Twilight wants to see just how high ponykind can go, no matter the cost.
For the ponies of Equestria, outer space has always been an unreachable frontier, far more difficult to explore than even the harshest wilderness. Though they have controlled the movements of the sun and moon for thousands of years, none have traveled to the vast expanse in which these two celestial bodies reside.
Equestria's newest princess hopes to change that. With the help of her friends, Twilight Sparkle will travel into the vastness of space, and push the technological boundaries of ponykind. But that goal is a long way off, and Twilight will first need to learn how to even survive the journey...
All was quiet and peaceful in Ponyville. It was just after dawn on what promised to be a beautiful summer's day. The birds and crickets were chirping, the butterflies were beginning to flit about, and a few clouds drifted lazily through the azure sky, still tinted with bits of pink and orange from a marvelous sunrise. A sense of calm and tranquility reigned over the land.
Any sense of tranquility was shattered when two blue and purple streaks shot past, grazing the top of a tree, and sending a gust of wind rippling through its branches. Birds swooped out of the way, and animals on the ground dove for cover, as a vicious gale tore through the tall grasses, whipping against anything in it's path.
At the head of the twin streaks, a pegasus and an alicorn raced through the sky, each determined to outdo the other.
“Is that...all you've got...Rainbow?” asked the alicorn, panting for breath.
“Are you kidding, Twilight? I'm still warming up!” The pegasus replied, smirking. In a sudden burst of speed, she pulled ahead by several lengths. “You can't really expect to beat the fastest flier in Equestria in your first air race!”
But Twilight wasn't done yet. Mustering her strength, she flapped harder than ever before, pulling even with her cyan competitor. A shocked expression crossed Rainbow Dash's face as her inexperienced friend passed her by on the home stretch.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow pressed forward mightily. “Oh. No. You. Don't!” She screamed, shooting ahead and regaining her recently lost ground.
The two were neck and neck as they approached the finish line, a hastily constructed cloud ring. Both friends pressed in and fought for every bit of air. Their outstretched hooves wavered back and forth, each just inches away from a lead.
The ring was only seconds away when Rainbow spread her wings wide, gave one powerful flap, and tore ahead at an unprecedented pace, crossing through the ring instantly, and leaving Twilight far in the dust.
As Twilight crossed over the line and slowed down, Rainbow looped back, laughing hysterically. Twilight pouted, out of breath, “Hey! You were...holding back...weren't you?”
“Duh! Of course I was holding back! C'mon, Twi, I can break the sound barrier, traveling straight up, less than two seconds after liftoff! You've never even raced before!”
“I did pretty well for my first time!”, Twilight shot back, catching her breath.
“Yeah, I'll give you that. You learn fast.”
“Heheh. Still the same old Twilight, even with these.” She replied, gesturing at her wings.
Rainbow grinned. “Don't think you're done training, though. I want you to give me a real challenge by the end of this summer!” Looking to the skies with a far-off expression, she continued, “We're gonna fly higher and faster than anypony's ever dreamed!”
Twilight gave her a quizzical look. “Higher?”, she asked, “Have you really gone higher up than anyone?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow blanched, as if this should have been obvious, “I hold an official record and everything!”
“You do?”
“Yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed, flying into the air and acting out a scene. “It was years ago. I flew way up, and this astrononomer guy watched me, and used some measurey stuff, and he said I was higher up than any pegasus in recorded history!” Coming down from her performance, she settled into a slower flight alongside her friend. “I can't believe you never heard of it. I mean, it's probably written in some book.”
“Well,” Twilight grinned sheepishly, “I tend to read more scientific things than books of flying records.” She paused, looking up at the clear blue sky, which was fading to a light blue as the sun rose higher toward it's peak. “I wonder what's up there?” She mused, a dreamy look in her eyes, “Is it just the Moon, Sun, and stars? Or are there other planets, like ours? Are there other creatures out there, maybe intelligent ones?” She grew more excited as he went on, eliciting a grin from her friend.
“I dunno, Twi. All I see is a bunch of blue. As long as I can fly wherever I want in it, I don't really care what's in the sky.”
Twilight continued gazing upward, barely focusing on her path. A long silence descended between the two friends, as they stared up into the deep, blue infinity.
“Hey Twilight.” Rainbow started, breaking the silence, “You wanna try going up there right now?” Twilight brought her gaze down to meet hers, as Rainbow continued, “Why don't we see just how high we can go?”
This brought a smile to Twilight's lips. She nodded. “Sure, let's go.” And they were off.
Higher and higher they climbed, up into the ephemeral blue. Clouds fell away at the edges of their vision, and any sound from below died away. Still, they kept going. The air began to thin out, forcing them to labor for each breath. Still, they kept going. A biting cold gripped them, causing frost to form on their front hooves, as the wind bit into their faces, nearly forcing their eyes shut. Still, they kept going. Eventually, Twilight began to slow. Rainbow looked over at her, concerned. Twilight looked back, face set in grim determination. Still, they kept going. Twilight's wings burned with a pain they had never known, as her lungs screamed at her to stop. Still, they kept going.
“Alright,” Rainbow declared, teeth chattering, eyelashes frosted over, windswept, sweat-drenched mane freezing into a block of ice, “T-that's high enough.”
“No.”
“T-twilight!”
“N-no! I c-can do t-this!” Twilight pressed on, ever higher.
“T-twilight, you're gonna w-wear yourself out! W-we have t-to get down!”
Still, her friend refused to give up. In desperation, Rainbow swooped over, and grabbed Twilight around her midsection. Too exhausted to resist, Twilight allowed her friend to drag her down, down back to safety. The air warmed up, and breathing became easier. The clouds came back into view, and the sound of the bustling town could be heard once more.
As they set down on the ground again, Rainbow turned on her “You've only had your wings for a month! And you're already pulling stuff like that!”
“Rainbow, you pull crazy stunts all the time!”
“That's because I know what I'm doing! I never just threw myself at flying like that! I know my limits!” She fumed, “And until you learn yours, you are not pulling something like that again, understand?” Rainbow gave Twilight her sternest look, daring her to talk back. Twilight sighed, giving in to reason, “Okay, okay, I won't do something like that again until I've practiced flying more.”
This seemed to satisfy her friend. “Good.” Rainbow nodded. “Now, let's go get some chow. All that flying before breakfast really takes it out of ya!”
Twilight agreed, and they set off to Sugarcube Corner, to see what delectable sweets their favorite party pony had prepared this morning. But Twilight's mind was elsewhere. She couldn't think about breakfast, only what she had seen, way up in the sky, up where flying had become an unbearable ordeal, just before Rainbow Dash had saved her.
Twilight's study was a mess. Books, scrolls, papers, and quills were strewn about the floor, forming piles and stacks that a pony had to maneuver around in order to get anywhere. Having known her friend for as long as she had, Rainbow Dash was not surprised in the least. She had originally flown in through the eccentric librarian's window, planning to rouse her friend for an early morning flight practice, as she had for several weeks, only for Spike to drowsily redirect her to disaster of a room.
"Twilight? Are you ready?" She called into the maze of scholarly pursuit, "It's time to go!"
The alicorn in question was in no hurry to respond, engrossed as she was in a rather dense-looking book. Her mane appeared frazzled and unkempt, and her feathers were a ruffled mess. Rainbow pressed the issue, stepping around a roughly shoulder-height pile of books. "Come on, Twilight, I got over here early so you could get some more flight practice. Let's go!" Sensing no response forthcoming, Rainbow sighed. Rolling her eyes, she forcefully shoved an inkpot across Twilight's writing desk, out of line with the other two.
Twilight's ears perked up at the sound, and she swiveled around to check on the disturbance, revealing some very noticeable lines under her eyes. Noticing her friend, she exclaimed, "Oh! Rainbow, I didn't see you there!". Looking around sheepishly, she apologized, "I've kinda been up all night. I wouldn't have noticed you coming in."
"Let me guess, studying?", Rainbow deadpanned, as Twilight strode over, yawning and rubbing her tired eyes.
