With a flash of light, Twilight, Kang, and Kirk appeared in front of Twilight's castle. Kang slowly stood up and looked around. “Barely any time at all. Much more efficient than our own transporters, Princess. If we could learn how you do this naturally and be able to emulate it with our own transporters, it would be a great boon for everyone, and bring honor and glory to your family.”
Twilight grinned. “I'd be more than happy to research ways to do that, Captain.”
Kirk walked up to the castle's front wall. He slowly held up a hand to the violet crystal, noting the soft luminescence. “There's... power, here. This castle, Twilight. This... crystalline formation. How was it formed?”
Twilight let out a low nicker. “That, Captain... is a bit of a long story, admittedly. Would it be all right if I told you after the tour? Or maybe during it?”
Kirk slowly nodded. “That would be... fine, Twilight. I look forward to hearing it.”
Twilight led the pair up to the doors. “Well, for the record, this is the Castle of Friendship.” Her horn glowed and the double-doors slowly opened. “It's my residence, along with my assistant Spike and–” Twilight's eyes went wide, and she slammed the doors shut. “Captains, if you could... excuse me?” she said, her right eye twitching.
Kang's right hand drifted down to the disruptor holstered at his belt. “What's going on inside, Princess?”
A nervous chuckled escaped twilight. “Inside? Inside, yes! No, nothing's going on inside, Captain Kang!” Her horn lit up. “Nothing bad... I hope.” She suddenly vanished.
Kang growled. “Jumpier than a Tarcassian razorbeast!”
Kirk's jaw canted to the right. He held out his hands. “Can't disagree with you on that, Kang.” He walked up to the door. “Think someone threw her a party and forgot to tell her?”
Kang barked a laugh. “I wouldn't mind a bit of merriment, Kirk.” He arched an eyebrow at the captain's expression. “Surprised? We Klingons aren't all work or scheming or fighting. Mara and I enjoy going out for an evening of entertainment. We're fond of opera, and the occasional concert.”
A sigh escaped Kirk. “A bit surprised, yes. I'll admit I'm not sure I can envision you two going for a night at the opera.”
Kang half-smiled. “Would it make it easier to know we both make sure to bring our batt'leths with us, in case we are displeased with the performance?”
“That... would make it easier, yes.”
Twilight appeared inside the front hall. “PINKIE!”
Pinkie Pie hopped from around one of the tables and over to Twilight. “Do you like it? Do you think they'll like it? How are they? Do they like Equestria? Sorry about the chandelier. I think we got everything swept up. Fluttershy helped with–”
Twilight stuck a hoof in Pinkie Pie's mouth. “Pinkie, you did a... great job setting all this up. Thank you very much for taking the time and effort.” She looked around. “Thank you, everyone. I really do appreciate your hard work.” She stopped and locked eyes with Pinkie. “Wait, what about what chandelier?”
Applejack cleared her throat. “I think I hear a 'but' in that first part, sugarcube.”
Twilight's cheeks colored slightly. “Right. But... I don't think it would be wise to shout 'surprise' at them or act a bit too... enthusiastic. At least at first.”
Pinkie Pie leaned back, extricating Twilight's hoof. “I understand, Twilight. No shouting, no jumping up and down.” She paused. “Can we sing?”
Twilight rubbed her chin. “Maybe later.” She turned and opened the doors with her magic. “Captains?”
“... Come now, Kirk! Mara and I thought the Federation had death camps, and plotted the destruction of the Empire. I'll proudly admit we can be fierce warriors, but there's more to us than combat and killing.”
“True, Kang. Our little... trip on the Enterprise made that quite clear. Old prejudices die hard.” Kirk stopped speaking and turned. “Ah, Twilight. Any problems inside?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, Captain Kirk.” She walked up to the two and escorted them inside. “Everyone, this is Captain James Kirk of the United Federation of Planets, and Captain Kang of the Klingon Empire. Captains, these are my best friends.”
“Howdy, Captains!”
“It's wonderful to meet such handsome-looking officers.”
“H-hello, sirs.”
“Hey, welcome to the coolest planet in the galaxy!”
Pinkie Pie hopped forward, a tray of food balanced on her head. “Welcome to Equestria!” she shouted, bouncing up and down. A muffin flew up in Kirk's direction, while a broiled salmon on a stick tumbled over to Kang. “Enjoy!”
Kirk looked the muffin over. “Thank you, Pinkie.” He took a small bite of the muffin, then another larger one. “Quite nice.”
