//------------------------------// // Part 6: Party For Q // Story: DisQord // by Midnight Sprint //------------------------------// “I have to admit, Twilight, I was a little… ah… skeptical at first?” Came the prim and proper melody of the fashionista to her friend. Twilight asked in almost involuntary response, “Skeptical of what, Rarity?” The elegant and proper lady walked with grace. “Of this of course! I find that regardless of what one is, one can always look their best. We just happened to be the lucky ones! These uniforms are simply divine, Captain!” “Miss Rarity, the uniforms Discord put you into are not any standard issue of the Federation. The color and iconography-“ “Match how we look as our proper pony selves!” Rarity exclaimed, cutting off the Federation Captain. “I mean, your uniform of Red with your little badge is very commanding and regal. Simplistic, yet demanding. It is the pinnacle of practical fashion for the military man!” Picard offered a look of both amusement and partial exasperation. Fashion was hardly at the top of the list in the Federation’s uniforms. “Now this, however,” Rarity continued with a little squeal of joy, “This is just to die for! And you say that these colors are not standard issue at all? I can understand our cutie marks of course, but this makes them entirely one of a kind!” She finished her little rant on the fashion of Starfleet, by pointing out how she found it so very intriguing, but that the pony uniforms were indeed superior. They strange group continued to walk through the town, finding a road leading to Sugarcube Corner, finding the way exceptionally clear. It seemed that most ponies viewed the phenomenon with utmost suspicion. Despite the obvious workings of Discord’s lunacy, everyone that this human came into contact with ended up turning into one of his ape-like race. Most ponies enjoyed being ponies. A little perturbed by the behavior of the villager ponies treating them like carriers of some twisted transformation disease; Captain Picard grunted out to a pony that rushed into a nearby shop simply to avoid walking past the human group, “Oh, come now. We are not ill! It’s nothing more than the mad workings of this Discord fellow!” The words did little to aid Picard in making the ponies any less afraid of the bizarre events in Ponyville, or the group associated with such happenings. “Um, Captain?” Twilight asked, trying to sound as polite as possible. “I don’t think that’s really helping us.” Picard looked around the bare street, and noted the ponies peering out from windows and doorways. True enough, there were a good part of the population who cared little of the human group, having seen much stranger in the exploits of Twilight and her friends, but there were a good many who still were sketchy on being too near their company for fear of subsequent transformation. “Yes.” Picard answered bluntly, reviewing the situation in full. “I suppose you’re right. So then, where are off to now? You said there were six, correct? We’re only missing three now?” Twilight, Rarity, and Spike all looked confused, before Twilight realized the misunderstanding. “Oh, no, Captain. There are four more of our friends we must find.” She looked behind the group, watching Lyra sauntering at a close distance, holding various things from around the town that she passed by. Apparently, Lyra was making gratuitous use of her newly acquired hands. As she looked up, smiling as wide as a field, she saw Twilight and Picard eyeing her strange obsession with hands, and quickly dropped a flower pot that she was thoroughly examining. “Annnnyway,” Twilight continued, “That’s just a pony named Lyra. She isn’t one of the Elements of Harmony. We need to find Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.” Picard took a moment to register the names. The naming scheme of their society was most curious. It reminded him of a strange kind of native naming scheme, as the names seemed to match a pony’s personality, natural talent, or status. It was all very interesting, honestly. “Captain Picard?” Spike asked from Twilight’s shoulder. “Do you think that Discord and your Q are really the same guy?” Picard smiled, and glanced down to the young dragon. “Well, I don’t deny that the likelihood of such is particularly high. However, I simply do not know at this point. Everything here in your world is so… magical. Your world is run with magic and all sorts of workings that we don’t see much of where I come from; even amongst the multitude of worlds I’ve visited. We’ve mostly encountered illusions and advanced tricks to put up the pretense of true magic.” Spike cocked an eyebrow. “So… that’s a yes?” Picard chuckled to himself, as Twilight grinned and shook her head. There was too much technical talk for young Spike. He was a smart little dragon, but there was no doubt that once the Captain passed a certain point of attempting to explain his knowledge and experience, that it was lost on him. Considering even Twilight Sparkle had been known to leave Spike wondering from time to time, Picard’s words must have been like another language. “Basically, Spike,” Twilight explained, “The Captain is saying that he’s seen a lot of magic in his travels, but it was almost all just tricks and illusions.” Spike let out a long “Ohh” of understanding, while Rarity and Twilight giggled quietly. Picard continued, “My concern is that the only time I’ve seen anything resembling this sort of power, was my experiences with the being known as Q.” Picard remembered his experience with Q at Bre’el IV, where Q had been temporarily stripped of his powers, and sought frightened refuge amongst the Enterprise. The Captain briefly detailed those events, and how Q had displayed a gesture of genuine good will towards his crew, and in particular, Lieutenant Commander Data. “So then, you’re saying that Q is not entirely bad?” Rarity questioned. Picard looked a little skeptical at the words, despite having said them himself at one point or another. “It would seem so. He had learned to tone it down, though I doubt that he’d ever entirely lose what makes him Q.” Twilight’s imagination was stoked, not by the tales of