Chapter 10.
Captain Picard walks with two of his crew members into Twilight Sparkle’s castle. She had explained to him that the castle had been created by a magical box that all of her friends had to unlock. And that she had previously lived inside a tree that was also a library. He smiles ruefully as he makes his way into the alicorn’s lab. As he enters, he stops for a moment. Many familiar sounds are greeting him. He looks at his operations officer. “Who authorized this?”
Data nods slightly. “I did, Captain. A portable computer core along with terminals and scientific equipment were requested by Princess Twilight four days ago. I assisted with the setup of the equipment during night shift so as not to disrupt our ongoing operations.”
Twilight Sparkle steps forward. “Don’t worry, Captain. If your efforts fail, we can teleport it back up to your ship.” She gestures with a wing. “I have enlisted some ponies and taught them the basics of operating your computer systems. We are in the process of uploading as much of Equestrian knowledge and science so that our colony has as much information as possible if… If Equestria doesn’t make it.”
Picard nods. “That was an excellent idea, Princess, but I am wondering why you asked us down here and specifically asked for us.”
Twilight smiles brightly. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before! With Discord being that Q character you talked about, and with everything else going on. I don’t know how it slipped my mind, but I think we know a place where we can send ponies in addition to our new colony. Since even with all these starships in orbit, we’ll never be able to get everycreature off the planet it time. But I need more information to see if it’s viable.”
Picard tilts his head slightly. “More information?”
She nods. “When I go through, I don’t have my magic, so I can’t really do much except look around. And I don’t want to disrupt everything at Canterlot High or get everypony’s hopes up, if we can’t make it work. So, I need those.” She points.
His eyes follow her pointing at Lt. Commander Data, specifically at the tricorder hanging on his waist. “A tricorder?”
She nods. “It’s the new ones, that can detect magic, right?” At his nod, she grins. “Perfect!” She turns and gestures for them to follow. “I went through for the first time a few years ago. I had to retrieve my crown from Sunset Shimmer. Since then, I’ve gone through a couple more times, learning everything I can about this world. But without magic…”
“Wait a moment, another world?” Geordie says. “You have another world that you can go to?”
Twilight shakes her head. “I really don’t know. I’m still trying to correlate your usage of language with mine. I guess the best way you could say it, it’s another dimension, another reality. There are those that are identical with ponies here. There’s a Twilight Sparkle there, a Rarity, a Rainbow Dash, and so many others that I know on this side. But they aren’t ponies. But on looking at them now, I would say they look like humans, like you. But different.”
Picard frowns. “Different, how?”
“They retain our unique coloring, you know how humans have limited coloring. Well, those on the other side have as many colors to their skin and their…hair, I guess it’s called…as we do here in Equestria.”
Data nods. “Pigmentation of skin is not limited among all species, Princess. There are…”
“We don’t need a lesson in pigmentation today, thank you. Mr. Data. We will be happy to help you with researching this place.”
Twilight smiles and leads them further into the lab. “If our efforts to move the planet fail. I am going to say damn the consequences and send as many ponies as can fit through the portal up until the planet is broken apart. It’s not huge, we might be able to get a few thousand through. We should have about four days from our attempt if it fails, is that correct?”
Data nods. “There was an update from Princess Cadance nine hours ago. The crystals will be complete in ninety-three hours. We will need approximately forty hours to install and test the crystals. Then we shall make the attempt.”
Twilight nods. “Good. And if things look like they will work out on the other side of the portal, I might start sending ponies through immediately. But I didn’t want to start sending them through until I got your help, to make sure that they will be safe. For all I know, the portal being destroyed might just damage, or destroy their world. I may need to dismantle the portal before the planet is destroyed to protect them from the destruction. Too many unknowns.” She stops before a horseshoe shaped mirror, along with several pieces of equipment. She reaches out and touches the reflective surface, which ripples to her touch.
Data already has his tricorder out. He blinks at his results. “Fascinating. The magic of this is off the scale. The system is trying to adjust the scale, but it might burn out the sensor crystal.” He taps the device a few times. “No, it is beyond the device’s ability to read.”
Twilight nods. “The magic of this portal is old, older than the princesses; Starswirl the Bearded discovered the magic, and built this mirror, but his surviving writings don’t tell us all the details. Will you come with me?”
Picard nods. “Lead the way, Princess.”
She smiles and steps into what seems like a mirror, the surface moving as though it were liquid as it flows around her body and when she’s fully through, the surface rebounds a bit, leaving ripples in her wake. Data pulls his tricorder back from scanning before looking at Picard. “Shall I?” He asks.
