Stardate 54973.4 On the Starship Voyager, klaxons were ringing, red lights flashed and even with the internal dampeners, the ship continued to rock back and forth.
“Captain, the transwarp corridor is beginning to fall. Should I fire the torpedoes now.”
“Not yet Mr. Kim, The admiral said to wait exactly three minutes in the corridor to be the most effective, I won’t let her sacrifice be in vain. We’re getting home, one way or another.”
“Captain, need I remind you that the Borg sphere ship is gaining and will be on us in approximately 27.3 seconds. “
“Understood Mr. Tuvok.” Janway lifted her hand as if to signal her crew and glanced at her chronometer beside her chair. She waited a few moments more, then swiftly bringing her hand down. “Fire Mr. Kim.”
“Firing torpedoes, one, two, three, four.”
The crew watched silently, as the torpedoes sped away from the ship Voyager and raced toward the borg ship. The only sound was Tuvok’s emotionless countdown toward impact.
“…7…6…5…”
The crew seemed to hold its collective breath. Everything depended on the say-so of the future admiral that the nearly fifty year future technology would work as she said it would.
“…3…2…1…”
The crew watched as the ship and torpedoes collided. Three of the torpedoes hit there targets and almost immediately the ship began to tear apart. The fourth missile missed its target and instead hit the transwarp tunnel behind the ship. A rupture or rift began to appear where the torpedo struck. Large chunks of the borg ship began to enter the rift.
“Captain,” Seven’s voice sounding as ever, cool precise and a bit condescending, called out over the cheering of the crew, who had begun to celebrate the destruction of the borg ship and their last obstacle.
As Janeway turned towards Seven, the ship began to rock back and forth.
“Ahh, captain, I think we may have a problem,” Called Tom Paris.
“Mr. Paris, report.” Frowned Janeway as the turbulence continued to rock the ship.
“Apparently those torpedoes have caused the transwarp to begin to close early, and judging by our current speed, the hole will close before we exit. “
“Captain, need I remind you that Admiral Janeway specifically stated not to enter warp during the transwarp journey, and that doing so could potentially destabilize the transwarp itself.” Even with the beginning of his nuralogical disease and the ship rocking back and forth, Touvok, remaind calm and emotionless.
“Thank you Mr. Tuvok. Be that as it may, There seems to be no other way out. Best speed Mr. Paris.”
“Aye, aye, Captain. Going from impulse to Warp 1…Now.”
Immediately, the shaking increased and Janeway thought she could hear creaks from the ship itself. She wasn’t wrong. The pressure on Voyager was increasing exponentially for every moment they continued on warp.
Even so… She didn’t make the decision to go back on the Prime Directive to get this close.
“Mr. Paris, warp 2.”
At the increase in power, sparks and fires began to appear on the bridge and unbelievably, the shaking grew more intense. It was only a matter of time before…
“Hull breaches on decks 1,2,3,4. So far the force fields are holding, but I don’t know how long they’ll last.” Harry’s voice was beginning to panic as the young ensign continued to try to see everything on his station, despite the smoke and sparks.
“Thank you Harry. Tom I need you to give her everything she’s got. Maximum Warp.”
“Captain?!”
“You heard me Tom, the only way to get through is to push to maximum. Maximum Warp.”
Turning, Tom Paris quickly pushed the controls to maximum warp, trying not to think of B’elanna in sickbay giving birth at the moment. With one last command entered, he reached, “Maximum Warp Captain.”
The result was instantaneous. Fires appeared over the bridge, the shaking grew so powerful that pieces of the ceiling were falling, monitors and stations were completely useless. Before Harry’s station exploded, he noticed and relayed to Janeway that life support and forcefields were fading, and that a core breach would occur in less then two minutes. The viewing screen, while cracked in several places, still worked and showed the end of the tunnel slowly coming closer and closer and beginning to collapse.
Only one outcome would ensure the survival of the crew. However as Janeway watched it seemed that there would be no last minute miracle. As she thought this, she realized that the ship would never fit through the hole, unless..
