Far Beyond Equestria

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.