Beyond the Stars

“Mom?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Can you read me a bedtime story? I’m not tired.”

“Of course, sweetie, what would you like me to read?”

“You know which one, mom!”

Twilight’s mom read this story to Twilight every night before she slept. It was a story about an astronaut and her crew. They would travel to the Moon and have lunch, then to Mars for dinner. Twilight had dreamed to go to space ever since those days. She wanted to be an astronaut; to lead a crew to distant lands and explore the universe. And today, that dream would come true.

Today was a beautiful day in Ponyville; perfect for a launch into space. Twilight had been working all her life to make this spaceship, and today was just as she imagined it. Twilight was meeting her friends for breakfast to discuss their trip into space (she didn’t want to leave out her friends).

Twilight walked into the café and saw her friends sitting around a round table. They were laughing and giggling, obviously excited for the day to come. They noticed Twilight, and offered her an empty seat.

“Hey Twilight, how’s it hanging?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’m doing great!” Twilight replied, “How about you guys?”

They all finished their greetings, and talked for a while.

“Everyone has to remember the rules and training that we have been through in the past couple of months,” Twilight explained, “Remember the five most important rules?”

“Number one: Never go alone,” Applejack said, “Always be with somepony to ensure safety.”

“Number two: Double-check your suit to make sure it is on correctly,” Rarity stated, “I made them for a reason.”  She giggled.

“Number three: Always lend a helping hoof,” Rainbow Dash said, “Make sure every problem gets solved.”

“Number four: Report any suspicious or unusual behavior,” Fluttershy stated, “If there is a problem, we can fix it before it gets out of hoof.”

“Number five: Explore, learn, and have FUN!” Pinkie Pie screamed.

“Good. Now does everypony remember our mission?” Twilight asked.

“To reach the moon by noon and have lunch.” Rainbow Dash answered.

“And to get to Mars before dinner to enjoy our furthest meal from home!” Applejack finished. “But you’ve gotta watch out for the scary aliens!” Rainbow Dash beckoned.

“Rainbow, there are no such things as aliens!” Twilight explained. “Look; you scared Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy was indeed frightened, and was trembling in her seat. All Rainbow could do was laugh as she saw that her scare was successful.

As they finished breakfast they all made their way to Twilight’s library. The spaceship was in a giant room accessed by a tunnel in her basement. Spike will work as mission control from the ground. Once they entered the room, Twilight told her friends that she had to make final preparations, and to get settled into their quarters.

As Applejack was done settling in, she decided to have a look around. She was fascinated by all of the fancy gizmos and flashy lights. She was surprised that Twilight was able to make this, and grateful to be on board, as she knew it was Twilight’s lifetime dream. Applejack was truly amazed of the power generator, though. As she stared at all of the different gears and turbines, she realized that something like this would truly help her on her family farm. She wanted to learn more about this machine, so she decided to take a closer look. As she flipped one of the floor panels covering the machinery, her curiosity went too far. She fell in.  She could hear many snaps as the weight of her body crushed some of the delicate machinery. She jumped out of the hole and tried to take in what had just happened. Should she tell Twilight and ruin her dream, or cover it up and act like it had never happened? She then heard Twilight over the loudspeaker calling everyone to the bridge. Applejack placed the panel back into its place, and ran for the bridge. Besides, it was just some little things, she thought, it won’t make a difference.

***

Pinkie Pie was hopping through the hallways after she had settled in. She loved all of the lights and buttons. It was just like a party, she thought. She explored the many rooms of the ship, and knew that she was not to touch anything, even though it was so very tempting. When she walked into the oxygen supply room, she recognized it very well, which was very weird since she had never been in there before. Then it struck her; the giant thing in the middle of the room looked like a helium tank that she used at parties to fill balloons. She was overly excited to see so much “helium” in one place. She found a gauge near the bottom of the tank, and suddenly took out an empty balloon to fill. After she was done filling the balloon, she realized that it wasn’t floating like it should have. She took another gander at the tank, and saw that it was not helium, but oxygen. Then she heard Twilight over the loudspeaker to meet on the bridge. Pinkie left the room without knowing that she had left the gauge open, and that oxygen was slowly, but surely, leaking out.

***

Rainbow Dash had wandered outside of the ship to see what it looked like. She wanted to stretch her wings and fly around it a bit, too. The ship was about a quarter the size of a city block, and it was pretty awesome. She was fascinated by the giant thrusters and the size of the wings, similar to hers. She then saw a little porthole into the ship. Curious as to what it was, she dove for it at full speed, challenging herself to make it through. As she dove into the ship, she didn’t think about what would be inside. BAM! She ran straight into the giant tank holding the fuel. As she got back to her hooves, she realized that she had made it! She turned around to see what she had run into. She noticed that there was a small crack in the side. She also noticed that it was dripping, but just shrugged it off, and made her way to the bridge.

***

It took rather long for Rarity to get settled in, as she had many cases of clothes and who-knows-what. When she was finally done, she decided to go check on the suits that she had made (Rarity had made the space suits, but Twilight engineered them and had supervised Rarity while she made them). The suits were stored in the airlock chamber where one would enter and leave the ship. The suits she made were white, with red stripes around the hooves and tail. They had patches that advertised that they were from Equestria and Ponyville. She had also made a flag to be put on the Moon. Rarity started fiddling with her suit to get the wrinkles out and the dust off. She then accidentally dropped a buckle that fastened a small case around the waist of the suit. She watched as it bounced along the floor until it fell into a slot where the airlock door shuts closed. There was no way of getting it back, but luckily she had spares to replace it. She assumed that it didn’t matter because it was so small, but she was wrong. After she listened to Twilight call everypony to the bridge, she left the chamber. When the door tried to shut, it malfunctioned and didn’t close correctly.

***

“Alright everypony! It is time to depart,” Twilight announced. “Does anyone have anything to say before we leave?”

The ponies struggled with themselves, but remained silent. They were sure that nothing would go wrong (they hoped).  Twilight began the launch sequence as everypony else sat down and strapped in. Twilight began the countdown.

“10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…Liftoff!”