Author's Notes:

Edited:
Aug 31, 2019

I made a few minor changes, like getting the calendar more in sync with the other other fics

20 Years Earlier

Smart Mouth looked at his front paws. They were definitely paws, not hooves like his Daddy had. The 3 year old colt had hooves on his back legs but his front legs had paws and weird looking digits called thumbs. Real ponies could just hold things because of a type of magical static cling but he had to use the short digits and thumbs. His face was that of a pony, although he had a girly snout. He had sharp teeth and fox ears as well as the fluffy tail a fox. However he had the wings and body type of a Pegasus.

He had orange fur with a white under belly. Although most of his fur was short and slick like a pony's he had a puff of white fluff on his chest. The lower half of his legs were white with thick blue squigglies between the white and orange fur. His tail was orange with a white underside and black tip and a blue squiggly between the orange and the black as well as the orange and white. His wings had blue feathers, long white ones in the middle, well the tips were black. His cheeks and lower jaw were white with a black line going down his snout and black patches around his large blue eyes, well the rest of his face was orange. His mane was blue and cut in a short spiky boyish style.

He looked... weird. He had the classic pretty colt features but odd fox bits added on. It was obvious he wasn't a normal pony.

It didn't help that he didn't even eat plants like ponies did. Those tasted really nasty and made him gag, even gave him a belly ache. Grains and diary and pastries were all fine and even good for him but not straight up plants like vegetables or fruits. Although what was really good for him scared ponies. He loved meat, bacon made from pigs instead of hay, burger patties made from chicken instead of tofu or beans, and fish, lots and lots of fish. He loved sea food. It had no equal.

His father had crates of persevered meat in his basement, imported straight from Griffinstone. Smart Mouth tried not to eat it in front of ponies as they tended to freak out. It's like they thought because he ate a fish he would eat a pony. He was half pony the dumbbells!

It wasn't so bad. No one really picked on him but that was because they were scared of him. He was the creepy quiet kid that ate meat. The weird looking half breed.

The young colt kit sighed as he stretched his wings and glided off the top bunk. He passed his older brother on the bottom as he got to the floor.

The Unicorn colt kit blinked looking up at him as he played his JoyBoy, " Where are you going?" asked his brother, Book Smarts.

"I'm thirsty," Smart Mouth declared in a voice that definitely was not a whine.

"You're trying NOT to drink at bedtime remember. So you don't wet the bed,"

Smart Mouth blushed, "I haven't wet in a week!"

"Because you haven't drunk any water just before bed," Book Smarts glared,

"B-but I'm REALLY thirsty," Smart Mouth insisted.

"Okay but you better put on your special underpants before you go back to sleep,"

Smart Mouth blushed, "But-"

"Everytime you wet it ends up dripping on me," Book Smarts glared, "If you're going to drink then you're going to wear the pants,"

Mouth's blush deepened but agreed with a not whiny, "Fine," before walking out of the room.

Book Smarts had been awfully bossy and over protective ever since their mom died last year... no it was even before that but it had gotten worse this past year. Smart Mouth just developed a bit of a bed wetting problem.

He didn't know why. Their mom was pure evil. She was always yelling and hitting daddy and hit them when he wasn't around. He didn't miss her at all... for some reason his chest got all tight as he thought that. He really didn't understand what he was feeling.

Daddy made excuses for mommy. That she was a Kitsune and that she didn't understand pony culture but Mister Koto, their tutor, was a Kitsune to and he was really nice. He never raised his voice or hit them so obviously being a Kitsune was no excuse.

When Mommy died Daddy hired Mister Koto to teach them Kitsune magic. Daddy was a bit over protective himself and had them learning from a tutor instead of going to school. Mister Koto was teaching them how to read and write and do math and stuff but he was also teaching them how to bend raw Energy called Kai as well as simple spell casting from the Elder Scrolls. He was even teaching them magical crafts like making Runes, Enchantments, and Potions.

Smart Mouth loved the crafting lessons the most and liked to play with his potions set. He only had simple recipes like minor tummy ache soothers but they were a lot of fun to make. Mister Koto was also teaching him to be Sneaky because Kitsune were naturally very light footed. It be an important skill to their survival.

