//------------------------------// // Where No Pony Has Gone Before // Story: The DisQord Continuum // by ZoidbergIsBestPony //------------------------------// Where No Pony Has Gone Before “I’m very sorry...” said the doctor. The expression on everypony’s faces instantly dropped in shock. Tears immediately welled up in their eyes. “Fluttershy’s skull has a hairline fracture, and she’s bleeding internally. We need to operate immediately to repair the tissue damage and relieve the pressure building up. However, this is a very difficult surgery, with a very low rate of success.” Everypony wept openly for their friend. They just couldn’t believe it. They started looking at one another, from face to face, searching for answers and finding none. Geordi, who had remained silent until now, was waging a battle in his mind. Finally, he arrived at a decision. “I can help her." It was just a little more than a whisper, but it was enough. Everypony’s face snapped to Geordi's with the sharpest expressions of both hope and doubt. “How?” Twilight demanded while cocking one eyebrow. She held even more reservations about this creature than the rest of the group did, but she would do anything if it meant saving her friend. “I… I… I have a magic of sorts,” Geordi quickly made up. He realized that, with the unusual circumstances of this world, he might just be able to explain it in such a way that wouldn’t necessarily damage their culture any further than he already had. This was most unusual behavior for Geordi. By now, he would have already beamed back the moment he had been spotted, and the mission would have been scrubbed. Instead, he found himself still planet-side, wanting to help their injured friend. In the back of his mind he was arguing with himself over what he should do. But a voice deep inside him kept telling him, "You can't just leave them. They're too cute and innocent to leave them with their friend in this state that you caused." “Give me one hour," he said out loud. "You’ll need to leave us alone for that time, but I promise I can fix this!” He spoke very sincerely and pleadingly. “How can we trust you alone with her?” said Twilight distraught, tears running down her cheeks. “You’re the one who caused this in the first place!” “I know, but I didn’t mean to, and I want to fix this. Give me a chance. Please." When he could see their doubts still lingering, he added, "Lock us in if you don’t trust me. Then give me one hour.” Twilight looked from Applejack, to Rarity, to Pinkie, to Rainbow, looking for some sort of sign. They all seemed to want to give the stranger a chance. Even the doctor seemed to be looking toward the stranger, knowing the odds as he did. “Do it!” she said with a tone of almost disgust. “Geordi." “What?” “Geordi. That’s my name: Geordi LaForge.” “Tw-Twilight Sparkle,” she replied, wiping away some of her tears. “Please help her.” The doctor showed Geordi into the operating room. Closing the door behind him, Geordi approached the unconscious pony lying on the operating bed. He knew he needed to act quickly, and any request to bring her onboard the Enterprise would almost certainly be denied. Tapping his comm. badge he said, “LaForge to Transporter Room Two: Two for emergency transport to sickbay!” The glow of the transport beam wrapped around both Geordi and the pony. When it completely engulfed them, their bodies disappeared into the matter stream, rematerializing in sickbay. * * * Dr. Crusher rushed over, and before Geordi could even begin to explain his actions for bringing the pony aboard, she had her medical tricorder already out, examining the patient. “Her skull is fractured… Slight hemorrhaging near the frontal lobe... Cranial fluid pressure is building rapidly. Let’s get her on the bed.” Dr. Crusher worked on the winged pony repairing the tissue damage, followed by the cranial damage. While this was in progress, Captain Picard arrived to discover the situation. Geordi debriefed, explaining the circumstances to the captain, including his attempts to minimize the damage caused by this violation of the Prime Directive. The captain was furious at Geordi for bringing the pony onboard. He not only violated the Prime Directive by this incident, but by refusing to follow protocol and beaming out at the moment he was discovered. This was a serious lapse in judgement that was unexpected from his dutiful Chief Engineer. However, he decided that any punitive measures would be discussed at a later date. “We will keep the creature under sedation,” said the captain. “She is not to be revived at anytime while onboard the Enterprise. Mr. LaForge, you will transport down with the creature alone and revive her once back on the surface of the planet.” “Yes sir." After fifty minutes, Dr. Crusher had completed the repairs to the pony's injuries. She carefully wrapped up the its’s head in bandages as a guise to prevent overexposure to their technology. When she was finished, she and Geordi readied the patient for transport back to the hospital room down on the planet. * * * “Something’s wrong,” Rainbow Dash commented, pacing in the air outside of the operating room. “I haven’t heard any noise coming from that room, and it’s been almost an hour already!” “We agreed to let him try,” Twilight said. She found herself pacing as well, with a rate that was causing grooves to form in the floor. “We promised to give him the full hour.” Twilight tried to keep herself calm as