Something metal lands in Equestria while the bearers of the Elements of Harmony simultaneously begin to vanish.
While investigating a large metal capsule that crashed outside of Ponyville, each of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony suddenly vanish one by one.
Set between the season 3 finale (Magical Mystery Cure) from MLP: Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls and between Star Trek: Voyager season 5: episode 3 (Extreme Risk) and Star Trek: Voyager season 5: episode 15 (Dark Frontier, Parts 1 & 2)
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville as all the residents were out and about. Some were working, others were out enjoying the sunshine with their friends or pets. The Ponyville weather team was on hand to scatter any errant clouds that would pop up from time to time.
Shortly after lunchtime the peaceful atmosphere was interrupted by the sound of an explosion from the air. Moments later an oddly shaped, light gray object about 15 meters long that glowed blue and red on the sides soared over the small village. Six of the resident ponies and a baby dragon who were enjoying a picnic together decided to go investigate after hearing the boulder crash near The Castle Of The Two Sisters.
"What do you think that thing is?" the dragon asked as the seven of them entered the Everfree Forest.
"I don't know, Spike," answered the purple alicorn, Twilight Sparkle.
"I hope it isn't some scary monster that's come to eat us," the shy yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, said barely above a whisper.
"Well what ever it is, I'm sure we'll have no trouble getting rid of it," Rainbow Dash, the brash cyan pegasus, boasted confidentally.
About a half hour later they emerged on the far side of the forest. The dust from the crash had settled, however there was still smoke rising from the left side of the object. The group slowly appoached it with caution, hoping it wouldn't stand up and turn on them.
"Hey there's writin' on the side of this here thing," shouted the tangerine colored earth pony, Applejack.
They all gathered around the right side where Applejack found the writing. Twilight Sparkle lifted her right hoof to her chin trying to decipher the writing on the object.
"What's it say, darling?" asked Rarity, the ivory unicorn.
"I'm not sure. It's in some foreign language that I've never seen before," Twilight Sparkle replied. "The only thing I recognize is the numbers on here. 74656. It doesn't make any sense."
"Hey there's something inside there!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she hovered above the object.
"Say what?" Applejack responded.
"I can't make out what it is but there's windows on the top and I can see something in there," Rainbow Dash reiterated.
Fluttershy laid down as flat as she could get to the ground and covered her head with her hoves as she let out a small whimper. Meanwhile, the others circled the object to see if they could find a way in.
"Hey, I found something!" Spike hollered.
Everypony except Fluttershy, who was still shaking in fear, went around to the rear of the mysterious object. Spike, who was small enough to fit between the object's curved underside and the ground, was pointing to a black panel with small orange and white lights on it.
"What do y'all think it's fer?" Applejack asked as she and the others stared at it.
"Are they buttons, Spikey?" Pinkie Pie asked.
Spike took a closer look at it before responding. "I don't know. It's hard to tell. One of the lights is blinking though. You want me to push it, Twilight?"
"I don't know if that would be a good idea," Twilight said. "We don't even know what in Celestia's name this thing is."
"What if this is the way in, darling?" Rarity asked her friend.
"Please don't push it," they heard Fluttershy say from a distance. "What if there's something that feasts on ponies and poor woodland creatures inside?"
"Push it, Spike!" Rainbow Dash urged. "If Fluttershy thinks it's a bad idea then it's gotta be worth doing."
Before anypony could bring up any other objections, Spike raised his claw to touch the white blinking light. A loud hiss followed almost immediately afterward followed by part of the object lowering itself to the ground, making a ramp. The ramp made contact with the ground and began lifting the rear of the object off the ground as it continued to open.
"Everypony wait here," Twilight Sparkle ordered as she cautiously walked up the ramp leading to the inside.. "I'll let you know if it's safe."
Inside Twilight Sparkle found a bed that was twice the length of her own, a closet with wire doors containing odd white clothing, a desk, a small staircase and two benches about the same length of the bed. As she looked around the room, she noticed that there were black panels similar to the one on the outside all over the walls except these didn't have any lights glowing on them. Concluding that there wasn't any imminent danger, Twilight called to her friends to let them know the coast was clear.
The group crowded in the 6 by 8 meter room to silently take in the strange sights before Rarity spoke up.
"What kind of creatures would wear such hideous clothing?" she said she checked out the clothes hanging in the closet.
"Maybe they're through this door," Rainbow Dash said from the top of the stairs.
"Wait! Let me go first," Twilight requested.
"Relax, Twilight. If there was something dangerous in here, it would have gotten us by now," Rainbow Dash retorted.
Rainbow Dash tried to open the door but they seemed to be locked. A pink aura surrounded Twilight's horn as she attempted to force the door open without success.
"Rarity, can you help me?" Twilight asked.
"Sure dear," Rarity replied. "What do I need to do?"
"Well it seems this door is a lot heavier than it looks," Twilight replied. "If you could grab it with your magic along with me, maybe we can open it far enough for Rainbow or Applejack to force it open the rest of the way."
As the four ponies worked on forcing the door open, Spike took notice of something else.
"Hey did anypony else notice this red glow that keeps blinking?" he asked nervously.
Nopony answered the dragon at first as Pinkie Pie was bouncing on the bed and Fluttershy was hiding under it while the door was finally opened.
"What red glow?" Twilight Sparkle finally replied, looking in Spike's direction.
Pointing to one of the black panels he replied, "Right here along the bottom."
"Y'all think it's a warnin'?" Applejack asked.
"You mean like, go away?" Fluttershy asked from under the bed.
"I don't think so," Twilight told everypony. "There's no writing to go along with it."
"Hey guys there's some weird creatures in here," Rainbow Dash yelled from the other room.
"It's true, darlings," confirmed Rarity. "I never seen anything like them before. And their clothing is just... deplorable. I swear it's a crime against fashion."
The rest of the group made their way into the next room where three creatures without fur or tails and oddly shaped manes were either on the floor or slumped over the desk in front of them. Pinkie Pie crept up to the first creature that was laying on the ground to take a look at it.
It had a light peach complexion, blond mane, some kind of objects on its face and left... what ever it was at the end of its foreleg and wearing a burgundy suit that was skin tight.
Twilight examined the creature at the front. It had the same complexion as the first creature but it looked to be a different gender than the first. It had a light brown mane and wearing a black suit with red on its shoulders.
Rainbow Dash stood on the desk in front of the third creature and looked at it. Unlike the other two creatures, this one had brown skin, black mane, pointed ears and wearing a black suit with yellow shoulders.