Pinkie beamed at him and jumped up and down. “Thank you, Captain!”
Kang looked the salmon over. His nose wrinkled as he sniffed at it, finally taking a bite. “Not bad,” he admitted. He looked to Kirk. “I thought you said horses on Earth were herbivores.”
Kirk held up a hand. “Mostly herbivores, Kang. I've seen more than one horse kill a squirrel and eat it back at the farm.” He spread his arms out. “Not that this is my old farm, of course”
Near one of the tables, Applejack arched an eyebrow. “Must've been one hungry horse to have to do that.”
Fluttershy walked over to the captains. “I'm very happy to hear you like the salmon, Captain Kang. I caught and cooked it myself.”
Kang tore off a large strip and swallowed it, quickly finishing it off. As soon as he had stripped it to the bone, Pinkie Pie stood before him, a mug of cider balanced on her head. He slowly picked it up off of her and looked it over. “Not quite warnog or blood wine...” He took a sip, swishing it about in his mouth before swallowing it. “I may grow to like this place, or at least its cuisine.”
Kirk half-smiled. “Well, Kang. It's a start.” He looked down and spotted Pinkie Pie with another mug of cider on her head. His brow furrowed, but he picked it up and tilted it to Kang. “To... friendship, Kang. And to you.”
Kang said nothing, but tilted his own mug imperceptibly towards Kirk before draining it dry.
Twilight slowly wandered from the pair and over to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Hey, have either of you seen Spike? I'm surprised he's not down here. I need to ask him something.”
Applejack waved a foreleg to the back door leading to the kitchen. “Last I saw the little guy, he was still working on the food. Nearly wore the scales off his claws he was going so quick making food and getting the place ready.”
Twilight glanced to the door, face falling slightly. “Oh, the poor guy. I was fretting so much about this, and he wanted to help out as much as he could.” She stomped a hoof to the ground. “I'm getting him out of there, and getting him an extra-large ruby as a present for him.”
Rainbow Dash took another gulp from her mug of cider and let out a slow sigh. “Ah, that's the good stuff.” She looked to Twilight. “What do you need Spike for, anyway?”
Twilight glanced back at Kang and Kirk. “Well... you know about the magic mirror, Sunset and the alternate reality where everyone kind of looks like them?”
Applejack's jaw dropped. “Oh, horse apples! You think they came from there?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Applejack, they're not from another dimension... right?” She leaned over and looked at the two captains. Fluttershy was conversing with Kang, while Rarity was eyeing Kirk. “Are they?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, Dash. They're not from another dimension... I think.” Her clipboard and quill floated out of her saddlebag. “I might have to look into that with Sunset.”
Applejack reached over, pushed the clipboard down, and locked eyes with Twilight. “Twilight, I don't think it would be too good of an idea to go back to Canterlot High while we got aliens visiting Equestria. Might be a bit rude. Send a letter, but don't go traipsing over there, you hear?”
Twilight swallowed. “Oh, gosh, you're right. I can just send a letter, no problem.” She reached out and patted Applejack on the shoulder. “Thanks. I'm gonna go see Spike for a moment.” With that, she walked back and through the doors to the kitchen.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged a look. “Think we gotta tie her down?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow Dash wiggled her head back and forth. “She'll be fine. I think.” She drained her mug dry. “I hope.”
Mara stood in the Enterprise's bridge, next to Spock's science station. She inserted a computer tape into a slot on the glossy-black console. “I'm a little surprised our technology is so... compatible.”
Spock, standing next to her, arched an eyebrow. “I have adapted the interface for a wide variety of non-Federation information storage units. Considering the wide variety of systems I have encountered, I felt it a logical course of action.”
The computer station whirred, clicked, and clacked. A vaguely-feminine voice sounded out over the intercom. “Data input successful. Integrating with previous scans.”
Spock pressed a few buttons and turned a dial on his console. He then turned and walked up to the main viewscreen, past Sulu as he sat in the captain's chair. “Mister Sulu, with your permission?”
Sulu leaned forward and gripped the armrests tight. “Mister Spock, go right ahead. I'm itching to see what we've got here.”
Spock spoke. “Computer, display sensor information from the K'naiah's Pride's sensor logs, starting from their entrance into the Equus System.”
The computer triple-beeped. “Acknowledged. Analyzing...” The image on the viewscreen changed from Equus to an overhead view of the system itself. Lines, charts and boxes of text sprang up. The rest of the bridge crew all slowly looked to the viewscreen.
