//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Ponies: The Final Frontier // by mint20 //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Ponies: The Final Frontier The four Starfleet officers continued their hike north, heading for the alleged city that Q had referenced earlier. Of course, the temperature was below zero degrees centigrade, so the trek was slow going. “Captain,” asked Data, who was having to check his pace to not get too far ahead of the rest of the company, “when we encounter these sentient ponies, will we do as Q asks of us? There is the Prime Directive to consider, after all.” The captain sighed, wishing for a moment that Data was human and able to feel the cold. Then he might be a little more silent. Before he could find a diplomatic way to tell the android to shut up, though, the question was take from him by a sudden and abrupt change in the landscape. As they crossed over the last hill, the snowy landscape quickly leveled out and stayed that way for several kilometers. Near the four explores, the barren, snow-covered landscape suddenly changed to one that looked a lot less cold. Lush green grass and flowers thrived in the micro-environment, and there were many well-paved roads and elegant-looking buildings. Not too mention, there were several giant crystal spires of different colors, planted throughout the landscape seemingly at random. “Captain,” said Data, “It is extremely unlikely that foliage of this kind could possibly survive these conditions. Or that the border between the two environments would be so well-defined.” “Indeed,” whispered Picard, fascinated. The flowers and greenery where so alike that of Earth, he could almost swear that he was back in his home village, La Barre, or at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. “So close to home, it's eerie,” said Riker. “But how? Snow this deep could kill almost anything. By all rights, none of this greenery should be alive!” After thinking for a minute, Riker turned to Data and asked, “What are the odds that plant life similar to Earth would evolve on a planet across the galaxy? And be resistant to the cold?” As he asked, he felt something wet on his head. When he brushed it off, he saw that a snowflake had fallen on him, and that the sky had darkened. A storm was setting in. Data opened his mouth, undoubtedly with some lengthy statistic as to exactly how unlikely a coincidence that size would be, but was cut off by the captain. “No, I doubt that these plants are immune to the weather.” “Captain? What makes you say that?” Picard pointed at the sky. “See?” he asked, indicting the light snow that had started. Riker, Worf, and Data all squinted at the sky. (Well, not Data.) After a few seconds, Data saw it. “Captain, the snowflakes do not pass over the landscape where the plants and architecture are. Not only that, but the skies over that region are completely clear.” At this, Data approximated a frown and asked, “Lieutenant Worf, did you detect any traces of weather technology when you scanned the surface?” Worf shook his head. “No.” “Neither did I,” observed Data. “Captain, a hypothesis. The visual interference I detected could have been caused by this anomaly.” Picard nodded. “That seems like a reasonable conclusion,” he said. “But that doesn't answer the question of how. How is a species of...well, horses! - able to to control their weather without any of the technology we use back on Earth?” Suddenly, the four Starfleet officers were blinded...again...by a bright flash of light. “Q,” snarled Worf. “I have had enough of this foolishness!” Q yawned and turned to Picard, “Captain, please, restrain your dog. It's distracting.” Before Picard could answer, though, Q had already moved on. “Now, if I heard correctly, you were wondering how these ponies are able to govern their weather, hmm?” Again denying Picard or the rest of the crew an opportunity to speak, he pushed on, saying, “Well, here's a bright idea. How about you go and ask them yourselves???” “Q, we've been through this before,” sighed Picard. “Oh, yes yes yes, your precious little Prime Directive,” Q replied, sarcasm dripping off of his words. “I guess that this is where you get all morally righteous, right? Where you start saying how interference with alien cultures isn't beneficial and how it causes more harm than good, right?” Picard tried to get a word in. He failed. “Well, I happen to know that you, Picard, have violated that supreme law at least three times. Probably more, but I really can't be interested enough to check. And you still haven't been punished. Not in any real amount.” “Now, given that this law is so lazily enforced, I'm led to believe that it isn't nearly as important as you claim it to be. So, again, I will offer you a choice. You can either walk there of your own free will, or I will simply drop you in the city. Your choice.” Picard wanted to point out that walking there wouldn't be of his own free will, but decided against it. He sighed, then said, in a tone of defeat, “Well, Q, it appears you have left me with no meaningful alternative.” “That was the plan.” “Data, Riker, Worf? Let's move out,” Picard said, resigned to fate. “Hopefully we will be able to salvage something from this.” “Excellent idea, mon capitaine. Who knows? Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.” Laughing at his own joke, Q snapped his fingers and vanished. “I have had just about enough of him,” muttered Worf. “Tell me about it,” replied Riker. “Captain, we cannot seriously be going into that city.” Picard sighed. “Look at it this way,” he said. “Which one would be more disrupting: a group of bipedal aliens walking into town, or a group of bipedal aliens teleporting into town? This way, they're less likely to think we're some kind of invasion or have hostile intents.” “I wish he wouldn't play games with us,” said Riker. “So do I,” Picard said. “Unfortunately, I can't see any way to avoid hearing his beat, so we just have to dance to it.” He stepped forward into the sheltered terrain, and instantly, there was a change. The captain felt warmth sweep over his body as the temperature rose from about negative one to approximately twenty-five degrees centigrade. A gentle wind past over him, and the wind seemed to take some of his troubles away. Suddenly, it didn't matter what Q was planning. Rather, what was important was this moment. The sensation was remarkably peaceful. Shaking his head, Picard re-focused his thoughts. The cheery, upbeat feeling stayed with him, though. “Well, that was invigorating,” remarked Commander Riker when he crossed over himself. “Indeed,” said Picard. After a moment, he said “Well, it appears that the city is just a hundred or so meters away. Let's move, shall we?” With that, the captain turned and set the pace. Twilight followed Pinkie's gaze for a moment. Where is this...there! Sure enough, there were four creatures, all of them on what appeared to be...well, she wasn't quite sure what. They were too far away. She wasn't the only one to notice, however. A disturbance was rolling across the warriors, pony and changeling alike, as they turned to face the odd-looking newcomers. As the creatures slowly approached the city, the changelings slowly grouped up, as if to form a more defensible block, while the pony warriors uneasily fidgeted with their weapons. Glancing back, Twilight quickly and somewhat desperately scanned the crowd, looking for some trace of Celestia, Luna, Cadance – heck, even Chrysalis would have worked. Unfortunately, there was no trace of them. “Guard!” Twilight yelled. Two pegasus guards materialized in front of her. “I need you two to keep ponies and changelings from panicking. I plan to meet with the newcomers.” “Your Highness, are you sure that's wise? They could be hostile,” protested the guard on the left. “That's true,” admitted Princess Twilight. “However, if they were hostile, I'd imagine that they would not be slowly walking towards us at such an incredibly slow rate.” The guard blinked, then stepped forward, saying, “Ma'am, I cannot allow you to go without protection. Equestria needs you too much.” Twilight sighed. Clearly, the guard wasn't about to take no for an answer. Ironic how I can't order my own guard around, she reflected, before saying “Fine. But keep those weapons out of the discussion.” “Of course, Your Highness.” “And stop calling me 'Your Highness!'” Those...horses (that still sounds strange!) appear to be fairly well-armed, thought Captain Picard, barely making out what appeared to be spears and swords. “Data, what do you make of this?” The android's face approximated another frown as he said, “It appears that the native life has developed the capability mass-produce weapons and equipment, as it appears that every one in front of us is armed, with weapons that correlate to medieval Earth. I estimate there to be a total of three thousand troops in front of us.” Riker let out a low whistle while Worf shifted uncomfortably. “Well,” replied the captain, “I suppose we should see what Q has in store for us.” As if on cue, a group of the creatures detached themselves from the others and started to walk towards the Starfleet officers. “A welcoming committee?” Riker wondered out loud. “Or a trap?” speculated Worf. “Either way,” replied Picard, “We should probably meet with them first.” With that, the party turned to meet with the others. After walking for a few minutes, Picard could finally make out the individual creatures. Approaching him were two...pegasuses? Pegasi? They both had gray coats, which was partially hidden by ordinate-looking gold armor, which had a turquoise-colored, star-shaped gem in the centre of the chest. In their right...hoof, they