Ponyville buzzed with the news. Spoiled turned up her nose, not hard for her to do. "What strange creatures."
Filthy shook his head. "What a load of possibilities!" He brought his hooves together. "I wonder if they need any supplies I could be the source of? Think of where it could lead." He looked across the breakfast table to Diamond Tiara. "If you see any of them, be on your best behavior."
"Yes, father." Diamond gave her best, not entirely sincere, smile. "Do they even have any bits?"
Spoiled shook her head. "How could they? I should imagine they don't even know what they are."
Filthy waved the objections away before lifting a cup of coffee with a huge handle fit for a hoof. "We can barter to start. In fact, we may want some of their money, whatever that is. Have you seen the strange thing they arrived in?"
Spoiled look down on Diamond firmly. "Don't go looking at that... thing. That entire area is dangerous. Really, who would want to be around all that noise and those filthy construction ponies?"
Diamond restrained a mighty eyeroll with visible effort. "May I be excused?" She pushed away from her finished plate. "I should go to school."
Filthy smiled at his beloved daughter. "Of course, dear. You have a great day."
Spoiled nodded and watched her go before looking back to Filthy. "Be careful."
"You're being dramatic." Filthy drew himself tall on his chair. "I didn't make the money I have by being scared."
Elsewhere, Pinkie dropped a sign in front of a window. It was written in English. It was a little messy, but she was sure she got the two words right in it, written big and bold. "Humans welcome!" she cried with a giggle, turning back to the rest of Sugarcube Corner. "Do you think they, wait, no, that's a silly question."
She waved her own question away as she trotted for the counter. "If they're like Laud, they like baked treats, maybe in moderation."
Mrs. Cake pushed the tray back into the register, ready to start the day. "Well, if they're half as polite as Laud is, they are welcome here. Just be gentle on them, Pinkie. Laud was very jumpy when he first arrived, and they may be exactly the same, so let's keep the, uh, Pinkie-ing down until they're ready."
Pinkie pouted at that. "But that's my best part... Alright alright. I'm not sure I can catch one of their swords like Maud did. That sister of mine, she is so crazy." Pinkie pulled open an oven and peered inside before reaching in and yanking out a tray of golden brown muffins. She moved it with lightning speed to a counter before her hoofs could get burned. "I'll ice these!" she cried, already reaching for the decorations.
Mrs. Cake shook her head slowly as she pulled down chairs to be beside tables instead of on them. "Why do they have those?"
"Oh, that's easy." Pinkie glanced up from her rapid icing of the muffin, which were becoming more like cupcakes. "They have no magic." She set the decorating tool aside. "Not even earth pony or pegasus magic. Shoot, it scares them. Even after all this time, Laud gets spooked. I think that's why he likes you."
Mrs. Cake blinked at that, returning to the front counter. "He likes me?"
"Uh huh." Pinkie bobbed her head quickly. "Earth ponies are his favorite. They don't act magic. At least, least magic." She held two hooves close together. "Oo, there's one!" She thrust one hoof ahead at a human taking curious steps outside, visible through the open door.
Mrs. Cake dipped her head beneath the register and came back up wearing a translator. "Ready. Hello there!" she called to the startled human stallion. "Come in and have a treat to start the day."
Quickly recovering himself and smiling. "Good morning," he said in the strange alien way humans had, but he had a translator too, and it echoed the sentiment in the equine way. "Is this a bakery?"
"Sure is!" exclaimed Pinkie with a gesture at the baked goods she just finished decorating. Her translator was on, though none had seen when she had put it on. "Did you see the sign?" In a lower voice, she whispered to herself, "Please say you saw the sign."
His eyes wandered towards the window. "Well Humans?"
Mrs. Cake put a hoof over her mouth, covering her laugh. "She meant 'Humans Welcome'."
Welcome given, the man did step inside, his blue eyes sweeping over the store as he came and his sword swaying at his hip with each step. "Thank you for the greeting. I don't have any of the local currency, I should warn."
Pinkie shook her head quickly. "You've all just got here, of course not." She plopped one of her fresh creations on the counter. "Here, as a 'welcome to Ponyville' gift!"
Mrs. Cake nodded towards the treat in agreement. "You've come a long way, Pinkie. Yes, please, enjoy. If you want some bits, I'm sure you could do some odd jobs around town suited to you." Her eyes fell to his sheathed blade before rising quickly to his eyes. "I'm Missus Cake."
Twilight smiled stiffly at the end of the table. Her table was not normally full, and when it was, it was her dearest friends. That morning, it was filled with humans. Laud sat at her right, Paul on her left. Behind them, so many guards surrounded the table.
