//-------------------------------------------------------// Space Mission -by Evictus- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 Pinkie Pie was eating lunch in a park as it was a nice day so she decided to enjoy the day by eating her lunch outside. As she ate her lunch outside she saw children playing around in the park while she watched them. Pinkie Pie took another bite of her sandwich as she wanted to finish her sandwich before eating her cupcake she had brought with her. She looked at the places she had bit into on the sandwich as she chewed it. She took a few more bites and then ate a small cupcake while having a few sips from a bottle of soda to wash all of it down. After she finished her lunch and ate her cupcake she realized that she had made a mess. She groaned and cleaned her mess up. After she finished cleaning her mess up she saw Rarity walking up to her as Rarity had realized that Pinkie Pie was there with her. "Hey Pinkie Pie. I'm just here with my sister. She's over on the swings. She had me push her for a few minutes but then she told me that she could do it herself and thanked me for my help. What are you doing here?" Rarity asked. "I was just here eating lunch while enjoying the day. I finished work early as I wanted to have the rest of the day to myself." Pinkie Pie explained. Rarity nodded as she understood what Pinkie Pie was saying. "Im going to go back over to watch my sister and then I'm going to go back home. Do you need me to get anything for you when I head back home?" Rarity asked. Pinkie Pie shook her head. "Alright then. Take care." Rarity said as she walked back over to watch her sister play on the swings. Pinkie Pie watched them hang out together with a smile on her face. She continued to rest on the bench as she decided to stay there for a bit longer. While they stayed there Rarity saw Twilight walking up to her. Rarity was a bit surprised to see the princess out in public unannounced. Pinkie Pie walked over to where Rarity was to see the princess. They listened to what she had to say "Rarity I need you to do something for me. If you could spare some time to listen to me then it would be much appreciated." Twilight explained. Rarity shrugged and nodded. "Our scientists have created the first ever spaceship to get an Equestria citizen beyond the atmosphere and into space. This is a major breakthrough for Equestria. This has never been done before. Several other nations around Equestria are asking me to work with them in space travel." "Okay so why are you telling me this?" Rarity asked. Twilight sighed as she decided to explain it in a very simple way for Rarity to understand. "Celestia wants someone to be the first person to go to space. Celestia asked me if I wanted to go but I declined as I don't deserve to go. Im a bit of a nerd and I would probably run my accomplishment in people's faces so me and Celestia agreed that you would be the perfect candidate to be the first person to go to space." Twilight explained. "Will I be able to come back and see my sister? I'm not going to live up there right?" Rarity asked. Twilight shook her head. "Yes you will be back. We are sending you up there to scout out other planets and study them so that future flying telescopes we build will be able to observe and this will lead us to a mission to go up there and terraform some of those planets so that people who live in Equestria and spread across the rest of our planet can go up there and live there if pollution destroy's out planet." Twilight explained. "Alright I'll go. It would be a great opportunity. How long will I be gone though? I want to continue seeing my sister and I want to continue seeing you and my friends. I love all of you dearly." Rarity said. Twilight nervously looked off to the side and gulped as she looked at Rarity. "I don't know. It could possibly take years for the mission to be completed. If you don't want to go I won't force you, I'll find someone else, I understand that this will make you and Sweetie Belle lonely so I won't mind if you refuse to go." Twilight said. Rarity thought about it and then spoke. "I'll have to think about it and talk it over with my sister." Rarity explained. Twilight nodded. "I completely understand' let me know your decision when you make it. This is totally up to you so just take your time." Twilight said. Twilight left Rarity. Soon Rarity took Sweetie Belle home and when they got home Rarity thought about what to decide on. She knew that what she was deciding was important. If she decided to leave she would have to send Sweetie Belle to go and live with her parents for the time she was gone. This decision making frustrated her. She was going to have to pack a few things if she went. She would make sure to bring a picture of Sweetie Belle with her to if she decided to go. Finally she made her decision about going and told Celestia and the scientists in Equestria that were running the mission that she could leave that exact day. Celestia asked her if she wanted more time so that she could spend some time with her sister before her left but Rarity