both carried a spear that was about a half foot shorter than Riker. Behind the two soldiers was a creature that was, if possible, even stranger. He/She/It was lavender colored, and stood about a head or so shorter then Picard. What made her stick out even more, however, was the fact that the creature possessed both wings and a horn that reminded Picard of ancient Earth legends. On her head sat a gold, five-point crown, each point set with a magenta jewel, which probably indicated some sort of royal status. The two guards crossed their spears in front of the lavender horse. Clearing his throat, the soldier on Picard's right said, “Presenting Princess Twilight Sparkle-” Picard felt his eyebrows going up at the mention of the creature's...childish-sounding...name. Quickly, he re-asserted his diplomatic side, disciplining his face before anybody noticed his extremely brief lapse. “-Head of the Council of Harmony,” finished the soldier, and a pregnant silence set in, broken quickly when Picard made his introductions. “I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the starship Enterprise, flagship of the United Federation of Planets. This is my first officer, Commander William Riker. He is Lieutenant Commander Data, and this is Lieutenant Worf.” As he spoke, he indicated each member of his crew with a wave of his hand. The...princess looked up into Picard's eyes for a long moment. Her magenta-colored eyes had an unmistakeable look of youth in them, but Picard also saw a light of intelligence in them. After a few awkward moments, the creature apparently decided to act, as she blinked twice, and with the air of somebody attempting to gather her thoughts, extended a ever so slightly timid “Hello.” She's scared of us. Well, maybe not scared, but at least wary. Apparently deciding to take a gamble, Commander Riker took a step forward, extending a hand. That was not wise, Picard thought, as the two guards sprung forward, lowering their spears to be level with Riker's chest. Picard reached out to grab Riker, but the need was taken from him in one of the most wondrous, and yet terrifying things Picard had seen in many, many years. The Princess's horn glowed a magenta color, and almost simultaneously, the two guards where also enveloped in a magenta field. The glow stopped the guards as well as any force field on the Enterprise would, suspending them in the air. Then, the guards were gently pulled back to stand beside the Princess. Here, the glow surrounding them vanished. If Picard had been any less of a master diplomat, his jaw would have fallen open. Thankfully, his crew quickly recovered from the casual display of power shown by the Princess. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Picard saw Worf shaking his head and blinking rapidly, as if to clear his eyes. Data simply blinked once, then whispered “Fascinating” quietly, no doubt attempting to divine exactly how the Princess managed to do that. Ok...so it appears that these species possess a heightened form telekinesis. Great. Stifling these thoughts, Picard opened his mouth, only to close it again as the Princess took the moment to speak. “Oh! Did I startle you? I'm sorry,” she said, with a degree of humility. The captain smiled slightly, saying, “It is quite alright, Princess.” The pony gave a ever so small wince at the title “Princess,” Picard noticed. In the back of his mind, he filed that information away for further pondering. The pony spoke again, saying, “I am sorry about that. Sometimes the guard is more jumpy than is good for them.” Her last words were rather pointed, and Picard got the feeling that she butted heads with her guard often. She added, almost as an afterthought, “Though, the past two year's worth of war probably haven't helped...” Picard cleared his throat, then said, “It is quite alright.” The princess looked around for a moment, then looked behind herself, trying to find something. What it was, Picard had no idea. “Well,” Twilight said, looking back to the captain and his companions. “You should come with me. I'll introduce you to some friends of mine, and I can already tell we have a lot to talk about.” With that, the Princess turned around, and started walking slowly back into town square. “Well, they seem friendly enough,” said Picard to his officers, “if a little jumpy.” “Such power,” observed Worf, no doubt referring to the Princess's telekinesis. “They could be formidable foes on the battlefield.” “But they - or, at least, the Princess - don't seem to want to be our enemy,” observed Riker. “They're more scared of us.” “Are you coming?” came the question from the Princess, some five meters ahead. “Well, let us continue,” said Picard. “We want answers, and it appears she's our ticket to them.” With no further discussion, the bridge officers followed Princess Twilight into the Crystal Empire.