//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Star Struck // Story: Ponies on Earth and their New Horizons // by TikiBat //------------------------------// Their chariot pulled to the side of the unpaved path, kicking up another cloud of dust and coming to a stop a short distance away from the outpost’s adobe buildings. Crescent turned towards the three guests and smiled, “Welcome my friends, to Pelham Outpost! It’s the heart of our operations out here.” As a group, the three stood up and stepped out of the chariot, taking in their new surroundings. Sarah and Tyler immediately began to stretch their legs. Scarlet on the other hoof curiously looked around at the various buildings. “You’re wondering what’s so different about this place, I presume?” Starry asked as he calmly approached her. There were a handful that were obviously designed with ponies in mind, but they were dwarfed by the buildings that varied in all sizes around them. Scarlet turned her head towards him and nodded, “I really shouldn’t be. It’s obvious that this place is built with more than just ponies in mind. The others just look so… odd next to the smaller pony buildings.” “You are not alone, and there is a reason for their irregular size, that goes beyond simply accommodating humans. This place was of course designed with them in mind, but also other creatures, though at the moment it’s only serving ponies and humans. However we had hoped to pull in and collaborate with some of Equestria’s other creatures. That is still our hope of course.” Scarlet nodded, “So I have to ask, this is a new settlement right? So why stick to the old way of doing things when you have other, sturdier ways of doing it like back in the Crystal Empire?” “Indeed it is, however, as I’m sure you are aware, building in an arid desert is easier said than done. This construction was simple and durable enough to support our activities here, and combined with a few simple enchantments it made for an adequate base of operations.” Scarlet looked all around, “It’s a lot to take in, but I’m already digging it. So where do we even start? How do we make sense of this place?” “It’s not as hard as you’d imagine, the outpost’s layout isn’t as confusing as it appears,” Crescent interjected as he trotted towards the pair, “Your two friends showed interest in settling into their living quarters here, so we’ll start there first. Please follow me,” He finished, gesturing with a wing. Starry smiled, “There is your answer. If you will permit me, I have some business to attend to, but I will reconvene with you three at dinner.” “Of course, it’s been nice chatting with you today Starry, I’ll see you at dinner.” Scarlet said with a smile. Starry returned a nod and trotted off towards one of the smaller buildings, leaving the three to follow Crescent Shadow. As they began to move along, Tyler cleared his throat. The tall human paused for a moment and looked down towards Crescent, “So uh, Mr. Shadow, are we all staying in the same area or is it divided based on our species?” Sarah looked over from Tyler to Crescent and nodded, “It’s a dumb question, we know, but we’re just curious considering that the three of us are all part of the same team. Makes it a little easier to stay on the same page and whatnot given that we don’t really have any other kind of communication here.” “Don’t worry, it’s a perfectly reasonable question, if you’ll follow me I’ll show you it in person,” He began to walk towards a large adobe building, “The housing here is built so everyone can have a communal place to hang out and collaborate in. You three will share a villa on the first floor, if that answers your question.” Tyler nodded, “That does, It’ll be like we’re back in college again, eh Sarah?” He joked, nudging the other human with his elbow. “Sure will, just without the parties and stress.” “No parties? C’mon where’s the fun in that?” he added with a smile. Crescent smiled, “In case you were curious, the dining hall has a weekly activity night, every week before the last shift. It’s our way of getting ready to unwind for a couple of days before we resume our work. I’m sure you three have had similar experiences back on Earth.” Scarlet tried to get a closer look at some of the buildings they were passing, noting that not all of them had a clearly marked purpose. She turned back towards Crescent and nodded, “Yeah actually, we have a karaoke night back home in the Oasis every Friday, gives everyone something fun to do together before the weekend starts. In some cases it’s one of the only times that you’ll see day and night ponies hanging around together.” “Given the nature of our work, you see a lot more of that here,” Crescent replied as he came to a stop. He turned towards the group and gestured towards the large building behind him, “This is the center of the outpost, if you ever get lost it’s easy enough to find your way back here. It’s the largest building here and should be visible from any part of the outpost.” Sarah let out a yawn and looked longingly at the building, “Not that I don’t find this interesting, but would you two mind if Tyler and I got settled in? It’s been a long day and I guess I just didn’t realize how tired I was.” “Me too, we’ve