//------------------------------//
// The Beginning 
// Story: Out of This World 
// by PerfectIsOverrated 
//------------------------------//

	Water Blossom watched Princess Twilight Sparkle and her group of friends trotted into the hall. How fitting the princess of frendship has no less than FIVE friends to accompany her. She was incredibly nervous, having worked all night and definitely looked the part, with her blue coat in a mess and her curly light brown mane awkwardly stuffed into a messy bun. Not her usual look. "Welcome," Princess Celestia's voice boomed through the colossal hall.  Twilight Sparkle appeared confused.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you ask us to come here? Did something horrible happen? Is there a monster?" Twilight's friends murmured in agreement.
Princess Luna spoke this time, "Not horrible, not at all." Although her voice stayed calm and her tone was flat, you could clearly see the excitement on her face. "You see, everypony has been caught up with studying the art of magic, no one's really thought of science. This art of science was left alone, for it did not seem necessary with all our magical advancements."
Princess Celestia continued. "But now, our esteemed scientists have come up with a way to combine magic and the lost art of science and create something amazing. Now I am proud to present our specially trained engineer and scientist, Water Blossom." Water Blossom stepped forward. she quickly observed the faces in front of her. All of them looked confused.
"Thank you, your Majesty." She cleared her throat. Be professional be professional be professional... "After many years of planning, building, and testing My team of scientists, engineers, and I have been working very hard to create a... uhh... um... spacecraft."   'a... uhh... um... spacecraft.' veeerrry professional. She looked up again, seeing everypony's confused faces,  she realized that they had no idea what a spacecraft is. "This machine allows ponies to fly around in space and discover new planets." she explained, trying to put it into words they could understand. "The ride on the spacecraft is very dangerous. There is always a chance that you could get seriously injured, or even die. The trip is very long also, so whoever comes on the spaceship will not return for a long time, some may never return." Lovely note to end on.
A white unicorn spoke up, "And why are you telling us this?"
"That brings me to my final point. You are going to be the first ponies in space.

There were many different reactions to this last statement. The Princess of friendship squealed at the thought of science and space. The pink pony bounced up and down yelling, "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A SPACE PARTY!" while confetti and balloons popped out from a cannon that seemed to magically appear. The orange pony (wasn't she from the apple farm?) gave a questioning look. The white unicorn was shocked, put a hoof to her forehead, and fainted. The blue pegasus flew into the air and said "Awesome!" The yellow pegasus crumpled into a ball of fur on the ground. "If any of you think you can't come, tell me now," Water Blossom said, "The magic boosts the speed, but it is still a long, quiet trip. If you don't socialize with each other, keep your brains thinking, you could- possibly- go kind of insane." The yellow pegasus-ball-of-fur crumpled even further. The orange pony was the first to speak. 
"Well, lucky us bunch is tighter than a-" 
"I'm not going." the ball of fur interrupted whatever simile the orange pony was going to say.
"COME ON FLUTTERSHYYY!" complained the blue pegasus. Ah. So the yellow pegasus' name was Fluttershy.
"It would be a great learning experience," Princess Twilight said. 
The pink pony was too busy trying wake up the white pegasus with her cannon of some sort to comment. Is that safe? 
"What happened?" the white unicorn gasped, soaking wet from horn to hoof. It seems the pink pony's cannon now shot out cold water instead of confetti.
"B-but who's going to take care of the little critters at home?" Fluttershy asked
"We've contacted family and friends of yours to take care of your pets, smaller siblings, and assistants." Water Blossom assured her. 
"Well, uh," Fluttershy struggled to come up with another excuse. "We can't just go on our own, we have no idea how the- uh- 'spacecraft' works."
" Well, that's why I'm coming with you." 
Fluttershy was out of other reasons to say no, so she just spit it out.
"I'm scared."
"I know. Maybe you should bring some photos and important objects on the trip." Fluttershy looked up with big unblinking eyes. 
Water Blossom sighed. "I'm scared too. " This comment seemed to make her think. Water Blossom shook her head. She was only there to guide, not to be a psychologist. 
"Ok. I'll come."
Water Blossom breathed a sigh of relief. If one pony didn't come, then maybe another would drop out, followed by another, then another, until there was nopony left.
"Good. Now I recommend all of us should go home and pack. Come back here tomorrow, early morning."

Everypony trotted home to prepare for the journey ahead. As Water Blossom rounded the corner, she saw her not-so-little sister waiting for her at the door. Even though her sister was barley younger than her, she acted like she was a young filly.
"What took you so long? I was lonely here," Her sister said. 
"Why hello to you too, Lavender Blossom," Water Blossom chuckled, "Don't you know how to greet your sister?"
Lavender blossom blushed. She bared a striking resemblance to the pink pony, except purple with the same shade of mane as Water Blossom. Gosh, she really needed to know those ponies names. 
She walked into the roomy home. "Lavender, do you mind finding the names of Princess Twilight's friends? I can't seem to recall them and I need to pack."
"Oh, I know them! Their names are  Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash- wait, pack? Why do you need to-oh. I remember now." She looked down. 
Water Blossom gave a sad smile as she put a hoof on Lavender's back. "I'll be back, I promise."
"Why do you have to go in the first place?"
She felt Lavender Blossom begin to tear up.  "Hey, don't cry, it'll make me cry,"  She tried to laugh but her words were true. "Okay, how about you help me pack, and then we'll spend the rest of the evening together?" She sniffled. "Okay?"
"Okay."
"Come on, lets go prepare."