Story
DEEP
Celestia stepped carefully around some stone cutters who were busy working on a section of the castle wall. The building was new, and some final construction tasks were still being performed.
Hurrying forward through the hallways, Celestia checked her saddlebags to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything important. Her long legs quickly crossed the main hall and carried Celestia up the stairs to the royal quarters. Pausing for breath just outside an ornate office door, Celestia raised a hoof and knocked. A voice invited her in, and she opened the door.
Queen Harmony was tending to paperwork at her desk. She looked up and smiled at her visitor. “Thank you for coming so quickly, Celestia.”
“Absolutely, your highness.” It was not ordinary for Queen Harmony to call on Celestia so urgently, even if she had been the Queen's aide and confidant for a little while now. Celestia shifted her hooves nervously. No matter how warm and inviting the Queen was, Celestia always felt awkward around her. Although to be fair, Celestia felt awkward around most ponies. Even as an adult, albeit a young one, it sometimes seemed that she still hadn't grown accustomed to her outsized body, wings, and horn that stood out in any crowd. There was definitely something different about her, as anypony would attest.
“You know something about radiation, don’t you?” asked Queen Harmony without further preamble.
“Er...yes, I suppose.” While Celestia had never formally studied anything like that, the cutie mark depicting a blazing star on her hip signified her inherent understanding of how molecular fission and fusion could produce energy. Well, that in addition to moving the sun around.
After finishing school, Celestia had taken a government job with the dream of helping ponies. It wasn’t like her special talent of controlling sunlight was very useful to her in day-to-day life. The task of managing the heavens was the Queen’s responsibility.
Perhaps that was why Queen Harmony had taken the awkward young mare under her wing. As the only other pony who was qualified for the job, Celestia was a smart choice to have around. Lately, she had noticed the Queen giving her more and more responsibility and more important tasks to complete. It almost felt like training of some sort.
Instead of talking about the sun, however, Queen Harmony laid a map of the Equestrian Ocean on her desk. “Scientists calibrating their equipment recently discovered an unusual type of emission coming from a point off our east coast.”
Celestia noted a small X placed on the map. The Queen went on. “The signal is believed to be low-level radiation of some sort. It doesn’t appear to have an organized pattern, so it’s unlikely to be a message.”
“What could it be, then?” Celestia wondered aloud.
The Queen smiled. “It could be an artifact of the forerunners.”
The significance was not lost on Celestia. Based on archeology findings, scholars had theorized that perhaps an ancient civilization came before the rise of ponies. Very little existed in the way of old written records to know how things like magic, language, and ponies themselves first came about. A link to the past could provide valuable insight.
“This discovery sounds amazing, your highness.”
Queen Harmony nodded. “I would like you to be my personal representative on the expedition to survey the site. In fact, I want you to lead the group.”
Celestia sputtered. “M-me? I don’t think I can.”
“You’re qualified to give your opinion on the source of the radiation. Furthermore, I believe you have what it takes to manage everything else. Have a little faith in yourself, Celestia. I believe that you can accomplish great things. You’re more capable than you think. Now, go have a look and report to me what you find.”
The Queen had already made travel arrangements, and almost before Celestia knew it she had been ushered out of the castle and down to the coast to catch a research vessel that would be sailing soon. She wanted to protest at the suddenness of it and the magnitude of the task, but there was no way she could bring herself to go against Queen Harmony’s orders.
The crew was mostly composed of scientists but there were a few salty sailors mixed in to handle the running of the ship. All of them looked to Celestia for guidance. She stood all by herself in front of the crowd.
Celestia had watched Queen Harmony deliver speeches before. Trying to draw from the Queen’s presentation, Celestia squared her shoulders and lifted her head. “Fillies and gentlecolts, we are embarking on an very important mission today. The Queen herself has taken a special interest in this. No matter what we find out there, I hope all of us will do our best.”
Her words seemed to carry weight with the crew, and they seemed to take them to heart as they went back to their tasks. Celestia knew little of ships and felt that it was best to let the other ponies do their jobs without her interference.
She retired to her room with a package of information the Queen had sent along. The trip would take most of a day, and Celestia wanted to be ready when they got there.
