When Princess Celestia gets captured and assimilated into the Borg Collective, Twilight Sparkle and her friends must go and save the day. This story takes place before the Season 4 finale, but after the Season 4 premiere. So, mid-season 4.
Edit 1/17/23: Fixed formatting and edited a few typos I found.
The command echoed across space as the phaser beam laced across the Borg ship's hull, causing a chain reaction that the landing party of Lieutenant Commander Data, Commander Shelby, Mr. Worf, and Dr. Crusher had set up earlier while retrieving Captain Picard, who had been made into a Borg and renamed Locutus. Hopefully this would stop the Borg forever.
It seemed to work, anyway.
The Borg Queen thought back to their last defeat. The Federation ship Enterprise, registry number NCC-1701-D, had almost destroyed them. Of course, she wasn't without some hurt herself. The Queen smiled. Fortunately, they had come back from the defeat and have regenerated almost all of their power. They were 98% done, and 2% more until full power. Once they were done, they would begin again.
There was a sound of an engine starting up. We must have full power now, thought the Borg Queen. The ship shuddered, then zoomed off into space at warp speed.
The Queen smiled. Over time they had assimilated many planets, many races into their ranks. Even now the Borg ship was headed to planets, so they could be assimilated as well. The Queen smiled as she heard the familiar sound of her troops beaming down to the planet so that they could capture some of the citizens. Then she heard something unfamiliar. And it was coming from right outside her door.
“Let go of me this instant!” shouted a voice from outside. A Borg poked his head into the Queen’s quarters.
“Your majesty,” he said, “we… have a problem.” He went back outside.
The Queen exited the quarters and what she saw shocked her. A white horse with a pastel green, blue, and pink mane was fighting her guards in the middle of the hallway. The Queen rolled her eyes. Apparently, they were assimilating a planet inhabited by pastel colored horses. Then the horse turned, and the Queen’s eyes grew wide. This horse had a horn and wings. So… not a horse.
The Queen grabbed a tranquilizer and, while the horse wasn’t looking, stuck it into the horse’s shoulder. The horse dropped to the floor.
One of the guards picked up one of the horse’s hooves and dragged it toward the assimilation room. The other guard turned to the Queen. “Immediate assimilation, as usual?”
“Yes,” said the Queen. “Show that horse what it’s like to be part of the Borg.”
*Meanwhile, on the planet below*
“Are they ever going to go away?” Rainbow Dash asked her friends. The cyan Pegasus was at the moment hiding in the Golden Oak Library with Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“I don’t know, Rainbow. These invaders could have no interest at all in us, and instead want to take over Equestria.” Twilight said.
“Then why in Celestia’s name are we hiding?! We’re the Elements of Harmony! We can kick their sorry flanks back to where they came from!” Rainbow smacked her hooves together.
“Rainbow, don’t you remember? We had to give up the Elements to save the Tree of Harmony! We don’t have the Elements anymore!” Applejack said, clearly exasperated.
“Oh yeah…” Rainbow looked sheepish. “I forgot.”
“I just hope they don’t find us.” Fluttershy said in her soft, quiet voice. “They’re… scary.”
Twilight facehoofed. “Girls, we don’t know anything about these creatures! We don’t know if they’re bad or good, where they’re from, why they just appeared in a flash of golden light…” The purple alicorn started pacing. “Maybe Princess Celestia knows something. SPIKE!”
A purple dragon stuck his head out from behind Rarity, which made the white unicorn shriek in surprise. “Yes, Twilight?”
“Take a letter, please.” Twilight stopped pacing and looked at Spike, who was holding a quill and a piece of parchment. She started dictating the letter.
“Dear Princess Celestia: Today in Ponyville we have an urgent question. We are being attacked by an unknown force, and none of us know anything about them, much less how to stop them!” Twilight looked out the window, staring at the invaders. “They are biped, with metal parts all over their bodies.” She looked again. “Some have red laser eyes.”
Pinkie’s eyes grew wide. “What are lasers?”
Twilight smirked. “Just something I learned about when I visited Sunset Shimmer one time. Think of lasers as the things that came out of my horn when you used me as a machine gun that time.”
Pinkie nodded. “I get it now!” She shrieked. “Twilight, this is crazy!!!”
Rarity sighed. “Miss Pie, I completely agree with you. Of all the things, this invasion is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” She fainted. Somehow, a fainting couch appeared behind her.
Twilight smiled at the display and finished dictating her letter. “If you know anything about these creatures, please tell us. We really appreciate it. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” She nodded to Spike, who promptly blew flames at the letter and sent it to Canterlot.
“So, what are we supposed to do while we’re waiting for Princess Celestia’s reply?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Just sit here?”
“Tartarus no!” Twilight clapped a hoof over her mouth. “Excuse my Prench.”
“Excused,” said all of her friends in unison.
“We are not going to just sit here and wait. We need to get moving!” Twilight said, emphasized. Rainbow Dash facehoofed.
“I suggested that earlier…” the cyan Pegasus said to Pinkie, who nodded.
“Hey! Miss Purple Smart!” Pinkie shouted, waving her hoof very fast. Twilight noticed and turned toward Pinkie.
“Pinkie, please don’t call me that. Also, what do you need?” Twilight asked the pink Earth pony.
Pinkie pointed at Spike. “Spike’s about to puke!” All the ponies moved away from him as Spike burped out Celestia’s reply letter
“Oops. Burp, not puke. My bad!” Pinkie said, then bounced over to look at the letter, which Twilight was reading.
“This is shocking!” Twilight said, clearly surprised.
“What’s shocking?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“There’s only eight words on this. Princess Celestia never writes less than a paragraph!” Twilight pushed the letter towards Rainbow Dash, who read the words out loud.
“I am Celestia of Pony. Resistance is futile.” read Rainbow Dash. She turned to the others. “What the hay does that mean?”
Twilight looked outside. The invaders were disappearing, and now she could clearly see Canterlot Castle in the distance. It looked like there had been a huge fight there.
“It means,” Twilight said, turning to her friends, “that we are in very big trouble.”
“Twilight, darling, we just barely stopped fighting those vines that hurt the Tree of Harmony. What trouble could we be in now?” Rarity asked, putting her hoof around the purple alicorn.
“You don’t get it, Rarity. There’s only one thing that could stop this, and those are the Elements. But if we remove the Elements, then the Tree of Harmony is in danger! This is a Catch-22!” Twilight was freaking out.
Rainbow Dash looked confused. “What’s a Catch-22?”
Twilight facehoofed. “I have to stop referencing stuff from Sunset’s world…”
Pinkie nodded furiously. “Yes, you do!”
Fluttershy sat down. “You mean… we either risk the Tree and rescue Princess Celestia using the Elements of Harmony…”
“...or we keep the Elements in the Tree and Celestia will be like she was in the letter forever?” Rarity finished Fluttershy’s sentence.
“EXACTLY!” Twilight shouted. “That’s why I’m freaking out here!”
