Sweetie Belle worked for the next few hours in silence; only giving the slightest nods or non-committal grunts when spoken to. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo decided to leave her be, but they couldn’t leave the issue alone.
“What do you think is wrong with her,” Scootaloo asked, scooping a pile of dirt into a wooden box they used to move the dirt out of the cave they made. “I know it’s pretty much any time we’re not talking with Sweetie Belle, we’re talking about her but …” She sighed. “There really isn’t much to talk about I guess. It’s either: that, Cutie Marks or digging …”
“Ah know,” Apple Bloom grunted, angrily pouring the dirt she dug into the box. “It’s really all we can do. Ah can’t really blame Sweetie though; she wouldn’t be hurtin’ herself fer no good reason.”
The two of them decided to take a break; it was hard talking and doing work at the same time. They dropped their hoof-shovels and moved under their makeshift tent, pouring the wooden box full of dirt down the hill-face.
“Still,” Apple Bloom sighed as the two fillies sat down on the hot dirt floor of their tent. “Ah can’t help but agree with what Twilight said, there is definitely something possessin’ her.”
“Then should we really be helpin’ her? I mean, if she’s being possessed, wouldn’t helping her be a bad thing?”
“No … Ah mean, she’s still her, just ... different.” Apple Bloom put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Ah think she’s just figurin’ stuff out ya’know? Sweetie Belle’s kinda like Applejack when she finds somethin’ challengin’ and doesn’t want nopony’s help. She won’t outright forget ya, but she’ll be a lot less talkative. Sweetie’s talkin’ ‘bout all them fancy adult things and doin’ all this crazy stuff but she’s still Sweetie Belle. She cares about us and … I don’t know how to explain it but she still feels the same.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Still, I don’t think it’s just Sweetie Belle growing up. I mean, sure she’s acting like a grown up, but there isn’t a grown up I know that could just make sleeping powder out of kitchen supplies or makes plans that well, even with magic!”
“We can’t leave her though, right? Ah mean, Ah want to … Ah really want to just go home and forget this whole crazy adventure, but it wouldn’t be right. Ah’d never forgive maself if Ah left her and she … she never came back …” Apple Bloom sniffed, trying to hold back tears.
“Don’t go crying on me now,” Scootaloo chided with a smirk, lifting a forehoof to the air. “You make it sound like we won’t be kicking this adventure’s flank!” Putting on a straight face—but keeping up her confidence—she said, “I agree with you; we can’t turn around now. I mean, I definitely can’t turn back; I jumped at the chance to come, and I’d be one of those hippo things to just turn tail now! Besides, Sweetie Belle’s right; there’s some ups and downs, but that’s just what an adventure’s all about.”
“Ah know that … it’s just ... we don’t know what we’re doin’! Ah trust Sweetie Belle but this adventure just isn’t like her. She’s always been more down-ta-earth; even more than Ah am! If any of us had a crazy idea like this, she’d shoot it down so quick it’d make our heads spin. I’m worried that whatever that ‘influence’ Twilight went on about is, it isn’t changin’ her for the worse.”
Scootaloo looked back at Sweetie Belle and then at Apple Bloom but didn’t speak another word. Instead, she took her hoof-shovel and went back to work.
‘I hope you’re alright,’ Scootaloo thought. ‘I just wish that we could help you more. Just … please don’t change … I … I just want things to go back to the way they were ...’
Ever since she started work with her friends that morning, Sweetie Belle had had a continual conversation with the Tablet. With her new breadth of knowledge, she had realized several things she previously neglected to consider. The first realization was that she didn’t have any idea what the Tablet really did other than what it told her.
After simply asking, it turned out that it was far more useful than just for answering questions. For one thing, it could speed up Sweetie Belle’s mind for several minutes at any time she asked, and even automatically if she scheduled it. In fact—often when she talked with the Tablet before—it would automatically quicken her thoughts during a discussion with her friends so that she could talk to both them and the Tablet simultaneously. It unnerved her greatly that she never noticed this behavior before.
Also, she learned that it could greatly improve how she used her magic. By telling her which neural pathways activated various magic actuators, she was able to gain high-level control of the horn’s various functions by stimulating those pathways with the relevant abstract “ideas”. For example, imagining a pulsar oscillating over her old writing desk allowed her to control the wavelength of the exotic quasiparticle field. Imagining the sound of water crashing on a shore allowed her to modulate the the power of her horn with the sound’s loudness. It was difficult at first but eventually she could get almost sixty percent of her horn’s total power while performing a task. This made using the heavy pickaxe with her magic to break apart rocks much easier.
