//------------------------------// // Lights in the Darkness // Story: The Science of Magic // by theworstwriter //------------------------------// “I know that, but this isn’t for me! I’m not asking you all to do this because I’d miss you. This isn’t just a polite request from your friend,” Eos stomped a hoof, “this is an urgent plea from your Princess!” “Sugarcube, we understand that Discord raised a whole heap more questions than he answered. Y’all can’t help who ya are, an’ not knowing what’s going on burns ya up. Ah understand. We all do, but-” “It’s not about satisfying scientific curiosities! It’s not even about finding Discord! It’s about ensuring Equestria’s future! He was right about everything else, and all the data points to him being right again. It makes perfect sense, too. You can’t get something for nothing. You can’t pull out more energy than you put in, and our source, whatever it is, can’t last forever. Equestria isn’t ready to handle itself entirely without magic. Please, girls, I know I can depend on all of you. Each one of you brings unique talents to the table, and if worst comes to worst and something awful happens out there it’d be a lot easier to deal with together,” Eos pleaded. “Even as powerful as I’ve become, I’m still nothing compared to the Elements of Harmony, and I can’t use them without all of you. Exploring the cosmos is sure to be perilous, and I’d rest much easier knowing I had your support.” Rainbow Dash stood defiant, an annoyed look on her face. “Yeah, so? I get it, Twilight, and I agree. Going out there alone would be stupid. But you don’t have to. You don’t need to worry about what’s out there because you don’t even need to leave. We’ve got plenty of time because we’ve still got plenty of magic. I’m sure something will get figured out eventually, so why get so worked up about it now?” “Because we don’t KNOW how much time we have! There are a lot of variables to account for. Any disasters take a lot to clean up. The sun’s output could drop dramatically. There could be a surge in the population of unicorns. Besides, for all we know the calculations could be completely off and we might...” Twilight was starting to cry. “We might have less time left than we thought. If we just keep putting off doing what needs to be done, we might only realize a mistake in the calculations once it’s too late.” The soft carpet underneath her dampened as she lowered her gaze to the floor. Closing her eyes did little to hold back the tears. After far too long of a silence, Rarity stepped forward to nuzzle her dear friend as comfortingly as she could. “I’ll go.” She received a sniffle and a hopeful look from Twilight, but only confused stares from her other friends. “I’m sure I can arrange for someone to watch Sweetie Belle, and it’s not as if we won’t be coming back. Twilight is right. Equestria needs us. But more importantly, SHE needs us. I’m not doing this for my Princess. I’m doing this for my FRIEND.” --------------------------------------------------- The Princess of Equestria, her five closest friends, her number one assistant, and two dozen specially trained ponies hurtled through space in an odd metal box. Eos was now glad to have spent the time developing non magical power sources for the craft itself, as well as the various devices strewn about it. Moving such a massive chunk of matter at such incredible speeds would have taken extraordinary amounts of arcane energy that Equestria couldn’t afford to lose. Especially not since such a large stock had to be brought on board to keep the crew healthy and for emergency use. Even with the generous supply available to everypony on board the Harmony, standard protocol was to only use magic when necessary. There was no telling exactly how long the journey would be, and conservation of resources would be vital. Despite restricted use of magic, the atmosphere within the Harmony was relaxed. There was little to do but wait, and every member of the crew tried their best to enjoy this peaceful time, not knowing what the infinite void stretching out before them held. The mysterious fountain from which all ponies drew strength was blinding when the scanning systems were turned up to any useful level, and several days passed before they were distant enough from Equestria to properly detect other energy sources. The days were uneventful. While the crew and their leader kept the vessel in tip-top shape and carefully studied the available sensor data, the others on board found themselves... bored. Dash napped, unable to do much while in such a cramped space. Pinkie performed experiments in baking with minimal ingredients. Applejack paced nervously. Fluttershy sat still and didn’t complain. Rarity sat still and complained loudly. Spike appeared to be writing something lengthy. He had a sizeable stack of paper next to him that he just kept adding to the top of, and he adamantly refused to answer any questions about it or allow anypony to read any of it. Unable to sleep ALL the time for several days straight, Dash was up now and again. She happened to be bothering Spike about his writing when the excited shouting started. --------------------------------------------------- The landing had been smooth, and the atmosphere proved breathable. The planet’s gravity was a bit more intense than the ponies were accustomed to, but the small difference only really upset Dash and her more advanced aerial stunts. The test spells went off without a hitch. This planet had a perfectly usable supply of arcane energy, in equal or greater quantities than Equestria. Something would have to be done about the Harmony’s sensors. Equestria’s supply of energy was dwindling, and yet it was still enough to overwhelm them. Getting any meaningful readings regarding the capacity of other sources wouldn’t be possible. Still, energy was energy, and this planet had it. Now it was just a matter of