Inside a cozy cottage, Lime Wedge was making herself some lunch on her day off. Having finished harvesting the latest ripe limes yesterday, enjoying the peace and relaxation.
*bleep bleep* .. *bleep bleep* .. *bleep bleep* .. *bleep bleep* The comm ringing
Lime strode over to the panel built into the wall at tapped the panel, Lotus Blossom's excited face appearing.
"Hi Lotus" greeted Lime.
"Have you Heard!?" the usually sedate pony practically hollered
"Hm? Heard what?" Lime responded
"The news bulletin! The extra special news bulletin!"
"Ah, no. I catch up on those while I'm making breakfast" Lime dismissed
"No. Not this one. It can't wait!"
"Surely it will still be there tomorrow morning?" Lime countered, trying to keep her sense of normalcy intact.
"You have to watch it right now. Before somepony ruins it for you! This is big. Huge!"
"but I was just in the middle of making a sandwich?" she whined
"To mulch with the sandwich Lime! Get off the comm with Me, and watch it Right Now. Please, trust me!"
"all right, all right" Lime sighed, reaching a hoof up to the panel
"Remember, Extra Special News Bul-" Lotus's words being cut off.
'I wonder whats got her tail in such an uproar?' Lime thought while she tapped a few more places to bring up the news feeds. There in the list of the seven unwatched, was one at the top labeled 'Extra Special News Bulletin: Origin Project Discoveries' Tapping that one, it began to play;
"Hello again everypony, I'm Buzz Word, and I'm incredibly excited to bring to you all, the group from the Origin Project Center. We have with us: Open Field, Meadow Blossom, Thunder Cloud, Aurora Burst, and Machination Solver. And boy howdy, have they got news! Open Field?"
"Thank you Buzz. *Ahem* Nearly Two months ago today, our primary survey ship passed through a field of strong magical energy in space that we were tracking....."
Inside the office of Steady Wing at the Interstellar Space Flight Engineering, the pegasus was transfixed by the screen he was watching.
"...Iconic mountain city which the empress herself has confirmed its likeness. As you can see, Earth ponies, Unicorns, Pegasi, going about their daily lives, as well as routine pegasi flight squads..."
'So this is why her highness sent me a summons... I'm going to have a ship to design.....
I'm going to need all their data on the magic energy field' He thought.
With a wing, he scribbled a note without looking away from the screen for more than 2 seconds.
When the feed came to its end, he pressed a button on his desk.
"Alloy, you heard? Prepare to shelve everything for right now. Yes. Ostentatious in its capabilities: sensors, shields, transporters, redundancies. And, fit for the empress in elegance, and hopefully, new friends to impress. Yes, new drydock too"
Closing the comm link, he sat there for a couple of moments, a large grin spreading across his muzzle.
He then literally flew out of his chair, out his office, and landed onto the highest cabinet in the design room.
"Has anypony yet to see the news bulletin? If you haven't, drop what you're doing, and watch it. We need everypony on the same page."
Looking around at his colleagues with the biggest smile he ever wore.
"We've been hooved the sweetest kind of project to ever drop into our laps: Prepare to design the greatest flagship we've ever imagined!"
The entire floor erupting into cheers and singing & dancing. This to engineers, was like candy to foals. Stuff of dreams, come to life.
Flittering back into his office, he sat down and tapped another button.
"Ether, Send a letter to the Terraforming group, Hydroponics and Gardening division, titled Dream Job, contents as follows" Chuckling for a few moments, he began to transcribe what he'd need from the terraformers group to the virtual assistant, his speech being converted to text for their perusal.
Once the letter was sent, he laid back in his chair.
'This is going to be a grueling number of weeks, but it's going to be worth it when everypony walks the halls of the ship.'
After a few more moments of reverie, he snapped back up in his chair;
"Ether, connect me to Aurora Burst at the Origin Project Information Center"
He commanded, all the while he continuously scribbled more notes. As much as he loved the stuff, paper was far faster when making notes than tech was.
On a world far away from earth, a comm panel was playing the bulletin. What started as a single pony clicking the latest arrival from the sub space relay, became a magnet snagging more and more ponies as they passed by, eventually forming a small throng.
"...We wish the empress our best, and thank her for this opportunity to connect families together, no matter the distance!"
Open Field concluded with pride, standing with his colleagues.
Buzz Word, concluding the broadcast, her bottom lip trembling;
"Tha *ahem* Thank you all for watching, a-and, give your mother, father, brother or sister a hug for me. *sniff*"
And with a bow from them all, the feed ended.
Now no longer transfixed by the screen, ponies began to murmur amongst themselves. One younger mare, grabbed her friend that was standing next to her, by the shoulders.
"Do you know what this means?!" she asked
"Uh, yes? I think so Posy?"
"Then why are not freaking out Lily?!"
"Umm?" Lily was lost at this point.
"It's the Empress's Mom! What if she comes here?! What if she wants to visit and see the place?!" Posy now beginning to shake her as if it would make something click
"Then, we'd be happy to have her visit?" Lily prompted as other ponies started to notice the scene Posy was making.
"V-Visit!? L-look at this place, it's nowhere NEAR ready for a visit from Royalty's Parents! The, the grass is only planted in the town center, we're still waiting for the seed harvest for more! The Orchards are only 5% complete, Crop gardens are still limited to the greenhouses, Piles of Rocks and Gravel Everywhere, and We Haven't Even Gotten That Giant Bolder Out of the West Road!" Posy was now in a full panic. Other ponies around them beginning to look uneasy, worried she may have a point.
"True, but c'mon, the colony has only been up and running for twenty-two years, this is pretty normal stuff" Lily was always the more level headed one of the pair.
"Twenty-Two Years, Twenty-Two Years and This Place Is A MESS! If my MOM came and saw my room look like this, and I had twenty-two YEARS to clean it up, My Flank would be so red you wouldn't be able to see my Cutie Mark!!" Posy now screaming in wide-eyed panic.
Lily's response was simply "*snerk*"
first one, then another, then four. And with each one Posy finding herself harder and harder to stay panicked. Until finally they both burst out in guffaws at the silliness of the meltdown Posy just had. The ponies around them joining in the laughter.
Wiping the tears from her eye's "Okay okay. Maybe I over reacted, but surely we can get this place spruced up a bit?" Posy reasoned
"Sure, how about tomorrow we start chiseling away that bolder. Since we can't speed up the seeds any more than we have, we can start there?" Lily offered
"Sounds like a plan, anypony else in?" And with a number of nods, she smiled "Great, I'll replicate the jackhammers!"