//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Touchdown // Story: Somnambulance // by Squall Windfeather //------------------------------// “What art thou doing in mine domain? Furthermore, what is thine intention here?” “Captain Azure, can I get a check on the fuel pressure, oxidizer pressure and ignition system status? Frost, please give me the readout on the reaction control thruster system, attitude control, and stabilizers?” I reached a hoof above my head to flip a few various switches as I floated in the cockpit, weightless. Astral Azure was silent for a moment as she contemplated the display in front of her before replying, “Fuel pressure is nominal. Oxidizer pressure is nominal. Ignition is…” she began to say before reaching out a hoof, flipping open the cover for the ignition primer and turning the key located inside, “…Ready to go. All main engine systems are a-go, the candle is ready to light when you are.” “All reaction control thrusters are primed. Controllers are showing no faults. Attitude is stable. Stabilizers are ready to activate if necessary.” Morning Frost pushed her reading glasses back up onto the bridge of her muzzle to keep them from floating away. Lighting up her horn, she levitated a clipboard close to her face to squint at the fine print. “Orion, can I get a check of status on the life support systems, the standby supply, backups, and—“ Morning Frost flipped the page and hoofed through it before continuing. “…If any are throwing an error code, either seven six two or four nine seven, please check the coolant loop integrity and efficiency values.” I checked the holographic display in front of me, parsing through the differing pages and windows until I was satisfied that no errors or faults presented themselves. “Oxygen supplies one, two, and three are operating at an average of 99.5% efficiency. Standby is, well, standing by. Backups are ready to come online if and when necessary. No error codes are being thrown and the cooling system is nominal.” Floating over to my command chair I seated myself in it before starting to tighten the harness. With a smile, I looked to my left at chief scientist Morning Frost, and to my right at Captain Astral Azure. “Well, I’m satisfied that everything is in order for descent. You make the call, Captain.” Frost strapped into her command chair. “I’m satisfied, it all checks out to my eyes. What's the ETA on our next opportunity for a retrograde burn to the landing site, Orion?” Tapping the side of her helmet the glass visor appeared in a flash. Frost tapped the side of her helmet, bringing up the instrumentation and holographic display. “Ten minutes.” I tapped the side of my helmet to bring up my own visor, feeling the cool flow of filtered oxygen against the beaded sweat on my temple. “Are you going to make the call to Cap-Com that we are a-go for descent or are we going to have to go through this shit all for the fourth time?” Turning to not so subtly glare at the unicorn to my left. Frost turned to glare back at me. “I just want to make sure that we aren’t going to plow right into the moon because of your silly hotshot attitude! And, for the record, I am satisfied with this attempt to run the pre-burn checks. Third time’s the charm after all!” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Unicorns and their preposterous superstitions. “Quiet, both of you. I’m about to make the call.” Pressing a button on the console in front of her, Azure glared at both of us for a moment before looking out the cockpit window. There were a few moments of silence before a static laden voice came over our helmet’s speakers. “…This is Cloudsdale mission control. What can we do for you today, Captain Azure?” Azure took a deep breath “All systems are a-go. Trajectory seems nominal. Luna Four is ready for our retrograde burn to the lunar surface in roughly T minus eight minutes. Over.” “We read you loud and clear,” the mission controller replied, "Retrograde burn for the lunar surface in T minus eight minutes. Please make individual audible confirmation that you are ready to begin the countdown.” Astral looked to her left at Frost and to her right at me before nodding. “This is Captain Astral Azure, I am ready to proceed.” I smirked as I turned to look at Morning Frost who was frantically hoofing through her checklists. “This is Flight Commander Orion Zephyr, ready to rock and roll.” After a few moments of painful silence she finally looked up at the two ponies staring directly at her, groaning with unmasked annoyance. “This is Chief Scientist Morning Frost, ready to proceed as needed.” Both Azure and I breathed an audible sigh of relief. We had been trying to get through the pre-landing checklists for the last two orbits with pushback from Frost at every turn. But, finally, we had a successful check of the systems and could move on to landing. “Mission control acknowledges and is forwarding the countdown and telemetry for the burn to Luna Four. Faustspeed. We’ll be in touch after your landing. Over and out.” Keep it cool. Keep it calm. This was going to be a