confirming there was no life dependent on magic and siphoning it all out. Or becoming suddenly and inexplicably blind, as every pony in the surface party seemed to. “Don’t panic. Everypony just-” Just as quickly as it had left them, their sight was restored and the extraterrestrial equines found themselves in a featureless white space staring at... Discord? Besides some slight differences in color, whoever they were looking at was pretty much identical to him. “What are you and how did you get here?” he asked. “We came from spaaaaa~ce,” Pinkie said, wiggling her hooves. In a blink, she and every other pony but Eos vanished, leaving the Princess alone with the inquisitor. “I gathered that much. Why didn’t I notice your approach? And again, what are you?” “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS?” Twilight screamed. “Your companions are fine, I just moved them so we could chat uninterrupted. You’re the most powerful, so I assumed you were the leader. Was I wrong?” “It doesn’t matter at all. None of us have any reason to cooperate with-” “I don’t mean any of you any harm, and I’m not sure why you’re so hostile. I’m just preserving the state of the dominant species on this planet, and you’re currently an unknown. You could be a threat to them or their way of life, and I need to assess the possibilities. Notice I didn’t immediately eject you into the vacuum of space? Now, how were you able to get here undetected?” “I... I have no idea why you wouldn’t have seen us coming. I would think it’d be pretty hard to miss several tons of metal and flammable chemicals screaming toward you at that kind of speed. I’m really not sure what kind of information you’re looking for, here. We’re ponies, and we came looking for sources of arcane energy.” His eyes seemed to lose their focus for a few seconds before he snapped to attention and put on a deathly serious expression. “How did you escape from your shephard?” “Our... our what?” “The draconequus that was supposed to monitor and regulate you, as I do for the sentient creatures of this planet.” “Discord? He ENCOURAGED us to leave. Without his help, we never would have developed half the technology we needed to do it.” “Discord?” “Yes, that’s his name.” “That can’t be right. We don’t have ‘names’ like that. I’m Q368. Judging by the sort of fuel you’re using and estimating based on ordinary mammalian lifespans, you couldn’t have come from any further away than any of the other three hundred series. That also can’t be right, since this is the only test bed in the series populated with creatures capable of logical reasoning.” “While I don’t know anything about where this ‘three hundred series’ stretches to, I can tell you that our planet is full of life that can think. And our lifespans can vary wildly, from just a few decades to several millenia.” “You’ll need to clarify. Year-based units of time don’t mean anything if I don’t know what the length of one of your years IS.” --------------------------------------------------- “So he just let you take it? He didn’t make you go through a maze to find it or take away your horn or give you any dumb riddles to solve?” Dash asked, raising an eyebrow. “Not all of it, but yes. Apparently the dominant species on this planet is something kind of like a cat, and while they’re a lot smarter than the cats back home, they don’t have any ability to manipulate arcane energy and Q doesn’t think they’re going to develop any. He even gave me some hints on how to modify our scanning equipment to get better readings!” “So he’s nothing like Discord at all. He’s a nice guy, just being overprotective of his cat things?” “Overprotective might be the wrong word. Regardless of our intentions, a more advanced species interacting with a lesser one is sure to have profound effects on their society and he was pretty adamant that we avoid that. He wouldn’t tell me exactly WHY it’s so important to him to not interfere, or who gives the Draconequui their orders, but apparently it’s pretty much his prime directive. Discord seems to be the exception, not the rule.” “So... that’s it then? We can all go home an’ Ah can get back to workin’ the farm?” “Not just yet. Our new and improved scanners indicate there’s quite a few large sources we can reach in no time, especially if we use some of the energy we picked up to augment our chemical thrusters. We’ve got plenty to spare for that, but I’d like to stock up as much as we can to keep Equestria going for as long as possible.” “It makes sense, I suppose. Now and then I’ve spent a few extra bits staying in Canterlot longer than I planned so I could pick up a larger supply of fine silk and save trips in the future.” “I’m surprised this was all so easy. It’s kind of... nice,” Fluttershy said, smiling. “If Q was right about this planet being the only one with sentient life, besides ours, we won’t even need to worry about draining the other planet’s supplies. There are no creatures depending on them. We can just land, explain ourselves to the local shepherd, grab what we can carry, and go to the next planet.” “Hey, since we were all so worried about how long this would take and it’s super duper short, maybe we’ll even have time for you to look for Discord!” “It’s okay Pinkie. While I AM curious about what he’s doing and why he helped us, not to mention what it is exactly that the draconequui are doing, I don’t think I’ll be finding those answers any time soon. Discord could be literally anywhere in the universe by now, and Q didn’t seem willing to tell me anything about his masters or his mission. As much as I don’t like not knowing, it’s probably not worth the time or the resources to go on a wild goose chase like that when we don’t need to.” “Silly Twilight, Discord isn’t a goose. And he’s right over there!” Standing and smiling where the Harmony was a second ago, Discord waved at the dumbstruck ponies. Pinkie waved back.