The ponies looked at each other. That’s when Pinkie started screaming.
“TWITCHY TAIL! TWITCHY TAIL! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!” she screamed. Applejack facehoofed.
“Pinkie, that’s just an old legend. The sky can’t fall on us.” Applejack reminded Pinkie.
“Oh really? If Celestia can raise the sun, Luna raises the moon, who raises the sky? It could fall any day now!” Pinkie said, then sat back, satisfied. Applejack rolled her eyes.
There was a knock on the door. Twilight went over to it and said, “What’s the password?”
“We have never had a password to get into the library, Twilight Sparkle. Do we need one now?” said a familiar voice.
“Princess Luna!” Twilight opened the door and Luna stepped inside. Quickly Twilight closed the door behind her.
“So, what brings you to Ponyville, Princess?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Got some villain from Tartarus that needs to have its flank kicked?”
Luna looked at the six ponies. “Not that, but just as bad. I saw the message you sent my sister, and I saw her get captured a little while before it arrived. She came back about a minute after.”
“So, what does that have to do with the price of eggs?” Rainbow asked.
“Nothing. The price of eggs has nothing to do with this conversation. But my sister’s safety does. She has been acting, shall we say, strangely ever since she returned.” Luna sighed. “I don’t know why she’s acting weird, and Discord’s been on my case all morning saying he knows about these things and-”
Applejack held her hoof up. “Wait. Did you say Discord knows about these biped metal creatures?”
“Not in those exact words, but yes. He says he knows about these, quote, biped metal creatures, unquote.” Luna cocked her head. “Is that important?”
Twilight smiled. “Yes! Thank you, Princess! Come on girls! We’re going to Fluttershy’s cottage!”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Why do we need to go to my cottage?”
Twilight looked at Fluttershy. “Because that’s probably where Discord is right now.”
*At Fluttershy’s cottage*
The six ponies burst through the door. “Man, I’m glad we got out of there!” Rainbow said, out of breath.
“Yeah… let’s just find Discord, talk to him, and then get this over with.” Fluttershy said, shooing Angel away from the carrots. “Angel, you just ate a half an hour ago. Don’t be greedy.”
“Yes, Angel. Don’t be like Rarity when I got ahold of her mind.” Discord’s voice cut through the chatter, and Rarity sharply turned.
“Why, I never!” Rarity clenched her teeth and shouted, “SHOW YOURSELF, DISCORD!”
“Oh, I am.” Discord materialized out of thin air. “Also, person writing this, why not thick air?”
Pinkie ran up to him. “Hey! Fourth wall breaking is my thing!”
Discord laughed. “So, did you want to see me?”
Twilight calmly walked up to him. “Yes, we did. Princess Luna said that you said you knew about the things that were attacking Ponyville about an hour ago?”
“Oh, yes! A bit surprising you weren’t doing anything about it.” Discord said, looking at the ponies.
“Don’t change the subject! Also, we had to give up the Elements because of YOUR stupid mistake with a seed, so YOU shouldn’t be talking!” Rainbow shouted, getting in Discord’s face.
Twilight grabbed hold of Rainbow’s tail with her magic, and pulled the Pegasus down from the sky. “Not necessary, Rainbow. And also, not necessary, Discord.”
“Just tell us what you know already!” Rainbow shouted, while trying to get free. Discord sighed. “I have a friend who has ran into these things before. His name is Q.”
“Q? Princess, do you know anything about this Q?” Twilight asked Luna. Luna shook her head.
“No, your princess does not know anything about Q.” Luna said. “Perhaps Discord could tell us more?”
Discord laughed. “All I’ll say is that Q told me about this race called the Borg who assimilate planets and races into something called the Borg Collective.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “The Borg Collective?”
Discord looked down at Applejack. “A hive mind, if you will.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Sounds like a bunch of biped changelings.”
Twilight gasped. “You’re right! Hopefully these Borg won’t find out about the changelings. If they do…”
Pinkie stuck a hoof over Twilight’s mouth. “Don’t jinx us, Purple Smart!”
Twilight removed Pinkie’s hoof. “Sorry. And Pinkie… Don’t call me that!”
Pinkie smiled. “Maybe!”
Twilight groaned.
That was when Spike belched again. A letter was now floating in the air next to him.
“Um...” Spike looked sheepish. “Excuse me.”
“You’re excused, Spike.” Twilight picked up the letter with her magic and levitated it over to her. She opened it up, and started to read.
“Please give this to the nearest Princess. As of today, your planet has been assimilated into the Borg Collective. Resistance is futile.” Twilight looked up.
“Alright, these Borg are asking to be messed with!” Rainbow shouted, and pumped her hoof in the air. “Let’s go!”
“Whoa Nellie! We need a plan. Anyone got one?” Applejack asked.
“I got a plan!” Pinkie said.
“What is it?” asked Applejack.
“The plan is to go get our princess back!” Pinkie said.
“Pinkie… that’s not a plan.” Applejack said.
“Well, it’s the best we got.” Twilight said. “Let’s do this, girls!”
Everypony in the room was cheering. It didn’t take much for Rainbow Dash to sneak out of there.
“Phew! I guess nopony suspected me.” Rainbow said out loud, then facehoofed. “I’m not around anypony! UGH! I need to stop using pony terms!” She groaned, then started laughing. There was a flash of green light, and Rainbow Dash disappeared, replaced with a black creature with holes in its body. It flew away into the sky before anypony saw it, heading back to where it came from.
*Where it came from, aka the Changeling Hive*
“Queen Chrysalis!” A voice cut through the throne room. Queen Chrysalis looked up and saw a changeling scout fly into the room.
“What do you want?” she asked him. “Didn’t I send you to Ponyville to spy on those troublesome ponies that stopped us from taking over Canterlot?”
“Um… yes you did.” The scout was clearly nervous. “I… I have information. Classification V Double I.”
Queen Chrysalis perked up, well, as much as an evil changeling queen could. She rushed over. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” She was smiling. Classification V Double I was for Very Important Information- V, I, I, or V Double I. When changelings classified things, they classified things literally.
“What is it, scout?” she asked. “Is it plans on how to take over Canterlot Castle from the inside during a wedding? How to make certain ponies fall under our control? Kidnap all the princesses and the most important ponies in Equestria so that a pony has to come to our hive, where no magic except ours is able to be used, to stop us?”
“Um…” The scout coughed. “The first idea, we did that. Second, ask the Sirens, maybe we can ally with them. And third, great idea, we should try that in the future. But no, the information I have isn’t any of those.”
Queen Chrysalis pouted, then looked angry. “Then what is it?! Answer me!”
The scout cleared his throat. “There is a new enemy taking over Equestria. They have already kidnapped Princess Celestia, and they have included her in something called the Borg Collective.”
“The Borg Collective?” Queen Chrysalis thought hard. “Never heard of it.”
