Discord’s Prime Directive
Twilight opened her eyes. Lights appeared to be coming from everywhere. She looked around to see another ‘person’. He was standing behind a desk. As soon as their eyes met, he tapped his chest pin and said, “Security to Transporter Room 2!”
Not fully sure what he had said, but recognizing the urgent tone, Twilight started to get up off of Geordi, whom she had pinned to the floor. By the time she recomposed herself, several more people had appeared, including a tall one with dark skin and ridges in his forehead. He was pointing some sort of small box at her.
“Worf wait!” Geordi yelled trying to diffuse the situation. “She’s unarmed and not a threat.” Twilight was very scared now. There were so many questions burning in her head. She didn’t know what to say or do. “Um… hello?” she spoke softly, trying not to further anger the tall one who seemed so stern, she doubted even Pinkie Pie would stand a chance at making him smile.
“LaFordge to the bridge, we have a situation in Transporter Room 2,” Geordie said into his communicator. “You’d better come down.”
Within a few minutes, Twilight saw these great big orange doors off to the side of the room open by themselves, and another person walked in through them. His mane was silver and all but gone from the top of his head, which could explain why he looked so grumpy. The thought of Cranky Doodle Dandy suddenly sprung into Twilight’s mind.
“Mr. LaForge, explain yourself!” the captain demanded.
“Sir, I thought I had beamed out from a point where no one could see, however, this pony must have followed me and jumped into the matter stream just as I was beaming up,” Geordi explained. “This is Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight gave a weak smile and a small bow, still shaking in fright.
Looking down at the young pony with a stern, dissappointed expression on his face, the captain said, “Well young lady, it appears we have a problem."
Twilight looked away from the captain’s eyes. She instead looked at his shoes. She couldn’t think. She wanted to…
“Wait a minute. Your shoes!” Twilight suddenly burst out, looking back up at the captain.
“My what?” the captain replied with a look of confusion.
“Your shoes! – They are the exact same shape as the tracks we found near the empty pedestal of Discord!” She looked back at Geordi with confusion. “Geordi, your hoof prints match those found by the stone pedestal where Discord was freed. That must mean that your people freed him! Why would you release such a horrible creature!?” Twilight’s fear was still present as ever, however this clue to her investigation acted as a talisman against it.
Captain Picard and Geordi both looked confused. The captain responded, “I’m not sure who this ‘Discord’ is, but I can assure you that no members of my team would have done such a thing. We have a strict policy of non-interference in other cultures. You were not supposed to have even been aware of our existence. We were only observing your culture. That’s our mission you see.”
“Mission?” Twilight looked at the captain inquisitively. “What mission? What are you doing here in Equestria, and where do you actually come from!?”
Captain Picard took a moment to think. Staring down at this creature before him, he could see the fear in her large violet eyes that accented her violet mane and purple fur. However, he could also feel the determination this young pony had, with a thirst for knowledge and getting to the truth, much like himself. He had arrived at a decision.
“We are peaceful explorers,” he said calmly. “We come from another world and explore the universe looking for other species and cultures. We learn about them and from them. We try never to disturb those cultures, so that they may continue unaffected by our presence. That’s our Prime Directive you see.”
Twilight was soaking in this new information. She was much more perceptive than other ponies and learned in astronomy, so she found herself able to grasp a hold of what Picard was saying a little easier.
“From another world…” she thought aloud. “Is this your world?”
She gazed all around the transporter room. She was standing on some sort of white platform with hexagonal shapes. Bright lights were shining down from the ceiling, but Twilight couldn't see any candles producing them. Light seemed to be coming at them from all directions, yet not a single candle could be found. There were white lights in the ceiling, yellow lights on the walls, and all different colored lights flashing on top of the desk of the person who called security.
“Not quite,” said the captain. “You see, we are currently on a ship that travels across the stars to visit other worlds like this one. There are many crew members aboard who come from many different worlds. The world where I come from is called Earth.”
