Chapter 1: A Refreshing Winter Getaway

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The sun had long set but that meant nothing to the ponies in the small city below who were enjoying their evening. A dark red night pony with a purple mane sat in a small park on top of one of the tallest buildings, looking down at the city below and enjoying the view while she waited for her husband to return from his business trip. With a small contented sigh, she glanced down at her gauntlet to check the time, and then smiled as she slowly walked over to the purple night pony foal that was playing with some plushies a short distance away, “Orion guess who’s going to be here in a few minutes!”

The colt perked up and hopped in place, abandoning his toys for a moment as he smiled and ran over, earning another smile from the mare, “That’s right, Daddy’s gonna be home soon! Are you excited?!”

The foal responded with a big grin, jumping into the air and flapping his wings in excitement, earning a laugh from her, “Alright, calm down little buddy, Silver’s gonna be so sad if you’re all tuckered out when he gets here.”

Orion let out a happy squeak and cuddled up next to her as she draped a wing over him. She gazed back down at the city, reminiscing at how much The Oasis had grown in just a year’s time. It had gone from a humble ghost town to a slowly growing city of their dreams. It had had its early growing pains of course, but the ponies that moved to it had helped shape it into a place where imagination and creativity were more important than anything else, and there was just something so special about that.

On the surface, the city was simply a modest example of what ponies and humans could do when they set aside their differences and worked together. However, it was also a place where scientists and researchers worked tirelessly in the hope of making the world a better place with their projects. It was overly optimistic, sure, but it was something that they felt was worth working towards. What was the harm in trying to make the world a better place after all?

The quiet sounds of a helicopter were quickly becoming more perceptible to her pony hearing, and in the distance Scarlet could make out a helicopter flying in. As it grew closer, she picked up Orion and took a few steps back, giving the pilot some room to land. The helicopter came to a graceful landing and a very tired looking night pony hopped out. With a running start, Orion took off, cheerfully galloping over to his father whose face lit up at the sight. Despite being tired, he always had energy for Orion, and Silver crouched down to his level. Meeting him with a big grin, “Hey there buddy, I sure missed you!” he said as he pulled him in for a hug, then carefully lifted him onto his back.

With a big smile on her face Scarlet ran over, excitedly calling out to him, “Welcome back Silver! You get enough sleep on the ride over? I know you’re probably a little tired.”

The night pony smiled back, relaxing a little, “Not as much as I'd like, but hey at least I’m home now with my two favorite ponies.” He lifted the sunglasses he wore off of his head, and warmly embraced her, “You sure are a real sight for sore eyes, you know that?”

“I could say the same for you too,” Scarlet replied.

Silver waved to the pilot and walked off of the landing pad as the helicopter departed. “You know, I really need to bring you along on one of these trips sometime, the Mariners’ lab up in Maine is starting to really show some promise, they’ve really been making some amazing progress with the Sea Castle.”

Scarlet leaned in and hugged Silver tightly, careful not to disturb Orion, “I don’t know how you manage to stay sane after going on all these trips.”

“Well I have you and Orion to come home to, that helps quite a bit.”

“Yes, but you’re also running two departments right now and spending all your time doing that.”

“Technically I’m only running one department, Stanley and Midnight are helping with facilities stuff, and we have that intern handling the bookkeeping now.”

“You’re still keeping super busy with that though,” Scarlet pointed out. “You’re the research team’s director, not the facilities director so maybe you should think about taking a break and letting other ponies handle it.”

Silver smiled. “You’re right,” he replied, waving her over with one of his wings. “C’mon, let’s go take a walk.”

The two ponies started to trot back into the large tower, chatting and catching up along the way. “You know what Silver? We really need to take a proper vacation sometime, no business, no responsibilities, just you, me, and Orion relaxing somewhere for once.”

“You think we’re due for one of those?”

“I think we’re long overdue for one hon. You’ve been so invested with all your work and dream stuff that we’ve barely been able to take a weekend off.”

Silver’s face softened, “I know it’s tough, and I’m sorry I’m working so hard. Stuff is so complicated here lately and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to get the dream project off the ground too.”

She sighed, “I know, you’re doing so much just to make sure Orion and I never have to worry about anything. It’s not fair to get frustrated at that… it’s just…” she looked away.

“No, it’s completely fair to be,” he cut in, pulling her close to him. “You have a completely fair point. We definitely need to just relax and chill out and leave all of our work out of it.”

“Even your dream stuff?”

Silver nodded, “Even my dream stuff. I think I have a good idea on who I’m going to look at first, and finding them all was the hard part. The rest is going to be a breeze.”

“Okay, if you say so,” she replied with a smile. “So when do you want to start planning this out? I’m just dying to be somewhere else that isn’t here.”

Silver smiled, “Well go get ready then, I can put in a little vacation time for us and we can go do something fun. Maybe that big road trip we were talking about?”

“Wait, you mean right now? What about Orion? I can’t just leave him here alone with a sitter.”

Silver shrugged. “Well I said we could take him along too. You’ve been waiting for our first big family vacation after all.”

“I know… but I guess I was thinking of something smaller, like Disneyland, or the pier, or a trip back home… stuff that isn’t exactly a big adventure.”

“We’ve done more than a few trips back home… don’t you want to go do something a little bigger?”

Scarlet looked off to the side and slowly nodded. “I mean we could… It’s just, I don’t know, I was kind of expecting a lot more planning before we just jumped on that kind of thing. Do you think he’s fine to travel?”

Silver nodded. “Of course! My Grandmother took me all over the place when I was his age and I turned out just fine.”

Scarlet laughed at him. “Well that’s certainly debatable.”

Silver gave her a deadpan look before replying. “So where should we go? Somewhere out west or something else entirely?”

“What do you have in mind?” She asked.

Silver shrugged. “I don’t have anything set in stone. We could do something like Florida, Hawaii, New York… even Riverview if you really wanna go on that trip still. Any of those strike your fancy?”

Scarlet paused in consideration for a few moments, “Hawaii sounds fun, but I’d rather save that trip for later, you know, when we’re not dealing with an overly energetic foal. Florida could be fun, but it’s gonna be really hot and muggy right now and that doesn’t really sound like a ton of fun right now. And you just got back from Riverview, so I’m going to strike that one down because you’re probably going to be Riverviewed out for a while.” She paused for a second and a smile started to creep across her face. “What about Michigan?”

“What about it?”

“That could be a really fun getaway spot. You know, we never took Sapphire up on her invitation. It might be nice to show that we’re not still mad over everything.”

Silver raised an eyebrow. “You know it’s going to be pretty cold up there right? Like colder than anything we're used to down here.”

“I think I’ll manage just fine, I mean how bad could it be?”

“Well we live in the desert and Sapphire lives up in an area where it snows a lot and the hottest it gets is maybe a nice brisk eighty… so I don’t know about you but we’re probably in for a surprise.”

Scarlet shrugged, “Then we pack some scarves and blankets and hope she’ll be able to help us if it gets a little too chilly.”

Silver shook his head and laughed. “Alright well if you say so… I’ll go get everything settled once we get to my office.”

The two looked out the window and over the lake in the distance, watching the residents enjoying their evening, “You know, this place sure has changed a lot over the last year… I mean that whole storm fiasco last year kind of threw a wrench in our operations for a while, but in the end it was oddly productive.”

“I’d say it worked out really well. Sapphire really lightened up once you explained that it was all one big misunderstanding.”

Silver nodded, “That’s true, it could have been so much worse right? Like thank God she’s only a pegasus, can you imagine what would have happened if a unicorn of her caliber had tried a stunt like that?”

Scarlet shook her head, “I don’t want to think about that, let’s just be glad we pissed off who we did, otherwise we’d have never made the kinds of connections that we did. How was Sunset by the way? Did she have any issues with that new robotics budget you asked for?”

“She said it was fine, and I made it very clear that if she ever does something like she did with the whole Sapphire situation again we would not hesitate to pull out of the deal. She seems a lot more welcoming in person, but I still don’t know what to make of her yet.”

She chuckled, “Maybe that sudden vacation is a good thing after all. Want me to come along with you to your office? Keep you company?”

“Don’t you have some work over in the new observatory?”

Scarlet shrugged, “Nah, the shipment got delayed again, nothing big, just a lot of complicated parts that they found defects in. Had to recall a whole truckload.”

“Well in that case, I’d really love that.”

The two continued walking down the plain hallway, an occasional door or window breaking up the bland walls.

“So did I miss anything interesting while I was gone?”

“Oh you know, nothing special, just the Neptune team making an emergency call right before you touched down. Isa wanted to speak to you over the video phone, it sounded like they ran into an issue with the Aquarius project right after you left and needed some emergency resources to make repairs.”

“I’ll just approve it. Their research was starting to really show some potential when I was down there. I know they’re a bit eccentric but they’re hard workers and we need that data for the Horizon project.”

Silver opened the door and walked in, cheerfully greeting the night pony that was waiting for him, “Hey Phoenix, I didn't realize you were part of the welcoming committee too, so what's up?”

“Oh you know, I just figured with you gone I’d throw my name into the hat for the robotics department director spot.”

Scarlet gave a quick nod, “You know, now that I think about it, I’m gonna go run down to the Observatory with Orion and grab a few things.” She leaned in and gave Silver a quick kiss, “Don’t wait up too long or you’ll miss all the fun, kay?”

Silver smiled, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

The blue night pony gave her one final hug goodbye as she left the room and slipped off the bag he had been wearing, “You know, you should really quit your day job and pick up a new career as the Oasis’ resident comedian, you’d probably do well at it.”

“Maybe,” Phoenix considered for a moment, “but for real, I just wanted to touch base with you about the whole project we were working on.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “The on the record or off the record stuff?”

“The off the record dream stuff you were asking about. I think I have a few good ponies in mind for it.”

Silver nodded, “Wow, you really were interested in this, weren’t you? I was just talking to Scarlet about that.”

“Mhmm… well of course I’d be. Give me a chance to help others with my dreams and I’ll do it, that’s what I told you when you first started kicking this idea around.”

“Well I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting you to start hunting down some connections so soon. Who’s on the list?”

“A friend from back in California mainly, and maybe one other that I ran into in the dream realm a while ago. He was a little… eccentric but he had an interesting perspective that I think you’d love to hear. I know you’re kind of leading the charge on this and won’t tell anyone much, but I’d definitely give these two a chance.”

“Go ahead and send me their info. I don’t know how soon I can get any of this set up, but it’d definitely be nice to start looking at potential prospects. It’d also save me the hassle of having to hunt everyone down on my own.”

“This is going to be big, isn’t it?”

Silver slowly nodded his head. “If it works out the way I want it to, it'll be bigger than big. I don’t think anyone’s done this kind of thing yet, so we really need to make sure we hit it home.”

“Mhmm, well I’ll forward you their info and we can go from there. I’m looking forward to this Silver, I really am.”

“Me too Phoenix, me too. Now, not that I don’t enjoy your company, but I was kinda planning on setting up a vacation for the family—“

“And I’m keeping you from that,” he finished. “My bad, I was just kind of curious about the project. I’ll let you get back to that though, drop me a dream line if you figure any more of that out, and have a fun vacation.”

Silver Smiled, “Will do Phoenix, thanks for stopping by.”

The other stallion nodded, “Anytime, Silver.”

Chapter 2: Up, Up, and Away

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The sun was just barely rising above the horizon as Silver and Scarlet walked down the hallway, careful not to disturb their resting foal. It wasn't often that they were successfully able to wear him out enough to go to sleep so early, but it was the best way to assure that their travel plans would go as smoothly as possible. Much to their delight, their plan had worked and their foal Orion was currently sleeping peacefully on Scarlet’s back, a sight that melted Silver’s heart. They paused for a moment as a pegasus quickly flew past them in a gray blur before coming to a well practiced landing.

Scarlet looked towards Silver, smirking as she rolled her eyes, “Oh boy, this should be good.”

With a few idle flaps of his wings, Zipper slowly walked towards the couple, clearly contemplating something, “Oh hey, what’re you two up to today?”

Silver smiled, trying not to laugh, “Heya Zip, not painting your wings anymore?”

He rolled his eyes, “No. That was… that was just that one time.”

“Oh lighten up Zip, I thought it looked pretty cool. Anyways, we’re just taking that vacation you were briefed on yesterday.”

“Oh that’s today?” he asked in mock confusion.

Silver slowly nodded his head, “Yep, that’s today. So uhh, can we help you with something?”

“No… but maybe I can help you. You’re going up to the MWMP right? I was just thinking that maybe I could come along, ya know to pick up… some of the more advanced techniques so I could come back and teach the team down here…”

Silver shook his head, “That’s not quite how it works. Sure we’ll be up in the UP but we’re there strictly on vacation for real, not like that vacation they took down here last year. At most Sapphire will probably show us around and that’s it.”

Zipper let out a sad sigh before perking up again, “Okay... but I could still stop by and try and touch base with them, you know?”

The two night ponies started walking forward, Zipper quickly following behind them. Silver shook his head once more, replying with a calm but stern tone, “I think we’re good Zip, that’s a federal program and they aren’t going to just let you fly around with them. What happened a year ago was a one time deal and we almost got washed away because of it. Besides, flight’s full, they’re not going to let you squeeze into the seat next to us.”

“Oh come on, are you sure you don’t need an extra set of hooves to help out on your trip? I could keep an eye on Orion if you two just wanted a little time to yourselves.”

Scarlet flashed him a warm smile, “Really, we’re good Zipper, thanks.”

“B—but…”

Silver paused, turning towards the gray pegasus, “Zipper, I know you want to come along and visit, but you’re the weather captain and your team needs you here. You knew that the job came with a lot of responsibilities when you volunteered for it. I can look at giving you some vacation time once you finish training your co-captain, alright?”

“But…" He rolled his eyes and let out a loud huff, "It’s just not fair! you guys get to go up there and see Dazzle and the others…” he quickly corrected himself, “I mean you guys get to go up there and see all of the other weather ponies while I have to stay here and work!” he grumbled out in a sad tone.

Silver chuckled, “You want me to tell Dazzle you said hi?”

His face lit up, “Would you?!”

He let out a few more laughs, “Absolutely Zip, maybe I’ll see if she wants to make another trip down here.”

He jumped into the air, coming to a hover, “You’re the best, Silver!”

“Alright Zip, now please go get back to your team, they’re kind of waiting for you.”

“Sure thing Boss!” He nodded his head and zipped off into the distance, meeting back up with his team.

Silver sat in his office with Scarlet and Orion, scrolling through his list one final time, “Alright, sunglasses… check, chargers… check… I think we’re ready… are you all ready to go Scarlet?”

“That’s the third time you asked me.” She smiled back and nodded her head excitedly, “But yes I am!”

“And all of Orion’s things packed in there? I know he doesn’t need much but you know how cranky he gets sometimes.”

“I’m bringing the essentials. I’m sure they’ll be able to help if we need anything else up there.”

He nodded, “Just making sure. The last thing we need is a cranky colt on a plane without anything to distract him.”

“Hence why we’re leaving so early, hopefully he’ll sleep the entire trip.”

He nodded his head, “Yeah, yeah, I know. You know how he can get though, waking up and crying for seemingly no reason at all. At least he’s not dreamwalking anymore.”

“No kidding, I didn’t realize that surging night ponies could do that, and I thought making sure he didn’t run around in the waking world was hard enough as it was.”

“That lecture from Sha’am sure didn’t make it any easier, at least she’s nice around foals. And at least she sent him back to his own dream before laying into me about keeping an eye on him.”

“Oh come on, I thought she was pretty tame with that, she didn’t even punish you.”

“Fair enough. We really should start heading out if we want to get there on time, I don’t know how much you’ve flown before but I always have the worst luck with getting through security. It’s always some pony dragging some antique spoon collection through, or some human throwing a fit— or just any other number of random things.”

She nodded, “Extra time to get through would be good especially with Orion.”

They stood up and trotted out of Silver’s office and headed down the hallway, into an elevator, and out onto the front plaza, where Diamond Glider was waiting at the curb with a portfolio held under a wing, “Alright you two, I got your tickets all printed out, you’ll have a connecting flight at Chicago, before landing at Sawyer. I sent your itinerary ahead so they’ll be waiting. I’m sure you’ll recognize them the second you see them.”

Silver chuckled, “You tend to remember a pony who can summon Oasis sized storms. Thanks for getting this all set up Diamond, you’re sure you don’t mind taking over for a little while? I know it’s a lot of work.”

“Ha, you kidding? I’ve been used to doing your job for a while now,” Diamond joked. “But I’ll give you a call if anything important comes up that I need your input on, your gauntlet should still function up there, if not then I’ll just have Phoenix dreamwalk over to you.”

“Thanks again Diamond.”

“It’s my pleasure, enjoy your vacation.”

Silver nodded, patting his friend on the shoulder, “You’re the best Diamond, seriously. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Diamond gave a quick nod as the trio walked over towards a nearby van, Orion meekly hiding behind the pair and staring ahead in curiosity as they approached it. Silver looked down to the purple night pony colt that was hiding behind Scarlet and began to reassuringly talk to him.

“You excited for your first big vacation little buddy? I know you probably have no idea what’s going on, but it’s gonna be so much fun!”

“As adorable as that is, I don’t think he can understand your sentiment,” Scarlet chimed in with a smile.

“But he understands the tone, right? Don’t you?” he insisted in baby talk, Orion responding with a big smile and happy little squeal. Straightening up he turned towards Scarlet, “See! Don’t doubt my highly tuned paternal instincts.”

“Hmm kay,” she replied sarcastically. “Let’s not keep our ride waiting while you show off your stallion instincts, we can’t make memories if we’re standing here.”

“You’re right.” He watched as she wrapped her legs around Orion and quickly flew over to the waiting van, much to the colt’s delight.

They had made it to the Phoenix airport without any hassle, and as tired as they were, they were more than grateful for an afternoon flight if it meant that they wouldn’t have to worry about Orion causing a scene. Checking in was an easy enough process, almost easier than what he had remembered from his past experiences, and before they knew it they were making their way to the security checkpoint.

Orion was peacefully asleep on top of Scarlet’s back, much to their relief. If there was one really great thing about becoming a pony it was being able to go through the security checkpoint with ease. No shoes or belts to remove and they didn’t pack as much so didn’t need to pay for more luggage. Not wanting to press his luck, Silver quickly put the single small bag they had packed onto the conveyor, and walked forward. As if on cue Orion chose this moment to stir awake, drawing annoyed looks from all around when he began to cry and make a fuss.

Silver flashed a frantic embarrassed look and quickly ushered the two through, grabbing his bag with a wing on the way out of the checkpoint. Scarlet was able to soothe him quickly, ending the tantrum almost as fast as it began. Silver gave a sigh of relief and helped lay Orion across her back again and they continued over to their gate.

“Thank God you got him calmed down, I was worried that we were going to be that family whose kid just screams the entire time.” He looked around, letting a big smile come across his face, “I don’t know about you but I’m so excited for this!” he enthusiastically shouted before snapping a couple quick photos, gaining some annoyed looks for the outburst from nearby travellers.

Scarlet looked around at the travelers that were now looking directly at them. “Silver, I get that you’re excited, but do you really need to document every single leg of the journey? I mean we haven’t even left the state yet.”

“Of course! It’s our first big family trip, we’re going to want to remember this forever!”

She smiled and shook her head, “You’re such a goofball, let’s go find a spot to rest, I know I could sure use it.”

He nodded his head, letting out a few yawns, “Yeah, me too.”

Good morning everyone, this is the pre-flight announcement for flight 82 from Phoenix to Chicago, please gather your belongings and have your boarding passes ready, we will be boarding in just a few minutes. Thank you.

The pre flight announcement was enough to pull Silver from his nap, but Scarlet and Orion were still peacefully asleep next to him. He reached over and gently shook Scarlet awake.

“What is it Silver?” She asked with a yawn.

“They just gave the pre-flight announcement, we should get ready. Wanna trade?” he asked as he looked down at the sleeping foal by his side.

“Nah, he looks so happy right now, I wouldn’t want to ruin this precious moment.”

He smiled and stood up, carefully lifting Orion as to not wake him, “Wanna give me a hoof?”

“You want him up on your back?”

“Yeah, just so he can stay nice and comfortable. We can settle him down when we’re on the plane.”

Scarlet gently deposited the sleeping foal on his back and he adjusted his wings to act like guards so Orion wouldn’t fall off. “Want me to go first then?”

“Yeah go ahead, I’ll let you handle the tickets.”

They trotted towards the line, waiting their turn to board.

Scarlet greeted the attendant with a smile, handing over their tickets and waving Silver over, “We’re all set to go in the pony section, three seats on the outside.”

He walked down the gangway and onto the plane, cheerfully greeting the attendants along the way. He moved forward into the pony section and stashed their bag under one of the cozy seats, carefully laying Orion down on the middle seat. The pony section was still a weird sight to get used to, instead of the standard seats, there were rows of what almost looked like cushions with lower seat backs spaced out in rows, that sat closer to the floor.

Content that he wasn’t going to suddenly wake, Silver and Scarlet took their seats, settling down for the long day of travel ahead of them, excited for their first big trip. He glanced over to Orion and Scarlet, who had already begun to fall into a peaceful sleep and smiled. He made himself comfortable, closed his eyes and fell into a relaxing, dreamless sleep.

Orion was wide awake as they began their final descent at their destination, nose pressed firmly against the window with a wide-eyed expression. Below them a sea of green trees stretched out as far as they could see, gently rising up to meet them. Silver shared a glance with Scarlet and laughed, “He really takes after me, my grandmother always told me that I looked like that when I used to fly as a kid.”

“Well now you can tell her that goofy wide-eyed expressions run in the family.”

“She’s gonna love to hear that, Mom and Dad will too... quick, get a picture! They’re going to kill me if I don’t snap this for them!”

She chuckled, “You sure you shouldn’t have taken the name Shutterbug? You’d think that three dozen photos of a plane ride were enough.”

“But that’s not enough! We’ve gotta remember this forever!”

She smiled and shook her head, “Alright shutterbug. You better sit upright because we’re about to land.”

He nodded and faced forward, tapping on the seat with his hooves in excitement.

“You excited?” Scarlet asked rhetorically as she slid the camera back into their bag.

“Do you even have to ask that?”

She chuckled, “No.”

Orion lost all sense of bravery as they walked down the noisy arrival corridor and out into the gate area, keeping close underneath Silver’s hooves and nearly tripping him several times. “It’s okay little buddy,” he said reassuringly as he gave the foal a nuzzle.

Even for a pony the gate area was small, it had enough seats for just one flight but had gates for two planes to be loaded. The TSA screener was right next to a glass door that went out into a larger airport space. With the rest of the passengers already streaming out through the doors, he encouraged Orion to follow and headed out with Scarlet. Much of the crowd immediately took a left to head through a larger waiting area to the baggage claim area.

Which gave them an easy view straight out the main doors and over to Sapphire Sky and her family waiting. The blue mare was sitting on the floor with a sign saying Eclipse Family resting against her forelegs. Her fiance, Crescent Shadow sat next to her with a green pegasus filly peeking her head out from between his legs.

Silver had thought Sapphire was the most well muscled pegasus he had ever met but the black furred Crescent looked like he could take on an earth pony. Which he supposed was fitting as the pony was from Luna’s guard.

Silver gestured towards their host and leaned down to get down to Orion’s eye level, “Alright buddy, I need you to be on your best behavior when we meet Miss Sapphire, she’s been very nice and invited us over for our vacation, can you do that for me?”

Orion took a moment where he appeared in intense concentration before he responded with a big grin and happy flap of his wings.

The group worked their way over to the pegasus, Scarlet leading the charge, “Sapphire, you weren’t kidding when you said this airport was small.”

The pegasus smiled, “It’s cozy. So how was your flight? Hopefully you all got some rest on the way over. Better visit the bathroom before we head out for the hotel, it’s about a thirty minute drive.”

Silver nodded, gesturing down to the excited colt, “Sure did, Orion slept almost the whole way, woke up about an hour ago.” He looked towards Crescent and smiled, “I don’t believe we’ve met before, I’m Silver Eclipse, this is my wife Scarlet Moon, and our foal Orion.”

“Greetings, I’m Crescent Shadow and this little filly here is Aurora,” he greeted with an Equestrian accent and gestured down towards the filly with a wing. The young pegasus was watching everything with bright hazel green eyes but refused to come out from underneath her father’s legs, “Sapphire’s told me all about you.”

“Good things I hope?” he asked with a nervous chuckle.

He chuckled and nodded his head.

Scarlet broke in with a question. “You’re into astronomy right? I would love to hear about Equestria’s stars if you have time.”

“I have a couple books that I could show you,” he responded with a small smile as Scarlet lit up at the prospect of having access to actual Equestrian astronomy books. “They’re written in Equestrian though, so I’m not sure how useful they will be. I can answer questions you have though if you wish.”

She excitedly nodded her head, “I’d love to take a look at them! Thank you so much, I wish I had thought to bring some of my own.”

Looks like everypony is going to get along well, Silver thought to himself, as he looked over to Sapphire, “So where are we staying anyways?”

“Normally I would have you stay at my home. But I thought some place a little closer to the nightlife and fancier would be nice. I know how hard it can be to fly around with a young foal. So I got you a room at the Landmark Inn. It’s right downtown so it’s easy to get around and has one of the best views of the lake.”

“Thank you so much for setting up this trip, it’s so nice to get away from work and see someplace new.”

Sapphire smiled, “We’re glad to have you.”

“I can’t wait, this is going to be so much fun!” he excitedly shouted as Sapphire led them out of the terminal. Or intended to up until Orion started whining and getting in his way. “I guess we do need to visit the restroom.”

Chapter 3: Chilling in Cooler Climates

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“Alright, everyone good to go now?” Silver asked as he looked over towards the now content Orion.

Scarlet nodded her head, “Yep, I’d say so.”

Sapphire cleared her throat, “Well, if you’re ready, our ride’s waiting.”

Silver nodded and waved a wing towards the door, “Lead the way.”

“Mhmm.”

The group began to walk towards the door, Silver nudging Orion along when he would stop and look around every few steps. As happy as he was that the colt was so curious about his new surroundings, he was beyond ready to just unwind and relax. Planes were more comfortable as a pony, but it was still an exhausting experience.

He smiled at the colt and continued to usher him along, “Hey buddy; I know this is all really cool for you, but you’re gonna keep Miss Sapphire waiting. You wanna ride on my back?”

The colt stopped and looked up towards him, slowly nodding his head.

He looked over towards his wife, who was idly chatting away with Crescent Shadow. “Hey, Scarlet, can you give me a hand here?”

She smiled and looked over towards Orion, “Is our little adventurer tuckered out already? Well, we can’t have that now, can we?”

Orion ran over as she lifted him onto Silver’s back.

He quickly glanced back, “Is the little traveler happy now?”

Scarlet gave him a quick nod, “Seems like it to me.”

“There’s more to see outside,” Sapphire called back towards them.

Scarlet let out a few laughs, “Sorry for the hold-up just making sure our little adventurer’s all settled and happy. This is a big change for him, and he’s probably wondering why it’s so cold up here.”

Silver nodded in agreement, “Y’know she’s got a point there; this is the first time he’s been out of the desert after all.”

Sapphire gestured towards the open car door, “Tell me all about it in the car. Do you need anything for Orion?”

Silver shook his head, “He should be good for now; to be honest, I think he’s just excited to see everything here. There’s not a lot of foals out in the Oasis yet, so he’s probably not too sure about having an actual playmate for once either.”

“Poor little guy. Once Aurora makes up her mind on him, I’m sure she’ll warm up to him” Sapphire nudged the filly, who was giving Orion suspicious glances.

The trio hopped into the back seat and cuddled up next to one another, with Orion sitting between them. He began to fidget around, but quickly settled down as the car started to pull away.

“So, how’s everything been up here? Still keeping your team on that rigorous program?” Silver asked as he laid a wing over Orion.

“Equestrian certified program, they wish it was still the old regiment. Earth’s weather doesn’t require as much micromanagement as Equestria, so we came up with a few ways to fill the day out. Have your pegasi picked up their training seriously?”

“A little begrudgingly, I think, but the results really show. If they have a problem with it, then they sure haven’t said anything about it.”

“That’s good; let Dazzle know if they’re slacking off; I’m sure she’d love to request some time off to go run them ragged. Anything else interesting happening?”

“Well, it hasn’t really changed much since you last visited; we upgraded our grid a little, but the real big change is that the land around the lake’s a lot more developed now. Turns out there was a whole network of abandoned mineshafts under where we decided to build, and some of them wound up caving in. We had to get some inspectors in to make sure nothing else was at risk of collapsing, but it was all fine. Gave a few night and earth ponies the bright idea to start carving out a cool underground hangout in a safe area. While you may have gone a little overboard with that whole storm, in the end, it actually helped us identify some big issues we weren’t aware of and gave us a nice place to cool off. It’s become one of our favorite hangout spots; we even decided to have our house built near it.”

“And Orion sure loves to splash around in the water too. He acts like it’s a race whenever we head down there, and I wish he was always that adorable,” Scarlet added in.

Silver looked down to the colt curled up next to him, “That’s right, you’re our little sea pony aren’t you?”

The colt responded with a big grin and a series of giggles.

Scarlet rolled her eyes, “Considering Yinyu’s the only sea pony we’ve ever seen, maybe we shouldn’t be making that connection.”

Silver nodded, “Right… I forgot that she’s a bit… much at times. Probably not a great idea to accidentally summon her when we’re talking about our foal.”

“Well, if you like that lake, you may get a little enamored with Superior. The old ore dock is really going to be worth the trip. Not far from the Landmark and all the winged ponies hang out there to unwind,” Sapphire cut in.

Scarlet looked out of the window, eyeing the unfamiliar species of trees that were passing by, “I’m not sure what an ore dock looks like.”

“Don’t worry; you’ll be able to see it from the hotel.”

“I really can’t wait to check it out; I’m kind of a nut for old stuff like that.” Silver added in.

Their van powered its way up a short but steep hill and turned into the parking lot alongside a tall brick building with Landmark Inn emblazoned on the side and came to a stop underneath a coach gate. The hotel almost reminded Silver of some of the old buildings he had seen around Flagstaff when he had visited before ETS. Without even seeing it for more than a few moments, he was already in love with the place and excitedly shifted in his seat.

“You want some help getting checked in?” Sapphire asked, interrupting Silver’s daydream. “It’s your vacation; how much hooves on do you want me to be?”

Silver shared a quick glance with Scarlet. “We appreciate the help but I think we’ll be able to handle this.”

“Gotcha, the reservation’s under your name, and you can get some sleep before dinner. Think we’ll head home for a bit so Aurora can have a quick nap before her foalsitter shows up.”

Silver nodded, shivering slightly as he finally started to feel the cold air, “Thanks, Sapphire. Does dinner at eight work for you? We can check out some of the sights after if you’re not too tired.”

She nodded her head, “Already have a reservation setup, I’ll meet you in the lobby, and we can all head over later.”

Silver smiled, “Can’t wait.”

The trio hopped out of the car and took a moment to make sure that Orion was ready to go. Silver led his family through the door into a gorgeous wood lobby and took a moment to gawk at the high ceiling and expensive-looking chandeliers. Realizing he’d have time to inspect it better later, he continued trotting across the tiled floor to the front desk and greeted the unicorn attendant with a warm smile, “Hi, we have a reservation under the name Silver Eclipse.”

The attendant nodded, “Just a minute, please.” He used his magic to navigate through the computer, “Ah yes, Mr. Eclipse. You’ll be in one of our guest suites, room 62.”

Silver nodded, “Thanks Mr…” he looked down towards the desk, hoping to find a nametag or nameplate so he could properly thank the attendant.

“Scribbles,” the unicorn finished for him.

Silver smiled, “Thank you, Scribbles, I really appreciate the help.”

“You are very welcome; if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask,” Scribbles responded with a warm smile that made Silver feel a little more welcome and a lot less out of place.

The trio took a short trip over to the elevators and headed up to their floor, trotting down the long human-sized hallway to their room, pausing so Silver could open the door. He lifted his foreleg to the key reader and opened the door, happy that the hotel had pony-compatible door handles. As they flipped on the lights, they were immediately in awe of the large guest suite. Right off the bat, Orion began to explore the unfamiliar setting, sniffing about as he shoved his head in every nook and cranny, much to the duo’s delight.

Scarlet slowly walked around the suite, taking in their cozy accommodations, “This is a little more than what I thought we were getting…”

Silver chuckled, “What? You thought we’d be staying in some small motel room? I mean, it is Sapphire, after all, she seems like the type to make sure her friends are comfortable.”

“Don’t you think this might be a bit much, though? I mean, do we really need a whole separate bedroom? This is more like an apartment than a hotel room.”

Silver shrugged and looked over to the young colt who had exhausted his need to explore and was now making himself a pillow fort with the cushions that were scattered throughout the room, “Probably not, but it looks like Orion’s already staked his claim on the couch, so I think that leaves the bedroom for us.”

“Do you think… I mean, should we stop him?” She asked as the pair looked on at the colt, who was now happily snuggled up in his fort.

Silver shook his head, “Nah, look how happy he is; he’s fine as long as he’s not breaking anything or causing trouble.”

Scarlet nodded and wandered over towards one of the windows, eagerly glancing out over the lake. “I really can’t wait to get out there and start exploring,” she gushed.

He joined her by the window, “Yeah, it’s amazing, isn’t it? That dock she was talking about looks cool too, I definitely can’t wait to check that out. We’ll need to show off the next time she’s down our way; let her stay in the new VIP villa; I’m sure she’ll love the lakeside view.”

Silver wandered into the bedroom and paused, eyeing the bed longingly, “Orion’s got the right idea; I’m definitely good for a nap right now.”

Scarlet replied with a long yawn, “Same; it wouldn’t hurt to get some more shut-eye before we explore a little.”

Silver went about the suite, closing the drapes while Scarlet removed her bag and hopped onto the bed. Stretching out, he let out a relaxed sigh. “Oh, I could get used to this. Do you think we could get a king when we get back home?”

She smiled and shook her head, “Silver, we don’t need a king-sized mattress.”

“Oh, come on, you don’t even know what you’re missing; it’s like sleeping on a giant cloud!”

Scarlet laughed, “You can’t even sleep on clouds; how would you know?” Scarlet hopped up and sunk into the soft mattress. She curled up and made herself comfortable, “But alright, maybe we can look at getting a new mattress when we get home.”

He lazily raised his foreleg to speak into his gauntlet, “Navi, set an alarm for 7:30 pm” After checking that the alarm had been set, he let out a few yawns and rolled over to curl up next to her, “See you in a few hours.”

“Night.”

The alarm on Silver’s gauntlet rang out, echoing in the dark room and causing him to reflexively flap his ears for a moment before waking from the much-needed rest. Silver stopped the alarm and sat up in the bed, letting out a yawn before heading towards the window and taking a quick peek through the drapes. As he shifted out of bed, Scarlet started to stir as well, taking a quick peek at the bedside clock.

“Is it time already?” she asked in between yawns.

Silver turned back towards her and gave a slow nod, “Yeah. I was just taking a look outside. The area’s even more beautiful at night; I can’t wait to get out there.”

While they would typically be a little groggy and tired, they were both far too excited to get out and start exploring the local sights. Feeling relaxed and refreshed, the pair slowly trotted towards the living room, noticing that Orion was still comfortably curled up in his little fort.

Silver smiled, “Isn’t that adorable? I almost wonder what he’s dreaming about this time.”

“Maybe a mountain of plushies and candy? What more could he want?” She paused for a moment, “Do you think we should wake him up?”

Silver glanced down to the gauntlet on his foreleg, slowly shaking his head, “Nah, we’ve got some time until we’re supposed to meet up; he looks so peaceful right now, I’d hate to ruin it for him.”

“Alright, but just keep an eye on the time; I’m itching to get out there. Crescent was saying that the sky is really clear at night; it should give us a awesome view of the stars!”

“More awesome than out in the open desert?”

She shrugged, “Maybe, I won’t really know until I get a chance to really get a feel for it, but you’d be amazed at how a few variables can change the whole experience.”

“I’ll take your word for that, you are the astronomy expert after all.”

“Oh come on, you’re at least getting better with it.”

Silver smiled, “Well it helps that I have such a great teacher. We’ll have to do some stargazing later.”

Scarlet smiled, “I’m going to hold you to that.”

Silver and Scarlet sat in front of the quaint fireplace with Orion snuggled up in between them while they waited for Sapphire. It was colder than what they were used to, but being covered in fur definitely helped. Despite knowing it was going to be colder, the two had only packed a couple of scarves which were currently wrapped around Orion, which seemed to keep him mostly content for now. However whether that would work long term or not was left to be seen.

Scarlet looked away from the fire for a moment, “Hey do you mind if I take a look around the lobby?”

Silver shook his head, “Go for it, I’ll keep an eye on Orion. Just let me know when Sapphire gets here.”

Scarlet trotted off, leaving Silver alone with Orion for a little while. For a moment Silver was tempted to join her, but Orion looked so comfortable and he didn’t want to pull him away from that. Before long Scarlet trotted back over with Sapphire and Crescent in tow. “Ready to go Silver? I don’t know about you but being cooped up in this lobby’s a little boring.”

“Absolutely, I’m starving.” He looked over to Sapphire, “So where are we going anyways?”

“A nice local place called the UpFront. It’s not too far, just a few minutes away. What’s with the scarves? Are you cold??”

Silver looked towards Scarlet, “A little, I think I should be fine with just a scarf, but seeing as how our little adventurer is bundled up in both of ours, we might want to grab something for Orion.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’d be interested in some sweaters,” Sapphire nodded knowingly.

Scarlet nodded and turned back towards Sapphire, “We’d love that. Silver thinks he’s fine but you better grab him one too just in case.”

Silver was about to object but instead nodded his head, “Yeah… that might be a good idea. It’s kind of been a while since I’ve been up north.”

“We won’t be going too far tonight so you should be fine, I’ll scrounge something up for you tomorrow.”

Scarlet smiled as the group began to walk towards the door, “Thanks Sapphire, we really appreciate this.”

As they stepped out into the cold, Orion began to slow down, quickly impeding Silver’s progress. As much as the scarves probably helped, they still couldn’t fully protect him from the icy cold and clearly he was beginning to realize that something was off.

Sapphire looked down at the shivering colt who was trying to hide between Silver’s legs with a look of concern, “I can draw heat in around me, if you want I could carry him over there so he won’t get too cold.”

Scarlet nodded her head, “We’d really appreciate that.”

“Sure, I just want to make sure you’re all comfortable, I know it’s actually cold here and not the hot desert you’re used to.”

Silver nodded and stepped around him, “Okay buddy I know you really want to look around but Miss Sapphire’s going to keep you nice and warm until you have a sweater.” He calmly said as he carried the purple colt over towards Sapphire and set him on her back. He began to fidget around until he felt the comforting warmth, and quickly settled down.

Happy that Orion was content, Silver spoke up again, “So you said it’s only a few minutes away? I don’t want to be rude but I’d love to get going, we’ve kind of only had airplane food today and that’s definitely not the best.”

“I think it might be worth the wait.” Crescent responded.

As they trotted down the street Scarlet jumped into more talk about astronomy with Crescent while Silver excitedly looked around at the different buildings that lined the downward sloping street. The ones immediately surrounding the hotel were brick with simple accents and a beautiful white stone church. Further down the hill at the next intersection with a stoplight was a newer glass office building surrounded by ones made out of a red stone. A clock tower on a five story one made of dark red stone and bricks had a brightly lit clock tower perched on the nearest corner with copper surrounding it weathered into a beautiful green.

Silver struggled not to fly up and inspect the buildings closer as they stopped to wait for the light so a small amount of cars and a bus could use the intersection. “Man… I’d love it if the Oasis had a few buildings with… character like this. No offense to our architect but you just can’t beat the old stuff.”

“There used to be a lot of big money here. I took a class in college and we toured all the old mansions here. I’ll take you on one tomorrow evening,” Sapphire explained as they waited.

“Tempting me with history stuff? If we weren’t tied down to the Oasis I’d absolutely think about moving here.”

“Pity, I’ll need to try harder.”

“A tour or two might be the trick to pull us back up here again, doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to exhaust everything on just one visit after all.” He laughed.

The group continued to walk down the street, turning left onto a street with a steeper slope to arrive at a large two story building with the restaurant. Ponies of all tribes were hanging around it and faint music could be heard coming from within. As they left the sidewalk to head down a short flight of steps inside, a light green unicorn waiting inside at a small desk broke into a cheerful greeting.

“Good evening, welcome to the Upf—” She began to say, pausing once she noticed Sapphire, “Oh! Hi Sapphire, we’ve got your table all ready, Emily is already waiting.. Are these the out-of-state friends?”

She nodded, “Evening Lotus, I found these strange desert ponies from Arizona wandering around town. I guess they needed a break from the heat and decided to come hang out where there’s actual weather.”

Lotus turned towards Silver and Scarlet, “You guys actually live out in the desert?”

Silver smiled and nodded, “Yep, it’s not always the most comfortable place but it works for us. That said I’m glad to be somewhere cool for a change.”

“Well your table’s right over this way, it has excellent acoustics for the band.” Lotus happily trotted through a tall arched doorway, leading them into a sizable dining area arranged around a center dance floor with four big brick pillars framing it. The style was definitely based around all the exposed brickwork of the walls with soft yellow lighting that wasn’t too bright for a night pony. At the far end of the dance floor a band of ponies were playing instruments on a small stage while a few dancers moved to the beat. Orion lagged behind briefly as he stopped to stare at himself in the heavily polished floor.

Lotus led them towards a booth where Emily was already seated with menus already spread out on the table. “Alrighty, you all enjoy yourselves!” she cheerfully chirped. “Your server will be with you in just a minute.”

Scarlet took a seat next to Emily, while Silver took a booth seat with Orion next to him, who seemed to be more interested in trying to peek over the booth to get a better look at the unfamiliar surroundings. She immediately turned towards Emily, cheerfully greeting her while Sapphire and Crescent filled in the empty seats. “Hey Em, it’s great to see you again, how have you been?”

The pastel night pony returned a warm smile, “I’ve been great, I bet you’re happy to finally be out of that hot desert.” She looked over towards Orion, “And I see you two have a new little friend with you, what’s his name?”

Silver smiled and pulled the curious colt in close to him with a wing, “Orion. It was Scarlet’s idea, he’s named after our favorite constellation.”

“Well that’s a cute name, so I take it you’re still into astronomy?” she asked as she turned back towards Scarlet.

Scarlet perked up, “Oh absolutely! Crescent even said he’d let me me borrow a few of his astronomy books from Equestria and I can tell you that I’m already going to get lost in those.”

“Are you able to read Equestrian?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Scarlet nodded, “Well… not exactly. I’ve been studying some of the stuff that’s available online but it’s not like you can really get a full course on it yet. Crescent said he’ll give me some tips and pointers on how to pick it up more though.”

“That’s Scarlet for she’s going to fill notebook after notebook with as much information and translation as she possibly can.” Silver added with a snicker.

“Can you blame me though? This is me getting the chance to live vicariously and explore another universe’s star systems through some secondhand books from a family friend who’s into the same stuff I am. You don’t get to do that every day and I just want to make sure I’ve got everything noted down and cross referenced so I don’t forget anything… and so maybe I can do more of it in the future.”

Emily shrugged, “Hey, I’d say that having your own private library on another universe’s stars is something to brag about if you ask me. Nobody would have been able to say that a couple years ago.”

“Well… when you put it that way I guess it is,” she added in agreement. “I don’t know how useful it'll really be unless I can get more material on it, but you never know.”

Emily nodded. “And the Oasis? How are things out in the desert?”

Silver nodded, “Well, we had a few… setbacks after Sapphire’s little storm, but on the bright side the lake’s been holding and the river’s been circulating the water enough that it hasn’t gone stagnant. The Earth ponies are doing a fantastic job at keeping all the plant life going too, the whole area’s turned into an actual oasis.”

“That’s good to hear, Sapphire’s been known to go a little overboard sometimes.” Emily leveled a smirk at the pegasus who frowned playfully in response.

Silver glanced over towards Sapphire, “It was definitely one hell of an introduction. A bit scary to be honest, but it turned out well enough in the end.”

“I’m happy everything is going well, hopefully you’ll be able to move past dealing with that manipulative unicorn.” Sapphire added in with a smile, referring to Sunset Blessing.

“Yeah… well, we still have to keep that whole partnership up for now, at least until we’re done paying her back. She has sent us some interesting projects though, stuff that’s almost worth dealing with her shenanigans for, and besides, there was a change in management after that whole incident and she assured me that that wouldn’t happen again. Don’t know what to really make of it, but if it makes you feel any better we’ve been looking into other partnerships and options going forward.”

“You can tell a lot about a pony by whose company they keep,” Sapphire shook her head but didn’t comment any further, instead choosing to change the subject. “So is that pegasus that kept trying to impress Dazzle still running the team?”

