92 - Dawn
I stood up, my face becoming a mask of composure. It was a talent one developed as a lawyer. "This is ill-advised. The potential harm is greater than the benefit, especially since the 'price' being asked for otherwise is simply patience."
Luna rose, her great wings spreading. "Patience? Has your government even begun this process? What, pray tell, are we waiting for?" She brought down a hoof with a low clop that echoed about the room. "They will not act until forced, and this does not even begin to consider all the rest of your fractured people." She stopped suddenly. "I'm getting carried away. I understand that you wish for a peaceful transition..." She glanced away from me and back. "It is not a poor ideal."
A knock from the door had us both jump and turn. It opened a moment later to reveal Celestia.
She stepped in with a mild nod. "Here you are. I was told you were coming to the garden, but it seems you were captured by my sister." She inclined her head at Luna.
I wanted to rush to her with tales of what her sister was up to, but I felt literally running screaming would be hardly ideal. "We were just talking about the whole situation." I raised a hoof and turned it palm-side up. "Slow vs fast."
Celestia perked an ear at it. "Ah, yes... I had hoped to speak to you first on that." She joined us at the table and sank onto a seat with a soft sigh. "I presume she has told you of the 'fast' way then?"
Oh. So she already knew about it. That was good, and awful, all at once. "She has, and it sounds like a thousand bad endings waiting to happen."
"Mm?" Celestia looked to her sister, sharing a look before she returned her gaze to me. "That is a curious turn of phrase. Care to explain it?"
Where to start... "My life has become very... interesting, like a story that I'm not even the star of, but a story. I've been trying to avoid bad endings as best I could, and we've tripped over a few possibles without landing in them. None of them rated quite this high." I set my hoof back on the ground and rejoined them at the table. "Look, let's assume everything works perfectly. You wrench everyone back to the world they were born on." I tapped the table. "You'll end up missing some if you go by that measurement. I find it impossible to believe no one on either side hasn't found love or what passes for it. So, alright, you don't care and just go by race, which means you wrench families apart." I spread my forehooves to emphasize the idea. "But that's their problem, right? Ponies and mythical creatures on one side, humans on the other."
Luna nodded softly. "This would be the goal, yes. We would withdraw entirely from your world, abandoning it to the wider cosmos."
Celestia perked an ear at me. "Have you found love?"
I had not been expecting that question. "I am laughably bad at that hunt, double so for having that hunt being my literal destiny in this world." I quirked a smile as my bow lifted from my side. "Just like the original, I will help countless others find what I can't find myself. That's besides the point. This isn't about me." I set the bow down on the table with a thought. "I am just one person. This is something that can... will... affect billions."
Celestia perked at my words. Any hope that I had struck the right chord faded quickly with her words. "Billions?"
Luna shook her head. "Have you not been listening to Twilight's reports? She has spoken of how dense their populations are."
Celestia paused a moment. "I... thought they covered less of their world. A single culture, with so many..."
She sounded a bit overwhelmed. I raised a hoof. "A single culture is far from the truth. We may be one species, but one culture? No. We have as many languages as ponies have colors, for one. Again, beside the point."
Luna frowned. "That is not beside the point. The longer we allow this connection to persist like this, the more risk we place all the world, our world, in. Should your people become motivated to war, it will quickly become a costly one. There will be no winners, only sorrow and loss."
Celestia sank a little under the weight of her thoughts before she sat up tall, recomposing herself. "True, you are, as ever, a clear shot in your words. Our plan is too risky."
Luna slammed her hoof on the table. "What?!"
"This mass exchange is too risky." She nodded slowly. "But keeping the connection carries equal risk. These loose threads must be severed." She looked at me intensely. "Even if we should wish to continue dealing with your people, the leaks must be stopped, immediately. No person should travel across that divide without our knowledge and control."
I grit my stallion teeth. "Are... I mean, of course you are... You're telling me to pick a side."
Celestia's lips curled into a faint smile. "I am afraid that is so. I presume you would wish to return to your home, your people, your profession. I can hardly blame you."
That would be the wisest course of action. I never claimed to be the wisest person. I didn't want to give up on the pony world. I didn't want to give up anything. I liked my life, my lives. It was selfish. There were people that would be hurt by True Shot simply ceasing to exist, and I was one of them.
"Or, perhaps, you wish to divest yourself and join us full time?" Celestia's voice was laced with hope. "You would be welcome here."
Luna rolled her eyes with a good-natured snort. "You would be welcome between the sheets of a certain diarch, if you didn't scare her."
Celestia had the decency to color faintly at that. "There are still complications there. It is your choice, True, but a choice must be made."
