David frowned nervously as he stared up at the crystalline pylon, only half-watching the small metallic probes buzzing around it like so many bees. Something about the device unnerved him, deeply. It drew the eye, but felt repulsive to stand near. And he had noticed that, while the ponies made their home near it, not a one dared to approach the pylon, even the three curious fillies he had befriended. They would merely stare across the field at the strange crystal.
"Anything, Anya?" he asked his partner quietly, glancing over to where the young woman was kneeling, staring at her datapad.
"There is some kind of energy being emanated by this thing," she replied quietly, frowning as well, "Though I'm not sure how. Possibly some kind of reaction to sunlight.”
David sighed quietly, glancing over towards the pony cave; a few multi-colored faces peered back, wide eyes nervous and fearful.
What were they so afraid of…
“I’m going to try a more powerful scan,” Anya announced, typing furiously on her datapad, sending the buzzing drones into a frenzy, blue lights on the underside of their chassis glowing brightly.
Intuition was screaming a red alert in the back of David’s mind, and he slowly stepped back from the ominous crystal, peering over at his partner.
“Anya,” he started slowly, “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…”
“This will just take a moment, David, calm down.”
Not for the first time, David cursed the scientific part of his partner. They never trusted their gut, only the hard facts that- oof! The Explorer let out a surprised yelp as he was bowled over by the pink, unadorned pony, her frenzied squeaks and neighs grating on his ears. She desperately nudged and rolled David away from the crystal with her soft hooves and head, then scrambled back towards a stunned Anya.
Above them, the crystal had begun to glow a horrible, all-encompassing black, practically sucking in the light around it. On the edges of David’s vision, black dots swam, and he frantically scrubbed at his eyes.
“Get out of t-there!” he screamed hoarsely to Anya, trying to stumble towards her, only to be slammed back to the ground by a trio of frantically neighing ponies, “Get-!”
And with just the barest sight of Anya being dragged away by the pink pony, the world seemed to explode around David, tossing him headlong into darkness.
***********************
Michaels let out a string of profane curses as every console on the command deck seemed to fry at once, sparks flying in the faces of his technicians and crew, sending men and women scrambling and screaming in shock. For the briefest second, the room went dark as lights and camera feeds cut out, only for the backup generator, hardened against EMP, to kick them back on.
“What was that?!” he snapped, voice sharp with tension, “Status report!”
The technicians with powered down screens stared at them in shock, stunned by the loss of such precious data and functions; those with screens still powered up were frantically working to save what they could before it happened again.
“We’ve lost all drones!” one technician shouted tersely, “Mining, biology, botany, all across the board!”
“Comms are down with the mining team!”
That chilled Michaels’ blood in an instant; the mining team were underground, and if they didn’t realize that they had lost comms, and got lost…
“Get a security team down to the mines, keep trying to reboot their comm system,” he ordered firmly, smiling faintly as the tech nodded and got back to work.
The crew of the NASA-Parker Colony were well-trained, mastering their panic as they raced to get things back on track, and discover exactly what had gone wrong. Within short order, engineers returned from the lower decks, giving their reports- some kind of power surge from an outside source had blown through the ship’s electrical systems, and the main generator had shut down automatically to avoid critical damage. The teams were currently going through the start-up procedures to get it back up and running again. They had all trained for these kinds of accidents- Aurelias had wanted to be sure that his people were among the best trained in the Seeding. A lot of said training had come from poached ARC workers.
A blaring alarm tensed Michaels up all over again, and he whirled towards the source- the panel and worker in charge for the life sign monitors for all workers outside the main colony. The young man was cursing quickly, double-checking the readings on his screen before spinning around.
"Captain, two of our Explorers are unconscious, life signs weak!"
"Who, where?!" Michaels snapped, all but charging through his crew to get to the panel, eyes widening at the names that were flashing and enlarged.
Anya Sulucia.
David Winters.
Shit!
“Down at the paddock, sir!”
"Send out a medical emergency alert, get them down to the airlock to meet me, now!" he yelled to the furiously nodding ensign, spinning around to rush out the door, “Captain Davis, you have the bridge!”
“Yes, sir!”
Michaels could not lose his best explorers, not now. Losing a single life would be horrific, but losing them could be disastrous. Scientifically trained explorers were not easy to come by, nor train. Not to mention how close they had gotten to the ponies. If anyone could built a rapport with the aliens, and find a use for them...
The emergency team was very fast; they were suited up in emergency heavy exosuits and out the airlock by the time Michaels' arrived, and by the time he had suited up himself and gotten outside, they had found the victims. Pulled several yards away from the crystalline structure, David and Anya were crumpled up on the ground, clearly unconscious, along with several ponies. Scraps of their jumpsuits were still in the ponies’ mouths, yet there were no immediate injuries or tears visible.
“Looks like they were trying to pull them,” one of the medics told Michaels quickly, “Not sure from what…”
“Oh… I think I can guess.”
