Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
The large group of ponies and one dragon rematerialized in a large chamber, and Sunset quickly shook her head. When she had recovered from the disorientation of being instantly transported some million miles, she looked around and stared in awe, catching the sight of a tapestry orbiting the room in a lazy orbit.
"This is the central chamber of the Lux Aeternam," Luna said. "Our chief government building. It is where our Directors meet, and I expect most of them should be here any-"
The door opened, and a grayish-white mare with a mix of gray and purple stripes hurried in.
"Minute," Luna concluded in an almost resigned tone. "Hello, Director Velvet."
"Head Director," the unicorn returned. Then she hurried over to Twilight and Shining Armor. "Are you both all right?" she asked.
"Mom!" Twilight sounded embarrassed. "We're fine. All of us."
For a moment, the older mare seemed taken aback, then looked around as if she were noticing the other ponies in the room for the first time. "Oh." Straightening herself, she turned back to Twilight. "I didn't know you were bringing company home," she said.
Twilight nodded. "These are our new friends," she said, beckoning to Sunset and the others.
"Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said, and the others introduced themselves in turn.
"They are here to visit for a few days," Luna said. "And speaking of which, I believe a few of your fellows are supposed to be meeting us here, so they can accompany me back down to Equestria."
Director Velvet nodded. "Twilight, Vinyl, Shiny, why don't you bring your new friends and come with me?" she asked. "It is rare that my daughter brings home new friends but I am not going to complain."
"If only Shiner here could bring his fillyfriend in," Vinyl snarked with Velvet's ears perking up before she gave her son a very eager look with Shining shooting Vinyl a glare.
"Oh?" she said, peering at him. "You found somepony special?"
Shining Armor began to open his mouth before Vinyl chimed in. "And of course, your colt here shoots for the brass ring; netting himself a princess."
"Vinyl," Shining Armor hissed, before turning back to his mother. "To be fair, I didn't know she was a princess when we first met. Anyway, she had to stay back in Equestria for now, work related to our two nations reconnecting."
"Now I wish I did volunteer to go to the surface," Velvet pouted.
"Hey, don't worry," Sunset spoke up. "Cadance and I are good friends, I can tell you all about her."
"Oh, there is another princess?" Velvet sighed and moved to pat Shining on the shoulder before hesitating. "Thank the stars; for a moment, I thought you meant Princess Celestia. Not that there is anything wrong with being with her but I do think you would be better with someone near your own age." She gave Luna an apologetic look. "No offense."
"None taken," Luna said. "To be honest, I would find it a little odd myself. But my niece and your son are rather closer in age, and have clicked rather well."
"Anyway." Shining Armor gave them all firm looks. "I think Director Luna has some other duties to take care of, and we do have a scheduled medical check to do before we can go out. Not that any of us had anything happen to us, but it is standard procedure."
"Of course." Luna nodded. "Everypony, and Spike, I will meet with you all again later."
All present nodded, and then let Velvet and Shining Armor lead the way as they headed into what looked, to Sunset, like a well-established hospital wing, intended for quick use in case of any accidents or minor incidents on the premises.
One by one, each of them submitted to let a team of ponies pass strange devices over their bodies - medical scanners, Twilight explained - to check for any problems. The medical ponies present "Hmm"ed and "Ah"ed a few times, but in the end pronounced them all well and healthy, with no issues or extraneous lifeforms (Sunset recalled Pinkie wanting to bring her pet alligator along, but Luna had politely asked that she leave the reptile home this time), and permitting them to move along.
Once Twilight had run back and recovered a small device from Luna's office, tossing another to Vinyl, they set out and got their first look of the city outside.
"Wow," Sunset said in a hushed tone. "This is... amazing!" There were statues and gardens as far as she could see, with buildings off to the distance but they were not what she was looking at. It was the stars visible beyond the glass that offered a view of them that she had never experienced before. Turning her head, Sunset looked at Twilight to see she was haloed by a star constellation and found herself suddenly at a loss for words. "It's so..."
"Normal," Applejack offered, looking in awe. "'cept for them spiral buildings off to the distance, this looks like a slice from home."
