//------------------------------// // 10: Who Needs the Prime Directive Anyway? part 1 // Story: Friendship: Beyond Equestria // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// There had been something of an unofficial zoo forming just south of the solar farm that served as an observation lab complex destined to become a fully fledged technology park. Its current boundaries contained several species of wolf beetles, a single giant wasp, several dozen fungi and smaller animals. It was a modest if growing attraction, primarily due to the wolf beetle and wasp, but today marked a special occasion. Crowds lined vid-screens depicting authorized 3D still images of the new enclosure holding the alien that was still in stasis. This was primarily due to Twilight disallowing public access of live-streaming for the alien’s sake. From within the biologist’s observation blister, Twilight tried to take some enjoyment out of a cup of tea as her eyes swept across the enclosure, looking for anything that needed changing. Spike, Prism, and Praxia stood with her while the biologist team behind them did the final checks on the enclosure’s atmosphere. Out of all of them, Prism eyed the enclosure with a huff. “I don’t think he’s going to like the idea of living in a zoo, momma.” Twilight arched an eyebrow at her with a sardonic tone in her voice. “We gave him all the amenities of a five star hotel including a TV with old soap operas. Besides, I’m not sticking him in a cramped medical isolation ward. Might as well put him in a cell while we’re at it. At least out here, if he escapes and becomes dangerous, the boys in blue can stop him without too much trouble.” Spike butted in with a gruff tone, yet kept his eyes on the alien. “Not to mention it’s the only location where we could easily place a Rosetta Stone AI while also giving him plenty of room to live in. I still don’t think it’s humane to give him only soaps though.” At the mention of the Rosetta Stone, Prism and Praxia gazed upon an off-white hologram of a non-descript transparent earth pony that stood on thin air. It waited with the patience only a machine could have for someone to interact with it. “How do we know these aliens don’t communicate telepathically?” Prism asked the crowd. “For all we know it could think spoken languages are rubbish like that first artifact.” Twilight couldn’t repress her wings from ruffling out of sheer excitement. “That’s why Praxia’s here.” She turned towards the princess changeling to find Praxia was looking at her bug eyed. “Your race is telepathic after all.” “We- yea - but that only works with other changelings though. Except for the empathy,” Praxia hissed under her breath to keep from spooking the biologists behind them. “Can we not have ponies suddenly start thinking I’m reading their minds, please?” A stallion scientist called out to the group. “Your highness, we’re ready to release the visitor.” Twilight’s wings flared open, gently smacking Spike on the side of the face. “Excellent, Doctor Card Shark, go ahead!” Spike grumbled to himself and stepped a bit to the side to free his cheek of Twilight’s primaries. Spike rubbed his cheek despite no harm being done. “I thought you were worried this guy could be a criminal. I don’t like being this light on security.” I’m surprised you don’t think the team leader is a criminal with a name like that. The mad hatter grin on Twilight’s face faltered, and her wings dipped a little. “I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.” As much as Prism wanted to join in on her mother’s excitement, her mind kept drifting towards her second near death experience every time she saw one of the unicorn scientists out of the corner of her eye. It just doesn’t make sense. I’m a freak’n pegasus, or partial alicorn, or whatever. The term brought her eyes back towards her mother for what felt like the twentieth time in the past five days. Can’t exactly ask her about it now though. The more she thought about it, the more she didn’t like that plan. But something’s eventually going to draw her away from our new buddy over here, and then when I will get to ask? Seeing little other recourse, Prism navigated towards Twilight’s right side where no one was standing and jumped into a low hover to whisper to her. “Hey mom, ah, about that whole organ failure thing.” Twilight’s resurgent smile fell flat in an instant. “Did the doc find out what happened to me exactly yet?” Twilight’s expression became unreadable, even to Prism. She gave Prism a sidelong look, her voice carried a measure of reassurance. “We found the… cause. As soon as I deem the alien nonthreatening enough for the bio team to take over, we’ll need to discuss this in private.” Dread sank into Prism’s heart so fast that even Praxia’s