//------------------------------//
// 2 - Apoapsis 
// Story: Secrets in The Stars 
// by CommissarVulpin 
//------------------------------//


MEMORANDUM


10 February 1666


TO:  Outer Space Research Team
FROM:  Subtle Spark

The Sunrise disaster six months ago has shaken us all to our core, and I think I speak for all of us when I say that we joined Equestria in mourning. The disaster has also had a more personal impact on this team, as the Sunrise IV spacecraft contained the shielded magical field measuring device (“The Box”) that our team has worked so hard to develop. I won’t blame any of you for feeling disappointed at the destruction of valuable data.
However, there is a spark of good news. ESA has concluded their internal investigation, and have authorized the release of the voice transcripts from the Sunrise IV mission. I am pleased to announce that one of the readings from The Box was relayed over the radio by the astronauts, and as a result there is a small amount of data we can recover. I’ll pass on the report to anyone who wants it, but the long-and-short of it is that there IS something up there. There’s some kind of field that hasn’t been noticed by any unicorn in space, not even during the Moon landing missions. I believe this warrants future study.

CC: Twilight Sparkle


***


Sixteen years later

“…after investigation, it was determined that the cause of the accident was a loose bolt that had made its way into the oxygen turbopump, jamming it. After the bolt worked itself loose, it created a spark which ignited the rest of the oxygen supply. The resulting explosion destroyed the pumps, crippled the engine, and damaged the heatshield. Still considered the worst accident in the history of Equestrian spaceflight, the three pilots tragically lost their lives when the craft disintegrated during re-entry…”

Spring Bloom stood up from her table in the break room and switched off the television. Every year on this day, there was always some mention of the fate which befell her husband and his crew sixteen years ago. There was no way she’d forget about it, but it hurt less now. Still, every time she heard them mentioned, she felt a pang of grief.

The developments in her life since she lost Starshine had been good, objectively speaking, but they always seemed a little harder without him there. Her graduation, just a few months after the accident, had been the worst; her family had been there to cheer for her, of course, but her eyes were constantly drawn to the empty seat next to them.

Her dream job at Starburst Computing Systems came not long after. Her education in computer science had allowed her to get a hoof in the door with the company at the cutting edge of business computers. At first she was just an accountant, but her experience with computers had led to her working more with the maneframes themselves. She found she quite liked working with computers and programming them. The extra pay didn’t hurt, either.

She had been forced to keep up with the technology, which had advanced at a shocking pace. At first she had been working with maneframes taking up an entire room, programming them exclusively with punch cards. Now, the machines had shrunk to the size of a large cabinet, and could be programmed by typing on a typewriter-style keyboard. Output could now be seen written in glowing green letters on screens. They could even connect to dozens of these “terminals”, spread throughout the building, allowing multiple users to schedule work for the computer without needing to trek to the computer room.

As Spring Bloom finished her lunch, she heard a familiar voice call from the hall.

“Hey, Spring! What’s up?”

She looked up towards the doorway to see her boss standing there smiling, with a stack of papers floating next to him. He levitated them over to the table and sat down.

“Oh, hey, Paperweight. I’ll have those reports to you by tomorrow.”

“Huh? Oh, right. Don’t rush yourself. I don’t really need those right away. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.”

Spring looked up from her steamed carrots. Paperweight bore a concerned expression.

“Your fifteen-year work anniversary is coming up. You knew that, right?”

Spring nodded. Even though she hadn’t given it much thought, next week would mark fifteen years since she was hired at this company. It wasn’t a big deal, but something nice was usually gifted to the employee as a token of the company’s appreciation.

“We’ve given out all sorts of stuff, but this year, the company is giving out… fully paid lunar vacations.”

Spring’s ears perked up at this. Space travel had advanced significantly in the past sixteen years, to the point where it was almost routine. Suborbital flights could cross the ocean in a matter of hours, and off-planet vacations were the new craze. Huge spaceports floating in orbit served as launching points for massive cruise liners; flying hotels with one hell of a view. Two years ago, Griffin Galactic had finished construction of a resort on the surface of the moon. Tickets sold out before they even started construction.

“You’re one of my best employees, Spring. I mean that. I want to make sure I can adequately repay you for everything you’ve given to this company over the years. I just wanted to give you a heads-up about it, see how you might feel…”

“About spaceflight?” Spring finished.

“…Yes.” He continued. “I can try to pull some strings and get you something else if you’re not comfortable – ”

“I’ll take it.” She interrupted.

“What? Are you sure?” Paperweight seemed surprised.

“I’m sure.”

“Okay…” He floated out two tickets from his jacket and passed them to her. “This one is for the shuttle, to take you to the spaceport. This one is for the cruise itself.”

Spring inspected the tickets. Griffin Galactic logos dominated the papers, which also contained flight information, dates and times, and what appeared to be seat numbers on a corner. They looked very similar to airplane tickets. She’d flown in an airplane a few times, and found herself thinking of all of the airplane crashes that she’d heard about. In those accidents, hundreds of ponies died. In the entire history of Equestrian spaceflight, only three had lost their lives. So why was she so afraid of it?

It didn’t take much for her to realize that she knew exactly why she was afraid of it. Even though, statistically, space travel was the safest mode of transportation, a pony she loved was gone because of it. And the notion of it would be forever tainted unless she stood up and faced her fears. That was why, she reckoned, her gut instinct was to accept the tickets. Just like computers, she had to keep up with the technology or be left behind. And if space travel was the future, she didn’t want to be left a mewling foal as the world moved on. Plus, there was no small measure of curiosity for what the experience would be like.

She thanked Paperweight for the tickets; although she’d never had a desire to purchase one, she knew that spaceflight tickets were not cheap.

“Oh, and you’ll also need this.” Paperweight passed over another piece of paper. “It’s a waiver you have to sign, making sure you don’t have any heart conditions or anything like that. Apparently the ride is pretty intense.”


***


“Flight #3782 for Fillydelphia, now boarding at Gate C7. Gate C7, now boarding for Flight #3782 for Fillydelphia.”

Spring Bloom’s ears perked up at the intercom system whenever it made an announcement. It was always the same voice; that of an extremely bored mare.

