//------------------------------// // Ch2 Asking Questions (edited) // Story: Lost Moon Dancer // by qwefg //------------------------------// Sleep rarely gives us the peace that we seek Moon Dancer stood in front of Twilight as she asked “So what is it that you want to talk about?” Twilight smiled as she replied “Remember that talk we had about my decision to take Starlight Glimmer on as an apprentice?” Moon Dancer nodded as she had already stated why that was a bad idea “Look just because you were able to reform Discord doesn’t mean…” Twilight shook her head “It’s more than that… I just look back as I couldn’t help but wonder if I could have done things differently in the past. Did I really need to out Chrysalis out in front of everypony? I mean they were trying to find love so maybe if we had tried opening a dialog instead of simply kicking them out of the city.” Moon Dancer rolled her eyes “They invaded canterlot.” Twilight nodded her head “So did Discord as he turned Equestria into his plaything when he broke free.” Moon Dancer sighed “Discord didn’t hurt anypony. He was a jerk and played a lot of cruel pranks, but everypony was able to get over it when he was sealed way. You don’t see Celestia asking if Tirek should have been given a lesson on friendship or if Sombra was just misunderstood.” Twilight frowned “Tirek was a power hungry tyrant and Sombra plunged the entire Crystal Empire into despair.” “Like Starlight Glimmer?” Moon Dancer quickly replied “She had brainwashed an entire village stripping them of their cutie marks while she kept her own. She built an entire vault to house all of them and when you didn’t want to give up your cutie marks she ripped them right off you and then placed you in a locked room where she played her propaganda all day trying to convert you!” She shook her head “Almost like a certain unicorn who stripped away everypony else’s joy while keeping his own. Stuffing their only hope down in a vault and then trying to strip away the last resistance to his return when he tried attacking everypony when he finally entered the Crystal Empire!” Twilight slowly nodded her head as she muttered “Yes, but…” “And her reform?” Moon Dancer couldn’t help but snap back “She decided to go back in time just to tear you apart from your friends! Do you have any idea how dangerous that could have been if she managed to find a way around Starswirl Stable Loop theory?” Twilight shivered as Moon Dancer continued “So now instead of being placed in jail and answering for her various crimes which she had committed without any outside influence caused by cursed relics or by a dark spell as this had all been done by her own free will… she gets to be your student as you teach her magic and lessons about friendship?” Moon Dancer couldn’t help but feel angry at Twilight. Sure she could understand the reason why Twilight didn’t come to her party because Twilight had been sent to ponyvile… and Twilight had tried making things up to her, but this? If she was taking up apprentices than why was she picking somepony that had caused her so much trouble? Okay so Discord was a lucky case, but he nearly destroyed Equestria by helping out Tirek. If it wasn’t for Fluttershy being kind to him and accepting him for who he was combined with Tirek stabbing him in the back and showing just how cruel the world could be than Moon Dancer highly doubted that Discord would be anything but that same cruel prankster that he was in history and when he first broke free from his confinement. Moon Dancer sighed as she looked at Twilight one last time “So… was the reason for this whole picnic was a chance to show off your new student who I just heard about after you came back from your trip in the Crystal Empire?” Twilight shook her head “Actually I thought you might have been able to help give her a few words of advice. You kind of shut yourself off like she did when… you both lost a friend.” Moon Dancer took a deep breath as Twilight certainly didn’t compare her to a crazy mare who stole cutie marks. She certainly didn’t decide to throw a hissy fit and think it would be a wonderful idea to torment Twilight and enact some sort of twisted desire for revenge. She didn’t break into Canterlot Castle stealing the scroll to a powerful spell that could cause untold chaos! Twilight frowned “The reason why I took her in was because I saw that she needed help… and her situation is kind of…” “Don’t…” Moon Dancer replied with a small hint of annoyance “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you. Let’s just get back to the party. I think we left Minute and Rainbow Dash alone long enough for them to get into trouble.” Twilight nodded as Moon Dancer walked back to the picnic as Twilight’s other friends were getting along with Twilight’s old Canterlot friends. Moon Dancer couldn’t help but glare at the new unicorn who noticed her gaze and went back to slowly sipping her cup of tea instead of being locked away in a jail cell. ****** Moon