The Coming Tide

"Your Highness, Princess Celestia! News has arrived from our..erm...project in the Badlands." A Royal Guard Pegasi declared, sprinting into the throne room. Nearing the throne itself, he slowed to a brisk trot before finally coming to a stop a respectful distance away from the Alicorn monarch.

It was morning over Canterlot, and fresh sunlight radiated in from the various stained-glass windows lining the vast expanse of the exquisite room. The light settled in places and glimmered subtly off the Pegasus' silver and gold armor as he patiently awaited the Princesses' attention.

Celestia looked up from a less than entertaining diplomatic document she had been scrutinizing. She smiled at him pleasantly. "Princess, it's Daring Do. The treasure hunter has found even more artifacts, not just the mystifying cylinders of late!"

"Splendid. Let me see it, please. I would like to know the specifics."

The guard bowed and produced a piece of finely-rolled parchment held fast by an official wax seal. Celestia eagerly floated the new document toward her. Hastily stamping the previous document, she tossed it almost nonchalantly onto a lectern beside her gilded throne.

She hummed a light angelic melody as she deftly broke the seal with a penknife from her lectern and began perusing the report's contents.

"An alien egg it says, oh my! Something live has been found, then?" Celestia murmured to herself, reading on. "One spiraling onyx statuette or sculpture-like object with strange runic inscriptions, and finally, a container of unidentified luminescent organic material. Hmm, this shipwreck is unwilling to provide us answers, but it's never hesitant to confront us with new questions, it seems."

"Indeed, Your Highness."

Celestia lowered the paper to look at the idle guard, and she had her head tilted slightly in thought. Still smiling at him, she asked, "What of the artifacts themselves?"

The guard prepared to reply, starting to motion towards his saddlebags, but it would seem Celestia was not quite finished "I understand all of the organic powder samples are currently being left on-site for convenience and safety measures, but what about the statuette, egg specimen, and this mystery liquid that possesses lambent qualities?"

Clearing his throat, the guard bowed again. "If you'll pardon me, Princess, I was just about to address that very matter. One of them, the statuette, Daring Do bid me to deliver here, directly to you!" The Pegasus reached into his bag again, and this time produced something weighty and solid, obviously not another paper document.

His words caused Celestia to positively seize with a most alarming degree of sudden wariness. Her magenta eyes fell upon the artifact in the guard-courier's hoof, and they widened.

"Your brought one of the alien artifacts...here? Under no level of magical containment!" Celestia reeled back slightly in her throne.

Her courier grimaced apologetically. "Your Highness, my apologies for frightening you! But if you recall just moments ago in Miss Do's report, this artifact has been rated by the specialists over on in base camp at a containment tier five. That mean's its safe to transport with minimal safeguards. It's also non-organic, and the scientist who handed it to me stated that no known magical forces could detected from it, physical contact is almost guaranteed to be non-harmful."

"I, I don't know what exactly to say then." Celestia stammered incredulously. Seeing the Pegasus still standing with the statuette in his hoof awkwardly, the Princess sighed and took the artifact from him. She levitated it closely in front of her. "It's just so otherworldly. Surely my caution is understandable, wouldn't you agree?"

"Um, yes Your Majesty."

"Now," Celestia put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully for a few seconds. "I want to call it a statue, but some part of my mind tells me that wouldn't quite be accurate. Now, that aside, what must its surface be comprised of? What does it feel like? For some reason, I have an urge to just..."

Tentatively, Celestia raised a foreleg and made physical contact with the artifact, gasping as her hoof touched it's carved surface. "Goodness, it feels as if it's been made of pure ice! How in the world could such a thing have been found near the lava of the Badlands?"

"What's cold, my sister?" Another regal voice inquired from the other end of the room.

Celestia removed her now freezing hoof from the artifact and turned to look at the newcomer. "Luna, it's lovely to see you, good morning." Celestia smiled at the younger Alicorn, ever so gently setting the artifact down at the foot of her throne in the process.

The Royal Guard eye-balled the alien object strangely, almost warily.

Luna nodded to Celestia, smiling slightly in return. "As to you as well, Tia." Inevitably, she pointed her hoof insistently at the artifact. "That thing, is it the source of this cold you speak of? The alien artifact is safe to touch?"