Smart Mouth used those super special awesome sneaking skills to enter the hallway and slink by the adjacent nursery. There his baby sister, Curious Cat, slept. It was her fault mom was dead. Mommy died giving birth to her. Smart Mouth was kinda thankful to her for that but at the same time mad at her... it was weird.

He just knew he didn't want to wake her, she screamed whenever she was woken up and demanded that if she was awake then everypony else had to be. She was an Earth pony / fox hybrid. Daddy liked to joke that he had a full set now: Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth pony.

Although Daddy was a unicorn, like Auntie and so many others of their family, he was descended from all three tribes like a lot of families were nowadays.

Shaking his head, and getting his mind back on track, The colt kit slowly sneaked by the nursery and looked around the lit hallway. Daddy kept the hallway light on at night so the children's rooms wouldn't be so dark. Turning off he got to the living room and was a little shocked to see daddy awake and drinking Cider with a special guest.

"Auntie Computer Wiz!" Smart Mouth grinned spotting his favorite Aunt on the couch. He ran over to her excitedly but frown when he saw she was all misty eyed.

"Hi Sweetie," The normal unicorn mare reached out and ruffled his mane as she forced her eyes to dry and showed a clearly fake smile.

It looked like she was still upset about losing her husband. Know It All Senior died in a carriage accident about the same time Mom died in children birth. Soon after Auntie gave birth to a colt she named him Know It All Junior. She'd been visiting a lot since then, getting help from Daddy.

Uncle Know It All had been a nice Stallion but honestly Smart Mouth didn't know him very well. Before he died Smart Mouth rarely got to see Auntie so the foal didn't know him very well.

"Buddy," Daddy got his attention, looking strangely serious, "It's well past your bedtime,"

"But I'm thirsty," Smart Mouth will admit, he whined that time. He just wanted to stay with Auntie.

Daddy sighed. He walked over to the kitchen which was directed connected to the living room, seperated only by a long counter. He pulled a sippy cup out of the dish washer and poured some water into it from the faucet. He quickly screwed on the lid and brought the cup to the colt kit. The Stallion didn't even mention that the colt should empty his bladder before going to sleep, just shooed him off to bed. Really he was practically begging to be eavesdropped on. So Smart Mouth, being a good little colt, sat in the hallway drinking his sippy.

"Sorry about that," Daddy said to Auntie.

"It's okay," said Auntie, "You've got a house filled with foals, it's bound to happen... Stealthy... do you think we're cursed?"

Daddy didn't answer.

"You're mother, my sister, your wife... my husband... so many ponies lost,"

"It really does feel like it sometimes..." Daddy admitted taking a sip of his own drink, "It's the reason I refuse to let what happened to my wife affect my daughter. When my own mother died giving birth to me... father couldn't even stand the sight of me. I spent my foalhood bouncing from house to house as he pawned me off on other family members... I always told myself I'd be a good father if something like that happened to me... I just... never thought it would... still... I love my daughter and will raise her with all the love she could ever hope to have...

"Yes... I think we are cursed but that's why we need to spit in the face of whatever asshole diety keeps bucking with us. Why we need to cling to what we have... You know I'm not very good at the whole comforting thing but... I worry about you. With Celestia transferring me over to Ponyville you won't have any more support out her in Canterlot... Please... come with us,"

"I don't know... I have a good job out her and it was hard getting Junior in the Celestial Daycare,"

"I know but... We might be distant cousins but we were raised together a good portion of the time. There's a reason my children call you 'Auntie'. I consider you a sister. Please, stay. I might not be much help but at least this way we can mourn together... and stop each other from doing anything stupid. Plus, since I'm working as an Archer for the new Princess' Royal Guard, I can probably get Princess Twilight to enroll your foals in her school and daycare free of charge as a member of my household,"

"Really living up to your name eh, 'Stealthy Intellect'," Auntie chuckled, "Trying to bribe me?"

"You know you love it. Besides you're son, Street Smart, is getting too be a real hoof full. Some time under the guidance of the Council of Friendship would do him some good... please Wiz, come with me. I need you just as much as you need me right now..."

"Alright..."

"Woo-hoo!" Mouth cheered.

"Smart Mouth!" Daddy scolded, "Go. To. Bed,"

"Sorry Daddy," The colt grinned before running of to give his brother the good news.