Silver smiled, “Yep. Zipper’s still… well, Zipper, but he’s definitely keeping them in line and trained. I was kind of worried that he wasn’t going to really be up for the task but when he’s determined to get something done he’ll get it done, no matter the cost.”

“Good to hear. If he needs any motivation, tell him if I hear he’s slacking off that I’ll make another surprise visit.”

“I sure will.” He paused for a moment, “This is a bit of an odd request but could you tell Dazzle that he said hi, I kind of promised that I’d pass it along.”

Before the conversation could continue further a white pegasus trotted up to them. “Howdy, I’m Snow Comet and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start y’all with anything to drink?”

Silver glanced around, “Well uh.. We’re kind of from out of state, what do you guys have?”

“Well we’ve got Sparkling Rain, Paradise Punch, Mint Dream, Celestial Cider, Moonlight Mango—”

“Moonlight Mango please, I’ll have one,” Silver answered a little too quickly.

Comet nodded, “Mhmm. And for the rest of you?”

“I’ll have one too.” Scarlet added

Sapphire nodded, “Celestial Cider for me.”

Comet looked over towards Crescent, “And for you?”

“Sparkling Rain please.”

“Water please.” Emily added.

Snow Comet nodded and walked away, giving the group some time to catch up. As Scarlet began to ask Crescent another round of astronomy questions, Silver began to look around the room, taking in the different ponies and humans that were enjoying their evening. Out of the corner of his eye Silver noticed a pair of partials deep in discussion, without thinking his ears pivoted to hear them better, letting the music and conversation fade into the background.

“I just don’t know, I want to get it over with but you heard about the issues ponies have been having getting back right?”

“What’s more important though? Being uncomfortable here or being comfortable but stuck there?”

“I just don’t know, I mean we have our whole lives here… it’s a lot to give up.”

“But we’re not comfortable like this. Whatever happens we’ll work through it together.”

“I know, it’s not fair we’re being punished for not wanting to rehumanize.”

Silver blinked a few times and stopped focusing on the conversation as he looked over towards Sapphire. “Hey Sapphire, what's the whole partial situation?”

She raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“Well I don’t want to sound like I’m eavesdropping but I just overheard a couple talk about getting stuck in Equestria if they want to fully transform.”

“Oh, that. Surprised you haven’t heard about it. Princess Twilight negotiated it so that any partial who wishes to be a pony can go to Equestria to receive the spell. Since no ETS spell is allowed on Earth, it’s an easy workaround. Problem is that once they’re there, they get stuck behind so much red tape to return home that they may as well be exiled with no way of knowing when they can ever return.”

“Wait, but what about you? I mean you go there and come back home just fine.”

She shook her head, “It's different… those bigots who tied it up don’t care if you’re one or the other, but they don’t want partials to ever think becoming a pony is acceptable so they’ll punish them for it anyway they can to encourage them to make the right choice. It’s one of the few ways they have left to do it after the original treaty. I only get fast passed for travel because of my daughter.”

“I didn’t know how bad it really was, that sounds awful.” He paused for a moment, “Sorry if this kind of killed the mood, I didn’t mean for this whole conversation to get so… serious.”

“It’s fine, it’s better that you at least know now.”

“So Emily, did you wind up dreamwalking more? That vision you showed me while you were down in the Oasis was such a cool little trick,” Scarlet added in, trying to change the subject.

She looked around and shook her head. “Not really, it’s just not really my thing. I mean mass brainwashing isn’t really a good talent to have.”

“But you turned the vision into something so beautiful, don’t you think there’s something else you can do with it?”

She shrugged, “I mean, sure, I guess it could be useful for something, but it’s not really something I can turn into a career.”

“Well what do you do now?” Silver asked in curiosity. “And where’s Will?”

“I’m Sapphire’s night assistant and he’s off doing a… thing with some family in New York so he won’t be back until next week.”

“That’s too bad, tell him I said hi the next time he’s around.” Silver stopped to think about Emily’s job, thinking back to his own plans for his talent, “Well maybe it doesn’t have to be for a career. Can’t you have a hobby?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember Somewhere?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah, what about it?”

“Well I was kind of thinking of using it to help teach others. I have this big persistent space with no real barriers, that’s kind of the perfect way to bring ponies together and I’m really just using it as my own little personal sandbox right now. It could be so much more though, like the perfect classroom if you think about it. Maybe you could use your vision talent for something like that?”

“A... dream classroom?”

“I don’t think he meant it that way Em. The vision changed the way we thought, right? What if you kind of did something good with that like using it to teach someone a skill? They’d have to agree of course, but once they did you could help them learn through it.” Scarlet added in.

Silver nodded, “Kind of like putting the important information right into their heads, I mean hell I would have loved to have that as a foal.”

Emily shrugged, “I could, but that sounds almost like another full time job doing something I’ve never done and don’t really enjoy doing.”

“Sounds like a job… all joking aside, think about it. I just wanted to do something productive with my talent, and I figured that if I could do something unique I might as well put it to good use.”

She nodded her head. “I’ll think about it. It’s going to take some time to get used to the idea, but maybe there is some good I could make from it.”

“It doesn’t have to be anything right now, just do what you’re comfortable with when you’re comfortable doing it.” Scarlet added reassuringly.

Their dinner arrived as the discussion shifted to less heavy matters like Orion’s pillow fort, and the group had quickly dug in. Silver made sure that Orion was eating instead of playing with his food while Scarlet looked on at the band on stage with a cheerful look on her face. There wasn’t much conversation in between, but the couple didn’t mind at all, they were just happy to have an actual meal from a restaurant with a large menu.

Pleased that Orion had finished his meal without any issues, Silver looked back towards the group. “So what’s the plan now? I can’t imagine that you two are going to hang out with us all night.” Silver asked as he gestured towards Sapphire and Crescent.

Emily began to speak up, “I’ll be showing you around, there’s some cool little hangouts around here that you might like.”

“Like the ore dock? Sapphire brought that up earlier and it looks really impressive from what we’ve been able to see.” Scarlet asked.

Emily nodded her head, “That was first on the list, we can head over right after dinner if you want to start with it. Is Orion going to be okay with the cold though?”

Silver nodded while looking towards Scarlet, “Yeah I think so. Sapphire was keeping him warm on the way over but Scarlet had the idea of taking our scarves and bundling him up for tonight. Sapphire said she’d try and get us some sweaters tomorrow but this should hopefully work for tonight.”

“I don’t think he’s going to like it too much, but I think he’ll like it a lot more than being out in the cold all night.” Scarlet added in.

“And if it doesn’t work we’ll just hang out inside somewhere. We’re not too worried about missing one night of our trip.”

Emily nodded her head, “We’ll give it a try, there is a Walgreens nearby we could probably pick something up. Will just need to decide before it gets too late, they are only open till eleven.”

Full and content, the group stepped outside. Orion had started to fuss about at being bundled up so tightly again, but quickly settled down once they were out in the cold and the lower temperature began to set in. Clearly the cold nipping at him was enough to make him set aside his discomfort again.

Scarlet chuckled, “See? I told you he’d settle down once we got out here.”

“Well I’ll make sure you have a few sweaters tomorrow. So you guys wanted to check out the ore dock?” Sapphire asked.

Silver nodded, “Yeah, it looks pretty cool.”

“Alright, we’ll stick around long enough to get you there, but then Crescent and I will need to head out for the night. Emily can show you all the night sights though.”

“Perfect, well I’ll let you lead the way Sapphire.”

She nodded, gesturing over to the towering structure, “Well… it’s right this way.”

The group moved along, with Orion keeping close to Silver and Scarlet, though this time he wasn’t pausing to shiver constantly. It wasn’t an ideal solution, but bundling him up in a pair of scarves would at least work for tonight, and the two could at least deal with the cold for now.

“Well here we are, the old ore dock.”

Silver and Scarlet craned their necks up to get a better view of the towering structure, in awe of how massive it really was now that they were up close. Like a giant heavy concrete rib cage, it rose up out of the water almost a hundred feet into the air. They could see clear through the structure to the far end facing out towards the lake. Big metal chutes lined the upper half of the exterior and they could make out ponies flying to and from a flat roof. Silver thought the heavy bare bones industrial design stood out in stark contrast to the quaint brick buildings they had just walked by, but to him it was just as impressive. Almost like some retro Sci-Fi creation by someone imagining what might be, even though it was probably built a hundred years ago. To put it simply, he was in love with it.

Sapphire smirked, “Well go ahead, you can fly around here if you want, it’s not like anyone’s going to stop you.”

Silver looked back over to her, “Do you want to show us around? I mean I don’t even know where to start with this.”

She shook her head, “Emily can, I hate to just leave you guys, but it’s getting a bit late for us. We can hang out more tomorrow though, I’ll get those sweaters together for you so you don’t need to constantly worry about having to bundle Orion up. I’m sure he’ll appreciate being able to move around more.”

Silver nodded, “It’s cool, I can’t expect you to stay up all night with us. You guys have a nice night. Thanks again for dinner, it was nice to catch up a bit more, and nice to meet you too Crescent.”

Crescent gave a quick nod and Sapphire said a final goodbye before flying off, leaving the group alone with Emily.

As Emily led the trio further into the structure, the assorted night ponies and pegasi glanced down at them in curiosity. It was blatantly clear that the family stood out, but they didn’t feel out of place with Emily as their guide.

She began to speak up, “So this used to be the old ore dock for the mine, trains would come up here from tracks that used to run through the city, but now it’s mostly just a hangout for the winged ponies. I think they eventually want to work on making it into a sort of home, but I don’t know how that’s all coming along.”

“And what a hangout, I mean this place is huge.” Scarlet added while looking around, her voice carrying through the structure along with the sound of waves breaking against it.

Silver gazed around with an excited look on his face, “It must have been amazing to see back in the day. The Oasis used to be an old abandoned mining town so there's a lot of old collapsed mine shafts and whatnot, though we don’t have anything like this back home. Mind if we look around a little?”

“We have plenty of old underground mines but they’ve been closed down for a long time. You’ll need to go see the Tilden to see what mining looks like here now.” Emily shook her head, “Look around as much as you want, though, that’s why we’re here after all.”

The pair nodded, wasting no time at all exploring the place. They quickly hovered around, looking through the structure and taking turns carrying Orion so they could each explore the little nooks and crannies to their heart's content. Gradually they worked their way to the top, finally coming to a rest on the top of the massive structure.

Scarlet looked around at the sky above, “I can definitely see why this place is so popular, I mean just look at the view!” she exclaimed, glancing back at the glittering street lights before turning out towards the water where she could see the lakeshore stretching to the horizon off to her side. “It’s like an ocean but all fresh water.”

Emily smiled, “And no sharks, promise.”

“I can see why ponies would want to live here,” Silver added while keeping a close eye on Orion.

“Did you want to do anything specific? I mean you’ve got a whole week to explore so it’s up to you.”

Scarlet nodded, “Well you mentioned Pictured Rocks when you visited us, that’d be kind of cool to see.”

“Oh that’s already been planned out, but you definitely need to see them at sunset, not the middle of the night. Trust me, it’ll be worth getting up early for.”

“I’ll take your word for it, why don’t you show us some of the sights out here, the ones that are nice to see at night. Oh and we definitely need to get some stargazing in later, if you know any good spots where the sky’s clear.” Silver suggested.

She nodded, “Sure, let’s go check out a few places on Washington before they close. Are you good to fly with Orion?”

Scarlet glanced towards the bundled up colt, “Flying up around here is one thing, we could at least take turns, but I’d feel better if we didn’t do a whole lot of flying with him right now, just to be safe.”

“That’s alright, we can walk.”

“I’m okay with that, it gives us some more time to talk. If there’s anything that stands out to us in particular, we can take turns flying around.” Scarlet added.

Emily nodded, “Well if you’re all done here we can get going.”

Silver looked towards Scarlet, “Sure, I think I’m good to go.”

“Then let’s get a move on, I think you’ll really enjoy some of the other nightlife around here.”

Chapter 4: Picture if You Will

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It was reaching the middle of their trip and Sapphire had suggested that the group visit the large structure known as the Superior Dome. Scarlet and Silver had immediately agreed, noting that spending time in a large heated building and taking a short break from the cold was probably for the best.

And large it was. The Dome had been designed for American football and was apparently the largest wooden dome in the world. Its beautiful wooden structure was proudly on display, creating a latticework of triangles and walkways that encircled them overhead. The silver skin that was pulled tight over the skeleton to keep out the elements was even visible from inside.

Silver sat with his family next to Sapphire’s and thousands of others on the bleachers, enthralled by the exciting game of hoofball that was going on below on the astroturf field. He had never really been much for watching sports play out at home, but seeing them in person? That was an entirely different case. In person you could really feel the energy of the crowd, and even though he didn’t really understand the game itself, he couldn’t help but cheer along with the rest of the group.

The buzzer suddenly rang out, signaling that it was half time and it startled Orion enough for him to frightfully try to climb under the bench. The colt gave up when it stopped and looked around in worry, earning a laugh from Silver.

He pulled the frightened colt back next to him and pulled him close to give Orion a reassuring pat on the back. “Hey don’t worry buddy, it’s just half time, I know you’re not used to all this noise but it’s fun!”

He took a few more nervous glances and then calmed down some more, snuggling up between his parents.

Scarlet smiled, “See? It’s not that bad.”

Emily stood up, “I’m going to grab something to drink, you guys need anything?”

Silver nodded, “Just a few waters please.”

She nodded and trotted off to grab them.

Sapphire looked over to the trio, “So what do you think so far?”

“I think it’s amazing— I mean just look at the way it’s built! Almost reminds me of the one back in Long Beach.” Silver answered as he excitedly looked all around.

“The building is nice, but I’m still trying to understand what’s going on. I mean I’ve never seen this before.” Scarlet cut in.

Sapphire raised an eyebrow, “What do you want to know about?”

“Well it looks like soccer but what’s with the buckets the goalkeepers are using?”

“It’s an Equestrian thing. Earth’s version is kind of a mix between soccer and a sport in Equestria called buckball. Though that is only ever played with three ponies on each team. Basically the earth ponies and unicorns defend while the pegasi kick the ball to try and score. Neither of them can use their abilities or magic except for the goalies. That’s why the pegasi are all running instead of flying. The buckets are just another way to try and stop the ball from going into the goal.”

Scarlet nodded, “Interesting. It’s definitely different, but not really in a bad way.”

Sapphire continued, “Pegasi will get a penalty if they fly or get past the other team’s defense and unicorns will too if they use their magic to directly grab the ball. Winged ponies don’t have to be the forwards but since we tend to be faster, it’s how things tend to turn out.”

“I’ve never really been much of a sports guy but this is actually kind of fun to watch. Seems like there’s a ton of strategy involved, gotta make sure you have the quickest pegasi making the run and the strongest earth ponies keeping a close eye on the ball… this might make for a fun pastime back home, I can already think of a handful of ponies that would be up for trying it out sometime. What’s it called anyways?” Silver excitedly interjected.

“Hoofball. Not really the most inspired name but it works well enough. Are you thinking of trying it out sometime?”

Silver gave a quick half nod, “Maybe, It might be a fun thing to try.”

Scarlet tried to stifle a laugh, “You’re gonna try and play this? Not that there’s anything wrong with that but… you’ve never really struck me as the… athletic type.”

He frowned in mock indignation, “I don’t really know if I should be insulted or not. But I mean I might as well try it out, I’m not going to quit my day job or anything but it looks fun.”

She smirked, “Well if you want to do something productive, I sure won’t stop you.”

“It might be a challenge if you don’t have a lot of night ponies back in the Oasis, unless you’re coordinating it when you’re awake with the others.” Sapphire added in.

“Well it’s worth a shot, I don’t know how many will actually be interested, but worst case it’s just an occasional event that we break out every once in a while,” Silver added.

Scarlet turned to ask Sapphire another question, but was interrupted as a small group of ponies trotted up to the blue pegasus and asked her something that Scarlet couldn’t quite hear. Deciding to let her take care of that, Scarlet simply looked back around the arena. As she glanced back down to the turf she smiled as an idea came to her. With a smile, she turned back towards Orion, “I know this is all a lot for you, but why don’t we go play in the grass for a little while? Does that sound fun?!”

Orion nervously looked around and gave a quick flap of his wings as Scarlet lifted him up and began to fly down towards the field.

The next few days seemed to fly by, and before they had even realized it their brief week long vacation was almost at its end. Sapphire was off getting the tickets, leaving the family and Emily alone. Silver, Scarlet, and Orion stuck out like a sore thumb in their cozy sweaters, but they didn’t care in the slightest. As warm as they were, the cold wind that would blow in every once in a while would still send them into a flurry of shivers. Despite the chilling wind, Orion was still as curious as ever over the new area they were in now.

“You know, if you’re too cold they’ll have blankets you can borrow on the boat.” Emily added as she looked on at them.

Silver looked over to Scarlet and Orion, and then back to Emily. “Yeah, that’d be a good idea. Just in case it gets too cold for us out on the water.”

She nodded, “Oh it will as soon as the boat gets moving.”

Silver took the opportunity to snap a few more photos for his album while Scarlet chatted over some of her notes with Crescent.

Emily looked down at Orion who was currently looking around at the tour boats with wide eyed curiosity. “Has he... ever been on a boat before?”

Silver shook his head, “Nope, we’ve been hoping to get some boats out at the lake back home but that really hasn’t been a priority. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about him though, looks like he’s already excited for it.”

“He’s definitely trying to win the cutest foal award.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “So how long’s the boat ride anyways?”

“About two and a half hours, so it’ll be a long one. If you need to use the restroom you better do it now.”

Silver smiled at the thought of a nice relaxing boat ride, bringing back memories of his childhood spent at lakes and rivers with his parents. “That sounds relaxing, I bet we’ll have plenty of time to chat and just enjoy the nice weather.”

Scarlet nodded, “I can’t wait.”

Silver watched as Orion excitedly took a few steps off the path onto the grass, stopped, then eagerly approached the dock. Scarlet was also keeping a close eye on him, but despite their worries he didn’t run off too far before returning to them. The cold wind blew on them again, causing a few more shivers, but the blankets that were draped over their entire body and secured around their necks kept them reasonably comfortable. They had received them earlier in the week from Sapphire along with a few pony-designed sweaters, and Silver was still getting used to looking like a little horse with them on.

“You ready to go buddy??” Silver asked as Orion finished coming back to them.

Orion made an excited squeal and bounced as they continued towards the dock.

Scarlet laughed, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Sapphire chose that moment to come flying in, landing with a small hop. “Tickets are all set, let’s get in line.”

The pair nodded and walked forward, keeping Orion close while they strode down the long dock to board the boat. The last thing they needed was for the colt to randomly run off and cause trouble. They stepped aboard and took a blanket that was lying in a pile next to the entrance, then took a seat next to Emily.

Silver turned towards the pastel pink night pony, “So we’ll get to see the rocks at sunset?”

She nodded before replying with a hint of sarcasm, “We are going on the sunset cruise, so yes.”

“Alright, just making sure.”

“Just relax and enjoy the cruise, I’m sure you’ll love it.”

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

He glanced over towards Orion, who was peeking over the side railing. “Watcha looking for buddy? Trying to see if there’s any fish like back home?”

The colt didn’t give a response but instead continued to glance around at the lake’s surface as if he was entranced by it. Occasionally glancing out in the distance where the water became the horizon with a look of fascination that Silver couldn’t help but feel proud of.

“Looks like he’s still trying to figure out what’s up with all the water.” Sapphire added.

Silver let out a chuckle, “You think? I kind of wonder what’s going through his head, he went from the desert to a big metal tube in the sky to a cold area with lots of water around. It probably feels like a completely different world for him.”

“I hope he’s not too attached to this place, he might be a bit bummed once we’re back in the hot desert.”

Silver smiled, “Well I guess that just means we’ll have to come back here again.”

The boat was quite full but Sapphire had negotiated reserved seats on the upper level open to the elements. Silver was definitely happy to have the extra blanket as the boat began cutting through the water out onto the lake to follow the coastline heading East. To the West, the sun was just starting to turn the sky orange, and would be setting sometime towards the end of the cruise. A few minutes in and they began passing by the cliffs along the lakeshore, already beginning to glow with a golden light. Emily’s insistence at saving this for the final day was definitely worth it, both Silver and Scarlet were immediately in awe of the beautiful sight.

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding Em, this is beautiful!” Scarlet exclaimed, helping Orion up higher to more easily see the towering sandstone cliffs that contrasted against the dark blue water and the green trees above.

Silver pulled out his camera and started snapping pictures, letting out a happy sigh. “This is amazing. Definitely nothing like what we have back home.”

Silver snapped a few more pictures before quickly passing the camera over to Sapphire. “Could you get a quick picture of us please?”

“Just one quick picture?”

He nodded, “Just so we have this memory saved forever.”

She shrugged, smirking slightly, “Alright, get together and I’ll snap it for you.”

The family leaned in close while Sapphire snapped a few photos, handing the camera back over to Silver.

“Thanks Sapphire, I know it’s corny but Silver really wants to make sure we have these memories recorded. It’s kind of a big deal to him.”

“It’s alright, I get it. You gotta make sure you capture all those special moments.”

“Exactly! He’s only going to grow up once, I just want to make sure we can spend as much time making these memories as we can.” Silver gazed back over towards the sunlit rocks, “You know, I’m really going to miss this place. Even if it’s been a little cold at times but that was kind of a nice change of pace.”

“Cold… right,” Sapphire smiled.

Emily let out a small yawn, “So what do you guys think of it? Was it worth getting up early to see?”

Scarlet nodded her head while Silver snapped a few more photos, “Oh absolutely, you really weren’t kidding when you said we’d have to see them at sunset.”

“Yeah, as much as I love seeing the valley at sunrise the whole… package of this place blows it out of the water.”

“So is it right back to work when you get back or did you at least give yourself a few extra days to rest?” Emily asked

Silver shrugged, “Not exactly, we reorganized how we operate things after you guys left so now I have a lot more time to spend with my family. We’re still working a few things out, but it’s really going well so far. Cuts out a lot of the stress now that everything’s spread out amongst the team a little more evenly.”

“Well that’s nice at least, you won’t have to jump right back into it.”

“Absolutely. I know it might be a little premature, but I would definitely want to get a small vacation home up here someday. It’s just such a nice area and Orion sure seems to love it.”

Sapphire nodded, “I can probably put you in contact with somepony who could help with that. We have more than enough space.”

“I don’t think that’s even a question to be honest. We will be coming back.” Scarlet added in with a smile.

Crescent spoke up, “We’ll be missing the area as well.”

“What do you mean?” Silver asked

“Normally we go to Equestria to celebrate Hearth’s Warming with my family in Cloudsdale. Usually it’s only for one month but I have a guard evaluation in Canterlot that will extend it to two and a half.”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “So uh… what’s Equestria like anyways? I mean I’ve heard all about it and I’ve been studying the language as best I can, but I’ve never had the chance to actually ask about it. Is it really all that different from Earth?”

He nodded his head, “I have heard many human visitors say that we seem caught in time. In a way that is correct. While there are many similarities, our magic means many of the inventions humans created have no reason to exist.”

Scarlet’s face lit up in intrigue, “I never would have thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense now that you say it.” She paused for a moment, trailing off in thought. “Um, hey Crescent? I kind of have a big favor to ask.”

“Hm? What would that be?”

She glanced down to her well worn notebook, the overpacked tome threatening to burst at the seams, “So… this is kind of a long shot but I figured there was no harm in asking. I’ve been asking you so much about the stars in Equestria and I’ve been studying so much… would it be possible to maybe see them for myself?”

“Are you asking me to help you visit Equestria?”

She nodded her head, “I know it’s asking a lot but that would be such a big dream come true for me… not to mention how useful it could be for astronomers and scientists here. —It’s okay if you can’t though, I understand.”

Crescent paused for a moment, as Scarlet felt a lingering feeling of nervousness well up inside. Finally he broke the silence, “I can put in a good word but that’s it. Princess Luna has invested in a new observatory with Earth technology and she was seeking out a handful of astronomers to aid in its operation. I wouldn’t think to promise anything, but if you’ll allow me to pass along your notebook for her review, perhaps she would be interested and impressed enough with your work to include you as she begins mapping our sky.”

“You want to show the Princess my notebook!?” she excitedly yelled out, earning a series of confused looks from the other passengers onboard. With a nervous expression she lowered her voice, “—I mean that’s fine, it’s a bit rough but as long as you bring it back in one piece I’m perfectly okay with that.” She paused for a moment, “So you’re sure that this won’t be any trouble at all?”

He shook his head, “None at all. In fact, having another pony who’s awake all night would probably be even better for this project. I will get back in contact with you about it as soon as I have an answer.”

She excitedly nodded her head, “Thank you so much! This is seriously like a dream come true!”

The group sat and enjoyed the sights until it was time for them to return to shore, chatting back and forth during the ride back. All too soon the boat pulled back into its place at the dock and they disembarked. Orion and Aurora both badly needed to visit the little ponies room after being stuck on the boat for hours. Their ride wasn’t going to be there for a little while longer so they went to sit at the small park on the shore. Silver and Sapphire led their respective foals off, leaving the others alone at the park.

“If anyone else is interested, I could really go for a quick bite to eat before we head out. I’m going to head over to Muldoon’s and get a pasty, you want me to pick you up one?” Emily asked as she looked towards Scarlet and Crescent.

Crescent shook his head, “I’m not hungry, but thank you for the offer.”

Scarlet nodded, “Sure. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of those so go ahead and grab me one too, I’m not a picky eater.”

Emily began to walk over towards the shop, “Alright, I’ll be back.”

Scarlet took a seat on a nearby bench with Crescent and idly flipped through her notebook, making sure that everything was in order before she handed it over to Crescent. “Okay, please take good care of this, I know it doesn’t look like much but it’s really special to me.”

Crescent carefully took the notebook and gently deposited it in his saddle bag, “I’ll be very careful with it, promise.”

Scarlet’s face held a look of worry at first, which softened to a smile once she saw how careful Crescent was being with it. “Thanks. This really means a lot to me.”

The other parents returned, and Silver took a seat next to Scarlet with Orion. Sapphire, and Crescent began to follow in Emily’s hoofsteps, leaving the family alone for the time being.

Waves gently rolled in to crash along the shore, the sun beginning its final descent turning the entire sky a dark red. The warm color bathed everything in a soothing glow and a light breeze continued to blow off the lake encouraging Silver to cuddle with his family.

Scarlet gazed off into the distance and leaned in closer with Silver and Orion, wrapping her wings around them. “You know, I’m serious about wanting to come back. Sure it’s cold here, but it’s such a nice area and I think I could get used to it over time.”

Silver smiled, “Well, if you insist… for real though I’d be perfectly fine with that, I could absolutely go for a week of peace and quiet out here every year.”

The pair snuggled closer squeezing Orion a little too tightly causing him to give an angry squeal. Laughing nervously they gave the colt some space, letting him settle back down. It was a little sad that their vacation would soon be coming to an end, but they were both happy to have been able to experience something new and to solidify friendships.

Chapter 5: Daddy's Little Demon

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Silver and Scarlet had been home for just over two weeks before they had finally heard back from Crescent Shadow. In that time life had gone on as usual, with lots of boring and uneventful work (compared to to their fun vacation), and plenty of other fun family moments. What would have normally been an uneventful bit of old fashioned correspondence between friends was underscored by the news that the letter contained. When Scarlet had talked with Crescent about sharing her notes and research, she never actually expected it’d go anywhere beyond that, but the letter that she held said differently.

To whom it may concern,

Recently we received your compiled set of notes and research from our mutual correspondent Crescent Shadow. While your notes cover subjects that are considered elementary, Princess Luna and the rest of the program’s directorate were impressed that a pony from Earth was able to comprehend and hypothesize so much with such a basic understanding of the underlying Equestrian science and language. While normally such a minor set of notes wouldn’t constitute further review or consideration, your collected notes and research show clear potential and talent. It is with that consideration and understanding along with further recommendation from Princess Luna herself that we here at the Equestrian Astronomy Program would like to formally extend an invitation to you to assist in our program here in Equestria. We understand that this represents a particular challenge with temporary relocation, but our mutual correspondent has assured us that he will be able to assist you with the next steps necessary to join us for this venture.

Attached with this letter is your approved visa and recommendation from Princess Luna, the dates for which you’re being invited to participate in, and the further instructions as transcribed from Crescent Shadow. Should you choose to accept this invitation, please contact our Earth-based office at your earliest convenience. Their information is enclosed.

It has been my pleasure to deliver this news, and I hope that you will consider this research opportunity. From all of us in the E.A.P., thank you for showing such interest, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Starry Skies, Program Director

To say that both of them were more than just excited would be an understatement, and in fact, Scarlet had been so excited that she had quickly taken to the skies, swooping around their home and cheering excitedly, no doubt waking their neighbors in the process. Neither of them cared about that though, this was such an exciting moment for her that it was worth a few annoyed neighbors.

After the reverie they quickly filled out the required paperwork that had been included, and Scarlet had written up her acceptance. Unsurprisingly enough, the program’s Earth-based team only had a physical mailing address, and no way to contact through phone or email. What this meant was that they’d have to mail it out in the morning sometime, but that wouldn’t be a huge issue. The return envelope was already paid for and would be sent as first class mail, so it wasn’t like they’d have to wait too terribly long for it to arrive.

The posted date was only two weeks away, which would give them plenty of time to prepare, and plenty of time for Scarlet to relax a little and get her excitement under control.

Those two weeks had flown by in a blur, and Silver could tell that as prepared as Scarlet was, she was still nervous for the adventure ahead of her. He was too, but that anxious feeling was also overshadowed by the incredible pride he felt at her achievement, and despite being a little jealous that he wouldn’t be able to join her on her trip, he was still overwhelmingly happy for her.

The moonlit desert landscape zoomed past them as they drove towards the Phoenix airport. Silver and Scarlet sat in the back seat, Orion cuddled in between them and Marcus in the front. An adventurous sounding melody played over the radio in the background, almost seeming to emphasize the journey that was about to take place.

“Okay so you’ve got everything you need right? We’re not forgetting anything?” Silver asked her for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Scarlet laughed and rolled her eyes, “Silver, I’m good. I don’t need to bring that much with me anyways, just the essentials for the trip.”

“Alright, alright, I just want to make sure you’ve got everything. This is kind of a big deal, after all.”

She smiled. “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I’m good. Crescent’s already got my notebook, and I’ve got all the books and notes I needed to bring over.”

The van pulled up towards the curb and came to a stop. “Alrighty, this is the end of the line,” Marcus cheerfully called back to the family.

Silver nodded towards him, “Thanks Marcus, go ahead and find a spot to park for a few. I’ll give you a call once we’re ready to go.”

He returned a quick nod, “Gotcha boss.”

The trio hopped out of the shuttle and Marcus pulled away while Silver walked Scarlet into the terminal and towards the airport’s security checkpoint, Orion happily trotting alongside the pair.

The trio stopped a short distance away and Scarlet turned towards Silver, hesitating for a moment, “So this is it. I’m actually going to go map out another world’s stars.”

Silver gave an excited nod, “Yep! You’re about to become an interdimensional traveler! How does it feel?”

She shrugged, “I mean, I’m a little nervous, but I think it’s exciting. It’s going to be weird being gone for so long, but this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Well you never know, maybe you’ll impress them and they’ll let you come back again. This could really be the start of something big you know?”

Scarlet smiled, “Of course, I know it’s only for this one project but hey, never say never. If I was able to impress Crescent’s boss then maybe there’ll be more chances like this in the future.”

“Yeah, and hopefully we can come along next time too.” He added with a smile, pulling Orion close to him with a wing.

She looked down towards Orion, “And you’re going to be good for Silver, right?”

The purple colt nodded excitedly, pushing away from Silver to cuddle up closer to her.

“Good, I’m gonna miss you, little buddy, but I’m only going to be gone for a little while.”

Silver sighed, “It’s sure going to feel like so much longer, but I’m glad you have the chance to do this. Who knows when you’ll ever have the opportunity again?”

She pulled him into a hug, draping her wings around both him and Orion, “I know, don’t worry though, I’ll be home before you know it. Are you sure you’ll be able to manage everything on your own though?”

Silver nodded. “Yeah, it can’t be too bad, right? I mean, I’m just watching Orion, keeping an eye on the house, and keeping us fed. I think I can handle this for a month, what’s the worst that could happen?”

She smirked. “Oh, I can think of about a dozen things that could go wrong, but if you think you’ve got it, I'll take your word for it.”

He smiled, “Thanks Scarlet. You’re gonna have such a fun time, the least I could do is make sure you don’t need to worry about us while you’re gone.”

“Okay, well I really appreciate it.” She shifted her saddlebags into a comfortable place on her back, looked towards the security checkpoint, and then back towards Silver. “Please just be careful while I’m gone… okay?”

He paused and nodded, “Trust me Scarlet, I’m reading you loud and clear. I’ll keep the house clean, make sure Orion’s good to go, and all the other little things you reminded me to keep an eye on. You go and enjoy yourself and let me worry about everything out here. It’s not every day that you get to just hop dimensions and go look at another universe’s stars after all, I’m kind of jealous to be honest.”

“Thanks, that makes me feel better.” She glanced down to her gauntlet to check the time, and then back over towards the checkpoint. “Well I better get going,” she pulled the two in for one final hug and a kiss goodbye. “I’m going to really miss you two, but I’ll be back before you know it.” She paused, “Please please please promise me you won’t burn the house down Silver.”

Silver smiled, "I promise I won’t burn the house down. We’re gonna really miss you too, I can’t wait to hear all about your trip once you get back, now you go have fun!”

She smiled and walked towards the security checkpoint as Silver raised his gauntlet and started to call Marcus. The moment he took his eyes off of the purple colt, he started to run over towards Scarlet, no doubt confused as to why she was suddenly leaving the pair. Noticing this, Silver immediately ran after him, quickly pulling him close and comforting him.

“Hey buddy just relax, I know it’s confusing to you, but mommy’s just going on a vacation. You’ve gotta stay here with me, okay?”

Orion glanced back over towards Scarlet with a concerned look spread across his face and tried to wriggle free, finally relenting when Silver pulled him closer. He sniffled a few times as Silver embraced him.

“Don’t worry little buddy, it’ll all be okay, I promise. I’m gonna make sure you have such a fun time that you won’t even realize when mommy’s vacation is over.” He said reassuringly.

Silver’s gauntlet chimed once, as Marcus’ voice came through, “Silver? What’s up? Are you all set?”

Without breaking his embrace, Silver spoke back a quick reply, “Yeah Marcus, we’re all set. Go ahead and pull up and we’ll meet you outside. I’ll just be waiting by the door with Orion.”

“Alright, see you in a few minutes boss.”

“All set to go Silver?” Marcus asked as he opened the van door.”

Silver nodded, gently lifting Orion off of his back and setting him into the van, “Yeah, mind if we just hang out for a little white? I just want to watch the planes take off for a few, if that’s okay.”

Marcus shrugged, “Sure, I’m on the clock so that’s fine with me.”

“Thanks friend,” Silver added with a smirk.

He hopped into the van and Orion excitedly jumped onto his lap, immediately looking out the window as Marcus walked around the van and took his seat.

He buckled in and put his car into drive, pulling over to find a parking spot with the view that Silver had requested. Meanwhile Silver’s thoughts drifted to what the next month would have in store for him. Orion at least seemed to be in better spirits now, which brought a smile to Silver’s face as he watched the colt excitedly take in his surroundings, but he knew he wouldn’t stay this way for long. It was only a matter of time until the colt realized that something was up, and Silver knew that he would be in for a rough ride if he didn’t take charge and keep a hoof on the situation.

“This work for ya boss?” Marcus asked, pulling Silver from his thoughts.

Silver looked around and nodded, “Yeah, thanks Marcus. I just want to clear my thoughts a bit before we head out. My uncle always did this when we’d fly, it gave him a sense of peace even when he knew that he’d probably never know which plane we were on.”

“Hey whatever works for you man, I’m just glad to help.”

Silver smiled, “Thanks Marcus.”

The human nodded, “Any time boss.”

Silver stepped out and set Orion down, watching as the Colt excitedly started jumping around on the pavement. He smiled at this sight and looked towards the runway, watching the different airplanes take off, making sure to keep Orion in his peripheral vision. “It’s sure gonna be a long month, Marcus.”

Marcus nodded while typing away on his phone. A few minutes passed before he turned towards Silver, setting his phone aside for the moment, “Don’t you two spend some time apart when you go on trips anyways?”

Silver nodded his head, “Sure, for like a week, maybe even two, but we’re still able to keep in touch while we’re apart, be it through the dream realm or just plain old calling. We can’t do either of those this time.”

“Aha, I see. So basically this is the first time you two have ever been away from each other for any significant amount of time without the ability to actually chat.”

He nodded, “Yep. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m really happy for her, but it’s just a weird feeling knowing that she’s going to be gone for a month and there’s no way to get ahold of her. I mean, having Orion around is nice, but it just feels like we’re both already missing something.”

“Your better half, eh?”

He smirked, “You could say that.”

Marcus patted him on the back. “Well, I’m sure you’ll survive, it’s only a month, what's the worst that could happen? The whole place goes up in flames and we enter DEFCON One?”

Silver let out a few laughs and glanced over towards Orion, who was chasing a nearby lizard around, “You never know. I’ll get through it though, I mean it’s just taking care of a restless foal from the tribe that’s known for their protective and aggressive instincts. One who's never been apart from his mother for more than a day and is starting to show signs that he’s not going to be so docile anymore.”

He let out a chuckle, “Ahh yes, so he’s becoming one of the little diablos that I’ve heard so much chatter about then? Sounds like you already know what you’re in for.”

Silver nodded, “I kind of have an idea, I guess we’ll just see how well it goes. He’s only a foal, what's the worst he could do?”

Marcus gave him a quick pat on the back, “Well good luck man, I think you’re gonna need it.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “You think so?”

Marcus simply laughed, “Ha, that’s a good one!”

Silver sat in the front seat with Orion cuddled up next to him. The colt was still awake, though for now he just sat staring out the window. The early morning sun had started to rise, and was shining brightly on the landscape, making Silver squint his eyes reflexively every time they passed a reflective road sign, Orion on the other hoof was perfectly fine with the bright world outside, finding more interest in it than Silver would have guessed a foal could find, especially a night pony foal. He never ceased to be amazed at how foals could find something interesting in seemingly mundane and boring experiences like a car ride. Still, Orion’s wide eyed interest in the world outside never failed to bring a smile to Silver’s face.

Marcus turned the music down just low enough so he could actually hold a conversation and gestured towards the air controls. “Getting enough air? You’ve kind of been silent this whole ride.”

Silver flicked his ears without thinking, shaking his head and then turning towards Marcus. “Yeah, sorry, just thinking about what I’m going to do for the next month. Usually we take turns watching him during work, but he’s gonna be with me 24/7. It’s exciting, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but it’s just a lot to plan out right now.”

The human nodded along, “Well why don’t you just relax and take it easy for a little while, you’ve got the next couple days off right? Just hang out and spend some time bonding with him, worry about planning work around it later. I know Diamond’s going to understand.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “You think? I mean he’s always been really accommodating for stuff like this, but I don’t want to make him do all the work when he doesn’t need to. It’s just not fair, you know?”

Marcus nodded, “Isn’t that what the whole executive reshuffling was for? Setting up directors for the core divisions that answered to you two so you wouldn’t have to spend so much time making every single decision? Plus he hired that dull unicorn for a reason too, right? What was his name? Harding?”

Silver shook his head, “Hard Case. He’s definitely a bit dry but the stallion really knows how to get things done.”

Marcus smiled, “Well there you go, see? It’s gonna be a breeze. Hell I’m sure Scarlet will be back before you even realize it, so you might as well just spend as much time as you can bonding with the little diablo.”

Silver let out a few laughs, “Oh come on, he’s not a diablo… yet.” He looked down at Orion, “I mean, you don’t think he is… right?”

Marcus chuckled to himself, “I guess we’ll wait and see.” He straightened up in his seat and adjusted the mirror. “We’re almost home, you want me to just drop you off at your house?”

He nodded, “Yeah, please. Are you going back to the advanced systems lab or do you have the day off?”

“Nah, I’ve got the day off, why?”

“Oh nothing, I just wanted to talk with Tinker and Sprocket about the memo they sent me. It’s no big deal though, I can handle it later..”

“More of their standard fare budgetary requests?” Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I think so. I’m sure they’ll wind up talking about city infrastructure again. They’ve been pestering me to approve the budget for the new APMs but we’re still dealing with construction delays on the new sectors so that’ll probably get pushed back a few months while we sort some contractor issues out.”

“Did you guys think about requesting some more funding from Sunset Blessing?”

Silver nodded, “That was one of their proposals, but I’d rather do this on our own. We’re almost close to paying her back for the initial land purchase too, Patrick said we should be able to finish up payments within the next fiscal year.”

“And then we’re done working with her?”

Silver shook his head, “No, not yet. She’s got some intriguing assignments so we’ll probably stick with her for as long as we keep getting those.”

“The extra cash influx is useful, eh?”

“Oh, more than you’d think,” he said with a smirk.

“Well we’re almost there, same time in a month?”

Silver nodded, “Yeah, thanks for the ride Marcus.”

Marcus hopped out of the van and walked around to open the door for Silver. Orion jumped down and rolled across the ground, earning a few laughs from Silver and Marcus.

“Alright man, let me know if you need anything alright?”

He nodded, “Alright.”

Orion looked around at the empty home and then back towards Silver, giving him a look of confusion.

Silver smiled, “Alright buddy, it’s just you and me until mommy gets back home in a month. Are you ready to have a fun time?” he excitedly asked the colt.

Orion glanced around again and returned with the same confused stare.

“Don’t worry pal, we’re going to have so much fun! We’ll watch movies, play games, you won’t even realize she’s gone!”

His face creased in worry, as if the thought of her not being around was the worst kind of fear imaginable. He quickly began to trot around the room, letting out a few sniffles as he hurriedly dug around every nook and cranny in search of Scarlet, much to Silver’s concern. Silver trotted over towards the colt and pulled him close with a wing, “Hey hey, calm down, buddy. I know you’re wondering where mommy’s at but it’s okay. I promise she’ll be back soon, she’s just on a little vacation, just like the ones I go on.”

The colt glanced around a few more times before snuggling up close to him, earning a smile from Silver. “There you go, see? It won’t be so bad. Now why don’t you go grab your toys and I’ll get some dinner, we can play until bedtime.”

After a few more glances around, Orion excitedly ran off towards his room while Silver trotted towards the kitchen. Their old rescue dog Cosmo perked up from where he was sleeping on a bed in the corner to greet Silver with a wag of his tail and a cheerful sounding bark the moment that he walked into the kitchen.

He smiled, “Let me guess, you’re hungry and already miss Scarlet too eh?”

Cosmo barked again.

Silver chuckled, “I figured. Just hang on pal, let me grab you something too.”

He reached into the pantry and retrieved both the dog food and a box of pasta. He quickly filled Cosmo’s bowl and then began to start on their own dinner.

As he brought a pot of water to a boil he couldn’t help but wonder what Scarlet was up to. A twinge of worry also passed through him as he glanced back over towards Orion’s room. The colt wouldn’t take to being apart from Scarlet well, and even he was starting to wonder what the next month would have in store.

As much as he had travelled during the early days of getting the Oasis set up, he was still able to actually talk with her while he was away, and even then his trips never lasted more than a couple weeks at most. This was new territory for all three ponies and he wasn’t sure whether it would be an easy month or a challenging one. He could hear a few soft crashes coming from Orion’s room, no doubt from the colt excitedly digging through his box of toys looking for whatever wound up being his favorite. Night pony foals had a well earned reputation of being called “diablos” by some of the local residents in and around the Oasis, and he could definitely understand why they earned that nickname.

Night ponies in general were more aggressive and protective than the other tribes, and even though Orion was still young, it was clear that some of those instincts were starting to take hold. Seeing that the water had come to a boil, he added in some noodles and gave them a few stirs. Orion cheerfully trotted out of his room, dragging a blanket with a bunch of his toys on it behind him, grinning proudly.

Silver smiled at the sight, “You’re not a little diablo right buddy? You’re gonna be good for me while mommy’s gone?”

The colt let out a series of giggles and started playing with his toys while Silver watched on, unsure of what the month would have in store.

Silver was peacefully resting in a dreamless sleep. It wasn’t something he did often, but sometimes he just wanted to sleep in peace and rest without distraction. Cosmo and Orion had gone to bed curled up together next to him, something that the dog no doubt enjoyed given that he would normally sleep at the foot of the bed alone. The house was peacefully quiet, almost painfully so.

