//------------------------------//
// Party 
// Story: Where Nopony Has Gone Before 
// by Kane Magus 
//------------------------------//

	
Chapter 3 - Party


“Girls, you know I’m not going to just let you take my balloon out for a spin by yourselves, right?” said Twilight Sparkle, as she tried to navigate her way around Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, all of whom were bouncing in circles around her.  She was trying to levitate a tea kettle that was whistling on her stove, but was finding it difficult to concentrate while being surrounded by the excited fillies.
“We already looked through all those books you showed us,” said Apple Bloom, “and we couldn’t find anything about asternuts.”
“Astronauts,” corrected Scootaloo.
“That’s what I said, ain’t it?” said Apple Bloom.  “We couldn’t find a lick of info about them or their flyin’ trains.”
“Well, it’s like I told you to start with.  Such things simply don’t exist outside of comic books,” said Twilight, with an ever so slight edge of impatience in her voice.  “Girls, please, I need to set this kettle off the burner before it boils over.”
“Oh.  Sorry, Twilight,” said Sweetie Belle, suddenly sounding a bit dejected.  “We’ll get out of your hair now.”
“Aw, I didn’t mean it like that,” said the purple unicorn, feeling guilty over being short with the fillies.  “Listen, would you like some tea?  Once I get the kettle situated, I’ll share some of it with you.”
“That sounds great,” said Scootaloo.  A sudden rumbling sound coming from the direction of her tummy made her grin guiltily.  “We haven’t eaten anything since breakfast anyway.  We’ve been too busy making plans for our next adventure.”
Twilight telekinetically picked up the kettle and floated it over to the nearby table.  She looked at the three fillies and frowned.  “Girls, it’s after three o’clock in the afternoon.  You can’t skip meals like this or you’ll get sick.  Believe me, I used to do that sort of thing all the time when I was your age and I had my nose stuck in a particularly good book.  I’d completely lose track of time and the next thing I’d know, my stomach would be grumbling and I’d be feeling light-headed.  I even almost fainted once, right in the middle of a lesson.  Princess Celestia wasn’t happy about that, I can assure you.”
“Yeah… I guess we do tend to get so caught up in what we’re doin’ sometimes that we just forget all about eatin’ or anything else,” said Apple Bloom.
“Well, I might have a little something that will tide you over until you can get some real food in you,” said Twilight.  She looked up toward the loft area where the beds were and called out, “Spike!  The tea’s almost ready.  Also, if you haven’t already eaten all of those cookies that Pinkie brought over the other day, bring those down with you.”
“I’ll be right there!” said the baby dragon.  Seconds later, he was zipping down the stairs, carrying a cookie jar.  It was mostly empty, but there were still about a dozen small cookies in the bottom.  He set it on the table and took a seat next to the others.
As the three Cutie Mark Crusaders helped themselves to the cookies, Twilight started pouring out cups of tea.  Right as she finished pouring her own cup, the door to the library opened and Pinkie Pie hopped through it.
“Hello, Pinkie!” said Twilight brightly.  “What brings you here?  Would you care to join us for some tea?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” said the pink pony.  “Aw, looks like all the cookies are already gone, though.  I’ll have to remember to bring you some more later.”  She sat down at the table and starting sipping a cup of tea.  Then her eyes widened.  “Oh no, wait, there’s no time for that right now!  I have a party to plan!  That’s why I came here!”
“A party?” asked Scootaloo.
“What’s it for?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Oh, you’ll never believe it!” said Pinkie Pie.  “There are HUMANS over at Sugarcube Corner!”  There were five simultaneous spit-takes (one of which was accompanied by a short belch of green dragon fire), and Pinkie found all eyes staring at her in shock.  “See?  I told you that you wouldn’t believe it!”
“Pinkie Pie,” said Twilight Sparkle.  “Is this some kind of joke?  If it is, it’s a weird one, even for you.”
“No joke at all,” said Pinkie.  “Mayor Mare is there too, and she introduced me to them.  There are four of them and they came from some kind of ship that’s floating up in the sky above Equestria.  She wants me to throw a party to welcome them to Ponyville.”
The eyes of the CMC and Spike had widened into saucers while Twilight’s narrowed dubiously.  “Pinkie…”
“I am totally 100% telling the truth,” said Pinkie Pie.  “Cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”  She made hoof motions that ended with her poking herself in the eye.
