Breaking the Barrier

Chapters

Chapter the first
Further experimentation
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
To the library!

Chapter the first

I give a hearty yawn as I float atop the surface of my favorite lake. It’s been a long day of cloud busting, and the water soothes my aching body. I spend a little time splashing around, letting the buoyancy of the water keep me afloat.

After I conclude that I should be heading home, mostly because it’s starting to get dark, I flap up out of the water and make for a slow flight back to my house. I didn't bring a towel, figuring that the wind would dry me off by the time I get back.

And sure enough, when I touch down on my front porch my cerulean fur is as dry as usual. I give another yawn as I stumble through my front door, my tiredness catching up with me faster than I expect.

I flop down onto my bed, giving out a sigh of relief as I take the weight off myself. I curl up and let out another yawn, pulling the covers up over me and turning over onto my side. The transition to sleep is brief enough that I don't think I lay there for more than half a minute.

* * * *

“Come on Rainbow, it’s about to start!” A light orange pegasus gives me a push from behind.

My mind reels as I try to understand what’s happening. I think I’m behind a stage, or something.

“Come on! Get going.” The pegasus gives me another bump, so I walk in the direction she indicates, past a curtain and out onto a brightly light stage.

“Please welcome the fastest flyer in Equestria, Rainbow Dash!”

I hear the painfully thunderous roar of a cheering crowd as I walk dumbstruck out into the middle of the stage. My stunned silence only lasts for a moment though, as my showpony instincts take over and I raise a hoof to greet the crowd; smiling and waving at all the cheering ponies.

A unicorn walks out from the other end of the stage, holding an envelope and a plaque.

“Congratulations Rainbow, it is my greatest honor to present you with this.” The pony presents the plaque to me, allowing for a moment to read it.

Emblazoned across its surface, it reads: “In recognition of the outstanding achievement of beating the all time speed record, this award of is presented to one Rainbow Dash of Ponyville.”

“And there’s not only that, but I have a letter here from none other than Spitfire herself!” The unicorn states, his voice booming across the audience with the aid of magic.

The unicorn hands the letter to me, and I rip it open with my mouth in an instant. I can hardly contain my glee as I read it aloud, for everypony to hear.

“Dear Rainbow Dash,

I wanted to congratulate you on your outstanding performance. You certainly turned a few heads that day, which is one of the reasons I would like you to come back to the academy.

Welcome to the Wonderbolts kid, you've earned it.”

* * * *

I bolt upright in bed, breath coming out in ragged gasps. What the hay was that all about?

I glance outside and see the first rays of the morning sun slipping in through the window. I shake my head, trying to clear the memory of that dream. It was certainly cool, but I've got things I need to do today.

Over the next month, the dream has come back every night. It gets to the point where every time I even shut my eyes for a few moments, I’m reminded of the vivid imagery it contains. I start to be unable to sleep well. For some reason that dream bothers me, and I have yet to be able to explain why.

All of my friends notice that something’s up. Pinkie offers to throw me a party, but I decline. I know there only one pony that can help me, and I think it’s time I sucked it up and just ask her for help.

"Oh, hey there Rainbow Dash. Can I help you with something?" Twilight greets me as I enter the library, I find her nosing through this book and that tome as per usual. I’m surprised she even noticed I entered the room.

"Twilight, I'm going to ask you something. Something that I’d really rather not ask, but kinda have to.

"Of course! What is it?" Twilight reassures.

“I... need help.” The last two words are just above a whisper.

“That’s a little vague, what do you need help with?” Twilight asks, setting down the book that she had been holding with her magic and walking over to me.

I sigh and start to explain to her the dream I’ve been having, as well as my desire to actually break that record. She sits in rapt attention, clinging to my every word. Once done, she puts a reassuring hoof on my shoulder.

"Oh Rainbow, I wish you come to me sooner. I have tons of books that could help with this. But…” Twilight seems apprehensive for a moment before coming to a decision. “I have books that will help, but there are a lot of them, and they’re very technical. So you would have to do quite a bit of studying before you even got to that point.”

“I know reading isn’t exactly a thing for me, besides Daring Do that is, but at this point I’m kinda desperate,” I admit.

“Well, I’ll start you off with something simple then.” Twilight states, grabbing a hardcover book off a high shelf and holding it in front of me.

“An Introduction to Science. Seriously Twilight? How the hay is this going to help? It looks like it’s for fillies.” I give her an indignant look.

“Well, that’s because it is for fillies,” she admits.

“Twilight! I thought you said you were going to help!”

“I am,” she shoots back. “But you have to start somewhere. You can’t just suddenly jump right into algebra, calculus, and everything else you’ll need to understand complex aerodynamics. You have to understand the basics first.” Twilight passes the book off to me.

“Fine.” I sigh. “This is my best shot at this, isn’t it?”

“You bet.” Twilight smiles.

I thank Twilight for her help and leave the library. I take flight outside, heading for the nearest lake. I've got all day to do weather patrol duty, so I decide to get a head start on these books. And there’s nothing quite like lying out in the sun with a book to read.

I take a break from reading around noon time; both to have lunch and to take care of my weather patrol duties. While eating, I look at what I need to whip up for today’s weather.

Looks like today is going to be a bit overcast, simple enough. The entire task only takes an hour or two at most. With that done I go back to where I had left the borrowed book and settle back down to read it again.

As much as I hate to admit it, but if this is only the basics then I can’t wait to see what the advanced stuff entails. Some stuff from physics, simple algebra, which I had a bit of a hard time with, and some really simple aerodynamics. Like I said, I hate to admit it, but this is all just cool! Sure there’s a ton of stuff to learn, but since when has a challenge ever stopped me? It’s going to take a while, but I know I’ll get this down.

* * * *

The next few months are consumed with the same routine. Get up, eat, study, lunch, weather patrol, study, dinner, sleep; rinse repeat until frustrated. All of this studying is helping me; I’ve noticed a big change in how well I do. Flight envelopes, aerodynamics, it all makes me a better flyer.

On one especially long study session, I come across a book which mentions a term I haven’t learned yet, ‘terminal velocity’. With gusto, I search for its meaning. I find it soon enough and that’s when a realization hits me.

The faster I go the more power it’s going to take because I am pushing through the atmosphere. But, the higher I go the thinner the atmosphere becomes. They always taught in flight school has it’s a bad idea to fly too high, and this is probably why.

Of course, there’s one very simple solution to this. I’ll simply have to go high enough where there is no air to slow me down. I’ll just have to find a way to breathe, too…

Further experimentation

“No, absolutely not. That’s a terrible idea and you know it!” Twilight shouts her disagreement at me.

“Come on Twilight, This could be exactly what I need!” I plead.

“I said no!” She shoos me from the library in an instant.

I sigh and turn to walk away. Looks like I’m going to have to find some other way of getting those chemicals. So far I’ve been using black powder as the means to power the rocket. But, an article that I read today mentioned using a different technique. There, they used a solid mix of two undisclosed chemicals to make the reaction. I asked Twilight if she had any idea how I would replicate such a mixture. Obviously, she didn’t take it well.

It could take me years of experimenting randomly on my own to get similar results, so that’s out of the question. Not to mention, all those chemicals cost money. And while I get paid well for my weather job, I’m not made of bits. There has to be some way of figuring out how he did it.

I guess the simplest way, would just be to ask. But, the stallion the article focused on is a student of the Canterlot University of Science and Experimentation, so they don’t just hand out ways to contact their students. Although, I think that he may have left an address to send dragon mail to; but I’ll have to check the article.

I go back to my house and search for a quill, paper, and that article. Finding them, I pen a letter to the pegasus the article focused on. Since, his name isn’t mentioned, I’ll have to start the letter some other way.

Hey,

So, I was reading the paper and saw the article that you were in. I gotta say, that was a pretty cool experiment you had there with solid fuel. I think I already know the answer, but I’d love to know how you did it.

Like I said, I got a couple of theories, which I’ve scribbled across the back of this letter, but I really love to get it straight from the source.

-Rainbow Dash, best flyer in Equestria.

I couldn’t help but sign it that way. I’m sure he’s heard of me, but it couldn’t hurt to get my name out there a bit more.

I seal up the letter in an envelope and make my way to the post office, where I find Derpy working to sort a stack of mail.

“Hey Derpy, got a letter to send out.”

“Sure thing!” The mare takes the letter from my hoof and puts it on the top of the pile.

“So, any idea when it will arrive?” I ask. I’ve never been one to like to wait.

“Well, this stack should be leaving today, so tomorrow at the latest.” Derpy states.

I thank her and leave. Knowing Derpy the way I do, it’ll either arrive exactly like she says it will, or it will be weeks before I hear anything. Oh well, nothing to do in the meantime but wait.

* * * *

Dear Rainbow Dash,

I’ll cut to the chase; how the buckdid you guess how I did it? You got it spot on. I’d really like the chance to talk with you face to face. I know this is asking a bit much, but I can’t pass up this chance to talk to somepony who seems to know what they’re talking about, as well as seeming to have such a passion for this.

If need be, I can chip in for the bits to help pay for a hotel room.

Eagerly waiting your reply,

-Dusk Inferno, decidedly average chemist, mathematician, and inventor

I read the letter several times before it really sinks in. A student of the most prestigious school in all of Equestria wants to talk with me! I hastily write a reply. Sure it’s going to cost quite a few bits, and sure he may be just a student. But this could be an amazing chance for me to talk to somepony who really knows what they’re doing. And while he would probably only be able to teach me chemistry, that will no doubt prove useful.

Once I get the letter sent off, I decide to take care of my weather duties for today. It’s clear skies again, so it only takes a few minutes to whisk away the clouds.

With nothing else to do, I might as well start packing for the trip to Canterlot. Since it takes so long to get there, the whole trip will probably last at least three days. A day to get there, a day back, and whatever time in the middle to stay in Canterlot.

I really don't have much to pack, just a few toiletries and a book for the trip. I fit all the items into my saddlebags and set the bags near the door. I don’t know how long it will take to get a reply, but if it's anything like the last letter, it should only be a day or two. I just want to make sure I’m ready to go as soon as possible.

I lie down on my couch and sigh. I’m bored out of my mind and there really isn’t anything to do. I’d work more on my rockets, but I think that I should take a break from them.

The incident where the last rocket exploded still leaves me shaken, so a little time away from the whole thing should clear my head and leave me feeling better about the whole thing.

But for now, that leaves me with absolutely nothing to do. I don’t even feel like napping! This is a first in a very long time.

I probably shouldn’t work directly on the rockets, but I could still do some research. With nothing else to do, I decide that being a little uncomfortable is far better than sitting in silence and waiting.

* * * *

The wind whipping through my mane fills me with a primordial sense of glee, but the lack of the burning sensation in my wings stubbornly reminds me of the fact that I’m not actually flying. I draw my head back inside the train’s cabin and go back to re-reading the first of the Daring Do series. I’ve read it at least three times, but it’s just as good every time.