"Excuse me," a mare, with a trio of ponies following behind her, said as she trotted up to them, her eyes bright with wonder. "You are the group from the surface, correct?"
"We are," Sunset said, looking at Twilight for reassurance. "Can we help you miss?"
"Steady Notes, Director of Recordkeeping, miss..."
"Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said. "And these are my friends."
One by one, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Octavia all introduced themselves, before Applejack stepped forward.
"Ah'm Applejack, ma'am," she said with the mare blinking in surprise.
"Of the Apple Clan?" she asked cautiously.
"Sure am," Applejack said. "You know of us up here?" she asked curiously.
"Well in a manner of speaking, yes, but this is fantastic news," she said excitedly as a shining wall appeared from the same odd-looking device that every Lunar pony seemed to be wearing, and which Sunset realized must have been a computer of some kind, though more advanced than she'd have expected if it included a holographic projector. "Part of a project I am conducting now that we are in contact with Equestria is what my department is calling the great family reunion." She had been pushing different shapes on the floating wall before she paused and looked at Applejack. "As you are aware, during the Night of Departure, many ponies had decided to leave their homes and family behind. Along with keeping records of everything that has occurred in the Republic, we have kept meticulous family records so that, hopefully," she said as she finished typing out on the floating keyboard and had a new screen appear with a pony's face appearing in it. "We can reunite the broken families. Applejack, may I introduce you to Braeburn."
"Whoo." Applejack blinked in surprise. "Ah knew we had family all over Equestria," she said. "Ah didn't know we had any up here too!" She grinned. "Granny Smith'll be pleased as punch to hear about this."
"She won't be the only one, Applejack," the stallion said, tipping his hat towards her. "Mah folks will be thrilled to hear we've got family visitin' at long last."
Applejack just about jumped out of her fur. "Great hoppin' horny toads!" she exclaimed.
Director Notes was about to say something, when Twilight stepped up. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you," she said. "We have really advanced technology up here for communicating. With what we have, you could talk face to face with somepony on the other side of the dome with no lag time."
Applejack scratched her head, looking sheepish. "Well don't that beat all." She turned back to the screen, looking apologetic. "Sorry about that," she said. "Ah've never experienced this kind of thing before; really surprised me there. But it's still great to meet ya, cuz."
"Same here, Applejack!" Braeburn replied. "Ah still got a couple of hours left ta work, but once Ah'm done, Ah hope Ah can go get ya to meet the rest of our kin up here."
"Ah look forward to it," Applejack said with a grin.
Once they'd said their goodbyes and the communication link was shut off, Director Notes looked at the rest. "If I can find any family for the rest of you up here, I'll be sure to keep you informed," she said. "I would just need records of your family's past, or barring, records from Equestria so we can go off of them to bring more families together. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go see if I can get Braeburn off work earlier for you two to meet up."
"If'n he's got important stuff to take care of, Ah can wait a few more hours," Applejack said. "Ah know all about the importance of keepin' things up on the farm back home in a timely manner."
Director Notes nodded understandingly. "Very well," she said.
When she'd moved on, Sunset turned to Twilight. "When you talked about having a more modern system up here, you weren't kidding," she said.
"Yeah..." Twilight blushed. "To be honest, from what I could see, our tech level is way ahead of what you had in Ponyville. But your magic varieties and development are far more advanced than ours."
"Well, you girls can talk shop while we walk," Velvet said, flashing them a knowing smile for some reason. "There is more to the moon than just the Primus dome."
"The... Primus dome?" Rainbow Dash asked in confusion.
"This was the first dome built on the moon," Twilight said. "Each of the six has its own special purpose - this dome houses our center of government."
"Following that logic, there are the secondus, tertius, quārtus, quīntus and sextus, right?" Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded with a smile on her face as her mom led her onto a strange looking hexagonal platform. "The Secondus has the headquarters for our Energy department. Tertius is the residential dome - we have housing in all other domes too, but that's where the Department of Housing has its offices. Quartus is where our agricultural department is based, Quintus is where the Resources department has its offices, and Sextus is for the Science department - that's actually where I work. The other six departments have their own locales, but the Directors of those six are also the chief representatives of their Dome."
