Kirk leaned forward, hands clasped behind his back and holding onto a suitcase. He and his command crew stood just outside the room with the mirror leading to Canterlot High. The mirror had been activated, an energy vortex swirling out of it, with Spike standing in front. He turned to his fellow crew. “Now, please remember. They're both still teenagers, and rather large fans of the show. They're... trying their best to restrain themselves.”
Bones chuckled slightly. “No need to worry, Jim. I'm rather flattered they think so highly of us. It's rather humbling, actually.”
Uhura nodded, smiling. “I think we can handle the two ladies, Captain. They've done a lot of good for us.”
Sulu looked to her, nodding. “Lord knows I'm glad I know about the threat to Demora. I owe them a lot.”
Inside the room, Sunset Shimmer emerged from the portal, clad in her Starfleet outfit. She trotted up to Spike's side and bowed her head. “Spike, good to see you!” She looked around. “So, do you know what the surprise is?”
Spike barked a laugh. “Sorry, Sunset, but I promised Twilight not to say anything.”
Just then, Trixie and Twilight walked through the portal, Trixie also wearing her outfit from before. “No, Twilight! From the chest! You are a Klingon! Your words must carry!” Trixie waved a foreleg. “Now repeat after me. 'choS Sparkle ram wov puqbe'!”
Twilight cleared her throat. “'choS Sparkle ram wov puqbe'!”
Trixie slowly nodded. “Hmm, not too shabby. We'll have to continue working on this, of course.”
Sunset looked over her shoulder. “Good thing summer vacation's coming up and you two can have the time to work on that.” She turned, trotted over to the Twilight opposite Trixie, then spun around. “Trixie, think we can work a schedule for this?”
Trixie scowled. “Dammit, Sunset! I'm a magician, not a secretary!” Her eyes went wide. “I can't believe I said that.” She grinned. “I wonder what Bones would think about my impression if he ever heard it.”
Twilight and Spike exchanged a look, eyes blinking. Twilight looked back to the pair. “Well, funny you should mention that...” She turned to the doorway. “Captain Kirk? You and the others can come out, now!”
Sunset and Trixie looked to each other, their eyes wide and widening by the second. Sunset turned back to Twilight. “What?”
Before Twilight could respond, Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov walked through the door. Kirk walked up to the ponies and dragon, suitcase in one hand. He dropped to one knee. “Thank you, Twilight.” He looked to Sunset and Trixie. “I... hope we didn't startle you.”
Bones spoke up. “And for the record, Miss Lulamoon? That is a pretty good impression. Although I don't think I'm that gravelly.” His brow furrowed. “And I don’t say that all the time, do I?”
Trixie slowly looked to Bones. She swallowed, then sucked in a deep breath before speaking. “T-I meant n-no disrespect, sir.”
Spock arched an eyebrow. “Considering our prior encounters with us, Miss Lulamoon, it would be illogical to assume offense was intended.”
Kirk held the suitcase out. “Trixie, Sunset, in gratitude for your actions, Princess Sparkle has arranged a... gift for you both.” His thumbs slid along the suitcase's clasps, unlocking them and opening it up. He tilted it in their direction. Inside were two silver picture frames, each with an identical photo. It was a cast photo from Star Trek, on the set of the bridge. The main cast was there, with Kirk in the command chair, the rest surrounding him. They were looking at the camera, most of them smiling, except Spock. And beneath each of them was a signature. Except instead of the actors or actress, it was 'James Kirk', 'Spock', 'Leonard McCoy', and so on.
Sunset leaned in close. She let out a sharp gasp as her brain processed the contents. She looked up to Kirk, eyes watery. “I... this is...” She looked to Twilight. “How?!”
Twilight lowered her head, blushing slightly. “I... managed to slip through the mirror, find Canterlot High's Pinkie Pie, and arrange for her to make a little purchase over the internet. I brought it back and Captain Kirk's command staff were gracious enough to sign them for you.”
