Questing for Sanity

by Dark Side of the Rainboom

I am Captain Sparkle of the EqD Enterprise

Picard stood up and straightened himself. “I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise.”

Twilight cocked her head, “Star… ship?”

“Yes, it’s… nevermind.”

“What? Why won’t you tell me?”

“It would be violating the Prime Directive, General Order Number One: there can be no interference with the internal development of any alien civilizations. Even my communicating to you is violating that order.”

“I see,” Twilight said, pondering this info, “What reason do you have to follow this order?”

“Well, for starters, it was an order given to me by my superior officers, and it is also to restrict, accidental or otherwise, technological advances and knowledge to technologically inferior races, lest we disrupt their natural development.”

“Inferior? What makes you think my species is inferior?” Twilight was not going to stand here and get insulted.

“In my experience, it is better to assume inferiority and maybe experience awkward conversation later than to assume technological balance between races and disrupt an entire species. I did not mean to offend.”

Darn, that’s good logic, Twilight thought, but it still didn’t explain who he was. “How about,” she started, figuring out the proper wording for her next proposal, “we just avoid any conversation technological in nature and merely tell each other about our respective species’ nature?”

Picard pondered that for a moment. “I see nothing wrong with that; but remember: no technology.”

“Deal,” Twilight affirmed.

“Well then, you already know my name; what is yours?”

“I am Twilight Sparkle.”

Any other person would have pointed out how… interesting that name was, to say the least. Human words, but not something you would encounter in a name.

“Now what are you?” she asked before Picard could get a word in.

He sighed, “I am a race that is known as human. I am a Captain in Starfleet which is the military branch of the United Federation of Planets- I just realized I’m violating the Prime Directive again.”

“That sounded rehearsed,” she pointed out.

“In a way, it is. Damn it all… these are unique circumstances. I’m the captain of an exploratory vessel, and thus I give this speech a lot more often than you’d think. While the Federation is predominantly human, as is my crew, we have allies that are not human. My Chief of Security is Klingon, but that is an entirely different story.”

“So your ship- your star ship- and crew are scouting out this planet?” Twilight was genuinely curious; who knows what she could learn?

“Not exactly, no. We were actually investigating a rip in the fabric of space-time when someone, a big nuisance, grabbed me and transported me and him through that rip. We ended up here. So no, we weren’t scouting this planet out. But that’s enough about me; what about you? Miss Sparkle, what are you?”

“I am- was, a unicorn.”

“Was?” Picard had a lot of questions, but he decided to stick with the obvious.

“Yes, my horn was taken from me by a powerful enemy of mine. Actually, I thought that he was in this cave. I actually thought you were working with him but when you sounded frustrated at him I knew you weren’t friends.”

“Friends?” Picard jumped up, “Friends with that… that… monster? Never.”

“Good, because he’s hurt my friends and family, and he’ll get what’s coming to him.”

“Q’s hurt me and my crew more times than I care to count.”

Twilight was confused. “Q? Who’s that?”

“The person I was talking with. Who were you talking about?” Picard asked.

“I was talking about Discord.”

“Discord? Who’s Discord?”

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate,” Twilight said glumly.

“Perhaps it would be best if we started with who we are and work out who they are later,” Picard suggested.

“That might be a good idea,” Twilight agreed.

---

A couple hours later and Twilight was wrapping up her explanation on magic and its influence in her world. Picard had previously explained how his species had gained an understanding of the cosmos and how they spread throughout a galaxy. However, and much to the chagrin of Twilight, he refused to delve further into anything else, for fear of doing too much damage to the natural evolution of ponykind. Besides, he figured, with the concept of magic, science may not work the same in both universes. “How do you figure that we’re not in the same universe?” she asked him, to which he responded, “If this Discord can propel an entire city through a rip in space-time and into another dimension, then why can’t I come through the same rip?” She was impressed at his sound logic in the face of uncertainty. Realizing Picard was adamant about staying rather tight lipped when it came to his technology, Twilight was loath to move on to her species.

“So, while you’re a member of the whole ‘ponykind’, you are only one type of three species, the other two being pegasi and earth pony?” Picard clarified.