“Neither have I, your majesty. But the point is, they think almost the exact same way as we do. They kidnap ponies and ‘assimilate’ them into said Collective. And if we make an alliance with them…”
Queen Chrysalis leapt up. “Changelings do not make alliances! We are strong enough as we are! We have no reason to!”
The scout continued. “...we could replace their assimilated ponies with changelings.”
Queen Chrysalis stopped. “Get those invaders on the green cube. And also… what are they called again?”
The scout cleared his throat. “They are called the Borg, your majesty.”
Queen Chrysalis nodded. “Thank you. Get the Borg’s leader on the green cube. And as for you, report to Pharynx. You’ve been promoted to his second-in-command.”
The new second in command of hive security bowed. “Thank you, your majesty!” He flew off to report.
Queen Chrysalis smiled. “This,” she said to herself, “is a very interesting development.”
*On the Borg ship*
The Borg Queen sat down in a chair in her quarters, along with the newest member of the Borg Collective. Some research had shown that the white horse was actually a pony, and an alicorn at that. More research had shown that the alicorn was named Princess Celestia. This intrigued the Queen. Whenever they assimilated a princess, prince, king, or queen, their status was of course removed, because there could only be one person on the ship with royal status. That, of course, was her, the Borg Queen. Still, it much improved their chances of assimilating planets without any resistance. Because, of course, resistance to the Borg was futile.
The computer system suddenly beeped, meaning that someone was hailing her personally. The Queen frowned. Why didn’t the communications officer hail her from the bridge to tell her? Then she remembered that the thing that was being hailed was her personal communicator. She pressed the button to accept the hail, and a face appeared on the screen. The face was black, with green and blue beady eyes. Her long mane was also green, and she had bug like wings on her back. Her horn was also black, and long like Celestia’s, but for some reason there were holes in it. The face also had an evil smile.
The Queen looked at the face. “Who are you, and what do you want? If you are in league with the traitor Locutus, then get off my comm screen now.”
The pony on the screen raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know who Locutus is. I do know, however, that you must be the Borg’s leader.”
The Queen nodded. “I am the Borg Queen. If you are trying to stop us from assimilating your planet, do not bother. Resistance is-”
“-Futile, I know. My scouts have run into some of your soldiers. They say the same thing.” The pony shrugged. “Anyway, I am Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Army. We would like to form an alliance with you.”
“An alliance?” The Borg Queen was confused. “Tell me one reason why we should ally with you.”
“Because,” Queen Chrysalis said, “your thing is ‘Resistance is futile,’ right? Well, if you don’t want resistance, then it has to seem like nothing’s wrong. And with Celestia kidnapped by you- you DID kidnap Celestia, right?”
“I like to think of it as ‘assimilation’.” The Borg Queen responded. “Not ‘kidnapping’.”
“Either way,” Chrysalis continued, “if she’s gone, there’s certainly something wrong, and ponies are going to be resistant. But us changelings, well, we can do this.” And with that, she transformed into a carbon copy of Celestia. The Borg Queen leapt back in shock.
Chrysalis smiled, and changed back into herself. “My point is, every pony that you assimilate into your ranks, I can have a changeling pretend to be that pony so that other ponies don’t suspect anything. Thus, less resistance.”
The Borg Queen smiled. “I accept your alliance request. But don’t double cross us, or you will not live to see the next day.”
Queen Chrysalis smiled evilly. “I had no intention to. Let’s begin, shall we?”
Everypony in the room was cheering, including Twilight. She noticed Rainbow Dash sneaking out of the room, but decided to not mention it. Rainbow was a pegasus, she needed to stretch her wings occasionally.
When they were done, Discord got up and stretched. “It was lovely having that little chat, ponies. Fluttershy, next Tuesday like usual?”
“Of course, Discord. Do you want me to get the tea or do you want to?” asked Fluttershy. Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Fluttershy, we’re about to embark on a dangerous quest into a cube-shaped spaceship to rescue our princess, and you’re talking about Tuesday tea?” she asked incredulously.
“Well, of course!” Fluttershy said. “It wouldn’t be nice to skip it just because of a quest. Besides, Discord helped us.”
Discord smiled. “That I did, Applejack. That I did.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
“Alright girls! Let’s go!” Twilight shouted, then stopped, realizing that Rainbow hadn’t returned yet. “Um, girls? Has anypony seen Rainbow Dash?”
“I saw her earlier!” Pinkie said, then bounced over to Twilight. “She flew out the door!”
“I saw that too. I mean, did anypony see her come back in?” Twilight asked, now worried.
“She went to-“ Pinkie clapped a hoof over her own mouth.
“Pinkie? Do you know where she went?” Applejack asked.
“I- I do!” Pinkie said through her hoof. “But I can’t say.”
“Why not?” Twilight said, confused. “I don’t understand why. I mean, if Discord made her disloyal again…” Twilight glared at Discord. “All I’ll say is, he better not have.”
Discord held up his claw in a scout’s-honor gesture. “I swear on my friendship with Fluttershy that I did not do that. I haven’t corrupted anypony lately.”
Twilight squinted at Discord.
Discord sighed. “Okay, okay. There was an incident last week, but that’s all I’m saying.”
Twilight nodded, satisfied. “It doesn’t help us, anyway. Too far in the past.” She turned and looked at Pinkie. “Now, about why you can’t tell us where Rainbow Dash went?”
“Because if I tell you, you’ll know about something earlier than you should.” Pinkie said.
Twilight sighed. “Just tell us, Pinkie. Rainbow’s our friend, we can’t just leave her wherever she is while we go on a quest.”
“Fine, I’ll tell!” Pinkie took a deep breath. “Shesinthelibrarystillandsheslockedinside!” She huffed and puffed. “There, that’s all I can say!” She looked up to see all of her friends staring at her in shock. “What?”
“She’s what, darling?” Rarity asked.
Pinkie gasped. “Oh no, you heard!”
“Yes, I did, Pinkie,” Rarity said, then sighed. Twilight took this as a cue to step in.
“Pinkie, did I hear you say that Rainbow was locked inside the library?” Twilight asked.
Pinkie nodded. “Yup. She was locked inside a trunk, actually, but the person writing this couldn’t put that part in or the words wouldn’t look right.”
Twilight blinked. “…what?”
“Don’t question it,” Applejack whispered to Twilight. “She’s Pinkie. Just accept the fact that someone’s writing our every move and word, and think that that’s not creepy at all.”
“Oookayyyy…” Twilight said. “Let’s just go and unlock that trunk.”
*In the library*
“So which trunk?” Twilight asked. All around the room were trunks, for Twilight liked to keep certain objects together, and the only way to do that was to have them in a certain place. And… also because Twilight liked having trunks. Ever since she lived in Canterlot, actually.
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Geez, Twilight. You sound like I know everything!” She bounced off towards the bookshelves.
Twilight blinked, then shook her head. “Alright.” She looked around and saw that there were six trunks. Perfect. “I’ll get the one behind me and the one in my room. Each of you, choose one to try and open.”
