"Emergency stop required." Twilight appeared even as the words got out. "Critical fault detected in left cell." On the main screen, sharing space with the emergency red colors, the red engine was displayed with a few large Xs crossing through it. "Repairs are required immediately. Attempting to move risks total ship failure. Under emergency powers, stopping ship."

It was one of the few times she had the power to overrule a living human. With her horn glowing, the ship jolted softly. It slid out of hyperspace and slowed to a stop in an instant.

Captain Roger rose to his feet. "Where are we?" He waved a hand in the air. "Never mind that. Any immediate danger?"

Twilight's gaze turned to him. "Fortunately, we stopped before any additional damage became apparent. I suggest a complete repair before we proceed, Captain."

The other humans looked as stunned as their captain. Casey took charge of her station. "What about the ESD on the other engine? We have plenty of power, right?"

Twilight nodded at that. "We do, but the strain of running on one engine could cause it to fail too. The odds are far superior if we stop for repairs and continue with both engines."

Roger sat back down with a nod. "Do it. Get a team ready." He groaned softly as he tapped at the controls of his chair. "Thank you, Twilight. This could have been much worse. In fact, it almost was."

Twilight beamed with delight. "It is my pleasure to serve the crew and the ship." She glanced about nervously. "This included both. I advise caution. Some harmful particles may be leaking due to the damage."

Casey raised her eyebrows at that. "Oh? We'll wear suits then."

Rainbow appeared on the screen. "Hey! Can I help? Sounds like a good reason to want a robot around, and I want to be physical a while. Stretching these wings!" She flapped them a few times for emphasis.

Roger looked up at Rainbow. "I suppose there's no reason not to. Try not to get in the way."

"Please!" Rainbow waved the idea away. "I'll be the top repair crew, watch me." She vanished, off to the robot bay.

Roger glanced to Casey. "Can we trust them?"

Casey chuckled softly. "Honestly? Best of luck to her." He pressed a few buttons at his armrest. "Let's get the rest of the repair staff on the task. Sooner we're fixed, the better. We've got people waiting on us."

It took a few hours of careful work to locate and secure the breach. Most of the ponies watched in curiosity. Twilight used her magic to pull the various parts into place, helped by Rainbow Dash, who was quite capable of using her mechanical form's power. The ship had to wait in place until then.

Ozzie circled around Fluttershy, warbling and chirping. She was busy putting a little splint on a harmed creature from the sudden stop they had been forced to perform. She managed to smile for Ozzie, even as she gently worked. "It's okay, I'm almost done."

He crept up closer, nudging at her hoof as he trilled. His eyes went to the creature, watching it be tended to with curious eyes.

With a sudden scamper, he was lost to sight, until a canine woof came from the kennels, and some sounds of animal interaction.

Fluttershy raised an ear curiously, but finished the splint first. "There you go." She set the now-mended creature back into its pen. "Ozzie, could you stop bothering them? They're recovering."

Ozzie howled like a wolf, but warbled like a bird.

Fluttershy came trotting in. "They're not ready to play—" She skidded to a halt, eyes wide with the view before her. "Oh my."

Ozzie held his arms out at the puppies, in a gesture of confusion. There were two little ones that had gotten loose, and now they had piled on top of Ozzie. Ozzie, meanwhile, was petting them and singing out as if to say he loved them too. Their mother was on her side, immobile with her own injury.

"You're playing mom." Fluttershy's expression lightened. "Such a good boy you are." She clapped her hooves together softly. "Thank you so much for helping them."

Ozzie gazed up, looking past Fluttershy. Instead, he rose to his feet and staggered over, talons clicking as he wobbled over to Fluttershy. Soon both he and the puppies were nuzzling at her with a mixture of puppy yelps and Ozzie's warbling cries.

Fluttershy shuddered in delight. "Oh, I love you too. All of you." She glanced at the mother. "I hope you can get better soon. I'll come back to check on you later." She returned the gentle nuzzles to each of them. "Now, as much as you're having fun with uncle Ozzie, I have to take him out." She gently separated the puppies from Ozzie. "We'll be back. You can play later."

Ozzie hesitated a few moments, He nipped at Fluttershy, then dashed over to the mother dog, directing his beak at her.

Fluttershy approached with confusion. "What is it?"

Ozzie just opened and closed his beak again. He stepped closer and poked the mother dog with his beak again.

Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion. "Do you need me to help her too?" She settled in and examined the mother dog closely, using the sensors the ship had in addition. "Oh." She inclined her head. "I didn't notice that before." She leaned closer. "Would you like to do something to help her, Ozzie?"

He cried out sharply and repeatedly, giving the impression he was both desperate to help and deeply worried for the canine's health.

Fluttershy gently pushed him back with a wing. "I'm on the case. Poor thing. Your leg might have healed improperly if Ozzie hadn't noticed." She glanced up at Ozzie. "Good boy. We'll fix her leg."

Ozzie seemed pleased. Perhaps at the praise, or that the dog was being treated again. With a happy little chirp, he stepped out of the kennel and settled with eyes set on it, as if waiting for Fluttershy.

With some tender care, she removed the original splint, then placed a new one in place, making sure it was all nice and secure. "There we go. You're good too, staying still for me like that." She pet the recovering dog with a wing. "Stay still a little and let that heal." She returned her attention to Ozzie. "Did you get distracted?"

Ozzie wasted no time and immediately ran towards the nearest door. He hopped up to hit the button to open it. He was gone a moment later.

Fluttershy inclined her head. "Hm. That door is secure enough for most critters." She trotted after him with a sigh. "Come on, let's catch up before he gets into more trouble."

