Yup.” Aeons nodded.

“... movin’ away from this freaky-ass piece o’ work then.”

As Dare to Dream slowly backed away from the depiction of the eunuch pony, the Elements of Harmony shuffled closer looking around in different directions.

“Ah do wonder how we’re breathin’ all th’way out here though.” Applejack asked out loud as she looked around. It was clear she knew little about space flight, but even she was smart enough to know that air on the moon was supposed to be non-existent.

“I can answer that.” Aeons blurted out as he shot closer with a wide smile plastered over his face. His gaze was angled at Rarity however, who stood nearby. “See, it goes back to the original legend about Nightmare Moon.” Aeons began to explain:

“See everythin’ needs air to survive. Bunnies, birds, ponies... even immortal god-princesses. Uh... no smart-arse comment intended, Princess Luna.”

“None misinterpreted, Aeons Past. Please continue.”

“R-right. So the thing ‘bout banishin’ Nightmare Moon to the moon was that she needed ta’ survive. So Princess Celestia gave her a single breath of Equestria air. A magical breath so she ‘n she alone would be able to breathe on the moon’s surface to which she was banished, powerless ‘n alone. So legend says she built a temple with her own four hooves, and breathed the single breath of Equestria air into it so her lunar republic followers would be able to follow her to the moon and she could stave off the crushin’ loneliness.”

As he finished reciting the lesser known Nightmare Moon legend, Aeons smiled broadly while a few ponies stamped their hooves in applause.

“Okay, fine. How d’you explain the gravity?” Dare tested.

“Easy!” Aeons Past announced proudly... before his expression comically sank. “I have no idea.” His head shook from side to side.

“Don’t feel bad, darling.” Rarity reassured with a comforting pat on the leaf-green unicorn’s back. “We can’t know everything.”

“I can.” Dare sniffed, earning a scowl from the fashionista.

Meanwhile not too far away, Shining Armour, Prince Blueblood and Princess Luna exchanged agreeable nods.

“Princess, this chamber seems defensible and close to the Moonshine.” Shining reasoned. “I think this would be a good place to set up camp.”

“We are in agreement.” Luna nodded before raising her voice for the entire expedition to hear. “This will be our base camp. Everypony is responsible for their own tent.”

“I – of course – will require somepony to clean a section and erect my tent for me.” Blueblood announced typically.

Shining Armour’s eye twitched impatiently. So much for everypony seeing to their own tent. “I suppose I can see to it, sir.”

“Yo! Shiny,” Dare hollered as he cantered over the captain of the guard. “When you’re done with the gallant prince, I got some heavy equipment needs movin’.”

Shining gave a more agreeable nod. “Guards, give Dare a hoof with his things.” By his order the royal guard saluted and followed Dare back to the ship.

“Aeons, what you up to?” Dare called as he passed.

“Studyin’.” The unicorn said as he was nose-deep in a book he’d produced from his saddle-bags.

Ignoring that, Dare exclaimed: “Nothin’ useful? Good! Gimme some help with my gear!”

Giving an aggravated roll of his eyes, Dare’s friend tucked away his book and followed. “Wanna set up near ‘yer eunuch buddy?”

“... no.” Dare responded dryly before disappearing back into the docking tube.

There was something of a typical scramble. Everypony was herding back to the ship to raid the cargo hold in search of their tents and other personal things. Deciding to stay out of the herd while they trampled their way back to the Moonshine in the excitement of the moment, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy remained in the chamber designated for the camp.

They had both dressed accordingly for the expedition, provided from Rainbow Dash’s collection of Daring Do merchandise. Dash was wearing a tan pitch helmet, Fluttershy clad in a green vest and a set of saddle-bags containing what looked like various archaeological tools. Tucked under Rainbow Dash’s wing was a limited edition Daring Do oil-lantern, lit and illuminating the path before them.

“C’mon, Fluttershy. Now’s our chance.” Rainbow Dash encouraged.

“But... um... I’m not sure it’s safe.” Fluttershy said softly. “Shouldn’t we – you know – stay with the others?”

“C’mon! It’s perfectly safe.” Rainbow Dash reasoned as she wrapped an encouraging hoof around her friend’s neck, dragging the other Pegasus along. “If we wanna uncover all the cool stuff we’re gonna have to get ahead of everypony else!”

“Well... okay.” Fluttershy nodded. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited to be out with her friend on the road to discovery. It was just dark, and spooky beyond the main chamber. Keeping her tail tight along her flank and her stance low to hide her quivering as much as she could, the mare carefully followed the brash cyan Pegasus.

