//------------------------------// // 1: New subject to study // Story: Enemy Unknown // by Scorched Earth //------------------------------// Twilight was nervous. Princess Celestia had called her to Canterlot as soon as she could. Princess had not told her exact reasons in her letter, only that it was "of utmost importance" that she was to arrive. She hoped that nothing bad had happened. With the invasion by the strange creatures, there was always the fear of bad news. "Twilight, it is good that you came as soon as you did." Celestia said as Twilight entered the throne room. "Of course, Your Highness. Your letter demanded my imminent presence. How could I refuse? What is the matter?" "You know how we have tried to figure out these strange creatures that have attacked us?" Celestia asked, despite knowing the answer. Twilight has buried herself in the library many times, trying to find any sort of reference to them. "Yes. Unfortunately, there are no records, or at least no records have survived, that mention two-legged creatures that use technology this complicated." "Yes. Well, I have news. You remember that crazy plan that your friend Rainbow Dash suggested?" "Yes?" "Well, we have results. One of their sky vessels was captured recently, alongside its occupants." Celestia said. She could see understanding dawn in Twilight's eyes. "You have functional machine as well as live subjects." Twilight said in awe. "You could interrogate them. Study their technology, Finally learn about them." She continued. "Yes. However... we have run into few issues." Celestia said, waving for Twilight to calm down. "First of all, we are not sure if they are... well, creatures like you, me, Zebras, Griffins and others. They can't live outside their suits and what comes out of the suit is... well, I believe my adjutant called it 'most disgusting goo I have ever seen'. We don't know what they actually look." "Oh." "However, we have samples of their writing, as well as several objects they brought with us. I want you in charge of team studying these objects, as well as these creatures. Try to find out what they are and what they want." Celestia left out that finding how to more efficiently kill these creatures, Twilight was still hesitant when it came to killing. "Yes! Of course! Anything to help." Twilight said, nodding her head. "Good. They are currently held in the dungeon. I have set a laboratory and workshop in vicinity, as well as direct access to the library. I wish you best of luck. You can meet rest of the team there. Professor Case Study should be looking over the captives at the moment." "I shall not disappoint you, Princess." Twilight said and left the room. Once she had left, Celestia muttered under her breath. "For good of us all, I hope so." Twilight walked down to the dungeon, towards a new closed-off section. She saw a white unicorn with a black mane, with a stethoscope as a cutie mark, talking to guards. She walked over to them to talk. "Hello? I am Twilight Sparkle. I am looking for professor Case Study." "Ah, that would be me. You must be the genius Princess Celestia spoke of." The unicorn said, smiling. "I was just about to take a look at our new guest. Would you like to join us?" "That would be great." Twilight said. A guard nodded to his comrade and lead them down the hallway. Twilight noticed that most of the dungeon was in rather sorry state, a clear indicator that it was not used often. Most of the cells were open or clearly not locked, with layer of dust everywhere. After few twist and turns, they arrived at the more well maintained section of the dungeon. "Here we are. These are the current holding cells for the creatures." A guard said, before leaving. Twilight stared at the creatures in the cage. One of them stared right back, or at least she assume so. It's mask was without clear indication of eyes, apart from the T-shaped visor. Two tubes came from its face and moved to its back, where they attached to another device. It's armor was black with red rim. On its chest, it had two arrows and some text. Somehow its presence spoke that of soldier. A soldier, not a warrior. Rather than enjoying combat, Twilight somehow knew that this creature would rather not fight, but it was being compelled to fight. "Quite interesting, aren't they?"Case Study said. "Yes, they are interesting. Any idea what they are?" "Well, without ability to do an autopsy, I can't say really. From what I can gather from their outward appearance, they are fully bipedal, as in they don't use their hands to balance themselves. They move completely upright and their hands are fully dedicated to manipulating objects." Case Study said. "As for what under that suit... well, I have no idea. Their flesh and organs melt when the suit is removed." "What do you mean?" "Well, to be honest, I am not sure yet. We are running few theories at the moment." Case Study said