Dreamers and the Moon

by Krixwell

Prototype

“Are you sure this thing is safe?”

Enterprise flashed a wide grin as she put on her helmet. “How would I be sure when we haven't tested it yet, silly? But yeah, I think it should work alright.”

“You… think,” Moon Dream repeated cautiously. She watched her friend run around the strange vehicle, fussing with last-minute details. “But what if it doesn't?”

Enterprise peeked out from behind a large metal wing, giving Moon Dream a flat look. Moon Dream felt a tingling sensation wrap around the ends of her wings, a green glow gently unfolding them.

“You'll be fine,” the yellow unicorn stated, letting the glow vanish from her horn.

Moon Dream liked flying almost as much as any other pegasus, even if her slightly bent wings made it difficult for her, but there was a big difference between flying by your own power and trusting a large hunk of metal to stay airborne. Besides…

“What if I can't get out? Or a piece comes loose and knocks one or both of us unconscious? Or--” Before Moon Dream knew it, Enterprise was gently covering her mouth with a hoof.

“That's not going to happen, Moon Dream,” Enterprise said in a calm, reassuring voice, her enthusiasm making way for kindness. “We'll be fine. You'll be fine. But you know, if you don't want to do this with me, that's okay. I can ask Cherry Berry to come instead.”

Moon Dream took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “...no, it's okay. I'm okay. Let's do this thing.”

Enterprise’s excitement resurfaced as abruptly as it had gone. She quickly finished her last-minute adjustments - at least, Moon Dream hoped she finished - before telekinetically lifted herself into the vehicle’s pilot seat.

The vehicle itself, Moon Dream knew, was a wide metal tube, about fifteen feet long, mounted on wheels from a pair of old shopping carts. Attached on either side of the tube were two large “wings” - plates of metal shaped vaguely like pegasus feathers. She had helped Enterprise recruit pegasi that would let her study their wings, and the determined unicorn had done everything she could to make the vehicle’s wings match theirs.

At the back of the vehicle, Enterprise had attached a part that looked like the bottom of a firework, but much bigger. Moon Dream didn't know where Enterprise had managed to scavenge that from. Did she make it from scratch, maybe?

Moon Dream flew the short distance up to the tube’s top and sat down in the hole Enterprise had called a passenger seat, fastening the makeshift seatbelt.

“Don't forget your helmet!” Enterprise said cheerfully.

“Right,” Moon Dream replied, obliging.

She had barely fastened the helmet before she noticed the vehicle moving forwards, slowly… not so slowly… not slowly at all… very much not slowly! If they kept going like this they were going to crash into the trees where the field they were on met the forest!

“Enterprise!” she shouted, the volume as much out of panic as out of concern that Enterprise wouldn't hear her over the noise of the firework device.

Enterprise didn't turn her head, but Moon Dream could tell she was grinning. “What?!”

“You need to stop!!”

“But we're just getting to the fun part!” Enterprise flicked a lever in front of her. To Moon Dream’s horror, it was not the “stop” lever. Instead, the vehicle's large metal wings began to move upwards. Then they came back down. It's flapping, she realized. How did she build that?

And then they rose.

“WOO-HOO!” Enterprise exclaimed as they flew over the treetops.

“AAAHHHHH!!!” was Moon Dream’s eloquent reply.

~ * ~

Flying like this was a completely different experience from flying by her own power, Moon Dream found. Once she got over the initial panic, it was actually somewhat relaxing, soaring through the sky at such high speeds without wearing out her wings or having to constantly adjust her balance.

The relief didn't last, though. Since this was the first flight test of the prototype, Enterprise had planned for the trip to only cover a short distance. Moon Dream felt a tinge of disappointment when she spotted their destination, the road outside a local rock farm.

“Hey, Moon Dream?!” came a calm shout from the front as the vehicle went in for a landing.

“Yeah?!”

“There might be a teensy issue!”

Moon Dream’s heart dropped into her stomach. “What?!”

“We kinda sorta lost our front wheels in the treetops back there!”

“We did WHAT?!”

~ * ~

A few minutes and some bruises later, Enterprise and Moon Dream were walking along the road, pulling a borrowed cart loaded with scrap metal.

“Well, that was fun,” Enterprise said. “Shame about the prototype, though.”

Moon Dream didn't answer. For Celestia’s sake, she could've said something before we were landing!

Her friend continued, “But hey, it was a success! Although the landing could use a little work.”

Right then, Moon Dream really wanted to be angry at the unicorn, but then Enterprise did the unforgivable: She giggled.

And before they knew it, the two friends were laughing up a storm as they walked towards home.

Author's Note:

Would you believe that I named this snippet "Prototype" before I realized that the snippet itself is essentially a prototype for the writing of these characters?