Star Trek: Equestria: Starfleet Academy Season 1

by Captain_Cosmos

Episode 25: It’s a Pony Kind of Christmas: pt 7

"Ugh! Rarity, my dress fits fine! Stop fiddling with it like I grew 10 feet overnight!" Sweetie Belle shouted. It was morning in Ponyville and no sooner had Sweetie woken up then Rarity started ushering her to the fitting area to do a final fitting on her Yule Ball dress.

Rarity chuckled. "This will be but one more moment darling."

Sweetie gave her sister a glare. "You've been saying that for the last HALF HOUR!"

Rarity shrugged. "Can't rush perfection, and you know I shan't have your dress looking less than perfect for tonight."

Sweetie rolled her eyes. She was happy to have Rarity back from Earth for holiday break, she really was, but she could've done without her fussing over her like she was still a foal. "Well hurry it up will ya? The next train for Canterlot is gonna be here soon and I am not missing out on Spikey Wikey time."

Rarity giggled. "Spike isn't going anywhere. You don't need to rush off to him as soon as possible."

"Rarity, think, he is going back to earth with Twilight and Jessica the day after tomorrow. That doesn't even give us forty-eight hours to spend together. And I haven't seen him since Nightmare Night. So of course I'm gonna try to spend as much time with him as possible."

Rarity sighed. "I still can't believe mom and dad are letting you go to Canterlot on your own. Do you even know how to get to the Sparkle household?"

Sweetie shook her head. "Nope, but Spike will be at the train station waiting for me, and we'll go from there."

Rarity lifted an eyebrow. "You mean to say that you two don't even have a plan?"

Sweetie chuckled. "Don't worry Rarity. We're gonna spend the day at the Sparkle house. It's not like we're gonna run around the CAPITOL OF EQUESTRIA aimlessly or something, let alone unsupervised."

Rarity sighed. "There's no way I'm talking you out of it is there."

Sweetie shook her head. "Not a chance. They already said yes, and you can't override them."

Rarity sighed. "Fine. Just do me a favor and have somepony there help you get your hair sorted out. I shan't have you looking like a mess for the Ball and I shan't have time to fix it."

Sweetie chuckled. "Whatever you say Rares."

Elsewhere, in the Sweet Shop known as Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie and her party planning counterpart, Cheese Sandwich, along with the Cakes, were hard at work making the refreshments for tonight's Yule Ball. Cheese turned to Pinkie. "Is the oven batch done yet?"

Pinkie shook her head but smiled. "Just ten more seconds. And that'll make 20 batches ready to roll."

Mr. and Mrs. Cake nodded and smiled. "Thank Celestia. We're actually nearly finished with the Princesses' order."

"All thanks to the best cupcake maker in the business."

Pinkie laughed. "It's nothing really. It's actually easy to make twenty batches in under an hour as long as you use the right amount of batter." A ding on the oven alerted the pink baker to the completion of its latest job. Pinkie beamed. "Oh! Batch number twenty is done!"

Cheese nodded and picked up the tube of frosting. Pinkie took out the batch of freshly baked cupcakes and blew on them with incredible force to cool them down. She then tossed the tray in front of Cheese, who proceeded to frost the cupcakes. Pinkie bounced up next to him. "And that's the last of the baking!" She announced happily.

Mrs. Cake sighed in relief. "Oh. Thank you Pinkie Pie. How we managed without you for three months I don't know."

Cheese arched an eyebrow. "What about me? Were the sweets I made not good or something?"

Mr. Cake shook his head. "Oh, don't get us wrong Cheese. We appreciate your help."

Mrs. Cake nodded. "But Pinkie adds a little something that always seems to make the treats even sweeter then normal. Why do you think we're the most popular confectionary store in town?"

Cheese chuckled. "I'm not upset. I know my efforts will never be as good as pinkie's. I'm just happy to help."

Pinkie laughed and hugged Cheese. "And we're happy you COULD help. I was all worried and stuff when Celestia sent me to Earth that no pony would be here to help the Cakes with the shop and the twins and throw Ponyville it's parties and I was worried things would fall apart while I was gone and Ponyville would be all sad but then you walked into town one day and offered to help and I was all happy again! Thanks Cheese!"

