To the Moon
Chapter 6
To the Moon
Final preparations were underway to ready the new spaceship for launch. Fuel and supplies had already been loaded aboard, and ground personnel were at their stations. The only thing left to wait for at this point was for the crew to arrive and board the ship.
The first to come running into the room was Rainbow Dash, who was practically jumping around in excitement. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” she exclaimed. “We’re actually gonna go flying into space! This is gonna be so awesome!”
Rainbow Dash had changed out of her normal clothes and was now wearing a custom spacesuit, which included a pair of oxygen tanks on the back. Its base color was the same sky blue as her skin, and had a thick red stripe around the knees, elbows, waist, and across the top of the helmet from front to back. She currently wasn’t wearing her helmet, but simply held it under her arm. Printed on both of her shoulders was her symbol of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt.
The next one in the room was Pinkie Pie, who gave another enthusiastic shout of, “SPACESHIP!” Her spacesuit was pink with blue stripes, and had her symbol of three balloons on the shoulders. She quickly followed Rainbow as they both ran over to the elevator.
Next, Rarity and Fluttershy walked calmly into the room and toward the elevator. Rarity’s spacesuit was white with violet stripes and had her symbol of three blue diamonds on the shoulders. Fluttershy’s spacesuit was yellow with pink stripes and had her symbol of three pink butterflies on the shoulders.
“I really like these spacesuits you designed for us, Rarity,” complemented Fluttershy.
“Thank you, dear,” said Rarity. “Astronaut white is fine in its own right, but I felt that it wouldn’t quite suit us properly, so I took the liberty to personalize each of these suits just for us. As an added bonus, this will also make it much harder for us to get them mixed up with someone else’s.”
“Whatever floats your boat,” commented Applejack as she walked by. Her spacesuit was orange with green stripes and had her symbol of three apples on the shoulders. Since she was carrying her helmet like everyone else, she was still wearing her hat.
The last ones to arrive were Twilight Sparkle and Spike. Twilight’s spacesuit was lavender with magenta stripes and printed on the shoulders was the magenta six-pointed star surrounded by five white stars that symbolized her. Spike’s spacesuit was violet with green stripes and the symbol on the shoulders — as he had requested — was the LEGO logo, just like on the red cap on his head.
Once everyone was in the elevator, Applejack shut the gate and flipped the lever. The elevator ascended up to the walkway that led directly to the spaceship. Once the elevator stopped, Applejack opened the gate and everyone walked out in single file, all of them holding their helmets under their arms. Twilight was first, followed by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and finally Spike. One could almost imagine them walking in slow motion as they crossed the walkway and boarded the spaceship.
Once they were inside the air-lock, each of the team members hung up their helmets directly over where a spare change of their normal clothes was left for them. Finally, they climbed up to the upper deck and forward to the control room.
There were three rows of two seats, with the seventh being in front of them all. Everyone had already discussed the seating arrangements, so they silently walked up to their seats. In the back row was Fluttershy and Spike. In the middle row was Pinkie Pie and Rarity. In the front row was Applejack and Rainbow Dash. And finally, sitting in the pilot’s seat, was Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight was quickly able to find the User’s Manual nearby, and didn’t waste any time to start reading through the important parts on how the properly fly the spaceship. Meanwhile, the others tried to get as comfortable as possible, as each felt a different mixture of excitement and nervousness. Considering they were about to be launched into space, it was quite understandable.
Finally, after a few minutes, the massive retractable door ahead of the spaceship began to open, exposing the mid-evening orange sky and the rising full moon. Twilight knew this meant they would be launching very soon, so she quickly read over again on the take-off section of the piloting chapter.
Once the door was fully open, Celestia, who stood on her personal viewing balcony, turned to the nearby ground personnel and ordered, “Begin countdown sequence.”
Among the ground personnel was Rusty Wrench, who nodded in acknowledgement before pressing a large button on the console in front of him. This triggered an automated voice that echoed across the room, making the countdown clear for all.
10…
Hearing the countdown had begun, Twilight put away the User’s Manual.
9…
“Seatbelts, everyone,” reminded Fluttershy, before pressing a button next to her seat. This made the seatbelt automatically zip out and strap her safely to her seat.