There were a few unicorns on board who were good with environmental control spells. These would give any pony venturing below the surface of the ocean the ability to breathe as well as protect them from anything harmful. It had already been decided - against her will- that Celestia would be the one to make the trip to the bottom.
She concentrated harder on reading, trying to stave off the nervousness of the task she had been burdened with. Celestia was naturally attracted to sunlight and open air. Venturing into the depths of the ocean did not sound easy, entertaining, or without risk. Still, she couldn’t very well ask the crew to do everything else and then not follow through with her own task. Plus, the Queen had ordered it.
By the time the ship reached the dive site, Celestia had steeled herself for what lay ahead. Ponies scurried around the ship getting things ready. The environmental experts came to see her in order to prepare for the dive.
A unicorn named Fresh Air was busy setting up the magic that would keep Celestia safe beneath the waves. When it was time to begin, his horn began to glow. “Here, let me get the spell for the oxygen bubble started and then I’ll pass it to you.”
Celestia nodded, preparing her magic to power the spell after Fresh Air gave it over. The scientist conjured a shimmering bubble about as large as he was. Glancing up at Celestia, he grinned sheepishly and expanded it to her size. “Okay, get ready.”
Delicately balancing the bubble between them, Celestia took over the handling of it. The magic required to sustain the spell was a pittance once Fresh Air had gotten it started. Celestia slowly maneuvered the bubble until she was inside.
A few other ponies came over to add their own spells to the mix. Iron Butterfly, whose special talent was weight manipulation, added a layer to the bubble that allowed Celestia to easily control her descent or ascent through the water. A pony named Shield provided a spell to absorb any radiation in higher levels, as it was not yet known how that might affect ponies.
Celestia had not studied magic extensively. While she had enough raw power to move the sun, she lacked more the more delicate finesse required for precise spells. However, once the other ponies had passed control of their charms over to her, she had no trouble keeping them running.
“The water is quite deep here,” one of the scientists provided. “It will be dark at the bottom.”
Celestia nodded and lit up a soft glow from her horn. She could increase the output later if required. Turning, she saw that the whole crew had come to see her off. The sight of them helped reinforce the nature and importance of her mission. I’ll do this just like you said, Queen Harmony.
With a nod of farewell, Celestia stepped over the side of the ship and plunged into the ocean. She sank slowly at first, beginning to pick up speed. The pressure of the water tried to collapse the air bubble and form it tight to her body, but Celestia applied a bit of magical effort and got it to expand into a sphere again.
As the light filtering through the water from above began to fade, Celestia brightened her personal illumination into a tight beam focused downward. She rolled a bit in her bubble, assuming a head-down posture like a show diver. She smiled a little, amused with the slight diversion.
Her downward speed only increased and the water continued to darken until it was black. Celestia didn’t know how far she had descended, but when she had been told that the water was “quite deep,” it was not an exaggeration in the slightest.
A few minutes passed before Celestia caught a glimpse of anything that wasn’t dark water. She slowed herself slightly and began to reorient her hooves for a possible landing.
Slowly, a swath of silty ocean bottom came into view. Celestia hovered above it for a moment before gently touching down. It squished slightly but her bubble kept her from sinking in.
Celestia glanced up briefly, but she was so deep that the sunlight overhead was completely obscured. It was entirely possible that there was a blanket of water above her that was deeper than the height of the Canterlot Mountain. That was not a reassuring thought and Celestia pushed it from her mind.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Celestia tried to focus on detecting any nearby sources of radiation. She knew what the sun felt like, and figured that the feeling should be somewhat similar. Sure enough, there was a signal not far away, making itself known to her like a beacon.
Inside her sphere, Celestia was not sure she could swim or even extend her wings to “fly” underwater. She resolved to walk, the bubble of air moving with her across the ocean floor. Searching ahead with her light, she tried to pick out where the signal calling to her might be coming from.
Something like a wall appeared in the gloom. Celestia quickened her pace, eager to see what it might be. As she drew nearer, both the top and bottom of the wall appeared to curve away, disappearing in the gloom. It was definitely not natural, and Celestia’s heart began to beat faster at the discovery. From the dark water a cylindrical metal shape oriented horizontally emerged. It was enormous, much taller than Celestia, and in the darkness she could not see either end.
