Chapter 16:

I did keep a smile for a good few days after the Pinkie incident realizing she hadn’t made her way back (goodness knows how) I kept thinking how much I wanted to meet her if we go with the ‘viewing parts of the multiverse’ theory about Lauren Faust – then I’d like to think Pinkie can somehow see at least a good few herself!

The last stages of construction had quickly fitted together I was quite surprised about how many ponies had the correct skills and security – probably due to their better honesty and secret keeping – especially if they all pinkie promised, I managed a chuckle drinking down some water in my Kitchen. I heard a ‘pop’ in my living room, I walked through the door to find Luna looking quite tired but she gave me a very warm smile I hugged her gently “are you ok?”.
“I am quite alright I have… been busy during the organization of this endeavor,” she released me from the hug “Tea your majesty?” in my best Queen’s English she giggled but shook her head instead sitting on my sofa and tapping a hoof in a most human-like gesture “thank you but no we are soon to depart I will be taking the evening off to rest and then you need to get into the ship tomorrow I was wondering if you would like to have a special tour of Equestria’s landmark cities?”

My face lit up “it would be a pleasure!” Luna giggled and we ‘popped’ the sun was still up I did a quick look around “is this ok?” Luna Nodded opened up her wings putting one down towards the floor, “it is fine and yes before you ask you are probably lighter than a Minotaur so I can carry you remember wings and magic are used for our flight,”

“AWESOME,” I got on gently her warm fur that melted into feathers was odd like a shorthaired cat fur with powerful muscles that then lead to something like an Owl’s feathers reminding myself not to touch between or around the wing joints I sat back further than say a horse over the rear legs, I lifted one leg slowly only to look up to see Luna’s face deadpanning in a cute way “told you you’re lighter than a minotaur…,” I raised an eyebrow “no I am not explaining not today at least my curious human,” she grinned instinctively I gripped her hair only to find it was like solid mist gripping it I almost let go from instinct re gripping it as we flew high into the Equestrian sky “…wow,” Luna straightened into a glide before turning her head towards me focusing her horn “I thought your species could fly?” smiling oddly at Luna she turned her head back to in front “usually inside a huge metallic structure… this… this is simply magnificent scary but wonderful,” we flew for a short while enjoying the views of rolling valleys and wide open spaces, we flew over what I assumed to be Manehatten its sheer size doing our version justice however there were 5 rivers that carved blue streaks through the city instead and well as you know there was a statue of liberty a mare holding a flame to guide those in search of freedom.
We spent most of the night flying around the country before swooping in to buzz ponyville, quite thankfully RD remained out of site allowing us to glide through the sky looking at the town below, with not many buildings the same some things looked exactly like the show such as the library the bakery wasn’t as picturesque as the show but still crazy as far as architecture goes it didn’t have rounded or curved walls it was like a gingerbread house still but as if the icing was painted on instead of 3d’ish like in the show.

The night began to dissipate turning shades of blue and greys as we flew back towards the base of the mountain at the base a small line of light opened and we flew into the hangar in which my home was held, a jaw opening experience as we landed softly into the center of the hangar next to the now completed ship, odd but slightly homely it was a feat to behold, large yet without complexity it seemed like magic and technology had truly come together.
I got off Luna’s back giving her a quick bow “thank you for that; I shall not forget that easily,” Luna blushed a little bowing in kind we walked together towards the ship. “You will have to remain within the ship on your own for a day then 2 hours more as myself and the unicorns lift the ship into orbit do you need anything?”

I suck in air and breathe deep “air might be nice this time oh and could you just put me into a sleep until it’s time to let me out? Otherwise I’ll get bored haha,” Luna obviously remembered the incident and nods looking a little shocked perhaps the joke was a little close to the bone as it were, she agreed and teleported us inside to find myself face to face with Luna, Tia and Twilight “didn’t realize I was getting a re-union p…” I didn’t get a chance to finish as a hoof pressed on my mouth.

“really if you knew about our world that word acts like a summoning spell for a very pink pony!” Twilight explained looking in rather odd spaces for any signs of her friend. “er… yes right,” “Better keep quiet for now then,”

I was given a final check of my breathing apparatus, my core systems and magical amulets were checked and charged, as requested Luna put me in the storage and I snuggled into my suit she placed her horn on my head putting me out without so much as a whisper.

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“WAKE THY SELF UP THOU ARE NOT DEAD THOU ART NOT SEEING THE END THOU ARE ALIVE DEX!”

I bolted upright slamming my head upon Luna’s chest falling back down I realized I was breathing heavily sweating and by the looks of things scaring both Luna and 5 Unicorns it was at that moment I changed to a smile, I was floating, weightless this magical sense that I knew could only happen in a place where gravity was relatively zero Luna managed an awkward smile “Thou seem better now correct?” I nodded “we’re in space… I’M IN SPACE!” I managed to scare the other 5 unicorns back a little one even copying Shining amour’s technique if only to his front in a half sphere… I relaxed breathing in deeply beaming at them they seemed to relax Luna smiled but it hid worry I was sure to get a good questioning later or now.

