In the depths of winter, a crater in the icy plains of Equestria is spotted by the night-watch.
In the depths of winter, a crater in the icy plains of Equestria is spotted by Canterlot's night-watch.
Two ponies are found, both deranged and mentally damaged, turning all of Canterlot's academia into turmoil, as just to how these two could appear, without any sign of what brought them, or without the fundamental power that controls all life in Equestria.
( A twist on the 'mystery ponies arrive in Equestria' theme, with added science and weirdness)
Guardspony Watching Eye shivered at the chilling night wind rushing over Canterlot's walls. After pulling this week's night watch duty, the picture of the snow-covered fields and plains surrounding the city's perimeter had become etched into his mind; the twinkling lights of far-off Ponyville, the dark mass of the Everfree, currently enshrouded in a blizzard, were the only signs of light and change in the scenery.
Tonight however, something seemed to be inexplicably wrong, almost a nagging feeling of something he had missed on his routine survey of the landscape for travelers and caravans. Such things were rare in the deep winter after Heart's Warming Eve, with trade grinding to a halt with the snow making the long, steep road up to Canterlot treacherous to the inexperienced. His eyes passed once more towards the Everfree, and the wide valley that led south to the cities of Manehattan and Baltimare. An oval blot on the landscape, dark against the dull white of the snow, leagues from the nearest signs of habitation, blighted the vista. He took a step back, stunned.
“By Celestia..”
He had passed this point nearly four hours ago, at the start of his sweep, and he was certain it couldn't of been there before, being roughly half a mile across, if his judgment was correct. How could such a thing simply appear from nothingness, and cause an almost crater-like hole in the snowy plains of Equestria. Still puzzling, he trotted towards the guard-tower, musing over what could clear such a large and precise area. Nothing short of powerful magic, yet he had seen no flash on the horizon, no sound or hint of any spell. His mind roiled with the possibilities of ancient threats, of which only the legendary Elements of Harmony could prevent, or of some invading force, the likes of which had never been seen since the rise of Luna and Celestia.
_
Slowly pushing open the door to the guardroom, illuminated by a brazier casting light on his superior, Captain Sword Hilt, he stumbled in, his coordination sapped by the cold. Idly polishing his barding, Sword Hilt looked up inquiringly:
“Hey Watchy, you look pale boy, take a seat.”
He levitated a mug of tea up to Watching, looking concernedly at his ashen-faced colleague.
“Come on, what's up lad? The cold got your tongue?”
“Well, I... I think I saw some s... strange hole in the snow, or something. N... nothing to worry about, just must of m... missed it on my first sweep.”
“What, how big's this hole then? Must be fairly large to be seen from here. Patches of snow don't just randomly thaw in temperatures like this.”
“B... bigger than the fields next to it, almost perfectly round as well, like it was pony made or powerful magic.”
“You sure you're not just seeing things lad? A week's night shift really whacks a pony for one in weather like this.”
“Well, urm...”
“Tell you what, you show me this hole, then you trot your frozen flanks off to the barracks. I'll take the last few hours watch. Silly of the rota to send young colts like you out into the snow like this. You've earned your rest.”
_
“That is by far the oddest thing I have seen on graveyard shift like this, and I've practically spent my life living up on these walls.”
The two guards stood side by side, staring out over the plains towards the faint orange glow of dawn, observing the odd phenomena. The clear patch was both round and smooth, seemingly shining faintly in the center.
_
The squad trudged through the snow apprehensively, pushing through the long grass underneath towards the clearing, their Captain bringing them to a halt as the snow in front of them seemed to slope upwards sharply, curving towards them like a wave. The oddly shaped wall of the snow carried on as far as the eye could see, creating odd patterns and textures in the ice, shimmering and swirling in the light of the morning sun.
“This is it, ponies. Celestia knows what is in that clearing, though no movement was spotted by those night-watch who saw it.”
