Far Beyond Equestria

Chapters

Strange New World
Faux Pas
The Inverse Square Law
Medals and Cosmic Events
Prophets and Illusions
Valos Three
Touch of an Alicorn

Strange New World

The first thing she saw was an assortment of multi-colored blinking lights. They were reminiscent of a Hearth's Warming display on a cold winter’s night—all of the houses had such pretty lights! But that couldn’t be right. It was summer. And why were they spinning?

She listened to her breathing as she tried to bring the world into focus; the fog in her mind was thick, and she couldn’t parse through it. The last clear memory was leaving Sugarcube Corner with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Other memories were vague echoes beyond what she could latch onto. Yet, there were unpleasant flashes of blue light and a feeling of falling.

She was lying on a bed. A hospital bed? That was it! She fell; somepony caught her with their magic. That would explain the flash of blue light. The lights weren’t spinning; her head was.

Slowly, everything stopped spinning and her eyes focused on the lights above her. They were blinking lights attached to a metallic, greyscale, and oddly angled object. It was much closer to her face than she liked. Her eyes crossed as she focused on the different lights. They blinked at different rates: two red lights flashed in quick succession, a large green light pulsed with a regular and predictable interval, and yellow lights appeared at erratic intervals.

The air was dry and stale. There was a continuous low-frequency hum. Where was it coming from? There were other strange sounds of metal scraping against metal and the unique sssszp sound fabric makes when rubbed against fabric. Someone else was nearby, just beyond her vision.

Her ears perked at the sudden voice of unidentifiable sounds and uneven cadence. She strained her ears. The sounds consisted of lots of ‘s’ sounds, ‘ey and ‘ow’ sounds, and a few others beyond her ability to distinguish. A second voice replied with similar sounds. This one spoke at a slightly higher intonation.

There were many languages she had heard over the years, but nothing was even close to this. No Yak, Griffin, or Zebra spoke like that. The language was completely foreign—alien.

She lay there completely still, barely taking in a breath as she heard two different creatures move about. Each footfall sounded too far apart for ponies. Even the tallest ponies had a rather short gait at a walk. There also wasn’t the soft clip-clop of hooves. Whoever or whatever was there weren’t ponies.

She chanced a look as the footsteps and the unusual voices grew faint.

She was in an unusual room. If she had to guess, it was a hospital room of some sort. In a tray next to her bed were a variety of funny-looking objects. None of them appeared sharp or dangerous. What function they served she couldn’t imagine.

That wasn’t the only unusual thing around her. The entire room was decorated with glass panels displaying yellow blocks and dots. There were a couple of other beds, but they were empty.

She slid off the bed, cringing as her hooves clicked on a metal floor. She moved about the space as quietly as possible. On the far side, she could make out another room with a window looking directly into the space she was in.

Shadows moved across the window, and she dove behind the bed she left. Her heart was pounding. She dared a peek over the top of the bed but froze as she heard the footsteps come back into the room.

Frantically, she searched the area around her. There didn’t seem to be a way out aside from the other room. Maybe she could teleport there? They were going to discover her any second! She knew she couldn’t. She had no idea what was in there or how big that space was. She was out of time.

She heard one of them speak. The footsteps were getting closer… She remained frozen as a towering two-legged creature stepped right in front of her. The creature spoke.

Wide-eyed, she slid along the side of the bed. But with nowhere to run, she lit up her horn, preparing to push the creature away should it get any closer to her.

“Stay away!” she screamed. “Don’t come any closer!”

To her surprise, the creature stood there with its hands raised and open to show it wasn’t holding any sort of weapon.

“It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Just stay back!” She froze. Her horn fizzled out. Did he? Did he say something in Equestrian?

“We aren’t going to hurt you. Can you understand me?” he repeated.

“Y-yes,” she replied with a timid voice.

“Well good. There’s no need for fear. I’m here to help. My name is Julian Bashir. I’m a doctor here. Who might you be?”

Sweetie took a deep breath. It helped clear her mind a little. Some of the tension lifted from her body. She got a better look at who was standing before her. She was no expert in biology, but she was certain she was looking at a primate of some sort.

Julian Bashir, what an unusual name, had dark hair and pale skin. His face was round—oval-like and a little flat. He wore a black one-piece jumper with a horizontal blue stripe that went across the shoulders and there was another garment under that. So many clothes!

After a long moment of considering Julian Bashir, she answered, “I-I’m Sweetie Belle.”

“Sweetie Belle, what a pretty name.” He took a step closer.

Sweetie immediately tensed up. Julian Bashir noticed and stopped moving. He kept his hands up. “I was just going to grab my tricorder. That’s all. It’s not dangerous,” he said in a soft and calming tone. “My mistake.”

“What is this place?” Sweetie asked. “Why did you bring me here, and what is a tricorder?”

“Ah, I see,” he said quickly. “Perhaps that would be a better place to start. Let me start with your last two questions…

“We didn’t bring you here. We found you in the cargo bay in a heap of rubble. We haven’t a clue how you got there. I brought you to the infirmary to make sure you were alright. A tricorder is a scanning device that tells me a lot of scientific information. Mine is specially made for medical functions.

“As to where you are… you are in the infirmary aboard the space station Deep Space Nine.”

Sweetie blinked several times. “Space what?”

“Space station,” he repeated in a chipper tone.

“I’m in space?” It wasn’t believable. Such a thing couldn’t be possible, could it?

“It’s going to be a lot to process, so let’s take this one step at a time. Yes, you are in space. You are on a space station with many, many different species of beings and countless cultures.”

Sweetie took a deep breath as she looked at her hooves on the metal floor. It seemed insane. Every word of it was preposterous. Yet, there was no denying what she was seeing, hearing, and feeling. With a lack of any other explanation, she nodded.

Feeling some of the tension leave her body, she pulled herself off the side of the bed and floor, rising to her full height. She realized Julian Bashir wasn’t as tall as she perceived. Her head was level with the middle of his chest.

“That’s better,” said Julian Bashir. “May I?” He gestured toward the tray on the other side of the bed.

Sweetie nodded. Julian stepped closer, he reached across her, grabbing a rectangular object. Sweetie eyed it closely. As best she could tell it wasn’t made of wood or metal. The material was completely unknown.

The object unfolded into a slightly bent rectangular shape emitting a mid-pitch humming sound with blinking lights of all different colors.

Sweetie was startled at its sudden animation. With a deep breath, she prevented herself from stumbling backward.

“It’s a non-invasive scan. It won’t hurt you,” said Julain Bashir. He waved the device around in front of himself a few times. “I only want to check you over and make sure you are okay. It will only take a second.”

“W-what is that thing?” she asked. “Is it magic?”

Julian Bashir smiled. “This is the tricorder I mentioned. It’s not magical, but it might seem to be.”

“O-okay.”

Bashir moved the device towards Sweetie. She held her breath, tensing all her muscles. He moved it over her in a circular motion. Nothing happened. The device continued making its humming sounds. She didn’t feel anything at all.

“Very curious physiology,” Julian Bashir muttered. “Well, I suppose you are in good health. This thing has only presented me with more questions than answers. Want to see?” He turned the device around.

The tricorder displayed several different small glass panels not much different than the big ones on the walls. One of them displayed a bar graph, another a chemical compound, and the last panel displayed text, but she couldn’t read it.

“So… does that mean you’ve never seen anyone like me?” asked Sweetie.

“I, nor anyone else I know, has seen any species like you. You are unique, and that’s saying something considering everything I’ve seen. But, the great unknown is why I’m out here!”

“Well then let me be the first of my kind to officially say hello,” said Sweetie brightly. “I hope we can be friends and—”

Sweetie turned her head sharply to a sudden rumbling sound behind her. What she thought was some sort of window, split in half horizontally like two barn doors. Three more two-legged figures walked in. All of them were wearing similar clothing.

Sweetie looked to Julian Bashir as she inched backward. He wasn’t looking at her though. His attention was focused on the new arrivals.

The new beings eyed her curiously as they approached. One even said, “Oh wow what a beautiful creature!” Another asked, “Is that a unicorn?”

Sweetie gulped and smiled awkwardly. “H-hi, um… um.”

“It’s okay, Sweetie Belle. No one here is going to hurt you,” Julian Bashir said with a soft, calm voice.

“Doctor, what is going on?” The one who spoke was the tallest of the bunch. His voice was deep and his skin was darker than the rest. He wore a similar piece of clothing as Bashir, except the top part of his one-piece jumper was red.

“Sweetie Belle is the unique lifeform we found in the cargo bay,” said Julian Bashir. “She woke up before I could do any scans.”

“I’m Commander Benjamin Sisko, commander of this station,” the tall one said.

“Hello,” said Sweetie, doing her best to sound confident.

“Welcome to Deep Space Nine, Sweetie Belle. That is a pretty and unusual name. I’m Major Kira Nerys,” said the one next to Sisko. She was much smaller with short red hair. She had ridges on her nose making it appear squashed. “Where are you from?”

“Ponyville,” Sweetie answered. That was probably too specific, however. They probably wanted to know the planet. “Um, Equus.”

Everyone in the room exchanged glances of confusion.

“Hi, Sweetie Belle. I’m Lieutenant Jadzia Dax. Could you tell us the name of the star system that is in?” asked the one on the other side of Sisko. She was almost as tall as him. She had pale skin with spots on the side of her face and very long brown hair. She wore the same blue jumper as Bashir.

Which star system? Was there any other?

“Do your people travel among the stars?” asked Dax.

Sweetie shook her head. She had often read about such things in magic fiction novels. In reality, no pony could figure out the enchantments on a pod that could support pony life in space. And there was the whole matter of getting it up there. Pegasi could only fly so high, cannons could only shoot so far, and rockets were far too explosive.

“Well… we’ll just have to take this one step at a time, I suppose,” said Major Kira.

“Sweetie Belle, have you ever looked up at the stars and wondered if someone might be out there, far beyond your home?” asked Jadzia. She had a warm smile on her face that instantly put Sweetie at ease.

“Well…” Sweetie hesitated with a soft chuckle. “I once saw the city of Canterlot at night from high up in a balloon. It looked like stars were twinkling below me. Then I thought that maybe the stars above me were other cities looking down on us. But I was a silly foal.”

Sweetie looked away as her face grew warm. She didn’t know why she shared that story. It was ridiculous, and they probably thought she was ridiculous too. But this Jadzia Dax had a way of asking questions that put her at ease.

Dax smiled. “You weren’t silly to think so. In a way you were right. Each of those stars could be home to millions of civilizations. This space station is not far from one of those stars.”

“I think I understand,” Sweetie replied. “So how do we find my star from here?”

Jadzia Dax shook her head. “It won’t be easy, but we are scientists and explorers; all problems have a solution. I will start with what I know, look for clues, and work out from there.”

Sweetie nodded. It sounded like a plan Twilight herself would come up with. Maybe she would like to meet Twilight when they get back. Twilight would find all of this stuff very interesting.

“So, what do I do?” asked Sweetie.

“We will need to discuss that,” said Commander Sisko. “If you’ll excuse us for a moment.”

Sweetie’s heart plummeted as everyone walked off to the far end of the room. Commander Sisko seemed pretty serious. Maybe it was the tone of his voice or his big stature, but he was intimidating.

Sweetie’s ears twitched as hushed voices spoke quickly. She could barely make them out. The one with red hair, Major Kira, seemed the most animated and used her arms wildly while talking.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Sweetie quietly inched as close as she dared. She had no idea what they would do to her if they found out she was trying to listen in. But she had to know since it concerned her.

“... Clearly she’s from a primitive society, but we can’t ship her off to a starbase,” said Major Kira. “There are too many questions we need to answer here.”

“I agree with the Major,” said Bashir. “She was pretty frightened at first, but she’s coming around and dealing with her situation pretty well.”

“She doesn’t have the slightest clue, Julian,” said Dax. “I can tell she’s a child or maybe a young adult at the oldest.”

“All I’m saying is moving her would be a bad idea. Besides, the way she arrived is still a mystery, one of many, and I think keeping her here is the best thing possible,” said Julian. “Are we not going to address the elephant in the room? Or should I say unicorn?”

“Yes, I’m very curious about that,” Sisko replied. “They aren’t supposed to exist.”

“You know this species?” asked Kira in a surprised tone.

“On Earth, a unicorn is a mythical creature with magical powers; they’re supposed to be impossible to catch. In many Earth mythologies, they are described to look very similar to Sweetie Belle,” Sisko explained.

“Is she… real?” asked Kira.

“She’s really there,” quipped Bashir. He chuckled briefly before clearing his throat and continuing to talk. “She’s not a Changeling or anything else. As much as she might resemble a horse or unicorn, she is not from Earth or anywhere around here. Her physiology is very unusual from what I can get. The tricorder is having a hard time making sense of it. It simply has no frame of reference for her.”

Sisko sighed. “Alright, we’ll keep her here. Major, can you get her some quarters set up?”

“Commander,” said Julian quickly, “I’m not sure she should be left alone. At least not right away. There are too many things that could go badly for her. She still has no idea what’s out there.”

“Yeah, no doubt Quark will try and capitalize on this somehow,” remarked Major Kira.

“What do you suggest? She stays with someone?” asked Commander Sisko.

“She can stay with me,” said Jadzia Dax. “I don’t mind.”

“Very well,” said Sisko. “Dismissed.”

Sweetie quickly looked away. She did her best to seem very interested in a series of blinking lights on the wall. She didn’t have much time to dwell on being compared to a mythical creature or being primitive, however.

Sisko led the others back to where Sweetie was standing. “Alright, Sweetie Belle, we will do what we can to find where you came from and how to send you back there. Lieutenant Dax has invited you to stay with her until you are settled in.”

“Th-thank you,” said Sweetie. “Commander,” she added quickly.

Sisko smiled. “You can call me Benjamin if you like. You’re our guest after all.”

“How long will it take to find my home?” asked Sweetie, but she feared she already knew the answer.

“We’re not sure yet,” said Dax. She shared a look with Bashir that Sweetie couldn’t interpret.

“I'll be at Ops,” said Sisko. “Major, get an update from Chief O’Brien about the cargo bay.”

Kira nodded and then left the room with Sisko. They walked together then parted in different directions before leaving Sweetie’s sight.

Bashir walked forward holding another device. This one was rectangular and flat. These creatures liked their devices…

“So, um, I might as well get some biographic data while you are here,” said Bashir. “Sweetie Belle…” he mused. “Is Belle a family name?”

Sweetie frowned. “Family name? What’s that?”

“You know… a last name. My name is Julian Bashir. Bashir is a name everyone in my family has… if that makes any sense.”

It was a strange concept, but not completely different from the Apple family; however, that was a family choice to keep their names apple-themed.

“All of our names are unique,” Sweetie replied. “There are other ponies who have the name ‘Sweetie’ but I’m the only Sweetie Belle,” she clarified.

Bashir smiled. “Well in that case, miss one-and-only Sweetie Belle, what is your species called?”

“Pony,” she said brightly. “More specifically, I’m a unicorn pony.”

Bashir frowned. Then proceeded to tap the device in his hands. “And you’re from a planet called Equus?”

Sweetie nodded. “I live in Ponyville. It’s a small town in the kingdom of Equestria,” Sweetie replied.

“... as improbable as it sounds…” Bashir muttered under his breath as he continued to mess with the device in his hands.

“And we are not primitive,” Sweetie rebuked.

Julian stared at Sweetie for a second then nodded with realization. “Adding excellent hearing to this,” he said cheerfully. “You’ll have to excuse Major Kira. Sometimes she’s quite direct. What she meant was that your society hasn’t achieved interstellar travel yet.”

“So you overheard everything we said?” asked Dax. “I’m not mad. Eavesdropping is a time-honored tradition after all. We should have included you in the conversation.”

“Most of it,” Sweetie admitted. If eavesdropping was ‘time-honored’ she saw no harm in fessing up. “Something about not moving me somewhere else, and I resemble a mythical creature to you.” Sweetie’s face turned a light shade of red. “Also, I’m not a foal because I have my cutie mark. So you were right about me being a young adult. I’m five which is when most of us stop growing. We usually get our marks around three or four.”

“Five years old?” asked Bashir. He looked to Dax who simply shrugged in response.

“Yes…” said Sweetie with some hesitation. Was a year like a season in an era?

Julian shrugged and then tapped the device in his hands. “Five it is. But my scans indicate you are much older than that based on bone density. At least in our time. How you measure time might be completely different from us.”

It all seemed so reasonable. She was in a different place far beyond Equestria. No one here had ever heard of her planet so of course they would measure time and everything else differently. Except language…

“Hang on,” said Sweetie Belle. “If time is different, and everything else, then how are we speaking the same language? You haven’t even heard of my planet.”

“We use a device called the universal translator. It can interpret most languages,” said Dax.

“Device?” asked Sweetie. “So a machine?”

“Exactly,” said Dax.

“How can a machine do this? How can a machine do something magical unless it was enchanted?” Sweetie was astounded. The amount of magic to enchant a machine to interpret all languages all the time would be enormous. It must have been a collective effort to make.

“Well, it might seem magical, but it is not. It’s technology,” explained Dax.

“A famous author from my home planet once wrote ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,’” said Bashir.

Sweetie frowned. “That can’t be true because we have both. We have machines and we have magic. We enchant machines to do stuff with magic. Or we just use magic.”

Bashir and Dax exchanged a few glances, apparently contemplating everything she said. Maybe they didn’t believe her?

Sweetie sighed. “Watch, I’ll show you.” She approached a table with various objects on it. “Say I want to lift this one,” she pointed at a silver cylindrical device,” but…” Sweetie moved to the other side of the room, “I’m way over here. Well, I can simply move it to me.”

Sweetie focused her magic. A green hue of light formed around her horn. A second later the cylindrical device floated into the air and moved toward her.

Dax and Bashir watched, looking mildly impressed. Bashir waved that tricorder thing around and stared at the screen confused.

Sweetie put the object back where she pulled it from. “And,” she said to get their attention again, “say I need to get back over where you are quickly. I could run, or…”

With a bright flash of green light, Sweetie instantly appeared right in front of Bashir. “I can teleport back.” She beamed at them. Finally, they seemed impressed! “And us ponies can do many more things.”

Bashir was the first to speak after a long pause of silence. “That’s a very useful and interesting set of abilities you have. How far can you do that?”

Sweetie shrugged. “I’ve been able to go from my bedroom to the front yard. Some unicorns can go much farther. Princess Twilight has teleported her and her friends across town before.”

“This Princess Twilight sounds very powerful,” said Dax.

Sweetie gave an enthusiastic nod. “She is! She’s very smart and good at science and magic. She is one of the most important ponies in our history.”

“Is she your leader?” asked Bashir. “Of your country?”

“Not yet. We are still in the era of Celestia and Luna. We will someday be in the era of Twilight. For now, she is the princess of friendship. With her lessons in friendship, she has solved many of our problems, and now she runs a school where other creatures from other nations come to learn her lessons in friendship.”

“You know…” said Bashir. “I think I might like it there. Imagine a world where problems are solved this way. It sounds very civilized. For us humans, it took centuries of bloodshed for us to find another way. Even then…”

Sweetie frowned. “We’ve had our conflicts too. Equestria, and Ponyville in particular, has seen all sorts of attacks and attempted takeovers. But we always try to have it not come to that.”

“I’m with Doctor Bashir on this,” said Dax. “I like how your people approach things. Friendship first leaves less room for conflict and more room for understanding. Our organization has a similar philosophy.”

Sweetie beamed. Of all the places she could have ended up by accident… “On behalf of all of the ponies in Equestria, I extend my hoof of friendship!” She stuck her right foreleg out. Dax and Bashir stared at her. “It’s a custom in our country to tap hooves together—oh, right, no hooves. Sorry.”

“Actually,” said Dax, “put your hoof back out. How about this?” She curled her hand into a ball and tapped it against Sweetie’s hoof. “There.” Bashir quickly followed her action.

“Well now that that’s all settled, there’s one more thing. I should have asked it earlier… what is the last thing you remember before waking up here?” asked Bashir.

“Well…” Sweetie began. She racked her brain, but the details were fleeting. “There was a lot of blue light and…” She exhaled a ragged breath as her front leg shook. “Falling.” Her face felt cool as sweat formed on her cheeks. She could hear an intense roaring like the ocean in her ears as her vision darkened.

She pulled herself out of it with a hard shake of her head. “T-that’s all I remember.”

“Try to give it some time,” said Dax as she patted Sweetie’s shoulder. “You don’t need to remember it all right now.”

Dax’s hand was cooler than Sweetie was expecting, but her skin was smooth. It was a simple, yet, calming gesture.

“Why don’t I show you where you’ll be staying and maybe get you something to eat?” suggested Dax.

“Okay!” Despite feeling tired and overwhelmed, Sweetie was eager to see more of the station. She was officially the first pony in space! She has made contact with species from other worlds. No pony back home would ever believe any of this.

“If you will follow me,” said Dax.

The door slid open as Sweetie followed after Dax. She paused before leaving. It occurred to her that she hadn’t paid. In fact, how was she going to get anything at all? She had no money… would they even accept her currency if she had it with her?

“Um, Dax,” said Sweetie.

Dax stopped and walked a few steps to get back to Sweetie. “Please, call me, Jadzia.”

Sweetie made a mental note to get better at what all of these names meant later. “Um, Jadzia, I don't have any money for… you know anything,” Sweetie muttered. “We use a currency called bits… um, I have some, and my sister is pretty wealthy—”

Sweetie was cut off by a fit of giggles from Jadzia. “Oh, you’re just the cutest!” she said with a bright smile. “There’s no charge. It’s a service we gladly provide.”

“Oh,” said Sweetie. She was quite aware her cheeks were red again. “But what about food and—”

Jadzia held up a hand to quiet her. “Do not worry. All of your basic needs will be met.”

“Wow, so everything is free here?” asked Sweetie.

“Um…” said Jadzia. “Sort of. In the Federation yes. Here is a little unique as it's strictly not Federation.”

Sweetie looked from Jadzia to Julian, who was messing with another machine in the back. She remembered Sisko and his clothing with the red… “So is everyone in this Federation wearing clothes like that?”

Jadzia looked surprised and impressed. “Yes,” she said excitedly. “Very good reasoning. This is our Starfleet uniform. Starfleet is a scientific and military organization that is part of The United Federation Of Planets. The Federation is made up of many different species and cultures. We all work together.”

The Federation sounded pretty amazing. Maybe Princess Twilight would want Equestria to join it once she got home. What could be better than friendship across so many different worlds? That would be a new challenge for Twilight!

“This is only the beginning,” said Jadzia. “Shall we?” Sweetie followed her through the door. However, she was not prepared for what was beyond. Her ears were immediately assaulted by a cacophony of noise. She had adjusted quite well to the quiet setting of the infirmary with Julian and Jadzia. Now there were hundreds of these creatures.

“This is the Promenade,” said Jadzia. “It’s a big area to hang out, get food and drinks, and other recreational activities. It’s the heartbeat of the station. Quark’s is always a good time for food, games, and holosuites.”

“Holo what?” asked Sweetie distractedly. Her head was on a swivel as she looked in every direction. Some motion above caught her attention. She quickly looked up. There was a whole second level that overlooked them.

Jadzia smiled. “I’ll explain later.”

It was easy to spot more Starfleet people as they wore the same thing. The top parts of their uniforms were the only thing that changed, but there seemed to be only three colors. How boring! What if you didn’t like wearing blue, red, or yellow? Starfleet wasn’t the only people there. The Promenade was full of so many different species and colors. But… they all walked on two legs which was strange. Or, rather, that made Sweetie strange.

“Why aren’t there any other species with four legs?” Sweetie spun around as she heard something behind her. Two Starfleet people were laughing as they walked out of a shop. They were holding some sort of candy on a stick. They stopped abruptly when they spotted Sweetie and stared for a few seconds.

Jadzia cleared her throat to get Sweetie’s attention. “That’s a great question. Quadrupeds are rare, however we have encountered a few.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sweetie saw the two Starfleet people saunter off. If their reaction was any indication of how these people would act, she was starting to feel self-conscious.

“None of them are part of your Federation?” asked Sweetie.

Jadzia shook her head. “None yet.

“Why don’t we go to the upper level so you can get a better view of all of this? And you can have a look out the window.”

“Okay,” said Sweetie. She did her best to maintain a level head. However, her heart was beginning to beat harder as she followed Jadzia through the Promenade. There were eyes upon her from all angles. She swore she heard some gasps too. Some openly pointed at her out of the corner of her eye. Sweetie stuck close to Jadzia.

She followed Jadzia to a metal spiral staircase. Jadzia ascended the stairs quickly. She moved with effortless grace; something Sweetie quickly found herself lacking. The stairs were unusually spaced: clearly not designed for ponies. She hobbled to the top, making an incredible amount of racket in the process.

Sweetie smiled awkwardly at Jadzia. “Sorry. I was having some trouble… I’ve never seen metal stairs like this,” she remarked.

“Did you hurt yourself?” Jadzia rushed over to look Sweetie over.

Sweetie looked down at her hooves but was relieved to see only light scuffing on one. “No. I’m fine. I’ve done worse to my hooves on loose cobblestones back home.”

“Okay, just making sure. We can take a different way back down.

“Anyway if you come over here, you can have a look outside…” Jadzia gestured to the oval-shaped windows along the wall.

Stars were twinkling and flickering in the window. As she got closer to the window she saw the many different sizes of stars. There were more stars than the clearest and darkest night in Equestria, shrouded in the vast empty blackness of space.

Sweetie pressed her nose to the window, peering down, into nothing. Her heart sank. She stumbled backward. “There’s nothing…” she gasped while holding her chest. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and looked out the window again. This time she was less dizzy peering into the abyss of infinity.

“This—this is amazing. It’s like Cloudsdale, except it's a city floating among the stars.”

“A city is a good way to think about it. A port city on the frontier,” said Jadzia.

A flash of bright light in the vast emptiness of space suddenly illuminated the Promenade’s upper lever. Sweetie nearly jumped out of her skin at the abrupt appearance. She took a step back from the window but kept her eyes fixed on what had just appeared. It was a whirlpool of cerulean and white light spiraling to a blinding, beaming, center. Only for a moment. Then it was gone.

Sweetie blinked several times, trying to clear the blurry afterimage of the blinding flash. “What was that?”

Jadzia hesitated before answering. “It’s one of the main reasons we are here. That is the Bajoran Wormhole.”

“I’m guessing a wormhole isn’t when a worm eats through one of your apples is it?” asked Sweetie with a puzzled look.

Jadzia chuckled. “No, but it’s sort of the same idea. Imagine you’re on a giant apple and you want to get to the other side. You could travel around the outside of it, and eventually you’ll arrive there. But if you were to find a tunnel, say one dug by a giant worm, you could cut through the middle and save a ton of time.”

Sweetie’s eyes lit up. “The shortest distance between two places is a straight line! Of course! A wormhole is a shortcut… through space?”

“Exactly,” said Jadzia. “The Bajoran Wormhole lets us travel to another part of the galaxy in minutes instead of what would normally take us two lifetimes to travel.”

“Maybe that’s how I got here… how do you make wormholes? Are they magical?” asked Sweetie. A small shimmer of hope was building up in her. If a wormhole was like a portal, maybe she could control it with magic… magic she knew nothing about. But she was willing to try!

Jadzia sighed. “Wormholes are usually natural phenomena, and they aren’t always stable or very safe to travel through. Except for that one there. The Bajoran Wormhole is the only stable one we know to exist.

“And no, it is not how you arrived here.”

Sweetie folded her ears back. “Oh… I thought I had something there.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I like that you’re making connections. You’re certainly thinking about this the right way, but wormholes behave differently than the anomaly that brought you here.” Jadzia set a hand on Sweetie’s shoulder. “Look, the reality is we don’t know what happened yet. Hopefully, there’s a lot of useful information in the station’s sensor logs. Just so you’re prepared, this may not be something we can solve quickly.”

Jadzia pulled her hand off Sweetie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I should have asked before assuming this kind of contact was okay. It’s meant as a comforting gesture in our culture.”

Sweetie shrugged. “I didn’t mind. Us ponies do similar gestures. We are a touchy-feely type of species,” said Sweetie, but her mind was wandering. She imagined what her life would look like if she never made it home. How she would spend the rest of her life sitting at this very window waiting for something to change. It sounded dreary and lonely.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you…” said Jadzia, pulling Sweetie out of her circling thoughts. “What is that marking you have?”

“My Cutie Mark?” asked Sweetie. She pointed to her hindquarters. Jadzia nodded. “Every pony gets one. Eventually. It’s related to when we find our purpose in life. Each one is unique to the pony.

“Mine is a shield because of my devotion to helping other younger ponies find their calling. It also has a musical note to represent my talent for singing.” Jadzia looked somewhat perplexed at her explanation so Sweetie added, “I take it, you don’t get Cutie Marks?”

Jadzia shook her head. “That is a concept we do not have in our worlds. The closest thing we have are innate abilities, I suppose. Some of us are naturally better athletes, artists, fighters, et cetera. But those aren’t necessarily a calling or true purpose in life. I’ve never encountered a species that gets such a specific marking on their body related to it either.”

“You have spots,” Sweetie pointed out.

“True, but all Trill, my species, are born with them. They don’t indicate anything unique about us on an individual level.”

“Oh,” said Sweetie. “That makes sense. Well, I think they’re pretty.”

Jadzia smiled. “Well thank you. I think you’re pretty too.”

Sweetie blushed but said nothing. She turned her gaze back to the window. Maybe it won’t be so dreary here. As that familiar feeling of fatigue crept over her, it occurred to her that with the absence of the sun in the sky and no timepiece on her, she had no concept of time in this place.

Sweetie watched the people go about their business on their level and the level below. Some rushed by while many more leisurely strolled about in large groups. It was impossible to discern any pattern for what was happening.

“Everything alright?” asked Jadzia.

“Yeah,” Sweetie replied, suppressing a yawn. She continued to watch everyone move across the Promenade. The center was where most people congregated. It appeared to be a restaurant or a bar. Did these people drink cider?

“Is it…” Sweetie searched for the right word. Night wouldn’t make sense here where there's no sun. “Is it… late?” she asked. “I don’t know if I’m asking that right,” she added quickly, hoping she didn’t sound ridiculous.

“It’s evening time for us on the main shift,” said Jadzia.

“But… how? There’s no sun. How do you know what time it is? Do your timepieces work off the closest star?”

Jadzia nodded with understanding. “That’s a little tricky to answer in full, but here on DS9, we operate on the time of Bajor, the closest planet to us. They base their time on one full revolution, from morning to morning which takes twenty-six hours.”

“Is that a lot?” asked Sweetie. What in Equestria was an hour, and why only twenty-six of them?

Jadzia shrugged. “Most of Starfleet operates on a standardized twenty-four-hour clock so the extra two hours can seem like a lot for people just getting here.

“Does that make sense?” asked Jadzia as Sweetie’s eyes glazed over.

“Not really, no, sorry.”

Jadzia laughed. “It’s okay. You’ll get it. Sleepy?”

Sweetie was tempted to say no so she could see more interesting things, but fatigue was setting in with a vengeance. The Promenade was overwhelming and loud. Sweetie nodded her head.

“Okay, I can take you to my quarters then. Would you like to eat something first?”

Sweetie shook her head. “No, I’m not hungry.”

Sweetie followed Jadzia through one of those sliding doors into a tiny room. Her closet at the Carousel Boutique was bigger. The room was semi-circular and barren. What purpose this room served was beyond her.

“Promenade,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie frowned. What about it?

It was as if the tiny room heard her thoughts and it answered with a high-pitched hum and a slight vibration in the floor. Whatever was happening, Jadzia remained unconcerned.

