Princess Celestia was not the only alicorn who had occasional tea with the Admiral; though in Luna's case, the Admiral had to stay up late(1).
“AND HOW FAR AWAY DIDST THOU SAY THOU WERE?”
“Several hundred lightyears.” said the Admiral, quietly turning down the volume on his speakers.
“AND THIS DEVICE TRANSMITS THY IMAGE TO ME?”
“Exactly, yes.” nodded the Admiral.
“PERHAPS THE DISTANCE IS WHY IT APPEARS SO BLOCKY, THEN.” suggested Luna.
“Um... blocky?”
“INDEED! THY IMAGE IS MADE OF TINY BLOCKS OF COLOUR!”
“...ah. That's a limit of the technology; we make the blocks so small that we can't tell them apart individually. They're called pixels, and if you can see them so easily, you must have very good eyesight.”
“THINE EYES CANNOT RESOLVE OBJECTS AS LARGE AS THOSE PIXELS?” asked Luna, peering at the screen. “THEN 'TIS A GOOD THING YOU HAVE MET US, FOR THERE ARE MANY THINGS TOO SMALL FOR THEE TO SEE! TO BEGIN, THERE ARE SMALL CREATURES KNOWN AS 'GERMS', WHICH ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY DISEASES...”
“We know what germs are.” said the Admiral. “We have invented devices that are able to magnify objects for us, so that we can see things that would otherwise be too small to see.”
“AH, HOW INGENIOUS!”
* * *
Cargo Bay Four, unlike the brig, had not originally been designed for the holding of prisoners, and had not been prepared beforehand for holding Spike. This had left it with certain flaws in its construction which an enterprising dragon could use to escape.
The cargo bay is not empty, despite Spike's escape. There are a few things left in it.
A dart lies in one corner, where it was flung in a fit of anger.
In the opposite corner rest two empty wooden crates, with a third balanced on top of them. One of the crates has a corner missing; apparently torn out by claw and tooth. The missing corner is not in the cell.
On top of the upper crate are three wingnuts and three bolts.
On the ground, near the crates, lies a grating. It bears a slight dent from when somedragon flung it into the floor.
Above the top crate is a hole. It is large enough that the grating would just cover it.
Inside the hole is an air duct. It is just big enough for a small dragon.
To the left of the hole, there are a few scratchmarks on the inside of the air duct, as if left by a set of claws strong enough to scratch a diamond.
(1) Due to the slight difference in the length of a day between Earth and Equestria, in about a month's time the Admiral would be having tea with Luna during his day and tea with Celestia during his night. Both alicorns found this a source of amusement.
(2) While dragons are not entirely immune to radioactivity, they are highly resistant. There was not enough radioactivity in the cargo bay to do any serious harm to Spike.
I'd love to know the reasons for the Borg encounter in the other story.
3792055
The other story will reveal the reasons. Probably near, or at, the end.
3792073
how is that going to work? I mean how do you work an authorial choice into the narrative?
3693287
That would be reasonable. However, it's not that specific mirror universe (I have other plans for that one... in a sequel)
3792083
Everything that's in the narrative is there because the author chose to put it there, surely? It consists of nothing but authorial choices. How can it be otherwise?
If you're referring to the difference between these two narratives... well, I think your questions will be answered by the time both stories are completed.
3792125
no, I'm asking for what made you make the decision to include the Borg in the original version, but then write this one without the Borg.
3792172
Oh.
I thought it was obvious ( in the original one) that, before the Borg arrived, the Ferengi were hopelessly outmatched by the good guys and didn't have a hope. Therefore, I feared that continuing the story without a more threatening antagonist might be boring.
Since I already had the idea of relating the Borg with Nightmare Moon, it was a simple decision to have that more threatening antagonist be the Borg.
...I was promptly disabused of the notion that it was obvious that the Ferengi were outmatched in the comments (see here). (I still think the Ferengi are outmatched; but I concede the point that this was clearly not as obvious to every reader as it seemed to me). Thereafter, I was easily persuaded to provide the alternate continuation to the story.
3792203
I'd just like to say I considered the Ferengi outmatched, but in character interactions that was the story I was hoping to read, I definitely was not looking for life and death, suffering and drama, and the Ferengi being humiliated and beaten up doesn't really stop the ship or give Spike, the CMC and the others knowledge of how to turn it around
for me, having to fight off the Borg and people being assimilated does not qualify as slice of life
3793131
True; life and death and suffering were never really necessary. What I was trying to avoid wasn't a lack of those things; what I was trying to avoid was a completely one-sided struggle. It doesn't have to be a life-and-death struggle to avoid seeming overwhelmingly one-sided. I tend to like stories in which the bad guys have an overwhelming advantage, and then the good guys win (without any deus ex machinas - if the good guy pulls a sword off the wall to defeat the villain with, that sword has to have been there since act I) in any case - I could probably, now that I think about it, have got the same effect by (instead of involving the Borg) having the Federation for some reason unable to send a ship to carry the pursuit team. I think I could still have turned that into a rescue for the CMC...