"I have a bit of a question about your Directors, if that is okay," Sunset asked before shifting to brace herself as the platform started to move, prompting surprised noises from some of the seven Equestrians, including a nervous squeak from Fluttershy and a delighted "Wheee!" from Pinkie. Rainbow Dash looked just as excited, though she didn't voice it, and Octavia merely raised her eyebrow.
Continuing her question, Sunset asked, "How do they get their positions?"
"It's an elected position," Velvet said. "Though only those who prove themselves qualified for the job first can run. We prioritize ability over politicking or popularity."
"Including Luna?" Sunset asked.
Velvet nodded. "Though technically she doesn't have to work too hard at that, since nopony's ever tried to run against her. Most of us couldn't imagine anypony other than an alicorn in the position." She chuckled. "Not to say Luna hasn't tried to leave her position in the past, but she has been unable to do so. Part of our founding laws required everypony to do their best due to the necessity of the situation requiring it, including having those most qualified lead us. As it was, every time Luna has tried to step down, no one stepped up to prove they were as qualified as her, so she got the position back by default."
"And as it would require an unanimous vote to change the law, barring the one who suggested it, Luna has remained in her position for all this time," Twilight added, though she seemed to be holding something back.
"Sounds like we could use some of that down in Canterlot," Sunset muttered. "There are way too many of the nobles who feel they can get what they want by just throwing money around at their supporters."
"Well, that is literally not possible up here," Velvet said as she stood at what had to be the controls for this hoverpad. "We don't have a currency system up here."
"Because of how your nation was founded, right ma'am?" Octavia asked.
"Exactly," Velvet said. "We didn't even think about having a treasury department when we first set things up; we were too focused on survival. By the time such a thing occurred to anypony, it was decided it wasn't necessary and it was found slightly insulting to suddenly bring a thing like money back into the equation of our everyday lives."
"Then how can you get stuff from other ponies if you don't have a way to pay for it?" Rarity asked. "I am willing to give to others when it is needed, but I do require some funding to be able to pay for upkeep of my home and business."
"We do work on a barter system, mostly," Velvet answered as she took them closer to one of the edges of the dome. "There is a way for citizens to build up personal credit via trading favors, and there are the equivalent of public funds - citizens can donate their time and skill to those in advance, to be called in when needed. But those still aren't actual currency, and it's only done in rare cases. Like those statues of Director Luna; they were privately funded by ponies who put the time and energy into it as she would never ask another to do that for her."
"She finds it kind of embarrassing to have them around, but since they are private property, there's nothing she can really do about it," Twilight said. "She has told me that she finds her having statues among the founders to be wrong, as it could lead to their work being overshadowed by her own."
"That makes sense from what I’ve seen so far," Sunset said. "This nation was founded on a sense of equality and unity and having one pony elevated above the others kinda goes against that whole notion." She blinked and tilted her head to the side. "Though you would need a leader, regardless of what government you have, so leader among equals would need to exist which is why Director Luna is Head Director, right Twilight?"
"That's the purpose of the State Department," Twilight said. "They're effectively our Executive Branch, but the Director of State still needs to be able to persuade the other Directors to vote with them to confirm certain things."
"That'd make sense," Sunset agreed.
"Getting back to Rarity's earlier question," Shining Armor said. "The mindset we are used to is that we all need to work together for everypony's wellbeing. Those of us who work in public services like the hospitals and police are simply not accustomed to asking for a payment for our services. If it were used more frequently and widespread throughout the Republic, then I'm sure it would be brought up again to decide if we officially want a currency system. I believe we have tried it five times, but the majority of the directors always voted against it."
Octavia shook her head. "In Canterlot, there are more than a few who would regard such an idea as blasphemy," she said. "It sounds rather effective to me; I wonder if we could find a way to implement it down there."
"Do even the foals have to work for what they need?" Fluttershy asked softly.
"Goodness no, dear," Velvet said in a motherly tone. "They receive what they need by their families' work until they're considered of age and can find work for themselves. As I said, we are taught from a young age that everypony must work together for everypony's benefit and survival, and we look forward to being able to contribute."
