Pathfinder 5

Chapter 11: Evening with an Alien

David was currently in his ship going over everything he had learned as he wrote up his latest report. The computer was working on the energy readings he got from [Twilight] and her horn. It wasn’t much but so far the energy his suit had gotten was, well it was strange. It was no known form of energy, not electrical, not plasma, not fusion or anything they really had a basis for.

Just looking at the energy readings he recorded was unlike anything he had ever seen before. How was that unicorn able to generate that kind of energy? It had to be some kind of bio energy, he had seen some creatures that did things similar. There were records of animals that could generate light or electricity, hell even on Earth there were animals that could do that.

Although how the unicorn had done that was something the passive scans couldn’t tell him. The only thing they could tell him was that the unicorn was female and that the power seemed focused from the horn, which made sense with that strange purple glow it made. It also brought up a lot of insight, he had seen the little ones holding and manipulate things with a combination of their mouths and hooves but this opened up a new possibility. Did all of the unicorns have this ability? If so that would allow them to manipulate things in a superior way. If this was a unique trait he was starting to wonder what the other two types could do.

He had spent all of yesterday making a report on his findings with the kids, not to mention going over those energy scans. What was worse was something the computer had told him, the same strange and powerful energy readings that the Pathfinder had been finding every morning and night was similar to that unicorn’s ability, only much more powerful. It wasn’t a complete match but it was close and that really worried him. Was there some kind of being on his world that could generate that kind of power? Although he couldn’t get a decent scale as he was still working on the math, it was a lot of power.

We were talking a fusion reactor type of power inside of a living being.

He really needed to look into this, there was no telling what this could lead to. Yeah the fusion reactor technology had come a long way but they were still large to make. If this could lead on how to make them so much smaller it could lead to how to totally redesign every piece of technology they had.

“Commander I have run into an anomaly while working on the language translation program.” AVI spoke up.

“What is it?” He asked wondering what new mystery this planet has given him.

“While using the database on all of known Earth languages to help build the translation I came upon a similarity with certain words.”

“Wait, are you saying they have words that are similar to an Earth language?”

“Not exactly, their word for [Pegasus] after listening to the way it was said and the spelling among other similar words I found, there is a slight relation to the word Πήγασος.”

David shook his head, “Wait what language was that? That didn’t sound like anything I heard before.”

“It is in fact a dead language which was why I hadn’t found it until now. That is the ancient Greek word for Pegasus.”

He was silent a moment, “They speak ancient Greek?”

“Again that is incorrect, their language does seem to have similarities but the most likely explanation is that it is over a few thousand years removed from it. As time goes on languages change and evolve over time for various reasons. This could be the result of being separated for such a long time left on its own without known outside forces changing it.”

He was about to tell the computer that it was impossible that there was a link to Earth but then he remembered all the strange things this world had that Earth did. All the similar plants and animals just couldn’t be ignored and if there was some long forgotten link to Earth that would explain it but what was it? How could they have any kind of link at all given how far they were from each other? Again there were just too many questions.

“AVI using this new information could you speed up the translation program?”

“Most likely it will speed it up but there isn’t much in my database on Ancient Greek languages, it is a dead language. I only have the most basic information on it like with all languages in the case the First Contact Protocols were needed.”

“Well glad they did that much at least,” David sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. Here he was thinking that he had been the first human to discover alien life and he had just landed himself into what looked like the biggest mystery in history. He really needed that language barrier broken and soon, there were too many questions that he needed to get to the bottom of.

-Ponyville-

Twilight was currently in the mayor’s office having given her an official letter from Celestia. Twilight was glad that her mentor had gotten back so quickly. Not only did she give her a reply but also a royal message to be given to the mayor who was currently reading it.

The mare adjusted her glasses as she read the message over for a third time, it was just so hard to believe that at first she thought it was some kind of joke or prank. But there was the royal seal and Twilight wasn’t the type to try something like this. If it had been any other pony she would have doubted this but even then it was all just so hard to believe.

Mayor Mare looked up at Twilight, “This is all true?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes in fact I’m going to meet him in a few hours to tell him the news.”

“Oh my, this is just, I mean,” she got up as she started to pace. “Not only are we going to have to prepare an area for him but the Princesses are coming to greet him tomorrow!”

“I know which is why we need to pick a spot that I can lead him to as I know how big the ship is, while you deal with everything else.” Twilight told her.

“Yes, yes I think I have a town map somewhere here,” The mayor went to a filing cabinet as she pulled out a land survey that showed who owned what property. She laid it onto the table as the two went to work. Twilight wasn’t sure how the craft took off and landed but since it had landed in a clearing it was stood to reason it had the ability to fly vertically, at least she hoped so.

