*Friendship Not Included

by Liquid Truth

Underground Space Ponies

She was nothing.

And then, she was something.

She felt it: her mind, slowly forming into consciousness. Her body, forming from a phantom image in her mind into actual limbs she can feel. Her senses, still numbed but definitely there, ready to welcome her to the world.

And then, her senses began . . . booting?

Starting from sight, all she saw was blinding white, even as she felt her eyelids shut tight. Her smell came next, bombarding her with the smell of metal and burnt ash. Her taste buds joined in, giving her a reference of how 'sweet' and 'sour' tasted like. Her hearing came last, and it was—

It was the most deafening sound of a steam whistle.

Twilight Sparkle groggily opened up her eyes, the images from her dreams slowly fading away. It wasn't the first time she dreamt of the seconds she got printed to this world, but it was still odd to relive those seconds again.

The lavender unicorn sat in her bed just as the cycle's start whistle stopped. Scrubbing the lingering drowsiness, she slumped back and took a quick glance at her room. It was small, dominated by the comfortable cloud-filled bed she was sitting on. To her left was a dull yellowish wall with a vent on the top right corner. To her right was a nightstand, on top of which her multitool belt and hat sat and inside of which two pairs of jumpsuits were neatly folded.

She eyed her hat and smiled. It was an odd hat: made of black metal tubes bound together to form a netting, with several lightbulbs prodding out. Many ponies called it a 'thinking hat', which she had no objections to. Some called it a 'silly hat', which she had many objections to and a full scientific journal proving why the term was incorrect.

But, no matter what other's opinions were, she held the hat close to her heart. It was a sign of her brilliance, of her dedication, and her love for the colony. It was given to her as a promotion in her career, from analyzing geographical features of the asteroid such as geysers, natural vents, and terrain, to analyzing astronomical features outside of the colony for further explorations and calculating routes for the spaceship's trajectory.

Noticing that she won't be removing any sleepiness by sitting down, she got up and fell into her routine: make her bed, put on her jumpsuit, strap on her multitool belt, and don her hat.

She turned from her bed to her desk on the other end of the room, on top of which many astronomical charts were strewn about. She eyed the one on the top, the one labeled 'Expedition: Horizons IV' and smiled fondly.

All three previous Horizons Expeditions had been led by the most capable astronaut of the colony, Celestia, which happened to be Twilight's mentor. All of them are projects so large and ambitious, they took at least two hundred cycles to prepare, and the mission itself a few dozen cycles long—most other expeditions would only take at most fifty cycles from planning to launch and decent.

And for that reason, she had overworked herself. She needed to prepare the expedition in less than a hundred and fifty cycles—no, a hundred cycles—to make her mentor proud and to prove to the Colony Manager that she, the youngest astronomer, was worthy of another promotion. A promotion to a Space Cadet.

And, with it, a chance to travel the vastness of space with her beloved mentor.

Her musings were cut short with a ping! from her multitool belt directly to her brain, indicating that she missed bath time. Oh, well, she thought. And, sporting a face of determination, she packed her charts into a saddlebag and opened the door.

She was immediately greeted by a yellow earth pony with orange mane and tail in a light blue jumpsuit, carrying a broom in his hoof. "Good morning, Miss Sparkle! Skippin' bath again, eh?" he said, tipping his blue janitor's hat that read 'Regoville Frontier'.

Twilight frowned. "Unlike a certain somepony, I work in a remarkably sterile environment," she said and, holding her nose, continued, "And, unlike the aforementioned pony, I don't need to take a bath twice a cycle to stay—oh, how do you say it?—odorless."

Stinky guffawed. "Right in the name, eh? Well, Good cycle to you!"

Twilight grumbled and stepped aside, letting him into her room. Every cycle, the same banter. Every cycle, she never succeeded in making him take the hint that she hated the interaction.

She shook her head and looked left. The sight was a familiar one: an aisle with rows and rows of doors, the first dozen of which led to bedrooms, while the others led to a workspace or storage of some kind. The aisle was wide enough for three ponies to fit side-by-side comfortably, allowing the Duplicants—that is, the ponies—to run in two directions without bumping to one another in case of an emergency. At the end of the aisle, almost a hundred meters away, she could see, just barely, the red light of the elevator leading to the surface—her destination.

Now, while right next to her bedroom was the stairs, they led to the solar panels, not the surface. The less bright of the Duplicants sometimes asked why the surface was so inaccessible, while the more knowledgeable ones would answer, 'So you won't go there and suffocate to death.'

Twilight walked with confidence and determination toward her destination. Along the way, she was occasionally greeted by other Dupes, mostly those also from floor 420. Luckily, most of them were electrical engineers that maintained the solar panels, and so was always in a hurry, only giving her a smile and a nod which she ignored.

