“Whoa.” Tom Paris says softly from the pilot’s chair.
“What is it?” The crewman in the co-pilot’s seat huffs, tapping his own control panel, “We don’t need any more bad luck on this flight.”
Tom shakes his head, “Cool your jets, Sylis. It’s just a little turbulence.”
In response the shuttle craft receives a decidedly harder jolt, causing sparks to explode from the rear control panel, Tom narrows his focus onto his own controls, “Some kind of energy field, it’s knocked out our main power.” He calls out, trying to correct the unintended pitch from whatever had hit the shuttle, “I think we are going to have to glide in.” He shouts as some of his controls blink out, and others turn deep red. Tom sighs, “Yep, we’re going down.” He turns to crewman Sylis, “Get off a subspace message to Voyager, let them know we are going down.”
The entire shuttle starts to rattle and shake as it enters the lower atmosphere, “Sure, I sent the message, I think. But the subspace antennae seems to have suffered a power surge, I can’t tell for certain whether or not the message was sent.”
Tom sighs, isn’t that just great, he watches his control panel, “Looks like we are down to bare minimum thrusters.” He flinches as another panel just behind him explodes, “Hold on! It’s going to be a nearly dead stick landing.”
***
Twilight Sparkle giggles as she watches her friends. She watches as the earth pony, Applejack pulls out a hoofball with her teeth. She tosses the ball into the air and flips around, delivering a devastating buck with both hind legs to the ball. In response, the ball streaks away. “I’ve got it!” Shouts Rainbow Dash as she leaps into the air, her wings unfurling, and streaks off after the ball. Her faithful tortoise, Tank, following her. Twilight turns back and nuzzles her own owl. Another lazy day, all of them playing with their animal friends.
“Fluttershy, would you be a dear.” Rarity calls out to the yellow pegasus. Opal; Rarity’s cat, is hissing, with all of her claws entangled in the indigo blue mane of the white unicorn.
Fluttershy nuzzles the cat, “Poor Opal.” She says softly, and in moments the cat is on Fluttershy’s back, purring contentedly.
“I just don’t know how you have such a knack for her, Fluttershy. Sometimes she’s perfectly loving, and other times…” Rarity says, looking at the cat, who opens one eye and flicks an ear at her, getting an indignant huff from Rarity.
Pinkie Pie bounces up to Twilight, pointing up, “Um, Twilight, twitcha twitch. Something’s about to fall.”
Twilight looks up in the direction that Pinkie is pointing, her wings flare out in surprise, “What is that?”
An oblong shape is streaking through the air, smoke streaming in a long trail as it hurls towards the ground. Twilight gapes as it continues north, getting lower and lower.
Applejack gapes as Rainbow Dash drops the hoofball next to her, she turns and watches the machine, though how something like that could ever fly without wings is beyond her.
Twilight takes to the air herself, “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, you keep up with me. The rest of you, it’s going down in the chalk hills, let’s go!”
***
Tom gets up from his chair, a quick glance at the windscreen says that the front half of the ship is buried. He walks over to the crewman, “Sylis, you okay?”
The Bolian crewman levers himself out of his own seat, “Yeah. I think so.”
Tom clasps the others hand and steadies him on his feet, “Well, you need to get started on repairs, this is a Class M planet, and sensors detected some sort of civilization, even though they couldn’t determine technology level due to interference.” He moves to the side bench and flips up the seat, exposing the expedition packs. He fits a tricorder to his hip and looks at the phasers. The small type one is easily concealable. If there are any natives, he would appear less threatening with it. He brings it out and pockets it. He stands up and pushes the button and the large rear hatch hisses as the pressures equalize. It slowly lowers open, giving him a view of the world he’s so unceremoniously landed on.
“Bright.” He mutters, looking around, the sun is indeed bright in the vivid blue sky. The grass below is bright green, the clouds floating in the air are white and fluffy. Tom finds himself smiling, it’s beautiful. His thoughts, however, are disrupted by a loud thunk on the top of the craft.
“What is this thing?” Comes a gravelly, yet feminine voice.
Tom turns and looks at the top of the shuttlecraft and stops for a moment. A sky-blue quadruped is standing on top of the shuttle, poking at the metal hull with a hoof. Obviously equine in shape, yet she’s got a pair of wings extending from behind her shoulders. To top everything off, she’s got a shocking rainbow colored mane and tail, he decides to try talking. “Hi, sorry about that hard landing.” The creature turns and looks at him, and he can see her enormous cerise eyes. She moves over to the edge of the roof of the shuttle, her hooves ringing on the duranium of the hull. She sits on her haunches at the edge of the shuttle, peering down at him.
“Her name is Rainbow Dash.” Comes a soft voice from behind him. Tom whirls around to see another equine, this one a lavender color, with a deep blue mane streaked with a gumball pink and purple stripe. The color scheme is copied in her tail as well. She opens her mouth, “I’m Twilight Sparkle. This is Fluttershy.” She cocks her ear at a yellow pony who seems to be hiding behind her bright pink mane.
Tom crouches down to be closer to eye level with the small ponies, “I’m Tom Paris, from the Federation Starship Voyager.”
The creature seems to be testing out the words, the confused look on her face gets a grin from Tom. He turns back to the blue pony, “That, is a shuttlepod, that was launched by the Starship Voyager. We were in the area and noticed the energy levels from your world. We got close and something knocked out our power systems.” He sighs, “And to top it off, our communications seem to be damaged as well. So, we are stuck here.”
“We?” Comes from the purple pony.
“Sir.” The crewman says as he emerges from the shuttlecraft, holding a PADD, “I think we can get the power systems operable…” He trails off as he looks at Twilight, who has stepped back, wings spreading wide in fright. “What is that thing?” The crewman shouts, only to flinch from the dark look that Tom directs at him.
“Crewman Sylis, meet some of the locals.” He grabs the crewman’s arm, “This right here is Twilight Sparkle, and the pony above you is Rainbow Dash. And that one is Fluttershy.”
Sylis shakes off Tom and straightens his uniform. He takes several deep breaths and steps towards twilight. “I’m Crewman Sylis.” He says, extending a hand, the winged pony offers a hoof and he shakes it.
They are interrupted by the thunder of approaching hooves. Sylis turns to Tom, who gestures for him to get to work as he finally fully steps onto the soil of this world. More of these ponies rush towards them. They slide to a stop as Tom looks back at Twilight.
Rainbow Dash leaps off of the shuttle and flies over to land with the other ponies, “These are our other friends, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack.” She turns to her friends, “Friends, this is Tom Paris. And he’s a…” She falters for a moment, looking back at Tom.
