//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Settling In 
// by A Wild Magikarp 
//------------------------------//

After Clockwork's departure, Sky went right back to work. The papers still needed reading and organizing, and since Star Chaser had gotten off earlier due to earlier hours, he did so alone. Progress seemed to slow to a crawl, and the clock refused to move any faster either. The longer he worked, Sky continued to dwell not only on the conversation with Clockwork, but on the topic it had been over. He sat there and brainstormed up a few ideas on how to fix his current dilemma as he worked, some more realistic than most. He was sure the royal guard would not approve of him and his imagined single pony crusade to smash every lamppost in Canterlot. That was a rather... EXTREME plan the more he thought about it. But at the moment, nothing sounded more satisfying. Such a petty little thing, and it was causing him this much grief. Sky gradually became more and more aggravated, as the slow day ground on his nerves. He didn't think he had ever had a bad day at work before. This is probably what it was like. He began to count the minutes as they slowly passed by.

Eventually, Sky's shift ended, but his replacement had yet to come in. 'Sweet Celestia, where is Comet?' He tapped his hoof impatiently as he tried to look busy, while he moved data sheets on the desk back and forth to pass the time. He was so BORED! About ten minutes passed the time he was supposed to leave, the door to the observatory opened.

"I'm here! So sorry Sky, I left my saddlebags at the cafe I stopped at before heading over, had to go back for them." Comet Trail casually walked in with a small grin adorning his muzzle. For some reason, this bothered Sky. Why was HE so happy?

"Well about time," Sky snapped. "I was starting to think you had gotten lost on your way here!" Comet blinked. He had never seen his co-worker like this before. Sky was cheerful most of the time, and if not that at least content. He couldn't remember the last time Sky had been this upset, if ever. 

His look turned cautious. "Well... ok. I'm here now so you can... go ahead and leave then."

"Fine by me. See you next time Comet."

"See ya, Sky."

Comet turned to the mass of papers that Sky had stacked on the desk. All this left? 'Hope that kid gets out of whatever funk he is in, because that was bad. For him at least. Poor guy.'





Sky slammed his door shut behind him as he slid his saddlebags off of him. "Excellent plan Sky, now that you have successfully alienated yourself from everypony you work with, what do you plan to do now? Stupid!"

Sky heard a meow come from above. Sitting on the top of a shelf was his cat, Selene. The Bombay feline was looking down at him with curious emerald eyes, oddly pony-like in the way they displayed her emotions. 'What happened?' She seemed to ask.

After the walk home, Sky had realized his less than stellar performance with is coworkers. He let his frustration boil. "Oh, I don't know, lets recap shall we? A grump to Star is the first one that comes to mind. I was rude to Clockwork and sent him away for trying to be a good friend, and Comet? He probably hates me after that performance. How does that sound? Maybe I'll just lock myself away for a little while so nopony else can get my goat. But on second thought, who exactly HAVEN'T I yelled at yet?"

On cue, moments after he sat down, he heard a knock on his door. "Ugh, that wasn't an invitation!" He walked up to the door, and Selene returned to the nap she had been having before her owner had gotten home. She didn't care much for company. Attempted a calming breath beforehoof, Sky opened the door.

"Hello Sky, do you have a moment? If it isn't to much trouble of course."

Octavia stood on the other side. As usual, her grey coat was in pristine conditions, and her charcoal mane was  brushed to perfection. The young cellist's was largely inexpressive, a straight face, and thin lips with a rigid posture. A result of her training for stage performances, to keeping up appearances when playing. But her eyes were expressive as ever, their magenta depth's holding a look of unspoken worry. 'Well, more questions and concerns. Let's try not to screw this one up, shall we?'

"Of course not Tav, come in. Want anything? I have some tea in the kitchen."

"No, I shouldn't think this will take long, no need to fuss over me. Thank you though."

Sky stepped aside for her to enter in past him. He watched as she walked by, and couldn't help but give a sad smile. 'If only you would let me.' He shook his head. Nope, not the time. 'She's here to state concern, she will ask for me if she can help, and then I'll send her on her way. Besides, she already made her position clear on the matter...' Despite this sad thought, and all of his previous worries, the smile stayed on his face. Being around Octavia had a tendency to make him happier. He closed the door behind them, then made his way into the kitchen to make some tea anyways. He reentered the living room a few minutes later to see that 

"There we are, iced black tea with a hint of milk, two sugars."

