//------------------------------// // Part 4: Into the Q // Story: DisQord // by Midnight Sprint //------------------------------// Twilight beheld the absolutely slightest expression of confusion on her face as the Princess darted off in a rush. While Captain Picard clearly had even less grasp of what was currently going on, he knew he had little choice but to trust these clearly honest and benevolent equine beings. From a scientific perspective, he found it all very interesting. The fact that there were so many parallels between their people and his, regardless of biological structure and evolutionary traits, was astounding to the Captain. Even more fascinating was the seemingly magical aspect of their land. While his travels through deep space and vast uncharted reaches of the stars had shown him things of science and things of evident magic, he had never seen a society so in touch with this magic, that is was not only accepted, but a natural part of their existence. After a moment where both Twilight Sparkle and Captain Picard alike took some time for inward contemplation on the matter, the young pony spoke up. “Well, Captain, if the Princess is taking this as so seriously, we’d better get my friends to go with us to the gardens.” Picard began walking with Twilight out of the main hall, to head towards the Canterlot gardens. “I take it your friends are also well versed in these sort of situations?” Twilight giggled her recognizable laugh that meant she knew something you didn’t. “That is to say, they aren’t pupils of the Princess, but together we’ve done some amazing things for Ponyville and Equestria that I would have never imagined we’d do.” Picard raised his eyebrows. “Such as?” He inquired curiously. “It’s… a bit of a long story, actually. I can tell you another time before you leave, perhaps.” Twilight answered briefly. The Federation Captain followed her to a foliage-covered part of Canterlot, obviously leading towards the gardens. “I imagine your friends are back in Ponyville?” He asked the unicorn. Twilight raised an eyebrow and quirked her lip a little, realizing that the captain was right, and gave a nervous little laugh. “Well… yes. I’m sure that there will be more to this than meets the eye. We’ll probably need to get them after we talk to Princess Celestia again.” A short lack of topics to speak about caused a momentary gap in the conversation, so Twilight ended up giving general overviews about the various deeds that the she and her friends had accomplished. The Elements of Harmony were kept out of the loop, and she downplayed much of the more intense situations to be a little more reasonable to accept, regardless of Picard’s own extraordinary experiences. Yet, soon enough, the two were already upon the Canterlot gardens, where many statues and flowers peppered themselves amongst the hedges. Up ahead, the Princess was standing beside two royal guards in front of a pile of crumbled stone. As they approached, Celestia turned around, expecting their arrival. “Twilight Sparkle. It is as I feared.” Twilight and Picard both stepped around the Princess and her guards, looking upon the statues. “Oh no…” Twilight expressed quietly. Picard stood confused, as the two guards looked upon Picard with suspicion and inquisition alike. “Twilight, I need you to find your friends, and reunite the Six Elements of Harmony. If this is as it seems, we will be fortunate to stop his return before he has any time to cause any real damage again.” Picard asked the Princess out of lack of knowledge. “Princess, may I ask what it is that we are up against?” The Princess stood with a very stern expression on her face, unlike that which Picard had seen since arriving. “His name is Discord. He represents chaos and disharmony. He is a very powerful creature, able to manipulate the natural world in a way so as to make it unnatural to fit his twisted sense of humor.” Picard’s eyes lit up with realization and in his mind the dots began to connect. “Q.” He said under his breath. “Excuse me?” The Princess asked. The Captain sighed and explained. “You see… this is all just so very reminiscent of the being known as Q. In my experience, he seems very similar to this Discord of yours.” Picard continued to explain every detail of his experiences with Q, and his nature of appearance as well as personality, even amongst the Q Continuum. “That is startling to hear, Captain Picard. Do you suspect that Discord and Q are one and the same?” The Captain paced briefly, keeping his eyes on the Princess out of respect. “Well, Princess.” He began, clearly connecting the proverbial dots as he spoke. “I typically would simply seek to learn the truth about the nature of such a creature. However, considering the being known as Q sent me to your land, and on that very day, you find this Discord fellow to have escaped his captivity… Well, I just fail to see it as mere coincidence.” Princess Celestia considered the notion for very little time, before realizing that there was an astounding level of wisdom and theory to this claim. “You are wise, Captain Picard.” Celestia spoke, clearly impressed. “If we are to stop Discord, deal with your Q, or both, we will need to be sure we do not miss any details.” Picard agreed, and Twilight stepped forward. “Princess, I’ll go get the others so that we can deal with this as soon as possible.” “Take the Captain with you again, Twilight. I agree with him. I have a feeling that whatever is going on, we will need everyone vigilant.” Twilight and Picard said goodbye to the Princess, who remained beside the statue’s remains briefly, before leaving back to the castle. There was research to be done, and the Library was the first place to check up on anything that might lend a clue about anything resembling Discord, or the being known as Q whom Picard spoke of. After the time to travel on the return trip to Ponyville, Picard and Twilight found themselves back in front of the Treehouse Library. Twilight called for Spike, who