Rez: Eqstr[Tera]

by NiGHTcapD

6: Oral

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.

Especially right now. I arrived in the system five minutes early, giving me ample time to listen to a song that always has sent chills up my spine-specifically, a remixed version of it. And credit where credit is due, those who remix tend to be pretty good at what they do.

I had not been back in their world for the two days in between, instead electing to deal with issues that affected my own world. The decoding had made significant progress in that time, and I was half expecting-and fully dreading-another call.

Come seven o'clock, and something arrived in the network. A yellow orb with a slightly opaque light orange orb surrounding it, and back-and-forth wriggling dark orange...sunbeams, that always showed the eight on the side, rendering the rest seemingly invisible as it slowly spun on its axis.

"Celestia, I take it?"

"That would be me."

"And what I'm seeing-a sun, it looks like-that's your mark?"

"Of course. Is yours that of a silver man?" Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I had leveled up once more in those three days.

"Um, no. My species doesn't have this kind of mark." I pause. "You cited sunrise specifically to determine our meeting time. Is there a reason for this?"

"Indeed. I would like to speak with you in my castle, but it would be easier if you used me to come to our world, rather than Twilight." I immediately bring up the bit of programming that allowed my avatar to rez there.

"Distance issues?" I say, as I begin to locate the bits of code that correspond to Twilight specifically, and prepare to overwrite them.

"There is quite a distance between Canterlot and Ponyville. Also, privacy is a concern here." I lock onto Celestia's avatar and scan.

C_Sun

"Sorry if that stung, but it's kind of a necessary process."

"It's fine." I apply the new data to the required portions, hit Save As, and run the code.

Moments later, I find myself viewing the internals of a castle room. I hazard a guess at semi-private chambers, because there are no windows (excluding a skylight), the doors look completely locked, and the only ones in the room are a majestic-looking white horse with wings and a horn and what looks like a few personal guards, horn but no wings for all of them. "Are the guards really necessary?"

"Not anymore, but we weren't completely sure what would happen, seeing as none of us have ever seen this...spell?"

"Transfer."

"We have not seen this transfer before. They were here in case something went wrong...but now, they can leave." They promptly do so.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Your world, and how it may connect to mine."

"Shall I begin by enlightening you as to the basics of the internet?"

"I'd like to, although first I have something to take care of. Specifically, the sun. Watch the skylight closely." Her horn suddenly lit up, and soon the room was filled with natural light.

I glance at the clock in the bottom right corner of my screen. 7:05. "Okay...that did...what?" And then it clicks. "Wait, did you just move the sun?"

"Yes," she replied in a voice that gave confusion at my confusion. "Is that not normal on your world?"

"No, it's not!" I check the rise time one last time. 7:10. "Uh...if you'd like to see how it works on my planet, I'd be more than happy-and able-to show you."

If it weren't for the fact that she had a seemingly parental image to keep, her face would probably lit up more than it did. "Then I'd be glad to watch."

I promptly set up the whole thing again-but much simpler, albeit not as programmer-friendly. This time, the image seen by my optics is directly placed onto my avatar's texture, which admittedly reminds me of a very old television show for kids...I can't remember the name, maybe it'll come back to me. No firewall bypass required this time.

As always, first comes quick verification that it works. I then proceed to rush outside and onto my roof, looking east...and waiting. Right when the clock hits 7:07, I feel the urge to sing again, and I don't even try to fight it.

The sun breaches the horizon exactly at 7:10, which happens to match up with the last saying of "when the morning comes". "Coincidence or the 'magic of harmony' working its ma...itself again?"

"Probably harmony," Celestia answered with a chuckle. "So, how does the sun rise on your world?"

"Funny story, nothing's really rising at all. The world is just rotating on an axis while orbiting the sun. As a part of the world gains visibility of the sun, it always has to come 'up' from some direction, and it's always east due to the direction of the earth."

"So, it's always daytime for someone?"

"Well, this is the part when I get into time zones. Shall I go farther, or does the phrase 'it's five o'clock somewhere' suffice?"

"It'll do. But what about the moon? It didn't go anywhere when day broke. Also, it doesn't look like a crescent..." Ugh. I'm a hacker, not an astronomer! I do know a thing or two about planets, though...

"Uh...wikipedia, wikipedia...ah, here we go. Moons are known as 'natural satellites', and earth only has one. Takes a bit more than a day for the same side of earth to be able to see the moon, takes about 30 days for the moon to show the same phase to the earth, takes a miracle to get the moon to show any other side to us. And the phase of the moon was...waxing...waning?...waxing gibbous. Pronounced crescents are not possible phases of our moon, or any moon following the laws of the universe as we know them."

"That's...kind of hard to understand. Perhaps a visual representation would be best?"

"Sure."

The next ten minutes are spent looking for suitable objects to be used as "earth", "sun", and "moon". Five minutes later, I have a solar system boiled down to the most important bits, and three more gets Celestia to understand how the whole shenanigan works.

"I think I get it now."

"Good. Now, may I ask a few questions myself?"

Before Celestia can answer, a very annoying beeping begins to fill the room-both of them. "What...what is that noise?"

"I'm being paged. Moment please..." I'm thinking I can tell the guy to call me back later.

Then I look at the caller ID. "Shit!"

"Sorry, but I really gotta take this call. You can listen if you want, but please try not to talk."

"Call? What are you talking about?"

Seriously? "Technology assisted long distance vocal communication. Now would you please be quiet?"

"Alright." There is no way I can prepare myself for what's about to come. I click "pick up".

"Hello?"

Comments

[Lunafanficsinc]

More cap PLZ

[NiGHTcapD]

4994111 Cap means what?
I honestly don't know what you're talking about.