“Wow,” said Twilight.  She knew Pinkie didn’t invoke her vows lightly at all.  After a moment, the unicorn couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she just said “Wow,” again.
“I know, right?” said Pinkie.  “I was the same way at first!  I was all like ‘HUMANS!’ and then I was afraid that it had woken up the twins, but they could sleep through my party cannon going off right next to them, so no worries there.  Don’t ask me how I know that, by the way.  And then the Mayor introduced me to the humans and told me she wanted me to throw a party, but I don’t know how to throw the kind of lame-o worse-than-the-Gala party that she wants me to throw, so I came here to see you!”
Twilight tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.  “The concept of throwing a ‘lame-o worse-than-the-Gala’ party made you immediately think of me?” 
“Uh huh!” said Pinkie Pie, completely oblivious to the unintentional insult.  “I’m sure you’ve got a book or something around here that could help me out.”
“Why don’t you just round up some food and send out invitations?” asked Spike.  “It doesn’t sound like the Mayor wants anything super fancy.  Just get ponies to show up and the party will probably take care of itself.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea, Spike!” said Pinkie.  “But I don’t really have time to prepare formal invitations or anything like that, and it’s going to be open to everypony anyway, or at least as many as we can cram into Sugarcube Corner at one time.  I guess this should be more of a word-of-mouth sort of thing.  Ooh, I know!” She turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  “Why don’t you girls help me out with that?  You run around and let everypony know about the party that doesn’t already know and tell them to spread the word, and I’ll go get the food.  Maybe you’ll even get ‘Spreading the Word about an Awesome Party’ cutie marks!”
“I thought you said it was going to be a lame-o party,” said Scootaloo a bit warily.  “I don’t want a lame-o party cutie mark.”
“Trust me,” said the pink pony, leaning in and lowering her voice conspiratorially.  “No party thrown by Pinkie Pie is going to be lame-o, even if it may not have the usual attitude and pizzazz, as Rarity would say.  But… I guess I do kind of get the Mayor’s point, though.  I’m sure most ponies are just going to want to talk to the humans or at least get a good look at them, and if the music is too loud or if there’s too much activity, that would make it hard to do that.  But that doesn’t mean it can’t still be fun, right?  So, how about it?  You girls want to help me?”
The CMC looked at each other and nodded.  “Okay,” said Apple Bloom.  “We can always try that asternut thing later.”
“Oooh, asternuts!  I should buy some of those for the party!” said Pinkie Pie.
“Astronauts!” corrected Scootaloo once again.
“Those too!” said Pinkie, nodding.  “I should probably get some more normal food as well, though.”
“Uh…?” said Sweetie Belle in total confusion.  “What…?”
“Come along, girls!” said Pinkie excitedly.  “Cutie Mark Crusader Announcers of the Awesome Party for the Humans, away!”  As she galloped toward the door with the CMC following her, she turned her head back to the purple unicorn and said, “Thanks for all the help, Twilight!”  The door slammed shut behind them as they left.
“Um… don’t mention it?” said Twilight softly, knowing that Pinkie Pie was already long out of earshot.  She turned to Spike.  “I didn’t help her with anything.”
“Is it just me,” said Spike, “or was Pinkie Pie even more loopy than usual?”  He made a twirling motion at the side of his head with a finger.
“Not really,” said the unicorn.  “Well, okay, aside from that part about there being humans at Sugarcube Corner, anyway.  That part sounded a bit loopy.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly the part I was talking about,” said the dragon. 
Twilight furrowed her brow and said, “You know she wouldn’t invoke a Pinkie Promise like that if she weren’t really serious.”
“But… humans…?” said Spike.  “How is that even possible?  I thought humans were just old bedtime stories.  Why are they here?  How’d they even get here?”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out for sure,” said Twilight Sparkle, finishing her cup of tea and standing up.  “Let’s head over to Sugarcube Corner.”



“You sure you don’t want to beam down, Jean-Luc?” asked Q.  “This is going to be one hum-dinger of a party, once I crash it.”
“Q, I will freely admit now that this planet is indeed very intriguing,” said Picard.  “However, whenever you talk about getting directly involved, you make me nervous.”
