Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?

by TikiBat

Chapter 49: Arrivals

The week had come and gone faster than Silver had realized, and at long last, the two had been able to make the trip out. Scarlet had managed to get the week off with only a little bit of hassle and the promise that she’d work double shifts for the next week. She hadn’t been thrilled by that caveat and had been more than a little vocal about that on the flight home, but it gave her the chance to get away for the week and spend more time together with Silver. Silver had done his usual routine of taking care of the household chores before leaving, but this time around, he took extra care to make the place as tidy as it could be. The week after they returned would be stressful for Scarlet, and he just wanted to put everything he had into making her time off as good and stress-free as possible.

A sneaky glance her way confirmed that at least she was relaxing now. Silver never pointed this out to her, but she had a very distinct expression that she conveyed when she was stressed out, which had been how he would gauge her mood. This was never really an issue for either of them, but it gave him a good hint at when the best times to treat her to something special were.

The car ride had been about as eventful as it could be for a couple of night ponies, with long stretches of desert dominating the journey, but it would all be over soon.

Silver ran a hoof across the small bag that the two had packed for their trip to the Oasis.

He looked over at Scarlet. “It’s probably a little late to ask if we forgot anything, isn’t it?”

“Probably,” she shrugged. “What did you forget?”

“Phone charger.” he quietly replied.

“What was that?” she pressed on.

Silver looked up, “I forgot the phone charger.”

Scarlet shook her head, “Tsk tsk, guess that means we get a nice quiet weekend with no music then.”

“Sorry,” he sheepishly replied.

Scarlet giggled and pulled him close, “It’s okay, I’m just teasing you. My mom always used to say that if we didn’t have something, then we probably didn’t need it anyways.”

“Fair enough. It just feels… weird, you know? I almost get that panicky feeling I used to get whenever we go out without it.”

“Yeah, I get it. It’s weird because you’re still used to carrying it around, even if you don’t mess around with it as much. We’ll be fine though; everypony we need is like five minutes away from us.

“Good point,” he agreed with her. “I guess it’s kinda a blessing in disguise if you think about it.”

“That we’re not highly glued to our phones anymore?”

“I was gonna say that we’re not high maintenance and need to worry about that stuff as much, but you said it better.”

“That’s the real bright side, isn’t it? Like I used to have to always bring along so much and my telescope. Now I can just cram whatever else I need into that case.”

“Which is great.”

“I hate to interrupt this thrilling conversation,” Marcus glanced at the two night ponies in the mirror, “but we’re coming up on the Oasis now.”

Silver sat up in his seat and looked out the window, catching sight of a few points of lights that must have been some small settlement on the way there. Squinting his eyes slightly, he soon realized that the few points of light that were visible and quickly slowing were clearly the town itself.

“This is it?” Silver asked, astonished.

“Sure is. You weren’t expecting some bright shimmering city in the desert now, were you?” Marcus playfully replied.

“I… Huh, guess I don’t know what I was expecting.” I didn’t think it’d be this dark at night, that’s for sure… he thought to himself.

Scarlet looked up at the bright night sky up above and smiled, “Well I’m a fan already, just look at how clear it is!”

“It’ll make for some great stargazing, that’s for sure…” Silver scooted closer to the driver side window and tried to search for any other signs of activity, but when he found none he just sat back and leaned into Scarlet.

It wasn’t long until the vehicle entered the town proper, and Silver didn’t need a lot of light to tell that what Stanley had said about the place was true. Dusty old buildings that looked on the verge of collapse lined the street, and old vintage mining equipment sat out in the open, as if it had just been abandoned in a hurry.

“Guess we don’t need to go to Knott’s anymore,” Scarlet teased.

“Yeah? This totally has a Calico Ghost Town feel to it, doesn’t it?” Silver agreed.

“I know it looks pretty shabby, but try not to judge a book by it’s cover. This place is a lot more lively during the day.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Silver nodded.

As the van came to a stop, Marcus hit a switch and the door opened up, letting the brisk night air in. Hopping out, they were greeted by Stanley and who Silver could guess was his friend Midnight, who had both just trotted out of one of the only buildings with lights still shining in it’s windows.

“Hey you two!” Stanley excitedly hollered at them. “Have a nice ride down?”

“It was a little long, but Marcus kept us entertained with some of his singing.”

Stanley laughed and looked over at the human, “You actually did that?”

Marcus confidently grinned, “Guess our ride up here rubbed off on me.”

“Not surprising.” He laughed again, “So, should we show you two around or do you wanna go relax for a bit?”

Silver looked over to Scarlet, and then back at Stanley. “If you’ve got a place for us to stay then we might as well stop by to just drop our bag off.”

“Perfect, we’ve got a little guest suite above the old saloon. It’s kind of small, but I don’t think you two will mind.”

“It’s just a place to rest our heads, so I think that’s perfect!” Scarlet cheered.

---

Their tour of the town had been admittedly short, but that was also because there just wasn’t enough around to show off. You had the saloon which acted as the rec center, some old buildings that acted as homes, and then the old town hall which was functionally the administrative offices. Administration was pretty lacking as well, but Silver didn’t have the heart to say that just yet. Left with nothing much else to do, Silver and Scarlet had ventured off on their own, taking their usual night time flight, but this time over the outskirts of town.

The air here felt almost cooler than back home, but Silver couldn’t help but wonder if maybe that was because there was less in the way of the wind. Touching down on the ground, Silver followed Scarlet along to the spot she had scoped out during their flight with the telescope’s case slung across his back. This would have been a painful and exhausting experience if his ribs were still cracked, but thankfully the only reminder of that were the memories he had.

