Of Starships and Golden Armors

by Devona


Interval 2 - Part 3, Luna

In a blink, Luna once again found herself suspended in a sea of blackness. By now though, she was already familiar with the drill. As minutes passed the Princess quietly began pondering what she had just seen - not to much effect, as soon enough, a few unintelligible lines of alien text appeared before her eyes once more, and a familiar voice resonated through the matterless void, cutting Luna's train of thought short.

"Apologies for the long wait, Your Highness, but as I've said, we sadly don't have much to work with here when it comes to the Simulation."

"Tis' fine," Luna replied, doing what would under normal circumstances amount to a huff.

"Well, good then," Selina chuckled quietly. "There is still some time before the next scenario properly loads, and I think we can safely just repeat the drill. So, do you have any more questions?"

Instinctively, Luna tried to tap her chin in though, although quickly failed without a body. That subtle reminder barely affected the Princess though, as she promptly began struggling to draw from the swirling thoughts and emotions, which - although mostly tamed - still remained in her head.

Were there even any questions? Did she have anything to ask about?

There surely was confusion, or, more accurately, traces of it, echoes of the first, oh-so-foreign impressions brought about by the picture of World War One. These traces swirled and danced, impaling further understanding, and even though cast aside by Selina's explanations, their presence made putting anything into words simply weird... hard.

Luna knew she now understood everything as much as she could. If she thought about it, she really, honestly knew.

But she didn't feel it. She only felt echoes of questions past, making it seem like all the knowledge Luna had gained was but an imitation... a lie.

But a lie it was not - about that there was no doubt.
However there was also no doubt that such an uncertain state made it virtually impossible to say whether anything remained unclear regarding the recent revelations.

And so, Luna thought, effectively killing time before the Simulation's next stage, and after a while, managed to formulate two clear questions she definitely had - questions obvious, which Luna was genuinely surprised she hadn't come up with immediately, considering she had already held them in her mind before.

Oh well, it appears as though in such foreign circumstances, even a few minutes in solitude can serve to swipe away the clarity one had already maintained beforehand and not lost once. Especially if confronted with such a sudden, uh... 'demand'.

Not seeing any reason to delay further, Luna broke the howling silence. "We... we do."

"Oh, by the way, if it's about the next scenario... we want it to be kind of a surprise. Sorry."

"It is not," Luna simply stated.

"Okay, then. Just saying there," clarified Selina. "Well, go ahead. Just please don't ask about anything classified," the AI finished with a chuckle.

Luna snorted briefly, but otherwise mostly ignored the AI's remarks, already involuntarily considering what she was about to bring up. "Thou mentioned, that... prior to suffering an attack, before your own contact has been established, humanity.... fared well not... art... art we correct?"

"You mean I said we were weak when the Chirr attacked? Yeah, you're correct."

"Then how come such... was the First War continued until so much has been lost?" Luna asked, slightly terrified by the implications this would bring up.

It made sense, though. If the humans plunged themselves in battle with their unknowing actions in such a convoluted way, their struggle might as well have continued for... a very long time. Luna had lived long enough to see ponies not about to let go of their demands, and it wasn't that much of a stretch to assume that a similar way of thinking could dominate amidst the humans during the violent conflict given what she already knew about its background.

It was tragic, but also very real.

And Luna clearly remembered Selina say one more little, yet important thing: that when first contact with another species was made, the Republic of Sol was a young state.

So there was not any divide between factions anymore. Was it possible that after such hardship, the humans put aside their inner squabbles?

Such was the case with the ponies, after all - or similar, to be sure. However it may have looked in modern Equestria, it was only a common, very real threat that had brought everypony together in the first place.

Perhaps the humans, having seen what may transpire on their world, reacted similarly?

It made sense.

Regardless of everything however, one thing remained. Luna had already forgotten the exact dates Selina had given her, but could still clearly remember the hundreds - and that created quite a... curious situation.

1900 through 2300... how could it come the world was lit so long...? Was it really? Perhaps...

"No," Selina's voice immediately brough Luna out of her thoughts.

What...?

"It was something else that happened, although I don't think you'd like to see," the AI continued.

"Why...?" Luna replied, raising an eyebrow. "That we do."

Selina sighed, making the sound loudly emanate through the black abyss. "Please, we wanted some variety when choosing these. Don't make us sad," she said more and more sarcastically with every uttered word.

Luna meanwhile tilted her head in confusion. "What does thou... oh... we... we apologise..." the Princess said more mechanically than anything as she was struck with a sudden realisation.

Another conflict? Another war? Four hundred years was a long time, although certainly not long enough to forget such horrors, and that they'd been caused by nothing more than short-sighted actions along with misguided calculations and intents. Surely having experienced it, the humans would not let themselves descend into such chaos again, right?

Perhaps there was another cause; there was no reason for there not to be, aspecially as the First War's case was rather specific.

Perhaps it was just a single tyrant's doing, the likeness of what Sombra had once attempted... only here, there was nothing to stop them?

Perhaps. It seemed possible, it certainly was. Either way, all desire Luna had to see another catastrophe soon got extinguished, not so much because of disgust or anything, but simply as the Princess quickly found herself preferring something more... different.

At the back of Luna's head however, a memory lingered - a memory of drifting among the clouds over the destroyed village of Fleury, bathing in the abundance of strategic maneuvers employed by those fighting right before her own eyes.

The abundance of strategic maneuvers seen without the glaring violence and bloodshed Luna so strived to distance herself from in all her reconciliation efforts.

With the first issue generally out of the way though, another question came forth.

"Okay, then. We shall comply, you may show not," agreed Luna. "Is there... is there still time left?"

"As much as you want."

"Then we... I have... the human guards on the fields..."

"Soldiers," corrected Selina.