In the following weeks the family got settled into a routine in the Ponyville castle.

There Quarters were HUGE. However Smart Mouth still had to share a room with his big brother but the room was much bigger, complete with it's own bathroom and walk in closet like all the other bedrooms. Street Smart got his own room since he was so much older then the other foals. The 13 year old unicorn didn't seem to care about that though, as if it was a given. Junior was moved into a larger nursery with Cat. Both Auntie and Dad had their own rooms to.

Even with all that there was still enough space for Auntie to have her work shop for her computer stuff and for the foals to have a playroom. Smart Mouth really prefered having a play room verses his own room... he was kinda scared to sleep by himself.

They even had a real kitchen and dining room as well as a large sitting room which daddy turned into a library. Daddy was a big fan of fictional works but not so much text books or reference guides.

Auntie had to take the train to get to her own job in Canterlot. She wrote code for laptops and Smart Phones. As Computers were expensive, and she was a skilled Technomancer, she was paid very well.

She took Smart Mouth and Book Smarts into Canterlot with her ever day so they could learn from Mister Koto.

One day, after the foals came home with Auntie, Daddy got a very special visitor. Doctor Whooves, the Princess' head Wizard, entered the family's quarters and was polity given a seat in the living room.

"You want Mouthy to go to your school," Stealthy blinked as he looked at his middle child sitting next to him on the couch. The 3 year old was busy playing with his daddy's phone but looked up at the word 'School', a little nervous as well as excited by the concept. He was technically old enough to go to a legitimate preschool and Doctor Whooves school taught kids of all ages. "I know what your school is but I haven't seen Mouthy show any signs of a Class,"

"That's because it's subtle," smiled the Doctor, "I've seen him sneaking about the castle,"

"That's just him practicing his Kitsune traits," Stealthy insisted.

"To an extent but Kitsune can't step into a random shadow and walk out of another,"

Stealthy froze, "You think he's a Rogue?"

"Or a shadow bender but these things are genetic so it's more likely he's a Rogue given you're one yourself," The Doctor continued to smile.

Stealthy's eyes grew wide, "How could you possibly know that!?"

"I'm good at spotting these things. Not to mention where most don't even know about classes you seem well versed in what Rogues are," The Doctor outsmart Daddy! "You have great potential but your son? The speed and Dexterity of a Pegasus, the natural stealth and magic of a Kitsune, and the powers and skills of a Rogue. He has the potential to become a very powerful master of the craft.

"My school doesn't just teach how Classes work. They receive the best education, both magical and academic. There children learn at their own pace from computers with breaks for class participation activities such as labs and story time. I'll also take them on daily Field Trips to expand their world view. As such they won't be back home until six but I'll make sure they eat and have their naps,"

Stealthy nibbled his bottom lip, "Rogues don't have the best reputation. Most assume we're liars and theives without understanding what our class really entails,"

"I can't protect your son from that but I can give him a place to belong. I even have a few other Rogues about his age. They'll grow up together and learn to master their powers in a safe environment. Isn't that something you would have liked when you were a foal,"

"... alright... I'll let him go to your school,"

###

Present Day

"Will you get off that already!" Rumble demanded from his hanyou friend, who was busy playing on his phone. It was like he was attached to the thing.

Smart Mouth just grunted as he refused to look up from the screen. They might not get signal all the way to Equestria but the ship had a private network which let them communicate to any connecting phone within a light year of it, making it's range encompass most solar systems they entered. This let him talk to landing parties on planets if he wanted to. Not that they had on the opportunity for landing parties yet.

The Princess had also uploaded all movies, books, games, and even fan fictions to the server for the crew to enjoy. She organized them nicely in customized Apps. She also got them "shows" off the Internet and reviews / Analysis of those shows. Ponies might not have invented whatever a "television" was that Solopax kept talking about but they did have shows that were posted by season in the form of Apps. Each "Channel" had it's own App where you could watch entire series of shows they made for free. You just had to sit through a few advertisements during the beginning and middle.

Princess Celestia said she'd be sending them physical updates of media through Spike's dragon fire once a moon so the crew wouldn't miss anything. It was a way of keeping up moral.