Dancer woke up as the dog was licking her face. The bookworm yawned as she looked out the window only to see the foreign orange planet and the two moons around it. The cold dread of reality washed over her as she realized that she wasn’t dreaming. That she had been trapped aboard... no trapped within some mountain somewhere on Equs. Her friends were possibly trapped in one of those cryo pods. She had no idea how she got here and the last memory of Equestria was having a picnic out in the middle of the sun. “Yesterday I talked Twilight and left after an argument…” Moon Dancer sighed “and now I have no idea where I am.” Moon Dancer shielded her eyes as she tried to get a glimpse of the sun out in the distance. For some reason it didn’t seem to have the same feel or warmth on her fur like the sun over Equestria. She shook her head as it couldn’t be real. She wasn’t looking at a window, but some sort of highly detailed painting with an unknown magic woven into it giving it the impression of a window glancing out into space. The facility she was trapped within… as it certainly couldn’t be a ‘space ship’ was still a bit cold as she couldn’t help but shiver. Maybe the facility’s temperature was bother her or the last memory she could remember of speaking with Twilight had ended in a sour note… which also just happened right before she was fillynapped. “Take a few deep breaths Moon Dancer.” She told herself “You’ve studied countless spells… reading up on a variety of subjects and while you’re not a powerhouse like Twilight Sparkle you are no slouch either.” She slowly nodded her head as she tried not to think about how she had only cast most of those spells in the safety of her house or had spent more time researching about things than actually doing hoofs on experience. Moon Dancer stretched her back as she hopped off the couch and walked over to the terminal as she glanced at the screen. Her only ally besides the dog was the weird machine that she knew nothing about. With a deep breath she slowly typed in her first response “Uh hey? How are you?” Alright so it wasn’t the greatest response or question she could have typed, but she had to start somewhere! A message appeared on the screen “I am fine. I also spent the time trying to figure out which cryo pods may contain your friends… but it’s just an untested hypotheses.” Moon Dancer quickly typed into the computer “Show me!” “Each pod weighs X amount of pounds. If an average person weighs more than a dog then picking out any pods that weigh close to your weight should in theory pick out another pony.” The machine replied as it did sound like a good idea Moon Dancer frowned at the one part that didn’t make sense “What do you mean by in theory?” There was a slight pause before a new message appeared “A dog was placed into one pods designated for crew members which would leave a small room for error in the event of another unlikely scenario. I have also pulled up and searched through the ship’s restoration plan to try to figure out the necessary requirements needed to release all of the individuals in the pods.” Moon Dancer nodded as she typed back “Show me.” The screen flicked before a couple of documents appeared on the screen as a shortened version of it appeared underneath it saying “Restoring power to the hydroponics bay for food and better water restoration will allow for one more crew member to be released from Cryo Status. Restoring power to crew quarters and selecting which rooms to be assigned is recommended as the second option so that you won’t have to use the couch in this room as a bed. Finally restoring power to the kitchen and using crops from the garden area will notify the automated systems that this ship can handle a larger population to unlock any more requirements needed to free the other crew members from cryo status. Of course the work needed to show that the kitchen is in working order requires something to be made as the ship current lack supplies for the kitchen to be of any use so far.” Moon Dancer sighed as she wanted a way out of this place… or a method where she could simply free everypony all at once. She looked back at the room where the dog came out of and stared at the pod. Sure it was a bit thick, but maybe she could simply try prying one open… or finding a crow bar and forcing one of them open? She shook her head as she said out loud “I doubt it will be that easy.” As she typed “Can you show me to the room where the rest of the pods are being kept?” “I must warn you that entering the room without any protection would be dangerous as the room is kept at an optimal temperature for preserving the crew.” The machine replied “Without proper safety gear on a crew member could freeze to death or suffer from multiple accounts of frostbite by just being exposed to the environment.” Moon Dancer made a ‘tisk’ sound with her tongue as she looked back at the previous room with ice hanging off the ceiling. All she knew about the previous room