Chapter 1
Want to know how Rainbow became a pilot? Check out Wings of Gold.
How did the ponies get to Earth? The backstory is told in Battleships are Magic and Connection.
None of these are required before reading this story.
As the Sun Rises, So Do We
Houston, Texas was no place for anypony who had grown up with pegasi-controlled weather. The temperature and humidity made things miserable all summer long.
The sterile air conditioning of the Johnson Space Center office building offered some respite from the heat. Despite the cool air, the hallways felt unwelcoming and barren. The glory days of the United States' Space Program were waning, and the building was left over from decades past.
The pony passing through didn’t plan on sticking around the place very long, though. Her hooves clicked on the tile as she made her way to the personnel department.
Commander Rainbow Dash was currently on leave from the United States Navy to serve astronaut duty for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She’d achieved everything that she could in the military, and now she was on her way to outer space.
NASA was fond of hiring military members, especially pilots. Rainbow had begun her career in aircraft carrier operations, and had flown fighter jets for many years. She had the right combination of skill and showmareship to have been chosen to fly with the Blue Angels. After she had achieved her longtime goal of being accepted to the team, Rainbow needed something new strive for. Why not space?
With her qualifications, NASA wanted her. She'd accomplished so much despite not having fingers. Rainbow had been the first pony to become a Naval Officer, and it looked like she was going to be the first pony in space. She had a drive to succeed that was unmatched.
It was that drive that led her to leave Equestria looking for new opportunities when the doorways between worlds had first opened. Nearly twenty years had passed since Rainbow had first set hoof on Earth, and she’d made the most of it. She may have been getting close to middle-age, but she was as tough and skilled as she had ever been.
Rainbow stepped into the office. She'd recieved notice that something important was happening. The secretary directed her to the door of the Director of personnel, who was a man named Harrison Franks.
“Come in," he called.
Rainbow was not prepared for what awaited her when she opened the door. Her friends Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were there with the Director.
“Hey everyone! What are you all doing here?”
Franks spoke. “Dash, you’ve been training to be an astronaut for a while now. I know you’ve got what it takes to get the job done. How does leading an all-pony crew sound?”
“Wha…are you serious? Is this a good idea? None of you have any training.” It wasn’t that she didn’t want her friends to come along. She was worried about their safety and mission effectiveness.
“That’s true,” said Twilight. She usually spoke for the whole group, even after all the years since they’d gone their separate ways from Ponyville. “I’ll admit that this is kind of a media event.” She sounded slightly embarrassed. “But Equestria’s newly created Space Center and NASA both stand to benefit from the attention.”
Rainbow had heard that Princess Celestia created a new government body to administer to outer space. She had no idea that her friends had joined.
“Surprise!” said Pinkie as if on cue.
“Well, okay,” said Rainbow. “I guess all six of us are well known.” The human media, especially from the United States, was always hounding Rainbow for interviews. She had the right blend of achievements and personality to make her popular. She enjoyed the attention, but sometimes it got to be too much. Of course, the six of them were celebrities in Equestria as the Elements of Harmony.
“I still don’t like this,” she added.
“The ESC has been working closely with NASA to coordinate everything,” said Franks. “All of you will be receiving specialized training. It won’t be a very intensive trip, just to be sure.”
“Great,” sulked Rainbow. “My first trip to space is going to be a publicity stunt.”
“We’re not going to be completely useless,” Twilight assured her. “All of us have something to contribute. I’m going to be working with the scientists. Rarity is helping with the uniforms. The medical staff is coordinating with Fluttershy. Pinkie is in charge of recreation and morale. Applejack is trying to figure out how to freeze-dry home cooked goodness.”
“And I guess I’m still the pilot,” said Rainbow.
“I’ve heard you’re the best.”
“Heck, you’ve seen me. I remember when you came to a Blues show a couple of years ago.”
“Just don’t try to do stunts with the ship.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Well, with the Shuttle decommissioned, I probably won’t get my hooves on the controls anyway. ‘Pilot’ is mostly a decorative title.”
Franks nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. You’ll all be working with the Russians on their new Rus. It’s a big promotional deal for them, too.”
The Rus spacecraft had replaced the venerable Soyuz in Russian service. It had passed initial flight testing only recently, and was now operational. Since NASA’s Space Shuttle had been taken out of service, it was the only way to get to the International Space Station.