“Human.” He supplies.
She turns back, “He’s a human. He seems nice.”
The ponies all come forward to greet him. And after a few moments, he stands up and looks back at the shuttle, Twilight gets the hint, “Okay girls, give him some space.” She turns and looks at him, “Mr. Paris, I’d like to invite you to my home, and we can talk about how we might be able to help you.”
“Help me? You just met me.”
She giggles as she turns to walk, “Somepony is in need, we are happy to help.”
He glances forward, “Is it a long walk?”
She extends a wing and whaps his leg gently, “Why? Going to get tired only walking on two legs?”
He smiles, “No. Was just wondering.”
She looks forward, “No, Ponyville should take about half an hour to walk. We flew here when we saw your…” She glances back, her ears flicking back and forth.
“Shuttlecraft.”
She smiles, “Shuttlecraft,” Her ears flick as she tastes the unfamiliar word, “…going down.”
They walk in silence for a while, “You use electromagnetic energy to power that?”
He shrugs, “We use an electroplasma system, though it’s similar to what you are thinking of.”
"Electro plasma, whats that?" Twilight blinked, "I've done some experiments with electromagnetics."
“Umm, its sort of like the stuff that makes up the sun. Highly charged and flowing through...." Paris starts before seeing the expression on her face.
"What?"
"Sun material? Well there's your problem. Princess Celestia has the power to control the sun. You likely flew though her lines of control and it grabbed onto the... Electroplasma... That would have messed up all sorts of things with its flowing through your ship."
“Ahh.” He says dubiously.
She looks at him and smiles brightly, “Don’t worry, I think I can do a spell to shield your systems when your repairs are complete.”
He looks at her as she walks easily next to him, “Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. I really do appreciate your help.”
She cocks her head to the side, “What are friends for?”
He furrows his brow, “We are friends? Already?”
She giggles in response, “Not yet. But we can become friends. I believe in preemptive friendship.”
He looks at the town slowly coming into view, “I kinda like that approach.”
Her smile brightens even more, “Me too.” She chirps happily.
Her ears prick forward as they continue walking, she whispers fiercely, “Something’s wrong.” She makes her voice louder, “Over here Spike!”
A small green lizard looking creature rushes up to Twilight, impacting her hard with a hug. She nuzzles him lovingly, “This is Spike.” She says over his heavy breathing, “He’s a baby dragon.” She wraps her forehooves around him, “Okay Spike, breathe deeply. Tell me what’s going on.
The dragon pants for several moments, then he looks up at Twilight, “Diamond…Tiara…”
Twilight frowns as he continues to catch his breath, “What about her?”
“She’s started a rumor, that the Cutie Mark Crusaders are all…” He doubles over in a fit of coughing.
One of the other ponies, Rarity, comes up, “What about the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”
Spike looks up at Rarity, “She says they are all changelings!”
Everyone gasps, except for Twilight, she reaches out a wing to help steady the dragon, “Oh, come on Spike, nopony will believe that. That’s silly.”
Spike shakes his head forcefully, “Apparently, she’s been working on her dad for weeks on this. He firmly believes it, and he’s been rounding up the ponies in town to find them. The thing is, they’ve all disappeared.”
Rainbow Dash stalks forward, “So, Spike, you are saying Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle are nowhere to be found?”
He nods, “I was just over at the clubhouse, a couple of windows have been broken.” He turns to Twilight, “I’m scared for them.”
Twilight growls softly, “There’s no time to lose, we need to find the fillies. And make sure they are okay. I don’t believe what Diamond Tiara says for one minute.” She turns to Tom, “I’m sorry, Tom. But this is an emergency and you can either go back to your ship, or you can go ahead to the big castle in town. But we need to help the girls.”
Tom leans down, a soft smile on his face, “I think you’ll do.” He says softly, he reaches out a hand and cups her cheek, “You all work perfectly, Naomi will love you.”
Twilight furrows her brow as Tom stands up and calls out loudly, “Computer, save all the parameters to the file Shuttlepod Down and close down the program.”
The trees and beautiful sky all disappear, along with the ponies, one by one until Twilight remains. She looks shocked as Spike disappears from next to her, and then she fades away last. Revealing the grid pattern of the Voyager’s holodeck. Tom whistles merrily as he walks to the hatch for the holodeck and it opens before him.
***
Tom steps into the turbolift, as the door closes he calls out, “Deck two, section 13” The turbolift obediently takes him up, then it shifts to go sideways before it slides to a stop. He walks down the corridor for a few moments before entering the ship’s mess.
The lone Talaxian crewmember of the starship Voyager bounces a little bit, “Is it ready?”
Tom smiles, “It’s ready, I can bring her in whenever she’s ready.”
Commander Tuvok sits back from his soup, “It is illogical why someone would spend so much time on a meaningless task as making a new program geared specifically for children, when we have quite a few children’s programs in our database.”
Tom opens his mouth to respond, but Neelix beats him to it, “Yes, Mister Vulcan, it would be illogical.” He raises a single finger, “But who said that children are necessarily logical.”
Tuvok glowers a bit, but he leans forward to take another sip of his soup, after he swallows, “You…have a point, Mr. Neelix.”
Neelix claps his hands, “I’ll go get her.” He scurries from the room, Tom in tow. A quick ride in the turbolift and finally they are walking into astrometrics.
Seven of Nine turns around, “Can I help you?”
Neelix claps his hands together, “We are here for Naomi.”
Seven furrows her brow, “What do you have need of Naomi Wildman for?”
Neelix bounces again, “You remember when we went back in time to the Earth year of 1996?”
Seven shifts on her feet and folds her arms, “Yes, I am somewhat familiar with Captain Braxton.”
Neelix nods, “Well, when the away team was on the surface, Kess and I were reviewing all the different television broadcasts during our time in orbit. Well, we reviewed a lot of what was playing at the time. And we found a TV show called My Little Pony Tales. We checked out many of the episodes and we thought the programming would be fun.”
Tom steps forward as Naomi walks forward, “So, Neelix had an idea, to build an interactive world for you to play in. I went through the ships archives and it turns out there were many different versions of My Little Pony. Well, it turns out the most popular, by far, was the version that started in the year 2010. It was called Friendship is Magic. So, I built several simulations with the characters from the show. Everything from what are called friendship problems, to monster attacks. And it’s all for you.”
Naomi smiles widely, “A new program to play on in the holodeck?”
Both Tom and Neelix nod happily, getting a squeal from the little girl. She turns to Seven, “May I go?”
