Chapter 14: Doors and Windows
”Yes Chance, I'm dead serious. It's time you start learning how to teleport." The downstairs of the library had been cleared for their magic lessons, which was even more advisable than usual when such high-level magic was being contemplated.
"But... Twilight, it's not possible. Maybe for an Alicorn bending the whole universe is something you can really do. But I'm not an Alicorn! Making holes in the universe takes enormous amounts of energy. I can barely even start fires with that ignition spell without getting migraines!"
Twilight nodded. "Of course you can't teleport yet. I was years older than you before I could move myself around. And it's only since becoming an Alicorn I could travel long distances, like all the way to Canterlot." She settled down into a comfortable sitting position, beside the chalkboard, and rapidly sketched out a unicorn's head on the board, complete with the internal anatomy. At least the magical organs, which were the only ones that mattered in this case. "See Chance, this little guy here is called the Carbuncle. Every time you cast a spell, this is where the power comes from. It's also why too much magic causes headaches."
"I don't expect you to be able to teleport yourself for a long time, Chance. But I do think you're ready to learn the theory. If you get started practicing now, then you will start putting lots of strain on your magic. You'll improve faster that way, don't you see? Eventually you will be ready for advanced magic, and that time will come much sooner because of all the exercise you've done to make your magic stronger."
Much to Twilight's satisfaction, her apprentice did not argue with her or try to get out of the difficult magical strain. Perhaps many young fillies might try to get out of work in whatever way they could, but Second Chance was not most fillies. Maybe Twilight had decided to call her an apprentice merely as a way to make the filly think that she was needed and give her a reason to go with Twilight instead of any other family that might take in a homeless foal.
For awhile, that had seemed like what was going on. Chance couldn't read, she fell over when she walked. She asked awkward questions and made messes. But those things were fixing themselves as the months went by. She could already read, nearly as well as a filly her age and getting better all the time. She was still awkward and uncoordinated, but not so much that she made messes wherever she went.
Just as important as her intelligence, little Chance was true and kind. She dealt with the strangeness of her present situation with grace, and treated the other ponies with respect. Almost daily somepony or another would compliment her on the filly's behavior. To think that only her friends had any idea what she really was. If more ponies ever found out about it, Chance would have done wonders to represent her people. Often Twilight found herself wondering what her conversion had been like, though she had no words to express the question and didn't ask. What was it like to permanently become something else? Had it merely been her body that had become a pony, or her spirit as well? And if her spirit hadn't changed, then could what happened to Chance's world happen here?
She did not think it would take even a year before Chance started pulling her own weight as a pony, to the point where she no longer took Twilight's time away from her own work but actually helped her be able to get more done. She could already be counted on for small things. But if things continued at their present rate, it wouldn't be long before she could start eliminating grunt-work for Twilight. It wasn't much of a stretch to imagine her being able to start some basic spells, and mix the base of most potions without Twilight's interference. She was already more responsible than Spike. Then again, she was older too. Or... had been older? It was hard to tell with transformation involved.
"Okay, Twilight. Just tell me what I need to do. I'll try."
She nodded, and lifted her chalk for another lecture. "We won't start you moving yourself around, since right now that would be dangerous for you. Instead, let's start with moving small objects. I would rather lose a pencil than an apprentice!" She reached out, resting a hoof briefly on one of Chance's shoulders. "One is far easier to come by than the other."
So she went about explaining the basics of the spell. The mental patterns one formed when performing it. The way one built up a sympathetic connection to the destination, and manipulated the space between those two points until...
"This is exactly like quantum tunneling!" Chance exclaimed, after a half hour of careful instruction and study of the diagrams. "The teleportation spell just makes it macroscopic! Somehow... but all you're doing is altering the probabilities at the entrance, and shaping them into a tunnel so that you have to come out at the exit! That's how you don't travel faster than light, because you actually skipped the distance in-between! It's brilliant!"
Rarely did Twilight see her apprentice this excited. Usually it was only when she had recognized some connection from her home. Complicated relationship with home that filly had, for sure. On the one hoof, the way she sometimes brightened made it seem like humans were her most cherished memories. But sometimes, everything she said made it sound like she didn't even want to think about what she had been before. So was she hurt by the memories, or was she homesick? How was Twilight supposed to tell? Pony emotions were rarely this complex, so that it was not usually so hard to figure them out. Maybe adult ponies could sometimes be this way, but it was very strange to see an innocent-looking filly torn up about them.
Almost as strange as it had been to see her waking up screaming every night after awful nightmares. "So your world had teleportation magic too?" Twilight asked, watching Chance's expression very carefully.
The filly shook her head. "Not like this. Our world had teleportation, but it was for very small things. Little bits of stuff, smaller than you could ever see even with a microscope... not even our microscopes could see them really, and they were much better than yours. But you could observe the effects if you had the right machines. The universe has teleportation all the time. Like... if you picture a hill. We have a ball, and we drop it from another hill nearby so it rolls down the hill and up the next hill. Because of friction and stuff, it won't roll quite as far up the hill as you dropped it from yours, right? Well, if it was very small, it might just keep going to the top of the hill anyway, because it "wants" to be on the other side of that hill, where it can roll down again. And sometimes, more often than you would think, it would go through the hill instead of over it. Spontaneously tunnel straight through it. Our scientists thought that after trillions and trillions of years, quantum tunneling was going to turn everything in the universe into iron. Of course, that's only if the cosmological constant is-" She stopped talking abruptly. "Sorry, Twilight. We didn't have any way of controlling tunneling outside of a laboratory, and never for something as large as a person. Equestria has us beat there."
