Ch. 1: Arrival
It was an absolutely beautiful late afternoon, thought the mare to herself. She watched on and smiled as the little unicorn filly ran through the clumps of wildflowers, sending butterflies flying in her wake. The sun hung low in the western sky, bathing the hillside she sat upon with a soft orange light. The pegasus mare exhaled loudly through her nostrils and stretched her wings out before falling backwards into the blanket covered cushion of grass and flowers. Despite the still present sun, the moon dominated the sky above her. Larger and brighter than she had ever seen it before, it seemed to pulsate with light.
"Mommy?" asked the filly as she came to a sudden stop next to the prone pegasus.
"Hmm?" mumbled the mare, her eyes still fixed on the moon above. It was somehow even bigger and more lustrous than only moments before.
"Why can't I go with you?" asked the filly, "I can help you like I do when school is out!"
The mare's trance was broken and she turned her head to look at her daughter. "I told you sweetie," she said, "this is a different kind of job. It's a long haul and very far away. I don't want you to miss any of your schoolwork or time with your friends." She reached up with a hoof and lightly tapped the young pony's nose. "It's only for a season, and when I get back I'll have all sorts of stories to tell you about all the ponies I meet." She saw the frown on her daughter's muzzle and suffered through another guilt attack on her conscience. "Come on now," she said with a false smirk, "you're always telling me how much fun you have with your Auntie Carrot Top." A small grin fought its way onto the filly's muzzle. "That's my girl," she said, "now why don't you go pick some flowers to bring to her while I clean up our picnic. I think I saw some pretty daisies on the other side of the hill."
The bright smile returned to the filly's face as she darted across the hilltop and began searching for the perfect specimens to bring back to Carrot Top's farm. The mare rolled over to her side and began gathering the remnants of their early dinner. "Why dost thou hide thy intentions?" asked a voice from behind.
"I don't want her to worry," said the mare, "and no filly needs to know that her mother lost her job and can't find another."
"She would be right to be worried," said the faint voice, "this trip thou hast planned is fraught with peril."
"Doesn't matter," said the mare, "She has to go to magic school. I can't teach her, and I can't keep imposing on Princess Twilight, no matter what she says. This is the only way I can earn enough for tuition." The mare gave the blanket one last fold and placed it in the panniers sitting on the ground. Her brow furrowed and she turned towards the voice. "Why am I telling you this?" she asked before looking at the empty air behind her. She spun around twice and sat back on her haunches.
"Thou hast courage," said the voice from above her, "if only we still had the same fire within us." The mare looked up at the too-large moon, its radiance pulsing in time with the whispering voice. "Find another way my little pony," it said, "our realm is not for thee."
The mare stared at the moon, her gaze transfixed on the pearly white orb. "It's so close," she mumbled as she reached out her hoof.
"Miss?" asked a concerned voice, "Hello?"
The mare opened her eyes and blinked several times, cringing at the pain it caused her. The starry void outside the window she faced was interrupted only by the bright moon, as large, if not larger, as it had been in her now fading dream. Her reflection in the glass came into focus. A blond maned, grey coated mare gazed back at her with unremarkable, but well rested yellow eyes. She looked around in confusion at the metallic grey interior of the Prosperity Ascension. The few other passengers reluctantly and awkwardly dined on fresh produce, their hooves occasionally grasping for a wayward slice apple or stray carrot. She looked at the crewmare and gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that, I must have drifted away for a while there." She reached into her mind, trying to remember what the dream had been about, but failed.
The uniformed mare laughed and reached down to the floor. With a flick of her hoof, the small door swung free on concealed hinges. She pulled a small vacuum sealed bag of produce before closing the door. "Happens to me all the time," she said while opening the bag and placing it in the netting next to the window, "and I've been making this run three times a month for the last two years. You look out the windows, and the next thing you know, the captain is shaking you awake wondering where his coffee is."
The mare reached into the restrained bag and fetched one of the large pale yellow apples that had become all the rage in Equestria. "What's it like up there?" she asked, "I mean, I've read the brochures and I've seen the pictures, but I haven't found anypony with firsthoof experience." She took a bite from the large apple, sending spherical droplets of juice floating in front of her muzzle. She waved her free hoof trying to corral the hovering beads of liquid to her mouth and only succeeded in losing control of the apple, sending it hovering out of reach..
"Well, we only get to see the port," said the earth pony crewmare as she reached into her satchel and produced a thick cloth towel. "There're a few locals in the mess hall we chat with while the engines are recharged and cargo is loaded. They seem happy enough, if a little quiet." She waved the towel through the air, expertly capturing the wayward apple juice and placed the partially eaten apple back into the mare's hooves. "You're not the first pony to ask me that question either," she said. "I don't think they're being mysterious on purpose. They came here because they wanted a fresh start, so they mostly keep to themselves."
"What about ponies like us?" asked the pegasus, gesturing around the cabin with a hoof, "I'm just here to do a job. Surely you've talked to some ponies like me on their way back home."
"Nope," she replied, "The Glory of Equestria handles return trips. We just deliver new arrivals and return with cargo." She saw the pegasus' brow furrow and laid a hoof on her shoulder. "You'll do fine," she said, "I have to say, you've adapted to the gravity better than most." She pointed over at a bulky earth pony stallion holding a moistened rag to his forehead.
"It takes an awful lot to make me nauseous," said the pegasus mare, "this is nothing."
"Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask," said the helpful earth pony mare, "I'm Crewmare First Class Aurora Glow, but everypony just calls me Aura."
The pegasus reached out her hoof and shook the crewmare's. "Nice to meet you Aura," she said, "I'm Ditzy Doo, but my friends call me Derpy."
"No you didn't," said Derpy, her laughs echoing through the small cabin and unintentionally annoying the spacesick passengers
"My hoof to Luna," said Aurora, moving a hoof from her soft green coated chest to the air above her, "I'm usually not that touchy about what anypony thinks about my job, but I'm nopony's servant, even if he is a prince on an official visit." She squeezed the pouch of mixed fruit juice and teased the floating spheres of red liquid into a large globule in front of her before slurping it up noisily. "The captain had my back though, and the royal ass spent the rest of the trip restrained in his acceleration couch. 'A necessary precaution against space madness,' he called it."
"Space madness?" asked Derpy.
"Oh it's just a catch all term we use for ponies who can't quite accept it up here," said Aurora before grinning deviously, "or somepony who makes our job difficult." She handed the pouch to Derpy and looked on expectantly. "Come on, don't give up."
Derpy nodded and carefully squeezed the remaining juice from the pouch, mimicking the crewmare's motions. "I can see why you love your job," she said as she played with wobbly liquid orbs, "I wish I could claim ground madness on some of the ponies on my old route." She reached out and gently coaxed the juice sphere towards her muzzle. The result was messy but more successful than her previous attempts as evident by the red stained towel floating beside the acceleration bed they hovered above. "A package crosses halfway across the country, but it's obviously the local mailmare's fault that your fabrics are a day late." Derpy rubbed her muzzle into the towel and pushed it back into the netting by the window.
"Better," said Aurora, "so why's a mailmare headed to the moon?"
Derpy looked out the window and shrugged. She reached into her hoofmade mailbag and pulled out a picture album. "My daughter Dinky needs to go to magic school," she said, "and the recruiters made an offer I couldn't refuse." She passed the album to the crewmare.
"Awww," cooed Aurora as she flipped through the pages of photos of a smiling light violet, bordering on grey unicorn filly, "I guess anypony would go to the moon and back for that little cutie."
Derpy smiled at the praise. "She's had some tutoring under Princess Twilight," she said proudly, "but I can't ask her to take her on as a full time student, not with everything she has to do."
"Adorable and smart enough to get the Princess of Harmony's attention," marveled Aurora, "you must be so proud." She reached the end of the album and handed it back to the pegasus. "I guess she's staying with her daddy while you're up here?" she asked without thinking.
"Nah," said Derpy casually, "no such creature. She's staying with a friend."
"Oh," said Aurora with a wince, "I'm sorry, I didn't think..."
"Don't worry about it," said Derpy, "I sure don't." She slipped the album back into her satchel and secured it in the netting. "It's only for a few months, and I'll make enough to pay her way through the first few years of magic school, with enough left over to hold me over while I find proper work."
