The Mare in the Moon

by PseudoFiction

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Dark
Length: 15157

All systems are green. Ponies are going to the moon... but not everything goes smoothly...

We were looking for the light. The light that would guide all ponykind into a new era of space-faring civilisation. What we found… was only darkness…

Rated Teen for Swearing and Non-Graphic Violence.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-21 21:05:43 UTC

To the Moon [Day 0]

It had been years since they had seen her, the mare in the moon. She had once been a constant reminder of the darkness that had almost swallowed Equestria whole all those centuries ago. But it had also been an inspiration. A reminder that Princess Celestia would do anything to protect her faithful subjects. Even banish her own sister...

Many stories had evolved over those centuries about the mare in the moon. Ponies would sometimes gaze upward and fabricate their own stories. Like; the shadow of Princess Luna was hanging over them and protecting them. Or; the mare in the moon was a beautiful damsel waiting to be freed by a daring adventurer able to brave a lunar fortress rife with dragons and traps.

When Nightmare Moon had escaped from the moon on the summer sun celebration, the mare in the moon had vanished. In all, many ponies were disappointed.

Until tonight.

That night Equestria was treated to something special. The mare in the moon was back! Princess Luna and Princess Celestia had made the announcement earlier that evening, that Luna would be organising a meteor shower to replace that dark mark on the moon. To restore the mare in the moon for the sake of aesthetics.

At least, that was the official story.

Regardless, the stylised unicorn’s head, a dark pictogram many a pony had grown so accustomed to on the pale face of their moon, had been restored. And the restoration of the mare in the moon was not all Luna had in store.

The night sky was her stage. Splayed across it was her finest quartet symphony. Aurora borealis waved and shimmered in the night. Shooting stars streaked tails of glittering white on the black canvas. Her sky was jam-packed with stars...

She had – of course – loved the night like her very own baby-sister. Though, after several millennia, it would be inappropriate to call her sister a baby... knowing that didn’t stop her though. Luna was cute when she pouted.

Celestia smiled as she lowered her gaze from the night-sky, and the princess-of-the-sun briskly continued down the street.

The afghan wrapped around the alicorn’s slender neck with the hood pulled up to hide her horn and mane from view. Only the shadowy tip of her nose was visible. The long black scarf billowed on a magical breeze, covering over her wings and obscuring her cutie-mark from view. Though, under the shimmer of Princess Luna’s immaculate night-sky, there were very few Damanescus citizens who were not gazing upward at the star-spangled canvas of beauty.

In fact, there were only two ponies in particular not looking up. The first was Celestia. The second seemed to have retreated indoors.

Approaching the single shop down a narrow Damanescus alley, Celestia’s eyes noted it was the only shop front in the alley not shuttered down. The window was open, the door on a crack and the light from the oil-lamps within spilling out onto the uneven paving.

As Celestia moved briskly closer, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder to ensure she was not followed, the celestial princess peered in through one of the small square panes of glass. Inside was dim compared to any other workshop, but she had a clear view of what awaited her.

He is alone. Good. She thought to herself.

Her horn glowing in the darkness of night, she manipulated the shop’s door and stepped inside, out of the chill darkness. Her hooves thudded audibly on the wooden floors. Thanks to her height, the princess had to duck just to fit under the doorframe, and where she stood in front of one of the lamps she cast a long shadow over the interior of the shop.

Even when the door fell shut, rattling noisily in the loose hinges the owner did not look up. He just sat there behind a large workspace in the centre of the small shop. The surface was scattered with crinkly notepads, tools, coils of rope and wire, strange looking devices and a mug of coffee long chilled since the concoction was brewed that morning.

The earth-pony was perched on a tall stool, hunched over the model of what looked like some kind of funny shaped airship. His coat was a dark chestnut colour with a lighter shade of unshorn fetlocks, and his dark unkempt mane was a tangled mess, much like his tail. He was fairly light weight and a little gangly, but while he was built like one he was far from a foolish foal. His amber eyes had an experienced maturity to them, but he maintained the conventional looks of a young colt, even if his ears were a little unconventionally elongated beyond what ponies considered ‘normal.’ There was a darker shade of chocolate fur forming a shadow around his muzzle, and his concentrated expression was twisted into a scowl that told Celestia this stallion was short on patience.

Tearing her eyes from the stallion working tirelessly without distraction on his model, the princes angled her head back and let the hood of her afghan fall back. In a burst of every colour within the biological eye’s visible spectrum, her mane billowed loose in time with her tail. The magical aura took to a non-existent breeze as the tails of her scarf fell to the floor, revealing her elegant, feathered wings and the dazzling sunburst yellow cutie-marks adorning her slender flanks.

As she shook loose, revealing herself to the distracted stallion, Celestia took in the rest of the workshop with an interested grin.

