//------------------------------// // Rocketmare // Story: Maud Base Alpha // by ArcadePonyFubuki //------------------------------// “Y’know, the part of the spell that brings the plant back to earth.” Pinkie Pie happily clarified. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna looked at Pinkie in horror. Maud looked with contempt. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I forgot to think of a return spell!” Twilight facehoofed. “How could I be so foolish?” Luna slouched in embarrassment. As Twilight and Luna scrambled to create a return spell, Maud thought through the situation at her own pace. She silently started to write down notes on one of Pinkie’s notebook pages. “Whatcha doing sis?” Pinkie peered over Maud curiously. “Hypothesizing.” Maud answered blankly. “I tried that before, it started to hurt after a while..” Pinkie rubbed her forehead. “Looks like you’re way better at it than me!” As Maud wrote down her final calculations, she picked up her page and walked over to Twilight and Luna. “Ok, what if we try an instant portal loop-around spell?” Twilight threw out. “Unfortunately, I fear that would bring a chunk of the moon back with it..” Luna turned down. “Excuse me.” Maud cleared her throat. “I think I have something.” Maud placed down her notes before Twilight and Princess Luna, who stared at it intently. “Goodness Maud, this just might work!” Twilight gasped. _______________________________________________ “Now let me get this straight, you want me to help you build a whole gosh darn rocket?!” Applejack gasped. “..More or less..” Twilight chuckled awkwardly. “Oh please AJ, you gotta help us! If you don’t then Maud will never make it to the moon!” Pinkie begged. “Look, I build barns. I build silos. Sometimes even stables for.. special.. clients.. but I don’t know the first Celestia-forsaken thing about building no rocket ships!” Applejack said exasperated. “No need to worry! Maud already made blueprints. Show ‘em Maud!” Pinkie ushered. Maud stepped forward and handed her blueprints to Applejack. “While these do look thorough yet easy to follow, I still don’t think I’m up to it. Besides, it says right here you’d only have enough power for a one way trip.” Applejack pointed out. “It’s all apart of the plan, Princess Luna is going to transport the ship to the moon with me, Pinkie and Maud inside it. After we’re done exploring, we’d use it to get back home.” Twilight explained. “I’m had a lot of time to think this through.” Maud added. “Come on Applejack, if any pony can pull this off, it’s you.” Twilight placed a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “…Okay, if my friends think I can do it then gosh darnit, who says I can’t?” Applejack smiled confidently. “Woo-Hoo! Thank you so much AJ!” Pinkie said as she launched into hug. “Thank you Applejack. I owe you greatly for this.” Maud said in appreciation. “Don’t sweat it missy, but if I’m going to build this thing I’m gonna need all hoofs on deck. I’ll get the Apples to help and you round up the girls.” Applejack ordered. “We’re on it!” Pinkie saluted. _______________________________________________ “Do you mind running this by me one more time?” Rarity politely requested. “Ugh! Twilight’s ran it by you at least 20 times now Rarity!” Rainbow Dash huffed. “Well I apologize if I’m not used to ponies asking me to build a rocket to mars for them!” Rarity scoffed at Rainbow. “It’s actually only to the moon.” Maud corrected. “Oh of course, that changes everything.” Rarity hissed under her breath. “C’mon Rares, how can you not think this is the most AWESOME thing ever?! There hasn’t been a pony on the moon since… ever, now that I think about it.” Rainbow blew her own mind. “You seem to have forgotten Princess Luna dear.” Rarity attempted to fact-check Dash. “That’s actually a common misconception, Luna was banished to INSIDE the moon, not on the surface of it.” Fluttershy successfully fact-checked Rarity, joining the conversation. “Oh my goodness is it ‘International Correct Rarity Day’ or something?!” Rarity said irritated. “That’s not until the 24th!” Pinkie happily informed. Rarity simply lowered her head in defeat and continued to follow everyone along to Sweet Apple Acres. “Looks like Applejack’s getting a head start on us, come on girls!” Twilight called out, seeing the Apples hard at work as they got closer to the barn. “Move that sheet of metal over here Big Mac, Applebloom I need to you to go find my wrench, and Granny Smith keep that cider flowing! We’ve got a heck of a day ahead!” Applejack commanded in order to keep the operation in order. “Hey Applejack, how’s everything going so far?” Twilight asked, arriving back at the acre. “Howdy Twilight, everything’s going just swell! I gotta tell ya Maud, this here rocket you designed is gonna be a real beauty.” Applejack praised. “Thank you Applejack, this means the world to me.” Maud said. “I can’t believe it Maud, your dream’s coming true! Can you believe it? Cause I can’t! Wait I just said that.. my point still stands though!” Pinkie enthusiastically asked her sister. “To be completely honest Pinkie, I always thought