This was quite the development! We could talk at last!
Well... we could talk before too. It's just that now we were able to understand each other. I looked at Celestia with my trademark smile.
"I don't know what he's trying to do, but it will be futile. But I am sure that he is sorry for interrupting his elders, right?" I said towards my wing, hearing something muffled by my feathers. "I'm going to let you go, so don't make me put my hoof down again, you little rascal" I said while opening my wing.
"I must admit that that was a neat trick. But you are not going to catch me again, old geezer" He said while laughing and floating away.
"Discord! Show her some respect!" Celestia yelled at him, but I just smiled at that.
"Oh I'm sure that I'm a old geezer alright, and I'm just going to get older!" I laughed loudly, making Celestia and Discord to stare at me.
"She's not fun. Please can you play the twenty questions game outside MY room? I was kinda busy" Discord said while trying to look like he was working on something. He was just playing with some if his toys though... He was just a big child, wasn't he?
"Follow me, please. We shall discuss more on my bedchambers" Celestia told me, while gesturing to the halls.
"Oh joy, more walking..." I said while getting up. "See you later, Discord!"
"Whatever..." he replied. Rude!
This trip was way shorter than the last ones, and the guards didn't look surprised to see me. Ah, words and rumors still travel faster than light. Another universal constant! We were not so different after all!
Her bedroom was a bit smaller than Discord's, but it was tastefully decorated. It had a fireplace too, so this was probably a very warm room even during rain season. I went ahead and put myself on a big cushion near the fireplace, tucking my legs underneath my barrel. Celestia followed me and closed the door before sitting in front of me.
"I know that we have not been the most welcoming ponies, but I hope that we can improve that soon enough. But before that I need to bother you with some questions, Gaia. Would you be okay with that?" Celestia said, showing me a very diplomatic side I didn't see until now.
"Of course you can, dear. I can't get angry at you for wanting to know more. Ask away" I replied with one of my most serene smiles. I knew this was going to be boring, but she looked so determined! I couldn't say no to her. "We can ask each other questions if you want. I really want some answers too"
"Of course, I have no problem with that." Celestia replied with a small nod. "First, I would like to know the meaning of your cutie mark"
"My what? Wait, let me... just a moment" I told her, closing my eyes and looking around my new lexicon for the thing she asked me for... and... There we go! "Oh! You mean this picture on my flanks! Ah, it's a picture of my world. It's always updated. Take a look for yourself" I told her, moving a bit to show her my flank. "Look! There is a storm on that continent right now, and it's a pretty sunny day on the southern one..."
"I... don't know what to say. That's a very interesting mark. But... what is the meaning of it?" Celestia asked, baffled about what she was seeing. "What I really meant to say is... What do you do for a living? What is your purpose?"
"I count more than one question there, but don't worry. I'm not that mean" I said to her, winking "Well... It's a bit hard to describe, but my job is to simply be myself. My world is on my flank because I am it. We are one and the same. I watch for all the living things that live on my world and in return it makes me feel alive. My purpose is to nurture my world with life, and to take care of it. I am its warden" I replied, smiling at her. She looked so lost and surprised!
"How... Nevermind... It's your turn to ask, Gaia" she told me, fidgeting in place. She was getting nervous! It's a tradition to be nervous around me when they ask me things or something?
"Right! How do you levitate things?" I asked simply. She raised an eyebrow at me.
"You mean magic? Do you really don't know?" she asked me. I giggled a bit.
"Another question again, dear." I told her and she blushed a bit, looking cute and embarrassed "And answering that... no. I mean, I don't know how to do that sparkly stuff you do with your horn, but I can 'levitate' things with my mind. Just... big things..." I explained to her, rubbing my hooves together. I admit that thinking about some of my past experiments made me a bit embarrassed.
"How big are we talking about here?" She asked curious.
