G5.05: Deadlight
Lucky Break concentrated on her music.
There had been a time, months ago now, when she had the puzzle of Eoch to distract her when she was upset. The Crystal Empire had many libraries for her to visit, many books for her to read, and she could always go out onto the streets to try out unfamiliar words.
But gradually that mystery had been solved. She could no longer rely on that puzzle to distract her when she was stressed or worried. It was a good thing she had her guitar.
When Lucky Break first received her second instrument, she had worried that she would never be able to play it. All those tiny strings, so close together—how was she supposed to use hooves on those?
The answer, of course, was that she wasn’t. The natives could do incredible things; even with half a year to learn, Lucky couldn’t approach that kind of skill with the lumpy bricks on the ends of her limbs that ponies called hooves. Fortunately for her, she had wings.
So she rested on the old kitchen chair, holding the guitar in front of her with her forelegs, and strumming with her wings. She still wasn’t sure exactly how she made it work—it seemed like the less she concentrated on her playing, the better the music sounded.
Considering all she had to think about, Lucky’s guitar covers of Beatles discography sounded great. Better when she sang along, but just now she needed more of her mind than she would have if she distracted herself with singing.
Equestria wasn’t on a planet. A large moon of a gas giant would’ve been fine—she would’ve noticed it in the sky ages ago, but that would’ve been fine. She could’ve accepted that.
There was no denying the satellite picture on her screen, sitting beside her chart of chords. The pony who had given her the information couldn’t be dismissed as a liar—that pony was her. Dr. James Irwin would do many things, but lying about something so critical to their mission was not one of them. Not a chance.
Earth could not have built a ringworld, she thought as she played. And ponies can’t even build computers, let alone something like this.
That suggested an obvious conclusion: someone had put the ponies here. Someone eons more advanced than her own culture. Lucky couldn’t imagine how such beings might think—but it wasn’t like Equestrians. These ponies were just humans with slightly different diets and less advanced technology. Much of what she’d seen and done among them would fit in historical fiction novels—apart from the month she’d spent living in the clouds.
But there was one insight her other self had lacked the information to make, one that complicated the picture: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were said to control the sun and moon. That could still be mythology, as she had always thought. Or maybe they’re just sending radio commands to remote satellites. Switching off whatever gigantic spotlights are pointed at us.
Even Lightning Dust seems convinced they really move the sun and moon. Her mom was too smart to be fooled by an easy trick. It couldn’t be as simple as the princesses pointing a hoof at the sky and saying some magic words at the right time.
Behind Lucky, the front door to the apartment rattled, then opened. There were no locks on it—ponies didn’t really seem to care about those.
Dust had her mouth full of groceries—never as many as they needed, but enough that Lucky rarely felt that hungry. They didn’t even have to eat grass that often.
Lucky made to put the guitar down, but Dust put out a hoof. “Mope mop on my macomt!” she said, her voice muffled by the bags she carried. She continued over to the kitchen area, watching as Lucky played.
The filly wasn’t self-conscious about being watched, at least not by her mom. Other ponies would cause her to choke up and stop, as though their watching robbed her wings of whatever dexterity let her play.
Still, she switched to one of the shortest songs as she sang along. Dust seemed to enjoy her playing, and she would be more willing to answer Lucky’s question if she finished a whole song before she stopped.
Golden Slumbers took just over a minute to play. Lucky felt herself relaxing into the music, forgetting about whatever had disturbed her about Equestria’s rulers.
Nothing existed but her guitar, and a song composed by a band who were all dead before she was born. For all she knew, this song might be one of the last cultural artifacts left of her former home.
The more she played, the smaller the revelations about Equestria became. None of that mattered because she had friends and ponies that loved her and she belonged. Who cared what her clone was doing—she could play her guitar forever.
Then she heard lightning Dust stomp her hooves, the pony equivalent of a clap. She realized she’d just been sitting there. How long had it been since she finished the song?
“You’re getting really good, squirt!” she said. “I’ve heard professional musicians who don’t sound half as good as you. And none of them know the songs you know.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, carefully setting the guitar on the ground beside her. Her computation surface had gone dark to conserve power, so it was no longer displaying the image of Equestria as viewed from the side.