The high-pitched humming noise dropped an octave in pitch before cutting out abruptly. The door slid open. Sweetie’s jaw dropped. They weren’t in the same place they were moments ago. The tiny room had taken them to the lower level of the Promenade.

Amazing, they even built machines to replace stairs!

Jadzia smiled and gestured to Sweetie to follow her. “My quarters are on this level down this corridor.”

Sweetie suppressed another yawn and followed close. “How many different species are there?” she asked, as she exchanged curious glances with an all-blue person passing by.

“There are lots. Deep Space Nine is an outpost. There’s a lot of activity and trade here,” said Jadzia.

“Like a coastal port city,” Sweetie remarked. “I can’t believe this was all done without magic.” Jadzia seemed to not have heard her. Her attention was focused on another Starfleet person approaching. This one had curly hair and wore a yellow uniform. He presented a sort of friendly smile as he approached.

“Lieutenant,” he said. “I was able to recover that piece of steel Julian found. It’s in science lab two.”

“Oh that is great,” Jadzia replied. “I will run the mass spectrometer over it tonight and get the results tomorrow.”

“Oh, good luck getting that thing away from Julian’s office.”

Jadzia smiled. “Let me worry about Julian.”

“Right, better you than me,” he replied. His eyes drifted from Jadzia to Sweetie Belle.

“Chief, you remember Sweetie Belle?” Jadzia gestured with a hand.

“Well hello… Sweetie Belle, is it? I’m Chief Miles O’Brien. I helped Julian recover you from the wreckage.”

“Oh,” said Sweetie. He seemed like a nice enough individual. “Thank you, Chief Miles O’Brien.”

“Blimey. So polite.

“I-I mean, you’re quite welcome. It was no trouble at all. And please, call me Miles.”

Sweetie smiled in response.

“I will get everything setup in the lab,’ Miles continued. “Once I’m done reconfiguring the processing relays the scanner can be connected with no problems.”

“Alright, I’ll join you in the lab in about…” Jadzia paused as she thought. “Say thirty minutes?”

“Right, see you there, Lieutenant,” said Miles. “Very nice to have met you propper, Sweetie Belle.” Then he strode off in the opposite direction.

“He seems interesting,” said Sweetie as soon as she was sure Miles was out of earshot.

“The Chief? Yeah, he is a very skilled engineer.”

“This place has a chief and a commander? Is he in charge of the commander?” asked Sweetie. After all, a chief was the leader of a village and a commander was in charge of a guard unit.

Jadzia laughed.

“What?” asked Sweetie, feeling a little sheepish.

“Oh,” said Jadzia, still giggling. “You’re so adorable.

“In Starfleet, chief is short for chief petty officer. It’s a rank. Commander Sisko is in charge of us all. Even the chief. Chief O’Brien does have a team of engineers working for him, but ultimately we are all under Commander Sisko.”

Sweetie blushed. No one had referred to her as adorable in a very long time. What did Jadzia even mean by that? Was she some cute foal to Jadzia? She pursed her lips knowing she’d probably get more of that judging by the reactions she had seen from others. Still, she found Jadzia very nice and helpful.

She followed Jadzia for what seemed like forever down a long corridor that always arced to the right like they were walking in a giant circle. Sweetie envisioned a giant ring going around the center where everyone worked or did social activities.

At last, they came to a halt at another door which slid into the wall, revealing a spacious room with several windows looking out into space. The room was easily bigger than Rarity’s bedroom and workshop combined.

“Wow, this is huge! Are all the rooms here like this?”

“No, but officers get nicer rooms. Rank has its privileges.” Jadzia winked.

Jadzia’s room, or quarters, as she called them, were mostly open in the center. The room was long and followed the curve Sweetie noticed in the corridor. The furniture went around the front wall, facing the windows, and there was a single glass table in front of one of the couches. The corner had a funny-looking desk with more blinking lights and some kind of glass screen. There was a door at each end of her room.

Sweetie was thankful for the carpeting. The softness was a reminder of how hard the rest of the surfaces she walked on were. She slid her hooves over the carpet enjoying the sensation.

“You can take my bed for now, Sweetie. I will sleep on the couch tonight,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie tensed up. She half expected Jadzia to laugh and show her another bed in the room or something. But she merely pointed to the door at the far end of the room.

“Um…” Sweetie fidgeted on the spot. “Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah, it’s fine. I’ve had more than one lifetime sleeping on couches,” said Jadzia with a smile. “Besides, it’s for tonight. I’ll rearrange everything in here tomorrow and get a second bed.” Jadzia stretched her arms over her head. “I’m tired too. I better get this scanner from Julian and set up the lab so I can turn in too.

“Let me show you the bedroom real quick.”

Sweetie was expecting another enormous room; however, it turned out to be the size of a bedroom she was familiar with. It was smaller, but not crammed. It was cozy. The bed was really wide with a fuzzy blanket. There was a nightstand on each side and another sliding door along one of the walls. Sweetie assumed it was a closet.

“I’ll only be gone for a little, but if you need anything, press the green button on the panel on the wall and say my name. Then you’ll be able to talk to me anywhere on the station,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie decided she was too tired to ask how such a thing was possible. She hopped on the bed. It looked so inviting and the blanket was soft like a cloud.

“Oh and if you need to adjust the lighting just say ‘computer’ then say the lighting level you want. Like this: computer, dim the lights.”

No sooner had Jadzia said that the lights dimmed to a soft ambiance.

“And if you want them completely off, just say so. Okay, be right back. Sweet dreams.”

The door slid shut after Jadzia stepped out. Sweetie Belle rolled onto her side, pulling one of the many pillows tight against her. The coolness felt nice. “Um computer,” said Sweetie feeling awkward talking to nothing, “lights out.” The lights went out in an instant leaving Sweetie in a dark room. The bed was so soft like hers. It was her bed. She’d wake up and find this was all a crazy dream.

Faux Pas

The stale air told her everything she needed to know. She did not fall and hit her head. Everything she experienced was real. There was no scent of flowers, dry grass, no birds singing, and no distant clip-clop of hooves as ponies went on their morning stroll. There was only the constant hum of technology. If it weren’t for the comfortable bed, it was a nothing place of a constructed world. There was nothing more antithetical to the idyllic village of Ponyville than this place.

Sweetie sheepishly released her grip on the pillow she was holding against her. She quickly put it back with the others. It was foalish, but she couldn’t help it. She had always been a sleep snuggler.

“Lights, uh, on,” she said through a yawn. “Oh, wait. Um, computer, lights on.” The room lit up like a mid-afternoon day. Sweetie shielded her eyes by pulling the blankets over her head. “I guess I should have told it ‘not too bright.’” Slowly her eyes adjusted to the intense lighting.

She pushed the covers off, rolled off the bed, and stretched. She had been too sleepy the night before to notice the decorations in Jadzia’s room. Most of the items looked like trinkets or devices she couldn’t identify. There was some jewelry on one of the nightstands. But what caught Sweetie’s eye the most was the unusual metal thing hanging on the wall. If Sweetie had to guess it was a sword, but she couldn’t imagine how it would work. It was long with sharp curved points at each end. In front was a shorter blade with two smaller sharp points. The back had three distinct areas for grips. It was something that required hands to use.

Sweetie crossed the room as she looked around. As she passed the door, it slid open on its own volition, causing her to jump. Jadzia was sitting on the couch staring intently at a flat panel-like object similar to the one Julian had yesterday.

“Good morning, Sweetie. Did you sleep alright?”

Sweetie nodded. Jadzia stood up. She wasn’t wearing her uniform, but instead a silky purple dress. This was a much better look for her. The purple accented her skin tone better. And her legs had spots too! Her feet, similar to her hands, had individual digits. Which was very interesting. What purpose could that serve? Especially if they wore shoes all the time?

“I wasn’t sure how long you’d sleep. Would you like something to eat? Maybe a sonic shower?”

“Sonic what?” asked Sweetie as she rubbed her eyes. “Shower?”

“Yeah it uses soundwaves at certain frequencies and UV light to remove dirt, grease, and grime,” Jadzia said in a cheery sing-song tone.

Sweetie nodded with a blank look. Every new thing sounded more preposterous than the last. A shower that uses sound instead of water? Was there a stove that used water instead of fire?

“I’ll show you how it works. It’s easy.” Jadzia motioned for Sweetie to follow her into the room opposite the bedroom.

Nothing looked too extraordinary. It was a bathroom. Even the sonic shower looked like a regular shower except there was no water tap or shower head. The shower was surprisingly large. The back wall had a small shelf with a couple of glass jars filled with what Sweetie assumed were hair products.

“So all you do is stand in here until the blue lights on the wall go out.” Jadzia’s eyes fell on Sweetie’s ears. “I might have to adjust the frequency for you so stand by.

“Computer, activate the sonic shower.”

Sweetie’s ears were assaulted with a high-pitched screech. She folded her ears over as her head split in two. “Ahhhh!”

“Sorry, sorry. One second!”

The sound pierced her ears relentlessly. Sweetie brought a forehoof over her face as she grit her teeth. Then the pitch changed to low vibration. She exhaled as the pain subsided and a new sensation took over her.

“Is that better?” asked Jadzia.

“It feels weird,” said Sweetie. “Like a vibration in my head… in my skull. I don’t like it.”

“One second.” Jadzia pushed some buttons on a small console on the side of the shower. “How’s this?”

A warm soft vibration filled Sweetie’s body. It felt like a massage. It was very soothing compared to what first accosted her ears. “That feels nice.”

“Well, step in,” said Jadzia. “I’ll be out here catching up on some reading. Hollar if you need anything!”

“Oh, um,” said Sweetie, slightly confused. “You aren’t going to take a shower with me?”

Jadzia stared for a second. “Um, Sweetie, that’s… well…” Jadzia cleared her throat. “I already took a shower earlier this morning, but thank you for asking.”

Jadzia’s answer was rushed. Although she tried to maintain a pleasant tone, Sweetie saw she was slightly flustered. “Oh, sorry. Is that not something people do here?”

“It’s not something you ask someone in this situation. Many humanoid species, meaning species similar to most of us here, aren’t comfortable with nudity around strangers or people they just met.”

Sweetie shook her head. This place kept getting stranger and stranger. “In Equestria, showering with your family and friends is normal,” said Sweetie. “And we have public bathhouses.”

“Public bathhouses aren’t uncommon in many cultures. They all do them differently. Well maybe another time,” said Jadzia. “I’m not as opposed to nudity as others here. You caught me by surprise with that question. Enjoy your shower.”

As she stepped into the shower the vibration increased in intensity. It wasn’t like before. It felt like a great massage. All her muscles relaxed as it worked her coat, mane, and tail all at once. Sweetie could get used to this. If she could bring some of these back to Ponyville, she could make a fortune! She could travel from town to town selling the amazing waterless shower that massages you. Or torture someone you don’t like, she thought darkly. No pony would do that though… well most.

It was a fantastical device, Sweetie thought, as she watched the dirt fall off her. Tiny rooms that take you to different floors instead of stairs, sound showers, and doors that slide into the wall. They weren’t too keen on magic, but as far as Sweetie was concerned it was a different type of magic. A type of magic ponies had never seen or honed. She could be the first to learn it. She could teach advanced enchantments at the academy.

Life as a professor sounded fun. Professor Sweetie Belle, Arcane Enchantress of Artifacts had a nice ring to it. But she would have to study and read a lot. That didn’t sound as fun…

There was a beep and the sonic shower went quiet as did the thoughts in Sweetie’s head. She stepped out and looked at herself in the mirror. Her mane and tail were a mess, but she looked clean. She couldn’t be sure if it was the lighting, but her coat appeared brighter than normal. It had the sheen it gets after a spa day.

She stepped back into the main area where Jadzia was staring at her device again. Was there something on that thing to read? Maybe they could read entire stories without pages… but how? A magic book that shows you one page at a time?

“Um, Jadzia,” said Sweetie as she approached. Jadzia looked up at her. “Do you have a brush I can borrow?”

“Sure.” She stood up and walked toward the bedroom, but paused. “You know what? Why don’t I replicate one for you? Then you’ll have your own.”

It was sweet of her to offer. Sweetie agreed, not knowing what she meant by replicate. She watched intently as Jadzia approached a curious cubby along the wall, between the two couches. Until now, Sweetie believed it to be a weird style thing.

“Computer, one hairbrush.”

“Specify parameters,” said an unknown female voice.

Sweetie jumped and looked around her, but no one else was present.

“Recreate the last hairbrush replicated at this station,” said Jadzia.

There was a beep and a loud hum. The cubby in the wall lit up with radiant white light. A swirl of orange sparks danced in a circle. A second later, it went quiet, the light went out, and instead of sparks flying around a hairbrush had materialized in its place.

“Wow. That’s amazing.” She closed her mouth and moved in for a closer look. “Let me guess,” said Sweetie in a playful tone, “not magic?”

Jadzia smiled. “Nope. This is a replicator. It can replicate all sorts of things including food.”

“But surely it’s transporting these items from somewhere else,” Sweetie reasoned. “It’s impossible to make something from nothing. Even with magic.”

Jadzia nodded with a smile. “Yes, very astute of you. This device converts energy into physical matter. The amount of energy required depends on what you’re making.”

“The energy required to do something like that…” Very powerful unicorns and alicorns could conjure items. That was magic well beyond what she was learning. It took an enormous amount of energy, and even the best alicorns could only control a fraction of that energy.

Sweetie used her magic to grab the hairbrush and observe it closely. “This is so nice! Thank you so much!”

“You’re quite welcome.”

“This looks like real wood,” said Sweetie. When she pulled the brush closer, wood grain showed beneath the paint. She was almost certain there were brush strokes too. “It is real wood. How can it make real wood?”

“What’s the difference?” asked Jadzia.

“Real wood is from trees that grow in the ground,” Sweetie replied. “So this is a copy of the real thing?”

Jadzia shrugged. “It’s up to perception, I suppose. Whether a tree is cut down and milled into lumber so a woodworker can craft a brush or a computer uses a pattern to create the brush from energy, the result is the same.”

But it was in the name… replicated. That means it’s a copy.

However, Sweetie countered with herself, if the copy is the same as the original does it matter? No one could tell the difference.

Frustrated with the conundrum she had created over something so mundane, she pulled the brush back to her mane. She used her magic to lift parts of her mane as she brushed it. She tugged on her mane as she rushed through what was normally a lengthy process for her. She closed her eyes as she yanked on a snarling knot.

“It’s amazing how you’re able to do that,” remarked Jadzia.

“It’s nothing—” She forced the brush through the knot, pulling lots of hair out with it. “It’s nothing complicated. You have a thing that can make other things from energy. That’s amazing. This is me quickly fixing my bushy mane.”

“Doesn’t that hurt when you pull your mane like that?” Asked Jadzia as she quickly moved closer. Jadzia cringed as Sweetie gave the brush another aggressive yank.

“Um…” She pulled again and the brush came free revealing a massive clump of pink and purple hair. She pushed her mane back, running her hoof through it. “No. Why would that hurt?”

“That would really hurt me if I brushed my hair like that. Our scalps are very sensitive.” Jadzia ran her fingers through her hair.

“Pony manes are not. Our tails can be since they are part of our spines. You should never try to pick up another pony by their tails,” explained Sweetie. She cringed remembering how Rarity would drag her out of the sewing room by her tail.

“Speaking of…” Sweetie pulled her tail straight up and began brushing through parts of it. There weren’t any knots, but it was still frizzy and wild.

“Um, Sweetie. Maybe you should do that in the bathroom,” said Jadzia with a note of apprehension.

“Do what? My tail? Why?” Sweetie asked in a distracted tone. “If you’re worried about the hair I’m getting everywhere, don’t worry, I have a quick way to clean that up.”

“You really have no sense of modesty?” asked Jadzia with an amused smile.

“I guess not,” said Sweetie, not understanding the question.

“When you bring your tail up like that…”

“Oh…” said Sweetie slowly, finally understanding what Jadzia was getting at. She dropped her magical grip on her tail, letting it fall back into place. “Sorry?”

“Don’t be. Doing something like that might be perfectly reasonable where you’re from,” said Jadzia.

“What? Lifting my tail? We don’t walk around town like that. But catching a glimpse under some pony's tail isn’t uncommon.” Sweetie shrugged. “We don’t make a big deal about it. We all know what a mare looks like and what a stallion looks like.”

“That makes sense for a society that doesn’t wear clothes,” said Jadzia. “So long as you don’t do that out there.” She gestured to the door.

Sweetie nodded. “I wouldn’t do that out there. We have a word for ponies who do that and… it’s not very nice.” Sweetie’s face went red.

“Anyway, we wear clothing sometimes. Usually, it’s for special events. My sister designs dresses for those types of things, but normally we don’t wear anything.

“We have a concept in Equestria called ‘beautiful figure.’” Sweetie hesitated for a second. “It’s difficult to explain… It basically means that ponies have a natural beauty in their figures: their colors, their manes and tails, Cutie Marks are displayed with pride, and how their body is shaped.” Sweetie waved her hoof through the air and took a deep breath.

“Sorry, I’m not making much sense. I’m having trouble putting words to something we all… sort of just know.”

Jadzia nodded. “It’s okay, Sweetie. I think I understand. A core part of your identity is in your natural appearance.”

“Exactly!” Sweetie exclaimed. “We dress up for fun. If you came to Equestria on a normal day, the most you would see were different mane and tail styles with bows or hair ties. Some ponies would have saddlebags on for shopping.”

“That’s very interesting. Like I said, I’m not opposed to nudity. However, the culture here will seem very modest, maybe even prudish. I want to warn you that there are those out there who will try to take advantage of you. So be on your guard. It’s unfortunate, but DS9 is not exactly the safest place.”

Sweetie sighed. “I guess I don’t understand the culture here at all. I’m sorry for asking you to shower with me and showing my—”

Jadzia set her hand on Sweetie’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. There’s a term for this called faux pas. It means a false step. You’re not doing anything wrong per se, but your normal customs could be considered rude here. The reverse is likely on your planet.”

Sweetie nodded. “That makes sense. But why is it called foe paw? That sounds like a tiger attacking you or something.”

Jadzi laughed. “Not foe as in an enemy, but faux as in fake or false”

“Oh is it one of those words pronounced the same as another but has a different spelling?” asked Sweetie to which Jadzia nodded. “We have some of those in our language too.”

“I’ll make you a deal,” said Jadzia. “Give me a couple of days to get to know you, and you can show me how you shower with your friends.”

“Really?” Sweetie beamed.

“Sure, I don’t mind exploring other customs,” said Jadzia. “I have studied loads of cultures, and yours sounds fascinating.”

“Okay. It’s not like a special custom or anything. It’s nice to take a shower with your friends and help wash their manes and tails.” Sweetie smiled.

“That sounds rather intimate,” said Jadzia.

“Well, sure. That’s why you only do that with your friends or family,” said Sweetie. She used her magic to gather up all the hair into a tight ball that levitated in front of her.

“Like I said, a few days—oh wow you weren’t kidding about cleaning that up quickly.”

Sweetie smiled with pride. “A little spell I invented to save me time sweeping. Um, where should I put this?”

“Put it in the replicator. We can get a little energy from it,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie set the ball of pink and purple hair in the same cubby the hairbrush had materialized in. With a few quick button taps from Jadzia, it vanished.

“Anyways, now that’s all cleared up, are you hungry?”

“Oh yes.” Sweetie was eager to watch that replicating device make something else.

“I’m guessing you don’t eat meat?” asked Jadzia.

Sweetie’s stomach dropped. She made a face of disgust.

Jadzia nodded. “I didn’t think so. How about eggs?”

“Eggs? Like from birds?” Sweetie’s mouth fell open. Who could eat baby birds? What would the poor mothers think if her eggs were eaten?

“Forget I asked,” said Jadzia. “I guess it’s my turn to make a faux pas,” she muttered under her breath. “What do you eat?”

“Um, not that. I eat salads, grains, fried foods, hayburgers, milkshakes… candy.”

Jadzia raised an eyebrow. “Milkshakes?”

“Yeah,” Sweetie laughed nervously. “We call it that because it looks like milk. We make milk by grinding up a type of nut with water. It’s not like actual milkfrom a mare. That would be a very weird thing to drink if you weren’t a newborn foal.”

“Oh,” said Jadzia. “I will keep that in mind as we have quite a few things like that.

“How about toast with apple butter and a nice salad of leafy greens?” she asked.

Sweetie nodded. “I love apple butter. My friend’s family makes it from their apple orchard.”

Jadzia repeated that to the replicator thing. A few seconds later a plate heaping with leafy greens and two pieces of toast appeared.

“Do you put dressing on your salads?” asked Jadzia as she sat the plate on the table.

Sweetie cocked her head to the side.

“It’s like a sauce that goes on top of salads. They add different flavors,” said Jadzia.

“Interesting. I’ve never heard of such a thing. We put daisies or other flowers on top when we want to add more flavors to our salads.” Sweetie took a seat in front of the table. “You don’t have to add any,” she said quickly as Jadzia turned back to the replicator. “This looks good.”

“Something to drink?”

“Water,” said Sweetie.

Jadzia placed a tall glass of water next to her plate moments later. Sweetie found the apple butter much sweeter than she was expecting but good otherwise. The leafy greens were all good despite a few of them tasting rather unusual. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Jadzia sat down next to Sweetie with a mug. Wisps of steam rose from it along with the most intoxicating aroma she had ever smelled. “I already ate,” she said.

“What is that?” Sweetie pointed to the mug. “It smells amazing.”

“This?” Jadzia laughed. “It’s coffee. It’s a fermented fruit that has been roasted and ground up. Then you drip hot water over it and get coffee. Do you want to try it?”

“Yes!” said Sweetie with more enthusiasm than she intended.

“It’s got a strong flavor…” Jadzia returned to the table with another mug. She dumped a little of a very dark liquid into the second mug. “Try it first. Just in case you don’t like it.”

She hastily grabbed the mug with her magic and brought it to her lips. How could anything smell so good and taste bad? She took a sip. Her tongue was bombarded with flavors she couldn’t process. “It’s… wow. It’s…” She took another sip. “It’s bitter?” She took another sip, emptying the cup in her mouth. The flavor was very strong. “It’s bitter, sour, nutty, and somehow slightly sweet.”

Jadzia giggled. “More?”

Sweetie gave an enthusiastic nod. “It’s um… good.”

“There are also sweeteners you can put in it if you don’t like the bitterness,” said Jadzia.

“Oh yes, put a little of that in there too.”

Jadzia laughed again. “One coffee with sugar coming up.”

Sweetie had finished her breakfast when Jadzia set a steaming mug down in front of her. Sweetie quickly took a sip out of the mug. The coffee was perfect with the sugar added. She gulped it down.

There was a two-toned chime that disrupted the mostly silent room as Sweetie finished her coffee. “What’s that?” she asked.

“Doorbell,” said Jadzia. “Come in!”

The door slid open. The strangest creature Sweetie had seen yet walked in. He, she assumed he, had a bald head with large ears. The top of the ears became a ridge across the forehead. His nose had many ridges, and his teeth were sharp and pointy. His beady eyes fixed on Sweetie.

“Jadzia,” he said. “I hope you aren’t planning on eating that.” He pointed at Sweetie.

“Quark,” Jadzia sighed.

Sweetie scowled.

“Hey, hey, I was just checking. I came to see if the rumors were true.” He turned to Sweetie Belle.

“Greetings,” he said swiftly as he stepped in. “I’m Quark, owner of the bar and community leader on this station. I wanted to invite you to my establishment’s new quadruped night! All quadrupeds get free drinks.”

“She’s the only quadruped on the station,” said Jadiza.

“What a coincidence,” he said with a grin.

“She doesn’t have any money, Quark. It’s not going to work,” said Jadzia smoothly. “Whatever you’re planning.”

Quark put a hand on his chest. “Planning? I come here in good faith and you accuse me of plotting something? Jadzia, I would never do such a thing. I only want to make sure our newest guest feels welcome.” He made an unusual gesture holding his wrists together with his palms facing upwards.

“Nice try, Quark, but you still owe me fifteen slips of latinum from last week’s Tongo match.” Jadzia gave Quark a stern look.

“You can’t blame a Ferengi for trying,” Quark said with a smile. He pulled a small velvet bag out of his pocket.

“Give it to her,” said Jadiza while pointing to Sweetie.

“What is it?” asked Sweetie.

Quark howled with laughter. “What is it? This, my primitive friend, is what everyone outside the Federation uses for currency. Sweet, sweet latinum.” He dumped the contents of the bag out. Small golden metal strips fell out on the table making a satisfying clinking sound as they did.

Sweetie scowled.

“And give her a free spin on the Dabo wheel,” insisted Jadzia.

“Fine,” Quark spat. He placed a funny-looking coin with his face stamped on it on the table. “Anything else?”

“No. We’ll see you tonight,” said Jadzia.

Quark left, giving Sweetie one more look before the door slid shut.

“He’s rude,” said Sweetie.

Jadzia shrugged. “He’s mad I beat him at a game of Tongo last week. I usually win, but I took him for more latinum than he had on him.

“Quark is a Ferangi,” said Jadzia, answering Sweetie’s inevitable question. “The Ferengi are capitalists focused on commerce, trade, profit, and sometimes a financial scheme to swindle those unaware.”

“He thought you were going to eat me?” asked Sweetie.

Jadzia laughed. “Quark thinks he’s being charming.”

Sweetie shook her head. “He needs friendship lessons,” she muttered. “A joke about eating another creature… gross.” She shuddered.

“If he thinks there’s profit in it, he’ll be interested,” Jadzia remarked.

“Commerce requires friendship,” Sweetie countered.

“Not necessarily. It requires partnerships, and in the case of the Ferangi, usually lopsided partnerships.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Sweetie grimaced. “So I should watch out for him?”

“It’s important to know that different cultures value life, family, and business differently. The Ferengi might try to swindle you. It’s difficult to gain their respect if you’re an outsider and female. In their society, the females are not allowed to do anything. They can’t leave the house on their own, they cannot go into business, and they are not allowed to wear clothes.”

Sweetie’s mouth fell open in shock. “That’s horrible! What a terrible place their world must be. My whole planet is run by females! We do not believe your sex determines your rights!”

Jadzia put a hand on Sweetie’s shoulder. “I know,” she said softly. “I want you to know what their outlook is. From our perspectives, we can see that as terrible. But they would say the same, and worse, about your society.”

Sweetie took a deep breath. Jadzia’s hand on her shoulder was soothing. “I-I don’t think I could ever understand why they do what they do.” She leaned against Jadzia. “But he, Quark, respects you.”

“The Ferengi, especially Quark, understand other cultures have different beliefs. They might not always like it… but the best way to gain their respect is to meet them on their terms. Understanding business and trade will cut through the negative cultural elements for most of them. Quark hides it, but he isn’t as bad as he might seem at first.”

Sweetie sighed. “Well, I do understand business a little, I guess. Maybe if I become friends with him, I can help him understand that females should be treated equally.”

“I won’t lie to you. You’ll be fighting against decades of cultural norms. It would be like me trying to convince your society to cover up with more clothes and saying showering with our friends is morally wrong.”

“But those things aren’t wrong,” Sweetie said with a definite and final tone.

“Not to anyone on your world. I can tell by your reaction, that saying stuff like that wouldn’t be well received.

“However, I do agree with you that through friendship we can help encourage the Ferengi to see others as equals. They are going to change their ways in their own time. Societal shifts take time. That’s why I’m friends with Quark.”

Sweetie beamed up at Jadzia as realization hit her. “You’re working on a friendship problem!” She sprung out of her seat. “We do this too! Us ponies try to resolve conflicts this way.

“There was a time when we didn’t trust other ponies based on their characteristics. Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all didn’t get along and were often at war with one another. But through friendship, we learned to work together and trust each other. From that, we built Equestria as we all know it today.

“We still have our differences, but we work hard every day to work together because what we have is worth the effort.”

Jadzia smiled. “The Federation has many of the same beliefs. Per Aspera, Ad Astra. It means to the stars despite adversity. We work together for the better of all, for scientific knowledge, and for the defense of our way of life. Sadly, that means the Federation has seen its share of conflicts.”

“Us ponies have seen our share of conflicts too..” Sweetie trailed off. Her eyes fell on the coin with Quark’s face stamped on it. He had a used wagon sale’s pony fake grin. Free spin implied the others cost money. “Is Dabo gambling?”

“Yes. But it’s really easy and you got a free spin and some latinum to try it out.”

Sweetie grinned. “I’d never be allowed to gamble back home. My parents and sister would never let me do that.”

“Your sister gets a say?” asked Jadzia.

Sweetie shrugged. “She’s older than me and I live at her house more than at home since she’s closer to my school and friends.”

“I understand. I was a younger and older sibling before,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie frowned. “How can you be both? Wouldn’t that just make you a middle foal—I mean child?”

Jadzia shook her head. “I’m a Trill. We are a joined species.”

“Joined?” asked Sweetie.

Jadzia exhaled. “I probably should have explained this to you earlier, but I didn’t want to overwhelm you.

“The Trill are a species who get joined with a symbiont. In my case, Dax. Jadzia is the current host of Dax. Dax has had seven lifetimes of experience. Jadzia is only twenty-eight years old. When we joined, I got all of Dax’s memories and experiences from past hosts. I became Jadzia Dax.”

“So you’re, like, really old? But also young?” Sweetie shook her head. The concept was bizarre, but she sort of liked the idea of someone possessing experiences from past lifetimes. “What does the symbiont look like?”

“It sort of looks like a worm,” said Jadzia. “And it lives right here.” She places a hand over her belly.

Sweetie’s eyes went wide. A worm lived in her? And in others before… “So you’re super smart?” asked Sweetie.

“I have a lot of past experiences and knowledge to draw from. But Jadzia had to accomplish a lot before I could join with a symbiont.”

“So…” Sweetie trailed off as she thought about the correct way to ask the question that was in her mind. If these people were prudish with their appearance, then how were they when it came to asking personal questions?

“Yes?” asked Jadzia.

“Um.” Sweetie looked at the ground. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

“It’s okay, you can say it,” Jadzia encouraged.

“Okay,” said Sweetie. “I’m not sure how to say it, but… if you have had several hosts… then were you both female and male?” Sweetie gulped. Was this another one of those faux pas things to ask these kinds of questions?

To Sweetie’s relief, Jadzia laughed. “Yes, Sweetie, Dax has been hosted by males and females. I’ve been a mother and father many times.”

She didn’t even think about that. She couldn’t picture having memories from a stallion who was also a father.

“So that’s the Trill in a nutshell,” said Jadzia. “Not all of us are joined, but the ones who are have their lives changed and enriched in ways one can never imagine.”

Sweetie hesitated again before asking as her thoughts turned to stories of Nightmare Moon and Luna. “So it doesn’t take control of you, right?”

“Well, it can. Only certain Trill can be joined. You have to have a strong sense of self or the symbiont can completely override your identity. You won’t know whose thoughts are yours or a past host’s. I was fully prepared before I was joined. Even then…” Jadzia trailed off. “Nothing truly prepares you. It took some time to fully realize who Jadzia Dax was because I was no longer just Jadzia.”

“Well, I think that’s pretty neat.” Sweetie beamed. She wrapped her forelegs around Jadzia and pulled her into a tight embrace. “I’m glad you're my friend in this place.”

“Aw, well thank you.” Jadzia returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around Sweetie. Her hand massaged her back. “Your fur is so soft. I could hold you forever.”

“I think that would be fine.” Sweetie giggled as she pulled back from Jadzia. “Us ponies also like to hug a lot.”

Jadzia stood up, straightening her uniform. “Ponies are much more intimate with each other on so many levels it seems.”

“Some of us are more physical than others. I, um,” she felt her face heat up, “I like to snuggle with my friends. They… tolerate it. Well, Apple Bloom doesn’t mind.”