A dull thud followed by a loud crash from somewhere in Silver’s room pulled him from his sleep, causing him to jump up out of bed and run towards the sound with reflexes that only a father could have. Cosmo jumped up and chased after him, curious to see what all the commotion was about.

Silver immediately caught sight of the colt in the act of climbing up his bookshelf. Much to his surprise, Orion was holding onto the shelves with his wings and reaching up towards one of the small plush toys that sat on top of the shelf. As Orion reached in vain, the shelf began to rock back and forth, threatening to tumble over entirely, causing another gasp of worry from Silver. He quickly but carefully grabbed Orion and pulled him loose from the shelf, making sure it was secure and earning a few annoyed flaps from the colt’s wings.

Silver gave him a quick pat on the back to get his attention. “Hey hey hey, calm down, it’s just me.”

He gently set Orion on his bed; a large mattress covered with an assortment of pillows and blankets, then he leaned down to get to Orion’s level, “Hey buddy, you really scared me. I’m not mad but you need to be more careful next time, please promise me you won’t do that again, okay? Now what were you trying to get?”

Orion looked up at the shelf again longingly. Silver followed his gaze, noticing which plush Orion was after. He nodded and stood up, pausing as he noticed what he had missed initially. The lamp that had formerly sat on the desk next to the bookshelf was broken into a handful of sharp glass pieces on the floor. He sighed and carefully stepped over it, grabbing down the stuffed night pony plush that resembled Scarlet and handing it over towards him. “Okay, is that better?”

Orion smiled and pulled the plush close to him with his wings, burrowing into the pile of blankets and cuddling up next to the plush Scarlet.

He breathed a sigh of relief, “Alright good. Please come get me if you need anything else okay? Just… just stay where you’re at while I clean this up real quick okay?”

The plush in question was one half of a set that was made to resemble the couple, an odd pair of items to have in the house, but it was a wedding gift from Scarlet’s grandmother and they couldn’t say no to her, not after she had painstakingly created them.

Silver started to sweep some of the glass together as best as he could. There were still a few small pieces left, so he’d have to get the vacuum… and hope that Cosmo and Orion wouldn’t freak out at it.

An idea hit him, and Silver walked back over towards Orion, “Alright buddy, we’re gonna go to the living room so I can clean this up, you’re gonna have a little sleep over with Cosmo while I do this. That sounds fun right?!”

The colt smiled and ran towards Silver, pulling the plush with him. Silver carefully picked him up and trotted out to the living room, pulling his door shut behind him as they walked out.

He laid out a few blankets on the low sitting couch and gently set Orion down on them, calling the dog over too.

“Alright Cosmo, please keep an eye on Orion.”

Cosmo responded with a bark, walking around in a circle and then cuddling up next to Orion.

Silver paused for a moment, debating whether he should get a picture of the adorable moment before running to go handle the broken lamp. As much as he wanted to capture this moment to share with Scarlet, a quick thought back to the glass on the floor and needing to clean it up while the two were docile settled the debate for him. He calmly walked back towards his room, grabbing the vacuum from the hallway closet on the way over.

Not wanting to waste any time, he swept up the larger lamp pieces into a bag and set it to the side. There were still smaller pieces of glass on the floor and even though they probably wouldn’t cut up their hooves, Silver didn’t want to take any chances with leaving them there in the open. Wanting to get this done as quickly as possible, he turned on the vacuum and finished cleaning up the broken glass before Orion and Cosmo could react to the loud noise.

Happy that everything was all safely cleaned up, he turned off the vacuum and sat down for a moment. Just as soon as he thought that everything had gone off without a hitch, he heard another crash from the living room, earning another panicked reaction from Silver.

He darted out into the living room and gasped in shock as he watched Orion climbing into the empty space on the entertainment center where the TV had formerly resided. The TV in question was now lying face down on the floor, but that was the least of his concerns right now.

He ran over towards the Colt, unsure of how to respond. “What’s gotten into you little buddy? You’re gonna give me a heart attack at this rate!”

Orion simply giggled and hopped onto Silver’s back. Silver trotted back over towards the couch and set Orion down again, this time making sure that he was still visible in his peripheral vision as he leaned down to inspect the broken TV.

Convinced that Orion wasn’t going to run off again, he turned to lift the TV up, sighing as he noticed that the screen was damaged with big black marks spreading over the LED like stripes. He pushed it off to the side, suddenly hearing the fast paced clip clop of hooves on the tile followed by a series of frantic barks as Orion suddenly started chasing the dog around the living room.

Silver watched as Cosmo ran in between the couch and lamp, getting tangled up in the tall lamp’s cord in the process and pulling it over and into the wall with a yelp. Orion began to giggle as he ran towards Cosmo, finally pushing Silver over the edge of what he could tolerate right now.

“STOP!” He shouted out, causing Orion to stop in his tracks.

The colt started to whimper as if he thought that Silver was mad at him, noticing this Silver quickly ran over and scooped him onto his back, taking the time to untangle the dog from the cord too. He trotted back towards his room, double checking that the glass was fully cleaned up.

He set Orion down onto his bed with the Scarlet plush close by and got down to his eye level. He shook his head, “I’m not mad at you buddy, you just scared me is all. I don’t know what we’re gonna do, but Scarlet’s going to kill me when she hears about this.”

Orion cuddled up to the plush and proceeded to let out another series of giggles.

Chapter 6: Magic Journeys

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Scarlet had passed through the security checkpoint without any issue and had quietly found a cozy spot near the gate to relax in until it was time to board. Right away her thoughts drifted back to her family, and even though they’d only be separated for a short while she still couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness. Orion had already tried to run after her, and the look of confusion on his face just broke her heart. She knew that he’d be okay, but he probably had no idea where or why she was going and Scarlet could only hope that he wouldn’t give Silver too much trouble while she was gone. It would be a long month for all of them, and she would miss the two dearly, but she was excited for her trip and the exciting new adventure that lay ahead of her.

Before long the pre-boarding announcements began, and in no time at all she was welcomed onto the plane. Given the time, the flight was mostly empty, which was perfectly fine for her. It felt like it was just yesterday that she was flying to Michigan with her family, and now only a month later she was flying to go visit another world on her own. Technically she wouldn’t be alone for the entire journey, she would be meeting two others, both humans, once she arrived in New York.

Currently Scarlet sat in the aisle seat of the pony section, listening to some peaceful music with her eyes closed. The trip so far had been relatively uneventful, with her resting this way through most of the flight. She had always liked to glance out the window occasionally, but the stallion that sat next to it had kept the shade closed, much to her disappointment. Scarlet shrugged at this thought and figured that she couldn’t really be that disappointed. If she had really had an issue with it she could have gone to one of the other empty seats. It wouldn’t be much longer until it was time to touch down, but she was more than ready to disembark. As much as she could tolerate long flights in these kinds of settings, she was ready to stretch out her wings and move around.

It wasn’t that she was completely uncomfortable, the extra space that the pony section offered was a nice perk, but flying in an airplane as a pony was still an odd feeling at times. At least she could get some much needed rest, she’d definitely need it. There was no real telling when she’d be able to make it back this way, but given that Silver wanted to bring her and Orion along on some of his trips going forward, she was sure they’d make it back over sooner or later.

A quiet chime sounded throughout the cabin as the flight attendant began an indifferent sounding announcement. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are beginning our descent, please return your seats to the upright position and stow your tray tables. We’ll be touching down in a few minutes.”

Scarlet opened her eyes at the announcement, quickly stashing her headphones into her saddlebags. She peeked over towards the window, and shifted them into a more comfortable position.

The pegasus next to the window stirred and cleared his throat for what felt like the first time the entire flight, pulling her attention away from her thoughts. “So, this your first time in New York or do you live out here?”

She turned towards him, “Hm? Oh, just visiting. Haven’t been here in a while, at least not as a pony. My husband and I wanted to take a trip down here after we had our foal but we never found the time. I don’t really know when or if I’ll ever get back out here so I’m definitely going to take advantage of it while I have the chance.”

He smiled, “Well you’re in for a treat then, the city seems so much bigger as a pony. Lived here for a few years before ETS and I still feel like I’m rediscovering the city for the first time whenever I fly back in. Just a fair warning though, keep to the ground, the humans are a bit uptight about flying around the city.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Really? Why’s that?”

He shrugged, “They think we’re just going to fly into an engine intake or something, name’s Skipper by the way.”

She nodded, “Scarlet, Scarlet Eclipse.”

“So what do you do, Scarlet? Couldn’t help but notice your mark. You into stargazing or something?”

She nodded, “I’m an astronomer out in Arizona. Haven’t really had a chance to do much yet but we’ve been working on some prototype telescopes. I’m actually taking part in some cultural exchange in Equestria, can’t really say much about it, but they needed a few Earth based astronomers to help oversee a project.”

“Oh! I’m talking with a big shot?” He asked in mock excitement.

She shrugged, “I wouldn’t say that, I just happened to have a friend who put in a good word for me. I’m in charge of a small team back home, in a private community called The Oasis, not too far from Phoenix if you’ve ever been down that way. The astronomy stuff is only a small part of it, but I like to think it’s a pretty important one.”

Skipper looked on in interest, “Huh, well that’s not something I tend to think about. I can’t say that I’ve ever really been out that way, this is just my connecting flight. So is the stargazing any good out there?”

“It’s amazing. We’ve designed the city so there’s as little light pollution as possible, it really gives you an amazing view of the night sky. So are you into astronomy too or something?”

He shrugged, “I dabble from time to time, it’s kind of hard to get a good view of the stars, all the bright lights and whatnot, and well, I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time. I’m a fisherman by day so It’s kind of just a hobby for me, but nothing I’d say I’m any good at.”

Scarlet smiled, “Hey, a hobby is better than nothing, as long as you enjoy it then that’s all that matters. Keep at it, I’m sure you’ll get good at it if you just take some time and learn what works and what doesn’t.”

Skipper gave a quick nod, “I’ll have to remember that the next time I give it a go.” He paused for a few minutes and peered out the window, “Well, we’re about to touch down. It was a nice chat though, hope you enjoy the city.”

“Thanks.” She paused for a moment, “Skipper, was it?”

He nodded. “Yep, kind of a dorky name for a fishing boat captain, but that was my old nickname and it got its hooks in me.”

She let out a small laugh, “Thanks Skipper. If you’re ever in the Phoenix area, look me up, my husband Silver and I would love to give you a little tour of our observatory. If you’re seriously looking to get into astronomy it might at least be a cool thing to see.”

He nodded, “Can’t say I’ll ever get down there, ‘less the fishin’s real good, but I’ll definitely think about that if I ever have the chance.”

She faced forward and prepared herself for landing, both nervous and excited at the adventure that lay ahead. The plane trembled slightly as it neared the runway, finally touching down and slowing to a taxiing speed.

The announcement chimed once again, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. We’ll be pulling into the arrival gate shortly, until then we ask that you please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened until the seatbelt sign has been turned off. On behalf of myself and the rest of the crew, thank you for flying with us today, and welcome to New York.”

Skipper chuckled, “Freedom at last. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to flying this way as a pony, but it’s a necessary evil, I guess.”

“Mhmm, It’s definitely odd but at least we get the nice cushy seats in our own little section. I used to hate dealing with the cramped seats that the humans get.”

“Tell me about it, I used to get the worst cramps in my neck.” He cracked his neck as if to emphasize his former discomfort, “Anyways, you take care Scarlet, hope you enjoy our city.”

She nodded, “You too.”

Scarlet walked out towards the baggage check area and stopped to take in the scene. She didn’t exactly have a bag to wait for— her notebook, laptop, gauntlet, and charger were all able to fit comfortably in her saddlebags after all, but this was the area where she had been told she would find the humans that were supposed to be accompanying her. With sharp eyes she started to glance around the area until she noticed a pair of humans that fit the description of the two she was supposed to be meeting sitting off to the side of the carousel. As she took in the unfamiliar surroundings, a feeling of nervousness passed through her.

The momentary feeling of worry quickly passed, and seeing no real reason to hesitate, she slowly approached the pair. As she neared them the woman glanced over towards her and said something to the man that Scarlet couldn’t make out, before walking towards the luggage carousel.

With a cheerful smile on her face, Scarlet calmly trotted towards the remaining human, who returned a smile of his own. “I’m sorry, but are you the astronomers I’m supposed to meet up with?”

The human who she could only assume was Tyler nodded, “Let me guess, Scarlet?”

She relaxed a little and returned with a quick nod. “Yep, that’s me! Nice to finally meet you.”

Briefly glancing to the side, Scarlet noticed the woman walking back over from the carousel, carrying a couple small bags in tow. The human calmly turned towards Tyler, “This the pony we’re supposed to meet up with?”

Tyler nodded, “Yeah, perfect timing. Scarlet, this is Sarah; Sarah, Scarlet.”

Sarah set the bags on the ground next to her and extended a hand in greeting, “Pleased to meet you! We’ve heard a little bit about you, you’re running some observatory out in Arizona right?”

Scarlet met her greeting with her hoof and nodded, “Right. It’s nothing huge yet, but we’ve been working on a new prototype telescope. It’s not too different from anything you guys would be used to using, it’s mainly scaled down so it’s more comfortable for ponies to use, while still functioning the same as the others. I’ve also been studying some Equestrian astronomy books I was able to borrow from a good friend of mine, that’s been a fun challenge in itself.”

“Sounds fun, we’ve done some barebones research into Equestria’s stars, but we haven’t been able to get ahold of anything substantial on them. So are you guys having any luck with the prototypes?”

“Oh absolutely, it wasn’t as hard to scale them down as we thought it would be. The big project I’m really looking forward to is taking what we’ve done and expanding on it,” Scarlet excitedly explained.

Sarah leaned forward, “Like upgrading your tech? That’s kind of cool. Did you guys manage to get anywhere with that yet?”

Scarlet nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah actually, the advanced systems team back home was working on a new processor, it’s still a very early work in progress but I hope we’ll be able to upgrade our control computers with it. The other teams have been trying to downscale some of the existing tech so it doesn’t need to take up as much space as it does now, that’s still a bit of a work in progress.—”

Tyler cut in, “I hate to interrupt, but we should probably catch a cab over to the UN and talk about this more on the way there, I’d hate to be late and give off a bad first impression to whoever we wind up meeting on the other side.”

Scarlet and Sarah turned towards him and nodded in unison while Tyler reached down and grabbed his bag, waving the other two towards the exit. The two quickly followed him out and waited off to the side while he hailed a cab for them.

Tyler paid the cab driver and collected their bags from the back, pausing to make sure they were all set to go.

While the trio walked towards the imposing UN building Scarlet couldn’t help but marvel at how tall it and really every other building in the city appeared. She had visited large cities before as a human and had thought everything felt so big then, but her experience as a pony only served to make her feel even more out of place among the towering structures.

Sarah let out a few laughs as she took in Scarlet’s awestruck, almost bewildered expression, “So this your first time in the city?”

Scarlet blinked a few times, almost seeming to come out of some trance. She looked up towards Sarah and answered with a quick nod, “As a pony… is it that obvious?”

“Ehh… a little. The bewildered looks kind of give it away.” Tyler added with a smile.

“To be fair, this whole place just feels so different from the last time I was here, and that was so many years ago. It’s hard to really compare the two because both times I felt so… out of place, if that makes sense.”

Sarah shrugged, “Hey, can’t really blame you, but after today I think something like this is going to pale in comparison.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What she means is that we’re about to become universal travelers. It’s just that that’s something that anyone’s able to easily do,” Tyler answered for her.

Scarlet nodded, “Right, that’s pretty much exactly what my husband said, and that’s a pretty good point. We should probably get to it instead of just standing around staring at a bunch of skyscrapers all day.”

Tyler nodded and pushed the door open, holding it for the other two as they stepped into the spacious lobby. Almost immediately, a pair of attendants approached them.

The first one, a larger man with a name tag that read Barney, who looked as if he was in his mid forties, stepped forward to greet them. “Hi, do you three have an appointment here?”

Tyler nodded, “Yeah, we’re taking part in a cultural exchange with Equestria. Part of their new astronomy program that was set up not too long ago.”

He nodded, looking down to the tablet he was carrying, “Alright, could I please have your names?”

“Tyler Anderson.” He turned towards Sarah with a smirk, earning an annoyed look from her, as if there was some inside joke that Scarlet wasn’t aware of.

Sarah gave a quick reply that seemed to carry an annoyed tone with it. “Sarah… Conners.”

Barney let out a snicker, “Off to go stop Terminators in Equestria eh?”

She rolled her eyes, “Gee haven’t heard that one before… ”

He nodded, stifling a few more chuckles, “Mmmkay, and you?” he asked as he turned to look down at Scarlet.

“Scarlet Eclipse,” she replied with a cheerful grin.

He checked off a few items on his tablet and smiled, “Perfect, you’re all checked in, we’ll just verify your identities at the desk over there. Once that’s done, then Storm Comet will show you over to the portal security checkpoint,” he finished, gesturing towards the pegasus at his side.

Storm Comet gave a quick nod, waving them along with a wing. “You’re aware of how this all works correct?”

Sarah cleared her throat, “Yep, we declare what we’re bringing, acknowledge what we can and can’t bring back, yadda yadda, you get the idea.”

He rolled his eyes, “Okay. Just making sure, a lot of travellers don’t have any idea what the actual rules are and wind up getting into all sorts of trouble. They wait months, maybe even longer to get a chance to go through the portal and then they don’t even bother to learn the rules.”

Tyler chuckled, “Trust me, you won’t have to worry about that with us, we’re professionals, not just some random tourists passing through.”

“That’s good to hear! If you don’t mind me asking, what do you guys all do?”

“Well Tyler and I were interns at the VLT installation down in Texas. It’s part of a big research project dealing with deep space astronomy. After college we were able to stay on and work with the team full time. Had some colleagues in the program that were able to get us in contact with the Equestrians, and well, here we are,” he said, gesturing towards himself and Sarah.

“And I’m the lead astronomer at a private research center in Arizona called The Oasis.” Scarlet added in.

A look of curiosity and interest spread across Storm Comet’s face. “That was that little desert city that got washed out by that freak storm right? What was the deal with that anyways?”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, “I’m actually kind of surprised you’ve heard of that, we worked really hard with some… friends, to make sure that that whole event was kept on the down low. It’s usually only been the weird oddballs that are into strange and unusual stuff that wind up asking about it, and to answer your question, it was a big misunderstanding between some weather ponies, but I’m afraid I can’t really get into any more detail with it.”

He chuckled, “Oh, I’m sure it was. I myself am strange and unusual. I love reading up on weird unexplained paranormal occurrences and a freak weather event kind of fits that bill perfectly. If anything big like that happens I usually find out about it one way or another.”

The warm smile returned to her face as she listened to Storm Comet explain everything. “Well it’s not exactly my kind of hobby, but that’s certainly better than having occult nutjobs show up unannounced on private land asking about whether aliens created the storm or not. Believe me, we’ve heard about every random question and conspiracy theory you could imagine.”

“I can imagine that’d be annoying.” He paused for a moment, “Anyways sorry to lead you off on a tangent like that, the checkpoint’s just ahead. I’ll be leaving you all there, if you have any questions one of the guards there will be able to answer them.”

Tyler smiled, “Thank you, Storm.”

He nodded. “Take care.”

The group stepped forward into the portal’s security checkpoint. The first thing that stood out to Scarlet was how different the checkpoint was to what she was imagining. Instead of the clinical checkpoint that you’d find in an airport, this one was a simple room with a few unicorns, crystal ponies, and human guards stationed around the portal. A standard bag scanner sat at the front of the room, but aside from that and the portal, the rest of the room was relatively empty.

One of the tall human guards approached the group and came to a stop, “Good afternoon, please set your bags on the conveyor and head over towards the unicorns, we’ll just need to perform a quick magical scan to make sure you don’t have anything that’s not allowed over.”

“Are we going to feel anything from it?” Sarah asked inquisitively.

The guard shook his head, “Maybe a slight tingle, but nothing really at all. The scan is non-invasive and we’re just making sure that there’s no contraband being brought over.”

“Sounds fair enough.”

“Now, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you all bringing along?”

“Not a whole lot, just some clothes, books, and notes,” she said, gesturing towards herself and Tyler. “What about you Scarlet?”

Scarlet looked up as she set her small saddlebag onto the conveyor, “Just some notebooks, a laptop, and my gauntlet, it’s basically a phone mixed with a smartwatch. I don’t know if it’ll work over there, but I use it to take notes on the go.”

The guard nodded his head, “That should be okay. Just keep in mind that power options might be scarce out there.”

“We’re headed to one of the astronomy program’s outposts,” Tyler spoke up. “Our ambassador for it said we shouldn’t have any issues at all there with that.”

“Mhmm,” the guard replied. “And you three are just going to be over there for one month, correct?”

Tyler nodded, “Yep, just a short research trip for now. Hopefully we’ll be able to stop by again sometime, though.”

“Okay, well you’re all clear to go. You’re aware of what you can and can’t bring back, right?”

Sarah nodded, “Mhmm, they included a list of prohibited items on those forms we had to sign before.”

The guard shrugged, “Alright, just making sure because they will be checking for them on the way back, as long as you’re clear on that we’re good. Enjoy your trip.”

Sarah smiled, “Thanks, we will.” She started towards the pair of unicorns that stood in the middle of the room, grabbing her bag as she walked by.

The larger of the two mages smiled, “Good afternoon miss, please set your bag to the side, this will only take a few moments.”

Without a moment’s delay, the two unicorns lit their horns and quickly enveloped Sarah in a magical aura that only lasted a few seconds.

A few moments passed before the aura faded, leaving Sarah standing there in confusion. “Was that it? It’s not some big complicated process?”

The shorter mage nodded, “Yep, you’re all clear to go.”

Sarah nodded, “Well thanks I guess, try not to work too hard okay?”

“Mhmm.” The mage rolled his eyes and turned towards Tyler, who was now just collecting his own bag. “You can leave the bag there for a moment, this won’t take long.”

“Hi. Scan away please,” he said as he stepped into place, letting the mages quickly envelop him in their magic.

Just like with Sarah before, Tyler was enveloped by the same magical aura that ended almost as quickly as it started. He stepped off to the side and gestured towards Scarlet. “You’re up.”

Scarlet stepped forward and before she even had a second to react, her vision was tinted a sparkling red that quickly faded. She blinked a few times and turned towards one of the mages, “That was it?”

The shorter mage nodded, “Yep. Like he said, it only takes a few seconds and you usually don’t feel a thing.”

“Huh, well I guess I was expecting more… maybe I’ve just been spending too much time around the mages back home.”

The mage shrugged, “Maybe. Anyways you three are all clear to go. Portal’s just ahead, feel free to proceed as soon as you’re ready, though I’d suggest you not dawdle.” He finished, gesturing towards the portal that sat only a few feet away from the scanning area.

Tyler looked on at the portal like an excited child would, earning a laugh from Sarah as she took notice. He turned towards the two and smiled, “Welp, this is it! You wanna go first Scarlet or should we let Sarah lead the charge?”

“You’re letting me have the honor of going first? You’re not getting cold feet are you?” She teased.

Tyler smiled, “Alright, guess that answers it, see you on the other side, Sarah.”

Sarah smirked at him and stepped through the portal, vanishing into the strange gateway.

Tyler was next, stepping up and pausing for a moment. He turned towards Scarlet, “You ever get that weird feeling of anxiety when you’re faced with something you thought you’d never get to do?”

She nodded, “Right now actually.”

He gave a quick nod, “Right, glad I’m not alone.” He turned back towards the portal and stepped through without any further word.

Scarlet hesitated for a moment and then walked up towards the portal and took a breath. It was an odd feeling knowing that she’d literally be leaving the only world she had ever known, even if only for a month. As normal as this all seemed to be for ponies like Sapphire, Scarlet still couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. People just weren’t made to comprehend the idea of slipping between worlds she guessed.

Not wanting to delay any further, Scarlet stepped through the portal and felt an odd sense of excitement and unease come over her as she passed from one universe and into another. What surprised her most of all was how unremarkable the experience felt despite the unknown nature of it all hyping the experience up for her. It was as if she had simply walked through a door, though the reality was far more complicated than that.

Tyler looked around the crystalline room that the group found themselves in, “Well, that was…”

“Kind of unexpectedly normal?” Sarah finished.

“That’s what I was just thinking,” Scarlet answered as she looked around at the room, first noticing that everything was designed with ponies in mind, before noticing the small group of ponies waiting to greet them once they had a chance to reorient themselves. Despite being set in the large crystal palace, it was clear that her two human travel companions were the odd ones out here. A smile came across her face as she took everything in.

“Hey Scarlet, you ready to go? They’re ready to cast the translation spell on us.” Tyler asked, pulling her back to reality.

She blinked a few times and turned towards Tyler, giving him a quick nod.

“So are you able to speak it or something? I know you said you borrowed some Equestrian astronomy books from a good friend right?” Sarah asked in fascination.

Scarlet shook her head, “No actually. I can kind of work my way through written Equestrian, though I’m still a bit rough. I tried to figure out spoken, but it’s just so different from anything I’ve ever seen. Lots of little intricacies that were hard to figure out on my own and I didn’t want to bother him by asking even more questions than I was already asking.”

“Well, lucky for you, there’s a spell for that.” The trio looked towards the dark purple night pony who was slowly walking up towards them. “I would say that you three seem rather lost, though I can not imagine where it is that you might be found in the first place. The name’s Starry Skies; I will be your guide for this journey.”

Scarlet smiled, happy that another night pony was present, “Nice to meet you, Starry; so what’s this about a spell?”

One of the mages stepped forward, “It is a simple translation spell that will enable you to speak our language as if it was your own.”

“It’s just that easy?” Tyler asked in curiosity.

He nodded, “Yes, it will only take but a moment to cast, are you three ready?”

“Of course we are! I was a bit worried that we’d have to figure this out on our own and Scarlet’s the only one that’s actually read up on any of this,” Sarah added.

He chuckled and lit up his horn, quickly enveloping the three. A few moments later the magical aura faded, leaving the three to try out their new language.

Scarlet began to speak slowly in the strange new language that was Equestrian, finding that the melodic words came naturally to her without any real thought. It still took some practice to get a good feel for the language, the words and structure were so different compared to English. After a few minutes of trial and error, she found that she could begin to speak at a more natural pace, and then began to switch between the two, finding it almost strange that she could simply jump between either as if she had known Equestrian her entire life. While her new friends were talking back and forth and feeling out the language for themselves, she couldn’t help but wonder what Silver was up to, curious about how he’d handle the next month alone with Orion.

Chapter 7: Beyond the Stars

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As the group followed Starry outside, Scarlet couldn’t help but gaze around at every detail around her, marvelling at how… right everything felt. While her two human companions were in awe of the Crystal Empire, looking all around at the strange crystalline buildings, she couldn’t help but be in awe of something else entirely. While it’s true that she was in another huge, almost alien city, this one felt entirely different from New York, strange architecture aside. The biggest thing that stood out most to her above all else in this case was that the city was built to scale for someone exactly like her.

From the large palace doors, to the high ceilings of the hallways, and even the size of the palace itself, everything seemed to feel “normal” to her. Even though everything was larger than what a standard pony building would be, it was clear that it was designed for ponies first, and for once she felt completely at home in a strange environment. That weird sense of being a fish out of water that she had felt in New York simply wasn’t here.

Starry waved them along, “I know this place must seem fantastical to you all, but we do have a train to catch and a long journey to take. There are plenty of other sights to marvel at, trust me.”

Scarlet nodded, “Right, sorry, guess this is just a weird experience for all of us.”

He smiled, “Do not worry, it is common to feel minor disorientation after transport, that will pass in time.”

Scarlet nodded and waved towards the other two, “Hey guys, Starry said we’re gonna miss our train if we don’t stop looking like a bunch of bewildered tourists.”

Tyler let out a small chuckle, “Well he’s not exactly wrong now is he, this whole place just feels so… weird, if that’s the right word. It’s like going to some miniature village.”

“Well we can all talk about how weird this might be after we have boarded.” Starry finished.

Sarah nodded, “Alright, well please lead the way, humble guide.”

Starry flashed a warm smile and gestured towards the train station in the distance, beckoning the group with a wing, “It would be my pleasure, now please, let’s continue onwards, the station isn’t far and there is so much more to see on the way to the outpost.”

With another nod the trio followed him along, still in awe of the strange buildings around them.

Starry approached the train station and paused for a moment, turning towards his guests with a smile, “Please wait here, I’ve arranged for our trip in advance, it will take but a moment to confirm that our accommodations are ready.”

Scarlet smiled, “Need us to do anything?”

He shook his head, “Not at this time, however, if the urge to explore your surroundings strikes, you are free to look around the station if you so desire, I only ask that you do not wander far, we will not be here long. I’ve arranged for us to travel in our own private car and it will minimize the wait it usually takes to board the train.”

“I’m assuming that Equestria relies on trains a lot more than we do back home? I mean, I know it’s not the same everywhere, but it’s kind of a lost art where I’m from. It’s almost kind of cool that we’re going to have the chance to ride on a real steam locomotive… they do run on steam right?” Tyler asked as he took a few glances at the train that had only recently pulled up. Ponies hadn’t started boarding yet, but a small crowd could be seen gathering within the station.

Starry nodded, “They do indeed run on steam. As for your other question, I am not as familiar with your terran transportation, though the trains are by far our most common form of transit, we simply do not have the other means that you do back on Earth.”

Sarah let out a chuckle, causing the others to turn towards her, “I never realized you were a train nut Tyler, have you been hiding your geeky hobbies from me or something?” she asked with a smirk.

A small grin began to spread across Tyler’s face, growing into a full on smile as he let out a few laughs, “You know, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. Trains are just cool though! Especially when they’re authentically steam powered. Man we don’t have enough of those back home!”

Sarah rolled her eyes and laughed, “Alright, that’s fair enough. I’m not exactly one to speak when I talk your ear off about rockets and space shuttles for hours.”

Now that the two were immersed in their own conversation, Starry silently took his leave, content that the group wasn’t going to wander off and get into trouble, though keeping an eye on them as he went about his business with the conductor. Meanwhile Scarlet went about her own exploration, taking in the odd crystal architecture of the station, while also reflecting on how nice everything seemed to be here.

It was strange that she could feel so at home in an alien world after having only been there for a very brief time, but the odd feeling that she had felt in New York was simply gone. In its place was an almost child-like glee at the colorful surroundings she now found herself in.

The entire world had this feeling of happiness and cheer that everything seemed to convey on it’s own. It was as if the entire world was built without a dark and gritty reality in mind. Some might have seen it as strange that something could seem so perfect, perhaps even being creeped out by it, but Scarlet was already taking down mental note after mental note on how various aspects of the Oasis back home could be improved to make the place a little more cheerful.

The smooth clean lines, bright whites, polished chrome, and muted color accents found back in the Oasis certainly looked nice, but the brightly colored and irregularly designed buildings that she saw here just had their own personality and charm to them that conveyed a welcoming atmosphere far better than anything she had ever seen back on Earth.

A short distance away, Starry nodded at the conductor and slowly approached the trio again, clearing his throat to get their attention, “Ahem, our accommodations are all prepared, if you’d please follow me. I will get us settled in. It’s going to be a long ride to the outpost and I would like to ensure that we’ll be as comfortable as possible during it.”

Sarah and Tyler paused in their own conversation and nodded, slowly walking towards the night pony. Scarlet followed along too, eager to see what the journey would have in store.

As they followed Starry, Scarlet was able to take a closer look at the locomotive. “You know, I’ve actually never ridden on a train before— at least a real one like this that is.”

“For real? Not even once?” Tyler asked in surprise.

Scarlet nodded, “I mean I’ve ridden ones in amusement parks before, but that’s about it. They were steam powered, but I wouldn’t call that actually riding on a train in the same sense as what we’re about to do now.”

“Well, you are certainly going to be in for a treat then,” Starry interjected, gesturing towards the open car in front of them, “Please step aboard and make yourselves comfortable, if the normal seats are too small there are more human-friendly accomodations available towards the rear of the car.”

Without further delay, the trio stepped in and quietly took their seats aboard the train. Starry followed them in and sat down towards the rear, where Tyler and Sarah were sitting, hunched over uncomfortably on one of the benches.

He eyed the two humans with concern and glanced over towards the section that had been designed with humans in mind, “Please, do not feel like you need to make yourselves uncomfortable, I know these aren’t the most ideal accommodations for you, but you’ll likely find the section further back to be far more comfortable than where you’re sitting now.”

The two shared an awkward glance and nodded, Tyler stepping up and moving towards the lower benches first. He crouched down to take a seat, almost stumbling over as he made himself as comfortable as he could, waving Sarah over and patting the seat adjacent to him.

“Come on travel buddy, it’s gonna be a long ride, you might as well be comfortable for it.”

She hesitated for a moment and then nodded, making her way over to the bench adjacent to Tyler, “I can’t argue with that.”

Scarlet took her own seat near Starry on the recently vacated bench and watched as the ponies outside began to file their way into the other train cars. A few relatively quiet moments passed before the lines diminished and the frozen Equestrian landscape began to slowly pass by outside. Soon enough they were speeding along, as comfortable as they could be in their cozy train car.

Scarlet turned over towards Starry, “Crescent said the observatory was built to be like the ones back home, so does that mean we shouldn’t have to spend too much time adjusting to them?” She asked in curiosity.

Starry nodded, “Terran designed, Equestrian engineered. It is one of our larger research projects in recent years, though there is still much to do before we can formally begin mapping the stars.”

She nodded, “Ah. So do you think we’ll be able to start mapping them out while we’re here?”

“I would hope so, otherwise this whole trip would be for naught. We do have complete sets of star charts, some even dating back thousands of years to the earliest days of Princess Celestia and Luna’s reign, though we hope that this collaboration will allow us to have far more accurate maps of our universe’s celestial bodies. Perhaps someday we could even explore the limits of the starry void, much as your Terran astronomers have done.”

A big grin spread across her face, “So we’re gonna be some of the first researchers to get to do this?”

“You will be among the first to do this with our new telescope. There has been some preliminary work done up to now, but not with the new equipment.”

“Well I can’t wait, how long do you think it is until we get there?”

Starry glanced out the window, “Well we are not yet at Canterlot, so I would say that the outpost is still a long ways away, it will likely take us most of the day, so please feel free to relax and enjoy the ride. Equestria is a natural wonderland after all, I imagine that it is quite different to your Earth.”

“Yeah, you could say that again…” Scarlet shifted in her seat, finding the bench to be an oddly comfortable arrangement as she watched the landscape zip by. Earth transportation was still primarily designed for humans, though some places were finally starting to branch out into more pony friendly designs. She would have to remember to tell Silver about this when she got home, there wasn’t much for public transportation in the Oasis, but more comfortable seats would be a great addition if they ever expanded.

Sarah and Tyler sat in their own small section, comfortably chatting away with one another, no doubt resuming the conversation that they had put on hold earlier. The bench, while padded with comfortable cushions, was set lower to the floor of the train, which meant that their knees were almost touching their chins, but it also afforded them the chance to sit upright without having to awkwardly hunch over for most of the long journey. It was a double edged sword, but certainly better than the alternative.

Tyler craned his neck to look over to the crimson night pony, “How’re you doing Scarlet? You’ve kind of been zoning in and out when you haven’t been talking with Starry. Don’t tell me you’re getting homesick already are you?”

Scarlet shook her head, “Huh? Oh no, not homesick, not yet at least. I’m just kind of surprised more than anything I guess.” She stifled a few yawns. “I shouldn’t be, but everything just feels… so right here. Like looking at you two it’s clear that for the first time in almost two years I’m not the odd one out. It’s just a nice change for once if that makes sense.”

Tyler nodded, “Well if you can’t tell, it seems like the tables have turned here. I can imagine that this is basically the opposite of how you felt back in New York right?”

She nodded, “If you mean feeling like the world’s not designed for you then yeah, it’s pretty much that. Are you guys sure you’re comfortable right now though? I don’t think Starry would fault you if you wanted to stretch out some more, I mean it’s not like there’s other ponies in this car to complain about it.”

The human shook her head, “No, but it’s better than hunching over awkwardly. To tell you the truth, we both figured that something like this might happen when we got here so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise to us. ‘Sides, it’s only going to be a couple train rides here and there right? Not like this’ll be a daily thing anyhow.” Sarah cut in before Tyler could even respond.

Starry looked on in worry, “I do apologize for the… less than ideal transportation situation. Trains are not really designed for anything larger than a pony here. You will have time to stretch before we get to the outpost, I assure you.”

Tyler nodded while trying to make himself a little more comfortable, “Thanks Starry. It’s not exactly the best situation for us, but we’ll get over it.”

“Yeah, we’ve dealt with worse back home I’m sure, this kind of reminds me of that glorified broom closet they called an office that we got stuck with, eh Tyler?” Sarah added in agreement.

Letting out a small yawn, Scarlet glanced out the window and squinted her eyes at the bright sun. “Say Starry, what time is it anyways?”

“About noon, why? Are you feeling tired? I know that Terran night ponies seldom roam about during the day like we do here, I couldn’t fault you if you were.”

She nodded, “Yeah. Not that I’m not enjoying our chat, but It’s getting a little hard to stay awake. You won’t mind if I take a nap for a few, right?”

Starry shook his head, “Oh no, by all means please do. I will awaken you when we arrive.”

“OceanSide Outpost, End of the line!” shouted the conductor, pulling Scarlet from her sleep.

She looked around at her travel group, “Are we there yet?”

Starry nodded, standing up and gesturing towards the open door, “Indeed, the rail line ends here, I am afraid that there is not yet a line that takes us closer to the outpost. However, I have arranged for a chariot to carry us into Pelham and the outpost within. I believe you are already acquainted with Crescent Shadow, are you not Mrs. Eclipse?”

Scarlet nodded, “Yes, he’s a good friend, but Sarah and Tyler don’t know him. And please, just call me Scarlet, no need to be overly formal here.”

The aforementioned humans nodded in unison.

Starry straightened up in his seat, “Right… Miss… Scarlet. Crescent will guide us further in. Your two companions will have a chance to get acquainted with him on the ride over.”

Scarlet stood up and followed Starry to the door, waving towards the humans and watching as Tyler and Sarah eagerly followed as well. She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the two, as they were probably relieved to finally have a chance to actually stretch out.

As they stepped out into the desert outpost she felt a little more at home. The view of the ocean off in the distance and the desert stretching into the other sparked a mix of nostalgia in her, bringing back memories of her trips to Michigan, Florida, and even the Oasis back home.

A short distance away from the station sat a large chariot and three ponies, one of which she immediately recognized as Crescent Shadow.

With a smile she trotted over towards him shouting out a cheerful greeting, “Hey Crescent! It’s great to see you again! What’s it been? Like a month?”

Crescent chuckled “Something like that.” he glanced towards the two humans who were now eagerly stretching their arms and legs out, “I’ll take it that your companions might not have had as pleasant of a ride as you did?”

Scarlet nodded, “You could say that, though I slept through a lot of it so I missed out on some of the sights, but it’s just kind of cool to see how different everything is here. I didn’t realize how different a world designed solely for ponies would be.”

“It’s an odd feeling isn’t it? Going to Earth was sort of like the reverse of that for me, everything felt too large there. You’ll get used to it in time though.”

Sarah cleared her throat, “So uhh, Mr. Crescent, how far away is this outpost that you’re bringing us to?”

“Only a short chariot’s ride away, I promise that it won’t be as uncomfortable as the train ride was.”

Tyler nodded, “That’s a relief to hear. So shall we get going or do we have other plans here?”

“Yes, that would be a good idea, Crescent would you care to lead us onward?” Starry added.

He nodded and gestured towards the chariot, “Right this way.”

Two humans followed Scarlet and Crescent towards the strange looking chariot, unsure of how the experience would be for them. Thoughts of their awkward posture on the train came back, though given the open air design, they both figured that it at least wouldn’t be as bad as the train’s small human section.

Scarlet, Crescent, and Starry were already seated in the front by the time the two had caught up, leaving them a larger bench towards the back of the low riding chariot.

Tyler glanced down at the bench and hesitantly took a seat, as if he was expecting it to be any different than a simple chariot. He looked up towards Sarah who was eyeing it with curiosity, “Well it’s certainly better than the train.”

Sarah continued to eye it curiously, finally taking her own seat next to Tyler. “Yeah, feels a lot better. It doesn’t feel as cramped to me either, which is nice.”

“It will only be a short ride, you two won’t have to worry about it for long.” Starry paused for a moment, “I couldn’t help but observe your hesitation and wide eyed looks, is this another new experience for you as well?”

Tyler nodded, “We don’t exactly have these in our neck of the woods, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually ridden on a horse drawn carriage and I guess we’re still adjusting to this place.”

“Yes, well please do let me know if there is anything we can do to accommodate you better. You are our special guests after all,” The night pony added with a smile.

Sarah smiled, “We will Starry, thanks for checking up on us, I really appreciate it.”

Starry Skies nodded as the chariot slowly pulled away from the station and the stallions pulling it kicked up into the sky with powerful wingbeats. The sudden smooth transition of the clearly enchanted chariot from ground to air caused the two human passengers to reflexively grab onto something as if they felt they would be thrown from the open air cart, but for some reason, Scarlet felt oddly at ease with the otherwise incredibly surprising ordeal.

Something about being in a chariot and going into the air really threw Scarlet off, because by all means, it was clearly not designed with flight in mind… or at least that’s what it looked like. Appearances could be deceiving however, so Scarlet made a mental note to ask Starry about it later. She didn’t want to miss the sights after all, because even as a night pony, she rarely flew as high as they were now. The view of the Equestrian countryside below was incredible, and as a night pony, the experience wasn’t all that frightening for her... but Scarlet could only imagine that her companions weren’t faring so well if their panicked expressions were anything to go by.

The sleek chariot flew over the desert, giving the group a picturesque view of the surrounding area and some of the lands beyond. The actual trip was far smoother than the three had expected it to be, and Scarlet was unsure of whether this was because of the guards’ own training, if the carriage had some unknown enchantment on it, or perhaps some other unknown variable that was beyond her earthly comprehension. As Scarlet glanced over to her frightened human companions she noticed the chariot began to subtly descend, though it was clear that their journey wasn’t fully over yet.

Scarlet squinted her eyes and gazed off into the distance, noticing a small outcropping of buildings that she could only assume was their final destination, as she turned her head, she noticed the large stone cliffs that had started to surround them, creating the vast valley that they were now passing through. She couldn't get a clear view of them, but something about them seemed… different than the others that had dotted the desert landscape during their journey so far. She couldn’t place exactly what was so different about them, but they definitely had an almost organic look to them.

Unsure of how to word her question, Scarlet tapped Crescent’s shoulder and gestured towards the cliffs, “So what’s the deal with those? They don’t look like any of the others we’ve seen up to this point, and the formation hardly looks natural.”

Crescent returned a smile, “That is a good question indeed, and one that has an interesting answer.” He began to wave towards the towering mesas, “Welcome to Pelham, the Forest of Lost Giants.”

“Lost Giants? Why do you call it that?” Scarlet asked while looking around at the tall cliffs.

“Those mesa are actually the petrified remains of giant trees that once made up the forest here. The legend is that a large tribe of Earth ponies settled here when Equestria was first found. They thought this land was a paradise without limit and combined their strength to grow trees so large an entire city could be built into them. Their carelessness turned this entire area... from the West coast clear to the Eastern shore into a desert where nothing could grow as their trees blocked out the sun and consumed all the resources of the land.”

Tyler adjusted his glasses, “And let me guess, the land couldn’t support the giant trees and died off? Ruined the environment around it too?”

Crescent nodded, “When the land couldn’t support the forest, it faded into the desert we are now passing through, the Earth Ponies that created it fading into legend as well. It became inhospitable to most, but we have found a new life for this place. There are no ponies here, which gives this place the clearest night sky in almost all of Equestria, the perfect place to construct an observatory.”

“Remote and away from everything else… that’s smart.” Scarlet added

“I bet you don’t have to deal with the same kind of light pollution that we do on Earth,” Sarah added.

“You would be correct, but it’s still useful for our purposes. The remote nature of the valley helps keep ponies from snooping around the outpost, not that we don’t appreciate the company of course. This is an expensive, carefully calibrated piece of machinery that we’re talking about though, and the extra distractions wouldn’t really help with our ultimate goal. Plus it gives life to a corner of Equestria that most thought would be an inhospitable wasteland,” Crescent answered.

“I wish it was that easy back home,” Scarlet added

The pegasus raised an eyebrow, “You’ve dealt with something like this back home I presume?”

She nodded and shrugged, “Sort of. Sapphire’s storm brought a ton of life back into a desert that we thought wouldn’t ever flourish the way we wanted it to, but it gave it a much needed boost that our earth ponies were able to care for and maintain. Light pollution’s a tougher task to figure out though, we wound up building our observatory a little ways away from the rest of the Oasis because the lights back home would reduce visibility. We spent a lot of time and money trying to figure out how to light the area so it wouldn’t block out the view of the night sky.”

