//------------------------------// // The Signal // Story: My Little Voyager // by pabrony //------------------------------// A shower of sparks erupted from under the helm console in the Delta Flyer while Tom was attempting to reroute power around the circuits that were damaged by the anomaly that brought the Voyager away team to Equestria. "Tom! Are you okay?" Spike shouted as Tom emerged from the ensuing smoke. "Yeah but the main relay is shot," Tom replied. "The good news is that I think I can rig something together that can give us enough power to get through the anomaly." "So what's the bad news?" The Doctor asked cautiously. “The bad news is I'm going to need your mobile emitter,” Tom answered. “Of course you are,” The Doctor deadpanned. “Isn't it always the solution to everything?” As Tom went to the rear room to get a toolkit, Seven shut down The Doctor’s emitter. “What makes you mortals think that you can do what I couldn’t?” Q asked egotistically. Holding the Doctor’s emitter in her hand Seven responded, “We mortals have instincts that allow us to adapt as conditions change.” “So you’re just going to connect the doctor’s emitter to the ship and be on your way?” Q asked. “That is the idea,” answered Tuvok. Q lightly pinched Spikes cheek. “How about the friends of this poor little dragon? How are they going to get back?” Spike slapped Q’s hand away and blew a small flame at him. “They'll find a way. Twilight has gotten out of worse situations.” By now Tom had returned with the toolkit which drew Spike's attention. “So how is this going to work? Is the doctor going to be controlling the ship from inside or something?” Tom let out a chuckle. “No, we’re just using the power from the emitter.” “Before you try taking off, you might want to try sending a message to see if Voyager is on the other side of the rift,” Q said as he lounged in one of the chairs. Suddenly, Spike's eyes lit up. “That’s it!” he exclaimed. “Does anyone have some parchment and a quill?” “A paper and pen? That archaic form of communication will certainly not make it through the rift.” Seven said. “I have an idea but I need something to write on,” Spike said. A flash of light appeared in front of Spike and when it dissipated he was holding a quill and parchment. “Before I write this, would you be able to send me to this other dimension, Q?” “Possibly but I won't make any promises,” Q answered. “Alright,” Spike said as he began to scribble on the parchment. Dear Princess Celestia… Twilight crawled on her belly through a tight corridor as she continued to explore this new environment. For the last two hours, she had been climbing and descending ladders and crawling through tunnels. She had found these passages by accident after leaving the room with the huge star map. “Where is the exit to this maze?” she wondered aloud. "I come to the end of a tunnel, open a door, ascend or descend a ladder, open another door, crawl through another tunnel, and…" she opened the next door, "...repeat," she deadpanned. About thirty minutes later, she exited one of the tunnels into a junction that was different from all the others that she had encountered so far. "Finally!" she exclaimed quietly. "Now I might be able to get somewhere." The large doors in front of her hissed open, causing her to jump slightly. She cautiously poked her head into the room where the door lead. There was chatter among the dozen or so beings on in the two-level room. Fearing what might happen if she got caught, Twilight made herself as small as possible until a window of escape presented itself. While waiting for her opening, Twilight began to analyze her situation. Okay, my magic doesn't work here but my wings do. There's an opening in the ceiling that leads to what looks like another level of this room, she thought. Maybe I can fly up there to take refuge. "Chakotay to Engineering," called a voice from out of nowhere. "Torres here," a female voice answered. "B'Elanna, we've detected an equine life sign in engineering. If you happen to find the pony that it belongs to, please escort it to the mess hall." "We're a little busy down here to set up a search party but I'll have everyone keep an eye out. Torres out." After the unusual conversation was over, Twilight happened to notice that no one was looking in her direction. With a strong, quick flap of her wings, Twilight swiftly ascended to the catwalk that was roughly four and a half meters above. Upon landing, she took notice of the warp core. "What is that?" she whispered in awe. "I have got to get a closer look." Before she could get any closer, however, she was forced to take refuge behind one of the protruding support columns to keep from being spotted. Hurry up already, she thought as one of the humans worked on the console overlooking the core. The beeping from the contact with the work station began to drive Twilight nuts. Her right eye began to twitch violently as the minutes slowly ticked by. She was just about to cause some distraction when the beeping stopped and the area was vacated. Yes! she thought as she crawled on her belly; inching closer to the massive glowing cylinder at the far end of the room. Just a little further... "Hey Joe, can you grab an anodyne relay from the storage cabinet while you're up there?" B'Elanna called from the lower deck. No, no, no! No, no! Twilight panicked, seeing nowhere to hide. The curly-haired human who was working on the console minutes earlier, returned and came face-to-face with the purple