Chapter Four: Redefine Possible
Chapter Four: Redefine Possible
The regal alien had disembarked from her chariot of sorts, and was speaking to the lavender unicorn. Quietly, the Skipper watched the exchange unfold. Perhaps, from the other aliens' demeanor around this larger alien, he could determine just who she really was to them, and who she would be to his crew.
-----
"What is happening, Twilight?" the Princess asked, trotting slowly to the side of the unicorn, her gaze transfixed on the leading helmeted figure.
"Have you seen them before? Do you know where they come from?"
The Princess looked to the unicorn. "Twilight, I don't. These beings..." She paused to examine one. "Whoever they may be, are not from Equestria, nor any of its surrounding lands nor lands of its allies. This, I am sure. Though, judging from the earth pony that stands among them, they couldn't be-"
"The earth pony isn't from here either," Twilight began, then continued hesitantly, "they're... from space."
The winged unicorn's expression momentarily morphed into a frown. "You are certain of this?" With such a thing staring her in the face, she couldn't possibly deny their looking distinctly alien.
Twilight summarized in her mind the events of the day, before saying, "I-I think so, Princess. This pony used to be one of them, but was exposed to poison joke somehow, and turned into a pony. Another one has been turned to stone by a cockatrice, so this leads me to assume that they were in the Everfree Forest and ran into trouble there. They can't understand our language, and I can't understand theirs. We've been... trying to communicate with gestures. That's how I know that they came from space, and also how I know that that pony isn't a pony at all."
The Princess nodded slowly, her insightful eyes combing each of the helmeted figures in turn. As she did so, they frequently looked at one another. Nervous, she thought. "I see."
"How should we..."
"Proceed?" The Princess' expression faded into a more serious one, as it often did when she was deep in thought.
"We have to find out as much as we can. Find out what kind of weapons they bear, if any, and what magic they can use, again, if they have any. If Equestria is in danger, we must know the full extent of their abilities as soon as possible. If they are from space, as you say, then we can assume that their power is great, and never should we underestimate them. Though, perhaps more important than all that, we must determine why they have come here. When travelling through the gulfs between stars, things like this probably do not happen accidentally. They're here for a reason, and I doubt just this many have come."
"But... what could they want, Princess? Maybe they just stopped to... do something, and ran into trouble, and they're here to ask for help. Besides, if they wanted to fight, they would be a little more threatening, don't you think?"
"Twilight, have I ever told you what it's like to deal with foreign powers? In the many thousands of years I've been alive, I've come to know that almost nothing is ever exactly as simple as it seems. It's either even simpler... or much more complex. We shall get to the bottom of this, Twilight, and you," she looked at the unicorn at her side, "will play a key part in it."
"So... we'll be working together on this?"
"In a way. I must manage Equestria from Canterlot, make announcements on these new arrivals, make sure no panic arises." The diarch chuckled, "After all, spaceponies don't sound like especially good news, especially from word of mouth. Twilight, I am allowing you to make the decisions here."
Twilight was taken aback. This was serious; they'd need the most experienced ponies Equestria had on this, and Celestia most likely topped the list. She, on the other hoof, didn't even near the top hundred, or perhaps even thousand. "I... don't know, Princess. Really, you know what to do better than I do."
"Twilight, I'm asking you to do this because I know I can count on you. I've taught you much, you've learned more on your own, and I trust that you will make the right choices using what you've learned. You're a smart pony, Twilight, you can deal with this in my stead, I'm sure of it."
"But... what if they want to speak to you? Surely it's obvious that they know you're our leader, and what if they want something big and I don't know-"
The Princess interrupted, "I am willing to provide whatever aid they need, Twilight, within reasonable bounds, of course. This matter is quite important and is undoubtedly delicate. Twilight, you are inquisitive, curious, intelligent, and most of all, dedicated. I couldn't ask for a better ambassador for Equestria."
"So... I'll make all of the calls, handle all of the relations..." She stopped. "Is this another test?"