“It should be interesting to see how this compares to your setup back home then, Sapphire didn’t share much about your Oasis, and I don’t believe it came up in any of our conversation, forgive me if it did.”

Scarlet smiled, “I don’t think it did, at least not the talk about the observatory. I guess that just means we’ll have more to chat about between work.”

Tyler smiled, “Kinda sounds like it’s a win win for everyone then eh?”

Starry nodded, “It would appear so.”

“Sapphire, occasionally has a knack for forcing great change,” Crescent mused.

“So this place, I’m assuming that it’s going to be a bit different than the rest of Equestria then?” Sarah cut in.

Starry nodded again, “In a way, yes. It’s location and purpose has many advantages, one of which being the fact that we can easily house human researchers such as yourselves here without having to adapt our existing infrastructure to accommodate you. Ponies are naturally social creatures and introducing two strange and fascinating creatures into an area would likely earn a flurry of questions that would distract us from our mission here.”

“So I wasn’t just imagining the weird stares and whispers we heard back in the Crystal Empire then… good to know.” Sarah interjected.

Starry smiled, “It’s nothing to worry about, of course, you two are just intriguing is all. Don’t mind any stares you get, there haven’t been very many humans who have made the journey over this way, there’s still that flame of intrigue that is running strong in many ponies.”

“It’s honestly kind of fun, makes a couple of geeks feel like we’re celebrities or something.” Tyler added with a smile.

“You unfortunately won’t see much of that in the outpost I’m afraid, but I’m sure you’ll notice that if you three have the time to check out some of the Equestrian sights during your down time,” Crescent added in.

Scarlet cleared her throat, “So what’s the outpost even like?”

Starry smiled, “You’ll find out soon enough, it won’t be long until we arrive, it’s best not to spoil the experience prematurely, you will find that Pelham Outpost is rather different from the other locales in Equestria.”

Scarlet looked back towards the outpost with eager excitement building up within her. Starry didn’t exactly answer her question, but she was excited to have the chance to explore this strange exotic place nonetheless. They always said that the journey was better than the destination, but she wasn’t quite sure if that applied to this situation.

Chapter 8: Star Struck

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Their chariot pulled to the side of the unpaved path, kicking up another cloud of dust and coming to a stop a short distance away from the outpost’s adobe buildings.

Crescent turned towards the three guests and smiled, “Welcome my friends, to Pelham Outpost! It’s the heart of our operations out here.”

As a group, the three stood up and stepped out of the chariot, taking in their new surroundings. Sarah and Tyler immediately began to stretch their legs. Scarlet on the other hoof curiously looked around at the various buildings.

“You’re wondering what’s so different about this place, I presume?” Starry asked as he calmly approached her. There were a handful that were obviously designed with ponies in mind, but they were dwarfed by the buildings that varied in all sizes around them.

Scarlet turned her head towards him and nodded, “I really shouldn’t be. It’s obvious that this place is built with more than just ponies in mind. The others just look so… odd next to the smaller pony buildings.”

“You are not alone, and there is a reason for their irregular size, that goes beyond simply accommodating humans. This place was of course designed with them in mind, but also other creatures, though at the moment it’s only serving ponies and humans. However we had hoped to pull in and collaborate with some of Equestria’s other creatures. That is still our hope of course.”

Scarlet nodded, “So I have to ask, this is a new settlement right? So why stick to the old way of doing things when you have other, sturdier ways of doing it like back in the Crystal Empire?”

“Indeed it is, however, as I’m sure you are aware, building in an arid desert is easier said than done. This construction was simple and durable enough to support our activities here, and combined with a few simple enchantments it made for an adequate base of operations.”

Scarlet looked all around, “It’s a lot to take in, but I’m already digging it. So where do we even start? How do we make sense of this place?”

“It’s not as hard as you’d imagine, the outpost’s layout isn’t as confusing as it appears,” Crescent interjected as he trotted towards the pair, “Your two friends showed interest in settling into their living quarters here, so we’ll start there first. Please follow me,” He finished, gesturing with a wing.

Starry smiled, “There is your answer. If you will permit me, I have some business to attend to, but I will reconvene with you three at dinner.”

“Of course, it’s been nice chatting with you today Starry, I’ll see you at dinner.” Scarlet said with a smile.

Starry returned a nod and trotted off towards one of the smaller buildings, leaving the three to follow Crescent Shadow. As they began to move along, Tyler cleared his throat.

The tall human paused for a moment and looked down towards Crescent, “So uh, Mr. Shadow, are we all staying in the same area or is it divided based on our species?”

Sarah looked over from Tyler to Crescent and nodded, “It’s a dumb question, we know, but we’re just curious considering that the three of us are all part of the same team. Makes it a little easier to stay on the same page and whatnot given that we don’t really have any other kind of communication here.”

“Don’t worry, it’s a perfectly reasonable question, if you’ll follow me I’ll show you it in person,” He began to walk towards a large adobe building, “The housing here is built so everyone can have a communal place to hang out and collaborate in. You three will share a villa on the first floor, if that answers your question.”

Tyler nodded, “That does, It’ll be like we’re back in college again, eh Sarah?” He joked, nudging the other human with his elbow.

“Sure will, just without the parties and stress.”

“No parties? C’mon where’s the fun in that?” he added with a smile.

Crescent smiled, “In case you were curious, the dining hall has a weekly activity night, every week before the last shift. It’s our way of getting ready to unwind for a couple of days before we resume our work. I’m sure you three have had similar experiences back on Earth.”

Scarlet tried to get a closer look at some of the buildings they were passing, noting that not all of them had a clearly marked purpose. She turned back towards Crescent and nodded, “Yeah actually, we have a karaoke night back home in the Oasis every Friday, gives everyone something fun to do together before the weekend starts. In some cases it’s one of the only times that you’ll see day and night ponies hanging around together.”

“Given the nature of our work, you see a lot more of that here,” Crescent replied as he came to a stop. He turned towards the group and gestured towards the large building behind him, “This is the center of the outpost, if you ever get lost it’s easy enough to find your way back here. It’s the largest building here and should be visible from any part of the outpost.”

Sarah let out a yawn and looked longingly at the building, “Not that I don’t find this interesting, but would you two mind if Tyler and I got settled in? It’s been a long day and I guess I just didn’t realize how tired I was.”

“Me too, we’ve been up since dawn and I could go for a nap.” Tyler added in.

Crescent nodded, “Of course, before we head in, the dining hall is right over there,” He said, gesturing towards a large tent-like structure. He waited a few moments and then pushed the door open, holding it for the others as they filed in, “We’re building a new one into this building, but it won’t be done while you’re here I’m afraid. Dinner or breakfast is usually an hour after sunset, if you need a wakeup call feel free to ask one of the receptionists, they’ll be able to help you get everything sorted out.”

Sarah smiled, “Thanks, I can’t wait to see this place but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t struggling to stay awake at this point.”

Scarlet looked towards the two humans, “You guys didn’t sleep on the train?”

Tyler shook his head, “Was kind of hard to, to be honest. I got like 40 minutes of shut-eye in before my neck started cramping up. It’ll be nice to sleep on an actual mattress… you do have human sized mattresses here right?”

Crescent waved them through the simple atrium and towards a small hallway on the edge of the room, “We do, don’t worry. You’re lucky and have one of the closer rooms, a couple of our engineers left not too long ago. They had other opportunities open up for them back in Canterlot that they accepted.

He reached a door at the end of the hallway and gently pushed it open, walking into the cozy, but spacious room. “This’ll be your home for the next month,” He gestured towards a trio of doors that were set at the side of the semicircular room, “The door on the left is the restroom, the other two are the sleeping quarters, I’ll let you three decide who gets which room, both have a set of bunks. Obviously you can see that this is the living area. There’s a closet off to the side if you need to store anything away, and if you’d prefer to dine alone in here there’s obviously the small kitchen.”

The two humans set their bags down on the floor and walked towards the two rooms. Tyler looked back towards Scarlet, “You care which room you get?”

Scarlet shook her head, “Nah, go ahead and take whichever one you want. I’m assuming you’ll bunk together?”

Sarah opened a door and nodded, “Yeah, we room together back home, it’s not too much of an inconvenience here.”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ll let you guys get settled in,” Scarlet paused for a moment, “you sure you don’t want me to just wait until you’re awake?”

Sarah shook her head, “Go ahead and take a look around, we’ll meet up with you at dinner. It’s obvious you’re itching to explore so no point in sitting around waiting for us to wake up.”

Scarlet nodded, “Well if you’re fine with that then I’ll see you guys later. Have a nice nap.”

“See ya Scarlet, have fun.” Tyler added with a yawn.

As the pair entered their room, Scarlet turned back towards Crescent, “So what’s next?”

“Well, if you would like, I can show you the Observatory itself.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened in glee, “I’d love to see it! Is it far?”

Crescent smiled, “Hardly, It’s just a short distance away.”

Scarlet began to word another question, but paused, figuring that she had pestered Crescent with more than enough questions already. With a nod she gestured towards the door with a wing, “After you.”

Crescent nodded and walked towards the villa door, pausing to close it behind them. “In case you’re wondering, doors are not usually locked here. I know it’s a strange concept on earth amongst humans, but there’s nothing to worry about here.”

“Good to know. I’m not sure how common it is outside of the Oasis, but we’re all pretty trusting there so it’s not as strange as you might think.”

“The observatory isn’t far.” He said as he led her down the hallway, through the lobby and back outside. Crescent waved towards a large circular building that they had passed earlier.

The two began to walk towards it, Scarlet excitedly following along like an excited foal. As they approached the large building Crescent stopped and pushed a set of large wooden doors open. The two stepped into a small circular hallway, passing by a green night pony and blue unicorn, who eyed Scarlet with intrigue. Crescent stepped forward, waving Scarlet along.

“Good evening you two, this is one of our exchange ponies, Scarlet Eclipse. Is she here yet?”

The gray night pony shook her head, “Not yet, took off to go check on something with Starry, said she’d be back in a moment. The telescope’s all set up in there though so feel free to get started.”

Crescent nodded, “Thank you Thunder. I’ll be back to talk about your work order in a few.”

She smiled, “Thanks boss!.”

Crescent stepped forward and opened another large set of wooden doors, leading Scarlet into a large circular room with an equally large telescope positioned at its center.

“This is the grand observatory.”

Scarlet looked around the room with an awestruck expression, earning a few laughs from Crescent. “This… this place is amazing! It’s so familiar yet so different— Please tell me I can use it?” she asked pleadingly.

Crescent smiled, “That’s why we’re here after all. So tell me, what is your favorite constellation?”

She thought about Orion, “Well that’s easy, that’d be Orion… I named my foal after it, but given that Equestria has no known counterpart…” She thought to herself for a few moments, “Ursa Major.”

Crescent nodded, “Ah, The Big Dipper as you call it on Earth, a good choice.” He calmly walked towards the large telescope, carefully making a few precise adjustments on the control computer. Pleased with his work he stepped to the side and gestured towards the telescope with a hoof. “Please, feel free to observe.”

Scarlet trotted forward, carefully stepping up to the telescope and giving the constellation a hesitant glance, letting out an excited sigh. “This is all really interesting, the stars here seem so much brighter than the ones back home. I could really get used to this you know…”

After a few minutes she stepped back and began to jot a few notes down into her well used notebook. Star charts and notes filled the delicate pages, a disorganized mess to any casual observer, but a carefully curated treasure trove of astronomical information to her. She began to sketch out the constellation in better detail, noting down the prominent stars that made up its form.

Scarlet approached the telescope again and focused the lens to get a better view of the constellation in question. “This is just so cool, it’s the same general formation as Earth’s but the stars are obviously entirely different! I don’t suppose that there are proper names for them? And do you know if there’s any reason why they’re so similar, or is it just pure coincidence?”

The clip-clop of hooves on the stone floor echoed through the observatory, interrupting Scarlet’s line of questioning. There was a brief pause followed by a warm voice speaking up from the side of the room. “Ah, Ursa Major, a good choice Crescent. A beautiful constellation is it not?”

Scarlet chuckled in reply, “Oh it’s beautiful alright, but words really don’t do them justice…” a moment of curiosity hit her as she turned towards the source of the voice, suddenly realizing who the new visitor was. With an excited squeal she yelled out a greeting. “Oh— oh my gosh you’re Princess Luna!” She excitedly shouted out, much to Crescent’s amusement.

The Princess let out a small laugh, “It is my pleasure to meet you, Scarlet Eclipse. Crescent says you are an astronomer from Earth, and he shared your notebook with me. An impressive collection of research for a pony who has never visited our world before and you should be very proud of what you’ve worked on. So tell me, what do you think of Equestria’s stars so far?”

She looked towards Crescent with wide eyes, “Your boss is Princess Luna?! I mean I knew you were bringing my notebook to the princess but I guess I didn’t even think that I’d ever have the chance to meet her!” Scarlet let out another happy cheer, quickly catching herself. “Sorry— this is all so overwhelming. I’ve never met anypony as big and important as you before, let alone been complimented!”

He laughed, “You’ll find that the leaders of Equestria are much more personable than those on Earth.”

She let out an excited squeal before composing herself and turning back towards the princess. “I.. I’m sorry about that,” she gestured towards her well worn notebook with a wing, “I’ve been studying your stars for a while now, and the fact that I get to finally see them for myself might be one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. I mean I get to actually see another universe’s stars! No one before ETS could say that!”

Luna smiled, “I am very flattered that you hold us in such high regard, I was not aware that there were ponies on Earth that shared an interest in Equestria’s stars. That is a part of why you were allowed to visit Equestria on such short notice.”

Scarlet took a moment to compose herself, “So Crescent mentioned that you had a project that you wanted to work on, what exactly was it?”

Luna gestured towards the ceiling of the observatory, which was painted with different stars and constellations. “I would like to make a more detailed star map. There are not as many astronomers here that are experienced enough to take on this task, but Crescent has spoken very highly of you and recommended you for this. As you can see, we already have a star map made up, and indeed many astronomers have worked on their own, but none are as accurate as the star maps back on Earth, and we do not know if there are any other types of objects out there, beyond our grasp, like you see in your general catalogues. We would like to make a chart like the ones you would find there.”

Scarlet nodded, “Well that’s actually not too hard to do. Crescent mentioned that this was created to work kind of like the stuff we have back on Earth, right?”

“That is correct, it’s Equestrian built, but should function similar to your Earth telescopes.”

Scarlet smiled, “Perfect, that’s all I needed to know.” She paused for a moment, glancing back towards her notebook, “Princess Luna, I just have one question before we begin.”

Luna smiled, “Yes?”

“Well, it’s just, you have all of these professionals here, people and ponies that went to universities, took part in revolutionary programs, people in the industry, and then me. I’m just a hobbyist that started working on something small back home and Crescent knows this as well. Why did you choose me to help with this project?”

She nodded her head, “Often times one might feel that their contributions to something greater do not matter much. But do not sell yourself short, young Scarlet, your spirit and determination to learn more about our stars showed that you were a pony who would be a valuable member of this team.”

“But how does that really make me valuable? That I just want to learn about another world’s stars?”

“That you would put so much time and effort into learning about a universe that is entirely different from your own for no gain but your own. It is a passion that not many express, and even fewer would work as hard as you have done to get this far without the promise of reward. Even if your background is not as prestigious as your peers, it still does not make your love of the night sky any different from their own. Not every pony here needs to be a big name in their field, sometimes the humble stargazer is just as important as the best astronomer.”

Scarlet smiled, “Thank you Princess, I guess I just didn’t really think about that. It really puts a lot of things in perspective for me, though.”

“I am glad to hear this, now would you like to begin?”

Scarlet nodded, “I would love to.”

Scarlet trotted into the simple dining hall, a sort of permanent tent in the heart of the outpost. It was probably the only place where you’d find both night and day ponies interacting together on a regular basis. Compared to the rest of the staff in the outpost, there were only a small handful of night ponies that weren’t guards, but Scarlet was happy to at least see other ponies hanging out together, it gave her the sense that this place wasn’t strictly all work and no fun.

She walked over towards the counter, and glanced up at the menu. The food was the standard fare that she was expecting, but with some different dishes she was unfamiliar with thrown into the mix as well, like the baked tarantula that caused her to scowl.

The earth pony manning the counter cleared his throat, “Can I help you ma’am?”

Scarlet nodded, “Hi, I’ll just have the quesadilla I guess.”

“Anything to drink?”

She glanced over the drink list, not really seeing anything that stood out to her in particular. “Just a glass of water please.”

He nodded, “Alright, you can pick up your order over there,” He gestured towards the second counter.

Scarlet gave a quick nod, “Thanks.”

She walked over towards the second counter and picked up her tray, glancing around the cozy room and taking in the unfamiliar faces, almost feeling as if she had returned to high school again. She had already started to grow accustomed to the fact that the outpost was designed for a mix of creatures, but seeing the size of this tent really drove the idea home, even if it was still mostly ponies here.

As she continued to look around, she noticed Tyler, Sarah, and Starry sitting at one of the taller tables towards the edge of the tent. She excitedly trotted over to them and took a seat at the table, happy to see a few familiar faces again.

“So did you guys have a nice nap?”

Sarah nodded, “Yeah. It was nice to actually have some accommodation that was our size. Not to knock the train or anything, but well…”

“It wasn’t really all that comfortable. Efficient and awesome to see, sure, but uncomfortable for us.” Tyler finished.

Scarlet smiled, “Well I’m glad you guys were comfortable after that. Have you had a chance to check out the observatory yet?”

Sarah shook her head, “Nope, we actually just woke up about 20 minutes ago. Seems like a lot of the ponies here are up at random hours, we still need to get a better feel for it, I’m sure it won’t be an issue for you though. So how’d the rest of the tour go?”

“It went pretty well, Crescent showed me the observatory and you’ll never believe who I got to meet.”

“Who?” Tyler asked.

A big grin spread across Scarlet’s face, “Princess Luna herself.”

Sarah’s eyes widened, “She’s here? I thought she’d be up in Canterlot all night.”

“The Princess has many duties that sometimes take her out of Canterlot. It is not uncommon for her to visit other areas such as this outpost.” Starry interjected.

Sarah nodded, “That must have been exciting to see at least. Did you happen to meet any other night ponies? I know you were wondering what the divide here would be.”

Scarlet shook her head, “None really, just a technician. I think Starry and I might be the only regular night ponies here, aside from her, the rest all seem to be guards.”

“There are a couple other astronomers and support staff here, but they are on leave right now, away visiting the Canterlot Caverns for a few days,” Starry interjected.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “Canterlot Caverns? What’s that?”

“Oh, I apologize, it is easy to forget that you are not from Equestria. There is a large cavern system situated under Canterlot, it has become a popular destination for night ponies and others that enjoy the night.”

“Would there be any chance I could see it?”

Starry nodded, “I believe there is a gap in the schedule next week while they run routine maintenance on the observatory. It would likely take a few days so there would be plenty of time for a brief visit.”

Scarlet smiled as she picked up her quesadilla and took a few bites, “Well count me in, that sounds amazing!”

Chapter 9: Settling In

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The trio was back in the Observatory, a room that they were starting to get well acquainted with at this point. It had only been a few days since they had arrived in Equestria, but they were already starting to fall into a nice routine. Following dinner, Tyler and Sarah would work with some of the other astronomers from around dusk until late into the evening, and then Scarlet would take over with another team until sunrise.

The nature of their work schedule afforded Scarlet the chance to actually interact with her human companions and enjoy their company, something that she felt she wasn’t able to really do all that often back home. While she wasn’t due to start her shift until a few more hours, she still liked to keep the two humans company in the Observatory. Even without having a hooves-on role, she was still able to keep herself occupied in the large circular room. From her note taking, to her questioning, and even to her simple observations, it was enough to keep her busy until it was her turn to take over.

The unique mix of Earth and Equestrian technology was something that Scarlet found great interest in and she could often be found pestering some of the maintenance staff about it late at night, more often than not resulting in her being shooed away without a second thought. She never let this bother her though; to her, it just offered a new challenge to master and learn about, and that’s exactly what she was doing now. Where most of the people she knew back home would find this place boring, Scarlet could spend hours in here and still find something that piqued her interest time and time again. Tonight she was jotting down notes on the large telescope that sat in the center of the room, curious about how it differed from the one she had back home. She knew that it wasn’t too far off from Earth designs, but the Equestrians had made their own modifications to it and she was determined to learn as much about it as she could while she had the chance.

The large wooden double doors could be heard opening, causing Scarlet to pause for a moment. She glanced over to see Princess Luna entering with Crescent Shadow and Starry Skies. Luna said something to Crescent who chuckled and nodded, turning around and leaving her and Starry.

The princess calmly walked towards Tyler, who was currently making some finer adjustments on the telescope’s control computer. “Good evening Mr. Anderson. Are you having a productive night?”

Tyler smiled and nodded his head, “Evening Princess, so far we are. And yourself?”

“It’s been quiet, but peaceful. So what is on the schedule for tonight? Anything particularly interesting?”

Tyler shrugged, “Oh you know, a lot of the same. I think we just about got the hang of operating this baby, now we’re just working on finding the more prominent constellations and using those as a reference point to map out the less prominent ones.”

Luna nodded, “I trust you’ll find the best method. Please do have fun with this project.”

Tyler smiled, “Oh we will!”

She returned a smile and moved on to Sarah, “And you Miss Conners? How are you adjusting so far?”

Sarah looked up from the charts she was plotting out, “Huh? Oh, yeah we are. It helps that this outpost is a little more… accommodating for us. If I’m going to be honest, I was kind of worried that we’d be getting tiny beds to sleep on and cramped quarters when we first got here, it’s so nice that it’s been the exact opposite.”

The princess smiled, “I am glad to hear that. We designed this outpost with more than just ponies in mind, and I’m happy to hear that the accommodations are acceptable. Though, is there anything that could make your stay more enjoyable?”

Sarah shook her head, “Aside from missing the entertainment back home, not really. If we were living here year round then maybe, but for a research outpost that’s only housing us for a month, it’s more than comfortable enough.”

Luna nodded, “If you think of anything else that would make your stay here better, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Sarah smiled, “Thanks Luna, we certainly will.”

Luna moved down and calmly approached Scarlet, “And a good evening to you Mrs. Eclipse.”

Scarlet bookmarked her notes and smiled, “It’s been a wonderful evening so far. I’m not actually scheduled to come in for a few more hours but it’s just so… exciting being here.”

Luna took a quick look down at the open notebook and smiled, “What is it that you were working on?”

“Just some more notes. This is kind of my life back home. I’m sure you’ve already read through my other notebook, this is just adding onto that.”

“Are those drawings of the new telescope?”

Scarlet nodded. “They sure are! This is based on a standard design from Earth, but it obviously incorporates magic in its design. It's similar enough to make operating it here a lot easier, but I’m just curious about how it works and what exactly you guys changed. Starry said that it was mostly the same but used some Equestrian materials and a few special components in its construction where they had to fill in some of the gaps. This is something we’ve been trying to do back home and I was kind of hoping to at least note down some of my own observations on it. I know we’re probably years away from ever doing anything like this, but it’s still just cool to learn about. You know, just as a reference for the lab boys back home.”

A warm smile spread across Luna’s face, “Your fascination really is insatiable, isn’t it?”

Scarlet smiled, “Yep! I know it’s a lot to take in for me, but I want to learn as much as I can here while I’m here. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the opportunity to do something like this again so I want to make sure I have thorough notes on this, if anything just so I can educate some of my team back home.”

“I’m glad your concerns over working with more experienced astronomers from our first meeting was unfounded. Your devotion to gaining knowledge on something you are passionate about is admirable and I hope you’re able to share it with your fellow ponies back home.”

Scarlet gave a quick nod, “Thank you Princess, all of this really does mean a lot to me.”

“Now Starry Skies has told me about your plans to visit the caverns under Canterlot next week, during the scheduled maintenance here at the Outpost. Given that you will already be in the city, I would be most honored if you and your companions would join me for dinner.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened in glee, “You would?!— Honored? I mean yes! I’d love to.” She looked over towards the two humans, “I mean you two wouldn’t mind coming along right? I don’t want to speak for you.”

Sarah smiled, “It might not be the most comfortable for Tyler and I, but we’re up for it.”

Tyler nodded in agreement, “How can I refuse dinner with the princess?”

Luna smiled, “Then it is settled, Starry Skies shall accompany you next week and direct you where to go. I look forward to seeing you three again.”

Scarlet sat by the window in the train, watching as the Equestrian landscape far below slowly passed by as they rose up following the terrain up the mountainside to Canterlot. The week up to now had been mostly uneventful, with the team working away on their assigned jobs until the telescope’s scheduled maintenance. Most of the outpost’s staff had taken the opportunity to take a few days off, visit their families, or take a short vacation, the latter of which Scarlet was currently doing. Though calling it a short vacation was a bit of a stretch, in reality it was only a quick trip to Canterlot for a few days, but for her, everything here felt like a vacation.

Coming around one last bend, the capital city came into view hanging off the side of the mountain. Majestic and whimsical with its tall towers in bright white, golds, and purples, like a literal fairy tale castle brought to life. Pressing her muzzle against the window, keeping an eye on it as long as she could, they entered into a tunnel briefly before it suddenly opened up again to the sky and they were pulling into the station. Scarlet turned away from the window and towards Starry Skies, “We’re here, right?”

He nodded, “Indeed we are, however our destination today lies beneath the city itself.”

Scarlet nodded and began to collect her belongings, “Is it a long walk to the Caverns?”

He shook his head, “Not at all, a short flight away in fact. There is an entrance into the caverns from the nearby mountains..”

He stood up and waved her towards the exit. Breaking into a small dash, the two began to fly towards the city gates, chatting along the way as they soared through the sky.

She smiled, “I’m excited to see it. We’ve got a cavern hangout back home, but it probably doesn’t even hold a flame to this place.”

“Is it common for night ponies to gravitate towards caves back on Earth? I haven’t had the chance to visit it yet.”

“I honestly don’t really know. The place where I'm from, the Oasis, is kind of separate from the rest of the pony communities around us. The others are still largely stuck following Sunset Shimmer’s vision of what a pony community should be like, but we’ve got our eyes set on the horizon. Then there’s the ponies out east and up north that are integrating back into human society a bit more, I guess you could say that we’re the closest in regards to them. Haven’t really noticed if any of either group winds up hanging out in caves like we do back home, there’s so few night ponies that sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re around.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Why is there such a large divide? The information has been known to us for a while, but there has never really been a good explanation why.”

“It’s… hard to say. The United States was kind of already divided a bit before ETS. Each region was kind of different from the rest, that might play a part of it but I’m sure there’s bigger things at play too, like politics and just the overall climate. The night pony situation out east in particular seems to be a lot worse than out where I am. There’s lots of mares fighting for a handful of stallions and it’s not a good situation at all. It’s a problem all around but I’ve only really noticed the worst of it over there.”

Concern carried in Starry’s voice as he replied, “It sounds as if it’s a dire situation, it must seem so different here.”

She nodded, “It is, but what can you do? There’ll always be fighting and issues, but hopefully it’ll fade with time. I’m just happy that it hasn’t cropped up at home as much. Still happens every once in a while but it hasn’t been a problem in a long time. But when we travel over there as much as we do, we still have to deal with it.”

“I never would have imagined that there would be so much division back on Earth.”

Scarlet shrugged, “There always was, and always will be. It’s just a part of life there. We’ll all move on, the world will keep spinning, even if it seems dire now it won’t always be.” She paused for a moment, “I’m sorry if this got kind of off topic, is the entrance just up ahead?” She asked as she gestured towards the large mountain that was quickly approaching.

Starry nodded, “You do not need to apologize, it is fascinating to hear about your world’s culture. There are many parallels between our worlds, even if they have diverged over time. The Cave isn’t too much further ahead, I know you are curious to see what’s inside.”

The pair began to slow their approach as they neared a landing in front of a cavernous opening in the mountain, and with a well practiced grace they made their landing. Shaking himself off, Starry led Scarlet into the large cavernous area. At once the radically different environment of the city beneath the city became ever more clear to her. A cool blue glow lit up the cave just enough for the few day ponies present to see without trouble. All around were buildings and stands that differed wildly from each other, all set on different levels and tiers. Her own enhanced night vision let her see the area with relative ease and immediately noticed that the cave was home to more night ponies than she had ever seen at one time back home.

She stared around in awe, earning a laugh from Starry. “This… this is amazing!”

“So is this similar to your caverns back home then?”

She shook her head, “Uh— no— .”

Starry smiled and waved her along with a wing, “This is just the entrance, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

“We have time to stop at some shops, right? I’ve been hoping to pick up a souvenir or two for my family back home, this might be just the place I’ve been looking for.”

“Of course, I believe there may be a few shops that could pique your interest. Were you looking for anything in particular?”

“Well Silver’s into old antiques and collectible stuff like that, Orion’s really too little but he likes stuffed animals.”

Starry nodded, “I actually know a shop that deals with just the kind of antiques that I think he would appreciate.”

“And for Orion?”

“There’s a hoof made toy shop not too far from it, we can stop by there if you’d like.”

Scarlet smiled, “That sounds perfect.”

Starry pointed towards a round building set into the side of the cave on one of the upper levels, “Canterlot Curiosities, the shopkeeper is a little eccentric, but I believe you’ll find what you’re looking for in his shop.”

“Oh believe me, we’ve got our own eccentric antique dealer back home, I don’t think this will be a surprise to me at all, I’m excited to see it.” Scarlet added as she started to follow Starry.

The two trotted along and stepped up a short flight of stone stairs and onto the upper level where the shop was. As they approached it, Scarlet took note of the odd assortment of statues and items that sat just outside, almost acting as an advertisement for the shop in itself.

She looked over towards one of the statues that resembled a hippogriff, “This actually reminds me of an old statue that Silver and I saw on vacation a little while back. I’m gonna assume that they’re not just mythological creatures here?”

“For a time we thought they might be, though they resurfaced not too long ago. Now they live in both the sea and the air, their kingdom isn’t that far from the outpost actually. If we had more time here I would consider bringing you there, but alas, we simply won’t have the time before your trip here is done.”

“Oh well, I’m sure there’s plenty of things that I’m missing, at least I have the chance to see what I can now. Maybe I can make it back here someday, you never know.”

Starry nodded, “Shall we enter?”

Scarlet smiled, “After you.”

As the two trotted in, Scarlet couldn’t help but take note of the strange artifacts and caged creatures that seemed to line every square inch of the place. An assortment of statues were arranged around the room, strange masks and trinkets lined the walls, and the sounds of unearthly animal noises echoed throughout the room. It was obvious that this pony had gone to great lengths to amass this collection, and Scarlet was absolutely hooked.

Scarlet looked at her reflection in one of the strange glass terrariums, jumping back in surprise as a large fruit bat swung out of the shadows and into the dim light, hissing at her menacingly. Taking note of the two visitors, the shopkeeper turned from behind his desk and lowered a pair of goggles, dramatically bowing in greeting, “Welcome my guests to Canterlot Curiosities, home to one of the most comprehensive assemblages of rare artifacts and creatures in all of Equestria. I am Mystic Ember, humble collector and proprietor of this den of antiquities. What curiosities have called you to this place today?”

Scarlet smiled at the strange stallion’s theatrics, “Nothing specific, I was looking for a souvenir for my husband back home, this place seemed like the kind of place that would be right up his alley.”

“In that case, is there anything specific that you were seeking?”

“It’s hard to say, Silver’s into old antiques and other strange artifacts… I don’t suppose you have anything like that here?”

Mystic nodded, “I believe I might have something that would intrigue your husband, strange and old antiques are my specialty after all.” He flew up to one of the inset shelves that lined the circular shop and reached for a strange wooden mask that resembled something of an exotic bird, “This is an old mage’s protective mask. In it’s time, it was imbued with a strong enchantment that protected its user against magical maladies, though that magic has long since faded. That isn’t a problem, I hope?”

Scarlet shook her head, “That’s actually perfect, I’m from Earth and we can’t bring anything magical back home.”

A warm smile spread across the night pony’s face, “I am pleased to hear that. The true magic doesn’t lie in what this antique can do anyways, but rather the memories and stories it holds.”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “And what’s its story?”

“I’m glad you asked, it was passed down from master to apprentice for centuries before the magic within it began to fade. By the time the last master had acquired it, it’s magic was fully depleted. Seeing that the true magic lay not within the mask, but within himself, he chose to pass it on to others who might find their own use out of it.”

“And how much is it?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Normally eighty bits; however, seeing as how this is being given as an interdimensional gift, I would be honored to part with it for a single bit.”

“For one bit!? You’re basically giving it away to me just because I’m bringing it back to Earth?”

“To me, continuing the story of an item holds more value than the actual item itself. Every object has a life of its own, countless stories that can be told… that is, a value that transcends the mere material realm that we ourselves exist in. This item in particular has passed through hundreds of sets of hooves only to be deposited in a dusty antique shop where it very well may have come to the end of it’s journey. But never in its entire existence did any of its owners think it would pass from one realm and into another. I myself long feared that it wouldn’t ever leave my shop if I’m being perfectly honest with you. As a collector and historian, I would see no higher honor than allowing something from my collection to bridge the divide between our realities.”

“I never thought of it that way, but if you’re willing to offer it for such a low price I would be honored to carry on it’s story. My husband is going to love it even more because of that.”

Mystic smiled, “Then in that case I believe we have a deal.”

Starry led Scarlet through the crowded walkway and over towards one of the higher parts of the cave. As they pushed their way through the crowd he gestured towards a small staircase, leading her down into a less crowded walkway.

As they continued down the new path Starry looked back towards Scarlet, slowing his pace slightly, “I apologize for the crowds, the main walkway tends to get a bit busy in the evening… I hope it’s not overwhelming for you.”

“Oh it’s perfectly fine, I’m no stranger to crowds.”

Starry nodded and resumed his pace, “Well in that case I am happy to hear that it’s not getting to you. To tell you the truth, I enjoy this part of the cavern more than any other, the toy shop happens to be close by so it works well in our favor.”

“So Starry, do you have a family or something? You don’t exactly strike me as the toy collecting type.”

Starry smiled and nodded his head, “Oh most assuredly not. Mystic’s shop is more my style, but to answer your question, yes. I have a wife and two wonderful foals. One’s a night pony and the other’s a pegasus, and both mean the world to me.”

Scarlet stopped and jokingly jabbed his side, “You never told me you were a family man, so do they live in the outpost or somewhere else?”

“They live just outside of Canterlot, that’s actually part of the reason why I like to visit this place so often. The months I spend away in the outpost can be crushing at times, but these regular excursions out here help mitigate it. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve arranged for you to stay at a nearby inn. I would normally be more than happy to host you in my own home, but I’m afraid that the little ones have long since taken over permanent residence in our spare room.”

“Starry, I can imagine that that’s got to be the most adorable thing ever. I’ve only got one foal back home and believe me, it’s probably the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen when he makes little nests and forts in his room. I’m more than happy with staying at an inn.”

Stary smiled, “I’m glad to hear that,” He paused and gestured towards a bright purple building with a happy looking sign brightly painted on it’s side. Velvet Aura’s Hoof Crafted Curios

“Cute. So I’ll take it your kids like this place?”

Starry grinned, “They love this place, I’ve spent my fair share of bits here for them, but it’s all worth it.”

As they trotted in, Scarlet noticed a purple night pony working away at the top of a staircase in a small loft section that overlooked the entire shop.

The mare took sight of Scarlet and stood up, cheerfully greeting her with a warm smile, “Greetings and welcome. I’m Velvet Aura, please let me know if you need help finding anything.” She looked towards the side, noticing Starry, “Oh Starry Skies! Welcome back! Here for more gifts for the little ones?”

Starry smiled and shook his head, “Not today I’m afraid, but my friend here is. Velvet, this is Scarlet, a visiting astronomer that’s helping out with Princess Luna’s program.”

“Well welcome, any friend of Starry is a friend of mine, is there anything specific that you’re looking for?”

Scarlet began to glance around at the various toys and trinkets that were seemingly crammed into every inch of the place, “Just browsing for now. I want to get a present for my foal back home, this is the first time he’s been apart from me for more than a few days.”

Velvet nodded, “How old is he and is there anything that he enjoys in particular?”

Scarlet smiled, “He'll be turning one next month actually so I can't wait to get home for that. It’s hard to tell if he’s really into any one thing more than others right now, but he does seem to enjoy plush toys more than anything.”

Velvet nodded and glided down from her loft, “We have a wonderful assortment of those to choose from, he is a night pony I presume?”

Scarlet nodded, “Yeah, and like I said, he’s not really into anything specific yet.”

“Not to worry, in that case let me show you my specialty line designed with night pony foals in mind, I myself am well aware of how rough and rowdy they can get. Follow me, they’re just over this way.” She gestured towards a large shelf full of different plush toys with a wing.

Scarlet took a few steps closer and began to browse the selection, smiling as she took in the different plush animals that lined the shelf. Right away she noticed a large snake-like plush that she could already envision Orion snuggling up with, and excitedly grabbed it off of the shelf.

“How much for this one?”

Velvet eyed the snake plush and smiled, “That particular item is twenty bits. However, I am offering a deal with those particular toys.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“If you’d be interested in buying another plush I can offer that one for half off.”

Scarlet looked around and grinned in delight as she saw an adorable looking spider plush sitting on the shelf. Silver would never approve of this existing in their house, he was absolutely terrified of spiders, but she figured that a harmless plush would be fine, he only seemed to hate actual spiders after all, a fake one that was clearly a toy should be perfectly okay. Plus it was a present for Orion, and if there was really an issue with it she could just keep it away in the colt’s room where Silver would never need to see it.

Scarlet grabbed the toy off of the shelf and approached the counter where Velvet had retreated back to. She gently set the two plush toys on the counter and reached into her saddlebags for the bits she had earned so far.

“So Thirty bits?”

Velvet nodded, “Thirty bits. Would you like these in a bag? Or perhaps we can ship them to your home?”

Scarlet looked towards Starry. “What would work best for this?”

Starry turned towards Velvet, “We’ll take them to go, there is no courier route to the outpost unfortunately.”

Velvet nodded, “That’s perfectly fine. I hope your foal enjoys these. They are hoof-made, but designed to be durable enough to withstand any kind of play, and considering he’s a night pony I’m sure it’ll be well worth it.”

Scarlet slid the bits across the counter and smiled, excited to give Silver and Orion their gifts, even though she’d still have to wait a while for that. A sense of longing came over her as she thought back to her family. She was happy to have the opportunity to be here in Equestria, but she’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t feeling a little homesick. Normally this was mitigated by the fact that she could always be in contact with them, but the lack of that opportunity was definitely starting to get to her. Her new friends at least gave her a feeling that she wasn’t completely out of place here, and the fact that everyone was seemingly so friendly and cheerful made her feel more at home.

Velvet passed a bag over to Scarlet and smiled, “Would you like a receipt?”

Scarlet shook her head, “I think I’m okay. This might sound weird, but I’m from Earth, so I don’t know when or if I’ll ever be back here.”

Velvet’s eyes widened in intrigue, “From Earth? Fascinating. So I’m assuming that you’re not just here on vacation then, right?”

“I wish, this is still an awesome experience. Like Starry said, I’m with the astronomy program, but we finally have a break, so I decided to do a little sightseeing while I had the chance.”

“Well in that case I hope you enjoy your trip, hopefully you’ll have the chance to make it back over this way someday.”

Scarlet nodded, “I hope so too.”

Starry smiled, “Take care Velvet.”

“And you as well.”

The pair trotted out of the store and over to a low wall that overlooked the rest of the caves. Scarlet gazed around at the crowd of ponies, most of which were night ponies.

Starry followed her gaze, “Is it really that strange seeing so many members of your tribe in one place? You’ve mentioned it before but it’s just hard to imagine.”

Scarlet turned towards Starry and nodded, “For a guide that works so closely with a princess I would have thought that you’d know more about Earth… not that I can really fault you on that, it just stands out to me more than I thought it would.”

“I suppose I never really saw a reason to learn more. Call it anxiety, a fear of the unknown… whatever the case may be, it’s kept me from delving further into it.” He perked up, “Though perhaps someday I’ll make the journey myself. It all sounds so… different.”

“Believe me, this place is beyond different for me. If you’re afraid of feeling like a fish out of water, you won’t be alone, even on Earth it’s easy to feel out of place. I guess I never thought of it much, but after coming here I just feel like everything’s so perfect. The world’s built for us, there’s no one or thing telling us that we’re wrong for being different, it’s just an eerily odd and endearing feeling at the same time.”

“I presume that Earth is the opposite?”

Scarlet shrugged, “It’s hard to really say. For most people it’s a matter of perspective. I can choose to see only the bad and that’ll make my experience, or I can choose to look beyond that and find what I’ve found here… if that makes sense.”

Starry nodded, “I believe it does, though I suppose that the matter is far more complex than that. Equestria isn’t perfect either, there’s still prejudice, fear, anxiety… just look at our relations with the griffons following one horribly misguided unicorn’s actions, that may be something that will hang over us for many years to come.”

“We’re really not all that different— Earth and Equestrian ponies that is, it’s just different worldly circumstances.”

“And your world did just suffer what could be perceived as a very real apocalypse only a little over a year ago. That will likely leave scars that won’t fully heal for many years, if ever.”

“Nothing ever fully heals, there’ll always be reminders and visions of the past that help remind us of where we came from.” Scarlet paused for a moment, gazing back out over the random ponies that made up the unassuming crowd. “Thanks for the insight Starry, I didn’t mean for this conversation to get so personal… it’s just, I feel like we’re still figuring everything out and it’s sort of desensitized me at this point. Like this huge unbelievable trip has barely even phased me.”

“Maybe that’s for the better? That you’ve taken your experiences and created something positive from them.”

Scarlet smiled, “Maybe it is… so what’s next?”

“Well, we should probably go check in at your lodging and drop your gifts off, after we can head over to a quaint café for some dinner, it’s not the most ornate place, but the owner is an old friend of mine and I’d like to catch up with him.”

Scarlet nodded, “Lead on then, I can’t wait to check it out.”

Starry smiled and waved her along towards a small inn that would serve as her home for the next couple days.

Chapter 10: Reflections of Equestria

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The two sat in an area that Starry had pointed out was a popular café run by an old retired member of Luna’s Night Guard. The arched iron sign that sat in front of it had read The Knight’s Light, though ponies from all walks of life seemed to be present here. A large assortment of night ponies wearing similar armor to the guards back at the outpost were scattered around, but there were also ponies wearing simple aprons, tool belts, or even just hard hats.

The two shared a table with Starry’s wife, foals, and two other ponies who wore goggles and tool belts. Starry had been quick to point out that they were engineer ponies who had helped set up some of the early outpost infrastructure, but had returned to Canterlot when they had gotten the chance to take on a contract that they were after for a while now.

Starry chatted with the unicorn for a bit while the night pony absentmindedly tinkered around with a strange-looking mechanical device that almost resembled something like a clock. Scarlet tuned out the conversation, instead choosing to look around at the rest of the cave they were in. It certainly felt like she stood out here, but none of the ponies seemed to care or pay her any mind.

“So Scarlet’s from Earth then?” She suddenly heard the unicorn ask.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and nodded towards him, “Yes, I’m an astronomer back on Earth. I’m here on a sort of cultural exchange.”

He smiled, “It must feel so weird getting to come here, then. I heard that Earth is so much different than Equestria. I mean, you guys built up a world without magic for most of your existence… I’m sorry, where are my manners. I’m Gear Grinder, and this is my apprentice Xenith.”

The night pony set his device down and nodded, “It's rare that we encounter a Terran here, even more so one that is a night pony.”

“Yeah… there’s not too many of them back home either. It’s honestly a little weird seeing so many in one place here.”

“I bet. So what did you think of our handiwork?”

“In the observatory?”

He nodded, “It's based on Terran designs, though there’s a fair amount of Equestrian engineering involved. Was there any noticeable difference in operation compared to what you’d find back home?”

She shook her head, “No, not really. It seems like it moves a little more precisely, but I can’t tell if that’s just different materials, the higher-end design, or what.”

“It’s a mix, actually. There’s some magic involved to fill in the gaps of what’s possible on Earth and what we lack here in Equestria. That’s a detail that I can’t get too far into, I’m afraid, but I’m glad to hear that there’s no real issue with reliability.”

“I kind of figured as much. So I know you can’t get into details, but out of curiosity, would this be possible back home?”

He shrugged, “It’s possible. It would depend on whether Earth has materials that would be receptive to that. Neither of us has looked into it too much. Sorry if that doesn’t really answer your question at all.”

She nodded, “It’s fine. I was just kind of curious is all. We’ve been trying to develop some new telescopes back home, so I was just curious to see if anything like this would be possible.”

