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// 1 Eye in the Sky 
// Story: FiSA: Side Stories and Notes 
// by Cordial Nova 
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"Greatly honored," Clear Sight muttered as he pronked along the gray-walled passage. "That's what the Princess said. Greatly honored. Next time, ask her for details before you volunteer."

The unicorn, it would be fair to say, was not pronking cheerfully, the reason for which - and for the pronking itself - became clear as he turned the corner, bounced up the steps four at a time, and barely stopped himself from crashing into the broad crystal dome overhead, heaving a heartfelt sigh of relief.

(The dome had been the cause of a great deal of heartfelt relief on his part. Nearly four octennia old, and with nopony with the proper magic available to repair it for the last three, it was showing its age in many places. With the outpost having been abandoned during Princess Luna's... absence... Princess Celestia having considered that sending trained agents to marinate in aura of angry nightmare-taken alicorn to be a very bad idea, not to mention the moonquakes caused by said angry nightmare-taken alicorn being spiritually confined within., there were actual cracks showing, crudely reinforced with sealant.

Perhaps now that the Crystal Empire had returned, it could be fixed properly - if it proved its value, which is why Royal Equestrian Intelligence had decided - with Princess Luna's return, strong urging, and if the coffee-machine talk was anything to go byBy which Clear Sight meant "assuming nopony had slipped up and poured themselves a mug of Luna's Special RoastRated a Class III Chemothaumatic Hazard. Non-alicorn consumption may cause excitability, insomnia, dizziness, hallucinations, muscle twitches, heart palpitations, delusions, magic surges, the Royal Canterlot Voice, and exploding twice. again" aliens falling out of the sky in giant balls of fire - that it was time to send somepony up here again.)

Steadfastly ignoring the dusty lunar plains beyond the clear crystal, Clear Sight fitted himself awkwardly into the observer's seat behind his telescope - an antique reflector hastily restored with modern mirrors, and the sole telescope in the room not still covered in crackling multi-octennial dust sheets - and pulled over the Written, of course, on branded SparkleNotesTMTwo of her friends are savvy businessmares, you know. highest-quality self-duplicating checklist paper. day's checklist.

"Day 23," he said, a quill grasped in his field scribbling in synchrony. "No problems that weren't in any of the last 22 reports, unless you count talking to telescopes, machinery, and myself. Only five days to go, and they haven't started answering back yet. Except me.

"Item one: cleaned, oiled, and topped up with water the Munificent Oxygen EngineA pile of brass and cloud-based enchantment downstairs that originally produced explosions from water. Eventually FeatherbrainA pegasus academic, one of a group still not all that well thought of in the still-fairly-Pegasopolitan warrior culture of the day. Besides, her cutie mark was a brain with a quill overlapping it, so there wasn't much she could do but learn to embrace itLater she showed them, showed them all. But that's another story.. arranged for the breathable part of the water to end up in one place, and the explosions in another.. It's wheezing like an asthmatic mule halfway up the Canterhorn, but it's still running and I'm still breathing.

"Item two: cleared out the last of the old quarters. It was as stripped as the rest. No surprises there, unless you count learning how tame Fillyfoolers Fortnightly was in 1067. Barely a fetlock showing."

"Item three: report on Zebrican troop movements in the southern San Palomino, and any ships or airships coming from the west." He shoved a lever up a notch, and while the telescope pivoted towards the rising ochre orb and its blue-green eye with a tremendous clanking of chains, attempted to bring some order, or at least a lack of obstructed vision, to a mane rendered even more unmanageable than usual by the moon's low gravity. "The skies should be clear. Let's see what we can see."