Equestria Trek: First Contact

Chapters

A Trap and a Rescue
A Flashback and Forethought
An Arrival and An Ambush
Responses and Reactions (part 1)
Responses and Reactions (2 of 2)
A Rescue and a Negotiation
A Discussion and Before Breakfast
A Reawakening and A Reunion
Ignition
Action
Consequence
Epilogue
Decision

A Trap and a Rescue

A Trap and A Rescue: In which the narrative begins, sometime after the beginning of the story.

“Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Judges. Her continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before... At least when we can find the odd moment to do so when we’re not fighting the Borg, or Klingons, or shepherding cargo ships...”

“Commander?”

“Just muttering to myself, pay no mind Lieutenant.”

Delilah sighed as Siatt returned his attention to his console, chuckling to himself. He was as bored as she was, so she wouldn’t fault him for finding a moment’s humor at her expense. It was the midday watch, so it was expected that the captain would stand the watch, ready and available to deal with trouble. Not that there was supposed to be any trouble on this mission, just keeping three cargo ships from being hit by pirates. Command thought that the presence of the light escort ship would be enough to deter the riff-raff from even trying, but Delilah wanted more. Outside of orders, she had arranged for a holo-emitter system that projected the image of a fourth cargo ship, fat and happy like the others, trailing off at the end of the line. For the final leg of the approach to the colony world they were even holding down their impulse speed below the convoy’s normal max, as if one of the ships was babying a worn impulse engine.

A chime came from Bindalla’s console, followed by the pakled science officer’s voice. “Commander. Two contacts on passives, stern approach. Designating Bogy Alpha and Bogy Bravo,” she reported. Heads rose up around the bridge at the news; were these the pirates they had been trolling for?

“What else can you tell us about them?”

“Stealthy, no cloak, but em-con. No transponders, no names. Guessing frigates, guessing Orion config. Time to engage range for us, thirty minutes.”

“Yellow alert,” Commander O’Niel said, the wooping of alarms as background to her following words, “Lieutenant Onehli, what’s our menu of engagement options?”

Siatt spoke while tapping commands into his console, using the intercept calculator to work through the possibilities. “Long range choice, we turn to face them, and let loose with torpedoes and phasers. They’d likely evade, but we’d have a chance to destroy one. No risk to Judges. Short range choice, we let them get close enough to tear apart with our phasers. We’d be more likely to destroy both, but they’d get a chance to hit us as well. We’d win, but if they see through our disguise, they’d get first shot.”

Delilah hummed to herself. “Chance to capture one or both?”

“Low at either long or short range.”

Delilah turned to the officer next to her. “Thoughts, Vulzy?”

Lieutenant Commander Vulzy Raat, her first officer, frowned in concentration. “Commander, our primary mission is to guard the convoy, and the long-range option lets us do that with the least risk to ourselves.”

“True, but that’s only a short-term solution,” Delilah countered with a smile. “I’d like to know where these pirates are based, and for that we’ll need their computers as intact as possible. To that end, I’m thinking we should go with ‘Bird In The Hand.’”

Raat sighed, but nodded. He didn’t like fancy deception tricks, but he trusted his captain. And in any case, she WAS captain of USS Judges.

Delilah smiled serenely, and pressed a combination on the command chair’s arm.

“Engineering here, Syoosi reporting,” came the deep, resonant voice.

“Syoosi, how soon can you give me your half of Deception Four?”

“Thirty seconds, Captain.”

“Good. Tarah,” she continued, speaking to the Female Andorian at the communications station. “Thirty seconds after we kill impulse broadcast that our EPS finally blew, and that it’ll take some hours to fix. The others can stop ‘holding back for us’ and continue to orbit. Omni-directional and no encryption.”

“Aye-aye, Commander,” the Ensign replied.

“Bridge, we’re ready for Deception Four,” came over the ship’s comms.

“Good, activate on my mark. Mister Thirs, reduce and end thrust at the same.”

Delilah paused for a moment. “Mark!”

A plume of warp plasma appeared outside the fourth freighter, the ship’s impulse engines shuddering to an end. Half a minute later, an explanatory message went out, and the first three freighters went to full impulse away from their sibling. Seconds after that, the two Bogies dropped their stealth, attempting to overfly the lamed ship, clearly planning to come back and loot it after catching as many as they could of those that could still flee.

Delilah’s smile morphed into a hunter’s grin as she looked at the tactical repeater on her command chair’s arm. The trap was set, the prey was taking the bait.

---=={***}==---

The battle had been quick and decisive. One of the frigates was destroyed in the first fifteen seconds of the engagement. The other, finding their engines disabled and their weapons pointed in the wrong direction, had surrendered when called on to do so. The survivors were being kept under the watch of the Judges’ security department, while the rest of the away teams were inspecting the ship for clues about their possible base of operations. Commander O’Niel was leading one of those away teams herself, currently looking through the ship’s hold.

The difference between an Orion frigate used for commerce raiding and an Orion tramp cargo hauler was often the difference between Monday and Tuesday. So Delilah was not surprised to see the hold half full. Most of it was neatly packed into cargo containers, but the random ‘booty’ piled around on any available flat surface took up volume disproportionate to its mass. There were pieces of weapon systems, emergency ship batteries in various states of charge, and...

A box.

Delilah didn’t know what first drew her eye to the cargo container. Her left eye told her that it was a standard design for transporting live animals, which made her decide to focus her telepathic senses on its contents.

“What does their manifest say about that one?” she asked, pointing to indicate.

Siatt glanced at the data pad. “Weather control system. I can find some details on where they were supposed to take it, but nothing else immediately,” he reported.

“Interesting,” Delilah mused, moving to stand in front of the container’s hatch. Her implant presented her with information about weather control systems, how they were shipped, but she didn’t need it. “There’s something alive in there. Guessing intelligent, but I can’t decipher the thoughts. Certainly bored. Open it up; I want to see what exotic new slave the Orions are trading in.”

As a crewman operated the hatches to release the door, the clicks and clacks echoed through the cargo hold. It didn’t take long for it to open, which is why Delilah only had a second to shout, “Evade!” as she dove to the side. A furious bolt of cyan, followed by a spectrum-spanning wake, burst from the box, missing the Starfleet commander by less than an inch.

---=={***}==---

Some time later, U.S.S. Judges, Brig

Rainbow Dash was not happy. Not yet, at least. Yeah, so she had gotten out of that dark little box, where the only interesting stuff was occasional noise, but she had only been able to buck two of them before the big one tackled her, and now she was in another box.

Okay, so calling it a ‘box’ was something of an overstatement. It was well lit, there was enough room to stretch her wings, even hover a little, if not really FLY. And they had even given her food. Raw hay, but after days of only occasional water, raw hay was good enough to eat. They’d given her all she wanted of both that and the clean water, asking if she wanted more until she had enough to kill the aches in her belly.

But she was still trapped. Three walls had no doors. The other wall wasn’t there, like it was an invisible wall between her and her audience. She’d noticed things behind it would ripple, and when she tried hitting the wall it glowed around the impact. Somehow she got the feeling that Pinkie Pie could break the fourth wall, but that pony was so random, Rainbow Dash had no idea how she would do so.

But Pinkie Pie would break it so she could play with the audience; Rainbow Dash just wanted to get away from, from, from...

“Ugh, you are SUCH a total EGGHEAD!” Dash complained.

“’Egg-head’? I can understand the words, but I miss the idiom.”

Dash groaned, putting her hooves over her eyes. This guy was a total egghead. When she had been put into this new cage, he had come with, looking at her in a way she didn’t like, waving weird things at her, babbling at her. The Pegasus had ranted at him, telling him to let her go, or at least leave her alone! Then asking him. Then she tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking politely, and... none of it worked. But, as Dash wound down, his babble turned into sensible Equine... and he asked if she was hungry. And food appeared in a cloud of sparkles inside the cell. He had kept talking while she was eating, and seemed to be really excited about something, but it could have just been more babble for all the sense it made. It reminded her of Twilight Sparkle talking about what comets are made of, as if Dash cared.

After she had finished eating she had tried asking him some questions of her own, but she might have not bothered. Half of the answers were more egghead babble, the other half were just, “I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

Eventually, the door on the other side of the magic wall opened, letting in another of the creatures. This one was shorter than most, and that purple hair... yeah, that was the one Rainbow Dash had first seen on launching out of the first box, the one that dodged. Back to the moment, it was speaking.

“So tell me Lieutenant Commander, how is our guest doing?” it-no, she, from the voice- asked the egghead.

More babble. The newcomer’s face slid into an expression of half-attentive boredom, and she interrupted him mid-word.

“Female. Was hungry. Talks. Was there anything else you found out that won’t wait for your written report?”

“Ahh...” the Egghead paused.

“You know, useful little things, like her name?”

“Umm...” Egghead looked embarrassed.

She sighed, one paw/talon thing holding the bridge of her nose. “Raat, you’re great at xenobiology, but you need to learn how to listen to people if you ever want to hold command.”
“Commander-”

“Just get me a chair, I’ll take over from here.”

As he moved to obey, Rainbow Dash asked plaintively, “So why does he shut up when you tell him to, and not me?”

A half smile moved onto the she-thing’s mouth as she turned to face the pegasus pony. “Because I am captain of this ship, and he is one of the officers under my command,” she explained. Egghead returned with the chair, and she sat before asking, “So what’s your name?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed, suspicion replacing her amusement at Egghead’s discomfort. “Why should I tell you? You could have been behind that attack! Who are you, anyway?”

“Good questions. My name is Delilah. Delilah O’Niel if you’re feeling formal. I also respond to ‘Captain,’ or ‘Commander’ while on duty; ‘Sexy,’ or ‘Hot Mamma,’ while off duty. I’m in charge of this ship, the U.S.S. Judges, which is part of Starfleet. I’d like to help you.”

A Flashback and Forethought

A Flashback and Forethought: In which earlier events are shown, and later plans are made.

It was a beautiful day in Cloudsdale, as was to be expected. While the floating city usually rested above most of the rain making clouds, there was no wind that day to chill the pegasus pony population.

Further, being the central weather factory for Equestria meant that the population contained a number of expert weather ponies, more than enough to buck the rare rogue cloud. In fact, those experts spent much more of their working time putting clouds above the city than they did removing them. Their removal was part of the tests required to gain and maintain Weather Pony Certification.

The tests for initial certification were long, often complex, and involved proving you could perform all the tasks you might be called on as a Weather Pony. The test for maintaining that certification, on the other hoof, was a simple practical test. The day before, the pegasus being tested would learn what section of the sky over Cloudsdale she had been assigned to. Around 3 AM, a team of crack weather ponies would place clouds in that section. At 7 AM, about an hour after dawn, the section of sky would be checked. The test was a simple pass/fail: if there was no more than an acceptable haze in the area, you passed. If not, you had to go through an annoying series of paperwork and tests, deliberately worse than initial certification, before you could work the weather on your own again, without supervision.

While some thought outside the box to solve this problem, doing things like taking the crews putting up the clouds to parties the night before, Rainbow Dash used the more direct method of starting clearing at 6:59 AM. Being awesome, she finished with over half the minute to spare, the test evaluator holding up his official timepiece so he could watch her race to beat the deadline in the early morning sunlight.

The dude had chuckled at her flamboyant performance, and informed her that it would take a few hours for the paperwork to be properly filed, and that she should pick up her updated certification card around noon. That left several hours for Rainbow Dash to do whatever she wanted. Some of that time was spent napping on a quiet cloud roof, before getting chased off by the irate owners of the shop in question. More time was spent looking around the newly opened for the day shops that made up the city’s commercial district. Then she spent about an hour in the empty arena, practicing her tricks.

It was on her way back to the weather factory that Rainbow Dash saw a splash of yellow and pink, huddled in the corner of an empty playground next to the facility, part of the day-care provided for foals of weather factory workers. She landed softly on the cloud surface behind it; it took a matter of moments to identify the south-end of a familiar north-pointing pony.

“Hey Fluttershy, what brings you to Cloudsdale today?”

The only response was a squeak, and an end to soft noises.

“... Fluttershy, are you okay?”

Silence, aside from the growing noise of the Weather Factory workers changing shift behind them.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof over Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Is... something wrong?”

This was not the sort of situation that Rainbow Dash was well equipped to deal with. She was always loyal to her friends, putting protecting them above all else. But while she knew what she needed to do, she wasn’t really very good at being comforting.

“It’s me Flutters, Dashie-”

Screams ripped them from their private worries. Panic, fear, and pain were broadcast from pony throats, sending chills down the element bearer’s spines. Griffin war screams chilled the blood. Both turned to look, seeing the activity at the main entrance to the Weather Factory.

Griffins were attacking the pegasus ponies there; some were using talon and claw, but most were shooting glowing beams of light from their talons. Rainbow Dash had the sharp vision of the stunt flyer she wanted to be in the Wonderbolts, so she was able to see the tools behind those flashes. Ponies hit by the yellow beams were falling down, some still moving, some not.

“Ignore the foals! We only want those with skills, but don’t be afraid to zap them if they get in the way!”

The shouted command made Rainbow Dash glance behind herself, to see that the noise had brought curious foals from the daycare out into the playground. Most were hanging back as fear began to overrule curiosity. But the orange pegasus filly with purple mane and tail rarely showed a healthy level of fear. Scootaloo charged towards the attacking griffins, wings buzzing like a hummingbird as she skimmed the cloud surface one hoof forward in imitation of her hero.

It came back to Dash in a flash: she had promised to show her number-one fan around Cloudsdale in celebration of her successful re-certification, helped to get up to the floating city by Fluttershy, who was coming for reasons of her own.

While Dash took this in, the Champion of Kindness was the first to strike back against the invaders. “HOW DARE YOU!” The shout was loud enough to momentarily dwarf the sound of the struggle, many griffins turning to look at the outraged yellow pegasus. Even more surprising to those that only casually knew Fluttershy was the iron will in her voice. Those that met her eyes fell under the power of The Stare, freezing in place.

While most of the fight went quiet, not all the griffins were caught, some even began plotting how to neutralize this new factor in the battle. They only had moments to consider, before the Champion of Loyalty joined the battle, her forehooves bouncing off of two heads of griffins still moving, before bucking a third out of the realm of the wakeful.

Alas, she was a role model, and her biggest fan was less wise. The griffin she struck had been already held by The Stare, and Scootaloo lacked the speed or mass to make for a knockout. In fact, she only hit hard enough to free the attacker’s attention from Fluttershy’s grip. The griffin shook his head in irritation, raising his weapon to blast the annoying filly. The beam only narrowly missed, as a rainbow blur pulled Scootaloo out of the way.

Rainbow Dash carried Scootaloo away from the besieged Weather Factory, to what she thought would be a safe distance, before putting the filly down. As Fluttershy harangued the griffins, Rainbow Dash gave her own firm directions.

“Scoots, I want you to promise me you’ll stay out of trouble,” she commanded.

“But I ca-“

“I know you want to, but you’ll be hurt. Now promise me!”

“A... all right Dash, I prom-“

***THOOM***

Scootaloo’s eyes widened as she saw what had just happened behind Dash. Dash looked over her shoulder to see a vertical beam of green light piercing the Weather Factory, that faded away to reveal that part of the cloud and column structure had been... wiped away. The first beam was followed by another. A third. More.

“GO!” Rainbow Dash shouted, as she flew back towards the Factory.

When she got back to the factory entance, Rainbow Dash found that Fluttershy had the situation there under control. Unconscious griffins and pegasus ponies littered the cloud surface, cowering griffins did their best to not draw more of the righteous anger of Kindness. But some of the griffins were still moving, heading into the weather factory itself. Rainbow Dash followed, needing to know what they wanted inside the partly destroyed building.

As she entered, she heard a voice. An angry, strident, familiar voice. She was arguing with someone, but Dash couldn’t hear the other side of the argument.

“Look, you- Yes, they’re tagging the stuff, I TOLD you that. But if you want those loser weather ponies to work the stuff someone needs to deal with that yellow- I don’t CARE about your exposure, just DEAL with it!”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she looked around the building. It had been sliced apart, and griffins were pointing things at the machines and workstations. As she watched, one of the cloud makers disappeared in a cloud of sparkles.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed again as the recognition sunk in. The griffin watching the efforts of the others, the one yelling at the air, was right in front of the pegasus. Even from behind, with that voice, it was impossible for Dash to not know who it was.

“GILDA!”

The person that had once been her best friend turned around, emotions flashing over her face as she turned. She finished the turn before she finished sorting out how she felt, but the angry hoof that smashed across her beak simplified things.

“Fine,” she growled. “If that’s the way you want to do things, Dash.” Gilda pounced, talons spread wide.

Being the athletic, physically active, and rambunctious types they were, Gilda and Rainbow Dash had fought before, matching hoof against claw. Those fights had often started angry, but turned playful as each found the other to be an equal match, and small wrongs were forgotten under the fun of shared physical activity.

This time was different, as Rainbow Dash’s fury only grew as Loyalty faced betrayal, and Gilda’s anger rose to match it. Dash had never been so filled with rage, with the need to punish, the need to force someone to stop what they were doing, and make sure they wouldn’t try again. Gilda was less driven, but she wasn’t going to let herself lose this fight.

As the fight continued, Dash found that she was taking more punishment than she was giving. Even with the strength her anger gave her, something was weakening her blows, and she came to notice the glowing lights that stole the force from her hits.

It didn’t take long for Gilda to get the upper talon, flinging a bruised Rainbow Dash through a damaged wall, clipping a pillar on the way through. She landed on the cloud surface outside the factory. She struggled to get back to her hooves, but she could see Gilda fly through a hole in the wall, climbing up to make a finishing dive. Now Dash felt her first taste of personal fear that day, as she just didn't have time to recover.

“GILDA! HOW DARE YOU!”

Gilda didn’t recognize the yellow pegasus with the pink hair. She didn’t even think to connect this one with the timid, meek creature she had terrorized in Ponyville. All she knew was that this... elemental fury was targeting her, and seemed to know her sins as her words lay her soul bare.

“HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF HARMING RAINBOW DASH!? YOU KNOW WHAT SHE’S DONE FOR YOU, HOW MUCH SHE TRIED TO HELP YOU! SHE’S YOUR BEST FRIEND, AND WHEN YOU CAME TO VISIT HER SHE TRIED TO HELP YOU MAKE FRIENDS WITH HER OTHER FRIENDS!”

This was Fluttershy’s Stare at full power, focused tightly on one target. It wasn’t something Fluttershy could call on at will, or even to protect herself, but when called on to protect another, she could tap into the power of Kindness to overpower even the stare of a cockatrice. Against it, Gilda had crumpled to the cloud surface, holding her head in her talons and shuddering, unable to break eye contact.

Rainbow Dash managed a weak grin as she struggled to her feet, as Fluttershy’s epic rescue gave her time to recover. She took the chance, standing back up on still unstable legs

“YOU THREW THAT ALL AWAY! THREW THE GREATEST GIFT BACK IN HER FACE LIKE IT WAS TRASH! YOU COULD HAVE BE-“

A beam of energy slammed into Fluttershy’s side, cutting her off and slamming her to the cloud surface. Rainbow Dash’s head whipped around to track its origin. There floated a number of bipeds, with green skin, wearing some kind of armor, and holding tools like the griffins had used earlier.

The one that had shot Fluttershy shifted its aim. There was a flash of light, and everything went dark for Rainbow Dash.

---=={***}==---

Rainbow Dash stopped in the middle of a sentence, as her eyes widened.

“Oh no, what happened to Fluttershy? Did Scootaloo get away safely?”

The ruby eyes grew wider still. “They attacked the Weather Factory in Cloudsdale!”

Widest. “What’s that gonna do to Equestria’s weather?”

Delilah raised a hand to cover her slight smile. She’d been following the story with interest, using her betazoid senses to track Dash’s emotions, and was glad to see that Rainbow Dash was getting over her distrust of her enough to let the pegasus worry about threats to other things. The smile banished from public view, she leaned forward in the chair to place a comforting hand on the light blue shoulder. “Hey, I said I wanted to help you, and I will, if you’ll let me.”

“Captain, the Prime Directive-” Raat began.

“Stop right there,” Delilah interrupted, her right eye closing (the left, behind the optic she wore, was always closed) as her hand moved to rub the bridge of her nose. “I am aware of the Prime Directive, and how it may apply, but right now you have more important things to do. Like that little meeting scheduled for all senior officers in about an hour.”

“What scheduled mee-” Raat was cut off mid-word by his data-pad beeping. He raised it up, seeing the notification that there was, in fact, a meeting he was required to attend, in just about an hour.

It had been scheduled by Commander Delilah O’Niel, as captain of USS Judges. It had also been scheduled less than fifteen seconds ago.

Raat’s jaw dropped open, and he slowly turned, leaving the brig.

Delilah was still banishing the annoyance Vulzy Raat could so easily summon in her when Rainbow Dash spoke.

“Wow. What a mega-dork.”

Delilah opened her right eye again, giving Dash an unamused glare. “He is also one of the officers under my command, and I won’t stand for others insulting my crew.” Her voice was no longer the compassionate thing she had used to help calm Rainbow Dash down, instead being filled with firm resolve. No malice, just... a solid statement of her limits.

“E-he, sorry,” Rainbow Dash apologized. “I take it back.”

Delilah’s smile returned. “It’s no biggie, just don’t say it again.” Loyalty to her own people having been served, Delilah shifted the topic back. “But right now, if you want to help your friends, the best thing you can do is rest, relax, and recover from what you were put through. That way, when we find your home, you’ll be ready to do what you need to do. So what do you want to do now?”

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. “Wait. Why can’t I just start on my way back home on my own? I’m sure I could get there faster that way. I am,” Rainbow Dash’s chest puffed out with pride. “Equestria’s Best Young Flyer, which I got for performing a Sonic Rainboom.”

Delilah chuckled a little. “I take it from your story they didn’t tell you,” she said. “We’re in space, in a ship that can travel from one star to another.” Technically, she shouldn’t be telling the pony this, under the strictest interpretation of the Prime Directive, but she felt honesty was best here. If the only proof of alien ships was the story of one individual, it wouldn’t alter the course of the culture enough to measure, (hopefully) and if there was more proof, telling Rainbow Dash wouldn’t cause any more harm. Either way, lies or evasion wouldn’t help. “We’re a long long way from Equestria. You may be able to outrace sound, but this ship can go faster than light, which is why we’ll be able to get there before we’re all old and grey. For that matter, we’re not yet sure where Equestria is, which star we need to point the ship at. We’ll ask you some questions later to narrow things down. Even best case, it’ll take at least a day to get there.”