"You bet!" Twilight responded, sliding the inkpot back into place, "I've been reading up on atmospherics. I think I found a way for us to get as high as we did yesterday safely!"
Rainbow waved her off, "It was cold, and we couldn't breathe. Grab a scuba tank and a parka."
"It's a little more complicated than that, Rainbow. The lack of atmosphere at that altitude results in a sharply decreasing level of barometric pressure." Twilight announced, settling into a lecturing tone.
"Huh?"
"There's no air pressure. The hose leading from the tank to your breathing unit would burst. Not to mention that flying in heavy cold weather gear would be extremely difficult."
Rainbow slowly nodded. "Okay, so, what do you have in mind?"
Twilight levitated over a small stack of books, sifting through them in mid-air. "Lets see, where did I leave it?" A piece of paper fell out of one, with a crude drawing on it. "Aha! There it is!" Twilight set the books aside, and cleared a space for the paper on her desk. Spreading it out, she began to explain. "It's an airtight suit, with integrated air tanks, and a thermal insulating layer. See?" She asked, pointing enthusiastically at the paper.
Rainbow Dash peered at the paper, squinting her eyes and tilting her head, and simply shrugged. "I'm not seein' it, Twi.", she said, and added, with an embarrassed smile, "Uh, Twilight?"
"Yes?"
"You're not really good at drawing."
"What are you talking about?" Twilight replied, indignantly, "Here's a pony, and this outline is the suit, and these are the air tanks, and then this line around the head is the helmet." She added, pointing to each feature.
"I dunno, Twi, this looks like a potato with some sticks in it, and a couple of massive tumors on top, with ripple effects around it."
"Well, well FINE! I'm not good at drawing, OK?" Twilight shouted. "How about you try it!"
Backing up under the verbal onslaught, Rainbow Dash replied, "Alright, alright! I'm sorry!" Seeking a change of subject, she asked, "So, how are we gonna get these things, anyway?"
Twilight relented. "I hadn't really thought about that." She mused, tapping her chin with a hoof, "I guess we'll have to make them ourselves." she shrugged.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this. "I dunno about you, Twi, but I'm not too good at making suits, or really anything with, uh, fabric."
"Well, I think we both know somepony who is."
* * *
"Ooooh, it's a spacesuit, isn't it?" asked an excited party pony as she studied the drawings Twilight had given her, having stopped the pair in the street just outside the library. "You guys are into that stuff now? Oh boy! I can't wait to show you the one I made!"
"Actually, Pinkie," Twilight began awkwardly, "We were heading over to Rari-wait, what was that last part?!"
Pinkie grinned even bigger than before. "I made a spacesuit years ago! I wanted to throw a party that was out of this world! Get it? But then I said 'Pinkie, you can't literally have a party out of this world, like in space! How can anypony get up that high?', So I just made the next party I had be out of this world, as in really good."
"Oh!" Rainbow shouted, "That was Applejack's birthday party, what, two years ago?"
"Yup!"
Rainbow smiled, remembering, "Yeah, that was a good one." She and Pinkie burst out into a fit of giggles.
"Heehee! Look Rainbow, I'm flying! Hahahaha!"
"Oh yeah, and she, heeheehee, she tried to, ohahahaha!"
Twilight gave them a quizzical look. "She tried to what? Wait, who? Who are you talking about? What happened? What?!" She asked, growing more confused by the second.
Rainbow, clearing her throat, related the best she could, "Well, you see, Applejack was trying out this thing, and she, well..." she trailed off, waving a hoof noncommittally and glancing at Pinkie.
The pony in question smiled wistfully and shook her head. "I dunno, Rainbow, she wasn't there for Rarity's thing. I don't think she'll get it."
"Yeah, it's not as funny then. Sorry, Twi, I guess you had to be there." Rainbow apologized, with a pantomimed shrug.
Pinkie glanced back at the drawings, pointing. "By the way, you should probably put a reflective coating on the glass of the helmet. You need something to keep your head warm. And you forgot to cover up the tail, silly! What happens when it gets all icey-ed up? Oh, and these air tubes need to be shortened, so they don't mess with your wings." she said, flapping her arms awkwardly to demonstrate.
Twilight could scarcely believe what she had just heard. Sharing a surprised look with Rainbow Dash, she asked, "Pinkie? Those are actually really good points. How do you know so much about engineering?"
"Well, you needed help making these suits work, so I shared some super-smart engininggery knowledge with you." Pinkie swooped closer, "And now I'm gonna help you make them!" She exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air in a celebratory fashion.
Twilight frowned, "Uh, Pinkie, that didn't really answer my-Ow!" she shouted, receiving a jab to the shoulder from Rainbow Dash, who gave her best "just go with it, it's Pinkie Pie" look.
"Great!" Cried Pinkie, grabbing both her friends and dragging them down the street, "C'mon! You've got to see my workshop!"
"Workshop?" asked Twilight. Rainbow just shrugged.
* * *
Pinkie's workshop proved to be a large storeroom in the back of Sugarcube Corner, which the eccentric pony had converted to her own purposes. A small section of the room was filled with baking supplies, neatly stacked on shelves, which was partitioned off from the rest of the room by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. The fence sported a large, pink sign, that in bold letters, pronounced: "Secret Lab. Keep Out!". The seriousness of the sign, and the barrier it was attached to, was slightly offset by the smiling pinkie face that dominated half the sign.
Beyond the fence was, to put it lightly, a mess. Random parts and schematics littered the ground, walls, and a number of haphazardly put together shelves. There was even a pink, candy-constructed contraption hanging from the ceiling, which Twilight recognized as Pinkie's flying machine. The three ponies were barely able to find space on the floor in which to walk.
"This is ridiculous." Rainbow commented, "Twilight has her study, Rarity has her 'Inspiration Room', and now this?" She snorted, "Am I the only one who knows how to keep a house clean?"
Twilight sighed, "Rainbow, you live in a cloud house. You can't keep much up there anyway."
"Whatever. I still keep it clean." Said Rainbow. Wading through a pile of junk, she asked, "Hey, is this the party catapult?"
"It was my first portable party idea!" Pinkie winced as she and Rainbow shared a knowing look. "The cannon is much better."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "You know what? I'll just take you word for-Ooh, what's this?" she asked, pointing to a maze of electrical wires, lights, and switches.
Pinkie zipped over, proudly displaying her work. "This is one of my newest inventions! It lets me throw my voice reeeeaaally far away!" She began fussing with some of the wires and throwing switches, as she continued, "You remember when Rainbow left for the Wonderbolts Academy, and I was all worried, cuz I thought she wouldn't remember me, and then she didn't write for days and days, and then I got really worried, and then we went up there to give her a care package, and then-" She stopped abruptly as Twilight shoved a hoof over her mouth.
"Yes, we remember. Go on." she removed her hoof, and Pinkie continued.
"Wellll, I thought if I could just talk to her while she was there, then I wouldn't have to worry. So I tried yelling up to her with a megaphone, but she didn't say anything back. So then I thought 'Silly Pinkie, she doesn't have a megaphone, so she can't yell back, but yeah, she probably didn't hear you, either'. But then I thought, 'Wait, Pinkie, what if you could just shoot your voice really really far, like in a big beam of magic? Then you could talk normal, and she'd hear anyway'. So I came back here, and built this!"
Twilight nodded, following along. "Okay, so, how does it work?"
"Easy! You just flip this switch here, and talk into this little thingie here, and this little gizmo turns your voice into magic, and shoots it across to the machine over there!" Pinkie explained, pointing to a slightly smaller contraption at the opposite corner of the room, which slightly resembled a phonograph.
"And it's all ready to go?"
"Yeah!"
Twilight settled in behind the machine. "Okay, Rainbow, could you go over there, and see if you can hear me?"
"Sure thing." Rainbow flew over, and set herself up in front of the other machine. "Ready when you are, Twi!"
Twilight prepared to speak into the machine. After fidgeting on her hooves for a few seconds, she took a deep breath, and whispered, enunciating clearly, "Rainbow Dash, can you hear me?". As she spoke, a light on the top of the machine softly pulsed in time to her words.
