The Spark, The Storm and The Rainbow
What would you do if you had all the time you wanted? This is a question that I find myself asking quite a few beings from time to time during my travels. Some explorers have said that they would travel to the furthest stars and just keep going till they hit an edge. Some scientists had stated that they would find compelling evidence for their strange theories about the universe or whatever they majored in. Some more simple beings just reply with simple, quick answers like get a better job or find the perfect partner or finally finish that new series of books or shows they they've been meaning to get through.
For me, however, the answer isn't quite so easy to find because ...... I've already done it. I've gone and explored the stars to my hearts content, I've help prove ground breaking theories that could change the way we see the universe, I've been the hero who had saved the world and I've experienced things that one couldn't rightfully explain in a sane mental state.
I keep asking the question because literally, I have run out of things to do in my spare time. I have tried holding a table job but they don't really keep my interest for very long and it isn't like I'm going to run out for money very soon, decades of doing favors for rich beings with power is very rewarding. I guess I just want a change, A kind of change that I hadn't experienced before, to go to a place that I've never seen before and to meet beings that could help me discover true happiness. Not some moments of joy that pass quite quickly but to feel like I couldn't be anywhere else in the cosmos than right there, in peace. But, I've been wishing that for quite a while now and it doesn't seem like that place will be showing up any time soon.
Have I mentioned that the universe just loves to prove me wrong.
I was traveling through the void of space, because I just decided to try another random direction out of boredom, and I came across a very strange source of energy, not like electricity or a form of radiation but something closer to what some planets had called Spiritual energy. I've seen and felt energy like this before but not in the middle of empty space and in such quantity. I had decided to investigate this new interest after leaving my frozen comet state that I use to travel the endless void while sleeping.
What I found was a planet that I had thought to be an impossibility of the highest understanding, a puzzle that would make even the most intelligent beings of the most technologically advanced species of the cosmos rethink their understanding of the universe. What I was looking at was a planet that was being orbited by both a moon AND a sun. A very small sun, about twice as big as the moon at about twice its distance from the planet, but still a sun. A source of near endless energy and a key to like in the universe had been pocket sized for the personal use of a single planet.
Another strange fact that had only just come to my attention was the pure lack of any other celestial bodies in the sector. Usually a planet would be part of a solar system, with other planets, comets and asteroid belts but this would was practically in the middle of nowhere, in the empty void between galaxies. The closest star might have been around 60 million light-years away from here, which considering the size of the universe wasn’t that far away but quite unheard of when dealing with planets.
Before advancing to get a closer look at the celestial bodies I had decided to just observe for a few hours just to see what might occur. To be slight boredom nothing or significance happened, only that the moon and sun did seen to orbit the planet normally. With that done, I traveled to the moon before traveling to the planet to see if there was anything of interest there.
The moon turned out to be visually very similar to most moons that I have visited in the past except it had appeared to have been visited quite a lot. Which isn’t very strange in itself but it was the evidence that had been left behind that confused me. Usually moons that orbit worlds with intelligent life would have some form of colonization present like a few buildings or remains of ships used to travel there. This moon's surface was littered with what appears to be several statues, scorch marks and craters. Not the natural craters created by meteors but ones created by small explosions.
There must of been thousands of statues littering the surface, some completely intact, most in pieces. The intact statues all resembled a tall, equine-like creature with large wings, a horn, a long mane and was covered in small pieces of armor around its hooves and chest. The armor being made out the same material as the statues, moon rocks.
After staring at the statue for several minutes, I noticed that the energy I had felt before had a much stronger presence here and was also flowing, traveling like a current of a river or a breeze that never changed. The current of energy seemed to be coming from a very specific point from the planet near by and observations seem to suggest that the sun was also being exposed to this energy.
Wit nothing more to see I decided it was best to investigate the area that the energy was coming from. With a location in mind, I headed towards the planet's surface, making sure to come in at the proper angle so my body wouldn’t take too much damage when entering the atmosphere.
However, what I didn’t account for the strange energy that filled the atmosphere. As my sight was taken over by a combination of my own energy trying to protect me and the flames of entering the atmosphere at an increasing velocity, there was only one thought that can to mind before it all went dark.
This was going to hurt when I land.
The Spark, The Storm and The Rainbow
I was right.
