The most unexpected event had occured-- the Mane 6 had found out the Buddies and the Pippsqueaks snuck along on the field trip, but with them supervising, they all snuck aboard the space shuttle to get a closer look, only for them to be trapped inside the space shuttle just before it blasted off into space!
Not exactly the way that the Mane 6 were expecting this field trip to go, but nonetheless, it seemed they had a new mission on their hooves-- find a way to turn this shuttle around and get the Buddies back to Earth and back to their families, before they ended up too far away from home.
And this is where we continue our epic space tale right where we left off.
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The Pippsqueaks felt like they were going at a million miles per hour in that moment, excited and terrified all at once. Eventually, Seashell found her voice and let out a shriek. “It feels like my stomach is in my throat!!”
“Whoa!!” Rosebud cried. “This is like a ride on Space Mountain!!”
“Dad always said I should be more down to Earth!” B-Dawg shouted with regret. “Why didn’t I listen?!”
“Honestly, I’m too terrified to say ‘I told you so’, B-Dawg!” Zipp said from the seat next to him. “Keep holding on, guys! Once we break through the atmosphere, we might be able to slow down!”
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Back in mission control, Pi, Slats and Astro kept a close monitor on everything and saw that the shuttle was now leaving Earth’s atmosphere, directly on schedule.
Now, all they needed to do was to get this baby to the moon, and they would be able to make the history books.
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Like Zipp said, once they breached the atmosphere, the ponies and Buddies could feel the ship slowing itself down, causing Izzy to giggle and cheer. “That was an incredible ride!”
However, Budderball had to disagree, feeling like he was about to puke all over the seat in front of him. “I… don’t recommend liftoff on a… full stomach…”
“That was heavenly,” Buddha said with a calm expression, thankful that the rough part of the ride was now over. “Oh, yeah, totally heavenly,” Hitch replied sarcastically. “Have you guys forgotten that we are NOW IN SPACE AND NONE OF US KNOW HOW TO PILOT THE SHIP TO GET BACK?!!”
“Oh yeah… now I remember…” Izzy said with a grimace. “That might be a problem.”
“Well… until we can get back,” Glory said with a nervous grin, “at least we can enjoy the beauty of space… r-r-right?”
The group sat in silence for a few moments, trying to ponder about what they were going to do next. And while this happened, they reached the part of space where there is no gravity. That’s when Glory, out of curiosity, tapped the button with the restraints, releasing them.
And upon this happening, the entire group, not just the pegasi, began to float up and around the inside of the shuttle, much to their bewilderment… especially Budderball’s. “I’m floating like a balloon!”
“Wha… w-what’s happening?” B-Dawg asked out of slight panic. “Zero gravity!” Buddha said, bewildered. “It’s where nothing can pull us down to the ground and keep us there, so we end up floating around.”
“Oh, this is out of this world!” Sunny exclaimed before realizing. “Quite literally.”
“This is incredible!” Zipp said, not believing they could do this until now. “You can say that again,” Budderball said as he floated upside down. “Even I'm lighter than a feather.”
“This is off the chain, dawgs,” B-Dawg told his siblings and friends. “I could slam dunk in space!”
Buddha looked down at his chair and noticed another button he had noticed before, and once he was close enough, he pressed it with his paw. “Gravity reverser activated.”
Misty froze at this. “That doesn’t sound good…”
“WHOA!!!!” everyone cried as they fell to the ground, some of them on their feet or in their chairs… but Budderball unfortunately wasn’t one of those few. “Hey hey hey, I-I thought we were always supposed to land on our feet.”
“Who turned off that zero-grav stuff?” B-Dawg asked, and Buddha whimpered guiltily from his seat. “Well, it was fun while it lasted,” Hitch said, getting back in his seat, prompting the others to do the same before Zipp reactivated the restraints. “Now,” said Zipp, “there’s only one thing left to do.”
“What’s that?” Peach Fizz asked. “Find a way to turn this rocket around,” Zipp explained, “or… just wait and see what happens next.”