this dream was impossible. But when you told me you’d make it come true, it became possible in my heart. Thank you Pinkie.” Maud smiled. Pinkie’s eyes swelled as she looked at her sister’s smile. She wrapped Maud into a loving hug and burst into tears. “Y-y-you’re welcome M-Maud!” Pinkie stuttered through her tears of happiness. “Come on sis. Let’s go build a rocket.” Maud said as she rubbed Pinkie’s head. “Y-Yeah! Let’s do this thing!” Pinkie said as she wiped her happy tears and pulled a construction hat out of her mane. _______________________________________________ “By thy lucky stars...” Pinkie and Maud both perked their ears at the familiar voice entering the farm. “Oh my goodness, you’re finally here!” Pinkie jumped up from where she was working on the rocket. “Pinkie Pie, you didn’t tell me they were coming here.” Maud looked at Pinkie as surprised as she could. “Sorry Maud, but I wanted this to be a super duper surprise! By the way, SURPRISE! Our whole family came to see the rocket!” Pinkie announced. “My word Maud.. this just might be the most revolutionary thing I’ve seen in my lifetime..” Igneous Rock stared in awe. “It is quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen..” Cloudy Quartz joined in staring. Marble Pie was stunned into her usual silence. “This is crazy, there’s no way it’s gonna actually work.” Limestone Pie said, skeptical. “No need to worry about that Limey, Maud’s got it all figured out!” Pinkie said as she presented Maud’s rocket blueprints to her family. The visiting pies observed the intricate instructions and illustrations, bringing their already high amazement to a new peak. “Goodness me, I wasn’t aware we had such a bright filly under our roof.” Igneous claimed, deeply proud of Maud. Limestone raised an eyebrow at his comment. “Thank you. I couldn’t do this without your support.” Maud thanked in response to the flurry of praise. “Me and Maud and almost everypony in Ponyville have been working super hard for like a month now, a month is sixty days right? Anyway, we’re almost finished! We just need to build the thrusters, windows, doors, fins, the bottom half and the entire inside! So yeah, basically finished.” Pinkie innocently bragged. “I suppose you wouldn’t mind a couple more hoofs helping out, would you?” Igneous asked rhetorically. “We are only here for the day, and we’d like to spend as much of it with our two soon to be astronauts.” Cloudy added. Maud simply smiled at the offer, the rest of pies also smiled in return as they joined in the construction at hoof. As night fell upon Equestria, Maud stood with her family as they looked at the moon shining behind the in-progress rocket. “I’ll be waving to you from up there.” Maud smiled as she rested her head on her father’s shoulder. “Be sure to wave back.” Igneous put a hoof around Maud as the rest of the pies joined in on the family group hug. Twilight was also observing the moon, but was more interested in the growing number of noticeable new additions to its surface. She decided a quick visit was in order. _______________________________________________ KNOCK KNOCK “Come in.” Princess Luna responded to the knocking. The door opened with Twilight Sparkle coming around the other side. “Hello there Luna, I was just looking at the moon and noticed some, additions, and just wanted to ask if you’ve been practicing transporting larger items like we discussed.” Twilight greeted. “Indeed I have, I was just about to practice on this fridge actually.” Luna prepped herself. “How many things have you teleported, exactly?” Twilight cautiously inquired. “To be honest, I lost count after the carriage.” Luna admitted. “By the way, I’d advise against attempting to use spells on mirrors, they have quite the reflective properties. If you see a Ms. Hooves on your trip tell her I deeply apologize.” “Right…. well, it’s good to hear progress is being made. The build back home is going good, a group is currently going out to Dodge Junction to pick up parts for the fins. It’s funny, after nine weeks of construction you’d think I’d be used to saying stuff like that.” Twilight reported. “That’s wonderful, now stand back for your own safety.” Luna said as she aimed her horn. Twilight quickly scurried away from the fridge and behind Luna, who then fired off her now familiarized spell. In a flash, the fridge had completely vanished. “Another successful attempt, not to tooteth my own horn.” Luna smiled proudly. “While I’m glad to see how quickly you’ve mastered this spell, are you sure all this excessive transportation is totally safe?” Twilight asked, skeptical. “I can assure you Twilight Sparkle, these items I’ve practiced with will be of no issue.” Luna promised. “Hm, if you say so princess. I mean, who am I to question YOU on the moon?” Twilight laughed. “Anywho, I suppose I should be heading back to Sweet Apple Acres now. I’ll see you soon Luna!” “Farewell Twilight Sparkle, shall our next meeting be soon.” Luna bid farewell. Twilight bowed as she exited. Despite Luna’s reassurance, she was still unable to shake the feeling that something bad was gonna come from this excessive magic..