"A rather unexpected one, I suppose," the Princess replied in an amused tone. "You've proven yourself very capable of making new friends throughout your stay in Ponyville, Twilight."
Fluttershy spoke up. "If you don't mind me interrupting, Princess..."
The alicorn looked at the pegasus. "Do you have a suggestion, Fluttershy?"
"Yes... I do." She pointed at the petred alien. "Can you cure him? I don't think these, uh... aliens know how."
"An excellent suggestion, Fluttershy. Twilight, do you have a solution you can apply to this situation?"
Twilight cleared her throat, "Yes, Princess, I think so. After I had a close call with a cockatrice, myself, I looked into finding a cure. As it turns out, I do have one, an herbal remedy, from my copy of Supernaturals. Zecora would know how to make it. Fluttershy, can you go to Zecora's and tell her?" The zebra would certainly be busy today.
"T-Through the Everfree Forest?"
The Princess smiled lightly. "Rest assured, Fluttershy; you will be well-protected." With a nod, two golden-armored pegasi from the diarch's retinue moved to the pegasus mare's side.
"Oh... alright, then."
With that, she and her escort were off. The aliens had begun to murmur amongst themselves for a moment, before the lead figure hushed them. It could only be confusing to be on a world on which they didn't speak the language. They were going to have to learn it if they were intending on staying here. Did they intend on staying here? What now?
-----
Silence reigned. The baffling winged unicorn was staring at the purple unicorn, who appeared to be in thought. She doesn't know what to do, the Skipper thought, but we don't, either. Someone here had to think of something. The situation hadn't gotten any simpler since the arrival of the larger alien, and he hadn't yet pieced much together from her exchange with the others. His mind wandered to the purpose of Eclipse.
Earth had been a cradle of sorts, humanity being the baby within. As was the case with many children, humanity had a tendency to be tactile in their learnings and, again like children, have broken some things along the way, made mistakes, picked fights, spilled things, and eventually learned from these things, but left their cradle a mess.
Throughout the twenty-second century especially, many things resultant of humanity's stumblings, like the world's population and the displacement of inhabitants due to increasing water levels, came to a peak. It had been a costly endeavor to make efforts to correct the damages over the next century, and a significant number of people did not live through it, and the world still bore many of the scars.
Eclipse's main purpose was to put the lessons learned from those times into practice, on a planet like Earth. In theory, the availability of all of this planet's resources to the unified colony would deter the development of any conflict over resources. However, the colony's role may just have changed with the discovery of the sentient species living on this planet. He could add teleportation to the tally of unexplainables, unless something proves otherwise, which didn't seem too likely.
Before he could piece together much from the conversation he'd just witnessed, another alien arrived, one with an orange coat, wearing a hat over blond hair and bearing a mark of three fruit-like objects, aesthetically resembling apples, on its flanks, as all natives–and Killian–had displayed. It didn't look like a tattoo, and certainly hadn't been in Killian's case, nor did it appear to be part of the coat. The arriving alien looked puzzled, and upon getting closer, bowed slightly before beginning to speak.
-----
"Hey Princess, howdy Twi', Pinkie. If y'all don't mind me askin', what's going on here? This thing certainly wasn't here yesterday. Who are... they?" Applejack went to stand at Twilight's side.
"Applejack, these..." Twilight replied, gesturing a hoof toward them, "are aliens, from another planet. We don't know why they're here, but they need our help." She specifically indicated the petrified alien. The earth pony mare brought a hoof to her chin in thought.
"Oh, I see," she eventually replied, "I'd reckon that other planets are far away, and I'd also reckon that they'd be tired from all of that travellin'. I think it'd be a good idea to show them some Ponyville hospitality, regardless of where they're from. They don't look like the kind that'd bite'cha."
"But, Applejack, we can't even speak to them, they can't understand us and we can't understand them," Twilight explained.
Waving a hoof dismissively, Applejack replied, "Oh, don't you worry, Twi'; food is a universal negotiator. Trust me; we've had foreign folks 'round Sweet Apple Acres before. 'Sides, aliens from another world ain't somethin' that come to Ponyville every day now, this is a special occasion."