After a short while they had reached their destination, and Scarlet took over with the telescope. It wasn’t a complicated thing to set up, but Silver had already broken it once and didn’t need to break it again. Plus, if he had to be completely honest, he had no real idea what he was doing. None of it really mattered though, because with the speed and efficiency that Scarlet was able to set everything up, Silver figured there was no chance he could ever beat her at it. Astronomy was her special talent after all.

“I’m never going to get over how cute you are when you start getting into this,” he replied.

Scarlet turned towards him, and for a brief moment Silver could almost swear she had actually shown a blush on her face.

“Yeah? Well you wanna make me do all the work or do you wanna come over here and be cute with me?”

Silver paused and pretended to consider this for a moment, before he couldn’t hold back the laugh anymore.

Running over to the telescope, he let her choose the first constellation to view that night. Tonight was going to be a little different however, because above them sat a beautiful spectrum of stars, a sight that took Silver’s breath away.

“You ever see the galaxy this clearly?” Scarlet asked.

Silver could only shake his head no as he looked around, “No, not really.”

“Good, it’s a treat for both of us then. When I was a little girl my dad would take me out to Joshua tree at night so I could go see the stars a lot better.” She tilted her head down towards him, “They say this is one of the best places to see the stars, and that’s kinda why I wanted to come out here so badly.”

“Hey, I can’t blame you. I know how much you love this stuff, and I love hearing you tell me about it.”

The mare idly aimed the telescope around, letting out the most adorable squees as she stopped on something she found interesting. This was always followed by excitedly calling Silver over so he could see some blurry dot in the sky that was supposed to be a distant planet or galaxy or some other celestial body that he had a loose understanding of.

“Do you know how hard it is to get a view this clear? Like I know you know, but it’s seriously hard to get. It’s like everything I ever could have wanted,” Scarlet gushed. “I really really hope they don’t ruin it when they start building everything up, because this would be the perfect place for a little observatory if they have some cash to spare.”

Silver giggled, “This place has won you over that much?”

“Maybe,” she smirked, “depends on if they need an astronomer someday.”

Silver nodded his head slowly and gazed from star to star, “Yeah… It’d be awesome if they could do something like that...” he paused and looked off to the side. A wistful feeling started to creep up inside him as the reality started to break through the optimistic plans.

The mare looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, “Everything okay Silvie? You’re kinda trailing off again.”

“Huh? Oh. Just lost in thought for a moment.”

“Wanna share?” she offered.

“It’s nothing, just me wondering how far they’ll be able to get. I guess I just didn’t know how disorganized everything was here.”

“Mhmm? I guess it is a little… lacking, but it’s not going to be like this forever, right?”

“Hopefully not, but it’s a far way from finished, that’s for sure.”

“Well they just need to get past the first few bumps in the road and then I’m sure they’ll get there.”

“It’s a little more than that I think. They’re spending a lot on stuff that isn’t working out, and they’re probably going to need to hire a lot more. Like engineers, architects, the works.”

“Right… And this is our issue?”

Silver shrugged, “I guess not. I’m just managing some of the books stuff and it’s really starting to stand out now that I’m seeing what this place is actually like. On paper stuff is one thing, but I haven’t actually had a chance to see what their actual progress was like.”

“Mhmm…” She shook her head, “Do you think it’s just growing pains?”

“I don’t know,” Silver admitted. “Stanley and Midnight seemed to think it was, but I don’t think they realize how far behind everything is.”

“I see… Well, maybe you need to be the pony that comes forward and says that then?”

“What do you mean?” he raised an eyebrow.

“You’re seeing things as the outsider, so what if you tried to push them over into the right direction?”

“I… Well, I didn’t really think of that,” he nervously laughed. “I just… I don’t know, wouldn’t that be stepping over lines? I just kind of handle the records stuff, I’m not really the one that gets to call the shots.”

“Then don’t jump right into it. But you could still start small, couldn’t you?”

“Like… work my way up you mean?”

“Sure!” she exclaimed, her voice echoing in the distance. “You’re the one that’s been trying to find a job with no luck, so maybe this is something else you can do.”

“From afar?”

“For now,” she admitted. “I don’t think I’m ready to move out here yet, but maybe in time. Once it grows a little more, you know?”

“So I just make business trips is what you’re saying?” he laughed.

“There’s an idea! Maybe talk with Stanley and Midnight about that. See if they can spot you some cash for a plane ticket every now and again.”

“Flying’s probably a lot better than a long car ride,” he agreed.

“And you could start saving up some frequent flier miles for us,” she stuck out her tongue, “You said you wanted to go take a trip out east sometime right? Maybe we could find a nice beach to lay down on before our little star joins us.” She brushed a hoof across his cheek.

Silver smiled and nuzzled up next to her, “That sounds like a great idea actually.”

“Of course it is, I came up with it after all.”

Silver laughed, “You’re too cute, you know that?”

“Of course I do. You’re not too shabby yourself though.”

Silver wrapped a wing around her and pulled her close, “This really is an amazing place for stargazing, isn’t it?”

She smiled, “It sure is.”

Comments

[The Marvel Horse]

Ah? Administrative issues? Dawn would be needed but maybe not.

And damn son, way to set the night sky with a rose telescope lens for a similarly coloured pony!

[ProgAltRocker]

I've seen what the night sky is like on a moonless sky at sea. The brightest stars and planets leave reflections on the water. The spiral arm of the Milky Way almost perfectly splits the whole sky.