Between the two of them they picked out a spot that wasn’t on any property and also it wasn’t too far or too close to the town.

“This should do it,” Mayor Mare did a double check and everything looked fine for her. “So now that we picked out a spot what’s next?”

“Well I plan on meeting him and help him to find this spot,” Twilight also hoped that she could get a look at the ship.

“Alright I better get things ready on this end. Oh this is so exciting, I’ll have to get everything ready for the Princesses, ready the town, I’ll have to make a quick town meeting. Are you sure they couldn’t give us a bit more time?” She asked Twilight.

“I’m not sure but I’m afraid that if we put it off he might fly off, the Everfree isn’t exactly a welcoming place to stay.” Twilight told her.

The mayor had to conceive that point, the only one she knew that could live in that place was Zecora after all. She sighed as she could see how much work was ahead of her, she was going to have to get Pinkie to help set things up provided that mare could tone it down a little. Not to mention she would have to find someone to help organize but there was a pony in mind for that. All those little things that needed to be done, she did have to do one thing first.

“Do...do you suppose I could meet him?” She asked.

“I don’t see why not, can you meet me in Fluttershy’s in a couple of hours.” Twilight agreed.

“Great I can get started on the work,” Mayor Mare immediately got to work as she had a lot of ponies to get in touch with and start on everything.

Twilight went back to the library, she got a saddle bag not to mention supplies. She had a plan on seeing his ship and if she was lucky she was planning on taking lots of notes. She told Spike what to expect and after rechecking she left for Fluttershy’s cabin. By the time she got there Fluttershy was outside waiting for her.

They greeted each other as soon a galloping sound was heard they both looked to see the mayor rushing up. She caught up as she started breathing heavy trying to catch her breath. “Sorry...I’m...not used...to running.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy asked her.

“Just give a mare a moment,” the Mayor took a few more breaths. She had no idea she was so out of shape, this is what happens when you are an office working for your career. She was going to have to start jogging or something in the morning.

“I’m not late am I?” She asked looking around. “I got caught up in the preparations and nearly lost track of time.”

“No you’re not late, he hasn’t arrived yet,” Twilight assured her.

“Oh good,” Mayor Mare sighed starting to feel a bit better. They didn’t have to wait long as something started to come out of the forest.

The three looked to see something but they couldn’t tell what at first, it was like a shimmering sight of something moving. Then just as suddenly the shimmering image bleed away until the alien in his strange suit was standing there. He waved to them as he walked up, reaching up and took the mask off revealing his face.

“Oh my goodness,” The Mayor breathed, she couldn’t believe she was seeing an actual alien but he certainly did seem other worldly. Nothing about him was what you would expect someone from her world to be. The face was too flat, the eyes too small and he was so tall, he was as tall as Princess Celestia herself.

He stopped in front of them and then he smiled and it was just so familiar, it was just as expressive as any pony smile. The Mayor looked up at him and she couldn’t help but smile back, she felt nervous being in front of him like this but also exhilarated.

“Hello [David],” Twilight spoke up first greeting him.

“Hello...Twilight,” his words were heavily accented but the words were easy to make out.

Twilight gestured to the mayor, “Mayor Mare.”

The Mayor nodded her head, “Greetings and I must say welcome to Ponyville Mr...uh, what was his name again?” She looked to Twilight for help.

“It’s [David] although I’m not sure he understood all of what you said,” Twilight told her. “He’s still learning our language.”

“Oh of course,” Mayor Mare hadn’t thought of that but it looked like the sentiment of her words seemed to have gotten to him at least. “Well although I have so many questions and things I would like to say I really do have to get back, there’s just so much I have to get ready.”

She looked to David and nodded her head, “Nice meeting you.”

David watched the grey haired one leave and guessed the alien just wanted a quick word, he did notice that the alien wore glasses and had some kind of clothing around the neck. It was an odd combination but if they had eye wear like that it was a good indication of their medical ability. They looked well made and not what you would expect from how the town looked like something out of a medieval village. Then again the lights from the actual cities he had seen in orbit told him that this world was further ahead than what the town looked like as well.

He noticed that [Twilight] was drawing something into the dirt again, he also noticed she had what looked like saddle bags on her filled with things he couldn’t get a look at. He looked at the drawings as it showed what he guessed was him and her walking back to his ship. Huh, well that was odd, then she did the sun-moon-sun cycle they had set up for meaning ‘one day’. Then she placed herself, him and his ship, in that order, and drew a line from the forest to the town.

