//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: A Brief History of Equestrian Aeronautics // Story: The Warp Core Conspiracy // by Unwhole Hole //------------------------------// The sun had set and, though the windows, Kirk could see that the moon had risen. He of course understood what it was, and what it represented—a strange and alien satellite, a machine built by some ancient and unknown race—and yet it looked so similar to Earth’s moon. Or what Earth’s moon might once have looked like before it had been terraformed. The moon of this world was silver and bright, although it showed the signs of a vast dark city on its crescent side and, on the darker half, the lights of distant farms and cities. Farming what, he had no idea. “So, Captain,” said the pony beside him, walking slowly to keep pace. “The planet you are from. What is its name?” “Earth,” replied Kirk. “I am from Earth.” Celestia seemed immensely intrigued by this. “Earth...what a strange name. Here, that word means 'soil'.” “Because that is what it is made of.” “Our planet...does not have a name. But Equestria is on it, so we call it Equestria.” “Then why not call it that?” Celestia shrugged. Her body seemed smooth and supple, but her skin, at least from Kirk’s assessment, seemed utterly devoid of the expected silky fuzz that the other ponies had. By logical extension—something Spock would have been proud of—he assumed her bicolored sister was similar in smoothness. “It is not up to me. Equestria is one of many nations. The largest and most powerful, of course, but there are other places too. They have their own names.” “Other ponies, you mean.” “No. Of course not. I rule all ponies on this planet. And Luna rules all those on the moon.” “But then who are they? The others, I mean.” Celestia seemed confused by this question. “Other beings. There are seventeen known sentient species on this planet with distinct evolutionary origins.” Kirk’s eyes widened. “Seventeen?” “Of course. I’m sure it’s the same on Earth. It would be terribly lonely to have only two or three.” She paused, then looked slightly embarrassed. “But I assumed, and that’s not right, is it? I can’t make assumptions like that, can I?” “Most planets only have one. The only one I can think of that has more than one is the Xindi. If they're even still around. There were five of them, unless you count the sixth. Or the seventh..." Celestia considered this for a moment. “So on Earth, you are all alone, then? There are only humans?” Her expression fell slightly. “That seems...so very sad.” Kirk paused. “I never thought of it that way, really.” Kirk looked out the glassless window at the rising moon. “Huh. I guess it kind of is.” “What is it like? Earth, I mean?” Kirk looked back at her and smiled. “Well, not that impressive, I suppose. It’s a lot like your planet, really. We have grasslands, and forests, and a lot of oceans. The poles are cold and icy, but there are cities there too. The planet has an axial tilt, so we get seasons.” “Unimpressive? Like mine, then?” “That is certainly not what I meant. Just that...” He shrugged, just as she had. “It just seems so familiar to me. But of course I’ve never been her before. Is that strange?” “I think it is a beautiful thing,” replied Celestia, after a moment. “That there are other worlds like this one, but different. With beings like...well, like you. That aren’t ponies. It’s so...” She stared out at the night’s sky, and at the stars. “It’s so very large.” “There are even creatures like you there, if that makes it even stranger. Except they don’t talk.” “Yes, yes, we have a creature very similar to you as well. We call it an affenpinscher. They can sometimes talk, but only rarely.” Kirk had no idea what manner of strange beast such a creature might be, and the thought that there were a version of humans on this world in the same sense that horses were a version of ponies on his disturbed him—but only slightly. More than that, it intrigued him. He looked over the landscape, leaning on the windowsill, and looked out at the moon. He pointed. “Earth has a moon like that one, too,” added Kirk. “Except it’s fully terraformed. Grass. Trees, mostly little willows. It’s own cities, lakes. We also have Mars, which is the next planet over. Not as thoroughly, it’s colder and there aren’t many plants, but mining is huge there. All our ships are made there. Even the Enterprise is made out of Martian titanium and steel.” “The Mechanicus lands?” Kirk frowned. “Excuse me?” “A thought.” Celestia smiled mischievously, and began walking again. Kirk followed. “Our own system has no additional planets. They did not survive the collapse of the star eons ago.” Kirk was confused. “You know?” “That what we consider out world’s sun is a satellite in orbit around this planet, and that we orbit a distant star that provides neither heat nor warmth? Jim, we of course have astronomy. We orbit a dead sun, and what we call the 'sun' orbits us.” “Why?” Celestia laughed softly. “What a question. I like that question. Very much. But I don’t have an answer for it.” She smiled at him. A different smile. One Kirk quickly returned. “You are a curious being. There is...something I would like to show you. If you don’t mind.” “Of course, Celestia. I would be glad to see anything you want to show. Anything at all.” Celestia smiled, and walked away. Kirk followed, having to move quickly to keep up. He soon found himself in a different hall, one with high ceilings arching overhead. Lamps in the center had been lit, and Kirk caught a glimpse of several well-dressed and winged maids lighting the lanterns. They quickly fled from his presence, or Celestia’s, but they confirmed the fact that the winged ponies could fly. Which raised a large number of other questions that Kirk preferred not to dwell on, the largest of which being whether Celestia's own massive and fluffy wings could provide enough lift to raise her aloft. This area had windows, and these had glass. Stained glass, in fact. The hall was lined with angular, slightly abstract mosaics, and from what Kirk could gather, they represented various aspects of Equestrian mythology. In one scene, a pair of ponies, one white and one blue, fought an enormous centaur; in another, they fought an epic battle with a unicorn clad in dark colors and metallic armor. In a particularly strange one, a noodly dragon of some sort held ponies aloft