Escape To The Past
Escape To The Past
“Beg Pardon?” Applejack asked, confused.
“You will be assimilated.” Fluttershy repeated in a voice unlike anything anypony had ever heard before.
“Fluttershy? What’s wrong?”
“You will be assimilated.”
“I can’t understand a word coming outta your mouth,” said Applejack.
Fluttershy lurched forward raising her hoof. Two tubules launched out of her hoof toward Applejack. Before they could connect, Winona had jumped between her master and the wires, striking her instead.
“WINONA!!!” Applejack screamed.
The dog yelped as it collapsed to the ground. Applejack stared down at her pet lying unconscious, mortified.
“Who are you?” Applejack demanded, her eyes glaring back in anger and tears. “And what in the hay did you just do to Winona?” Whoever this was, Applejack knew Fluttershy could never bring harm to any animal.
“You will be assimilated.”
“Yer startin’ to sound like a broken record,” she said, growing more and more alarmed. On the ground, Winona started to stir. Applejack leaned over her injured pet. “Winona, are you okay?”
Winona’s eyes snapped open. In stiff but controlled moves, she slowly got back up onto her paws staring back at her.
“You will be assimilated.”
To Applejack’s horror, it was Winona now reciting those strange words. Her pet’s paw lifted as the same silver lines stretched out from it.
Applejack didn’t wait. She ran away as fast as she could all the way to town.
With Princess Twilight back in Canterlot, tending to her new royal duties, Applejack wasn’t sure who she should contact first. By a stroke of good fortune, she found Rarity and Spike together walking around town. She remembered Rarity was babysitting Spike for the weekend. When she spotted the pair of them, she dashed as fast as she could until she nearly collided into them.
“Spike! We’ve got an emergency! I need you to send a letter to Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia!”
“What the emergency? Spike asked, seeing the panting and sweating Applejack.
“My goodness Applejack! What ever is the matter?” asked Rarity.
“Look I don’t have time to explain it twice. Spike, take a letter!”
Spike shrugged and grabbed his quill and parchment. “Ready.”
“Dear Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia, something strange has happened to Fluttershy.”
“What has happened to Fluttershy?” Rarity interrupted, now very concerned.
“I’m trying to explain that!” said Applejack. “If I were a little filly, I’d say she turned into a Zompony!”
Spike gasped. “A Z-Z-Z-Zompony?”
“Spike there ain’t no such things as zomponies!” Appljack reassured him. “But Fluttershy put on a dern good imitation of one. Her fur looks grey and her eyes are empty. She spoke in riddles in a strange voice. She even tried to attack me!”
“Gasp!” It was Rarity’s turn as the shocked expression spread across her face.
“As I was saying,” Applejack pressed on ignoring any further interruptions, “she tried to attack me with these weird silver snakes that came out of her arm. I ain’t never seen nothing like it before. Winona protected me and was struck in my place. Now Winona is acting like Fluttershy and speaking in the same voice!”
“Winona’s talking?” Spike said, looking up from his parchment in shock. “She’s never spoken to me before.”
“She’s never spoken to anypony before Spike. She’s a DOG! But that didn’t stop her from saying the same words Fluttershy had spoken, ‘You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.’ Then my own best dog tried to attack me! Please your majesties, send help as fast as you can. Your loyal subject, Applejack.”
Spike finished scribbling the last of the words shocked by each of them. He quickly rolled up the scroll and belched them off in flames to Canterlot.
It wasn’t a minute before Spike regurgitated a response, which Applejack immediately read aloud.
“I have declared a royal emergency. Tell the town to evacuate immediately for Canterlot. Anypony who repeats those words in that voice is to be treated as lost and avoided at all costs. Mares and fillies alike! I will be sending the new Red Guard to assist with the evacuations. Get to Canterlot as quick as you can. I will explain more when you arrive. – Princess Celestia”
Applejack, Rarity, and Spike all shared the same horrified expression.
“Fluttershy is…lost?” Rarity said, shaking. “Evacuate?” She was completely befuddled.
Applejack snapped into action. “You two go and find Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, then head over to the apple farm and get my family all to the train station. Wait for me there. I’m gonna go to the mayor and get the town evacuations going.”
She instantly darted off away from them, letter in hoof, to the mayor’s to begin the evacuations.
The Red Guard had not arrived until night fall. By the time they had arrived, panic had already spread throughout the town. No pony was quite sure exactly what was going on, but several more ponies were unaccounted for, which increased the hysteria. Two trains had already left for Canterlot and there was only one train left for the night. The train was overcrowded and uncomfortable. Ponies squeezed between one another, trying to stay with their families. Many children had to sit on laps, while others had to stand for the ten hour trip. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were the last to board and anxiously waiting for Applejack to get there.