"Ugh, yes," Luna continued, rolling her eyes. "These humans ancient... why is it so... they do not look... akin... to now...?" the Princess stammered with uncertainty.

The truth was, she had barely even seen the clashing humans at all; for the vast majority of time, they were but faint silhouettes dancing beneath the clouds.
The few glances Luna did manage to get, however, clearly seemed to contrast with what she had seen of the species so far.

Much to the Princess' confusion, though, all Selina returned was a slow chuckle. "You mean that they aren't similar to the Lieutenant Colonel, right?"

Luna tilted her head, not sure where the AI was going. "We... similar they are... however..."

"However still different?"

Luna returned a slow, weary nod.

"Yeah, well, there is an easy, though unfortunate explanation. But first of all, no, modern humans are no different than ancient ones... well, at least not in a way you'd be able to notice, trust me," Selina began, before being cut off by Luna.

"Was their... muzzle... not smoothed? Devoid of scales?" she asked, slightly taken aback by the response.

"Yes," the AI stated plainly. "But that's normal today as well. No human has scales. The Lieutenant Colonel sadly isn't the best model if you want to learn anatomy," Selina concluded with a chuckle.

Luna tilted her head in confusion. What could her companion mean?
Did Luna's eyes simply deceive her in the previous 'scenario'?

Evidently not, as it was now suggested it was not then when Luna made a mistake - instead, the human AI seemed to claim, that... she couldn't recognize a scale from two meters away. Apparently.

There had to have been a mistake, or perhaps Luna had misunderstood?
She'd seen Stanley up close multiple times, often with his faceplate transparent - half of his head was made up of sturdy, dry fragments.

Sturdy, dry scales. It undoubtedly was, and they looked very much so like those adorning most Equusian dragons.

And Luna had enough experience with dragons to tell that.

Definitely.

"What...?" the Princess quickly asked. It came easily enough, but soon Luna found herself struggling to find proper words to specify her further questions.

Luckily however, it wasn't long before Selina took the talk over once again. "Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Martin is part of the Republic's primary combat personnel. And sadly, with combat come possible injuries."

That was enough.

With that simple sentence, Luna understood, involuntarily freezing her mouth slightly open. Any reply she'd want to make however dissipated at its planning stages, as the Princess simply found herself at a loss of words, faced with such a sudden realisation. For a time, silence once again reigned in the black, matterless abyss.

"...I don't know if you'd even want more details," slowly continued Selina, compassionately and carefully, but with a significant tinge of plain neutrality in her voice as well. "But those are, sadly or not, all classified as part of RSU service records. So, although I myself can access them, protocol regrettably forbids me from sharing. Sorry."

At first, Luna returned a simple nod. Almost immediately however, something else in the statement piqued her attention, briefly making her forget all implications from before. The Princess tilted her head in confusion.

"What does thou mean by 'access'?" Luna asked, rising an eyebrow. "Art thou not... Did thou not... accompany the Lieutenant yet, when the... when said.... injury transpired?" she continued hesitantly. Selina meanwhile, simply returned a chuckle - a sharp contrast to her previous tone.

"Well, I guess you can say I didn't. I never really do - both never and always, techically. But then, I actually didn't," the AI paused for a while, but spoke up once more before Luna could even think to ask anything. "You see, I'm... it's a little hard to explain, forgive me. I'm an coordinating Artificial Intelligence, see? I'm a big program, which helps adequate personnel assist the Republic's ground and space operations. I accompany individual soldiers, but not only Stanley, and rather those who need me most. The service records in turn are just encrypted memory storages - or, more accurately, instructions on the usage of those. I have some for basically every soldier," Selina briefly chuckled again, before resuming her preemptive explanations. "Before you ask, as you know I am now stuck here, so - temporarily - there's only one soldier to assist. That may happen sometimes when an operative gets stranded, as you might imagine, and as such not the entirety of myself is here; instead, a huge part is left back with the Republic of Sol. Because I don't have any contact with them however, I'm essentially a single, separate person here," the AI finished slowly, helping the Princess understand as much as possible of the rather abstract explanation, but friendly and respectfully at the same time, seemingly genuinely wanting to provide her with a good response to the asked question, while avoiding any unintended insults or disrespect at the same time - again, whether it was all a truthful effort or simply another part of 'building good relations', Luna couldn't know.

"That is... most interesting," the Princess replied, struggling to remember everything for a later, calmer analysis. To tell the truth, it was rather hard to understand almost anything besides the sole fact that Selina wasn't Stanley's companion, and rather more like a Commander, or maybe Command of sorts - that was easy enough to conclude from what Luna had gleaned.

The rest, however, was not. How was a 'part of Selina left with the Republic'?
A part of Selina? How would that work? So, were there now two of them? If so, could they merge in the future? Did they share thoughts? Or maybe... maybe there were two... different...

Ugh...

Luna quickly shook her head, trying to cast away the brief, unwanted thoughts. To her great surprise and pleasure, it somehow worked, although only after draining quite a significant amount of willpower. And, to be sure, it did not diminish other remaining questions.

Were there two Selinas now? Were they akin?

Most importantly, though... how did such a thing even work?

Despite being continuously exposed to utterly alien terms and weirdly abstract concepts for the past few days, it was still hard to fully grasp the stranger of them, although Luna clearly felt better and better about everything with every hour passed and talk exchanged - that didn't mean there were no problems, though, especially when dealing with topics such as this one.

Or like interstellar travel, for example. How can one bend space? A sheet of paper can be bent, sure, but space is not flat. One could teleport, of course, but teleportation spells did not work like that... right?

Theoretical aspects like this tended to be more or less confusing. Sometimes when trying to visualise a concept, Luna could almost see it, but still no quite fully. Not to the point of understanding.