Twilight Sparkle wasn't so sure about that, but she nodded all the same. Every time they got into this high-level theory, it seemed she was no longer talking to a modestly gifted filly, but to an expert in magical theory, an expert who understood things much better than many of her past teachers. Except Celestia, of course. "Well Chance, I think that's enough for today. Would you like to try and get that Core thing working before dinner? I could start the generator for you!"
It was like popping a balloon. The excitement vanished from the filly, and her ears suddenly pressed themselves flat to her head. "I... uh... maybe tomorrow, Twilight. Scootaloo offered to teach me how to ride a scooter, I'd rather do that. Do you... would it be okay if I went and found her instead?"
On the one hoof, Twilight was reminded of how much more diligent she had been as a young apprentice to Celestia. On the other hoof, she was reminded of how empty and lonely that life had been, and how Celestia had been forced to send her away to Ponyville to teach her those lessons about friendship she easily could've learned in Canterlot if she hadn't had her nose so far up her books. "Sure, Chance. You go right ahead. Just be back in an hour! You know how Spike gets when there's nobody around to appreciate his cooking."
The filly dropped her notebook onto the couch and shot toward the door as though Cerberus himself were nipping at her hooves. "And be careful!" Twilight shouted after her, before the door could close. "Don't crash into anypony!"
"I won't!" The door slammed shut behind her, magically of course, and the filly was gone from sight, leaving Twilight alone in the library. Why did it suddenly feel so empty in here? She'd never felt lonely at home with Spike around. She turned, and went into the kitchen, where her favorite dragon was already well started on what looked like egg-rolls of some kind. "Hey!" She said, as brightly as she could. "Need some help?"
"Sure, Twilight!" He responded, as cheerful as ever. "I'll handle the deep-frier, but you could help me with the dough if you want. And there's some cabbage that needs to be cut."
She nodded, and set to work beside her number one assistant. And of course, she was disappointed that Chance hadn't been able to get the core working yet. She had forgotten much of what her apprentice had said about it, but the fact it contained every Precursor book had never left her mind and probably never would. In the basement of her library was enough books to fill another royal library at least, and she couldn't even open them.
One day. Chance would figure it out eventually. It would just take time.
* * *
A universe away, there was a planet that had once been home to rich and varied life, so verdant and beautiful that no corner of the globe had not been teeming with living things. That planet had changed. Gray now covered the continents, gray and brown populated with the corpses of many cities and trees and little else. Nearly a third of the surface of the planet had once been home to the sprawling megalopolis, but now all that was left of them was twisted steel remains. Twisting rad-resistant lichens seemed to be the only visible life left on the surface, though occasionally a lone cockroach would skitter over the ruin searching for something organic to nibble on.
There was only one patch of the planet's surface where life appeared to go on, though in a strictly biological sense there was nothing living there either. Like most of humanity's creations, this apparent life was within the ruin of a city, one of the largest such ruins on the planet. Yet for miles around the rubble had been cleared, and only the largest ruins had not been torn down to make room for the new.
In the center of this cleared area was the largest single structure still standing. The gleaming metal tower had once been white and very beautiful, a tapering spire of impressive width and height. Its surface had once been a single unbroken sheet, so reflective that the pavement around it grew hot to the touch. This was the case no longer. Large sections had been broken, replaced with crude steel plates riveted into place, and the rest was dirty and a little warped by heat.
Still, when viewed from the air the area made for an impressive sight. Much labor had cleared a circular courtyard for miles around the structure, with all the rubble and detritus pushed together at the edges to form a crude wall over a hundred feet high. Smaller structures had begun to spread throughout the courtyard nearest to the tower, though they all seemed to be somewhat ramshackle. The beings that moved about the blackened earth grew no crops, though they did tend to growing fields of solar panels scavenged from hundreds of miles around, along with steady caravans of ruined electronics that flowed in on the backs of hovering scavenger drones. Every day the level of activity on the blackened soil began to grow, with more and more drones as well as apparent humans going about their daily labor.
The Steel Tower lacked for neither king nor throne. The two were rarely near to one another anymore, not since the Fall. Most of his current kingdom's concerns were digital, and few had bodies with which to address him. There were no servants in the Tower anymore, digital or otherwise. No cleaning staff, no butlers, and no cooks. Not that you needed cooks when you didn't eat.
But there were plenty of other things. Most of the physical population within the tower were either his Knights or Sages of the Technocratic Order. Few of his other subjects existed as anything other than digitally upon the Steel Tower's near infinite Quantum Matrix mainframe. Sometimes Richard wished he could join them there, and save himself from the constant political bickering between the Knights and the Sages who still had physical bodies. The mainframe was apparently quite nice this time of year.
The Sovereign of the Steel Tower had vacated his spacious suite near the top of the tower in favor of a smaller office near the base. Every drop of energy he could save by not using the elevator would make for more of his own people that could have bodies made for them, and the faster the Steel Tower could reclaim the broken earth.
His small office could scarcely contain the press of Sages that had come to him on this most important of days, with their most important of findings. They wore thick robes of silver and black, ceremonial gear as much as protection from the fierce dust-storms that sometimes raged outside. With hoods pulled down none of them looked old, though. Full-cybernetic bodies were always made to look in their prime, and it was impossible to guess if the mind inside the body was twenty or two-hundred. Male and female alike wore their hair long in the current popular style of the Tower.