Then she appeared.
“Look it’s Fluttershy!” Pinkie cried happily. “Maybe it’s not too late! Fluttershy! Over here!” she called.
Behind Fluttershy marched several dozen ponies in perfect synchronization. Together with Fluttershy, and in one voice, they spoke:
“We are the Borg. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
Panic Erupted. Ponies began screaming as their former family members and friends began marching toward them. The Red Guard formed a line between them and the train. Their captain shouted out, “Get that train moving now!”
The engineer was only too happy to oblige. The train started pulling slowly away from the station.
“Wait! We don’t have Applejack yet!” Pinkie shouted.
The Red Guard had already engaged the enemy. The train was starting to pick up steam and gain speed as it left the station.
Suddenly, the doors of the bake ship burst open, Applejack rushing out with two babies in her mouth. She ran full speed at the train. Mr. and Mrs. Cake immediately followed, but they were already gone.
Applejack reached the station and leapt off the platform with as much force as she could give.
It wasn’t enough.
However, before she crashed onto the tracks, Rainbow managed to fly out in time to get her the last two feet. They landed hard onto the caboose of the train, bowling into other ponies onboard. The twins were giggling and laughing from the ride.
“Are you okay, Applejack?” Rainbow asked, reaching out her a hoof.
“I’ll be all right,” she replied taking it. “I just needed to make sure we got the young’ins. I wasn’t able to save their folks though. She looked down at the floor in shame.
Rainbow patted her on the shoulder. “You did the best you could.”
“What about Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith?” Applejack asked, nervously.
“They’re all onboard and safe.” Rarity answered as she reached the pair of them. “You saved the town, Applejack. You’re a hero.”
Applejack didn’t feel like a hero. She let so many ponies fall victim to whatever this was, and left the Red Guard behind to fight them off.”
Despite the frequent panicked shouts and cries of the passengers, Applejack heard nothing but the silence of those left behind. The train took many hours to reach Canterlot. The sun of the following day had already risen when they reached the outskirts of the city.
Surrounding the city was the great shield Prince Shining Armor was skilled at performing. The train entered through the barrier allowing the refugees of Ponyville entrance.
Princess Twilight was waiting for them on the platform. She had given up the royal fashion in favor of the more mobile freedom of no clothes. Rarity was making a comment in her mind, but held her tongue under the circumstances.
“Twilight!” Pinkie yelled hopping off the train into a hug. “It’s so great to see you! How are your princessly duties? Are you in charge of Equestria yet?”
“Pinkie, it’s good to see you too,” Twilight said returning the hug briefly, “but we’ve got more serious matters to deal with. The guards will handle the rest of the townsponies. Everypony follow me.”
Without so much as greeting the others, Twilight turned and started trotting toward the castle. The gang obediently followed, exchanging nervous glances as they did. As they made their way through the city, they noticed the guards were all armed with fairly odd-looking weapons. Funny enough, they kind of resembled handheld versions of Pinkie’s party cannon, though significantly more intimidating and probably a lot less friendly to its targets.
“What are those do-hickeys the guards are carrying?” Applejack tried to ask.
“You’ll find out in a bit. This way!”
If the level of panic in the city was any indication of the seriousness of the situation, inside the palace escalated that by a factor of a hundred. Guards were wearing armor that normally hung in museums, while others wore even stranger armor none of them had ever seen before.
No less than twenty guards stood outside and inside the royal hall. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood at the throne. Luna was near white and Celestia was a rather unpleasant shade of green. Something was seriously wrong.
They walked up in front of the princesses and bowed. Twilight joined the princesses’ sides on the throne.
“Were you able to evacuate Ponyville?” Celestia asked in the way a mother would ask a doctor if her child was going to live.
“Yes, your highness,” Applejack spoke for the group.
Celestia let out a small breath of relief.
“But we lost at least a dozen townsfolk, and I don’t know the status of the Red Guard.”
Celestia’s short-lived breath of relief quickly returned to choked stress. “There is something I must show all of you,” Princess Celestia explained, rising from her throne. “Come with me.”
Together they left the throne room and made for the Hall of Secrets. On the way, they retrieved the Elements of Harmony, including Fluttershy’s, despite her no longer being with them. Twilight placed the butterfly necklace in a small bag she wore under around her neck.
