The winter storm came from the north, just in time for Rainbow Dash to step up the snow for the winter. Rainbow Dash had just gotten done with her day’s work, though mostly spent her shift sleeping and letting every other pony do her job. Pinkie Pie saw the demand for her oven-hot confections explode, twice.. even her super-equine abilities barely kept up with demand. Rarity’s new line of Faux-furs were off the racks in an hour, and backlogged orders for Ponyville and Canterlot kept her free time to a minimum. Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight however, were free to do as they pleased. Spike was minding the library, and the apples and critters needed no further care until the spring thaw. The three had decided to have a snowball fight (inspired by a book Twilight read, to no surprise). While Applejack and Twilight were the primary combatants, Fluttershy’s fortress of snow proved to make her just as intimidating as the others, though nopony told her that. When they heard a big bang from the town square, they looked over to see fireworks off in the distance. They wondered, what in Equestria is going on in town today?
“Twllight, hmm, do you know what might be, um going on, if you wouldn’t mind telling us...“ Fluttershy nervously asked the purple unicorn, as she gestured to the square.
“I don’t know Fluttershy, but I'm pretty sure we can find out! Come on, everypony!” she replied confidently. She motioned the others to follow her before she took of into a full gallop. The quick run brought them to a familiar sight, the town square filled with ponies standing shoulder-to-shoulder with little room for any more. Twilight found the wall of rumps impassable, but had a clever solution as always.
“TWITCHY TAIL!” Twilight yelled.
The wall of ponies split; anypony who could move away ducked towards cover. She trotted along smugly as she took advantage of the cleared path to the front.
“False alarm” she said smoothly. Rarity’s wiles were contagious it seemed. In the front row, Twilight and her friends saw an unwelcoming sight. A large stage had been erected at the square, non other then The Great and Powerful Trixie standing front and center. She had in (what in her case is) cleverness donned a black and white mask over her face, replacing her hat and cape for a high collard cloak, adding an air of mystery to herself, unfortunately no mask could hide her flagrant speech and condescending demeanor. Derpy Hooves and other pegasi floated above the disguised show-boater, trying to get better view. Fueled by the attention, Trixie began her tirade.
“Come and witness the dark and secretive works of one of the most elusive ponies in all of Equestria! Gaze in wonder at the dark, the intrepid, the cool, untouchable, unmatchable and ….. sexy, MYSTERIA!”
The snow banks around the square blew up and whirled around the ponies, filling their eyes with white, as though a fog stifled them. It raised itself above them until Celestia’s already muted sun was lost from sight. Inside of the frosty dome Trixie’s stage turned into ice itself, spiraling icicles piecing up into the air and raising her above the crowd. The mass of ponies retreated from her creative display. Twilight and the others however stood their ground, even Fluttershy knew what little they actually had to fear from the farce. Twilight was not impressed with this Trixie’s show,
“Really, you can cut the act out ‘Mysteria’, or should I say Trixie.”
With another wave of snow, Trixie obscured the center of the stage, speaking forth from the haze.
“Now I will show you all the true depths of the arcane, witness the power of the taboo!: For today, I shall raise the dead!” The snow fell away revealing a statue of white stone, hewn into the shape of a amalgamation of various creatures. It was a horrid figure they couldn't forget: Discord. The ponies in the square Panicked screaming and running, but impeded by the wall of snow erected around them. Twilight tried to scream over the din
“Please whatever you do, DON'T PANIC!”, but it was all in vain, all she did was add to the chaos of the square.
Chaos
Chaos!
The stone broke away in chips, and the draconiquis was freed from his prison. Discord cheered a greeting out to the panic that had freed him.
“Heeeeello everypony! I”M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!”
