The Argo streaked past Great Havana, Twilight having made the decision to move on, and zoomed off into space. At their current speed, it would take them about two hours to reach their destination, a small moon with few sentient life forms. Andrea was at the helm, overlooking the bridge, Twilight was taking a nap, Artekæ was in a specially made chamber where he could grow to his normal size and stretch, Ornlisco was dominating a ping-pong tournament held by the crew, with Jostian and Flash holding a card game for the losers. They had a pretty full table when the overcomm sounded.
"20 minutes until destination. 20 minutes." Ornlisco glared at his opponent, it was the final, him and a junior officer.
"Whoever has the most at fifteen minutes wins?" The junior officer nodded, and presumed his ready stance. Ornlisco growled, and served. The record books say their battle was glorious to behold, but in the end Ornlisco lost by a single point.
"Alright ladies, get a few landing craft prepared, we're sending people planet-side." An officer at one of the controls raises his hand after Andrea had finished speaking.
"Don't you mean moon-side?" A woman next to him whacked him upside the head.
"The captain said what she meant, don't ask questions!" Andrea beamed at the girl, before heading down to the hangar herself. She met up with the rest of the party, before noticing something that put everyone on alert when voiced.
"Where is Jorayn? Has anyone seen him lately?" Everyone shook their head, and looked around nervously.
"I'm up here! Don't worry, I have everything under control!" Everyone looked up to see Jorayn hanging by his fingers from the ceiling of the hanger, a bag held between his legs.
"What are you doing up there?" Andrea asked, a little angry.
"Well, you see, I was minding my own business, when I heard something about a pineapple being smuggled aboard, and as we all know, pineapple are not in space regulation food supply, so I decided to investigate. I found not only one pineapple, but three, five grapefruits, ten pomegranates, and a few Kiwi. I don't want to go into detail of how I got up here, so let's just leave that to your imagination, shall we?" Everyone stared at Jorayn, who stared back. No one moved, until Jorayn was enveloped in a purple glow.
"Wha- hey, not cool, tell me before you use magic like that!" Jorayn yelled at Twilight as she floated him down from the ceiling. Andrea punched his arm again.
"Ow! What's with you and punching me! Now, shall we go exploring? We have a whole moon to cover lads!" Jorayn marched dutifully towards the loading ramp of one of the landing craft, but he was stopped by a clawed hand grabbing his collar.
"Now wait just a moment, I think our captain here has some more to say." Everyone looked expectantly at Andrea, who shrugged and pointed to Twilight.
"Oh! That! Right. So, Andrea and I were talking about how to best search the planet, and we decided it would be best to split up. Each of us will lead a team of, say, ten, and cover a sector of the planet. I have taken the liberty of dividing up the planet into sectors, and your teams are already assembled. They will be coming with us, whether we split up or not. Any po- ahem, anyone not agree? No? Ok, as you can see, I also painted an easily identifiable emblem on each craft, your teams are already waiting! Good luck everyone!" Twilight walked off, happy as could be, leaving the rest behind.
"Does she normally do this?" Flash asked aloud. Artekæ shrugged.
"She's a princess, I assume it's normal." Artekæ turned and shuffled towards the largest craft, a crimson dragon head painted on the side made him smile a little, and he stepped aboard. All eyes snapped to him, and everyone saluted. All of them we capable of flight, Artekæ noticed, in some form or another.
"At ease." The team dropped their arms, still looking expectantly. He could get used to this...
Jostian walked/floated onto his ship, his gaseous looking form shifting nervously, and was startled when the team assigned to him snapped to attention, and saluted.
"Uh... At ease, gentlemen, and lady, that is the right word, correct?" The closest person gave a short nod.
"Ok, good. I don't know much military speak. I'm a doctor for crying out loud." Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was rather impressed, especially with the eagle of stars that had become his emblem.
Jorayn vaulted into his craft, not taking the time to admire his emblem, and immediately began shouting orders.
"Ok, listen up, you three, will cover left, you three, cover right. You, you can fly, watch the skies for me. The rest of you, center with me. Let's make this smooth and quick gentleman, I want to be back before dinner." Still standing at attention, all ten of his team shouted in unison. "SIR YES SIR!"
Ornlisco stepped aboard his ship silently, not alerting anyone of his team to his presence. He stopped short when he heard two talking ping-pong stats. They were both great cats.
"Ornlisco could totally school him! Don't you know who he is?" Ornlisco walked up behind the cat defending him. Opposite him stood a stunningly beautiful she-cat. Her eyes flickered to Ornlisco, and she adopted a mischievous grin.
"I know of him. Your reputation precedes you." Ornlisco laughed.
"As does yours." Nine out of the ten team members present jumped at the sudden appearance of their commanding officer.
Flash walked past his emblem, snorting at the Supernova, and mentally prepared himself to meet his crew.
"Hi everyo-" Ten Starglom's looked his way.
"My people!" Flash exclaimed and began giving everyone hugs.
Andrea nodded approvingly at her symbol, a red fist, and stepped aboard, greeting each of her commandos like old friends. In a way they were, having served years together, they were more like family to her. She hoped for one more smooth trip.
Twilight glanced over her cutie mark painted on her ship, and checked it off her clipboard. She stepped aboard and gave the at ease to her team, and checked off another box.
"Ok next is... Oh! Hello everyone, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and you are all here because you showed a particular trait that corresponds with my friends, the elements of harmony. Any questions?" Ten hands shot up into the air, and Twilight face palmed with her clipboard. She began answering all of their questions on the way down to the moon below, and asked a few of her own, before they hit the surface.
The loading ramp hissed open, and a world unlike any Twilight had seem greeted them.