“Well, technically there’s the three princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, who are actually another species called Alicorn, but for all intents and purposes, yes, there are only the unicorn, pegasi, and earth pony species.”

“Extraordinary,” he said with a grin on his face. To meet a species so interesting as these ponies (Picard had remarked that back on his Earth there too are ponies but they’re nothing like these ponies, at which Twilight pressed him for more, but he didn’t know too much about them) is a rarity. Certainly, each species is unique and interesting, though some are more so than others (Picard briefly thought of the Ferengi, and shuddered). “And only unicorns are able to actively tap into magic at will, but all living creatures in this ‘Equestria’ are tuned to it?”

“Again,” she stated, “for the intents and purposes of basic magical theory and history, yes. There is of course Advanced Magic Theory and Application, but I don’t want to bore you with all that.”

“On the contrary,” Picard commented, “I should find that a fascinating lesson, even if I am unable to use magic.”

Twilight smiled. It was rare that she would encounter one such as herself when it came to academia and the gaining of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. She was just about to launch into a lecture when Picard spoke up again.

“But perhaps we should save it for another day. Instead we should focus on survival, and trying to find a way out of this inhospitable land.”

Twilight deflated, disappointed. But he did have a point. Being winter she had a slightly longer coat, but it hardly counted for much when it’s only slightly above freezing. “You’re right about that,” she affirmed, “but I have no idea which direction we should even begin to travel in.”

“I’ll check inside the shuttle to see if there’s anything salvageable. Our best bet is to travel light, so we’ll have to bring only that which we can carry. We can’t rely on ourselves to find our way back here should we get lost, so what we grab now will have to last.” Picard climbed into the shuttle and Twilight slowly walked up to the entrance to look inside at the space.

“Wait,” she said, “This isn’t the Enterprise?”

“I should think not,” Picard laughed, “No this is only a mere shuttle; a method of transportation on and off the Enterprise.”

“Then what does the Enterprise look like?”

“To see it in person can only do it justice. Let’s just say it’s big. A lot bigger than this.”

Twilight was somewhat frustrated. She wanted to know more but Picard was blocking her attempts at learning more.

“Blast it.” Picard walked out with a large case under his arm. “Seems the energy field we traveled through to get here fried almost all electronics and Q’s landing was hardly exemplary. The only things left are a flare gun, three flares, basic medical supplies, two phasers, enough food rations for maybe three weeks, a knife, and some toiletries like soap and toothpaste, and a couple blankets. Hardly survival supplies, but they’ll have to do.”

“What’s a phaser?”

“A weapon that uses technology from my time. I suppose we could use them to start fires and such.”

“If only I had my horn,” she sighed, “Then I could… I don’t know, feel more useful.”

“Don’t give up now,” Picard said, “We’ve not even begun.”

“I’m not giving up,” Twilight stood tall; “We can do this together. And at least we have clear skies.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Picard said jokingly.

“No, you see, most weather in Equestria is controlled by pegasi. No pegasi, no bad weather.”

“Well that’s fortunate,” he commented.

“Tell me about it.”

“Let’s get started then.”

And with that, the two left the safety of the cave and shuttle behind and ventured into the unknown snow field, unsure of what would be ahead of them.

Author's Note:

Notes down here... okay. Quick chapter. Seems to be all the time any of us can afford nowadays.

Comments

[Swift Heart]

update?

[mint20]

*Pokes*
Hello, anypony still alive here? Hello? Update?

[Feather of Truth]

Lovely story. I hope you continue it one day.

[Nightspawn]

2308118 funny I allways saw it the other way around, But Qs actions seemed on a much larger scale to me, I mean Q we know for Sure Has an entire universe to summon puppies and marachi bands upon. Compared to discord As far As i Know Not causing much trouble Being equestrian borders
And if you think about it Quinn's mention of The old Irrepresseble Q is kind of like how Tirek (or however you spell that centar demon's name) tempts discord although with different outcomes

[Okie Brony]

Welp, no update in over 11 years, author offline since 2015. I think it's safe to say....

Tis a dead one, sire. 💀 👻

It's still a good beginning, and worth reading.