"What in Celestia are these things?" Spike asked, wide eyed.
"I have no clue," Twilight said. "I've studied every book on other cultures in the Canterlot Library and Golden Oaks Library but never seen anything like these in any of the books."
"How tall do you think they are?" Fluttershy squeaked.
"They look like they're about half a meter taller than us and we're roughly 1.3 meters tall, my guess is about 1.7 to 1.9 meters tall," Twilight replied.
The seven friends quietly explored the rest of the 9 by 8 meter room, looking for clues as to what or where this object and its passengers came from. Pinkie Pie found a silver and black curved stick about 11 centimeters long next to the brown skinned creature. She begged Twilight to let her push one of the buttons but the alicorn levitated the odd stick over to her for safe keeping.
Fluttershy slowly walked to the center of the room and set down a smooth, gray stone that she found in one of the corners on the floor.
"What's that?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know. I saw it in the corner and noticed this light blinking on it," she replied as Twilight levitated it closer to inspect it.
I was triangular shaped, about 4 centimeters long and 3 centimeters wide and had green and silver section that covered approximately one third of one side of the stone. Suddenly a pink hoof shot up in front of Twilight's face and before Twilight could stop her, Pinkie had made contact with part of the silver and green section. It made a buzzing sound followed by the sudden appearance of a fourth creature.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," it said.
After replenishing some of our secondary supplies courtesy of Mr. Neelix’s excellent negotiation skills, we are en route to rendezvous with the Delta Flyer.
Captain Katherine Janeway closed the console next her upon finishing her log entry. Her first officer, Commander Chakotay, a former maquis captain, was seated to her left. The Operations station behind Chakotay was manned by Ensign Harry Kim. The remote Engineering station on the wall to the right and slightly ahead of Captian Janeway was being run by Lieutenant B'lanna Torres, the chief engineer. The helm at the front of the bridge and Tactical station behind the captain were both controlled by junior officer's in the absence of the normal operators Lieutenant Tom Paris and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, respectively, who were on an away mission with Seven of Nine, a liberated borg drone, and the doctor, who was an Emergency Medical Hologram or EMH.
"I wonder what Mr. Tuvok and the others found out about the phenomenon we detected," said Chakotay.
Captain Janeway looked at the her first officer and replied, "Hopefully something to knock a few more years off our journey. These borg attacks are wearing us out." She turned her attention to the young man behind Chakotay. "Harry, any sign of the Flyer?"
"No, ma'am," he replied. "But their ion trail leads straight toward the phenomenon we detected three days ago."
"Helm, set a course to follow that ion trail. Warp 2," Janeway ordered. "I'll be in my ready room."
Neelix made his way into the galley to begin cooking dinner for the crew that was getting off their duty shifts in a few hours. As he began gathered the pans and ingredients he was going to need, something under one of the tables caught his eye.
"Naomi must've left her stuffed targ under the table again," he said to himself as he made his way over to the corner of the galley. "I'll just set it up on the-"
Neelix stopped short as he saw what was under the table: a small, yellow, winged equine with a pink mane and tail. He crouched down as far as he could so he wouldn't scare the shaking animal anymore than it already was.
"It's okay. I won't hurt you," he gently told it. "I may look unusual, well I kind of am, but I assure you that Talaxians are some of the most peaceful species in the Delta Quadrant. I'm going to call some friends to meet you. Will that be okay?"
The animal continued to cower under the table and when Neelix stood up, it took its hooves and covered it's head.
"Neelix to the captain," he said after tapping his arrowhead shaped comm badge.
"Go ahead," Janeway responded.
"Could you and Commander Chakotay come down to the galley?" requested Neelix.
"Is there a problem?" Janeway asked.
"No. Not exactly. But there's something here I'd like you to see," Neelix replied.
"On our way."
Neelix picked up an apple from the galley counter and returned to the terrified equine. "Here," he said as he extended his arm under the table and placed the apple in front of the animal. "It's an apple. I know Talaxian horses like apples so I'm giving you one in case you're hungry."
Neelix backed off from the table just as Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay entered the room.
"What's going on?" asked Janeway.
Neelix recounted the story to the two senior officers who both knelt down to see the small animal.
"Can it understand us?" Chakotay asked.
"I don't know," Neelix replied. "I was so worried about trying to get it calmed down that it never occurred to ask if it could understand me."
Captain Janeway knelt down where she was standing and softly asked the animal to nod her head if it could understand her. After a couple minutes of darting it's eyes around the room and backing away slightly the yellow equine slowly nodded its head.
"My name is Katherine. Do you have a name?"
The animal slowly nodded its head again before responding quietly, "I... I'm F-F-Fluttershy."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Fluttershy," Janeway told it. "This is Chakotay and you met Mr. Neelix."
"Wh-wh-where am I?" Fluttershy whispered.
"You're aboard the Starship Voyager," Janeway replied as Fluttershy continued to shake in fear.
"Y-you look like th-the creatures in th-the thing that crashed n-n-near P-P-Ponyville," Fluttershy shakily said.
"Ponyville? Where's that?" Chakotay asked as he knelt down next to Captain Janeway.
"It-it's in E-E-Equestria," Fluttershy told him.
"Neelix?" Janeway asked.
"I never heard of Equestria before," he replied. "It must be an extremely remote planet."
Janeway turned her attention back to Fluttershy. "You said we look like other 'creatures' from an object that crashed. Did they tell you their names?"
"No. They were asleep when I disappeared from Ponyville and reappeared here," Fluttershy said as her fear began to subside.
They seem like nice creatures. The one with the fur on his face gave me an apple and it would be awfully rude if I didn't eat it, Fluttershy thought as the three crew members talked among themselves for a minute or so.
"Miss Fluttershy, may I ask what you are?" Janeway said.
"I'm a pony. Well, I mean, a pegasus pony," Fluttershy told her. "Can you tell me what you and the one with the cutie mark on his face are?"
"Cutie mark?" Chakotay asked, slightly confused. "She must mean my tattoo."
"We're humans," Janeway replied before pointing to the third member of the group. "And Mr. Neelix here is Talaxian."
"Humans?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yes, we're from the planet Earth, in the Alpha Quadrant," Janeway clarified.
Fluttershy tilted her head to one side and lifted one of her eyebrows in confusion. While there were earth ponies in Equestria, she never heard of a planet called Earth and certainly never heard of an "Alpha Quadrant".
Seeing the look on Fluttershy's face, the three colleugues pulled up chairs as they attempted to explain their story to the small pegasus.
"Seven! Tuvok! Mr. Paris!" the newest creature shouted as it moved closer to the first three.