Across the way, Starlight was hoofing at her translator as if checking something. Twilight could see she was speaking quietly to a human there.
"Thank you," Twilight looked up to see it had been Paul that spoke. "For providing local housing and hospitality. It was not strictly required. We could have retired to our ship, but the thought was a good one, and accepted in the spirit it was given."
Laud nodded towards Twilight. "Her official title is 'Princess of Friendship.'"
Paul arched a brow at the slightly-flustered Twilight. "Are you not princess of a particular location?"
Twilight gave a choked half laugh, raising a hoof. "Ah, not so much? Celestia and Luna rule over Equestria, our nation. Cadance operates the Crystal Empire, to the north. I discovered a new kind of magic, and this is my reward, and responsibility."
"You..." Paul trailed off before setting his hands on the table in front of him. "We should not press before we've eaten. I apologize for being a rude guest."
"Oh, no no, no trouble at all." Twilight forced a wide smile. "Spike?!"
"Coming..." Spike came toddling in with a large platter. "Plenty more after this one." Suddenly he was free of the platter, one of the many soldiers taking it with a good-natured laugh and setting it on the table. "Oh, uh, thanks. Be right back!" He moved to scoot away, and a soldier trailed after him.
Laud nodded in their direction. "We Hawkwoods try to be polite. Spike won't work alone just to feed us." He looked across to Paul. "Their food is excellent, but avoid anything that looks like a flower, because it is exactly what it looks like."
Paul brought his hands together, fingers running through one another as they clasped. "Duly noted. I notice you aren't wearing a translator. I know you can understand both languages, but it does mean only one half of the room can understand you at any given time."
Accepting the criticism, Laud got his translator into place. "It baffles the mind, considering how swiftly more were made."
"I knew this was coming," replied Starlight despite being down the table. "I started making more of them a while ago. I figured, hay, what happens if the ones we have break? Or..." She waved a hoof at the soldiers on either side of her. "Guests arrive, or... There were too many reasons to want more, and no real reason not to."
Twilight nodded to her student. "Thank you for your foresight, Starlight. You've made this meeting of people far smoother than it might otherwise have been." Her horn glowed as she plucked some pancakes from the center of the table and set them neatly on a plate. "Do you like syrup?" she asked Paul, decorating the stack as he directed. Soon she set the plate just in front of him. "Eat up and enjoy."
Paul shook his head slowly. "Do you not fear the corruption that magic brings?" Twilight looked at him with growing confusion. "This much power." He pointed at her horn. "When such things come so easily, that leads to temptation."
Twilight shook her head quickly. "I mean, maybe? I've... tried to solve a few...--"
"Few, she says." Spike rolled his eyes as he pushed another platter up onto the table.
"A few," repeated Twilight more firmly, giving Spike a dirty look. "But I've learned there are many problems that magic won't solve directly. It requires friendship, cooperation, and work."
"You are not the only of your kind," reminded Paul. "There is one right there." He subtly pointed at Starlight. "I saw others on the way here. With so many magic-users, how do you avoid its innate problems?"
Twilight huffed softly. "Well, for one, most can only do what their cutie mark is related to directly."
"Cute mark?" Paul looked across to Laud.
Laud gestured to Twilight's bottom. "Do you see the star shape? All ponies appear to gain them during their formative years, as a manner of coming of age."
Twilight glanced back at hers. "They represent what we are meant to do, and are best at."
Paul stiffened a moment. "By the Pancreator... You are..." He slapped a hand down on the table. "No wonder! Whoever shaped your people was a genius, or depraved beyond measure, perhaps both. They may have been trying to make the perfect magic-wielders, shackled and disciplined from birth to avoid going astray."
Twilight's expression turned wry. "While I am glad that comforts you, it is a little impolite to talk to someone that way. We were not 'created', at least further than a mother pony and a father pony loving each other very much."
"Besides," spoke Starlight across the table. "Sometimes we do... go astray... but then other great ponies give them a chance, and... we can get better." She looked away, her cheeks warming. "Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes..."
A soldier beside Starlight nudged her with an elbow. "Fat lot that does if they scrub your head clean."
Another beside him laughed in agreement. "That would be the worst kind, reaching into your skull and leaving what they want behind."
Starlight shrank in place as they agreed on just how terrible mental magics were and those that dared to use them.
Paul turned his eyes to Twilight, though he faced forward. "Was your student involved in such a case? She doesn't hide it very well."