He cocked his head as she drew the ship image with her and him next to it in the town but now she drew two more images. They looked like the usual aliens but for some reason she drew them larger. Then he noticed something else, they had wings and horns. The only time he had seen that was in that abandoned castle. Next she drew out many other aliens only smaller and all of them behind the two larger ones.

What did that mean? He stared at it for a moment as Twilight tried to explain, she pointed to the two large images and said something. It took him a moment to realise that she said two words for each but it was the same word. One was something [Celestia] and the other the same word with [Luna] being the difference. But what was that first word? Did they have the same name? No, that didn’t seem to fit.

He knelt down and looked at the image, it looked like her little avatar was introducing him to the two in front. Did these two have some kind of high rank? Wait! Rank, maybe that first word was some kind of rank or title. Okay so looking back on it all, she wanted to come back with him and tomorrow she would lead him to some place. That place is where he was going to meet with two important looking aliens.

David wasn’t sure how well he could communicate with them as he didn’t even have a working understanding of the language at the moment. Then he noticed her and the bags she had, she had been the one that had been helping him learn so maybe like with the kids, she would help fill in some blanks. Well it was worth a shot and honestly he was really interesting in getting some deeper scans of her and whatever the hell that purple energy thing she did was.

David stood up and nodded as [Twilight] seemed to squeal in excitement as she actually clapped her hooves together. David had to admit it was just adorable how she acted, she reminded him a little of this woman back at Galactic Survey Corp HQ, she was one of the researchers that loved going through all the data that the Pathfinders came back with. What was her name again? Amanda that was is, looking at this little purple unicorn for some reasons brought back memories of that girl.

Mainly because Amanda had been a huge nerd and he was kind of getting that vibe from the alien in front of him. She was saying something to the yellow one named [Fluttershy] if he remembered. He really needed to help translate what those names meant at some point. So with apparently all things settled they made their way back to his ship with his new travelling companion with him.

Twilight was so excited that she could hardly contain herself as they made their way through the woods. It seemed to take forever to get to his ship but when they finally entered the small clearing she got her second look at the ship. It was still amazing to look at, the pure engineering that had to go into this vessel, it was like a work of art to Twilight.

He led her up the small ramp as they entered a small room, she looked around and it looked pretty sterile. The door behind her closed and then the one in front opened up. She thought that maybe it was some kind of air lock, it made sense. She looked into the long hallway and marveled at how smooth everything looked.

“Wow...I can’t believe I’m on an actual alien ship.” She could hardly contain herself as she started looking around the whole place.

David chuckled at how excited she looked and looking at it from her point of view he could see why. Stepping onto an alien spaceship was pretty cool. He let her go wonder as he went to put away the chameleon suit and gear and get back into his normal clothing. He had kept the more dangerous places locked up anyway. The last thing he needed was some curious alien looking through his engine room and exposing the damn fusion core, that would be really nasty.

Twilight was in awe with how the ship was built, she could tell that this race were master builders. Everything fit in just perfectly and she doubted her own people could make something like this. She found a door and it opened for her when she came close to it. She took a step back as it closed, so she took a step forward and it opened again.

“Fascinating,” Twilight looked at the door as she walked through. “I wonder how it works?”

The room looked to be a bedroom of some kind. Everything looked to be a very simple design, she wondered if that was a design choice of their people or maybe it was just because space was limited. She continued on with her searching, she found the bathroom next, and then she came to the kitchen area. Moving on she found a door that led to a small room. Looking around she noticed two tables with various machines around. They were either secured to the table or against the walls for the most part.

There was a single chair against one of the tables she could see something on the table. She got into the chair and took a good look. There were small circular petri dishes, at first she thought they were made of glass but looking closer it was more of a clear material like before. She saw various test tubes as well and all seemed to be filled with dirt, grass, plant samples.

She looked at the device next to them, it looking kind of familiar in shape as she saw what looked like something to look through. It was dark so she looked around the device and found a button. Pressing it caused the device to light up and a humming sound. Something lit up and she looked through the small viewer again.

“It’s a microscope!” She squealed as she saw something in a sample dish, it was so very clear. It took her a moment but she figured out how to increase the magnification, the device was very simple design once you knew what it was for. It was way more powerful than any microscope she had used before and it was so clear.

“It’s a lab,” She pulled away and looked around as now things were starting to become clear what she was looking at. She couldn’t wait to see if he would let her use this, there was no telling the kinds of things she could learn or experiment with if she had access to all of this.

