//------------------------------// // Angels and Aliens // Story: Star Trek: Ongoing Elements // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// Northern Equestria, Crystal Empire Crystal Palace, Royal Chambers One month ago... "Wow, pegasi sure pulled off a storm," Prince Shining Armor said, looking out the window. The entire sky was pitch-dark, he couldn't see a foot outside as rain pounded on the outside. "They've been at it for hours." "The Crystal Empire hasn't had a good rain like this in a long time. It'll be refreshing for the land," his wife Cadence said as he walked over to where she sat on one of the royal sofas. "When the Empire vanished long ago, it was removed from regular weather rotation. There was literally nothing here that needed the water. This will be the first time in a thousand years that the whole Crystal Empire has had a storm." . His sister Twilight sitting next to her nodded in agreement. "Rainbow Dash volunteered to oversee this storm herself. Looks to me like she's showing off!" she said with a giggle. "And the Empire needs every drop," Shining Armor said, joining them. "This is our first time overseeing the Grand Crystal Harvest, yesterday was just the Aurora Ceremony. All next week, we'll be harvesting fresh crystals so the soil needs the rain." Twilight and her friends were sent to the Crystal Empire a few days ago to prepare for the Grand Crystal Harvest, an annual event when the Crystal Empire grew new crystals to collect for various uses. The Crystal Heart, a magical jewel of the empire, was filled with energy from every pony in the kingdom to start the Harvest. Once full, the Heart released an amazing aurora that spread throught the sky over the entire empire. The light was then collected into clouds by pegasi who created a massive storm, the energy then descended to the soil as a magic rain that caused beautiful crystals to grow across the surface. "It's so good to see both of you," Twilight said. "We don't get to visit the Empire that often so I was hoping we could stay at least a few days." "We certainly could use the extra hooves harvesting the crystals," Shining Armor said. "This is mine and Cadence's first time and we're hoping for the biggest yield Equestria's ever seen." "I'm sure the girls will be happy to be a part of it," Twilight said with enthusiasm. "The pegasi should be finished soon," Shining said. "When the storm's over, we should be able to see the first new crystal crop in a thousand years." The royal chambers were one of the highest rooms in the palace. The balcony offered a breathtaking view of the kingdom, when the weather was clearer, that is. The three continued chatting as the storm raged outside. High above the balcony and the royal chambers, three others were wanting to see the crystals themselves for other reasons. "There's no way this is a natural formation!" Lieutenant Jefferey Wilson shouted over the storm. Rain was pouring down on all of them making it hard to see. Harsh wind and lightning made it dangerous enough rapelling from a shuttle on to an unknown deposit, the torrential downpour was making it hard to even keep their footing on the strange structure. Commander Paul Jones squinted to read on the scanner in his hand. He couldn't believe the data he was seeing, the scans of the structure they were standing on. He read the display one more time just to be sure. "It's... it's hollow!" he shouted to the other members of the away team. The three of them clung to the top of the pillar, the top of it was a triangluar peak with smooth surfaces. They were clinging to the base of the triangle as the shuttle hovered just above it while they tried to figure out exactly what the pillar was and why it was here. "What? That's impossible!" Dr. Charles Brody said. While it wasn't normal for the Enterprise's chief medical officer to be part of the away team, Dr. Brody was an avid recreational rockclimber and so had been picked for this mission. The three of them stood on what had to be the largest pillar of arcicite anyone had ever seen. It stretched almost three full kilometers into the sky, finding it from orbit had been a stroke of sheer luck. Despite the storm, the imporatance of the mission had deemed deployment of a surface party necessary to get a sample of the rare mineral in the hopes that it could be the solution to another problem. Since coming down though, it seems the party had found only one surprise after the other. "The whole thing's almost completely hollow!," Commander Jones yelled back. "Captain," the commander pressed a finger to his comm unit. "I think the Lieutenant's right! This thing's not natural!" "We haven't detected any indeginous lifeforms," Captain See'ra, the Enterprise's vulcan captain said back over comms. "If it's not a natural occurence than the deposit was moved their, somehow." Aricicite, an incridibly rare form of crystal capable of stabilizing and maintaining energy reactions was also incredibly durrable. Flight Officer Deena Bessit could barely see out of the viewport in front of her in the cockpit of the shuttle. She took a deep breath and kept her hands steady on the controls. The storm outside was fierce but it didn't make her feel any better not being in it. Another flash of lightning broke out in front of the viewport. She struggled to resist the instinct to move the controls and position the ship out of danger. She