Rainbow Dash muttered something under her breath, and Fluttershy nodded to her.
"I know some ponies who would benefit from that mindset," she said. "But what about those apathetic and unwilling to work?"
Velvet shook her head as she landed the hoverpad near a tunnel. "It's rare but for those like that we don't have much of a choice to actually do anything with them beyond trying to convince them otherwise."
"Most of the time, all it takes is finding something interesting enough to catch their attention enough to overcome their lack of caring," Twilight added as they moved onto what seemed to be a moving track so they didn't need to walk the entire tunnel.
"And... if they can't, or aren't, willing to stick with it long enough?" Fluttershy asked.
"Then we usually find someplace where they can't do any harm and call it work," Shining Armor said. "Even if it's just standing around looking busy - there's plenty of call for that in the visual entertainment sector, when they need extras for some productions. Fortunately, it's rare enough that it doesn't come up very often to be a major issue."
"With the way everypony seems to be all 'work work work', I'm kind of surprised you have an entertainment sector," Rainbow Dash said.
"It's technically part of the Department of Health," Vinyl told her. "All work and no play isn't good for the mind; our mental health specialists all say relaxation and entertainment are beneficial, so ponies who specialize in helping others have a good time - like me, with my music - have guaranteed jobs there. That goes for artists and some of the writers too."
"What about the writers who don't work there?" Sunset asked curiously.
"The ones who specialize in nonfiction are considered employees for the Department of Education," Twilight said.
"That makes sense," Rarity said. "But... what department do you run?" she asked Velvet.
Velvet chuckled. "I'm the Director of Housing," she said. "I handle urban development and construction for public and private homes, be they apartment buildings or standard houses."
"That and help handle any disputes between neighbours," Shining added with a chuckle. "It used to be part of my department to try and settle those arguments when they get out of hoof, but with mom being mom, she is usually able to intervene before we can get there."
Velvet chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I suppose most still fear the dreaded mom voice," she said with Sunset, Spike and the rest of the girls snickering.
"I've got a question, ma'am," Spike said. "Why are you called a republic exactly? From what I read, it doesn't exactly fit into the descriptions given."
Velvet giggled at that, reaching over to pat Spike on the head. "An excellent question, young dragon," she said. "One that takes nearly every student by surprise when they reach it in their education." She gave Twilight and Shining a look, with both ponies groaning. "The Lunar Republic is a bit of a misnomer; it is true that it meets the technical definition, since our sovereignty rests with the people or their representatives, rather than with a monarchy - our Head Director was elected to the position not just because she was a Princess in Equestria, but because it was felt she was the best for the job."
"And while a proper republic would allow the masses to choose their leaders, we were never that big on popularity contests but instead putting the worth on the person's ability over almost everything else," Twilight picked up. "The real reason we call ourselves the Lunar Republic is because that's what Director Luna claimed our nation would be during the founding and we just never really wanted to change our name." Twilight blinked. "I am not even sure what the proper term would be for our nation."
"Maybe we can go over some books when we head back to Equestria, Twilight," Sunset asked with Twilight blushing for some reason.
"I'd like that a lot," she said which caused Sunset to blush as well.
Velvet's eyes drifted between the two of them, and she gave a mysterious smile. "I see," she said. "But before you two plan out your study session, I would like to show you more of the Lunar Republic after brunch at my home. Vinyl, you and your date are obviously invited, unless you want to take her to your parent's place for the celebrations later on?"
"Ummm," Vinyl seemingly paled, turning to Octavia who simply shook her head with a smile on her face. "Well, I did offer to show you to them but if you don't feel up for it..."
"I'd love to meet them, Vinyl," Octavia said as they finally exited the tunnel and into a wide sprawl of buildings. "Please, lead the way."
"Sure thing." Vinyl turned to Twilight and Shining Armor. "Catch up with you guys later?"
"See you then, Vinyl," Shining Armor said. "And remind LP that we're supposed to meet up this weekend, okay?"
"Will do!" Vinyl called before she and Octavia trotted off together, the two mares chattering together.
"Well!" Velvet clapped her hooves together. "We're almost there."
