Chapter 47. Princesses and Rings
One thing the rooms in the bridge complex with windows to the sky had in common was that they were all circular. Perhaps because of that, they seemed spacious, that being fortunate for those that had been confined here for thousands of years. Minor rooms were either rectangular or were odd shapes that could make use of the gaps and spaces between the major rooms. By necessity, substantial structural walls divided up the bridge. While the structure was somewhat lighter than that of the lower levels, it was more than adequate for the job. It looked strong enough to survive a major impact, the windows included.
Overall, the bridge complex was under a quarter mile in diameter, and was attached to the main sphere of the habitat rather like a blister. It was not unlike being forced to live in the top two layers of Habitat Ten. It could even be compared to living in a moderately sized school or a hospital.
The outer perimeter wall was studded with dark openings. I was told they were windows that, in theory, would have let us survey that which was around us. Now they were an impenetrable black, as something had covered them from the outside. I contemplated trying to use magic to clear them, but decided the risk to the structural integrity was too great, as my methods usually involved explosions. Eclipse had not managed to clear them, and she was certainly more adept at magic than I was. As such, I suspected something more substantial than a layer of paint was obstructing them.
At the moment, my entourage and I were in the observation lounge next to the bridge, standing side by side, heads back, staring upwards at the real sky. I wondered how many stiff necks were the result of this view. It was certainly worth a little pain. Nonetheless, none of the ponies that lived up in the bridge seemed to pay it any stead.
"Yup, that's impressive," Maisie said. "I can see why you said there were no words capable of describing it. Even now, I'm pretty sure my brain isn't processing the full majesty of it. The glowing ball has to be at least a thousand, no, ten thousand times as large as Habitat Eleven. Maybe even more, yet from here it doesn't look that big."
"It makes me feel really small," Allie said.
"You are really small, Allie," I said to my daughter.
Allie blew a raspberry at me. Well, she was really small!
"So, that glowing ball in the center is a star?" Maisie asked.
"Our star. It's called the sun. We were meant to have a simulated one, down in the life support chamber. It was called Celestia," I said.
"What about Luna? Isn't there meant to be a real Luna too?"
"Luna, the moon? I suppose so. I haven't seen it."
"The Luna-moon you are thinking of was repossessed by the aliens two millennia ago, as was the Celestia-sun." Princess Lunar Eclipse said. "The real moon was destroyed over ten thousand years ago, if I recall my history. That was when the Luna-moon, and the pony that controlled it, came into the picture."
"Oh, you're here," I said. "I didn't hear you come in. How was the moon destroyed? And why? And what do you mean by the Luna-moon?"
"The aliens' machines caught the original moon, tore it apart, and used its materials when building this giant ring. Of course, the ring was nowhere this big back then. It was still well inside our orbit."
"Huh?" We all dropped our gaze from the sky, instead staring at Eclipse. Perhaps, she would share the answers to questions we had not yet realized we needed to ask.
"I'll tell you a story," Eclipse said. "The details may be wrong because I'm relying on memories from when I was much younger. Even then, I was only hearing stories from others who knew of the events. And you know how old I am."
"We won't hold that against you," Maisie said. "We have a few orders of magnitude of age in this room at the moment, don't we?"
I hadn't thought about it like that. Allie's age was a single digit. Cacha and I were in the doubles, Maisie's was three, and Eclipse's age was four digits. She was something like two thousand times older than my daughter!
"Once, our planet, the Earth, orbited around that star, the sun. You do understand what an orbit is, don't you?"
"We do," Maisie said.
"The Earth also rotated. Each rotation was a day long. When, an area of the planet was facing the sun, it was daytime. When it was facing away from the sun, it was nighttime.
"The moon was also a celestial body, only much smaller than the Earth. It orbited the Earth, rather than the sun, and would reflect sunlight onto the dark side of the Earth. It also affected the Earth in other ways, through its gravity.
"It all worked automatically, governed by the laws of physics, and would have continued to do so, presumably, for so long it would seem like forever."
"What went wrong?" Cacha asked.
"A dark shadow formed around the sun. It wasn't noticeable at first, but as it grew, the Earth became colder and darker, and all who lived on it were in peril of dying."
"What was the shadow? What caused it?"
"The shadow was the ring. It was soon dense enough to block all light. That would have been our doom, if it wasn't for the first gift from the aliens."
"Is that what you wrote about in your book, The Gift?" I asked.
"No. This was the first time they contacted us, long before I, or even my mother was born. By the time I was writing the book, knowledge of the aliens had faded to nothing, so it was all new to us. What I'm talking about happened back when Celestia and Luna were born.
