//------------------------------// // 2: It doesn't take long // Story: Falling In Love with Myself // by ReadingRainbow //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Down They Go [Date: Nov 23, 1873: 11:22 AM] [Locate_file: Video Journal 3_.mov] *Record* "Everything is finally installed. I've been so busy trying to get all the components into place, that I have barely had time for sleep, or even to record a journal. But now, I'm gonna have some juice, a little bit of sludge, and then snuggle myself to sleep. I don't have anyone to do that for me.... I found something cool in the crate of specialty items. Apparently, Princess Luna has been nosing her way around EASA, and included a L.M.S.M. JetSaddle. Yes, I'm technical. Light Movement Support Mechanism is what its called, and it is powered by two magic talismans that put the principles of levitation magic into play in space. You could say that it is similar to a jet, but there is no air up here, so you need magic instead. Plus, compressed fuel stuff runs out and needs to be refilled. It fits right over where my wings would be. So comfy. Oh. Yea. Even though my profile says I'm a Pegasus, as you saw in my first video, you can't really tell at first glance. When I was younger, I had smaller wings. Much smaller wings. They used to call me flightless. That was just a name though. My wings never did fully develop, and when they tried to grow up later in life, they had to amputate them. Because of cancer. I was glad they had caught it in time, but I would never fly. Ever. You would think that they would simply use magic to remove the cancer, but after a bunch of unicorns started using magic for evil, Princess Celestia had to pass some laws against magic. So, using magic for healing was considered a violation at the time, and because they were a little blurry on the laws yet, they amputated my wings. I thought I had lost my freedom forever. But now? I fly higher than me or my friends ever thought I would. Its ironic how life enjoys putting you through your paces, just to reward you with a strange sense of pride in the end. Maybe it is Lifes way of saying: 'You passed the test! Here is a glass of juice for you efforts.' Irony. Then again, without irony, everypony would have some sort of crease ruining everything. You really just have to believe in that silver lining. It all gets better with time." The camera light blinked twice, then faded as I turned it off. Running a hoof through my mane, I sighed gently, letting myself just relax and get rid of tension. I decided to get some rest in the Gravitational Unit. The GU was a big spinning wheel I had pitched the idea of to EASA. The wheel spun and created centrifugal force, acting very similarly to gravity, although not as strong. And then EASA turned around and said: "Ohay, we just discovered an old gravity spell thingy," and completely ruined my dreams of having a real GU replica from "9001: A Space Odyssey." So now its just a big wheel with a magic spell on it, that somehow got past the laws set by the princesses. Sheesh. It almost lead me to believe that they had no fun down there. But I couldn't complain. It wasn't as if I had anything to complain about really. I pushed once more with my hooves, swinging around a corner and up into another passage. Or was it down? I had no clue. The earth was round, so it had no up or down did it? In space, it was all depending on the viewer. For all I knew, I could be horizontal. As I entered the GU, I snatched a stray juice bag that was floating around. ...That was odd. I never left things floating around. Had I forgotten to store it? I could investigate my failure to bind down a juice baggy later, I had to consume this thing. After all, I promised myself I would. I zipped off the straw, and pushed it through the plastic hole. Sweet nectary essence. Everypony else loved Applejuice. To me, AJ was just too common, and strangely enough, my tastebuds agreed. Grapejuice and Orangejuice were my two favorites, and nothing was going to stop me from enjoying the oddity of it. It was fun being different. With the juice baggy in the trash, and a space food sludge container giving it company, I hit the button that activated the Artificial Gravity. I let it wash over me. Yea, fake gravity can actually do that. I hit the floor with a gentle thump. Hello firm ground. Haven't seen you in a while, where have you been? It felt so good to just trot around a bit, even if you were always on the ceiling. Or floor. It was once again, confusing. I didn't care though, for as happy as I was to be on my four hooves, I needed rest from installing those new components. I trotted over to the sleeping area, and climbed into the bed, twisting until I found a comfortable position. There it was. That one comfy spot that you find when you first climb in, and then something happens, and you have to get out of bed. Then, when you return, you can't find that spot until the next night. Frustration would be had if such events occurred. I was grateful for the immense absence of distractions up here. All the different talismans did their thing, and I never had to worry. It was almost Home. Almost... ....Home.... -+-+-+-+- I opened my eyes. The onboard lighting was dimmed, one of the lights flickering slightly. I didn't remember dimming them. I slowly sat up in my bed. No, I had never dimmed the lighting system. Which could only mean that somepony had dimmed them. No, something. I considered the fact that I had installed new upgrades. Maybe one was an environment actuator that reacted to my facial or behavioral cues? EASA must have stepped up their game. I still felt wary though, and I didn't remember the parts list mentioning such a hardware component. Turning up the lighting, I called out tentatively. "h-Hello? Anyone there?" My voice echoed gently throughout the station. I didn't get a response. I quickly trotted to one of the computers, and got it to do a quick lifeform scan. I was the only one on board. Letting my breath out gently, I sighed in relief. Maybe I had dimmed the lighting but I just didn't remember? Maybe one of the computers glitched and dimmed it? I didn't know, and frankly, I was a bit too scared to find out. I grabbed a small metal pipe, and strapping it to my hoof with some spare Velcro, I deactivated the artificial gravity. I didn't want to take chances that someone, or most likely something was on board. Pushing off towards my main command module, I began my daily journey. Today was a good day for me, besides strange events. I really did have my work cut out for me, since i was the only pony on this station. But hey, at least i had things to do. First up? A Daily Video Journal. [Date: Nov 24, 1873: 4:30 AM] [Locate_file: Video Journal 4_.mov] *Record* "Alright, Maybe I'm not doing as good as I might think I am. I still don't know what I'm supposed to do in case an event goes wrong. And I don't mean if something goes wrong with the systems, I'm already trained and prepped for that. What if something goes wrong with me? What happens when I do go crazy? Am I actually expected to know when that's happening? I'm not a psychiatrist! Maybe I just need to calm down and take things as they come. That's all I really can do at this point. Just watch and wait." *end recording*