“Well I should introduce you – this is fireblitz,” pointing to a unicorn with a brown mane and yellow fur his cutie mark a symbol of a tunnel; “he is our chief tunnel and underground engineer owns underminer industries in the northern mountain territories,” I waved his eye twitched slightly then looked to his hoof then to wave back.

“This…” pointing to the pony half surrounded in shielding “ is Highland Heart he is a unicorn from the royal guard, he has training in many fields and was recommended by Celestia herself. He has many skills including shields and levitation that were in demand on this mission.” I waved to him putting up a salute to the soldier he raised a hoof unexpectedly quickly lowering his shields and saluting me he was a mixture of grey white fur and a slightly lighter than grass green mane.

“Nuc’s assistant and daughter crucible fire she has been kept up to date on your technology, mixing magic with Human tech and has the best understanding of multi level magic… apart from myself on board.” I was about to raise a hand to wave “please just talk already this is getting a little slow I know about you; you know about me a pleasure now I need to prepare some tests for your ‘solar panels’ and our magic converter.” She abruptly floated off to some other compartment leaving myself and the other ponies a little confused Luna just raised an eyebrow. “Well that was peculiar – Dex meet phonic melody she is a great communication unicorn again from the royal guard she’s an expert on multi psychic link communication and recon.” She looked me up and down “that’s the huge secret? A naked diamond dog with small eyes?” she was a pony I’d regard being close to Rarity she had the muscles of a hard worker but put in effort into her appearance too, she had cyan fur and an orange mane that was styled with little curves wavy almost.

I smirked a little “ a naked diamond dog that designed this ship and did something none of you ponies could do…” a blush appeared upon the mare’s face before looking to Luna and getting a ‘ thou wont belittle’ look from her much to my appreciation. She rolled her hoof a little before mumbling out an apology quietly and chasing after Crucible.

“And finally our medical officer needle punch she’s also a trained Vet and has experience with Minotaur’s and Griffons giving her great diversity within the health world,” she smiled kindly “ a pleasure to meet a new species I might have to get more acquainted soon and you’ll have to let me see those secret medical files now Luna.” Finishing her introduction with a very informal request to the Princess was a little strange she seemed more friendly than the others though “I’ll be sure to find the medical centre then,” she smiled.

Luna coughed a little to bring attention back to her 3 ponies and a human turned to listen “ now then… we are currently in an orbit above our little planet below Tia is currently deciding with the other nations what we should call our planet as each nation has a name but yet to call it as a whole. In the mean time we are going to do as our mapping has calculated rotate once around the planet and then push ‘the Explorer’ onto a path to reach my moon, once there we will set up base and begin operations then return upon completion. We make these new flights for all races for the betterment of all and the expansion of our civilization!... Lets get to work Mares and Stallions.”

With that rousing speech Needle soon departed ‘flying’ through the cabins in I assumed towards the medical centre, Highland raised a quick salute and flew towards the front followed closely by fireblitz, leaving myself and Luna to talk from her features I knew it was time for questions.

“So… would you like to explain why I cannot enter your dreams?” I lifted an eyebrow “I kinda assumed you could but hadn’t yet tried… I don’t remember dreaming before you woke me so I assumed I wasn’t,” Luna frowned “you were screaming, crying and thrashing around as soon as we reached the upper atmosphere; you gave them all a fright and I… I was very worried more so when I couldn’t reach into your mind and help you; you… you started shouting angrily about dying… about the end and worse you shouted you wouldn’t let them kill anyone?”

Luna by this point was a little teary eyed “what awful dream you must have endured and I couldn’t do anything about it! Are you sure you can’t remember it?” I slowly shook my head my memories defying me keeping me in the dark. “ do not worry Luna… if my nightmares are scary or worse terrifying then I will know you are here even if you are not in them,” I finished on a mask of a smile she smiles back a little happier but we both sit there with masks we each perceive to help each other endure with… Luna floats up “well thou should at least see the ship and our surroundings seeing as you were so excited before,” I beamed at this and slowly she picked me up with her magic too, we flew down the hall and took a left out to one of the small portholes – it was majestic, the curve of the planet and how it looked was to put bluntly an awesome sight of the original meaning and depth of the word – it took my breath away.

The planet was mostly covered by a single piece of land, a lot of islands to the bottom right and I could see the ice covered caps to the changing looks of the land from desert in the centre to lush jungles and plains the entire world look so vast and stunning. “Thank you Luna… for even letting me be here is a huge dream of mine… not above my planet… but we are above a beautiful planet nevertheless.”