They followed a hallway branching out from the main chamber for a few dozen metres, Rainbow Dash sleuthing ahead and scanning her light over the smooth walls. The ground broke away from smooth marble, turning into reasonably evenly paved slates of black stone.

Soon the smooth walls ended and Rainbow Dash stopped as she spotted something.

The walls were adorned with crazy looking writing. The letters were just roughly etched curves, swirls and dots carved into the stone. It didn’t even resemble normal Equestrian. It wasn’t quite like the swirly, stylised script Griffins utilised, and it hardly looked like the brutal excuse for writing Diamond Dogs used. Without some kind of reference key, it would be impossible to decipher.

That was a line from Rainbow Dash’s favourite Daring Do novel, and despite not being able to read the mass of scribblings carved into the stone before her she couldn’t help feel the excitement well in her chest. She was out beyond where normal ponies had ever tread, discovering new languages and doing all the cool stuff Daring Do did in her stories.

“Flutters, check it out!” Rainbow Dash called with a breaking voice. “It looks like an ancient alien language. Oh, man this is so awesome!” she finished her sentence on an excited squeal.

Gingerly moved over, Fluttershy looked up at the script. She didn’t find it as awesome. Something about the way it sat there. It was almost mocking her inability to read it. She might have been able to figure it out if the letters stopped wobbling the way they did.

Rainbow had pulled out her pen and notepad and was jotting down sketches and notes of everything she could see. She had no idea why, again she only did it because she’d read about Daring Do taking notes whenever she was discovering lost civilisations. But somewhere in the back of her mind she figures she’d be able to give her notes to Twilight Sparkle, who might make more sense of them.

Fluttershy was ignoring her friend, glaring at the letters. They had turned from black to a deep crimson colour while they wobbled and swayed. Their cries were screeching in her ears. Like iron hooves scraping over a chalk-board. The noise was teeth-shatteringly painful. How was Rainbow Dash not hearing that? And how could she draw the symbols the way they wavered and dodged the eye, bleeding out of the walls...

“There is so much noise.” Fluttershy forced out through gritted teeth. Her ears flopped down as she pressed her fore-hooves over them in an attempt to block out the screaming. But it continued, throbbing and grating through her brain. “Ca-can’t... cant you hear it!?”

Rainbow Dash paused mid-note to blink and look at her. “What’s that Fluttershy?”

“All the anger and the noise.” Fluttershy groaned, wildly shaking her head. but that too proved futile as the letters continued searing through her clenched eyelids. The noise was unbearable now. “Too much noise. Turn it down.”

“Uhh, Fluttershy?I don’t hear anything. Hey, Fluttershy!”

Rainbow Dash’s voice ad faded, like she was walking away. How could she? How could Rainbow Dash just leave her like this, writhing in pain as the noise was hurting her? It was hurting her and nopony would help. “Screaming, itching in my ears. Turn it down.”

“Rainbow Dash, what’s going on over there?” a distant voice shouted.

“Tuuuuurn-it-doooooooown!” Fluttershy pleaded. The flashing symbols burned into her eyelids started re-configuring. They darted off to the left and right, stretching out and swelling into masses of deep red.

“I dunno.” Rainbow Dash blurted out in a panic. “Fluttershy is being a little strange. Fluttershy!?”

Two bright red sticks grew out of the darkness, twisting around each other into vicious points at the very tips. Then the spire turned down and stabbed her in the eyes.

“Turn... it... down!” Fluttershy was screaming at the top of her lungs now.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash called.

Hers wasn’t the only voice anymore. There was somepony else calling to her. A stallion, his voice filled with anger. But his anger didn’t match the fury of the screaming symbols in her brain. “Fluttershy!” he yelled, muted by the noise tearing out the pegasus’ ear-drums.

“TURN IT DOWN!” Fluttershy screamed as she ripped her eyelids open.

Turning her head she locked her teeth on the first object she could find, tasting the dry wooden handle of Rainbow Dash’s limited edition Daring Do archaeological pick-axe. Without thinking why or even considering implications behind her actions, she tugged the heavy object from her saddle-bag and swung it wildly with a shake of her head. She just wanted it to stop. Stop the noise. Stop it! STOP IT! ALL THAT MATTERS IS STOPPING THE NOISE!

The crude object of steel and wood swung directly over Rainbow Dash’s as she ducked just in time. The motion however clipped her hat, plucking it clear of her messy rainbow mane.