Dust went back to the kitchen. She wasn’t a very good cook, but she’d started something in the pot. One of Lucky’s own recipes, from her time in college. Beans and potatoes could go a long way, and both were as cheap in Equestria as they’d been back on Earth.
“It’s not nothing,” Dust argued, tossing a few more peeled potatoes into the pot. “Were you training to be a singer when you were still living with your… the others like you?”
“No, it was just a hobby. I used it to pay the bills sometimes. There were lots of coffee shops and cafes that would let me play for a few hours a week. Kept my van juiced up that way…” She trailed off, finally remembering why she’d been so distressed in the first place.
“Lightning Dust, can I ask you a question?”
“You’re always asking me questions, squirt.” The mare paused as she settled the pot firmly onto the stove, then twisted the knob on the bottom. Like their old residence in Stormshire, the range used “magic” to cook food. “What is it today?”
Lucky took a deep breath. “Where is Equestria?”
“Huh?”
“Like… Equestria is a country, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Where is it?”
“The center of the world,” Dust answered, matter-of-factly. “It’s where the princesses rule. The best place to live.”
Lucky whined in frustration. “No, that’s not what I mean! What do you call…” She gestured around them, in a wide circle. “This.”
“The… Crystal Empire? Lucky, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did you ask your teacher?”
“No!” She stomped one hoof. “I will tomorrow after class, but this is too important to wait.” She paused, collecting herself. “Okay, so Equestria is on the ground. That ground is floating in space. Like with stars, and moons and stuff. Right?”
“Well, one moon. And the stars are far away, but fine. In space.”
“What do you call the thing that land is part of?” Lucky asked. “If no ponies were here, and Equestria had never existed, what would it be called?”
Dust made her way over, sitting down on her haunches a meter or so away from Lucky. “Do you mean… Equus?”
“Yes!” Lucky had never heard that word before, but it was certainly a proper noun. “That must be the name of your place!” There was no Eoch translation for the last word she had wanted to use. “What does Equus look like?”
That seemed to confound Dust for a minute. She looked around, as though she were searching for something. Then she picked a sheet of paper up off the table, ignoring Lucky’s notes all over it, and went to work.
It didn’t take her long. Dust laid the sheet out longways on the table in front of her, drawing crude mountains along the top and bottom. She added a few lines to the sheet, marking the national borders of Equestria, which placed the country almost at the middle of the sheet. She drew oceans on either side, and wrote, “too cold!” on the top and bottom. On either side, she put arrows that read, “wasteland.”
“It looks like this,” Dust finally said, looking very proud of herself. “We live in the best part of the world, Equestria. Ponies take care of their land the best… other things don’t know how to take care of it as well, so if you go too far west or east, it gets worse and worse. Too dry, not very many animals… that kind of thing. And we’re here.” She pointed up towards the top, only a little way down from the folded section and the words “too cold!” “We’re as far north as anypony could be. Which is why we’re safe. If we lived with civilized ponies up in the sky…” She shook her head. “Where are your ponies from?”
Lucky ignored the question, staring at the map. “Does this… go on?” She pointed at the arrows leading to “wasteland.” “What happens if a pony goes that way?”
She shook her head. “Griffons, dragons, minotaurs… eventually the end of the world. I guess it’s probably another Nibiru where it’s too cold and magic doesn’t work right. But nopony’s ever gone that far and come back to say for sure.”
They don’t know they’re on a ring. Lucky let that sink in. But would we have thought it was weird if Earth was a ring like this, if we hadn’t had other planets in the solar system to look at?
“Okay. One more question. Where did Equus come from?”
Mom looked confused. “Where… where did it come from? What does that mean?”
“Like… what created Equus? Before there was a time where it didn’t exist, then it did. How did it get here?”
“I think you need to pay more attention in class, squirt.” Dust mussed Lucky’s mane again. “There’s no before time. I don’t know why… but I remember that much. Maybe you can ask your teacher about it?”
She did, the very next day. Knowing Look showed her a map, similar to the one Lightning Dust had sketched, only bigger and with all the important cities and regions of Equestria marked on it. When she pressed him for explanations of why the north and south sloped the way they did, or why they were so cold, he could only answer with an old legend about something called the Windigos and vaguely religious nonsense.
After submitting her university application, Lucky began using all her spare time to research everything she could find about the history and configuration of Equus. The Crystal Empire had some of the most ancient books in all Equestria, left over from the time before ancient King Sombra had ruled with blood and horror over one thousand years ago.