been up since dawn and I could go for a nap.” Tyler added in. Crescent nodded, “Of course, before we head in, the dining hall is right over there,” He said, gesturing towards a large tent-like structure. He waited a few moments and then pushed the door open, holding it for the others as they filed in, “We’re building a new one into this building, but it won’t be done while you’re here I’m afraid. Dinner or breakfast is usually an hour after sunset, if you need a wakeup call feel free to ask one of the receptionists, they’ll be able to help you get everything sorted out.” Sarah smiled, “Thanks, I can’t wait to see this place but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t struggling to stay awake at this point.” Scarlet looked towards the two humans, “You guys didn’t sleep on the train?” Tyler shook his head, “Was kind of hard to, to be honest. I got like 40 minutes of shut-eye in before my neck started cramping up. It’ll be nice to sleep on an actual mattress… you do have human sized mattresses here right?” Crescent waved them through the simple atrium and towards a small hallway on the edge of the room, “We do, don’t worry. You’re lucky and have one of the closer rooms, a couple of our engineers left not too long ago. They had other opportunities open up for them back in Canterlot that they accepted. He reached a door at the end of the hallway and gently pushed it open, walking into the cozy, but spacious room. “This’ll be your home for the next month,” He gestured towards a trio of doors that were set at the side of the semicircular room, “The door on the left is the restroom, the other two are the sleeping quarters, I’ll let you three decide who gets which room, both have a set of bunks. Obviously you can see that this is the living area. There’s a closet off to the side if you need to store anything away, and if you’d prefer to dine alone in here there’s obviously the small kitchen.” The two humans set their bags down on the floor and walked towards the two rooms. Tyler looked back towards Scarlet, “You care which room you get?” Scarlet shook her head, “Nah, go ahead and take whichever one you want. I’m assuming you’ll bunk together?” Sarah opened a door and nodded, “Yeah, we room together back home, it’s not too much of an inconvenience here.” “Sounds like a plan, I’ll let you guys get settled in,” Scarlet paused for a moment, “you sure you don’t want me to just wait until you’re awake?” Sarah shook her head, “Go ahead and take a look around, we’ll meet up with you at dinner. It’s obvious you’re itching to explore so no point in sitting around waiting for us to wake up.” Scarlet nodded, “Well if you’re fine with that then I’ll see you guys later. Have a nice nap.” “See ya Scarlet, have fun.” Tyler added with a yawn. As the pair entered their room, Scarlet turned back towards Crescent, “So what’s next?” “Well, if you would like, I can show you the Observatory itself.” Scarlet’s eyes widened in glee, “I’d love to see it! Is it far?” Crescent smiled, “Hardly, It’s just a short distance away.” Scarlet began to word another question, but paused, figuring that she had pestered Crescent with more than enough questions already. With a nod she gestured towards the door with a wing, “After you.” Crescent nodded and walked towards the villa door, pausing to close it behind them. “In case you’re wondering, doors are not usually locked here. I know it’s a strange concept on earth amongst humans, but there’s nothing to worry about here.” “Good to know. I’m not sure how common it is outside of the Oasis, but we’re all pretty trusting there so it’s not as strange as you might think.” “The observatory isn’t far.” He said as he led her down the hallway, through the lobby and back outside. Crescent waved towards a large circular building that they had passed earlier.  The two began to walk towards it, Scarlet excitedly following along like an excited foal. As they approached the large building Crescent stopped and pushed a set of large wooden doors open. The two stepped into a small circular hallway, passing by a green night pony and blue unicorn, who eyed Scarlet with intrigue. Crescent stepped forward, waving Scarlet along. “Good evening you two, this is one of our exchange ponies, Scarlet Eclipse. Is she here yet?” The gray night pony shook her head, “Not yet, took off to go check on something with Starry, said she’d be back in a moment. The telescope’s all set up in there though so feel free to get started.” Crescent nodded, “Thank you Thunder. I’ll be back to talk about your work order in a few.” She smiled, “Thanks boss!.” Crescent stepped forward and opened another large set of wooden doors, leading Scarlet into a large circular room with an equally large telescope positioned at its center. “This is the grand observatory.” Scarlet looked around the room with an awestruck expression, earning a few laughs from Crescent. “This… this place is amazing! It’s so familiar yet so different— Please tell me I can use it?” she asked pleadingly.  