“You made the right choice, Twilight. I ain’t never went and did nothin’ as unprepared as we were and found it went right.”

Twilight stood on the bridge of the Equinox, where a transparent aluminum window looked out on the vast expanse of space in all directions. There was no denying that the Equestrian engineers had gone for vanity here, with all the structural reinforcement required to install a window this large. She could see its many transparent facets, each one banded with thin metallic struts. Yet if they weren’t decelerating, that window would’ve been just another wall. There was much to respect in the work that had gotten her here.

“Maybe I did,” Twilight said, though from her tone there would be no hiding just how likely she thought that was. “I know it’s the smart move, making sure we’re prepared. We don’t have to risk Proximus B not having everything we would need to make it home.”

She walked over to one of the drive consoles, sighing as she read its flickering display. “Data not available,” said the green on green, the lines of the Equinox’s projected flight referenced with basic visual sensors only.

“Seems like a shame we’re not… sending something back from here.” She pointed out the window with her horn. “We did it. Forty years of deep space, and we did it. Sent a pony to another star. When word gets back… this will only be the first of many. There might be thousands of Equestrias one day, maybe more. All those little stars could have ponies living around them.”

“We’ll tell ‘em,” Applejack said. Her friend had to use mechanical crutches to get around now, wobbling whenever she walked and occasionally hacking up lungfuls of pus-filled phlegm. “My instinct was right about the engines too, by the way. We already vented… maybe a third of our remain’ reaction mass. We’d be dryer than an Appleloosa summer by the time we got anywhere.”

“I hope you didn’t give Spike a hard time about it,” Twilight said, finally turning from the console. “He did tremendous work getting us this far. No pony could’ve gone this long alone without losing their minds completely. I’ve already included a write-up for our report.”

“I didn’t.” Applejack hurried over, or as close as she could. She wobbled and rocked on her crutches, and nearly fell over at one point. Twilight watched her with confusion, and couldn’t have said what she was intending—until she started whispering. “Sugarcu—Captain, I don’t mean to be the one to give you bad news, but I ain’t fully sure he’s as sane as you think. All that time alone… it don’t do a body good.”

“What makes you say that?” She didn’t bother whispering. Spike was asleep now, after days straight helping Applejack with the engines. There was no chance of him overhearing their conversation. “Applejack, we’re still flying. I don’t know that an insane pony could keep us together.”

“Not insane,” Applejack replied, stubbornly whispering even when Twilight didn’t. “That’s not… look, you ain’t seen the ship like I can see it. You should…” She got even quieter. “There’s something you should see. I didn’t really get a good look, seeing as I’d need to force the door, and then he’d know. But your captain’s key should get you in and out without him ever knowin’.”

Twilight’s eyebrows went up. “That’s… strange advice coming from you, Applejack. Are you saying… Spike is keeping something secret, and I should find it without telling him?”

“Yeah,” Applejack said. “Listen, maybe it’s nothin,’ I dunno. That’s why Equestria fixes to give us a captain like you, instead a’ one who knows her tail from a ram scoop. Er… no offence by that, Captain.” She looked away, backing up a few steps and wobbling on her crutches again. “I don’t mean…”

“I know,” Twilight said. It still stung her pride a little—she’d gotten the mission this far, hadn’t she? It wasn’t right of Applejack to hold old grudges. Just because she was spaceborn, and Twilight was Equestrian Navy. “What did you see, exactly. Something he was doing? Because… I tested Spike quite thoroughly. Same psychological evaluation I performed on you, actually. It’s very hard to fool those spells. Only a master unicorn should be able to. He’s sane, Applejack. As difficult as that is for us to understand. Dragon minds just don’t work the same way.”

Applejack waved a hoof dismissively. “Whatever you say, Captain.” She turned away, a rigid formality returning to her voice. “I got my work cut out for me anyway. If I don’t get the eye up before we get near the asteroid belt, we’ll be takin’ the chance of accidents much too high.”

“Applejack—”

She stopped in the doorway. “If you change yer mind about trustin’ me, make your way down to deep storage. Deck E, I think.”

“By the colonial supplies?” Twilight’s eyebrows went up. “That’s not supposed to be unsealed unless we—” But Applejack was already gone. A few seconds later, she could hear the lift rattling down its track.

Twilight had to wait for it, several whole minutes to herself to think. But considering the trip to Proximus C would take months, she had a few moments.

Twilight rode down to deep storage. She could feel the engines pushing on her, as she reached those parts of the ship that weren’t meant for frequent pony habitation. But dragons do just fine in higher gravity.

There was a tiny window on the storage room, and Twilight could see through it what Applejack had meant. Their colonial supplies—tents, water purifiers, dried food—it looked as though the entire room had been torn apart. Crates were opened, their contents dissected and recombined in strange ways. Was some of that machinery pointed at the door?

She was the captain, there wasn’t anypony else to help with discipline. She had to act.

- Confront Spike. He should’ve known every supply stored on the Equinox might be life and death. What he did in there better have a good explanation.

- Go in and investigate first. Could Spike have done all that on his own?

- Help Applejack with repairs instead. What Spike did to get through the long journey doesn’t matter to me now, surviving to complete our mission does. We can worry about our camping supplies when we need to go camping.

(Certainty 150 required)

Author's Notes:

https://www.strawpoll.me/16661588/r