Chapter 48: That's Not A Golem
At Ponyville the wind was cold and the sky was filled with stars. Most birds were already sleeping in their nests and the only creatures out and about were those that needed the night to cover their movements.
The station received the last train of the night, not many ponies came out of it and not many entered either, some bells could be heard from one of the new arrival’s robes, the stallion lit a long pipe and softly puffed, the smoke lingered over his palate, he took a moment to appreciate the flavours and aromas before exhaling. He then levitated his and his companion’s luggage with his magic and both the unicorn and pegasus walked towards the castle of friendship.
~♥~♦~♣~♠~
“How about I launch him from my party cannon?”
“Good Idea Pinkie, how about it Twilight?”
“No Rainbow, Pinkie’s cannon doesn’t have enough power to launch it and even if it had it, it can’t fit the entire capsule.”
“Then how about Cheese Sandwich’s?”
“Same thing, it doesn’t have enough power to launch it close to the mothership.”
It was late and Twilight brought the night already, inside the Castle of friendship the group had been discussing ideas on how to get Mod near the mothership for hours, several cups of coffee laid on the table while the little robotic guy was rolling around escaping from the abyssinian boy who tried to disassemble it, Mod rolled in direction to Tube Tester, the minotauress grabbed it before Tinker Claw could, she stopped her son with a hand to the face.
“Boy would you leave the poor thing alone?”
“Sorry mom, I just want to know how it works.”
“THIS UNIT DOES NOT REQUIRE MAINTENANCE,” the little robot said with his emotionless tone.
“Come on Mob, I just want to open you up and carve my way into your guts”
“THIS UNIT DOES NOT HAVE GUTS,” Tube tester carried Mod to his capsule, placed it inside and closed it, signaling her son not to open it, he sulked but went out to find something else to do.
“Trixie still doesn’t understand why you don’t just teleport the capsule up there.”
Starlight facehoofed, “Trix, not only the magic enough to transport it would be huge, we also need a reference point and the speed the ship is going would make the capsule fly off before it can connect with the ship again.”
“Oh yeah, how about a catapult?” Trixie said while the rest of them stared at her annoyed.
Sunburst levitated his cup of coffee over a rune, “ok hear me out, we put a sticky rune on the capsule and then we teleport it in front of the ship and it will stick on it.”
Moondancer gave him a little peck on the cheek, “you already said that about an hour ago, the speed the ship is going would make it crash into the capsule, destroying it.”
“Ok, but what if we teleport it next to the ship instead of in front?”
“Then the sticky spell won’t have enough time to activate itself and the capsule will be left floating in space.”
“Crap.”
Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy picked the newly empty coffee and tea cups and took them to the kitchen. They have been brainstorming for hours already trying to find a way to save these aliens from their slow doom.
“HEY! How about Discord? Fluttershy can you ask Discord to help them?”
Fluttershy jumped, almost dropping the cups she was carrying, “um… sorry, he can’t.”
Twilight stared at her confused, “what? Why?”
“It’s private.”
“He can’t or he won’t?” The princess asked her friend, Fluttershy looked away, “Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy put on an angry face, “he just can’t, alright? Please stop asking.”
The sudden outburst from the shy mare took everyone by surprise, her face showed anger but her eyes were already tearing out, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, I won’t ask again, I’m sure both of you have your reasons, anypony else have an idea?” Trixie raised her hoof “and no Trixie, for the umpteenth time we can’t just teleport there with the capsule,” Trixie lowered her hoof.
Starlight chewed on a pencil’s eraser then spat it, “maybe we are looking at it the wrong way, how about instead of bringing him up there, we teleport every alien here?”
“That would be a good idea, but I’m afraid that would be too risky, the machines that are keeping all those aliens alive are inside the ship so disconnecting them from those machines could kill them.”
Moondancer levitated a muffin to her mouth to give it a bite, she stared at the muffin, “hey Twilight, maybe it’s time to announce the world about the aliens and ask to all the magic users to help us save them, by pulling the ship and slowly carry it to ground.”
“I thought about that too, but according to Mod, the ship’s hull suffered way too many minifractures, I couldn’t understand very well but he explained that it is stable right now but wouldn’t be able to survive atmospheric entry without collapsing,” Twilight replied and Moondancer looked down.
“Tube Tester, do you have any idea?”
The minotauress read her notes, “I wish I could say I do, but the technology to reach them is far beyond what we already have. Give me around ten years and a full team of scientists and engineers and I would probably make it.”
