She waited by the door as the two ponies selected as dignitaries talked about clothing. Lyra was glad that she had still managed to make it in time. Her chariot had dropped her only a few minutes before in front of the void facility; then she had to be scanned in and find the appropriate room. She was going to just stay quiet until Twilight made a very obvious mistake at calling these new creatures monkeys, at which point Lyra had to correct her. Lyra did miss when she and Twilight had been friends, but a spell mishap that could never be proven as an accident had happened while they were still studying magic together. That was before Lyra had left to study magic and then biology; they just drifted apart more and more over the years until they just couldn’t stand the sight of each other.
. “They are clearly related to apes and not monkeys, any basic scientist should know the difference. I would have expected Princess Celestia’s personal student to know better.” Goad her, put her pride on the line, make her have to work. “Actually look at them. The differences are more pronounced than those between a pony and a zebra.” Come on, actually look, use that education. Lyra implored, they would have to work together on this whether they liked it or not. “Ignoring the fact that they are walking upright and using tools. They have no tails whatsoever and their clothing doesn’t leave enough room for one even if they did. They have a rounded nasal passage, not slits; they use their eyes over their noses. Large cranium size when compared to the rest of their body; which makes sense if they are tool users, and advanced ones at that. If you want I can go on, there are quite a few more I could go over.” Why couldn’t Twilight see any of this? Lyra had thought her rival more capable than this.
Twilight turned her head towards Lyra. “Thank you for the clarification Lyra.” Twilight deadpanned. But Lyra had expected the anger; Twilight had just been shown up and insulted, and at a very sensitive time. “By the way, you’re late.”
Lyra couldn’t control her sudden burst of anger, “Do you have any idea where I was or what I was doing? I was out in the wilds, beyond the borders of Equestria, studying changelings. After their attack on Canterlot, it was decided that they needed to be studied to better find a defense or any indication when they might attack again. Do you have any idea how long it took to get set up near their hive without being spotted? Three months of work lost, just when I was starting to gather valuable information. The letter from Celestia nearly gave away my position. I had to fight my way out of there, not all of us can teleport.” But there was no way to know that the hive had ways of detecting subtle magic or that they were on such high alert. Lyra conceded. But three months of setting up a base and two of figuring out where the changelings had moved to, gone, and just as results were starting to come in. I know I was only a few months away from figuring out what those cocoons they put ponies in are used for. So maybe her feelings weren’t completely magnanimous, but I was almost captured by creatures that nearly toppled Equestria less than a year ago. “Maybe if you had set up the meeting for when you were supposed to-“
Lyra’s thought process and anger was broken by the soft coughing of the third member of their little party. “Do you think this is the best time for your bickering? We do have foreign dignitaries after all.” The one Lyra knew as Rarity stated.
Right. Job to do first. Lyra thought and gave a slight nod to Twilight and adjusted her voice to something more befitting of the occasion. “So, what was so important?” She asked. The xenobiologist figured it had something to do with the new creatures, but she hadn’t received any news in months and didn’t even know any new building had been constructed in Ponyville. It doesn’t help that I had no time after getting here for a proper briefing on any of this. Lyra simmered. “Never mind, I’ll figure this out.” She did have an idea based upon all the evidence she had seen so far.
Lyra stepped past the two mares and up to the three new creatures. She decided to address the one in the middle based upon Rarity’s judgment. Always trust the expert in their own field. A statement Lyra had gone off of many times, nopony could be an expert on everything. “Greetings. My name is Lyra Heartstrings and it is my pleasure to welcome you to Equestria.” Obviously they are new; they probably came out of that white field behind them. “I would like to invite you to our cafeteria to have some dinner; I am assured we have quite the selection of food. However, you will not be allowed to eat meat outside of this facility and preferably not in any common areas, for now at least.”
The lead alien’s eyes got bigger, but still smaller than the average pony’s as it stated in Equestrian, “How know eat meat?”
Now that is interesting. Lyra had noticed the pointed canines the moment she saw them. The fact that it was surprised means that they don’t have to routinely look out for predators, so they are at the top of their food chain. Lyra thought; deciding to take every precaution that was needed to with these creatures, she hadn’t failed to notice a slight bulge on two of the creature’s hips. She lifted up a hoof to her mouth and stated “Teeth.” Not knowing how much they knew, she wanted to keep it simple.