Chairs were a luxury this office did not provide, since the only people that used it would have fully cybernetic bodies that did not tire and could stand in place for days if required. One of the Sages carried a glowing metallic cube in her arms, which projected a holographic display into the air in the center of the room for King Richard to see. Of course his counselors and attendants watched as well, but in digital form, as being a politician did not qualify as high enough priority to warrant a physical body.
"Report." He commanded, resting in the only chair in the room behind a fancy-looking wooden desk that had been somewhat scorched by the events of the Fall. "The windows. How near are we to stabilizing the Rift?"
The greatest of the Sages had taken for himself the nickname "Tesla" for so long that King Richard did not actually recall his proper name. There was even a little physical resemblance, if only because that model of cybernetic happened to have dark hair and almond-colored skin, along with being tall and thin. He did not have the Serbian accent to match, however. "Yes and no." While others were greatly intimidated by the king, Tesla had known him back when he had been just a CEO, and acted with only barely the honor befitting the office. "We have discovered the means to stretch and expand the Rift. Unfortunately, the energy required has proven itself to be beyond our present ability to generate. Our best estimates predict at least three decades before have anything stable enough to risk sending a human being through."
"Mhmm" The King knew better than to argue with Tesla. There was no point pressuring him to go faster, or arguing with his results. Tesla was the best, and always had been. If he said that it would take decades, then it would take decades. "We shall need to evaluate our expansion priorities, then. Focus more of our effort toward the Anti-Matter reactor." Richard made a mental note to examine the resource projections for the next two decades when this meeting was over, then returned his attention on the technicians. "Have we managed to get anything through in one piece?"
Everyone seemed to think Tesla was about to speak, but he deferred to the woman at his side. It was impossible to guess the ages of these people, but she acted far less confident than either of the other two who had spoken so far. "A-as the king will be aware." She squeaked, eyes on the ground. There were many who might have taken advantage of her weakness, but Richard was no such man. No, Richard would be a good king. So he merely waited patiently for her to collect herself enough to resume speaking. "We have discovered seven Rifts, each originating from the Luna-7 station in orbit. We have b-been "capturing" these Rifts for brief periods, but we have been unable to keep them for long. Only one of the seven Rifts is stable enough to send solid matter through. For the last two months, we have been sending automated drones of various sizes and complexity through the Rift, and we send radio signals to communicate with them whenever we can." She gulped, taking a step back. "We estimate about 5% of the automated drones are functional. Another 20% are intact, but damaged in minor ways from the transition. The remaining 75% are damaged beyond repair."
Tesla went on. "The power requirements would be insignificant if we had a stabilizer running on the other end. By your leave, I will transmit the orders to the drones to begin searching for raw materials to build such a platform. It might take years, but we can shorten the process by sending more drones as often as possible."
"No." Richard said, suddenly firm. "If there is no matching gateway on the other side it means that Leo was killed. Need I remind you that we aren't the only ones in desperate need of this new frontier. Perhaps our adversaries are at a disadvantage due to their biological limitations, but this will not contain them forever. Whatever you may think of their intelligence, you may be sure that given enough time they too will find a way to travel freely. I ask you then, do we wish to make ourselves known to the natives as polluters before we even arrive?" He shook his head. "No, I don't think that wise."
If the sages did not like his decision, they didn't argue with him. Thus was the respect between the king and those who served him. He would listen and treat with respect, but when it came time to render judgment, one did not argue with him unless there was no other choice. Even Tesla did not argue, only managing a disgruntled. "Then what would you have us do, Sire?"
The king was quiet for a moment, then rose. "Am I correct in assuming that once the gateway is constructed on the other side, the previous stability of the Rift will become meaningless?" At a few hasty nods, he went on. "Then waste no more energy growing the barrier. We do our enemy's work by it, making a bridge that any can cross. Rather, let your energy now be turned to discovering what about the 5% of probes that survived protected them, and designing more that survive even better. Do we have surveys of the land around the opening?" At another nod, he went right along. "Then find somewhere far away from the ponies with plenty of raw materials and get those probes replicating. Build an infrastructure. We can design a Gateway once everything else is in place for our arrival. If that means we must wait a few more years, then we will wait. At the very worst, our enemy will bridge the gap for us, and will arrive to find us firmly entrenched." Then he softened, relaxing gradually back into his chair.
"Is there... any sign of them? If the Rift is as unstable as you say, it would probably just be a corpse or something..."
"Just one." Tesla turned to glance meaningfully at his inferiors, who scowled before filing from the office one by one. This left only himself holding the projection-device, looking for the first time to be a little nervous about what he was going to tell the king. "We haven't seen any sign of the Rift being activated by the Federation since we managed to get a drone though to the other side to record."
"We have been watching that area ever since we had a single working drone. It seems to be just outside a pony settlement. Not many of them seem to come to the place. However, we've seen these three more than once." He waved a hand over the projector, which switched to a video recording, projected in three dimensions.
Even after watching every last recording of the alien unicorn "Clover", there was just no getting used to seeing these strange aliens, which was all the stranger considering how similar they were in many ways to earthly animals. Yet, there was little of true horses in these creatures. These four were plainly children of their kind, with youthful proportions. Was it strange that he could look at their faces and read their emotion as easily as reading a child's? So far as he knew, not even their most powerful computers had produced any idea of why these aliens were so similar. It was a statistical impossibility. Yet somehow, it was also a truth.