Determined not to let a single concern go unanswered, she also queried the Tablet about: the Non-Disclosure Agreement, any background of the Acarel Corporation that produced the Tablet, as well as sections of corporate law; all in an attempt to find a loophole that would get her out of the contract. Unfortunately, it seemed that most of the company information was classified and the law came down to proving “beyond reasonable doubt”. Until Sweetie Belle had the means to prove that the contract was invalid—either by showing that there is nopony alive to enforce it, or that the company no longer exists—there is no way out of the contract. In essence, what the Tablet said was true; she would have to access the database to cancel the contract.
Of course, all this discussion was done at 10x speed. It had only been three hours for the other CMC, but for Sweetie Belle, she had been thinking for well over a day straight. Her mind had a nearly endless stream of questions concerning the union of her morals, ideals and what she knew of the world and what she learned from the Tablet. Although the Tablet had determined that learning things like: philosophy, morals and ethics were unnecessary for the adventure, Sweetie Belle couldn’t think about anything else.
‘But it just doesn’t make sense. How can we do anything if we can’t be sure of anything?’ Sweetie Belle thought, continuing her four-hour long discussion on the nature of the universe, logic and rationality.
*The issue of objectivity and certainty was intensely debated in philosophy but was eventually settled. This was done by the creation of a model of thought called ‘Logic’. Ultimately, any conclusion one makes of the world must be based on axioms; self-evident beliefs beyond refutation. In order to avoid any falsehood or contradiction, the list of axioms is made as small as possible. These axioms cannot be proven but are believed to be true because doing otherwise is less ideal.
*An example is the axiom of reality. No logic can be done unless this axiom is accepted. It is not possible to prove reality is real because it would require the use of another real thing we are uncertain are real. This creates a paradox from circular reasoning. It is believed that reality exists simply because not believing would be ‘pointless’.*
Sweetie Belle let out an annoyed huff. ‘That’s so dumb though. So even if I know everything, in the end it could all be wrong because one of these dumb axioms are wrong?!’
*Yes, as axioms have been proven wrong in the past. An example is the axiom that space follows Euclidean Geometry. It had been previously believed that this held for the universe’s three spatial dimensions, but under the relativistic physical model, it was proven that the bending of spacetime could cause two parallel lines to converge, violating Euclid's 5th postulate.*
‘Huh … so, based on that, wouldn’t the ‘fact’ that we can’t be certain also not certain?’
*Error 2: self-referenced paradox. This device cannot answer that question.*
This was starting to hurt her head a bit. ‘Well that’s … really annoying.Okay, let’s just stop with all this ambiguous stuff.’ She drove her pickaxe into the stone she was breaking and sat down, shielding her eyes from the sun.
The sun …
‘Sweet Celestia … that … that can’t be possible.’ Sweetie tried to formulate the vague confusion she was feeling. ‘How does Celestia control the sun?! I know how celestial mechanics works and we have to exist in a Heliocentric Solar System. It isn’t a matter of how powerful Celestia is, it just can’t be possible. If the sun is small enough that it can be locked in our gravity well, it can’t be large enough to sustain nuclear fusion.’
Sweetie Belle, unable to focus on the ideas running through her head, brought out a piece of paper and did her rough calculations.
‘Okay, forget all that. I should focus on what I know. I know that a yellow star must be at least 0.8 times the mass of the sun and 0.9 times the radius. So, assuming it is large enough, then it has to be far enough away so that it appears to be small and more importantly doesn’t burn everything. In that case, there should be relativistic effects. When Celestia raises the sun, there should be a delay as the light travels to our eyes, and the sun should only be able to move at a certain speed. In this case, it needs to move at 0.037 times the speed of light just to orbit every day. At least in that sense, Celestia’s power seems within the bounds of physics—assuming she has the crazy amounts of power needed to do so. When she raises the sun for the Summer Sun Celebration, she might do it ahead of time and the speed it raises might be slow enough to be possible; I don’t remember how fast it rose.
‘The real problem, though, lies with when Discord took over Equestria. I don’t remember much since everything was all crazy—and I did my best to forget about it—but I do remember that the sun and the moon were jumping around in the sky at impossible speeds. Assuming it is at least one hundred and fifty million kilometers away, it would have to be travelling much faster than the speed of light to go from the middle of the sky to below the horizon in under a second. Even if we assume it is travelling at the speed of light, it would have to be so close to the planet that we would have to be inside the sun ...
‘There’s something wrong with my assumptions, isn’t there Tablet? There has to be!’