Before the unicorn could reply, Pinkie blurted, "So we're going to have a party? ...Why didn't I think of that?"
"Maybe because it's not a very good idea. Applejack, Pinkie, we don't even know if they have the concept of a party where they're from. Too much excitement might make them nervous, or scared, or even hostile. We can't take the risk of giving them the wrong impression!"
"N-no parties? Is that even... possible?" The pink pony seemed almost faint.
"Then we'll just feed 'em. They definitely know what food is. I mean, they've got mouths, or at least, I think they do. Speaking of that, why do you figure they're wearin' those things on their heads?"
"I don't understand their purpose, to be honest." Twilight had seen diving equipment, which usually involved tanks of air and a helmet or snorkel of sorts, but these appeared to be lacking any sort of air supply. Was it some sort of equipment for working in space? If so, why didn't they take them off?
"Ah. Well, I'm off to round up the folks to help us give these travelers a proper reception." With that, the orange pony was off. Pinkie Pie also began to trot away.
"Pinkie, where are you going?" Twilight said, warningly. She'd already ordered no parties.
"Oh, I'm going to plan a party. Not for our new guests, you said not to do that, but I think we should celebrate anyway! They don't have to be there, but it sure would be great if you changed your mind! If they don't know parties, then I'm sure I could teach them parties. Just a suggestion!" Pinkie changed her pace to a bounce, and soon left the scene.
"I hope everything turns out okay," Twilight whispered discreetly to her mentor, whose inactivity stood to show how independent she had to be in her command of this situation.
"Communication, Twilight," the Princess instructed without replying, "is key."
"Yes, right. Back to that." Twilight locked eyes with the lead figure, who'd occupied himself with watching them. His eyes didn't betray any hostility, but hints of what seemed almost like courteousness and most definitely curiosity, to her. Nervousness crept over her once more. What could she say? The Princess brought a piece of paper and a pencil from the chariot with her levitation.
"You should be taking notes, Twilight."
-----
The Skipper's mouth hung open as the lavender unicorn's horn glowed in turn, her own purple glow encapsulating the paper and writing implement. What was..? Slowly, he pulled a handheld combined Geiger counter and metal detector from one of his uniform pockets, slowly extending it toward the floating paper. Nothing. He held it closer, and the larger alien lowered her head to nearby the detector, and nodded at it. The Skipper raised an eyebrow, and nodded in return, wondering what she would do. The device was gently taken from his hand, wreathed in the same glow that the paper had been before being passed, in a matter of speaking, to the unicorn. She began to examine the device visually. The horn had to be a power source of some kind, but there was no indication of their being artificial. The metal detector portion was still active, and appeared to have detected the larger alien's regalia from the readout. By this point, he was merely a meter away from the pair, though the larger one's armored guards, obviously soldiers of some kind, hadn't moved. The purple alien had been writing with the pencil she was levitating, alternating between looking at the page and at him.
Kathy broke the silence, "Anything, Skipper?"
"...No, nothing. No radiation, no unexpected metal. I can't detect anything out of the ordinary at all," he replied, shaking his head. The Geiger counter had apparently been adequately appraised by the winged unicorn, as the device slowly made its way to hover in the air over where his right hand was. He took hold of it, and pocketed the device as the glow around it dissipated. He stared at the alien and received a smile in return.
The Skipper backed up to rejoin his group, turning to face them. "It's just the same as any other thing about this place..." Killian muttered. "Maybe there's some sort of... I don't know... new form of sub-atomic... no. I just don't see how any of this is possible. This place and its people break the rules of physics so often we may need to account for something else, re-make our model... But we can't do that until we can measure whatever it is that's at work here."
-----
"It has a gauge on it. It looks like some sort of measuring implement," the Princess said.
"He... doesn't know what magic is," Twilight said in disbelief.
"This object, it's not magical, or mechanical," the Princess added. "It's electrical."
"Electrical? No magic at all?" Electric power was widespread throughout Equestria, and was mostly used for lighting and heating, though magic could easily replace it in those capacities, making the technology a mere convenience.