"The aliens gifted us a small, artificial sun, and an artificial moon, both which orbited the Earth. They were actually alien spacecraft. One reflected light and heat from another reflector set above the great ring's obstruction. The other generated gravity to move the tides. To keep them on course, and to adjust them to different paths to simulate seasons, they needed to be controlled. Using pony magic, the two sisters were enhanced, becoming the first two alicorns. With their new power, they were able to guide the new sun and moon, updating their courses each day. Those spacecraft were the Celestia-sun and Luna-moon with which you are familiar."
"That doesn't seem like a very permanent solution," Cacha muttered.
"Apparently, it wasn't meant to be. The aliens told ponykind that they had several thousand years to develop themselves into a society that was capable of leaving the Earth, and the solar system. Ponykind was in the way of the aliens' development of the new... habitat, or whatever it was that they called this giant ring."
"Why did they choose our star? Didn't they care that we lived here?" I asked.
"They claimed their plans, and the initial stages of the project, were completed before we had become sapient as a species. Prior to that, they considered us to be inconsequential."
"Nasty!" Maisie said.
"Yes, but at least they didn't simply ignore what we had become," Eclipse said.
"Maybe they tried to ignore us and were just making excuses when they got caught! Besides, aren't we being ignored now?" I asked.
"True, true. But according to them, we shouldn't even be here now."
"And they haven't noticed?" Cacha asked.
"To be honest, I don't think they even care," Eclipse said. "Over time, I have come to realize all the good they did for us was out of legal or contractual obligation. Once that obligation had been discharged, they no longer cared what happened. They started this project, investing much time and many resources into it, only to discover a minor problem, us, would jeopardize it all due to their laws.
"To get over this problem, they first took the cheapest solution. They gave us the artificial sun and moon, and told us to hurry up and get lost – at our own expense. I believe much research was done in the primary field of unicorn expertise, specifically, in magic. While many advances were made, none were made in the correct area. With the death of those involved, the whole purpose of it all was forgotten. Even alicorns can forget things.
"I believe the initial experiments were actually in time travel. I think they hoped to go way back and tell the aliens to get lost before they even started their development.
"Whatever the case, with the passage of time, the urgency was lost. We had a sun and a moon. Life went on as usual, even if the sun and moon occasionally did odd things!
"The ring continued to grow. To us it was merely a dark strip in the night sky – just an area of the sky without stars.
"Over the centuries, as the ring got larger, and thus closer, the effect of the Luna-moon lessened, the oceans being drawn to the ring itself. If the Luna-moon and ring were on the same side of the Earth, we had floods. It was a disaster that was getting worse each year. Eventually, the Luna-moon had to be used to counter the pull from the ring. We didn't really understand what was happening, or why.
"That was when the Warners showed up, offering us gifts so we could flee our dying world. Of course, they didn't tell us they were the reason for it dying. We had to work that out for ourselves."
It puzzled me that Eclipse was discussing the gravity from the ring, yet had seemed clueless to what was providing gravity to the habitat in our earlier discussion. After what she had described, it seemed fairly obvious to me. We had to be sitting on the ring, and that ring had to be the source of our gravity.
"You mentioned before that the HELaTS system was one of these gifts," Cacha said.
"Quite so," Eclipse said. "It made us tough enough to deal with the more difficult aspects of habitat construction and of space flight. We sold it to the ponies as something that may let them live longer, after a period of dangerous and hard work. Give up your life and existence as a pony and serve in figurative Hell for hundreds of years and you will be granted very long life as your reward. Some ponies accepted. Most didn't, which is exactly what we wanted. If we told them it made them effectively immortal we would have been crushed in the rush.
"The Warners themselves were all HELaTS of their own species, and I suspect that immortality was what was driving them to make themselves larger and larger habitats in which they could live. Going on how long it has taken to make the ring, they must have to plan a very long way ahead. On the other hoof, we were about to be stuffed into comparatively small habitats with limited resources, so immortality for the masses would be a very big problem."
"And what were the Warners' other gifts?" I asked.
"The habitats themselves, or at least part of them. The Warners would place some sort of device on the earth, then evacuate the area. When activated, a massive sphere grew, consuming everything within its reach. After a couple of years, the result was the shell of a Habitat, filled with resources for the construction of its internals. More of these Warner devices then created engines and other important internal structures, such as the life support chamber and its water jacket, the suspension platform and the tanks." Eclipse said.
"Basically, everything made out of that dimensionally layered material," I suggested.
"That, and anything too complex for us to build," Eclipse said.
