The rush of acceleration pushed Rainbow Dash back into the seat of her rocket's cockpit. Instruments around her blinked and rattled, translating every function of the rocket into information she could take in with but a glance.
Her heart was beating in her chest as she felt the thrusters causing the entire craft to hum with motion. The sky was rushing around her, a blur of motion as clouds were bifurcated in her wake. It had been a shock to hear about Ponies wishing to match the humans in their achievement of going to the moon, and she couldn't believe she would be the first to do so.
Luna not withstanding, of course. The princess of the moon had been unwilling to comment on this entire venture. The reason why was something she had been vocal of only once with Princess Celestia and Twilight, and both had said they would never repeat such language even in private.
While Rainbow Dash had been quick to boast that she could probably do this historical task under her own power, Twilight Sparkle had been quick to point out little things like burning up in reentry, explosive decompression, a lack of oxygen, no air for her wings to move against. Little things, but things that Rainbow had eventually been forced to admit were important.
A warning light went off, and Rainbow feared she might have to abort before she had even left the atmosphere. Another year of preparation before she could try again. But in that faction of an instant between seeing and understanding she saw it was the indicator that the fuel was nearly gone.
Her hoof tapped the controls, flicking switches as she prepared to dump the thrusters, fuel tanks, and other superfluous sections. The moment came and went, and at last she was beyond the atmosphere of the world she knew, officially higher than any pegasus had ever gone. The winking, flickering lights beyond the daylight hours seemed to wave hello to her as her tiny craft floated effortlessly toward its intended destination.
Thus began a day of waiting as what had been just the tip of the massive rocket drifted toward the crater-marked surface of the moon. This had been the greatest challenge for the active mare. Having never been confined to a small space in her life, she had burned through all her activities in less than an hour. Twilight, who was her only contact over the primitive radio had to remind her that their means of communication was meant for emergencies, not for knock knock jokes and talk of 'space ponies wanting to eat her brain.'
Minute by agonizing minute passed, with Rainbow testing out freeze-dried food that had been specially prepared for her. She loathed the idea of hay fries in a tube but she dealt with it. She did not however figure out the proper ratio of ketchup to fry goo to make it taste normal before it was all gone.
The less said about the zero gravity toilet the better.
Finally, the moon grew in the window of the capsule, and Rainbow at last made her way through the weightless corridors to her lander. More procedure was needed, and Rainbow did as Twilight explained, at last descending to the moon's surface.
At last, Rainbow would feel her name about to be placed among the greatest names in Equestria. Hers was already going to be, but now everypony around the world was biting their hooves and holding their breath to hear that she had succeeded in traveling to the moon and back without any magical help. She could imagine Luna rolling her eyes at such a feat, but it was a challenge, and here she was going to make that challenge one that Equestria had taken and conquered.
The lander touched down on the dry airless soil, and Rainbow emerged, suited with the Equestrian flag to plant. She took one step out, head held high. She was already imagining the roaring crowds that would even now be awaiting to welcome her home. She raised the flag and tapped her microphone with her cheek to test it.
Rainbow cleared her throat, here was the big moment! "I claim this moon in the name of-"
Click!
A sudden flash of light stung Rainbow's vision and caused her to plant the flag cross-eyed, and once her vision had cleared she turned her head to find what had made her big moment turn sour.
Not far away stood Featherweight, inside a suit of his own. He waved to her, his little camera spitting out a picture of Rainbow grimacing as she ignobly planted the flag at a slant in the rocky soil.
A single word fell from Rainbow's mouth, "What."
"Princess Luna thought I should be here to capture the moment of the first pony on the moon." Featherweight said innocently.
"How long have you been here?" Rainbow asked.
Featherweight checked his watch, "About twenty minutes."
Rainbow hung her head.
"... Was that really necessary, Luna?" Celestia asked.
Luna set the newspaper on the dining table the sisters shared, trying to look innocent, "Whatever do you mean, dear sister?"
Celestia narrowed her eyes and pointed to the newspaper with her royal hoof, directing Luna's attention to the front page. There in black and white was a large image of Rainbow Dash on the surface of the moon, looking like a startled cat in her space suit while the flag of Equestria stands cock-eyed in front of her. The headline is 'First pegasus on the moon arrives safely!'
"You know what I mean." Celestia frowned at her sister's poor lie, "Why'd you tamper with what should have been a momentous achievement for ponykind?"
"What do you mean? Going to the moon? Was there something special about doing there?" Luna tapped her chin, "If they wanted to go I could have just sent somepony there..."
Celestia sighed, "Luna, you aren't offended about... me sending you to the moon are you?"
Luna quickly dropped her factitious tone and shook her head, "Wha- no sister, my ire is not at you! You had no choice in that matter. No. What vexxed me was thy student and her rainbow-maned friend."
Celestia blinked, "What could Twilight and Rainbow Dash done to deserve such passive aggression?"
Luna raised an eyebrow, "You recall my complaints about Twilight Sparkle's projections on where the safest place was to land their ugly little 'lander'?"
Celestia thought back to all those meetings with Twilight, mostly they were technical jargon that she nodded her head at but didn't actually understand.
"I remember you wanting Twilight to land near what astronomers call the 'Sea of Harmony' but she said it wasn't the best place to land, and you being adamant about her not landing in a patch of bare rock." Said Celestia.
"Bare rock my hind hoof," Luna snorted, "I spent a thousand years on the moon, and I had to kill time somehow."
Celestia tilted her head, but allowed Luna to keep talking.
"I even offered to teleport Twilight Sparkle's little toy all the way to the moon to keep her off my property, but noooo... she had to do it the non-magic way because 'it was a challenge.'" Luna blew a raspberry, "The little purple smart had to have it her way despite the fact I had that area of the moon very clearly cordoned off and signs put up."
"What... kind of signs?" Celestia asked, still lost.
With a tired sigh Luna lit her horn and in a flash of blue a stone-crafted sign appeared atop the royal breakfast table which clearly said '~~Nightmare Moon's~~ Princess Luna's rock garden. KEEP OUT.'
"Because of that flag and the disruption Twilight Sparkle's lander caused, I'm going to have to completely redesign my precious rock garden." Luna fumed.
Celestia sipped her tea, at last understanding the problem, "The lander managed to land your rock garden? I suppose I'd be annoyed too if something had destroyed my own statue garden."
"Your 'garden' is a mere twenty by twenty yards." Luna narrowed her eyes, "My rock garden is several hundred miles across."
Celestia nearly choked on her tea, "Several hundred miles..."
"Well, I WAS up there for a long, long time..." Luna sighed.
Celestia slumped back into her chair, "... would you like some help rearranging it?"
"Certainly." Luna's smile widened.
Several days later, on the surface of the moon
Twilight Sparkle was not happy. She'd been moving rocks from one patch of dust to another for hours.
"Keep working Twilight Sparkle. We have many more concentric circles to form!" Luna cheerfully cried out, "They are a most pleasing design!"
Twilight sighed and picked up another group of rocks with her magic. Maybe she should have tried going to Mars instead...