"Did this thing even see us?" Rainbow Dash asked as the bald creature continued to check the others.
Hearing the cyan pegasus, the conscious creature turned and looked at the group of ponies and the purple dragon.
"Who are you?" the thing asked.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and-" Twilight said as she pointed to each member of their group before realizing the final member was missing. "Where's Fluttershy?"
"She's right over... where'd she go?" said Pinkie as she pointed toward the door leading into the room they were standing in. "Hmmm. I'll go look for her."
"Is there anything we can do ta help, mister..." Applejack asked.
"Just call me doctor. I'm the Emergency Medical Hologram for the Starship Voyager," it replied.
"What's a hologram?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I'm an image that is made up of photons and force fields. I can physically interact with non-holograms to treat wounds and socialize," The Doctor replied smugly.
"Sooo... you're a magical being?" Spike inquired.
"Well, no," The Doctor said.
"Hey, shouldn't Pinkie Pie be back by now?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Fluttershy, Captain Janeway and Chakotay sat and talked at one of the back tables in the galley while Neelix took part in the conversation as he was preparing dinner for the crew.
"So this Equestria, what's it like?" Chakotay asked.
"Well... it's not fancy like this and we can't make food from holes in the wall," Fluttershy told them in between bites of a Talaxian apple fritter. "This is really good by the way. It tastes just like ones my friend Applejack makes."
"So there's no technology there?" Janeway asked with fascination.
"Nope! Oooh this place is really cool and would be perfect for a party. What's your name?" came a new voice from the kitchen.
"What is this thing?" Twilight Sparkle asked the Doctor as he revived the away team one by one.
"It's a shuttlecraft called the Delta Flyer," the Doctor replied over his shoulder. "We live, well they live, on the Starship Voyager."
"Oh my head," groaned the being that the Doctor called Mr. Paris. "How long have we been out for, Doc?"
"I'm not sure. I went offline shortly before we crossed threshold of the anomaly," the Doctor replied as he assisted the female back to a sitting position.
"Umm, Doc?" Paris asked with a look of bewilderment in his face. "Did I get a concussion?"
The Doctor made his way back to Mr. Paris and moved a silver cylinder back and forth above his head before tapping the miniature sideways book.
"According to the tricorder, you're fine. Just a bruised temple," he replied.
"Then why am I seeing a tiny dragon and four multicolored horses?" Paris wanted to know.
"Correction there. We're ponies, not horses," Applejack corrected him.
"And they talk?" Mr. Paris said in shock.
"They most certainly do," the Doctor replied. "Very inquisitive ponies if I do say so myself." He added as he flashed a smile toward the group.
"That is very understandable," the dark skinned being named Tuvok said upon waking up. "We are most undoubtedly the first bipedal species they've encountered."
"So much for the Prime Directive," Paris muttered under his breath.
"The what?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"The Prime Directive. It's Starfleet's guiding principle. It states that no one may interfere with the internal development of an alien species," Tuvok replied.
The group of ponies looked at each other before Rarity spoke up, "No offense intended darling but I don't believe we are the aliens in this situation."
"Actually we're both aliens," Twilight corrected. "We are alien to them just as much as they are alien to us."
"If you don't mind me asking, what in Celestia's name are all of you?" Spike asked as he continued to take notes on the parchment that Twilight had brought along.
"Me and Seven of Nine are both human, Tuvok is a Vulcan and the Doctor..." Paris before being interrupted.
"The Doctor already told us what he is," Spike said.
Rainbow Dash flew over to the console beside Seven and looked closely at her and then looked over her shoulder at Mr. Paris. She turned her attention back to Seven and lifted a hoof to touch one of the metal parts on the female human's face.
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack hissed, causing the pegasus to snap her hoof back to her side. "Ah'm sorry fer our friend, ma'am. She ain't got no manners regardin' personal space."
"Indeed," Seven agreed as she looked between the two ponies.
"Ms. Seven, if you don't mind me asking, if you and Mr. Paris are both human, why doesn't he have metal on him?" Twilight asked.
"It is because I am Borg," Seven replied flatly, earning confused looks from the entire group.
"So are y'all human or whatever a Borg is?" Applejack wanted to know.
"Both. I was assimilated by the Borg when I was four years old. The crew of Voyager liberated me from the collective two years ago," Seven continued to explain. "In the last two years I have learned how to be an individual and make friends."
Twilight's ears and head perked up at the last word from Seven. Friends. Was there somewhere that friendship didn't exist? It was inconceivable.
"So why didn't you have friends before you were liberated?" Twilight asked.
Seven of Nine began to explain how the Borg Collective worked while Rainbow Dash chatted up Tom Paris. Rainbow tried getting Tom to teach her to pilot the Delta Flyer, but he repeatedly denied her requests, reluctantly citing the Prime Directive each time.
"I thought you were cool, Tom," Rainbow Dash moaned. "But you're just like everypony else, saying you can't break the rules."
"I've already spent time in prison for breaking the rules years ago. I really don't want to go back, especially with the chief of security standing 4 meters away," he explained with a slight smile.
"So if yer from outer space, then how did y'all git here?" Applejack asked.
Tuvok replied, "It started three days ago..."
"Captain!" Ensign Kim said firmly to get the Captain's attention.
"Yes, Harry?" Captain Janeway answered.
"I'm detecting a spacial anomaly 6 light-years away," Harry told her.
"What kind of anomaly?" Chakotay asked.
"I don't know," Harry told him. "The sensor readings are showing that it's in a state of flux. It may be a wormhole."
"Transfer the readings to the astrometrics lab. Chakotay, Tuvok, you're with me," Captain Janeway said as the three of them left their positions and entered turbolift next to the tactical station.
The three officers entered the astrometrics lab to join Seven of Nine who was already performing a more detailed scan of the anomaly. Tuvok stopped to the right and slightly behind Seven, Janeway stood to her left, leaning against a console and Chakotay stood to the captain's left.
"The anomaly is of unknown origin. Because it's in a state of temporal and spatial flux, it's impossible to get any accurate readings without flying directly into it," Seven explained.
"What about the multi-spatial probe? Could we use that?" Janeway asked.
"It's possible but it may not survive the gravitational forces surrounding the phenomenon," Seven replied.
Janeway turned to Chakotay and quietly planned a way to get close enough for some better readings. "What about sending an away team in the Delta Flyer?"
"It might work. If the gravitational pull gets to be too much it'll be easier to escape," Chakotay said.
"I'll send Tom along to pilot the Flyer," Janeway said.
