Impossibly Smooth, Unnaturally Cold
Remembering her role as a princess, Twilight Sparkle makes the decision to be the first pony to touch it. Nothing bad happens, but Twilight can only report that the Monolith is impossibly smooth and unnaturally cold.
Starlight Glimmer is right there with Twilight, she allows her teacher to probe while she observes. Starlight strains, she forces her attention upon the object. Starlight attempts to commit every single detail to memory as carefully as possible. But the details are actually quite few. It is a dark rectangle which mysteriously appeared while they were asleep. It is too dark, not reflective enough, unnervingly smooth, and too cold for the environment which they are in. And that is about all there is to say for the moment.
Rarity has given up trying to flee, but she refuses to even try and process what is going on. She is scared, the moreso because all of her friends are too. She refuses any attempt to understand this new aberration, and so she must endure its presence, even if doing so is barely tolerable.
Applejack cannot understand the object, but one thing is certain. The Monolith's arrival is a very important event. Whether for the better or the worse is not yet clear. Applejack falls back on tradition, the ways and the manners of the Apple clan. Removing her hat, she pays her respects to the gravity of situation, and silently tries to offer the newcomer a sincere Apple Welcome to Equestria.
Spike is no longer worried about report forms, or the chain of command. The Monolith is a monstrosity of the unknown, or perhaps the unknowable. Their Majesties' government in Canterlot is entirely unequipped and unprepared for this. Continued exposure to the Monolith's mere presence begins to threaten the very idea of the only world Spike has ever known.
Fluttershy maintains a stand-off. She has spent her whole life trying to understand creatures who are different, and to embody Kindness. The Monolith hasn't done anything hostile, but there seems to be a deliberateness behind its serenity. Fluttershy does not know how to interpret that. Even predators, monsters and enemies feel something. All that Fluttershy senses is the embodiment of absence.
Rainbow Dash continues her futile attempts to display competency and prowess. She tries to touch the thing, since Twilight already has. Rainbow Dash cannot bear the thought that she might look like a spooked horse. But the thought of touching the Monolith is equally unbearable. Not because Rainbow Dash feels threatened, but because she is terrified that nothing will happen. That nothingness will be a final and irrefutable confirmation that the Monolith regards her as irrelevant. For Rainbow Dash, literally nothing could be worse.
Pinkie Pie will have nothing to do with the Monolith, and has retreated to a distance of several meters. She desperately wants her friends to get away from it as well, but she knows that she is too compromised to make them do so. Pinkie Pie wants to tell them what she knows, but she realizes that she can't. The Monolith is not Tirek, is not Discord, is not the Harmony Tree, and is not the Wendigos. Tirek can be defeated, Discord can be reasoned with, the Harmony Tree provides the power to act, and the Wendigos can be banished. None of this applies to the Monolith. And all of those other potential threats are at least part of her world. But how do you manage a threat from beyond your world, if you cannot predict what it is likely to do?
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