“Yay!” Pinkie shouted. From out of nowhere, she pulled her party cannon out and blasted confetti in the air. “RESCUE-RAINBOW-DASH-FROM-A-LOCKED-TRUNK-IN-TWILIGHT’S-LIBRARY PARTY!!!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, then turned towards the trunk. “Let’s go!” She used her magic to open the trunk in front of her. It opened, and Rainbow Dash was staring at her, gagged.
Twilight jumped back in shock. “How exactly was it that easy?”
Applejack walked over. “I don’t know, but I guess now there’s no reason to open the other trunks.”
Twilight levitated the gag off of Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus gasped and flew out of the trunk.
“Somepony fillynapped me!” Rainbow said, out of breath.
“What?!” Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you sure? Who was it?”
“When somepony locks you in a trunk, yeah, you’re being fillynapped!” Rainbow looked at Twilight with a “well, duh!” look on her face. “And no, I don’t know who it was.”
“How do you know it was a mare?” Rarity asked. “It could’ve been a stallion.”
“Trust me, it wasn’t. I was in the right position, let’s just say that.” Rainbow shuddered. “I was definitely a mare.”
“Alright, alright! I get your point!” Twilight said. “So what happened next?”
“She shoved me into the trunk, then turned around and there was a flash of green light, then a second flash of green light, I had turned over so that I wouldn’t be blinded, but when I turned back around her legs were cyan, like mine.” Rainbow sighed. “The weird part is that her legs were pink before.”
Rarity gasped. “Are you saying you looked at a mare’s legs?”
“I will NOT stop reading fanfics, they are now correct and are NOT confusing me! I knew it for years!” Pinkie said, a satisfied look on her face.
Rainbow facehoofed. “I’m not gay!”
“If you say so,” Pinkie said, still looking satisfied.
Rainbow turned to Rarity. “And I’m not saying that, I’m saying that her legs changed color! That’s physically impossible, unless she had flank paint!”
“And… did she?” asked Twilight, who was intrigued against her better interest.
“No!” Rainbow said. “That fact, plus the green light, means that the mare who fillynapped me was…”
“A changeling!” everyone shouted at once.
Pinkie smacked her forehead. “I TOLD you you’d find out soon!”
Twilight stood up, confused. “But why would a changeling fillynap Rainbow Dash? At least since Cadance’s wedding, we haven’t had any trouble from them. We’ve been on generally good terms…” She thought back. “Actually, scratch that. Wait, no, I was right before.” Twilight sighed. “I can’t remember much right now… long day and all that… So, does anypony know why the changelings are suddenly causing trouble?”
“Because remember? YOU JINXED US, PURPLE SMART!” Pinkie shouted. “Now the Borg know about the changelings and- mmph!” Twilight stuck her hoof over Pinkie’s mouth.
“Pinkie, I swear on Tartarus that if you call me that one more time…” Twilight raised her eyebrow. “Get the point?”
“Yup.” Pinkie said through Twilight’s hoof, then giggled nervously. “You’re scary.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “And we don’t have any proof that the Borg know about the changelings. The changelings could just be causing trouble- OW!” As she said that, Spike suddenly burped and a scroll came out of his mouth, hitting Twilight.
“Sorry, Twilight.” Spike said, rubbing his mouth with his claw. “I didn’t know I was going to burp out a scroll. Honest!”
“Me neither, Spike. I thought you weren’t going to get any scrolls except for after we rescued Celestia.” Twilight levitated the dropped scroll over to her. “Does this mean that she’s okay?” Then Twilight read the scroll.
“I, Princess Celestia of Equestria, hereby place QUEEN CHRYSALIS ON THE THRONE?!” Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes.
Pinkie laughed. “On the throne!”
Twilight groaned.
“So, any idea why she’s puttin’ that Queen Chrysalis in charge? Ain’t Queen Chrysalis tha queen o’ the changelings?” Applejack asked, confused.
“Yes!” Twilight said, throwing the scroll out the window. A passing Earth Pony looked at it, then shrugged and walked away.
Pinkie sighed. “Well, if we didn’t have proof before, we now do.”
“Proof of what?” Rainbow asked.
“The Borg’s alliance with the changelings, and Twilight jinxing us back in Chapter two.” Pinkie replied.
“Who are the Borg?” Rainbow asked.
Everypony stared at her.
“What? I was locked in a trunk, remember?” Rainbow said.
“We know, darling. Here, I’ll tell you about them. Despicable creatures…” Rarity made an “ugh!” face as she led Rainbow Dash away.
*One long explanation-on-who-the-Borg-are later, as well as some The Best of Both Worlds episode facts from Pinkie…*
“Oh…” Rainbow Dash said. “Those are the Borg.”
“Yes, darling.” Rarity said. “And… well…” She tried to explain it lightly, but Pinkie ruined the moment.
“Aaand… they want to take over Equestria!” Pinkie said, bouncing towards Rainbow Dash. “Aaand, make us all like them! Butttt…”
This time Rainbow beat Pinkie to the punch. “We don’t have a starship.”
“Exactly!” Pinkie said. She stopped and stared at Rainbow Dash, squinting her eyes in an interrogation-type way. “Wait. How’d you know about the starship?”
“Um… you told me, remember? With those random facts.” Rainbow said, then stopped and mimicked Pinkie’s expression. “Wait. How’d you know those facts in the first place?”
Rarity facehoofed. “Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, let’s just return to the others, shall we?”
The three ponies went back to the library’s reading room, where Twilight was unveiling a new-and-improved version of Pinkie Pie’s plan from earlier, which was to get Princess Celestia back, and nothing else because it had been made at short notice. Twilight had made a diagram of the Borg ship, which nopony knew how she got because at that moment the said ship was in space, and Twilight couldn’t see into space. When Twilight explained that she saw it through her telescope, though, everypony accepted her explanation. Except Pinkie.
“But wait. Wouldn’t a telescope make something smaller than it actually is?” Pinkie asked.
“Just accept it, Pinkie. Let Twilight talk.” Applejack said, and looked at Twilight. “You can begin.”
“Thank you, Applejack.” Twilight said, then cleared her throat. “As you probably know, the Borg ship is very simple in design- a cube. But the inside is anything but.” She was interrupted by Pinkie waving her hoof in the air.
Twilight sighed and pointed a hoof at Pinkie, calling on her like in her fillyhood classroom days. “Yes, Pinkie?”
“How’d you see the inside of the ship with a telescope?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight sighed. “Okay, maybe I teleported myself on board. I know, it was dangerous, but it was to save Princess Celestia.”
Applejack shook her head. “You teleported yourself onto the ship?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, I did.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “When?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “When Rarity and Pinkie were telling Rainbow Dash about the Borg. I mean, we were just sitting around, so I teleported on the ship to find information.”
Applejack sighed. “That was not smart. I mean-” She tried to finish her sentence, but Rainbow Dash beat her to it.
