"This, as you can probably tell, is the Chariot bay," Applejack said as she, Twilight and Spike disembarked. "Now the bay itself can hold up to twenty Chariots, but we only have ten at the moment—most of which are ferrying the crew across right now, along with 10 Wonderbolt Class Fighters, although we have the space for 15."
"How come you have so few craft?" Spike asked, gazing at the hangar.
"Well, since we're not going to see much combat, High Command figured that we wouldn't need a full complement of small craft," Applejack replied. "A waste of resources, they see it as."
"I suppose that makes some sense, considering how stretched the navy is at the moment," Twilight said.
Applejack grunted in a noncommittal manner, leaving the hangar and walking down a corridor. "Anyway, this corridor leads to the hydroponics labs and the fields—we have just under two acres of land dedicated to growing crops, including an apple orchard."
"An apple orchard? Really?" Twilight asked. "Isn't that a little... frivolous on a ship this size?"
"Not when the ship is sponsored by the Apple Clan," Applejack said with pride.
Twilight raised an eyebrow at this. It wasn't unheard of for civilian groups to sponsor a navy ship, but it wasn't common either. She hadn't been aware that The Ponyville was such a ship, however, and by a group as prestigious as the Apple Clan as well. Clearly there were gaps in Twilight’s research.
"Now, let's get you acquainted with the hydroponics labs—as science officer, this will fall under your jurisdiction." Applejack lead the pair down the corridor to a set of labs.
Twilight gulped. "Uh, I'm afraid that I never really studied agriculture."
Applejack waved a hoof dismissively. "Don't worry about that. Carrot's one of the best when it comes to this sort of thing, and I’m always willing to lend a hoof. As long as you are willing to learn on the job, you'll be fine. Ah, there she is."
Applejack pointed out a yellow earth pony with an orange mane, before waving her over.
"Commander," the earth pony said coolly as she approached. "Who's your friend?"
"Junior Officer Carrot Top, this is our new Science Officer, Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike," Applejack said. "Twilight, this is Carrot."
Twilight stuck her hoof out. "Nice to meet you."
Carrot ignored Twilight's hoof. "The Queen’s personal protege. Tell me, do you know anything about how to run a hydroponics lab?"
Twilight faltered and lowered her hoof. "It, uh, it never came up in my studies."
"I see," Carrot Top said, her glare disapproving. "I suppose you expect me to run this lab myself, then."
"Actually, I'm rather hoping to be able learn more about the labs," Twilight responded. "Food is, after all, highly important to us all."
"That's an interesting stance," Carrot Top said, her glare lessening slightly. "Your predecessor was keen on dumping the responsibility of the labs onto my shoulders. Keep that attitude up, and I can see us getting along fine indeed. Anyway, I have work to be getting back to. Commander, Officer Sparkle."
After she had left, Twilight turned to Applejack. "Well, she was... Interesting."
"Don't let it get to you. Carrot's cold to everyone at first," Applejack said. "Honestly? I think your answer impressed her."
"If you say so," Twilight said dubiously.
"Now come on, I'll so you residential so you can drop your luggage off." Applejack lead them from the labs to one of the many elevators that bisected the ship.
One painfully slow elevator ride later, and they had reached the residential deck.
"As a senior officer," Applejack explained as they walked down another corridor, "you'll have your own room—although I think you have to share with your assistant."
"Wouldn't want it any other way, right Spike?" Twilight said, turning to her assistant.
"Right!" Spike answered happily.
"That's all worked out fine then," Applejack said, stopping outside of a door. "Here's your room."
The door slid open, revealing a small functional room. The furniture was sparse, consisting of a bed, a desk with a computer and a wardrobe.
"It ain't much, but it's yours," Applejack said.
"My own room..." Twilight said reverently, walking into the middle of the room.
"Sure beats the dorms we used to live in, right, Twilight?" Spike said.
Twilight looked around the room. "No shower?" she asked.
"Nah, only the Captain has her own private facilities," Applejack replied. "The rest of us share a communal washroom just down the corridor."
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a grumbling stomach. "Oh, excuse me. I must be a little hungry."
"It is nearly lunch time," Spike complained, holding his own tummy.
Applejack chuckled. "Good thing the mess hall's our next stop."
Applejack left the room, followed by Twilight and Spike, who had left their things behind. The trio wandered down the corridor, following signs for the mess hall.