"About... 'a city of one million people on it and its surroundings' big?" I told her with a small smile. She looked surprised... bad type of surprised... She managed to get a grip of herself quickly enough though.
"I didn't expect that... but then again, you are not what I expected, Gaia" she told me, her face a neutral mask. That was cold of her.
"I hear that all the time, dear" I told her, laughing a bit. "I don't know why, though... So! It's my turn again! You asked more questions after all, right?" I told her with a smirk "So... Are you the warden of this planet?" I asked her.
Time to get some real, important answers!
"Warden? You mean...?" Celestia asked, unsure of what to say.
"Yes!, A warden like me, dear. A being that takes care of the planet and its inhabitants. You look like me, and you are the tallest being I've seen around, not counting that Discord fellow... so I thought that you were the one. Am I wrong?" Gaia asked with a light tone.
"As a princess I watch over my little ponies, but other species are capable of taking care of themselves. I once had the title of Guardian of the Sun, if it helps you" Celestia said as her mind working overtime, trying to figure the puzzle that Gaia was. The green alicorn laughed a bit.
"Why would you watch over a ball of burning plasma? Sorry if I find that quite silly, Celestia. It's just too funny!" Gaia said while giggling. Celestia frowned a bit at that.
"I still watch over the sun, there wouldn't be a day and night cycle without the work that my sister and I do. The sun and the moon can't move by themselves now, can they?" Celestia said with a smug face... that quickly vanished under the loud laugh of Gaia, who was on the floor laughing like a maniac. "I do not know why do you find that so funny. It's the truth!"
"Oh my.. that was funny... Wait.. Are you serious?" Gaia asked, almost choking with her laughs "I don't know what a moon is right now, but as far as I know it's the planet the one that moves, not the sun!" Gaia said with a smile.
"W-what?" Celestia said, perplexed with the vehemence of the green mare.
"Yeah! It's like this... the planet it's like falling into the sun, right? Because it's this humongous ball of plasma with so much gravity... But! The planet goes in a orbit because it's like moving really really fast that it doesn't fall. It also spins so while it's doing this orbit thing, giving the illusion that it's the sun the one it's moving... but it's not!" Gaia explained while moving her hooves in a awkward way.
"But that is not possible, Gaia. Our sun is a magical construct that orbits our planet. There was a unicorn council before my time that did my work and moved both the sun and the moon around the world. What you say it's just too unbelievable" Celestia replied, trying to get a grip on the conversation.
"Honey, you already know that I am from another planet. It's really that hard to grasp that maybe you are in the wrong?" Gaia asked her with a playful smile on her face.
"What if we are both wrong? For what I know maybe our worlds are just different. Maybe others work different from ours as well" Celestia said with conviction.
"Sorry to burst your bubble Celestia, but if that was the case yours would be the 'unique' one. Before I arrived here I passed through other star systems, and all of them worked the same way as mine. So it seems that we are both right, in our own way" Gaia said with finality.
"That... is amazing and terrifying and the same time" Celestia replied with a shudder.
"How so?" Gaia asked, curious.
"The fact that your world is always falling into the sun it's not enough to worry you?" Celestia asked her, incredulous.
"Why should I worry about that? It never happened in billions of years. It's not going to happen anytime soon" Gaia replied with a smile. Celestia sighed, a bit stressed. "Aw, don't be like that! You just worry too much. Don't fill your little head with those things" Gaia said while patting Celestia on the head, Celestia chuckled, amused.
"Are you always so... motherly to anypony you meet?" Celestia asked, a smile growing on her face.
"They don't call me Mother Nature for nothing, dear. All creatures and plants are my children" Gaia replied with a serene smile. Celestia looked at her window with a knowing smile.
"I think I understand, if just a bit. For me, all the ponies in Equestria are like my little foals. They are quite silly from time to time too" Celestia said while giggling a bit.
"Really? Please, do tell" Gaia asked while resting completely on the cushion.