He turned away from them, charging a spell in his glowing horn, shining a blue glow onto the surrounding snow and ice, before blasting through the barrier of snow. Stepping through, the interior of the circle looked for all the world like an alien planet to the guardsponies, staring in shock at the strange landscape.
The tall grass of the plains had obviously been swept back by some wind or blast originating from the center, leaving thousands upon thousands of long filaments of rime frost pointing outward like spears of ice, protecting the center of their half-mile wide anomaly. The Captain, and the guards under his command gingerly pushed on through the soft, ice-encrusted landscape, brushing past the impeding ice.
The fields of ice-encrusted grass, and surreal, frozen plants took their toll on the soldiers, causing countless small nicks and cuts to their already frozen and fatigued bodies. After a distance, the vegetation began to thin, revealing the prize waiting within the trap of the frozen crater, emerging from mists of dawn.
“Guards, two of you, with me. The rest, fan out, and check for signs of trespassers.”
Standing three times as tall as a pony, in the very epicenter of the circle, was a tall, round mound of snow. The guards stood stock still, facing the white monolith. Slowly, as if trying to avoid waking a sleeping beast, the Captain approached, sliding the cover of snow from the structure, little by little. What resembled a huge cocoon of ice, gleaming with the weak, yellow light of the winter's sun, appeared before them, shining complex patterns onto the ground around it, appearing otherworldly to the watching guards. Their eyes were fixed on it, bewitched by towering cocoon. All of this beauty and grace was lost on them however, for encased inside, curled into tight balls, were the forms of two ponies, their dead eyes peering longingly off into the distance.
“This pair are quite extraordinary. After immersion in ice for at least 14 hours, if not more, their tissues show no signs of damage or degradation. Indeed, I am astounded that their metabolic system or cardiovascular system has not failed, considering the presence of almost fatal hypothermia. The lack of muscle atrophy suggests they have spend no more than a couple of weeks encased. Physically, both must be in their mid-twenties, yet neither have flank-emblems, or “cutie-marks” on them, something nigh-unheard of in our society.
Most interesting is their encephalographic signatures. While the areas of the brain associated with instinctive behavior are functioning perfectly, many other areas controlling social interaction, coordination, speech and memory seem to be scrambled beyond healing by magical means. Most alarming is the gray matter connected to the female's horn. The neural signals there are transmitting sporadically, if at all, and create patterns past what I thought possible. Thankfully, the logic and deduction functions seem fairly unharmed, even highly developed in both of their cases. Despite this, should they be woken, I suspect at least some forms of mild psychiatric issues in the very best case, possibly even insanity.”
“In Equestriani please professor, even a skilled magic user like me found that to be complete gibberish. I did advanced first aid in training, and I still have no idea what an 'encephalographic signature' is.”
“Well Shining, since you so nicely, they both seem alive, physically healthy even, yet mentally they-”
“Look! They're waking up!”
_
“Well, young stallion, what's your name?”
The stallion opposite Professor Organic Process sat motionless. His eyes were fixed onto the Professor, regarding him with and iron gaze. He made no reply, instead moving to shield his compatriot, the diminutive mare, doing her best to avoid the gentle looks of both Organic and the Commander of the Royal Guard, Shining Armour.
Both of the patients, at a glance, seemed to be normal ponies, in body and colouring. Yet differences ran deeper than a mere glance. The fur of both had a sheen to it, creating a white shine to her lilac hue. This white gleam hardened to solid, distinct white tendrils around her horn, climbing it like the vines of a wild plant. The stallion's gray coat was dappled, with individual hairs of purple and blue creeping across his tall, yet almost skeletal body.
Perhaps strangest of all were their eyes. The white conjunctiva had a bluish, unhealthy tinge to it, contrasting with charcoal gray irises, embedded with sharp, shining gold spots. These eyes met the Professor's kindly smile, rejecting it.
“So, can you speak, either of you?”
No reply.
“Can you understand me? Just a nod will do.”
The Professor pulled out his notebook and pencil, offering it to the pair. After no response, he wrote “Can you read?” in large letters. At this the Stallion was confused, perplexed as to what the strange symbols on the page meant, examining each one in turn.
