//------------------------------//
// A Blow to the Republic 
// Story: The Thousand Year Change 
// by Darthvalgaav 
//------------------------------//

Senator Land Share was sitting in his private office when he heard the doorbell ring. ‘Strange,’ he thought to himself as he stood up and began to walk to the front door. ‘I’m pretty sure that I don’t have any meeting to go to tonight or any other appointments planned. So, who could it be?’

As Land Share continued to walk to his front door, he glanced at a digital wall clock and frowned. It was later than he thought. He had planned on leaving to Dome Zero after he heard about the incident with Sunset and Scootaloo, but there was important work that had to be done before he could leave.

Sadly, this was all part of his job. He couldn’t just take off whenever he felt like. At the very least, he was almost done, so it might have been possible for him to check and see how they were doing. Unfortunately, distractions often seem to sneak into the equation at inappropriate times, and this time was no different.

As Land opened the door, he was a bit surprised to see a member of the Royal Guard. Usually, they would contact him before visiting him at his home. What was also surprising was the state of the Guard. His armor was muddy and he was missing his helmet, in which showed that his mane was in disarray. The poor stallion also seemed to be panting.

“What seems to be the problem?” asked Land Share, raising an eyebrow. The Guard opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped as something small buzzed near him. The Guard jumped when he noticed it, and began to swing at it with both hooves. Sadly, the little creature was too fast for him.

As soon as Land Share saw the creature, he shook in horror. He remembered a similar creature like it when he was on the planet, except that creature was blue, while this one was bright pink. He remembered Princess Cadence’s warning about the damage it could do.

“A parasprite,” he whispered to himself.

“Sir, I came to make sure you were alright,” declared the guard, while still trying to smash the cute little creature of pure evil. “They’re everywhere!”

As soon as he said that, the parasprite began to cough while it was fluttering above their heads. Land Share took a step back, watching the insect vomited a brown parasprite-sized blob. Then, to his shock, the blob grew wings and eyes similar to its creator. Now there were two parasprites buzzing around, making cute noises while dodging the hooves of the Guard.

“By the stars,” swore Land Share in his ever-growing horror. He had heard about their appetite, but this was something new and disturbing. ‘It was just born, but it looks just like an adult,’ he thought. ‘That could mean that it has the same appetite!’

Land Share then looked past the Guard and beheld a new terror. The Dome was almost completely barren. Fields that should have been full of trees, with bright red, green, and yellow apples, now looked dead. Not an apple, or even a single leaf for that matter, remained.

“Why wasn’t I informed of this earlier?” demanded Land Share, pointing a hoof at the Guard.

“We thought we could handle it,” replied the Guard, giving up on trying to catch the two parasprites. “Around noon, there was only one spotted. The pony that first witnessed it didn’t know what it was, but it seemed harmless. That was, until it ate a whole apple tree in less than a second, and created two more of them. The pony was so shocked that it wasn’t until there were eight of them, that he ran and gotten us. By the time we arrived on the scene, there were over three hundred of them eating everything in sight.

“We tried to handle it the best we could, but we had never seen anything like this before. We thought that they might be some magical experiment gone wrong, so we called in Mana Burn while we tried to contain them in an energy field. But, when she got here and used her magic on them, nothing happened! What’s worse is that we missed a few, and while we had been watching the ones we had caught, the ones we didn’t had grown into the thousands. And, despite being captured in the energy field, they kept multiplying until they broke free!”

Land Share paled while he listened to all of this. The situation was worse than he or any pony in the Republic could ever imagine. In a few short hours, one parasprite had become thousands with a never-ending hunger, that would result in everypony in the Republic starving to death.

“W-what are the rest of the Guards doing right now?” Land Share asked.

“Trying to save what we can,” the Guard replied. “So far, we have lost sixty eight percent of the total crops. However, it’s a losing battle. They sent me to get you, so you can make an announcement for all civilians to evacuate the Dome.”

Land Share’s eyes widened when he heard that. “No,” he declared sternly.

“But, sir,” began the Guard.

“We can’t use the platform station while this is going on,” started Land Share. “Imagine if these things get to Dome Two. They would most likely drink all of our water in a few short hours. Heck, whatever dome they escape to, will lose all of their food as quickly as us! And, we can’t use the escape pods for the same reason. One of them sneaks in, and this mess will start up all over again.”