"I'm afraid that we need to put off those pleasantries for later, Gaia. I think that I have enough to think about. I need to contact somepony to sort these out" Celestia said with a polite smile.
"Oh, if you say so... It's been kinda fun I suppose. I'll be going then. Nice to meet you, Celestia" Gaia said with a smile before getting up. Celestia ran towards the door and tried to block her way with her wings. "...Is there a problem, dear? Do you need anything else?" Gaia asked with curiosity.
"You see... it would be a great honor to house you for the time being, Gaia. It would make me... most happy if you accept" Celestia asked, carefully choosing her words.
"Aw, you are so sweet! I accept of course! I can spend a few days around you... ponies you say? Around ponies! Thank you!" Gaia said while giving Celestia a crushing hug.
"I'm glad... that you... accepted..." Celestia replied with difficulty, crushed by Gaia's legs.
The tender moment between alicorns was short lived as the door was suddenly opened, showing a triumphant-looking Luna with a scroll on her magical aura.
"Sister! I found the spell! It was very well hidden within the Starswirl... What is going on here, Celestia?" Luna said, looking at her sister being hugged by the green alicorn.
"Hi!" Said the green alicorn to her in a cheery but mature voice. Suddenly they heard the sound of something breaking apart.
"Are you... moon-damned serious?!" Luna yelled, absolutely livid.
"No, I'm not Moon-Damned Serious. I'm Gaia. Nice to meet you!" The green mare said with a wide smile.
From Canterlot to Las Pegasus, every pony heard the frustrated scream of the moon princess.
Oh. Will Moon-Damned Serious come over for a talk next chapter?
*looking at you with pleading eyes* PLEEEAAASE! And is he the moon-equivalent of Gaia?
550 likes, you more then welcome
And another good chapter, thought it was hilarious how nervous Tia was getting after Gaia made the comment about moving a city with a million people in it.
I do want to point out something that might be a bit of a plot hole though. If her son is as sciency as you make him out to be, then wouldn't he and his people have noticed the odd way Equestria's sun was acting as it revolved around the planet? ...Maybe that's why they chose equestria as the place for her vacation, so she could gather info about it with the instruments her son gave her?
5583066 Only if we manage to make a character out of that bad worded expression. I need to keep it clean of big bad words if I want to keep the rating for 'everyone'
5583070 I noticed that right now... wow . You all readers know that you are awesome, right?
5583106 I'll not say much about that, I don't want to make any spoilers... but I can say that he knew about that little fact. The thing is that Gaia was probably informed about it, but didn't really care and forgot
Is it bad of me that I want to upvote this story every new chapter I read?
I can't stop smiling every time I read a new chapter of this.
moar!
Haha oh god poor Luna, her rage must be delicious xD
5583136 your not the only one who wants to
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5583066
Moon-Damned Serious: Born as Grey Pale, this unicorn changed his name via an opinion poll after discovering his comedic calling for absurdist humor. He loves traveling throughout Equestria and making ponies smile, but he is neither as musically gifted nor as prone to party planning as either Pinkie Pie or Cheese Sandwich. (Based off of Yahoo Serious)
Not terribly likely to be Luna's counterpart on Gaia's world, as it apparently doesn't have a moon...
I feel bad for Luna. I et frustrated like her all the time
Yeah, I liked it.
So . . . About how long does it take you to pump out a chapter?
5583199 Looks to be about 18 hours.
5583170 Eh, rage kinda tastes like boiled cabbage. Royal rage is probably that plus a side of 'full of it'.
5583136
If I could I certainly would. Same as I would travel to the future just to read the next chapters earlier :D.
This story has instantly become one of my most dearest favourites. The pacing is so light I can read the chapters over and over again. Gaia, as well, she is an epitome calmness while being energetic and straight forward like no other.
I may be easily excitable but I know a good story when I see one. (Take a look at my Oustanding lists) and this is certainly one.