Notes littered the shop, equations and diagrams calculating the effects of aerial friction and theories about the consistency of matter pinned across the walls, cork boards and scribbled across a variety of chalk-boards. There were star charts, element charts, maps of Equestria, diagrams of the planet, the sun and the moon complete with orbital rotations marked in dotted lines and arrows. There were drawings of various warped looking airships, diagrams of ponies wearing various protective looking suits. There were even models of said air ships and suits, even a few life-size helmets – prototypes no doubt – laying on some of the work benches among the loose wiring, bits and bobs and tools. Bits of string were connecting certain sheets of paper so the casual observer would be able to link one set of notes with another across the room.

The room was murky to boot, lit by several hanging oil lamps that cast flickering shadows around the shop.

To Celestia looked like chaos.

Though she figured to the pony who owned the shop it was organised chaos. The kind of chaotic mess a young colt ensured his bedroom was consistent of. The kind of mess among which you could find the smallest of objects on a whim. The kind of organisation that was utterly ruined by mothers who cleaned.

Celestia had after all – once upon a time – been a foal herself.

Returning her gaze to the chestnut earth-pony she realised he had still not looked up to greet her. Frowning a little, though her smile didn’t fade, Celestia lifted a gold-slippered hoof to her mouth and cleared her throat delicately.

At first he didn’t hear her soft ‘ahem,’ and Celestia had to repeat herself – louder this time.

Hearing her that time, the earth-pony still didn’t look up. Freeing up a hoof, he did however give her a courteous wave.

Opening her mouth, Celestia said in a warm motherly tone that commanded immediate respect; “This is Dare to Dream’s Workshop?”

“SimpleTech Solutions!” the proprietor corrected shortly without taking his eyes off what he was doing. He seemed to be calibrating the stabiliser fins on the model he was fidgeting with. And clearly, Celestia’s tone didn’t command immediate respect. “That’s what it says on the sign. Lookin’ to trade or just stare at my flank all day?”

Hadn’t he mentioned his flanks, Celestia never would have looked. Blinking hard a few times confounded, the ten-thousand year old, eternally wise god-princess who had seen and heard it all realised the stallion unwittingly and effortlessly caused her to check out his flank like she was an angsty school-filly.

Shaking it off with a surprised chuckle, Celestia cleared her throat once more and found her voice again. “Perhaps you don’t recognise me. I am Celestia.” She announced grandly.

The earth-pony in question, Dare to Dream very slowly lifted his eyes and looked at her. He scanned over her rosefish-white coat, took in the tall slender build of the princess while processing the horn and wings before eventually leaning to one side a little to inspect her cutie-mark. And then he slowly shook his head as if he had no idea who she was.

“The princess of Equestria.” Celestia tried, her proud stance drooping a little.

Still nothing... well, a twitch of Dare’s eye, but that didn’t really count as a reaction.

Celestia’s voice faltered this time as she found herself so confounded she could hardly believe this was happening. “The one who raises and lowers the sun?”

Again, a blank pause as Dare processed the princess’ appearance again.

“Hmmm, yeah. Sorry.” The colt clicked his tongue. “It’s not like I don’t know who you are, but I make it a personal mission to have as little interaction as possible with all-powerful god-princesses.”

“And why is that?” the god-princess asked in an amused tone.

“The universal coulda-woulda-shoulda law.” Dare said in a matter-of-factly tone before elaborating with an explanation. “You coulda turned me into a frog being all-powerful and the like. You woulda turned me into a frog were it not so obscenely rude to come into a pony’s workshop and tranfigurate them. And after you leave here, you’ll be thinkin’ to yourself ‘I shoulda turned him into a dung-beetle’.”

That drew a warm giggle from the princess. “Quaint.”

“Aren’t I just?” Dare grumbled sarcastically through a big toothy grin.

Sensing they were straying far off the topic Celestia wanted to cover, she stepped forward and gave an elegant twirl of her front hoof. “My dearest and most faithful subject,” she started, hoping the traditional formal compliments would put the earth-pony in a more agreeable mood. Had she known Dare better she would have known not to waste her breath. “I came here to tell you that I wish to send ponies to the moon.”

“Hah!” Dare laughed. “Don’t let your sister hear that.”

Celestia threw a glare silencing the earth-pony. He politely bowed to allow her to continue... but Dare was still sniggering softly.

“How about I get to the point?” Celestia suggested.

“How about?” Dare agreed.

“I’m putting a team together.” The princess explained. “Ponies from all over Equestria. This team will accompany a regiment of royal guardsponies and my sister Princess Luna on a journey.”

“A journey.”

Celestia nodded. “A journey to the moon.”

That shut Dare to Dream up with a shocked expression on his face. Sensing a victory, Celestia smiled.

“I thought that might catch your attention. You know, I was told you were a grouch, but until know I didn’t take anypony seriously.” Celestia chuckled, before leaning in to add: “And you’re not too big on the concept of respect, are you Dare to Dream?”

Dare scowled. “Princess, you wanna see me show you respect? Here’s a hint. Earn it! And you can start by gettin’ to tellin’ me how you expect to go to the moon and what’cha want from me!”