8…
Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack repeated Fluttershy’s action, automatically triggering their own seatbelts to safely strap them to their seats, too.
7…
Twilight took a bit more time to find the switch for her seatbelt, but once she did find it, she also put on her seatbelt.
6…
Fluttershy noticed that only five of her six fellow teammates had put on their seatbelts, and she could easily assume who that final person was. “You too, Rainbow Dash,” she said politely.
5…
Rainbow Dash didn’t see the point of wearing a seatbelt, but she also knew better than to go against her entire team, so she threw on her seatbelt, too.
4…
Following the advice of the User’s Manual, Twilight started up the engines at this moment, making sure they were set to Hover Mode when she did so.
3…
Once the engines rumbled to life, the huge arms that held up the spaceship were detached.
2…
The seven minifigs aboard the spaceship felt it shift slightly as it was released. Now, the spaceship was hovering under its own power.
1…
Twilight grabbed the steering system in front of her and quickly inspected the small control panel behind it, just to be absolutely sure she knew what to do next. She would have only one chance to get this launch done right.
0…
The countdown was finished. It was time to launch. Twilight switched the engines to Launch Mode, igniting the main engines and causing the spaceship to shoot forward out of the building and into the sky.
Everyone was thrown back into their seats as the spaceship took off at an incredible speed. Struggling to hold onto the steering system, Twilight pulled back on it ever so slightly to take them on a gently upward trajectory towards the Moon ahead of them. The ride itself, however, was anything but gentle, as the spaceship shook around as it continued to rapidly accelerate through the air.
While most of the team was screaming for their lives, Pinkie Pie joyfully remarked with a vibrated voice, “Thi-i-is ma-akes my vo-oice sound si-i-i-i-i-illy!”
Twilight held on desperately, making sure the spaceship stayed on course during the terrifying first few moments of the flight. It wasn’t easy with the whole ship shaking around as it continued to accelerate, but she barely managed to maintain control.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the orange evening sky gave way to the starry background of outer space. The vibrations also began to lessen until the ride finally smoothed out. They had now cleared the atmosphere.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. There was no denying how grateful they were that what was perhaps the roughest part of the journey was now over. With the launch complete, Twilight switched the engines to Cruise Mode. Now, it was only a matter of staying on course.
“Whoa…” said Spike in awe as he looked out the window and saw the world below. The green land, the blue oceans, the white clouds, it was unlike anything that anyone onboard the spaceship had ever seen before.
Twilight agreed that it was a spectacular view, but she had to focus on making sure the spaceship stayed on course. Keeping one eye on the console, she opened the User’s Manual again to continue reading through the chapter on piloting the spaceship. It didn’t take her long to determine what steps she should take next. She reached over to the console and pressed a blue button, then tapped a few keys on the keypad. “Okay,” she spoke up, “Autopilot is now active, destination coordinates have been properly entered, and maximum velocity should be achieved within a few minutes.” She tapped another button and looked at a number displayed on the console as she added, “Estimated time to arrival… nine hours and thirty-two minutes.”
“Good enough for me,” commented Rainbow Dash before removing her seatbelt. She got up out of her seat and yawned. “Wake me when we get there,” she said as she began to walk back to the sleeping quarters.
“The same shall apply for me, as well,” said Rarity as she also got out of her seat and headed for the sleeping quarters. “I simply must get my beauty sleep.”
Spike yawned before he, too, walked to the sleeping quarters in the back.
Pinkie Pie simply said, “Nighty night,” before hopping out of her seat and following the others to the back.
Twilight was not surprised by this at all. She knew how late it was, and had figured the long time it would take to get to the Moon would provide a good opportunity for everyone to get some rest. However, they were onboard a moving spaceship, and she didn’t want to leave it completely unattended. “Before anyone else goes to bed, I’d like to suggest that one of us stays here to keep an eye on everything,” she suggested. “Perhaps we can do this in shifts, so everyone will get a chance to have at least some rest.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Applejack in approval. “Ah’ll take the last shift, since Ah usually wake up early, anyway.”