attention was drawn towards her. However, the young changeling decided to leave the two alone. Prism tried to keep a brave face on, but there was no hiding the sudden onset of heavy sweating from Twilight. “I’m not dying am I?” At any other time, Twilight’s pranking bone might have jumped on the chance to tease Prism, but for the moment, in her infinite wisdom, she decided to show mercy. “Heavens no.” Twilight gave a short snicker while flicking Prism’s nose with the edge of her primaries. “But it will be important so don’t run off anywhere.” “Oh, okay, cool.” Dropping to the ground, Prism sighed heavily and shook off most of the chill that had settled over her. Card Shark called out to both the royal group and his team. “Alright everypony, cutting stasis in three, two, one!” All eyes converged on the alien. It was standing precariously in the same stance it was in when it was bobbing in the water trying to survive in the thin air pocket of the derelict. That is to say, as soon as the two floor mounted prongs keeping the stasis field intact deactivated, the alien fell into an undignified heap. By the time he gathered his wits enough to climb back to his feet, the two prongs had already retracted back to be flush with the plastic floor. The alien moved with catlike agility to flip over to lay prone on all six limbs. He scanned the cylindrical room that stretched out thirty meters in diameter. After a quick survey revealed none of its own kind, the alien slowly climbed to its feet, standing at a full two meters tall. He looked up to the glass ceiling and cocked his head. He scanned the walls finding only more white plastic. Eventually his gaze landed upon the holographic earth pony with more than just a passing glance. The hologram was of a pale red mare with a white mane and no cutie mark. It also was rendered to be true to life with the exception of an intentional flicker that ran down the length of the pony. The hologram seemed to be coming from no discernible projector, and was standing patiently near a wall. The alien locked eyes with the holographic mare who simply looked back with complete impassiveness. Slowly, yet with confidence, the alien marched forward towards the hologram, still dripping salt water along the way. He called out to the hologram while still moving towards it. “Vet che, Barletti, vet gel un devent!” Upon being addressed, the holographic mare bowed its head, bringing the alien up short a bit. “Greetings. I will be your language orientation assistant, Vocal Harmony." The strange language caused the alien to step back a bit, and scrutinize the hologram much closer. Out of all of the observers, Twilight alone could see the subtle signs. Surprise, as expected. Through a close up video feed, Twilight hummed to herself at the alien’s shifting facial expressions. Despite the disturbing flatness of the alien’s face, by pony standards at least, she saw what she hoped was universal: emotion. A little anger? Or is it laced with sorrow? Keeping his two left arms in a protective stance towards the hologram, the alien looked wildly around. Its eyes darted to the three chairs, table, and bed, searching for something that wasn’t there. “Blaret!” He turned to look up at the sky where he could see the very tip of Seed One in the distance. “Blaret!” Praxia was starting to fidget at the sight of the alien starting to scream at the colony building. “Sensei, shouldn’t a live person go in there? May he’d react better that way.” “I would love nothing better than to be the first to speak with him, but I can’t shake this feeling…” Twilight trailed off, leaving Praxia to look at Prism for any counsel, only for the pegasus to shrug helplessly. “What feeling?” Praxia asked at last. Twilight's voice slowly slipped into her trademarked lecture mode. “We know next to nothing of his culture or way of thinking. He could be xenophilic or xenophobic. He could be a well meaning person, or possibly a criminal. Perhaps he’s a more powerful psychic than you, and he could try mind controlling one of us.” “I don’t think he’d need to actually see us if he was psychic,” Prism interjected with a casual tone. Twilight watched the alien seem to give up on shouting at Seed One and turn back to the holographic mare. The mare was now pointing a blob of green color to its left. “The point is, we don’t know his culture, temperament, or even his allergies. We breach the language barrier first, then we can start with face-to-face interaction.” “We can smooth out any social blunders after that,” Spike added smoothly. Nodding absently, Twilight returned her attention at the alien. By now, the hologram was standing under a smaller copy of itself. The copy was looking at the blob of green color while a copy of the alien stood on