“Dare to Dream, you are a fine inventor. One of the finest in Equestria.” Celestia complimented honestly. “You have been parading across the land lending to the romantic notion ponies are perfectly capable of living their lives without magic. Even making a trip to the moon and back by conventional means.  And this is a trip I’m talking about requires exactly such a means. I can of course use my magic to send ponies to the moon, but only through a banishment spell. How are they supposed to get back? What Equestria needs from you... what I need from you is an airship...”

“Uh, no princess. Not an airship.” Dare scolded like he was lecturing a small child on the fundamentals of table-manners for the umpteenth time. “An airship, as the name states, is for flying through the air. Ya’ll need a spaceship. Space… ship.”

The alicorn smiled warmly. As a princess, and a celestial being older than time itself Celestia should have been offended by Dare’s tone and disrespect. But after having creatures of all shapes and sizes grovel at her hooves and hang on every word with respect and affection for a few centuries, Dare’s brutal demeanour was actually quite refreshing.

“So you can do it?” Celestia asked. “You can build a spaceship?”

“What? Did I stutter?” Dare snapped with a hint of smugness. “I’m Dare to buckin’ Dream! ‘Course I can built one. But what you’re suggestin’ here, is you wanna get ponies,” he jabbed a hoof in his chest, before pointing it up to the ceiling. “Into space and then back without magic. What you’re askin’ would cost millions… billions! And not to mention a crap-load of raw materials that would take years to extract ‘n gather. Oh – and of course there’s only one pony with the know how to pull all this off… yours truly.” Dare sighed and tried to calm himself down, but his tone didn’t change much. “Princess, it’s a waste of time. I’ve searched high and low for investors to fund my space programme… to no avail.”

“And now you’ve found me.” The princess said simply. “Whatever the cost, I will pay it. Gold is no issue. And any raw materials or horsepower you require, Equestria will provide it.”

Dare’s narrow eyes suddenly sprang to the size of saucers with a light ‘sproing’ noise when he realised what the princess was suggesting. A blank cheque and unlimited resources to make a space program work? “Saywhatnow?”

“What?” came Celestia’s turn to sound a little complacent while she smiled warmly. “Did I stutter?”

The Mare in the Moon

Day 0 – To the Moon

[Three years later...]

Cheers exploded across the crowds gathered in the Canterlot streets in time with the puffs of confetti and fireworks lighting up the late-afternoon sky. Streamers adorned every street as the multi-coloured masses writhed and congregated in the shadow of the mighty airship docked on the palace docks. It was like a city-wide birthday party, complete with balloons, ribbons and music. The sounds of a thousand pony voices and stamping hooves barely drowned out the steady throbbing rhythm of the music pounding out of the speakers dotted all over the city.

Festivities such as this had not shaken the foundations of Equestria since Princess Celestia’s unobtainium-jubilee.

That day was all about the airship parked outside Canterlot palace. It had taken three years to complete, and it wasn’t even an airship. It was a spaceship. The first of its kind in all Equestria. The only of its kind on the entire planet!

The craft was simply massive, a rounded jigsaw puzzle of interlocking plates and sheets of metal hull riveted down over a solid steel skeletal structure within. The bulbous design with a stubby nose was not one many airships would opt for lack of aerodynamics. But aerodynamics counted for naught in space... at least, that was the theory.

On board was one deck for the crew, and a massive space in the belly for cargo. On either flank of the ‘tail’ were small upward angled nacelles mounted with large, rounded rocket boosters, with another mounted flush along the belly. The only viewport visible were several forward facing rounded windows mounted high above the nose.

The hull was painted a sunset-yellow with a segment of bright red on the nose, various notes and hazard warning along key points along the craft. And in big, clear, midnight-black letter the christened name of the vessel was painted along the side.

The Moonshine. Equestria’s first lunar vessel, held stationary in the docks by a glittering magical aura. She was all ready to put some ponies on the moon.

And with any ship-launch – air or space – there was of course a parade for the brave crew.

“You’re so clever, Twilight Sparkle!” with a blush as vibrant as the pink highlight running through her dark purple mane and tail, the lavender unicorn gave a sheepish smile and a humble wave.

“Rarity is the prettiest pony ever!” the stark-white unicorn – much accustomed to such praise – elegantly touched up the curls of her bouncy violet mane with a blinding smile.

“Sign my shirt, Rainbow Dash!” the cyan Pegasus wasted no time in snatching up the nearest quill she could find before dashing over to the ponies in question to sign their ‘I saw the sonic-rainboom’ t-shirts. As she moved with lightning speed, she trailed a blurry streak of her rainbow mane and tail through the air.

“We love you, Pinkie Pie!” in an explosion of confetti the smiling hot-pink earth-pony bounced excitedly on the spot, producing balloon animals and hoof-fulls of candy to scatter over her fans. Where said treats appeared from was a mystery to everypony.

“Can I have a picture of you with my pet bunny, Fluttershy!?” to nopony’s surprise the butter coloured Pegasus squeaked and cowered behind her pink mane, diving for cover behind one of her hardier friends. The beige and blonde earth-pony didn’t seem to notice as she reared up and tipped her earthen-brown with a distinct ‘Yee-haw!’