The recording had audio of course, and they conversed in their animal tongue laden with familiar emotions, growing louder as they crested a small hill and neared the edge of the clearing. They did not seem to see the done concealed in a tree on the furthest edge of the clearing, as it tracked their every movement. "Why isn't the translation program running?" Richard asked, watching the recording with some interest. The aliens were remarkable creatures, for all their physical disadvantages. Two of these had horns, and one had a set of wings.
"Just listen."
The king did just that, trying to follow their conversation without being able to understand any of the words. It was a good thing he was listening so closely, or else he might very well have missed as the little green one interjected the words "Hawking Rift" and "radiation" into conversation as she stood in the clearing and appeared to be explaining it to the other three.
Richard listened to the recording several more times before he was satisfied that his ears hadn't simply tricked him. Not that synthetic hearing ever tricked you. The words had been expressed through a thick accent, which was probably inevitable coming from such an alien mouth, but they had been plain for what they were. "Switch on the translation." He instructed, and rewound the playback to the point of interest to listen again.
"It's called a Hawking Rift. It's how you travel between worlds. When it first opens, it releases a huge burst of radiation that can poison anything nearby. It's a good thing nopony was here when it appeared, or they could've been really sick."
"The green one. She knows what she is talking about. Do you think our enemy were the ones to teach her?"
Tesla shrugged. "It is the most likely possibility." He frowned, taking the projector back into his arms. "Unfortunately, we can detect no sign of Leo anywhere. His UT implant is dead, which does not imply anything positive."
Richard nodded gravely. "That implant was nuclear, it should have lasted for thousands of years. Something must have killed him."
"That was my conclusion. Perhaps our enemy managed to send a coherent nanoswarm through the opening."
Richard remained silent for a long time. He got to his feet and turned, looking out the window at the gray waste that was the center of his domain. This was his kingdom. Without resources from new lands, this was all his kingdom would be for hundreds of years to come, maybe thousands. "Once the drones have a stable microfab, I want the green one found and followed. If she is in contact with the enemy, then observing her is the key to learning how we have been bested."
* * *
Days turned into weeks in Ponyville. The OMICRON Core refused to work despite successive attempts, and soon it ended up shoved against the wall and began accumulating dust. It seemed quite a shame to have spent so much on the generator that did them no good, but Twilight assured her it hadn't been a problem. "The bits came from the crown anyway Chance, so don't worry. We're doing official research on behalf of all Equestria. This isn't the first time research has hit a dead end. Besides, think of all you learned! Give it some time. Maybe something will come to you eventually." Maybe it would, but she had her doubts. The Omicron Core had been tampered with, given new programming she did not understand. Worse, that programming had come from one of the enemy. The technology of her own people, beautiful, had been twisted to who knew what end.
Of course, the fact it had been teaching Equestrians things about math and science as long as its internal batteries had lasted called her theories about evil into question. Perhaps teaching was too strong a word. Guiding the Equestrians, so that they would discover those innovations on their own. Humanity had learned all too well the dangers of being given knowledge they had not earned. It had cost them their planet. It seemed even the enemy understood this lesson too. But why? What was the point? Maybe this ancient hero, Leo the Bold, really had loved Equestria the way she did. She wouldn't ever know. Second Chance had not told Twilight Sparkle that, if he had been full cybernetic, the human's cortical recorder had probably survived his death. If she ever got the Omicron core running again, it might be used to repair the body and revive him. She hadn't told her, nor did she have any plan to do so. Her own world had been torn apart by conflict between her own people and theirs, and she was not about to bring that conflict here. Equestria deserved better. Let the old hero rest, if hero he had been.
Chance had more than enough to occupy her attention with school on and her magic lessons resumed in earnest. It would never be said she wasn't a proper unicorn, that was for sure. Now that she had a taste for magic, she soaked up every drop of instruction Twilight gave her like a thirsty sponge, to the point where she sometimes did not join her friends the Crusaders on adventures so she could get in some extra study time. Besides, it wasn't as though anything they did together actually worked. There might be one more Crusader, but that had not improved their ability to get Cutie Marks. Of course, it was still great fun. That never changed. Besides, the Crusaders needed somepony to be a voice of reason, and shoot down ideas that made less than good sense.
It came near the middle of spring, perhaps the most important night in a long time. It was the first time she dreamed of Equestria.
There were no more distant memories, no more ruined cities and nuclear fire. No more humans. Just her, and the library, and her studying. As close to actual studying as she could actually manage while asleep, in any case. The books were just nonsense, random smattering of Equestrian and English. But she didn't notice. That was the way of dreams; she had no reason to question anything.
Until Luna walked in. Each time the princess tried to blend into the scenery of her dream, yet each time the presence of another mind immediately alerted her to the fact she was no longer alone. Not even the comfort of the library would be enough to conceal her visitor from her. This was her mind, and welcome or not, she noticed. "Oh, Luna!" She sat up, returning the book to the shelf with a careful pressure of her magic. It wasn't making any sense to her anyway. "It's been so long. I thought you forgot about me."
It seemed strange to see the Alicorn in such familiar circumstances. There was nothing strange here. She almost felt she ought to summon some human artifact into being to make her visitor more comfortable. "Nay, filly. We doth not forget any of our beloved subjects." She sat down on her haunches across from Second Chance, in a regal and relaxed sort of way. "We came unto thee to say goodbye, however. None other that we so often visited. Yet, our work is almost done." She gestured around them, approvingly. "The whole need no physician."