She trotted off, and Sunset and the others eagerly followed her, with Sunset feeling so happy to be here right now with all of these ponies around her. She just hoped Princess Celestia was doing as well as she was right now.
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Interesting...
Somehow I doubt that.
238k miles is the average distance of moon to the sun; just tidbit that I wanted to throw out :P.
She's not the only one
Hmmm?
Huh, it seems like I was practically completely right with my guesses regarding their politics. Neat.
What? That's absurd, you can't have a working modern society without money. What do they use, barter?
Seriously?! Barter is a nonsensical system conjured by early economists (Smith) to explain why money exists. Pre-currency societies most likely relied on debts and favours, not barter. However, that can only work in small communities where everyone knows each other, and can therefore keep tabs on what everyone owes to everyone else.
Okay fine, that's more sensible, and given the technological level of TLR maybe even feasible. But that still leaves the question of how their State finances itself. A big reason for the appearance of money, besides exploding population and trade, is that it allowed early State bureaucracies to collect and administrate resources. So how could they solve that? Do they have a corvée system?
Oh c'mon! They rely on what essentially amounts to donations? I mean, can you imagine what would happen if paying taxes was voluntary? There is no way that could ever work! The moonponies would need to be impossibly diligent and community-driven for their society to ever function!
Of course you freaking are. Well good to know Luna successfully created the New Pony and achieved space communism.
I feel personally attacked.
I hate that I can't counter that with an appellation to how you can't teach human nature away because they're ponies, not humans. Maybe they can in fact just use the magical power of education to erase all vices.
Is that a problem ponies really would have? They literally have a picturization of their passion on their buts. They shouldn't struggle all that much finding what they enjoy doing. Unless their destiny is completely unproductive like living a NEET lifestyle or something.
That's probably the actual reason Luna chose the name. Knowing her she was probably being contrarian: "Stinky Equestria is a monarchy? My new nation will be a republic instead!"
Communist (or at least Socialist) Technocracy. That's my best bet at least.
10802181
Not as uncommon as you might think, just look at Zepher Breeze, and we have no real idea how rare (or not) his mentality might be.
I don't get how they were able to advance so fast for the fact that for a while they most likely were trying not to die from the conditions on the moon
10802181
Bro do not call it space communism what Luna had is it's own unique system in all the wrong ways. Barter system is primitive asf and only works for small communities, relying on donations for taxes is stupid asf, and credit system was a not bad idea though
10802181
Pretty sure it'd just be a normal soc dem society but slightly more extreme on the economic axis
I just realized that the Lunar Republic is almost like a Mega-Corporation
10802181
I generally agree with your assessment, everything seems far too idealistic to function. And I don't get why many people say "In the future we won't use money", because money is not inherently bad, it's just a tool society uses to function.
10802368
Keep in mind it's been 1000 years since they arrived there, also it's been said that until they got their first dome up and running it was Luna using her magic to keep everyone alive, so Luna herself would be pushing for a technological solution. Also imagine if in our world the renaissance happened a century earlier, our technological level today would likely be similar to the year 2121 which is a massive difference.
10802505
What I'm saying is how did they get technological advancement that fast when they had to have been busy yknow trying not to die?
10802516
It's been 1000 years, how long did you think it would take? If their issues of 'surviving' weren't solved in the first 100 years they definitely wouldn't have survived 1000. They likely haven't thought "will we survive another year?" in centuries.
Technocracy/Meritrocracy?
10802540
Doesn't explain how a very very very small group of people somehow got that advanced on the moon which isn't very resource rich lol
10802181
Nah... If anything, it's a dig at the giant corporations or multi-millionaires who say "Screw the Rules, I Have Money!"
Two words: Zephyr Breeze. The guy is a lazy, entitled slacker who refuses to put his all into anything he does out of fear of failure (okay, the comics made him a little better, but then his second TV appearance essentially ignored that). Getting a job where all he has to do is stand around and looking busy without actually having to do anything? That'd make his day. (And it is mentioned that such things are a rare occurrence.)
