CHAPTER 9
MISSING
It was late afternoon before Chekhov found himself sitting with Pinkie Pie at an outside table in front of Sugarcube Corner, and having a milkshake with her. It was the very same table that Captain Kirk and Rarity were sitting at just two hours prior!
When they left Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie Pie decided to show Mr. Chekhov around town a bit before having that milkshake at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie decided to flavour her milkshake with something called "razzleberry", which Chekhov presumed was something like raspberries. Chekhov was relieved to find that conventional vanilla was part of the flavour selection. Carrot Cake- whom Pinkie Pie called "Mrs. Cake", seeing as she was married to the store owner, and thus became co-owner- said the milkshakes were on the house, seeing as Pinkie Pie worked there, and that she wanted to treat her "special friend".
So here they were, sitting at an outside table, laughing and telling stories; while the sun was sinking low on the horizon, but neither of them noticed.
"You're an amazing pony, Wheat Reaper!" Pinkie Pie commented. "In the few years you've been on that exploratory sailing ship… What was it called again?"
"Enterprise!" Chekhov smiled.
"Right!" Pinkie Pie said. "I can't believe some of the adventures you've had! I'll bet what you've told me just barely scratches the surface!"
"You would be correct!" Chekhov said.
Pinkie Pie giggled.
Chekhov had, in fact, told her the stories that he could tell; with a little bit of embellishment. He left out the parts about the alien creatures he encountered, not wanting to disobey The Prime Directive.
"Well, as the Element of Laughter, I've seen my fair share of adventures, too!"
"Ah, yes! The wielders of the Elements of Harmony! I've… heard a lwot about you…" Chekhov lied. "But I never thought I would ewer meet some of you! And… Applejack is the… Element of Honesty, right?"
"That's right!" Pinkie Pie beamed.
"And to think that my Captinne went to meet… Rarity, was her name?"
"Mm hmm!" Pinkie Pie nodded. "She's the Element of Generosity!"
"And Doctor M… Goodwill… went to meet that Pegasus mare Flwuttershy who is… the… Element of Kindness… Right?"
"You got it!" Pinkie Pie said.
"And… Meester Spock went to meet… uhh…"
"Twilight Sparkle… who's probably the most gifted and powerful unicorn in all of Equestria; which is why she's the Element of Magic! She's also a bit of an egghead!" Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes.
Chekhov chuckled. "Well, with Meester Spock being an egghead himself, I'm sure he'll get along with her just fine!" He joked.
Pinkie Pie giggled again.
"But who is the sixth element?" Chekhov asked.
"Another Pegasus mare called Rainbow Dash. She's the Element of Loyalty! If you ever met her, I'm sure you'd never forget her!"
Chekhov smiled. "And… the Elements that you are keepers of is tied into your own indiwidual talents and personalities?"
Pinkie Pie smiled and nodded. "Mm hmm! Each Element we have is the one we're most compatible with! Princess Celestia said so! She was the one who gave them to us, after all!"
"Incredible!" Chekhov exclaimed. "Well, I don't know about the others, but… I can tell that you are the best fit for the Element of Lwaughter!" He smiled at Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie Pie just giggled again.
"Wheat Reaper!" came a deep voice from Mr. Chekhov's right. He turned to see two male ponies approach him.
"Meester Spock, Dr. Goodwill!" Chekhov said as he immediately stood up.
"Here you are!" Dr. Goodwill said with a slight sense of irritation in his voice. "You know we've been looking all over for you!?"
"Oh! Well, I was just… having a milkshake with the lwovely miss Pinkie Pie here!" He gestured towards the pink coloured earth pony mare at the table.
"Hiya!" Pinkie Pie said brightly.
"How do you do?" Dr. McCoy smiled.
Spock simply nodded to the pink mare, then turned to Chekhov. "As much as the good Doctor and I would love to see you continue with your… social engagement… we must return to the Town Square to meet up with the Captain. It is almost sundown!" He pointed towards the setting sun.
"Yeah! He's probably waiting for us there right now!" McCoy said.
Chekhov nodded. "Understood!" Then he turned to face Pinkie Pie. "I have to go!" He shrugged apologetically.
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie said as she smiled and nodded.
"But… it's been wonderful spending time with you, Pinkie Pie!"
"And it's been wonderful spending time with you, Wheat Reaper!"
Then Pinkie Pie surprised Chekhov by reaching out and kissing him on the cheek. Then she started hopping away, giggling mightily.
Chekhov just stood there, completely stunned by that kiss! He never thought that he could win the affection of a sentient alien pony like that. He just watched her bound away, unable to take her eyes off of her. The feeling of a tug on his shoulder brought him out of his reverie.
"Come on, loverboy!" McCoy said as he grabbed Chekhov by the shoulder. To the outside world, though, it looked like McCoy's unicorn self using his unicorn magic to lift Chekhov's earth pony self and bring him to his feet.
They soon got to the Town Square, which still had several ponies wondering about; but it wasn't the great hustle and bustle, like it was that morning. The farmer's market had long since closed down, but there were still a few stores and shops that were open for business.
They looked around to see if they could spot Captain Kirk, but they couldn't see him. "Where is he?" McCoy asked. "He should be here by now!"