Seven looks at Naomi, then looks at Tom and Neelix, “As long as it’s okay with your mother.”
Tom grins, “I’ve talked to Samantha, she’s all for her playing in Equestria.”
Naomi frowns, “Equestria?”
“That’s what they call where they are from, so…” He holds out a hand, “Wanna go? I’ll be with you for the first friendship problem. Then you can do as much as you want. I’ve programmed all the seasons of the show into the program, you can go and help fight Nightmare Moon, or Tirek. It’s a whole world for you to play in. Call it an early birthday present.”
Naomi claps her hands and bounces up and down, then she rushes for the door, disappearing through it. Neelix smiles, “I doubt we’ll see much of her for the next couple of months.” He says as Tom follows Naomi.
As they head to the holodeck, Tom spends the time telling her what he’s learned about the show, and how life typically is in Equestria. Finally, they get to the holodeck and Tom stops her, “This first program is to familiarize you with the characters, and get an idea of what a friendship problem could be like.” He gestures and the doors open to the familiar open grid of the holodeck, they walk inside and he grabs her hand, “Computer, start program Shuttlepod Down, right after the shuttlepod crashes into the chalk hills.”
The computer makes several sounds as it complies, then the shape of the type 8 shuttlepod appears around them. Crewman Sylis steps forward, “Sir?”
Tom smiles at him, “Get started assessing the damage.”
Naomi looks around at the interior of the shuttlepod, “But aren’t we supposed to be in Equestria?”
Tom nods, “We are, but we had to have a plausible reason for humans to be here, for them to interact with you as you are.”
“Ah.” She nods as she moves to the bench, “So, for our part, this is like an away mission?”
He smiles as she hands him an expedition pack, she grabs one for herself, “Can I open the hatch?” He nods and she presses the pad on the control panel. The door slowly lowers, revealing the bright blue sky. As the hatch finishes lowering, a thunk announces the arrival of Rainbow Dash. Naomi’s eyes bulge as she stops to look at the pegasus on the roof of the shuttle, “Is that…?” She says softly.
Tom nods as Rainbow Dash walks to the edge of the roof of the shuttle and sits on her haunches.
“Her name is Rainbow Dash.” Comes the soft voice from behind them. Naomi and Tom whirl around to see Twilight Sparkle sitting there, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is…” She’s cut off by an impact from Naomi as she leaps at the alicorn.
“She’s so pretty!” Naomi squeals as she hugs the purple princess. Twilight, for her part, has spread her wings in alarm.
Tom grins, “I’m Tom Paris, of the Starship Voyager, the young lady grabbing you right now is Naomi Wildman.”
Twilight finds herself hugging the girl back, “Well, it’s quite unusual to hug somepony you’ve just met.” She says softly, she brings her wings around and hugs the girl tighter, “But I find it hard to object such a genuine show of affection.” Her brow furrows, “Though I’m curious as to why.”
Tom kneels down to get closer to the eye level of the ponies, “Quite a few human girls wish they had their own pony to play with. Equines are quite common on my world, though they don’t talk, or do magic, or fly.”
Twilight looks at him seriously, then she brings Naomi away, “Is that true?” She asks softly.
Naomi nods enthusiastically, “I love ponies, and horses.”
Twilight giggles, “Well, I can’t dispute that. Perhaps we should head into town. We can maybe figure out why you crashed here, and maybe if I talk to Princess Celestia, we can figure out how to get you all home.”
“That would be wonderful.” He says as the sound of thundering hooves announces the arrival of the other ponies. Twilight handles the introductions and they end up heading towards town, before too long, Spike arrives and tells his tale of what happened to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Twilight turns to them, “Well, Tom. You can head back to your ship, or you can head into town, we need to handle this.”
Naomi looks up at Tom, then back to Twilight, “Maybe we can help. If one of your friends is in danger, we need to help.”
“Need to help?”
Tom kneels down, “It’s part of how Starfleet works, and more importantly, it’s how Captain Janeway operates Voyager. If someone is in trouble, if it’s within our power, we help.”
Twilight furrows her brows and shifts her wings, “Well…” She looks around at her friends and then back to Naomi, “Fine. You can help, let’s go!”
She turns and gallops off, Naomi and Tom in hot pursuit along with her friends. They rush through the trees and end up in a large park. A group of ponies have formed a loose circle, surrounding a dense copse of bushes.
“Get them, they are hiding there.” One of the pony’s calls out.
Filthy Rich is there, Diamond Tiara at his side, he rushes over to Twilight, though he skids to a stop seeing the humans, he growls softly, “We need to capture them, so we can find the real girls.” He points at Tom and Naomi, “What are those? And what are they doing here?”
Twilight gestures, “They are visitors here, we need to help them. But I need to talk about what you are saying about Apple Bloom and her friends.”
He stomps a hoof, “Princess, I trust my daughter, I know she may be difficult at times, but she’s been saying for weeks that she has thought something was wrong with them.”
Twilight narrows her eyes, “Wrong? How so.”
He waves a hoof, “That they were just acting really weird, but everything came to a head this morning, she said she saw Sweetiebelle have a green flame go over her body and she changed to look like Lyra for a few minutes to go into Sugarcube Corner. Then she followed her for a while, and again, those green flames, and she turned back into Sweetie Belle. And she did it the second time in front of the other two, and they didn’t even flinch.”
“That’s hardly convincing evidence,” Twilight scoffs.
He looks back at the bushes then turns back to Twilight, “I don’t care what you say, I believe my daughter. Those girls need to be captured, and interrogated to find out where the real filly’s are.”
Twilight looks down, thinking hard, then she turns to Diamond Tiara, “Are you sure of what you are saying, Diamond?”
The pinky filly steps forward confidently, “I told Daddy what happened. They are changelings.”
Tom leans down, “What do you see, Naomi?”
She steps forward, looking around at all the ponies. She moves over to the copse of bushes. Three fillies are crouching there. Scootaloo is strapped to her wagon, one of its wheels seems to be broken off. She’s holding her left wing at an odd angle. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle move to stand in front of Scootaloo, between her and Naomi as she walks slowly towards them.
“Stay away!” Apple Bloom growls, “She’s my friend, and she’s hurt.” Sweetie Belle’s horn glows a faint green as well.
Naomi turns to Twilight, “Tell me about the changelings.”
Twilight steps forward slowly, “We don’t know much about them. A few years ago, they attacked Canterlot during my brother’s wedding. The feed on love, on the strong emotions of ponies and others.” She looks around, “We were able to fight them off, a shield that my brother can do, energized by the love of his bride to be, ejected them from the city. Though much information we have about them is based on old legends and myths. We weren’t even sure they existed until they showed up at the wedding.”
