G5 Adventures in Space Buddies

by ponydog127

The Russian Research Space Station

Not only were the Buddies, the Mane 6 and the Pippsqueaks stuck on a space shuttle flying toward the moon, but the mission control team back on Earth were also handling another problem.

Thanks to Dr. Finkle's sabotage, one of the tanks was never completely filled, and that meant that the mission to the moon had a high risk of being aborted.

Thankfully, Pi had hope that they could solve the problem and make sure that the mission went on as scheduled.

All they had to do was find a proper solution.

Thankfully, after a while of thinking, Slats and Astro approached Pi with optimistic looks on their faces. “Sir,” Slats spoke first, “I think we may have finally figured out a solution.”

“Great. I... I... knew you would,” Pi said, smiling in pride and in thought. “Nice work. Let's hear it.”

“Okay,” Slats took a breath before explaining his and Astro’s idea. “We think that we can refuel at the old Russian research space station.”

However, Bill Wolfson frowned in concern. “But that space station disintegrated into the Earth's atmosphere like years ago.”

“Well, yeah,” Astro said, “but you said to check everything, so I checked everything, including the conspiracy websites, which said the station, still in space.”

“The reason that no one has been able to find the space station,” Slats continued, “is because it's not in it's original position. Somehow, it has gotten out of geostationary orbit.”

“And one of the Russian cosmonauts?” Astro added. “He survived, and he's still living onboard, alone.”

Suddenly, an incoming communication message flashed across the main screen in the room, and a second later, a cosmonaut from Russia appeared, seemingly still in the space station. “Hold on,” Slats said to Pi before getting closer to the screen. “Yuri, this is Slats from Vision Enterprises. Do you read me?”

“American blue jeans!” Yuri exclaimed cheerfully, waving to the screen before speaking something in Russian that they couldn’t understand. “How are you?!”

The crew looked at each other, a bit bewildered, but shrugged it off nonetheless. “Uh, look,” said Slats, “I'm just confirming that you do have fuel and are able to assist our spacecraft.”

And like before, Yuri seemed very compilable to help. “Of course I help you, my comrades.”

“Yuri, this is Pi,” Pi spoke up to the cosmonaut. “Uh, I am the spacecraft's designer and mission flight director. In exchange for the 3,000 pounds of fuel, uh, I would like to offer…”

“No, comrade,” Yuri immediately stopped Pi from speaking further. “In return for the fuel forget everything. My location, forget it. Consider this information gone, kaput, okey-dokey, pumpkin pie?”

In all honestly, Pi thought that this was rather strange, but in order to get the fuel that they so desperately needed to proceed with the mission, they had to agree with Yuri's demands... no matter how strange they were. “You have our word.”

XXXXXXXX

Unaware to the rest of the mission control team, but Spudnick and Night Star had been listening to everything from not too far away, and they were personally disheartened that Yuri wouldn't allow them to be rescued and taken back to Earth. “So,” Yuri said, cutting off communication and letting classical music play over the speakers, “we are going to have visitors. Good.”

Night Star remained quiet about the event, but Spudnick let forth his frustration with an annoyed growl. “Oh, don't worry, old pal,” Yuri promised, unaware of how they were really feeling. “They promised not to tell anyone about us. So we are free to live peacefully in space forever and ever and ever!”

“Ugh…” Night Star groaned. “This is just torture, that’s what it is!”

All she could hope was that their visitors would be willing to let her and Spudnick hitch a ride back to Earth with them… otherwise, she feared that Yuri was going to be right…

…and that they WOULD be in space forever.

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, the Vision One was quickly approaching the heavily used space station floating outside of the Earth’s orbit, and Hitch was first to see it and point toward it. “Guys,” he said, “what is this place?”

“Whatever it is,” said Rosebud, “it’s getting closer.”

“Either it’s getting closer, or we’re getting closer,” Misty said nervously. “It’s kinda hard to tell up here.”

“I-I hope it’s not an alien’s house!” B-Dawg said, a bit scared about the development before regaining his composure. “Not that I’d be scared, or anything.”

