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// 3 - Space Walk 
// Story: Equestrian Space Age 
// by UtopiaPony 
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Rainbow Dash was piloting the new capsule. It was slightly larger than the one she first orbited,  allowing seating for two ponies.  Dash was dropping off Sunburst to the new space station. Moondancer wasn’t happy about having to redesign the helmet to fit a horn but Sunburst practically begged Twilight for the chance. 

Dash looked at the planet below, still in awe of the view of the planet passing below allowing her mind to wonder.  

“We are approaching the station,” Sunburst broke Dash's train of thought.  The station grew larger in the window, its cylindrical hull reflecting the sun’s rays to the point Dash had to lower her visor.  Dash was careful to avoid the long solar panels stretching out from the station while lining up with the dock.  Dash was relieved as a loud thud vibrated throughout the capsule as the ship coupled.

“Coupling successful, you can transfer over,” Twilight said over the radio to Dash’s relief.

Sunburst and Dash undid their buckles. Sunburst pushed himself down towards the hatch, opened it up and floated into the darkness of the station.  Dash followed behind Sunburst.  The light from Sunburst’s horn danced around till the station lights turned on.  The interior was packed with complex looking equipment leaving little room, though it was a tad more spacious than the capsule.

“What is all this for?” Dash was not briefed much on the station, or rather she didn’t pay much attention when it was discussed.  

“With these interments, I can study the strength of Equestrian magic,” Sunburst inspected the interments with his magic.

“Dash head over to the other end of the station,” Twilight commanded over the radio.  Dash squeezed past Sunburst and floated to the other end, where she saw a hatch with airlock written above. 

“Okay now what?” Dash waited for further instructions.  

“Look to your left, there should be a closet labelled teleporter, we can teleport objects to that closet.  It is not safe for living things.   You are a fast moving target for us on the ground and there is the risk we teleport to outside the hull.  The odd supply shipment ending up outside the hull is no a big deal, yet for living things it would be fatal,” Twilight rambled over the radio.

“I’m not good at teleportation,” Sunburst still inspected the instruments, still sore about knowing about magic yet not good at performing it.

“Okay, you can magic up supplies,” Dash ignored Sunburst while looking over to the teleporter, then a space suit appeared.  

“Put it on, it is an EVA suit.  It is far better designed for being outside in space then your normal space suit,” Twilight replied over the radio.  

With the help of Sunburst, Dash changed into the EVA suit and entered the airlock.  Dash hooked her life support and tether up, the small airlock hummed as it was depressurized, then silence.  Dash opened the outer hatch and crawled out to the outer hull of the station.

“Ahhh!” Dash was startled seeing Luna floating in space with nothing on, filming Rainbow Dash.

“We did not mean to cause alarm,” Luna said in a reassuring voice over the radio.  Dash calmed down and climbed onto the side of the hull, with her tether and hoses trailing back into the airlock.   She kept her momentum yet couldn’t change it or even reorient so she just floated along the station.  The station wasn’t that big, so she quickly approached the capsule seeing Dash II written on the side.  The capsule being named after Dash for her first orbital.

The tether reached its end, yanking Dash back, she instinctively galloped as she panicked, before stopping herself and wondering how bad that looked on film.

“Do you need assistance,” Luna asked over the radio, using her magic to come over while still filming.

“Just give me a minute,” Dash breathed heavily and pulled on the tether, floating back to the outer hatch.  Seeing Rainbow Dash safely on the station, Luna waved before diving down towards the planet.  Dash watched in awe as Luna effortlessly reentered the atmosphere, her magic keeping the flames away.  Dash shook her head for feeling jealous of being overshadowed by the capabilities of a goddess.

Back at the Equestrian space agency, Moondancer and Twilight stood at the sides of a rectangular table in a meeting room.  Once Luna entered the room and sat at the end of the table, Moondancer and Twilight take their seats. 

“We are pleased the mission is going well,” Luna addressed the room.

“They are wrapping things up on the station now, soon Dash and Sunburst should safely be back in Equestria,” Twilight cheerfully responds.

“Good, now how goes the Lunar program,” Luna turned to Twilight.

“Probes have found Equestrian magic on the moon, we have photos of the surface from the flyby and a lander probe is en route,” Twilight shuffles through her notes.

“I have more lander probes ready to survey the moon,” Moondancer added.

“What do you have in the works for getting a pony to the moon?” Luna turned to Moondancer.

“Pony?” Moondancer was taken back by the question, as was Twilight.  Both thought they were making excellent progress, they were far the most advanced of the known world yet flying to the moon was still the realm of science fiction.  At least for the time being, both had assumed they had time before having to actually make such plans.

“We don’t have any such plans yet,” Twilight nervously responded.

“We were led to believe they landed on the moon on the other side of the  Crystal Mirror portal,” Luna looked between them, looking regal.

“They are still more advanced then us,” Twilight didn’t feel comfortable correcting Luna.  

Moondancer jotted down calculations on a piece of paper while manipulating a slide rule with her magic.  “We possibly could send a pony, but it will require far more resources. Given we can teleport supplies to orbit we could possibly build a space station, teleport up sections, assemble the ship in space and fly up the crew, thus the rocket starts fully fulled in orbit.”

“Excellent, draw up the plans, now we must be off,” Luna happily walked out of the room.  Moondancer flopped her head on the table letting out a moan, realizing the work ahead.

“I take it your contacts on the other side of the mirror portal can’t get their hands on such designs,” Moondancer talked into the table.

“They went with a massive rocket launched from the ground, too costly, besides they don’t really have access to anything like that,” Twilight shook her head.

“Well, we best get back to work,” Moondancer slowly got up and got back to the grind.

Back in the capsule, Dash and Sunburst watched the station as they pulled away.  Dash was happy not being cooped up in the station anymore. While the capsule was smaller, she could at least see the planet passing below.  Dash did enjoy her space walk though.

The capsule heated up and shook around as they reentered the atmosphere.  Sunburst trembled, covering his eye with his hooves in fear while Dash hoped that this time everything goes fine.   The shaking subsided and the capsule started cooling down. A sudden jerk jolted the capsule when the parachutes deploy, followed by calm as the capsule slowly descended.   

“You're looking good, parachutes are fully deployed,” Twilight said over the radio.

“You okay,” Thunderlane peaked into the capsule after opening the hatch.

As Thunderlane helped Dash out she looked back, the capsule half sunk into the clouds.  The capsule was magically treated to be held up like the pegasus buildings. 

Dash flapped her wings as soon as she got out of her suit, Dash felt good to be home.  Sunburst more so, he decided in the future to study magic from the ground.