//------------------------------// // Archive Four: Knowlege // Story: Arrow 18 Mission Logs: Lone Ranger // by AdmiralTigerclaw //------------------------------// DRAMATIC READING LINK Mission Log: September 22nd, 2257 I was awoken early in the morning by that sensation of being watched again. If it wasn’t for the way my skin would itch when all the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it at this point. As with all previous instances, it fled the moment I sat up. However, this time around, I had the cameras set. And I must say, when I reviewed the footage I was rather surprised… It, or rather ‘she’, was a pony from I can tell. About the height of a human with a midnight blue coat… She had a horn that looked to be about 16 inches long, and appeared to be considerably sharper than the one Twilight Sparkle has. And she also had wings. Which meant she was a race or specimen I have not come across yet; a kind of unicorn-pegasus hybrid. However the most notable feature was her mane and tail. They seemed ethereal, and glittered like starlight. I can’t even begin to theorize how they do that. When Twilight awoke in the morning I showed her the recording and asked if she knew anything about the pony depicted. She seemed only mildly surprised, and laughed. According to her, the closest translation to what she called that pony was ‘princess’. That raised an intriguing thought. Having only been observing this town, I have not been privy to the government or politics of the pony society as a whole. Are they a democracy? Or perhaps a republic? Despot? Dictatorship? Oligarchy? Fiefdom? So many new questions… I decided to take a rest day at this point. It was still muddy outside, so I’d just become a mess trying to do strength training. Instead, we continued to build on Sparkle’s English vocabulary. The subject was politics. We went through the governmental system of their land for several hours. From what she was explaining, I gather they’re governed by a ruling monarchy, composed of two princesses. And then she explained something, I have a rather hard time understanding. And I’m sure it’s translation error. But according to Twilight, the princesses control the sun and the moon. I’m going to need to get more details on this once Twilight has refined her vocabulary a little more. I think she means ‘represent’ the sun and the moon, which makes more sense. I’ve seen levitation and some of the pony magic at this point, but nothing that would suggest the scale needed to move a star. However, I will not dismiss it without further information, as it presents a possible solution to this system’s celestial motion. About noon we had to stop when Spike showed up. From what Twilight relayed, the little dragon was worried since she’d been spending so much time with me that the library was starting to become a mess. Twilight then offered to show me her home. I attempted to refuse, but she insisted once more that it would be okay so long as she was with me. I capitulated, and allowed it in the end. I’m glad I did too. Not only did I get to see the inside of the tree-building she lived in, I got to see her perform a significant amount of basic levitation magic on a large scale. Librarians back home would be jealous if they ever got to see how quickly Twilight reorganized entire walls. Twilight displayed the ability to manipulate hundreds of small objects simultaneously with fluid control and accuracy I hadn‘t expected at such a scale. I acquired so much new information today that it may take weeks to fully research and catalogue everything. I look forward to gleaning more from Twilight Sparkle as her speaking improves. Perhaps I should start asking her to translate back for me so I can learn some of her language. I won’t have the same rate as her without the software suite on the Raven, but I’m sure I can get basic sentence structure down and a list of basic vocabulary. Mission Log: September 24th, 2257 Twilight’s vocabulary continues to expand. And the rate at which she learns new words is actually accelerating. The more she understands, the more quickly she assimilates increasingly complex words. It’s clear she’s learned how English is structured, as she’s developed a system to take advantage of the mechanics of word and sentence structure to determine the meanings of complex words without actually checking them. She shows a firm grasp of compound words, and her ability to recognize the purpose of punctuation marks in written language is superior to that of most high-school students. However I’ve noticed a pattern in her behavior that worries me. As her understanding improves, her excitement increases. As a result, she’s been pushing herself harder and harder over the last two weeks. Her breaks are fewer and shorter, and her sessions start earlier, and end later. I do not know how much endurance ponies have in comparison to humans, but I worry that she may soon start to suffer from exhaustion if she isn’t already. I wish I could communicate this concern to one of Twilight’s friends. Party Popper was here today and I tried to warn her, but I only got confetti in the face for my efforts. Mission Log: September 25th, 2257 My worries came true a lot faster than I thought. Twilight Sparkle was right in the middle of a conversation with me, babbling away like a child on a sugar high. She’d been increasingly incoherent all morning, which had served to put me on edge. Then without any warning, she went silent and dropped like a stone. When Spike had come looking for her, he ended up having to fetch Cowgirl to carry the exhausted pony back to her home. I had only met Cowgirl once directly. However the fiasco that happened that day had prevented me from making clear observations about this pony. Assisting in carrying Twilight back, I got a good clear look at her. This time from an upright, un-‘wrangled’ position. Aside from confirming