“Can you write your name for me?”
The male reverted back to his trademark glare, his eyes showing no sign of recognition, while the female cowered behind him, shuddering in fear. Neither moved, both simply staring at the unfamiliar surroundings. The Professor turned to Shining Armour, a concerned look on his face.
“It seems that they have lost all ability of speech unfortunately, which leads me to wonder what other damage has been done. Hopefully, they will be able to be rehabilitated, and return to normal, yet from their unnatural appearance, I can only speculate as to their origin.”
They turned back to face them, preparing to leave the two anomalous ponies, suddenly seeing startling change. The mare was staring at Shining and the Professor intently, watching their every move, a determined and inquisitive look on her face. Behind her, the male was poring intently over the notebook, slowly attempting to copy and rearrange the pictorial hieroglyphics of the Equestriani language.
Both stallions stiffened at the sight of them, stunned at their behaviour. The Professor, extracting his 'Handbook of Scientific Constants and Formulae', placed it slowly and deliberately onto the floor, sliding it towards the inquisitive stallion, still staring intently at the Professor's notebook. After the lack a reaction, he gestured carefully with his hoof, motioning for them to leave. As they backed away, the mare moved once more.
Slowly extending her back legs, she began to stand, wobbling at moving off of the floor. Eventually reaching a precarious, splayed stance, her leg started to move in an imitation of a normal gait. As she did so, looking frightened beyond belief, she toppled over, legs sliding this way and that. Mewling in surprise, her body and legs writhed and wriggled, sliding across the floor in a futile attempt to return to the sitting position she had started in. Her cries brought barely any attention from what was assumed to be her brother, as he continued his concentration on the text. Eventually, after her repetitive attempts to get off of the floor, she curled up, crying and distressed at her futile situation, alarmed at her inability to even walk.
The guard and the scientist both ducked out of the room, locking the door on it's unnerving contents.
“This is very serious. Neither can function well, so it's inevitable that we must keep them confined here, preferably in isolation to prevent alarming the medical staff. How much do the Royal Sisters know of the situation here? I wouldn't want to go behind their backs on matters as important as this.”
“Nothing more than that we've found these two, and they are of unknown origin. They gave me largely free reign over this, seeing as it's considered a security matter. if you need to, feel free to tell them, but duty calls, so I'm off. Don't worry, they don't bite.”
Professor Process chuckled as Shining Armour trotted away, recalling his few meetings with Celestia, and her charming, down-to-earth ways. It stood out in his mind that she was always close to her subjects, and sympathetic to their woes. However, he still felt that was far too serious a incident for her and her sister not to control. Not only had two alien ponies arrived from thin air, according to investigators, there was almost no magical residue at the site of the ice-crater. This disturbed the Professor the most. While some had dismissed it, there was simply no possible method to cause the appearance without magic. As an expert in the role of magic in the environment, and it's effects, he could safely say that nothing known in Equestria was responsible.
He hurried off to warn the Princesses.
_
In another part of the castle, deep in the ancient, cold lower levels, the few royally appointed practitioners of the obscure field known as “Science” were receiving some very strange data. Blackboards were scrubbed clean, tickertape was laid out, and theorems and graphs started to take shape.
Organic Process approached the ornate doors leading to the Princess' royal audience chambers. A gold embossed emblem of a black and a white alicorn encircling a flaming moon adorned the center of it, making the method of opening the door as clear as mud from a bog. Gingerly, he pushed against the panel, inwardly cringing in preparation for disturbing the Princesses, and incurring their wrath.
No such thing happened.
_
“So, my little pony, what seems to be the problem?”
The Professor stood nervously in front of Luna, sitting attentively on her midnight blue throne. Soft moonlight poured in the stained-glass windows lining the throne room, illuminating her concerned face and casting the history of ponykind in shadows on the floor. Approaching slowly, he ruffled his many sheaves of scan results and notes, searching for his summary.
