Space Race

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that stealing is justified in select circumstances.

Okay, I know that sounds bad, but hear me out. So, you know the probe I mentioned in my last letter, right? The one in orbit? Well, The blueprints for part of the launch rocket were leaked a few days ago, by someone on the inside of the Union’s spaceflight administration. One of our lead engineers decided to take a look, and said that it seemed quite applicable to our current needs. We held a meeting, and eventually decided to contact the source of the leak. In under a day, we had our hooves on all the requisite schematics, and we were able to begin production on a launch vehicle of our own, adapted to our considerably superior energy supply.

Right, sure. The research method used to advance the program to this point was… unethical. But, in the end, which is better? Industrial plagiarism, or the Reds getting a 100-megaswirl magic ray into space before us?

Twilight Sparkle

Spike, can you get me some scotch? I think I left the bottle next to 'The Astronomer’s Almanac'.