“Oh? So is this Apple Bloom a special friend?” asked Jadzia with a wry smile.

Sweetie shook her head, but her eyes didn’t quite meet Jadzia’s as she turned her head to hide her red face. She cursed her white coat for being so revealing.

“Okay,” said Jadzia in a playful tone. “It seems the schoolgirl crush is a universal constant.

“Anyways, we need to get to the science lab. Then maybe I can show you around a little. How does that sound?”

Sweetie agreed as she attempted to imagine what technological and certainly not magical wonder awaited her.

“Should I bring my money?” asked Sweetie as she pushed the latinum slips together in a neat pile.

“No, we can come back for that later.”

Sweetie followed Jadzia into the long corridor. “Quark said that money is for outside the Federation. How does the Federation make money?” asked Sweetie.

“It doesn’t,” Jadzia replied. “Money is obsolete.”

Sweetie shook her head. “How—oh well I guess if you can replicate stuff… Why do you work for this Federation if they don’t pay you? What’s the point if you already have everything you need?”

“I work for Starfleet which is part of the Federation, remember? But I won’t answer that yet. I’m curious if you can figure that one out. Besides, if I gave you all the answers, what would be the point of learning?” Jadzia winked.

Sweetie pursed her lips in thought as she followed Jadzia down the corridor. We go to school to learn the mechanics of the world so we can answer our own—

“We learn to answer our own questions, of course!” Sweetie exclaimed. “So… if you acquire more knowledge and experience you learn more about the world—no, the universe! That's it, isn’t it?”

“Honestly, I’m very impressed. You are exactly right.” Jadzia’s face was of pure admiration. “I wasn’t expecting you to answer that right away. Very well reasoned.”

“It… sort of came to me,” she said bashfully.

“Maybe Julian should run an aptitude test on you. I bet you’d score high on logic and problem-solving.”

“I took one of those,” said Sweetie enthusiastically. “It said something like that. But my magic wasn’t good enough for the gifted unicorn school.” Sweetie shrugged and looked away. “But I got to stay at my normal school with all of my friends.

“I wonder what Equestria would be like without money…What would we do…” Sweetie trailed off in thought as she envisioned ponies bartering their goods for other things.

The Promenade was as busy as the day before. Sweetie noted the circular nature of it. Quark’s bar was in the center. Was this place a giant circle?

Jadzia led her to another one of those tiny rooms that quickly took them to a different location. This one took them to a secluded corridor with several sliding doors and other corridors that branched off in opposite directions. Sweetie figured she could wander these corridors for ages and never know if she was getting anywhere or going in circles.

‘Science Lab Two,” said Jadzia as the second door on the left opened.

The science lab was much smaller than expected. There was a distinct lack of beakers, flasks, burners, and scales. The lab was mostly empty with panels and consoles along the walls. There was a single metal table in the center of the room supporting a massive steel I-beam. Or at least a piece of one. It wasn’t much longer than the table it sat on.

She felt it almost immediately when she walked into the lab. The sight of the room made her shiver. There was an emptiness here, a certain negative energy in the room, that made Sweetie take stiffened movements. The sight of the I-beam was unsettling although Sweetie couldn’t think why.

“Oh, good, you two made it.”

Sweetie yelped and spun around. Out of the corner of the room Miles O’Brien was sitting at one of the workstations.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” said Miles.

“It’s alright. I-I didn’t see you,” said Sweetie feeling like a silly foal.

“It’s my fault, really, being tucked away in a dark corner.” Miles stood up from his workstation and stretched. “Anyway, Sweetie Belle, I trust you slept alright? Lieutenant Dax is treating you well.”

Sweetie nodded with a smile. “I’m learning so much already.”

“Glad to hear it. Maybe sometime you’d like to come by my quarters for a visit. My wife would love to meet you.”

Sweetie smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that. The more friends I can make here the better.”

“You bet,” said Miles. “Anyways, Lieutenant. I finished reconstructing the security footage of the cargo bay just before you two walked in.”

“Excellent. Thank you, Chief.” Jadzia turned to Sweetie. “Now we can see what happened when you arrived.”

“We can?” asked Sweetie, looking from Jadzia to Miles. “How?”

“With this station being what it is, some cargo bays are always under surveillance. I’ve got the footage here at this station.” Miles pointed to a black glass panel on the wall. He tapped the colorful lights to the side of the glass. Each light made a beeping noise when he tapped it.

Light flickered behind the glass. Instead of a black panel a picture of another room was displayed. A room that reminded Sweetie of a warehouse or storage room. Cargo bay. She would have called it a boring picture if it weren’t for the changing text at the bottom of the picture.

Sweetie squinted as she thought she saw the picture move. She couldn’t have seen that right. Only the text was moving in this picture. She stared intently at the ever-changing text on the screen, pondering its meaning.

The picture moved again. This time Sweetie was sure. The picture appeared to vibrate. At first, Sweetie thought something was wrong with the not-magical picture, but the stacks of crates and barrels in the picture moved with the vibration.

The lights flickered as the vibration increased to a violent shimmy. Some of the crates had fallen over. The picture went dark. Sweetie could barely make out more crates toppling over when the cargo bay was illuminated by a pale blue light. It coalesced into a ball of bright light that steadily increased in size. The cargo bay was shaking, sparks were flying, and one of the crates ignited. The light grew so intense that Sweetie shielded her eyes.

“That’s all we got,” said Miles. He tapped the panel again to make another picture come up. “This was a few minutes after.”

Sweetie looked up. On the screen was a picture of utter devastation. The cargo bay was destroyed. The crates were scattered around the room, tons of items tossed about, like a tornado had come through. Fires were coming from some of the barrels along with thick jet-black smoke. A massive hunk of steel, Sweetie recognized as the I-beam sitting on the table behind her, was smoldering on the floor.

“Julain and I found you under this mess at the center,” said Miles. He pointed to a tower of crates stacked haphazardly from floor to ceiling. Some looked fused or a melted mess of goo. “It was lucky none of that crushed you.”

It was a lot to take in. Sweetie didn’t know where to begin.

Miles pushed more of the colorful light buttons. The screen flickered a few times and then displayed the same room but with two figures in the center. They were pushing crates out of the center mass. Sweetie recognized who they were quickly.

“Julian, these things weigh forty kilos at least. If all of this fell on someone, they'd be dead.” Miles wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Julian shook his head. “Someone is definitely alive in this mess.” There was a loud beep. “We have to hurry.”

“This one…” Julian panted. “Here.” He rapped his knuckles against a container standing on its end, leaning against a tall stack of crates.

“Lucky this was here,” said Miles. “If we push it to the side, this other stuff hopefully won’t fall on us all.”

Julian nodded. “Push on three. One. Two. Three!”

The crate toppled over to the side and slammed on the deck with a loud crash.

Julian gasped.

Sweetie’s blood went cold seeing herself unconscious on the floor. She lay there so peaceful and quiet. She appeared asleep.

“Miles,” Julian whispered while pointing.

He stared for a full minute.

“Bloody hell,” he said at long last. “Is that a…”

“Unicorn,” said Julian.

Julian bent down and scanned the creature. “It might look like a unicorn, but this being is not from Earth or anywhere around here. These readings are rather odd. I need my lab equipment.”

“Is it… alive?” asked Miles.

Julian nodded. “Oh yes, very much so. Let’s hope she?” Julian checked his tricorder. “Let’s hope she can tell us who she is when she wakes up.”

“Assuming that a unicorn can even tell us anything, of course,” said Miles slowly. “There’s something I thought I’d never say,” he muttered. “Can you wake her here?”

Julian shook his head. “The usual stimulants work on most species, but I don’t want to inject drugs into a completely unknown species before I have more data. The tricorder isn’t giving me anything useful here.”

The screen went black.

“That’s all of it. Everything else is too badly damaged,” said Miles.

“So…” said Sweetie. She was still trying to get her head around a moving picture with sound. “So an explosion brought me here?”

“Yes. There was a massive build-up of tetryon particles. Where they came from or how they managed to build up like that is still unknown,” said Jadzia.

“And that,” Sweetie turned to gesture at the I-beam on the table, “I broke that?”

Jadzia pursed her lips. “You didn’t break anything. The anomaly that brought you here did. It’s an upper support beam from the cargo bay. You would need a tremendous amount of energy to melt duranium.”

“I wish I could remember what happened in Ponyville—” Sweetie clapped a hoof over her mouth. “Oh no. I hope this thing didn’t explode like that in Ponyville.” She slumped back on her haunches. The destructive force would be devastating in a town where everything was made of wood, clay, and straw.

“I’m not sure it did,” said Jadzia, as she knelt next to Sweetie. “I believe the anomaly pulled you into it from your side. You were pulled into a subspace layer, sort of a dimension outside our normal space and time. How all of that energy coalesced in our cargo bay is a mystery.”

“R-really? How do you know?”

“I don’t know for sure,” said Jadzia. “This is my hypothesis. We know tetryon particles exist in subspace. We also know when they come into normal space they are unstable. Usually, they demolecularize. But… that didn’t happen this time. They concentrated instead, which cannot happen normally.”

“So what did that?” asked Sweetie.

“We don’t know yet. The support beam over there is giving off an unusual resonance. I’m hoping I can use it to figure out what happened and maybe even find your home,” said Jadzia.

“Too bad Princess Twilight didn’t get sent here. She’s good at science and would understand this.” Sweetie sighed and stood up. “So what do we do now?”

“I want to check a few things and then I will have you try something.” Jadzia joined Miles at the workstation. They were conversing quickly using terms Sweetie couldn’t understand. She tuned them out.

There was a level of unease in the lab. Something felt off about the I-beam on the table. Maybe it was the metallic table. Or maybe it was because it seemed out of place. Or maybe it was the size. It was taller than she was. She couldn’t even imagine what that thing must weigh.

Sweetie took a few steps closer to the center. As she approached she heard a rumbling noise, similar to the sound of the wind blowing in her face.

She stopped abruptly a few steps away from the I-beam. The noise in her ears was intense. She couldn’t hear anything else. She felt somewhat sick to her stomach, and there was cold sweat under her forelock.

With each step backward the intensity dropped. When she reached Jadzia and Miles, only a mild case of discomfort remained.

“I think you should get rid of that thing,” said Sweetie, interrupting their conversion.

“The support beam?” asked Miles. “We probably will. It’s useless once we’re done with it here.”

“Why do you think we should get rid of it, Sweetie?” asked Jadzia with a slightly confused expression.

“I don’t like it,” said Sweetie. “It’s not right. It makes me feel sick.”

Miles and Jadzia shared an alarmed look as they both took out their tricorders.

“I’m not reading anything other than the resonance frequency,” said Miles. He frowned as he stared intently at his tricorder. “Hang on…” He looked from his tricorder to his workstation. “The signal now reads as -30 dBm.”

“That’s a drastic increase from the original scan,” said Jadzia. “UHF now. Chief, look at this.” Jadzia pointed to a line graph on her workstation. “Internal sensors indicate this signal peaked at -20 dBm a few minutes ago. And here,” she pointed to the near vertical line on the graph, “at exactly 0910 hours; the moment we walked in the lab.”

“You’re saying we are somehow causing this signal to spike?” asked Miles.

Jadzia pointed to Sweetie. “She is. She was over there moments ago when it was at its strongest. And she reacted to it. Sweetie Belle and this resonance signal are somehow linked.”

“So if I move against the wall, the signal will be weaker?” asked Sweetie as she pressed herself against the wall behind Jadzia and MIles.

Jadzia nodded. “That dropped the strength by 1.5 dBm.”

“So I’m linked to a piece of metal,” said Sweetie flatly. “And it makes me feel sick.”

“It seems so. We’re still missing some pieces to this puzzle, however.

“You know… I wonder…” Jadzia glanced at her tricorder. “Sweetie, do you think your levitation ability can lift that support beam?”

Sweetie stopped herself from correcting Jadzia. They were uncomfortable with the idea of magic despite all of the magical objects they had. This was more than an ability. An ability is like being good at math or something.

“Sweetie?” asked Jadzia. Her voice was soft, but there was a note of insistence in it.

“Huh? Oh, um… probably not. It looks pretty heavy.”

“Give it a try. I want to test a hypothesis,” insisted Jadzia.

Lifting heavy objects was something Sweetie wasn’t particularly good at. It always took her more effort than teleporting, but most unicorns were the other way around. Snips and Snails often won competitions for lifting heavy objects with their magic. Sweetie often stayed out of their lunch-room impromptu competitions unless it involved teleporting the greatest distance or enchanting an item to do simple actions.

“Okay,” said Sweetie as she looked at the support beam. “Here goes nothing—” She felt her magic take a firm grip over the beam. Energy flowed from her and from all around her. She lifted the object as easily as she might lift a twig.

“Blimey,” said Miles. He sounded so far away. His voice echoed in her mind. She couldn’t be certain he was there or in her mind. Or maybe it was all in her mind and nothing was real…

As reality washed away before her, Sweetie kept her grip on the beam. It was so easy to do. A high-pitched rhythmic pulse echoed all around the lab. It was almost musical like tapping the highest key on a piano in 4/4 time.

The tempo never changed, but the longer Sweetie held on with her magic, the louder the pulse got. A warm feeling washed over Sweetie’s body as she held it. Jadzia said something, but she couldn’t make it out over the notes.

A particularly loud pulse surged through Sweetie sending vibrations down her horn. The intensity doubled and a second set of vibrations went down her horn, into her jaw, causing a terrible sensation in her teeth. The next pulse she felt over her whole body, down to her hooves. Sweetie abruptly released her magic with a yep of pain. The steel beam crashed into the table below it which collapsed under the sudden impact.

Sweetie hunched over, panting. Her head was pounding. Pain throbbed from her horn through her whole body.

“Sweetie?” Jadzia’s voice echoed.

As she raised her head to look for Jadzia, the room turned on its side. She spread her legs to steady herself, but everything was spinning too fast. She had a distinct and reminiscent feeling of falling. She cried out in pain as her left side slammed into the floor. As her vision dimmed the last thing she saw were two black boots worn by Jadzia.

The Inverse Square Law

Math wasn't a difficult subject. Sweetie Belle always hated the fact that it was so useful. She was especially resentful at how easy it came to her. Maybe it was a unicorn thing?

She couldn’t stop herself from finding ways to apply it in everyday life. She used a shadow to calculate the height of a building. She was pleased to learn her calculations weren’t off by a significant amount. After that, she tried a different approach, using the distance and angle from her observation which resulted in more precise numbers.

When she heard the Apples were rebuilding their barn, she volunteered to draw up plans for a new roof design. She believed her design would lead to a longer-lasting roof. Applejack and Mac were skeptical at first. Sweetie walked them through the math that proved her design would pay off in the long run. Applejack and Mac promised to take it under advisement.

The sun was setting as she sat hunched over her desk finishing up the last of her math homework; she found herself staring at a problem she didn’t understand. It was a logarithmic problem of gravity.

“What did I get myself into with this class?” she muttered. She pulled her seldom-referenced textbook onto her desk with a thud. “Okay, we’re on chapter—”

A soft clunk on her bedroom window interrupted her. As she pushed herself out of her seat another pebble hit her window. “I’m coming,” she grumbled.

Below, a yellow mare sat on her haunches tapping her hoof impatiently. Her pink bow held back her red mane. “What!” hissed Sweetie, doing her best to not make too much noise.

“Sorry, your parents said you were still sick. I wanted to see how you were doing,” said Apple Bloom.

Sweetie rolled her eyes. “I’m fine now. They’re being ridiculous.”

“Good, can you sneak out?”

It was tempting. But she had to know how to solve that last problem on her math homework. “Maybe in a little. I’m almost done with my homework.”

Apple Bloom laughed. “Homework? Come on! That’s not due for another four days, and you’ll get extra time since you’ve been sick. Come on, I have something I want to show you.”

“Fine,” said Sweetie. She was always able to talk her into doing stuff like this. Ever since they were little, Apple Bloom was the ringleader.

Sweetie peered out the window where Apple Bloom was standing. A mischievous smile crept across her face. She concentrated on her mark. In a flash of green light, she appeared right next to Apple Bloom, leaving no gap between them.

It had the intended effect as Apple Bloom leaped back with a yell. “Ahh! Sweetie!”

“Shhh! They’re gonna hear you,” said Sweetie as she giggled.

“Because they didn’t hear you shouting a second ago,” Apple Bloom said with an eye roll. “And stop doing that!” she hissed. Sweetie could tell she was only pretending to be annoyed as a smirk crept across her face.

Sweetie grinned in return. She pulled Apple Bloom into a tight hug which she returned. “So what do you want to show me?” asked Sweetie after releasing her embrace.

“You’ll see; it’s a surprise.” Apple Bloom grinned. There was a certain mischievous twinkle in her eyes. A look Sweetie knew all too well.

“Of course,” said Sweetie. “Well, you got me out here. So lead the way.”

She followed Apple Bloom through town. She mostly listened to Apple Bloom ramble on about the latest gossip at school. Sweetie couldn’t help wanting to know more despite herself. She knew it was trivial, but she lived for the gossip. If she didn’t know who was mad at whom or who was secretly dating, then school would be very dull.

The latest inside scoop was that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were secretly dating while pretending to fight over the same colt. Duh. It was the least shocking bit of news ever! They made way too much of a show out of fighting over Rumble, a pony everyone knew had been dating Scootaloo since last school term. Still, Sweetie found herself giggling and nodding along with Apple Bloom.

“So where’s Scootaloo anyway?” asked Sweetie after Apple Bloom finished her school news report.

Apple Bloom shrugged. “I went by her place, but she wasn’t there. So probably out with Rumble.”

They turned onto the road leading to Sweet Apple Acres, and Sweetie had a pretty good idea of what Apple Bloom wanted to show her. Sure enough, as the farm came into view so did the huge, newly constructed, barn.

“Well, no point in trying to keep it a secret now,” said Apple Bloom. “We finished it this afternoon. But, you’ll notice—”

“The roof! You guys used my design!”

The roof was steeper and more angled. Not only was this design more sturdy, but it would be harder for snow to pile up very high. In theory, it would slide off once it got too heavy. In theory…

Apple Bloom smiled. “We sure did. And AJ said your measurements were really good.”

“Wow… I’m really… um, flattered.”

“Well come on! Let me show it to you up close before it gets too dark!” Apple Bloom took off at a fast trot.

Sweetie awoke with an abrupt start. Bright lights were shining in her face accompanied by a humming and beeping sound.

“Sweetie Belle?”

A fog lifted from her mind, and the science lab came into focus. She was lying on her side looking up at Julian Bashir and Jadzia Dax.

“Sweetie, can you hear me?” asked Julian.

“Yeah,” she replied. Her head was pounding as rolled onto her belly and then pushed herself onto her feet. “What the heck happened?”

“You caused a harmonic feedback pulse that overloaded your synapsis,” said Jadzia. “Your abilities operate on the same frequency as the resonance pulse. Your mere presence amplified it. Yet weirdly enough that frequency isn’t emanating from you.”

“Magic has a frequency?”

“It seems so,” said Julian. “Hold still, so I can check you for injuries.” He pressed his fingers into the shoulder she fell on. “Does this hurt?”

“It’s a little sore,” said Sweetie. “But that feels nice.”

“How’s your head?” he asked as he continued his massage. “Your synapsis were all over the place when I got here. Almost like you were dreaming.”

“My head hurts a lot. It’s that thing over there.” Sweetie jerked her head in the direction of the support beam now sitting on the floor with the crumpled table under it.

“We have it contained behind a forcefield,” said Miles’ voice from behind her. Sweetie glanced over her shoulder to see Miles still working at the same console. She then looked to Jadzia for an explanation.

“A forcefield is like a fence, but made of energy, and no one can move through it,” said Jadzia quickly. “We are using one to block the resonance frequency from going anywhere outside a two-meter radius.”

“ I still feel it,” said Sweetie.

“I am detecting some heightened endorphin levels compared to the scans I took yesterday,” said Julian. “Maybe we should continue this in the infirmary.”

Before waiting for anyone else to respond, she made a beeline for the door. After stepping through the threshold, the effect was gone in an instant. A ton of bricks were lifted off her, and suddenly she felt normal. “Could it be an inverse square property?” she asked.

“What’s that?” asked Jadzia as she caught up to her.

“Oh, I don’t know. Out here I feel fine. I wonder if my proximity is an inverse square function. The effects don’t seem one-to-one to me so…” Sweetie trailed off. “What?” she asked, seeing the look Jadzia was giving her.

“You know a lot more than you’ve been letting on. Not that I’m too surprised with that logical mind of yours,” said Jadzia.

“I’m good at math.” Sweetie grinned. “Something happened when I was…” she trailed off as Julian joined up with them. “Um, I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay,” said Jadzia. “Why don’t we let Julian get his scans, and then I can take you to get lunch?”

“That’s great!” said Sweetie making Julian and Jadzia chuckle softly. “Oh, and what is this tiny room called?” she asked as she followed them through the door.

“This is a turbolift,” said Jadzia while trying and failing to hide a smirk. “Tiny room,” she said with a laugh. “Sorry, it’s just cute.”

Sweetie felt her face heat up causing her to look away.

“Anyway,” Jadzia continued, “a turbolift is a machine that takes you to different parts of the station. They move vertically and laterally in a given area.”

“Of all of the crazy stuff I’ve seen, this is somehow the most sane,” said Sweetie. “Something like this would be useful in Celestia’s castle. It could replace all of the stairs!”

Sweetie’s visit to the infirmary ended up being short. He did something called a ‘deep tissue’ scan. It was an unsettling name; however, it was as interesting as any other scan she had received.

After the infirmary, Jadzia took Sweetie to a Bajoran restaurant on the Promenade where she tried something called hasperat. A wrap with a spicy and bitter root that reminded her of a radish. She found herself taking large gulps of water after each bite.

“Good?” asked Jadzia.

“It’s different. And spicy. Like really spicy.” Sweetie wiped away the sweat from her brow.

“So what did you want to tell me about earlier?”

“Oh,” said Sweetie. She gulped the last of her water which only temporarily cooled the fire in her mouth. “When that frequency thing knocked me out, I sort of had a dream. I remembered something from the night I disappeared.”

“Oh? What did you remember?” asked Jadzia.

“I was, um, sneaking out,” Sweetie said with a nervous giggle. Jadzia gave her a knowing nod. She quickly summarized her dream. “But I still don’t remember if I went into that barn or if we went somewhere else.” She couldn’t help keeping the frustration in her tone.

“Well give it some time.”

“Do you think these particle things caused me to forget?” asked Sweetie. “They destroyed your cargo bay… what else can they do?”

“I can’t think of any instances where tetryon particles have caused memory loss. But like I said earlier, they don’t stick around very long in normal space so they aren’t very well understood.”

“So what would make them do it this time?”

“Some sort of massive disruption in subspace. I’ll reach out to a few other scientific communities in the Federation. Maybe someone knows more about these particles. Or maybe someone has some scans of some sort of astronomical event,” said Jadzia.

To Sweetie it sounded like a solid plan. There wasn’t much she could contribute compared to someone with several lifetimes of experience and knowledge. She hasn’t even made it halfway through one lifetime.

There was also the issue of technology. It was hard to believe any of the things she had seen so far were not magical but advanced machines. By her estimates, Equestria would be eons behind them in technological development. But maybe ponies didn’t need all of this technology? They had magic!

“Not going to finish it?” asked Jadzia. She was pointing at Sweetie’s half-eaten hasperat.

“It’s too spicy for me, I think.” Sweetie pushed the plate towards Jadzia. “You can have it.”

“Can I get you something else?” Jadzia took the plate and finished the hasperat in two bites. She seemed unfazed by the spice.

“No, I think I’m good.”

The rest of the day proceeded with Jadzia taking Sweetie to see different parts of the station. But if she had to be honest, she lost interest pretty quickly. Deep Space Nine was aesthetically unpleasing with its many shades of brown, greys, and pale greens. Many places had a seedy underbelly feeling like everywhere was a back alley in Manehattan.

Jadzia assured Sweetie that Deep Space Nine was not what Federation space stations looked like. DS9 was built for ore processing by a race called the Cardassians. The station was turned over to the Bajorans after a long war and occupation of Bajor. Jadzia didn’t elaborate much on the Bajoran occupation. She said it was a horrific time filled with ‘unspeakable actions.’

She had a feeling Jadzia herself didn’t like thinking about what happened. War was always bad as far as Sweetie was concerned. But an occupation made it sound like they took over their world completely.

They returned to the Promenade after a tour of the docking ring. Sweetie found it unremarkable. She was forced to admit the airlocks with the giant gear-like doors were cool. The rest of the docking ring resembled the other parts of the station.

Jadzia showed her a drawing of the station that confirmed Sweetie’s feeling that the station was one big circle. It had an outer circle, or docking ring, with three pylons. They were divided into upper and lower pylons. They extended far above and below the station curving in towards the middle. There was an inner ring where most people lived, called the habitat ring. Jadzia said her room was located there. Then there was the core where the Promenade was located, Ops was above it, and there were offices, meeting rooms, the station’s power core, and anything else that was important to the station working was in the center section.

When they returned to the Promenade, Jadzia bought Sweetie a Jumja stick from a small shop she spotted yesterday. It was a candy made from a tree on Bajor.

“This is really good,” said Sweetie. She levitated it in front of her while she took a bite. It was extremely sweet and a little chewy. “I wonder if these trees will grow in Equestria… these would sell like crazy.”

A loud boop sounded, and the deep voice of Commander Sisko spoke out of thin air. “Lieutenant Dax, report to ops.”

Jadzia tapped the silver star on her uniform which made a chirping sound. “On my way.” She looked at Sweetie. “Well, I’m not sure how long this will take. Why don’t you hang out at Quark’s? Anything you order, you can add to my tab. I always settle my tabs with him at the end of the week over a game of Tongo.” Jadzia winked.

“Um, okay,” said Sweetie.

“You can explore the Promenade, but please don’t leave it. If this takes too long, I’ll send someone to check in on you, okay?”

Sweetie nodded as Jadzia rushed off.

Quark’s did seem like a lively place to go, but Sweetie wanted to wander the Promenade first. She wished she could return to Jadzia’s room and get her money, but she realized even if she could find her way back, she had nothing to carry it in, and she didn’t want to disobey what Jadzia told her. She was told a few times the station wasn’t the safest place, and Sweetie had no desire to find out exactly how unsafe it was.

The Promenade had a variety of shops and restaurants selling unique items and strange foods. Most of the food seemed to be made from other animals which turned her stomach. As gross as she found most of the food, she couldn’t help but smile at the restaurant selling what looked like live worms… for eating. There were very strange individuals here.

Her arrival at DS9 had spread far and wide at this point. To Sweetie’s utter amazement, a few strangers addressed her by her name instead of the open-mouthed staring and pointing—there was still some of that too.

On her way back towards Quark’s, a little shop caught her eye. Stylish dresses in bold colors were donned upon two-legged mannequins. Whether it was fashion for two-legged beings or ponies, there was no mistaking a high-fashion boutique.

Sweetie smiled as she stepped into the shop. It was small, but well organized with garments of all different sizes and styles. No doubt the diverse selection was to accommodate the different cultures.

A dress would be nice. Of course, it would have to be custom. Or maybe some regular day clothes since that was the norm here. But that would have to wait. What she needed was—

“Welcome. I'm sorry I did not hear you—oh dear, you are the most unique creature to ever grace my humble shop.”

Unique was certainly the adjective Sweetie was thinking to describe the person standing before her. His skin was pale and scaly. He had distinct bone-like ridges starting at his shoulders and continuing up his neck. He had bony structures around his eyes, and a tear-drop-shaped structure right in the center of his forehead. He was reptilian-looking with thick black hair slicked behind his head.

“I assure you, I am but a humble Cardassian tailor, and am far less interesting than a creature such as you,” he said, clearly noticing Sweetie’s surprised look. “My name is Garak. I’d show you the latest fashion from Bajor, but somehow, I don’t think you’d be interested. Besides, none of it would fit you.” He put on a charming smile.

“Um, I’m Sweetie Belle. I wanted to check if I could custom order something,” said Sweetie nervously.

“Yes, I noticed your distinct lack of clothes,” Garak quipped.

Sweetie felt her cheeks heat up. “Yes… My society doesn't usually wear clothes. Anyway, I was hoping you could make me some saddlebags. It would be like two satchel bags and a piece in the middle that goes across my back.”

“Yes, I believe I could make such a thing. And I have a great idea already to match your eyes, dear”

“Okay. Um…” Sweetie hoped this Garak character knew what he was doing. He was quite strange. “How much would something like that cost? I left my latinum in Jadzia’s quarters.”

Garak beamed. “You have no idea how lucky you are, girl. Half the men on this station would kill to stay in Dax’s quarters.”

Sweetie cringed. “That seems a little extreme.”

“Perhaps, but the galaxy is an extreme place. Here you are, naked before it. Perhaps a layer or two will help shield yourself from its extremities.”

Sweetie pursed her lips. “So I should hide a part of myself away?”

“Very astute of you, dear. Indeed you should. The galaxy is a cruel mistress. She’ll show you wonders like you couldn’t imagine only to snatch it all away and rip your heart out for good measure. It’s nice to have something covering you in such… an exiled existence.

“So what does this all mean you might be asking.” Garak paused and Sweetie nodded. “It means white and pink will look lovely on you and match your eyes and that marking you got there.”

Sweetie’s head was spinning. There was no way any of this was remotely true. Right? She was forced to agree with the colors he mentioned though. “But how much does it cost?”

“I see you aren’t so easily distracted. Goal-orientedness is a valued trait on Cardassia. Tell you what. Since you impressed me, I’ll do it for free. Call it a welcome to DS9 gift.”

“That’s really nice of you, Mr. Garak,” said Sweetie.

“Yes, I surprise myself sometimes. And please, call me Garak. Just plain, simple, Garak.”

“Um, okay,” said Sweetie with a confused look. “Thank you, Garak.”

“It shouldn’t take me too long to make this. Check in with me tomorrow evening.”

Sweetie thanked Garak again and left the shop. She was not sure what happened. She couldn’t decide if she liked him or if she should even trust him.

The noise from Quark’s was the opposite of where Sweetie wanted to go. She needed to clear her head and process what just happened. Instead of trying to use one of the spiral staircases again, she saved herself some time by teleporting to the upper lever.

Sweetie peered into the abyss from one of the many windows. The nothingness was exhilarating and terrifying. What separated her from living and nothingness were these walls and a bunch of machinery.

“Such a dreadful view.”

Sweetie jumped and spun around with a yelp. A tall man with a red uniform was standing directly behind her. How he managed to get so close without her hearing was alarming.

“The view from Rigel Seven had character. Still, I suppose this is better than nothing. Tell me, miss Sweetie Belle, what brings you to such a location? Ponies aren’t supposed to be here.”

Sweetie was taken aback. He was right, of course, this place and everyone here had never seen one before now. “I don’t know,” she replied. There was something familiar about his voice.

“It’s quite simple, really. Ponies aren’t supposed to be here, and none of these button-pushing Neanderthals are going to figure it out either.”

“Neander—what?” Sweetie frowned. “Who are you?”

“Oh that’s not important right now,” he replied. He leaned against the wall in a cocky manner.

“Well, that’s not fair. You know my name,” Sweetie quipped.

“Fair!” he exclaimed. “Nothing here is fair. You aren’t going to friendship your way out of here either. Even your precious Twilight couldn’t do it.”

Sweetie's eyes went wide. The strange man vanished in a flash of light before Sweetie could respond. How could he know Twilight? Her heart was pounding as she frantically searched the upper level. She peered over the railing onto the lover lever, but he was nowhere to be found.

The only other sign of life on the second level was a person walking slowly in long red flowing robes with a tightly fit red cap. Sweetie trotted up to him.