That was the first thing that my body wanted to tell be as I awoke from by unexpected slumber that came about from be entering the atmosphere of a strange new world. I could feel my scales trying to cope with the new scorch marks that came from me not able to establish a proper protective shield around me as I made my descent to the planet. Because I was asleep. Another source of pain came from my head, probably from landing on it during the crash, head first in whatever I landed on or in.
As far as I could tell I still had all my limbs, I knew this because every one of them hurt like whatever counts as the plain of eternal torture that the locals probable believed in. Most likely it would have to do with a lot of fire or a never ending darkness of horrors beyond mortal comprehension, that's the usual case with other worlds I've visited.
Getting back to finding where I've landed it was surprisingly not rock hard or cold but instead very warm and cosy. I also noticed that something similar was laying on top of me that felt like it was made out of some kind of fabric. At this point my curiosity outweighed be love for the warm and soft which lead me to open my eyes.
What came into view was a dark room in which the only light source was a curtain that wasn't closed fully. As my eyes started to adjust to the lack of light I had come to notice a few things about my surroundings. First it appeared to be some kind of bedroom, with bookshelves, cabinets and a very nice rug. There was also some potted plants and some objects on some of the shelves, one object looked like the statues I found on the moon. The second thing I noticed was that the room was made out of some sort of crystal, in fact much of the furniture was made out of crystal like the centre table, the chairs and even the beds frame was crystal. Thankfully not the beds pillows and mattress.
Before trying to get up I gave myself a quick check over to see what the damage was and I found that I was covered in bandages, which was a good sign since that tells me that whoever this place belongs to was either trained in proper treatment or was smart enough to bring in someone who was. I also noticed that my caretaker had also left me a transparent container with what appeared to be water. Of course I found out that it was glass but I was too focused on getting something in me, crash landings do take quite a bit out of you.
Once I was finished with my beverage I painfully made my way out the bed and was heading to the door. The door unsurprisingly was also made out of crystal that proved quite difficult to open with limbs covered in burn marks. Before I could open the door, I heard footsteps coming towards the door, along with several different voices. 'These must be my caretakers coming to check on me' I thought to myself and since the door was giving me some trouble I decided to wait for them to open it. When the door opened to reveal his carers, I was quite surprised with what I saw. Although with the statues I shouldn't have been.
(Mane 6 3rd person POV)
Twilight Sparkle was probably the happiest pony in all of Equestria. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, she was getting a new shipment of books from Princess Celestria AND she had an alien in her castle. An ALIEN. The first real piece of evidence that extra-terrestrial life did in fact exist among the stars. Even more amazing was the fact that it had crashed landed just outside of Ponyville. Luckily the impact didn't break too many windows.
Joining the purple alicorn princess of friendship was her best friends in all of the world, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy. Spike had also joined the group to check on their newest house guest but more out of Twilight's request than out of his own desires
"I still can't believe you brought an alien into our new castle" Spike said with his arms crossed while riding on Twilight's back.
"And let somepony else be the first one to study the world’s first alien visitor? No way, could you imagine how much recognition I would get for being the first pony in history to have made contact with an alien species?" Twilight said as she literally bounced with excitement along with Pinkie but she appeared to be bouncing just because somepony else is bouncing.
“You sure it was a good idea to be keepin it in your guest room though? I'm sure the castle dungeons would of been fine.... and safer for us" Applejack added while trotting behind Twilight.
"Oh come on, we've faced dragons, Nightmare Moon, a changeling invasion, Discord, Sombra and Twilight went hoof-to-hoof with Tirek. I think we can handle one unconscious alien" Rainbow Dash boasted while hoovering about her friends.
"I hope the poor thing will be alright. Twilight, are you sure he... her... it hasn't woken up yet?" Fluttershy asked from the back of the group while still trying to decide whether the alien was male or female or if it was neither... or both.
"Before we left our guest to sleep I fitted the room with several different wards that will tell me instantly when it wakes up" Twilight replied with a small amount of pride with her 'safety measures'.
"Well I hope it wakes up soon, if the alien is civilized and intelligent then I will had some important questions to ask" Rarity stated will traveling next to Applejack.
"Please, you just want to inflate your ego about your latest designs" Rainbow retorted with a clear distaste towards her fashion eccentric friend.
"I don't need a lesson in ego management from you Dash" Rarity scoffed. "Besides, what’s wrong with getting an opinion in fashion from someone that has seen the stars?" she says with a sparkle in her eyes.