I’ve been traveling for a good five hours, so I should be arriving at Canterlot Station in just over three more; far too long for my tastes. Of course my other option was to take the trip under my own power, and that would have taken up the entire day. So while this may be the fastest of the two, I still don’t have to like it.

After the excruciating wait, I arrive at the station. Being one of the first ponies off the train, I have unobstructed access to the exits. Unlike normal, when one could get stuck in the clog of bodies for a half hour or more.

I examine the map near the main exit for directions to the hotel. The winding streets confuse me, but I do get my bearings after some time of staring at the map.

Checking the large clock tower, I see that it’s just before four. Meaning I have about two hours before I am supposed to meet with Dusk. Should be plenty of time to check into the hotel and get set up there.

I arrive at the hotel after a few more minutes of walking. I get my room key from the receptionist and make my way up to my room. It's a small hotel, not too fancy either, but that’s just fine. I’ll only be here for a day or two, so I don’t need it to be amazing or anything. I also had to find one that was cheap, so that helped me to decide on this hotel too.

I slip the key into the lock and twist. Hearing the tumblers fall into place I nose open the door and set my bags down. I lean back into the surprisingly plush mattress after lying down upon it. This whole trip, hay, the last few months have felt one enormous blur. The only defining moments are launches and the occasional breakthrough or discovery. But those happen few and far between.

I decide that a short nap is definitely in order. Curling up, I pull the sheets up and over me, settling into the soft warmth they provide. I set the enchanted clock on the side table to wake me in forty five minutes time, very soon falling into sleep as my exhaustion catches up with me.

* * * *

The sound of the clock alarm brings me to wakefulness. I slap the object into submission, groaning at the interruption to my blissful state. The nap has done me good, but I do so hate waking up.

The arranged meeting place is a little coffee shop in the back corner of the market district. I’ve never been to most of the districts here, in fact of made it a point of not doing so. For the most part, the inhabitants of this city seem far too uptight and snooty. Rarity may enjoy consorting with this these kinds of ponies, but not me.

My train of thoughts keeps me occupied as I take the walk at a leisurely pace. My leg is, for the most part, healed now; so I want to test it out a little while I have a good chance to do so.

“A little early, don’t you think?” A voice calls out to me.

I spin to find the source. The stallion is prominently black, the only deviation are his eyes, tail, and slicked back mane; both of which are a dark burgundy. A pair of black wings blends in well along his frame.

“I assume you’re Dusk Inferno?” I extend a hoof in greeting

“Yep, that’s me Miss Dash. Thanks so much for meeting me, I know it must have be an inconvenience to travel so far.” Dusk extends his hoof as well, giving a friendly bump as he directs me to the table he was sitting at.

“It’s just Dash, or Rainbow; anything but ‘miss’. And nah, it’s not that big a deal. I have to make trips to Canterlot every once in awhile, so I’m used to it.” I notice that the stallion doesn’t have the typical Canterlot accent. Instead, he lacks any type of accent. He does seem a bit, off though, almost nervous in a way.

“So, I have to ask, how the buck did you figure out how I made solid rockets so quickly after I did? Most ponies were too shocked that I had come up with something like this.” His words are strong, but his tone doesn’t back them up. Again, they take on a nervous quality.

“It wasn’t all that hard.” I boast. “I had toyed with the idea of using a different fuel and oxidizer before, but never did anything with it yet. And besides, I already assumed that black powder couldn’t be the only way to go. I just didn’t think of Zinc-sulfur mix before.”

“Heh, let me tell you, there were a ton of times where I thought that I was going on a wild goose chase. That black powder really was the only way. But, when I stumbled across that mixture, I nearly died of relief.” Dusk looks to be loosening up, but he still nervously fidgets with the silverware, or taps his hooves on the table.

“You ok, Dusk? You've been fidgeting this whole time.” The stallion glances around quickly at my words, seeming to look everywhere except at me.

“I, uh… I never mentioned it in the letters, but-”

Before Dusk can finish, the waiter comes by to take our order. I’ve never been big on coffee, so I just take water. After the server leaves, I stare at Dusk, waiting for an answer.

“Look, this is hard alright!” He says. I cock an eyebrow at his response. “I don’t want to talk about it here, but suffice it to say that I may have a big problem on my hooves. And you may have been dragged into it.”

“What!?”

“Keep your voice down.” He quiets. “I don’t know if I’m being followed.”

“By Celestia, you better have a bucking good explanation.” I growl out.

“Alright fine, I’ll explain. Just meet me here in thirty minutes. Don’t be late, make sure your not followed, and don’t leave with me.” With that, Dusk stand from his chair and leaves the building. He dropped a few bits to cover his part of the tab before he left, though.

I put down my part of the bill and look at the note he left as well. Hastily scrawled across the center is the longest address I’ve seen.

502 Mane Avenue, Royal Experimental Design Facility, room 1771-561, floor -G 12. Meet me by the back alley on the far side.

Chapter 4

With nothing left to do, and dying of curiosity, I decide to do as the note instructs. Mane Avenue is a long street, and quite a ways from here, so I only wait a minute before setting off myself; not wanting to miss the meet time.

The night air helps to calm me down. The idea of being followed, and not by an adoring fan, is creepy as Tartarus. And as I make my way down the wide and empty street, I can't help but spare the occasional glance back to watch for stalkers.

Thankfully, my destination comes within sight after a shorter fight than I thought it would be. I spot the likely place that Dusk was referring to, and fly over to it. I do a few overhead passes to see if I could spot either the stallion or any other ponies. Seeing none, I land and wait for him to show up.

* * * *

I hear the soft sound of hooves falling on a hard surface just around the corner in front of me. I make a quick silent prayer that it’s Dusk, and not some guard pony.

I can barely make out the stallion at first, but as the burgundy mane comes into view I recognize him.

“Psst, over here.” I say in a loud whisper.

“Scared the hay outta me.” He breaths. “Might as well get started…” Dusk clears his throat.

“I think that ponies from this place,” he gestures behind him, “are following me. I keep seeing ponies in suits everywhere,and I managed to track them back to here. I know it sounds crazy, but the kind of things that I research could change pony kind forever. And some ponies just don’t like change.” Dusk explains.

“Sorry, I don’t buy it.” I reply flatly.

“I kinda figured you wouldn't. And if don’t want to come with me, that’s fine. But I’m getting in this place tonight, and I’m going to find out just why they have such an interest in me.”

“Well, I do have a bit of a knack for breaking and entering, it’s a long story so don’t ask, and I have absolutely nothing better to do. So I might as well go.” I won’t admit it to him, but I feel a bit bad for him. The poor guy looks like he’s at his wit’s end.

“I understan- wait, you’ll go?” he looks at me like he had a whole speech prepared and now he can't use it.

“Yea, I said I would. Now let’s get going. Not going to find anything out standing around in this dingy alley.” I brush past him and make for the two meter high wall that surrounds the building.

“So, how are we going to get over?” Dusk asks, catching up behind me.

“Umm, duh…” I flap my wings in his face.

“I injured left wing a week ago; I can’t put my full weight on it yet. So I’ll rephrase, how am I going to get over,” he deadpans.

“I can carry you.” I tell him as I flex my wings in preparation for the upcoming workout they are about to get.

“What? Nah, I’m way too heavy…” Dusk trails off, deep in thought.

“Shut up and climb on before I change my mind.” I nudge him in the side to break him from his thoughts.

“If you’re sure, I guess.” Dusk comes up behind me and starts by throwing his forehooves over the front of my wings. He then swings his body up onto my back and flank, just barely managing to not throw himself off my other side.

Oohf, heavier than I thought. I beat my wings as hard as I can, and slowly begin to gain altitude. As soon as I’m above the wall and change the direction of the wing-beats to move us forward of the wall. One over, I bring us back down faster than I would like.

“Rough landing much?” Dusk comments.

“Fine then, you carry me next time.” I shoot back.

“Point taken.” He concedes. “Thanks, by the way.” He ducks away, but I catch a red flare on his cheeks.

“Whatever,” I respond.

Now over the wall, we skirt around the edge of the building; looking for any kind of entrance that would be easy to get into. The entire building is only one level, but is a good eighty to a hundred meters long and wide. So trying to keep out of sight as we work our way around only makes the distance feel even longer.

Eventually, we come across a promising looking shipping entrance. The space for packages to come in is large, and the sliding door is just standing wide open; a perfect target.

Dusk and I slip inside and take in the new surroundings. To the left and right, is mostly empty space, save for there being a desk at each end. In front of us, lies a ramp that splits off into two hallways at its landing. We rifle through the desks, but find nothing of interest.

I point to the left-hoof hallway, and dusk nods in agreement. The corridor is long and winding, but eventually dumps us out at a thick looking metal door. The door swings freely on its hinges as I push in on it, barely uttering a squeak as they support the doors massive weight.

Inside, the entire wall space is covered in blackboards. From one end to the other, not a single inch is left uncovered. Large sections of the board are filled with complex equations. Dusk and I approach the nearest to read it better.

“Hmm, q = ½ ρv2. Never seen that one before.” I comment as I examine the equation. Things make even less sense as I look at the ones below it.

“q = ½ 1.115kg/m^3 * (40m/s)^2, How the hay would you even solve that!” I stare dumbfounded at the foreign numbers that seem to laugh tauntingly from the blackboard.

“It’s simple actually, the kg/m^3 and m/s are actually just types of measurements, kilograms per cubic meter and

meters per second respectively, so you solve normally and your final answer is in cubic meters per second squared.”

“And just how do you know this?” The new voice causes both of us to spin rapidly to face the source.

Standing at the far end of the room, is a unicorn dressed in a sharp white lab coat. Their fur is burnt orange in color, their mane and tail a deep olive.

“Actually, better question. How did you get in here?” The mare advances forward, leveling her horn at us.

“Duh, we walked in. And point that thing somewhere else; don’t want to get splattered ‘cross a wall because some random pony I just met went off half-cocked,” I state, staring down the unicorn.

"Simmer down, both of you," yet another voice joins in.

"But I-" the unicorn starts.

"I said calm the buck down. I don't need your paranoia ruining this for me." The owner of the voice finally steps forward. A unicorn looking to be in his mid thirties comes out from the same door that the mare did. His silver coat and mane flash in the bright light of the room.

"Ignore Ms. Sequence, I usually do." I can't help but smirk at the stallion’s tone. "However, she does raise a good question. Where did you learn to solve that equation"

"I taught myself. There is plenty of material out there on the basics, so all it takes is a little practice to transition to the more practical and difficult stuff." Dusk answers with pride.

"Interesting, and you understand this as well?" The unicorn turns his gaze on me.

"Yep! I don't know everything about this science stuff yet, but I will." I answer.

“Very interesting, very interesting indeed. This may be a bit forward, but I would like to have you join-”

“You can’t be serious! We don’t know these ponies, how can we trust them?” Sequence cuts off the stallion.

“Quiet! These are the ponies we've been running ops on for months, I know more about them then they probably

know of themselves.” Somehow, the stallion’s friendly grin does nothing to distract me from what he just said.

“You’ve been spying on us? Why?” I demand, advancing on him.