"Sky-"

"No-no, I won't hear it. I know it's your favorite." Indeed he did. In fact, the only reason that he had the stuff was she loved it. He didn't dislike tea by any means, it was still better than that Celestia-awful coffee. But he was more of a cider kind of pony. Non-alcoholic of course. He had a stash of that set aside for Quick and himself.

Octavia took the tea and gave him one of her dainty smiles. He smiled back before sitting down across from her on a pillow while she took the couch.

"Thank you, Sky, always the gentlecolt."

"You know me."

"Indeed I do." She took a small sip of her drink and savored it for a moment before she looked back to Sky. "Now, shall we get on to why I am here?"

"Straight to the point huh? Ok then, I guess that would be the next course of action, yes. But I am fairly sure that I know what you are going to say. I'm ok Tav, really, there's no-"

"I completely understand."

"I KNOW its foalish, everyone else has already either voiced that or-wait what?!"

"I understand what you're going through. I know it must be tough for you to go through all of this and I just wanted you to know that."

Sky was given pause for a second. He was not expecting this to be Octavia's response to his dilemma. Of the three of them, She had always been the more level headed and serious one of the group. Her only real breakdowns were when they had to reel her in from her never-ending practice sessions. To hear her acknowledge his problem as something other than juvenile was not what he had expected. What HAD been expected was a discussion on how he needed to get past it, and an offer of assistance with his 'depressed state.' But here she was, telling him that she understood? And no offer of help out of pity?

"Um... ok? I'm going to be honest, I was not expecting that."

"What were you expecting? Reprimand, an offer of help?"

"Well no... maybe."

She giggled, a musical sound that reminded him of wind-chimes. He left himself to revel in it a moment before continuing.

"Well, you see it's just that everypony else has already taken to telling me that its not really worth worrying about, or that their here to 'help' me like its an addiction to cider."

"But you are addicted to cider." She deadpanned.

"No I am not! It's non-alcoholic remember? I just have a great appreciation for the drink."

"It doesn't have to be alcoholic for it to be an addiction Sky." She giggled again at his attempted defense for the keg he thought was successfully hidden away under his counter. He couldn't have come up with a worse place to stash it away.

"Whatever."

"The point being Sky is that I know what this must be like for you. And I am not just saying that. Do you remember when I was put on hiatus back when I was still rather new to the orchestra? They claimed that my performances were starting to lack, and told me that I needed to take a break. I was confident they were firing me, even went as far as to try and lock myself away in my room. "

"Yes, I remember. Many flying instruments and angry shouts were heard that day." Sky almost seemed to fade away for a moment as a flashback of a cello bow flying at his face came to him.

"Indeed, not one of my more... shining moments, I will admit." She blushed as she remembered going to Quick and apologizing for hitting him over the head with one of Vinyl's turntables.

"Anyways, that is what I mean when I say that I understand what you are going through at the moment." She walked over and sat down next to him, and put one hoof on top of his. "I know what it is like to believe that the thing you love is about to be taken away from you. I was sure I was going to lose my job, my dream of being a big-time performer. You are certain that you're going to lose your stars, and that your job will be, as you said yourself to Quick, 'useless.' It may not seem like a lot to others or even to me, but I know how hard it must be for you. But I also know that you can't let it control you either. It's alright for you to be concerned, but do try not to mope so much, huh? Don't end up like I was. And as for the lending a hoof, I also know that there isn't really much anypony can do here. This is something that I know to have to deal with in your own way.  So I won't say I'm here to help. What I will say, however, is that I am here if you need somepony to talk with about it. Does that sound fair?"

Sky didn't respond in words. He sat there for a few seconds, then decided to take a chance and move in for a hug. She didn't fight it and even seemed to be expecting one. He wrapped one hoof around her in a half hug and stayed that way for a short while. Then, after the moment had passed, they separated.

"Thank you Tav, I really needed to hear that."

"As I said, I know how it feels, so I kind of had a feeling you might."