You make a good point. I probably have to change the labels.
Interesting, Luna's implying that ponies (or at least alicorns) can see germs without magnification. :)
I'm rather liking Spike's badassitude, he's more like what you'd expect from a "monster" in a sci-fi movie. You think you've got him sealed in a room, and when you go in to check you find an access hatch peeled open like a banana and oh my god it's behind you now! AIEEE!
3800012
Alicorns have really good eyes...
And he's still just a baby, he hasn't even started a proper hoard yet. If the Ferengi knew just how easily he can grow to twenty times the size, at the same time losing all restraint...
You know, after I complete these fics, I might just have to do a 'deleted scenes' chapter, for all the bits that I just couldn't squeeze into the plotline.
3800316 I'm reminded of a scene from a Doctor Who crossover fic called The Hostess. A bunch of alien monsters kidnapped Spike to use as a hostage against Twilight. They contacted her via communicator to show her they have him and to tell her to back off. Twilight responds with a laugh, "you kidnapped a dragon and you think that's going to work out okay for you? Spike! You have my permission! These are bad ponies!" Whereupon Spike releases his self-control over his draconic nature, bursts free of his bonds, and proceeds to tear his captors to shreds. The survivors frantically run to Twilight in hopes she can rescue them from Spike.
Personally, I'm hoping to see more random slice-of-life stories set in this particular crossover. Like maybe some Klingons come visiting to check Equestria out and are generally unimpressed until they meet Iron Will in a bar. It's such fun seeing "routine" contact between very different worlds like that and you balance them so well.
3800545
That's a nice story. I enjoyed it.
I think one of my favourite examples of Spike being all, well, dragon, is in Nyx's Family, after a group of teenage dragons (artificially enlarged with the help of magical fire opals) decide to attack the Crystal Empire. They manage to trap Twilight and some researchers in an old cave, smash through Shining Armour's best shield, force the Crystal Empire's army into retreat without getting more than mildly irritated in return...
...and then one of them dares to lay a claw on Rarity. And, well. You just don't do that near Spike.
Huh. Klingons and Iron Will. That could be fun, actually.
Hmmm. Founders vs. changelings? A Founder's got a wider range of shapes it can assume (I'm guessing that changelings are limited to "vaguely equine") but changelings have access to magic...
I'm definately thinking of doing sequels, once these two are finished. I have a vague idea for, well, the next one at least.
3801783 The best part came in the deoument. When Spike visited them in jail one of them ranted that he was going to take revenge on Spike later since Spike wouldn't be so tough without the extra Fire Opals he figured that the crystal ponies must have given him to power him up in their defense. "What are Fire Opals? I didn't eat any Fire Opals." Spike responds. And the dragons decide that nope nope nope, they're not going to mess with Spike again once they get out.
I can just imagine the amusing comedy of misunderstandings between a Changeling and a Founder noticing each other while disguised as ponies and each unsure just what to make of the other. Glad to hear this setting inspires other neat ideas for you too. :)
3801871
That was good, yes.
Yeah... but that's going to be several stories away, if ever. The reason is that it can't be on Equestria, or else every story after that has to deal with "the Founders know where Equestria is"; so to avoid that, it more-or-less has to be on neutral ground of some sort (e.g. a random Starfleet starbase)... which requires that ponies not be entirely unknown off Equestria.
Now, your suggestion of Iron Will meeting a group of Klingons, that can happen at pretty much any point... as can a group of Federation scientists, coming to study unicorn magic; or the Federation having a sudden need of a group of pegasi to help deal with another planet's inclement weather; or a Starfleet chef, on the hunt for new recipes and/or ingredients; or a collection of political agitators, looking for support to take down the Federation and replace it with another form of government; or Q, looking for his old friend Disqord to chat about old times and find out why he's been curiously quiet for the past thousand years...
And after a while, there'll be a number of Equestrians (and maybe a few changelings) wanting to go off-planet as well, but I imagine they'll have a much harder time getting the paperwork past the Federation.
So yeah. There's a lot of stories that can be told in this universe.
There is no 2.
6536048 Only Zuul!
This is the story I want to read. The two universes blended nicely, and a story rolling around in the merged universe and it isn't them just working out first contact fallout details.
X Stargazing must be amazing with eyes like that...
9951411
Luna does have wonderful eyes.