From the amount of security surrounding the door to the hall, the four bewildered ponies thought it must hold the most incredible artifacts of tremendous magical power.
They were right.
Hundreds of blinking lights flashed at them from every corner of the hall. The floor was cluttered with hundreds of containers and metal structures flashing more blinking lights. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were wiping their eyes and pinching themselves to make sure they weren’t dreaming.
“Wow, this looks a lot like that stuff those humans had,” Rainbow commented. “Did they give us all this?”
Twilight shook her head, “Actually these are ours.”
The others stared in awe of all the equipment. Pinkie twisted her neck around as she struggled to see everything.
Rarity noticed something else about the room. It was incredibly filthy, and most of the equipment was covered in centuries of grime.
“When you say this is ours… how long have we had all of this?”
“Two thousand years,” Princess Luna answered. Gasps came from the four ponies. “We art fearful that, from the situation at hand, Celestia and I can no longer keep this all a secret from our people. We will need this technology to survive.”
Princess Celestia took over. “I need to explain to you what happened to our people over two millennia ago.”
She explained the true origins of the “Legend of Hearth’s Warming Eve” story and how their ancestors once roamed the stars in ships, but were deceived into fighting each other by an enemy of legend. In the end they united together to bring an end to the war and the threat posed by the Windigos.”
“The Windigos were an unstoppable plague that was nearly impossible to destroy.”
“How’d you stop them the first time around?” Rainbow asked.
“I used the Elements of Harmony to ignite one of our moons into a small sun.”
“One of our moons?” Rarity asked confused. “We only have one moon.”
“Now we only have one,” Celestia explained. “The sun in the sky used to be a moon, and this planet was paved in darkness eternal before that.”
Princess Luna lowered her head and scraped her hoof slightly in embarrassment. Rainbow Dash noticed, but didn’t think twice of it.
“So if we needed to explode a whole moon before, how the hay can we possibly stop them now?” Applejack asked.
“Alas I do not know,” Princess Celestia replied, lowering her head in frustration. “I’ve handed out what’s left of our ancient weapons, but those ‘Silent Storm’ rifles were useless two thousand years ago, and twenty centuries out-of-date now. That is, if they even still work.”
“But princess, how do we know what we saw in Ponyville has anything to do with the Windigos?” asked Rarity. “We didn’t see anything of what you described.”
“I know because of this…” she gestured toward a terminal with a screen containing flashing images.
The group gathered around the screen and its operator, who played back the video. Up on the screen were two strange beings hovering over a third, even stranger being. They were using tools on the top of his head.
Princess Celestia continued to explain, while the film played back. “When the Windigos’ ship was destroyed, thousands of pieces of debris rained down on the planet. Very few made it to the surface. Most burned up like shooting stars in the night sky. The few things that did make it through, we gathered and studied, trying to learn as much as we could.
This file took years of research to uncover and many years more to translate their strange language. Once we learned what they were saying, we added the dialogue over the images on the screen.
The film showed two scientists working over a test subject. They were manipulating his brain. Many of the words on the screen they couldn’t understand even in plain Pony. But one thing jumped out at Applejack.
The subject opened its eyes, raised its arm, and those same silver snakes jumped out of its arm.
“That’s what came out’a Fluttershy and Winona!” Applejack yelled.
Celestia and Luna exchanged nervous glances. This confirmed their theory. Back on the screen, the being spoke in a monotone voice exactly like that of Fluttershy, but in the alien language. The words on the screen read, “You will be assimilated. Resistance is Futile.”
The snakes attacked one of the scientists. Within moments, the scientist repeated the same mantra as the test subject. He had been assimilated. The second scientist tried to escape the room, but fell victim as well. The video cut off there.
Now there was no doubt. Whatever was going on in Ponyville, the Windigos were responsible.
The door to the room opened as a guard came scrambling in.
“You majesty!” he cried. “Manehattan has fallen!”
Princess Celestia’s face easily revealed her agitation and fear. It was a look most unbecoming of royalty. She quickly pushed her feelings back inside her and wiped them off her face. She turned to the group and commented, “Fillydelphia fell during the night.”
The group gasped at the news.
Twilight could see the pattern unfolding. “First Ponyville, then Fillydelphia, and now Manehattan; it looks like they’re circling around toward Canterlot.”
“So it would seem,” Celestia noted. “We need to hurry. Twilight, have you worked out the modification to Star Swirl’s spell?”
“I think so,” she replied, “but it will take more magic than I could possibly produce.”
The whole chamber shook hard. Dust and bits of rock broke off from the ceiling.