“App-le-jack! App-le-jack!” was the chanting response.

Such were only some of the cries wafting over the crowds as they lined the street, waving flags, throwing confetti, blowing whistles, waving their hooves and cheering on the ‘hero’s-float’ drifting down Canterlot’s main street. From bow to stern the long float was scattered with confetti, adorned with brightly coloured frills and trailing streamers in its wake.

The Elements of Harmony perched at the front were unlike the other brave astronauts hoof-selected by Celestia to pioneer Equestria’s space-race. The Elements of Harmony had protected Equestria from danger on multiple occasions, drawing the land back from the brink at the darkest moments before dawn. They needn’t be selected by anypony, for Fate herself had chosen them.

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and last but not least, Fluttershy were capable ponies who could overcome any obstacles together. When these inseparable friends banded together nothing could stop them. They each represented the defining foundations of friendship, and it fell upon them to ensure the success of the Moonshine’s first lunar trip, and the safe return of her crew.

Further aft of the float, a particular chestnut earth-pony eyed them through the semi-transparent holo-board with a confused frown. The stallion was clad in a pair of black saddle bags and a collar that held a holo-pod against his narrow chest. The device glowed, projecting a pane of light before his face allowing him to read through the Elements of Harmony’s individual personnel profiles.

Having built the Moonshine – with a little help of course – Dare to Dream had reserved a seat on board as helmsman and systems specialist. As such he had requested personnel files so he could learn who he’d be working with on the lunar mission. He’d loaded all details into his latest invention. He called it a ‘computer.’ A small chest mounted device used to store digital media and data, accessible through a holographic hard-light interface projected from the holo-pod.

Flicking his hoof over the board, he scrolled through the profiles eying each mare as their file flashed before his eyes.

It wasn’t just the Elements of Harmony that bothered Dare. It was the whole crew.

“I don’t get it.” The chestnut stallion mumbled sideways to a leafy green unicorn standing beside him.

Aeons Past pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose a little further, brushed the fiery red bangs of his mane out of his face and returned some of the waves to the crowd. Hearing his friend under the thrum of the fireworks and cheers, the buff unicorn glanced sideways at Dare to Dream.

“Agh, it’s easy.” Aeons assured in his thick accent. “Ye’ jus’ lift ‘yer forearm ‘n wave. ‘Ere, lemme help ye’ out.”

As Aeons tried to lift up Dare’s foreleg and help him wave to the crowds, the earth-pony pulled away and smacked his friend upside the head in responce.

“Y’know for a walkin’ reference guide, you’re a dumb-ass.” Dare scolded a laughing Aeons Past.

“So I’ve been told.” The Scottish unicorn responded. “So what don’che get?”

“This! What is this? Publicity day?” Dare waved a hoof towards the six mares soaking up the crowd’s adoration, then re-activated his holo-pod and showed Aeons Past the other personnel profiles. “And check it out. Look at this crew Princess Luna selected.”

Aeons reached out and flicked between some of the profiles and shrugged. “What’s wrong with it?”

Dare scoffed. “The magical engineerin’ team and the medical staff I understand. I can dig the catering staff and the guardspony security detail. But construction crew actin’ as structural surveyors?” the stallion exclaimed. “An aesthetic redevelopment team? And then there’s your team, Aeons. Lunar Republic Historians? Shouldn’t you be witherin’ in a museum preachin’ history or some-such?”

Aeons chuckled. “Aye, it’s good to be hangin’ with ye’ too, buddy.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Dare growled sheepishly. “But these teams are a little dysfunctional don’t you think?”

“In my defence, we are goin’ to the moon.” Aeons defended. “Nightmare Moon worshippers we’re rumoured ‘ta have sent themselves to the moon. Time ‘ta dig up the evidence. Logically, who better than me ‘n me boys?”

Dare rolled his eyes. “Don’t get logical with me, mister.”

“B’sides. Look at ‘em, all heroic ‘n stuff!” Aeons Past waved to the mares at the front of the float. “Ponies need heroes, Dare. Gives ‘em hope.”

In the meantime the float had come to a halt at the foot of the Canterlot palace. The crowds had thinned, keeping their distance to observe the spectacle to come. The palace grounds were home to technical crew and guards only. Dare had spent months fully briefing and drilling his ground crew on all the checks to run on the Moonshine and her systems prior to launch. The final preparatory checks were being finished off as the ponies filed off the parade float and the crew began climbing the wooden scaffolds and steps leading up to the docks in which the spaceship sat.

As they passed, the guardsponies on watch stiffened and raised their front hooves into saluted. The technical staff stepped aside and nodded greetings as they filed off the scaffolding. In all the sixty-six ponies that made up the Moonshine’s crew reached the top scaffolding where a trio of ponies awaited them.

The tallest two were unmistakeable. The expedition leader, Princess Luna stood like an official beside her looser, more relaxed older sister – Celestia. At their side with his chest out and a goofy grin on his face was the head of security clad in a suit of dark purple and gold armour.

