The green of the interface screen flickered and shifted. Then, for what seemed like the hundredth time, it froze, the image trapped as a semi-solid image between the prongs of its old-style projector assembly.

“Buck! Not again!” Rainbow Dash brought her hoof down on the frame, and the image flickered again and went out entirely. One of the several thick conduit cables leading to the bridge sparked, and, exasperated, Rainbow Dash shoved the interface podium away. “Why the hay is this not WORKING?”

A unicorn- -one of the comparatively few that served in the fleet- -looked up from her own panel, which was glowing pale gold with her own magic. “The architecture of the Harmony’s magic dispersion system isn’t like other ships. It’s designed to work universally within a field, not through hardwired connections.” Her own screen flickered, and she focused energy on her horn, allowing it to restart. “That, and it’s optimized for…oh wow…processing speed, not power consumption. We can barely keep the gravity on. Our Cores just weren’t designed for this application.”

“Well then retrofit them!” demanded Rainbow Dash, walking through the mess of spare parts and legacy equipment that had been pulled from various ships and assembled in the Harmony’s lower bridge. Cables running up from the landing bay were strewn all over the floor, connecting to various equipment that was being added and overseen by a rare combination of breeders and real ponies.

Rainbow Dash sighed, and took another long swallow of ryncol. She wiped her mouth and looked out the window at the black, empty space that they were adrift in. “At least tell me you have communication online.”

“We don’t have a tunnel channel, no. But the intership system seems to be working now. Most of the time.”

“At least it’s something.” Rainbow Dash stepped away from the group and over an open panel to the internal systems below. She put her hoof to her headpieces. “Engineering, what in Luna’s name is WRONG with you? Why aren’t my systems back on- -”

“You can shut you’re flat-toothed mouth before I come up there and choke you on your own down!” screamed a heavily accented voice through the headpiece. “I’m working as fast as I can!”

“Excuse me! Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?”

“Yeah, I know you’re the Fleet Commander. Because I’m not an IDIOT like some PONIES who can’t tell the difference between a solid state crystal matrix distribution system and a switching distribution manifold valve- -yes I’m talking about you Broken Spanner, if you don’t like it come over here and bite me!”

“Um, who are you?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Bengie of the Shallowhole clan. I’m the chief engineer of the RENS Rainbow Dash.”

“Wait,” said Rainbow Dash. “You’re the engineer on my sister’s ship?”

“No, I’m the engineer on some OTHER ship called Rainbow Dash. What do you think I am?”

“Were you even assigned to- -”

“No, of course not, but who else here has a degree in crystalline system mechanics? These ponies are complete MORONS. The only ones of any value are the breeders, the rest just get in my way. Personally, I don’t want to be blown to bits by one of them- -WHAT DID I JUST SAY? DON’T TOUCH THAT!- -by the dog god, MUFFINS was a better assistant than you fools!”

“I really don’t care right now,” said Rainbow Dash. “Can you fix it?”

“Can I fix it- -of course I can fix it!”

“How long to operation?”

Bengie growled over the radio. “That’s the problem. Twilight Sparkle took a tremendous amount of damage.”

“Is she going to survive?” said Rainbow Dash, bracing for the bad news.”

“Survive? Of course. She’s an alicorn, they don’t die. But it’s going to take time for her to recover consciousness.”

“How long?”

“That’s impossible to know, not with this equipment. It could be hours. It could be weeks.”

“We don’t have weeks.”

Bengie let out a low growl. “Well, her connection to the system isn’t damaged. I could boot her in manual.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning she’d be powering the ship, but not conscious. Like a regular Core. We’d have basic systems, but until she wakes back up, we wouldn’t be able to do much. Not without installing a manual control interface.”

“Can you do that?”

“Yeah, sure. But it would take me two days.”

“You have four hours.”

“Four- - ti nmad dog! Me and my big mouth…”

“Just do it. I don’t care if you have to defy the laws of physics, get it done! I have a war to win!”

The lights clicked, and the hallways of the Harmony were suddenly illuminated. Beneath her hooves, Scootaloo felt the hum of the ship’s systems as the manifold unseen things in the walls and floor began to activate and come to life.

“Hey, the lights are back on,” said Roseluck, smiling and relieved. “Now maybe I’ll stop running into things. And things will stop running into me. Right, Captain?”

“Huh?” said Scootaloo, looking up, barely registering that the light had changed. Roseluck was beside her, and a nameless breeder female walked in front of them, having been sent to take them to Rainbow Dash.

“Captain Scootaloo,” said the breeder, looking over her shoulder and appearing genuinely concerned. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“No. Everything’s fine,” lied Scootaloo.

“Hey, breeder,” said Roseluck. “Now that the lights are on…is that a bruise on your face? Did somepony hit you?”

The breeder turned her head slightly, trying to obscure the dark mark beneath her white fur. “A minor injury. I assure you, it will not affect my performance of my duties.”

