Star Trek: Equestria: Starfleet Academy Season 1

by Captain_Cosmos

Episode 27: It's a Pony Kind of Christmas: pt 9

Author's Note:

What’s this? A new chapter almost immediately after the previous one? What is this sorcery!!

I was in the zone and couldn’t stop myself from writing so we now get to enjoy the immediate aftermath of the Yule Ball Disaster. Arguing, worries about the future, panic attacks, you’ll find it here.

Also, I promise, either next chapter or the chapter after that will be the last of the Christmas special on Equuis. Then we can start to feel joyous and christmasy again because this doesn’t even feel like a Christmas special anymore😂😂😂

Let me know what you think and I’ll see you next chapter!! Have a good day everybody.

"Aww. But mom! I wanna stay up until Twilight Spike and Jessica get back!"

"Yeah! So we can here how it went!"

Sunny Crisp chuckled as she tucked Sparkler, Flurry, and Kicker into bed. "Well you can suck all the details out of them tomorrow. Right now however, you three need to get to sleep. Unless you don't want Santa Hooves to stop by."

Kicker and Sparkler panicked. "No, we do!"

"We'll go to sleep!"

Thunderhoof chuckled. "You better. G'night Kick." He leaned down to nuzzle his son. Who nuzzled back.

Sunny Crisp leaned into kiss both her daughter and Flurry on the horn. "Sweet dreams you three." With that, Sunny Crisp and Thunderhoof backed out of the bedroom and into the hall. Sunny Crisp smiled. "I do wonder how the Yule Ball went."

Thunderhoof chuckled. "Remember when you me Nightshade and Honey Pear would be the life of that event."

Sunny Crisp chuckled. "Yeah. And maybe we can do that again when Sparkler and Kick are old enough."

"Yeah."

They passed Twilight's bedroom on their way down stairs, only to hear a quiet bang coming from it. Sunny Crisp doubled back to the door in curiosity. She lifted an eyebrow. "What could that be?" She opened the door, and to her surprise, she found Twilight tucking an unconscious Jessica into her bed. "Twilight?!" She whispered. "Twilight what are you doing?"

Thunderhoof peeked in and saw the same thing. "Twilight?! Why did you teleport back here? And what happened to Jessica?"

Twilight turned saw her aunt and uncle giving her perplexed looks. She turned back to make sure Jessica was comfortable, then turned to walk out of the room. She gently closed the door and took a deep breath. "Let's go downstairs, something bad just happened and I don't want to wake up jessica." She motioned for them to go down stairs.

Downstairs, Velvet, Nightlight, Nightshade and Honey Pear were sitting around reading or drinking tea. Nightlight looked up from his newspaper to find Sunny Crisp, Thunderhoof, and Twilight enter the room? "Twilight?!" His exclamation caused the other three ponies to look up and see that Twilight was with Thunderhoof and Sunny Crisp.

Velvet got up and walked over to Twilight. "Twilight? What are you doing home so early? I didn't hear you come through the front door."

Twilight shook her head. "No. Because I teleported both me and Jessica straight to my room."

Nightshade lifted an eyebrow when he saw that Twilight had a distraught look on her face. "Did something happen?"

Twilight nodded. "Nightmare Moon struck, hard."

Everyone gasped. "Nightmare Moon?"

"But how? You said she wouldn't be able to do anything as long as Jessica had that beautiful necklace on."

Twilight sighed in frustration. "Well apparently we didn't account for the fact that the Alicorn Winter Waltz would provide Nightmare Moon with a magic boost that could help her possess Jessica!" Her eyes widened as she realized she nearly shouted at her family. She sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry. That came out of nowhere."

Velvet leaned in and wrapped her forelegs around her daughter. "It's ok Twilight."

Nightlight nodded. "Is everyone ok? No one got hurt?"

Twilight nodded. "Everyone's alive, but not without a few bumps or bruises. And Jessica will be back in control of herself when she wakes up."

Honey Pear smiled. "That's good at least. But, what happened?"

