“Dude, we shouldn’t have gotten so wasted at the festival.”

“Yeah, but it was, like, totally worth it.”

Quite a few of the students looked rather hungover, but they had no way of sneaking off from their posts in the exhibition areas, all of the sections were jammed with curious faces who wanted to have things explained.

And Scootaloo was smack in the middle. Like many other onlookers, she was enchanted by the bizarre assembly of greenery, her eyes huge, like those of the colourful fish floating around in the tank.

“It’s called Hydroponics,” the mare from the Institute of Alternative Botany said, “a symbiotic mix of plants is settled in absence of soil, we grow them on a bed of soft polyurethane foam, and they receive sustenance from water enriched with nutrient minerals. We deliver these nutrients simply from the waste of specifically cultivated fish, who live in the water tanks beneath the growing frame. We only need to feed the fish the nutrients they can’t get from the remains of the plants, but otherwise, the system is self-sustaining.”

The juicy green plants grew their roots through the foam and boldly dipped them into the clear water, and the fish happily swam between them and cleaned their scales against them, and nibbled on dead branches. A fully contained system of life. So simple, yet so useful, and ponies had made it their own. There was something humbling about the thought. “And why would you do this?” somepony said.

“Well, do you see much soil around here?” the botanist said, “All the soil that we have in Skyview, had to be painstakingly dredged up from below, and you can’t get more returns by just dumping more soil on top of it. But I can tell you what Skyview does have, and that’s space, lots of it, and rainwater. We’re aiming to get most the cloud homes to use hydroponics to grow their own food, and though we’ve still got many issues to solve, such as the infeasibility of large-scale monoculture, we’ve got big plans to expand in the future.”

Fluttershy admired the clever construction too, but was soon dragged on by an overexcited Scootaloo. The university had so many faculties and institutes and projects and ponies on the exhibition floor. She just had to see them all!

The ecologists’ area was topped off by a showing of farming equipment. Granted, it was fancy equipment, shovels, spades, scythes, flails, carts and wagons, all constructed from single cast pieces of neatly polished metal alloys, lightweight and easily portable, and obviously not meant for the rugged earth and stone of ground soil. But still.

“I don’t get it. It’s just a plow,” Scootaloo said, “why is everypony fawning over it like that?”

“I don’t think the ponies living in Skyview have much experience with plows,” Fluttershy said, “they live in the clouds after all, so why would they need them? Besides, it’s quite a pretty plow, isn’t it?”

“Hm, I guess that makes sense,” Scootaloo said.

The plow indeed had a unique aesthetic, its long, elegant supports gleaming with the same polish as its curved blades. It was broad, seemingly able to glide across the soft soil, ready to be pulled by multiple ponies with wingspan, and --

“Whoa,” Scootaloo said as she was swept off her hooves.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Fluttershy teased, lifting Scootaloo up and placing her on the perch.

“Yes, it’s pretty, it’s pretty,” Scootaloo giggled, and she found herself unable to stop laughing from the unexpected turn of events. She now sat a good bit higher than the general crowd, and many ponies looked up, and regarded fondly the happy colts and fillies climbing around playfully on the farming equipment, and - yes! - Scootaloo was just the same, earning adoring smiles as she sat on the big machine, giggling and kicking her legs and crinkling and wagging her tail.

“But who’s gonna pull me now?” Scootaloo said.

“Well, I could pull you,” Fluttershy said, ”but I don’t think the university would be too happy if we started planting fields in their pretty floor.” She winked, and Scootaloo laughed and laughed.

It was so cool to have Fluttershy by her side. Fluttershy always knew what to say, and, Scootaloo was only beginning to realize, Fluttershy always made the best of every moment. She had sparked Scootaloo’s enthusiasm without her even noticing. Scootaloo’s initial trepidation of coming here seemed so distant now. How silly! What reason would she have not to learn about all these awesome things?

And so, Scootaloo toddled on through the exhibition, and Fluttershy followed close by, never directly telling her where to go, but still making sure they wound up in the right places.

There was a huge model of Skyview, made by some students of architecture. It looked kind of like a stack of three spinning tops, but the amount of detail was incredible, all of the tiny structures were there, the harbour, and the elevator, and the ruins, and the colosseum, and, amazingly, they all were to scale. They even had tiny wooden ponies dangling from the clouds!

All manners of unbelievable arcane inventions were on display. They had enchantments that would make your clothing impervious to extreme heat - the demonstrating student didn’t fear the huge flame at all! And there were magic wands so amazingly small that they could fit in your pockets, yet they cast cinders and sparks and magelights, just like the real deal.