"Whoah!", Rainbow called from across the room, "That's so cool! Your voice is coming right out of this phone thingie!"
"Really? It works?!" Cried Pinkie.
Twilight gave her a sidelong glance. "You didn't think it would?"
"Well, I couldn't really test it out by myself. I can only be in one place at once, and I know cloning myself is a bad idea."
Rainbow flew over just then. "Pinkie, that was awesome!" she yelled.
Pinkie grinned, stepping over to a tarp-covered box. "Just wait 'til you see this!", she said, throwing the tarp off, and revealing a glass case holding a space suit.
"Ooooooh!" Cried Rainbow and Twilight in unison
The suit was constructed out of a metallic material, colored pink, and had angular designs painted on in a darker, nonmetallic purple, much in the same style of a Wonderbolts uniform. The helmet was a sleek oval shape, with a glass visor mounted smoothly in the metal back. A bulge in the suit ran down from it to a large set of air tanks on the back. These were painted the same purple color, and had clearly been customized for better aerodynamics. The whole suit, including the tail, had what appeared to be armored pads beneath it, in a segmented pattern.
"Okay, this is about twenty percent cooler than that last thing."
Twilight groaned, "Really? You had to say it that way?"
"Duh! It's my catch phrase!"
"I thought you were still working on your catch phrase."
Rainbow shrugged, "Eh, it's good enough for now."
Pinkie bounced in place excitedly. "So? So? What do you guys think? Huh? Huh?"
Twilight smiled. "Pinkie, this is amazing. Can you really show us how to do it?"
"Absotively Posilutely! You guys are gonna need your own suits if we're going to space!"
Twilight consulted her other friend, "Rainbow? Do you want to stay and make our own suits?"
"You bet! There's no weather scheduled, so I've got all day! Let's do this!"
"Yippeeeee!", Cried Pinkie, "This is gonna be sooooo much fun!"
"Alright, you two," Twilight asked with an authoratative air, "Are we ready to go?"
The three friends had gathered on a hilltop just outside of Ponyville, on another sunny, cloudless day. They were each wearing a spacesuit in their own colors; Pinkie Pie in her obnoxious pink, Rainbow Dash in an almost exact copy of a Wonderbolts uniform, and Twilight in a simple lavender. The design had changed slightly since their first day in Pinkie's workshop, with large backpacks being added on top of the air tanks. Twilight and Rainbow were making final adjustments on a harness strung between them, their eccentric friend strapped into the middle.
Rainbow looked up. "All secure on this side, Twi."
Twilight checked another box on the checklist she was levitating in front of her. "Air tanks working?"
"Check."
"Check!"
"Radios?"
"Check."
"Roger that! That's a big ten-four! I copy! Over and out!"
Twilight cocked an eyebrow quizzically. "Sooo, is that a yes?"
Pinkie nodded emphatically. "You bet! I'm inventing radio talk! All those things are the radioer's way of saying 'yes'!" She assumed a thoughtful expression. "Or maybe they should mean 'Goodbye', or 'I heard you'."
"Why not just say those things?", asked Rainbow, "I'd understand a lot better."
"Because," Pinkie replied, "They're radios! You have to say silly stuff if you want to use them right!"
"Are ya'll gonna get this show on the road, or keep arguin' about the rodeos?" Asked an impatient Applejack from just below the hilltop.
"Yes indeed," added Rarity, gesturing to the rather large crowd of ponies assembled just behind them, including Applejack, Rarity herself, and Fluttershy, who was, at the moment, being cradled by an eternally patient Spike while the worried pegasus nervously whimpered into her mane. She continued, "These ponies came to see history being made, not another silly Pinkie language."
"It's a radio," Twilight corrected, "And...yes!", She exclaimed, triumphantly, "I think we're all set. Spike?" She asked, handing over the checklist.
Spike took the paper in his claw, eyes scanning down the page. "Hmm, yes...yes...looks good...And, 'Have Spike triple-check the checklist after double-checking is complete.' Check!" He rolled up the paper, confirming, "You're all set to go, Twilight!"
"Please don't," pleaded Fluttershy, "It's so very...high. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"We'll be fine, Fluttershy," Twilight reassured her friend, "We're bringing along Equestria's best flier," Rainbow puffed out her chest with pride at the compliment, "And we've triple-checked everything on my list. There's nothing left to go wrong, and if it does, we can always fly right back down."
Fluttershy gulped nervously, "Okay, I suppose...but come back as soon as you can!" she added vindictively, staring down her friend.
"We won't." Turning back to her fellow astronauts, Twilight asked, "Okay, Rainbow, you know the flight plan?"
"We've only been over it about ten times, so yeah!"
"Just one more time, please."
Rainbow sighed, "Fly up to the cloud platform I set up, perform equipment checks, continue on to space."
"And what do we do when we get there?"
"Turn around immediately. No sightseeing."
PInkie interjected, "I still don't like that part. Just think of the amazing view from up there! Are you sure you wanna miss it?"
"We'll be gone long enough as it is," Twilight countered, glancing over her shoulder, "We don't want to get anyone too worried." She turned to her cowpony friend, "Applejack! Start the countdown."
Clearing her throat, Applejack announced, "LIftoff in ten...nine...eight..."
Fastening her helmet, Twilight prepared to take flight.
"Seven...six...five..."
"Oooh, I'm so nervouscited!" Shouted Pinkie.
"Four..."
"That's still not a word." Said Rainbow.
"Three...two...one...LIFTOFF!"
Twilight and Rainbow launched themselves from the ground, and rocketed away into the sky, Pinkie in tow. They flew towards a speck of white in the spotless blue, holding a steady speed. This was just the first leg, after all, and they would need to conserve their energy for the final push to space.
After nearly a minute of flight, the cloud they had been aiming for drew close, and they slowed down for a landing. Setting down on the cloud, Twilight asked, "How are we doing? Everyone's air pressure okay?"
The three friends shuffled around, checking air pressure gauges on their tanks, and glancing at the barometers attached to the inside of their helmets.
"All good here."
"That's a big ten-four!"
"Okay, I guess we're good. How's our harness holding up?"
Rainbow Dash fiddled with the harness, pulling and tugging on straps, and looked up, satisfied. "It's rock solid. Pinkie's not goin' anywhere."
"Alright, you ready for the second half?"
"You bet I am!"
"Then lets go!"
They took off once more, barreling forward into the sky. As they climbed, Twilight could feel the strain on her wings growing. The air was thinning out, and it was surely freezing outside her suit. Higher and higher they flew, until the stars began to be seen.
"Heads up, Rainbow," She said, "This is as high as we got last time."
Pinkie had her own observation to make. "Ooh, you can see the stars, but it's daytime! This is so cool!"
"You know, Twilight, I was wondering," Asked Rainbow Dash, "How will we know when we're in space? Is there some kind of barrier?"
"I don't know. I guess we'll probably know when we get-WHOAH!" Twilight yelped, as she suddenly felt very dizzy, and had a sensation of falling...up?
"WAAAH! What's going on?!" Rainbow cried as they started a slow downward spin.
As the earth came into view below them, Twilight replied, "I think we're...weightless. So there's no gravity in space?"
"Well, I guess now we know we're here!" Pinkie exclaimed, "Wooohoooo! This is so much fun!"
As the earth came into view a second time, she added, "I guess this must be really disorienting for you guys. All this spinning, and then seeing something, and then nothing, and then something again, and you don't actually feel yourself spinning the whole time, its got to feel weird."
Rainbow groaned, "Ooogh, Pinkie, couldja maybe just stop talking about it?"
"Okay," Said Twilight, "I'm going to stop this spinning." Lighting her horn, she tried to rotate the three friends the opposite direction. As she grabbed with her telekinesis, however, she felt her magic fizzle out. Trying again, she reached out with her magic, and again watched as the telekinetic field flickered and died immediately. "Uh, guys?" she asked.