Twilight sighed defeated, “we don’t have that much time.”
“Then why not teleport there?”
“TRIXIE FOR THE LAST TIME!”
“Hey don’t look at Trixie! Trixie was eating her donut,” the blue unicorn said, dipping the donut on her coffee and biting it, then everyone stared at the door where an old stallion smiled at them pipe in hoof.
“STAR SWIRL THE BEARDED!” screamed Moondancer, Twilight and Sunburst.
“Hohoho, I still got it,” Stars Swirl said while rubbing his beard with one hoof.
Sunburst and Moondancer practically flew to stay next to the old stallion and Twilight smiled, “don’t you think it is pretty late to drop by, Stars Swirl?”
He softly laughed again, “but Twilight, you should know better than anypony, a wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”
“Ah you keep saying that old stallion, but the truth is that we missed two trains because you insisted on shopping for bells at Baltimare.”
“Somnambula!” screamed Pinkie running to hug her and leaving a tray floating mid air with the mugs of coffee, luckily Rarity quickly caught it with her magic.
“Oh Pinkie Pie, dear friend and Rainbow Dash too, my soul feels warm at your sight,” Somnambula said while bumping wings with the rainbow manned pegasus that approached to say hi.
“So what brings ya guys here?”
Star Swirl lit his pipe again, still swarmed by Moondancer and Sunburst on each of his sides, “well I’ll be frank with you.”
“But I thought you were Star Swirl,” said Pinkie.
“Oh hohoho, you got me there Pinkie, anyways I detected an immense surge of magical energy several moons ago and that’s not all, it was hard for me to read it since it was enchanted to hide it, and that spell was pretty elegant,” everypony stared at the stallion, but then Twilight began sweating, “so, I couldn’t track the source of this magic energy until a few weeks when a similar spell was used in a smaller scale, but this time without any protection so I was able to track it directly to its source, spells that strong are always meant to do big things and such things are usually announced or reported on papers nowadays. Can you imagine my surprise when not even a pip was heard about this one? Twilight do you have something to tell me?”
Twilight bit her lip sweating profusely, she knew she forgot to tell Star Swirl about her project and now he will be all mad because he wasn’t included, “um, I…”
“Twilight, use your words, such conduct is unbecoming of the ruler of all Equestria.”
Twilight closed her eyes and let her lips do the rest, “Ifoundanaliencultureandwearelisteningtotheirmusicbutthenwelearnedtheyaretrappedonashipandwesavedthembutnowtheyaretrappedthereandwedon’tknowwhattodo”
Pinkie shook her head, “wow that was fast.”
Starlight put a hoof around Twilight’s shoulder, “it seems she needs a bit of help, why don’t you both get a seat and I’ll explain it.”
Starlight introduced every creature to both pillars and explained everything from the beginning, Twilight calmed down and helped with the explanation, Star Swirl and Somnambula kept quiet for the entire explanation, “and basically we are stuck here trying to save a ship filled with thousands of lives.”
Star Swirl rubbed his beard, his eyes lost in thought, he looked back at Twilight and spoke, “so Twilight, this Mod, may I see him?”
“Oh sure,” Twilight approached Mod’s capsule and opened it, the small drone came to life again “hey Mod, I need you to meet somepony,” she levitated Mod and softly placed it on the table.
“Oh hello there small friend, who are you?”
“DESIGNATION, MULTIPURPOSE ORBITAL DRONE SIXTY NINE, OPTIONAL DESIGNATION MOD”
“Hmm, quite fascinating, Mod my name is Star Swirl and my friend here is Somnambula, I have a few questions for you and I expect answers,” the drone scanned both ponies and made a beep sound, Star Swirl took it as an okay to ask, “is night already?”
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
“How do you know?”
“THIS UNIT INTERNAL SENSORS DETECT LACK OF SUNLIGHT OUTSIDE”
“Right, Mod, do you consider the roof of this room too high?”
“THE ROOF AVERAGE HEIGHT IN THIS ROOM IS SEVEN METERS AND FORTY THREE CENTIMETERS”
“I did not ask the height of the roof, I asked if you think it’s too high.
“THIS UNIT DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION”
“And why do you refer to yourself as this unit instead of I?”
“THIS UNIT DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION”
“Interesting, so would you say my friend here is attractive?” Star Swirl asked, pointing at Somnambula who raised an eyebrow.