"And what did the Alicorn Winter Winter Waltz have to do with it?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "It turned sour almost immediately after the Waltz ended." She began to recount the events that immediately followed the Alicorn Winter Waltz.

Meanwhile, Captain Pike materialized in the transporter room of the Enterprise to find his first officer waiting for him. Pike nodded. "Number One. I wasn't expecting you to greet me."

Number One nodded. "We monitored a massive build up of energy at Canterlot Castle and you weren't answering your com."

Pike lifted an eyebrow as he stepped off the transporter pad. "I never received any transmissions."

Number One raised an eyebrow. "None?"

Pike nodded. "It must've been interference."

"From the energy build up?"

Pike nodded. "And I know exactly what that build up was." Pike gestured for the two of them to take a walk.

Number One nodded and turned to exit the room, with Pike walking side by side. "You aren't hurt are you sir?"

Pike shook his head. "I'm fine Number One. Just a little shaken."

Number One nodded. "So what happened at the Yule Ball? What could've caused that massive build up?"

"How much do you know of Equestrian History?"

"A fair bit?"

Pike nodded. "Nightmare Moon, sound familiar?"

Number One's eyes widened. "The worst evil Equestria's ever seen. Terror of Dreams, Shadow of Darkness—"

Pike interrupted her. "Yeah. That's the one. She made an appearance tonight."

Number One raised an eyebrow. "But the Elements of Harmony defeated her years ago?"

Pine shrugged. "Apparently not because she took possession of one of our Starfleet Cadets and went all psycho."

Number One gasped. "She took possession of one of our cadets?!"

Pike nodded. "Yeah. And now Admiral Cosmos is gonna go bonkers when I tell him I had to shoot his daughter in the back with the maximum stun setting on my phaser."

Number One did a double take as her eyes widened. "Jessica was the one possessed?! And you shot her? You actually SHOT at her?"

Pike nodded. "Unfortunately yes. On both accounts."

Number One glared at Pike. "You actually shot my niece in the back!"

"I used the stun setting!"

"And that's supposed to make it any less wrong?!"

"It was either that or watch her suffer. And by the look of it Time was running out for everyone."

"There weren't a thousand unicorns around that could, oh I don't know, cast some sort of spell?!"

"Believe when I say that effort was made. But that demon repelled everything."

"Except a phaser shot apparently."

Pike shrugged. "Lucky on our end."

Number One shook her head. "Where is she."

Pike sighed. "Jessica's currently at the house she's staying at with her girlfriend and her family. Presumably."

Number One lifted an eyebrow. "You mean you don't know for sure?!"

Pike nodded. "Don't worry, she was wearing her combadge. Meaning we can have a lock on her in two seconds flat."

Number One immediately tapped her combadge. "Bridge, this is Number One. Pinpoint the location of Starfleet Cadet Jessica Cosmos. Now!"

After a few seconds, her combadge sounded with a reply. "Starfleet Cadet Jessica Cosmos, location, 453 Harmony Street, Canterlot. Equestria."

Number One nodded. "Thanks bridger." She turned her attention to Pike. "I'm beaming down there in the morning."

Pike shook his head. "Absolutely not."

Number One glared at Pike. "Excuse me?"

"You are not beaming down there in the morning."

Number One gritted her teeth. "Yes I am."

Pike shook his head. "Not in your current state. Your too angry, and I am not risking you rushing down there and escalating this situation into a galactic incident because you lost your temper."

"Of course I'm angry! My niece is down there possibly on the verge of PTSD from being possessed and you expect me to just drop it!"

Pike shook his head. "That is not what I'm saying at all!"

Number One lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Because you're saying I can't beam down there to use my counseling expertise to help her."

Pike shook his head. "I don't have any problem with you helping her. Believe me when I say I am not stopping you from helping her."

"Them let me beam down there!"

"Not when you're at risk of causing a galactic incident!"

"It's THEIR demon that possessed OUR cadet!"

