For centuries, the galaxy has burned in an eternal war. Wielding their magical might, the Enti sweep across space, slaughtering and enslaving all they encounter. A loose alliance of the remaining intelligence races, without magic of their own, can barely even slow them down.
Scouting on a remote edge of the galactic rim, humanity discovers a trump card: Equus. This planet overflows with magic, and has a culture inherently friendly and receptive to diplomacy. First contact was made, and soon all of Equus took a giant leap into the space age. Despite their incredible magic, Equestria is a minor power, with very little to offer the war. Instead of giving ships, Equus volunteer their diplomatic aptitude. They can't save the galaxy by force of arms, but maybe they can find the free people of the galaxy some powerful new friends.
Princess Twilight nominates six of her most loyal and trustworthy students to perform this incredible task. Armed with powerful artifacts of protection, they set out to meet with the only powerful neutral party in the war, and win them over to the Stellar Compact.
If they fail, all nonmagical life in the galaxy may be doomed to conquest and death. No pressure, Ocellus.
Cover by Zutcha. Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail
Commissioned by Vilken666 on my Patreon
IF Equestria tries to do their "peaceful diplomacy" on the Enti? I will be super pissed and disappointed with them.
Because we can't just ignore or "justified" the many genocides and slavery of many innocent alien worlds/planets by those evil magical alien bastards!
Just hope that neutral alien party isn't any "worse".
I gotta say, I'm already not very good at picturing rooms from written descriptions, and picturing a strange megastructure like Antioch appears to be is doubly hard. Maybe a diagram or two would help.
11379673
There's pretty much no way to proceed with entirely peaceful means with a genocidal empire, but that doesn't mean peaceful relations as a goal are off the table. I'm also really tired of redemption arcs for villains that are entirely gone too far (esp. after Steven Universe), but the Enti are an entire alien species, with only the top brass presumably actually responsible for the actions of the empire as a whole.
11379683
Isn't that what the Diamonds from Steven Universe are?
Not sure if that says more about Equestria, Earth, or the rest of the galaxy...
In any case, looking forward to seeing where this one goes. I've seen bits of it in Patreon updates, but I wanted to leave myself mostly unspoiled so I could appreciate it with better commenting capabilities.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/11/29/1033361.png
11379680
It's a Dyson Sphere, or more specifically, a Dyson Swarm/Bubble.
11379808
But the ponies are apparently entering the core of Antioch, which I would imagine is where star would be in a Dyson Sphere?
11379696
Yes, the problem being that they got away scot-free. I have no problem with Gems as a species being redeemed.
Is this a crossover?
11379811
Right, what they call Antioch is the outer, enclosing, layer of the Dyson Sphere--Twilight likens it to flying inside of a planet because that's the closest comparison she knows in her understanding. And since we're seeing it through the eyes of the inexperienced ponies, we're stuck with the same limitations. Unreliable narrator and all that. But I still know a Dyson Sphere when I see one, and it's not like it's unexpected, since Starscribe's used megastructures like a Dyson Sphere in past works before (if I recall, one used a Niven Ring, did it not?)
11379831
No. Totally original.
Time to settle in and see what these ponies are capable of.
Wonder if the Zecrin are our neutral alien party. Either way, I'm pretty sure Equestria will have uncomfortable questions about this alliance if the Compact are more interested in their ability to solicit aid from a more powerful magical civilization rather than what they could bring to the table themselves.
Quite a strange thing for Pinkie to say. Though I suppose Garnett's response was simple courtesy in friendship. It need not be said that an Equestrian alliance (or even neutrality) with the Enti is not exactly healthy for the ponies or their biosphere.
11379680
Dyson swarms, or Dyson spheres are nearly incomprehensible to everybody.
If you have 40 minutes to spare this guy is really good at explaining it.
https://youtu.be/HlmKejRSVd8
11380205
Hahah if I could I'd make Issac Arthur mandatory reading.