“I thought you might want to do something fun and relaxing before we bore you with all sorts of questions. So, what do you want to do?” Delilah asked again

Dash thought a moment. She didn’t like being unable to help her friends right away, but what this creature was telling her made sense. Then she considered. While she liked racing, and winning, she also knew that doing so after just eating a big meal all at once was asking for cramps. Still...

“I want to fly. I want to feel the wind under my wings, the air sluicing through my feathers.”

“I think we can manage something like that.”

---=={***}==---

“I can’t let you outside the ship, not really outside,” Delilah said as she lead Rainbow Dash down the corridor of the ship. “But I can offer you the next best thing.”

“But why not? Aren’t you in charge?” Rainbow Dash asked, while looking at the passing crew members, many of which were taking second looks at the quadruped. Curious, but not hostile looks. They came in different colors, if not as wildly colorful as Ponyville’s population. Most were a foot or two taller than Dash, but there were a bunch that could look the look her in the eye without looking down. They all seemed to walk on two legs, some had bigger ears... “Huh. You people all wear clothes.”

Delilah sighed, rolling her eyes a little. “Authority’s not the issue. Let me think how to put it...”

The captain took a deep breath. “Okay. You know how air gets thinner, and it gets harder to breathe, the higher you get up? Like mountains with year-round snow high, right?” she asked. Seeing the weather pony’s nod, she continued. “Well, for sake of explanation, you can think of this ship as flying so high up that there isn’t enough air to breathe; in fact we’d quickly die if we didn’t bring air with us, the ship holding it in.”

“Oh,” Dash replied, shuddering a little. “So you have to stay cramped in here? I mean, the ceilings are high but -”

Delilah laughed as she stopped next to a hatch that looked like all the others, aside from being double wide. “Well, we’ve developed some ways around that,” she said as the door opened, and she led the way in.

The room Rainbow Dash entered was strange. It was large, two stories tall, and half-again that in the other two dimensions. The walls, floor, and ceiling were black, save for a grid of yellow lines. And it was completely empty. No people, no boxes stored, no furniture, nothing.

As Dash trotted to the middle of the room, Delilah stayed at the door, inputting commands on the computer display in the arch. “This is a Holodeck,” Delilah stated. “It uses holograms, replicators, and force fields to create amazingly real seeming illusions.”

“How real?” Dash asked.

“Tell me for yourself,” Delilah replied. “Computer, run program Terra prairie.”

The grid of yellow on black vanished, revealing green grass, blowing in a sudden breeze, as the sun shined out of a blue sky.

---=={***}==---

“Well, Rainbow Dash is in the Holodeck, engaging in motion therapy,” Delilah said as she lowered herself into the chair in the briefing room. Only five others were in the room with her. The sixth of her bridge officers, Ensign Tarah, was head of Security. The female Andorian was busy keeping an eye on the Orion survivors, and making sure they were completely disarmed.

“While our guest is getting over her ordeal, I’d like to discuss how interesting today has been.” The smile on her lips was mirrored by the four of the five officers facing her. As for the exception, well, Raat usually had a stick up his butt. An effective administrator and talented biochemist, but...

The Borg attack on the Vega colony had cost Starfleet a large number of experienced officers (and destroyed Delilah’s career plan, and her long term goals) but the heroes of that dark day had risen to fill the gaps in starship command. Starfleet had given them freedom to promote officers under their command with little concern for official seniority and experience, these captains had mostly handled the responsibility well, and the effective results spoke for themselves. Still, there were some problems, officers promoted above their ability to lead, or promising potential starship commanders held back by captains that didn’t want to lose them, despite the need. Vulzy Raat was an example of the first, being too in love with rules and regulations for the flexibility a Starfleet officer needed. Delilah had been saddled with him when she was appointed to the U.S.S. Judges and was still figuring out a long-term solution that would save her grief, and make use of his undeniable talents. Figuring out what to feed an unknown life-form was hard if you also wanted to be sure to not accidently kill it.

The Bajoran biochemist spoke first, “Working only from external scans and examination of discarded hairs and feathers I can definitively say that the creature-“

“Rainbow Dash.” Delilah interrupted, a slight frown on her face.

Raat seemed to ignore the correction, continuing, “-has Terran biology and biochemistry. Classic mammal, in fact, even if nothing like that, with hair and feathers, let alone a six-limbed endoskeleton, has been recorded as a product of Earth’s natural evolution.”

“So she’s a product of genetic engineering?”

“That’s just it, there were no indications of genetic engineering in her DNA, none of the tell-tale markers of known manipulation methods.”

The Pakled officer to Raat’s right spoke up. “Flight is odd.”

Delilah paid close attention. Bindalla spoke slowly, often seeming stupid, and was almost the perfect image of the Pakled stereotype. Many Pakleds used that appearance to lull others into dropping their guard, so they could steal ‘things to make us go.’ Bindalla was in fact one of the best physicists that Starfleet Academy had produced. She was an explorer at heart, seeking wonder in the unknown expanses of space. She had adopted the ethos of scientist, where the question was the meaning.

“Wings too small. Shouldn’t fly. Does fly. Anomaly.”

Delilah understood the last word to mean the following: “What I have observed does not fit inside my existing models, but I am reasonably confident in my observations not being in error; I wish to observe more to either discover data that would allow me to fit this into my existing models, collect evidence that the original observations were in error, or proof that my models are flawed and need to be revised.”

“The flight’s not the only thing that’s odd,” Maya added. Delilah turned to her small ship’s Operations Officer, Ensign Oasis. “Rainbow Dash is a dead ringer for a pegasus out of earth mythology. Smaller than the legends say, and the legends never spoke of them talking, but...” She shrugged.

Delilah nodded. Starfleet had found that understanding of archeology and mythology often helped in understanding new civilizations, so the Academy offered courses to those interested. Ensign Oasis had taken all she could, around her main courses. And she had crammed in a lot. The woman was as capable as she was attractive, and could put tremendous energy into her duties and interests. Delilah found the human immensely sexy, which was causing the Commander personal frustration, given her commitment to not getting romantically involved with her own officers or the crew of the ship she commanded.

.o(Of course, if she could just prove herself, I could suggest to command that she be given a bridge of her own, then there wouldn’t be any conflict of interest in my hitting on her. Even if she turned me down, at least I wouldn’t be taking cold showers every night.)

“I think she mentioned being a pegasus, but does the place-name ‘Equestria’ ring any bells?” Delilah asked, Maya responding with a simple shake of her head, her long braid of metallic blue hair swinging in synch. The unnatural color of that hair was heritage of the genetically engineered super-soldiers of Earth’s Third World War.

“I’d like you to check the ship’s database, and go over what comes up when we interview her, see if there are any more connections,” Delilah commanded, receiving a nod from Maya in acknowledgement.

Delilah turned to the large officer beside Maya, who was living proof that both the idea of genetically engineered super-soldiers hadn’t died out, and that succeeding at the idea was harder than the Dominion’s Jem’Hadar made it seem. The scientist that had created Syoosi had been madder than most. Physically, he was ideal, with strength, speed, and reaction times that could have let him be the kill-beast his maker wanted.

But when the Starfleet officers burst into the lab, and the scientist had released his beauty, commanding his creation to “kill them!” Syoosi’s response had been to ask “Why?” Syoosi had the mind of an engineer, and the soul of a philosopher. He thought about things, and the reasons they were used, in a way that let him jury-rig solutions in emergency that bordered on the miraculous.

Alas, his biology was a cipher; he did not know his life expectancy, nor did he fit into any of the standard medical profiles. He was unique, and might not have long to live. He had wound up in Starfleet to address both concerns, giving him access to very capable and flexible medical support, and giving him a chance to do something meaningful, should his life prove to be a brief flash.

The lieutenant was also a master student of judo and aikido, martial arts based around deflecting, redirecting, and avoiding force, using them to prevent harm to himself, others, and those that attacked him. This had allowed him to catch Rainbow Dash when she had gotten loose in the cargo hold of the Orion ship. He approached life from an angle, instead of straight on, giving him a perspective that Delilah often treasured.

“Syoosi, we cracked the encryption on the Orion computers earlier,” Delilah stated. She had been the one doing the cracking, computer systems being a talent of hers. “Now that you’ve looked at their logs, can we tell where they picked up Rainbow Dash?”

“Not perfectly, Commander,” Syoosi said without a trace of apology. “Orion ships don’t keep sensor logs as well as Starfleet does, but from what was available, we can narrow it down to half a dozen systems.” He nodded to Bindalla, who was the ship’s navigator. The Pakled Lieutenant pressed a command, and a hologram appeared above the briefing table, a three dimensional star chart. Their own location was indicated, and six stars were highlighted. “At a guess, if Rainbow Dash can supply us with even simple astronomical details, number and size of moons or such, we should be able to narrow it down to one or two.”

She looked to her Bolian tactical officer. “What’s the status of the convoy?”

“They’re securely in orbit around the colony,” Siaat reported. “Normally we’d join those going on for the next leg of the trip, but I get the feeling you’ve got something else in mind.” He would; the Lieutenant had been in her class at Starfleet Academy, and in addition to the number of classes they shared, they had even dated for a while, parting on amicable terms. While her position above him on the command chain had prevented them from resuming their relationship, their familiarity with how each other thought had let them work together well.

“We can tractor the raider ship into orbit, and turn it and the survivors over to local authorities in just an hour. We could be heading out of the system in less than two hours.” Anticipating Delilah’s needs and laying the groundwork for those needs made him one of the most valuable officers she had.

Delilah nodded. “There are other starships in-system that can be pulled into convoy duty, but light as we are, we do represent the strongest Starfleet starship close enough to investigate this. We’ve got a major scientific mystery, a refugee that wants to go home, proof that the Orions are actively enslaving members of a pre-warp culture, and the trail isn’t getting any warmer. If we wait for another ship it might be lost entirely.” Her voice was decisive; while she’d accept the advice of her officers, her mind had been made up, and she was captain of this ship.

“We’re going looking for Equestia.”

An Arrival and An Ambush

An Arrival and An Ambush: In which things are not as expected, and do not go as planned.

Onboard a KDF Bird-of-Prey, the captain, a female Orion, is spinning around in the chair at the middle of the bridge, leaning back all the way.

“Ugh. This is so boring.”

“Yes Captain.”

“No one visits this stupid little system.”

“Yes Captain.”

“Mother thinks there’s something worthwhile here.”

“Yes Captain.”

“And right now she’s the only one willing to put up with me.”

“Yes Captain.”

“It was only one lousy cargo ship I blew up.”

“Yes Captain.”

“How was I supposed to know it was carrying the General’s shipment of Romulan Ale?”

“Captain, a ship just dropped out of warp.”

The captain righted herself in the command chair, looking at a screen in one of the arms. “Starfleet. No one else would enter a system and go to active scanning that quickly. Scientists.” The single word held the scorn of the Klingons for the unwarlike Federation. “Go to full cloak, sneak up on them.”

“Yes Captain.”

---=={***}==---

“Today we joined a Valda Group ship in looting a planet full of pre-warps. The freaky place was a cloud city; they claimed they can get the slaves to manage weather for them. For my part, that’d be too much effort, we took the most distinctive looking slave. No need to train it, we can just sell it to a zoo for exotic life, and that rainbow hair will fetch a good price. In any case, my brother sent me a tip about a Federation convoy without an escort. He figures both of our ships should be able to take them all.”

Delilah looked up from the transcript of the log pulled from the Orion frigate. “’Valda Group,’” she mused. “That’s a new one on me.”

She was thumbing through the decrypted files on a data-pad separated from the ship’s network, passing the time as the turbolift took her to the bridge. She used her implant to made a mental note to look up ‘Valda Group’ later.

“Lieutenant?” the one word question was addressed to Bindalla, who was sharing the turbolift. She shrugged.

“Captain on the bridge,” Raat said as the doors slid aside. While she found her first officer’s adherence to petty protocol annoying, she found his situational awareness while on watch to be very comforting.

“Mister Raat, I take command,” she formally said as she approached the command chair.

“Commander O’Niel, you take command,” he replied with equal formality as the watch shift changed.

“Maya, stay a moment,”

The ensign so named stopped, letting Saitt and the other crew going off shift take the first turbolift. “Yes captain?”

“Anything interesting come up in your interview with Rainbow Dash?”

“Well, I did get a hit on her name in the historical files, a fragment from a fictional series from before the Third World War,” Ensign Oasis said. “The ship’s database didn’t have much, and records of those times are fragmentary, but the computer did come up with the line ‘Rainbow Dash always dresses in style.’”

Delilah thought a moment about that line, trying to put it on her mental image of the athletic pegasus. “And did you ask her about it?”

“I did.” Maya paused, a smile hiding behind her formal expression.

Delilah was less restrained in her grin, as she rose to the bait. “And her reply?”

“She laughed, and told me about her unicorn friend, Rarity, who is the fashionista among her friends.”

“Unicorn?”

“Another equine-based creature from Earth’s mythology. I pulled out a list of creatures to show her, and found hits across Earth’s myths and legends.”

“Huh,” Delilah pondered that. “More questions than answers. Thank you Ensign, that’s all for now.”

Maya nodded, and left the bridge.

Delilah punched in a command on her chair’s arm, bringing up a schematic of the system they were entering, the first possible candidate for Equestria that they had come to, with two other ‘probable’ systems on the list. The Commander input another command. “Bridge to Security; Tarah, send up Rainbow Dash.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

“Captain, I want to say, again, that the requirements of the Prime Directive mandate minimal exposure-”

Delilah closed her eye with a sigh as Raat proved that he hadn’t left the bridge yet. He was still standing at attention beside her. “Vulzy, sit,” Delilah commanded, gesturing to one of the nearby seats. “You’ve brought up your concerns before, and I’ve explained my reasoning. Do you have anything new to add?”

The bajoran sat, silent for a long moment. “Captain... Delilah,” he stared, fumbling for words. The use of her given name told Delilah that he was dropping his usual formal barriers, trying to convey how he really felt.

“If Starfleet judges that you’ve violated the Prime Directive unacceptably... this could kill your command career. I... I don’t want to see that happen.”

.o(It might not be that bad a thing...) Delilah put her calculating thought away, not letting it show on her face as she took off her optic, her one eye meeting Raat’s.

“Vulzy, the Prime Directive doesn’t exist so Starfleet can get rid of officers they don’t like. It exists so that we don’t harm, or exploit, cultures that don’t have the means to protect themselves. So that they can make their own decisions on how they develop. With what the Orions have already done, it’s too late to keep knowledge of advanced civilizations secret. They’ve provided energy weapons to native collaborators. Our best hope is to go in, disarm those natives, and leave again. But even then we can’t keep our presence completely secret. In fact, we may need the active assistance of the locals to find those weapons. We’re not going to get that assistance if we aren’t open with the first of their people that we meet.”

Delilah sighed. “There is no perfect option. We can’t hide everything about ourselves while being sure those potentially destabilizing weapons aren’t removed. The letter of the law must submit to the spirit of the law. If Starfleet Command decides to court marshal me for my decisions, I’ll pay the price my oath requires.”

Vulzy was silent for a long moment. “I... I don’t want to lose you, Captain.”

Delilah put a hand on her first officer’s shoulder, a crooked smile on her face. “Oh, don’t look so glum. It’s not like I’m talking about giving an oppressive government matching technological capability to ‘even the balance of power’ or anything crazy like that. Just explaining that we want to take away the crooks’ toys, and asking for help finding the scoundrels.”

Lieutenant Commander Raat nodded, relaxing enough to lean back in his chair. “It may take a while to reconcile those conflicting interests,” he admitted, “But I guess you’re right.”

The turbolift doors opened again, letting in a chromatic pegasus and her escort.

“Ah, good, you’re just in time,” Delilah said, putting her optic back over her left eye.

“Time for what?” Rainbow Dash asked, glancing at the view screen, which showed only a blue-green marble, slowly growing in size.

“We’re coming up on a place that could be Equestria,” Delilah explained, activating a command. “Just one sun in the system, orbited by an M-Class planet with a relatively large moon.” She called up an overlay that showed the orbits of the other planets around the star, and the U.S.S. Judges approaching one highlighted in green. “If you had known more about astronomy we could be more sure, one way or the other, so I don’t want to get your hopes up.”

“Orbit?”

“Yes. The planets orbit the star, which stays relatively still,” Delilah clarified, ignoring the emotions Raat was trying to repress. His mind had agreed, but he needed some time to get his feelings in line. He was keeping those feelings off his face, at least.

“Wait, the sun stays still, and Equestria moves? I thought Celestia raised the sun each morning.”

“The sun seeming to rise and set is caused by the rotation of the planet, and honestly, stopping that rotation is nearly impossible. The sun comes up anyway.”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a long moment. “But after Nightmare Moon was defeated, we had to reset the time on all the clocks,” she said.

Delilah looked at that with an expression of surprise. “Huh. Don’t know how to explain that yet.”

“Entering planetary orbit,” Der Trihs reported from the helm. The blue-green marble had grown to a globe, touched with clouds.

“Strange,” Bindalla said. “Detecting sub-space distortions. Most too small to isolate, one large.”

“Put the largest on the main screen, Lieutenant.”

The screen switched to showing green clusters, with red dots, arranged in ordered rows, with rectangles of brown lines, and blocks that could only be building roofs. A sidebar showed information about the anomaly.

“Hey! That’s Sweet Apple Acres!” Rainbow Dash interjected.

Bindalla refined the focus of the display, zooming in on one of the older barns.

“Someplace you know?” Delilah asked, her gaze turning back to the screen.

“Well yeah, it’s just outside Ponyville. I’ve flown over it enough to be sure.”

“Think they might use it as a convenient place for a high power test?” Delilah asked, looking with interest at the informational sidebar that made no sense to Dash.

“Huh? Well, it’s not in the middle of town-”

“Woah!” Delilah’s interjection made even less sense to the pony, nothing had seemed to happen to the barn.

“Did something happen?”

“The warp field collapsed.”

A purple dot emerged from the barn. Five more spilled out, of varying colors. White, purple, yellow, orange, white. Plumes of smoke began to leak out.

Delilah turned her face from the display, pulled by Rainbow Dash’s silence, and the emotions in the pegasus’s soul. The happiness at being able to even see home again, to see her friends again, was mixed with worry about what she was seeing but not understanding.

“At a guess, it looks like the materials didn’t hold up under the power load. Shouldn’t be anything to worry ab-”

The reassurance was interrupted by the bridge shaking, overhead lights dimming as red lights began to flash.

“We’re under attack! Torpedoes coming in from astern!” The crewman at tactical shouted. “Attempting to raise shields!”

The view on the screen went fuzzy under the interference of the protective shields, then static, then reverted to a star field as Bindalla freed the system resources for more pressing concerns.

“Helmsman! Evasive action!” Delilah’s command was crisp and quick, as she gripped the arms of her chair with her hands. “Sensors, give me a target to shoot at!”

The bridge rocked again under another impact. A console exploded as the circuit breakers were overloaded by the energy release caused when the still-charging aft phasor bank was hit.

---=={***}==---

Engineering was in a state of controlled chaos, Syoosi using reflexes intended to let him tear people apart to keep his ship from falling to pieces. Multitasking like a champ, he shouted orders to his team, while monitoring the ship damage reports, sending people to where they could make the most difference. “Re-route the energy from aft phasors to shields! That’ll bleed the power surge out of the control systems. Cut the port conduits if you have to, just get it shifted!” His fingers flew over his console, the warp core humming beside him.

The deck shook, as the ship was hit again.

A warning popped up on the screen, and in a fraction of a second Syoosi punched in the command that might save the crew... then he told the bridge what was going on, stabbing another command to access the communications channel.

“Engineering to bridge.”

The hum of the warp core stopped.

“Critical failure in anti-mater storage, I’ve started the jettison sequence, but I expect the capsules to fail within seconds. We’re on battery power.”

“Understood,” came Delilah’s voice in response. “Reshape shields to deflect the blast from the surface.”

“Captain, doing that-”

“I know, just do it.”

Syoosi smiled as he inputted the commands.

“Not as long as I might have liked, but at least I’ll spend my life in a good cause,” the gentle giant of the crew mused. A final command, reversing the polarity of the tractor beam, gave the capsules jettisoned from the rear of the ship an extra nudge.

“At least I’m going out with a bang.”

Perhaps cliché, but he thought they’d make for good last words.

---=={***}==---

The Klingon Bird-of-Prey had crept up on the Federation light escort from behind, hiding under cloak until it was close enough to strike deciseively. Already the assault of photon torpedoes and phaser beams had severed one warp nacelle, and shorted out the weapons systems before the shields could be raised. As neutrino scanners revealed that the warp core had shut down, the Bird-of-Prey started pulling away, knowing what would come next. But instead of the warp core breach they had expected, the cluster of antimatter-fuel canisters detonated, the blast coming sooner than they had thought would happen.

The last act of the U.S.S. Judges was to reshape her shield to be closer to the hull, under the explosion. This diverted the blast away from Equestria, keeping it from ruining the biosphere, but required weakening the shields to the point where there was no hope the crew would survive the shockwave.

And yet... they lived.

But they were far too busy to ponder their good fortune, as the remains of their ship were headed downward towards the planet’s surface.

---=={***}==---

It took Delilah only a few seconds to realize that she had survived the blast. A quick look at the display showed the expanding curve of the planet turning, as the ship began to tumble.

A sigh. The U.S.S. Judges had been the first ship she had been assigned to, rather than simply winding up as the senior surviving officer. Her memories of serving as chief engineer on the U.S.S. Quebec were fond, if bittersweet, counting the friends killed by the Borg. Her memories of commanding her were tainted by her resentment at the destruction of her career plan. But with Judges she had begun to adjust to her new role, and found herself finding satisfaction in managing a full shipload.

Delilah shook her head, banishing the thoughts. She could mourn the dead and dying later. Right now she had a duty to the living.

“Bridge to all hands,” the four spoken words activated the starship’s intercom to repeat her words to all compartments on the ship.

“All hands, abandon ship. Repeat, abandon ship. If you can’t get to a life-pod, get to one of the secure compartments, and brace for crash landing. Repeat, abandon ship, or brace for crash landing. Message ends.”

The last two words killed the announcement state.

“Bridge to Transporter.”

“Oasis here, kind of busy-“

“Direct order time. On my mark, lock onto my com-badge signal and beam to the planet surface. Try for near a settlement near our projected crash site.”

“Understood.”

Delilah turned to Rainbow Dash. “You’re our best hope for getting us help from your people in time to make a difference,” she said, her voice level, as she moved her badge from her uniform to place it on Dash’s hide, nifty future materials letting it adhere to hairs without discomfort.

“Please, help them.”

Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly. She didn’t understand this emergency, but she knew she wouldn’t leave her new friends hanging.