"Well, ah..." Twilight tapped her hooves before letting out an explosive gust of air. "Yes... She has been properly disciplined, and is working very hard to become a better pony. Her being my student is, in a way, a form of penance and reform."
Paul raised a brow at that. "You keep a reformed criminal so close to your royalty?"
"She is sincere in her wish to reform." Twilight raised a hoof to her chest. "She has performed great acts on behalf of Equestria and proven herself. She isn't perfect, but she wants to be, and is becoming so. I am proud to call Starlight my student, and my friend." She set that hoof down with a firm stance. "Judge her on what she does, not what she did. We are only having this conversation because of her."
Starlight's anxious despair broke into a timid little smile at Twilight, though she said nothing.
Spike hopped up onto a free chair. "All served! To new friends!" He raised his glass.
Other glasses raised with shouts in reply.
Well, at least Pinkie's making a good impression. Honestly, if you're going to talk about the craftsmanship that went into designing a species, at least remember that they may not appreciate the implications.
Still, no one else has drawn a sword. That certainly counts as progress.
At least Pinkie hasnt been delivering cupcakes to the orbital ships. Yet.
Another point in the favor of Ponies being the perfect magic-users: To ponies, magic is mundane. Magic is for lifting things, making lights, and manipulating objects. Not many care about anything other than that.
This new meeting is rather interesting, I must say.
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It amuses me that Spike broke the tension so well. Nothing like a good toasting over a meal, eh?
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Magic makes such a handy screwdriver!
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I have a theory that Pokemon is a similar setup: teenagers cohabitate with incredible elemental forces, but use them for amiable muggings instead of anything more ambitious.
So they have now a living example of their own worst fear case dining with them alongside royalty. It's no longer a "they can probably do it", it's "Holy smokes she's right there! How do we know it's not fake?!?"
The transition boxes probably took a sizable chunk from the resource stores. Wonder if someone comes along to improve the design?
Keep going! ;)
There is actually an interesting observation to make here. What these people fear isn't magic, it's power. But does power not come in many forms? They themselves are part of a noble house with significant power and the tools they wield can easily match if not surpass magic in terms of power. If one can be deemed safe enough to use, why can't the other?
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If only they knew the stuff Twilight has pulled over the years....
and Sunset
and Trixie
and Luna
and Tempest
and Stygian
Let's just say every unicorn with any great power....and Alicorn......and Discord
They better be careful what they say to these humans....
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In the Fading Suns setting, technology is widely not considered to be "Safe to Use", which is why the great majority of Humanity is denied the right to use it, and is forced to live like medieval peasants, with a standard of living well below that of the Ponies. It's against the law to teach the peasantry how to read or write. Those who are allowed the use of technology (the nobility, the clergy, and the guildsmen) are theologically considered to be martyrs, nobly suffering the horrible burdens of technology, wealth and freedom for the good of all Humanity.
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Youch, that's even more extreme than 40K. No wonder they're shitting their pants at finding a planet filled with what to them is essentially magical nobility.
Well! After reading this I get a sense of the crossover portion; a very Dune-esque setting. Explains the lack of guns and lasers and the presence of "magic" well enough. I am liking these Hawkwoods, they're the kind of idealized nobility that we all wish real nobility had been. Hopefully they and the Sisters can get along and make a better future for both.
Preferably with some proper technology. Screw the "church", God wants progress!
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I am glad I'm getting the feel right. I'm trying, I swear! I had not read a bit of Fading Suns before a patron grabbed the existing-universe tier and told me to get to work, so I did. I've learned a lot about it, and I hope you have as much fun reading as I do writing.
To new friends!
a super good chapter, with vary wise words.
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Do you use Discord?
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i do not have one as of yet but a friend is setting up a channel for my new game server.
i will keep you up to date.
and you should have my ts yet.
I wonder how they will react to Discord.
Actually I would suspect that the Church's biggest problem with Equestria will be that their entire dogma revolves around "the stars are fading because of humanities sins" (note that this does not affect the stars dynamic stability, ignores speed-of-light delays, does not influence the climate of the planets in their solar systems, does not have to be the same for observers on different planets, and so on; the only way to make the setting consistent with a prior history of scientific observation is to assume that it's an Ancestor Simulation running a series of disconnected sub-simulations with adjustable attributes). While I cannot recall the author mentioning it one way or the other... Equestriia's stars have not faded in canon and there's been no mention of them doing so here (according to the fading suns timeline, albeit possibly in an earlier edition; I have not read it in a long time, the stars started fading a bit over a thousand years ago. Surely Luna, at least, would mention this?) - and it should have been a fairly major thing if they had.