Mara walked up to Spock's side. She pointed to a pair of lines, one that reached from Equus to the star, the other from Equus to the planet's moon. “Princess Sparkle said that Celestia is the one who controls the sun. The Pride's sensors have detected gravimetric distortions coming from the planet, along with some other energy waves. We've been able to trace it to the star, and another to the moon as well.” She bared her teeth in a grin. “Celestia and Luna, apt names. Twilight Sparkle, Blueblood...” She leaned back. “Does that mean he's anemic?”
Sulu spoke up. “Actually, Lieutenant, 'blue blood' used to refer to upper classes and nobility on Earth. It wasn't exactly used in the most flattering of manner.” His brow furrowed. “Wait, one of them has the actual name 'Blue Blood'?”
Mara barked a laugh. “Yes. He did not make the best impression on anyone there, and Princess Sparkle seemed to have had to deal with him before.” She looked to Spock. “I think this is something we should investigate, among other things.”
Spock arched an eyebrow. “It would be an interesting query, Mara. Our sample size has been a bit limited, so far. I will assign Commander Uhura to investigate further.”
At the communication station, Lieutenant M'ress spoke up. “Well, you'll be able to get a larger sample size at the dinner tonight,” the Caitian said, her whiskers twitching.
Mara turned and glanced at M'ress. “I had almost forgotten about that.” She looked to the viewscreen and scowled. “I do not have time for such frivolities. There are so many questions. How does Celestia control the sun, precisely? The gravimetric distortions we've detected shouldn't be enough to move this star! Is she utilizing subspace? Does it have to do with that unknown energy? How is she doing it, and how did she gain control of the sun in the first place, if it was her, and not some other being?”
M'ress leaned back in her chair and drummed her claws against the console, producing tiny dents. “She and her sister could be part of a race of advanced energy beings in the guise of mortals. The Organians appeared as Iron-Age peasants when we first encountered them, and look at what they did when roused. The could have also evolved this way from the ponies themselves.”
Spock turned to her. “Princess Sparkle did mention that she 'received her wings' approximately a year and a half ago. Your observations definitely merit further investigation, Lieutenant.”
M'ress' ears perked up. “Thank you, sir.”
Mara shook her head. “I'm... not sure if it would be wise to ask during dinner. It may sound cowardly, but I do not wish to risk their ire and be facing down a solar flare, or their moon being used as a battering ram against our ships.”
Spock arched an eyebrow. “As a wise man once said, only a fool fights in a burning house. And one should not confuse caution with cowardice.”
Mara snorted and crossed her arms. “I hate to admit it, but you're right, Spock. Only a fool fights the storm. We could ask Princess Sparkle, but I'm not sure what she'd know of it. She expressed shock at the idea of a heliocentric star system. It's possible she's never done much research into the system.”
Spock arched an eyebrow. “I find that highly unlikely, Mara. At the very least, we will not know what she knows, until we ask.”
A bark of laughter escaped Mara. “You're right.” She looked herself over, her expression darkening. “Neither Kang nor I are diplomats. He is a warrior, while I am more at home in a lab. We still don't know why we were chosen for this assignment.”
Sulu rubbed his chin in thought. “Maybe the politicians remember last year, when we managed to cooperate and fight off that thing that was manipulating us into fighting each other. As Mister Spock would say, we're the 'logical' choice for a diplomatic mission.”
Mara looked to him. “As good an explanation as any.” She looked back to Spock. “I must return to the Pride and prepare for the dinner, as well as checking on our own sensors.” She thumped her chest. “Qap'la, Spock!”
Spock held his right hand up, fingers splayed in the traditional Vulcan Salute. “Live long and prosper, Mara.” He turned to Sulu as Mara walked to the aft turbolift. “Commander, it would be most prudent for us to prepare for the dinner as well. The senior staff of both vessels should be in attendance.”
Sulu slid out of the command chair and tugged down on his shirt. “Probably wouldn't be a good idea to be outdone by the Klingons in diplomacy.” He turned and made his way to the aft turbolift, Spock following. “I think that's one achievement the Enterprise doesn't want to be first in.”
Spock shook his head. “Indeed not, Commander. I do not believe we would ever escape that stigma.” The turbolift doors slid open, allowing the pair to enter. “Lieutenant M'ress, you have the conn,” he said, mere moments before the lift doors closed.
EAT!