Sunset slowly floated the picture frames out of the suitcase. She looked up at Kirk, then over at the others. “I can't even begin to–”
Trixie snorted and slammed a hoof onto the floor. “That's it! Trixie can't do this anymore!” She trotted forward. “Okay, I am going to get this out! And no one is gonna stop me!” She jabbed a hoof in the air. “Thank you!”
The Enterprise's command staff looked at each other in confusion. “Well, you're welcome, lass,” Scotty finally said. “But for what?”
Trixie swallowed. “I know you're not the actors and actress from the show, but still, I am going to say this. I remember when I was a young girl, sitting on Daddy's lap as we watched the show for the first time. Hell, he and Mom first met at a Star Trek convention!
“Your show was made fifty years ago, yet so much of it is relevant today. There's so much that you said that we have to remember. That yes we're savages, but we can rise above it. That we can choose not to kill, that we can show mercy and compassion to our enemies. Different groups of people can come together to create something much bigger and better than alone.”
By now tears were openly flowing down Trixie's cheeks. “T-I was something of a lonely kid, starved for attention.” She glanced over her shoulder at Sunset and smiled wanly. “It's why I use the third-person so much.” She looked back at the crew. “You showed me a place that we could all be accepted, where I could be Trixie Lulamoon. And it wasn't just me! I think it's reasonable for me to be able to say I speak for millions of people when I say that, and when I again say, thank you.” She swallowed and took a couple of steps back. Her head dipped low, even as her cheeks turned crimson. “I'm sorry,” she whispered, voice barely audible.
Sunset walked up to Trixie’s side and wrapped both forelegs around her in a tight hug.
Silence reigned in the room for close to a minute. Kirk stood up and walked over to Spock. He leaned in and whispered something to his first officer. Spock looked to Trixie, then Sunset. He then nodded to Kirk, who stepped back and turned around, hands outstretched. “I do... apologize. The second part of the surprise slipped our minds.”
Twilight blinked. “'Second part'?” She gasped as Spike elbowed her in the ribs. “Oof! I mean, yes! The second part!” She leaned forward, brow furrowing ever so slightly. “So… what’s the second part again?”
Kirk pulled his communicator out and flipped it open. “Why a tour of the Enterprise, Princess.” He held his communicator close to his mouth. “Enterprise, stand by for transport.” He glanced down at Trixie and Sunset. “Unless of course you’d prefer… not to?”
Sunset and Trixie exchanged a long look. Trixie’s head shot around as she looked up at Kirk. She opened her mouth, but Sunset crammed her hoof in before she could speak. “Captain, we would be…” She swallowed and steeled herself before continuing, “honored.”
Trixie merely nodded, tears in her eyes.
Kirk smiled. He looked to his senior staff. “We’ll meet you up there.”
Spock nodded. “We shall transport back to the Enterprise in ten minutes, Captain.” He looked down to Sunset and Trixie. “Enjoy the tour.”
Kirk knelt down close to the two ponies. “Energize.”
Twilight and Spike stood outside the Castle of Friendship. It was early the next day and five large wooden wagons overflowing with cloudy-white crystals approached them. The front wagon was being towed by Igneous Rock, with Maud at his side.
Igneous stopped a dozen paces from Twilight, unhitched himself from the wagon, and trotted up, Maud by his side. They stopped short of her and bowed. “Princess Sparkle,” he said, bowing his head. Maud followed suit, the others also bowing to her.
Twilight blushed slightly at their actions. She reached out and gently tilted Igneous’ head up. “I appreciate that, but please, no bowing. We’re all friends, here.” She looked to the others. “Well, eventually.”
Igneous stepped back and turned to the other earth ponies. “If I may, let me introduce my fellow rock farmers.” He stepped up to a slate-gray stallion, a younger-looking mare, and a colt that looked nigh-identical to the stallion. “This is Tallus Granite, his daughter Shale, and his son Nugget.” He moved onto a mare with a rather bright-white coat. “This is Feldspar Quartz.” He waved at three mares. “And her daughters Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.”
He finally approached four stallions, all of similar build. “This is Jadeite, his older brother Nephrite, their younger brother Zoisite, and Zoisite’s husband Kunzite.”