Ancient Eoch was tough, but not impossible for her. There had to be something.
* * *
When James made her way back to the deck, she wasn’t entirely surprised to find Olivia still embroiled in angry conversation with the others. James didn’t put her headset back on; she couldn’t focus on whatever they were talking about. She was so lost in thought, she almost didn't notice the shape moving towards them through the air. It didn't fly in a straight line like they did, but in a gentle up and down cycle, with different periods each time. Like someone worn out but still trying to fly.
James squinted, and found that either the implants or the natural eyes of this species gave her enormously powerful sight. Even at this distance, she could make out the outline quite clearly. It had dark wings and a dark coat, and was flying directly towards them.
James struggled to get her headset on. "Major!" James turned, counting on the headset to deliver a shout over the roar of sound on the deck. "Major Fischer, you need to see this!"
She turned at once, striding away from the others. She walked over with the same stiff, unnatural gait that all of them used with the magnetic boots, lifting hooves high and only two at a time. Otherwise the safety systems would engage, bringing the traveler to a jerking halt.
"Shit," the Major said. "It's actually flying towards us. Forerunner, prepare the main gun."
"No!" Karl shouted, lunging towards the Major, only to jerk back violently towards where she'd been standing. She paused, collecting herself, then began walking deliberately to avoid getting stuck. "How about instead of shooting them, we talk? We could park here, let them land..."
"That is completely stupid." Major Fischer scowled around at them all. "We're trying to remain hidden from Equestria, remember? If that alien saw our ship..."
The pony wasn't flying very fast. The Sojourner, on the other hand, was closing distance rapidly. So rapidly James could start to make out more details about the pony. It had a different look than they did, a different shape to its body. A male of the species, perhaps? Another minute or two, and they would be right on top of him.
"It will be this planet's version of a crazy UFO story," Karl said. "A flying metal ship with a crew of identical twins. But we'll get to learn from him."
"He's not coming from the right direction," James said, making her own careful way to join Karl and the Major near the center of the deck. "He's coming from outside. Carrying something—might be from a different country. Do we want to interfere with the local politics?"
"I couldn't care less about their politics," Olivia said, but her expression had changed. She relaxed, looking colder and more calculating. "Is there any point? You haven't learned their language this quickly, have you Dr. Irwin?"
"No," she admitted. "Only a few words. But the computer has everything I ever sent back. It could probably do real-time translation for us using the headsets."
"But we should stop," Dorothy called from the other end of the ship. "If that alien flies towards us thinking he's going to land, he'll smack into the shield over this deck and break both his wings."
Shield was a bit generous a term for the curtain of high-speed air forced to go over them by a cleverly designed airfoil, protecting them from the worst of the gale outside. But Dorothy was probably right about what it would do to a pair of fragile wings traveling at this velocity.
"Slow to a hover, Forerunner," Olivia barked. The ground under them lurched as they began to decelerate. "The rest of you want to talk so bad, you can deal with this. I need to get something from below decks."
She turned, stalking away down into the bowels of the ship, leaving them alone. They didn't have long to wait. The pony moved much slower when they weren't also blazing towards him, but despite his apparent tiredness, he was still flying quickly. Soon enough he was banking for a landing, and his hooves touched down noisily on the deck.
The wind had stopped blasting them, though there was still a stiff breeze. Not enough that the magnets had to engage, though they still would if anyone tried to jump or move too quickly. At the very least, it was quiet enough that they could get a good look at the new passenger.
He was a male all right, taller than all of them, with a dark coat and a gray mane. His wings weren't feathered as they had first looked from afar, but covered with dark skin instead. A series of jagged scars ran down one side of his body, disrupting the growth of his coat, though they also looked old, and healed over.
The pony opened his mouth to speak, revealing sharp teeth that none of them had. Maybe a tropical subspecies. He was flying up from the south. James already had a spare headset ready, and she held out the device to him, pointing to her own with exaggerated gestures.
That was all the pony needed. He didn't have anything in his hooves, didn't have metal boots on like they did. James stared in wonder as he managed to grip the slippery plastic with just one hoof, and settle it comfortably onto his head. His eyes widened as the headset settled onto his ears, and he spoke rapidly. There was a little more delay between his words and the machine-sounding voice in James's ear that was the (flawed) translation.