Cheese chuckled. "No problem Pinks, when you told me you were going off world. I knew Ponyville needed a party planner to fill in for their favorite pink smile generator."

"And we couldn't thank you enough for that Cheese. Ponyville surely would've fallen into the sad ages without its resident smile generator, or one of her party planning contacts." The Cakes, Pinkie, and Cheese turned their attention to the front counter to see BonBon and Lyra had entered the shop.

Pinkie smiled. "Bonny! Lyra!" She rushed the pair and hugged both of them tightly. "It's so good to see you!"

Bonbon chuckled. "Happy to see you too pinkie."

Lyra gasped for air. "But, gah, too tight!"

Pinkie released them and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

Bonny shook her head and smiled. "It's all good Pinks, I kinda missed your hugs to be honest."

Lyra nodded. "Yeah. For some reason, NOT having your bones crushed every time a party pony hugs you around here seems weird."

Cheese chuckled. "I just don't have Pinkie's strength I guess."

Pinkie chuckled. "So, what brings you here girls?"

Lyra smiled. "We were hoping to get a couple milkshakes..."

Bonbon nodded as she looked around at all the trays of cupcakes around the shop. "But it looks like we came at a bad time."

Mr. Cake shook his head. "No. Not at all."

Mrs. Cake nodded. "We actually just finished up an order from Celestia for twenty batches of cupcakes for the Yule Ball. Have a seat anywhere, we'll have your milkshakes ready in a jiffy."

Bonbon and Lyra nodded. "Thanks. The usual if you please."

Mr and Mrs Cake nodded while Pinkie beamed at them. "So I didn't get much of a chance to talk yesterday because of the party and everypony welcoming us back. How're you guys doing?"

Lyra chuckled. "We're doing good. Fighting a monster every other week isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Bonbon nodded. "But that's what we get for living near the Everfree Forest."

That got all three of them chuckling. "Yeah. how about you Pinkie? How's it going out there at Starfleet Academy? You learning how other species like to party?"

Pinkie chuckled and nodded. "Turns out some partying aspects are universal. Most of all on Earth. Did you know that humans party near exactly like we do? It's so awesome!"

Lyra chuckled. "I bet your a big hit there."

Pinkie nodded. "Jessica says my parties are the best she's ever seen. Hay, she's even made them better with her band Cosmic Harmony." Pinkie began bouncing in place. "Ooh. I can't wait for you guys to meet her day after tomorrow, everypony's gonna like her, she'll make a ton of new friends, and everyone will be happy!"

"You mean Jessica Cosmos? Twilight's girlfriend?"

Pinkie nodded. "Uh-huh. Ooh! If your coming to the Yule Ball tonight I can introduce you to her there! You'll like her."

Lyra and Bonbon nodded. "Maybe."

Pinkie stopped bouncing in place. Picking up on the pair's less enthusiastic mood. "You don't sound like you're excited to make a new friend."

Lyra shook her head. "No, we are. We're always excited to make a new friend. It's just..."

Bonbon nodded. "It's just that we've heard something about her that we're a little nervous about. Thanks Mrs. Cake." She added when mrs Cake brought them their shakes. Mrs cake nodded and left them be.

Pinkie arched an eyebrow. "Huh? What about her would make you nervous? You guys should've heard nothing but good things about Jessica?"

Lyra nodded. "And for the most part it's been just that."

Bonbon nodded. "However, the CMC let something slip that they probably shouldn't have."

Pinkie's eyes widened. 'No, no the CMC didn't...' "What did they let slip?"

Lyra looked around, then leaned in to whisper. "Is it true that she's currently playing host to the spirit of NIGHTMARE MOON?"

Pinkie gasped, her fears having just been confirmed. "Who else knows about this?"

"The entire town. When somepony lets slip something gossipy, it tends to not stay confined to just a few ponies around here."

Pinkie nodded, nervously. "Is there a chance I have to cancel Jessica's Welcome-To-Ponyville party?"