And a crystal that captured the shapes in the room with a bright flash - you could look at a rough outline of yourself from every angle in the tiny thing. And shield spells on wheels, and potions that made you glow, and books that repeated what you said. And lightning in glass spheres, and chemicals changing colours, and a cackling maniac slicing through lumber with a huge, air pressure-driven circular saw.

And some of the inventions were thoroughly polished, but many looked like they were hastily cobbled together, yet they worked perfectly well, the students who had invented them proudly standing aside and explaining how they worked. And the words they used were so simple, so logical, they just made sense. Most of the inventions were basic, so obvious, how had nopony else thought of them before? Scootaloo could walk up to things and touch them, and everypony was enthusiastic to appraise and discuss. It all felt so practical and, ironically, down to earth.

One station in particular caught Scootaloo’s attention. It was a wide table, labelled Institute of Material Sciences, and it was occupied by a material scientist, a loud stallion with a penetrating laugh, who in detail, and accompanied by bad jokes, explained the various objects made of, and pieces of, advanced materials on display.

There was a cutting knife that floated on water, a piece of insulating material that was cold on one side and warm on the other, glowing staplers, punchers, and other office supplies, as well as various household items.

At present, the loud stallion talked about a piece of reinforced fabric. “This right here, fillies and gentlecolts, is the future of lightweight protective gear. No other flexifoam technology can be worn as regular clothing, yet still be relied upon for lifting weights and weathering impacts, because it is soft and flexible at the regular, but becomes hard and durable under stress. Try taking that out of context!” The older ponies in the crowd laughed.

The joker slapped the piece of fabric against the table. It produced a solid knock, like wood against wood. “See? Not a dent, neither in the foam, nor in the table. Just a simple carbon-polymer compound, and a teensy bit of magic, and you have the makings to revolutionize airship design, military applications, and frat house initiation ceremonies.” It was the students who laughed this time.

“Excuse me,” Scootaloo said, “but what’s this?”

“Oh, but I believe you know exactly what that is, my little filly,” the stallion said, “because every mommy and daddy in Equestria knows what it is, and greatly appreciates it too when it’s needed. Well, except immediately after it’s been needed. Believe me, I’ve had three foals, I know what I’m talking about.” The parents in the crowd laughed.

He picked up the diaper and showed its pretty white inside. The diaper was much smaller than Scootaloo’s, but the lovely sight still transfixed Scootaloo like little else. “Yes, but why is it here?” she said.

“Now that’s a good question,” the stallion said, “allow me to demonstrate.” He tore it open and plucked out a bit of the diaper’s fluffy inner pulp - how macabre! - and then he held the piece above a little dish and began rubbing it between his hooves, until a bit of dust peppered out. “Can you tell me what this is?”

“This powdery stuff?” Scootaloo said, “Looks like salt.”

“This, my little pony, is the very essence of a diaper,” the stallion said, and then he carefully brought over a topped off glass of water, and dumped the entire glass onto the tiny bit of powder.

“Hey, why did you drown the powder?” Scootaloo said.

“It is called a Superabsorbent Polymer, and it’s what makes the diaper work,” he said, “they are made from compounds of specific substances containing sodium hydroxide, forming a poly-acrylic acid sodium salt polymer. Due to its specific structure, this polymer can bond with the hydrogen atoms of water in extreme amounts, allowing it absorb five hundred times its own weight in water. Yes! You heard that right! Five hundred!”

And Scootaloo wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. From the water in the dish rose a translucent, gelatinous clump, dwarfing the amount of water as it grew bigger and bigger, and the liquid became less and less, as the increasingly solidifying superabsorbent polymers soaked it all up. In fact, when the water was gone, the surface of the polymer clump became matte. Scootaloo touched it, it felt like something between jelly and soft rubber, but shockingly, the surface was completely dry!

“I can’t believe it!” Scootaloo said.

“You had better believe it,” the stallion hooted, “for you can see why the modern diaper has taken modern parenting by storm. Take a bit of the superabsorbent polymers, mix them with some soft plant fibres, and you’ve got a comfortable piece of clothing, that’s ready to perform its duty, when duty calls. Haha!”

Scootaloo paid no more attention to what he said. Such a fascinating piece of chemical engineering! Such a small amount of the tiny particles, and they had soaked up all of that water. It was ingenious! And if that’s what a pinch of the stuff could do, just what was an entire diaper full of it capable of? Scootaloo suddenly felt humbled by the ingenuity of it all, and was keenly aware of the colossal amounts of absorbency that rested within the soft, snuggly pillow underneath her tail.