Naomi looks back at the filly’s, then over at Diamond Tiara, she nudges Twilight, “What about her?”
“Diamond Tiara?” Twilight frowns, “Her and the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been at odds with each other. She’s bullied them more than once. Though they’ve been fairly okay pretty recently, she calls them blank flanks.”
“Blank flanks?”
Twilight unfolds her wing to touch softly the mark on Fluttershy’s flank, three butterflies, “A cutie mark is what makes a pony what they are. Learning what a pony is, what makes them special, is a big part of growing up. That’s why they started being the Cutie Mark Crusaders, so they can find out what makes them special. They try different things, trying to figure out what resonates with them. They’ve tried many different things. Their marks will come.” She says quietly.”
Naomi walks forward, both her hands out, “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”
Rarity and Applejack step forward, to be stopped by Rainbow Dash, “She’s on to something, let her handle it.” Rainbow says quietly to her friends.
Naomi steps into the bushes and kneels down, “I promise, I’m here to help you.” She reaches over and unbuckles the harness around Scootaloo’s barrel. She continues to make soothing sounds as she reaches around Scootaloo, and making sure to be careful of the filly’s injured wing, she gathers up the orange pegasus. She turns around with Scootaloo in her arms, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle staying close, watching Naomi closely, she walks over to Twilight and sets Scootaloo down in front of Twilight, then she turns back to Diamond Tiara, “Shame on you. There’s no way these girls could be changelings.”
Diamond Tiara scowls, “What do you know? You are just a crazy looking creature. How do I know you aren’t a changeling?”
Naomi rolls her eyes, “Because changelings wouldn’t know me to be able to copy how I look, that’s simple. But on to these girls. Twilight says they feed on love, which means they don’t know what love is on their own. They don’t feel it themselves.” She stands up, “Look at them, they feel love for each other, both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were protecting Scootaloo with their own bodies. You don’t do that if you don’t love your friend.”
She looks over at the girls, their sisters are all up with them, staying close to them, “These girls are loved, and feel love for those around them. They aren’t feeding on any love, because they are giving love back. There is no way they could be changelings.”
She smiles as Twilight comes forward, “You are correct.” She smiles, “And you were willing to go right into a situation where you could have been injured. If you had been wrong, you could have been hurt seriously.” She whirls around to Filthy Rich, “Your daughter has committed a very cruel prank. You need to deal with her appropriately.” She lowers her voice, “Or I will.”
Filthy Rich blanches and gathers up his daughter, “I’ll make sure she realizes the error of her ways.”
“But Daaaaaaaddy.” Diamond Tiara says, only to be cut off by her father.
“The Princess has spoken young filly.”
“But you can’t take the word of that creature.” She whines.
Twilight paws the ground and growls, “She was speaking saner than anypony here.” Her horn lights and her voice is amplified, “Show’s over, ponies, time to go home.”
Many of the ponies had already moved away, those that remain look abashed and start heading back into town. Twilight turns and looks at Naomi, “You are a smart young lady.”
She’s interrupted, “Janeway to Paris.”
“Computer, pause program.” Everything comes to a halt and he continues, “Go ahead Captain.”
“Report to the bridge, we’ve detected a small transport shuttle. It’s life support is failing.”
“On my way captain.” He says, “Paris, out.” He turns to Naomi, “Well, you’ve solved your first friendship problem. You can do whatever you want in this world.”
She smiles, “I’d love to play with those three more.” She points at the frozen CMC.
He nods, “This is set just before they get their cutie marks, and I think you’ll like what their marks mean. But I’ve got to go.” He stands up taller and raises his voice. “Computer, adjust program parameters. The ponies are not to notice my absence in the program, otherwise, start the program when Naomi continues it. And open the exit please.”
The computer makes sounds of compliance, “Parameters changed, exit opening.” It says as the large doors for the holodeck open, Tom rushes out of the holodeck.
She watches as the door disappears and she calls out, “Computer, resume program.”
Pinkie Pie jumps over and lands next to Naomi, pulling her into a hug, “It’s your birthday in two days, we had better get ready.”
Naomi cocks her head to the side, “For what?”
Pinkie’s ears flop back and forth, “For your party, your welcome to Ponyville and birthday party all in one! It’ll be great!”
***
Tom taps the ensign at the helm on the shoulder and slides into his chair as it is vacated, his eyes scan over the displays before him, “Okay, Captain, we are at warp seven, Thirty seconds to our destination.”
Captain Janeway smiles, “Did Naomi like her present? It’s taken up all of your free time for the last couple of months.”
He nods, “Getting their size, and translating cartoons into three dimensional characters was a challenge, but I love the personalities. Though, for Pinkie Pie, I’ve never gotten her perfect.”
“Why is that?”
He shakes his head, “She’s by her nature a chaotic character, so making her matrix was really challenging. But I didn’t want to delay any further, she’ll be bouncy and fun for Naomi, but I don’t know if she’ll be exactly like the character portrayed in the stories.” His attention is grabbed by the display, “We are just about in visual range, Captain.”
“Drop from warp, Mr. Paris.”
Voyager’s warp engines drop in power level as the ship allows the warp bubble around it to dissipate. The nacelles rotate back to their storage position as the impulse engines take over, moving the ship towards the stricken craft.
Janeway stands up, “Mr. Kim, sensors.”
Harry Kim taps his controls, "It's a small intersystem shuttle or transport, minimal shields. Large cargo bay, its likely a hauler of some sort. I'm detecting 7 life signs, but they aren't moving. Life support is failing and its venting atmosphere from its engineering compartment. It looks like its taken an impact of some sort, maybe a meteorite."
Janeway looks at her security chief, “Tuvok, transporters.”
"Not Possible, Captain. Many of their systems are down, primary communications is out, the distress signal is originating from an automated beacon. The hull however is composed of primitive duranium alloy that has been charged and polarized, not unlike the armor used by old federation star ships hundreds of years ago. It will likely scatter any transporter beams."
Janeway looks down. “Okay, we can’t beam them off, can we tractor them into a shuttle bay?”
Tuvok nods, “That shouldn’t be a problem.”
She glances at the stricken craft, “Send a medical team, and security officers as well. It looks quite banged up, they’ll likely have casualties.”
Tuvok moves to the turbolift, “Aye, Captain.”