Oh, well... learning all the spells in a week would be undoable as well... would it?
To be fair, sometimes one does need to take some time.

Luna's contemplations however were not to last, as after a few more idle seconds, Selina spoke up once again. "By the way, the scenario just finished loading, so we can begin at a moment's notice. If there's anything else, though-"

"We believe we can begin," Luna cut her off, not thinking much. With her previous train of thought broken, for the brief moment just one thing naturally remained for the Princess to focus on.

"Alright," acknowledged the AI. "Hang on, we're going in, then. Stand by."

With that, the infinite blackness around promptly began to dissipate, and although it obviously couldn't be seen in any conceivable way, a weird, strangely brief feeling of... simply fading away carried the weak sensation with itself.

Just before Luna once again left the empty abyss however, before she was thrusted into yet another 'scenario', a small thought was born.

A though - a memory - which promptly, softly lingered up in the air...

Selina did not reveal what the next 'scenario' would demonstrate... right? She did not, surely not...
So... so...

Oh, right; Tis' 'a surprise'... ugh...


Princess Luna blinked a few times, trying to clean away the persisting blur. The sounds of her breathing filled the eerie silence, with nothing at all to neither accompany, nor let alone obscure their repeating echoes.

Luna's fur stood up, and ears perked.

She could recognize this ominous silence. To her immense horror, she could.

Withholding all breath and with eyes shut, bearing a heartbeat that could cause earthquakes, the Princess very slowly lifted her head up. Whatever she did though, she could not bring herself to take a look, and her royal eyes consistently refused to oblige any and all calls to open. After a few booming, calming breaths, during which Luna involuntarily returned her blind gaze to the ground, the Princess tried once again.

Or rather she tried to try, as just as before, nothing happened.

Maybe it's better not to know? Then... t-then there's always the possibility of... of negation, right? There is no proof, after all. Surely Luna could... surely she could find a way to explain to herself, why... explain that it was... somewhere else, where she had been. Surely-

Then, a blink. A quick thought. A short memory, back from the Everfree clearing on which Stanley had first landed. How she-

In a flash, cutting away all meddling thoughts, the Princess sprung her eyes open, dashing forward a few inches in the process.

What she saw, however, made her freeze right where she stood. Luna's rapid breath had all but ceased, and wide open eyes gazed over the barren horizon.

A thousand tides of energy clashed withing Luna, but from her point of view, she was all but immobilised. It felt as though her body had been frozen in time, with no motion possible at all. Suddenly, Luna felt herself grow ever more heavy, and with no means to counter it, sat down on the barren ground, the fighting feelings closer and closer to her head.

And the Princess still gazed blindly at the terrible, barren landscape, as if in a trance. A landscape so very beloved, but immensely accursed as well.

She gazed on a landscape of grey, fine-grained powder. On a landscape flat, but not entirely, with small, circular mounds and slopes covering its unending reaches.

She gazed on a barren landscape, suspended below a pitch black sky eternally covered with stars.

She gazed at the very surface of the Moon.

Suddenly, Luna found herself fighting against tears.

Why was she seing this!? Was this truly enother stage of the simulation, or a wicked creation of her own mind!?

Why again, just when the thinnest rays of hope finally appeared, after four long years...?

Luna loved the Moon, about that she had no doubts. It was her eternal companion, the only always with her, no matter what. Alongside the stars, it was always loyal, it was the only thing the Princess knew she could always truly turn to, even if only in this minimal, symbolic way.

But it was also the site of her tragedy, its universal mark, a reminder of the millennium of solitude, the preceeding centuries... and the following years as well, the prospect of eternal exclusion.

And right then and there, once again physically upon the surface so tragically familiar, Luna only felt the memories. This wasn't the beloved grey globe, adorning the maginificent midnight canvas - now this was nothing more than her prison.

Had Luna not already served her term?

Luna was about to clench her eyes again, only to slip into blissful negation once more, to keep the tears at bay. Before she could do so, however, a faint, cracking voice, accompanied by a myriad of beeps and tinkles, resonated through the persisting total and utter silence.

"Neil, this is Houston. Loud and clear. Break. Break. Buzz, this is Houston. Radio check, and verify TV circuit breaker in."

Surprised, Luna thrust her eyes open, a few lone drops already dancing around the eyelids. Accidentally slipping over the powder, the Princess nearly fell down on the lunar rocks, but just barely managed to catch herself in time.

Meanwhile, after a few seconds of silence, a voice spoke up again, once more weirdly distorted, but slightly different than the last time - if significantly enough to indicate a different source, Luna couldn't tell.

"Roger, TV circuit breaker's in, and read you five square."

Instinctively, the Princess quickly turned her head in the direction she felt the sound should be coming from, but found nothing there; only the same, desolate lunar landscapes. Truth be told though, the voice seemed to be talking from all around the Princess, as if it originated in every place next to her head simultaneously, all signs of any distance simulated right there. It just... existed.

The voice, or voices for the matter, continued to break the utter silence once every couple of seconds, having their peculiar exchange. Most worries temporarily forgotten, Luna scanned the horizon, looking for something out of place, something... n-not... familiar...

And so, she found it. She found something.

A bit to Luna's left, a good few hundred meters away, a weird, shiny structure stood embedded into the grainy lunar powder. From it, unfamiliar machinery protruded upwards, towards the stars. One impulse was enough, and before thinking much, Luna found herself walking towards the unknown anomaly, then faster and faster, until she was almost breaking into gallop.

What was it? Was it, what... a rock? No. A machinery? Maybe... it seemed possible, likely even considering the appearance. So... she was seeing something... human again after all, right? Whatever the voice was, it had indentified itself as 'Houston', which was surely no pony name.

And neither was Neil.

