"We found this in the Everfree. We weren't sure if it was safe to move it, so we teleported the whole patch of ground here," one of the researchers explained. "Right now we're trying to determine if we can interact with it without damaging it. It looks extremely fragile. We've checked and it doesn't appear to be contaminating the environment in any way."
"I see," Twilight said, tilting her head to observe the bizzare sight before her. It was off-white, almost transparent in places, in all ways reminiscent of something an insect might leave behind after growing, a copy of its old body's shape. It was only broken in the back, a long tear along the top of it that suggested something had pushed its way out from inside.
But no creature she knew of looked anything like that. Not even in the state the world had been left after the Behemoth had come had she seen anything similar, and it looked more like some foal's drawing brought to life than anything actually meant to exist. Like a gigantic centipede with legs like those of a bird, and then there was whatever the mess of tentacles and claws and bulbs on the front was. The other end didn't make much more sense, seemingly truncated abruptly like a chopped off branch from a tree.
That whatever had been in there was still somewhere, and possibly bigger or even more confusing in its anatomy, was not the most reassuring of thoughts. Especially the idea that it might be flying, which she forcefully pushed out of her head. She would have blamed or consulted Discord for something like that, but he still hadn't returned.
She had arguably more important things to focus on, though. Or at least, things she could focus on more immediately and efficiently, that required her attention and that she knew she could deal with, whereas she had no idea how long it would take to properly study that thing if she started to. That was what the other researchers there were for, though. "I trust you with taking care of this," she said. And though it almost annoyed her to, she added, "Report to me directly only if you find something that requires my immediate attention, otherwise leave your results for later inspection." She turned, and trying to ignore the way the sight of that thing still unsettled she headed for the exit.
The door opened before she could reach it, and Rainbow Dash stepped in. "Twilight!" she said, spotting the alicorn. "Princess Luna has finished looking at those files you sent her. She says she-" The words stopped coming out of her mouth.
Twilight frowned. "Rainbow?" she asked, approaching. "Are you okay?"
Rainbow ignored her, and in fact forcefully pushed her way past her and towards the thing at the centre of the room. "What is that?" she almost yelled. "Where did you find it?"
The pony who'd been talking to Twilight just a moment before turned to the pegasus. "We found it in the Everfree," he explained, "and we're not really sure what it is yet but-"
Rainbow had already turned, and she disappeared past the doors, running and already flying out of there as quickly as she could safely manage.