06:00, 24th February, 2016
The doors to Containment Chamber A3 slid open, and Dr Richards walked in. He had, in hand, the same satchel of equipment that he’d used yesterday – all cleaned and sterilised since then, of course. He walked to the two fellow scientists sat at the monitoring station, quickly ran through security protocols with them, and walked over to cell 3A’s door.
Neither of the two soldiers on guard duty looked at him, remaining professionally stoic. He noted, not for the first time, how serious the security around this cell was. Ordinarily, there would be only one member of security personnel at the door, dressed in their characteristic fatigues and carrying a ballistic rifle (although Dr Vahlen had made a point that all such personnel be equipped with, and prioritise use of, Arc Throwers for re-containment).
This cell, though? Two actual soldiers, one lieutenant and one captain, by their insignia, both dressed in Titan armour, both wielding the overbuilt, overcharged Arc Rifles that Vahlen had made specifically for this chamber. And just outside the chamber, another two soldiers, this time with plasma rifles. It was, Richards noted, a little intimidating.
Most of the research team weren’t much involved with this particular cell, though – it was still merely one research task among many, following the failure of the alien invasion. Richards himself was new to its running, enlisted more for his expertise prior to joining the secretive organisation – doctors and professors of quantum and theoretical sciences were the norm in Vahlen’s labs, so they didn’t have a huge number of veterinary experts.
Richards walked, unafraid, towards the purple alien as it watched him approach. It looked at him as he span his pen in his hand and checked off the first point on his clipboard, merely observing. He smiled as he spoke the first little, disarming phrase he’d invented yesterday.
“Good morning, Sparkles,” he said, setting down the satchel, opening it, and drawing out a stethoscope, “just doing a quick check-up.”
***
Twilight Sparkle was not entirely sure why the pseudo-humans had started doing this. She’d been here for… a long time, at least, and they were now monitoring her vital signs daily, noon and night. Why? Why only start now when they’d had her captive for (what she believed was) at least three days? Were they suddenly more worried about her or something?
She mentally shrugged as she felt the cold metal disk press against her breast, then be repositioned to her upper barrel. Questions for later. Her own studies should continue for now, and thankfully, the man they had doing this was an excellent subject.
Not needing the clairaudience spell helped, of course.
***
09:00, 24th February, 2016
Twilight was hesitant, to say the least. About an hour and a half after the medical examination had ended, a pair of scientists had wheeled a boxy machine on a trolley into the chamber outside her tank. In the following hour, more equipment, more scientists, and a few of the heavily-carapaced creatures with the long tails had walked in, each taking position and setting up their equipment outside her cell.
And then, of course, she had walked in.
Twilight still didn’t have a name for the brown-haired woman with the green stripe down each sleeve of her coat, but her mere presence promised one thing; another test.
Twilight took a deep breath in, held it for a second, and then slowly let it out. She did not, however, do the pushing-away movement with her hoof – this would not be put off or delayed, it could only be confronted with a focused, calm, opportunistic mind.
The creatures were ready. They stood motionless, watching. One of the ones sat at a steel bench began speaking, likely counting.
Twilight had to really try not to grin as she cast her clairaudience spell.
***
“-One. Lowering psionic impedance,” the technician at the console called out.
“Psionic Signal Analyser engaged,” a scientist replied.
Dr Vahlen did not smile as she took note of all of this. They were here for a simple reason – to find out what X-014-1 had been trying to do the day before last. Already the same series of psionic waves had been detected, which was good – this whole test would have been pointless with an uncooperative subject.
“We have a new reading!” the scientist called out again, “A second signal, matching the third recorded wavelength, lagging roughly one-sixteenth of a phase behind.”
“Damping field down to eighty-five percent… eighty-four…” the technician continued reading off of his display.
“Be ready to maintain impedance when I say so,” Dr Vahlen instructed. She did not, precisely, know what she was looking for. X-014-1 was going to try something, she was sure, and the only logical thing to do was to discover what it had been attempting by analysing what it attempted now.