"Send the doctor along in case something goes wrong," suggested Chakotay.
"Good idea," Janeway said before turning to the other two crew members. "Tuvok, Seven. You will take the Delta Flyer in for a closer look. Mr. Paris and the doctor will be joining you. There's a mining colony nearby that Neelix said might be able to trade with us. We'll rendezvous back here in three days."
"Agreed," Tuvok told her before the four of them left the lab.
Tom Paris piloted the Delta Flyer out of the shuttlebay approximately an hour later a set a course for the mysterious phenomenon. As they began to get closer to the gravity well of the anomaly they managed to get finer details of it.
"Commander Tuvok, please take a look at these readings," Seven told the vulcan as she transferred the data to his console. The doctor entered the front cabin from the back just as the shuttle rocked from side to side as the gravitational pull began pulling them toward the center of the anomaly.
"Delta Flyer to Voyager," Tuvok said as he attempted to open a communication channel to the main ship.
"It's no use. The anomaly is reflecting communications back to us," Seven stated.
The doctor began to flicker the closer to the threshold became until he went offline just before the shuttle entered the anomaly. The shuttle rocked violently just before knocking the other three unconscious.
"Weren't you scared?" Spike asked the crew after Tuvok finished the story.
"While I cannot speak for the others, I was not." Tuvok replied as he raised his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly.
"Why not?" Spike continued to ask.
"Because vulcans do not express emotions," answered Tuvok flatly.
Twilight meanwhile had made her way over to Seven's station which had nothing but black panels. Confused, she got the attention of the former borg drone.
"Excuse me, but how could you know about that anomaly you were studying when everything in here is blank, save for the blinking red lights?" Twilight asked Seven.
"Normally there are displays that show telemetry, controls and other relevant data on these panels," Seven explained as she pointed to the blank displays. "Right now the all the systems are down except for emergency power."
"Jist wonderin'. What were those sensory thangs y'all were talkin' 'bout, Mr. Tuvok?" Applejack asked.
"If I recall correctly, the sensor readings of the threshold revealed-"
"Surprise!" came a familiar voice from the back doorway.
"Discord..." Twilight shouted angrily before seeing who was at the rear hatch.
"Discord? The draconequus?" asked another somewhat taller human that had just appeared out of no where.
"But... you... him... what is...?" Twilight barely managed to get out.
"Q, what do you want from us?" Tuvok asked the being that had just arrived.
Q slowly walked through the cockpit of the Delta Flyer looking at all the blank consoles before taking a seat on the dashboard at the front of the shuttle.
"Why Tuvok, what makes you think I want something from you?" Q replied with a faux look of sadness on his face. "It seems to me that everyone here is in a bit of a quandary. Think about it, the five of us are all trapped in this alternate dimension, three of their friends are trapped in our dimension..."
"Three? Only two of our... hey where did Applejack go?" Rarity asked upon noticing that the farm pony was missing.
"What did you do with our friends, mister?" Twilight asked as she powered up her horn to fire an energy blast at the familiar sounding being.
Q snapped his fingers and teleported the three remaining ponies, Spike, himself and the Voyager away team outside of the the Flyer. Much to Twilight's surprise, the teleportation had also cancelled out the blast that she was about to fire from her horn.
"My dear equine," Q began. "I did not teleport your friends to our dimension. Nor did I teleport these fine folks and myself here. Well not intentionally."
"Cut the act, Q," Tom growled. "Take us home."
"I'd love to, it's just, well there was this other... creature..." Q said before being cut off.
"That must've been Discord," Rainbow Dash interrupted.
Q disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared about 3 meters away laying on a fainting couch similar to Rarity's.
"You know that name is beginning to ring a bell," Q said with a smirk. "I remember talking to someone few days ago. Very engaging conversationalist. I do believe he had similar name that which you keep mentioning."
"What did you two do?" Tom asked sourly.
"We, well, we may or may not have had a teensy little contest to see who had a firmer grasp on the control of space-time," said Q innocently.
"A contest?" Seven asked.
"Security team to engineering," said one of the engineers after tapping his comm badge.
Lounging on the railing surrounding the warp core was a creature about 4 meters in length and looked like a mash-up of at least a half dozen animals. The creature had appeared in a flash of light moments earlier but somehow hadn't tripped the intruder alert.
"Security? For little old me?" the creature said sarcastically. "My this is an elaborate setup you have here. What is this called?"
"It's called a warp core," shouted B'lanna Torres as she accompanied the security team into the room. "Now who the Hell are you and why are you in my engine room?"
"Isn't it usually polite to introduce yourself before making demands?" the creature said with a mischievous smirk.
"Lt. Torres? That Q fellow warned me about you. By the way, my name is Discord, God of Chaos," said Discord as he slithered through the air to surround B'lanna with his body. "Do you really have a terrible temper as Q claims?"
B'lanna only answered with a palm to Discord's face and an elbow to his gut. Discord fell to the floor pretending to be in pain before teleporting onto a bed that seemed to appear out of nowhere, wrapped in bandages with an IV connected to his paw.
"Is there... a... doctor... in the... house?" Discord asked weakly. "I'm... not sure... I'll make it."
B'lanna ordered the security team to take Discord to the brig so that Captain Janeway could deal with him. Discord then reappeared next to the doors leading to engineering wearing a black and white striped prison suit and handcuffs.
"My, my. Only here for five minutes and I'm already a jailbird," Discord laughed before he was escorted to the brig.
"I thought Q was bad," one of the crewmen said quietly as they walked through the corridors.
"Oh I'm not that bad," Discord said as he snapped his talon changed his appearance so that he was wearing a Starfleet uniform. "I really know how to fit in wherever I go. Say, did you ever play 'Hide and Seek' when you were younger?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, it's simple. I hide and you seek me out," Discord said before disappearing in a flash of light.
"Woo-wee! This here is one fancy get-up!"
"Bridge to Captain Janeway," Ensign Kim saiid after tapping a button on the captain's chair.
"Go ahead, Harry," Janeway responded.
"You or Commander Chakotay might want to come up here," Harry said.
"Commander Chakotay will be there shortly," Janeway replied.
While the bridge crew waited for the executive officer to arrive, the tangerine pony that had appeared moments earlier hopped into the chair normally occupied by Chakotay.
"Howdy! Name's Applejack," the earth pony said to Harry as she extended her right hoof.
"Uhh, Harry Kim," the young ensign replied as he cautiously reached out to shake Applejack's hoof.
"What? It's jist a hoof. It ain't gonna bite ya," Applejack told him with a huge smile as she waited for Harry to grab it.
