Mayor Mare had little reason to withhold the collar. "Of course, Princess. Here you are." She popped it free and held it out towards the Twilight with a curious mane style, not speaking on it. "Do tell me if you find out anything I should know." She trotted away then. "Wonder when she began wearing glasses...?" She shook her head, turning her thoughts to other matters.
One of the men that had come with Jack approached Laud. "Sir."
"Permission to speak," spoke Laud formally.
"Thank you, sir. No offense intended, but how are these not just like the other horses?"
"Besides their psionics? I have a few theories, but put all of that aside." Laud waved a hand over the ponies. He wasn't wearing a translator, not was one technically needed for him, but he could only speak one language at once. Going in English, the ponies couldn't understand him. "They have a working industrial society, starting with running water and ending with electricity. You can't ignore that."
The man looked impressed, casting curious eyes over the lot. "Are they friendly?"
Laud looked where the man was pointing. The construction ponies, bulky and heavy-set, were returning. "They work for me. They helped build this landing pad, but it's not done." He sighed, looking at the deep divots that ship had carved into the landscape. "Maybe this will be valuable information."
The elevator touched bottom, allowing other soldiers off and Jack to board. The new soldiers eyed the aliens with a mix of curiosity and concern, but no swords were swung and no shots were fired. Laud considered it an optimistic success.
The head construction pony ambled up towards Laud. "You've found friends. Uh, we didn't know those, uh, what'd you call them? Ships? The ships are heavier than we thought they'd be."
Laud gestured at the dug out terrain. "Then it's for the best you got to see this before proper pavement was placed. Adjust your plans and be ready to receive ships like this, and possibly slightly bigger. Anything much larger than that won't dare to land. There is a limit to that."
"You got it." He raised a hoof in a bit of a salute before turning to bark orders at his stallions.
Twilight got her collar into place and cleared her throat before speaking to no one. "It is a pleasure to meet you. May I ask you a question?" The collar echoed her statement in English and a few soldiers looked toward her. She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just ensuring it's operation. Since I have your attention, I really do have some questions. I'm not bothering you, am I?"
Laud was overseeing the revision to the plans for the dock, unaware of Twilight's actions.
One of the soldiers proved braver than the others, taking a step forward. "Only if you answer mine."
"Sounds fair," easily agreed Twilight. "We'll trade, one for one. First question." She pointed up at the ship. "How are those made?"
The soldier nervously shuffled in place, his sword swaying on its sheath. "Afraid I can't properly answer that. It's a secret, miss. I don't know."
Twilight frowned a little. "I thought that may be the case... Your turn."
The soldier brightened, hearing his lack of answer wouldn't disrupt the proceedings. "Ah, alright... Do you..." He trailed off, as if unsure what to actually ask. "What's your name?"
Twilight brightened. "How silly of me. I'm Twilight, Twilight Sparkle, and what's your name?"
Laud turned to spy Twilight engaging one of the soldiers and moved to intercede swiftly, but a thought struck him. "Twilight," he said in English. "How do you understand him?"
Twilight looked towards Laud. "Oh, uh..."
Laud scowled. Had she? How could she not have. "Use of psionics is expressly forbidden on any visitor."
Twilight blinked with wide eyes. "What? No! I'm just learning it."
The scowl deepened and his arms crossed. "You've barely heard any English."
"The syntax is identical," argued Twilight.
"You shouldn't have any vocabulary." He pointed at her accusingly. "What's going on?"
"It's the truth." Twilight reared up to cross her heart with a hoof. "Speaking it is uncomfortable, but once you gave me an example, I couldn't think of much else, besides star travel and advanced alien species." She threw her hooves wide. "You're still talking in English, I remind."
Just how intelligent was Twilight that she could glean a language like that? Laud had required weeks of tutoring to become comfortable, and he had thought that was an admirable pace. Before the evidence placed in front of him, he felt like a child, dumb and inexperienced. Then, it hit him.
He turned suddenly on Starlight, who was looking guilty and shifty. Ponies were not the best deceivers. "You."
"Who, me?!" Starlight said with too much stress. "What about me?" She grinned sheepishly.
"You gave her a translator."
Starlight shrank back a few steps. "I might have... let her borrow one? Was that bad?"
Laud let out a bit of held breath, some of the tension fading. "By the Pancreator, now this makes sense. You spoke to yourself with the translator and listened and--"
"--took a lot of notes," agreed Twilight, bobbing her head. "I tried to fool it, but it seems our languages are basically identical except for the actual sounds."
