It was late night on the bridge when the gate fired up once more. Twilight was resting peacefully in her captain's chair, nodding away as she worked, catching naps. A few minutes of sleep and several of wakefulness. Not perfect, but she'd find time to recover her sleep cycle.

While she was napping, another bridge offer tapped Harriet on the shoulder with their hoof. "Excuse me?" Her voice was soft, cautious.

Harriet opened one eye to look up. "Oh, hey, Zecora." She blinked away a yawn. "It's late. Go ahead and retire."

"On a ship and on a bridge, there must always be someone in charge." She nodded, pleased with her rhyme. "We are in space, there can't be true night. Besides, I already slept, up now quite bright."

Harriet rubbed at her eyes and glanced to one of the monitors, seeing the hours. She stretched out and nodded in agreement. "Sleep does sound good, especially if you're already rested and eager to take over."

Zecora shook her head. "I will do that, to give you your space. But if you would, from the army, what gave chase?" Her eyes grew distant. "Did something happen to make you run? To retire to a civilian crew and call it done."

Harriet moved aside slowly. "I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"

"I understand that," Zecora replied gently. "Then go, and sleep like a cat."

Harriet gave a grim smile. "Fine, good night." She headed for her quarters.

Once Harriet was out of the room, Zecora called out in a quiet whisper. "Captain?" But Twilight was sunk in her slumber.

After checking that everyone else had cleared out for the night shift change, Zecora decided to have a chat. "Princess Cadance," she addressed the air. "Please do not be alarmed, as I'm not truly harmed." She tapped her hooves together. "We seek the other pony folk. We've found a few, it is no joke." She bowed her head respectfully to the AI behind her. "Thank you for your assistance in this noble task."

Cadance appeared behind Zecora. "I did hear about that. It's nice to have them around, but you don't have to pray to me like a god. I'm just a pony, currently cosplaying as a ship."

"Even if you say that's true, my actions remain real. If you feel like assisting me, I would happily kneel." She gestured with both front hooves at Twilight. "So deep asleep, a well earned break. Can you assist me without waking the princess here, to make coffee, or tea, or shake?" Zecora made the last one a joke as she tried not to laugh. "Whatever is fine. Something soothing."

Cadance gestured and a cup floated up on a platter. "That was easy to make." She willed it over to Zecora, horn glowing. "You could have ordered any little drink for yourself. You just wanted to see me do it, didn't you?"

Zecora laughed lightly. "As fun as it would be, that isn't why. I have been having the oddest dreams. In order to sleep better, I'd rather be tired and dry."

Cadance hugged Zecora from behind gently. "Finish this session, then retire to bed. I may not be the doctor of the ship, but I can still suggest you take some time off until you feel better. Not a soul on this ship wants to see you get overworked."

Zecora rubbed behind her head with a small smile. "It sounds delightful. As soon as dawn is here, I shall join my peers." She sipped at her tea. "Do you mind if I speak of my past year?"

Cadance inclined her head, sinking back to her haunches. "Go ahead. It sounds like you have something on your mind."

Zecora closed her eyes tightly as she searched her memory. "One year ago today, I joined the space team. I wanted to leave the world behind, to regain lost steam." She waved a hoof, remembering that time. "A dark black object shot past me, as a great chase did commence. I saw a glimpse, a mere glance, as my foe flew away without any chance."

Cadance was staring. "Of what?"

Zecora lifted her shoulders in a great shrug, resuming her work without another word.

***

Pinkie Pie rushed into the engineering section, nearly skidding across the floor. She came to a stop at a display as Spike pointed at it. "Hey, guys! Spike says he has news for us!"

Spike rolled his eyes, smiling warmly at his friend. "Yeah, yeah." He sat tall, forelegs crossed before him. "I've pulled enough data out to know what happened." He pressed a button on his remote, starting a video.

On it, ponies were busily at work when one of them rubbed at their neck fitfully, then another. "This is a speed shot," warned Spike. "Over several days."

A third fell to her knees in pain before she stumbled towards the camera. She ripped off her suit and revealed her body. All along it, flesh was rapidly dissolving off her bones, leaving a foaming residue all along them as they melted, first to bloody mush, then green foam. In less than ten seconds, most of her flesh was gone her body transforming into a new, green form, then more recognizable shapes. Soon, her organs dissolved away to become leaves. Pinkie covered her mouth with her hooves, horrified. When the last bit was gone, there was only a tree where the pony had once stood.

Rainbow put a hoof behind her head. "Um. You're not going to blame me for this, are you?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "The trees you were fighting with were not ponies. They were their own thing, that used ponies as a pitstop, you know, on their life journey." He clicked the remote and pointed at the next picture, a tree. "Those trees used that seed vessel as their garden, killing everything inside. I think you burning them down was actually mercy. At least if they had minds? I wouldn't want to spend eternity as a tree. Unless you're Tree Hugger, I guess. Or Fluttershy? Anyway, point is, you didn't hurt anypony."