“By all means.” Picard watches in fascination as the android officer steps confidently through the mirror. He looks at Geordie, who shrugs his shoulders and follows his friend. Picard only hesitates a moment before he steps through the mirror himself.
***
Picard is on his hands and knees, trying not to vomit. “That…” He pants. “Was one of the worst experiences of my life.” He looks back at the marble base of the large statue. Data is playing his tricorder across the face of the marble while Geordie is panting next to him.
“Agreed, Captain.” His chief engineer says softly. “That was worse then an old style Klingon transporter, I felt like I was being stretched and torn apart and put back together.” He touches his VISOR looking back at the 'gateway', “Quantum fluxes, tachyons. I’m still trying to figure out what happened. That thing put out more power than a hundred warp cores. It's beyond anything I could even conceive of.” He shakes his head quickly, before bracing himself as the dizziness hits again.
Twilight’s voice floats to them. “Oh, after a few times, it’s not so bad.” Picard turns and looks. She seems roughly human, though with the same purple coloring she had as a pony, her hair is basically the same as well. She smiles as she offers a slim hand. “Should have seen me after I went through the first time, I totally freaked out, not just from the trip, but the fact I was changed to this.”
Picard reaches out and grabs her hand, letting her grunt a bit to help him to his feet. As he gains his feet, he reaches over and helps Geordie to his own feet. He looks down, he seems to be unchanged, his skin color remains normal, he breathes a soft sigh of relief and straightens up, looking down at the former pony. “How, old are you, Princess?”
She shrugs. “I’m twenty-one years old, Captain.”
“I would take you for fifteen or sixteen, if we used a human scale for age.”
She tilts her head to the side. “Maybe that’s why they didn’t question how I looked in the school.” She gestures to the building. “This is Canterlot High School.”
A scooter bounces over the curb, and speeds towards them. Geordie grabs Picard’s shoulder and shoves him back before the scooter skids to a stop, and the figure driving the scooter leaps off and strips off their helmet, revealing a young woman with almost human skin tones, yet they seem a bit more yellow-orange than normal for humans. Her hair, however, is a fiery red and orange mane that was only barely contained by the helmet. She leaps at Twilight Sparkle and they embrace. “Twilight!” She shouts happily.
“Sunset!” Twilight’s enthusiasm is equal to the newcomers.
Data steps up to Picard while the two girls chatter at each other excitedly. He leans closer to the Captain. “I’ve examined the portal, now from both sides of it. I am at a loss to explain how it works. But the thaums emanating from is are truly exceptional. This is power levels several times what a Galaxy class starship could produce. I think it can do more than it does. Judging by how it changed Princess Twilight’s form when she went through. I think I will have it set on active scanning when we return, we might be able to learn of the mechanism on how it works.”
Picard grimaces. “What exactly was it we just passed through?”
“I only have one possible point of reference sir, given Geordie's description of the energy, the change, as well as our location, I believe it is something akin to a guardian of forever portal. However something either much more primitive, or much younger than the original. Lacking the sapience, so it may be fixed to this one time space location.”
Picard nods as the girls seem to finish greeting each other. Twilight turns to Picard. “This is Sunset Shimmer. A friend of mine from Equestria. Though she’s moved here, semi-permanently.”
Picard offers a hand, and the newcomer shakes it. “A pleasure to meet you, Miss Shimmer.”
Twilight smiles. “I’ve told Sunset Shimmer about what is happening in our world. We write each other all the time.”
Geordie gapes. “You write each other, across dimensions?”
She nods. “We each have a book, whatever I write appears in it’s twin here. And the same when she writes back.”
Picard blinks. “Well, then.” He looks at Data. “Let us do what we came here to do, Mr. Data.”
“Aye Captain.” Data is already scanning around, he briefly points the device at the newcomer before looking around with it. “Fascinating, Captain. This world is fully formed, a class M world. Without the Enterprise sensors, I can not get a full composition. But I can scan around. The sun is a G-type main sequence star, similar to those many Federation worlds orbit.” He stops, tapping the tricorder a few times. “There are two moons, and the stars do not match any known constellations.”
“Best guess, Mr. Data.”
“Based on these sensor readings and reading the quantum signature of the matter of this world. I would say that this is not our quantum reality, and likely not within the bounds of the Federation.”
Picard nods. “So, no indication of the barrier that is around Equestria?”
“No, sir. Though one moon has a similar crystal signature that the Equestrian moon has. The other has some similar properties as the other moon.” He looks up at Picard. “I would say that this world never went through the loss of their sun like Equestria did.”