On the other hand though, when she thought about it, there were quite a few words in these short lines Luna was clearly not familiar with, so maybe those two were similarly a part of some... code?

And so, Luna trotted and galloped, whatever the terrain made easier at the time, fueled by the deepest desire, conscious or not, to focus her mind on something else than her former, so very painful place of banishment, to provide a substitute.

That, and just simple curiosity.

When Luna neared the weird structure significantly, its form already looked large enough to discern more and more details. Luna instinctively slowed down slightly, scanning the construct with her eyes. Before she could discern much though, a familiar voice, this time neither interrupted nor muffled, spoke up.

"What do you think?"

Luna sharply turned her head left, only to discover a white-brown alicorn looking at her with a compassionate smile. She was surely not there before, but at this point Luna was prepared for almost anything, and Selina's presence, for some unknown reason, helped the Princess calm her ravaging nerves, which, although temporarily suppressed, still strongly echoed at the back of her head, ready to break free at a moment's notice.

By the AI, Luna suddenly felt just... strangely calmer. Perhaps knowing the godddess of this place was by her was the cause? This was the Moon, but here... it was difficult to grasp, but this Moon was not Luna's; it was Selina's. It was her who held the power here, she was the Mistress of the Night. Perhaps, then...

It couldn't have been the case, though... this would be how Luna's subjects should feel, right? In the presence of the Princess' might. And it was quite obvious they rarely shared the optimism...

Maybe, just maybe... maybe it was another sign of Luna's... rogue mindset...? But did she not conclude she didn't have one at the of the day? Or maybe...

Well...

It was a good few seconds before Luna managed to fully register what she's been asked. Shaking her head, the Princess made her answer. "I... what... what is it that we see?" she eventually managed to say.

"That?" Selina replied with a question of her own, as she gestured at the machine up front. "Or everything in general?"

"I... we... there..." Luna's tongue suddenly felt like a knot, similarly to her clogged up thoughts. A thousand words swirled around, none better than others, none more fitting to express... what the Princess had not yet decided to, whatever that would be. "I... where... are we?" she eventually managed, internally facehoofing at her awkward question.

On the other hoof though, it was something to ask about, to be sure. This couldn't have been Equis' moon, that was for certain, and so maybe any suspicions shall now at least be verified.

That and, well... better such a question than nothing. Luna could always ask more, couldn't she?

Selina seemed to have ignored the diarch's stuttering, as she replied with the same, friendly smile. "Well, that's probably a good way to begin. You see, you are currently standing on Luna."

The Princess tilted her head in confusion.

What?

That was surely one of the last things she expected to hear.

"The question was serious," Luna stated after a short huff.

To her surprise, Selina simply returned a chuckle. "And the answer as well, Your Highness!"

"What does thou mean? It must have not been. We are just one."

"That you are," Selina replied. "Like Equis, Earth has a moon of its own, and similarly just one."

"Does that mean... not all... worlds... possess so?" Luna chimmed in awkwardly, in a blink all invested in Selina's words, all previous worries now forgotten. It didn't take long for logic to catch up though, as Luna quickly remembered Selina say that most planets differed much from Equis; this could easily be one of the aspects, right?

"The vast majority does not," replied Selina matter-of-factly, taking Luna aback nevertheless. The vast majority...? "A moon has to form, and although it isn't anything very improbable, it can be hard regardless."

"Oh, I... we... guess so. Right..."

"I've watched your sky for a while during the last days," the AI continued, without much delay. "I have a lot of different images of Earth's only moon, and from extensive comparison I can say it's likely very similar to your own. And while I have no idea how you name that one, Earth's moon has long simply been called Luna."

Hearing this, the Princess briefly froze in place, as her jaw refused to fully close. After a while, she instinctively attempted to break eye contact with Selina, turning her blind gaze downward - towards the powdery surface of the moon... of Luna. The thoughts, however, remained.

They... the humans named their planet's moon... like herself?

It was weird, it seemed weird. Whatever she tried, the Princess could not get herself accustomed to the thought that right now, Luna was standing on Luna.

Somehow, though, it was weirdly... moving. Luna could almost feel some weird sort of... compassion, friendship from the humans; maybe even a tinge of appreciation.

Obviously none of them knew of her when considering the name; none could have the slightest idea of her, or even ponykind's, very existence. Yet despite that, despite the unwavering certainty, Luna could not help but feel just a little better at the back of her head when she heard the name. She felt... appreciated, for once, even if only marginally. The equivalent of her loyal moon called with her own name... Shaking off the temporary shock, Luna sunconsciously cast a brief, weak smile.

All of that however changed on a whim.

One small spark, one thought, one trigger was enough to start an avalanche which turned Luna's entire thought process upside down, making her fully forget the little, subcounscious bliss.

'Her loyal moon'... her moon. The moon she had... but which also had her. Which used to have her, for so, so long.

Struck with the sudden realisation, Luna briefly felt her legs weaken to the point where they seemed like cottonwool.

Oh, silly, stupid her! For Luna, the moon had two natures - a terrible prison, but also a compassionate companion, almost... a friend, even.
But that was just for her. For everyone else, it was nothing but a sad symbol of darkness, grief, and since her banishment, just... evil. For any regular pony, that was the moon - precisely that!

Why would it be any different for the humans, then!?
She herself was clearly blinded by her perspective! Nopony would ever wish to see the moon; at best, they'd be simply indifferent to its very existence!

After all, had she not been demonstrated that fact a hundred thousand times already?

It was no companion, obviously no friend, nor even the emblem of the Night that bore her name!

Instead, it was the very symbol of grief and evil!

Suddenly, Luna felt a cascade of memories flooding her mind, all triggered and brought about by brief, instantaneous linking and association. Everything - from her return, through the well-remembered Nightmare Night, to the prejudices that remained, growing ever stronger unchecked until they eventually became the behemoth that they are today. It was not long before grief, remorse, and... and just anger emerged to the surface, directed at everything - her subjects, the world, the situation... her inability to do a thing.

