A pair of Ferengi merchants and part-time slave traders (any time they think they can get away with it) decide to pick up some people from the newly discovered world of Equestria - a world without local space travel. For variety, they decide to pick out one of each of the major groupings - a pegasus, and earth pony, a unicorn. For ease of control, they pick out juveniles.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders fit the bill perfectly.
(Sidequel to Equestria's First Warp Drive)
--------------
Once upon a time, the Federation paid a visit to Equestria. The story of that visit - and some of its consequences - is detailed over here.
Partway through the tale (in chapter 15, to be exact) a Ferengi ship passing through space meets another ship. There were meta-narrative reasons for this, reasons why the author thought it would be necessary.
These reasons were promptly proven incorrect.
This, therefore, is the story of what would have happened, had the Ferengi ship not met anyone else on their way through space. It follows on directly from chapter 14 (Further Communication) of Equestria's First Warp Drive; I strongly recommend that you read the first fourteen chapters of that story first, and then return here.
Awesome. It's going to be somewhat eerie reading this in parallel with the other one, especially with the characters in the same physical places. It's like there's ghosts running around. :)
Nice to see that both sides of the fight are getting their licks in, and making reasonable mistakes.
yeah, I think I'll prefer this one. The Borg don't interest me. I'd love to see what your meta-narrative reasons are.
I switched my favorite from the original to this one
3599846
It's also eerie to write both at the same time...
3599854
In which case, I hope that you enjoy this version.
3599846 Guess you could think of it as alternate dimensions, sort of like the mirror universe from TOS & DS9.
I'd love to know the reasons for the Borg encounter in the other story.
3792055
The other story will reveal the reasons. Probably near, or at, the end.
3792073
how is that going to work? I mean how do you work an authorial choice into the narrative?
3693287
That would be reasonable. However, it's not that specific mirror universe (I have other plans for that one... in a sequel)
3792083
Everything that's in the narrative is there because the author chose to put it there, surely? It consists of nothing but authorial choices. How can it be otherwise?
If you're referring to the difference between these two narratives... well, I think your questions will be answered by the time both stories are completed.
3792125
no, I'm asking for what made you make the decision to include the Borg in the original version, but then write this one without the Borg.
3792172
Oh.
I thought it was obvious ( in the original one) that, before the Borg arrived, the Ferengi were hopelessly outmatched by the good guys and didn't have a hope. Therefore, I feared that continuing the story without a more threatening antagonist might be boring.
Since I already had the idea of relating the Borg with Nightmare Moon, it was a simple decision to have that more threatening antagonist be the Borg.
...I was promptly disabused of the notion that it was obvious that the Ferengi were outmatched in the comments (see here). (I still think the Ferengi are outmatched; but I concede the point that this was clearly not as obvious to every reader as it seemed to me). Thereafter, I was easily persuaded to provide the alternate continuation to the story.
3792203
I'd just like to say I considered the Ferengi outmatched, but in character interactions that was the story I was hoping to read, I definitely was not looking for life and death, suffering and drama, and the Ferengi being humiliated and beaten up doesn't really stop the ship or give Spike, the CMC and the others knowledge of how to turn it around
for me, having to fight off the Borg and people being assimilated does not qualify as slice of life
3793131
True; life and death and suffering were never really necessary. What I was trying to avoid wasn't a lack of those things; what I was trying to avoid was a completely one-sided struggle. It doesn't have to be a life-and-death struggle to avoid seeming overwhelmingly one-sided. I tend to like stories in which the bad guys have an overwhelming advantage, and then the good guys win (without any deus ex machinas - if the good guy pulls a sword off the wall to defeat the villain with, that sword has to have been there since act I) in any case - I could probably, now that I think about it, have got the same effect by (instead of involving the Borg) having the Federation for some reason unable to send a ship to carry the pursuit team. I think I could still have turned that into a rescue for the CMC...
You make a good point. I probably have to change the labels.
