Equestria's first warp drive

by CCC

Decision

Jorge stepped into the forward observation deck, with the Captain. He didn't fully understand what the six mares were doing in here (he wished he did, at least to the point of understanding whatever they were doing to act like a warp core) but it apparently involved creating the rainbow trail ahead of the ship which they were following, and increased their speed by a full two warp factors.

Jorge did understand their refusal to leave the room, for any reason. If he had a little sister who'd been kidnapped, he'd want to do everything in his power to get her back as well...

“Ladies,” he said, holding up a small portable screen, “there's someone wants to talk to you.”

“Yes?” asked Twilight, not looking around.

“Twilight?” asked Princess Celestia's voice, from the screen. “What are you doing?”

“Ah.” said Twilight. “Good – um – morning, Princess. Is it morning already? I haven't been keeping track.”

“It's near to midnight, Twilight. Have you been staying up all night again?”

“I don't believe any of them have slept since they got on board, ma'am.” said Jorge, promptly.

Twilight flicked an irritated glance in his direction. “It's necessary.” she said. “The Ferengi ship is significantly faster than this ship; by changing the shape of their warp bubble to a more streamlined configuration, we can match and even slightly exceed their speed. Maintaining the spell requires all six Elements, so, well... I thought it would be later than midnight by now, though.”

“I... see.” said Celestia, hesitantly.

“Anyhow,” said Twilight, “I'm sure you had some reason to call?”

“Yes.” said Celestia. “I've recently received a letter from Spike, he says the ship has come under attack from some creatures called the Borg...”

“The BORG?” asked Jorge and Captain Anderson, simultaneously.

“Yes, the Borg.” said Celestia. “Apparently these creatures were at least partially responsible for Nightmare Moon, and will likely know everything she knew. They have some kind of hive mind...”

“And they'll kill us all.” said Captain Anderson, firmly. “Absorb us into their network. I'm sorry, we're stopping right here.”

“They've got Scoots!” objected Rainbow Dash.

“Then 'Scoots' is as good as dead.” said the Captain. “I'm sorry about your little sister -”

“Actually, Scootaloo isn't -” began Fluttershy, quietly.

“- but it's no good us getting ourselves killed as well in a wild-goose chase.” continued the Captain, ignoring Fluttershy. “I'm still the Captain of this ship, and we are stopping, right here. If you can find another ship to commit suicide in, then that's your choice, but you are not taking Jorge and me with you. I don't care what you say, I don't care what you can do, this is the Borg we're talking about.”

“Why, I oughta -” began Dash.

“Dash.” said Twilight, extending one hoof to stop her. The glow in Twilight's eyes dimmed, as she dropped to the floor. The other mares stumbled slightly, the weight of the spell suddenly vanishing. “He is the Captain, he does have the authority to make that decision.”

“But Scoots -” began Rainbow Dash.

“My sister -” said Rarity.

“Captain,” said Twilight, ignoring the other mares for the moment. “I understand that you're unwilling to risk your ship, but I understand you have a smaller ship for landings, right?”

“The shuttlecraft, yes.” nodded Jorge.

“Excellent.” said Twilight. “Could you drop us off, right here, in this 'shuttlecraft'? We would like to continue this pursuit on our own, and this way it doesn't risk your ship or your crew.”

“The shuttlecraft doesn't have a warp drive.” pointed out Jorge.

“That will slow us down,” said Twilight, “but it's not an insoluble problem. If we don't get our tracking spell up again within at most eight minutes, then the trail will have faded too far to follow. Please, let us use the shuttlecraft.”

* * *

“It stung me!” said Scootaloo, as the small group of fillies and dragons fled another of the slow-moving Borg drones(1). “In the neck!”

“We prob'ly oughta get Zecora ta look at that when we get back.” said Applebloom. “Who knows what that thing's sting does ta you?”

“I bet it's nothing good.” said Sweetie Belle. “You might get paralysed or something. Or suddenly fall asleep without any warning.”

“Or it might not work on you at all.” volunteered Spike, trying to be optimisitc. “I mean, hey, that sleepgun thingy didn't work on me, did it? Maybe we're immune to some of their stuff. 'Cos of... um... magic, or... something?”

“Maybe.” said Scootaloo. “Or maybe it makes me explode!”

“Yeah, Ah think paralysis is more likely.” said Applebloom. “Lotsa things sting ta paralyse, I dunno of anything that stings ta explode something...”

“Do you hear that?” asked Scootaloo.

There was a moment of silence. “I don't hear anything.” said Sweetie Belle.

“It's like... lots of voices.” said Scootaloo. “Really distant... I can't quite make out what they're saying...

(1) They might be slow-moving, but it turned out that they excelled at waiting just around the corner until the fillies and dragon ran past, and then stinging Scootaloos with some sort of extendable tubes before being noticed.

Comments

[CCC]

3735097

Depends how awesome they were, and whether she thought Rainbow Dash would wear them or not.

3735975

You might be interested in the alternate ending.

[Orca19904]

“Yeah, Ah think paralysis is more likely.” said Applejack. “Lotsa things sting ta paralyse, I dunno of anything that stings ta explode something...”

Think that's supposed to be Applebloom, not Applejack.

[Ellington]

SCOOTALOO IS BECOMING A BORG!!!!!??!!!

[CCC]

3795163

Gyah. Fixed, thanks.

3795280

Who, me?

[Gyro Pony]

If this ends badly.....

I know - make Scootaloo the pony equivalent of "One" from Voyager.

Ha! Imagine Scootaloo with internal transporter nodes!!
At least she won't need to worry about flight anymore....

[CCC]

3797177

I wonder how exactly internal transporter nodes work.

I mean, your average transporter, you have this bit of near-magical technology that teleports people from point A to point B by turning them into energy and back. That's straightforward enough; the machine does all the work, whatever work that entails.

But the internal transporter nodes have a little problem, in that the transporter nodes themselves get turned into energy. So there's no machinery left capable of turning the energy back into matter, because the machinery itself has been turned into energy...

Gyah.

[Lancerlot]

"Decision"
Scootaloo can't be assimilated into Borg. The "Electric Borgaloo" puns would be horrible!

[Strange quark 42]

Scootaloo being assimilated!? I read "ow it stung me" and i let out a darth vader type NOOOOOOOO!!!!

[Shadow_8472]

Scoot, NOOOOOO!

Be tough, kid!

Help is still three days out... or is it anymore? Maybe Apple Bloom can brew a potion, or something.

[tsaukpaetra]

It's quite curious why the Borg never developed dart technology.

[Snowdrifter]

9947800
Pubs are irrelevant. 🍺

[Bronzer]

The shuttlecraft doesn't have a warp drive

…the warp drive are the booms it uses like landing skids.