“There! It’s done!” Apple Bloom announced, showing her friends the drawing of a zebra. “Ah even painted his neckless-colar thingy!”
“All right! We should head to Zecora’s. She will probably know something about that stallion.” Scootaloo announced.
“Okay. Let’s go!” Sweetie Belle said, taking the drawing and putting in her saddle bag.
Zecora’s hut was not very far, but it was still a long walk.
“So, what do you girls think those ponies are up to?” Scootaloo asked.
“No idea. But if we knew, we wouldn’t be investigating, would we?”
“You are right Sweetie. Now let’s go.”

___________________________________________________________

“This telekinesis ability is amazing!” Beverly said, floating the tricorder’s sensor over a few plant specimens at the side of the path.
“Indeed. It appears that the brain uses the horn to canalize the psionic energy and levitate matter. I wonder if it can also transform it.”
“Me too. It would be nice just to point this little baby at a wound and watch it close and heal in front of my eyes.” Beverly added.
“I still prefer my old form.” Worf said, visibly anger
“Worf, snap out of it. You are even stronger now then you were before. I bet you could break a tree in half only by bucking it.”
“My opinion remains.”
“I, for once, like my new form.” Said Chief O’Brien. “Reminds me of a pony I saw on my uncle’s farm when I was 10.”
“Really?” Beverly asked. “How much do you look like him?”
“Well, we both are spotted. White with grey, with a spot around the right eye. But I am much more handsome!”
“What does Keiko think about it?”
“She is curious why I look different from the others. Maybe it’s because I’m Irish.”
“Possibly. It is a known fact that certain human groups develop traits after a while living on the same place. For instance: the people that lived near the north pole such as Russians and Canadians have adapted in such way that they only start feeling cold when the temperature reaches close to 5 degrees Celsius, while most humans would start shaking at 10 degrees Celsius.” Data added.
“Look at this.” Said Beverly, pointing at the horizon. A small town with a medieval look was there.
“We should begin our search there. The Captain would certainly look for shelter.” Worf said, determined.
“You are right.” Said O’Brien. “Wait, what is that?” He pointed at a small gray dot on the sky that was coming at their direction quite fast. Worf grabbed his phaser and pointed at it.
“Wait. It’s only a pegasus.” Data pointed. It was indeed a gray pegasus. From what Data learned from observing the mutated crew, it was a female. She also had a blonde mane and… Bubbles on its flank.
“Did that pony that passed just have a tattoo on its ass?” O’Brien asked, incredulous.
“It didn’t look like a tattoo. Looked more… natural…” Beverly answered.
Data was staring at the horizon. He used to do that when lost in deep thoughts, he learned from humans that deactivating the sense of sight helped to focus. It didn’t matter that he was an android; he still liked to do so.
Data started to remove his pants.
“Data! What are…” Beverly stopped when she saw.
There was a mark on Data’s flank; an image of what appeared to be a microchip.
“As I suspected. It appears that every equine of this universe has a similar mark.” Data said, looking at his own mark.
“Really? Everyone?” O’Brien started to remove his pants.
“Don’t!” Beverly shouted.
“Why not?”
“I don’t need the mental image of your horse penis.”
O’Brien stared at her for a few seconds.
“Don’t you know anything about horses? You are supposed to be a doctor! Human doctor, but still, a doctor!” He proceeded to remove his pants.
“What Chief O’Brien is trying to say is that, when not engaged on sexual intercourse, the equine penis is kept hidden inside a sheet, thus making it downright invisible unless he is upside down.” Data said to the Doctor, who sighed in relief.
“Thank god! I REALLY don’t need that image.”
“How appropriate!” They all looked at O’Brien. On his flank there was the picture of a ship in a bottle. “What is your, Doctor?”
“Oh no, I am not taking my pants of in front of you all. And I don’t care that I am a pony now.”
“Can you resist the curiosity?”
It took only a few seconds to Beverly to break and remove her pants, not completely, but enough to see her mark.
“A scalpel? Well, it’s still a medical instrument, but I would prefer a laser one. What about you Worf?” The 3 ponies looked at the warrior.
“Fine.” He lowered his pants. It was very different from the other marks. It looked like it had been painted.”It’s a bat’leth!”
“It seems yours is much more ceremonial, as it appears to have been painted. Perhaps zebras of this planet are much like Klingons in terms of rituals and traditions.” Data said, analyzing Worf’s mark.
“We should get going. We are here to find the captain.” Worf pulled his pants back as the others and him continued their walk towards the town.