“THIS UNIT DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION”
Twilight remained quiet trying to understand why Star Swirl was asking those questions, Starlight stood up and called out Star Swirl, “um, Star Swirl sir, what is this questionnaire purpose?”
“You see Starlight as you explained you asked this… individual, the possibilities to save these… aliens and he responded it was zero percent right?” Starlight and Twilight nodded, “hmm, there is your problem, you are asking this… machine, this... Mod, meanwhile it gives the appearance of being alive, it is not and it lacks wonder and imagination, I believe I made a few studies in my time about golems, if I’m not mistaken you have tried making a golem yourself Twilight,” she nodded, “well this Mod is like an actual golem but made with technology instead of magic and as such, it can only formulate solutions based on the knowledge that it was enchanted with, or in this case how it was programed and I do believe you mentioned that this culture of aliens don’t have magic.”
“Yeah but I don’t see how is that relevant,” said the Princess, confused by the old stallion.
“Let me make an example... Mod,” the machine stared at Star Swirl attentively. “Can you see that hill beyond that window?”
“AFFIRMATIVE”
“What are the odds of me taking you to the top of that hill and back in less than five seconds, without touching you with any part of my body?”
“CALCULATING… ZERO PERCENT”
“Fair enough, let us see,” Star Swirl ignited his horn and surrounded Mod with his aura, he then teleported Mod to the top of the hill and then back to the table, “Ok Mod, what would you say are the odds now?”
“CALCULATING… ZERO PERCENT”
“See my point? This golem is limited by its program, now let me see if this also works on Mod, okay listen small fellow, if you disregard laws of physics and you only take in count that I already teleported you to that hill, what are the odds now?”
“CALCULATING… CALCULATING… CALCULATING… ONE HUNDRED PERCENT”
“See, we just need to ask the right questions, so why don’t we ask Mod how to help its people but with the right questions.”
“I think I get it now, Mod listen up, disregarding the way of transportation, if you were to be inside the ship, would you be able to repair it to send the crew here?”
Mod stared for a few seconds, “AFFIRMATIVE”
“Okay, now we just need to find a way to safely teleport him there without being smashed against a wall due to inertia.”
Tube Tester rubbed her son’s head while he purred on her lap, she liked doing this when there was a problem she couldn’t solve, “Twilight, if these aliens travel through the space and they are all affected by the speed, wouldn’t that mean that they have some way to stand the inertia forces?”
“It’s true, Mod how can the crew survive all the exerted force due to speed inside the ship?”
“INERTIA DAMPENERS INSIDE THE SHIP AVOID ANY DAMAGE CAUSED BY INERTIA, IT IS PART OF THE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM.”
Tube Tester’s eyes lit like stars, “that is remarkable, a device that can damper the inertia forces, I need to get my hands on some of that tech… oh and save the aliens of course.”
“Okay, Mod IF you and I were to suddenly disappear from here and appear inside the ship, would we be affected by inertia or the inertia dampeners would protect us?”
“THIS UNIT AND TWILIGHT WOULD BE PROTECTED BY THE INERTIA DAMPENERS”
Suddenly a wave of claps and cheers flooded the room, they had a chance to save the aliens from their grim fate, “thank you Star Swirl, if it weren’t for you we could probably never get to this solution,” both Starlight and Twilight hugged Star Swirl making the old wizard blush.
“It seems you were right, old stallion we came at the right moment.”
Tinker Claw yawned and stretched his arms and legs, “actually if you had come earlier, we could have had the chance to save them today, instead of waiting until tomorrow when they will be over us again,” he said then rolling into a ball over his mother’s lap and napping again.
Star Swirl rubbed the back of his head, “I see, hmm, at least I hope I helped,” Somnambula laughed at the embarrassment of the wizard.
“Now we just need to know where we need to teleport, I wish we had a map of the ship,” Twilight said and Mod rolled in front of her and pointed his face upwards and generated an hologram shaped like the mothership, “oh wow Mod, thanks, so this is the actual shape of the vessel?”
“THIS IS THE CURRENT VISUAL ESTIMATE OF THE SHIP ACCORDING TO LATEST REPORT”
“Great, now as always disregard the mode of transportation and tell me where would be the best part of the ship for us to teleport so you can begin repairing the ship?”
