Star Trek: Ongoing Elements

by Barrobroadcaster

Rules and Regulations

Equestria, Canterlot
Canterlot Castle, Main Audience Chamber

3 weeks ago

Captain See'ra could name every single regulation she and her crew were breaking at this very moment. She knew every code, every rule in the handbook, all the consequences for the violations they were making right now just by being escorted through the castle. But her stride didn't break as they entered an enormous chamber in Canterlot Castle.

Initial scans of the planet hadn't revealed any indigenous lifeforms. Clearly, the sensors' reading had been wrong. It might've been a result of traveling through the high-altitude anamoly they found above Earth, right now, that seemed to be the most likely explanation. At first, it seemed like they'd found a deposit of arcicite, the very mineral they'd been sent out to search for on an uninhabited world in another universe. After the near-disaster last week that almost cost Enterprise her first officer, Captain See'ra now saw that things on "Equestria" were a lot more complicated than they appeared. She kept her senses alert as the natives led her to a seat in the main chamber.

Dr. Brody and Commander Jones took seats by her side. The room was lavish, a huge, oval table occupied the center with a dozen chairs surrounding it. Guards, by the looks of them, stood at attention with eyes focused forward along the wall. There were twice as many guards as there were chairs. On the opposite side of the room, another pair of double doors opened and two more ponies stepped into the chambers. A purple one and an incredibly regal-looking white one, See'ra had to guess she was a leader here.

The two new arrivals took seats on the other side of the oval table.

"Welcome honored guests to Canterlot," the white one spoke, her voice just as regal as her own appearance. "I am Princess Celestia, ruler of the kingdom of Equestria. This is my student," she gestured to the purple one, "Twilight Sparkle."

"Greetings Princess Celestia," Captain See'ra began. "I'm Captain See'ra of the starship Enterprise, this is Commander Paul Jones and Chief Medical Officer Doctor Charles Brody. On behalf the the United Federation of Planets, we come in peace." The speech was something See'ra had been drilled to use but had never had to use before. Meeting new civilizations was a delicate procedure; too often they proved hostile or unready to come into contact with more advanced cultures. The introduction See'ra just went over was part of Starfleet's mandate on first contact with civilizations outside of the Federation, something every Starfleet member new almost by heart.

"My student," the princess gestured to Twilight, "tells me that you come from outer space. What has brought your travels to Equestria?" she asked.

"We are searching for a substance, a mineral that has unique properties unlike any we've ever seen before. We've found large quantities on your planet," Captain See'ra explained.

"I see," Princess Celestia said. "What is it you need these minerals for?"

Commander Jones spoke up to answer that question. "Our galaxy is in danger. The stars that give so many different planets, countless civilizations and lifeforms are dying. We don't exactly know how it's happening. But we think this material can stop it."

"Your stars... are dying?" Twilight asked, her voice in a sorrowful shock. "That's terrible."

Commander Paul Jones nodded solemnly in response. "The crystals, that's the material we believe can reverse this process... and save our galaxy from annihilation."

"So you require our crystals in order to save your galaxy?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, your majesty. Our ship was scanning the surface of Earth, the only other planet where a small amount of the crystals were found. We encountered some sort of atmospheric anamoly, what appeared to be an aurora but with strange energy readings. When we investigated, somehow, it pulled us through... a portal of some sort and we reappeared over your world," the captain explained.

Twilight thought for a moment. She could think of only one explanation. "The Aurora Ceremony! Last week was the day of the Aurora Lighting Ceremony to start the Grand Crystal Harvest! Your starship must've been teleported here somehow."

The pieces were starting to come together. "This ceremony, what is it exactly?" the captain asked. Understanding it was likely the key to returning to Earth.

"The Aurora Ceremony is an annual event to mark the beginning of the Grand Crystal Harvest in the Crystal Empire. For an entire day, the magic of the Crystal Empire is drawn into the Crystal Heart. At sundown, the Heart releases the energy in the form of an aurora that spreads across the sky and remains for hours. The light and magic from the aurora is then collected into clouds by pegasi who create a huge storm. The magic then descends to the surface in rain water which energizes the soil and grows crystals," the Princess elaborated.