Lyra walked over to the door and opened it. “Coming?” she asked. The creature in the middle raised one of its hands, indicating that it was what Lyra thought of as a sign of it not being ready. “Did you want your own food?” she asked; figuring they would have some sent from their own people until the safety of Equestrian food could be ascertained on their digestive systems. Or maybe they’re afraid of the local bacteria, they may be decently intelligent. Lyra conceded.
“Yes, own food.” It stated. The creature in the middle then turned to the one on its left and started talking to it. “Victor, can you call in and tell them that everything is going good. Tell them we need a week’s worth of food at least and a way to test if the food here is toxic; they should have all that ready. Make sure to tell them no meat! From the sound of things, eating meat here won’t end well. Next, we need books: language, culture, history. It will make this entire process go quicker. And tell them that they appear sapient and very intelligent.” The creature it had talked to then pulled out a black rectangle with a stick on the end of it and started talking.
Lyra knew that she wouldn’t understand anything they said, so she took the opportunity to ask a few questions. “Twilight, how long are they staying for? I know I’m not in charge here, but I have the experience. So please, just this once, can we cooperate?” Lyra had a lot she needed to accomplish before those creatures finished their little chat.
“Um,” Twilight replied, taken off guard by the request and sensibility of the mint-green mare. “About three months. They’re here to study out language and culture.”
“Great, thanks.” Lyra then stuck her head out the door and talked to some of the assembled guards. Not knowing how much Equestrian the creatures knew or how good their hearing was, she switched to an older dialect of Equestrian that would be hard for any non-native speaker to understand. “I will need four of you to stay here; I don’t think they are going to try anything, not right now at least. I need everypony else to head to the cafeteria and position yourselves in there without armor. Make it look like you are just like any other pony sitting down to eat and keep a watch on the creatures as we enter; they are very familiar to certain creatures here that are known for being incredibly vicious.” The designated guards all moved towards their separate quarters to prepare for their assignment.
Lyra then turned to the four remaining guards, all looking exactly the same. “Ok, I need one of you to go and take the first stack of books in my room and deliver them to wherever the alien delegates will be staying. It’s a stack of foal’s books on basic Equestrian.” And things will go much faster if I can get their leader to speak proper Equestrian fluently, she thought. Another guard took off towards her room to do as requested. “The rest of you can stay out here and respond to anything either me or Twilight says immediately.” After getting a nod of approval from the three remaining guards, she pulled her head back into the room and closed the door.
When Lyra turned back around she noticed that the creatures were done talking and that her fellow unicorns were shifting their attention from the creatures to her, not knowing what to do. “What’s going on?” She asked.
“They said it will be about half an hour for their supplies to arrive.” Twilight responded, looking a little lost as to what she was supposed to do.
Lyra sighed. “Ok, you two can go. I can stay here and watch over them.” Twilight started to object but was cut off by Lyra. “No, if things go badly, Rarity won’t be able to do more than get in the way. And if things go right, neither will your skills. This is more my area, all we can get done for now is to observe and learn.”
Twilight looked between Lyra and the new creatures, worried for the xenobiologist’s safety. She felt like she had already abandoned Lyra once in school and didn’t want to do the same again, but Lyra had a point, a rude point, but a point nonetheless. “Ok, I’ll report to the Princess; if you can send her something of theirs to study.” Twilight quickly went on when she saw Lyra getting annoyed. “Celestia’s request, not mine. Something about their magic.”
Lyra thought for a moment. “I will send her one of the basic language books for you both to look at, that way it will serve multiple purposes. And if you ever want to read about their species without hearing about it through me, you should learn the language well.” Lyra insulted, knowing full well that she would need help, and Twilight would more than likely be involved in this project for quite a while.
Twilight nodded. “Good luck.” She wished, opened the door and left with her white-coated friend in tow.
Lyra closed the door behind the two departing mares using her magic, and proceeded to sit down next to the door. Now for the waiting game; and to see how much can be figured out and how quickly. Lyra then indicated with her hoof at the wall to her right. “Please sit, there’s no reason to stand while we wait.” The three creatures proceeded to sit down, but only the leader sat where she had indicated; the other two had selected the opposite wall and sat about five feet apart from each other.
Lyra started watching the creatures. Their legs bent and crossed underneath them. I wonder if that is how they always sit or if they can fit in a chair for a pony. This did confirm that they weren’t a prey species though; that posture was ill designed for a quick escape. The leader had his back resting against the wall and his gaze would shift between her and what she thought were his guards.