“It really is something,” Scootaloo said to Fluttershy afterwards, “ponies take these things for granted, as if it were totally unremarkable, but there’s so much genius behind it!”

“Yes, it was very interesting to see how a diaper works,” Fluttershy said, “but it’s also a nice invention that’s good for everypony. Diapers are beneficial to a foal’s health after all, and they keep them safe and comfortable, so why wouldn’t you use them? Oh, speaking of which ...”

“Um,” Scootaloo managed to say. As a natural part of the conversation, Fluttershy stepped around her, lifted her skirt and gently prodded her rear with a hoof.

Everypony could see. Scootaloo had to stand still, and pretend she didn’t care about what Fluttershy was doing back there, so it would seem like an everyday thing and nopony would get suspicious. Not that anypony was paying attention anyway, every pony who walked by was much too preoccupied with the flashy showcases to notice something so ordinary as Fluttershy checking the state of her little filly’s pants. But still. Better hold still, and be safe than sorry.

But Scootaloo’s underwear was still fluffy and dry, and so Fluttershy deemed its state acceptable. She pulled the skirt back down and stroked it smooth with her hoof, and the ordeal was finalized with a light smooch on Scootaloo’s cheek. Awesome! The excursion could continue.

More aerospace and aeronautiacal technologies followed, since that was the title of the faculty which had taken up post at the far end of the exhibition hall. Navigation devices seemed very important, they were present at almost every booth, and in all kinds of shapes and forms, compasses and magical directional trackers, star charts in wooden frames with adjustable grids and constellations, various indicators of weather and environmental conditions, and so on. The sky maps were one of the most complicated things Scootaloo had ever seen, they were just endless drawings of lines and curves and circles and crosses, and the ponies reading them pushed around transparent plates with more lines and curves and circles and crosses on them.

“You see,” somepony explained, “you can track the projected path of the city, or any skyborne object with known initial position and trajectories, using the bow here.” One of the sliders. “Line it up with the markers you have placed on the map, and then rotate it until this line crosses the calendar date, which will indicate the area and elevation the object will be at any given time from now until then. You can use the first and the second,” two more plates, “to account for obstacles, weather and environmental conditions, which in turn you should be equipped to track with another bow ...” He had an entire box of them.

Scootaloo didn’t understand a single thing, but the neat shapes and inscriptions on the table sure looked fascinating. Learning to navigate was hard, especially if the objects and the skyscape were moving all the time. Would Scootaloo have to learn this as well, if she were to become a mate, or a captain, on an airship? It would be so funny if it was her, standing over that map and reading it, and somepony else was looking on and didn’t understand a thing.

They also had lots of airborne vehicles and machinery, the most simple of pegasus chariots, carts and wagons and coaches, lightweight bags and jackets and travelling gear, small boats and dirigibles, an incredibly complicated steam-powered propeller engine cleanly cut in half (Did the guy with the circular saw do that?), diagrams and pictures of gyrocopters, blimps, and even a massive cruiser, which already looked impressive in image, though they couldn’t bring in the original for obvious reasons.

Lots of magic was involved as well, including various weatherproof materials, enchanted communications devices, potions and tonics for endurance, heightened senses, speed and high altitudes, permanent clouds, plenty of weather spells on scrolls and wands, and so on.

Just as Scootaloo was starting to grow tired, something curious caught her attention. It was a mannequin stuck into an absurd dress, seemingly out of some kind of rubber, and each front hoof was connected with the back hoof on the same side by a drape adorned with long, shiny lamellae.

“What is that thing?” Scootaloo said.

“That looks like feathers,” Fluttershy said, “maybe some kind of wingsuit?”

“A wingsuit?” Scootaloo said, but, yes, it made sense! The gills were neatly placed on top of each other, just like feathers, and the suit appeared to react to movements of air in the room. In fact, it almost looked like it would fly away if somepony opened the window!

“Fly away ...” Scootaloo gasped, “You mean ponies fly with this? Can I fly with this too?”

To soar through the skies.

“Sorry, kid, it’s not yet finished,” the attendant said, “we can’t legally let anypony attempt to fly with it, and it’s probably better that way too, at least until we got figured out how to control the guidance systems more finely, or the next downdraft is going to send you plummeting with your wings trapped inside.”

“When’s it going to be finished?” Scootaloo said.

“I can’t tell you, because I don’t know,” she said, “but, listen, why don’t you check back in a couple of months? We’re sure to have something new by then.”

“Months?” Scootaloo said, “But I’m only here today ...”

“It’s okay, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, “let’s just wait and see, okay? I’m sure the nice ponies will come up with something good in the end.”