"If they did have magic, I could've detected leftover energy. This device," the Princess explained, "bears none of it."
"So... there's no magic where they came from? How did they get here?"
"That's a good question, Twilight. It appears as though they've gotten along without it, since they've managed to get here. Perhaps we should attempt to explain it, as their tools don't appear to be telling them anything about it."
-----
"The purple one is signing something," Sanders pointed out, diverting all of their attentions to the unicorn once again.
Paper and pencil still in her grip, she began making motions with her hooves, tapping her glowing horn, and then gesturing toward the paper. The horn was the source of power, yes. What kind of power? How?
"Well, unlike the cockatrice here, it looks like these aliens have at least a possible point from which their... abilities... come from," Kathy noted. "I don't think we can get much more from field investigation."
"We could take one aboard," Killian suggested, "if one of them wants to, and with adequate precautions, of course."
Before the Skipper could reply, the cerulean pegasus alien could be seen flying toward them. She landed and began to speak to the other two. What kind of errand had she just run for the purple one?
-----
"Zecora says she'll have those things ready by this evening, or maybe before that. Fluttershy's staying to help her out," Rainbow reported.
"That's great, Rainbow Dash, I think they'll appreciate it."
"I don't think they understand what you meant by your gesture, Twilight. Perhaps you should demonstrate different spells," the Princess suggested.
Why didn't I think of that? she thought. "Yes, of course." She set down the paper and pencil, the glow of her horn fading for a moment before intensifying once again. With a flash, she teleported several meters to the side, the aliens watching in awe. She decided not to perform any projectile spells, lest they consider them a weapon, and continued performing a standard routine she'd devised to strengthen her magical endurance and hone her skills with all sorts of spells. She had to look her best for the Princess.
First, she cast a light spell, a basic one many foals learn early on. Hers had been amply practiced, and it was relatively mundane, yet the aliens seemed quite interested even in that. Next, she performed an antigravity spell, followed by a self-levitation spell to mitigate the fall from the other wearing off. Again, the aliens seemed impressed. She plucked a number of blades of grass and began to weave them together, practicing telekinetic dexterity, something that had taken her quite a long time to master. She then shaped the woven grass into a rounded shape, and cast a transmutation spell. The grass became an apple. As she continued her practice, the aliens began to talk amongst themselves.
-----
"That's... quite a show," Kathy muttered, awed by the various feats this unicorn was performing in rapid succession and with practiced fluidity.
"It looks... magical," Sanders added. Indeed, with many of the tricks she performed came glows, flashes, and sparkles. It became evident to the Skipper what this particular alien's mark represented; magic. If the marks were natural, then this unicorn's ability with these 'spells' was also natural. Or was it? What kind of tool that small could look like an animal's horn, yet be packed with so many impossible features, such as a personal teleporter, personal levitation at will, levitation of other objects, transmutation, and personal antigravity?
"She does... she is," the Skipper replied softly. "The unicorns are magical. I don't believe it, but there it is. And they're not the only thing. Killian, you are no longer human, because a plant turned you into an alien. Sean Powell, as he stands right there, turned to stone. Magically, by this cockatrice, which obviously couldn't have done it by any measurable means. Same with the blue plant. The people, the animals, the plants, probably even the star... all of it."
"So much for things eventually making sense," Killian said dryly. Nobody else spoke as the unicorn finished her demonstration. Something about the large alien caught the Skipper's eye for the first time. What was her mark supposed to mean? Did she..?
-----
"Do you think they understand now?" Twilight asked her mentor, who nodded slowly.
"See for yourself."
The lead figure appeared to be deep in thought, staring into space before looking at her again, narrowing his eyes. He pointed at the Sun.
Princess Celestia stepped forward; her horn glowed intensely for a moment. As though not directed toward anyone nearby in particular, the alien said something in his language, then pointed at her, and then at the sun again. The Princess nodded. His eyes widened, as though he'd just made some shocking discovery. It occurred to Twilight; he didn't know that the Princess controlled the Sun.