Commander Jones looked over to Dr. Brody, his face frozen in an unspoken question. He was holding his tricorder out so Paul had to guess he was recording the conversation. Magic, Crystal Heart, creating storms, these things boggled Jones' mind. The thought just then occurred to him that the terms his fellow officers were using might be equally confusing to the ponies. He had to hope that things would become clearer to both parties soon. For now, he decided to try and put two and two together and see where it led.

"Captain, if I may," he looked over to See'ra for a response. The Vulcan gestured for him to continue. "It's possible that this 'aurora ceremony' might be linked to the phenomenon that we investigated over Earth."

See'ra nodded. "That does seem to be the likely explanation at this point."

"Likely?" Dr. Brody asked. "Nothing about this is even remotely 'likely'. There might as well not be an explanation as impossible as this is."

"Doctor, if there was no explanation, we would not be here," the captain explained.

"Not necessarily," Dr. Brody disagreed. Paul rolled his eyes; yet another philosophical debate was brewing. "A lot of things happen without an explanation. UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, marriage."

"Twentieth century myths aside, just because an explanation isn't known at the time does not mean one does not exist."

"Excuse me, guys?" Paul said, getting the two's attention. "You think you two can save this until after we're done meeting with the magical talking ponies?" he gestured across the table. Both the captain and chief medical officer took half a moment to recompose themselves. A quiet, awkward moment followed that.

"If a portal appeared during the aurora ceremony," Twilight spoke up, breaking the silence. The gazes of the three officers and the princess were cast on her, suddenly the words stopped in her throat.

"Go ahead, Twilight," the princess encouraged her.

"Well, if the aurora ceremony created a portal... there's another ceremony after the harvest is over."

"You're saying the phenomenon is going to appear again?" Dr. Brody asked.

Twilight nodded. "At the end of the week, the excess energy of the Crystal Heart is released again to mark the closing of the Grand Crystal Harvest."

"And the harvest began seven days ago..." Paul said, an uncomfortable feeling growing in his stomach. "So if an aurora teleported us here and another one's going to appear in the sky tonight..."

"Now hold on," Dr. Brody started. "We don't know what brought us here, whether the "ceremony" on this planet had anything to do with what we saw over Earth or whether it will take us back."

"It's a coincidence we can't afford to ignore," Jones replied.

Captain See'ra thought. There was a lot that wasn't explained. It seemed that whatever the event was that occurred on this planet had brought them here. But there was no way to be certain; to ascertain if in fact the ceremony would transport them back home again would take weeks, probably months of investigation and research. Time they didn't have.

Logic dictated caution, patience, careful trial and error while collecting data. But See'ra was captain for a reason. She had the uncommon ability among Vulcans to know when to "go with her gut" on an issue. Not something she enjoyed, it was nevertheless something she was about to do now. Both the commander and the doctor knew what she was considering. They both waited for her answer.

The captain stood. "Princess Celestia, on behalf of the Federation, I would like to ask for your peoples' assistance."

"We'd be happy to help with whatever you require," Twilight offered. She hesitated for a moment and looked back at Celestia. The white alicorn only smiled back at her, encouraging her to continue. "What can Equestria do to help?" While normally the leaders of large civilizations might be reluctant to help out strangers, fearing that they might be taken advantage of. But Celestia already knew this and in fact, giving aid quickly was one of the things that made Equestria different. She was proud to see her student reach out to others so quickly.

"Thank you. I'm sorry to put such pressure on you and your kingdom but time is of the essence."

"It's not a problem," Celestia stood. "We will get to work immediately."

With that, the captain activated her communicator. The doctor, Twilight and the princess all rose and made their way out of the chambers with Paul being the last.

Paul smiled; this is what Starfleet was about. In the midst of disaster, this felt like one of the good days. Things were rarely this convenient in the universe and it was nice to see two groups of individuals come together. There was no doubt in his mind that they would be able to return home with the arcacite.

He followed the group out the doors. Sure, there would be a lot of complex proceedings, regulations to follow, rules to iron out, protocols to check and make sure were being followed but in the end, what they were doing would be to work together with a new species, an entire newly-discovered civilization to accomplish quite possibly one of the greatest tasks in the history of the galaxy. There was going to be a lot of work in the next coming hours but it was something he'd seen before. It was work he was looking forward to.