“Well your highness, we have, er, found a pair of particularly strange ponies, both with significantly different biology to that of any pony studied before. Not only that, they have almost no latent magic, even less than the background amount that permeates our air. Needless to say, I’m stumped as to where they could have come from.”
“This is related to the ice formation our captain of the guard told me and my sister about, is it not?”
“Yes, my Princess.”
Luna sat thoughtfully, pondering he had said.
“Take me to them.”
_
Though winding staircases and long corridors the guards escorted the Princess and the Professor, past unused audience chambers, servant's quarters, all the way down into the depths of the castle, to the ancient dungeons. As they descended, the very construction of the building changed, from clean white marble, to the solid stonework, down to the rough-hewn stone of the original fortress.
“Did you know this castle predates both me and my sister? Some historians even believe the likes of Star Swirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever, the original settlers of this land. It is said that when the castle was first built, all the builders found was a fine white powder covering the floors, no trace any civilization of ponies, no books, no items, no furniture, not even bones.”
“That I did not know, Princess,” said Organic, his limbs shivering at the dry cold of the deep passages.
They continued in silence, Until they reached the large iron door the cell flanked by guards. The gaoler approached, his greying features scowling as he pulled out the key.
“Be warned Princess, there's little telling what they may do. They act erratically, and the look in their eyes is wholly unnatural.”
The goddess of the night stood tall in front of the door as the key turned in the lock, slowly drawing it open. She stepped inside, gazing upon the pair of estranged ponies inside. Two pairs of cold eyes returned her stare, their owners clearly troubled by her presence. The mare, now almost mobile, crawled stiffly away from the Princess, her very gait alien. Luna carefully made her to her, sitting down in front of her, eyes radiating both loving serenity and power in the same way as her sister Celestia. Her gaze began to calm the young mare as her horn glowed softly, pressing its tip towards the mare's forehead. She felt nothingness at first, an emptiness of magic unnatural to any Equestrian creature. Then, in the recess of her shattered mind, images started to solidify.
She pictured a dark blue creature, larger than the rest, her (for inexplicably it must have been a female) expression was the epitome of grace, her eyes closing as an alien glow appeared on her horn and a strange, fuzzy feeling enveloped her. She remembered those white four legged creatures coming and going, bringing plates of plants, for some unknown purpose. She remembered the Other, his difference to the other creatures and similarity to herself reassuring, sat alone in his corner, staring at his white sheets, inscribed with symbols. She remembered most of all waking up to alien creatures, ba-ba-ing at her like animals, the big white one with hair of blue and his big flat carapace of gold, and the short tan creature, ba-ing on and on, fiddling with things in his white garment. She remembered an implosion of darkness-
New memories started to form from the blackness. Memories of long stone tunnels, memories of long nights, the familiar weight of the moon in her mind, memories if being reunited with a golden sun, burning bright with passion and forgiveness. Like a cloud obscuring the full moon, the world turned black. Memories of rage. Memories of hate. Memories of-
Both the Princess and the mare recoiled, springing apart explosively.
“Princess!”
The guards rushed forward, hurriedly checking if Luna was unharmed, as she sat recovering starring straight into the eyes of the harrowed mare. Her retinue paused, watching them stare at each other, as if into each other’s souls. Time passed. Slowly Luna turned forlornly towards her guards, standing, leaving the lilac mare sitting on the floor. She left in silence, without a backward glance.
Luna and Celestia sat next each other inside the royal chambers, as Shining Armour stood to attention in front of them. Celestia stood and approached Shining, leaving Luna sitting motionless, a look of doubt and fear frozen on her face, that of someone who has stared into an abyss, only to have an abyss stare back.
“Commander, please fill me and my troubled sister in concerning these two ponies brought out of thin air that are causing such trouble. To be frank, something disturbed her to silence in what she saw in their minds. Any more information on them would help enormously.”