“Oh, Picard, lighten up,” said Q airily.  “You worry far too much.  That’s probably why you’ve lost most of your hair, you know.  I’m just going to make sure that this thing is more like an actual party and less like a funeral or a staff meeting or some other horrid thing like that.”
Picard sighed.  “Q, we both know that you’re going to do whatever you want to do, whether I approve of it or not.  All I ask is that you please not do anything that will risk the lives of my crew or those ponies.”
Q shook his head in disappointment.  “Picard, how many times do I have to say this?  No adventure.  No peril.  No death-defying heroics required.  I’m not going to be sending a battalion of French pigmen soldiers after them this time.  No penalty boxes either.  I am only interested in the purely mundane.  That said, however, I am not interested in the mind-numbingly boring, and that’s why I intend to liven up this snore-fest and turn it into a real shindig.”  Q turned back to the view screen.  “You’re going to wish you were there, mark my words.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” muttered Picard.



Riker looked up as the door to Sugarcube Corner opened and a couple of newcomers entered the establishment.  One of them was a pale purple pony with a darker purple/pink striped mane and tail, the mark on her flank being a large pink six-pointed star surrounded by five smaller white stars.  This pony had a horn on her head, indicating that she was a unicorn.  As for the pony’s companion… Riker glanced at Troi when he heard a sharp intake of breath from her direction.
“Is that really a dragon?” she whispered.
Riker widened his eyes and shook his head slightly in a “Your guess is as good as mine” sort of gesture and turned back to the newcomers, both of whom were standing just inside the doorway and staring open-mouthed at the away team.
The Mayor looked up from her idle conversation with Data and Worf and said, “Ah, Twilight Sparkle!  There you are.  We were just talking about you earlier.”
“Er, y-you were?” said Twilight, a bit nervously.
“Indeed,” said the Mayor.  “Twilight, I’d like to introduce you to our visitors.”  She introduced the away team to the pony and then turned to Riker.  “And this, of course, is Twilight Sparkle, about whom you’ve already heard, along with her assistant, Spike.”  Spike grinned nervously and wiggled his fingers in greeting.
“So… cute,” muttered Troi under her breath, only loudly enough that Riker could hear her.
“Did Pinkie Pie come to visit you?” asked the Mayor.  “She said she was coming to you for help with the party I asked her to plan.”
“She did drop by,” said Twilight, “but she didn’t stick around for very long.  She’s out making arrangements for food while Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle spread word about the party.  I’m sure it won’t be long before ponies start pouring into this place.  That’s why we’re here ourselves, in fact.”
The Mayor nodded and said, “Very good.  Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to head back to City Hall for a while.  There are some loose ends I need to tie up before the party gets started.  And I should probably check in with Pinkie Pie to make sure she isn’t trying to arrange a Wonderbolts performance or something.  However, if you don’t mind, Twilight, I’d like for you to officially act in my stead as liaison to our new friends here.  Include your other friends in this as well, when they arrive.”
Twilight smiled and said, “I’m honored.”
“Thanks,” said the Mayor.  With a nod to Twilight, Spike, and the away team, she turned and trotted out the door.
“So… uh…” said Twilight, turning back to the away team.  “You say that you’ve heard other ponies talking about me?”
“Indeed we have,” said Riker with as warm and non-threatening a smile as he could manage.  “Nothing bad, I assure you.  You seem to be the go-to pony for advice.”
Twilight blushed a bit and said, “Well, I don’t know if I’d go quite that far.  It’s mostly just that I work in the library, so other ponies come to me when they need help with research or something.”
“Then perhaps you could be an invaluable resource for us as well,” said Data.  “Since we are here on a mission of research and exploration, making use of your services would be most helpful.”
Twilight smiled again and said, “Sure, I’d be delighted to help you.  I’m sure I have just as many questions for you as you have for me, though.  I mean… it’s not like humans drop out of the old legends and into Ponyville everyday, you know.”
Troi nodded.  “Well, the purpose of the upcoming party is for us to get to know one another, and we’ll be glad to answer any questions you might have as well.  Any official research can wait until later.  So, to start things off, I have a question of my own.”  She turned to Spike.  “You really are a dragon, aren’t you?”