by marionette strings; in another, he was banished. Kirk did not like the look of the noodle dragon. It seemed to be looking back at him. “These are beautiful,” said Kirk. “I greatly enjoy stained glass. But not all of these are beautiful. Not to me.” This confused Kirk. “Then why keep them?” Celestia looked over her shoulder, having stopped at one window. A depiction of a white pony, her body shrouded in holy light, the beam from her body rending the form of an all-black equivalent. “To remind me.” “Of what?” Celestia stared at the window. It was lit from the front, but pale moonlight slid through the glass, casting strange shadows and making the normally bright and pleasant colors seem darker and more sinister. “I have ruled Equestria for almost two thousand years now.” “Two thousand? You certainly don’t look it.” “Because I don’t age. I just grow taller, slowly. But thank you.” Celestia sighed. “And just over one thousand years ago, I failed. In the worst way a Princess could. In the worst way a pony could.” Kirk stared at the painting, and he understood. “That’s her. Your sister. Luna.” “No,” said Celestia. “It was...not her. Not then.” She shook her head. “Or that’s...what I tell myself. But she was.” Kirk put his hand on her shoulder. It was indeed hairless, but she was warm. “What happened? Is it okay if I ask?” “I failed to see her discontent. With my rule, with my vision of Equestria. There...was a war.” Her gaze darkened as she stared into the glass. “A war far more brutal than anything I allow to be written into our history. One thousand years ago, I banished my beloved sister, the pony who had been by my side since the day I had been born. Banished her to the moon.” “She still lives there, though.” “Not entirely, and not always. Because there are ways back now. Runes of power to bring us forward and back. But not then. There was no way to come home...and no way for me to bring her back. And no one up there with her. She was all alone.” Her violet eyes met Kirk’s. “You must think I’m a terrible pony. Having done that the the pony I love most of all.” Kirk paused for a moment, thinking. “I think you did a bad thing,” he agreed, “but I don’t think you’re a bad person. And I’m almost always right on that.” Celestia did her best to smile, and continued walking slowly past more windows. “I wish I could think that, too,” she said. “But thank you, Jim.” “Well, she’s here now, isn’t she? And it didn't seem to me like she was too hostile. Sort of.” Celestia paused. “Somewhat,” she said at last. “She’s getting better but...I don’t think she can be the same as she once was.” She paused. “I had thought...she might. I had considered that there was a way to take away the rage she felt, but...that did not happen.” Celestia smiled. “Perhaps I am an old fool. I spent so many centuries finding a way to bring her back. Studying magic and spells and the arcane. I knew the bridge would open again. When the stars aligned. Did you know I even trained students specifically on how to heal her?" She chuckled. "Only one of them was ever clever enough to have done it, though. Except it never came to that, did it?” Celestia gestured to a window. One showing a Pegasus-pony with an orange mane flying heroically far beyond the others, her body strapped to strange armor and rocket-powered machines that left a brilliant orange trail behind her. “Space travel,” said Kirk. “Yes. About twenty years ago. It was something I had never even considered. And it was what brought us back together.” She pointed again, this time at a different image, one similar to the first in concept but showing numerous rockets departing Equestria and moving toward the moon. “As soon as I was able,” she said, “as soon as the technology had matured, I sent diplomatic rockets to the moon. To find her. To make peace. And it was...not easy.” She smiled sadly toward Kirk. “For her and I, our bodies cannot be destroyed or injured. Not permanently. But I had hurt her very badly nonetheless. It took time. But I had come to understand that she was not a child anymore. She was not suited to the humdrum minutia of running an established kingdom. Sharing Equestria was impossible. She needed room to grow.” “So you gave her the moon.” Celestia nodded. At the final window, before numerous ponies of every color and shape, two princesses—one white and one black—bowed before each other. Two ponies of equal height and equal power; behind them, Kirk realized the split in the ponies, that the image was divided in two. Ponies clad in white and gold: Pegasi, unicorns, and the ponies without horns or wings; and on the other side, ponies in black and silver, mostly unicorns and something else with bat-like wings that he did not recognize. She paused for some time, staring at it. Then, slowly, she turned to Kirk. “The Space Force intended as a joint effort between our kingdoms. I offer a great deal of support, but it is Luna’s greatest passion. Especially the FTL system. It’s more than a prototype, it’s a symbol. And our diplomatic relationship is...strained. As is our personal one. If that ship had been lost...” She hook her head. “I am afraid you have no idea the debt that Equestria owes you. That I owe you.” “We were just in the right place at the right time.” “Still. You saved our collaboration. And now we know that there’s a lot more in the universe than we thought there was, don’t we?” “There is. But I think that makes the diplomatic situation a lot more complicated than it was.” “And my sister and I will face it together. And send ponies to space, to explore all of it.” She smiled, and started walking once more, her golden horseshoes tapping against the cold tile floor. “You certainly do have good timing, Jim,” she said. “We are having a gala to celebrate Reunification and the Space Force. As the first alien we have ever encountered, I would be honored if you and your friends would attend. It’s not an obligation, of course. Just an invitation.” She looked over her shoulder. “But I would be very pleased if you were there with me. I haven’t taken a date to a gala since...ever.” “You would be honored? I would be honored, Princess. To serve as a representative for the Federation, of course. Understanding the culture of the peoples encounter is just as important as the scientific analysis, so I would be glad to.” Celestia’s smile grew. She seemed immensely pleased by this decision.