Equestria was a land of many wonders. There were sprawling fertile plains that made even the most pessimistic of ponies glean a sliver of hope from the endless expanses. In the northeast, there are the frozen snowlands that border the Griffon Kingdom, which provide year-round winter fun for any family willing to travel the minimum of 100 miles from any population center. In the south are the arid deserts that from the border between Equestria and the United Tribes of Zebrica. However, the main focus of the most powerful nation on Equus was the central, landlocked region which contained the capital, a moderately-sized city beside it, and one of the largest monthly population booms on the planet. On the first Friday of every month, POnyville was home to what could have been the most sumptuous thing on the planet: Bonbon's world-famous vanilla and cardamom cupcakes.
Ponies and griffins alike would rush in from all walks of life to enjoy even a nibble of these cupcakes and, for the past seven years, would leave satisfied beyond belief. This monthly occurrence has actually become quite the normal occurrence for Ponyville, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. With the massive influx of tourists, local businesses have become dependent on the increase of product demand, to the extent that their inventories have to be moved otherwise they lose a rather considerable amount of money. This can mean one of two things: people get to make more money off of naive customers or "uh oh." This also means that, once a month, a certain creme-colored earth pony has a considerable amount of stress on her shoulders.
Today is the first Monday of the last week of April. Ponies filled the bustling dirt streets of Ponyville, followed by the occasional wooden cart hauling various produce items to be sold during today's farmers market. In front of the town hall, dozens of crudely assembled wooden stalls lined either side of the streets. They flanked various groups of ponies hopping from stall to stall, searching for cheap prices for fresh produce and the entire area was polluted with their professional conversations regarding various purchases. However, there was one voice that could be heard above the rest.
"What the hay do you mean you are out of vanilla beans?!" one creme-colored earth pony practically screamed.
"W-we apologize, Ms. Bonbon, but we our s-supply from the Zebrican j-jungles has d-decreased by 30% from last y-year." one of the merchants working an exotic goods stand sheepishly replied to the now fuming earth pony.
"This is utterly ridiculous! How can you simple traveling merchants not do your one job?! You absolute imbeciles! I can not-" Bonbon paused her outrage to take a deep breath and to allow the shopkeeper to regain their composure. "I apologize for my tantrum. I will be returning home. Thank you for your help." Bonbon solemnly droned as she sulked and backed away from the stand.
"Good day," she concluded as she turned and began walking through the stunned crowd. A simple glare from Bonbon at one passerby was enough to tell the shoppers to resume their previous activities lest they incite another episode form the unusually grumpy earth pony.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonbon rounds the corner leading to the road that her and Lyra's house is on. Being that most everypony was at the farmers market, the walk home was rather quiet. As the crunch of the dry soil beneath her hoofsteps approached the front door of her house, the turquoise door was pushed open with a loud "whack!" Bonbon's sadness had turned to anger as she began to feel her blood boil.
"Why those..... little.... slimy..... Celestia-darned... GAAAHH!!!" She accentuated the second tantrum of the day with the flipping of a chair sitting at the dining table. The chair accelerated into the air, chipped the ceiling, and returned to the ground with an initial "bonk" followed by rattling as the various components of it were snapped from the force of the impact. Finally regaining control of herself again, Bonbon collapsed onto the floor as she grabbed her recipe for her world-famous cupcakes and slid it onto the floor in front of her. A turquoise head popped out of a doorway at the end of a corridor in the house in response to the unsettling barrage of noises coming from the living area. This head was slowly, but surely, followed by a turquoise body creeping towards the living room. Her hoofsteps were muffled by the gray rug covering the hardwood floor. As she entered the living room and passed the coffee table, the kitchen entrance came into view and Lyra was able to lay her unexpecting eyes on her marefirend in a state that she had not seen her in for a long time.
"Bonbon?" Lyra cautiously asked, attmepting to gently alert Bonbon of her presence.
*sniffle* "Oh! Lyra! *sniffle* I-I was just l-looking at my re-recipe. You know, tryin' to review f-for the big b-batch this Friday! Hehe..." Bonbon acted as she tried to convince Lyra that she was not just sitting on the kitchen floor sobbing.
