//------------------------------// // Proverb // Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// Cloudsdale, Royalist-controlled Airspace over Equestria Royalist-captured Miranda-class vessel NCC-1864-R Deck 2- Crew Quarters 6:08 p.m. Shining Armor and Cadence were living a dream. An actual Starfleet vessel straight out of Star Trek itself. It was hard for them to blink while they were on the ship and chance missing something no other Trekkie would see. In fact, they had begun sleeping on the vessel while it was being fixed and they were starting to think about asking Dan and Twilight if they could keep it for themselves. After they used it to rescue Princess Celestia and Luna and all their friends from the moon first, that is. "Okay... now!" Cadence said. "Got it!" The lights in the hall flickered on. In pairs, they began lighting up, following down the hallway. "That did it! Come out and see!" Shining crawled out from the access shaft. Both he and Cadence were dressed in a pair of Starfleet uniforms they lucked across. Neither of them fit in the spacey clothes meant for bipeds- they would have to have Rarity fit them. Again, once they rescued her and the others. "Ahh, nice! Looks like this junction just got disconnected. We won't have to fix much here," Shining remarked. Cadence nodded. "Indeed, but honestly, I think some of our repairs are so good, we'd give Starfleet itself a run for the money!" "Haha, maybe when they come back for it, they can hire us as engineers!" They both laughed, then stopped quietly and looked at each other, locking eyes for a moment. "If they come back," Shining added. The lights began turning red. Just as they had flickered on in pairs, now they began glowing crimson. A dull alarm blared through the hall. Some displays at different spaces in the bulkheads blared a familiar warning: (RED ALERT). They sighed simultaneously. Shining shook his head. "Still can't figure out what's causing that." "None of the tech crews examining it can either," Cadence commented, looking at the lights. "Something must've happened with this ship before it wound up in Equestria." "Even with Gust and his griffons using it as a pirate ship, it doesn't seem like they could've triggered a Red Alert like this," Shining added. "Not that I don't believe Gust, just that I..." Cadence smiled. "You don't think he knows how to control much on this ship, do you?" "Well, not like us," Shining said. "I don't blame him, though. He's not a hardcore fan like we are, my Orion princess~" he said, grinning. "Oh my, captain," Cadence said, giggling, "what has gotten into you? Doesn't the Federation have rules against fraternizing with a visiting diplomat?" "Maybe we should discuss this in the captain's private quarters... again," Shining said, grinning. "Aye aye, Captain Armor," Cadence said playfully, and the two started walking back down the crew deck again. The ponies and griffons working to repair the ship had all gone home for the evening and Cadence and Shining had the ship to themselves. They shared the captain's quarters and had most of the things collected there. Gust hadn't bothered much with the crew deck; the Federation had little use for gold or treasures so Starfleet didn't have much to steal. It was a powerful warship but the All of My Yes with its easy-access and spacious cargo holds were far more desirable for a griffon pirate. The NCC-1864-Reliant-R was an advanced, heavily-modified and refitted Miranda-class vessel, one of the most powerful in the Federation's arsenal. Equipped with superior weapons, shields, engines, armor and a cloaking device, the ship was actually built during a difficult time in the Federation's history, one that Shining Armor and Cadence had not seen in any of the movies, shows or books. Because they weren't in them, not yet, at least. Commanded by Captain Taldeena, a female Vulcan, Reliant-R was considered a legacy ship but one Taldeena was reluctant to accept. Reliant-R and her kin, despite her advanced weapons, were primarily science vessels. Known to only a few and unknown to Shining and Cadence and even Gust Grasp when he stole the vessel, the ship was not meant to be a warship. The Reliant-R had been armed and given additional security measures for defense. Cadence and Shining continued giggling and playing as they walked down the hallway, all the way back to the captain's room. They levitated tricorders and communicators and posed with them more than once, even in their not-quite fitting Starfleet uniforms. They were enjoying themselves; a nerdy couple doing nerdy things in their own nerdy paradise. They were almost to the captain's quarters when a set of double doors in the hallway opened. "Aww, nuts. I thought we had all the door glitches worked out," Shining said. Cadence nodded. "You'd