"ALICIA!!" Pike shouted as he gave Alicia a stern look, which she returned. They had a staring match for a few seconds before Pike spoke again. "Alicia. I understand you want to help her. I want to help her too. We'll talk about the phaser thing later. Right now. I need you to think. Right now, the situation appears to be isolated. And things are stable at the moment."

Alicia cocked her head. "Stable?! You think this can't cause PTSD for Jessica?!"

Pike continued. "I never said that. I mean from an external standpoint. No one was hurt, and Jessica is sound asleep, completely at peace. Now, do you really think she wants to wake up to you charging down there and throwing accusations around and making things worse?"

Alicia thought for a moment before coming to the realization that Pike was right. Seeing Alicia start to come to her senses. Pike relaxed and continued. "I am not trying to stop you from helping her, being there for her. But we also need to approach this delicate situation tactfully and logically."

Pike was right, and Alicia knew it. The Federation couldn't afford to risk a galactic incident on top of this demon business. Alicia realized that she let her familial instincts get the better of her. She sighed. "Grah. Darn it That was stupid."

Pike sighed. "Trust me. Jessica is safe. At least for the time being."

Alicia nodded. "I'm sorry for losing my temper sir. I'm just so worried about her."

Pike nodded. "I know you are. It's not easy watching your loved ones go through something like this."

Alicia nodded. "Especially when you know you can help them."

Pike nodded. "Look, Enterprise is sticking around tomorrow in the event that Jessica needs an early ride home. So at the very least we'll get her up here to check in with you."

Alicia smiled a little. "I'd appreciate that sir."

Pike nodded, smiled, and gestured down the corridor. "Come on, I need to clue Admiral Cosmos in on this and I think you'll want to hear this."

Alicia nodded. "Of course sir." Pike and Alicia proceeded down the corridor.

Soon. On Earth, Admiral Cosmos was in his home office, getting some work done when he received a memo. "Incoming transmission from USS Enterprise. Priority one."

Admiral Cosmos lifted an eyebrow. Priority one? He pressed his computer screen and it flickered on to show Pike sitting at his desk with Number One, Admiral Cosmos' baby sister, behind him. "Captain Pike, Number One. This is a surprise. How goes your mission to Equuis?"

Pike answered. "It went, well, for the most part."

Admiral Cosmos lifted an eyebrow. This wasn't going to be good. "Ok, and what went wrong?"

Pike sighed. "Sir, Cadet Jessica Cosmos had been possessed by a demon known as Nightmare Moon, and wrecked havoc at the event."

Admiral Cosmos's eyes widened as he gasped. "She what?! How? That demon should've been contained, Jessica said so yesterday."

Alicia gasped. "You knew about this Steve?!"

Steve sighed and nodded. "Yes. I know about Nightmare Moon. And she didn't just come out of nowhere, she's been in Jessica's mind since the start of October."

Pike and Alicia gasped. "Since October?!"

"When I saw her earlier she didn't look like she had a demon in her mind."

Steve nodded. "Yeah. Nightmare Moon hasn't changed her in any noticeable way. Pike, was she wearing a necklace? Starfleet delta, five lavender points, J+T? Jessica sent a pic of the thing yesterday."

Pike nodded. "She was wearing a necklace fitting that description."

Steve rubbed his chin in confusion. "So how is it that that demon was able to control Jessica when she shouldn't have been able to outwardly project herself."

Pike shrugged. "I don't know. You'll have to ask her tomorrow when she wakes up."

Steve lifted an eyebrow. "She's asleep?"

Pike nodded. "Unfortunately the only way to stop the demon was to use the stun setting on my phaser."

Steve's breath caught in his throat. Pike actually shot at Jessica. "Are you sure you used the stun setting Pike."

Pike nodded. "I made absolutely sure it was set to stun before pointing the thing at her."

Steve sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. "Is she onboard Enterprise?"

Alicia shook her head. "No, Twilight Sparkle took her back to her parents' house at the request of Princess Celestia."

"Right. Jessica said she was gonna spend hearths warming with her girlfriend and her family. Your sure she's ok."

Pike nodded. "Yes Steve. She's alive."