Rainbow didn't reply to her star gazed friends question and just huffed as she moved to the front of the group.
"I have questions too like what's its favourite food. What’s its favourite game it likes to play? Does it like parties? Does space even have parties? I would expect it to have since space is like endless and if one aliens exists then there must me a whole species at least with all sorts of new games and food that we've never seen or tried. I wonder if it can make some home world cooking. What if it doesn't eat food like we do and adsorbs it through its scales by spitting on it first? What if it try-" Pinkie was interrupted my Twilight's hoof being placed over her muzzle.
"That's enough of that for now Pinkie. There will be plenty of time to ask it all the questions we want when it wakes up but we should be quiet" Twilight said as the group practically stood in front of the rooms closed doors. "We don't want to wake it and get off on the wrong hoof so Fluttershy and I will just take a quick peek to see how it’s doing". Twilight's friends all gave a nod each, some more confident that others, as Twilight turned towards the door and enveloped the handle with her magic. As quietly as possible, she opened the door wide enough for her and Fluttershy to enter one at a time without letting in too much light.
However, before they even got a quick look at the room, their vision was blocked by a tall figure with dark blue scales. It sat there with its long, quadruped body with 4 muscly legs that could probably give Big Mac a challenge at hoof wrestling, 2 massive wings that was probably about 2 meters in length each, although it was difficult to measure since they were folded behind him. Although it screamed with dragon-like features, its claws weren't like Spikes, they were more like paws with small nails. It also has a short neck that was mostly covered my 6 large scale-shaped horns that extended out of the back of it’s had like a triceratops frill. The head itself had an arrow shape to it with large, light blue eyes and on its forehead was an equally light blue crystal that resembles Princess Luna's mane with its own collection of star like sparkles.
Twilight and the gang stood there in shock with their mouths open at the surprise appearance of their thought-to-be unconscious guest from another world. Before anyone could get a word in to start a conversation between the group of individuals, Twilight quickly slammed the door shut.
(Aliens 1st person POV)
Well that was rude.
I shouldn't have been surprised with their reaction towards me in the slightest, it wasn't the first time that the locals of new planets had been nervous, scared, angry, sceptical or just negative with my presence. It probably didn't help that I sat right behind the do when they most likely thought that I was a sleep, healing from my wounds and regaining my strength.
I should probably get the awkwardness of meeting each other out of the way, I mean, they don't look like a war driven type of race so they hopefully won't take my approach as a sign of hostility or something like that. From what I can hear through the door, it sounds more like one of them is hyperventilating with shock that plotting my murder so I better clear the air sooner than later.
With that I tried to open the door, which was much easier this time around since it appears that the lock of the door was now jammed open from the door being slammed shut. I slowly pushed the door open and saw that there were 7 beings in total, 6 equine looking beings and a reptilian, bipedal creature that looked a bit younger than the rest, which if I had to guess would be around the young adult age range.
As I came into view, 6 out of the 7 looked at me, the purple, winged one with a straight horn coming out of its head was the one I heard hyperventilating from the other side of the door. As the others just stared at me with mixed expressions ranging excitement from the pink one to worry from the purple and green reptile to defiance from the blue, winged one that hovered above the others. Said reptile was trying to grab the attention of the purple one but she was in her own little nervous world that I probably put her in.
I might as well get started.
"Would you like to ask me some of those questions there or should I be the one to ask you something?" I said in the most casual way I could muster to try and calm her down. She didn't. I believe she's a he anyway. She did stop mumbling to herself but more out of shock from finally noticing me and the fact I spoke to her in a way she could understand. I could see that she was trying to move her mouth to say something but was having a hard time putting the words together. "My name's Nexus Crux but Crux will be fine, and you are?" waving my claw in a gesturing manner.
"Ow haha... my name is Twilight Sparkle" Twilight said while nervously laughing and trying to get her mind to focus on the situation. I gave a quick glance at the beings behind her, which she caught and gave a sheepish smile. "Ow right, these are my friends Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike" she said while pointing to each of them in turn. From what I could tell, Spike had seemed to be the only male of the group with the rest being females.
"It's very nice to meet you all and I must thank you for taking care while in my unconscious state. Who should I thank for the bandages?" I said, wanting the remove as much doubt and scepticism towards me as possible and thanking the one that healed me seemed the fasted way.
