Ever since pony kind looked up into the stars we always wondered, are we truly alone in the universe? What wonders, what exciting new discoveries remain untouched by our hooves? Whenever I was lonely, I'd look up at the stars as a flew on. I'd fly higher and higher, reaching for the stars, only to have my breath cut short by the thin oxygen in the higher atmosphere. I've dreamed of someday venturing to the stars...

Then, one day, the stars came to us. The Floran Incident as it was called, left Equestria and it's allied nations in ruins. Tidas Aurora and Vulcan Sol were devastated, now the two empires are merely a shadow of their former selves. Torn by these savage extraterrestrials Equestria and it's kingdoms united to fight the invaders. We deployed everything, the Elements of Harmony, Discord's wrath, the full might of the sun and moon... Fury, hellfire, and our will to survive drove us on. We won the war, but at a heavy cost, and high reward.

Faster than light travel was finally a reality. Reverse engineered from the Floran ships, steam powered warp drives, magic enchanted molecular teleporters, soul saving spells, and advanced magic driven cloning devices, gravity wells. The pony nations of the world united to form the Equestrian Air and Space Administration. Germaneigh, Nieghpon, Austrotia, Equestria, and The Crystal Empire pooled together our resources to expand into the stars.

Now as I look up at the stars one more time, my dream will finally become a reality. And with me are my friends I hold dear to me. After this there is no going back. I sit in my spacecraft and prepare for launch.

Our exploration crew are some of the best in their fields of expertise. Leading the exploration is our Princess: Twilight Sparkle. It seemed fitting for the Princess of the Stars to finally explore the worlds above. Joining her is her husband, AnY or “An-ne” for short. Earth pony, brown coat, blue eyes and mane, vest and big glasses. He served as the German chancellor for quite some time before settling down with Twi. Now he's the German volunteer for diplomatic relations, seeing no point in that. Each spacecraft we have can comfortably house two ponies. Reason being is that once we launch into space, we won't be back for quite some time. Their very sturdy built, roomy and modeled like the Equestrian castle. Crew number two is yours truly, Sky Buster and my wife Rainbow Dash. We were the top two picked for this operation, mainly because of our backgrounds in flight and our already high ranking in the Equestrian military. After three wars, numerous medals, and a year or so of peace we jumped on the opportunity to take to the stars. I'm in charge of security detail and our ship is heavily armed and armored for escort duty. Ship number three is Apple Jack and Digibro. AJ is one of the best farmers in Equestria and she's here to survey any viable planets for the growth of food. Likewise, Digi is a well respected analyst and scientist in various fields of study. He's great at picking up details and working with computers, which is why he's on the research team. Spacecraft number four is Fluttershy and Ink Rose. Fluttershy is our team medical officer and her skills communicating with animals will save our lives when we encounter any odd beings. Rose is our book keeper and scribe. She will record all of our adventures and log each one as a report of the days events. In the number five craft is Pinkie Pie and Puzzle Piece. Pinkie is here for her skills in cooking, baking, and morale support. If anypony can make a meal out of strange alien plant and a hotdog bun, it's her. Puzzle Piece is our intern, but he will most likely stick around with Digi and help him with his research. Six is Rarity and Tommy Oliver. I honestly don't know why we brought Rarity along, but seeing as how we are all friends and family we got to pick who came along for the ride. Maybe her improvisational skills and craft in fabric can help weave some advanced armor, but that's a little doubtful. Tommy is another scientist and is a colleague Digi. From what I've heard he'll round out our research team quite well. The Austrotians are launching their own spacecraft as well. Piloting it is the unstoppable team of Kim and Antony. I know them both personally and fought with them during the last three wars. Kim is an amazing spy and her stealth is second to none. She's not bad with a silenced pistol either and I'll take all the help I can get with the security detail. Antony as well, he's an intelligence agent and an Air Force analyst. Not bad for an Earth Pony.

Months of training have prepared us for this day that will go on forever in Equestrian history. Fourteen brave souls will ascend to the stars to claim, explore, and conquer new worlds beyond. The world is watching us now as we all step into our spaceships, the sound powered engines giving violent “wub wubs” from their distinctive stereo-like thrusters. Our ships now upright and pointed to the heavens, our flight crew readies us for our departure.

“Ponies of Equestria, I, Princess Celestia wish the best of luck to our brave starbound pioneers to forge on a new path for our nation, our world, and our well-being. Let us all honor their sacrifice as we count down to our ventures in the worlds above,” The Princess gave quite the moving speech. I could feel my hoof being squeezed tightly as Rainbow and I listened on.

“As the Princess of the Night I second this statement and hope that their ventures will inspire the generations of the future to follow in their footsteps. As we prepare for their heroic mission into unknown lands we give them our prayers, solace, and wisdom. Everypony! Cheer with me to salute our brave astronauts as they embark on the journey of the century! HA ZA!”

“HA ZA!” I exclaimed with the chorus of cheers. My eyes started to water and a surge of positive emotions flooded through me. I can see it right now: Game Theory and Kami are watching us on TV, Scootaloo is hovering over us in her F8 chase plane, Apple Bloom, Vinyl, Derpy, Peace Walker, Doctor Whooves, Lyra, Cadance, Shining Armor, Celestia, and Luna looking on from the control room to guide us into space. Yanna reciting prayers in German for AnY and our safe passage, Crown Heart on stage giving her thoughts about our flight and acting out our ventures in upcoming movies, Sweetie Belle singing on about the Fourteen Heroes of Stars Fortune. Everypony in the world is watching us now, heads lifted up into the sky as they await our rainbow trail of smoke and on the other end will be our hope, riches, and fortune.

“Initiating launch sequence: Ten,” The countdown starts and my heart starts beating. I can't stop thinking about how many people are looking up to us now, and how many future fillies and colts will remember this day. Our countries will remember us as heroes.

“Nine,” I look at Dashie and she returns a smile, tears in her eyes as our journey begins.

“Eight,” my pulse hightens.

“Seven,” I close my eyes to suppress my own tears.

“Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Drop the bass!” the three stage booster rockets ignite and we are met with the full G force as the rocket accelerated to launch velocity. Seven stripes of rainbow smoke graced the sky as the world watched in baited breath. Our rockets sailed into the sky flawlessly and our ships rendezvoused in orbit.

“Operation Exodus is a-go! Happy Trails everypony!” Derpy came in over the radio and we all heard the cheers within the control room. My heart fluttered with excitement as I recovered and looked out our plasma field window into the brilliant starlit space around us.

“Good bye Equestria! We will return one day, I promise!” I radioed out to Derpy. Our ships formed up and our navigation systems linked to the lead ship of A n Twi.

“Alright everypony, set your course to the Alpha Centauri sector and follow close,” Twilight gave us our instructions, “I can't believe we're finally exploring the stars.”

“It's beautiful isn't it?” I commented, “Take to the stars.”

Our ships spooled up the FTL drives and we warped away to the closest star system.