By this time Chakotay had arrived back on the bridge to see what the issue was. He stopped short as he saw Harry's arm almost pulled out of socket by Applejack as she shook his hand vigorously. Harry relinquished the command chair to Chakotay once he and Applejack finished exchanging pleasantries.
"Commander Chakotay, meet Applejack," Harry said as the senior officer sat down.
"Pleasure to meet you," Chakotay said as he extended his hand and braced himself for a equally vigorous handshake.
Applejack removed her Stetson and set it on the console before speaking up.
"So yer th' head honcho 'round here?" she asked.
"Actually, no. I'm the executive officer," Chakotay replied. "I'm second in command. Captain Janeway is currently in the galley with a two ponies named Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy."
Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. At least she knew where her missing friends were, even though she had no idea where she currently was.
Before they could continue their conversation, streamers and confetti began raining down from out of nowhere. Accompanying the confetti was a flash of light and a noisemaker.
"I win round one!"
"Discord!" Applejack hissed. "What in th' hay are you doin' here?"
"Applejack? I didn't realize I'd have friends waiting for me here," Discord said with a smirk.
"You know this creature?" Chakotay asked Applejack.
"Unfortunately," Applejack groaned. "He used ta be one of Equestria's top villains b'fore the girls an' Ah turned him ta stone."
Discord didn't say anything. He just hovered close to the ceiling with a huge, goofy grin on his face.
"So what's he doing here?" Harry asked from his station.
"Princess Celestia done gave him a second chance ta change his ways," Applejack answered with a frown.
Before anyone else could say anything the doors to the turbolift next to the tactical station opened and two security officers stepped onto the bridge. Discord turned himself into a mouse and cowered under Harry's console.
"Please don't let them take me," he squeaked.
"Discord," Applejack began as she tried keeping her composure. "Whenever Fluttershy finds out about yer shenanigans, she's gonna be beggin' Celestia ta put ya back in stone when we get back home."
Discord snapped his paw and transformed back into his normal form, donning the prison attire and handcuffs he was wearing earlier. "Let's go..." he said as the security officers escorted him into the turbolift.
"So what's gonna happen ta me an' the girls?" Applejack asked.
"Well, I'm not sure but I'm sure we can find some accommodations for the three of you," Chakotay replied.
"Thank ya kindly," Applejack said. "Is there any way Ah could join mah friends in y'all's galley?"
"Sure thing. Harry, you have the bridge," Chakotay said as he and Applejack entered the turbolift next to the operations station.
"So let me get this straight," Twilight Sparkle said. "You and Discord started heaving magic blasts at each other and one of them opened an interdimensional rift?"
Q nodded as he sat on a rock in a thinking pose. "I never thought there could be anyone that was able to match my mischief, I mean, cosmic powers. Let alone outdo me."
"Is there any way you could reopen the rift?" Tuvok asked.
"Sadly, no. Not in this dimension," Q answered. "My powers are diminished greatly here."
"It must be the magic in Equestria," Rarity said.
"Hold on a second," Rainbow shouted. "If this portal thingy is closed, how are-"
In a flash of light, Rainbow Dash vanished before she was able to finish her question.
"-our friends disappearing?" Rainbow Dash finished as she appeared in a large room with containers in it. "Where in the hay...?"
She slowly inspected each container to try getting clues to where she ended up. After a few minutes, Rainbow looked at one of the walls and saw things attached to it like nothing she had ever seen. There was a raised metal platform with five strange, identical sections resting vertically on top. At the top of them were round disks with what looked like mini green lightning bolts moving around.
What in Celestia's name is this stuff? Rainbow thought as she cautiously stepped onto the platform to inspect whatever this was.
"This some seriously freaky stuff and I need to get outta here," she said to herself as she noticed the door leading out of the room. The door opened automatically as soon as she was within a meter of it, spooking the normally confident pegasus, leading to a seemingly empty hallway.
Left or right? she thought as she turned her head from side to side. Too bad I don't have any bits with me to flip.
Rainbow Dash decided to go to the right. It really didn't matter since she had no idea where she was or where she was going.
"Intruder alert! Security to deck seven!" shouted a bald, blue-skinned being as he pointed a curved stick similar to what Pinkie had found earlier in the shuttle. "Stay where you are!"
Rainbow froze in her tracks, not knowing what the thing he was holding could do. A couple minutes later, two humans approached her from behind holding similar objects as the blue man.
"Ummm, what's going on?" Rainbow asked shakily.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to come with us," one of the other men said.
"Why? What did I do?" Rainbow inquired as she extended her wings in preparation of needing to escape.
Both of the men that answered the page of the first one replaced what Rainbow Dash could only assume were weapons back into holsters on their left hip.
"Crewman Chel, please holster your phaser and return to your duties," the other security guard said. "There doesn't seem to be any type of security risk with this horse."
Rainbow, clearly annoyed at being referred to as a horse, corrected him saying, "I am not a horse. I am a pony. Two completely different things."
"Our mistake," the first security officer said as Chel walked away. "Could you please come with us though?"
Rainbow flapped her wings to lift off the ground and hovered about shoulder height as the two humans with her.
"Where are we going?" asked Rainbow.
"To see Captain Janeway."
The two remaining ponies, Spike, Q and the Voyager away team had taken refuge from Celestia's sun inside The Castle Of The Two Sisters so that they could try formulating a plan to return everyone to their proper universes.
"So what exactly happened between you and Discord that caused a rift between our two worlds?" Twilight asked Q as he fashioned himself a chair from out of nowhere.
"Nothing happened," Q said innocently. "We talked to each other and we had our little strength contest. That's it."
"C'mon, Q. Details," Tom said flatly. "These ponies are the only way anyone is going home it seems."
"Well if you must know," said Q as teleported everyone back to the Delta Flyer and activated one of the consoles to show them the encounter
'What's this?' Q thought as he browsed through the different parts of the galaxy. 'A draconequus? I thought those were extinct.'
Snapping his fingers, Q created a shockwave that was able to get the attention of the mythical creature. In an instant, the serpentine being that was a mash-up of various animals appeared directly in front of the omnipotent being.
"Well, hello. Might I ask who and what you are?" said the draconequus.
"I am Q. And I am Q," answered Q.
"What?! That doesn't make any sense whatsoever."
"I'm a member of the Q Continuum which is comprised of hundreds of thousands omnipotent beings like myself," Q explained.
"Interesting. You and I seem to have the exact same voice. You wouldn't happen to be missing a member of the Q Continuum, would you?"