We fell silent as we contemplated the unimaginable scale involved. Maintaining our twenty mile diameter sphere was proving to be beyond our abilities, yet the aliens were capable of tossing down a few devices that could create one in a few years.
"Magic?" Cacha asked. "They used magic?"
"They said any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, which was funny to us who accepted and could use magic, but no, they claimed it was technology. Modifiers, guided by artificial brains, were what did the basic work. After that, we ponies had to learn some aspects of their technology, and finish the job. They didn't build living quarters. They didn't build the city. They didn't provide a way of generating food. Security, recycling and the magic distribution system were just some of the many areas left to us to solve on our own."
"Thus the confusing mish-mash of technology and magic in this place," I muttered.
"Precisely," Eclipse agreed. "In a way, the modifiers, and the technology behind them, were the primary gift. They also gave us the destination of another world which they claimed was suitable for us to live on. It was to take several centuries to travel that far. The other habitats must surely have arrived. By now I expect they have flourishing societies on the new world."
"So, how many habitats were built?" Allie asked. "This Earth planet must have been pretty big."
"I believe there were more habitats than ours, spread out over the planet, but I only know of the eleven from Equestria."
"So, what happened to the other nine habitats?" I asked. Habitat Ten, of course, was inside Habitat Eleven, and didn't need to be accounted for.
"They all launched as intended, and left. We were the last, the one to gather all those left behind. We had to forcefully bring the Diamond Dogs on as they would not come voluntarily. You have told me that, unfortunately, they did not survive. And there were the changelings as well. We figured they would have hidden themselves on one of the habitats, as we were unable to find them. We did not expect them to be so afraid of discovery that they would resort to taking over an entire habitat to use as a larder."
"And what a mess that turned out to be," Kakuun said. "Was our action the cause of the failure of Habitat Eleven to launch?"
"The engine logs suggest launching was never even attempted," I said, following up on Kakuun's reasoning. "It only shows test firing."
"It was more complex than that. Had a test been successful, we would have launched there and then. If we still had access to the outside world, perhaps we may have been able to repair the problem. Then again, perhaps it would have been in vain anyway, as we were struggling to understand all of this alien technology. There is no way one of these habitats can lift off from a planet under the power of its own engines. Each one sat in a cradle that contained another gravity generator, one that could be tuned to nullify gravity. It was powered by its own set of engines. Our gravity nullifier failed. Actually, it made us heavier. Fortunately it didn't crush us. After the brief surge, it shut down of its own accord."
"The Warners didn't help?" Cacha asked.
"No. I doubt they even cared. I'm not sure they were in the solar system by that time. If they were, they didn't respond to any of our attempts to call them. The bulk of the building process seems to be automatic."
"So we were stuck here?" I asked. I already knew the answer.
"As you can see. We watched as the ring grew closer. The sky went black for a few hundred years. Sometimes we could see stars. Sometimes we couldn't, as the planet rotated. I won't say it was daily, as the periods grew longer and longer until the rotation of the planet stopped with us facing the total blackness of the ring.
"Our orbit eventually took us so close to the ring that the planet was captured. The ring absorbed us. All of our windows looked like those that are around the edge of the bridge – as black as night. We truly expected we would be consumed, but we weren't, and eventually the upper windows became clear again, showing us the view we see now."
"How long has it been like this?" I asked.
"Hundreds of years. The side windows never cleared. Now that I think about it, we must be actually embedded in the ring, or perhaps sitting upon it. The ring must be the current source of gravity, although, if that is the case, I don't know how we weren't sucked to the ceiling when the ring was so close."
"Perhaps our gravity generator compensated?" I wondered.
"No," Cacha said. "Remember that we don't recall any time where it was working, and a few hundred years ago would be within living memory."
"Perhaps the external gravity nullifier was actually generating gravity to compensate," Allie suggested.
Failing all else, perhaps it really was as simple as that. Nothing anyone else was suggesting made sense, and we knew the thing was capable of generating, rather than canceling, gravity.
"Of course, this is all just guesswork," Maisie said, "but I suppose we need to start somewhere. I guess our next step really is to get outside the habitat to see what's going on, and see if we can either get more fuel, or find a way to live out there. Perhaps the nullifier has enough fuel in reserve for us to use."
With the conversation having taken a timeless feel, we all settled to the floor, contemplating what we had just learned. Even Eclipse stayed with us. I expected she knew there would be more questions. I was amazed that we hadn't even touched on these subjects in our previous discussions. Then again, we had been rather focused on what was going in inside Habitat Eleven.