Twilight blinks. “So, you are saying a completely different universe? Not some crazy pocket dimension or something tied to that portal?”
“That is correct, Princess Twilight.” Data says.
She claps her hands before turning back to Sunset. “In a few days, a lot of ponies are going to be coming through the portal. That’s if our most recent plan fails.” She glances back at the Starfleet officers. “But I am going to ask that the mirror on our side be transported up at the last moment, so we can keep in contact.” She huffs. “I hope I can persuade Princess Celestia to come through before then. So at least she’ll be alive.”
“Princess.” Data says. “There is a complication.”
Twilight stops, her mouth open, she turns and closes her mouth with a click of her teeth. “What?”
Data points his tricorder back at the marble statue. “The connection, without your equipment to power it, only is open at certain times?”
She nods. “for three days every thirty moons.”
Data nods, “Interesting, tell me, does magic work here, or I should ask do the natives here use magic?”
Sunset blinks looking confused, “Well yes and no, most don’t but more recently we’ve had a few cases such as the girls, being able to use magic.”
“Mr. Data?”
Data turns scanning sunset, “And this all happened after the gate came into more common use?”
Twilight starts to pale as she realizes something is wrong.
“Yup,” Sunset says then blinks. “You’re not suggesting…”
“Sir,” Data says, “While localized, because they have different quantum signatures, they affect the reality around them slightly. While it is limited in scope, and likely controllable, if used for a mass crossing I think we would see the magnification of the issue. The more dimensional matter crossing the more the chance of a cascade failure and even a quantum rift forming.”
Twilight’s face freezes for a long time, then she looks back at Sunset, then slowly, she crumples to her knees, tears sprouting from her eyes. Sunset rushes up and grabs her in a bear hug. “Hush, sweetie, it’s going to be okay.”
“I was hoping.” She gasps out. “That at least some more ponies could be…” She buries her face in her friend’s shoulder, sobbing.
Sunset rubs her back. “I know, I know.”
Picard looks at his operations officer. “Is there any way to bolster the connection, to stabilize it?”
Data sweeps his tricorder one more time towards the portal. “I am sorry, Captain. There is too much energy involved, this is a dimensional portal, any energy we add would likely increase the chance of a failure. There is no known technology to stabilize or alter quantum signatures. Even transporting between quantum realities is not fully understood.”
“Have you scanned for the pony’s thaumic energy?”
“Yes Captain. This world has magical energy much like Equestria does. Though it doesn’t seem to be used as it is back on the other side of the portal.”
Geordie pipes up. “They are fairly humanoid in appearance, so they may not have horns or wings as the ponies do. So don’t know how to access the magic?”
Data nods. “That is a plausible explanation.”
Picard slowly looks around then shakes his head, “No, that’s not it.”
“Sir?” Data and Geordie blink looking at the captain.
“It’s something Q said.” Picard looks at the stores, the cars, “They have technology. To us, they would be a pre-warp civilization.”
“Yeah, early 21st century earth.” Geordie says looking around slowly, “So? You aren’t thinking about the prime directive are you?”
“No, I’m realizing…Their minds haven’t been open to the possibilities. They adopted science, technology, and with that.”
“And with that they closed their minds to the possibility of magic.” Sunset says looking around. “I never considered that.”
Twilight stands up, being supported by her friend. “Okay, I’m okay now. Sorry.” She looks down.
“Oh, Twilight, you were hoping to help, to save as many lives as you can.” She stops for a moment. “The thought of my world, my home, being destroyed to save another world.” She stops and shudders. “I can’t imagine what you are going through. As princess, you are responsible for them. You were grasping at any straw you could think of. This one isn’t going to work. But you will find a way.”
Twilight sniffles. “Are you sure?”
That gets a smile from the sun haired girl. “Of course I’m sure, Twilight. If anypony can save the world, it’s you, and your friends.” She glances at Picard. “New ones, and old.”
Twilight nods, scrubbing an arm across her face. “Thank you Sunset.” She turns and hugs the other girl tightly before turning back to Picard. “I’m sorry we wasted your time. I guess we should get back home.”
“It was not a waste, Princess. We tested a theory and it was proven to not be viable. Doesn’t discount the effort to find alternatives.”
She looks up at him. “I know, Captain. Though with this option being closed to us. That means that we are putting all of our eggs into one basket. As to whether or not we can move the entire system. And it’s not a hundred percent guaranteed.”
