Dashed Dots slowly blinked awake as the golden glow of magical sunlight came in through her window. She pulled her covers off, slid out onto the floor, and yawned a bit. She walked to her window, eyes widening a bit as she saw the sight outside. She gasped a bit in excitement, quickly trotting out of her room and down the stairs.

"You're in a hurry this morning," Chuckled the filly's father as she raced down the stairs.

"Barry's right outside today!" Dot expressed, already making for the door.

Dot's father nodded. "Don't be too long. Your mother's going to be home with breakfast soon," He commented. "Say hello to the big guy for me."

"Okay dad," Dot replied, pulling a set of wings onto her front legs; simple, folding affairs, made of wood and paper and a few screws to hold everything together. She made sure they were belted tightly to her front legs before trotting outside.

The small parcel of floating land Dot's family lived on wasn't anything spectacular. Maybe a hundred feet wide in any direction, with fencing carefully arranged to minimize the risk of people or objects falling off. Dot wasn't fussed with not falling off today, however; she trotted for one of the open points on the island, already unfurling the paper wings lashed to her legs. Her fur prickled slightly as she felt the first grips of the altered gravity towards the edges of the island.

She looked out, watching the Satellites whizzing around in the open air, carefully maintaining the distance between islands. She crept closer to the edge of the island, able to feel her weight lessening in real time. Finally, she got to a point where she felt comfortable, and leapt forward, stretching her front legs outward so they could catch the air. The weightlessness was a strange feeling, and she allowed herself a moment to glide, getting used to it before reorienting herself towards her target, beginning to push herself forward. The motions of flying didn't come naturally to the earth pony, instead being closer to swimming through the weightless air.

Dot beamed as she saw the massive equine at the center of everything. The single Barycenter was responsible for the entire floating archipelago around her, though she wasn't always close enough to comfortably fly over. Today, however, she was, so she flitted over on her paper wings. "Barry!" She called out as she neared.

One of the Barycenter's massive heads turned towards the filly, lowering a bit and tilting downwards. It was just the right angle to catch the filly towards it, and she landed ungracefully against Barry's scalp, giggling as she flopped against the coarse fur of the giant equine.

"I missed you, Barry! We've been near the outside of the islands for weeks!" Dot expressed with a giggle, folding up her wings again.

Barry let forth a deep rumbling noise, somewhere between a cat purring and a whale's song.

"Yeah, I know. You have to make sure everyone gets time everywhere," Dot mumbled, patting the head she was laying on. "I miss you when we're way far out, though."

Barry uttered another noise, posture slumping a bit.

"Aw... You work hard, I know. Sometimes it feels like the adults don't understand that," Dot rubbed her chin. "Dad likes you, though. He says hi," Dot expressed.

Barry cracked a small smile before another noise left its throat.

Dot giggled. "Okay, okay, I'll tell him," She replied. "I wanna stay here for a bit, though," She added, looking out wistfully out at the gently orbiting islands around them.

Barry gave a small rumble of acknowledgement, a blink slowly crossing its three faces.

"Is it hard to manage all those islands?" Dot asked.

One of Barry's other heads shook a bit, and it rumbled again. It did, however, yawn.

"Oh. Is it boring? Or are you just really sleepy?" Dot asked gently.

Barry rumbled and yawned again, posture slumping a bit more, its legs stretching a bit wider as it adjusted its posture.

"Aw... Can't you lay down for a rest?" Dot asked softly, lightly scratching behind one of Barry's ears.

One of Barry's heads shook again, and it rumbled a bit louder. This noise was sharper, the puppet's nostrils flaring slightly.

Dot's ears drooped. "Oh... I'm sorry, Barry," She expressed, looking away a bit. "I hope you get a chance to rest soon."

Barry just rumbled a bit more, shifting one of its heads over to nuzzle the filly gently.

Dot squeaked a little, but giggled and hugged the big snout pressing against her. "Okay, okay, I'll cheer up. I just worry about you sometimes," She expressed, looking up at the giant who was now smiling like a dope.

Dot's eye caught something else, however. A dark-coloured pegasus, flying in from above. She tilted her head, one of her ears flopping over. "Huh... Who is that?" She asked.

One of Barry's heads tilted up to look at the new arrival, puffing softly in intrigue.

The mare who landed on the giant's shoulder was an off-black fuschia mare with a pale red mane. Dot watched as the pegasus set out some sort of kit or briefcase, beginning to pull some things out of it. The filly narrowed her eyes. "Hold on, Barry. I'll be right back," She commented, trotting over to slide down the Barycenter's neck.