*There is nothing wrong with your conclusion. The sun—as it currently exists—doesn’t correlate with what is understood by physics.*
‘T-then what could it be?! I have to know! Did physics stop working somehow?! Please, can you give a few examples; I’m desperate!”
*This device has confirmed that all laws are still valid—except laws which require particle super-colliders or telescopes to prove—within the acceptable error of 99.999999%. This includes relativity. There is no clear answer, but regardless of the solution, it is likely caused by magic. Movement through space, but independent of space—like through the Aether—could give the illusion of faster-than-light travel although that would likely have caused visual discrepancies and would affect the sun’s ability to heat the planet. Another possibility is that the sun could not be a star at all. In that case, it could be smaller and powered through non-nuclear means. That would mean that there must be something external powering it, however, since nuclear fusion is the only internal, self-sustaining power source known which could provide such power.*
‘That could be true ...’ Sweetie Belle sighed. ‘That’s not even considering how Luna accelerates the moon to the point that it should be converting the surface to incandescent plasma or how she rearranges the stars. Moving stellar bodies light years away simultaneously at great speeds breaks just about every physical law there is.
‘How can you be sure that physics still works? I understand how you could test gravity, electromagnetism and the atomic model but how did you test things like quantum physics and relativity?’
*This device’s broadband radio communication system uses a DSP algorithm which takes into account the delay effects of relativity. This algorithm has been tested post-startup and it is not a source of error. Additionally, various components in this device rely on non-deterministic quantum physical systems to function. Since the heuristic models which rely on these systems to function are still reliable, those laws must still be valid. Additional tests include-*
‘Alright, alright ... that was stupid question; physics still works … mostly. I will get to the bottom of this, it-’
“Ah think we found somthin’!” Apple Bloom cried out, causing Sweetie Belle to break out of her discussion. It was a good thing too, she probably would have been doing it for days.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo raced towards the back of the cave where Apple Bloom stood in front of something shiny. That shininess turned out to be solid metal.
‘What is it Tablet? Is this what we’re looking for?’
*According to the diagram provided,* the Tablet stated, revealing a 3D wire diagram showing the hill, the facility, and a box going up and into the hillside from the facility below, *the structure’s exterior face should be comprised of a stainless steel door which this likely is. Before the door can open, however, you will need to uncover the keypad interface which acts as the door’s locking mechanism. In the event that this database facility required sealing, only a manual override can open the door.*
“Yeah, this looks like the spot, I guess.” Sweetie Belle examined the hole they had dug and compared it to the door. The hole was far smaller. They were lucky the door swung inward or they would have been spending a lot more time digging. “This is a big metal door and we will need to find some sort of panel thing. It would probably be a good idea to dig up until we get to the top of the metal door and dig down from there.” Sweetie Belle emphasized this by showing that a ramp would be needed to get to the top. “The door is pretty tall so we won’t be able to reach it if we don’t plan ahead ...” As Sweetie Belle continued to speak, laying down the groundwork. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo listened with rapt attention; after all the running around and digging, they finally had something tangible for their work towards and so they worked in earnest.
It only took two more hours to finally dig out the door. Unfortunately, in that time, Sweetie Belle was no closer to understanding her world. The more questions she asked, the more questions she created and the Tablet had little in the way of answers for her. In the end, she only had the justification of “magic” as the source for all of these inconsistencies, which left her very unsatisfied.
With the door completely dug out, they were able to see that the door was entirely made of sparkling steel, almost three meters tall and four meters wide. The dirt and dust seemed to simply fall away, like the surface was covered in a film with zero viscosity. The surface was bumpy and irregular, like it had been beaten with a hammer.
“Alright, so we finished movin’ the dirt away from the big door thingy, what do we do now?” Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie Belle moved to the right side of the door and opened up a section of the wall, per the Tablet’s instructions. As she did so a hissing sound indicated that it had been sealed until now. Inside the panel was a keypad without any symbols and a small screen. Following the Tablet’s steps, Sweetie pushed the buttons in a specific sequence. With each push of a key, a green asterisk would appear on the panel. Once the input was complete, she pressed the large red button at the bottom of the pad.
Suddenly a siren could be heard from behind the door as it ground open, sliding inwards to the left and the right. As it opened, the sound became much louder—to the point that the fillies needed to cover their ears—and red flashing lights could be seen further down the passageway. At the end of the empty hallway was a concrete vault door.
“What the hay is that!” Scootaloo yelled, her voice barely audible over the sirens.
“What!” Apple Bloom cried out, not hearing Scootaloo behind the the hooves she had to her ears.