“Excuse me. Did you happen to see a man in a red uniform over by that window a moment ago?” asked Sweetie in a rushed voice.

The robed man shook his head slowly. “I did not. My apologies.”

“Well darn.”

The robed man eyed Sweetie as if he weren’t sure what he was seeing was real.

“Thanks anyways. Sorry to disturb you,” said Sweetie.

Without warning the man grabbed her left ear. It wasn’t painful, but her ear twitched in his firm grip. “Hey!”

He released her. “Your Pah is strong. Walk with the Prophets. They will guide you home.” He strode off without another glance.

“What the heck!” Sweetie slumped onto her haunches. Maybe the second level wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe Quark’s will be too busy for anyone to pay any attention to her?

Right after Sweetie teleported herself back to the lower level a klaxon sounded off. Sweetie froze. Her eyes darted around to see if she somehow caused the alarm.

The Starfleet people rushed off, but everyone else seemed only mildly concerned. Unsure what to do, she simply remained where she was. Maybe it was only an alarm for a shift change?

“Or… maybe it’s not,” she muttered as the floor started to vibrate. “Um..” she spun around, but no one was looking at her. Sweetie did note people were looking around with unease. “This isn’t normal then.”

Without warning the station shook. Sweetie braced herself. She looked around frantically. “Um, hello!” she yelled at someone darting past her. “What should I do? Help!” It was no use. No one could hear her over the pandemonium breaking out.

The station shook violently, knocking Sweetie off her feet. She hit the deck in a heap.”Ow!”

Sparks flew all around her. She rolled across the floor, narrowly avoiding shards of glass. Her attempt to regain her footing was cut short when the station shook again with even greater intensity. Sweetie was sent tumbling in the other direction.

Sweetie howled in pain as someone tripped over her tumbling body. “Sorry!” he said as he ran off. Sweetie lay there panting. Her ribs were throbbing, she was pretty sure she was bleeding, but she dared not look.

The Promenade was total chaos. People were running and screaming, some were badly injured and bloody, and others were terrified and had taken cover under tables.

As she rolled on her side she caught out of the corner of her eye a blinding flash of blue light through the upper level window. Before she even had time to process that, she was hit with an immense force. It pushed the air out of her lungs and sent her careening backward through the air, slamming her into the wall.

She held herself paralyzed with pain she never knew she could feel. She could barely breathe. Her vision darkened as she started to lose focus.

“No!” she gasped. It took all of her will to bring the Promenade back into focus. The once vibrant and bustling Promenade was in shambles. White smoke filled the room, part of the upper level had collapsed, and there were several fires all around her. Most of the people had cleared out. She dared not think of the people lying motionless on the floor.

Her body protested in pain as she limped her way through the ruined Promenade. The station was rocked again but with less intensity. She was able to keep herself stable. She knew where she needed to go. The door to the infirmary was right ahead. She had a few more hoof-falls to reach it! The pain was too intense. Every step hurt more than the last. She collapsed on the floor, two strides from the door.

To her luck, the infirmary door opened. Julian came rushing out. “Sweetie!” He skidded to a halt right in front of her. He knelt and looked her over quickly. He opened his medkit that was slung across his shoulders. “Nothing life-threatening. Here take this.” He injected her with something that sent a strange tingling sensation through her body. Her body still ached and throbbed worse than ever. “That’s the best I can do right now! Gotta run!”

“Hey wait!” Sweetie rose to her feet. She limp-trotted after him. Her right hind leg felt extremely stiff. Something warm was trickling down the inside of that leg. A glance over her shoulder at the blood trail she was leaving confirmed her worst suspicions.

She pushed past it. She didn’t want to be left by herself! “What should I—” A massive explosion on the Promenade sent them both tumbling over each other. Sweetie cried out in pain as Julian collapsed on top of her. She was flat on her back with Julian pinning her to the floor. The ceiling above was flexing and wobbling as sparks flew off it in wild directions. She felt some of them singe her coat. Julian caught the brunt of the sparks. A large portion of the back of his uniform had been burned away exposing his bare skin, speckled with burn marks.

“Ow. So sorry.” Julian pushed himself off her while wincing in pain. Sweetie quickly wrapped her forelegs around his neck and pulled him back down. “What are you doing?”

Sweetie didn’t have time to answer him. She held him there as she concentrated as hard as she could. She leaned forward as her horn lit up. A pale green dome formed around them. A split second later the ceiling came crashing down.

Debris ricocheted off her shield in random directions. Sweetie’s horn vibrated. She watched in horror as she felt the force of the falling objects push back into her. Everything was going dark around her. She couldn’t hold her shield any longer. The remaining support beams collapsed. There was a powerful push against her horn that slammed her head back against the metal floor. Everything went black.

Medals and Cosmic Events

“I still can’t believe you guys did it!” Sweetie exclaimed. The back of her neck was starting to hurt from the constant staring at the barn’s high ceiling.

Apple Bloom laughed. “I told you we liked it.”

Sweetie smiled as she finally brought her head down. Her neck muscles thanked her. “I’m glad. I guess in winter we will see if I was right about the snow.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Will you stop?” she groaned. “It will work.”

Sweetie sighed. “It should. According to the angle…” she trailed off as Apple Bloom shot a sharp look her way. “It will work!” she added with a confident nod.

“See? Nothing to worry about,” said Apple Bloom with a grin.

Sweetie returned her grin while playfully bumping her flank against Apple Bloom’s. “This was fun. Thanks for convincing me to sneak out.”

“It doesn’t have to end so soon. We could go to Pone Dance Haus,” suggested Apple Bloom as she returned Sweetie’s flank bump with one of her own.

“That does sound like fun. And… it’s probably where Scootaloo is anyway.”

“Good,” said Apple Bloom. “You still know how to have fun.”

“We have fun.” Sweetie smirked.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!” Apple Bloom chided.

Sweetie flashed her best innocent smile.

“Sweetie…” Apple Bloom groaned.

“Ugh, fine.” Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Just because I go out a little less to get better grades doesn’t mean I don’t let my mane down. I’m trying to get into a good university.”

“Oh okay,” said Apple Bloom, sounding unconvinced. “But you could still get good grades and go out with us more often.”

“It’s a matter of scheduling. It’s hard to coordinate—” Sweetie broke off at the sudden howling noise. The wooden planks in the barn creaked.

“It’s the wind,” said Apple Bloom with a dismissive wave of her hoof. She frowned as the howling became louder. “Was there a storm scheduled for tonight?”

Sweetie shook her head. “Nope. I read the weather report this morning.”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “It could be a rogue wind storm from the Everfree. Remember that crazy one a few seasons ago?”

“Yeah, that was scary. Let’s get going before it gets worse. I’d hate to get hit by a rogue lightning bolt or something,” said Sweetie.

“Let’s wait for it to blow over,” said Apple Bloom.

Sweetie eyed her as Apple Bloom’s face twitched trying to suppress a smirk. She couldn’t help herself and burst out laughing. “That was so lame! Oh, my, why am I laughing at this?”

“Because I’m hilarious,” Apple Bloom replied. “I should do stand up.”

They both looked at each other for a second. “Na,” they said in unison and giggled again.

“But seriously, the weather ponies will get it out of here pretty quickly,” Apple Bloom assured.

“Oh this is fun,” Sweetie replied. She wrapped her forelegs around Apple Bloom. “I missed hanging out with you all so much.”

Apple Bloom returned the hug. “Sheesh, Sweetie, you were sick what? Four days? Five?”

Sweetie rested her head on Apple Bloom’s shoulder. “Three, but Rarity wouldn’t let me come over for another day. Then my parents,” Sweetie sighed, “thought I should stay locked in my room for an extra day after that. It was a very boring time with very little sleep.”

“Yeah I kinda figured it was something like that,” said Apple Bloom. “Hey, Sweetie, what do you reckon that is?”

“What?” Sweetie broke her embrace with Apple Bloom only to see her staring at the barn door. “What?” she asked again.

“I thought I saw—” A bright blue light flashed through the gap between the barn doors. “Something,” Apple Bloom said.

“Was that lightning?” asked Sweetie.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “No thunder—hey where are you going?”

“Come on, let’s see what’s going on out there!”

“Sweetie Belle, ugh! I swear,” Apple Bloom shouted as she followed after her towards the barn doors. She pushed past her and pushed the bar doors apart.

Sweetie’s jaw dropped at the sight before her. An eerie silence fell over the orchard as Sweetie walked out of the barn. Swirls of light and clouds circled the sky as it bathed the orchard in an unnatural blue light. A beam of pure energy shone in the center, blindingly bright.

“Sweetie!” Apple Bloom’s voice echoed. “Get away from that thing!”

A high-pitched note played with a constant pulse in her head. She stood there, frozen, no longer in the orchard, no longer in Equestria. She was nowhere. She was floating through a void. Only lights twinkling in the distance like stars gave her enough light to see herself.

Sweetie awoke with a gasp. Her head was throbbing. She found herself staring at a familiar set of lights above her. She knew where she was.

“Don’t move,” said a familiar voice. “Your body has been through severe trauma.”

Sweetie wasn’t sure she could move if she wanted to. She felt frozen in place on her side. A thick blanket covered her. Julian Bashir was behind her, pulling on her hind leg. It didn’t hurt; it tingled. Sweetie smiled as she set her head back on the pillow.

“Whainquestria happened,” she mumbled.

“Sorry?” asked Julian. His voice was far away.

Sweetie tried to speak again, but found it difficult to form words with her mouth. She felt so light and had difficulty focusing.

“Ask me later,” he said. “You have quite an unusual cocktail of drugs in your system. You weren’t supposed to wake up at all. But… Your unique physiology makes it difficult to find the right medications. I had to get… creative. Now, please try not to move and relax.”

“I’m in good hooves,” Sweetie mumbled.

“That’s right,” said Julian.

Sweetie drifted in and out of consciousness. What was happening she couldn’t tell. She remembered seeing Julian in a red gown that covered everything except his eyes. She couldn’t be certain that was real as she also moved in and out of the void.

When she finally came to, she found herself lying on the same bed. The blanket had been replaced with a lighter one. She felt good—really good. A goofy smile crept across her face as she sat up. Her head seemed to float on a cloud as she slumped back into the bed with a laugh.

“What did you do to me, Julian?” she sang out.

Sweetie heard footsteps approaching from behind. She rolled over to face whoever was approaching.

“Looks like you’re feeling better,” said Julian.

“Uh-huh,” said Sweetie with a wide grin.

“Maybe feeling a little too good,” he muttered. He waved his tricorder over her. “Looks like a few drugs are still present.” He pressed a few more buttons. “Hmm. Well, it’s being metabolized, but at a slow rate.

“Our normal medications wouldn’t have worked on you. I had to concoct a few so I could operate.”

Sweetie smiled as she rocked her head from side to side. “Operate on me? Why?”

“Your right hind leg was shattered. You had several bruises and cuts, and you had a serious concussion.”

“My leg broke? I don’t remember that,” said Sweetie. She looked at herself. Everything looked fine.

“You were already unconscious. After you hit your head, your shield fell. A pretty heavy piece of rubble fell right on your leg. There was nothing I could have done to stop it.

“I put you into a coma to protect your brain functions; then I put you into stasis to prevent any further internal bleeding. I triaged several patients. Then I got to work on you. Figuring out what was going to work for you was the hardest part. “

Julian sat down in a chair next to Sweetie. He looked exhausted. His forehead had a sheen of sweat on it and his eyes drooped with heavy bags under them.

“Thank you,” said Sweetie. She reached over to Bashir, wrapping her forelegs around his shoulders, hugging him tight. She nuzzled into his face before pulling back.

“Really,” said Julian, looking slightly flustered. “I ought to be thanking you. If you hadn't done that shield, we both wouldn’t be here.”

Sweetie smiled. “I can’t believe I was even able to cast it with how hurt I was. Something in me said I could do it though…

“So what happened anyway? Why did everything start exploding?”

Julian shook his head. “You will have to ask Jadzia or—” Julian yawned, “or anyone who was at Ops. I had my hands full.”

“You need rest,” said Sweetie.

“I just need a minute to catch my breath. I still have a patient,” he said looking at Sweetie with a warm smile.

“And you did such an amazing job. I don’t know any doctor who could do this! My leg isn’t even in a cast! It’s fully healed. What sort of ma—technology could do that? I don’t know.

“But, I do know that you won’t be able to do these things when you’re exhausted.”

Julian smiled and shook his head with a chuckle. “You are absolutely correct.” He stood up and set a hand on her shoulder patting her. “You would make a good doctor, you know.” He scanned her again with his tricorder. This time he moved it very slowly from her head down to her hindquarters.

“Me? A doctor?” Sweetie laughed a little. “What are you doing?” asked Sweetie as she watched him work. “I thought you were going to get rest?”

Julian smiled. “I’m giving my patient one last exam before I discharge her from the infirmary.”

Sweetie watched him move around the infirmary checking various screens. Some of them displayed graphs and chemical compounds, but she couldn’t tell what they were referring to. She couldn’t imagine studying medicine in this environment, but she was certain she could advance medicine in Equestria quicker than any pony in history with a few days of study under Julian.

“This is interesting,” he said quietly. “Sweetie, your horn… does it hurt?”

She didn’t feel anything. She fired some green sparks out of her horn as a quick test. “It feels fine, why?”

“It’s the most curious thing,” Julian said as he walked back over. “It had several micro fractures in it when you were first knocked out. The nerve endings were very complex; far more complex than I thought. I couldn’t think of a way to repair the damage. Except now it’s completely healed. Everything looks like it did when I first examined you.”

Sweetie shrugged. “I-I don’t know. I’ve never had an injury to my horn. I never experienced feedback to a shield spell like that either. But… I never used it to block heavy objects falling on me.”

“Hmmm, I want to perform a quick test on it if you don’t mind.”

“Um, okay,” said Sweetie.

Sweetie’s eyes crossed when Julian reached for her horn with his hand. Her whole body twitched as his fingers ran the length of her horn. She shuddered. “Yep! Everything is good!”

Julian quickly pulled his hand away.

Sweetie was breathing heavily as her body tingled. She gave Julian a questioning look. “I-I guess I should have told you before… unicorn horns are very sensitive.”

“I was aware of that. That’s why I was gentle,” said Julian. “Clearly I wasn’t gentle enough.”

“No, you were.” Sweetie’s face went bright red. “Unicorn horns are sensitive.” She emphasized her last word.

“Yes I understand that—”

“No, you don’t,” Sweetie cut across.

Julian frowned. “What am I missing?”

Sweetie sighed as the heat in her face intensified. “We use our horns to channel magic. They also have a few… other uses too.” She hoped she wouldn’t have to elaborate further. Doing so would feel like she was telling on herself more than explaining pony sexuality.

It was Julian’s turn to look embarrassed. “I-I um… Sweetie Belle, please accept my sincerest apologies.”

Sweetie’s blush subsided to hints of red in her cheeks. “Don’t worry about it too much. You had no way of knowing our horns are… versatile.”

Sweetie rolled out of bed. She swayed a little, still feeling some of the drugs in her system. She hugged a rather stunned-looking Julian. “I’m not mad if that helps,” she said. He simply stood there motionless. “It’s okay, you can hug me back.” She giggled. Reluctantly, Julian returned her hug.

“So noted for future instances, but hopefully you don’t end up back here in critical condition. Perhaps in the future, you can show me the correct way to examine your horn.” He patted her back as she released him.

“It’s not something you’re able to do without magic. I don’t know exactly how it’s done either,” said Sweetie.

Julian shrugged. “Sweetie Belle, you are a never-ending enigma. One day, I will unlock all of the secrets… but right now I feel you are right. I need rest. Why don’t I escort you to Jadzia’s quarters on my way to my room?”

Sweetie nodded with a smile.

“Oh, and Garak stopped by and left this for you.” Julian pointed to two satchel bags beside her bed. They were made of a canvas material and bright white with pink stitching. The straps were also pink and fastened with a brass buckle. The center strap was white with pink piping on the edges and padding on the underside.

“Wow, this is really good!” Sweetie levitated it over her back. It fit her perfectly. She would never admit it out loud, but it was more comfortable on her back than the saddlebags Rarity made for her. “I’m not just saying that either. Ponies would pay a lot of money for something like this.”

“Speaking of enigmas… Garak is an interesting one. I love a good mystery and so does Garak. We fancy ourselves spies in our free time. On the holosuite, of course.” His tone shifted from whimsical to stern. “Anyway, I want you to rest for the rest of the day and light activity for the next few days. Your body went through a great deal of trauma.”

Sweetie nodded. She wasn’t tracking his story about Garak or spying. She was having trouble focusing. She felt fine, maybe a little lightheaded still. She wasn’t sure how much pain was being masked by the drugs still kicking.

“If you need to talk to someone about everything you’ve seen,” Julian continued, “I’m willing to listen. Or if you’d prefer a counselor, I know a few to recommend… your mental health is important too.”

It was something she hadn’t considered, and she had no idea who to talk to except Jadzia. It was sweet of Julian to offer that, but she wasn’t sure if she was comfortable talking to him that way. She certainly didn’t want to talk to a stranger. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She followed Julian into the Promenade. To her amazement, it wasn’t as damaged as she last saw it. The upper level had been repaired in the two places it collapsed. Most of the shops had reopened, and people moved about like normal. In the distance, she spotted Miles with a team working on repairing the damage to one of the shops.

A sense of dread fell over Sweetie as she realized a lot of time had gone by. She stopped and looked around. Everything looked normal, and that left her anxious.

“Julian,” she said, trotting to catch up to him, “how long was I out?”

“Almost four days,” he replied. “We had mass casualties. Some… didn’t make it.” Julian lowered his head.

Sweetie stopped as chills traveled down her body. People had died. She lost four days. How could everyone here simply go about their business again? “What could do this?” she said to herself.

“It never gets easier,” he said with a soft voice. “As a doctor, maintaining professional detachment is never easy. Especially in a triage situation… Medical school never truly prepares you for this.” He placed a hand behind Sweetie’s ears, brushing his hand through her mane.

Sweetie gave Julian her best sympathetic look. Neither one spoke as she followed him back to Jadzia’s room. She couldn’t help feeling this was all her fault somehow.

He let her into the room. Jadzia wasn't there. She thanked Julian one more time before the door closed. She placed her new saddlebags on the table and flung herself across the couch, stretching out. There was some stiffness in her hind leg as she stretched. Whatever Julian had given her was finally starting to wear off.

She pulled her hind leg up over her head, feeling the stretch. Then she pushed it away, fullying extending it. “Ooh, yeah, that’s gonna hurt for a bit.”

After her stretches, she went over to the food replicator. “Time to figure out how this thing works… How did Jadzia do this? Oh yeah.

“Computer, four pieces of toast with apple butter, one large salad topped with daisies, and a glass of cold water.” She was quite pleased to see she did it right when two plates and a glass of water appeared. “As long as I don’t have to actually cook anything…I think I like this thing.” She made a note to ask Jadzia how to teach it to make hay burgers.

After eating, she took a sonic shower, which helped her relax. She tried a few hair products, hoping Jadzia wouldn’t mind. One helped her mane stay detangled; it had a very sweet floral smell.

Feeling clean, smelling good, and hunger-sated, Sweetie decided to crash on Jadzia’s bed to clear her mind. It was much softer than the infirmary beds, and the blankets were cozy. She missed her bed. She missed having Apple Bloom to snuggle up with on a sleepover. She missed home.

It was quite some time before Jadzia came in. Sweetie lay there as she heard her moving around in the other room. She felt a pang of guilt for leaving her dirty dishes sitting on the replicator. She forgot which button to press to send everything back in.

The bedroom door opened, and Jadzia stood in the threshold. She had already changed out of her uniform and into a silky night dress. “Sweetie Belle? Are you awake?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

Jadzia took a seat on the bed next to her. Sweetie welcomed her presence and inched closer. “Julian mentioned you would be sent home—back here today. How are you feeling? I see you had something to eat.”

“I-I don’t know how I’m feeling,” she answered truthfully. “Sorry, I left a mess. I forgot how to send it back into the replicator.”

“That’s alright. I will show you how tomorrow.

“You’ve been through a lot. You showed a remarkable amount of courage. Commander Sisko, Benjamin, wants to talk to you tomorrow if you’re up to it. Everyone is impressed by what you did. It was very brave.”

Sweetie felt a tear run down her cheek as her eyes watered.

“Hey, it’s okay, Sweetie,” she said.

“Jadzia… did I, did I somehow cause all of this?” asked Sweetie. Her heart was pounding as she tried to clear her eyes.

“No. You didn’t cause this. Why would you think that?” asked Jadiza. She sounded deeply concerned. “Sweetie, do you even know what happened?”

Sweetie shook her head. “No. But everything started exploding right after I teleported back to the lower level after talking to those two weird people on the upper level.”

“I assure you that was a coincidence,” said Jadzia.

A slight wave of relief washed over Sweetie. Her mind returned to the people who didn’t make it, to the bodies she saw on the floor. She felt sick thinking about it. She couldn’t get the image out of her mind. “If I didn’t cause this then who did?”

“Well, it’s not a person who caused this. At least we see no evidence of that.

“What happened was tetryon particles started building up around the station. We couldn’t figure out where they were coming from, but we figured out why they were forming around the station. In cargo bay two, where you showed up, was a large quantity of benomite crystals. They are rare and often used in quantum experiments. They also have a way of attracting subspace particles if they reach a certain intensity. That’s how you ended up here. These crystals pulled you out of subspace.

“Except we didn’t know that before accepting another order of benomite crystals. When I was called to Ops it was because the tetryon particles were building up again. We tried many different things to remove the particles. Miles O’Brien had the solution. A tetryon lightning rod. It would channel them all off into space and away from us. Except we didn’t have enough time to build it. They had reached critical mass. Unlike last time, when it was all confined in the cargo bay, they were everywhere. We beamed the cargo into space, away from the station hoping it would pull those particles away before they destroyed the station. Which it did… Unfortunately, they destabilized as they were pulled away.”

“Where were all of the tetryons coming from if these crystals were pulling them in?” asked Sweetie.

Jadzia shook her head. “We are still investigating that. But the good news is, we built Chief O’Brien’s tetryon lightning rod, so this won’t happen again. All charged particles will be fired off into space, far away from us.”

Jadzia rubbed Sweetie’s shoulder. “You had nothing to do with it. It’s the same anomaly that brought you here.” Jadzia took a deep breath as she continued petting Sweetie’s shoulder. “I forgot to set up a second bedroom for you. I was thinking I would partition part of the main room for you. It will get done tomorrow, I suppose.”

“Jadzia,” said Sweetie in a sleepy voice. “You don’t have to sleep on the couch.”

“Sweetie, that’s sweet of you. I will be alright.”

“Please,” said Sweetie. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Sweetie watched as Jadzia put a hand to her chest. “Okay. Just for tonight.” As soon as Jadzia had gotten into bed, Sweetie snuggled up to her, wrapping her forelegs around her, holding her tight. She let the tears flow as Jadzia held her in return. Once she started crying, she couldn’t stop.

“It’s alright,” Jadzia whispered. “Get it all out.”

Sweetie Belle was stretched out on a blanket. The breeze was refreshing on a hot summer day. In the distance, she heard the screams of excited colts and fillies playing in the lake. School would start soon, and Sweetie was already reading her copy of Advanced Magic.

“The easiest way to find Sweetie Belle is to find the only pony not having fun at the lake,” said a familiar voice.

Sweetie sat her book down. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had arrived. Both of them had brought towels and a picnic basket.

“I was only waiting for you two,” said Sweetie. Which was half true. She didn’t really want to do the picnic or go to the lake. She figured she could get some sun and read for a little if she got there early.

“Who brings a textbook to the lake?” asked Scootaloo. The very notion offended her.

“Our Sweetie Belle does,” answered Apple Bloom. “Come on, let's swim for a little and then have a picnic. I snuck some of the good cider out of the cellar.”

“Oh good!” Scootaloo grinned.

“You two go on ahead. I think I’ll stay here and get some sun.” Sweetie laid back, putting her sunglasses on.

“Ugh, just like Rarity. Doesn’t want to even get wet.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“Oh I get wet,” said Sweetie with a smirk.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both laughed.

“Geez, Sweetie, you still in estrus or what?” asked Scootaloo.

“Throw her in the lake. That will cool her off,” said Apple Bloom.

Before Sweetie could react both of her friends had taken her by the hind legs and dragged her towards the water. She kicked her legs in protest, but they were stronger than her.

“One soaking wet unicorn, coming up!” Apple Bloom shouted. Sweetie screamed as she was pulled into the shallow water.

Sweetie swung her foreleg, splashing both of them. They splashed back as they giggled. Sweetie grinned as her horn lit up. Two jets of water shot up straight into Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s face.

“Ahh! Sweetie! That’s cheating!” Apple Bloom cried as she shielded her face while splashing frantically.

“Shouldn’t have dragged me in here.” Sweetie grinned. She dropped the jets of water. Instead, she called up a huge column of water behind them. It rose above their heads and then came crashing down on all of them.

“Okay, that one was pretty cool,” admitted Scootaloo.

“How about this one?” Sweetie created thin walls of water around them. Water continued to climb up, droplets started to rain down on them.

“That feels nice,” said Apple Bloom.

Sweetie released her spell and the remaining rain fell on them.

They swam around for a while. Sweetie continued using her magic to manipulate the water. She used a new spell she learned to push water away from her. After a few attempts, she sent a wall of water towards the sore. The wall curled over crashing back into the lake. Several large waves followed after.

“I should have brought a surfboard,” said Scootaloo as she rode the swells in the water.

“Picnic?” asked Sweetie. She was panting. Her legs felt heavy as she walked onto the shore. She shook, flinging water everywhere. She was happy she didn’t lose her sunglasses in the lake. Again.

“Yeah okay,” said Apple Bloom as she leaped out of the water. “Then we are swimming after.”

“You just want to get me wet again.” Sweetie winked.

Apple Bloom laughed while Scootaloo smirked.

“Maybe you two should take this to the barn later.” Scootaloo nudged Apple Bloom who rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of barns… Did Applejack review my idea?” asked Sweetie.

“She sure did. She seemed impressed.” Apple Bloom smiled. “I think they are going to do it.”

“Really?” Sweetie flopped onto her blanket. “That’s great news!”

Sweetie awoke with a smile and dry and itchy eyes. Jadzia was still there. She had rolled over and was facing away from her, but Sweetie was certain she was still asleep. With no idea if it was late at night or early morning, she lay there awake, thinking.

She believed what sent her to DS9 was a magical accident, but Jadzia made it all sound like a random anomaly. It was luck that they had those crystals that brought her here. Pure coincidence. She wasn’t sure she liked the notion of the universe being so… random. If Ponies were part of this universe, did that mean Celestia created order out of chaos in her small corner? How big was this universe anyway?

Sweetie rolled over to her other side to take the weight off her injured leg. As soon as she did, Jadzia rolled over too. “I didn’t realize you were awake.” She pulled Sweetie close to her, spooning her.

Sweetie smiled as she let Jadzia hold her. “I thought you were still asleep,” she muttered.

Jadzia ran her fingers through Sweetie’s mane. “You’re so soft and—did you use my hair conditioner?”

Sweetie hesitated. “I’m sorry. I should have asked. I wanted to see if it would help keep my mane from tangling.”

“You should have asked," Jadzia muttered. However, Sweetie could tell her tone was playful. “Since you smell so good and your mane is soft, I think we can overlook this infraction."

Sweetie grinned. Jadzia had moved from stroking her mane to petting her neck. She let the sensations lull her into a stupor.

“Is this what you ponies do?” asked Jadzia.

“Yeah, sometimes we like to snuggle. Don’t you?” Sweetie stretched, snuggling deeper into Jadzia’s arms.

“I think I do…” Jadzia replied. “My culture doesn’t have anything like this… not with friends.”

Music filled the room. Sweetie couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but she lay there letting the chant-like melody soothe her. “That’s pretty.” She hummed along with the melody; it was quite simple. “Oh, nice counterpoint.” Sweetie sang an octave higher.

“You have a nice voice. This is the Klingon victory song,” Jadzia said.

“Thanks,” Sweetie replied. She sang a few more notes as the melody repeated. “Why is it playing?”

“It’s my alarm, silly,” said Jadzia. “Computer, turn off the alarm.”

The music stopped, and the usual hum of technology filled Sweetie’s ears.

“Time to get up,” said Jadzia.

“Do we have to?” asked Sweetie with a groan.

“Yep,” Jadzia replied. “Come on, out of bed.” She threw the covers off and rolled out of bed.

Sweetie shivered at the instant coolness of having the covers so brazenly tossed aside and not having Jadzia snuggled against her. With her magic, she grabbed the covers and pulled them back over her.

Jadzia laughed. “That is a good use for that.”

Sweetie grinned. She sighed and rolled out of bed. “Alright, I’m up,” she said. “I’m hungry, and I want more of that coffee stuff.”

The rest of the morning passed quickly. Jadzia introduced Sweetie to a whole grain porridge and a Klingon coffee drink called a Raktajino. A rather bold-tasting coffee with lots of spices. She decided it was even more sensory overload than regular coffee, but she found it much tastier at the same time.

She brought Jadzia up to speed on her encounter with Garak and how she got the saddlebags from him. Jadzia didn’t say much except that Garak was a mysterious individual with knowledge of many topics; he was certainly more than a simple tailor. What really got Jadzia’s attention was Sweetie’s recounting of the strange person by the window.

“He disappeared?” she asked. Her face had a serious expression.

Sweetie nodded. “He had specific knowledge of our philosophy. He even mentioned Twilight. How could he know these things? Why was he so familiar?” she asked that last question to herself more than to Jadzia.

“There’s only one entity I know of who could appear and disappear like that and who could have knowledge like that. His name is Q. He is a notorious individual with seemingly unlimited control of space and time, and he seems particularly intent on causing chaos wherever he appears.”

“Chaos…” Sweetie mumbled to herself. Of course— “Discord!” she squeaked.

“Discord?” asked Jadzia.

“That’s what we call him. It was him, I know it! He might look like one of you here, but that voice… There's no mistaking it.” Sweetie bounced around. “This is great! He can send me home!”

“I see your world has had the pleasure of dealing with him too,” Jadzia muttered, ignoring Sweetie’s exuberance.

“He loves us ponies,” she replied. “Discord! Q! Whatever you’re called here. I know you can hear me!” Sweetie called out. “Help a filly out! Do it for Fluttershy!” After a long quiet moment, Discord did not appear. Sweetie deflated. “Maybe he doesn’t love us ponies…”

“I’m sure he does…” Jadzia hesitated. “In his own way. Q is not a well-understood entity. One thing is certain, though, they do not respond to our whims or demands. If he wants to talk to you, he will appear for you.”

Sweetie sighed. Jadzia was right, of course. Getting Discord to do anything usually involved Fluttershy. She was the only pony he truly loved. “He was a real terror in Equestria. Celestia and Luna imprisoned him for a while. He broke out…He was a terror again.”

Jadzia seemed extremely shocked by what Sweetie had said. “How did anyone manage to capture him?”

Sweetie shrugged. “Celestia is extremely powerful. She has to be to keep the chaotic magic in balance. She and Luna used the elements of harmony to turn him to stone. Then Twilight, my sister Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy used the elements to capture him again. Then he was given a second, or third, chance. Fluttershy reformed him. He’s still chaotic, but he no longer torments us ponies or anyone else.”

“And you’re sure this Discord is also Q?” asked Jadzia.

Sweetie shook her head. “No, not really. I know Discord can go anywhere and look like anyone. Maybe Q is another being like Discord. I’m not sure. It’s his voice though… that’s all I have to go on.”

“Q is also capable of those things. It’s something to keep in mind if he reappears.