“Twiley!” Captain Shining Armour called with a broadening smile. The nappy-haired captain of the guard was nearly tackled as the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle bounced headlong into him like a happy-guided rocket.

“Bee-bee-bee-eff-eff!” the lavender unicorn exclaimed as she hugged the captain tightly.

Watching while the rest of the crew walked up the gangplank and boarded through the airlock on the side of the Moonshine, Dare threw a frown at Aeons. “Bumblebee-what?” the inventor asked.

Aeons snorted. “Big-brother-best-friend-forever. Duh! Ye’ should get out more.” The unicorn suggested.

“Phah! I’m about to go to the buckin’ moon! How much more ‘out’ can you get?”

“Clearly not far enough.” Said a particularly smug voice. It made Dare sound excessively humble, and grates so much on their senses both the earth-pony and his unicorn buddy flinched excessively.

Eyes twitching, the duo watched a particular white unicorn with a bouncy blonde mane canter past them. He was clad in his finest suit, complete with a black bow-tie, neatly shorn fetlocks and perfectly groomed fur. As handsome as the stallion was though, there was an air of ‘not quite right’ about him.

“Hey there, Blueblood.” Dare greeted with tiredly drooped eyes.

Stopping in his tracks so a smaller mare crashed headlong into his rear end, Prince Blueblood turned to look directly at Dare to Dream. Disgruntled, the mare huffed and stepped around Blueblood to mount the gangplank.

“Excuse me?” Celestia’s nephew – most likely twice removed – sniffed.

Dare faked a grin and bowed deeply. “Hello there, Prince Blueblood.”

Watching the two ponies carefully, Blueblood lifted his nose and continued on up the gangplank. “Better.”

That was another anomaly on the crew list to strut on by. Somehow Prince Blueblood had the honour of being second in command of the mission. Having an all-powerful god-princess aunty and mountains of gold surely had its perks. But since he had paid for the majority of Moonshine’s production, Dare had no choice but swallow his stubbornness and be polite. Of course, once the landed safely back in Equestria, Dare intended on doing some severe catching up on irritating Blueblood as often as possible.

For now though – he exercised extreme self-control to an extent he even surprised himself.

“Actually a bit of a bummer we have a security team comin’ with us.” Dare sighed.

“How’d ye’ figure?”

Dare smiled at his friend. “I was fixin’ on throwing that ass out the airlock shortly after we break orbit.”

Aeons Past laughed savouring that gorgeous mental image of Prince Blueblood swelling up and drifting comically lost in a void of space. “Ho-ho-yes! Tha’s a good thought. What would happen to ‘im out in space anyway?”

“Nopony knows.” Dare shrugged. “But I’m itchin’ to find out.”

“Nopony is being thrown out the airlock.” Bellowed the traditional royal Canterlot voice as the princess of the night cantered past and made her way up the gangplank. “You had best remember this, Dare to Dream and Aeons Past.”

“Spoil-sport!” the duo called simultaneously after Princess Luna.

Following her were the distinct six mares that made up the Elements of Harmony before Dare and Aeons decided they’d best follow. There was just one stallion missing from the crew other than those two though.

“You shiny, Dare? Aeons?” Shining asked.

“We’re shiny. Are you shiny, Shiny?” Aeons checked leaning sideways to look at a certain mare watching the captain of the guard.

“I’m always shiny.” Shining Armour chuckled before turning on the spot to look to a singular pony watching from a nearby palace balcony.

She was well within ear-shot where she stood, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza gave an excited wave. She also quickly blew a loving kiss to her husband, Captain Shining Armour. Shining smiled and quickly returned the gesture.

Having spent three years under Captain Shining Armour’s protection at the palace while he worked on building the Moonshine, it was only natural for the duo to be on first-name speaking terms at the very least. Though, Dare and Shining’s missus? Maybe not so much.

Still, there wasn’t any real hate there. Just... irritation. Dare had certain effects on certain ponies was all.

“Let’s get it done, gentlecolts.” Shining encouraged with a hoof-bump.

Aeons and Dare respectively met the bump before Shining Armour led the way up the ramp. Dare followed on the rear, slower than the rest. A deep inhale later he suddenly realised he was really doing it. He was going to go up in a spaceship. His spaceship so to speak.

“Dare to Dream!” a mare’s voice called out to him.

Stopping at the top of the gangplank, Dare turned on the spot to see it was Princess Cadence waving to him. “Yeah!?” he called back.

She pointed at Shining Armour checking the bulkheads at the airlock behind the earth-pony. “You bring that stallion back to me!”

Dare gave Shining a glance, then nodded with a mock salute to the princess. “Aye-aye, ma’am!” best not to provoke the beast with a snarky comment.

With that he backed into the Moonshine and watched the gangplank retract into the personnel scaffolding. At the same time the heavy bulkhead folded over and clicked in place, sealing the air-lock and blocking the view of Canterlot palace. There was no more fresh air blowing on his face. There was no more music. There were no more noises of the city or the cheering crowds. That was it. They were sealed in. Pegasi, unicorns, earth-ponies and alicorn alike. Only one way to go from there.