She trotted swiftly after Ozzie. Even at his top speed, Ozzie was slower than Fluttershy when she had her hooves out. A few turns and one elevator ride later, they were in the robot bay. "What are you doing in here?" Fluttershy looked around nervously. "This isn't where you belong."

But Ozzie paid her little mind, waddling up to one of the robots and pecking it with determination. He circled it, warbling loudly as he checked it out.

Fluttershy simply stood beside him. "I'm not sure what you're doing, but I trust you. We just have to be quick, okay?"

The eyes of the robot suddenly came alive, holographic images creating pony eyes that opened and looked around."What the?" That was Rainbow's voice. "Who's poking at my shell?"

Ozzie let out a triumphant cry, bouncing up into her view.

"Ozzie!" The rest of Rainbow appeared as she fully inhabited the shell and gathered Ozzie up for a hug. "How'd you even know that was my robot?! You silly thing! Were you checking in on me? You are just the cutest!" She nuzzled at him with delight.

Fluttershy peered at Rainbow with a chuckle. "Um, I didn't even notice which robot was yours, and Ozzie couldn't have known, I think?"

Despite that, Ozzie joyfully snuggled against Rainbow, seemingly pleased with his decisions. He slipped to the ground and hopped up and down at her before pointing off and waddling away.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh?" She looked back at Fluttershy. "Guess he wants us to follow him?" She laughed as she moved to follow after Ozzie. "Where are you leading us, Boy?"

Fluttershy walked after both of them. "Are you sure he knows what he's doing? We shouldn't wander around without a reason."

Ozzie was a critter with a purpose, only pausing to sniff the air a moment or two. It found a restroom and waved at them with a wing before vanishing inside.

Rainbow laughed at that. "A toilet break? Well, why didn't you say so?" She poked her head in. "Good boy! You did that without me showing you at all." She turned back to Fluttershy. "Ozzie is officially house-broken."

Fluttershy clapped with approval. "Yay." She looked back to Ozzie. "Quite accomplished, young one. I am proud of you."

Ozzie spread his wings as he wandered out of the bathroom, boasting with pride as he showed off for his friends. He was a clean bird, with clean habits.

Rainbow grabbed up Ozzie for renewed hugs. "I knew you had it in you, or out of you, if you think about it." She let him flutter to the ground. "One thing." She turned back to Fluttershy. "I'm no expert, but he's way smarter than an earth critter. He's giving some Equestrian critters a run for their bits."

Fluttershy nearly reached with a wing to cover her mouth. "You have a point. He does seem to understand us, more every time I think about it."

Ozzie let out his strange song in reply to being talked about, as if he knew that was happening. It wasn't too far from the truth. He cooed up at Rainbow Dash, but the unspoken bond he seemed to have with her remained. Ozzie considered Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy equally his own friends, but it was Rainbow who taught him to be house-broken. He let out a happy caw at her.

"Yeah, I was pretty proud when I learned a trick." She chuckled, imagining the last one. It was more than being potty trained. "You soak it up." She ruffled his head, over the tuft of pink feathers there that broke up his generally yellow-feathered form.

Fluttershy studied Ozzie closely. "This is troubling, in a way." She lowered herself to the ground, daintily, careful of her wings. "What kind of creature would have the intelligence to train themselves? Maybe that theory was, um, right?" She inclined her head at Ozzie. "Did your people used to own that world? Did you domesticate yourself?"

Far too complex a subject for Ozzie, he just chirped at her. He wandered off again, determined to get where he was going. The door opened for him as he arrived at the medical wing, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash coming up behind him. "Okay, why are we here?" Rainbow looked around the room. "Hungry?"

Ozzie squawked as he wandered up to a replicator and began hopping up until it picked up on the motion and its display turned on. "Hello, what would you like?"

Ozzie was slowly entering in their command, one little peck or wing-strike at a time. It was a command he knew well, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind what he was after.

"Caw caw." He sang out as his meal popped out of the replicator. Unfortunately, the tray it had to collect from was far too high and recessed for them to reach. Rainbow came up and grabbed it with her higher hoof. "Here ya go." She lowered the tray to the floor. "Fluttershy, seriously." She gestured at Ozzie as he feasted. "Earth birds don't act like this."

Fluttershy found another replicator. "Two carrots, please."

The replicator cheerfully replied, "Preparing." And in a moment, two carrots dropped down onto the tray.

Fluttershy took one to nibble as she considered Ozzie. "You're right. They aren't this smart. Even ones that are kept, they usually only learn tricks and responses. Ozzie has empathy, and reasoning abilities. That's very different." She nickered softly. "Maybe we should, um." She bit into her carrot daintily. "Maybe we shouldn't treat him as a critter?"

Rainbow came up beside her with a sigh. "Well, yeah. He's clearly something else. I can't see how the crew could keep using him as a pet." She glanced at Ozzie as he finished off his meal. "I don't know how much he'll learn, in the end, but even a little kid deserves to be treated like a, you know, person. Like a pony, or a human, or a dragon, right?"

Ozzie reached up and pulled down on Rainbow's head for a good-natured nuzzle. She burst into laughter at the roughhousing, returning the nuzzle and almost wrestling with him as they both fell over to the ground.

Fluttershy smiled at the playing. "He's still a child. We have to take care of him, critter or creature."

Rainbow rose to her hooves and rolled her eyes. "No kidding." She sighed softly as she watched Ozzie play on his own. "It's too bad that he's the only one of his kind around."

Author's Note

Even spaceships need a break once in a while.

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