The Equestrian Space Exploration Program.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...

Rainbow Dash's alarm went off. It was time for a new day of ESEP goodness, space action, thrilling moments! Oh, and seeing if her ship was actually completed. That would be the one to come first.

"Ugh..." She moaned, slamming her alarm clocks snooze button. "I don't wanna wake up..."

It was 10:30am, she got a decent amount of sleep for today's agenda. Dashie stood up and walked to the kitchen... Wait, where was the kitchen?

"Wha...?" The half asleep Pegasus looked around her room, just realizing it had no kitchen. There was a mini-fridge in the wall next to the restroom door, but no kitchen to actually make the food. She opened up up the fridge to see if there was any food for her to eat. The only thing that was in there was a bottle of tacky Apple Jackdaniels as a housewarming gift. That's not a good breakfast.

Dashie sighed... This'll be awkward... She thought, walking out her door and to the pony at the cafe.

"May I help you?" The pony asked.

"Yeah, where am I supposed to eat? There's no kitchen in my room, so I can't make anything." Dashie asked.

"You must be new here! You don't make your own meals, the cafe is here for that! It's a nice perk that comes with being a member of the ESEP." She said smiling. "Buuuut, I think I can let you in the kitchen and make food for yourself, you know, a little gift for saving the world a few times?"

"What?" Dashie confusingly asked.

"Element of Harmony? That is you isn't it?" The cafe pony was starting to worry that the mare she was talking to wasn't actually the Element of Loyalty... If anyone found out she was going to let someone use the kitchen, she could lose her job!

"No, no. That's me... Sorry, I'm still a bit tired..." She said.

"Please, um..." The cafe pony raised her head and started to whisper in Dashie's ear. "Don't tell anyone I would of let you in the kitchen, I could lose my job!"

"Oh, no problem!" Dashie replied. "I won't tell anyone for just ONE egg sandwich!" Of course, she would've gotten an egg sandwich even if she asked. That's the cafe pony's job.

"Oh thank you!" The cafe pony gleefully said. "Here you go!" She handed her the egg sandwich on a plate. "I'm Chef Nisu, I specialize in making Nisu bread, if you want anything of that sort just gimme a call!"

"I'll keep that in mind..." Dashie said, distracted by the TV news channel. Something big was happening.

BREAKING NEWS! The ESEP has recently announced that a group of ponies have rebelled against the Equestrian Empire! The rebels spokes pony is none other than the Element of Generosity herself! The leader of this rebel group still has yet to be announced. But our researchers do believe the rebels have something to do with the disappearance of Princess Cadence.

Everyone in the room turned their heads to Rainbow Dash, as if she knew anything about that. "Oh my..." Dashie said to herself bolting out the door. She ran outside to see if anything was going on. Her watch began to vibrate, someone was calling her.

She hit the answer button. "Hello?"

"DASHIE! Did you here the news!?" It was Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain where Twilight is!" She replied.

"Maybe she's with her, or maybe she's the leader!" Pinkie said. "Maybe it has something to do with Cadence being gone!"

"Don't believe that just because the news said it." Dashie told to her friend.

"But it would only make sense! All three disappeared at the same time, one has been announced has the Rebel's spokes pony, and the other two must be part of the group as well!" Pinkie seemed to be distracted. "GUMMY! PUT THAT DOWN!"

"What...? Oh. Do you know what planet they're on?" Dashie asked.

"Yeah, planet Espin in the Suntess system, why?" Pinkie replied.

"Oh no... I have to go, bye!" Dashie hung up. Planet Espin!? She knew who contacted her now. The rebels. That has to be a sure sign that Twilight is with them. But should she visit them, or tell Princess Celestia that she got a message from them. Dashie pledged to be loyal to her friends, and to the Princess. But now they're on different sides... The only choice was...

"I better go tell the Princess about that message then..." She sighed, walking towards the Princess' chambers. On the way there, other ponies just stopped and stared at her. Why are they staring at her, it's not like she knew anything about what was going on.

"Stop right there!" Two guards ran towards her and stopped her right there. "The Princess would like to speak with you immediately. We will be your escort."

"Actually, I was heading there right now." Dashie confessed.

"We WILL be your escort" He commanded.

"Fine..." She said with an irritated tone. They walked to a guard teleporter, which was only to be used by the Royal Guards themselves.

"Computer, take us to Building one, room one." She demanded.

"Transporting..." The computer replied. They instantly appeared at the door of the Princess' room.

"Princess! We've brought you the one you requested." He shouted. The door opened and the Princess lay on the ground by the fireplace.

"Let her in." Celestia told them.

"Yes ma'am." They said, pushing her in the room and closing the door.

"Uh... Hi, Princess!" Dashie said awkwardly. "So, you wanted to see me?" Dashie was hiding the fact that she was going to see the Princess on her own.

"You say you would always be loyal to me, right?" She said in a calm voice.

"Yeah, Princess! That is my Element, you know!" Dashie said.

"How about you come over by me and take a seat." Celestia said. Dashie hesitated at first, but she did as she was told and sat next to the Princess on the floor by the fireplace.

"Okay..." Dashie once again felt extremely awkward. What is she going to do to her!?

Celestia looked over at Dashie, slowly moving her head towards her. "I hope you didn't know anything about this, for your sake."