***
The outer door slowly closes as the craft settles onto the deck of the shuttle bay of the Voyager. Four security officers join a half dozen medically trained crewmembers as they move to the hatch of the stricken ship. Commander Tuvok moves forward and slaps a fist on the hatch, “Open up, we are here to assist you.”
He’s interrupted by a loud hiss, and four external shipping containers have concealed hatches slam down, Hirogen soldiers rush out, their disrupters firing. Three of the security team is down before they even draw their weapons, Tuvok dives to the side and fires as he taps his combadge, “Intruder alert in the cargo bay.” He’s able to say before a stun beam knocks him out.
Red alert lights start to flash as the soldiers secure the shuttle bay. The leader steps forward, two lieutenants next to him, “Start with engineering and get control of their power systems.”
They salute and move over to the main hatch. Pressing the pad on the side shows that the door is refusing to open for them. Three soldiers move forward and place a charge on the hatch, the armed and armored commandos take cover as the charge explodes, destroying the door.
“Go!” He calls out, and the thirty plus members of the hunting party rush out the now open portal into the ship proper.
***
In the holodeck, the program fades from around Naomi as the computer speaks, “Red alert, please report to your quarters Naomi.”
She looks around, “What’s going on?”
“Please report to your quarters, Red Alert.”
Naomi huffs as she runs to the exit, she rushes through the doors and they close behind her.
A small explosion rocks the ship and the lights inside the holodeck flicker as sparks erupt from one of the access panels. A moment later the air inside the holodeck coalesces into the shape of Twilight Sparkle. Blinking, she looks around the empty holodeck. The red light flashing as the ships sirens sound.
As she approaches the door, it opens to the hallway outside. Twilight blinks once before she tentatively holds out a foreleg, sticking it into the hall. As her leg crosses the threshold however it starts to vanish. Pulling her leg back she backs up quickly falling on her rear, her leg reforming.
“Naomi? Tom?”
As she looks around she hears the voice over the communication system. “Intruder alert.”
“Naomi, where’s Naomi?” Twilight said looking at the door.
“Naomi Wildman is in turbo lift three.” The computer response.
Turning to face the console Twilight blinks, “How do I get to her?”
“Not possible. Holographic emitters are limited to Holodecks one, two, and sickbay only.”
“Sickbay? Can you send me to the sickbay than?” Twilight danced on her hooves in somewhat of a panic.
“Invalid command.”
Twilight closed her eyes tight for a moment trying to remember how Tom talked. “Computer, transfer program to sickbay.”
“Unable to comply, command not authorized.”
“Great it doesn’t recognize me…” Shaking her head slowly Twilight blinked then smiled, “Lesson 84, mimic spell!” Lighting her horn, she clears her throat before speaking in the voice of Tom Paris. “Computer, transfer program Twilight Sparkle to sickbay.”
She holds her breath as the computer again makes some sounds, then it speaks. “Confirmed, transferring program.”
She squee's softly as she gives a bright smile, her voice returning to normal as her horn glow fades. "Mimic spell, works every time!." A moment later she fades out.
In the Sickbay of the USS Voyager, Twilight appears to controlled pandemonium. One human is on one of the beds, his uniform shredded, his body burned. Another human is working on him, trying to get him to calm down as he writhes in pain. The standing human reaches over and grabs a device, and with a soft hissing sound, the man on the bed relaxes into unconsciousness. Twilight trots up to the standing human, “Excuse me, sir.” She says.
“Get me the dermal regenerator.” He snaps.
She flinches back, after a moment, he huffs, “A dermal regenerator, it’s in that cabinet,” he points without looking. Twilight moves over to the cabinet and unfurls her wings to get added height. Her horn lights and the cabinet opens. The device flies over and slaps into the outstretched hand of the other human, he growls, “Thanks. At least someone knows how to be efficient.”
Twilight folds her wings and trots up to him, it looks like the immediate danger has passed, “What happened?” She asks softly.
“The ship has been boarded, Lieutenant Malloy here was able to initiate an emergency beam out. Though more casualties will be incoming, I need to get him taken care of quickly before more arrive.”
“More?” Twilight feels the butterflies in her stomach, “I need to get to Naomi.”
“I’m a Doctor, not a directory, ask the computer where she is.”
Twilight looks at the exit, “I did, but as a hologram, I can’t just walk to her, I’m looking for someone to help me.”
He stops what he’s doing for a moment, then he looks at her, “You are a hologram too?” He walks over to her, “You aren’t any matrix I recognize, what are you doing in my sickbay?”
Her eyes widen, “So you are stuck where there are holo-emitters as well?”
He shakes his head, “No. I have a mobile emitter, I am not bound to the sickbay, I can go anywhere on the ship.” He points to the device sitting on his desk, “I can even leave the ship if I so choose. But none of that matters, who are you and what are you doing here?”
She again unfurls her wings and leaps over to the desk, her magic grabs the small device and she inspects it quickly.
The Doctor steps forward, “Hey, you aren’t allowed to have that, put it back down.” He growls.
She puts the emitter against her skin behind her ear and it sticks, she can feel her essence drain into the device, and she smiles brightly, “I’ll bring it back!” She shouts as she gallops for the door. The door opens and she slides through as she makes the turn into the corridor. She skids to a stop, her rump landing on the deck. “Computer.”
The computer responds with a chirp, “Is Naomi still in turbolift three?”
Again, a few chirps from the computer, “Negative, Naomi Wildman is in her quarters on deck six.”
“How do I get there?”
The computer takes a moment to respond, “Follow the lit path to the turbolift, then continue following the path until you reach the destination.” Along the wall a bar lights up, with brighter lights running down the indicated direction. Twilight dashes off and soon finds herself at the turbolift. She looks into the small room, and finally shrugs her wings as she steps into it. The doors close and it moves off, quickly stopping one deck down. The door opens and she pokes her head out, noting the lighted path showing to her right. Instead of a mad dash, she walks more cautiously down the corridor. She turns a corner and stops, her wings spreading in surprise. There are four creatures in the corridor. The light path ends at a door right where the creatures are. She takes a step forward.
“Whatever that is, get it!” Comes a voice from the creatures. They raise what look like weapons and Twilight’s eyes go wide, her horn lights as they fire. She gets her shield to form as the beams from the weapons slam into it. The concussive blast of the beams blow her back into the bulkhead. She shakes her head and watches the soldiers work together to advance towards her, two would move forward, then provide cover for the other two as they advance.
