The Right Ponies

by Vectored Thrust

Project Friendship

The Right Ponies, Part 1 - By Zearfox

The Cobalt-blue, Cyan-maned unicorn colt with an image of a globe on his flank galloped down the long, carpeted hallway; the clopping of his hooves against the marble floor resonating throughout the corridor, echoing along with his panting breath against the walls and the row of windows flanking his left, the intermittent light they cast illuminated the expression of both urgency and importance on his face like a slow strobe light. Running past the multitude of identical, ornate oak doors flanking his right, his destination was at the very end of the corridor. This was a matter of extreme importance, this intelligence was of the highest urgency and as such he had to report to the Royal Alicorn Sisters directly, even if it meant running to the other side of the palace. Not decelerating in the slightest, he reached his destination, swung the ornate door open with his magic as he grounded to a sudden halt and stuck his head into the meeting.

“It’s called the Talon!” He cried to the seated ponies

“We know, Diplo,” called an orange Pegasus colt with a white mane from the table, a slight tinge of irritation in his voice, “Sit down.” He gestured a hoof to a vacant place at the table.

This meeting was being held in what was known as the Emergency Planning Room. This was the room intended for emergency meetings of imperative national importance that were not an immediate threat to Equestria. Such as a serious international development, or an economic meltdown. Either of the Royal Sisters, high-ranking advisors or certain ministers could call for a meeting. It was a dimly lit, rectangular windowless room with white walls and wooden trim. At one end was a large projector screen, flanked on either side by the vertically hung Equestrian flags like guards of honour. The image of what appeared to be a grainy reconnaissance flight photo was projected on it. In the room’s centre and taking up most of the space was a large, rectangular table, a projector set in the centre. Seated around the table were important ministers, military officials and advisors, all suddenly turned to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs who had just burst in and was now being seated between the head of the Army, who was the Orange pony and a Lavender Unicorn who was neither a minister, official nor advisor, but was in the meeting nonetheless. On the other end of the meeting room were the portraits of the two Alicorns, hung on the wall above two seating places. Sat beneath the portraits, like they were seating arrangements at a dinner table,was the subjects of the paintings themselves: Princesses Celestia and Luna, co-rulers of Equestria.

“Ah, welcome, minister Matt.” Came the calm, sweet voice of Celestia, like a host inviting a guest. “Please, be seated. The head of EI6 was giving us a presentation on this development. Please, Mr Blunt. Continue.”

The grey, visibly sleep-deprived yet fully awake unicorn Colt with a thinning, chestnut mane and Cutie Mark of a stack of documents standing at the front of the room turned his attention from the now-seated minister to the Princess. “Thank you, your highness.” He now spoke to the table as a whole.

“Alright, now as I was saying, approximately 72 hours ago, high-altitude Recon Pegasi photos spotted activity at the Mithkonur Cosmodrome; The Griffins’ largest missile test facility. Usually…all we see are just several rockets being brought out to launch pads…” he pointed on the photograph to several clusters of circular objects, highlighted in red which were military rockets, scatteredthroughout the photo at what were clearly launch pads surrounded by fuelling vehicles and other service craft. “…However…” the Colt continued, his horn glowed with a grey light, the projector doing the same and a button was pressed, moving to the next slide, which was another grainy photo of the same site. “…with this round we noted something unusual. Unlike previous times where we always saw multiple rockets, this time there was only one.” He pointed to a lone rocket highlighted in red, standing completely on it’s own at a launch pad far from the Main buildings. The entire site was devoid of any other sign of missile activity save for this lone missile. It was also considerably bigger than any of the rockets on the previous slide. “What’s worse, it looks bigger than anything they’ve launched before. This was worrying enough. Then, approximately 11 hours ago we detected a launch from the Cosmodrome. Tracking it, we saw the rocket kept going higher, and higher, it wasn’t making the parabolic flight of an ordinary Missile test. We tuned into a radio frequency we detected emanating from the path of the rocket, moving extremely fast over 150 miles in altitude…and it didn’t come back down like the rest of the rocket. Two hours ago the Griffin Premier made it public in a radio speech to his people. Here’s the signal we detected.”