previous observations, I had gotten a clear look at her flank marking. It appeared to be an image of three red apples. Absolutely uncanny. Given what I've seen so far, it seems almost as if the markings relate to their name or profession. I cannot conclude this for certain, but I surmise these marks may be more significant than mere decoration. Perhaps they are like name tags, but embedded in the fur itself. Once Twilight Sparkle has gotten some rest, I should ask her about these marks, as well as the names of her friends. Mission Log: September 26th, 2257 I had been awoken by music this morning and was surprised to find that Twilight Sparkle had already recovered from her exhaustion and was at it again. However, with her ever increasing fascination with space travel, she seems to be looking up the topics on astronomy and old rocket engineering. The source of the music itself was two-hundred year old tribute video to the first moon landing. [VIDEO CATALOGUED] She was wide eyed and in awe of the historic Saturn Five that man had used to first get to the moon. And she even went on to talk about how the ponies had sent a princess to their own moon. I found this story difficult to understand, and suspect that she may still be suffering from exhaustion which may be hindering her ability to communicate properly. So, concerned for her well being, I had to kick her out of the Raven and tell her to go rest up. I’ll figure out what she meant by sending a princess to the moon later. Mission Log: September 27th. 2257 Twilight Sparkle didn't show up this morning when I went out to do my exercise. I am unsure if I had upset her the day before by telling her to get more rest. I doubt it however, as she is highly methodical. For my morning routine, I decided to take my run along the outskirts of town alone. The roadways in the area are a combination of dirt and sand mixed with a kind of fine gravel that would be used in city parks back home. Other, more advanced paths are few and far between. This is most likely due to the fact that ponies don’t really have any significant ground transportation networks requiring solid, smooth surfaces. I’ve seen a few stone paths, such as the bridge over the stream that runs through the town, but that's about it. My run took me past the apple orchard where Cowgirl lives. I wasn’t really surprised to spot the orange pony already up and working at the crack of dawn. However she did seem surprised to see me. Especially considering that outside the ‘incident’ with her and Gemstone, this was one of the few times any of them would catch me wearing little more than jogging shorts and running shoes. While we were unable to communicate, she seemed to approve of my fitness routine. I heard tones that I've come to understand were encouraging, even as she threw me an apple. I must comment in the log here that this is probably one of the best apple’s I’ve tasted in years. I’m eating it as I type. Mission Log: October 1st, 2257 I was beginning to worry. I have not seen Twilight Sparkle in three days. With her arrival in the morning being so routine, to the point I could set my watch off her, her abrupt disappearance after nearly working to exhaustion had pushed me to the point of personally going to check on her. I note the townsfolk have grown quite accustom to my presence. I was able to walk directly to Twilight Sparkle’s tree-house library home without escort and it didn’t even turn heads. It was the little dragon, ‘Spike’ who answered the door when I knocked. And I am still, twelve hours later, unable to understand exactly what had happened. I heard the dragon announce me... Or at least, I think he announced me. And there was this strange, excited chirp from the pony. The next thing I know, there’s a loud crack, a flash of light, and she was standing at the door, looking an awful mess. I swear she’d not been anywhere in sight of the door a moment before. I keep having to remind myself about the conditions of this world, and the fact that ponies have a field of science that translates as ‘magic’. Because according to what I just typed, it sounds as if she TELEPORTED. That’s... I cannot accurately type what I’m thinking right now. I’m going to bed. Mission Log: October 2nd, 2257 I was unable to sleep very well during the night. I just can’t come to grips with the fact that aside from Psychokinesis, pony ‘magic’ appears to enable ponies with a form of near instantaneous, non-Newtonian method of matter repositioning. Or in layman’s terms, ‘Teleportation’. I had to ask Twilight Sparkle for a demonstration of this ability with full observation of some of the Raven’s scientific instruments. She mentioned that she would be more than happy to. But it would have to wait, because she was busy doing some kind of task for the princess. Mission Log: October 3rd, 2257 I’m jumpy, that much is certain. I am aware that these logs will be reviewed, and that much of what I have to say will be scrutinized to a considerable degree. As such, I realize that I will be under psychological review when I return. Much of what I’ve described up to this point can be considered ‘unbelievable’ and mere logs will not cover it sufficiently. Not only did I confirm this system as having a habitable planet, I confirmed the existence of life outside our own, as well as the sapience of said life. But it goes beyond that. I realize that I’ve also confirmed the existence of an ecosystem almost identical to our own down to matching species of animals. I have also confirmed the existence of ‘mythical creatures’ that match our own, and witnessed the existence of a physical phenomena who’s only accurate description at this time is pure, bonafide ‘magic’. I realize at this point that I have been so caught up with making contact and enjoying the inhabitants of this world that I have recorded very little in the way of hard video and audio evidence, or