Straight up.

Dare left and sealed the empty airlock behind him to observe the spacious crew deck. Most of the Moonshine was cargo-room, but that didn’t mean the pony’s only readily accessible space was uncomfortably cramped. They had a reasonable space to deal with, a long chamber with an elegantly curved roof of double protective hull-plating. At the very front was an arched dashboard covered in buttons, dials and switches, right at the forward facing viewscreens overlooking open Equestria mountains beyond. Behind the consoles was a single pony-shaped crash-seat with a limp harness hanging in the cocoons. Along the starboard wall were more crash-seats of identical design for the rest of the crew, small rows of three stretching all the way to the back of the compartment. The opposite wall was home to cubbyholes and lockers for personal-affects, food-preparation facilities, conference tables and more. The trip to the moon once they broke orbit was expected to take several hours, so Dare had integrated comfort into the crew-deck’s design.

Below their hooves however was a reasonably easy to access area containing the engines and other mechanical parts, and a vast space reserved for cargo.

It seemed everypony had found their seats, taking the example of a contingent of official looking guards at the back of the compartment. They all sat straight up, stark white pegasi, dark grey unicorns and khaki earth-ponies each clad in gold plated armour with their helmets riding low over the brow.

“Okidokie! Everypony found their seats?” Dare called as he made sure he was the only pony still standing. “Make sure your harness is on properly, instructions are printed on the labels!” technically, Dare had made everything fool-proof. Though he knew that when something was made to be fool-proof a better fool was invented shortly after.

Still, there were no issues as Dare cantered up and down the rows to ensure everyone was buckled up and ready. Several safety checks later Dare was moving towards the front of the ship. It was almost time to go. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t buzzing with excitement.

The earth-pony threw himself in his seat and leaned back. For a moment all was tranquil. The idle chatter going on behind him was strangely muted. All he could feel was the blood pounding in his ears, the soft cushions under his body and the smooth finish under his front hooves as he ran them over the main control console.

“Are we there yet!?” an energetic voice cried as her head popped up over Dare’s head rest.

The stallion violently jolted with surprise as the candy pink mare hovered over his shoulder. Turning his head slowly his un-amused gaze locked to hers. Not sensing the hint, Pinkie Pie just kept giving a big toothy grin.

“You should be strapped into your seat.” Dare said, before mumbling under his breath: “Don’t make me get the strait-jacket.”

With a soft ‘whip’ the mare retreated behind the chair before her head slid out into view from under Dare’s seat. Looking down he locked his laser-guided scowl on to her again.

“I know, but I’m just so excited!” the energetic pony cried. “I don’t even remember the last time I was this excited... well, maybe there was that time Applejack broke a Pinkie-Promise, and I may have gotten over-excited and gone all Terminator on everypony, but I’m sure this kind of excitement won’t lead to any of that, though we are going to space, so hopefully nopony breaks a Pinkie-Promise or I may have to go xenomorph on their flanks and start bursting out ponies’ chests and stuff and I’d prefer not to because that would be totally messy...” she just sort of went on about nothing like that for about a full minute.

Celestia’s sweet flanks! Dare thought to himself, hoping Celestia couldn’t read his thoughts and confirm he had indeed been staring at her luscious flanks on numerous occasions these past three years. She’s a friendly diabetic explosion of epic proportions waitin’ to happen!

Some of her friends giggled. Hopefully because of the Element of Laughter’s antics and not because Dare was accidentally broadcasting his thoughts of Celestia’s luscious thighs.

Dare rolled his eyes. “Pinkie Pie, right?” – the glucose overdosed pony nodded vigorously at Dare – “Let me put it this way. Princess Celestia is going to use her mighty telekinesis to pick up this ship and throw us into space. We will be travelling very fast, very suddenly. If you fall out of the intertia-dampening field fitted in your seat... are your bones made out of jell-o?”

“No!” pinkie Pie giggled. “But I wish they were! That would be AWESOME! I love jell-o!”

“Pinkie, every bone in your body would be ground to dust by the gees we’re about to pull.” Dare lowered his voice to an ominous whisper. “So go sit down.”

Despite his best efforts to scare the mare, Pinkie Pie just kept giggling before she gave him a salute. “Oki-doki-loki, Cap’n Dreamy!” with a pop she slipped back under Dare’s seat and re-appeared in her own chair, pulling her harness over her chest.

As she strapped in though, another one of the Elements of Harmony piped up. Twilight Sparkle was on the brink of tearing off her harness and galloping up to Dare to Dream.

“Inertia-dampening fields? That sounds fascinating!” the unicorn exclaimed excitedly with her ears perked up and a glimmer of interest in her eyes. “How in Equestria did you generate those? Magical objects sometimes ha-...”

“No magic!” Dare snapped casually called over his shoulder at the mare. “And save your questions! Right now I got buttons and what-not to press!”

It was no joke. Dare had a whole checklist of systems to engage. He was punching buttons all across the dash, flicking on switches above his head and inspecting dials with status lights. Green flashed across the board, his ground crew once again making him proud.