“Tom”
“I see it captain, compensating.” And even as the ships other computers failed and sparked, amazingly, navigation was still active. Because of that, Tom was able to quickly turn the ship on an angle and just in time. Just as he made the correction, Voyager slipped through the opening. As the nacelles left the transwarp, it collapsed rocking the ship one final time.
“Tom, impulse. NOW!!”
“yes captain. Impulse….Now.”
“Engenering..Engenering. How’s the warp core?”
A voice came over the com system. Not the one most knew, being disposed at the moment, but Vorik instead.
“Captain, the warp has been stabilized. Another 13.7 seconds and there would have been a breech.”
“Very good Vorik, get started on repairs.”
“Yes captain, Vorik out.”
After one or two breaths to calm herself, Kathryn turned to Harry.
“Harry, where are we? Can you tell?”
Harry Kim, with a few small burns on his face, and cuts and gashes from the small explosions, was still attempting to get his display up. Frowning in frustration, he was about to give up, when small beeps and lights began to flash on his panel. After entering a few commands, he blinked in surprise, astonished at what it was displaying.
“Captain, we’re three days from Earth. We’re in the Alpha quadrent. We’re…”
“…home”, finished Kathryn for him. She clutched her armrest with one hand while her other supported her head. It took a moment for the bridge crew to comprehend what Harry had just said, but when they did, there reaction was surprising. Most seemed in shock, while a few started to cry. Tuvok however, began to repair his station.
The comm began to crackle and a familiar voice came over it, as well as a high pitched cry.
“Hello, is anyone there? Is anyone listening? I’ve been trying for the last five minutes to get anyone’s attention. I don’t even know why I bother.”
“Doctor, we hear you. What do you need.”
“Oh! Captain. Finally! Is Tom there? Someone wants to meet him. And as you can tell she has her mother’s lungs.” Even in the situation, the Doctor’s dry humor stood out.
“I heard that,” mumbled Be’Lanna loudly over the comm..
Tom’s face broke into a grin. Turning to Janeway, who returned the grin nodded to him to give him permission to go to the infirmary. After giving helm to Harry, he raced to the tubes without a further look back.
The crew uplifted by the small domestic scene and the knowledge that they were only a week or two from home had moved the crew to begin the repairs. Even with the injuries laughter and chatter were starting to bubble among the crew. Janeway herself, excited by the events, was grinning herself as she looked Seven of Nine.
“Captain?”
Inwardly Janeway sighed, and letting her grin drop walked to Seven.
“Captain, before the transwarp collapsed, I was able to collect some data on the rip. The tear opened up into another quadrant. One the borg had experienced before.”
This peaked Janeway’s interest. “Any sentient species, or did the Borg assimilate them.”
“There were, at the time of contact, approximately 1000 years ago, at least 18 sentient species known. However, the Borg were…unable to assimilate them. As a result the transwarp to that quadrant was destroyed.”
“I see. Was there any evidence that the pieces of the borg sphere ship had active nano probes on it when it passed through the rip. Is it possible that they would still be active and able to function?”
Seven looked at the captain, as one of her eyebrows arched. “It is highly unlikely. But…., not improbable.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do at the moment, and I suppose if they stopped the Borg once, they could do it again. One more thing though, out of curiosity, what was the quadrant called.”
“The Borg designation was quadrant 17. However, I believe the species called it the Equanis Sector.”
A few spattering drops of water fell off the edge of the Carosuol Boutique, as high above it, the last of the clouds were being dismantled. Almost all, that is.
“Don’t move the cloud to the Old Mares Home, kick them.” Yelled one multi colored manned Pegasus. The gray Pegasus she was yelling at stopped packing the clouds together and looking sheepish said, “Oops, sorry. My bad!”
Inside the boutique, a voice rang out. “Sweetie Belle, it’s time to wake up. Breakfast is ready.”
Sweetie Belle, rubbing her eyes of sleep frowned. “I wanted to make breakfast for you again. Mommy’s been teaching me how to cook and I hardly set things on fire anymore!”