Rainbow let out a relieved sigh. "Still, awful way to go."

"Awful indeed." Twilight looked away, trying to blink away the sight. "Spike, you said you have enough to know what happened? Did you pull up any syncs? Was there anything else we can use?"

"Oh, I have a list." That list popped on the screen. Mayor Mare, Sweetie Belle, Big Mac, and Breaburn were listed. "There you go."

Pinkie cheered, "Oh yay! Rarity's sister and AJ's brother both! This is the best!"

Twilight picked a spot on the display. "Oh dear, I had a feeling we'd have to face this. Sweetie Belle and Big Mac both exist as virtual copies." She cringed. "That I and my friends had made. How did that meeting go?"

Rainbow groaned, "Terrible, yeah." She flumped onto the deck, shaking her head. "They were so upset by it. Sweetie Belle ran off, crying."

"Can you blame her?" Twilight sank, hoof to her forehead. "Please inform her that I am available if she wants to yell at me personally for doing this." She pushed up her glasses and shook her head, hair ruffling against her shoulders. "How did Big Mac take it?"

"He kinda went blank faced, like he didn't want to talk about it." Rainbow held up her hooves, shrugging with every part of her body. "But I have an idea! Hear me out." She turned to Pinkie. "You've worked morale officer before. I trust in your ability to get those two back on track.

Pinkie blinked, pointing at herself. "Me? Helping ponies like that? Count me in!" She bounced in place with a big smile. "Already on the case." She bounced out of the room with fresh laughter.

Twilight sagged where she sat. "We really should have discussed this before we even had the chance of discovering the original copies of those ponies we recreated."

Rainbow shrugged. "Too late now. We're going to run into more, if things go well. Gonna have to accept that."

"Which is easier said than done." Twilight reached for a wall console to contact Rarity, but stopped herself before she made a single connection. "I'm going to take my mind off this. There has to be something productive I can do around here."

A series of beeps dragged them back to the monitor. Spike laughed nervously. "Sorry, that was just me making sure we're at the end. All the data in that crystal is recovered."

Rarity smiled softly. "Excellent work, Spike. Please give yourself a pat on the back." She vanished without waiting for any response.

Rainbow checked the clock. "Speaking of tasks, I gotta check on the systems for this upcoming stop. You'll be sending me down, right?"

"Actually." Twilight turned to Spike. "I was hoping for a new away member."

Spike blinked owlishly. "Me?! I'm engineering. Why would you send me?!"

"Because," answered Twilight smoothly, "you're a dragon." She held out a hoof towards him, smiling wide. "I don't mean that in any speciesist manner, you are simply resistant to heat better than most organic creatures aboard the ship. This is an ideal task for your biology. Can you handle this task?"

Spike thought back to what she'd sent him in to do. "You just want me to make sure there are no living things down there, then retrieve crystals, right?"

"Exactly." She put a hoof to his shoulder. "We do not want you to risk yourself more than the minimum. Go, look, come back, with ponies or crystals. Both, if possible."

"Well," Spike began, considering how much of a hassle his task could be. "This won't take long. Right, Cap?" He flashed a grin.

Twilight backed away. "I cannot predict what will happen down there." She turned away. "But you will not be alone. I'm giving you a full crew of humans and one robot. Should things get out of hoof, you can fall back and—"

"Don't worry!" Spike interrupted, flexing his muscles. "Nothing beats a dragon! Let me at 'em."

"Them? Are you expecting a fight?" Twilight turned to check on Spike with a concerned look.

Spike deflated. "I hope not? I was just trying to get psyched a little."

Rainbow kicked off from the wall with a laugh. "Psyched?! Psh. You ain't ready yet. C'mere! I'll teach you the proper mindset."

Before Spike could say anything, Rainbow's wings flapped. She soared over to land next to him and wrap a wing around him. "You got a big name to live up to, Spikey-boy." She poked at his stomach, getting a laugh from the dragon as she walked him out of the room. "Dragons gotta breathe fire and be cool, not worried."

Twilight watched them leave without saying a word.

Applejack nudged against Twilight. "You okay, sugarcube?"

Twilight startled and blinked a few times. "What?" She laughed weakly and adjusted her glasses. "Yes, I'm fine. Just worried."

Applejack flicked her head with a smile. "We'll all be there, even if a 'lot of us will be remote whisperin' to the guy."

"Yeah..." Twilight turned to her best friend. "AJ, I don't want to screw this up again. Our first try was, frankly, a disaster."

"It didn't turn out that great, ah agree." She threw an arm over Twilight, drawing her close. "Which is why you spent years preparin' extra hard fer this one. We got this. You got this."

Twilight's ears flicked as she leaned into that comfort. "I know, AJ. I know." She stood tall and offered her best confident expression. "And with all these failures out of the way, things should be smooth sailing from here on in."

Author's Note

Sweetie, meet Sweetie! Now you two get along.

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