In Twilight’s thought processing, she came to a sudden realization. “Is this ship in space now? Can I see?” Her fear had started to diminish as her excitement grew about the thought of where she was standing.
The captain gestured towards the door. “Follow me Miss, uh…”
“Twilight Sparkle,” she answered.
“I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and this is my ship: the Enterprise.” His expression had softened and he even smiled warmly toward Twilight making her feel a little more at ease.
Picard escorted Twilight to the nearest viewing area. As he gestured toward the window, Twilight looked out and saw the planet below her. the pupils in her eyes widened as far as they could manage. From the window, she saw the main continent surrounded by the great oceans covering much of her world. The ship was currently drifting at just the right angle to see both the sun and the moon together, hovering in orbit around her world.
“This is absolutely incredible! That is my, my…” She couldn't get the words out.
“Yes,” said the captain. “That is your world, ‘Equestria’, I believe you called it.” Twilight soaked in the incredible view for a bit, before the window itself caught her attention. She always had the greatest attention for details.
“This window,” she said. “There’s no…”
“Glass? No,” Picard finished her thought. “You see it’s a…”
“Force field, yes,” Twilight completed the thought for Picard now. “But if it surrounds the whole ship, who could possibly generate such a large field?”
The captain’s face expressed more confusion and shock than Twilight's, when she first arrived on the transporter pad. “How could you possibly know about force fields?” he asked.
“Well duh! Any Unicorn can generate a force field, see?” she stated as her horn started to glow with a purple aura. The captain suddenly found himself encased in a large purple bubble.
Lieutenant Worf, who had been monitoring from the doorway, immediately grabbed his phaser and pointed it directly at the tiny purple horse.
“Release him!” he demanded.
Twilight quickly released the captain and curledd into a ball on the corner of the room from fear.
“I’m sorry!” she screamed.
Her fear had returned and now doubled. These ‘people’ were clearly violent and probably responsible for freeing Discord. She grabbed her tail in an effort to make herself even smaller.
“Mr. Worf, please. It’s okay,” said Captain Picard, gesturing for Worf to lower his phaser. “I apologize, Miss Sparkle. This is my security officer: Lieutenant Worf. He is responsible for the safety of this ship and its crew. Your demonstration, while its intentions were benign, could have been perceived as a threat.”
Twilight slowly looked back up from her curled position. Still shaking, she slowly unraveled herself and stood back up. Picard waited for her to approach him again.
“That is quite an amazing ability you have Miss. Sparkle,” he said, smiling down at her. “On this ship, the force field is generated by technology. The ship itself generates the power for the force field. But it would seem that you have this ability in your species without technology.”
Twilight started to understand, but her curiosity was waning. She had enough and wanted some real answers.
“Captain Picard,” she started, “I am investigating a serious crime, and my only clue as to who freed Discord is your hoof prints at the scene of the crime! I want you to explain what your people were doing in the palace gardens in the first place!” she looked straight at Geordi.
“Allow me, Captain,” said Geordi. “You see, as the captain has said, this ship powers the force field that protects it from any enemies. However you have the same power without using any form of technology. There are very few species in the universe with such abilities. That's why we came to learn about you. I was setting up some our technology in the garden that would help us learn more about your powers.”
Twilight followed everything Geordi explained to her. She didn’t understand all of it, but she understood enough. Finally, she looked back at the captain.
“Then with this ‘technology’, if you really didn’t free Discord, then you can help us recapture him.”
The captain's smile faded from his face. He debated how best to respond to this request.
“Miss. Sparkle, while I can appreciate your situation, our Prime Directive prevents us from interfering. We’ve explained all this to you in the hopes you would understand why it’s necessary to not let our presence do any more harm to your community than it already has.”
Twilight started to get angry. “You don’t understand! No pony could have released Discord without an immense source of power, and your ship appears to be the only thing around here powerful enough to free him!”
That statement made the captain’s expression turn rigid. His jaw locked. He tried very hard not to allow any concern over the situation be legible from his face.