“What was that?” Pinkie shrieked.
Pinkie had been quiet this entire time. There was nothing she could joke about. Nothing she could do to make things seem brighter. Her hair fell in fright.
An eerie buzzing sound rang through the chamber. Almost like a buzzing sound, but very different all the same. Green light penetrated the walls and swept across them.
“What was that?” Pinkie shrieked again.
“I do not know,” Celestia answered truthfully.
Outside, the magical barrier was being scanned by the beam of green light. With its analysis complete, the scan disappeared and was replaced by a ball of green energy that impacted directly into the magical shield, shattering it in one shot.
“THE BARRIER IS BREACHED!!!!!” one of the guards screamed.
“There’s nothing you can do here,” said Celestia. You need to escape and bring help.”
“We’re can we go?” Rainbow asked. “We’re trapped down here!”
“Get into the HoverCar,” Celestia said, pointing to the old spacecraft. “It belonged to Star Swirl. He saved my sister, my mother, and I in that car.
It was the first time in a long time, Celestia had mentioned her mother. A tear dripped from her eye.
The hall shook again. Bits of dust fell from the ceiling.
Celestia reached out and pulled Twilight close, their horns touched as she breathed her magical aura into Twilight’s. They broke apart following the sound of another impact.
“Go now! Find Captain Picard!” she yelled. “He’s our only hope!”
Twilight ran over to the dusty old large metal wagon. “Get in here, quick!”
“What in the hay is that gonna do?” Applejack asked, confused.
“You’ll see, now come on!”
The four ponies followed Twilight into the cramped vehicle.
“Now what do we do?” Rainbow asked.
“Hold tight.” Twilight powered up the ship’s engine. Her horn glowed bright; very bright. Her violet aura expanded outward covering not only them, but the entire craft itself. Her eyes were clenched as hard as her teeth; sweat dripped from her forehead; and she howled in pain as she thrust the energy into the spell.
The entire ship vanished from the room.
“You see I modified Star Swirl the Bearded’s time spell and used it on the HoverCar.” Twilight explained to the two starship captains. “His spell only let a pony travel back one week in time and only for a few moments. I cast the spell on the entire ship. It was my hope to be rescued from the ship before it was sent back to the present, leaving us still in the past. I guess it worked.”
Captain Picard was befuddled by her story. It took a few minutes to regain himself and follow up. “So you are saying that you traveled from the near future to try to prevent this attack on your world?”
“That would explain the temporal anomalies we detected in the ship, and why it vanished right in front of us,” said Captain Raymond.
“Yes. I don’t know why the Windigos have come back, but can you help us?”
“Miss. Sparkle, I’m not familiar with these ‘Windigos’, but I am vividly familiar with the Borg, which is the species you have just described. And this is a very serious threat. And I have a dreadful theory as to why they would be interested in a planet as primitive as yours.”
“What would that be, exactly?” asked Captain Raymond.
“The Borg are only interested in that which brings them one step closer to perfection,” Picard explained. “As far as I have witnessed, they’ve never assimilated the knowledge of Unicorn magic.”
“There’s that word again,” Captain Raymond said. “What do you mean exactly, when you say magic?”
“In the past, we have encountered a few species of beings who possess abilities that are above our current level of understanding. The Q Continuum are one such race. These Unicorns are another. Their ability to manipulate matter would appear as magic to the naked eye. If the Borg collective ever assimilated these abilities, the balance of power in this, and every other, quadrant of the galaxy could be dramatically shifted.”
“So how can the Tecumseh help?”
Over the comm. badge, a voice announced, “Captain, you’re needed on the bridge.”
“Acknowledged, Mr. Kalandra,” the captain replied.
“Make that you’re needed immediately, sir,” said the officer.
“Would you care to join me on the bridge, Captain?” asked Captain Raymond.
“Can we come with you?” Twilight asked, already standing up.
“I’m sorry, but civilians are not permitted on the bridge,” was the captain’s reply.
“Allow them on my authority,” said Captain Picard. “We may need them.”
Captain Raymond sighed. Before he could answer, the entire ship shook hard, triggering a Red Alert.
“I don’t have time to argue, let’s find out what’s going on.”
The captains, officers, and ponies made for the bridge. Up on the monitor was a massive anomaly. Space looked as though it were a windshield that had a planet-sized baseball smash into it. Blinding white light shone through the cracks.
“Report,” Captain Raymond ordered.
“Sir, the sensors are in overload,” Science Officer Kalandra explained. “Near as we can tell, the universe just got ripped open. Both time and space around the anomaly are collapsing.”