Celestia adjusted her bubble’s buoyancy and floated up off the bottom, trying to get a look from above. She drifted over the top of the strange object, observing that it was mostly shaped like a tube. Gingerly, she allowed her hooves to touch down on top.
The surface of it was caked with waterlogged clumps of rust and residue from the ocean. Celestia began to walk, her hooves thumping on the unidentified metal. The surface began to taper downward, sloping to a set of fish-like fins and some kind of shrouded propeller.
So it was a ship, then. Celestia frowned. She could understand having a rudder to steer left and right, but why did it also have horizontal fins? Perhaps for going up and down? In addition to that, there were no visible windows. It must be some kind of underwater craft, then.
Pleased with her discovery and eager to learn more, Celestia turned and headed back towards the other end of the mysterious vessel. A taller structure rose from the hull in front of her. Perhaps it was some sort of command post or bridge.
Celestia spotted something slightly raised on the side of the tower. She raised a hoof and brushed the rust from it. It seemed to be some sort of letters or glyphs made of metal and attached to the hull.
With a start, Celestia realized that the letters were in recognizable script. While they were shaped somewhat oddly to her eye, this must still be clear proof that the forerunners theory was correct. She stared at the words, mouthing them slowly to herself: Yuri Dolgorukiy...
They meant nothing to her, but it seemed clear that it was the name of the vessel. Filing the information away for later, Celestia decided that she should try to find a way to access the inside of the ancient ship.
At the top of the tower, she found a hatch with a locking wheel on it. It was a relatively small diameter, but she decided that it would be possible to wriggle inside.
Celestia wondered if the vessel had remained watertight after all these years. Positioning her bubble around the hatch to equalize the pressure, she tugged on it with magic. The rusty wheel begrudgingly started to turn and Celestia pried it open.
She was faced with a dark tunnel leading straight downwards. It was dry, at least. Carefully moving her body inside the bubble of air and turning the sphere into more of a tube shape, Celestia managed to slip through the open hatch. It was clear that whoever had designed it wanted function over form.
After taking care to pull the bubble inside after her, Celestia slowly let it prop up the hatch and then slowly close it. She spun the wheel shut and checked for leaks.
It was not until after she had sealed herself in that it became apparent that the narrow shaft was tight and uncomfortable. Celestia quickly found another hatch in the bottom and descended through it.
She found herself in a fairly large compartment with pipes, wires, and other pieces of technology covering the walls. There was no way of telling what the interior atmosphere might be like on the other side of the bubble. Judging by the lack of rust, there might not be any oxygen at all.
Here too, Celestia found legible writing. It all seemed to be mundane things, such as gauge readings. Shining her light around, Celestia decided to look further into the interior of the strange craft. She walked through an open hatch into another compartment.
There was something on the floor here, a stain. Everything else seemed to be fairly clean and orderly, so the color spilled on the deck seemed out of place. Celestia kept walking. Entering the next compartment, she stopped short with a gasp. There were bodies on the floor.
They were like no creatures Celestia had ever seen before. They wore clothing, the similarity between the outfits suggesting some kind of uniform. They were not recognizable. Decay had seen to that, the low oxygen content in the air leading to a mummified state.
Swallowing hard and turning her head away, Celestia thanked her luck that her sphere of air blocked any smells from her surroundings. Starting to leave the room, she stepped on something and stopped. It looked like a small, cup-shaped object, about the size of a thimble but more uniformly cylindrical. It was made of a highly polished material that Celestia at first took for gold but realized that it was only brass. Several more were scattered over the floor. Nearby was a metal object with some of the brass things inside it. These seemed to have copper tips.
Deciding not to touch anything, Celestia moved on. To her dismay, she found more bodies and stains that she was coming to realize were blood.
A console of some sort presented itself. Celestia couldn’t tell what it was for, but there seemed to be piles of parchment on it. She paused for a better look, her eyes widening in wonder. It was hard to truly call it parchment, with the perfectly white color and smooth surface. The sheets still contained readable text, so her eyes scanned them.