Rariity just blinked and smiled, “How nice, er, maybe tomorrow? Anyways, I have a lot to do today, so let’s get started. Let me get your mane brushed. It is your best feature after all.” And with a harried brushing and only a few, “Ow!. You’re hurting me!!” The two ponies sat down for breakfast.
As Sweetie stuffed a piece of toast into her mouth, she mumbled, “Isn’t it great that mommy and daddy both had to go to Mareisota in St. Celestias. I can’t believe Daddy’s bowling league and mommy’s tuppermare convention were meeting in the same city.” Pieces of toast flew out of her mouth in her excitement. “Now we can spend the whole weekend together.”
Rarity, who had been sipping her tea set her cup down, and using her horn, picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth. Then rolling her eyes, she said, “Yes, bowling and, ugh, tupermare… However, as much as I’d love to spend time with you, I have a large order I need to finish by tomorrow. You might want to play outside today.”
“Noooo!! I want to help. Please!!” Sweetie made her eyes grow large and pouted.
“Oh very well, but I think you’ll be rather bored. But first, let’s clean up and get started.” Rarity used her magic to take the dishes to the sink while Sweetie Belle carried the napkins to the cloths basket. As she came back, she looked out the window and watched the last cloud get bucked and the Pegasi fly up to Clouddsdale.
Seeing that, reminded her of something. “Hey Rarity!! Wasn’t it loud last night? And didn’t it feel like the ground shook?”
Rarity looked behind her, and sighed, “Sweetie, darling it’s called a thunderstorm…” She paused as she blew off a bit of soapsuds that had landed on her nose, “and while I agree that it was a bit louder then usual, and there were quite a few large flashes of light, it was just a thunderstorm.” Rarity’s voice lowered as she mumbled to herself, “Rainbow must have put that gray pony in charge. What was she thinking? Now, if I was in charge of the weather, things like that wouldn’t happen.” Noticing that her sister was staring at her, she quickly stopped talking.
“…Err, and were done. Ready to have fun and make some dresses?”
“Yes!!” Squeaked Sweetie Belle as she hopped up and down around her sister. “This is going to be fun!”
- 2 and ½ hours later -
“Bored now.” Mumbled Sweetie, as she sat on the floor watching manipulated pieces of fabric move around on Rarity’s ponyqins. Rarity was oblivious to Sweetie’s sighs and eye rolls. It wasn’t that she was heartless. She was trying to involve Sweetie Belle. In her mouth she was holding a half dozen threaded needles. On her forehooves were several fabrics of different hues and tpes. Even her neck had a tape measure around it, looking like a long thin scarf. However, the heavy fabrics caused the filly’s hooves to shake and she mumbled while trying to talk around the needles.
Finally after a few minutes of this, Rarity looked up and saw Sweetie’s discomfort. With a quick swish of her head and the glow of her horn, the items whisked off of Sweetie Belle and flew to various places around the boutique. Finally relieved of the weight of the materials Sweetie Belle collapsed to the floor.
Rarity blinked at Sweetie Belle a few times, then turned back to the ponyquins. As she manipulated a bit of silk and lace, she began to absently speak to her sister.
“Sweetie Belle, darling, as much as I’ve loved spending time with you and you’ve been such a big help, why don’t you go play now? Later, if you want you can help me sew these together. Wont that be fun?”
Sweetie Belle frowned, “Well, maybe. Only….”
“In fact,” continued Rarity as she began to put random colorfull feathers around the edge of a dress. “Why don’t you go play with Applebloom?”
“I can’t. She and AppleJack are spending the day raising their barn…again!” Squeaked Sweetie as she seemed to sink future in the carpet.
“That’s nice. Why don’t you play with Scootallo too?” Said Rarity, as she contemplated two similar hued fabrics before deciding on one.
“I can’t play with her either. She’s getting her scooter fixed after running it into the Apples’ barn…AGAIN!” By now, Sweetie almost seemed to meld with the carpet, she was lying completely on the floor with her forehooves in front and her back hooves stretched behind her. She looked like some strange little pony rug.
Rarity, now completely engrossed in her creation, just gave non committal, “Mmhmm,” and “That’s nice dear.”