DRINK!
PONIES EATING CRITTERS?
CIDER!
KIRK?
SCIENCE!
THEY THINK I'M A GURN AND RARITY'S CHASING A SPECIMEN-SPACE MAN WHAT EVER
CAKE CAKE CAKE
TRIBBLES!
You are including Sunset and the EG World???
That was a really unexpected and cool move!
It would be really funny if she was a fan of the EG World equivalent of Star Trek!
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I was thinking almost the exact same thing there
Yeah that does make the whole image of a night at the opera a lot more Klingon.
For some reason Im thinking of Fluttershy being talked into a demonstration of Bear Back Massage on Kang.
The biggest fun is going to be having tricorders and ships scanners running, when Pinkie.
the biggest problem with Pinkie is deciding just what you are going to do with her, as I believe one canon effect was the three way split screen, where its reasonable to see Pinkie reach out and pull a person from each of teh side scenes into the centre scene for a group hug. Which given the two sides can be different parts on the two spaceships, can give Spock palpitations.
Pinkie can do Anything, as long as its funny? Spock dont half make The Straight Man.
I'm really enjoying this, especially when the story turns to things like scanner readings and weird orbital mechanics and tries to parse them into Startrek ;)
Hey there. Thanks again for getting this next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Once again, splendid job on the exchanges, emotional content, characterizations, humor and future chapter set-up in all the right places. And, yeah, I DO like the idea of Twilight checking up with Sunset just in case (and, yeah, it WOULD be pretty amusing if she turned out to be a fan of her adopted dimension's counterpart to Star Trek) . At any rate. I will definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.
7548538
Except for the fact that the producers of MLP are all on record as having approached John DeLancie with the expressed intention of wanting him to play Discord as Q.
Of course, nothing says Discord has to be the same Q as had plagued Picard, which is fine in its own right.
I do like that the diarchs are on first name basis with most of the highly evolved beings in the Trek Metauniverse, and that the (*) entity from "Day of the Dove" was also identified as a wendigo. It will be fun when the Federation and Klingons find out just how far up the food chain the Equestrians are.
"... and the wind does not respect a fool."
Also:
Really, Rarity being attracted to Kirk?
I'd like to see what Spock and Mara discover about Celestia and Luna's relationship with the sun and moon.
Will Chryssie and/or some changelings be showing up?
With Kirk and Kang successfully fighting off an entity that feeds on Hate, how will they fight off one that feeds off Love?
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mas6ueujq01qjhek6o1_500.jpg
Nice chapter.
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There you go! Give them fuzzy Parasprites that exude "love"!
At one point, Paramount greenlit something called Q's Guide To The Universe (or something like that.) Q described Klingon opera as long, atonal and abysmally boring before making a veiled insult at Worf's expense. (Then again, he also missed the origin of life on Vulcan but consoled himself with the fact that he really didn't miss much.)
I think you snuck in the Picard Maneuver here.
Anyway, no complaints about the brevity. This is quality brevity.
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Yeah. I can see Kang with a cargo hold full of tribbles ready to launch at the bug ponies....
...considering the Klingons had nuked the tribble homeworld into a precursor of Praxis.
Kirk, otoh.
Kang: "Kirk! You did it! I don't know where you got the tribbles, but they saved us!"
Kirk: "Actually, we had the tribbles to be ready to use on Kronos."
Kang: "You know...this means war! "
Ayelborne: "*sigh* ...and we had such high hopes for those two. "
"Doesn't doesn't."
Bad Rarity! Bad! Don't be Heartthrob from G1 MLP!
Oh no, they've given the cat command of the ship. Next thing they know there'll be an emergency and the Enterprise won't be there because she's off chasing and swatting at asteroids...
I'm a little concerned that adding the Sunset/EqG angle will overstuff this story with one too many tangled plot threads. You can't help but admit it raises a ton of questions. I'm interested to see how you might resolve it, but I worry that it'll bog the story down with detail and complexity it doesn't need.
Now I wanna see a horse eat a squirrel. That's what's been missing from my life.
7693695
Well, this is James T. "Space Babe Magnet" Kirk we're talking about.
To fully follow the usual form, of course, this would also mean that Rarity has to play a key role in whatever crisis ends up arising in this "episode"...oh dear.
7695134 7693603 I think the real question is, are there Equian analogs of Galactic Powers in the EqG universe? Earthen-Humans, Unicorn-Romulans/Vulcans, Pegasus-Andorians, Griffon-Klingons, Cardassian-Dragons, Crystalian(Pony)-Tholians, Draconequus-Q, and Changeling-Changlings (hah!)!