cakewalk, I'd practiced this hundreds of times in the simulator back on Equis. Everything was going to be fine. You got this Orion, it’s just the most important and pivotal moment of your career. No pressure, right? …Right? “Orion, are you alright? You look a little lost in thought there, bud. Got stage fright?” Reaching out a hoof and tapping me on the shoulder, Azure gave a sympathetic smile. I flinched back in surprise before catching my breath. “No no, none of that fright stuff, Captain. Just a little, er… Not overwhelmed? But I certainly have a lot on my mind right now,” I fidgeted in my chair and grabbed the control column as a bead of sweat rolled down my neck. Damn, I really wish I could itch that. With a small sigh I started taking stock of all the switches and buttons I would have to press, reciting their order over and over in my head. “If the greenhorn gets us both killed then I’m going to haunt him. Even if he doesn’t and breaks a landing leg or anything else, the bean counters back home are going to be docking his pay until the end of time,” Frost noted, breaking me out of my trance. “Frost…” Azure began to say before the Frost cut her off. “I mean, I’d really prefer if you didn’t get us all killed, Orion. This mission would have had a much smaller chance of failure if Circuit Solder hadn’t broken his leg at the last minute and was with us. In hindsight, we really should have just delayed the mission and waited for him to recover!” she bemoaned, throwing her hooves above her head in frustration. I glanced over my shoulder at the empty fourth command chair, where our master mechanic was supposed to be. He had tripped on a rock and shattered his leg a week out from launch and there was no replacement for him ready. Yet another set of responsibilities I needed to cover for. Joy. “Morning. Frost. I’m going to have to ask you to calm down and, for the love of all that is good in this world, shut the fuck up. Your comments are distracting him and not helping. Let him focus for Celestia’s sake! That’s an order,” Captain Azure shouted, taking the both of us by surprise. “I understand that you are nervous because your little crush is not here. But for the love of Faust, don’t make it our problem. This mission is not going to fail. We are not going to die. We are going to land, spend our thirty days doing science, then go home and get paid.” Frost gasped, glaring at the captain with seething hatred. “How dare you bring my love life into this, Azzy. That’s uncalled for and incredibly unprofessional for someone in your position!” T minus three minutes. Maker, help me. I wanted out of this flying shitshow. Three more minutes. I could survive three more minutes. Gripping the control column with both my hooves I shifted my wings inside their covers. Just ignore them. Just ignore them and get the shuttle down safely. “If you don’t want us commenting on it then maybe you shouldn’t make such a show of it. It’s incredibly unprofessional on your part and, frankly, I’m beyond tired of it. What do you say, Orion?” Azure looked over and gave a sly wink, throwing her head back slightly for good measure. She wanted to make a game of tormenting Frost? At any other time I’d jump at the opportunity but now, right now? I grit my teeth together even harder. At this rate my dentist was going to have a conniption when I got back to Equis. “No. Comment.” T minus two minutes. Reaching across the column I flicked off the autopilot switch and, with a shudder, took the ship under manual control. With a quick tug on the controls I spun the shuttle around to face away from our direction of travel and through the huge front window I could see, to my right, the surface of the moon streaking along below us. Far, far in the distance to my left was Equis. Home. It was all I had ever known my whole life. I was on the cusp of a new chapter in that life and I was determined to make the most of it. Frost squeezed the arms of her chair in a white-knuckle grip as her hurried breathing fogged her helmet. “Fuck, I sure hope your hotshot pilot knows what he’s doing…” Azure turned her head slowly to glare at Frost. “I told you to shut the fuck up so he can focus, why are you still talking?” T minus sixty seconds. I silently began to pray to whatever higher power might be out there, my hearing going out of focus as I directed every ounce of attention I had at the countdown clock. It ticked down faster and faster, ever accelerating towards zero. I yanked back the control column with all my might, the main engines firing sequentially in response. I could feel myself being pinned to the seat, and the bickering of the two mares ceased as the G-forces stole the air from their lungs. The low rumble and shudder from the engines reverberating throughout the ship was a symphony to my ears. The sound was deafening and, before my body even had time to adjust, I pushed the stick back forward and the engines cut off. Checking the display in my helmet I started comparing the projected and actual telemetry values. It was damn near perfect. We would only be coming in a few