Sweetie continued to kick her back hooves and whine “bored, bored still bored.”
Rarity, not turning from her dresses made another suggestion. “If you don’t want to play with Scootaloo or AppleBloom, why not play with another filly? How about that Silver Spoon? Or Golden Tiara? They both have such marvelous fashion sense. I’m sure both of them would make excellent playmates and role models.”
Sweetie Belle’s mouth opened and a tiny squeak came out, “Golden Tiara, Silver Spoon! What!!” She glared at her older sister who was completely oblivious to her anger.
“mmmmhh, That’s nice dear.” Rarity continued to change patterns and styles on her dummy's.
After awhile, Sweetie calmed down and decided to act more grown up and mature. She decided the most grown up and mature action she could to was pout. Thrusting out her lower lip, she sat up and turned away from Rarity. She added a few, “hmphs,” and “a-hem’s” for extra measures.
She also turned her ears slightly, to quickly catch the moment when Rarity burst into tears, bolted up to her, apologized properly while hoofing her dozens of brightly wrapped apology presents for what she put Sweetie through.
Sadly, it was all in vain. Rarity was in the artistic zone and had no idea what was going on around her. In fact her quiet mumblings were turning into full conversations with herself.
“…Now if I put that there, and if I add that. No, that won’t do. Maybe this? No, no, no. Something’s missing. But what?” She paused and looked at her different creations. “Think Rarity, think. What’s wrong?” Rarity leaned in closer and tapped her chin with her hoof. Suddenly inspiration seemed to hit. “What if I dyed the bodice? It looks beautiful, but I think it needs a new color. That’s it, a new color.” Glancing at the shelf that contained her dyes, Rarity frowned. “Oh no! I’m out! This! Is! The! Worst! Possible! Thing!” As she finished talking, she raised her forehoof to her head as if she were about to faint. However, before she collapsed, she shook her head back and forth and calmed herself down. “No Rarity, you must be strong. I’ll simply go to Zecora’s after lunch and get the dyes. You can get through this, this travesty. Somehow. In the meantime, I’d better get back to work. Now if I put this here and this gem here…” With that she continued to work on her creation.
Sweetie Belle, having forgotten her pouting as she listened to Rarity talk to herself, grew excited. “Zecora. The Everfree forest. An adventure! Maybe a chance to earn my cutie mark!” Sweetie smiled at her own cleverness. “Rarity, I’ll pick up the dyes for you.” She raced around the boutique grabbing her saddlebag, and a juice box for energy. Gathering everything she needed she galloped to the door. Waving her fronthoof goodbye, she trotted out the door and slammed it behind her.
Rarity, finally snapped out of her concentration looked around.
“Sweetie Belle? Darling, where are you?” Not hearing an answer she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her dress. “I suppose she went out to play with Applebloom and Scootaloo. In the meantime, what if I put this here…”
“La, la la la la,” sang Sweetie as her saddle bag slapped her gently with each step she took. She looked around at the large trees and blew a leaf off of her snout as it fell gently against her face. She laughed as it blew into the air, before finally settling on the path out of her way.
As she traveled she began to contemplate what her cutie mark would be for doing this. “Maybe pretty clothes…or bright colors…or a delivery bag or maybe a pith army hat and whip since it’s so dangerous. After all the Everfree Forest has Ursa Minor, sea serpents and cockatrice.” Sweetie paused mid-step as if realizing what she just said. “Ursa Minor, sea serpent and cockatrice, oh my. Ursa Minor, Sea Serpent and cockatrice…Oh My.! Ursa Minor, Sea Serpent and Cockatrice….OH MY!” At last realization had complelty hit and plopping her plot on the ground, she lifted her head, and like her older sister would do, cried or more specifically, shrieked as tears poured from her eyes.
At the edge of the forest a small white bunny shook its head as if trying to block a shrill sound from entering it.
“Oh Angel, did you hear something?” asked a pink maned Pegasus. Angel just shook his head and slapped the magazine that showed the newest dessert he wanted her to make for him.