The soldier that had been doing the interview glanced between the two of them, but did not dare to cut in with someone so much higher ranked than he.
Twilight produced a small book and held it up in her magic, floating there. That got the soldier to back away, bravely repositioning. "The notes, if you want to see," reported Twilight, smiling at Laud.
He reached for it and flipped it open with a flick. It was a Rosetta Stone, with things written in both languages. However, it was all written in Pony English, in the end. The English parts were phonetic. It was an incredibly valuable book, Laud knew, but only to ponies. It was the perfect tool for allowing a pony to learn English.
"Can you have this duplicated?" He offered it back to her. "I want a dozen more, for the staff of the port here. Not requiring translators would be a boon." His ire had faded away in the face of practicality. "Do that, please, the next time you go home."
Twilight nodded in a rapid bobbing.
"Hey!" called Spike. Both Spikes were running towards them in hurried scampers. It was impossible to tell which was which.
Laud thrust a hand out in front of the soldier that was standing beside him, speaking loudly in English, "They are friendly." His words did much to ease the rapidly mounting tension that had built at seeing strange reptiles charging towards them.
Twilight brightened. "Spike, there you are. I was worried about you." One of the Spikes came in for a hug and she gladly gave it, patting him on the head with one hoof. "Have you been having fun?"
Doggy-Spike bobbed his head. "It was really nice. Being a dragon is kinda cool, but I'm looking forward to being a dog again." They spoke Pony at one another.
Original-Spike slowed to a walk, approaching Laud. "These are your friends?"
Laud shook his head. "These are my kin, and subordinates. It would be improper to call most of them 'friend', but kin-hood runs deeper than that. They are all members of the house."
"The reptiles make horse noises," pointed out the soldier a bit dumbly.
Twilight gestured to the new spike with a wave of a hoof. "This is Spike. This is also Spike." She pointed to her own. "Uh, not all dragons are named Spike." She rubbed her cheek with the end of a hoof. "As we were saying, you can ask another question now."
"That's quite enough of that," said Laud with a tense smile, moving to stand between Twilight and the soldier. "Twilight, you have plenty to work on, and there are countless things to be done here."
Twilight frowned a little, but turned away. "I get it. Say hello to your family. I'll be back though." She pulled off her collar with a glowing horn and set it on the ground beside herself. "Come on, Spike." Both looked to her. "Um, my Spike. We have things to do."
The elevator touched down, depressing the ground beneath it slightly. Soldiers spilled off, but a cluster remained tight, approaching Laud. It parted, allowing a man to stride forward with the greatest poise of them. "Laud! It's been some time."
Laud stiffly turned and dipped over into a formal bow. "It is an honor to see you, Sir."
He waved the formality away. "I am a visiting dignitary in your demesne, or have I been misled? You can call me by my name."
"Very well then, Paul. I am preparing a fine gift for our house." He turned slowly. "It's a fine world, with countless resources, and people. Both are incalculable in value, and I mean to bring them without expensive war."
"A fine ideal..." He reached out, placing a hand on Laud's shoulder. "But first, we talk." Without hesitation, he drew Laud in close like an affectionate older brother. "Away from prying ears."
Laud glanced back at the others. Spike and Starlight were speaking, and Maud was closeby. None of them seemed too bothered. He allowed Paul to guide him away, until they had a circle of armed men to themselves. "Paul, I understand this must look--"
"--You haven't even the slightest idea." Paul prodded Laud in the chest. "You are a young noble, but noble still. You're far from the front of the line of your father's succession, and most expected you to be an entitled thrillseeker for most of your years, however long or short that'd be." He shook his head slowly. "It came at no particular surprise when you signed up to plunge through an unknown gate." He leaned in. "There was a pool going for if this would be the end of you." He beat Laud's shoulder in one firm slap. "You cost me, I'll admit, but I'll accept that for underestimating you."
Laud trembled faintly, but kept himself largely still. "I never tried to risk without proper consideration... Paul."
"I'm sure you didn't, from your view. Look, I'm not here to chastise you, just explain." He turned towards where construction ponies could be seen laboring beyond their ring of men. "What are they?"
Laud's tension ebbed. "I have a few ideas. I don't think they're aliens at all. At least, not in the truest sense."
"I'm listening." His arms crossed and he tapped a foot.
"They are humans." Laud tapped his chest. "In here. They are Changed."
Paul's sudden flinch was hard to miss, especially for Laud. "That's a serious accusation. What makes you sure of that?"