shaking his head. "One is that they are essentially just slimes, which are held together by the pressure inside the suits and opening the suit causes the pressure to collapse and thus kill the creature inside it, as it can no longer maintain its form." "Hmm... I see." Twilight said. "Any chance of talking with them yet?" "Not really. They don't respond to any of our attempts to communicate with them, whenever its through speech, gestures or anything. There is a group of linguistics trying to decipher their language, but as far as I know its not going well. You should visit them for more information." "I think I will. Thank you for the information." "My pleasure." "Their language?" The blue unicorn repeated. "Well, so far we are not sure. They use similar alphabet as we do, but their language structure, as far as we have determined, seems to be closer to griffins. As for the words, well, it's weird really." Twilight had gone and met with linguistic teams working on deciphering the invaders language. She had been directed to professor Letter Soup, a blue unicorn with a white mane and an open book for a cutie mark. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked, looking over the notes that had been written on the wall. Numerous words were circled, connected to each other, crossed over or otherwise noted. "Well, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Some words sound similar to ancient Equestria, others sound closer to Griffins, then we got Catsmere, Buffalo, well, it seems like it's a weird mix of all languages known to us. Little to no connection between words." "But you can read it?" Twilight asked. "If the words sound similar..." "Yes, sound similar, but their meaning is loss. Compare, for example, references to the moon we have here." The unicorn pointed at the note. "We pronounce moon as, well, moon. However, this language, it's closer to ancient Equestria term Luna. However, full word is Lunea, yet, we are not sure if that is a form of the word, or the base word. We have also found references to Luna, Lunias and Lun. "Not to mention, for some reason, common term is Luna Aeternal. It is referenced often, as well as this word, Terra. This one is interesting, since there is no frame of reference for it. There are few words similar to it, such as terrain, yet word Terra is often used in same parts as Luna Aeternal. This is interesting, as in are two concepts related or is it merely a coincidence?" The unicorn ended his explanation and Twilight nodded. The language was, at the same time, both familiar looking, yet very alien looking. Going through the text and figuring out the rules that this new text used was going to a long process. She also noted few oddities in the text. "What's with so many words being capitalized? Dropship for example? Too many of them are capitalized to be merely a rule for names." "Ah, good point. We are not sure, but we think they are subjectives. We have been trying to find anything we could link between word and object." "I see. Well, carry on." Twilight said. She still had to visit the section where they were taking apart the machine these creatures used. "And when you press this button, the door in the back opens." The earth pony finished. "I see." Twilight said. She was currently in front of the machine, where it was apparently controlled. A black earth pony, named Wrecking Wrench, was now showing what they had so far found out. "What makes it work?" She asked as two of them started to walk out. "No idea. There are few things, one is this substance, that works like oil, except a lot more volatile and other is this box that will fry you if you aren't careful. No idea what they are and how they work, though." "That's too bad. What about the smaller devices? Their weapons?" "Well, they sure aren't going to be used by us. Precision required for actually making them fire is to great for your average unicorn to do under pressure without at least few years of training. Then there is that we have no idea how to produce these things, so we would rely on getting them from the battlefield." "Which are often damaged or otherwise near useless." Twilight concluded. "Aye." "So what was this thing carrying?" Twilight asked. "Damned if I know. I think it was doing a supply run, lots of these strange tubes and water." Wrecking Wrench took something from a shelf. "These canisters or whatever, they are insanely difficult to crack open if you don't have something to actually grasp on to them. Clearly not build for hooves. There are about six hundred of them, we cracked open about ten and they all have water." "I see. And these other tubes?" "Some sort of paste, Case Study says they might be food for the creatures, though I can't imagine who would want to eat that stuff. One pony tried it and said it tastes like dirt." Wrench said, shrugging. He reached for a crowbar and tried to pry one of the