Sweetie herself was quite lucky. The dangerous creatures that normally resided in that part of the forest had left the vicinity the night before. In fact, she was one of the last creatures in the forest at the time, most having fled before dawn that day.
After a few moments where Sweetie Belle cried uncontrollably she stopped. Like her sister, when faced with a problem, she cried. If that didn’t work, she whined. Finlay if that didn’t work as well, she dealt with it herself. As the last two or three teardrops fell off her furry cheek, she began to look around. Although many generations separated her from wild pony forehorses she still retained some aspects of their skills. Rotating her ears in different directions and using her nose, she took deep breaths to discern if any monsters were around. She heard no typical woodland sounds such as birds, squirrels, or parasprites, but instead a strange beeping sound coming from the left of the path. Also there was a strange smell similar to Twilights laboratory. Her mind reeled at that memory. She, Applebloom and Scootaloo had snuck into the laboratory trying to get their chemistry cutie marks. That hadn’t worked well, but at least Twilight eventually figured out how to get rid of Spike’s two extra heads. As she was thinking of that experience, she was unconsciously walking off the path until she had completely lost sight of it. Without even realizing it, she had walked to the source of the smell and sound.
Finally realizing she wasn’t on the relatively safe path, she looked before hear and opening her eyes and mouth widely she squeaked, “What the Buck!” Instantly, she placed a hoof over her mouth and looked around her for any grownup. Unlike Applebloom who being raised on a farm and Scootaloo who liked to do anything the grownups disapproved of. Sweetie barely swore. It was one of the things that both Rarity and her mother agreed on. Proper gentlemares did not swear. However, even she thought they would both swear had they seen what was before her.
In front of her could only be described as a disaster. Pieces of metal lay everywhere with a few brightly lit pieces scattered here and there. Many of the pieces appeared to be smoldering and even a few sparked. She didn’t realize it, but this was the boom she had heard and felt the night before that Rarity dismissed as thunder and lightning. Once again Sweetie’s youth and naiveity showed through. Most ponies upon seeing this would have fled or at least gotten help to investigate. Sweetie however, did neither. Instead she went forward, walking carefully through the wreckage. At each step she looked around the clutter trying to understand what each thing was and all the while finding everything incomprehensible.
She finally stopped in front of something, or she thought, someone? However, it was someone she had never seen before. It looked completely different from any creature she had ever seen or heard of. First its face had no fur, feathers or scales. But it seemed to be a ashy pale and grey color. It had two eyes, one brown and unblinking, while the other a read beam like a unicorns beam, but on an eye. Its limbs were strange too. It didn’t have hoofs or claws like griffons. Its forehooves were like Spike’s dragon claws, only without the claws. Its back legs were different too. Or rather one leg. The other ended at the knee and seemed to be made of hissing small snakes that sparked at the end. She watched as it rocked back and forth as if trying to stand up.
Sweetie finally decided it was a someone when leaning over she heard it say, “resistance…stafwe…futile…afaserg” Realizing it might be in trouble Sweetie leaned foreword and extended her right hoof. “Do you need any help?”
As she spoke its head turned toward her and its red eye focused on her. The creature then extended its own right arm and to Sweetie two small snakes appeared reached out to her hoof and bit her forehoof.
“Ow, that hurt,” cried Sweetie, as the snake things bit through her fur. The creature then detached itself from Sweetie and seemed to collapse into itself and its red eye finally faded.
Sweetie noticed none of this However. Instead she noticed in horror and shock as small thin metal lines began to form where she had been bitten. She began to feel that “things” were scurrying through her body. “I…I don’t feel well,” mumbled Sweetie, right before she collapsed in a faint.
It was fortunate that she was unconscious then, as the Borg nanoprobes began to replicate and course through her body. Had she been awake, she would be in incredible pain. Each moment more and more nanoprobes were being created and were beginning to assimilate different parts of the filly’s young body. Like countless other beings the nanoprobes were quickly manipulating her body and it began to convulse and shake uncontrollably.
Just when it seemed that Sweetie would be no more, an unexpected event occurred. The nanoprobes me resistance! Not only was there resistance, but slowly but carefully the nanoprobes were being defeated in places.