"Yeah, I see it." Said Rainbow Dash. "I think it's time to fly down."
After several seconds, the earth came into view once more, and then left again. "Rainbow Dash? Are your wings working?" Asked Twilight, as she found her own wings unable to move her.
"No, I can't fly!" Came the panicked reply, "How are we gonna get down?!"
"Calm down. Let's think about this." Twilight replied, "We need something to push us the other way. Something that could explode in one direction, and force us in another."
"Party Cannon!" Pinkie shouted, "I'll shoot off a party cannon! That should push us back far enough, right?"
"Yeah, maybe, if we could get one," Rainbow Dash retorted, "I sure as hay didn't bring one up here, did you?"
"Yup! I always carry three with me, wherever I go!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "In case of an party emergency, right?"
"No, in case of an emergency party!" Pinkie replied, suddenly holding the aforementioned Party Cannon. "Here goes nothing!" She shouted, setting off the cannon in a silent explosion of confetti.
The effects were immediate. The starfield in front of Twilight's eyes stopped spinning, and she almost had the sensation of slowing down. Still, something didn't quite feel right.
"We're still moving away from Earth." She announced. "Pinkie, you said you have three Party Cannons, right? Time to use the other two."
"Wait, Pinkie, Don't!" Rainbow Dash shouted, too late. As the second cannon exploded, Twilight felt the harness flex and snap under the pressure, as if it had been partially melted. Before she knew it, she was floating free, and her two friends were falling away from her, back towards the earth.
"NO! Twilight!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, "Pinkie! Quick, grab my air tank!"
"What? Why would I do that?"
"I need you to rip it out! The blast of air will get us going the other way!" Rainbow explained quickly, "Then I need you to steer us towards Twilight, and use the last Party Cannon to get down."
"What?!" Twilight shouted, "Rainbow Dash, that's insane! Your suit will be compromised. You'll freeze! And how are you supposed to breathe?"
"I'll hold my breath. We don't have time to think of anything else!" Indeed, Twilight could see her friends moving away from her more every second. "Pinkie, now!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, and the next thing Twilight knew, her friends were racing towards her.
As soon as they were close enough, Twilight grabbed hold of Rainbow Dash, who was already fading from consciousness, and had ice forming around her eyes and nose. "Pinkie! Fire that cannon now!" She commanded.
The final Party Cannon went off, and the trio started falling back towards their destination, much slower than Twilight would have liked. Her friend was now unconscious inside her suit, and nearly coated in ice. Desperately, Twilight tried flapping her wings, but they were still in vacuum. She reached out with her magic, only to see it sizzle and fade once more. She tried again, harder, focusing all her will on a simple levitation spell. The exertion was tremendous, but she managed to wrap all three of them in a magical field. With all her might, she pulled them towards Earth, and they sluggishly accelerated.
"Twilight! You did it!" Pinkie shouted excitedly, "We're in air again! Fly down!"
As focused as she had been on her spell, Twilight hadn't even noticed. She quickly stopped the spell, and spread her wings, rocketing down into the atmosphere. The earth became larger and larger, filing her entire vision. She started to see individual clouds, then the landscape in different colors, and soon, they were low enough to pick out cities and towns amongst the countryside.
"Eep! Twilight! Slow down! Slow down!"
Twilight flared her wings outward, bracing against the wind screaming by. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash slammed into her, and she was almost knocked off balance. Straining against the combined weight of three ponies, she forced them to slow down, even as she aimed for the hilltop they had taken off from. She could see that it wouldn't be enough.
"Pinkie! Hold on tight!" She screamed, grabbing both of her friends tightly and casting a force field around them.
With incredible speed, the trio slammed into the ground, throwing up dirt in all directions, and scattering the crowd of waiting ponies. Twilight's force field collapsed as she was thrown to the ground, but it had held long enough. As the dust settled, she struggled to her feet, and pulled herself towards Pinkie, who was cradling Rainbow Dash in her hooves.
"I-is she okay?" Pinkie sniffed.
Twilight looked over her friend, who was still very much unconscious, but ice-free, and still, incredibly, breathing. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, she's fine, Pinkie."
"Oh, good." Pinkie said, tiredly. "Heh, that was fun. Let's do it again..." She laughed sardonically as she passed out.
Just then, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and Fluttershy came running up. "Are ya'll alright?" Asked Applejack, "That was one mighty crash!"
"Yeah, we're fine..." Twilight slurred, stumbling to her knees, "I think...we should probably go to the hospital..." She managed to say, before collapsing to the ground, her vision turning black.
"Seriously, guys, I'm fine. I'll be out of here in a day. It was nothing."
Rainbow Dash's statement did little to convince her friends. As they stood in her room in the hospital, warm afternoon light spilling in through the window, with sounds of a busy building drifting in through the open door, it was evident that they were still very much concerned. This feeling may have been caused by the bandage wrapped around her head, hiding one ear, and obscuring her left eye.
"Are you kiddin'?" asked Applejack incredulously, "That was the hardest landing Ah think Ah ever saw. You came flyin' in faster than, well, you at the start o' cider season!"
"Yes, indeed." Rarity added, "If Twilight hadn't cast her shield spell, you would not even be alive, let alone able to recover from your injuries in just a day."
Fluttershy spoke up, "This is exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of.", She stated, voice beginning to waver, "You weren't prepared, and you went and got hurt."
Just then, Twilight strode into the room, free of any bandages, and declared, "No, we were prepared."
Fluttershy zipped over to her friend, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Twilight! You're okay!"
Laughing, Twilight disentangled herself from the pegasus's embrace. "Yes, I am. In fact, I've already been discharged." She cleared her throat, "But as I was saying, we were prepared for as much as we reasonably could be, so we were able to keep ourselves safe. If we'd really been unprepared, I don't think we'd be here right now." She continued, in a lighter tone, "By the way, Pinkie is up."
"Oh good." Said Rarity, "I assume she is feeling better?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes. But they want to keep her under observation for a while."
"Well," Said Applejack, moving to head for the door, "I'll bet she could use some company. We best go and see her."
Rainbow Dash chimed in, "That's a good idea, you guys. I'll be fine here." As they said their goodbyes and started heading for the exit, she called Twilight over. "Hey, Twilight, could I talk with you for a moment?"
Twilight stopped and assured the other three, "I'll be right along. She's already seen me anyway." She strode back into the room, and pulled up a chair next to Dash's bed. "I think I can guess what you wanted to talk about." She started.
"Yeah, you probably can." Rainbow frowned, "What was all that stuff about us being prepared?"
"We were prepared." Twilight blustered. "We had everything we needed to get back home safely."
"Yeah, but we didn't know that. If Pinkie Pie hadn't had her party cannons-"
Twilight cut her off. "I knew Pinkie had her party cannons. I also knew that they would definitely push us back to Earth, even if nothing else worked. I honestly thought we could just fly down."
Rainbow groaned and held her head in a hoof. "Okay, so what about the no gravity thing? You seemed pretty surprised by that."
"I was. I expected to feel a gradual decrease in gravitational pull, until it got so faint that we didn't even notice it." Twilight mused, "But I guess we were traveling so fast, it seemed like there was no gravity at all, when it had only slightly decreased."
Rainbow's head snapped up. "Wait, what?! There was still gravity?" She continued, angrily, "Twilight, I ripped off my air tanks to save you from floating away from Earth forever! That was for nothing?!" She shot Twilight a murderous glare, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because," Twilight replied indignantly, "I didn't know at the time! I only figured out what was happening once we got back down." When Rainbow didn't let up, she continued, "Look, I don't know everything there is to know about space. There's some things we'll just have to learn by going there and finding out."
Rainbow shook her head. "No way. That is way too dangerous. We'd be better off just staying down here."
Twilight smiled mischievously, "I thought danger was your middle name."
"Ehh, it's one of them." Rainbow said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Well, I'm definitely going back."
"What? Twilight, that's-"
"So," Twilight cut her off, "If you're not up to the challenge, I'll just go myself." She said with a smirk.