Celestia looked to the guard, who was still wary. "Our scientists in the Badlands said it is safe, yes."

"Let me chance an examination, then."

"Sure thing Luna, just please be gentle with it, It likely predates us by millenia." Celestia frowned. "And it's extremely cold to the touch."

Luna flashed her sister a bemused frown. "You know you can trust me with delicate things, sister. I'm not some brash, careless adolescent mare. Give it here."

Celestia's smile diminished slightly, but she promptly sent the artifact over to Luna. "Here's Daring Do's description of it in the report, she identified it as a 'statuette', but I'm hesitant to give it any label of sort, as of yet."

The words were met with only a casual nod, as Luna read the report, then carefully floated the artifact towards her face, giving it a detailed visual analysis. True to Daring Do's words, the artifact was made of an onyx-black substance akin to both metal and stone. It had a wide circular base, which spiraled upwards in graceful curves before terminating with four prong-like structures at its apex.

Like her sister, Luna also found it to be shockingly cold to the touch. "Ah, 'tis heir apparent to diving in a frozen lake! It's almost as if it sucks the heat right out of the body."

"Your Majesty, whilst carrying it, I noticed the strange cold as well, as it effected me both when I was in direct sunlight, and in close proximity to my campfire, the night previous." The guard added with a mystified frown.

"The curiosities only mount." Celestia murmured, glancing about the room absentmindedly.

It was then that Luna finally took notice of the runic etchings on the freezing alien surface. They had not been visible before, but were now illuminated by a pale red-orange light where they rested, highlighting their presence for all to see. "No, not a sculpture or statuette..." Luna said finally, looking at the artifact again. She prodded at it, grimacing each time at the sharp cold.

"Don't poke it, Luna! Even if it's non-organic or magical, it could be some kind of explosive waiting to go off!"

"Nonsense, sister! Why would a warlike species waste time making their bombs or grenades so ornate like this?" To that, Celestia appeared to have no rebuttal. Luna then got a new idea, and scanned the object with a spell from her horn.

The spell ceased, and Luna grinned briefly in triumph. "Aha, a discovery! I would be more inclined to label it as a 'marker' or pylon, Tia.." Her ears perked up as her thoughts came to consensus.

"Yes, a marker, I would call this." Luna declared with abject certainty. "I have no hope of translating these runes sister, I suspect nopony anywhere close does. However, one thing is quite clear, this particular piece actually labeled itself in my mind as a 'marker'. The word just appeared, spontaneously upon the ending of my magic stream making contact with it."

"Quite strange." The Guard courier murmured. "So very, very strange."

Celestia looked from the guard back to her sister and said, "Well, this is one discovery but many, I'll leave it up to you to decide what you want to do with it, Luna. Since it's not organic, it's likely benign enough. Do be careful keeping it near any magic, however. Any errant telekinesis could shatter it, then whatever mysteries it does contain would never be known."

Luna nodded again. "Of course, Celestia. I'll find a safe place to contain it, until I decide what to do with it."

"Alright." Celestia said. They shared a final brief smile, then Luna turned to leave.

Upon her younger sibling's departure, Celestia glanced at Royal Guard courier. "Now, what of the egg and the encapsulated glowing liquid, where are they exactly? And will Twilight Sparkle and her friends be arriving soon with their own findings?"

"Daring Do has kept possession of the liquid for independent study back at camp, citing it's apparent similarities to the powder. As for the egg, Twilight Sparkle has formally requested to return to her lab in Ponyville with the egg itself and several dozen of the powder samples to perform experiments with."

For a moment, Celestia was hesitant. These were unknown organic materials they were dealing with. Materials, that very well could have been present in the wreck when the earliest ponies had only just begun migrating out of their ancestral grasslands, mountains and forests to establish their civilizations.

After further thought, the Alicorn finally settled. "Have someone send word to her that I approve." This was Twilight Sparkle after all, Celestia reasoned. If any mare could safely crack the aliens' eons-old mysteries in the safest, fastest manner possible, it would be her.

The Pegasus bowed and nodded. "That's not all however, my lady." He said.

"Oh?"