Scootaloo was a bit sad for missing out, but it was only logical, you can’t rush important things like that. And safety should always come first, or you would crash pretty bad. She had learned that lesson, many times. “Okay,” she said.

But still. She would not get a second chance. Maybe. Probably. She couldn’t tell. It felt like she would spoil the moment if she thought about anything but the here and now, so Scootaloo held her chin up, signaled her readiness to Fluttershy, and together they pressed on.

In the far corner, they had an area entirely dedicated to the basics of pegasus magic, the weather, and flight. There was a pegasus feather suspended in the flickering air over a small flame, to demonstrate the concept of updraft. It was familiar, Scootaloo had had many lessons with Rainbow Dash about it.

They also had various objects of differing weights, fabric, metal, wood, crystal, which you could drop from a chute in the table to demonstrate the effects of gravity. And a ball attached to another ball attached to a frame, to show how double pendulum physics works. Visualisations and diagrams about various physical forces, stream lines, the movement of the winds, and pegasus anatomy, flight muscles running around their entire rib cages, and hollow bones responsible for their lessened weight.

And an articulated model of a pegasus wing, that could be twisted and turned to showcase all the control postures needed for pegasus flight. Of course, every pegasus knew these things, at least intuitively, and so the area was mostly occupied by very little fillies and colts, who marveled at the pretty setups and were having a blast with the toys, and Scootaloo.

Probably the least appreciative of being surrounded by a bunch of screaming preschoolers were the two students in charge of the station, who looked like they had been very recently, and possibly still were, rather intoxicated, and were suffering a massive hangover. Presently, the one with the long, disheveled mane attempted to keep his bleary eyes open as he explained a big diagram plate, which showed the internal anatomy of a pegasus wing and its flow behaviour through a couple of swirly drawings.

“And that’s why wings can be, like, fully expanded and retracted to, uh, compact sizes,” he said, “because of the arrangement of the bones along the upper edge, there is the ... uhhhhh ... this bone right here ... it, holds up the bottom of the feathers so they can, like, stack up, and when they do, back there it’s the ... you know, the big feather. It’s angled in a way so the streaming air can make, kinda like, pockets under the wing.”

He kicked his friend, who was presently trying to pull his grimy beanie over his eyes so he could sleep while standing, in the shin. “Ponyfeathers. Dude, you’re doing the next one,” he whispered too loudly, “I’m going for a smoke.”

“Huh wha?” beanie said. But the other was already gone.

“Uh ... okay, so, over here we’ve got, uh, the thing,” he said, perplexed, inspecting the strange installation with the same curiosity as the crowd of little ponies that had followed him over.

It was basically an upright wooden structure behind a glass plate, like a simple maze, a few paths leading to the top. And at the bottom, there lay something Scootaloo immediately recognized. It was a small crystal marble, the abstracted glow of a very familiar enchantment inside.

It was exactly like hers! Just like the enchanted marble she had gotten from Twilight!

“Yeah, so, you’ve got this little thing in there, and, like ... “ beanie said, “I guess it’s pretty, and stuff.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. It was outrageous. How could somepony live surrounded by the most marvellous amazing things, and have not the slightest clue about how they worked?

“And you have, like, these little handles, and you can grab them, and push them inside, uh,” he said, pushing a little plunger in the direction of the marble, which, no surprise, resisted his efforts. The marble stayed still. “What the hay is wrong with this thing? Maybe you have hit it, you know, like a pinball machine.”

“Dude! Come on!” Scootaloo said.

“What?” beanie said, “What am I supposed to do when this thing’s broken.”

Scootaloo stormed forward. “It’s not broken, haybrain,” she said, “you’re just doing it wrong. It’s supposed to showcase pegasus magic! Have you ever heard of hitting a pegasus to make her do what you want her to? Of course not. You have to go at it gently, naturally. Here, look.”

Scootaloo took the plunger just beside the marble, and gently moved it inside, displacing the air in the maze. And lo, the enchantment in the marble immediately reacted, softly moving on the current. Scootaloo pulled her tool in the other direction, and the marble amazingly began to gain height, like a little feather on the wind.

The audience gasped. “How did you do that?” a little filly asked, eyes huge.

“I didn’t do anything,” Scootaloo said, “every pegasus can do this. It’s how flight, and all pegasus magic, works. The magic reacts to the intensity of the air’s movement. It tries to go in the direction opposite to the change, and that’s why developed pegasus wings can carry the full weight of a grown pony. But it also resists the effect of strong changes, like a hard gust of wind, which is great for creating updraft.” Scootaloo yanked on the plunger, but the marble stopped hard and jumped into the air.

“You mean everypony can do this?” a young colt asked.