Delilah closed her one open eye. “Transporter. Engage.”

Rainbow Dash vanished in a swirl of sparkles, followed one-by-one by Raat, Bindalla, and the rest of the bridge crew, as Maya used their com-badges to lock onto them, and beam them to the planet surface.

---=={***}==---

Maya was managing the transporter systems, applying her energy to a problem that, frustratingly, wasn’t going to be made better if she had more time to think. Her problem was that she was running out of energy available to transport crew members to the surface in point-to-point transports faster than she was running out of crew to transport, or places to beam them down to. She sighed as the console refused to let her try and beam another from elsewhere in the ship to the surface. But there was just enough energy to beam someone on the transporter pad to the surface.

Maya input her last command, and rushed up to the pad.

---=={***}==---

Delilah was left alone on the bridge. She took off the optic on her left eye, revealing the data plug on her temple. With a wry smirk she looked out the main display, twirling the optic around one finger as the image of the approaching surface began to fade behind the red glow of uncontrolled entry.

“So much for a career in politics,” she mused.

As the hull heated up, already stressed systems failed, leading to smaller explosions. The shockwave from one hammered through the bridge, driving Commander O’Niel unconscious as the captain went down with her ship.

---=={***}==---

“Status report.”

“Captain, we’re at 90%, forward shields down but field generators undamaged. Primary fore sensors burned out, bringing secondary sensors online.”

“The target?”

“Broken, powerless. I doubt any could have survived that blast, but even if they did, they’re going to crash soon.”

The Captain of the Bird-of-Prey was silent, then nodded. “Set a course out of the system, we’re heading back to Qu’noS.”

“Captain?”

“This will prove that we’re more valuable at the front, where we can get some glorious combat, and will wash away the lingering disfavor.”

The first officer pondered how his captain seemed so... uneven. Almost inconsistent. She was one of the finest combat commanders in the KDF, capable of cold tactical and strategic planning that amazed, yet going into a battlelust that operated on instinct. And yet, disinterested in any of the other facets of starship command, ignoring anything she thought of as boring. If she didn’t have her loyal officers organizing things behind her back, the ship would never be capable of going into battle.

She would lead them to glorious battle, and that was what any Klingon crew asked of their captain. He was loyal to her, but he was brave enough to bring things up he suspected she might rather avoid.

“And your mother’s operation?”

“Send her a message that we’re leaving; if she thinks this dirtball is worth guarding, she can guard it with one of her ships.”

“Yes Captain.”

---=={***}==---

Rainbow Dash was glad to be flying the skies of Equestria again. She was finding that Delilah had been right; by relaxing during the trip she was refreshed and ready to do what she needed to in order to help her friends... Even if it was her new friends that needed her help, rather than her new friends helping her older friends.

While it wasn’t yet time to pull off a sonic rainboom, Dash was flying very well, a mach cone around her as she sped up the path to Ponyville; if there was anypony that could organize enough ponies in time to rescue the crew of the U.S.S. Judges, it would be Twilight Sparkle. She came up from behind the purple unicorn, Dash lowering her hooves to the ground. She skidded to a stop, making four furrows in the dirt path, turning to face Twilight, who had been watching the descending fireball.

“Twilight!”

“Huh? RAINBOW DASH!? What is going-”

“I’ll explain later, we need to help the people on that ship, now,” Dash shouted, pointing one hoof at the fireball.

Twilight Sparkle blinked, then nodded. “Right. Emergency response plan Six stroke bee.”

---=={***}==---

Author's Note: I am fully aware that this chapter will raise more questions than it answers.

This is the first chapter nearly all written after posting the prior chapter. Which means if I can keep up this pace, I'll be posting a chapter every week and a half to two weeks.

Responses and Reactions (part 1)

Responses and Reactions: In which things are told from another perspective.

Equestria was in shock. The scale of the attack on Cloudsdale was the sort of thing they expected to come only from villains like Nightmare Moon, or Discord, not from a group of normal beings. Not even the buffalo attack on Appleloosa had prepared them for such directed malice; the settler ponies had been in the way, not the target as the Weather Factory had been.

By the afternoon, thanks to Dragonfire Delivery, the news of the attack had spread across the whole nation, and was reaching neighboring realms. The news that Celestia was going to make a speech about events came out before the sun set.

---=={***}==---

“My little ponies. Yesterday something happened in Cloudsdale, something I had hoped would never come. A group of griffin raiders attacked the Central Weather Factory, kidnapping over fifty pegasus ponies, and stealing as much of the equipment as they could.”

A hush, as rumor was confirmed.

“These griffins were simply the ‘front’ of a much worse threat. Intelligent life from another world supplied them with weapons and equipment, supporting them when two of the Champions of Harmony stood against the attack. I fear that this was only their first attack, and that they intend to rob this nation of our infrastructure and treasures.”

“This is not a threat that can be answered by myself or my sister alone. The Champions of Harmony alone can not answer this threat; indeed, the Champions of Loyalty and Kindness were among those taken from us.”

“But this threat can be answered.”

“And it will be answered, by all of you, my little ponies. Working together, we shall use the power of friendship to shelter each other, and the power of harmony to keep safe all we hold dear. Doing so will require changes to how we live, to find the new means to protect our world.”

“We must prepare as if for war.”

War. The word was not unknown to Equestria, but had not been spoken of seriously in centuries.

“We can not go back to the blissful ignorance of yesterday, ignoring the rest of the galaxy. But...”

There was a hint of a smile now on Celestia’s face.

“The stars hold great danger, but also greater hope; there will be those from the stars who will wish to help us. We must prepare to meet them as equals, so we can be their friends in turn.”

---=={***}==---

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike had been whisked to Canterlot with urgency that matched the time Discord had been released. But this time they were more worried, as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were not with them, and the rumors out of Cloudsdale were more terrifying. Princess Celestia’s address to the nation renewed the hope of all five, even as their fears were confirmed.

Their reactions to the meeting that followed were more... varied.

Twilight Sparkle had found comfort that her brother, Shining Armor, was part of the meeting, and she was taking her own notes on everything that was being said, what each person was being assigned to do. Applejack was listening for the part that concerned her, specifically, with all of the patience of a farmer, while keeping a hoof on Pinkie Pie, so that the boredom of the latter didn’t develop into a sidetrack into sillyness. Rarity silently bridled at having to sit next to Blueblood, who was being his overbearing worst. Thankfully, Celestia kept firm grip on the proceedings, giving clear assignments.

Spitfire and the Wonderbolts would coordinate the efforts to manage the weather and rebuild the Weather Factory, spreading the load across all of the nation’s weather ponies. Applejack and Pinkie Pie would join the Solar Guard in the search for the base of griffin group responsible, still their best lead to finding those taken captive. Shining Armor would oversee the creation of a new military, a new kind of army for a new age. The ancient feudal military tradition was ending, much to Blueblood’s rage, but Celestia had a new task for the ancient nobility. They would use their prestige to represent the nation to the rest of Equestria, and were tasked with making the alliances they would soon need.

That just left...

Princess Celestia rose from her seat at the head of the table. “This meeting is dismissed. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Spike, come with me.”

---=={***}==---

Twilight Sparkle followed her teacher through the palace, Rarity and Spike trailing in her wake.

“Twilight, what did you learn at Ponyville’s Winter Wrap-Up?”

“That I shouldn’t feel bad about what I can’t do well, but I should focus on what I can do well to help others.”

“A good lesson, but there is more that I wish to remind you of,” the Solar Princess said. “I need to tell you of one of the most difficult things for me to do, something you must learn how to do.” By now they had entered the Royal Library.

Twilight looked at Celestia with trepidation. What could her teacher actually find difficult? But the suspense was not long-lived.

“The hardest thing for a good ruler to do is to order her subjects, her followers, those that depend on her, to do things the ruler can do. Delegation. Asking someone to do something dangerous, or something that’s important to you, because there is something else that needs to be done.”

Twilight looked at Celestia. “Is this why you didn’t want me to go on the search team?” she asked.

The Princess nodded, leading into dark and dusty, unused portion of the library. “Applejack and Pinkie Pie will do just fine without you, but you are one of the few who will be able to do the research needed, and Rarity has a gift for turning design ideas into reality.”

Rarity quietly preened, pride overruling normal disgust at the dirt and grime.

Celestia stopped, her horn lighting up as a slim tome was outlined in the same shades. She pulled forth the book, cobwebs snapping as it was freed. “Ah yes,” the princess said, inspecting the cover. “Twilight Sparkle, your assignment is to study the theories presented in this book, to investigate how to confirm them, and to look into what practical uses could be made.” She passed the book to Twilight. Her student’s eyes widened as she read the title.

“The Lost Formulas of Starswirl the Bearded?”

Celestia’s magic kept Twilight from immediately opening the book. “There is one last thing I must ask of you.”

---=={***}==---

The part of Canterlot Castle that the Princess of the day had brought them to was unfamiliar to Twilight, for reasons she was able to quickly deduce. The underlying architectural style was old, but the construction very recent; Twilight’s mental map of the Castle revealed that it had been remodeled. The choice of stone was not the usual marble and granite that composed most of Canterlot Castle, but obsidian and feldspar, with silver ornamentation, instead of gold. There were small gems in the walls and arched ceiling, in a pattern that felt somehow familiar.

While Twilight was trying to put the clues together, Rarity had already discerned the truth. “This is Princess Luna’s wing, isn’t it?” she asked.

“It is,” the solar princess replied, stopping beside a door.

The door opened, revealing Princess Luna in her bedroom, the princess sitting on her bed. She looked up to see the two champions of Harmony with her sister. “Ah, is it time?”

“If we are ready?” Celestia cryptically replied.

Luna raised one wing... to reveal a sleeping Scootaloo. “She cried herself to sleep with worry,” the princess of the night reported.

Celestia turned to Twilight and Rarity. “We found her in Clousdale, and she needs to be taken home.”

---=={***}==---

“Wait, why are they called The Lost Formulas of Starswirl the Bearded? They’re not lost, they’re right there in the book! Look, they even put ‘lost’ on the cover.”

Spike was looking at the book-stand from behind, as Twilight dashed around the library setting up for an intensive reading session.

“Starswirl found many of the important formulas for how unicorn magic behaves. He was truly ahead of his time, half the formulas weren’t verified for centuries after his death,” Twilight explained. “But no one ever was able to test, let alone make use of, the formulas in this book. They fell out of scholarly knowledge, which is why they are called the ‘lost’ formulas. Only a few copies were made, by devotees of his teaching, who wanted to make sure they weren’t lost, even if they couldn’t use them.”

“So why does Celestia think you can make sense of them when everyone else failed?”

“Because... these formulas aren’t about unicorn magic. They’re about pegasus, and earth pony magic,” Twilight reported, from her first skim of the book on the way back from Canterlot.

“Huh? I just thought pegasus ponies just flew... and walked on clouds... and manipulated the weather...” Spike’s counter-argument lost steam. “But earth ponies don’t have magic!”

“They do, it’s just not as flashy as a sonic rainboom,” Twilight said. “Earth ponies are stronger, with more endurance. But that wasn’t my point. Starswirl wrote his works before the Pony Tribes united to form Equestria. He didn’t have pegasus or earth pony friends to help him test his ideas. Now! Get me the copy of Isaac Nehyton’s Principia Mathematica.”

Responses and Reactions (2 of 2)

While it had been over a year since Spike last saw this happen, he was familiar with the phenomenon. Twilight Sparkle was going into an Obsessive Studying Fit. She couldn’t be stopped in her single-minded pursuit of her topic, particularly when she had been directly ordered by Celestia to study this new topic; she could not bear the thought of failure. Spike’s responsibility in a time like this was to make sure that Twilight got around to everything else on her daily lists, and didn’t hurt herself in the process.

Each day began with dragging Twilight out of bed, and making sure she at least washed her face before leaving the library that was her home. Despite the difficulty of the first task (owing to how late she would stay up reading) Spike had found that combining it with the second task was contraindicated in any but the most extreme urgencies.

Once out the door, Twilight’s first stop was usually the town hall, where she would meet with the Mayor. As Winter Wrap-Up organizer, Twilight Sparkle played a big role in developing Ponyville’s disaster response plans. These wound up as checklists, starting with the checklists for figuring out what response checklist they needed to be using, then the notification checklists (preliminary and mobilization) then the checklists of what they might need to do.

With the meeting done, Spike would return to the library under a load of checklists needing to be copied and filed for easy access. At the same time, Twilight Sparkle would head to Carousel Boutique to consult with Rarity on the requirements of the next round of experiments. For the first rounds, these involved wearable equipment that would record the magic a pony was using. While these meetings were intended to be only a hour, they slipped into two or three, as the unicorn ponies’ mutual interest washed away their sense of time, and even when Spike showed up, he was often too entranced with Rarity to cut the meeting short.

On the other hoof, Rarity was less inclined to ignore the details of things. Details including the needs of daily life, among which regular meals ranked high. Twilight’s passionate energy for her studies and Princess Celestia’s assignment was forced into retreat by Rarity’s insistence that she take the studious unicorn out to one of Ponyville’s better restaurants for lunch.

Not that the Champion of Generosity had to worry about anything as crass as paying for her meals these days. Between the drive of all ponies to help their fellows and Princess Celestia’s Royal Decree, the entire population of Ponyville was eager to help in whatever ways they could. While only a few had the skills and specialized knowledge needed to help unlock the Lost Formulas, nearly the entire population was able to help with the experiments, and if only a small number were needed, the rest could do their parts to make sure that the necessities of life were not neglected. Sugar Cube Corner sent over a box of treats each day, calling them a “regular ration of smiles,” to be shared by researchers and experimenters alike. Spike had found that they were a useful way of determining when they should stop for the day.

Foremost among those in desire to help were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, lead by Scootaloo, the young pegasus driven by a need to help Rainbow Dash however she could. Applebloom was proving useful at setting up some of the hardware they needed. Sweetie Belle looked over the numbers from the trials.

The first days of testing were focused on confirming the models of Starswirl’s theories when it came to pegasus and earth pony magic. The volunteers wore vests studded with equipment that tracked what they did, as they did it. It was with surprising speed that the ideas were proved in action. Ditzy Doo’s failed attempt to perform Rainbow Dash’s famous Buccaneer Blaze had, just by itself, confirmed over a third of the Lost Formulas.

And honestly, they were going to need to clear those trees out sooner or later ANYWAY. It was a pity about the noodles.

The next rounds of experiments were dedicated to duplicating the effects under controlled conditions. Many eggs were broken in attempts to mimic the way pegasus ponies could stop so quickly without harm.

However, these experiments required less input from other ponies; giving out sensor vests would have been discontinued if Rarity hadn’t decided it would be a good way to let others feel they were helping. She didn’t expect that the logs from the ponies putting up the new housing would reveal a previously unsuspected application of earth pony magic.

Once Celestia’s sun was too low to provide light for experimentation, Twilight Sparkle and Spike would take the day’s results back to the library, where they would look them over, crunching the numbers to find patterns, testing theories against observations. Twilight would work late into the night, until she fell asleep under a book.

---=={***}==---

Just as Ponyville had turned out to support Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, Equestria was turning out to support Ponyville. The first to arrive were members of the extended Apple Family, there to help tend to the farm while Applejack searched and Big Macintosh helped Twilight. Others came in to help with the other farms, followed by weather ponies to fill Rainbow Dash’s gap, and animal caretakers to make sure Fluttershy’s animal friends were tended to.

---=={***}==---

Twilight Sparkle wasn’t the only one looking at the Lost Formulas.

Big Macintosh put down the chalk and took two steps back from the chalkboard, wanting to review what he had written before announcing his conclusion. He had a gift for what his sister called ‘fancy mathematics’ that went untapped most of the time, but that was turning out to be useful when thinking about advanced physics. At the moment he was looking at how mass caused space to bend, and how pegasus magic could cause space to unbend in ways that let them ignore gravity and inertia, allowing amazing stunts like when Rainbow Dash saved Rarity and the Wonderbolts at the Best Young Flyer Competition.

“Miss Sparkle, would you take a look at this?” he asked.

The lavender unicorn looked up from a sketch of Pinkie Pie’s flying machine. “Hmm? Let’s see... you’re looking at pegasus ‘unbending’” she muttered, using the words to change mental gears. She skimmed the lines of equations. “Unbending past the zero point,” she murmured. She came to a sudden halt when she reached the conclusion. She quickly looked over the formulas, looking for the zero divide, or other error that could have snuck in, that had to be there to take Macintosh to that place. When it didn’t reveal itself Twilight Sparkle started again from the beginning, carefully following the math and the logic. “But... that can’t be right? Can it? That shouldn’t be possible.”

“I reckon it’s the sort of thing the Princess wants us to look into,” the farmer said, before picking up the chalk to underline his conclusion.

If e > 1.21gW/m^3, then v > c

---=={***}==---

Most of the ‘application’ experiments occurred at Sweet Apple Acres, being far enough from Ponyville to be safe, close enough to be convenient, and with enough lumber and hardware there to set up the apparatus needed. A disused barn was chosen for the work, being sound enough to work in, but run down enough that no one would mind if they burned it down.

Today it seemed that safety was the most important concern, as the gem-studded array of planks overheated, smoke billowing from the wood. Twilight Sparkle was the first to escape the barn, followed moments later by Rarity, Spike, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.

“And we were getting SO close!” Twilight moaned, as the others finished coughing and shaking off the soot.

With a final disdainful flip of her mane, Rarity snapped out the last of the visible soot. “Close? My dear, did you see the way the image of the test pattern distorted? We did it!” The alabaster unicorn’s smug smile slipped as she saw the expression on her lavender friend’s face. “Oh Twilight, it was just a little setback. There’s no sense crying over every mistake. Just keep on trying until we run out of-”

As she spoke, Rarity’s eyes wandered over to the little cart that held their provisions, and stopped as she noticed the empty plate. Her eyes flicked over to the three fillies, still smudged with soot, but as each in turn noticed Rarity’s expression, they assumed expressions of angelic innocence, ruined by the crumbs, frosting, and sprinkles that had managed to cling to their muzzles.

Rarity’s tone dropped from encouraging to resigned as she finished the sentence. “-cupcakes.”

Twilight heaved a sigh, Rarity’s words having taken her over the crash of failure. “No, we’re not going to try again today. You’re right, we are on the correct approach, but we need to re-think the hardware. Maybe metal can handle the energy bleed, or a spell to disperse it...” Twilight Sparkle trailed off into musings, beginning to amble off.

“Twilight, I’ll finish cleaning up here,” Spike said. “And meet you at home later.”

Twilight responded to her assistant with a nod.

---=={***}==---

“Sister! Sister!” Luna’s voice was filled with excitement and joy as she raced to the balcony on which Celestia stood. “The Champion of Loyalty has re-“

Princess Luna broke off as she realized her sister wasn’t paying attention. Instead the solar alicorn was watching the afternoon sky. Even against the blue of day the bright flashes were visible.

Luna focused her own vision, looking past the scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere into orbit. “Sister... is there anything we can do?” Luna asked.

“What can the mouse do, when titans wage war, but hope to escape a wrathful eye?” Princess Celestia responded, her voice half resigned. “But there may be a chance- yes!”

The last word was a hiss, as Celestia’s horn blazed.

A huge flash of light, greater than all others combined, outshone the sun for a second, Celestia staggering in response.

“A chance,” Celestia whispered to her sister, the first true smile returning to her face after many long days.

---=={***}==---

“Twitchy-twitch!”

The two words were enough to put the entire search party on alert, looking around for local threats. The first time they had encountered the phenomenon Celestia’s guards had been confused. Applejack, more familiar with Pinkie Pie’s mysterious ways, was able to tackle the pegasus guard in time, avoiding the falling rock.

An explanation followed, and even if many in the search party were not satisfied with Pinkie Pie’s explanation that the feelings ‘just happened’ they were able to accept that the Pinkie Sense gave real insight into coming events. After all, it seemed no odder than what happened the night prior, when Pinkie had pulled from her saddlebags in one smooth motion a perfect cake (with personalized message in frosting), inflated balloons, and a blast of confetti, all to celebrate Sergeant Bulwark’s birthday. (The Sergeant, having been in the process of resigning himself to the way the current crisis had preempted any party, was deeply touched by Pinkie Pie’s gesture.)

The warning from the Champion of Laughter made the guards turn their attention from the lights flashing in the day sky to their immediate surroundings. The search party was standing on a grassy swell, that was located in a hanging valley, that was, in turn, nestled in one of mountains that made up the rugged range that formed the loosely defined border region between the Griffin and Pony kingdoms. This far from either the Pony metropolises of Canterlot, Manehatten, or Fillydelphia to the south, or the Griffin City-States to the north, the region was not ruled, but inhabited by monsters, roaming griffin tribes, and independent pony mining towns.

This particular valley had a spectacular view of the northern half of the nation of Equestria; it was easy to see the mountain-side towers of Canterlot, and a sharp eye could spot Ponyville, up against the wilderness of the northwest.

This part of the valley was also devoid of overhanging rocks, or trees with limbs that might fall. Some of the guards eyed the muddy brook that ran through the valley, wondering if one of their party was going to fall into it, but Applejack didn’t. That would have been signaled by Pinkie’s ears flopping.

Pinkie Pie was paying attention to her tail all a-twitchin’. “Twitchy-twitch! Twitchy twitcha twitcha twa ahh. aahh.” Pinkie Pie’s mouth hung open as she saw what was falling, her mind momentarily stalled as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing.

The rest of the search party turned to watch it, slowly spreading across the individuals.

Even in the extreme distance they could tell it was huge, at least the size of the stolen Weather Factory’s central workshop building. It was falling quickly, only their distance from it keeping them from hearing it whistling. It was grey, with parts glowing red, and blue flashes around the whole. It was falling apart; as they watched, small flecks tumbled away.

Now noise did arrive, but not from the falling object. Instead, it was much closer, as three clouds of sparkles began to form, one after another, near the search party.

“Teleport sign!” Sergeant Bulwark called out. The rest of the guardponies reacted quickly, surrounding the three pillars of blue lights with weapons, spears, swords, and wing-mounted blades, at the ready.

So when Lieutenant Commander Raat, Lieutenant Bindalla, and Ensign Oasis fully materialized, it was to be faced with stern pony faces, and pointy objects held by hooves, mouths, wings, and telekinetic control. Not that Pinkie Pie noticed the guards’ caution.

“Ooo, here comes a combo; ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter,” Pinkie Pie said, ignoring both the Solar Guard and their captives, peering south, towards Ponyville.