"Wow," said Aurora, "maybe I'm in the wrong business."
"At least you know what your business is," replied Derpy, "I have no idea why, but they're desperate for Pegasi up there. They said it had something to do with the Lunar produce that everypony's so crazy about. I'm hoping it's just pushing around clouds."
"That makes sense," said Aurora, "we don't have many pegasi passengers... don't know why."
Derpy stretched her wings and gave them a few careful flaps. Her last attempt and the subsequent unintended head butt to the ceiling had taught her to use caution when using her wings. "It's the enclosed spaces," she said, "I have a few friends who would be climbing the walls after the first day aboard this ship."
"You seem remarkably calm," said Aurora, "comfortable even."
Derpy shrugged and folded her wings back to her sides. "Flying was never my strong suit," she said, "half of my days were spent in the sorting room of the Ponyville Post Office. Compared to that sardine can, this ship is as open as Cloudsdale on a sunny day."
A beep from Aurora's ankle interrupted the two mares' conversation. The crewmare raised her hoof and pressed her nose against the flashing metallic bracelet. "Go for Aura," she said. Derpy heard the faint sound of the other side of the conversation from Aurora's earpiece and busied herself by looking out the window to avoid eavesdropping. "Sure thing Cap," she said into the bracelet, "I'll be right up." She grabbed one of the hoof-holds attached to the ceiling and pulled herself into the narrow aisle between beds. "Duty calls," she said to Derpy, "It's been fun talking with you Ditzy. Everypony's usually too grumpy from the nausea to really enjoy a good conversation."
"It's been fun Miss Glow" said Derpy, "It's nice to take my mind off the whole 'not knowing what I'm walking into' thing."
"I told you," said Aurora, "my friends call me Aura."
"Okay, Aura it is," said Derpy, "as long as you call me Derpy."
A burst of static from the cabin's hidden loudspeakers jolted Derpy out of a deep slumber. "All crew prepare for lunar orbital insertion," said the disembodied voice of the captain, "Passengers return to the acceleration beds and fasten your safety harnesses. Crewmare Glow, secure the cabin."
With an audible *whoosh* the narrow door at the rear of the cabin slid open. "Alright everypony," said Aurora as she floated down the narrow aisle between rows of small elevated beds, "make sure you've stowed any personal effects in the webbing provided." She made her way from passenger to passenger, checking each pony's harness and placing the occasional item in the netting beneath the beds. "We'll be orienting the ship for a prolonged retrograde burn," she said, "it won't be as severe as launch, but you wouldn't want to be loose when it happens." She pulled herself to the bed next to Derpy's and smiled at the pegasus as she strapped herself in. "It will take about an hour and a half to complete an orbit," she said, "but we ask that you remain secured in your acceleration beds in case of correction burns. I will remain here if anypony requires assistance." She raised her hoof to her muzzle and pressed on of the gems of her comm bracelet with her free hoof. "Cabin secured Captain," she said, her voice amplified by the speakers in the cabin.
"Roger that," said the stallion through the intercom, "Crewcolt Lifter, is the hold secured?"
"Aye, Cap'n," said a deep male voice, "Cargo is held fast."
"Copy that," said the captain, "burn in thirty seconds." A steady thrumming sound from behind the passenger cabin announced the activation of the the ship's magically powered propulsion system. Soon, the ship twisted around its yaw axis until the engines were pointed in the opposite direction and ready for a retrograde burn.
Derpy looked outside the large window above her and saw that the moon's surface dominated her view. "It's so close," she mumbled.
"We're about 60 leagues above the surface," said Aurora, "somewhere over the left side of the moon, as you'd call it on the ground." She twisted the bracelet on her ankle and pressed a dull purple gem. In unison, the acceleration beds tilted forwards until everypony faced the front of the cabin. "The view will only get better." As if they were punctuating her statement, the engines roared to life, causing the entire ship to vibrate. Several tense minutes passed as the ship shook and steadily decelerated into a stable lunar orbit.
Over the next hour, Derpy chatted with Aurora and stared out the glass at the lunar surface. Even at their altitude, large craters were easily distinguishable from the grey plains of dust. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at an odd, obviously pony-made structure. From their current altitude, it looked little more than a shining metallic cylinder with a large cube on one end.
"I don't know what they're called," said Aurora, but keep your eyes on it." After a few minutes, an soft green aura surrounded the cube. "There are several of them at various spots along the equator," said Aurora. The aura suddenly erupted from the cube and coursed down the length of the cylinder. A dust storm followed the aura's progress until it reached the end of the tube. Derpy squinted and tried to make sense of what she had just witnessed. "We're too far away," said Aurora, "but that magic just propelled a large container towards the Earth."
"Why?" asked Derpy.
"Well how do you think all those lunar products get back to Equestria?" asked Aurora.
"You said that you guys take cargo back..." said Derpy, a little ashamed at her ignorance.
"Oh..." said Aurora, "Well, we do, but I guess most ponies don't know just how much the moon sends back to Equestria. Every day, dozens of those containers are captured by ferries in orbit above the earth. They maneuver them to a space elevator where they are brought down to the ground." She smiled as she stretched her hooves behind her head. "I can't tell you how much more fun these long trips are," she said, "A year of moving those containers around was starting to wear thin." Sighing luxuriously, she turned towards Derpy and continued. "We bring back empty containers and leave with fragile items they wouldn't want to send via Slingshot. At least that's what we think: They're not exactly chatty at the port." Derpy furrowed her brow and cringed at the pain radiating down the left side of her face.
"I'm fine," said the pegasus as Aurora began unbuckling herself to check on her, "just a mild headache."
"Are you sure?" said the concerned crewmare, "There're some motion sickness pills in the medkit."
"I wish you had seen one of my more spectacular crashes," said Derpy, "I was shocked by a stray storm cloud, sent into a complete tailspin, and crashed through the largest oak tree in town. I had two muffins on my way down the stairs."
"Stairs?" asked Aurora.
"The biggest oak tree in Ponyville is Princess Twilight's home," said Derpy, "the morale of the story is that Derpy doesn't get nauseous, and princesses have the best muffins." The engines roared for several seconds, eliciting groans from several of the passengers. "Lightweights," she said as the cabin finished shaking. She looked up in confusion as the craft rolled over and her view of the moon was replaced with the starry backdrop of space.
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it," said Aurora, "looks like the captain's prepared for final descent. Let me know if your head is still hurting. I'll grab you a few aspirin when we touch down."
"Now I don't even get to see where I'll be spending the next few months?" groaned Derpy.
"Don't go all grumpy on me," said Aurora as she fiddled with her bracelet, "It's one of the first stages of space madness." A screen slid down from the ceiling at the front of the cabin. It flickered to life and displayed a blurred lunar landscape as seen from the rear of the ship. "Hold on," said the earth pony mare. As she depressed the flat silver links of her bracelet, the view came into focus and tilted upwards. "There we are," she said loudly, "Selene: Princess Luna's shining city on the moon."
Derpy's gasp joined the chorus of exclamations from the assorted ponies. She agreed with Aurora's brief description: Shining was the only way one could describe Selene at first glance. Grey metal rose from the dusty lunar surface, but whereas the soil was dull and grey, the structures of the city caught the light of the earth and sun and shone like a beacon. It was laid out like a giant wagon wheel, with the spokes made of silvered steel tubes with long ovals of glass at regular interval. In between the spokes rose a bizarre mix of geometric shapes of metal and glass. A monolithic truncated pyramid with assorted antennae and dishes on the flat top sat next to a spire with an onion dome, nearly indistinguishable from one she'd seen in Canterlot. Tall cylinders of steel rose from the ground and towered over smaller delicate latticework clad glass structures. The only unifying element of the seemingly chaotically laid out city was the silvery metal material utilized in every edifice.
Derpy took it all in a single glance, but what truly drew her gaze was a massive semi-hemispheric geodesic dome at the center of the city. The framework of triangular glass panels, each easily as tall as a respectably sized Ponyville cottage, covered at least a square mile of lunar soil. Blinking red lights dotted the dome at regular intervals, as if it were some massive Hearth's Warming Eve ornament. Derpy was sure there was something grand inside, but at this distance, she could only guess. "They built this in three years?" she asked incredulously, her eyes still locked onto the monitor.
