1. A Newcomer Arrived During The Night

There are regions of Equestria that can be dangerous, but there are also many areas that are more or less entirely safe. So the girls did not think anything of making a small fire and sleeping under the stars, when the dusk got ahead of them on one of their causal outings. An unusually pleasant sleep was had by all. When they woke up in the morning, they were not alone. Pinkie Pie notices it first, and she also reacts the most strongly. Pinkie is terrified. Not by what the Monolith is, but to what it is not. Her Pinkie Sense goes haywire like never before. Pinkie Pie has no idea that it is being actively monitored, but that does not matter. Pinkie's Sense would be sounding the alarm regardless. The Monolith is as far removed from a new friend as it is possible to be. But it is equally not a big meanie either. It is something entirely other, and that makes its motivations opaque and unpredictable. And that is a real problem because Pinkie Pie has, for no reason she can understand, some dim perception of just how powerful the Monolith is, and how dangerous it might become. Fluttershy does not panic, but she is profoundly shaken. The Monolith is not inert, but it is also not animated in any sense that Fluttershy can understand. It is neither a pony, nor any other kind of creature. It is not alive, but it is not dead either. It is not a rock, or a machine. Fluttershy senses something she cannot describe. She wants to understand, but the very concept of understanding has itself just been dangerously destabilized. Applejack does not know how to react, so she does nothing for the moment. Should she buck it, should she flee, does she dare turn her back to it? Applejack observes, desperately trying to notice some cue which will tell her how to react. There are none, the Monolith offers her nothing. Rainbow Dash spoils and kicks at the dirt ineffectually. Any time she attempts to advance, she involuntarily backs off. The Monolith's sheer impassiveness is an affront, and yet its presence is so overpowering. Rainbow Dash cannot even begin to imagine how she might attempt to intimidate or impress it. So instead, she dithers and sputters. Rarity is attempting to flee, but it's no use. Her hooves seem to slide without any purchase on the ground beneath her. Her legs do not move the way Rarity commands them to, they twist and curl into pretzel braids. Her panic arises from the blind spot in her world that the Monolith creates. It is a deeper black than she has ever seen before. It is tall, imposing and unpredictable. It certainly reminds her of a predator, but she does not know what it is. And its lack of action does nothing to reassure Rarity. Spike's dragon instincts prevent him from panicking per se. He has no idea what he is looking at. The Monolith is certainly untoward, but that is about the only thing that can Spike can say about what it is. The thought occurs unbidden to Spike that even reporting this encounter to Princesses Celestia and Luna will itself present a great many problems. As Twilight Sparkle's personal secretary and assistant, Spike is a high level administrator of Equestria. And he is entirely certain that there are no currently available report forms, or command chains through which he could relay the discovery of...this. Ever the leaders, ever the scientists, Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer manage to maintain their composure, but just barely. The Monolith is clearly not a natural phenomenon, but no pony would ever fashion any object in quite this manner. It is too dark, the sunlight seems to be entirely absorbed. Both of them recognize in its dimensions a ratio that seems to be mathematically significant, but the sensibility is entirely alien. Starlight and Twilight are becoming aware that this object may well challenge their very categories of understanding.