As he worked with an ever growing confident grin, the earth-pony tapped on his holo-pod and accessed the internal communications device. Essentially using what he called radio-waves he was able to link two ponies in an audio and/or visual conversation across vast distances.

A status board lit up green beside Dare’s face as he established a link with the palace’s observatory and heard Princess Celestia’s voice as if she were standing right beside him.

“... one more minute.” Her voice said.

Smiling excitedly, Dare still felt a weight on his heart. “I really wish I could’ve gotten some more time to get the scram-boosters to work without explodin’ ‘n all.” He said. “Then we wouldn’t need any magic to put this pony in orbit.”

“Are you worried about me using my magic to launch the ship, Dare to Dream?”

“Honestly? Uh... yeah! It has been a few thousand years since you’ve thrown anythin’ in the direction of the moon. What if you’re rusty?”

“Show some faith in our immortal god-princess sister, Dare to Dream!” Came Princess Luna’s royal voice somewhere behind the stallion. Celestia sounded a giggle over the comms, having heard that.

Dare scoffed back at the mare of the night. “Oh, well ex-cuuuuuuuuuuse me, princess.”

With a light mumble, the pony flipped the last switch and the engines ignited. Spark plugs jolted out a static spark as the fuel injectors pumped highly flammable rainbow-essence into the pistons. Timed, controlled explosions worked the pistons guided through the engine cylinders, in turn working the cranks  which continuously twisted a shaft connected to a generator. Electrical energy was immediately generated, taking over from the low-power backup batteries and brought the rest of the ship to life. Lights flashed on along the ceiling before dimming to give a calm atmosphere. More lights and dials flashed to life on Dare’s console.

Everypony quaked in preparation for what was to come.

“Here’s where the fun begins!” Dare whooped.

Princess Celestia gave an affirmative grunt before the Moonshine was consumed in glittering light. The inertia-dampening fields did their job as predicted. Dare hardly felt the gees as the countryside turned to a blur. But he couldn’t shake the feeling of being sucked into the back of his seat. His stomach churned and turned as Celestia’s magic lifted the spaceship clean into the air at an incredibly steep angle. His inner ear told him he was leaned back severely, and Dare’s eyes confirmed the notion. All he saw was sky. It grew darker with every passing moment, and it took the pony a moment to realise he wasn’t passing out.

They were breaking through the upper atmosphere. The sky turned from blue, to dark purple, to black. Stars winked to life, no longer obscured by the sun’s light breaking on the atmosphere.

Somewhere at the back were a few retching sounds, drowned out by a deafening “Yee-haw!” from a certain Stetson wearing mare. The inertia-dampening fields were good, as in they took the danger out of accelerating to a few thousand miles per hour in the space of six seconds, but they weren’t perfect. Some of the acceleration, jumps and bumps were felt, enough to give the ponies the ride of their lives.

“Breakin’ through the upper atmosphere now!” Dare reported loudly for both the the crew and Celestia, still levitating them beyond the planet’s breathable air. “Life support, stable! Speed...” he double checked and nodded. “Green! Trajectory... Tia, our angle is still too steep!” Dare called. “Shallow us out a bit, just like on the diagrams I left you!”

“I... I’m trying!” Came Princess Celestia’s strained voice. “T-the Moonshine is q-quite a b-bit heav-heavier than the t-test r-r-rock-rockets!”

Dare cringed checking his instruments. According to his displays and a few mental calculations, if Celestia didn’t level them out they’d shoot out of orbit way too soon. That would mean they’d miss the moon completely. Then Dare would have to use the boosters to make severe corrections, and that might drain their fuel to the point they might not make the return trip.

Before he could stop himself, Dare came to the realisation he had just said all of the above out loud.

“That sounds like a problem.” Came Aeons’ voice.

“Problem? Nah!” Dare chuckled. “We’re just goin’ to experience a very interestin’ trip!”

“Define interesting!”

So Dare activated manual controls and defined as bluntly as he could: “Sweet Celestia, we’re all gonna die!?”

A few ponies screamed, as the structure around them groaned and creaked. As Celestia was desperately tugging at her magic, trying to bring the Moonshine’s rate of ascent under control the whole ship rattled and shook. The princess was trying desperately to level them into a stable orbit, but at the same time she didn’t want to pull too hard and change their vector so suddenly it tore the craft in half.

Dare decided it was time to lend a hoof. “Plan-B, princess! Engaging thrusters! I’m gonna give you a few seconds burn to bring the nose to the event-horizon! That should help!”

“W-w-was that e-e-even e-eq-equine?”

Dare finished calculating his timing and stirred the thruster fuel and hovered a hoof over the ignition. Double checking his mental charts and figures, the pony gritted his teeth and slammed his hoof down on the button.

Gas burst from the ports on the underside of the Moonshine’s nose. The forward viewports lit up brilliant white as Celestia focused all her energy altering their trajectory. The whole ship shook violently, much more violently than before...