Crescent smiled, “That’s why we’re here after all. So tell me, what is your favorite constellation?” She thought about Orion, “Well that’s easy, that’d be Orion… I named my foal after it, but given that Equestria has no known counterpart…” She thought to herself for a few moments, “Ursa Major.” Crescent nodded, “Ah, The Big Dipper as you call it on Earth, a good choice.” He calmly walked towards the large telescope, carefully making a few precise adjustments on the control computer. Pleased with his work he stepped to the side and gestured towards the telescope with a hoof. “Please, feel free to observe.” Scarlet trotted forward, carefully stepping up to the telescope and giving the constellation a hesitant glance, letting out an excited sigh. “This is all really interesting, the stars here seem so much brighter than the ones back home. I could really get used to this you know…” After a few minutes she stepped back and began to jot a few notes down into her well used notebook. Star charts and notes filled the delicate pages, a disorganized mess to any casual observer, but a carefully curated treasure trove of astronomical information to her. She began to sketch out the constellation in better detail, noting down the prominent stars that made up its form. Scarlet approached the telescope again and focused the lens to get a better view of the constellation in question. “This is just so cool, it’s the same general formation as Earth’s but the stars are obviously entirely different! I don’t suppose that there are proper names for them? And do you know if there’s any reason why they’re so similar, or is it just pure coincidence?” The clip-clop of hooves on the stone floor echoed through the observatory, interrupting Scarlet’s line of questioning. There was a brief pause followed by a warm voice speaking up from the side of the room. “Ah, Ursa Major, a good choice Crescent. A beautiful constellation is it not?” Scarlet chuckled in reply, “Oh it’s beautiful alright, but words really don’t do them justice…” a moment of curiosity hit her as she turned towards the source of the voice, suddenly realizing who the new visitor was. With an excited squeal she yelled out a greeting. “Oh— oh my gosh you’re Princess Luna!” She excitedly shouted out, much to Crescent’s amusement. The Princess let out a small laugh, “It is my pleasure to meet you, Scarlet Eclipse. Crescent says you are an astronomer from Earth, and he shared your notebook with me. An impressive collection of research for a pony who has never visited our world before and you should be very proud of what you’ve worked on. So tell me, what do you think of Equestria’s stars so far?” She looked towards Crescent with wide eyes, “Your boss is Princess Luna?! I mean I knew you were bringing my notebook to the princess but I guess I didn’t even think that I’d ever have the chance to meet her!” Scarlet let out another happy cheer, quickly catching herself. “Sorry— this is all so overwhelming. I’ve never met anypony as big and important as you before, let alone been complimented!” He laughed, “You’ll find that the leaders of Equestria are much more personable than those on Earth.” She let out an excited squeal before composing herself and turning back towards the princess. “I.. I’m sorry about that,” she gestured towards her well worn notebook with a wing, “I’ve been studying your stars for a while now, and the fact that I get to finally see them for myself might be one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. I mean I get to actually see another universe’s stars! No one before ETS could say that!” Luna smiled, “I am very flattered that you hold us in such high regard, I was not aware that there were ponies on Earth that shared an interest in Equestria’s stars. That is a part of why you were allowed to visit Equestria on such short notice.” Scarlet took a moment to compose herself, “So Crescent mentioned that you had a project that you wanted to work on, what exactly was it?” Luna gestured towards the ceiling of the observatory, which was painted with different stars and constellations. “I would like to make a more detailed star map. There are not as many astronomers here that are experienced enough to take on this task, but Crescent has spoken very highly of you and recommended you for this. As you can see, we already have a star map made up, and indeed many astronomers have worked on their own, but none are as accurate as the star maps back on Earth, and we do not know if there are any other types of objects out there, beyond our grasp, like you see in your general catalogues. We would like to make a chart like the ones you would find there.” Scarlet nodded, “Well that’s actually not too hard to do. Crescent mentioned that this was created to work kind of like the stuff we have back on Earth, right?” “That is correct, it’s Equestrian built, but should function similar to your Earth telescopes.” Scarlet smiled, “Perfect, that’s all I needed to know.” She paused for a moment, glancing back towards her notebook, “Princess Luna, I just have one question before we begin.” Luna smiled, “Yes?” “Well, it’s just, you have all of these professionals here, people and ponies that went to universities, took part in revolutionary programs, people in the industry, and then me. I’m just a hobbyist that started working on something small back home and Crescent knows this as well. Why did you choose me to help with this project?” She nodded her