-----
...She did. This alien controlled the star here with her magic. Or, rather, Eclipse would be able to tell him if this was so, in less than ten minutes, and if this wasn't some sort of facade, and these beings really did have extreme technological abilities that somehow remained undetectable. This seemed unlikely now, with the Skipper's deduction that magic was indeed at work here, and that these creatures were incredibly powerful indeed.
"This alien," the Skipper began, taking a deep breath, "controls that star up there. That's why it orbits this planet."
"Excuse me, Skipper, that doesn't make any sense. We're talking something thousands of times the mass of this entire planet, and you say that this being here, this winged unicorn, no bigger than two men, can simply move it?" Killian interjected.
"We'll know in-"
"A few minutes, Skipper, I know. We can't be jumping to conclusions like this all the time. Didn't you say not to jump to conclusions? I know you're not a full scientist, but you couldn't possibly not know what you're implying here."
"I know exactly what I'm implying, and I don't like it any more than you do, but that's what all evidence we currently have points to. What we now know is that this alien is what causes this, she claims it to be so herself. If I were a leader on a first contact mission, I wouldn't lie about that sort of thing. You're right, Killian. It makes no sense at all, but if there's one thing we need to do if we want to survive and live here, it's to learn to adapt to all of these new concepts as they appear, not try to justify them as we know them where we're from, and ignore the evidence. We're not on Earth anymore, we're here, and this place has very different rules. They don't make sense, no, but there they are, right in front of us." The Skipper's speech was delivered in an unflinching, calm, commanding tone, one he only very rarely made use of.
Several anxious minutes passed, not a single one of the beings present making a move; the Skipper's stern speech had apparently killed the mood fairly efficiently. The comm circuit in the Skipper's helmet activated, and Marcus' voice came through. "As you said, Skipper, astrometrics lab has reported a major trajectory change. How did you know that would happen? What's going on down there?"
The Skipper replied, "Don't worry about it. I'll explain later." He pointed at the star again, then at the winged unicorn. She'd better change it back, he thought.
-----
With a glow of her horn, the Princess responded to the alien's signal. The Sun would now return to its proper place, or, Twilight assumed that to be the purpose of the spell.
"I do not believe that leaves them any doubt," the Princess stated.
Twilight nodded in return, "I wonder what it's like, to just... discover magic. I can't imagine life without it."
"...And they can hardly comprehend life with it."
The pair of guards that had been sent with Fluttershy returned, bearing the message that Zecora would escort her out of the forest herself, and that Fluttershy had dismissed them.
"Twilight, I leave this matter in your hooves. I must go make announcements about these visitors' arrival."
Having boarded her chariot, the Princess gave the leading figure one last glance before departing for Canterlot.
*****
Many minutes of signed attempted discussion, mostly about magic, had kept Twilight occupied and taking notes when Applejack returned. Her voice prompted the unicorn to raise her head from the paper. Apart from the aliens, she was alone; Rainbow Dash had quickly become bored, and headed off.
"Hey Twi', the folks and I have put together a little somethin' for our guests. Come on, bring 'em with you."
In a just recently established manner of gesturing and communication, movements and even a few noises to represent various things rather vaguely, Twilight attempted to ask the visitors to follow, though that particular motion hadn't been defined yet. Others had, like 'I don't know', which was denoted by a shrug, and 'yes', indicated by a nod or an 'ah', 'no' being indicated by 'uh' or a shake of the head. Its rudimentary nature reminded Twilight of what ancient pony language had been described to her as. Applejack waved a hoof at them and whistled. That works, Twilight mused, smiling.
-----
The Skipper interpreted the message clearly; to follow. "Cox, Grant, take care of things here, watch the cockatrice, and bring Powell inside the ship. Killian, Kathy, Sanders, let's go. I think they've got something to show us."