"How do get up here without? Bad lifting for sound almost went the other way." He pointed backward, through the entrance to the ship and towards the direction they'd come from.
"Easy there," Karl said, raising one hoof in an imitation of a human placation gesture. "Slower than that. Can we start with names? I'm Karl. This is Dorothy, and James. Who are you?"
"I’m Deadlight,” the stallion said, eyes lingering for a moment on Dorothy's open uniform. James had no frame of reference, but he suspected a typical male reaction was taking place. The newcomer wore nothing beyond the satchel he carried, so left little to their imaginations. "Sisters? Triplets? Woah. Unimportant, though." He pointed again. "What is this thing? Air service advances so quickly to be doing this. Metal how much weight can fly? Where’s the balloon?”
James winced at each botched word of the translation. Their own language would be sounding just as strange by comparison, perhaps moreso. At least the Forerunner knew what proper English was supposed to sound like. If it couldn't even do that, how butchered would Eoch sound? But she couldn't take off the headset and try to use what (little) she'd learned in a week, not with the roar of the props. She'd never be able to hear a pony voice over the din.
"It’s not as advanced as it looks," James said, approaching the pony closer than the others dared. Much of what she saw in him mimicked what she had been reading in the notes. What are you doing so far from home, pony?
"This is amazing!" the pony shouted, or at least James guessed it was a shout from the sudden increase in volume from the translated voice. "You have to show me into the into. Does having find from earlier?”
"I think you must be mistaken about our identity," Dorothy said, speaking slowly. "Do you see aircraft like ours all the time? You thought it was typical to be able to drop in as you did?"
"Yeah," James spoke before he did. There was no way to use a private channel, though of course that technology would be simple. But they hadn't been designed for that. Deadlight would hear every word she spoke. "Equestria has flying cities. They have airships too... balloons, zeppelins..."
"Equestria and I terminally avoid co-location," said the bat-winged pony. "Everything is everything where ponies live. Interesting things get lost. But further away… further away we find everything. Everything we forgot."
Behind James, the door to the lower decks slid open. She ignored it, focusing on the speaker.
Deadlight was grinning at them. “I hope strange sisters don’t mind another back to Equestria. Long flight from the south… longer than you know! Having something to ride is to be having what needed from the rest. I have bits—”
Deadlight began to twitch and spasm, and a faint clicking sound passed up through James's hooves. The pony in front of her fell, smashing his face against the observation deck, his whole body convulsing out of control.
Major Fischer stood rigid, still aiming her stun-pistol at the pony's chest. She lowered her leg, nodding towards the still-twitching pony. "Get him below decks," she ordered. "Forerunner, prepare to resume course. I no longer care about efficiency—I want to be up where the air is too thin to breathe."
The floor jolted under their hooves, and they immediately began to rise again. James hurried over to the unconscious pony, helping Karl to roll him towards the door with as little damage as possible. "I'm not sure if you were listening, but this pony was—"
"I heard every word." Major Fischer marched right back towards the doorway. "Get him below decks. We can keep interrogating him there, where he can't fly off."
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Is it just me or is Olivia acting like a idiot in regards to the situation. She is acting like a tinpot dictator really. I see no real reason for capturing the pony for interrogation.
Interesting turn of events. Not sure if this was covered earlier, but a means of completely hiding their base of operations would probably have been a good idea.
Fischer needs to calm down, Equestrian is insanely friendly and forgiving, she needs to stop digging the hole deeper.
Could you post what was cut? Maybe as a blog post?
DAMMIT FICSHER THIS IS DIPLOMACY NOT WAR
And the plot thickens
Seriously, she was giving off warning signs right from the beginning, but I was hoping that she might eventually display some qualities that would vindicate the Forerunner's choice in designating Olivia as the leader of this generation. But at this point, I don't think she's going to. At least, not for a peaceful outcome.
I'm pretty sure that the most successful generals of even ancient civilisations placed great value in understanding the politics of other nations, whether for diplomacy or exploitation. Olivia seems ill-suited to be a general, let alone the leader of a nascent civilisation. She's the type of person you might want leading in a battle, but not as the head of an entire campaign.