head, “Often times one might feel that their contributions to something greater do not matter much. But do not sell yourself short, young Scarlet, your spirit and determination to learn more about our stars showed that you were a pony who would be a valuable member of this team.” “But how does that really make me valuable? That I just want to learn about another world’s stars?” “That you would put so much time and effort into learning about a universe that is entirely different from your own for no gain but your own. It is a passion that not many express, and even fewer would work as hard as you have done to get this far without the promise of reward. Even if your background is not as prestigious as your peers, it still does not make your love of the night sky any different from their own. Not every pony here needs to be a big name in their field, sometimes the humble stargazer is just as important as the best astronomer.” Scarlet smiled, “Thank you Princess, I guess I just didn’t really think about that. It really puts a lot of things in perspective for me, though.” “I am glad to hear this, now would you like to begin?” Scarlet nodded, “I would love to.” Scarlet trotted into the simple dining hall, a sort of permanent tent in the heart of the outpost. It was probably the only place where you’d find both night and day ponies interacting together on a regular basis. Compared to the rest of the staff in the outpost, there were only a small handful of night ponies that weren’t guards, but Scarlet was happy to at least see other ponies hanging out together, it gave her the sense that this place wasn’t strictly all work and no fun. She walked over towards the counter, and glanced up at the menu. The food was the standard fare that she was expecting, but with some different dishes she was unfamiliar with thrown into the mix as well, like the baked tarantula that caused her to scowl. The earth pony manning the counter cleared his throat, “Can I help you ma’am?” Scarlet nodded, “Hi, I’ll just have the quesadilla I guess.” “Anything to drink?” She glanced over the drink list, not really seeing anything that stood out to her in particular. “Just a glass of water please.” He nodded, “Alright, you can pick up your order over there,” He gestured towards the second counter. Scarlet gave a quick nod, “Thanks.” She walked over towards the second counter and picked up her tray, glancing around the cozy room and taking in the unfamiliar faces, almost feeling as if she had returned to high school again. She had already started to grow accustomed to the fact that the outpost was designed for a mix of creatures, but seeing the size of this tent really drove the idea home, even if it was still mostly ponies here. As she continued to look around, she noticed Tyler, Sarah, and Starry sitting at one of the taller tables towards the edge of the tent. She excitedly trotted over to them and took a seat at the table, happy to see a few familiar faces again. “So did you guys have a nice nap?” Sarah nodded, “Yeah. It was nice to actually have some accommodation that was our size. Not to knock the train or anything, but well…” “It wasn’t really all that comfortable. Efficient and awesome to see, sure, but uncomfortable for us.” Tyler finished. Scarlet smiled, “Well I’m glad you guys were comfortable after that. Have you had a chance to check out the observatory yet?” Sarah shook her head, “Nope, we actually just woke up about 20 minutes ago. Seems like a lot of the ponies here are up at random hours, we still need to get a better feel for it, I’m sure it won’t be an issue for you though. So how’d the rest of the tour go?” “It went pretty well, Crescent showed me the observatory and you’ll never believe who I got to meet.” “Who?” Tyler asked. A big grin spread across Scarlet’s face, “Princess Luna herself.” Sarah’s eyes widened, “She’s here? I thought she’d be up in Canterlot all night.” “The Princess has many duties that sometimes take her out of Canterlot. It is not uncommon for her to visit other areas such as this outpost.” Starry interjected. Sarah nodded, “That must have been exciting to see at least. Did you happen to meet any other night ponies? I know you were wondering what the divide here would be.” Scarlet shook her head, “None really, just a technician. I think Starry and I might be the only regular night ponies here, aside from her, the rest all seem to be guards.” “There are a couple other astronomers and support staff here, but they are on leave right now, away visiting the Canterlot Caverns for a few days,” Starry interjected. Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “Canterlot Caverns? What’s that?” “Oh, I apologize, it is easy to forget that you are not from Equestria. There is a large cavern system situated under Canterlot, it has become a popular destination for night ponies and others that enjoy the night.” “Would there be any chance I could see it?”  Starry nodded, “I believe there is a gap in the schedule next week while they run routine maintenance on the observatory. It would likely take a few days so there would be plenty of time for a brief visit.” Scarlet smiled as she picked up her quesadilla and took a few bites, “Well count me in, that sounds amazing!”