Message received... attack... orders to launch... comply at once... missiles... thermonuclear yield... destruction... death... The phrasing and words were difficult to understand, perhaps having changed format over the years before turning into modern language. Certain words jumped out, however. Celestia put the documents down, unsure how she wanted to proceed.
She noticed that her steps took her closer to the source of the radioactive signal, her goal, so she forced herself to press on. Small signs began to appear on the walls. Danger - radiation; Use Caution Around Missiles; Authorized Personnel Only
Here too there were dead creatures. Some were huddled in small groups, seeming to have died from natural causes rather than bloodshed. Behind them, tall metal cylinders reached from floor to ceiling. They were arranged in two rows that stretched away into the darkness. All were marked again with radiation warnings.
Celestia kept walking. From each of the tubes, she detected a source of energy. The warning signs worried her, but what she felt did not seem dangerous. It was not exactly what she felt from the sun, but the similarity was close enough that it almost felt like she was basking in sunshine as she walked through the dark metal passage.
Celestia knew that the radiation from the sun could be harmful to ponies in large amounts. However, it had never seemed to affect her. Even with Celestia’s pale coat, she had never been burned, even after falling asleep for hours in the summer sunshine. Her parents sometimes joked that she was solar powered. Maybe with her cutie mark, it was true.
The line of vertical tubes ended and Celestia entered yet another compartment. Here, she felt the strongest source of radiation yet. There seemed to be pipes and other contraptions scattered around the room. A panel with clearly labeled speed controls was off to the side, indicating that Celestia had found the engine room.
She did not see anything indicative of steam power, like a boiler or firebox. Furthermore, there would be no way to burn coal underwater. This ship must have some sort of specialized source of power. That in itself would be a great technological achievement, but everything else about this vessel could be a huge boon to Equestria. Metallurgy, chemistry, history. Celestia was almost physically staggered by the implications. Queen Harmony would be very pleased.
She turned and trotted back towards the hatch where she came in. Passing the strange room of cylinders again, Celestia glanced to the side, glimpsing a small book lying near the appendages of one of the ship’s former crew.
It seemed wrong, but Celestia couldn’t help but to pause. There would be plenty of time to inspect everything later when the scientists began to study the vessel, but curiosity won her over and she picked up the book.
It appeared to be a small journal, and was filled with untidy printing. A diary? Celestia felt conflicted about reading it. Not that it was easy to read. The ink had faded and was barely legible.
Squinting at the writing, Celestia managed to make out a few phrases.
We had our orders...
...launch our missiles...
...disagreed...
...couldn’t allow...
...wrong...
...mutiny...
Celestia swallowed hard and looked up from the journal for a moment. What she managed to understand did not paint a pretty picture. The crew of the ship had turned on each other. Celestia could not understand the catalyst for such an action. Why did some object to their orders?
...decision...
...not easy...
...couldn’t, or else...
...millions dead...
The journal dropped from Celestia’s grip and she whirled to face the towering cylinders that cluttered the compartment. This ship was full of weapons, unimaginably destructive ones. The crew had fought each other to stop them from being used, unwilling to kill so many in an armageddon.
Seconds passed. Slowly, Celestia began to move again. This technology...this horrible technology. How could science be so thoroughly abused in pursuit of weapons? She was simultaneously disgusted and frightened. Would Equestria’s scientists ever produce something so destructive? Would the military use them?
Walking as if in a trance, Celestia made her way back to the hatch where she had entered. Without pausing for a last look around, she make her exit. After negotiating the narrow tube again, she used her bubble of air to equalize pressure and opened the hatch to the ocean.
Standing on top the ship, Celestia considered abandoning the hatch and letting water pour in. Good riddance. However as she considered it, there was something to be said about the courage and valor she’d read about in the journal. This was an honorable grave site for at least a few righteous souls.
Gently, Celestia closed the hatch and sealed it. She paused for a moment to take a deep breath before beginning her ascent. She ended her light spell. There was nothing that needed to be seen. The ship below her disappeared, hopefully never to be seen again.