Way out in space, far from all the life joy and bustling of Ponyville, in stark contrast, a hulking body of metal cruised soundlessly across a void of black pinpricked by stars. It was vast; a massive saucer connected to a smaller teardrop shaped body buy an elegantly curved “neck”. Two long booms extended from the body away from the saucer giving the whole mass an awkward but strangely balanced appearance. On board, a single human stood in small but comfortable room, holding a small device, projecting information on a small display. He spoke to no one, his tone was harsh as he left his voice for the recording device in his hand to keep.
“First officer's log. Stardate(42761.3). We have not been able to determine why, or how, Captain Picard left the Enterprise. We can't even be certain he is in the missing shuttle, although that is the assumption on which we are proceeding. For the last six hours we have been searching without success....” He looked down to the datapad in his hand saying, “End log.” He then strode to the door, which opened through a seam in its middle, and exited into the bridge.
The bridge was large and roomy, a sunken den with a row of plush chairs was sheltered by a platform with an overhang of dark wood that wrapped around in an oval, ramping upward a person’s height over the seats below. Towards the front sat two reclined chairs with sprawling display screens attached to them like desks.
Sitting in the captain chair was none other the commander Riker of the U.S.S Enterprise. Riker was tall man, about 6 feet, and had mahogany colored short mid-length hair, with a goatee-styled beard with sideburns. But one thing stood out on commander Riker, his hazel colored eyes. His angular chin and square forehead were quite handsome for a man. His face was harsher than normal; he was not happy at all, waiting for the bridge officers to report on what the hell was going on. It seemed the tension in the air has turned more into desperation. Riker walked toward the command console at the front of the bridge.
The person sitting at the console leaned back to allow Riker access to the display. He reclined himself perfectly, his balance unshifting as he angled himself backward in an exact arc. His pale face was completely unassuming, showing no emotion. Despite that, he seemed very approachable, and where his face betrayed no feeling, his voice was smooth amicable and empathetic. He answered the unasked question from Riker,
“We have covered the area in a spherical pattern which a vessel without warp drive could traverse in the time allotted.”
“Widen the area...” Riker swiftly replied to yellow-shirted man.
Data turned around, his neck turning unnaturally fast for a person, returning to his work at impossible speed.
A couple lightyears out in the distance, the shuttle that Captain Picard was in had become a trap, a prison that Q has placed him in. Shuttle craft 6, floating in the void of the dark emptiness of space, gave the captain little comfort. Captain Picard was a little shorter then Riker, with an angular but stern face, and a large nose. The top of his head was smooth, but not polished, and of course completely bald. He sat with arms crossed at the shuttle helm controls, with the infamous Q right behind him separated by a wall panel, throwing a rubber ball in his hand, against the wall behind him. He keep hearing the dunk sound, reminding the captain of his torment that Q has put him through. Picard had dealings with Q in the past, and they were unpleasant, and he never wanted to deal with Q again. Q was a mischievous, slightly threatening, purportedly omnipotent being who had taken an interest in humans. Q was a touch over six feet tall, with a slightly box-like face. His nose was little odd, but close enough to average for the humans that he was trying to look like. His eyes where small but soul-staring. The black short hair that he had made him seem quite serious. His hairline was receded a bit, giving him an appearance of age; which was ironic because as a Q he was timeless.
“Do we stay out here for years? Decades? Picard, I am ageless, you are not.” he mused with frankness.
“Then the Enterprise will continue on with Riker as captain. Return me to my ship!”, Picard said, trying bluff the mischievous Q.
“You are an impossibly stubborn human.” Q said, responding to Picard. Then, he smiled, and got an idea, a brilliant idea.
“If I return you to your ship, you will agree to give my request a full hearing?”
Picard agreed with a nod.
“Aw good old ponyville, it seems you repaired pretty fast, for a bunch of ponies; but I like how it was; it was just so... chaotic if you ask me. Well better get back to work,” Discord said with a smug look on his face. Discord was standing on Trixie’s stage, He looked over the sprawling square, and then he saw her: Twilight Sparkle. He gave the most evil, most unalluring smile,
“This is too good to be true, my friend Twilight Sparkle has come to visit my returning,” Discord walked toward the raging pony, picked her up and stared her straight in the eyes.