Pony physiology is unusual. Unlike most species in the galaxies, where there are different ethnic groups, in which different colors, facial features and heights occur, ponies are actually each a unique species. Each of the races have their own special D.N.A and chromosomes, that while are less then 0.01% from one another, make a huge difference. This allows Earth ponies to be incredibly strong, Pegasus to be able to fly, Crystal Ponies to be made of diamonds, sea ponies to breath underwater and dragon ponies to have scales and breath fire. Finally it allows unicorns to produce magic.
Had Scootaloo or AppleBloom or even Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, or AppleJack been assimilated they would have turned completely into Borg, with no resistance at all. Pinky, being Pinky would have been another event completely. But a unicorn is unique. They contain substances that other worlds and galaxies would call medichlorines or agent X, but what Equestrians simply call magic.
A full grown unicorn like Twilight or Rarity would have been able to resist deliberately using their magic internally to stop the threat. However, Sweetie Belle was no full grown trained unicorn. Being a foal she still hadn’t gotten complete control over her magic and because of this she had to rely on her passive magical defense. Similar to another species white blood cells attacking a virus. While weakened compared to a full grown unicorn, it was still a powerful weapon. All was not lost.
All was not assured either. The borg had tried once before to assimilate Equestrians earlier in their history. That time the Borg had met a lonely dark manned princess. Her body had ultimately destroyed most of the Borg nanoprobes, with one exception. The area that controlled emotion. From there they grew and multiplied, manipulating her fear, anger, jealousy, and hatred until the result nearly destroyed the planet, resulting in Moon banishment.
While most, including the princess herself, had forgotten the event that led up to the war, the creatures of the Everfree Forest instinctively remembered and fled in response. The Borg too had fled. Finding the collective unable to assimilate the first being it encountered the Queen deemed the planet unworthy of assimilation and destroyed the transwarp leading to it.
What however, did this mean for poor Sweetie? It meant simply, a balance. So while her left eye was becoming a Borg optical implant, it continued to look like a normal pony’s eye, but with a Borg’s sight. So to would her strength would increase to that of an Earth Pony, thanks to the nanoprobes that were attached to her muscles. Over and over her body would create this balance. The best of Borg and pony would come together to create something new. Because of the balance she would also retain her memories, as well as that of the Borg collective, this would sometimes be a burden as her mind would sometimes create non sequiturs as she talked, resulting in comments that made no sense to those around her, but in time her friends and family would accept it as something simply Sweetie Belle.
In short, she would be an enhanced pony, the perfect blend of pony and machine. The irony was the Borg had achieved its goal of perfection. However, here once again the unicorn’s magic saved both her and Equestria. While the Borg collective mind was imputed into Sweetie’s mind, her unicorn body prevented the Borg, including the queen any of her thoughts from being transmitted. In short, she was to become a collective of one.
There were only two outward appearances that she had changed. The first was that she would get more headaches then normal. This was once again a result of her two minds trying to balance each other. And while doctors would investigate, they would be unable, even with their own unicorn magic discern what was wrong. The second is that from now on, instead of the normal white glow most unicorns used when producing magic, hers would be bright red. It would be commented upon, but while unusual it wasn’t unheard of, so no one not even her parents or sister would investigate.
Even as her body was creating the balance, Sweetie Belle began to wake. “Uhh,” moaned Sweetie, as she slowly opened her eyes, which were slightly unfocused. She slowly stared up and began to speak, at first in a monotone voice, but with each word more animated, or normal, “Our designation is Sweetie of Bot. Tertiary adjunct of Ponyville. Resistance to….cuteness…is futile. My purpose is the discovery of my perfect cutie mark.” As she finished talking she moved away from the Borg pieces and back towards the path, where she would remember her mission, to get Rarity’s dye and resume her journey to Zecora’s. Who, having sensed something was not right had remained in her hut.
As for the Borg pieces, the Everfree Forest, had already begun to absorb the scrap. In less then a week they would be gone. In less then a month from then the creatures great and small would return, with no one the wiser, with the exception of one little foal who couldn’t quite remember “before”.
