Mac led Astral through the halls of the ancient ship. About two minutes into completely rewriting his knowledge of history, Silver had received an audio message through the viewscreen. A mare's voice told her to find out if the 'guest' was awake, and to 'send him up' if he was. She had, of course, complied immediately, cutting off the explanation and hastily promising to keep the food warm before shoving him out the door with his red guide.

"Sorry 'bout the walk." Mac stopped at an intersection and had to take a moment to gain his bearings. "There used ta be elevators, but it seems like somepony tore 'em out."

"I guess five thousand years is too long for a ship to stay intact." Astral thought about the ship's current appearance. If they truly outdated galactic civilization, that means they were probably Canterlot's first buildings. If they were full of ponies in search of a new beginning, they were probably savaged for materials. "It's a wonder there's anything left at all."

Mac shrugged and started walking. "Ah don't know. Ah heard the Philomena held up pretty well, considering'."

"The Philomena?" Astral followed Mac up a flight of wide, premade stairs that were recently welded in place. "How does my ship fit in to all this?"

"Call it coincidence if ya want, but Ah'd call it destiny." Mac started up a second flight of stairs almost immediately after reaching the top of the first flight. "The Philomena was our flagship. The best of everythin' we had, put together to guide the cryoships to a new home somewhere among the stars."

Astral stopped midstep. "Wait a minute. You're telling me the Philomena, a ship I bought in a two-bit used vehicle dealership, is older than every civilization I've ever heard of?"

Without realizing the unicorn couldn't see it, Mac nodded and kept walking. "Eeyup. Ah guess we built 'er pretty good." He chuckled softly. "Funny thing, Philomena was the only ship we called 'she,' on account a' her computer system. The mares insisted on namin' the rest, and the stallions kinda pushed back. It got to the point where miss Sparkle had to step in and just give 'em all numbers."

Astral caught up to him and started walking beside the red giant. "Ok, here's where I make myself sound like a horribly insensitive bastard, but why aren't you a little more upset about your planet? I mean, last night, you had a break down, and cried yourself to sleep in front of me. Today, you're a little mopey, but you seem fine. Like you lost a pet, not your planet."

The red pony surprised Astral with a booming, baritone laugh. He slapped the unicorn on the back, nearly knocking him to the floor, and said, "Ah've got hope now, that's why. You'll find out more when we get to the top of this here tower."

Astral rolled his shoulders to work the pain away. "I guess I can wait then. But I have to ask, just how advanced was your planet before it was destroyed? The Philomena had some impressive hardware, even by today's standards. Especially the engines."

Mac chewed on his lip, like he was trying to chew on something else that wasn't there. "Ah honestly don't know how to answer that. We had technology, sure, but it weren't widespread or nothin'. We only had the one planet, and everypony walked or flew places on their own. For places farther out than a day's walk, we had trains, balloons, and a limited selection of airships. Speakin' of trains, mah family's farm had just installed our first steam engine, a small one to help run some smaller equipment."

Astral nodded slowly even though he was completely lost. "What's a steam engine?"

“It's an engine that runs on steam." Mac winced. "Sorry. Ah guess you could say it ran by burning fuel, which boiled water, which made steam, which moved fans, pulleys, and pistons. Ya then connected all sorts a mechanical stuff to the fans and pistons to make things happen. Ah used ta play around with ours by sticking magnets on the fans, then running wire 'round 'em. Made a fair bit of 'lectricity that way."

Astral stared at the red pony. Everything he had just described came straight out of a survival guide. "Was this steam engine the most advanced thing you had?"

"Nnope. We had other things, much more advanced. But, like Ah said, it weren't common. Magic, be it Earth pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn, filled the gaps we would a used tech for. We had food, water, electricity, and most a' the time, carefully controlled weather through good old-fashioned pony power."

"Sorry, Mac. I'm just trying to wrap my head around this. But it doesn't sound like you should have been able to build the fleet you described."

Mac shrugged. "Ain't nothin' to apologize for. Ah can hardly believe we did it either, but we did." He sighed and recited, "Anything that can be done with magic can either be done with tech, or has somepony researchin' it right now. That was true then, and Ah would bet it still is. Only, back then, there was a lot more research than tech. We relied a lot on magic to get our ships built. Everything' from design and materials, to the actual construction, had a heavy dose of magic in it.

We used crystals to supply power and control systems, teams of unicorns to weld large metal plates together, and all sorts of other stuff. But there was one thing we couldn't rely on magic for, and that was the engines. Our test rockets used different combinations of magic and explosive chemicals, but they were limited once they actually made it to space. None of 'em were enough to get us much past our own solar system."

