//------------------------------// // Chapter 40 // Story: Repercussions // by Hiver //------------------------------// Everything was ready. Tomorrow we’ll leave for the jungles to the south. Far to the south… and neither Luna nor Sunset would be coming along. I’d be away from them for… months. This will suck. I pulled my cloak a bit tighter around myself as I headed outside onto the courtyard. The sky was already cleared, the weather for tomorrow had been scheduled to be clear for the launch and the weather teams had already removed every cloud within ten kilometers of Canterlot. The stars shone like small beacons of light far above and I stopped for a second, looking up towards them, Luna’s moon shining just above the wall of the courtyard. I should have named the airship the Enterprise because we’re about to do something that was basically impossible back on Earth. To go explore a basically unknown area of land. The maps of the jungles in the southern part of Equestria basically said ‘jungle’ and then that just continued until you got south of them to the Zebra lands. Nopony knew if anypony or any creature lived there. It was as wild as the Everfree Forest. You couldn’t do that anymore on earth, couldn’t find anyplace anywhere near as wild. Wherever you went, somepo… somebody had already been there before. And likely dropped a snickers wrapper, a coke can, and drew a penis on a rock. Humans gonna human. Just exploration like that was something that was from a bygone era but even then there were people living there already. But that sense of exploration, that didn’t exist on the world I was from. It was something from the past and from scifi series. I looked up towards the stars and couldn’t help but smile. To boldly go where no man has gone before, to explore new worlds and new civilizations. There was a goal with this expedition, but that was what we were doing. The jungles were big enough that you could hide a civilization or two in there. In all honesty I didn’t expect to find anything but possibly ruins, but… It wasn’t impossible. It wasn’t something I ever expected to experience to be honest. I had been born too late and too early for anything of the sort, but now. Maybe I should write it down in a journal, that was a thing explorers did, right? Bet it’d be a best seller too. Now I really would go boldly where nopony had gone before… or at least for a very long time. And if I find a fucking coke can there, I’m just done and I’m moving to the moon, be it by magic or by rocket. I’m sure Luna can arrange it if she really tries. Flicking my ears in amusement at that thought and pulled my cloak a bit tighter around myself as I looked towards the lit up windows of our tower. Speaking of invading the moon… Grinning, I started towards the tower again before I paused, one hoof off the frozen ground as I frowned. Did I really have everything packed away and ready? Not like I’d be able to just pop out and find another notebook or something if I had forgotten to bring enough. Not notebooks specifically at least, I had an entire box of those, but what if I forgot to bring ink or pens or mango or… Maybe I should go through the checklist Midnight had given me one more time just to make sure I didn- Oh Celestia, she’s infectious! I took a slow deep breath and shook my head. I had everything and if I didn’t have it, Midnight had it stocked and ready. Even if she by some miracle missed something, then we would still be traveling over villages for the next few weeks on our way south. It’ll be fine. I started moving again, giving the guards standing by the bottom of the tower a nod. They were wearing heavy winter cloaks over their armour to help keep them warm. I wanted one, but they were heavy and thick and not really practical when you went in and out like I did. “Evening,” I said and gave them a nod. “Good evening, sir,” Silent Knight to the left said and lit his horn, opening the door for me to allow me past. I trotted past them and up the spiral staircase. The cold inside was chilly but no longer freezing and I knew that our quarters would be nice and warm. I pushed the door open and entered before I froze. Luna smiled at me from before the fireplace, “Good evening, My Page,” she said and shifted slightly, stretching out as she lifted one wing, the light of the fireplace playing across her coat and feathers, her mane shimmering with stars and firelight. “We’d figured we’d give you a goodbye you’re not going to forget,” Sunset added from next to her, poking her head around Luna's wing and smiled teasingly as she rested her chin against Luna's side, her hoof resting on the alicorns cutie mark, “How are we doing so far?” I would have answered, but I seemed to have swallowed my tongue at the moment.