“Let’s get going before we are late.”

Jadzia led Sweetie to a part of the station she hadn’t seen yet, a place called the wardroom. It was a very long room with several windows looking into space. In the middle was a conference table where several Starfleet people sat around. Sweetie recognized most of them. There was a rather peculiar person in a tan uniform with a face that seemed like it was carved from wax. He had a serious demeanor on his face that did not change when she entered the room, unlike the others there, who smiled at her.

“This shouldn’t take long. Commander Sisko will talk to you after this meeting,” Jadzia whispered as she strode toward the table.

Sweetie nodded and took to standing in the back of the room. She felt awkward there while everyone sat around a conference table. She wasn’t sure what else to do. She sat on her haunches and listened in on whatever this meeting was all about hoping not to draw too much more attention to herself.

“Sorry I’m late,” said Jadzia, taking the last available seat at the table.

“Jadzia! Aren’t you going to invite Sweetie Belle to sit at the table?” asked Kira.

“Oh, yeah. Sweetie, you can come over here,” said Jadzia. “There’s no need to hide back there.”

“Here you can have my seat, dear,” said Kira. “I would rather stand anyway.”

The chairs weren’t designed for ponies which presented a slight challenge for Sweetie to get into. She rose on her hind legs while placing her forelegs on the seat. There wasn’t enough room for her to jump up and turn around. Her face grew hot as she felt all eyes on her.

“Need a hand?” asked Kira.

Sweetie, not wanting to make this a bigger scene than it already was, panicked. She concentrated on her mark, envisioned herself rotating 180 degrees, and with a flash of pale green light she disappeared and then reappeared sitting in the chair facing the table.

“Quite impressive,” said the person in the tan uniform. He had a gravelly-sounding voice. “I’m Constable Odo, chief of security on this station.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sweetie replied. He gave her a curt nod.

“Alright, everyone,” began Commander Sisko, “let’s get started. Sweetie Belle, thank you for joining us.” He turned to Kira. “Major, do you have any information on that resonance frequency?”

“Traces of it have been detected in different sectors. Unfortunately, these sectors aren’t close to each other. No one can find a point of origin.” Kira took a breath before throwing her hand in the air. “I’ve never seen anything like this. The places it’s been detected don’t line up or give any clues where it’s coming from.”

“Alright, keep looking,” said Sisko. “Chief, how are repairs coming?”

“All major systems have been restored. All pylons and the docking ring are operational. All that’s left are the secondary systems on the Promenade,” said Miles. “Oh, and there’s one other thing. I heard from a friend of mine back on Earth that the ship that departed here six days ago went missing in the Badlands. It wasn’t destroyed. It’s just gone.”

“The USS Voyager,” said Odo. “I was looking into that too. It was going after Maquis raiders. It’s possible the ship was commandeered by the Maquis. Or badly damaged in the plasma storms.”

“I thought so too,” said Miles. “However what my friend told me was that there was a Vulcan science vessel only a half a light year away from the Badlands that day. They detected a massive wave of tetryons that swept through the Badlands.”

Sweetie perked up at the mention of tetryons. She wasn’t the only one. Jadzia too became very interested.

“Chief, are you saying Voyager was destroyed by a wave of tetryons around the same time Sweetie Belle appeared on the station in an explosion of tetryons? Asked Jadzia.

“There’s no evidence of Voyager’s destruction. They were in the Badlands chasing Maquis. Their shields were probably up. It’s possible the wave pushed them somewhere. They might simply be off course by a few light years. But yes it is a strange coincidence these two events involving tetryons behaving unusually are so close together.”

“I think there’s something bigger going on here,” said Julian. “We have a tetyron wave which cannot exist naturally. The resonance frequency that’s popping up all over the quadrant with no rhyme or reason. Tetryon bombardment a few days ago… it’s as if subspace itself is coming apart.”

“Not coming apart,” corrected Miles, “but there are large holes it seems.”

“Alright,” said Sisko, “Major, find out about this Vulcan science vessel. Any information you can get from them. Chief, see what else you can learn from these resonance signals after you complete your repairs. This concludes the briefing. We all have our jobs. Now we turn one last item before everyone is dismissed.” Sisko stood up and walked to the front of the room. He commanded so much presence as he walked.

“Attention to award,” he said in a stern voice. Everyone got out of their chairs, standing up straight. Sweetie quickly slid out of her chair.

“Sweetie,” Kira hissed. She beckoned her to come forward frantically with her arm.

She walked to Kira’s side only to be redirected to Sisko. She stopped right in front of him. Her heart was pounding. She gulped as she looked up at him.

“In recognition of our newest guest of the United Federation of Planets aboard Deep Space Nine, it is my honor and pleasure to present Sweetie Belle with the Starfleet Medal of Commendation for her heroic acts of bravery in saving the life of a fellow officer. Her actions led to the saving of the chief medical officer which prevented over fifty casualties and serious injuries during a critical moment. Sweetie Belle acted selflessly. Her actions were in keeping with the highest traditions in Starfleet and The United Federation Of Planets.”

Sisko presented her with a bronze medal on a blue ribbon with a white stripe in the middle. He hung it around her neck and then held out his hand.

Sweetie stood there transfixed. Her face was beet red. She stared at his hand, unsure what to do.

“You have to fist bump her hoof, Benjamin,” said Jadzia.

Sisko curled his hand up and Sweetie quickly bumped her hoof against it. She was very aware that she was shaking slightly. Her breathing was shallow.

Everyone clapped.

“Dismissed,” said Sisko. He turned to Sweetie with a softer expression. “Congratulations.”

“T-thank you,” Sweetie replied.

“Congratulations, Sweetie,” said Julian. “You have to be one of the only non-Starfleet persons to ever get such an award. It looks quite good on you too. I’m glad Starfleet agreed with me on this matter—”

“Alright, Julian,” Miles grumbled. “What he means is he put you in for the award.” He held out his fist and bumped it against Sweetie’s hoof. “Congrats, Sweetie.” Miles leaned in closer. “If Julian starts talking too much, can you use that trick of yours to send him back to his room?”

Sweetie let out a snort and giggled. Julian did talk a lot. She found him interesting and his accent was smooth as apple butter.

Everyone else came over to say their congrats. They learned quickly to fist bump her hoof. Last, Jadzia gave her a big hug. “It was hard to keep quiet about this.” She smirked.

There was a beep as a female voice sounded through the air. “Doctor Bashir, please report to the infirmary. There’s something here you need to see.”

Julian tapped the silver star on his uniform. “On my way.”

“How does that work?” Sweetie asked Jadzia.

“It’s the comm system in the station. With these comm badges, we are able to call anyone in the station who has one.”

“So it’s like a radio?” asked Sweetie.

Jadzia held up her hand in a sort of shrug pose. “Similar yes. The comm system is much more advanced than a simple radio. The computer can track the comm badges, and they can be configured to send out coded messages.”

“That does sound advanced,” Sweetie agreed. “So, what is the computer?”

Jadzia sighed. “I was afraid you were going to ask that.”

Sweetie grinned. “I know you can ask it to turn off the lights… and an alarm, and tell it to make food.”

“Yes, it can do those things and much more. I will explain it more tonight, but the quick definition is a computer calculates information at really fast speeds. It can do several tasks simultaneously, and it uses logical decision-making models to do those functions.”

“But how does it do that?” asked Sweetie.

“Math,” replied Jadzia. “Complicated math.”

Sweetie grimaced. “I had a feeling…”

Jadzia frowned. “I thought you liked math.”

“Eh,” began Sweetie, “I’m good at it, and I’m good at applying it, but like it?” She shrugged.

“Sounds like it comes too easy to you, “ Jadzia remarked. “Tell you what: tonight I will show you some basic computing and programming—”

Julian’s voice interrupted her from her comm badge. “Bashir to Lieutenant Dax. Could you and Sweetie come by the infirmary?”

Jadzia tapped her comm badge. “We’re on our way.”

Sweetie gave Jadzia a questioning look as she followed her out. Jadzia simply shrugged, and Sweetie took that to mean she didn’t know what Julian wanted either.

She was pleased she didn’t have to rely on Jadzia to guide her to the infirmary. She was finally getting the layout of the station. With her track record, knowing where the infirmary was located, was a good thing.

In the infirmary, Sweetie was shocked to see Odo and Commander Sisko there too. Sweetie felt apprehensive. They were talking in low voices, and Julian shushed them as soon as Jadzia and Sweetie entered.

“Ah good, Sweetie,” said Julian. He was unusually tense. The smoothness in his voice was gone; he spoke with trepidation. “I apologize for this. But you are the only one who can help us with… well… there’s no point in deploying any longer.”

She followed Julian past everyone else. The quiet was deafening. She swore everyone on the station could hear the soft clump of each hoof-fall. He led her to a bed with a thick blanket similar to the one she had been covered with not long ago. Like her, this blanket was covering someone.

Her heart was pounding. A new sensation was forming in her stomach as she got closer. She was not ready to see what lay beneath that blanket. She could not fathom why they needed her to see what was beneath it either.

Julian grabbed the blanket and pulled it back. Sweetie gasped and then let out an ear-piercing scream as she frantically backed away. “No!” she shrieked. “No!” she sobbed.

Julian rushed forward, grabbing her around the shoulders. “It’s alright! You’re alright! Take a deep breath. Look at me.”

Sweetie tore her eyes away looked into Julian’s eyes and nodded.

“Do you know who that is? Can you identify that pony?”

Sweetie’s eyes went wide with terror as she shook her head. “Don’t know,” she cried. “Don’t know him.”

“Come with me. Nice and easy,” said Julian. He gently nudged her forward. “I know this is very unpleasant. You are the only one here who can help.”

On the bed lay a brown earth pony stallion with a black mane and tail. His eyes were closed and his mouth was open. He was completely motionless. As Sweetie got closer she felt a coldness coming off him. But she knew from the second she saw him that he was dead.

Prophets and Illusions

Her heart was pounding. She was certain everyone in the infirmary could hear it. She let out a slow shaky breath as she walked around the bed. She shivered as she looked at the stallion. His coat was a deep brown, almost chocolate color. His mane and tail were tar-black; Sweetie saw streaks of gray mixed into his mane.

“What happened to him?” asked Sweetie. She finished her walk-around and sat on her haunches.

There was a long deafening silence before Julian stepped forward. “We think he showed up during the last tetryon bombardment. He was found floating in space not far from the station.”

Sweetie’s jaw fell open as tears welled up in her eyes. Pangs shot through her chest. She couldn’t imagine a worse fate than being whisked away to nothingness one day.

She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. “I-I don’t know who this is.”

“That’s okay,” said Julian. “What can you tell me about him?”

“Well…” said Sweetie. She took a few more deep breaths. “He’s an earth pony. He looks about middle-aged. He doesn’t look as strong as some of the farm ponies, and his hooves look too well-maintained for him to be a farm pony.” She looked at his hindquarters. “His cutie mark is a pickaxe. So maybe he did something related to mining. Or he was a geologist. Or maybe a cave explorer… I don’t know. Cutie marks are hard to interpret when there’s no magic flowing from them.” Sweetie hung her head.

Julian put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said. “What does earth pony mean exactly? I see he doesn’t have a horn like you do.”

“The name might be outdated,” said Sweetie. “Traditionally, these ponies were stout and strong. They had the natural ability to make crops grow in places that were barely suitable for them. They have great intuition on soils and crop planting rotations.

“Now? Earth ponies do a variety of occupations. Most of them do not work with crops or farming anymore. They cannot channel magic like a unicorn. They sort of feel things through the earth.” Sweetie sighed. “I guess. I’m not an earth pony. It’s hard for me to understand it.”

“Thank you,” said Julian. “Normally the next steps would be to perform an autopsy unless your people have any special burial requirements.”

Sweetie shook her head. “I don’t know… those things depend on where he came from. Usually, ponies are buried in the ground so they can return to the soil. But he is not on Equus so…” Sweetie shrugged.

“We can keep him in the morgue until we find your home,” said Julian.

“Benjamin,” said Jadzia. She had a pensive look on her face. “It’s possible more of Sweetie’s people are out there. Each of those holes in subspace has the potential to do what happened here, twice.”

“One thing is certain, Lieutenant. Chief O’Brien will have to rethink his tetryon lightning rod,” said Odo.

“I think I have a solution for that,” said Jadia. “We could build a tetryon collector. The next time there’s a build-up it can be collected in a shielded room.”

“Very well,” said Sisko. “I will speak with the chief on building that. Meanwhile, I want you and Major Kira to look into these subspace holes and figure out the most likely places Sweetie’s people might be displaced.”

“What should I do?” asked Sweetie.

Sisko shrugged. “Whatever you like.”

“I can help,” Sweetie insisted.

“Major Kira and I will be looking at sensor data and star charts. It’s not very interesting, but you are welcome to hang out,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie hung her head dejected. “No, that’s alright. I will probably be in the way.”

“Sweetie, when we find a location, I promise I will take you with me so you are there to meet any more of your kind. A familiar face might make their transition easier.”

“Okay,” Sweetie said. She returned to the Promenade where she wandered. She spotted Miles working in the distance. He had a panel open with several cables and hoses exposed. Figuring she could help, or at the very least, learn something, she approached. Anything to get the image of the earth pony stallion out of her mind.

However as she approached she realized the area Miles was working in, and her eyes were drawn to the ceiling. Her body trembled as she stopped in her tracks.

“Hello, Sweetie,” said Miles. “Can I help you with something?”

“N-no. I was just curious about the repairs,” said Sweetie. She quickly wiped cold sweat away from under her forelock.

“Oh, well come on over. I will show you what some of this stuff is.” Miles gestured with his hand.

“I think I’ll watch from here,” said Sweetie.

“You’re way over there. You aren’t going to see much being ten feet—I understand.” Miles walked right up to Sweetie. “I assure you it is quite safe. Safer! I increased structural integrity.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Come on. I promise you it will be alright.”

Sweetie allowed him to nudge her forward. She walked until she was in almost the exact spot before the ceiling collapsed on her and Julian. She looked up. Everything looked solid. “I’m sorry. I’m being foalish. I know it’s fine. Nothing is exploding or shaking.”

“No need to be sorry. It was a traumatic thing to happen. You aren’t the only one. Quite a few people aren’t going to the upper level right now. Some of them were trapped up there for hours. It’s because of you that Julian was able to get to them in time.”

Sweetie felt some relief with those facts. She was starting to wish people would stop bringing up how her saving Julian was heroic. She didn’t need the constant reminder that they were both seconds from death. She was glad he was okay after all of that; she wished she could say the same for the others and the earth pony stallion.

“If this is making you uncomfortable, I can show you something else,” said Miles.

Sweetie exhaled releasing some of the tension in her body. “I think I will be alright.”

She turned her attention to what Miles was doing. Now that she was looking properly, she saw he actually had several panels on the back wall open. “This looks… complicated.” Not only were there hoses and wires everywhere but there were steel pipes and several little gadgets that lit up and glowed different colors. “What can I do to help?” She grinned at him.

Miles chuckled. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but—” Miles held up a finger. “Actually, there is something you can help me with.” He walked over to one of the open panels in the wall. “Up in there is a bundle of fiber optic cables I can’t reach. Instead of me pulling apart this upper section of the wall, maybe you could use your ability to get it. It would save me hours of work.”

Sweetie smiled. “Sure,” she replied as she approached. ‘What’s a fiber optic cable?”

“They are cables that send information using light instead of electrical impulses,” said Miles. “If you look up in there you should see a thick black cable going into a circuit board.”

Sweetie stuck her head inside the wall and looked up. She lit her horn for extra light. She had no idea what a circuit board was, but she did see a thick black cable. “Is that it? It’s got a rectangle piece on the end that’s against that flat green thing.”

“Yes,” said Miles. “Okay, you will have to gently pull it back towards you to disconnect it. Then you should be able to pull it down.”

Sweetie focused her magic on the cable and pulled. It didn’t move. She pulled harder, but it remained unfazed.

“Stuck?” asked Miles. “Give it a yank. Don’t worry about breaking it. I’m replacing it anyways.”

Sweetie gave it an aggressive tug. The white piece flew out of the board and hit the wall with a clank. Sweetie grabbed it again and then pulled it down and out. As the cable came out she could see several clear thin little strands sticking out where the black casing of the cable had broken.

“Good job, Sweetie!” Miles patted her back. He picked up the cable and pulled it tight. With a small device in his hand, he held it up just before the broken part of the cable. A blue light came out of the end and cut the cable clean.

“Wow, what is that thing?” asked Sweetie.

“Laser torch,” said Miles. “This one isn’t very powerful. It’s great for cutting things like this. He inspected the white end of the part he cut off. “Nice job, you didn’t damage this connector. See if you can get it open and remove the cables inside so I can reuse it. I will mend this cable in the meantime.”

Sweetie examined the connector, but she didn’t see a way to open it. It looked solid, and it was made out of a material she couldn’t identify. She tried to pull the cable out from the back, but it wouldn’t budge. She was about to give up when she noticed a small tab on the corner. She had completely missed it, but she could see it was a clamp of some sort. Carefully, she pulled on the tab. To her utter surprise, it popped open. “Wow!” she exclaimed. Dozens of clear wires slid out, leaving the connector empty.

Miles looked impressed. “Very good! You might be an engineer. You figured that out quickly.”

Sweetie smiled. She was happy to have been helpful.

“Alright, watch this,” said Miles. He had the cable and a new cable inside a square device with many blinking lights. “This is going to fuse the fibers together.” After a second of it humming and beeping, Miles opened it revealing a single cable. It looked like it had never been broken. “Next, I will put the connector back on the end.”

“This is fun,” said Sweetie as she watched him set up the device again. A few seconds later the connector was back on.

‘Glad you think so,” said Miles. “Now for the fun part: putting this thing back. Now look carefully.” he showed her the end of the connector. “See how it's shaped. It will only go in one way. So don’t force it.”

Sweetie nodded. She grabbed the cable and returned to the wall. ‘Which way does it go?”

Miles shrugged. “I’m not sure. You’ll have to feel it.”

Sweetie looked up. She could see where it went. She could see the tall part was vertical, but which way? She pushed the connector against the opening. Nothing happened. She flipped it around but it still didn’t connect. Frowning, she flipped it around again, and it clicked into place.

“Brilliant,” said Miles. “Okay, you see those hooks in there? Along the wall. Just put the cable through those so it doesn’t hang there.”

Sweetie did that with ease. Miles inspected her work and seemed pleased. “What did that go to anyways?”

“It’s part of the holosuite imaging system,” said Miles as started putting panels back in place.

Something in Sweetie’s memory clicked. “Oh yeah, Jadzia never explained to me what that was.”

“I have to test the system after I put this stuff away.” Miles beamed. “You’re in for a treat.”

Sweetie eagerly followed Miles to the upper level. The first thing she noticed was the desolation. Sweetie had viewed the upper level as a place to retreat from the chaos of the Promenade and look out the window. But now it was eerie and quiet.

They crossed one of the bridges into Quark’s. Below Sweetie saw the gambling machines, and she remembered she had a free spin on them.

She followed Miles into the most unusual room she had seen yet. It was very large. It was completely empty. Sweetie would have figured it a large storage room if it weren’t for the yellow grid of paint against completely black walls.

“What in Equestria is this place?” Sweetie asked as the door behind her closed.

“You’ll see,” said Miles. He pushed some buttons on a console next to the door.

Sweetie was not prepared for what happened next. The room flickered and then disappeared completely. Instead, she found herself standing in an open field. In the distance rolling green hills gave way to tall blue mountains looming above. The sky was blue and the sun was beaming down upon her.

Sweetie stood there, transfixed. Everything felt real. The grass was damp and had that earthy smell. There was a softness in the ground and birds were chirping in the distance. She spun around. There were only rolling hills and tall trees in every direction.

“H-how?” she asked. Her first thought was the room somehow sent her to a different location. But it felt more like the room transformed into a different place. But was that possible? The place she was in was much bigger than the room.

“It’s a holographic projection,” said Miles. “The computer is creating all of this.”

“Projection? This place is bigger than where we just were. And I can smell the earth, feel the grass, and take in the sun. It almost feels like being… home.”

“The amount of space hasn’t changed. It’s all carefully concealed. The wall is still here.” Miles’ hand snapped against an invisible barrier. The air around it vibrated. For a second Sweetie caught a glimpse of a wall. It disappeared and the endless hills returned.

“This is amazing! Can it recreate my home?” asked Sweetie Belle.

Miles shrugged. “It probably can. You have to tell the computer how to generate it. I can help you do that if you want.”

“I-I don’t know if I should,” said Sweetie. “This is incredible, but it’s all an illusion, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” said Miles with a nod. “It’s very good at tricking you. It can create many possibilities and characters. You can play out your favorite novel here. It can also be used for some less than reputable reasons. Most of which Quark will sell to you.”

“You mean sex?” asked Sweetie.

Miles’ eyes went wide. “You certainly aren’t as innocent as you seem.” He laughed. “Yes, mostly stuff like that.”

“Innocent? I’m not a little filly.” Sweetie looked around. She was prepared to stay in this fantasy forever. Feeling the sun on her back was something she didn’t realize she missed. She turned back to Miles and smiled. ‘What else can this thing do?”

“Loads. Us engineers use it to test all sorts of ideas out to make sure they will work. We can feed lots of data into the computer and have it run various simulations to get percentages of outcomes. It’s been used to commit crimes, and it’s been used to solve them.”

“How does anyone not get addicted to this?”

“They do,” said Miles. “Holo addiction is a real thing. I knew a guy who had it.”

“This is magic beyond anything I could ever imagine—sorry technology. We have nothing even close to this.”

“It’s quite impressive, yes,” said Miles. ‘We didn’t always have this. Technology like this took humans thousands of years to invent.”

“Still,” said Sweetie, “This is beyond our comprehension. Princess Twilight is probably the smartest pony living, and I doubt even she could understand this.

“Like we understand projections. I can do that.” Sweetie’s horn lit up. A projection of a yellow pony with a red mane and tale appeared, floating and rotating slowly. “But making an entire setting like this? And doing it without magic? No way.”

Miles studied the slowly rotating pony. She had a beautiful long-flowing mane with a pink bow behind her head. “Is this Princess Twilight?” asked Miles.

Sweetie shook her head and dropped the projection. “That’s Apple Bloom. She’s…” Sweetie looked down feeling a pain in her chest. “She’s special to me.” She sighed. “I don’t think I can project Twilight. Projections like this come from a special place in a unicorn’s heart.”

Miles gave an understanding smile. “Computer, end program.”

The black and yellow grid room returned leaving Sweetie feeling deflated.

“When I get some holosuite time, you are welcome to join me and see what other programs are like. But now I must inform Quark his holosuites are working again.” Miles patted her shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I’d love to show you how all of this works, but small steps. Learn the basics.”

Sweetie nodded. “The computer can replicate food, various items, and entire realities,” she muttered. “The holosuite and the replicator are similar aren’t they?”

“You keep impressing me, Sweetie. Yes, they work on the same principles. The holosuite uses patterns to create projections of real things. It uses forcefields to make those things tangible.”

Sweetie gave a weak smile as she followed Miles out of the holosuite. She thanked Miles for everything, and not wanting to talk to Quark, she teleported back to the Promenade.

As her luck would have it, Sweetie appeared right in front of a familiar-looking red-robed man. Her sudden appearance didn’t seem to phase him in the slightest. Sweetie flattened her ears in case he was going to grab her again.

“The Prophets told me I would find you here, and here you appear,” he said in a soft voice. “I am Vedek Oram. It is time for you to talk with the Prophets. They will guide you home. Come, child, and hear what they have to say.”

“Prophets?” asked Sweetie with a confused expression. “Why do they want to talk to me? And who are they?”

“All will be revealed in due time,” said Oram.

Sweetie sighed. She didn’t feel Oram was threatening but there was something mysterious about him that she didn’t like. “Well, if they know how I can get home, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hear them out.”

“Join me in the Temple,” he replied.

She followed Oram across the Promenade. The Temple was one of the larger doors on the Promenade. The temple itself was dimly lit and smelled of pine. It wasn’t as big as Sweetie thought. It was cozy with many candles to light the room. In the center, a tall box with purple glowing gemstones sat on a table.

“The Orb of Prophecy and Change,” he said. He opened the box. “The Prophets await.”

Bright purple light emanated from within as a spinning crystal was revealed. Sweetie gazed at it intently as it spun and captivated her. And then purple light consumed her as she shielded her eyes.

When Sweetie opened her eyes, she let out a gasp. The Bajoran Temple was gone. She was standing in her bedroom. She did it. She was home! “Wow,” said Sweetie. A tear ran down her cheek. “I never thought I would see this place again.”

Her math textbook and her half-finished homework lay on her desk. A half-empty cup of tea and a bag of cough drops sat on her nightstand. Her room was spotless. Like she had never left.

A soft clunk on her bedroom window snapped her attention to it. She peered out it, spotting a yellow mare with a red mane and tail. Her pink bow tied back all of her mane. Sweetie’s heart fluttered as she threw open the window. “Apple Bloom,” she said in a soft voice of longing.

“Sorry, your parents said you were sick. I wanted to see how you were doing,” said Apple Bloom.

“Sick?” said Sweetie. She looked back at her nightstand. She quickly stepped back and touched her tea mug. It was still warm. “This is the past,” she muttered.

“Come down here for a little. I have something to show you,” Apple Bloom called out.

Sweetie stepped back to the window. She looked out at the setting sun. She knew what was going to happen in a short amount of time. She teleported next to Apple Bloom.

“Apple Bloom,” she said. Her voice was almost a whisper. She pulled her in, hugging her tight. She buried her face into her thick mane, deeply inhaling.

Apple Bloom returned the hug. “Jeez, Sweetie, you’ve been sick like what, four days? Why are you acting like you haven’t seen me for half an era?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Sweetie replied. After Apple Bloom released her embrace, Sweetie held on tight. “I-I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose you ever again.”

Sweetie’s ears twitched as heard a familiar high-pitched noise. She pulled Apple Bloom tighter except as she pulled, Apple Bloom vanished. Ponyville vanished. “No!” Sweetie cried. “No, not here!” Sweetie stood in nothing. Stars twinkled far off. She took a step. Then another. She couldn’t tell if she was going anywhere or if her legs were simply swinging back and forth.

“Here is a relative term, my primitive friend,” a voice said from behind her.

Sweetie spun around. Quark was standing there with a smug grin. “You!” she said. She took a few steps toward him. He vanished.

“Over here,” he said.

Sweetie turned around and started towards him again. Only for him to vanish and reappear to her right. “You’ll have to be to quicker than that.”

“What do you want?” she asked. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Oh, so demanding. Information is a premium here.” Quark wagged his finger. “Besides, I didn’t bring you here. You are here.”

“I don’t want to be here,” said Sweetie.

“Yes, but you are here,” Quark replied. “Over there,” he pointed to a star, “is where you want to be. Celestia’s sun with loving light makes bright for me each day.”

Sweetie frowned. “How do you know what?” she asked.

“You know it,” Quark replied. “And you know that star is out there just beyond what you can see. The path is laid before you. You must choose to walk it.”

Quark morphed into a bright purple crystal that started to spin. Sweetie stared as it and the stars around her spun faster and faster until it was a bright white light. Slowly, the light faded, and Sweetie found herself back in the Bajoran Temple. Vedek Oram closed the box, cutting out the light from within.

Sweetie stood there panting. Her mind was racing. “Wha—”

Vedek Oram held up his hand. “What you saw was between you and the Prophets. The Prophets do not want me to know what you saw. My task is complete.”

“So… I can go?” asked Sweetie. She started walking slowly to the door. When Oram didn’t object she left as quickly as she could.

Not wanting to deal with the crowded Promenade, Sweetie teleported to the other side. She ignored everyone’s reaction and walked down the corridor, leaving the noise behind her. After a few turns, she arrived at Jadiza’s door. She pressed the button and went inside.

The room had changed. It was smaller. The open wall where Jadzia’s bedroom was now had another wall coming out at a right angle. There was a threshold with a curtain for a door in the middle of the new wall. The living area felt cramped. Jadzia’s desk had been moved to the other new wall, putting it right in front of the couch.

Her new bedroom was cozy. Her bed looked similar to Jadzia’s. Maybe smaller. She had a wooden nightstand next to it. There wasn’t much room for anything else. Her saddlebags were hanging from a hook in the wall. Sweetie took her medal off and put it in the bag. She plopped on the bed and stretched out.

As Sweetie stretched her stiff leg, her mind wandered. The orb said there was a path before her and she had to choose to walk it. Was that the path home? Or did these Prophets have something in mind for her? Why did they show her the last time she saw Apple Bloom?

A pain shot through her chest at the thought of Apple Bloom. She was close to Sweetie when she got pulled into the anomaly. Did it get her too? It got a different pony from who knows where. He wasn’t so lucky—Sweetie sat up her heart was pounding.

She got to her feet. She took to nervously pacing Jadzia’s room. “How do I call again?” she asked herself.

Right after asking the door opened and Jadzia walked in. “Sweetie, I’m glad you found your way back. Do you like your new bedroom?”

“Jadzia!” Sweetie exclaimed, ignoring Jadzia’s question. “It got Apple Bloom too! She was only a few hoof-falls away—”

“Slow down, Sweetie. What are you talking about?” Jadzia crossed her room, taking a seat on the couch.

“The anomaly thing,” said Sweetie as fast as she could. “Whatever it’s called. It grabbed her and sent her somewhere too! It grabbed that other stallion from a different town.”

“Even if that’s true, there isn’t much we can do,” said Jadzia. She held up her hand as Sweetie’s eyes went wide. “Look, I know this pony is close to you—”

“We have to find her!” Sweetie shouted.

Jadzia sighed. “And where do you suppose we look?”

“I don’t know. Anywhere. Ask those Prophets where to go!”

“Sweetie, come here,” said Jadzia. She wrapped her arms around Sweetie’s neck when she got close. “We’re doing all we can. Major Kira and I found a location to check out. There’s a planet not too far from here that was hit by the anomaly.”

Sweetie took a deep breath. “Are we going?”

“Yes,” said Jadzia. “We leave tomorrow morning.” She held up her hand when Sweetie opened her mouth to object. “Tomorrow is the soonest we can depart. Commander Sisko’s orders.”

“Okay,” said Sweetie with a sigh.

“And I want you to keep in mind that we still do not know how this anomaly works. It’s entirely possible your friend is fine.” Jadzia patted her back and released her hug. “Now, who is this Apple Bloom?”

“Well, she’s a pony I met when we were fillies. She was being picked on for not having a cutie mark. Me and my friend Scootaloo didn’t have our cutie marks yet either. We met at a party and decided to form a club where we tried everything we could think of to get our marks.

“That’s how it started anyways,” said Sweetie.

“So you three tried different activities, sports, or something? asked Jadzia.

“Yep. We tried so many things. We were determined.” Sweetie giggled. “We were three little terrors.”

Jadzia laughed. “I can imagine. So is Apple Bloom a close friend or is there something more?” asked Jadzia with a prying eye and a wry smile.

Sweetie blushed and looked away. “It’s complicated. I don’t know if you want to know.”

Jadzia smiled. “Oh, I want to know all about it.”

Sweetie’s heart was pounding. “I always thought she was beautiful from the first time I saw her.”

“Aww,” cooed Jadzia. “What is she like?”

Sweetie thought for a moment before answering. “She’s strong. She has the fortitude of a pony three times her size. She could kick a barn door clean off its hinges without much effort, but she moves with the grace of a dancer. She’s honest to a fault and extremely stubborn. She’s got a temper and a little fire in her. She has a scent that really gets me—” Sweetie clapped a hoof over her mouth. “Well… you know.” Sweetie smiled with a nod.