Chance frowned, and gestured a table into being between them. Perhaps she was not so good at manipulating the conditions in dreams as Luna, but Chance knew the game of being a disembodied mind. Manipulating the simulation had not become any harder for her few months having a body again. On the table she put the most delicious thing she could remember. It was a German chocolate cake she had had for her twelfth birthday. She had been saving fabricator rations for a month to have that cake. Considering how little sugar she had enjoyed on Luna-7, the cake had tasted like heaven. Besides, being made for humans meant it would be bigger compared to ponies. At least, that was how her imagination saw it. In a dream, that was all that mattered. She served Luna a slice on a compressed silicon plate, mostly because that was what she had eaten the cake on all those years ago.
"You're saying you aren't coming back then, Princess?" Chance waited for the princess to take a bite before she did. It wasn't just a cake she was eating, but a precious and treasured memory. That probably made it taste much better than it had any right to. Even her royal guest seemed to approve.
"Unless I am needed again. Thou art healing, Chance. It will be years yet until thy wounds have closed. But love and friendship hast sped thy recovery. Thou art not the bruised and broken creature who wandered into Equestria's skies those months ago. In time, it may be thou art one of us completely. The sad things shall fade, until they are but distant echoes."
Chance nodded. It wasn't as though she had any mind to argue with Luna. The princess had seen things with her she hadn't dared to tell Twilight about. She had seen almost all of her worst memories. Seen her ruined planet and the slaughter that had been there. The loss of so many lives that most brains could not even conceive of so large the numbers. The near extinction of what had been a noble and proud people. She had listened. She had been here through it all. Chance owed her almost as much as she owed Twilight. And maybe Luna was right. It had been so long since she had a nightmare. It wasn't as though the princess could use powerful dream-travel magic just to make casual social calls.
"One of us is healing, Princess." Chance said quietly, as she took a large bite of the recreated cake. Maybe she should give the recipe to Pinkie Pie. Did Equestria have coconuts? It seemed quite comparable in climate to North America. Heck, some of the cities were even named (almost) the same. "I think you're right about that. But not about leaving. I don't think that's so good an idea."
"Really?" Luna raised her eyebrows, watching her with a curious grin. It was clear to Chance that most of her subjects were not this bold. And perhaps she wouldn't have been this bold with the princess either, were it not for how often they had spent time together. It was likely she had been with Luna more than any other mortal pony in Equestria. Luna wasn't an imposing and distant princess to her.
She gulped. This might not go well. Then again, she cared too much about Luna not to try. "I think I know why you work so hard to heal all of us. Even me, the stranger." Her eyes were close to tears, but she fought it to maintain eye contact. The princess was impossible to read, her face a frozen mask. She was far too ancient a being for Chance to make out what might be going on behind those eyes when she wanted to hide it. "I don't think you could've helped me get better without knowing pain like mine, first. You would never understand otherwise."
The Princess, Luna, Diarch of the Moon, Dreamweaver, Crafter of Stars, was frozen, unable to respond. She just started, blinking.
So Chance went on. "I think it's not a good idea for you to go, because you need friends too. Because... just because the Elements of Harmony got rid of Nightmare Moon, I don't think they healed the hurt inside. I think the guilt was still there. There was no way you could've just forgotten, or else Nightmare Moon would've come back eventually. No, you would have to remember. Maybe I hurt because I come from a world that was suffering. But I think you're hurt worse, because you remember making the world suffer. You've helped me, and you probably help hundreds of Equestrians every night. I think someone ought to help you. The Princess of the Night shouldn't have to run into other ponies' dreams to get away from her nightmares."
She was more than a little afraid to see what the princess might be doing. She expected anger. She might've expected Luna to chastise her for going well out of her place. This was steadying the ark territory here. Ordinary ponies weren't supposed to talk to princesses like that. From another world or no, she was just a unicorn filly now. She had not expected to see Luna crying, a few silent tears streaming down her face.
Chance squeezed around the table and embraced her, clinging to the regal shape to give her what feeble support she could offer. That was why she had picked the cake memory. Luna could use some happy memories. She had a feeling the princess was in desperate lack of them. "We-..." Luna squeaked. "you can't imagine. After what we did. We don't deserve-" She shoved weakly at Chance with one hoof, though she was clearly too emotional to push very hard.
"No, I can't." Chance admitted. "And from what Twilight told me, you did some awful things as Nightmare Moon. Like waging a war against your own people." She pushed Luna's hoof away, and pressed herself to her side. Such a gesture might have seemed awkward and strange if she were a human adult. But Chance wasn't human anymore, nor was she an adult. What could a little filly do when somepony she cared about was sad? A big hug, obviously. That was all she could do. "I don't care, Luna. I think you suffered enough. Your sister's forgiven you. Equestria's forgiven you. I'm not even from here, but on behalf of the human race, I forgive you too." She whimpered, clinging tighter. "P-please... please don't stop coming."
The princess held her close, clinging to Chance for a moment like someone who was drowning might cling to a flotation device thrown to them. Then, rather abruptly, the crying stopped. The princess released her, inhaled sharply, and seemed to collect herself. "You are a conundrum, Second Chance." She smiled softly. "If thou spoke truly that thy people have not nobility to rule them, then they are remiss. There are many ponies who could learn much from thy compassion."
Chance stretched, rubbing the top of her head briefly on Luna's chin in animal affection. "I learned from the best. Twilight Sparkle, taking me in the way she did... and you, Princess. But I'm getting better, so now it's time to help you." She crawled free, standing on her hooves and looking up bravely. "We've seen lots of my memories. Why don't we go see some of yours?"
Not a bad chapter, I can't wait for more.
Well that was able to shed light on stuff I had blatantly missed.
