The Wonderbirds... are... UP!

by Lets Do This

Launch Day

Finally, they felt they were ready. Finally, Launch Day was scheduled.

And finally... Launch Day arrived.

Rainbow and her crew, fully suited up, clambered through the side hatch of the Command Module and took their places: Rainbow and Spike in the pilot seats by the controls, and Rarity and Pinkie in the rear seats. Pinkie hugged Gummy nervously, then carefully tucked him into the small webbed hammock positioned between the rear seats. They each buckled themselves in, and Rainbow and Spike ran through the pre-flight checklist.

And then... they waited.

That was something the movies never showed... how much waiting there was in a launch...

In the Mission Control room in Twilight's Castle, the flight controllers were all at their stations. Most of them were Wonderbolt officers or staff who'd volunteered for the task. The exceptions were Princess Twilight at the Spellcasting station, Nurse Redheart at the Surgeon's station, and of course Fluttershy as Capcom.

At the Flight Director's station in the rear of the room, Applejack looked left and right, checking everyone was in place. "L minus one minute, and holdin'," she called out. "Anyone who don't need to be here, clear on out."

"I hope that doesn't include us," said a regal voice behind her.

Applejack glanced that way then snapped alert. "Attention, ya'll, Princesses on deck!" Then she turned and started to bow to Celestia and Luna.

Celestia waved her hoof. "There is absolutely no need for formality, Applejack. We're only support crew today. You are in charge here."

"As you say, Your Highness." Applejack replied, and then turned back to the controller stations. "Okay, Twi. Let us know when you and Starlight are ready."

"Starlight," Twilight called into the radio mike at her station, "how do things look out there?"

"The rocket's fueled and ready," came the reply from the launch pad bunker. "Crew's aboard. The weather pegasi have finished and moved to recovery safe points. Final leyline check... all quiet. No magic anomalies to report. I'd say we're good to go, Twilight!"

"Thanks, Starlight." Twilight swallowed, and then looked to Celestia and Luna. "Ready for the transfiguration baseline."

Celestia nodded. She shut her eyes. Her horn lit up. Her wings spread.

And outside the windows, the sky grew orange, then red, then faded to the normal gentle purple of the night sky as the Sun slipped below the horizon. Around the room ponies lit lamps at their stations to provide light to work by.

"The Sun is in abeyance," Celestia reported. "Whenever you are ready, Luna."

Luna nodded, and shut her eyes. Her horn blazed, her wings spread.

And the sky outside suddenly fell to black, the black of infinite space, empty and cold. Within it, stars appeared. But these were not the familiar, friendly twinkling smudges of light... these were hard, sharp points, vastly distant. Into the deathly black sky the Moon arose... but again it was not the familiar softly glowing disc everyone knew. This Moon was ancient, its mottled and pock-marked surface speaking of a tumultuous havok wreaked upon it eons ago. And beneath their feet, they felt the very world itself shift, change form. Somehow the hooves guessed, the mind knew, that they were no longer on an endless flat surface, but were clinging to a small, fragile sphere, hanging unsupported over a yawning chasm of infinite depth and blackness that extended far, far below...

Luna took a steadying breath. The shimmering gleam of her horn flickered, then settled down to a calm baseline glow, maintaining the spell.

"'Tis done," she said, simply. "The Moon awaits its visitors."

Twilight consulted briefly with Starlight, then nodded. She turned to Applejack. "Spellcasting reports ready for launch, Flight."

Applejack tried to remember what she was supposed to do next. She decided breathing again might be a good first start.

"All righty, then," she called out. "All stations! Gimme a go/no-go for launch...

"Retro!"

"FIDO!"

"Wynona! Y'all get down from there! I repeat, FIDO!"

"Guido!"

Applejack proceeded through the station list. Each reported ready.

"Surgeon!"

"Capcom!"

"A simple 'go' will do ya, Fluttershy," Applejack chided her.

"Oh... sorry!"

"No harm, no foul, sugarcube." Then she turned to the final countdown checklist. "All stations, we are go for launch, and the clock is running. L minus one minute and counting. Final crew check, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy turned to her microphone. "How are you all doing over there, Rainbow?"

"Bored!" came Rainbow's grumpy reply. "And ready to go! Enough with the formality already! Let's light this candle!"

Fluttershy giggled. "Everything in its time, Rainbow!"

The clock ran down without issues. They reached the last few seconds, and could hear the distant roar of the igniting engines.

"3... 2... 1..." Applejack called out. "L Zero! All engines full!"

And a blaze of warm light flooded the windows like sunlight, even though the skies were still deathly black overhead. Applejack checked her instruments, then checked with her eyes through the windows as a pillar of flame rose smoothly into the night sky.

"Liftoff! We have liftoff, ya'll! "

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy called nervously into her mike. "Do you read me? Are you all right up there?"

"Awww, yeah!" came Rainbow's exuberant response, over the thundering roar of the rocket's engines. "Equestria, we are on our way! The Wonderbirds... are... UP!"

The tense stillness in the control room broke into cheers and the stamping of hooves as the controllers applauded with abandon. Then Applejack called for order, and everyone quieted down.

Because there was already yet another checklist to work through...

The massive first stage fell away, splashing harmlessly into the Celestial Sea, where griffon metalsmiths would recover and recycle it. It was followed shortly by the second stage. And then, once they'd established orbit and swung round to the appropriate transfer point, Rainbow tugged the lever for the burn that sent the Pegasus roaring away from Equus, heading for a distant point where -- assuming Twilight's math worked out -- they would meet up with the Moon as it swung by.

"Burn complete, Equestria," Rainbow announced. "We're headin' out. To the Moon or bust!"