Smart Mouth sighed as he forced his mind back on where he was, "My shift doesn't start for another 4 hours," the 23 year old Hanyou rolled his eyes as he laid in bed. It was amazing after all these years he still had the top bunk.

"Need I remind you that we're on a SPACE SHIP!"

"Which we've been on for 8 moons! and still have another month before we reach that Mass Relay thing Solopax was talking about," Smart Mouth grumbled.

The Mass Relay would apparently let their ship jump to faster then warp speeds to any other connected Relay. Unfortunately they didn't have one in their Solar system. Their home world was near the very eagle of the star cluster and the Mass Relay was near the center.

Their ship was only moving at Warp 4, which Solopax said was impressive for their first ship and just enough to really explore the galaxy, but they were still going so slow. The Warp Enchantments bent the mass of the ship in order to fly faster then light. Although that sounds impressive it takes thousands of years for the light from far away stars to reach them.

Warp 4 made it so they could reach the mass relays in about 2 months of consecutive travel. However they also had to navigate around solar systems as it was dangerous to fly at warp speeds in them. That's what they had their sail for which let them ride solar winds to travel at light speed.

The young Hanyou gave a sigh. They'd been traveling in the space between solar systems for so long, trapped in the black, "I'm getting restless!" he suddenly exclaimed as over dramatically as possible.

"Then why don't you come with me to the arcade! Or we could go to the swimming pool or the library. I heard the Princess has a whole collection of Enchanted books we can check out," Rumble, and Mouthy's other friends, understood what a shut in the colt kit was and were always patiently trying to get him to do things with them. Although it could get overwhelming at times it was something the Hanyou appreciated.

Smart Mouth poundered on the notion of playing in a book. Enchanted books were fun. You got to live an adventure as your favorite characters literally inside a book. They were just simulated danger so it wasn't like it could actually kill you or anything but even knowing that it was still fun.

You played the books a chapter at a time, with each containing a different quest which all lead up to the final chapter. Each Quest usually lasted an hour in the real world even though days could potentially pass in the book. The adventure didn't end until you completed the quest, failed the quest, or your character died (at which point you get thrown out of the book and you have to play the adventure again from the beginning of the chapter if you wanted to see it through). It was possible to skip around the book and only play your favorite chapters but Mouthy liked playing through the whole story.

Mouthy's family had a pretty extensive library themselves as they were all a bunch of avid readers. Street Smart owned a large collection of enchanted comic books he let the younger ones play in as foals. He also had a lot of regular comics he let the younger ones read (dispite them costing thousands of bits each). There weren't many books Smart Mouth hadn't read or played in (when the option was offered).

Mouthy actually damaged his eyes by reading in the dark so much as a foal. He had big round glasses on his face now and was practically blind without them. It didn't help that he used to cheat on his eye exams as a foal so he wouldn't have to wear glasses. When called into the eye doctor's office he'd get as close as he could to the little poster on the wall with the letters. He knew he had to read from it so he would memorize it before the doc would come in.

It really REALLY upset his dad when he figured out that's what he was doing. The colt's poor little mutt butt was still cursing the hybrid's foolishness.

"Mouthy, MOUTHY,"

The Hanyou blinked and looked off at his friend.

"You drifted off into your own little world again," Rumble pouted.

"S-sorry," Mouthy blushed and stretched of his wings. He hopped off the bed and glided to the floor, "I guess we could find a book to play in," stuffing his phone into his utility belt.

They were supposed to wear their uniforms on at all times, just in case. They could take the armor off well not on duty but they had to wear the jump suit at all times. They had lots of extra jump suits to change into every day. They were allowed a few personal accessories with them but the uniform was a must.

Rumble grinned, "Great!" and began prancing out of the colts' quarters.

To save on space the Deck Hooves doubled up in family quarters. That meant 2 to a room and 4 total to a quarters. Thankfully they got to request their roommates.

The Princess must be worried as she insisted the Deck Hooves be separated by gender. The colts quarters were all grouped together on the other side of the ship from the fillies with the higher ranking officers in between. Deck Hooves weren't even allowed near the other gender's quarters. It was one of the offenses that could result in a tanning. The older ponies in between were supposed to make sure they "didn't get up to mischief".