“On the magical front, all of the castle mages capable have found no sign of any spells or latent magic in either capable of them to hurt her or her mind, and few have any theories that make sense. The only real news is that the scientists, after days of testing, have managed to isolate alien strains of bacteria. All I can say for certain is they haven't come from Equestria. They also seem to have low levels of tissue damage across their whole bodies, something that is perplexing the doctors to no end.”
“Thank you Commander, bring those two to me. Let us see if we can’t fix this.”
As Shining Armour left, Celestia turned to her sister, still unmoving from her petrified state. No amount of calming or medicine had helped her, leaving her pale and weak. It tore at Celestia's heart, being unable to help her sister like this, unbalancing the harmony of sun and moon, leaving her drained from supporting her sister with her magic. The sun shone ever weaker through the cold winter clouds, as the moon was left dull at night. Something needed to be done, before Luna's power failed altogether.
_
“Bring them in.”
Several guards marched into the Princess’ chambers, bearing the two alien ponies in on stretchers. In deathly silence both were laid down, magically sedated by a medic. As the guards left, Celestia approached them, observing them for the first time. To her, not only the ruler but demi-god of her people, they were alien in more than appearance. They were missing an indescribable part of their being, present to her in all life in Equestria, even Discord himself. Their very presence made her nauseous.
She caressed her magical aura over the head of the one Luna had linked with, sensing her sleeping consciousness and probing for signs of Luna’s influence. At first, all that was visible was overwhelming fear. The trauma of being brought to an alien place and subject to alien beings now manifested itself fully to Celestia, revealing the damage it had done to their minds. “No wonder they are insane,” she mused. Slowly, in the depths of her memories, lying buried like a landmine, was something black and malignant, showing telltale signs of Luna’s entrance. She probed and probed around the dark thoughts trying to access them, sensing for something coherent to latch on to. Hours passed. Eventually, perspiring from the magical strain, she relented, unsuccessful.
_
After a nightmare riddled night, only one option remained to Celestia. Drinking some tea give her energy, she began to delve into Luna’s mind, and view her memories of the event. Like with that of the mare, she was full of fear, yet a different kind of fear, more dread than terror. Peeling back through her sister’s consciousness was a strange sensation, feeling events such as her ascent to Nightmare Moon, and exile on the moon with fresh eyes, only now seeing just how much pain the possession caused her. Eventually, she reached the same dark tumour of knowledge in her mind. Unlike previously, there was no barrier in her way, impeding her progress. Reaching into it, she absorbed what was contained within. Visions flashed in front of her eyes, assailing her-
If you want some atmospheric music for this, then try these out: 1.2.
_
She saw herself rise out of a vat of swirling orange and yellow liquid and grey smoke, choking on the noxious fumes, vomiting foul water out of her throat. Looking around, walls of metal and glass surrounded her, contoured around the pipes leading to her tank. More lead to a tank to her left, containing another like her, also reacting badly to the strange fluids. As she looked around fearfully, part of the ceiling moved, revealing a long metallic rod, attached by a bracket to some unknown location above. It rotated slowly to the other, hissing as a small dart embedded itself in his side. He writhed, flailing his limbs uncontrollably, mewling in terror and pain. Slowly, his convulsions began to halt and his unconscious body floated serenely at the surface. The mechanical rod swiveled towards her, and before she could react, she felt a prick in her chest, and burning pain spreading through her body. She passed out.
When she awoke, she was on a pristine white table, almost blinded by the bright lights shining on her in the overwhelming whiteness of the room. Parts of her body ached where small transparent tubes poked out of the skin, either drawing blood or dripping in some clear fluid. She tried to move her appendages, in vain, as clamps held her in place forcing her to lie flat on the white operating slab. Averting her eyes from the disgusting sight of the violation of her body, she gazed onto a glass screen with her blurred vision, watching strangely shaped silhouettes come and go, some bearing items, others interacting with the other silhouettes, gesticulating or working on other strange machines that were visible behind the screen. After some time, the light in both rooms dimmed, and activity reduced, with one solitary figure gazing at her abused form. Sleep took her, and when she woke, nothing had changed. The lights were bright again, the figures behind the screen continued to watch, and when the lights grew dim, the same silhouette was left on its own staring at her, apparently sitting on some box or chair.