panels off from the ship. "Little help?" Twilight nodded and concentrated her magic. The panel was tightly attached, but eventually gave off, revealing a mess of brightly colored wires. Both ponies looked over the wires. "I was hoping there would something more... mechanical. Something closer to steam engine. I have no idea what all these wires do. Except that you don't want to touch them." Wrench said dropping his crowbar. "What do you mean?" "Well, whatever runs in them is strong enough to give you a mean electric shot. Can easily burn off your coat, if you are not careful and whatever you do, don't put them in your mouth. Poor Connect Dots, peace upon his soul, learned that the hard way." "Oh." Twilight took few steps away from the wires. "Is there any way to make them save?" "Well, few guys has theorized that the big humming thing is what supplies all the energy this thing uses." Wrench said, waving for few ponies to take over. "But until we figure out what it is and how to shut it down, we aren't doing much. For all we know, this thing might blow up." "I agree. I guess I should leave you to be." "Thank you, ma'm. I'll send you a report once we figure out something out of this thing." Following day Twilight was reading over the initial findings that other leads of the project had made, which was to say not much. She herself was trying to create a preliminary theory of what the creatures were, what they were motivations and ultimately, how to defeat them. However, her musings were interrupted by banging by the door. "Come in, it's not locked." Twilight said, crushing another sketch ("Evil aliens beyond stars after water?") into a ball and throwing it into a bin. A guard entered the room and saluted. "Apologies for the interruption, but there is a slight trouble with the prisoners." "Trouble? What sort of trouble?" Twilight asked, motioning guard to lead the way and following. "Well, the prisoners are refusing to eat or drink. This is a third day now, and... well, one of them died just now. We already informed professor Case Study, but we thought it would be best to inform you too." The guard said,. "Have you tried to give them food?" Twilight said, already knowing the answer but deciding to ask anyway. "Yes. All kinds of. Salad, flowers, vegetables, fruits, even meat. Nothing. They refuse to eat. They look like they would want to eat, but refuse anyway. Can't even force feed them, they die if you take off the suit." "Thanks for reminding of that image..." Twilight had read initial attempts at interrogation and had to stop when the more graphical description of events had come up. "My apologies. We are here." The guard said somewhat awkwardly. Twilight noticed that Case Study was already there, looking over the rejected food. "Find anything?" She asked. "No. The food is perfectly fine, as far as I can see. Perhaps they digestive system can't deal with it? Poisons? Allergies? Fanaticism?" Case Study said. "Or is it those suits? What do they even eat?" "Well, without any frame of reference we are guessing in the dark here." Twilight said. She stared at the prisoner, as if to will it to explain itself. It merely stared back, before a rumbling sound could be heard from it and it clutched it's stomach. "Well, they clearly can get hungry. But how to feed them?" "I can't say. Was there anything in that thing of theirs?" Case Study asked. Twilight tried to bring back the inventory list that had been made of the vessels content. Then she remembered what Wrecking Wrench has said to her earlier. "The tubes! It must be those! You two, go get , say, 4 of the strange tubes that came with the vessel. Also two of those cylindrical containers." Twilight said and watched as her orders were carried out. Soon, guards returned with the requested. "This thing is apparently non-toxic to us, but somewhat nutritious." She said. "Hmm, perhaps they lack the ability to chew?" Case Study said, as Twilight poured some the paste on the plate and poured some of the water from the container on a glass. The plate was pushed back into the cell, where the prisoner stared at it for a moment, before approaching. The creature was being cautious, as if suspecting that the food was poisoned. It did take little bit of the paste and pushed it against where Twilgiht guessed it's mouth was. A flicker, as if the mask had opened a small compartment and the paste was gone. However, another prison across the hallway started to scream when it noticed what was happening. "Ne yesh'te! Es wūrǎn!" However, the prisoner who had tasted the stuff was already on the ground, convulsing. Ponies took step back and watched as the prisoner convulsed uncontrollably before stopping and no longer moving. After few minutes, a guard entered the cell and confirmed that the prisoner was dead. "Okay, that was not what I was expecting." Twilight said, shocked. "However, we did get a