"Bonbon..." Lyra attempted to console, not knowing exactly what to do. Lyra made her way over to Bonbon and sat down beside her, taking a look at her recipe. "What happened?"
"I can't make the cupcakes this month, Lyra." Bonbon flatly stated.
"What? Why not? Come on, you can tell me." Lyra replied, beginning to get a sense of how to talk to her marefirend.
"There is no vanilla-ha-haaaaaaaa!!!" Bonbon finally broke out crying into Lyra's chest. After the initial shock subsided, Lyra's initially widened eyes returned to their normal size and she wrapped her forelegs around Bonbon.
"Well then... I am going to assume that you searched at the farmers market for vanilla." Bonbon slowly nodded. "And I am going to assume that there are other places we can find vanilla. Hey! How about we ask Applejack for some! She grows eeeverryything." Lyra reasoned.
Bonbon looked up at her marefriend with an "are you serious?" look in her eyes, all signs of the previously distressed and broken Bonbon nowhere to be found. "Lyra. Please stick to mythology because you appear to be utterly clueless as to the growing conditions of vanilla." Bonbon finally stated.
"Well, I'm sooorrryy, princess. I was just trying to comfort you." Lyra quipped.
"Okay, well, first of all, vanilla only grows in very humid and tropical climates. Second of all, that means that Applejack isn't going to have access to aNY VANILLA IN EQUESTRIA!" Bonbon explained, raising her voice at the ned fo accentuate her point.
"Well then, where can you get some vanilla?" Lyra asked, a little bit curious. This was a question that Lyra may come to regret asking.
"Zebrica." Bonbon stated blatantly as a look of realization came across her face.
"Wha-w-w-whoa. Hold on there. You can't just go to some Zebrican jungle for some vanilla, Bonbon." Lyra began to confront her marefriend with genuine concern.
Bonbon's eyes began to grow wide again, this time upon completion of her plan and the subsequent increase in insanity it required. "Yes! I've got it! Actually, why not go to the jungles?! It's only a 10-day trip there and back and, if I leave now, I can make it back in time for the cupcake festival! It's not like I am going to find any vanilla here if it isn't at the farmers market!" Bonbon ranted as she maniacally schemed while pacing back and forth across her kitchen floor.
Lyra was about to interject but then she thought about it. How could she forget about that thing she had encountered last Friday? It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Regardless, there was something about it that screamed "human." This probably had something to do with her preconceived notion of the technological capabilities of humans but there was no way to be sure. This whole endeavor seemed extremely farfetched but is it any coincidence that this thing comes from outer space and the only thing that she ever thought could launch something from all the way out there was an extremely technologically advanced race. Plus, why did it come to her planet of all the others in the galaxy? This trip to Zebrica may yield another one of these devices. In working condition, too! It is likely considering there is no way the Zebras could detect that beeping noise Lyra could since they don't have horns. The reason Lyra was annoyed by the noise was that it began to resonate and consequentially hurt her horn, after all.
"Wait! I-I'm coming with you!" Lyra interrupted as Bonbon began to pack.
"What? Are you sure? I mean, this is a totally last minute gig and borderline dangerous. I mean-" Bonbon was interrupted by Lyra waving her right forehoof around frantically.
"I know! I know! This whole thing is really risky. Actually, I don't even know why I was considering letting you go all alone. I'm supposed to be your marefriend, aren't I?" Lyra shot out her quickly formulated lie as to why she needed to go with Bonbon. It was best to keep this whole alien business on a need-to-know basis. Actually, now that she thought about it, even more, this whole trip was going to be expensive, wasn't it?
"Hey, Bonbon?" asked Lyra.
"Yeah, sweetheart?" replied Bonbon
"You seem to be rather calm about this whole last minute trip. How are you going to handle any of the expenses?"
Bonbon scoffed as if Lyra was a five-year-old. "If these businesses know anything about supply and demand, then they need me to go just I much as I need myself to go." Bonbon nonchalantly stated. Lyra wasn't going to question any of this since she was becoming more eager by the second to see if another one of those machines had landed on her planet. She absolutely needed a functioning component. Within half an hour, they had packed two satchels with enough food, water, and camping supplies to sustain a small village for a month. "Let's get a move on!" exclaimed Bonbon as she exited the house, lugging her 30-pound satchel behind her. Lyra followed doing the same.
The couple made their way into Ponyville. However, not without attracting more than one odd stare at their oversized travel bags. Then again, it wasn't very hard to miss them considering all of the dust the bags kicked up as they were dragged along the dirt streets of the city. It was a bit of a trot to the train station and after 10 minutes of lugging the baggage around,
"*pant* Bonbon... *pant* when are we going to... *pant* get there?" Lyra was able to struggle out in between fatigued panting.
"Just.. *pant* a couple... *pant* more minutes, Lyra." Bonbon struggled to reply, as well.
Just as expected, after a few minutes of walking towards the south of Ponyville, a large wooden structure came into view with a sign on the front reading, in large, bold letters, "EQUESTRIA EXPRESS". In the front, facing the slowly incoming couple, was a window and behind the window was a brown earth pony colt dressed in a traditional conductor's uniform. As the couple approached, his usual calm demeanor flees out the window and he recalls how there was rumor spreading around town that the cupcake festival next week was in jeopardy. This must have something to do with it.
"*pant* Good day, operator. My name is-" Bonbon was cut off.
"I know who yew are, miss. Ah am gunna take a wild guess here n' assume that yew wanna take a train outta here fer some missing supplies. Am ah wrong?" the operator stated, catching both ponies by surprise.
"Well, actually, yes. When is-"
"Next one to the international airport leaves in 15 minutes. Have a seat. All these gift shop items need some customers so yer tickets are on me." the operator nonchalantly replied.
"Oh! Well, thank you, sir." Lyra concluded as the completely depleted Bonbon dragged her way over to the wooden waiting bench. They were going to an airport! There were only a couple in Equestria so, usually, it was pretty tough to get to one without running into immense amounts of traffic. However, at this time of the month, people everywhere were settling in their tents in Ponyville for the cupcake festival so the airways were open. The blimps they made nowadays are way more comfortable and efficient than the first ones about 5 decades ago. Their interiors were decked out with lush velvet and other rare fabrics while their new and improved magic-compressor-powered engines could get them up to speeds as fast as 45 whole miles in a single hour! The advancements of modern technology were astounding to Lyra. All the more reason to find out what these strange contraptions form another world held.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Southeast Equestrian Airport provided service from anywhere in Equestria the train ran to various airports located in Northern Zebrica, Southern Griffonia, and the recently diplomatically established Changeling Republic. During the train ride, there were periods where the excitement of possibly finding functioning human technology dissipated for Lyra. It was at these times that the true absurdity of this entire trip came out. Here she was, hundreds of miles from home, having left on a moment's notice with nothing but the rather slim chance of finding alien technology in addition to a blatant lie to her lover. Regardless of all of this, there was no turning back now, careening down the Equestrian rail lines at 60 miles an hour. It had been around 4 hours at this point as all Bonbon had done was pay a game of poker with her nad take a 3-hour nap. Both ponies were pulled from their thoughts as the droning of an airship filled the atmosphere. Bonbon awoke from her nap and Lyra's blank expression changed to that of surprise as they looked out the window and upward in unison.
Travelling Southbound at an altitude of about 500 feet was one of the largest models of commercial blimps on the market: the Stratus S-14 by Glimmer Industries. It truly was a behemoth of a machine; 8 separate engines provided a whopping 1000 pounds of thrust which could barely propel the 600-kilogram vessel at acceptable speeds. Its grand fins swept through the air as the draft it left in its trail could blow any stack of paper off of any desk. The couple turned their attention form the aircraft itself to its destination. Following the line of travel the vessel was taking, the airport itself came into view. Various wooden platforms painted with targets marked landing sites for various blimps while their respective terminals housed hundreds of staff members and the occasional traveler who inhabited the airport. These all came together to produce a three-story wooden fortress that was easily the most advanced piece of architecture this side of Canterlot. Why wouldn't it be? After all, it dealt with some of the most advanced machinery available to ponykind on a daily basis.