“You have magic.” She growls, “Well, I have magic too.” She charges her horn and fires a concussive beam at them. The beam hits one of the soldiers, and it doesn’t even push him back. She frowns and fires again, to the same effect, then she has to hastily throw up a shield to defend against another blast from the soldiers. “Well, that isn’t working.” She turns and gallops down the corridor, she has to get to Naomi. Two more humans appear, with the same uniform as Tom, but the shoulders of this uniform is a mustard yellow. They are carrying similar looking devices as the invaders. She flashes past them and skids around the corner heading down another side corridor. Behind her she hears shouts and the sound of the invaders weapons, as well as a different sound of weapons fire. She stops and looks behind her, one of the soldiers rolls and fires his weapon at her. She leaps to the side and turns to run down the corridor.
She makes another turn and sees that she’s in the same corridor as Naomi’s room. She barrels over to it, and slides to a stop as it doesn’t open for her. She bangs on the door, not getting a response, those soldiers are almost into this corridor, and they would know where she went. She closes her eyes and lights her horn, time for an old fashion teleport. It feels different as it happens, but she opens her eyes and looks around.
“Twilight!” Comes Naomi’s voice, “What are you doing here?”
Twilight runs over and tackles Naomi, nuzzling her fiercely, “The ship has been boarded, we need to get out of here.”
“But you are a holodeck program, you can’t leave the holodeck.” Naomi says, her face showing her confusion, “How are you here?”
“The Doctor’s mobile emitter, at least that’s what he called it. I ran into the invaders trying to get to you, and I used magic on them, but I couldn’t do anything to stop them.”
Naomi frowns, “The holodeck has safety programs, to make it impossible for you to hurt anyone.”
Twilight smiles, “Naomi, I would never hurt you, but I need to stop them, can those safety programs be taken off?”
Naomi nods, still a little unsure. Twilight smiles, she again lights her horn and speaks with Tom’s voice, “Computer, disable safety protocols on program Twilight Sparkle.”
Naomi gapes as the computer responds, “Acknowledged.”
Twilight grins and fires a beam at a vase, which explodes, she turns to Naomi, “Thank you.” She moves over and hugs Naomi, “Now, let’s get you to safety.”
“Where is that?”
Twilight huffs, “I have no idea, but we need to get away from here.”
Naomi stops for a moment, “Mommy said that there’s a designated safe area, it’s the mess hall.”
Twilight smiles, “Sounds good to me, where is it?”
“Deck Two.”
Twilight growls, “Four decks up.” She shakes her head, “Well, come with me, I’ll protect you.” She moves over to the door, she closes her eyes and lights her horn, Naomi’s eyes widen as the entire wall becomes transparent to them. She comes over and places a hand on the alicorn’s withers.
“Can they see us?” She points at the two Hirogen that are walking down the corridor.
Twilight shakes her head, “No, it’s a clairvoyance spell. Something in the walls themselves are responding to the spell and showing us the other side of the walls.”
Naomi blinks and tilts her head for a moment, “Like the ships sensors? The internal sensors!”
Twilight watches the soldiers turn the corner, “Okay, let’s go, quickly now.” The doors open and they dash through them into the corridor, Twilight turns away and starts to gallop. “Quickly, Naomi.” She whispers fiercely, after a few moments she notices that Naomi is not able to run as fast as she can. She lights her horn again and gently picks up Naomi, placing the girl on her back. Naomi wraps her arms around Twilight as she resumes her gallop. She slides to a stop at the intersection of one corridor with another. She glances down the corridor and then rushes down as she sees it’s empty. Another sliding turn and she is at the turbolift alcove. A wing is extended to press the pad to call the car. Twilight turns broadside to the turbolift door so she can easily see back in the corrider, her ears flicking constantly to listen for the heavy footfalls of the soldiers.
The lift’s doors open and a loud gasp from Naomi gets her attention. She jerks to look inside the turbolift, two Hirogen soldiers are standing there. Without wasting any time, Twilight’s horn lights, and she simply grabs the two soldiers with her magic, flinging them through the air as far as she can manage. She leaps into the turbolift, firing concussive blasts at the soldiers as they gain their feet and rush towards the closing door of the turbolift. As the door shuts, Twilight heaves a massive breath and calls out, “Deck two, Mess Hall.”
The lift obediently responds. First jerking to the side, then it rises a single deck. The door opens as the lift stops, Twilight’s horn is charged and ready, though there are no surprises this time. Twilight walks cautiously down the hallway, Naomi shifting her weight to tell Twilight the direction to go. Finally they see an obviously barricaded door, tables and benches are on their sides as a physical barrier.
“There’s one, fire!” Comes a voice from the barricade.
Twilight barely gets a shield up before a blast reaches out to them, she shouts, “Stop firing! I’m friendly. I’ve got Naomi with me!”
“Naomi?” Come’s Neelix’s voice. His head pops up, “Who are you?”
Twilight growls, “We can wait on introductions, I’m coming in.” She gallops towards the barricade, unfurling her wings in the tight space, she leaps into the air and executes a tight turn through the door, she skids to a stop, her horn lighting and a shield forming around the barricade, “I think that should hold, for a little while.” She sighs.
Neelix kneels down next to Naomi as she clambers off Twilights back, “Naomi, how did you get a character from your program here?”
Naomi shakes her head, “She appeared in my room. I have no idea.”
Neelix whirls on Twlight, “You are a holo-simulation, how can you be out here?”
Twilight huffs, “Seriously? Do I have to explain to everypony?” She moves her mane to the side, “I borrowed the doctor’s mobile emitter, I’m here to protect Naomi.”
“Here they come!” Comes a couple of voices from the barricade. Along with the whine of weapons fire.
Neelix looked own at Twilight then at the door. “This isn’t a safe place for Naomi, you need to take her someplace safe.”
“But I don’t know enough about this ship, the computers been telling me where to go but…” Twilight looks at Naomi.
Crewman Kenneth Dalby walks over and kneels, “I have an idea, can I see the emitter for a moment.”
Tentatively, Twilight looks at Naomi and Neelix.
“He’s pretty smart, and he’s part of the engineering staff.” Neelix says and nods to Twilight.
Kenneth taps the panel on the mobile emitter, “Computer, download ships schematics and personnel files to the mobile emitter, integrate into memory files of the Twilight Sparkle program.”
The computer chirps a few times, “Transfer complete.”
Twilight gasps as the data fills her mind, she turns and looks at Neelix, “This area is going to get overwhelmed, Naomi!” She shouts and dashes over to the young lady, “We need to get into the Jeffries tubes.”
Neelix watches dumbfoundedly as Twilight rushes towards a bulkhead, and her magic yanks open the hatch. She crawls in and waits for Naomi before she closes the hatch behind her. She finds the access tubes are tall enough for her to walk with her head down, and Naomi puts her hand on Twilights back as she bends down to walk. Twilight walks for a bit, getting away from the mess hall, “This is bad, so very bad.” She moans. “What are we going to do?”