Luna leaned forward. "From what I have been told, this could be a simple matter. If you join us, your other side simply does not awaken. Those around her will hardly be surprised. Sad, surely, but not surprised."
Live, or die. That was the choice being given, but it was being asked twice, and saying to live in either way meant dying the other way. Damn it...
I had walked that tightrope. I had balanced my life. I had done everything right.
But it wasn't about me, was it? I quirked an ear with a new thought. "Could I be in both places, separately?" They both looked confused. "I mean, is there enough 'me' to live here, as True Shot, and to go back to being Linda Frohein, not connected. Just two people, two worlds, who shared a time together." I tried for a smile, but the expression failed to hide the sorrow in me. "Both sides would miss the other... but at least we'd know the other side wasn't erased... That would be less awful."
Celestia glanced to Luna, who nodded. "You would be diminished in part, but such could be done. You would truly be two people then, with the connection severed and no longer serving as one of many bridges between our worlds."
The princess of the sun rose to her hooves. "This is very brave of you. I will leave you in Luna's capable hooves. Linda or True, whomever I speak to next, know that I do appreciate this sacrifice... Besides--" She suddenly smiled. "--there will be more." She strode from the room, not explaining her words.
"Come, we have ponies to speak to." Luna stood up, waited for me to follow, and began leading me through the castle.
With Night Heart dressed, Starlight nodded approvingly. "Alright, let's head back."
Tod perked. "Where to?" He sounded like he was hoping for more adventure.
Starlight would have to dash those hopes. "We're heading back to the house. They must be very worried about you, and everything else."
"They won't be there." Tod shrugged emphatically. "They'll be at the hospital, trying to get word on how Linda's doing."
Trixie shrugged. "Trixie is very tired. They won't all be there, and she doesn't care if they are. She wants a nap somewhere where she can... let go."
Tod threw down his hands, open with palms showing. "That's not the house right now, with people on edge. If you're already using Linda's card, she probably won't mind if you get your own space."
Starlight didn't grasp the idea. "What, you want us to buy a house? She has that much money laying around?"
Tod looked quite amused at where Starlight's thoughts had gone. "I was talking more like renting a room in a hotel or something."
Night pulled at her clothes, fidgeting with them as her eyes roamed the strange new world she had become part of. "I'll go where you say to. I can't even pretend to know where I would go on my own, except to hide and hope for better."
Trixie yawned widely, a hand covering the gesture poorly. "Yes, hide, sleep. This is what she's saying."
Starlight submitted to the peer pressure. "Alright alright. Tod, call your parents and let them know we're alright. I don't want to add foalnapping to my list of crimes." She pressed at my phone, summoning a car to take them away to theoretical safe haven.
Tod fished out his own phone. It didn't take long before someone picked up. "Hey dad. I-- No! I'm alright. We're..." He trailed off, likely listening to his father speak. "I'm fine, promise. Oh..." He put a hand over the phone. "Hospital says Linda is still in trouble." The others made sad noises as he lifted the phone back up to his ear. "Yeah, I told them. No, I'm not doing anything that weird. They decided not to be a pain and are getting a hotel room. Yeah? Look, they're nice people, but they need someone around with a clue. Yes, they can hear me. No, I don't care that much."
Starlight snatched the phone away from Tod in a sudden motion. "Hello? Starlight here."
"Starlight, is Tod being a pain?" He sounded pained and frustrated.
Starlight smiled gently into the phone even if she couldn't be seen. "He's been a complete gentleman. He's not wrong, even if his phrasing could use help. He's helped us get around. We're keeping an eye on him too, promise."
"Look, he's my problem in the end, you don't have to babysit him."
Starlight hiked a brow. "He's not a problem. He's a good kid."
"I'm glad someone thinks so." He let out a strained laugh into the phone. "God, this is all getting to me... Please don't tell him I said any of that, he doesn't deserve that. It's me, not him. Fuck, here I am ranting to some woman I hardly know. Look... Just keep an eye on him. He's probably better off having a good time than sitting around worrying about Linda."
"We'll all try to relax for now. There's nothing to do until Linda recovers anyway." Starlight looked at Tod with new concern.
"Yeah, guess that's true... Do you have a charger for the phone?"
Starlight dug around and fished out the cord. "Right here! Linda was very clear about how important this is, besides it's just like my tablet."
"Yes... it is?" He sounded confused about something. "Look, you're Linda's friend, right?"
"Of course." Starlight turned to look down the street. "That's why we went looking for her. She's a good person, and a good friend."
"Take care of Tod for now, please. I'm in no proper state to do it right. If it gets too much, drop him off, I'll understand."
"Will do, bu-bye!" Starlight clicked the hangup before tossing the phone towards Tod. "Your father is lacking in confidence."