A couple of Eclipse's subjects, or fellow residents, came in with drinks, offering them to us, before retreating. Ah, this must be the part of royal life which Eclipse was fond of. And on the subject of royal ponies...
"The real Luna?" I asked. "You said there was a real Luna, a pony."
"The real Luna is an alicorn, like me. Actually, very like me. I am her granddaughter."
"So, you knew Luna? What was she like?"
"It is best you read the history books, if indeed they can be found," Eclipse said, "but she is an unusual sort. For a while she had been the enemy of all ponies, but for that sin, her sister condemned her to spending a thousand years fused with the reflective surface of the Luna-moon as punishment.
"She reappeared, a thousand years later, revenge added to her list of indiscretions, but was defeated, purged, purified by six youngsters using the elements of harmony. Thus began the age of friendship. The new, purified Luna then returned to her duties, caring for ponies as she should have, entering their dreams to guide them. She really became the princess of the night."
"When did she die?" Allie asked. You could always trust a foal to ask the wrong questions.
"Die? She is probably still alive," Eclipse said. "While I haven't heard or seen her in a couple millennia, I expect she is still among the living, along with Celestia and the other alicorns."
"How many alicorns were there? Where are they, then?"
"Luna and Celestia left in Habitat One. They took the lead, and were to guide us to our new home world. The other alicorns were scattered among the remaining habitats. Every habitat had at least one. Cadance took the habitat from the Crystal Empire. Twilight Sparkle took the one from Ponyville and the surrounding area. Fluttershy took Habitat Four, which had the bat ponies and most of the wild animals..."
"Not that those names mean anything to us," Allie said. "How can you remember things from that far back?"
"I keep diaries, much like those who have come before me, young one. I suggest you start doing so, too, Allie. You probably have a long life ahead of you, a very long life. I will teach you the intricacies of indexing them so you can find what you wish to recall easily. I am somewhat practiced in the matter."
The time had come. There was no avoiding it. Princess Lunar Eclipse was going out into the city. In fact, I was surprised she had waited this long!
For fun, we had recorded her emergence from the bridge, although so far those recordings had been kept private. Leaving the privacy of the restricted areas was another matter. With Eclipse's size, we could not hide her or disguise her. Sooner or later ponies would see her in the street. We figured it would be best to simply let the media make a fuss of it, much like they had when the Hellites had first appeared in public. That way the novelty would wear off sooner, giving Eclipse and her extended family some peace.
Eclipse was dressed for the occasion, having selected a spectacularly royal gown to wear. Looking at her, one would not know she was a Hellite. Her two children and husband were obviously a little different to other ponies, eyes being a little harder to hide other than by wearing shades, and that wasn't appropriate at this time.
The theory was the big reveal would occur as Eclipse stepped onto the central hub of the Mane Way. That, incidentally, had been repaired, the only evidence of my usurping being the area had a freshness to it that made the surrounding areas look decidedly old. Of course, some rotter had leaked the plans for the day to one of the bigger names in news reporting.
Cacha, Kakuun and I were accompanying Princess Lunar Eclipse, and her family. Maisie had taken Allie for me, as we didn't want her exposed to the public eye any more than she already was. A few paces ahead of the princess, Cacha and I had only just exited the sublevel hub, on our way to the chosen elevator when I spotted the reporter in question.
"Look out, Cacha. Media!" I whispered to my companion.
"Activating anonymity shields!" she said, as we both deployed our facial armor. We both giggled. If we were going to continue living amongst the common folk, our identities needed to remain hidden. Princess Lunar Eclipse, on the other hoof, enjoyed the recognition. Earlier discussions had concluded that she could become the figurehead, the public queen, allowing those who ruled to actually deal with the more pressing problems of survival, while she dealt with public relations. She liked the idea.
The reporter and her crew, who were already recording lest they miss anything particularly juicy, dodged around any ponies that could block their access, heading directly towards the princess, and by default, us. Not being particularly fond of cheats and queue jumpers, I moved to block their progress, Cacha following my lead.
"Get out of my way, you disgusting hell-freaks. What are you doing here, anyway?" the reporter snapped at us when we blocked her way.
"We..." I said.
"Oh that's right. You freaks are meant to be some sort of maintenance servants, aren't you?" the reporter talked right over me. "So go do some maintenance somewhere else. You are in my way."
"Cacha, I do believe this is not the reporter who did the puff-piece on the Hellites," I said.
"With an attitude like that, I wonder why she hasn't been demoted to cleaning toilets," Cacha said.
"Don't you get it, you troglodytes? I'm so famous I'm untouchable!"