"Ya, but thanks anyway."

"Anytime."

There was a moment of silence between the two. Now that Octavia's reason for being here was dealt with, she had no reason to stay. But she also felt that just walking out immediately after that little moment would be rather tactless on her part. Sky sat there and questioned whether or not he should say something. It had been forever, forever being about a month ago, since they had really talked. Not since the little... incident.

'Now or never Sky, you have been waiting for a moment to say this for weeks now, it might as well be now.' Sky took a moment and prepared to confront a rather uncomfortable subject. For him at least.

"I'msorryforlastmonth"

"Eh, pardon?"

Sky took a deep breath and tried to speak in a more calm manner. "I mean I am sorry for what happened last month. I know it was kinda out of the blue, and I really should have seen it coming. In fact, I did sort expect something like what you said but I asked anyway because I was being stupid and I should have thought it through more and Ireallywasn'tthinkingaboutourfriendshipatthetimeandsoIwantedtosaysorry!" He gasped for air, having said all of this in one breath.

Octavia frowned. Not a disappointed frown, or an angry one. She looked sad. "THAT'S why you have been avoiding me? Sky, I thought that we went over this at the time. It's not your fault. I was the one not ready for a relationship. It wasn't anything to do with you, I'm just not there yet. You shouldn't be beating yourself up for something like that."

"But I KNEW it was a bad idea! We've been friends for what, eight years? After all that time, I should have known that it wouldn't work. At this point, it would be weird, right? I mean, at this point the three of us are more like siblings! I was being a foal, and I thought you would hate me after what happened. so I was waiting for you to come say something, but when you never came, I figured that you just didn't want to be around me anymore, so I-"

Quick had his own way of stopping Sky's episodes. So did Octavia. Most of the time both of their plans involved some form of solid object. She was about to go for the umbrella sitting on the rack next to her when another, more agreeable, much less violent idea came to her. With a slight tinge of red in her cheeks at what she was about to do, she leaned over and gave Sky a light peck on the cheek.

All sound in the room stopped in a single moment. Octavia backed away, giving a bit more space than had been there before to her fellow earth pony. Selene took notice of the deathly silence and looked up, wondering how exactly her slumber had suddenly gotten so blissfully quiet. Finding it of no consequence, she closed her eyes once more.

Sky was sitting at attention, perfect posture as his body went rigged. The entirety of his face turned a deep red like a tomato, and all coherent thought flew out the window as he stared off into space where he had been looking moments before.

"Are you... feeling better now?" Octavia asked gently.

"..."

"Sky?"

"...In some ways more than others, yes."

"Alright then. Sorry if that was a little bit over the top."

"No, your alright that was... Quite alright." He was still staring at the wall.

"It wasn't your fault. Not to sound too cliche, but it isn't you, it's me. I'm not ready to really consider a relationship at the moment. And I am sorry Sky. You're a nice pony, and a great friend. And maybe if I wasn't so caught up in my music. But as things stand..."

"It ok, I completely understand. Your career comes first, it always has. The same goes for me. I love what I do and I wouldn't give it up for anything." He turned, looking a tad calmer, and looked her in the eyes. "No hard feelings?"

Octavia smiled. "None at all. There never were in the first place. If we had just talked to each other afterward this whole discussion wouldn't have to happen at all!"

"Ya, guess we're kinda idiots huh?"

"Only some of the time."

They sat in silence, a comfortable one, unlike the ones that had come before. Then Octavia looked up at the clock and saw what time it was. "Drat, I told Vinyl I would be home five minutes ago to help her record her latest album! I'm sorry Sky, but I have to go now."

"No problem, and don't worry, I'm fairly certain that roommate of yours, the night owl she is, will probably still be waking up."

In fact, the young DJ was still snoring away in her room after a triple encore concert the night before. Many ciders had been had, and there would be an amazing headache awaiting her when she was awoken by her roommates' apologies for being late.

"Well, all the same, no sense in being tardy myself."

The two of them stood up, Octavia to leave, Sky to lead her out. They approached the door and Sky opened it, then moved aside.

"It was good to see you again Tav. Sorry for being a stranger for so long. See you later then?"

"Of course, no further need for this awkward atmosphere, right? I'll see you later Sky, have a good day." And with that, Octavia walked out.

Closing the door behind her, Sky turned back to the living room and sat back down. Now that company was gone, Selene decided to come down and visit. She softly leaped down from her perch on the shelf and padded over to sit in Sky's lap. He smiled to himself. "That went well. Very well, much better than I expected."

"Meow."

"Yes, I am a little disappointed. But if she isn't up for it, then it's not my place to decide. She did say there was a chance though, remember that? When she has time to focus on something other than work."

Selene purred as she rubbed against Sky's leg.

"I guess today wasn't SO bad. And she's right, I can't let this thing get to me. It's been taking over my life ever since it started."

"Mrow?"

"Tomorrow I wake up a new pony. Thanks for listening girl. Sometimes it's hard to remember that you can't really understand. And remind me to thank Octavia again the next time I see her."

Sky stood up and entered the kitchen to begin making dinner. Selene rolled her eyes. Her owner failed to see the irony in what he had just said, but she did not.

The cat licked her paw to clean her face a little, then stood up and followed Sky into the kitchen.





Clockwork had been waiting in front of Luna's door for the last fourteen minutes, forty-two seconds for her to awaken. 'She does love to sleep in, doesn't she? Or perhaps she gets up early? hard to tell with her reversed sleep schedule.' It was currently 9:39 at night, and Clockwork was getting impatient. Normally he knew exactly how things went. Other sensible creatures had a set internal clock or a schedule they liked to keep. But young Lulu was intent on being the odd mare out. She never had a schedule. He remembered how one afternoon she would be up at eight o' clock on the dot. The next, like tonight, she would wake up anywhere between eight and ten. 'Must have something to do the phases of the moon or something? Perhaps I look into that, it sounds like a very plausible answer. Why haven't I thought of that before?'

As he was thinking, the doors to the lunar princesses resting chambers opened, and revealed none other than Luna herself. This was lost, however, on Clockwork, as he continued his internal discussion about said princesses sleeping habits. The princess of the night stopped and stared when she saw the stallion in front of her door. When her appearance did not invoke a response, she raised an eyebrow. He was completely oblivious, muttering to himself while looking down at the floor. Rolling her eyes, she took the moment to observe the pony in question. His charcoal coat was accented by his dark grey, bordering black mane. He wore a ridiculous red bow-tie, and an even more absurd top hat. 'Excellent, another ridiculous noble without a single bit of fashion sense. Not that I am one to judge, but still.' Next, she looked down to his flank to see his hourglass... cutie-mark... Faust above, it was him!

"DOCTOR! OH THOUGH DOTH NOT KNOW HOW MUCH IT PLEASES US TO SEE AN OLD FRIEND SUCH AS THYSELF!"

Clockwork gave a high pitched scream as he leaped into the air. Luna took the chance to grab him in her magical aura and pull him into her warm, but extremely tight, embrace.

"OH HOW WE HAVE MISSED THEE! HOW FARE YE IN THIS MODERN ERA? YOU SIMPLY MUST SIT DOWN AND SHARE WITH US SOME OF YOUR ADVENTURES, IT HAS BEEN FAR TO LONG! NO DOUBT THE NUMBER OF SAID TAILS HAS GROWN IN OUR ABSENCE?"

The stallion she was currently hugging was beginning to turn purple though his dark coat. "L-Lu-lu... can't... breath..."

She realized what it was she was doing and dropped him suddenly onto his back. He let out a gasp for air as he tried to recover from the attempted pony-slaughter.

"Ohh... WE- I MEAN... I... apologize Doctor, I do still tend to forget mine own strength."

"It's-*wheeze*-quite alright Lu-lu-*gasp*-. No harm done."

Luna decided to wait until Clockwork was finished catching his breath before speaking. Once his oxygen intake had returned to an acceptable level, she spoke.

"So, what art though doing outside mine chambers? Tis' not the strangest thing you have been found doing, but all the same..."

"Oh, that? I was just waiting for you to finally get your royal flank out of bed to speak with you."