“I said what the hay- what the hay was that?” Scootaloo quieted down as the siren suddenly stopped. The door finished opening. All that remained was the dull hum of the fan as it continued to pull in more air.
“Ah don’t rightly know what that was, but Ah don’t think we should go in there. It just seems way too dangerous …” Apple Bloom shivered, the unknown was one thing, loud noises, empty grey rooms, and flashing lights were almost synonymous with trouble and danger.
‘I kinda agree with Apple Bloom here,’ Sweetie Belle thought, ‘What was all that about?’
*This passageway is an emergency environmental ventilation system and an engineering, cargo and maintenance passage. In the event of its use, it warns the individuals inside that the equalization of atmosphere might be dangerous. Potential toxins and other contaminants could cause illness or death to those exposed.*
‘Wait, so it really was dangerous! Why the hay didn’t you warn us!’
*A misunderstanding has occurred. It is only potentially dangerous to those inside. There is nothing dangerous with the inert argon gas inside the facility. Especially as it is replaced immediately upon entering.*
‘Oh … okay, I guess that makes sense.’
“The noises and stuff were just to warn ponies inside that there could be possible dangers outside, so there isn’t any danger to us.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief but also looked incredulously at their friend. “How do you know all this stuff?”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes went wide. She realized that any time she even discussed knowing her destination, she was potentially compromising the fact that the device existed. Despite that, though, it never caused her to stop. She assumed that this must have been the line it drew on the information it allowed. “Uhh … my brain said so … really can’t say anything other than that … nope.” Sweetie Belle didn’t bother trying to hide that she was lying.
“Right …, ” they both said simultaneously. They knew that there wouldn’t be much point going down that line of questioning.
“Anyway, let’s go!” Sweetie Belle cheered. “We have a ruin to explore!” Now that she knew that she was convincing her friends to do something they didn’t want to do, she had decided that she would make it up to them later somehow. It was too late to go back anyway, they had finally made it.
“Ah don’t know …” Apple Bloom whispered.
“Come on Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo said, joining her unicorn friend. “We made it this far.”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Alright …”
The three walked down the brightly lit passageway, as they did so, the door closed behind them.
“What’s it doin’! Is it lockin’ us in?!” Apple Bloom cried making her way back.
Sweetie Belle held her friend back. “Hold it Apple Bloom. Look over there,” she said, pointing to a panel like the one outside. “We can just do the same thing we did to get in when we want to leave.”
“Are ya sure?” Apple Bloom asked.
The door closed before Sweetie Belle could get a word out. Instead, she simply nodded. That was enough for Apple Bloom and the three walked back down the hall.
What they didn’t notice was the small letters on the keypad screen that Sweetie Belle had pointed to. Written in a language they didn’t understand were the following words:
Administrative Override in effect. Unauthorized user access granted.
They spent the next fifteen minutes riding down an underground funicular to the main facility. The railway was the only thing at the end of the hallway after the passage with the concrete vault door. The funicular was a simple, open-top, electric-powered, cargo train attached to a rail at a thirty degree angle. It operated by a simple button at the front of the train car, forcing the occupants to stop only when it arrived. It moved at a slow pace which only served to emphasise just how far below the surface of the planet they were travelling. Sweetie Belle had asked the Tablet what the strange horizontal markings on the wall represented and it told her it marked the depth they were at in roughly fifteen meter intervals. She counted fifty of them by the time they arrived at the end of the line.
When they got off the metal vehicle, they were greeted with a simple door next to another much larger one which would have been used for cargo and other large objects entering or leaving the facility. They also noticed a map, detailing the various rooms and clearances needed to enter them. When the three fillies walked towards it, several of the rooms and corridors on the map lit green, signalling the green panelling which also lit up on the walls of the facility.
“Ah don’t know about this Sweetie Belle …” Apple Bloom said, shivering between words. “It’s almost like the whole place is alive and Ah’m not sure that’s a good thing …”
“Alive, really?” Scootaloo asked incredulously. “You can’t be serious, a building can’t be alive. The walls and stuff probably have magic that light up when you get near it or something. I think it’s pretty awesome!”
‘Tablet, what’s going on. Only some of the rooms are lit. What does that?’ Sweetie thought, herself becoming worried. She had expected the place to be derelict and abandoned like the one where she found the Tablet. This facility, however, seemed to be in perfect operation.