Interesting, Luna's implying that ponies (or at least alicorns) can see germs without magnification. :)
I'm rather liking Spike's badassitude, he's more like what you'd expect from a "monster" in a sci-fi movie. You think you've got him sealed in a room, and when you go in to check you find an access hatch peeled open like a banana and oh my god it's behind you now! AIEEE!
3800012
And he's still just a baby, he hasn't even started a proper hoard yet. If the Ferengi knew just how easily he can grow to twenty times the size, at the same time losing all restraint...
You know, after I complete these fics, I might just have to do a 'deleted scenes' chapter, for all the bits that I just couldn't squeeze into the plotline.
3800316 I'm reminded of a scene from a Doctor Who crossover fic called The Hostess. A bunch of alien monsters kidnapped Spike to use as a hostage against Twilight. They contacted her via communicator to show her they have him and to tell her to back off. Twilight responds with a laugh, "you kidnapped a dragon and you think that's going to work out okay for you? Spike! You have my permission! These are bad ponies!" Whereupon Spike releases his self-control over his draconic nature, bursts free of his bonds, and proceeds to tear his captors to shreds. The survivors frantically run to Twilight in hopes she can rescue them from Spike.
Personally, I'm hoping to see more random slice-of-life stories set in this particular crossover. Like maybe some Klingons come visiting to check Equestria out and are generally unimpressed until they meet Iron Will in a bar. It's such fun seeing "routine" contact between very different worlds like that and you balance them so well.
3800545
That's a nice story. I enjoyed it.
I think one of my favourite examples of Spike being all, well, dragon, is in Nyx's Family, after a group of teenage dragons (artificially enlarged with the help of magical fire opals) decide to attack the Crystal Empire. They manage to trap Twilight and some researchers in an old cave, smash through Shining Armour's best shield, force the Crystal Empire's army into retreat without getting more than mildly irritated in return...
...and then one of them dares to lay a claw on Rarity. And, well. You just don't do that near Spike.
Huh. Klingons and Iron Will. That could be fun, actually.
Hmmm. Founders vs. changelings? A Founder's got a wider range of shapes it can assume (I'm guessing that changelings are limited to "vaguely equine") but changelings have access to magic...
I'm definately thinking of doing sequels, once these two are finished. I have a vague idea for, well, the next one at least.
3801783 The best part came in the deoument. When Spike visited them in jail one of them ranted that he was going to take revenge on Spike later since Spike wouldn't be so tough without the extra Fire Opals he figured that the crystal ponies must have given him to power him up in their defense. "What are Fire Opals? I didn't eat any Fire Opals." Spike responds. And the dragons decide that nope nope nope, they're not going to mess with Spike again once they get out.
I can just imagine the amusing comedy of misunderstandings between a Changeling and a Founder noticing each other while disguised as ponies and each unsure just what to make of the other. Glad to hear this setting inspires other neat ideas for you too. :)
3801871
That was good, yes.
Yeah... but that's going to be several stories away, if ever. The reason is that it can't be on Equestria, or else every story after that has to deal with "the Founders know where Equestria is"; so to avoid that, it more-or-less has to be on neutral ground of some sort (e.g. a random Starfleet starbase)... which requires that ponies not be entirely unknown off Equestria.
Now, your suggestion of Iron Will meeting a group of Klingons, that can happen at pretty much any point... as can a group of Federation scientists, coming to study unicorn magic; or the Federation having a sudden need of a group of pegasi to help deal with another planet's inclement weather; or a Starfleet chef, on the hunt for new recipes and/or ingredients; or a collection of political agitators, looking for support to take down the Federation and replace it with another form of government; or Q, looking for his old friend Disqord to chat about old times and find out why he's been curiously quiet for the past thousand years...
And after a while, there'll be a number of Equestrians (and maybe a few changelings) wanting to go off-planet as well, but I imagine they'll have a much harder time getting the paperwork past the Federation.
So yeah. There's a lot of stories that can be told in this universe.
I imagine an Earth Pony would be particularly good at tracking the source of vibrations in the ground. :)
I'm liking how Dawn's an ambiguous ally - she's on the Equestrians' side, but mainly because she's on her own side and they're very helpful to her. She seems like a decent person but always have to keep an eye open.
