Ten Forward
“Um… hi,” Twilight slowly lifted a hoof and waved it at the bar’s patrons, all of whom were staring at her intently. “I take it we’re really not supposed to be here.”
“No,” the bartender said, though the word was not spoken with hostility. “You are not.”
“Oh, we could come back later if now’s a bad time,” Cosmo said. “I’m sure we c—”
Sonic ran into the world and stood on top of the bar, looking at the stars zooming past out the window. “Huh. This place looks fun.” As one of the doors leading to the bar slid open automatically, Sonic seized his opportunity and ran out at high speed.
Twilight facehooved. “I was afraid of that.”
“He’s not going to get far,” Toph said, tapping the ground. “Pretty sure we’re in another spaceship.”
“Good guess,” the bartender said. “Come, sit, let’s talk while security hunts down your blue friend.”
“...Security?” Cosmo asked.
“Well, seeing as there are none of his species on board the Enterprise, several people are going to file reports.” The bartender started casually stirring a drink. “Then a team will be sent to try to apprehend him. If he cooperates, nothing will happen to him.”
“He, er…” Cosmo tapped her finger against the counter nervously. “He doesn’t cooperate.”
“Then they’ll stun him and he’ll wake up with a bad headache.” The bartender smiled mischievously. “He looks like a man who could stand being forced to slow down.”
Cosmo let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, okay.”
“I hope you understand that we mean you no harm and come in peace,” Twilight said, bowing slightly to her. “We are from many different worlds, and our door just happened to manifest… behind your bar.” She furrowed her brow. “On a moving spaceship… Tippi, how does that work?”
“Dimensional doors adhere to physical objects, not points in space,” Tippi explained. “Otherwise the planets would move out from under them in most worlds.”
The bartender leaned on one of her arms, a curious smile growing on her face. “Something tells me that when you say ‘other worlds’, you don’t just mean from other stars in the galaxy. I can’t wait to hear this story.”
Twilight glanced at the people sitting at tables, most of which were gossiping amongst themselves about the strange creatures that had come through the door.
“Hey!” Toph jumped up on the counter. “If you all have something to say, you can say it to my face!” This prompted a few giggles from the patrons, the kind reserved for little children who thought themselves proud. Toph’s eyebrow twitched. “I’m gonna…”
“Sit,” the bartender offered again. “Pay them no mind, have a chat with me. Someone a lot more serious will probably arrive soon, and your chance to have a fun conversation will be gone with the wind.”
Cosmo and Toph sat, the latter grumpily. Twilight tried to sit on one of the stools but decided it’d be better for her just to stand with her front hooves on the counter while Tippi fluttered around her ears. “I’m Twilight. This is Tippi, Toph, and Cosmo.”
“I’m Guinan,” the woman said with a slight bow. “Welcome to Ten Forward, the best place on the Enterprise.” Guinan gestured to the rest of the bar in mock presentation.
“The name of the ship?” Cosmo asked.
“Yes. I suppose I should welcome you aboard. Greetings from the United Federation of Planets.” Guinan extended a hand. “I hope we can be friends.”
Twilight smirked. “Where I’m from, I’m called the Princess of Friendship.” She shook Guinan’s hand with her hoof.
“You’ll have to tell me all about that…”
At that moment, the doors slid open, revealing what appeared to be a human with oddly reflective skin and piercing yellow eyes.
“That was fast,” Guinan said, turning to the newcomer. “Commander Data!”
“I was unaware there were non-humanoid lifeforms on board,” Data said with an artificial inflection. “From what world do you hail?”
“Equis,” Twilight offered. “Unless you were talking about Tippi, in which case… uh… which world are you from?”
“Flipside,” Tippi answered.
“I thought… nevermind.” Twilight shook her head—it wasn’t important.
“Equis.” Data cocked his head to the side, thinking. “I am afraid that world is not in my data banks.”
Twilight tilted her head to the side. “Data… banks?”
“Yes. I am an android.”
“An… android.” Slowly, a grin began to crawl up Twilight’s face. “As in, a fully artificial being?”
“That is correct.”
“How do you work?” Twilight asked, mouth watering at the prospect of examining such an impressive feat of technology and engineering. Cosmo was nice enough to wipe her face with a napkin, not that Twilight noticed in her stupor.