didn't want to waste anytime like that so she said that she can do it in a few hours. She then called her parents and asked them to watch Sweetie Belle while she was gone. They agreed to watch her and Rarity hung up and sighed as she knew that telling Sweetie Belle would be the hardest part. She slowly walked to Sweetie Belle's room feeling her stomach drop. "Sweetie Belle can I talk to you for a few minutes?" Rarity asked. Sweetie Belle smiled and let Rarity sit on her bed. Rarity tried to figure out how to explain her decision about going. This was going to be extremely hard for both of them. "I've decided to leave for a trip to space in order to help scout out planets....now this might be hard for you but please try and stay strong for me while I'm gone. Your going to live with your parents and they will make sure you continue to go here for your school work. You'll still be able to see your friends." Rarity explained. Sweetie Belle felt like this decision was all to sudden. She couldn't believe that her sister was going. She felt her heart ache, she didn't want her sister to go. She tried to hold back tears but they left her eyes. "When are you coming back?" Sweetie Belle said as she choked back a sob. Rarity pulled her in for a hug as she didn't know. Rarity felt that she shouldn't tell Sweetie Belle that she wouldn't be back as it would depress her if she found out that Rarity might not be back for a long time but then she knew that she should be honest with her sister. Rarity sighed as she told the truth which made her eyes start to water. "I....dont know if I will be able...to come back....at all....I'm sorry Sweetie Belle." Rarity said as she started to get all choked up. Sweetie Belle didn't say anything else as she started to cry. Rarity pulled her in for a tight hug. Rarity listened to her sister's sobbing as she hugged her sister. She knew that this was going to be hard for both of them but she knew that she had to do this mission for Equestria. She couldn't wait any longer to try and comfort her sister so she pulled away from the hug and looked Sweetie Belle in the eye. "Look Sweetie Belle I know it's hard but....just remember that I love you and I will be thinking about you every day. If you feel like you miss me talk to your parents and talk to Twilight as well. Speak to a counselor. Look at my picture as well. Do whatever you think that can make you feel better. I love you so much Sweetie Belle! Don't eve forget that." Rarity spoke. Sweetie Belle nodded as tears streamed down her cheeks. A sob escaped her lips. Rarity let Sweetie Belle give her a long hug. Soon one of the scientists on the project approached Rarity telling her that it was time to go. Rarity nodded and told Sweetie Belle she had to let go. Sweetie Belle refused and Rarity sighed. Rarity knew that she shouldn't have agreed to do the mission that exact day that she was told about it but she wanted to get on with the mission. Rarity tried to calm her sister down. She reassured her sister that everyone would be okay, after a few minutes Sweetie Belle finally let go as she knew that she had to. Sweetie Belle cried as her sister reassured her that she would be back. Sweetie Belle acknowledged what her sister was saying but still cried. Rarity gave Sweetie Belle a hug and said goodbye to her. Rarity said a final goodby to Twilight and Twilight bid her farewell. Rarity finally left with Celestia who was going to be a guest at the launch as they both were on their way to the mission. Rarity looked back at her home and watched it as this might be the last time she ever saw it. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 It was the time for the launch, Rarity was brought to the launch pad along with Celestia who had e honor of witnessing the launch. The mission's advisors were briefing her on what she needs to do in space which was finding habitable life on planets and sending back messages about them to Equestria. As Rarity listened to the briefings she looked up at the ship which was waiting for her to board. She was sad about leaving Sweetie Belle but knew this had to be done. Sweetie Belle had been on her mind all during the trip Rarity was leaving her sister behind to go on a very long mission, she hoped that her heart wouldn't hurt to much over not seeing her friends or her sister as she didn't want to be depressed for the mission. She wondered if she was going to meet any intelligent life up there if she did the scientists urged her to avoid them at all costs and to contact the scientists through a short wave telephone through the space ships system that was linked directly to the office where the launch pad was and when she came back to Equestria she should tell the princess about any information about any intelligent life that might threaten their planet. Once the arrived at the launch pad Rarity got out and she was suited up for the mission, once she was suited up she was guided to the platform with Celestia following her. The mission advisors asked Rarity if she wanted a companion to interact with during her mission but she said no as