"They're still building," said Aurora, "A new building seems to have popped up every time we arrive. The captain says it used to just be the central dome."
"And I'll be working there..." said Derpy, her voice trailing off.
"Maybe," said Aurora, "who knows. It's an awfully big place now, and you haven't even seen the smaller domes scattered around the surface. Selene is the only city, but there are several outposts we fly over." She adjusted the ship's aft camera and brought into focus a large complex of structures on the outer edge of the southernmost "spoke" of the city. A large flat circular platform sat a short distance from several large buildings constructed of the ubiquitous silvery metal. Bright red lights, set in a cross pattern, blinked from the edge of the platform to the center where a stylized onyx black crescent moon was embossed into the surface. Aurora reached into her satchel and pulled out a scrap of paper and a quill, made of all things, metal. "Here," she said, handing the note to Derpy, "if you feel like talking to somepony, this is how you can get in touch with me."
Derpy unfolded the paper and squinted at the seemingly random collection of numbers and characters. "I've seen tons of addresses in my day," she said, "but I think I'll need some help with this one."
Aurora chuckled and retrieved what appeared to be a thin piece of glass from her bag. "They assigned one of these to us on our first trip out," she said, "it's some sort of magical book." She swiped her hoof over the surface and held the device up so Derpy could see the lists of names and similar random series of letters, numbers, and symbols. "These are mostly my crewmates," she said, touching one of the names with the tip of her hoof. "Hey Pathfinder; what's our eta?"
"Look out a damn window Aura," came a gruff female voice, "I'm a little busy here."
"See," said Aurora happily. "It does more of course, but I won't spoil it for you." She tucked the pane of glass away in her satchel just as the engines throttled back up, forcing everypony into the padding of their acceleration beds.
Derpy looked back to the monitor as the circular platform came closer and closer. The camera followed the center of the landing platform until the ship was directly above it. A bright, yellow spotlight in the shape of Celestia's solar sigil switched on, illuminating much of the platform. A loud clunk and whirring sound emanated from below their hooves as the descent engines controlled their slow drop to the lunar surface. The spotlight occasionally became misaligned with crescent moon at the center of the landing zone, but was soon corrected by small maneuvering jets. The sun shaped light steadily shrunk until it covered the very center of the platform. The picture on the monitor was briefly covered with swirling eddies of dust as the Prosperity Ascension touched down. The cabin shook as the craft's landing struts flexed and absorbed the majority of the impact. The monitor remained on, showing only a brilliant yellow sun with a dark black crescent moon superimposed upon it.
"Welcome to Selene," said Aurora to the passengers, "A reminder: Local time is matched to Canterlot Standard Time, which is just a few minutes after noon." She unbuckled herself from the acceleration bed next to Derpy's and flung her satchel over withers. "Feel free to remove your harness and walk around" she said while walking up the aisle with slow deliberate steps. Derpy quickly pulled the buckles and straps from her body and tried to fall to her hooves only to find the world seemingly moving at slow motion. "Careful though," said Aurora, "gravity is much weaker here than on the Earth." Derpy took a few testing steps before nodding and reaching behind her seat to grab her saddle bags.
Derpy walked to the other side of the cabin and looked out the observation window at the complex of silver buildings. She squinted her eyes, ignoring the sharp pain, and spotted the silhouettes of ponies through many of the glass windows. She ignored the protesting grunts and groans of the space sick ponies in the cabin and focused on the slowly telescoping large metal tube moving towards the ship from the nearest building. She silently watched as the cylinder came in contact with the port side of the now grounded craft. The sound of whirring motors and clamps engaging signaled the final connections being made. The lights of the Prosperity Ascension dimmed and then immediately brightened as it began receiving energy from the port's umbilical connections.
"I hope everypony had a pleasant trip," said the stallion from the just opened flight deck door. The flat stares he received from the miserable collection of ponies drew a choked off laugh from the bearded unicorn stallion. "Ahem... well," he said, "I'm sure Crewmare Glow can provide some pharmaceutical relief to anypony who needs it. Aurora, the harbormaster will meet you at the normal place."
"Yes sir, Captain," she said as he returned to the flight deck. "Everypony follow me." She walked through the still open cabin door and operated a mechanical latch on a panel inside the small vestibule between the flight deck and the passenger cabin. Clicks and clanks echoed between the primary and secondary hulls as unseen mechanisms opened the outer hatch. A large portion of the bulkhead swung open from an unseen hinge along the ceiling. Air rushed out of the cabin, sending manes fluttering in the artificial breeze. Standing next to Aurora, Derpy was the first to see the long well lit corridor connecting the ship to the port. Aurora stepped into the walkway and looked over her shoulder at the hesitant pegasus mare. "It's only a few months, right?" she asked. "Come on, think of it as an adventure."
Derpy unceremoniously jumped off the small ledge, forgetting for a moment that, here, her small jump would become a giant leap. Flying through the air, out of control, was a state of being that she had become intimate with, and she knew how it always ended. Unconsciously, her wings flared out and gave a swift flap. Derpy squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for her normal crash landing. "One second and, you're already making a fool of yourself," she thought, "Well done Derpy."
"Well those were some impressive moves," said Aurora, "are you sure this is your first time here?"
Derpy opened her eyes and found herself on all four hooves, her wings still extended to their full span. "Hmm," she said, "I... um... I guess I'm just excited." She followed Aurora as she led the assembled group through the airlock in a comical line of hopping ponies. The boarding tube exited into a large terminal bustling with activity. Everywhere she looked, Derpy saw ponies carrying out whatever it was that Moon Ponies did. Several stout looking earth pony stallions hauled impossibly large boxes towards the high tech gangplank. A cluster of unicorns stood around a strange looking globe set atop a spire two ponylength's tall, their magic funneling into the glowing orb. She looked towards the ceiling but saw no pegasi. Aurora led them through the room, weaving around the working ponies, and giving wide berth to the unicorns and their magics.
"Here we are," said Aurora, pointing to a large set of black tinted glass doors, "Selene customs." She held open the door and counted as her charges filed into the smaller room one at a time. "Seven, eight, nine..." she said before turning back around and spotting Derpy still staring at the bustling port. "It's a lot to take in, I know, but you really need to check in with customs." She walked in front of the pegasus and used her body to steer her towards the door. "Once you get through customs we can have some lunch and talk," said Aurora.
"Okay," said Derpy as she let herself be herded into the office.
"On behalf of Princess Luna, let me be the first to officially welcome you to the Moon," said the unicorn stallion holding out a hoof, "I'm Tally Mark, head of customs and new arrival orientation."
Derpy reached across the desk in the small office and shook the proffered hoof. "Nice to meet you Mr. Mark," she said, "I'm Ditzy Doo."
"Oh I know," said the stallion as he adjusted his expertly tailored jacket and tie, "You're the first Pegasus we've been able to get up here in months." He pulled out another of the strange glass devices and began swiping his hoof across it. "Let me tell you," he said, "It's hard enough finding pegasi willing to come up here, but finding somepony able to pass the strict physical is even harder." He turned around in his swiveling chair and picked up a thin zippered satchel before spinning back to face Derpy. "But when I saw that The Rainbow Dash herself had certified your fitness exams, well, I couldn't believe my eyes."
Derpy nervously wiped her brow, hoping her flop sweat wouldn't be noticed. "Well, Rainbow might have exaggerated a bit," she said, "She said I barely passed." Her left eye twitched, as if trying to give her away.
"Nonsense," said Tally Mark, "her effusive praise was the only recommendation we needed to fast track your application. Nopony else's appraisal of your abilities would best that of a national hero and Wonderbolt." He set the small bag on the desk in front of her and motioned for her to open it. "There's actually a bit of a tussle over who gets to keep the letter she sent. Everypony wants that mare's autograph." Derpy opened the satchel and pulled out one of the glass panes similar to the one Aurora had shown her. "This is a FlimCo Super Magic Info Tablet 7000," said Tally, "I'm contractually obligated to call it that. Everypony calls them slates."
"A crewmare from the ship showed me hers," said Derpy as she experimentally poked the device with a hoof, "It seems very useful."
