"The Wonderbirds... are... UP!"
-- Nellie Hoofstrong, in "Wonderbirds II: From Equestria to The Moon"

Glancing about, Rainbow Dash cautiously approached the Ponyville Bijou theater. There didn't seem to be much of a line to get in yet... which suited Rainbow just fine. She just wanted to buy her ticket and get inside, before anypony she knew spotted her.

Bits in hoof, the cyan pegasus trotted over to join the line.

"Hey, Rainbow! Whatcha doin'?"

"Gyah!" Rainbow nearly bolted for the sky. She got control of herself and looked round... to find Pinkie Pie standing in line right behind her. "Pinkie? What are you doing here?"

The radioactively pink pony beamed like a lighthouse. "Silly! I'm here for the all-day Wonderbirds 50th anniversary movie marathon. Aren't you?"

"Well, uh... sure! But I didn't know you were a fan, too."

"Sure I am! I only found out about the movies a couple weeks ago, but I'm definitely a fan. Yes, indeedy! I wanna go into SPACE!" She paused, looking puzzled. "Of course, I'm not quite sure where space is... but it all looks so cool in the movies, and I wanna GO! Me and Gummy both!"

She held up her pet alligator. Gummy hung limply in her forehooves, with his usual indifferently comatose expression.

"Uh... right," Rainbow replied. "Well, you came to the right place, Pinkie. Eighteen straight hours of non-stop Birdie awesomeness!"

"Birdie?"

"It's what fans call themselves. Of course there are the posers who try to show off by calling themselves Birders..." Rainbow blew a derisive raspberry. "But for the cool fans, it's always Birdies!"

"Okie, dokie, lokie! I'm a Birdie! Yay!"

"Cool!" Rainbow grinned. "So... which character do you like best? My favorite's Nellie Hoofstrong -- obviously! The strong, capable, fearless commander... and the first pony to walk on the Moon! I always wanted to be like her. I mean, she's just so cool, so awesome, she's like..."

Rainbow suddenly ground to a halt. She grimaced, glancing around and scuffing her mane with a forehoof.

"Eeeh, yeah... she was, like, an inspiration to me..."

"What's wrong, Rainbow? You make it sound like that's a bad thing."

"Well, it's just... you know!" Rainbow shrugged. "These movies are kid stuff. Fantasy! Awesomely cool fantasy, but still... they're not real."

"They're not?" Pinkie looked astonished and hurt. A little of the curl went out of her mane and tail.

"Of course! Everypony knows the Sun, Moon, and Stars are just astral phenomena, which Celestia and Luna are in charge of. You can't actually land on the Moon. It'd be like trying to land on a soap bubble. Even when Princess Luna was imprisoned up there, ponies say she was in the Moon, not on it, because there wasn't an on for her to be on. There's no such thing as infinite space, or airless vacuum, or weightlessness, or rocket ships, or other planets. It's all just made-up stuff... Applewood film magic."

"Awwww..."

"But even so..." Rainbow continued, becoming starry-eyed again, "I could never get enough of the Wonderbirds movies when I was a filly. The adventures... the tech... the challenge of training for deep-space flight... landing on other worlds... yes!"

"Me, too!" Pinkie brightened up again. "Oooh! Is that why you dress up as an equuinaut for Nightmare Night?"

"Eeeyeah, it's... basically stealth cosplay for me."

"Neat! Well, what I love about the movies are the special effects! All those planets and moons and stars and things... and the bug-eyed monsters. Bleargh! Hee-hee-hee! Can't get enough of it!"

"Um, right..." Rainbow hesitated. Having a friend she could actually talk about this stuff with was an unusual experience... and a pleasant one, she was discovering. On the other hoof, this was Pinkie Pie, who was not generally known for being discreet. Unless...

"Hey, Pinkie... can I tell you something kinda personal?"

"Sure!"

"You can't tell anypony else. You Pinkie-promise?"

"Sure do! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Pinkie willingly ran through the motions as she said it.

"Okay. See, when I was a filly, I wanted to actually go to the Moon, just like in the movies. Just like Nellie Hoofstrong! I wanted the whole deal: the hard training, the rocket launches, flying through space, the works! I wanted to be the first pony to actually land on the Moon, and walk around on it."