well as everypony else, but even her patience was razor thin. A clock on the wall nearby ticked away loudly. Each tick echoed in their ears like somepony banging on a large drum. Rarity, normally less concerned with affairs that didn’t concern fashion or beauty, was so distraught that her mascara had run from her tears down her cheeks. Her silken hair started fraying and curling. She hadn’t even noticed. Pinkie Pie’s hair had also changed, falling from its usually bubbly and curly mane, to its straight and smooth hair that only ever occurred in times of deep sadness. Applejack held her hat in her hooves with her head looking down to the floor in deep thought. Rainbow Dash was flying in a circle overhead so fast she was starting to create a wind tunnel in the waiting room. “Rainbow, quit it!” Applejack yelled. Rainbow stopped circling, but her face had twisted. It contorted with rage at the situation: trusting a complete stranger with one of her best friends and not hearing any news or even sound coming from the operating room. She lost her will, and her patience had completely run out. Screaming, she charged straight through the operating room doors, bursting them open so fast they nearly popped right off their hinges. At that moment, a bright light seemed to be emanating from the center of the room. Rainbow looked around, but saw no pony in the room. But in the next second, both Fluttershy and Geordi LaForge spontaneously appeared within the light. All anger was shocked away from her face as her jaw fell to the floor. The other ponies quickly followed into the room to see what was happening. They saw the look of shock from Rainbow but not what would cause her such a look of surprise. Fluttershy was lying on the table with her head covered in bandages. Geordi stood beside her. “Where were you just now?” Rainbow demanded. “And since when can you teleport?” That statement hit Geordi in two ways. Firstly, that he was caught transporting in, and secondly… “How do you know about teleporting?” Rainbow didn’t seem nearly as concerned with how he teleported so much as where he teleported from. “Twilight’s teleported us tons of times,” she said, “but where did you just come from and why did you go there?” Geordi felt trapped. These ponies seem to be more insightful about concepts they shouldn’t have even conceived of yet. “I… I took her to get the help she needed,” he thought quickly. “I teleported her back to my people for help. She’s fine now! All she needs is a few days of rest.” Hoping they would focus on their friend more than his background, he used a hypo spray cusped in his hand, so they would not see, to revive the pony. “See?” Fluttershy shyly fluttered her eyes as though she had awoken from a pleasant dream. “Good morning,” she said softly. “Where am I?” That was the last phrase anypony could hear her say as five ponies suddenly drowned out her quiet voice with cheers and hugs. “Thank goodness you’re doing better!” said Rarity. “It’s good to see yer O.K.!” Applejack cheered. Pinkie Pie’s hair instantly popped back to its usual shape, and her smile was so big, one could wonder how she wasn’t splitting her jaw open. “Ooh thank goodness, thank goodness you’re okay Fluttershy! We were so worried about you, but now you’re okay! Yippie! Yippie!” said Pinkie, bouncing up and down all around her. Twilight simply smiled warmly and patted Fluttershy on her shoulder. “It’s good to have you back with us." Rainbow Dash had taken an extra minute or so to soak in the situation. Still confused about what she had just witnessed, she shook it off upon seeing Fluttershy’s eyes awake and alert. She dashed to her bedside with tears in her eyes. She didn’t say anything. She just rested her head on Fluttershy’s waist and cried. Fluttershy smiled warmly and stroked Rainbow's mane reassuringly, letting her know everything was okay. In fact, she felt better than okay. She felt happy and pain-free. She recalled something hitting her in the head, but felt no residual pain whatsoever. Happy to know she was well and her friends were also okay, she relaxed on the bed while she spoke with her friends. Twilight wanted to thank Geordi, but as she turned to find him, she saw him apparently trying to slip away from the scene. She had just caught a glimpse of him as he turned into the hallway. Knowing her friend was now alright, this suspicious behavior allowed Twilight to return to her usual inquisitive nature, and she followed him. There were a great many questions that needed answering. One of which was, and she wasn’t sure why, but his shoes seemed to flash into her mind for some reason. She trailed behind him discreetly, trying not to alert him to her presence. He headed off in search of a more secluded area of the hospital. This was difficult for him as every pony he passed in the hall stared at him, never having seen anything like him before. Eventually, after walking down several wings of the hospital, he found a small hallway off to the side that was unoccupied and the lights were off. Once he believed he was alone, his tapped a strange pin on his chest. “LaForge to Enterprise: one to beam up,” he said aloud to nopony. Twilight watched as a light started to appear, like the one that had emanated from the operating room when Rainbow had burst in. A sudden realization dawned on her that he was about to teleport again. Running straight at him, she tackled him just as the light enveloped them both.