Steve sighed. "Thank you for reporting this in. And thank you Pike for saving her."

Pike nodded. "Like I was going to do anything else."

Steve nodded. "Keep me updated on the situation. You've been asked to stick around right?"

Pike nodded. "Yeah."

Steve nodded. "Alright, keep me updated. Cosmos out." With that, the screen went black and left Steve sitting at his desk. After a minute, he hastily reached for his phone and quickly called up his contact list.

Back on Equuis, Rarity, Pinkie, Spike, and Sweetie Belle were headed towards the Sparkle household. Spike and Sweetie Belle were looking at the image of Jessica ponied up. Sweetie sighed. "Look at her. So beautiful, so majestic, she looks like Twilight's literal angel!"

Spike nodded. "Yeah. And then that monster had to hijack it. Thank Celestia Pike and I stopped recording before the hijacking."

Rarity nodded. "Indeed, she looked so perfect. That demon has to go. Before she ruins anything else for Jessica."

Pinkie nodded. "Agreed. That meanie's gone too far this time."

They all nodded in agreement. Right then, Jessica'a phone went off. Spike checked the screen and saw that it was admiral Cosmos. "It's Jessica's dad." He accepted the call and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Jessica? Is that you? What happened?"

Spike shook his head. "Not Jessica sir, it's Spike."

"Spike?! What are you doing with Jessica's phone? Why doesn't she have it?"

"Because she gave it to me so I can get hers and Twilight's first dance on video. And then everything went south."

"I heard. Is Jessica alright?"

Spike nodded. "She's fine, if she were dead, Princess Luna would've said something when she confirmed that Nightmare Moon lost control."

"Ok, what about everyone else?"

Spike nodded. "Everyone's fine. Only a few bruises."

"Where are you now?"

"Headed back to the Sparkle house. Jessica and Twilight are already there."

"So I've been told. If Jessica's awake when you see her next, you hand her this phone and tell her to call. Me, her mom, or Luke, doesn't matter, Got it? And if not then the minute you see her awake."

Spike nodded. "Yes sir. I'll make sure she does."

"Thank you spike. You have a good night alright?"

Spike nodded. "You too. And down worry. Jessica's safe."

Steve sighed. "Make sure she is. G'night Spike."

"G'night sir." The connection was cut. Spine sighed. "Well, news travels fast."

Rarity nodded. "No doubt captain Pike informed him of the situation."

Everyone nodded. Pinkie sighed. "Poor Jessica. She just cannot catch a break."

All of a sudden, Jessica's phone rang again. This time, Spike saw that it was Luke calling. Spike chuckled. "Looks like this number's gonna be popular tonight, I just wish it was under better circumstances." He accepted the call. "Hey Luke."

Several hours had gone by. By then the calls stopped coming, Spike had volunteered to sleep on the couch downstairs to avoid waking Jessica on accident, and thus far everything had been calm. However, Jessica was finally starting to come too from being stunned, tossing and turning as the Yule Ball replayed in her mind.

"Ha Ha Ha! That's it My Little Ponies, cower one fear from the might of the bringer of Eternal Night!"

"No, no don't do this."

"Gah! Let Jessica go you demon! Ack!"

"No. Twilight."

Nightmare Moon sent lightning straight at Applejack and Pinkie Pie, shocking both of them and wiggling free of the lasso.

"No. Stop. Leave them alone."

Nightmare Moon sent blast after blast straight at the downed ponies, laughing. "Face it you peasants! Nothing will stand in my way this time!!"

"No, no, NOOO!!!!" Jessica jolted awake and bolted upright. Breathing heavily, she looked around in the dark. She took in her surroundings, or rather, what she could feel. She looked down and saw that she was in a bed. 'A bed? Where am I? How long have I been out?'

She continued to look around in the dark, looking for something that could tell her where she was, until a soft voice called out to her. "Jessica?" Normally that wouldn't scare her so much, but Jessica actually fell off the bed when she jumped at the voice.