She was famous. I had to give her that. While I personally didn't waste my time watching the media, even I knew who she was. No doubt Breaking News was a name she had assumed after she began her career in professional gossip fuel distribution.
"I don't care who you are. You are to head up to the official reception area with the other media," I said, looking at her darkly, although the effect was probably somewhat hampered by my armor and partially hidden eyes.
"Who the fuck do you think you are? The queen or something?" Breaking News spat. "I don't take orders from servants!"
Eclipse had since arrived, and was listening to the exchange, eyebrows raised. "Interesting," she said.
Several of the security ponies moved towards Breaking News, but seeing Eclipse wasn't at all stressed, I discretely indicated for them to hold their positions. Noticing this, Eclipse bent forward and whispered in my ear.
"If that is what you wish, feel free to do so," I said.
Eclipse loudly cleared her throat. "In the name of fairness, all recordings made before my official appearance are to be confiscated. Guards, please collect the offending material. Now, all media personnel will move to the appointed location."
I chuckled as the guards descended on Breaking News and her team, gathering their recording equipment, and escorting them away.
"I think, perhaps, that mare is a little too stupid to understand that a good queen is the ultimate public servant," Eclipse said. "And, no I am not referring to my own abilities, because in comparison, it seems I have come up lacking. Let us get this circus over."
After much fanfare, which I avoided as best I could, Princess Lunar Eclipse had strutted onto the raised stage in the middle of the Mane Way as if the habitat where hers. She was reveling in the attention, something denied her for two millennia. I wondered if it would go to her head, and she would try to take the crown. It had been her birthright, after all. For the moment, I decided to watch her, and see what direction she would choose.
Glancing around the Mane Way and the surrounding buildings from my position away from the stage, I found Allie and Maisie looking down from a window a couple floors up. I gave them a discrete wave, and was surprised when they waved back. It had been hard to tell exactly where they were looking, and I was nowhere near the center of attention.
"So, the little princess knows who the real queen is," Cacha whispered in my ear.
"You saw that?"
"Evidently," Cacha chuckled.
"Well, she knows who her mother is," I said, "and mothers are more important that queens!"
"Hmm, yes, certainly at that age."
We returned our attention to the fanfare. In fact, it was getting so loud, hearing each other whisper was becoming difficult. Princess Lunar Eclipse finished posing for the media, and approached the microphone that had been set up towards the front of the stage. Once the crowd fell silent, she began to speak.
"Thank you for this kind welcome. I am Princess Lunar Eclipse, daughter of Princess Moon Glow who was the original Queen of this small world, Habitat Eleven. I am also the granddaughter of Princess Luna, after whom your moon is named, and whose name you use casually in oaths!
"It is wonderful to finally escape the prison in which I have spent the last two thousand years, thanks to the efforts of some wonderful ponies. It was fortunate that I met those ponies first, as had it been the first news reporter I met when I exited the hub, I may have preferred to remain imprisoned!"
I turned to Cacha. "This certainly isn't what I was expecting. I wonder where she is heading with this."
"Listen, and find out," Cacha said, shrugging.
"The pony, the news reporter I met today cared only about herself. She only cared that it would be her who first broke the news, that it would be her who first asked me questions. She didn't care who she trampled, or who she cheated to gain this. She even had the gall to suggest her fame made her untouchable, that her actions would never be met with repercussions.
"What this news reporter, and you alike, do not know is that your queen lives among you, as a commoner. Your queen wears no crown. Your queen does not live in a palace. Your queen's home is a humble structure, just like your homes. For all you know, she could be your neighbor.
"Your queen understands the difficulties of your lives because she shares them. It goes even beyond this. Your queen has worked as a commoner. Your queen has worked as your servant, frequently risking her own life to bring benefits to you all.
"Yet, today I saw your queen humiliated, treated with disdain by this prominent member of society. She was vilified for her appearance as one of the HELaTS. She was treated as insignificant because she was perceived to be a maintenance pony. This behavior is not tolerable. How firmly do I believe this? Last time this sort of attitude was displayed in front of me, I did what I could to fight it. I did this."
Some quiet applause indicated the audience didn't quite follow what was happening. Moments later a collective gasp marked their understanding, as Princess Luna Eclipse shed her royal gowns, and stood before them, naked, as a HELaTS herself.
"Behold. I, as a princess, became a HELaTS myself, as an example to others that HELaTS are not to be scorned. This is the action of a true Royal. She is someone who is willing to do anything to protect her subjects. Your queen is no different. Although she may not like showing herself publicly, she is just as committed to your well-being. Just think of that next time you berate or bully another pony. Although you might not know it, that pony may be one that is giving their all for your quality of life. It may even be your queen!"
