To the Stars and Back

“Beautiful day, isn’t it, Rich?”

“Sure is, George. Perfect day to launch the new space shuttle.”

The radio talk show, about to begin their discussion on space flight, was broadcast across Equestria.

“For those of you who live under a rock, today will be the launching of the Odyssey, Equestria’s first space shuttle. It’s being launched from the Celestia Space Center, and will spend one hour in space, before returning to the Luna Space Center. Now, I don’t know about you, George, but I’ve always-“

The radio was switched to the channel broadcasting audio from Ground Control.

“Pilot, switch panel F-12…”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders listened intently to the speakers at the site of the launch.

“…SRB 2, 4, and 6.”

“SRB 2, 4, and 6 activated.”

“WOW, this is so exciting!” Exclaimed Scootaloo. “Maybe I’ll go to space and get a SPACE cutie mark!”

“Ah wouldn’ get mah hopes up, Scootaloo. Those brave ponies in th’ shuttle ‘ave spent years training. You need to have one o’ those fancy degrees, and a whole bunch of flight time, an’ a bunch o’ other stuff too.” Apple Bloom replied. “Besides, who would wanna go up in t’ space? Ah like it righ’ here, where Ah can count on th’ trees bein’ here an’ th’ gravity holdin’ me down every mornin’.”

“Gravity, shmavity. To a flyer like Rainbow Dash, gravity’s just an obstacle. I bet she’ll go into space if she wants to.”

Meanwhile, in Ground Control, the Doctor was talking to the astronauts.

“Now, if anything goes wonky, it’ll pop up here on the control panel, and I’ll give you step by step instructions on how to fix it and safely resume your time in space.”

“GO SPACE!” Exclaimed Derpy Hooves, as she jumped onto a Mars rover model, promptly breaking it.

“Derpy, please do try not to touch anything.”

“Sorry, I just don’t know what went wrong!” Derpy replied before exiting the room.

The Doctor shook his head before returning to the microphone. “So, are you all ready?”

The astronauts’ answer was in the positive.

“Alright then.  Ignition in t-minus ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three…”

“Wow, I can’t wait!” Scootaloo cried.

“Two…”

“Lalalalala…” Derpy sung, accidently destroying the entire Space Travel exhibit.

“One… Ignition.”

Suddenly, the Odyssey space shuttle, as if by magic, lifted off the ground, spewing fire.

“Liftoff! We have liftoff!”

And the seven astronauts began their ascent into space.