"No, I assure you that we are all accounted for," Q said.
"Oh, drat," said the draconequus as a box of tissues appeared from nowhere and he began to blow his nose and wipe his eyes as he made himself cry.
"Do you have a name or should I just call you draconequus?" Q asked.
The draconequus snapped his talon causing the tissues to disappear and become dressed in a top hat, dress shirt, dress coat, tie and carrying a formal cane in his paw. "Where ever are my manners?" He said as he took a bow. "I am the God of Chaos, Discord. The most powerful being in the universe."
Q took offense to Discord's claim of power and snapped his fingers intending to turn Discord into a mouse. What happened instead was Q himself was transformed into a single cell amoeba.
"Um, I should have told you... I can't be transformed into anything," Discord laughed as he watched Q squirm. "But seeing as though you are immortal like myself, I'll give you a claw." He snapped his talon and returned Q to his human form.
"My, my. That's a first," Q said humbly. "Someone that can actually deflect my power."
"Oh that's not all," Discord said with a huge smile.
"Really? What else can you do?" Q said as his smug attitude began to return.
"I can merge both of our universes together," Discord bluffed as he made himself appear as Shao Khan.
"Unlikely," Q said. "The only reason you're here is because the Q Continuum exists outside of the human realm. I brought you here."
"So if I set off some sort of magic explosion in here I could open a rift to another realm?" Discord said as he began channeling magic into his talon.
"The only thing that would happen would be a star going supernova in the human realm," Q replied confidently.
Discord snapped his talon again causing a beam of magic to fire toward the sky from his horns. Moments later an explosion occurred causing the stars from the Delta Quadrant to appear through a hole.
"Time to go exploring," Discord said as he disappeared while Q began to feel himself being drawn toward Discord's realm.
Q immediately realized that his powers had been reduced once he was completely into the alternate dimension. The window to the Continuum closed almost instantly and Q found himself trapped. In a desperate attempt to return to the human realm so he could get back to the Continuum, Q gave a snap of his fingers making a hole appear in the sky of this new planet. Somehow he was unable to escape through the rift no matter how many times he tried. After a dozen attempts he saw the Delta Flyer appear through the rift.
'There's a definite time differential between these worlds.' Q thought. 'There's no way that Janeway's crew detected this already. But I could use this as a way home.'
Q focused his power on the Delta Flyer a snapped his fingers.
The monitor then went black and Q transported everyone, except Rarity, back to their previous location. This did not go unnoticed by Twilight.
"Q, what happened to Rarity?" Twilight asked angrily.
"She was with us. I transported a dragon, two ponies, two humans, a vulcan, a hologram and myself," said Q.
"It is logical to assume that she disappeared to the same place the rest of the ponies have gone to, assuming they ended up in the same place," Tuvok said.
Rarity suddenly found herself in a large room containing three beds, a type of desk and an office off to the side. The walls had black panels similar to the ones in the Delta Flyer, however these had writing on them. Rarity walked around the room and found a cart that had various tools on them.
I wonder if any of these could protect me, she thought as she attempted to levitate one of the items. Why won't my magic work? I guess I'll have to take my chances then."
Rarity walked out of the room and began to wander the hallway outside.
"So what exactly does the Delta Flyer use to fly?" Twilight asked Tom.
"The power supply is run off of electromagnetic plasma," Seven replied first. "There emergency systems that are on now have battery packs that will run for approximately 72 hours."
"Electromagnetic plasma? As in electricity?" Spike asked.
"Yes, quite similar," Tuvok said.
Twilight rubbed her left hoof back and forth against her chin in deep thought. Suddenly her eyes shot open as an idea popped into her head.
"Would do you think that lightning might be able to give it enough power to at least fly toward the rift Q made?" she asked excitedly.
"It may be possible to fuse the battery packs to the warp core so that we can use the power from the batteries and from the lightning strikes," Tuvok said.
"You said 'strikes'. How many do you think will be needed?" Twilight asked as her voice changed from excitement to worry.
"We would have to scan the strength of the lightning first to determine the specific amount," said Seven.
"What about when we do get the Flyer off the ground," Tom asked with his arms crossed. "If we get to the rift, it's going to pull us right back here."
Q finally joined the conversation after a few minutes of listening. He had partially created this mess and felt compelled to assist in fixing it.
"What about the ponies and your friend Discord that were pulled into the other universe?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "How are they going to get back?"
"Good point," Tom agreed disappointedly. "If we get through, the rift will more than likely close."
"Has anyone tried making contact with Voyager since we've been here?" asked the doctor. "If the ponies are somehow going to Voyager, why not see if we can send a message?"
"That's a great idea!" Twilight said with a big smile on her face. "If you can talk to your crewmates, we can-"
"-try working... what the?" Twilight said as she appeared in a huge room with a huge picture of moving dots, which she assumed represented stars, that took up literally half the wall space in the room.
Her eyes widened at the amount of information she could learn by studying what she concluded to be some sort of map. She stepped down off the platform and made her way over to one of the consoles in the center of the room. Even though she couldn't read the foreign language on the displays, she attempted to make the map move to around to find a way to Equestria. Finding a button that had "ABC" on it, she pressed it in the hopes that a typewriter style keyboard would appear on the display.
"Oh this is great!" she said as she clapped her hooves together in excitement. "Now to type in 'Equestria' and see if I can get a map back to there."
Twilight typed in the name of her home in Equestrian but when she hit the button with an arrow on it, all that showed on the display was some sentence that continuously blinked with an accompanying beeping. With this search result seemingly ending in failure, she got back down on all fours and began studying the other displays in an attempt to learn more about where she was.
A soft hiss was heard as doors to the galley opened for a pair of humans and the cyan pegasus accompanying them. The sound caught the attention of the three ponies already in the room who were telling Captain Janeway, Chakotay and Neelix about Equestria and their adventures.
"DASHIE!!" shouted Pinkie Pie as she tackled Rainbow Dash, causing them to roll through the doorway and crash into the wall opposite the galley.
"Hi Pinkie," Rainbow said as she brushed the nonexistent dust off of herself. "Where are we?"
"Oh. We're in a ship that flies through space but right now it's not flying because the people here, that are really super nice by the way, are looking for the people we found in Equestria that are like family to them because they've been together a really long time and they're trying to get home like we're trying to get home but not like us because they live in this dimension and we don't, so it's not completely the same but it kinda is," Pinkie explained before running out of breath.
The Voyager crew members stared in disbelief as the pink pony took a deep breath, seemingly preparing for another extended explanation. However, before she could begin again an orange hoof covered her muzzle.