---=={***}==---

Like many others in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle was watching the fall of the U.S.S. Judges in a mix of fear, wonder, and awe. The timing had caught her on the path from Sweet Apple Acres and the town proper. Part of her mind was thinking that the object, whatever it was, was probably going to hit close by, possibly in the Froggy Bottom Bog- mostly; as she watched, an explosion rocked the thing, sending a large fragment tumbling away from the rest. Another part of her mind was frozen. She had made so many plans, so many checklists showing what she should be doing, but how did she decide WHICH one to use?

It was in this mood of paralysis that the unicorn heard her name being called out, the Doppler Effect shifting the voice up telling her who it was even as she turned her head in disbelief.

“Twilight!”

“Huh? RAINBOW DASH!? What is going-”

“I’ll explain later, we need to help the people on that ship, now,” Dash shouted, pointing one hoof at the fireball.

Twilight Sparkle blinked.

Okay, they needed to provide a search and rescue effort, to a place closer than the next town over. As she thought about it, that light show had probably been some sort of fight or accident or something but Dash said it was a ship. Thinking about it, that meant lots of ponies- (wait, that was an unfounded assumption, but if Rainbow Dash thought they were worth helping they were probably nice, call them people then) needing help.

She nodded. “Right. Emergency response plan Six stroke bee.”

Rainbow Dash gave the Champion of Magic a level, nonplussed look. “Did you just state that you had a plan for THIS?” she asked, one eyebrow risen.

“Well, not THIS specifically, but general plans for certain responses,” Twilight admitted.

Dash groaned, facehooving to cover her smile. “Twilight... I don’t know what to say. Th-”

The pegasus broke off mid-word as she was tackled by an orange and purple blur. The impact was not enough to knock her down, the blob resolving into a pegasus filly, clinging to her side, the filly’s eyes screwed shut.

Rainbow Dash was momentarily speechless, but managed a cheerful, “Good to see you again too, Squirt.”

“I- I thought... you were...” Scootaloo stuttered out.

“Hey, I’d never let those uncool aliens keep me from coming back,” Dash said, looking at her biggest fan.

Biggest fan... maybe...

“But dry those eyes, ‘cuz it’s time for us to be awesome! And I need you to be awesome too.”

Scootaloo gasped, as Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight Sparkle.

The Champion of Magic nodded to the Champion of Loyalty, then to Scootaloo. “I need someone to go to the City Hall and tell the Mayor we’re activating 6/B, then go to the Post Office and tell them we need to fully mobilize the town.”

“Think you can handle that?” Rainbow Dash asked the filly still holding onto her flank.

Scootaloo’s expression cleared, releasing her hero so she could zip into a rigid standing pose, one forehoof raised to her brow in a salute, her eyes hardened with determination. “YES, MA’AM!”

“Then go, and make me proud,” Dash commanded.

An orange and purple blur streaked away.

The weathermare turned back to the scholar, a confidant grin on her face. “While she gets the word out, and you get everypony ready, I’ll go find where the ship crashed,” Dash told her.

“We’ll be gathered in the Town Square,” Twilight told her, then looked past Dash to the path to the farm as a set of voices made themselves heard.

“Dash!”

“Rainbow!”

“Darling, it IS you!”

“Twilight, did you see- Dash?!”

Rainbow Dash could only smile as she watched Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Rarity, and Spike approaching her, the ponies at a gallop and the dragon on Rarity’s back.

“Oh, it is just so good to be back,” Rainbow Dash said.

---=={***}==---

Author's Notes below in comments.

A Rescue and a Negotiation

A Rescue and a Negotiation: In which planning pays off, and good deeds are repaid.

The hydra considered itself the king of the Froggy Bottom Swamp. It had been years since anything had entered the swamp that could challenge its supremecy. So when it heard the crash, it fearlessly went to investigate, expecting either an upstart monster to be driven off, or something to eaten.

Three heads faced the direction of the crash as it trudged forward, the fourth head keeping watch in other directions. The fourth head came down to nudge head #3, indicating that it had seen something. The third head looked... and saw the one thing it truly respected as a threat.

Ponies. Lots and lots of ponies.

One pony was an appetizer. Four or five ponies were a meal. From ten, it could take a meal while the rest fled. Twenty ponies... well, the hydra could grab a meal, before fleeing the wrath of the others.

But hundreds of ponies? Not simply invading its swampy territory, but seeming to lay down hard things, making a path?

Heads #1, #3, and #4 turned to leave, pulling the body with them, even as #2 looked on longingly, stretching out as if to snap one up. #2 wasn’t that fast, but was dragged away none the less.

---=={***}==---

One of the advantages of Syoosi’s unique origin was the speed at which his mind operated. It had taken some time (and an encounter with a Betazoid telepath) for it to be realized, but he experienced time passing more slowly than others did, meaning his thoughts happened faster than those of others. He still spoke at the same speed he heard others speak to him, but could make sudden leaps of logic that confused others, or he could multitask efficiently, carrying on conversations while doing other tasks.

At the moment, Syoosi was trying to figure out just how much of his ship’s hull had survived, while doing the same survey for the crew. One hand flickered over a display showing a schematic of the ship. By now both nacelles were flagged with red, along with the bridge. Sickbay and environmental were both in yellow, along with the impulse engines. The shuttle bay was in green, but the access ways were red.

The deck in engineering was sloped, the inertial compensators and gravity generators dead, their power reserves drained by the effort of getting the crew to the surface alive. Subtle shifting under his feet told Syoosi that the ship hadn’t found a stable rest, but was likely still sinking.

Syoosi’s other hand danced over a chart of the ship’s crew that showed their name, rank, their duty station at the time of the attack, and what their com-badge was reporting. The little badges did a lot, acting as locator beacons, and tracking the wearer’s vital signs. Idly, Syoosi tapped into the transporter records, checking to see who Ensign Oasis had been able to beam off the ship.

“Engineering to Commander O’Niel. Skipper, please respond.”

Silence.

“Engineering to Lieutenant Commander Raat. Vulzy, please respond.”

Silence.

“Engineering to Lieutenant Bindalla. Bindalla, please respond.”

Sil-

“-this how this is supposed to work?”

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing with the Commander’s com-badge?”

“Is that what’s this is called? Anyway, she put it on me, and told me to get help. You guys are in that big burning metal thing in the swamp, right?”

“A swamp? That’d explain the sinking feeling.”

“Right. I’m leading what looks like most of Ponyville to you.”

A smile spread across Syoosi’s face. “We’re not going anywhere. I’ll tell the others that you’re coming.”

---=={***}==---

Was this what Princess Celestia meant when she had said that they must prepare for war? The thought haunted Twilight Sparkle as the Ponyville Relief Column plowed through the Bog, their hooves making even the spongy ground shake. Normally an effort like this... well, it just wouldn’t happen this well, not without days of planning, but... Twilight had been planning, with the Mayor... If this was what war was like, then it wasn’t that bad, but then why did all the stories talk about how horrible war was?

But their swift progress was only possible with the help of the construction ponies that had come to Ponyville over the last week. Their skill, training, and strength enabled them to lay down a temporary road of stone and wood that would let them evacuate the crew swiftly... or bring needed supplies to the crash site. One of the two. The Mailmare, Ditzy Doo, was at their head, using her uncanny path finding skills to show them the most stable parts of the bog, and the fastest ways around the lakes.

Twilight was part of the foremost team of earth and unicorn ponies, slogging ahead of the Road Team. Their objective was to give immediate aid, either medical or rescue as appropriate, to the people on the crashed ship. They carried stretchers, first-aid kits, and firefighting equipment, including axes and pry bars.

Rainbow Dash and the pegasus ponies, the Sky Team, were acting as scouts, identifying the route their land bound friends would be able to follow. They were also keeping a watch out for monsters and other dangers.

Twilight Sparkle, as Ponyville’s Emergency Response Coordinator, was along so she could evaluate the needs of the new friends Rainbow Dash had brought home with her, so Spike could relay the instructions to Rarity’s Logistic Team, sending the message to Spaug at the Ponyville branch of Dragonfire Delivery.

Yet she couldn’t keep her mind focused on that problem of the near future. Instead she found her mind wandering into her imagination, thinking about just what these new friends were. Were they like ponies? And if not, what would they look like? And did their shape really matter? Zecora, for all her exotic appearance, was a good friend, both personally and to all in Ponyville, sharing her knowledge of herbs... And these new aliens had built a ship that could go in SPACE! It could go from one star to another! How much did they know? How much could they help Equestria? Could they unravel the Lost Formulas?

Twilight was so absorbed in her own thoughts, that it took Rainbow Dash several shouts, and Spike tugging on one of her ears, before she realized that someone wanted her attention.

“Sheesh, inattentive much?”

“Huh? Oh, Dash. Sorry, I was...” Twilight closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. She opened them again only just in time to jump over a root she would have tripped on. “Right. Focus on now. You wanted to say something?”

Rainbow Dash was gliding along, keeping pace with Twilight Sparkle. “Not me, but Syoosi, in the ship, wants to talk to you.”

“Ah, hate to break it to you, but I’m already hurrying there,” Twilight replied, a slightly sarcastic tone to her voice.

“Com-Badges mean distance doesn’t matter.”

The deep, resonant voice came out of thin air. This time Twilight did trip, spilling Spike as she tumbled into a mud puddle. The surprise wasn’t where the voice came from, it was-

“Wow! He sounds just like Flutterguy!” Spike exclaimed.

“Go, keep going!” Rainbow Dash said, waving off the ponies that slowed down to help Twilight. The athletic pegasus landed next to Twilight as Spike helped her up. “Starfleet officers have these badges that let them talk to each other over a distance,” Dash explained, pointing with her chin to the badge on her shoulder.

Twilight shook her head before speaking. “Right. Syoosi?” Twilight hesitated slightly on the unfamiliar name. “How can we help?”

The voice spoke from the badge. “There are fifty-eight crew on board that need to be evacuated or confirmed dead.” Twilight shuddered at the calm reference to death. “About half are injured, and may need assistance getting out. We’re taking on water, so time is pressing. How many ponies are you bringing?”

“There are about a hundred,” Twilight replied, “In this first wave. We’re building a temporary road behind us, and more are in Ponyville, getting ready to bring supplies out here.”

“A hundred ponies are enough to change my plans; Cargo Bay 3 is accessible topside, and we have some emergency supplies stored there. External hatch SCADA is green, so I can open it when you get here. How far out are you?”

As they talked, the ponies were walking up a low slope, wanting to keep up with the others but moving at a pace more reasonable for conversation. As they crested the top of the slope they realized that the crest was in fact the rim of the impact crater, as they could now see the U.S.S. Judges, in all her fallen glory. The prow of the ship’s saucer was jammed into the mud of the swamp, the aft end propped on an outcropping of rock. Both nacelles were gone, the pylon stumps glowing dull orange with plasma fires. The stern ‘hull’ between them had been twisted out of shape by the antimatter fuel explosion. Explosions had taken out the bridge, leaving only ripped, jagged metal at the crown of the saucer.

Twilight Sparkle watched the Ponyville Response Team decending the slope to the crashed ship, starting to spread out around the perimeter. A few even were taking careful steps onto the hull, but the purple unicorn could tell they needed more in the way of organization and direction. A smile played at her lips. They were ready and willing to help strangers at a moment’s notice.

“... We’re there. Open the hatches.”

---=={***}==---

The good news is that the Armory, benefiting from a design that put a premium on “Hard to break into,” had not completely collapsed, despite being on the bottom when U.S.S. Judges hit Equestria.

The bad news was that the room’s partial collapse, while being a factor in the rest of the ship taking less damage, had been enough to warp the frame of the door, and the impact had injured one of those in the room, and killed the other.

Ensign Tarah reflected that at least the broken neck meant that Crewman Der Trihs had died quickly, without suffering. In any case, suffering was something any warrior had to learn to accept and endure. Setting the fractured bone in her lower right leg had required that the Andorian steel her will against the intense pain, against which the cauterizing fire of the phasor was relatively mild. The head of security felt proud for being able to do what she had to do without hesitation.

But without anyone to be brave for, she was unable to restrain the scream of agony.

A few pieces of armor, skillfully adjusted, became a splint that held the bones in place, and a brace that let her stand without putting her weight on the break, even to walk, with care.

Alas, the makeshift treatment was not enough to let Tarah use her full strength, which meant that she was faced with the problem that a room that was hard to break into was also break out of. Unable to force the jammed door to slide aside, the scorch marks testified to her failure in using handheld phasor to cut through the tough alloy of the door. While the armory held a number of tools of destruction that Tarah could have used to force the issue, applying them in such a confined area would have been hazardous to herself... and to the stores of other equipment stored in the Armory. Given how today had been going, they might need all the weapons, armor, and personal shields they could get their hands on, and more, by the time this all ended.

Ensign Tarah was spared the need to follow the ancient human custom known as “macgivverin” by the message from Syoosi that help was being sent to get her out.

Tarah had just noticed the first encroachment of water into the compartment when she heard the voice from the other side of the door, clearly carrying through the half-inch gap between the door and the frame.

“Anypony- er, anybody in thar?”

A cough to clear her throat, before Tarah replied, “Yes.”

“Thn stand back.”

A few seconds passed, before something hit the door with a *SLAM!* that shook the floor.

“I don’t think you can force it that way, the door is reinforced-”

*SLAM!!*

“and... very...” Tarah broke off as she saw the huge dents forming in the metal.

*SLAM-TANG!!!*

“strong.” Tarah stared in disbelief as the door was forced to swing in. This feat had required that the top and bottom edges of the door, a centimeter thick of one of the toughest armors known to Starfleet, be sheared away to clear the floor and ceiling plates that had been pushed up against the door by the crash. Slowly, Tarah took her eyes from the bent metal that formed the door’s new ‘hinge’ to her rescuer, as he looked back over her shoulder at her.

This one was certainly bigger than Rainbow Dash, able to meet Tarah’s eyes as she stood up. He was built along more massive lines as well, easily out-massing anyone this side of one of those huge Gorn. His crimson coat was adorned with a green apple, sliced to show the seeds inside. He was wearing only a pair of saddle bags and some sort of rigid collar.

Tarah looked from the pony to the bent door, and back again, something nagging at the back of her mind as she gaped, trying to understand what she just saw happen.

“Miss?” the pony asked, as he turned to face her, “Ah’m Big Macintosh.”

The Andorian shook her head, relegating the impossible to her ‘later’ file, so she could deal with the present. “I’m very glad to meet you, Big Macintosh. I’m Ensign Tarah,” She gestured to her lower leg, “and while I can walk, I’d appreciate your help getting this-” no need to explain that they’re tools of war now “-equipment out.”

“What about him?” the pony pointed a hoof at the body of Crewman Der Thirs, a little surprised by her seemingly callous approach.

“He’s beyond help,” Tarah stated flatly, but did lean down to pull the com-badge from the chest of his uniform. The memory chip on board had recorded the cessation of vital signs, and would serve as evidence of death in the case they could not recover the body. “He died a warrior’s death, and deserves better,” Tarah admitted, duty warring with honor’s demands as she looked down at the remains, “but today, duty to the living comes first.”

Big Macintosh was silent for a long moment, then he nodded with a sigh. “Thn Ah reckon’ we should load up on this stuff,” he agreed, looking over the racks of energy weapons, suits of shiny armor, equipment kits, and shield belts, “Ah trust you know what all of this is worth takin’.”

---=={***}==---

Over the last several hours Twilight Sparkle and Lieutenant Syoosi had overseen the evacuation of the slowly sinking U.S.S. Judges, as the afternoon turned to the first colors of twilight. Overall, Twilight had been impressed. Not by the aliens’ exotic technology, the most advanced of which she had seen had been what seemed like a cart that floated above the ground without wheels; useful for moving things, but not really earthshaking. Instead, the purple unicorn was impressed by how well prepared they seemed for this, how organized they were. Each of the crew seemed to know exactly what they needed to do, and the emergency supplies they pulled out of the ship seemed almost magical in their mundane way. As she watched, wondering why they would make a crate so long, which would require more material for packaging than a cube design, two of the Starfleet nurses took the box apart, ignoring the contents... and putting an injured man on the lid, building the sides into an immobilizing, protective cocoon, so the man could be moved without risk of making his injuries worse.

Twilight Sparkle had briefly met Lieutenant Onehli, who was apparently the ‘Tactical Officer’ of the ship. Once the Road Team had reached the crash site, he had left with the first wave of wounded being taken back to Ponyville, to oversee setting up a camp just outside town. Twilight had noticed that he seemed oddly concerned with keeping an eye on the boxes taken from the ship, but hadn’t found a chance to ask about it.

The ship shuddered, sinking another ten centimeters, causing all around to briefly look at the ship with worry.

“How well are we progressing?” Twilight asked the very tall alien sitting next to her, who was looking at some sort of glass and metal tool. His seat was a black box he had carried out of the ship.

“We’ve accounted for everyone that was aboard,” Syoosi said with a half smile. “We’ve gotten everyone still alive out, I’m sure of that. As for materiel, we’ve already pulled out a lot, and what’s left on board isn’t worth the risk of going back in for it. We should suspend operations now, while there’s still enough light to travel with.”

He put down the data pad, standing up and doing some limbering up exercises. “Judges was a good ship, but now it’s a death trap.” He raised his arms to cup his hands around his mouth, shouting so that all the ponies and crew could hear. “EVERYONE GET CLEAR!”

Heads turned to face him, and people began to stream out of the ship, heading up the slope of the crater towards the temporary command post on the rim.

“Great work everypony!” Twilight congratulated them as they approached. “But now it’s time to gather up everything and everyone, and head back to Ponyville.”

A cheer rose from the crowd. As they began to flow past the command post and down the other side, Lieutenant Syoosi remained. He stood there, watching the U.S.S. Judges shudder and sink its way into the murk of the Froggy Bottom Bog. It was only once all that remained were the bubbles coming up that he reached down, lifted the computer core memory backup up to his shoulder, and turned to leave, walking into the deepening dusk under a twilit sky.

---=={***}==---

“Meanwhile, several hours ago,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Wait, what did she just say?” Sergeant Bulwark asked Applejack.

“I dunno, she doesn’t make much sense sometimes,” the farmer replied.

“I know, but,” Bulwark hesitated for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Making sense isn’t the point. Her ‘Pinkie Sense’ has no logical explanation, and that party she threw for me... Well, how do I tell if I should be paying more attention to what she’s saying?”

“Ooo, that’s a toughie. I reckon... we don’t need to worry now,” Applejack said, pausing to find a way to put her reasons into words. “She wasn’t facing anypony when she spoke, and she isn’t looking for a tuba or anything...”

“A tuba?”

“Ayep.”

“Do I want to know?

“Maybe I can tell you the story later, Sugarcube,” Applejack said with a smile, “but it’s a might bit long for now; we still have them.”

She gestured to where the other guards were questioning their three prisoners, grilling them for information, and not getting much for all their angry efforts. Only one of them was speaking, and the only things he was saying were variations on the theme of “I can’t tell you that.”

Bulwark nodded. The Sergeant, in addition to being one of the royal guard, had spent several years serving in the Canterlot Police Force. The Lieutenant barking questions at the three aliens did not have this experience. Bulwark could tell that the two aliens that were not talking were getting annoyed with the one that was, but were keeping quiet for some reason.

“You’re the Champion of Honesty,” Bulwark mused. “Go tell the Lieutenant to let you take over the questioning, I think those three...”

Applejack nodded, and moved to prod the officer in charge of the Guardponies.

As the pressure eased, the three were able to murmur among themselves.

“Be honest, Raat.”

“But the Prime Directive-“

“Too late. They are making the things to make them go.”

“She’s right, and there is the exception for when our lives are in danger.”

“I... don’t think we’re in danger, but...”

The spokesman of the three looked up, now facing Applejack. “Alright, I’ll try and answer your questions,” he said, “but I can’t explain everything, or tell you some things.”

“Ya’ll can start with who ya’ll are, and why ye’r here,” the farmer stated.

“I am Lieutenant Commander Raat, and these are Lieutenant Bindalla and Ensign Oasis. We represent Starfleet, and the United Federation of Planets. We came here,” he paused, taking a deep breath, “to return one Rainbow Dash, and to investigate possible actions of an Orion Syndicate group in enslaving members of a pre-warp culture.”

“And it’d be convenient if that was true,” Bulwark interjected. Applejack shot him an angry look, only to have him calmly turn away from the aliens to face her... and wink at her with the eye they couldn’t see. Applejack’s eyebrows rose briefly. “Lady Dash isn’t here to confirm your claims.”

“Now Sugarcube,” Applejack said soothingly, sliding into the role of ‘Good Guard’ to Bulwark’s ‘Bad Guard.’ “Ah’m sure that if’n they’re honest, they can find something to convince us of their good nature.”

Bulwark leaned his head to the side, putting on a show of considering Applejack’s words. “Maybe... if they can tell us something that would prove they weren’t working with the ones that kidnapped Rainbow Dash and the others,” he mused aloud, still sounding grumpy and stern.

“Something like,” the one indicated as ‘Oasis’ said, “how she and her friends encountered an angry manticore in the Everfree Forest?”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed briefly. She nodded, asking, “Did she tell ya’ll just why it was angry?”

“Because it had a thorn in its paw,” the blue haired alien replied. “That Fluttershy pulled out.”

“Thn I think we can trust you,” the Champion of Honesty ruled.

A Discussion and Before Breakfast

A Discussion and Before Breakfast: In which priorities are discussed, and the impossible is dealt with.

---=={***}==---

Lieutenant Siatt Onehli had a very flexible mind, a trait that had served him well as Tactical Officer of U.S.S. Judges, and during his time at Starfleet Academy that flexibility had allowed him to keep up with Delilah, keeping her interest long enough to be considered her lover. But that was the past, and while the Bolian hoped that someday they could pick things up again, he also needed that flexibility in the present.

A few hours ago, he had been expecting to protect a helpless pre-warp culture from being exploited by scoundrels. Now he was depending on those natives to protect and hide the crew that had survived from a foe much more capable than they had expected.

“I don’t know why they didn’t finish us off,” he explained to the alabaster unicorn trotting beside him, “It’s out of character for Klingons to give quarter to foes like that. Their ‘mercy’ is to kill defeated enemies.”

“Goodness! Isn’t destroying your ship enough for them?” Rarity asked, astonished, “What kind of monsters are they?”

“They’re not really monsters, they just look at life much differently,” Onehli replied, “But for right now, I don’t know how long this reprieve will last. We should have enough prefab shelters pulled from the ship to build a complete camp, but I’d like to manage some level of concealment, to get our people and things under some sort of cover before any hostile eye looks our way. I’d also like, and I mean no offense, a place where we can keep an eye on comings and goings from our camp. Do you have any suggestions?”