Choosing Olivia suggests that the Forerunner has concluded that war is inevitable and will provide the highest chance of success. Bloody hell, just what happened with the previous generations?
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At this point, everybody pretty much knows almost everything (except "override" thing) about prev gens, except readers. I wonder why.
And now they have a male genetic sample. I can see it now Olivia's new
haremsquad of super commando batponies.8314844
I agree Olivia is way out of line and the crew need to revolt against her. Hopefully they wise up and do that and then tell the computer that she had a psychological break and should not be revived at this time.
I thought Olivia was the reasonable one
This is a hilarious disaster waiting to happen. "I don't care about Politics." I agree, but only as a civilian. Its kinda important here, since its high level social interaction, between the sociopathic entities that are countries or businesses.
Seeing the badlands and the frozen north, I have to wonder. Normally, the idea of controlling the sun and the moon remains benefiting the whole planet, but thinking on it, given the "Dramatic Motion" that could easily screw up weather anywhere that the ponies don't care much about.
Hidden machinery is a Yes. Raw psionic/magic power to solar extent is one theory, but given the local situation, it is probably hidden machinery. Whether it is satellites, or a series of lights (seems structurally odd) or a mass illusion effect, it is definitely going to be interesting.
As for capturing the pony, well, Ignoring the reasons for the precurser choosing Olivia, I don't see that as particularly unexpected. She isn't exactly the kind of person to expect sane responses from.
Should be interesting.
As for capturing the pony, I think it was more a question of not wanting more company than wanting to restrain it. It wanted a ride and they provided it. They will all be below deck.
8314892
I don't think Olivia is incompetent at all, but I do agree that she needs advice from the others on how to proceed to prevent things into descending into conflict. She's too wired up for that eventuality, and knowing that previous generations failed only adds fuel to the fire.
Also keep in mind the forerunner was convinced that telling Olivia all the details would lead to a worse outcome, and this is knowing that there being stuff unknown causes paranoia, which doesn't help.
You may be right that the choice of Olivia is motivated towards different approaches. I don't think the Forerunner probe chose wrongly. Despite how much flack it is getting, it still seems to have made the best choice in regards with Lucky Break going in alone, and Olivia did give some good directions so far too. It's a very uncertain situation, since we know that the Equestrian Government itself is hostile to them, just how hostile remains to be seen. They let Lucky go on the assumption she really is a filly, and even then tried to gain control of her again. They might outright kill anyone or thing they believe is actively working with the "monsters". You really can't be too careful in that situation.
Well, capturing a pony isn't a good idea
I see you are having Lucky calling Dust mom. That new.
The way the crew are reacting reminds me of "Stargate Universe".
"Hey! Let's be nice! Let's study stuff!"
"Everything's dangerous! Let's interrogate everything that comes near!"
8315059 Particularly capturing one of Luna's ponies. One who can dream, and who was shot (admittedly, non-lethally) as part of First Contact. Oh, and compounding the error, one of the only two creatures who know how to operate the Ringworld.
Major Fisher, you bucked up. Bad.
At least the bat pony is not dead.
8315091 Tazed, not shot.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
12:40_7/22/2017
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I don't think a Lieutenant Colonel can not consider many things when she is without vision.
8315131
Well, the point still stays.
This pony will be able to call help from Luna...
Fischer's behavior doesn't make sense for a first contact mission
8315091
He said "Equestria forgot about things", so I think he's more independent Daring Do-type of guy, not a Night Guard type of guy.
8314892
She seems ill-suited to be an ANYTHING. She's barely suited to be a person. She doesn't really have any ability to see anything that isn't immediately in front of her. I'd almost question her object permanence.
8315156
Fixed that for you.
If you think of this as a "We come in peace" first contact, Major Olivia Fischer's actions are irrational. But then, consider that they're exploring for a colony site on a world already inhabited by sapient life. This looks like an invasion. In that frame of reference, Olivia is perfectly in character.
Pod Ponies From Outer Space.
8315035 Yeah, Olivia's competent, all right. Just maybe not in all of the skills necessary to prevent total disaster.
Hmm, did we ever get info on the lifespan of their pony forms? If it's depressingly short as a side effect of accelerated growth, I can see how that would be incredibly discouraging.