Unluckily, she could never fill the previous sentence with 'all of them'.

"Hey, Twilight!"

Twilight grunted in annoyance as a blue unicorn easily caught up from behind. The mare was wearing a beige helmet with a gear symbol in its forehead, her blue horn protruding from underneath, indicating to Twilight's fear that she was, indeed, the floor's sole mechatronics engineer and the only one who always had time for small talk: Minuette.

Minuette gave her a mocking pout. "Aww, why the long face, Twi?"

Twilight grunted. "The lack of your absence, apparently."

As everypony else did, Minuette laughed. "Oh, you silly mare! Never cease to amuse me." She wiped a tear and continued, "Anyhow, are you by chance going to the surface?"

Twilight immediately perked up, her frown turned upside down and said in a cheerful voice, "Oh, of course not! Who would go up there every cycle, taking the same route, meeting the same friendly engineer, and asked the same question every time? Oh, wait, that's right—" she frowned "—Twilight Sparkle."

Minuette giggled and held a hoof to her muzzle while pointing her other at Twilight. "Hey, that's you!" She let out a hearty laugh despite Twilight's visible annoyance. "Oh, Twily!

"Anyway, conveyer belt #47 apparently overheated somewhere on the surface. I was going to fix it myself, but then thought, 'Hey, since that astrophysicist—"

"Astronomer"

"—walks so slow—"

"It's not my fault I'm anemic!"

"—she could definitely stop by and fix it, right?'"

While Minuette was right about her being more than capable to fix some glorified soulless courier, the anemic astronomer wasn't amused by her knowledge and leveled a stare. "And why would I, a functioning part of this colony that actually worked, take a task assigned to a piece of walking furniture that occasionally screws some loose bolt?"

Minuette hummed. After a while, she said, "I'll make you coffee tomorrow morning."

Twilight opened her mouth, then, as a thought hit her, shut it back. The only black coffee in fifty floors.

". . . Tonight. And make it extra strong."

Minuette grinned and extended a hoof. "Espresso, tonight. Deal!"

Twilight ignored the hoof and continued walking. As she did, Minuette trotted ahead of her, leaving her behind and headed for the other flight of stairs.

---

The elevator bell chimed as she reached the topmost floor. As the door opened, she was greeted by a row of a dozen spacesuits hanging in their docks and a spacesuit checkpoint, reminding ponies to wear them before passing through.

With practiced ease, Twilight got into one and disconnected it from its dock. Taking the first step, she staggered, but then rightened herself up just as quickly. The second step and third quickly followed and soon Twilight was walking, albeit a lot more slowly, to the airlock doors at the end of the room.

The door beeped once and automatically opened, letting her inside the pressure chamber. Once she's in, the door slammed shut behind her, followed by the sound of gas pumps vacuuming out the chamber.

Halfway through, her suit began pressurizing itself and pumped out oxygen to her helmet and body. Her head felt like it would burst and her ears popped, so she began swallowing air until she could hear again without feeling trippy.

After two full minutes, the pressurization for her suit and the chamber stopped, and at almost the same time her body began adjusting to the air pressure. She breathed a sigh of relief; even after a hundred times doing that, it only got slightly more tolerable.

Above her, something clicked and the automated grid began opening the bunker doors in front of her, three times as big as the airlocks behind her and took a moment longer to open.

And it was scientifically correct, for a moment is by definition a fortieth of an hour.

After the scientifically correct moment had passed, Twilight began the slow and heavy walk toward the observatory in the distance.

Author's Note:

A moment = 90 seconds (averagely)

Comments

[penguincascadia]

Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

[WorldWalker128]

Off to a good start, sure 'nough!

[The Original Gaston]

Looks like the manager of this colony actually knows what he/she is doing.

Unlike me, who has Yellow Alert running half the time 'cause the Poop Water chamber keeps leaking...

[Lexiebommel10]

Im so proud of myself
I could math 40th of an hour in my head

Also twilights a pretty big misanthrope misequinope?

[PonyDragon]

Minuette gave her a mocking pout. "Aww, why the long face, Twi?"
Twilight grunted. "The lack of your absence, apparently."

What a great way to start an conversation.

As the door opened, she was greeted by a row of a dozen spacesuits hanging in their docks and a spacesuit checkpoint, reminding ponies to wear them before passing through.

Yeah, because if you forget to put one of those on before walking out you will have a Bad Day.

9828373

misanthrope misequinope

Heh.

[Blaze rod]

ONI but scientifically accurate? What is this madness?

[Sylica telca]

Gonna reread cuz I'm bored