I take my hat and thank you for the wonderful time you are giving us reading it. Keep it up
5583186 Just on some world
Maybe the 6. world right to the 8 galaxy in the Gerald-square of the universe.
Luna wasted her time
Poor luna.
I absolutely love this story!!! You are doing a fantastic job writing it.
I hope Gaia will show her power off to the ponies at some point. It is one thing to tell others what you can do, it is another thing entirely to let them see it for themselves. Also, I know people have said that her power is like the Hulk, (which is probably true) but I connect her more with Captain Planet. I can just see her not being able to be hurt by anything like lava, rocks, water, etc. because of her connection with nature itself.
Another thing I want to point out is that I love the little detail where she has to sift through the Equestrian language in her head at times to fully understand what the other ponies are talking about. She understands the words, but can not be sure of there meaning until she looks it up in her new mental encyclopedia.
Finally, I think Celestia is just trying to keep Gaia at the palace so she can keep an eye on her until she feels safe enough to let her venture out on her own. I can kind of understand her reasoning behind that action though. An extraordinarily powerful alicorn has just arrived from space and it doesn't look like they have much that can stop her (Discord couldn't physically effect her with his magic when she held him down) if she decides to go on a rampage. I would be a little cautious as well.
Blame discord luna. Always blame discord.
Aw, poor Luna. She got beat by Discord. But I love how Gaia misunderstands Luna and corrects her by introducing herself to Luna.
sound of smething breaking apart
"something", I presume ?
5583831 If she decided to go in a rampage they are all b%^&$#!.
Great chapters, I still can't get over that language magic hadouken Discord shoot tho.
~Leonzilla
First of all, since there are so many comments and I just keep losing track of them... I want to thank you all readers, for being so supportive and awesome. Even when there are some cringe-worthy errors here and there you keep reading, and that means a lot to me. I hope that the story keeps being enjoyable for all of you, since it's a crazy and wonderful ride for me .
5583199 5583291 If we don't count lost hours just looking at the screen like a zombie, time spent listening music while losing focus and my sleep hours... it really takes me an hour or two each chapter. I usually start the next one as soon as I press the 'publish' button for the latest chapter. For example, tomorrow's chapter is already done, just not published. I'll do that tomorrow morning... or when I wake up
5583831 That it's a pretty good approximation at how some of her 'immunity' works! I never watched Captain Planet, though.
Thang 'sorting time' I put on the story is something that I thought it would be cool to see. I've read a lot of fics in which the translation spell makes the recipient a perfect speaker and user of the language, but... what about concepts the recipient don't know about? Gaia here doesn't know what a 'moon', 'flower' or 'grass' is since they don't exist on her planet, so she needs to sort the new info before she can fully understand the words.
And finally, yeah. It's pretty obvious that Celestia wants her to be under observation at least until they know more about her.
5583865 I know. I really said it many times but all of them were needed, and I understand you completely. My writing pace right now it's probably too quick for any editor to work without pressure. My original idea was to let editors work on already published chapters while I keep my writing pace. I already contacted someone but I really don't want to be a bother, that's why I accept any help that I can get.
That said, I thank you for your comment, and for giving the story a chance even with those errors, and I hope you can keep enjoying it as much as I do writing it. I hope that I can learn and improve my writing along the way .
5584107 You presume right! Fixed!
5584313 By all means, feel free to do so if you really want! Just remember to contact me via PM here if you do some proofreading of the already published chapters
"I must admit that that was a neat trick. But you are not going to catch me again, old geezer" He said while laughing and floating away.
5584642
*looks at profile picture*
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Hile laughing!
I must say, your English is nearly on spot. Only a couple words misplaced here and there, but few and far between. Keep it up!
5584921 static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/6/67602/1399418-bueno_4.jpg
Sorry but I had to
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Poor Luna. :D
5584558 You know what this means, we need to make sure you can spend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Uc7nP6GaE
Hmm. I was hoping that Discord would be, you know, Discord. The interactions between him and Gaia would have been very interesting. But otherwise it's good.