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This chapter isn't a very good one, in my opinion, but it serves its purpose of moving the plot forward. (I have plans!) As for the extreme delay (I'd initially planned to release this chapter two weeks ago) I can only blame procrastination. I had to make myself finish this up yesterday with a promised reward of watching the new episode, and with the assistance of a new playlist of music (the usefulness of which I have just discovered). I'm satisfied with how it turned out, though it should be better considering how long it took me, and I hope I didn't wreck the story somehow. I'm sorry.
1679930
i dont know, i think it was rather intresting.
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Are you kidding? I loved this chapter!
great chapter, humans do not have translators ia?
1680115 Well, no. How could that possibly work? Realistically, I mean? This universe is supposed to use as little 'handwavium' as possible. (The major exception being FTL existing in the first place.) I might've messed that up a little, but ignoring the language barrier isn't something I want to do.
1680071 Some people call it Artist's Syndrome. Artists, regardless of type or merit, sometimes view their work as inferior to that of pretty much any other artist, and thus, bad.
1680137
trying to imitate the functioning of the brain in the area of language, currently there is progress in the area of brain scan that long term could copy and use cognitive processes in computers
Scanning example
http://pinktentacle.com/2008/12/scientists-extract-images-directly-from-brain/
in summary birth of cortana
1680137
Yeppers, and that's also one of the reasons why I like the comment box down here. Artists, (and no matter what my teachers say, Fic writers count) are kinda like those plants I tried to grow on my windowsill. If you give them what they need and deserve, (meaning encouragement, praise and in this case water) they're awesome. Which is probably why this fandom in particular has so many great artists like you.
And If they don't get any, they tend to droop a bit. Also, pouring a bottle of Monster on them makes them very unhappy
1680137 I got Artist's syndrome too, the only difference is while I know I'm not that good I also know I'm not THAT bad.
Also about that Authors note, do what I do. 1 chapter in editing and chapter 1 in writing.
1680270 I know I'm not the worst, I'm far from it, but I just can't see myself as better than any other authors I see with similar ratings. (I don't even think this story deserves such positive reception, but it's a very pleasant surprise more than anything else.) I should've phrased that differently: I know I'm alright, but I don't think of myself as more than mediocre.
As for your suggestion, I have a nasty habit of wanting results quickly. I've mitigated my problem of rushing out tons of short chapters (1K-2K) for instant gratification, but I still only write one chapter at a time while thinking of pieces of the next one. In this case, the changes were due to the retroactive application of a new pre-reader's suggestions, ones I found most sound. I will most likely not be making any more such retcons.
1680222 That's neat! You've got to account for the differences of an alien brain, though, and there could be differences in formation of language on the part of another species. Also, they weren't exactly expecting sentient life, having only considered it a minor but present possibility.
1680260 Your teachers don't think fic writers are artists? Well, we are sort of like plagiarists, if only in a very crude sense of the term, and have low overall standards of quality due to the lack of control of said quality and professional publishing, etc., but there's really no difference between a professional artist and a hobbyist or fanartist. Most of the difference is professionality and title. I don't really need much encouragement to continue--I'm kind of like a cactus, and evolved not to need much to sustain my motivation, to use your analogy--but it sure does help out. Thanks.
1680333 Do to all the editing and assistance I give I have to work to get 1-2k in a few weeks... Then again, working 6 days a week and reading massive amounts of fics doesn't help either.
On the other hand I do most of my editing work at my work so it's all good.
Ah yes if Twiligth OP Sparkle wasn't enough to convince someone on magic, have a princess do her thing!
That bit of a rewind you did was justified with this chapter. Things make even more sense now!
MOAR A.S.A.P.!
1680115
In order for translation, you need a bilingual. The humans and ponies do not yet have anything resembling a bilingual.
Most experiments with language-learning software involve a large starting pool (such as NELL), and constant feedback from native speakers.
The humans seem remarkably calm...
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1680333 could create an AI based on the human brain, this intelligence could help operate the ship and assist in scientific calculations, and could be integrated into the ship to require enormous computing power, it would need an interface (robot) remote to lower the planet and quickly learn the native language
1680490 artificial intelligence could mimic human learning but at a higher speed, could learn directly from the natives like a newborn but at a faster rate
1680490 Calm? I'd say so. perhaps they shouldn't be so calm, but there's nothing really to go crazy about. Magic is a big thing, but it's not exactly a means to- EVERYBODY PANIC! Besides, they don't want to look threatening.