Aurelias frowned deeply as he glared across the field at the ominous crystal. He had had a bad feeling about the object since the first time he had laid eyes on it. And not just because of the strange coloration, and its massive size. The ponies seemed genuinely afraid of it, and it was wise to trust the instincts of some animals. Especially rather intelligent ones. And now, something had changed. There was a deep, almost sinister shadow in the center of the crystal, and it was slowly beginning to throb, its un-light expanding. Inside his exosuit, Michaels paled at a soft, ominous clicking. The geiger counter.
“GET BACK!” He roared down to the medical team, his baritone voice like a blowhorn, “Get all of them back, to the pony cave! Move it, now!”
The team was already moving, lifting the explorers and ponies onto fold-out stretchers before charging across the meadow. The ponies inside didn’t put up a fight- indeed, they head-butted the humans along, into the shadows of the cave. Aurelias, despite the gravity of the situation, couldn’t help but look around in awe at the strange, curving yellow crystals that lit up the darkest parts of the cave. The crystals ranged in thickness from several centimeters to a meter across, light from the cave entrance arcing through them towards the back of the cavern. Incredible…
Shaking his head, the director did his best to activate his com, tweaking the power to break through the static caused by the crystal’s emanations.
“Control? Control? This is Director Aurelias. Target the crystal with whatever we have, and destroy it. Do it now!”
Aurelias cursed quietly at the squeal from his com unit, tossing it aside. He could only hope the message got through, before the radiation grew too great…
****************
“Sir, we have a radiation alarm coming from the paddock!” a technician shouted, just as static echoed in from the overhead speakers.
“Control? Cont- This… Direc… crystal… ever we have… stroy it! Do it…”
Geoffery Davis paled, hearing the panic in the normally unflappable man even through the static. The paddock…
“Do we still have fire control?” Davis barked, armored hands gripping the bridge railing, overlooking the technician pit.
It took a moment before a young woman shouted up an affirmative.
“Missiles are down but the railgun is still up, sir! I have a firing solution on the crystal, but the radiation-”
“Fire! Two shots, fire now!” Davis ordered, gritting his teeth to control his panic.
Had to get those off before they lost targeting… The Lander had been armed with a variety of weapons, almost entirely by Captain Venkin's suggestion, and that of his colonial security detail. No one knew what kind of life any of the worlds they found would have and well… better to not need it and have it, and all that… This specific Lander had two missile tubes for Anaconda surface-to-air missiles, a launcher for Wyvern surface-to-surface rockets, and a brand new electromagnetic railgun. The whine of it charging cut through even the terse talking of the bridge.
Thump. Thump.
“Tracking… direct-”
And a purple light suffused everything.
*********************
David groaned shakily as consciousness slowly returned, joining with a dull, painful throbbing in the front of his head. Eyesight took a moment to return as he opened his eyes- did he have a concussion? Again? Fuck. He had been tucked up against one of the ponies- the lithe blue and dull-rainbow maned one, it looked like from what he could see from this position. Turning his head slowly, not wanting to scare the creature, David squinted- other humans were in the cave, exo-suited security troopers and medics, from their suit colors. And was that… the Director?
Rainbow horse-hair drifted across his face as the mare nuzzled at his hair gently- someone must have removed his helmet at some point. That spoke well of his overall condition- the medics wouldn’t have done that if they suspected any spinal injuries. He reached up carefully to pat at her muzzle, chuckling quietly.
“I’m okay, I’m okay…” he grunted out, struggling to sit up- and blinking in slight surprise as the pony shifted to help nudge him up with her head, “Well aren’t you helpful…”
“Tell me about it…”
David blinked, shifting to the side and grinning shakily. Anya, also devoid of her helmet, was settled back against a pony he had not seen before. She was larger than those around her by several sizes- easily a good two hundred pounds to their ninety- and boasted both wings and a horn. Her proportions were taller and longer, while still boasting the slight curves of muzzle that all pony mares seemed to share. Anya was practically tangled in the long, mixed purple hues of the mare’s mane, and leaning back against a soft lavender body.
“Heh, they have a queen?” David joked- quietly, watching the alien’s closed eyes.
“They aren’t eusocial,” Anya replied with a smirk- though quietly, “This must be another subspecies, or maybe when they are full grown.”
A fully feathered wing shifted to cover Anya, and her smirk turned into a genuine smile. David matched it, glancing back at his companion; the similarly (though much smaller) winged equine shifted closer, draping a wing over his back. He reached to lightly scritch at her ear in response before reaching to tap his com controls on his still-gloved hand.
“Patch me through to the Director, please. Anya and I are awake.”
Director Michaels, and most of the medical team, all but sprinted back to the rear of the cave, only slowing at Anya’s waving arm. The older leader settled down on one knee in between them; David felt a pang of guilt at the pure relief obvious on his face.
“How’re you feeling, son?” he asked David quietly, his massive hand gripping carefully at his shoulder, “Medics said you both have concussions. No radiation exposure past your suits- we cleaned them.”
“That’s a relief,” Anya muttered, and David nodded in agreement; one scare back in the remains of Yemen had been more than enough.