"Their civilization." Laud threw down his hands. "Everything about it is littered with tells. They use doorknobs despite most of them having no way to use them gracefully. Their language is, word for word, identical to our own, if you forgive it being composed of horse noises."
With clenched teeth, Paul developed the faintest frown. "And their magic?"
"They are the ideal magic users, if such could exist." Laud drew himself to his full height. "They have a strict moral code, and condemn any that stray too far from it. They consider it a priority to bring such people back into line, or remove them entirely."
"And this makes you think you can trust them?" Paul stepped lifted a hand, flatside up. "They could have already rotted your brain, and you wouldn't know. Worse, they may not have, but what happens when an inquisition is called, and it will be. You know that. There is no way we can avoid it. Do you think they will smile on you, or them?" He waved the lifted hand wide, encompassing the entire world. "This world, its aliens, humans or not, are going to become ground zero."
Yeah, a magical civilizatoon, no matter how friendly, is not going to go over well with these folks. Though what would they have the ponies do? This doesn't seem winnable without some very creative thinking.
I love how Twilight learned English. Never underestimate Purplesmart.
As for Laud's theory, it does make sense. Equine psychology is essentially human. Convergent mental evolution to that degree beggars belief. If he can get his kin through the portal, it will support the conjecture like nothing else.
Also, a typo snuck offboard the ship:
If.
8708387
Well, there is one very, very easy way for the ponies to win, though I imagine it's one they'll be reluctant to use for a whole host of reasons. All they have to do is take out the gate. It doesn't matter how big the humans' army is if it can't get to the planet. Or if they want to be dramatic they can always find out if human space ships are rated to survive impacts with the sun.
But more seriously, yeah, this is going to be rough. The ponies will want to be diplomatic, but that might be a lost cause when the people you're trying to negotiate with automatically assume everything, even their own thoughts, are a lie just because magic is a thing.
If they dont like the idea of psionics the other side of the Jump Gate, Im sure Luna stuffinfg the Moon in the gate would cause all sorts of unfortunate feedback overload events leading to colapse of a good chunk of the aincient communication and trade network if not total distruction of the structure.
Never mind what the Sun, Discord, or Pinkies Fruitcake could do to it.
Ahh. Kimberlite Pipes. Look like tropical rainforest supertrees embedded through the crust made of diamond infused granite. Id think those would be reasonable for landing heavy ships on. That and theres certain energy flows possible in a pure or meta crystaline version that could give other heavy ships a most Crusader Unwelcome.
Damn, Twilight is scary. Though not as scary as the prospect of having your world gassed because your ancestors did something "wrong"... or had it done to them.
Just cause your right doesn't mean you don't have to fight to prove it.
The problem is, will the Inquisition lead into a crusade?
Corollary to that, if they are declared Human, how forceful will conformation be?
More gears than ever are turning...
Keep going! ;)
Things are getting intense. Can't wait to see how things turn out.
And no typos in these past two chapters? I'm so proud.
8709459
Maybe you are right. I did say 99%, always leave a bit of space for error. Also it's like 2 in the morning here so cut me some slack.
8708395
The thing is how are they going to detect spaceships or the location of the gate, also the sun and moon cant be in 2 places, all it takes is several ships from different directions and only one to pass. Also if u remember destroying a jumpfate besides being almost impossible to achieve, can have grave consequences for the system
8708449
First she has to know the location of the gate. Second the gates are huge with a very powerfull energy source. Sure the gate will be destroyed but it will porbably destroy the moon to, tear it apart and cause chunks of it to land back on equestria with predictable results, or cause the sun to go nova if it is used instead of moon.
8711945
Telescopes are quite effective at detecting ships. Or they could just use scrying magic of some sort. I can almost guarantee that more than a thousand years have given the princesses plenty of time to learn a few divination spells. And the whole "two places at once" thing assumes that not only do enough ships make it through the gate in order to cause that problem, they somehow figure out how to avoid the gravity wells created by the motion of the sun and moon. In chapter 24 Laud mentions that his ship crashed simply because the sun is too close to the planet and moved unexpectedly. They don't actually have to hit any of the ships, they just have to move the sun and moon around and let the simple fact that they exist do the work for them.
Not to mention the fact that Celestia has already flat out stated that she can use the sun or moon to give any ships nearing Equestria without her permission a bad time (chapter 24).
And I want a source for the assertion that the gate can't be destroyed. I don't remember that ever being mentioned. And that's on top of the fact that the gate Laud came through was already wrecked and was even more damaged by his passage, to the point that it had to be repaired in order to be usable again. Based on everything I've seen in the story, the gate is very mush destroyable and without any significant consequence.