reaction..." Case study said, looking at the other prisoner, who was shaking it's head, before noticing that the ponies were now at its door. "So, how do we feed you?" Case Study asked, but the prisoner remained silent. Twilight nudged the unopened containers. "What are these?" She asked. The prisoner just stared as them, before slumping down. "Basta dare ikh mne". It said and gestured at the containers. Twilight and Case Study took a glance at each others, before nodding to the guards. The containers we passed into the cell, unopened. The prisoner once again approached carefully at the containers and started to look at them. It appeared to be checking that they were not damaged. Eventually, it nodded and placed the tube at it's "mouth". Once again, it's mask flickered and seemed to clamp on the tube. The tube started to empty and eventually was dislodged from the mask. Same procedure was repeated with the cylinder. "Hmm, I guess it's something in the air?" Case Study said. "Well, whatever it is, as long as we have unopened containers we should be OK. Send a word to Wrecking Wrench to put all those food supplies to a safe location and make sure they are not damaged." Twilight said to the guards. "Also, send a message to army that any supplies they capture from the aliens is to be send to us, right away." Case Study added. "We don't know how long these will last and I rather have extra than run out." "Agreed." Celestia sighed as she entered her room. The meeting with the generals had only brought her more bad news, the invaders were not relenting and attempts to break through had failed. She wondered where they had came from. She had never heard of this type of creatures, even with her old age. She looked over her desk and saw a letter from Twilight Sparkle. Opening the letter, she began to read. To Princess Celestia I wish to thank you once again for your confidence in me and giving me this chance. I have spoken with other heads of departments and we have began our work. I have decided to largely remain uninvolved with the managment of the departments themselves, concerning myself with overall research. Others have tried to uncover the truth behind the attackers on their own areas. I have attached their reports with this letter. I fear we do not have much yet, but we hope this will change in time. So far, there are few theories we have come up. Three most accepted theories we are thus far: Theory 1: Return of Ancients. Some very ancients text speak of "Precursors" or "Demons of the Night" who were banished. This theory states that these "Ancients" are now returning. However, problem with this theory is that these Ancients are not mentioned in ancient Zebra or Pony text and all texts referring to them pre-date even Discords rule. If these truly are the Ancients, why are they attacking Equestria? Furthermore, where could they have been until now? Although we believe that this theory to be incorrect, we are still not discarding it until we can outrule possibility that references to such Ancients do not merely mean other tribes. Theory 2: Servants of Unknown Deity This theory states that these creatures are servants of some other power, a vanguard of sort, here to prepare for the arrival of the force they serve. However, once again, we run into problem of "why" as well as "who". Who is this deity and what does he/she/it seek? Are the creatures a separate race that serves the deity or are they parts of the deity? Why they use such technology? We consider this theory possible, but not certain, as they are yet to offer any obvious sign of worship. Theory 3: Life from outside our world This theory states that the creatures are not native to our world at all or serve any ranking power, but merely are another nation in manner of Equestria or Zebra Union. However, once again, we run into question of "why"? What are these aliens here for? Is it resources? If they have ability to cross the vast emptiness between stars, why are they attacking? Do they not understand concept of trade? In lack of other proofs, we consider this most likely theory. Although it sounds like a story from some story, it does offer few answers of why these creatures are so different from us, yet do not seem to fit Theory 2. It would also offer a possible explanation of their technology, as they are yet to offer signs of using casual magic. Technology could be a coping mechanism, a solution to do things we do with magic, such as flying or levitating large objects. I will send you a new letter and reports in a month, detailing our progress. I hope we will soon start to make greater progress, as we overcome our initial difficulties. Your student Twilight Sparkle Biological Department Report Head of Department: Case Study Subject: Aliens We have now agreed to refer to these creatures as "aliens", using a popular term for off-world creatures. We have concluded that these