The Guard stared at him for a moment with a look of shock on his face. “I…I never thought of that,” he uttered slowly.

Land Share put a hoof on the other stallions shoulder. “It’s fine, you had other things on your mind,” he consoled, slowly putting his hoof back on the ground. “Now, I want you to get back and help the others protect the last of our crops. While you’re doing that, I’m going to order the platform station to close its gates, so that those things can’t leave.”

“But, what if a few have already?” asked the Guard.

Land Share did his best not to look worried. “I don’t think they have,” he replied. “Right here, there is plenty of food out in the open, so there is no reason to leave. Still, I’ll contact Princess Luna, so that she can be on the lookout for more of those things. I’ll also inform her that I’ll have every civilian head down into the emergency underground bunkers until we can be rescued. There are emergency rations down there that should help tide us over till then.”

“Yes sir,” said the Guard right before he took off, leaving Land Share alone, praying that everything will be okay.

-x-

At the same time, Twilight was back on the platform with a frown. ‘Why now of all times?’ she thought to herself as the memories of what had happened less than a half hour ago played in her head.

-Flashback-

“Excuse me, Miss Sparkle?” said a doctor as she entered health station one. The room was still packed with mares and fillies, but it was easy to spot the purple unicorn sitting next to the bed. Before Twilight completely turned her head to look at him, the doctor was standing beside her. “I’m sorry for the interruption, but you have an emergence call waiting for you.”

“For me?” asked Twilight in surprise.

The doctor nodded. “You can use one of the wall consoles to take the call.” And with that said, the doctor turned to leave.

Nervously, Twilight walked over to a part of the wall that had a black, hoof-sized circle on it. As she did, she began to wonder who wanted to talk to her and what kind of emergency it was. Her mind raced with all sorts of possibilities.

Was it Princess Luna warning her that Sunset Shimmer had escaped and was on the loose again? No, it couldn’t be that. If she had escaped, then the alarms would have sounded. Also, Shadow would have been contacted before Twilight.

Was it Dean Learning Curve calling to tell Twilight that Scootaloo wouldn’t be allowed to attend Princess Luna’s School for Gift Ponies, despite what the princess said? No, it couldn’t be that either. There was no way he could override the princess, since it was her school.

Gently, the purple mare placed her hoof on the black circle. After waiting a second for it to scan her hoofprint, Twilight set her hoof back on the ground as a part of the wall began to shimmer, catching the eyes of the Equestrian ponies in the room. Soon, the face of Senator April Showers appeared on the wall.

“I am sorry for disturbing you at this time,” began the senator before Twilight could open her mouth. “I know you have been through a lot recently, but Dome Two needs a helping hoof from you.”

“What do you mean?” asked the purple mare.

“It’s the new program that we recently received,” explained April Showers. “It’s not working well with our older systems, and is causing problem. And, I don’t need to tell you what that means for the rest of the Republic.”

Twilight nodded her head, knowing full well of the implementations. A problem with Dome Two’s water systems could result with ponies not getting the water they needed to spray their crops, cook their food, or get a drink. Hundreds of ponies could suffer, or even die, if something wasn’t done soon.

However, Twilight wanted somepony else to do it. Anypony else, so that she could stay here, in case Scootaloo needed her. Right now, that was her top priority.

‘But, what if another pony can’t fix the problem in time?’ asked a small voice in the back of her head. ‘What if the problem just gets worse and worse, to the point where no pony can get their water, expect in Dome Two? What if the water treatment process begins to malfunction as well? The water is also a top priority.’

“Have you tried contacting Bunsen Burner?” asked Twilight.

“We have,” replied April with a nod that caused Twilight’s heart to sink. “However, he hasn’t replied to any of our emergency communications. Believe me, if he had, then I wouldn’t be trying to ask you to do this.”

Twilight didn’t respond. Instead, she looked over at Scootaloo, before looking back at the wall. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words were stopped as a hoof gently touched her shoulder. Looking to her side, she saw Shadow smiling at her.

“Don’t worry about her,” he said.

“But-” began Twilight, but was interrupted by Shadow.

“She’s asleep right now,” continued Shadow. “Most likely, she won’t wake up until the morning. And, even if she does wake up, she won’t be alone because I’ll be here. She’s in safe hooves.”