Spike puffed out his chest and grinned even bigger than before.  “Been one all my life, ever since Twilight here hatched me from my egg.”  He paused and then a look of confusion came over his face.  “Wait, how come you know about dragons already?”
“Well, I’ll tell you,” said Troi.  “And I’d love to hear everything about you as well.”  She patted an empty seat in invitation, and Spike obligingly hopped up onto it.
Riker watched for a moment as the counselor and the baby dragon began to chat, and then turned back to Twilight.  “Maybe it’s just me, but you seem to be somewhat less shocked by our sudden appearance than most of the other ponies.”
Twilight shook her head.  “Oh no, this is just as big a surprise to me as I’m sure it’s been for everypony else.  It’s just that, well, I’ve seen a lot of pretty unusual things since moving here to Ponyville from Canterlot, so it takes quite a bit to truly shock me these days.  And…” She grinned and blushed again.  “I had advance warning from Pinkie Pie, of course.  Even so, it was still more than a bit of a surprise when I first came in here and saw you sitting there.”
A new voice sounded from the doorway.  “Oh my!  So Sweetie Belle was telling the truth after all.  There… really are humans in Ponyville.”
Riker looked toward the door and saw another unicorn pony.  She had a white coat and purple mane and tail, with three diamonds on her flank.  She seemed far more elegant in stature than most of the other ponies they’d met so far, somehow.  When she caught sight of Twilight Sparkle and Spike, she walked over to join them.
“Hello, Rarity,” said Twilight.  As she made introductions, they heard more voices from the doorway, as other ponies started arriving for the party.
“I swear, if that sister of mine was just pullin’ our tails…” said one of the voices.
“She seemed very sincere to me,” said a second, much softer voice.  “I really don’t think she was fibbing or anything like that.  At least, I hope not.”
“Well, if she was, she’ll be muckin’ out the stables by herself for the next week,” said the gruff first voice again.
“Applejack!  Fluttershy!” called out Twilight.  “Over here!”
Riker looked at the newest pair of ponies.  One was an orange pony with blonde mane and tail, with three red apples on her flank.  She was also wearing a cowboy hat.  The second was a yellow pony with light pink mane and tail, with three pink and blue butterflies on her flank.  She also had wings, indicating that she was one of the pegasi.  Once again, Twilight made introductions between the away team and her friends.
“Well I’ll be…” said Applejack in amazement.  “I never gave those old stories much credit, but it looks like they’re true after all.”
“Yes, it’s quite a shock, to say the least,” said Rarity.
Fluttershy nodded in agreement, but didn’t say anything more.
The place was starting to fill up rather quickly.  Most of the ponies kept to themselves, at least for the time being, but all eyes were on the away team.  Soon, Pinkie Pie returned, along with the three younger ponies that the away team had seen earlier at the treehouse.
“Hey!” said Pinkie Pie, as she bounced over to join Twilight and the others.  “Looks like everypony’s here already!  The place is starting to fill up too.  Good thing the food I ordered should be delivered soon.  And I think I smell something absolutely delicious coming from the kitchen, too.”  She looked around for a bit.  “Oh, wait!  Where’s Rainbow Dash?  I figured she would have been one of the first to show up.”
Scootaloo was a bit confused as well.  “Yeah, me too.  When I told her what was going on, she said she’d definitely be here.  And then she took off like a lightning bolt.  I couldn’t even tell which way she went, she was gone so fast.”
Pinkie nodded and said, “I’m sure she’s just waiting to make sure her entrance will be as cool as possible.  Oh look, Derpy and the others are here with the food!  I’ll be right back, you guys.  Go ahead and enjoy the party.”
Riker watched the pink pony for a moment, and then turned to the others.  “So you guys and Pinkie are all close friends, I take it?”
“Oh yeah,” said Applejack, nodding.  “We sure are.  We’ve all been friends goin’ on, what, a little over two years now, I reckon?”
“That sounds about right,” said Rarity.  “Most of us were at least acquainted with one another before that, but we all didn’t really become such close friends until after Twilight and Spike here moved to Ponyville, which was around that time.”
“And there’s also Rainbow Dash, who isn’t here yet,” said Fluttershy softly.  “I wonder where she could be.”