“None of us are doing this because we want to. We’re under direct orders.” Sequence interjects.

“From who?” Dusk pipes up, speaking for the first time in a minute or two.

“Who do you think has the power to order a science organization to spy on ponies?”

“Wait, you don’t mean-” Dusl starts.

“So, you’re telling me Celestia forced you to spy on us. Yet again, why?” I’m more confused now than ever.

“Rainbow, ever since Celestia caught wind of your experimentation in Ponyvillee, she’s had a group shadowing you; studying you, just waiting for the right moment to bring you in. And Dusk, we’ve been tailing you since long before the papers. In fact, soon after you got into the college.” The stallion informs. “I should probably just let you read my order letter.” He proceeds to take an official looking document from the table in the center of the room and hold it in front of me.

“By order of the Princes of the Sun, you are hereby contracted into the service of Her Majesty. You will be tasked with overseeing a team researching and developing a way to bring a pony far above the heights that a pegasus could climb. Your absolute minimum height is above the air layer. It is not necessary for you to know why you are doing this, but know that it is a matter of the utmost importance. Celestia bless you this day.” I read aloud, dumbfounded by the contents of this letter.

“Ok, that’s all great and everything, but why us? Why track us down and follow us around for ages?” Dusk inquires.

“We have had little success. So little in fact, that during the last Council meeting the budget for this facility was cut considerably. Ninety percent of the staff is being released to their previous duties.” The stallion replies. “You two, and possibly a few other ponies, will be the replacements.”

“And if we refuse?” Even though I’ve only know Dusk for a short while, I can tell he’s just asking because he’s curious. He clearly wants to do this.

“I would be very disappointed with you. But, you’re free to do so if you like.” Now that’s a voice I know from

anywhere.

I turn to kneel before Celestia, as the others do as well, but she gestures for us to stand.

“Princess, I, uh, wasn't expecting you so soon.” The stallion stammers.

“That’s quite alright, Fairweight. I expected as much." Her tone is as even as ever, but her words suggest something more.

"Dusk, Rainbow, I assume you both have been brought up to speed?" Celestia asks.

"For the most part, yea." I nod in agreement with Dusk.

"That's good to know. However, I expect that both of you are very curious as to why I am having this done." Both Dusk and I nod in earnest.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt; but not a word of this to anypony. Fairweight, Sequence, would you give us a few moments?" The two give a bow and leave without saying a word.

"I know that you both will have questions, but please save them until the end." Celestia instructs. "Almost a year ago, I received word that the Gryphons were experimenting with large and unidentifiable machines. Most of these met an untimely end in a cloud of fire, but some managed to fly extremely high, high enough that I believe they could be a threat. I know that we are at peace with the Gryphons, but I don't like not being on level ground; even if they are our allies. That's why I gave funding to some of the best minds in Equestria, to find a way to match their engineering prowess but alas, they have all failed me."

"Trust me Princesses; we definitely won't let you down!" I boast.

"I have no doubt that you will succeed, however I can only justify this project for so long to the budget committee. Due to its nature, I haven't revealed anything about it; I've been simply explaining it as a pet project. The absolute maximum amount of time that you have is a year and a half."

Chapter 5

The conversation with Celestia finished soon after. Dusk and I obviously agreed, so we ended up getting ferried off to where we would sleep that night, since apparently our contact with the outside world will be severely limited for the duration of the project. According to Celestia, my friends and the weather team back in Ponyville would be filled in, to varying degrees, on why I will be missing.

“Do you really think we can do it?” Dusk’s voice brings me out from my inner ramblings.

I have a heavy sigh before responding. “I’m not entirely certain. But I do know one thing for sure; I’m going to give it my all. If I end up not succeeding, I want to know that I did absolutely everything I could have.”

“I admire your spirit; I just wish I could find the same strength.” Dusk gives a glum smile before turning over in his bunk. “Goodnight.”

I consider his words for a minute before following suit. I reach over to the one small lamp in the room and shut it off, wishing him a goodnight as well.

* * * *

I awake half expecting last night to have been some crazy dream, that I’m back at the hotel and I’d face another agonizingly boring train ride back to Ponyville. But when I open my eyes to see the sterile white stucco ceiling of the barracks-like wing of the facility that I feel asleep in last night, I know that this is no dream.

I’m really going to do it; I’m going to be in space. The thought brings a wide grin to my tired face. At least, I assume that the plan is to have a pilot. For all I know, they have some crazy machine to do it for them, or some kind of spell. I sincerely hope not though.

A loud snore drags my attention to the sleeping stallion across the room. I stand and walk to him, giving his foreleg a hard nudge. “Hey, sleepyhead, it’s time to get up. We got work to do.” For once, its morning and I don’t feel like I’ve just run a marathon.

“Uhhg, five more minutes ‘s all I want” Dusk grumbles, pulling the pillow over his head to cover his ears.

“Sorry, but if I have to get up now, you do too.” I grab the blanks in my teeth and give them a good yank. Dusk is already asleep again. I have a plan for this though.

I grab rear legs with a light touch, careful not to wake him up. Once I have a good enough grip, I pull backwards far enough to start to drag him off the bed. Dusk shoots upright, trying to grasp onto the bed, its frame, but failing to find purchase. I continue to drag him completely off the bed, he makes a soft thud as he connects with the floor.

“You know, you could have just nudged harder…” Dusk grumbles again, standing from his crumpled position on the floor.

“Yea, but this was way more fun.” I fail to hide the giggle that comes from the look Dusk gives me.

“Come on, we should head out to that kitchen that they showed us yesterday. I’m starving!” I leave Dusk behind me to get some food.

When I arrive, I find the mare from yesterday; I think Sequence is her name, poking around in the kitchen cabinets.

"Whatcha making?" I ask

"Huh, what? Oh. I don't know really. Just figured I would look around until something seems good."

“Well, I know what I’m having. Let me know if you want some.” I step past the mare and start to get the things together to make pancakes.

In a few short minutes the smell of cooking food fills the room, making my stomach give off a loud growl. I hear shuffling down the hallways, and soon see Dusk tripping through the door.

“Are you ok?” Sequence asks.

“Just fine,” he murmurs. “Mornings are really not my thing.”

“So, what are we doing today?” I grab myself a plate as I dish up the fluffy pancakes.

“I expect that Fairweight and I will be briefing both you two and the other two that are being brought on. Since Fairweight and I are the only ones left from the original staff, we’ll be directing all of you on your various tasks.” Sequence informs.

“Can’t wait.” I hear Dusk mutter.

“We were selected because of our prowess in several fields of study. You’re lucky that you are even allowed to stay here, let alone be let anywhere near our design plans.” Her words make my blood boil, but I refuse to follow the urge to tackle her. I can’t mess this up; if it means getting into space, then I’ll have to learn to deal with this pony.

“Of course, of course.” Dusk puts his hooves up in mock defeat.

Sequence shakes her head and goes back to preparing her food. Dusk and I share a glance before we do the same.

Breakfast is finished soon after, so we all clean off our dishes and head to the briefing room with Sequence leading the way. The walk is considerably shorter than I would expect, considering the size of this place.

Once we make it to the room, Dusk and I find seats around the large circular table in the middle. The rest of the room’s dreary interior is covered by absolutely nothing, save for a set of large chalkboards on each wall.

Fairweight comes through the same door I did as soon as we sit down.

“Morning everypony, to start off today, we’re going to finalize our mission goals, as well as put together a rough game plan for the coming months. First however, allow me to introduce the rest of the staff.” Fairweight beckons with his hoof at the open door.

In walk two ponies, one earth and another unicorn.

“This is Ignition,” The earth pony nods. “And this is Mercury,” the unicorn makes a subtle bow. “They are absolute experts in chemistry and higher math, respectively. Any questions?” Fairweight turns to look at our little group at the table.

I raise my hoof. “Yea, I got one. Define ‘higher math’.”

“I am well versed in many areas, ranging from vector calculus to trigonometry and everything in-between.” Mercury boasts.

Mostly satisfied with his answer, I nod to Fairweight.

“Right, any other questions? No? Good; let’s get down to it then.”

Fairweight breaks long enough to let Ignition and Mercury join us at the table.

“Last night, Celestia finally decided to brief me on the specifics of our goal. It’s a tall order, but I know we can do it.” He picks up a piece of chalk and draws a crude circle on the board in front of us. “This is our planet.” He gestures to the circle before drawing a second circle slightly farther out. “This second circles represents the point at which there is no more air; or ‘space’.”

He then draws an ellipse around the second circle, the top of the ellipse dips ever so slightly down into the second circle. “This is, theoretically, our goal. The third shape represents an ‘orbit’. Our theory is that you can fall so fast that gravity can’t pull you down fast enough and you miss the planet. Any questions so far?”

“Why an ellipse? And why have it dip into the atmosphere?” A murmur of agreement accompanies Dusk’s question.

“While it’s not likely to happen, it’s possible that whatever we use to propel the craft may fail. If it does, this will ensure that it will eventually be brought back.” Fairweight’s answer is laced with a hint of worry. “And the ellipse is because we want the ship to dip in and out of the atmosphere, if it is continually inside it the craft will slow down too fast.”

“I assume this ‘craft’ will be crewed?” I anxiously wait out the short pause before the answer to my question.

“Yes, there will be a pony inside.” The forlorn way that Fairweight answers kills bit of my enthusiasm.

“You do know how much fuel it’s going to take to get up there, right?” Ignition asks.

“Mercury has run the calculations, and she says that it is possible. It’s just going to be quite big.” Fairweight explains.

“Quite big? The thing is going to be larger than the Royal Castle!” An exasperated Ignition replies.

“That’s an exaggeration and you know it.” Fairweight chastises.

“Yea, but not by much” Ignition mutters.

“Dusk Inferno here says that he has developed a new fuel. Care to shed some light on it?” All eyes turn to the black pegasus after Fairweight’s question.

“Of course. It’s a zinc-sulfur combination, fairly powerful; makes quite the fireball when it goes off. However, there is a draw back; the burn rate is very high.”

“How high are we talking?” Ignition pushes.

Dusk cringes before answering. “Two meters per second.”

Ignition places a hoof to her forehead, and the rest of us lean back in surprise.

“That settles that then. It’s far too quick to be usable; it’s out of the picture.” Ignition states with a firm slam of his hoof on the table.

"So, our one and only lead just turned out to be a dud. Great." I mutter.

"Yea, that option is a bust. But come on; think outside the box a little. In a short span of dedicated time, I came up with a radically new kind of fuel that works. What’s to say that six talented ponies can’t come up with something else in an even shorter amount of time?” Dusk grins as he finishes his question.

“That’s-” Ignition pauses for a moment, a wide smirk plays across her features. “A very good point. And thinking about it, even if it’s just us two,” she gestures to Dusk and himself. “I’m sure we could come up with something.”

“You both obviously are thinking around the same lines, so I’m going to have you two start working on this immediately. I want a report on your progress on my desk by the end of next week.” Fairweight nods to exit, signaling the duo to get to work right away.