Queen Harmony had told her that this would be a good leadership opportunity. Celestia had to make a decision about what to do. She could affect the future all by herself.
Celestia closed her eyes, knowing the choice would not be easy. There was so much potential, so much to be gained. There was also so much to lose. Weapons that could end the world as they knew it. Was that what had happened to the forerunners?
The minutes passed as Celestia’s bubble continued to rise. Inside, she wrestled with her own mind, knowing what her conscience wanted and what cold duty recommended. It was not dissimilar to the choice faced by the sailors.
Celestia felt the bubble begin to oscillate with wave action. She opened her eyes, looking gratefully upward to the sunlight as the sphere came to the surface. The crew of the research ship fished her out and brought her to the deck. It took only a moment for the spells to be deactivated.
“Well, what did you find?” one of the scientists eagerly questioned.
“Nothing. There’s nothing there for us.”
There was a collective sigh of disappointment that echoed across the deck. Celestia shared their sorrow, but not for the same reason. She’d learned a powerful lesson aboard the stricken vessel. The mistakes made in the past would not come to haunt Equestria in the future, she decided. As terrible as the past had been, what was done would stay hidden. It was Celestia’s decision, the Queen had given her that power.
She turned to walk back to her cabin as the research ship began to head back to port. The heavy mass of responsibility for her actions felt almost like a physical burden. It would have been easier if the choice was more clear cut in the way of right or wrong. Leadership was not always a clear path.
Celestia couldn’t justify to herself that she was doing the correct thing. She knew what the lonesome crew aboard the forgotten ship had done because they believed it right. They had never asked for acknowledgement, nor been praised. They had simply vanished into the deep, knowing that what they had done had attempted to make the world a better place.
Rays of sunlight fell on Celestia’s shoulders as she paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. This was not about her. It was about a bigger picture, something deeper than what could be seen. Nopony would know what Celestia had done today, least of all Queen Harmony. There was a difference between what was commanded and what was correct.
The decision had been made. Celestia would have to live with it, but at least it was something worth living for.
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You had me at 'radiation'.
A story and science, and censorship, and responsibility.
2673387 And Russians, don't forget them.
2673407 Russian always make everything better.
Somewhere in there, you made a tense mistake... Something like 'make' instead of 'made'... I think it was in the conning tower. Anyway, Good read, keep it up, etc etc.
Interesting idea, as well. Using a Russian missile sub as a life lesson.
I'd say the story was indeed literally deep and dark.
Really though, it's a pretty logical reasoning of a seed for as to why modern-day Equestria is as steam punk as it is. The choice of reverent inaction was indeed the best.
It'd be interesting to revisit it post-Luna's return by a private group.
2673522 Yeah, I do have a bit of a naval fixation.
2673532 that's putting it midly
2673594 It's not consistent. Sometimes even subs of the same class would not all have names.
2673522
So you can suspend your disbelief for magical talking ponies... but not for the preservation of a submarine?
So, ponies in the future speak Russian.
Well, looks like it's time to write that Red Dawn crossover.
I like it.
And I expected Replicators, the Thing, or at least Necromorphs.
2673833
Magic kept it preserved
Ponies speak Russian?
...
...
I'm surprisingly ok with this.
2673864
Game. Set. Match.
Well played, sir.
2673955
you mad, brah?
This is my second favorite "ponies discover nuclear artifacts" story on this site*.
2673522
I think the fissionable material is still around. Pu-239 is the most likely candidate, and has a half-life of around 24 ka. Good archival paper can be expected to last "over 1,000 years", and the paper is still around, which puts a decent cap on how old this can be. Even being generous and allowing the paper to still be around, in good condition, after 5 ka, most (87%) of the Pu-239 is still left. The other candidate for fissionable material is U-235, with a half life of 704 Ma, and the decay there is a rounding error (more than 5 nines remains).
How did ponies evolve and take over so quickly? It's magic, so I ain't gotta explain shit, but I'm going to assume that ARDNEH has a sense of humour.
*The competition in this category is stronger than it has any right to be. I'd say which story is my first, but I think it kind of wrecks the effect of that story if you know ahead of time that it's in that category.