A tape recorder next to the projector glowed, a button on it pressed. The recording it played was a beeping; a simple, yet contextually frightening beeping.

When the tape stopped, the head of EI6 breathed a deep sigh of despair. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, they did it. The Griffins managed to put a satellite, Talon-1 in orbit and is now flying over our heads.” The entire room was silent, not with respect but with shock. Some eyes were still on the tape recorder, transfixed with horror at the implications.Once attention turned back to Blunt, he stated once more, “this of course does raise frightening possibilities. If they can put the Talon Satellite in orbit, what’s next? Another satellite? A bomb? THE bomb?!” The Colt was alarmed at those last words; it was a very frightening possibility. If they could put something in orbit, it meant the Griffins could strike any target on the planet. “How did this happen?! How did we let them get ahead of us in rocket research? This is an extremely alarming situation which we cannot stand for!” The pony was about to begin again, but was interrupted by a calm and almost motherly voice.

“Thank you, Mr. Blunt. Very informative.” The cream alicorn gestured him to his seat, which he took after switching the projector off, knowing he had said enough. The Princess now spoke to the table. Her horn glowed and a dimmer switch was turned up to full, the room once more brightly lit. “While I will admit this is surprising, I highly doubt they would actually have the gall and the foolishness to actually put anything like that in orbit. All our missiles are now within range of every square mile of Griffin territory. To do such an act would be so utterly provocative they would not dare as we can at the push of a button reduce their entire arsenal to radioactive rubble.”

The cream alicorn chuckled a little, letting out a small smile. “This, my Ministers, isn’t necessarily an act of provocation, but I think more of an act of one-upmanship.”

“One-upmanship, your majesty?” The Deputy of Foreign Affairs asked, his head tilted in confusion and turned to the princess.

“What I mean is that they’re simply trying to show they’re better than us, by beating us to putting something in orbit. The answer is simple; we must beat them at their own game. If they’re going to take one record, we have to take the next. The answer is pretty simple, we need to put a Pony in orbit.” The Princess smiled with her eyes closed at those last few words, ready to see the effects of the bombshell she dropped before opening them.

Everyone in the room was stunned at her proposition. She gave a small smile again; she loved getting a reaction from her stuffy politicians in this manner. It never failed to amuse her.

The secretary of Defence now spoke, the Olive Drab earth pony turned to the princesses. “Your highness, sending a living pony into orbit and bringing him back alive? Isn’t that…well, a little dangerous? I mean, where do we even begin with the technical challenges of that: There’s the launch, the rocket not blowing up, the g forces, life suppo-…”

The princess raised a hoof to silence him, ready to speak once again. “If we take that kind of attitude, we’re never going to achieve anything, now are we? Rest assured I am fully aware of such challenges, and we have been doing theoretical studies on the concept. Luna…” the Alicorn turned to her co-ruler seated next to her, the greyish purple princess turned to her sister. “…You’ve been heavily involved in the Equestrian Aeronautics Advisory Committee, you’re personal project. Your colts and fillies have done studies on the possibility, am I right?”

The Moon Princess nodded, smiling in a hint of pride at both her work and that of her ponies at EAAC. “Yes Tia, we have. We have assessed that it is technically possible,” she placed a hoof to her chin in thought,“as for the various issues we have theoretical solutions to almost all of them. However, if we are to move ahead to practical development of a Pony in space, I do recommend we at least prove we can put a satellite up first. We’ve done studies to this as well, but we will require expansion of the Bureau. Currently we’re only doing missile development, if we’re to add this project to our list we’ll need more ponies, more facilities…” Her horn glowed and an old, but well cared for and maintained Abacus levitated in front of her, the beads clicking away as the Moon Goddess did her calculations, “…Basically more funds.”

The treasurer, a gold-furred, silver-mane with coins marked on his flank Earth Pony’s ears twitched, he knew where this was going.