Pretty soon, the train began to decelerate as screeching from its metal wheels could be heard from inside the car cabins. The train conductor who was last seen at the beginning of the trip when they departed from Ponyville appeared from the front of the train as he made his way through each car, repeating the phrase, "Next stop: Southern Equestria Airport. Next stop: Southern Equestria AIrport." Bonbon and Lyra took this as their cue to rise from their sweats and began gathering their belongings which were strewn throughout their sitting area in various attempts to amuse themselves during the 4-hour trip. As they made their way down the steps of the train car, their first breath of fresh air in a few hours hits them and they both, on reflex, take a moment to appreciate the pristine atmosphere. Opening their eyes, they resume their adventure.
"Well, honey, there is no time to waste!" Lyra exclaimed as her excitement from the beginning of the trip began to return.
"Right!" returned Bonbon.
The two walked under an arch which signified the entrance to the airport. Inside the massive structure, there were rows of counters which seemed to be ticketing stands. Their entire work area was completely illuminated by the natural sunlight shining intensely through the walls and ceilings which were, collectively, approximately 80% glass. Walking up to one of the ponies sitting at their customer service desk, Bonbon spoke up to the formally dressed mare.
"Excuse me, miss. We would like two tickets for your next flight to Zebrica."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here, just sign here." the "formal" mare reeled in an obviously annoyed tone as she shuffled around in her chair, unveiling a cacophony of dings and dongs as the various bottles under her desk were shoved around, to retrieve a slightly crumpled up piece of paper with a bunch of signatures on it. Bonbon forced a weak smile towards the mare's rather gross demeanor and picked up a pen sitting on the desk, signed the paper, and set the pen back down where it was.
"Alright, cool. How would you like to pay for your ticket?" the mare asked dryly.
"Oh, well, you see, my name is Bonbon and I, along with my marefriend here, are attempting to retrieve supplies necessary to put on the cupcake festival of Ponyville. So, I was thinking that since, you know, it is really important for a lot of local economies and tourists and so-"
"Okay! Please, just shut up already and I'll let you get your ticket for free. Quite frankly, I don't give two flanks about any of your pastry affairs but they don't pay me enough to deal with things like this so... have fun!" With that, the rude mare spun around in her circular wooden stool and simply walked away, leaving two confused mares to stand and stare. Eventually, they both came to terms with what just happened and decided to wait for their flight which looked like it was departing in.... 2 minutes?! The couple exchanged quick and frantic glances as they began a quick gallop towards their terminal. The two, without speaking a single word to each other, ran their way up the several flights of stairs to reach their terminal's floor. There, they saw a blimp sitting on a wooden platform with its ropes that kept it fastened to the airport being untied. "Hold the blimp!!!" yelled Bonbon. The young colt outside untying the blimp ceased the untying as the two frantically ran aboard.
In the blimp, there seemed to be 30 rows and 15 columns of red velvet seats adorning the red and gold interior, The maroon curtains adorning the windows which lined either side of the cabin we accented by the golden furnished nailed to the floor. The couple's rush did not stop, however. They rushed to make their way to their seats and buckle their belts, just in time to feel the legends of the blimp to whirr to life with a few initial pops and a final buzz. "Mares and gentlecolts, welcome aboard Equestrian Air flight 465 en route to the Central Zebrican Airport. Estimated flight time is 3 days and 14 hours so I would suggest you sit back, grab a snack, and allow one of our flight attendants to tend to your every need. Have a pleasant flight, everypony." The captain's voice rang through the intercom's loudspeakers. This blimp had microphone technology? Lyra thought that was just implemented last month into high-class government research institutions. Regardless, the message from the captain prompted the couple to look around the cabin only to realize that they were the only ones abroad.
"I think our journey is only just about to begin, Bonbon." Lyra excitedly stated.
"Relax, Lyra. We're getting vanilla." Bonbon replied. It was obvious that they had rather different outlooks as to their coming trip. Despite this, Lyra knew that the next few days would be a life-changing experience.