She’d been sitting in the waiting area in front of gate C7 for the past half-hour, waiting for her flight number to be called. She glanced over to see several other ponies get up out of their seats and file into the small doorway leading to the airplane parked outside. After several minutes, the jetbridge was retracted, and the plane wheeled away towards the runway.

To take its place, a very large and bizarre plane taxied up to the gate. Curious, Spring Bloom stood up from her seat and trotted over. The aircraft which sat outside the windows was like nothing she’d ever seen. Instead of the long, narrow wings on most planes, this plane sported massive triangular wings, affixed to the entire length. It also had two tailfins, angled away from each other. But what captured her attention the most were the six gigantic jet engines, built into nacelles in the wings, each the size of a large bus. The plane was painted sky blue on top with a cream-colored underside, and bore several gold stripes running the length of the craft. They converged near the front to form the now-familiar Griffin Galactic logo.

About ten years ago, the Equestrian Space Administration had lost a lot of funding from the government. It slowly lost even more money, making fewer and fewer launches every year, until it stopped making flights altogether. One final launch was made to recover the crew of the Horizon Space Station, which was then de-orbited over the ocean. The light show was apparently spectacular.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, came a new privately-owned company offering trips to space. Their new ‘spaceplane’, they said, could launch itself into orbit from any airport with a long enough runway, and then glide back down to Equus and land in a similar fashion; without shedding expensive engines and fuel tanks. Soon, they earned enough profit to build an entire fleet of their Phoenix spaceplanes and build a spaceport in orbit, and Griffin Galactic was born.

“Flight #1437 for Boreas Spaceport, now boarding at Gate C7. Gate C7, now boarding for Flight #1437 for Boreas Spaceport.”

Snapping out of her thoughts, Spring Bloom trotted over to her seat, grabbed her purse (the only thing small enough for her to actually take on board), and made her way into the forming line of similar passengers. Once her turn came, she hoofed her ticket to the receptionist next to the door. She scanned the ticket, tore off the section with the seat number on it, and hoofed it back. Thanking the receptionist, Spring Bloom walked through the doorway and onto the jetbridge.

The air suddenly turned hot. The plastic sheeting forming the collapsible walls didn’t form a perfect seal, and the air from outside was permeating the hall. Her hooves clicked on the metal flooring as she walked towards the gaping mouth of the plane’s open door.

When she reached the large door, a smiling flight attendant welcomed her aboard, and warned her to watch her step. Looking down, she was able to see the asphalt below through a sizable gap between the plane’s body and the platform’s edge.

The cabin was much more spacious than the airplanes she remembered. There were two rows of seats with a walkway in the middle, made with soft carpet. Looking at her ticket stub, it pointed her to a window seat. As she sat down, she noticed that the windows were small; smaller than the windows in a normal airplane. Upon further inspection, she was able to see that the windows were very thick, triple-paned, reinforced plastic.

She felt surprisingly calm, looking out the large window as another passenger took the seat beside her.

“First time?” He suddenly spoke up.

“Hm?” Spring Bloom turned to him. He was an older earth pony stallion, with his greying mane styled into a flat-top. He was wearing a vest with something embroidered into the right breast.

“Is this your first time in a spaceplane?”

“Yes… I’ve flown in an airplane before… just not to space.”

He chuckled. “Well, it’s a little more intense than an airplane, I’ll tell you that much.”

Spring Bloom began to sweat, remembering the waiver. “Intense? How so?”

“Well, the takeoff speed is a lot faster, so we need a much longer runway… also, the angle is a lot steeper too, about forty-five degrees. How much do you know about orbital mechanics?”

“A fair amount. My husband made sure of that.”

“Oh really? Well as your husband has most likely told you, orbital velocity at the altitude we’re headed for is about seven and a half kilometers per second.”

Spring simply nodded. She had heard numbers like that before, but it never ceased to amaze her. She had never experienced speeds that high, and never thought she would. She looked out the window and watched the passage from the terminal retract, and heard the large passenger door slam shut and lock.

“This is all so amazing, that we can get to space any day of the week, like driving to work. I remember when we used rockets alone to put things in space… it wasn’t nearly as elegant as this.”

“That wasn’t so long ago,” she pointed out, “I remember it too.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Although I feel more of a personal connection to…traditional launches.”

“What do you mean?”

“I used to be a flight director for the Equestrian Space Administration. That was before all the funding went down the toilet.”

“Wow, really? My husband is… was an astronaut.”

“No way.”

She nodded. “His name was Starshine.”

The stallion’s jaw dropped. “The Sunrise incident…” He said finally.

“Yes.”

“Wow. I…I remember that. I was the flight director for that mission.”

“You were?”

“Yeah…I can still remember talking with them just before re-entry…” He cast his gaze on the floor, looking somber.

She touched his hoof. “It’s okay. Accidents happen.” She couldn’t believe she was comforting someone else about something that happened to her…but she could understand why he would feel responsible.

“Thanks. And I know there’s nothing that we could have done. I just feel –”

They were interrupted by the captain speaking over the intercom.

“Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking. We’re getting ready to take off in a few minutes here, so just sit back, relax, and let the flight attendants talk you through the safety briefing. Have a wonderful flight, and thank you for choosing Griffin Galactic.”

The flight attendant at the front of the plane then talked through the safety features of the craft, which were mostly the same as with an airplane. One particular interesting point, Spring Bloom noted, was that apparently the hull was made of some sort of self-sealing polymer that would automatically patch any small holes. After the briefing, the attendants made their way up and down the aisle, making sure everyone was buckled in.

[1]Once that was done, she felt the spaceplane begin to roll away from the terminal and begin taxiing to the runway. Judging by its darker color, the runway they were headed for was newer. The spaceplane turned onto the runway and stopped, waiting for permission to take off.

After a minute or so, Spring Bloom felt the engines on the wing next to her start up, and the plane began to move down the runway. Slowly at first, but the craft was soon moving down the runway at frightening speed.

“One hundred meters per second.”

“Huh?”