the opposite side of the blob. Both pony holograms spoke “green”, with the word ‘green’ appearing above the pony clone. Both mares pointed at themselves upon saying ‘green’, then directed the same hoof towards the alien. For several moments, the alien just glared at the main hologram with its upper arms crossed, and its lower pair had its hands balled into fists. Eventually, after the hologram repeated itself multiple times, the alien finally said “volta”. ‘Volta’ materialized in an Equestrian phonetic spelling above the miniature alien hologram. Both mares pointed at the green blob. “Volta?” Alien huffed and growled a reply. “Cha. Tu volta, volta, gel taera!” It slapped its right forearms at the hologram with Praxia getting a spike of malice from the alien’s aura. The holographic mares nodded in thanks with the green being replaced by the color blue. From there the process continued through the basic color spectrum before moving on to simple objects such as chairs, beds, and so forth. Out of all of them, Spike was the first to break from the group. He clapped a hand on Twilight’s withers. The act snapped Twilight out of her extreme focus so that she yelped and flared her wings. “As much as I would love to watch that guy go through a session of kindergarten, there’s a matter in the southern plains that require my - delicate touch.” Twilight snorted and playfully thwacked him with a wing. “Only you would consider an artillery barrage delicate.” “What can I say? I’m a drake of simple tastes.” With a curt wave, he strutted out past the door, already giving orders over the commlink. Every ounce of Twilight’s being wanted to drag her back to watching the alien, save for her maternal fiber. Her eyes fixed on Prism, who couldn’t pull herself away from jotting down notes about the alien. Without missing a beat, Twilight pinged Card Shark’s personal display to get his attention. “Doctor, I have to step out for matters of state. Inform me the instant we have enough data for a working dialogue.” “You’ll be the first to know, your highness.” “Good.” Twilight started projecting her voice a little higher. “Prism, come with me please.” “Huh? Oh right!” With only a lingering eye hanging on the alien, Prism jumped into the air and flew after her mother. The pair made their way through the short, curved hallway towards a temporary rover hub that was built away from the complex. It would eventually be replaced by an elevated rail station, but for Twilight’s current purpose, she was glad the rovers were still there. After requisitioning a two-person rover for themselves, Twilight turned off the preprogrammed route soon after leaving the hub. “Voyager, give us a scenic route around the colony.” “As you wish, Colonial Princess.” The rover gently turned towards the inner patrol perimeter of the colony, and stayed in the zone Spike had deemed safe for unescorted activity. Sadly that perimeter only stretched three miles away from Seed One. Prism started nervously ruffling her wings and sunk into the chair a little more. “Sooo, the thing?” Twilight was silent for a minute or two as she searched for the right words. The lingering silence wasn’t helping Prism in the least. Wasn’t she just saying I was fine in front of everypony else? Or was it a lie so as to not make a scene? “Prism my dear,” Twilight said while giving her daughter a faint warm smile, “you currently stand at a crossroad.” Prism’s trembling came to a dead halt despite the dour tone. “Your body is producing unicorn magic, but it currently has no positive way of expressing itself.” “I am?” Prism looked down at her chest and idly started rubbing her forehead trying to see if there was any sign of a horn that she must have missed in the mirror. Her forehead as a smooth as it had always been, much to her mounting confusion. “Wait, how does unicorn magic have a downside?” Twilight gently took Prism’s inquisitive hoof into her own, and kept up her motherly smile. “First, yes you are. As for the downside, you are already familiar with unicorns who suffer badly from heavy mana exhaustion, correct?” “Well yeah.” Prism easily called back on her Pathfinder training’s basic medical classes. “Unicorns have a much higher density of mana in their bodies than the other tribes. When they lose too much, they lose homeostasis.” Twilight remained silent to let Prism connect the dots. It didn’t take long for Prism’s eyes to go wide. “Which is what happened to me!” “Precisely,” Twilight replied with a proud nod. “Thanks to your developing unicorn magic, you now have a greater dependence on mana, but you can’t grow a horn to get the benefit of that magic.” “Are you serious?” Prism groaned. “How exactly did I start randomly generating unicorn magic anyway?” Twilight released Prism’s