alicorn. "I'm going to assume that you're the source of the equine life-sign," Joe Carey said with a light chuckle. With a nervous chuckle, Twilight slowly backed, unfurling her wings as she prepared to take flight once again. "Lieutenant Torres, would you mind coming up here for a minute?" Joe called. "Only a bed?" Discord asked as he was ushered into the brig. "No mirror or sink? Or a toilet?" "Please step inside," one of the security officers said. Discord did as he was told and stepped inside the cramped cell. The guard then activated the force field to lock the draconequus inside. The two security officers that escorted Discord to the brig each took a position on either side of the door. "Excuse me, but do you know if my good friend Fluttershy is on this vessel?" Discord asked. "I don't know. That's something you'll have to discuss with Captain Janeway," the guard replied. "She should be here shortly." "Really? How long will it be? It's almost tea time," Discord said as he snapped his paw to change his appearance. To his surprise, however, his prison attire remained. "What is this tomfoolery? Why can't I use my powers?" Back in Equestria, Tom finished rigging the doctor's mobile emitter to one of the power couplings. As the power began flowing through the conduits, all of the displays began lighting up. "So far so good," said Tom as he checked the power levels. Q, meanwhile, scoffed at Tom's most recent victory. "Mortals and their technology," he muttered under his breath. "How's the power looking?" Tom asked Seven. "Propulsion is at thirty-eight percent and rising. Phasers are at ten percent, shields are still down," Seven reported. "What about communication?" Tom asked. "Long-range communications are still down," Tuvok replied. "However, the emergency subspace beacon is operable. I am activating it now." "With any luck, we should be home by dinner time," said Tom, rubbing his hands together. "Are you okay, Spike?" The dragon was on his hands and knees gagging on something. "Y-yeah," he managed to choke out. "J-just a…" Pausing mid-sentence, Spike let out a huge belch which was accompanied by a large green flame. "Well, that's certainly a way of sending messages," Tom said as Spike unrolled the scroll that had emerged from the flame. "So what did your princess have to say?" "She's unsure if the Elements of Harmony would work in your dimension due to the lack of magic. And…" Spike paused as he read the rest of the letter. "And because of her uncertainty, she will not allow me to attempt to transport them there." "So it's not just humans that fear the unknown. Equine deities refuse to help those in need as well," said Q. "There's more, Q," Spike responded. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be here shortly to assist in getting the Delta Flyer into the rift." B'Elanna arrived on the upper deck to find Joe staring at a lavender pony. The pony in question was in fight or flight mode. Her wings spread wide and her legs were bent at the knees. "Easy, there," Joe said in a calm voice. "We're not going to hurt you." Twilight relaxed her stance and slowly folded her wings. "I know that," Twilight said, catching the assistant engineer off guard. "I'm just curious about that...thing over there." B'Elanna looked in the direction that Twilight was pointing. "The warp core?" "Yes. That," replied Twilight. "What is it?" "Bridge to Captain Janeway." "Go ahead, Harry," answered the captain after tapping her comm badge. "Captain, we're picking up a faint signal emanating from the rift." "Do you know what kind of signal?" There was a short pause in the conversation before Katherine spoke up. "Harry, are you still there?" "Sorry, Captain. We've analyzed the signal...it's Federation." "Lock onto that signal and see if you can match the frequency," Katherine instructed. "If that's the away team then we might be able to get a message through. I'm on my way to the brig with our guests. Keep me posted." "Aye, Captain. Bridge out." "So what you're saying is thing bends space around the ship so that it can go faster than the speed of light?" Twilight asked Joe as she flew around the core. "That's correct," Joe confirmed. Twilight cocked her head in confusion. "But the only way to do that is with magic. From I've observed magic doesn't exist here." "Well, it's very scientific," Joe replied. "Every person in this room has to go through four years of classes to learn how warp drive works." "So how come you don't fly this ship into whatever it was that joined our worlds together? If it can go faster than light, then surely it can go pick up your crew members, the Delta Flyer and drop off my friends and me within seconds," Twilight said. "Because the damned rift is too small for Voyager to fly through. Alright?" B'Elanna interjected. "Listen, I've violated a direct order and allowed your curiosity to be satisfied. I need my assistant engineer to help adjust the plasma flow before thirteen hundred hours." "Oh. Well, I'm pretty handy-" B'Elanna slammed the tool she was holding onto the nearest console. "Look, I don't need your help. I don't want your help. And if you don't get the hell out of my engine room now, you're going to be needing help." Twilight, taken aback by the Klingon's tirade, slowly hovered toward the large doors that led to the corridor outside. "I...I'm sorry," she said as she ducked through the entryway in tears. "Subspace distortion detected in spatial grid seven-three-three-zero. Change course to intercept."