Twilight facehoofed. “I KNOW!” She breathed heavily, looking at the others, who were staring at her in shock.
“Twilight, are you alright?” Applejack asked her.
Twilight straightened her body. “I’m fine. Now, any other questions?”
“Did you see Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, when you were on the ship?”
“Yes, I did, and let me tell you, she… well, she…” Twilight trailed off, trying to think of a way to say what she wanted to without alarming the others. “May have tried to capture me.”
“WHAT?!” The other ponies stared at Twilight in shock.
“Yes, but thankfully I managed to get out.” Twilight said. “But enough about me on the Borg ship. Now about the plan…”
“Excellent.” On board the Borg ship, Queen Chrysalis nodded. “Queenie, this was an awesome idea.”
“Don’t call me ‘Queenie.’” The Borg Queen sighed. “But yes, it did work out rather well, didn’t it?” They were watching a small screen that followed the movements of Princess Twilight.
Or so the other Mane 6 (and Spike) thought.
Twilight had told the truth. She had teleported herself onto the ship. But she hadn’t escaped. The Twilight that was standing in front of the Borg ship diagram was a changeling imposter.
And Twilight Sparkle, the newly crowned Princess that lived in Ponyville, was standing right behind the Borg Queen. Ready to assimilate.
The imposter Twilight turned to the ponies. “So, any questions?”
Silence. Then Pinkie raised her hoof.
Twilight smiled and pointed at Pinkie. “Yes, Pinkie?”
“I thought the plan was to go get our princess back,” Pinkie said. “Can you say the new one again?”
Twilight facehoofed. “Fine. The plan is, yes, to get Princess Celestia and rescue her from the Borg. But that’s a bad plan, Pinkie.”
Pinkie pouted. “No, it’s not!”
Twilight pointed at a certain spot in the diagram of the inside of the Borg ship. “This is where we’ll come in. We sneak around until we find Princess Celestia. Then we find her, take her back to Equestria, and try to return her to normal.”
Rainbow raised her hoof. “Um, no offense, Twilight, but that plan sounds an awful lot like Shelby’s plan.”
Twilight blinked. “Who’s Shelby?”
Rainbow sighed. “Never mind. Pinkie, you should’ve never told me those facts!”
“Why not? Those facts are interesting!” Pinkie said.
“Not when nopony except you have heard of them!” Rainbow threw her hooves up, exasperated.
“Calm down, Rainbow Dash.” Applejack had walked over. “I don’t get the reference, but yeah, that does kinda sound like a generic plan.”
Twilight groaned.
“How about this?” Rainbow flew over to the diagram. “We go onto the ship where Twilight says. But instead of sneaking around, we totally let the Borg know we’re there. Then we rescue the princess anyway!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Um, Rainbow? Won’t that let the Borg know exactly who took Celestia and come back down here to get the ponies that did it- aka US?”
“Well, it’s not like they wouldn’t know anyway.” Rainbow pointed out. “I mean, the Borg have only assimilated Celestia. Other planets wouldn’t be interested. Equestria’s citizens would.”
“But we’re not standing out!” Twilight said, clearly annoyed. “Equestria has like a thousand citizens. The Borg would take time to find the ponies who rescued Celestia, but with your plan, they would know it was us instantly!”
“It’s not like they have magic…” Rainbow muttered, but was interrupted by Twilight.
“Yeah, they don’t have magic. But they do have something called technology! And that technology can find things much better than Equestrian magic can!” Twilight shouted. She raised her hoof to her chest, then moved it to the side, blowing air out of her mouth as she did so. It was a tactic that her old foalsitter Cadance had taught her a while ago.
The other ponies watched the Twilight-Sparkle-vs-Rainbow-Dash-Smack-Down with interest, while somehow Pinkie had gotten a bag of popcorn. She threw a piece into the air and ate it, then swallowed.
“Yum!” Pinkie threw another piece up. “This popcorn is good!”
Twilight and Rainbow stopped to stare at Pinkie.
“Um, Pinkie? Where did you…” Rainbow began, but then stopped. She already knew the answer.
“Done!” Pinkie finished the bag. “So, who’s winning?”
“The fight between you and Twilight, duh!” Pinkie said.
“We weren’t fighting.” Twilight butted in. “We were exchanging opinions.”
Pinkie shrugged. “Call it what you want.”
*Meanwhile on the other side of Ponyville…*
“Oh, Angel, don’t you just love what I’ve done with the place?” Discord asked. He had changed Fluttershy’s cottage; the furniture was on the ceiling, and he and Angel were on the floor. Just the way he liked it: chaotic.
Angel glared at Discord and shook his head.
Discord sighed. “Fine. I’ll change it back.” He snapped his fingers, and everything went back to normal. He sat down on the couch and rubbed his forehead. “No one understands chaos anymore.”
There was a knock on the door.
Discord sat up, confused. “I wasn’t expecting anybody…” He stood up and walked over to the door. He reached for the doorknob when it turned, causing the door to open. In the doorway stood Queen Chrysalis.
Discord raised an eyebrow. “Ah, Chrysalis. How nice to see you again.”
Chrysalis sighed. “Hello, Discord.”
“And what brings you to my humble abode?” Discord sat, and made a chair appear for Chrysalis to sit on. She sat.
“I have come here to offer you a deal,” Chrysalis said. “I believe you know that Equestria is a target of the Borg? I mean, you were the one that told the ponies about it.”
Discord had made a filled teacup appear, and had taken a sip of it when Chrysalis said the last part. He spit it out, surprised.
“How did you know about that?” he asked.
“Oh, Discord. You’re really getting lazy. I mean, in your prime you could reveal a changeling spy with a snap of your fingers. Now you don’t even bother!” Chrysalis laughed.
“Are you saying that there was a changeling spy in the room at the time?” Discord said.
“Maaaybe.” Chrysalis said, smiling knowingly.
“Well, that explains how you knew.” Discord sighed. “Anyway, what’s the deal you wanted to offer me?”
“We want you as an ally.” Chrysalis replied.
That made Discord blink. “You… want me as an ally?”
“Yes. Your knowledge of the Borg plus your chaos magic makes you an acceptable choice.” Chrysalis sighed. “Of course, the other, better choices were all defeated already.”
Discord decided to ignore the comment about “better choices.” Then he remembered something.
“Wait a minute. You said, quote, ‘we want you as an ally’, unquote. Who’s ‘we’? The changeling army? Or the changeling army plus something else?” Discord asked.
Chrysalis sighed. “You’re more perceptive than I thought, Discord. I give you credit for that. But it won’t do you much good.” A form shimmered into thin air. Chrysalis smiled and pointed at the figure. “This is-“
“I can introduce myself, Chrysalis.” The figure spoke. “I am the Borg Queen. I was the one who asked Chrysalis to give you the alliance request.”
Discord nodded. “So, you’re the Borg Queen. I was wondering when I’d get to put a face to the name.”
The Borg Queen cocked her head. “So, you’ve heard of me?”