As the two stallions leave, Fairweight turns his attention to Mercury. “I believe you also have a few suggestions.”

“I do.” The mare stands and walks to the foremost blackboard. She starts sketching out a rough cone shape. “I had difficulty falling asleep last night, so I was thinking about the design of the control area or ‘capsule’. The shape should be aerodynamic, as it will save us fuel; however it also needs to be light. Preferably under three tons, but that may cause an issue.”

Mercury takes a breath before continuing. “Through small scale testing with the help of Ignition, I’ve seen that after a certain speed an object moving through the atmosphere is heated. It’s unclear as to exactly how much the heating will affect the design process, but it should be kept in mind. That is all” After her speech, Mercury sit back down at her spot.

“Alright, since you’ve already done so much with this, I’m going to have you work on the capsule design. Let me

know as soon as you have come up with something.” Fairweight instructs before gesturing for her to leave as well.

“Looks like that just leaves us. What’s left?” I ask, looking to Sequence and Fairweight.

“For now, were going to be jumping back and forth between helping the other two groups, as well as acting as the construction group for any mock-ups or prototypes. If any of you show an exceptional aptitude toward any of these projects, you’ll likely be moved there. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash, you’ll be working with Ignition and Dusk; since you already have experience with working on solid fuel. Sequence, you will assist Mercury, and I’ll jump back and forth between the two. These positions will likely switch around until a better fit is found. Dismissed!”

With Fairweight’s shout echoing about the room, Sequence and I stand to move off to our positions.

* * * *

Unsurprisingly, the chemical testing lab is quite a ways away from the rest of the facility; especially the common areas. In fact, it’s on the exact opposite of the complex to be exact. By the time I reach the lab it’s been a good forty five minutes since being dismissed.

“Fairweight keep you in overtime or something?” Ignition chides.

“Hey, it’s a long way! And these hallways are tiny; no way I’m going to risk crashing headlong into a wall by flying.” I retort, taking a defensive stance.

“Oooh, look at you; got a regular voice of reason here.” Ignition chuckles.

“Oh come on! You don't even know me.” In the quick break in conversation, Dusk points me to a closet that contains splash-proof coats.

“True, but I know your type. Brash, but usually with the skills to back it up; almost always a braggart too.”

“Whatever.” I turn from the grinning mare to address Dusk. “What are we working on first?”

“Right now, we’re trying to isolate chemicals that may make the reaction that we want when combined properly. It’s tedious, but we’re making progress.”

“Alright, just tell me where to start.”

Dusk gestures to a bookcase that sits on the table we are next to. “Pick a book and start looking through it. Find anything that has explosive or flammable properties.”

The next several hours are spent leafing through book after book. After such time, the words blur together, and so many technical terms is making my head ache. We all agree to take a break and try out a few ideas.

* * * *

“Ok, light it on one; three, two, one.”

Foosh!

Flames spit out of the small dish inlayed in this metal table. The arks of blue light lick against the ceiling, leaving long black stripes.

“Okay, so combining black powder and my zinc sulfur mix was a really bad idea. How much was that again?” Dusk stands shakily from his cover behind a thick metal shield. We all follow suit and come out from behind our cover.

“Thirty grains of black powder, four grains of zinc and eight grains of sulfur.” Ignition states, the dreamy look on her face as she stares at the smoldering ashes of the failed propellant is more than a little disconcerting.

“Heh, I take it you’re a fan of big flames?” Dusk asks, a grin forcing its way up.

“Huh? Oh, yea I am. Always have been; I like explosions more though. In fact, got my cutie mark from mixing my own black powder back in elementary. Fun times.”

Dusk and I share a look of ‘and she was picked why?’ before getting back to work.

* * * *

After two months of long days and longer nights, after countless trials, most of which ended horribly, we have a breakthrough. What we have come up with is a complex mixture of several chemicals, namely ammonium percolate, powdered aluminum, and iron oxide. We even had to develop a binding agent to hold the thing together that would burn at the same rate as the rest of the fuel.

Another change is our location. As soon as we realized we were getting close to creating a working mixture, we started looking for test sites. There was absolutely nothing useful within several hundred kilometers of Canterlot.

Because of this, we ended up having to spend a week moving all of our supplies far away to the west where it’s all just sprawling planes. With such large amounts of flat area, and nopony anywhere near us, we were given the freedom to experiment with more volatile substances; which is one of the reasons we were even able to come up with what we have.

A tap on my shoulder brings me out of my memories.

"Equestria to Rainbow, you in there?" Dusk nudges me in the shoulder again.

"Wuh- oh, yea. Sorry, just thinking about some stuff." I reply back, not putting much thought into my response.

I see him raise an eyebrow. "I see. anything you care to share?"

"Not really." is my curt reply.

Dusk sighs and puts a hoof to his face. "Well, you should start paying attention. Ignition just gave the signal, so the first test launch should start in just a few minutes."

I thank him and give a wave of dismissal. I glance around my office before following suit and leaving through the open door. Never would I ever have thought that I would actually have an office of any kind, but I guess that's what happens when you get motivated for something. No matter what, I'm going to do this. I can only imagine what it's going to be like, the first pony in space; everypony will know my name. I grin as I make my way to the test site.

Two hundred meters to the west of the complex, lies a stone inlayed launch area. So far it has not seen any use, but that is about to change. When I arrive, I see Dusk and Mercury fiddling with the test rocket.

The metal cylinder stands a meter tall, and fourteen centimeters in circumference. Four thin, blade like fins sit near the bottom of the rocket. The trailing edge of the fins sits out past the body.

Out of sight inside the nosecone lies a vast array of sensors. Accelerometers, to altimeters, to barometers, and a few more that I can’t remember the names of. For the most part, I haven’t been clued in on their function. I’ve been told that all I need to know is that without the data that they will gather, things are going to take a lot longer.

I breathe a silent wish that this all goes according to plan. If it doesn’t we have a heap more to do, and we just don’t have the time. We are already pushing as fast as we can with such a small amount of labor.

“Ok, I’m putting in the electrical leads, stand back everypony.” Mercury calls out. We all move to stand behind the large slabs of stone that were set up for just such a purpose.

“Everypony ready? Okay; activation in three, two one…

Mercury flips the sole switch sitting in front of her, and then nothing happens.

“Well ponyfea-” I start.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Mercury fiddle with the cable that leads out from the ignition block, and as soon as her hoof touches it the rocket sputters to life.

In a whoosh of red flame and a billowing plume of grey smoke, the rocket shoots off toward the sky. In just a few seconds the rocket becomes a small dot somewhere off in the sky.

“Dash, Dusk, get up there!” Fairweight calls out.

We both nod and immediately take to the skies. The next part of the plan is to have Dusk and I fly up nice and high, and see if we can spot the rocket on its way back down. If we can find it, we should be able to tell how well the materials held up.

Dusk and I hover back to back, scanning the horizon for any sign of the rocket.

A few minutes later, Dusk takes off in a seemingly random direction, but he calls over his shoulder to explain. “I see it I see it!” he repeats the phrase as I follow, hot on his hooves.

As we get closer, I see it as well. A tiny glinting silver dot falling rapidly out of the sky. We both increase our pace to make sure that we don’t lose it. I start to feel a burning sensation in my wings. I glance to my right to make sure Dusk is still with me, but I just see open sky. I look back and see why.

In my haste, I completely left Dusk in the dust. His form is merely a vaguely pony shaped dot. I push past the pain to pick up the pace some more. There is no way I’m going to let this rocket out of my sight, if we can’t get the data off those sensors that this test was almost meaningless.

I see the rocket finally come to a rest in the middle of an open field. I give one last burst of speed before flaring my wings at the right moment to come in for a hard landing right next to the tube. My knees buckle as they, along with the rest of my legs, absorb the force of my landing.

Dusk comes down on the other side of the rocket a little bit later.

“Took ‘ya long enough” I smirk;

Dusk rolls his eyes. “Well sorry from saving my strength; we still have to fly back you know.”

“Yea, I know. I still get plenty of juice left.” I flex my wings to show him.

“Right…” Dusk nods his head in a ‘yea, sure’ kind of way.

“Might as well start heading back. Can you actually carry this thing, or do you need my help?” Dusk asks.

In response I hover over to the rocket and press it up under me with my hooves, then take off back toward the facility at the highest speed I can manage.

I chance a glance back and see Dusk struggling to catch up. I grin and press forward, determined to get there before him.

I, of course, succeed in doing so. I come to a hover right next to the launch pad and drop off the now spent rocket.

Right after I set down and back off Mercury and Fairweight swarm over to the nosecone, popping it off in a synch. Fairweight removes a small perfect cube and runs off to get the information from it.

We repeat this process four more times, each time reusing the same tube. The fins have to be replaced after the third launch, but other than that the frame holds up nicely.

By the time that the last rocket is brought back, I’m just about out of energy and the sun is almost set. I leave Mercury and Fairweight to examine the data off the sensors, heading instead for the personnel section of the facility. I could really use a shower; and a nap.

Chapter 6

For the first time in I can’t remember how long, I actually have a little time off. I can't leave the facility perimeter, because that makes so much sense, but at least I can relax for today.

After eating breakfast and going for a few early morning laps around the facility, I settle back into bed with my copy of Daring Do: and the Sanctuary of Unrest.

Sadly, my peace and quiet is only kept for a time far too short for my tastes. Dusk comes in through the door, a record case in one hoof and a player in the other.

“Hey Rainbow, what’cha reading?” Dusk greats.

“It’s one of my personal favorites of the Daring Do series.” I answer.

“Oh sweet, I love Daring Do! Which ones your’ favorite?” He questions, his voice muffling a little as he reaches behind a desk to plug in the record player.

I tap a hoof to my chin in thought. “Hmm, I’d have to say that Quest for the Sapphire stone is my favorite so far, but I haven’t read all of them yet.”

“Well, if I had them I’d totally let you borrow the rest of them. I own the whole series, save for the most recent, I think.”

“Thanks, but I already got a friend who’s loaning them to me. She runs a library, so she definitely has all of them.”

Dusk starts to respond, but his voice is drowned out by the defining sound of a heavily distorted guitar and a pounding drumbeat.

“Guess I got it working!” Dusk yells over the music.

I try to bring my focus back to my book, but the combination of the volume and intriguing lyrics forces my attention back to the music.

“What band is this?” I ask.

“You've never heard Five Hoofed Deadly Strike before? They’re like, the best band in Equestria! Here, let me show you one of my favorites.” Dusk repositions the needle to the correct position for the song he wants.

It starts with a similar pounding bassline like the last, but the lyrics definitely get my attention more this time around.

Round one,

Swear to Luna do it for fun!

Just a dead pony walking with a spell ready and primed!

Ain’t a single ‘bucker left to fear,

See their lips moving, but I don’t want to hear!

The song continues on, but it has my undivided attention. I set my book down beside me and lean back, listening to the singer scream their heart out, the guitarist pound the strings, and the drummer flail against the pads. Before I even know it, the song is over.