8711993
Telescopes are quite effective at detecting ships? What? Thats like looking for a needle in a haystack. As for scrying spells, it is never shown that princesses posses such spells but even if they dit it would be the same as teleskopes. Its ome thing to scry acriss the land where you have landmarks its entirely another think to search for something in the void. Not to mention that fading suns psykers have some really interesting powers, that include precognitionand cloaking aming other things. As for the sun and moon argument, you forget that the movements of the sun and moon will also effect the planet earthquakes, tidal waves, upheval, etc the movement you describe will essentialy destabilize the planet. You simply cant make phyisics effect one side and ignore the other. As for celestia stating that she can use the sun to cause incidents that still doesnt explain how will she locate the ships or the gate. The details that would make celestia or luna using their aspects as weapon be possible are overlooked not only in this story but in many others where this is discussed and then there are some that deconstruct this topic. As for gates being extremely hard to destroy, just look at the fading suns universe lore which from writting I can see that you know of only from this story
8713013
I would not object any reading I should be doing about the toughness, or fragility of the gates.
8713025 I discovered fading suns universe years ago somewhere around 2009 so i don't remember a lot of things but I recall that there was a terrorist group that tried to blow up a jumpgate all they managed was to dent it and shut it down so it can repair itself
8713013
Use a little magic and sure, find all the ships you want with a telescope. They have to be close to the planet to begin with. All it would take is a metal detecting spell or something. And before you say "those don't exist" again, the next point is relevant.
You can't just say "scrying spells are just like telescopes". You're not the author, so you have no idea how Mr Silver would have them work in his world. This is already an AU, so he can do whatever he wants with their magic.
As for the sun and moon thing, once again, she doesn't have to know where the ships are or hit them in any way. That entire point is irrelevant for her ability to use them as a deterrent. And as far as their effects on the planet go, if Silver sticks to canon, then no, there will be no effects on the planet. The princesses and Discord regularly zip them around the planet with no effects on the environment whatsoever. Silver may choose to change that, but considering that the sudden movement that crashed Laud's ship did nothing and Celestia was perfectly willing to continue doing it, I doubt that he will.
For the gate, I'll use your own logic regarding the effects of the sun and moon in fanfiction and point out that story trumps canon. As far as the story is written, the gate is absolutely destroyable, and as far as we know, with no consequences. That may change in future chapters, but as it stands now, that's how they work in this setting.
8713143
To be fair, at the moment, we don't know just how breakable the gate is. No one has tried breaking it. We have, at best, the non-technical fears of a noble that flew through it.
8713166
This is true. But even with only non-technical expertise, if simply traveling through it is enough to make it smoke and spark, that doesn't say anything good about it's overall durability. Even if it would be nigh indestructible when fully repaired, in it's current state, all evidence points to it being far less durable.
But I suppose only time will tell.
8713143
Woah wait a bit you just cant call up cannon when it suits you. You cant just go scrying spells work like author would want them to, (also i dont remember them bring mentiomed at all,)and then go and say the effects of sun and moon on the planet are the same as they are in cannon mlp, you either go full au or full cannon, I choose au and brought up what the fading suns universe has. I simply said what I observed from the story so far
ponies have no ide where is the gate and have no way of detecting a ship in their system so by that logic the will be unavere of anything coming at them at lewst until they get vaporized with a meson cannon
8714153
Yes I can, because they do. It's his world and his story. Literally everything in it works the way he wants it to. Whether such spells exist or not, whether they're applicable or useful in this situation or not, or anything else related to this world or the magic it contains is entirely up to his discretion and no one else's.
Except that we see, in this specific story, things work the same way they do in canon. Laud's ship wrecks because the sun moved suddenly and quickly in a way he couldn't predict or expect. Celestia admits a willingness to continue doing that in the future. There were no catastrophic natural disasters as a result of it happening the first time, and, based on what we've seen of her personality in this story, I highly doubt she would be willing to do it again in the future if it was going to cause any such disaster.
The only evidence you've brought up for any of your points relies solely on what is written in Fading Suns canon, or what you assume would happen in real life. Literally nothing you've said has been supported by events from the story. You only reference outside sources.
I'm going to just have to guess what you're trying to say here, since half of those aren't even words, but it seems like you're still stuck on the idea that it's utterly impossible for the Equestrians to detect either the gate or any approaching ship until it's too late. I'm not entirely certain why you're so hung up on that, but if you have anything, literally any sentence at all from the story that says or implies that to be true then I'd like to hear it. Because from what we've seen so far in the story, the ponies are intelligent, adaptable, and have a wide range of skills and resources to call upon when they need to solve a problem. Even if they don't have a way to detect things in orbit yet, I have no doubt that they will find one in short order.