He smiles gently. “Nothing is a hundred percent guaranteed. But my crew is one of the best of Starfleet. If it can be done, we will do it.” Or die trying. He didn’t add. Though both of them knew that was a possibility. She hugged Sunset Shimmer again, and then, with a steady, measured, tread. She walked back towards the portal and stepped through. Picard nodded to his crewmembers and Geordie stepped through, closely followed by Data, his tricorder opened in his hand. Picard looked back at Sunset Shimmer one last time and returned her wave before stepping through himself.
***
Once again, Captain Picard finds himself with his eyes closed, trying not to vomit, lying on the floor. He coughs and sits up, trying to gather his legs underneath him.
“Oh my Celestia, Captain Picard, I’m so sorry!” Twilight’s voice comes through. “I can fix it, I’m going to have to do some research!” She dashes off. He blinks a few times, looking at the alicorn as she runs towards the computer setup. He tries to move around, somewhat confused that his limbs don’t seem to be working as usual.
“Captain. There is something seriously wrong here.” Geordie’s voice impinges on his consciousness. He looks over and stops. A dark brown Pegasus with midnight black mane is standing there, wings splayed, and yet somehow he is still wearing a VISOR. The pony opens his mouth and Geordie’s voice comes out. “Something must have happened in going back through the portal.” The pony flinches and looks at him. “Captain…”
“What?” Picard looks down, for the first time noting that his body is not the shape it used to be.
“Captain.” Data’s voice comes to them. Both of them turn and standing before them is another pony type creature. This however is of a kind that neither of them have seen before, looking almost a cross between a pony and a dragon, with scales down the back and a bushy mane and tail, along with a long, forked, horn sticking up from the forehead.
“Data?” Geordie squawks, spreading his wings in shock.
“I seem to be suffering some sort of major malfunction.” Data continues, not moving anything but his mouth, “My optical sensors are misaligned, audio directional inputs are off, and most of my processing and diagnostic systems are inaccessible, I may need your assistance.”
Geordie takes a step before tripping and falling on his face. He takes a moment to plant both forehooves next to his head before pushing himself to standing on all four limbs. He takes one step, then two, slowly wobbling over to Data. “Data. What are you now?”
Data blinks turning his head slowly, almost shaking as he realigns his line of sight, “I am… I am…” tilting his head to the side a bit, “I am partly green?”
“The tricorder,” Geordie says reaching out with a hoof.
Looking down at the dropped tricorder, Data’s horn lights, the two crimson bands glowing as a yellow aura surrounds the horn. A matching yellow magical field enveloping the device and bringing it up and opening it.
“How…did you do that?” Picard asks.
Data looks almost confused, “I am not certain sir, I simply thought that I needed the tricorder and picked it up. I can not explain the processes past that.”
“Interesting.” Picard says. He looks at his chief engineer. “Can you just fly without training?”
“Oh don’t try that.” Another voice chimes in. Starlight Glimmer walks up. “We don’t need him eating dirt. Basic flight is instinctual for pegasi, but they crash a lot before they understand flight really. Just like basic levitation is instinctual for unicorns and other magical ponies.” She stops and sits down, looking at Data. “I’ve read about Kirin, but I’ve never seen any before.”
“Kirin?”
“Yeah, Kirin. Dragon ponies.” She gestures to Data. “Just think about using your hands how you would normally operate the tricorder, Mister Data. Your magic will follow your direction. You simply have to provide that direction.”
“He’s an android, how…?” Picard says softly.
“The magic of the portal, this side is Equestria, it turns you into a pony coming back this way.” She tilts her head. “Though if you weren’t a pony before, it decides based on your personality, on what you are…inside.” She looks at Picard. “You, apparently are an earth pony at heart. What’s your cutie mark?”
“My what now?”
“The mark on your flank.”
He turns his head, using that very flexible neck. Looking at his flank, he sits down heavily. “What?” On his haunch is a thin flute, much like a pennywhistle, with a cord attached and some musical notes around it.
“That’s very pretty, Captain. I didn’t know you were into music.”
“I’m not…really.” He stops, remembering that time not too long ago and the whistle sitting in a box in his cabin. He looks over at Geordie, who is inspecting his own mark. A wrench with a lightning bolt. “That’s not too bad.”
Geordie smiles and looks at him. “Yeah, fixing things. That kinda fits with how cutie marks were explained to me.”
The clatter of the tricorder hitting the floor interrupts them, and all three ponies turn to look at Data. “Something wrong, Mr. Data?”
“I’m…not…” Data says softly. “Artificial…I guess the word is. Anymore, that is.”
Picard’s eyes widen. “Wait, what? How?”