“Well, if it ever is, please don’t hesitate to share the plans with us. You Terrans all seem to be so resourceful at times,” he chuckled. “Imagine doing everything without magic.”

Starry cleared his throat, interrupting the two. “I hate to interrupt, but I believe our server is returning soon. Do you all know what you’d like to order?”

Scarlet looked down at the menu and nodded, “I think so.”

He smiled, “Wonderful!”

Starry smiled as he led the three down the cobblestone streets of Canterlot and towards the large imposing palace in the distance. Tyler and Sarah had just arrived today, and they seemed more than happy to be off the cramped train they rode in on earlier. Their amazement wasn’t quite the same as Scarlet’s had been when she first caught a glimpse of the regal city a couple of days ago, but they were still sneaking bewildered glances every once in a while.

“So will the Princess actually be joining us, or is it more of a Join me and the assorted nobility scenario?” Tyler jokingly asked.

Starry nodded, “Princess Luna may be present if her other duties permit it. Other nobility and ambassadors shall be in attendance as well, including a few from your world.”

“Other country ambassadors, you mean?” Sarah asked as she returned her gaze from one of the large buildings.

“Indeed. I do not know who will be present specifically, just that it includes ambassadors from both worlds.”

“It sounds like it’ll be a real interesting night. So are we dining in the palace?” Scarlet asked, cutting in.

Starry looked over towards her and shook his head, “Not the actual palace proper, but the venue is close by. It should still offer spectacular views of the city and surrounding vistas, though.”

Scarlet smiled, “Well, I can’t wait; this whole place has just been amazing so far.”

She looked towards Sarah and Tyler, who nodded in agreement.

“So Starry… what’s the actual plan? Are we sitting with them, or are we going to be off on our own?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I would assume you would be sitting with them. As far as I am aware, guests visiting from Earth are all seated at the same table, is there a concern with that?”

Scarlet shook her head, “None at all; I was just curious. So is it okay for us to chat with them? Do we need to be super formal and uptight? Y’know, is this supposed to be a formal dinner, or is it more of a casual meet and greet kind of thing?”

Starry smiled, “Oh, of course! I could not imagine a quiet dinner here; these are some of my favorite events to attend solely for the interesting stories you hear from far and wide. I’m not aware of how it is on Earth, but here in Equestria, sharing stories among strangers and friends alike is one of our greatest traditions.”

Scarlet smiled back, “I think that answers everything. I just wanted to make sure; I don’t know about the others, but I’ve never dined with any kind of celebrity or ambassador before; I wasn’t sure if there was some ironclad protocol we had to follow or anything.”

“There is none that I am aware of; I do hope you enjoy yourselves tonight, it might not be what you are used to on Earth, but I hope you’ll feel welcome all the same. The princess invited you, but do not feel like this needs to be a formal event; if it helps, think of it as a dinner with old friends.”

Starry led the three into the regal dining room, where a plethora of creatures were already sitting. Scarlet hadn’t realized it until now, but Equestria had a far more diverse population that was made up of more than just ponies. Starry had mentioned this earlier when they had first toured the outpost, but she hadn’t thought much of that comment up until now. As she looked around the room she picked out a few creatures that were obvious to her, like the humans and ponies, but she also noticed a zebra, a few creatures that looked like ponies but had strange horns, and a few other creatures that she assumed were griffons based on some of the depictions Scarlet had seen back home.

She continued to observe the other guests up until Starry ushered them towards one table in particular. It wasn’t specified in any particular way, but she could tell that it was meant for Earth based guests. The table was empty, except for a human and two ponies, who were all casually chatting and enjoying what looked like freshly baked goods.

Starry cleared his throat, “Good evening, I would like to introduce you to a few of your fellow guests from Earth,” He gestured towards the Human that sat at the outside of the table, “This is Giovanni, Earth’s Italian ambassador to Equestria,” He moved on, gesturing towards the pink unicorn next, “And this is Cherry Blossom, she is Japan’s ambassador.” He moved on to the remaining orange pegasus, “And lastly, we have Lucky Hazel, Jamaica’s ambassador.”

The orange mare smiled and nodded, “Pleased to meet you, you three are astronomers right? What’s it’s like to actually see another world’s stars? Is it as cool as it sounds?”

Starry smiled, “I can see that you all will get along just fine, please pardon me for a moment, my presence is required up front, I will return in just a few minutes.” With a quick bow towards the assembled guests, Starry trotted off towards whoever needed his attention.

Scarlet took a seat next to the pegasus, “It’s no harm, I don’t think you’ll be able to out geek three astronomers who are getting to do something like this.”

“It is an exciting change of pace, that is for sure,” Cherry Blossom spoke up, “I have never been much of a stargazer myself, but I can see the appeal nonetheless. Am I correct in assuming that you’re a part of Princess Luna’s little pet project?”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “Pet project?”

Giovanni sat up in his seat and took a sip of water, “My friend, I believe that Cherry is referring to the Princess’ new observatory that’s out in the middle of nowhere. Pardon our curiosity, it’s just that there’s so much mystique surrounding both her and that project in particular. There’s rumors that come out of the shadows and naturally that can tend to pique one’s interest, especially given the… less than usual circumstance of all of us being present here.”

Scarlet couldn’t help but pick up on the fact that the three ambassadors seemed to speak in a dialect that was understandable, but didn’t feel as graceful to her. They spoke as if they had only recently learned the language and were still getting the hang of pronouncing the strange, almost musical words. She wasn’t sure if it was that they had simply arrived here later than they had, hadn’t bothered to practice it as much, or maybe something else entirely. Was it possible that these three felt just as out of place as her and her two new friends did?

Tyler spoke up, stirring Scarlet from her silent observations, “To answer your question, we’re visiting astronomers that are assisting her with a really novel project. Assuming that’s the one you’re talking about, I can say it’s definitely nothing outlandish or crazy. Just working on updating archived star maps with Equestria’s stars and constellations. Kind of like what we do back home.”

“So exciting for us, boring for probably everyone else.” Sarah added with a smile.

Cherry nodded, “Fascinating, though the truth is certainly less interesting than the rumor.”

“Well for you maybe, I think it’s amazing that you three have the chance to do that. Are you using weird Equestrian equipment or stuff from back home!?” Lucky excitedly asked.

Scarlet perked up, happy to hold a conversation that felt so casual and informal, “Kind of a mix, we’re not really sure how much is from who, but it sure runs like the stuff back home. I think they used some of our designs as a base and worked up and replaced what they weren’t able to really do here with their own engineering and technology. Kind of like an old world meets new world scenario I think? It’s hard to really tell given how… weird this all is.”

Starry returned, interrupting the group before they could ask any further questions, “Ah yes, I apologize for that interruption, another guest needed my assistance. Now as for dinner, our menu has both local cuisine and recipes gifted to our chefs from Earth, you are welcome to try either, though the option for food that may be more familiar to your… tastes is available if you so desire.” He passed a small menu to each of the guests, giving them time to look it over.

Scarlet retrieved one and gave a quick nod in thanks. Without a second thought she started looking through the Earth side of the menu, noting that there were dishes from all four of the countries that were currently represented at the table. Out of curiosity, she gave a quick glance over to the Equestrian side, curious to see what counted as local cuisine. Everything seemed fairly standard, hayburger, flower and hay sandwich… hay, hay, and more hay. She scrunched her muzzle up in disgust as she thought back to when that was the only thing that was widely available for ponies to eat shortly after ETS had struck. It was fine enough sure, but eating raw hay for weeks on end soured the experience for her.

She continued to look through that side of the menu in disinterest, pausing when she came across something she never would have expected to see on a dinner menu, let alone one that was being offered to nobility and ambassadors in the country’s capital. Baked Tarantula. She gave a quick wave towards Starry, who cheerfully trotted over.

“Yes Mrs. Eclipse? Did you have a question?”

She nodded, “Yes, I noticed this thing on the menu, Baked Tarantula… is that actually a baked tarantula or is it something that’s just not translating over as well?”

“Ah yes, the Baked Tarantula. Not as popular amongst the day ponies, but it could be considered something of a delicacy amongst night ponies. Would you care to try it?”

Scarlet hesitated for a moment, before returning a quick nod. “My husband’s deathly afraid of spiders… but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sound interesting. Plus the look on his face when I tell him what I tried is going to be priceless.”

Starry smiled, “I’ll let our chefs know. They are masters of their craft and it won’t take long for them to prepare your meal. Would you like anything else to drink in the meantime?”

She shook her head, “Just water for now.”

Starry nodded and trotted off, leaving Scarlet alone to her thoughts once again. She was starting to regret her meal choice, and was half tempted to call after Starry and choose something else, but a lingering thought kept her in her seat. If it was on the menu and night ponies in Equestria enjoyed it, it couldn’t be all that bad right?

Giovanni sat up and took another sip from his glass, “So now that that’s out of the way, how have you all been adjusting to your stay here? Before you arrived I was talking with Cherry and Lucky about their own experiences and it’s been intriguing to hear.”

“You know, it was kind of rough at first, jumping from one world and into another wasn’t as strange as I thought it might be, the strange part was just getting used to how small everything is here. I’m sure you understand that.” Tyler answered.

The human nodded, “I’ve had a couple of weeks to adjust but it’s still had it’s unusual moments at times.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but obviously this world wasn’t built for humans, it’s just an odd feeling when you think you’re judging something but you’re still used to the scale of everything back home. I think Tyler’s tripped about a dozen times on so many different staircases just because he’s not used to the steps being as low as they are.” Sarah added.

Scarlet smiled, “Obviously it’s different for me. As weird as it sounds I feel right at home here. I’d never give up my life back home for anything in the world, but it’s a nice change of pace being here.”

Cherry looked at Lucky and Scarlet and nodded, “I share your sentiment. I’ve only been here for a week and adjusting hasn’t been too hard. I’m assuming it’s the same for you Lucky?”

The pegasus nodded, “It’s different, but I think it’s worth it. If we can help foster peace between worlds and nations I think it’s all worthwhile, even if some of us are uncomfortable at times.”

Cherry nodded, “I have a family back home that I miss dearly, but this mission is worth the momentary longing for them that I feel. I’ll be home to see them soon enough, and maybe the world will be a little better in the long run because of what we’re doing.”

Scarlet smiled, “I know we’re not specifically here for any kind of good will mission like you three are, but I like to think that every small part helps. Even if we’re just helping some astronomers update a star map, it’s still a chance to share some of our culture and gain an appreciation for some of theirs.”

A warm grin spread across Giovanni’s face, “It appears that we’re not all as different as it might seem. I am glad to have heard your own tales.”

“Likewise, it’s been… interesting.” Tyler mused. “Here we thought we’d have to be uptight and formal for this dinner, but you’re all normal people like us with friends and families.”

“We are just a small group that want to make a better world, in our own ways, be it big or small. People of all lands have gathered like this for centuries to share their own stories, and it’s humbling to know that even though we come from all corners of the globe, we are able to converse as if we are fond friends.” Cherry added.

Without much fanfare the servers returned with a cart full of steaming plates, clearly prepared quickly with some sort of magic. The group collectively eyed the cart, pausing their conversation for the time being.

Lucky turned towards the three astronomers, “I’d love to chat some more after dinner, if you’ll indulge me that is.”

Sarah nodded, “Not sure how much we can really say, but I’d love to talk some more.”

One by one the plates were set down in front of the group, who happily began to dig into their chosen meals. As Scarlet’s was laid down in front of her, she couldn’t help but eye the tarantulas with a look of both disgust and intrigue. She hesitantly broke off a leg and took a small bite. She paused and slowly began to smile.

Her eyes widened in bewilderment and she eagerly dug in, surprising herself in the process. It had been so long since she had eaten actual meat that she had forgotten how good the taste could be. It was as if she had suddenly discovered a part of her that was missing for the last year, a piece of her very being that was now rediscovered, and she couldn’t get enough of it. This is actually… kind of good! I’m eating a tarantula and liking it… Silver’s gonna freak out but I have to get him to try this sometime! She thought to herself as a devilish grin spread across her face. She would never just spring this on him without a fair warning, that would be needlessly cruel after all, but maybe she could ease him into trying it, surely he could get over it if she could show him how good it was. Those thoughts would have to wait however, she was too eager to enjoy this strangely good new food to think about anything else.

The remainder of the dinner service went by in a flash, and before she had even realized it, it was time for dessert. In contrast to the dinner, there were no menus or options for dessert, and instead the waitstaff had rolled out a series of dishes that held strange exotic looking pastries with an Equestrian name that Scarlet couldn’t translate into English despite her best efforts.

This was a special treat as they had been told, because it was a dish made up from small samplings of delicacies from the different tribes that were found in Equestria. In addition to ponies, other creatures like griffons, hippogriffs (which Scarlet had been informed were somehow different apparently), Kirin, and Zebras had all contributed something to the dish, and as another additional surprise, there were a few small bites of pastries that had been included using recipes brought to Equestria by Earth’s ambassadors. Choosing to ignore the familiar ones for the time being, she instead looked down at the more exotic unknown ones, her mouth watering as she gazed down at a bright orange slice of cake that was oozing some orange filling and looked absolutely delicious.

Taking a few small bites confirmed that it didn’t only look delicious, it was delicious. The first thing that stood out to her right away was that it was one of the softest cakes she had ever eaten. In fact, the soft vanilla exterior practically melted in her mouth giving way to a tangy orange filling. The tantalizing mix of orange and vanilla filled her with a radiant sense of glee and she couldn’t help but smile as she greedily scarfed down the delicacy. She didn’t know if it was just the local ingredients or whether this cake was somehow enchanted to be even more delicious, but whatever it was, she knew she needed either the recipe or a nice hearty supply of it to bring home.

“Aha, drawn to the Blood Orange cake are we? That’s one of the signature dishes from the Blood Orange family in Hollow Shades.” Starry Skies joyfully observed from the side.

“Uh huh,” Scarlet responded. “What about Blood Oranges?”

“They’re a family of night ponies from the Hollow Shades region of Equestria. It’s one of the oldest homelands for Equestrian night ponies. For many years it was functionally abandoned, with only a few isolated families keeping watch over their ancestral homes, though recently it’s become more active.”

“So what you’re telling me is that we can get more of this cake later on if we really wanted to?” Scarlet asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

“If we were to make a trip down to Hollow Shades. You’ll find that the dishes served here tonight are from some of the more isolated areas of Equestria, areas that wanted to show that they can still play an important part in Equestrian society.”

“Put me down for a trip to Hollow Shades then,” she very quickly replied.

The stallion let out a laugh and nodded. “I don’t know whether we’ll have time for that or not, but I’ll note it down.”

“Thanks Starry… this is just so good.”

“Oh believe me, I know. It’s become one of my guilty pleasures lately.”

“Don’t have much of a sweet tooth, eh?” Scarlet asked.

“Only for that cake,” Starry admitted.

“That’s one of my favorites too,” Lucky interjected.

Scarlet looked over to the orange mare and smiled. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She replied. “I’m sorry to interrupt, I just saw your face and knew you were trying out the good stuff for the first time ever and it just made me think about the first time I ever tried it. Feels like it was so long ago but it really wasn’t.”

“Time flies kinda fast here, doesn’t it?” Scarlet commented.

“Mhmm. I’m sure you’re starting to realize that too.”

Scarlet started to think about the remaining time left on their visit, and slowly nodded, realizing that it was nearing the home stretch at an alarming rate. “Yeah, I think I am. Guess I didn’t think about how different this place would be or all the things I’d be doing.”

“It’s hard to,” she admitted. “I’ve lived here for a year and a half now, and it’s still unreal to me sometimes. Feels like I got here yesterday but it’s been so much longer. It’s just the start of a new chapter of my life too, which really makes it feel even crazier.”

“Oh? I’m guessing you’re here on a longer term basis?”

“Pretty much.” Lucky nodded. “I don’t know about the details for the other two, but I’m basically living here for the time being. I still visit Earth every few months, and my family’s supposed to get approval to move here soon too, which will hopefully make it feel more like a home.”

“That’s gotta be such a wild feeling.”

“Oh it is. I wanted to see the world when I was a filly but little did I know I’d get to go live in another world someday. It feels like a dream everyday and sometimes I almost feel like I’m just going to wake up back at home and everything’s going to be boring again.”

“Well your name’s pretty fitting I think.”

“Huh?” Lucky asked. “What do you mean?”

“You’re pretty lucky. You really got to follow your dream in such a big way.”

The mare blushed and smiled, “You did too I’d say.”

“Fair enough,” Scarlet laughed. “It’s different though. You live here permanently, I’m here for a short one month assignment, and who knows if I’ll ever be back?”

“Never say never. I know our two worlds are trying their best to come together and support each other. It’s not a stretch to say that people like you and your friends play almost as important of a role as me and the other ambassadors. We’re here to offer diplomatic support and cooperation, but also to exchange some of our culture and knowledge. Isn’t that part of what you’re doing too?”

Scarlet smiled. “I guess you’re right. I shouldn’t just assume this is my one shot to be here. I’m just in that live each moment like it’s my last kind of mindset.”

“Which isn’t the worst thing in the world,” Lucky added. “I was always that same way too.”

“I can totally see that.” Scarlet took a few bites of the other samples, (which in her opinion weren’t as good as the marvelous cake she had tried), and looked back at the mare. “You said you wanted to hear more about our program before, right?”

“Very much so. I’m nowhere near an expert on that kind of stuff like you are, but I do genuinely love it.”

“That’s perfectly okay, you don’t need to be an expert to get into this kind of stuff. All that matters is that you love the subject and are willing to learn more about it.”

Lucky smiled, “Think you could tell me some more about it then?”

“I’d love to.”

The rest of the dessert service went by in a blur as Scarlet excitedly gushed about the things she was doing and the things that she had learned so far, and by the time that Starry had announced that they would be making their exit Scarlet felt as if she had gained a new friend, and perhaps even the inkling of an idea of what she wanted to do in her life long term. She knew that she wouldn’t have any real immediate future here, but at the very least she’d maybe have a cross-dimensional pen pal, and her excited discussion with her gave her another idea of what to pursue in the future. It wouldn’t be anything immediate, but perhaps someday she would focus on teaching others what she had learned here, either through her own stories and recollections, or maybe even in schools.

It was overly optimistic, sure, but her conversation with Lucky filled her with both a deep pride for the work she was doing here, and the confidence to share that work when she returned home. And as much as she was sad to leave at the end of her trip, she was also excited for what lied ahead.

Chapter 11: Raising a Foal Is a Lot Trickier Than It Looks…

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Silver calmly walked through the Oasis’ old courthouse with two student teachers; a green pegasus named Lightning Glow, and a maroon night pony named Moonlight Star. The two had petitioned for a school to be opened in the Oasis, and were more than happy when Silver had agreed to take them on a tour of the different buildings that might be suitable for the pilot program that they were proposing.

Orion was cheerfully trotting around the large meeting room they were currently standing in, running wild, but calm enough that Silver didn’t have to worry about him. The colt had scared him with his series of stunts a week ago, but had stayed relatively calm up until now. It was clear that he had a ton of energy that needed to be put into something, and as long as he wasn’t doing anything dangerous, Silver could tolerate it.

“So I know that this is one of the older buildings, but it was fully renovated and reinforced. For a while it was the old courthouse, but it could easily be converted into a small school, at least for your pilot program. We can always look into expansion or purpose building something at a later date whenever the need arises for it.”

The maroon night pony nodded, “How’s the power grid here? I know some of the older buildings weren’t all up to code yet., It’s important to know, because if we’re going to be serving everyone here, the lights need to be running at night.”

Silver nodded, “Perfectly reasonable question Moon, part of the renovation involved getting this up to code so we could actually utilize it for more than just storage, I know that a lot of old town will probably go unused after we start expanding, but I wanted to make sure we could utilize it as best as we could before then.”

She nodded, “I know that the foals here are too young to start formal education, but I want to make sure that everything’s up and running before we get to that point. Measure twice, cut once as they say.”

“Will the shuttles service this or is it worth petitioning for a dedicated school shuttle?”

Silver looked towards the pegasus and nodded, “Of course. Right now I don’t think we’ll be able to fit a dedicated shuttle into phase one, but there’s an existing stop outside that’ll service it. We’re looking at a handful of foals right now, probably a few dozen more by the time this needs to be fully running, if the demand is there by then we can look at fitting that into the revised transportation budget. I know Sprocket and Tinker have been getting on my tail about getting that up to speed.”

While the three were chatting away, Orion took it upon himself to clumsily climb up onto the stage that was set up at the far side of the room. Jumping up and down, he giggled at the hollow sound that the stage made when he landed on it, a sound that was now echoing through the room.

Thud

“Obviously we’ll need to clear out the building and possibly modify the layout, but I’ll leave you two to decide. Keep in mind that this will probably only serve as the preschool long term, and maybe up to second grade if there’s a need for it in the immediate future.”

Thud

“Well this room could work as a multipurpose room, the kindergarten I went to as a foal basically had one big room divided up into four classrooms that way, but they could open it up more as needed.” Moon added

Thud

“Ooh yes, I like the idea Moon! There could even be a—”

Thud

The two paused as they started to become acutely aware of Orion’s antics. They slowly glanced over in the colt’s direction, much to the confusion of Silver.

Thud

“What’s up? Was it something I said?” Silver asked, raising an eyebrow.

Thud

Lightning awkwardly smiled, “Silver, does your foal… is he umm... always this energetic?”

Silver glanced over to the colt, who was still excitedly jumping around on the stage, oblivious that he was starting to become a nuisance, “Yeah no, he’s kind of going through a phase right now. I’m trying to give him some slack and let him get his energy out in a safe way… sorry if it’s bothering you, I can go get him if you want.”

Moonlight stared with an understanding look, “He’s becoming a diablo…”

Lightning gave her a small jab in the side, “No it’s fine, don’t worry. I can kind of understand, at least if what Moon told me is anything to go by.”

The hollow thuds were growing louder as the colt started jumping around in more varied patterns, giggling like he had discovered a new and exciting way to have fun that no one had ever tried before.

Silver let out a sigh, “Just give me a moment,” He turned towards Orion and began to sternly raise his voice, “Orion please take it down a notch…”

The colt only began to jump faster, much to Silver’s annoyance.

Silver closed his eyes for a moment and turned back towards the two, letting out a breath, “Alright, give me just a moment, he needs to learn that he has to follow my rules instead of making up his own.”

Lightning was about to speak up, but Moon quickly shushed her, “It’s a night pony thing, there’s a reason why we call em’ diablos.”

Lightning returned a quick nod and watched on as Silver trotted towards the colt, who proceeded to jump off the stage and start running around like an excited dog. The more Silver would chase him, the faster he would run until the two were practically engaged in a full on race around the meeting hall.

“Orion enough is enough! You need to stop right now!”

The colt only responded with a series of giggles and began to rapidly zigzag around Silver, earning a chuckle from Moon as the poor director tripped and fell, sliding into a wall and letting out a pained grunt. Orion pounced on him, earning another groan of pain.

Lightning looked towards the maroon night pony with a look of concern, “Should we help him?”

Moon let out another chuckle, “No, it’s just a phase of night pony development… one that I don’t think Silver was prepared for.”

“And you were?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Moon shrugged, “I had Marco to help, Silver’s wife’s off in another world right now, I can’t imagine it’s been easy for him dealing with it alone. I’m sure he’ll figure it out on his own in due time…”

Silver slowly walked back up to the pair, completely out of breath, “I’m… I… Sorry about that…” He took another moment to compose himself, letting out a deep breath as Orion continued to happily trot around the three, “Look, this is highly unorthodox, but considering that the closest school is almost 2 hours way, I’m going to run the budget proposal over to Patrick and fast track it for you. Why don’t we break for now and meet up in an hour, we can look over what needs to be done before I head home for the day.”

The two looked at each other with a bewildered expression before Moonlight Star spoke up, “This uhh—”

“—Works great for us! Thanks so much Director Eclipse—” Lightning excitedly finished.

Silver raised a hoof, “—Just Silver, please. I know I’m the director here but we don’t need to act so formal. Hell I’m sure we’re all in the same boat, if we’re going to operate as a private city we should probably make sure our foals are getting a good education that isn’t going to set us back four hours each day, I’d say that’s more than important enough to warrant fast tracking.”

The maroon night pony nodded, “Glad we can all see eye to eye on that,” She paused and looked over towards Orion who was currently trying to scale the wall with his wings, “Uhh… Silve—”

Without a second thought Silver followed her gaze and bolted off to grab the energetic foal, “Orion NO! I told you no more climbing until mommy gets home!”

As he reached up to pull the colt in, Orion leapt off of the wall and landed on Silver’s back, much to the older night pony’s relief. Silver glanced back over towards the two teachers who were staring at him with a look that was a mixture of concern and intrigue. “He’s not a diablo… I promise!”

The maroon night pony returned a look of understanding and nodded, no doubt fully aware of what Silver had been going through. “Good luck boss, you’re gonna need it.”

Silver gave a quick nod and trotted towards the door, hoping that Orion would settle down for the trip back to City Central. With a sigh, Silver raised his gauntlet and began to speak a command, “NAVI, please schedule a budgetary meeting and send an alert to Patrick, ASAP.”

One Moment Director… Meeting with Patrick scheduled.

Silver breathed a sigh of relief, “No more games Orion… please.”

The colt simply giggled and snuggled up closer on Silver’s back.

Over the next week Silver had taken to keeping a close eye on Orion, and much to his relief there hadn’t been many other incidents of note. Any time that the colt would start to act up he’d immediately jump into action and find something that Orion could do to wear himself out. So far Silver’s plan had worked save for a few small slip ups and a few broken shelves.

Silver sat in his office working away at his desk while keeping a close eye on Orion, who was playing in the corner with some of the toys that he had brought along. The diablo was docile for now, but Silver knew that it was only a matter of time until he slipped up and let his guard down. Orion would recognize that moment and strike when he least expected it.

He glanced back to his computer for a moment, and then back towards where Orion was, suddenly noticing that the colt had trotted towards one of the large bookshelves in his office.

A smirk spread across his face as Silver jumped up and ran over to him before he had a chance to even touch the case, “Oh no you don’t! We’re not having another cookie jar incident this time!”

He scooped up the colt and trotted over towards Diamond Glider’s adjacent office, giving the door a quick knock.

“Come in!.. Oh, Silver, what’s up man?”

In a deadpan serious voice, Silver answered his friend. “The little diablo’s growing restless. I’m going to go break for lunch early and take him out to the park to play. I’ll be back in a few. If anything comes up just give me a call.”

Diamond chuckled, eyeing the two, “Got your hooves full? It’s fine, I understand. Good luck man.”

Silver walked out to the balcony and set Orion down for a moment, tightly wrapping his hooves around him so he wouldn’t be able to wriggle around. He gently took off and began to fly down to the park that was set up near City Central. He came to a soft landing and set Orion down, double checking that the park gate was closed and secure.

“Okay little buddy, we’re gonna have a fun time here and you’re not going to get into trouble again, okay?”

The colt giggled and nodded, quickly taking off and running a few laps around the playground. Silver ran after him and jumped up onto the equipment, calling him over towards the slide.

“Come on buddy, you like the slide right?”

Orion ran over and jumped up the steps, trotting towards the slide and eyeing it with hesitation at first. Silver picked up on this and inched closer to it. “Look it’s fine, I’ll go down with you if you want.”

Orion hesitated for a moment, but finally started to trot towards Silver. He pulled him close and held onto him as the two went down the slide together, earning an excited squeal and big happy grin from Orion.

As they touched the ground Orion jumped up and excitedly ran towards the top of the equipment again, jumping up and down a few times before bravely sliding down the slide once more.

“See?! It’s fun right?!” Silver excitedly cheered at him.

Orion giggled and proceeded to run back to the top again and sliding down a few more times. By the eighth or ninth time he was out of breath and desperately in need of some water.

Silver smiled and picked him up, bringing him towards the water fountain. As Orion drank, Silver could only smile at the thought that his plan had worked. He had caught the colt before he had a chance to cause trouble and had successfully worn him out enough that he’d likely be ready for a nap when the two returned to his office. Plus he was able to share a few adorable moments with his son, and he wouldn’t trade any of those for the work he was currently missing.

Silver glanced over towards Orion, chuckling as he noticed him carefully trailing a small insect. “Whatcha got there buddy?...” he paused as he noticed that it was a small harmless spider, a sight that still sent a shiver down his spine. “That’s uhh… that’s quite a find… maybe we should stay away from it— NO!”

Before he could even finish Orion pounced on the spider and quickly ate it as if it was some kind of treat, much to Silver’s horror.

With wide eyed panic he immediately shouted out to the colt, “Orion! Spit that out right now, that is not candy!”

The deed was already done however and Orion only returned a happy grin, much to Silver’s dismay.

Silver looked on with a mortified expression on his face. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO He quickly thought to himself in a panic as he raised up his gauntlet to make a call. “Navi call Dr. Wayne Marshall on the priority line.”

Calling Dr. Marshall. Please standby.

Silver pulled Orion close, keeping an eye on him as the Oasis’ resident doctor answered the comm.

“Ah Silver, good morning. What’s the problem?”

Without hesitation Silver quickly broke into a frantic explanation. “Doc, I don’t know how to explain this but I’m with Orion at the park and he just ate a spider. Should I be concerned?”

“Fascinating, I haven’t heard that one yet,” the unicorn answered in genuine interest.

Silver’s eyes widened more, “What do you mean fascinating?! Doc, should I bring him in?”

“Do you know what type it was?”

“I… uh… guess it was just a daddy-longlegs, should I be worried?”

“You guess or you know?”

Silver rolled his eyes, “I know… look, you know I hate the things, is Orion going to be okay?”

Marshall laughed, “Of course, if it’s just a daddy-longlegs he’ll be just fine. It’s not exactly common out here but it hasn’t been unheard of for Equestrian night ponies to eat insects for protein. Maybe it wasn’t the healthiest choice for him to just eat it off the ground, but he should be perfectly alright.”

“So you’re saying that he’s just going to eat insects now?!”

“Well no, at least not unless you specifically prepare them for him. He’s a night pony though, your tribe has that subtle predatory instinct that he’s probably just now acting on. Just keep an eye on him and discourage him from eating anything you don’t specifically prepare and you’ll be fine.”

The color seemed to drain from Silver’s face, “So you’re suggesting that I prepare spiders to eat now?!”

“Only if you want, I’d suggest you give it a try though, you might find that you enjoy it more than you’d think.”

Silver sighed and tried to clear his head, “Thanks Doc, I’ll uhh… give you a call if I need anything else answered.”

“Please do, take care Silver.”

The call ended and Silver got down to Orion’s level. “Okay buddy, I don’t know how I’m going to explain everything to Scarlet, but we’re going to have a safe and fun rest of the day at home, where you can’t eat anymore spiders.” He sighed, I thought I had every single angle covered… Scarlet’s never going to let me live this down.

Orion simply giggled at him again as Silver carried him up to his office.

“Alright buddy, we’ve only got a week left, I really need you to be on your best behavior okay? Please?”

As much as Silver was dreading what further surprises awaited him, at the same time he knew that that single week would fly by in an instant.

The diablo hungers for arachnids...

Chapter 12: Two Worlds, One Story

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The last week of her scholarly excursion to Equestria had flown by in a heartbeat, and even though it was full of monotonous work, it was the kind of work that Scarlet absolutely relished. To some, studying star maps and doing advanced astrophysics was a dull bore, but for Scarlet it was her passion and she didn’t care if it made her a boring pony.

Despite her trip nearing its rapidly approaching end, she still couldn’t help but spend time getting some last minute work in— she could only imagine that inter-dimensional trips like these would be exceptionally rare, and she wasn’t going to waste a single minute of her time here. As she neared the main observatory she pushed the large wooden doors open and trotted in, waving at a pair of Equestrian technicians as she passed them, “Hey, Thunder! Hey, Sol! They got you two working overtime again?”

The gray night pony nodded her head, glancing towards the blue unicorn that sat off to the side. “Yep! Finishing up some unplanned maintenance, I guess they forgot to recalibrate it when they were working on it before. No sweat though, the extra bits we get for this are well worth it, isn’t that right Sol?”

“Mhmm, beats working back on that dock in the Crystal Empire that they had us at before.”

Scarlet smiled, “That’s certainly a nice perk. So are Tyler and Sarah in there?” She asked, gesturing towards the main observatory with a wing.”

The blue unicorn nodded, “Yeah, just came back from break maybe five, ten minutes ago? Nebula and Windseeker were helping them earlier, but clocked out when they all broke for their break.” She glanced towards Thunder and then back over to Scarlet, “Starting early again Scarlet?”

“None of the fun stuff yet, just the boring paperwork. You know, logging which quadrants we’re on, any anomalies with the existing maps, that kind of stuff.”

Thunder Smiled. “Sounds like a boatload of fun, I think I’ll let you handle that stuff and stick to the technical oddities.”

Scarlet smirked. “Not a fan of paperwork?”

She replied with a mock face of disgust, earning laughs from both Scarlet and Sol.

“Well I’ll let you two get back to work, have a nice night if I don’t see you before you break.”

Thunder smiled, “You too, Scar. See ya later.”

Scarlet trotted towards the interior doors and walked into the observatory proper. As Scarlet made her way over to her desk she smiled at Tyler and Sarah, who were already hard at work on their respective tasks for the night.

“Hey Tyler, Sarah. You guys have a nice day?”

Tyler turned away from the computer for a moment and nodded, “Yeah, I took a nice walk this afternoon and did a little fishing down by the pond. Not much else.”

“Did you catch anything good?”

He shook his head, “Nah, just some Equestrian bass, tossed ‘em back after. How about you? Did you do anything fun?”

She shrugged, “Not really, just meditated for a little while before dinner. I know this means nothing to you, but I almost managed to dreamwalk during it but got distracted before I could. I don’t think very many night ponies can do that back home. I only know two that have been able to actually do it with any regularity.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. It doesn’t mean a whole lot to me but at the same time I guess it really wouldn’t. I don’t know how that kind of stuff works or even feels, but it sounds like fun, and to be honest I wish I could understand it. Getting to make your own dreams and go off on some crazy adventures or something sounds really fun.” Sarah added as she walked over from the telescope.

Scarlet nodded. “What’d you do today Sarah?”

“Oh you know, much of the same. Stopped by the library and tried reading some of their books. Get this, they have their own version of Indiana Jones, Daring Do!” She excitedly cheered. “And the story’s aren’t even half bad either. I’m honestly tempted to buy up the whole set and bring them home with me if they’ll let me.”

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t, books should be perfectly fine.”

“I guess we’ll find out then eh? I think tonight’s pay night so… looks like I know what I’m spending it all on.”

Scarlet laughed. “You know you’re just like my husband, dropping all of your hard earned cash on books and other collectible stuff.”

“I think I’d get along well with your husband then.” She paused. “So what’re you up to anyhow? Just stopping by early?”

Scarlet shook her head, “Nah, I figured I’d help you guys out with the mundane paperwork. I felt like I was starting to get too comfortable with not doing work, I figured I might as well get back into the swing of things and take some more notes on Equestrian astronomy while I still can.”

“Not one for taking time from work? I thought you had a blast the other day at dinner?”

She nodded, “Oh I did, there’s just so much to do here and not enough time to do it so I don’t want to waste any of my free time when I have the opportunity to use it to my advantage. I love vacations just as much as the next pony, but we’re talking about the unknown cosmos of another world here!”

“How’d that cave tour go by the way? Tyler and I didn’t get a chance to stop down there.”

“Oh it was awesome, It’s hard to explain but I just felt so cozy there. I even got to pick up a few souvenirs for my husband and foal and got to meet some more night ponies. Overall, it was interesting to say the least, and it really made it clear how different they are compared to their earth counterparts.”

“Well it sure sounds like you had a fun time. We appreciate you helping out with the boring work by the way, it really helps cut down on the workload.”

To the casual observer it might seem that the group had been hard at work for the better part of a few months, but in actuality it had only been a few weeks since the group had arrived in Equestria. As resourceful as the trio had become, they were only a small part of the larger team, and after this week they would be gone, leaving their work for some future group to pick up.

Maybe someday she could find her way back here, but that probably wouldn’t happen any time soon. As much as Scarlet enjoyed the outpost and Equestria as a whole, she missed her family and couldn’t wait to get back home to them. Perhaps she could bring them along for the next trip if there was ever that possibility, she’d have to ask the Princess the next time she had the chance to.

She shook her head and returned to the task at hand. Equestria had so many more stars left to map, and not nearly enough time left to map them as she wanted. Still though, the opportunity to even be a part of this was more than anything she could ever ask for and she was happy to be a part of it, even if only for a short while.

“So what’s the plan tonight Sarah?”

The human looked away from the large telescope in the center of the room, “Not much, just finishing up the stars in quadrant five, moving onto six, seven, and maybe eight if we have time to get to that tonight.”

“Ah, so the less prominent stars then?”

She nodded, “I’m glad you said less prominent instead of less important. So many people back home seem to disregard ours like that. They might not be as prominent as some of the more visible stars and constellations, but they’re still out there, even if people don’t see them.”

“I couldn’t have said it any better myself,” Tyler added, “If you want to jump in early feel free to do so, I know the paperwork’s a bit boring and I wouldn’t fault you if you wanted to get to the real fun stuff.”

Scarlet smiled, “I’ll think about it, someone’s gotta get this done though and I’d rather knock it out before my shift really starts so I can get more out of it.”

Tyler shrugged, “Hey you do you, we really do appreciate it though, so thanks again.”

As Scarlet walked around the outpost she couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions. On one hoof, she was excited to get home and see her family again, on the other she was sad to say goodbye to her new friends and all the interesting wonders that Equestria’s night sky had to share. The end of their trip would be here in only a few hours, and already she had received a flurry of emotional goodbyes from some of the permanent staffers that she had come to see as close friends during her short trip to Equestria.

She had already carefully packed away enough notebooks to easily fill in her small bookshelf back home and couldn’t wait to properly organize all of her research. For as much as she had learned on this trip, she had only barely scratched the surface of everything that Equestrian astronomy had to offer. Her collected volumes of research and notes would still make for an interesting read for astronomers back home, and she had decided to start properly curating it all into an actual book. She didn’t expect it to be anything that would make waves in the industry, but hobbyists and others who couldn’t make the trip on their own would probably find it interesting enough to buy a copy which would at least help fund some of her own work.

There was one more pressing matter that she wanted to address before she left, thanking the princess for even letting her be a part of the team. She approached the large observatory doors and knocked a few times, waiting until the princess called her in. With a confident smile Scarlet began to trot towards the princess, who greeted her with a smile of her own.

“Good evening again Scarlet. Crescent has told me that there was something you wished to speak with me about?”

She nodded, “I just wanted to thank you again for letting me be a part of this. It really means so much to me.”

Luna nodded, “It was my pleasure to help a pony that appreciates the night as much as you do. You are returning to Earth soon, correct?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I don’t know when or if I’ll ever be able to come back here again, but I wanted to just give you a personal thank you before I left. There was another thing too, it’s about my notebook.”

The princess let out a small laugh, “And which one would that be? I couldn’t help but notice that your saddlebags are filled with far more than what you arrived with. Do you plan to share some of the research on our stars with Earthly astronomers?”

A smile began to spread across Scarlet’s face, “Yes actually, we don’t really know a whole lot about Equestria’s stars back home, I kind of figured that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to organize and publish my notes— if that’s alright with you that is.”

Luna smiled once more, “I would never stop somepony from sharing a love of the night with others, please go ahead, and share what you’ve learned here.”

Scarlet excitedly nodded, “Thanks Princess, for everything. I hope that I’ll be able to come back for another visit someday.”

“I wish you the best of luck wherever you may go, if you should find your way back to this world again, I would be delighted to hear of what has transpired with your endeavours.”

Scarlet smiled and trotted out of the Observatory, running into Thunder and Sol on the way out, “Oh hey guys.”

The gray night pony looked up from her desk and smiled, “Hey Scarlet, I suppose this is probably the last time we’ll see each other?”

Scarlet nodded solemnly, “Yeah. We’re out of here in a few hours, I just wanted to say a few goodbyes before we board the train.”

The blue unicorn gave a quick nod, “It’s sure gonna be quiet around here, I don’t think any other astronomer, save for the princess herself, has spent so much time in here.”

Scarlet let out a laugh, “I hope I didn’t bother you guys too much, this has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, I didn’t want to waste a single moment of it.”

“It’s been different, but fun. We’re really going to miss you three, even if we’ve only known each other for a month now.” Thunder added.

Sol nodded, “It’s crazy how fast a month flies by. One minute three strange aliens are stepping off into your home, the next you’re saying goodbye to new friends.”

“It’s weird. I feel like this place has become a second home to me, even if I might never get back here,” Scarlet mused.

Thunder shrugged, “You never know, anything’s possible. So many ponies have come here to study or research the stars, and out of all of them I think you three might be the most memorable.”

“It helps that you’re also the first aliens here, that’s definitely memorable.” Sol added with a smile.

Scarlet nodded, “Look me up if you guys ever make it over to Earth, I’d love to show you around our observatory sometime.”

Thunder smiled, “For sure. Take care Scarlet.”

The group walked back into the Crystal palace, feeling as if they had just done the opposite only yesterday. Scarlet was unsure of what the future would hold for her or if she would ever get a chance to come back here, but she was grateful for the experience nonetheless. The group was oddly silent as they walked towards the portal room and through the security checkpoints. Without asking them directly, Scarlet could only assume that they were thinking the same as she was, silently reflecting on the trip they had all taken and bonded over, and wondering what the future would hold.

By the time they had reached the portal and had been cleared for passage, a looming sense of sadness could be felt hanging over the group, Starry included.

Scarlet looked towards their guide turned friend and embraced him in a tight hug, “Thanks for everything. This has been an amazing month, and I’m really going to miss you. You’re a good friend Starry;- please give my regards to Starshine too, I know we didn’t talk much but she’s a very lucky mare.”

Starry smiled, “I’ve spent the last year wondering how inviting Earth astronomers would impact our operations. I wasn’t sure if you would be more of a hindrance than a help, but you three have really shown that it’s the latter. We’re going to miss you, too.”

“I’ll have to talk with Sapphire and see if there’s any easy way to keep in touch. My offer still stands by the way, if you’re ever out my way Silver and I would love to host you in our city. It’s not much now, but I think it’d be cool to show you what we’ve done, especially after this trip.”

The Equestrian night pony nodded, “Perhaps I’ll cash in a few of my vacation days as you put it, and make the journey down there myself.”

Tyler looked towards the portal and back towards the Equestrian, “I hate to leave so soon, especially after making so many new friends… It’s been a real pleasure, Starry,” He held his hand out towards the pony, “I know I’ll remember this forever.”

Sarah smiled, “If you do make it to Earth, look us up too, maybe we could all meet up somewhere and hang out. I’m sure Scarlet wouldn’t mind hosting us too… right?” She asked with a grin.

Scarlet nodded, “Absolutely. If you two ever have trouble filling the hours, give me a ring, I’d love to hire you on full time. We’re looking at upgrading some of our equipment and I could use a few talented astronomers to help run everything.”

“Well, we can’t delay this forever, as much as I’d like to. It’s been a joy spending time with you three, and I’ll definitely try and keep in contact as best as I can.” Starry reached into his saddlebag for a moment, pulling out a small bag, “It’s cheesy I know, but I would be remiss if I didn’t offer you something to remember your visit by.” He carefully opened the bag and slid out the three metal medallions that he had custom ordered from Mystic Ember.

“Starry, you didn’t need to do this—”

He cut Scarlet off with a warm smile, “The front has the sigil of the outpost, the back has your names transcribed in Equestrian on them, I know it’s not much but think of this as a way to commemorate our achievements here. Mystic Ember was right when he said that an object’s true value is the story it tells us, and these tell a story that I hope you’ll all share with your friends and families back home.”

Scarlet carefully held the offered medallion, smiling as she read the front of it. From Equestria to Earth, and the endless cosmos up above, the memory of this adventure shall live on as long as we live. Thanks for being a part of the journey, - Starry

She held out her hoof in thanks, grinning as Starry returned the gesture, “Thanks again Starry, this means a lot.”

“It was my pleasure, now if we’re all done being sentimental, I believe you have a world to return to.”

Tyler nodded and slowly stepped towards the portal, looking towards Sarah, “Well, I think work’s sure gonna be boring after this.” With a smile he stepped through, leaving the other human alone with Scarlet.

Sarah turned towards the portal and paused, “Goodbye Starry, it’s been great.” She turned back towards the portal and followed in Tyler’s footsteps, leaving Scarlet alone for a few more moments.

Scarlet walked towards the portal, gazing at the strange gateway that had been the start of one of the most interesting adventures of her life. She took a few hesitant steps towards it before pausing and turning back towards Starry, “Goodbye friend, until we meet again.”

Starry smiled, “Farewell.”

Scarlet turned back towards the portal and stepped through, ending her Equestrian adventure and returning to the life she had temporarily left back on Earth.