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Wait does that mean that Starlight and Trixie will be permanently stuck on Human Earth? I guess both are about to seriously pay for their rashness.
It is funny how the ponies are the ones who have the you are with us or against us mentality.
Who else thinks Todd will end up as a pony?
8403103
The dimensional interference must be playing jokes with you.
8403107
The problem is that their thoughts seem to lack foresight and seem to be based on an emotional reaction of people keep disappearing and not looking at the potential benefits of trade. They seem concerned about the potential dangers but magic. If we worry about the potential dangers, magic should be banned and removed from the world or people like Tirek and Starlight Glimmer have abused it in ways that would have destroyed the world (technically Starlight DID destroy the world). Why aren't they working on solving that problem by removing magic from the world?
As for the government moving slowly, have they never heard the saying of moving at the speed of bureaucracy? Yes, you have to push them to move but that's because they want to be careful for both their own sakes and head off any potential PR issues usually.
8403100
They're not permanently locking it, just closing off the travel methods used before, which includes Linda's dream method. I'm pretty sure mirror methods will work, as long as they are not piggybacking off of Linda's method like normal.
They might be... temporarily stuck. But, at least they're not also in a prison camp.
If the leaks aint accidental, then using more power will force it open again, from either side, except only one side has even an idea of stabilisation and correction, wher the other side just uses even more power.
A collapsing alcubierre drive is a very unpleasant thing to be around. As would Pluto.
I have a feeling that Linda hasn't told Celestia about the theory that somepony might has been continue to jump back-and-forth between two world - even before Linda came.
I believe this somepony use a kind of switching spell to swap place between himself/herself and a person/pony in another world. When this pony is in Equestria, he/she will swap place with a human. And when in human world, this pony will swap place with anypony in Equestria. Anypony/anyone will do. That's why the race, age, and gender of the one being swapped were not fix. And from what I read so far, the amount of ponies in human world and human in Equestria are roughly close.
One most crucial point for me, this somepony seems to know the adventure of Mane 6 - in detail. Even when Twilight was at Canterlot High. (if we believe Starlight's theory to be true)
Oh dear, even Celestia is knee jerking a little bit. Too much fear of the unknown and partial information being given as ultimate truth.
Perhaps a conference call is in order?
Keep going! ;)
Ok, see, here's the problem. If Linda/True's connection is cut off, there'll be no more communication and that is literally the worst thing you can do.
The Human race is stubborn and smart. If they set their minds on something, it either gets done or is deemed impossible. In this situation, the latter cannot happen because they KNOW it is possible. If they set their minds on getting to Equestria they WILL get to Equestria, regardless of the connections being severed. If it happened on accident, the Human race can make it happen on purpose, it's not a question of if, but when.
If Linda/True stay connected, yes, it's a risk keeping that hole open, but at least then there's communication. A chance for cooperation, for talk. If it's severed, there's no chance and it'll be too late to talk, only act. They want to avoid war, but if there is no communication there will be war.
True is right about the bad ends. There is so many ways a mass displacement can go wrong, especially if the way to reduce energy costs is based on Linda/True's ease of slipping through. It's only going to make more Linda/True connections. There's also the point that yes, the interactions the ponies and people have made will be torn apart. And, worst case scenario, all their souls are moved, but their bodies remain, killing them all.
No matter what choices are made, Equestria and Earth can never again be seperate. It's a choice of cooperation or war.
My god that is a horrible choice to make. She's literally the avatar for the bridge between worlds
8404618
You kinda overestimate us. For example we know that it possible to create thermonuclear reactor for about sixty years now... And to this point we still try to create them. And our knowledge about dimensional crossing faaaaaaaar less that our knowledge about thermonuclear reaction. And considering that ponies know how to cross dimensions there is also a possibility that they know how to block dimension crossings attempts.
I find it hard to emphasize with Linda's stance on this. Earth hasn't exactly been treating the Equestrians like guests, but rater like prisoners. And now that a communication with their guest/prisoners home has opened, they are being frustratingly secretive in the hows whats and whens of the status of their guests and the plans to get them home. Nevermind the status of the captured unicorns, which is only not a serious violation of human rights on the technicality of ponies not being human. A technicality they lost claim on the moment they started treating ponies like illegals for the crime of accidentally falling through a hole in space.
The entire ordeal doesn't sound like a setup for friendly first contact, it sounds like a setup for blackmail.
8405584
You'd be surprised.
8405894
I doubt it. Some problems took hundreds of years to solve. Like Fermat last theorem. Fermat writes it down in... uh... 165something and first real proof released in the nineties. It took more than three hundred years to solve.
My point that just because humans here know that another world exists it's not automatically mean that they be there next Sunday.
8406386
I did say it's not a matter of If, but when.