"Ah think she gets th' idea, Pinkie," said Applejack. "Sorry 'bout that, folks."
"Does she do that all the time?" Neelix inquired from the kitchen.
"Only when she gets, um, really excited," Fluttershy squeaked out.
"So is anypony else here or is it just the four of us?" Rainbow asked.
"Discord's here," Applejack answered flatly.
"Where?" Fluttershy asked, her attention piqued.
"I had him escorted to the brig for the safety of the crew," Chakotay told her.
Rainbow tilted her head to the side before asking, "The brig? Is that like a dungeon or something?"
"The brig is a jail cell," Katherine replied.
"Y'all saw how he appeared outta nowhere on th' bridge," Applejack fussed. "A jail cell ain't gonna hold th' likes of him."
"Ooo! Ooo! You think he could help get us back to Equestria?" Pinkie asked as she hopped around the galley. "He's gotta want to go back too. Right?"
"Bridge to Captain Janeway," came a page before anyone could answer.
"Go ahead, Harry," Katherine replied as she tapped the arrowhead-shaped badge on her uniform.
"Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but someone is attempting an unauthorized computer search in the Astrometrics lab," Harry replied.
Katherine paused a moment to pinch the bridge of her nose before replying, "Send an unarmed security detail to investigate.”
“Unarmed?”
“Yes, Harry. I also would like you to scan for any equine life signs throughout the rest of the ship. If any more are detected, have them escorted to the galley. Any questions?"
"No, ma'am. Bridge out."
"It seems we may have more guests here than we originally thought," Chakotay said to Katherine.
"Could Y'all excuse us for a couple minutes?" Applejack asked the two officers. The four ponies then moved to one of the corners to have a quick discussion among themselves.
"If Discord's here then why are we still being sent here?" Rainbow wondered.
"Ah don't know but Ah think he might be th' key ta gettin' everyone where they belong," Applejack replied.
"Maybe we should, um, ask... him what happened?" Fluttershy quietly said.
"Might not be a bad idea there, Fluttershy," Applejack said as she rubbed her chin with her right hoof. "If he's the reason everything happenin' th' way it is, hopefully, he can set it all straight."
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go talk to him!" Pinkie said enthusiastically.
Applejack and the others turned around so they could address the officers at the table four meters away. However, before they could say anything, the galley doors slid open again allowing another security detail, that was escorting Rarity, entry into the room.
"Are you Captain Janeway?" Rarity asked Katherine.
"Yes, I am," the captain replied.
"My name is Rarity. I must say the hallways you have on your ship are very interesting, architecture wise. However at the same time, they are quite drab," Rarity told Katherine. "All that gray just makes this place depressing. I can really spruce them up if you like."
Katherine and Chakotay looked at each other and let out a small chuckle before politely declining her offer.
"Well if you happen to change your mind, the offer will still be here," Rarity said.
"Thank you, Rarity. I'll keep that in mind," Katherine told her as Rarity joined her friends.
Applejack and the others hugged Rarity one-by-one thankful for her safety. “So, did y'all happen to see Twilight on yer way here?”
“Sorry, darling,” Rarity said. “She must still be in Equestria.”
“Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's here on the ship,” Rainbow Dash told her.
“Whatever makes you think that?”
“Well, just before Y'all came in here, Katherine got some kinda call in midair telling her about an unexcused access in the Asteroid/Meteors Lab,” Applejack said. “Considering that Twilight is more curious than a cat, Ah'll bet ten bits that it was her in the lab.”
Fluttershy squeezed her way into the ring of ponies. “Um, excuse me, um, girls. Are we, um, going to talk to Discord now or should we wait, um, for Twilight?”
A shower of sparks erupted from under the helm console in the Delta Flyer while Tom was attempting to reroute power around the circuits that were damaged by the anomaly that brought the Voyager away team to Equestria.
"Tom! Are you okay?" Spike shouted as Tom emerged from the ensuing smoke.
"Yeah but the main relay is shot," Tom replied. "The good news is that I think I can rig something together that can give us enough power to get through the anomaly."
"So what's the bad news?" The Doctor asked cautiously.
“The bad news is I'm going to need your mobile emitter,” Tom answered.
“Of course you are,” The Doctor deadpanned. “Isn't it always the solution to everything?”
As Tom went to the rear room to get a toolkit, Seven shut down The Doctor’s emitter.
“What makes you mortals think that you can do what I couldn’t?” Q asked egotistically.
Holding the Doctor’s emitter in her hand Seven responded, “We mortals have instincts that allow us to adapt as conditions change.”
“So you’re just going to connect the doctor’s emitter to the ship and be on your way?” Q asked.
“That is the idea,” answered Tuvok.
Q lightly pinched Spikes cheek. “How about the friends of this poor little dragon? How are they going to get back?”
Spike slapped Q’s hand away and blew a small flame at him. “They'll find a way. Twilight has gotten out of worse situations.” By now Tom had returned with the toolkit which drew Spike's attention. “So how is this going to work? Is the doctor going to be controlling the ship from inside or something?”
Tom let out a chuckle. “No, we’re just using the power from the emitter.”
“Before you try taking off, you might want to try sending a message to see if Voyager is on the other side of the rift,” Q said as he lounged in one of the chairs.
Suddenly, Spike's eyes lit up. “That’s it!” he exclaimed. “Does anyone have some parchment and a quill?”
“A paper and pen? That archaic form of communication will certainly not make it through the rift.” Seven said.
“I have an idea but I need something to write on,” Spike said. A flash of light appeared in front of Spike and when it dissipated he was holding a quill and parchment. “Before I write this, would you be able to send me to this other dimension, Q?”
“Possibly but I won't make any promises,” Q answered.
“Alright,” Spike said as he began to scribble on the parchment.
Dear Princess Celestia…
Twilight crawled on her belly through a tight corridor as she continued to explore this new environment. For the last two hours, she had been climbing and descending ladders and crawling through tunnels. She had found these passages by accident after leaving the room with the huge star map.
“Where is the exit to this maze?” she wondered aloud. "I come to the end of a tunnel, open a door, ascend or descend a ladder, open another door, crawl through another tunnel, and…" she opened the next door, "...repeat," she deadpanned.
About thirty minutes later, she exited one of the tunnels into a junction that was different from all the others that she had encountered so far.
"Finally!" she exclaimed quietly. "Now I might be able to get somewhere."
