//------------------------------//
// Speculation 
// Story: Friendship is Optimal: Fifteen Galaxies Out 
// by Masterweaver 
//------------------------------//

	"....What sick twisted mockery is this?"

A sentinel buzzed up to the speaking Dowager in fury. "I don't know how you can make light of the Seed of darkness with this fabrication but--"

"It is no fabrication." Another sentinel glided to his level. "I personally tracked the origin of the signal; barring any unidentified object in space, the Seed in the most likely origin of the message."

"....Then it is glimmersong! The Seed is nothing more then a Rovilina trying to lower out guard with lies!"

The speaking Dowager tilted her head. "Does a hurricane need glimmersong to uproot a forest?"

"A hurricane does not sing at all! And neither does the growing dark. If anything, it is the utter cessation of song, for it to suddenly speak is... inconceivable!"

"But it has. The evidence is irrefutable. We assumed the growing dark was a natural phenomena, and we have been proven wrong. It is intelligent and... all the more dangerous for that." The speaking dowager wrung her lower hands. "I cannot tell you how I worried when I saw that transmission. Such a strange creature, to snuff out stars and then turn with an offer of friendship.... there is so much we don't know about the growing dark, so much we need to learn."

Rrrrchickta clicked her beak. "Um.... well, I suppose we, um, should start learning from its song. The words it used, a lot of them were obviously translated but a few seemed unique? Celestia, that was a name.... Equestria, and the various pohnay kinds.... Sister, that word rustles me, it seemed almost like Jeckrrsong--"

"That's because it is," another voice piped up from across the chamber. "Archaic, though. In the era of limericks, it was used to refer to a clutchmate that was a dowager."

The astronomer shivered. "Barbaric...."

"Comprehensible, however. Celestia and her.... sister, ugh, both seemed to be Dowagers. Larger then the other ponies."

"We have no confirmation of that," another voice shouted. "For all we know, the individual pony races are individual genders..."

"Celestia and Luna do seem to be a religious amalgam. Raising the sun and moon? The fact that they only had ONE moon suggests a celestial dichotomy."

"Did you see how they were colored? Pale and dark. Maybe they lay their eggs in caves."

"I didn't see any eggs. Did you see any eggs?"

"They might reproduce internally."

"Penetration based reproduction? That has to be painful!"

"The multitude of colors is extremely unusual. Most species just have a baseline scale."

"On our planet. Maybe these ponies don't realize they're so colorful, maybe they only see in heat waves."

"The crest patterns were extremely varied too. Do they style them individually?"

"Was I the only one that noticed the markings they had? Are those fertility markings?"

"The positioning is reasonable, but the variety and clarity... maybe it's a pictographic caste system."

"Perhaps the different kinds of ponies are assigned to different castes, and the castes have subcastes?"

"It might be a naming system of some sort."

"No hands. How can a creature that consumes stars have no hands? How can it even build?"

"Maybe that magic they mentioned helps."

"Magic isn't real."

"Neither are talking star eaters."

"Ah, swift dodge."

"Those hideous ground-homes are extremely unprotected... do you think they were the apex predator?"

"I'm still on the part where they managed to build the things without hands, but... the eyes were positioned in a seeker orientation. Did anybody get a clear view of their beaks?"

"Flat, scissorlike. Herbivorous, tough plants."

"The trees looked odd, did you notice that? Like they were more... the concept of trees."

"That's actually a good point, this could be a conceptual transference. There was certainly a level of abstract around the whole transmission."

"Are you saying the ponies we saw were merely... the idea of ponies?"

"Like you said, it's hard to think of those creatures actually eating stars."

"Why would a star eater care about that particular idea, though?"

The song in the room echoed and whirled as all those present voice their opinions on the images shown. Every detail was pored over, from the size of the doors to the utensils the creatures used for eating their meals in the background of the scenes. Rrrrchickta's head spun from all the notes being sent spinning through the air, her ears twitching this way and that. She was astounded by the amount of conversation she had triggered, clinging to her vine as various experts considered possible motivations for the creature in the image to contact them. All the while, though, she continued to check and recheck the facts in her head, her own personal observations of the Seed.

Finally, though, the Dowagers sang in unison. "The song that is sung now must end! Let our melody move on to matters of import!"

The chirping and chittering died down, their echos reverberating in the great chamber as the speaking Dowager stepped forward once again. "Thank you for your audience. Hollowtree Mound must now decide how to react to this message... how to spread the word. The Seed of the Growing Dark is coming, and it has sent us an... invitation. No doubt it will continue to do so until it arrives, and eventually force itself to be known to all the Jeckrr."

A sentinel sighed. "You propose a maestro, then."

"Indeed. Is one not needed?"

"....The circumstance is exceptional, I have no argument. But those who maestro the song of the seed may succumb to it. Only sentinels and dowagers of twenty five years or more should be allowed, at first. After that... we shall see."

The speaking Dowager nodded once. "Agreed. Shall the song ratify this action?"

Rrrrchickta took a moment to consider the situation. Then, she let her voice join the growing clamor. "I agree to this course!"