hoof and wing-shrugged. “That I don’t know. It could be any number of factors; from the mana I infused you with after the ‘xenomass pool incident’, to you getting alicorn wings permanently, and many other possibilities.” How convenient that I can’t pin any of that on you, Prism mused with an arched eyebrow, and searched her mother’s face for any signs of chessmaster shenanigans. “Right. So what is this crossroad all about? There’s gotta be a way to fix this right?” “Well, you can choose one of three ways,” Twilight said carefully. “You can either just live with things as is, which shouldn’t be difficult considering every unicorn to date has done just fine. You could learn how to produce earth pony magic which would eventually allow you to become a full alicorn.” Ha, I knew you were up to something! “Or you could permanently exorcise yourself of alicorn magic, which would revert you to a normal pegasus.” “Whoa, whoa, what?” Prism unfurled one of her wings to look at it, having long assumed there was no going back. “How is that even possible?” “It’s a secret ritual I developed a few hundred years ago. Your second eldest sister, Gleaming Topaz, was in much the same situation you are now, only with her being an earth pony first who had started developing pegasi magic. “She…” Twilight took a long slow breath to keep her mood level. “She was never happy with her alicorn magic. Mostly because she felt cheated out of ever having a son. The last straw was her pegasus magic developing. At the time, I had no idea she couldn’t grow wings without unicorn magic to balance everything out, just like with you and your own lack of a horn. I used to think each type of magic would come one at a time. Needless to say, all of my research hit dead ends.” Twilight’s last admission seemed to drain her of any good mood she had, making her sag in her seat, ears flat. “It wasn’t exactly a well known science after all.” Prism hung on every word with ears pointing forward. She almost never talks about my older sisters. “Can I hazard a guess and assume the pegasus magic was sapping that famous earth pony strength and durability?” Twilight’s flat expression caved in to a brief smile. “In a sense. Topaz was deeply proud of her tribe, and a professional athlete to boot. Without wings to direct her pegasus magic, it couldn’t flow properly and led to chronic Mana Disharmonization. Her pegasus magic was actually reversing her natural strength over time, and she was understandably… peeved.” I’m still not exactly sure why it was doing that. “But I raised her to be a scholar as well-” “Big surprise there,” Prism snarked in a jab at brightening the mood. Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes. She allowed her gaze to settle upon the river that the rover was traveling parallel to. “Yes well, you always need a fallback once you retire from sports. At any rate. She argued and blustered for me to help her find a way to rid her of her alicorn magic, and by extension, the pegasus magic as well. “Long story short, it worked.” Twilight didn’t bother hiding the disappointment and sadness in her tone. “Topaz got her wish and was a normal earth pony for the rest of her days.” When Twilight didn’t continue, the rover fell into silence, save for the engine. Prism felt questions bubbling up far more than answers. “Was she happy at least? In the end, I mean.” It took Twilight several moments to respond, and even then she had a strained voice. “It took her a few years for her body to fully recover from the loss of her alicorn magic, but yes. If she ever regretted it, she never let it show.” “That’s nice, I guess.” Prism’s eyes dropped to a wing she stretched out to examine. Her large elegant blue feathers spoke of regality almost as old as Equestria itself. A fact that only recently started to sink in. “Did any of my sisters want to go full alicorn?” “I don’t think I need to mention Fire Shrine. Snow Dew and Flute Spell did initially, but felt overwhelmed by the prospect of agelessness and the expected leadership roles of Princesshood.” Prism’s ears fell flat. “Oh, right. That.” Come on, Prism. You’re stronger than you realize. Ask the right questions, and see what good you could do. Switching gears, Twilight searched her memory for something to help. “Prizzy, the history books may overlook it, but I was a terrible princess in the beginning.” “Was?” Prism teased with a smirk and short lived giggle when Twilight playfully thwacked her with a wing. “It’s surprising how I somehow slap things into some semblance of a working order, I know.” Twilight’s grin faded and roped Prism into a hug. Despite her age, Prism had never gone through the ‘no public hugs’ phase, and squeezed her back, threatening to bring a bittersweet tear to Twilight’s