Scootaloo knew better. She had virtually been raised by Rainbow Dash, and she knew how the older mare treated her breeders- -especially the females, and especially when she was drunk. It was yet another thing Scootaloo had tried to overlook in her idol’s personality.

“Hey, Captain,” said Roseluck, falling back from the breeder slightly. “Don’t worry. We’ll get your ship back, alright?”

“It’s not the ship I’m worried about,” snapped Scootaloo. “I don’t give a hoof about the ship! It’s just…it’s…”

“You didn’t get a chance to apologize to her.”

Scootaloo nodded. “After…after what I did. Now we’ll both have to live with that, and…I just don’t think I can, not like this. I’m a terrible pony.”

“Look,” said Roseluck, stopping and putting her cream-colored hoof on Scootaloo’s tiny shoulder. “If you’re trying to get me to defend or justify what you did, I’m not. It was wrong. But you know that. Captain....Scootaloo, it’s going to be okay. She’s going to be okay.”

“I wish I could believe you.”

The breeder Pegasus, realizing that her two followers had lagged, walked back to them. “Excuse me. I do not like to intrude, but the Fleet Commander did request your presence with the utmost urgency.”

“Of course she did,” said Scootaloo, falling in step with the albino white mare as Roseluck followed behind.

Scootaloo had never spent much time on the Harmony, so she was not familiar with the layout. When they finally reached the gap that led to the bridge, however, Scootaloo knew where she was. For a moment, she was rendered dizzy just by the sheer size. After spending six months of her life in a tiny ship, she was not used to large spaces- -and this space was large.

She looked up in awe at the glass panel that formed the front view, ceiling, and floors. To her surprise, she saw flashes of white light outside as ships arrived via teleport. Scootaloo had never seen such a mass mobilization outside of her training simulations.

As she watched, a multicore battlecruiser emerged for the top of the window, flying close overhead, dwarfing the Harmony as it passed. Scootaloo could feel the low feedback between the two ships’ shields as they passed each other and the battlecruiser joined the ever-growing formation outside.

“Scoots!” said Rainbow Dash, turning from proudly watching her more complete fleet assembling. She turned around and approached. As she did, she momentarily looked concerned. “Hey, Scoots, have you been crying?”

“No,” lied Scootaloo.

“She’s been going through a lot of stuff recently,” said Roseluck, stepping forward to meet Rainbow Dash. “But as your sister, I’m sure you know that.”

“Well EXCUSE me if I’ve been busy,” retorted Rainbow Dash. “In case you haven’t noticed, an alien just shot five holes in our Core and very nearly unwinged me!”

“You’re wing?” Scootaloo looked up at the appendage and noticed that Rainbow Dash’s blue wing was held close to her body and partially unpreened.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Apparently, the Core Starlight Glimmer conspired with the aliens to assassinate Twilight. They almost took me and Fluttershy down too.”

“I- -I didn’t know.”

“Of course not. Because I didn’t tell you. But I am now. It was clearly a blatant act of aggression against the Equestrian government. An act of war.”

“War?” said Roseluck. “Isn’t that a little excessive?”

“And just who are you?” asked Rainbow Dash, her eyes narrowing.

“Roseluck, helmsmare of the RENS Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, what are you doing here, then? Oh yeah. Because you lost your ship. I guess you’re out of a job for now, aren’t you?” Rainbow Dash smiled at Scootaloo. “Don’t worry, Scoots. It’s not like we lost anything valuable. We can get you a better ship. Keep an eye out for one you like while you’re on the bridge. I’m thinking maybe a frigate…but we can decide that later.” She glared at Roseluck. “You are dismissed. For now.”

Rainbow Dash started walking back to her original position and motioned for Scootaloo to follow. The structure of the “bridge” of the Harmony consisted of a large, extended balcony that sat above an empty area of the floor below. As Scootaloo approached the edge where Rainbow Dash was standing, though, she saw that it had been heavily modified. The balcony remained relatively clear, save for a few interfaces that had been recently installed. Below, though, the formerly clear space of the lower level had been replaced with rows of equipment. When Scootaloo finally reached the edge and looked down, she saw interfaces and holographic arrays formed into neat but uneven isles around a large central projector. They looked strange and forced, as though the room were attempting to reject the construction of a standard amphitheater bridge.

Down below, breeders were moving chairs into location. Some were already sitting, engaged in various tasks on violet holographic screens. Far on one end, Scootaloo could see the outline of a small diamond dog yelling loudly at a leafy green Pegasus.

“She really is a tribute to her ponies,” said Rainbow Dash. “Or doggies, I guess. I wish I had ten of her. Or would, apart from the smell.”

“What are you doing?” Scootaloo already knew the answer on some level, but she wanted to hear her sister say it if it was true.

“I’m finally taking command,” said Rainbow Dash, proudly.

“Command? Where’s Twilight?”

“The same place she has been for the last fourteen years.”

“You know what I mean.”