Dashed Dots squinted as she poked her head out from under Barry's mane, taking in the view of the dark-coloured pegasus. The mare seemed fairly nondescript, wearing only a silver earring in the shape of what seemed to be some sort of leafless tree.

She was mid-activity, taking a large syringeful of blood from the equine they were both standing on.

Dot frowned a little. "Hey! You're hurting him!" She expressed, clumsily crawling out of the giant's mane.

The mare looked up at the filly, blinking a few times. "Hurting?" She questioned. "I highly doubt it would notice this. I'm just taking some blood to test," She expressed, watching as Dot bounded closer through the thick fur of Barry's back.

Dot's squint didn't relax much. "Why are you taking his blood? She asked.

"I'm a doctor," The mare replied. "I'm part of a group that helps take care of the Empress."

"Oh," Dot blinked, face finally relaxing a bit. "Why don't I see you more, then? There's lots of the Empress' kids around."

"Well, I can't take blood from all of them, or all the time. That would hurt them," The mare reasoned. "I just take a bit every now and then. Barycenters like this one are good for it, since they're so large and don't work their bodies too hard."

Dot frowned again. "Barry works really hard," She puffed softly. "How else would all the islands float?" She asked.

The mare smiled a bit. "Of course," She replied. "I just mean that they don't often raise their heart rate. Their work is more... Focus-based." She rubbed her chin. "You are familiar with tests in school, are you not? You feel tired after those, right?"

"Oh. Yeah, blegh. I don't like tests. They make me nervous," Dot admitted, nose wrinkling a bit.

"Well... For these ones, each island is like focusing on a test. They have to think about each one, make sure they're all in the right place. If they didn't, all the islands would crash, and people could get hurt," The mare replied, patting the Barycenter's back.

"Oh. How do you know that? Does he tell you?" Dot asked.

The mare chuckled. "No. We study them very carefully. That's part of why we have them make neighborhoods like this," She explained. "It's a good opportunity for our kinds to mix, and we get quite a bit of information from the locals here."

Dot rubbed her chin. "Well... I'm a local here," She said. "Get information from me!" She bellowed, hopping up and down.

The mare laughed. "I'm not much of an interviewer," She admitted. "But, from what I can gather, you've managed to make friends with this one?" She asked.

"I like Barry, he's nice," Dot expressed, patting the large puppet's back. "I like to come and visit him when my house isn't on the fringes."

"Barry?" The mare asked, smiling.

"Well, someone had to name him. So, me and some of the fillies at school started calling him Barry," Dot folded her front legs together.

"Ah... Yes, it's rare for them to have names," The mare nodded. "They're quite interesting in that regard. They know, instinctively, which one they mean when they're talking to each other. It's like how you know your left hoof from your right hoof," She explained.

Dot didn't fully understand the comparison, but just scratched her head a little and nodded. "Oh. Okay," She replied.

The mare set her syringe of blood back in her briefcase, capping the tip of the needle and closing the case up. "I should be going, now. Thank you for the chat," She replied with a small smile. "If you see me or some of the others around, you can feel free to say hello. You'll know it's one of us because of the earrings," She commented, batting the silver pinned to her ear with a wing. "We may even come talk at your school sometime. We try to keep ponies in the loop with what's going on," She expressed.

"Okay, miss," Dot replied, standing up. "I should go make sure Barry's okay."

The pegasus chuckled. "I'm sure it'd appreciate that," She expressed, hooking her briefcase in a clasp under one of her wings. "Be good, now," She commented, flying off back into the floating archipelago.

It took Dot a few moments to clamber up through Barry's mane again, but she puffed as she sat back on the large puppet's head. "That lady was weird," She expressed, rubbing her nose a bit. "She took your blood. Are you okay?" She asked.

Barry nodded a bit, rumbling softly. It didn't seem particularly bothered.

"I'm glad you're okay," Dot expressed, hugging the large equine as much as she could.

Barry simply puffed a little, letting the small filly take her time. After a few moments, Dot stood up and sighed. "I should go home before my mom gets there," She expressed. "Get a good sleep tonight, okay Barry?"

Barry nodded and rumbled softly leaning one of its heads over to nuzzle the filly again before she went.

Dot hugged Barry's snout tightly, closing her eyes for a moment. Her breathing got a little warbly for a moment.

Barry lightly rumbled, holding the nuzzling position for a moment.

"I know, I know... Sometimes I just scared of the idea that you won't be," Dot mumbled, letting go of Barry's snout so she could use her wings again, unfurling them and hopping off of Barry's snout into the open air.

Barry gave a gentle smile, before blowing a small puff of air at the filly, sending her back towards her home.

"Bye Barry!!" Dot called back as she sailed away.