06:00, 25th February, 2016
0600, 25th February, 2016
Dr Richards was whistling as he entered Chamber A3. He’d been briefed on the results of Dr Vahlen’s little experiment yesterday, and felt a lot better about being in a small, enclosed cell with an unrestrained alien.
He went through security protocol with the two technicians at the desk smoothly.
Sure, the extra security measures were still in place, but the alien had made no attempt to escape or communicate with the outside world for the entire time the damping field had been lowered.
He nodded to the two men guarding the door as it slid open.
The only reason both men even needed to be there was that the protocol hadn’t changed, most likely. If the X-014 had to self-repair frequently, it couldn’t be much of a physical threat. Coupled with the damping field that hadn’t had a single hiccup since being installed, and a behaviour that indicated X-014-1 didn’t even want to escape, the alien could easily be contained by standard base security personnel, surely.
He twirled his pen in his hand as he stepped into the cell. “Good Morning, Sparkles,” he greeted the creature. Protocol wasn’t the only thing that didn’t change overnight.
“Good morning, Doctor Richards.”
The pen hit the ground with a clatter, forgotten. Dr Richards’ eyes leapt up from his clipboard, staring wide-eyed at the purple alien before him.
X-014-1 was sat back on its hindquarters, with its forelegs extended to the ground, instead of its usual lying down position. It was regarding him with its oversized eyes, calmly studying his face. Its mouth was closed, but the corners were slightly upturned.
It was… smiling?
The mouth opened.
“How are you today?” it asked, its voice steady and confident.
Dr Richards remained frozen for a moment, his mouth slightly agape and his eyes wide. He raised his head slightly as if to nod, and then about turned and ran out of the cell, all concern for security protocols and medical check-ups as forgotten as the biro on the cell floor.
***
Dr Vahlen regarded the screen before her with a great lack of care. This was due to several reasons; first of all, Dr Vahlen was not exactly someone who could be called a 'morning person,' and even while living in a military base a hundred metres underground, her body clock would not desynchronise from when the sun actually came up – which, with it currently being six o’ clock in the morning, February, and at an undisclosed location somewhere in or near Germany, it hadn’t yet.
Secondly, she hadn’t yet had the morning coffee that would have almost helped to offset the first reason.
And lastly, she had left the overnight team of researchers with a simple task to help flesh out her next experiment for X-014-1, to confirm its role among the alien forces. The proposed idea was to first see if it exhibited behaviour that would be expected of an engineer species, such as dismantling mechanical items to discover how they worked, or attempting to repair broken alien technology. Obviously, they would have to be careful regarding what items were used, so that X-014-1 could not threaten the facility or broadcast any information to the remnants of the alien fleet.
The overnight team’s task had been to devise a list of items that would be mechanically complex enough to rouse X-014-1’s interest, without possibly being re-engineered into any sort of weapon or communications devise. It was easy to understand why she felt particularly underwhelmed by the screen before her, which displayed a single picture of a clockwork mouse, and the words 'wind-up radio' that had been struck through.
She turned to the extremely nervous-looking technician beside her. The fact that he was nearly a head taller than her seemed to do little to help his confidence, an observation that XCOM’s chief of research felt would be quite beneficial for what she was about to say.
“You do realise,” the wizened voice of Dr Shen spoke first, “that a typical commercial radio set doesn’t contain a transmitting antenna, only a receiver?” Unlike his counterpart in R&D, the chief engineer handled early mornings as if the day started at half past four.
The technician looked at Dr Shen, before glancing nervously at Dr Vahlen and back. “I, uh, I didn’t actually. I guess we could put it back on the list, then, right?”
Dr Vahlen sighed. “Regardless, that still leaves us with only two items for the test, both of them already functional and human in origin.”
“Yes, well,” the aide replied, “it’s… not been easy thinking of an alien device that doesn’t contain an Elerium power core, since those could be rewired to, well…”
“Explode, yes,” Dr Vahlen finished, “and attempting to integrate a human-designed power source could defeat the whole objective.” She mused for a moment. “Perhaps if-”
“DOCTOR VAHLEN!” Dr Richards burst into the room, “Ma’am!”
Dr Vahlen ended her sentence with a sigh, and turned to face her subordinate. “Yes, Dr Richards?” she asked, tiredly.