3828442
Not to forget, they're the only reliable source of food she knows of anywhere nearby. (Theoretically she can feed from the Ferengi, but getting a Ferengi to feel love towards anything that's not money can be tricky...)
3831255 If she could convince them that she's worth a crapton of money to the right buyer, they'd feel love toward her.
Or perhaps Sweetie Belle could give her the idea to try the gilded look.
3831354
That might work. Until they sell her, and she has to figure out another alien's emotional triggers to survive.
Nice gif, by the way.
Thanks for the update, I'm interested to see where this leads
“Wait a minute. The dragon – the one who can survive molten lava – ran away from this?”
I do say keep it up.
So funny, I was rolling.
I wonder if these are the Ferengii that were trapped in the Delta Quadrant
3919891
I shall endeavour to.
3919910
After letting the Crusaders rampage through Engineering, one can so easily imagine them ending up there...
...but no, these are not those Ferengi. (Mind, I'm not saying they won't get trapped there... but these Ferengi are two that don't personally appear on-screen at any time in any of the Star Trek canon).
Unfortunately, "too close" refers to about a tenth of a parsec around it.
3992308
Eeeyup. Which is why one should always be careful when messing around with alien technology able to break the speed of light.
Applebloom is actually quite good at starship sabotage considering she's never been on one before. She knew that the sparkly column was of great importance, and she also knew that smashing control panels wouldn't accomplish much - something that 90% of action movie protagonists don't get even when they're from a technological culture.
Can't wait to see what sort of cutie mark that'll get her.
3997583
We always knew Applebloom was an engineer at heart!!
She'd get on well with B'ellana Torres, I believe.
And I'm liking this alternate storyline...
Oh, this is magnificent. Exactly what I expected had the Borg not intervened. I eagerly look forward to more. Especially since there are very good odds of the Mane Six overshooting their destination.
Also, no warp field means Spike has a backlog to regurgitate.
In any case, looking forward to more.
3997583
She's got an engineer's instincts.
4005987
4086913
Not really. The warp drive was only on for about ten minutes this time, before Spike dropped into Engineering and scared Frem out.
“Computer.” said Pog. “Turn lights off, everywhere except the bridge. Turn off all non-essential systems, with the exception of communication.”
Will the computer qualify the forcefields closing the cells as non-essential systems?
Destruction is much easier when you intuitively understand how something was put together. Engie Bloom is a very good Bloom.
And poor, poor Pog. It just isn't his day. Also, now the Mane Six will get a chance to rest a little before the rescue. It's not like they need to streamline the warp field when the target is relatively dead in the water.
Looking forward to more.
4117568 Considering the fact that they're normally used for containing a boarding....
LOL! Roughly five seconds after accidentally improving the ship, they initiate a warp core meltdown!
...And now I am terrified by the idea of what the Borg Collective could have achieved with them assimilated.
4257453
Actually, they did both at once... their new fuel mix was 20% cooler, but also had a tendency to destabilise the engine, which is why no Starfleet engineer would ever use it.
thanks for the update
Not much to say about this one, but any continuation is appreciated. Looking forward to more.
I think that I do like the other version of events better. It is more complete and this one feels like it's lost it's sense of urgency.
There's no more drive. It feels like they're just going to pick up the mail now.
4274402
I agree completely.
Sometimes a story needs a massively powerful villain to turn up out of nowhere just to keep up the tension.
(Villains are allowed to do that without warning, on occasion. Heroes need to be foreshadowed, at the very least).
[CUE "JEOPARDY" THEME]
thanks for the update
just out of curiosity...u r aware that Buffalo, being bovine and not equine, do not call their females mares...right?
4284314
Um... er...
4286797 class? can we say..."BUSTED"?
4257763 you mean break the borg? cuz that is how you break the borg
4423135
...along with every organized political entity in the galaxy, yes.
Wow. They managed to teleport into a cell. Talk about bad luck. Still, they should be able to easily wink out of it as well.
In any case, an excellent scene. Looking forward to more.