"All business on the moon is done on these," he said, "you'll pick it up quickly." He took a look at the clock above the door and stood. "Lets get you through the quarantine and I'll personally show you to your quarters in the Serenity Dome."
"Quarantine?" asked Derpy.
"We're very particular about what comes into our environment," said Tally Mark, "A stray bird; an insect; even a tiny bit of pollen could alter our biome in ways we could never predict." He led Derpy through a second door at the back of his small office and down a long white hallway. "The first few seasons of crops suffered until we figured that out," he said. "The decontamination room will take care of anything that we don't want interfering with the colony." Derpy followed him through a thick door that opened on its own accord when they approached. "Take a seat here," said the unicorn, gesturing to steel contraption that resembled a medieval torture device more than a chair. Her wings slipped through holes in the back of the platform and remained unfolded as she rested her appendages on four leg rests. "I'll be on the other side of the glass with our technicians." He continued helping her into the uncomfortable device and spun it around until it faced a glass wall behind which several unicorns in lab coats smiled and waved.
"Is it going to hurt?" asked Derpy as Tally Mark affixed metal restraints around her waist and hooves.
"Not at all," he said, "In fact, several ponies complain that it tickles too much." A knock from the glass wall drew their attention to one of the unicorns on the other side. "They're ready to start," he said, "just relax and we'll have you out of here and on your way in a few minutes."
As the door slid shut behind him, Derpy turned her gaze towards the ceiling and the bizarre opaque globe suspended from the ceiling in a metal wire harness. A thick pastel tinted mist swirled inside the sphere, its color shifting every few seconds. The blare of a claxon could be heard from the hallway as a steadily increasing buzz of magic filled the room. Derpy's eyes shifted back and forth from the device on the ceiling and the window behind which the unicorns worked their magic.
"Alright Miss Doo," said an unfamiliar voice, "First, we're going to remove any stray particles you may have inadvertently brought with you. It might get a little windy, but don't worry, you're perfectly safe." Vents on the ceiling and floor slid open in unison. Loud rhythmic whooshing sounds slowly accelerated as a small draft soon became a full-on gale. "Lift your head for a moment, Miss Doo," said the voice over the roaring wind. Derpy complied and soon her mane whipped out from beneath her head, swirling towards the ceiling. The chair slowly tilted forwards and backwards and rotated from side to side, exposing her wings and tail to the full force of the artificial windstorm. After a minute, the fans finally throttled down and the chair returned to its original position. "Everything alright in there?" asked the voice.
"Yes," said Derpy while trying to blow a few stray strands of mane from her eyes, "it's nowhere near as bad as tornado duty." She didn't add that she had only been invited to assist in creating the colossal water spout once before a rather memorable crash removed her from future consideration.
"I knew it wouldn't be a problem for somepony with your credentials," said Tally Mark, "I told that haughty pegasus that she couldn't possibly know every great flyer in Equestria. What? Yes, yes, by all means continue."
"One last procedure Miss Doo," said one of the unicorn technicians, "Just remain perfectly still while the device above you begins scanning for stray dweomers that might interfere with lunar infrastructure."
"... 'kay," said Derpy, unsure what the bespectacled mare was talking about. "Not sure what that is" she thought to herself, "I really hope somepony helps with the lingo." A loud clunking sound above her drew her attention to the globe of swirling smoke suspended above her head. A deep droning hum at the very limit of her hearing began emanating from the device, sounding not unlike the purring of a large cat. Simultaneously, a weak blue light began filling the globe, bathing the roiling haze in its soft radiance.
"Give me twenty more microjewels," said a voice through the speaker, "Something's pushing the scanner out of alignment."
Derpy moved her eyes towards the window and the ponies beyond. The two unicorn technicians had the look that those of their race had when working on very difficult spells. Each gritted their teeth and furrowed their brows as they seemed to feed their magic into the consoles before them. Derpy found it odd that neither of their magical auras matched the robin's egg blue light emitted by the device they operated, but once again decided it was something beyond her current, admittedly poor, understanding of magic. Tally Mark stood behind the two, his eyebrow raised in a puzzled expression. A sudden change in the light from above her drew her gaze back to the humming sphere. A magenta glow had replaced the calming blue and was flickering as its brightness intensified with each flash.
"Unidentified Dweomer detected," shouted a voice from the loudspeaker, "beginning dispel procedures."
Derpy began lifting her head to get a better look at the ponies in the control room. "Don't move!" shouted Tally Mark. For a split second, she froze in place, either because she was intimidated by the stern command, or terrified of the device above her head. It seemed to be trying to shake itself to pieces inside its housing and the light from inside was too bright to stare at. "That's it," said the unicorn stallion, "now carefully place your head back down." Derpy complied and said a silent prayer to eternal princesses for whatever was happening to come to an end.
"Do it," said Tally Mark to the other two unicorns. They nodded and focused their attention and magic on the devices in front of them.
A beam of magenta energy shot from the bottom of the globe and struck the restrained pegasus in the eyes. Her entire field of vision went white and, for the briefest of moments, the constant dull pain she had felt since visiting Princess Twilight a few days earlier disappeared. Before she could sigh in relief, or wonder why the machine had seemingly gone haywire, a wave of agony washed over the helpless pegasus. She screamed as if her blood was molten fire in her veins. "STOP IT!" she shrieked as she thrashed against her restraints. The blinding pain had the mare nearly insensate as the onslaught of magical energy continued unabated. She did, however, hear a demanding, angry, male voice and terrified pleas from another.
"Just a few seconds more," said an exhausted sounding unicorn, "we've almost got it."
A final pulse of magenta energy surrounded Derpy's head in an aura before the globe of light finally went silent and returned to its docile state. The poor pegasus, however, was still screaming in agony. To Derpy, eons passed before she heard the the sounds of a door sliding open and hooves clattering on the metallic floor. "Get her out of those restraints," said Tally Mark in an annoyed tone. She felt the shackles fall from her hooves and immediately reached for her head. Her hooves pressed against her face trying to somehow lessen the feeling that something was ripping her eyes from their sockets.
"What did you do?!" barked Tally angrily, "so help me, her majesty will hear of this if she's damaged."
"We didn't do anything!" protested the unicorn mare, "we just feed in the instructions and provide the power, the Dispeller does the rest. That was no simple enchantment it removed to have drawn so much power."
Derpy tuned out the accusations and recriminations and wordlessly sobbed into her hooves as the pain slowly ebbed away. Minutes passed before she felt somepony gently pulling her forelegs away from her head. She slowly opened her eyes and saw three concerned faces looking back. Tally Mark sighed in disappointment before turning around. "You two are in so much trouble," he said as he walked out the door, "Clean her up and bring her back to my office."
The two unicorns helped the shaky pegasus back to her hooves and supported her as they made their way to a small washroom. "We're so sorry Miss Doo," said the bespectacled unicorn mare, "nothing like this has ever happened. I promise you we'll find a way to fix this."
Derpy walked to the long row of washbasins and turned on a faucet. "It's not that bad now" she said while running her hooves under the cold water and splashing it onto her face, "just a slight headache. Don't beat yourselves up over it."
"That's fair," said the stallion, "sarcasm is the least we deserve after maiming you."
"Sarcasm?" asked Derpy, "seriously guys, I'm fine." She raised her head and looked into the mirror that spanned the wall in front of the sinks. The familiar wall-eyed pegasus looked back and mirrored her crestfallen expression. The shock of the painful experience, and her lifetime of acclimation to her disorder had made it so that she hardly noticed when half of her vision didn't return. After all, two days of "normal" sight, no matter how memorably painful they were, could never replace two decades plus of experience. "Let's go back to Mr. Mark's office," she said with a sigh, "I think I owe you all an explanation and an apology." The two unicorns looked at each other in confusion and followed as the pegasus slowly walked out of the washroom.
"I just don't know how it all went wrong," said Derpy with her head laying flat on the table, "The princess's spell never hurt like that when she removed it. It was always just a tingling and them my eyes went back to normal. If anything, it felt great compared to how much it hurt to have that spell correcting my vision"
"Why would Princess Twilight put such a painful spell on you?" asked Aurora between bites of a fruit salad, "and why would you agree to it for that matter? Isn't she famous for her magical disasters?."
"She had been working on it ever since she started tutoring Dinky," said Derpy. "I was willing to humor the princess for Dinky's sake. The first few tries were fairly horrific, but she got it to a point where it was bearable for a short duration." She raised her head from the table for the first time since she sat down next to the friendly crewmare, and her only friend for a quarter of a million miles. "Of course she'd never have agreed to keep the spell up this long," she said, "Twilight always insisted on removing it within an hour of casting it. I should probably find a way to tell her that I'm alright: She's probably worried sick by now."
"I'll get word to her next time I'm down the well," said Aurora, "but that still doesn't explain why you would go through all that pain to get here."
Derpy hung her head in shame and stared at the untouched plate of sliced apples, pears, grapes, and strawberries. "I lost my job a few months ago," she said morosely, "one too many lost letters; one too many crashes on what they consider and easy route." She took a bite of what should have been some of the most flavorful fruit in existence, but to her, it might as well have tasted like ash. "The weather patrol wanted nothing to do with me, even with Rainbow Dash acting on my behalf," she said, "and the moving service I worked for laughed in my face when I showed up at their door."
"So you went to the moon for work?" asked Aurora incredulously, "surely there was something closer; say in the Griffin lands?"
"No one who could pay enough for me to get Dinky into magic school for the next three years," said Derpy, "and for only a season's work too." She pushed the plate of food away and cradled her head with her forelegs on the table. "It was worth the pain," she said, "I know they'd never take me if they saw my eyes. I had heard that they turned away somepony for having a missing pinion feather."
"I know you're trying to do your best for your daughter, Derpy," said Aurora, "but they have to be discerning in who they allow to work here." She reached across the table and rubbed the side of the pegasus's hoof. "If somepony makes a mistake out here, the results can be catastrophic. I don't mean to say that you can't do the work, or that you're somehow not as good as anypony else here, but I can see why they would turn you down."
"I know," she said, "but I just thought that as long as I could keep my head down and do what they asked, I could make it the three months with no pony the wiser."
"Well," said Aurora, "at least this all happened now. I'm sure the captain won't mind a passenger for the return flight home."
"They won't let me leave," said Derpy, "in fact, they're still keeping me on."
"Really?" asked the surprised earthpony mare, "that's... very kind of them."
"Kind nothing," said Derpy, "Tally Mark told me to my face that he'd have put me in a cell had they not spent all the bits to get me here in the first place. I'm to work in a 'non-critical facility' until my term is up." She shuddered as she remembered the smile on the stallion's face as he informed her of their decision: She could only describe it as mocking. "They're actually going to keep me at the same pay level for some reason. I signed an amended contract and everything."
"Well then," said Aurora, "no harm then. You still get the bits you need, and you get to work on something that's probably easier and less stressful."
"I just can't help but think that something is off about this whole place" said Derpy, remembering the sense of unease she had felt since making up her mind to come to Selene. "It all seems to good to be true." She pulled out the slate from her satchel and placed it flat on the table in front of her.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," said Aurora as she retrieved her slate, "there're too many ponies here for them to worry about one perfectly capable pegasus. Like I said on the Ascension: I don't think I've seen anypony adjust to this environment better than you have." She moved her hoof over the device and reached over to do the same with Derpy's. "I'll bet that you surprise them all." She surreptitiously reached into Derpy's satchel and retrieved her photo album.
"There's a first time for anything I suppose," said Derpy. "I'm supposed to head over to that big door over there in a few minutes." Without lifting her head, she pointed across the mess hall at a large circular bulkhead where the port was connected to one of the long spokes that connected the various buildings in the lunar colony. "They'll take me to a place called Sin Station where Mr. Mark's secretary is going to meet me."
"Sin?" asked Aurora as she continued working on Derpy's slate, "now that sounds ominous."
"Tally said it was a Sumareian name for their moon god," said Derpy, "totally coincidental, of course."
"Weird," said Aurora as she finished and pushed the slate back under Derpy's gaze. "Here, something to smile at whenever you need it." Derpy looked down at the slate and the smiling face of her daughter. It slowly faded away and was replaced with another photo of the the mother and daughter covered in muffin dough and laughing. The slideshow continued on the background of the screen, eventually drawing out the smile Aurora was hoping for.
"Thank you so much, Aura," said Derpy, reaching across and wrapping her forelegs around the mare's shoulders. "I hope you can meet her when I get back home. I know she'd love to meet a honest to goodness spacepony."
Aurora returned the hug and laughed, momentarily ignoring the beeping and buzzing coming from her bracer. "And I'd love to meet a princess-trained unicorn," she said before releasing the pegasus and standing. "Now you need to get a move on. Time stops for nopony." She stood and walked around the table. "I've got my contact info in your slate," she said, "and I've placed the manual on the front page, right there. Just touch it and give it a read through when you have some spare time." She grabbed her own belongings and looked outside the large glass walls separating the large open port from the vacuum outside, seeing the cargo bay doors of the Prosperity Ascension closing and the last of the empty containers being ferried away on one of the odd trackless lunar trains. "Stay in touch Derpy," she said with a wink, "I want to hear some actual stories about what goes on here next time we talk."
"Count on it, Aura" said Derpy, "have a safe flight back!" She stood and waved to the earth pony mare as Aurora spoke into her bracer and tried to wave back. Once the crewmare was through the boarding tube and out of sight, Derpy took a deep breath and steadily paced towards the transportation hub at the far end of the port. Passing the various port workers going about their duties, she tried to ignore the feeling that eyes were following her as she began what she hoped would be the last leg of her long journey. Her mind seemed to rebel at her every attempt to stay focused on the large doors along the back wall of the complex. Her head swiveled at every strange contraption; every pony seemingly jumping higher than any had a right to; every window to the barren moonscape outside.
"Slate please," said a bored sounding monotone voice. Derpy blinked and looked away from another cluster of unicorns gathered around another strange orb. "You do have a slate don't you?" asked the unicorn stallion again.
"Oh sorry," said Derpy as she reached into her satchel with a wing and produced the device.
His eyebrow arched as he pressed his hoof against the document labeled Transfer Orders: Ditzy Doo. "Ooookay," he said while handing the tablet back to Derpy, "Well, the bad news is that Sin Station is a bit of a long trip. The good news is that you won't need to change Zoom Tubes anywhere."
"Zoom Tubes?" she asked, "is that like a train?"
"In the same way a train is like a wagon," said the unicorn. He sighed before staring forward and reciting the litany that he had been forced to give to every damned newcomer for the last year. "The Zoom-Tube™ is a revolutionary advance in the transportation of both equines and their associated cargo across great distances at speeds unheard of," he stated in a monotone, unenthusiastic tone, "FlimCo invites you to skim across the moon through our FlimCo Zoom-Tubes™ in our fantastic FlimCo FlimSkimmers™."
"Okay," said Derpy, more confused now than before asking.
"Sorry," said the stallion, "they make me say it. The tubes run through Selene and to some of the further off stations, like Sin. You can get all the way across Selene in ten minutes."
"So how long will it take to get to Sin Station?" asked Derpy.
"Three hours, give or take," said the attendant, "I hope you have something kill time with." Before she could respond, the large bulkheads began sliding to the side with a low bass rumble. A slight breeze poured into the tube from the port facility. From further down the long tube, she saw a rapidly approaching object. She took a few hesitant steps away from the attendant as it careened towards the now fully open circular portal. He didn't flinch and passively stood by the low railing in front of what appeared to be a small staircase to nowhere. A strong blue magical aura winked into existence around the object as it hurtled towards the port. Without a sound or vibration, the vehicle swiftly decelerated and came to a precise stop directly in front of the pair of waiting ponies.
As she examined the strange vehicle, Derpy decided that the stallion was correct: Calling this thing a train would be woefully inadequate. It looked like a piece of modern art she'd seen when visiting Manehattan as a youth. A teardrop shaped cabin large enough to fit around a dozen ponies and their assorted cargo comprised the bulk of the skimmer. Spars extended from the top and bottom of the cabin to a large ring that just managed to fit inside the Zoom Tube. She watched as it slowly rotated until it's blunt end was pointing back into the tube. She couldn't imagine how this thing was supposed to actually move. It lacked wheels; it had nothing like the big balloons on the few airships she had seen, yet somehow it seemed to float in the air, with the gleaming white outer ring mere inches away from the tube's metallic walls.
