Sub Sole Nihil Novum Est

It noticed right away that something strange was happening outsides its chamber. Twilight had something with her, though it did not understand what it was. The object was brightly colored and made of some nonporous material. Three sides were open, revealing a section of stacked layers of unknown composition.

“Book,” she said, tapping the surface with a hoof. This book seemed unneeded to it, as it did not appear to be edible. Twilight opened the book, revealing a multitude of colorful patterns. Were they symbols of some sort, or perhaps a written language? At a glance, they seemed to be fanciful representations of the natives performing various tasks. She pulled one out to emphasize it. “Page”

She expected it to repeat, hoping it would memorize her language enough to speak properly. Two vocal patterns seemed like a small start in its opinion. The best way it could learn was listening to natural conversation, not brutishly memorizing phrase after phrase. Had they no understanding of natural learning, of its function? No, most likely they did not; none of them were melting, so there had been no cases of multiple infestations. It had already come to the conclusion it was alone, so there was no way the natives could understand even the simplest aspects of its life.

“Twilight Sparkle, what in Equestria do you think you're doing?” Luna was back, as it turned one eye to look fully at her. It had to stop blinking now, and instead switched to its nictitating membrane so it wouldn't have to break its line of sight. After all, Luna had been the one to destroy the host's brain, and it hardly wished for her to find the enslaved stem cells nestled in its cranium. It wished even less for her to destroy them.

“Luna, we know this thing is sapient; it already asked us to feed Nurse Redheart.” Twilight looked at Luna, though it kept an eye on both of them. It was what they kept calling it, not Caramel, as the host had been known as, but it. That did not seem like a name, as they also used it when referring to objects. “Teaching it to speak will allow us to learn from it, especially if it knows anything about who created it.”

“Yes, I suppose you're right. In any case, my sister shall be arriving shortly.” Luna nodded her head as she spoke the first part of that sentence. Yes seemed to mean agreement or affirmation, as did vertical waving of the head. Similarly, no seemed to mean the opposite, as did horizontal waving of the head. However, the two females seemed rather close, perhaps pack-mates or something along those lines, so it was possible that the terms and motions were only used during informal conversation. “So, has it learned anything?”

“This is only the first experiment, and I have only said book and page once each.” There were those two words again, the two she said while pointing at the object she held. This book was filled to the brim with numerous pages, each displaying a crude array of images and symbols. Some of them looked like stylized versions of the natives. “I don't think it learns that quickly; even foals take months to learn their first words.”

“But this is hardly a foal.” There was a new voice. It moved the eye it had on Twilight to look at the door, all while focusing on Luna to avoid any unfortunate maiming. The newcomer looked much like a larger Luna, albeit colored white with a polychromatic crest and tail. Like the others, this one's voice had a quality that it was rapidly associating with females, so it deduced her to be such, even if it could not detect her pheromones just yet. She observed it with a neutral look, or so the rather limited parts of Caramel's brain said.

“Princess Celestia!” Celestia must have been her name, as princess seemed to either be a clan identifier or title, if such thing existed. It was Twilight who called her such, and she embraced her, or, at least it thought they embraced. For all it knew, it could have been Celestia showing dominance.

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“I came as soon as my dear sister sent for me.” Celestia looked at it, and it looked back, now fully focused on her. If not for the independent eyes and extra eye membrane, not to mention their strange shape, it could have passed as a normal stallion, so long as nopony tried to speak to it. “I do hope I didn't keep our... guest waiting.”

“I'm not sure it has a concept of time, only when meals are supposed to arrive.” Celestia looked at Twilight then, unsure of what she meant. Certainly, being a living thing, the alien needed sustenance, and its pony body could likely digest anything a normal pony could, it seemed like an unwise move to feed it too much. Luna described the terrible mutations it developed in order to fight, or at last its species developed, as this one had shown no signs of any such weapons. “One full meal every six hours, on the dot.”

“We don't know where it packs all of it away, really. It doesn't seem to... produce waste.” At her sister's words, Celestia stepped closer to the thick, reinforced plexiglass that separated the alien from the rest of Equestria. She allowed a miniscule portion of her magic to ignite her horn as she prepared a simple reading spell. Seeing the magic, the alien jumped back, eyes darting around in search of cover. “I may be the cause of that.”

“Well, perhaps a more pleasant experience will make it less afraid.” Celestia was hoping so mostly for the safety of her subjects, but also because putting anything under undue distress was against everything she tried to be. It didn't its eyes off her as it stood against the back wall, but also didn't take a defensive stance. But, perhaps that was more because it wasn't sure how to defend its new body.

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It kept its eyes locked on Celestia as it took defensive measures. That horn glow was brighter than Twilight’s, and seemed much more offensive. Bits and pieces of Caramel's brain, what little had been assimilated, had shown the horned natives using such energies, so it was of little surprise. What was a surprise was the lack of anything being held by the light yellow aura, which meant a possible attack. Hopefully she would not attack the head; it could recover from everything except loss of possible reproduction. Even before she finished speaking to Luna, it took defensive measures.

Excess hydrogen and chlorine flooded its bloodstream as the lining of it arteries and veins secreted a thin layer of basic mucous, providing powerful protection against the acid. The organ that had once been the gallbladder began filling with a more concentrated hydrochloric acid, ready for any harm to the abdomen. Modified osteoblasts wove the carbon nanotubing around the medullary cavities as fast as their increased number could, which was laughably slow in comparison to the fast-working princess. Muscle fibers tightened and hardened to a form a basic defense against ballistics, but Caramel's laughable physique left much to be desired.

Even as the golden tendril phased through the plexiglass and snaked towards it, it did not flinch or close its eyes; it had enough nutrients to repair and improve any damaged sense organs.

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Celestia was taking the mind-reading spell slow, altering this and that to compensate for the unique physiology she was presented. It would be a challenge understanding it undoubtedly alien mind, but it would provide a new perspective if she proved it was not a threat to anypony. There was still the question of what to do about it in regards of poor Caramel, but that could wait until it was batter understood. If Luna was right, and fire was the only likely method of killing it, then it would put it through needless pain for an execution. Skilled hooves made for swift work, and she primed her magic to pry into the brain of the alien body-snatcher.

She missed its brain, but was searching firmly within the skull. There were remnant of Caramel's occipital lobe, as well as his entire cerebellum and medulla oblongata, but nothing alien about it. There was an inordinate amount of fluid, but that was to be expected of an empty cavity that once had cerebrospinal fluid flowing through it. If there was no brain, then how did it think? Was its nature so alien that it had no recognizable organs, or was it something altogether different? She searched along the spine, and found nothing but nerves. She tried the thoracic cavity, and found only what was expected.

This thing broke all the rules the equine body followed, so she had to think outside the box to find its intentions.

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It realized all too slowly that Celestia wasn't trying to hurt it. It didn't quite know what she planned, but she wasn't being noticeably hostile. It, lacking any ability to feel pain, felt only a probing sensation as her energy swished around inside its head, than down its spine and into its chest. She hadn't discovered its secret of thought, its method of sapience, and she wouldn't, so long as she kept assuming she needed to find an organ. That all changed when her probe took a turn and jabbed into the muscles of its neck.

It tingled a little.