photographs. So I will be carrying more recording equipment. I sent a signal up to the Arrow to begin taking high resolution orbital photos of the surface. I may have made contact and I’m acting as the representative to mankind, but my mission remains to record and catalogue. Mission Log: October 4th, 2257 I spent the greater part of the day setting up various recording devices across ‘Ponyville’. Cameras, microphones, seismographs, the works. Hopefully, the amount of data I collect from this should placate my superiors back home enough not to get me thrown in a psyche ward right off the landing pad. I had to take a break in the early after noon after Thunderbow (I still need to get their proper names from Twilight Sparkle) whizzed by with a cloud section, startling me and causing me to nearly drop a three million dollar portable EM analysis device. I was near Gemstone’s building at this time, and the pony came out to, I would assume from the gestures, invite me inside to take shelter from the inevitable shower. I would note this time around, with a clear, upright view of the place, that she has an advertisement designed into the building matching that of a merry-go-round horse. I wasn’t forced into any uncomfortable situations this time. It seems that she’d learned enough about me at this point to know better. However, I did notice the pony continue to ‘eye’ me and examine the shirt she’d attempted to give me previously. The one that gave me a rash. I get this feeling she’s trying to make up for the previous fiasco, but is afraid to make things worse. Mission Log: October 5th, 2257 I was startled awake by Party Popper. The silly pink pony had somehow managed to not only get into the Raven after I’d sealed the hatch, but had managed to do so in complete silence to blow a party horn in my ear. If it weren’t for the fact that I felt no need to sleep with a weapon, I would have shot the poor thing. However, she seemed unconcerned and shared a breakfast of sweet cinnamon rolls fresh from that bakery she works in. After that, she seemed to follow me around on and off during the day as I went about a routine to check and make sure none of the recording instruments had been tampered with the day before. Unfortunately, the video recorder I had set to monitor the ‘school’ was missing even though the tripod was still there. I suspect the pony children may have taken it out of curiosity and I’ll have to find a way to recover it. Mission Log: October 6th, 2257 Twilight Sparkle returned to the Raven this morning. She seemed much more energized and collected than the last time that I’d seen her. She informed me that she would be ready to give that ‘teleportation’ demonstration tomorrow. I can hardly wait. During today’s instrument inspection, I found the seismograph near the orchard has gone missing. Mission Log: October 7th, 2257 Attached to this log, and in secure file ‘Nightcrawler’, is a complete instrument analysis of Twilight Sparkle’s ‘Teleportation’ demonstration. For record purposes, I will mention that the demonstration was observed with video, audio, infrared, spectrograph, EM Radio, electrical Oscilloscope, magnetic anomaly detectors, and seismograph readings. I have recorded a comprehensive list of the types and methods of teleportation Twilight had shown. - Point to point short-range self-teleport. - Point to point long -range self-teleport. - Point to point short-range extra-teleport. (Teleportation of other objects without traveling herself.) - Serial, rapid, point to point short-range self-teleport chains. - Serial, rapid, point to point short-range extra-teleport chains. - One, extreme-range self-teleport in which her end-position was beyond visual range. - One, extreme-range, group teleport, in which she appeared with Gemstone and Cowgirl about a minute and a half after the previous, extreme-range teleport. I will examine the recorded data at a later date and try to form a hypothesis for the rules, mechanics, and function of this ability. Right now I am still too ‘awed’ by the act. Mission Log: October 8th, 2257 The audio recorder I planted in the marketplace has gone missing. I am becoming concerned with the disappearance of my equipment, as I cannot replace it. Tomorrow I will install radio tags on all the equipment and start tracking its location. I find it unlikely that who or whatever is taking the equipment would know such things can exist. I also got another recording of ‘It’, also known as ‘Princess’, last night. She seems to appear at irregular intervals and by the actions I’ve reviewed in the recordings, seems to be checking on my presence. If what Twilight Sparkle told me is accurate, then I surmise that she is looking out for the well being of her ‘subjects’ by periodically checking in to ensure I’m not a threat. Sparkle is back to her routine. However she splits her time between language programming and various astrophysics courses evenly. Mission Log: October 10th, 2257 According to Twilight Sparkle, the following names are roughly accurate. - Gemstone’s true name translates roughly as Rarity, and is one of the clearest translations. - Thunderbow‘s name translates as Rainbow Sprint/Run/Dash. And she’s having a hard time figuring out exactly which term is the most accurate. Personally, I think Dash SOUNDS best. - Cowgirl’s name translation is more difficult. She says part of the word accurately translates to ‘Apple’, but cannot determine the second half. She comes up with ‘health’, ‘vitality’, and ‘strong’. I will assist her in determining a more accurate translation at a later time. - Party Popper’s name translation is also confusing. It comes out as ‘Pink’ ‘Pie’. However, Twilight is unsure of the translation, as something about the name does not quite translate as she had expected. English does pose a bit of trouble with words that sound similar but have drastically different meanings.