"Oh, wow! That's so awesome!"

"Yeah. But then my parents clued me in that it's impossible, that the deep-space stuff in the movies was just make-believe. And, well... that was pretty much my first major heartbreak. I moped around for like, weeks after that. My one big dream as a filly... and I never even had a chance at it."

Pinkie's sorrowful expression would have melted the heart of a glacier. "That is so sad, Rainbow! Nopony should have their dream snatched away like that!"

Rainbow shrugged. "Well, whatcha gonna do? It was a lesson in being realistic. And I got over it. I started following the Wonderbolts instead, since they're real and I had a shot at being one someday." She sighed. "But ya know, deep down I've always wanted to be a Wonderbird... and be the first pony to walk on the Moon." She glanced up at the marquee of the theater, at the movie posters to either side of the door. "And every now and then, I go watch the Wonderbirds films again, just to relive the dream." She shrugged again, wincing. "Yeah, so... the movies are basically a guilty pleasure for me."

But Pinkie wasn't about to let it go that easily. "Just because it's impossible, Rainbow, doesn't mean it's wrong!" she declared. "And if you want it that much, then we're gonna make it happen! There's gotta be a way!"

"Uh, Pinkie? Lovin' your optimism, but like... how?"

Pinkie thought hard. Then her eyes lit up. "We ask the Princesses!"

"Ask them what?"

"If they wouldn't mind making the Moon and Space and rockets and stuff be real, just for a little while. Then you could fly to the Moon and land on it, and you'd be the first pony to walk around on it! Simple!"

Rainbow opened her mouth to say this was the silliest thing she'd heard all year. And then shut it again... for two reasons. First, this was Pinkie Pie, and with her, silly was just the prize in the box. And second... because it was such a crazy idea that in a perverse sort of way it might turn out to be perfectly reasonable.

"Well..." Rainbow allowed, "I suppose it never hurts to ask. But seriously, Pinkie, if the Princesses wouldn't even move the Sun and Moon for Twilight's Friendship Festival, why the hay would they go to even more trouble just for me and my fillyhood dreams?"

"Because Twilight's a Princess, so she has her own magic to sort things out. But we're the Princesses' subjects, making a bona fide petition for their assistance. And if it's not impossible, they've gotta help us! They've just gotta!"

"Uh... us?"

"Of course, silly! I want to go into space too! So count me in! There's not a moment to lose. We should march right on up to the Palace and make our needs known!"

"Sure, Pinkie. Awesome plan. And I'm totally there. But... can we watch the movie marathon first? I kinda took the day off from weather duty to go see it. And there's an interview with the pony who played Nellie Hoofstrong that I've been seriously looking forward to."

Pinkie blinked, realizing that they'd reached the head of the line. "Oh, yeah! The movie marathon!" Then she shook her head fiercely. Random parts of her body were spasming uncontrollably. "Nope! My Pinkie-sense is soundin' off! Ears are floppin', knees are twitchin', eyes are flutterin'! There's a doozy of a door about to open, and it's got our name on it. No time to lose, Dashie... let's go!"

Grabbing hold of Rainbow's hoof, Pinkie set off running down the street, hauling Rainbow bodily after her. Rainbow tried to struggle but found herself dealing with earth-pony strength combined with Pinkie's sugar-crazed, one-track mind.

"Pinkie! Where the hay are we going?" Rainbow glanced despondently at the theater marquee rapidly disappearing behind them.

"To catch the next train to Canterlot! Which leaves in two minutes! That's why we've gotta hurry! If we're gonna make this happen, we've got to move now, Rainbow! We can't just stand around, hooves on the ground, because..."

Taking a deep breath, she reared and punched the air excitedly.

"The Wonderbirds... are... UP!"

Then she took off for the train station again at top speed, hauling Rainbow along with her.

Rainbow sighed in exasperation and settled for flapping her wings to lift off from the ground, allowing Pinkie to tow her along like a living kite...

... and all the while trying to pretend that they didn't actually know each other...

Next Chapter: A Royal Petition Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 20 Minutes