Luna laughed. "Ha-ha! Verily? Thou could have come later in the evening when thou knew that thee would have the chance to speak with us, I mean me, could you not?" She loved the Doctor. One of the few creatures in the world and those beyond that would speak to Tia and herself as a friend rather than ruler... besides Discord that is.

"This is important, and I needed to talk to you tonight before I get back to the wife and start on the paperwork."

"WIFE?!"

"TARDIS! Just the TARDIS! A nickname she got a while back, nothing more!"

"Oh thank goodness."

Clockwork raised an eyebrow. Luna's eyes widened.

"W-We did not mean it as such! Merely that thou hast not changed from the Doctor we loved so all those years ago."

The eyebrow stayed raised.

"W-Wait! We meant such in a purely platonic way, truly! Thou... we meaning Celestia and I both... I-"

Clockwork put his hoof up to her mouth, silencing her. She looked at him in worry that she might have somehow ruined their reunion after so long.

"I know exactly what you mean Lu-lu, no need to clarify. And you forget that I was there when your... unique form of speech was not so uncommon. Your words were not misunderstood."

Luna's shoulders sagged in relief, and she nodded. He removed his hoof from her muzzle.

"And... paperwork?"

"I am the headmaster at the university hear in Canterlot... Long story, not nearly as interesting as the others, trust me."

"Well... since thou has sought me out, for reasons not apparently including that wondrous box of yours... one can assume thou need a favor?"

"What? I never... well yes, I suppose that is true. You know me too well Luna. Though, it is more of a suggestion than a request. And it's you, Luna, just so you know."

"Indeed. Thou... You can change your face however many times as you want Doctor, you will still always be our Doctor. Now, what is it that you have to ask of me? If it is as important as your presence leads me to believe, there will be time to catch up at a later date."

Clockwork grinned as he pulled a piece of paper from his saddlebags. "Well, you know that Canterlot is much more industrial than the world you left behind long ago before the... incident."

"Yes, indeed this is true. Go on."

"Well, you also know that as a result of the lights being set up around the city, your... nigh sky, heh... has become less and less visible to the ponies living here."

Luna frowned. "Also true, I have noticed this of late. It troubles me that I must leave the confines of the city in order to do my work in the heavens every night."

"Well, it just so happens, a friend of mine brought this to my attention recently, and he is just as concerned as you are about the situation."

Her frown changed into a smile once more. "It gladdens me to know that there are ponies out there that admire my beautiful sky in this day and age."

"Yes, a great deal of them, many work with me at the university. My friend happens to be one of them. And so, as this was brought to my attention, I thought of a way to fix this little predicament that he is in, and I thought you might like to know. It doesn't hurt that it also needs either your sisters or your own orders to happen in the first place."

Luna became more interested in this paper that Clockwork was holding in his hoof. "Is that so? Let us see this proposal then Doctor."

Clockwork nodded as a light blue aura surrounded the paper and lifted them up to Luna's eye level, and unfolded it. Her eyes scanned the sheet, and as they did, her smile grew.

"Yes... yes this is a very good idea. and I very much approve of the choice of site. And I assume that this friend of yours...?"

"I was hoping that he would be placed in charge, yes."

Luna took the paper and returned it into Clockwork's saddlebag.

"That seems acceptable. Very well, Doctor, we shall give orders for the project immediately. And I shall announce this at the university tomorrow, as I am sure your companion would love to know of this plan of yours."

"Oh, he isn't a 'companion'. Just a good friend. The best of friends."

"Hmmm, indeed? Very well. In the meantime, do you wish to stay and chat, or is there more pressing matters at the moment?"

"Well like I said, I have to get back to sexy. She can get temperamental if I return late, and I have paperwork that needs doing before tomorrow. Wouldn't want to be late now would I?"

Luna gave him a deadpan stare.

"Doctor?... You have a small blue box that is capable of complete and permanent temporal displacement."

"I... ah, yes, of course, I tend to forget sometimes, it has been a while since I last did that."

Shock crossed the princess's face. "Verily? How so? That does not seem like you at all."

Clockwork looked up at her. "No, no I suppose not. Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable where we can talk?"

"Very good idea Doctor. This way then."

And with that, they turned and began there walk to the dining room, to remember old times and discuss the new.