“I am here to stay Twilight, and I’d like for you and your friends to play a little game.” Discord devilishly said to the purple pony.
Twilight try to fight her away out of grasp of the draconic spirit of chaos’ raptor-like claw, She felt discord breath in front of her. it smell of chocolate, gun powder, and... something she didn’t want to smell. The talon of the eagle-like claw dug hard into her coat.
“We had beat you before, with the power of friendship...”, Twilight managed to shout before she was interrupted by Discord.
“Power of friendship? Hah! Where are your friends?” Discord smiled wickedly at the absence of the other bearers.
“They... they.... went to get the Elements! Yeah, they went to get the Elements of Harmony to defeat you!” Twilight said nervously
“Oh!, I am so scared, I am shaking in my little socksies! Please Twilight Sparkler, there’s no need to be so discreet with me.” Discord snapped his fingers with his other hand, and sparklers came out of twilight mouth, making her spew like a roman candle.
“So much chaos to spread, so little time! And I don”t need you being in my way...” Discord said, before the inevitable happened.
Rainbow Dash flew out nowhere, and bucked Discord in his egghead of noggin. Discord losing balance, let go of the purple unicorn. Applejack galloped towards her and caught her just in time before she hit the cold frozen earth,
“Ya okay there Twilight?”
“Thanks for the help, AJ” Twilight said to her first friend with sincere gratitude
“Twern’t nothin’ sugarcube, I saw that ya got yourself in a bit of a scrap. Hope you left some tail for me to buck!” Applejack tore off at discord, but a rainbow trail blazed past her.
“I’ll think about leaving you some AJ” Rainbow Dash said as she careened at the pony-dragon-eagle-snake villain. Discord flashed, teleporting himself out of Rainbow Dash’s path, vanishing from existence to appear elsewhere. He popped back into existence only to be immediately assaulted by swaths of cloth. A few yards away Pinkie Pie, who had donned a military commander’s uniform, pointed squarely at where he appeared. Her pinkie sense gave Rarity forewarning to aim her fabric as she magically manipulated it.
“Rarity,” Pinkie Pie began, “Operation Pencil Pusher is a go!!” She took her cigar out her mouth and shook the ash off of it.
With that, Rarity’s horn glowed further, and shears needles, thread, and more, animated themselves and flew into the tussle of cloth discord had found himself in. In less than a second, the animated cloth-works retreaded to reveal a newly dressed Discord. His mane had been dyed black and he was wearing a white collared dress shirt, tie, and slacks. His clawed hand held a briefcase and he was wearing black horn-rimmed glasses. To end the ensemble, his shirt was adorned with a pocket protector. Before he could say anything Fluttershy ran up to him with a gaggle of goats behind her.
“Oh thank you! I was hoping to find somepony to handle this year’s goat census! And you seem to be just the pony to do it! I mean, you look so orderly!” She flew up to him, and hoofed him a clipboard and pen, then flew off.
Discord’s rage was beyond words, his face turned blue and icy and then mushroom clouds erupted from his ears, becoming solid mushrooms and falling to the ground. he took a broad intimidating step forward, only to be stopped by the pull of several goats gnawing on the tails of his shirt. After shaking them off, he looked up at his assailants with a quip in mind, but he didn't get a word in edgewise.
A pink glowing sphere contained the six elements and their holders, and Twilight’s eyes were glowing. Discord felt fear for the first time in more than a millennium, he knew what was coming and it was too late to do anything to stop them, the magic emanating from the six making a space where he held no power. He felt the energy from them rise, and waited for the rainbow of power to recapture him again...