pressed a button on the comms unit to raise the away team. "You guys wanna hurry it up down there?" she asked. "I don't know how much longer we can maintain position in the storm." Captain See'ra's voice came back over the comms unit. "Commander, get a sample of that formation for analysis and return to the Enterprise." "Understood, ma'am," Paul answered back. He opened up the slack on his line and rappelled down further. Arcicite wasn't the toughest material known to the Federation but it was still pretty tough compared to other materials. Commander Jones got out his mineral cutter from his tool belt and prepared to cut a chunk of the formation off the side. A bolt of lightning flared in the distance, this one close. Despite her nerves, Officer Bessit nudged the controls the slightest bit. The away team was immediately made known of the abrupt course change. "Woah, woah woah!" Dr. Brody called out as he was dragged by the shuttle. The three of them hung of the shuttle by three cables, three life lines attatched to three lives. The smallest jerking motion by the shuttle caused all three of them to lose their footing on the smooth top of the arcicite formation. "Bessit, what's going on up there?" Paul asked over the comms, feeling like a fish on a hook. He looked down and saw nothing but clouds, no surface. He didn't know precisely how long it would take him to reach the bottom if he fell but he didn't want to find out. "Sorry sir, having trouble keeping her steady against the wind," Bessit said back. Commander Paul Jones raised the mineral cutter and moved closer to the side of the formation. "I'll try to make this quick, stand by." Another bolt of lightning arced through the sky, this one too close. Deena Bessit pushed forward on the controls, the shuttle had just narrowly avoided the hit. The comms system burst into static as she heard two voices yell. She pulled the shuttle back into position over the structure as quickly as she could and cursed as she did so. It took a moment but the comms finally reset. Deena hit the button and raised the team again. "You guys okay?!" A burst of static answered her before Jeff's voice came back. "...'s been cut!" "What was that Jeff? Say again," "The commander's line has been cut! He's falling!" Commander Paul Jones's ears still rang from the lightning. He recognized the feeling of freefall though, the ice-cold wind rushing by him as he plummeted. His heart pounded as panic set in, he activated his comms again. "My line's been cut, I'm falling off the side!!" he yelled, hoping someone was on the other end hearing him. "Transporters, lock onto his signal and beam him back!" Captain See'ra ordered from the bridge. "The storm's causing too much interference! I can't get a lock!" the crewman manning the ship's transporter console answered, unable to comply. "Bessit, can you get a lock on the commander's signla?" the captain asked, hoping the ship's sensors could still read the commander's signal in the storm. "Negative ma'am, that's a negative!" Bessit replied. Brody and Wilson climbed back into the shuttle's bay, she closed the doors behind them and goosed the shuttle's controls down. "I'm going to try to catch him on visual!" "You're gonna what?" Dr. Brody asked. "Hang on!" she yelled. The shuttle dove into the storm. Commander Jones still held his mineral cutter in his right hand. He considered his options. What were the chances that freefalling he could stop himself using the mineral cutter? He didn't know how far he was up or how much longer he had to go. He didn't know if what he was about to do would save him or not, how likely or unlikely it was. With as much strength as he could muster, he gripped the cutter and plunged it into the side of the crystal formation. The cutter's blade snapped off almost on contact. To make matters worse, the abrupt jerking motion sent the commander tumbling now as he fell. He'd lost some momentum but it was likely he'd pick it back up. He may have also dislocated his shoulder trying to stop himself in such a way but he had no way of telling. It was the least of his worries now anyway. On the bridge of the Enterprise-Z, the ship's sensor officer was puzzled by the readings on his console. He blinked to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. "Captain, there's something going on here." Captain See'ra looked over the officer's shoulder at the console. "Are the sensors able to pick up the commander's signal?" "No ma'am but there's something going on with the storm. It's disintegrating rapidly but the interference is still there," he answered. The officer's description was accurate. The display read the storm clearing up abnormally fast. "Keep trying to get a lock on Jones' signal," the captain ordered. Sunlight broke out on the surface over the Crystal Empire. The soil all over the kingdom, energized by magic-rich water combined and collected various ores into multiple formations. Soon, these formations sprouted wherever there was space, blooming like flowers throughout the Empire. Shining Armor opened the door and walked out onto the balcony. His wife and sister followed him outside and the three of them witnessed the fruits of their labors shimmering in the sunlight. "Wow, it's amazing!" Cadence said. She walked with Shining to the balcony's edge and looked over at the side. The roads, the spaces between them, every place where there had been bare ground now sported an enormous, gleaming crystal formation. "Our first crystal harvest. It's so beautiful," Shining Armor remarked. Twilight started to walk over to join them when her eyes caught a shadow on the ground. She turned her gaze upward and had to use her magic quickly to catch something else before it hit them. Commander Paul Jones didn't feel any pain. That was the first odd sensation. He felt the sudden stop but no pain. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was facing skyward and noticed that the storm clouds that had been above them were gone. In fact, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Was this heaven? Had he hit the ground already, died and now he was in heaven? His skin tingled and suddenly his vision changed as he was turned around. As if moved by some invisible hand, he was flipped over and stood up so that he faced his vision was level. Just like that, he had gone from plummeting to his death to standing back on the ground. His legs felt like jelly and he took a moment to catch his breath. "Who are you?! How did you get here?!" a male voice from behind him asked. Just like that, he was picked up off the ground and pressed against the wall. "What is it?" a female voice asked from behind him. "I don't know, I've never seen anything like it," another female voice said. "It fell from the sky. Could it... could it be an angel?" "I don't think so. It could be a threat," the male voice said, sounding determined. Whoever these voices were, it looked like they had saved him. He tried to turn to face them. "I'm Paul Jones, Commander of the U.S.S Enterprise," he said to them. "I mean you no harm." Suddenly, his body flipped again so his back was pressed against the wall. Paul finally got a look at the creatures that saved him. In the limited library of alien species Commander Jones knew of or had heard about, he had never before seen creatures like these. Somehow though, they reminded him of horses only smaller. There were three of them, a purple one and a white one both with a horn and a pink one with a horn and wings. His mind immediately thought of ancient Earth mythology. "What is this 'enterprise' you're the commander of?" the white one asked, the male. His tone suggested he felt Paul Jones was dangerous. "The Enterprise is a ship, high above your planet." Paul tried to explain. "You think we're fools?" the white one asked, his voice still aggressive. "Ships travel on water and the nearest ocean's miles away." This was normal: pre-spaceflight civilizations normally expressed confusion upon first contact with aliens. Fortunately, the Federation dealt with this kind of thing all the time though this was Paul's first. Still, he was happy to be alive and he figured he owed them an explanation. "This is going to sound hard to believe," he began. "but it's a starship. In space. I and my team were above your..." Paul looked around, noticed the enormous formation behind him. "your castle, trying to examine it." "You.. you're from outer space?" the pink one asked. Paul nodded. "I'm a human. I'm from Earth," he answered. "What were you trying to examine? Were you looking for weaknesses in our defenses?" the white one didn't let up, he stepped forward with gritted teeth, his horn glowing blue. Paul figured it was this one that held him in place. "We were trying to study the material of it, it could be very important to us and-" "Your highnesses!" another voice said. The three creatures turned away from Paul as another one approached flew down to them. "Your highnesses, we've found something. An unidentified flying object was above the castle." The white one the flyer addressed turned to Paul again. "Your 'star-ship'? Enterprise?" he asked. They must've found the shuttlecraft. "A smaller ship but it's part of the Enterprise. You found three other individuals inside, correct?" he asked them directly, trying to prove his honesty. The white one turned to the flying one who nodded. "Commander Paul Jones... you say you mean us no harm?" the white one asked. Paul nodded. "We mean you no harm," he repeated. "I'm going to see this... 'star-ship' of yours. If what you say is true, you'll be allowed to leave peacefully. You will be held here until I return. Twilight," he turned to the purple one. "Keep an eye on... our guest until I get back." Twilight nodded, her expression worried but serious. Shining left with the pegasus and she and Cadence were left alone on the balcony with the alien. Twilight had never seen any creature like it before, four limbs but only two legs. Apparently, it was wearing some kind of clothing that was dripping wet. Her first instinct was to offer him something to dry off with. "Your friends, they're from space too?" Twilight asked. "Yes," Paul said. "Everything I've told you is true. We came here to study your palace. It's made of a material that's very rare to us." "It's rare to us, too," Twilight said. She had to admit, her curiosity about the alien was overwhelming. Hopefully, what he said was true and this could be the beginning of... Twilight couldn't even imagine. Her mind raced with possibilities and excitement. She decided she'd be the first to approach the new creature. "What did you say your name was?" she asked. "Paul Jones. Commander Paul Jones of the United Federation of Planets." "It's nice to meet you Paul Jones. My name is Twilight Sparkle."