Jadzia smirked. “I think I get the idea. She sounds like someone I don’t want to cross.”

“A wise pony said, ‘Strength and brute force will knock down any door, but a gentle knock and a warm smile will open the world for you.’”

“Very interesting. Who said that?” asked Jadzia.

“Apple Bloom,” Sweetie replied with a smile.

Jadzia nodded. “Okay, now I think I understand why you like her so much. She has a sharp mind.”

“She’s much smarter than she realized,” said Sweetie. “She has a lot of self-doubt because she doesn’t do well in some of her classes.” Sweetie shrugged. “I help her when she lets me. But…” Sweetie sighed. “She’s stubborn.”

Jadzia chuckled. “Maybe she feels unintelligent from your tutoring? You are her peer, right?”

“Yeah… probably. I try to not make it come off like I’m better than her because I’m not! I know academics, sure. I care about her.”

“Care?” asked Jadzia. “Is that all?”

“No,” said Sweetie. “It’s more than that.”

Jadzia wrapped her arms around Sweetie. “What is it then?” she whispered in her ear.

“Love,” Sweetie replied. “I’m hopelessly in love with her.”

“Oh, but love is not hopeless.” Jadzia ran her fingers through Sweetie’s mane.

“It is if you don’t know how she feels about you,” said Sweetie. She deflated in Jadzia’s arms. “It doesn’t help that I’m too scared to tell her how I feel.”

“Sweetie, you have to tell her. You can’t keep this bottled up.”

“I plan to.” Sweetie nodded. “When I get back, I will hold her tightly and kiss her and tell her I love her. I will shout it from the rooftops!” Sweetie giggled. “Now I’m starting to sound like my sister… I miss her too.” Sweetie sighed.

“That’s the spirit. But… maybe you should find a different way to tell her that doesn’t scare her away,” suggested Jadzia.

Sweetie giggled. “Nothing scares her. Nothing. I’m the one who's scared.”

“I think you’re incredibly courageous. You have more in you than you know. The way you saved Julian…don’t count yourself out.” Jadzia rubbed Sweetie’s back.

Sweetie’s heart swelled with pride as she thought about everything she had accomplished at DS9 in such a short amount of time. Maybe she really overcame something? Maybe she was stronger here because she had to be.

“That feels nice,” said Sweetie in a sleepy voice. “I love these messages you do.”

“So you love Apple Bloom who is female…” Jadzia trailed off as she continued to rub along Sweetie’s barrel. “How common are same-sex relationships where you are from?”

Sweetie shrugged. “Pretty common, I guess. I’ve never heard it called that, but… well literally that’s what it would be if we were to get together in a relationship.”

“So your people don’t have a name for that sort of thing?” asked Jadiza.

“No? Not that I know of. Ponies who love are beautiful,” Sweetie replied simply.

“I see… so if you like mares there’s no title associated with that?” asked Jadzia.

Sweetie frowned and turned her head to look at Jadzia. “What are you getting at?” she asked. “We don’t have a word for it. And I don’t only like mares. I like ponies with certain qualities. Their sex has nothing to do with it.”

Jadzia’s eyes went wide. “I see. Now that is interesting.”

“It is?” asked Sweetie. “Isn’t that how everyone here is?”

Jadzia shook her head with an emphatic no. “Most people here are only attracted to the opposite sex.”

“Well that’s boring,” said Sweetie. “Why does that become a limiting factor?”

“That’s the way a lot of us are. Not all of us, but most. It might seem boring or limiting to you, but not even considering someone’s sex might be a bridge too far.”

“That sounds like my friend Scootaloo. She’s only attracted to stallions. During estrus she won’t even consider doing anything with a mare… but she’s in the minority for ponies. We don’t have a word for it. We just accept that certain ponies are like that. Besides, she has a great colt friend.”

“You like him too?” asked Jadzia with a laugh.

“Oh yeah,” Sweetie. “He is smart and funny and charming and… really good-looking. I’d love to go on a date with him, but Scootaloo isn’t one to share.” Sweetie shrugged.

Jadzia stopped rubbing Sweetie’s back and gave Sweetie a questioning look. “Share? Ponies aren’t monogamous?”

“What’s that?” asked Sweetie.

“You only have one sexual partner at a time…” said Jadzia with a dumbfounded look on her face. “You really have no concept of that?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” asked Sweetie as Jadzia chuckled. “I love Apple Bloom, and I hope she likes me. If we got together we would then decide if it’s only us or if we want other ponies to be with us as well.”

“And you wouldn’t be jealous if Apple Bloom was with someone else sometimes?” asked Jadzia.

“Yeah probably,” Sweetie admitted. “But if that’s what she wanted, then I would find a way to make that work for us. Or maybe I’d join in…”

“Well… that’s different,” said Jadzia. She resumed rubbing Sweetie’s back. “It’s certainly not the norm… but you make me laugh when you say, ‘Where’s the fun in that?’”

Sweetie giggled. “Yeah, I guess that is a funny way to say that.”

“Oh, Sweetie…” Jadzia sighed. “Your world sounds peculiar. I can’t wait to see it for myself one day.

“This Apple Bloom,” Jadzia prompted. “What does she look like? With a good description, I think the computer can generate an accurate picture of her. Then I can add that to your room. What do you think?”

Sweetie sat upright causing Jadzia’s hand to slide away. “I can do better than that. I can show you how she looks.” Sweetie’s horn lit up. A cone of green light radiated out from the tip. Sweetie decided to project her at full size. She aimed her spell off to the side of the coffee table. A second later, a yellow mare with a red mane appeared. She wore her mane long with a small pink ribbon tying it together at the bottom.

“Oh wow, that’s a great, um, spell,” said Jadzia. “And she is gorgeous. Is she really that tall?”

Sweetie nodded.

“Stunning. And her marking is similar to yours,” Jadzia noted while looking at Sweetie’s hindquarters.

“Yeah, Scootaloo has a similar one too. The three of us are unique that way. We got our marks at the same time and for the same reasons.

“So that is Apple Bloom, and this is my sister Rarity.” The image of Apple Bloom flickered and a pure white mare with a purple mane and tail appeared.

“Your sister is very beautiful,” said Jadzia. “That mane, wow, that color is vibrant! How long does it take her to get her mane styled like that?”

Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Far too long.”

Jadzia laughed. “I think it’s incredible. And she has three diamonds for a marking, what does that one mean?” asked Jadzia.

“Rarity’s special talent is finding gems. She has a special spell that only she knows; it tells her where gems are located. She’s good at cutting and shaping them too. She uses the gems for her fashion creations. It’s one of the things that sets her clothing apart: gem sequins.”

The image of Rarity flickered and then disappeared. Sweetie exhaled. “That spell is difficult to do,” she said with a somber tone. She put a hoof on her chest. “It hurts in here to cast it. And this is the second time I cast it today.”

She went on to explain her day helping Miles fix the holosuite and her orb experience.

“I know Oram said it was between me and the Prophets, but I have to tell someone. It felt so real. Apple Bloom felt real: her voice, her touch, even her scent.” Sweetie leaned against Jadzia again.

“It was a memory,” said Jadzia.

“It was the last day I saw her. But things happened differently. I was able to say different things to her.”

“Yes, but it was all based on your memory of her. Everything you know about Apple Bloom was used. That’s why she felt so real,” Jadzia explained.

“But Quark…” said Sweetie. “I only spoke to him once.”

“I think that was an actual Prophet you spoke to,” said Jadzia. “From what Benjamin has told me, they take on the form of others from our memory.”

“Who are they exactly?” asked Sweetie.

“To the Bajorans, they are the Prophets. They are their gods. To us, they are the wormhole aliens. They exist in a different dimension and have no concept of time like we do.” Jadzia yawned and stretched. “Major Kira can explain them better.”

They sat in silence for a while. Sweetie enjoyed the comfort of leaning against Jadzia. The crazy new world she found herself in seemed less scary this way.

“Oh yeah,” said Jadzia, breaking the soothing silence. “Do you like your new room?”

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Sweetie replied in a sleepy voice. “I’ll miss snuggling with you though.”

Jadzia chuckled. “Well, maybe sometimes you still can. But I need my space too. Remember, it’s not something I’m as accustomed to.”

“I understand,” said Sweetie.

Jadzia picked up her flat-panel device. She frowned as Jadzia tapped it with a finger, and it made a beeping sound after. “What is that thing?” she asked. She was tired of calling everything a device or gadget.

“This is a padd,” said Jadzia. “You can use it for reading reports, books, scan data, all sorts of things. Right now I’m going to use it to show you some basic computing. I think I’ll start by showing you how machines use logic to make decisions.”

Jadzia tilted the padd so Sweetie could see the screen. There were several shapes connected by lines with arrows. Inside each shape was a series of characters. Sweetie had seen them before, but she had no idea what they meant.

“So here at the start we have an objective to find—”

“I can’t read this,” Sweetie cut across. “If all of these symbols are for words, I don’t understand them.”

“Uh-oh. Did we not get your writing system into the universal translator?”

“No. It never came up.” Sweetie shrugged. “It figured out my spoken language pretty quickly. Our writing system is pretty simple: we use characters to represent sounds and we use special glyphs to represent emotions.”

“Curious distinction,” said Jadzia. “Is there a reason it’s like that?”

“Um, I’m… not sure actually. We can write out words like ‘happy’ or ‘sad’, but the glyphs are sort of more meaningful, I guess. I think they might be a holdover from an older writing system.” Sweetie shrugged.

“Well here’s an interesting challenge,” Jadzia said with a pensive expression. “How do we get your writing system in the computer? You won’t be able to write on the padd with hooves—how do ponies write?” Jadzia asked.

“With our mouths. And magic,” said Sweetie. The shocked look from Jadzia warmed her heart. “I can show you with pen and paper.”

“This could be interesting,” said Jadzia. She nudged Sweetie off her and walked over to the replicator. She returned with a few sheets of paper and a skinny black metallic pen and placed them on the table in from of Sweetie.

“So,” Sweetie began, “before unicorns are good at magic we write with our mouths like the earth ponies and pegasi. Our pens are also thicker, but I think I can show an example.” Sweetie picked up the pen in her mouth. It was a little tricky, but she managed to write decently enough.

Jadzia studied Sweetie’s technique closely, and the writing on the paper after. “I can safely say I have never seen anything like that in all of my lifetimes. What does it say?”

“My name,” Sweetie replied, feeling pleased with herself. “This character here represents the ‘swuh’ sound, and this little dot with the line here means ‘eet,’ and the dot with no line means ‘ee.’ Sweetie. And these two lines mean ‘buh,’ and this last character means ‘el.’ Belle.”

“This is how I normally write now.” Sweetie gripped the pen with her magic and quickly wrote the same characters out in much neater penmanship. “I have more practice like this now,” she muttered. She wrote another character on the paper. “This is the glyph for happy. The long flat line is Equus, the circle is Celestia’s sun, and these three little circles represent the element of laughter. Now this says Sweetie Belle happy. So…” Sweetie quickly wrote more characters after the glyph. “Now it says Sweetie Belle is happy to be teaching her friend Jadizia how to write in Equestrian.”

“This is a beautiful language. There’s an elegance in how these characters are simple yet mixed with complicated glyphs. How complicated does this system get?”

“It’s not much more than this. The glyphs are the hardest part because there are so many of them. I only showed you one glyph for happy. Celestia’s happiness is different than Celestia’s glee or Luna’s joy. They are all similar, but not exactly the same, and you have to know certain historical events to understand some of them. I don’t know them all, and I’m not sure any pony does. Sometimes we have to look them up.”

“That does sound complicated now,” Jadzia mused. “I wonder how the computer will interpret this. Can you write out a few sentences so it can get the idea of the syntax?”

Sweetie flipped the paper over and began writing at a quick pace. She made sure to include several glyphs in her writing along with variations of the same glyphs.

“It’s really simple but it says,” Sweetie sat the pen down, “When I first got here I was very scared. Everything was so frightening. Then I met Jadzia, and she was very sweet and understanding. I am happy to have her as my friend and guide. Otherwise, I think I would be very sad here.”

“Oh, Sweetie.” Jadzia hugged her tight. “I’m glad you’re my friend too.”

Sweetie’s cheeks flushed as she hugged Jadzia in return.

Sweetie spent a painstaking amount of time explaining each character and glyph so Jadzia could write the equivalent characters in a language called English. It was the lingua franca of the Federation despite many cultures not actually speaking it. The universal translator defaults to it for making translations possible. From there it was apparently able to make any language intelligible. Pure magic!

“I should be able to scan this and the computer can get a good comparison for translating words. It will require more, especially those glyphs, but this is enough to get it started.” Jadzia tapped some buttons on her padd. A bright blue light shined out of the edge of it illuminating the page for a brief second. “Now, add to translation matrix… there!” She turned the padd so Sweetie could see it again.

“Science officer’s log,” Sweetie read, “stardate, umm, not sure what that says.” She scanned through the text picking out a few words but most of it was still a jumbled mess.

Jadzia shrugged. “It needs more. After stardate, it lists a bunch of numbers. This is my log entry for the day we found you.”

“So that’s why it says unicorn down here,” said Sweetie.

“We will work on it some more later. How about dinner then bed? We have to leave pretty early tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

After a quick dinner of a bean stew that Sweetie thought was pretty tasty, she turned in for the
night wondering what adventures awaited her. She hoped if they found any displaced ponies they would be okay and they could be rescued. The stallion from the infirmary flashed through her mind as she fell asleep.

Valos Three

Sweetie was thankful for a dreamless night. Her dreams were getting far too weird for her liking. She wished she could remember everything that happened the night she disappeared without having to relive it or enter a strange void.

Jadzia gently shook her awake. When she opened her eyes, the lights were set to dim. A few moments later, Sweetie stumbled into the main room. Jadzia was already dressed in her uniform, and breakfast was on the table.

Sweetie quickly ate her toast and porridge. After, Jadzia rushed her into the sonic shower all while Sweetie grumbled that she was going as fast as she could.

“You can brush your mane on the runabout,” said Jadzia after Sweetie stepped out of the shower. She sat Sweetie’s saddlebags over her back. “Your brush in there. We have to go. We need to report to the airlock by 0600.”

“What about a raktajino?” asked Sweetie with a grumble.

“Later.” Jadzia stepped out into the corridor.

Sweetie followed Jadzia’s fast-paced walk through the corridors. She was finding it difficult to keep up without trotting. “Are we late?” she huffed.

“We have two minutes to be there,” Jadzia replied.

“How long is a—” Sweetie picked up her pace. This was more activity than she wanted to do early in the morning. “What happens if we are a minute late?”

“Being punctual is important,” Jadzia replied.

“Okay, but why?” asked Sweetie. “Isn’t it better to arrive a little late than to arrive on time and a sweaty mess?” Sweetie cringed internally thinking how proud Rarity would be for hearing her say that. But it was true. Ponies would rather not rush about and look like a disaster if they could help it.

“Debate later.” Jadzia’s reply was curt. “We are here. And on time.”

Julian and Major Kira were standing by the airlock. They appeared to arrive a few moments before they did.

“On time indeed,” said Julian with a chipper smile. “But we wouldn't have minded if you were a few minutes late. It’s not like we were going to leave without you.”

Sweetie scowled at Jadzia who returned a sympathetic smile.

Sweetie’s irritation vanished, however, as she watched the giant gear-like doors of the airlock roll into the walls. The first gear rolled to the right and then the second gear rolled to the left. Behind the second gear, Sweetie could make out a much different room which she assumed was the ship.

Her heart filled with excitement as she realized she was about to be traveling across the stars. Not only had she been living in a floating city in the stars, but she was about to see a whole other planet! No pony had ever set their hooves on a different world.

Sweetie’s view of the station outside the Promenade was banal. However, she had to admit the airlock was anything but that. The design of the doors was imposing, and the feeling she got while walking through it was electrifying. It was like crossing a gangplank and boarding a balloon to take you away on an adventure.

Stepping into the ship was like stepping into a completely different world. Everything was different: the colors, the sounds, and even the smells. The ship was quiet compared to the station. Everything was beige… so much beige—and there was carpeting everywhere! It wasn’t the softest, but Sweetie wasn’t complaining. It felt better than the metal floor of the station.

There were two chairs at the front and a window looking out into space in front of them. There was a console between them with many illuminated buttons. In the left seat, Sweetie recognized the curly hair of the person occupying it.

“Welcome aboard,” said Miles. “I’m doing one last systems check and then I will be out of here.”

“Hi, Miles,” said Sweetie with a warm smile. She walked over to see what he was working on. However, to her annoyance, he was looking at a screen full of text. “You’re not coming with us?”

“Nope, not on this one,” he replied. “But don’t worry. She’s in top working condition. I’m just being thorough. Lieutenant Dax and Major Kira are more than capable of handling most issues that might come up, if any.”

“Why thank you, Chief. We’ll try to bring her back in one piece,” said Major Kira.

Sweetie was confident Kira was joking, but she found herself tensing up nonetheless.

Miles pushed some buttons and then stood up from the front seat. “All systems are go. The injectors are running a little hot, but well within tolerance. Something to keep an eye on. She’s all yours.”

Kira and Jadzia took the two front seats. Sweetie stood behind them while Julian stood at a console behind her. Behind Julain was a curious raised platform made of glass and had two bright circles on it. Sweetie didn’t have much time to dwell on it as Kira began the departure procedure.

“Mekong to DS9, requesting permission for departure,” said Kira. Her tone was serious and professional.

“Thrusters at stationkeeping,” Jadzia added in a quiet voice.

“Permission granted, Mekong,” said Sisko’s voice over the comm.

“Airlock is secure. Releasing docking clamps,” said Jadzia.

“Ahead full once we are clear,” said Kira.

“Coming about, heading: two seven zero, mark, one two,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie watched as the stars out the front window slowly rotated. The ship was moving, but she felt nothing. She expected to jolt forward or to feel some sort of force of it moving.

“Would you like a look at the station, Sweetie?” asked Kira.

“Ooh yeah!”

The window in front of her blinked. In the window was the station and its arm-like pylons. The pylons were taller than the tallest tower in Equestria. The center of the station had many more levels than Sweetie thought. She did recognize the oval windows on the Pomenade’s upper level, but she couldn’t make out if anyone were looking out of them.

“It’s much bigger than I thought,” said Sweetie. “And it’s kind of… spooky looking.”

“Not as spooky as the war crimes committed there under the occupation,” Kira muttered. “Anyway, this will be our view for the next four hours. “The window changed to a view of the stars and the black of space.

“Course laid in for the Valos system,” said Jadzia. “Ahead warp four.”

Sweetie’s mouth fell open as the stars in front of her all stretched out into long beams of light. A second later they were passing by like slow flakes in a winter storm. All while the ship remained as still as ever.

“How fast are we going?”

“Pretty fast,” said Kira. “We are going to travel ten light years in a few hours. Without warp speed, this journey could take months, maybe even a year or two.”

Sweetie frowned as she did the math. She still didn’t understand what ‘year’ meant, but she had an idea of what a light year was.

“Something the matter?” asked Kira. “You seem lost in thought.”

“Oh, I was trying to calculate how fast we were going,” said Sweetie with a nervous laugh. “It sounds like we are going faster than the speed of light. But that’s impossible, right?”

Kira’s eyes went wide as her mouth hung open. She quickly recovered and nodded. “Okay, okay, so you know about the universal speed limit.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sweetie saw Jadzia smirk; however, Kira didn’t appear to notice as she continued talking. ‘We are not traveling faster than light per se. We are bending space around us in a bubble. This makes the distance we have to travel shorter. Warp four means we are bending space by a factor of four.”

“How can you bend space? Isn’t it nothing?” Sweetie shook her head. “Not nothing, sorry, I meant isn’t there nothing to bend?”

“The entire fabric of space itself can be bent. For instance, gravity has a huge effect on the fabric of space and time,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie scratched her head. “Yeah… I think I remember reading that. The equations for that are really advanced though.”

They sat in silence for a while. Sweetie listened to the hum of the ship as the stars whizzed by. She found time to get her mane taken care of. She laughed as Julian and Kira cringed at her aggressive brushing technique.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you, Sweetie Belle,” said Julian, finally breaking the long silence.

“Yes?” Sweetie turned to face Julian.

“How’s your leg?” he asked as he walked towards her.

“A little stiff, but it’s a lot better.” Sweetie stretched her hind leg out, flexing her hoof. “That still hurts a little.”

“Mind if I check?”

Sweetie nodded.

“Okay, I’m going to feel parts of your leg. Don’t be alarmed,” said Julain as he knelt beside Sweetie.

“I’m not worried,” she said in a quiet reply.

“I’m only making sure. I don’t want another incident like with your horn.” Julian ran his hand over her upper leg, working his way down. His fingers prodded into her tendons causing her leg to twitch.

“Incident with your horn?” asked Jadzia. “Sweetie you didn’t mention any issues with your horn.” Jadzia looked concerned. But her expression changed to confusion as Sweetie laughed.

“It was a misunderstanding.” Sweetie giggled again as Julian’s hand was now down at her fetlock. “Hey! That tickles.”

“Well, good news. Your leg is healing nicely and your muscles and tendons seem to be working there. I think the soreness will go away in a day or two.” Julian pushed Sweetie’s extended hind leg forward, making her knee stick out in an odd angle. “Excellent range of motion.” He let go of her leg and stood up. “I’m glad to report you are in good health, miss Sweetie Belle.

“Now, if you all will excuse me, I have some reading to catch up on before we arrive.” Julian disappeared through a door to the side of the raised glass platform.

“So,” said Kira as soon as Julian left,” Sweetie, I feel like I haven’t had a chance to talk to you much. So tell me about yourself.”

Sweetie beamed. She had never been asked that question since she arrived. At least not that exact question. Sweetie talked about her life, her misadventures as a Cutie Mark Crusader, her desire to go to the academy after secondary school, and recounted a normal day in Ponyville.

“It sounds nice,” said Kira. “You forgot to mention any crushes. Boyfriends?”

“You mean colt friends?” Sweetie shrugged. “I had a few. But there’s only one pony who has my heart right now, and I wish I could see her right now.”

“I hope you do too,” said Jadzia as she turned to face Kira. “She’s madly in love with this other pony. It’s so cute.”

Sweetie’s face burned as Kira smiled.

“It’s interesting you like both stallions and mares,” said Kira.

This again. Jadzia was right. She was the strange one here. “I like ponies,” said Sweetie. “And I like ponies who are nice to me, cute, and share common interests with me. Stallion, mare, something in between? We’ll make it work.

“I know that sounds strange to you, but us ponies really aren’t picky about what parts another pony has.”

“That is wild!” said Kira. “Here I thought I’ve seen it all. Sex must be really interesting there.”

“From what I have been hearing, you would probably think so. Especially if I told you what goes on during estrus.” Sweetie grinned.

“So what goes on?” asked Jadzia with a smirk.

“Sex,” said Sweetie in a deadpan tone. “Lots of it.”

“No details?” asked Jadzia.

Sweetie shrugged. “I want to know what you two do during estrus”

Jadzia and Kira exchanged looks. “We, um, don’t go through that.”

Sweetie’s mouth fell open in shock. “What? No itch, no fidgeting, no heat, and no insatiable horniness fueled by pheromones?”

“No, that’s not a thing we’ve experienced,” said Jadiza. “We go through a cycle, but it’s far from anything like that.”

“You’re missing out,” Sweetie replied.

“Missing out?” asked Kira. “Those symptoms you listed don’t sound that fun.”

Sweetie laughed. “I’m joking. Estrus can be a stressful time for everyone. But we… um, manage it.” Sweetie sighed. “How did we get on this topic anyway?” Everyone laughed in response.

“Well, how about a tour of the rest of the ship?” asked Kira.

“Yeah, that sounds fun,” Sweetie replied, glad to have something to do aside from answering questions about estrus.

“This is odd,” said Jadzia. She was staring at one of the screens in front of her controls. “I’m detecting tetryon particles. Nothing to be concerned about yet. You two go ahead. I’ll keep an eye on this.”

Sweetie’s heart rate shot up. “Do we have a way to block them?”

“We also do not have the ore on board so I don’t think they will coalesce around us. However, I have modulated our shields to protect against them as a precaution.” Jadiza pushed some buttons on her screen. A bunch of text flew across it then vanished. “These tetryons are not staying around very long either. This is normal behavior. There’s just a lot of them.”

“That’s good,” said Sweetie, mostly trying to convince herself. “Does this mean we are getting close?”

“We are almost halfway there,” Jadzia replied. “It’s incredible we are seeing signs this far away.”

“Does that mean there is another hole in subspace closer than where we are going?” asked Sweetie.

“There’s nothing on sensors,” said Jadzia. “Go with Major Kira for a tour. I will keep an eye on this.”

Sweetie followed Kira through the same door she saw Julian go through. She entered a very narrow hallway with a couple of doors on each side.

“These runabouts are slightly bigger than a shuttle, but they are equipped for multi-day trips with sleeping quarters.” Kira opened one of the rooms. Compared to Jadzia’s room, it was a broom closet. There was a small bed Sweetie wasn’t sure she could fit in; she had no idea how any of them could sleep in it. And there was a console on the wall and a small coffee table with a chair. “No need to open the others. They all look like this.”

The hall opened up to a large conference room. The table had six chairs around it, and behind it, were some small rectangular windows. Sweetie watched as the stars streaked by in the windows. Julian was sitting at the table, staring intently at a padd.

“Oh, Major, Sweetie,” Julian muttered, briefly looking up.

“I was just giving her a quick tour of the runabout,” said Kira.

“Yes, I see,” Julian replied. He looked up at Sweetie. “And how do you like it?”

“So far this is really neat! This is the first spaceship I’ve ever been on.”

Julian smiled. “You never forget the first ship you fly on. Well… so they say. I was too young to remember the first ship I went on.”

“What about you, Kira?” asked Sweetie.

“I, um, would rather not talk about my first time on a ship.”

Sweetie facehoofed. “Oh, right, the occupation. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. And please, call me Nerys,” she said quickly.

Sweetie nodded. The way names worked here continued to baffle her. She couldn’t discern any rhyme or reason why sometimes they were called by one name, but she could refer to them by a different name.

“Well, since we’re halfway there, why don’t we have lunch?” asked Julian.

Sweetie decided to have a salad topped with daisies for lunch. She smiled to herself at how good she was getting with the replicator. Finally, a way to way to cook that didn’t end in disaster! If only she could tell it to make hay burgers.

Sweetie munched away at her salad. She recognized the wrap thing Nerys was eating, and her tongue almost burned by looking at it. However, what Julian was eating turned her stomach. She knew it was replicated meat and no creature died, but the idea of it made her look away. Eventually, the aroma wafted her way, and Sweetie was done. She hurriedly returned half of her salad to the replicator and left the conference room.

Instead of returning to the front, she entered one of the small sleeping quarters. She doubled over on the small bed with her hooves over her stomach.

“Get a grip,” she muttered.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light caused Sweetie to jump as a man in a red uniform appeared.

“You again!” Sweetie exclaimed.

“Oh, my sweetest little pony. You sound so pleased to see me.” He folded in an exaggerated bow.

“Well of course! Aren’t you going to send me home?” Sweetie smiled.

He doubled over laughing. “Sen-send you home?”

Sweetie frowned. “What’s so funny, Q?”

He grinned. “So you have heard of me. No doubt Benjamin is still bragging about that boxing match.

“I’m not here to send you back, little filly. No, I’m here to warn you to turn back now and forget about this whole endeavor. You would be much happier living on that Cardassian monstrosity.”

Sweetie’s nostrils flared as she snorted. “No, I wouldn’t! And we are not turning around! But you have the power to send me home.”

Q sighed. “Such demands. Tisk, tisk. It’s not every day one of your kind gets out of their bubble.”

Sweetie rolled her eyes. “If not for me, do it for Fluttershy.” Sweetie grinned. This was it! The magic words.

“For Fluttershy? Why would I do anything for—oh you must have me confused with—well, no matter. If I send you home, where would all of the fun be?”

“Fun?” asked Sweetie as her face started heating up.

“Yes, fun! This is the greatest joke of the cosmos!” Q waved an arm through the air before placing his hand on his chest. “But I am here to help you.”

Sweetie gritted her teeth. Her heart was pounding. “Yeah… thanks,” she replied in a flat tone. “You won’t send me home? Fine! Can you at least tell them I’m alright!”

Q smiled broadly before vanishing in a flash of light.

Sweetie stomped her hoof repeatedly. She threw herself on the bed and screamed into the pillow. She didn’t care how dramatic or foal-like her behavior was. It felt good to scream.

The door slid open and footsteps came rushing in. “Sweetie? What are you doing in here?” It was Nerys. She sounded shocked and concerned.

Sweetie pulled her face off the pillow. “If he comes here again, I will cast a spell to incase him in stone and leave him there for the next ten eras!”

“I like your spirit.” Nerys walked into the room with a slight frown. “Who are you talking about?”

“Q! He was just here.”

Nerys nodded with understanding. “In that case, you might want to scream into the pillow a few more times.”

“If only that would help,” Sweetie grumbled. “He thinks we should turn around and give up on this whole endeavor.”

“Did he happen to mention why we should do that?” asked Nerys. Sweetie could hear the sharp tone in her voice.

“No.” Sweetie pulled herself off the bed. ‘He won’t send me home because it’s a game for him or something.”

“Of course it is!” Nerys spat. “It’s always some elaborate game! Sisko should have hit him harder. Not that it would have done any good…”

Sweetie laughed.

“The question is, what do you think we should do?” asked Nerys.

“Me?”

Nerys nodded.

“I get to decide?”

Nerys smiled. “It’s your mission. You get some say.”

Sweetie’s raised an eyebrow. “I-I don’t know.”

“Say what you think.” Nerys made an encouraging gesture.

“I-I think we should keep going. He gave me no reason to turn around, and I think we can handle what awaits us.”

Nerys held a fist in the air. “Yes! That’s the spirit.”

“Besides, there could be ponies trapped on this planet. We owe it to them—I owe it to them to say it’s going to be alright.”

Nerys smiled. “I like you, kid.”

“Even though I’m primitive?” asked Sweetie.

Nerys held out a hand. “Look, what I meant by that—”

“It’s okay.” Sweetie laughed. “I know what you meant. I was only teasing you.” Sweetie’s face went red.

Nerys gave a soft chuckle. “We underestimated—I underestimated you.”

“And I’m so far behind the curve here, it doesn’t feel like I took the hardest class at the university before taking the prereqs. No, it really feels like I skipped forward in time millions of eras to a place so far beyond anything I could imagine. Like I’m trapped in a crazy magic-fiction novel written by someone hitting the bottle a little too much.” Sweetie sighed. “I don’t know…”

“I can understand how overwhelming that must seem. This is a technological world we live in, but it’s not the end-all-be-all. The Bajoran people look to the Prophets for guidance. They were there for us in our darkest and hardest times, and they continue to watch over Bajor,” said Nerys.

“One of them spoke to me in the orb. They said this is where I am, and I must choose to walk the path before me.” Sweetie smiled and shook her head. “I think they told me the same thing Q did, but they weren’t jerks about it: there are no shortcuts or easy answers.”

Nerys beamed. “Yeah, we absolutely underestimated you. Give it some time learning our technology and you will be unstoppable.” Nerys laughed. “Trust me, Sweetie Belle, you are doing better than fine for being a few centuries out of date. One day at a time.”

Sweetie nodded. “One hoof at a time.” She hugged Nerys tight. “Thank you.”

“Hey, no problem, kid.” She returned Sweetie’s hug.

Sweetie made her way back to the front of the ship with clarity in her mind. Nerys was an interesting person she wanted to get to know better. She was nice, honest, and there was more than a little fire in her—uh-oh. Sweetie smiled and shook her head. “I have a type,” she muttered.