kilometers off target, and that was close enough to correct for in the final landing burn. My hearing slowly started to return as I could hear both Azure and Frost gasping and wheezing for air. Served them right for making nuisances of themselves. “O… O-Orion…” Azure croaked, swiping the holographic display in front of her feebly with a hoof, “A-are we on course, or do we need a c-correction burn?” I glanced over at the altimeter, which was ticking down from two hundred and fifty to two hundred kilometers, then to the artificial horizon to check our attitude and speed. “No correction necessary, Captain. I’ll be starting the landing burn at fifty kilometers. Give or take a couple minutes till we reach that point. Is Frost okay?” Frost turned to face me, her glasses having slipped down her muzzle. Lighting her horn, she picked them up before setting them back on the bridge of her muzzle. “Fuck. You. Y-you stupid fucking oaf. Of course I’m fine, just a little shaken is all” I couldn’t help but smile as I reached up to the overhead controls to adjust the engine’s gimbal trim for our next burn. “Well I’m glad you’re okay too. Are we done with the fighting now or are we going back to discussing our love lives?” Frost remained silent, staring directly forward in non-acknowledgement. Well, I tried to be nice. If she wanted to be an asshole about it then we could certainly play that game. There was a soft clicking as the altimeter continued to count down towards zero. One hundred and forty kilometers. One hundred and thirty kilometers. One hundred and twenty kilometers. With a sigh I reached forward and flipped on the stabilizers then punched in the coordinates and estimated altitude of our intended landing site into the flight computer. A warning popped up on my hud that we were one hundred kilometers and rapidly closing. Morning Frost then spoke up, looking out the window at the surface rapidly coming up to meet us. “Orion, it’s time to consider firing the thrusters. You don’t have much time left to decelerate.” Azure glanced over at the airspeed indicator and altimeter before eyeing up the secondary control yoke in front of her. “Frost, he knows what he’s doing. Let him fly the ship how he feels comfortable, please. Orion, is the emergency auxiliary control on? I need to be able to take control if you pass out.” I rolled my eyes before flipping the copilot switch on my own control yoke, unlocking Azure’s and allowing her to pull it back into position. “I’m glad you’re so confident in my abilities as a pilot. But, as you wish, Captain,” I snarked, mentally noting that the altimeter was now at sixty-five kilometers and rapidly closing as the moon’s gravity took hold on our craft. Azure glanced over at me with a wink before pushing the yoke away from her. “Steady as she goes, Orion. But, if you’re confident you can handle it by yourself then I’ll leave her to you and you alone. Take us down gently, kiddo.” I winked at her in return. I had this in the bag now, I suppose that I could afford to have a little fun with it. Morning Frost’s eyes went wide as the altimeter dropped below fifty-five kilometers. “Orion. Give me control of my yoke. Now,” she commanded, trying to pull the control column to her but finding it locked in place. Azure leaned back in her command chair and looked over at me as she stuck her tongue out. “Orion, ignore the request from the Chief Scientist. That’s an order.” Mimicking her ease I gently rested my hooves on the controls as the altimeter counted down to fifty kilometers. “Ma’am yes Ma’am. Anything you say!” Frost licked her lips, staring at the altimeter. “Orion, this joke is not funny. If you aren’t going to initiate the burn then I will.” Captain Azure whistled to herself as she looked out the cockpit windows at the ground as it gradually came up to meet us. “What do you think the weather’s like back in Cloudsdale? Do you think I’ll be able to start planting my annuals when we get back? Just pansies and carnations, none of those tulips or petunias or anything of that sort mind you.” I smiled smugly, taking one of my hooves off the yoke and resting it under my chin in a thinking pose. “Annuals? Oh, we’ll be back on what, March 18th? You should be fine to start planting them if you’re sure to bring them inside whenever there is a cold snap. The days are only getting warmer from here on out after all.” The altimeter dropped to forty-five kilometers. “Orion this isn’t funny, fire the engines for the love of Faust!” Frost screamed, fruitlessly yanking on her control yoke as the panic set in. I kicked my rear hooves up onto the console and crossed both of my forehooves behind my head. “Hey Captain, do you think comms will be set up in time for the Buckball game tomorrow tonight? I really want to see Clousdale beat the absolute stuffing out of Salt Lick City. Oh! And I’m pretty sure Trotpeaka and Fillydelphia are playing too! I know how much you’ve always loved Trotpeka,” The altimeter hit forty kilometers. Various angry beeps and sirens started blaring in the cockpit as red warnings flashed up onto our