By church dogma, Equestria may be the holiest place in the galaxy and it's people are apparently without any major sin...
Oh my god. Someone else has heard of the Fading Suns universe? I... I feel a sense of validation such I haven't felt in a long, long time. I needed this. This and an MLP patch for the Hyperion mod.
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Welcome to it!
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Actually, most of the Church does not believe that the stars are fading because of Humanity's evil. Most Churchmen, with the possible exception of the most extreme hardliners within Temple Avesti, don't think Humanity on the whole is really very evil, especially now that the Church has gotten most of Humanity to adopt the morally beneficial lifestyle of a medieval peasant. The Church's theology very clearly places responsibility for the moral state of Humanity on them, the Clergy, so to believe that Humanity as a whole was extremely evil would imply that they had utterly failed to properly reflect the Pancreator's grace. The different sects within the Church have some conflicting opinions on exactly why the stars are fading, but to the extent that there is any consensus, it's believed the stars are fading because history is coming to an end. The great passion play that is Humanity's narrative is supposedly drawing to a close, and the time of Judgement is at hand. It may not be an idea that makes much sense from our perspective, but from the point of view of at least some within this setting, asking why the stars are fading is like asking why the lights in a theatre are dimming and the audience getting ready to leave? It's because the play is nearly over.
The Fading of the suns is an uneven process, with some stars affected more than others. Sol, the sun of Holy Terra, is said to be the sun which has faded the least. And many are dissatisfied with the explanation cited above, and are looking for a more specific cause. Some wonder if it might be caused by use of the Jump gates for interstellar travel, and such people might wonder if the reason Equestria's stars have faded less is because Equestria's jump gate has not been used very much.
Others wonder if it might have something to do with the use or abuse of terraforming, which is a science almost no one understands. Terraforming was perhaps only truly understood by the great Second Republic scientific and magical genius Doramos of Tyre. If Equestria was terraformed and it's inhabitants genetically created during the Second Republic, most people who know anything at all about the history of science or magic would strongly suspect that Domamos or one of his immediate students was directly responsible. Perhaps Equestria's stars aren't fading because on Equestria, Doramos got everything about the terraforming process to work right. If Equestria was terraformed by Doramos, the secretive cult called the Eskatonic Worldshapers would be very interested, as they are the only group that has even the slightest understanding of how Doramos's scientific magic actually worked.
There is also some belief that someone, perhaps the Emperor, might be able to do something to stop the suns from Fading. A new sun, called Abraxas, appeared in the sky when the Emperor was cononated, which is why the secret society called the Reborn Sun regards Emperor Alexius as a semi divine sun god. You don't suppose Abraxas might be Equestria's sun? If Celestia turned on her sun for the first time about 3 thousand years ago, it just might be.
Finally, its possible Equestria wasn't created by the Second Republic, but by the much more ancient alien race who created the Jumpgates. They were called the Anunnaki, or the Ur, and some mystics claim the fading of the suns are a sign they will soon be returning.
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Ah, you have caused me to rummage out the books! Now I'm admittedly behind in editions, but as far as I know the setting material from the second edition book hasn't been modified much (if at all). Ergo, I'm going by what I can find in that book - and here it is:
About the founder of the Church (Page 18):
"His name was Zebulon, a Catholic or Orthodox Christian priest (argument continues as to which) fascinated with the new potential opened up by the jumpgates. He went to the stars in search of more evidence of their makers. He found something greater by far. All laymembers know the litany: “In 2723, the Prophet saw the Holy Flame.” On a frontier world (lost now amid the fading stars), Zebulon was gifted by God with a mystical vision of the Holy Flame residing in the Empyrean. God gave the Prophet new words for his children, to take them into the new age of space exploration. But he was also given a vision of hell, revealing that demons lurked in the dark between the stars seeking to snuff the Holy Flame. Church heads say that the suns grow cold as the demons and the sins they awaken in humanity block the light of the Holy Flame from the universe"
So; the church founder established the basic dogma.
Page 19: "There are also certain sins which were abhorred by the Prophet above all others. Sin darkens the light of the Holy Flame and causes the suns to fade. The major sins are Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, and Oathbreaking. There are other sins which have since
been proclaimed by the Church but were not mentioned by the Prophet: Usury (moneylending) and Invention (the Pancreator’s creation is fixed — who are we to add to it? That was the sin of the Second Republic)."
This is, by the way, entirely normal for churches; they tend to regard people as being naturally inclined to error/"sin". After all, if they weren't, there would be no real need for a church to correct them.