As the cycles of light and dark passed by, she began to be able move her head more and more stretching it from side to side in order to try to see through the screen. Eventually, her eyes adapted to the harsh white light of the room, and she could start to pick out details. Strange knobs and lights adorned the furniture of the room behind the screen, and the figures had inequine faces, some with confused or puzzled expressions as best she could make out, others fraught with anger or stress. As always, the same one remained on his own during the dark times, sitting with his head in his hands. He was the only one who seemed to her to be sad. As time passed, fewer and fewer of the figures appeared each light time. Eventually, it remained dark, even when her body told her it should be light time. Two different figures, their bodies and faces obscured by strange masks. They marched into the room, pushing a tube into her mouth. She writhed and screamed, resisting their assault. Soon, they held it in her mouth, spraying some gas into her throat, choking her. Again, she blacked out.
She was jerked awake by a sudden movement. She was tied up, lying on a stretcher, carried by the two monstrous figures who had drugged her. She wriggled and squirmed, yet her bonds held her still. She was parched and hungry, her lips were cracked and her stomach aching. Trying to forget her pain, she looked to her surroundings. She was being carried along through metallic corridors, passing doors on either side, with strange symbols above them in various colours. Some were open. One had a huge hall of strange, green, thin and rodlike things under bright lights. Some time later, looking inside another, she saw a group of the creatures poring over pictures of one like her, dissected, with its organs carefully arranged in groups. After a seemingly endless amount of time, she was jerked to a halt. Craning her neck over, she saw the one of the huge monsters carrying her press a button, and the walls parted in front of her, as light filled her eyes. Through the door, the corridor opened out, revealing a window. A window to the outside.
She was dumbstruck. Derelict and ruined spires dominated her vision, dusty and grey, as far as the eye could see. Some flying machine with a spinning disc above it flew across the skyline, briefly obscuring the weak glow in the roiling clouds, casting shadow on them. As soon as this vision appeared, it vanished, as she was turned round and brought into a small opening, yet another dull metal box. Suddenly, the ground dropped from beneath her, as she felt a falling sensation for a moment. Tired from malnourishment, she drifted off to sleep in the descending lift.
_
For the first time, she dreamed. She saw open fields, white with snow, with little islands of happiness and light, with others like her playing and working. She turned, and her attention was drawn to a tall white castle, regal and majestic, sitting on the side of a mountain. A small group was leaving the castle, heading for a circle in the snow, inside the circle-
She woke with a start, and an alien sensation overtook her. She was unbound, in a large hall of machines. Stretching and looking around, she saw the figure from her nights, the concerned one, helping the other like her to drink. Crying out, the figure rushed to her, checking her for injuries, and dribbled some water into her mouth, quenching her thirst. It fussed over both of them, giving them more water, getting them to sit up. For the first time, she felt safe. The figure wheeled each of them over onto a cold platform, covered in a thin layer of ice. Turning to them both, the figure looked dolefully at them, wiping a tear from its eye. It slowly walked away, looking on the verge of crying. She was confused, she was happy, why wasn’t it happy?
As she sat there pondering, a dark object began to descend, staring to close them in. Out of instinct, she tried to shy away from it, only to be shocked by the subzero plate they were placed on. The last vestiges of the room disappeared, only to reveal a slightly curved tunnel extend into the distance on either side. Small lights began to glow on each side, and the low hum in the background from the machines began to rise and rise. The piercing tone was earsplitting, until she felt a strange sensation, almost an electric shock, and her world went silent, white and cold.
_
Celestia woke sweating and cold, now realizing the truth about the origin of the aliens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's Notes
This kind of concludes this part, which is why I marked the story "complete". However, I may come back in the future to continue the story. Unashamedly, I had almost no plan for this, and based the way the story went over people's reactions in the comments! Not too bad for a borderline dyslexic teenager who doesn't even study English anymore.