Naomi tightens her grip on Twilight, “I don’t know, it’s happening so fast. We need to slow them down, or knock them out.”
“Knock them out! You are a genius, Naomi!” She sits down and gestures for Naomi to sit with her, “We are safe for now, let’s see if we can get the ship to help us.” She glances at the computer terminal at the junction, she reaches out a wing to tap the com button, “Twilight Sparkle to sickbay.”
“Sickbay.” Comes the terse response.
“Doctor, we need to stop the Hirogen, I need to put anesthizine gas into the ventilation system, it should knock out the soldiers.”
The doctor tsks, “Sorry, but anesthizine will not affect the Hirogens, their armor will prevent any chemical agent from fully affecting all of them. And it will have the added effect of knocking out all of the crew, so it will make the soldier’s jobs a lot easier.”
Twilight growls, “There has to be some way to stop them.”
A feminine voice comes over the com channel, “We can try an old Maquis trick. When Cardassians would board a ship, we would overload the plasma conduits with a phased plasma pulse. In essence, every plasma conduit all over the ship would become a stun level phaser.”
The Doctor comes back over the channel, “B’Elanna, you are too severely injured right now.” Twilight and Naomi hear a sound of a struggle, then the hiss of a hypospray becomes audible over the connection, “I had to sedate her or she would have hurt herself more. Did you catch all of what she said?”
Twilight smiles, “Yes, Doctor.”
“Then you need to head to main engineering. But remember, you have my mobile emitter, I want it back in the same shape you got it, understood?”
She giggles, “Of course Doctor, Twilight out.”
Twilight looks around and finds a hatch leading down, “Well, Naomi, let’s get going.”
Naomi moves over and starts to climb down the ladder, “Where are we going?”
“Main engineering on deck eleven. Let’s go.”
Naomi rolls her eyes, “I know where main engineering is.”
“I know you do, let’s hurry.
***
Twilight crouches in the Jefferies tube, one hoof on the access hatch to main engineering deck. She takes a long moment to catch her breath. There are two of those creatures in the compartment. One by the console and one by the core, both are armed though. She knows where they are, her ‘magic’ lets her see through the bulkhead, she just has to do something about them. She leans back to murmur in Naomi’s ear, “I’m going to go out there and take care of them. Wait for me to tell you it’s safe, got it?”
Naomi nods silently and moves back against the side of the junction as Twilight’s horn lights. She reaches back with a hoof and slams it forward, knocking the hatch across the room. Twilight turns to her left and fires off a concussion beam, knocking the first soldier into the bulkhead, shattering a display and denting the bulkhead itself. She then launches into the air, firing continuously at the soldier on the second level of engineering. She hits him twice in the chest, but the big Hirogen shoulders his rifle firing a blast at her.
She flips in mid air, doing a wingover like Rainbow Dash had taught her and rears up, firing a more powerful blast. This shot sends him staggering backwards to the rail. Before he can slump to the ground, she barrels into him, sending him flying over the banister. His body flying off the catwalk onto the floor.
The first Hirogen has recovered, however, and picks up his weapon and points it towards the Jefferies tube. Shock and rage fill Twilight as she can see him starting to pull the trigger.
“NO!” Twilight yells and let’s loose a powerful blast that causes the rifle he's holding to explode in his hands, his burned body slowly slumps to the floor. She lands, her sides heaving, she grabs the soldier near her and drags his body towards where the other soldier lies.
“Okay, Naomi, come on out.” She says, while trying to get her breathing back under control. She rears up at the engineering status board and starts typing with her wings. She uses her forelegs to brace herself while she reads the outputs on the display.
Naomi comes up next to her, “Are they dead?”
Twilight focuses on the control panel, she can't stop the tears in her eyes, “I had to stop them, they would have hurt you and the crew.”
“You didn’t answer my question Twilight." Naomi says flatly, "Are they dead?”
Twilight stops for a moment, looking at her, “I... Didn’t want to, they just wouldn’t stop... I did what I had to. I needed to keep you safe, they would have killed you without a second of hesitation.”
Naomi stomps her foot, “Twilight Sparkle, you don’t kill. Killing is wrong.” She shouts, tears flowing down her face, “You promise me.” She sobs softly, “You’ll never kill again.”
Twilight stops and sits, her head low in front of the console, slowly she looks at the two bodies, then at Naomi, her own emotions bubble to the surface, “I’m sorry.” Twilight sobs, “I’ve just been so concerned for you, and all of you on this ship. Those creatures are wrong, they shouldn’t be here.” She reaches over and hugs Naomi, “But Naomi, I can’t promise I will never kill again, I will do anything in my power to protect you. I tried not to, I’ll do everything possible not to kill. I just can’t let you get hurt, is that okay?”
Naomi spends a long moment hugging Twilight, “Mom has said it gets pretty dangerous here in the Delta Quadrant. Only if it’s me or them, got it?”
Twilight nods, she rears up again and starts on the computer keypads. She looks across the panel and taps a pad, a moment later the Doctor's image appears on the screen. “I’m almost done.”
“Good, now be careful, this is going to overload some systems. This could be exceedingly dangerous. You’re not connected to the holodeck now, and if this overloads the emitter, your program could be lost forever.” The Doctor says, “Remember you promised to bring it back undamaged.”
With a slow nod, she wipes her muzzle, dealing with the occasional sniffle and snort as she blinks away tears. “I know…” She taps another pad and the Doctor's face disappears from the screen, to be replaced with a status board.
She’s silent for a long time as she finishes her work, “it’s fine. I just seem to be bad with promises today.”
Finally, she turns and gives a watery smile to Naomi, “I’m ready.”
“Wait, what did he mean about your program being lost?!?” Naomi asks slowly walking towards Twilight.
Shaking her head, Twilight lights her horn, “He said there was a chance. You’re my friend and I’m going to protect you, no matter what.” Her magical aura forms around Naomi.
Naomi stops, putting her hands against the shield, “Twilight wait. I don’t want you hurt either!” She watches as the alicorn silently turns and again rears up to the console. Naomi looks around, and finally starts pounding on the shield with her hand, “There’s got to be a safer way.”
Twilight sighs, "This is the best way to protect you, Naomi," she says softly as she presses a final button, a loud screech of increasing power fills the air throughout the ship. Sparks fly from several consoles, causing Twilight to flinch and duck. The warp core hums and pulses, then bright lights flash from every plasma conduit aboard the ship. In a matter of seconds everything living is down, leaving only the Doctor, Naomi, and Twilight still conscious.