“I hope it's a Denny's,” Budderball put his two cents in. “I could sure go for a 'Moons Over My Hammy' right about now.”

“A what?” Peach Fizz repeated, confused. “We’ll explain that later,” Zipp promised. “For right now, I think we just need to brace ourselves-- it looks like we’re getting ready to dock at that thing!”

XXXXXXXX

“Okay, Yuri,” Slats said from Vision Enterprise back on Earth, “are you ready to receive the spacecraft? Over?”

“I've never been so ready in all of my life,” Yuri responded on the other end of the line. “Come and get it, rhinestone cowboy.”

“...right,” Pi said with a nod. “Let's switch from autopilot to remote pilot.”

“Switching now, sir,” Slats said as he typed on his computer and Astro put on her glasses to control the ship manually. “Astro, she's all yours.”

Soon, remote pilot was soon activated, and Astro was in full control of the Vision One. “Remote pilot engaged, sir.”

After a few moments, the Vision One began to move closer and closer to the station, with the ponies and Buddies still onboard. Then, with a few slow movements and some precise concentration, Astro docked the Vision One onto another part of the station where Yuri could attach the fuel line. “Okay, Yuri, we’re locked in,” said Slats. “Uh, we can begin fueling.”

That’s when Yuri said something the mission control team couldn’t understand, cut off the visual feed and went down the ladder to hook up the fuel line, unaware that the mission control team could still hear him on the audio system.

But what he didn't notice was that Night Star and Spudnick had been watching the Vision One dock from the garden pod, and Yuri was going to be in for a big surprise when he found out that there were stowaways onboard.

XXXXXXXX

Once the ship had been safely docked, Buddha turned to the others with a suggestion in mind. “We should explore and broaden our horizons.”

“Broaden our horizons?!” B-Dawg exclaimed. “We're lost in space, dawg. I think our horizons are broad enough. I ain't going nowhere.”

“Uh… yeah, I think we’ll stay here too,” Seashell volunteered herself and the rest of the Pippsqueaks as well. “J-Just so that way B-Dawg doesn’t get lonely… and so we don’t mess anything else up.”

“Good call, dudes,” Mudbud told his brother and three of their new friends. “If there's an alien intruder, we'll need someone to defend the spaceship.”

“Pippsqueaks, no matter what, stay with B-Dawg,” Sunny told the Pippsqueaks sternly. “We’ll get the layout of this place and we’ll be right back to check on you.”

However, as their friends were leaving, B-Dawg couldn’t help but remember one specific thing about what Mudbud said. “Did… d-did you say aliens?!”

Unfortunately, he never got an answer-- the rest of the Buddies and the Mane 6 were already on the move and out of the ship. “Uh, guys?” Glory called nervously, “Uh, come on, uh…”

Peach Fizz sighed sadly-- what had they gotten themselves into now?

XXXXXXXX

At the same time, Yuri had finally gotten the Vision One's fuel line hooked up to the research station's fuel supply, and quickly climbed up the ladder to talk to the mission control team again, unaware that four of the Buddies and the Mane 6 had passed through that section of the station directly after him. “Come on!” Buddha urged. “Follow me!”

“Dude, where are we going?” Mudbud asked. “Who cares?” Pipp asked. “This place is going to look so good in my social media feed!”

XXXXXXXX

“Yo, dawgs!” B-Dawg cried after his siblings and friends, getting out of his seat. “Hold up!”

“B-Dawg, wait for us!” Seashell called as she and her friends followed him. “We’re supposed to stay together, remember?!”

XXXXXXXX

“Okay,” Yuri said to the Vision One mission control team, “the gas is pumping like an American discotheque.”

Pi took a deep breath in order to maintain his excitement. “All right, well, when we get our 3,000 pounds of fuel… we are going to the moon.”

However, no one was aware that the space station had a few unexpected visitors... not even Yuri himself.

But, that would all change in a matter of moments.

XXXXXXXX

B-Dawg and the Pippsqueaks stepped out of the door of the space shuttle and into the nearby tunnel, looking around for their friends.

It hadn't been too long since they left, so maybe there was enough time for them to catch up and explore the station all together.

At least... that's what they were hoping. “Dawgs?” B-Dawg called into the silence as he and the Pippsqueaks began to walk around in search of their siblings/friends. Then, he began to sound a little bolder, although he was still nervous, in order to try and impress the Pippsqueaks. “Come on, aliens, I… I ain't scared of nothing, because I float like a butterfly and... and sting like a bee, dawg.”

“W-What B-Dawg means to say,” Seashell clarified, “is that we don’t wanna hurt you if you don’t wanna hurt us! Can we all just… try and be friends? Maybe? Please?”

Of course, no one answered the earth pony filly's claim. The three fillies and B-Dawg reached the main part of the station, where Glory found her nerve to speak, despite all the disturbing scenery around them. “What is this place?”

Suddenly, the four of them heard a noise coming from not too far off, causing them all to turn and see a large, shadowy figure nearby. They couldn't see exactly WHAT it was, but just the sight of it caused B-Dawg and the Pippsqueaks to scream, and the three fillies clung to each other in fright. “It’s an alien!!” B-Dawg screamed, frightened. “AHHH!!!”

XXXXXXXX

From the other side of the station, Izzy gasped and stopped the group from advancing. “It’s the Pippsqueaks and B-Dawg! They’re in trouble!”

“Go go GO!!” Zipp commanded, and the group raced toward the location of their friends in order to save them from this supposed ‘alien’.

XXXXXXXX

“Y-You don’t wanna eat us!” Peach Fizz trembled before the aliens. “W-W-We’re all scrawny and boney!”

At that moment, the other Buddies and the Mane 6 came from another hallway, and B-Dawg immediately pointed at Budderball with his paw. “Eat him!” he insisted to the ‘alien’. “He’s got plenty of meat on them bones!”

As B-Dawg and the Pippsqueaks screamed again, the ‘alien’ stepped out into view, revealing themselves to be none other than Night Star with Spudnick on her back. And once seeing it wasn’t an alien, the Pippsqueaks and B-Dawg looked confused. “Uh…”

“We are no aliens,” Spudnick said with a chuckle. “Though I suppose if we stay in space any longer, we may qualify.”

“Oh… it’s just a unicorn and a bull terrier,” Hitch said with a sigh of relief. “That’s actually very relieving.”

“Hi! I’m Night Star,” the unicorn astronaut said with a smile. “And this is my friend, Spudnick.”

“I’m Sunny, and these are my friends,” Sunny introduced the ponies, “and those over there are the Pippsqueaks-- Glory, Peach Fizz and Seashell.”

“And we’re the Buddies,” Budderball clarified before introducing each of his siblings and himself. “The pup in the chicken suit is B-Dawg, the dirty dude is Mudbud, the Zen pup is Buddha and Rosebud is our little sis. Oh, and, uh, me, I'm Budderball. And I'm starving.”

“Nice to meet you,” Spudnick smiled. “I'm a Russian dogmonaut, and Night Star is a pony astronaut from the United States, who came to be on the station with me.”

“That is SO cool!” Glory exclaimed. “I’ve wanted to be a pony astronaut ever since I was little! You guys must be living the dream!”

“Well… you could say that in more ways than one,” Night Star said hesitantly. “So, what brings you all here? We don’t get visitors all too often.”

“We kind of got on the ship by accident,” Rosebud said with a frown. “And now, we have no idea where we are.”

“You're aboard the RRSS,” Spudnick clarified. “The old Russian Research Space Station.”

“I didn’t even know there WAS a space station up here,” Zipp said, “and we’ve been on a ton of missions so far.”

“Well, since you’re here, you want us to show you around?” Night Star asked before turning and walking off toward one of the modules. “Follow me!”

The ponies looked at each other before shrugging-- since they were here, they couldn’t refuse such a generous offer.

Besides, Night Star and Spudnick seemed to know a lot about space, so if they stuck with their new pals, they might be able to learn something to help them get back to Earth.

Spudnick and Night Star were leading their new friends over to one of the modules on the space station, in order to start their tour. “In this module, we have our garden, where we grow all our food in space,” Spudnick explained as the group looked at all the different fruits and veggies growing on either side of them. “The added benefit is the plants filter out CO2 gas and produce oxygen. And we also use them to create fuel for the station.”

Soon after everyone got a glimpse of the entire garden, they approached the nearby window, where a beautiful view of planet Earth could be seen. “Now this joint,” said B-Dawg, “is off the chain insane, cuz.”

“Yes, we've been off the orbital grid for quite some time, if that's what you mean,” Spudnick nodded. “Over there,” Night Star continued, pointing to the solar panels outside, “we have our solar panels, which produce all of our energy.”

“So you can keep the stereo pumpin' 24/7,” B-Dawg understood with a nod. “That’s wicked.”

“Oh, thanks,” Night Star smiled, even though her smile faltered a bit after a moment. “It’s wicked in both good ways and bad ways, I guess…”

“Wait,” Zipp interrupted. “What do you…?”

“Well, there's no time for that now,” Night Star interrupted. “If everypony will follow me, we’ll move onto the next part of the tour.”

As Night Star and Spudnick led the group away, Zipp and Sunny spared each other a glance before they followed their friends.

Something definitely seemed off, but... no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't figure out what it was.

Night Star swiftly approached the door to another module, which was actually right beside the garden. “Right over here is the kitchen.”

She pressed her hoof on a huge red button, and the door lifted up to reveal the kitchen-- it wasn’t anything fancy, but to Budderball, it was paradise. “My favorite room in the house! Come on, Peach Fizz!”

Peach Fizz giggled as she followed Budderball over to the fridge, and she managed to open it with her horn. However, when Budderball looked inside, all he could see inside the fridge was veggies, veggies and more veggies. “Hmm… where’s the beef?!”

“I’m sure it’s in here somewhere,” Peach Fizz said. “I’ll help you find it.”

Peach Fizz and Budderball began to search the fridge for anything meaty that Budderball could snack on, when Mudbud’s eyes landed on a strange vat of liquid boiling nearby. “Dude,” he said, turning to Spudnick, “what is that?”

“Space juice,” Spudnick answered casually. “P-U!” Pipp gagged. “It reeks!”

“Who'd wanna drink that?” Rosebud asked with the same disgusted tone. “Well, Yuri seems to like it,” Spudnick pointed out. “And we use it for fuel.”

“Who’s Yuri?” asked Seashell in curiosity. “He's the Russian cosmonaut Night Star and I live with up here,” Spudnick explained. “He really is a nice man,” Night Star continued with a bit of hesitance, “but… I think the time we’ve spent up here is really starting to get the better of him.”

“So, if you don’t mind me asking,” Sunny said, “how long have you guys been up here?”

“We’re not really sure,” Night Star responded back with a shrug. “It's all one long night in space.”

“We were only supposed to be on this station for a six-month mission,” Spudnick added, “but I'm sure it's been years and years.”

“Years and years?” Glory repeated with shock. “Don’t you… miss your families?”

Night Star seemed to hesitate with this. “Well… Spudnick has this adorable boy named Sasha waiting for him back in Russia, but… me… I don’t really know about my family. I was raised by an elderly couple that took me in outside of Portland, Oregon, and I studied astrology for a long time until I got asked to come on this mission.”

“Oh… we’re sorry, Night Star,” Misty apologized. “We didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, it’s all right,” Night Star sighed. “I don’t mind. I know that one day, we’re gonna leave this bucket of bolts and get back home… but… I’m not sure when that will be.”

Suddenly, a voice spoke up from inside the main part of the station, and everyone turned to see Yuri coming down the ladder. “Night Star! Spudnick!” he called. “Where has my little puppy puppy gone? Spudnick…”

And that's when he turned, seeing not just Night Star and Spudnick in the kitchen...

...but the Mane 6, the Pippsqueaks and the Buddies as well.