"Sparkle has also requested several hundred cylinders be transported to secure labs in Manehattan and other cities. She feels that dividing out the work will produce answers and results, far faster."

It was a step further into risky waters Celestia wasn't quite fond of, but the pursuit of science and the possibility of making further discoveries that would change the world forever were far too compelling to be ignored. With a cautious optimism for the future of Equestrian science, medicine, and technology, Celestia approved.

"Please ensure that Twilight is notified that she has my blessing. She may do as she wishes with the alien artifacts. I'd tell her myself, but I wish to dedicate some time later with Luna and some scholars to look into this, 'marker' as she seems so fond of calling it now."

The Guard hesitated for a moment, watching Luna stroll away with the black alien marker in her telekinetic grip. Snapping back to attention with the sudden clearing of Celestia's throat, he bowed hastily. "Of course, Your Highness. I'll get right on it! As the Pegasi guard left, Celestia stretched her wings and settled in her throne. She was preparing for the late morning's usual daily flow of incoming documents and subjects all vying for her attention on affairs of state, economics, culture and the like.

Lunch, was when she planned to rejoin Luna and conduct some Royal archaeology of her own with the aid of Canterlot's most eminent scientific minds. Celestia looked forward to the new activity fondly as her workload slowly made its presence known on her nearby desk, teleported in by her unicorn aides.

If the marker turned out to just be little more than an alien-made paper weight, Celestia decided she would just give it to Prince Blue Blood as a sort of impromptu gift. It was her distant nephew's birthday in a few weeks, and such a gesture from royalty was likely to appease the bothersome aristocrat for at least a month or two.

It didn't take long for Celestia's message to be relayed to Twilight Sparkle back at camp.

"So Twilight, how's your rash doing?" Spike inquired, moving travelling packs into place at the front of the tent for their imminent departure from the Badlands.

Twilight, reclining on one of the tent's mats, peeked up from the container she was just examining to smile at him. "I haven't been itching for the entire day, and my hoof seems to be back to normal." She bent her hoof back and forth experimentally. "I think the herbs might have cured it."

Spike chuckled. "Always leave it to the docs to know the right kind of remedy for any situation." He heaved the last contents of the saddlebags into place with a grunt. "Fluttershy and the others are all ready to go out there. You ready?"

The container's occupant distracted her slightly as she replied, peering into it curiously again. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be out in a sec, Spike. Just let me gather up the rest of the stuff and get everything tidy."

"Suit yourself." The dragon replied with a shrug, disappearing with the packs in talon through the canvas flap.

Just before getting up to go herself, Twilight took final note of the container. Sequestered within it's glass surface, was the native Badlands mole she had introduced to the alien powder just the other day. Having been ferocious and difficult to work with at the start as expected, the large rodent was now strikingly placid.

It stood largely in one spot, staring straight ahead and twitching various muscle groups seemingly at random. Occasionally, the mole would casually scratch parts of its body or move to occupy a different corner.

Twilight took it in with a thoughtful 'huh', before picking up the glass container and hurrying after Spike and the rest of her friends, leaving the Badlands by carriage to Ponyville. As they went, the alien cylinders holding more powder and the unidentified egg followed along in another wagon, sealed tightly from the outside world by a magic stasis field that was cast on the vehicle.

Daring Do and some of the off duty excavation crew watched them go. Daring squinted under her beige pith hat from the harsh sunlight and waved jovially after them.

As they disappeared over the ash dune fringing the camp, Daring Do turned back and pulled something from her own saddlebag. It was the alien jar containing the lambent liquid. "I can't believe I got left with the alien glowie stick, it's barely more than an over glorified nightlight!" She exclaimed, slightly disappointed.

"Maybe the biologists over at tent B will find something to do with it later." Daring thought aloud, heading back to her work place at the main tent. "One thing's for sure, I better not hear of Manehatten or some other city being taken over by some sentient shape-shifting fungus like in that crappy horror flick I saw last weekend. I hope Twilight Sparkle knows what she's doing with that creepy stuff."

The treasure hunter entered the tent with still lingering hopes of priceless alien gems and intact ray guns on her mind, while the glowing liquid continued radiating from within the container in her hoof.