The enthusiastic applause was stirring. I felt myself blushing, under my armor. Ponies around me stared at me, and at Cacha. They whispered among themselves, as they spotted and studied the few other Hellites that were in the crowd. Some gave a simple nod of acknowledgement. Some smiled, grasped our hoofs, shaking them. Some asked if it were either of us – questions we ignored.
When the noise had quietened somewhat, Eclipse said casually, "Breaking Wind, sorry, Breaking News, you may collect your confiscated equipment, sans recording media, after the event. Now, my good ponies, do any of you have any questions?"
Next to me, Cacha burst out laughing. "Perhaps we really should offer Breaking News a new name. Rather than Breaking Wind, Cleaning Toilets comes to mind. It will match the only job she has any hope of landing now!"
"She may choose to apologize," I said.
"Maybe, but will the public forgive her? More importantly, will her rival reporters ever allow her near a story again?"
"You have a good point, Cacha," I said.
"Don't you go granting any royal favors to help her," Cacha said. "Let this one take care of itself."
I glanced back at the stage. Once again Eclipse had the attention of the audience.
"Come," I said to Cacha. "Let us leave the princess to her fun."
"Indeed."
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That can have bad consequences. If public stops avoiding modifiers, they'll modify themselves to no return.
Huh, an interesting take on the whole thing.
6449291
That's unusually compassionate of them. Purges are a lot cheaper.
6483377
they are also louder.
sneaky, sneaky, ethnic cleansing.
6483377 They tried the purge too, but with limited success. The genetic engineering was to deal with those they could not catch.
Why refer to the aliens and Warners as seemingly different beings? Differing factions?
Should there be a "the" in there?
I don't think the second comma needs to be there. It implies "or at least" can be removed.
"didn't" or "did not" works better here.
What I am more interested in is the implications for the whole history of the planet and all the other shit that changed. At least one alicorn in on a ship, and Fluttershy was mentioned. Assuming each Element became an alicorn and took a ship, that leaves 2 ships with unknown alicorns. Also, Eclipse never had an alicorn daughter, so just how did Luna and Moon Glow manage to squeeze out an alicorn child?
We also have the problem of the massive ring; that has been affecting Equestria for a long time with the sisters running important duties. I find it hard to swallow that they forgot the things they moved in the sky were made by aliens. The ring's modifiers or nanites also passed over the habitat for some unknown reason. And I feel the plan for possibly living on the ring would not make the aliens too happy, thus leaving the ponies to the mercy of alien "laws" that might have changed.
As for cutting travel time between Habitat Eleven and this new world (assuming the other ponies made it and are alive), possible magical portals could be created that are powered by the horn arrays. It would obviously take a lot of power to tunnel through astronomical distances, though that is very dependent on otherunicorn's magical laws.
Well fuck. Every time I think the story can't get any more amazing, you go ahead and invent new headcannon that is fantastic and works so well with the world of MLP.
Can't wait for more!
6483790
Yes, the Warners are those that actually came down and talked to the ponies, where as aliens encompasses all of the off-world beings.
It says elsewhere that magic is usually involved in making an alicorn, and that Eclipse had not had one yet. Many thousands of years have passed. There's been plenty of time for a few more alicorns to have been created. Probably all of the mane six. Possibly some ponies that were thousands of years younger.
We're taking about something like 8000-10000 years past by the time the habitats are made.
The "unknown reason" the modifiers didn't attack the habitat is because it is made of the same material as they are forming. To them, it was simply an area that was already done.
The aliens already have that technology (and have had it for eons), but you don't give that sort of power to a pest you simply want out of the way. Why give someone jet technology when you can just give them bus tickets.
If Habitat is now embedded in the ring, but the top is clear so any access hatches etc are clear, will the ring surrface be traaformed already, or will it be grown out to a given size relative to teh central star then made livable? Will the aliens have transformed different parts of the ring to different planetary enviroments, and will the local hundred plant area be related to Habitat, or Mars or totally different?
Royal slap down there, still got to watch the population figures, but given all those empty sub levels, just what population should there be, as a multiple of what currently is?
6483943
So this implies that the ring is being constructed by a multitude of alien races with just the Warners actually following some sort of ethics code about killing a planet and its current inhabitants.
Even the engine manifolds and some select points of other exterior fixtures? Or were those just passed over since they were small in comparison to the job as a whole?
So that means ponies could have re-invented the tech or something similar on their new planet (assuming they are alive) and mount some kind of rescue mission.