The stallion beside her pointed to a small television screen at the front of the cabin, displaying the plane’s current speed and altitude. It was currently at over one hundred meters per second and climbing. Spring suddenly felt the characteristic lurch of the plane’s nose lifting off the runway, and saw the ground outside the window begin to fall away. The plane gently banked to the east, and she could see houses and streets filled with cars as her window pointed toward the ground.

As the spaceplane leveled off again, Spring felt herself being pushed back into her seat as the pilot opened up the throttle and pushed the massive craft to even higher speeds. She watched the monitor as the speed ticked up and up, the clouds below zipping by at incredible speeds. After reaching about 350 meters per second, the display switched to read 1.0 D.

“Supersonic,” the stallion beside her said.

Spring could hardly believe it. She and a hundred other ponies had just broken the sound barrier as casually as taking a drive to the store, while the first aircraft to reach these speeds had flown less than forty years prior. Ponies were no strangers to supersonic flight, though, ever since the legendary pegasus Rainbow Dash became the first pony to break the speed of sound under her own power over a century and a half ago. When aircraft had begun attaining higher and higher speeds, this threshold had been named in her honor.

Suddenly, once the speed indicator read 3.8 D, the plane tilted upward to a very steep angle; at least 45 degrees. Spring felt herself being pushed back into her seat even farther.

Now the altitude indicator was climbing rapidly. Once it reached about 50 kilometers, the plane’s nose dropped again and took on a much less aggressive angle. Their speed was now 6.7 D and climbing; almost seven times the speed of sound.

“Well, that was certainly…interesting.” She wiped her brow.

“Are you kidding? We haven’t even reached the best part yet!”

“Huh?”

“Just wait until we hit about Dash-thirteen.”

Spring couldn’t even fathom speeds that high. Her mind was boggling at how fast they were going already. 


***


“Preparing to transition to closed-cycle flight,” the Griffin Galactic pilot said, turning to his co-pilot. “Okay, we’re almost ready to go. Just a few more checks.”

“Copy.”

“Instruments calibrated?”

“Check.”

“Hatches?”

“Sealed.”

“Control surfaces?”

“Locked.”

“Internal O2 feed?”

“Activated.”

“Igniter master arm?”

“Armed.”

“Turbopumps?”

“Primed.”

“Center of gravity shift?”

“Auto.”

“Engine gimballing?”

“Disabled.”

“Alrighty… let’s trip the igniters and light this candle!”


***


Spring watched the speed counter increase until the units switched from meters to kilometers per second. When it reached 13.0 D, the captain’s voice was again heard over the intercom.

“Attention passengers, we’ve just about reached out operational ceiling for the jet engines. We’re now going to activate the rocket engines now to gain some more speed and altitude. So keep yourselves buckled in, and hold on tight!”

“Wait, rocket engines!? Why –” But she was interrupted when the plane suddenly lurched violently and she was shoved back into her seat with a tremendous amount of force, followed by a throaty roar coming from somewhere behind her.

“Whoo!” The stallion exclaimed, but he was barely audible over the noise.

Gritting her teeth, Spring Bloom turned to look at the monitor. It read the plane’s speed as over 14.5 D and climbing fast. As if the G-forces from the rocket engines weren’t enough, the plane tilted up to a 45-degree angle again.

When it finally pitched back down again, the plane’s altitude was up to 95 kilometers and its speed was up to 16 D. After a few more seconds, the rocket engines cut off entirely.

“Attention passengers, this is your captain once again. Please remain in your seats and do not remove your seatbelts, as there will be another burn of the engines coming up soon.”

“Wait for it…now!” The stallion was looking at the altitude readout, which had just passed 100 km. “You’re in space now! How does it feel?”

Spring Bloom felt a strange sensation, as if she was going over the crest of a hill on a rollercoaster. She felt as if the entire plane was falling, plummeting back down to earth.

“Woah… what’s going on? Are we falling?”

The stallion chuckled. “Yes, actually. But we’re in orbit, so we’re falling around the entire planet!”

Her husband had described it to her, but she never thought she’d be experiencing it firsthoof. It was a strange feeling, to say the least. Her insides lurched as they moved in ways they never had before.

The next thing Spring Bloom noticed was her mane taking on a mind of its own. It floated around, quickly turning into a tangled cloud in front of her face. She tried to brush it away, but it refused to keep still. She finally resorted to pulling an elastic band out of her purse (which was difficult due to the fact that it, too, was beginning to float away) and tied it back into a ponytail.

A slight commotion from behind caught her attention. She turned to see a pegasus stallion, wide-eyed and panicked, thrashing about in his seat. His wings were splayed out, flapping as if he was trying to take off. A flight attendant was trying to calm him down.

“We’re falling! We’re out of control, we’re all going to die!” He was screaming.

“We’re not falling, sir, everything is under control.”

The pegasus barely seemed to register what she was saying. Another flight attendant floated up to them, her horn glowing with a spell. With some difficulty, she touched her horn to his forehead, and the pegasus stallion immediately relaxed, his eyes losing focus. One of the attendants then left, the other remaining behind to watch the pony they had subdued.

Spring turned back to see the stallion next to her was shaking his head.

“What was that all about?” She asked.

“It’s not uncommon for pegasi to get panic attacks in microgravity. It messes with their flight instincts or something, makes them think they’re falling. Looks like the crew keeps an anesthetic spell around for cases like that.”


***


The promised “burn” came about fifteen minutes later, and lasted for only a few seconds, after which the captain came over the intercom again.

“Alright passengers, you can go ahead and unfasten your seatbelts and enjoy weightlessness during this part of the flight. Our attendants are here to give you assistance, and bags are provided for those suffering from space adaptation sickness. We’ll be arriving at the spaceport in about thirty minutes.”

Spring decided to try moving around, so she unbuckled herself… and immediately began to float towards the ceiling. She smiled, enjoying the feeling, and gently pushed off the wall. Her body responded by drifting past the stallion next to her and into the aisle, where she collided with a flight attendant. The attendant grabbed them both and expertly guided them to a stop, using her magic to grab onto the hoofholds and maneuver herself around.

“Oh! So sorry ma’am. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you. Just not used to zero-gravity.”