“Oh, yes. An old acquaintance told me about you.” Discord knew what he was saying; he wouldn’t reveal Q to the Borg. The old Discord might have, but the new Discord wouldn’t – and he was the new Discord.
“Oh?” The Borg Queen was intrigued. This meant that others had come to the planet before the Borg had arrived. Maybe the Federation, back in the Constitution-class starship days? She had heard that the original Enterprise tended to be assigned to many planets over its 5-year mission, mostly because they were the closest starship in the area. Of course, it could’ve been the Orions, Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, Andorians, or Tellarites? Any creature? She shook her head. “So others have been here? Equestria, I mean. Not Ponyville.”
“Yes, I thought I said that.” Discord said. “There was my acquaintance, the incident when a blue ‘police box’ fell from the sky, there was the time where Sunset Shimmer escaped into another dimension… I wasn’t there for the last one, but I heard about it from Twilight.” Discord shrugged. “Just another day in Ponyville.”
Chrysalis sighed. “Fortunately, hive life isn’t as hard.” She walked up to Discord. “Let’s get back to the alliance request. What is your answer?”
Discord started sweating, and he gulped. Whatever he said would either be bad for him, or for the ponies of Equestria. He exhaled calmly and answered her.
“No.”
Chrysalis blinked. “No?”
“No. I won’t join you.” Discord raised an eyebrow. “That is my final answer, you know.”
The Borg Queen smiled. “We’ll see. Good-bye, Discord.” With those parting words, she disappeared in a beam of light.
Chrysalis glared at Discord. “You’ll regret this, former Lord of Chaos. We’ll be back!” She too disappeared in a beam of light.
Discord sat down on Fluttershy’s couch. “Angel… let us hope that our friends save the day like they always do. Otherwise…”
Angel hopped up onto the couch and nodded twice.
Discord fist-bumped the little rabbit and nodded also. “They’ll do it. They always do. We need to keep faith. They’ve got this! Together!”
“Ready?” Twilight asked. They had decided on a combination of the two plans: a plan where they sneak in, but completely let themselves be seen when they rescued the princess. Twilight still didn’t approve, but it was majority rules. So, it got accepted as the plan.
Everypony was standing around Twilight. It was a little cramped, but it was necessary. “Yup!” they shouted.
Twilight concentrated. Sparks flew out of her horn.
“Grab onto me!” Twilight shouted, and her friends grabbed onto her. Spike grabbed Twilight’s tail.
Twilight concentrated her magic on the spot where they were gathered. Then they winked out.
*Paradise Estates*
“Firefly! Look out!” cried Medley. Firefly turned, and she barely saw the startled look of a purple unicorn as she crashed.
“Sorry.” Firefly said, sheepish. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” The purple unicorn looked around. “Oh great, wrong place! Everypony, grab on!” The other five ponies and the dragon grabbed onto the purple unicorn. Wait. A dragon?
“Hey!” Firefly shouted. “You know there’s a dragon grabbing onto your tail, right?”
The purple unicorn looked up at her. “That’s just Spike. He’s my assistant. He’s harmless.” She started concentrating.
“Assistant?” Firefly couldn’t believe it. “Dragons are evil! I mean-“ She was cut off by a scream from her friend Twilight.
“Firefly! They’re back!” Twilight screamed. Firefly looked up and saw a group of dragons coming down from the sky, one of them having a centaur on their back.
“Everyone, run!” Firefly yelled. She flew towards Twilight, then turned towards the purple unicorn. “Hey, come on! You’ll get-“ Firefly’s eyes grew wide. There was no one there. “…captured otherwise?”
Firefly shook her head. “I must have been imagining things.” She flew off to meet Twilight and Ember.
*Back in Ponyville*
Twilight- Sparkle, that is- tried to catch her breath. “Phew! Is everypony okay?”
“I’m fine.” Applejack shook her head.
“Same here!” Rainbow Dash said. “You could’ve told us that you were going to use a time travel spell!”
“I didn’t mean to, Rainbow. Honest! Also, does anypony know what even happened? I can only go back one week in time. That did NOT look recent!” Twilight paced around the library. "That didn’t look like any part of Equestria that I know of.” She kept pacing. “I’ll find more out about it later. Anyway, back to the plan. Grab on!”
The ponies grabbed on. Spike, tired of grabbing Twilight’s tail, grabbed Twilight’s back hoof instead.
Twilight concentrated her magic. Then, they winked out.
*On the Borg ship*
All was quiet on the ship. Then, a pop was heard and six ponies and a dragon appeared out of thin air.
“Phew! Everypony here?” Twilight asked. She looked around. “Applejack… here. Spike… here. Rainbow Dash… here. Fluttershy… here. Rarity… here. Pinkie Pie... not here?” Twilight looked at her friends, confused. Then she saw them snickering. Twilight turned around.
There stood Pinkie Pie, who had apparently been copying everything Twilight said or did. Twilight facehoofed. “Pinkie Pie… here.”
“Aw! You caught me!” Pinkie said, and pouted. Then she smiled again. “Anyhoo, did you see how cool this ship is?”
“Yeah!” Rainbow flew upwards, then punched the wall. She cradled her hoof. “Ow. That hurt.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well, the ship’s made of metal. Of course it would hurt!” She levitated Rainbow’s tail in her magic and started walking to the left.
As the six ponies (and dragon) turned the corner, there was a crash from behind them. Fluttershy turned around and gasped. “Um… girls?” she squeaked.
Rainbow Dash flew over. “What is it, ‘Shy? Something I- I mean WE- need to beat up?”
Fluttershy silently pointed her hoof forward. Rainbow Dash looked up- right at a humanoid metal creature walking toward them.
“Run!” Rainbow shouted. As she and Fluttershy ran off, Twilight turned.
“She’s right, girls! Come on!” Twilight shouted, then ran in a different direction. Applejack facehoofed.
“Ya know it’s kinda a bad omen to split up when we’re in a unknown place, right?!” she shouted after the fleeing Twilight. Applejack turned toward her friends. “So, which direction do you guys want to go- huh?” They had all run off.
“Great…” Applejack muttered. “We’re doomed.” Then she ran past the Borg soldier, who stopped, confused, and then kept going forward toward where Twilight had gone.
*Meanwhile, back at the ranch… I mean the control room of the Borg ship…*
“So, they’re on board now?” Queen Chrysalis said. She leaned back and stretched. “We can destroy them easily! Why wait?”
“Because, Chrysalis, they could be helpful! I mean… in a do-gooder pony kind of way.” The Borg Queen stood up. “If we destroy them, we would lose information that could help us take over.”
“That’s correct!” Queen Chrysalis said, smiling evilly. “My changeling army, plus your Borg collective, could take over Equestria in, to quote Rainbow Dash, 10 seconds flat!”
“Plus?” The Borg Queen laughed. “What do you mean, plus? Don’t you mean ʻonly’?”