Looks like Equestria stood on the shoulders of a dead and heavily irradiated giant.
2673594 It's a Borei class sub K535.
I didn't read the story but the description has bad grammar in it.
unless radiation has just been discovered this doesn't make since, but at the same time if it hadn't been discovered then the word radiation wouldn't exist, so this makes no since.
"You know something about the radiation, don't you?" is better
I don't even know what to say
Maybe
It was the last thing that TWILIGHT, protege of Celestia and the Queen of Harmony, expected her mentor to ask.
I think you mean investigate AND THEN decide
Good luck with the grammar battle it's not easy.
First thing I thought when I read the description:
"You like Krabby patties, don't you Squidward?"
2674460
"I didn't read the story but the description has bad grammar in it.
"You know something about radiation, don't you?"
unless radiation has just been discovered this doesn't make since, but at the same time if it hadn't been discovered then the word radiation wouldn't exist, so this makes no since."
The way I see it is that Equestria was at a 1910's level of technology. Basic understanding of radiation, steam power still in use, yada yada. Then when Celestia became the princess she supressed Equestria back to a 1400's level of technology. To keep from developing nukes.
As for the story, I am glad for one thing. That Celestia did not decide to flood the submarine, because you know what happenes when a nuclear warhead fills with water? The water causes the fusion reaction that is required to split atoms to take place. And thus she would have detonated at least 50 nuclear warheads of un-known power. Maybe even more than 50.
She may not have known it, but that one decision saved whatever they called Earth at that point from becomeing a nuclear waste land.
2674460 I'm in a particularly cheeky mood, so let's discuss the points you made.
I suppose you wouldn't know if radiation had just been discovered; you didn't read the story. Also, I think you meant sense, not since.
This is a story tagged for "alternate universe," where Celestia is a protégé and her mentor is named Queen Harmony. This was explained in more detail within the first three paragraphs of reading the story. Also, Deep isn't tagged for Twilight, so I don't know where you got the idea that she was even in the story.
This is a fair point. I changed it.
I think your comment could see its greatest gain from an improvement in punctuation. I noticed a few missing periods and misplaced commas. A few well-placed semicolons would probably not be amiss.
I see that you don't have any stories of your own. If you choose to begin writing, I offer my services as editor. Together, I think we could cover all bases.
2673407
And communism!
Of course pony technology isn't as advanced as humans. Two reasons: First, ponies have magic to accomplish tasks for them, and do not need as many machines, and second, ponies just don't think about technology in the same terms as humans. For humans, whenever there is a breakthrough in science, all aspects of technology are increased wherever it is practical, whether it be transportation, medicine, education, communication, energy sources, agriculture, or even weaponry.
Wow.... this is deep... Literally.
2674568
Water doesn't cause nuclear explosions.
Pretty much all nuclear bombs we have nowadays work via the implosion principle. You take a sub critical sphere of fissile material and set of a lot explosions next to it to compress it so it goes prompt critical and explodes. Water doesn't nearly have the pressure needed to do so.
The alternative is 2 sub critical half spheres that are pressed together by explosives to create a large prompt critical sphere. Obviously this is also done via explosives and water wouldn't have any effect.
I think you're confusing nuclear bombs with nuclear reactors. In reactors water is often used as a neutron moderator so the neutrons go slow enough to cause additional fission chains. But considering the phrase "The water causes the fusion reaction that is required to split atoms to take place." I don't think you know that much about nuclear technology :P Fusion and fission are different things.
Oh, and 50 average nuclear warheads exploding wouldn't turn the world in a nuclear wasteland. We've set off way more as tests during the cold war. Including the 50MT Tsar Bomba. You need all out nuclear war with thousands of bombs, all over the planet to truly create a nuclear winter.
images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/30500000/Halo-4-Master-Chief-halo-30585560-1671-1920.jpg
This was a suprisingly deep (no pun intended) story.
Now, while I understand Celestias choice I wouldnt outright support it. Her decision will probably result in ponykind developing at its own pace for shure but with it she denied them information about their past. Nuclear fision is dangerous if handled carelessly or weaponised but that does not mean that the ponys would follow the same path. In fact, I believe the ponys here would go like in the old saysing: "A dumb man/pony learns from his own mistakes, a smart one from the others'."