*It is a security feature, although it doesn’t seem to be working correctly. The XH-30312-TC security module with software patch 1.03.XX.XXXX should only light up any room you can access with green and any room you cannot with red when somepony draws close to it. This seems to have lit up a path from the entrance to the data center despite our disparate proximity.*
‘How does it know what we want?’ Sweetie thought. She then realized how she phrased the question and quickly changed it before it the Tablet could give an error. ‘I mean, what is the most likely reason that it knows what we want.’
*It is possible that it extrapolated our need from my queries but such a feature seems unnecessarily complex but there is no evidence for any conclusions.*
The fillies went through the facility and to the data-center, following the green lights as they went. When they arrived, an automatic door slid open for them, revealing racks of interconnected servers. Thousands of cables ran between the shelves of systems and fans hummed, keeping the room a reasonable temperature.
“Woah …,” Scootaloo got out, stunned. “What are these things? They’re so complicated, and there’s so many of them. There’s just … so much …”
Apple Bloom didn’t agree, still nervous about the whole thing. She glanced cautiously around the room. Instead, Sweetie Belle responded, “You can think of this as a big metal brain, I guess.” Sweetie Belle only now realized how much she had learned. It had gotten to the point that she had to talk down to her friends.
“A brain!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, going wide-eyed in shock. “I thought you said this place wasn’t alive!”
“Well it’s not really a brain,” Sweetie Belle said, awkwardly rubbing her neck. “It just … helps out and stuff. It doesn’t think … umm … it just goes through the motions, that’s all.”
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked confused at that. ‘Well, I don’t really have time to explain all that. Tablet, where is the console we need to access the information about the Acarel employees that could remove the NDA?’
*There should be a command station at the far left side.*
Sweetie trotted to the end of the row and went to the back-left corner of the room. It seemed that the room was only about forty meters long and wide. She didn’t understand what was on the screen at first, but thanks to some coaching from the tablet and its ability to translate the text on its screen beside the window, she was able to get the gist of it. She made the query.
Sweetie Belle stared at the list of results. These were the people who could solve her problem. ‘Isn’t that first one, the:
‘redacted | redacted | Lat: +34.015748, Long: -116.505739, Elev: -728.094357’
line, isn’t that one right here?!’
*The first result is located in this facility, but the location specified doesn’t exist on the map of the facility.*
‘Who cares about that, we’re finally here! I mean, I’m not completely sure but those other coordinates are really far away.’
*Yes, especially the Galactic Coordinates. This device would estimate it at-*
“Hey girls! I found the place we need to go! We’re almost finished!” Sweetie Belle jumped for joy, ignoring the Tablet. She already knew that between going over one thousand kilometers again and just going down a flight of stairs, she knew which one she would be taking.
“Really?” Scootaloo asked. “I mean, no offense Sweetie Belle, but you’ve said that a lot.”
“No, I really mean it this time. It’s just …” she looked at the map, “it should be at the bottom level.” She pointed a hoof at a small room on the map, three levels before. “Right here.” She didn’t mention that the place they actually would want to go is several meters through one of that room’s walls but Sweetie hoped that that was just an error in the accuracy ‘... it wouldn’t be the first time,’ she thought; reminded of the fact that the “four hour trot from Los Pegasus” she had been promised turned into an almost 200km caravan ride.
“Well … if you say so,” Scootaloo shrugged, just going along for the ride.
“Ah still wanna leave but … if it really means that we can finally put this all behind us … then let’s go then.” Apple Bloom looked like she wanted to say more but she kept it to herself.
With that, the fillies headed to the stairs, too excited or scared to really appreciate where they were or where they were going. Distantly, a mind awoke from a deep sleep, fluids and electronics coming to life. The dark room it called home lit up with an unearthly white, saturating the walls. If it had eyes, it would have been blinded. Instead, it resumed its observation.
**Yes … your adventure is almost over …**
Ooooooooooooh shit.....
Did you wanted to put us in suspense and put all the theory about the sun only to make words? I mean... Even Sweetie Belle know that Magic defy Logic.
more
0.0
MOAR! MOAR!!!
So GEWD! *mind kersplodes*
Double star? WUT?
Also, I really like how you've spread dissent among the CMC ranks.
Sorta limits Sweetie's deus ex brain control thing!
Unless... that's what she wants them to think. DUN DUN DUN!
Author... you so smart. ;D
no evil robot no evil robot.
Any bets?
Twilight an' crew swoop in an' save the fillies.
or
The CMC kick flank.
And the plot thickens!