Rainbow paused, weighing the decision, "I...Aw, C'mon! That's fighting dirty!" She pouted, "Fine, I'm coming with." As her friend snickered to herself, she added, "But I want to know everything you know about space. I wanna know what I'm dealing with."
"Okay." Twilight nodded, "Oh, and we have to find a better way to get Pinkie up there."
"Yeah, she'd hate it if we left her behind."
* * *
Night had fallen, and all of Equestria slumbered under a peaceful dark sky. The lights had all gone out in the towns, and the countryside was cloaked in subdued tones given by the light of the moon, which hung in the sky overhead, watching like a silent sentinel. The stars twinkled gently all around it, except for one.
This particular star was growing brighter.
As the light grew, it became obvious that this was no star, but an object falling through the air, burning with the light of a sun. As it hurtled down through the atmosphere, pieces broke off, disintegrating in a shower of sparks. A trail of smoke billowed out behind it, clearly marking its path to any observers.
With a roaring whoosh, the object approached the ground, blazing with light that made an artificial day. As it impacted, a shockwave was thrown all around, accompanied by a searing flash of light that quickly faded to darkness. If any ponies in the area had not been awakened by its thunderous approach, then surely they were awake now. A wall of dirt had been thrown up from the impact site, devastating the hilltop it had plowed into. Trees were bent away from the crater for miles around, and dirt, dust, and smoke obscured the moon and hid the stars from view.
In the coming hours, hundreds of ponies would visit the impact crater, drawn by curiosity to this never-before-seen spectacle. What they found there would change the course of Equestrian history, as experts poured in during the following day to study it. A call was sent to the princesses, which was followed by a summons to three would-be astronauts. Soon, everything would change for Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and by extension, all of ponykind.
The sun was high in the sky by the time the royally chartered chariot reached the impact site. Its three passengers leaned over the forward railing, gaping at the large, still-smoking crater, and also the array of ponies, airships, chariots, and building materials that had clustered around it. Already, the guard had begun to erect a chain-link fence around a crude perimeter some distance from the actual crater. Other guardsponies were shooing crowds away from the crater, while others were setting up the beginnings of a force-field dome around the site.
As the chariot passed over the perimeter, a pair of pegasus guards flew up to intercept them. One of the guards spoke up, "Unauthorized aircraft are not permit-Princess!" He stumbled, recognizing Twilight. "I-Ahem! Princess Luna awaits your arrival at the crater's edge. Follow us in, please."
Twilight acknowledged them, and her chariot-pullers angled downward, following the pair of guards to the ground. From this close, it was clear that whatever had impacted the ground had come in at an angle. One side of the crater was cleanly and clearly cut out from the hillside, while the other side had thrown a pile of dirt and rock in a massive fan shape, obscuring even it's own shape.
"Whoah!" Rainbow Dash cried, "It blew off the whole hilltop! That's so awesome!"
Pinkie Pie leaned even further over the railing, asking, "Whaddya think did that, huh? It must've been reeeeeally big, if it made that big of a mess!"
Twilight butted in for her own view, saying, "I'm guessing that's what we're here to find out, Pinkie. My first guess is an asteroid. A really big asteroid." She added, staring at the crater, which was growing larger in their vision by the second.
"Ooh!" Rainbow exclaimed, "Maybe it's space aliens!"
"Or maybe it's a giant rock!" Cried Pinkie, "Even better! Ooh, I should've brought my sister here. She would love that!"
"Pinkie," Twilight explained, "An asteroid is a rock. I'm just not sure why the princesses summoned us here specifically, if that's all that this is."
"Maybe it's got a really weird geological composition!" Pinkie guessed, "I know all kinds of stuff about rocks, so maybe they need help classifying it, or something."
Rainbow scoffed, "Yeah, Pinkie, I don't think you could sit still long enough to classify rocks. I bet even Twilight would get bored with that."
Twilight whirled on her, "And what is that supposed to mean?"
Before she could get an answer, however, the chariot bumped lightly into the ground, and the guards who had been escorting them flew off to perform other duties.
The three friends stepped out, onto the rocky soil of the hilltop. On their right, a patch of green grass was neatly cut away by the crater, while on the left, a mountain of debris stretched around the rim. For the first time, they could see a blackened, smoking spot near the center of the left-side wall, even darker than the scorched crater floor. Lines in the rock radiated out from it in nearly all directions, ending in the debris pile that formed the rim of the crater.
"Truly incredible, is it not?" Asked a regal voice from behind them.
"Princess Luna!" Twilight said with a small bow, her friends following suit.
The Princess nodded, "I assume you are wondering why my sister and I sent for the three of you specifically?" She asked knowingly.
Twilight shared a glance with her friends. "The thought had crossed our minds, yes."
"Indeed." Luna replied, raising a hoof to point at the blackened spot, "The answer lies there, at the center of the blast." She turned, beckoning the three forward, "Come, there is something you must see." With that, she strode over the debris pile, and into the crater, accompanied by two of her personal guards. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie followed close behind.
They had gone a short distance into the crater when Rainbow Dash asked, "So, where's Princess Celestia? The message said it was from both of you."
"My sister remains in Canterlot, to deal with...public relations."
"Huh?"
Pinkie chimed in, "Oh, you know, Dashie, when everypony gets all scared and panicky cuz something really big and scary happened? Public Relations is a fancy word for the government cheering them all up!"
"Well..." Luna trailed off, considering Pinkie's words, "Yes, I suppose that is an adequate explanation."
Just then, Twilight noticed something ahead of them. "Hey, there's something at the center of the blast!" Indeed, there was an object partially buried in the blackened rock, that upon closer examination, appeared to be made of metal. Twilight couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"
Luna replied, with a humorless grin, "Something that will change our world."
Within a few minutes, they had nearly closed the distance to the object. It revealed itself to be cylindrical, with a series of metal rings embedded in one end, and several small, triangular protrusions around the side. Towards the other end, the general shape became a crumpled mess, completely blackened by soot. The group ascended a pile of dirt and rock that the cylinder had buried itself in, reaching the top, more than four times the height of an average pony.
Once atop the cylinder, they could see a gaping diamond-shaped hole in it's skin. Luna led them over to it, and motioned for them to look inside. All three of the future astronauts gasped at the sight. There were a series of glass plates around the edges of the hole, with banks of buttons and levers in front of them. In the middle of the space, a shape recognizable as a bench sat, half burned away, along with a good deal of the floor next to it. The rest of the floor was littered with crystalline fragments, similar to a rim of fragments around the edge of the hole.
Twilight stammered, "I-It's a cockpit!". She looked to Luna incredulously. "This is some kind of really advanced airship!"
"Spaceship." The Night Princess corrected, "This is a vehicle, beyond the technological capabilities of any race on Earth, that has the capacity to travel through outer space."
Rainbow Dash looked up, confused. "It's not from Earth?", She asked, "Then who built it?"
Twilight answered, "The only explanation that makes any sense is that it's from another planet." She shook her head disbelievingly, "This ship is proof that there is other life in the universe."
Pinkie cheered, "Oh, boy! There's other ponies out in space? I can't wait to meet them!"
"Ha! It was space aliens. Totally called it." Rainbow Dash said with a smirk.
"You do not understand," Luna said worriedly, "This is potentially dangerous. This ship is far beyond our scope of technology. Wherever it is from, they have created a vessel that can travel through the stars, to other planets. If these creatures do not have peaceful intentions, they could become a grave threat to our very existence."
"I...I'm still having trouble comprehending all this." Twilight said, "Sure, I was open to the possibility of other life in the universe, but to have it actually visit our planet...I just never believed we'd meet other intelligent life forms."
Luna nodded, "And now we have." She said, glancing down into the hole, "In a way. I suppose it is better that their ship arrived without its crew. Now we have the chance to study them, without having to deal with what could be the most dangerous people we have ever met."
"So this is cool and all," Rainbow interrupted, "But where do we come in?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie said accusingly, "Why'd you call us, and not our other friends? Huh?"