7693631 The advantage of having Discord separate from the Q-Continuum is that you can justify him thumbing his nose at the Q, and having various relations with different Q. Some would probably think he's a gas, but others probably find him frustrating and annoying.
Ignore the tears... there happy ones.
All my yes to this crossover!! The characterization of the Enterprise crew is fenominal and I'm living the interactions so far.
Now the true question.... dose the multi species lady man that Kirk is translate over to ponies? I could see him and Celetia as a thing.
I'm thinking that, once the Six start regaling their visitors with stories of their past battles and achievements, Kirk and Kang's sense of reality will be greatly shaken!
7695134 I'm intrigued on how the author is going to tie them in. I've always envisioned the EQG universe to be a part of the Bermuda Triangle or something or some sort of hidden land that very few have stumbled upon.
Definite points for the salmon. Fluttershy is an ecosystem manager, and that includes facilitating the food web.
In any case, I look forward to seeing how many more interplanetary incidents the three civilizations can skirt. Seriously, one wrong move and this could all collapse in the most hilarious way imaginable.
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It seems to me that even in-story, people are trying to avoid that complication. I just hope Twilight listens to her friends in that regard.
A Klingon who can laugh at himself. The universe must be ending.
Mind you, while I've heard they can do this, in all of my riding experience I've never seen one actually do it. Mostly by virtue of the average horse just not nearly being nimble enough to chase down a squirrel even if they wanted to. Most dogs have difficulties with that and they're natively designed for it.
Honestly, it should be self-evident to anyone. They own cats as pets. Cats are obligate carnivores. Just the fact that they're there at all proves that they're willing and able to provide for their dietary needs.
Finally getting to this. Been in a bit of a funk for the past two weeks for some reason. I'd blame the election, but it started before that.
Anyway...
Surprised he didn't have a comment about how he'd prefer if it was alive. Then again I suppose the Klingons don't eat everything alive.
128 megabytes of memory! Only 117.75 are available for use, though.
Yeah, one of the things that always interested me about Equestria is how ponies tend to have names that match up to their personalities and cutie marks quite well, despite not gaining the latter until they start growing up.
My personal thought on the matter, were I ground-up designing MLP based on this information, would be that ponies as kids only have "nicknames", and choose their "adult" name once they get their cutie mark and have their cuteceñera.
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In my own stuff, I have them as vegetarians (not vegans, you need eggs for cake and milk for pancakes that are worth a damn) for the most part, though obviously without issue feeding their cats and dogs meat (mostly fish). Ponies who make a habit out of eating outright meat (again, mostly fish or the like - crawdad is popular in not!Louisiana, for example) are seen as strange, though not necessarily horrifying. Think of the American reaction to, say, escargot or frog's legs.
Man you got Kirk's dialogue down to a T. I can imagine him saying everyone of those lines.
Lt M'ress <3 I love a good Star Trek animated reference!
Is the legendary Kirk charm going to operate on Equestrians?!
Wait what? How dare you include equestria girls into this story, Such her Heresy ! Such blasphemy! Such-
~hallelujah~
My dearest RK_striker_JK_5, please forgive my earlier outburst, for adding this magnificent specimen of the Caitian race you have more than absolved all sins ever committed. Truly M'ress is a beauty to rediscover once more.
7932716 I wonder if Catrina will show up?
8189648
The pigs could be for trade with the Griffons, as well as lard (The advertising department may have renamed it "shortning" but it's still lard)
Sisterhooves Social, at least some ponies eat eggs + they are probably in some of the stuff they bake. So, not complete vegetarians
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Fluttershy takes care of many different animals including carnivores and omnivores so it doesn't surprise me much.
HAHAH.
7693538
Oh no, ANOTHER ecological menace gets to be right at home in equestria. Good thing the local ecosystem can already deal with parasprites (somehow!) or the planet would be doomed.
*Cough rainbowdash cough*
Janky
Pinkie Pie gave Captain Kirk a muffin. My heart.
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Very plausible, but not 100% iron-clad. Note that Owliscious killing a mouse is treated by Spike as something reprehensible. Details of my own fanon for anyone who actually cares:
This applies even to Ponies.
Bloody hell do I already love the story ♡
Magnificent when one can see a fanfictiin story happen in the original show 👍