“Sorry, did you say something?” asked Jadzia as Sweetie took the empty seat next to her.

“Nothing,” she replied quickly. She looked down at the controls and various blinking lights on the console in front of her. It was incredible all of this was needed to make this machine work without magic… somehow. “Either Discord is a much bigger jerk than we all thought or Q is someone else entirety.”

She quickly recounted her friendly chat with Q.

“Very interesting,” said Jadzia. “Typical Q… his warnings shouldn’t be taken lightly, but if he didn’t elaborate, we don’t have much to go on.”

Sweetie shrugged. “We aren’t turning around. He can’t scare me or make me so mad that I scream into a pillow.”

Jadzia frowned as her eyes darted towards her.

“Okay, well, maybe not that last part,” Sweetie amended.

Jadzia laughed. “Hey it’s okay—” The console buzzed angry beeps. Jadzia’s attention was drawn to the screen in front of her as the ship started vibrating.

Sweetie gripped her chair as her heart started to race. The smooth ride was starting to feel like riding a wagon on a poorly maintained cobblestone road. Sweetie was jostled in all directions as she gripped her chair for dear life.

Nerys and Julian rushed in. “Report,” Nerys barked.

“Subspace fracturing. It’s interfering with our warp bubble. The Valos system is full of pockets of collapsed space and subspace.” Both of Jadzia’s hands were a blur as she worked two consoles simultaneously.

“How long until we reach the system?” asked Julian.

“We are there now. Taking us out of warp.”

Sweetie tightened her death grip on the chair as the stars in front of her slowed to stationary. To her relief, the ship stopped vibrating in the same instant.

“Course is laid in for the third planet,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie watched through the front window. For a while, it felt like nothing was happening. However, she noticed a star that was brighter than the others. As more time went by it grew in size and intensity. The star had a blue hue and glow around it.

Once the star grew to the size of a blue marble, she realized it wasn’t a star at all: it was the third planet. She had no idea planets could be so bright, but it made sense in her mind. The planet was reflecting the sun’s light at them.

Sweetie sat forward in her chair as she watched that marble grow on the screen. Everyone was bathed in the blue light emanating from the planet. As the light became too intense, Jadzia hit a button on her console which caused the ship to go dark. Sweetie blinked a few times as bright after-images obstructed her vision.

After Sweetie’s eyes adjusted, the planet no longer fit in the window. It was massive! All she could do was stare in awe at the deep blues and greens, and the swirls of white that warped around the planet.

“Sensors indicate this is an uninhabited M-Class planet,” said Julian. “I’m not detecting any humanoid life signs.”

“What about pony life signs?” asked Sweetie as she continued to gaze upon the dazzling blue planet.

“Indeterminate,” he replied. “I’m reading elevated levels on tetryons on the southern continent. If any ponies are here, that would be where I suggest we start our search.”

“Alright,” said Nerys. “Doctor, any concerns before beaming down on this planet?”

“Everything checks out. Background radiation is within acceptable levels. I’m not reading anything unusual except for the tetryons.”

“I’m bringing us into a synchronous orbit with the southern continent,” said Jadzia. “I won’t be able to beam us directly to the site. There's too much interference, but I can get us within five kilometers of the focal point.”

“How are we getting down there?” asked Sweetie. They were now so close, she could see the land mass they were synchronized with.

“Well, it’s a method of transportation you might be familiar with.” Jadzia winked.

Sweetie frowned. “Don’t tell me you have a non-magical teleporter.”

“That’s exactly what we have,” she replied with a smile. “It can send us great distances in an instant. Similar to how you teleport yourself… however, I doubt you use the same principles of converting matter to a pattern of data then back to matter…” Jadiza mused.

Sweetie nodded slowly. “Um, sure?”

Jadzia laughed. “Alright, we are ready to beam down now.” She pulled a curious elongated and curved item out from under the console in front of her and stuck it to the side of her uniform. She then folded up a tricorder and put it in a pocket on the other side of her uniform.

Sweetie frowned. “Is that thing a weapon?”

Jadzia placed a hand over the device. “Standard procedure when beaming down on an unknown planet.”

“But… but you said no one was down there, right?” Sweetie looked from Jadzia to Julian, and then to Nerys.

“I said no humanoid life signs could be detected and other life signs were indeterminate,” said Julian. He too added a weapon to his uniform. “That’s different than what might actually be down there.”

Sweetie gulped. “Well…” she said as a sudden wave of anxiety washed over her. “I know a few things too.” She pointed to her horn.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” added Nerys. “The worst we are going to encounter are some nasty bugs.”

Sweetie shrugged. She hoped they were right. Still, the sight of everyone armed was unsettling.

“Major Kira and I will go down first. Then we will call up for you and Doctor Bashir to follow,” said Jadzia.

Nerys and Jadzia stepped onto the glass platform Sweetie made note of at the beginning of her journey.

“Computer, energize,” said Nerys. A beam of bright blue light surrounded them as the floor glowed. A second later, they were gone, and the platform was dark.

“Interesting,” said Sweetie. “That sent them all the way to the surface?”

“It did,” said Julian. “Transporters have impressive range, but we are near the extent of that range in this synchronized orbit.”

“I don’t know of any pony who could teleport that distance. I’m not sure even Celestia could do it…” Sweetie trailed off. She couldn’t remember a time when Celestia teleported anywhere, but she always assumed she could. “Maybe.”

“Celestia,” Julian mused, “she’s the ruler of your country?”

Sweetie nodded. “She’s also a goddess and eternal. No pony can match her raw power, but she wields it with grace and dignity.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to cross her,” said Julian. “I wonder though, why does she rule a country if she is a goddess as you say. Wouldn’t she rule the whole planet?”

Sweetie shrugged. It was a good question. A question she never considered. Why didn’t Celestia and Luna rule Equus? Did they cede power so other nations could make their own choices?

The comm beeped. “Dax to Bashir. You two are cleared to transport down.”

“Acknowledged,” he replied. He looked to Sweetie. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Sweetie stepped onto the transporter. “How does this work? Do I just stand here?”

“Yep. Hold still.” Julian smiled. “Computer, energize.”

Her surroundings dissolved as a bright blue light engulfed her. There was a brief moment of blackness and then bright sunlight. There was warmth on her back and fresh air. The smooth glass under her hooves was replaced with warm and gritty soil.

Sweetie took a deep breath as her eyes adjusted to the light. She almost forgot what fresh air felt like. She was standing on a giant open and flat piece of land. There were no trees or grass or… anything. In the distance, hazy blue mountains surrounded them in every direction. Despite how barren it was, Sweetie thought it was fantastic! Simply feeling sunlight and warmth was something she had taken for granted.

“Sweetie! Over here!” Nerys called out.

She had been standing there basking in the sunlight like an idiot while the others were already walking. She broke into a trot. Her stiff leg protested a little, but probably more from lack of movement than any remaining injury. Sweetie smiled as she lunged forward into a fast canter. It felt good to move, to have the wind in her face, and her mane fanning out without a care. Her saddlebags fit so well that they didn’t move from her sudden acceleration. She couldn’t care less about the choppy and uneven ground or lack of scenery.

“This is great!” Sweetie skidded to a halt beside Nerys and kicked her hind legs behind her.

Jadzia laughed.

Jadzia, Nerys, and Julian talked at length about scans and unusual readings. Sweetie tuned it out after a while and returned to sightseeing while keeping pace with them. One thing was certainly unusual about their location: The ground was getting more difficult to walk over. It wasn’t rocky per se, but it was like it was torn up in some way. It also appeared… charred. Maybe this planet had weird soil?

The mountains loomed in all directions. They were relatively flat, more like plateaus than rugged mountains. Maybe they were in a valley or a dried-up lakebed?

“We’re getting closer. Elevated tetryons are all around us. One point two kilometers,” said Jadzia. She turned slightly while staring at the tricorder. “This way.”

Sweetie felt an uneasiness creep up. At first, she thought it was the sun; it was pretty warm after all. However, the feeling became all too familiar the more they walked. She looked to Jadzia, who was still intent on her scanning, then to Nerys, who met her eyes.

“Something the matter?” she asked.

Sweetie shook her head. She couldn’t risk ruining the mission now; they were so close.

Jadzia looked up from her tricorder. “Sweetie, are these tetryons affecting you?”

Sweetie looked from Jadzia to Nerys. “A little, but I’m fine.”

“Okay, but don’t use any abilities or, um, spells. I don’t know what will happen if you do.”

Sweetie gave a nod. “Okay.”

Julian gave Jadzia a concerned glance.

By the time they arrived, Sweetie was fighting to keep her mind focused. The ringing in her ears was so loud she struggled to hear what Jadzia was saying, and even worse, she was having trouble interpreting her words.

“The center,” said Neryse. “So this is where it hit. Let’s have a look around.”

“I’m checking for hoofprints,” said Jadzia. “Tracking them the old-fashioned way might be the only way if ponies are here.”

“Maybe… they went… to those mountains,” Sweetie muttered. Even speaking was difficult.

“Sweetie… those aren’t mountains,” said Jadzia.

“Huh? So… uh…” Sweetie trailed off. Speaking was too difficult.

“I think we have to get out of here,” said Julian. “Her life signs are starting to destabilize. I don’t know how much longer she can stay here.”

“I agree,” said Nerys. “Dax, I’m reading a build-up of tetryons. They are going to destabilize at any second.”

Jadzia shook her head. “I don’t understand. There shouldn’t be a rapid build-up like this.”

“We can beam out safely in a few minutes if we hurry,” said Julian as he broke into a quick-paced walk.

In that second, as Sweetie turned to follow Julian, she caught a glimpse of something. Right before her eyes, a darkness. She shook her head. As she attempted to move again, a shadow moved in front of her again.

“Sweetie!” Jadzia called. “We have to go! Now!”

She stared into the shadow; it was familiar, comforting in some unusual way. As she strained her eyes to get a better look, something clicked in her mind that they were never going to make it out in time. She had to act!

Sweetie broke into a full-blown gallop. Her hooves echoed in her ears as she ran, and her head felt detached from her body. She pushed through her disorientation. “Run!” She concentrated with all her might as she aimed her spell. She knew it worked the second she felt the sudden air resistance on her face. She squinted her eyes so she could still see where they were going. The ground below her was a blur.

Moments later, the ground shook and the extreme heat at her back told her the worst had happened. Even with accelero, she didn’t think they could outrun the explosion. Overcome with desperation and recklessness, she concentrated on another spell. It was her last card to play. It was this or nothing. She focused on the mountain rapidly approaching in front of her. Hopefully, it was tall enough.

Her magic took hold. In a flash of green light, all four of them tumbled onto soft green grass. Sweetie jumped to her feet only to be knocked over again by the force of the explosion. Luckily the shockwave was the only part that reached them on top of the plateau.

“What in the blazes happened?” asked a panting Julain.

“I feel like I was squeezed through a trash compactor,” Nerys groaned as she got to her feet. She immediately fell over again. “Or maybe I’ll just sit here for a minute.”

Sweetie sat on her haunches next to Nerys. “Sorry,” she panted. “I used some very powerful magic to get us out of there.”

“Powerful indeed,” said Jadzia. “I’ve never seen a humanoid run that fast. We were running faster than a hovercraft. And then… is that what teleportation feels like for you every time?”

“No,” Sweetie sighed. “That was a mass teleportation spell. It didn’t feel great for me either. Not bad for my first time using it.”

Julian’s jaw dropped. “First time?”

“Yeah.” Sweetie exhaled. “I was desperate. And I felt like I could cast it. So I did. I’m just glad this mountain blocked all of that fire.”

“Sweetie, you do realize that we are not on a mountain, right? Why do you think the ground is all torn up and blackened at the center?” asked Jadzia.

Sweetie frowned. The only thing she could remember from the center was the shadow thing.

“It is an impact crater created by the tetryons.”

Sweetie walked to the edge and looked out over the area below. There was no mistaking it from this angle. It was a giant crater, and the ground below was completely scorched. Her jaw dropped as she felt it in the pit of her stomach.

“If this is what it did to this place, then what happened on Equus? In Equestria? Forget Sweet Apple Acers, five whole Ponyvilles could fit in this hole.

“This is what Q didn’t want me to see.”

“Sweetie, what are you talking about?” asked Jadzia.

Sweetie lowered her head as she felt an emptiness in her. “It’s time for me to accept the fact that Ponyville is gone. Wiped off the map. Everyone is either dead or displaced in the galaxy.”

“Sweetie—”

“Don’t tell me I don’t know that!” she cut across. “We’ve seen the destructive force of this phenomenon. We’ve seen how magic interacts with it. There’s nothing to go back to.”

Jadzia took a seat next to her but said nothing.

Q said she would be much happier living out her life on DS9. Now, that felt like the only option. She would have to learn technology and find a way to be useful. She doubted she could live in Jadzia’s quarters doing nothing forever.

She would never see her parents, Rarity, or her friends ever again. Gone was the quaint little village of Ponyville with its rustic charm. She lamented the loss of it all, but more than anything else she regretted leaving so many things unfinished. She regretted not asking Apple Bloom out and she regretted not telling Rarity or her parents enough how much she loved them. But the worst part was, she couldn’t decide if it was better that they died or were lost in some unknown part of the universe.

“Do we go back to the spaceship?” asked Sweetie after a long silence.

“I suppose so,” said Jadzia in a soft reply.

“Hold on,” said Julian. “I think we should go back for another look.” He held up his hand as everyone turned to give him a look. “Look, the tetyrons are gone. They’ve all been destroyed. My guess is they will be back, but we have time.”

Sweetie shrugged. “If it won’t make me feel sick or see crazy things…” she mumbled. She didn’t see the point, but she also didn’t care.

Jadzia picked up her tricorder. “You’re right, Julian. There’s nothing. We can beam right to the center. I’m sending the coordinates to the Mekong’s computer now.”

As Jadzia and Julian worked, Nerys placed a hand on Sweetie’s shoulder. “I know what you’re feeling,” she said. “I’ve been there myself.”

Sweetie shook her head. “There’s not even an occupying force to get mad at and fight. All I feel is… defeat.”

“You don’t want that anger, Sweetie. Trust me. All I can say is, hold onto what little hope there is. Ponyville still exists in here.” She placed a hand over Sweetie’s chest. “Hold it there tight, don’t let go, and never give up.”

Sweetie nodded.

“Okay, are we ready?” asked Jadzia. Everyone nodded in response. “Mekong’s transporter has locked on. Energizing.”

For the second time, Sweetie watched the scenery around her dissolve only for a completely different scene to appear before her seconds later.

The ground was charred and hot under her hooves. The dirt made an unsettling crunch with each step. However, Sweetie was relieved to be experiencing no unusual symptoms.

“I’m going to scan for organic residue. There’s a good chance most of it was destroyed in that last explosion, but perhaps under the soil will be something I can find.” Julian was squatted and sifting through the dirt as he scanned every micro hoof length of ground.

“Tetyons are emanating out of subspace,” said Jadzia. “It’s like there’s a hole right here. I’m detecting the signal too.”

Sweetie looked to where Jadzia was scanning. There was something there, she was certain. It was beyond her vision. It was almost ghostly whisps so faint they may have been tricks of light reflecting off dust particles.

She walked closer. What was that? Was it really there? The shape was hard to make out. She supposed it resembled a pony. A very tall pony. “Do you see that?” she asked while pointing.

“See what?” asked Nerys.

“This shadowy shape right in front of me. It’s very faint.”

Nerys shrugged, “I don’t see anything.”

“It’s pony-shaped… I think.” Sweetie walked closer. “Maybe I can make it brighter.” Her horn lit up, casting a bring light directly on it.

Sweetie's head exploded with the high-pitched sound. It was more intense than she had ever heard it before. She shut her eyes and cried out in agony as her head spun. She couldn’t break the spell. Something had latched onto her magic and was pulling her into darkness.

She forced her eyes open and gasped. Right in front of her was a tall, dark blue pony with a flowing blue mane. The pony was translucent. There, but also not there. The eyes were bright white as the pony reached a hoof forward. Sweetie’s body vibrated with warmth and energy as the hoof passed through her body. The world spun around her as it went dark.

Touch of an Alicorn

Sweetie awoke with a start. Her ears were ringing. The scent of tar and ash filled her nostrils as she pushed her face out of the dirt. However, she didn’t make it far when a new sound assaulted her ears—the high-pitched whine of a tricorder at the base of her horn.

“Don’t move,” Julian commanded.

Sweetie obliged. The disorientation lifted from her as she stared into the barren wasteland of the impact crater. She felt fine for the most part. There was something new… A strange energy coursed through her. She was awake. She was ready to take on the universe!

Julian knelt in front of her. He held up his hand. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Sweetie frowned. “Three,” she replied in a flat tone. “I feel fine.”

“Fine?” Julian asked with a hint of surprise. He leaned in close to her face, peering deep into her eyes. “Eye color is green, pupils look fine.” He leaned in so close his nose was almost touching hers. “No damage to the retinas…”

Sweetie’s eyes crossed as she looked back into Julian’s eyes. She was tempted to push her snout into his nose. Instead, she moved away slightly, so his hot breath wasn’t in her face.

“Yes, fine,” she repeated. “I can see just fine.”

“Yes, I suppose you can.” He stood up. “You appear back to normal.”

Appear back to normal? Sweetie got to her feet as well. Although irritated, she wasn’t sure she felt normal.

“Well…” Julian started and then trailed off.

“Did you see her?” asked Sweetie. Her eyes met Julian’s, and she could tell he struggled to continue his thought. “Well, what?

“For a moment you were levitating with dark blue energy around you. Your eyes were glowing—radiating bright white light.” He looked down at the ground. “And after you hit the ground, I thought you were gone. You nearly phased out of existence.”

Phased out of existence? Like going into the abyss? One second here, another nowhere. Was it that same abyss that haunted her dreams? Sweetie shivered.

The fact her eyes glowed white reminded her of—she pushed the thought out of her mind. She didn’t want to dwell on something impossible while everyone stared. The Touch of an Alicorn was an old story. “I assure you, I am more than fine.”

“Okay, just wanted to make sure. You did something unusual—more unusual than normal.”

“Well, the tetryons are gone,” said Nerys. “After that incident and that other pony everything is gone.”

Sweetie’s eyes widened. “You saw her? You saw Luna?”

“I saw the faint image of a tall dark blue pony with wings and a horn.”

“After your horn lit up, I saw her too,” said Jadzia. “My tricorder didn’t register her the same way it registers you. It showed a highly concentrated and contained structure of tetryons. After her hoof passed through you, you were lifted off the ground. You started to fade as your eyes grew bright white.”

Sweetie exhaled. “I wonder…” Sweetie looked around at everyone. They were all staring at her as if she might explode. “Are those tetryons coming back?”

Jadzia shook her head. “The hole in subspace was sealed. Why?”

“I want to see if we can get her to come back. Maybe Luna is trapped in there… in a void.” Perhaps the same void she almost disappeared into.

“Sweetie, even if we could open up subspace like that, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.” Jadzia gestured around the crater.

“Maybe it can be opened safely from this side,” said Sweetie. “Think about it: it was always opened from the other side in an explosion of energy. Maybe we can open it from the outside and control the energy.”

“Sweetie that’s completely reckless—”

Julian’s reply was cut short by Jadzia. “She might be onto something, Julian. We could perhaps open a subspace rift from this side with a focused dekyon beam. But not here. We need to find another planet where tetryons are building up and subspace is already ruptured. Unfortunately, by the time we do that, I doubt any pony will be left alive in there.”

Sweetie shook her head. “Luna is a goddess. She has powers way beyond the average unicorn. She will survive.”

“Sweetie, unless there’s a breathable atmosphere in there—”

“She will suspend time,” Sweetie said with a final and definite tone. “Trust me. Luna will not meet her end by this stupid space anomaly.”

Nerys was the first to speak after a moment of silence.”Okay, suppose she does suspend time in there, time is still ticking out here in the normal universe. How long do we have to find another opening before they start closing and she is lost to eternity?”

“Can’t we just punch a hole in subspace?” asked Sweetie.

“Not easily or safely,” Jadzia replied.

“Come on then! Let’s get back on the spaceship and find another one!” Sweetie pranced in circles. “Why are we wasting time on this planet?”

Nerys frowned. “So you don’t want to search for more survivors?”

Sweetie stopped in her tracks and sighed. “I do… but if we lose Luna forever…” She shook her head. “You don’t understand how important Luna is to Equestria. She is not just a princess who rules the country with her sister. No, she is the Princess of the Night. She enters ponies' dreams, guides them, and takes away the nightmares of foals. She is our alicorn in the dark—our beacon of light for those lost in the dark.”

Nerys approached Sweetie and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I understand, Sweetie. I think we can search from the runabout for another opening and search the planet.”

“I will have to modify the sensors to search the planet for specific biomarkers.”

“My search for organic residue under the soil wasn’t promising. I think it’s unlikely anyone was sent here, but…” he trailed off as he looked at Sweetie’s somber expression. “But I think a more thorough scan will confirm that.”

Sweetie didn’t want to wait for the transporter. She was ready to teleport to the ship! She fidgeted and grinned. How impressed would they be to transport back and find her already there?

She couldn’t teleport to the ship. That was far away. It was too far for her or any pony. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she would make it. She shook her head. This was not the place to test such feats. If she missed, she wouldn’t be around to try again.

“Mekong, four to beam up,” said Nerys.

As soon as the ship materialized in front of Sweetie, several things happened simultaneously: the lights flickered and went dark, several consoles exploded, and a loud siren blared. There was a sharp shock in Sweetie’s chest. Her heart palpated. Out of instinct, she threw her shield up, deflecting the sparks and pieces of debris flying around them.

“It’s okay, Sweetie, you can drop the shield,” said Jadiza.

“What happened?” asked Julian as Sweetie’s pale-green barrier disappeared. “That’s the second time that thing has come in handy,” he muttered to her.

“Power surge?” asked Nerys. She approached the nearest console. The smooth glass was cracked and dark.

“Subspace fissure is my best guess,” said Jadiza. She scanned the area around the transporter platform. “Possible remnants of the hole in subspace dissipating.”

“And what? Just bad timing?” asked Julian. “It went off right when we beamed in.”

“It was me,” said Sweetie. “I set it off… I’m not sure how. After Luna’s hoof passed through me, something changed.” She looked at Jadzia with an apologetic look. “I know your scanners won’t detect or prove it, but I felt it.” She rubbed a hoof over her chest.

“Dax, I need a damage report, Doctor, see what you can do for her,” said Nerys. “We will diagnose the problem later. Right now, we need to know the ship’s status and how much life support is left.”

“Understood,” said Jadzia. “Primary systems are down. Auxiliary power is gone. We are on emergency power only. I can have this diagnostic terminal operation in a few minutes.” Jadiz pulled a panel off the wall, exposing the complex machinery hidden behind.

Even with Sweetie's limited experience with this technology, she knew something was wrong. The stuff hidden behind the wall panels was colorful and hummed with energy. However, this one was completely dark and quiet. Jadzia seemed to know what to do as she extracted several colorful glass chips.

While Jadzia was busy, Julian scanned Sweetie’s body at an agonizingly slow pace. “There is some bruising on your muscles around your heart. You felt a little more than something. That was a serious jolt you felt.”

“It didn’t feel great. Find anything else?”

“Your serotonin levels are slightly elevated, but nothing life-threatening.”

“Major, good news, I can restore the auxiliary power in two hours…”

“The bad?” asked Nerys.

“We only have an hour of life support left.”

Nerys slammed her tricorder down on the console next to her. “Come on!” She took a deep breath. “Alright, forget the auxiliary circuit. Our phasers on low should be enough to kick-start the matter-to-antimatter reaction.”

“You want to shoot the reaction chamber with a phaser?” asked Jadzia in disbelief.

“Used to do it all the time fighting the Cardassians. We would also pull the power packs from the disrupters and throw them in the reaction chamber for a few extra hours of life support. We only need to provide a blast of energy to restart the engines to get primary power back online.”

Jadzia shook her head. “This goes against literally everything Starfleet says in this situation. One wrong move and we won’t be here to try it again.”

Sweetie gulped. “Can’t we just go back to the planet? Won’t Sisko come looking for us eventually?”

“Normally, yes. But we don’t have the power to transport down there.”

“The escape pod then,” said Julian. “Its power systems are independent from the Mekong’s.”

“Independant and also dead,” said Jadzia. “I already checked it.”

Sweetie pushed past Julian to where Jadzia was working. “Anything I can do to help?” she whispered.

“Unless you know a safe way to jump-start the engines, I don’t think so,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie grumbled as she sat on her haunches. “So that’s it? We just sit here and suffocate?”

Jadzia shot Sweetie an irritated look. “We’re not giving up.”

Sweetie wasn’t listening as she continued. “I hate it here. It’s one thing after another. Can’t we catch a break?”

There was a loud cluck. Jadzia yanked her arm out of the wall with an exasperated groan. She took a deep breath. “Sweetie, I understand your frustration.” There was a great deal of strain in her voice. “Right now, I need you to keep out of the way so I can work.”

Sweetie backed away. Julian put a hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you assist me in repairing the subspace antenna so we can send out a distress call?”

Sweetie gave a single nod. “Maybe I should get out and push,” she muttered. Jadzia wasn’t mad at her, but she felt rotten for adding to her irritation. She vowed she would make it up to her if they ever got out of this situation.

“Do you know how to fix the communications?” asked Sweetie. “I mean… you are a doctor…”

Julian smiled. “Quite right. I have taken the Starfleet engineering extension courses and read up on all the specs on these runabouts. I’m no Miles O’Brien, but he has taught me a few things. I’m not totally inept as Miles would say.”

It wasn’t the most reassuring list of qualifications. However, Sweetie knew considerably less about antennas, and she still wasn’t sure exactly what subspace was. If she could be helpful, even a little bit, she would feel like she was contributing something and staying out of the way.

“If it’s not damaged, I can connect it to a backup power pack…” Julian opened a panel. He traced a finger across the dark glass inside. “Somewhere in here… ah, here it is!” He pulled a black cable out from behind the glass.

“That’s the antenna?”

“It’s the primary power coupler. Now we have to inspect the antenna, which is aft.”

Sweetie followed Julian to the conference room in the back of the ship. He stood upon the table and opened a hatch in the ceiling. Sweetie peered into the opening. To her surprise, there was a lot of space up there—enough space for Julian to climb into and move around.

“Everything looks fine—I don’t see any damage.” He scanned the area with his tricorder and then shrugged. “Everything is fine except it has no power.”

“So now we plug it into that powerpack thing?” Sweetie asked.

“Yes. It should have enough power to make a distress call to Deep Space Nine and a general distress call to any ship near us.”

“Then they can rescue—wait, hang on. It took us four hours to get here, but Jadzia said we only had an hour of life support left.”

“Four hours in a runabout class ship. The Defiant can be here in forty-five minutes at her maximum velocity,” said Julian.

Sweetie followed Julian back to the front of the ship. To her shock, Jadzia and Nerys tore it apart completely in the short time they were gone. Most of the panels had been opened, cables and hoses were everywhere, and more rectangular chips were spread across the floor and consoles.

“I’m connecting these to the secondary systems,” said Jadzia. “Too much power directly into the dilithium chamber will overload the containment field.”

Sweetie shook her head. She hoped whatever they were doing would work. She didn’t like the idea of sitting in a spaceship with no air and heating.

“Sweetie, I need you to monitor the power levels in this pack. When the indicator lights turn yellow, it is out of power,” said Julian.

The power pack was simple enough. It was a silver brick with some lights and buttons on the side. “What about this light?” she asked, pointing to the large red one in front.

“If that lights up, get away. It means there’s feedback of power, and this pack will only handle so much before it explodes.”

“Of course it blows up,” Sweetie muttered.

“Since there are no other active power sources on the mains or the secondary systems, it won’t be anything to be worried about.” Julian smiled. “But I do need you to tell me when it gets low so I know when to stop transmitting.”

Sweetie nodded. She knew Julian didn’t really need someone to monitor the power brick. He was trying to make her feel helpful. And she was fine with that. She had no idea what Jadzia and Nerys were doing, and for once, she felt like the less she knew the better.

“Okay, here we go,” said Julian. He tapped a button on the side of the power pack. All of the lights on the side turned bright green. The console behind him flickered to life.

“There’s not enough power for a hail… Sending a distress call over the Starfleet emergency channel now.”

The lights on the power pack turned yellow. “Julian, it’s running out of power.”

“One more time.” His hands were a blur on the console. “Sent! Maybe…”

“Maybe?” asked Sweetie as the console went dark again.

“There is a lot of subspace interference. With the sensors offline, I have no idea where it is. But I send one to DS9 and to any ship that might be in our area.”

“Good work, Doctor,” said Nerys. “We are almost ready here.”

“I rigged this to divert extra power to the injectors. This will help superheat them,” said Jadzia. She had removed her blue jumper and was wearing a purple tank top. Her hair was a mess and her face had splotches of grease.

“Will the engines start with all of the subspace stuff going on around us?” asked Sweetie.

Nerys shrugged. “There’s no way to know until we try.”

“We are ready,” said Jadzia. She pulled out her phaser and pointed it at a strange metal apparatus before her. It was a large metal box with two enormous tubes connected to it and dozens of small wires going around it. “Why don’t we all move away from the consoles? This isn’t going to be a smooth power transfer. A few overloads are bound to happen.”

Sweetie moved into the middle of the room, trying not to step on any cables or tubing.

“Firing.” A golden beam of light emitted out of Jadzia’s phaser. Sweetie held her breath as the beam connected to the metal box. For a few moments, nothing happened. Eventually, the metal box started to glow red-hot. “Increasing the phaser level.” The metal box grew white-hot. Sweetie leaned back as her face became unformatably warm. “Now.”

Nerys pulled a level at the back of the box. She yanked her hand away quickly, blowing on it after. Several consoles flickered, sparks flew out of a few consoles, and the low hum of technology started.

“Reaction is still not starting,” said Nerys. “The injectors are still too cold.”

Jadzia’s phaser flickered out. “Empty.” She tossed it aside. “We only have two more phasers.”

The lights flickered, the consoles went dark, and the ship went quiet once again.

“I think these runabout engines require a little more energy to jump-start than a Bajoran raider,” said Jadzia.

“Well, we can try two phasers,” said Julian.

Jadzia shook her head. “Too much power and you vaporize our makeshift power transfer device. We need a constant beam at exactly the right energy output, and it needs to last longer than a hand-phaser.”

“I could do it,” said Sweetie.

Jadzia looked at her with a curious expression.

“What? You think I can’t heat that thing and put a bunch of energy into the engines?”

“No…” said Jadzia slowly. “But can you put enough energy into it? I don’t want you to get hurt in the process.”

“I don’t know, but what else are we going to do?”

Nerys shrugged. “She’s got a point.”

“I will use the lowest power I can and increase as needed,” said Sweetie.

“Okay, but if something goes wrong you have to break your… spell,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie walked over to where Jadzia was standing. The energy transfer device was more than a simple metal box. Several smaller metal fins centered around two metal points with several wires between them. “What is this thing?”

“Phasers don’t have a stable energy output the same way a ship can transfer energy to another ship, and I didn’t want to fire a phaser directly into the dilithium chamber. So, I rigged this device from the ship’s ship-to-ship power transfer module to normalize phaser power before dumping it into the dilithium chamber. Unfortunately, I think the energy bleeds off too fast.” Jadzia shrugged. “Best I could do in such little time, and I’m no Chief O’Brien.”

Sweetie nodded. She understood most of that. While that filled her with pride that she was getting the hang of the technology, it also worried her. How far did the technological rabbit hole go? Would she forget what being a pony was about if she fell deeper into that hole?

Time and place, she thought. She pushed those thoughts down and focused on the task in front of her. “Just tell me how to do this so I don’t blow us up.”