“Well,” began Twilight slowly. “If that’s the case, then I guess I should be able to look at those problems.”

“Great,” exclaimed April with a large smile. “I’ll see you soon.” And, with that, the image of April Showers vanished.

“Well,” Twilight repeated, this time ending with a sigh. “Guess I’d better get going.” The purple mare then started towards the door, until Trixie stepped in her path.

“You mean ‘we’d’ better get going,” corrected Celestia’s student to a rather shocked Twilight. “We are here to get to know the Lunar Republic, and you are our guide. Seeing that the Great and Powerful Trixie have yet to see Dome Two yet, Trixie demands to be taken there, along with the rest of Trixie’s party.”

“Did somepony say party?” asked Pinkie with her ears perked upward.

“Now hold on, Trixie,” said Applejack as she moved towards the two unicorns. “Sounds ta me that there is some trouble that needs fixin’. Don’t think we should go an’ get out of her way. Besides, I think we’ve had enough for one day.”

Trixie glared at Applejack. “So far, Trixie has been underwhelmed by the treatment Trixie has received,” she stated with a huff. “Since arriving here, Trixie has witnessed our guide shooting Spike, to turn him into a pony against his will, followed by members of our group being foalnapped by a deranged mare. So, instead of just sitting here on our plots, Trixie demands that we continue the tour, so we can get this over with.”

This declaration was not very popular with the other ponies. Rarity and Applejack were fuming at Trixie, saying that their little sisters had gone through enough for one day. Rainbow said that she was interested in seeing how they distributed the water here, but it could wait till later. Even Fluttershy said, in her own quiet way, that she felt they should wait. Sadly, Trixie pulled rank on them, saying that since she was Princess Celestia’s student, they had to follow her lead.

-End Flashback-

Since Trixie had put her hoof down on the matter, and Twilight wanted to get going as soon as possible, they had reached a sort of compromise. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike would stay with Shadow while he watched over Scootaloo. The rest would be going with Twilight, who would give them a quick tour after she was done looking at the program.

Yet, as they all left the platform station, not all of them seemed fine with situation. Rarity seemed to be fuming as she glared into the back of Trixie’s head, as if she wanted to set fire to it. Applejack was talking to herself quietly, reassuring herself that Apple Bloom would be alright. Rainbow Dash looked like she wanted to take a nap, judging by her yawning every once in a while.

Fluttershy was acting the weirdest. As soon as they got onto platform, she began to search her mane for something. When Twilight noticed this, she believed that it was a nervous habit or something like that. The poor mare looked like she was going to have a panic attack.

Then, there was Pinkie Pie, who seemed slightly out of character. Her mane now hung straight down, as did her tail. Her movements were, well, normal. She was walking slowly, bringing up the rear of the group, instead of bouncing up and down, or running off somewhere. And, was it Twilight’s imagination, or was the pink mare looking a little thinner than she was a few hours ago?

As the mares from Equestria looked around, they could see that Dome Two looked bizarre. In the middle of the Dome was a huge, clear cylinder shaped tank the size of a mountain, which was a quarter of the way full of water. Lying all over the ground were tubes and wires that seemed to go in all directions. Because of this, as Trixie quickly realized, if you didn’t watch where you stepped, you were very likely to trip.

Looking around, the group also noticed over several tanks of water, with numerous ponies (mostly pegasi) working around them. Also, there were a couple of square buildings that looked like they could be storage sheds. Above them were actual cloud homes, almost like a smaller version of Cloudsdale.

“Thank Luna you’re here,” declared April Showers, flying down towards them. If she noticed the others, she didn’t show it, keeping her focus on Twilight. “The problem just got worse. We have to manually restart several machines because they were freezing up.”

“Lead me to the main frame,” said Twilight as she got her serious face on.

As the group began to move towards the giant tank, Pinkie noticed something from out of the corner of her eye. There were two unicorn stallions, wearing outfits one would might expected from Cloudsdale’s weather factory, walking away from one of the square buildings. She couldn’t hear the discussions the two was having, but that wasn’t what she was focusing on. What really drew her attention was the cupcake that the tall, chubby grey unicorn was munching on from time to time while he was talking with the shorter, thinner light brown unicorn. Without saying a word, Pinkie began to walk over to the shed, in the hope of getting one of those sugary treats.