think with all the technology the Federation has, they come up with something more advanced than just sliding doors." Shining shrugged. "Oh, well. Might as well fix it while we're right here." "Yeah. Might forget which one it is with all the doors down here." They stepped into the room, which they quickly realized wasn't lit on its own. Another item on the fix-it list. They casted some illumination spells from their horns to see. "Don't remember this room," Shining said. "Hey! I think it's the transporter room!" "Ooooh, I was looking forward to seeing this one!" Cadence said. The room itself was shaped like an octagon with a platform raised half a foot off the floor in the middle. A console between the platform and the entrance controlled the transporter's targeting and settings. Back when the ship was used, the transporter room was one of the primary ways of getting on and off the ship. The Federation's transporters were actually similar to pony teleportation, but a technological version. "Hmm... looks like they were trying to beam something off the ship," Shining said. He fixed his horn's light on an object standing on the platform. "Looks like a cargo tube of some kind," Cadence remarked. They both approached it on the platform. Together, they examined the large, cylindrical object. Like the room, it was also shaped in a similar polygonal fashion. The Federation tended to have weird ways of storing cargo, so it wasn't out of the ordinary. Shining rubbed his hoof on the outside of it. "Some kind of charring's covering the outside." "You think maybe they saw combat? Like they were attacked?" "No, no," Shining said, shaking his head. "It's covering the whole thing. This thing must've come out of a burning building or... something," he said. He continued scraping his hoof against the container. "At least it's coming off." Cadence helped, scraping off the blackened ash from the black-metal case. "S... hey, there's something written under here?" "Really?" They both started scraping the part where Cadence had found the letter. "S... I... S. Sister?" Cadence asked. "Wait, no- there's more up here. E..." "N..." "E... G!" They said, finishing the scraping. After their hooves were nearly completely covered and their uniforms dirtied, they stood back at the uncovered word. Faded red letters on the outside of the case spelled out the word: "Genesis!" the two exclaimed. They both smiled at each other, happy to uncover the mystery together. "Ha... Genesis. Wasn't that from...?" Cadence trailed off. Shining was trying to remember at that moment as well. But it didn't take long for the memory to come back to him. How could he, she, they forget? He stepped forward, looking at the red letters as the realization dawned on him. "Genesis..." he repeated. "Genesis... oh no." His eyes went wide. Cadence's own eyes went wide as she echoed, "Genesis... oh no." The doors behind them slid shut. The lights in the transporter room turned on, immediately glowing red. In front of them, the Genesis Device's original casing began to crack open. "The controls!" Cadence shouted, trying desperately to activate the console. "We have to get out of here! Come on! Hurry!" She and Shining pounded at them. To no avail. The casing opened. The doors parted, swinging open like the fiery gates of Tartarus themselves. And behind them was... a man. Who needed no introduction. A tall man with shoulder-length silvery hair and a torn orange jacket from an age long passed opened his eyes and took his first steps in a long time out of the casing... on his own. He didn't seem to regard Shining or Cadence, only rubbed the side of his face and flexed his fingers that had both, somehow, miraculously healed. "K..." "Khan..." And Khan Noonien Singh smiled at both of them. "Ah, I am always pleased to hear that my reputation proceeds me," he said, touching his heart. "Unfortunately, I know very little about both of you." They backed away as he stepped towards them. "This... this isn't possible." "You... you can't be..." "Oh, but according to your Federation, there's quite a lot that isn't possible... yet very much is," Khan said. He looked around, eyes narrowed like blades, cutting through reality to discern the truth with the precision of an assassin's blade. "You... weren't expecting to find me, were you? You didn't know I was here." "I... I..." Shining's and Cadence's tails bumped the doors simultaneously. "We-we don't..." "You aren't with Starfleet, are you?" Khan continued. "Yet here you are... on a Federation vessel. Wearing Starfleet uniforms." He reached forward with surprising speed and grabbed them both by the collars of their uniforms. With ease, he lifted them both up into the air. "Tell me... who you are. And what you are doing here. And tell me where I can find... the Director."