”YOU WON’T TAKE MY GLORY FROM ME, I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE, AND YOU ARE NOTHING!” Trixie screamed as she charged Twilight and smashed into her. They passed through the bubble of power and the magic barrier dispersed, giving Discord one last chance to save himself. He’d had enough of these interlopers and was willing to remove them from the picture instead of gloat at his victory.
Q raised his arm
Discord raised his eagle claws of a hand
Q crossed his fingers
Discord prepped his claws.
With a flick of the wrist, they both snapped.
Captain Picard and Q stood on the galley of the Enterprise called Ten Forward. It was large, plenty of room and filled with tables and chairs. It was like a restaurant but more open. There was a simple bar with circular chairs against the wall like it was from a 21st century diner. There where two sliding doors, with arrow shapes symbol int he windows. The room was artistic in its own way, many different form and patterns throughout, There was a bar that had curve and the counter lit up. The bar stools looked of the ones from 1960s, but with plain colors, the whole room itself was an amalgamation of curves because it was the most forward part of the Enterprise, with windows that faced out towards the depths of space.
In front of the viewports stood seven little miniature horses of varying color. Picard had seen nothing of this sort in his lifetime, and as an avid equestrian he was more than a little intrigued.
“What is the point of all this Q?” Picard’s demeanor was serious, and had a demanding tone.
“Pardon me a moment Picard, it seems there were some technical difficulties in bringing you back, give me a moment to...”
As Q spoke, a black woman with Dreadlocks came out from behind the counter. She was wearing a reddish, but long dress with a weird looking hat that Rarity would’ve fallen in love with.
”YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...” he exclaimed, and looked at Guinan. “Picard, if you had half the sense you pretend to have, you would get her off your ship immediately- and if you like I will be more than pleased to expedite her departure.” He raised a hand at her, contorting it.
Picard looked puzzled, and responded with, “You know him Guinan?”
“We had some dealing” she said with her own hand raised in the same fashion as Q’s.
”Those dealings were two centuries ago. This creature is not what she appears to be. She's an imp- where she goes trouble always follows,” Q said to Picard.
Picard snapped at Q,”You're speaking of yourself, Q. Not Guinan.”
“Guinan? Is that your name now?”. He said to the dark skinned woman.
“Guinan's not the issue here -- you are... We had an agreement that you would stop meddling with us. And why are there animals on my ship?” Picard snapped at Q again.
“ Well, as for those other creatures; believe me Picard when I say that they are not my doing at all...” Q turned to the seven equines. “Curious indeed... but forgive me, lets get back to the task at hand!”
The captain spoke with little patience. “What do you want, Q? State your business and let's get on with it.”
“I agree Captain, enough about this creature -- she's diverting us from the purpose of my being here.”, Q said with serious look upon his face.
“Um, excuse us but what are we doing here?”, the purple pony said to no one in particular.
Everyone stopped mid action, even Q, and turned to look at the small mare who spoke to them.
“Oh... um... sorry” she said sheepishly doing her best to copy Fluttershy’s ability to hide behind her mane.
Riker, who had just arrived at Ten Forward with commander Worf in tow, looked at her with surprise. “Did that horse just speak?” he didn't believe what he’d just witnessed.
“Horse?!” Said the orange one “Its Pony if yah don't mind” as she tipped her hat to the strange bipeds before them.
“Don’t be angry, we just made some new friends AJ!,” giggled the pink party pony.
Pinkie Pie appeared behind Worf. His ridged head whipped around to face whatever had snuck into his blind spot. His face shifted from surprise to a snarl, having found nothing behind him.
“Over Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!” chimed a sweet voice from above him. His hair whipped as he snapped his head upwards to see only bulkhead above him.
“Hehe! You aren’t very good at this are you?”
Worf looked straight in front of him, and there stood the pink bubbly pony, in the same spot she was in before and now waring a red star fleet uniform.
Worf growled in angered sarcasm: “Wonderful...”
Q spoke. “Ahh, the redoubtable Commander Riker. Along with micro-brain. Growl for me -- let me know you still care.”