Off in a short distance, the two unicorn was still having their little conversation, not noticing a pink figure heading toward the building they had just left from, its door was just left wide open. “An’ then, I said: ‘Yo, ya’re in da wrong place at da wrong time, bub.’ But, bein’ da gentlestallion dat I was, all I did was just spook da dumb punk away from my home,” told the short unicorn, hamming it up to the taller one.

“Wowie, you are swell, Big Joe! Wish I could be just like you.”

“Oh, gee, Little Moe, ya gonna make me blush, an’ ya know how I feel ‘bout dat. Now, come on, those drinks are callin’ me after eatin’ those cupcakes.”

“Okay, Big Joe,” the big stallion replied, but paused for a moment to look back. “Ummm, are you sure it is okay to leave that door open like that?”

“Relax, Little Moe, it ain’t like we goin’ to be gone for long. It’s just a short trip to get our drinks an’ back. ‘Side, everypony know dat area is off-limit. An’, even if they don’t, those five hulkin’ locks on da door an’ dat big sign sayin’ ‘Authorized Ponies Only’ should be enough warnin’ to keep out.”

“You are so smart, boss!” With that, they sped up to their destination, neither realizing as Pinkie went through the open door, that both the sign and the locks was hidden behind the very door that they have left open.

-x-

“Don’t let a single one get through!” shouted a Guard. Spread out around him was at least a dozen or so other Guards, each one blasting parasprites in an attempt to keep them away from the food. This was, however, a losing battle, due to the sheer number of them. Sooner or later, at least one of them would slip by unnoticed, and begin consuming the crops.

“By the stars,” exclaimed Land Share, galloping towards them. The situation now looked worse than what he had been told. So far, all that remained of Dome Three’s crops were a couple dozen trees.

“Senator,” said the Guard in charge when he saw Land Share approach them. “I heard the announcement. I take it that all of the civilians are in the shelters?”

Land Share nodded. “I just got confirmation,” he replied. “I also informed Princess Luna to what was happening here. She said she would be here shortly.”

“But, I thought that nopony was allowed to use the platform stations,” replied the Guard. Land Share opened his mouth to say something, but instead a voice in his earpiece seemed to answer the question for him.

“This is Princess Luna aboard the Crescent Hope,” proclaimed Luna. The Guards looked up, past the swarm of parasprites, to see the great Lunar ship right above the Dome. “I wish to speak Senator Land Share.”

Wordlessly, the Guard took out his earpiece and gave it to Land Share. The senator took it and placed it in his ear.

“I am glad you came quickly,” noted Land Share.

“Not quick enough, it seems,” replied Luna. The Princess of the Moon was currently sitting in the Captain’s seat of Crescent Hope. Captain Starway was off to the side as they stared at the screen in front of them, showing the damage the parasprites had caused in a single day. “I would have been here sooner, but I had to send the Emperor and his griffons back to the planet. From the looks of things, Dome Two is pretty much lost.”

“Ah, maybe not, Princess,” counter a timid voice coming from the device. Back in Dome Two, everypony looked over at a young, fresh recruit who had spoken. He was a small light green unicorn stallion, who was beginning to feel a little pressure from being stared at by so many, but he swallowed silently and continued onward. “I, um, know a spell that gets ponies to stop eating. I was just thinking that maybe it might work on them. But, I’ve never really used it before.”

“Is that why you didn’t mention this sooner?” barked one of the Guards. The light green unicorn quickly nodded.

“Well, the crops are probably a lost cause,” began Land Share. “However, I’d feel better if I knew that these things will finally stopped eating and multiplying. Then, at least, they won’t become a danger to the other Domes. What do you think, Princess?”

“I agree,” said Luna through the earpiece.

Nodding, the green unicorn raised his horn into the air. A moment later, a light blue wave of magic swept over all the parasprites in the area. The ponies watched as the enemies they had been fighting began to act confused. They just seemed to blink and hovered in the air.

Deciding to test and see if the spell worked, Land Share went over to one of the apple trees and picked a single apple from it. He then walked away from the group, before holding above his head to see if any of the parasprites would go for it. Only one flew down towards it. However, instead of eating it, the parasprite just sniffed it before flying away.

Seeing this caused the ponies to cheer. But, as they did, the swarm of parasprite began to fly off in all directions. Most of them were heading towards the barns and homes of the ponies who lived nearby.