***
Officer Bradford stood in the Control Room with his arms folded, waiting patiently. He was not, strictly speaking, happy about today’s planned experiment. But, Dr Vahlen was head of research and development, not him, and thus it had gone ahead. He had, however managed to set up a reasonable security response in case anything happened, and Dr Shen’s team had managed to scratch-build a device that he had requested.
The hologlobe sat motionless in the air, waiting. If Sparkles was trying to get a distress call out to other aliens, the least XCOM could do was be ready to greet them…
***
Twilight had to try very, very hard not to smile even a little bit now. Whatever was blocking her magic – something the pseudo-humans had devised and could control, she believed, debunking her earlier theory of a toxin of some sort – was getting weaker and weaker. She did, of course, assume that this was part of the test. She understood that she wasn’t doing what they wanted her to; judging by the continued staring of the brown-haired woman, but Twilight hardly cared.
She had her sense expanded to all of them, now. She could feel what they felt, every last one of them. The mild state of apprehension outside was easily overcome by the sheer curiosity of the ones in coats. Especially, of course, the brown-haired one; Twilight knew just how she was feeling, and the sheer hope that something major was about to happen, something revolutionary and astounding, something that cemented her theories and conclusions as solid fact, was overwhelming.
It was kind of funny, Twilight had to admit – here was a woman whom Twilight herself could have become just like, if her life hadn’t been drastically changed the Summer Sun Celebration before last. Twilight knew how big of a disappointment it would be for her, if she were to just stand here and keep reading emotions the same way she had already done. And besides, they were giving her ample room to work with, and organising the emotive responses of twenty-something sentient beings was well beyond even Twilight’s abilities.
Once again, Twilight found herself going to her old fall-back – something she’d read in a book once. Specifically, the Ludicrously Large Linguistics Lexicon.
***
“We have a new signal!” the scientist overseeing the psionic detector shouted out, “six- no, eight separate wavelengths, all converging every seventeenth phase!”
Dr Vahlen nodded at the technician operating the damping field, before stepping up beside the other scientist and looking at the device’s display. “Incredible,” she spoke, as the rest of the research team crowded around her, “the sheer mental discipline of the creature to maintain an array of signals such as this alone would be astounding. To continue it alongside twenty-six other waves, no matter how simple each of them are…” XCOM’s Head of Research found herself utterly lost for words for a moment, before turning to her subordinates. “We can decode this signal later. For now, I need to know two things – where is it broadcasting this to, and are we receiving a reply of any sort?”
“Uh,” one of the research team spoke up, “I’m not sure how to say this, ma’am, but it isn’t.”
Dr Vahlen raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t…?” she verbally prodded.
The scientist shrugged. “Isn’t broadcasting, ma’am. No psionic energy is entering or leaving this chamber.”
The doctor was silent for a moment, before turning to a third scientist, “How are the creature’s vital signs?”
“Picture of health, Ma’am,” he replied concisely.
“Well then,” she said with a sense of finality, “I believe that we can conclude from this that specimens of X-014 are biologically unstable in some regard, and make use of a complex array of psionic powers to maintain their physical form.” She checked her data slate before continuing, “Given the lack of permanent physical degradation witnessed in the subject so far, I believe it is reasonable to lower the resistance of the psionic dampener to fifty-eight percent on a weekly basis. Everyone, continue to monitor the specimen until that signal ends, and make a note of how long it took. It is important that our allowing it to self-repair does not also allow it to attempt an unimpeded escape.”
The assembled scientists voiced their agreement, and Dr Vahlen swiftly left the room, her stride confident and unfaltering. The door closed shut behind her.
“I’ve gotta say,” one of the scientists began, “I could watch that ass all day.”
“Dr Vahlen wears a full-length coat, Leonard,” another scientist replied, still monitoring his station, “You can’t even see ‘that ass.’”
“I can dream.” Leonard retorted defensively, before glancing around. “So, Wesley, how’s the wife and kids?”
The technician shrugged, and the research team began to chat idly until something exciting happened.
Which was exactly what Twilight Sparkle wanted.
And so it begins. Twily is surprisingly sneaky.
Oh hello, XCOM story! I just wanted to read another XCOM story and now you're here...
Why.
Seriously, why must you do this to me. Now I must read more horses on Earth.