Mr. Spock brought out his tricorder to scan for Kirk's location. To the outside world, though, it looked like Spock's bat pony self pulling out a nondescript black box from the saddlebag he was carrying. The tricorder whined as he panned the area. After a few moments, he closed it and shook his head. "I do not detect his presence anywhere near here."
"Should we risk beeping his communicator?" McCoy suggested.
Without a moment's hesitation, Spock pulled out his communicator and opened it. "Spock to Captain." There was no response. "Spock to Captain Kirk, do you read?" Still no response. Spock closed the communicator and shook his head.
"Maybe… he went back to the beaming lwocation, and is out of range." Chekhov suggested.
"Then let us return there, as he is obviously no longer present in this village." Spock said as he put away his communicator.
All three members of the landing party then made their way out of the village and back to their initial beam down coordinates.
The sun was just staring to sink low over the horizon, and it was starting to get dark, just as they reached the forest clearing that was the exact spot they had beamed down from this morning. They looked around, and could not see Captain Kirk anywhere. Spock brought out his tricorder again. It whined as it scanned the area. "I am not detecting Captain Kirk's presence anywhere in the vicinity."
"Maybe he already beamed up." McCoy suggested.
With this, Spock put away his tricorder and pulled out his communicator. "Spock to Enterprise." He said into it.
"Scott here, Mr. Spock!" came the voice of the Chief Engineer, who was in command of the Enterprise during their away mission.
"Has the Captain beamed aboard?" Spock asked.
"Negative, sir." Scott said.
Dr. McCoy and Mr. Chekhov shared a worried look between them.
"Very well. Prepare to beam up party of three." Spock said into his communicator.
On the Enterprise's Bridge, Mr. Scott suddenly grew worried. "Three? Ya mean the Captain's not with ya!?"
"Negative! He appears to have gone missing. I shall use the ship's sensors to try to locate him."
"Aye, sir! Prepare to be beamed aboard!" Scott said.
Spock closed his communicator, and all three men stood ready to be beamed aboard. Within seconds, the hum of the transporter beam could be heard as all three members of the landing party shimmered and disappeared out of sight.
Captain's Log, Star Date 5142.9, First Officer Spock recording – Captain Kirk has gone missing on the surface of planet Equus Major 4. I have been using ship's sensors to try to locate the Captain. So far, sensors could not locate Captain Kirk's whereabouts. I am continuing the scans of the planet's surface.
The turbo lift doors swished open to reveal the presence of Dr. McCoy. He immediately went to Spock's science station, where the Vulcan was busy with his surface scanners.
"Have you been able to locate him yet?" he asked the Vulcan.
"Negative, Doctor." Spock said, not taking his eyes off of his scanners. "It's almost as if he has suddenly become invisible to our sensors."
"Well, he couldn't have just disappeared off of the face of the planet, could he!?" McCoy said with a certain irritation in his voice.
Spock faced McCoy. "To presume such a conclusion would not be logical."
"Well, it's gonna take more than logic to find the Captain and beam him back aboard." McCoy said.
"Indeed." Spock simply said as he returned to his scanners.
McCoy sighed heavily and started to walk away.
"Odd?" Spock said, which caused Dr. McCoy to walk back next to Spock.
"What is it, Spock?" McCoy asked.
"I am detecting an energy field of unknown configuration near the northern pole of the planet; and about 30 kilometers to the North of the energy field, there appears to be a large city with considerable vegetation stretching 5 kilometers outside the city in all directions. Temperatures inside the city are exactly the same as in the area where Ponyville and Canterlot are located."
"Now that's unusual!" McCoy said.
"Indeed." Spock said. "This warrants further study."
"Do you think that's where the Captain is, Mr. Spock?" Lieutenant Uhura, who had been listening intently on the conversation, asked from her Communications station. "Could he be inside that energy field?"
"It is quite possible." Spock answered. "Seeing as I cannot detect his life signs anywhere on the planet, and that energy field is essentially blocking ship's sensors."
"But what could be causing an energy field like that?" McCoy asked. "The ponies living on this planet wouldn't have the technology to generate something like that, nor would any of the other sentient species, for that matter!"
"Indeed not!" Spock admitted. "It could simply be gravometric interference, OR…"
"Or what?" McCoy asked.
"As we have witnessed, some of the unicorns on this planet are capable of generating some pretty elaborate magic spells. It is not inconceivable that one, or a group of unicorns-"
"You mean to tell me that that energy field is the result of some sort of powerful unicorn spell!?"
Spock nodded. "Yes, and that is where the Captain is currently located."
"But you still haven't determined how he got there!" McCoy said.
Spock raised his eyebrows. "The only forego able conclusion I can come up with is that he was captured by someone, or a group of individuals, and taken there. For what purpose? As yet unknown."
McCoy got a worried look on his face. "Well, we're gonna have to get him out of there!"
"Indeed, we must!" Spock said. "However, we must not be hasty. We do not know what we are up against. In any case, we will need help."
"From whom!?" McCoy exclaimed.
Spock faced McCoy. "I believe that there is someone… or should I say… somepony… on the planet, who may very well be able to help us in this situation."
McCoy gave Spock a questioning look. "What are you suggesting?"