Twilight made her way out of the family archive with her book-laden saddlebags. Spike dutifully hovered alongside her, carrying all the actual necessities.
They made their way through the busy streets as the artificial sun reached its peak. The gigantic structure had been created many millennia ago, back when the station was still a military vessel as a display of the Empress’s power. The technology used to create it had long since been forgotten. Now, the mechanisms were lovingly maintained by a group of tech-priests under patronage of the Empress herself.
The family archive was part of a complex of buildings that made up the house of Stars estate. Her own ancestors had been tithe collectors, given a contract many centuries ago, and passed down through the generations. As long as they continued their work, the Administratum saw no reason to interfere. The Stars were not one of the mighty old Terran houses, they barely counted as nobility by the standards of The Capitol, though their position still gave them a few… unique privileges.
If Twilight wanted to be pedantic, which she often did, none of the Terran houses could reliably trace their ancestry back to Terra anyway. Though given the extreme circumstances of their exile from the Old Galaxy, it wasn’t exactly a surprise.
The streets were packed with ponies of all types, pilgrims, adepts and servitors, though most gave Twilight a wide berth.
She reached the station and was directed to a train waiting on the platform. The train was over twenty meters tall, towering over much of the surroundings. It was mostly filled with cargo, but some sections had space for passengers.
Giving her home one last look she boarded the train bound for the western spaceport.
Twilight found a quiet cabin and sat by the window. The station was as busy as ever, with paper, ponies and priests travelling in all directions. She watched as a crate with her family’s seal was unloaded and sent back to the estate, no doubt full of tythe reports to be reviewed, filed, and in the case of non-compliance, enforced.
“Do you think we’ll really find Nightmare Moon?” Spike blurted out after dumping his luggage in the corner of the cabin.
“Shh! Spike, if somepony hears us we could have the entire sector following us.” Twilight quickly cast a low-grade sound dampening ward. “That should keep most things out, but we should still be careful.”
“How long are we going to be there? I don’t want to be stuck on some planet for ages.”
“Sorry, this is going to be a big project. We need to get there, survey the area for places of interest, plan the expeditions, then investigate anything they bring back. It’s going to take at least a few months.” Twilight smiled reassuringly.
“Do we at least get to do some exploring ourselves?”
“That’s far too dangerous, and I’m not certified.”
Spike looked glumly at the floor.
“I’ll see if I can find a day we can do something, but we should probably keep to ourselves. We’re not archaeologists.”
Spike poked the edge of the ward to test it, creating a ripple across its surface. “Do you really think she’s there, though?”
“Honestly, I don’t think it would be statistically likely. Although, even if we just find some old relics, it is still one step closer to finding her.”
“Wasn’t there that thing a few thousand years ago? You know, everypony thought she would return on the thousand year anniversary of her disappearance. It’s nearly the five thousand year anniversary. Do you think they just mixed up the numbers?”
“She should have! An entire sector was cut off because of the warp storms back then, there must have been a reason. Something was wrong.”
“Isn’t that normal for Nightmare’s realm? They have those ‘lightless’ stars and ponies who look like they’re made of crystal. I mean the Imperial governor for the subsector even calls himself ‘The King of Shadows’, and has apparently been ruling it since Nightmare first disappeared. I don’t think that counts as normal.”
“Something beyond that. What if I miss some crucial piece of evidence?”
“Hey, all I’m saying is if you have to investigate every odd thing you read in a book once, we’re going to be here forever.”
“Spike, we still need to be diligent.”
The train rumbled as it began to pull away. It weaved its way through tight passageways of worn hab-crete and plasteel. Open space was a luxury on the station after all. Soon the uniform towers of the Administratum gave way to vast artificial maintenance caves. For a time the train ran inside a cavernous water pipe, one of thousands that provide water to the station. Even here, small communities flourished, nestled against the metal banks, trading with the passing ships for goods.
Sometimes the pipe would turn into an aqueduct, overlooking scattered forges on the ground below, all dedicated to producing maintenance parts for the station. Other times the tunnel would pass the base of looming habitation buildings. There was no 'ground level' in the depths of the station. The only constant was that the gravity generators were mostly configured in the same direction.
Twilight saw none of this, however, as she had fallen asleep in the large collection of books she had brought with her. Spike chuckled to himself and went back to watching the world go by.
Eventually the artificial cavern gave way to the almost surreal landscape of open plains and dense forests. The bio-reserve was one of the strangest districts in The Capitol, a piece of Old Equestria itself, painstakingly preserved, and decorated with countless statues and shrines of Primarchs, saints and other important figures.
A light drizzle came down from a thin layer of cloud that sat at the top of the cavern, covering the district in a fine mist, obscuring its full extent. A small stream of ponies still braved the weather, wrapping themselves in long cloaks.
Spike nudged Twilight. “Hey, sleepy head, we’re nearly there.”
“I was just resting my eyes,” Twilight drowsily replied.
Spike laughed “You need to think of a better excuse than that!”
“I guess some sleep was for the best.” Twilight tided the books on the table and joined Spike by the window, “I wonder what the ancient ponies would think of us now?”
“They’d probably just be confused with all the technology. I mean they definitely wouldn’t like me. Remember that research project you did last year? You said they thought skulls and stuff were for evil bad guy stuff!” Spike huffed.
“It’s a good thing we know better now, don’t we?” Twilight smiled and nuzzled Spike.