Rarity hummed to herself, eyes narrowing as she trotted along with the alien down the quickly-built road to Ponyville. The specified requirements were mentally assembled, and compared to the resources she knew the town had available. “Oh, IDEA!” she exclaimed in her musical voice.

---=={***}==---

This planet was full of surprises, Siatt reflected, as he looked out over the Ponyville Fairground. Even as the night closed in, the ponies had been able to put up their tents and pavilions, using quickly erected gas lamps, supplemented by a few flood-lights from the emergency supplies, and lanterns hung from the branches of nearby trees, that held glowing gems, the light coming from what Rarity had explained as ‘simple unicorn magic.’

Magic. Siatt was unsure what to make of it. On the one hand, science had birthed the technology that in turn enabled warp drive, and in turn the United Federation of Planets. That science had been born, in part, by rejecting explanations that relied on magic. On the other hand, there was the evidence of his eyes, the approach enshrined by that same science. He had seen unicorns straining, their horns aglow, as they telekinetically lifted heavy objects.

Then there was Starfleet’s tradition of exploration. “To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before” had been their guiding motto for centuries now, and as they boldly went they kept running into more and more things that they simply couldn't explain, only faithfully document and describe, in hopes that future generations, maybe, just might be able to make sense of it. A pre-warp culture with such powers seemed almost tame.

Lieutenant Onehli chuckled to himself. Those sorts of thoughts were too heavy for him. Let the Science types beat their heads against the riddles, and let the Engineering types try and find uses for the secrets beaten loose. HE was Tactical. It was his job to use those tools to fulfill the OTHER Starfleet mandate, and protect the citizens of the Federation. He would fight the wars, so others could secure the peace and freedom the Federation stood for.

That meant he had to live and act in the present. And in this present he had a camp that could hold the forty-nine survivors of the crash, and was establishing contact with the nineteen that had escaped before the crash. The biggest group of those that had escaped by teleporter or life-pod had found their way to the location of Lieutenant Commander Vulzy Raat, who was with the pony search party in the mountains. The rest were making their way on foot to Ponyville, Starfleet’s physical fitness regimens paying dividends. Of the original crew of eighty-five, sixteen were confirmed dead in the attack or the crash, one way or another, leaving one missing.

The lone person unaccounted for was the captain, Commander Delilah O’Niel.

Siatt turned as he heard a familiar voice arguing with the apparent leader of the ponies.

“But it’d be so easy for you to share what you know! If you could just look at my notes on the Lost Formulas-”

“That’s exactly the problem, it would be too easy!”

The Bolian laughed as Syoosi and Twilight Sparkle approached. “I take it you’re the last from the crash site?” he asked, and at the engineer’s nod he continued. “Then come on in, and we can talk about the Prime Directive.”

---=={***}==---

Pinkie Pie was away in the mountains, far from Ponyville, but it made little difference. The ponies INSISTED on having some kind of celebration that night, with a fervor that reminded the Bolian of his home-world. It had taken all his convivial skill to convince them that the Starfleet personnel couldn’t take part that night, without offending them or explaining all his real reasons involved. In the end he used the argument that it wouldn’t be fair to those too injured to attend, or those treating the injured. Even then, they’d extracted a promise that they would attend a party later on.

So while the rest of the town threw a (relatively) small party to celebrate Rainbow Dash’s return, Siatt, Syoosi, and Twilight Sparkle discussed Starfleet General Order #1.

Lieutenant Onehli held the position of second officer; in the absence of the captain and the first officer, he was in command. He also had much better people skills than Syoosi, so by mutual agreement was handling most of the explaining. “We are- were- the officers of the starship U.S.S. Judges, which is part of Starfleet, which is the primary military of the United Federation of Planets,” Siatt told Twilight Sparkle, skipping over a lot of details in the interest of brevity and clarity, “and one of our fundamental principles is that we shouldn’t interfere with the freedom of other cultures.”

The three were the only occupants of the small pavilion. The fabric walls, held up by the thick wood pole, and pony provided pillows on which they sat, contrasted with the crates marked with the Starfleet logo, all dimly lit by a few lanterns, hug from the support against the deepening night, aided by the faint glow of active consoles. The basic theme was repeated in the most of the other tents. The town had supplied enough various temporary enclosures to store all of the salvaged materiel; a prefab building had been constructed under the big top’s canopy to serve as the camp’s hospital.

“So what does that have to do with helping me study the Lost Formulas?” Twilight interjected.

“Well, one of those freedoms is the freedom of a culture to develop and grow on their own,” Saitt replied. “If we gave you the technology, or if helped you discover something before you’re ready to handle it, we have no idea what could happen, but given the history...” He trailed off, looking down.

“History?” Twilight asked.

“He means the Prime Directive was established after a number of cases where weaker cultures were destroyed,” Syoosi supplied, not looking up from the small terminal he was using to interrogate the computer core backup he had taken from Judges, “Often times almost by accident, or for reasons of crass greed. Traditions, art, even whole peoples, gone into oblivion, before anyone understood the value of what was being lost.” His deep voice was level, almost mater-of-fact, belying the horrors his words implied.

“But the griffins... and the aliens that gave them weapons...”

Saitt shook off the melancholy, saying, “That’s a bit more clear cut for us, as those aliens are criminals, and the Prime Directive does let us take actions to correct other violations. Our normal policy when dealing with,” he paused a moment, choosing his words carefully, “cultures around your level of technology is to completely avoid giving any evidence of our presence, even when we set up observation stations. Obviously it’s too late for that level of concealment.”

His long relationship with Delilah gave Saitt better insight into what she might want them to do in her absence; while she had often proven unpredictable in her chosen means, her ends were much more consistent. “What the Commander was planning to do was to locate the base of the griffins working with the Orions, with your people’s help,” he nodded to the purple unicorn, “if need be, but that would be the whole of your involvement. Starfleet personnel would take responsibility for going in to take the advanced technology away from the griffins, and remind the Orion Syndicate how much Starfleet disapproves of this kind of meddling. After that, we’d leave, and let all the cultures here go back to developing on your own.”

“And what would thou say, if thy assistance would be requested, in giving Us the means to protect Our subjects?”

The female voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Syoosi’s fingers froze on the console touch screen. Siatt’s eyes flickered around the tent, looking everywhere; was there a deepening in the gloom? Twilight Sparkle took in a quick breath and held it, her face paling.

Siatt licked his lips before replying to the mysterious voice, “In that case I’d want to know who was doing the asking, and what fraction of the planet she spoke for, but the answer would probably be ‘no.’”

Twilight gasped again at the alien’s response. Nopony would just refuse one of the princesses-

“Interesting... A brave answer, or a foolish one. Few would refuse a goddess; fewer still would survive the refusal.”

“You might be surprised,” Siatt replied, “Starfleet officers aren’t known for fearing the unknown, or meekly obeying those that call themselves gods, and particularly not when the speaker has yet to reveal themselves.” A little throat clearing accented the final words; not enough to be rude, but a reminder.

A mist had infiltrated the tent, heightening the gloom. Now that mist gathered, star-like sparkles glowing in its depths. Even in the dim light the figure that emerged was regal, midnight blue, her mane was the glories of space, taken into the humble structure. Her understated jewelry seemed unimportant compared to her bearing and presence. The combination of horn and wings simply marked this as being something special. Her posture was stiff and formal; not hostile, but demanding respect.

Siatt stood up, and gave a half-bow; not of submission, but of respect to a legitimate ruler. “Then I believe it is my pleasure to meet you, Princess Luna,” he said, as he straightened back up, “I am Lieutenant Siatt Onehli, and my companion is Lieutenant Syoosi. I believe we have things to discuss about how we can help you, and your people.”

---=={***}==---

Lieutenant Commander Vulzy Raat had a very disciplined mind, a trait that had served him well as Medical Officer of U.S.S. Judges, and as XO to Commander O’Niel he had been able to keep up with her wild energy, making sure that the ship and the crew were ready for action. He organized things into neat categories, cleanly separating different circumstances so that different responses could be effectively brought to bear, an approach that he was finding to be less useful in the present.

The day before, he had been expecting to face the challenge of navigating between assisting a pre-warp culture and the mandates of the Prime Directive. This morning he was depending on what might be a transitional culture to feed the fifteen officers and crew that had joined the ponies’ camp. The attack had caught them by surprise, and only a few of those who beamed down had the chance and presence of mind to grab more than a few pieces of personal equipment not already on their persons; Lieutenant Bindalla was rumored to sleep with her special tricorder. The two life-pods that had landed near the camp had yielded more in the way of provisions and medical supplies, but it wasn’t much among so many. Ensign Oasis had managed to grab the caches of phaser rifles and equipment kits stored in the Transporer Room’s small weapons safe before she stepped onto the pad.

One of those ‘panic boxes’ yielded the medical tricorder that the Lieutenant Commander was using to scan the food the ponies had provided for breakfast. He had insisted on checking each and every item their hosts were offering to share before any member of Starfleet could so much as taste it. As the senior officer on the scene, he had the authority to make it stick, even if it meant the toast would be eaten cold.

Many of the crew thought he was wasting his time; the legacy of the ancient race known to the Deferi as the Preservers had created a galaxy filled with life, and where the food of alien worlds was many times more likely to be healthy and nutritious than to be dangerous. The degree of compatibility had baffled scientists who tried to explain how there could be children born of parents of different worlds. That those children experienced so few health issues was testament to the bioengineering ability of a race, so determined that even if all their people should die out, the universe should NOT be a lonely place.

But the Bajoran biochemistry expert knew better. People could develop lethal allergies to things even from their native world, and odd combinations of normally harmless chemicals could produce unexpected reactions. But even his painstaking approach would have an end. His eyes had been focused on his tricorder as he scanned each item in turn, the device’s sophisticated internal computer examining the chemical composition of each foodstuff, and projecting possible interactions. The last item was a fruit derivative, remarkably similar to Earth’s apples, with the addition of only simple sugar in the preservation process. In short, jam.

“To the best of my knowledge, it should all be safe to eat,” he announced, looking at the final report on his tricorder.

So Raat was surprised to look up from the device to see that the last item on the spread picnic blanket was a jar that contained a rainbow spectrum of colors.

His eyes flicked down to the tricorder, then back up as he found no answer there. Natural compounds could explain the colors, but not their separation or organization. “Ah... just what is that?” he asked.

Applejack had been helping him, moving through samples of the food the Search Party had brought. “This? Zap Apple Jam,” she answered, pulling herself up proudly, “One of Sweet Apple Acres’ special products! Finding zap apples is what lead to Ponyville’s founding. They don’t grow every season, but we were lucky this year.”

“And,” Vulzy was choosing his words with care, as might a miner chose his tools, materials, and even movements with care, on the sudden discovery of a crack across a major support, “How do you make it like that, with the-” suddenly, a glimpse of hope! “-colors separated into bands?”

“The apples just grow like that,” the farmer replied, looking at the Bajoran a little oddly, not understanding why he seemed confused. “All we do is cut ‘em up, boil ‘em up with some cane sugar, mix, and pour it into jars for keepin’.” Vulzy’s hope vanished, as the wood of the tunnel support proved to be not just cracked, but badly rotten. “Woodja like some, sugarcube?”

“I would,” Bindalla answered, entering the area of focus, a slice of toasted bread and butter knife heald in one hand. The female Packled sat cross-legged on the grass, and it took her no more than ten seconds to figure out the jar lid and open it with her free hand. After placing the lid on the picnic blanket she transferred the butter knife from one hand to the other. That hand dipped the knife into the jar, lifting out a serving of the already unbelievably improbable zap apple jam. Bindalla spread the jam onto the slice of toast, producing a glaze with colors neatly sorted into the colors of visible light.

Raat blinked, watching as his crewmate did what should have been impossible. There was no reaction on her face, until she took a bite of the toast, when a smile appeared on her face. This was normal for Bindalla, who took in the wonders of the universe without outward reaction. She sometimes appeared oblivious, but was impartially observing. The only things that made her smile or frown were things she wasn’t studying, such as enjoying; food.

“That... couldn’t have just happened,” the Bajorian said.

“Computer, end program.”

“Sorry Raaty-Taaty-Waaty, but it’s not that easy,” piped up Pinkie Pie, from across the group, where she was talking with Maya and two of the crew about recent parties and celebrations in Ponyville.

“Computer, Arch!” Raat was becoming frantic... and Bindalla was expressing rare emotion. Disappointment with the behavior of her superior.

“Raat, not holodeck. Not joke.”

“But it’s jam that takes it on itself to reverse entropy! That’s flat out impossible, there must be some trickery-”

The Lieutenant cut off the officer in charge of the group. “Be science Raat. BE science. Science does not know. Science is not knowing. Science is looking. Science is eyes and ears. Look.”

“But it flies in the face of everything I’ve been taught, everything-“

“No. Science is not what is told you, science is what you see.” Bindalla’s voice was like iron, as she exposited the philosophy that made true scientists, “Science is not knowing, science is good guessing. When guesses wrong, science must look better. Look around Raat. Your guesses wrong. Look better. Be science.”

Raat sat down heavily, trying to absorb both what he was seeing and the lesson that Bindalla had just given him, looking into open air, occasionally muttering the one word question: “How?”

Into the sudden silence, as Applejack watched, still largely confused, Ponyville’s premier party pony approached. Pinkie Pie had been talking with Ensign Oasis. They had started discussing the various foods, and how ponies cooked them, and had transitioned into a long talk about the events Ponyville had celebrated recently, but after Raat’s outburst she decided that this was more interesting.

“Ooo, did I miss a too-ordered mind breaking?” she asked Applejack

The farmer nodded. “Yep, he started ranting, but he seems to have simmered down some.”

“So you were telling him about all the impossible stuff I do? That sort of stuff always makes Twilight’s break squeak.”

“Nope, he was just looking at the jam,” the cowpony indicated the jar in question with a pointed hoof.

“Wait,” now it was Pinkie Pie’s turn to sound shocked with disbelief. “We’ve got a stereotypical ‘science explains everything zealot’ here,” she gestured dramatically, forehooves forming a bracket to indicate the Bajorian sitting on the grass beside her, “And the thing about Equestria that he can’t accept is zap apple jam?” As she spoke, the tone of the Champion of Laughter turned from being shocked to being offended.

Bindalla and Applejack nodded.

“And not how I can build a working flying machine that is little more than a framework?”

“Anti-gravity and structural integrity fields. Known tech,” Bindalla supplied.

“Not how I can turn up in the most unlikely places?”

“Teleporters. Known tech.”

“Not even my Pinkie Sense? How I get twitchy feelings that predict the future with uncanny accuracy, breaking causality!?”

Raat looked away from his inner confusion to the encounter between his shipmate and the alien native.

“Time is not a simple linear progression of events,” Bindalla stated, “Bajorians know best; the Prophets reveal that it is more of a wibbly-wobbly, time-wimey-ball, from their non-subjective viewpoint.”

Pinkie Pie was growing frantic as her most outrageous behavior was accepted without question. She leapt up onto Bindalla, hooves grabbing the Packled’s uniform as she ranted incoherently, the science officer showing no emotional reaction at the invasion of her personal space. “BUT I’M- WHAT I DO- I BREAK THE FO-“

The rant was cut off by an unfamiliar sound, one none had heard in many, many years.

Vulzy Raat was laughing.

The crew of U.S.S. Judges watched, not quite believing, as the infamously inflexible and humorless officer laughed and laughed. He laughed away his stress, his worries, his confusion, and his need to understand before proceeding.

“How,” he said, pausing to lick his lips, as he sought the thing that really mattered now.

“How,” he repeated the first word, “Does this ‘zap apple jam’ taste?”

“Good,” Bindalla stated, extending the rest of her slice of toast to her superior officer. “Try, and make your observation?” she offered, while Pinkie Pie hung onto her uniform.

Pinkie Pie hopped down from her perch, and trotted away with a smile on her face. “He looked like he needed a good laugh,” she said as she approached Maya, and the crewmembers that had been talking with the pony about native customs. “Now, we were talking about the Running of the Leaves, right?”

A Reawakening and A Reunion

A Reawakening and A Reunion: In which a fate is revealed, and evil moves once more.

---=={***}==---

Wreckage of alloy and composites rests in the depths of untamed forest. Small fires smolder as a creature approaches the bodies there. Smaller pieces, what might have once been furniture, are flipped over, as the creature explores. A groan rises from below what might have been a chair. The creature digs the wounded thing out, and carries it away from the wreckage.

---=={***}==---

Delilah woke up, which was the first surprise.

She attempted a self assessment, and she realized much of her body wasn’t responding to her commands yet, which was the second surprise.

Her right eye, the natural one, still worked, and she took in what looked like... Hmm. Wood structure, from what she could tell of the construction. There were some interesting masks on one wall, shelves with ceramic jars on another, and a great cauldron over a fire pit in the middle. None of the herbs hung from above were moving, so that ruled out a moving vehicle.

The implant that had replaced her left eye reported that it was functioning at normal levels, and that about a day had passed since she had last been awake. It also reported that her eyepiece was missing.

Her empathic senses felt a number of minds around her. Mostly they seemed bright, for animals, but none of the aggressive ones minds were close. In fact, the ‘brightest’ mind was significantly closer, and unique for the area. It was: intelligent, feeling background concern, but mostly confidant. There was something odd about the entity’s thought patterns, niggling at the edge of Delilah’s awareness, but she had no luck understanding what was being thought.

As she took all this in, Delilah also became more aware of her body and immediate surroundings. She was laying on a straw pallet, under a woven blanket, the pallet on a dirt floor. Her uniform had been removed; she spotted its remains beside the pallet, torn and bloody. Counting the bandages on her skin, she surmised that her rescuer had removed her uniform to tend to her wounds. Her left arm had been tied to a stick, and as she examined the surface bruising Delilah realized that a bone had been broken, later set and immobilized.

The third surprise was when Delilah realized that for all the damage her body had taken, she was feeling no pain. This fact was cataloged as being convenient in the short term, and either possibly bad or certainly very bad in the long run. In the best case, her rescuer (and as she contemplated, Delilah became more and more sure that the mind she felt nearby was her rescuer) had been able to medicate her for pain. Without pain she would have to be careful about not hurting herself more, and it was likely she would need to move.

In the worst case, the crash had caused Delilah serious nerve damage.

The fact that her ability to move her body was sluggishly returning pointed towards the first possibility, along with the tactile feedback from her self-examinations using her right hand. Delilah commanded herself to hold her left arm as still as possible against her midsection, trusting in her iron self-control that allowed her to save the day during the attack on the Vega Colony. She used her returning mobility to investigate her surroundings more thoroughly.

Her right hand reached across her body to investigate the remains of her uniform. Her questing fingers gave up after pulling out the shattered remains of her prosthetic’s optic; even if the lens had been intact, it had been snapped off of the interface component that let her implants connect to it. She muttered a brief, but cathartic, epithet, laying flat against the pallet again. She kept a spare eyepiece in her quarters, but without one, or the badge she had given to Rainbow Dash, the odds of her crew tracking her location were slim.

As more of the events leading up to her blackout came back to her, Commander O’Niel became sadly certain that her available resources were severely limited. Against an unknown, possibly hostile wilderness all she had were the ruined remains of her uniform, the boots that remained on her feet, and the blanket that covered her.

Oh, and the kindness of her unknown rescuer.

Her rescuer was approaching. Delilah closed her eyes to ‘listen’ better. She decided that the mind was older, more mature than Rainbow Dash, the only other native of this world that Delilah had a chance to telepathically examine. The unknown was certainly a native speaker of a different language, and she thought with subtly different colors. Oh yes, and Delilah’s bet was female. There was that something else odd about those thoughts, but she couldn’t pin it down yet.

But right then, all Delilah could do was to wait for her rescuer to arrive.

---=={***}==---

It didn’t take long for the native to return. Delilah made no major movements yet, aside from lifting up her head slightly to get a better look. Her discretion was not helping her stealth; her seeing eye was looking into the green eyes of a pony. Her focus spread out, seeing a white coat with distinct black stripes, and a hairdo best described as a mohawk. The body lacked either wings like Rainbow Dash, or the horn that the pegasus said unicorns had; so this was possibly an ‘earth pony’. A spiral surrounded by a polar array of triangles formed the stylized sun on her flank that was her Cutie Mark. Gold rings adorned one foreleg and neck, with a gold hoop in one ear. Where Rainbow Dash’s tail had been hidden under long hairs, this one’s longer tail was revealed, with a plume of hairs at the end.

“I see you have awoken, I had feared your body be broken.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand you, but thank you for helping me,” Delilah replied. Without the combadge she had given to Rainbow Dash, she didn’t have a universal translator.

“I cannot comprehend your speech, perhaps a compromise we might reach?”

“I don’t think that’s the same language as before,” Delilah replied, shifting to the Betazoid language, “So I think you are also willing to work towards understanding.”

“I’m going to examine your head, given the gibberish you’ve said.”

From the way her new friend had been shifting languages, Delilah had become sure the stripy native was very intelligent. The next set of actions only made that conclusion firmer, as the pony picked up a lamp, and moved the flame close past Delilah’s eyes, watching for dilatation behavior. A hoof tapping at the left side of Delilah’s head, next to the data port, indicated that the false eye had been noticed. While the surface of the implant that had replaced her left eye seemed normal at a casual glance, a close look would reveal that it was artificial. The right eye didn’t track with the left, which is why Delilah considered the adhesive she used to hold it closed part of her makeup.

“I worry that this eye has fallen to wound, or some odd disease may be found.”

“It’s a false eye, don’t worry,” Delilah’s working hand made a dismissing motion. There was something about the native’s words that Delilah caught, but she couldn’t isolate it.

The native seemed skeptical, but from what Delilah’s telepathic sense could tell, the message was getting across, at least partly. She made no complaint when Delilah sat up, aside from glancing at the immobilized arm as the blanket fell away. With her good arm, Delilah first pointed into her open mouth, then rubbed her belly. Her host nodded, saying a few words as she prepared a bowl filled from the cauldron in the middle of the room.

As she gratefully ate Delilah considered her goals, and how to achieve them with the resources at hand. Being Betazoid didn’t mean she could instantly understand the thoughts of others, and it would be extremely rude to try and project her thoughts in a case like this. Given Delilah’s talents, about all she could be sure of was her host’s mood, and if her message was getting across. Her eye flickered across her host’s flank. Cutie marks... Maybe. After all, most communication was trading symbols of shared meaning.

Delilah took a wooden spoon, and found a clear section of the dirt floor. Using the narrow end of the spoon, she sketched first a cloud, with a lightning bolt divided into three along its length. Rainbow Dash’s Cutie Mark, and was rewarded with a flash of affectionate recognition, mixed with worry.