Another wonderfull chapter and not a single error to be se-
... Starscribe, I'm dissapointed (no I'm not its minor and you'll fix it as soon as someone points it out )
The plot thickens and I'm constantly amased at this story, the quality (ignoring the little errors ) the feel of the characters and the tecnical... stuff that sound so real, did I mention how much I like this story, I belive with very little doubt that this story could rise to the levels of stories like 'Past sins' and 'Through the eyes of another pony' (two of my favorit stories I might add )
Keep up the good work
On a side-note that is not really a side-note: how much time has passed since Chance came to Equestria?
Well, now! The storyline thickens...! I have a suspicion that this "King Richard", whoever he is (or was--not much way to tell there) was the leader of whatever human (transhuman?) faction that opposed Chance's people. If he has designs on Equestria, no wonder Celestia was worried...!
I'll keep an eye out for where you take this next! /)
Interesting, I love how they think that Chance was one of the ponies all along after all the crap that she said, I mean, wouldn't they have sent out drones already to collect data on the ponies? Humans are derpy. Very derpy.
Anti-matter can't be used to generate power, as it takes orders of magnitudes more power to produce the anti-matter in the first place than you can recover from it. It's an energy storage medium, as it does not occur naturally. They should be building fission or fusion reactors, not anti-matter.
You mean lichens, not lycans.
Radiation from nuclear weapons fades pretty quickly. If this is more than ~40 years after the end then no notable radioisotope contamination should remain.
Chance should have asked Luna about Leo, and told her both of the ongoing conflict and that Leo may be recoverable. Both human factions are treating Equestria as a macguffin, and SC has a duty to give Equestria agency in its own fate; to deny them the chance to decide for themselves is the pinnacle of arrogance and disrespect. More to the point, a prepared Equestria couldn't be conquered by either faction, and so the only route to Equestria's resources would be diplomacy.
SC is kind of an ass, honestly.
The last bit with chance dropping the bomb on Luna (you visit your subjects nightmares to escape your own) was SO badass.
After this is done, wouldn't mind a short containing some backstory to this if later chapters dont cover it. Or a comilation of backstory as a refresher at the start of the hopeful sequel.
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Our current technology also cannot open doorways between universes or create quantum computers that render the "p=np?" dilemma of CS a moot point. Our current methods and understanding of Antimatter production would not make it a viable power source. However, it's clear these humans have either discovered a way to harvest it from another source or produce it in an efficient way. Just because we can't do something today doesn't mean it isn't going to pheasable someday. And if you don't like it, well too bad. It's science fiction. I reserve the right to predict future technologies as I see fit.
You aren't the first one to point out (correctly) that modern nuclear weapons don't irradiate areas for very long, and there was a long discussion about that elsewhere in the comments. I'll just reiterate in brief what I said there: The weapons that wiped out earth were not human fission or fusion bombs, but weapons entirely unknown and unpredicted, specifically designed to induce (though means I will not explain) spontaneous fusion into long-lived radiative materials. This weapon was specifically designed to make planets unlivable. The years I started are accurate, as this (like the anti-matter reactor) is an entirely fictional technology, albeit based in real science (see the long list of radioactive isotopes with half-lives of many thousands of years).
You are right about "lycans" though. Can't believe that made it past my editors. Although honestly that would take this story in an unexpected direction if it was lycans. That's what wiped out humans! It was the werewolf war!
You are absolutely right that Second Chance isn't a perfect neutral party. By no means am I saying her actions are correct or justified in withholding information from Equestria, anymore than I think it was justified for Twilight not to tell her about the stone. But to me, if Chance was a perfect character who didn't make mistakes, she wouldn't be "real" enough for my satisfaction. Everybody (or pony) makes mistakes, and part of what makes a story interesting is seeing how these characters overcome their weaknesses and faults.
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I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of this fellow by the end of our adventure. I also think Celestia probably knows a great deal more about the situation than she lets on. I mean, she's a pretty powerful being. Maybe not "all powerful" or all-knowing, but she seems to know what's up with her ponies. If Clover the Clever saw a vision of the future of Equestria, I would bet Celestia saw it too.
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Aghghhh! My slash-marks attack again! Fixed, I hope. I really do appreciate the complements. I've been pouring my heart and soul into this story over the last few months, so it's good to see that I've come up with something that's at least worth reading after all that effort. I might only be a humble CS undergrad, so I don't know the most about the sciences or whatever, but I'm trying! Doing my best, at any rate.
So far as how much time has passed, well...
If we assume Equestria's years are the same as ours, with each season lasting 3 months. I picture her arriving near the end of winter. So let's say late February. As of next chapter, it will be time for the summer solstice. So that's... june. Like five months? Maybe a little less? That's my best estimate. She's been a pony for a really long time!
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Thank you! I was quite proud of that part when I figured it out for the first time. Naturally, Chance had to be the one to figure it out, since she's the one in this story depicted with that relationship to Luna to use.
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Don't worry, backstory will be developed well by the end of my story-venture. At least all the major questions. Like: Why did humans go to war, and how did they get wiped out? Why? These questions are fundamental to the story and will be answered by the end of our story.
SC is sooo adorable She wubs Luna. Who's the cutest particle physicist? Youuu are
Antimatter is a great source of power, much in the same sense that a charged battery is a great source of power. It's more of a medium to contain power than a power itself. Antimatter is also a pretty terrible battery, in that anything it touches gets converted into a huge explosion. But while we can make it in particle accelerators, the notion of getting power out of that arrangement is sort of like expecting a water wheel to power the river it's in.