I approve of the 'Bad Dad Joke'.
I approve.
I want to see Gaia get super serious and pissed off and just fucking demolish half a continent. Of course it won't happen, but the shock on their faces would be the funniest thing ever
5584921 5585011 2spooky 4 me
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That's really very awkward. While I realize that no one save a few physics nerds will care this has popped up in quite a few crossover stories, so here comes the rant!
Episode One pretty firmly establishes that Celestia and Luna control the day-and-night cycle of Equestria. Turning Equestria into a more-or-less normal solar system implies that either (1) they're moving full-sized astronomical objects around at superluminal speeds (which pretty much destroys any notions of them having limits) or (2) they're controlling the rotation of the planet. (2) seems easier, so (2) is a common pick.
The trouble is, that this says that - over the course of a few seconds - they're twisting an apparently earthlike planet through a substantial arc (enough to take the sun or moon from too far below the horizon to illuminate it to well above it) and stopping it again. That requires that they generate, then dissipate, roughly 2 x 10 to the 35'th power joules. The Gravitational Binding Energy of the Earth is 2 x 10 to the 32'nd power joules - one thousandth of that. The total power output of the sun for a YEAR is 1.2 x 10 to the 34'th power joules. The total amount of energy that the sun provides to the earth each year is 5.5 x 10 to the 24'th power joules.
Sure, it's a rather rough calculation... but option (2) means that Celestia routinely, over the course of a few seconds twice a day, first puts out and then dissipates enough energy to rip the earth to monoatomic dust hurtling outwards at escape velocity a thousand times. As much energy as the sun puts out over the course of nearly seventeen years. As much energy as the earth would receive from the sun in thirty-six billion years.
And apparently exerts such fine control over that power that no one notices any inertial effects.
It's a LOT more reasonable to simply have Equestria be a rogue planet and have it's "sun" and "moon" be nearby energy-effects being generated by Celestia and Luna. While that leaves them directly powering the weather, ecology, and tides of Equestria all by themselves it still reduces the amount of power they need to supply by a factor of ten trillion or so.
And in this particular case that would provide a wonderful reason for Gaia's son to recommend Equestria for Gaia's vacation; non only does the place look nice, but it blatantly holds the secret of an invaluable source of energy - and thus is well worth investigating.
And I shall now return you to non-ranty comments...
Sends Luna away just to get rid of her
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No, no, old fellow. My name is Moon Dammed Sirius. Easy mistake to make, I know.
Some small typos in this chapter
and I
its
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In next (8) chapter:
its
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Chapter 9
replied
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#10
to me
the south
its
there are
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#11
with its
They are few/There are just few/...
if
that
Life is about
"his/his" or "its/its"
that is just
~From Canterlot to Las Pegasus, every pony heard the frustrated scream of the moon princess. ~
Best line ever...
i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz44/EricIzIronic/nazi.gif
So many Grammar Nazis in these comment sections. I'm only saying for the Grammarists that adding the fact that it's a suggestion or something you noticed makes you seem less rude. Or maybe that's just me.
6604064 they've been rounding up all the fun and putting them into camps.
That was beautiful.
I started crying from to much laughter.
I'm kind of hoping Celestia blows Gaia's mind by actively lifting the sun before her eyes, maybe do a trick or two.
I've just always been of the opinion that there's no way Equestria has a normal orbit if three separate beings and an entire tribe have been recorded as moving the sun and moon according to their whim. Hell Discord made both the sun and moon do loops.
explained
What are you talking about, she's hilarious
He's like a moody teenager
Heh
To be honest, I'm more concerned about the whole "Our sun is a magical construct that orbits our planet." bit.
I mean if it's a construct then someone must have made it, and then for some reason decided to dump the responsibility of keeping the world from dying on the heads of a bunch of ponies