eye. “For the first fifty odd years I started actual rulership, I used to send Celestia a letter practically twice a day asking if my ruling was for the best instead of trusting myself. “But I think my worst early incident was the time I was entertaining a prince from Yakyakistan. I tried everything from recreating his favorite food to his country’s music, to even making it snow in late spring, and failed miserably at every turn. Everything went so badly, he almost declared war on Equestria, and was on his way to the train to make it official.” Prism recalled back to a brief lesson in history class. The only reason she remembered it at all was how often she joked about the name. “Wasn’t Yakyakistan a minor power? And they weren't too bright either if Miss Curewhinny was right.” “That’s not the point, and Equestria wasn’t exactly a military power before the Necromancer War either.” Even if it still probably would have been one sided. She gave Prism a reproachful glower, prompting the young mare to shrug in disinterest at the minute detail. “At any rate, we avoided conflict. In the end it was my friend Pinkie Pie who saved us from open war. Celestia had some choice homework for me to do after that fiasco.” Prism broke from the hug and sat normally. “So – let’s say I went along with this full alicorn thing. Could I at least stay in the Pathfinders?” “Absolutely, my dear. I would never take that away from you.” Twilight noticed Prism sigh heavily and sag in relief. “I want you to be free to live your dream job for as long as you desire. Even if you never have a desire to actually rule, having a princess perform other duties could potentially be more beneficial.” Not exactly sure what those things would be just yet. “After all, once you’re a full alicorn, you’d have all the time in the world to ease into the higher duties of Princesshood.” Prism mulled over the pros and cons for a little while; long enough for the rover to start heading north along the coastline. With the exception of a section reserved for the Pathfinder docks, the rest was free for civilian use. “Before I say either way, tell me this.” Prism fixed Twilight with a deadly serious stony expression. “Do you want me to be an alicorn? Are you trying to chessmaster me into it?” Twilight opened her mouth, but her first reply died on her lips. She took a moment to organize her reply. “You’ve always been honest with me Prism, for anything that matters anyway. I like to think I always return the favor. “Yes, wholeheartedly. I want nothing more than for you to choose this path.” When Prism remained silent and not averting her gaze to think, Twilight continued with fluttering emotion tinting her words. “I’ve not always been a good mother, or chessmaster apparently.” “Aw come on, you’re a great momma! Kinda with you on the chessmaster bit though.” She gave Prism a self-depreciating smile. Twilight turned away to stare at nothing in particular. “A shame it took me over four hundred years to get it right.” Prism started to speak, but words failed her the instant Night Wind came to mind. I guess I should feel lucky she even tried for foals again after her. As for Twilight, she slowly cobbled her nerve up to continue. “As for you, you embody much of the six Aspects of Harmony, you have a strong will, and what I feel is most important of all-” Twilight turned back to Prism and gave her a motherly caress of her cheek. “You want to live up to your own merits, and not rely on your relation to me to elevate yourself... By in large.” Prism rolled her eyes and huffed with no real malice. “I wasn’t going to let father’s rifle rust away in some frozen museum. Besides, Luna gave it to me before I could ask.” “I was mostly referring to times like when you ran up such a large soda tab at the castle’s Guard Lounge that it cost your father two month’s pay. And then proceeded to blame it on Luna of all ponies.” Twilight snickered and roped Prism into a weak headlock to blow into her ear. “Ah, stop it, stop it!” Prism struggled to escape and flatten her ears, but Twilight tightened her grip just enough to keep her daughter in place. She also used her telekinesis to hold the ears open for another assault. “I was like eight years old!” With a chuckle, Twilight released her daughter, who promptly pushed her way to the far end of the rover and started rubbing the ‘ick’ feeling out of her ears. Prism blew a raspberry, and poorly hid her amusement behind a scowl. “Not to mention I’ve caught wind of you declaring a prank war just a few days ago. I think only Dreamy Night managed to keep in touch with her inner filly as long as you have. Yet another point for you.” Prism arched an eyebrow at her, with her tone becoming more questioning than anything else. “You think I can still