Did you actually get a screenshot of a Linux console just for this story? That seems like it took a lot of work to do. Well, for starters, you had to install a Linux distribution. Then you had to install a SQL client. Then you had to set up the users and whatnot. Then you had to add the data to that database. And then you had to access the machine remotely. Since I am taking database class this semester and I had to access a Linux machine through the network last semester I can tell you that is not an easy task.
And what's with the cliffhanger again? Seriously.
5049703
She knew that magic fits at least its own laws; she had no way of knowing (prior to getting the tablet) whether it fit the rest of the laws of physics. It is only with her increased knowledge of maths, physics and logic that she could properly confront this problem.
Was it just me that read that line in GlaDOS' voice?
o no glaados
I love the effort you put into it. The mathematics and a 3D model to boot! Crazy dedication.
"Dunn! DUNN! DUNN!"
Yay, update!
Yay, new vocabulary! (funicular)
So, wait. There seems to be an intelligence here. Two hypotheses spring to mind:
1. Pony GLaDOS needs test subjects!
2. The company needs a new boss!
...Yay, nitpicks!
Shouldn't this be just "imagining a pulsar..."? (no "of")
Shouldn't this be "ground"?
5049703
5049861
No. At least in my alternate universe, everything has a genuine scientific explanation and magic doesn't defy logic (that is to say, it has a consistent set of rules that work with, and independent of, current physical ones.
5049827
I already had a linux machine with psql and databases already on it so it wasn't that much work. Instead of taking a screenshot though, I created the picture in photoshop and copied the text into the picture. The reason for that was because I actually changed some of the text to fit in a "future-esque" setting (custom welcome message, using a version of linux and psql that doesn't exist etc.)
5049877
Fixed
5049827
Well you could do that. Or you could simply fake it with a text editor that can display in several colours. Probably even with Word, given the right font.
5049904
I could kiss you for that.
Also, what rules does magic have, then?
Cms kick flank
At this point, I think you already have an explanation about the sun, moon and stars; but the easiest and most logical explanation in a normal world would be that the princesses are lying; the Princesses only used illusions on the ponies, mostly in the summer sun celebration(celebration to convince they are telling the true), the rest of the year only with ponies at the castle, or where they happen to be at the moment(the reasons would be simply political power, no pony would try to kill them because of the consecuences), and Discord, using a massive illusion spell on the population of the planet making them believe that the sun and moon are rising every few seconds; I don't think that an illusion in the atmosphere instead of the ponies would be perfect but you can go with it if you want; and to bring eternal night, its a matter of using clouds to block the sun permanently, we know that Luna can easily control them, and of course, she doesn't control any star, she just hides the view of certain ones, and use them as canvas.
The thing is, that if the celestial bodies are already controlling themself, why take the inmence amount of troubles to move a gigantic mass arround a tiny sphere(destroying the system), when you could easily do the opposite and rotate the sphere itslef, or better yet, make believe you do so.
Another explanation would be very complex and you would have to assume a lot fo things if you want it to be scientifically correct, and worst if you consider the other planets and asteroids leaving orbit everywhere.
By the way, wich software did you use for the 3d model, it appears Softimage to me, but I'm not sure.
5050042
Well, I can tell you the rules that the Tablet knows (and has said previously). I can't tell you other rules since that might spoil certain things:
Magic involves the manipulation of exotic quasiparticles and virtual particles. These are basically "fake" particles which only appear when regular particles pass through a very specific and complex microscopic system.
Unicorn Magic uses Alicorn (the material that comprises the horn in a unicorn) as an exotic hole-quasiparticle (EHQ) manipulator. This means it has the ability to generate (using it's structure to create the specific conditions to allow an exotic hole to appear) and trap EHQs (in special pockets in the horn; which act similar to what Paul Ion Trap does for ions). By modulating these EHQs at various frequencies (since these, like all particles, act as waves), it is possible to "bleed" energy off the Aether.
The key difference between this and just pulling energy out of a power socket or something is that the different "frequencies" (which are really a series of discrete multivariate regressions in the frequency domain) create different types of energy, such as: gravitational, electromagnetic, kinetic etc.
This accounts for what the Tablet knows but it doesn't take into consideration everything that has been done in the show with magic (it accounts for things like telekinesis (gravitational fields) and teleportation (shifting matter-waves through the Aether) but not age spells (how does it know how to age?) or celestia control(where does that absurd amount of energy come from)). It also doesn't explain where magic came from or how the Aether seems to violate conservation of energy. That's all things that I will hopefully get time to explain as the story progresses.
I can only guess what's going to happen...
except for the fact that the next chapter is likely going to be about mane 6 to build up more suspense.
