//------------------------------// // Singularity // Story: A Bit of Reason // by LordBarcha //------------------------------// October 1, 14 (AC) Dear Data Patterner, It’s hard to believe that it’s been 14 years since the launch of the first independant space colony.  How is life treating you in space?  I heard a rumor about you not being able to come back.  Something about tissue atrophy.  Will I have to come up there if I want to see your face again?   Anyway, I found something amazing.  It’s a really old journal I found in the sewers of Old Canterlot.  I dated it to 300 years after the Nightmare Moon Incident.  You know the period, just before the war with the newly formed Lunar Republic.  I tried to get it translated, but nobody I found has any knowledge of the dialect.  I am sending it to you in the hopes that you might be able to. Your friend, Relic Seeker          December 27, 14(AC) Dear Relic Seeker,         Unfortunately, the rumors are true.  Bones weaken in zero-G, so my body can no longer support its own weight.  On the plus side, life expectancy here is very high in zero-G, 100 years on average.  You should come visit.  The colony at LaGrange 5 is a good spot.  It’s mostly an an agricultural center.  Very beautiful.         The journal is another matter entirely.  It is a very revealing piece that highlights the height of the degradation of the Equestrian monarchy.  It was not merely the wrong dialect, but encoded, which is why an ordinary translator would have trouble.  The translation of the first entry is enclosed.  To prevent confusion, I translated the dates into the ANM (After Nightmare Moon) calendar. Sincerely, Data Patterner January 3, 263 (ANM)         It’s been twenty years since the disappearance of Celestia and things are not looking bright.  The power struggle is still going with no sign of stopping.  There was another assassination today.  I don’t even remember the last king’s name.  I suppose it doesn’t matter now.  He only reigned for three weeks anyway. The only thing that doesn’t change in this country is the secret police.  A year ago, one of my friends disappeared.  Overnight, his home was empty.  I told the police and they declared that  he never existed.  One day, somebody asked a question about the king in public.  He was never seen again.                    Last week, the statue memorializing the Elements of Harmony was demolished.  It was declared, “Disruptive to the common order.”           I’m beginning this journal as a record of my findings.  This kingdom is falling apart.  I will discover what is happening and why. December 30, 14(AC) Dear Relic Seeker,         After further examination, I have found this journal to be one of the most important finds in decades.  He hit upon the Great Postulate centuries before Spacial Reasoning.  The part concerning this discovery is here. Sincerely, Data Patterner February 24, 280 (ANM)  Another assassination today.  There has been nothing to report.  It is truly depressing. Today, I heard a story about an empire of eternal crystal, ruled by an alicorn.  It is completely gone for some unknown reason.  The time frame is almost the same as Celestia’s disappearance.  There is no way this can be a coincidence. I continue to examine everything for a pattern.  Something is wrong.  It’s not the government, but something else.  Tomorrow, I plan to look at the old census and see if I can find a correlation. February 25, 280 (ANM)         I found the records.  I wish I hadn’t.  The data is clear.  The population of unicorns has been on the decline for centuries.  In fact, this extends to all of the races with a stronger connection to magic.  Worse still, the population decline is showing an almost exponential decay.  There must be a reason.         I am taking this data to the king.  I need access to the higher level records.  Especially the magic books.  I must find the extent of this correlation. March 14, 280 (ANM)         The connection is definitely magic.  I have been digging through the archives of magic books.  All of the higher level books are completely blank.  The magically locked door holding the “Spell of Infernal Ruin” was unlocked.  It’s magical lock was of the highest known level.  No one but Celestia could have broken it, yet it is completely gone. When I opened the scroll, I found a few scattered  glyphs, but nothing in any known language.  The spell was supposed to be in modern Equestrian. March 30, 280 (ANM)           They are coming for me.  I have very little time.  I will hide this in the sewers and return for it, should I escape.  The king will die sooner or later, and then I will be forgotten.         My findings are as simple as they are terrifying.         Magic itself is fading.         The most powerful unicorn of her time was Twilight Sparkle.  No-one after her even came close to her power.  In fact, on the Rantile scale, Twilight only scores a 5.  Earlier unicorns scored as high as 10.  Over the next century, the levels continued to drop.  The most powerful unicorn as of the last census (Celestia’s disappearance) scored a 2 on the scale.         The drops in populations correlate to advances in physics.  The birth rates dropped consistently after major scientific discoveries.  Unicorn birth rate dropped by 50% after the Laws of Inertia.  It bled a further 75% after General Relativity.  From what I can tell, Quantum Physics killed the alicorns.         Another example is the dragons.  It was a well recorded fact that something was wrong there.  Dragons grow linearly with age to a nearly unlimited size.  However, starting in the year 1270 (690 BNM) the larger dragons began to die off.  The smaller dragons began to suffer from chronic exhaustion and  heart problems.  It is understood that the heart becomes less efficient as size increases.  I now theorize that magic was keeping them alive in the first place.  If so, its absence was causing them to lose efficiency.  Regardless, it is too late to experiment.  the maximum age for dragons dropped below maturity 100 years ago, resulting in their extinction as a race.                  This leads me to the final, terrifying postulate.         Magic works because we don’t know how the world works.                  I hear them.  I have no more time.  (blood obscures the remaining pages.) A/N: Comments are greatly appreciated.  Tell me what you think.