“Err, what are they doing now?” asked one of the Guards. Nopony said a word as they watched the swarm begin to surround their homes, barns, and various other buildings. A sense of dread began to overtake everypony, causing them to race towards the closest building in order to get a closer look.

When they got there, they were horrified by what they saw. The parasprites had begun to fly away, while multiplying from what was now an empty lot. What had once been a metal home, filling with treasured memories, was now as barren as the landscape outside of the Dome.

“P-Princess,” stammered Land Share. “It didn’t work…well, at least not exactly. They aren’t eating the food anymore, but they just moved on to eating everything else. They just ate a house and everything in it in a matter of minutes.”

For a moment, there was silence. A deafening silence that caused the fear inside Land Share to expand like a balloon.

“I see,” stated Princess Luna, her voice dripping with sadness. “We will…what’s going on?”

“Princess?” asked one of the Guards in a nervous voice.

“There are a large amount of parasprites on the top of the Dome,” noted Luna. As she said this, Land Share and the Guards looked upwards. She was correct; a large multicolored blob was now at the top of the Dome. “By the stars, they’re licking it. But, why would… GET THEM OUT OF THERE, NOW!”

Sadly, as soon as she yelled out those words, the parasprites had begun to eat the top of the Dome. Their sharp teeth began to quickly nick and chip away the strong, thick material that the Dome was made of, until they made a small hole that rapidly grew into a large one. Land Share started to ask what was happening, but before he could finish, he and the Guards were lifted off the ground, up towards a growing hole created by the parasprites. It happened very fast, but they all realized the same thing: this was how they would die.

Then, a miracle happened. Just before they were flung out into the vacuum of space, the ponies found themselves surrounded by Luna’s magical aura. They then vanished and reappeared inside Crescent Hope. To be specific, they appeared on the bridge, surround by scared and horrified crew ponies who were asking if they were alright. Luna was panting as her horn began to dim.

“I made it in time,” she uttered in relief. “I feared I would be too late to save you.”

“Princess,” Captain Starway called out, pointing a hoof at the screen, while trying her hardest to hold on to her composure. “You should see this.”

Luna turned her attention back to the screen. On it, she could see thousands of colorful dots that had once been parasprites, floating in the vacuum of space. ‘A fitting end for them,’ thought Luna as her eyes narrowed. ‘Destroyed by their own need to consume everything.’ Slowly, Luna began to scan the screen trying to find what Starway had point to.

It was then a chilling thought came to mind. ‘Had she seen somepony out there?’ thought the moon princess. It was very possible that she might have missed one or two of her Guards when she did her teleportation spell. Or, there could have been a few of them in other areas of the Dome that her spell couldn’t reach. Magic, like technology, had its limitations after all.

Luna scanned the mass of parasprites harder to see if she could find a pony, but it was difficult. The parasprites were as brightly colored as her little ponies, and there were just so many of them that the body of a pony could easily be hidden within the mass.

Finding nothing in the mass, Luna began to look at the rest of the scene. She could see the top of Dome Three and, off in the distance, Dome Two. At first, nothing looked out of the ordinary, other than the giant hole in Dome Three. But then, she saw something that made her heart stop.

-x-

Twilight hummed to herself as she went over the programming codes. So far, she had found several mistakes, which were most likely the cause of the problems. As she worked, she made a mental note to find the pony that made this program, and talk to him/her about double checking their work.

As she worked, April Showers was telling the group about how they collected, cleaned, and then distributed the water. Most of them found this very interesting, including Rainbow Dash. The only one who looked disinterested was Trixie.

“Once the water is cleaned, we have a network of tubes that sends the water to every building within the Republic,” informed April Showers. “The same network also returns, ah, polluted water and various other things. When they return, they are placed the various tanks you see around you to be purified, before sending the clean water back to the main tank there. Any questions?”

Trixie rolled her eye. “I hope not,” she muttered to herself. “All this seems like a waste of time. Why don’t they just have their unicorns use magic to clean it or something?”

Rainbow, however, raised her hoof. “Yeah, I got a question,” she said. “Has anything bad ever happened to the main tank? I mean, what happens if the water isn’t completely purified?”

“That is an excellent question,” replied April Showers with delight, completely ignoring the comment that Trixie made. 

"Well, I am in charge of Ponyville’s weather, and I know what happens if the water isn’t clean during a storm,” stated Rainbow, rubbing the back of her mane with pride.