Starlight moves over and uses her magic to pick up the tricorder. “That Mr. Broccoli showed me how to use these.” The hand scanner pops from its spot on the device. She plays it over the former android. “Yes, you are fully a Kirin pony.” She tilts her head. “Male, apparently thirty years of age, fully grown. You have a pretty good amount of magic available.”
“But no cutie mark?”
“Kirin don’t get them, a product of their dragon heritage, I believe.” She turns and raises her voice. “Twilight, remember when you turned yourself and your friends into breezies?”
Twilight flinches before turning from the computer before rushing over to them. “I remember.” She huffs, a bit out of breath. “But I don’t have a way to turn them back, I need their genomes.”
Data blinks a few times. “Transporter trace.”
Geordie shakes his head. “I don’t think she can use a computer file to restore us.” He looks down for a moment. “Maybe a hair brush or tooth brush?” Something with actual DNA.”
Picard reaches up a hoof to tap his chest. Relieved when his communicator beeps, at least him and Geordie are still wearing at least uniform tops. “Picard to Enterprise.”
“Riker here.”
“I have a bit of an unusual request. Please have Beverly go to Geordi and my quarters and grab something with our DNA on them hair brush, tooth brush, anything with DNA, and bring them to sickbay. We will be beaming up shortly.”
“Something wrong, Captain?”
“Nothing that can’t be fixed, Number One. Out.” He turns to Twilight. “Okay, we can handle Geordie and myself.” He glances at Data. “But Data doesn’t have a genome. He isn’t biological.”
Twilight glances at Data. “I’m sorry, Mister Data. I don’t know how to fix you…yet. But I promise I’ll figure out how.”
Picard sighs. “Much as it pains me to say, Twilight. The current crisis must take precedence.”
“But we are pretty much just waiting for the crystals, right? We can’t do much ourselves right now?” At his nod, she continues. “You’ve got staff working right now on preparing the ship. So, once Dr. Crusher makes it down here, we can get you zapped back to normal. And then we can figure out Mr. Data.” She glances at Geordie. “Do you want to learn how to use those wings, Mr. LaForge?”
He folds his wings tightly against his sides, his ears splaying to the sides while his tail tucks under his rear. “Oh, no, Princess. I’ve got too much work to do. I’m one of the staff you mentioned.”
She giggles a bit. “Can’t hurt to learn what it’s like to be a pony for a few minutes.”
“Oh, no. I’m good.” He thinks for a long moment. “Though if you could zap me back after we’ve got Equestria safe. Maybe we could try it out, under better circumstances.”
She grins. “Okay, deal.” She turns to Picard, her face going somber. “I’m sorry about this Captain. Since you are not from Equestria, and don’t have our magic. I thought the magic of the portal wouldn’t affect you that way.” She looks down. “I know it changes me. I didn’t think for even a moment about it changing you. I’m so sorry.”
Picard nods. “Thank you, Princess. I know there was no malice involved here.” He looks at his crewmembers. Starlight has pulled Data off a bit and is talking to him softly.
Twilight notices him looking. She leans closer. “She’ll show him a bit about the magic he has now. With potential and no training, he could be a danger. Give her a little bit of time.”
Picard nods. “We need to head back to the ship. Starlight, do you wish to join us aboard?” At her nod and smile, he taps his com badge. “Picard to Enterprise, five to beam up.” In only a matter of seconds they are whisked away.
As they are walking towards sickbay, Picard is finding he has to concentrate to keep his limbs moving the way they need to for him to walk. Data seems to be having the most problems. Starlight Glimmer is walking close to him, helping to guide him as they move. “How does one walk like this?” Data says, more and more panic creeping into his voice as they continue. “How does one keep time? How does one, wait…will I need to eat? Drink? Go to the bathroom? I lack subroutines for all of this.” He turns back to look at Picard. “Sir, this is not acceptable, I have not been prepared for this” Data starts to smoke somewhat, giving the aura of an overworked computer.
Geordie blinks, tapping his VISOR with a hoof. “Data, careful I’m showing your body temperature rising fast.”
Data blinks, “I can’t tell. I lack diagnostics in this form, how do I deal with it? What am I supposed to do?”
Picard shakes his head as he leads the group into sickbay. “Data, calm down, breathe.”
With a rather large foof sound Data flashes to a black coloring, his mane and tail shifting to crimson and orange flames. “This should not be possible.”
“Data! You’re on fire.” Geordie shouts, everyone backing away.
Blinking Data looks back getting more confused.
“Doesn’t that hurt?”
Data shakes his head and speaks as though his voice modulation system is on the fritz, “No, it does not. Should it?”