Just cuz they were hormonal 20 somethings didn't mean the fillies would jump the colts first chance they got or anything. They were responsible adults, trusted with representing the best of Equestria to the greater galaxy. True they were Apprentices, and were being treated like Apprentices would be in any other job, but this wasn't any other job. They had a lot more responsibility and had to go through 2 years worth of training just to qualify for the apprenticeship. They should be allowed coed dorms!

"You're doing it again," Rumble informed.

"S-sorry," Mouthy blushed. He was a bit autistic so it was easy for him to get lost in his own head. True he was on the more functional side of the Spectrum but he was still a bit socially ackward and... well... oblivious.

"No worries," Rumble assured then whinnied excitedly, "I hope they have Power Ponies comics! Hey! We should see if Button Mash and Pipsqueak want to play with us. They should be getting off their shift now!" Rumble grinned excited at the names of their roommates.

Like Mouthy himself, Rumble, Pipsqueak, and Button Mash were rogues.

They were so good at sneaking they could blend into the background to be almost invisible, as well as travel through shadows themselves. They were even born with gymnast level agility and flexibility. Which made them naturally better at archery, firearms, and duel welding weapons. A rogue could channel their adrenalin, through their magic, to become even faster and more agile. Even think faster well in that state and jump long distance. Not over a Skyscraper or anything, but between tall buildings? No problem.

The boys had other powers to, both from their races and their class Archetypes, but sneakiness and agility powers were their primary class.

The four boys had trained together, been in the same dorm at Doctor Whooves' school, on account of sharing the same primary class.

They were best friends. Although the other boys could get frustrated with Smart Mouth's pacing and scatter brain. He never felt anything but a loving friendship from them.

Button and Smart Mouth had been dating since they were foals and now they shared a room.

It might be weird that Mouthy would be complaining about Coed dorms when he was gay but it was the principal of the thing.

The Princess didn't seem to care about the Deck Hoof colts hooking up with each other... probably because old Mare's got all weird and embarrassing whenever Stallions coupled... more realistically it was probably because the Princess didn't want to run the risk of the Deck Hooves having babies onboard. True some of the crew had children with them but apprentices were much to young to handle such things.

Smart Mouth and Button Mash had always had an open relationship. They slept around but always came back to each other. This was actually pretty common as Equestria was in an age of "free love" where monogamy was thought of as... silly.

Real relationships weren't based on sex but an emotional connection. The idea that you could have causal sex with your friends helped this as it made special someponies focus more on emotionally bonding. Sex you could get from anywhere but a special somepony was somepony you were deeply connected to on much more important things.

It was foalhood crushes often evolved into stable long term relationships in Equestria. It's why Button and Mouthy still loved each other so much. Sex was insignificant to their relationship.

Prince Spike was also part of their little clique in school, despite not being in their dorm, and continued to hang out with them after graduation. Spike didn't have any natural classes but some could be taught. The Doctor trained the hatching as a Knight, as the boy once fantasized, as well as trained his natural dragon magic. Twilight didn't know much about how to teach Spike how to control his Dragon magic so Doctor Whooves volunteered to do it.

Dragon magic was a bit like Unicorn or Wizard magic as you could use any style by channeling it through a focus. However Dragons were literally the living manifestation of magic. Their bodies were magic, making their whole body act as a focus. This let them channel spells through touch spells, as well as different fire breath powers.

Mouthy nodded to himself as his mind turned to Spike for a moment. It might have seem random but their was a purpose to his abstract thinking patterns, "Do you think the Princess will let Spike out of their quarters long enough to have some fun?"

"I don't know," Rumble thought out loud, "Wouldn't hurt to ask but Spike's a Prince. He's always had a lot more responsibility then either of us,"

"I'm sure I could convince her," Mouthy insisted.

Rumble nodded, "Then you run off to find Spike and I'll get the others. We'll met up in the library,"

Mouthy forced a grin as his chest started to get tight. Truthfully he didn't like the idea of splitting up but still nodded his head with a "Sure". His friends tried not to push him into doing anything too extreme but sometimes they forgot that little simple things everypony did could freak him out to.

They parted ways and Mouthy made his way to the Princesses quarters. Knocking on her door he heard a distinct, "Come in."