“Well, since we have no idea how to fly a rocket, I guess we're stuck with the second option,” Sunny frowned. “I just hope somepony realizes where we are and what happened before it's too late to do anything to get us back.”
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Back on Earth, the mission control team made sure that everything on the shuttle was running smoothly, and things were going alright...
...at least until a few seconds later, when Slats suddenly saw an immediate red flag. “Sir, I don't like what I see. Somehow, we are short a quarter of our fuel supply.”
Turns out, when Pi walked over, he saw that Slats was right-- a warning message depicting the words 'Fuel low' flashed across the computer screen. “Well, first things first,” Pi said, trying not to panic, “identify the source of the problem.”
“Well, I know what the problem is. Tank three was never completely filled,” Slats explained, unaware of Dr. Finkle’s dose of sabotage. “The registries were blank. It doesn't make any sense.”
“She'll never make it to the moon and back with that kind of shortage,” Pi said, clearly worried about the sake of the mission. “Hmm… it pains me to say this,” Dr. Finkle said as he approached, feigning concern, “but I don't think we have any other option here but to abort the mission.”
However, Pi wasn’t going to resort to such a thing just yet-- there still had to be time to fix this. “Astro, how much time before we have to abort?”
“Approximately 10 hours, sir,” Astro responded. “Good-- stay on course,” Pi instructed. “Um… okay... we have some time to solve this, people. I need solutions.”
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Sam was just arriving home from his field trip, strangely enough, without Sunny, Izzy and the Pippsqueaks.
The ponies said that they would be along to see the launch, and then they would probably get back to the kids’ houses, so that’s where Sam went first to see if they were there. “Buddha, guys, I’m home!”
However, as he set his backpack down, he didn’t see his friends or his puppy anywhere. “Sunny? Izzy? Pippsqueaks? Buddha?”
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At the same time, Billy was arriving to an empty house as well. “Yo, Zipp! B-Dawg! I’m back in the crib! Let’s bust some moves!”
However… no one was there to greet him, causing him to slowly become concerned.
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“Pipp! Rosebud!” Alice called as soon as she got home. “Come on, let's go get a mani pedi and a blow dry.”
However, she saw no sign of the pink pegasus or her puppy anywhere in sight. “Pipp? Rosebud?”
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“Hitch! Budderball!” Bartleby called as he too got home. “I brought some of Budderball’s favorite dinner that Hitch will really like!”
However, like the others, he saw no sign of his pup or the earth pony sheriff. “Hitch? Budderball?”
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Pete, on the other hand, arrived home to not just an empty house with no Misty or Mudbud in sight, but he saw Mudbud’s cage open, and sighed heavily. “I knew we shouldn't have made him take a bath.”
Now the only question now, was… where were the ponies and the Buddies now?
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Back in space, the Buddies, the Mane 6 and the Pippsqueaks were still onboard that shuttle heading for the moon, a feeling of tiredness and homesickness entering their very beings…
…especially the Pippsqueaks, who felt more guilty than ever because of what they did. Seashell sighed sadly as she looked out the window at the Earth below. “I think we’re getting further and further away from home.”
“And further and further away from dinner,” Budderball groaned hungrily. “We take full responsibility,” Glory admitted to the Mane 6. “We just wanted to go on an exciting adventure like you… we had no idea that we were gonna end up in space. We’re so sorry…”
“Oh, girls… it’s okay, you made a mistake. We all do that sometimes,” Pipp said gently. “Don’t worry… we’re gonna find a way to get everypony home, safe and sound.”
“But right now, we need to rest and prepare for whatever happens next,” Sunny told the team, laying down in her small chair. “I’m not sure what time it is back home, but… if I’m being completely honest… I’m pooped.”
“You guys take a good rest,” Buddha told the ponies. “We’ll keep the idea train going while you do.”
“Thanks, Buddha,” Zipp smiled fondly. “We knew we could count on you pups.”
And so, with many of them (namely the Pippsqueaks) having heavy hearts, the ponies laid down to rest their eyes for a while, hoping an idea would hit them on how to not only get themselves back to Earth...
...but how to get the Buddies back to their loving families.