Luna may not have been able to word it this way, but in truth... it was mainly just an ocean of sadness. Great, suppressed, unending sadness, disguised as something else in desperate denial, effort to escape.

Luna's legs felt like jelly, and for a brief moment, she thought she was about to collapse. The Princess would not allow that, though; with newfound will, she thrust renewed energy into her stance, as she rapidly, decisively straightened all limbs. Luna's legs - no! - her entire body now felt like concrete, and suddenly, she could almost taste the energy flowing through her veins like there was no tomorrow. It seemed as if she was about to explode.

Luna's breath accelerated. It felt like she could do anything, yet in that powerful moment, she simply wanted to scream at full lungs, to break the world itself with her unstoppable royal voice. With all heart and mind, Luna wished to scream, to smash... to cry.

Clenching her eyes in sorrow, Luna tried to stifle her outburst, to keep it within herself. Instinctively, she bent her neck down in an attempt to hide all expression.

It was... it was just a chain reaction... right? There was nothing new... nothing to be particularly mad at... it was simply... these were memories... they... they...

They were still real, though.

They were real. It was all real. It changed little.

Luna tried to take a calming breath, but instead ended up making a few quick, rather shallow inhales. Slowly, the persisting anger gave way to just sadness and resignation... to remorse.

In an attempt to change the topic, or perhaps just quickly carry on, Luna improvised a to-the-point question. "Why am I here?" she almost exclaimed with as much of a neutral frown as she could muster, although tinges of despair still adorned the Princess' muzzle.

"To see the comparison," replied Selina, with the same calming, mildly optimistic smile. Although she had surely witnessed Luna's previous reaction, despite efforts at hiding it, she seemed content with letting it go. "You mentioned that once, you yourself went to Equis' own moon. Obviously, I don't know the reason for that, but what you're seeing right now - this is how humanity first landed on Luna. They have always been fascinated."

Briefly stunned by another mention of her recluse, Luna now raised an eyebrow.

'Fascinated'?

"I... what does... thou mean?" the Princess inquired, slowly shaking her head in confusion.

"Just that," Selina answered with a chuckle. "Since the dawn of civilisation, we have gazed to the sky, seeing gods up above. During the day, it was the graceful Sun, during the night - its opposite equivalent, the moon and its stars. In time, humanity realized they were no gods, and later, that both could be ventured to and touched, just like the Earth... I wouldn't try that with the Sun, though. And so, when we neared the knowledge that would allow us to leave the planet... where else to go first than the closest celestial body there was?" the AI asked rethorically, sending Luna one more friendly smile.

"So... the humans... their voyage was made, in order to test... their means?"

"Well... yes..." Selina hesitated. "We're still only a few decades after that war, though. Political turmoil had its role here."

"Oh... we understand," replied Luna slightly recoiling back, having suddenly lost a glimmer of hope.

"But that isn't all, silly!" the AI chuckled, prompting Luna to raise an eyebrow with a tinge of irritation. Before she could say anything though, her companion continued. "Instability can lead to a lot of bad things, I'm sure you know that well. These people," she gestured at the weird metallic construct up ahead. "Might just as well have been soldiers, standing by in case of another conflict. But they weren't! Instead of fighting, the humans raced each other into space, as since they learned of its existence, they had known all too well that someday, that would be their home; there was a possibility, so why not take it?" Selina exclaimed happily, looking at Luna with a big smile. "We'd been gazing at the sky, at the moon, for millennia before that. Now that we knew what it was, and after recent technological jumps we possessed the means to attempt a journey... of course humanity would go for it. We've been looking up to the moon for generations. Why not take it a step further?"

When the AI had finished, Luna suddenly found herself wildly smiling, with a small tear swinging in the corner of her eye. With a quick hoof motion, she wiped it away, before instinctively glancing downwards in hopes of hiding her reaction as much as possible.

So... the moon... was not a place of damnation for the humans?

It was... it was not? It was... desired? Looked upon?

Was it... liked here?

Was Luna liked here?

The Princess almost burst into laughter after making the connection, letting out a few more tears with her snort.
Of course, it meant nothing; it was just an identical name, a funny coincidence.

And yet, the tears Luna let out were not of sorrow, but of sudden happiness. A loose, funny thing, come up with during a time of calmness, oh-so-rare recently.

Not a trace of the former worries was left within the Princess. She felt relieved, and for the second time this hour... simply moved.

And yet she wasn't entirely sure of the reason. The humans loved and appreciated the moon, yes, and... and... that was... it...

Maybe it truly was everyhing Luna had needed...?

Even if it was, however... was this one situation enough to know for sure?

Yes, thought the Princess. Even if... or it is not... if we are being shown truth... this is...

Was this enough?

Against all the conflicting thoughts... it appeared as so.

Casting further thoughts like that away, Luna decided to drown herself in the blissfull calmness and pleasure that now flowed through her entire body.

What do such contemplations matter, truth be told? Luna felt what she felt. For once, someone seemed to appreciate what she did, appreciate the same thing as herself... to slightly, even remotely understand her.

And that - that was definitely enough.

Rising her muzzle up, Luna glanced at the weird contraption ahead, still separated from the two 'alicorns' by a few hundred meters of barren grounds. Through the brief, undisturbed harmony that now defined Luna's mind, a new thought suddenly emerged.

"Thou..." the Princess began, glancing back at Selina, who, like Luna had suspected, seemed to have been closely watching the monarch the entire time. "Thou had mentioned... 'these people'..." she gestured at the construct ahead. "However there but a machine lays dormant."

