The Unknown Daughter's Reunion:Part 3

by Disembodied_Pony

See the Sun

"Why did you choose this song, your highness? It's... melancholy?" Twilight asked.

"Hmm, sentimental reasons I suppose. For it was my last message to the creators of old, whom made the original" Moon told the princesses, who were all curious to the selection.

"Last message? I thought you left before the... last moments?" Cadance asked.

"Indeed, I did. However, before things became dire, I recorded this variation with little changes to the original, myself. Changing a couple of words, mainly the objects of the meaning, allowed it to express what I intended, I trust"

Looking to the princess of friendship, the empress told her;

"Performing a hint of dark magic upon a crystal... Yes, I know, such is dangerous to apply... Please forgive me my indulgence, as I desired to leave some hope of a future; retained. I felt the populous deserved such a hope, as all seemed without"

"What did you Do?" Luna asked the dark alicorn with an overbearing tone.

Smiling inwardly at the unintended mothering, Moon said;

"Performing a myriad of enchantments upon a crystal, it was to activate nearly a month after I had fled with my city."

On Earth, nearly a thousand years previous;

A faint siren in the distance had just wound down, having done its last job over the last Ten Minutes.

This was it, they were falling back to earth. It would be mere minutes now.

In the morning daylight, quickly forming vertical contrails could barely be made out.

With a series of flashes and rumbles...the world would change for a very long time.

Countless numbers of people stood on balconies, roofs, and hillsides; to see a sight that would come only once.

Others, had stayed indoors. Either unable to watch, or not having heard the faint siren through the glass of windows.

When the contrails met the horizons in the distance, nothing happened. Nothing at all.

Deep in the center of the strike zones; An object hit the ground, or building, or inoperable car, smashing itself into pieces, along with what it impacted.

However, there was no flash. No boom, just a crash and a bang, along with some smoldering steel; leftover from the exhausted propulsion unit.

As the minutes passed by and no end came, everyone was awash with feelings of relief, anger, dread, and confusion over what had just happened.

When the passed minutes added up to the better part of a half-hour, an inexplicable thing happened. Even more inexplicable that what had just occurred:

Every entertainment device, even though they had been without power for more than a month; Spoke with a voice simultaneously. Somehow, they were receiving a signal, one powerful enough to move the speakers cones. The backwash from the signal, fed into the devices circuitry, and made them appear to be powered once more. The few transmitters which were still operating across the lands, became instantly overloaded and tripped their circuit breakers. Snapping the operators out of their stupor of confusion, and into a frenzy.

The voice that came through, sounded... proper and richly feminine. Coming through clearly, it had the power to appeal and be comprehended by everyone, despite the language the listeners themselves spoke.

"To all whom can hear my voice. I speak to you all, every-one to tell you that; Tomorrows, will come. However many may fall, the sun will rise again. Accepting oblivion is not the future. This is.. not the end, for I have seen that it is not."

Pausing for a moment, the voice then closed her communique by saying;

"Our time together is short, therefore I leave you with this..."

Following the message, a melody began to play. Mushrooming quickly into a composed performance of its own, it's words complimented the preface.

Very few were away from a speaker when the signal came through. With it being the only transmission heard in weeks, everyone crowded as closely to the sound as they dared to, though it came through loudly on its own.

Of the countless millions that listened intently, not a single one of them imagined that it was made by the hooves of an alicorn, explicitly for them.

And said alicorn, was already a hundred years into the future, seeing to the sun rising again, with them in spirit.

"But, they...?" Twilight spoke.

Casting her eyes to Twilight, Moon replied;

"Yes, however they and their memory echo on in me and my ponies. The knowledge we have, the methods we employ, and the tools we use, came in no small part, from them. Including this work here; it lives on. It sees the sun, again and again. I told them no lie, and afforded them ease as well as I was prepared to"

"Still, they might have taken your message more literally, don't you think?" Celestia argued.

"Perhaps, individually. As they were spread across an entire world, I am confident that they presumed there was a place elsewhere carrying forward in their stead, in their name. As unexpected as they would have found it, such is indeed the case. Ponies, have carried on so"

"This is conjecture and you are running under a presumption. You know full well that their eyes did not so" Luna shot back.

Flinching and then nodding once, Moon replied;

"It is. An educated presumption, with a high degree of accuracy. For many believed in a paradise beyond the veil, where the warm embrace of the sun without scorch, awaited them. Being unaware of what is beyond the veil, I cannot discount the veracity of such claims, myself. Can anypony?"

"I...no" Cadance answered, breaking the silence of the rest of the alicorns.