Mod made some sounds and the hologram grew showing the multitude of rooms and floors the ship had, then colored one small sector blue, “SECTOR DESIGNATION: CARGO BAY F TWO TWO FIVE, CONTAINS EQUIPMENT AND AN ACCESS TO THE EXTERIOR HULL”
“Well everypony, since ya’ll found a way t’save them aliens, Ah reckon the rest of us deserve some shuteye,” Applejack wrapped Rarity in a hug and let out a big yawn, the rest agreed so everypony that wasn’t going to stay at the Castle left for their respective houses, Tube Tester picked her son and went to their rooms, Trixie and Starlight did the same, Moondancer and Sunburst went together since from some time they have been using the same room, leaving Twilight, and the pillars in the room.
“Well if you wish I can take you to your rooms.”
“Ah, actually Twilight, the stories of these lost souls in the cosmos, filled me with great curiosity. Is it possible to look at this music box you mentioned?” Somnambula asked.
“Indeed, I’m also curious about this advanced technology.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
~♥~♦~♣~♠~
Once the trio reached the studio, Twilight uncovered the music box earning some mmm and ooh, from the pillars, “so this basically works by pressing the button in the middle and then the music box plays something, usually a song so who’s first?”
“Ladies first,” said Star Swirl.
“Oh no no no, age before beauty, old friend,” said the pegasus mare smiling.
“I’m not that old yet… alright, let us see,” Star Swirl pressed the button and a slow melody came from the machine.
“Mysterious but also powerful melody, it reminds me of you Star Swirl.”
“Do you think, Somnambula? I think it sounds somewhat sinister,” the group enjoyed the melody and the changes in tempo and tune, “it doesn’t seem to have any lyrics, how disappointing, well at least it is a very good song, by the way how are you planning tomorrow’s rescue Twilight?”
“Well, I was going to need your help, the map that Mod generated showed a very spacious room, but I want to make sure we reach it, so with your and Starlight’s help, I want to make a locked teleportation.”
“I see, that would be safer than just teleporting there.”
“Yes, since it’s moving at a high speed I want to make sure we will be as precise as possible, after that I’ll use some runes to make teleportation from and to the ship easier. Finally I’ll teleport Mod and a small team to the ship to explore it, there won’t be any aliens awake so there won’t be any danger… or at least I hope so.
“Good good, seems like a solid plan.. Oh the music stopped, it was very enjoyable.”
“Good, it is my turn now, while I enjoyed that song I wish it was something with a faster step, do I press this button?” Twilight nodded, Somnambula pressed the button and a loud guitar sounded with a fast melody that took the group by surprise, “this tune is fast and is happy, I like it.”
“It sounds like something you would like Somnambula, the melody itself sounds similar to some songs from your land, back in our times.”
“Yes my friend, it sounds similar but with different instruments and is full of life, makes me want to dance,” the pegasus raised her front hooves and began moving them from side to side making waves and moving her hips, her movements were full of charm and beauty, she then approached Twilight and extended her hoof, “please Twilight, dance with me,”m Twilight smiled and nodded, she then tried to follow the pegasus’ moves but ended doing the same dance she usually did lifting her hooves and pulling her tongue out, Somnambula giggled and went to pull Star Swirl from his seat, “come old friend, dance with us.”
“Oh, you wish to see the moves of the GREAT STAR SWIRL THE BEARDED? I would let you know that in my time I was the best dancer in the realm,” the old stallion began moving his hips to the music but then he felt his hip making a loud sound, “OH BY FAUST MY HIP!”
“Star Swirl are you okay?”
“I’m fine young one, I suppose I’m probably getting too old for dance,” the song ended and both mares helped Star Swirl, “this was fun, I already want to meet these aliens of yours.”
“I'm sure they will be our friends, hopefully we will know tomorrow,” Twilight said while helping Star Swirl walk to his room.
To be continued
hey guys Izzi here, can you guys tell this idiot writer that you won't kill him?
Yeah, he is really scared to come out, because it's been so long since the last update.
Hey I'm not scared! I'm just... worried since I don't have an actual excuse for taking this long besides the fact that I was stuck on this chapter, I came several times to it but I didn't know how to move it where I needed it to.
And of course there is the videogames you played instead of writing.
Ah come on Izzi, give me a break, I really tried but then a day came and went, then a week and then a month and then almost two months.
Don't be so mean Izzi, as long as he promises to be more careful and to not let our readers hanging that long I'm sure everything will be okay
Thanks Pinkie.
Don't thank me, just be better.