Selina returned only a chuckle. "You wanna go closer and check?"

Luna did not respond. Instead, the Princess returned her gaze to the distant contraption and slowly but surely trotted forward.

Barely after she'd started moving, a small part of the machine semed to shift, before steadily, a little, bulky white blur appeared, obscuring the blackness of the lunar sky painted just above the horizon. Gradually, it moved forward, and as Luna trotted, more and more patches of scattered colors could be distinguished across the shape.

Then, suddenly, the muffled and obscured voice from before, seemingly emanating from all around the Princess at once, broke the silence once again.

"It takes a pretty good little jump."

Luna stopped herself in her tracks. Only now did she realize the weird voices had indeed stopped coming as soon as Selina herself appeared. A little more wary, the Princess resumed her trot.

"Buzz, this is Houston. F/2 - 1/160th second for shadow photography on the sequence camera."

"Okay."

The voices, which Luna had concluded must've been at least two people, continued their talk, but as the Princess neared the human machine, it was something else she focused on.

The construct looked... weird, but not unfamiliar. It was sturdy, rather small if considered as something that housed a being - which it now seemed it did - and above all, simply... sticking out, partially grey, partially white, partially gold. No matter what however, Luna could not shake off the feeling that something in its design was very much akin to the bulky, dark-grey drop pod she had first found Stanley in. Simply something... somewhere.

Most of all though, Luna gazed at the white blur that had just exited the machine. It didn't take her long to conclude it was some sort of creature. It was a biped, sure, but...

Wait, did Stanley not mention there were no species on Earth besides humanity?

Do... were these... humans...?

Well, they could be... if Earth's moon was akin to that orbiting Equis, then without magic, one would need to separate themselves from the airless environment somehow.

Was this bulky, massively overgrown white thing a... suit of some sort, one covering the entirety of one's body?

It could be... that would fit. It actually kind of made sense.

A solution creative, thought Luna. We have to admit.

Meanwhile, the weirdly shaped biped had already managed to, slowly, come down some type of checkered board - very much akin to what griffons would call a 'ladder' - and stood on its very lowest parts.

"I'm going to step off the LM now," a voice soon rang once again, presumably coming from the very creature Luna now watched.

It wasn't long before her suspicions were confirmed, as after a short while, the human cautiously leaped off, finally touching the lunar surface, lifting a few powdery grains up in the process.

Concluding that such a slow trot would take her far too long, Luna sped up, in an effort to cover the last few dozen meters in a timely manner, watching the human gaze across the lunar horizon in the meantime. Before she knew it, she was there, right by the machine. Right by the human.

Did the humans... really undertake all this?

They evidently did... they reached all the way to Equestria, after all. From one of Luna's stars, somewhere there on the night sky, to here, to Equis. To the one star which, indeed, belonged to Luna not.

In a moment, Luna froze.

How much effort did it have to take?

How much work did their undertake... just to go to the moon?

How much struggles? How much hardships?

Without magic... with no spells at all...

It was hard to imagine what such a journey would have to take. How much risk and courage and time. Luna had already known humanity had no spells; they and magic were apparently polar opposites, and yet it was now that it really dawned on her, how hard and demanding all their achievements had to be - exactly how gigantic these achievements thus were.

Knowing they had no magic, it was easy to - subconsciously even - put all the technology Stanley had shown the ponies forth when thinking about humanity. In Luna's mind, it almost became a trademark to a limited degree, such complete reliance on technical feats which omitted magic in their designs.

But... it wasn't like the humans had it all from the beginning, right?
They had to think, and theorise, and develop, for millennia... just like the ponies had done, and were still doing as much as allowed to by the very laws of the universe itself.

And here... here stood a human, clad in a thick, bulky suit, a suit which made even their silhouette itself barely recognizable. A human, who went here, went to a moon so very akin to that of the ponies. Went to this moon... to this Luna, just... just to go there, is all. Went here because it was a destination unreachable before, but now, at last, within grasp. A globe gazed upon in fascination for millennia.

A human who went to the moon just because it was there.

Through great hardships, and surpasing challenges surely so sophisticated that ponykind would never even consider them, let alone their sheer weight; doing so just to enable this journey, this great journey, with nothing to work with but their own mind and strength, and things crafted with them.

To enable this journey humanity would make just because they wanted to. Really, genuinely wanted to.

As Luna's train of thought continued, an unlikely tear once again danced under her left eye, then again and again, but not once did the alicorn's small smile waver; a smile Luna hadn't even realised she'd been maintaining.

In the middle of it all, before even a few short seconds could pass, another small thought was born; a thought old to be sure, but only now fully, truly materialized and worded.

It wasn't that ponykind could never achieve such a feat; given enough time and will, Luna was sure they could.

But even then - even then! - would her species want to...?

No. No matter how much Luna wanted to cast even the slightest doubt into her conclusion, she simply couldn't do it.

Never would the ponies do this. Never would they, even if they could, go and visit this place so for them associated with damnation and evil.

While it wasn't! It really, really wasn't, it was not! What could Luna ever do to change that, to say that her grey globe was no lair of the ominous and evil, but a marvellous, beautiful companion, shining upon those caught within the darkness of... of her night... so in itself despised by those below her.

But shouldn't then the moon, the one source of light in this period of darkness evidently so by the ponies despised, be given appreciation even more...? Why... should it not? Why shouldn't it!?

Why... please.

In this moment, even though she did not notice it outright, one perspective, one point of view Luna herself often maintained whether she liked it or not, a perspective from which the moon was nothing but a terrible, eternal almost prison and place of endless despair... momentarily, even if just briefly, vanished.

And a second, small tear of sadness joined that of joyous emotion. Not linked to each other they were, not so much in Luna's mind, but existing simultaneously all the same.