“Mister Bullion, I believe we have the money for this, do we not?” The princess asked the minister, a hopeful smile on her face.

“Well…yes we do. We have been running a budget surplus for a few years now, so our public debt’s actually been quite healthy, having built up substantial reserve. Also, with Prince Blueblood now having abandoned his royal title and material possessions and became a monk, we might actually have the money for this.”

A soft laughter spread around the table, the utter embarrassment of the Royal Family was no longer there to needlessly spend countless Bits on frivolous things beyond anypony’s imagination ever since he had that epiphany in his stay in Ponyville, vowing to give up his material life and joining a Monastery in the mountains. It was a big relief for the Treasury, no longer with money being drained like an insatiable siphon. The auction-off of his belongings after he left also recouped a fair portion of his expenses, although there were a few things, such as the extensive gallery of portraits of himself, that could not find a buyer (The frames earned quite nicely, though)

“And as for Pony Capital,” Celestia turned to the Lavender Unicorn mare seated next to the Foreign Affairs Deputy, “Twilight Sparkle, you’ve been doing a lot of studies on the field of rocketry and orbital mechanics…”

The Unicorn turned to her mentor, she had been nervously quiet throughout the meeting, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the gravity of everything around her. It was the first time she had attended this kind of meeting, which was a coincidence as she was visiting Canterlot from Ponyville with her friends. “Yes, Princess…” she felt a little like Fluttershy, shrinking a little from the meeting. “I’ve been doing a lot of studies; it’s quite fascinating to take in. I’ve read the works of Tsiolkoltsky, von Bronc and many other pioneers and theorists…” she was getting excited at the prospect, but realised there was one huge thing she lacked for such an endeavour, “…but Princess it’s all theoretical, I don’t have any practical experience building rockets.”
The princess gave the warm smile she always presented to her faithful student. “That’s quite alright Twilight, Luna and her team of scientists do have the practical knowledge. There’s a first time for everything. In any case what I need more from you are your organisation skills. Naturally, such an expansion of the EAAC will require reorganisation, and I can’t think of anypony better for the job. Your theoretical knowledge will give you a good foundation as well, my faithful student”

“So…” Twilight started hopefully, “…does that mean…”

The Princess stood up, her majestic stature now towering over the meeting as she spoke to her prized pupil. “Twilight Sparkle, I want you to be Project Manager for our Pony in Space project. You will report directly to Princess Luna, who is Director of the EAAC and will oversee a team of scientists and engineers.”

A wide grin had spread over Twilight’s face, but was promptly dropped at a heartbreaking realisation. “But Princess, what about my studies on Friendship? My home in Ponyville, and…” she paused a bit as the worst of that proposition was realised, “…all my friends?”

The Royal alicorn already knew the answers, and was more than happy to give them. “My Faithful Student, I think this will be a great addition to your study of Friendship. Being a project manager means to lead a huge team of people, I think you can see how that will further your studies. As for your current location in Ponyville and your friends, you need not worry. The Primary Space Centre of the EAAC is actually within Flying Chariot’s distance of Ponyville. If you’re willing to commute daily to the Centre, and I am willing to provide transport, you won’t have to abandon your friends.”

Twilight could barely contain her excitement. The Princess had such trust in her student that she was assigning her a job in a project of national importance, and she would be involved in her area of expertise: Organisation. Ever since the Winter Wrap Up fiasco, Twilight had yearned for another leadership role;one with more responsibilities. To put her organisation skills to good use gave her the best feelings of satisfaction she could ever feel. Now she was getting just what she yearned, and her friends and Ponyville need not be sacrificed.

She could barely contain it in a room full of politicians. “Thank you Princess Celestia! Y-you will not be disappointed!” Inside her mind, however, was the same filly from all those years ago, hopping about in a circle shouting, “yes yes yes yes yes…” in unbound excitement when she was first made Celestia’s Protégé.

“Tia,” the Blue Alicorn sat next to her sister called up, “What should we call the project?”

“How about…” The White Alicorn was looking at her practically beaming student, “Project Friendship?”

Copyright Disclaimer: