Repair Attempts

by milesprower06

Apogee Abroad, Part I

By the time the last train due east for the night out of Las Pegasus Station began to pull out just before midnight, Apogee had already stowed her saddlebags, and was fast asleep in her small roomette aboard the second car. When she awoke the next day, she felt the morning sun warming her face through the window. She sat up, looked outside her window, and her eyes widened at the rolling hills of forests and prairie that stretched on for as far as the eye could see. Her dad had taken her as far east as Appleloosa for summer vacation one year, but other than the town's apple orchard, it had still been more of the same rocky, desert scenery that she saw in Las Pegasus, and that was when she got out of the city, which admittedly wasn't often.

This, however... She had never seen so much green in her life, and it was breathtaking.

"Next stop, Ponyville Station. Ponyville Station, next stop, ten minutes! Ponyville Station, ten minutes!" She heard the conductor's slightly muffled voice move through the corridor outside. She jumped off of the bed, stretched her wings, leaned down to reach underneath, and came out with her saddlebags, before strapping them on securely. Rather than rush out and mingle with other travelers waiting to get off, she was content to sit on the bed and look out at the scenery as she nibbled on a chocolate-covered granola bar for breakfast.

After the train crested the next hill, she felt the train start to slow, and saw buildings begin to come into view. Tossing the granola wrapper into the small trash can next to the small sink, she unlocked the door and slid it open. By the time she made her way down the corridor, she heard the train brakes hiss as it finally came to a complete stop, and the doors opened to the platform.

"This stop, Ponyville Station. Next stop is Canterlot Station in 90 minutes."

That was the last announcement she heard from the conductor as she took in the rustic-looking boarding platform. About a dozen other passengers had disembarked with her and went on their way, a few of them stopping at a small magazine rack. Apogee walked over, and seeing the 'FREE - TAKE ONE' sign, helped herself to one of the small booklets.

PONYVILLE SUMMER DAYS
Tourism Guide

The cover was an aerial shot of the town. Nearly all of the buildings were of the same thatched-roof cottage design, save for a few landmarks, like the large pavilion in the center of town, and the crystal-like castle all the way in back. Stepping off of the platform and finding the closest bench, she flipped open the cover and read the introductory page.

---

Greetings, traveler, and welcome to Ponyville!

This year, our fair town in central Equestria is celebrating our Diamond (75th) Anniversary, and whether you've come to see the town founder's Sweet Apple Acres apple orchard, or one of the newer landmarks such as Princess Twilight Sparkle's Castle of Friendship, we're thrilled to have you here, and we hope your visit is one to remember. The following pages detail all the sights and things to do in and around our town.

---

Ever since stepping off of the train, Apogee felt so out of her element. Gone were the sounds of the city. There were no planes to be seen anywhere on the horizon, though she did see one leg-powered helicopter fly overhead, and she rolled her eyes in disgust as she turned to the next page.

---

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
Ponyville was founded 75 years ago as a family of farmers attracted settlers from far and wide from the sales of a homemade jam. After the Apple Family staked their claim from the land granted to them by Princess Celestia of Canterlot, the center of town was marked a half-mile from the already present railroad, just off the bank of the Canterlot River, which runs through the town, and is our primary source of freshwater. Unlike nearby locales like Cloudsdale, with an understandably exclusive pegasi population, and Canterlot which is populated heavily by unicorns, Ponyville prides itself on being home to all manner of ponies hailing from all three races.

The towering mountain where the millennium-old Equestrian capitol of Canterlot is built into, can be seen from almost anywhere in town.

LANDMARKS

THE CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP
Magically created last year by the Elements of Harmony, the Castle of Friendship is the home of Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, and it has marked Ponyville as her de facto kingdom's capitol. Since its sudden appearance, it has overtaken Town Hall as the tallest structure in Ponyville. Free public tours are available on Saturdays, pending Princess Twilight's availability.

