Well....that went better than expected, the Midnight III-A rocket was a success, and considering the solid fuel we were using, (thanks to pinkey pie for finding THAT recipe....though sugar-cube corner will need repairs.) that is apparently VERY volatile, never exploded the rocket.

Dusk and rough completed the first ever pony Extra Vehicular Activity, (gears tells me to just call it an EVA, and they will know what i mean.) which consisted of dusk (already in her space suit) to depressurize the capsule (nicknamed the Magic carpet by both crew-members), open the hatch, and float outside.

She said it was the best feeling she had ever had, and that the earth below looked amazing without anything blocking her view.

and soon, rough, (both securely tethered to the spacecraft) joined her, and both seemingly had the times of their lives, i had to admit....i was jealous, but i didn't have time to be, the huge success of Magic Carpet and the Midnight III-A paved the way for as many as 5 more missions, each more challenging for the astronaughts than the last, each one learning a new skill for the next mission to use to complete its objective.

I was sitting on the roof of the VAB, when bubbly walked up, "Midnight, what are you doing up here? shouldnt you be downstairs celebrating with the others?"

I smiled, "no, i dont have time to celebrate, i have alot to do."

she tilted her head, "well....why are you up here?"

I chuckled, "i come up here to breath, calm down, and get my head on straight," i looked up at the moon, and all the stars, then took a deep breath "i was in canterlot last weekend as you know, but i dont think i told anypony the reason."

she sat down next to me "whats going on?"

i smiled, "i poured alot of my heart and soul into this program, as your well aware, but in canterlot, the only ones aware are celestia and luna, they know it takes time to produce results, but some of the others on the parlerment, disagree." i shook my head, "they say were too expensive to maintain, with little to no results, luna and celestia have overridden their say, but they cant do it for long....we need a goal, something to shoot for, something to make it all worthwhile."

i looked up at the moon, "and thats it, the moon."

bubbly looked up, "are....you sure? the moon is an awful long ways away...."

i smiled at her "space was an awful long way away a year and a half ago, but WE made it possible to go up there, and i know we can do it."

bubbly looked back "but we dont even have a rocket to get there....the Midnight III can only get to LEO and thats it."

i grinned, "you leave that to me...ill have something soon."