She grunted as she hit the floor and quickly looked around to locate the source of the voice. "W-w-who's there."

A few seconds past before a magenta light washed over the darkness, illuminating the room into what Jessica recognized as Twilight's room. A few more seconds passed before Jessica saw a lavender hoof appear, followed by the head of Twilight. "T-T-Twilight?" She squeaked out.

Twilight gave her a soft look and nodded. "Yes. It's me Jessica. It's ok." She turned the corner of her bed to approach Jessica, but stopped when she noticed Jessica trying to back away, backing right up against the wall.

Jessica shook her head. "No, s-s-stay back. P-please."

Twilight could see that Jessica was shaking, and was trying to stay away from her. She slowly closed the distance. "Jessi, calm down. It's gonna be ok."

Jessica shook her head. "No. S-she took over. I-I nearly...y-you almost..." Jessica couldn't finish her sentence. Too scared to say it.

Twilight took another step, trying to calm her girlfriend down. "Jessi, I'm ok. No one got hurt. Relax. You don't need to be afraid." She stopped right next to Jessica and laid down on her haunches to be more level with the cowering girl. "It'll all be ok. I promise."

Jessica shook her head and blinked. As if coming her her senses, somewhat. "T-Twilight?" She squeaked out.

Twilight nodded and slowly enveloped Jessica with her wings. Coaxing the girl to lean into her shoulder. Right at that moment, tears began pouring out of Jessica's eyes as she finally cried. She continued to cry as Twilight held her. Trying to sooth her. "Shh. It's ok Jessi. It's gonna be ok. I'm here." In truth, Twilight felt like crying herself. This was the girl that she had come to love with all her heart, the girl that despite having a demon haunting her, always greeted the day with a positive attitude, and had so far held on to her sanity when others might've cracked under the constant attacks. And here she was, the walls she had built up over the last few months broken down in one swift action, leaving her feeling vulnerable and terrified, pathetic. It absolutely infuriated Twilight to know that she was indirectly responsible for this. For Jessica's suffering. 'You poor thing. I am so sorry Jessica.'

It took a little bit, but eventually, Jessica's sobs slowed and her tears began to dry up. Twilight smiled a little, grateful that Jessica was calming down. "Feeling better now?" She asked hopefully.

Jessica nodded as she sat up a little. "Yeah. A little."

Twilight smiled. "Good."

Jessica nodded, then sighed. "Twilight, I'm so sorry. I couldn't stop her."

Twilight shook her head. "It's not your fault Jessi, there was no way you could've stopped her."

Jessica sighed. "Now everyone knows she's back."

Twilight nodded. "Well, everyone that was at the Yule Ball..."

"The media will handle the rest."

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. Nothing we can do about that."

Jessica reached up and wiped a stray tear from her eyes as she sniffled. "Twilight. Will we ever find a way to stop her?"

Twilight nodded. "Absolutely. We found a way to contain her, now we can focus on stopping her for good."

Jessica nodded. "I'm scared Twi. I'm so scared of what she will be able to do if we don't stop her."

Twilight leaned in and nuzzled Jessica on the cheek. "I won't rest until she's gone Jessica. Nopony can predict everything, nor prepare for everything. There's a way we can catch her off guard, and we'll find it. No matter what it takes."

Jessica smiled for the first time since she woke up and nodded as she wrapped her arms around Twilight. "I believe you Twi."

Twilight equally smiled as she and Jessica say there in each other's embrace. After a few minutes, Twilight broke the silence. "Hey, for what it's worth, I still had fun at the Yule Ball. The Alicorn Winter Waltz was especially magical."

Jessica giggled. "Well I'm glad I was able to give you a good time before it spiraled out of control."

Twilight nodded. "The best. My favorite part was during the Waltz when you ponied up." She lit her horn and called Jessica's phone to them. which Spike had dropped off before heading downstairs for the night. "In addition to the video, Spike also was able to grab a few pics. See?" They began going through the photos that had been taken that day. Neither really eager to go to sleep even though Jessica's phone read 4:30 in the morning.

To be continued.