Worf started to walk towards Q, his patience already spent by the pink life form. Picard stopped Worf before he could act.
Twilight asked in a gentle manner, ”Umm....sir, can we have a word?”
Q snapped at the purple pony, “Quiet, before I turn you into glue!”
Q then turned back to the captain. “I came here with a purpose: to join you.”
Riker responded to Q ” To join us as what?”
Q quickly responded to Rikker, “A member of the crew. Willing and able -- ready to serve. This ship is already home for the indigent, the unwanted and the unworthy -- so why not a homeless
entity?”
Applejack couldn’t help but ask the strange people, “ Homeless? What?” All the ponies in the room looked confused at this idea.
Riker turned to the orange mare, and explained with mild exasperation: “Homelessness was problem of many not having a place to call home. We resolved that problem long ago...but other planets still suffer from it. It’s when someone doesn’t have any place to live, and they are forced to suffer the elements” All the ponies had shocked looks on their faces, like they had never seen or heard of anything like this before.
Rarity looked the most shocked out of all the ponies. “ That’s just wrong. Why would somepony let them sleep in the dirt? Why, that is just awful!”
Q was vexed at the presence of the ponies, ruining everything he was trying to do on the ship that day. Q gave them that smile that reminded them of a draconiquis. His face gave a dark stare from the void of his black eyes, straight into Twilight’s soul. “ I would advise you to let me finish what I have said, otherwise you might end up somewhere separated from your friends.” Q stated, threatening all the ponies, but directed mostly toward their leader.
“Oh please, you couldn't do anything to me. The great and powerful Trixie’s powers are beyond your grasp!”, flared the blue show mare.
"Oh, really?",Q responded in curios manner. He took that as a challenge, and he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. With a pop Trixie was gone, shocking everyone who saw, except for the officers who were used to the entity’s antics.
Captain Picard looked at Q with disgust and had enough with the dog and pony show. He lashed out, "That creature did not deserve that! Return her at once, or this conversation ends Q!"
"Oh, have it your way Picard". With a snap of his fingers, Trixie was returned to the ship, shivering from the unknown places that she had just returned from. "These creatures are such pests....if you want me to remove them for you, I'll be glad to."
“That is the exact reason why I do not want you on the crew, and frankly, we don't trust you, Q!“
Picard said with a sly smirk, looking like someone trying to get back at the other.
“Oh, you may not trust me, but you do need me. You're not prepared for what awaits you.”, Q smirked back with another grin.
“I don't know if we are prepared, but I do know that we are ready to confront it.” the captain rebutted.
Really?” asked the entity.
Picard calmly but swiftly replied , “Absolutely. That's why we are out here.”
Q was upset by Picard’s stupidity, and replied, “Oh, the arrogance.” He turned to Guinan. ”They don't have a clue about what's out here".
Guinan responded to Q, with a smile. “They will learn -- adapt. That's their great advantage.”
“They are moving faster than expected -- farther than they should.”
Picard queried, “By whose calculation?”
Q looked at them like they were idiots and said, “You judge yourselves against the pitiful adversaries you have so far encountered -- the Klingons, the Romulans, are nothing compared to what's waiting. Picard, you are about to move into areas of the galaxy containing wonders more incredible than you can possibly imagine... and terrors to freeze your soul. I offer myself as a guide -- only to be rejected out-of-hand.”
Riker smiled smugly, “ I guess we'll just have to get along the best we can without you.”
Q was disgusted and replied, “What justifies this smugness?”
Picard interjected,” We're not smug -- nor arrogant. We are resolute and we are willing. But more than that we are determined. Your help is not required.”
Q looked irked. “Well then, let's just see how ready you are.”
Guinan shouted “Q -- don't do this!”
Q raised his hand with the motion of a tactical wizard. pinpricks of light stretched millions of light years away from their current position. It careened away into the unknown, spinning like a helicopter out of control.