The wreck is still there afterall.
This sparked a similar idea in my head. Thank you for inspiration and great story!
2674816 Oh I see, sorry. Wouldn't the reactor exploding cause the nuclear warheads to go off or something, because you would think it would. And since the sub crew was arming the nukes before the mutiny took place then some might still be armed.
that would be spelled "confidant" or "confidante".
Nukes. It's always nukes.
Why can't we go out by some disease or just by infertilization?
---
But I have to say, very interesting story and concept with Queen Harmony and Celestia's understanding of radiation. Very science-y and well written.
Nukes. It's always nukes.
Why can't we go out by some disease or just by infertilization?
---
But I have to say, very interesting story and concept with Queen Harmony and Celestia's understanding of radiation. Very science-y and well written.
Reverent inaction . . . It sounds like a good idea, but it isn't. The reason why is that Celestia simply doesn't know enough of what went on to make that judgement call. She has a few broken words and a radiation signature, that's not enough to go on. Not only that, but that radiation signature is still there, and people still have records of it. Eventually someone's going to go on a dive like Celestia did and discover it again. A far better option would be to have Celestia tell people that it was a tomb that shouldn't be disturbed because the people there died heroically to save millions of lives. Then again, I'm betting a lot of those Russians would probably have preferred if their remains were taken to back to be buried on dry land. . . . Also, Celestia suppressing technology because she feels it's dangerous is a cliche that a lot of people tend to hate with a passion.
As a side note, this story reminds me of another where the ponies are very very Russian.
"Oh shit, Tartarus exploded and everything is attacking us!"
"Just use the Elements--"
"They broke!"
"Oh, the humanity! If only we had something to defend ourselves with!"
Really, this is the billionth story with this premise in this fandom. Nuclear Weapons have been the greatest force of peace on our planet since they were developed.
2673522
If you weant to get really technical, ponies can't take billions of years to evolve.
Because the planet's lifespan doesn't extend past one billion before we suffer the same fate as Venus.
2675136 Fixed
So ponies are russian... with american accents... and greek myths. Honeytiger is okay with this.
This. Was. AWESOME!
I really love the premise of Equestria being in a post-human world. Though I would really like to see a followup to this. Perhaps Princess Twilight Sparkle stumbles across the radiation records and the account of the expedition. Perhaps she becomes suspicious that Celestia claimed it was nothing (doubly so if Celestia curtly tells her as much and forbids her from bringing it up again).
This was good ... even though I disagree with Celestia. At least suppress technology SELECTIVELY, Amishlestia!
HALO, anyone?
webmemes.org(spiderpman)
Anywho, nice story! Sequel?
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Nah, Nuclear reactors cannot explode the same way nuclear bombs do. They work fundamentally different.
A nuclear reaction works by splitting fissile material. When, for example, an Uranium235 nucleus gets hit by a slow neutron it falls apart into 2 smaller nuclei and a few neutrons. Those new neutrons go really fast, but if you slow them down they can in turn hit new Uranium nuclei. The idea behind nuclear power is that splitting those atoms gives you energy, and thus if you manage to slow down those neutrons you can use this chain reaction to get energy.
In a nuclear bomb you want this reaction to go completely out of control. Each split should induce loads of other splits so the entire mass of uranium is almost instantly split. This is surprisingly difficult. If you don't get it all exactly right the reaction will just fizzle out. Therefore the uranium used in nuclear weapons is almost pure Uranium 235 (Almost no Uranium 238, the most commonly found version). When the thing is supposed to explode they set of a neutron bomb which bathes the uranium in neutrons and compress the whole sphere with an explosion so the nuclei are as close as possible. They also have loads of neutron mirrors around the whole setup to make sure the reaction goes as quick as possible. If just one of these things happens out of order the reaction won't be fast enough and the explosion will be way less powerful. That's why you don't have to be afraid a nuclear bomb unintentionally explodes. Those things only go off when we want them to. You'll still have a pretty bad day with the compression explosives going of in your face, but it won't be a multimegaton explosion.