Suddenly, Twilight heard hoofsteps echo down the corridor, but aside from Spike, herself and Applejack they were alone. Looking at the commander, Twilight noticed a furious look on her face.
"Girls! Get down from those vents this instance or you will be on cleaning duty for so long your cutie-marks will be mops!" Applejack shouted at the ceiling.
A hatch on the ceiling opened and out popped three young fillies—a yellow earth pony, a white unicorn and an orange pegasus. Twilight stared in surprise at the three foals. Whilst it wasn’t unheard of for foals to join the cadets, they usually had their cutie-marks, but the flanks on these three were as blank as the day they were born.
Applejack scowled at the trio. "Girls, those vents are highly dangerous for you to go wandering around in. I don’t want to catch you doing it again."
"Sorry sis. Uh, I mean Commander Sir. Ma'am," said the earth pony, her accent matching Applejacks.
Applejack sighed. "Anyway, girls, this is Science Officer Twilight Sparkle and Spike, Twilight, these three are Command Cadets Applebloom and Scootaloo, and Security Cadet Sweetie Belle, or the Cutie-mark Cadets as they prefer to be known as."
"Oh, hello girls. It’s nice to meet you." Twilight wobbled as the three cadets rushed forwards and began asking questions, nearly knocking her down.
"Is it true you were taught by the Queen?"
"Woah, where did you get a dragon from?"
"What does your cutie-mark mean?"
"Leave the poor mare alone, would you? And don’t you three have jobs to be doing? Get going now." Applejack shooed them off, her tone stern, but not entirely unjust. The CMC's saluted and rushed off down the corridor. "Sorry about that. They get a bit over eager at times, but they're good fillies."
"They're awfully young," Twilight said, a hint of concern in her voice.
"Aye, but Big Mcintosh and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Apple Bloom in the orphanage. I imagine the Chief felt the same way about her sister, Sweetie Belle. No idea what Scootaloo’s history is, but personally I reckon she ran away from home. Well, The Ponyville is their home now. Anyway, the mess deck is just down here," Applejack said as they continued down the hall.
"Big Mcintosh is your...?"
"Brother. And head of engineering—You'll meet him in a bit."
The two mares—and dragon—continued down the hallway, before entering the mess hall. The hall resembled a rather basic cafeteria, with stairs leading to an elevated section that overlooked the rest of the hall.
Applejack pointed to the elevated section. “That there is the officer’s mess. Not much to say about it really, it’s a nice enough cafeteria. Come on, lets get you some grub.”
Applejack walked up the stairs, Twilight following. Looking around, the purple unicorn saw several tables dotted around the room, and along the far wall was a food-serving counter. Ahead of them were two more ponies—a yellow pegasus in medical colours and a white unicorn in mareine colours.
“‘Sup, Doc, Chief.” Applejack said, approaching the pair.
"Commander," the unicorn said with a refined accent. "I presume this is our latest science officer?"
"Yup. Twilight Sparkle, meet Chief Rarity and Doctor Fluttershy,” Applejack introduced.
"Well, hello darling,” the white unicorn—Rarity—said, whilst Fluttershy gave a small meep and hid behind a curl of her mane.
"Nice to meet you," Twilight said as Spike slid off her back.
"Beautiful..." He muttered under his breath, eyes only for Rarity. Before anypony could respond, however, he was whisked off by Fluttershy, who squealed in delight.
“A baby dragon! Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before. He's sooo cute!”
“Cute! I'm not cute! I'm a dragon! I'm ferocious! Roar.” Spike gave a weak growl that could only be described as 'cute'. The ponies around him all stifled giggles.
“Oh my, you certainly are a ferocious little thing, aren't you?” Fluttershy humoured, not even trying to conceal her grin.
"See, Twilight?" Spike said smugly, flexing his arms. "Somepony thinks I'm ferocious."
"Ha-ha, sure thing, Spike," Twilight laughed.
"So tell me,what's it like being a dragon?" Fluttershy asked.
“Well, what do you want to know about?”
“Everything!” The two drifted off to one corner, where Spike began regaling his life story to the doctor, although he kept shooting longing looks at Rarity when he thought no one was looking.
Twilight turned back to the security chief as she began talking. "Huh, took me hours to get more than a peep out of her—the Doctor is normally very quiet. Now darling, I have only one question for you—why science?"
