I felt a shudder up my spine as I boarded the capsule of the massive rocket before me, I practiced the breathing exercises I was taught one last time, I looked ahead at the sky and prepared for the jolt of the launch. I heard Mission control over the radio.

"Canterlot to Tranquility 7 do you copy?" the comms crackled a bit as I heard the voice of none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle

"Canterlot, this is Tranquility 7, I hear you loud and clear" I responded as per protocol, even though I felt like jumping out of my skin, I checked my suit mic and closed the visor.

"60 seconds to launch, final checks complete," I tightened my seat harness and braced myself for the gee forces, I was more than exited to be going up to space again, I'd been retrained to pilot a new ship, the second successful interstellar ship, The E.S.S. Selena, I heard the comm in my helmet as they counted off the seconds.

"50 seconds to launch, pad is clear, all systems nominal." I looked over my controls, the monitors displayed all of the ship's readouts, I pressed a button on one of the monitors causing it to swap to an external camera facing behind the craft. I looked at the grond for the last time before I would be separated from it for a whole 4 years. I looked at the cloudless blue sky again, well mostly cloudless, I turned and looked through the side window, in the distance I could see the crowds, mainly the massive cloud bleachers containing hundreds of lets, from my point of view they were a menagerie of colorful dots on a white blob. Even though there was less than a minute left, it felt like an eternity, I watched the clock on the instrument panel silently count off the seconds, it was agonising to watch the seconds crawl by.

"40 seconds, hey Dusk, anything you want to say to the media before you go?" is earned the nickname Dusk because I was infamous for pulling all-nighters to look into space, going from dusk till dawn simply watching the starry blackness. The nickname immediately stuck and I've went my it ever since I was 12.

"Well, I'm gonna miss Equus, but I'll be sure to send ya a postcard from the starswirled cluster!" I knew it was cheesy but the media oughtta like it. I checked all of my suit's seals and all of my life support tubing and waited.

"30 seconds, walkway retracting, all systems are still nominal" I started to feel nervous, as anyone probably would, after all sitting on top of a huge pillar of explosive fuel was not a very comforting thought, I looked over all of my gauges once again and tried to calm myself down a little bit.

"20 seconds, all systems go for launch, still alright in there?"

"Everything's a-ok in here, now let's light this candle!"

"15.... 14.... 13.... 12.... 11.... 10.... 9..... 8.... 7.....6..... 5....4 .....3, main engine start...2, booster ignition.....1,liftoff! we have liftoff of the Tranquility 7 spacecraft, ferrying the Cerberus utility craft and one brave astronaut, to the E.S.S Selena, which will begin her 4 year journey to seek out other life in our galaxy,"

I felt rocket lurch as it's engines fired, then the 3 SRB's attached to the lower stage, the clamps released and I was pushed hard into the seat, I watched the altitude climb. The assent program kicked in and the rocket rolled over to begin it's gravity turn, the nav-ball rotated and held steady on the 30 degree mark heading east. I felt the SRB's eject, I checked the rear camera to make sure, I saw the 3 massive pillars flying off behind me as I shot forward into the inky blackness above, the sky turned from bright blue to indigo to black, then I felt the stages separate, I was jerked forward into the harness, then slammed back against the seat as the last stage of the massive sapphire launch booster ignited.
I watched the speed climb and the angle flatten out as the rocket made it's way out of the atmosphere, I looked at the trajectory computer readout as the engine cut off, the apogee was on target and I would reach it and simultaneously perform a circularization burn in about 90 minutes, I relaxed and caught my breath again, no one could get used to a rocket launch.

Looking out the window, I saw the planet below, the cities were invisible from here, I could only see mountains and green, but yet I felt as if I was home, I'd been to space before, but never alone with my thoughts, I could just sit and watch the world spin past below.

I heard the beep of the 5 minute warning to execute a maneuver, at this point it was still automated, but I still had to check in to notify everyone of this honestly boring event. I pressed the radio button.

"Tranquility 7 to Canterlot, do you copy?"

"This is Canterlot, we copy"

"Circularization burn in 4 minutes 45 seconds,"

"Acknowledged, all systems remain nominal,"

I watched the straps and hoses in the cabin float in the low gravity, it was mildly fascinating to observe them gently swaying.
When the clock got to 20 seconds it beeped again and I called mission control again.

"Tranquility 7 to Canterlot,"

"This is Canterlot, you are confirmed for circularization burn,"

"Burn comencing in T minus 15 seconds, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, burn confirmed, burn ceasing in T minus five, four, three, two, one, engine cut, trajectory stable, and am I glad that's over,"

"Confirmed, orbit stable, final stage ejection in 10 seconds,"

I checked cabin pressure, it read normal, I opened my visor, I heard a slight hissing as the pressure equalized, I felt the ship jerk as the last of the assent rocket ejected, I saw the faring covering the aft section eject as well, the trapezoidal pieces of metal spinning off into space, I looked at the rear camera, the engine I just ejected spin itself around to retrograde and shot off into the distance. I pressed a small button on my chair's armrest causing it to gently rotate aft, I looked around the tiny space, only a few cubic meters, I unlatched my 5 point harness and floated out of the seat, and began the awkward process of removing my orange space suit, once I had removed the bulky thing I streched out my wings, i could only extend one at a time in the tiny pod but it would do until I got to the low orbit research station where the Selena was docked.