She pressed the button again as it turned off and she replaced it, she would get back to this later.

Twilight continued on until she came to a door that didn’t open. She paused as she tried to open it by backing up and stepping forward again. Nothing happened, she tilted her head, maybe it was broken? Looking around the door there was a small black rectangle, it was shinny and a little reflective. She touched it with her hoof reaching up a little to get it as a red light showed up when she touched it.

She heard someone coming up behind her and saw David walking towards her.

“[David], is this locked?” she asked him.

“Door, no.” He said simply and waved his finger at her. He pointed to the door now, “Danger.”

“Oh okay,” Although she was curious she didn’t want to push her luck so far. Besides once they got a better understanding of their languages she could ask in detail why it was dangerous. She guessed that he learned ‘danger’ from the CMC she internally smirked.

He led her to the front of the ship as she looked over the various controls, there really were floating glowing controls. She quickly looked them over but didn’t touch anything, no matter how much she wanted to. There were words in [David’s] language and numbers. She tried to work out a few as she had been trying to learn some of the language from their exercises they’re been giving each other.

She frowned as she could only make out a few simple words here or there, things like ‘the’, ‘at’, some numbers and a few other things.

David was glad she wasn’t touching anything he nearly wanted to lock down the controls again like with the kids. He sat down at the small work station that looked like a round table as he brought up a few holographic images.

Twilight noticed this and walked over taking an empty chair. She took off her saddle bags as she watched as he used his hands to manipulate the images. He brought a three dimensional triangle and moved it towards her.

“You try.” He said.

She smiled as she reached out with her front hoof, she couldn’t really feel anything although there was a reaction to the image. It moved from her touch as she reached out with both and found she could stretch it and change its size depending on how she moved it.

“This is amazing and kind of fun,” Twilight giggled as she paused after a minute seeing him watch her. “This is a test of some kind?”

David smiled as he knew the word [test] in that sentence and figured that she must have figured out what he was doing. She sure was a smart one, this was a training program that let kids play and learn how to use interactive displays.

“Test, yes.” He nodded his head and then brought up several shapes and with a hole to match each one.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she easily put the shapes into their holes. She gave him a smirk and David raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, so little miss purple smart wanted a challenge huh?” He grinned s he raised the challenge level.

Now there were shapes but the holes were all slightly different. Twilight took her first shape and paused as she checked every hole. It didn’t fit into any of them as she thought at first that maybe something as wrong but one look at how he was watching her told her otherwise.

“Okay so there’s a way around this,” She thought out loud as she held the shape as she was deep in thought. Then she altered the shape on accident but when she looked down and saw that it kept the shape. She experimented by altering the shape just enough to fit one of the holes. It fit in as she grinned at him and quickly went to work.

David made note of how quick she caught on, he really wanted to give her a full on intelligence test but he would have to modify it if it could. Things like history would be a wash and any science related questions would have to wait to make sure their units of measurement and various little things like that match up.

Twilight looked to her saddle bags and used her magic to get out some scroll and a quill. She made some quick notes.

David looked at the glowing and he really needed a better look at this. “AVI can you use the internal scanners to get a better look at that strange energy she’s using?”

“I will attempt to.” The computer said.

Twilight jumped in her chair looking around, “Hello, is anypony else here?”

“AVI.” David said and pointed up at the ship.

Twilight’s eyes searched and then she remembered something the kids said about the ship talking. “So the ship does talk.” She looked up and smiled. “Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle, how are you?”

There was a pause as she waited for a reply but frowned when nothing came.

“I think she wants you to introduce yourself AVI.” David told his computer.

“Welcome [Twilight Sparkle] I am the Artificial Virtual Intelligence program for the Galaxy Survey Corp Pathfinder 5 exploration vessel, designation GSC-A150-P5.”

“Uh...” Twilight trailed off not getting what the ship had just said.

“AVI.” David told her with a smile.

“AVI, right.” Twilight nodded her head as he was giving her a simpler way of knowing what to call the ship.

They got back to trading lessons as Twilight started to help him with his Equestrian language skills, first she tried to figure out how much he knew. He couldn’t make full sentences but using simple words he could get his point across, that is if he knew the words. So she tried to teach him various new words that he could use.

David in turn taught her words that equated to that in his own language, she wrote down everything and although he could read a few words from the letters he could tell she had better penmen ship than he did. He was actually a little jealous of how clean her writing was.