We finished our sight seeing and floated towards the front, as we entered Fireblitz and Highland were busy looking at a map floating in front and drawing their path out onto it, “Princess, in 13 minutes we should push the craft we should then be on route and should fall the rest of the way to the Moon shall we get the entire crew here?” Highlander had a low but oddly not gruff voice Luna shook her head “don’t worry I shall make the adjustment myself but we should get some breakfast sorted don’t you think?” Fireblitz, myself and Highlander all nodded with some enthusiasm… we all seemed to scratch our heads at the same time too “guess we’re all hungry then…” I managed to joke before Fireblitz started chuckling and floating off towards the rear before I felt his magic cover me “well come on then… I thought you were hungry?” I nod and Highlander gave a stiff salute to the Princess as we floated out towards the galley.

“ah tis te stuff,” Highland managed after swallowing what seemed to be a rather odd smelling drink and pulling a tray with his name above it, Fireblitz rolled his eyes “you and that damned rose tea you even drink it cold!” he chucked a bit after this while picking his own tray and floating them over to the table where some Velcro held the trays down it would seem certain ponies had discovered more in my house than I’d previously thought. I managed to float to the boxes each had a label of who’s food and which day and meal… a little apprehensively I pulled a tray from the system and took a glass of water securing a lid onto it as Highland had done to stop the fluid getting everywhere. We sat waiting for the others a small difference in velocity told us we were on course to the moon Luna shortly after floated in and took a tray herself before sitting down as the last 3 unicorns joined us in our first meal. It was an odd group to say the least 5 unicorns, an alicorn and a human sat in a tin can… sounded like a 60’s hit I smiled at the thought as my mind returned to the table and the sealed tray before me. I slowly and carefully lifted the lid releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding in there was a sandwich, an apple and plenty of vegetables I knew I could eat Luna and Crucible managed a short giggle each “you look like you were expecting a timber wolf under there!” Crucible for the first time looked relaxed since I met her not long ago I managed a chuckle of my own “just a little worried I’d get hay fries again…” there were a few chuckles and smiles before the table was building into talk and the sounds of meh food – even magic ponies can’t get food right when it needed to be stored for a long time… I spied a slice of cake on Luna’s tray looking to her her own eye simply declared it was not going to be shared I managed a dark chuckle before finishing off the cheese and tomato sandwich and (what I found to be grilled) vegetables.

“so whats it like being beaten up by a princess or two?” I almost coughed at the sudden blunt question… Crucible not two minutes ago was being nice as hell now this prod at my pride…
“ahem well unusual… I’ve had fights before not many where I’ve been swung about like a rag doll however the for the most I don’t remember how much pain was caused by Tia,” Luna laughed hard almost immediately after covering her mouth “sorry… we were reminded of a face you pulled after being flung to the rafters!” again Luna managed to laugh causing a bit of tension to ease “well no wonder you look odd… not many go up against a goddess and tell the tale lad!” another round of laughter after Highland’s comment I was secretly glad that there was no poking, prodding asking weird questions or touching which unfortunately comes as a side effect of individuals with a desire to learn faced with something new.

Fireblitz didn’t seem to care or had seen odder, Highland was just not curious probably didn’t want to be out of line as it were Crucible I had no explanation perhaps her father had gone on about me and that’s why she was a little bored earlier… Needle punch just looked with an interest but at least she wasn’t touching and prodding clearly she had some good self control but I was wondering how long that would last. I looked over to Phonic… she was staring quite intently at Fireblitz… “erm…” at the syllable Fireblitz raised an eyebrow and that was quite clearly the cue for Phonic to go mad “YOU BUCK TOOTHED PERVERT,” in a mad dash two unicorns raced while floating around the canteen and there was suddenly two navy blue aura’s around the pair “we will not tolerate this… it is the first day Fireblitz keep your sword within thy sheath or find it outside the airlock understood?”
An audible gulp was heard then we saw a quiet nod as the navy aura dissipated “~such fun you ponies and I thought humans were bad~,” I commentated Luna’s gaze could be felt earning a few slightly silly chuckles from the others.

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We finished up and began going through the checklists assigned to each member of the crew – I had only one:

• Check cabin is large enough
• Check food supplies
• Check on Luna
• Meet Needle
• Have examination
• Meet Crucible and discuss tech
• Enjoy flight

“Bit short,” I wondered how the other’s lists looked but decided not to pursue it; I pulled a pen of mine from the zip chest pocket, I checked the first item it was definitely bigger than my storage box…

“So onto the next item food supplies…” I ‘swam’ to the closest surface to grip and push off of to float towards the canteen, floating past each cabin as I gripped the sides at an intersection and pushed towards the canteen where I had been before, floating in I missed my grip on the side and floated into the other side smacking my head against one of the storage boxes on the other side of the room after trying and failing to stop myself with flapping motions.
There was a metallic thud “fff… fiddlesticks…” an evil chuckle made me re-focus there floating in magic Crucible was laughing quite openly at my painful encounter with the storage box.