Pinkie Pie came back in again, followed by some ponies carrying large boxes that Riker assumed contained food for the party.  He was interested in seeing what was going to be served.  At first, he’d just assumed it would simply be raw hay or grass or something, which didn’t sound all that appetizing, but given that the ponies had a confectionary, he figured that they probably had other forms of prepared food as well.
“Just sit it on the table there,” said Pinkie Pie.  “Ooh, watch out, Derpy!”  One of the ponies, a gray pegasus with a blonde mane and tail and a flank mark that appeared to be a cluster of bubbles (and, Riker noted, whose eyes seemed to be pointing in two different directions at once), was carrying a large box on her back, but seemed to be having trouble with it, despite using her wings in an attempt to balance it.  Luckily, Pinkie was there to catch it before it fell completely.  Pinkie put the box on the table, opened it, and started setting out the contents, as did the other delivery ponies.  “Feel free to stick around after everything is unloaded,” she said to the delivery ponies.  “After all, this party is open to everypony.”  She turned her head back toward the group of ponies clustered around the away team and called out, “Hey, AJ!  Your brother is outside with a big cartload of apple stuff and says he could use a hoof!”
“Oh gosh, I completely forgot about Big Macintosh!” said Applejack.  “C’mon, Apple Bloom!”  She and her sister hurried out the door, then came back in a bit later, carrying several apple related dishes on large platters in their mouths.  Behind her, a larger male pony entered, pushing a small cart in front of him with his mouth, which was laden with even more apple-related dishes.  This pony had a red coat, and orange-blonde mane and tail, with the mark of a green apple sliced in half on his flank.  Riker assumed that this was Applejack’s aforementioned brother.
With the food situated, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Apple Bloom came back over and joined the rest of their friends.  “Want to join us, Big Mac?” asked Pinkie.
“Nope,” said the tall red pony.  “Well, I’d like to, but I told Granny Smith that I’d be right back after I made the delivery, so I reckon I’d better be gettin’ back to the farm.  Thank ya kindly, though.”  He nodded to his sisters.  “Have fun, you two.”
“Aw, that’s too bad,” said Pinkie, watching Big Macintosh as he left.  She turned back to the group and opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by yet another commotion coming from the entrance.
“I SAW IT!” said a loud voice from just outside the door, which was followed by a muffled crash.  “Oops!  Sorry there, Big Mac, you just came out of nowhere.  Lemme help you up.”  A few moments later, a pegasus pony burst through the door and stood there, breathing heavily, with all eyes now on her.  “I saw it, you guys!”  This pony was light blue in color, with an interestingly rainbow colored mane and tail, and with a flank mark that depicted a similarly rainbow colored lightning bolt shooting out of a cloud.  She looked around the room and when she caught sight of Twilight and her friends along with the away team, she rushed over.  “I saw it!  It was awesome!”
“What did you see, Rainbow Dash?” asked Fluttershy.
“Hold on, let me catch my breath,” said the blue pony.  She shook her head furiously, blinked a few times, and took several deep breaths, then looked at the gathering.  “I saw their ship!” she exclaimed, nodding her head at the away team.
Riker’s eyes widened in shock and he glanced around at the other away team members, who showed equal measures of surprise.  “You saw our ship?” he asked.
“I sure did!” said Rainbow Dash.  “Or, at least I think I did, anyway.  When Scootaloo told me about there being humans at Sugarcube Corner and how you’d come here in an orbiting ship of some sort, I just had to try to see it.  I figured that since you were here, the ship had to be overhead, rather than, like, on the other side of the world or something, so I took off and started flying straight up.  I flew as high as I’ve ever flown, up to the point where the air starts getting thin and the sky starts looking like nighttime, even though it’s still daytime.  And there it was!  It was hard to see though, so I figured it was either really small or really far away.”
“Our ship is currently in orbit at a point approximately six-hundred and fifty miles above the surface of this world,” said Data.
“Huh.  So, it must be really big then,” said Rainbow Dash, with a nod.  “Even as high as I went, I’m sure it wasn’t much higher than maybe fifty or sixty miles at the most.  Your ship’s pretty awesome looking.”  She turned to her friends and started describing it.  “It kind of has this large disk shaped head, with a neck that tapered down to a thin body with a sort of red and blue dish at the front of it, and with these long narrow wings with red and blue glowing lights on them extending up from the sides.  The whole thing was kind of a metallic gray, with little dots over most of the surface, which I guessed were windows since some of them were lit up like in a house at night.”