"Really?" Astral was getting more and more interested the longer Mac talked. He had read books that contained references to rockets, primitive ships propelled by fire. "So, what did you do? And how were you involved in this?"

"You'd have to ask miss Sparkle about the engine thing. Ah don't really understand it." He scratched his neck and grinned sheepishly. "As fer Mah job, Ah did a lot o'things. Ah helped run experiments, issued orders for construction, and helped write the manuals for what we would have to do if we made it to another planet."

"Manuals?" For a moment, Astral felt he was about to connect two vastly separate dots , but his train of thought was interrupted by the other pony.

"We're here." Mac had stopped in front of a door. It was the first door Astral had seen in this building with an electronic control. The rest were mechanical, plain old doorknobs. Though, knobs were far more rare than control panels. "This is the only remaining elevator. Just head on in, it'll take ya where ya need ta go."

Astral hit the panel and the door whipped open. "You aren't coming?"

"Ah've got things to do down here," the red pony said with a shrug. "It may only be mah third day in this time, but Ah've still got work to do."

"Well, see you Mac." Saying the red pony's name restarted his previous train of thought, and Astral realized why so many things the giant said seemed familiar. "Macintosh, Macintosh Apple! You wrote the MAP, ‘M. Apple's Procedures,’ It's the most common survival guide in the galaxy, everypony owns one."

The red pony smiled. "Ah guess it did its job then." Before Astral could say anything else, Mac hit the controls on the outside of the elevator, closing the door and sending Astral off. The big pony chuckled as the elevator left. "Ah always thought you'd be the celebrity when it was all said and done, not me."

Twilight walked out from behind a support beam behind him. "That's the way it goes sometimes. We don't get to choose how history remembers us."

The red pony walked away from the elevator. "If history remembers. It seems a fair bit was forgotten."

Twilight nodded sadly. "The crystals and storage devices we used to hold information had limited lifespans. While the ships were functioning, they were automatically maintained, but once the ships landed, it wasn't a priority. Everything useful was salvaged and used to build the beginnings of a new life. Record keeping lost out to survival."

"But at least we survived." Mac started walking back the way he came. "Ponies, Ah mean."

Twilight walked along beside him. "We survived too. Ponyville, Cryo-ship seven, everypony's out there. I know it." The purple mare reached out a wing and rested it on the larger pony's shoulder for just a moment. "We'll find them Mac, all of them, your sisters, our friends," she gave the red pony a mischievous grin, "Fluttershy."

Mac laughed quietly. "Ah thought Ah kept that a secret."

She laughed with him. "You did, but I saw the way she looked at you."

"She never was good at poker, was she? Not that Ah was any better." He sighed loudly. "Speakin' of our friends, Ah met Rainbow's unicorn doppelganger on that space station."

It was Twilight's turn to sigh. "I think I know who you're talking about. A medical student by the name of Ribbon Dancer."

"That's her," Mac said. "She clobber you too?"

"Huh?" Twilight stopped and stared at Mac in confusion. "Clobber? What did she do?"

Mac laughed again, louder than last time. He also stopped and ran a hoof through his mane, feeling for the slight bump left behind from his meeting with the colorful filly. "She tried to brain me with a big ol' pipe wrench. Hits like Rainbow used to, hard."

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know what you did to provoke her, but I've already looked into it. Ribbon Dancer is from Furia, a small, semiplanetary community that's joining the galactic assembly. Her parents are June Bug and Rock Duster, retired officers of the Furian defensive force. There's no mention of rainbows in the family tree."

"Have you ever mentioned Rainbow Dash? Directly to her, Ah mean?"

Another shake of the head. "I haven't. But she isn't in any of the classes I teach, So I haven't spoken to her all that much. We mostly just exchange pleasantries and stuff in the hallways." After a moment, she added, "Why do you ask?"

Mac shrugged. "She sorta acted funny when Ah mentioned Rainbow's name. Went a bit pale."

Twilight shook her head. "It has to be a coincidence. You can't open a cryo-chamber without the a DNA match to the crew, or an alicorn."

"What about them alicorns Astral and Silver mentioned?"

Twilight shook her head again. "It would have to be a True alicorn, not a false one."

Mac sighed. "Ah don't know. It may just be me, clutchin' fer straws, but Ah don't think we should ignore this."

"I know how you feel, Mac. But, we can't chase after every straw." She chewed her lip for a moment. "Though... we may be able to chase this one. Astral is going to need a test mission, and Furia should be quiet enough. When I head up, I'll be sure to mention it."

Mac smiled. "Thanks for indulgin' me." They walked in silence for a while, then Mac quietly asked, "What's semiplanetary mean?"