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Again, you're absolutely right. I hadn't intended to go into detail, but their anti-matter reactor works much the same way as the universe-traveling technology does. In that it pulls antimatter from.... somewhere... rather than having to produce it. It works to generate energy because nobody has to create the antimatter first.
complement her on the filly's behavior
compliment (complement is a different word)
This is the first time research has hit a dead end.
This doesn't seem all that reassuring Are you sure you don't mean that it isn't the first time research hasn't panned out?
EDIT: There was a message here. It was dumb and didn't need to be said. At all. I removed it in the hope that it was removed before many saw it.
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I didn't see it! So in at least one case, your hopes have been confirmed! All that remains of the comment is my seething curiosity
4261723 .
Right on both counts, as usual. That sentence was not meant to have anything to do with angles and the like, and what Twilight said becomes much more reassuring when corrected in that manner. Problems = FIXED
At least, those ones. I can promise a fresh delivery of problems this coming Tuesday.
Well, I could have lived without humans showing up...
It was more interesting that way, more mysterious thinking of them as a long dead race.
I've got an very bad feeling about what Richard is planning I can already hear the Drums of War coming to Equestria!
I LOVED the ending to this chapter! Even with all the ominous foreshadowing and the bad guys(?) finally showing up the Heart to Heart at the end was so good!
Can't wait to see where this goes!
Nice, I like how Second Chance states that humans don't have a government based on royalty, and then we cut away to find King Richard leading the survivors of Earth. And Luna's quip about Second Chance's nobility is the icing on the cake.
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Yes, indeed. It's pretty clear at this point Chance has a political agenda in mind whenever the humans are brought up. I think as we get to know what's really going on more, that should lend some more context to everything Chance has said. That said, I'm glad you caught on to how blatantly wrong she was. Luna seemed to know it, too. Because reasons, of course.
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Thanks! And yeah, it does seem like those humans have some sort of agenda. I mean, if you were living on a bombed-out wasteland planet, you would probably have an agenda too. The questions is, can both parties be satisfied? Can ponies help humans, or is it too dangers? Will humanity end up going extinct so that pony civilization can continue? These questions and more answered OVER THE COURSE OF THE THREE STORIES I WANT TO WRITE.
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Such a wonderful song. I'm not catholic or anything, but I don't think you need to be to appreciate the beauty of it. I'm still a little hazy as to how Lyra played it on a Lyre though. I guess she's amazingly talented. ^^
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Sorry! I did think about letting them stay extinct, but... ultimately, that wasn't how the story turned out. hopefully you'll still find some entertainment in any case. Even if humans do end up becoming more of a part of this story (unfortunately, they will).
There we go! Caught up on the comments in preparation for Tuesday. Sleep time.
4272152 DAM!
I just realized that you've been responding to nearly every comment every day! Now THAT is some dedication to your readers!
Props to you Sir! And a Moustache!
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Why thank you! It's really not all that big a deal really. A few minutes a day, maybe a little more on chapter update days and the day following. It's not as if the comments are raining in by the millions. I was on the main page when this story was first posted, but not since.
It's what I wish the authors of my favorite stories did (some of them do). Can't expect them to do it if I don't.
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It's not like I'm dropping the story just because of that. It just that it destroyed my headcanon about this story a bit. You made it sound like humanity was at the edge of destruction in Chance memories. Nuclear fallout and all that.
"The world is like three men in a chamber full of gas. One has one match, the other five and the last ten." Saying it doesn't matter how many bombs you have, one match and we are all going to hell.
Anyway, with humanity around and what you told us so far about them makes it clear who will be the "evil" in this story. I somehow hoped you didn't need one.
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Well, I may yet surprise you. I've never liked stories that were as cut and dry as "humans are bad" or "humans are good" or those same statements applied to ponies. In my mind, that's crazy! Whole species can't be good or evil, though they may have some predispositions based on their biology.
That's how I see it, anyway.
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True, though I also have been thinking that time in the two worlds moves at different speeds with Equestria being slower either that or Leo was an time traveler because it seems like the Synthetics sent him either an few months ago or an few years and yet it's been thousands of years, though hopefully both sides can put their differences aside and find peace, though at this point it would be hard since they have nearly annihilated each other!
I meant both sides seem to need Equestria for alternate reasons that haven't been explained why they're both trying to make it to Equestria!
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"Evil", the "" are important. Of course isn't humanity evil. I never would call myself evil. I may be an asshole from time to time, but who isn't? Who, without sin may throw the first stone, or bullshit like that. Don't believing in god doesn't mean, for example, that I think everything written in the bible is wrong. That every human can decide that for themselves is what makes us awesome.
But with "evil" I meant that they are the force that will make Second Chance have her next headache. They are the troublemakers. Hope that was clear enough. I'm German an my English is pretty broken.
Chapter 14: The New Middle-Earth Kingdom
Look at that, looks like the time travelled knight came from the same world as Chance, in more or less the same era too, but on Earth. Or rather, what's left of it. I'm pretty sure they want Equestria for its clean and fertile land, but will they go peacefully about it? Probably not, but it will be fun to see how it goes. Leo seems like he was a nice dude though, so it would be a shame to see his efforts be for naught.
Meanwhile, Chance is learning more magic! She's growing up so fast! Months are flying by, quite litterally! Maybe they should use what's left of Leo to get root access to the machine of life, universe and everything. Or you know, install a rootkit using a vulnerability. They still have those in software of the future, don't they?
One thing of note, I feel like it has been spring for a very long time, when months supposedly have passed. Error?