"You're the last newcomer to leave," said the stallion as he led her up the stairs, "so it looks like you'll have the whole Skimmer to yourself." He pressed his hoof to the side of the vehicle and a gull-winged door opened revealing a comfortable interior with padded benches and plenty of room to walk around. The stallion escorted her inside and took her on a quick tour. "Like I said," he began, "it's going to be a long trip. There's a lavatory over here, and a water dispenser here." After getting her settled in a seat, he walked to the door and pressed his own slate into a rectangular receptacle in the wall. "That should do it," he said after removing his tablet, "This 'TL' person will meet you at Sin Station, so just enjoy the ride." He stepped outside and door and reached up to close it.
"Wait!" said Derpy, "Aren't you going to drive this thing?"
"It's all automated," he said, "All traffic is controlled from the Princess's command center inside the Serenity Dome. Just sit back and kick up your hooves." He pulled down on the door and sealed it with a twist of his hoof. Derpy heard several clicks followed by a hiss of air. The stallion gave a wave and walked back down the stairs.
Derpy stared pensively through the windows that ringed the teardrop shaped vehicle as it slowly began gliding forward. Behind the skimmer, the large bulkhead doors slid into place, their massive bulk creating a large clunking sound which caused the vehicle to shake despite it not being in contact with the ground. Vents opened along the the length of the tube's floor and the sound of hissing air preceded a slow acceleration forwards. Derpy gripped the sides of her seat and looked out the side of the passenger compartment. The narrow ring that surrounded the vehicle glowed with a sparkling supernatural blue light that steadily increased in intensity as the skimmer picked up speed.
It wasn't long before she was traveling faster than she had ever thought possible. Even though the windows on the Zoom Tubes were regularly spaced out, at her current speed they appeared to provided a long unbroken view of the skyline of Selene as it zipped past. Nearby small buildings disappeared in a flash while those in the distance steadily crawled across her vision. Windows along the top of the tube allowed her to see the central dome that the vehicle sped towards. The attendant back on the port was true to his word, and it was less than five minutes before the dome completely dominated the sky. She felt the skimmer decelerate and wondered if she'd be able to get a view of whatever was inside that monolithic hemisphere of glass and steel. Blurred shapes of towering structures higher than any in the rest of the colony slowly gained focus as the vehicle approached and came to a stop in the middle of the Zoom Tube.
"Please remain seated while this skimmer is rerouted," chimed an artificial sounding voice over hidden loudspeakers.
Derpy, realizing that she had unconsciously moved to the front windows, quickly trotted back to where she had originally been seated and looked on in frustration as the vehicle rotated ninety degrees. Two more of the massive steel blast doors on the skimmer's left and right slid into place with the loud clang of metal against metal. The door in front opened, revealing the slowly curving path of a circular Zoom Tube that ran along the circumference of the massive dome. The vehicle slightly jerked as it once more accelerated to slightly slower, but still break neck speed. Derpy looked out the left windows, completely mesmerized by the shadowy mega-structures that lay hidden behind the glass walls. It was only a few minutes later when the Skimmer again rotated and left the inner tube for another long straight avenue headed towards the outer perimeter of the colony. Soon, the exotic gleaming structures of Selene gave way to the pristine landscape of the moon. With no way to look at the receding city behind her, Derpy pulled her hind legs underneath her and watched the surreal scenery of the lunar surface fly past.
Derpy reclined on the hillside, bathing herself in the warm sunlight while Dinky played nearby. The filly had found an excitable squirrel and was busy playing a game of hide and seek with the critter. Derpy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and rubbed her hoof over her forehead. "Deja Vu," she thought to herself while standing to stretch her limbs.
"We warned thee," whispered a voice from behind her, "but it appears our warning has been for naught." Derpy spun around to see a faint wisp of blueish light floating at the apex of the hill. Discarding any apprehension due to a faint feeling of familiarity, she cautiously approached the sparkling mote of energy. "You must listen to us very closely, for there isn't much time," said the disembodied voice.
"I know you," said Derpy as she trudged up the hill. Her hoof slipped in the loose soil, nearly sending her tumbling down the extremely steep hill. She looked down at her hooves at the grey, powder-like, dirt and ignored it, choosing to focus instead on the steadily dimming orb of blue light above.
The whispering voice began cutting in and out. Strange crackling sounds filled the space between words. "-you do. Our control over thy dreamscape wavers this-" The wisp began flashing, losing a bit of its radiance with each passing second. "-my student," it tried to say before being interrupted by a long burst of static, "-anyone, especially our visage. Everypony must be-" Derpy scrambled up the seemingly endless hillside until she finally crested the peak and looked out across the expanse of the lunar surface. "-isolated, but it finds ways-" As the pegasus came closer, the entity grew dimmer and dimmer. "-must be separated from control-"
"I don't understand," said Derpy as she lifted a hoof to probe the ball of energy, "who are you and what do you want from me?" Upon touching the apparition, a growing awareness that she was in a dream filled her mind. At the realization, bright light began filling the edges of her vision.
"-collapsing, but heed our warning," said the voice, seemingly trying to muster whatever energy it had left, "Trust nopony save our student." The wisp of blue light winked out of existence just as a Derpy's vision went white.
"Thank you for choosing the FlimCo Zoom-Tube™ network," said the loud recorded mare's voice. "We realize you have few choices in lunar travel, and we're proud to serve everypony at her majesty's request. This message will repeat until all passengers have exited the vehicle. Welcome to Sin Station, the last stop on the FlimCo Western Zoom-Tube™ line. Please gather your belongings and exit the Skimmer through the opened exit. Thank you for choosing the-"
Derpy slowly cracked open her eyelids and pulled her head away from the window she had been resting against for the last two hours. She smacked her lips a couple of times and yawned loudly before swiveling her head around in idle confusion. The droning voice around her finally registered and she hopped to her hooves. After quickly draping her heavy, bulging, panniers over her back, the pegasus cantered across the vehicle's cabin and through the open gull-wing door. As she exited into a narrow, windowless corridor, the Skimmer resealed itself and began rotating. Derpy watched the vehicle until a large blast door slid into place between the corridor and the Zoom-Tube. She turned and looked down the long hallway. Gone was the sterile bright white lights of the port in Selene. In their place were periodically flickering dingy yellow lights in dusty glass globes held in place with rusted metal brackets. The hallway she slowly walked down had a run down look she had not seen anywhere else on her brief time on the moon. Patches of rust, and dents lined the walls along with whitewashed graffiti.
At the end of the corridor was a massive door that appeared more at home in a bank vault. When it failed to swing open for her as every other door had, Derpy tried in vain to push or pull the iron slab open. She looked around in confusion before finding the small intercom next to a faded placard that read, "Press and hold to request access." She pressed the large red button and spoke into the device. "Umm, hello?" she asked tentatively, "Mr. Mark said I was supposed to come here. I'm supposed to meet his secretary here: I'm Ditzy Doo." She removed her hoof and looked back at the door when a muffled metallic thump rang out from the other side. As the heavy blast door slowly swung inwards, air pressure from inside the station slammed it shut again. Derpy stepped back and gave a tentative knock at the metal slab.
Again it slowly swung open. "A little help?" growled a mare's voice from the other side. Derpy pressed her forehooves to the door and pushed while the pony on the other side pulled. After a few seconds of exertion the door finally opened, blasting Derpy with stale, iron scented air and sending her stumbling back into the hallway. She wrinkled her nose as she stumbled back to her hooves. "Sorry about that," said the mare as she tapped the side of the door with a hoof, "the servos need replacing and the mic on the other side is on the fritz." Derpy examined the unicorn mare and took a few steps backwards. The azure coat; the pale blue, almost silver mane; the proud bearing. Derpy knew this mare: Every Ponyvillian knew The Great and Powerful Trixie. Aside from Princess Twilight, few ponies had wreaked more havoc in the small hamlet than Trixie Lulamoon. The princess had said that Trixie's days of megalomania were behind her, and had even welcomed into her tree home on several occasions, but Derpy, like most of the town, was slow to trust somepony who had acted with such malice.