“It’s Sparkle, Ma’am, it’s, well, there’s been a development.” Dr Richards spoke quickly, his eyes still a little wide with surprise and his hands waving slightly as if trying to find something appropriate to pantomime.
The chief scientist stood a little straighter. “There has?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“It’s talking, Ma’am. English, plain as day.”
Dr Vahlen was motionless for a moment. Then, with haste more commonly seen in XCOM’s military arm when someone shouts ‘Chryssalid,’ snatched her data slate from the desk and rushed out of the room, grabbing Dr Richards by the sleeve as she went, all notion of coffee requirement vanished from her mind.
“Uh,” the technician still in the lab stuttered, before turning to Dr Shen.
“Well, we can either stay here and think of more test devices,” the older man helpfully suggested, “or we can follow them. Personally,” he began to follow Dr Vahlen’s footsteps at a more sedate pace, “I like to be where the important events take place.”
The technician thought for a moment, nodded, and jogged a little to catch up to the chief engineer.
***
All things considered, Twilight reasoned, this could be going a lot worse.
She was currently lying on the ground in the exact spot she had been standing when she greeted Dr Richards, making a good show of being motionless and non-hostile. This was mostly a response to the fact that the door was still open, with both guards outside aiming their weapons at her. She’d managed to piece together during her time studying the pseudo-humans that these two were only allowed to use force if she attempted to break containment in any way, so if she stayed in her cell they wouldn’t trouble her.
Dr Richards had made quite the show, though, so it seemed likely that neither guard was sure whether or not she had already tried. The two men at the control panels looked unsure, too, and Twilight all too well remembered the electric panels from… a while ago.
She made a mental note to use her new common language with her captors to ask for a clock and a calendar, and then expanded that mental note into a mental checklist of amenities and improvements. She’d got as far as item #65 (a table lamp, following somewhere behind a bedside table, a bed, a supply of literature, and the huge light in the ceiling being turned off whenever it was dark outside) when Dr Vahlen arrived.
Twilight smiled to herself as she watched the woman, happy that she was about to speak to someone a little less likely to scream and run away.
Dr Vahlen walked briskly to the control desk (followed by a nervous Dr Richards), and began giving the two men behind it orders as she stepped onto the raised platform to join them.
Twilight steadily stood up, thinking that it would be rude to greet the head scientist while lying down. Dr Vahlen hadn’t moved to enter the cell yet, of course, but she would certainly want to speak to the alicorn personally.
Then the cells doors slid shut.
Oh. Well, that made sense, Twilight guessed. She’d caused a security breach, she knew, but she had thought maybe the chief scientist would confirm she was a threat before locking her up again. The purple pony turned to look out of the large window of her cell, instead of waiting expectantly facing the door.
Dr Vahlen was tapping away on her clipboard-screen-thing, and sat next to a pointy thing rising out of the console in front of her. She said something else to the three men alongside her, watched as one of them flipped a switch, and then turned to look at Twilight.
“Initiating Experiment X-014-1-E, Test for Vocal Communication,” the chief of research’s voice echoed around Twilight’s cell, causing the alicorn to jump slightly, “Addendum: this experiment is entirely unplanned, and is merely a confirmation that X-014-1 is capable of vocal communication in terrestrial languages, and not intended to determine the extent of its abilities.”
Twilight’s heart sank a little. She had hoped to not be described as an ‘It’ to her face.
“Test commencing at 06:37am, activate speakers in holding cell.” There was a pause, and Twilight saw one of the other scientists turn to speak to Dr Vahlen. She turned to look at him, held the stare for a few seconds, and then turned back to the microphone. The sigh that echoed around Twilight’s cell was probably meant to be private. Vahlen sat a little more upright, and spoke again. “Hello, X-014-1.”
Twilight smiled at her through eight inches of ballistic glass. “Hello, Doctor Vahlen,” she replied, “how are you today?”
The doctor nodded, and replied, “Well enough. X-014-1, I’d like to ask you a few questions, to ensure that you aren’t simply parroting replies you may have heard elsewhere. Is that okay?”
Twilight mused for a moment. “Well, I only learnt fairly recently, so my words known aren’t very many, but feel free, and I’ll try to say when I don’t have the right words for something.”