“If you ever need any help, just ask.”

With that, she deftly navigated around Spring Bloom and glided down the aisle, assisting more passengers who were venturing out of their seats. Deciding not to experiment with crashing into things anymore, Spring Bloom nudged her way back to her seat. The stallion next to her hadn’t even removed his seatbelt; he was reading a book instead. It was at that moment that she decided to look out the window… and felt her breath taken away.

Four hundred kilometers beneath her, the giant ball she called home rotated lazily. She was able to make out the continents, the oceans, and the clouds casting shadows on the landscape. One of the clouds was being assaulted by pegasi; although she couldn’t make out the individuals, she could see the cloud’s shape changing slowly. She could see the sun, brighter and more vibrant than she remembered, moving to set behind the ship. Ahead, she could see a distinct line on the ground where day changed to night. She now understood why ponies flocked to space travel: the view was breathtaking.

The voice of the captain suddenly spoke up again. “Attention passengers, if you’ll look out the left-hoof side of the ship, I’ll be turning around so you can see the sunset as we cross the dusk terminator.”

Spring Bloom heard a faint hissing somewhere within the ship, and felt the cabin begin to turn. Slowly, the ship rotated ninety degrees counter-clockwise, until it’s the nose was pointed toward the north pole. Now, she could see the setting sun squarely in her window. She could hear the commotion as several other passengers from the right side of the cabin ventured from their seats to get a look out the windows on this side.

As she watched, the sun moved surprisingly quickly toward the horizon… and then it was gone. There was a brief moment where she could see the traditional colors of the sunset shimmering on the ocean and reflecting off the clouds, and then it simply winked out of existence. Their ship, she noted, had crossed that line between day and night she saw earlier. Looking down onto the surface, the landscape was shrouded in darkness, but she could make out the spiderweb patterns of lights from cities.


***


Half an hour later, they arrived at Boreas Orbital Spaceport. Spring Bloom could hardly believe such a thing was possible. It was a giant structure, several times the size of the airport on the ground, simply floating in the infinite blackness like a snowflake. It looked like a great crystal formation, with the various blinking lights along its walls making it seem to sparkle. She could see ponies through the station’s huge windows, their size comparable to ants. The sheer scale of the station was almost unbelievable…yet here it was. The structure was well-lit on the outside by floodlights, and several flashing beacons marked the edges like miniature lighthouses. Several ships were latched on like ticks, attached to ports marked in a manner similar to airport gates. The plane she was in drifted lazily over the station, passing over a giant decorative dome marking the station’s main lobby. Ponies floating around inside gazed up at the giant craft above them.

“How…how is this possible?” She breathed.

The stallion beside her chuckled. “Earth pony engineering, and no small amount of unicorn magic, I would guess.”

“How much did it cost, I wonder?”

“Billions. But Griffin Galactic is subsidized by the Equestrian government.”

“Really?”

“Yep. That’s where all our funding went. They figured out it was a lot cheaper to simply pay a private company to launch ponies into space than to do it themselves.”

The spaceplane continued to float around the station, and began to slide sideways towards a gate marked ‘A9’. The pilot expertly maneuvered the craft so that its door was perfectly aligned with the passage she could see extending from the station. She could actually see a pony wearing a spacesuit standing in the passage, guiding the pilot to dock with the station. Eventually, the craft mated to the station with a metallic thunk and a sucking noise.

“Attention passengers, we have arrived at Boreas Spaceport. Please remain in your seats until the seatbelt light turns off, and proceed in an orderly fashion to the exit. Your luggage is currently being offloaded, and can be picked up in the baggage claim. Those transferring to connecting flights, your baggage will automatically be placed onboard your next flight. Those staying onboard for Xenith Station may remain in their seats while we refuel. Have a nice day, and thank you for choosing Griffin Galactic for your space travel needs.”

Spring Bloom wondered why they were thanking passengers for choosing them for spaceflight, when they were literally the only choice. She removed her seatbelt and collected her purse; the stallion, however, stayed put.

“You’re not coming?” She asked him.

“No, I’m staying here. I’ll be riding the plane back down to Xenith.”

She nodded. Xenith Station was Griffin Galactic’s spaceport in Zebrica, which was almost on the other side of the world from Equestria. A trip which would take weeks by train or a day by plane, would only take a few hours this way.

“Well, goodbye then,” he said as she made her way past him and into the aisle. “I hope you have a nice trip, wherever you’re going.”

“I’m going to that hotel on the moon.”

This caused his eyebrows to rise. “Wow, really? That place they built a couple years ago? I heard it’s really nice.”

“Yeah…”

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s just… a lot to take in.”

“I remember my first spaceflight. It was hard to believe I used put astronauts through that on a regular basis.”

Spring Bloom could feel the line of ponies anxious to get off stacking up behind her. She waved a final goodbye to the stallion, and pushed herself down the aisle.

A smiling flight attendant floated by the exit, greeting her with a cheerful goodbye as she passed through the open door and into the passage. Looking down at where it joined the body of the spaceplane, it was a perfect seal. Much more secure than the seal down on the ground; and for good reason. She pushed herself down the passage and through the gate doors.

She passed into the waiting area, which looked almost exactly like that from the airport. Although there was no ‘up’ in space, there was clearly an ‘up’ to the space station. She could see several ponies floating in the waiting area or staring out the windows. It looked huge from the outside, but the interior was actually somewhat cramped, almost like an underground tunnel, but the windows helped to alleviate the claustrophobia somewhat. The floors were carpeted and chandeliers dotted the ceiling.

She was suddenly startled by a friendly station clerk next to her.

“Welcome to Boreas Spaceport! Would you like a complementary set of gravity boots?”

“…huh?”

The clerk motioned to a set of black cloth boots on her hooves. They were made of a material that allowed her to stick to the carpet on the floor. Spring Bloom recognized the material; the ESA had developed it for keeping stuff from floating around the cabin of a spaceship.

“Gravity boots! They’re special shoes that let you stick to the floor so you don’t have to float everywhere! Though some ponies like float around, I prefer to keep my hooves on the floor.”