“Warning, thaumic fire detected in sickbay. Emergency evacuation. Fire containment systems online.” The computer pauses for a moment. “Failure, fire containment fields unable to activate, life form detected. Evacuate area, command authorization required to activate containment.”
“DENIED! DO NOT ACTIVATE!” Picard yells out quickly.
Twilight looks worried. “I’ve only heard of legends about the Kirin. They are gentle souls, but when they get angry, they turn into Nirik’s creatures of fire and wrath.”
“I am not angry!” Data snarls. “I simply wish to return to normal!”
“Oh, but how will I roast my marshmallows?” Discord’s voice causes Picard to look up. The draconequus is floating behind and above Data, a long forked stick in his claw with a large marshmallow being held over the flaming mane of Data. He pulls it from the fire and blows on it for a moment before shoving it in his mouth and chewing happily. “So, you checked out that troublesome portal that Starswirl had created.” Flitting around Discord places a cookie on Picards muzzle. "Good for you."
“Fix this, Q.” Picard says with a stomp of a hoof.
“It’s Discord, here, Mon Capitan.” He tilts his head. “But we don’t want him to melt the deck.” He snaps his claw and Data reverts back to a normal Kirin, blinking in surprise, his eyes dilating, as he starts to wobble a bit. “There, we calmed him down.” He looks at Twilight. “Now you can work your magic, Princess Twilight.”
The doors open, admitting Dr. Crusher. She stops dead on seeing the menagerie in her sickbay. “Captain?”
Picard nods. “We apparently had a magical mishap. Do you have something with a sample of my DNA?”
She holds up a toothbrush. “Yes, Captain.” She looks at Geordie, holding up a hairbrush. “And for you as well.” She looks at Twilight. “I’m guessing you are going to do the honors?”
Starlight Glimmer floats the hair brush from her hand while Twilight takes the tooth brush. Both ponies walk over and their horns light brightly, and with a pop, both of them are back to human. Picard looks down, noting his uniform now again covers everything essential and takes a sigh of relief. “Now, about my operations officer?”
Starlight and Twilight look at each other. Both shrugging. Twilight speaks up. “Sorry Captain, I don’t have anything to refer to magically to revert him. I will have to do more research.” She brings a hoof up to her chin. “Perhaps with the technical specifications of his from before he came down.” She brightens. “I know I will be able to fix you, Mr. Data.”
Data looks forlorn. “So, you can not fix me?”
“Not right now, Mr. Data. I’m so sorry.” She looks at Starlight for a moment. “Maybe if we send him through the portal, it might turn him back human…I’ve heard rumors that if you are covered in magic when you go through the portal, it could prevent the changing when he comes back.”
Geordie moves over to Data. “Would it be better to be human, Data? Closer to what you were before?”
Data blinks. “I do not know. What I can do as a Kirin?” He looks up at his horn. “And as a Kirin, I do have access to magic.”
Twilight flicks her ears back and forth. “Your magic could be helpful, but if you don’t control your emotions, it could get destructive.” She glances back at Discord. “He has a tendency to drive ponies nuts.”
“Hey, I resemble that remark.”
She turns back to Data. “Don’t worry about him. While we are working, I can teach you how to use your magic effectively.” She smirks. “Never know, you might just like to sing.”
Data narrows his eyes. “I do like to sing.” Then his eyes widen as he stands on his hind hooves spreading his forelegs, “I love to siiiiiiiiiiing” He sings out. Only to have a lion’s paw of Discord’s clamp down on his muzzle.
“Nope. Not now. No, we can’t have any of that.” Discord shakes his head no vigorously, “Count yourself lucky I stopped this before we got to the... la la la'ing." Looking down at Data, "You are such a problem child, don’t say I’ve never done anything for you.” He snaps his claw and Data is standing there, back to normal.
Discord humphs and then turns to Picard. “Well, there was another reason I showed up. I have been talking with Celestia, and she can do the transmission of chaos magic from the thaums you send her. With that, I can bring the planet along.” He stops and reaches behind his back and brings out a cookie. “Here, you’ve expanded your mind. You get another cookie. Two in one day!”
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so in a way Data gets his life long wish ,,, he is well a real living being.
*chuckle* That unexpected transformation on the return trip is so beautifully "The essence of a Star Trek crisis of the week, transposed to what's fitting for an MLP crossover".
Hey, I resent that remark.
I theorized this might happen on the return trip….it would appear that I was not mistaken
You just have to foil my ideas, don’t you? There is a way, but it would be deus ex machina for me to just appear in your story 🤣 However, I’m still limited myself on my own capabilities, even though my Megaligo Trans Dimensional and trans temporal powers do allow me to go toe to toe with a Q and not be affected by them.