This is really interesting ^-^ thanks for coming back I think and posting more of it <3 I hope you don't stop,I really enjoy this :)
btw Featured~
So, will we need to expect another long wait, or are you going to updating more often?
More! I need more! I'm trembling with excitement!
Well, this is fun. The time between updates is worrying. On one hand I really want more, NOA! On the other... Please keep this going. I want to see what happens next.
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This was only a week after the last one... That's quite quick compared to a lot of stories.
well you just got a ton of new likes and favorites
This seems to be fine so far, I will be waiting for more! =)
Cliffhanger there, of all places? Dude, that's unfair.
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Oh, it didn't show up as updated on my list until the most recent chapter. Sorry, didn't notice since the date of release doesn't show up on my phone.
I guess XCOM are in for a surprise when Twi starts chatting them up in their own language.
She's being a spy... without even trying to. This could blow up in her face...
"Holy crap a talking unicorn!" - XCOM lab intern, probably.
Kina surprised she's not dead from dehydration or starvation. Are they correct in their theory that instead of food and water she's been using her Magic to keep herself alive?
I do like the story, it is just lack of any mention of food and water for Twilight is hitting my suspension of disbelief. Especially if they've got a vet on staff now, he should know the signs.
And Twi would probably have a growling stomach all the time.
I just got here and noticed the 2 year hiatus. For the love of Celestia don't do it again.
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I'll admit, I got caught up with the science stuff and then realised she'd been there three days with no upkeep.
But hey, the alien base assault nets you ten storage modules of alien "food", so apparently they need to eat. XCOM just have to devise a vegetarian one for Twilight.
Essentially, it's all behind-the-scenes at the moment, but Twilight will make mention of the terrible accomodations later.
I really wanna see how Twilight and XCOM interact when she speaks English
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At least she didn't use TV for a lexicon to English, that could be horrifying in a funny way-- speaking like a salesman trying to sell you something... all the time. But wait, there's more!
On a more serious note, I'd think the first bit of English from Twilight will be parroted phrases that was picked up from the technicians. After telling them she wants to stare at that ass all day her grammar would probably devolve into broken English. Equish probably has more in common with Japanese or Latin, both are ancient and evolved over many hundreds of years as opposed to a very young language like English that tends to break it's own rules with distressing frequency.
Once the shock of an alien talking back to them wears off, I can almost see the nerdgasm as everyone in a white coat will be frothing at the mouth to get time with the purple pony. And assuming they believe Twilight, they might also realize with a growing dread they've assaulted, kidnapped, almost tortured, almost murdered, and generally abused a leader (and favorite sibling of the other three, even stronger, leaders) of a new world.
Ehhh... probably not the best way to make first contact with aliens you really want to be friends with, since the last bunch want to kill all humans.
6408208 At least she didn't end up captured by the Imperium of Man. Unless they make her an Acolyte, she'd be boned
Well after that last line can't wait for the next chapter
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I will admit to never having played X-Com. I do own Enemy Unknown but it is one of many games on my "Play later" list. As such I do not really know all the various little odd bits of information, such as what all you can get as rewards for missions.
It is just the lack of any mention of sustenance is throwing me, considering we have two logs of tests they've performed on her physiology, the preliminary one (I'll borrow an idea from FanOfMostEverything and say that the lack of an identifiable gender is because pony magic 'hides' the good bits and the scientists are not incompetent) and the second where they find she's not been "upgraded". I would think it'd be mentioned at some point that she wasn't eating the "food" the other captives did.
I also like to think they are right about her using magic to supply her body with what it would normally get form food, but are wrong in the fact this is something she does normally and is instead doing it because it's a unicorn defensive measure for leans times, from back in the days when the other two tribes were withholding vital resources for one reason or another.
Reminds me of MLP Time Loops, the X-com sections.
Well... That was entertaining. When was this updated? I think this was the first fic I had put in my [READ LATER] library, and I barely see that far back anymore, so this was a pleasant surprise. To the front you go!