1680557
If this AI is learning like a newborn, it needs to be exposed to both simplified language and full language. It might be capable of learning very fast, but the fundamental limitation is how fast the ponies can teach it.
How will the humans explain to the ponies that the 'bot needs to be taught? Kind of a catch-22.
1680645 AI would have human knowledge, though I admit it would be interesting to see the ponies interacting with ai and trying to understand their use
1680115
That's a sexy picture. May I ask from where it is? I'm assuming halo.
Also, there is no such thing as magic, only things science has not discovered yet. Regardless of what magic actually is, it still would have to be made of either particles or waves, which in turn could be detected by the human technology. Realistically, I'm quite sure that humans would understand the core mechanics of magic, but that doesn't mean they could utilize it. Also, the ponies shouldn't know what electricity is, they've pointed all their technological advancement towards magic. The only place they could know magic from is lightning and other natural electrical phenomena. Even if they experimented with it they still shouldn't be able to identify an electrical device so fast. Finally, if you make it so Celestia or anyone somehow 'magically' takes control of a complex electrical device, I will find you, and I will slap you upside the head.
I'm done now, great chapter. I love how you're handling the language barrier.
1680694 is the first version of the armor forerunner, shown in Halo Legends
1680837
Yeah... I've watched that film, still that's a pretty sexy picture.
1680137 well universal translates would work. You see language develops over time and as such starts to follow mathematical patterns. You use the sound waves to pick up on these patters. The computer would quickly recognize all the letters and once you defined a few words it could backtrack hundreds. Such programs have already been written in our world. They were tested against foreign and made up languages.
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1680694 They won't be able to power or operate technology (unless said technology has buttons on it or a power switch that they can manipulate, obviously) by converting their magical ability into electrical power, because they're too dissimilar. At this point, the humans are pretty sure they've quantified every force they can comprehend and measure, I'd figure, but you have a point and I'm wildy speculating. As for detection, you've heard of dark matter, correct? It's dark matter because we can't see it or measure it, but we know it's there. A poor analogy considering what I just said about quantifying forces and all that, but... yeah. The Princess can detect electrical current with her magic; she can't make it. There's disputable proof of electrical power being used in Equestria, the most evident to me being the lightswitches and lights that appear throughout the series, not to mention Twilight's massive brainwave-measuring machinery she keeps in her basement for some reason, Pinkie Pie's night vision goggles might be electrical or magical, the video game shown in one episode... Anyway, I assume that electricity is used, especially since pegasi can control it, or at least influence its generation. I'm glad you liked the chapter.
1680920 Made up languages are still constructed using human minds, and even synthetically-generated ones would have similar elements as normal ones because we don't know how to make something think differently, as you've got to code it using logic as established by humans.
1681111 no no your missing the point It is not based on that form of logic. It uses number theory. If a language can be used to communicate then there is a equation to describe it. ( btw the language that was made up was made up by a computer not a human)
1681209 Oh, number theory, right. It still wouldn't be easy to render such equations into usable form.
1681300
True that I'm not saying its currently perfect just that it is doable. btw I like the story though.
Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore, Dorathy.
1679930
Nope, you're doing fine. Like you said, the story isn't going anywhere fast, but that's not a bad thing.
You just need to update faster!!1! I kid, I kid. spend as much time as you like, it's your story, we're just along for the ride.