And the device is likely going to turn against the CMC when they meet 'the facility voice'
And that spike will likely not be mentioned in this story.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
And you thought that this was going to be another guess at the story, but this sentance actally serves no purpose other than to waste time.
5050185
The problem with illusions is that they require a ridiculous amount of "thoroughness" to work at a scientific level (to the point that they are just as infeasible as the real thing). When the sun is in the sky, plants react to it and absorb its energy, when it is not there, the plants use any excess energy to survive. They can't be "tricked" or they die; they need solar energy to live. Unless the royal sisters' illusion were so thorough that even the plants appeared to function as they should (and at that point, where your illusion works at the atomic level across the entire planet, you are using enough energy that you could just create a sun instead) then it wouldn't work. An illusion might work for a while, but after several thousand years, the inconsistencies would be discovered eventually. Of course, that isn't to say it can't work, but it isn't as simple as lying.
And I used 3d Studio Max to render the model.
5049759
don't be worried worst case scenario it could be like the Allied Master supercomputer.
5050292 I never said to use illusions on plants, just the ponies, plants will always have the sun, and I don't think use them in a crowd of one or two thousands in a celebration once a year just to see the sun arising in a certain time would be too difficult, just change the location and you have all equestria convince, so to the one, two or three ponies that celestia knows would be watching her very early in the morning from time to time; the rest of equestria will have the sun arising normally, Discord, being more pawerful, just could make the ponies see the sky going crazy, and later when he was in stone again, all the population could think the possible imperfections that the sky could have had, was discord doing, and discarted.
As I said before, eternal nigh its simply clouds hiding the sun in a country, the movement of the stars, can be atributed to Luna, or Celestia when she wasn't arround.
Celestia and Luna, lets say are about 2 thousand years, and in the throne like 1.5 thousands, its still enough time to keep fooled the world, specially if nopony ask questions, and they don't allow much advancement in technollogy, and make a conservative culture that don't like changes too much; that is if your story depics that Equestria, how innovative or prone to change your version of Equestria is?
"Parallel lines never converge" is a definition, not an axiom.
"At most one line can be drawn through any point not on a given line parallel to the given line in a plane." - that's 5th postulate.
5050423
I think you misinterpreted what I meant (and I have made an attempt to correct that):
I never meant to assume that the 5th postulate was anything other than a definition, but rather that people assumed it was a definition of space that was the problem.
That being said, "At most one line can be drawn through any point not on a given line parallel to the given line in a plane." can be summarized as "parallel lines do not cross/converge/pass through the same points etc." I don't see how my definition and that one are any different.
Welcome to the Hive.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091216014325/cybernations/images/e/e7/UmbrellaCorporation.png
5050225
LOL @ Spike
I suppose they could be creating the illusion of the sun and moon moving at their whim by maybe bending the magnetic fields around the planet a bit. Or maybe something happened to their planets magnetic field a long time ago and to counter getting fried they created a sorta magi tech engine that generates the field but at the cost of the sky, weather and various other things having to be managed. Might explain why the birds don't know how to migrate north to south in the show.
Why does everybody assume the thing at the end is bad, it could be good after all.
5050852 Because it is almost unheard-of for an entity who is not the protagonist him/herself who wakes from a eon long sleep to not be bad news, especially if the protagonist is unaware of this.
There's only one way I can see this working, and its not an illusion: They manipulate the light waves around the planet, thus, while you can see the sun and effects of it at the location(s) directed, the objects themselves are still in their respective positions.
Sweety Belle is going to be so pissed when she realizes that, as a minor, she can void contracts at will. This is, of course, because they're in Palm Springs, California, and thus the US UCC applies.
All she has to do is tell Tablet that she's voiding the contract, and legally it can no longer take any action to restrict her as she would be free and clear. Naturally, the company would have the right to repossess Tablet as a result, but that would require the company take the initiative to do so.
I would expect that Tablet is prohibited from aiding in attempts to escape the contract without corporate approval, which is why her ability to void the contract at will would be kept from her but not the contract being void if the company no longer exists.
5050221
Well, there is no reason that, for example, dark matter and energy have to follow conservation of energy, in fact from what has been observed, it appears it doesn't. Or so I've been told.
5051094 especially if it hints at a double meaning of the adventure ending. *Cough cough* death *cough*
5051542
The thing is, dark matter and dark energy doesn't actually exist (or at least, they have never been directly observed); it is just a term used to describe discrepancies in the current physics model (respectively: unexpected gravity and expansion at astronomic scales). It allows physicists to account for this unexpected behaviour without knowing the "true" cause or changing their models.