Spring Bloom agreed to the clerk’s offer, and let her help put the boots on. Once her hooves touched the soft carpeted floor, the material on the bottoms stuck to it, rooting her firmly in place. She could take steps with little difficulty, with each boot making a crackling, tearing sound at it was lifted off the floor. She thanked the clerk and started walking towards the main lobby.

The main lobby consisted of a circular room with six hallways branching off of it. A couple dozen or so ponies were either loitering or passing through this space using a variety of methods. Some were using the ‘gravity boots’, and others were using the ubiquitous hoofholds along the walls. The most interesting mode of locomotion was being used by a few unicorns, who effortlessly pulled their way through the station by grasping the hoofholds with their magic, just like what the flight attendant had done in the spaceplane. They were like sea creatures, she thought with a smile, as they danced through the air without moving a muscle.

The ceiling of the lobby was capped with a giant dome, made of clear plastic, offering a stunning view of the planet below. She could just make out the telltale pink shimmer of a magical barrier over the dome. As she stared, several more passenger ships drifted overhead, either to dock with the station or departing from it.

“Flight #8261 to Luna Hotel is now arriving at Gate D2. Flight #8261 to Luna Hotel, now arriving at Gate D2.”

Although the airport may have changed, the bored announcer was a constant. Spring Bloom inspected her second ticket; the numbers matched up, indicating that this ship would be the one taking her to the lunar resort.

Four of the six hallways were marked with a series of letters and numbers showing which gates one could reach by traversing them. One of the hallways appeared to be administration and control, while another was reserved for the baggage claim and other facilities, such as restaurants and washrooms. Suspended above the entrance to this corridor was a collection of large screens, displaying the numbers and statuses of dozens of spaceplane flights in and out of Boreas Spaceport. She examined the screens and found her flight number. According to the schedule, it wasn’t due for another fifteen minutes. To pass the time, she decided to go and get a coffee from one of the numerous convenience shops lining the hallway before her.

Wandering along the strip, she saw that the food selection left much to be desired, with vastly inflated prices to boot – most likely for the novelty of eating one’s daisy sandwich in space, she presumed. She eventually settled on a small coffee shop near the end called Beth’s Best Beans. A cheery griffin floated behind the counter, who jovially took her order. Spring Bloom chose a booth next to a window, placed so that patrons could sip their lattes while watching the planet revolve below. The booths were more for privacy than comfort, lacking tables and even chairs.

As she gazed out into space, she noticed that several of the stars began to wink out, a front of blackness moving across the sky. It took her a second to realize it, but that gap in the stars was actually a giant ship drifting by. It drew closer to the station, gradually adjusting its course to head for one of the station’s docking arms.

The ship was mind-bogglingly massive; several times larger than the spaceplane which had brought her up here, this vessel was more on the scale of an oceangoing cruise liner. As it slowly crept along, Spring Bloom was able to make out the name of the ship, emblazoned on the side in giant black letters, and mottled by the beams from dozens of spotlights: Celestia Dawn. Despite its size, it seemed more fragile than the other ships, like an errant breeze could snap it in half. Much of its structure was made up of girders and struts, separating the helm and passenger compartments at the front from the engines and spherical fuel tanks at the rear. Within the passenger section, she noted, was a circular ring that rotated lazily about the ship’s centerline.

Hearing her name called, Spring walked up to the counter and took her prepared drink, which came in a strangely-shaped cup. No matter which way she tipped it or shook it, no fluid came out unless she used the attached straw. It was undoubtedly a measure to mitigate the difficulty of drinking in zero-gravity, but she couldn’t help a small smile at what amounted to an adult-sized sippy cup.

With her coffee in tow, Spring started walking towards her gate, feeling a mixture of excitement and trepidation. These ships carry hundreds of passengers a day, she had to think to herself. You’ve been inside one of them for hours now, and nothing has happened.

The gate attendant greeted her with a smile and took her ticket, just like any other trip to the airport, after which Spring was allowed to enter the airtight tunnel connecting the station to the massive spaceliner. But instead of the narrow aisle of a spaceplane, she found herself within a relatively spacious, well-decorated reception area, where a small group of the Celestia Dawn’s crew was greeting each passenger and guiding them to where their rooms were located.

“Welcome to the Celestia Dawn!” One of the crew members announced when Spring walked up to him and passed him her ticket. He wore a smile that was a little too wide and was slightly unsettling. “Is this your first time aboard?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Wonderful!” he beamed as he inspected her ticket. “Well, I think you’ll have a fantastic time here. Just follow the yellow line to my right, that should take you directly to your suite, number G25. If you have any questions, feel free to ask any one of the ship’s crew.”

“Thanks. This place is amazing.”

“Isn’t it? I never get tired of the views. Have a great day!”

After she took her ticket back, Spring looked to where the stallion had pointed. Colored lines ran along the walls and floor, directing passengers toward any area of the ship they might want to go. At the moment, the only two lines she could see were a yellow one, labeled ‘Suites’ and a blue one, labeled ‘Gravity Ring’. For now, she followed the yellow line down the hallway, noting the lettered passages that branched off the main passage. At G, she took a left and counted the numbers on the doors until she reached hers, number G25.

Her ‘suite’ was much smaller than a traditional hotel room, containing only spaces to sleep and bathe. The bed was much more akin to a sleeping bag, secured to the wall with elastic netting, across from the large, thick window. Secured to the wall next to it was Spring Bloom’s suitcase, which had been loaded onto the ship from the spaceplane. The room also contained a television screen built into the ceiling, which was currently dark. She considered opening her suitcase and unpacking her things, before realizing that they’d just float all over the place without any gravity. So she simply stowed her purse, keeping the suitcase attached to the wall.

She was about to leave to explore the ship when she heard a chime from the PA system, followed by the voice of the stallion who took her ticket.

“Attention passengers, we’ve finished boarding and are currently preparing for departure. We would please ask you to remain in your cabins until we’re on our way to the moon. Until then, please watch the educational and safety video on the screens above you. Have a great flight, and thank you for choosing Griffin Galactic!”

