Yes, CSP Mission Zero was nothing more than a cardboard box with a parachute at one end and a trash bin full of solid rocket propellant at the other. And yes, not even a changeling could have survived the flight which resulted. But it DID land safely, nothing actually broke, and it demonstrated that both the rocket booster and the parachute worked perfectly under sub-optimal conditions. (The cardboard-box flight capsule... not so much.)
Cherry does not appreciate Pharynx’s approach to Hive security, as his highly paranoid precautions not only interfered with progress of the space program in general, but tampered with her biplane. She expresses her lack of appreciation by lifting him bodily and pinning him high up against the wall of Chrysalis’ throne room with her fore-hooves, all while making it clear what the consequences of any further interference will be. This demonstration earns her a fair amount of respect from the queen.
Dragonfly's rescue of the three stranded astronauts. Especially since after the second rescue she was working WITHOUT COMS.
The end of Cherry Berry's Minmus flight, in which the scientists totally botch the re-entry profile, which requires Cherry Berry to get out and push the spacecraft at one point in order to bring the ship down before the ablative material on the heat shield runs out. When she finally lands, the heat shield is all but scoured bare. The changelings are so impressed by Cherry's close call with death that sixteen of them give her a silent, proper military salute the day she gets out of the infirmary.
The Maretian
The Cave Fart Incident (Sol 196). Starlight Glimmer is talked into running two spells at once- a spell to gather the methane out of the cave and the underlying soil, and a force field to keep the methane by the airlock until it can be vented. Everyone forgot that the closed-off area already had air inside, and Starlight wasn't able to stop the methane-gathering spell, resulting in the cave's airlock blowing out under three atmospheres of pressure. Somehow Starlight, despite being overloaded by the two spells from the start, manages to pull herself together just enough to cast a third spell to re-seal the cave just before the magic batteries powering the whole rig run dry. She saves herself, Mark, and Dragonfly from death by asphyxiation, and while the methane has caused extensive damage to the cave farm, her actions give the group a chance to repair it.
After an attempt to use a magic-based micro-launch system to break up a dust storm backfires spectactularly, Spitfire suggests that the experiment be attempted again with one difference: adding a payload. Specifically, herself, since as a pegasus with vast experience in weather management she can do what a large supersonic rock can't. The fact that, for several reasons, such a launch is suicidal only bothers her somewhat. It works. And more importantly, she SURVIVES.
The cave farm, period. Mark and the gang cobble it together from little more than seeds, dirt, and their own bodily waste and soon get it producing enough food to keep them alive until rescue comes. They nurse it back to health after the Cave Fart and add refinements to regulate the atmosphere and water cycle, and Cherry Berry even gets a few cherry trees to start growing. Nearly two years after they leave Mars, another Ares crew visits and finds the plants still growing like mad. The farm is overdue for some upkeep, but the fact that it's survived this long on its own speaks volumes to the ingenuity of its founders. With the help of extensive upgrades, it eventually becomes a permanent base.