Luckily though, this newcomer was not to last. Not like it was now.

As a familiar, undisturbed voice of a white, brown-maned alicorn broke the presisting silence, Luna quickly turned to face her AI companion. "How do you like it?" she asked, with only compassion and genuine good will emanating from her optimistic smile, which in itself reminded the Princess so much of her sister, when she tried try - in vain or not - to comfort Luna in moments especially bad; more and more often, sadly, as time passed by.

And so however, with one question, all worries were suddenly gone, giving way to the same thoughts of before, the thoughts of human expansion and dedication, of human love... directed so beautifully at their moon. Although more and more tears gradually appeared on Luna's muzzle, not one of either sadness or despair ramained anymore, and the diarch's smile slowly widened.

"Tis'... it is beautiful," she uttered quietly, before the lone human steadily moved once again.

Just as Luna had finished, the explorer lifted one of their lower limbs, and slowly, but cautiously stepped forward. Among the howling darkness, the disrupted, but weirdly clear voice could be heard once again.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

On the lunar surface, without any warning, Princess Luna completely burst into tears.


For two regular hours, Selina carefully guided the alien Princess through pictures after pictures, showing marvels and disasters, always at her side, always to narrate if needed. For two whole hours, not daring to attempt any perception acceleration on the pony, Selina calculated and analyzed, using all her limited hardware to full advantage. Not the most effective method it was, no, but the drop pod's working processors allowed the AI to boost her efforts significantly enough.

And so, for two hours, Selina monitored, gathered, analyzed and calculated. Every aspect of the alien's brain, every activity, every single slightest, most insignificant reaction. From there, she moved, comparing everything, every possible link there could exist between what Luna expressed, with the vast library containing uncountable behavioral models from all across the galaxy, from millions of cultures of thousands upon thousands of species. She compared everything, everything she gathered with psychological patterns she already had, while formulating those of her own, and so, Selina adjusted, and adjusted, and created prospects which were later checked through probablility calculations that, with so much data, were akin to forseeing the future.

And as more patterns were assembled and confirmed, after a carefully orchestrated analysis of Luna's every reaction to every stimulus, the simulation changed as well.

Every word, every accent and every syllabe Selina made her avatar utter had been ran through a myriad of simulations, each depicting one of the little less certain aspects of reality itself, along with its many, many variations. Every word and every action, everything that Selina made happen, was a result of a decision made after tens of thousands of courses of action were tried and analyzed, each with a myriad of outcomes, all planned and accounted for a millionfold, the best decisions determined in a blink of an eye.

Errors happened, but each time they did, it only added to the more and more complete pony psychological model, as well as to the ever-expanding criteria determining which pre-existing templates to take into account and to what degree.

But there was more to do than just scrutinize. The High Command wanted to teach, and so some things had to be sacrificed. Selina pondered her general options for a while, but after an eternally long 0.00000467 nanoseconds finally determined her major targets, completion of which would ensure success. Twenty three million six hundred eighty eight thousand two hundred and five simple simulations later, the general action framework was established.

Then, there was a lower-priority goal. Influence opinion, learn about alien reality. The latter would be done through behavioral patterns, to a significant degree at least, but the former?

There were enough risk-free opportunities. It was relatively easy to slightly adjust narration and the choice of scenarios to accomplish that, in part at least, and as more and more data was gathered and Selina's pony psychological template was more and more complete, it became simply trivial. Selina took some less serious risks here and there, as surprisingly often - what the AI did not neglect to note - it was concluded and confirmed a hundred times over that these would in fact be the most beneficial courses of action, considering the given goals, their priorities, most adequate interpretations, and reality with which to operate. Of course, a margin was maintained and observed tightly, as well as a thousand pre-planned backup courses of action for every slightest version of everything that could transpire in any even remotely possible way.

And so, Luna learned, but Selina did as well. She adjusted the Simulation in just the right way to, basing on the monarch's ever-evolving psychological profile, both make Luna say what was desired of her, and change the Princess' opinion to one of both awe, but also pity and understanding towards the humans.
A task intricate, but with so many patterns and models, so many ever-evolving paths and so much analyzing pawer directed at even the slightest possible detail, definitely not undoable.

Not many scenarios were shown, as for that, there was no time, considering existing limitations. Two hours was the definitive limit. Instead of trying to override it, Selina immediately accepted this inevitable truth and focused on showing things related to what Luna had earlier asked for, or what she had mentioned, although in a way that benefited the AI most.

Selina learned from what Luna said and how she behaved. Luna learned from what she was shown.

For both, a lot of knowledge was to be gained. It's just that one of them had slightly better capabilities to do so.

And so, in time, Selina moved away from full-blown scenarios, favoring something else.

Limited sensations, isolated pictures and data. People and cities. Everything that would, in any way, shape or form, constitute a part of what had been determined and confirmed a thousand times to be the best possible course of action to indertake, even taking into account the possible fluctuations of relevant variables.

Things could change. But there was already a thousand plans for each and every single such change, pre-determined and cross-checked, every variant taken into account and deeply scrutinized, with nothing left for chance itself. For every possibility, there was already a plan determined. A plan - in short - stating which action, down to the subtlest details, and how carried out would prove the most beneficial.

And so, Luna watched humanity. She watched Earth, it's sky, but also ground and all on it.

With confusion, she saw weird drawings, which on their beautiful scapes had humans disturbingly raiding on what appeared to be ponies, only with weird, elongated muzzles and thin, skinny almost limbs. But these were not ponies, as Selina had swiftly convinced her, and dived into the many aspects of nature native to Earth; a topic which one can so easily circumvent to get into virtually any other.

There were buildings and palaces, but also paintings, operas, symphonies, some of which almost made Luna shed a tear.

Then there were scientific conferences.