“Do we know what triggered it?” the captain asked.
“No idea, sir.”
“Can we seal the tear?”
“It’s expanding too rapidly. This whole sector may be lost!”
The tear ripped even further, space was being torn apart like a page being torn out of a book.
“BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!!” the captain yelled.
Within seconds, the tear overtook them and everything went white.
Captain Picard opened his eyes. He found himself standing in a jungle. Coming from all directions, he could hear weapons fire and screams. He could make out Worf, Geordi, Dr. Crusher, and the ponies, as well as Captain Raymond.
“What just happened?” Captain Raymond screamed. “We’re are we, and how did we get here?”
Before anyone could answer, a green blast of light shot out from the thick of the woods, impacting into Captain Raymond’s chest, launching him off his feet. He died before his body hit the ground.
A strangely familiar voice shouted out from deep within the thick of the trees, “GET DOWN!!!!!”
AND NOW... For last week's "LET THE CANON BALLS FLY!!!!!" challenge!
First up, an honorable mention for Hegamonia:
He came out swinging and tried very hard to prove a timeline fail between my lineup of the Next-Gen movies and DS9's Dominion War.
I narrowly dodged and Hegamonia ended up punching Deep Space 9 in the face instead... and we were all greatful! 
And now for the winner:
Ookami88 for his attack on my 1-week time travel timeline.
When I double-checked I found I was 2 days short of 7 in Twilight's recounting of events. 
So I was forced to insert two whole days into a few lines in Chapter 2:
"How long have I been out?" Twilight asked.
"Two days," Dr. Ludvick answered.
Realizing she had already lost two days, Twilight's eyes opened wide. She sat up carefully, but as quickly as she could manage. She needed to get down to business.
So congrats to Ookami and good luck for this week's challenge! 
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Becoming a menace to the Countinuum itself. Apparently, DisQuord really messed it this time
I don't think I get this week's challenge, other than the whole transportation thing:
This part tells me that Discord/Q had a hand/claw/paw in this. As for the next part:
I have a feeling that they all were transported back to Equestria, with Borg already attacking. And this voice belonged to either Celestia or Discord, at least I think so. If that wasn't a challenge for this week, then I don't really know what was...
Can't wait to see what happens next.
2996216
Not just to the Continuum...but even Species 8472...the only known species to ever send the Borg running scared.
A thought occurs: Twilight is powerful enough to send herself and several others back in time permanently. She is, presumably, the weakest of the alicorns. Celestis of Borg may be paying the past a visit...
Also, that's some impressive travel time on the part of the assimilated ponies if they made it from Ponyville to Fillydelphia and assimilated it, all it a matter of hours. That's basically Topeka to the East Coast, if one assumes Equestria is the size as well as the shape of the continental States. Especially when one takes into account that it seems to have taken roughly the same amount of time to get through Manehattan.
2996735
Possibly. Remember, 8472 were immune to assimilation simply because their cells were so dense, the nanoprobes couldn't begin the process. Unless unicorn drones could craft +5 nanoprobes of membrane penetration, I think fluidic space would still be safe.
2997001
Not sure they'd stick to Nanoprobes once they had the power to manipulate the Monocerous Particles. Seeing as magic has been used in everything from technology to trades to possibly mind control, they might just start taking Assimilation in a new, easier and more efficient method. After all...why waste energy manufacturing nanoprobes when you can just gently persuade someone to join the Collective?
2997001
I think we can assume most cities were being assimilated simultaneously while possibly leaving Canterlot for last while it studied its protections. But communication may have reached Canterlot one after the other since it was by messenger
2997071
Oh, I see where I went wrong. For whatever reason, I thought there was only one point of infection. Must have been thinking of one of my stories. My bad.
2997011
Well, you've still got to convert them to the perfection of technology somehow.
First time I've see a Captain as a Red Shirt.
2996735
*grimly* Eeyup.
This is bad, this is really bad...
Dumb enough to stand up when there is gunfire nearby and screams around you is too dumb to live.
the doors of the bake ship burst open
“I just needed to make sure we got the young’ins. I wasn’t able to save their folks though. She looked down at the floor in shame.
In the end they united together to bring an end to the war and the threat posed by the Windigos.”
“There’s nothing you can do here,” said Celestia. You need to escape and bring help.”
We’re are we, and how did we get here
1. Shop.
2. Forgot your closing quotation mark.
3. Extra closing quotation mark.
4. Forgot your opening quotation mark.
5. Where.