[2]Spring turned her eyes to the screen which had lit up with an animated version of the Griffin Galactic logo, spinning in place. It was soon replaced with the image of a griffin dressed in a suit and tie, beaming at the camera while pacing back and forth in front of a starry backdrop. There was a fanfare of cheery, optimistic music to complete the cheesy aesthetic.

“Welcome aboard the Celestia Dawn, the foremost in luxury space travel! Hi, I’m Pierre LeClerc, founder and CEO of Griffin Galactic. I’d like to personally thank each and every one of you for joining us today aboard the first vessel in our StarCruise fleet. The following presentation will walk you through the amenities and features aboard the Celestia Dawn, as well as some of the details of your flight to the moon, where the world-famous Luna Hotel awaits!”

Pierre LeClerc was replaced by a diagram of the ship, and his voice was replaced by an energetic and well-enunciated narrator.

“The Celestia Dawn is over 200 meters long, with enough space for luxury accommodations for 80 passengers and crew.”

Spring idly wondered how many times they were going to use the word ‘luxury’.

“The ship is divided into three sections: the suites are located here, and can be found at any time by simply following the yellow lines. You suite offers fantastic views of the stars in private comfort, and a place to relax and freshen up for the day.

“Follow the blue line to the Gravity Ring, providing artificial gravity for a reprieve from zero-gee. Enjoy the shops, restaurants, and gardens!

“At the front of the ship is the helm, where the captain and crew steer the Celestia Dawn’s 1500 tonnes towards the moon. Guided tours are available every day!”

The ship disappeared, and a depiction of Equus and the moon appeared, with a curved, sweeping line drawn between them.

“Our voyage to the moon will take a total of three days, and will begin with a maneuver called ‘trans-lunar injection’. The ship will fire its nuclear-powered engines to accelerate it on a path towards the moon, reaching speeds of up to ten-and-a-half kilometers per second! Upon reaching the moon, the ship will turn around and slow down again, allowing the moon to pull it into an orbit, where a fleet of shuttles awaits to rendezvous and take you to the hotel!”

The presentation continued to explain the safety features of the ship, including magical shielding to protect the structure from ‘micrometeoroids’, as well as escape pods that could return all the passengers to Boreas Spaceport in case of emergency.

With a warning from the PA system, the ship began trans-lunar injection, and Spring felt herself begin to drift towards the bulkhead. After a few minutes, she was in zero-gravity once again, and the captain announced that the passengers were free to move about the ship. She decided that her first destination would be the gravity ring; she really wanted to see what a garden on board a spaceship would look like. On her way out of her cabin, she almost bumped into a couple wearing flower-print shirts emerging from the cabin across the hall. The stallion she had almost collided with deftly grabbed one of the handles lining the walls and brought himself to a halt, while Spring clumsily flailed around.

“Ope! Let me help ya there.” He grasped her hoof and helped her come to a stop.

“Ugh. Thank you,” Spring replied, embarrassed at her inelegance.

“No biggie. First time in space?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m still getting used to the whole zero-gravity thing.”

“We’re on our third lunar cruise, and let me tell ya, any cruise is better when you’ve got someone to show you around. I’m Round Trip, by the way, and that’s my wife, Cinnamon Roll.” He motioned to the mare behind him, who beamed and waved.

“Spring Bloom,” she replied, by way of introduction.

“I think you’ll have a great time here, Spring,” Round Trip said, pushing his way down the corridor. Spring tried to mimic his movements, pushing against the hoofholds to glide behind him. “I don’t know if you’ve been on any ocean cruises, but let me tell ya, lunar cruises totally blow them out of the water, hahaha! Pun intended!”

As they rounded the corner, following the blue line through the reception area, Round Trip continued. “Zero-gravity lesson one: your center of gravity is in the pit of your stomach. If you want to push off things without spinning around, you’ve got to angle yourself so you push through your core. Pretend like you’re trying to stand on two hooves.” To demonstrate, Round Trip spun himself around and pushed off the wall with his forehooves, angled as if he were trying to do a headstand. He soared down the corridor with renewed momentum, then nimbly took hold of another hoofhold and drew himself to a stop.

“He loves to do all those tricks,” Spring heard Cinnamon Roll say from behind her with a smile. “He took to zero-gravity like a fish to water.”

“You’ve actually got it easier, since you’re a unicorn,” Round Trip said once the mares caught up to him at the entrance to the gravity ring. “You can use your magic to pull yourself along without touching the walls at all!”

Once Spring and Cinnamon Roll caught up, Round Trip moved forward and the door to the gravity ring opened automatically. She could see the room beyond sliding sideways at a fair pace on the other side of the threshold, and a large sign above warning ponies to watch their step.

“How much gravity will I feel inside? Is it like Equus?”

Round Trip shook his head. “It’s only half a gee, but it’s enough to be comfortable, and I think it’s a nice way to get used to lighter gravity before you get to the moon.”

Round Trip floated his way through the door, giving a strange view of him hanging in the air as the floor moved beneath him. Soon, a pole stretching from floor to ceiling came into view, which Round Trip grasped and was quickly whisked away.

“Go ahead, dear, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Cinnamon Roll coaxed. “Once you grab a pole you’ll have your hooves on solid ground. Er, floor.”

Spring looked into the room beyond. She could see ponies and green plants moving by; the ring had looked like it was moving slowly from the outside of the ship, but it seemed much faster up close. She reached out with her magic and pushed off one of the hoofholds in the hallway, and drifted across the threshold and into the rotating room. She spotted a pole rapidly approaching and grabbed it as it moved past. She felt herself get yanked along briefly before centrifugal force took over and she fell to the floor in an undignified heap. She brought herself shakily to her hooves, and felt a bout of nausea as her inner ear adjusted to the presence of pseudo-gravity, as well as an uncomfortable sensation in her gut as her organs settled into place.

With her wits about her again, Spring looked around the gravity ring. It looked quite similar to a small mall, with one long hallway lined with shops, restaurants, and planter boxes filled with real ferns. While it wasn’t much of a garden, it was more than she was expecting, and a nice reprieve from the sterile whiteness of the rest of the ship. The hallway curved visibly upwards both in front of and behind her.