“That, was, so, awesome! Please tell me you have more!” I smile wide when Dusk nods his head.

“If you liked that, wait till I show you my all-time favorite, ‘Spellproof’ I could listen to it all day.”

Before Dusk could change the song again though, Sequence appears in the doorway.

“I hate to break up the metal concert, but Fairweight needs you both in the conference room now. Something has just come up.” After delivering her message, she turns and leaves.

Dusk and I look at each other in confusion for a moment before scrambling to our hooves and rushing after her.

* * * *

When Dusk and I arrive at the conference room, we find the rest of the team there already deep in discussion.

"You can't be serious. Please tell me you're not serious." Sequence asks.

"I'm afraid I'm quite serious." Fairweight replies.

"Are we in danger of getting canceled??" Ignition speaks up.

"Probably not. If anything this will galvanize the council into keeping this program around."

“Somepony care to fill us in?” Dusk asks.

“Good, you both are here. Come and sit down; trust me you’ll want to sit down.” Fairweight instructs.

We follow his words, finding the closest seats and taking them.

“Just a few minutes ago, this holding crystal was given to me. Con-” Fairweight begins.

“Wait, a what?” I ask. I scan my memory for anytime Twilight might have mentioned something like this, but nothing comes up.

“It’s a magic storage device, for the most part. It can also be used like a magic mirror, where if you look into the crystal you can see what is on the other side.” Fairweight explains.

“Now like I was saying, I looked inside the crystal, and what I say nearly gave me heart failure.” Fairweight takes a breath before continuing. “As far as I can tell, this crystal is linked to an object that is currently orbiting our planet.”

Dusk and I both jump in surprise. No, there is no way. Who? When? How? So many questions race through my mind at once, each one clamoring for my attention.

“Two questions. Who, and how?” Dusk recovers before I get the chance to voice the same questions.

“Our best guess is the Gryphon Empire. Equestrian spies caught wind the Gryphon’s experimenting with similar propulsion methods as us, so it makes the most sense. As for how, we really don’t know. We have our theories, but no way of testing them.” Fairweight explains.

“So what’s our next move?” I ask.

“The plan for right now is to continue on business as usually. However, if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that we’ll be getting a lot more support from here on out. Which does, of course, mean attention from the public.”

“And that would be bad why exactly? Attention from the public means getting some more help. Unless of course, you planned on actually building this thing with only six ponies.” Ignition quips.

“Of course not.” Fairweight rolls his eyes. “But unless we very careful, the media could easily turn this into an unrecoverable fiasco.”

“What would they even have as ammo? It’s not like we’ve accidently dropped a rocket through some pony’s window by accident. Nor have we had any unplanned enormous fireballs on the launch pad.” Mercury pipes up.

“Let me put it to you this way, in over a year, we have managed to get a small tube up to around thirty five kilometers. In roughly the same time, the Gryphons have managed to put a small object into orbit. Pretty embarrassing if you ask me.” Fairweight explains.

“I guess that makes sense.” I mutter. “Was that it? Because if it was, we should probably get back to work.” I mentally giggle at the fact that I normally spend as much time as I can avoiding work.

“Last thing, Mercury has a few announcements regarding capsule design.” Fairweight takes a seat at the table to allow Mercury to take the floor.

“I don’t have much, so I’ll make it brief. I’ve come up with a preliminary design, so a small scale prototype needs to be fabricated and used on the next test rocket. Once we finalize the design, we need to make a full scale mock-up so that the operator will be familiar with the systems.”

“How far are we from our next launch by the way?” I ask, directing my question toward Fairweight.

“It’s actually a good thing we’re talking about this, since I’ve decided that we need to move the rocket into the next phase of testing. This means we have to scale the thing up another step.”

“What’s the increase this time? Another half meter like the rest of the scale-ups that we’ve done?” Ignition asks, jotting down notes in the pad that she brought with her.

“Double it.” Fairweight answers simply.

“A meter? Yea, it does make sense to start scaling up faster. Especially now that we know the Gryphons are so far ahead.”

“No, I mean double the size of the rocket.” The dead silence that follows Fairweight’s words is more disconcerting than could be described with mere words. It’s like a magic bomb was just dropped on the table, and we’re all picking up the pieces.

“D- double it? We can’t! We don’t know if the fuel-to-weight ratio is both linear and directly proportion yet! Not to mention, we're going to be adding a capsule now, which could completely throw us off in propellant requirement calculations. There is no way I could guarantee that the rocket won’t just explode as soon we light it.” I’m half surprised that Ignition doesn’t start foaming at the mouth. She trips over longer syllables several times, and the ‘I’m about to go insane’ look in her eye doesn't do much to inspire my confidence in Fairweight’s idea.

"Whoa there, calm down a seco-"

"Calm down? Calm down!? Are seriously telling me to calm down? What you’re asking me to do, will more than likely do nothing more than set us back even farther!” Ignition continues raving.

“And if we don’t figure out some way of speeding this up and getting decent results, we’ll end up as laughing stock. Never to be taken seriously again.” Fairweight answers with a tired tone.

Ignition sighs, and then rests her head on her forelegs which lay atop the table. “All right, fine. But if this rocket kills anypony, their blood will be on your hooves, not mine.” Ignition then stands and leaves, not bothering to wait to be dismissed.

Chapter 7

I thump the side of my head against the wall in frustration. These last two days have been a PR nightmare.

For some unexplainable reason, Fairweight deduced that I would be the best one to handle talking with the media. He said something about already having experience with talking with the media, since I'm an athlete.

But this is totally different! Before I just had to answer a question or two, smile, and be awesome. That last one I was always the best at.

Now though, reporters are hounding me for information. Why is our program taking longer than the Gryphon’s? When is the next launch? Will it be public? How many ponies are on the team? Why did they bring you on? How quickly did you have to learn-

Argh! I bring my hooves to the sides of my head to massage my temples in a vain attempt to get rid of this headache.

I stand from my reclined position on my bed, letting the paperwork that piled up around me float to the floor as I rustle them out of their place.

I decide to go for a walk to try and clear my head. I leave the dorm room, kicking the door closed behind. The door slams shut behind me, making me wince slightly. I sigh and take a deep breath, again attempting to get rid of all this frustration.

"Hey Rainbow dash." Dusk calls as he walks past.

I give a nod in response.

"You alright? You look really stressed." Dusk stops and looks at me.

"Yea, this PR stuff is just frustrating the hay out of me. I don't get why Fairweight put me in charge of it." I grumble out the last sentence.

"Hmm..." Dusk taps a hoof to his chin before seeming to come with a decision.

"Come with me.” he walks in the direction of the nearest exit, motioning with a hoof for me to come.

"Nah, I can't. Fairweight wouldn't be too happy with me if I goofed off." I can't believe I'm actually being the

responsible one for once. Normally I'd immediately take him up on his offer, but that was when I knew I could get my work done in like, ten seconds. Now that it's actually a challenge, I have to take it a bit more seriously. Not to mention, there is no way I'm going to risk being booted off the project.

"Rainbow, you need a break. You look like an absolute mess, and continuing to work is only going to make it worse."

"You know, if you're trying to make me feel better, you're doing a horrible job of it." I comment.

"Words have never been my thing. Look, I don't know about you, but I haven't had time to fly in a really long time. If you want, come and join me." Dusk walks off as soon as he finishes speaking.

I stand in the hallway intersection for what feels like a few more minutes. I know I probably shouldn't, since I still have that pile of paperwork and letters to deal with back on my bed, but the thought of going for a long relaxing flight is just too good to pass up.

Once outside, I look up at the wide open sky in search of the spec that would be Dusk Inferno. I don't see him, but that's fine. I'll just fly by myself as I usually do.

I spread open my winds, allowing the light breeze to ruffle through my feathers. I smile and close my eyes for a moment, reveling in the anticipation of flight.

"You know, it feels better when you're actually, you know, flying." I can hear the smirk in Dusk's voice.

"Yea yea, no kidding. I just really miss that feeling. I guess I just got distracted."

“Sure, it happens to the best of us.” Dusk grins.

“Well duh. It happened to me, so of course it does.” I reply.

The growing itch to get off the ground and stretch my wings stops our banter. In a moment, we take to the skies and set a speedy pace around the perimeter of the complex.

For the entire length of time that we are flying, I simply let myself relish in the act itself. I sometimes let my eyes drift closed for a few seconds, so that I am flying by feel alone.

I spent far too long cooped up in those labs; I almost forgot how amazing it feels to be up in the air.

When I start to feel a healthy burn in my wings, I decide it’s probably time to call it a night. I gesture to Dusk that I’m heading inside.

Once on the ground, I stretch my slightly sore wing muscles as I walk to the shower facilities. I can’t help but smile as I make my way through the halls, my whole body feeling lighter; everything just feels so much better. I even feel up to working some more on that mountain of paperwork that is still sitting on my bed.

* * * *

Or so I thought. I spend more time absent mindedly pushing the papers around than I do actually answering them. I give up again after a few more hours of next to no progress.

This isn’t what I expected this to be like. Sure, I knew that chasing after my dream would put me outside my comfort zone; but not to this degree! I was wholly prepared to dive right into whatever science and math stuff I would be forced to learn to get there, but I’m doing more PR crap than actually, you know, building the rocket!

Huh, I’m actually angry that I’m not working in the role of a scientist. I smirk to myself. Never thought that I this would ever happen.

I take one more look at the stack of papers sitting before me, before shoving them to the floor. Only sparing a moment to stand and kick the outliers back toward my bed.

Tomorrow I’m going to have a chat with Fairweight. If he wants my help at all, then by Celestia I’m going to do something more substantial than public relations.

* * * *

The next morning, I catch up with Fairweight as he is leaving the breakfast table.

“Hey, you got a second?”

“I should. Just be quick, I need to get back to helping Mercury.”

I give a quick sigh before I start. “Look, I don’t know if someone else told you it would be a good idea, or if it was your own, but I am not the mare to be handling the media.”

“Rainbow,” he starts, “I’m sure you’re doing fine.” Fairweight consoles.

“No I’m not!” I stamp a hoof in protest. “I don’t have answers to half the questions I’m being asked, and the other half I only have vague estimates and guess. And I can’t even ask for help because none of us have the answers they are looking for!” I probably raised my voice a bit too much at the end, but stress rapidly eats away at my patience.

“I’m sorry but what else do you expect me to do? You’re not qualified-”

“Qualified? None of us are bucking qualified! Not me, not you, not anypony else here. Heck, Dusk is a college student for Celestia’s sake.” I take a quick breath. “I’m not asking for much. I’m sure anypony else here could handle this job better than me. Just put me back where I can do some good.”

“Actually,” Fairweight grins like he just won the trillion bit lottery. “I think I know what you can do. I had been debating who to put in charge of this, but I think I know now.”

“Come on, what is it?” I ask, about around to throw my forelegs around him and beg.

“Rainbow Dash, how would you like to work with Mercury to design the systems and training procedures that would allow you to become Equestria’s first astronaut?”

