//------------------------------// // Awakening // Story: Equestria's first warp drive // by CCC //------------------------------// Flim stepped gingerly over the sleeping bodies of several ponies and even more aliens. All of the aliens appeared to be bipedal, for some reason... It took him only a few moments to reach his destination; the only pony he'd ever fully trusted. His brother, Flam. Flim poked his twin in the side with his horn a few times, until Flam woke up, blinking rapidly. “Flam.” said Flim. “Flim?” asked Flam. “What are you doing here?” Flim grinned, just a little. “Would you believe Celestia herself personally organised your rescue operation?” he asked. Flam's eyes widened. “My goodness.” he said. “Oh, yes.” nodded Flim. “You'll never believe who I spent the last week travelling with.” “...last week?” asked Flam. “I was only kidnapped about half a week ago.” Flim frowned at his brother. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Oh, yes.” said Flam. “Three days, maybe four at the most.” The two unicorns exchanged a glance. “What's the last thing you remember?” asked Flim. “I was in a cart,” said Flam, promptly, “over-propelled by an overenthusiastic pegasus filly, and the aliens were in front of us. They had their backs to us, and were just turning around.” “You don't remember wearing strange armour and seeing lots of rainbows?” asked Flim. “No,” said Flam, “should I?” The two unicorns stared at each other for a long moment. “Mnemosyne's?” asked Flim. “Yes, please.” said Flam. The two twins leaned their heads towards each other, their horns glowing as they each cast Mnemosyne's Memory Restorer on each other; an obscure spell originally designed to improve memory recall, though with the useful side-effect of restoring almost any form of magically deleted memory. It took several minutes to cast, but the results - “STOP!” yelled Flam suddenly. Flim's hornglow vanished, as he looked at his brother in surprise. “That – what I can remember -” began Flam; but his shout had done more than stop his brother, it had woken some of the alien beings around them. “Where am I and where are my clothes?” asked the nearest biped, sounding somewhat shocked. * * * It didn't take long at all to wake up the aliens, or the three foals, or the baby dragon. The Element-bearers, on the other hand, were very firmly asleep; given that they'd all been up and maintaining some rather draining magic for several days without sleep, Flim wasn't inclined to try too hard to wake them up. Besides, they weren't getting in anypony's way. Well, not much, at least; the rainbow-maned one was holding onto the little orange pegasus while she slept, like a teddy-bear, but the pegasus filly seemed quite happy with the situation. A more immediate concern was that most of the bipeds seemed to have some sort of nudity taboo. Fortunately, Flam had managed to locate an obviously-used cabin, and there had been enough, between the clothing and the blankets, to at least calm the bipeds down. “What's the last thing you remember?” one of the bipeds asked another. “I was just setting out to go start with the harvest,” the second biped replied, “when these big, square spaceships appeared in the sky. You?” “I was plotting a course for Qo'noS,” said the first biped, “when a Borg ship came out of warp near me.” “I was a passenger on a ship to Vulcan,” said a third biped, “when the power went out. I left my cabin, and my last recollection is of a pair of Borg drones appearing nearby. It seems probable that we have all spent some time assimilated as Borg drones.” “What if we're already assimilated now?” asked the second biped. “What if this is what the hivemind looks like from the inside?” “That would be highly unlikely.” said the third biped, immediately. “As you may be aware, we Vulcans have limited telepathic abilities; I know what telepathy looks like, and this is not it. This is reality. If we were Borg drones, we are no longer Borg drones.” “Why,” asked the second biped, “are there so many horses around?” “Please.” said Flim. “We're ponies. Not horses.” The three bipeds stared at him in shock. “You speak?” asked the second, after a moment's thought. “Clearly it does.” said the third, pre-empting any reply that Flim might have wanted to give. “An intelligent species of quadrupeds, with no clearly defined manipulative appendages... fascinating. I take it you were also assimilated by the Borg?” “Who are the Borg?” asked Flim. “A number of races, joined in a technologically created hivemind.” replied the third biped, raising an eyebrow. “Are you familiar with the Federation?” “I... think so.” said Flim. “I think they're the ones who helped us with the... space ship?” Flim glanced at the impassive third biped, trying to see if he'd used the right term. The third biped's face provided no cues. “Or whatever it's called. The... transport we used to get here in.” “Fascinating.” said the third biped. “This ship is clearly of Ferengi construction. It is probable, then, that they've joined the Federation... do you know the current date?” “One thousand and one, A.N.M.(1)” said Flim, promptly. This did not appear to stir any recognition in any of the bipeds. “Do you know the date in the Federation calendar?” asked the third biped. Flim looked over at Flam, and Flam looked over at Flim. Both unicorns shrugged. (1) After Nightmare Moon