Scarlet trotted off the plane and towards the arrival gate, thanking the flight attendant on her way out. The flight home had been silent and full of peaceful reflection.

As much as she already missed Equestria, she was more than happy to be back home with her family. She couldn’t wait to just talk with Silver on the ride back home and see Orion again. Silver had already lit up the comm with dozens of questions and messages, and she had happily told him that they could talk once they were back home, face to face.

It wasn’t a long walk to the baggage claim area, and before she even had a chance to look for Silver, he had run towards her, catching her by surprise with a tight embrace and nearly knocking her over in the process.”

The very exhausted looking Stallion pulled her into a tight hug while Orion excitedly ran up to her, bringing a smile to her face. “Scarlet, I’m so glad you’re back home! I missed you so much!” He said as if he was relieved that she was back.

“Silver— what’s gotten into you?” She questioned in a daze, the sing-songy quality of her voice standing out more now that she was back on Earth.

“I just missed you. I knew taking care of a night pony foal on my own would be hard, but man, it’s a lot harder than I thought! Your voice sounds beautiful by the way, is that a hint of Equestrian I’m hearing?”

She returned the embrace and held him close for a few moments, glancing down towards Orion who was excitedly jumping around, “Well… I’m glad you had some time to really appreciate the miracle of fatherhood… So how was it? The house isn’t a wreck I hope?”

He broke the hug and let out a nervous chuckle as he looked down at Orion, who had a large grin on his face, “Yeah… about that… He’s uhh… well you missed his diablo phase— but I think he’s over that now!”

She let out a sigh and shook her head, worried at what the response would be, “Silver…”

He began to gesture around with his hooves, “Don’t worry though, I figured out how to keep him calm and It’s only a few holes in the wall!.. and some broken dishes here and there— don’t worry, I cleaned up the glass right away and no one got hurt! And uhh… oh, he also kind of got into the pantry and figured out how to climb up to the top shelf— we’re gonna have to fix those too. Oh, and the TV’s broken…”

She quickly cut him off, “Okay, how about you tell me what isn’t broken? I feel like that’s going to be a lot easier.”

“Well the windows are good, and he didn’t break the other TV… Oh and I got the most adorable pictures of him snuggling up with Cosmo and that plush your grandmother made for us… So uhh.. How was your trip?”

Unsure of how to react to the news, she simply let out a flurry of laughter, catching him off guard entirely, “Silver, it was great. I’ve got a few souvenirs for you two and I’ve got enough notes to write my own book… Sounds like Orion really gave you a run for your money though.”

Silver let out a few nervous chuckles and waved her towards the exit, “Yeah… we can talk about that over dinner, why don’t you tell me all about your trip on the ride back? I’m sure Orion’s dying to get some attention from you too.”

Scarlet looked down at the excited colt and smiled, “Is that right now? Well how was your month little buddy? I’ve got some presents for you that I think you’re gonna love!” She reached into one of the bags she held at her side and pulled out the spider plush, earning a nervous glance from Silver.

Orion excitedly jumped over towards the plush, pulling it close and holding it tightly, earning a happy cheer from Scarlet. She glanced over towards Silver, walking towards him with a grin, “I know you’re gonna hate this, but I’ve got a new recipe that we have to try sometime… baked tarantula— I know you don’t like spiders but it’s meat we can actually eat and you don’t know what you’re missing, trust me!”

She felt a twinge of guilt as the color seemed to drain from Silver’s face for a few moments, “Yeah… uhh there’s one other thing I forgot to mention… Orion kinda tried that out on his own, too, and I think he’s a fan…”

She raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that… he didn’t get into too much trouble, right?”

“He uhh, well he ate a spider, but Wayne said it was okay and actually suggested trying it myself… I guess I know what’s for dinner then?”

Scarlet let out another series of laughs and shook her head, “I feel like your month might have been just as exciting as mine.”

Silver nodded, “Oh you don’t even know the half of it… It’s great to have you back home though, I think I need another vacation after this, maybe we could take a trip to the lake when we get back?”

Scarlet smiled, “I’d love that, we’ve got so much to share with each other.”

Chapter 13: Back to the Old Grind

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The couple’s reunion had been marked by lots of kissing and cuddling while Scarlet recalled the month’s worth of events she had encountered in Equestria, and the whole time Silver could only feel a lingering sense of wonder and awe at it all. Scarlet was more than well used to the concept by now, but to Silver, traveling between two worlds was something straight out of science fiction, and he was sure to bombard her with as many questions as he could think to ask. Fortunately, Scarlet had been more than happy to share her answers while they splashed around in the lake outside their home, and in a rather emotional moment, the night had been capped off with Orion speaking his first word— star. Scarlet of course couldn’t have been any more proud, and Silver had been quick to try and coax him into repeating more words, and in the next couple of days the foal had picked up on at least a few more simple words. It had certainly been an emotional reunion, but Silver felt content and happy knowing that their month apart had ended in such a heartwarming way.

Silver let out a long yawn as he slowly pulled himself out of bed. His eyelids felt as if they weighed a few tons each as he struggled to open them, and every instinct in his brain was saying go back to sleep. Taking a quick peek out the window, he sighed as he gazed at the rapidly setting sun. If this has been the weekend he’d stay snuggled up with Scarlet, but today was a work day, and he knew that breaking the new routine he had fallen into wouldn’t exactly be productive. He could have easily justified it under the completely fair excuse that he had been apart from her for so long, but that would only serve to tip the scales towards ruining his productive streak. Instead he’d treat her to something else, a nice hoof made breakfast to start her day, that he knew she’d enjoy.

As he trotted towards the bathroom, his companion started to stir slightly.

“Silvie? You’re up early.”

“Shhh,” he shushed her, “don’t worry about it. You sleep in, I’ve got breakfast and Orion covered.”

She groggily smirked and let out a soft chuckle. “You’re gonna be productive in the morning? Guess I’m still dreaming.”

“Yes, now just relax and let me handle everything, okay?”

Scarlet let out a small “Mhmm” and rolled back over, quickly falling asleep again.

Trotting over towards Orion’s bedroom, Silver pushed open the door and scanned the dark room. He couldn’t help but let out a happy little squeak as he took sight of Orion snuggled up with his dog in the middle of the bed. Glancing to the clock on the shelf, Silver decided to leave the two in peace. It wouldn’t hurt for them to just relax this morning too. Instead he gently closed the door and trotted out to the kitchen, slipping on the modified set of cooking utensils that he had thrown together. The house being this quiet was almost unnerving, especially given Orion’s more… active mood lately, but it was also a welcomingly peaceful change of pace.

Fishing out the ingredients for Scarlet and Orion’s favorite breakfasts (Fried eggs for Scarlet and pancakes for Orion), Silver got to work on his first activity of the day. To say that he cherished these sparse moments to himself would be an understatement. He of course loved spending time with his friends and family, but the rare moments of complete peace and isolation were also welcome breaks too. They gave him a chance to relax and reflect on whatever was on his mind, and gave him the perfect opportunity to plan out his day.

Today wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary, he’d pop into work, probably work on some administrative stuff before hopping into some of the actual projects, and then probably run some more inspections on whatever other projects happened to cross into his domain. At face value his day was probably going to be a relatively boring one, if not a little stressful when it came to city administration stuff he was filling in for, but the thought of coming home and spending time with Scarlet and Orion again made it all worth it.

As he flipped one of the eggs, his thoughts traveled to the nostalgic memories of his childhood, and the different fun trips that his parents had taken him and his brother on. In retrospect, almost none of those trips were ever anything fancy or exceptionally special, but they were still times spent with family that he treasured. His parents were never rich after all, and didn’t have a lot of time for the flashy vacations that some of his friends’ families would go on. A deep sense of longing started to creep into his mind as he thought about Scarlet’s trip. Not out of jealousy or a desire to go to Equestria of course, but rather the idea of the three of them going on some long trip together again. Alas, they had already taken their yearly vacation, and even though Silver was technically in administration, it wouldn’t be fair to take even more days off of work.

He let out a small sigh as he finished up the breakfast and got the table set up. He’d get more family vacations someday, even if he had to wait for them. The sounds of the shower running told him that Scarlet had decided to hop out of bed, which meant that his time alone would soon be coming to an end. He was fine with this though, the morning company always brought a smile to his face and never ceases to brighten even the gloomiest mornings. Time spent with family was special after all, even in short bursts.

Checking to make sure everything was off, he trotted towards Orion’s room and opened the door again, this time finding that both the foal and the dog were awake and clearly ready to play. Cosmo was the first to run into him, and if Silver hadn’t been well trained to expect this by now he would have been launched back into the wall, but he knew better. That lesson was a lesson he only needed to learn once.

A few quick tummy rubs were enough to satisfy the dog who ran out into the house, no doubt on his way to the fenced in yard for a little morning exercise. As if on cue, Orion leapt towards Silver, who caught the excitedly adorable foal in his front forelegs.

“Good morning Orion! Did you have a good night?”

The foal giggled and called out an adorably sleepy sounding greeting. “Daddy!” He cheered, which Silver had come to accept as his morning affirmative.

“Well I hope you’re hungry little buddy, because I made you your favorite!”

The foal squeeed in excitement and galloped towards the dining room, melting Silver’s heart in the process.

“Now if that isn’t the cutest thing I’ve ever seen then I don’t know what is,” came Scarlet’s voice from the end of the hallway.

Silver smiled and looked up, “You know, I’m not a morning person but I think this is still my favorite time of the day.”

“Even more than when we get to sleep and dream walk?” She started to trot towards him.

“For now,” he nodded. “It’s when we’re all together the most after all.”

“What about dinner?” She countered. “Or after work, before bed… we’re together for those.”

“Sure,” Silver agreed. “But the difference with those is that those don’t set the entire mood for my day.”

Scarlet smirked. “You’re a goofball, you know that?”

“Of course I do. I’m your goofball though, so you’re the one that’s gotta live with it.”

“And I’m perfectly fine with that,” she gave a small peck on the cheek. “So what’s this about breakfast?”

A smile crept across Silver’s face. “I’ve got your favorite all made up if you’re hungry.”

Scarlet’s stomach grumbled in response, making both of them laugh.

“Guess that answers that.” Scarlet commented.

The two trotted towards the kitchen, where they were greeted by Orion who had managed to climb up onto the table and was now greedily eating his breakfast.

“Couldn’t even wait for us, can you believe this guy?” Scarlet pointed towards him.

Orion simply looked up with a mouth full of bite-sized pancakes.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wash him up before we go to work.” Silver reassured her.

“I know you will.” She shook her head at the foal. “You’re lucky you’re so darn cute otherwise I’d be very annoyed right now.”

Orion giggled and nuzzled up next to Scarlet as she sat down and started to pick away at her breakfast.

“So got anything fun planned today Silvie?”

Silver sat down with his own plate of breakfast and shrugged. “Lots of the same. Gotta stop into the lab and work on a few things for the new prototype and then probably go out into the field and do some more of the boring planning stuff.”

“Sounds like a pretty busy day then, eh?”

“Yeah… first half should be fun, second half though…”

“Is probably gonna suck?”

Silver laughed. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it. Bright side at least is that Phoenix and Midnight are working on getting an old friend in to cover the night stuff I’m stuck doing right now. With Patrick dealing with the day stuff that should give me some more breathing room.”

“Good, because you deserve it.”

Silver nodded in between a few bites of his food. “Yeah, definitely. Then it won’t be so stressful and busy.” He let out a small sigh as his thoughts started to drift back towards the nostalgic memories he had been reflecting on only a few minutes prior.

Noticing the stallion’s wandering, zoned out gaze, Scarlet perked up a little. “Something else on your mind, Silvie?”

Silver snapped back to reality and shrugged. “Guess you could say that. It’s nothing though, just feeling a little wistful right now I guess.”

“Wistful about what?” She rested a hoof on his back.

“Just some corny dad stuff, you know?”

“I’m the mom, so no, I don’t know,” she teased. “I might have an idea though, so why don’t you spell it out for me?”

Silver smiled. “I’m just thinking about that vacation we took last month. It made me think about the stuff my parents used to do when I was a kid…”

“And it makes you want to do some of that, right?”

The stallion slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, that's it. I’d be lying if I said that a part of me didn’t want to just drop everything and find a job that’ll let us do that more… but that’d be irresponsible.”

“Irresponsible and probably not great for Orion if we have to just drop everything and move.”

“And it wouldn’t be fair to you either,” he laughed. “I’m not going to actually do that of course, but I’d love to just go out and explore the world with you two some more.”

Scarlet nodded. “Me too. We kinda maxed out our vacation time though, so that might have to sit on the backburner for a while.”

“I know, I know. I’m still thinking about it though. Makes me wish that we had more… fun stuff here, you know?”

“Well, we have the lake, the theater, and the park.”

“But not a whole lot more, which makes it feel like we’re not really getting away to anything.”

“Fair enough,” Scarlet pondered on this for a moment. “So maybe we just need to take a few trips out of town on the weekends then, eh?”

“We could,” Silver smiled. Glancing back over to the clock, he tensed up for a moment and let out another small sigh. “It’s almost time for work.”

A sly smirk spread across Scarlet’s face. “You said you’re getting help soon, right?”

“Mhmm?” He responded.

“So what you’re saying is that after that I can conscript you into helping with the observatory stuff?”

Silver raised an eyebrow. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Let’s just pretend it’ll be a fun way to spend more time together, okay? Maybe that’ll tie you over some more.”

Silver couldn’t help but laugh at the adorable gesture. “Is it conscription if your husband willingly wants to help out with his awesome wife’s super cool astronomy stuff?”

“Probably not,” she agreed. “But it sounds a little more exciting that way.”

“Hey, it’s always pretty exciting when I can hang around with you and watch you geek out over what you’re passionate about.”

Scarlet let out a small giggle. “You’re a dork, you know that?”

“Of course.” Silver glanced over at the clock and let out another sigh. “Time flies by too fast.”

Scarlet finished up her food and carried both hers and Orion’s plates to the sink. “Look at it this way, that just means it won’t be long until we see each other again.” Giving him another kiss, Scarlet smiled. “So have a good night at work, we’ll have to do something fun later.”

Chapter 14: Workplace Monotony

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Silver sat at his desk, toiling over what seemed like an insurmountable mountain of paperwork. When he had talked about how boring his day was going to be, he had deliberately understated it in hopes that the lie would actually change the course of the grueling day he knew awaited him. In the corner by the window sat Orion, who in stark contrast to Silver, looked as if he was having the time of his life as he played with his toys. A smile crossed Silver’s face as he momentarily broke from his monotonous task to watch his son’s fun. Happy little moments like this, while sparse most of the time, were the moments that made all of the boring work worth it. It wasn’t as if Silver hated his work— working on the kind of techy projects that he got to work on was more than a dream job… but like anything you were passionate about, turning it into the work you made a living off of brought on a bitter burnout that would strike with a vengeance. Thankfully enough for Silver, those bursts of burnout were far and few between, but that didn’t exactly help him here.

He glanced over to the completed stack of files and paperwork and sighed. There was a lot of work left to do, but given how late it was, he’d soon be alone for most of the remainder of his shift. Deciding to take a break, he stood up and slowly trotted towards Orion.

“Hey little buddy, how about we go take a little field trip down to the lab?”

The foal, clearly having only the most basic understanding of Silver’s intentions, gleefully cheered and hopped up from his spot, and onto Silver’s back.

“Trip!” He squeed in delight.

“That’s the spirit!” Silver cheered, taking a moment to craft what would undoubtedly be one of the highlights of his day.

Stepping into the hallway, he meandered his way over to the elevator that led down to the larger lab space and pressed a hoof against the button. Registering his gauntlet’s credentials, the elevator sprang to life and began to descend. These little breaks in the day, while short and dull, still served as a welcome respite from the otherwise mundane routine that he was feeling lately, and gave him even more time to freely reflect on whatever he wanted to, not that there wouldn’t be time for that later. Despite being built up with more than a few night ponies in it’s leadership, the Oasis was still largely made up of day ponies, and the research and development team just so happened to share that breakdown, meaning that in only a few short hours Silver would be left with more than enough time to reflect on things. That time was different though, because right now he literally had nothing else to do except to sit in an elevator and wait. Here he was free to just take it easy.

Unfortunately though, this time was fleeting and the chime of the elevator heralded a return to reality that he was already dreading. As he stepped out into the lobby his ears flicked back as he was thrust right in the middle of a loud argument.

“So I really need to be the one to go?” Sprocket, a dark blue night pony whinnied in annoyance.

“You’re the one who’s probably going to be awake more for it, and the one who’s the least tied up with work right now, so it makes the most sense.” Gyro countered.

“What about the vacation that Gadget and I planned out? That’s right smack dab in the middle of this.”

Seeing that this was clearly the middle of an ongoing conversation, Silver didn’t want to interrupt, but given the fact that he was the department head… it was unfortunately one of his responsibilities to handle these kinds of verbal disputes.

“Evening gentlemen,” Silver spoke up. “What’s up with all the raised voices and annoyed looks?”

Gyro rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing bad. Just trying to figure out something.”

“Well what needs to be figured out then? Because this kinda sounds like an argument.”

“Tinker’s apparently done a little bit of research and wants one of us to go to a trade show in L.A.” Sprocket paused. “Says it might be a good way to chat with a microchip supplier and figure out a more cost effective solution to manufacturing some components for the gauntlets.”

“Right,” Silver nodded. “So what’s up then? Why aren’t we using our inside voices for this?”

The night pony shrugged. “Gyro doesn’t want to go and is trying to make me give up my vacation that’s been booked for months now.”

“You can always reschedule, or just tag it onto the trip.” Gyro offered.

Sprocket let out an annoyed whinny. “She’s not going to want to sit around in some trade show when we already had other things planned. Other things in Florida mind you, which is about as far from L.A. as you can get in case you’ve forgotten.”

A budding ache started to form in Silver’s head as he took in the argument. The foal nestled on his back sparked a thought in his mind however. As the two ponies continued to bicker back and forth, the cherished childhood memories that Silver had been reflecting on before came back to mind. This convention was in L.A. right? Well what if he took Gyro’s advice to Sprocket and used it as an excuse to go take a small vacation.

The stallion chuckled out loud, interrupting the argument and earning a confused glare from both ponies.

“Something funny?” Gyro asked.

“If you two didn’t want to go then you could have just asked me.” Silver replied, ignoring the question. “Probably would have saved you some hassle too.”

Sprocket raised an eyebrow. “You want to go to a trade show all the way out in California?”

Silver shrugged. “Sure. Gets me away from the work here and gives me more time to spend with Scarlet and Orion doing some cool things in a place we don’t normally get to go to. Sounds like a pretty slick deal to me.”

Sprocket shrugged and started to trot off. “Works for me.”

Gyro on the other hand, seemed almost elated, which was a rare mood for him to show. “You’re actually willing to go?”

“Sure.” Silver replied. “It’s nice to break up the usual routines every now and again, and it gets me right back near my old stomping grounds. I think it’d be cool to show Scarlet and Orion some of the stuff I used to do for fun down there.” He paused. “So when’s the convention anyways?”

“End of the week.” He flatly replied.

Silver let out a small gasp. “Wow, no wonder you both were riled up about this. Isn’t that cutting it just a little close?”

Gyro rolled his eyes. “You can ask Tinker that. This whole thing was his idea after all.”

“What was my idea?” Came the unmistakably jolly voice of Tinker.

“The convention that Gyro and Sprocket were arguing over,” Silver replied.

Gyro nodded. “Yes, well, Silver has agreed to go in our place.”

Tinker smiled. “Wonderful!” He cheered. “So you’re probably going to need the information then?”

“It’d help,” Silver agreed. “I’ll need a hotel room too. I don’t think my parents are gonna like me bringing the whole family with zero notice.”

“That can be arranged. Just go tell Balanced Books about the trip and I’m sure she’ll figure everything else out for you.”

Silver smirked and nodded his head. Balanced Books, one of the few new night ponies to migrate to the Oasis, was one of the newer recruits who had been brought in to help alleviate some of the stress that ponies like Silver— the ones who wound up filling in for different operational roles, had to deal with. Together with Bottom Line, her pegasus partner, the two would help run the Oasis’ finances, and already with just a few weeks under their belt, they had found so many different ways to better cut unnecessary costs without seriously impacting the city’s operations.

“I can do that,” he replied. “Gives me a chance to stretch my legs a little bit anyhow.”

“Stuck doing more operational stuff?” Tinker asked with a hint of sympathy carrying in his voice.

“Yeah,” Silver confirmed. “But hey, it’s not going to be forever, so I just need to power through what I can right now.”

“That’s a good way to look at it. Just take it easy every now and again, okay?”

“Oh believe me, that’s the plan.”

Silver laughed as he thought about the little pseudo vacation he was going to take advantage of. There was still so much more to do before the day ponies retired for the evening, so a trip to the accountant would have to wait for now. Trotting towards his workstation, he flicked on the pony-optimized computer and started reading through what the rest of his team had already started to work on.

For the second time tonight Silver found himself standing around in an elevator, though this time he didn’t take the time to reflect on things like he normally would. Instead he impatiently tapped a hoof on the floor as he waited for it to finish its ascent. Normally he wouldn’t be impatiently anticipating a business trip, but this one would be different he hoped. If everything worked out the way he wanted it to, he’d get exactly what he was hoping for, and if things consistently worked out this way in the future? Well then the advanced research team might have gotten a new volunteer to go to trade shows and part scouting trips.

The bell chimed as they reached the accounting department, and with a spring in his step, Silver trotted over to the night staff section with Orion in tow. The dim lighting of the floor and the relative quiet almost made it seem as if no one was in, but the telltale click-clacks that carried over from the corner office every few moments confirmed that Balanced Books was indeed in.

“You know it’s not Wednesday right? You’re early for our meeting.” She commented from behind the dimly illuminated computer screen on her desk.

“I know,” Silver calmly replied. “I just needed to get something sorted out for a business trip.”

Balanced books blew a strand of her dark aqua colored mane out of her eyes and nodded, glancing down towards Orion who grinned back in glee. In a moment her entire demeanor changed and she hopped off of her cushion to greet the foal.

“Oh and you brought the little one today too.”

Orion squeed and trotted towards the maroon colored mare and hopped up into the air. Letting out a laugh, Silver nodded.

“He’s my assistant, but he’s not doing a great job at it.”

“I think you’re wrong. He’s clearly doing the best job he can, isn’t that right?” Orion laughed and Balanced Books flashed a smug grin at Silver. “So what’s this trip about anyhow?”

“One of Tinker’s trade show finds. They’re calling it the Hooves and Hands Engineering Conference. It’s a three day convention down in Anaheim, not too far from L.A.”

“Mhmm. I know where Anaheim’s at.” She meandered back to her desk and began typing something out with her wing thumbs. “Ah, yes, I see it now. So the conference is this coming Friday then?”

Silver nodded his head. “Yeah, short notice I know, but hey, don’t shoot the messenger.”

“Right.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s not going to make ticket prices very cheap, but I guess it’s a little late to worry about that. That just means we’ll have to reallocate some of the budget we have set aside for this sort of stuff.”

She typed away, making a short humming sound every few moments before finally giving a terse Hmm.

“Everything okay?” Silver asked.

“Not really,” Balanced Books bluntly replied. “Hotels are pricey down there with such a short notice, not to mention airfare and the cost of arranging a driver for your stay there.” She let out a small sigh. “Do you need to go on this trip? Or can your team just make do without the trip?”

Silver would have normally been fine skipping a business trip, but the chance to sneak away and turn this into a little mini vacation seemed too tempting for him to just accept losing a possible business connection.

He shook his head. “We’re having an issue sourcing a part we need and Tinker seems to think that there’s a vendor who’s attending this convention who might be able to get us going again. He’d be devastated if we cancelled.”

Balanced Books rolled her eyes and nodded. “I had a feeling you’d say that. So in that case we’ll have to find what we can for accommodation. Just a fair warning though, this will cut into your team’s budget. Rates in that area are going to be pricey and you could be looking at at least a thousand or two down for this minimum.”

Silver nodded. “I figured. That said, if I remember correctly Phoenix’s dad works at a hotel in that area, so it might be worth giving him a call and seeing if he can swing a friends and family rate.”

“Mhmm,” the mare jotted down a few notes. “I’ll call him in and see what he can do. I’ll set aside a temporary budget for this right now and if Phoenix can’t then we’ll have to pull from that. Sound fair?”

Silver shrugged. “It is what it is, and if Tinker has an issue with it then so be it. He’s got his options to choose from if it comes to that.”

“Alright. Well if that’s everything then I’ll go ahead and start crunching some of the numbers. Give me a call if you need anything else.”

Silver smiled. “Thanks Balanced.”

“Thank you.” She looked down at Orion and smiled. “Now you two have a good night, okay?”

Orion jumped up and let out a happy Eeeek as Silver led him back towards the elevator. There was still a whole week ahead of them, and lots of work to be done, but in a weird way Silver was excited for it all. It might be a boring business trip, but at the end of the day it’d be another chance for him to spend more time with his family.

Chapter 15: Family Business (Trips)

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The afternoon sun warmed Silver’s back as he swooped and dodged between the different Oasis buildings. He was never the most graceful stunt flier, but when it came to navigating in the air he was as good as he needed to be. This was a rather unusual route for him to take home at the end of the work week— oftentimes he decided to take a nice relaxing walk instead, but today was also a break from the norm. He had his big business trip to get ready for, and more importantly, his mini vacation.

The rest of the week that followed his meeting was relatively boring and uneventful, though Silver’s excitement over his upcoming trip kept it moving along quickly enough and much to his own excitement, it was now Thursday. He of course hadn’t told Scarlet much of what he had planned, other than saying they would be going off to a trade show and spending a couple of extra days in the area. Scarlet was a smart pony and probably had him figured out by now, but that still didn’t stop him from going as far as having Balanced Books buy their Disneyland tickets so Scarlet wouldn’t find out prematurely. That was the big surprise he had planned— and just the thought of taking Scarlet and Orion to the place his own parents had taken him as a kid just made him so excited and happy.

His hard work this week had paid off, and now it was finally time to get going. Balanced Books had gotten the trip set up, and had taken the liberty of setting up both their plane trips, and arranging a driver to take them wherever they needed to go. That had cut a little more into the budget than Silver had really wanted to, but Balanced Books had insisted that that was most likely the safest and easiest way for them to get around the Los Angeles area. It wasn’t that it was dangerous or anything, but traveling with a night pony foal who was oftentimes rowdy and overly excited in an area that wasn’t known for being the most readily accommodating for ponies meant that sometimes it was better to be safe than sorry.

As he approached his house he flapped his wings wide and slowed to a gentle hover, gracefully landing in front of the small but comfortable home. Shifting his wings, he dusted himself off and nudged open the door where he was very quickly greeted by Cosmo and Orion, who were both overjoyed to see him.

“Hey little guys, you both have a good day?”

Cosmo barked a high pitched happy bark and Orion giggled, and both were just the perfect combination of adorable to absolutely melt Silver’s heart.

“Think that means yes?” Scarlet asked from the hallway, trotting up to Silver.

“I’d say so,” he laughed. “Got everything you need for the trip?”

“If by everything you mean toys for Orion and some Equestrian astronomy books to pass the time on the plane with, then yes, I’ve got everything we need.”

Silver smiled. “Perfect. This is going to be such a fun trip, and I don’t know about you but I’m so excited for it.”

“Oh me too, it’ll be a good mini vacation for me and Orion.”

“And me too,” Silver corrected. “I’ve just got to pop into the convention for a couple of things, then we can all relax and enjoy the weekend.”

Scarlet tried to stifle a laugh but failed. “Silver, this is a tech convention. You might as well be going to Disneyland or something because I know you, and I know I’m going to have to drag you kicking and screaming out of there.”

Silver couldn’t help but grin at the mention of the park, but didn’t say anything more. This was going to be a surprise, whether she guessed it or not.

“You think so?” He laughed. “Am I really that predictable?”

“Do you need me to answer that?” She teased him. “Because I think I know you better than even you know you.”

“I guess we’ll wait and see then. So how about I whip us up a nice dinner we get some sleep in, and then we can get going?”

“That sounds lovely dear. Want me to help or anything?”

“I think I’ve got the dinner part figured out. If you wanna keep me company though then I wouldn’t be too upset.”

Scarlet smiled. “Deal.”

Not wanting to waste any time (he was pretty hungry after a long and exhausting day of work after all), Silver trotted towards the kitchen and started to rummage around for the different ingredients he needed. His dinners were never culinary masterpieces, but that didn’t matter to him. What was important was that he could make a decent meal when he needed to, even if it wasn’t a five star gourmet offering.

“So what’s on the menu today?” Scarlet asked with a dash of curiosity carrying in her voice.

“Grilled cheese and tomato soup maybe? And something a little less messy for Orion?”

Scarlet nodded her head. “Ahh, the good old Silver classic. Well in that case you better hurry up because I’m starving just thinking about it.”

Silver smirked and nodded his head. “Sure thing.”

Both the drive to the airport and the plane ride itself was more or less similar to their last big family vacation to the UP, but the next leg of the journey was markedly different in a good way. For as much as Silver balked at the idea of having someone drive him and his family around, it was already proving to be a good decision.

He couldn’t help but giggle as he watched Orion’s wide eyed fascination with the buildings and lights outside, and a part of him almost wished they had gone to Las Vegas instead. Though as he thought about it more, Vegas was definitely not a good family vacation spot, at least not right now. Sure there were more family attractions and plenty of shows to watch nowadays, but if he had a choice, where they were headed to now was his preferred option.

The car ride from the airport to the hotel was thankfully quick, and soon enough the convention center and the hotels surrounding it came into view, and more excitingly to Silver, so did the park. As excited as he was for the convention, the big goofy grin that was spreading across his face was in response to the fun memories he was already envisioning his family making. All he had to do was make it through a few work things and then he’d be set.

Once the car came to a stop and their driver had opened the door, Silver hopped out with Scarlet and Orion, and the three began the short trot into the hotel’s lobby. The wide open seating area of the large, yet cozy lobby spread out in front of them, and that was where the trio headed towards first.

“Okay, I’m going to go get us checked in, why don’t you hang out here with Orion and make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.”

Scarlet nodded and glanced down at the sleepy foal who hadn’t quite woken up yet. “I don’t think you need to worry about him getting into trouble. Poor guy’s all tuckered out from the trip over.”

Silver smiled. “Good, gives us plenty of time to get him used to another new area.”

“Exactly. So why don’t you go get us checked in and I’ll hang out here with the little Diablo. Maybe we can take a walk later too or something.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Not wanting to waste a moment of his mini vacation, Silver trotted over to the shortest of the admittedly tall desks, and reared up on his hind legs to speak to the attendant. Much to his own relief, it was a relatively empty lobby, he always hated the check in lines after all.

“Can I help you sir?” An older woman with a streak of white running through her jet black hair asked.

“Yeah, just here to check in. The room should be under Silver Eclipse.”

The woman nodded and typed away at the keyboard before pausing for a moment. “Weird question but are you Val’s kid?”

Silver shook his head. “No, just a friend of his kid.”

She nodded. “I was going to say, you didn’t seem like the timid little tike that used to play around the lobby.”

Silver smiled. “Was Stanley really always that shy?”

“Oh he was painfully shy. You almost had to bribe a conversation out of him.”

Silver snickered. “Well you should see him nowadays, he’s totally different. It’s like becoming a pony cut through the shyness.”

“Oh I bet, you all seem to be so much more social, so maybe it was a great thing in the end.” She clicked a few things on the computer and scanned a couple of bracelets before looking back over at Silver. “Alrighty, you should be all set. Just go ahead and hold out whichever hoof you use the most.”

“Huh?” Silver raised an eyebrow, “What for?”

The woman held up one of the bands. “We stopped using regular keys once we started getting more pony guests. These still work the same as the old ones, but they’re obviously a lot easier for you to deal with.”

Silver nodded and held out his right hoof. “So you get a fair amount of ponies checking in then?”

The woman slipped the hand on just under his gauntlet and smiled. “A lot more lately. We still haven’t had a chance to finish all of the renovations we were planning on doing, but we’re happy for the business no matter what you are.”

Silver looked down at the bracelet. “So that’s it then? We’re all set to go?”

“Mhmm. You’ll be in room 826, it’s written on the band too if you forget. Tapping it inside the elevator will show you what room you’re in too.”

“Well thanks again…” Silver looked over to her name tag. “Vivian. Thanks for all your help.”

Vivian smiled. “The pleasure’s mine. Feel free to stop on by if you have any questions or need help with anything.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.”

Grabbing the other band in his mouth, he stepped down from the counter and trotted back over to Scarlet, who was playing with a groggy looking Orion.

“All set to go hon?”

Silver nodded. “Mhmm, we’re up on the eighth floor.”

“Good. Guess that means Orion gets to do his favorite thing in the world and ride the elevator.” The foal giggled as Scarlet tousled his mane.

Silver gathered their few belongings and started towards the elevator. “Guess so.”

He stopped and looked over at the elevator panel, noticing a couple of oddities that stood out to him. Instead of the usual call button, there was a touch panel and what looked like an RFID touch point. Remembering what the lady at the front desk had told him, he absent mindedly reached forward and tapped his hoof to the point.

It only took a second for the screen to light up with their room number, and only a few seconds longer for an elevator to arrive in the bay accompanied by a loud ding. The inside of the elevator was even odder than the outside, for there were only a few buttons inside, all maintenance and operations related. Without much warning the doors closed and the cabin began to move on its own.

“Huh, interesting.” Scarlet commented. “I heard about this kind of system back in high school, but I never had a chance to try it out.”

“I’m guessing it’s all automated?”

“Pretty much. You tap the button on the outside, put in your floor, and it automatically dispatches it for you. If we had more people out in the lobby it would have bunched us together with whoever else was going to an adjacent floor.”

“No kidding?” Silver chuckled. “I can’t really complain, it makes it real easy for ponies, especially ones with excitable foals… that said, poor Orion’s not going to get the experience of innocently clicking every single button and learning what happens when you do that the hard way.”

“That’s good for us,” Scarlet laughed.

The elevator chimed once again as they reached their floor, and with an eager spring in his step, Silver trotted towards their room. The door setups here were almost identical to the ones in the hotel they had stayed at up in Michigan, with a push-bar handle located at a pony friendly height.

In true fashion, once Silver had opened the door Orion sprang into it like the excitable young night pony he was, and as if in cue, was already starting to explore every nook and cranny of the place.

Chapter 16: Poolside Bonding

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Their suite was about as average as a hotel room could be, with all the amenities they could ever need. You had the basic stuff like a couch, one large bed for the three of them, a mini fridge, a more than spacious bathroom, and a TV that would probably go unused. At the end sat a small balcony, though given Orion’s newfound love of climbing, the door to that would stay securely locked.

As much as she hated to draw comparisons, Scarlet couldn’t help but find these accommodations a little lacking compared to the hotel they had stayed at in Michigan, but she supposed that historic inns were always going to be a little different than fancy chain hotels. Still though, she couldn’t complain about their room, it had all of the things that the trio would ever need during a vacation, and more importantly, they weren’t technically paying for it… at least not out of their own personal family budget. She glanced over to the bathroom where Silver had disappeared off to, and then over to Orion who was snuggled up on the couch with an assortment of his toys. A warm smile came to her face as she stood up and trotted over to the foal.

“Were you this cute for daddy while I was gone?”

“Mommy!” He answered back, not answering her question but still making her heart melt all the same.

“That’s right Orion! You’re such a smart kid!”

The foal pulled one of his toys close; the plush that almost resembled their dog.

“You miss Cosmo already eh? Well don’t worry, uncle Diamond said he’d take good care of him until you got back.”

Orion squeezed the stuffed animal closer and then turned his attention over to the glass sliding door.

“You wanna go take a look at where Daddy’s going to for a little bit?”

The question was of course rhetorical, as Scarlet scooped him up onto her back anyways and slowly walked to the window. A big open plaza sat nestled between two hotels and the convention center, and a blue stretch of pavement that wound its way between gorgeous landscaping led up to the center’s entrance doors. The plaza was for the most part empty, but she could already envision the crowd of people that would likely be present later in the day when the real big events started. Having only ever gone to conventions a few sparse times as a human, she was initially confused when Silver had said that the convention would be more active in the late afternoon to early evening. Though his secondhand explanation about this particular convention being meant for both ponies and humans made the timing feel at least a little more understandable.

She couldn’t imagine that there would be too many night ponies there, but scheduling the big stuff around when they’d be awake to enjoy it was a nice gesture in an otherwise human centric area. Silver however, would have to conduct his business in the late morning, which of course meant that he’d be getting pretty sleepy when he was supposed to be negotiating some deal, and Scarlet could already envision him frantically fretting over every little detail as his groggy mind over-thought things.

The muffled sounds of activity in the bathroom suddenly stopped and the distinct sound of a door opening pulled Scarlet’s attention back over to the front of the room.

“Think I look good?” Silver asked as he stepped out of the bathroom.

Scarlet glanced up at him, smirking at his professional looking business outfit and brushed back mane. “You’re asking me hon, so you know the answer is always going to be that you look gorgeous.”

The stallion blushed at her comment, earning another smirk from her. “Now if you’re asking me if you look professional? Yeah, you look more than professional.”

It wasn’t uncommon for ponies to wear clothes, but for Scarlet, the nice collared shirt that Silver was wearing looked very out of place. It wasn’t a bad kind of out of place, just unusual for the otherwise laid back and relaxed stallion.

“You think so?” He asked, breaking her from her thoughts.

“Mhmm,” she nodded her head. “I know so. Sure it’s a little different than usual, but it’s not bad at all.”

Silver pulled the mare into a tight hug and smiled. “You really know all the right things to say, you know that right?”

“Of course I do, and you do the same for me.”

He broke his embrace and nodded. “Two halves coming together…”

“And making something great,” Scarlet completed for him. She glanced down at Orion and gazed lovingly at him. “And I’d say we’ve done a great job at that.”

“Agreed.” Silver laughed. “To be completely honest, I wish this was just another fun family vacation that we didn’t have to break up with work…”

“Hey it’s all good,” Scarlet reassured him. “It’s just tonight, then we have two more days to do whatever big fun thing you’ve got planned.”

“You don’t mind me going to do work stuff?”

Scarlet let out a loud laugh. “Silvie, I went off to do work stuff for a whole month, I think I can handle a few hours with Orion.”

Silver perked up. “I guess you do have a point there. This just feels more… vacationy? It just feels like the kind of thing I don’t want to step away for… but hey, you’re right. It’s just a few hours and then we can have two and a half days of fun.”

“That’s the spirit Silvie!” Scarlet cheered. “Now go out and get 'em, we’ll be here when you get back.”

Silver grinned. “Will do! Now so you two have anything fun planned for while I’m gone?”

Scarlet glanced over to the window and smirked, “Yes actually, I was thinking of taking Orion down to the pool for a bit.”

“That sounds like a blast,” Silver got close to Orion. “What do you say little buddy? Does that sound like fun?”

The foal giggled. “Swimmy!”

“I think that’s a yes.” Silver laughed. “So tell you what, I’ll get the boring business stuff out of the way and let you two have your fun, sound good?”

Scarlet pulled Silver into another embrace, giving him a kiss goodbye. “Sounds good to me. Now go have some fun with all the science geeks.”

As Silver trotted to the door, Scarlet looked back over to Orion. “Alright little star, so what do you say? Swimmy time?”

“Swimmy time!” he cheered while jumping around Scarlet.

Scarlet laughed and shook her head. “Alrighty then, just need to get you ready.”

She walked over to the small bag they had packed and rummaged around for Orion’s lifejacket. Taking a quick glance back at the foal, she shifted her position to block the life preserver from his view. As much as Orion absolutely loved to swim around, he hated wearing a life preserver and wasn’t afraid to make that very clear to his parents.

Taking a breath, she tucked it under her wing and turned towards Orion, quickly trotting over to him. “Alright Orion, are you going to be good for me today?”

The foal didn’t respond, but glanced to the side quickly, clearly having at least a small idea of what was about to happen. Scarlet anticipated though, and before Orion even had a moment to run off, she had slipped the jacket over his head and was trying her best to close it before he could wriggle free. The foal let out a loud hiss and flared his wings, which unintentionally aided Scarlet in slipping them through the wing cutouts.

“Orion!” She shouted, switching into her well practiced stern bat mode as Silver had jokingly called it. “You need to hold still or we won’t get to go swimming!”

The foal thrashed and wriggled, but to no avail, he was secured in his life vest, and there was nothing he could do about it. Looking up at Scarlet, he gave a sad pout, and in turn Scarlet booped him on the nose.

“Cheer up little guy, now you’ll be all safe for your swim.”

If he was intending to hold a grudge over having to wear the swimming attire, he sure wasn’t showing it, because as Scarlet booped his muzzle he let out a happy giggle.

“See? That wasn’t so bad. So how about we get going and I’ll let you splash around all you want as long as there’s no one else down there, okay?”

The foal smiled and trotted to the door, clearly excited to get going.

The trip down to the pool was a short yet mildly eventful one. As excited as Orion was, he was sticking close to Scarlet and had been on his best behavior, something that Scarlet was thankful for. It wasn’t that she doubted her own abilities as a mother— she was great at taking a stern approach with Orion after all, but the adoring passerby’s cooing and fawning over the little purple foal who was bundled up in a life jacket were an added X factor that Scarlet didn’t quite know what to make of yet.

Thankfully enough though, if Orion was bothered or frightened by any of this, he wasn’t showing it. In fact, he almost seemed to enjoy the attention, and the sight of the foal proudly trotting along just made her giggle to herself. It wasn’t long until they reached the pool deck— it was only a short elevator ride and trot through the rather straightforward lobby after all. As they approached the gate, Scarlet noticed that much like their room’s door, this too had a secondary pony specific handle to use, but given its outside location, this one was thankfully padded so as to avoid any would-be burns.

A quick scan of her wristband and a small push of the handle was all it took for the two to gain admission into the pool area, and much to Scarlet’s surprise, the deck was mostly abandoned. It was more or less her, Orion, and a lone human woman sitting on a pool chair on the opposite end of the deck, near a glass and wood atrium structure that covered the back half of the pool, giving it a pseudo-inside feel in that area.

Setting the towels that Scarlet had grabbed on her way down at one of the many vacant pool chairs, Scarlet waved the little foal along with her.

“Alright Orion, who’s going to show me how good of a swimmer they are?!” She excitedly encouraged.

The little foal jumped up and let out a happy cheer. “Swim swim!”

“That’s right!” She took a few small steps into the shallow end of the pool and held her front legs up. “Come on Orion, jump to mommy!”

Needing no further permission, Orion ran forward and leaped into Scarlet’s arms. Water splashed all over her mane but she didn’t care, right now was her and Orion’s time, and these fleeting mother son bonding moments were moments that she intended to treasure while she still could. It wasn’t as if she didn’t get to play with him and spend time with him on the regular, but the little moments that she shared with Orion without Silver were extra special to her.

The foal clearly enjoyed the moment too, because he wriggled free from her grip and began to splash his legs around, not having a clear understanding of the right way to swim. His life jacket kept him afloat however, so he didn’t need to worry about such things. Instead he was clearly having the time of his life splashing water around and watching the bubbles form, and much like a little puppy taking its first few swims, he would circle around Scarlet every few moments before returning to her arms.

The cycle of splashing and swimming in the shallow end went on for at least an hour, and the whole time Orion was happily giggling and laughing, especially when Scarlet would go under the water and then pop back up, surprising him with a big splash of water. Knowing full well that Silver would be devastated if she didn’t record this, Scarlet hopped out of the water with Orion and took a moment to set up the waterproof camera that Silver had packed along. Securing it to one of her front legs, she led Orion back towards the pool and began to snap photo after photo as the foal splashed around on the pool’s staircase.

Unbeknownst to her however, their adorable bonding moment had pulled the attention of the only other person present; the human woman.

“Is it normal for you little horses to just swim in pools like that?” Came her young sounding voice.

Caught off guard, Scarlet paused her candid photo shoot and turned her head towards the woman.

She raised an eyebrow and looked into her green eyes. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

The woman shrugged, her long brunette hair waving with the action. “I don’t know, I’ve just never seen your type do it.”

“Really? I mean we’re not really that different from you at all. Sure were ponies and not humans, but we’re not different up there,” she emphasized with a few taps to her head.

The woman held up her hands, “Hey I was just confused is all. I wasn’t thinking I’d be sharing the pool with some horses.”

For some reason her words didn’t sit well with Scarlet, and just hearing the response seemed to trigger something in her mind.

She stood up and turned towards the woman, her wings unfolding slightly. “Is there a problem with that?” She growled out in a stern tone.

Her eyes widening in surprise and probably fear, the woman backed away from the side of the pool and shook her head. “It’s not that at all, I’m not like that.”