Taking a seat on the stool next to Toph, Data began his explanation. “I have a positronic brain that runs based on complex electron pathways that evolve and adapt in an attempt to emulate the behavior of an organic brain; a neural net. There are several key differences, however, the first of which is large-scale organizat—”
“That’s enough, Data,” Guinan said.
“What? No, it’s not!” Twilight turned to her with a desperate face. “I’ve got to know how the neural net manages the electrons! What sort of material does it use? Is there a thaumic undercurrent?”
“I’m sure Data would be more than happy to explain himself to an enthusiast such as yourself, but I believe there are other things to worry about.” Guinan gestured at the yellow door behind her bar.
Data nodded. “Yes, I am curious about that as well. What is the purpose of the door?”
“They popped out of it,” Guinan said with a corked brow.
Data’s eyes widened, but his face remained emotionless. “Really? Curious. So you are intruders?”
Cosmo waved her hands rapidly. “T-that was not our intent!”
“It’s just where our door showed up,” Twilight said with a shrug. “We’re exploring new worlds in search of artifacts called the Pure Hearts. Have you heard of them?”
Data tilted his head to the side. “I have no record of any Pure Hearts. But we are explorers just like yourselves—it is the primary mission of the Enterprise.”
“To seek out new life, and new civilizations,” Guinan added, clearly quoting something.
“Suddenly this spaceship is a lot less boring,” Toph jumped up and stomped her foot on the ground. “Let’s go somewhere new! Somewhere… alien.”
“I’m afraid the Enterprise is currently on another mission,” Data said. “Though I suspect the Captain would love to hear more about yours.”
Toph stomped her foot on the ground in preparation for a snippy comment, but her face went pale before she got it out.
“What’s wrong?” Cosmo asked.
“I… I can’t bend anything.” Toph punched a few times and stomped around. “No… bending. I can feel the vibrations but…” She sat back down, hand to her forehead. “Geez, I’m going to be useless in this world.”
“Oh, right, I should check my magic.” Twilight lit her horn and found that she could levitate a glass from under the counter easily—but her attempt to generate a fireball did absolutely nothing. “The rules of magic are clearly different, here.”
“Most of us don’t believe in magic,” Guinan commented.
“Clearly it exists in this universe since I’m still able to use it,” Twilight commented. “Though who knows what form it may take?”
Data examined her horn, poking the tip experimentally. “How does this ‘magic’ of yours work?”
“It’s a little complicated, but basically the energy stored within the brain is shunted into the horn, where it interfaces with the conical lace a—”
“Twilight,” Cosmo warned.
“Oh.” Twilight flushed. “Yes, now is not the time to 'geek out’ over science, right.”
“This is wasting time...” Tippi said. “We have already spent several weeks searching for the Pure Hearts, we shouldn’t…”
Data nodded, tapping a small pin on his yellow jersey in the shape of a chevron. “Data to Captain Picard.”
“Go ahead, Data,” a male voice—presumably Picard’s—said from the pin. The words carried with them a calm, but strong and no-nonsense inflection. The voice of a leader.
“I am with Guinan in Ten-Forward. We appear to have visitors from another universe.”
“Hostile?”
“Quite the opposite. They are friendly. One might even say ‘chatty.’ ”
“Hmm… we have reports of a strange blue entity causing havoc on the lower decks.”
“Sonic!” Twilight blurted.
“...Data, was that one of them talking?” Picard asked.
“Uh, yes Captain, sorry for interrupting,” Twilight said, standing rigid.
“Do you know this… Sonic?” Data asked.
“Yes,” Twilight admitted. “He’s… he means no harm, but he’s going to be running around a lot and probably won’t listen to anybody who tells him to stop.”
“Hmm…” Picard was silent for a moment. “Data, take them to the briefing room. I’ll tell Worf not to harm this… Sonic, if at all possible.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Twilight said with a bow. “I look forward to meeting you!”
“I as well, to put a name and face to the voice.”
Data stood up suddenly. “We should leave immediately.”
“No arguments here,” Toph said, standing up.
Toph got over her powerless scare pretty quickly, Twilight noted, following her and Data out of Ten Forward. “Thanks for the talk, Guinan.”
The bartender only smiled. “My pleasure.”