The magic fades from around Naomi, who walks towards Twilight with tears in her eyes, then she sees the hologram starting to flicker a few times. She starts to run to Twilight, who visibly wobbling. “Twilight.”
“Go to the Doctor, start waking people up so the soldiers…” With a fizzing sound, she fades away and the emitter bounces on the deck.
Naomi falls to her knees and picks up the mobile emitter, tears in her eyes. "Twilight..." Wiping her own face with an arm she turns and runs for the sickbay.
***
Naomi rushes through the door to sickbay, “Doctor!” She screams, “She’s dead!” She shouts through her tears.
“Naomi, how are you conscious? That was a pretty heavy stun blast.” The doctor says as she hands the emitter to him.
She looks at the emitter, “She used her magic to shield me, at the expense of herself.” She sobs, tears flowing down her cheeks.
“I’ll have B’Elanna check her out, but I need you to get to the bridge, wake every crew member you see as you head there.” He tosses her a hypospray. She catches it, looking stunned.
“I know this is rough for you Naomi, but if the mobile emitter is shorted out I can’t use it to go and help the crew. Since you are the only biologically alive member of the crew still moving, I need you to work on reviving the crew. Everyone here is too injured right now. But I’ll get people coming to help you as soon as possible.
“What about the soldiers?”
The Doctor sighs, “They should be knocked out for at least an hour, maybe longer. Twilight set the blast as strong as she could without killing anyone, any higher and people could have been badly hurt or killed. That probably why she shielded you, it let her set the blast high enough to knock the Hirogen out without killing you. But we need to get security personnel roused so they can strip them of their armor and put them into the brig until Captain Janeway decides what to do with them. And once you find security personnel, give them more hyposprays to help wake up the crew.” He grabs several more hyposprays and programs them quickly.
Naomi grabs a shoulder carry container and dumps the half dozen devices inside then heads out the door. She finds four Hirogen lying on the deck right outside the turbolift. She sighs as she steps over the bodies and calls for a turbolift. Inside are two members of security, she quickly presses her hypospray to their necks as she waits for the lift to head sideways before it heads up to the bridge. The security members take their own sprays as she steps onto the bridge, she knows who to revive first.
She presses the spray against the neck of the captain and presses the button, a soft hiss filling the air. After a few moments, Janeway’s eyes flutter open, she turns her head and focuses on Naomi.
Janeway blinks several times, clearing up afterimages, “Miss Wildman, what happened?”
Naomi sniffles a bit, “Twilight was able to stop them from down in engineering.” She says softly as she starts to revive Chakotay. As he shakes his head and looks around, she moves to press her spray against Tom’s neck.
Janeway can see the tears in the young girls eyes, "Twilight? Who's Twilight?"
Sniffling, Naomi moves over to Tom, "She's a character from the holoprogram Tom made for me. She got out of the holodeck and borrowed the doctors mobile emitter to save me." She lowers her head, her voice cracking as she continues, "She gave her life to protect me. To save the ship."
Janeway looks at Tom for a long moment, “I’ll deal with your programming later.” She says softly, “For now, help Naomi get the crew revived, and let’s get those Hirogen locked up.”
***
Captain’s log: Supplemental
The surviving Hirogen have been loaded back into their little Trojan horse and set adrift with food and supplies. They should have plenty of time to think about what they have done while waiting for Hunter ships to pick them up. We've left a buoy to both warn other ships as well as to act as a beacon for hunting parties. These hunters were not aware of the truce with Voyager so may have some interesting explaining to do when they are picked up.
Now on a more personal issue. Tom Paris has apparently done some exceptional programming with some of the characters of his holographic program for young Naomi Wildman. B'Ellana Torres has been spending the last few hours in the holodeck working on restoring the program.
Janeway walks into the programming alcove for the holodeck. Tom and B’Elanna are both bent over the console. The Doctor’s mobile emitter is sitting on the desk before them. And the Doctor himself is pacing back and forth.
“How long?” The doctor asks testily, “Will you be working on that?”
B’Ellana picks up the emitter and picks up a tiny screwdriver, “I’m working to access its memory, it might be a small short in the device itself. If I can fix it, we can empty it’s programming and then you can have it back.” She pulls out two small screws and pulls off the cover. She grabs a magnifier and starts going over the visible circuitry.
Janeway moves over to Tom, “How did a holoprogram get self aware enough to do what she did?”
Tom blushes faintly, “Well, I wanted her to bond with Naomi quickly, because she’d be a teacher for her, through the life lessons the show was all about. The programming was actually quite difficult, so I added some parts from the doctor’s matrix into her programming. She was the one that held the entire cast together, she had to be the strongest mentally, not working off a script, but learning and adapting to Naomi and the situation on the fly. I did the most with Twilight, but many of those elements are in all the main characters of the story. That’s why it took me months of work.”
Janeway frowns, “So you built her as an adaptive heuristic program? Learning and adapting to situations?”
Tom nods.
“Wait a moment!” The Doctor moves up to Tom, “You used my programming? For a purple quadruped?”
Janeway smiles, “Cool your jets, Doctor. I’m sure he took the best you have to offer.”
The Doctor huffs as he turns away.
“I think I’ve got it.” B’Elanna says softly as she finishes tightening the screws. “Computer, initiate link with mobile emitter.”
A long pause, then, “Link established.”
B’Elanna looks around, “Alright, everyone hold your breath.” She sets the emitter down, “Okay, Computer, activate program stored in emitter.”
A moment later, the computer beeps several times, then the air coalesces into the form of Twilight Sparkle, who sits heavily and looks around. She smiles brightly at Tom and sqees.
Tom grins, “I always liked that.”
Twilight stands up, “Well, since you are all around, that means it worked?”
Janeway nods, “Yes, we’ve taken care of the soldiers.”
“And Naomi?”
Captain Janeway straightens her uniform. “She’s safe, I’ll have her go into the holodeck later and you can have time with her. But I want to talk to you first.” Twilight nods uncertainly, “How did you reactivate yourself on the holodeck when the intruder alert was called?”
Twilight shakes her head, uncertain what to say.
“Oh, you silly humans and your holoprogams. It’s always so interesting to see them lose themselves to silly programs. I much prefer to create an entire reality.” Comes a new voice.
Janeway narrows her eyes as she looks around, “Q.” She says menacingly.
Twilight’s wings flare in anger as she also looks around, “Discord!” She shouts.