be childish? That’s a selling point for me?” “More than you could possibly know. After all, Celestia and Luna have been waging the same prank war for over two hundred years.” Prism considered that for a moment before nodding her consent at the point. “I believe you would make a wonderful princess, and I personally think you would learn to love it as I do.” “Even after a million and a half ponies died under your command?” “I prefer to focus on all the good I’ve done over my tenure, but yes, even with that.” Prism grew quiet and closed her eyes to think. By now, the rover was turning away from the shore to skim along the northern edge of the houses. It was a ways north of the route that Twilight spied the beginnings of a permanent barracks and strong point against the nests of wolf beetles further up the coast. “Momma,” Prism said at last with none of the humor she had earlier. “I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to be a princess. I just want to be a simple explorer and maybe get my name on a building somewhere.” Twilight’s stony expression threatened to crack as the mental image of one day standing over Prism’s tombstone after being added to the seven other graves of her children. “But,” Prism said with hesitation, “I - ah - I think that’s 'cause I never thought I’d get the choice before since I wasn’t born an alicorn like Flurry Heart. Not to mention none of my sisters ever ascended.” Twilight did her best to hide her waning hope on Prism’s ultimate decision. “She was a fluke to be sure. Something both Cadance and I tried and obviously failed to replicate.” “Clearly,” Prism snorted as she rubbed a hoof over her hornless forehead. Her grin sank as she thought about Topaz. “Honestly though, Topaz sounds like a complete moron to just throw away a part of herself, like, I mean how many ponies can claim to have alicorn magic at all?” “I think she’d prefer to be remembered as being proud of her heritage,” Twilight replied with a sad, faraway look. Prism tsked derisively, not noticing her mother’s sinking mood. “Wasn’t too proud of her alicorn heritage apparently.” “Well to be fair, I’m the only one in Topaz’s family tree.” Twilight breathed a little easier as the tension in the room seemed to abate a little. “As if that’s an excuse. I mean, come on, just having, one is super cool!” Prism threw up her forelegs in frustration before forcing Gleaming Topaz out of her mind and conversation. “Anyway… can I just, like, have some time to think about it?” Twilight dipped her head. “Of course, dear.” Prism fished around the back of the rover for her personalized helmet that lacked any snout or mouth protection, and slapped it on. “I’d open the door, but I don’t think you brought your suit with you.” “You want out right here?” A nod from Prism made Twilight shake her head in amusement. “Alright, just a second.” Lighting her horn, Twilight molded a spell to teleport Prism outside of the rover. ~“Thanks, momma. I’ll see you for breakfast tomorrow.”~ With a playful salute, Prism took to the air and glided to the beach. ~“See you then, Little Wing.”~ Twilight sat back and allowed herself to sink into the chair. A new scenario started playing in her mind. One with Prism a full alicorn standing by her side on a balcony. A stupid smile from laughter passed over Prism’s face at some joke Twilight imagined. Her daughter stood proudly, bearing a small crown as if she were born with it. Do I dare hope? A long line of daughters, either uncaring, failing, or going mad due to the alicorn blood that once ran through their veins told her unequivocally no. A voice proclaiming to be reason, rang in the back of her mind that she should just stop having children like Luna and Celestia had done long ago. Better to be safe than sorry, it whispered. However, be it loneliness, stubborn pride, or simply a mother’s wish to see her child live up to her potential, Twilight cast the voice back down. With nothing more she could say on the matter, Twilight keyed her headset to call the alien biologist team. ~“Card Shark. How’s that translation progress coming?”~ Shark’s ecstatic, energetic voice practically jumped over the speakers, yet Twilight’s experience picked up on an undercurrent of terror. ~“Marvelously, your highness! We’re still a long way from getting a working vocabulary, but so far our guest seems to be cooperating.”~ ~“Is he eating? I know the food isn’t exactly the most palpable… paste in the world.”~ Shark’s tone got a little jittery. ~“Ah weeell, he kinda threw it at the walls after tasting it. But I still say you made the right call. We have no idea what might be poisonous to him. I’m sure he’ll come around before it becomes a problem.”~ You’re a terrible liar. ~“All the same, I’m coming back to the lab.”~