helmet displays. The autopilot spoke into my helmet, “Low altitude warning, pilot intervention required.” Astral Azure smiled genuinely. “Oh, Trotpeaka is playing? Now, that’s news to my ears. We’ll have to get the communication array set up first thing when we land so we can have a beer and enjoy the game once we get the rover unloaded. Thank you for telling me that, I think it will be an absolutely wonderful opportunity for a little camaraderie with my friends.” “Impact imminent. Impact imminent. Engage thrusters.” “We’re going to fucking die!” Frost screamed, bracing herself for impact. The altimeter hit thirty-five kilometers and immediately my hooves shot out and grabbed the yoke, slamming it back as I firewalled the main engines as far as they would go. The G’s were unbearable. I felt as if, in that moment, I had aged forty years; all my limbs grew heavy and feeble as I reached out and punched the throttles for the landing rockets, RCS thrusters, and every other form of propulsion at my disposal. I smashed my hoof against the landing gear button and was relieved when I could hear the soft whir of them extending over the thundering exhaust of the rockets. The ship slowed and went gradually from upright to horizontal as the ground closed in. Thirty kilometers became twenty, then ten, then five, then one. Airspeed was twenty-five meters per second and dropping. The landing leg extension light came on as they fully extended, followed by a soft thump as they absorbed the impact of the landing. Pushing the yoke forward I shut off the main engines, then the retro rockets and reaction control thrusters before letting out a long, shaky sigh of relief. “W-we have touchdown on the lunar surface.” I groaned, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. My head was pounding in angst from being tossed around so violently. Azure coughed and sputtered, breaking out into a pained but hearty laugh as she brought her forehoves above her head in foalish glee. “H-holy fucking shit Orion. Th… That was awesome! Never, ever do that again!” I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. “Duly noted and ignored, Captain!” Grinning ear to ear I looked over at Frost who, much to my own amusement, was passed out in her seat. “Looks like Frost couldn’t handle the G’s, Captain. What a shame.” “I see, I better call in the successful touchdown and report that she is conked out for the time being,” she snickered before pressing the comms button on the control panel in front of her, “Mission control, this is Luna Four. We are happy to report a soft and successful landing on the lunar surface. We have landed on target plus or minus a few hundred meters, and the only exciting thing to note is that Morning Frost passed out due to the G-load. Over.” There was a moment of static before the voice at mission control came through the speaker of my helmet, “We read you. Welcome to the Moon, Luna Four.” Azure unbuckled her harness before staring back over at me. “I’m sure we are both in mutual agreement to keep this stunt out of the mission report and any books we may write in the future, right?” I found myself unable to wipe the shit eating grin off my face. “Positively nothing, Captain.” * * * I slowly shimmied underneath an electrical panel, holding a flashlight between my teeth. The smell of singed electrical… something was filling my nostrils. Damnable electronics, all the Earth Pony engineers back home had insisted on having electronics over spell matrixes for ‘safety’ wherever possible, which meant that now I had to put myself in an unsafe situation by sliding on my back underneath an array of high-voltage lines. Safety my ass. I’d prefer having a spell explode than have 280 volts passed through my body, frying it to a crisp. “Orion, I don’t mean to interrupt your duties, but do you mind grabbing a box of cabin filters for me? It seems those stupid ship designers intended for them to be just out of reach for me.” Azure’s voice came from somewhere out in the room. Finally, somepony that echoed my sentiment about this new ship design! I pulled the flashlight from my maw with a free hoof. “Yeah Captain, I'm just going to need a minute, chasing a fuse that's not playing nice. I've checked half the panels in this room and have come up with nothing to show for it.” “That’s fine. I’m taking some inventory down in the medbay, just come find me when you’re done.” “Before you go, when are we doing our ceremonial ‘first steps’ on the surface?” Shining the flashlight out of the cabinet at her face I continued, "You know I’m absolutely itching to leave some hoof-prints behind, It being my first time on the moon and what not.” Astral Azure laughed and held a hoof up to shield her eyes. “Don't worry, Orion. You’ll have left more prints than you can count before the end of the day, I promise you that. We just need to finish checking over the mechanical status of the ship before we can unpack and stretch our legs.” A moment passed with nothing but the quiet ambience of the machinery below our hooves before she continued. “You know, it was a much, much bigger deal on Luna two. TV cameras and all, they didn’t even want to do a live broadcast this time since the public has already seen it thrice!” I rolled my eyes before readjusting the flashlight a little lower, shining the light in her eyes again. “Bah. Luna two this, Luna two that. You and Frost always love to rub it in that you’ve been here before,” I grumbled. Yet another reminder of my greenhorn status. Azure stepped to the left and out of range of my flashlight. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. “I… Wasn’t trying to imply that, Orion,” Azure said, tapping a hoof against the floor, “If anything I’m jealous of this being your first Lunar mission. You have two seasoned veterans to fall back on, and you don’t have to uh… Perform for the cameras and folks back home. If anything this mission is even more special that way, no one is experiencing this but us.” I ground my teeth as my focus returned back to the fuse box. “I suppose you're right. Even though Frost is quite the thorn in my side.” “Just try to get along, I’m sure you’ll find that she’s a valuable friend. I felt the same way about you when we first met, but look at us now! I’d trust you with my life in a heartbeat.” Even though she wasn't visible I could picture the soft smile on her face. “I’ll try, no promises.” “Thank you, Orion. I’ll be in the medbay if you need me, swing by after you’re done and I’ll give you another assignment.” Azure said, the sound of her hooves on the metal floors gradually trailing off to nothing. I deeply sighed. This was a job for Circuit Solder, that buck would have known exactly what to do in this situation. He, a master electrician and engineer with years of experience and missions under his belt. I? A stallion far too large for this cabinet who could barely find a fuse by himself, even with the help of a wiring diagram. It was a true shame that he went and broke a leg during the week before launch. He was so excited to finally be assigned on a mission with Morning Frost, they were just lovebirds like that. Hopefully he was holding up okay back on Equis. Taking the torch back up in my mouth I slid further and further into the belly of the beast, shining the light over my head, pleased to find that I was staring directly at a blackened and misshapen fuse. “Finally. I’ve been looking for you for ages,” I muttered to myself, gently bringing my hoof up to the panel and pulled the fuse free. I quickly tossed it out the door to the electrical cabinet before pulling the replacement out from under my wing. Reversing the process, I clicked the new fuse into its proper place in triumph. Maybe this electrical stuff wasn’t too hard after all! Sliding out from under the electronics I made to get up and make for the exit before something else could fail and need fixing, but slammed my forehead into the upper edge of the open cabinet for my troubles. I sharply inhaled. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Clutching my throbbing temple with my forehoof I managed to finally extricate myself from the cabinet of doom. I changed my mind, I hated electronics once again. Swearing under my breath I kicked the cabinet cover closed. That’s when I noticed the drops of blood on the pristine floor. Touching my hoof to my forehead and bringing it back down to eye level I found it gently spattered with red ichor. Stay calm. Stay calm. It was just a little gash, I had to go down to the medbay anyways, everything was going to be fine. I picked up a towel from my toolbox and wrapped it around my forehead to prevent it from dripping blood everywhere before heading for the door. With a small tap on the keypad, the door silently slid open and I exited into the hallway. Azure was going to reprimand me for being so careless. Trotting leisurely down the hallway I took a moment to admire its blandness. Crisp whites and grays molded together and drifted apart at the odd doorway or storage space, then fused back together on the other side of the offending convenience. It reminded me a lot of a hospital, except straight out of a sci-fi film. Still, it somehow retained a level of comfort and coziness that could not be explained. Likely due to seeing those same walls and uninspired features a thousand times during the training for this mission. My hoof beats reverberated as I went, but slowly became muddied as I drew closer to the medbay. It was just the sound of Morning Frost and Astral Azure talking, or, wait… All the rooms were supposed to be soundproofed. I shouldn’t have been able to hear them at all. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Engineers at their finest. “I don’t care. I’m telling you that it’s unsafe and an undue risk to the both of us, Azure. He’s a loose cannon and going to get us both killed!” came Frost’s voice, quiet and muffled. Stopping in front of the door I looked down the hall to my right and then my left before being left fixated on the doorway before me. My heart lifted, spurred on by the apprehension of what might be happening inside. Who were they talking about? This was their business but I… Well, it couldn’t hurt to just listen for a minute—I’d just listen for a few seconds until I could find a time to head on in. Stepping closer, I quietly placed my right ear up against the door for some good old fashioned eavesdropping. “…Frost, I understand that you are unamused by his antics but please, calm down so we can discuss this calmly and rationally. I don’t care who on this crew is lodging a complaint, they need to do it respectfully to all parties involved, including myself. I can assure you that I share half the blame as I played into the joke as well. Only because I am confident in his abilities and was aware that we were never in any real danger.” After a short pause Morning Frost stamped her hoof. “Azzy, I am frankly appalled that you're taking his side on this. He could have gotten us all killed, he caused me to lose consciousness, and Luna knows, there could be damage to the ship from the hard landing!” “Frost, need I remind you that you’ve always had a low G-tolerance? You passed out on the launch of Luna two. Regardless, I’m not going to comply with your request to have him reprimanded and court martialed. He’s a valuable member of this team, and this organization as a whole. I—“ “If you aren’t going to do anything about him, then I will. It does not take much to write a scathing report.” “Is that a threat of subverting my authority on the matter, Morning Frost?” There was another long pause, broken by Frost chuckling. “No, no. I can assure you that it’s not a threat at all, it’s a promise.” “Now Frost, two wrongs don’t make—“ But this time, I was the one to cut her off. With the smack of my hoof, the door to the medbay slid open and I cleared my throat, Azure turning and looking at me with a pleading stare, while Frost had seething fire in her eyes. “Now, Ms. Morning Frost, need I remind you that the process for reporting involves taking your issue to the one you have gripes with first before you take it to a higher authority? Or has it been so long since you’ve read the rule book that you think it no longer applies equally to you?” I clenched my jaw, trying to keep myself from devolving into petty insults. I was going to be the bigger stallion here. Morning Frost scoffed, high-stepping up to me before jabbing my chest with her hoof, “I don’t want to hear it from you, rookie. You’re young, dumb, and frankly insufferable. I don’t know why the agency thought that you would be a good fit for this mission but, spoiler alert, you’re not.” Jabbing me again at the outset, I took one step back towards the door, to when she advanced equally as she continued to rattle off, “You never graduated from a technical school. You have no military background. You have never contributed anything to science or the good of all pony-kind. You never proved yourself to be a capable leader, specialist in your field, or of any worth or merit whatsoever to this mission, or better yet, the agency as a whole.” “N-now Frost, that’s uncalled for! I simply wanted to point out that—“ I took a wary step back. Frost continued her advance and I continued to match her in retreat as we entered the hallway. I hesitantly flared my wings ready for a fight and Frost did nothing but snort in my face in response. Never being given an opportunity to defend myself with words I resigned myself to the fact that I might have to defend myself with my hooves instead. “…That you’re not following the rule book on this. Now, take a few breaths and calm yourself and we’ll find a way to settle this injunction between us like professionals.” “Frost—“ Azure began to plead, standing up from her chair. “I’m not done yet, Azzy,” Frost spat, never taking her eyes off me. “Orion, you’re nothing but an overgrown high-school jock. You’re dangerous because you don’t think ahead and consider your actions and how they might affect others. You’re worthless to this mission, the autopilot could have done your job, but you’re only here because of the technicality of needing to fly the ship manually in an emergency situation. You have no purpose here, you have no merit and frankly you have no redeeming qualities that could make up for your overarching uselessn—“ Azure shot forward and slammed into the pink unicorn’s side, causing her to stumble a few steps down the hall before she was able to regain her footing. “Frost, that’s enough!” Azure bellowed, pushing me aside and situating herself squarely between us. Her pale blue eyes were lit with hot fire as she spoke, “I will not tolerate you verbally abusing other members of the crew, Morning Frost. Consider this your one and final warning; continue this foolishness and you’re the only one who I will be writing up.” Frost scoffed. “As you wish, Captain. But, I’m not going to work with him if I can help it. Expect it to be a two pony mission from here on, as it really should have been.” With a harrumph, Morning Frost turned and trotted away down the hall before Azure could reply. What a fucking bitch, and here I thought that sometimes I could have an attitude problem. Astral Azure shook her head back and forth