Trotting inside he looked around the Royal accommodations. Honestly it wasn't much. It looked exactly like the family quarters; 2 bedrooms on either side of a hallway leading to the living room behind it. The back wall of the living room having a bathroom and walk in closet along with a large window to get a good view of the stairs. A digital projector connected to the computer network and controlled through a phone was on the ceiling and there was even a white screen you could pull down to project things on.

This meant that even though he was a Deck Hoof, Spike, being the Princess' ward, got his own room. Mouthy was a little jealous but honestly it was kinda cool to share a quarters with most of his best friends like he did back in school.

The Princess was busy going over some Scrolls at her deck in the living room well Spike was busy checking things off.

"Hum... Twilight?" Mouthy tried to get her attention, and knowing how much the Princess hated her title. She was a much more informal Princess them most.

"Sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment," still she put her scrolls down and walked over, "What do you need?"

"Well we're all off duty right now and were hoping Spike could join us," Mouthy tried.

Twilight looked forlorn, "Sorry, but as I said, we're a bit busy,"

"Still, the reason you have a whole deck dedicated to recreation is because you knew it be good for moral. Spike really shouldn't be spending his off duty hours helping keep up with your schedule. He'll go nuts. He needs some off time to,"

The Princess looked thoughtful, "I suppose your right," she looked over at Spike, "Go enjoy yourself with your friends. I can manage this by myself,"

Spike looked weary, "You sure?"

"Absolutely, go have fun,"

Spike smiled, "Thanks Twilight!" before running off with the Hanyou.

Twilight smiled as she got back to work.

###

Doctor Whooves trotted about the deck, doing his first officer duties by over seeing the crew manage the enchantments and equipment.

He managed to reverse engineer many of the scientific principles presented in the Ferengi ship and duplicate them through enchantments which where added to the ship last minute.

The Replicator had helped a lot. Although... many of the crew had been seeing the Doctor about the fact they weren't... pooping.

He had to have a ship wide meeting to explain that food made through Replicators was fully absorbed by the body with no waste product. It was completely healthy with nothing the body didn't need. Because of this they would need enemas once a moon to keep their tubes healthy since they weren't in use. It had been a very embarrassing talk for everyone. It didn't help that the foals on board kept giggling well occasionally exclaiming "Gross!"

"Doc!"

Doctor Whooves looked over and smiled seeing one of his students, a Changling by the name of Sketchy. He was an empath, able to sense and control emotions. A useful skill for a Changling, no?

The Changeling Apprentice was currently being a good Deck Hoof and was busying himself by scrubbing the floor to get rid of the excess magical residue that built up due to all the permanent enchantments onboard... a floor the Doctor was currently walking on.

"Oh dear! SORRY!" The Doctor quickly galloped away from the wet floor, "keep up the good work!"

The Changeling rolled his eyes and continued to scrub, getting lots of help cleaning the ship from the other Deck Hooves.

Firebrand grinned as the Doctor found his way to the helm, "Smooth,"

"Don't get snarky with me colt," The Doctor huffed.

"That's 'Captain Colt'," Firebrand stood tall and proud.

The Helms Pony rolled her eyes, "Captain Colt is right," Teased Gilda the Griffin, "If there was any justice in this world, you'd be mopping up the floor with the rest of the foals,"

Firebrand glared, "Hey I earned my spot as Captain! I worked my flank off to get here!"

Gilda scoffed, "Woh now Captain Colt, no need for a tantrum,"

"T-TANTRUM!" Firebrand roared, "I DON'T HAVE TANTRUMS!"

Doctor Whooves rolled his eyes and snapped, "That's enough. The last thing the crew needs is to see the ranking officers bickering,"

The Hippogriff, "Yeah sorry Doc, we all know who is really in charge,"

The Doctor glared, "Well I appreciate the sentiment I have no desire for such admiration. Firebrand is your Captain, despite his age, and you will treat him with the respect that title deserves,"

Gilda nodded but obviously didn't believe it, nor was she the only one who felt that way. Firebrand wasn't even old enough to be out of an Apprenticeship yet he was given the privilege of being Captain of the first ever space fairing ship! Most of the crew assumed it was just honorary and Clockwork was really in charge.

Although most of the crew thought that Gilda was the only one willing to actually voice her concerns to the colt's face. Most of the crew just talked about it behind his back.