_________________________________________________

“What do you mean you can’t tell me how your ship works?” Twilight said, a sad expression on her face.
“It’s a protocol of my people called the Prime Directive. We are not supposed to share technology with underdeveloped cultures.”
“Hey! Who are you calling underdeveloped?” Rainbow Dash said, leaning closer to Picard.
“He is right, compared to them we are barely foals. But why can’t you help us develop?”
“We tried to help several cultures to develop on the past. I ended up causing war and death.”
“I think he is right.” Everyone in the room looked to Fluttershy, who until now was very quiet. “Do you girls remember when the Cutie Mark Crusaders tried to get the archer cutie mark? Sweetie Belle almost shoot Apple Bloom in the knee. They had been instructed on how to use the bow, but they are just foals. It takes time to master and understand a new tech.”
“Exactly, miss?”
“Fluttershy.” She answered, almost on a whisper.
“You are right.” Twilight sighed. “But can you at least tell me about your technology?”
“Well, we can bend space. It’s what makes it possible for us to travel faster than light. We can also create matter using a machine called replicator and travel great distances in a blink of an eye with our teleporters.”
“Wait, you use technology for teleporters?”
Picard frowned. The question didn’t make much sense. What does she mean?
“Yes, of course. Why?”
“Isn’t that dangerous? I mean, technology can fail. You could never materialize on the destination, or materialize inside something. Wouldn’t it be safer just to stick with the teleportation spells?”
“What do you mean ‘teleportation spells’?”
“I mean this using your magic instead of technology for teleportation, like this.” Twilight closed her eyes and focused. Her horn started to glow and then her whole body. There was a sudden flash of light and Twilight was on the other side. Picard was amazed.
“Incredible! You can teleport without a transporter pad!”
“Yes. Every unicorn can, it just takes some practice. You people don’t have magic?”
“No, that is why we use technology.”
“Must have been hard to do things without magic.” Rarity said.
“Not exactly, we came around and dealt with problems using technology.”
“I see. Say, is that wonderful piece of jewelry on your chest also technology or is it merely aesthetic?”
The comm. Badge! I’ve completely forgot about it!
“It’s a communicator. I had completely forgotten about it.” He hit the badge with his hoof. “Picard to Enterprise.”

__________________________________________________

“There!” Said the caramel colored unicorn with an strange looking apparatus on his eyes. “The chair should be big enough for a pony to sit now.”
“Thanks Geordi.” Riker sat on the chair. “Really comfy.”
“I did my best. I will be on engineering if you need me.” He headed to the turbo lift. When the doors opened, a unicorn came out and took place next to Riker.
“Counselor?”
“Yes. I became a unicorn! Should be obvious taking the fact that I already had psychic powers.” Said Troi. She had a very dark brown mane and her coat was a perfectly white, but in a shade much more natural than Data’s
“Looking good.”
“Thanks Will.”
“Picard to Enterprise.”
Riker immediately stood up.
“Riker here. Are you all right captain?”
“Yes, I’ve been here for about 3 hours. How long have the Enterprise been?”
“About one hour. Q mutated us, now we are all…”
“Ponies. Yes, I know, I am a pony too. I wonder what Worf looks like…”
“He is a zebra.”
“A zebra?”
“Yes. And he is not happy about that. I sent an away team close to your location. Data, Worf, Beverly and O’Brien should come by in a few minutes.”
“Tell them to look for me on the library. I will be waiting. Picard out.”

_________________________________________________________

There were three knocks. The hut’s door opened and the zebra looked down at the three fillies.
“Apple Bloom and friends! What brings you here this weekend?”
“Hi Zecora! We need your help.”
“Yeah. We saw three ponies and a zebra teleport just outside the town a while ago.” Said the pegasus filly.
“A teleporting zebra?” Zecora raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. A stallion. Bigger than Big Mac! He had a belt thingy too! Here, take a look.” Sweetie Belle floated the piece o paper to Zecora.
She looked at the drawing. It wasn’t perfect but showed everything with the necessary detail for her to understand.
“He is wearing a warrior’s baldric. Almost all mans from my homeland wear this relic. It is a symbol from the past, when for land zebras fought to death.”
“You mean they are here to invade???” Apple Bloom said, scared. The three fillies hugged each other.
“No. Zebra warriors wear baldrics as a sign of honor all the time. Not only when about to attack.”
The fillies sighed.
“Thanks. Is there anything else we should know?” Asked Scootaloo.
“The warriors from my land are known to have a short temperament. Don’t bother him or else in trouble you could be.”
“Thanks Zecora. Bye!” Said Apple Bloom, as the fillies went back to the city.