Rainbow said goodbye to the man, and the ponies left the office.
“I still can’t believe that NASA is just letting you walk in like this,” said Rainbow.
“They did stretch some rules,” admitted Twilight. “We’re just passengers, so we won’t be needing flight training, specialized job training, or a few other things. The total time for an astronaut to get qualified is a couple of years, right? Well, we have three months.”
Rainbow winced. “This is going to be difficult.”
It seemed only right for Rainbow to invite her friends over for dinner that night. She hadn't seen any of them in more than a year, and hadn't seen all of them together in...well, she wasn't really sure how long.
She called her husband Raincloud to let him know that they would be having company. Until voice recognition had been invented, cell phones were mostly useless to ponies.
The apartment she shared with her husband was rather small and simply furnished, but clean. Every few years, Rainbow was traveling to somewhere else for her job and there was no point in making a big to-do about their living quarters.
Despite the short notice, Raincloud was able to come up with an acceptable dinner for five guests. He had met a few of them before, but never had never hosted all of them at once.
Before being recruited to the ESC for the historic space flight, her friends had held a variety of jobs. Twilight, a natural leader, had risen through the ranks of Equestrian government. Rarity had displayed a good mind for business, and her fashion company had gotten so large that the managers could keep things running while she was gone. Applejack, skilled at separating truth from lies, worked with law enforcement, and had been cleared to take a few months off. Pinkie was well known as a pastry chef and entertainer, and had worked with quite a few big names, both pony and human. Fluttershy, never a pony for glory, had lived a quiet, happy life in Ponyville tending to animals.
The friends talked and laughed. It was actually the most memorable thing that Rainbow had experienced in a long time. It was good to see them all again, and for a while she allowed herself to forget the mission that they would be undertaking.
Later that night, Rainbow showed them out. The ponies had all taken up temporary residences in the area while they trained at NASA. She bid them all goodnight. Shutting the door, she went to help ‘Cloud with the dishes.
“It was good to see them.”
“I suppose so," she replied.
Detecting something in her voice, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
Rainbow sighed. “I feel like I’ve worked for nothing.” She told him how her friends had been sent from the ESC to essentially become instant astronauts.
“You couldn’t have known that this opportunity would come along. You may have followed a different path, but you still ended up at the same place. I think it’s great that you get to share this experience with your friends.”
Over the years, she and Raincloud had not had the best relationship. They argued more often than was really healty, but he always managed to garner her forgiveness, largely due to his skill with words. He may not have been a perfect stallion, but he always knew what to say.
“Thanks, I feel better.” And she did. The issue still hovered in the back of her mind, but it was less pronounced than before.
Johnson Space Center, in Houston, was the primary astronaut training area. At the facility, trainees would experience mechanics, electronics, navigation, computers, simulated spacewalks, and many types of physical and mental preparation. Rainbow had been through the program and knew it all, but the rest of the ponies were on an accelerated schedule and wouldn't be learning everthing that she had.
The centrifuge testing was entertaining to watch, at least from Rainbow’s point of view. A rider was loaded into a capsule and swung around in circles at high speed, generating high g-forces. Rainbow had experienced up to nine times the force of gravity while flying jets, so nothing NASA did scared her. The other ponies didn’t fare quite so well.
Applejack didn’t complain, but didn’t appear to enjoy the experience, either. Pinkie attempted to justify high gravity as a new way to party, but was unsuccessful. The rest, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight, came out of the centrifuge looking ill.
At the other end of the spectrum was low gravity testing. NASA operated a C-9B Skytrain II passenger jet for the purpose. The inside of the airplane’s cabin had been cleared out and the walls were padded to prevent injury.
By following a parabolic flight path, weightlessness inside the airplane could be simulated for short periods of time. As the plane dove on the downward arc, everything fell at the same speed, essentially becoming weightless.
The pegasi had it easier, as the sensation of floating in midair was nothing new. With a few lazy flaps of her wings, Rainbow could cruise around inside the airplane with virtually no effort.
The earth ponies and unicorns were not so lucky, and it was only a quick calming spell by Twilight that saved a few of them from being sick, as their bodies were unused to microgravity. There was a reason the airplane was known as the “Vomit Comet.”
On top of the variable gravity education, there was still plenty to do. A few mockups of the Rus had been brought in so astronauts would not need to spend extended periods in Russia for training. Some of the models were located inside a pool that held six million gallons of water and was used for spacesuit testing. It was here that spacewalks (also known as EVA - extra vehicular activity) were practiced.