Luna continued, unfazed, "My sister and I have heard of your recent...experiment. The three of you have taken it upon yourselves to travel to outer space. That is precisely the sort of action we must take in response to this."
Twilight asked, "Wait, you don't mean-"
"You," Luna cut her off, spreading her wings dramatically, "Must continue your quest to reach the stars!" Assuming a more normal posture and tone, she continued, "The crowns will supply you with all the resources you need, of course. It is of utmost importance that we develop spacecraft of our own."
Rainbow Dash interrupted once more, "Wait, you want us to build one of these?! How long is that gonna take?!"
"Yeah," Pinkie added in an uncharacteristically serious tone, "I thought we were just going up once, for a few hours maybe. We can't make this a full time job; we all have other jobs to do. I can't just leave the bakery, Dashie has to lead the weather patrol, and Twilight has the library to run, plus all that princess-ey stuff she has to do now."
"Indeed," Luna said, "You do have important places in your community already. However, the fate of all ponies may be in jeopardy. We must take any steps we can to advance our own technology, and hopefully meet these other beings on an even footing." Shuffling uncomfortably on her hooves, she added, "It will likely take several years."
"Several years?! What if they're not bad guys?" Rainbow asked angrily, "What if we throw away years of our lives building you a spaceship, and they turn out to be super-nice, and end up wanting to share all their cool techno-gology-stuff with us?"
"What if they are not?" Luna demanded imperiously. Receiving no response, she continued, "As rulers and protectors of this land, we cannot afford to take that chance." She sighed, her tone softening, "I am truly sorry to shoulder you with this burden. You three have already given so much for this country. Why, it seems that every time a crisis emerges, you are there to save the world." She smiled wistfully, "You give freely of yourselves, putting yourselves in danger for the sake of others, and in return, I ask you to do it once more. Nevertheless, You are the most qualified ponies to accomplish this task, so I have no choice but to ask."
"What about all those other ponies?" Twilight asked, "The researchers who are camped out on the edge of the crater?"
"That is precisely the point." Luna responded, "They are researchers, not astronauts. It has already been decided that they will do the most good here." She continued, softly but firmly, "I understand that what I am asking will be very dangerous, and will take a great deal of sacrifice on your part, but it is something that must be done. Can I count on you to be the heroes Equestria needs?"
The three friends paused, mulling the question over privately. Eventually, Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Well, I guess there's a couple of ponies on the weather team who are about due for a promotion. So that'll be taken care of." She stood up taller, proclaiming, "Besides, Equestria needs me. I'll do what I can to help."
Pinkie shrugged, "Heck, I don't even do that much at the bakery. The Cakes get along just fine when I'm not there." Cheering up slightly, she added, with a growing sense of confidence, "If I go to space before anypony, I'll probably get to meet these new guys before anypony, and I love meeting new people!" She finished with a grin.
All eyes turned to Twilight, who was still lost in thought. She shifted uncomfortably at the attention, and said, finally, "As a princess of Equestria, it's my duty to protect my ponies any way I can. And I understand that my friends and I are the most qualified ponies for the job." She turned to Rainbow and Pinkie, smiling. "Yes, I'll do it. If ponies really can go to the stars, I'll make sure they get to!"
Pinkie cheered, "Alright, Twi! I knew you'd say yes!"
Rainbow scoffed, "Heh, this was your idea in the first place. Was there any way you wouldn't?"
Luna nodded, a slight smile creeping onto her lips. "Good. It is settled. You will begin working on plans for a working spacecraft as soon as possible. Our research crews will keep you informed about everything they learn here. You may recruit any ponies you believe can help you, and contact my sister or myself if additional funding is required. Luck be with you." She added, much quieter, "Thank you."
"Well," Twilight said as they began to descend to the ground once more, "I guess we'll go right back to Ponyville, and get to work. Pinkie, we're gonna need your workshop. We've got science to do!" She cried excitedly.
"Yaaaay!" Pinkie cheered, "We're goin' to SPAAAAAACE!"
Pinkie's workshop had undergone a transformation. Most of the junk had been cleared away to the sides of the room, and in the center, a large conference table had been set up, with a blackboard off to one side. Pinkie, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash sat at three of the dozen or more chairs at the table, adjacent to the blackboard.
Twilight banged a gavel on the table, announcing, "Hear, hear! The first meeting of the Equestrian Space Exploration Organization has now come to order." Seeing her pink friend's hoof waving enthusiastically in the air, she asked, "Yes, Pinkie, do you have something to add?"
"I move to change the name."
"What!? Pinkie, what's wrong with the name?"
"It's all stuffy and official-sounding and boring. I think we should call it something fun, like..." Pinkie assumed a thoughtful expression, folding her hooves and tapping one on her chin, before springing back into her trademark grin. "The Big Equestrian Space-A-Palooza!"
"Pinkie, that's-"
"I move to rename this club the Big Equestrian Space-A-Palooza! Do I hear a motion to second?" Pinkie asked, grinning and leaning in close to Rainbow Dash, who remained unfazed.
"Pinkie, I'm not gonna second that motion." Rainbow said, crossing her hooves in front of her in annoyance.
"Awww, why not?"
"Cuz it's not a cool enough name. Plus, why are we doing all the motioney-secondey stuff? We're not a government!" Rainbow demanded, throwing her hooves in the air in impatience.
"Rainbow," Twilight chided her friend, "We want to set precedent. This...group...council...board...thing will likely be the governing body responsible for all matters pertaining to space exploration and exploitation."
"Ooh!" Pinkie cried excitedly, "We'll be in charge of all the parties!"
"Heck, we'll be in charge of everything!" Said Rainbow, "I call being Princess!"
"Ooh, and I'm Executive Vice President!"
"Vice president? I'm not a president, though."
"Twilight can be President. We can rule together, and you'll just have all the ceremonial duties."
"Hey! No, I take it back! I'm gonna be Supreme Dictator!"
"Girls!" Twilight shouted, rapping the table with a hoof. "I don't think we need to worry about that just yet. Besides, I will be in charge."
"What?! No way!"
"Aww, why?"
"Because, you two have spent the whole meeting whining and arguing about who should have what title." She shrugged, "And besides, I'm already a princess. Maybe this is what I'm supposed to be in charge of."
"You know what? Maybe we should worry about this when we have some other ponies to boss around." Said Rainbow, gesturing to the rest of the near-empty table.
"You're right." Said Twilight, "Our priority should be getting to a team together to help us. I can use the Royal Treasury to offer up paid positions within the organization."
"Ooh, ooh! I can give them cupcakes! Ponies'll do anything for a Pinkie Cupcake!"
"I'll just use my natural wit and charm to recruit volunteers." Said Rainbow Dash with a smirk and a toss of her mane.
"Very well!" Twilight announced, "That will be our task during the week. We'll meet back here next week, at the same time, and bring along any ponies we can recruit. It'll be just like a homework assignment!" She finished with a squeal of glee.
"Um, yeah. A homework assignment," Said Pinkie with a forced grin, while Rainbow Dash made outrageous wretching sounds and pretended to gag. "That'll be...fun."
"Well," said Twilight, feigning obliviousness to her friends' lack of enthusiasm, "Now that that's decided, we should start thinking of ways to put all these ponies to work. Do we even know how we're going to make our spacecraft fly?"
In the silence that followed, all three ponies found themselves awkwardly looking to the others for an answer. Eventually, Rainbow Dash tentatively raised a hoof.
"Rainbow, you have an idea?" Twilight asked with glee.
"Uh, yeah. Kinda." Clearing her throat, she continued, "What if we put a bunch of cannons on a little airtight pod thingie? That way, we can get a pony up to space without having to fly themself. We can shoot it up with one of the cannons, and down with another. I know it sounds kinda crazy, but If we build it right, I think we can make it work, and cannons were the only thing that worked up in space."
"Hmmm," Said Pinkie Pie, thoughtfully stroking her chin, "It does sound crazy. But a good kind of crazy! I think it could work, if we were reeeeally careful about how much powder we put in the cannons, and put them in juuuust the right places."
