/kinder/ RCG-089 "Ziggerman"


                                            RCG-089


                                            Danger: Cognitohazard, unknown level


                                            Utility: Low, research subject for xenodimensional ecology and biology


                                            Containment Difficulty: Minimal physically, unknown memetically


                                            Description: RCG-089 is a black feline recovered from the same dimensional rift event as RCG-088 [1]. It is of a species previously unknown to Equestria. Asides from a smaller skull and greatly increased aggression towards smaller animals, its morphology and behavior are similar to the Equestrian Domestic Cat.


                                            [1]: RCG-088 claims that it has no prior relationship with RCG-089. It nonetheless named it "Ziggerman" and was permitted to keep it as a pet until RCG-088's release from containment. The significance of the name is unknown, and RCG-088 was evasive upon questioning.


                                            Interview Log: RCG-088-1|1200-10-08

                                            Interviewer: Dr. Saffron Rice

                                            Dr. Saffron Rice: I've been taking care of, um, "Ziggerman" for about six months now, and I'm hoping you might have some insight on some issues I've been having.

                                            Mark Carlyle: Always happy to help.

                                            SR: I left Ziggerman with some other animals at the veternarian unit and when I came back he- uh.

                                            MC: You came back to a pile of tiny corpses.

                                            SR: Yes! The worst part was that he carried one and placed it by my hooves, almost like he was proud of it! And it wasn't hunger-related predation either - his food bowl was still full and he didn't even eat anything he killed. In all my years as a biologist and veternarian, I've never seen anything like it.

                                            MC: I think this is another one of those problems where we have completely different foundations for our understanding. Do Equestrian animals not kill for pleasure?

                                            [~30 SECONDS OF SILENCE]

                                            SR: This is the part where I take the amnestics, isn't it?

                                            MC: Remember to write a report first. Castle's a stickler for paperwork.


                                            Saffron Rice's private notes:

                                            Animals reproduce in a sigmoid curve, approaching but never reaching the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. That's Ecology 101, really. Some unknown quorum sensing mechanism communicating through local Harmony fields allow animals and plants to avoid unnecessary competition and death. Herbivores eat only what local foliage can bare, and no more. Predators hunt only what they need to survive, and kill no more than they need. Starvation is avoided for all, and the ecosystem maintains a happy balance.

                                            We've always thought this was the natural state of affairs. Sure, there were local disruptions like droughts and floods that can lead to tragedies, and anomalies like RCG-012 ("Everfree Forest") where animal populations can be caught in anomalous cycles of boom and bust. But they were suppose to be the exceptions.

                                            But what if that isn't the case? What if it was, in fact the opposite? What if animal populations, when free of interference from Harmonic influences, continue to expand until they were forced to contract due to starvation, overpopulation, and destruction of their food source? The amount of suffering experienced by these animals must be painful to consider in even the most abstract sense, but please try.

                                            These are not idle speculations. I believe that RCP-089 is an animal from such an ecosystem. As is RCP-088. An entire *world* of endless suffering and competition, with Harmony turning a blind eye.

                                            I can still remember the first time I brought up this possibility to RCG-088. He just shrugged. I asked him, pleadingly, if there was a hope that some kind of group selection mechanism might allow populations of animals that voluntarily restrict their breeding to out-compete free-breeders. allowing the overall population to avoid the horrors I described.

                                            He thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up with recollection.

                                            >"Actually, I remembered they did an experiment with beetles, where they set them up to only select from groups that had the lowest population."

                                            He then proceeded to describe, in detail, how the resulting populations of beetles "evolved", not cooporation, but to cannibalize each others' babies, with preference for females. I ruined a perfectly good pair of shoes that day - his, not mine.

                                            He agreed that all these forces apply to RCG-088's species as well. And, given the consistancy of mathematics across the multiverse, to *ponies* as well.

                                            Their home world is, in short, a vision into Tartarus.

                                            This is the type of threat that the Group was set up to defend. Not evil wizards, jealous sisters, or chaos gods. But rather, something much more powerful, dangerous, and cruel - the utter indifference of reality.

                                            And, if the unthinkable should happen? If Harmony should be destroyed in Equestria? That is the fate which awaits everypony, every animal, every creature everywhere.

                                            The Group can not, must not, fail.