Chapter One: And many other miscellaneous things about nothing in particular…..
Scientists say that there are more anomalies and disturbances than normal space in the universe. Barzano wasn’t sure if it was true, but still, it gave him something to think about. Weekends were always awkward for him. During the week, he worked, but on the weekends, was he just supposed to stop? Well, there wasn’t much to do BUT work at the observatory. Like many previous weekends, Barzano sat in a chair, staring at the floor, wondering what to do. Suddenly he remembered something. He still needed to finish reading the remarkably strange book he’d been given a few weeks ago. Barzano picked up his copy of Daylight Starmapping - A guide to Deep Space Radio Telemetry.
“Maybe I should consider building one of these,” Barzano said to himself. “Radio telescopes are they? Sounds extraordinarily useful.” After about another 30 minutes of deliberating what to do, Barzano decided he’d take a trip to Canterlot to see where he might acquire the materials. “It’ll take the weekend just to get there and back,” Barzano chuckled to himself. Without a skyship, Barzano would have to walk to Baltimare and board a train for Canterlot from there. Mount Silver wasn’t very far from Baltimare, relatively speaking, but it would still be half a day’s walk there. “Better get a move on,” Barzano reminded himself. He packed some supplies in saddlebags, and headed down the mountain. Thank Celestia it was summer, he’d never of even considered walking down Mount Silver during the winter. Many ponies had died that way on mountains, simply getting lost, or even falling, when visibility dropped to 4 feet, was a real possibility.
Barzano’s walk went without a hitch, and he arrived in Baltimare at 14:00 hours, nine hours after he had left the mountain. Several ponies greeted him in passing, but most didn’t recognize him, even with his frequent trips to the city. “Hey Maxi, When’s the next train to Canterlot?” Barzano asked the station chief as he approached.
“Oh hey Bar! Haven’t see you in a while. The next train leaves at 17:20 hours. You’ve got a while.” 17:20? Wow, maybe I should have just walked to Canterlot. Barzano smiled at his thoughts. He sat down on one of the seats in the waiting area, wondering what to do next. Soon, his thoughts drifted to other matters, as they often did, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a blue pony with a light-orange mane pacing back and forth, constantly looking up. I wonder what he’s doing, Barzano thought to himself. He got up and walked over to the pony.
“Hey, why the pacing?” He asked. The other pony wheeled around.
“Waah! Oh, sorry, you scared me. Can I help you?”
“Why are you pacing?”
“Oh, I’m trying to get a better perspective of the rooftops.”
“What for?”
“Somepony requested a direct fuel line into his home, for whatever reason, And I need to make sure when it goes in, it dodges as many structures as possible.”
“Fuel? You have a job with the fuel companies?”
“Oh yeah, I inspect pipelines”
“Huh, that’s interesting. I order fuel a lot, and I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?” Barzano smiled.
“Um, I’m Michael, you?”
“Barzano, nice to meet you!”
“Mmmm, what do you need fuel for? Or rather, what kind of fuel do you use?”
“Well, I won’t need any until I get a new skyship, my old one kind of, exploded”
“Oh yeah! I think I heard about that. Well, you just let me know when you need the stuff,” Michael said as he handed Barzano a card.
“Alright! I will,” Barzano responded as he turned to leave. Well that’s nice, but it reminds me. I need a new airship. He sighed. One thing at a time.