Anyway, this may of already been stated, but how long ago was the war? I'd think with the temple ship imploding, the various inconsistencies between Twi and the Starspawn, and the time that's passed, it wouldn't take much to think "Hey maybe It isn't part of the invasion." Also, what point would a biological engineer race be when on can build Sectopods and Seekers. Put the two together and you got the strength and dexterity a good repair droid needs.
EDIT: Ok so rereading the first few chapters, the war is still ongoing, so ignore that part. But still, Twilight is nothing like the previous aliens, wasn't seen with any other alien around, and doesn't act like other alien, so why assume she's an X-Ray? But that cat's clawing its way out of its bag as I speak so, eugh.
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Stainless Steel Fox wrote those based off of this, actually. Reading them was probably part of why I didn;t update for so long - sort of a "this guy wrote it so much better" thing.
But hey, just because Usain Bolt broke the record doesn't mean people stopped running.
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The war's technically over, in that the Temple Ship has been brought down (on the first of January 2016, in fact), but there are still a lot of other UFOs in orbit, and not all the Ethereals and Sectoid Commanders are willing to give up and go home just yet. XCOM made an assumption with Twilight for safety reason - they're an alien response unit, there's recently been an alien war. It was always possible that she was an unrelated incident, but Red Six never really considered it, and their actions put her on the defensive, so the first actions XCOM see her perform are hostile.
But hey, point me to one XCOM ground mission that went perfectly.
6410914 Achievement: As a Scalpel
Anyway, my second question?
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XCOM's first observations were "It isn't a terrestrial creature," "It has psionics" and "It shot at some of our men," but yes, further study is rapidly convincing Vahlen's team that this one is too different to simply excuse said differences.
so twilight is set to learning their language, I wonder how long it will take before she gets bored
6411752 Eeyup
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Probably a few months.
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While it's not stated outright, there are points that imply Alicorns can go for very long times with no food or water. While the mechanics of Nightmare Moon's banishment are unspecified, it is at least implied that Cadence was trapped in a cave for days before Twilight found and rescued her. While weakened by her ordeal, Cadence was far more mobile then she should have been if suffering both dehydration and malnutrition.
That said, Twilight is a very young Alicorn, and is likely nearing the limits of her reserves if there hasn't been some off screen access to food and water. Hopefully, she can get that message across soon.
...Vahlen Twilight... Now there is a scary thought...
Can't wait to see their reaction when Twi starts speaking english!
Great work so far, keep it up.
twilight you clever clever pony you have them right in your hooves
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Celestia: "Eh-hem! While your sun is quite large and too far away for my influence, I can adjust your planet's rotational speed. Would you like to have a 100 hour day? I find the metrification of your clocks a very appealing concept."
Luna: "And your moon is in such an inconvenient location---here---let me put it into a new geocentric orbit--after Tia adjusts your day, that is"
Cadence: "Oh! You have so many examples of porn here! So much fantasizing about love!! Let me show you all how much you're repressing yourselves!"
Twilight: "And those are just my sister-in-law and her aunts. I can't wait to show you my closest friends! Two, of whom are reality-altering demigods...well, Discord's still a novice at it...."
Discord: "Whaaa--? Oh, is that supposed to be a challenge!?"
Twilight & Pinkie Pie: "Yep!"
Discord: "You're so on!"
Dr. Vahlen: "Oh, futa!"
dressed
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It is a bit...off having it appear that she hasn't been fed, I agree.
The only conclusion a scientist would draw so far is that there is something "Sparkle" wants and/or needs to do.
For all they know it could be an immitation of a work cycle "Sparkle" is simulating in order to obey an indoctrination of some kind.
Maybe it is a form of meditation.
Maybe it is a form of self-entertainment.
Maybe it is attempting to interact with the facility's computer systems and therefore passively scanning them.
To just assume something without conclusive proof is not how a good scientist works.
A good scientist would now try to figure out if "Sparkle" just "wants" to do it or "needs" to do it or needs to do it (as in do it or die).
*random checklist pops out of nowhere*
6547718 this is the stupidest post I've read.
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Knowing Twi, she would totally accidentally sabotage her own plans by summoning a checklist to keep track of things with.
So Twilight is using magic passively or active to help staying alive?
Sparkle is a clever mare