Lyra and Bonbon chuckled. "It's ok Pinkie. You're forgetting that this is Ponyville, the friendliest, most accepting, most chaos magnetic town on Equuis. We're all willing to give Jessica a chance no matter what."

"Just tell us if it's true or not. So that we have some kind of warning this time."

Pinkie chuckled then sighed. "Yes. It's true. Nightmare Moon is back. BUT!! Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye, Nightmare Moon is currently no threat to anyone. Thanks to a containment spell powered by eight magic users, most of which are the most powerful on Equuis."

Lyra and Bonbon smiled. "Thank goodness."

"I feel so much better about this now."

Pinkie smiled and began bouncing again. "Great! I'm glad. Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to talk to Mayer Mare, and possibly get a town meeting set up to let everyone know that NM is not a threat currently." With that, pinkie raced out of the store, leaving the Cakes, Cheese, and Lyra and Bonbon in the dust.

Cheese smiled. "Good thing she doesn't have to cancel that party."

Mrs. Cake nodded. "I've been looking forward to meeting Jessica. She sounds like a sweetheart."

Bonbon chuckled. "She must be if Twilight Sparkle is dating her."

Outside the store, high up in the clouds, a trio of Pegasi were having a nice leisurely flight through the Equestrian sky. One of them was doing air trick after air trick as if she hadn't done them in a long time. After the last trick, Rainbow increased her speed to the point where within seconds, a Sonic Rainboom exploded out. Rainbow smiled as she saw the rainbow trail she was leaving behind. "Aww yeah!!! Guess who's back Equestria!" She circled around and zoomed back to the cloud that Fluttershy and Scootaloo had landed on. She did a loop the loop to lose speed and landed on the cloud next to them. "Aww man does it feel good to not have to worry about speed limits anymore!"

Fluttershy chuckled. "Only for like, a week. We go back for the second semester after New Year."

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. It also feels good to fly with you two again. I've missed you around here."

Rainbow chuckled. "What's this? Scootaloo being all mushy?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "And we're all supposed to pretend that being marefriends with the Element of Kindness hasn't softened you up at all? We all know for a fact that you don't make fun of anything mushy NEARLY as much as you used too."

Rainbow chuckled. "You asked for it!" She pounced on Scootaloo and tickled her. Eliciting loud bouts of laughter from all three Pegasi which continued for a solid few minutes until the trio was interrupted by a loud scream.

"RAINBOW DASH! FLUTTERSHY!" The trio watched as Pinkie's head popped up from under the cloud, with a seriously worried expression on her face. "We have a situation you guys! Meeting at Sweet Apple Acres! Now!! Oh, Scootaloo, good. The CMC are invited to this meeting too. Actually it's because of you five that we're having this meeting. Get to SAA as fast as possible!" Pinkie dropped back down to the ground, leaving the Pegasi trio confused, and terrified.

Fluttershy arched an eyebrow. "What just happened? Why did Pinkie call a meeting at Sweet Apple Acres?"

Rainbow shook her head. "I have no sweet clue. Scoots? Do you have any idea what she's talking about? She did say this meeting was because of you and the CMC?"

Scootaloo shook her head. "I have no clue. Honest."

Rainbow nodded and spread her wings. "Well there's only one way to find out."

At Sweet Apple Acres. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had just past the gate, with confused looks on their faces. "Now why would Pinkie want us to meet her at SAA immediately? And why did she have a panicky look on her face?"

Silver shrugged. "I don't know, but something about that face is making me nervous."

Diamond nodded. "Yeah. Hopefully it's nothing serious."

"Hopefully."

The two saw their friends and the Mane Team gathering outside the SAA barn. All with confused looks.

Applejack eyed pinkie. "Now what in tarnation could possibly be so dire that you had to call this meet'n Pinkie?"

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah. I'm gonna be late for my train to Canterlot if I don't get there within the next 10 minutes."

Pinkie chuckled. "This will be quick Sweetie." She noticed Diamond and Silver join them and smiled. "Great! Everypony's here!"

Rara nodded. "Now what's got you all worked up Pinks?"