I looked myself over, my coat was a bit matted from the suit, other than that, I looked fine, no cuts or chafing, I looked at my tail, it was still there, although far shorter than it had been a few hours ago, I felt my face, I couldn't feel any liquid from my nose, my short sort of grayish beard was still present, all in all I was still here. I flipped myself around, got back in my chair, and swapped control to manual.

In the distance I could see the station's massive solar panels glinting in the sunlight, I swapped my instrument panels to docking and swung the craft around so my stern was to the station, once in range I fired the thrusters and equalized speed with the station. I used the maneuvering jets to nudge myself to look at the magnificence of the ESS Selena, it was huge, 100 meters long, and equipped with a prototype Sparkle Space Warping Drive, I flew myself under the ship and aligned myself with the docking boom that was extended from the bottom of the ship, I carefully aligned myself and heard a metallic clunk as the ships docked, As the craft was brought in I could sit back and relax, another successful docking procedure.

"Argus Station to Commnder Silent Swift, Welcome aboard,"

"Thanks guys, oh and call me Dusk, I'll be at the airlock in a couple minutes" I replied into the mic on my blue jumpsuit, I unhooked myself and floated to the hatch on the little craft, I gave the lever on the door a firm pull and I heard the deadbolts retract, I tugged the hatch open and pushed myself into the tube above me. I followed it up until I got to a hallway leading towards the front of the ship, I floated myself forward until I got to the docking port connecting the Selena to the Argus Station. I heard a clunk rattle through the door, I opened my side and saw the current Argus crew all waiting in the entry way.

"Commander Silent Swift requesting permission to come aboard." I waited for their response.

"Welcome aboard Argus Station, I'm Commander Starry Night, those are lieutennants Windy Plains, and Sasha Peaks. She pointed with her teal hand to the green stallion and the griffin respectively. I looked about the tiny station, the majority of its bulk was Scientific equipment and scanners. The Argus had no magically generated gravity, unlike the other bigger stations, and it only required a crew of 3 to operate.

"Thank you," I shook hands with everyone as I entered, I was one of about 3 pegasi that were astronauts, most of them would turn away after hearing about the lack of wingroom, I looked myself over again, my grayish blue coat and gray hands were covered in little beads of sweat, I wiped it off and everyone made their way to the kitchen.

"So the first pegasus to fly a warp ship, how'd he score that?" starry said, seemingly impressed.

" I can stay sane alone longer than the other astronauts who applied" I said at her with a completely serious face.

"Really? No it's gotta be something else, come on the truth," she said obviously not impressed.

"I'm serious, the tiebreaker was the solitary confinement test, I stayed rational longer, it's really is that simple" in said with a shrug.

"Why are you flying that thing solo?" I heard Windy pipe up from across the small room.

"Its an experiment mostly but it also allows me to travel for longer without need for resupply, the Selena is just a bit smaller than the ESS Dawn, but it has enough space for 4 crew, so when fitted for 1 it has plenty more space for supplies." I stated with a bit of a know it all attitude.

"Where are you going, I read the news post but I wanna know what the real purpose is..." Sasha looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze.

"I was given a list of systems to visit and study, but I've got nothing concrete as to what's there" I was handed a bag of chili and a plastic spoon, "Thanks. Enough about my shit, what are you all doing?" I said with some hope that I wouldn't have to answer more of the same dumb questions I'd been getting over the last 2 months.

"Well... Princess Twilight is keeping us buisy with stuff to do up here, you probably know the feeling...." the commander said with a face of boredom

"I know, she's relentless, ya screw up, do it again, ya write your report the wrong way or misspell anything, the same shit, and don't get me started on her schedules, I'm just glad I'll only have to deal with her bullshit once a week," I said with a knowing look to the room.

" she's probably butthurt she can't be here, so she takes it out on us," Windy finished then returned to his food packet.

"Ya got that right," I finished my chili and went to go grab my luggage, it was mostly personal stuff, It was sent up with the last supply run from the ground. "Well, it was nice meeting ya, and I'd love to stay for awhile, but unfortunately I've gotta go. I'm scheduled to undock in 10 minutes, so I'll see ya later....hopefully," I waved and pushed my bag towards the exit, I followed it along and gave it another nudge through the airlock, I floated in and closed the door on my side, I waved through the tiny window and made my way to the bridge.

Author's Note

New Story, hope ya like,

Live long and prosper.