Unclenching his jaw he asked, “Who is this – prisoner – I take it?”
“He is an ancient being who thrives on chaos. He plays games with everypony and makes their lives miserable. It took a great ancient magic and six ponies, myself included, to imprison him. And now he’s on the loose again! I need to– What is it?”
Twilight could very clearly read the captain’s face now; a deep serious look of frustration, anger, and perhaps even a twinge of fear?
“I have never heard of this 'Discord' before, Miss. Sparkle,” he said in a subdued tone, “but your description of him is very familiar to me, and this person has already made one appearance to us since we’ve arrived... Q!”
“Did I hear someone call my name?” called a voice from nowhere.
“Discord!” Twilight shouted, recognizing the voice.
“Ah! Now I’m hearing BOTH my names,” said the voice ending with an evil chuckle.
A cloud of smoke appeared from the center of the room. A tall creature stepped forth from the smoke. Its body had the appearance of a Frankenstein’s monster stitched together from the bodies of many different creatures. Twilight had expected him to make his appearance at some point, but was hoping she would have had her best friends by her side when it had.
“What the devil is this, Q?” Picard demanded. “I know your flare for costumes, but this is beyond even your level of ridiculousness.”
“My dear, dear Jean-Luc Picard,” said Discord. “Do you think I always take my human form for all the species I play with?” Snapping his fingers, he instantly changed into his human form. “There, does that make it better for you?”
Twilight watched as Discord had changed to look exactly like one of Geordi’s ‘people’. Staring at Discord she asked, “How could you know this Captain Picard, Discord? You’ve been locked in a statue for over a thousand years!”
“Do you really think I would spend a thousand years sitting around locked away in a statue?” Q commented lightly as he laughed while holding his sides. “I have far better things to do with my time. You’ve been staring at an ordinary statue this whole time! Your dear Princess Celestia and her runt of a sibling may have thought they locked me away forever, but I was free as a bird the very next day!”
Twilight did not know what to make of this situation. Turning to the captain she yelled, “So you DID free Discord from his imprisonment!” The fact that Discord was here and talking to this ‘Captain Picard’, and looking exactly like one of them was all the proof she needed.
“Sowing the seeds of distrust already my dear Twilight?” said Q. “How wonderful! But alas, in this case, you are quite mistaken. You didn’t think I liked to cause chaos on just one world did you?”
Laughing he turned back to the captain and gave him a look of amused anger.
“Well, well, well, Captain. I warned you not approach this world, did I not? I said there would be consequences! And here they are. You have successfully told this poor little filly about the outside universe and even used your technology to heal their injured. Tisk, Tisk. What happened to your precious Prime Directive, Captain, eh?”
Picard’s anger was growing rapidly. “As I am sure you are well aware, since you’ve obviously been observing us, we’ve had a small incident that has been dealt with. We are taking the measures needed to minimize the damage. If you leave us alone and don’t interfere with your typical ga-…” The captain tried to cut-off his last word so that Q would not hear, but Q’s smile clearly showed otherwise.
“Games? …Games! What a wonderful idea captain! You always know just what to say to make a girl feel special!” Q said, giving the captain a hug around his arms. “A game yes, but we need to make this a very special game! I will give you three days to get to know one another before the games begin. And don’t even think about leaving, captain. I took the liberty of disabling your ship for the duration our time together. In the meantime, I suggest you make friends with the locals. You wouldn’t want to have two enemies to fight now, would you?” He gave himself a maniacal laugh.
“Q, don’t do this! You know our Prime Directive! We must not contaminate their culture!”
Still laughing, Q transformed back into the shape of Discord. “You have your Prime Directive, and I have mine. You have three days. Oh, and just so you know, I’ve taken the liberty of decloaking all of your equipment as well as your outpost in Ponyville. Looks like you’s got’s some s’plaining to do, Captain!”
Laughing, Discord walked toward the window, while simultaneously, his body slowly turned transparent. Before he reached the window, he was gone.