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah. All you said was that it was urgent and stuff."

Pinkie nodded. "And it is! CMC! Fall in Front and Center!" The CMC quickly got in a line on instinct, right in front of Pinkie. Who nodded. "To put it simply, all of Ponyville KNOWS about Nightmare Moon being back! And worse, in Jessica's mind."

Everyone's eyes widened and they all gasped. "THEY WHAT?!"

Pinkie nodded and eyed the CMC. "And the leak originated with the CMC."

The five fillies gasped. "What?!"

"We didn't say anything!"

"We know when to keep our mouths shut!"

Everyone eyed the group. "Sweetie Belle! Obviously you must've said SOMETHING for this to get out!"

Sweetie shook her head. "I didn't say anything! I think I would remember saying anything about Nightmare Moon!"

Applejack looked at Applebloom. "Applebloom?"

Applebloom shook her head. "Don't ask me!"

Rainbow eyed Scootaloo. "Scoots?"

Scootaloo shook her head. "You kidding? Dash, I would never say anything you didn't want getting out!" The next few minutes we're just arguing and denial.

After a bit of that, Pinkie sighed and pulled out a megaphone from her mane, help it up to her mouth, and shouted. "EVERYPONY QUIET!!!!" Everypony shut up, all snapping their heads to look at Pinkie, who smiled and dropped the megaphone. "Now. Girls, nopony is gonna get in trouble. Bonbon told me that even though the town is nervous, they're still willing to give Jessica a chance when she comes the day after tomorrow, so its all ok. All we're asking is how this happened. Right adults?"

Every adult nodded their head in agreement. Applebloom rubbed the back of her neck. "I honestly do not know how this could've happened."

Scootaloo nodded. "We all took extra care to avoid that topic." She turned to Silver. "Didn't we Silvy?"

Much to everyone's confusion, the second Scootaloo called Silver Spoon, Silvy, Silver gasped. "Oh ponyfeathers!"

Everypony turned her way and lifted eyebrows. "What is it Silver Spoon?"

Silver groaned. "I just realized how everypony knows about this. And it's precisely because we weren't paying attention."

Diamond stared at Silver in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Remember when you and Applebloom and me and Scootaloo all went on that double date last week? And the conversation turned to how we got with our respective marefriends?"

Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Diamond all gasped, then groaned. "Dang nab it!"

"How did we not think of that!"

Sweetie lifted an eyebrow. "You four didn't talk about Jessica'a confession to Twilight? The one where a certain demon is VERY much a part of?"

The four offered nervous chuckles. "Uh. Oopsie?"

Sweetie Belle and everypony facehoofed. Applejack shook her head. "How did Jessica's confession even relate to yours?"

Silver sighed. "We just wanted to see how our confessions stacked up to Jessica on the romantic level, just for fun."

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "How could you be that careless?! If I remember correctly last week you four went to a café, and ponies have REALLY good hearing!"

The four sighed. "We're Sorry." They said in unison.

Rara sighed. "Well, no going back now. What's done is done."

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, and as I said, it didn't hurt Jessica's trip to Ponyville too much. So long as everypony doesn't feel scared around her. I gotta get a meeting set up for tomorrow. Make sure everypony knows that they can't give off any fear lest Nightmare Moon grows stronger."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Good. And while you're doing that, if we're done here I got a train to catch."

Pinkie nodded. "Go on ahead Sweetie. We are done." Pinkie's eyes suddenly widened. "WAIT!!!" Pinkie rushed in front of Sweetie Belle. "Do NOT mention a word of this to Anypony in Canterlot. Ponyville is one thing, but you all know the backlash Twilight received from the nobles when she became an Alicorn." Everypony nodded. "So those meanies would jump at the chance to discredit her. Especially since it can be interpreted that she's dating an evil ghost. So not, a, word! Got it?"

Sweetie nodded. Pinkie smiled. "Great! See you tonight!"

Meanwhile, miles away in Canterlot, Sunset and Starlight were getting ready to hop through the portal to visit their friends in the Alternate Universe. Sunset dropped her saddlebags onto her back, smiling. "My goodness is it gonna be great to see the Rainbooms again, I haven't seen them since the week before we left for this Universe's earth."

Starlight chuckled as she readied her own saddlebag. "But you write to them every other day in that journal of yours so it's not like there's a lot of catching up to do."

Sunset smiled. "Nope, but, some things can't be communicated through journal. Plus. Do you KNOW how long it's been since I've played a guitar? Hopefully the rust hasn't caught up to me yet."

Starlight chuckled. "Well, I'm looking forward to hearing you play again. I always loved the way you shredded on that guitar."

Sunset chuckled. "Oh don't worry Glimmy, I'm sure we'll play a song or two before the day's out."

Starlight nodded. "Can't wait."

They both secured the saddlebags for their barrels. Sunset then levitated the journal in front of her. "Alright. All set. Time to let the gang know we're on our—" before Sunset could finish her sentence, a message faded onto the page she was going to write a message on. Sunset chuckled. "Looks like they beat us to the punch." She started reading the message.

Dear Sunset and Starlight,

I'm sorry but you can't come through the portal today. It's not safe right now.

Sci-Twi."

Sunset lifted an eyebrow. "It's not safe?"

Starlight frowned. "What does that mean?"

Sunset flipped the page and wrote.

"Dear Sci-Twi,

What do you mean? What's going on over there? Everyone is fine I hope.

Sunset Shimmer."

The message faded away. "Whatever's going on over there, it can't be good if they're saying we can't cross over." After a second, a new message faded into view.

"Dear Sunset,

To put it simply, a dangerous illness has broken out here and it can be fatal. Fortunately there are no cases in or around Canterlot City so far so we are all fine, but the state has issued a stay-at-home order in order to slow the spread of the illness. And if you come through the portal, catch the illness, and hop back, you'd be putting your world at risk. For your own safety and the safety of your world you HAVE to stay on your side of the portal.

Sci-Twi."

Sunset and Starlight gasped. "A fatal illness?"

"How are we just hearing about this now?! I write to them every other day this couldn't have broken out over night."

Sunset began writing on the next page.

"Dear Sci-Twi,

A fatal illness? How bad is it looking over there? Are you sure you girls are fine? When did this outbreak start? Is it curable?"

Sunset Shimmer."

The message faded away to the Alternate Universe. A minute later, a response faded in.

"Dear Sunset,

Bad enough that the state issued a stay-at-home order. No one is sure when this outbreak started but it's been going on for at least a week or two. We're confident that it's curable but thus far attempts have been unsuccessful. The girls and I are all fine, we're staying home as ordered. I'm really sorry we didn't tell you sooner Sunny, we didn't want to worry you.

Sci-Twi."

Sunset flipped the page and wrote back.

"Dear Sci-Twi,

While I would've appreciated a little more warning, I'm just glad you guys are ok, and thank celestia we can still communicate through the journals. Thank you for the heads up. We hope you guys find a cure for this illness and hopefully we can plan another meetup sometime soon. Have a very happy holidays guys.

Sunset Shimmer.

P.S. PLEASE don't keep us out of the loop anymore. Especially when it leaves us without a plan for the day. :)"

Sunset finished the message and it faded away. Sunset sighed. "Well there goes our plan for today."

Starlight nodded. "Now what do we do? We have like, ten hours before the Yule Ball."

Sunset thought for a minute. "Well, we could have a lazy day and catch up on Star Wars. We have still have half of Rebels to watch, Clone Wars season seven released a new episode and we haven't even gotten to The Mandalorian yet."

Starlight chuckled. "It's Star Trek over in the Alternate Universe and here it's Star Wars. What is it with us and Sci-Fi?"

Sunset shook her head. "I don't know, but really, who's complaining? They're the two greatest franchises in the multiverse. Now. Let's get our Force on."

An hour later, Spike stood on the platform of Canterlot Station, waiting for the train from Ponyville. He checked the clock on the station building, it was still one minute til the train was supposed to arrive. He let out a groan. "Oh come on, why can't the train ever be early?"

Moondancer, who had volunteered to come along to fill the adult supervision role, chuckled. "You're very excited to see Sweetie Belle aren't you."

Spike nodded. "Of course I am! Plus, it's Hearths Warming, the season of love they say."

Moondancer chuckled. "Yeah there is that. You and Sweetie Belle looking forward to the Yule Ball tonight?"

Spike chuckled. "Who isn't? Sweetie's told me that news spread beyond Ponyville rather quickly about the great Twilight Sparkle's new girlfriend. They should be quite popular tonight."

Moondancer couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah. And hopefully at least half of that attention WON'T be backed by ulterior motives other then true friendship."

That got both of them chuckling at the inevitable fact that Twilight would be approached and hit on by multiple nobles that night.

Spike calmed down. "Yeah. I'm so glad that Twilight can finally tell them once and for all to bark up somepony else's tree."

Moondancer nodded as they heard the horn of a train from the distance. They looked to the source and saw the Friendship Express coming in. Spike smiled. "Finally!"

The train came to a stop next to the platform and ponies started pouring out. Spike and Moondancer glanced among the traffic, trying to find Sweetie. Spike turned his head to look near the far end of the train, only to be met with a pair of lips crashing into his. His eyes went as wide as saucers before drifting closed, leaning into the kiss. The pair stayed like that for several seconds before Sweetie Belle pulled back, a huge smile on her face. “Man oh man did I miss getting to do that.”

Spike snapped out of his Sweetie induced reverie and immediately wrapped his arms around his marefriend. “Can’t say I was expecting that kind of hello.”

Sweetie chuckled. “I felt it’d be more memorable. I missed you so much.”

Spike nodded. “I missed you too. You have no idea.”

“I dare say I do.”

The two parted from the hug. Sweetie turned to Moondancer. “Hi Moondancer.”

Moondancer smiled. “Hey Sweetie Belle. Looking forward to tonight?”

Sweetie nodded. “Heck yeah. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve shared a dance with my Spikey Wikey? We didn’t get the chance back in October because SOMEPONY absolutely KILLED the mood.”

Spike nodded. “That won’t be a problem anymore thanks to a containment spell anchored to a necklace that Twilight gave to Jessica.”

Sweetie arched an eyebrow. “As a hearths warming gift? Did she change her mind on that other thing?”

Spike shook her head. “Nope. That thing’s still under the Hearths Warming tree, waiting for Jessica to unwrap it.”

Moondancer lifted an eyebrow as they headed out. “What did Twilight get Jessica beyond that necklace Spike?”

Spike chuckled. “You’ll have to find out.”

Moondancer rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Knowing Twilight I’m sure she settled for something she knew Jessica could and would use frequently.”

To be continued.

Author's Note:

This was supposed to come out last week, and then Landfall released a Bugs DLC for Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and, lets just say I had way too much fun laughing my flanks off at flying devinci tanks and mammoth pillars.

Anyway, Ponyville knowing about the demon was not the more widely known I was talking about a few chapters ago, oh no. That’s coming next chapter. Stay tuned.

For those of you who celebrate it, Have a Happy Easter and ALL OF YOU make sure you say safe out there. Remember if we all follow the social distancing guidelines our nation leaders set down this COVID-19 pandemic will be done and over with in no time.

Comments

[raven618]

Huh, the Cutie Mark Crusaders feel a lot older than I remember. Sweetie actively giving Rarity lip, Scootaloo teasing Rainbow, not to mention the whole dating aspect. I'm sure it's been this way from the start, but I'm just noticing it now, our favorite little fillies aren't so little.

[Captain_Cosmos]

Yeah I’m sure I’m making them act older then they are, and that is entirely due to my lack of experience writing these characters. Though with their sisters/role models gone I suspect at the very least Applebloom would step up around Sweet Apple Acres.

[Captain_Cosmos]

Though don’t worry, I am very much aware that they ARE still fillies so don’t expect any of them drinking wine or anything😂

[Captain_Cosmos]

FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!!!!

I finally figured out how to make it so it doesn't take you away from the sight when you click on a link. So now you can enjoy the songs and music while you read.