“The ah… the ponies,” the Director continued after a moment, peering curiously at the larger specimen, “Have been protecting you both since the destruction of the crystal. They didn’t come outside the cave till we took away the debris. I think it best that you both remain here, with the medical team, until they’re calmed down.”
David blinked as a pair of light blue forelegs wrapped around his midsection, the pegasus’ head resting on his shoulder. One big, expressive reddish eye blinked in the edge of his vision.
...huh.
“Heh, I think we can do that, sir. What the hell happened though?”
*****************
The forests surrounding the colony site were heavily overgrown, so much so that even the famously rugged buggies that had been packed into the colony ship had trouble rolling through. Most of the workers were more than busy setting up the colony, and as such, it was left to the soldier contingents to prep roads from the main site to the tertiary mines and paddock. It was not… popular work, but it got them out of the ship, and as such, Captain Venkin did not have to look hard for volunteers.
He turned away from the quartet of digging and hacking troopers, all armed with machetes and deforestation burners, to stare out at the rest of the surrounding forest. It was a sea of blues and odd purple-greens; the scientists had informed him that most of it was fungal, and they’d have to watch their breathing apparati, and keep them properly clean. The Captain was more worried about what may be out there, living and breathing, than the plant life.
They were being watched. Venkin had come out of the Bundeswehr, soon after the Great Mistake and before the closing off of Europe’s borders, where he had been a border captain against the Slavic Federation. In the worst days of the crisis, he had known beyond a shadow of a doubt that snipers had watched him and his men on their rounds. It had made his hair rise up on his neck then… and it did now. His fingers drifted up to the safety of his HK-433 as he slowly turned about-
“Fuck!”
Dennis snapped around at the shout, teeth gritting slightly; one of the troopers had toppled back over a root, crashing heavily in the bulky exosuit and dropping his burner to the partially cleared ground.
‘Fucking hell,’ the Captain thought to himself, shaking his head as he began to walk over, rifle swinging safely up to the sky, “You alright, Daniels? Beaten by a tree again?”
He couldn’t see the American’s face through his visor plate, but he could hear the sheepish grin in his voice as he replied in the affirmative, hand reaching out for the closest trooper’s outstretched arm. Movement on his left. Dennis’ eyes barely registered the blue-black carapace and jagged mandibles before they crashed into both soldiers, and ripped them both into the tangled overgrowth. Twin screams roared through their comms before their helmet’s shut them down to prevent damage, but he could still hear the cries through the exosuit.
“Group together, now!” he roared, rifle snapping up as he blinked on the visor’s heat sensors, “On me!”
The creature barely registered on the thermal; a dim blue form blotting out the hot signatures of the two thrashing humans, out sizing them by several magnitudes, like that of a bear. The screams rose in magnitude and raw emotion as the creature tore into them with flashing mandibles and claws; the bark of Venkin’s rifle cut through the screams, and his sensors lit up as the 5.56mm rounds all but bounced off the creature’s body.
‘Fuck.’
“Open fire, open fire!” he yelled through the comm, dropping to a knee and switching to automatic, his rifle pressing back with each burst.
Six rifles at least got its attention; the alien hissed and turned back around, snarling like something akin to a cat and a hissing cockroach while bullets screamed off its hide, or punched through softer tissues in its upper body. Fear tore at Dennis’ mind, and he could hear one of his troopers vomiting in their gear from the strange, outside emotion. The life-line sensors on his command HUD had two low monotones.
Venkin slung back his rifle to grab the closest burn-tool, rolling under the line of his squad’s fire; the beast seemed unwilling to advance towards the humans, or at least away from its meal. A quick adjustment to the tool’s fuel alignment was given, his gloved hand sliding for a second before finding purchase, and he rose back to a knee. The solution was not quite napalm, but still a sticky, high-heat flame that the scientists had cooked up to help burn out the wet fungal foliage. The flaming jelly washed over the alien’s outer shell, and the unmoving exosuits, the sound of the burning nearly overpowering the creature’s scream.
The strange fear cut out immediately, and he let the adrenaline take its place, rising back to his feet.
“Get up, all of you! Eyes on the trees!” It took all he had not to revert back to German, and to keep his voice from cracking at the strain, “Slow steps back down the path. Gotta call-”
“Contact, contact north!”
The flame of his foliage clearer lit up in front of the Captain, and he blinked at the HUD to turn on his spotlight. A dozen blue eyes, glowing in the light of the flames, stared at them; smaller creatures, about wolf sized, but equally as black-blue as the larger alien. Insectile wings buzzed constantly on their backs; a near-imperceptible hum reverberating in his ears.
They approached, practically matching steps with the humans as they backed down the cleared path. Venkin grit his teeth, cranking the tool fully before blazing a trench of fire between his squad and the aliens, though he didn’t have enough pressure to reach the beasts, and tossed the now empty tool aside to re-aim his weapon. And stare hatefully at the limping, toasted form of the larger beast as it slowly walked out amongst the smaller aliens, matching the human’s gaze.
And in unison, the aliens’ opened their fanged maws wide, and screamed at the humans as they began to run. Their vocalizations mimicking perfectly the panicked yells and cries of their fallen comrades.