“That certainly sounds like the Enterprise, all right,” said Troi, rather impressed that this pony was able to see it.
“Enterprise, huh?” said the blue pegasus.  “That’s a pretty cool name, too.  Oh, I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way.  It’s very nice to meet you all.”  Yet another round of introductions was made.
Riker looked at Twilight Sparkle and said, “Okay, I know that you are a librarian.”  He turned to Pinkie Pie.  “And that you work here in Sugarcube Corner.”  He swept his eyes over the other ponies.  “So, tell me, what do the rest of you guys do?”
Applejack adjusted the string holding her hat a bit and said, “As ya probably already guessed, me and my little sis here live on a farm just outside of Ponyville with our brother and granny.  It’s called Sweet Apple Acres.  If ya came in from the south, ya probably saw it already.  We grow some other things, too, but mostly we grow apples, as well as make and sell various apple-related foodstuffs.”
Apple Bloom nodded and said, “And when ya’ll try ‘em out, you’ll see that we grow the best apples in all of Equestria.”
“That we do, sugar cube,” said Applejack, smiling down at her sister.  She then turned to Rarity and nodded, indicating it was the unicorn’s turn.
“As for me,” said Rarity, “I am a fashion designer.  I own and run Carousel Boutique, which is not too far from here.”
“A fashion designer?” said Troi, with a note of surprise.  “But… I haven’t seen any ponies wearing clothing at all, aside from a bit of jewelry or other accessories.”  She glanced at Applejack’s hat and the ties in her mane and tail and Apple Bloom’s bow as she said this.
Rarity nodded once and said, “It’s true that there isn’t much call for such things here in Ponyville itself, at least not on a day to day basis.  Most of my business lately has been going to Canterlot, especially after the big wedding not too long ago.  My suits and dresses have been flying off the racks, sometimes hardly before I’ve even finished them.”  She turned to one of the smaller ponies and said, “My dear sister Sweetie Belle here has been a big help as of late.  I don’t know what I’d do without her, these days.”
Sweetie Belle blushed, but Troi could tell that this made her very happy to hear.  “I’m just glad you gave me another chance after all those disasters from before,” she said.
“As am I,” said Rarity, with a warm smile.  “You’ve come a long way from those days and are learning a lot.”  Once again, Troi could tell that Rarity’s praise made Sweetie Belle intensely happy, though it didn’t really take an empath to notice that.  However, Troi noticed that she was sensing very strong feelings from someone else as well.  She glanced down at Spike, and saw that he was gazing at Rarity while she spoke, his cheeks ablaze and a moony look in his eyes.  Troi smiled inwardly, but didn’t draw attention to this as she turned back to the white unicorn.  But then, she caught a similar feeling coming from someone else nearby as well, though it wasn’t quite as strong as what the dragon was putting out.  She shifted her eyes around and noticed that Twilight Sparkle seemed to be occasionally darting her eyes toward Riker and then quickly looking away again, her cheeks momentarily reddening slightly each time she did so.  Troi raised an eyebrow at this.  It seemed as though the first officer himself hadn’t yet noticed the surreptitious looks he was getting.  ‘I’ll have to mention this to Will later,’ she noted to herself, before turning back to the two white unicorn sisters.
“Why, you might even get a sewing cutie mark soon,” Rarity said to her sister.
“You really think so?!” said the younger pony excitedly.
“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask about that,” said Riker.  “We’ve all noticed the marks that the older ponies have on their flanks.  Are these what you call cutie marks?”
“Indeed they are,” said Rarity, nodding.  “They’re marks that young ponies get when they come of age.  These three here,” she said, gesturing to Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, “have been trying very hard to make theirs appear.  Most would say too hard.”  The three fillies in question shuffled with embarrassment at this.
“Well, they ain’t managed to burn down the whole town quite yet,” said Applejack, with a chuckle, “so I reckon there ain’t too much harm in it.”
“Most intriguing,” said Data.  He was studying each pony’s cutie mark as through memorizing them for later research.