“Sure, it’s easy,” Scootaloo said, “you can probably move this thing with your wings. You know, every action has an opposite reaction, and stuff.”

She reared up close to the glass, and flapped her wings away from it, and, just like her own marble back at home, the little crystal ball bounced in her direction and stopped in the air, as if weightless.

That was enough to send the crowd into a riot. All of the tiny ponies came rushing toward Scootaloo, and pressed their faces against the glass, and tried to look at the marble from every angle.

“How did she do that?”

“Wow!”

“That’s so cool.”

Everypony without wings grabbed the plungers and tried to move them around to see the effects, and the pegasus ponies flapped their tiny wings and watched the marble bounce around wildly, the little maze exit out of reach and forgotten, simply for the joy of watching the small thing react.

And Scootaloo saw it, as the young colt worked his feathers, his face lighting up, the magic his own body exhibited, amplified, truly felt for the first time. And the ponies moved their wings around consciously, and waved their hooves in the air, it felt so much different! How had they never noticed! And they took to the air and flew around the room, even though they weren’t supposed to fly inside, but the magic of discovery couldn’t be stopped.

“That was a captivating demonstration, my little filly,” an old, stately pony, wearing a fine suit and a hat, said, as he stepped forward from the pack of panicking parents. “And how exactly did you say this worked?”

“They call it the Lombodrik force,” Scootaloo said, “it’s an important part of pegasus magic and gives them their flight. A pegasus’ wings turn irregularities in the air movement into lift and conserve momentum through adverse conditions. Most birds, for example, don’t have that magic, so they need much bigger wings in relation to their body mass.”

“That’s interesting,” the stallion said, “And how do you know all this?”

“Oh, I got such an enchanted marble gifted to me, so I just tried playing around with it,” Scootaloo said, “I also got a book, that’s where I found out about the name. I didn’t really understand the book at all, but it was really fun trying to copy what was written in there in real life. It worked on my scooter, too.”

“Oh? Your scooter, you say?” the stallion said.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, “I needed a better break for my scooter, because I kept crashing, so I put the marble in a little box and bolted it to the scooter. Now I can break with my wings like usual, but it’ll come to a full stop much more quickly. And without tipping over, so that’s a plus.”

“Remarkable,” the stallion said, “and that scooter, do you think you could bring it to me so I might see it?”

“Why do you ask?” Fluttershy stepped in.

“Oh, have I forgotten to introduce myself again,” the old stallion laughed, “my name is Strange Attractor, and I am the dean of the Faculty of Aerospace and Aeronautical Technologies. So pleased to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, mister dean. I am Fluttershy, and this is Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said.

“I was very intrigued by your interest in flight magic mechanics, Scootaloo,” the dean said.

“Do you know a lot about this stuff?” Scootaloo said.

“Oh yes,” the dean laughed, “We use quite a variety of flight-related arcana to make the machines around the city’s core work. Keeping Skyview afloat, as a figure of speech. In fact, I had been thinking about them at the precise moment when you started talking about your own discoveries. Curious, isn’t it? Anyway, that’s why I am keen to see your construction, if you find the chance.”

“Oh, we’d love to bring the scooter here,” Fluttershy said, “but we live quite far away, and we need to focus on finishing up school, first.”

“Ah, but of course,” the dean said, “nothing goes over the simple joy of a good primary education. Very well, I hope you found something interesting at the faculty. Do stop by again if you have the chance.”

“We’ll do our best,” Fluttershy said. The dean went his ways, and Fluttershy and Scootaloo tried to get someplace away from the crowd.

Machines, magic, arcana, materials, wingsuits ... keeping the city afloat. This university really seemed to have its hooves in everything. And the scooter? What was so special about it anyway? Scootaloo had just skimmed through a book she didn’t understand, and tried to copy it, and it had been more or less an accident when it had worked. She had just passed time with it. It was nothing special, right? After all, everypony had just shrugged when she showed it.

Fluttershy and Scootaloo went through a side door, and suddenly were outside, on a sprawling marble balcony under clear sky. Many ponies were out here trying to catch some fresh air. Well, most of them anyway, except for the smokers, who huddled by the door, somepony showing off his tiny magic wand with a little flame dancing at the tip.

The marble was weathered and old, probably ancient, untold stories hidden within its chaotic and swirly textures, yet it seemed impervious to the passage of time, as if one pony could stand on it, or a thousand ponies, it didn’t matter. And that’s probably what had happened, thousands of ponies over hundreds of years.