“Only?” Queen Chrysalis snorted. “Ha. Your army could only assimilate one pony out of many. We changelings once copied almost all of Canterlot!”
“That one pony was the most powerful pony in all of Equestria!” the Borg Queen replied, more than a little annoyed.
“You have no idea that Princesses Luna and Cadence exist, do you?” Queen Chrysalis muttered. The Borg Queen opened her mouth to send out yet another retort, but was interrupted by the sound of a door opening behind them.
“Hi! Sorry if I’m bursting in unannounced! But me and my friends, we were running from a super scary soldier thing with eye lasers and stuff, and we split up! So, I went this way and I’m going to hide in here, but in case anypony’s in here I didn’t want to be rude, so I announced I was here! So, I’m in here if anypony wants to know!” Pinkie Pie said, then ran to hide someplace.
Queen Chrysalis facehoofed. “You want me to grab her?”
The Borg Queen shook her head. “We know that they’re split up. It’ll make it easier for us to find them.”
“Easier? How?!” Queen Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “If they’re split up, they’re now in groups of one. They were in a group of six earlier! It’s easier to hide if you’re in a group of one. Haven’t you ever heard the #1 rule of Hide-and-go-Seek? It’s to ‘never hide with a partner, it gets you both out’!”
The Borg Queen facepalmed. “This isn’t some childhood game, Chrysalis. Or fillyhood, as you might say. It’s something completely different!”
“Well, then, I think we’re done here!” Chrysalis replied. “Changelings!”
The Borg Queen blinked. “What?”
“I’m calling for my army,” Chrysalis said. “Changeling army! To me!” From the hallways of the giant ship there were sounds of transformation. Then somepony screamed.
“Probably that scaredy-pony Fluttershy. She was probably being chased.” Chrysalis said, as the transformation sounds turned into the buzzing of changeling wings being flapped.
“Chased by one of my soldiers, you mean. Your soldiers don’t chase anyone.” The Borg Queen said in reply. To her surprise, Chrysalis burst out laughing.
“Oh… you really don’t know, do you? My changeling soldiers don’t just turn into ponies, they can transform into other creatures as well! Of course, we don’t really get to show off that fact, since we’ve never actually taken over any place that’s not inhabited by ponies by using our transformation skills…” Queen Chrysalis trailed off, then blinked. “Where was I? Oh, yes, that ‘other creatures’ bit included Borg soldiers as well.”
The Borg Queen raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re betraying us?”
Chrysalis smirked. “I guess I am. Sue me.”
As they had been speaking, the buzzing noise had been getting louder, which signified the changelings getting closer. Now that the changelings were right outside the door, the noise was extremely loud.
Chrysalis smiled. “We’ll be using your transporter room now, my dear Queenie! Ta-ta!” And with that, she transformed into Rainbow Dash and flew out the door.
The Borg Queen followed. “Guards! Stop her!” she shouted. But it was too late.
At the same time that Chrysalis had left for the transporter room, Twilight Sparkle was snooping around the ship. The Borg had assimilated her, true, but they had botched the job as they tried to also find a suitable changeling to take her place. She was still an alicorn, nothing had changed in that way, but she had thought that her senses had been heightened, and maybe her magic too. However, she couldn't check.
"HEY! I FOUND SOMETHING!" A scream burst through the quiet of the ship, and Twilight jerked upright.
"Pinkie?" A thought ran through her mind quickly, and she jumped up and started running, nearly running into one of the escaping changelings who had passed her door.
"Hang on, Pinkie!" Twilight kept running and soon found herself in a room that was full of broken supplies – a sort of assimilation room.
Pinkie was standing there, a look of shock on her face. With a jolt, Twilight noticed that the schematics on the screen were hers. Pinkie turned around, and jumped as she noticed Twilight standing behind her. The two ponies ran toward each other and hugged.
Pinkie looked at Twilight. "Twilight! How?"
"I was scouting." Twilight shrugged. "I got caught by Celestia."
"No, I mean, how are you still you?" Pinkie asked.
"Oh. They were more focused on conquering Equestria than assimilating one alicorn. So they botched my assimilation. They heightened my senses and stuff, but they didn't insert me into the hive mind." Twilight shrugged.
Pinkie nodded. "Ah."
"So where are the others?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, we separated." Pinkie said, and Twilight facehoofed.
"Isn’t that a really bad thing to do? The first rule of hide and seek and what not?" Twilight said, and Pinkie looked confused.
"This isn't some fillyhood game, Twilight!" Pinkie said, and Twilight rolled her eyes.
"I know. But it's the same logic." Suddenly, Twilight's eyes widened. "Somepony's coming!"
"Who?" Pinkie asked.
"Just play along!" Twilight hissed, and put her horn to Pinkie's neck. Pinkie gulped.
The door opened, and in walked Applejack and Rarity. Twilight sighed, and removed her horn from Pinkie's neck. Pinkie sighed in relief, and Applejack turned toward them.
"Pinkie? Twilight?!" Applejack gasped. "Whoo-ee! It's mighty good to see y'all. I was worried."
"So was I, darlings!" Rarity said, then her eyes widened. "Twilight? Why is there metal on your ears and horn?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "There's metal on my ears and horn?"
Pinkie and Rarity both nodded, and Applejack said, "Yep."
"Oh, yeah. I got caught by Celestia while I was scouting." Twilight shrugged. "However, there's some kind of secret thing called Unimatrix Zero… I think? It allowed me to stay, well, me." The others stared at Twilight, utterly confused. "What?"
"Twilight… you were with us… after you scouted the ship. Right?" Rarity asked. "I mean… wasn't she?"
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, you were!"
Twilight gasped. "That must've been my changeling replacement!" Suddenly, Pinkie gasped even louder than Twilight had.
"TWILIGHT! What about Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike?! Where are they?!" Pinkie was freaking out. "We can't let them be assimilated! Unimatrix-thingy or no Unimatrix-thingy!"
Applejack placed her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Of course we'll find them, sugarcube. Just calm down. We've got this…" She took her hoof off of Pinkie's shoulder and placed it in the middle of the four friends. One by one, the others stacked their hooves on top of Applejack's.
"Together!" With that, the four friends lifted their hooves and ran off in search of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike.
***********
"Oh dear… oh dear…" Fluttershy looked around the room that she had hidden in. She and Spike had hidden in the same room with Twilight, but when they had finally found a suitable hiding spot, Twilight had suddenly transformed. She had been a changeling the whole time! Fluttershy had screamed, and the Twilight-changeling had flown away. Now, Fluttershy and Spike were hiding by themselves, waiting. Nopony had passed by.
"Are you sure we shouldn't go out there and look for the others?" Spike asked.
"I'm sure." Fluttershy did not want to go out there. It was too scary for her. Suddenly, she heard a faint noise behind her.
Fluttershy turned quickly, and an assimilated alicorn was staring at her. It looked a lot like Twilight, but after the changeling incident, Fluttershy didn't want to take any chances.