“I’ll have the first shift,” said Twilight, “just to make sure everything is working properly.”
“I guess that leaves me on the middle shift,” stated Fluttershy with slight resignation. With nothing else left to say, she removed her seatbelt and climbed out of her seat. “Goodnight, everyone,” she said quietly as she began to make her way to the sleeping quarters.
Applejack got out of her seat and also headed back to get some rest.
Now, the only one left in the control room was Twilight Sparkle. With all systems seemingly in good shape, she opened the User’s Manual again, taking her time to read through everything about the spaceship she and her minifig friends were now riding in.
Over six hours into the flight, Fluttershy was nearing the end of her shift, and it was clearly taking its toll on her. She was so tired from having to stay up so late that she could barely keep her eyes open. Twilight had assured her that everything should be working just fine, so long as she didn’t touch anything on the console. With virtually nothing to do at all, this only made it harder for her to stay awake.
Fluttershy slowly slumped forward in her seat as she began to doze off once again. She wasn’t sure how long her eyes had been closed when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. This startled her and made her quickly sit up straight and look around in confusion before seeing Applejack standing next to her. Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment as she said, “Oh! I, um… was just… uh…”
Applejack simply smiled and said, “Go ahead and get some rest. Your shift’s over.”
Fluttershy quietly thanked Applejack and got out of the pilot’s seat and headed back to bed.
Now it was Applejack’s turn to sit in the pilot’s seat to keep an eye on things. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, so she took the opportunity to look up at the Moon, which had now grown to take up far more space in the sky than the world behind them. In all mah years, Ah never thought Ah’d be ridin’ a spaceship to the Moon, she thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy entered the sleeping quarters, which consisted of three sets of bunk beds. Fluttershy took the spare bunk under Rainbow Dash and promptly fell asleep. Pinkie Pie had the top bunk over Rarity, while Spike slept on the one over Twilight Sparkle. As everyone slept peacefully, the only noise to be heard was the faint rumbling of the engines.
Not long after Fluttershy had arrived, Spike rolled over a little too far and fell out of bed. Having been woken up from the fall, Spike sat up and noticed Twilight looking over at him. He chuckled nervously and said, “I fell out of bed.”
Twilight gave no response and simply sighed as she lied back down in her bed.
Spike knew something was bothering Twilight, so he asked, “What’s wrong, Twilight?”
“It’s about our friends, Spike,” replied Twilight uneasily. “Or rather, these… minifigs who look like them.”
Spike looked over at the sleeping minifigs nearby and said, “You’re right, they do look like our Ponyville friends, but I thought we already knew that.”
“It’s not just that,” continued Twilight. “They seem to already know each other, but… that’s it. They don’t seem to be acting like close friends. In fact, I’m not even sure if they were ever friends at all, to begin with.”
Realizing what Twilight was talking about, Spike added, “It does kinda seem like this is their first time working together.”
“And that’s the problem. Each of them on their own may behave just like our respective friends, but put together… they just don’t have that connection of true friendship.” Twilight paused, then sighed sadly and said, “Maybe Celestia was right. Maybe it was a bad idea to ask for these particular girls to be on the team.”
“Maybe,” said Spike as he climbed back up into his bed. “But it’s too late to change that now. If we’re gonna get your crown back from Sunset Shimmer, then we’ll need to convince these girls that they really can make a good team.”
Twilight took a moment to consider what Spike had said before replying, “You’re right, Spike.” She yawned as she tried to get comfortable so she could fall back to sleep. “I just need to stay positive.”
A few hours later, Applejack walked into the sleeping quarters to see everyone was still fast asleep. As far as she was concerned, this was no time to be sleeping in, so she pulled out a megaphone and shouted through it, “Wakey wakey! Rise an’ shine! Up an’ at ‘em, everyone! Y’all better be ready, ‘cause we got a big day ahead of us!”
The sudden — and very rude — wake-up call made everyone jump awake, with Spike and Rainbow Dash literally falling out of bed. Rainbow quickly got to her feet and had a furious look on her face. She rushed over to Applejack, snatched the megaphone out of her hands, smacked her hat and hair off, and then stuck the megaphone on top of her head. “What was that for?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “I thought I told you to wake me when we get there!”