she thought that she could deal with being alone for a few years. "Rarity you can do this. Equestria is counting on you to see this exploration mission through. Bring back lots of pictures and samples. You have a camera and sample collectors on the space ship. Use those to your advantage." A mission advisor said. Rarity nodded. "I will don't worry." Rarity said. The advisor nodded and stepped back. Another advisor gave Rarity packs of food to eat. These packs of food can last for years on end. The advisor told her to be careful with the rations as they were the only food she will be eating for the next few years. Rarity told the advisor that she understood and she stuffed the packs into the spaceship's fridge. She then went back outside and saw the advisors leaving. Celestia was the only one who remained on the platform. Celestia turned and saw Rarity in the entrance to the ship. "Be careful up there Rarity. We're all going to be rooting for you down here. I'll make sure that your sister and your friends will be okay for the next few years that you are gone, you'll see your sister and your friends again once you return. The nation of Equestria is praying that you will be successful." Celestia told her. "Thank you princess I appreciate that, I'll be back." Rarity said. Celestia nodded and they both gave eachother a strong handshake. Celestia walked away from the entrance of the spaceship and Rarity closed the door. Rarity got in the pilots seat of the spaceship and put her seat belt on. She put the helmet on her head and powered up the spaceship. The rocket boosters came alive and prepared to launch her into space. Rarity closed her eyes and calmed herself as she felt anxiety over the mission. She heard the countdown start from ten seconds so alls she had to do now was wait for it to countdown and then she would be out of the planets orbit. She thought about her sister the final ten seconds. When the countdown reached zero she had the ship lift off from the platform and carry her into space. She looked down as she saw that she was leaving her planets atmosphere. She said a goodbye to Ponyville her friends and Equestria and said that she would be seeing them again soon. She was lifted into the sky as people on the ground cheered her on. The advisors of the mission watched closely. And when Rarity finally left their sight the advisors broke out into cheers as the launch was successful. Celestia finally let go of the breath that she was holding as she sighed in relief. Rarity held onto her seat and closed her eyes as the ship blasted into space. A few things shook inside but it wasn't a cause for concern but she was still pretty nervous. Once she had finally left earth's atmosphere she put the ship on the direct course for A-6124 a planet that was hypothetically sustainable for human life. She knew that it was going to be awhile before she got there so she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of her chair and she took her helmet off and removed her suit and went to the place that stored her items and books and took out sowing supplies and went out into the hallway and hung out in a corner began to work on the patter to pass the time. Rarity was so lucky that the scientists had packed her things that she would like while on her trip she had snacks and a wardrobe of clothes. She continued to sow a pattern as the ship traveled to her first destination. As she sowed the pattern she thought about what would happen if she found aliens on one of the planets, she had been briefed on possible alien life and was taught on being peaceful when meeting one so that she didn't cause an interplanetary war but luckily scientists also doubt that would happen as they had no idea if aliens existed. Rarity worried for a bit abou that but pushed it from her mind for the time being and just relaxed on the space ship. She knew that it was going to be a while before she finished the mission but she was prepared to handle it as the spaceship flew to the first planet. She was ready to carry out the exploration mission. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 As Rarity hung out on the traveling space ship she realized from the coordinates that she was getting closer to A6124. She couldn't wait to get to that planet and check it out for herself. She knew that she was going to have to get a few samples for the scientists back in Equestria so they can study the planet. Rarity continued to do what she has been doing on the spaceship like sowing and drawing. Rarity had loved being in space so far. It was an amazing experience for her. She was so glad that she got to go up. She wondered how long she was going to be gone for. She continued to occupy herself as she waited to land on the planet as she checked each corner of the ship to make sure everything was in working order. She hoped that nothing malfunctioned while she was in space. As the ship traveled towards her destination the days passed by her she continued to entertain herself aboard the ship by reading books and drawing pictures. She also passed the time by watching the stars