was that it was freezing cold… and apparently the mist was because the pods were retrieved from an even colder room. “I’ll have to leave that as plan B until I find some winter gear…” Moon Dancer replied with slight irritation “Still you’re a smart mare Moon Dancer… Maybe there is another solution.” She typed into the computer “How do we go back home?” “According to the logs…” The AI paused for a moment “….they are locked? One moment…” Moon Dancer rubbed her forelegs as she tried to not get worried. Sure it was a silly question, but hopefully she might get lucky. Besides she had to think of what she was going to do if she couldn’t find an easy solution. Restoring water would be a good idea. She didn’t understand what the rest of the systems it was attached to did… but a pony could only go so long without water. Restoring power to crew quarters sounded like a good idea if there were more ponies besides her. That just left the kitchen being turned back on if she couldn’t find anypony that could help her. Sure the ‘food’ might be low, but Moon Dancer knew how a toaster worked. If she didn’t find anything she recognized or detect any magic when it was toasting something… then she’d figure out how it was working to get a vague understanding on how the rest of this place worked. “I’m placing all my hope on a toaster if things get worse” Moon Dancer face hoofed and quickly muttered “If only Twilight was here… She’d know what to do.” The screen flickered making Moon Dancer looked at the screen “The ship’s logs are locked for until a member of the crew restore power to the command deck. This is to ensure that the crew doesn’t go back into cryo sleep and hand off the mission to ship’s Manufactured Automated Intelligence.” Moon Dancer frowned as she typed back “How do I restore power to the command deck?” “The command deck is locked down until other primary systems have been restored like food or water.” The machine replied “Also it would be ill advised to attempt to leave the station until the ship is in working order.” The mare sighed shaking her head as she just had to go along for now… until a better alternative appeared before her. She just had to figure out what counted as a primary system and if there wasn’t a back door out of this place. “Can you show me the status of the systems that are online?” Moon Dancer typed into the machine. She glanced at all the various names as the machine replied “Any systems you wish to know more about?” ****** Moon Dancer yawned as she started getting a vague understanding on how this place worked as she had spent the time reading over some of the systems or figuring how what she could do by simply typing a command into the terminal. She frowned as she spotted how much time had passed as she hadn’t restored power to any other systems… or figured out where they were. A few of the answers she had received were ridicules… and other parts censored or simply misunderstood. Trying to ask about Luna gave her information about the moon… and asking about Celestia just kept giving her pictures of stars or celestial constellations. She glanced back at the dog as a question formed in her mind “Are you a stallion or a mare?” Moon Dancer didn’t think of much when asking the question, but she was getting a little bit bored with some of the machine’s answers and her various attempts to map out where everything was stored in this place and the machine didn’t have much information about the layout of the ‘station’ it was attached to. The screen flashed for just a moment as a new message slowly came out “Male?” Moon Dancer blinked before typing back “What was with the delay?” “It took a little while for the computer to translate Stallion and Mare as most questions are simply… are you male or female?” The machine replied Moon Dancer rubbed her chin before typing back “Then what did my question come out as?” She watched the new text appear on the screen “It asked me if I was an animal. I had to check the context of the species to determine what the original question could have meant.” Moon Dancer slowly nodded her head… before hitting it up against a nearby wall. The machine didn’t understand direct questions about ponies… because pony names could be seen as terms… or items. Her own name might pull up information about Moons… or dances… possibly dances in relation to the moon. Asking about any of her friends, relatives, or rulers of Equestria wouldn’t work because the machine couldn’t tell the difference between a name and a pony… except that it had asked her for her name. Moon Dancer took a deep breath as she muttered “I just have to find some way to make it recognize names instead of terms… alright.” She quickly typed into the computer “How did Moon Dancer get here?” A picture of a document appeared with various signatures appeared on it. Moon Dancer didn’t recognize any of the names as she certainly didn’t see her name on it. Still she felt the sudden urge to cover up the names with her hoof and not