"I recognize that this is...an unconventional rationale on my part. I had to operate under their perception and rules for a long time, in regarding them. Had circumstances been different or reversed, they would have argued the veracity of such a claim in their own favor, in turn"

Taking a deep breath and thinking for a moment, Moon added;

"They operated under the belief, that nothing was impossible. Such showed in their achievements, I can not deny. What they believed, was not ascertainibly impossible, and so I must defer"

"You think they, could have been right?" Luna asked her.

"I do hope it so. It would make me happy to know such were the case. That, my message was beyond figurative?" Was all Moon could say.

"You played a dangerous game of hope, Moon" Celestia groused.

"They taught me that hope, is always a dangerous game when power to realize it, falls short. It was at that point, I presumed reintroducing hope; could take them nowhere except higher. As I, had the power and foresight to make it so"

Changing the subject to a lighter one, Luna interjected;

"How did you do it? Prevented your message from being found ahead of time, or found after?"

Letting slip a hint of a secret smile, Moon answered;

"I hid it in a remote place that few would look. Placed in a long-dormant volcano, which the ancients referred to as enchanting and graceful by one of their tongues. Part of a group of islands, which was rumored to be partly; a site of another passed ancient civilization of legend. So, it seemed fitting to place an enchanted object there, which referred to future civilizations to come"

"Ooh legends! Please, tell me about it" Twilight took the direction of the conversation.

"Hmm... I, don't know much of it. Though from what I recall, despite much conjecture of its location, it was an advanced civilization by their developmental standards of the era. One which fell to the waters of the sea, and scattered their populous abroad. It was supposed, that most of their technologies were lost due to the cataclysmic event, yet some were retained. And so it survived in some form, through being passed to others"

"Sounds familiar?" Cadance quipped.

Laughing jovially, the empress replied;

"Yes it does. Cycles and patterns, always. There is reason that I directed my ponies to the stars, beyond the fruits of seeing my family once more"

Looking back to Twilight;

"That should something incomprehensible happen, my ponies will be elsewhere, to carry forth. The only true vanguard, against oblivion."

Mulling it over for a moment, the empress added;

"Though the sights of where they were alleged to be, still exist; little more can be told of what once was..."

Turning to the purple alicorn, Moon asked her;

"Would you care to join me on a small sojourn, your highness?"

Her eyebrows raising, Twilight asked;

"To where?"

Smiling back to her with a mischievous smile, the empress answered;

"To see the Cornea Rings. I feel that they could inspire your imagination?"

Tilting her head, Twilight shrugged; "Sure?"

"They are most unusual in of itself. However, the fabled city was said to possess rings as mine does, yet of water. Which makes it even more perplexing, as it appears that a flood washed through long ago, leaving it completely dry and land locked ever since"

Luna asked her; "What could cause such a change in the lands?"

To which the empress invited them all to come along.

"What indeed..." She smiled to herself, thinking;

"Mysteries never loose their appeal, no matter the passage of time"

Comments

[Stahlseele]

Oh hey, good to see this is still going.

[Lord BLACKHUNTER]

With this chapter I hope humanity is found asleep under ground in statistics waiting to hear that song again to send out an automated we are here signal for Moon to come and awake them.

[Disembodied_Pony]

11480921
Thanks. I am also adding to Interlude: Kept in translation. I don't know it the system notifies of additions to previous chapters?
There, the empress gives a limited tour of her memories of the past to the princesses; the sites, the creatures. Not sure if it's a wise thing to do or not, as mentioning humans seems to chafe against some?
I presume the reason is that it's always a mixed bag of impression.

11481233
I love that idea!

[Disembodied_Pony]

11481233
You have me considering how Moon would deal with a situation like that 😊
It would be a hard decision for her to make; Respect the land claim that humans would undoubtedly make, or make an enemy of them by relocating them to a fresh world against their will? Either way, they'd have to start over, with centuries out of date knowledge (to Moon's ponies anyway).
Perhaps she would do something in-between; Perform what she did in Questions of the Fork, without the interviewing portion? They'd just wake up and "Where are we, are we dead? *pinch* Oww, guess not? Who built this village for us, then?"

[Stahlseele]

11483772
No, i do not think the system notifies people about chapters added into stories like that.
Nothing popped up for me at least.

[Lord BLACKHUNTER]

11483782
I was thinking about only around 20,000 to max of 50,000 making to this time he'll it might be less than 8,000. Not the whole of humanity. Knowing how we humans are they more likely would want to see different planets namely where Moon came from. They may even know where the rest of humanity left to. Like another Galaxy.