Fluttershy was about to say something, but she decided to keep still, and leave Scootaloo to her thoughts. To be honest, Scootaloo wasn’t doing much thinking, as they ambled through the open space, she just enjoyed the silence, and listening to the quiet murmurs of the smokers and the skygazers, and the little snips of conversation and stories and raunchy jokes told by students, and the greetings whenever somepony landed on the balcony, and if they had something interesting in their saddlebags.

All these ponies. They were here, living their lives in this wonderful and bizarre city, and have been for a long time, and will do so for a long time still. Everypony was so driven, so focused on doing their thing, and they all huddled together in obviously finite space, and they talked and fought and cooperated and invented and built, and this was the result, all of this, the huge pantheon across the street casting its shadow on them, the city with its streets and houses and food and factories and its endless stream of visitors, merchants, workers, opportunists new residents. All of it, just to continue to make it work, progress, pony ingenuity, invention, creation. Life.

And in some sense, it was like that in all of Equestria, with its metropolises, and railroads, and military and navy fleets, and politics and ambassadors and delegations, and newspapers and schools and hospitals and industries and nations and cultures and species.

Scootaloo had never thought of it like that, but it was like that even in Ponyville. Good old Ponyville. Had Scootaloo had her eyes closed all the time? But there it was. Applebloom, always with some new building or equipment on her farm. Those things were new and fresh! And Sweetie Belle’s magic lessons growing ever more complicated. And Rainbow Dash’s and her team’s weather. And the ponies at school, Diamond Tiara’s voluntary projects, Rumble’s camps, Dinky’s muffins, Zipporwhill, Snips, Snails, Chipcutter, Featherweight, Pipsqueak, Twist; and there were parties, and clothes, and music, and the library, and Wonderbolts, and the clubhouse.

And there was Fluttershy. The stewardess of whatever and whoever lived on all the surrounding lands. How many countless ponies relied on her skills? How much did she really know? How much had she seen in her work? How many problems had she solved? And yet, brimming with all that expert knowledge and experience, she simply stood there, and gently smiled down at Scootaloo, smiled without restraint, unweathered, fresh and bold, at the young and impressionable and inexperienced and untraveled and awkward little filly.

Scootaloo wanted to say something as well. But they were interrupted.

“You left quite the impression on grandpa. A rare sight these days. You must be Scootaloo and Fluttershy.” It was another dapper stallion, but not so old as the dean, and quite well groomed. But his coat’s particular shade of red was immediately familiar.

“Yes?” Fluttershy said.

“Did you just say grandpa?” Scootaloo said.

“Oh, that’s what we call Strange,” he said, and winked, “You know. Every faculty’s gotta have a nickname for their dean. And he’s kinda old, so that’s what stuck. I’m Lane, by the way, Circuit’s father.”

“Nice to meet you,” Fluttershy said, “it’s, uh, impressive that you recognized us.”

“I couldn’t help it,” Lane laughed, “after how much Circuit told me about you guys yesterday. He was pretty excited about hanging out with you, and I think I can see the reason why.” He nodded toward Scootaloo. “Listen, I know it’s a bit late, but can I treat you to lunch at the cafeteria? We could talk a bit.”

“Oh, we wouldn’t want to impose,” Fluttershy said.

“Not at all, grandpa is paying anyway,” he laughed again, “Seriously, faculty staff gets to eat for free, and most of the regulars should be gone by now, so it will be just us.”

They agreed to go for lunch, and Lane took them to the topmost floor of the building. He was a quirky stallion, but Scootaloo recognized, apart from the coat, plenty of Circuit in him, so it wasn’t difficult at all to talk to him casually.

“What’s a dean?” Scootaloo said.

“The dean is the highest scientific instance of a specific academic institution,” Lane said, “so, in theory, the dean gets to have the last word on scientific decisions and in which direction to take the research. That’s rarely what a dean does practically, though. Since it takes so much experience to make scientific decisions, deans are usually quite old, and they’re much better at mentoring existing projects, and reeling in new students, and doing PR, and making sure everypony works to their strengths. Me and Strange Attractor go way back, I used to be his student, but I saw that he was doing more and more organization and less real research, so that’s why I eventually left academia.”

The cafeteria was on the roof of the building. Unsurprisingly, the roof was big enough to hold a small settlement, and there was a settlement indeed, which appeared to be university buildings and dormitories, though their architecture was way modern. And no wonder the buildings were placed up here, the view was fantastic.

“But you still work at the university?” Scootaloo said.

“I hold lectures, yes,” Lane said, “that’s my way of contributing to science, since science would be nothing without the students. Plus, I find that the best ideas spring from conversation with fresh student minds. Aside from that, I usually work at my job at the tail.”

Scootaloo gasped. “The tail! I thought you weren’t supposed to call it that name!”