It takes all of my self control to not ‘squee’ and start jumping around like a little filly.

Chapter 8

As it turns out, working with Mercury is neither as good nor as bad as I expected. Sure, from the little bit of small talk that we shared she seemed a little stuck up, but after a few days she loosens up. She kinda reminds me of Twilight.

And that brings me to the part that I dislike about her. Sweet Celestia is she picky! If I’m even slightly off on some terminology, or if my hoofwriting isn’t up to her standards, I’ll get a five minute lecture on the importance of exact and correct information.

Okay, so she reminds me a lot of Twilight.

It's not all bad though. I feel like I’m actually doing something to help, like I’m making a difference, and like I’m working toward something awesome. Although I do feel a bit like I'm designing my own gallows, since once I finalize the plan with Mercury, I have to enact it immediately.

Most of it is already stuff that I did every day back in Ponyville; several hours of exercise every day, a healthy diet, normal stuff for an athlete like me.

But the plan then is to start training me for any kind of emergency or failure during the flight. Since by that point we should have a decent amount of systems designed and modeled, I’ll also need to familiarize myself with them. That may sound simple; but I’ve seen the theoretical ignition startup procedure. It’s anything but simple.

And while I’m being trained on every procedure we can possibly think of, I’m going to have to study up on theoretical orbital mechanics.

Somehow, the prerequisite ‘theoretical’ doesn’t inspire confidence. The fact that I’ll be testing all of this firsthoof is both disconcerting and exciting.

I cut off my train of thought to focus back on the task at hoof; electrical layout and panel placement. Oh yea, did I mention that I’m also now working on capsule design now too? Yep, and I’m supposed to have this last component completed by tonight. I can do that no problem, if I just focus and get this over with.

But if my mind isn’t leading me on some random tangent, then I’m getting distracted by the thought of my next job; building the semi-working mockup of the capsule.

The sound of the lab door opening breaks me from my thoughts, forcing a glance at the offending noise from me.

“Figured I would find you here,” Fairweight chuckles. “We are about to do another engine test, care to join us?”

“Absolutely!” I nearly jump out of my chair at the chance for a good break.

Once out at the test pad, I notice a few differences. The first being that all of the cement and brick have been moved back a good ten meters, the second being that there are now a set of clamps at the center of the pad. And third is that there are a set of train tracks that run right up to the clamps.

“What’s with all the changes?” I inquire.

Ignition seems to materialize next to me with a toolbox on her back. “The shield’s movement is for obvious safety reasons. And the clamps and tracks are for moving and holding the rocket.”

“Last time I saw it, I could pick it up myself no problem. How much bigger is this thing?” I ask, dumbstruck by the implication.

“Good luck lifting it now.” Ignition smirks. “It takes both Dusk and I just to wrangle the thing up onto the sled we use to move it.” We all look out and see the sled slowly making its way in, with Dusk and Sequence pushing it from behind. “And speak of the devil, here they come. I better get ready.” Ignition dashes off to the pad to begin working again, her toolbox bouncing along with her.

After several minutes of waiting around, and a few more minutes helping to wrestle the rocket into position , we are just about ready to launch.

Sequence connects the electrical leads to the rocket’s panel, which will both provide troubleshooting data and allow for power to reach the igniters. Ignition checks the readout, a simple panel of lights that are either red or green depending on the status of the system, and give the ‘all green’ signal.

Sequence projects a countdown timer up into the air, informing us that we have two minutes till Ignition, well, ignites the igniters. Wow that’s confusing.

According to the timer, I have about three minutes to wait. I would ask if there is something I could do to help, but know them they’ll just wave me off. I don’t know the checklists like them yet, so at this point I’d just slow them down.

I sigh as I sit down, once again mentally reaffirming to myself that I will memorize those lists, I just need some more time.

I continue to sit and stew in my own thoughts until roused by the forty five second marker.

I stand up and move to behind one of the cement shields, my heart beginning to beat faster as the countdown nears the ten second mark.

Ignition starts the verbal countdown at ten seconds, but by five all of us are counting down out loud.

“Three, two, one…” Ignitions taps the switch, and with a hiss that would garner any serpent’s respect the clamps are released just as the engines come to life.

The rocket climbs skyward like a bat out of Tartarus. A plume of red flame and sparks shoots out the back, the brightness at an uncomfortable level.

After a solid ten seconds of ascending, I see thin and long strands of flame rolling off the nosecone; and before I even get the chance to mutter an expletive, the rocket tips over ever so slightly.

A thunderous roar is heard seconds after seeing the rocket’s frame be torn into hundreds of tiny pieces, a great cloud of black smoke accompanies the explosion.

We all stare dumbstruck as the wreckage of the rocket continues upwards for a few seconds more, until its upward velocity is canceled out by air density and gravity.

A realization smacks me upside the head with the subtlety of brick through a window. There are now going to be shards of metal, likely falling at terminal velocity, raining down upon us.

“Everypony into the building!” I holler as I spin and push myself airborne with a strong flap of my wings. In a flash I’m at the nearest entrance, which I open by shouldering through. I give silent thanks to whoever decided not to put doorknobs on that particular door.

I turn around and find everypony else already hot on my hooves, sprinting or flying their way over here.

Once everypony is safely inside, we gather around the nearest observation window and watch the smoldering heap that used to be the rocket plummet out of the sky.

I’m the first to break the silence. “Alright, all in favor of pointing those things away from us raise a hoof.” That gets a chuckle, or at least a roll of the eyes, from all those present.

* * * *

With the deadly rain of metal parts over, we all head outside to see if there is anything that we can recover.

“I should probably say I told you so, but I think the heap of scrap metal says it for me.” Ignition quips to Fairweight.

“Hey, it not my fault you bucked up the weight equation.” Fairweight responds.

“I wouldn’t have got it wrong if you weren’t trying to rush us!” Ignition like she’s just about to blow a gasket.

“Both of you shut it!” I holler at them both. “If you want to argue, that’s by me. But do it somewhere where you won’t be a nuisance to those of us actually working!” I gesture for Sequence and Mercury to come with me to look over the wreckage.

Chapter 9

After days of carefully looking over every single piece of the rocket that we could find, we finally have something of an idea of what happened.

The problem list is long and distinguished. What contributed the most to the disaster was the fact that there had been an air bubble in the propellant grain, which made the entire burn process go haywire. The next runner up in problems is that the thrust-to-weight ratio is way too high, which places a large amount of stress on the airframe.

The final nail in the rocket coffin is that there was a gust of wind that caught the stabilization in just the right way to cause it to start to tip over. This wouldn’t normally be a problem, but with the thrust-to-weight problem already mentioned, the extra pressure on the side of the airframe caused a rupture in the fuel tank.

This isn’t bad news though. Now that we know what went wrong, we can fix it and launch again.

I sit back in my chair, flexing my jaw to work out the writing cramp. This report is supposed to be sent off to the princess once I’m done with it, which should be soon.

I put the finishing touches on the document and take it to Fairweight’s office. After knocking and finding that he is out, I lay the paper on his desk and leave.

I give a relieved sigh as I head for the capsule design lab. I’ve never liked writing reports, although I make exceptions for stuff like the friendship reports, so I’m glad to be done with it.

Once I arrive at the lab, I set right to work on the last few components of the capsule. The disastrous launch and the investigation after left me with little time to finish this, but now it’ll be a breeze.

* * * *

I forgot how much I hated working on this bucking diagram! Seriously, it’s like trying to fit a few kilometers of wiring inside a birdhouse; and some of the wiring can’t touch, and some of it has to touch.

And the best part, even with this diagram done, it’s not over. Once we build the full mockup we'll know if this really works in practice. And if it doesn’t, guess who’s going to be doing the revisions. If you said me, give yourself a bucking cookie.

I stand from my chair and stretch, hearing several pops and feeling some stress melt away. I just need to get some dinner, go for a flight, a nice relaxing shower afterward, and then bed.

With a plan for the evening laid out in my head, I start the walk to the kitchen area to enact it.

Once there I prepare myself a simple meal consisting of two daisy sandwiches and a generous portion of hayfries. I scarf down the food with gusto, only realizing now exactly how hungry I am.

With a now very full belly, I waddle my way off to the showers.

* * * *

“Get your lazy flanks out of that bed!” the voice, unrecognizable in my post-sleep groggy state, shoves me from my comfortable sleep into the waking world.

“Wah, uh, wuz goin’ on?” I mumble out, the world burly and fuzzy as I open my eyes.

“Oh not much, unless you count making history important.” Sequence, who I now recognize, says sardonically.

I glance at the clock that hangs on the wall. “Sequence, it’s eight in morning, which is far too early for beating around the bush…”

The unicorn gives an exasperated huff, and drags me off the bed by grasping my tail with her magic. “Just come with me,” she states, still dragging me by my tail.

“I can walk, you know.” I chastise. Although, I may have trouble walking if she keeps dragging me across the ground like this.

Sequence, now fed up with explaining anything to me, proceeds to flip me right side up and push me through the open door of the conference room.

I grumble as I take stock of the room. About half the chalkboards are filled with tiny writing, unreadable from this distance. The other change, is that there is another holding crystal sitting in the middle of the table.

Once Fairweight sees us enter, he casts the spell to cause the crystal to act like a projector. My breath is taken away.

If anything in this world could be considered indescribable, this would come very close. But my brain tries to come up with words anyway.

On the right side of the projection, smooth oceans of a deep blue spread far out of frame. Taking up the rest of the space, are rolling plains, snowcapped mountains, sprawling forests, and a dessert.

“This can’t be-” I start.

The view changes suddenly, going blurry for a moment before focusing again on a Gryphon inside of a conical room. He is wearing a kind of suit that looks like it would cover him from head to toe. A helmet with a pull down visor sits atop his head. Behind the Gryphon, panels and switches dominate the walls and ceiling.

The Gryphon smiles and waves at the crystal on his end.

“Is this some kind of joke?” I choke out, unsure as to why I feel like I’m about to cry; an urge which I quickly pummel into submission.

“No,” Fairweight answers simply. “That Gryphon is currently in orbit.”

“Oh…” Is all I can muster.

Fairweight gives a wry smirk. “I’ve already received a letter from Celestia, informing me that the royal board of personnel is at our disposal, and to pick whoever we want. We’ll also be getting an influx of practically every occupation you can imagine.” He stops and takes another look at the projection, which has switched to show the view out the window on the other side of the craft.

“It’s funny, in a way. Yesterday, if we asked for what we are being given, we would have been laughed off. Now though, everypony might as well be begging us to take their handouts.” Fairweight shakes his head. “I should be happy, yet I can’t help but feel contempt for being shoved aside and then begged to come back.”

“I know what you mean.” I agree. “I should be doing flips from excitement right now! This is it; we really have a shot at this now. But the circumstances of this chance are, frustrating at best.”

“While I feel the same way, I’m not going to waste time feeling bad about the fact that we didn’t do it first. There is still pride to take in the fact that we can do it at all.” Dusk adds.

A letter materializes on the table, which Fairweight scoops up in an emerald magic field. His eyes widen as he reads.

He puts the letter down and changes the holding crystal’s link to the Royal Broadcast Station. The national anthem plays before Celestia appears from her throne.

“Thank you, my little ponies, for tuning into this broadcast. I contact you now, in a city noted for its knowledge, from a country for progress and strength, and we stand in need of all three. For we are in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

“Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that our world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation’s own scientific manpower is doubling every eighteen years, in a rate of growth more than three times our population as a whole. Despite all that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.

“Nopony can fully grasp how far and fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the last three-thousand years of recorded history into a time span of just a year. Stated in these terms, we know very little of the first six months, except that at the end of them the three tribes had finished their long trek to a new land, and found Equestria. Over the next three months, inventions such as the flame rune stove, and the light bulb came to be. The next month, steam power and the steam locomotive. But for the last two months, no major changes in technology have come to pass.

“Barring the last two months that is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old. One such new challenge, is reaching toward the stars.

“It is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this country was not built by those who waited, rested, and looked behind them. It was built by those who looked forward, and despite the hardships, push onward to greater things. So shall the same be for space. Previous generations of not floundered when change befell them, and neither shall we.

“As most of you know, we are not the first with these ideals. The Gryphon Empire has successfully put one of their own kind into space, and will be returning him later today.

“So while we may not be the first to accomplished being the first to set a hoof in space, there is one thing that I will promise you. We shall, with absolutely no question, be the first to lay hooves on the Moon without; without the aid of the Elements of Harmony.

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go the moon in this decade, and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are will to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

“To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind. In this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.

“Thank you everypony for your time.” The broadcast cuts off after that.

“Well that was, unexpected.” Dusk mutters.

After that, the silence rains heavy and palpable in the room.

Chapter 10

The next week is absolute pandemonium. Request after request for interviews are thrown at us, but directing the teeming hordes of workers that flood the facility takes every ounce of our patience and attention.

Now though, everypony is settled in. And while this place does feel really full now, I can’t help but because giddy when I think about the fact that we now have the full support of Equestrian bureaucracy, there is nothing to stop us from reaching to the stars and beyond.

For now though, while the new workforce gets fully acquainted with our progress so far, Dusk, Fairweight Mercury, Ignition, Sequence, and myself have decided to take a bit of a vacation. We would obviously be ready to drop everything and go back if need be, but I sincerely hope that it will not come to that. I need this vacation.

"Equestria to Rainbow, you in there?" Twilight waves a hoof in front of my nose, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry Twi, just thinking about the past week."

"You know, you haven't really said much since we came out here," she gestures to the posh Canterlot restaurant around us. "Anything you want to talk about? Your vacation is almost half over."

I sigh before responding. "I don't know, I’ve just been really stressed lately. I kinda missed just being able to sit down and enjoy a quiet meal. Although it will be nice to see the rest of the gang again. When did you say they get in?"

"There train should be here in just an hour or two." Twilight answers, pulling up a small notebook from somewhere.

Twilight was lucky to be able to come up to see me this early. Apparently, even though the rest of the gang has basically nothing to do with the project , they were still getting bombarded with questions and interviews. So they spent half of this week catching up on all the rest of their work.

I take another look at Twilight, and notice that she has an uneasiness about her, like she has burning questions just waiting to be answered.

"You really want to ask about my work, don’t you?" I grin.

"No, I mean, well, yea." She sheepishly takes a sip of water from her glass before continuing. "I have so many questions, but I know what you've been through in the past week, so I was holding my tongue."

I give a nonchalant wave of my hoof. "Nah, its cool Twi. Ask me anything. I know how curious you are, and it's a benign curiosity; which is one that I can cope with and provide answers for.

Twilight looks at me for a moment."You've changed."Her tone suggests no malicious intent with the words, but I can’t help but feel a small sting.

"I, uh, I didn’t mean it like that." Twilight tries to correct herself. I must have made a face or something.

"It's fine, I know what you meant. And yea, I guess I have changed; at least a little. I've had to change in order to keep up with the rest of the group."

"What it's like, you know, working with them?" That spark of curiosity flashes over Twilight's eyes.

I lean back in my seat and start to recant their personalities. "Well, the leader-type is Fairweight. He's okay; I never really talked with him that much. Seems a bit too eager to push things along if you ask me.

"Sequence and Mercury are pretty close in personality. A bit stuck up, but useful in their own right. Pretty smart too.

"Out of all of them, I think I like Ignition the most. She doesn't take crap from anypony, and she is not afraid to speak up."I smirk as memories come and go.

"Lastly there is Dusk. He's a bit odd, but pretty cool I guess. Works really well with Ignition, they both work on the fuel and engine designs, but will lend hoof in other areas too." Another smirk plays across my face. "And a fine connoisseur of all things heavy metal."

Twilight and I share a laugh at that. I forgot how good this felt, hanging out with friends. I was always kept so busy I never had time to miss them. Now though, emotions run through me at a rapid pace.

The next hour is filled with a smattering of quietness as Twilight and I just sit back and enjoy the food and ambiance. The other amount of time though, is spent with a constant game of 'see how many answers you can squeeze out of Dash'. I honestly don’t mind though, the answers come quick and easy, so much better than for those interviews. Before I know it, it's time to go and pick up the rest of the gang at the train station.

We get to the platform just as the train pulls up. The moment the doors open, I am assailed by a pink blur. The numbness around my waist and the pink expanse ahead informs me that I’m on the receiving end of the infamous ‘super-duper It's been ages and I missed you so much’ hugs from Pinkie.

When I think I hear one of my ribs crack, I tell Pinkie to back off a bit.

“Sorry Dashie,” she giggles. “But you haven’t written or anything and I just missed you so much!” She tries to dive in for another hug by I leap out of the way.

“Why don’t we head back to the restaurant?” Twilight suggests, offering a distraction to Pinkie. “Rainbow and I have already eaten, but I’m sure you girls are hungry.” Everypony nods in approval, so we do just that.

I spend pretty much the entire time rehashing what Twilight's and my conversation from earlier. I really don't mind though, as it gives me a chance to spend more time with my friends. Which is something that I've had exactly none of for the past few months.

With lunch now over, we take our leave of the restaurant and spend some time wandering the wide streets of Canterlot. I never would have guessed that I could actually have fun just walking around; but hey, that’s what friends do. Sweet Celestia I missed them.

Before I get the chance to thank them for travelling all the way out here, a messenger pony trots over to me.

"Rainbow Dash, I assume?" She asks, digging into his saddlebag for what I presume to be a letter.

"Let me guess, my coat tipped you off." I jest.

The mailmare smirks. "Of course." She grasps a letter in her teeth and passes it to me. "Letter from the Princess. She would have come to you personally, but she is very busy with a matter of importance."

I nod and wave off the mailpony, gnawing open the letter. The wax seal leaves a minty flavor in my mouth.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

It pains me to do so, but I am afraid that I must pull you from your vacation early. There is an issue that requires your attention back at the facility, and you are closer than any of the others.

I haven't been informed of the exact nature of the problem, but from my understanding there was some kind of accident.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

- Princes Celestia

I read the important bits aloud and hear a sigh of disappointment from my friends.

"But, but, we've only had like, a day!" Pinkie wines.

I sigh, all my good cheer deflating like a balloon."Yea I know, but those ponies need me. So I better get going."

I give a few experimental flaps of my wings, checking all my feathers are smoothed down and in their proper place. But then, an idea strikes me.

"How would you all like to come with me and get first-hoof look of the facility?”

To the library!

“But nopony-” Twilight starts.

“Yea, I know that nopony has ever gone into space before. And that most of the people who study it say that it’s impossible. But since when have I turned down an opportunity to prove myself? I retort.

“Rainbow, you’re as stubborn as a mule. But, I guess as your friend I will help you in any way I can.” Twilight sighs in resignation.

“Thanks a lot! So, how do you think I should get started?” I do a few loops of joy before settling back down to get to business.

“Your first steps should be to read up on what other ponies have written on the subject. From there, you should study their methods, and start trying some small scale experiments,” Twilight concludes.

“That doesn’t sound too hard. Got anything here I can check out?”

“I have a few things; there are already very few publications on the subject, so as you can imagine not many of them have ended up here. I try to keep an eye out for rare stuff but I only have so much time-”

“As fascinating as this is, I would really like to get started.” I break Twilight out of her rambling.

“Right, of course.” Twilight concentrates for a moment to bring a few dusty tomes out of the depths of the book stacks, managing to find three that would be of use.

“Start with these, and please come to me if you have questions. I still remember when you were beating your head against a wall for days over inequality equations, but it only took a quick second for me to explain it better than the book.”

“I know,” I call behind me as I dash out the door, looking forward to finally getting a solid start on my goal.

* * * *

“Are you sure about this?” Twilight asks, looking apprehensively at the miniscule rocket I built.

"Of course I am. I've double checked everything, at worst the thing won't even get off the ground," I explain as I secure the motor in place.

"Even still, I think that we should get back a little, or at least behind something solid." Twilight states, still seeming unconvinced.

"Oh relax, will you. I told you this thing is totally safe. Besides, this is black powder, so this thing isn’t going to go boom unless I totally bucked up the mixture, which I didn’t. And even if I did, it’s not that powerful” I set the rocket down on its makeshift launch pad and back up a little.

“Ok Twilight, ignite on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!”

Twilight casts the needed spell to get the chemical reaction started. There are other ways, but this is easiest and the most convenient. I can hear the rocket sputter on the pad, and then shoot off upwards. It takes an alarming turn a few meters into the air and starts flying back to us.

I make a dive to avoid the runaway rocket, and hear Twilight do the same. The rocket crashes harmlessly into the ground, skidding to a stop in a short track of upturned dirt and pebbles.

“Safe, huh,” Twilight mutters.

“Hey, all I said was that it wasn’t going to explode. How should I have known that it would do that?” I give Twilight a look, frustrated that this first test was, for the most part, a failure. “It taking off means I got the mix right. Now I just need to fix the little flip over problem.” I pick up the still warm, twenty centimeter tube and make my way back to the library.

A few hours later, Twilight comes down to the library basement to find me poring over a flight dynamics book for pegasi.

“Hey Twi, I was thinking about today’s test. I think that if we had some type of wings to the body, it might stop it of doing those wild maneuvers on us.”

“Rainbow, can we need to talk.”

I push the book away and turn to her. “What about?”

“Helping you out with this has been really fun, and a challenge at times, but there’s a lot of things that I need to do. And truth be told, I’ve kinda been neglecting most of them to help you.” Twilight sits down on the bench opposite me.

“What are you saying Twi?” I’m not sure where she’s going with this, but I don’t like my hunch.

“What I’m saying, is that I think I need to let you do this on your own. I’ve done a lot to help you, but I can’t continue to ignore my other duties like this. I’ll still be there to help you, just not nearly so often.” Her words sting, but I should have expected this. She’s been doing so much to help; I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner.

“You shouldn’t be ignoring your primary duties just for my sake, so I understand.”