slowly as she muttered under her breath. “Frost, Frost, Frost, what am I going to do with you?” I sheepishly took a step back, the single clop of my hooves causing the captain to turn her head and stare directly at me. This was it, the end for me. Life was nice while it lasted! “Orion,” Azure remarked, her smaller form stretching up to her full height. “Captain,” I replied, standing at attention, ready for whatever horrors awaited me. She began to bring up a hoof to smack me but it froze and hung there gently swaying in the air. There was a moment of terrifying silence as she regarded me, as if she hadn’t truly decided what she was going to do yet. Her muzzle scrunched and her head tilted to one side slightly as she spoke, “Orion, are you… Bleeding? What happened?” I stood in place, not knowing what to do except reply, “I got up too fast and cut my forehead on a sharp edge. Please don’t worry, I’ll be—“ Astral Azure’s hoof fell before pointing at the doors to the medbay. “In there. Now.” “But Captain, I can tend to my own wounds. I received the same training as you and feel as if I’m perfectly capab—” “Medbay. Now. That’s an order, Orion,” Azure commanded, giving me a stare that said she would tolerate no argument. I nodded slowly and made my way inside, climbing gingerly onto the examination table before lying down on my back. This was probably going to hurt. * * * Azure poured a small amount of a pink potion from a bottle onto a clean gauze before pressing it to my temple. My cut burned as it came into contact with my skin, but the pain quickly subsided.“Orion, I appreciate your honesty and drive to defend yourself, but I had the situation handled. Metaphorically ‘in the bag’. Then you came waltzing in and set her off with your presence. She was already annoyed at you before and now she is downright pissed.” “I know, Captain. But I’m begging you to imagine that you’re walking down the hall minding your own business, then you hear, well, that. What else was I to do in that situation? Walk away?” I winced at the sudden shot of pain, pulling away from her just a little. “Yes. You should have just walked away and brought it up to me later and I could have explained the situation to you.” She taped the gauze down before packing up all the loose items on the table into a medical kit. “Let this sit until tomorrow morning and then you should be able to take it off. If it still hasn’t fully healed by that time then please, let me know about it immediately so I can redress it.” I furrowed my brow as I contemplated her thoughts. “You don’t actually mean that, do you? You would never have stood for that treatment, not in a million years.” “No, I’m just required to say that for legal reasons. Leadership training and all. But, in all honesty, I suppose that I might have done something similar. Our brains are hardwired to fight back in the face of adversity, or at least, that’s what the eggheads in leadership training said.” I couldn’t help but chuckle as I sat up. Azure and I always had a compatible sense of humor, even in tense situations. “All jokes aside Orion, you must understand that Morning Frost, she…” Azure started as she typed down a medical report on her laptop. She paused and sighed, rubbing her forehead with a hoof. “Bud, you’re my best friend in the whole world but there’s only so much I can do to help. She has hated you from the very first day you met, and even though she regards me as one of her best friends, I can only lead a pony to water.” I nodded solemnly in agreement. Frost was always a stubborn one who wanted her way or the highway and, if you couldn’t get with the program, she just wouldn’t include you in it. She’d been like that ever since I’d met her during my first week with the ESA; always trying to trip me up in front of my peers and make me look bad. I never knew quite for sure why I was her favorite target, but one day I’d either find out, set her straight, or both. “…You know she’s under a lot of stress right now, what with Circuit Solder breaking his leg and having to sit the mission out. Then his duties being half-shouldered onto her. I’m not trying to justify her actions, you’re also taking up the other half of his responsibilities which are way out of your area of expertise and you’re taking it in stride. I just think it’s important that you try to understand where she’s coming from, have a little bit of sympathy, and maybe you’ll get a little back. I will agree, the way she spoke to you was not fair at all, actually some of the most brutal speech I’ve seen from her in a long, long time.” I waved her off with a wing and a smirk. “Oh, it’s fine Azure. I’m not hurt, I’ve had worse verbal beat-downs in my life. My parents actually had quite the knack for it!” Azure giggled and set her laptop aside on an adjoining countertop when she was finished typing. “Now, there’s the good ‘ol Orion I’ve been missing. Comedic and charming as ever. It’s nice to see you acting like yourself. Nevermind Frost, she can go stick it.” I blinked once, then twice, awkwardly rubbing the back of my head. Charming? She