Seeing her reaction and hearing the tremble in her voice, Scarlet suddenly became aware of the aggressive stance she had taken. Folding her wings back up, her expression changed and she quickly broke into a frenzied apology.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to take it like that, there’s just something that clicked when you said that you weren’t expecting to share the pool with us, reminded me of some humans I ran into a while ago that were very anti-pony.” Realizing that she hadn’t even made an introduction yet, she quickly extended a hoof. “I’m Scarlet by the way, nice to meet you.”

The woman neared the pool again and cautiously took hold of Scarlet’s hoof. “I’m… Mel.” She paused. “It’s… nice to meet you, Scarlet.”

“It’s nice to meet you too Mel.” She awkwardly paused, unsure of how to continue the conversation without it being painfully awkward. “So… I’m guessing that you’re not used to seeing a whole lot of ponies then?”

“Not at all,” Mel laughed. “I’m from Texas, specifically a part that’s mostly full of humans. I think I’ve maybe seen like four ponies in person before coming here?”

“No kidding? I guess I can’t blame you for asking those questions. Is it just because of the work in that area? Or is it kind of just not a place where ponies venture into?”

“Back home? I don’t know what to call it really. There’s ponies living there, but they kind of hang around their own part of town. Big cities and all that, you know?”

Scarlet nodded. “Tell me about it. I lived near Palm Springs for a while, and I think there were only like two or three other night ponies living around there. And that’s counting the whole big valley.”

“So that’s what you are then?”

“Huh?” Scarlet asked. “A night pony? Yeah. Have you ever seen one before?”

“You’re the first,” she replied. “My brother-in-law told me about the ones he ran into out in Arizona, but I’ve never seen any back home, or anywhere for that matter.”

“Doesn’t surprise me, we’re kinda scarce, even in big cities.” Catching the other part of her response, Scarlet smiled. “So your brother-in-law lives in Arizona then?”

“Yeah, out in Flagstaff. I guess there’s a whole village of ponies up there?”

“I think so.” Scarlet replied. “My husband and I live a few hours away in a place called Oasis. There’s lots of ponies there, more than there are humans, and a few probably moved from that area.”

“That’s got to be a sight to see— a whole pony city.”

“It really is. It’s so hard to explain but things just feel… different there I guess?”

“I bet.” Mel replied. “So what’s your husband do?”

“He’s in charge of a science team there.”

“And that’s why you’re here then?” She guessed.

“Yep,” Scarlet laughed. “Off on a business trip, but hey, can’t argue over getting to take a mini vacation.”

“Can’t complain about that either. My boyfriend does some computing stuff and he’s dragged me here too.”

Scarlet couldn’t help but laugh. “Small world, both of our significant others are tech nerds.”

Mel laughed with her and shook her head. “Steven’s such a nerd for that kind of stuff, it wouldn’t surprise me if he winds up spending the rest of the day there.”

“Oh I totally feel you there. Knowing my Silver, he’s probably made friends with him and I’ll get some big introduction later tonight.”

The sound of the gate opening pulled Scarlet’s attention over to it. Seeing who was entering made Orion leap off of his spot on the staircase and run over to greet their new guest. Letting out another laugh, she turned back to Mel. “Speak of the devil,” she waved to Silver and smiled. “Hey hon, we were just talking about you.”

Silver raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? Good things?”

“Something like that,” Mel responded.

“Good enough for me,” Silver shrugged.

“This is Mel, Silver. Her boyfriend’s here for the convention too.”

Silver smiled and held out a hoof, “Nice to meet you Mel, I’m Silver Eclipse.”

She glanced down at his hoof and awkwardly shook it. “It’s… nice to meet you too.” She turned back to Scarlet. “Why don’t I get out of your hair for a little while, maybe we could meet up for drinks or something later?”

“That sounds great.” She turned her gaze back to Silver, who had ditched his formalwear for a pair of sunglasses. “I’ll take it the talk went well then?”

“Better than well,” Silver replied. “I managed to talk to the guy and get him our information, and he said he’d reach out to Tinker. Liked some of the stuff I showed him and really liked the idea of helping out a small pony research team.”

“Well that’s great, I knew you’d get it all set up.”

Silver smiled. “I had a good feeling about it too.”

“So is it time for your big surprise then? I can’t imagine you’d skip out on looking around at a bunch of geeky tech stuff if it wasn’t.”

“Not yet,” he laughed. “Dinner first, then the surprise.”

“So that’s why you came back before lunch then, right.”

Silver took a few steps into the pool and relaxed his muscles. “Totally. Plus I can’t let you have all the cute swimming pool moments with Orion.”

“Daddy!” Orion shouted as he leaped into the pool towards Silver.

Scarlet broke out into a fit of laughter and shook her head, “Nope, not at all.”

Chapter 17: Making Magical Memories

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The familial bonding down at the pool was both adorable, and also exhausting— which was a good thing in Silver’s eyes. Any parent who wanted to just go off on some fun family vacation might want to spend as much time as they could doing stuff, but for a night pony family, getting exhausted and going to bed early meant that they’d be able to start on the next fun activity in no time at all.

After a quick shower, Orion was completely exhausted, and with a slow and groggy stride, he flopped down into the big nest of blankets and pillows that Silver had made up for him, and it wasn’t long until a soft snoring could be heard from him. Silver and Scarlet were both quick to follow suit, with the two of them snuggling up together in bed. In a rare break from the norm, neither of them ventured out of their dreams, instead choosing to just let their own dreams play out for once— as was the norm when they were on vacation.

You never heard about it in the mainstream much, but for well practiced dreamwalkers this act wasn’t all that uncommon— at least not for Silver and Scarlet. It was easy enough to physically go elsewhere in the waking world, but in a dream the same old routines felt like just that— same old routines that they could do any day of the year, rain or shine. So the act of keeping to their own dreams, while unusual, was almost like taking a vacation from dreamwalking in a way.

Before long it was time to wake up again, and in almost perfect sync the two elder night ponies started to stir. Scarlet was the first to raise her head up and roll over, with Silver following shortly after.

“Mhmm, sleep well Silvie?”

The stallion let out a very long drawn out yawn and nodded. “Like a foal.”

“Speaking of which,” Scarlet glanced over to Orion, who was still asleep cuddled up next to his favorite plush toy. “I think that swim really tuckered Orion out.”

Silver followed Scarlet’s gaze over and smiled. “No kidding. That’s a good thing at least, it means we get to stay cuddled up in bed a little longer.”

“And it means you can finally tell me about your big surprise,” Scarlet turned the conversation back towards that subject.

Silver couldn’t help but smirk and roll his eyes. “You really want to spoil that before Orion wakes up?”

“Orion’s not gonna understand what it is either way, so why not break it to me early.”

Silver shook his head. “What have I said I’ve always wanted to do for a while now?”

“Go to the pier?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Or…” he encouraged. “I want to say we chatted about this way back when we first started dating.”

Scarlet closed her eyes for a moment as she thought back to those early conversations. Finally a small smirk of her own spread across her face.

“Oh you didn’t, did you?”

“I didn’t what?” He chuckled.

“You know bringing Orion there is just asking for trouble right? Like just imagine all the stuff he’s going to look at… and all of that stuff that I know you’re going to wind up buying for him.”

Silver broke into another laugh. “Hey, technically this is all business trip budget.”

“Yeah? What part of going to Disneyland counts as business?”

“The uhh…” Silver hesitated for a moment. “Uhhh the Tomorrowland part has a lot of future-y looking things…”

“Yeah, that’s totally it,” she teased. “So what you’re saying is that your team is going to build a science fiction amusement park then?”

Silver began to stammer out a response but just couldn’t find the words. Finally he let out a small sigh. “You’re not going to rat on me are you?”

“Depends,” Scarlet laughed. “Do we get to go on all the cute rides I want to go on and will you pose with me for a bunch of cute pictures?”

Silver held a hoof to his chin in mock consideration. “Hmmm… so the trade off is I get lots of cute stuff for the scrapbook, get to spend fine with my favorite person ever, and don’t get in trouble at work?”

“More or less,” she replied.

“Then I think you have a deal.”

The ride to the park wasn’t a long one— it was only a few minutes from the hotel after all, but that still didn’t stop the anticipation from building up inside of Silver. He knew that Orion clearly had no clue where they were going, but even still the little foal seemed so… excited about everything. It was obvious enough from Silver’s excited phrasing that they were doing something special, and even a foal as young as Orion was could understand that.

The parking situation was about as complicated and long as usual, but the trade off was that Silver didn’t have to deal with it head on. He was glad enough for that, because it gave him all the opportunities to watch Orion’s confused expressions as they rolled through the parking structure. What was such a mundane thing to him must have seemed so foreign and strange to Orion, and much to Silver’s own realization, this was probably the first time that Orion had ever seen something like this.

Once they had gotten parked and said their temporary goodbyes to their driver, they were faced with two options: take the very tall and very steep escalator down, or take the elevator. The brave and confused stares that Orion was giving the escalator answered that question for them, and Silver was quick to shepherd Orion over to the elevator bay and away from the escalators. It was probably for the better too, because neither of them had had any reason to ride such a contraption up to now, and the last thing they needed was one of their tails getting caught in it.

The next leg of their journey was the tram ride, and boy did Orion love it more than anything they had done thus far. The three of them had managed to get their own row to themselves, but even with Orion snuggled tightly between them, Silver could tell he was having the time of his life. Open air rides were apparently something the foal loved, and Silver made sure to take note of that.

Finally after what felt like an odyssey they had reached their destination, and Silver couldn’t have been any more excited for it. As they trotted up he fumbled around his saddlebag for their tickets, and scoped out the shortest line. Thankfully for him, there was one short one to the side that seemed to be set up exclusively for ponies, and that was where they headed towards.

The loud cheerful music drowned out the crowd noise around them, and for a brief moment Silver was hit with a rush of nostalgia. Hundreds of happy memories flooded back to him, and he couldn’t help but smile.

Scarlet’s giggling pulled him back to the present, and he met her with a nervous laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s nothing. You’re just so cute right now, you know that?”

Silver blushed and looked away, instead turning the conversation to something else. “You sure you’re not confusing me with Orion?”

“Nope,” she shook her head. “But he’s being super cute too.”

The two watched as Orion marveled at the crowd around them and the big ornate train station that sat beyond the gates. He probably had no idea what any of it was, but his completely adorable expression made the two of them squeee in excitement.

It wouldn’t be long now until they had their chance to experience it all. In contrast to the human lines this was more or less empty except for a few other ponies, including a pair dressed up in what looked like homemade costumes.

“I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the lone stroller on main street that runs over the foot of crime! I am—“

“— Going to make us late for our reservation again Onyx!” The other pegasus shouted back at him.

“Downpour you didn’t let me finish!” He complained, drawing annoyed glares from the other people in line behind him.

“When I said we should pick some outfits to wear I didn’t mean dress up in costume and monologue like some geek.”

“I’m not a geek, you’re a geek!” He pouted back.

Silver glanced over to Scarlet and shook his head, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing at the absurd argument that was sparking up in front of them, “And you said I was taking this trip too seriously.”

The mare let out an unintentionally loud laugh, and quickly ducked down to avoid the glares from the two pegasi.

“Aha, you two again,” a security guard observed, breaking up the conversation with a heavy sigh, “Why is it always you two that cause trouble at the gates?”

“Heya Don!” Onyx cheerfully greeted.

“Just having a little debate is all,” Downpour added.

“And causing another verbal disturbance. Why don’t you two come off to the side and we’ll talk this through, kay?”

The security guard quickly ushered the pair away, and based on the fact that the three were seemingly on a first name basis, Silver could only assume that this was a very common occurrence.

Scarlet shook her head and looked over at Silver. “Thank you for not making a scene Silvie.”

Silver raised an eyebrow and threw his muzzle up into an exaggerated pout. “You really think I’d do such a thing?”

“Yeah, with how dorky you are about this kind of stuff, I do.” Scarlet laughed.

“You insult my honor!” He boasted.

“Next guest please!” Came the voice of the ticket taker.

Silver blushed and dropped his brash and proud pose and quickly trotted forward.

“Good afternoon!” He cheerfully greeted the attendant.

“Hello sir, got your tickets?”

Silver nodded and reached into his saddlebag, pulling out his phone which had their tickets, and handed it over to the attendant.

“Mhmm,” She scanned the tickets and held up a phone. “Alrighty, I just need to take some pictures of you, okay?”

“Sounds good to me.” Silver replied.

A few moments and three pictures later and the three were all set to go.

“Alrighty, you three have a magical day now, okay?”

“That’s definitely the plan!” Silver excitedly squeed.

Both Silver and Orion excitedly looked around as the family trotted down Main Street. Quaint buildings and bright popcorn lighting surrounded them on both sides, and cheerful old timey music filled their ears. Crowds were thankfully low which meant that excitement was quickly building, and if Silver wasn’t a grown stallion he’d probably run off to go explore the place he had visited so often with his family as a kid.

“So where do you wanna go first?” Scarlet asked with a smile.”

“Oh my gosh, where to even begin?” Silver looked around. “It’s been so long since I’ve been here, I mean there’s so many things that must have changed by now! I always loved the pirate ride, but ohhh we could do the jungle ride… there’s like so much we could do!”

“So why don’t we tackle it counterclockwise then?”

Silver’s nostalgic trance broke for a moment and he glanced over at the land Scarlet had suggested. “You just want to go see space stuff in Tomorrowland.”

“No,” Scarlet denied. “I just think it’d be a cool land to check out first… Plus we probably can’t even ride the space ride, you know that right?”

“Of course, just pointing out that you might be a little biased there is all,” he laughed.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “But look at it this way, maybe we go ride what we can in there and then work our way over to the other stuff, and then we can save the best for last.”

“You mean save pirates for the last?” Silver seemed a little hesitant.

“Sure.” Scarlet nodded. “You said you loved it so much, right? So why not make it an extra special end to the night?”

Silver considered this for a moment before nodding his head. “Okay, save the best for last, work counterclockwise… You’re right.”

And that’s exactly what they did, trot towards their first destination of the night.

Tomorrowland didn’t have much for ponies to do— with almost all of the rides not being designed for ponies. Silver assumed this would change in the near future, especially given that there was already a dedicated entrance line for ponies, but that would have to be something saved for a future trip someday perhaps. Instead they looked around at the few sights and continued on into the next land.

Fantasyland was the perfect kind of place for a pony, because all it really had was more tame family rides that wouldn’t be too intense for Orion, and wouldn’t be too uncomfortable for them to ride. So that was where their family trip really began, with the three of them tackling all of the big dark rides that that part of the park had to offer— all except for one. For as much as Silver loved the Small World ride, he knew that the trademark catchy song would work its way into the three of their ears and never leave, and wanting to instead look at what other new offerings the park had, they chose to skip it for now.

The frontier area didn’t have a whole lot to offer either except for the nice relaxing riverboat cruise, which they gleefully hopped in line to ride.

Orion looked up in awe at the large riverboat, eliciting a laugh from both Silver and Scarlet. Shaking his head, Silver lifted Orion onto his back and carried him onto the boat.

“You’re going to like this one little buddy, I just know it.”

“You think so?” Scarlet asked aloud.

“Yeah. There’s lots of stuff to look at out there, plus it gives us a chance to take a little break and just relax for a few.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She waved him along. “How about we head on up to the top then? That’ll give us a nice view right?”

Silver smiled. “The best.” He looked back at Orion. “What do you say little buddy? Wanna go to the top?”

“The top!” he cheered, answering the question with an adorable enthusiasm.

“I think that answers it then.” Scarlet laughed.

The loud whistle of the boat startled Orion, but also sparked a reinvigorated energy in him, and almost quicker than Silver could react, he had leaped down and ran over towards the upper railing.

“I think he likes it so far,” Scarlet mused. “Guess we need to keep a closer eye on him, eh?”

Silver shook his head and laughed. “No kidding.”

The riverboat ride was calm and serene, but that never got in the way of Orion’s interest in what was going on along the riverbanks. To the foal, the fiberglass animals were just as real as ever, and he couldn’t help but run from side to side on the boat, tracking their movement with every fake call and robotic motion. Silver and Scarlet of course fawned over the foal’s cute antics, but nonetheless kept a close eye on Orion.

Just as soon as they had started, their ride was over and the three found themselves at a fork in the road. To their right sat New Orleans Square and the pirate ride that Silver loved so much, and to the left, one of the few areas they hadn’t explored yet.

“So what’s the plan then?” Scarlet asked.

Silver looked over and smiled. “Well we have two options. Double back to Adventureland and take a spin on the old Jungle Cruise, maybe stop by the singing bird show, and then come on back here to wrap things up…”

“Or?” She asked him.

“Or… seeing as how he was so excited by the fake animals… Maybe we wear him out a little more and save that ride for later… Maybe catch it on the way out?”

Scarlet smirked. “New Orleans it is then!”

Silver and Scarlet sat on either end of the row with Orion snuggled up tightly between them. Much to their delight and relief they had managed to get a whole boat to themselves, something they could be thankful for. The colt had started to throw a fit at first, not being happy with the two older night ponies confining him to the boat when he clearly wanted to hop out and explore the unfamiliar place, but once they had gone down the drop and entered the cave his tantrum quickly subsided. To say that Silver was overjoyed to see him enjoying the ride was an understatement, because as old as the ride was, it still held a special place in the stallion’s heart and the fact that he could share the experience with his own wife and son filled him with a joy that words couldn’t even begin to describe.

Silver let out a quiet laugh as the little night pony dressed as a pirate gleefully looked around at the towering piles of gold and skeletons, an adorably awestruck expression plastered on his face. He leaned in close to him and spoke in a quiet voice, “Do you like it little buddy?”

The colt excitedly nodded his head, not breaking his gaze for even a second, “Yeah!”

“This used to be my favorite ride when I was your age, grandma and grandpa used to take me here all the time,” he paused for a second, noticing that the colt had begun to ignore him, clearly lost in his own world.

“I think you lost him Silver,” Scarlet answered.

Silver let out another quiet laugh, “Told you he’d love it.”

Scarlet returned a smile, “I never doubted you for a second.”

No fear have ye of evil curses, says you? Properly warned ye be, says I, the ride’s narration menacingly declared, sending a wave of nostalgia through Silver.

The Stallion’s gauntlet suddenly came to life, quietly vibrating on his arm as a call came in. He glanced down and silenced it, returning back to watching Orion gleefully take in the different scenes around him. Almost immediately it buzzed again, earning a long sigh from the stallion as he answered it, “Gyro I’m busy right now, we’re on a ride and Orion’s really enjoying it.”

“It’s important,” the unicorn groggily replied.

Silver rolled his eyes, “How important?”

“Remember the recruitment calls we put out? We got a hook.”

Silver’s interest was piqued, “I’m guessing you called before bed for a specific reason then?”

“Yep, I’ll meet you in Somewhere in a few minutes. How much time do you have?”

“About 10ish minutes, they’re running the ride slow tonight.”

“Perfect,” the comm went silent and Silver let out another sigh.

He turned toward Scarlet and gently tapped her on the shoulder, “Hey, just got an important call, I’m going to drop out for a few minutes, keep a close eye on the little buccaneer if you can.”

“Right now?” She raised an eyebrow, “Silver we’re on vacation.”

He frowned, “I know, I’m half tempted to just ignore it but I know he’s going to keep pestering me about it until I answer.”

“Okay but after this I don’t want to see you doing any more work until the trip’s over, okay?

Silver nodded, “Okay.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

She smiled, “Good, I want to take Orion to the Haunted Mansion next and I want you to be a part of that.”

Silver smirked as cannon fire rang out around them, making the colt between them excitedly look around to try and find where the source of the noises were coming from, “You don’t think it’ll scare him?”

Scarlet glanced down to him, letting out a small laugh as she picked up the excitement in his actions, “No, I think it’ll be right up his alley in fact. Just look at how excited he is now.”

Silver smiled, sitting back in his seat and closing his eyes for a brief moment. The instant he reopened them he was sitting in his office in Somewhere, the boat’s gentle rocking carrying into the dream, giving him a strangely unnerving feeling as if the entire world was in motion.

“I’ll never get used to this you know.”

Silver turned toward the orange unicorn who was sitting in one of the chairs against the back wall of Silver’s office, “I wouldn’t expect you to, and to be honest the only reason I had you guys request this ability in the first place was to make stuff like this a lot easier for us to do.”

“Mhmm, right. So let’s cut right to the chase, I found a group that’s interested in the recruitment calls we sent out. I’ve done a little bit of digging and they seem legitimate, and are even gifted in their field too.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, still finding it hard to get his bearings in here, “So who are they then? And can we trust them? I’m going to need more information before I can even think about bringing them in.”

“They call themselves the Think Tank, and they’re a smaller group made up of 6 ponies out in Nevada. Resonance research has been their particular line of research lately, and the mages they have on their team are gifted in their own right too.”

“Have you done a background check yet? That’s some very high level research and I want to make sure that if we’re bringing them into our home that they’re not some shady group.”

The unicorn nodded, “I did a basic one and they all came back clean, I’ll be running a more detailed check tomorrow morning, I’ll have a definitive answer by then.”

Silver nodded, “Good. Let me know how things go, I’d prefer if we met back up in here, maybe around two or three in the morning, just because I’m still on vacation, with my family you know?” He replied back with an annoyed tone.

The unicorn nodded, “That works for me.”

“Good. Keep me posted on what you find, this could definitely be big.”

“I will. So how’s the search for the new city operations director going?”

“It’s going well, Patrick and Midnight both have a couple candidates I’ll look at when I get back home,” he paused for a moment, “Why?”

“I’m just curious. I think it’s good that we’re bringing in more help, and I’m sure you must feel like you have a huge weight off your shoulders with it.”

Silver nodded, “We’re probably a good month away before we bring any kind of help in, I think we can afford to hold off on another meeting until then if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Good. I’m sure you’re having a blast so I’ll let you get back to your vacation, we can talk later.”

“Thanks Gyro, go ahead and forward their information to me, I promise you I’ll take a look at it when we get back to the hotel.”

“Mhmm, Goodbye Silver.”

Without any further discussion, Silver let the construct around him fade to darkness as he returned to the waking world. The stallion was caught in a momentary daze as he opened his eyes, not being used to his real world location changing so drastically when he normally exited a waking dream. With a smile he looked down toward Orion, who was happily humming along to the music as they passed by the mechanical pirates.

“Back in the real world?” Scarlet asked as she looked down toward the humming colt, “I bet you’re glad we didn’t take him on Small World.”

Silver let out a laugh, “Oh you know it, we’d never hear the end of that song.”

“What do you mean? We’re never going to hear the end of this one.”

“Well I like this one a lot more so I think I can live with that,” Silver replied with a smirk.

The pair let out another laugh together.

Art by: https://twitter.com/FanDrawsArt

Chapter 18: Uneasy Dealings

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The three night ponies sat in the back of their van, cuddled up close together. Silver was fiddling with his gauntlet, occasionally glancing down to Orion who was snuggled up with a large plush toy. Scarlet sat on the other side of the sleepy colt, swiping away at the large tablet balance on the tray in front of her.

“So where are we going Silver?”

“Just making a small detour to look at some potential new hires.”

“Oh gosh, you mean we’re not going on another vacation?”

He smirked, “I wish. I think one was enough excitement for our little pirate, isn’t that right?!” He excitedly shouted as he laid a wing over Orion, earning a series of laughs from the colt.

Scarlet smiled, “Did you have fun Orion?”

“Yeah!” The colt cheerfully beamed.

“Really? What was your favorite part?” Silver asked.

The colt sat in consideration for a moment, as if Silver had asked him some profound question. A few seconds later and his face lit up in excitement, “The pirates!”

“You don’t know how proud I am to hear him say that,” Silver proudly beamed, “That was my favorite as a kid.”

“You’re such a dork,” Scarlet replied with a laugh.

“I’m your dork.”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“So what’re you working on now?”

Scarlet perked up, “Oh not much, Lightbug forwarded me a message from Starry Skies and it’s interesting.”

“Starry Skies? That’s your little pen pal from Equestria right?”

“That’s the one.”

“So what’s he up to nowadays? Still keeping you updated on that program you helped out with?”

“Surprisingly a lot. Going off of his latest letter, Princess Luna is allowing him to take an extended research trip to Earth, and he was actually wondering if he could spend some of that time in the Oasis.”

“You’re going to have an Equestrian helping out with your whole space center? Fancy you!”

She smiled, “It’s not a space center… yet.”

“Yet. Don’t sell yourself short though, you guys are doing some really cool stuff there.”

“It’s just a prototype telescope that we’re working on with Tyler and Sarah’s team out in Texas.”

“That’s still impressive, maybe it’s not the most groundbreaking thing out there, but you’ve still got some people hooked on learning more about it, including our little space pirate,” he finished, tousling Orion’s mane and earning another laugh from the colt.

“He really does love hanging around everything, I have to practically drag him away from the older telescopes when it’s time to go home.”

“Well that’s good for him. I’m glad he’s getting so interested in what you love doing, and it’s adorable to watch.”

“I hate to interrupt another adorable family moment, but we’re coming up on your stop,” Their driver called back.

Silver nodded, “Thanks Hannah, sorry we made you detour so far.”

The human shrugged, “No need to apologize, I’m still on the clock so it’s all fine by me.”

“Well we still appreciate it,” Silver turned back toward Scarlet, “I don’t know how long this’ll take, but you two should probably hang out here, I’m not sure how their lab’s set up and I doubt they’ll want a tired night pony space pirate running around there.”

She let out a small laugh, “Fair enough. Just keep me posted if you think it’ll be any longer than an hour.”

Silver nodded, “I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else. I think Gyro’s done a bit of talking with them already, hopefully it won’t drag on too long.”

“Alright, I trust you. Now go have fun with your nerd friends, and let me know if they have any cool astronomers on the team.”

Silver leaned in for a kiss, “If there’s any cool astronomers on their team you’ll be the first to know,” He turned toward Orion, “Now you behave too, try not to cause too much trouble for mommy, okay?”

“Okay!” The colt cheerfully replied back.

Silver pressed a hoof to the door and slid it open, hopping out of the van and giving Scarlet one final nod. He glanced back over toward a small cave entrance, immediately noticing the unicorn that Gyro was standing with. The two had seemingly paused their conversation, and were both glancing over at him.

The night pony slowly started to trot over toward the pair, smiling as he approached them, “Sorry if I’m a little late, we hit some traffic on the way over.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already made an introduction,” Gyro replied back, “This is Doctor Lair, one of the main researchers here, and she’s going to give us a tour of their lab.”

The mare nodded, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Eclipse… you’re the robotics director at the Oasis correct?”

Silver slowly nodded, “You know that?” He let out a laugh, “You really must have done your homework, we’re not really all that well known for anything other than our farming outside of a few small circles.”

The unicorn mare smiled, “Of course we have. Desert farming, advanced transportation, robotics, and even the magic research your top mage has published. It might just be the small seedlings of the future that aren’t well known globally, but you’ve made enough of a name for yourself with what you do have that it attracts ponies like us.”

“Ponies like you?” He asked with a raised brow.

She nodded, “The niche researchers that are trying to make a better world. Researchers like you and I. You’re partnered with SPEC correct? Am I wrong to assume that you’re also trying to make more of an independent name for yourselves?”

Silver nodded, “We never intended to have to rely on SPEC forever. Not that I’m not appreciative of what their partnership has done for us, but being tied to such a prominent Shimmerist group has its downsides, even if a lot of the ponies we do business with don’t mind all that much. Still though, there’s so much more that we want to do and it’s hard to build up other partnerships and friendships at times because of it.”

“And that’s why you were looking for other researchers, correct?”

“That’s a part of it. I can’t get into everything, but there’s projects we’re working on that we hope to market someday, and those projects would definitely help build up some of the capital we need to really start working on the big stuff we have planned, that’s where ponies like you come in. Sure, the produce exports are helping a lot with the operational costs, and we’ve been able to start test marketing some of our tech like the gauntlets, but we still needed more help to really make our dreams a reality,” He looked over to Gyro and gave a quick nod, “This is my top mage Gyro, and he thinks your group might be the right fit for what he’s been trying to do.”

The mare nodded, “So what do you think about it?”

“Your research? Well I’m not a mage, but Gyro rarely ever gets this excited about an independent team, so I’m definitely interested in learning more about you.”

“So, enough of the boring chit-chat, I’m sure you’re curious to see what we’ve been cooking up,” She gestured toward a small cave entrance behind her, “It’s right over this way.”

“Your lab?” Silver asked

“Mhmm,” The mare replied back, “I’m sorry it’s so far out and hidden away. Turns out that old gold mines are pretty affordable and make decent laboratory spaces if you can excavate them. It made our old employers happy too, they didn’t like having a bunch of mages performing magical research under their main campus— too much of a liability or something, but we didn’t mind.”

Silver nodded, “Believe me, I’m sure I can understand their concerns,” He paused for a moment as they stepped into an elevator, “Now if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly was your research?”

“Unfortunately I’m not at liberty to delve into the specifics, but we were studying magical resonance and the long term effects that magic can have on it, part of a pilot program that our former employer was running.”

He exchanged a brief glance with Gyro before turning back toward the crystal mare, “That’s some pretty high level stuff. Who was your employer, if you don't mind me asking?”

“Just a small branch of the Nevada Magical Research Center— really a group that was doing too much too soon, and unfortunately they were hit with some pretty drastic budget cuts. Our department was one of the unlucky ones that was given a two week notice. It sucks but what can you do?”

“Right, well I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, it seems like you guys were really ahead of everyone else with this.” The elevator door opened and Silver was led out into a long hallway made up of semi opaque glass walls. A faint chemical smell permeated the air, making him scrunch his nose back in disgust and giving him the sense that the entire laboratory had been scrubbed literally and figuratively.

The entire place was lit with a dim fluorescent glow, giving it the feeling of some medical facility. As they continued down the hallway, Silver tried to steal a quick look into some of the adjacent rooms, finding that the glass walls afforded him an almost perfect panoramic view of the lab. His curiosity piqued, he tried to get a deeper look into the space, finding that he could barely make out the rooms that were further away from him, even with his enhanced night vision. It was as if they were simply fading into some dark abyss, making it impossible to tell how big this place truly was.

An involuntary shiver ran down Silver’s spine, as if his instincts were subconsciously telling him that something was amiss. Shaking his body for a moment, he shrugged it off. Being a pony that was normally used to seeing all the angles of his surroundings and understanding how a situation might go, he was definitely out of his element, and he chalked his unease up to that.

“I apologize for the smell, we were cleaning this place out before we had to leave, the NMRC still owns it and unfortunately we couldn’t negotiate an extended lease.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “You guys are really in a hurry?”

The mare smiled, “To tell you the truth, we are. We’re on a tight deadline and unfortunately that means we only have so much time to leave. We’re not taking much with us, just some hard drives, research notes, and a few experimental components. The NMRC gave us two weeks and that’s honestly not enough time, but thank God we can at least keep a lot of what we were working on.”

“And they’re fine with you taking those?”

Doctor Lair nodded, “Yes. It was an absolute pain to negotiate, and probably a reason why we were cut from the program. But at the end of the day at least we can keep our research.”

“Good, I don’t need some institute coming after us over property theft.”

“Believe me Professor Eclipse, you won’t have to worry about that.”

“Good. Now I’m sorry for all the questions, this is just to get a general understanding of who you all are and why we should look at bringing you in.”

“Oh it’s no bother at all, is there anything else I can answer for you?”

Silver turned toward Gyro and nodded, “So let’s just assume that we bring you onboard, what kind of research can you bring to the table?”

“Well as I previously said, we specialize in advanced magical research, especially resonant research. I don’t know how much value that could have to you, but I’m sure you could see the merit in that sort of thing.”

“Resonant as in studying what magic was at play with the ETS virus? Or just how magic affects us in general? I mean that’s some pretty high level stuff you’re talking about.”

The mare nodded, “Well it’s a little bit of both. You kind of have to touch multiple disciplines at once when it comes to this field of research.”

“Uh huh…,” Silver slowly nodded, “And do you have anything you can show us? That is, the stuff you’re allowed to share.”

“Of course, we’re almost to Doctor Rossman’s office, he was the stallion in charge of this laboratory, he’ll be able to answer that question better than I could.”

“Well I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys have to bring to the table, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t already interested.”

“Silver Eclipse, the stallion I’ve heard so much about!”

Silver nodded and adjusted the cushion he was sitting on, “Mhmm, and I’ll take it you’re Doctor Rossman?”

“In the fur. So what do you think of our team so far?”

Silver glanced around at the framed certificates and pictures on the otherwise barren office wall, “Well, obviously it’s hard to make up an opinion so soon, but you guys really do make a good first impression.”

“We certainly try our best. Though I wish we had more to show you here. You should have seen this place back in its heyday, probably one of the most advanced facilities on the west coast.”

“But now it isn’t, right?”

The stallion smiled, “Well technically it still is, we’ve just crated up the bulk of our equipment, otherwise I’d show you the kind of stuff we’ve been working on. Lots of robotics projects and magic research, stuff both of you would probably gush over.”

“I guess it’s a shame then, that definitely sounds right up our alley,” Silver looked down at the files laid out in front of him, “that said, your research looks incredible. I’m not a magic guy myself, but Gyro is, and I’ve never seen him light up at another team’s research before.”

The unicorn nodded, “Mhmm. Not a lot of other ponies manage to do something so different with their magic. That’s why we’re even down here.”

“So you will consider picking up our contract… won’t you Mr. Eclipse?” The mare chimed in, pulling Silver’s attention back toward her.

Silver paused for a moment as he looked back toward Doctor Lair, “Give me a minute, I just need to talk with my associate.”

The unicorn nodded, taking a step back but keeping a curious eye on the pair, “Of course.”

Silver stood up and waved Gyro toward the corner of the room, “So, thoughts?”

Gyro sat in consideration for a moment, “They’re geniuses, but they’re not sharing everything, I can tell.”

The night pony nodded, “Okay, so I’m not alone on that either. Do you think it has to do with their NDAs or something else?”

The unicorn glanced over toward the two scientists, and then back to Silver, “To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I want to say it’s just standard NDAs, but given all the stuff they’ve worked on, it wouldn’t surprise me if they discovered something they’d rather not share.”

“And is that a good or a bad thing?”

“Maybe a bit of both. You know about some of the spells I was working on, right?”

“Mhmm, your magical signature thing you were playing around with. What about it?”

“It’s probably like that, something they spent a lot of time on that they don’t want someone else to swoop in and steal away from them. Mages take a lot of pride in their work, just as much as you take pride in your dreams I’m sure. Did you want to just share somewhere with everyone right out of the gate?”

Silver shook his head, “No, I didn’t,” he paused for a moment, “I see your point. Well, their background checks came back clean, their lab is meticulous to the point of almost being too clean, and they’ve got enough charisma and charm to befriend anyone. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t pick up their contract. They’re going out of business, it’d be a shame to let their talent go to waste.”

“My thoughts exactly. Worst case if they turn out weird then we cut them loose after the trial period.”

“Right, well I guess we have our answer then,” Silver trotted back toward the desk and took a seat, “Doctor Rossman, we’d like to bring you and your team in for a trial period. See how things turn out and go from there.”

“So, we’re hired?”

“Provisionally. If that’s alright with you.”

“I think we can find those terms agreeable, isn’t that right, Doctor Lair?”

The two exchanged a few silent glances before the mare turned back toward Silver and nodded, “It certainly is Doctor Rossman.”

Silver smiled, “That’s great to hear. Now, why don’t we discuss a few things about what kind of projects we’re working on back in The Oasis. You said you had a robotics expert on your team?”

Doctor Rossman nodded, “We do. I’m guessing that you’ve got some robotics projects of your own back home?”

“Mhmm, nothing earth shatteringly big yet. They’re still important though,” he raised up his leg to show the pair his gauntlet, “This is our main project right now, it’s like the pony strap but so much better.”

Rossman leaned forward to get a closer look, “Interesting, and what exactly does it do?”

“It depends on which model you have,” Silver answered, “We’ve got a bunch of different ones. Like mine’s more of a utility version, but we have models that have built in tools and utensils, some that are just basically a phone, and I’m even working on one that’ll let you grab something like if you had hands. The big thing that they all have in common is that they’re basically phones that can link up on their own network. Like walker talkies if you’re away from an actual network.”

“Interesting, and have you taken this to market yet? I can’t say I’ve seen any out in the wild before.”

“Not yet, at least not in the wider sense. We’ve been working on these for awhile now, but lately I’ve been trying to rework them and get to the point where they won’t be so cost prohibitive. If all goes well we could start pushing a consumer version out in a few years.”

The stallion looked over toward his companion and nodded, “Some very promising work indeed.”

“Mhmm, there’s some other projects too, stuff like medical tech that’ll hopefully help both ponies and humans someday, but those were kind of special cases. I met a friend of a friend that had lost an arm in an industrial accident years ago and I wanted to try and help him out.”

“There’s not exactly a market for that with ponies right now, is there?”

Silver shook his head, “Not really. I did run across a couple of ponies with similar needs when I was working on that human case for a while, and it made me realize that ponies still have to deal with this too, even if it’s only a handful out in the world.”

“Helping the needy, regardless of species, a goal that embodies the elements of generosity and kindness, both pillars we value here and a noble endeavor to strive for indeed,” he paused, “You know, that’s where some of our research came into play too.”

“Your magic research?”

Rossman nodded, “Some of it. To put it simply, what if we could use magic to crack the metaphorical code and reshape everything we think we know about science and medicine?”

“What about it?”

“Well take those poor souls you were just talking about for instance. What if we could somehow regrow what they lost? Or apply that towards improving their quality of life?”

“Like replacing their arm?”

“An arm, a leg, a hoof, even damaged cells that could never be regenerated in their lifetime. We could even do so much more, the possibilities are limitless.”

Silver slowly nodded, “Right, maybe in the realm of science fiction, but were a long ways out from that right now.”

“Maybe right now, with our limited understanding of how this kind of magic works, but the work we’re doing now could benefit so many in the future. Can you imagine it Mr. Eclipse? Someday this might not just be science fiction, it could be science fact.”

Silver glanced over to the unicorn and nodded, “I’ll take your word for it Doctor. I’m looking forward to working with you and your team…”

Silver didn’t know it yet, but this would only be the start of a greater chapter in his life… a chapter that would perhaps be more pivotal than even ETS had been…

Chapter 19: The Start of Something Grand

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Silver sat next to Orion’s bed, a wing draped over the tired colt as he read him another bedtime story, something he had come to do almost every day since Scarlet had left for her trip all those months ago. These brief tender moments were some of Silver’s favorite parts of the day, it offered a chance for him to embrace his protective instincts and bond with Orion, who gleefully took in each and every story with childlike wonder.

“... and then the brave night pony fought off the moon monsters and saved the moon, and all the space ponies threw a big party for him, and there were lots of games, and toys, and the brave night pony was the happiest night pony on the moon. The end!”

Orion let out a large yawn as he struggled to keep his eyes open, cuddling up next to Cosmo as he finally drifted off to sleep. The dog wagged his tail a few times before resting his head next to Orion and falling into his own deep sleep.

Silver smiled and slowly stood up, setting his homemade storybook down on the shelf next to Orion’s bed and turned towards him, lowering his voice, “Sleep tight, little buddy… I know you probably don’t understand this now, but someday we’re going to explore the whole wide world together. Maybe you’ll even get to be the brave night pony that goes to the moon… anything’s possible. It’ll be our own adventure, just like in your storybooks and I can’t wait to take you everywhere!”

“Well isn’t that adorable?” Scarlet commented from the open doorway, catching Silver off guard.

Silver jumped back in surprise, “Scarlet, I uhh, didn’t hear you walk in. I was just reading Orion another story.”

“I saw, so you finally finished the story about the moon monsters and the night pony astronaut?”

Silver nodded, “Yeah,” he paused for a moment, “don’t tell your mom but I think he’s really liking my stories, I’d hate for her to think I’m upstaging her as the best storyteller in the family.”

She let out a small laugh, “Yeah? You’re a children’s author now too?”

“Only for Orion, our little demon gets only the best stories that a dad can think of.”

She let out a laugh, “You know, I think it’s cute that you channel your protective instincts into taking care of him like that… even if you do go a little overboard sometimes.”

Silver rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, I don’t go that overboard…”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “You don’t? Silver, you had the advanced systems team synthesize an entirely new form of foam padding so Orion wouldn’t get hurt when he tried to glide off the playground equipment.”

Silver started to shuffle his hooves around nervously, “Well uhh… that was for the other foals in the Oasis too— plus we can make a ton with it, and it has other applications beyond just padding playgrounds.”

“Like?”

“Like acoustic dampening panels—“

“Which you used to soundproof Orion’s room, and only his room mind you, so he wouldn’t be woken up by the geese outside, despite the fact that he’ll sleep literally anywhere at any time.”

Silver flashed his fangs for a moment as he stared off into the distance, “Oh it’s not to help him sleep… he just doesn’t need to hear those rats with wings constantly honking away like the big dumb birds they are, trust me…” he blinked a few times before flashing Scarlet an embarrassed look as he realized what he had just said, “uhh, sorry about that, I meant to put some up in our room too… I just forgot. We also made sure the lab was extra safe in case there’s an accident and someone falls… it’s not just for Orion, there’s a whole bunch of industrial uses for the stuff...”

“Okay, I’ll believe it. But what about the time you banned Hoof Ball for a week because a stray ball very lightly hit Orion? A very soft ball mind you...”

Silver’s midnight blue face reddened as he shifted his gaze away from Scarlet, “That… okay I’ll admit, that was going a bit overboard… way more than a bit overboard— but at least I didn’t go off on some crusade to get rid of every ball in the Oasis!” He quickly added.

Scarlet chuckled and shook her head, “There’s nothing wrong with embracing your instincts, you just have your own… special way of doing it that goes a little further beyond what any of the other ponies would consider… normal.”

Silver shuffled around, “Okay, maybe you have a point— but I’m working really hard on dialing that back. It’s hard when the drive to protect others and be aggressive is literally baked into our psyche. Sure, ponies here don’t bat an eye at it, but humans don’t understand that it’s a fundamental part of who we are. They see us getting aggressive with each other and suddenly word spreads that we’ve got all these anger problems and they wind up avoiding us like the plague, or worse, and you get more serious stigmas like the ones the mares have to deal with. You guys have your whole fight night every month, but I can’t exactly go around doing something like that without it looking incredibly bad for me. But when I take care of Orion, I can just embrace my own instincts. It’s hard to explain, but taking care of him when he went through his whole diablo phase sparked something inside me, and we’re much closer because of it.”

Scarlet smiled, “Well I’m glad you’re at least embracing it. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t cute watching you make up all these stories for him every night and take him along on little adventures here and there.”

“I can’t wait to take him on some real adventures. Maybe we could even make it to Equestria together someday, you’ve been slipping into the language so much that I’m sure he’ll pick up on it and wonder why Aurora’s family are the only other ponies he knows that can speak it.”

“Oh trust me, that’s the idea. It’d be a real shame to let such a good opportunity go to waste.”

Silver smiled, “Maybe you could give me some more lessons down the line? I’d love to pick that up too, and I love hearing your singing voice, even if you aren’t really singing.”

Scarlet let out a few laughs, “Oh alright, but not tonight. I don’t know about you, but I’m beat. Why don’t we go snuggle up in bed and talk about it in the evening.”

Silver let out a long yawn and glanced over towards Orion, who was peacefully sleeping next to Cosmo, and gave Scarlet a quick nod as he stood up and walked towards the door, “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Cosmo and Orion already have us beat there.”

“Why don’t you go get ready for bed and I’ll meet you there, just have to send a quick email to Ursa about some observatory stuff before I forget, since we were running some maintenance again and I don’t think she got the memo.”

“Which one? Major or Minor?”

“Minor, Major’s off at some conference this weekend.”

Silver gave her a quick hug as he started towards their room, “Sounds like a plan, I’ve got a fun idea for tonight, can’t wait to try it out with you.”

Scarlet paused, “Oh? What’s that?”

“I can’t ruin the surprise,”Silver responded with a smirk. “Just trust me, I think it’ll be a ton of fun for both of us.”

“You sure about this? It seems… complicated” Scarlet hesitantly asked as she took in the bright blinking buttons that lined the complicated control panel. Aside from the two controls ticks, nothing else on the dashboard immediately stood out to her, leaving her with countless questions about what exactly Silver had in mind.

Silver nodded, pulling a set of flight goggles on, “Mhmm, trust me. I’ve been working on this for a while and I think you’re the perfect pony to pilot it, it’s just like the flight simulators in Aero’s lab.”

“You mean the simulators that I barely have any experience flying?”

“Yep! If it makes you feel any better though, you’re really just controlling the four axes. It was easier to set the dream up if we followed a set path, though you can navigate around that path however you want.”