tentatively inched out the front door, eyes locked on Picard. “Um. Twilight? What is this thing?” Picard squatted down to be on a more even level with the young dragon. “My name is Jean-Luc Picard. And you are?” Spike was unable to answer, and only stuttered a little, having not expected to hear, not only speech, but also very intelligent introduction from, what appeared to be on first glance, some large breed of monkey. “Spike, this is Captain Picard. He comes from a race called ‘humans’. His people were traveling on a ship… in space!” Twilight explained briefly, which quickly trashed any doubt of fear Spike had, and instead replaced it with child-like fascination with adventure and the distant unknown. “Spike!” Twilight shouted, as he pestered the Captain with all manner of questions in rapid succession, to which he apologized sheepishly. “Spike, there’s more to this than you know. We have to get the girls together. Princess Celestia needs our help again.” Spike, in his typical manner, gave a stumpy little salute, and jumped on Twilight’s back, to the veiled amusement of Captain Picard. A disembodied voice suddenly emanated around the trio. “Well well well… Twilight Sparkle and Spike the little dragon have a new friend?” The voice was unmistakable, to both Twilight and to Picard. “You’ve never laid eyes on a human before, and yet here you are, already the best of friends and heading off for adventure!” Suddenly, the physical presence of Discord appeared between the Captain and Twilight. He wrapped his arms around both of their necks, as though hugging old friends. “But you’ve always been a very curious little student, haven’t you, Twilight Sparkle?” The body of Discord burst into little clouds before Picard and Twilight were able to shrug him off, and reappeared, lounging upon a branch of the Tree Library. “Heading off to find your friends, are we? Well, we wouldn’t want it to be as easy as last time, would we? Let’s make this time a little more… interesting, shall we?” Discord pointed a claw at the trio, and a blast of light violent, almost white energy hit Twilight Sparkle. After the dust cleared, Twilight was gone, and instead two humans and a dragon were huddled on the path in front of the Library. A girl, evidently in her mid to late teens was crouched down next to Spike, who quickly jumped beside Captain Picard. Picard was in equal shock as the events that had just unfolded. When the girl stood, she was wearing a Federation uniform, identical to any other, only instead of red, yellow, or any subsequently standard color-coded display; it was a striking purple top. Instead of a Federation communication badge, was an embroidered symbol, identical to the cutie mark, which had rested upon the unicorn’s flank. She stood, and looked up to the creature known as Discord. “We already stopped you once, Discord. Don’t think we can’t do it again!” Discord laughed in genuine amusement, and vanished from existence before their eyes. The girl turned to Picard and Spike, but had a strange expression on her face. “Captain?” She asked nervously, before looking down to Spike. “Spike! Why am I suddenly so tall?” She took a few steps forward, and stopped on a dime. Looking down, she screamed curtly, and ran in circles in almost comedic panic. “HE TURNED ME INTO ONE OF YOU! I’M A HUMAN!” Twilight exclaimed, before regaining her composure. “You know… no offense.” She added, apologetically. Captain Picard placed a hand on her shoulder while Spike restrained himself from laughing. “It’s alright, Twilight. Just… try to think of it as a learning experience from the perspective of another life form.” The scientific perspective helped ease her frantic shock of suddenly being completely transformed into another kind of creature. Sighing, Twilight looked over her now human form. Her hair was virtually the same, resting upon skin fairly similar to Picard’s, albeit younger, smoother, and feminine. “He gave me a uniform like yours, Captain.” Picard helped Twilight walk around a little to get used to the movement of two legs, despite the fact that she already had a seemingly good grasp of it. It would appear that, logically, becoming something else, the brain would adapt and understand the body it was in. “Either Discord only saw the clothing I wore as a human, and adapted it to you in your current body, or he put you in that thing out of sheer amusement. Unfortunately, either option seems fitting for both Discord and Q alike… assuming they are indeed two different creatures.” Twilight sighed in both relief and forfeit. It was relief that only this ridiculous transformation was the only thing Discord had evidently done so far, but also of forfeit from panicking. Panic would serve no purpose, and as long as she was able to act, there was hope for stopping Discord once more. “My magic!” Twilight exclaimed, while the few passers by looked on with the utmost confusion, bordering on concern. The public, while mostly polite about it, tended to shy away from Picard; and now Twilight’s human form as well. Spike climbed up onto Picard’s shoulder, which, considering the circumstances, Picard allowed. “Give it a shot, Twilight.” Spike suggested. She focused her mind, and with a small rope of violet light, lifted Spike up, and over onto her own shoulders. Spike smiled, as did Twilight, finally giving her some comfort in her new form. “Well, at least there’s that.” She quipped, frustrated. Picard nodded in agreement, before speaking. “It will certainly make this a little bit easier, at least.” He looked to Twilight and Spike, before inquiring. “We should not waste our time. Which friend of yours should we find first?” Twilight thought about where each friend lived, and who would take the sudden change as easily. “Well, my friend Rarity is closer than some of the others. We should start with her!” Spike’s face wiggled in a most amusing manner, at the mention of the fashionista’s name. “Very well then.” Picard said concretely. “Rarity, it is.”