Not until now have I ever thought of Equestria as qualifying as a deathworld.
Starscribe, where on the deathworld danger scale would Equestria land on?
If I may, why is she so confused by human clapping? In canon, aside from just stomping their hooves, ponies have sat on their haunches and clapped their forehooves together before. It isn't that different.
That aside, welcome to the Compact, Equestria!
High likelihood that Zero Point is going to cause major problems later on.
The Compact's first magical member rushed in due to war. No doubt resolving this situation will rush them to being one of the more esteemed races as well.
There's something fresh to seeing a story where humans are neither the big shots, the antagonists, the focus, or even the protagonists. They're just another side (albeit a big one) to the story.
Pinkie, the Enti would not save your world fast enough if you decided to join them. Even neutrality would have you living under the Compact's shadow praying that they're still keeping Zero Point from making a move.
Though I suppose to Pinkie's credit, Equestria probably isn't ready to commit to whatever the Compact expects them to commit to. There's going to be rough edges to this friendship.
A little of both probably
Oh wow, this is a very fascinating premise! Almost thought this was a prequel to Message in a Bottle at first. I'm not unconvinced it isn't, hehe. This might even be what created Harmony, or what made it necessary in the future.
11379737
I'd pick "rest of the galaxy" myself.
Ah. I see humanity's hat in this setting is "the suicidally brave Sir Lancelot." And in some cases, that ludicrous courage comes in the form of looking at the species about to level the playing field and saying "We don't want any." Let's just hope Zero Point doesn't do anything colossally dumb any time soon. For now, there's a war to fight... though I still have to wonder how the Student Six get saddled with the actual negotiations. The story description makes it clear that Twilight and company are viable options.
... Dang it, Twilight, now is not the time to take a page out of Celestia's playbook and turn the fate of the world into a learning experience.
Oh, you sweet summer child...
Given who the bulk of this story will ostensibly be focused on, I have to wonder how the rest of Equus's sapient species feel about and will participating in all of this.
Ah. And we may have our transition point. This certainly explains why Twilight et al. can't do it themselves; they're busier with other parts of integrating their planet into this alliance. Still, this will be quite the undertaking for the kids. Good luck to them.
11380424
lol I'd personally put it at 11. It shares a lot of characteristics with Earth but is obviously less dangerous.
Can't say allowing Dali near the Equestrians was wise in the slightest. Magic might be a threat to reality but right now the Enti are definitely one.
Party pony indeed.
The biosphere didn't seem too bothered for millions of years.
Something like that would've already happened. Living things or their tech don't tend to pull on the strings of reality too much. There's enough phenomena in the Universe far stronger than that and sufficiently powerful ones usually end up as black holes. We're probably stable for the near future.
As much as the worst case death bubble is bad for everyone, it's not world-ending for faster-than-light species.
We'll have to see why the Zecrin are so closed off. If they are unwilling to work with magic-less people then it's going to be hard right at the gate.
Sigh
There's always at least one in every bunch. Hopefully that number doesn't rise…
"Humans are space orcs"?
11379680
Also there is this video, with gorgeous visuals and music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP44EPBMb8A
You're welcome!
11386057
"Once it begins, vacuum decay will accelerate in all directions at the speed of light, utterly annihilating all matter that it comes in contact with"...
"Oh, you mean this?" *proceeds to initiate aforementioned decay at the point over the table then freeze it when it reaches about a feet in diameter* "I really don't understand what are you so afraid of. It makes for a perfect lamp, you know."
11387899
Can't argue Equestria qualifies as a DeathWorld, not as high ranked as Earth as Equestria has less "wild" weather. Makes sense why humans are comfortable around ponies, the statistical anomalous similarities in culture, flora and fawna make them seem un-alien to humans.
11390462
I think Discord would be strictly Forbidden to interact with the Compact, he'd frigging terrify everyone!