8713166
Hi, David. While you could easily justify making the "Pony gate" different from most other gates if you want, you may be interested in a bit more information on most gates in the Fading Suns setting. First, most gates are gigantic hoops, at least as big in diameter as a small moon. They are very tough to physically damage, but it can be done: for instance the Gate in the Hira system got hit by a comet, and shut down for about a millennium before it spontaneously restarted. Humans don't understand everything about how gates work, and can't really do much to repair them, but they do have some ability to adjust a Gate's controls.
Some gates can open passages to more than one solar system, but in order to pass through any gate, you need a ship with a Jumpdrive, and you also need you have to enter the proper coordinates for the system you want to go to. Most of the data needed to pass through gates is stored in devices called Jump Keys, which the Charioteer's Guild tries to maintain a monopoly on. I'd guess the Hawkwood's may have gotten the information needed to open the way to Equestria's system from some ancient Jump Key they recently found.
If you understand the controls on a particular Gate, it's sometimes possible to shut it down for a time. However, it's almost impossible to know just how long the shutdown procedure will work. It might be only a short time: a few days or years. Or it could shut down the gate for centuries. And you won't know how long the gate will be shut until it reopens. Humans during the age of the Second Republic had access to far more solar systems than they do now, but most of those Gates have long since been shut.
8714303
Regarding the mistakes, I write on the phone. Now for the scrying spells. I am trying to say that author did not mention them in the story as far as I remember. So they either dont exist or arent a factor, then I added that they also didnt exist in the cannon mlp. So I ask you where are those spells then. For the Sun and moon thing. In the chapter where he arrives he was already in atmosphere when the princesses moved the sun and moon and his ship was hit by gravity change, that supports my claim that sun and moon effect the planet. The author never specified how fast they were moving just that they were moving faster than they should. The defense action that you proposed where the sun and moon move around the planet and keep the ships away would tear apart the planet
Why? He described them as small satelites of the planet. I cant even think of the speed they would need to move at in order to cover the entire planet. As for why I am hung up on ponies not being able to detect ships or gate is because as of last chapter they still cant othervise there would be a welcoming party for the frigate. You are asking me of proof that they cant yet you are the one that should provide a proof that tey actually can. So far they havent done anything that a normal human couldnt. Except for starlight magiclly copying the translator. Maud knowing that is some unknown type of mineral? A geologist can tell you that. Starlight copying the translator? Exchange that with sceintists who will reverse engineer it and actually understand how it works. And I seriously doubt that that they can even fathom space travel beyond spikes comic books certainly not with their level of tech.but if the author says they can, then they can but so far, no
8716226
Thanks for the information! This does not conflict with what I've thought so far. Very useful.
8716276
I feel certain MLP ponies could certainly fathom the idea of space travel. How good they'd do it is a whole other story. Humans have been considering the idea and theory of launching out into the void for quite some time before we took our first timid step on another rock.
8716538
Yes that is true, i dont deny that but thing is when we look at the ponies if the cannon is to be believed they have been stuck in a sort of medieval stasis for a millenia, in mlp I would say that they are somewhere in pre industrial era considering the cities like manehattan and trains. And even if they started their space program now, they would have a loing way to go. Humans developed their space program on the basis of tech that came from war, the only base ponies would have are the humans that arrived if they(you as the author) decide to share the theories and materials necessary for a whole economy that would be needed to support such action. Ofc if you decide to do something about it then its how you as the author wants it to be and thats ok. I mean the story presents a possible interaction between a universe with quazi medieval space faring humanity and magic ponies and it is pretty interesting and good so far and follows the lore of fading suns, besides the gate situation that is, because in lore they are huge, the size of small moon and very hard to destroy or damage and they have self repairing abillity and are usually located at the edge of the system. And humans have minimal knowledege of them.
8716788
So what does that tell you about what's going on here?
It sure tells me a lot.
I have marathoned this story and found it WONDERFUL!!!
8722869
Welcome!
Sleeping_Giant.jpeg
You have "Pony English" here, but "Ponish" in an earlier chapter, and "Pony English" further back. I'm guessing that there was a typo somewhere in the process?
8873566
Ponish is short for Pony English.
Any inquisition would have a planet size worth of problems with Discord, who might yet cause trouble since Laud doesn't know about him yet.