6484231
The current population is the correct, sustainable size.
6484406
The Warners are merely representatives of the corporation that is building the ring. Their "PR men".
Well. This is certainly interesting. Caught my attention the moment I started reading. I like the structure. As a techno freak who like dystopian future stuff complete with advanced understanding and technology this has been amazing.
When Breaking Wind steps into the room...
Humans, then? Or at least implies human have space travel for aliens to hear that quote.
And couldn't the alicorns just go "Nah, screw you." and throw them into the Sun?
6483371
Isn't ONE modifier already the point of no return?
6488485
Think of the infinite number of monkeys on typewriters analogy. I'm sure that in a universe crawling with lifeforms, humans won't be the only ones to come up with that quote.
Fucking finally. Fucking bloody finally someone put a thought, an actual effort to their sci-fi writing. With shit I see in top rated I didn't dare hope anymore.
You wouldn't believe how happy this chapter made me. No thoughtless "sun orbits the planet", no unneeded attempts to "explain" magic, no narrative problem solving that brings more problems, you simply presented a picture that is internally consistent. Hell, you've deftly avoided a whole bunch of issues that plague others in three damn paragraphs.
I don't know what your inspiration is, I see too many potential influences to attribute any that title. But whatever it is, I'm glad I found your story.
Thank you.
Aneki, cleaning spells do not have to include explosions
Sooo... same stuff that's growing over the sun, probably?
Pfff.
Heliocentric mechanics in Equestria? Heresy!
...
Huh. Well now. Equestrian orbital mechanics, here we go!
This is starting to sound a bit like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "Yeah, sorry, we're building an intergalactic highway here. You had two hundred thousand years to come over to the planning center with a complaint. Wasn't our fault you guys weren't sapient yet when we made the plans."
Definitly HHGTTG vibes, there
Oh. Of course. And judging from the covered windows, the ring has probably pretty much grown around/over the habitat.
Wait, actually, that doesn't make any sense... if the ring was originally between the planet and the sun, and right now they're sitting on the inside of the ring... how did they get there? They never took off...
Unless that "growing" of the ring was in diameter? I kind of assumed it would be growing into a full Dyson's Sphere. But, if it grows in diameter, it must've expanded until it got to the planet, consumed it, and.... left the Habitat untouched as it integrated it?
Augh! So much to speculate about!
I still prefer the Freefall version... "Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don't understand it." - Florence Ambrose
Of course, that version wouldn't make a lick of sense to a people which has access to actual magic
Ohhh. Wow. So it's probably actually receding from the windows, then. The ring's gravity will probably make sure the habitat remains on the ring, though.
Maybe they can drill down into the ring to get access to some kind of energy source?
Still wondering about the stuff around the sun itself, though... and, actually, the purpose of the ring, too.
Ah, yup. Not receding, then, and stuck inside the ring.
*imagines the aliens coming back after a couple more centuries*
-"Huh. What's that thing sticking out of the ring?"
-"Ugh. Equestrians."
"is", huh? I assume she was in one of the habitats that actually took off, then.
She may be a clever little thing, but she didn't figure that one out. Habitat Eleven only held 1/11th of the full Equestrian population, after all
Hah. More alicornication
Hah! She found a public royal face to hide behind
Famous last words
Oh, very quotable!
Hah!
Ohcrap. Trial by media. "Breaking News" is so ruined
Oh, right. That little detail. Almost forgot about that
6502845
Exactly.
I'm sorry, do you mean a spherical shell?
You mean to tell me these Warners came and set up their astrobotany project to construct a ring around the sun with nanobots, and they just happened to coincidentally have the angle and declension of this ring perfectly overlap with the orbit of the only habitable planet in the solar system? Couldn't they have just... shifted it a few degrees off to spare the planet, if they're only gonna take a single band of the sunlight?
Anyway, the princess is free yaaaay. The entire Habitat sphere is covered in hostile modifiers yaaaay. There's no explanation why the modifiers haven't devoured every atom they're all composed of yaaaay. They're embedded in a supermassive disc around the sun made out of Stuff yaaaay. Even if they could enable the gravity powered railgun, the sphere is practically welded in place and they're out of fuel yaaaay.
So, their options at this point seem to be
1) Kick the ass of an alien race with millions of years more experience in modifier science than them.
2) Get more fuel somehow possibly, by tapping into whatever's powering the ring they're stuck in, Zion style.
3) Get some kind of signal out to the habitable place all the other habitats went to, assuming it won't just broadcast past 9 smoking ruins of habitats floating around in whatever hellish part of space the Warners sent them to, and assuming that the immortals who actually knew what was going on over there, can figure out what the feck to do with the lost habitat.