Her books were more picture books as he stepped up making words associated with the images. It always helped him to have something to look at when learning a new word. Plus he thanked God for the implant he had in his head. Although most people had them, he had his old one upgraded thanks to the GSC. With AVI working on a translation program to download into it, it also helped him remember everything he learned. Some people said it was ‘cheating’ but to hell with that, without that this would take so much longer.

Although the scary thing was that his guest seemed to be picking up certain words just as fast. She would try every now and then to speak in his language and she got it right more often than not. The more he got to know this [Twilight] the more he really wondered just how intelligent she was. Was she the norm for their kind or did he luck out and get a genius among their people?

He couldn’t tell from the kids so he would have to try and get to know the other adults around here, at least he assumed she was an adult.

Twilight was having so much fun, she loved learning and teaching was just as great. She was picking up a whole new language that wasn’t even spoken on her world and learning about a civilization that no pony had ever heard of before. She was taking lots of notes since she wondered if she could make a research paper on the subject.

Despite the language barrier she found him nice company he was just as eager to learn as she was. She missed having that in her life, sure she loved her friends more than anything, but it would be nice to have someone she could talk to about subjects she liked a bit more often. As soon as she learned enough she wanted to try and see if he had any kind of science or history books or whatever the equivalent to books were on this ship.

They spent their time learning about each other as much as possible, David showed her the same programming that the CMC had seen which captured her attention. She realized that it was a program to help youths to learn but it was all done in an entertaining way. She wondered if he could bring this to Cheerilee, maybe her students would like to see this.

They took a few breaks as he showed her the ship and spent time in his lab, he showed her some of the equipment and what it did. They broke for supper, something simple really and he was in mind not to have anything meat related just in case. He needed a way to breach that subject and soon as he only had so many vegetarian only meals on board.

They worked together late into the night as both were just so eager to learn as much from the other as they could. Eventually though they both were started to feel tired and they did have a big day tomorrow.

“Time bed,” David yawned as he told her.

Twilight giggled as she corrected him, “Bed time.”

“Ah, bed time,” He nodded as he got up as Twilight followed him when they got to their location. She paused as she realized that they only had the one bed. She fidgeted wondering what they were going to do.

“Share?” He asked her pointing to the bed.

“O-oh,” Twilight blushed a bit thinking maybe this was natural for their species. She didn’t want to risk offending him after all. She nodded her head as she got into the bunk as she noticed him taking off some of his clothing but not all of it. That gave her pause, was their kind always wearing clothing? What about baths and showers? Well they had to do that, it’s not like they wore clothing for that right? She did get a look at him as he just had on pants and a simple shirt with now sleeves.

David caught her looking and wondering why she was staring, then again he was an alien so maybe she was just curious. Well the kids seemed okay with sharing a bed so he figured that maybe it was a culture thing to do? Besides he really didn’t want to try and argue the point, he lost the last time.

She didn’t seem to mind as she did jump right onto the bed, so with a shrug he got in next to her. Even though she was bigger than the three kids she only took up half the room. They ended up sleeping back to back as they settled in. He had started to notice that he kept expecting that horse like smell from them but oddly enough it wasn’t there. He could make something out but it wasn’t that musky animal smell, then again given that they were intelligent and they had their own hair styles, meant they most likely had some kind of hygiene.

He settled in for the night as he once again had the lights dimmed by the ship.

“Good night,” he told her in their language.

“Good night [David]” Twilight replied as she tried to get comfortable. It wasn’t the bed, it was nice and the pillow was large enough for both of them. It was just that she was sharing a bed with someone else. She hadn’t slept with someone since she was a filly with her parents or even with her brother a couple of times when she had been scared in the night and their parents had been out.

She tried to tell herself that it was nothing, just two reasonable adults sharing a bed. There was nothing about it that she was just being silly. Still, his back was against hers and she could feel the heat of his body and how it moved with every breath. She tried not to think about it plus she was just so tired and it was a big day tomorrow. They were going to move the ship and she couldn’t wait to see how it moved in the air.

Eventually she drifted off to sleep as she dreamt of the stars and all the things she was going to learn about them.

Next up Chapter 12: Meeting the Princesses

Author's Note

Well that's another chapter down and nearly one hundred likes, I hope to reach that soon. Now on for some bad news, you see I'm in the military and I just learned this week that I'm going on a ship next month for about six months maybe longer hard to tell with these things. So I will try to get a few more updates after that and I will try and write while I'm out there but as for posting, that might be trickier. Might have to wait until I'm in a port in a hotel with internet. So it's going to be pretty slow updates (if at all) until Winter. Hope you all can understand and when I get back I will get back to updating like normal.