"Celestia's Sun looks so different from up here." Rarity said. "It's so bright! Uh... but of course, it's quite lovely!" she hurriedly added, as she discreetly drew down the shade on her window.

"Whee!" Pinkie spun Gummy in the air, amused almost beyond words by zero gravity. "It's just like the balloon trip to Yakyakistan, except we're the balloon!"

"Oh, dear..." said Rarity worriedly.

"Here we go..." Rainbow muttered.

"Anypony up for a game of I Spy?"

"Pinkie! We're not playing that!"

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun! I spy, with my little eye, ..."

She peered out through her window, at the vast, star-filled blackness beyond.

"Uhhh, yeah..." she said quietly. "I got nothin'... sorry...."

She was silent for so long that Rainbow turned to look. Pinkie had caught hold of Gummy and was hugging the alligator tightly in her forehooves, a small, frightened look in her eyes.

Rainbow exchanged a glance with Rarity, who nodded and put a comforting hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Well, hey," Rainbow said brightly, "that just means we gotta work with what we remember. Like, how about this: I spy, with my little eye, something food-related that starts with 'M'..."

Pinkie brightened up immediately. "Oooh, yeah! Is it... marshmallows? Is it... marzipan? Is it meringue? Is it marmalade? Is it mangos? Is it macadamias? Is it..."

Pinkie managed to keep herself occupied with guessing for several minutes. Rarity and Dash were both astonished at just how many edible things there were starting with 'M'.

When Rainbow finally picked Pinkie's lastest determined guess as the right answer, Pinkie cheered loudly, completely over her fear. Then, with Rarity's assistance, she dove industriously into the checklist of in-flight experiments that Twilight had prepared.

Nodding with satisfaction, Rainbow turned to Spike. "Co-pilot, you got the conn. I'm gonna catch up on the mission log we're supposed to be keeping here."

Spike nodded. "You got it, Rainbow!" Even though there was pretty much nothing for Spike to do until the lunar insertion burn, the dragon conscientiously set his face in an attentive scowl and studiously checked every gauge in sight, one at a time, in rotation.

Best co-pilot ever, Rainbow thought to herself. Then she found the mission log-book Twilight had provided, grabbed her pen in her teeth, and tried to figure out how to make Nothing So Far sound sufficiently official and heroic.

"Okay, Pegasus," Fluttershy said, "you're go for the EVA."

"You sure about this, Pinkie?"

"Hey, you get to walk on the Moon, Dashie! So I get to walk in SPACE!"

"Okay, but no funny business out there. You start going yo-yo on me, and I'll reel you right back in!"

"Rodger dodger, y'old codger!"

"And do remember, Pinkie," Rarity warned, "Ambient magic is low out here, and getting lower the farther we go, so don't count on your Pinkie-sense to warn you of trouble."

"Not to worry, Rarity. Got my eyes wide open for this one!"

Still feeling doubtful, Rainbow checked everyone's helmets were on tight, and the safety tether was clipped in place on Pinkie's suit. Rarity checked the smaller tether hooking Gummy to her as well.

And then Rainbow signaled Spike to run the pumps, depressurizing the CM's cabin. Undogging the outer hatch, Rainbow helped guide Pinkie and her alligator through it.

"Woo hoo!" Pinkie called. "This is amazing, Dashie!" She giggled. "Look, Gummy! We can see all of Equestria from up here!"

Rainbow was startled when Pinkie's helmeted face suddenly appeared at the window -- on the opposite side of the ship, upside down. "Hey, Rainbow! Hi, Rarity! Hey, Spike! How ya doin? Can I borrow a cup of sugar?" She giggled again.

"Uh, Pinkie, you're supposed to be testing the reaction jet, right?"

"Yep! Got it right here." Pinkie held up a hoof, to which the pistol-shaped jet was clamped. "Hang on, Gummy!"

"Now remember, Pinkie," Rainbow warned, "short bursts, and..."

But Pinkie wasn't listening. "Baroom!" She clapped her other hoof to the jet, triggering it full blast. Immediately she began orbiting the ship, at ever-increasing speed, with Gummy slinging round at the far end of his own tether. "Wheee! Ha ha ha!"

"Pinkie! Aw, geez!" Rainbow shouted. "I knew this was a bad idea!" She had nightmare visions of Pinkie wrapping the full length of her tether around the ship and then slamming into it at high speed. Or of the tether snapping, sending Pinkie and her pet hurtling away into the blackness.

However, after only a couple of orbits it became clear that wasn't happening. Just enough of the party pony's bizarre earth-pony magic seemed to be operating. Her tether wasn't getting any shorter, and it held securely as she slung around the spacecraft, orbit after orbit. Pinkie went round and round, picking up speed and cheering merrily, until the jet pistol's small cartridge finally ran dry.

"Awww..." she said, disappointed. "But at least we know it works, right Dashie?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. But Pinkie, how the hay are we supposed to pull you back in now?" Pinkie was still whipping around the ship at high speed.

"That's why I brought... a spare!"

Producing an extra cartridge from a suit pocket, she slapped it into the pistol, and then fired it again to reduce her speed. Orbiting slower and slower, she finally came to rest, right in front of the open hatch again.

Rainbow had no difficulty reeling her back in. "What the hay, Pinkie?" the pegasus demanded. "I thought I said no funny business out there!"

"Uh huh, and then you said I should behave like a yo-yo, and then you'd reel me in!"

"But... I... wait, what?" Rainbow stared at her, not sure if she was serious.

Pinkie grinned. "Round the world, Dashie! Big time!"

Rainbow stared at her, and then groaned in exasperation. Then she gave it up, and moved to shut and dog the hatch, while Pinkie settled Gummy and herself in their seats, still giggling madly.