“Focus your spell on the outside areas. Once it turns red, it will focus that heat energy to the center. When the center starts to glow, I will open the power transfer.”

She took a deep breath as she focused her power. A slight tremble fell over her body. “Sorry,” she said. “This spell… I can do this.”

“Sweetie, if it’s too hard to cast, don’t stress it. We can try Julian’s idea,” said Jadzia. “It will require more engineering, but better that than overextending yourself.”

Sweetie shook her head. “No, I can cast this. I never thought I would use a spell like this for this. This is a spell of self-defense. It’s dangerous in the wrong hooves.

“But, this is no time to be weighed down with Equestrian historical baggage. Time and place.” Sweetie focused her magic and cast her spell without any further thought.

A pale green beam extended from her horn and hit its mark. Sweetie took a deep breath. She went in with barely enough power to burn paper, and she knew she needed much more than that. She slowly ramped up her power output. The pale green beam grew brighter, and a low-frequency buzz could be heard.

The box started to glow red-hot, and the internal fins were heating up. She felt the heat radiating off it, and she looked at Jadzia with a questioning expression.

”More,” said Jadzia.

She pushed more into the beam. Sweetie frowned. There was more power there; there was more power than she had ever felt in her life. She held off tapping into it to cast a questioning look at Jadzia.

“More,” said Jadzia. “Give it more! Energy is bleeding off fast.”

Sweetie narrowed her eyes as she focused. She felt her eyes widen as energy radiated from her entire body. She pushed it all through her horn. The power consumed her. She felt… good. The ship faded away from her in white light. Her hooves left the deck plates, and she looked down upon the ship from high. It was a perfect picture in her mind. She understood. She put the exact amount of energy into her spell with a simple adjustment. The ship roared to life. Consoles exploded around her, but she paid little attention.

“Hold it a little longer!” Jadzia’s voice echoed in her mind. But she already knew the reaction hadn’t started yet. She was powering the ship.

”How is this possible?” Nerys yelled. Or perhaps it was a thought? Sweetie wasn’t sure. What was the difference anyway? Thoughts were words unspoken.

A slight change in power output. It became easy for her, and she knew the reaction started. She cut her spell, and she came crashing down to the ship. Her world shrank. In front of her was the metal box, glowing white-hot. It nearly blinded her. She gasped and staggered backward, collapsing in a heap.

“Main power is coming online. Primary systems are functioning,” said Nerys. “Good job, Sweetie.”

Sweetie pulled herself to her feet. She looked around the ship. It was the same ship she had been in, the same technology she didn’t understand, and the same unfamiliar hum of technology keeping them alive.

Julian rushed forward with his tricorder, checking her over. “You’re a powerful little thing,” he said.

A simple ‘yeah’ was all Sweetie could muster in reply. She felt cold and empty. That feeling was gone—the feeling of raw power, unharnessed. It was there! If she could control it, she could go anywhere and do anything.

“Your eyes did that thing again,” said Julian. “They turned bright white. How are you doing that?”

Sweetie shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“However you did it, you powered the ship yourself for almost a minute before the matter-antimatter reaction started,” said Nerys. “That kind of power…” She shook her head. “Sweetie, we all wouldn’t be here with a little more power, but you balanced it perfectly. How?”

Sweetie shook her head. “I can’t explain it. But for a moment in time, I understood it all. I simply knew what had to be done, and I did it. Just like an alicorn…” Sweetie trailed off as it hit her at last. “Alicorn,” she muttered. “No. That’s impossible.” She looked over her body. No wings. She was the same size she had always been. “Luna…”

“Luna?” asked Jadzia.

“Yeah…” Sweetie shook her head. She gave Jadzia a look that suggested she wanted to talk later.

Jadzia frowned and then nodded. She took her seat at the front of the ship. “Well, let’s get out of—” Her console buzzed angrily. “The helm won’t engage.” She moved some of the glass chips around in the open center console, but it repeated the buzzing sound. “It’s connected, the engines read as online, but we aren’t moving.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” said Julian, “but disruptions in subspace can cause the nacelles to depolarize.”

“Yes, that would stop us from forming a warp field, but impulse engines should still work—unless the polarity of the engines is reversed too.” She pushed some buttons on her console. “So ahead any amount is station-keeping, aft if also station-keeping, what if—” The ship started to vibrate. “It’s no use.” The vibrations steadied out as Jadzia stood up. “We have main power, but the engines themselves are no good.”

“And what’s more, I’m detecting the containment field is losing cohesion,” said Nerys. “Attempting to stabilize.”

“Just received word from DS9,” said Julian, “The Defiant is on her way.”

“Now we have to hold this thing together until she gets here,” said Nerys.”

“Maybe we should wait on the planet?” suggested Sweetie. “I mean while we still have the power to get down there.”

“That might be the best course of action,” said Julian. “The containment field is stabilizing, but we are hemorrhaging power… from somewhere.”

“It’s the engines,” said Jadzia. “They are pulling power. The helm won’t respond, and the nacelles are fused: no propulsion. The power couplings are fused too, so I can’t cut power. The primary controller is part of the secondary systems which are still offline. I can’t shut it down. Sweetie is right, we need to use what power we have left and get out of here. We are looking at an impulse engine overload.”

Sweetie rushed to the transporter platform. It went dark the moment her hooves landed on it.

“Transporters are offline!” Julian yelled.

“We’re out of options!” Yelled Nerys.

The ship shook violently, causing Sweetie to slide off the glass transporter platform. She grabbed ahold of a console to steady herself. The vibration increased, accompanied by a roar louder than the ocean. Sweetie folded her ears over.

“When I say brace, grab a hold of something solid and cover your head!” Nerys yelled.

“Come to me!” Sweetie shouted.

“Eighty percent power!” Jadzia yelled.

“Hurry! I can protect us!”

“Ninty percent!”

“Ninty-eight percent!” Julian shouted as he ran towards Sweetie. Nerys was right behind him. Jadzia was still climbing out of her seat when the loud rumble turned into a high-pitched whine. “Hurry!”

Sweetie grabbed Jadzia with her magic and yanked her across the ship. The force of Jadzia colliding with her almost knocked her over. She threw up her shield around them.

“Brace! Brace! Brace!” Nerys screamed.

A massive ball of fire could be seen from the front window. It swirled and spun around with swirls of red and green flames and back smoke.

A force more powerful than a kick from Big Mac impacted Sweetie’s shield. It knocked the wind out of her. She heard someone next to her smack into the console. Her shield flickered. She focused as she attempted to catch her breath. The ship shook and shimmied violently. She was glad the console she was hanging onto for deal life was strong enough for all of them.

The planet, which had been a constant source of light, was gone. It reappeared only to disappear quickly. Then again and again. The cabin flickered with light as the planet came and went.

“We’ve lost attitude control,” said Jadzia. She took deep breaths as the ship’s shaking stopped. She had a nasty cut across her forehead.

Julian examined Jadzia’s forehead closely. “It looks superficial. I can stop the bleeding with a dermal regenerator.”

“Dead in the water and out of control,” said Nerys. “Inertial dampeners are surprisingly still functioning. Not much else is.”

“Life support is stable. For now,” said Julian. He checked his tricorder. “Correction: Life support is stable here. The aft section is gone.”

“Structural integrity is failing,” said Jadzia.

Sweetie dropped her shield. She took several shallow breaths. She felt lightheaded.

Julian wrapped his arms around her. “Breathe,” he said. “It’s alright. Just relax and breathe.”

She took comfort in his embrace, which, more than anything, calmed her. She regained her breath, and after a few moments, her head cleared.

“Be right back.” Julian grabbed his medical kit from under some rubble. He pulled out a small silver cylinder device. Sweetie recognized it as the object she used to demonstrate her telekinetic abilities. That felt like a lifetime ago. Julian held the device to the cut on Jadzia’s head. His hand made a sweeping motion as pale blue light ran across her face. Slowly, the cut disappeared.

“What do we do now?” she asked when Julian returned to her.

“Survive,” said Nerys. A chill ran down Sweetie’s back.

“I’m attempting to null out our spin with the thrusters,” said Jadzia. “If I can, it will save what’s left of the inertial dampeners.”

Sweetie turned to Julian and whispered, “What happens if those dampener things fail?”

“We get tossed around in this thing like a rollercoaster with no restraints,” he muttered. “If we can deactivate the gravitational field, we won’t be in as much danger.”

“It took the entire thruster pack, but our spin has slowed significantly. I think they will hold until the Defiant gets here.” Jadzia sat back in her chair, taking a deep breath.

“Have any more tricks, Sweetie?” Nerys cast a glance over her shoulder in Sweetie’s direction.

Sweetie shook her head. “I can’t teleport us to the surface.” She felt a tinge of power inside her saying she would make it by herself, but she wasn’t sure that was true. The distance was further than any pony she knew could do. “A more powerful unicorn or an alicorn could open a portal… I have no idea how those work.”

Sweetie sat on her haunches as she thought. If she could get back into that state of understanding, she could open the portal to the planet. Maybe even open one on Equus! It was all there, right beyond her reach. How did she get there the first time?

Julian took a seat on the floor in front of her. “This Luna, you mentioned. She’s a goddess, right?

Sweetie nodded.

“If she’s trapped in there, couldn’t she open a portal out to the planet? Or make us a portal out of here?”

Sweetie shrugged. “I don’t know how portals work. Maybe she can’t make one in there… maybe she tried and failed and that’s why she didn’t appear solid. I don’t know!

“Why me? I don’t know anything about anything. I’m just a dumb filly. If Twilight got stuck here, she would have been home the next day!”

Julian ran a hand through his hair. “Sweetie, please stop beating yourself up. No one is expecting you to know everything or to be all-powerful. You are brilliant. Everyone here knows it and has seen it. You saved my life three times now if my count is correct.”

Sweetie looked away from Julian. Jadzia and Nery were in the front seats having their own private conversation. A single tear ran down her cheek. “I just… I feel so useless.”

“Come here.”

Sweetie looked at Julian with a frown. He beckoned her over again. She walked over to him.

“Sit down next to me.”

Sweetie sat on her haunches. She was thrown off as Julian wrapped her in a tight embrace. “You are far from useless, miss one and only Sweetie Belle.” He pulled her saddlebags off her. There was a soft clunk. Her medal lay upon the deck, occasionally reflecting the planet’s light.

She sobbed softly in his arms as he picked it up. “Starfleet doesn’t give this award to anyone.”

“H-how d-did I get that, anyways?” she asked, while she tried to get herself under control. She took a few deep breaths but it wasn’t helping.

“For saving my life,” Julian replied with a swift smile.

“But not anyone gets that,” said Sweetie.

“True. Since you’re the first of your kind to arrive here, I petitioned Starfleet to give you ambassador status. You represent Equus and Equestria to The United Federation of Planets.” Julian put the medal back into her bag and fastened the buckle.

Sweetie was speechless. She hugged Julian back and rested her head on his shoulder.

After a while, Sweetie released Julian from her embrace. She leaned against the wall and watched the planet move across the front window. Valos Three wasn’t such a bad place. The small part she saw that wasn’t an impact crater seemed ideal for ponies to live. Fresh air, lush and green, and a warm climate. Warm… Sweetie leaned forward. Cool air rushed in behind her and she leaned back again.

“Is it just me or is this wall getting warm?”

Julian placed a hand on the wall and quickly recoiled. “Oh, yes, that’s really warm.”

Sweetie scooted forward. Her back felt hot. She cast a glance over her shoulder. Her back had a couple of red marks like she had been in the hot tub too long.

“Major,” said Julian, “we have a problem.”

“Never a dull moment.” Nerys and Jadzia rushed over. She started scanning the area, but Jadzia was already typing furiously on the console. “Several plasma fires in the aft section. The ship is burning up!”

“I’ve created a containment field around the forward section, but it will only buy us—” The ship went completely dark. “No time at all.”

“Come on, Defiant. Where are you?” Julian looked towards the front window as if he might see it waiting there.

“Ten minutes of breathable air, maybe twelve if we don’t panic,” said Nerys. She tossed her tricorder into the various pieces of the disassembled panels.

Sweetie's heart pounded in her chest as she looked around at each person and piece of scrap metal lying around. Surely there was something! Something they overlooked or forgot to try.

How does a portal work? Come on, Sweetie, think! It’s do or die! Teleport them one at a time to the surface! Can I get them there? How far away is the surface? We are going to die here. In space. In orbit of some unknown planet.

A loud bang and vibration pulled Sweetie out of her spiraling thoughts. She jumped to her feet. “What was that?”

“The structural integrity is collapsing in the aft and mid sections,” said Jadzia.

“We have four spacesuits,” said Nerys. “Those have several hours of air.”

“There’s just one problem with that plan,” said Jadzia as she pointed to Sweetie.

“Go for it,” said Sweetie. “It makes more sense you three survive.”

“Pragmatic to the end,” said Jadzia. “In Starfleet, we do not leave crew members behind.”

“No,” said Sweetie. “Use the spacesuits. I have an idea…” She grinned. It was the most insane, most reckless thing she had ever come up with. Never in a million eras would a pony do what she was about to do.

Jadzia frowned as Julian's mouth fell open with realization. “Please tell me you aren’t thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking.”

Sweetie gave a slow nod. “It’s the only way.” She looked at Jadzia. “Pragmatic to the end. Also probably insane.”

“Sorry I don’t follow,” said Jadzia. “Julian, what is going on?”

“If she’s planning what I think she is, she won’t need a spacesuit.”

Jadzia shook her head. “Absolutely not! I will not allow you to go on some suicide mission. There’s no way you will hold enough air in there, it won’t protect you from the radiation, and the cold.”

“I don’t know about the radiation or the air,” Sweetie admitted. “But I can keep the cold out.”

“Sweetie…” Jadzia sighed.

“What the buck else are we going to do? We stay here and burn up or suffocate? It’s our last option. How long until the Defiant gets here?” Sweetie didn’t even care she was cursing. Given the circumstances, she felt it was warranted.

“Assuming she doesn’t run into any trouble with subspace fissures in this system, she should be here any minute,” said Nerys. “Alright, we’re doing Sweetie’s plan. With any luck, we will only be out there for a few minutes. Sweetie, whatever the hell you are planning, may the Prophets guide you. I sure hope this isn’t the last time I see you, kid.”

Sweetie rushed forward and gave Nery a quick hug. She gave Jadzia a tight hug as well. When she got to Julian, she put her nose to his. “Thank you,” she whispered. She kissed his cheek.

“I’ll be patching you up after all of this, I suspect,” said Julian. He patted her shoulder.

Jadzia put a hand on Sweetie’s face. “May Celestia and Luna look after you.”

Sweetie smiled at her.

Sweetie spent the next few moments preparing herself with slow steady breaths as the other worked fast to don their spacesuits.

“Skip the checklist,” said Jadzia. “Got power? Got air? Good.”

Nerys shrugged. “I like it. Starfleet can be quite efficient sometimes.”

“Starfleet doesn’t have very many officers over three hundred years old. These things haven’t changed much in that time.”

They donned their helmets and waddled to the bulkhead across from them.

“When you are ready, Sweetie, I will depressurize this chamber.” Julian’s voice sounded so strange through whatever gadget was allowing him to talk through his helmet. “After that, we will open this hatch. We will do our best to stay with you. We will have maneuvering capabilities.”

“Got it,” replied Sweetie. Her heart pounded in her chest. “Okay, here we go.” She concentrated on her spell. Her horn lit up, and a familiar green dome formed around her. She made it as big as the room would allow her. She pulled as much heat from the air as she could. She inverted the shield so all heat would stay in. Next, she formed a second shield on top. If she was going to last more than a few minutes, she needed a way to vent the carbon dioxide. She knew from science class that she couldn’t have a vacuum between the two shields or all of her air would be sucked out when she vented the carbon dioxide, so she made sure the gap between the two also had some air.

After she gave Julian a confident nod and heard the hiss of air leaving the cabin, she realized she had made a critical error: her shields would never fit through the hatch they were about to open. It was too late. Julian had opened the hatch, and all three stepped out of the ship into the abyss.

With no other option, Sweetie concentrated on a third spell. She couldn’t believe she was going to do it, but the second she felt the spell grab hold of her, her shields, and the atmosphere she trapped, she was committed.

In a flash of green light, she found herself drifting into nothing. She flailed around. There was nothing to hold onto. She held onto her shield spells for dear life.

She stopped struggling and looked around to get her bearings. Valos Three provided a lot of light, but the space around her was surprisingly dark. The others were nowhere to be seen. She saw the Mekong. Or, rather, she saw the green flames and pieces of sparkling debris. She had teleported farther away from the ship than she thought. Pieces of debris tumbled around her.

Now all she could do was sit there and hope she could hold her spells long enough.

“Well, I hope you’re having a good laugh, Q. Not going to show up to say ‘I told you so?’” Great, now I’m talking to myself and wasting my air, she thought.

Floating into nothingness was almost peaceful. Almost. She heard every breath she took: a lulling rhythm of a long inhale and a short exhale. However, it served as a reminder of her limited air supply.

Time went on. It had been more than a few minutes, and there was no sign of another ship. The others would be fine for a while, but she was worried. Fatigue was setting it. Beads of sweat rolled down her face. She was feeling light-headed.

“Time to cycle,” she muttered. She concentrated as best she could. Her inverted shield was keeping the heat in a little too well. She focused on another spell as she swirled the air inside her shield. She isolated the heavier CO2 in the mix and pushed it to the outer shield. At the same time, fresh air came into her bubble. “That’s it; all the air I have.”

In the distance she finally spotted the others: three white dots, approaching her. She smiled at the sight of them.

Their approach was slow. Her only fixed point of reference was the Mekong which looked much smaller; it either burned up completely or she was drifting away from it. It was impossible to tell. She couldn’t think of a single spell that could change her direction of travel or cancel her velocity. But it was best to be far away anyway, in case the ship exploded.

Her breathing became difficult to control. Sweat dripped from her face. Her goal of surviving seemed distant. The stars spun before her like a kaleidoscope.

Come on, Sweetie! Focus! Her verbal splashes of cold water were losing their efficacy. Sleep sounded nice. Sleep and it would all be over, and that would be great. She was exhausted.

She maintained focus on her spells. She knew the complex task ahead as she attempted to separate the CO2 from the air. She repeated her steps to push the CO2 out. As it filled the outer shield, she focused on opening part of the outer shield. She would vent some of the CO2.

Her head was aching. Her focus drifted, and the outer shield fell. Sweetie’s eyes shot wide open. The remaining thin air expanded in her shield. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on everything she had left. She fought the increased pressure on her shield wall. Her lungs burned as she struggled to breathe.

Her mind was slow and dizzy as if she had no care in the world. A great fog clouded her mind as she clung to reality with her final breaths. A voice in her mind said to let go. It will be over, and you won’t feel this pain anymore. If this was what dying was like, why did so many ponies fear it? She guessed that was an important question, but she couldn’t think of a reason why.

Her shield flickered as her attention wavered. She gave her head a hard shake and redoubled her efforts to keep her spell active. The loudest voice in her head told her to stay in the game. It wasn’t her time. But that voice wasn’t her own. Or was it? Reality was blurring between her fractured thoughts.

The others were closer now. She made out each of them by their size. They flew towards her in a tight formation. However, they came to an abrupt halt before they reached her. They vanished into sparkling blue light. Sweetie frowned. Surely she was seeing things. She wished she could see Apple Bloom’s pretty face. She wanted that to be the last image in her mind before she gave into the cruel environment.

Then she was there, smiling at her. “It’s okay,” she said. Her voice was soft and sweet. “I’m here, and always will be.” Apple Bloom put a hoof over her heart. “I’m in here.” She spoke a simple truth Sweetie always knew to be true.

Sweetie’s eyes rolled back. Her shield failed as sparkling blue light surrounded her.

An eerie silence fell over the orchard as Sweetie walked out of the barn. Swirls of light and clouds circled the sky as it bathed the orchard in an unnatural blue light. A beam of pure energy shone in the center, blindingly bright.

“Sweetie!” Apple Bloom’s voice echoed. “Get away from that thing!”

Sweetie stood transfixed. The trees were bending towards… whatever that thing was. The wind was at her back, pushing her towards it.

Apple Bloom caught up to Sweetie. “Come on. Let’s get back in the barn.”

“What is that? Do you see how it’s pulling the trees towards it?”

“Sweetie, you idiot! Let’s get away from it before it pulls us in too!”

“Yeah, I think you’re right!” Sweetie shouted over the wind. It was so intense that Sweetie’s hooves slid along the dirt. She swore loudly as she collided with an apple tree. The wind had her pinned against it. “Grab a tree!”

Apple Bloom screamed. Her hind hooves dug into the dirt, leaving deep ruts as the wind pulled her along. She was lifted off the ground

Sweetie watched in horror. She continued to fight, but it was no use. “Apple Bloom!” Sweetie darted out from the tree only to be knocked over and scooped up by the force of the wind. “No!” She screamed. She pointed her horn at Apple Bloom and cast a spell. She intended a shield spell but she couldn’t hold her focus as she careened through the air.

As she tumbled helplessly, she reached an alarming altitude in a short amount of time. Ponyville was a tiny collection of lights far below. She would not survive the fall. The bright blue light loomed ever closer. From this distance, she saw it was a rift in the fabric of the world. Something otherworldly had cut through Equus.

Below her, she spotted the yellow filly. She was encased in a green bubble floating as gently as a leaf on the wind back to the ground.

Sweetie didn’t have much time to dwell on that as she stared into the blue-white abyss of oblivion. She was powerless to stop her from crossing into it. Her last thoughts were of Apple Bloom. She knew Apple Bloom was safe. She felt it in her soul. Her mind went blank as the light took her, and her world darkened.

The room came into focus. She was lying on a bed. If she had to guess, another infirmary bed. This bed was worse than the ones on DS9. In the distance, she heard hushed voices, but she had no trouble understanding them.

“She survived?” asked Nerys. She sounded concerned and impressed. “It was lucky we found her at all!”

”That unicorn has nine lives,” said Julian. “Aside from hypoxia, she’s fine. Her shield failed right as the transporter locked on. She was exposed to space for fractions of a second.”

“Aren’t unicorns lucky in human culture or something?” asked Nerys.

“I don’t know, but I think our unicorn is just insane,” muttered Jadzia with a soft chuckle. ”She gave me a heart attack”

Julian cast a glance at her. He froze and looked at her again. “You’re awake!” he rushed over. “How are you feeling?”

“My head hearts,” Sweetie replied. She rubbed a hoof through her forelock. “Where am I? Is this the Defiant?” Sweetie sat up in her bed. The infirmary was smaller than the one on DS9. The tree beds were crammed into corners of the room with consoles on the walls behind them. The center of the room was open, however, that only emphasized the size. Jadzia, Nerys, and Julian stood in the center, taking up the entire area.

“Yes, this is the Defiant. We will be back on DS9 soon,” said Nerys. “I’m glad you’re okay, kid. You had me worried. You had us all worried.

“Anyway, Commander Sisko needs me on the bridge. I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I go up there.” Nerys turned and walked out. The doors promptly slid open to let her pass and then slid shut.

Sweetie smiled as she felt some heat on her face. Julian was looking at the console behind her bed, but Jadzia was giving her a curious look. “What?” asked Sweetie with an innocent smile.

Jadzia smiled. “I see you.”

Sweetie looked away.

“Uh-huh,” Jadzia taunted.

“So um—” Sweetie’s eyes darted around the room as she tried to change the subject. “When can I get a tour of this spaceship?”

“Another time,” Julian replied. “I don’t want you going anywhere just yet. And I want to keep you in the infirmary when we return for further observation.”

“Yeah, I was thinking of just moving into the infirmary,” said Sweetie casually. “I mean I might as well just live there at this point.”

Julian chuckled. “You end up there often. Your medical file is already bigger than many officers’. Not to mention you’ve already added several chapters to our medical journals.”

“You’re welcome?”

“Doctor, is it really necessary to keep her so long?” asked Jadzia.

Julian sighed. “I suppose I could release her to your care, but she is not to do anything for the rest of the day.”

“I think I can manage that,” said Sweetie. After everything she had been through in addition to getting the rest of her memory back, she had no desire to go anywhere or to see anyone. She clung to her last look at Ponyville. The town hadn’t exploded.

“Sweetie, I will get you a tour of the Defiant another time,” said Jadzia. “Or maybe…” A mischievous grin crept across her face. “Maybe Nerys can show you around.”

Sweetie looked away with a sigh. Who was she kidding? She had a better shot opening a portal to Ponyville than anything with Nerys.

Jadzia brushed Sweetie’s forelock aside and rubbed the side of her face. “I’m only teasing you.”

“Teasing?” Julian looked from Jadzia to Sweetie. A wide grin spread across his face. “Major Kira? Really? Now that is interesting.”

Jadzia rolled her eyes at him. “Anyway, Sweetie, I should tell you now before this goes on any longer. Kira Nerys is only interested in the opposite sex.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Sweetie sighed. “My shot with her was one in Tartarus anyway. I have a type.” Sweetie shrugged. “School-filly crush. Besides, my heart is set on Apple Bloom.

“If I were serious, I would have said something to her. Mares are very… forward when they want something. The stallions are the ones who think they’re clever when they say they want to ‘come over and plow your field.’”

Everyone laughed while Jadzia shook her head. “Trust me, Sweetie, that’s nothing new here either.” Jadzia shot Julian a glance.

“I have never used such a euphemism,” Julian huffed. “Anyway,” Julian said sternly, “I need to run an experiment tomorrow with your magic, Sweetie. It’s important. It could hold the key to all of this.”

The rest of the journey passed uneventfully. Before Sweetie knew it, they were docking at DS9. She never thought she’d be happy to see the station again, but considering everything that happened, she was relieved to be done with the failed expedition. She still had some worry about ponies being at Valos Three, but she was less than enthusiastic about returning.

She threw herself on Jadzia’s couch as soon as she entered the room. The couch had never been so comfortable. She needed time to think… another time. She was reluctant to relive or dive into what had happened.

Jadzia walked in behind her carrying her saddlebags. “We were able to get these off the Mekong.” Jadzia sighed with relief when the door closed. She draped Sweetie’s saddlebags over the couch and began removing her uniform. “I’m done with all of this,” she said.

“Are you kidding me?” asked Sweetie as she watched Jadzia. “You have even more clothes under your clothes?” Sweetie laughed. “I swear, you humanoids are scared of your own bodies.”

Jadzia frowned. “These underclothes, or underwear as it’s called, prevent chafing.” Jadzia slid her purple dress over her head. “Scared of our bodies? Maybe some of us. There has been a lot of emphasis on the ideal figure in many cultures, including mine. I would like to say it’s a thing of the past, but it prevails. As such it has caused a lot of body shame. I suppose that concept doesn’t exist in your culture…”

“We have the beautiful figure, but it’s about being comfortable with yourself. No pony I know has any shame in their own body. Even mares when they go in heat… there’s nothing subtle about a mare in heat. Not that stallions are any more subtle with, well, anything.” Sweetie laughed. “It’s such a different culture there, sometimes this dressing up thing here seems a little… silly.”

“So I suppose when we find your home, we should all arrive naked?” Jadzia asked with a smirk.

Sweetie shrugged. “If,” she corrected.

“We will find it,” Jadzia assured. “It might take a little longer, but we will find it.”

“Assuming our efforts don’t kill us,” Sweetie replied. “You once told me all problems have a solution. Well, I think the solution to this problem is magic. Unfortunately, it’s magic I don’t understand. So, I cannot solve this problem.”

“So you’re giving up?” asked Jadzia in a flat tone.

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t have access to Celestia’s library.” Sweetie took a deep breath. “Back on Valos Three, something changed when Luna’s hoof passed through me. This whole time I have been gaining more confidence with my magic. I think these tetryons are supercharging my abilities.”

“Your magic has been more… powerful in the vicinity of them,” Jadzia agreed. “But you’ve been able to do all sorts of things without them like that mass teleportation spell.”

“Yeah, I guess I did do that,” Sweetie admitted. “All of the tetryons were exploding when I cast it.”

“And what changed after Luna?” asked Jadzia. “We noticed you do some really unusual things: twice you hovered off the ground, your eyes turned bright white, and tons of energy radiated from you.”

“Luna has granted me the power of the alicorn.”

Jadzia frowned. “Well, that’s good. Isn’t it?”

Sweetie shook her head. “I feel it. Beneath the surface, it’s simmering. It’s raw power I do not know how to wield. It scares me.”

“Luna must have given you that power for a reason…”

“I don’t have the right,” said Sweetie. “I haven’t ascended into an alicorn, and I probably never will. That right is only granted to exceptional ponies. There have only been two alicorns made in our history.”

Jadzia frowned. “Maybe it’s temporary? Maybe it’s the only way.”

“There’s no undoing it.”

“Sweetie, you are exceptional,” said Jadzia. “Maybe that’s why she gave it to you. I won’t pretend to understand your ways or what alicorns even are, but I think you’re exceptional. You made a real impact on us all. I was really scared when we couldn’t find you out there. I was relieved to hear you were okay after we got you aboard the Defiant.”

Sweetie hugged Jadzia and rested her head on her shoulder. “That was really sweet of you,” she replied softly. “But I don’t have the right.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because,” Sweetie took a deep breath, “because out there, in space, I almost died. In the end, I gave up. I figured death was easier; that it was nothing to fear. Then the transporter pulled me in. What kind of alicorn gives in like that?”

“Sweetie, stop!” Jadzia snapped. “You’re being way too hard on yourself. You were merely delirious from the CO2. You held on to the very end. Any Starfleet officer would be hard-pressed to do what you did. I am proud to have had the privilege to serve with you at my side.”

Sweetie hung her head. She felt it in her core.

“This Luna is a princess, right?” asked Jadzia. Sweetie gave a single nod. “Then her giving you this power is her right, and therefore you are entitled to it.”

Her logic was undeniable. “You’re right, I’m sorry… I just wish I understood it. This is the kind of power where when things go wrong, it’s really dangerous for everyone. Portals, for instance, are really scary. I read a whole chapter in my textbook about why that type of magic was restricted, and all of the books about it could only be checked out by advanced unicorns in the university.” Sweetie shivered. “But if I can make one, successfully, and it doesn’t kill me or maroon me somewhere else, I can open one in the middle of Ponyville, or wherever.”

“It sounds like these portals cut through space and time. The Federation has encountered technology that has done something similar. Perhaps research from that technology can be helpful. But don’t you need to know where Equus is so you know where to direct the portal?”

Sweetie sighed. “Yet another problem. I don’t actually know, but I assume so.”

“We’ll get you there,” Jadzia assured. “Portal or no portal. And remember what Julian said on the Defiant.”

“You’re always so optimistic.”

Jadzia yawned, stretched, and then stood up. “Come on, let’s have dinner, and then I’m going to bed.”

Jadzia made a creamy potato leek soup. She nearly dropped her bowl in a fit of laughter when Sweetie asked why it was called that if the potatoes weren’t leaking out of it. Despite its silly name, it was delicious.

“Come on,” said Jadzia in the middle of another stretch. She beckoned Sweetie towards her bedroom. “I figured you might want to snuggle, considering everything you went through.”

“I always do, but I’m not sure that’s your only reason.”

Jadzia didn’t answer. She turned and walked into her room, leaving her door open. Sweetie followed.

Sweetie hopped onto the bed and pulled the covers over her. Jadzia pulled her close, her hands stroked her neck down to her shoulders and back. As Sweetie allowed the sensations to lull her asleep, she let her mind wander. There was warmth and empathy around her. It was so peaceful. As she let it consume her, she found herself in a sea of lights. They were pretty balls of light in many different colors. She reached out to touch one. She recoiled in shock. There was more there than light. It was energy. It was alive. It was a soul.