Scarlet looked back towards the controls, giving a quick nod, “Gotcha, guess we’ll see how this goes, won’t we? So what’s your job? Copilot? Engineer?... Your outfit doesn’t really answer much.”

“Gunner. It’s uhh… a good way to get some of the aggression out, you know? It’s just like the old west shooting gallery dream I used to set up, just a lot more complex.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to start dressing like some space pirate in real life, I still laugh every time I see that ridiculous duster you bought on a whim.”

Silver rolled his eyes, “Don’t diss it… it was cool at the time— and it does a good job at keeping me warm when we go up north.”

“It's also two sizes too big for you and doesn’t look flattering at all…”

“Alright, alright. Just don’t worry, I’m not going to dress up like a space pirate this time, okay?”

“Right… this time,” She rested her hooves on the control stick, “So how do we start anyways?”

“See that flashing red button?” Silver asked, gesturing towards a large button towards the side of the dashboard, “Go ahead and give that a push once you’re buckled in, the launch might be a little rough, but it should fly nice and smooth once we’re up in the air.”

“And you’re absolutely sure about this? It’s not going to shake apart or explode or anything is it?” She asked, glancing back towards him with a nervous expression.

Silver quickly strapped himself in, “Yeah, it’s a dream, not like anything can actually hurt us here anyways…”

“So why are you buckling up so tightly then?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, we can still get tossed around here, it’s the illusion of safety more than anything. If you feel safe then you’ll trick your brain into believing it, kinda like how you find yourself breathing when there’s no actual reason to here. It’s just something that you do out of habit and it makes the experience feel all the more real that way.”

She gave a hesitant nod and fastened her own seatbelt, reaching towards the flashing button, “Uh huh... well are you ready?”

“I was born ready,” Silver replied with a smirk.

Scarlet shook her head and let out a giggle, “You’re such a geek sometimes.”

Silver let out a laugh of his own, “Maybe, but I’m your geek, you know you love it.”

She smiled, “Maybe… now let’s get going before I start second guessing this,” She finished, grinning as she punched the button. The ship immediately hummed to life, slowly rising off of the launchpad and speeding over the starport and into the canyon with a rough rumble.

Silver flinched back as they narrowly missed a series of large stone arches, earning another chuckle from Scarlet as she glanced over at his frightened expression. He gazed down towards his own joystick, giving it a few experimental clicks and smirking as a series of plasma bolts launched from their ship, striking a few of the targets that were set up along the canyon walls, “Weapons are online, think you got the hang of flying?”

Scarlet veered the ship left and right a few times, testing out how it would respond to her controls. After a few more rounds of experimentation she returned a short nod, “Yeah I think so, think you can keep us in one piece?”

Silver nodded, idly shooting a few more targets, “Yep! Hope you’re ready, this is just a tutorial, the real fun starts once we kick it into warp speed.” He quickly pressed his own flashing button, bracing himself as the ship suddenly veered up towards the atmosphere and into the inky black void beyond, speeding up until the stars formed long white trails of light along the ship. With a sudden kick the ship slowed it’s progress, dipping down into a sickly gray looking planet.

“Alright Silv, so what’s the plan now?”

“Glad you asked, we’re gonna infiltrate the citadel and steal their data core, hope you’re up for some real high octane action today.”

She glanced towards him and smiled, “I was born ready, now get ready to shoot, looks like the welcome party’s here!”

Silver glanced down at the ship’s radar and nodded, taking hold of his joystick and locking onto the approaching ships.

Scarlet expertly piloted their ship through the mostly empty skies, a pair of gunships trailing closely behind them as they dodged and weaved between the twisted remnants of buildings that comprised the dystopian planet. Without much warning she veered into a barrel roll, bringing their ship dangerously close to the torn up ground below them.

“Brakes! Brakes! Scarlet, hit the brakes!” Silver loudly shouted out, frantically bracing himself for impact.

“Just hold onto something and keep an eye on the radar! We’ve still got two gunships on our tail, I’m gonna try and shake them off.” She shouted back as their ship crashed through the boarded up wall in front of them.

“I thought we lost them?!”

“Hey don’t blame me, this is your dream after all, I’m just the pilot!” She paused, “Hang on, I’ve got an idea.”

“Alright, I’ll let you do your thing.” He sat back and watched as Scarlet expertly navigated the ship into a dark narrow tunnel that the two trailing gunships would be unable to traverse. He was about to question her plan until he realized that this would force them to navigate in front of them… putting them in prime position for him to blast them away.

“Scar, you’re a genius!” He began with a smirk.

She smiled, “That's why I’m the pilot and you’re the gunner, dear. Now we’re coming up on the exit, get ready to blast em’ away!”

“With pleasure!” Silver said with a smirk as he excitedly launched bolt after bolt into the robotic invaders’ ships, cheering as their own shuttle flew through a ball of fire and up towards the planet’s atmosphere. “Did you see that?!” He called out.

Scarlet returned a quick nod, “Nice shooting, ace! Now let’s offload our precious cargo before the others find out we took it from them.”

Silver nodded and locked in the earth’s coordinates, slamming his hoof down onto the button and smiling as the pair were suddenly pushed back into their seats. The planets and stars began to stretch out into a long coridoor of light as the ship began to loudly rumble again, threatening to shake apart at any moment. The swirling stars brightened one more time before shifting around again, though instead of appearing in the spaceport like they were expecting, the ship merely came to a stop, as if as if someone had simply hit the pause button on the dream.

Scarlet looked towards Silver, “Is this you?”

Silver glanced around at the unmoving landscape outside and shook his head, “No, it’s one of them. I don’t know who though…”

“Well that’s lovely. You didn’t break any rules doing this did you?”

“He didn’t.” Came the unfamiliar reply of the Warden of Fear from behind them, earning a surprised jump from both Silver and Scarlet, who were still tightly buckled into their seats, “Sorry to intrude,” She looked around at the strange cockpit the pair were sitting in, “...Am I interrupting anything?”

Silver stood up and quickly shook his head, “Nope, not at all… we were just having a little adventure on our own, y’know, for fun.”

Phobia nodded, “Yelling and shouting seems like a strange way to have fun, but that’s none of my business. Neither of you are in trouble in case you’re wondering, you’re not the first nor the last that we’ll be visiting today either.”

Scarlet nodded, “Silver had some crazy idea for a new adventure to try out in here; we may have gotten a little heated with it. It’s still rough around the edges, but it’s honestly a ton of fun.”

Silver gave a quick nod, “Yeah, what she said. Plus you kind of have to be on your best behavior when you’re dealing with a bunch of boring business types in the waking world. This is a creative outlet for our aggression and stress. It’s just something new I’m trying.”

“I’m sure you were having fun. Do you have a few minutes? I just wanted to talk about something real quick.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, “I uhh… sure? No offense, but this is very much out of the ordinary for us. Nothing bad I assume?”

She shook her head, “Not at all.”

Silver smiled, “Perfect, well why don’t you stay and have a drink, tell us about what’s on your mind.”

Phobia nodded as the world melted away, shifting into a peaceful lakeside villa with a vibrant starry sky hanging overhead.

Scarlet cleared her throat, “So what’s up? I’m guessing that you’re not just here for a friendly chat— no offense or anything, this just feels weird.”

“I just wanted to let you two know that there’s been some more talks with the president and there’s going to be some official announcement in the next week or so that introduces us to the world and all that. We’re all just letting everyone know in advance so it’s not a surprise.”

Silver nodded his head and leaned forward, brushing a hoof through his mane, “So it’s really happening then, this should be interesting to watch, very interesting.” He looked towards Scarlet and then back towards Phobia, “So does this mean you’ll grant dreamwalking on larger scale? And will we still need to avoid talking about you guys in the waking world after all this? There’s just so many other questions that this sparks up...”

Phobia raised a hoof to quiet him, “Just keep an eye out on the news for the next few days, all of your questions should be answered by then. If you still have more you’re more than welcome to ask us after.”

Silver began to raise his hoof in question, but paused, giving the warden of fear a short nod, “Alright, gotcha, thanks for giving us the heads up.”

“Mhmm, anything else before I go?”

Silver shook his head, “Nothing other than what you’ve already answered. This is all so exciting, I mean it’s going to really open so many doors...”

Phobia nodded her head, melting into a shadow on the floor before vanishing altogether, leaving Silver alone with Scarlet once more.

Silver cast up a few more walls, pausing and then adjusting their placement as if he was playing some complicated building game.

“So run it by me again, why are you building a nightclub here? You’re not thinking of starting up your own dream business are you? Maybe the hottest night club this side of the dream realm?” Scarlet asked with a smirk.

Silver smiled, “Well, that would be a pretty lucrative venture. I could just throw together some crazy robot DJ… some exotic drinks… Maybe that’s my true calling?” He looked towards her, “Go ahead and jot that down, that might be an interesting idea to pursue once the wardens go public, especially if there’s an influx of new dreamwalkers.”

She let out a small laugh, “I was just joking Silv, so what’s up? I was kind of hoping we could finish our game from earlier… You’ve been at this for an hour now.”

Silver shrugged, “Time’s subjective here, I’m sure it’s been closer to 15 minutes, but I suppose you’re right.” He turned towards her, pausing his construction, “Call me crazy but I’d like to teach others how to harness their powers like I did. I had this big crazy dream a while back— an idea that we could maybe use our abilities to bring ponies closer together. The fact that we’re going to have a chance to interact with so many other dreamers gives us an awesome opportunity to actually do something great with our talent on a larger scale, and if we get more day pony dream walkers then just imagine what that kind of thing could do. Having a big persistent world that stretches past physical and language barriers is probably the most useful tool we have right now and it’s a shame we don’t do more with it.”

She raised an eyebrow, “So you weren’t joking about wanting to become a dream teacher? Not exactly the career shift I’d peg you for, but hey if that’s what you want to do, I won’t stop you.”

He smiled again, “Not full time of course, but I can’t stop thinking about what I could be doing to actually use my talent to its full potential. You used yours to help another world with its astronomy program, but there’s ponies like me and Emily who have these amazing gifts and aren’t using them as much as we can.”

Scarlet raised a hoof, “Well firstly, I was just a part of a much bigger team, it’s not like I was this big vital piece to the puzzle. And secondly, didn’t you already talk with Emily about this a few times? Didn’t she say she wasn’t really interested in using her vision thing to teach others?”

Silver shrugged, “Well you know what I meant. You’re a published author with a book on another universe’s stars, something that no one else on earth has done. As for Emily, not exactly. She said she was open to the idea, but obviously that’s not a full-on yes. But what if she could teach others? We were able to spread the vision, so it’s not like others couldn’t learn to do what she does, too. Granted, we’d have to get her to agree with it, and we’d have to find strong dreamers, but I think I have the latter part figured out.”

“That and you also need to get the wardens onboard and make sure that they’re fine with Emily using her talent for that… maybe ask Phobia, she seems a bit more… personable than the rest, no offense to the others of course.”

Silver paused, expecting the arrival of a warden now that they were actively talking about them, but that arrival never came. He turned back towards the balcony that overlooked the bay, trotting up close to Scarlet, “I’ll handle that part. Do you feel like paying Emily a visit and floating the idea with her? I can’t do this alone after all.”

Scarlet smiled and nodded, “Sure, she’s always got some of the best dreams anyways, and it’s been a few months since we’ve had time to catch up. Want me to say anything in particular or just roll with what you said already?”

“Just give her a basic rundown, I’ll explain it all once she’s here. Don’t make it sound like she’s being pressured into anything either— she isn’t. I just want to float the idea by her and see if she’d be willing to give it a shot, and if not, if she’d be willing to at least try and teach a few others her vision thing.”

Scarlet gave a quick nod, “Gotcha. Have fun working on… whatever this will wind up being, can’t wait to see it once it’s all done.”

“Same, it’s gonna be big, maybe the biggest thing I’ve ever done here… in the figurative sense of course.”

“Alright, well if you need me you know where to find me, have fun dear.”

Silver smiled, “You too, tell Em I said hi.”

“For sure, though I’m sure we’ll all see each other soon enough.” Without much fanfare, Scarlet vanished, leaving Silver alone to his own thoughts as he continued to work away on his new construct.

He had definitely come a long way since ETS had changed his world all that time ago, for as short as it was, it felt like an eternity ago for him. His little shared dream of a place that could change the world had grown into something that was actually starting to meet that very goal, and even though it was still growing, they now had steady funding and partnerships that would help make the dream into an actual reality. The Oasis would be his group’s legacy, something he would share with his team for the rest of their professional lives, but he had other sights on the horizon.

What he was about to propose to Phobia was something that he had been thinking of for a while now, ever since he had first met Phoenix in his dream, and the fact that the wardens were going public only served to reinvigorate that plan. It presented a chance for him to finally share the knowledge on creating a persistent dream and guiding others to use it to help teach others. For what was the point in keeping some amazing discovery to himself if he could be doing so much more with it?

Sure, he could pass this knowledge down to Orion and keep it as a family secret, the colt would very likely inherit his talent for dream crafting, but why wait that long to pass on groundbreaking knowledge that could genuinely benefit others? Of course, there wasn’t any guarantee that others could learn this, they’d have to practice, have patience, and be sufficiently powerful enough to handle the feat magically, but it was still worth a shot. Somewhere wasn’t just some impressive illusion, it was a carefully crafted wonder of dream magic, something that had earned the intrigue of its few visitors when they had learned that it would persist even when he was awake.

He began to flip through the list again, looking over the names of ponies that he had spent a fair amount of time seeking out. They were all gifted in the art of dream magic in one way or another, which would make them perfect candidates to pass his knowledge onto, it was just a matter of finding the right group to start with. Eager to begin, he called out to Phobia, and got ready to explain his plan.

Chapter 20: The Dream Seekers

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Phoenix materialized into Somewhere just as Silver had requested the night before, though the area he now found himself in was unexpected to say the least. Rather than finding himself in the usual cave with peaceful music echoing throughout, he now found himself standing in an upbeat neon nightclub with bright lights that accented everything from the walls to the furniture, and even the robot waiters that glided around the club offering glowing drinks to each of the night ponies. The whole place resembled something out of TRON, and he couldn’t help but feel intrigued at this unfamiliar place.

Not really seeing any reason to avoid it, he gladly took one and found that it tasted like cream soda, one of his favorite drinks. Taking a few hesitant glances around at the other ponies that had started to materialize in, he quickly recognized his longtime friend Moonlight Dream. A big grin began to spread across his face as he quickly ran over to greet her. “Hey Jess! Long time no see!”

“It’s Moonlight, Stan.” A smile slowly crept across her face, “Good to see you though, It’s been far too long since we’ve had the time to chat, how’s everything going out by you?”

“Pretty good, I took a new name too by the way. Radiant Phoenix, but you can just call me Phoenix.”

“Well Phoenix, what have you been up to lately?”

“Oh gosh, where to begin… well I stepped down as the operations director in the Oasis a while ago. It was fun but it just wasn’t really for me. I still live there but I run an antique shop during the night, spend a lot of the days as a sort of counselor on and off.”

She smiled, “So you’re still into dusty old antiques eh?”

He chuckled, lightly jabbing her side, “Yep, it’s not the most popular place, but it gives me something to do that I enjoy. Doesn’t really bring in a ton of money either, but it’s not like it really matters out here.”

Moonlight nodded her head, “Hey, no harm in doing something you love. Glad you’re doing well Stan… I mean Phoenix.”

“So what about you? Still leading things over in CC?”

She shrugged, “I was never really the leader there, you know that. But to answer your question, I’m still a protector, but there’s a lot more of us now so I don’t have to work as hard as I used to. Thought about maybe taking up a couple more hobbies, even started making some shared dreams for the little ones, and that’s when your friend showed up.”

“That’s really good to hear.” He glanced around towards the four other night ponies that were situated around the club. Some were chatting, but another sat alone in her own booth. For a moment he struggled to remember where he had seen her before, quickly remembering that she was one of the ponies that had visited shortly before the Great Storm. He looked back towards Moonlight, “So why do you think we’re all here? Silver only told me to meet him in Somewhere at a certain time and didn’t really mention much more, aside from he had something important to share with me.”

She shrugged, “He didn’t really say much to me either, just kind of chatted and asked about what I do, what I’d like to do in the future... that sort of stuff. Ended it by summoning a star and asking me to stop by if I was interested in helping him out with a project. I’m going to just go out on a limb and assume that the others were told the same.”

Phoenix shook his head “Maybe. All I know is that he’s been talking about making this dream into something useful for a while now. It kind of sounded like he wanted to share it with others, but he wouldn’t really go into any more detail, only telling me that I’d hear more when the time was right.”

“We didn’t really get off on the right hoof the first time I met him, so I don’t really have any idea why I’m here. And I don’t know anypony else here aside from you so I’m kind of clueless on this.”

Phoenix nodded, “I only recognize one other, but we never really talked much,” He said, gesturing towards Emily. “The others are all new though, I’ve never seen any of them in my life, so this should be interesting to see.”

Before the two could continue their conversation both the music and lights began to lower, revealing the form of Silver who was slowly walking up to a raised portion of the floor. He looked towards Moonlight, “We’ll catch up later, I feel like we’re about to get our answer.”

She nodded, “Right.”

One by one his six prospects began to materialize in the nightclub-like room he had spent the last day crafting. Upbeat music played throughout, and robotic waiters wandered around, offering drinks to the new visitors. Feeling that this was the right moment to make his entrance, Silver began to slowly trot into the room, looking around at the assembled night ponies once more. It was a small group to start with, but a group that he had done a fair bit of research and had felt were the best prospects for what he had in mind. The others could come later, once he had a better idea of how this plan would be received.

Rising Phoenix and Moonlight Dream sat chatting away in one of the booths while Emily sat alone in her own. Off to the side sat Morgana, Stardust and Koruk, who were engaged in their own conversation. As he walked towards the raised section of the floor the music and bright lights began to fade out, drawing the attention of the ponies to him.

He cleared his throat and began to address the group, “Hello again my friends, I am glad you all were able to make it. I’m sure you are all wondering why I have called you to this place, and I’ll gladly explain it to you all in just a moment.” He looked towards Emily, Phoenix, and Moonlight, “Some of you are already acquainted but to those who aren’t, my name is Silver Eclipse, and I have a lucrative proposition for all of you.”

The white night pony that went by the name Koruk was the first to speak up, “And what kind of proposition would this be, Mr. Eclipse?”

He smiled, “I’m glad you asked. Before I get to that I’d like to know some of you a little better, specifically, what do you all value most? How do you put your individual talents to use to better those around you?”

Morgana was the first to respond to his question, replying back with a raised hoof, earning a silent nod from Silver. “Well what is there to say, I like everything about nightmares and seeing what they can do… not in a bad way of course, but in a constructive kind of way.”

He nodded, “And what do you find useful about that? What about nightmares stands out to you the most?”

She smiled, “I think that they are some of the most important tools that we have been given. I’m a firm believer in the Warden of Fear’s teachings, and I personally think that nightmares offer us a chance to examine our inner demons and make peace with them.”

“Any chance you could go into more detail with that? Not that I’m saying you’re wrong or anything, but what makes them so important?”

She continued, “Well, Silver, you fear the Devourers and arachnids, no? Those are common enough fears for many, but what I find interesting is seeing how fears like that can drive a pony. I like to see the positive impacts that their nightmares and fears have on their lives and help them realize that role it plays when they don’t. You could say that I am a devout follower of the Warden of Fear and her teachings on the subject, and you would be correct. I believe we should follow our fears and see where they guide us, like how you created the Oasis because of your fear of the Devourers and a desire to find a place where you could fit in. If those beasts had never existed then you wouldn’t have created that place, correct?”

He nodded his head. “That is correct.”

She smirked, “Well there you go. Your fear fascinates me because it specifically drove you to create a place like that when you might not have before. Now just look at what else you can see with it. Out there in the real world I live in an area that could be seen as a rough neighborhood. It can be a scary place sometimes, a place where you don’t always know if you’ll be safe or not. There’s fear and nightmares all around, but those nightmares are what drive the ponies around me to try and better themselves.”

“And you, Phoenix? I believe you have a similar viewpoint on fear.”

Phoenix nodded, “I used to be afraid of my own shadow, you and Moonlight know that very well. Realizing the effect it had on me and other ponies, like you, showed me that we shouldn’t try and run from our fears. So in my case it’s not nightmares, but rather the fear that makes those nightmares that I think we should learn from.”

“Mhmm, So in two cases we can learn from something we pick up in dreams. And you, Moonlight?”

She slowly nodded “Out in the waking world I’m one of my settlement’s protectors. I explore the dreams around me and make sure that the dreamers aren’t stressing about anything. If they’re worried about something, their dreams give us a safe place to talk and work through it without the fear of having anyone overhearing it. Obviously others can if they’re present with us, but the rules make it clear that they can’t do anything with that information.”

“I see. You’re a big part of your village, and this gives you an avenue to help your fellows and ensure that everything stays confidential. Now, not everyone here is fascinated by fears, worries and nightmares.” He turned towards the white night pony, “Koruk, I believe you have an entirely different viewpoint on what you can use your talents for, please share if you don’t mind.”

The white night pony nodded, “I am what might be known in the world of the waking as a Collector— of many things. Be it objects, artifacts, ideas, cutie marks—”

“You collect cutie marks?” Emily cut in.

Koruk shook his head, “Not in the literal sense. To put this in more standard terms, I am curious about what inspires others, but more importantly what feeds their talents and what they in turn do with them. I travel the world in search of these unique talents so that I may try and understand them better. Cutie marks are an interesting enigma, for in my travels I have found duplicate marks that correspond to different talents.”

“And how do you use dreamwalking to do that?” Silver asked.

“That is how I choose where to go next. The stories heard in the dream realm can spread far and wide, and give me direction on where to seek out these unique ponies. That is how I learned of you after all. It also fosters friendships without the boundaries of language and location, friendships that have brought me to acquire some of my most valued artifacts and make the memories that give them their true value.”

“And that my friend is the most important part of this. The ability to collaborate beyond any distance. Stardust, I believe you have a similar idea in mind with your own talent. Do you mind sharing your story?”

“Sure, I think dreamwalking is an incredibly useful power. Out in the real world I’m a graphic designer; kind of a weird talent for a pony, but I really enjoy it a lot. Dreamwalking lets me share ideas and what I have in mind with my pony clients or associates very easily. Back when I was a human before ETS, I’d have to send proofs back and forth until we got somewhere that we agreed on. With dreams I can just tweak things to their liking in here, and then get to actually working on it out there and save a bunch of time and resources. It’s a cool way to easily collaborate when we could be a few cities or even entire time zones apart.”

Silver nodded again, “I think you can all see where I’m getting at with this. That of course brings us to Emily. Now Emily has a talent for creating vivid dreams that can be shared like the vision, in a sense she took something malevolent and found a benevolent use for it. Now I want you all to imagine a place; no, a classroom where anyone could learn together without having to deal with language and location barriers. A classroom where the important information could be beamed directly into their minds.”

“And where would this classroom be?” Morgana asked with a furrowed brow.

Silver smiled and gestured around at the large panoramic windows, “You’re standing in it, or rather, a part of it. This dream is what I call Somewhere, and it persists even when I’m awake. Not every pony is capable of doing something like this… but then again, you’re not all exactly average everyday ponies, are you?”

Koruk sat up in his seat, “So what you are saying is that we could create our own persistent worlds such as this one?”

Silver shook his head, “No, creating something like this is incredibly difficult and takes some serious meditation and practice, but I do think at least some of you will be able to do it. As for the rest, well you have a drive to help others and that’s just as important, because what’s a classroom without teachers to give it purpose?”

“So you want us to be a bunch of dream teachers.” Emily added in.

Silver nodded, “I like to think of us more as seekers. That is, ponies that want to seek out others like us who have that same drive, the others that want to put their talents to good use but might not know the best way to do it. You six are just the beginning, but there’s so many talented ponies out there and we just need to find them. If we really want to make the world a better place, setting up a hub where we can all collaborate without being tied down to any one place is the way to do it.”

Morgana raised an eyebrow, “And if we’re not in?”

“Then that’s perfectly fine. I’m not saying you have to be a part of any of this, but you all have some real talent that I think could be very valuable if put together like this. All I ask is that you consider doing this, or even simply help train others to do what you can do. We’re not special because of how powerful we might be, what makes someone special is how they choose to use that power. It might be a small start, but you have to start somewhere right?”

Moonlight looked around, “Well I’m in, might as well give it a try.”

Phoenix looked over towards her and nodded, “You already know my answer.”

Silver nodded and turned towards Morgana next, “And you?”

“A chance to guide others with the teachings of the warden of fear? You can count me in!” She responded with a confident smile.

“Koruk?”

He raised his hoof up towards his chin, as if to imply he was deep in thought. “So Mr. Eclipse… I’ve done a fair bit of research on you, and it just seems… a little shady that a pony that wants to change the world as you do would befriend such a prominent Shimmerist, especially after the stormy retribution that was enacted against your Oasis—”

Silver quickly turned around, cutting off Koruk with a rare show of aggression, “We’re not friends, and I’m not a shimmerist!” He quickly flashed an embarrassed look and composed himself, “I apologize for that outburst, what I meant to say is at best we’re business associates and nothing more. Shimmerism is far too speciest for my liking, and the way she handled the aftermath of that storm incident was little more than a quick assurance that the ones responsible weren’t acting under her orders and a promise that they were let go. Not exactly reassuring, but the fact of the matter is that she gave us some important funding and resources when we were just barely getting off our hooves, and as much as I’d prefer to cut ties with her altogether, my group can’t really afford to right now, we’re branching away though, and hopefully a few years down the line we’ll be self sufficient enough to meet our own goals the way we want to.”

The white night pony slowly nodded, “I apologize if you took that as an insult, it’s just that my own curiosity drove me to research more about you after our initial meeting. It’s not often that I’ve been approached in a dream and offered the chance to assist with something that could change the world. If it’s any consolation, this has cleared up my concern. I would very much be interested in seeing what you have in mind.”

“It’s all good, sorry again for snapping at you, our partnership isn’t really common knowledge and by the time you really delve into the rabbit hole it all understandably looks very suspicious. I wish I could explain more, but I’d be putting my whole operation at risk if I did, I hope you can understand.”

Koruk nodded, “I believe you Mr. Eclipse, I’m not exactly one to talk. Given my personal interests and the life that I’ve chosen to live, many simply write me off as some weird hoarder or fanatic.”

Silver nodded, “Well I’m glad we’re on the same page then. I hope we’ll learn from each other in that regard.” He turned towards towards Stardust, “And you?”

The night pony perked up, “Hm? Oh, yeah I’m in. Really seems like an interesting plan.”

Silver smiled and returned a nod, turning toward Emily, who cleared her throat and began her own reply before he even had a chance to ask. “I’ll wait to see what you actually want to do before I commit to anything.”

Silver nodded, “Absolutely, I just ask that you at least consider it, tag along with us if you want, and if and when you’re ready, you're more than welcome to be a part of the team.” The music began to pick up again, “Now, as for the rest of you, I know some of you are already familiar with this place, but I’d love to show you around again. I’ve been making a few changes here and there and there’s a lot to see.”

Morgana looked around at the panoramic windows, “Well where exactly do we start? This whole place doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well you’re absolutely right, none of it does.” Silver walked over towards a bland looking wall and drew a glowing outline of a door on it, stepping aside, “This will answer all of your questions I hope.”

Morgana stared at the wall in confusion for a few minutes, “I don’t get it. Is this some kind of practical joke?”

Silver shook his head, “I guess I forgot the most important part, please knock on the door three times.”

Morgana rolled her eyes, “you’re not serious are you?”

Silver nodded, “Completely. Please, humor me. Try and remember that this is a dream, it doesn’t need to be serious.”

With a sigh, she knocked on the door and waited for a few long minutes. Just as she was about to retort with a sarcastic response the locale suddenly shifted to a scene that could be best described as a bland hallway at some boring therapists office.

Silver cleared his throat and gestured towards the far end of the hall, “Aha, here we are, please follow me to my office, it’s just down at the end of the hallway.” Silver began to walk forward, passing a normal looking fish tank on his way. The rest of the group began to slowly follow his lead, pausing as they passed the tank. As if on cue, the fish in the tank suddenly swam right through the glass and into the dimly glowing blue floor below, earning a few surprised gasps and looks. Silver turned back towards the group and let out a small chuckle, “You guys coming? My office is just ahead, there’s so much more that I want to show you all, and only so much time to do it so the longer we wait, the less you’ll get to see.”

Morgana looked over to the now empty tank and then back towards Silver, “I don’t get it, why not just be direct about this? Why make a building that doesn’t make any sense? You said this would explain everything but it’s only given me more questions than answers.”

Silver smiled as the fish continued to swim along the floor, “Well my inquisitive little friend, if it’s not plain enough to see, I find that my imagination works the best when it’s set free. We’re in a dream right? This place can be anything I want it to be, any place too. Which works especially well for what I have planned, so why not let my imagination run wild?”

She shook her head and pressed forward, following Silver into his office with the rest of the group in tow. “It just doesn’t make sense though. If you’re trying to teach others why don’t you just set up a dream that feels more realistic? Surely that would be a better way to do this?”

Silver stepped behind his large desk and looked out at the bay below, “I know that this doesn’t make a lot of sense right now, but the real world is so bland and boring at times, why try and emulate it here? We have a chance to use our talents to change the world, so why not make use of them in a creative way? You six are just the start, a sort of trial if you will. So right now all I ask is that you look at this place with an open mind and see what kind of dream we can make, together…”

Morgana nodded, “I’ll try. I want to believe in it, but it’s a lot to take in.”

Silver smiled, “Of course, and that’s why we’re starting small, working on the broader details first. All of you have your own special talents, and I know you want to use them to the best of your abilities. Coming together and working as a team to do something amazing is just one way to do that, and I hope that someday we’ll find even more ways to work together, just imagine the possibilities if we can make the first real school where anyone can interact together from anywhere in the world? Sure we can do this online already, but this is so much more than some online classroom, it’s a chance to come together regardless of our own backgrounds and do something really special.”

“Do you think we can really change the world like you’re suggesting… Mr Eclipse?”

Silver turned his head towards Koruk, “Of course I do, I wouldn’t have even considered teaching others how to do something like this if I didn’t.”

The white night pony smiled, “Well then, we better get started.”

With a silent nod Silver brought his group out onto the balcony and began to give them the grand tour, constructing different areas suited to each of their own unique talents and dispositions as they went along. This dream wouldn’t be something that he’d finish in a day, or maybe even many years, but it was something that he could personally work towards with his new friends, and he couldn’t wait to show them everything.

Epilogue: A Dreamer Seeking Dreamers…

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Silver paced around his office in Somewhere, musing over the many thoughts that ran through his head. In contrast to the first meeting with his newly formed group just a few days ago, he was all alone today, which would normally inspire him to go run off on some adventure or make some cozy scene for him and Scarlet, but not today. Today he was laying out the fundamental plan for his group going forward, and that was a task that he held in very high importance. Still though, a lingering shadow of a presence could be faintly felt. He wasn’t sure if it was just some residual part of his subconscious manifesting itself in this subconscious dream, or whether it was a warden… or perhaps even something unknown that he had yet to learn. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter much to him, and as long as it didn’t pose any threat or distraction he was fine letting it persist.

Bringing people together and sharing a world of collected knowledge, talents, inspirations, and so much more wouldn’t be easy, but that’s why he had chosen the ponies he had chosen. They all had widely clashing personalities and beliefs, but much like the Dreamwardens, his pupils had talents, viewpoints, and skills unique to them that would make the group greater than the sum of its parts. Fostering and shepherding that group would be the hard part though, but this vision was something Silver had spent so much of the last two years building up towards, and it was a dream that he was not ready to give up on anytime soon.

As he wandered over to the large window that overlooked the bay below, a calmly soothing voice spoke out from behind him. “You have a wonderful ability to create such detailed scenes.”

He hesitantly turned towards the source of the voice, marveling at the strange dragon like creature that had materialized in the center of the room. He cocked his head to one side in confusion “I’m sorry but are… Are you one of the wardens?” He paused for a few moments, thinking this over. “No… no, you’re something else aren’t you? Have we met before or something? I can’t help but feel like I know you from somewhere…”

She smiled and shook her head. “I am certainly not one of them and we have not met, though I have been keeping an eye on you for some time now.”

He was taken aback by surprise as a fleeting sense of realization passed through him. While he hadn’t seen this… creature before, he had absolutely felt their presence lately, and the unknown only gave him more reason to question who they were. “You’re the lingering phantom I see in my dreams every now and again then, aren’t you?”

“Indeed, I have visited your dreams often as of late.”

“Mhmm,” he slowly nodded. “So what are you here for…” He paused for a moment, flashing an embarrassed look. He stood up and walked over to greet the creature. “I’m sorry, how rude of me. I’m Silver Eclipse, and you are?”

She smiled warmly, as if to ease his confusion. “While I long for the day when I might hear my name spoken aloud again, it is far simpler if you merely acknowledge me by Triss.”

He slowly nodded his head again. “Nice to meet you then… Triss. Feel free to make yourself comfortable here.” He gestured towards one of the chairs by his desk. “So uh… to what do I owe the pleasure? You’re not just a normal dreamwalker and you’re definitely not a dream… are you an angel or ghost or something?”

Triss hesitated, meeting him with an unreadable expression. “You know of the Equestrian princesses, the Alicorns, I am… this reality’s only remaining one, though I am not a pony as you can likely tell. As for why I am here, I have been watching you for some time now, I believe you have the potential to accomplish tasks far above what you have done so far.”

He idly inspected one of the many shelves that surrounded them, nodding his head and turning back towards her. “If you don’t mind me asking then, what do you mean by potential?”

She hesitantly sat down in one of the offered chairs, shaking her head in response to his question. “I’m here to get a sense of who you are. You spent a considerable amount of time to create this dreamscape, please tell me about what inspired you to shape it?”

He shrugged and smiled, taking his seat behind his desk. “No one’s ever really asked about this much before. But to answer your question, I guess it’s a sort of representation of my subconscious. That’s apparently what this dream actually is; and that’s why there’s so many abruptly different things around here. Each one tied into a deeper part of who I am, I guess.”

“Oh?” She raised a brow. “Could you elaborate?”

He nodded. “It’s stuff I like or stuff that’s close to me. You know, stuff like some of the stories I’ve read, the places I wish I could be, and places inspired by my encounters out in the waking world,” He swiveled his chair around, warping them both out onto the balcony, “That submarine down there for example; I’ve always loved the ocean and that was one of the first things I started building here after making my wife’s cabin,” The two were suddenly standing in the Nautilus’ Grand Salon, “In this case I was inspired by one of my favorite books, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I guess I always found a certain sense of peace from having a little world to myself under the sea.”

“I see. And what about being under water soothes you? Do you wish to hide away from the world?”

“It’s really the opposite honestly. There’s always so much on my mind, you know? The world’s such a hectic place sometimes, in comparison, the ocean is a tranquil place away from it all, a place where I can just sit and reflect on everything and not have to worry about the world out there for a little while.”

Her questioning continued. “So you feel helpless at times? That you want to do more but find that you can not?”

He quickly looked up at her and nodded his head. “That’s exactly how I feel sometimes. Not all the time mind you, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like I’m just trying to make up a greater purpose for my magic.”

“Why would you feel that way?” She continued. “Do you feel like your magic has some greater purpose?”

Silver shrugged. “Sometimes maybe? I know I’m not the strongest night pony in the world, but I can do a lot of things that others can’t… and I guess a part of me wonders why? Like am I supposed to be special or something? Is there some reason why I’m able to craft dreams the way I do?.. it’s all stuff like that I guess.”

“I see.” She nodded. “Why don’t you tell me a little more, about this place— about your dreams. I can tell that you really do care about the world around you and I am curious at what motivates you.”

Their perspectives shifted once more, giving a beautiful overhead view of the Island, “Well I guess I can start with the beginning. You asked what inspires me to make dreams like this, I guess I never really thought much about it before. When we all first… well transformed I learned that with practice you could craft your own dreams. It wasn’t easy at first, but it was something I could work on. It was originally something I could distract myself with, something I could do to keep my mind off of what was troubling me at the time but it quickly spiraled into this grand place once I figured out how to make things stick around after I had awoken.”

“Was it merely things that you feared? Or something else entirely?”

They were suddenly back in the Grand Salon, the room seeming to darken a little as he thought back to those days. “Well, it was more than just my fears. It was unease, anxiety... the kind of stuff that makes you feel like you’re helpless in the world. At the time I felt helpless. I had just had my entire body changed into something completely alien to me. I didn’t really know any other ponies, and until I met my wife I didn’t really have a ton of close friends.”

“And I am assuming you found some after meeting your partner?”

Silver nodded. “I found a whole lot more. Once I met Scarlet everything changed. We visited dreams more, we met other talented ponies, and in a way I feel like I found a family. We had some ups and downs, but in the end everything worked out and meeting those friends and seeing what they could do— what we could do together, made it feel like anything was possible. Maybe we’re not super strong ponies like Wild Growth or Sapphire Sky, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a change in the world either.”

“That is very noble of you, young Silver. Being the change you wish to see in the world is not an easy path when one wishes to see grand change.”

“It’s not just me. It’s my friends, the people that live in the Oasis, and even my students in here. That’s what this is all about— it’s a chance to try and show the world what’s possible if we all try and make a difference together. Some would call it a fool’s dream, I call it optimism.”

She pressed on further. “Do you ever feel that you could be doing more?”

He considered this for a moment. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know. There’s lots I’m doing right now, but is there more I could be doing? Do I even need to do more?” He paused. “Is… is that why you’re here?”

She nodded. “It is a reason, yes. Though I had hoped not to weigh our first meeting down with such a difficult subject.”

“But the cat’s out of the bag now isn’t it?”

“I am not familiar with what that idiom means.”

“It means that something secret is now known.”

She looked away for a moment with a smile on her scaly face. “That tale you mentioned earlier, it has been so long since I have been able to read a story, tell me, was a cat let out of the bag in it?”

Silver was confused by the sudden change in topic, but didn’t press it further. Instead he sat up in his chair as the two were returned to the Nautilus, “That’s… That’s just an expression, so not literally. It’s basically a fantastic story about three humans who hunt what they think is a sea monster and wind up getting lost at sea after they are shipwrecked and saved by the mysterious Captain Nemo. He and his crew roam the ocean in the Nautilus, but because no one can ever learn of the Nautilus, they are his prisoners. At first it seems like they’re in pursuit of their own scientific knowledge, but then he shows a more vicious side, sinking ships in an act of revenge against the world that he believes has wronged him.”

“Is his reason for vengeance a just one? The ones he hurts deserving?” She asked with both concern and curiosity in her voice.

“It’s… kind of tricky. You see, Nemo believes his cause is just, but he was misguided, overcome by grief after losing his family and home. He’s not a complete monster in the story, at times he even grieves for enemy sailors. He’s neither good nor evil.”

“I fear that there is nuance lost in this summary.”

Silver looked off into the distance. “I wish it was possible to share these with you, there’s probably so many different stories that you’ve never even had the chance to hear about, and they’re all just so interesting to read.” He seemed a little sad at this thought. “Humans have been sharing stories around the fire for so many centuries now. Some that tell tales about legends, and others that touch on stuff that seemed out of their world. Stories about trips to the moon, aliens invading the earth, invisible men, time travel, monsters, legends, impossible odysseys… so many that might seem impossible, some that are now all too real after ETS. But a lot of them also share good lessons that we can learn from. That’s why I always liked them and why I want to bring people together in dreams. I guess in a way that’s like the modern day version of us sharing a story around a fire.”

A dark shadow passed over the room as a shape flew past the portholes, and Silver felt the presence of a Dreamwarden manifesting in his dreamscape.

Triss seemed to glance at the porthole with a look of annoyance

Silver’s face briefly shifted into a look of concern, quickly changing into a cautious smile, “Well it appears you’re not my only guest today, Triss,” he remarked before a heavy metallic clang resounded against the closed door to the room. “Come in friend,” he called out.

The door unlocked itself and swung open but the large shaggy furred form beyond was too big to fit. There was a snort and then the Dreamwarden shrunk in stature just enough until the minotaur form that could only be Tikhiy Krik ambled through carrying a trident. With a few heavy steps he came in to sit down before resuming his previous size to almost have his head reach the ceiling.

Silver smiled as he stood up, extending a hoof out in a warm greeting, “Well this sure is a pleasant surprise, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you yet. Welcome to Somewhere. Please, do make yourself comfortable. If there’s anything I can do to make your stay more… hospitable, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Krik regarded him with an unreadable expression before looking to the left where one wall had been replaced by a field of stars that shifted to spell out a sentence. Forgive me for intruding upon your dream.

“Oh hey it’s no trouble at all, you know that you’re all always welcome here. I’m not normally this popular in dreams, so I take it this isn’t some personal visit? If you’re wondering how this all works I’d be more than happy to share, I know you probably haven’t encountered too many perpetual dreams.”

It is not about that, Triss knows she is not welcome in the dream realm to conduct her business. She is here to manipulate you for her own ends.

Silver raised a pensive eyebrow. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but we were just having a nice conversation about old stories, you know, the books I like to read. That kind of stuff. I appreciate the concern though, I truly do.”

The Warden didn’t stir or change his expression, but Silver felt comfortable enough in his presence to talk to him as a friend rather than someone he was afraid of— and he couldn’t say that about some of the wardens.

Her nice conversation is a pretext to offers of ascension. I do not mean this as an insult to you but she is reckless and desperate to force others into the same curse of immortality as her.

He glanced back over to the dragon-like creature. “Ascension? What’s the deal with that, Triss?”

She nodded. “I recognize your potential and hope that I can help worthy ponies ascend with their eyes open to all the risks and rewards of doing so.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And just what are the risks and rewards?” He looked back to the Minotaur. “I’m not agreeing to anything. I’m just curious about what exactly she’s trying to offer, please let me hear her out.”

I will only force her from the dream if you request it, but know that nothing has ever bound her to the truth. Be wary of her silver tongue.

“That may be, but I’m also the one in charge of making my own life decisions, having power that’s far beyond any earthly comprehension is an extremely scary thought, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about what she’s offering and why she’s offering it.”

She spoke up with a resigned tone to her voice. “I’m sorry, Silver. But I don’t think I’ll be able to properly explain with this one looming over us. He already knew we were talking without manifesting a form. So this is just cheap intimidation.”

Silver looked down. “I… I understand. I do wish I could hear more about it though, even if I’m not necessarily fully on board with the idea. I know what he says is true and that you’re not obligated to tell me the truth, but this is kind of like the cliffhanger to a good story. It just builds up all of the interest and leaves you hanging there.”

Triss gave Krik a dark glance before favoring him with a smile. “Sometimes, as another once told me, waiting is part of the story. I’m sure we will see each other again before long.”

“Hopefully it’s not too long.” Silver said with a smile, feeling as if he recognized those words from somewhere.

“Then farewell Silver Eclipse, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours.”

Triss faded away as she left, leaving Silver and the warden alone once more.

He turned towards the towering minotaur as the two were suddenly transported to the peak of the smoking volcano, “Sorry if I seem a little annoyed, I’m sure you can understand that it’s frustrating when someone brings information like this up and leaves you hanging.” He stood up and walked over to the dreamwarden, extending a hoof out in greeting. “You know, it’s been far too long since I’ve had so much company here, let alone two unfathomably powerful beings, we should really do this more often. Please do give my regards to the others, it’s been genuinely nice to see one of you on better terms again. I do hope we’ll meet again under better circumstances someday.”

Krik looked at him and nodded, fading away and leaving Silver alone once more. He smirked and signed goodbye to the now vacant floor space, lowering his hoof back down. “Alright, nice seeing you too. Take care Krik.”

Silver didn’t know what to make of the encounter or the cryptic talk of ascension and cosmic beings… but one thing was for sure…

There was a bigger adventure waiting for him up ahead whether he was ready for it or not.

Ponies on Earth and their New Horizons

by TikiBat

Chapter 1: A Refreshing Winter Getaway

Chapter 2: Up, Up, and Away

Chapter 3: Chilling in Cooler Climates

Chapter 4: Picture if You Will

Chapter 5: Daddy's Little Demon

Chapter 6: Magic Journeys

Chapter 7: Beyond the Stars

Chapter 8: Star Struck

Chapter 9: Settling In

Chapter 10: Reflections of Equestria

Chapter 11: Raising a Foal Is a Lot Trickier Than It Looks…

Chapter 12: Two Worlds, One Story

Chapter 13: Back to the Old Grind

Chapter 14: Workplace Monotony

Chapter 15: Family Business (Trips)

Chapter 16: Poolside Bonding

Chapter 17: Making Magical Memories

Chapter 18: Uneasy Dealings

Chapter 19: The Start of Something Grand

Chapter 20: The Dream Seekers

Epilogue: A Dreamer Seeking Dreamers…