Disregarding the humiliation of having a megaphone on her head, Applejack simply gave a smug expression and said, “We are there.”
This announcement made everyone stop and look at the farm girl. Once they realized what this meant, everyone climbed out of bed and headed for the control room. Applejack got rid of the megaphone and put her hair and hat back on before following them.
It wasn’t long until everyone was back in their seats. Looming in front of the spaceship was the heavily-cratered surface of the Moon.
“Whoa,” said Spike. “It looks a lot different up close.”
“Okay, let’s see…” said Twilight as she quickly looked through the User’s Manual again to make sure she knew how to properly land the spaceship. Once she was certain she knew what to do, she put away the manual and switched off the Autopilot. “Better put on your seatbelts,” she recommended. “We’ll need to slow down considerably as we come in for a landing.”
Once everyone had put on their seatbelts, Twilight switched the engines to Landing Mode, which activated the reverse thrusters that helped to slow down the spaceship. This would help make it easier for the ship to land. But first, they needed to know where to land.
“Celestia told me those exact coordinates that I entered would take us directly to the Wonderbolts Lunar Headquarters,” Twilight thought aloud, “which means it should be right in front of us.” She looked ahead at the cratered terrain below and was soon able to notice the massive facility — which looked tiny at this height. “I believe that’s it, right there.”
Everyone waited as the spaceship continued to steadily decelerate. Since the Moon had no atmosphere, using the reverse thrusters was the only way to slow down the spaceship as it approached the lunar base.
Within a few minutes, they were less than a mile above the base. Twilight checked the velocity reading on the console and said, “Okay, we’ve slowed down enough. Switching to Hover Mode.” She switched the engines to that mode and pulled back on the steering system so the spaceship was now parallel to the ground rather than perpendicular.
The downward thrusters were able to slow the spaceship the rest of the way to the surface. By the time their decent had slowed to a crawl, they were now hovering directly over the base.
Rainbow Dash pointed out the window and said, “Take us down onto that landing pad over there. There should be an entrance nearby.”
Twilight nodded and carefully maneuvered the spaceship over towards the landing site. She wasn’t sure how sensitive the controls were, so she made sure to be extra careful with each movement. Once they made it over to the landing pad, Twilight pressed a button on the console, lowering the landing gear to provide a soft landing. She then lowered the power of the downward thrusters ever so slightly to make the ship slowly descend to the surface below. They got closer and closer until, at last, the spaceship rumbled slightly as it touched down. They were now on the surface of the Moon.
Twilight switched the engines off. The quiet humming noise faded, leaving the spaceship in absolute silence. She let go of the controls and slumped back in her seat as she sighed in relief and said, “We made it.”
“So, um… what now?” asked Fluttershy.
Twilight removed her seatbelt and said, “We grab our helmets and prepare to venture outside.” She got up out of her seat started heading down to the air-lock.
The rest of the team removed their seatbelts and followed Twilight. Since they couldn’t directly enter the lunar base, they would have to step outside into the airless environment of the Moon. That meant they would first need to make sure their spacesuits were working properly before they could go anywhere.
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Enjoy.
Looking good so far.
This was a nice sort of interlude chapter, and nice setting up for whatever happens next.
This is the first thing I thought of when I read the chapter title.
4072741 Inevitable Portal 2 reference is inevitable.
When I saw Pinkie say SPACESHIP, I immediately thought of Benny from the LEGO Movie when he freaked out with his spaceship.
Warning, 31.media.tumblr.com/a71e9cb4a45dd2bdc2825b5187e252f3/tumblr_inline_n28q9oWs2C1r2m1q6.png
i love the lego movie, speaking which there sequel of the lego movie 2 coming may 2017
4074424 (This video is one of those rare exceptions. (Though for some reason, it works only on the chapter page and not the story page)) Yeah, like I said, Benny is my favorite character from that movie, and I just couldn't resist making multiple references to his catchphrase.
4082485 I was half expecting Pinkie to start yelling, 'SPAAAAAACCCCCCEEEE!!!'
RD reminds me of the Space Core.