"Well?" asked Trixie over her shoulder, "In or out. Trixie has other things to take care of today." Derpy trotted through the entry just ahead of Trixie slamming it shut. She turned a large wheel shaped handle several times before turning to the pegasus. "Welcome to Sin," said Trixie, "Trixie is the administrator of the workers here. She is nopony's secretary, and if she was, it would not be for that spiteful slimeball." She turned from the door and looked at her newest resident from behind. "Trixie doesn't get it though," she said while walking circles around Derpy, "what's wrong with you? What's the catch?"
"Um..." mumbled Derpy. She was quite intimidated. The unicorn had yet to look her in the eyes, and seemed to regard her with casual disdain.
"Trixie sees two healthy wings and a strong back, and you're definitely better fed than anypony else here," said Trixie, "Tell Trixie, has Tally Mark finally tired of tormenting Trixie?"
Derpy looked at the unicorn mare in confusion. She looked beyond the familiar features and saw the pony for what she was. Emaciated might have been too strong a word to apply to the infamous magician, but not by much. Her face was thin and gaunt, and dominated by her large sunken eyes. The faint outline of ribs lined her chest and her hip bones bulged from her sides. "Well," Derpy began, ready to explain her strabismus.
"Trixie is kidding," interrupted the unicorn, genuine happiness starting to replace the sullen surliness. "Trixie knows Tally is still the same jerk he's always been. Maybe he's just run out of ways to make Trixie's life a living hell, or maybe you're here to take Trixie's job. Either way, follow Trixie, she'll show you what she can." Without waiting for a response, the unicorn trotted past Derpy and towards another of the large doors in the small room. "This is the airlock," she explained, "Since you'll be our only Pegasus, your EBA suit will be housed here in one of the lockers." She stepped to the side wall and operated a latch, revealing a small locker containing a bulky fabric suit and a hard full helmet molded into the shape of a pony's head. This particular suit was obviously meant for a unicorn, as a pointy cone of some clear hard material sat atop the helmet.
"I wasn't given one of those," said Derpy, pointing at the suit.
"You wouldn't have," said Trixie as she closed the locker, "The asses in Selene would never send us a new suit, especially after sending a pegasus." She gave the wheel on the door a slight turn before releasing it. The whir of hidden motors took over and the door slowly opened on its own. "Watch your step," said Trixie, "the condensers are struggling to keep up lately, the floor can get a little wet."
Derpy looked down as she crossed the doorway. The floor, comprised of well worn scuffed iron tiles, was indeed wet with droplets of water, which also explained the layer of rust covering everything. The room was basically a large cube with four exits on each wall. At each corner, a spiral metal stairway led up to a metal walkway where one could look down at the raised platform at the center of the room. "This is the assembly hall," explained Trixie, "It really isn't used for much except when somepony wants to make themselves seem like they're a big shot." She muttered something under her breath at seeing a large collection of ponies gathered around a central dais. "Case in point." Trixie led Derpy around the perimeter of the room giving the excited assembly a wide berth.
"-and I'm telling you," said the unicorn stallion on the dais, "every apple, every carrot, every potato that goes down the well is one taken out of our collective mouth. It's the Earthbound that take our food. I'm sure their precious princesses just love to horde our food. It's all the rage on Equestria from what I hear. They take and take and take, and we get nothing in return. We don't need them. Why would her majesty bring us here if not to escape the abuses of her sister. Let us petition our princess to cease all shipments to the surface."
"What wouldja know about potatoes?" asked the Earth pony mare standing opposite him on the raised platform, "I grew enough of 'em in the hydro bays in one season to feed Selene for a year. They'd hafta fire the Slingshots non-stop just to get my taters down the well. I'm telling ya, despite our troubles in Sin, with all the stations, there ain't a reason any Loonie should be going to sleep on an empty stomach." Several of the ponies on one side of the platform agreed with loud grunts. "We send our food down the tubes, and what we get back ain't near enough. Somepony in Selene is living high off our hard work, and I say we keep what's ours. I ain't gonna say, who, but we all know Luna ain't exactly hard up for a good meal. No more quota shipments until we've got enough to feed us all for the week: That's what I say."
"Don't mind them," said Trixie as the rounded the first corner of the large open room. Shouts from above them drew both ponies' attention. A second crowd leaned over railings hooting and hollering at the two arguing ponies. "Some ponies would rather argue about problem than actually do something about it."
"Is it true?" asked Derpy, "about the food I mean?"
"We live on the freaking moon," said Trixie, "the fact that we're growing crops at all is a Celestial miracle. Sure, we may have a few lean meals here and there, but that doesn't mean we need to act like a bunch of foals fighting over the last cookie in the jar." She led Derpy to the door on the northern side of the room and motioned for the pegasus to walk ahead. "The infirmary is to the south," she said while stepping into the long rust covered hallway, "Security is to the east, don't make them angry. They don't answer to Trixie, and she can't help you if you get on their bad side."
"So Mr. Mark was wasn't exactly clear on what my job would be," said Derpy as their hoofsteps rang out in the cramped metal tunnel. "I get the impression that it's only something a pegasus could do."
Trixie stopped midway through the tunnel and held a hoof to a vent on the wall. "This is one of the air recyclers," said Trixie. She pointed her horn at the slotted vent and probed inside with her magic. "They're supposed to scrub the air clean and remove excess moisture." The pink glow around her horn winked out as she took a step backwards. The unicorn reared up and slammed a hoof against the wall just above the vent. The humming sound of an unseen machine coming back to life gave Trixie reason to briefly smile.
"I'm not really a handymare," said Derpy as she followed Trixie down the remaining half of the the tunnel.
"Trixie has a few capable technicians," said Trixie, "but that would be a waste of your abilities." She pressed the button on the next bulkhead and waited as it swung open. "This is why you're here," she said while stepping through the doorway and into a warm spring day in the countryside. Derpy followed and gawked at the landscape before her.
The small cramped tunnel she had just exited would have made her cozy cottage back in Equestria seem like a palace, but the scale of the room she entered was staggering. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the black sky above. Much like the Serenity Dome in Selene, Sin Station's dome was made of interlocking triangles of glass suspended in a metal frame. Derpy was no good at judging distances, but she figured that the top of the dome was around a thousand feet off the ground. Sunlight streamed through the clear glass and onto the most diverse farm she had ever seen. Directly to her left, she saw several peach trees, their boughs heavy with fruit, but as she followed Trixie down a path, acres of strawberry bushes thrived on the dark brown soil. These few examples of nature's bounty were overwhelmed by acres of dead and dying plants.
"Sin has a few functions," said Trixie, "food production is probably our most important." She pointed at a field of wilted corn stalks and continued. "Obviously, we're not doing so great at that, but Trixie won't take the blame! It's not Trixie's fault that magical weather control is not possible for such a limited area!"
"There aren't any clouds," said Derpy as she tried to recall what little experience she had with the weather patrol.
"That's what Trixie is saying!" said the miffed unicorn. "After Daybreeze was taken away, we had to improvise. At first, Trixie pulled everypony she could off of non-critical work to water the fields by hoof. It was inefficient, but missing our quota wasn't an option." She angled into a field of withered grape vines and kicked a heavy iron pipe full of small punctures. "One of Trixie's engineers scavenged what he could to make a few irrigation pipes to keep some of the more important crops going. The other technicians followed suit. Of course with all these ponies keeping the agridome viable, other tasks went undone."
"The air thingy back in the hallway?" asked Derpy.
"Exactly," said Trixie, "Without regular maintenance, the condensers failed, leaving water uncollected and pooling onto Trixie's once pristine floors." She kicked at a grey rock and sent it skittering across the well worn path they walked down. "Trixie doesn't mean to pressure you, but the sooner we can get you up there pushing clouds, the sooner Trixie can get workers fixing what needs fixing, and the sooner Trixie can get this place livable once again."
"I guess I can handle that," said Derpy. "It's what I was hoping for acutally." She walked beside Trixie in silence as they passed more depressingly sickly plants. A few minutes later, they had crossed the farmland and another bulkhead opened on the side of the dome. The more she had thought on it, the more she was bothered by what Trixie said had happened without a pegasus to help the ponies of Sin Station. "Why wouldn't the princess send help?" she asked after stepping into another long rust red hallway.