"Well, because my Cutie Mark—"
"Yes, yes, but that sash! It clashes horribly with you beautiful mane. Yellow and purple? Really? I have sent command countless petitions for a redesign, but they just won’t. Something about it being 'traditional'. I don’t even mind if they use someone else's designs—although mine are quite good if I say so myself—just as long as they get rid of that hideous yellow sash!"
"Wait, you design clothes?" Twilight asked in surprise. Whatever she was expecting from the Chief of Security, this wasn't it.
"Oh yes, always wanted to open my own fashion boutique, but Father wanted me to follow him into the mareines. We compromised—he accelerated me to chief position and I can design body armour. Have you, perchance, ever heard of the Blue Diamond range of armours?"
"The Blue Diamond armour range? My brother won’t stop talking about it! He paid out of his own pocket to equip his entire company with it!"
"Company?" Rarity said with a hint of shock in her voice.
"Oh, yes, my brother is General Shining Armour of the Royal guards. The bean counters wouldn't pay for new armour, but he had been saving up his wages anyway."
"Sh-Sh-Sh-Shining Armour is your brother? And he loves my armour? Oh my." With a dramatic flourish, the white unicorn fainted.
"Uh, Medic?" Twilight called, but Fluttershy had already sped to Rarity’s side.
“Ugh, not again,” Applejack groused, planting a hoof on her face.
"This happens often?" Twilight asked, watching idly as Spike rushed to Rarity's side, getting in Fluttershy's way.
"Yup. She is quite the drama queen." Applejack shook her head, before nudging the white unicorn less than gently. "Rares, get up. You're getting dirt on you from the floor."
With a shriek, Rarity leapt upwards, hopping delicately. "Ew ew ew! Get it off me, get it off me! I need a bath!" She dashed out of the canteen, blowing over Spike and Fluttershy, galloping down the corridor.
"I'll um, follow her, make sure she's okay... If that's okay with you?" Fluttershy said, picking herself up off the floor with a lot more grace than Rarity had.
"If you think that's best, Doc," Applejack said.
"It was, um, nice meeting you, Twilight. You too Spike," Fluttershy said as she left, following Rarity.
"Do you think she needs my help?" Spike asked.
Applejack snorted. "I doubt it. Now come on, lets get you some grub."
---
After eating a quick, apple themed meal, the group made their way to the science labs.
"The rest of the crew should be at their posts now, so we can meet your team all in one go," Applejack explained as they trotted down the corridor. They were on the lowest level now, and being this close to the gravity core was having an effect on Twilight’s ability to walk, causing her to stumble over every other step.
“How do you get used to this?” Twilight asked as she nearly fell flat on her face.
“Oh, ya’ll find your space legs soon enough,” Applejack reassured.
Twilight felt a small amount of apprehension as they approached the labs. Within them would be her team—a group of ponies she not only had authority over, but also responsibility for. With the exception of Spike, she had never had somepony working for her before. The thought made her more than a little bit nervous.
"What should I be expecting?" Twilight asked, trying to keep her nerves under control.
She obviously failed, as Applejack halted and looked her in the eye. "Honestly, Sugarcube? Eccentricity."
"Eccentricity?" Twilight repeated, not at all reassured.
"Yup. The Ponyville has a weird crew, I ain't going to lie. The science division just happens to be the weirdest of the weird." Applejack saw that her words weren't reassuring Twilight, so she tried a different track. "Don't worry, they are all quite nice ponies... Just odd. Watch out for Trixie, mind you. Girl's got an ego the size of a star. And... Well, it'll be easier just to meet them."
They continued down the corridor and through a doorway, entering a large room filled with lab benches and expensive looking prices of equipment—all of which had seen heavy use and could probably do with replacing.
"Gather round, everypony. Got somepony for you to meet," Applejack called out, and within moments a small herd of ponies was stood around them. "Right everypony, this is Officer Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike—who is a baby dragon, so watch your mouth, Bon Bon. Twilight, these are your Specialists."
"Hello everypony," Twilight said nervously, as they all looked at her. She shrank under their searching looks.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is less than impressed," a blue unicorn mare wearing a cape said.
"Oh give it a rest, Trixie," a cream coloured earth pony with a pink and blue mane said. "Welcome, Officer Sparkle, I'm Bon Bon, head chemist. The loud mouth is Trixie, head of arcanophysics, Carrot—"
"We've met," Carrot Top cut in.