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Muttering to myself I pushed off to the food storage going through the checklists and looking at the water level it seemed to be fine by the pre calculated amounts on my checklist “if I didn’t know better this was Twilight’s checklists they all have double checks!” I exclaimed to no one in particular as I finally finished up the checklist for food and drink, “next is Luna,” floating out a little slower than I entered I managed to grip the walls and grip points effectively floating around corners until I found myself a little lost “god damnit… LUNA where is she?”

Slowly my hand was encased in the navy blue aura, the sensation interesting to say the least as always I felt the acceleration as I was ‘pulled’ towards the room Luna was in managing to hit a corner on the way “gah!” I opened the door to a Princess looking rather sheepish – “sorry I was distracted while pulling you here,” I rubbed my side which to my amusement bruised and healed in under a minute…

“This is getting quicker this healing thing…” Luna retorted to using her eyebrow, as we seem to share in doing “AHEM,” Needles was looking at us both with curious intent “what do you mean healing quicker?”

I recalled the story of losing a tooth and how it healed and now the crashes and how it simply faded in and out of bruising and back to normal within a minute.
“well at least I won’t need to worry too much about two of the crew then hahaha,” Needles simply put and laughed the current oddity, “so you can have your examination now everypony else has had one including the princess,” Luna stepped back as Needles made her horn come alive with light, just as Luna, Twilight and other unicorns had shown me – it still amazed me I felt like a warm sensation inside and a colder one on my skin an odd sensation indeed the feeling like a 3d scan flowed across my body before Needles stopped and took notes “ok Mr carnivore next time I scan you I don’t want to have to ‘feel’ meat in your body if I do I’ll rip those balls off of yours as payment,” Luna gave her a stare but she did look most green, “Yes Ma’am… sorry forgot it was a day or so ago… huh” grumble wide eyed like my body remembering it has a certain natural function… “crap,” I spied a toilet and pushed off floating in quickly I could hear Needles remarking “quite literal isn’t he?” there were a few hushed giggles at the comment before I realised I had no idea how to work this “Needles… how does this work?”

“you know how to get out of your suit quickly?” she said in a sing song voice with irritated me “Eenope!” I called back “well then just attach the pipe to the suit with the equestrian for toilet release just go in the suit and press the flush after,” I looked about a little worried doing a jig as most do when fit to burst my mind telling me there was only one layer within the suit! “but I don’t remember any toilet collection in the suit or anything like that?”

“oh for Celestia’s sake… magic!” she deadpanned I could hear the hoof going to her muzzle I clicked the pipe onto the connection before releasing I then flushed and to my amazement I never even felt it I came back out grinning “stop grinning you foal…” another deadpan from Needles told me being immature around her wasn’t the best idea. I stayed long enough to discuss my nutrition needs and Luna then escorted me to my room.

“I know you’ve just woken in the last few hours however forced sleep isn’t like normal sleep, you don’t get the same rest as you would normally your first shift isn’t for another 7 hours so it would be best to get some proper rest wouldn’t you agree?”

I nodded not feeling sleepy but the explanation seemed logical – somehow… “so excited Luna? Going back to the moon?” she smiled that was not quite joyous… “yes and no, I am looking forward to doing this and making a better future with my own two hooves in some way it makes the whole nightmare thing a little less… like I haven’t done anything to make it right – this is the first step I believe, but also no I do not remember fond thoughts being trapped here weakened to stay with just enough magic to remain on the surface of the moon for a thousand years…” I placed a hand on her neck checking to see her reaction then slowly bought her into a hug soon she was hugging back nothing was said, no words or sobs or even tears just a silent embrace enjoyed by both.

“good night Dex, I will wake you for your shift you’ll be taking my place when you wake,” I let go looking a little flabbergasted at the news Luna simply put a hoof up to silence me before I started, she lifted me in her magic to the sleeping bag that was attached to the wall before switching out the light and leaving me to think eyes closed but it wasn’t long before I fell into slumber.

Author's Note

hey really long this time XD 4000 words indeed!

been busy with my company we've been hitting lows so far since my last chapter been worrying but we'll survive in the end and if we don't then ITS BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD ... AGAIN (4th time's the charm right?) just like a certain pinkie & brain...

anyways next few chapters are going to be longer lets say we're going from welcome to ponyville type intro to part of the main story ark and then back to kinda related filler - bit like anime I like the style it allows movement and also calm within the story.

anyways really enjoying SPAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

hehe

ohhh 16 thumbs up!!!! ^_^ thank you all!