~~~
Sonic stopped in the intersection of a hallway. The carpet was the same as everywhere else, the walls were the same smooth white with a black stripe running all along it, and everyone wore the same uniforms. And all of them were humans! Sure, some were funny-colored and had big heads or something, but still, humans.
“Would it kill you guys to get an interior decorator?” He asked a woman in a yellow short. “Come on, everything’s so boring in here that I’m getting lost!”
The woman pulled out a strange handheld device with a black, rounded tip pointed right at him. He’d seen enough of Eggman’s crazy weapons to know this was something similar. “Woah, lady, all I did was ask a question!”
The woman tapped the pin on her uniform. “I found the intruder, deck three.”
“Intruder?” Sonic gasped. “All I did was walk in the door! ...That didn’t exist until I opened it. And it came out in the back of a bar.” Sonic scratched his chin. “Hmm, I can see why you’d think I’m an intruder…”
She lowered the weapon. “Do you… wish to cooperate?”
“Cooperate how?”
“If you come with me to the brig, I c—”
“And that’s my cue to get out of here. Bye!” He dashed past her, swiping the weapon out from her hand in the process. “Hmm, wonder how this works. Let’s see…” He pressed a button, shooting a laser out of the device into a nearby wall, sending sparks flying. “Augh!” He threw the weapon away and kept running down the hallway. “They should install better safeties on those things!” Chuckling to himself, he jumped into one of the elevators where three other people in gold uniforms were standing.
Sonic shrugged. “Hey, I’ll go wherever you guys go, up or down, I don’t care.”
All three of them drew their weapons on him. “Come in peacefully an—”
“Cheese Louise, what is it with you people and trying to lock me up?” He jumped, entered a spin attack, and burst out the top of the elevator into the shaft. Lasers shot out of the elevator, but he dodged them easily, jumping up the shaft by hitting the walls in zig-zag, going higher and higher.
All the doors were closed, but once he felt high enough he jumped to one of the doors and pried them open, finding… another identical hallway.
“Is there nowhere interesting in this pla—”
A tall, dark man with angled ridges on his forehead tackled Sonic, pinning his arms and legs in one swift motion. “Down!”
“Wow, you’re a strong guy!” Sonic chuckled, straining to get out of his grip. “Say, could you loosen up a bit?”
“I will not let you continue running around the ship, sabotaging it!”
“Hey, I didn’t mean to break anything! It was you bozos who pointed lasers at me!”
The man let out a snort. “They’re not dangerous!”
“I blew out a wall with one!”
“That was a computer a—” the man caught himself. “I don’t have to explain myself to you! You’re coming with me, to the brig.”
“How about… no?” Sonic attempted to break free once more, but he was much smaller than the muscular man and couldn’t get enough leverage to enter a spin attack. He really was stuck. “Huh. Guess I should be thankful Eggman never took up bodybuilding.”
The man stood up, careful to keep a tight grip on all Sonic’s limbs. Cautiously, he twisted one of his hands close to the pin on his chest. “Worf to Picard. I have apprehend—”
Sonic, sensing an opportunity, dug his chin into Worf’s arm. As Worf grunted in pain he loosened his grip, allowing Sonic enough range of motion to kick Worf in the face. He held on remarkably well to Sonic, but the hedgehog only needed a little leeway to enter a spin attack and twist himself out of Worf’s grip, tossing the man back. “Hah, nice try!”
“Ergh…” Worf jumped after Sonic, but he was ready this time, dashing away before Worf even hit the ground.
“You’re too slow!”
“Get back here, rodent!” Worf lunged again.
“I’m not a rodent, how many times do I gotta tell people that?” He skipped backward, just barely out of Worf’s reach every time. “You should invest in some speed exercises, I hear they make good for catching hedgehogs. Man, I’m thinking up of all sorts of things Eggman could have done. Must be this place, makes me smarte—”
A laser hit him in the back. It didn’t burn him or even hurt all that much, but it went right into his muscles and brain, turning him into a limp ragdoll that slumped to the ground.
A man with a red uniform and an impressive beard lowered his weapon. “Are you all right, Worf?”
“Yes, Commander Riker. Thank you.” Worf let out a tense sigh. “He talked much, but had no strength.” Worf stood up, adjusting his uniform. “His only skill was speed.”
“It seemed to be enough to give you a run for your money.”
Worf bared his teeth.
“All right, all right… let’s get him to the brig.”