That was, however, a long time ago. So what do the various modern orders have to say?
Urth Orthodox (Page 41): "The darkening light of the suns is due to humanity’s sins"
Brother Battle (Page 43) doesn't actually provide an opinion on the subject, but does have an explicitly noted habit of leaving infants left on their doorstep to die, rather than , say, having someone take them to an orphanage. It may just be my cultural conditioning, but I can't help but feel that accepting that practice says that the church's attitude on what is "sinful" is just a bit suspect.
The Eskatonic Order (Page 43) "claim to have personal experience with certain vile demon sultans who they say are to blame for the dimming stars" (Page 43). They are, in fact, the only listed order that does not blame a lot of the problem on humanities sins. They're also very small and persecuted.
The Avesti (Page 44) apparently agree with the Urth Orthodox (since they're a subgroup and are not noted as disagreeing), believe that sin is everywhere, and are specifically called out as racist bigots.
Amaltheans (under Roleplaying Notes, Page 46) are noted as believing in compassion - and that they themselves are filled with sin. But if their path is a good one, and they are filled with sin... must not most other paths be worse?
Hesychasts - wandering hermits - believe that everyone needs their insights. Why would that be if they were not sinful if left alone?
The theory that "The suns are dying because history is over." is specifically listed under "Myths and Legends" (Page 64) - a section which would also fit "green M&M's are aphrodesiacs". It's not a part of church dogma and ignores speed-of-light delays and the rest of the cosmos. It is, however, a very classic "we are living in the end times!" notion that's been popular among isolated and undereducated groups (such as 75% of the Fading Suns population) for many thousands of years.
The bit about "upon the day of the Emperor’s coronation, a distant star was reborn." is also under the Myths and Legends section, specifically calls out that it may not be true, and even recognizes that this causes a problem with light-speed delay and requires transmitting information backwards through time.
The "Jump Gate" notion about why the stars are fading appears in a single sentence - once again under myths and legends - 0n page 62: "Others dare to say it is the jumpgates that are at fault, that with every jump a star loses its vital energy and begins to die." It appears nowhere else.
Of course, if a large number of people think that the Jumpgates are to blame, and the symbol of the church is a modified jumpgate (page 19) that makes things a little awkward.
There are some other theories on page 24:
"Many disgruntled and discontented people had their own answers: “The Republic is to blame; some damn experiment gone wrong!” “The scientists are responsible; their technology’s doing this!” “It’s the aliens’ fault, some sort of cruel revenge.”
Those notions also don't seem to get any support anywhere else. Even in the setting those notions seem to be guesses at worst and crank science at best - and a thousand years old at that.
I can't find a single mention of the "Terraforming Engines" theory in the basic book; perhaps it appears in a supplement? Regardless... that pretty much eliminates it as a major theory; major elements of the settings culture really ought to get a mention in the main rulebook.
Now, in looking things up I found a note that I'd forgotten! There is an acknowledgement of climactic disruptions late in the rulebook (page 294) - but it doesn't actually work. A drop in stellar luminosity too small to be apparent to the naked eye (say 5%) will generally suffice to turn a habitable planet into an arctic wasteland in just a few years. Earths average temperature is 288 Kelvin. During the worst of the last ice age it was 283.5 Kelvin. A 5% drop in stellar luminosity will get us to 273.6 Kelvin - which will render the planet uninhabitable for land-based life and is just about enough to get us to the tipping point for "Snowball Earth" and the oceans freezing solid except around geothermal vents.
So... did they notably change their timeline later on?
So I only started reading this a few days ago and it's good and obviously I had to look up the fading suns universe and damn does it sound like the bronze age collapse on a galactic scale.
It's so easy to see how it would happen with a thousand worlds interconnected by commerce it's clear some worlds like nations on Earth would specialise how many nations have top tier fabs for CPU's? it's nowhere close to all 195 nations so if anything happened to the gate network say a solar flare knocked one out during a jump and it caused a cascade or a terrorist attack which then brought down the whole network it wouldn't take long a matter of weeks for industry worlds to starve without any food imports.
So with only the agriculture based worlds surviving they may have tech but they wouldn't have the manufacturing facilities and high tech stuff is complicated just look at a modern fad thousands of separate pieces of equipment all built by companies from across the world.
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Welcome to the story!
This story makes me want to find wherever I stuffed my Noble Armada books and Armies.
I know I have them. Somewhere...
Heck. I was in chapter 35 when I finally realized what the source was.