The large doors in front of her hissed open, causing her to jump slightly. She cautiously poked her head into the room where the door lead. There was chatter among the dozen or so beings on in the two-level room. Fearing what might happen if she got caught, Twilight made herself as small as possible until a window of escape presented itself.
While waiting for her opening, Twilight began to analyze her situation. Okay, my magic doesn't work here but my wings do. There's an opening in the ceiling that leads to what looks like another level of this room, she thought. Maybe I can fly up there to take refuge.
"Chakotay to Engineering," called a voice from out of nowhere.
"Torres here," a female voice answered.
"B'Elanna, we've detected an equine life sign in engineering. If you happen to find the pony that it belongs to, please escort it to the mess hall."
"We're a little busy down here to set up a search party but I'll have everyone keep an eye out. Torres out."
After the unusual conversation was over, Twilight happened to notice that no one was looking in her direction. With a strong, quick flap of her wings, Twilight swiftly ascended to the catwalk that was roughly four and a half meters above. Upon landing, she took notice of the warp core.
"What is that?" she whispered in awe. "I have got to get a closer look." Before she could get any closer, however, she was forced to take refuge behind one of the protruding support columns to keep from being spotted. Hurry up already, she thought as one of the humans worked on the console overlooking the core.
The beeping from the contact with the work station began to drive Twilight nuts. Her right eye began to twitch violently as the minutes slowly ticked by. She was just about to cause some distraction when the beeping stopped and the area was vacated.
Yes! she thought as she crawled on her belly; inching closer to the massive glowing cylinder at the far end of the room. Just a little further...
"Hey Joe, can you grab an anodyne relay from the storage cabinet while you're up there?" B'Elanna called from the lower deck.
No, no, no! No, no! Twilight panicked, seeing nowhere to hide.
The curly-haired human who was working on the console minutes earlier, returned and came face-to-face with the purple alicorn.
"I'm going to assume that you're the source of the equine life-sign," Joe Carey said with a light chuckle.
With a nervous chuckle, Twilight slowly backed, unfurling her wings as she prepared to take flight once again.
"Lieutenant Torres, would you mind coming up here for a minute?" Joe called.
"Only a bed?" Discord asked as he was ushered into the brig. "No mirror or sink? Or a toilet?"
"Please step inside," one of the security officers said.
Discord did as he was told and stepped inside the cramped cell. The guard then activated the force field to lock the draconequus inside. The two security officers that escorted Discord to the brig each took a position on either side of the door.
"Excuse me, but do you know if my good friend Fluttershy is on this vessel?" Discord asked.
"I don't know. That's something you'll have to discuss with Captain Janeway," the guard replied. "She should be here shortly."
"Really? How long will it be? It's almost tea time," Discord said as he snapped his paw to change his appearance. To his surprise, however, his prison attire remained. "What is this tomfoolery? Why can't I use my powers?"
Back in Equestria, Tom finished rigging the doctor's mobile emitter to one of the power couplings. As the power began flowing through the conduits, all of the displays began lighting up.
"So far so good," said Tom as he checked the power levels.
Q, meanwhile, scoffed at Tom's most recent victory. "Mortals and their technology," he muttered under his breath.
"How's the power looking?" Tom asked Seven.
"Propulsion is at thirty-eight percent and rising. Phasers are at ten percent, shields are still down," Seven reported.
"What about communication?" Tom asked.
"Long-range communications are still down," Tuvok replied. "However, the emergency subspace beacon is operable. I am activating it now."
"With any luck, we should be home by dinner time," said Tom, rubbing his hands together. "Are you okay, Spike?"
The dragon was on his hands and knees gagging on something. "Y-yeah," he managed to choke out. "J-just a…" Pausing mid-sentence, Spike let out a huge belch which was accompanied by a large green flame.
"Well, that's certainly a way of sending messages," Tom said as Spike unrolled the scroll that had emerged from the flame. "So what did your princess have to say?"
"She's unsure if the Elements of Harmony would work in your dimension due to the lack of magic. And…" Spike paused as he read the rest of the letter. "And because of her uncertainty, she will not allow me to attempt to transport them there."
"So it's not just humans that fear the unknown. Equine deities refuse to help those in need as well," said Q.
"There's more, Q," Spike responded. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be here shortly to assist in getting the Delta Flyer into the rift."
B'Elanna arrived on the upper deck to find Joe staring at a lavender pony. The pony in question was in fight or flight mode. Her wings spread wide and her legs were bent at the knees.
"Easy, there," Joe said in a calm voice. "We're not going to hurt you."
Twilight relaxed her stance and slowly folded her wings. "I know that," Twilight said, catching the assistant engineer off guard. "I'm just curious about that...thing over there."
B'Elanna looked in the direction that Twilight was pointing. "The warp core?"
"Yes. That," replied Twilight. "What is it?"
"Bridge to Captain Janeway."
"Go ahead, Harry," answered the captain after tapping her comm badge.
"Captain, we're picking up a faint signal emanating from the rift."
"Do you know what kind of signal?"
There was a short pause in the conversation before Katherine spoke up. "Harry, are you still there?"
"Sorry, Captain. We've analyzed the signal...it's Federation."
"Lock onto that signal and see if you can match the frequency," Katherine instructed. "If that's the away team then we might be able to get a message through. I'm on my way to the brig with our guests. Keep me posted."
"Aye, Captain. Bridge out."
"So what you're saying is thing bends space around the ship so that it can go faster than the speed of light?" Twilight asked Joe as she flew around the core.
"That's correct," Joe confirmed.
Twilight cocked her head in confusion. "But the only way to do that is with magic. From I've observed magic doesn't exist here."
"Well, it's very scientific," Joe replied. "Every person in this room has to go through four years of classes to learn how warp drive works."
"So how come you don't fly this ship into whatever it was that joined our worlds together? If it can go faster than light, then surely it can go pick up your crew members, the Delta Flyer and drop off my friends and me within seconds," Twilight said.
"Because the damned rift is too small for Voyager to fly through. Alright?" B'Elanna interjected. "Listen, I've violated a direct order and allowed your curiosity to be satisfied. I need my assistant engineer to help adjust the plasma flow before thirteen hundred hours."
"Oh. Well, I'm pretty handy-"
B'Elanna slammed the tool she was holding onto the nearest console. "Look, I don't need your help. I don't want your help. And if you don't get the hell out of my engine room now, you're going to be needing help."
Twilight, taken aback by the Klingon's tirade, slowly hovered toward the large doors that led to the corridor outside. "I...I'm sorry," she said as she ducked through the entryway in tears.
"Subspace distortion detected in spatial grid seven-three-three-zero. Change course to intercept."