---

Getting up from the bench, Apogee turned to the very last page, the map of the town, to get her bearings, figuring she'd make the castle her first stop.

When she had stumbled upon the Elements of Harmony Reference Guide at the library yesterday, at first she was intrigued, then that had quickly turned into fascination. Both her mom and dad had science backgrounds, and they treated the old Celestia's tales with high amounts of skepticism. As she got deeper into the book, she decided that if she was going to continue to try and figure out how to help her family, she wasn't going to approach it scientifically. In just several hours of reading yesterday, she was able to easily separate the information into two categories; near-mythical lore that was more than a millennium old, and the revised content, which was only years old at most, and almost all of it was centered around this town and the surrounding area, and she wanted to see it firsthoof.

Finding her way to the castle almost didn't require use of the guide's map; next to Canterlot and the mountain it rested on, the Castle of Friendship was probably the easiest thing to see no matter where you were in town. It was a ten minute walk through the center of town, and coming up to it made her feel incredibly tiny.

The first thing she noticed was that the castle did not at all reflect its rustic surroundings; it resembled a large, crystalline tree. Off to the right, built into the nearby hillside, was an entirely separate building that she hadn't seen in the guidebook yet.

A single, wide flight of stairs led up to the giant double doors that served as the front entrance. There were a pair of armored guards out in front, one at the top of the stairs by the doors, and another on the dirt path in front of the stairs. Taking a deep breath, Apogee approached the guard at the stairs.

"Um, hi there." She greeted.

"Hello there, little filly. What brings you to the Castle of Friendship?" The orchid unicorn asked in an authoritative, but welcoming tone.

Apogee's uncertain facial expression momentarily deadpanned.

"First off, I'm eighteen. And, uh, I'm not sure how often you get this, but, how do I meet the princess?" She asked, looking up at the unicorn mare.

"Oh, Princess Twilight is holding a lecture right now, but it's not too difficult, though there may be a little bit of waiting involved." She replied, looking back at the guard at the top of the stairs. "Hey Thunderlane, could you go find Spike? Tell him to bring Princess Twilight's visitation schedule."

The charcoal pegasus gave a crisp salute and headed inside.

"So you visiting? I haven't seen you around before." The guard asked.

"Yeah, I'm from Las Pegasus. I start college in the fall, so I'm getting away for a few days."

The large doors cracked open again, and the armored pegasus returned to his post, with a small purple dragon coming out behind him before the doors shut again.

"Morning, Major Fizzlepop. You rang?" He greeted, skipping down the stairs to her side, a rolled scroll in his right claw.

"This young mare is interested in an audience with Princess Twilight. What's her next available opening?" She asked the dragon.

"Hm," the dragon mused as he unfurled the scroll, going down the list. "Well, things are pretty busy this week with finals before school lets out for the year... I think she has a half-hour free early Saturday afternoon after the tour. Can you wait until then?" He asked.

Apogee nodded. It was Thursday morning, and two days wasn't that long of a wait. "Just as well, I think I'd like to go on that tour."

"Your name?" Spike asked?

"Apogee."

"And may I ask what is this in regards to?" Spike asked, filling in the spaces on the scroll.

"Um, friendship?" Apogee replied. What else would she see the Princess of Friendship about?

"Right..." Spike replied. "Well, if you're visiting, there's certainly no shortage of things to do to kill the time. I've got you down, and I hope to see you on Saturday for the tour!"

Apogee nodded and smiled at the dragon and guard before he turned to head back inside, and the pegasus got the tour guide back out as she turned back towards town.

What to do first?

Comments

[A Predatorial Horse]

Great... Apogee is having trouble at home. In her dissatisfaction with her family life, she goes looking for answers. In doing so she turns to a groups that teaches that their members raise the sun and moon and preach love and tolerance towards all beings. Sounds like a cult.

[PerigeeTheBat]

9630245
Beautiful words here

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Well, can't blame her for getting the Pony version of religious. Interesting chapter.