Walking around proved fairly easy; she had to move a little slower and more deliberately than normal, but it wasn’t hard to get used to. Once Spring caught up with Round Trip and Cinnamon Roll, they showed her around the strip, taking her to several (very expensive) shops, and visiting their favorite restaurant for dinner: an eastern-themed venue named Moon Wok. Afterwards, they took her to a tour of the bridge. The captain seemed to enjoy putting on a show, marching about and giving orders like “maintain attitude for gimbal calibration” and “resume PTC rotation at zero-point-five degrees per second”, to which the crew would respond “aye-aye, sir”. It was amusing to watch, but Spring suspected they didn’t act like this normally.

Spring ended up spending the majority of the next three days in the gravity ring, as did most of the other passengers. After being confined to quarters for the ‘capture burn’ on the far side of the moon, the captain announced that they had arrived. Spring looked out the window and was able to see the blue-green disk of Equus rising slowly over the lunar horizon. She suddenly felt very small, as she realized that her home and everypony she’d ever known was on that planet, so small that she could cover it with a hoof. She was four hundred thousand kilometers away from home, surrounded by only an infinite expanse of nothingness dotted with stars. It was a lot to take in.


***


A few hours later, she was standing on the moon.

She stood in a pressurized reception area just beyond the exit of the small shuttle craft that had brought herself and a hoofful of passengers down to the surface. She heard Round Trip chuckling behind her.

“What?”

“Nothing, it just looks like your eyes are gonna pop out of your head!”

Spring Bloom was incredulous. “We’re on the moon! Thirty years ago ponies could only dream of this, and we’re…tourists!” she blurted out.

Round Trip’s chuckle turned into a full-on belly laugh. “Oh, I know! It’s just as amazing to me, too. I was just as flabbergasted on my first trip, and I love seeing the reactions of the first-timers! Come on, Cinnamon and I will show you around the hotel.”

A bend in the tunnel from the landing pad let Spring see the structure through a window. Admittedly, the hotel wasn’t much to look at from the outside; it was a series of white domes connected by tunnels, partially buried in the grey lunar soil.

Walking in one-sixth gee was vastly different from walking in the half-gee aboard the Celestia Dawn’s gravity ring. She found it easiest to take a series of long, hopping strides that were reminiscent of prancing. Upon reaching the hotel’s lobby, she was greeted by a fountain shaped like Princess Luna. A narrow stream of water arced from the tip of her horn. It was fascinating how the water moved; it seemed to hang in the air much longer than it should, and fell to the pool below in slow motion. The other decorations in the lobby included a photo of Princess Luna attending the hotel’s opening ceremony, and a grainy black-and-white image of ponykind’s first steps on the moon.

Spring was surprised to see that the stallion standing behind the desk was the same one who had greeted her aboard the Celestia Dawn.

“Hello and welcome to the Luna Hotel!” he said as they approached, that same creepy smile plastered across his face. “Finest luxury hotel on the moon!”

She fought the urge to roll her eyes.

“Why are you here, instead of on the ship?” she asked.

“The ponies who staff the hotel are the same ones who crew the ship,” he explained. “For safety, the hotel is only occupied while the Celestia Dawn is in orbit. It’s completely empty between trips.”

After checking in, Round Trip and Cinnamon Roll helped her find her room. The large interconnected domes that made up the structure were divided into a dozen small rooms each, containing a bed and a small bathroom. Spring looked forward to sleeping in a real bed; the zero-gravity sleeping bags aboard the ship hadn’t been exactly restful. She was lucky enough to get a room with a window, and it offered a magnificent view of the barren featureless landscape. The grey regolith rose and fell in gentle hills, broken up by the occasional rock or crater. There was a certain stark beauty to it all, accentuated by the sight of Equus on the horizon, the sun behind it reducing it to a crescent sliver. She knew that Equestria would be just on the edge of the planet’s disk to the east, and from their point of view the moon would just be rising as Princess Luna began the night. It was strange to think about; standing on the surface of the moon as it was being moved by one of the Princesses.

No one knew exactly why the moon or sun had to be moved the way they did. According to legend, the sun had simply gone away somehow almost two thousand years ago, an event that would come to be known as the Sun Crisis. A group of powerful unicorns from the nascent nation of Equestria supposedly came together and created a brand new sun. How much of that story was truth and how much was myth was unknown, as few first-hoof accounts of that day still existed. The only sure thing was that that ball of magical energy that brought warmth and light, and its sister that brought the tides both had to be coaxed across the horizon every morning and evening by Equestria’s dual rulers.


	***


Sleeping in a bed in one-sixth gee was extremely comfortable. Spring wondered if this was what pegasi felt like when they slept on clouds; her body was almost weightless, and she woke early, feeling better than she had in a while. The hotel was equipped with a small cafeteria, and Spring stopped by for a light breakfast before exploring what attractions the hotel offered.

She caught some movement from the corner of her eye and saw Round Trip excitedly waving at her, with Cinnamon Roll sitting at the table next to him. Spring hopped over to them and sat down.

“So, how’s your first day on the moon treatin’ ya?” Round Trip asked with a smile.

Spring shook her head slowly in amazement as she poked at her fruit. “I still can’t believe that I’m here.”

“Let me tell ya, four days is not enough for me. I wanna live here! They should make a whole city on the moon!”


Cinnamon Roll grimaced and patted her husband’s hoof. “Now now, dear, I like it here just as much as you, but I think I like my hooves on the ground.”

“But they are on the ground.”

“You know what I meant.”

Spring contemplated the lunar landscape for a while as she ate, before asking, “So since you’ve been here before, what are the best things to do around here? I got a brochure in my room with all the attractions, but I’m sure you know what the best ones are.”

Round Trip nodded enthusiastically, his mane bouncing around in the lower gravity. “Well, the pool is pretty fun. It’s more…” he waved his hoof around, searching for the right word. “Splashy.”

He leaned in conspiratorially, glancing to either side. “But the best attraction…is the lunar surface tour!”

“The lunar surface tour?” Spring echoed, digging the brochure out of her purse. “I don’t remember seeing that one.”