In a nuclear reactor you want the reaction rate to be contained. You don't want runaway chain reactions, you want each split to (on average) induce exactly 1 more split. That way the reactor will output a constant energy stream. This means the uranium is way less refined, only about 5% of the uranium needs to be 235. To slow down the neutrons they use moderators, this can be loads of stuff. Most often they use water (preferably heavy, but light can also work with some effort) or graphite. So in a nuclear reactor you often have rods filled with uranium interspersed by some form of moderator. To control the reaction they also use control rods. The control rods absorb neutrons. So if the control rods are inside the reactor less neutrons will make splits, so the reaction slows down. Inversely it speeds up if you pull them out. If you keep them at exactly the right height the chain reaction will be stable and you'll have constant output.
A good nuclear reactor has numerous safety features. A common one is to have the control rods held up by electromagnets. If the power fails the rods fall down so the reaction slows and eventually stops. But, as Chernobyl shows, things can still go wrong. Provided that you burn the safety instructions and spit on their ashes at least.
Suppose a worst case scenario for the submarine in this story flooding. It uses water as a moderator and the moment the ship crashed the control rods where fully extended with all safety features switched off. The reaction would go quicker and quicker until the water around the uranium would start to boil. At this point the reactor would probably spring a leak somewhere and the water in the reactor would evaporate until it is dry. When there is no more water there is no more neutron moderation so the reaction would stop. This is the state in which Celestia would find the sub. If she flooded the thing the reaction would start anew. But this time there is no limit on the amount of water. So the reactor core would keep heating, and heating, and heating. Eventually the uranium would melt and the reactor would officially have a meltdown. From here the radioactive molten metal would simply eat its way through the reactor walls into the earth until it runs out of nuclei to split and cools down.
Not very spectacular all things considered. The nuclear warheads probably wouldn't even notice it (water is a good isolator, that's why you can take a sub to watch lava flows underwater without melting.)
Even if the resulting meltdown somehow triggered the nuclear bombs to explode it would be pretty boring. XKCD examines some deep water explosions here. Of course Celestia's day would be thoroughly ruined. But the surface would barely notice.
Short, sweet, and not a bad bit of world building. Definately one good possible explaination for the lack of technology in Equestria that is our level, yet can also explain why it still has some advanced technology. Also interesting to see a queen before Celestia came to power actually teaching her. Well done.
It's ... ok.
The scene with Queen harmony and the not-yet Princess Celestia was very nice, helped set the stage and gave an insight into the world that is both extraneous to the story at hand and yet really helps to give this story a larger 'oomph' to it. The lead-up to the actual meat of the story wasn't that great, sorry. It might have been better if you had just done a jump-cut from the Harmony-Celestia conversation to Celestia making her first speech just before she's going to go down or some-such. There wouldn't be anything to be missed from Celestia not having much to do against her Queen's wishes.
The points of others are valid - how'd the sub manage to survive the million years? How'd the nuclear fuel/payload not degrade to lead? How do ponies know what
applesradiation is? That last one is actually not a very important question. Humanity knew about radiation in a simplistic sense before we could track/study it very well. So that last one is pretty much just a 'huh, ok' situation to me. Also, mugik. But still, the other two are rather important 'suspension of disbelief killers' in my case.The message has undertones of some misanthropy but at the same time it has a huge streak of 'good humanism' in it - what with the mutiny and the crew not willing to partake of revenge. However, that is what nuclear sub crews are trained for, so I don't know if it fits 100% but it is a nice counter-balance to the whole 'humanity-ending holocaust.' I like it, gives 'humanity' to the dead crew.
Overall, I like the idea and the execution is fairly well done but it has some hiccoughs and could use some spit and polish.
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Oh I didn't expect a Dark ages thing to take place, I guess that makes since then
I rather enjoyed reading this story. Short and sweet, so bonus points for not making me wait a month for the next chapter. Did expect a little bit of radiation sickness brought on by Celestia though, or was it just not that bad/Celestia is a radiation sponge (I drink. Your. Rads. I drink them up!)?
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Because we're in a hurry, that's why!
2675578 Well, I could've told ya that!