Ungula

A wrench banged against a pipe.

It was joined by several more, banging rhythmically.

"Pinkie, are you gonna help me fix this conduit, or are ya gonna play the drums?"

"Can't a mare do both?"

Each member of the ESS Fire of Friendship's small crew was trained for at least two roles, and each role was shared by at least two ponies. This was according to the philosophy that a burden shared is a burden halved.

Currently, Applejack was finding Pinkie Pie to instead be an additional burden to manage.

"Well you can do both if ya want, but it's gonna be a mite hard to play the drums once all the air leaks out."

This was a bit less dire than one may initially assume. Everyone aboard the ESS Fire of Friendship was equipped with an environmental collar, a magical device that allowed one to survive in a vacuum for… well, a while. They had plenty of time.

The ship's hydroponic garden did not have an environmental collar, and, in fact, would likely not fare particularly well in a vacuum. Now, a ship this size could have easily made do with shelf-stable foods replenished at each port. But Applejack was a farmpony, and she'd be darned if she let her friends subsist on prepackaged rations when she could provide them with fresh produce.

This would have been a mere inconvenience that forced them to fall back on less palatable fare taken from storage, but unfortunately, Applejack had been a bit too prideful and insisted that they wouldn't need anything like that. That the shipboard garden she tended alongside Fluttershy would be all they needed.

And so, if all the air leaked out and the garden failed, they would be left with nothing but sugar, flour, and other such staples, suitable mainly for baked goods. Which Pinkie Pie had no qualms about eating for every meal.

Hence why, in the time taken to explain this, Pinkie Pie had not, in fact, taken action to repair the many leaks, and had instead started turning random valves and saying "I wonder what this does!"

She knew what this does. Applejack was fully aware that Pinkie Pie knew ESS Fire of Friendship's systems better than she did. She'd invented half of them.

Some time later, Applejack concluded that Pinkie Pie simply enjoyed being a bit of a pest. She was quite done with it, and believed she had found the perfect angle of attack.

"Look, Pinkie, if we lose all but the baked goods, we'll have to detour to Bucephalus on the way home to resupply."

It was not a terribly long journey back to Equus. The Fire of Friendship was quite fast. However, as inherently magical beings, equine metabolisms were also quite fast, and they went through quite a bit more food than you might think.

"Oh, come oooon Jackie, cupcakes for dinner never hurt anypony~"

Baked goods, consisting mostly of sugar and carbohydrates, were a major part of the equine diet. They were not, however, supposed to be the only part.

"Ahm sure there's somepony back on Equus with a birthday the delay'd make us miss."

This gave Pinkie pause, but only for a moment. She pulled a datapad from her mane, tapping the calendar icon with her nose, and shook her head. "Nope! I put all their gifts in place before we left!"

Applejack sighed. Deeply.

"Alright sugarcube, ya leave me no choice. Ah didn't wanna do this. This makes me just as hungry as it does you, y'hear?"

Pinkie had looked a bit concerned for most of that, switching over fully to confusion at the end.

"Apple pie. Blueberry muffins. Peach cobbler. Cherry jam. Banana cream pie. Lemon meringue pie. Key lime pie. Buckin…. rhubarb pie. Whole lotta pies. Apple turnover. Apple dumplin. Apple fritter. Apple–"

"Ack okay okay you win!" Pinkie was now drooling, and thoroughly motivated by the thought of all the baked goods that couldn't be made without the garden.

Applejack nodded with satisfaction, only for her smug look to fade when Pinkie turned one final valve and said "okay, done!"

Pinkie Pie knew ESS Fire of Friendship's systems better than she did. She had closed off every valve leading to the damaged sections and redirected the flow through intact channels, all while appearing to goof off.

Yes, Applejack concluded, Pinkie Pie enjoyed being a bit of a pest.