Alfred Luger, Luna was taught a name. She was shown how that tall, bearded person spoke with excitement before a spacious assembly hall. With a thinning hairline he spoke of things Luna could visibly neither grasp nor understand, although she clearly did her best for it to appear otherwise.

But what 'appeared' mattered not, and so explanations were due.

He bought us the stars, she'd been told. Was that how the humans sailed on Luna's night sky? Oh, no, no. Something else, something Luna was most certainly not prepared for.

Luger did not allow humanity to sail between stars, for that was known already.
He did something else, for the Law he formulated, named after his unprecedented genius, opened humanity a road not to other stars, but whole realities instead!

Was that not something incredible... hard to say from the Princess' reaction, for she still hardly seemed to grasp it.
Oh, well. The simulation moved on, then. Swiflty and smoothly, but without further explanations. Those, Selina would omit, only mentioning that what Luger had devised, eased the humans the hard art of interstellar travel. It was but a fraction of the physicist's deeds, of course, as not one thing about interdimensional voyages had Selina mentioned, about the very same thing that had brought Stanley into Equestria. But the Princess accepted, as she couldn't possibly have a basis for suspicion, and so they could move on.

Besides, what Selina did say was true as well.

It was.

From time to time, there were questions and simple talks, either in the matterless, black void between scenarios, or inside the scenarios themselves. Luna would ask, or Selina would, often in a way that made her seem curious, but greatly intelligent and capable as well.

After some time had went by, they'd return to what had been shown before, sometimes briefly, and sometimes for longer, as the talk branched out like an olive tree, into different topics, akin to each other, or really... not.

There came a time when the Princess wondered.

"How come such craft is moved if thou possess magic not?" she asked Selina during yet another converation, this one regarding the human venture to their own moon. Between different pictures, completely unrelated to the subject now at hand, there was more than enough time... as far as Luna was concerned, at least. "Does steam suffice, through machinations, on a monumental voyage such as this? Or perhaps..."

"Not this time, no," Selina would answer, with her carefully-calculated optimistic smile and a soft, friendly chuckle.

"How, then?" Luna would persist in these spikes of curiosity which overshadowed other emotions and memories, even if just briefly, even if only for this while, even if all would return, covertly or not, soon after. "Combustion? Or... auras, maybe?" she asked with a cautious spark in her eyes.

"Auras?"

"Those that linger over land and disturb weather? And spells as well, although that you might know not?"

"Never heard of them," Selina would state, shaking her head, not too pretentiously, but visibly anyway.

"Art... those not-"

"We told you we don't have magic."

"Do... do auras classify as magic as well? the likeness of what over the Everfree lingers, what makes pegasi... oh... right..." Luna would answer, trying to turn her invisible head away from what she must've assumed imagined was Selina's location. A motion impossible to notice, but for Selina, who now influenced Luna's very perception, quite easily noticeable.

"Yeah. I believe they do," Selina would reply, chuckling one last time before going back to whatever topic had previously been broken, after one type of remark or another, aimed at making the Princess feel good and - most importantly - not rejected, as that turned out to be quite an often reaction to breaking whatever topic Luna began herself. A reaction not rarely concealed very, very skillfully, so much so that at first even Selina had difficulties noticing and deciphering it - a significant feat, to be sure, and one that would be more expected of her fellow diarch if anyone at all.

And so, such talks would continue, and others as well, concerning everything, even though yes, most of the time whatever was displayed at the moment. And so, Selina would gather more and more information, tids and bits of pony history, large chunks of culture, a lot about Luna herself, and by comparing it all with pre-existing models, their connections with each other and how those worked, as well as the ever-evolving model of the pony race itself - similarly influenced and dependent on those mentioned - and then adjusted by millions upon millions of calculated and simulated possible courses of action, the most appropriate of which were tried and determined for each and every variation through complex algorithms taking into account uncountable variables and criteria... by it all, and much, much more, Selina soon knew a lot more than anyone could have ever imagined.

Well, anypony at least.


The last rays of sunlight gently fell on those few parts of Stanley's quarters they could reach as the Soldier once again fell on his bed, having just returned to the room, but recoiled immediately upon experiencing the painful softness of the royal mattress once again.

He was never going to get used to that. This wasn't Stanley's first night in the Castle, not anymore, and his fast adaptability skills should have solved the problem a thousandfold by now, but they did not. A simple choice to ignore the difference should have been enough, and Stanley had made such choice - despite realizing that the bed proper was likely the spot where anyone would expect him to sleep, and to one most dangerous to do so in; nevertheless, it was obviously good to have nothing subconscious clouding one's vision, just in case, even if Stanley was sure he would continue to use the floor instead anyway.
Right now though, the choice seemed not to be enough; old habits die hard, yes, but not within the RSU.

Another addition to the long list of imperfections which had evolved during his stay on Equis; reeducation wasn't something to consider anymore, it simply had to be done at some point, after Stanley returns to Coalition space that is.

Gruntong, the soldier shook his head. In an attempt to direct his thoughts back at something useful, Stanley broke the silence. "So, how did you two get along?"

"Better than you'd think," Selina replied with a smug chuckle. "Surely the most productive day yet... well, that depends, but mostly it was."

"Oh yeah? So, what did you learn?" Stanley slowly shook his head, chuckling quietly as he glanced at the floor, only sometimes turning to the chamber's window. "Got everything you wanted?"

"Oh, everything and more," assured the AI. "I guess you can say we both helped each other, in a way. A brief symbiose of sorts."

"Yeah, whatever you say," said Stanley with a quick chuckle. Standing up, the soldier prepared for a final revision of their mutual plans for tomorrow.

There were still quite a few of things to get used to, and as an RSU veteren, even already tainted for reeducation, Stanley was - quite literally - the last person to give up without trying.