"Captain," Clockwork eyed his former student disapprovingly, "If I may speak with you in your office for a moment,"

Firebrand's ears pinned, looking the perfect image of a foal who knew he was about to be on the receiving end of a harsh tongue lashing. He tried to hold himself with dignity but all the crew saw was a child following his elder to his room.

Once they were gone from sight a voice called, "You being a jerk again Gilda?"

The Griffin looked over as her friend Rainbow Dash flew down from the crows nest.

Gilda rolled her eyes, "Come on Dashie you know the colt is just here to look good on the posters,"

Dash glared, "He's doing the best he can. Give the foal a break,"

"SEE!" Gilda glared, "Even you admit he's just a foal,"

RD blushed, "That's not what I meant,"

"He's only 27 for Buck sake!" Gilda exclaimed, "They passed up legitimately qualified ponies for that little colt to smile at the camera as we sailed away,"

"Look," Dash sighed, "I know he's a bit young but he's a brilliant strategist. I got to see him first hoof during several of the monster attacks these past few years. Attacks where not a single resident of Ponyville died! Not one since he got promoted to commanding officer,"

"Then make him a tactical officer! Place him in charge of the cannons or something. Heck I'll even admit you could probably skip right over his apprenticeship as a Deck Hoof, but to put him on the Senior Staff? Let alone make him CAPTAIN!? RD it's an insult to every single being in the Equestrian fleet. You could have gotten any Captain from the Navy and put them on this boat and they'd be a MILLION times more qualified then that colt,"

"That's enough," Dash glared, "Twilight believes in him and that's all that matters,"

Gilda rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure Dashie,"

###

"Shut the door," Clockwork ordered and Firebrand quickly did so.

The young Captain gulped once they were sealed off from the rest of the crew, "You're not going to whack me are you?" he tried to joke, unfortunately that only seemed to irritate the Doctor more.

"You're not a Deck Hoof, nor an apprentice, so you shouldn't expect to be punished like one," The Doctor scolded.

"I was only joking,"

"You are the CAPTAIN. The sole reason I brought you back here is because, as first officer, it is my JOB to tell you when you are being an idiot," The Doctor glared, "You worked hard to reach this point but you aren't done yet. You have to earn the respect of the crew. They won't just give it to you because of your title. You have to prove your WORTHY of that title. This would be the same if you were a 300 year old war hero or a wet behind the ears colt!

"Acting like a prepubescent FOAL is not the way to do that. You can't just scream impudently at the crew. You have to carry yourselves with dignity and respect!"

Firebrand hung his head, "Sorry..." despite what the Doctor was saying he felt like a chastised foal. It didn't help that the Doctor was a foalhood authority figure who scolded him frequently during his school days and even had to whack his backside on occasion. He hated disappointing the Stallion.

The Doctor sighed, "What the crew sees right now is a figure head. Someone to look good on the recruitment posters for future ships. They need to see you as the man I know you are,"

Firebrand nodded. The Doctor got his words mixed up some times. He meant "Stallion" just now... would probably get mad if the flame pony pointed that out.

"You've accomplished a lot in your young life but this. This is literally the makings of history. Generations to come will always remember YOU were the first Captain onboard a Space fairing ship. The crew is looking you up and down and wondering if you're really worthy of that and what you just showed them by yelling at that Griffin is a child who can't control his temper or take criticism. You need to be so much more then that,"

"She was out of line!"

"Yes she was but you should have acted like a Captain and called her out on her insubordination. Not throw a tantrum about not throwing tantrums,"

Firebrand blushed, had he really done that?

"Like it or not your age plays a factor in how the crew perceive you. You need to be mature and not live down to their expectations,"

"I'll do better," Firebrand promised.

The Doctor just sighed, "I hope you do. You're exactly the kind of Captain this crew needs but you need to show them that. Not just through your words but your actions, Understand?"

"Yes sir,"

The Doctor groaned, "And you need to stop looking at me like that. I'm not in charge here, you are. My job is to help you and tell you my opinion but you shouldn't take it as gossip. You're the Captain. Your decisions are what matters here most,"

"So ignore everything you just told me, got it," Firebrand snarked and the Doctor just rolled his eyes at him.