Also, as a general reminder to people thinking the barter method doesn't work: this is a country that hasn't used a direct currency system for a very long time. They have put it to a vote at least five times to see if they wanted one; the majority has rejected it. In addition, they are simply fine without it because that's not part of their mindset.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
10802378
The first time I was joking. The second time... Well, coming from the Marxist definition of communism as a 'classless, moneyless, stateless society' I'd say the moonponies kind of fit the bill. They have no money, no classes (they seem to have a perfect meritocracy), and only maybe fail the last point (the reason why I added the "at least socialists" parenthesis).
"Maybe" because all their State seems to do is divide the economy in scientifically sensible units and keep the peace. If they rebrand their 'Departments' into 'Comunes', 'Worker's Assemblies', 'Soviets' or something like that, they would become an anarchist's wet dream (assuming all departments are as democratic and meritocratic as insinuated).
10802550
Magic perhaps? Maybe Luna is strong enough to grab resource-rich asteroids from space with her telekinesis and crash them into the moon from time to time, or something like that. In mlp saying "a wizard did it" is often a valid answer.
10802344
Fair enough. I admit he had completely slipped my mind.
10802578
Weirdly eliminating money would probably not affect most of the rich at all. Since usually the wealthy keep their fortunes in assets rather than liquid currency, same deal with massive corporations. Actually, the middle class would probably be the most negatively affected, since all their savings would vanish.
The problem with barter isn't a cultural one. It's simply a broken system that can't work on a societally meaningful level outside extremely specific circumstances.
(I recommend reading the second paragraph of Chapter IV of The Wealth of Nations. That may seem like an incredibly specific reference, but literally that one paragraph is the origin of the modern myth of barter. Btw, halfway through barter fails and currency is made necessary)
10802516
Necessity is the mother of invention. A vast majority of modern conveniences and utilities originally came from an ancestor saying either "I don't wanna die" or "Screw you, I'M going to win."
In an immensely hostile environment like the moon, the call for innovation and optimization is emphasized quite literally every time they take a breath. It makes sense that their technology advanced at a crunch-time pace. By the time they didn't need to worry about anything, hard work and creativity were untouchable cultural keystones.
And then there's those who invent things out of sheer boredom. Individually useless inventions at first, perhaps, but they add up and combine over time.
Another well done chapter. Definitely appreciate the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Greatly enjoyed the Equestrians' reaction to the moon ponies' civilization (particularly the stuff about the barter system), as well as Twilight and Shining's scene with their mother (including Velvet being amazed at Shining finding a fillyfriend AND Equestria having another alicorn), the admissions of the technological advances of the moon ponies and MAGICAL advances of the Equestrians. And, yeah, Sunset, I also have to think you are having MUCH better luck than Equestria right now.
Yeah. Certainly loving this story thus far, but I'm not going to be reviewing for a while because my computer's battery life is just too shot.
I wonder if Trixie a moon pony?
10803229
I believe eventually the Lunar Republic will have to adopt some sort of a currency, should they started trade talks with Equestria unless if Celestia grants them some sort of a tax free regulation on trade and commerce. Trade goods cost money back in Equestria, so it might not be enough to please many Equestrian traders who prefer bits more than Lunar products( although they might be interested in swapping their products with some of the modern Lunar manufactured goods).
Um they are still a Republic. Voting in reps is the exact definition of a Republic
10802578
I just want to say I really like the moon soceity you wrote.
10802580
Bro, your literal proof of its a mindset and culture. Consider this...has a barter system ever been allowed to exist to make it work? Why would those with assets and money ever want a cashless society? Even ill-gotten gains (avoiding taxes and illegal activity are excused. Since money.) So...what money gets multiple chances to win at our minds? But the opposite is just a fools errand? Huh?
Further would it not be so that you and money. Would in fact attract others who prefer money? Thus your belief and conviction in money is appeased? Rather then accepting that others do infact value other things? Potential other ways? Does a thing have to be perfect? To before you can ever try?
Ps. Are you going to say we should not have universal health care either?
Communism moment
Although it’s economic communism with democratic republican government which in my opinion is the only realistically smart way to implement it if it is desired as the entire function of such governments is to prevent dictatorships and ensure basic freedoms which because of human nature and the difficulty of accurately being able to judge others character