“What happened to those taken in Cloudsdale has been nebulous, can you shed light on the fate of the pegasus?” she asked.

Then Delilah sketched the chevron that was the Starfleet logo, then pointing at herself. Once her host nodded, tentatively taking the sketch to represent her guest, Delilah took a deep breath, before sketching a set of pictures to tell the story so far.

Rainbow Dash in a cloud. A circle with two hooks attached, like a “6” and “9” overlapped, the logo of the new Orion Syndicate, throwing dots at the cloud.

Rainbow Dash in a cage. The cage in a boat, formed from a flat line, over a curved one, with a triangle sail, with the circle with the two hooks. A second ship, with the chevron, throwing dots at the first.

A boat, with Rainbow Dash, no longer in the cage, and the chevron. A third boat, with the three-fanged circle of the Klingon Empire, throwing dots at the boat with the chevron.

The boat with the chevron, crashing in flames, with Rainbow Dash leaving.

Delilah leaned back against the wall, giving her host time to puzzle out the story she had put into the drawings. At the same time, the Commander could think about what she should try and do. She called up the last visual images her optic had recorded, looking at the bridge display of the planet they were crashing towards. At a guess this hut wasn’t too far from Sweet Apple Acres, and thus not too far from Ponyville, which is where Rainbow Dash said she lived, so it might be practical to walk there, hopefully with her host as guide. That the native seemed to know Rainbow Dash was evidence in support of this.

But should Delilah make for Ponyville? This native seemed to believe her, and Rainbow Dash would be in Starfleet’s corner, but the facts were that the people of this planet had been attacked by hostile aliens. There was no telling how they would react to more aliens, particularly a group of them that had been rendered helpless. Worst case, even with Rainbow Dash to speak for them, the ponies might come at them with blood in their eyes. In which case, her safest course of action would be to hide here until another Starfleet ship came to investigate.

But playing it safe with her life could very well preclude her best opportunities to make friendly contact with the natives, and would mean abandoning the rest of the crew of U.S.S. Judges to the ponies, for good or for ill.

“I believe your story, and think I can trust you; but now what should you do?”

Her host’s voice drew Delilah out of her contemplations, and she met the native’s eyes again. Looking into those green eyes, and feeling the trust behind them, Delilah found that her decision had made itself.

Commander O’Niel nodded, and picked up the spoon again.

The chevron and a spiral sun, in a house. A long arrow takes the two to a house containing Rainbow Dash.

A sundial with a circle sun, the shadow shown to move only a small angle.

The native’s eyes narrowed as she realized Delilah’s meaning, pointing her hoof at Delilah’s bandages.

In return, Delilah pointed firmly at the sundial.

Delilah was counting on Rainbow Dash being able to keep her alive long enough to talk to the natives, and she was confidant in her ability to convince them of her good intentions once given the chance.

But that mattered less than the fact that Delilah couldn’t leave her crew hanging.

---=={***}==---

Once the message that time was of the essence was gotten across, Delilah and her host turned their efforts to preparation. With her boots intact, and what remained of her uniform and her blanket, Delilah was able to jury-rig enough protective clothing for her legs and good arm, and at least enough left over for her chest. A bamboo walking stick was found for her right hand, her legs still a little weak with bruises.

Delilah was quietly astonished at the degree of manipulative dexterity her host showed, able to move things easily using neck, tail, shoulders, hooves, and mouth to substitute for the hands she lacked, picking up a second pole for herself, along with a cloak and two small, mysterious pouches.

The passage through the forest was interesting, but not too eventful. Delilah’s new friend clearly had a native’s knowledge of both the area and the hazards therein. Few words were spoken, for fear of alerting those hazards, but Delilah’s psychic senses were ideally suited to this sort of challenge, giving her early warning of the many dangerous predators that lived in the temperate jungle. Her guide was able to indicate what unthinking hazards she should avoid, including a patch of bright blue flowers. Her implant told Delilah that it should be daytime, but the lush plant life formed a canopy that made the path they followed anywhere from ‘shadowed’ to ‘dim.’

They had taken a detour to where Zecora had found Delilah, but only long enough for the Commander to confirm that the majority of the ship had landed elsewhere; this was likely only the bridge. Eventually, the forest thinned out, dappled sunlight illuminating their footsteps. Reaching the edge of the forest their path turned into a more formal thing, paved with flat stones and a bridge helping it hop a stream on the way to a thriving town, overhanging branches falling behind to reveal the splendor of the blue sky. At their arrival that blue was graced with a spectrum-spanning blur, slowly getting larger, mirroring Delilah’s spreading smile as her gambles started paying off.

---=={***}==---

“Delilah! Zecora!” The six-limbed creature greeted the bipedal one with a hug, using her forelegs to wrap around the subject’s neck.

“Gently!” Delilah admonished Rainbow Dash, “I’ve got at least one broken bone, and don’t need more.” Her words were scolding, but her tone was filled with warmth.

“Sorry,” Dash replied, shifting the hug to Zecora, “But when you were listed unaccounted, we were all worried for you, and you too Zecora, when we realized some of the ship had landed in Everfree.”

The native pony replied, “I see you know my guest. While she has explained some of what happened, I hoped you might tell me the rest.”

“It’s... a long story,” Dash answered, one hoof scratching the back of her head.

“And the story isn’t even over yet,” Delilah added.

“Alternate communication we had to seek, so why is it Equine that you speak?”

“The short answer is that,” Delilah said, pointing at the com-badge that Rainbow Dash still had, but now secured to a red sash that ran around her neck and right shoulder. “It functions to translate speech.”

With a mumbled, “Oh yeah,” Dash began to remove the sash.

“And now that we can understand each others’ words,” Delilah said, her voice shifting into something slightly more formal as she turned to face Zecora, “I would like to thank you, Zecora, is that your name?” at the native’s nod she continued, “Thank you for pulling me from the wreck, seeing to my wounds, and guiding me here.”

Zecora bent her forelegs, making a sweeping bow. “Your thanks I need not, but I do accept, gladdened that my hoof of friendship was offered to good effect. Yet my task is not complete; we should get you to a place of rest, off this busy street.”

Then it hit Delilah, now that she could understand her savior’s speech. Zecora always spoke in rhyme- no, she was THINKING in rhyming thoughts. Delilah was momentarily stunned at the level of mental discipline required for that feat.

The Starfleet officer shook the fascinating thought off; she had other, urgent priorities right now. She turned back to the pegasus, who had removed the sash holding the com-badge. “Rainbow Dash, what happened with my people? Did...”

“We helped them get out of the wreck before it sank into the bog,” Rainbow Dash replied, joy at seeing her new friend again replaced by serious business of giving that friend good news. “Siatt is in charge of the group camped at Ponyville’s fairgrounds, and he said that the Egghead is in charge of the group up with our search party. Here,” Dash tossed the sash to Delilah using her mouth, the Betazoid catching it on the bamboo pole. “Syoosi said you’d need that back.”

“Don’t call Raat that behind his back,” Delilah said, “to his face, sure, but not behind his back.”

“Heh, sorry,” Dash apologized, then blinked, looking at Delilah’s face. “Wait a tic. Your eyepiece is gone, and your right eye...”

“Acts funny, I know,” Delilah said.

“I was going to say that your eyes look like Ditzy Doo’s,” Rainbow Dash said, chuckling.

With that little fact filed under ‘later,’ Delilah lifted the badge, squeezing it to activate it. “Lieutenant Onehli, this is Commander O’Niel. I’m heading for the Ponyville camp, make room in medical.”

---=={***}==---

Passing through town with Zecora and Rainbow Dash, Delilah got a closer look at the activity she had seen earlier. This seemed to be more than what could be called normal; in addition to the ponies at the stalls that made up the open-air market in the middle of town, there seemed to be a number of new buildings going up. Delilah paid as much attention as she could to the local architecture, noticing the mix of stonework and wood frame walls, and the mix of thatched, slate, and even a few tiled roofs. The only consistent among the existing structures was the attention to decorative details, as if a madmare with a fretsaw had savaged the town in the past.

“I have never seen Ponyville to have such activity, with ponies of all types moving about so busily,” Zecora commented, confirming Delilah’s guess. The new buildings were going up wherever there was a free lot, and seemed to mostly be wood framed.

Even as Delilah observed, she was also being observed, ponies staring at them as they moved through Ponyville, but none came up to stop them yet.

As the three passed through an intersection, Delilah saw, for the first time, the city of Cloudsdale, hanging in the distance, and saw it well enough to realize what she was seeing: a city. Built. Of. Clouds.

The stages of shock, disbelief, and confirmation were put on hold as a familiar voice hailed her.

“Commander O’Niel!”

“Zecora, darling, so good to see you! And is this the missing Delilah that Rainbow has been telling us about?”

“Ensign Tarah,” Delilah replied to her security officer, turning to the white unicorn with the Andorian. “And yes, I am, but I fear I don’t know your name m’lady,” she confirmed, adapting her speech based on what she felt of the purple-haired native.

“I,” the unicorn briefly paused for effect, “am Rarity, and I have the honor of being Equestria’s liaison to the members of Starfleet visiting us here in Ponyville.” She smiled, “I am doing what I can to make the stay of your people as pleasant as we can; but I digress. Commander Delilah O’Niel, allow me to welcome you to Ponyville. Allow me to lead you to your people.”

The enlarged party resumed their journey, Delilah’s attention diverted from the surroundings by conversation.

“So, what do you think of the town so far?” Rarity asked, a little fear behind the question, which Delilah guessed was from her suspicion that the visitor had surely seen more impressive places.

Delilah chuckled softly, “So far, all I can say is that I haven’t seen this many naked people at once since the Fifth House of Betazed gathered for Aunt Deanna’s wedding to William Riker.”

“Naked? For a wedding?” Rarity’s tone and emotions revealed her disbelief that any such occasion would happen. After all, opertunities-

“It’s an old Betazoid custom, asking all participants and guests to remove all physical and symbolic defenses, as two lives prepare to join as one,” Delilah explained. “We use events with less personal meaning to show off our good taste in clothing.”

“Which reminds me of something I was hesitant to bring up,” Rarity said, her voice holding her disgust at the prospect of seeming so gauche, but also her distaste for the faux pass in question.

“I’m wearing rags that used to be a custom uniform,” Delilah said, cutting to the core of the issue.

“Yes dear,” Rarity replied. “If you’d like, I could see if I can salvage it; I am Ponyville’s most accomplished dressmaker.”

Delilah thought for a moment. “I’ll take you up on that,” she decided, stopping in the middle of the street to take off those rags, leaving her bare except for her boots and bandages.

As she handed the bundle to Rarity, the unicorn taking it with her telekinesis, Ensign Tarah quietly spoke into her communicator. “The captain’s coming in naked again,” she warned.

The party resumed their journey, Tarah working up the courage to ask a question of her own. “I didn’t realize that you were related to the famous Troi family; she’s really your aunt?”

“Well, second cousin once removed,” Delilah clarified, “Mine is a cadet branch of the family. Anyway, Aunt Lwaxana was determined that her only daughter would be married in proper style. She put the weight of her diplomatic experience, and noble connections to the job, and by the time she was done, the ceremony had turned into the planetary social event of the decade.”

As the anecdote finished, they arrived at the campground.

---=={***}==---

To Zecora’s annoyance, Delilah insisted that all natives be outside while she received medical attention, but for operational security, not because of the Prime Directive. While the nurse saw to her broken arm, and inspected her other wounds, Delilah received a report on what had happened from Siatt Onehli. The report covered the status of the crew, what the natives had been up to, and what resources and plans they had already begun.

“So for the moment, our people in the mountains are helping with the search, but not flaunting their advanced technology. Around here in Ponyville there isn’t as much to do; most of our people are trying to gather information on the natives’ technological and social progress.”

Delilah gave Siatt a level look, and he chuckled.

“We’re far too late to try and impose ‘zero contact,’ given that we’ve spoken with one of this nation’s two monarchs, one Princess Luna,” he explained. “We explained the limits of the prime directive, and we’re limiting what we tell them, but we’re asking lots of questions. We got a chance to look at their math that led to the experiment we saw when we arrived. They’re close, very close, to developing a warp drive system, and with their ‘magic’ the engineering won’t hold them back for long.”

“Lovely,” Delilah sighed, closing her eyes. “While that has advantages for my career, it may spell trouble.”

“Commander?”

“Continue; what are the rest of the crew doing?”

“The biggest effort at the moment is to recover the shuttle from the U.S.S. Judges. The core recorder revealed that the ship’s boat is in working order, and the shuttle bay is accessible from the outside. Tarah rigged up a personal shield as a diving suit, and one of the ponies, Twilight Sparkle, says she can help open a channel into the depths of the swamp long enough to get it out.”

“And that’s a Type 8 shuttle, capable of getting, at least, to Starbase 114,” Delilah commented. “I’d like to see this magic in action. But if the natives are so willing to help us, can we help them in turn?”

The Bolian chuckled. “I thought you might ask that, so I asked Tarah; it would be easy to rig up a personal shield generator for a pony. A Type 2 Phaser pistol would take a little more work to be jaw operable, but they do show amazing manipulative dexterity.”

“And just in case-”

“Is just in case.”

The two former lovers grinned at each other, as their thoughts aligned.

“Anything else I need to know, Lieutenant?”

“Only that Ensign Maya reports that she caught Raat laughing.”

The Betazoid blinked. “I’m not sure if I believe that,” she admitted.

“Bindalla confirmed the report. Apparently making people laugh and smile is the special talent of one Pinkie Pie.”

Delilah chuckled. “If they can do that...” she trailed off.

Siatt nodded, knowing where his Commander’s thoughts might be going.

The nurse, having finished fusing Delilah’s shattered arm bones back together, looked from one officer to the other, confused.

“But anyway,” Commander O’Niel shook off the thought to get back to the present, “The short of it is that even if we can’t send a message, a ship will come looking for us soon enough, and the natives are friendly. Either way, provided that the Orions don’t cause any more trouble, we can just sit tight and wait for the rescue mission.”

There was a rumble from overhead, the crash of metal abusing the sound barrier. Delilah closed her eyes in a wince as her sharp mind put things together.

Ensign Tarah stuck her head in the door. “That was a trio of Orion Slaver-class small craft, traveling away from the capital, and towards the mountains where First Officer Raat and the others are,” she reported.

Delilah sighed. “I know narrative causality is a fallacy, but I need to say it. ‘Me and my big mouth.’”

---=={***}==---

There was an open area in the Ponyville Fairground, by the official entrance, where no tents had been erected.

Lining the Ponyville side was a herd of ponies, including Zecora, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle.

Across the open space was a cluster of thirty-five bipeds, forming about half the Starfleet crew rescued from the crash of the U.S.S. Judges. Standing ahead of them, but not in the focus of the scene, were Ensign Tarah and Lieutenant Siatt Onehli.

In mirroring flanking positions was a white pegasus, in the golden armor of the Royal Guard, and Princess Luna, her hair flowing from her head like a star field.

The focus of the scene was on the two leaders in the center.

Commander Delilah O’Niel had found time to put on a standard uniform, the three squares of her rank at her neck, comm-badge on her chest, and a replacement optic over her left eye. She stood stiffly, and despite the fact that her short stature meant she had to look up to meet the eyes of the other, she managed to surrender none of her own dignity or authoritative presence, but given who she was facing, that took great effort to maintain.

Princess Celestia, Co-Ruler of Equestria, Monarch of the Sun, Chief of the Greater Alicorns, and She Who Brought The Dawn, looked back at the Betazoid that had come to her world.

“Canterlot has been attacked by a force of griffin bandits and Orion raiders. Because Shining Armor had been able to shield the city against their transporters they came in using three Slaver shuttles. They used those shuttles’ weapons, as well as personal weapons, to capture as many ponies, and steal as much treasure as they could. Against any who resisted they shot to kill, and they turned the shuttle weapons against the Royal Vault. The Vault held, but they were able to take two great treasures, the Elements of Kindness and Loyalty. This time they were not targeting only adults for capture, but foals as well. Counts are still being made, but at least fifty of my people have been taken, and casualties are at least a dozen.”

There was a groan from the assembled ponies as the shock of the news hit.

“I now ask you, as a head of state to the highest ranking representative of the Federation, for your help to rescue my people.”

There was a pause, before Delilah spoke.

“You are asking us to intervene in the internal affairs of this world,” she stated. “to act against not simply invaders but against other people native to this planet. “

“The Griffin City-States have supplied me with official, written assurances that the griffins are not acting on behalf of any government, or recognized resistance movement. Further, they have offered their own aid, in intelligence and personnel, to combating this menace, realizing that it may be only a matter of time before they are attacked in turn, but their help will mean little if our people are taken from this solar system.”

“This is not our fight. We have no pressing need to attack the Orion raiders, either their camp or their ship. We wouldn’t have been attacked if we hadn’t come to this system. We wouldn’t have already lost people of our own, dead. So tell me why we should put ourselves, our lives, at further risk for you?”

There was a gasp from both sides as Delilah bluntly put the argument for self-preservation on the table.

Celestia looked into Delilah’s eyes, letting the silence draw out.

“All we, I, can offer you for your help is our friendship.”

It was Delilah’s turn to draw out the silence.

“You’ll have our answer shortly,” she said, turning to head to the big tent. “Lieutenant! Ensign!” her voice snapped out, “Set up a teleconference with the department heads!”

Ignition

Ignition: In which preparations are made, and the plan is put into action.

---=={***}==---

The doing had required the efforts of many to accomplish; Ensign Tarah’s experience with personal equipment maintenance and modification was needed to over clock a personal shield into a makeshift environmental suit, strong enough to hold back the crushing pressure; Lieutenant Syoosi’s combination of physical ability, technical skill, and courage was needed to brave the depths of the bog to reach the wreck of U.S.S. Judges and salvage the shuttlecraft; Twilight Sparkle’s mighty magic was needed to push back the waters of the bog long enough to let the shuttle rise out without its own drive crushing it against an environment it had never been designed for.

Commander Delilah O’Niel only witnessed the last step of the process, her emotions a mix of awe and smug pride. The awe came from watching a pre-warp, ‘primitive’, creature hold back tons of water using nothing but her will. The smug pride came from the fact that this had happened without her needing to be involved. Everything, from the moment Rainbow Dash had been beamed down, to the moment Delilah arrived in Ponyville, had been done at the guidance of her officers. All of her people that had survived the landing had been kept alive and their wounds seen to, the foundation for friendly contact with the rulers of world’s largest nation had been created, and preparations had been taken against unknown future needs.

Delilah considered intelligent initiative to be one of the most valuable things to find in an officer; this proof that she had instilled her officers with enough of that quality that they would do what she would have told them to do filled her with a sense of satisfaction.

As the shuttle settled to the mud in front of her, Delilah nodded her thanks to the Unicorn. “Thank you Twilight Sparkle,” she said, before heading in through the opening hatch.

“Commander, I seem to recall you saying something about not wanting to give the locals weapons,”

Raat spoke via communicator while Delilah prepared her equipment for the boarding operation. The emergency supplies pulled from U.S.S. Judges had enough computer hardware to make up for the specialized hacking equipment that had been lost in Delilah’s quarters. However, Delilah needed to import the correct software and configure it before she could use them.

“Not quite, I said I wouldn’t give an oppressive government matching weapons to maintain a ‘balance of power,’” Delilah corrected her first officer, exercising the eidetic memory her implant gave her. “I have no intention of giving those Orion slavers and their Griffin outlaws any more of a chance than I can avoid. I agreed to arm the ponies as powerfully as we can, given our current resources, on the condition that they return all equipment issued. Princess Celestia agreed, speaking for her people, and her griffin allies.”

With her in the shuttle was Syoosi, who was preparing the transporter systems for the boarding operation planned. The large engineer chuckled, overhearing the conversation.

“And if they go back on their word?” Raat asked.

“Then I press some buttons, and any equipment we haven’t accounted for as back in our possession becomes trash. I think we can trust our new friends to be better than that, but I’ve already taken measures to secure our technology.”

“Commander?”

“Every piece of personal equipment aboard U.S.S. Judges was equipped with a chip, that can be used to locate it, or to disable it, either temporarily or permanently. I told the ponies and griffins that we have a way to make sure they keep their word, but not detailed the means.”

---=={***}==---

Bulwark, Sergeant in Celestia’s Royal Guard, was a big earth pony. Watching him put the heavy metal plates of his custom battle armor over his white coat, his color matching the exposed marble around the cave entrance, his golden mane hidden under the helmet equipped with ram’s horns of solid iron, Applejack realized that he easily rivaled her brother Big Macintosh for sheer size and bulk, and he clearly kept in shape, as she couldn’t locate any flab on his-

Applejack shook the thought off; this wasn’t the time for that. “Sugarcube, are you sure you want to go in first like this?”

“I’m positive, M’lady Champion,” he replied.

Applejack fidgeted slightly, still uncomfortable with the title that meant that, technically, she was part of Equestria’s nobility. After the whole Discord business, Princess Celestia had elevated the six of them, and as much as Applejack hated the idea, you just didn’t say no to the Princess when she made that kind of gift.

“I am ready to take the spearhead position,” Bulwark confirmed.

“I don’t know, Sugarcube, maybe we should do the herd thing, all go in together. Going in alone, you could get hurt.”

---=={***}==---

“Cousin, you could get hurt.”

The day had been normal for a colt growing up in Canterlot, the son of a family ranked at the lowest of the noble classes, what were once called the Equestrian Order, legacy of ancient military service. He woke up as Princess Celestia raised the sun, and ate a simple breakfast of hay. Before his mother put his bag lunch into his saddlebag, she said to him, as she did every day, “Remember to look out for your cousin, and keep him safe from harm. This is your duty to him, our family’s duty to the house of Blueblood, and our people’s duty to the Princess.”

Bulwark dutifully nodded, saying, “I will,” before he left the house to join his cousin on the way to school.

It wasn’t very hard, as even at a young age, he was a large colt. If someone threatened his cousin Blueblood, all he needed to do was to loom over them, telling them to stop, and they would.

He didn’t mind his duty, his cousin was nice to him, and helped him in turn. Not that he thought that much about it. In fact, he didn’t do much thinking at all; unless it directly involved his ‘duty’ Bulwark wasn’t a very fast thinker.

So Blueblood would let his bodyguard-cousin copy his class notes, once they got to the young prince’s mansion, but that day the walk home was interrupted.

“Come on, cough up the bits.”

Things started on the way home as they were passing an ally and heard the trouble. Three older colts had cornered a smaller foal and were extorting pocket money. The three were grown enough to have their cutie marks, but not their victim.

“I said cough ‘em up!”

The command was punctuated with a hoof-strike.