And then just like that, like a switch was thrown it stopped. Dare’s hoof was hovering above the ignition button again. The thrusters had cut out. The white light had faded from the windows. The strain of acceleration faded as their gees levelled out. The Moonshine floated in a calculated orbit around the planet. Dare checked his dashboard. They were running a little hot, but in exactly ten minutes they’d slip out of orbit and begin traversing the space between the planet and the moon.

Just as planned.

Dare sighed, slumping back in his seat. “Faith restored, princess.” he quipped.

There was a giggle over the comms. “Good to hear.” Was Celestia’s breathless reply. Dare patched her into the intercom so she could address everypony. “Good luck, everypony. We’ll be ready for your return in thirty days.”

“So will we.” Luna assured. “Moonshine signing off.”

Dare clicked off the comms to save power. From here on out they’d need to stretch every resource they could. He’d ensured the expedition double-packed on everything, but he’d rather be stingy and return to Equestria with plenty to spare than get halfway home to run out of the essentials.

There were numerous metallic clicks as ponies undid their harnesses and drifted free of their seats. Many distressed cries echoed through the crew deck as the ponies discovered zero gravity for the first time.

“Aaaaaaah! Dare! What the buck!?” Aeons cried as he tumbled free and crashed softly into ceiling.

Dare rolled his eyes. “Calm down everypony! The weightlessness is normal! And you’d have known that if you’d actually read the pre-mission documentation!” he undid his own harness and very softly kicked free of his seat. Whirling around, he caught himself on the backrest of his seat to observe the scene behind him.

The pegasi seemed immediately adept at zero-gravity motion. They just gently flapped their wings and were sent rocketing in the direction they wanted to move. One particular earth-pony seemed to know what she was doing though.

“Weeeeeeeee!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she paddled her legs wildly to propel herself into an endless backwards-somersault.

Aeons Past in particular looked greener than usual, floating upside-down and using both hooves to clamp his mouth shut to resist the urge to up-chuck into zero-gravity. In retrospect, Dare should have foreseen the possibility of ponies getting sick and could have come up with a better remedy than the ‘puke-bags’ stowed between the seat cushions.

Drifting back around, Dare looked out of the viewport to spot a sight he had been waiting to behold.

Dare’s home planet of Equus sat there, partially in view along the top frame of the view port. He had to crane his head to see more of the gargantuan orb, but even still it wouldn’t all fit in the window. Masses of blue ocean were broken up by extensive landscapes of contoured green and sandy yellow.  Flecks of glistening white cloud reflected the sun’s light and gave the impression the whole thing was lit from the inside.

In all, the awe inspiring sight made Dare feel very-very small. Like he was only a grain of sand on an endless beach. But he didn’t feel any less significant.

It was a bit smug to say – or think even – but it was thanks to Dare they were there. Sure, Celestia had been the one to put them in orbit... but the ship had been designed and built by Dare to Dream and his hoof-selected ground-crew.

Though he didn’t care about recognition very much. He cared more about being there. Where he floated observing the view... it was good enough for Dare.

“Enjoying the view?” an inquisitive mare’s voice asked.

“I’ve waited my entire life to be here.” Dare whispered in awe. “Ever since I was a foal I dreamt of-...” realising he was rambling, the stallion frowned and looked to his side.

Hovering beside him as an easily recognisable mare. The Element of Magic was known for her curiosity, and the spark of interest in her eyes as she watched Dare was unmistakeable.

“Who are you?” the stallion suddenly snapped despite the fact he knew who she was. His mind was momentarily blank and he couldn’t for the life of him recall her name.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle.” The unicorn said in a chipper tone. “My brother told me about you. You’re Dare to Dream! You designed and built most of this ship!”

“So?”

“W-well...” Twilight was taken aback a little. “It’s a fascinating feat of engineering. I’d love to know how it works and how everything fits together.”

Dare rolled his eyes. He remembered Princess Celestia’s faithful student now. She was a magical prodigy. Dare doubted she’d have any interest in the Moonshine when he revealed there was no magic whatsoever involved in the ship’s operation. It was all science.

“It’s a lot of complicated science.” Dare grumbled simply.

“Oh, I love science!” Twilight Sparkle beamed. “I believe that when magic and science go hoof-in-hoof the results are highly beneficial.”

“Yeah, that’s nice.” Dare sighed, pretending to listen.

“So, uh... you were saying about the inertia-dampners?”

Dare frowned. “I wasn’t. Beat it will’ya, toots? You’re ruining my moment.”

“H-hey!”

Twilight Sparkle could only complain as she span out of control. Dare had crudely planted a hoof on her forehead and shoved her gently away, sending the mare tumbling across the crew compartment of the Moonshine. Despite being rather comical to watch, it was also kind of a mean thing to do.

Dare didn’t care very much though. He just drifted in place at the helm, holding out his forelegs wide to either side as if to embrace the world before happily mumbling to himself: “I’m king o’ the ‘verse.”

The planet slid out of view and he spotted a pale orb floating far off across a few thousand miles of space. That was their destinations. They were well on their way to the moon.

World Away [Day 1]

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.