I was kinda hoping Data stayed an organic forever.
Why did Q have to change him back?
11178515
Eh, it's happened before. But as stated, he's back to his normal artificial self once he threatened Discord to start singing.
An awful lot of power in a small space can have an excessive effect with only a small variation? Wonder just how many Equestrian ponies you would have to stuff together for the cascade to trigger, if the Ship Of Fools was a non breaking event that actually occured?
Kind of disappointed we don't get to see the Enterprise crew boggle at the power of a "Heart Song" where everyones musical talent suddenly increases and random corograpy and harmonizing breaks out. Maybe later.
The chance to experience being a diffrent species with such ease is another reason to save Equestria.
I don't think the people of the EG universe can never accept magic, after all the federation did easily enough. Accepting magic is more about how you define what it, the terms you use. In the recent Watchmen/DC Universe cross over the very scientifically minded Dr. Manhattan tried to "experiment with the DC Universe" and explained several things. One was magic, after brushing off attacks from DC's strongest Magic Users he matter of factly broke down how magic worked on its base level (manipulateing quantum fluxes and darkmatter) and showed he does it faster and better than any of them could hope. He also discovered Superman is the lynch pin of the DC Universe as causality literally bent over backwards to make sure Superman existed no matter how hard Manhatten tried to get rid of him.
I think Equestria "realities" are the same but with Harmony, no matter how bad it's disrupted the universe will even break it's fundamentally laws to make it so.
I do expect the heros to find a solution, but the side effects will be very interesting to see. Reality may make sure they win in the end, but that doesn't mean it gets to be easy.
11178592
That weas a joke, son. Right up there with 'Surely you jest.' 'I never jest! And don't call me Shirley!'
11178666
One of my prereaders wanted Data to stay Kirin. And to be honest I wouldn't have minded. But I can't mess with continuity of star trek like that. Though I think Brent Spiner would love voicing a Kirin sitting at Data's spot, lol.
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times:
DON'T PROVOKE THE BOR... er..
I mean, don't include the EqG universe in any HiE story unless it makes sense. It doesn't really make sense here. Though I at least have to give you points for making it try to make sense.
Here's my reasoning.
Equestria Girls are already humans from a planet that is at least very Earth-like, if not actually supposed to be Earth. If you're puling in humans from some other fiction using anything other than alternate-reality travel, it doesn't make sense why there would also be humans on the EqG side of the portal. Some fics can pull it off but it's rare.
For example, The Maretian has Equestria and Earth (of The Martian's universe) be the same planet from different realities. So the EqG Earth ends up being a third reality. This makes sense, since some realities may have humans, some may have ponies, etc.
As a counter VERY BAD example, I won't name the fic, but it's a crossover with "X" universe (again won't name). Equestria is just another planet in X's universe so there's no alternate realties yet. It has not only Equestria Girls make an appearance , but they consider X to be fiction in their own universe. So the X fiction is taken back to Equestria where the X humans use it to predict their own future. So that amps the nonsense up to 11.
Your usage isn't as bad but it appears to have served no real purpose in the story (you did use it to turn our heroes into ponies but then it is all immediately undone, so it serves no larger story purpose it would seem). Renember FiM was intentionally set up so you don't need to watch EqG for everything to still make sense, likewise you can write fics that make it non-canon with no issue if it helps your story make more sense.
Of course it is in there now and what's done is done.
Maybe I talked about this before, I forget. Sorry if I am repeating myself.
Now a side note. You may or may not have seen the new episodes of Season 2 of Picard. Anyway they gave me an idea for an AU take on this story based on the AU we see in those episodes. Don't read further if you haven't seen any of Season 2 yet, you may get some minor spoilers. Though the main points you can figure out from the trailer.
So my idea is this same fic but it takes place in the Confederacy universe. Betazed is still threatened, but of course as it seems telepaths are feared by humanity, Betazoids have probably been wiped out. So human colonies on the planet could be threatened by the approach of Equestria.
Picard would still captain the Enterprise (they named a different ship he captained, but despite showing a picture of their Enterprise, it sounded like a replacement name for the Stargazer, which would make sense as it is itself an important plot point in Season 2), but with an all-human crew, and would focus on destroying Equestria rather than making any sort of contact. I don't think they would stand a chance.
I think they would have telepath detecting sensors that the prime universe would not have, and would be able to sense Equestrian magic to some degree, and realize they're dangerous. They would then target and kill all Alicorns from orbit based on spikes in these readings (rip). Then there really would be no chance.