“Don’t worry,” Lane snickered, “they’ve been calling the weather factory that, ever since it was built. And why not? It’s the most apt name for it after all. Just don’t tell Circuit I called it that. I think he’d get upset.”

The cafeteria wasn’t too empty, but it sure looked like it because of the bare walls, smooth floor and minimalistic furniture. The food smelled good. The grown ups loaded up with awesome salads and hay and cheese, and Fluttershy obtained a cute colourful foal’s plate with soft pasta and tomato sauce for Scootaloo.

“But your weather factory is huge! It’s so much bigger than the one back home,” Scootaloo said.

“Well, yes,” Lane said, “the tail is not just the weather factory, it also consists of other facilities that make up Skyview’s ecological infrastructure. My own work lies with the weather department, but the close proximity to my colleagues’ installations makes all kinds of synergistic arrangements possible. This way we can have sewage treatment work in tandem with rain water harvest and the biochemical recycling plants. A city like Skyview wouldn’t be able to sustain itself when its on the move, for years, or even decades, on end, without these kinds of efficiencies, and that’s why the ecological cycle and waste management are so important to us.”

“Oh, yeah, we saw ponies picking up the trash out on the street,” Scootaloo said, “we thought it was weird. I mean, I get it, you gotta recycle it, but don’t you have anything more worthwhile for those ponies to do?”

Lane blinked, and then he laughed. “You think wrong if you assume trash to be worthless. It’s the other way around! Trash is the most valuable thing we have! We’re sending those ponies out in increasingly more districts because we need those valuables. What we perceive as trash, the things which are spoiled or broken or we don’t have any need for anymore, those contain valuable materials, chemicals, reagents, which must be collected and broken down and recomposed and re-used as different kinds of materials and energies, until those turn into trash again, and so on. It’s the trash cycle! And it makes extremely efficient use of things that are otherwise hard to come by.”

Everypony seemed to be taking their foals to eat here, so there was a lot of noise, but no more free high chairs. So Scootaloo was seated on a regular chair, which made her feel a slight bit more grown up. At least, that was, until Fluttershy started cutting up Scootaloo’s pasta for her.

“That’s why we don’t only have fire and machines to do the recycling for us, because all our chemical and alchemical knowledge amounts to nothing more than a little sandbox in the grand construction of the universe. The real recycling, the production of complex chemicals and reagents, is done by plants, and bacteria, and even animals. Ecosystems! Sludge tanks! Biotopes and processing cultures. Every plastic bottle, every piece of rotten food, every pencil shaving, all of it can be turned back into things that are useful to us, or even valuable, from clean water and soil to complex or organic chemicals and even reagents. Like your little ball of Heptonyx IV that you showed off earlier.”

“Heptonyx IV? So that’s what it’s called?” Scootaloo said, “Because I have one at home just like it.”

“I can’t say for sure, but that’s probably what you have, yes,” Lane said, “there are a couple of reasons why this reagent in its fourth moment is so perfectly suitable for enchantment with flight magic, but to keep it short, the material’s substructure has a very similar shape to the arcane potential patterns of pegasus magic. It means that the enchantment won’t run out for a long time. Ironically, the reagent is notoriously inconvenient to dig up, since it’s plentiful in lands that are otherwise inhospitable. It is said that the historical pegasus cloud cities of ancient times were lost because they travelled too far into such areas.”

Something was poking Scootaloo’s face. She turned her muzzle so the annoyance would go away, but then she realized that it was Fluttershy, trying to feed her.

“Open up, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, “it’s time to get something nice and warm in your tummy.”

Scootaloo wanted to look for ways to protest, but Fluttershy was right, and Scootaloo was hungry, and the pasta was yummy.

“Like in wh--” Scootaloo said, but Fluttershy wiped her face with a napkin.

“Sorry, you had some sauce on your cheek,” Fluttershy said.

“Like the Emerald Escarpment?” Scootaloo said, now fresh and clean.

“How did you know there were valuables there?” Lane said.

“Just a guess,” Scootaloo said, “since everypony’s talking about it. But isn’t that still far away?”

“Well, yes,” Lane said, “the city’s moving at a steady pace of one point six centimetres per second, which will take us there in about fifteen years, barring any weather anomalies. But that’s what we’re hoping to improve. We use flight magic and enchantments for the city’s propulsion and guidance systems, and with more of it, we hope to make some improvements. And that’s where your little scooter project comes in.”

Scootaloo drank from the cup of juice that was held in front of her. After the main course, there were some fresh fruit, which Fluttershy cut up into little pieces that were easier to feed to Scootaloo. Lane smiled fondly at the cutesy antics, and at Scootaloo’s foiled attempts to have a normal conversation. Did all parents find this stuff amusing?