Well, we'll just have to see if she knows how to use a carrot as much as she does a stick in getting what she wants. They've got a crude method of communication, but at least it's a chance to get a sympathetic native on their side if they place their cards right. Unlike Lucky and Lightning Dust, proof that they're aliens shouldn't be an issue for them.
8315217 Yeah, you've got a point. As far as the Forerunner seems to be concerned, this ain't E.T. anymore. It's Independence Day.
The way Olivia acts really breaks my immersion because it feels like she's not a real person but a narrative tool meant to create conflict and uneasiness between the crew. Especially considering the fact that her decisions seem to be pretty sound and reasonable which contrasts even more with her provoking behavior.
If forerunner picks crew based on their traits is seems counter productive for it to pick assholish and divisive person as a military commander. The fact that there is no questioning from the crew nor explanation why Forerunner would make such decision is another immersion breaker.
Hope it won't get worse down the line.
Just as i feared. Olivia sees all problems as military problems, and finds military sulutions with military methods. The capture certainly means they can continue undetected and safe, but if she clears all problems this way, all non-military and security related goals will suffer.
I think the forerunner chose her because all previous generations failed because of a lack of military security. Now they have too much of that.
8315035
She is incompetent for the job she has. Were she only responsible for security, she'd be an ok choice. But she is the head of the whole operation. She has neither the personality nor the (diplomatic) skills for that.
We don't know if Moondancer actually works for the government. The lousy equipment of those pegasus guards speaks against it.
Again, this may apply to Moondancers group, but we don't know the princesses stance on the situation.
8315286
Yes. She's going to become the antagonist. And from her POV earlier this seems unexpected.
Boy, I have to wonder when Lucky is asking for to many questions that there will be ponies that don't want the information about the ring world to come out.
But, this does make me wonder... Here are 3 thoughts/Ideas that come to mind about the RingWorld, Equestria and the other lands.
1. What if the Royal Sisters that move the celestial bodies actually cause the other lands to get damage that it makes it inhabited for anything to live there.
2. If there are other places with green lands and everything life needs that no pony knows maybe these 3 tribes of ponies make everyone think they're homeland is the only place in the world and they are only ones who can take care of the earth.
3. What if... The RingWorld is actually dying? Now this is interesting because remember the history of Equestria founding and how they're old home was destroyed by Windgoes. Because when you think of this which way was they're old homeland? Have they ever went back to check to see what has happened over there... It also makes me wonder that the Royal Sisters found a way to make Sun and Moon to protect Equestria from the dying effects of the ring but it isn't going to work well... But then real question does the Tree of Harmony have any connection to the RingWorld?
Wait... What if The Tree of Harmony is actually a source for the RingWorld itself!
8314919
Definitely the plan!
8315035
Technically, it's not that it would lead to a worse outcome, but that they'd be less likely to succeed in their mission to build a colony.
Seems a small difference, but because the probe is totally fixated on building a colony to the exclusion of all else, it could be possible that if the crew knew about whatever is being kept hidden, they might decide continuing to build a colony was the worse outcome. Maybe first contact was something like Celestia point-blank telling them not to build a colony, backed with the threat of Ringworld technology aimed at not just them, but all of humanity.
Anyone the probe could make would immediately decide that as not worth the risk if they heard about it. Since the probe only cares about building a colony though, finding ways to keep that information hidden from the crew is the only way it can succeed at all, and it would prioritise this over the crew's reasonable conclusion that the colony mission should be cancelled (and probably killed one or two generations who decided this).
I think Olivia's complete unsuitability for the position is because she's the person whose reactions the probe could best direct away from asking questions it doesn't want asked rather than because the probe made any miscalculations. For a start, I bet any scientist or engineer the probe made leader would have asked what percentage chance of success the mission would have if they learned the missing information. I'm thinking "reduced by 5%" probably actually means "reduced from 5% to zero", and probably all of them would fairly quickly go from that to "if there's zero per cent chance of the mission succeeding if I learn this, what's the reason for that?", and "Because I will decide it's a bad idea" would probably occur to them rather quickly.
Interesting chapter! I can't wait to see what happens next!
8314844
It seems this batpony is a loner, keeps away from Equestria proper, and nopony will miss him. You can't really ask for something better to fall into your lap for intelligence-gathering.