“Well, there have been a few times when the water has been corrupted,” replied April. “In fact, when this Dome was first built, we had our most serious case. There was a, for lack of a better term, cult that, for some odd reason, believed that everypony was suffering, and the only way to truly end it was death. One day, they snuck into the main tank and dumped a dangerous toxin into the water. Sadly, at the time, our water purification process wasn’t as advanced as it is now, so we had to eject the contaminated water.”

“Oh my,” cried Fluttershy.

“Yes, those were some difficult times for the Republic,” said April with a sigh. “Those ponies were deluded and their actions could have resulted in the deaths of hundreds, had it not been for that failsafe. In fact, that’s the reason we still have it.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to those ponies?” asked Rarity.

“They were sentenced to life imprisonment,” said April Showers, sighing once again. “Those were the days before prison pods, so they got free food and water for the rest of their lives. Princess Luna did, however, push for the death sentence, but one member of the senate voted against it. Said they shouldn’t be killed, since no other ponies died.”

“There,” said Twilight as she moved her face away from the scene. “All done! Everything should…where is Pinkie Pie?”

When she had entered into the shed, quickly without any pony noticing her, Pinkie was curious to what she would find inside. However, much to her disappointment, she found the room to be plain and boring. The room was bare, except for a single piece of machinery, one she had never seen before. There was a small window near the top that not even a new born foal could fit through.

Staring around, her hope in finding the machine that could make cupcakes, like the one she had seen earlier that day, was slowly being dashed. She had hoped to spot it outside, but unfortunately, a quick look around come up with nothing. However, before she gave up, she saw something at the opposite side of the room that resembled a baking machine. Seeing this, Pinkie’s mane began to poof back to normal and a big smile appeared on her face. Feeling like her old self again, she ran over to the device, while drooling at the thought of finally being able to get something sweet to eat.

As she stood over the machine, she noticed there were a lot of buttons and other things that she didn’t recognize. She also noted that this machine didn’t have a coin slot like the last one. ‘Oh my gosh,’ thought Pinkie. ‘There are so many buttons.’ Must be to make so many delicious goodness.’

‘Hmmm, now where is that pesky button that makes the cupcakes?’

Pinkie began to scan the top of the device, searching for any button that looked like it would make her a cupcake. Sadly, none of the buttons were labeled, and she feared that if she started pressing them at random, she would get a lemon or something like that.

Then, her eyes fell on a large red button. This one, unlike the others, had three lines that looked like they were supporting a cloud etched into it. ‘It looks like a cupcake or a muffin,’ thought Pinkie Pie with glee as she pressed it.

“Password required,” said the machine in a dull, lifeless voice.

“Password?” asked Pinkie, before giggling. “Oh, you silly, I don’t want to play a game right now. Can you just give me a cupcake? I just want to taste one...maybe two, or three, or perhaps four with a glass of chocolate milk to wash them down.”

“Password invalid, please input password.”

“I wanna cupcake!” yelled Pinkie Pie, finally getting fed up with her situation. All she want was a cupcake, not only to enjoyed it, but to keep the promise to the Cakes.

“Password accepted,” said the machine, right before a red light began to flash. “Emergency Procedure One has begun. All water in main tank will be ejected into vacuum of space.”

“What?” questioned a very confused pink pony.

“W-what have you done?” yelled a voice behind Pinkie. The mare turned around to see April Showers, Twilight, and the rest of her friends. Both April Showers and Twilight looked pale as the two of them raced over to the machine. Pinkie simply move aside, feeling both lost and concern with what was going on.

“I don’t believe it,” cried April Showers as she began to press buttons after buttons in a fast pace. “How could she have guessed the password? I change it every other day!”

“We have to stop it!” cried Twilight, working besides the pegasus. Just then, April sat on her flank.

“It’s…it’s too late,” she barely able to uttered out loud.

Shocked and scared, Twilight ran out of the hut. As she turned around, her mouth hug in horror as the container of water was lifted into the air, so that it was now touching the top of the Dome. At once, the roof of the Dome began to open up, and the water shot out into space. Once outside of the Dome, the water didn’t freeze. Instead, it evaporated and vanished before her very eyes.

The Lunar Republic, which had been suffering from a water shortage, had now lost twenty five percent of its total water.