Ok how will the Zercin react to Smolder? I can imagine what amounts to Space Kobolds are going to be very interested in Dragons.
Oh cool, another sect of religious zealots. It's gonne be interesting to see what approach the Young Six will take to convince Zecrin to join the war effort. The concept of helping non-magical beings survive isn't going to go far, but perhaps they could appeal to their own sense of self-preservation, or maybe they would help Equestria if they were actually under attack.
Ah, euphemisms.
Oh boy. Zealous aliens with very strong opinions on personhood. This is going to be tricky. Though I do like the reason why the Student Six specifically are the ambassadors. Those relics should come with their rightful heirs. Let’s just hope the locals can detect more passive magic.
I'm surprised the zecrin aren't joining the enti in reshaping the universe. Not sure how this plan is going to work if they see the enti as nothing more than "peaceful" settlers.
Lol, they brought potentially apocalyptic weapons on a diomatic mission. That's like bringing nukes to a negotiation in case things go bad. Being advanced magical beings, I doubt they'll miss it. I can see this causing some major issues.
11392882
Honestly, I'd probably rank Equestria much higher than Earth. Yes, ponies control the weather in their home nation. But I don't think they do that across the entire globe unless something changed in the finale/ next generation. Also, their nation still has magic phenomenon, flora, fauna, and straight-up monsters like Tatzulwurms. And that goes for the rest of the world, too.
Well, this seems to be going well. I find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I'll enjoy the time before that while it lasts. Let's hope a bunch of religiously zealous carnosaurs have accommodations for every diet.
Looks like the zecrin knows equestria's association with the stellar compact. It's an important fact for them to know. But it's going to take a lot to convince them to fight together against the Enti. Even if the Enti are striking against everyone.
11399542
Haven't we basically had confirmation that Zecrin food is inedible to outworlders, regardless of whether it's vegetarian or not?
Not sure how the Y6 are going to survive in this world, unless they plan on eating nothing but whatever they brought with them.
I wonder if in this universe Equestria orbits their sun, or the other way around like in Cannon?
That's the thing to be afraid of. The Zecrin already have a diplomatic relationship with the Enti. The Enti seem selective with who they enslave. And unless they're secretly plotting behind the Zecrin's back, it's going to be hard to convince the Zecrin to turn against a people that have been nothing but friendly.
Ah, yes, of course they're friendly with each other. Already this is giving me strong vibes of your story with the sentient and sapient plants. Just like them, these magical beings believe everyone not like them aren't even truly conscious. No soul. I like the theme, it's fascinating.
A aggressively Relegious species is ok with slaverly? How surprising. Of course the hurdle to overcome is the Zercin delusion that most life forms don't really exist. They refer to them as Phenomena, not even as animals.
Hmm, seems some Zecrin are non-magical. Would be hard to reconcile slavery of their own but complete openness to other (magical) races otherwise. Also would help explain the origin of their religion. A complicating development if true. Down with the magocracy?
11405894
I think you would hit the nail on the head. The ones with chains are the ones without magic, and therefore are less than animals.
In human terms this would be like modern day Earth ruled by the Gods living in Mount Olympus. Those without God like Powers would be powerless, and those born with the god-like powers would all have a self reinforcing belief in their own unquestionable divinity.
Conveniently ignoring the fact that in every aspect their are as human as everybody else with one evolutionary quirk separating them from the rest of humanity.
Whatever this doctrine is, I don't think Equestria will be willing to follow it. It seems pretty messed up.
Oh boy. This is going to be exceedingly awkward. On the other hand, it’s theoretically possible to negotiate with the Enti directly. Heck, it may actually be easier, depending on their reasons for depersonalizing nonmagical species. We’ll have to see.
Geeze, I wonder where the Enti is getting their intelligence from
Daayyyyum. That's some serious pressure. Here's hoping they're up to the task.
Also, based on the description, I'm getting a kind of pseudo-Eywa (from Avatar) vibe about this planet. Kinda cool.