“But what’s my scooter got to do with it?” Scootaloo said.

“Everything,” Lane said, “your construction is quite similar to how we build our greatest technological feats. Well, of course, we don’t exactly throw some enchanted balls into a box and call it a day, but, the principle’s the same, I guess is what I’m trying to say. There’s a reason why the Faculty of Aeronautics is so overrun, we need lots of new research on flight magic.”

“But how does that work?” Scootaloo said, “So many students in your faculty aren’t pegasi, or aren’t even ponies, for that matter. How do you do flight magic when you can’t fly?”

“There’s more to flight magic than just flying, Scootaloo,” Lane said, “and you certainly don’t have to be able to fly to make use of it. Quite the opposite, in fact! We’re always looking for students who aren’t pegasus ponies, or who don’t have wings. The best projects have students from all walks of life, and the best students practice much more than only their special fields. Variety is the key advantage, just like our ecosystems, and our biodiversity, it creates synergies, it cross-pollinates, it adapts.”

“You don’t have to be able to fly ...?” Scootaloo said.

“Most certainly not,” Lane said, “what you achieve depends on you, and not on what you can or can’t do.”

The thought was extortionate, but it made more and more sense, given what Scootaloo had seen. The entire city worked that way, the industry and trade of lower Skyview, the closed ecosystem of the central district, and technological craze of the upper city, all of it required a diversity of knowledge to function, and nopony could slack off, but nopony could be greedy either, or it would all come crashing down. So they made sure that everypony had something to do, and everypony got the opportunity to do something awesome.

“I wish my school was as cool as yours,” Scootaloo said.

“How so?” Lane said, “What’s wrong with school?”

“My school is nothing like this,” Scootaloo said, and Fluttershy stopped feeding her, “it’s all just books and tests and dates and tables. And there are so many assignments. I just can’t make heads nor tails of it. They say every subject is so important, and I’ve been trying to look at all the books, but whenever I’m finished with one assignment, I’m already late for the next. So I just go outside to work on my scooter, or go for a hike, or meet with my friends. But then I’m even more late. And everypony tells me I should stop wasting my time. It just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know where to start with it, or where it ends.”

There. She was talking about school again, even though she hadn’t wanted to spoil the moment. What a dunce Scootaloo was, but she couldn’t help it from spilling out. At least Fluttershy showed some compassion, touching Scootaloo softly on the side to signal her presence. But Lane remained unfazed, and just put his cutlery down calmly.

“Scootaloo,” Lane said, “what is school?”

“Huh?” Scootaloo said, “School is ... a place where you go and they teach you stuff. Right?”

“Wrong,” Lane said.

“Why?” Scootaloo said.

“Because nopony can teach you stuff, ever, except for yourself,” Lane stated, “sure, they can show you stuff, or they can explain stuff to you, but only you can truly know how and why you learn, so learning is solely your own responsibility. All that a school can do is give you opportunities, and throw stuff at you to see what works. And if some subjects don’t work out? Hey, that’s fine, that’s what we’re here to find out. And if somepony’s giving you a hard time? Well, screw them!”

“Lane!” Fluttershy gasped.

“I’m sorry for the language,” he held his hooves up apologetically, “But it’s true. You shouldn’t treat school like school, Scootaloo. You should treat school more like a playground.”

“What?” Scootaloo said.

“You can do whatever you want,” Lane said, “you can try out everything, as crazy as it might seem, without fearing the risk of dangerous consequences. And not only that, they’ll tell you what works and what doesn’t work, and you get valuable feedback and pointers, and all of it for free! How cool is that? Seize the moment as it comes, Scootaloo, because before you know it, it’ll be over, and you’ll come out the other side looking back on what you’ve learned.”

“That makes no sense!” Scootaloo said.

“It’ll make sense, in time,” Lane said, and gave Fluttershy a wink, “believe me, I’ve had this conversation with all of my kids. All it takes is a little motivation to kickstart a budding young mind.”

“That’s right, I suppose,” Fluttershy said, “well, thank you for the interesting conversation anyway. I believe we, learned, a lot.”

“Don’t mention it,” Lane said as he stood, “I’m happy to help. I hope you’ll find the chance to visit again. I think Circuit quite enjoyed Scootaloo’s company.”

“It could be a while,” Fluttershy said, “we need to head back home soon.”

“That’s fine. In any case, you know where to find me. You have friends in Skyview.”

They said their goodbyes and Lane left. Scootaloo and Fluttershy sat for a bit longer.