Dr Vahlen raised an eyebrow. “Really? When did you learn?”
Twilight Sparkle smiled as she replied, “Yesterday.”
The doctor almost fell out of her chair. “Yesterday!? How!?”
The alicorn upgraded her pleasant smile to beaming with pride as she replied, “‘Complex array of psionic powers!’ One count remote hearing, twenty-four count other’s feeling, one count fastest discovering!” Twilight was very aware of the fact that she didn’t really have a word for ‘magic’ at the moment, so she’d had to resort to Vahlen’s own words from the day before.
Dr Vahlen looked to be almost in shock. “You… you used psionics to learn faster?”
Twilight nodded. “It’s a really useful power, but it only works with… talking, and writing. Don’t have proper word, but it gives me knowing meaning of words I hear or read!”
“Languages, then?” Dr Vahlen queried, to be met with a nod. “So, if more subjects were to speak in your presence, you’d be able to learn simply by listening?” Another nod. The woman in white furrowed her brow thoughtfully. “What do you do, exactly? Tell me about yourself.”
Twilight took a moment to pick out what she felt would be the best words to use in place of the ones she didn’t know, before placing a hoof to her chest to introduce herself. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am a wings-pointy-psion horse (wrong words). I am also an Officer (wrong word) of Horse Country (wrong words) and personal scientist of Officer Sunrise (wrong words). I bear the Element of Psionics, which is one of six Element of Spectral Lasers,” She thought for a moment, before adding, “Probably wrong words. Elements of… fitting-together-smoothness. Convergence?” She looked at Dr Vahlen for help.
The doctor had a mixed expression on her face. “Well, that certainly raises further questions, but it does at least confirm that you understand what you’re saying, if only by its inaccuracy.” She tried to think of a follow-up question, but nothing came.
The chair next to the chief of research creaked a little as a new arrival sat in it, leaning back into the seat. “Is there anything we could do to possibly help you learn faster, so that we can both better understand each other?” Dr Shen asked. Dr Vahlen nodded in agreement.
Twilight tapped a hoof against her chin. “Well, you could alleviate whatever’s blocking my psionic, so that I can keep the array going longer.”
Dr Vahlen frowned. “Undoubtedly true, but unfortunately base protocol requires that all psionic detainees be secured in such a state that they cannot compromise their security measures.”
Twilight half-nodded. “Uh…” She glanced at Dr Shen.
The engineer smiled a little. “Basically we aren’t allowed to do that easily, and it would be difficult to convince our superiors otherwise.”
Twilight nodded fully this time, and mused for another moment. “Well… I don’t think you’ll like the idea, but I could learn more of your language even faster if I had access to a fluent speaker’s mind.” She held up a hoof disarmingly, and added “I’ve refrained from doing it so far because I’d consider it a breach of thought privacy if I did it without permission, but with a willing assistant I could do it at a low power over an extended period of time.”
There was silence for a moment, before Dr Shen turned and spoke to his colleague, “We’d still have difficulty convincing Officer Bradford of this, given that it would put a member of base personnel at risk.”
Dr Vahlen thought for a moment longer before replying, “I believe I can find a way around that. After all, we only need a fluent speaker, not an XCOM employee.” She looked back to the cell and the alicorn contained within. “We’ll give this some thought, and see if we can come to a conclusion to help you learn. In the meantime, do you have anything you’d like to ask us?”
Twilight didn’t really need to think about it – this appeared to be a military operation, and they’d captured her thinking she was hostile, that much was clear. Under that presumption, they’d be unwilling to tell her anything about said operation, at least until she proved herself innocent, so no use asking about that. Instead she went with one of the more pressing items on her mental list from earlier.
“Can I get something to eat?” she asked, before glancing at a small hollow in the back wall of her cell. “The paste stuff’s kind of awful, if I’m honest.” ‘Wet Cardboard’ would be a generous description, in the young princess’ opinion.
Dr Vahlen nodded. It was essentially nutrient-rich slurry primarily made from stewed bulk vegetables like potatoes and rice, and had been carefully balanced to keep the larger specimens in a state of lethargy – alive, but without the energy to attempt escaping. “I’m certain that that can be arranged.” She looked meaningfully at the technician who had given the incredibly short list of devices earlier – hopefully he’d be better at putting together a menu of non-explosive edibles.