“No, this is wrong,” Bulwark growled

“I... I know, cousin, but they’re bigger than us.” It was true, even being big for his age, each of the bullies was bigger than Bulwark.

“That...” the earth pony stumbled, looking for the right words, but his cousin supplied them.

“Nobility demands we stop this, somehow... ‘Come on, let’s find a teacher, they’ll make this better.”

Another smack came from the alleyway.

“Not enough time. Mother keeps telling me I need to protect you, so you go. I’ll stop this.”

“Al-allright,” Blueblood said, galloping off back towards the schoolhouse.

Bulwark gulped, walking into the alley slowly. “Hey!” he shouted, “Stop that!”

“What’s this?” the ringleader of the bullies asked, “One of the little squirts wants to make us stop. Do you really think you’re enough to beat all three of us?”

“No...” Bulwark moved between the bullies and their victim.

“But I’ll let you hit me instead. I won’t hit back. I won’t even struggle.”

---=={***}==---

“... And when the bandages came off, there was my cutie mark,” Bulwark said, finishing his personal cutie mark chronicle.

As he talked, and Applejack listened, Maya had joined the pair in their preparations. With his stolid demeanor, Bulwark only reacted mildly as the Starfleet Ensign set up the personal shield generator and a communications headband on the beefy stallion.

“These ‘cutie marks’ sound important to your people,” Maya noted. “I’d like the chance to learn more about how they appear, and what they mean. So what does yours represent, Bulwark?”

“My Cutie Mark is a crenellated wall. A wall that does more than shelter those within, but helps keep them safe while they do what they need to. I take the hits so that others can be real heroes. I am willing to be hurt.”

“The needs of the many,” Maya commented, as she configured the equipment, “outweighing the needs of the few, or the one, right?”

Bulwark shook his head. “Almost, but not quite...” He trailed off, failing to find the right words. “The individual matters too... I just have more physical resilience than other ponies, and can afford to take more hits.” Bulwark stumbled for words to express the philosophy involved, then shook his head.

“I am prepared and ready to take the point.”

---=={***}==---

When the Orion Raiders first set up in the cave they took minimal precautions to guard the smaller entrance. The ‘gate’ was a roughly shaped collection of hull patches, around a basic door, anchored into the surrounding rocks with self-sealing stem bolts. A pony, small or limber enough, could work their way through the gaps between the barrier and the wall, but not quickly or easily. It was enough to “close” the entrance, without sealing something they might need later.

Bulwark was neither small nor limber, but as he rushed towards the gate, building momentum, it was clear that he didn’t think he needed to be either to get through. His heavy iron armor was added to his considerable bulk, and the sum multiplied by his speed; the result put one in mind of the proverbial “irresistible force.” He did not bother to unleash a battle cry, having no need to announce his presence. The steel lance at his flank was raised; the mounting pivot would not be able to withstand the forces, even with his earth pony magic to help manage the kinetic shock. Instead he simply lowered his head, trusting in his helmet to turn him from a pony into a battering ram. The crash as the impact destroyed not only the gate but the barrier as well was more than sufficient to equal a more civil knock on the door.

Plowing through the remains of the gate Bulwark didn’t stop, only slowed slightly as he tore the stem bolts from the stone, the door ripped away from the hinges and the metal patches coming apart at the seams. He trampled the twisted fragments of metal as he rebuilt his speed.

As soon as Bulwark cleared the wall, Applejack began her run in, following the royal guard; he would take the first hits, but she would support him, and it was just as well she moved when she did.

A pair of green, brightly glowing, disrupter beams lit the cave, their trajectories crossing near Bulwark’s center of mass as he continued charging forward. The energy shield he wore stopped the disrupter beams inches away from his body, which let him easily turn his path slightly to the right, to bear down on one of the two automated turrets that the Orion raiders had set up as a second line of defense.

“Target at ten o’clock,” Ensign Oasis directed Applejack, using a term for direction that had lost its connection to its original meaning. Maya didn’t have time to consider why a value on a digital display translated into a relative heading, as she acted as spotter for the ponies. The natives expected to be in the thick of the battle, and a few others, had been equipped with bands around their foreheads, holding a set of sensors and a communicator that let Maya covertly whisper into their ears. Lieutenant Bindalla was managing the telemetry feeds, so that Maya’s data pad give her awareness of the combat situation without immediately revealing the presence of Starfleet.

As Bulwark bore down on one of the turrets, a trained twitch brought down his lance, the shaft of steel-tipped wood falling into line with a click. The disruptor fired, beginning to leak through the personal shield, but not enough to stop him, not enough to do more than score his barding, before the lance penetrated the turret, destroying delicate internal devices.

Applejack, less burdened by personal armor, was able to accelerate more quickly than the guardpony. The second turret’s simple computer mind had classified Bulwark as the larger threat, didn’t turn to target the farmer until too late; before it could bring its beam to bear, Applejack’s hard hooves caved in the side of the machine.

As the two ponies surveyed the destruction they had wrought, something new intruded on their senses; the wailing of an alarm system filled the cavern.

“Ah think they know we’re here,” Applejack drawled sarcastically, a smile on her face.

Author's Note

Author’s Notes for Chapter 9: Ignition
For those checking my blog posts... this is option 3. I split the chapter into two distinct parts, ending this chapter with the question of “how well will the plan work” as the cliffhanger. This chapter features a lot of action and character development, and should tell you a lot about my characters.

For those that DON’T follow my blog, and any new readers I’ll pick up with this update, I’d like to tell you about a group I’ve created, Star Trek Ponies, which is specifically for Star Trek crossovers, and Star Trek discussion, like the Star Trek Online discussion thread I’m going to post in the forum.

I have the next chapter about half-written, but I don’t think I’ll have it ready to publish before the new year... but I could surprise even myself! But thank you all for following me this far, and thank you for the feedback and ideas you've tossed my way.

Action

Action: In which truth begins to emerge.

---=={***}==---

The more Zephyr Anemoi thought about what had lead to this point, the more uneasy the gryphon became.

He wasn’t worried about the threat that came with raiding the Kingdom of Equestria; as any gryphon, gone into the wild to prove their mettle, understood, danger was to be faced and fear was to be mastered. In any case, they had been able to make two successful raids, without any losses. The might of the world’s dominant nation was balanced by their alien allies, these Orions, who had might that was out of this world.

Nor was he worried about damaging his personal cause; by ancient gryphon tradition what one did when “hunting” in foreign lands was of little matter next to the wealth and glory you brought back. He wanted to change his home city-state of Tethys for the better, and make the place return to its traditional tolerance. True, hunting wild monsters would have been better, but as their leader, Steel Sulfide, told him at the time, plans change, especially when you get such a good opportunity.

It started after the raid on Cloudsdale. Before, Gilda had been all in favor of “sticking it to the loser ponies,” but after she started getting twitchy. Being from Aleph, Gilda should have been more upset about enslaving ponies than Zephyr was; Tethys’s tolerance had come from being Aleph’s daughter colony. Still, he didn’t think that was the real cause... Something personal had happened in that raid.

By gryphon tradition, you just didn’t BREAK an agreement or alliance, such as his membership in Steel Sulfide’s band. This was as true for an individual as a city-state. You had to formally end it, either in accord with tradition, or in accord with the provisions of the alliance, or by mutual consent of both parties. So Zephyr had given his two week’s notice; he’d serve loyally until the time was up, and leave freely and openly.

At least, if the Orions let him leave... They were getting bossier and bossier, pushing the band into the raid on Canterlot itself, and were claiming most of the best booty. Would they respect gryphon tradition? Or would they...

The more he thought about it, the more Zephyr was nervous. He suspected he had been lied to, but he hadn’t made the last connection, not knowing enough metallurgy; Tethys’s specialization was their fishing fleets, unlike the metal masters of Steel Sulfide’s home of Ilrom-Ziril.

Steel was a form of iron, and the most famous form of iron sulfide was iron pyrite.

Fool’s Gold.

These contemplations were thrust aside as the intruder alarm wailed; Zephyr would soon have a battle to fight, and whatever knives might be pointed at his back, he would face the enemy at his front with all of his ability.

---=={***}==---

Lieutenant Siatt Onehli appeared in a cloud of sparkles, phaser leveled as he looked around the computer core room of the Orion ship. The ruse had worked, and the shield was lowered to let the raiders beam down reinforcements, and beam up those less minded to battle and more minded to collect the booty. The sensors available to Starfleet told them of the discordant response to the attack.

“Clear Ell-Zee,” Siatt reported into his com badge, moving to cover one door as Commander Delilah O’Niel was beamed up. Next to follow were Dash and one of the gryphons from the ambassador’s guard.

“Watch my back while I take over the computer core,” Delilah commanded, moving to her task. She added, as she sat at the computer terminal, “I am, if modesty will permit the boast, in the top five percent of Starfleet’s hackers.”

“And if I were to put modesty aside, I’d drop the word ‘percent.’” Not that she had told Starfleet the full scope of her abilities as a Systems Engineer, before the Vega attack put her on the fast track to starship command.

Delilah sat at the ship’s computer core, spreading equipment from her satchel across the surface of the terminal. There were two data pads, a tricorder, a pair of boxes with blinking lights, and a device that was simply a red button under a plastic shield. A set of cables were pulled out, and each device was connected into a radial network, with the button as the hub. Once set up, she raised her hands over the tools of her trade, bringing to mind the image of a pianist about to perform a masterpiece.

The Betazoid cleared her mind, resting her hands on the terminal. Her eyes closed as she opened her mind. Intelligent, living creatures, with few exceptions, were tool users, turning once inanimate materials into extensions of their wills. This behavior left psychic ‘afterimages’ on those tools. Usually, this was of no import, as the afterimages were often weak, few knowing they were there to seek them out, fewer able to detect them, and fewer still able to interpret them usefully.

Delilah was one of the handful gifted with the ability to understand machines from simply touching them with her telemechanic sense, but it was this gift, combined with her training in computer systems, hardware and software, that made her one of the Federation’s top hackers.

The training required to develop this gift to useful levels had cost her most of her ability to read thoughts in living minds, or to project her emotions or thoughts to the unreceptive. On the other hand, it had been enough to allow her to silently and secretly negotiate with Princesses Celestia and Luna. Delilah had never expected to encounter such powerful minds; Celestia’s combination of protective love and determination was little short of terrifying.

The alicorn sisters were hiding something, but Delilah was willing to help them keep hiding it. For now.

“I’ve disabled some of their internal sensors, and part of the security system,” Delilah announced. “We can beam the rest of the advance team up, and I should have enough time to take over the rest of the ship’s systems.”

---=={***}==---

Equestria was a largely peaceful nation, with too little conflict, internal or external, to create a military full of seasoned combat veterans. However, there was always some need for battle, to maintain the peace and to protect the people of the world’s largest nation.

As an aside, the fact that the local name for the world translated to ‘Earth’ had lead Princess Celestia to consider finding a new name, that could be used to identify their home world and solar system to the galaxy at large.

When a member of a local guard did demonstrate ability in combat conditions they were usually quickly recruited into the Canterlot Guard, which acted as Equestria’s limited army. Those that showed devotion to duty were then taken into the Royal Guard, serving the Princesses directly. Once in the Royal Guard, a pony’s background, whether common or noble, vanished under coat dyes and armor, which built unity among the members and added to the subtle intimidation created by their trained lack of expression.

Since the return of Nightmare Moon, and her resumption of the post of Princess Luna, co-Monarch of Equestria, the Queen of the Night had driven the Royal Guard hard, using her skill with illusions to train them to a higher level of ability and readiness.

All of which was largely moot in Bulwark’s specific case; he was part of that class known as the “military nobility,” and knew, almost from birth, that his place in Equestrian society was in battle. His coat was even naturally white. The two pegasus Royal Guards with him in the front line had risen to their positions by the more typical approaches, and all three were skilled at hoof-to-hoof combat. The civilian earth pony that completed the barrier between the enemy and those behind was less experience, but was faring well. He was sheltered in the personal shield the U.S.S. Judges’s crew had provided, and the veterans were covering his flanks.

Ensign Maya Oasis and Lieutenant Bindalla formed the back half of the battle line with a pair of security ratings and a unicorn member of the Royal Guard, who was armed with a telekinetically held phaser. The five provided covering fire against the slowly organizing raiders, as well as technical and organizational support.

There hadn’t been much plan, going in, because of the unknown arrangement of the enemy. This is where Maya’s gifts came in. She was watching the feeds from the sensors worn by the ponies in the fight, snapping orders to lead them to where the enemy was weak, while using her own phaser to fight the gryphons and Orions, defending herself and others directly.

With her guidance, the first half of the pony force had split the majority of the raiders away from their captives, sheltering those victims while the second half focused on that rescue. She gave them the coordination the raiders lacked, and they were capitalizing on it.

The last of the group defending the rescue team was Pinkie Pie, who had dived in amongst the enemy, bouncing around with her usual enthusiastic abandon, unpredictably moving and firing her party cannon randomly. While she drew attention and fire from the Orion raiders with energy weapons at hand, none of them could track her long enough to HIT her, and she managed to move so that the misses struck either the stone of the cave or other raiders, never her friends working to help the captives.

Despite being the highest ranking officer available, Lieutenant Commander Vulzy Raat wasn’t leading the fight. He wasn’t as well equipped with Ensign Oasis’s battlefield awareness, and his medical skills were needed in the group actually rescuing the captive ponies. He was able to apply what he had learned studying Rainbow Dash to good use. The raiders had used hand disruptors set to stun in the attack on Canterlot, so there were few grievous injuries, overcoming the lethargy the weapons had left often took his expertise. Most of The treatments included precisely calibrated energy fields from his medical tricorder, with only a few needing an injection of stronger stimulants.

With him was Applejack, who was using her physical might and skill with her hooves to buck open the cargo containers that the ponies had been put in. The crew of the U.S.S. Judges still didn’t understand how the earth ponies managed to make their hoof-strikes so selectively destructive, but the results were clear.

Following the Champion of Honesty and the Lieutenant Commander was a group of pony search party members, with a pair of Starfleet medical orderlies mixed in. The ponies gave the freed captives reassuring faces, while the medical orderlies built on Raat’s work in getting them on their hooves. The captives were being lead out the side exit the search party had used to invade the cavern.

Zephyr was not a veteran gryphon, but even he could tell that this surprise attack was quickly turning into a Charlie Foxtrot.

The gryphons were reacting faster than their Orion allies, the off-worlders “beaming” up and down to and from their ship. The officers, mostly female, were beaming up, taking the best of the jewelry and other treasure with them.

The speed of the attack, and the focus on the “Captive Inprocessing Operation” meant that none of the filled “cargo” containers could be beamed up.

Just thinking about the sanitized terms filled Zephyr with self-loathing for having fallen in among such. Apparently the Orions would enslave each other as well; the gryphon didn’t know if that made them better or worse.

Crew from the ship was beaming down, in theory to help quell this attack, but they were so disorganized they were materializing in open view of the enemy, and the ones in the second line were using their energy weapons to attack the glittering clouds, striking down reinforcements before they could join the battle.

“We’ve still got the numbers to win this,” a voice said at his side. A glance confirmed it to be his leader, Steel Sulfide. “We just need time to organize.”

Zephyr nodded, then asked, “How do we get that time?”

Steel grinned at the young gryphon. “You buy me that time. See that one, with the blue hair?” He pointed at a figure in the second row. “That one is coordinating things. Take her out.”

Zephyr did not respond, only leaping into the air between the cave roof and the combatants, his spear in hand. The fingers of stone dripping down from the marble ceiling meant he had to weave back and forth, both gaining cover and dodging incoming fire. He bore down on the intruders, eyes narrowing as he picked out the blue-haired female leading the battle.

---=={***}==---

While the sensors should have been disabled completely, that wasn’t something to rely on when they needed to be stealthy; thus, only the two remaining members of the Gryphon Ambassador’s guard, and Ensign Tarah, had joined the advance team on board the Orion starship, watching Commander O’Niel’s back as she took over the computer systems.

“What I’m doing wouldn’t work on a secure system,” Delilah said, as her hands flew over the ship’s core’s console and her collection of data pads. “I’m mounting the ship’s storage core as a drive on my data pads, and adding an account to the system files so I have root authority.” The absent tone in her voice revealed that she was speaking to herself, not to her allies guarding her back.

“Military secure systems tie the drives into the computer hardware to the point where they can’t be used on other computers without re-formatting them, making file access like this is impossible. Because of some spectacular security failures on starships often named Enterprise, Starfleet has learned to make it harder to seize control of our mil-spec ships by subverting the core like this. Cardassian and Romulan ships tend to be similarly secure. Cardassian because ‘efficiency’ being a distant second to ‘ability’ which sometimes led to their designs incorporating multiple system-wide control setups (often poorly documented as the crew of Deep Space 9 could tell you). Romulans put, well, before the supernova, had put a lot of energy into their petty internal conflict, and their paranoia led them to designing extremely secure systems. Despite their pretentions, the Orion Syndicate is still a pack of pirates, not a nation that can fund a proper military, which is why this will work.”

“What I’m doing now,” Delilah said, raising her voice slightly to indicate that people should actually listen for this part, her hands still flying over the input pads, “is creating a set of cascading commands to disable as much of the ship’s control systems as possible, keeping the crew from using the ship’s weapons, drives, shields, or sensors. However, once I start the sequence, they’ll know we’re here, and may start using manual overrides. So I want to shut down as much as possible at once, then we beam the others up and start securing the ship. Pressing the big red button will activate the queued commands; I set that up in case we were int-“

Delilah broke off mid-word, as the wave of emotion hit her empathic senses. She turned the swiveling chair of the computer terminal, still sitting, to see the opened door, having missed the sound of its opening under the sound of her voice. There stood a gryphon, female, looking surprised.

“Gilda,” Rainbow Dash growled, bracing herself to leap on her traitorous friend, “I’m gonna beat you-“

“Dash, wait.” Delilah didn’t raise her voice much, but she was able to infuse it with the tone of command she had developed, adding in her weak empathic projection in hopes of getting the pegasus’s attention. She raised one hand stopping Lieutenant Onehli from pressing the panic button.

It was enough. “Wait for wh-“ she began, only to be interrupted as Gilda broke down crying.

“DASH I’M SO SORRY!” she wailed, tears flowing as she fell to the deck.

“Wait,” Delilah repeated, “for her to decide how she feels.”

Author's Note

Author’s Notes for Chapter 10: Action
Yes, I have been planning this, ever since I decided to use Gilda as one of the raiders. And to all the haters who wanted to see Gilda get what she deserved... well, that happened WAY back in chapter 2. =P You may have noticed that I’ve added the Gilda tag to the characters for this story.
I’ve also added the OC tag, for Bulwark, who is becoming a larger and larger character... and why this chapter isn’t as strong as I’d like. I’d rather spread developing Bulwark out over more chapters, but we’re so close to the end to kick it down the line. When I do my big revision once the story is done, I’ll likely buck some of that stuff into earlier chapters, mostly the second half of chapter 4.
On the subject of changes to older chapters, you may have noticed that I’ve stopped using the spelling “griffin” in favor of “gryphon” to match with the spelling used in Star Trek Online. I'll go back and edit earlier chapters as part of my big revision plan.
Lastly, a big thank you to not-so-anonymous for the use of Zephyr, and the inspiration he sparked. Dude, your OC’s bio reminded me of things I had been neglecting, and your help will be felt past the end of the first story. Zephyr also gave me a good chance to explain some things about griffins to the readers.

And for new readers, please check out Star Trek Ponies for more Trekie type stuff.

Consequence

Consequence: In which the truth sets free.

---=={***}==---

“Allow me to show off a little here,” Delilah said, turning back to the computer terminal, putting in more commands to her data pads. “One of my great talents is understanding machines, particularly computers. Another is understanding people.”

Two of the gryphons in the advance team and Ensign Tarah kept their weapons trained on the still blubbering Gilda. The third, Lieutenant Siatt, and Rainbow Dash all looked at Delilah. The two with wings wore slightly confused expression, but the Bolian smiled slightly as the woman he still loved started to pull off one of her old tricks.

“I’m going to attempt to reconstruct what has happened to Gilda here. Feeling rejected by an old friend, she thought she wanted revenge, not just against Dash but against all ponies. The band allied to the Orions offered her the opportunity, but when it came to hurting that old friend directly, she couldn’t. Then the choice was taken away from her.”

Gilda stopped weeping, and looked up at Delilah’s back as the Betazoid worked her magic on the computer. This was both like and unlike when she was subjected to The Stare; the truth in her soul was revealed, laid bare, but not for her. Delilah’s voice was calm, clinical, without any condemnation of the gryphon. Gilda was hearing the words she wished she was in a condition to say, the words she wished she was ever able to find.

“After the Cloudsdale raid Gilda learned what it felt like to lose a friend forever, with no hope of return. The Orion pirates had taken Rainbow Dash away; Gilda may have even have known that Dash had been singled out from the others, making it that much harder to find her, even if she somehow managed to wrest control of a ship from the Orions.”

The words that would make Rainbow Dash understand.

“Commander, is this-,” Tarah began, but stopped when Siatt put a hand on the Andorian’s shoulder, raising a finger to his lips to silently hush her.

Commander O’Niel, scion of a cadet branch of the Troi family, continued as if the ensign hadn’t spoken. “She realized that what she really wanted was her friend back, but by her actions that had become impossible. She was trapped in her crimes, unable to repent or repair her sins; all she had was her fellow gryphons. That small comfort, and duty to help them in return, was all that kept her functional.”

The words that- The words to-

“Then, in the depths of her hopelessness, and despair, she walked in here, and saw that what she thought she had destroyed had returned. The walls she had built around her pain collapsed, and she collapsed to the floor.”

The words that could let Rainbow Dash forgive her.

“Which brings us all back to now,” Delilah said, turning away from the computer to face Gilda, a broad smile on her lips. “Gilda, you’ve come accept what you really want, but are you willing to do all you can to make things right?”

The gryphon raider looked at the starship captain, rising up from the deck to stand on all four legs. This woman wasn’t soothing troubled souls any more, but smooth and far too friendly. After helping say what Gilda needed said, was this another con? “Yeah, why do you ask? Best that tradition and honor will let me do is stand aside, and that’s stretching it. We made an agreement, in good faith, with the Orions, and I’m stretching that to not report you all here... doing whatever.”

“Well then,” Delilah said, still grinning, “I found something you’ll be very interested in seeing.” One arm reached behind herself to activate a command on one of her data pads.

---=={***}==---

Zephyr was one of the few fliers, gryphon or pegasus, that could have made the flight, weaving between the limestone stalactites, dodging the beams being fired by the four humanoids and one unicorn, while building enough speed for an effective impact. The cavern roof was low enough that flying was dangerous, yet high enough to put his risky path out of range of the ponies on the ground. He adjusted his spear slightly as he moved into range; his lunging swoop would take him over the heads of the melee ponies and down onto Maya, his spear aimed for the blue-haired woman’s center of mass.