“She’s finally doing her job correctly.”

Scootaloo frowned. “Cryptic responses aren’t really your thing, Rainbow Dash. You’re trying to build an interface.”

“I’m SUCCEEDING in building an interface.”

“Does Twilight know what you’re doing?”

“Twilight is currently unconscious. And she will be for some time. Remember? The aliens sabotaged us.”

“But if she’s unconscious, shouldn’t we wait for her to be conscious again? I don’t think she would approve- -”

“What Twilight would or wouldn’t approve of doesn’t matter,” snapped Rainbow Dash. “It never should have. This is the fastest ship in Equestria. It should have been mine from the start.”

“But she’s your friend!”

“She’s a piece of the ship. It was kind of cool that she could talk, but she should never have been put in direct control. I mean, you can see how stupid that is, right?”

“Um…”

“Exactly. The pony flagship should be operated by a PONY, not a Core.” Rainbow Dash laughed softly. “Actually, I should thank those aliens. They finally managed to get everything set back to its natural order.”
Scootaloo looked down at the ponies below, and then up at the assembling fleet outside. There must have been at least fifty ships so far. She felt like crying, and found that she could not look at her sister. “What are you doing, Rainbow Dash?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m preparing for war.”

“War? You can’t be serious.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? The aliens just attempted to sabotage my ship. That’s a direct attack on Equestria. They are clearly hostile.”

“But I’ve met them, they’re not- -”

“Fluttershy said the same thing. But I think I know when an alien race is hostile, Scoots. I am the Fleet Commander, after all.”

“So you’re just going to attack them?”

“Check this out,” said Rainbow Dash, smiling. She tapped on one of her interfaces, and the major holographic projector in the center of the floor hummed to life. A thirty-foot wide sphere formed in the center of the room and resolved into a star map.

“Breeder?” said Rainbow Dash.

The female breeder who had led Scootaloo in nodded and opened a screen. She entered some data, and the central hologram shifted, magnifying onto a single object that rapidly resolved into an image of an immense space station consisting of a ring with five long, parallel pylons extending from one side.

“Wow,” said Scootaloo, not believing the scale indicators. “What is that thing?”

“It’s where the EQX went. As near as any of us can figure, it’s a huge hub. Maybe a battlestation. Whatever it is, it seems to be the center of a lot of traffic. So we’re going to destroy it.”

“Destroy it?!”

“Of course. It and every ship that gets in our way. Then I’ll split the fleet and take it to their homeworlds. Some of them might understand the genetic superiority of ponies and pledge allegiance to Equestria like the diamond dogs did. But…” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I really hope they don’t. I really want to see what the Orbital Friendship Cannon does to a planet.”

“But what if they’re peaceful- -”

“Peaceful?! One of them attacked me and shot Twilight! If Fluttershy hadn’t been there- -”

“Wait, YOU had to get saved by Fluttershy?”

“Uh- -well- -um- -that doesn’t matter! What matters is that that alien was a representative of them all. What was she called?”

“A human,” noted the breeder mare.

“Remind me to not let the humans surrender. They all need to die now.”

“Rainbow!”

“What, it’s not like they’re ponies! And they just literally attacked a goddess! And stole a piece of top-secret technology that in the wrong hooves…” Rainbow Dash sighed and tried to calm herself down. “You know what, I’m getting too invested in this. I need to keep a cool head for the upcoming battle.”

“Upcoming? How upcoming is upcoming?”

“As soon as your dog finishes installing the interface and my fleet finishes arriving. That’s why I brought you here, Scoots.” Rainbow Dash smiled lovingly. “I want you to be my second in command.”

“Me?” Scootaloo felt like she had just been hit in the head. She had been waiting to hear those words for so many years. In the present circumstances, though, they somehow felt more hollow than she had been expecting. “But I’m just a Captain- -and not even a very good one!”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Rainbow Dash. “You’re my sister. And I get to choose. You’re going to be Fleet Commander yourself one day, and this will look great on your record.” Rainbow Dash waved her hoof in front of her, as if gesturing toward a large marquee but actually gesturing toward space and to the ever-growing fleet. “Scootaloo, who stood beside the great Rainbow Dash during the conquest of the Milk-Path galaxy.” Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Hm. ‘Milk-Path’ is a terrible name. I’ll have to come up with a better one.”

“Rainbow, I- -”

“I knew I could count on you, squirt! I’m so excited! You’re going to be getting lessons from the very best. Commanding together is going to be so much fun!”

Scootaloo forced a smile. More than anything, she wanted to protest. To yell at Rainbow Dash as loud as she could that this was a mistake, a terrible idea, that she never wanted to command a fleet or even a ship. The thought of standing at Rainbow Dash’s side was too tempting, though. Scootaloo knew it was wrong, but in the presence of that beautiful rainbow-maned pony, there was no way she could refuse.

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo, on the urge of vomiting from the realization of what she was doing. “I’ll be glad to help.”