The pressure suits the ponies would be using had been developed with technology from NASA’s new Constellation suit. They were not outfits to be worn continuously in the vacuum of space, but would protect the wearer during flight and emergency depressurization.
Rarity put many hours in with the designers getting the suits ready for the ponies’ completely different body shape and measurements. She was rather irked that they had ignored most of her ideas to improve the appearance of the suits. NASA insisted that they should remain high-visibility orange.
Just as every human astronaut gets an individually fitted spacesuit, so would the ponies. Unicorns would require a different shape of helmet. Pegasi were able to fold their wings enough to fit inside an unmodified suit.
The unique medical aspect of putting ponies in space was another challenge. Fluttershy worked with NASA’s medical group to determine how pony physiology would react to space. This, unfortunately, meant more gravity training for her. She didn’t like it, but agreed that it served a higher purpose. She almost quit when asked to breathe different mixtures of oxygen and other gasses to simulate various environmental situations, but reassurances from the rest carried her though.
Every morning, the astronauts in space were woken by a song played by mission control. The days’ selections were made in advance. Pinkie introduced them to pony music, and a few samples were cycled though the morale department to gauge reactions. She also helped plan entertainment and special-event food. While it was generally agreed that astronauts should not party on the job, it was important to keep them happy.
Speaking of food, NASA had vegetarian options available for astronauts who preferred that menu. Still, pony digestive systems required different kinds of nutrition. Applejack saw to it that healthy, tasty food would be available.
In order to conserve as much as possible, astronaut fare was generally freeze-dried to save water, preserve the food, and to compact it. By cooling and adjusting pressure, most of the water could be removed. Such a process could have disastrous effects on taste if not handled correctly.
There was so much to learn from putting ponies in space. While there were no immediate plans to make ponykind regular astronauts, it was certainly possible in the future. In the days and weeks leading up to the mission, Twilight worked hard on the scientific aspects, and saw to it that all the data from various projects was handled correctly. There were a few small microgravity experiments that the Equestrian agency wanted to carry out. She also handled major communications between NASA and ESC.
Through all of this, Rainbow felt left out. She’d already completed her preparation and was only waiting for her friends to get through their abbreviated training. She lent a hoof wherever possible.
Since the Russians would be handling the transportation, Rainbow would basically just be a passenger like the rest. She had received some vague flight-control instruction on the Rus, but it was basically just a formality. The situation irritated her.
Eventually, the ponies finished up at Johnson and boarded a plane for Moscow. It was important to get them familiar with the Rus and the Russian Federal Space Agency in general. They had two more weeks of training.
The Russian spacecraft was of the classic "capsule" shape, somewhat like a cone. It ordinarily held six people and 500 kilograms, or about 1100 pounds, of cargo. For this mission, it had been modified to support two humans. six ponies, and a slightly lower payload. The cargo delivery of food and supplies was important to keep the Space Station running.
The Rus was still a relatively new design, and only a handful of flights had been made previously. This would be the seventh that had been launched, and the mission was accordingly designated Rus-7.
The ponies were introduced to the vehicle crew, Arkady Denisov and Lev Zimin. Both were professional but friendly, and spoke English. They were test pilots that had come from the Russian Air Force.
All of the crew members were encouraged to get along. This was an international goodwill mission, after all. The two human cosmonauts showed the six pony astronauts around Moscow. It was not particularly better or worse than the United States, but definitely different.
Previously, the six of them had really only been exposed to American society, as that was where the doorways between worlds had first opened. Rainbow had done a lot of traveling with the military, and had more experience than the rest with meeting different cultures. She was not as awestruck by encountering new kinds of people.
Twilight, of course, was the first one to stick her nose in a Russian phrase book. By the time the crew of Rus-7 met the Russian media, she was able to introduce herself and say a few lines. Rainbow had learned a smattering of Russian during her time in the Navy, and felt somewhat upstaged.
The ponies were moved to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which was located in Kazakhstan on land leased to Russia. The final mission preparations would be made there.
In the days before launch, everypony got into their gear a couple of times and ran simulations that were so realistic that they did everything except actually fire the rocket. Drills were run until they were all familiar with the launch procedure and the controls of the Rus capsule. Practice made perfect.