To her credit, Bon Bon didn't even blink. "Lyra, head of astrobiology—"
"Not that astrobiology is a real subject," Trixie interrupted.
"Hey!" objected Lyra, a mint green unicorn. "Astrobiology is a valid subject!"
"Aside from the fact that non-equestrian life forms have never been discovered," Trixie replied smugly, "and those humans of yours don't count—they're just a myth."
Lyra made to respond, but Bon Bon cut her off. "Girls! You can compare the size of your horns later, in private! Sorry about that Officer Sparkle."
"It's no problem. And please, call me Twilight,"
"Sure thing," Bon Bon replied. "And last but not least, Time Turner, head of artificial intelligence."
"Charmed," said a brown earth pony with a bow tie and, weirdly enough, a fez. He was also the only stallion in the group.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Twilight said. She looked around. "So now I've meet the heads, when will I meet the rest of the division?"
Silence followed Twilight's question, and Bon Bon coughed awkwardly into her hoof.
"This is the entire division. We... er, we have no other ponies. Not even cadets," she said. "At least, not in pure science. They're all in engineering, fawning over that new engine."
"Which is just typical, really," Trixie said. "The theoretical sciences get little love these days."
"Yeah, it's all about bigger and better engines," Lyra groused. "No one cares about the academic side anymore."
Twilight looked in shock at the ponies before her. She knew science divisions were often small, but a ship this size typically had a couple of dozen ponies, not five. Suddenly, Twilight wasn't sure if this was going to be an easy post, or a challenging post.
Bon Bon caught Twilight's look. "Don't worry, between the five of us we can handle all the relevant duties. Speaking of which, what are your specialities?"
"Oh, I, uh, I passed the Specialist exam in arcanophysics, astrophysics, applied magic and computing, but I never got promoted to Specialist myself."
"Wait," Trixie said. "Do you mean to say that you were promoted straight to Science Officer from the Cadets?"
Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "Uh, yes? I think I was held back for political reasons, though, being the Queen’s personal student and everything."
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is disappointed at whichever foal hired this inexperienced filly, especially when somepony as great and powerful as the Great and Powerful Trixie is here,” Trixie pronounced, somehow sticking her nose even higher into the air.
“First of all, Trixie,” Applejack said, a touch of anger colouring the stoic mares words, “use first person pronouns. Secondly, calling Admiral Spitfire a foal is typically a bad idea.”
Trixie opened her mouth to respond, only to stop, her eyes growing wide. She took a step back, before turning and running out of the room.
Applejack just sighed. “One day that mare’s big mouth is going to get her in trouble.”
“So...” Twilight coughed awkwardly into a hoof, before turning to face the only stallion of the group. “Time Turner, you’re head of AI, right? Can I see?”
“Of course, of course,” the Doctor said, waving Twilight over enthusiastically. “I was about to wake Derpy up anyway.”
He moved over to a console and began tapping away at it. A few moments later a see through grey Pegasus mare with a yellow mane and crossed golden eyes appeared.
"Good morning, beautiful!" Whooves sang to the hologram. "We have a new science officer. Derpy, meet Twilight—Twilight, this is our AI, Derpy."
"Hello Twi-light!" Derpy cried, waving a hoof enthusiastically. "Do you like muffins?"
"Uh... Hi," Twilight said. "Um, I guess I do?"
"Yay! We can be muffin buddies!" Derpy through an arm around Twilight in order to hug her, but it passed straight through her. Derpy lost her balance and fell to the floor. "Whoopsie-daisy! My bad!"
Twilight shot a questioning glare at Time Turner, who shrugged sheepishly.
"She's a first generation AI," he explained, causing Twilight to gasp in shock. Whilst most A.I.’s were merely sapient machines, first generation A.I.’s, developed prior to the Exodus, had once been living ponies whose minds had been transferred into a computer. Such transfers were usually fatal for the pony in question, and their mind typically degraded within a couple of centuries at the most. They had been outlawed 750 years ago with the advent of true artificial intelligences. The fact that Derpy was still sane, let alone functional, after all this time, was a testimony to her strength of will and the skill of her caretakers.
"Hey, muffin buddy! You wanna get some muffins?" Derpy asked once she had picked herself up.
"Maybe later," Applejack intervened. "Twilight's still got to meet the bridge crew."
Applejack herded Twilight and Spike towards the door.