“Thank you, and don’t worry; I’m sure that with a little more work you won’t even need me anymore.” She lays a hoof on my shoulder, her tone is almost sad in a way.

“Nah, don’t say that. I could always use another set of hooves to help out.” I rush to disagree with her.

“The other thing that we need to talk about is getting your own space to research and build. Judging from today’s test, things could get very, flammable from here on out. So I think it would be a good idea for you to find someplace that would be a little better suited to this kind of experimentation.”

“Ya know, that’s a really good idea! I could get someplace with tons of room, and secluded so I don’t hurt anypony…” I blather on for a few more minutes before Twilight stops me and excuses herself, saying that she has research to do herself.

I go back to the reading I was doing, my heart high, and my expectations higher. I got a really good feeling about the things to come.

I get a notepad and sketch out a new design for the fuselage, trying to incorporate the shape of pegasus wings into the current design would be hard due to the size. So I start scaling things up until I find something to work with. I then grab a notepad to do the quick computations to find out how much extra powder would be needed to lift the weight. I stop for a moment, glance down at the notepad, and grin. A few months ago, multiplication like this would make my head spin. And now? Now I don’t even bat an eyelash.

With a rough idea in mind, I start fabricating the pieces. Twilight, for some reason she has yet to explain, has a decent woodshop set up here in the basement, so I avail myself of the tools and set to work. It’s surprisingly easy to work with on wood, so I learned very quickly.

* * * *

I step back to look at my hoof-work. The fuselage measures forty centimeters in length, twenty five wide. The whole thing weighs in just over two kilograms. I do a few tests to check the fit of the motors, and everything checks out good.

The weather for tomorrow is going to be perfect for launches, so I spend some extra time to prepare three more rockets and two more motors for each.

With no preparation left, I leave the library for my house. Tomorrow, once finished with all the launches, I’ll go see the local real estate agent. I’m sure he has something that would fit my needs nicely.

Once I land at my house, I drop my saddle bags at the toe of my bed and then flop down onto the fluffy surface. I breathe a sigh of relief; it’s been a long day, and this rest will do me some good.

* * * *

I awake from my peaceful sleep to the feeling of the sun’s soft glow across my fur. I groan as I pull myself out of bed. I buck’en hate mornings. My usual morning wakeup takes far longer than this, but the motivation of today’s testing serves to help me get a move on.

I make myself some breakfast as I go over my plan for today. Right after this I’ll pick up the supplies from Twilight, and head to the launch site first thing. Once finished there I’ll head over to the real estate agent and talk to them about getting my own place to work. I’d use my house, but I don’t really have the space. And it would be way too inconvenient to haul all that stuff back and forth.

With breakfast now eaten, I grab my bags and set off for Twilight’s library. It’s still early morning, and the leftover fog sticks to my wings as I glide through the air. It’s a short flight, so within a minute or two I arrive at the library. Twilight gave me a key a little while back to the bulkhead that leads directly to the basement, so I use it to gain entrance without disturbing her.

Once inside, I set to work gathering up all the things I'm going to need for the launch. The motors I place into my saddlebags, and the rockets themselves go into a sturdy wooden holder that I made for them. I do one final check to make sure that I don't forget anything, and then set off for the launch site, locking the door behind me.

On the way to the site, I'm surprised to see Pinkie up and about.

"Hey there Pinkie, what'cha doing up this early?" I ask.

"Well, I knew something really cool was gonna happen today, 'cuz I got a knee twitch itchy back eye flutter nose twitch. Which would normally mean that there was going to be something new today, but I also then got a twitchy tail right after that. So there will be something new and its going to fall from the sky! Ohh, I just can't wait to find out what it is...."

I let her bounce around and ramble for several minutes. After a long time of dealing with Pinkie, you realize that once she starts rambling there is no stopping her, so it's best to just let her run out of steam.

"So then I was like, 'Dandelions huh, count me in!'"

I think I missed something important.

"As cool as it is talking with you Pinkie, I really need to get going." I excuse myself from the conversation.

"I don't have anything to do now though." She looks crestfallen. "Ohhhh, idea! What if I just came with you?"

"Well..." Pinkie is fun to be around and all, but she gets on my nerves after a while. Although, some company could be nice. "Sure, why not."

"Yay! This is gonna be so much fun."

* * * *

I normally fly to the site, but with Pinkie here I’m forced to slow down my pace a great deal. I still use my wings, but I’m barely above a slow hover. The trip still seems to pass by at a rapid pace though, as Pinkie's voice has a melodic quality to it that lulls me into a trance.

“What’s this thing?” I am pulled out of my daze by Pinkie’s question. She is gesturing to a little rig that I had placed on the ground a while ago.

“That, is a LSE, or ‘launch stability enhancer’. At least, that’s what Twilight calls it. I just call it the thing that makes the rockets go straighter.” I explain.

“What’s a rocke-”

“You’ll see in a second,” I cut her off.

I prepare the first of the rockets by placing it into the gap in the stabilizer. If Twilight’s theory is correct, by having the rocket be tethered to something for a second or two should help keep it straight.

“Alright, you ready for this?” I grin wide as I prepare to light the fuse. Since Twilight isn’t here I have to use means that are more conventional, but less reliable. If I cut the fuses right, it should give me enough time to back away before the motor ignites.

“You bet’cha!” Pinkie calls back. “What exactly am I ready for again?”

“This!” I strike a piece of flint against a piece of metal and watch as a few sparks catch the end of the fuse. I make a dash for Pinkie’s location and stare intently as the fuse burns down.

“Any second now…” I say, transfixed on the glowing and sparking fuse.

With a whoosh and a rattle, the motor ignites sending jets of out the back as it shoots skyward. Within just a few second of leaving the guide rod, the rocket leans over so its wings are level with the ground. It remains level for only a few second more before flipping over several times then crashing into the ground. Not the best way it could have gone, but it could be worse.

I repeat the launch with the remaining rockets, all of them follow suite with the first. I start to wonder if it’s the wings that are causing the problem, but if they may still fix the problem as well. I’ll have to make up several more designs and test them out.

“So um, what was the point of this, Dashie?” Pinkie’s question brings me out of my thoughts.

“What? Oh, the point is, uh…” Do I really want to tell her about the dream? Ah what the hay, I’ve already told Twilight and she took it well, so I might as well tell her too.

I regale her of the dream that I’ve been having, as well as my goal now.

“Oh wow, I can’t wait for you to get that award. I’m going to throw the biggest party when you do!” Pinkie bounces away, presumably to start plans for the party.

I sigh and gather up the remains of the rockets. I can’t use the second set of motors I prepared since these things are banged up so bad. But at least I know have them for the next set. I drop off the rockets and the assorted things that go with them in a pile under my house, deciding to take care of them later. With that done, I make my way to the real estate office.

* * * *

I fly out of the office and give a whoop of joy. As it turns out, I own more of the land around my house than I thought. So I still have plenty of room and didn't even need to spend a single bit! So, once this is all over and I get that award, I figure I can build some kind of training area there like the Wonderbolts have.

With thoughts of what is to come drifting through my head, I decide to get today’s work over with now. It’s supposed to be bright and shiny, so I can whip that up no problem. It only takes a few minutes before there is not a cloud in the sky over all of Ponyville.

Now that the boring stuff out of the way, I focus back on the much cooler stuff like remaking those rockets. I have an idea for the look in my head; I just gotta sketch it out real quick.

All I really need at my new location for now is a bench, so I move down something that I had in my attic and get to sketching. Within a few minutes I have several ideas on paper. From the concept drawings, I start doing up technical sheets on every aspect of the rocket. It’s not a simple task, as there is so much math involved. The winglets, what I named the small wings, have to be proportional in size as well as mass to the length and mass of the fuselage; the calculations for all of this takes a significant amount of time.

I do, after a good hour or two, finish with the math portion. With that done, I move on to the build phase. This is one of the easier parts, as I’ve always been pretty ok with building stuff. Sure it’s usually a little rough around the edges, but it works. I move back to the Library basement for this, as that’s where all the tools are for woodworking. Twilight comes down when I am halfway through to give a quick check up on me. She gives her congratulations on finding a good place to use as a workshop. She also agrees to let me move all the tools back to my place, as she doesn’t have a use for them.

Twilight assists with a few pieces before moving back upstairs. With her help I’m able to finish much sooner than I would have on my own. Huh, I may even be able to do another launch today, that’d be sweet.

I look over the materials I have and realize that I’m correct; if I move quickly I will have just enough time before the end of the day to make one more launch. With a bit of a mad rush I manage to gather up everything I need and head back to the site.

On site, I lay the first of my next series of prototype rockets into the guide rod and affix the motor in its place at the bottom. I prep another fuse and wrap it around the part of the motor that sticks out the end of the rocket. This time the fuse is much shorter, partly due to a mistake when I was cutting them earlier, but mostly due to me cutting it even shorter since the last set of fuses I had burned for way too long.

I once again strike the flint against another rock and step back as the sparks fall on the edge of the fuse. I wait with bated breath as the measured cloth burns down toward the inevitable end.

Bang!

I bring my wings up in front of me to cover myself from the blast; but something large forces me off my hooves. A sickening crack followed by shards of pain all over my wings and legs accompany me as I fall to the ground.

Well ponyfeathers. I may have made a small mistake when I was making up the last set of motors.

I take a breath to try and calm my nerves, but my legs refuse to stop shaking. I give my body a visual inspection.

Both wings are riddled with small splinters from the explosion, rivulets of blood run off through my feathers. If that’s not bad enough, my right foreleg feels far worse for wear. I think it may be broken.

I do my best to pick the splinters out of my wing, since it’s my only way to get to the hospital right now. And from the pain now shooting up leg, I think my suspicions of it being broken are true.

I manage to lift myself off the ground and limply fly to the hospital. Nurse Redheart is not shocked to see me at first.

“From the looks of you, I guess you tried a new trick again didn’t you.” The nurse sighs. “Wait a second, are those splinters?”

“Yea… Not a trick this time…” I fill her in on the important details, not quite telling the whole truth. I tell her that I had heard about what happens when you mix a couple chemicals together, and wanted to see if I could make something fly with it. Thankfully, she buys the cover story. I’d tell the truth, but I’d rather not have to go into detail about the rather embarrassing last several months again.

“You really should know better, playing with stuff like this is quite dangerous,” she scolds as she looks over my wounds.

“I know. I’ve done it right a couple times; I just messed up this once!” I shoot back.

“It only takes one time to mess everything up for good.” Her words force me into dumbstruck silence.

She finishes her examination and treats my wounds. For the most part, I got away ok. My wings are fine, I just need to let them rest for a little bit to keep the blood flow low. My leg took the worst of it, getting a hairline fracture and bruised in several places. I’ll have to let go easy on it for a week or two, but I should be ok.

I go back to the site, both to clean up and to see what I can recover. I spot a leftover piece of the motor laying on the ground. I pick it up and place it in my saddle bags, figuring that once I get back I can figure out how I messed up the mixture. Because I would really rather avoid this again if I could.