Is anyone else beginning to suspect that Olivia is too aggressive, and that the probe is hiding from her the fact that a previous Olivia's aggression caused the previous humans to come into contact with the ponies in violent ways leading to their failures and deaths? Because that kind of knowledge might affect Olivia's performance...
8315263 She does seem to have 'designated antagonist' tattooed on her butt in big letters. Though the idea someone else had that the humans behind it/Forerunner probe are basically operating as invaders who want to take the place for themselves and screw any sapients who may already be living there. Science is only included to provide inteligence to make it easier to rule/destroy them, though the science team wasn't told that.
Still, this story has a lot of unanswered questions and plot threads that seem to go nowhere.
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When you think of it where they find him would make Ponies think he didn't make it through the storm which would make things easier to keep him and use his DNA to create male version for are dudes... Though they might turn into Soldiers instead
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I think that's what makes this story interesting to read each week is that you don't get a clear answer or you might get answer that you never had expected at all.
I really love how the writer is handling the mystery of the story even if it doesn't seem to go nowhere but I won't mind questions not being answered in the story and just be a good mystery for us readers to make theories on what the answers are... Maybe there will be a group about this and fans create fan stories in this RingWorld of Science madness!
When it comes to geography, the average pony knows as much as the serfs of the medieval era. They think there is nothing on the other parts of Equus but wasteland. It's clear that ponies hate exploring.
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Yea, it would make sense because they have all the needs of normal animals would need for them in Equestria so why explore that is either wasteland and frozen life where you can live the life of luxury!
8315544
But now I think that idea would make interesting stories for people to write now
Maybe Olivia wants also to acquire male DNA.
Nonetheless, I'm confused how the ringworld is supposed to operate with the additional satellites. How does their orbit work compared to the ringworld? Where is the center of their orbit?
Interesting to see Lucky mentally label Lightning as "Mom." It says a lot. In any case, this does seem to explain a lot about why ponies have to manage the natural forces of Equestria. This is a ringworld; there are no natural governing forces or feedback mechanisms because it isn't natural. The biosphere was imported rather than adapted to preexisting conditions, which means if that biosphere wants to stay extant, it needs weather factories, earth pony-tended farms, and a pair of hooves-on celestial mechanics. Though apparently magic itself has a limited functional range, which has implications of its own...
And over with Olivia's Oafs, we have Deadlight, who appears to be an archeologist. He definitely has some answers. The question is whether he can and will share them. Between Olivia's rought treatment and the Google Translate effect—assuming the Forerunner is faithfully translating everything, rather than feeding whatever sounds mission optimal—that's yet to be seen.
Wow Olivia, you REALLY don't understand the meaning of 'diplomacy' do you?
At this point, it's obvious that a previous generation Olivia fucked up first contact. She is way too hostile.
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You make a great point! I didn't think of it till now. The RingWorld even though advanced to hold life doesn't mean it can give it what it needs to keep them alive. Though I do have to wonder what's beyond the other parts of the RingWorld from Equestria.
I don't mind that I dislike Olivia, as by now it seems pretty obvious that I'm not meant to like her, but by now the execution is so over-the-top that if her purpose is to serve as an antagonist, her presentation is starting to look cartoonishly villainous. Even if she exists solely to create conflict, the drama she causes feels inorganic, and nothing at all like a competent military officer making reasonable but disastrous decisions. Even if she ultimately isn't an antagonist, she's given us very little to endear us to her actions or world view.
I'm still holding out on the theory that her behavior is a result of her physical age, and that these problems are the result of putting an emotional teenager in charge.
Okay, yeah, that settles it. Olivia is ill-equipped for the nature of the situation if her first reaction is to shoot the innocent and random native...and he was being so friendly, too! That's going to change when he wakes up. But yeah, if Olivia is allowed to keep making selfish (all of her motivations suggest a purely self-serving attitude behind this) mistakes like that, she's going to bring ruin to this generation too. She lost a lot of trust from yours truly for this stunt. Before, I was willing to give her the benefit of a doubt...not anymore now.
More intriguing, though, is the implication this bat pony knows something most other ponies apparently don't--I assume something pertaining to the ringworld Equestria is a part of and possibly their origins. He might actually be key in getting some needed answers on that aspect of things.
I wonder if the reason why the other, past, generations of humans all failed has something to do with the mystery of the ringworld and their attempts to figure it out...funny, I hadn't even stopped to consider that until now...