Two days before the mission started, a schedule began that every pony and man who was about to launch had to follow. Over several decades, researchers had figured out what worked and what didn’t in preparing for space flight, and the schedule was in place to make sure everything would come together on time. It dictated when they should sleep, how long, what they should eat, when, and every other detail of their day.
The schedule ran all the way up to the launch. The morning of, the eight of them got up and ate a breakfast that had been laid out according to plan. One last confirmation was run on the rocket and the Rus vehicle. Everything checked out, so the plan continued.
The crew was briefed on final details. There were no problems anticipated. The maintenence workers had really outdone themselves. When the brief was over, the crew got dressed in their pressure suits and headed for the launch pad.
For safety reasons, the launch area was far away from the rest of the complex. Rocket explosions were sadly not unheard of. The crew rode to the launch pad in a small bus.
The tall rocket with the capsule on top seemed more imposing than it had been on the previous days. The phrase this is not a drill ran though Rainbow’s mind. She put on a brave face and walked with the rest from the bus to the launch platform.
An elevator carried them up to the bridge that reached out to the Rus, at the top of the rocket. A technician was waiting, holding the hatch to the Rus open.
“Spasiba,” Rainbow thanked him.
Denisov and Zimin, the cosmonauts, went first to help secure the ponies in their seats. In the bulky pressure suits, it was not an easy task. A few members of the ground crew helped out.
Once all the members of the mission were settled, the hatches were closed and final checks were performed. The suits were pressurized and tested. The time to liftoff was counting down.
Rainbow looked around one last time. The Russians used a slightly different pressure suit than the orange NASA-spec ones the ponies wore. Each wore a patch of their respective country’s flag on the shoulder. On the chest, however, they all wore the exact same mission patch.
It was octagonal and spelled out their names, one per side. A small representation of a spacecraft marked with Rus-7 hovered near the International Space Station as the sun rose behind the Earth.
There was not room for the full mission statement, which had been dreamed up between the Equestrian, American, and Russian press teams. While poetic, it was rather long, and only the last line had been stitched onto the patch.
Our intention is international peace.
The blackness of the unknown lies ahead, but we are not afraid.
Trust in friendship carries us though.
We succeed as surely as the new morning comes.
As the sun rises, so do we.
Author note:
In case you're wondering, the story is set in the present, or perhaps the near future.
I'd like to thank a couple of prereaders for making this as good as it can be. They are, in no particular order:
I'd also like to give a special thank you to Altoid for naming the story, and johnnosk for way-cool information.
The cover art is based on the STS-91 patch. The high-res version is here.
> T-minus one chapter to liftoff.
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Perfect start. What are your plans after this?
340287
What else? PONIES...IN...SPAAAACE
340295
I meant after this story is finished.
*sniff*
I smell Apollo 13... WITH PONIES!!!
Nice patch! Did not realize poor Applejack's name was Applejack Apple. Poor girl! As you know, I'm excited to see where you take this story.
Looks like I picked a good time to finish Wings of Gold...
ponies started invading our earth. soon, ponies will start invading our galaxy
.
man, i thought rainbow was gonna fly the spacecraft. it would've been hilarious reading russian commands. there's a manual. it's in russian too lol. would be interesting if the cosmonauts shared space vodka to the ponies. twilight drunk and speaking russian.
ponies throwing up during space training, that's hilarious.
so it's been twenty years. wow, that pretty much puts them in our present time. i dun think you can fast forward time any further though.
anyway, perhaps my only suggestion would be to include more dialogue. that's all i guess.
340901
Thanks for reminding me. I added a note that this is indeed present day.
This has literaly EVERYTHING to go wrong.
We got 5 personal with no experience, a mission based on propaganda and a serious possibility tha Rainbow may have a mental breakdown. I mean, you work 20 years for something and them 5 ponies with no traning or sacrifice just win it for free? I would be pissed.
341024
Oh yeah, we're going to have a rumble, just give it time.
SPACE ARGUMENTS
And it all started with an inter-demensional battleship travel...
340341 Apollo 13 is better than Apollo 1, STS-51L, or STS-107.
348367
Yes, we prefer a happy ending.
sigh. i suppose this was written about two and a half years before spacex revealed their astronaut capsule a few months ago called dragon 2.
Blimey, for years I thought the Russian for 'Thank you' was 'Bathsheba'.