I didn't define how things happen beyond there, but Picard and his crew would probably figure out how to use the magic of Equestria against it, to destroy the whole planet (we don't want to give the Confederacy some power that could destroy any arbitrary planet). Picard would get a medal for preventing the destruction of Betazed.
Hell, maybe AU Picard destroying Equestria is why Q seems so pissed off at him in Picard Season 2 for all we know (though there is probably a canon explanation coming I'm sure).
(Also I'd want to see Data replaced with Lore somehow. It would be outside the character of the Confederacy to allow it, but I think it would be interesting to see.)
A second take on the story, even more twisted, would be the Confederation waging war against Betazed. The Enterprise finds Equestria, which in this universe is in no danger at all, and intentionally redirects it towards Betazed, ending the war in that way and killing all Equestrias and Betazoids.
Maybe Sparky will write something like one of those, maybe pigs will fly and I will at some point (it's an interesting idea). Who knows.
11178890 I used the "Don't call me 'Shirley' joke in one of my stories, which I will not link here, so as to avoid it being marked as malicious, or spam.
11178798
We saw 1 cascade rupture already... with Worf and them shifting 100's of worfs around between ships. LOL.
Ship of fools though could have caused a cascade failure if they had gotten into a battle near a weak spot, but no one wanted to see a rupter there and 100's of them sitting in a room discussing how to get out of it.
11178592
"I resemble that remark" is a common, intentionally mangled version of the phrase. A way of jokingly admitting that the remark does in fact apply. If you google it, you will find a number of debates on where it originated. It may have been The Three Stooges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrcXYn6HqX8
11178967
Well, you could look at it this way, it was done to show that ALL possibilities to save as many ponies as possible were being taken, and some might ask WHY they didn't just send mass groups through the portal till the incident was over and move the portal onto say, the enterprise...
Well, with that possibility we took a very start trek reason WHY it wouldn't or couldn't happen. But at the same time furthered the desperation and risks the princess was willing to take.
Discord solving the problem with a literal deus ex machina
Awesome chapter, reminds me of the time Picard was turned into a child by a faulty transporter. The portal was a nice theory too bad it wasn't designed with exodus in mind. I have a feeling Starfleet is going to have to add equine to the attendance roster in the future
11179082
yep, and as we know, he only does that, to stop song and dance numbers.
I absolutely love how nonchalant Starlight Glimmer is about the entire situation when they come back through the portal.
11179179
Remember, this is Starlight, she's used to all sorts of randomness associated with the mane 6. Add in the USS Enterprise, and she's full of...meh. been there, done that.
11178967
What Kitsy said... Err, yeah. She got the gist correct. Considering how we discussed things. Narratively, this was to show that Twi is desperate, she doesn't believe there is but one solution to the problem, and she's trying everything she can think of. But she's smart, so she asked Picard and Data and Geordie to come and help her determine whether it's viable or not.
I just watched the Picard episode a couple of hours ago...wow. I would like to know why Q is so unhinged. He actually...I can't believe what I saw. Some human really mucked it up to get Q that incensed.
I did have comments early on in regards to my plans dealing with EqG, and I was looking for a place to insert those plans, and right before the climax of the story fit for me. My postulation is they are an alternate universe where their sun didn't go supernova, they didn't have to sacrifice a moon and enfold their planet in magic to protect themselves. So, they advanced as normal for them. Without magic. I think it works.
11179179
we are talking a bout the pony who put someone in a sound proof bubble while they had a panic attack. Who thought brainwashing her friends and changing their personalities was a good alternative to actually putting effort in, who banished discord from the school... the only time she has a panic attack herself is when she realizes SHE's messed up.
11178927
But by even writing this you have.
I always thought one of the main characters would become a Kirin and am glad it was data.
It should be mentioned that you managed to pull off a pony transformation without the cringe factor.
That’s a rare accomplishment.
I think it was the way you made it a secondary plot turn, whereas most stories make that the overbearing, primary plot focus.
To rephrase another reader’s comments - you turned it into just another Star Trek encounter/mishap of the week.
You didn’t gloss over it and you made it work as a minor plot device.
That aside, I do enjoy how you script in the background ponies such as Lyra and Lemon Hearts.
And the dialogue last chapter with Deanna Troi and Luna was delicately done.
11180338
And at least here it's magic. The Voyager transform episode was cringey because it was inexplicable.
Fair enough training to not use the portal, and very nice had with the ponification, really liked it.
And to think, Starswirl created something that powerful, simply to use as a trash can for things he couldn't be arsed to deal with so decided to just make someone else's problem.