Dashie took off her watch and opened her message box. "Look." She showed her the message she got last night about how it wanted her to meet her at the rebel base.

"What is that?" The Princess asked.

"A message I got from someone. It's telling me to visit them on the rebel planet. I got it last night, before the news was announced." Dashie was honest.

"Okay. I don't want you going to that planet." The Princess said.

"Yes, Princess. I will not go to that planet." She said, crossing her heart.

"Good. I think you should be going now, you have some missions to do with your new ship." Celestia said.

"You mean it's ready!?" Dashie asked.

"Yes. Now go make us proud!" She said, raising her hoof to the door.

"Sir yes sir!" Dashie said, running off to the Mission Board.

"That'll keep her busy..."

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Dashie ran to the message board, ignoring the ponies stares. Beginners board was probably her difficulty. A nice weapon delivery mission to the Equestrian planet Ceflotus.

Weapon Delivery to the planet CEFLOTUS

MISSION DESCRIPTION

Here at Ceflotus, we've received an invasion threat from an unknown location in the galaxy. We'd like to prepare ourselves with the correct weaponry in case they do attack.

REWARD: 2000 CREDITS

"Retrieving your ship. . .Ship received! Would you like to be teleported?" The computer asked.

"Yes!" Dashie answered. Once again, she was instantly teleported. She made it to her ship, it was beautiful. The entrance was right above the cockpit, you climbed on top of the ship and crawled down a hole that was sealed off by a metal lid on hinges. She crawled inside the ship and settled herself in the chair with the controls. Dashie had flown a ship before in the Space Flight School, but flying her own ship is a whole new experience.

Dashie squealed in delight. She switched on the ship to see if it ran, and it did. It felt great. "Time to test this baby!" She said.

Dashie flipped on the control system and began to rise slowly off the landing pad. She was off the ground, and in the air. After fiddling with the controls, she decided it was time to leave atmosphere. She rose herself a little more, this time much faster. She stopped and looked down at the ESEP base. It was much bigger than she expected.

Enough messing around. It's time to get to business. She rose herself into orbit. With the alien tech they have, leaving atmosphere wasn't as much of a problem as it was with the prototypes. Dashie turned on her map and located the planet's location. Not too far, just about a minute in hyper speed. So that's what she did, entered hyper speed.

She got there and began to orbit the planet. "Time to go down..." She said, carefully lowering herself through the atmosphere. While the ship had no trouble with the atmosphere, gravity still played a roll in entering a planet. Each planet has its own gravitational pull. Some are stronger, and some are weaker. This is something that all space explorers must take notice of, or there journey will end short.

Dashie went through the atmosphere and set the upwards jets to the right speed so she won't crash to the ground while trying to find the drop off point. "Computer! Set a way point to my next mission objective." Dashie commanded.

A way point popped up on the planet's map showing her where to go and drop off the weapons. She flew over a few small farms on her way there. When she made it there, a stallion greeted her.

"Thanks, ah didn't think you'd make it in time, but thanks for the weapons! Whatchya got for us?" He said, walking to the ships cargo.

"I was given these lasers, they said that they should defend you long enough until support makes it." She informed.

"Well, thanks for yer help! You can go back to yer planet now." He said as a few ships lowered themselves above the town. "On second thought, can you help us defend a bit?"

"CITIZENS OF PLANET CEFLOTUS. WE ARE GLAD TO ANNOUNCE THAT YOU WILL BECOME PART OF THE MIGHTY HEROTUS EMPIRE. PLEASE PLACE ANY WEAPONS YOU MIGHT OWN IN THE CENTER OF THE AREA YOU LIVE IN." The ships megaphone was loud enough to be heard throughout the whole town.

"Now would be a great time to use those weapons!" Dashie said, hopping in her ship. She raised herself high into the sky and began to melt the metal on the alien ships with her lasers.

The aliens didn't know what to do. According to their information, Ceflotus didn't have any defenses. They sent simple cargo ship, which had barely any weapons on it.

Dashie opened up the wireless communicator on her ship and opened up communications with the Herotus. "I suggest you leave before I blow your whole fleet into smithereens."

"WE DID NOT EXPECT TO SEE ANY TYPE OF DEFENSE ON THIS PLANET. WE WILL BE BACK WITH MORE OFFENSIVE SHIPS." They said, leaving the planet in a hurry. Dashie opened up the communicator with Ceflotus.

"Hey, you might wanna request some backup. I think they want your planet." She said.

"You scared 'em off in like, two whole minutes! How'd ya do that?" He replied.

"They were weak, no biggie, but seriously, call for backup." She said, beginning to leave the planet.

"Will do! Again, thanks fer the help!" He said, closing the coms.

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Dashie flew back down to the landing pad, to be greeted by the Princess. "We heard what happened on planet Ceflotus. I'm very proud of you, Rainbow Dash. Taking out a whole fleet? That takes skill."

"I didn't take out a whole fleet, just damaged one of their engines and scared 'em off. Hey, you might wanna send backup to them. They didn't think I'd be there to defend." Dashie said.

"They're already on their way. I think it's time for you to get some rest, Rainbow Dash. You've had a busy day." The Princess said.

"Yeah, your right. I think I should hit they hay." Dashie said, starting to walk to the teleporter. "Well, g'night Princess!"