just called me charming? There was no way she actually just said that, this must’ve been another one of her jokes. “I— Uh… Don’t think I would use that word in any vocabulary to describe myself, but thank you..?” Azure snickered, quickly stifling it with a hoof. “Oh, Orion. You don’t need to be so humble about it. C’mon, accepting a compliment won’t kill you, it’s completely normal.” No, this was a joke, surely. I refused to believe otherwise. I rustled my wings and looked off to the side as the awkward silence persisted. After what seemed like an eternity I plucked up the courage to speak. “Azure, is this a joke at my own expense? I don’t quite think I get it…” Azure stared at me, eyes wide as she blinked. Then, she looked down at the floor and rubbed her neck with a hoof. “Uh… Yeah, sure. If it sounds like a joke then it was probably intended to be one. Sorry that it didn’t land, I’ll try harder next time to make it funny for both of us.” The feeling in the air was strange. I felt as if I had done something wrong, maybe even made a huge mistake. Thoughts were gnawing away at my mind left and right, I just couldn’t see where I fumbled the conversation. It was going so well! “O…Kay? If I said something wrong then just tell me, I’m just at a loss for where I—“ Azure quickly cut me off, her officer tone bleeding through. “Private Orion Zephyr. It’s. Fine. Nothing’s wrong, all is well. How about we just move on? There is still a matter of great importance that we need to discuss in relation to… To… Well, you in particular .” Celestia help me. I could feel a sense of overwhelming dread surging inside my core. I was in trouble, big trouble. In for one of those iconic Astral Azure chew-out sessions. I braced myself for what was to come, whatever it was. “Orion. I think that, while not optimal, it is pertinent that you stay here at the ship, at least until the day after next. We need to unload the rover and start moving stuff out of the cargo bay and I think that it’s unwise to let you and Ms. Frost get too close to one another, just for the sake of avoiding further conflict. I’m not mad at you, quite the opposite actually. I’m glad you stood your ground in the face of her bad mouthing you. But, I’m going to need to go calm her down as well and try to find the root cause of this impasse between you so it can be smoothed over.” Azure looked away, avoiding my gaze with a pained expression. She’d always told me how she hated having to be a leader when push came to shove. “I… I-I…” As I tried to speak I felt a choking knot rise in my throat. She knew how much this mission meant to me and that’s why she couldn’t look me in the eyes. Over a year of training culminating in this mission and she was going to deny me my ceremonial first steps. I slowly slumped my back as I sat on the examination table, trying to collect my thoughts. “N-Now Orion, you know this is nothing against you personally, if I could have it any other way you know I’d choose that in a heartbeat. I just don’t see a way to—“ I slid off the table, landing on my hooves with a reverberating thump which caused her to fall silent. Stretching to my full height I looked down at her as our eyes locked. I tried to force a smile, but felt as if what came out might have just been a grimace. “Azure, I… I understand. You don’t need to apologize. The mission should always come first.” Azure looked up at me, her eyes glistening under the artificial light, any remnant of her commanding tone fading away. “Orion. I’ve watched you grow up from a starry-eyed greenhorn on his first day to a competent and proficient stallion in your field. I don’t care what Frost says, you’re the best pilot I’ve ever seen, and you’ve retained your spirit, resolve, and personality while climbing to the top of the ranks. I admire that. You never let anyone beat you down or take your personality away from you.” With a soft smile she brought up a hoof and patted my shoulder reassuringly. It brought little comfort, but I could feel the caring intent behind the gesture. “I’m sorry it has to be like this, I—“ I leaned down and pulled her into a hug, the rest of her apology being muffled beyond comprehension by the dense fur on my chest. “W-woah, hey! We have a hugger on aisle six!” Azure wrapped her hooves around my neck as she returned the sudden embrace. I could hear her heartbeat, firm and unwavering as she pressed against me. I gently patted the top of her head with my hoof, then released her from the hug. “I already said to not apologize for it, Azure. We’re good, nothing’s wrong between us, friend.” Azure sniffed, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye. “Thank you, Orion. Sorry, the stress is seemingly getting to everyone today! I’ll try my best to smooth all this over by tomorrow, in the interim, I’m dismissing you from active duty until 0630 tomorrow. Go, get a shower and some rest. I’m confident that we can handle the rest of the unloading by ourselves.” I nodded and stood at attention, giving her a brief salute before spinning on my hooves and heading for the door. “Ma’am yes ma’am.”