"Right, well, I suppose I'll see you all later," Twilight called out. "I look forward to working with you all." A series of confirmations followed her out the door.
"So, what do you think?" Applejack asked once they were out of earshot.
"Eccentric doesn't begin to describe it," Twilight says. "Are they like that all the time?"
Applejack snorted with amusement. "Normally they're worse.” She paused and pointed down a corridor. "That elevator will take you to engineering. Shouldn't be any reason for you to go down there, but its best you know where it is."
"Better to know than not know, I guess," Twilight replied.
"And here's the bridge," Applejack said, indicating to a door ahead of them. Stepping through, they found themselves in an oval shaped room with a bank of computer terminals arranged around a central command chair in a horseshoe shape, all facing a view screen. "As Science Officer, this will be your primary station when you are on duty—over there would be your monitor." She pointed to an unmanned terminal of to one side, before sweeping her hoof across the bridge. "Everypony, this here is Science Officer Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike. Officer Sparkle, the bridge crew. Lieutenant Pinkamena Pie is in charge of communications and also the helmspony."
A pink earth pony with candyfloss hair and, oddly enough, a party hat looked up, jumped in the air and bounced over.
"Ohmygosh you’re finally here! Hi my name is Pinkie Pie and as communications officer allow me to invite you to your ‘welcome to The Ponyville’ party!" The hyperactive pink mare thrust a letter into Twilights hand and a party hat onto her’s, Spike’s and Applejack’s heads.
"Uh, thank you?" Twilight asked tentatively. This seemed to be the right answer as Pinkie took this as a cue to leave, bouncing around the room before coming to a stop at her console.
"Now this big lug over here is my brother, Big Mcintosh. He's the head of engineering—worked on the Gallop engine and everything."
"Eeyup," the red stallion said, his accent matching Applejack’s.
"Nice to meet you, Officer Mcintosh," Twilight said.
"Eeyup."
Twilight got a feeling that she was unlikely to hear him say anything else.
"You've already met the Chief," Applejack said, waving a hoof at Rarity, who was stood behind the tactical desk. "And last, but not least, we have our illustrious Captain, Rainbow Dash."
"Sup," the rainbow maned pony said, raising a hoof. Twilight tentatively bumped it with hers. "Sorry I was a bit short with you earlier, but I was a bit stressed."
"That's fine, Captain," Twilight said. "I understand completely."
"Well, we've still got a few hours before we launch—there's going to be a press gathering for the launch," Applejack said. "So why don't we all take a break for a bit?"
"Sounds good to me," Captain Dash replied. "Bridge crew dismissed."
---
The launch of The Ponyville was a quiet affair, with just a few members of the press and a representative from Admiral Steel Hooves, Captain Dash's direct superior, in attendance. A couple of boring speeches later and the ship blasted itself away from the station, setting course for the uncharted system of Alpha-418-X.
Later that evening the crew was celebrating the departure with one of Pinkie's infamous party's in the officer's mess.
"To Twilight!" exclaimed Rarity, the group raising their glasses of apple juice in a toast.
"You know, a real toast needs something more than apple juice," Captain Dash said, looking slyly at the other officers.
"Surely you don't mean... Alcohol?" Applejack said in shock. "Captain, you know that's against protocol."
"Oh darling, I think we can throw protocol out for one night," said Rarity.
"And anyway," continued Rainbow Dash, "it's proper stuff. A bottle of Apple Family Cider. Been holding on to it for two years now. Glad I did."
"Didn't they go out of business?" asked Twilight.
"Thats because this big idiot here," Applejack said, pointing at Mcintosh, "went and got himself enlisted. Without him fixing up the machines, me and Applebloom couldn't maintain the farm anymore, so we packed up and sold the farm, I got a commision and here we are."
"Wait, you're the ones who made Apple Family Cider?" said Twilight. An idea occurred to her. "So, you know how to brew cider then?"
"Yes." There was a brief look of confusion on the earth pony's face "No. No I will not make a bootleg brewery for you. A drink now, I'll let slide, but I will not tolerate alcohol on this ship." There was a collective groan from the table, but judging by the looks of the other officers, it wasn't the first time the idea had been proposed.
"Just pour out the cider already!" demanded Pinkie, a cry taken up by several others. With a flourish, Dash popped off the bottle cap and poured out a round.
"To Twilight Sparkle!"