//------------------------------// // Ever Free // Story: The Book of Lies // by Standard Namespace //------------------------------// It had seemed like a good idea at the time. The training course lasted three years, and was three years she'd be exempt from conscription. It was bad enough that everything had gone to Hell, but getting roped into the "police action" in Zebrasia would have been too much for a middle-aged pegasus who only wanted some peace and quiet. She never had thought she would make it as an astronaut. There was no way she'd pass the physical, much less the psychiatric exam. Astronauts were brave and strong – and she was quite the opposite. The physical tests were simply to determine how well she tolerated reduced air pressure – very well – and acceleration – acceptably, except for the screaming. The psychiatric tests were even more sobering – a simple inventory to determine how well she could tolerate solitude – very well – and follow complex instructions without support or supervision – also very well. Then the Ministry of Miracles told her her mission, and Fluttershy knew she wanted to be an astronaut after all. Maybe it helped that she was a former political prisoner. How long had she been out in space? It had been a while. It was hard to keep track of time when she was alone. She was the skipper of the “Ever Free”, a twenty kiloton modular freighter with a most unusual cargo – the last surviving plants and animals from what used to be the Everfree Forest. Her job was to monitor the automated systems that actually ran her vessel, and take the blame if anything went wrong. Maybe, someday, her cargo would help establish a biosphere on one of the new order's space colonies. In the meantime, it provided Fluttershy with oxygen and food, and most importantly, companionship. For all that had happened to her and her friends, her love of animals hadn't changed. They didn't ask awkward questions. She had been having the dream again when the alarm chimed in her stateroom. She was with her friends as they made their last stand just outside the safe house. Twilight never saw the sharp-shooter's bullet coming, she never had a chance. Rainbow Dash winged it out of there, followed by a dozen rockets from the Revolutionary Army's base. Fluttershy couldn't watch as she felt the dull shock of the warheads' detonation. She hid her head in shame as a lance of Revolutionary cavalry advanced on them, bayonets set. Fluttershy shook her head to wake up. No sense dwelling on the past. Yes, the re-education camp may have been where she had learned to scream – but at least she made it out alive. The restraints retracted back into the bed frame, and she slowly and carefully flapped her wings, taking off into the microgravity of her living quarters. The entire vessel spun around its long axis. Towards the middle of the ship, one long thick tether extended a kilometer and a half to the domed forest enclosure, balanced on the other side by another thick tether that extended the same distance to a counter-weight. Every four minutes, the entire apparatus completed three rotations. When the base of the dome started to face the sun, a hyperbolic mirror on the counter-weight would create a brief artificial noon. Every hundred forty-four rotations, shutters would close on the dome, and a pitch-black night would fall. One hundred forty-four rotations later, the shutters would open, and the daytime dance of shadows would begin again. “Mister Hands?” Fluttershy’s quiet voice was almost inaudible. Her implants communicated her request to the Ever Free’s automated systems. “I will be performing an inspection of the habitat. Prepare the lift.” The surgery hadn’t even hurt that much. She heard jets hiss as one of Mister Hands' drones glided down the corridor. The squat hexagonal prism, proportioned like a baby dragon, bobbed to a stop and extended a probe into a socket on the wall. She fluttered by, carefully making her way through the cluttered crawlspace to the trapdoor leading to the tether lift. She entered the capsule, and the door in the ceiling closed automatically. Soon she would be with her fuzzy friends. The trip down the tether was slow. She felt her ears pop as the air pressure was gradually increased to match the habitat dome. The sensation of gravity became stronger – sitting no longer required conscious effort to stay on the floor. She took the time to check her messages. Her vessel needed to be periodically resupplied with oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water, spare parts, and extra food. Solid waste had to be removed. The automated cargo capsules were launched from a space station and had to accelerate to the equilibrium point her vessel was parked at. Sometimes she had to check in, confirm the telemetry reports from the Ever Free's systems, or take a little psych test to make sure the loneliness wasn't driving her crazy. This time... this time a surprise was waiting for her in her in-box. “INACTIVATION ORDER PENDING DECOMMISSIONING OF ERSV-88215 (EVER FREE)” It was not a pleasant surprise. She put it out of her mind as she re-accustomed herself to the increasing centripetal acceleration as the lift capsule approached the dome. They can't do this. Fluttershy shuddered. I did everything they wanted. I gave up so much. And it hurt so badly. I hurt – She had to stop her thoughts there. This was neither the time nor the place. An uncertain and dangerous future was more pressing now. The doors to the habitat opened. The moment of artificial noon was at hand, as the sun quickly ran from a crescent to a hollow circle to a crescent, and Fluttershy heard the birds chirp, the leaves rustle, the animals scurry and stalk, and understood. Life. This is life. This is the only thing that matters. Her orders were clear. She was to jettison the habitat and pilot the main vessel back to the orbital dockyards. No more supply drones were coming. Her mission was over. The moment of noon ended, and the shadows began their dance as the sun directly illuminated the dome. Fluttershy sat down on the grass, feeling the weight of her old bones. To Hell with them. To Hell with me. She lifted her head, and spoke. “Mister Hands? Take a letter.” The next several hours were busy. Day became night with the clattering close of shutters outside the dome. Fluttershy's implants triggered automatically, an infrared light source in her forehead illuminating a cone in front of her, tuned to stimulate artificial cells in her retinas. In the pitch darkness, she saw a bunny hop towards her, and scratched it behind its floppy ears. All this for you. The worst part was going to be detaching the tether. At least at first, the worst part was going to be detaching the tether. The real worst part was coming later, but the small biosphere inside the dome would delay that. If they want their stupid spaceship back, they'll get their stupid spaceship back. There was a tiny shudder as explosive bolts disengaged. Fluttershy got to watch as the drive systems of the main body of the freighter engaged in a panicked run away from the tumbling dome and counter-weight assembly. Weeks passed. She and her forest held up well without re-supply. She hadn't really expected them to answer her impassioned plea to save the forest. There are worse ways to die. There was an unpleasant tang of decomposition in the air. Some of the more sensitive plants were beginning to die and rot. Her last morning in the dome began as the shutters opened. She looked out to dark sky of the daytime dome and saw a ship approach. It was a big boxy thing, it didn't look like anything Fluttershy recognized. Maybe it's a warship. Maybe I've just gone crazy... She didn't have time to finish her thought. Light engulfed her. She appeared inside a cluttered circular bridge. There were no restraints, or acceleration couches. The design was clearly and obviously alien. The captain's chair turned to face her. “Surprise!” What the Hell. What... I... she hasn't changed. She didn't look like that when I saw her in the camp... “Fluttershy? Are you OK? Isn't this a cool spaceship? I guess somepony thinks I'm an alien! Isn't that funny?” Her hair's poofy. She hasn't aged. She's... she's not angry at me. “Pinkie... Pinkie Pie?” The last time I looked at that face, her eyes were cold and distant and angry through the armored glassine of the prison's visitor center. Her only words were, “You bitch. You betrayed us. You lost your friends, forever!” “Fluttershy? Why are you crying?” “I – what are you doing here?” Pinkie trotted over to her old friend. “Remember? We're in some wacky book filled with stories. I found you by thinking real hard about your Element.” She tapped the base of Fluttershy's neck. My necklace? But... they confiscated that... Fluttershy looked into the eyes of her friend, her friend who had come back from the dead to forgive her, to remind her what she was, to show her nothing had happened, that all the hate and pain and death was meaningless, and that the reason she had gone into space was not to die but to be reborn, up from a world so shattered and torn. Pinkie Pie quietly held her sobbing friend.