let the camera see the written names either. Moon Dancer felt her face burn up as she just realized that she was trying to hide information from somepony or something that had brought up the document that she had asked. Couldn’t he simply take a look at the same document somewhere else instead of trying to see what was written underneath her hoof? Moon Dancer groaned as she slowly typed “Mal can you see this?” She felt her face continue to burn only for the message to reply “The document is crew restricted. Did it say how you got on board… or which of the cryo pods your friends might be in?” The image disappeared as Moon Dancer sighed in relief… now she just needed to figure out a quick excuse as she quickly typed “Uh Mal… where’s the bathroom?” A map and marked all the terminals appeared on the screen as it also marked all the doors she needed to open up manually open up. Moon Dancer blushed as she remembered her second problem “And how do I get out of this suit?” Moon Dancer frowned as the message replied “Environmental Safety Suit can safely be removed in the bathroom. There are no cameras so I cannot be of much use… there is also a system in place where you can use the suit as a rest room for at least four days. Please put the suit back on after you are done.” She rolled her eyes only for a new message to appear “The documents say it’s for your own safety just in case life support is unable to sustain the current population due to unknown reasons as it would be easier/safer for you to wear the suit at all times instead of trying to find a suit when a disaster happens.” Moon Dancer groaned as she typed back “What if I was an alicorn or a Pegasus and the suit was pinching my wings?” There was a slight pause nothing happened. She waited in front of the machine until she remembered that a message would only come back if she typed something into the machine. Moon Dancer paused as she typed it again the same message again before waiting a few seconds and added “Did you get the previous message?” The screen flickered as the AI replied “It states you typed in a spelling error.” She frowned and typed back “Where is your dictionary?” “Apparently uploading a dictionary to the ship’s computer requires crew quarters to be restored.” The machine replied The unicorn bit her lip and hissed in frustration as apparently the machine didn’t recognize the word alicorn or Pegasus. She knew it recognized pony, stallion, and mare so obviously it knew about Equines… “Why am I even trying to pull the information up.” Moon Dancer muttered to herself “It’s not like it will help me right now and I already know whoever built this place is keeping secrets.” She turned her back on the machine as she continued talking out loud “Okay first I go fix the water supply… then I check the garden for something to eat and if the next pony that wakes up that can’t help me then I go to the kitchen before trying to check the storage rooms for anything that could help.” The screen flickered as the machine replied "May I recommend you focus on the storage room first?" Moon Dancer stared at the screen "Why do you want me to go to the storage room first?" "The Storage rooms have a food stored away, spare parts, supplies, Kitchen Assistance Drone, and of course riot control weapons." The machine replied Moon Dancer chuckled a little as she typed back "I am feeling kind of hungry so looking for food would help." "There are dry rations in the kitchen, but the Kitchen Assistance Drone may be able to help provide some extra help due to a current lack of working crew members. I would also advise you to take a few Riot Control items. The machine stated as a small shiver went down her spine. "Are you telling me to arm myself? Moon Dancer replied in shock... and disbelief She did go to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns so she wasn't a slouch when it came to spells... maybe a shield might be useful, but grabbing a sword or a spear? "Space Station Vigil has still yet to send a reply as it has nearly reached twenty four hours since we have docked." The machine continued "If there is an accident onboard or some sort of technical malfunction everything should be resolved shortly, but it is better to be safe than sorry." Moon Dancer glanced at the screen "What would I need to be 'safe' from?" "Unknown... but will keep you updated on Space Station Vigil's lack of communication until an answer or situation occurs." The machine simply stated as if that was all she needed to know. Yep... that was enough to make her remember the call of nature. She quickly typed into the computer “Open doors to bathroom!” As soon as the first door opened up Moon Dancer dashed out of the room as the dog quickly followed her out of curiosity or to ensure that she didn’t disappear when she left the room. There were plenty of questions racing through Moon Dancer’s mind, but taking off the suit and figuring out if they had a working restroom were her main focus right now.