creatures are not native to our world. While autopsy can not be carrier out, we have managed to gleam some insight into their nature. First off, aliens are bipedal species and operate similar to Minotaurs or Diamond Dogs, as in their front limbs have developed into specialized grasping appendages. However, unlike Minotaurs, the aliens posses five digits instead of four. Their legs take up to 1/2 of their total length. Their feet have protrusion out of them, apparently for stabilizing the standing motion. Although creating somewhat less sturdy body structure than other such creatures, the alien body structure is surprisingly nimble, allowing wide range of movement. These aliens seem to be pack animals. When two subjects are put into cell, they can be observed to communicate, either through some sort of telepathy or through articulation. We have come to this conclusion after repeated observations, where aliens gesture as if communicating, in acts and gestures not otherwise observe (for example, pointing something, spreading their upper limbs in wide manner). Occasionally, whatever the aliens are communicating about, seems to heat somewhat and other alien will resort to vocal articulation. Sometimes these "shouting matches" as the guards refer to them carry on for some time, sometimes two seem to notice that they are prisoners and revert to telepathy. Whenever the telepathy is a natural ability of their species or created by their suits is still under investigation, but the unique circumstances prevent in-depth study. Aliens, based on approximations done from their "nutriment paste" appear to be omnivores, with preference to being herbivore. Whatever these aliens eat naturally is unknown, as the only food available to us is highly processed and concentrated paste. They also require water to survive. As detailed in experiment 11 (Which, if I may note, should not have been ended prematurely), aliens can survive up to a week without food, as long as they have access to water. However, with access to food, but no water, they can survive up to three or four days. Aliens are unable to survive with outside contact of their suits. Even smallest exposure can lead to what we can only assume to be a painful death. Even exposure of their food to outside world leads them to become toxic to these creatures. We have been unable to pierce their suits with magic without killing the subject and as agree, after the third casualties this line of experiments has been discontinued. We will continue our efforts of understanding these aliens nature. Head of Biological Department Case Study Linguistic Department Report Head of Department: Letter Soup Subject: Alien language I am afraid that I must report that we have not made much progress on subject of alien language. Although several theories have been made, we do not have a frame of reference. We do not know where to start. I am afraid that until we have a solid point from where to proceed, we will wont' be able to make any progress. Engineering Department Report Head of Department: Wrecking Wrench Subject: Alien technology Well, there is not much to say. Most of this technology is black box to us. We have managed to get basic understanding of what does what, but the question how is still open to us. Here is what we have so far managed to figure out. The heart of the system is what be believe to be "the first engine".. This generates electricity that the rest of the machine uses. What it does with this electricity, we do not know. We do not know how this engine generates the electricity, as it lacks obvious fuel source. The machine does have other fuel sources, using highly flammable liquid similar to oil. However, these tank of fuel are not connected to the first engine, but to other engines. How aliens have managed to create this strong connections or bolts, is beyond us. The materials used in the machine are several times stronger than the ones known to us. However, what we have managed to find out is that they are alloys created from materials available to us. Unfortunately, attempts to replicate the material have thus far failed. As for weapons, I am afraid that they are beyond our ability to produce or use. They are clearly designed to be used by the aliens. As the weapons use magnetic field to launch the projectile in high speed, the recoil is clearly intended to be absorbed by the aliens shoulder. One of my buys tried to use his mouth and we had to take him to a doctor to relocate his jaw, not to mention we are still finding his teeth in the lab. Trigger system is too small to be used by your average unicorn and scaling this system up makes the weapon impractical, not to mention we have no way to reproduce several critical parts of the weapon. We will continue our efforts to reproduce the alloys the aliens use, as their strength and light weight makes them ideal to replace our existing armors.