Q, for she had already listened to Picard explain that being on the train rides. What excited her was the tales of Bre’el IV, and of the android named Data. The fires of scientific understanding and knowledge echoed in her mind. Twilight had been in the middle of questioning the Captain about said Android, when Spike’s prodding on her shoulder finally forced her to stop and loudly question why he had been poking her. Rarity answered the question with whimsy. “We’re at Sugarcube Corner, darling!” The girls looked to one another, and Picard was left wondering. “Um, Captain? There’s something you should be ready for.” He waited for an explanation, raising a hand, gesturing for Twilight to continue. “Pinkie Pie is… an interesting pony. She will be very…” Rarity interrupted, finishing the statement, “Loud. And very, very friendly.” “Very well.” Picard replied, after mulling it over. “Certainly it can’t be worse than anything I’ve seen yet.” Together the group entered the sweets shop, and found a curly haired and very pink pony hopping around the store, evidently waiting for something to finish baking. The store was colorful, and wrought with all manner of sweets and treats. Suddenly, the pony froze upon seeing the crew, and let out a colossal gasp. She then proceeded to leap around the group rather excitedly, singing something about new friends and monkeys. Amidst the hollering, Picard looked to Rarity. “Loud was right.” He mused. “Is this… normal of her?” The girls all nodded, except Lyra, who was apparently not concerned with anything, merely following the crew because she knew that she would have to be dealt with like the rest of the humanized ponies. Suddenly, Pinkie halted her utterly random singing and frolicking, and stopped in front of Picard. “Who are you?” She asked excitedly, “My name is Pinkie Pie! I’ve never seen a monkey like you before! You have all these clothes, and-“ “PINKIE PIE.” Twilight interjected. The pink pony stopped dead, and bolted before the purple uniformed Twilight, placing nose to nose. “Twilight? You’re a monkey too? Well this is just weird.” Rarity muttered something about ‘being weird’ and ‘irony’, causing Spike and herself to chuckle in the background. “Look, Pinkie. It’s a strange story, and a long one.” The magical Miss Sparkle reiterated everything they had already been forced to repeat before. It was a bit trying, having to repeat herself, but it was also necessary. “So let me get this straight…” Pinkie started, “We need to get the elements together to stop Discord, OR this Q guy? AND he or they are turning everyone into monkeys with clothes?!” Picard massaged the bridge of his nose. “I know that humans are related to apes, similar to how ponies are related to donkeys, but can everyone please stop referring to my kind as ‘monkeys’?” Pinkie apologized briefly before returning to her usual bubbly demeanor. “Oh, but Capitan, you are monkeys! Just look at how whimsically you have all been running around Ponyville!” The voice snaked throughout the room as Picard’s eyes widened. “Enough of this, Q!” he demanded, “Return these young ladies to their proper form, and take me back to my starship at once!” A colorful, multi tiered cake resting in the back of the shop sprang to life, and Discord popped out, this time having donned a Starfleet uniform of his own. It was red, just as Picard’s, and had the same badge, similar to how Q had worn when taking a human appearance. “Q, I know that you are this Discord character!” Picard barked, while Discord only glanced around the room innocently. “How else would you know so much about me? You even use the same mannerisms as Q. Not to mention turning these people… er, ponies, into humans against their will!” Far in the back, Lyra raised her hand gently to argue that it was against her will, but Twilight brushed her hand down, leaving Lyra smiling partially embarrassed. Discord wound behind Lyra, “You see?” He rested his claw on her shoulder, patting her other shoulder with his paw hand. “Some ponies appreciate what I’ve done for them! You should be grateful!” “Besides, Picard.” Discord cooed with almost serious implications, “Who says that your Q isn’t actually I, Discord? When I’m not locked away by Celestia, or the six Elements, I can do whatever I please, whenever I please! Have you ever though of that?” The possibility was real enough, but surely it was Q who had simply visitied this time and space under the guise of a moderately Equine being to wreak his chaos here. Pinkie Pie jumped up and yelled, “You can’t just do whatever you want! You can’t just barge into Sugarcube Corner! Especially not without chocolate milk rain and cotton candy!” Discord halted, and looked over the group. “Hmm. I suppose you’re right.” Suddenly, his claw darted behind his back, and he pulled out a stick of cotton candy. “Here, Pinkie Pie. A gesture of good will. Hold this for me?” Pinkie looked over the stick very thoroughly, and tentatively reached for the cotton candy. Without warning, the cotton candy puffed up to easily five times its normal size, blocking their view of Discord. Chocolate milk sprinkled out in a short pop, forcing them to move back, lest they get sprayed themselves, and when the mist of chocolate milk had gone away, Discord was gone. Instead, standing in the front of the store was a human with puffy, curly pink hair. On her body was a Starfleet uniform whose top was a pastel pink, opposing the darker pink of her hair. “Pinkie?” Rarity slowly asked into the air of the now quiet sweet shop. Twilight simply looked on, as another friend had become human. Pinkie turned around to face the rest of the group, holding the cotton candy, which had returned to its original size. She was happily munching away at it, with a great big smile on her face. “Ah well!” She spoke with a mouth full of candy, “More for me!” Spike couldn’t help but notice that Pinkie had already made use of her now human hands to tug the cotton candy into bits with while eating. “She certainly took that quite well.” Picard said to the side, directed towards Twilight, who only held a hand to her forehead. “This is going to be a long day, isn’t it Captain?”