“They don’t really advertise it, since there’s only so many seats and they always fill up fast. In fact, I’ll be on the first trip of the morning, in just about half an hour.”

“What is it?”

“They drive around outside in a pressurized rover, showing off craters and formations and such. There’s even a lava sea nearby that they always show off. It’s great!”

“Like a tour bus?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s a space tour bus! So what do ya say? Are you coming?”

Spring thought for a moment before making her decision. “Sure! It sounds fun.”

After breakfast, a short walk through the hotel brought them to the rover hangar, within which the “space tour bus” stood before a large sliding door. It was a strange-looking vehicle, consisting of a white cylinder lined with small windows, supported by eight large wheels. She noticed a mechanic working on the far side of the rover, who quickly closed his toolbox and rushed away upon seeing the group coming in.

“Welcome to the Luna Hotel’s exclusive Lunar Surface Tour!” the tour guide announced when a small crowd had gathered. “Please, no photography is allowed, so leave your cameras behind. High-quality photos will be available for purchase at the gift shop.

“We’re going to begin by getting you all fitted with pressure suits. Now, the rover is pressurized, so this is just a safety precaution.”

A staff member entered the room pushing a rack of white space suits and matching helmets. They were simple in principle to put on, made of two pieces. With help from a staff member, Spring pushed her hindlegs into the rear section, tucking her tail in. Then she wriggled into the front section, pushing her forelegs through, and the two sections joined at with a locking ring around her barrel.

“Each suit comes with an hour’s supply of oxygen,” the tour guide explained as the passengers struggled into their suits, “and are equipped with a homing beacon. Not that we expect to use it! I want to reiterate that this is a safety precaution only.”

The staff explained and demonstrated how to put on the suit helmets, but said that they didn’t have to be worn on board unless there was an emergency. Once they had all donned their suits, Spring and the seven other passengers boarded the rover. The interior was small, allowing each passenger only enough room to sit down and look out a window. A driver climbed into the cockpit, and the tour guide stood amongst the passengers.

Soon, a rush of air was heard from outside, after which the large doors opened, allowing sunlight to stream in.

“Please keep your helmets nearby at all times,” the tour guide announced. “We may ask you to put them on in case of emergency.”

With a lurch, the vehicle left the hangar and began rolling along the grey lunar terrain. The sun on the horizon cast long shadows, accentuating the many hills and rocks scattered about. In the distance, she could see the winding furrows left by the rover’s wheels, marking the path it had taken dozens of times before.

“We don’t know exactly how the moon was formed, but careful study of rock samples suggests that it was formed when a large meteor struck Equus. The impact sent billions of tons of molten rock into space, which collected and hardened over time to form the moon. The myriad craters were formed by smaller meteor impacts over the next several billion years. These impacts ground up the surface into a fine powder, forming the flour-like lunar soil.”

Spring joined the other passengers in gawking out the windows at the alien terrain while the tour guide continued to explain the various geological formations and their origins.

“The Luna Hotel’s location on the lunar surface gives us convenient access to many types of geological formations, including the next stop on our trip. In another few minutes, we’ll arrive at a scenic overlook, giving us a magnificent view of the massive Sea of Harmony, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions!”

The rover continued to pick its way across the rugged lunar surface, gently rocking as the wheels followed the ups and downs of the terrain. Spring Bloom continued to stare out the window until her attention was torn away by the sudden presence of a faint hissing noise.

She wasn’t the only one to hear it, evidently, as a few of the other passengers perked up, their ears swiveling to try to locate the sound. A stallion in front of Spring got the attention of the tour guide and pointed out the sound. A frown marred her face for the briefest of moments before she smiled brightly, announced she’d be right back, and stepped forward to speak with the driver.

The hissing sound grew louder, now accompanied by creaking and groaning sounds coming from the wall. The sudden addition of a faint alarm coming from somewhere in the vehicle did not help, and the passengers all started looking around nervously. Even Round Trip had gone quiet, grasping his worried wife by the hoof.

Spring felt the vehicle come to a stop.

“I’m terribly sorry everyone, but due to some technical difficulties, we’re going to have to cut the tour short,” the tour guide announced to the passengers. “As a safety precaution, I’m going to ask that you all please put your helmets on.”

A calm commotion followed as everypony moved to put on their helmets. Spring was able to do so with only marginal difficulty, using her magic to rotate the locking ring and secure the latch at the nape of her neck, like she had been shown back at the hangar. She looked over and saw that a mare across the aisle was having difficulty putting her helmet on; her mane kept interfering with the latching mechanism.

Suddenly, the wall of the vehicle next to Spring was torn apart with a loud bang that quickly faded away into nothing. She felt herself being wrenched from her seat and thrown outside by a blast of air, joined by debris and other ponies. She briefly saw one or two ponies thrown to the ground missing their helmets, having been unable to put them on in time.

“No! Nonononono!” She screamed as she tumbled, catching glimpses of the lunar surface getting slowly closer. She twisted her head around to try and get her bearings, and discovered that she was falling towards a jagged rock on the ground just as she smashed into it face-first. Spiderweb patterns formed on her visor with a sickening crack.

The impact sent her spinning into the sky again, but within a second or two she hit the ground for a second time, throwing up a cloud of grey dust and rolling to a stop. She could hear the gut-wrenching hiss of escaping air once again, plainly audible over her own panicked breathing. The rock hadn’t just cracked her visor, but had punched a sizable hole in the very center.

She shakily got to her hooves and looked back the way she came. She could see the sightseeing vehicle, surrounded by debris and other ponies who had been thrown out. A helmet bounced and rolled along the surface past her.

“Help!” she called out, even though she knew it was pointless. She started hopping as quickly as she could back towards the vehicle, but her steps were becoming more and more sluggish. She stumbled and fell to the ground.

I need to get back to the ship. I’m losing air, fast…where am I again? Oh, right the moon. Isn’t that amazing? It’s kind of dirty here, though. Oh, look at the stars! There’s so many of them. I feel really tired all of a sudden. A nap would be nice. Just lay down right here on the soft moon and…

Go to…

…sleep...