So... This is a story where the two opposing sides are "Man" vs. "The Machine"?
And of cores, the machines plan on committing complete genocide to the remaining humans on the moon. I bet they were the ones who nuked the planet too. Somehow, I feel like this is "Skynet" vs "The Resistance" from the Terminator franchise. It even has a machine sent to the past (in Equestria) to make sure that the plans they have for securing resources for their war happens. Granted, that wasn't exactly what Skynet was doing with time travel but the end result would still be the same, the end of all humans everywhere.
I like how they sent Leo to a point in time to make himself look like a hero so they could carry out their plans and maybe get some help from Equestria. I don't think Celestia would have helped but if Leo hadn't "died", for lack of a better word, (After all, Chance thinks he could be fixed and brought back) He probably would have backed Nightmare Moon since she was more open to violence and get her help. And that would have been bad for everyone.
I look forward to reading the rest of the story!
Oh, one more thing! Nuclear batteries only last around 50 years or so, not thousands.
>That's how you don't travel faster than light, because you actually skipped the distance in-between!
Is this an idea in modern physics? I came up with it myself a while ago, but never searched for it online
>no corner of the globe had not been teaming with living things
Don't you mean 'teeming'?
>If that means we must wait a few more years, than we will wait
*then
>The Omicron Core refused to work
Didn't you capitalize the entire word in a previous chapter?
>It was a german chocolate cake
*German
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Something for me to respond to! Yes, skipping the distance between two points is mainstream physics. The two examples I can think of off the top of my head are Quantum Tunneling and wormholes. There are others, but you made lots of corrections I've still got to incorporate, and it's two AM. X.x
5432873 >Yes, skipping the distance between two points is mainstream physics
I don't know if I should be relieved or disappointed that someone else thot of that before me (admittedly, it is a simple idea)
>two AM
24-HOUR MUSTARD RACE
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Assuming you're advanced enough to make it work regardless, wouldn't the lifetime of a nuclear battery just depend on the half-life of the isotope used? (As a time-power trade-off)
5361785 I see it more along the lines of "Pure" Humans vs Cyborgs that were formerly human.
I may be reading this wrong, but it seems that the Cyborgs and the regular Humans both want to help Equestria. There even seem to be good people on both sides. These two sides will meet eventually and I shudder to think what might happen if they decide to continue their war in Equestria.
Glad we're keeping our priorities straight.
The hundred square feet thing is so absurd as to be nearly obscene.
Based on this video and the arcology one this guy has done, one can clearly see that with the technology that society in your universe has, they would have nigh effortless access to enough resources to house tons of people in luxury.
Also, this guy has tons of videos on just about every hard scifi topic you can shake a stick at and gives a highly realistic take on these ideas. Turns out that the carrying capacity of Earth is 10 trillion people based on this guy's reasonable math, the ceiling actually being too much waste heat for people to survive. If the methods of heat transfer were improved, then quadrillions of people.
Hnmnng, that end with Luna and chance. It's so beautiful! Really tugs on the heartstrings.
Though I have an equally bad feeling about these cyber people :c
(I know I'm years behind and late, but dammit if I don't enjoy this story right now!)
Well, I suppose now we know why long half-life radioactives were used. Irradiating pretty much everything for so long that no one can survive to rebuild makes a lot more sense if your enemies are biological and you aren't. Or just in general if it's a rather genocidal war. Also probably a lot of really high altitude nukes for that lovely EMP blast that tends to....disagree with robots, leaving that stuff all the way into the upper atmosphere.
Although I had been thinking more in terms of a lunar rebellion (heh, just thought of the nice parallel that'd make ), since radioactive wastelands make even more sense if you don't even have to live in the same biosphere! Although of course then you could just do what the lunar colonies did in one of Heinlein's books and just use basic kinetics. Doesn't have the same long-term gift that keeps on giving, but a LOT cheaper! Especially when you're on a body that doesn't have too many heavy metals.
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Chernobyl put out more radiation than 500 nuclear weapons, and isn't in the middle of a wasteland. Long half life means low emission. The stuff that kills you quick has a very short half life, and decays very rapidly. Nuclear fallout will be mostly gone after a few weeks, and while longer lived stuff will linger, the greatest danger will be past. Maybe a few more people will get cancer than would otherwise.
Chernobyl remains unoccupied because the core remains, continues to put out radiation, and continues to create new short half-lifed materials that you don't want to be around if they get out, but Bikini Atoll (the site of numerous, repeated nuclear weapons tests) suffers from less environmental radiation than many American cities.
While a nuclear firestorm might burn the countryside clear, so do wildfires every summer. Stuff reseeds and grows, and the world's nuclear arsenel is a minuscule fraction of what it used to be, so the whole nuclear winter causing a new K-T Event thing isn't going to come to pass even if every single weapon left is detonated at maximum yield (many of them can be dialed up or down).
:) As long as you aren't at ground zero and can keep the food and water coming and the lights on, you'll survive a nuclear war.
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What about fallout and nuclear winter?
I don't know about you but I've never felt good when the rain was full of strontium ninety.
SO MUCH INTERESTING STUFF!!!
Did Rarity ever cleanse that radiation?
And so the sides of the human conflict become clearer.
I do hope you managed to keep both sides some shade of grey rather then a black and white or good vs evil scenario.
Only one way to find out. Onwards fellow future readers! To the next chapter!
Twilight knows the type of influence the crusaders are having on chance. Destructive, armageddon-type influences.
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Ooh ra.
And it likes to eat itself.