"These dresses are a bit bland to my tastes but after having had them on they do have their charm." Rarity tugged on her dark blue dress uniform given to the officers of the Equestrian warship as she was followed by Fluttershy and Twilight while they made their way through the gigantic titan. Batponies of all shades wearing the same uniform passed by them to do their thing though some unicorns, pegasi, and earthponies were mixed into the crowd as well. Fluttershy and Twilight were pretty much the only outliers with their dresses, one in armour and the other without anything.
"You look great in it, Rarity," Twilight smiled. "But I have to ask, where is Applejack?"
"She should still be in her room, she needed to catch up on some sleep," Rarity replied. "She was supposed to have another fire control drill but I called that off after she collapsed last night."
"Of course, I can imagine you girls were quite busy with the preparations," Fluttershy nodded as they walked into a transporter, letting it take them to the crew quarters. Without the particular internal system moving around the vessel would be a serious hassle.
"Oh it's not that bad but Applejack has been working herself to the bone, she's been drilling herself and her fire-control crew the hardest out of anyone on the bridge." Rarity sighed. "I really hope with you two here we can slow her down some, she's acting pretty much the same as that time she tried to harvest her entire orchard on her own."
"That's not good... we'll see what we can do to get her some relaxation time in," Fluttershy agreed, remembering that incident quite well. The transport pod stopped at its destination and the two of them got back out, the crew quarters they were in now being the ones reserved for the officers.
"Hey Rarity, how many ponies are currently stationed on this ship?" Twilight asked.
"About five thousand and we can carry quite a bit more." Rarity answered immediately, making Twilight's eyes widen a bit in awe. "I'm glad that I'm not part of the logistics around here, though you might argue that energy control is part of that too."
"I guess it's inevitable with a vessel this large," Fluttershy commented as they entered one of the quarters, in the first sleeping quarter Applejack was silently snoring in her bed. Rarity and Fluttershy quietly passed her to the main room where Rarity got some instant coffee and tea from the limited amount of wares in the personal quarter.
"I'll show you to the quarters the two of you will be sharing later, for now let's catch up a bit until dear Applejack wakes up and joins us." Rarity took a seat, at the central table and placed some cups with hot water in them for each of her friends. "So, Twilight, I assume you're not here to observe our goings-on the Vindica."
The purple unicorn shook her head. "Luna is going to stop at the Citadel, there's a diplomatic team going there to provide a diplomat for the Citadel races to approach. I am going to get off there as well to learn as much at one of the universities there. Particle bit was teaching me what he was learning but I'm already done with all the material in his courses, I need new substance to learn and someone to teach me."
That's definitely not all... Fluttershy thought as she picked up a heavy wave of regret and shame from the unicorn, the effects from being bitten by the changeling queen working perfectly. "Well, having a scientist around is going to be a great boon very soon."
"As Fluttershy says, we could really use a pony that understands how this vessel functions. We're able to operate it but understanding its core systems is a whole other thing," Rarity sighed. "I'm just glad we have Gabby around to explain things, without her we'd be completely blind. We should be glad most of the controls are so intuitive to ponies."
"How's she doing by the way?" Fluttershy asked, making a mental not to say hi to the griffin.
"Well, but immensely busy. Being the only one who actually knows a thing or two about the machines around here she's constantly advising ponies and the few griffins here on how to maintain their systems." Rarity answered before looking past the pegasus and smiling. "Finally awake darling?"
"Ya could have woken me sooner, Ah'm pretty sure Ah slept through mah alarm," Applejack grumbled, rubbing her eyes before they widened a bit. "Ah'll be darned, why didn't ya tell me they would be comin' Rares?!"
"I did, but you were too busy with your drills!" Rarity exclaimed indignantly, making Applejack blush.
"Oh no, Ah'm late fer my drills!" Applejack exclaimed, turned, and sprinted off.
"Oh for..."
"I'll go talk to her," Fluttershy cut Rarity off, standing up to go after the earthpony. "I'll see you tonight in our quarters, Twilight!" Sprinting out, Fluttershy ran after Applejack. "Applejack, hold up!" Fluttershy soared over the crowd in the hallway, flying at high speeds to catch up to her friend who had almost reached the transporters. "Stop running already!" she called out, landing and lighting up her wings, lifting Applejack off her hooves.
"Lemme go, Ah'm already late!" Applejack cried out, struggling to get out of the aura but Fluttershy's practised grip wasn't so easily broken.
"That drill was called off, Applejack," Fluttershy informed her friend, walking up to her. The earthpony had stopped struggling and just hung there.
"Ah can still practice on mah own..." she grumbled.
"Applejack, you need to take a break, you are working yourself to death," Fluttershy admonished her, fixing her friend's uniform as it was a little askew. "You're going to break yourself if you push too hard."
"But..."
"No buts!" Fluttershy stopped her. "You're coming with me."
"Fine." Applejack sighed. "Where did you want to go?"
"I'm sure this place has a gym or something in that vein," Fluttershy smirked as she got up close to Applejack. "Wanna bet I can buck better than you?"
Applejack smiled. "Oh, yer so on!"
The gym was massive, divided into sections with various machines she didn't really recognise but also some regular weights that were more low tech. "Some of the Griffins found this place, we've been usin' it as a place for physical exercise between the exercises we were doin' with Fidelis. We also added some gear of our own."
Fluttershy looked over to a ring, two griffins armed with sticks trying to bash each other's head in occupying it. "Well, I think you're going to have to explain some of these machines to me if you expect me to use them."
"Nah, ain't gonna use 'em anyway, the thing ya need fer a bucking competition's over there." Applejack pointed to a battered punching bag hanging from a makeshift mount. "Mah own addition to this place."
"Of course, so who's first?" Fluttershy asked, giving the bag an experimental nudge and finding that it was remarkably heavy.
"Ya can. Ah'll even give ya three tries before Ah crush ya." Applejack said confidently, loosening her dress suit and pulling it off. Fluttershy chuckled as she lined up her back hooves and gave an experimental buck. "Oh come on, ya can do better than that!"
"Just getting a feel for it," Fluttershy smirked at her friend and gave it another kick, having gotten a good stance and distance away from it.
"Still ain't enough ta beat me," Applejack sat down and waited for the third kick as Fluttershy lined it up, the pegasus tensing all her muscles and giving the bag a mighty kick, sending it up a decent way.
"How was that?" Fluttershy asked, knowing full well that applejack was absolutely going to crush that kick.
"Not bad, not bad... but Ah'll show ya how a true apple farmer kicks." Stepping forward, Applejack spun around and gave the bag a kick that nearly sent it horizontal. "That's how ya buck."
Letting out a snort, Fluttershy shook her head. "I yield, if it comes to bucking you're still the master." The pegasus took a seat next to the wall, Applejack joining her there.
"Don't ya forget it," the earthpony chuckled as Fluttershy wrapped a wing around her friend's back.
"AJ, why are you pushing yourself so hard?"
A wave of sadness came from Applejack as she sighed. "Ah don't really wanna be here... Ah miss Granny, Bloom, and Big Mac, but Ah know Ah can't sit on the sidelines either. The warnings ya gave... they scare me."
"The reapers are no joke, no, but you need to take care of yourself too you know. You don't want to fall into darkness like I did for a while." Fluttershy pulled Applejack close tightly with her wing. "You're a hard worker AJ."
"Thanks... so how 'bout you teach me a thing or two about the stuff ya learned. Fer fun of course." Applejack smirked and pointed at an unoccupied ring.
"You're on."