~~~
The briefing room was a well-furnished, roughly rectangular room with a long table surrounded by comfortable, padded chairs. To one of the table’s long sides were a series of windows that looked out onto space, the stars whizzing by. To the other side was a display of various spaceships in the Federation, largely named Enterprise. The designs fascinated Twilight—they looked a lot like partially formed tadpoles, with the stubby limbs ending in smooth cylinders. She deduced that those parts were engines of a sort.
Twilight wasn’t able to sit down in the chairs comfortably, so she stood with her front hooves resting on the table. Cosmo and Toph sat in the chairs next to her while Tippi fluttered near her head. Across from them sat Data and two other members of the Enterprise crew. One was a woman with a blue uniform and long black curls that framed her smooth face. However, she did not demand the attention that the Captain did—while he was a bald, wrinkled man, his very presence nonetheless exuded power and authority. His red uniform stood out, and he had more metallic pips on his collar than anyone present. The hard face he wore was stern, but unthreatening, matched with a cautious intelligence that laid within his deep eyes.
Twilight introduced her group. “...And I hope we can become friends after this… initial confusion is cleared up.”
“A runaway hedgehog is hardly going to cause a diplomatic incident,” the woman said. “I’m Counselor Deanna Troi.”
“And I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard,” the Captain said, folding his hands together. “You’ve already met Commander Data.”
“Yes. He’s been very enlightening and I would love to hear him explain his inner workings…” Twilight shook her head. “Later. Right now, we have more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Yes, I have been informed you are on a sort of quest,” Picard said, leaning in. “Could you explain that?”
Toph coughed. “Short version: some idiot is trying to destroy all worlds with a big purple ugly Void vortex and we’re looking for the Pure Hearts so we can stop him. Make sense?”
Picard looked at her with slight unease.
“What?” Toph held up a hand in a half shrug. “Did I say it wrong?”
“I believe the Captain is unsure about your age,” Cosmo said. “I have seen no one near your visual age in uniform.”
“Oh, is it because I’m a kid?” Toph rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I’ve gone through this enough already.”
Twilight pressed her hooves together. “Please forgive Toph. Yes, she is young, though in her culture she is not considered a child. She has been a great friend and an amazing ally in our quest so far, and what she says is true.”
“Yes…” Cosmo said, looking at the table. “All of our lives have been put on hold because we have been called to find the Pure Hearts in each universe.”
“What are these Pure Hearts?” Picard asked.
Everyone looked to Tippi. After a couple of resigned flaps, she explained. “Pure Hearts are the physical manifestation of a universe’s reality and love itself. Together, they will be able to puncture through the barrier around the Void, allowing us to stop the destruction at the source: Count Bleck.”
“Do you have some of these Pure Hearts with you?”
“No, they are through the door, in Flipside,” Twilight said. “We have three. ...We need eight.”
Picard nodded. “What of this Count Bleck?”
“I’ve never even seen him,” Toph grunted.
“He is very elusive,” Twilight admitted. “I’ve only seen him once, and that was… decidedly unpleasant. I do not know why he seeks to destroy all worlds, but his minions have suggested he has offered to let them create new ones after all this is over.”
“A god complex…” Picard mused. “...Counselor?”
“I sense no hostility or deception from any of them,” Troi answered. “Though I suspect Twilight may be an empath as well, her mind has responded to mine occasionally.”
“Oh, you’re an empath?” Twilight brightened, lighting her horn. Can you hear me?
Yes, Troi responded with her mind. You have to activate your telepathy manually?
Yeah, it’s not a spell many unicorns know.
“I take it you’ve established telepathic contact?” Picard asked.
Troi nodded. “She considers it a spell.”
“Magic is weird,” Twilight admitted. “It only works in some universes; in this one, only some of my spells work at all. I’ll… explain that later. Or not, because I barely understand any of it.”
Picard nodded. “Well, I’m afraid I know nothing of any Pure Heart, but you are free to search our records for mention of it. I’ll assign Commander Data to you to aid in your search.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“And…” Picard glanced out the window. The stars stopped zipping by—the Enterprise was slowing down. “I think there’s something we should show you. Come, to the bridge.”
It was not a long trek from the briefing room to the bridge; only a few hallways. They arrived in a wide, open room with several consoles and a large screen on the front wall, currently displaying nothing. Picard took a seat in the center of the room while Troi sat to his left. Data remained standing with Twilight and the others.
