Ad Astra Per Aspera: To the stars with difficulties.
Ad Astra Per Derpy Aspera: To the stars with Derpy difficulties.

Lightning Dust strands herself on her way to the red planet. With no way to move her rocket, she'll die unless Equestria's Best and Brightest find a way to bring her home despite cloak-and-dagger sabotage, snobbery, limited resources, and bureaucratic incompetence.

Content Note:
Death - Mentioned in the Prologue and Chapter 5. Chapters 7, 9, 10 (spoiler): Touched on: miscarriage.
Narcotics - Chapter 14 - Performance enhancers and blood doping discussed.
Sex - Inappropriate government-required questions in Dossier chapters; Ch. 11- a slightly saucy section.

Show Era: After Season 9.
Cover Art: The background Mars is by Kevin Gill with license to only the background Mars cover art at this link. The pony interposed on Mars is by owlicious, who also combined the two images.
Special Thanks: to owlicious for edits from the start through the end.