She instinctively shuffled backwards and out of reach as the pick-axe swung back in an attempt to take a chunk out of the pegasus’ face.“Whoa! Fluttershy!?” Rainbow Dash cried with surprise.

The following scream emanating from Fluttershy couldn’t have possibly come from the delicate, shy pony. She was kind, gentle and empathetic. Only the scream was filled with rage. Filled with a thirst for blood. She hardly sounded like a pony, or any kind of creature even. The noise of it would have sent a pack of rabid timberwolves whimpering for cover.

With a sturdy beat of her wings, Fluttershy launched closer, a bloodshot determination filling her eyes. A determination to open up Rainbow Dash’s skull to see what was inside-...

“HEY!!!” a voice bellowed in Fluttershy’s ear, travelling at about the same velocity as the hoof that made contact with her face. Pain seared for a split second through her whole head, her mouth suddenly going numb. A copperish taste lingered on her tongue as Fluttershy shook off the noise. It faded away as somepony finally turned it down as she had commanded... there was only the soothing quiet.

And then a soft ‘drip-drip-drip.’ Looking down, the butter coloured Pegasus saw small flecks of crimson fluid hit the paved floor under her face. The blood drooled from her lip, down from her nostrils before dripping clear of her face and splattering gently on the floor. Realising she was bleeding, her eyes welled up with tears, a mixture of pain and shock taking over her emotions.

Looking up, she saw there was a stallion standing in front of her with some crimson smearing his right foreleg... her blood having transferred onto his fetlocks where he’d bucked her in the face.

Dare to Dream darted forward, causing Fluttershy to shrink away in confusion. But it wasn’t her he was after. He kicked the pick-axe laying by her side out of reach before hopping away from the Element of Kindness in case she freaked out again.

He was breathing heavily, like he had sprinted a mile... or because he was angry. His frown certainly gave that away.

“The buck is your problem!?” Dare demanded loudly. Probably too loudly, considering Fluttershy’s vulnerable state.

She was shaking all over, quivering like jelly. She didn’t know what she had done, no memory of having done anything wrong. Why had Dare to Dream hit her? Why would anypony want to hit her?

It was all too much.

Bawling loudly, the pony turned and ran back towards the camp, ignoring the warm blood flowing from her nose and busted lip. She didn’t care what it looked like. She didn’t care about the pain. She just wanted to get away.

Her hoof falls were drowned out by Rainbow Dash calling out to her friend. “Fluttershy!” suddenly shaking with anger, the cyan Pegasus rounded on Dare to Dream with a glare. “Why did you do that?”

Dare coughed disbelievingly. “She was coming at you with a pick-axe!”

“You didn’t have to hit her in the face!”

“May I remind you she was swingin’ at you with a buckin’ pick-axe!?” Dare yelled back with double the volume. “Do you know what would have happened if she hit you in the face!?”

“Sheesh! You know it’s true what everypony says about you!” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily, her voice cracking a little. “You’re a grumpy, selfish stallion who doesn’t care about anypony’s feelings!”

Dare scoffed, hardly able to believe these were the thanks he was getting for saving the mare from becoming face-buddies with a rather dangerous digging-implement. “Hey, don’t change the subject away from the axe swingin’.”

Rainbow Dash was done though. She snatched up her Daring Do pick-axe and tucked it under a wing before galloping off after her crying friend. As she ran back towards where the rest of the expedition were setting up camp, she cast a glare back at the earth-pony with a final warning. “Just stay the hell away from my friends!”

Dare angrily ground his teeth with a sawing motion of his lower jaw. His eye was even twitching. The buck was wrong with those ponies? Were they normally so stupid or just when they were visiting one of the most dangerous environments known to ponykind? Dare couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of rules they’d broken by wandering off – just the two of them – across a potentially unstable ancient temple perched on the moon and surrounded by endless vacuum! Were they even aware of the expedition rules!? Of course not, they didn’t read the pre-mission paperwork!

“Tartarus take me now.” the earth-pony groaned tiredly.

And just then it seemed the pits of Tartarus were answering. There was a shuffling noise in the dark tunnel behind Dare. Looking, all he saw was darkness leading off away from the camp. The shuffling didn’t stop as he tried to make out the source of the sound. It was like a scuttling of many legs scrambling over themselves to carry something heavy away.

Turning on the spot, Dare aimed his light down the corridor... to see nothing. Just more winding corridor beyond the reach of his light.

And then the sound stopped...

Disregarding it as his imagination, the stallion calmly started walking back to where the camp was being erected.