“Helm, put the anomaly onscreen,” Picard ordered.
The screen lit up, displaying a massive purple swirl that filled up the entire field of view. Many other ships were in front of it. Several were of similar designs to the ones on display in the briefing room, but several clearly belonged to other factions: sharp, birdlike ships; axelike orange ones; and a myriad of other shapes and sizes.
Picard turned behind him, catching Twilight’s eyes. “I take it this is your Void.”
“Yes,” she said, solemnly. “How big is it here?”
“It has devoured almost all the stars in the galactic core,” Data responded. “For now, its expansion seems to have stopped, but our readings suggest it is still active. Reports from other ships show that it is eating away at the fundamental base of reality itself.”
“We are here to investigate and guard this anomaly,” Picard said. “And to, if necessary, use force to contain it. But it seems as if the answer to our mission… lies with you and what is behind that door in Ten Forward.”
“We should get started right away,” Twilight insisted. Nobody argued.
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"Aw man, I was just on one of those! Why couldn't this door lead to somewhere a little more open?"
Oh hey, someone acknowledging that "anchored to a point in space" is bullshit. Feels like nobody ever notices that...
Oh, hello there best boy. How good of you to grace this story with your presence. I really hope you're the hero who is very obviously you. More Data is always good in anything.
Oh god, finally, somebody who's actually interested in Data's endless explanations. This is a match made in heaven.
...
I'd ship it.I know what Data means here, but this is an inherently funny line, especially considering they don't have normal, manual doors on the Enterprise. It's a door, Data. It's for walking through to get from one space to another.
To boldly use the same opening monologue for 12 seasons of television! Also to go where no-one's gone before I guess, except most of the time that's a blatant untruth because if nobody had ever been there it would be boring.
They're a match made in heaven I tell you!
I love how, at this point, Picard isn't even questioning this concept. He's just like "Are they presently trying to kill us?", assumedly while crossing off a square on his Enterprise Crisis Bingo card.
Something something "actually there are canonically Vulcans on the Enterprise", but let's be honest, Sonic isn't gonna notice the difference.
"You should have seen the first model; looked like a submarine, and they couldn't even afford carpet!" (Side note: Carpet on a spaceship is inherently strange to me. Just feels weird.)
Maybe because you keep breaking their stuff? Man, for someone so fast you sure are slow...
Oh no, Worf's been Worfed!
(Insert golf clapping here)
Oh no, Sonic's been Worfed! ...He kinda deserved it though. Sonic X Sonic is a prick.
Oooh, that is all kinds of not good. At least it's happening in a universe where they can still operate at that level of destruction. (Also, since it ate the galactic core, God is now definitely dead. Which is good, because he wasn't really God and also he was a prick.)
Well then, to the Final Frontier! Even though this is only Chapter 3... (And Space is supposed to be the fourth chapter, GM, how dare you deviate from the theme you were very clearly still sticking too?) This is gonna be interesting. When I went through this for pre-reading, I was working my way through the end of the Original Series. And now, I'm at the tail end of the sixth season of TNG. Which means everyone has gone from a concept of a character to a fully fleshed out person, and also I have been enlightened to the fact that Data is one of the best characters of all time. Very much looking forward to the upcoming chapters.
... don’t shoot, bad idea.
Well, this is hardly the strangest thing that's happened in an episode of Star Trek.
Please, please, PLEASE tell me we run into Q at some point. (Disclaimer: I don't know a lot about Star Trek, so I don't know if Q is in Next Generation or not)
Well, this one is a bit confusing. This could be both "clever beasts" as humans if we are sticking to the in order theme but he's also VERY MUCH a machine seeking of more.
10699920
Q first appeared in TNG.
10702737
Thanks for the clarification.
Indeed so. Order Eulipotyphla.
In any case, not the best possible first impression, but good to see everyone work past it. Now the question is where to find an embodiment of love itself in one of the more rational universes out there. And what Q thinks of the appearance of extraplanar visitors... assuming he hasn't been frozen out of this universe.
Minor nitpick: I am pretty sure Worf would always say "Commander Riker", never just "Riker".
I bet you anything Data is the hero who is "analytical as a machine but seeking of more" mentioned in the prophecy.