"Stay back!" Fluttershy whispered. "I have a loaded dragon! He will shoot fire!" Spike stared at her with a WTT (What the Tartarus) expression on his face.
The assimilated alicorn smiled. "Fluttershy! It is you!" Turning around, she shouted, "Guys! I found Fluttershy and Spike!"
"Yay!" Pinkie Pie's voice came out of the dark hallway, and a moment later the pink Earth Pony, as well as Rarity and Applejack, came bouncing into the room. "Am I ever glad to see you, Fluttershy! And you too, Spike!"
"Pinkie… how did you find us?" Spike asked.
"Oh! It was easy. We looked on the locator maps! It shows heat signatures! Ponies' heat signatures resonate differently than Borg heat signatures, so we followed the pony and dragon heat signatures first! That's when we found you!" Pinkie smiled widely. "Twilight here had the idea to pretend she was a drone so she could enter, in case any actual drones were in here!"
Fluttershy blinked. "So that is Twilight?"
"Yep." Twilight said, and grimaced. "Once this is over, I'm going to have to ask Luna if she knows anypony that can get this metal off of us."
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," a new voice replied. The ponies and dragon gasped, and Twilight turned around sharply to confront the intruder. As the lighting was very bad in the hallway, she could only see certain parts of the intruder at a time.
First, Twilight saw the intruder's white legs, ending in metal-plated hooves. Next, her torso, which was largely untouched except for her wings being set in a metal casing to improve her flight. Finally, Twilight noticed that the intruder's horn had been also set in a metal case, so that her magic could be improved. With a gasp, Twilight understood immediately who the intruder was.
Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria and Raiser of the Sun, was standing right in front of them.
"PRINCESS?!" Twilight gasped, fully realizing the implications.
They were caught- and Twilight had no idea what the punishment was for rebellious drones. It really didn't matter, though.
"I am no longer Celestia of Pony. I am Celestia of Borg." Princess Celestia replied. "And your actions are most unforgiving. You have-"
"Yeah, yeah. Can it, sister!" Pinkie shouted, and suddenly her party cannon was in her hooves. With a confetti-popping sound, the cannon propelled confetti and streamers all over Celestia. Applejack stared at her, shocked.
"Pinkie, are you out of your ever-buckin' mind?!" Applejack yelled. "You just confetti-cannoned Celestia!"
"That isn't Celestia!" Pinkie said. "That's a mind-controlled drone! YOU GIVE US BACK OUR PRINCESS, YOU FOAL!" Applejack's hoof was back in Pinkie's mouth.
Celestia blinked. “Princess Celestia is gone,” she repeated. “You have committed treason. Prepare to be assimilated.”
“Never!” Twilight shouted. “Equestria will never fall lightly! Not to changelings, to Nightmare Moon, to King Sombra, or anypony! We will fight, if it’s the last thing we do!” She sounded uncharacteristically fierce, but it did not deter anypony. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike stood behind their friend, determined to end this fight.
Celestia sighed. “I am sorry, my little ponies.” Surprisingly, the six ponies and Spike could see a tear going down Celestia’s face. With obvious effort, Celestia raised her hoof. On the end was a laser of some sort. Twilight gasped, then flew into the air.
Twilight, who hadn’t been flying away at all, slammed into Celestia from behind. The mind-controlled princess fell face forward and would’ve face planted into the ground had Applejack and Pinkie Pie not grabbed her.
Twilight landed. “I’m terribly sorry, Princess. But you’re not acting like yourself right now! Anyway… let’s do this!” She quickly ran through her memory for the teleportation spell, and activated her magic. Suddenly, the seven equines and Spike disappeared.
****************
Ten seconds later, Twilight opened her eyes. She and her friends, along with Princess Celestia, were standing inside the Golden Oak Library. Princess Luna, along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, was also standing there, looking very surprised to see the newcomers.
“Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, Apple Bloom, I’m fine. Blame Unimatrix Zero. Anyway, what are you doing here?” Twilight replied, and Apple Bloom winked at her.
“We’re helpin’ Princess Luna! We’re trying to get our cutie marks in Borg-defeatin’!” she answered. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
“What would a cutie mark in Borg-defeating even look like?!” Scootaloo sounded annoyed. “We’ve been here all day! No information’s showing up!”
“Well, that’s alright. ‘Cause I’ve got the answer!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up and down. She shoved a type of scroll into Twilight’s face. Twilight read through it twice, and then gasped.
“Of course! Hang on, everypony!” She activated her magic, then read the scroll’s contents out loud. A hot pink light shot out of the tip of her horn and surrounded Princess Celestia. For a heart-stopping moment, nothing happened – then suddenly, the princess rose into the air. The metal on her horn and wings disappeared, and soon Princess Celestia stood before them, completely normal.
“Yay!” Fluttershy squealed. “Thank goodness.”
“Hello, my little ponies.” Celestia smiled down at them. “Thank you for saving me. Now about that ship…” She concentrated, and suddenly her magic activated.
*ON THE BORG SHIP*
“Damnthose ponies!” The Borg Queen smacked the console, angry. “Why does everyone try to get in our way?!” She stopped suddenly. “What is that noise?”
A faint humming was heard in the background of the Queen’s rant. As she listened, it soon grew louder, until the humming turned into a loud beeping noise.
The Borg Queen ran into the engine room and beheld a sight so strange that she had to blink a few times. The restart sequence button was surrounded by a glittering yellow glow- almost like a transporter beam, but not.
“Uh-oh…” The Queen cursed under her breath, then looked closer. The glow seemed to have expanded – around the whole ship.
She cursed again. Suddenly, the ship exploded, and all went black.
*BACK IN EQUESTRIA*
Princess Celestia’s horn glow dimmed, and she opened her eyes. Twilight and the others stared at her, concerned if what the princess had done was safe and/or had worked.
Princess Celestia smiled. “The ship is no more,” she said. “Equestria is safe once again.” Pinkie cheered at this, and soon the rest of the ponies joined in – except for Twilight, who was busy trying to decide if she should be happy (because Equestria was safe) or scared (because her princess had just decimated an entire spaceship and was nonchalant about it). Finally, she looked up.
“Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, Twilight?” Celestia looked at her former student, smiling in a kind of motherly fashion.
“Do you think… do you think that the Borg will ever return?” Twilight was hoping that they wouldn’t, but one never knew.
“Don’t worry, Twilight.” Princess Celestia looked determinedly at the ceiling. “I don’t think they’ll return. But if they do? We’re ready… and we WILL win!”
Twilight smiled. Suddenly, she felt a golden glow surround her, and suddenly she felt the metal implants remove themselves from her body. She looked up to see Princess Celestia’s horn glowing, and when it stopped, the implants fell to the ground.
“Everypony, we are safe once again,” Twilight told them. “It’ll take a while to get back to normal, but that’s how it always is.” She looked out the window, where ponies were starting to hesitantly exit their homes and go back out into the open. “We did it. TOGETHER!”