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
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Maybe in a sequel, or an epilogue. Not before that.
One thing I'm wondering about; what's become of the Borg vessel(s) that were planning to ambush the element-bearers? I'm assuming that the lack of reinforcements to fill in for the now-former drones means they were defeated by the elements as well?
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They're not there yet.
The Borg thought that the Element-bearers were limited to travelling at warp four, and planned their ambush to be ready in time for a ship limited to warp four to reach them. Twilight's trick with the warp bubble allowed them to move at warp six instead, and get there well before the Borg expected them; so those ambush ships are still a good few days' travel away.
They're still fully Borg, but everypony on the Ferengi ship has a few days worth of run-for-it time before they can get there and do any ambushing.
Thanks for the update, will be interesting to see how further interactions happen when the mane 6 awake
Too short... We need more meat or several chapters to get a full meal. Good job anyway, hope you have more updates soon to get a fulfilling meal of stories.
ANM = After Nightmare Moon.
Haha.
I've also seen AD in a few fics.
As in, AD = After Discord.
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It will, indeed. Of course, they've got about three days' worth of sleep to catch up on first.
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More updates will come! After I write them. (I may be working on too many stories at once).
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ANM makes a lot of sense to me, because the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration was 1000 years after Nightmare Moon; so that sounds like a calendar-defining event to me.
After Discord also works, and as a bonus has a certain parallel to Earth's use of Anno Domini.
3925057 I see. It just made me realize that we didn't see much of Admiral Paris other than in a few select episodes of Voyager and it'd be interesting to see his character being delved into more. I figured he'd be more of a good fit than an OC and believe me, my OC is me and a future admiral, lol! In fact I've established that my entire line descendents will be admirals....hehehe
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It would be interesting, but I don't think I know Tom's father's characterisation well enough to be able to write him properly into my story.
Which is why I picked an admiral who never appears on-screen (no doubt because he's spending all his time dealing with Equestria )
3927759 That's why it never hurts to build on the character
Heh. Vulcan reaction to magical talking ponies: One eyebrow.
I could see the honor bound Klingons swearing fealty to the mane 6 for freeing them from a fate worse than death. I also do not think they would take no for an answear either. The best bet would to be to accept in Celestia's name where they would be best employed in teaching modern fighting to the guard.
Picard and Luna retained their memories from being a drone so I do not see these survivors as being any different. Personally I would plead with Celestia to be allowed to immigrate and then help their society get a leg up on standing at the galactic stage. I would not give them turn-key industries though. They might come to rely on foreign tech too much. I would work with the equestrians to develop their own industries that would be melded to the advantages that magic bring.
5559123 LOVE the idea of the Klingon honor thing... As for the Memory... I think that The Elements tried to keep the pain of being part of the collective from them... We shall say, for Kindness's sake. As for Luna. Luna made some mistakes, and is a leader at that. I think the Elements would understand she needs to retain such knowledge, for the betterment of her ponies.
I guess I've always seen there being some kind of living will behind the Elements. Interestingly, I feel that is only bolstered in the show with the introduction of the Tree of Harmony, a literal living thing.
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Indeed. It would be fascinating. This reaction is completely logical.
Beautiful example of showing things from an Equestrian mindset. I love how you shift your view.
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Season 9 finally gives ponies a calendar year for a historical event. Personally ANM makes a lot more sense to me, though.
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Headcanon confirmed! The tree has an avatar.
I like the other timeline better, but given when you had to split events, I understand why this one had to be continued to completion.
The sudden loss of drones will not go unnoticed. Fortunately for the ponies for whatever reason Borg ships are not able to be remotely piloted...
It's weird that the former Borg would be naked under their armor. Sure, maybe 1 or 2, but all of them? In "First Contact," when Picard reached into a dead drone's armor, it was wearing a uniform underneath. I'd imagine that the clothing could be shredded, or even rotten, but they shouldn't all be naked.