"Who knows what goes through the mind of a princess?" asked Trixie with a hint of anger in her voice. "She doesn't deign to speak with us poor farmers. Trixie sends her requests to any number of ponies like Tally Mark, but rarely gets more than a scolding for wasting their 'valuable' time." Derpy read the unicorn's increasingly sour mood and decided against telling her that had it not been for her condition, she wouldn't have been sent to Sin in the first place.
"We're heading underground now," said Trixie as they walked down a ramp, "Everypony's living quarters are down here, mostly in the dormitories. You, luckily, get your own room." As they moved down the wide descending hallway, Derpy saw several side passages which opened into large chambers with rows of bunk beds. Surly looking ponies, mostly large earth pony stallions with grey dust covering them mane to tail, passed the two of them and headed into a one of the barracks. Several muttered rather rude comments, obviously aimed at Trixie, and obviously meant to be heard.
"Second shift must be over in the mines," said Trixie, "yet another group Trixie had to take workers from to keep the dome alive. Trixie doesn't blame them for being angry. It's hard enough work when they're fully staffed. Trixie tries to explain that food is more important than ore, but then again, they have to make quota as well, and that means extra shifts." The floor eventually leveled out and Trixie pointed out a side passage labeled 'Weather Team.' She led Derpy into the smaller hallway and stopped at a rust pitted iron door. "This will be your space," she said while opening the door by manually turning an iron wheel.
Derpy followed her into a rather spartan room. With two ponies inside, it felt extremely cramped. There was a bed and a dresser, both made of dull grey metal, but thankfully free of rust. Her pegasi instincts cried out at the low ceiling and tight quarters, but Derpy just shrugged it off and placed her full saddle bags onto the bed. "The restroom is where?" she asked.
"Follow Trixie," said Trixie as she stepped back into the hallway. Trixie led Derpy one door down to a large room full of shower and toilet stalls. "Facilities here are generally communal by team," she explained, "but as Trixie is talking to the entire Weather Team, it's all yours." She waited in the hallway as Derpy examined her new environs. After a few minutes the pegasus emerged from her room. "Satisfied?" asked Trixie of the smiling mare.
"Very much so," replied Derpy, happy to have the weight of her panniers off of her back. "What's next?"
"Trixie has an ops meeting in a few minutes," said the unicorn, "the other team leads will want to be meeting their savior."
Flam Flash peered through his magnifying glass at the damaged magical diverter on the table. The corrosion on the contacts was likely just the symptom of a deeper problem with the unit, but still, it had to be thoroughly cleaned. He levitated a bottle of solvent along with a felt tipped probe and set to work clearing the rust from the two golden leads. The yammering voices surrounding him distracted the unicorn, causing his control of the tool to waver slightly. He paused and looked at the others from the corner of his eye.
"I don't think I've seen Trixie that happy in months," said Felina, "did she say anything to any of you?" The dark-grey coated unicorn mare's head barely peaked over the average sized table. Flam always admired the mare for not having developed a complex due to her petite stature. Their spheres of influence often overlapped, and Flam was glad for her consistently upbeat attitude, even if he couldn't share it.
"Nay," grunted Digger, "the &#$!ing sheila bounded about like a *&%^ing rabbit before running out the door." He took a deep drink from a battered canteen and belched loudly. "Maybe her precious @#$!ing princess is finally pulling her outta this hell hole." The bulky earth pony stallion would be considered by most to be a fat, loud-mouthed, drunk, and Flam would agree with the description. His brown coat, covered with flecks of grey and black rock, bulged out at the sides from his considerable bulk. He was, however, dependable when it mattered, and was as important as any other pony in the room. He also kept the mining corp from rioting, which was enough for Flam and many others to overlook his obvious flaws.
"Little chance of that," said Amber, "a few things can't be unsaid, and I think Trixie said 'em all." The turquoise colored earth pony mare was dirtier than usual, which was saying something when it came to Sin's head of Agriculture. Aside from these biweekly meetings, Flam's interactions with her were limited to begging the mare to keep her precious soil out of his machinery. Had he more time and resources, he'd have made some sort of clean room for the mare and her farm hands to disinfect after a day working the fields. Plans for a magelectrically charged sweeper to pull dust and a minimally water intensive spray to remove mud began forming in his mind.
"Trixie said what now?" asked Trixie as she entered into the relatively clutter free operations center.
Flam looked up briefly from his work as their nominal leader entered the well lit room. She exuded confidence, even when she looked as sorry as she did the last few months. They all had gone without, even Digger, but Trixie appeared to make going hungry into a competition. He cringed as Trixie dropped her slate on the display table he had spent months renovating and maintaining. He flared his horn and lifted the device along with Digger's dirty hooves and Amber's muddy sun hat off of his masterpiece, depositing each on the rust free floor. This room was his last line of defense against the chaos of dirt, dust, mud and rust outside.
"Trixie @#&!ing well said that Trixie would be here twenty !@#%ing minutes ago," said Digger. "I told my mates I'd be back in time for the shift change. @&!% me, but I'm gonna take !@#$ for being late."
Trixie rolled her eyes at the and waved towards the door behind her. "Trixie profusely apologizes, you fat cider-sack," growled the unicorn, "Did Trixie not say this would be important? Ms. Doo, come show this rock-brained idiot that you were worth the wait!"
Flam blew into the power inverter to remove a particularly large collection of dust, which he quickly surrounded in a magic aura. He reached down, pulled out a pair of tweezers and reached inside to grab a small pebble that didn't want to come loose. Satisfied that the obstructions were clear, he compressed the dirt and rocks into a small pebble and deposited it into a sealed wastebasket. Whoops and cheers from the other ponies in the room went unnoticed by the unicorn stallion as he examined the intricate magical circuits of the device which diverted power all over the moon. He fed a small spark of magic into the machine and watched for the small flash that would indicate a short. Sure enough, his sharp eyes picked out the fault. He reached into his tool-pouch for enough magiflux to solder the break.
"Flam!" shouted Trixie into his ear, "I would think you'd at least be as excited as Digger."
"Hmm?" asked the still focused Flam. He looked up and saw the grey-coated pegasus surrounded by the other three team leaders. "Oh, a new pegasus is it?"
"That's right!" exclaimed Trixie with a satisfied grin across her muzzle, "Trixie promised she'd get us somepony."
"What's wrong with her?" he asked.
"Nothing," said Trixie, "look at those strong wings. I'd say she's healthier than anypony in Sin."
"What's wrong with her eyes Trixie?" asked Flam as he set down the diverter and flipped his magnification monocle off of his right eye. He circled around the table and examined their last best hope to keep Sin Station operational.
Trixie followed him and for the first time looked the pegasus straight in the eyes. It had been a bad habit she carried from her days as a showpony. The audience was supposed to look at her in all her glory, not the other way around. But now, she wondered how she had missed the obvious ocular imperfection. She hadn't even noticed the exuberance of the others waning as she was talking to Flam.
Derpy felt the energy drain the room as quickly as it arrived and correctly diagnosed the cause. She recognized the look the others gave her as one that everypony did when noticing her eyes for the first time. Pity, mixed with apprehension and awkwardness dominated their faces. Trixie, however, saw her and simply collapsed in front of the table, her forehead resting on the smooth cool glass. Derpy pushed past the impossibly large earth pony and knelt beside the crestfallen unicorn. "I was going to tell you Ms. Lulamoon, honest."
Trixie responded by beginning to repetitively raise and drop her head on the display. "Luna damn you, Tally Mark," she said before turning back to the table and dropping her head onto its smooth glass surface once more.
"Lulamoon?" snorted Digger with a laugh. Amber's hoof jabbing the fat earth pony in the ribs shut him up.
Derpy reached out and held the mare's head with her forehooves. "I can do this," she said, "I promise you I can do this."
"That's what Daybreeze said," muttered Trixie before shaking loose from Derpy's grasp and grounding her head once more into the table.
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You, good Sir or Madam, have earned a green thumb for this reference alone.
s6.postimg.org/dd47s96ap/Pirate_Approved.jpg
Ditto. Always nice to see a reference to one of the grandmasters.
Well, this has caught my eye. Let's see where it goes!
I didn't notice any major writing errors and the premise is fairly original, so go for it!
More please! I am loving the premise and the potential! I'm glad I pulled up The Road Not Taken again to see if you had written more.