4) Buy another habitat. They're like $10 in the corner store over in Warnerville. That's a $1 per earth-sized-planet exchange rate.
6599850
They wanted to capture and harvest the material from the planets. Being in the same orbital plain was the most efficient.
There is, actually. The habitat shell is made of the same stuff the ring is made of.
Quite welded in place. Irredeemably welded place.
Pretty much.
But will the sellers take pony bits?
6606735
I dunno, maybe if you constructed a small moon out of solid gold by melting down pony bits.
Well, there's a sci-fi tag. You might wanna, ya know, use that.
6606835 Read that comment. Think about it. Pony bits. Think about how it could be interpreted.
If the other habitats (I'm assuming twenty) went to the same destination... I think our friends on Habitat Eleven can make it. With four quite populous groups, all of which are/can be converted to being able to just about survive vacuum, and the ability to pretty much put them in hibernation, and ten percent of the fuel required to propel a 20 mile diameter sphere left, I think they can at the very least engineer a new ship/better engine.
"and mothers are more important that queens!"
Here's an idea for a chapter that occurs MUCH later: Another habitat ark shows up, docks with H'ven, and either has all of the inhabitants transfer to the new ship or wrenches it free from the ringworld while transferring resources, and brings them to the world that was supposed to be colonized. Actually teleporting part of the way, bringing a several century journey into a trip that takes only a few months or years. And guess who's all at the bridge? pre08.deviantart.net/f993/th/pre/f/2015/093/a/e/vector__140___the_mane_7_by_dashiesparkle-d8oavp9.png
orig13.deviantart.net/79b9/f/2014/304/a/f/sunset_shimmer_by_ezidze-d84rgcn.png
pre07.deviantart.net/743e/th/pre/i/2016/124/6/3/trixie_likes_what_she_sees_by_reginault-da1b4dz.png
And all of them are alicorns. I mean, Fluttershy had command of her own habitat. From what we've seen the habitat has to have an alicorn in charge of things. So what's to say that the others didn't become alicorns as well? (Also do you think that Celestia and Luna LIKED being the only ponies with the gift of immortality? Wouldn't you think that they would want to find a way to make everyone stop aging after a certain point?)
6988601 What about breaking free from the ringworld?
7439790 Fluttershy (the alicorn) and Discord are in charge of Habitat Four.
I just love everything about this touching speech!! <3
Well this chapter was excellent!
And has probably move this story into my top 10 if not top 5 story of all time. #1 being Fallout Equestia.
I love how you had Eclipse handle the media. 
The ability to handle things like that only come from living for a mmillennium or so. also enjoyed what she said about Aneki being there Queen walking among them in the background. Between that and having a foal she having become a wonderful character and look forward to seeing how she handles being a mom and queen. 
When you had Aneki removed and replace the queens. I was like, okay this what you had been getting at. Also the way that you had Aneki turn the three of them into wall splatter was absolutely hilarious.
Also the weapon that Brainstorm gave her is just awesome. I can not remember if you called her a living weapon in the story yet because it describes her perfectly.
I wanted to read this story for a while, and when I finally got around to reading it, I loved it at the beginning... But around the past few dozen chapters or so you've succumbed to "Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Syndrome" AKA: You've added too many unnecessary plot-twists, and you've taken away what I originally liked about the fic. First, you introduced the Changelings, who I felt were an unneeded addition, but I was fine with them... Then you added Aneki's coup against Central, which I felt was a bit questionable on it's own, but worse when I realized that it took away most of the suspense of the characters being chased by Central's Death Squads... Then you added all this about alicorns and aliens, and I feel that this will be where I sign off on the fic for now.
I wish that you had kept it simple and just had Central be the bad guys, not Changelings nor Aliens, but simply bad, power-hungry ponies, who the heroes had to defeat and escape the Habitat, with the planet being still intact, with the habitat either heading to a new world, or landed on the old world, without all the Dyson sphere ringworld stuff. I'm a bit disappointed for the same reason I was disappointed in FO:E PH, but for the time being I'll move on to a new fic.
9444359 PH should have ended multiple times before it actually did. It was also based on someone else work and stopped offering anything new as it went on.
This story keeps on giving. It keeps on being original and new right to the end. It could have been cut short but the whole woven universe and lore needs to pan out and its brilliant for it.
How far it moves from the first basic premise did surprise me on my first read through but is so unique and different that I've not read anything I've it anywhere else.
PH is a elongated shadow of an original work. This is a brand new sun in its own right.