while she was on the ship. The stars were always so cool to watch, she usually star gazes with her sister and her friends. She wondered what her friends were doing without. She hoped that they weren't depressed that she was gone as she was going to make sure that she would return to them. Rarity was getting a bit hungry so she ate another meal that was for astronauts up in space. She had been eating a lot of them as that was all she had on the ship. The scientists or the advisors didn't pack anything else for her but she didn't mind that she just wanted to get the mission done. As Rarity continued her routine on the ship everyday it soon inched closer and even closer to the planet. Rarity realized one day how close she was to the planet. She was so excited, she hoped at it wouldn't take much longer. Finally after days of trying to entertain herself and relax the day came where the ships finally entered the planets orbit. She landed the ship on the planet. Before she went out she put her space suit on and then she put her helmet on and went outside. She saw trees and grass everywhere. The planet even had gravity which surprised her. She decided to test the air for oxygen. It was soon clarified that it did have oxygen. Rarity realized that the planet was almost suitable for humans. She wanted to make sure there was water so she headed on out for a body of water. It was a long walk for her to a body of water. It started to tire her out but she was determined to get there. She soon got to a body of water and tested it. Her eyes widened and she saw that the water was just like hers. She started to drink it up. It was so refreshing. She smiled and promised the planet that she would be back. She got back on her ship and headed on out for other planets. She set off for space once again and traveled to nearby planets and planets farther away. Some she found supported life while others did not. She was making so much progress on her journey. It took days to travel to other planets though so each night she made sure to get well rested for the next planet. Rarity marked down every planet that was suitable for supporting life so that she could tell Celestia and the scientists about her discoveries. She hoped that her friends would be proud of her and she hoped that the scientists and Celestia would also be proud as she made so many amazing discoveries on the other planets. Rarity started to spend a few says on some planets that had the same time length as hers. She made a list of all of the planets that could support life. One of them was the first planet which was A6124. But as she had victories in finding planets that could sustain life she also had defeats as she found other planets that could not support life and were dangerous to life. Each bad one she discovered she studied to see if they could be terraformed but unfortunately they could not. She wrote down every single coordinates and directions of each new planet that she discovered. She then saved it in a file so that she could give it back to the scientists when she got back to her home planet. Overtime on her journey she missed her sister a lot and would think about her for long extended periods of time. She wanted to just finish the mission and see her friends and her sister. She figured that she was a long way from her home Equestria as she had traveled along time now. She hoped that she wasn't loosing track of each day that she was up in space. She missed some of her friends birthdays some times while she was up there. She made sure that when she got back to Equestria she would apologize for missing their birthdays but she knew that they would understand why she couldn't be there as she was in space. She continued to search and test each planet that she could find so that she could see if any of them had life and she was happy that a lot of them did. She imagined what the news cities were going to look like once people lived on each planet. Rarity hoped that she could get the mission done as there was nothing to stop her. She was going to finish the exploration and turn around and go back home so that she can tell the scientists which ones they can colonize and then she can relax with her friends and hang out with her sister. She couldn't wait to see her friends and her sister. She needed to get back as Equestria was counting on her. She swore to herself that she would get back to her home soon. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 After Rarity checked out some of the planets she returned back to her spaceship and boarded it. She closed the doors and turned the oxygen back on and waited for a few minutes and then she stripped her space suit off, took off her helmet and turned the ship on. She waited for a few minutes as it fired back up. Once it was fired back up she flew off the planet and went back to space. Once she got out into space she put it on the coarse back to home and put it on automatic drive. As soon as she finished setting her ship on the designated coarse she got out of the chair and went to the cabins to hang out and rest. She couldn't wait to tell her friends all about her experience. She couldn't wait to tell the scientists either. The ship continued to head on home as she hung out in the spaceship. She was so excited to tell her friends the experiences that she had. She wondered what they would all say. She wouldn't be surprised if they asked her if they could go into space with her. Rarity wouldn't mind taking them with her if she had any more space missions. She also wouldn't be surprised if Sweetie Belle asked to go to space with her. She smiled at the thought of taking Sweetie Belle to space with her. She would gladly do it as it would be pretty fun to do with Sweetie Belle. Rarity relaxed in the cabin as she got out a book on tea making and read some of it for a bit. She loved to make different sorts of tea with the help of Fluttershy as it was just another thing to do with a friend or something to do alone. She thought about who she should hug when she touched down but she knew that it wouldn't be important as she could give her first hug to any friend that she wanted. Rarity hoped to see her parents as well and tell them all about her journey. She continued to relax as she read her book wanting to get back to her home and hang out with her sister, her parents and her friends and talk about her experiences to the population. So much time passed and soon before she knew it she reentered her planet's atmosphere. She quickly flew to the front controls and shoved her space suit on and put her helmet on as she didn't want to burn up. As soon as she got her protective suit on and her helmet on the space ship got rocky. She put her seatbelt on and gripped the seat and closed her eyes and tried to remain calm when she entered the world's atmosphere. Soon she entered the world's atmosphere and landed back where she was first launch into space from. Cheering crowds ran to the space ship. Rarity took her space suit off and grabbed her things and headed outside to the crowds. Once Rarity got off Sweetie Belle and her friends all hugged her at the same time. Rarity chuckled and hugged her friends and her sister back. They all broke away from the hug and Rarity playfully rubbed Sweetie Belle's hair making her sister giggle and laugh as she told Rarity how much she missed her as she cried. Rarity told her sister how much she missed her as well as she hugged Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle told Rarity that she missed her a lot as well. Rarity thanked the crowd and her friends and family for support and told her friends she would meet up with them later and went to see Celestia to deliver data about all of the planets. When she saw Celestia and the scientists she gave them her notes on all the information on each planet and Celestia immediately launched some voluntary colonists to the planets that Rarity visited and they all terraformed them and lived there. Rarity's achievement was talked about all year as it was the biggest news story of the year. Rarity participated in several interviews and was given an award by Celestia herself for all of the hard work she had done. Her family and her sister and her friends were so happy for her as they all talked about it from time to time. They didn't obsess about it but they would talk about it whenever they talked to eachother without Rarity or talked to Rarity about it directly. Rarity's friends praised her for her accomplishment from time to time and Rarity told them that she appreciated it everytime they praised her accomplishment. Sweetie Belle was also very proud of her sister going on the mission even if she had missed her. She praised Rarity as well and she also asked about her experience and Rarity described her experiences on each planet. Rarity was very open about her love for space as she talked about it to the public, her friends, her family, scientists and Celestia herself. She loved talking about it and the public, her friends, her family and Celelestia loved the fact that Rarity loved space travel and she would never stop loving space travel because it was so cool to do. Once when the planets were terraformed and colonists established homes there Rarity took Sweetie Belle with her to see a different planet that was colonized from time to time and Sweetie Belle loved every planet she saw and she thanked Rarity for taking her to see each planet and Rarity told her that she was glad that her sister loved going to space just like her. Rarity also took her friends to a different planet that was colonized from time to time as well. Rarity also took her friends with her to see a different planet that was colonized from time to time and her friends loved every planet that they saw and they all thanked Rarity for taking them to see each planet and Rarity told them that she was glad that they all lived going to space just like her. Rarity continued to go on space missions for Equestria as it never got boring because it was always so much fun to do, she would never stop going to space because she enjoyed it. She would always remember her first mission as well. She loved space flight for the rest of her life.