Personally, I find it highly unlikely that dark matter/energy (new, relatively untested and vague) is the correct theory and the conservation of energy (widely tested and accepted for centuries, philosophical basis) is wrong. Obviously the effects are real, but I don't think we have the correct perspective. It's like seeing a ball suddenly move on its own when, in reality, it was because the car the ball was in stopped. From an observer in the car, it seems to violate physics, but looking at it from a larger perspective we see the truth.
Magic probably doesn't care that "magic" isn't a satisfying answer. It likely is satisfied with its own rules.
Holy crap, they opened the vault. Now we're cooking.
Well that seems good, I can't imagine there are very many authorized users hanging around. Of course, that probably means Twilight and the girls can get in easily, but that doesn't really seem like too much of a problem either as long as the Tablet has time to contact its administration.
Okay, that ending was mildly concerning. Hopefully it'll be a friendly ancient brain thingy?
Edit: I really love that you went to the effort of putting that terminal screen together. Very nice.
I havent done the calculator numbers, just a quick guess, but I suspect that P1 is either on the Moon, at L4/5, or if further out, L2, where all the big space telescopes go? P2 seems to be somewhere between the Oort Cloud, and Alpha Centauri. or am I mis reading the distance in metres thing?
Redacted, Redacted usually mean, Im not here, you cant prove Im here, Noone knows you are here, you are not here.
Using CentOS? intresting. I thought for reliability, you would be using QNX, but you have to make do with what you can. By the way, GrafX is a more up to date Deluxe Paint style pixel basher, can use Amiga Colour Fonts, and has a Text Mode. Select Font and size etc, type up your screen, grab screen as a brush, then select filled circle and brush fill. gives you either text on metal sphere, or blend with origional image for crystal ball.
Simple way of saying its a fake up. not the version numbers.. that its type x86-128. A 128 bit version of an Intel x86 CPU? Will be intresting to see how Intel handles that, when competing against IBM Power modules, and that DEC had the Alpha 256 bit CPU, 200 Mhz? back in the days of Jurassic Park.
Favourite bit.
Yaay, its a Turing Hypercomputer, or random weighted neural net.
Now all I need to do is show that for a given numerical accuracy, that a PRBS gives the same sequences as a true random source such as smoke alarm, random.org, or teenager.
This is a small thing. but I want to state that I really appreciate you including the physics calculations image.
I love this fic, I like your writing style, and I can't wait to see Twilight's reaction to a BIGGER and more intact ruin.
From:
to
Separate your paragraphs like you do for the rest of the chapter.
_______________________
I can't wait to see Sweetie Belle talk to Celestia or Twilight about the whole Sun / Moon thing and the improbabilities to physics it represents. Then counter the "it's magic" hand wave by mentioning that magic has laws, and limits. So that's a poor excuse. Just to see their jaws drop, or what they'd say on the matter. Since its something I doubt ponies really think about, rather it to them is a given that Celestia raises the sun, and until recently the moon + stars.
5051898
You have a good idea of where the longer distance is, but you're off on the shorter one. Galactic coordinates measure distance from the center of the sun. The earth is 1.5x10^11m away so 8x10^8m is (much) closer to the sun then earth.
I'm surprised you think there wouldn't be backwards compatible intel processors in the 128 bit memory addressing age . x86 is just an instruction set, it isn't architecture dependant or anything (both the intel 8086 and sandy bridge are x86 processors but they are nothing alike "under the hood"). Heck, even IBM processors can be x86, it wouldn't change the hardware much (just what type of assembly the OS has).
If the dirt is just falling off the door as it becomes exposed, I think that you mean that the film has zero viscosity there. Other than that, interesting inclusion of physics and philosophy there, as well as the minor dissension in the ranks.
5052410
Oops.. sorry for the mixup. Galactics use solar relations rather than planetary. Thinking too small again, sigh. Solar radius of 7.5*10^8 m? , 50 thousand km above the surface, sounds awfully familar.
It doesnt happen to be located in the Sun / Jupiter Barycentre and be related to the Centaur warpgate?
5052485
Nice legwork. I was 3/4ths of the way through those numbers when I realized I was thinking kilometers instead of meters.
Anyways, if there were about 400 more random orbits listed there, I'd assume that Equestria is the future of Kerbin.
Incorrect plurality.
The new paragraph line in the middle of a sentence is stylistic, so it gets a pass, and it properly communicates information using its style, so it gets actual approval.
I think my brain just exploded from too much awesome nerdiness that I can;t actually understand.
Well, at least now I have sun calculations...