Chapters Princess Twilight Sparkle leaned over a railing in the Vehicle Assembly Building, in her white lab coat. With it being so peaceful in Equestria, she jumped at Luna’s offer to be the mission planner for Equestria’s space program. Luna had been an ever growing proponent of space exploration with the growing interest in space among ponies, they no longer look at her night in fear but awe.
Twilight looked down over the railing, technicians in white lab coats were working on a rocket. From Twilight’s perspective they looked like white ants. Occasional the odd pegasus and griffin few close enough for Twilight to make them out in detail. Twilight sighed, she was happy how everyone was working together but things were changing so fast. Magic was being overshadowed by science & technology. The Manehattan Institute of Technology had become the most prestigious academic institute.
Some ponies called it the space age, we had already sent satellites up and planned to send more up but the big upcoming mission was sending a pony into orbit and bringing them back in one peace.
Twilight flew out of the VAB to check out how everything else was going, in Research and Development. It was a maze of corridors with engineers walking around, none took any notice of Twilight. Behind the many doors were engineers tirelessly working away on the various aspects of space travel. Twilight decided to check up on Rarity, she was working on the space suit. Rarity was not thrilled with the utilitarian design philosophy of the space agency but Rarity couldn’t refuse Luna’s request or the gems that came with it. Besides nobody else in the agency cared much about aesthetics and the thought of the monstrosity they would come up without her, gave Rarity the shivers.
Twilight walked to Rarity’s drafting table where she engrossed in her work. “Sorry Twilight, I am much too busy to talk, they keep changing the requirements of the suit,” Rarity said without stopping her work.
Twilight noticed Moondancer, she was the chief designer at the space program. Moondancer walked to the desk to the right of Rarity.
“Sorry Rarity we have more design changes,” Moondancer set down papers on a growing stack of paperwork. Rarity stared at Moondancer with a murderous look, causing Moondancer to nervously back away before walking away. Rarity turned to her desk, going over the paperwork Moondancer dropped off.
“I can see you are busy, Rarity,” Twilight nervously backed away, getting no response from Rarity.
“Moondancer, how are things?” Twilight ran up to Moondancer.
“Despite still not having a working rocket for the capsule, the rocket engineers want to entirely scrap the existing engine for a totally untested and far more complex closed cycle design,” Moondancer remained engrossed with her clipboard.
“So basically normal,” Moondancer looked up, giving Twilight a smile. “Anyway I got much work to do, see you later Twilight,” with that Twilight went into her office closing the door behind her.
Twilight’s office was filled with things that reminded Twilight of her days as Celestia’s faithful student, along with pictures of her friends. She kept in touch with her friends outside the agency but the work just kept mounting up.
Before Twilight got to her desk Rainbow Dash busted into her office.
“Twilight, I want to be a ponynaut!” Rainbow Dash said in excitement.
“Dash, one does not just become a ponynaut. It requires tons of rigorous training,” Twilight turned to look at Rainbow Dash.
“Fine, if you pass training, I’ll see about getting you on a mission,” Twilight let out a sigh.
“Thanks Twilight, you won’t regret it,” Rainbow Dash hugged Twilight and with that Rainbow Dash walked out of Twilight’s office. Twilight knew it was futile trying to talk Rainbow Dash out of it, besides she thought Dash might make a good ponynaut. Twilight went to her desk and got back to her work.
Rainbow Dash trained hard and there was still more training ahead of her but Moondancer wanted to try a new training method. Rarity was putting Dash in the space suit and Moondancer had to admit the suit was far much more practical then what she was planning. Moondancer’s concept was based on the bulky tin can designs she saw in science fiction magazines, while in contrast Rarity’s design provided the ponynaut with as much movement as possible given the requirements for space. Thought it was still too bulky for Rainbow Dash’s taste.
“I can hardly move in this thing,” Rainbow Dash looked down at the suit while trying to move.
“You are going to need it to survive space,” Twilight put a helmet on Dash.
Rarity and Moondancer made sure everything was airtight. After that Moondancer pressurized the suit then added weights to the suit.
“What are those for,” Dash said over her headset while looking at the weights.
“Neutral buoyancy, to roughly simulate a low gravity. It will keep you level under the water. Don’t try to swim, just pull and push yourself with your hooves. You will have vastly more resistance then you would in space but like I said it is a rough simulation.” Moondancer pressurized the suit.
“Okay Twilight drop her in,” Moondancer gestured to Twilight. Twilight levitated Dash with her magic and lowered her gently into the pool. Once submerged Dash floated under the water in front of a full sized model of the capsule. It was yellow and cone shaped, there was a square hole on the side where the hatch would be and inside room for only one pony.
Dash practiced moving around the outside the capsule. She thought it was silly given the pool and capsule were small. Dash pulled herself around the capsule with her hooves, practicing reorienting herself retaliative to where the hatch door would be. Dash finally pulled herself into the capsule, her life support hoses flowing out the hatch to the surface. The inside of the capsule was bare except the seat, it was just a model after all. Dash was not use to relying so heavily on her hooves and was becoming exhausted. She sat in the capsule for a minute while imagining flying it in space before pulling herself out.
“What do you think? This could help ponynauts train when we get to missions with space walks, I already got rough designs of a two pony capsule with an airlock,” Moondancer turned to Twilight.
“Promising but first we need to get a pony into orbit and back safely,” Twilight levitated Dash out of the pool. Once she was back on dry ground, Rarity and Moondancer helped Dash out of the space suit.
“I better get back to my normal training,” Rainbow Dash raced off.
“It worked better than expected,” Moondancer hugged Rarity after closely inspecting the space suit. “We will need to do more tests and will need more space suits but I don’t see any reason for you to mope around here anymore. You could probably complete your contract from Ponyville.”
“Thank you, nothing against this place other then it being horribly drab and soul crushing.”
“We’ll throw you a going away party, Rarity. It can also celebrate the success of the space suit,” said Twilight.
The next day Twilight was resting in the cafeteria when ponies started yelling fire. Twilight darted out into the hallway, following the other ponies. The commotion was coming from where they working on the capsule. Firefighter ponies were telling everyone to keep back since Twilight was a princess they let her in. As Twilight made her way in, she saw the test capsule burned out surrounded by firefighters. Twilight walked to the other side of the room where Moon Dance was throwing down her clipboard in frustration.
“What happened!” Twilight said with a raised concerned voice.
“When we did a pressurization test, a short ignited the oxygen. Lucky there were only minor injuries. We need to take better safety precautions, plus troubleshoot the electrics. Sometimes this feels like a Sisyphean task, every problem we solve more crop up,” Moondancer threw her clipboard on the ground in frustration.
Moondancer’s words resonated with Twilight, they have worked so hard for so long yet they were still so far from their goal of getting a pony safely into orbit. Twilight wondered if they’d ever get a pony safely into orbit at this rate.
"Everyone probably should go home early, don't think we'd get any more work done today," Twilight addressed the room.
Word of the accident got out to the press. In response Luna addressed Equestria over a live radio broadcast. Everyone in the space agency stopped work to listen.
“We all know our space program has had its setbacks but already satellites shows us our planet, pushing back the unknown. Ponykind is now living in a wonderful time. It is a time when science and technology are flourishing. I don’t need my ability to see into dreams to know a growing number of ponies are dreaming of space. How many fantastic novels have recently been written about flights to the moon and beyond.
We have had setbacks, we will have even more setbacks but we can’t stop dreaming of a better tomorrow. I implore you, don’t let these setbacks hold us back from those dreams.”
With that everyone at the space agency let out a cheer before returning to work with renewed vigor. They took Luna’s message to heart, they were paving the way to a glorious future.
2 - First Step Into Space
The day finally came, all the work and frustration had paid off and they were ready to launch. Rainbow Dash was helped into her space suit and made her way to the launch tower. On the long ride up Rainbow Dash saw the yellow rocket glisten in Celestia’s morning sun. Dash would prefer to simply fly up but her wings were tucked inside her space suit. Instead, she simply looked at the tall rocket as the elevator rose up. Once at the top she walled to the capsule and pulled herself in through the hatch. After doing on the straps, the hatch was bolted closed from the outside. Dash looked through the cramped interior, grabbed the checklist and got on with preparing for the launch.
Far away from the launch pad, a crowd had gathered on stands to watch the launch. Film cameras were also present so all of Equestria could see the momentous event. Among those in the stands were the rest of the Elements of Harmony along with Celestia and Luna.
“You think Rainbow Dash will be okay?” Fluttershy asked softly as she looked worrying at the rocket.
“Don’t fret about it. Given all our adventures, I’d say she’d be fine,” Applejack turned to Fluttershy.
“Given my time in that dreadful space agency, I have to say Dash is in good hands,” said Rarity.
“Besides, I’m sure a deus ex machina will come to the rescue if Dash gets in any real danger,” said Pinkie Pie, leaving everyone speechless except for Celestia and Luna that giggled at the remark.
Back in mission control, Twilight nervously prepared for the launch. Rows of terminals filled the room, where every aspect of the rocket was monitored and primed for launch. Everyone knew that no matter what happened, all of Equestria and beyond would know about it.
“Don’t worry Twilight, the test flight worked perfectly and we took every precaution,” Moondancer reassured Twilight.
“Yhea and it is not like I could talk Rainbow Dash out of it,” Twilight hung her head.
“You do know everyone can hear you, right?” replied Rainbow Dash over the radio.
“We are good down here, all systems normal. Prepare for launch,” Twilight put her hoof to her face.
Rainbow Dash braced herself, looking at the clear blue sky out the window of the front of the capsule. She knew that she was just along for the ride during the launch phase.
“We wish you a good flight,” Twilight said over the radio as the countdown approached zero.
“Let's do this,” Rainbow Dash said with excitement over the radio.
The rocket engine ignited with great force. Rainbow Dash was pushed back into her seat, it felt like Tirek was sitting on her chest. Seconds later Dash felt the rocket tilt and the forces subsided as the darkness of space came into view. Dash felt the rocket shut down before detaching. To Dash’s amazement, she was already in space and she could see the planet below.
“I’m in space!” Rainbow Dash yelled in glee.
Back in mission control, everyone was celebrating, they didn’t blow Rainbow Dash up and she was safely in orbit. All the hard work had paid off, they had launched a pony safely into orbit.
“Knew it would work,” Moondancer said while hugging Twilight.
Rainbow Dash noticed the checklist floating, realizing she was weightless. Dash reached her hoof out and pushed the checklist. The checklist danced around the capsule, this gave Dash an idea. She undid the belts holding her into the seat, Dash gently floated in the cramped capsule. She pressed her head to the window, looking at the planet below. Out the window, Equestria was already out of view and Dash was far east of Equestria over unknown lands.
Reaching into a pouch by her seat, dash pulled out a small camera with her hoof and started taking pictures against the window. After a few pictures, Dash turned the camera around and took pictures of herself, feeling it would sure to impress even the Wonderbolts.
Around half an hour into the flight, the dark side of the planet came into view. She was now out of communication range. Dash watched with awe as she passed into the night. Down below city lights of unknown civilizations shined like clumps of stars. She wondered what amazing adventures were laying in wait below her if she could just travel to these lands. Looking up Dash saw the moon, planets and stars and wondered if she'd ever get to visit them.
Dash continued to look out the window in amazement. Eventually she saw the sun rise over the curvature of the planet. A huge grin appeared on Dash’s face as she had just circled the entire planet in just over an hour. Dash strapped herself back in and prepared to deorbit. Making sure everything was properly stowed.
Back in ground control, Twilight had been waiting nervously, pacing back and forth. The radio came to life, causing a great relief to everyone.
“Twilight, you’d love it up here, Equestria looks so small,” Rainbow Dash said in amazement.
“Yeah, I guess it would from your perspective. Prepare for deorbit,” said Twilight over the radio.
Dash swung the capsule around then started the engines, slowing down she oriented the capsule for reentry. Down below she saw all of Equestria, from Luna Bay to the Dragon Lands. Rainbow Dash looked down realizing all her adventures with her friends comprised only a tiny bit of the planet.
The radio cut out as the capsule reentered the atmosphere. All Dash could see was red out the window, the temperature risen as the capsule shook. Rainbow Dash didn't know how much longer the capsule would hold.
Then all of a sudden Dash could see clear blue sky and the capsule cooled down.
“I made it!” Dash was happy to see the clear blue sky out the window.
“Thank Celestia! All that is left is to parachute down,” Twilight took a deep breath in relief.
Rainbow Dash pushed the lever to deploy the parachutes, the capsule danced around before violently tilting onto its side.
“The parachutes are not working!” Rainbow Dash panicked.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight replied over the radio.
Seconds later Dash realized she was no longer falling, the hatched opened.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe,” Luna poked her head partly into the capsule, looking over Rainbow Dash.
“You rescued me?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion, still trying to piece together what happened.
“I teleported the capsule,” Luna unstrapped Dash with her magic.
“So does this mean my mission was unsuccessful?” Dash hung her head.
“Don’t be silly, you did orbit the planet and made it back safely,” Luna smiled.
“But with your help,” Dash climbed out the capsule as Luna moved out of the way.
“There was nothing you could have done, besides this was just our first step into space. There will be other opportunities for you to go in space,” Luna reassured Dash.
Later that night, Twilight was sitting on the roof of the VAB looking up at the stars. She almost killed Rainbow Dash and knew the risks but Twilight wanted to see what Dash saw. Moondancer made her way up to the roof.
“So, we did it but there is still much more ahead of us,” Moondancer said while looking up at the stars with Twilight.
“You ever think about going up there?” Twilight asked Moondancer.
“I’m an engineer, not a ponynaut but maybe one day I’ll visit the moon,” replied Moonancer.
“I’m a princess and Equestria might depend on me in the future,” Twilight sighed.
“Well, we can always dream,” Moondancer looked up as Luna flew overhead and into the night.
Rainbow Dash was piloting the new capsule. It was slightly larger than the one she first orbited, allowing seating for two ponies. Dash was dropping off Sunburst to the new space station. Moondancer wasn’t happy about having to redesign the helmet to fit a horn but Sunburst practically begged Twilight for the chance.
Dash looked at the planet below, still in awe of the view of the planet passing below allowing her mind to wonder.
“We are approaching the station,” Sunburst broke Dash's train of thought. The station grew larger in the window, its cylindrical hull reflecting the sun’s rays to the point Dash had to lower her visor. Dash was careful to avoid the long solar panels stretching out from the station while lining up with the dock. Dash was relieved as a loud thud vibrated throughout the capsule as the ship coupled.
“Coupling successful, you can transfer over,” Twilight said over the radio to Dash’s relief.
Sunburst and Dash undid their buckles. Sunburst pushed himself down towards the hatch, opened it up and floated into the darkness of the station. Dash followed behind Sunburst. The light from Sunburst’s horn danced around till the station lights turned on. The interior was packed with complex looking equipment leaving little room, though it was a tad more spacious than the capsule.
“What is all this for?” Dash was not briefed much on the station, or rather she didn’t pay much attention when it was discussed.
“With these interments, I can study the strength of Equestrian magic,” Sunburst inspected the interments with his magic.
“Dash head over to the other end of the station,” Twilight commanded over the radio. Dash squeezed past Sunburst and floated to the other end, where she saw a hatch with airlock written above.
“Okay now what?” Dash waited for further instructions.
“Look to your left, there should be a closet labelled teleporter, we can teleport objects to that closet. It is not safe for living things. You are a fast moving target for us on the ground and there is the risk we teleport to outside the hull. The odd supply shipment ending up outside the hull is no a big deal, yet for living things it would be fatal,” Twilight rambled over the radio.
“I’m not good at teleportation,” Sunburst still inspected the instruments, still sore about knowing about magic yet not good at performing it.
“Okay, you can magic up supplies,” Dash ignored Sunburst while looking over to the teleporter, then a space suit appeared.
“Put it on, it is an EVA suit. It is far better designed for being outside in space then your normal space suit,” Twilight replied over the radio.
With the help of Sunburst, Dash changed into the EVA suit and entered the airlock. Dash hooked her life support and tether up, the small airlock hummed as it was depressurized, then silence. Dash opened the outer hatch and crawled out to the outer hull of the station.