Yes boss, anyway I hope you liked today's chapter as always every comment, advice, request, demand or complain is appreciated and don't forget:
Be polite, be careful, educate yourself as much as you can, respect your neighbor so that they respect you and may the force be with you, say goodbye Pinkie.
Goodbye Pinkie. 
Say Goodbye Izzi.
Adios! Hey what does Misirlou means anyways?
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Was the missing link to the second song intentional or not? I am aware that some songs aren't on Youtube so I was wondering if that was the case.
10816885
Oh crap! Sorry it's fixed
Ignoring the laws of physics?
Give me a bit, I ned to work out if the universal translator can work on algebra.
Wouldve been hilarious if Starswirl poking the box caused it to play the theme tune to Rentaghost.
Or Monty Pythons Flying Circus.
https://youtu.be/9TjXanLjpTU
Defense of Moscow by sabaton
Or varhall calling by miracle of sound
https://youtu.be/jxptIpCYAJA
10816892
found a song octavia might cream herself though
Jessica Rabbit Why don't ya do right
The music for Somnabula's choice doesn't appear to be there, based on what Izzi was saying right at the end, is it the version of Miserlou from the 1960's or the 1990's? I ask because the '60's version sounds more "swing" and the '90's version sounds more "rock".
Never let this guy read gore stories...EVER!
10816921
Disregard laws of physics, acquire currency. Sorry, I don't know what Rentaghost is.
10816924
I'll check them out.
10816937
Oh i love that song, one of the best live action + cartoon movies ever.
10816955
yeah it was meant to be Dick Dale's, I was sure I fixed that, can you refresh again and check, let me know if it doesn't appear even after that.
Don’t worry about it. I know what it’s like to be stuck on a chapter, even in stories not technically released yet.
I’d never actually heard Miserlou, and it sounds really cool.
Other than the songs present in this chapter, the golem is very interesting, I really like the AI exploitation.
10816962
Sorry I missed your comment there, ok now I can't get Tinker's image pulling a Pinkamena out of my head now.
10817055
Hey thanks for your understanding, I think this chapter was just a stone and I luckily overcame it, I'm pretty sure the next chapter won't take that long since I know exactly what I wanna do next, also fun fact, Misirlou means "egyptian girl" or at least close to that, so that's the reason I wanted I wanted to use it with Somnambula.
Should've gone with the shire theme
10816966
Yep, its there now 👍.
Just to let you know that the song for Somnambula isn't working as it appears to have been cancelled by Youtube.
Other than that I enjoyed it.
Suggestions (The White Stripes):
a California song for an Egyptian? oh btw the video you link is no longer available.
Here's a replacement
10817340
That's really weird, I can play it normally on this page, but I'll replace it with a different just in case.
10817709
I'm not a huge fan of the white stripes but I'll check them out.
10817990
Well technically Misirlou means Egyptian Girl, in fact the song is a cover of an old mediterranean folk song from the 20s, in regards of the ling, I find it weird since I can normally play it, but I'll change the link, but your link is for a different song.
10818331
oh.. my b
10818336
No problem, is always nice to see readers commenting.
Great chapter. I love it 👍
10819444
Thanks buddy, is appreciated.
Enjoying the show so far. But I love to give a suggestion. From what I seen so far, the overall stories logic should be that the races of Equiss are trying to understand the human culture by listening to music so that they can understand what human are
exactly, correct me if I am wrong. If that the case, I believe from the start of the story , you have been avoiding topics regarding war , carnage and genocide, which unfortunately make up 97% of our history. I believe you are saving those topics for later,
after the races think they had finally understand humans only to throw them of the loop and questions the actions of our
ancestors.(Unless the goverment of humans delibrately avoid these topics to make them look more friendly)
The reason I saying this now is because you started the act , where ponies are trying to save humans from the space vessal.
I believe it will make the story a lot more interesting if you touch the topic regarding the dark side of the humans nature before
they save the humans because that ways you can write the interesting discussion between ponies whether to save those humans or not.
Also, I believe this songs perfectly describe the evolution of humans from tribal society to the early space society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=addABbm5VPo
10820968
I do believe I showed more than one song touching war, not sure about carnage since I don't want to get in trouble with the rating of the fic, MCs understand that humanity has had wars and that, and the races of Equum have had their own bloody conflicts among them, on this fic AJ's Grandpa was killed on a battle against Griffin.
But then again, maybe you are right and I haven't touched it enough before their arrival, I'll check the video.
Suggestions (Incubus):
Here is a sugestion for when the ship comes down: