Settling In

by A Wild Magikarp

Chapter 4

Sky got into work at with a grin on his muzzle and a happy tune on his mind. He hummed it as he walked in the doors to the conference room. "Hmm-hm-hm-hmm-hmmm, hm-hm-hm-hmm-hmmm..." He sat down next to Star Chaser and continued his song. Star looked over to his co-worker with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk.

"Well somepony is certainly feeling a bit cheerier today ain't he? I take it whatever Ol' Clockwork had to say yesterday did the trick?"

"Not at all actually. Well, not to say he wasn't trying, but it was actually another friend of mine that managed to snap me out of it. Speaking of yesterday, I am so sorry if I was short with you about... anything really. As you probably noticed, I wasn't in the best mood."

Star made a dismissive noise and waved his hoof in the air as if to shoo away the idea. "Don't worry about it none Sky. I know you, and one off day outta a hundred isn't going to ruin my opinion of ya. Everyone has em. And I'm sure everypony else would say the same."

"Thanks Star, glad to hear that. I got home yesterday thinking everypony would be at me with the torches and pitchforks after the way I was treating you all."

"Nope. So, now that we have that out of the way, anything interesting happen after I left?"

"It was paperwork Star, not much could happen."

"You never know! But yes, I can see your point. So... you heard about Pluto? That's messed up right?"

Sky laughed. "That's old news Star, anyone who cares in the first place knows about Pluto. I for one think it was justified. All the qualifications for a planetoid, but almost none for a planet. Heck, one of its moons is half the size that IT is! Not to mention its orbit, if it can even be called an orbit."

Star harrumphed and turned up his nose. But before he could speak the pony across the table joined into the conversation.

"I will have you know that its orbit is completely justifiable! And its new classification is ridiculous. 'Dwarf planet'? How is that different than a normal planet?"

Star nodded to the pony across the table in agreement. "Exactly, its an absurd name. Is it a planet or an asteroid? And if we're comparing sizes to other planets, would that be to the gas giants like Jupiter, or terrestrials like Mars? Besides, you major in astrophysics, not planetary science, you can't be expected to understand."

"Hey now! And what about your friend here? He isn't even a part of our branch of research!"

"No, but he agrees with me, so he must know what he is talking about, right?"

"Not true! Comet, back me up here!"

The debate raged on for several minutes, the number of participating individuals growing slowly until about half the ponies in the room had picked a side. Eventually one bow-tie wearing stallion walked into the room and up to the podium before clearing his thought to speak. When that did not get the response he desired, he frowned just a little.

"Pardon me everypony! But unless there are any other pressing matters to discuss, besides the reclassification of Pluto... again... I believe everpony is present, so we are ready to begin. If you would kindly take your seats we can get started.

This got everypony's attention, as they began to return to their seats with minimal glares being shared across the table. Beaker, one of the ponies from applied sciences, looked to Sky. "This isn't over," he said only half seriously.

Sky shot a challenging look back. "Good, I wasn't finished."

Clockwork grinned at the faux confrontation. Nothing like a little nerd debate to liven up the day. "Stand down everypony, you can finish your silliness later. Now, I know that I said all bodies where accounted for, but you all know that blasted little thing called protocol has it down that I have to do roll. SO, lets get this over with then eh? Beaker!"

"Here!"

"Tube?"

"Present!"

"Star?"

"Here!"

"Rotor?"

Once all ponies where accounted for, Clockwork let out a dramatic sigh as he unceremoniously flung the roll-sheet to the side. The assembled ponies chuckled at his show of exasperation. They all knew about their headmaster's attitude towards protocol.

"Finally! I tell you, by far the worst part of the job isn't the slow days, or the boring reports, no offense to you all. It's the pointless, bureaucratic step-by-steps they have me follow! And don't even get me started on the amount of paperwork that they send in! I tell you if we could run this place on charity alone, every weekend would be one big bake sale! Could you imagine it? All the muffins, the jamie-dodgers, and THE CHEESE! I tell you, it would be simply to die for! Then we could take all the leftovers and-"

"Clockwork?"

"Yes Sky, what is it, I was just getting to the good part of the... rambling again, right?"

Sky gave a light, head bobbing nod.

"Right, thank you Sky. Ever diligent, keeping me on track. Where was I before all that?"

Test Tube cut in, snickering a little bit. "Actually sir, you hadn't even really started yet."

Clockwork blinked. "Really? Well I believe that's a first."

One of the ponies from archaeology, who's name currently escaped Sky despite the role call, spoke up. "Yes, I do believe that's a new record. The best so far was just past the first announcement."

"Do you mean the best, or the worst?"

Star laughed as he made to end this discussion before it to went to far. "I swear, with the amount of ADHD in this room, I'm surprised any work actually gets done around here. As interesting as Clockwork's short attention span is, why don't we get to the important stuff before it all gets to out of hoof?"

Varying forms of agreement, from 'aye' to simple nods went around the room.

"Right then, on to the first REAL matter of business. As you may have heard, and many of you are no doubt-ably complaining about, the shipment we where expecting of new lab supplies is still lost in the works somewhere. The individuals that where shipping them to us have apparently pulled some magic trick on themselves, and are currently trying to find out where they have gone. That is my own interpretation of the message of course. For those of you who are waiting on anything specific, I suggest shifting your focuses elsewhere till' it arrives. Next up, I have a bit of news that concerns mostly the social sciences. Yes, I am looking at you Chisel, you know exactly what I am talking about next."

---

The meeting went on without any more major distractions, or any important news for that matter. With no new groundbreaking discoveries to mention, nor any revolutionary breakthroughs to report, it was over much sooner than anypony expected. All assemble where now packing away assorted papers, notes, and the like in preparation for Clockwork's dismissal.

"And now, for one final bit of information. This one is the interesting bit, but I won't be the one giving it."

This got the other ponies attention, as quizzical expressions passed around the room. Nopony could remember ever having a guest speaker at one of these. Who could it be?

Clockworks grin widened just a hair considered the reaction he was about to get. "So I would appreciate if everypony gave a round of applause for our very own, Princess Luna!"

There was a brief pause in which the gathered ponies processed what exactly it was that the headmaster had just said, before the door to the room opened to reveal the princess of the night herself. There was no royal fanfare, or red carpet or the like, but her demeanor and intimidating height made up for it. She slowly walked through the door, as if summing up the interior before moving farther in, before she ever so slightly brisked her pace towards the front where Clockwork was. Needless to say many jaws were unhinged. None in attendance could remember ever having royalty visit the university before, at least to see staff other than Clockwork before. One of the royal sisters, here, in the same room as them? Incredible!

Unfortunately for Luna, who was still rather new to dealing with her subjects since her return, the shock of having her in the room kept anypony from providing the applause that Clockwork had asked for. It was completly silent for a long moment, and despite her confident outward appearance, the princess began to feel uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Sky's mind was racing a mile-a-minute. It was the princess! Princess Luna, the same pony who put the stars in the sky for him to look at each night, the pony who brought out the moon to shine when the sun set! It was like a dream come true! As soon as the shock had passed, he attempted to gather his senses and calm down. Whatever it was she had to say, he wanted to hear every last bit of it.

But she didn't say anything. She had reached the podium at the front, Clockwork having moved to the side to allow her room to speak, but she refused to say a word. Rather, her eyes where shifting across the room, looking to all the other faces in the room who where staring back at her. She had a look in her eye that did not belong there. Something that Sky was very familiar with from his foalhood years, but he was certain he must have been mistaken.

'She's nervous,' He thought. 'Why is she nervous? We can't be threatening to her can we?' He looked around the room to his colleagues, and shortly realized what the problem was. 'We aren't applauding. She must think we are being disrespectful or something!'

While the reason for her nervousness was for a very different reason, Luna was in fact quite nervous indeed. She began to fear that she may embarrassingly break into a sweat in front of her subjects. She was about to forgo the formalities and get right to the announcement when a single pony began to clop his hooves on the table in front of him.

He was a small thing. Perhaps only by her standards, being much taller than he as an alicorn, but he was most defiantly not the largest stallion in the room. His must have been young, his face not showing any signs of wrinkling unlike many of the older ponies around him. He had a deep blue coat, much like her own, accented well by his darkly colored brown mane. Stripes of amber ran through said mane and tail, and on his flank he sported a shooting star, surrounded on four sides by other stationary stars. His eyes where brown like his mane, but unlike his mane, which was a more chocolate shade, his eyes where a deep mahogany color. She recognized him from Clockwork's description yesterday. So this was Night Sky! He had his muzzle upturned in a smile and was looking right at her as he applauded.

Soon enough, the other ponies in the room caught on to what Sky was doing, and joined in. In moments, the entire room was applauding for their princess, one individual even going as far as to give a light 'woop'. Luna gave a small smile. It was good to be recognized, even if it was just for her position, and not necessarily anything she had done. She opened her mouth to speak, but after he saw the large breath she took to prepare, Clockwork quickly, but gently, nudged her back hoof. She turned to look at him with a questioning look. He pointed to his mouth, then made a downward motion with his hoof.

'Lower the volume,' was the message.

Luna blushed. "W-we, arg... I... knew that."

She returned her attention to the crowed of ponies who now had their attention fixed on her. Clearing her thought, she began with a lower decibel range in mind.

"Greeting too you mine little ponies. It give me great pleasure, as always, to be given the chance to address mine subjects. Let me first say, that even for those who are not involved in this next announcement, we... meaning my sister and I, greatly appreciate all the work you do. Though many outside this facility may feel that some of the work you do here is inconsequential, I want all of you to know that the work you do here, no matter what it may be, is for the good of ponykind, and for that you have our... er... my, eternal thanks."

Sky's heart soared. It was a great feeling to know that the princesses appreciated the work they did here. Much of the time he felt that the main ponies paying attention to their work where the bureaucratic that made the rules Clockwork hated so much. He tuned back into Luna.

"As thou has been informed by dear... Clockwork here, I have an important piece of news for you, mainly those of you studying my favorite and most personal field, astronomy."

If Sky could be any more involved in what she was saying, it was now. He leaned even farther forward into his seat, ears also at attention. Now it was REALLY interesting.

"It has come to my attention, thanks once again to Clockwork here, that while this building, and the city itself is in fact located on the mountain side, this does nothing for the fact a recent increase in artificial lighting has greatly reduced the productivity of your observatory here in Canterlot."

Many of Sky's co-workers nodded their heads and mumbled an agreement. Star turned to Sky. "Now I wonder where Clockwork heard that little tidbit of information, hmm?"

Sky blinked. Huh, he hadn't thought that Clockwork would take it that seriously. He had never thought it would reach all the way up to- "Wait a second! I mentioned that to Clockwork just YESTERDAY!" He scratched his head in confusion. "Do you mean that he already managed to talk to PRINCESS LUNA, AND she's already coming to us with a response?"

"Strange isn't it? Its almost like you're friends with Clockwork or something!" Star snickered.

"That's not the weird part," Sky retorted. "I understand Clockwork listening to ME. But how in the HAY did he manage to talk to Princess Luna about this already?"

Star opened his mouth, but then stopped himself. "That... is a very good point. How DID he do that?" They both turned to look at Clockwork, who at that very moment was looking right at them. He simply smiled and gave a wink.

Star stared back at him. "...Dude, that's creepy."

"It's like he knew we where talking about him."

"Maybe he's just that good?"

"Shush, she's talking again."

"So, in response to these reports, and a growing need for it as is, I have decided to take his advice and begin branching out. In response to this new need, as of tomorrow, construction on a brand new observatory will begin in the nearby town of Ponyville."

The results of this announcement where adverse. Comet gave into a big smile, Star let out a giddy little laugh. Many of the others turned to their neighbors to talk excitedly about the news. Sky's response was by far the most energetic, and embarrassing.

Sky literally leaped for joy and cheered. "YES! Yes, yes, YES!" 'A new observatory! A new observatory! No more lights, no more distractions! Finally, finally, FINALLY!' He continued on in this manner for several seconds, simply reveling in the joy of this new discovery. This was without a doubt the best possible thing that could have happened.

He was in the middle of this daze when he heard Star clear his thought nervously besides him. He opened his eyes to realizes that, to his horror, he was now the center of attention of the ENTIRE room. Star strangely was only showing signs of being slightly amused. Some in the room looked absolutely mortified or confused. Clockwork was biting his lip, trying very, VERY hard not to laugh at his friends current predicament with the princess right there. But the princess's reaction was the best, or possibly worst of all. She had her eyes locked on his, and was looking at him with her left eyebrow raised and the right side of her lip raised into a small, but very noticeable grin. Sky felt his face turn a deep red through his coat.

'And this is the most embarrassing thing that could have possibly happened,' He thought as he slowly descended back into his chair, almost like doing so would somehow make him disappear.

Once more, Luna's outside appearance betrayed her inner thoughts, but not quite as much as one might expect. She was very much enjoying Sky's reaction, much more than the small grin she wore would suggest. She wondered how he would react to the next piece of information, and with that in mind, she decided to take a part from her sister and have a little fun with the stallion, who was now trying to sink as low into his chair as he could.

"Yes, well, it is rather exciting, is it not? And I should imagine, Night Sky, that you will also be excited to know that your living quarters shall be just below the main room. Is that not most wondrous news?"

Another pause went by as everypony in the room made sense of what she had just said. Once they did, all eyes turned rapidly back to Sky, who for his part, was still having trouble comprehending what exactly he had just heard. She knew his name? Living quarters? What did that mean?

The princess turned to address the rest of the staff. "Indeed, this is only the first in multiple smaller, more isolated buildings that are being planned for in many separate locations. They will each be built to a smaller scale to house an equally smaller staff of one to three, who will live in the housing on the downstairs level." She turned to look at Sky once more. "And you, Sky, will be the one to staff the first, just outside of Ponyville. What say you to that?"

He was stunned. He honestly had now idea how to react to the information he was currently being provided. The princess had just offered him the chance to not only work but LIVE in a brand new, state-of-the-art observatory, away from the city limits. It was like a dream come true. He almost felt a tear coming.

The rest of the observatory staff, and those who knew Sky gave a cheer to congratulate him. The shock of the noise brought him back as he looked back to the princess from staring off into space.

"T-thanks princess." It was the best he could do at the moment.

"You are very welcome. Now unless there are any questions, I believe that I will surrender the stage back to Clockwork." With that, Luna backed away from the podium, and stepped to the back. Clockwork took her place.

"I did say it would be interesting didn't I? But never mind all that, as excited as some of you may be, I am sure the rest are eager to get back to their paperwork. So, with nothing else to add, this meeting is now over! Back to work everypony!

---

As the rest of the ponies filtered out of the room, Sky stayed behind to think. He had literally just been offered his dream job. A position at an observatory where he could chart the stars in peace, with little to no distractions. And just yesterday he had been an absolute wreck. How swiftly things change.

He was about to stand up to follow the last pony out when he realized he was in fact, not alone in the room. Clockwork was approaching, oddly enough with Princess Luna in tow. Something about her following him just seemed off.

"So, what do you think? Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Sky asked, before laughing uproariously. "Your impossible! A normal friend would leave their friend to mope, maybe try and cheer them up with a drink or something. You? You go and get ROYALTY to commission a bloody construction project!" He laughed again, then shook his head. "How in Equestria do you manage this stuff?"

Luna took the liberty of answering that. "Believe it or not, The Headmaster here is a very close friend to my sister and I. We have known him for almost as long as we can remember! Many fond memories of us and our adventures."

Sky blinked. "But... aren't you and Princess Celestia, like, two thousand years old, your majesty?"

Luna's eyes widened as she put on an terrible poker-face, trying to come up with a response to that. Luckily, she didn't have to thanks to Clockworks way with words.

"Ha-ha! Sky, I KNOW we have been over this. Never ask a mare her age! Especially not when she is an immortal goddess who rules over the kingdom."

'Nice save,' Luna thought to herself.

Sky's went pale as he 'realized' what he had done, not catching the humor in Clockworks sentence. Nor the fact that he had never actually asked her age in the first place.

"O-oh my, most sincere apologize you majesty, I did not mean-"

She raised a hoof to stop him. "No need to apologize my little pony, you did not offend. I am quite aware of my age, as compared to you and yours. And speaking of age," She turned to Clockwork. "What of the speech Clockwork? Hath my 'modern dialect' improved much since last we spoke on it?"

"You did wonderful princess. A few words here and there, but you can hardly be expected to learn overnight. A great performance overall."

Strangely enough, Sky noticed that Luna seemed to look very proud of the praise she had received. It was not as if she had anything to prove to him in the first place right?

"Thank you Clockwork, and we shall work to improve. Well both of you, I feel it is near time for me to depart from your company, as my schedule demands it. But before I do, I would very much like to say that it was good to meet you Sky. Clockwork speaks highly of you, and any friend of his is a friend of mine. If ever I find the time, do not be surprised if we, as I may very well bring the headmaster along, come by to check on your progress personally rather than wait for a report. On that note..."

She held out her hoof, and Sky had to think for a moment before he realized that she was in fact offering it to shake. He did so quickly, before releasing his grip.

"I bid you both good day." With that, she turned and made for the door, where her guards awaited her. As she walked past the threshold, they fell in line and followed, leaving just Sky and Clockwork alone.

"She forgot to mention, construction will be finished in about a month and a half, so don't feel the need to go and pack right away. Still, if you have anything that you need to get squared away ahead of time, feel free to take the day off and get it sorted."

"Clockwork?"

"Yes Sky?"

"Don't freak out, but I am going to hug you now."

"... Ok..."

Sky turned and wrapped his boss, mentor, and friend a quick embrace, before letting it go a moment later.

"Sorry, just really needed to do that. Sorry for... you know..."

"Crying and hugging and being weird?" Clockwork asked with a grin.

Sky laughed. "Something like that. But with less crying."

"Just a tad less."

"Seriously though Clockwork. I can't thank you enough. I kinda for the most part got over it yesterday after we talked, but still, this is the best thing I think anypony has ever done for me. Thank you."

Clockwork nodded and accepted the praise. "Yes well, I do have my moments don't I? So, what are you going to do next then?"

Sky thought about it for a second. He really had no idea. A chance at a day off, but what would he do with it? Then he realized something.

"Mom is going to absolutely flip when she hears about this. And not necessarily in a good way."

Clockwork, knowing exactly what he meant, planted his hoof firmly on his face.

"This won't end well."

Author's Note:

And here it is! Sorry it took a while. When I gave you guys the 'chapter a week' promise, it was at the end of summer, when I wasn't really counting on computer problems, or unexpected requests, or life in general. Thanks for your patients, and also, I am still looking for an answer to the last chapters question. Who should he meet first?

Till next time!

Comments

[Frankie2]

Why is this not going to go well? Shouldn't momma be happy for her boy? Or is he the only one still living nearby?

[Bronzedragon]

found a typo

. She new his name? [knew]