They don’t seem like very attentive guards though. Lyra thought as she watched the other two creatures. I really need to know what they are called, and if these ones are male or female. The first guard “Victor” was sitting down on the ground and had his back hunched. It appeared like he was playing with some kind of toy. It was a cylindrical object with a rounded point on one end and flat on the other, it was metallic and the creature would keep spinning it on the ground of the void room.
The other one, “Avery” she thought, was sitting closer to her than the first one. It was reading a book in its right hand and was tapping out some sort of beat on one of its legs with the left. It read the book from right to left, very much unlike Equestrian books. The book intrigued Lyra though; the creature on the cover was similar to these three but looked much different. The creature on the cover had purple hair and cobalt blue eyes that looked more like pony eyes than human ones. Its limbs were thinner than those she was currently sitting with, and its face was far leaner, nearly coming to a point at the chin. Its hair was long enough to fall to waist height, but the creature looked as if it was falling. The clothing it wore was also far different than anything she had seen before; it was mostly a white long sleeved shirt with a green skirt and green mini-cape/lapel on the neck. Its chest also extended beyond that of its counterparts in Equestria. Was this what their other sex looks like? Lyra also noted that it was wielding a sword; so they do use bladed weapons, which would make them slightly less dangerous than if they used ranged weapons like bows. What surprised her still more though was that there was a different creature in the background with sharp teeth and claws, but a similar outline to these other ones, and from the context of the image, it looked like it was hunting the purple haired one. Now to figure out if it’s fictional or something they have to deal with. This would say that they aren’t the top of their food chain, but are hunted by something similar to them. This one looks different and those protuberances have a similar shape to mammary glands, so that may be a female. But if so… Lyra quickly became frustrated at the lack of information. She was having to restrain herself from ripping the book out of its hand to take a look at it herself, but she had no idea how it would react; for all she knew it would be seen as a sign of aggression and not curiosity. She decided to just sit and wait until she could start making observations and asking questions.
Lyra waited there for thirty minutes while the leader just sat still and the two ‘guards’ kept either reading or playing with the toy. They must be really skilled or really confident, unless they serve another purpose, she pondered.
A burst of noise came from the strange device that had been left by the void, followed by what sounded like a language. “Package incoming in 30.” The two creatures quickly got up and moved towards the void.
Lyra tensed, she didn’t know what they were doing but they had packed up their things and were up and moving quicker than she ever would have expected. “Avery” had used its right hand to put the book into its jacket and put the left on the ground for lift. The creature then pivoted ninety degrees to its left using the hip, it then lifted and planted its right foot on the ground and lifted itself the rest of the way to erect; the whole thing took only a second or two and it was moving. They both stood near the center of the void and waited. After a few seconds a pair of steps emerged from the void, just two that were connected and made out of a material she had never seen. The two creatures grabbed it and set it down in front of the void and pushed it right up to the surface of the void; to the point where it started the void rippling. After a few more seconds a second shape emerged from the void, a plain wooden crate about a foot from the bottom of the void. Each creature grabbed one end of the crate and started pulling it out. The crate looked heavy; the two creatures seemed to be having trouble lifting it out of the void. Once it had fully emerged they set it on the ground. The crate was four foot long with either end being a two foot square.
Lyra looked at the creatures as they started going through the crate. “Did you bring adequate food?” She asked of the creatures. They started talking to each other and “Victor” pulled out three packs of something. Lyra quickly grabbed the three items in her magic; surprised at how much effort it took. She quickly set them down next to her so she didn’t run out of strength.
The two creatures she identified as guards had quickly moved and put their hands under their shirts near their hips. Something she knew as a possible threat posture. “Dinner” She said, hoping it would be clear enough to defuse things. The leader talked to the other two and they reluctantly lowered their hands, and then the machine off to the side started to move.
Her heart rate picked up; afraid of what that thing was going to do. All the machine did was move over to in front of the void and slowly ascend the steps and pass through to the other side. After it passed all the way through; one of the guards, she couldn’t keep them straight, put the sleeve up to its mouth and spoke, “Understood.” And the two groups just began to watch each other.
Lyra picked up the three bags of what she hoped were food, “If you would please follow me to the cafeteria for some food. While we do that the guards will take your things to your rooms you will be staying in. I hope that won’t be a problem.” After she had finished talking; the door into the room opened and two unicorn guards in full regalia entered. From their position near the door they lifted the crate and moved it towards themselves, and then out the door and to the right, towards the dormitories. Whether the creatures understood her or not; they made no move to stop the guards. Finally I can get something to eat; it has been too long of a day. Lyra thought as she led the creatures down the hall to the cafeteria.