“By the way,” said Rarity as she looked at Troi appraisingly.  “I must say that your own dress there is simply marvelous.  Oh, and you must tell me who does such wonderful things with your mane.”
“Why thank you,” said Troi, smiling broadly.  “As for my hair, you’d have to speak to Mr. Mot.  He’s a regular miracle worker.”
“Best barber in all of Starfleet,” said Riker with a nod.  “Maybe you’ll get to meet him.”  He then turned to Rainbow Dash.  “So, how about you?”
Dash grinned and struck a pose.  “I am the best weather pony in all of Ponyville.  Probably all of Equestria, even.”
“Weather pony?” asked Worf.  “Does that mean you’re a meteorologist?”
“Uh, what’s that?” asked Rainbow, not recognizing the word at all.
Data said, “A meteorologist is a specialist who studies the atmosphere and is often able to predict the weather before it happens.”
“Aw, heck no,” said Rainbow, shaking her head.  “I don’t predict the weather, I make the weather.”
Troi tilted her head.  “You… make the weather?”
Rainbow nodded.  “That’s right!  You notice how there isn’t a cloud in the sky today?  That was all me.  All clouds cleared in ten seconds flat!  Next Tuesday, though, the weather team has a big thunderstorm planned, so you’ll want to stay inside then.”
“I’m not sure I understand you,” said Riker.  “How do you control the weather?  We didn’t register any weather control technology in our initials scans of the planet.”
Dash shrugged.  “That’s probably because we don’t use machines for it.  Well, there are some factories in Cloudsdale for the really big stuff, I guess, but for the most part, it’s just something that we pegasi do ourselves.  It’s my job.  How do you control the weather where you come from?”
Troi said, “Well, while we do have some weather control devices in place on our home planets to prevent the most severe weather, like tornadoes and hurricanes and such, the weather usually just sorts itself out without our intervention.”
Rainbow shared a look with her friends and raised an eyebrow.  “Weird.  That sounds sort of like the Everfree Forest.” She motioned in a vague westerly direction with one hoof.  “Nopony can control the weather there.  Fluttershy tends to get a little bit of spill over from there on occasion, since her cottage is just outside the forest, but I’m usually able to clear things up before it gets too bad.”
“Don’t forget to tell them about how awesome a flyer you are, Dash!” said Scootaloo with excitement.
Dash grinned and said, “Aw, I’m not one to brag…”  This got her a chortle from most of the other ponies, mainly Applejack and Rarity.  She gave them a somewhat nasty look, but before she could say anything, Scootaloo took up the slack.
“Dash is the fastest pony in the whole wide world,” said the orange filly.  “She’s won the Best Young Flyers competition in Cloudsdale two years in a row now.  I bet someday soon she’ll even be asked to join the Wonderbolts!  They’d be fools not to take her in, if you ask me, especially since she’s even faster than they are, of course.”
“Aw, Scoots, you’re embarrassing me,” said Rainbow with a grin that let everyone know that she was as far from embarrassed as she could be at the moment.  “Anyway, that just about sums me up.  I guess that means it’s your turn now, ‘Shy.”
Everyone turned to the yellow pegasus at this point.  When she saw that all eyes were now suddenly on her, she let out a small squeak and shrank down.
“You’ll have to forgive Fluttershy,” said Rarity kindly.  “She’s not very good with large crowds like this.”
“No… no, it’s okay,” said Fluttershy, summoning up her courage.  “Well, I… I take care of all the animals at my cottage and help them to find good homes with loving families… and I help out with waking some of them up from their hibernations during the Winter Wrap-Up… and I suppose I also help out if anypony’s pet is sick and the vet is too busy… and I raise and sell eggs… and I babysit sometimes... and I help out with the music during festivals and such… and I help Rarity with her design work sometimes… and I used to be a fashion model… and I… I… oh… I guess I don’t really do all that much.  I’m sorry.”
After a brief silence, during which the other ponies and the away team simply sat there staring at Fluttershy, Riker cleared his throat and said, “It actually sounds like you do quite a bit, to me.”
“Oh no, it’s okay,” said Fluttershy, blushing profusely.  “I know you’re just saying that to make me feel better because I don’t really have an actual full-time job like the other ponies.  It’s awfully kind of you.”