“Ahhh!” Dash was startled seeing Luna floating in space with nothing on, filming Rainbow Dash.
“We did not mean to cause alarm,” Luna said in a reassuring voice over the radio. Dash calmed down and climbed onto the side of the hull, with her tether and hoses trailing back into the airlock. She kept her momentum yet couldn’t change it or even reorient so she just floated along the station. The station wasn’t that big, so she quickly approached the capsule seeing Dash II written on the side. The capsule being named after Dash for her first orbital.
The tether reached its end, yanking Dash back, she instinctively galloped as she panicked, before stopping herself and wondering how bad that looked on film.
“Do you need assistance,” Luna asked over the radio, using her magic to come over while still filming.
“Just give me a minute,” Dash breathed heavily and pulled on the tether, floating back to the outer hatch. Seeing Rainbow Dash safely on the station, Luna waved before diving down towards the planet. Dash watched in awe as Luna effortlessly reentered the atmosphere, her magic keeping the flames away. Dash shook her head for feeling jealous of being overshadowed by the capabilities of a goddess.
Back at the Equestrian space agency, Moondancer and Twilight stood at the sides of a rectangular table in a meeting room. Once Luna entered the room and sat at the end of the table, Moondancer and Twilight take their seats.
“We are pleased the mission is going well,” Luna addressed the room.
“They are wrapping things up on the station now, soon Dash and Sunburst should safely be back in Equestria,” Twilight cheerfully responds.
“Good, now how goes the Lunar program,” Luna turned to Twilight.
“Probes have found Equestrian magic on the moon, we have photos of the surface from the flyby and a lander probe is en route,” Twilight shuffles through her notes.
“I have more lander probes ready to survey the moon,” Moondancer added.
“What do you have in the works for getting a pony to the moon?” Luna turned to Moondancer.
“Pony?” Moondancer was taken back by the question, as was Twilight. Both thought they were making excellent progress, they were far the most advanced of the known world yet flying to the moon was still the realm of science fiction. At least for the time being, both had assumed they had time before having to actually make such plans.
“We don’t have any such plans yet,” Twilight nervously responded.
“We were led to believe they landed on the moon on the other side of the Crystal Mirror portal,” Luna looked between them, looking regal.
“They are still more advanced then us,” Twilight didn’t feel comfortable correcting Luna.
Moondancer jotted down calculations on a piece of paper while manipulating a slide rule with her magic. “We possibly could send a pony, but it will require far more resources. Given we can teleport supplies to orbit we could possibly build a space station, teleport up sections, assemble the ship in space and fly up the crew, thus the rocket starts fully fulled in orbit.”
“Excellent, draw up the plans, now we must be off,” Luna happily walked out of the room. Moondancer flopped her head on the table letting out a moan, realizing the work ahead.
“I take it your contacts on the other side of the mirror portal can’t get their hands on such designs,” Moondancer talked into the table.
“They went with a massive rocket launched from the ground, too costly, besides they don’t really have access to anything like that,” Twilight shook her head.
“Well, we best get back to work,” Moondancer slowly got up and got back to the grind.
Back in the capsule, Dash and Sunburst watched the station as they pulled away. Dash was happy not being cooped up in the station anymore. While the capsule was smaller, she could at least see the planet passing below. Dash did enjoy her space walk though.
The capsule heated up and shook around as they reentered the atmosphere. Sunburst trembled, covering his eye with his hooves in fear while Dash hoped that this time everything goes fine. The shaking subsided and the capsule started cooling down. A sudden jerk jolted the capsule when the parachutes deploy, followed by calm as the capsule slowly descended.
“You're looking good, parachutes are fully deployed,” Twilight said over the radio.
“You okay,” Thunderlane peaked into the capsule after opening the hatch.
As Thunderlane helped Dash out she looked back, the capsule half sunk into the clouds. The capsule was magically treated to be held up like the pegasus buildings.
Dash flapped her wings as soon as she got out of her suit, Dash felt good to be home. Sunburst more so, he decided in the future to study magic from the ground.