"I...guess." Said Twilight. She shrugged, and continued, "Well, it's not like we have any other ideas. We will have to figure out a way to slow the craft down, too, but I'm sure having a few more minds to think about it with will help."
"Good thinking, Dashie."
"Thanks. I guess I'm just that smart."
Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. "Anyway, we should probably get to work on that as soon as next week. We need to get a space probe into orbit, perhaps with a magical construct on board, so we can use it to collect scientific data. We have to know what we're dealing with before we go back up there ourselves."
"Hey, good thinking, Twilight."
"Thank you, Pinkie. You know, we should probably decide on a name for our group before we start recruiting ponies to work for us."
"Pinkie's Splendiferously Spacey Party Club?"
"No."
"The Radical Space Flyers' Squadron?"
"Uh, no."
"The Equestrian Space Administration?"
"Ooh, Pinkie, that's not bad!"
"How about The Equestrian Space Council? It's just the three of us right now, anyway, so we're kinda like a secret-council-type thing."
"Yeah! And it's not like we're really administering anything, either."
"That's not exactly what that word means, Pinkie," Said Twilight, "But that is a pretty catchy name. And it...somewhat...describes our role accurately." She nodded, picking up her gavel, "Very well! The first meeting of the Equestrian Space Council has now come to a close!"
Deep in the shadowed forest, silence reigned supreme. A thin crescent moon cast thin streams of light through the skeletal trees, and a thick, cloying mist permeated the land. A cloaked figure emerged from the mist, hoofsteps softly falling on the wet earth. Moving with purpose, she came to a clump of gnarled branches at the base of several trees. She pulled it aside, revealing a door that was crudely hewn into the side of the largest tree. Checking one last time to ensure she was unobserved, she raised her hoof, and knocked three times upon its solid surface.
For a time, there was once again silence, punctuated only by the pony's breathing. Then, a series of mechanisms could be heard within the tree itself, culminating in a loud click as the door was unlocked. She pulled the door open with only the barest of creaks on it's heavy, well-oiled hinges. Within, a chamber less than half the width of the tree-trunk was revealed by a firefly lantern suspended from the ceiling. Stepping inside, she pulled the door shut behind her. After a moment's hesitation, the floor itself began to descend deeper into the earth.
Shifting uncomfortably from the sudden momentum, the pony adjusted her saddlebags, keeping the weight better centered. Her precious cargo shifted around in the bags, dully clinking together.
The floor lurched as it came to a stop, causing her knees to buckle. She was now standing in a room lined with wooden planks, and lit by two more lanterns. In front of her, another door stood, constructed of sturdy timbers, with a bronze handle securely locked from within. Clearing her throat, she called out, "Guys! It's me! I got some more stuff to look at!"
A muffled voice answered from behind the door, "Wha-oh, you did? Um, oh, good!" Locks could be heard disengaging, as the voice continued, "What took you so long? We thought you'd be back hours ago."
The door opened, and the speaker stood in the entrance. She too was wearing a cloak, wrapped tightly around her to ward off the subterranean cold. Her hood had been pulled back, revealing a young white unicorn, whose green eyes inquisitively stared down the still-hooded figure.
"Sorry," The newcomer replied, violet eyes sparkling with pride as she lowered her own hood, "I just had to take another look. You wouldn't believe what I found!"
"Scoots, that you?" Another voice drawled from the back of the cramped space. A new pony stepped forward, a similarly cloaked yellow filly, with blazing orange eyes and an oversized pink bow on her head.
"No," replied "scoots", "I'm a changeling spy who looks like your friend, who found out about your secret lab, and the ultra-secret alien technology you're studying in it, and who's here steal it so our glorious queen can use it to take down Equestria." Without warning, she found herself pinned to the wall by a surprisingly strong forehoof wrapped under her neck, legs dangling just above the floor. "Whoah, whoah, I was just kidding, Apple Bloom! Let me down!"
"Ah know." Apple Bloom replied, not letting up, "That's not why ah'm mad."
"Huh?"
Apple Bloom pulled her hoof back, letting Scootaloo drop to the floor in a heap. "Ya went back t'the dig site without us. Ya know we don't go there, 'cept as a group."
"Aw, C'mon!" Scootaloo shot back angrily, pulling herself to her hooves and brushing herself off, "You know it's harder for them to see us when we're alone anyway!"
"That's not the point!" Apple Bloom shouted back, "We're Crusaders, darnit! We do things together!" Lowering her voice, she continued, "'Sides, if ya did get caught, an' one o' us wasn't there, we wouldn't find out about it 'til the Guard started knockin' at the door."
"Guys, you know I don't like to take sides." Sweetie Belle interjected from behind her.
Scootaloo scoffed. "You can say that again", She said, rolling her eyes.
Sweetie Belle gave her an evil, toothy grin and repeated, "You know I don't like to take sides, but I'm with Apple Bloom on this one. We're supposed to be a team. We don't go sneaking off alone into a dangerous government facility. We go sneaking off with our two friends into a dangerous government facility!"
Scootaloo frowned sullenly, "Sorry, I thought you guys would like a surprise."
"Well," Sweetie Belle replied, "Humor us."
"Yeah!" Piped in Apple Bloom, "We still might! It just depends on what kinda neat stuff ya brought us."
Scootaloo smiled and reached into her saddlebags, withdrawing a cylindrical object not much larger than her hoof, with severed, blackened wires sticking out of one side, and a line of curved metal panels secured to the exterior. "Check this out!"
The other two crowded around her to get a look at the object. "Where'd ya get it from?" Asked Apple Bloom.
"It was kind of in the back of the cockpit, right under where the floor used to be."
"Say," Said Sweetie Belle, "This kinda looks like some kind of plug at the end here. What was it plugged into?"
"Um, the bottom of the chair."
"What?"
"Oh!" Said Apple Bloom, "Ah think Ah know what it is! An' if Ah'm right, it's super important! Come on!" She snatched up the part with a hoof, leading the other two deeper into the room, behind a rolling steel shelving unit with plastic bins stacked neatly on it's shelves. There was an open area behind it, with more shelves spread around the walls, and a large drafting table in the middle. Papers, pencils, and random bits of twisted metal and plastic were strewn all over the table, which was dominated by a large, much-erased, incomplete sketch of a spacecraft, similar in shape to the crashed alien one.
Apple Bloom bounded over to the table, and began inspecting a part of the diagram, twisting the part in her hoof around and eyeing it closely. "Yeah," She said, "Ah think Ah've got it! This here's the control coupling."
"Oh, yeah!" , Said Scootaloo half-heartedly. She looked pleadingly at her other friend, "That thing. Yeah."
"Oh!" Sweetie exclaimed as she caught her friend's meaning, "It's the part that connects the engine and the cockpit controls. It tells the engines what to do."
"I thought that was what the controls were for."
Apple Bloom attempted to clarify. "Nah, that's just an interface fer the pony in the driver's seat. This here takes input from the controls, and turns it inta a series of commands fer the individual boosters. Ya know what that means, right?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "No." She admitted.
"It means that we've got ourselves a whole engine an' control system." She grinned widely, barely containing her excitement. "It means that we're ready ta build a spaceship!"
* * *
"What?! No, we're not!" Twilight yelled, throwing her hooves up in a panic. Her, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash had once again convened in Pinkie's workshop, while the contractors she and Pinkie had hired built them a new headquarters. They had amassed a similar setup to the Crusaders' secret lab, with alien spaceship parts interspersed with incomplete drawings of hypothetical blueprints across their table.
"Awww, whaddya mean, Twilight?" Asked Pinkie, still clutching the diagram she had slammed down on the table before her stupendous announcement.
"We still don't know the proper amount of explosives to load on the spacecraft! Or how to build a frame tough enough to withstand an explosion strong enough to propel it into outer space! We don't even know if it can be done! And what about the instruments we need to load onto it? Do you have any idea how we're going to isolate them from the blast?" Twilight stood panting, having let loose with her entire tirade in one breath. Her friends sat, stunned, waiting for her to continue, or better yet, calm down. She lowered her voice, continuing, "I don't honestly know if this idea is going to work. I don't think a cannon's blast is going to be the way to get to space."