Twilight turned her head, making eye contact with everyone there. “I’m very pleased to meet you all. I’m also very glad you all brought the wagons.” Her horn glowed and two tricorders floated out of her saddlebags, one of them settling into Spike’s grip. She held the other one up high. “These are called ‘tricorders’. They’re machines used by the Federation and Empire to tell them things that their eyes can’t see.” Her brow furrowed slightly. “They’re like… locating spells used by unicorns.”
Igneous spoke up. “Aye, Princess Sparkle. Lieutenant Commander Scott and Commander Kellet, son of Grix, demonstrated their operation to my family. They’re very useful.” He looked to Tallus. “We have found five new veins of precious minerals.”
Nephrite stepped forward, eyes wide. “I knew it! I knew that someday the stars would aid Equestria!”
Zoisite rolled his eyes and buried his face in a foreleg.
Twilight blinked. “Well, you might not be wrong.” She looked to Spike. “Now Spike and I will both scan the crystals, for backup. Spike, you remember the instructions Spock gave you, right?”
Spike waved her off. “Yeah, yeah.” He flipped the top panel up and pressed some buttons. He stared at the screen. “No, wait…” he flipped another and turned a knob. The tricorder whirred to life, And Spike waved it about, grinning. “Told you!”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, Spike.” She glanced to the rock farmers. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment?” At their nods, she began walking around the wagons, waving the tricorder around. “Yup, yup. Definitely, yup.” She finally came to a stop where she had started from. She held the tricorder up in the air. “If I’m reading this right, all the crystals in those wagons are pure, stable, dilithium crystals.”
Spike walked over to her and waved his own tricorder about. “Same here, Twilight.” He looked back down at it. “It’s also detecting something called…” He squinted at the screen. “Verteron particles?”
Twilight looked over his shoulder at the tricorder’s screen. “I’ll look at that later. Thanks for your help, Spike.”
Maud spoke up. “This definitely changes things. I’m very excited for the future,” she said, her expression remaining as stoic as ever.
Tallus and Feldspar walked up to Twilight, flanking Igneous. “Princess, pardon the question, but I still do not understand why the weeds would be so valuable to the Federation or the Empire,” Feldspar said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Twilight waggled her head back and forth. “Well, I can understand your confusion and suspicion. It turns out what we’ve always considered ‘weeds’ are key components of their starships.” She leaned in close. “And this might be the key to securing Equestria’s future in the galactic community.”
Feldspar looked to to Igneous. “I’m glad to see you weren’t joking about this,” she drawled out. “A much welcome surprise from your usual tomfoolery.”
Twilight and Spike looked to her. “Sorry, what?” Twilight asked, a single strand of her mane coming loose.
Tallus nodded. “It’s true, Princess. Igneous can be quite the kidder and jokester.”
Maud nodded. “Pinkie and I get our sense of humor from him,” she said.
Spike held up a claw, but Twilight placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Later, Spike. Just… later.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “Anyway! If you’ll step inside, I’d like to talk with you about the dilithium. I have some ideas and proposals to run by you all.”
Igneous rubbed his chin. “If I may venture a guess, Princess Sparkle, are you thinking of having us sell our dilithium crystals to the Federation and Empire?”
Twilight grinned. “You guess correctly, Igneous.” She looked around at everyone. “Now please keep in mind this is only a preliminary discussion. There’s a lot of information we’ll need from you, and from both the Federation and Empire, and it won’t be easy, either. In the end, though, I think all of us will benefit tremendously from working together.”
Igneous nodded. “I agree with you, Princess Sparkle. And I think I speak for the others when I say that.”
The other ponies their nodded, speaking their agreement with Igneous.
Twilight beamed. “Thank you, all.” She cantered to her left and waved a wing at the front doors. “Spike, could you lead them to the main conference room?”
Spike straightened up and tossed Twilight a salute. “My pleasure!” He marched inside, arms swinging. Igneous and Maud quickly followed, the others trailing behind.
Twilight let out a sigh. Her shoulders slouched slightly, some of the tension melting away. “Step one out of several thousand, done,” she said, before walking into her castle and closing the door behind her.