The yellow, winged one with a long pink mane named Fluttershy stepped into view from hiding behind her friends and stepped towards me. "... em... it... was me. Would it be alright if.... I could check your wounds again... if that's alright" she said which made my heart sink a few feet. She just looked so adorable with her soft tone and her pink mane covering her face and her huge eyes looking so... daaawww.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts to focus on the question. "Of course, should I get back on the bed then to make it easier for you?" I asked.
"That would probably be best" she said in reply with a small smile of relief. I turned to head back into the room with the others following me, never taking their eyes of me for varies reasons I could imagine.
As I lied on the bed, Fluttershy started to unwrap the bandages while asking how I was feeling, which I replied with a small summary of feeling small stings from the burn marks and a bit of a headache but that was normal for me. She continued replacing my bandages when one of the others had finally decided to speak up.
"So Crux, what brings you to Equestria?" Twilight decided that out of all her questions, she should get the obvious ones out the way first, and to probably quell some of her nerves.
"Well, while I was traveling between different systems I came across this world and it peaked my interest enough that I wanted a closer look at it. It isn't every day that someone gets to see a world with its own personal sun orbiting around it. I don't suppose that anyone here that would like to give me a science lesson on how it all works? And maybe explain how I got here as well" I asked with Twilight practically shaking with new found excitement.
"If you have the time then I would be more than happy to teach you and as for how you got here, we-" Twilight was saying until a Pinkie wanted to join in.
"-we found you after you crash landed just outside of Ponyville. We all ran as fast as possible to see what could cause a loud explosion that it broke lots of windows but don't worry, I don't think anypony is going to blame you since you were sleeping through it all which is quite silly since why would you be sleeping while flying in space? Actually -" Pinkie continued to ramble as I started to lose some interest. Seeing as she might take a while I observed the rest of the group. Twilight look a bit irritated after being interrupted by her friends, serves her right for slamming the door in my face. Rarity was watching Pinkie, seemingly trying to follow what she was saying with little success. The rest were still looking at me, Rainbow still seeming to want to pick a fight with me, Applejack looked a bit nervous while standing next to Fluttershy who was inspecting my injuries and Spike had apparently swapped his concern from before with a bit of giddiness. I imagine that he's probably got some questions too.
"- living in Ponyville has always been a party that never seems to stop, not that i'm complaining since I love to party with everypony which-"
"Actually Pinkie, if you wouldn't mind, maybe we can ask each other questions one at a time in turns. It might make things simpler" I suggested since I didn't catch really any of her questions.
Pinkie seemed to get what I was getting at and had put on a sheepish smile. "oh, I was rambling again wasn't I? Sorry, i'm just a bit excited to meet somepony from such a far of place. Where are you from anyway?" she asked.
"I can't really disclose exactly where I'm from but It's a place where dreams and wishes become reality" I said, trying to add a bit of mystical emphasis to my origins.
"That sounds like such a marvelous place" Rarity commented "It does, however, raise a curious question. If your home is such a nice place, why would you leave it?"
"Simply put, it is only one place among the countless stars that I get to travel to. But enough about me, I don't really know much about you seven and even less about your world." I said trying to move are conversation away from my home world.
"Why don't we all go into town then and get something to eat. It is a nice day outside and it is around lunch time" Twilight suggested.
"Wouldn't my appearance be of some concern to the local residents, me being an alien who crashed landed here?" I inquired with a raised eye brow, if I had any.
"I'm sure it will be fine. No pony should give you too much trouble if we're with you and it's not like you would be the strangest thing to have walked into Ponyville" Twilight ensured me, though that last statement raises more questions with a bit of concern. she then turned her attention towards Spike, who was quietly muttering to himself "Spike, could you send a message to the Princesses about organizing a meeting with Crux here for as soon as possible."
"I'm on it" he proclaimed before leaving the room.
"If you don't mind me asking Twilight but what position are you in to had the authority to request an ordinance with royalty?" I asked since it just occurred to be that I might be talking to someone of great importance. To my surprise Fluttershy replied while finishing up her check-up on me. She's been so quiet that I forgot she was even in the room still.
"Twilight's is also royalty, she's the Princess of Friendship, although it was only made official a few months ago"
I silently stared at Twilight to see if what Fluttershy said was true and she did respond with a small nod. At this I just simply replied with"... well that's a new one" After that we all headed out the room, found Spike who had apparently arranged the meeting to take place in this very castle later today and we headed out into the town.