The gryphon was shocked to find that his shallow dive was interrupted by a white wall with gold armor rocketing up from the cavern floor to meet him. The impact was audible throughout the cave, even above the sounds of the fight.

Bulwark’s cutie mark represented his special talent, of being a bodyguard; for this fight he was guarding the bodies of the phaser-wielding people behind him. Ponies can and will go to amazing lengths to succeed at their special talents. If these heroic measures should fail, the results can be spectacular, such as the Grand Galloping Gala Great Garden Wildlife Stampede; (an event known to a few ponies in the know as “Flutter-Rage”.)

Today, the Guardpony Sergeant had, in a fraction of a second, seen a threat to one of his charges, and leaped ten feet up to intercept that threat with his body; the impact bounced Zephyr off the cave roof before he hit the floor.

But Gryphons are fierce fighters too, and Zephyr had not lost his grip on his spear. It took him less than half a second to recover his wits, sharp eyes noting that in the mid-air crash his spear-tip had scraped across dull grey iron armor before gouging into flesh, the red vibrantly clear against white.

Zephyr hopped back, shifting to the side, planning on rushing past again, but Bulwark turned to follow him, legs tensed to jump in any direction. The gryphon realized that the only way past this massive pony warrior was through. After a moment’s thought, he charged again, spear leading.

Bulwark lowered his head, taking the spear point on his helmet, neck twisting to grab the haft just below the spearhead; the lance on his right side swung forward, the battered tip still sharp enough to make the gryphon dodge backwards, wresting his spear loose from the pony’s grip in a shower of splinters.

Before they could clash again, each Orion communicator, both those worn by the green-skinned invaders and their gryphon allies, spoke as one, and loudly. Bulwark was content to let the gryphon jump backwards, and listen to the news.

“Yo! Fellow awesome gryphons! Gilda here, I’ve got some priority news!” The voice was filled with anger, “The Orions are planning a double cross, and Steel Sulfide is in on it! The shell-less bastard was going to sell us off to the aliens!”

The mood between the gryphons and the Orions was tense. Gilda’s revelation had many of the gryphons wanting to sit out, others pondering that given proof of future betrayal, it might be wiser to switch sides. Still more weren’t sure they believed Gilda, and were weighing their options.

The fight had effectively stopped, the gryphons glaring at the Orions, the Orions nervously looking back, and all shooting glances at Steel Sulfide; on the other side, the Starfleet crew and ponies were holding their line, not advancing or attacking, while the rescue team focused on the few remaining captives still in the cave.

Steel Sulfide was not confused. He knew the charges were true, and was pondering how to salvage that which mattered most to him: his personal skin. His vague dream of working for the Orion Syndicate as governor of this planet was not going to happen, so it was time to cut his losses. Under traditional gryphon custom he should face his accusers with dignity and pride, but the amoral gryphon had little use for those specific traditions.

Instead, he reached into a pouch on the bandolier he always wore. (As the leader of what many would call a band of terrorists, he's required to wear a bandolier so we can tell who he is.) From it he pulled out several clay spheres, throwing them into the middle of the cave. The products of Zebra alchemy exploded into blinding smoke that quickly reduced visual distances to no more than two feet.

As he fled under cover of smoke, Steel Sulfide shouted, “Tell that Gilda that I will have-“

*ZAP*

*thud*

Lieutenant Bindalla normally spoke slowly, and gave the initial impression of thinking slowly, taking time to think before she would answer questions, often with sentence fragments. But she thought very quickly, and in under three seconds she had used her tricorder to see through the smoke, aimed her phaser, and casually stunned Steel Sulfide before he could escape.

---=={***}==---

Ensign Tarah was amazed; she had respected Commander O’Niel’s rank and position, but seeing the change that had come over Gilda left the Andorian in full awareness of why the Betazoid had been fast-tracked after the Vega Colony Attack.

Lieutenant Siatt Onehli was less surprised; back at Starfleet Academy Delilah had used the truth to manipulate the situation with a professor that had been abusing his position. She had been the first to speak up, but her dry, matter-of-fact accusations lead other students to come forward. In the end, the teacher had been dishonorably discharged.

Delilah, on the other hand, was back to business, “We still have a ship to capture; my hacks have taken over most of their computers, locking down their weapons, engines, and communications, but given enough time they’ll be able to retake control of those systems. Further, I wasn’t able to touch their raiding shuttles aboard ship, so as soon as they can get the flight deck doors open they can launch. We need to hit their command deck, flight deck, and main engineering as fast as we can.”

As she spoke, security crewmembers beamed into the computer room, filling the small space. Delilah pointed at the first team. “You two; with me and Rainbow Dash, to the bridge. Onehli, you get engineering. Tarah, flight deck.”

“Oh I’m not letting you out of my sight, Dash,” Gilda interjected, having finished her speech into the communications system of the Orions.

“Then you’re coming with us,” Delilah replied, turning towards the door, pulling out a tricorder which held a map of the ship.

Rainbow Dash compared this hall of this ship to the other she had a chance to examine, the U.S.S. Judges. For one thing, there was a lot more dirt, and rust, where the Starfleet ship had been about as clean as Canterlot Castle. On the other hoof, neither was as pretty or decorated as Canterlot Castle, and this place had so many tripping hazards that the pegasus was hovering down the hallway.

As they approached the hatch to the bridge deck, Delilah raised a hand. “Wait,” she commanded, pointing forward.

The door was trembling in place, as those on the other side attempted to force it.

“It looks like the lockout held,” the Commander mused. She gestured to the two security ratings, guiding them to positions flanking the door. “Quietly,” she added, as she fiddled with her tricorder.

She raised one hand, three fingers raised.

She lowered a, leaving two left.

One.

The upraised digit moved to meet the tricorder, inputting a brief command.

The door swooshed open, a startled and burly Orion male stumbling as his balance was lost, and struck by a pair of phaser beams set to heavy stun.

Delilah flipped the tricorder closed with a smooth motion of one hand, while the other pulled out her own phaser; as the Orion in the doorway fell away.

The battle had been brief and decisive. Rainbow Dash was helping Gilda bandage the gryphon’s scrapes. The two security crew members were making sure their new captives, the former bridge crew of the ship, wouldn’t cause trouble. Delilah was examining the prizes the captain had decided were most valuable; particularly a gold necklace, with a large pink gem cut into the shape of a butterfly.

Delilah picked up the bejeweled necklace, examining it. Many officers in Starfleet would have not placed any value in such an item, aside from the value the natives gave to it. Delilah, on the other hand, with her psychic gifts for reading items was more inclined to treat them with reverence... and curiosity. She started to open her mind to the necklace, wondering what stories the piece of ‘crown jewel’ had to tell.

She didn’t expect the level of power stored in it, power she was ill-positioned to resist.

In the brief moment before she passed out Delilah did learn that the item was only trying to protect itself, but her open mind made even a simple rejection overwhelming.

oh my goodness i’m so sorry i didn’t mean to-

Not quite words, but the feeling of being SORRY for being so powerful.

Overwhelmed, Delilah passed out.

Author's Note

Author’s Notes for Chapter 11: Consequence
And that’s it! This was the last chapter of Equestria Trek: First Contact. There will be an epilogue to clear up remaining questions about the outcome of the battles, but that’s all the story. The epilogue will also help set up for the sequel, Equestria Trek 2: The Search for Fluttershy.

Epilogue

Epilogue:

“Commander, officers who fail to take proper care of the ships Starfleet entrusts them with are not exactly... popular with Command.”

There was a pause, before Admiral Quinn continued.

“Nor are those who break the Prime Directive, or commit Starfleet to assisting a planet of pre-warp pastel ponies.”

The admiral was a hard man to read. Delilah couldn’t tell if he was working up to the official notice of her court marshal, or...

“You claim to have discovered magic, Commander. If not for the records you brought back...” he slowly shook his head. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Admiral, I have nothing to say that I did not include in my reports.”

---=={***}==---

After she woke up, Delilah had to decide what to do with the Orion prisoners, and the members of the gryphon band; they found themselves in something of a limbo, between at least three legal systems. In addition, there was the Orion Frigate captured in working condition that needed to be dealt with. In the end, the decision was made that the Starfleet crew members would assist the ponies in securing the prisoners, as well as the crash site of the U.S.S. Judges until a starship could be sent to collect them.

As for the gryphons, and the captured ship, O’Niel had decided to throw the problems at each other.

“So we’re in agreement.”

Gilda and Zephyr nodded, the female gryphon giving a summary of the deal. “We get the ship, we work with Starfleet, we stay away from the planet long enough for Equestria and the Gryphon City-States to develop technology.”

“And in return, we’ll help train you in how to use the ship, and how to operate on the fringes,” the Starfleet Commander replied. “We’ll have an insurance policy in the ship systems, in case you renege on the deal.” Seeing the sour looks on the faces of the gryphons, Delilah continued, “It’s more so I can sell it to my own command, than any real distrust. Anything else?”

“Two month warning of canceling the agreement at convenience,” Zephyr added. “In accord with our traditions, no alliance is complete without an exit process.”

Delilah nodded. “Contingent on turning the ship over to Starfleet.”

---=={***}==---

“I’d authorize your court marshal, Commander, if not for several critical factors. Firstly, those ‘ponies’ were able to put together a working warp-drive starship. They used it to deliver to Starbase 114 a diplomatic message, requesting closer ties between their nation and the Federation.”

“Secondly, given that the war with the Klingon Empire is likely to be a long one, even if we need to build them up, they are positioned to be valuable allies. Even if we didn’t help them, their rich dilithium resources would let them buy the technology they want from the Ferengi or the Cardassians.”

“And lastly... you made the right calls on the ground, the right calls when it mattered. You were ambushed, bushwacked even, and will need to be more careful. But you upheld the spirit of the Prime Directive, and brought most of your people back.”

“Starfleet can’t afford to throw out officers who just have bad luck O’Niel, but you’ll have to pay your dues for your mistake. For the moment, Starfleet endorses your actions, and we will be calling on you to lead a mission to find any of these ponies, including this national hero ‘Fluttershy’ that may still be in captivity. You’ve got a week of leave while we find a ship suitable to the mission. Any questions?”

“Just one; have the natives given a name for their world or star?”

“I believe,” the Admiral checked a datapad, “They call the system ’Vividiorque.’”

“Vivid. Fitting. Thank you Admiral.”

---=={***}==---

“Free! Free again to spread beautiful cha- ‘Tia dear, why are you looking at me like tha- Starfleet.”

“Starfleet,” the solar alicorn confirmed, telekinetically putting down the hull fragment that bore the chevron-on-oval logo.

“I was hoping for one more round before it ended, but... Orders were set in the beginning for this,” the dragonequis noted, his tone deflated yet resigned.

“And when were you one to follow orders, to meekly submit yourself, even to yourself?”

A note of surprise entered his voice, “Are you, champion of order, suggesting what I think you are?”

“I find myself unwilling to let it all end, not while we have the means to preserve it.”

A long laugh came from the dragonequis. “Celestia my dear, it will be worth forfeiting to watch you do this... to be at discord with yourself.”

“Then you agree?”

“To help in your little deceit? Yes. But what of the others? I know Nightmare Moon had her turn just before mine.”

“My sister has agreed. I haven’t spoken to the others yet.”

“Well, I’d love to see if you can talk them into postponing Armageddon. But how will you deal with the other consequences of contact?”

“I’ve given my faithful student a ‘nudge’ in the right direction, and begun diplomatic approaches, on and off planet.”

---=={***}==---

As Delilah walked down the corridor to her temporary quarters, she let a smile show on her face.

As far as anyone else knew, she was entitled to that smile, for having dodged a bullet that could have killed her career. Further, she had brought a new civilization to the Federation; perhaps a whole new world, if Princess Celestia could convince the other nations to join with Equestria. The natives would make fine members in Starfleet, their natural magical abilities having the potential to tip the balance with the Klingon Empire. The natural resources of the planet were nothing to sneeze at, either, and would help them afford to upgrade their technology from basic warp systems to the Federation standards.

Oh yes, everyone knew that Delilah had reasons to be happy, but they didn’t know all of the reasons.

They didn’t know how the Elements of Harmony might prove to hold the key to eliminating the Borg threat, if not forever, at least for years to come.

And if Delilah could make that happen, it might give Third Optic a second chance.

Author's Note

Wheeee! I finished my first epic fan fiction! Now I can-

Why are you all looking at me like that?

Look, while I admire your devotion to tradition, please put down the torches and pitchforks.

While I’m saving stuff for future stories, I will officially say that Fluttershy was NOT lost aboard the Orion Frigate destroyed back in the first chapter. I’ll go further and say that she survives, and will take part in future stories (if I write any) in this series.
No promises that I’ll write them. While even aside from the ominous and deliberately obscure foreshadowing above, there’s also the more natural plot progression, such as investigation into the Valda Group of the Orion Syndicate, and the quest for Fluttershy. On top of that, there will be room for side stories that would cover how Equestria, and Vividiorque as a whole, join the Federation. If you’re interested in writing one of those stories, please contact me.

Now, I’d like to thank some people who made this story possible and more fun for me to write.
First, the following people at Multiverse Crisis Mush the place where the character Delilah came from:
Maya’s player, for letting me borrow her despite his lack of interest in MLP. Having her available made developing Delilah in the text much easier.
Rainbow Dash’s player, for giving me a great reason for Dash to be in Cloudsdale (and near the weather factory no less!) the day of the attack.
Red’s player, for the massive compliment of saying that this was the first MLP thing he ever bookmarked, wanting to read the rest of it.

And I’d like to thank my readers here at FimFiction!
The number of you that followed the story helped me see that something I was writing just to please myself had appeal to others, which may have been the only thing that could make me finish this story.
And particularly those that commented on the chapters, who helped me see that the time I invested thinking about the setting/world-building wasn’t wasted, making for a better story even if it wasn’t all explained in the text.

Decision

Decision: In which a choice is made, with intent to divert all that follows.

---=={***}==---

Commander Delilah O’Niel, Lieutenant Siatt Onehli, and Ensign Tarah were in the prefab construct built in Ponyville. Lieutenant Commander Vulzy Raat, Lieutenant Bindalla, and Ensign Maya Oasis were in the mountains, scores of miles away from Ponyville. Lieutenant Syoosi was under the waters, at the bottom of the Froggy Bottom Swamp.

Federation communications technology meant those distances didn’t matter. Only Syoosi had access to a fully equipped communications terminal in the shuttle, and while the Ponyville group had a more limited field terminal, and the mountain group was limited to a data pad and a few tricorders, but that equipment was enough so that each of the seven could see each of the others, either directly or a hologram of the officer.

“Commander, my position requires I say this,” Raat said, opening the debate as First Officer, “but this isn’t our fight; we were only attacked because we came here. I hate to say this, but for all the help the natives have given us, we can stand back, and wait for Starfleet rescue.”

“Which would be poor repayment for the help the ponies have given us,” Tarah snapped back. “Without their timely rescue, at least half of us still aboard U.S.S. Judges would be dead now. We now have a chance to repay them, and honor demands we pay the debt, not cowardly hide away.”

“And hiding away means giving the Orions free reign over this planet,” Siatt countered, “We looked at the scans we made on the approach, and there are rich deposits of Dilithium, above and beyond the magic the natives possess. Those ‘gem lamps’ they use are built around a piece of Dilithium. Once the Orions realize that they’ll be able to secure for the Klingons what may be a critical advantage in the war.”

“Planet hosts many anomalies,” Bindalla commented. “Magic only start. Historical and mythological similarities, development of things to make them go. Great possibility for research, learning. Easier as friends.”

“And I’d like to make a vote in favor of that,” Syoosi added. “Their magic represents an untapped vein of practical applications, once we figure out how to make use of it.”

The lowest ranking officer spoke up. “They’ll try with us or without us,” Maya said, “and without our help I can see this getting very ugly for them, very fast. On the other side, if things go well for them, they may gain access to advanced technology. They’re progressing quickly, but. Either way, we lose control.”

“Officers, I’ve heard your arguments, and must reject all of them in making my decision,” Delilah said, speaking for the record. “I’m cutting off further debate, and making the decision on my own authority alone.” That was a coded phrase, which would protect her officers from any legal fallout of her orders. Under Starfleet’s chain of command, they could only refuse those orders if those orders would violate the Federation’s laws. “My decision is based on the potential danger posed by the cultures of this planet.”

“They may appear to be simple, but these people are well organized and effective, and manage their biosphere and atmosphere to a degree only seen on Earth and on some other Federation home worlds. They have a standard of living on par with an industrialized culture, created by an average of fifteen hours of work a week, the rest of their time devoted to rest, socialization, and play.”

“We’ve seen what these people can do in a week to try and protect their home,” she gestured to indicate what was happening in Ponyville. “The demographics, with rapid adoption of heavy industrialization, and cutting their leisure time to the bone, support their gross system product increasing by factors of magnitude in a matter of months. Once they reach the warp threshold, they’ll be able to bring in merchants with technology to make centuries worth of leaps in the technology, drives, and weapons they may believe they will need. I know they can find Frengi groups that will jump at the chance to sell them what they need to complete their uplift, and I pity the one that tries to cheat Princess Celestia or her people.”

“This world has access to resources to build a fleet of aggressive defense, and when they add their magic to that, magic I don’t know if anyone short of the Q Continuum can understand, let alone match, I fear for the fate of the Federation. I can see the Alpha Quadrant burning at the hooves of a Glorious Celestial Empire in as little as twenty years, if they don’t feel they can find friendship out there; if they decide they must cleanse the stars to protect their own.”

The officers looked at their Commander with a mix of disbelief, shock, and dawning realization.

“I see two alternatives,” Delilah flatly stated, “One involves carpet-bomb genocide, wiping out this planet’s biosphere.”

“And the other?” Siatt asked, setting up the question.

“The other involves helping them now, while they are weak. It involves seeing their offer of their friendship and raising it by the offer of our respect for them.”

“Captain?” Maya asked, “Are you suggesting-”

“That we equip them with our weapons, and take them with us when we attack the Orion ship.”

“Then, no matter else what happens, Equestria won’t grow to become a threat to the Federation. If we succeed, we will stop criminals from enslaving and exploiting the people of this planet, and they will see our value as allies demonstrated. If we fail, they will see our character, and know that we mean them no harm. Even if Starfleet condemns our actions, we will have sent a message that can not be erased.”

“We can sit this one out, and know that we’ll probably live, but only at the cost of abandoning our duty and our oaths as officers. We may not be punished for making that choice, but we’ll know we’re not fit to represent the Federation.”

“And even if we die, we will have gone in knowing that we have met the demands of the uniforms we wear, and are ready to give our lives, to sacrifice our honor if need be, to protect that which we love.”

“We help the natives, pony and griffin, because, whatever else happens, we win, even if we don’t live to see victory.”

---=={***}==---

They didn’t have much time, but going in without a plan would all too likely prove suicidal as well as futile. While Starfleet discussed their options, a party of griffins had arrived from Canterlot, bearing with them maps of known caves in the unclaimed region between the griffin city-states and Equestria.

“An Orion Frigate is in orbit. From our passive scans, and Luna’s divination, we can say that it is off a class optimized for raiding, not on-board cargo handling. The small craft have returned to their mountain cave base to ‘process’ their captives, putting them into livestock boxes such as we found Dash in.”

“This gives us a few hours in which we can rescue those captives, and give ourselves the chance to take the Frigate as well, shutting down their operations in this system long enough for Starfleet backup to arrive.”

Delilah was running the briefing. She gestured to the unrolled scroll; a map of the border region cave the raiders were using, provided by the griffin group recently arrived from Canterlot. Prince Blueblood had secured the City-State of Aleph’s general agreement to cooperate against hostile extra-terrestrials, and while Aleph was considered the most diplomatic, and “fond of talking,” of the often contentious griffin nations, the embassy group had reacted quickly. There were only four representatives, but knowing the layout of the cave the raiders were using would be invaluable.

“The joint group in the mountains will attack the base, first by the smaller entrance, then an airborne group in the larger entrance. The spearheads will be ponies and griffins using conventional weapons, but reinforced with personal shields. With luck, the Orions won’t know about the Starfleet presence, and will lower the ship’s shields, either to beam down reinforcements or to beam their own people out.”

“Once those shields drop, we will use the transporter aboard our shuttle to beam a boarding party to the Orion Frigate.” Delilah gestured to a data pad, showing a schematic. “Our first target shall be to subvert or disable the main computer, followed by the energy distribution systems.”

“Due to the need for speed, we don’t want to take too many up. As well, the transporter window may be narrow. The boarding team shall include Siatt and myself,” she firmly announced.

“Commander, your injuries-“ Siatt interjected.

“Are healed enough to let me participate, and my technical skills will be required.” She looked to the pony and griffin representatives. “A few more from your people?”

“I’m going,” Rainbow Dash declared, “I want a rematch.”

The emissary from Aleph said, “Three of my guards are available to join your boarding party.” He gestured to indicate the three warrior griffins behind him

Princess Luna commented, “I don’t see Gretchen, who if I recall is the captain of the Embassy Guard.”

“She has recused herself from this mission, and declined to explain,” the griffin diplomat replied.

Rainbow Dash, coughed. “I think I know why... she’s Gilda’s mom.”

There was a moment of silence at the revelation, before the briefing continued. A few minutes were spent discussing the layout of the cave, and how the mountain group would attack it; thanks to Federation communications technology the officers involved with that side of things could see the maps.

“One last detail must be addressed before we go in,” Delilah said, “specifically the rules of engagement and our goals in this operation. Our first priorities are the rescue and lives of the kidnapped ponies, and the lives of our people. That said, we’d also like to take as many prisoners as we can; we’ll be going in with phasers set to ‘heavy stun.’ But if they up the stakes, so will we. At the code-word ‘Pandora’ the rules of engagement shift to neutralizing threats quickly.”

The Griffin Emissary nodded. “At the moment, we have no objection to that. For the moment Equestria will have legal jurisdiction over any prisoners taken; their crimes were committed here, they are and have been in pursuit, and their hideout is unclaimed territory under griffin tradition. Their home states may have something to say about the matter, but that is for after, when we have more time.”

Princess Celestia nodded her agreement. “In respect to Starfleet’s Prime Directive, we will not interrogate off-world captives for technical information; in return, we would like your crew’s assistance in keeping prisoners secured.”

Commander O’Niel nodded to the Solar Regent. “That sounds like a good starting point. The details we can address later, but now it is time for battle, and to protect our own.”