“Dr Vahlen, closing Experiment X-014-1-E, at 07:02am, closing report to follow.” With that, the doctor stood from her seat, picked up her data slate, and began walking out of the room, beginning to type her closing statement to the report as she did so. Dr Shen stopped to thank Twilight for her time before following.
There was a brief moment of silence, before one of the research team rolled his chair across to the microphone. “So, uh, for now I’m thinking I just grab you a sandwich from the canteen?” he asked.
Twilight chuckled. “That’d be nice, Dr Richards. Anything vegetarian, please.”
***
Everything was proceeding with promise.
The Ethereal hung motionless in the air, heavy mask expressionless as it studied the holographic display before it.
Certainly, this was a problematic time for it – their High Priest had been assassinated, their Temple Ship destroyed, and the communication system it served as the hub for severed.
That would be incidental, had it not also proved that their time here was wasted. The New One had refused a place among the Ethereals, as their chosen, as their preferred, as their ally. Instead, the New One had chosen independence, condemning the race of human kind to solitude. Proving, beyond all doubt, that human kind was volatile, and that any further attempt to bring them into the Collective would be taxing. Not to mention that supressing said independence would likely leave a human broken, and incapable of using the Gift with any real proficiency.
Still, now alone and purposeless, in the darkest hour of the Collective, a small hope remained. A new New One. Strong, agile, and above all else, Gifted. Still full of fire, still self-assured, still independent, but more reasonable.
The Ethereal allowed itself a moment of weakness, as it watched the unusual abductee train, outsmarting Mutons, outmaneuvering Floaters and overpowering Alpha Sectoids, to experience something it had not felt in eons: hope.
The New One had been their undoing, but the Found One would be their salvation.
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Can't wait for the following chapter.
Oho, updated right after I did mente materia. I'll have to get caught up on this in a bit...
Did the ethereals find another psionicly strong human and decided to use said person to again attempt to "bring them to the coalition"? Find out in the next chapter of "research-project-sparkle"!
If you guys like this, check out Stardust, by Arad.
Its another XCOM story with a sequel he is currently working on.
I'll check out this story later, Mr. Author. But I did see it on the front page, so kudos for that!
A new, new New Age is coming.
another great chapter. let see if they screw up on that sandwich and get a BLT instead.
twilight I knew you would be talking to them in this chapter reason because as pinkie pie calls it just a haunch
I may be laughing severely.
Children of great strife
Their concatenated lives
Stormy horizon
Don't become a stranger, be an update ranger‼‼
Very good work, keep it up.
bwahahahahaha
6540884
Not that Twilight didn't find the Special Laser function of the elements...
Haha, that end bit gave me a mental image of Rainbow Dash as the new Hive Empress of the Collective. Hehe.
Mmm, so good. Twilight's introduction was perfect. I'm really enjoying this story.
X-Com awaghawawash!
Now I have to wait for new chapters!
The biggest issue with finding a new fic is reaching the end of the last available chapter.
"Officer of Horse-Country" -Twilight Sparkle. That had me cracking up.
I can't get enough of X-Com.
Why does everyone diss the culinary taste of cardboard... Pst, its rich in fiber.
Also... X-Com!
Grats on feature too btw, made me find this exellent read.
P.S: Did I mention X-Com?
6540864 I have to remember that line.
6540611 Nah. That one went a bit too gaga over the "magical seepage" plot point, and the interquel between it and Mente Materia has more holes in its plot than a Brazilian street.
Tis' a great reed. Keep thy good work up! *tries to find a Luna smile* Why isn't there any Luna smiles?
Nice. Excellent work on the 'poor translation' talk betwen Twi and Vahlen. I can easily see how those would be the words she'd have picked up on so far from listening there. Also loved Dr. Richards reaction at the start. Great telling of a ho hum 'normal' morning suddenly getting proverbially nuked into the completely unexpected.
I really like how Twilight transitioned from speaking badly with the wrong words to smother, easier reading.
I'm sure now they can confirmed that Twilight is female. Great update!
Aww, Magic of Friendship to the aliens and humans alike.