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, responding, "Well, sorry if I didn't think of all the science-y stuff right away. I just wanted to throw an idea out there. You know, contribute to the group."
"Awww, Dashie!" Said Pinkie as she threw a hoof over her friends shoulder, "You do plenty of stuff. Yeah, maybe your idea for a spaceship didn't work-"
"Might not." Twilight interrupted.
"Might not work," Pinkie continued without breaking stride, "And maybe you couldn't get one single pony to come and work for us in the last three weeks, but we're still glad you're here."
Rainbow sulked, sinking into her chair and crossing her forelegs over her chest. "Thanks for the pep talk, Pinkie."
"No problem, Dashie!"
Twilight had calmed down sufficiently by now, and spoke up, "Hey, it's not the end of the world or anything. Pinkie and I just need to crunch some numbers and work out these engineering problems, and then we need to put up a safe site to test our spacecraft."
* * *
"What? Why would we need that? I'm sure this won't hurt anypony."
"Yeah, you're overreactin', Sweetie Belle. We've got a wall ta hide behind; we're perfectly safe already."
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had set themselves up in one of the many small valleys around Ponyville, far away enough from prying eyes for Crusader Business. There was a platform in the center of the valley, with a tube the size of a refrigerator on top of it, which they had somehow set upright. The tube had a vaguely conical nose at the top, and a nozzle on the bottom which had been salvaged from the alien vessel. A trial of wires ran from the platform, to a lever resting at the hooves of three young fillies, who were currently crouched behind a sizeable dirt mound.
Sweetie Belle nervously wrung her hooves, trying to reason with her brash friends, "I just think that this could get a little...you know, explosive."
Scootaloo was not to be dissuaded. "Duh," She said, "That's why we put it in a valley."
Apple Bloom chimed in, attampting to assuage her friends fears, "We're pretty far from town, too. This ain't too likely ta hurt anypony. It can't be any worse than "Mine-Blasters" idea, tight?"
"That's what I'm afraid of," Said Sweetie Belle, "It might be. I mean, that pack of dynamite wasn't nearly as big as this. And we just filled it with fuel from an alien spaceship."
"But Ah made sure the blast's gonna go down. As in, inta the ground, and away from everypony, includin' us." Said Apple Bloom. She reached for the lever, and prepared to press it down.
"Hey!" Scootaloo shouted, grabbing at the lever herself, "I get to do that!"
"No way! Ah designed this thing, and Ah get ta launch it!"
"Girls..."
"Give it to me! I built most of it!"
"Ah know how it works!"
"Girls!" Sweetie Belle shouted as the lever was thrown, and the spaceship on the platform exploded. A rushing noise was heard, as if all the air were being pulled towards it, before a deafening crash bellowed out of it, with a flash of searing, bright light from the bottom. The platform, along with the ground under it, was completely demolished, as a shockwave blew out over the valley, flooding it with incandescent light and thunderous noise. The Crusaders were hurled to the ground, and clung to each other to avoid being blasted away. Their meager pile of dirt was stripped away by the force of the blast, leaving only enough of a lump to protect them from the searing fire.
As quickly as it had begun, the unearthly chaos subsided, and the valley could be seen once more. A massive crater took up the space where the platform had once been, and a pall of dust and smoke hung thickly in the air. The remains of their spacecraft could be seen, a speck hurtling through the sky. It landed several miles away, with an audible thump and a puff of cloud.
Scootaloo was the first to recover. Picking herself up, she climbed over what was left of their meagre safety measure. With her ears ringing, and her face streaked with soot, she peered at the incredible scene of destruction, and had only one thing to say.
"That. Was. AWESOME!"
Apple Bloom stood up beside her, annoyedly picking at an ear. "EITHER WE USED WAAAY TOO MUCH FUEL, OR THAT WASN'T AN ENGINE!" She yelled.
Sweetie Belle nervously poked her head up, exclaiming, "I knew it! I knew we should have been more careful! We are gonna be in so much trouble now."
"WHAT?", Yelled Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and leaned in close to her friend's ear. "SHE SAID WE'RE GONNA GET IN BIG TROUBLE NOW!"
Apple Bloom nodded, "WE ARE GONNA GET IN TROUBLE! THERE'S NO WAY ANYPONY'LL MISS THAT!' She yelled, pointing to the center of the valley, where the cloud of smoke from the blast was almost cleared away.
Scootaloo took in the site, and agreed. "Yeaaah...that's a really big crater."
* * *
"It sure is, Dashie!", Pinkie exclaimed as they took in the devastation. By now, several dozen ponies had congregated on the edge of the valley, ogling at the ash-covered crater, and whispering amongst each other about what could have caused it.
"What could have caused it?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
Twilight replied, "Well, either another alien ship just crashed in ponyville; which, judging by the lack of wreckage, and the fact that no one we talked to saw anything before the explosion, probably didn't happen; or our local demolition crew is busy."
Rainbow sighed, "The Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
"Yup."
"Oh boy!" Said Pinkie, "I can't wait to hear about what they were doing! I'll bet it was something really neat to make an explosion like that. Even I haven't blown up anything that spectacularly!"
"We need to find them and make sure they're alright." Said Twilight, "And we'll have to let their sisters know what happened. They are not going to be happy about this."
* * *
"No, they weren't." Said Scootaloo, "No Crusading for a week! That was awful!" They had been denied access to their clubhouse, and their secret base, for an entire week, but they were back underground now, preparing to go back to the drawing board with their design.
"Terrible!" Said Apple Bloom.
"Unbearable!" Said Sweetie Belle.
"Draconian!" Said Scootaloo.
Apple Bloom arched an eyebrow inquisitively. "Draconian?" She asked, "What's that mean?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "I dunno. Doesn't it mean bad? Sweetie Belle, what's that word mean?"
"What makes you think I know!?"
"Actually, it means: Overly harsh authority, or something to that nature, so it may be accurate in this instance." Said Filthy Rich.
"Oh, okay." Said Apple Bloom, before doing a double-take. "Wait, how'd you get here?!"
The handsomely dressed stallion smirked, and hefted the large briefcase he was carrying. "My Filthy Sense told me there was an investment opportunity here! And I brought a present of sorts."
He lifted the briefcase up onto the drafting table, as the three fillies exchanged confused looks, and glanced from one another to the exit, wordlessly mouthing questions and dumbly waving their hooves around. Filthy undid the clasps and withdrew a length of metal, covered on one side large, crystalline tubes, that appeared to be just one piece of a larger whole. With curiosity overcoming their confusion, the Crusaders closed in around him, admiring the object.
"What is it?"
"Ooh, it's pretty!"
"Cool!"
Filthy placed the object on the table gently. "I don't honestly know what it is," He said with a shrug, "But I know that it's the only one on that ship. And I also know that you three managed to assemble something that almost worked as a spacecraft in a week, with just this." He added, with a sweep of his hoof around the cluttered, dimly lit room.
"Sooo, what, yer gonna help us build a spaceship?"
"Yes. I will provide any financial assistance you require, and I can also gain access to the crashed spacecraft, which will give us a supply of technology Sparkle's government program won't possess."
Apple Bloom thought about this, and responded, "Just give us a second here, okay?"
"Certainly."
The three fillies retreated to a corner of the room, and convened a quick huddle. Harsh sounds could be heard being whispered back and forth, accompanied by wild gesticulations. Eventually, they broke the huddle, and strode over to Filthy. Apple Bloom spoke first. "Okay, mister Rich, we've got one question for ya, about our compensation."
Sweetie Belle continued for her, "Will we get our cutie marks?"
Filthy fought hard to keep actual dollar signs from appearing in his eyes as he responded, "Sure. I don't see why not."
Too late, Filthy realized what sort of acoustical barrage he was about to be subjected to, and was unable to cover his ears in time to defend from the call of "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SPACE ENGINEERS! YAAAAY!!!"
