Brushbys: First Contact

The lights popped and sizzled, the special effects magic doing their work. As the smoke filled the arena, she could her them outside cheer in an ever growing crescendo. She had stood here so many times before, and it has always filled her heart with such strong joy. Tonight, however, she could feel nothing but regret as the hatch opened above her and the smoke from the stage filled the small elevator chamber. Brushing her thoughts aside, she gripped her microphone tightly as the elevator began to rise. She smiled to herself as her fans erupted in total joy and praise. Still, deep inside her heart, she felt so meaningless. Twice before she had seen such greater wonders than she could have imagined, and now this simple stag just felt so small and irrelevant in comparison.

The last time I freaked out

I just kept looking down

I st-st-stuttered when you asked me what I'm thinking about.

Felt like I couldn't breathe

You asked what's wrong with me

My best friend Lily said "Oh she's just being Miley"

"Great show, bud," Robbie Ray congratulated his sixteen-year-old daughter as she left the stage. "I'm telling you, those critics wouldn't know talent if it was brought to them balanced on the nose of a dancing dog!"

It had been ten months since Miley Stewart had given up her stage name of Hannah Montana for her new career. Of course, the fact that it was leaked by the tabloids when both she and Hannah disappeared for three months made secret-keeping a little difficult. The critics of course made her their latest whipping girl, and almost every week there was a story printed chastising her for her "dishonest and antisocial" personality. There was no question she was going a little more serious with her own songs, but she couldn't help it. She was not the Miley she had been.

Her mind raced as the bus began to pull away from the desert stage. Her publicist had called her nuts for scheduling a concert out in the middle of the Mojave, but she could tell by the look in his eyes that her dad understood. The quiet and space around her so far from the city lights was peaceful in it's own way, and she could let her mind drift to days gone by, and the decisions that panged her with each revolution of the moon and the sun.

But this was to be a night, not for quiet contemplation, but for new decisions to be made.

The boom that filled the sky made Lily jump out of her seat, and everyone's eyes went wide with shock. Sure, she had a bit of experience with sonic booms. After all, Hannah had been a guest on the penultimate flight of the Concorde. But this was different. Far louder, more like the resonance of a god coming to Earth. Miley ran to the front of the bus, plopping down in the passenger seat next to the driver. Looking out through the windshield, she could see a massive shadow fill the horizon as a great structure fell through the skies. Her heart filled with joy, and a triumphant gleam entered her eyes as she saw it come down towards the ground. She looked back at Lilly who nodded, showing the two girls had the same word at the front of their thoughts.

"Come on Miley," Jackson protested. "Even supposing the military and the news crews and everything let you through, who's to say they come in peace and don't want to kill us?"

"Trust me," Miley insisted. "Sometimes, with some situations, you just have to crash right into it."

As luck would have it, the military hadn't had time to block off the area yet. Rushing forward proudly, Miley and Lilly began to tear towards the downed spaceship. Suddenly, a thought hit Miley, and she doubled back to the bus to grab a left-over McDonald's bag. Sharing a smile with Lily, the two ran out, quickly outpacing the others. The shadow cast by the spaceship was truly massive, as was the ship itself. The first military officials present at the crash-site whispered estimates of a half-mile in diameter to each other. Everyone's eyes were wide and lips silent as a hatch began to open. The first look at the Newcomers would later be noted as the point where everything changed. These bald aliens, with darkened spots in lieu of hair would forever be remembered in the passages of Earth's history.

But Miley was little concerned with them, merely smiling and shaking hands as she passed quickly through their numbers, past the few military officials trying to keep the area under quarantine. After nearly forty minutes of searching, she heard Lily cry out in joy. Smiling to herself, she rushed inside the ship, down a darkened corridor, where the old blue box waited for her. She closed her eyes softly, counting to three, before looking to her left. Right on queue, there he stood for the third time, just as he had promised. Wiping a happy tear from her eye, she ran forward, grabbing him in a surprise hug.

"Miley," he asked in utter amazement.

"Doctor," she replied simply. "Right on time."

"What in the name of Montana are you girls doing here," he asked her, smiling as he noticed Lily bashfully grinning against the box.

"It's a long story," Miley confirmed. "The words I think you said to use were wibbly wobbly…"

"Timey Wimey," the Doctor finished, as he straightened his blue pinstripe suit. He cast a quick glance to his red-haired companion. "Miley, this is…"

"Donna Noble," Miley said simply, shaking her hand. "I know. Remember to buy the red one, not the green. It brings out your eyes better."

Donna looked in wonder at the little girl, smirking a bit to herself as she shook her hand. Breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, she noticed the bag Miley was holding.

"Oh I cannot begin to tell you how famished I was," she said, as she took the salad shaker from Miley.

"Well I need to get back," Miley said with a smile. "Tour to finish and all that."

"Oh so soon," the Doctor protested. "But we've not even had proper time to catch up."

"We will," Miley said with a knowing smile. "Oh, and I could use some new earrings."

Scrunching his nose in confusion, he committed her words to memory as he and Donna stepped into the old blue box, and disappeared into the night.

"Come on Lily," Miley said with a calm and warm smile. "The twenty-first century is waiting for us out there, and I'm not about to miss it. Everything's about to change and we'll be there to see it happen!"