So abducting someone from a planet you launched devestating attacks on unprovoked for no apparent reason other than to cause death and destruction to become your kind's savior, or ANYONE from the planet at this point, actually has a chance of success? There's no way this "Found One" hasn't been mindfucked, drugged, or coerced into compliance in some manner.
*Jumping Peppers*, it is updating! Language barrier (partly) overcome!
6540585 6540611 I have Mente's lastest open in another tab and thought I was reading it for a second. Needless to say, I was very confused.
Man, you are like a drug lord that makes the most addictive and strongest stuff available, but only in tiny amounts once a month. I'm going crazy waiting for my project sparkle fix.
MLP/XCOM crossovers are the sort of thing that shouldn't work at all, and yet I'd be perfectly happy reading them all day long, if only they didn't run out of words.
Glad to see that she has been eating. Seemed like an odd detail to omit up to this point, this many days in.
Great job! I'm loving this so far.
6541241 XCom!
6544289 All aboard the hype train for X-Com 2.
Next stop: Q1 next year!
(unless they postpone it. . . again. . .)
6546052
Shortly after that, actually. Twilight doesn't recognise us as the same thing since none of us are blue or purple with heads that make up >33% of our body mass, but she quickly picks up on the similarities.
Well, this will be fun.
I'm wondering why nobody is guessing the 'Found one' is another pony. And at least a unicorn, but likely an alicorn, given its labelled as outdoing Mutons (Earth), Floaters (Pegasus), and Sectoid Commanders (Unicorn)
Which leaves the most likely guess as Luna, in my eyes. Then Celestia, lastly Cadance.
6541241
Hey. Pssst. You should really check out this fic.
You're welcome.
6547694
Or....maybe....Chrysalis?
6547807
Oh, yea, that'd work too!
6547807
Yep, the human's are boned...
6547719 Thanks dude I'll check it out tonight. . .
41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0hxb2d4HD1qibz0jo1_r1_500.png
6547718
I believe that would make this an entirely different sort of fic!
Awesome story. I can't wait for the next chapter.
Also my birthday.
6590667 Ah, that's absolutely lovely to hear
I think I speak for all of us when I say we'll we waiting.
6590662
Well, said psion is currently in a coma, but otherwise yeah, I did not have my best sensible head on for this chapter. Rewrite on the way, please hold.
6590678
Twilight never specified that her target had to be conscious for her to get what she needs, just that it would make it easier and give her less chance to accidentally invade her target's privacy.
But regardless, I've really enjoyed this story so far, and with the exception of that one thing with the Thin Man, this story has been very well written, so I'm looking forward to what you come up with. I'll be waiting for the next chapter with bated breath.
I'm very happy to hear that you decided to rewrite this.
It's just... As has been said, it's a headdeask moment to lock a possibly friendly alien in the same room as an infiltrator. It's just Begging for the unknown to be subverted.
I've been enjoying this story so far, even though I've never played the XCOM franchise. It confused me as to why everyone was upset until I figured out that the "human" Twilight was talking with was an alien prisoner.
I actually enjoyed the chapter, but I can see where the naysayers are coming from. Yeah, not the brightest move, that.
Glad you're rewriting. Thanks for sharing the entertaining story with us.
Hmmm... I received an email alert to an update. But, there are no different chapters here now.
6591657
Chapter rewrite is in process.
6590671
How about all alicorns are pathetic and don't really differ from normal ponies all that much if one would exclude their longevity of life? We have no real proof that they are OP Deus Ex Machinas as you say, so please keep your cannon on godlike alicorns to yourself. The level of power Twilight has shown while being powered by ALL alicorn magic is nowhere near enough for what you are claiming a single non-magic endowed alicorn can do on her own... And that is even without taking into account that Twilight is the most powerful one out of all of them because her talent is Magic itself and she is powered by her Harmony Element.
6590667
I know it sounds pretty damn bad but can you post the unpublished chapter on Gdocs or someplace else for people who missed it but still want to know what the chapter was like? I might give it a read after reading the revised chapter to see where the changes are :)
6592345 yeah but anything that can move the sun can bring it closer
So short. I went through that way too fast. I guess I can't complain, but I still have about an hour till my class starts and nothing to read that interest me. Well, I like it so far.