“Darling, don’t sell yourself so short,” said Rarity.  “Who cares if you don’t have a full-time nine-to-five job?  You’ve helped us out so many times.  Why if it weren’t for you, that huge dragon would still be sleeping on that nearby mountain and we’d all be breathing nothing but that horrid smoke right now.”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, “and don’t forget how you totally saved the day when the tornado for transferring water from Ponyville to Cloudsdale for the rainy season didn’t have enough power.”
“Or how ya got us past that manticore in the Everfree Forest when we were goin’ to get the Elements of Harmony back durin’ that whole thing with Night Mare Moon,” said Applejack.
“Or… how you saved me from that cockatrice,” said Twilight softly.
“Or, most importantly, how you sang my evil enchantress song when I couldn’t because of the poison joke!” said Pinkie Pie.  “Especially since you had that really silly deep voice yourself at the same time.”  She giggled at the memory.
Troi could sense that all of this attention was embarrassing Fluttershy terribly, so she took a different approach.  “Fluttershy, it sounds like you’re very good with animals.  Why don’t you tell us about them?”
“Oh yes,” said Fluttershy, perking up a bit.  “Well, there’s Angel, my pet bunny.  He helps out a lot with all of the other animals.  I’d be lost without him.  And there are the chickens that lay the eggs that I sell.  And then there are all the other various animals waiting to be adopted.”
“It sounds like you have quite the menagerie,” said Troi.  “I’d love to see it.”
“Really?” said Fluttershy hopefully.  “Oh, I mean, yes!  Sure, I know that they’d love to meet you.  They’ve never seen a human before.  How about tomorrow morning?  If that’s okay, I mean.”
“That sounds delightful,” said Troi, smiling warmly.
Pinkie Pie looked around.  “Well, everypony, I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.  I think I’m going to go grab some hay fries and a few of those yummy looking apple fritters.  And maybe a slice or three of one of those cakes that Mrs. Cake baked for us.”  She got up from the table and made her way over to the buffet.  All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were right behind her.
“Did you guys bring cider?” asked Rainbow Dash of Applejack.  “Please tell me you brought cider.”
“Sure did,” said Applejack, nodding.
“Awesome!” said Rainbow Dash.  She took off toward the beverage table, barely avoiding bowling over three or four other ponies that were nearby.  A few seconds later, she was already back and holding a frothing tankard of rich-smelling apple cider.
Twilight looked at Riker, blushed again, and said, “Yeah, I hate to say it, but we probably shouldn’t keep you to ourselves all evening.  I’m sure a lot of other ponies would like a chance to speak with you, too.  I’m going to go get something as well.”
Riker nodded and turned to the others on the away team.  Keeping his voice low, he said, “Go and mingle.  Sample the local cuisine.  And, most importantly, make yourselves available to anyone who wishes to speak with you.”  Riker nodded once to Worf and said, “That includes you, Lieutenant.”
Worf grumbled.  “I am a Klingon warrior, sir, not a diplomat.”
Riker shook his head.  “You are also a Starfleet officer, Mr. Worf.  This sort of thing is our bread and butter.  Or would you prefer to return to the ship?”
“No, Commander,” said Worf, reluctantly.  “That won’t be necessary.  I will go and… mingle.”



“Fascinating,” said Picard, as he continued to watch what was being displayed on the view screen.  “Simply remarkable.”
Next to him, Q was sprawled out in Troi’s chair, with his eyes closed and his head lolling to the side.  He was snoring very loudly and obviously.  When Picard spoke, he jerked upright and said, “Huh?  Wha?  You say something, Picard?”  He glanced at the view screen.  “Oh, finally.  I thought they’d never stop yapping.”
“Q,” said Picard, with annoyance, “you say you want us to meet with these ponies, and yet, when we do, you do nothing but berate us.  What do you want from us?”
“Fine, fine,” said Q grudgingly.  “You have a point.  It’s just that I’m glad the whole awkward introductory phase is finally over.  Now then, I do believe it’s about time that I finally make my grand entrance.  Last chance, Jean-Luc.  Sure you don’t want me to teleport you down there?”
Picard sighed.  It had been too much to hope for that Q would abandon his plans to interfere and simply let things run their natural course.  He just hoped that Q didn’t make too big of a mess once he got started.