Scootaloo yawned and blinked her eyelids several times as she opened them. She lifted a hoof to her face to lazily rub the sleep from her eyes. The plastic on her back was stiff, but it was beginning to feel like it had a little more give than before. Perhaps it just needed a little breaking in. She sat there unmoving in the pilot's seat, looking out the large glass window in front of her.

As she gazed upon the starry depths of space, she thought about what had happened just a hoofful of hours beforehand. Sure, she had expected to run into other beings in space; the chances that Equestria had been the only nation in their solar system with sapient life were small. But she hadn't expected to run into anypony so soon, and it was pretty weird that there were other ponies out there. Let alone that they spoke the same language as her. Celestia and Luna were the goddess princesses of her world; maybe these other worlds had alicorn princesses too. She probably should have asked about that.

There was plenty more she probably should have done, too; it was a shame that she had gotten so distracted. Some better food—or at least different food, for Celestia's sake—would have been a good place to start. But no, she had to go and get herself into a situation where she couldn't ask for anything more and she was still stuck eating Gamsco's.

At the thought of Gamsco's and food in general, Scootaloo's stomach rumbled. She sighed and climbed to her hooves; the sooner she got eating over with, the better. As she hopped off the seat and walked across the cockpit and down the hall, she kept thinking.

Another thing she was running out of was fuel. Scootaloo wasn't exactly sure how much was left; the fuel indicator on the dashboard wasn't very specific, but it was pointing closer to the E than to the F. They probably didn't have any fuel on their ship that she could use, anyway, but that didn't stop her from kicking herself over not asking. Sooner or later, she'd have to refill the tank; hopefully what she had would last her until she got somewhere where she could do that. She didn't even know what kind of fuel the ship took... or why Princess Twilight hadn't filled it up all the way.

Honestly, the ship could use some repairs too. Scootaloo wasn't convinced that it had been completely finished when she left, so that would explain why the autopilot crapped out after only a few days. Maybe she could even get the heat system to work...

Her thoughts trailed off as she reached the bottom of the ladder and found herself in the pantry. She flicked the light switch upwards, and fluorescent light flooded the metal cavity. Scootaloo continued walking forward towards the cabinets on the other side, hooves clanging on the metal with each step.

When she reached the other side of the room, she pulled open a drawer that she knew had contained a box of Gamsco's. Oddly enough, it felt much heavier than any of the drawers had before; it took the filly actual effort to pull the metal drawer out of its socket. And, when the contents came into sight, Scootaloo's jaw dropped.

Inside, rather than a limp cardboard box and a bunch of empty space, was apples. A whole lot of apples. Filling up the entire drawer to the brim, the shiny red fruits reflected Scootaloo's surprised features right back up at her. She began to feel her mouth fill with saliva.

Eyes darting back and forth, Scootaloo took a deep breath. She felt the air enter her lungs, allowing her chest to swell up. Consequently, she exhaled, warm air pouring out of her nostrils. Then she dove.

Her teeth sliced into the side of one of the apples, breaking with vicious energy through the crimson skin. Immediately she was greeted by the crisp, juicy bliss that it felt like it had been forever since she had tasted. Even though the scent wasn't quite right, her eyes still filled with tears at that near-perfect fragrance that wafted upwards into her nose. Scootaloo swallowed, sighed, and took another bite. And another.

Realising her animal behavour, Scootaloo reached in and grabbed the apple so she could hold it in her hooves as her teeth made short work of the thing. The sweetness of each bite sent the filly's mind reeling.

When the fruit was down to just the core, Scootaloo grinned as she eyed the wastebasket on the other side of the room, near the ladder. She looked at it for a few moments, judging the distance between herself and the receptacle. Then, she tossed the apple core. It flew forward and up in a perfect arc and fell, bouncing off the edge of the wastebasket... and onto the floor beside it.

"Friggin' depth perception," Scootaloo muttered. She walked over to where the core landed, to throw it in the wastebasket. However, as she bent over to pick up the apple core between her teeth, she heard an unmistakable noise.

In the direction of the left hallway, somepony flushed the toilet. Scootaloo quickly tossed the core in the trash and looked over in that direction.

Trying her best to keep her composure, the filly spoke. "Who's there?" Her voice was loud and clear, reverberating around the metal room. The door across the room clicked and began to open.