1681111
All magic powered... but even with dark matter, we still can find out where it it by checking where it isn't. All of it would be magic based, after all why waste effort on something that requires the waste of resources when you've got an endless power supply of magic, which might I add can be pulled from the air itself. Not to mention, the ponies aren't very... curious and ambitious in the sense of evolving on the technological scale, after all, they've been stuck in the medieval era for the last... few thousand years? Granted some they have made some technological advances, but they're still stuck in their little bubble of happiness to do jack shit. So yeah, all light switches and other stuff is magic power, you don't exactly see power lines do you? Meaning the lights draw power from the magic in the air-n-shit. I'm VERY VERY VERY happy that they can't take control of human technology, it really erks me, when ponies use magic to reverse engineer a computer or something. That is not going to happen, first of all they have to detect the electrical pulses, that might I add are going near the speed of light, then they have to be able to track EVERY individual one, finally they have to make heads or tails of what those little electrical pulses are actually doing.
What I'm trying to say with this evil wall of text is: Humans are better than ponies.
1681635 I'm saying that there is electricity in Equestria, for purposes of the story. I find it reasonable enough. (Power lines sometimes run underground in reality, but that's reaching more than a little bit.) The technological development of ponies when compared to humans is interesting, because of how necessity breeds invention, and since magic is available to a significant portion of the population (which is as you said pretty much infinite energy, which the humans will discover later on), many things, like robotics and electronics as we know them, may well never exist because sufficiently powerful unicorns can perform their functions. Humans have the advantage in just how usable their technology is; anyone can use a gun, but only unicorns can use projectile spells or even hold human weapons. A power plant's switches can be pulled by just anyone, et cetera. Still, earth ponies (like the Apple family, but... smarter, if that was likely in this class-based system that Equestria pretty much runs on, which the humans have begun to notice or at least infer) that don't want to rely on unicorn magic might make some advances, and most likely are who developed much of the technology as it is in the show, like the steam engine, which may or may not be a real steam engine; it might be magical. Still, tech development would be slower by an extreme amount.
Okay, these next few words are gonna make me sound like a grade A Dbag
Are you ready?
You ready?
This
nicrow better be ready.Writing 4200 words can be done under a week and a half. I know that you were busy, we all know that you are trying to please us the best you can, I know how hard it can be to find inspiration and then even bother to write it
YES I KNOW SHUT UP.
But uh, we have a lot of faith in this story, it is rare to find this kind of space type stories, however try to update every week and a half or 2 weeks.
There.
My Dbag status is refreshed.
Im gonna take my liquid feces shower now.
I am loving this story so far, i can't wait to see the next installment, fantastic work
1681926 Absolutely. It's getting the motivation to do it that's difficult for me. My time management is a little skewed; it's highly rewarding to write this story, but other things give me satisfaction faster and more easily, namely video games. I think I'm back into the swing of things, it was just a peculiar time for me this month, with my birthday happening and a Minecraft server I play on installing a time-destroying modpack called Feed the Beast, which I've spent a lot of time on. Wish I hadn't, but it's so much fun.
Don't worry about sounding like a 'Dbag,' I want to hear what you think.
Sweeeeet...keep going.
1679930
i love this new update
take it very slow
go in great detail
also let them figure out the limit of both party's
(prissiness made a good point already tough)
this is one of the most realistic ''human meets equestria'' Senior i ever have read and i like it very much
i can only think how you try describe how both ends react on sign language
i picture you recreating all event behind you screen
(uhmmm how do i enplane that the air is similar to ours but still could kill us)
*sways his hands like taking the smell of a baked good, shrugs, and drags his index finger over the throat, using hands as a weight scale slowly altering between them, shakes no and with both hands in a simple one line motion opposite of each other*
damn that a tough pill to take
I like very much how you've handled this first contact. I love first contact stories, langugue difficulties and all.
Your determination to avoid "handwaving" is a massive undertaking and done well so far.
My only complaint so far is that it's hard to keep track of and Identify the human characters. It's hard to set them apart, keep thier differences in mind. Their dialouge is good... just not executed well. They need a bit more despription on how they say things, body language and such. Still, it's a minor complaint.
I Do like how intelligent they are, especially the captain. With the rather Violent Revelation that they're dealing with something outside thier understanding (Magic: Poison joke and the Cockatrice.), they begin to adapt to the change well. Figuring out that the impressive looking pony with a sun mark is the one controlling the strange star in the system is a bit of a leap, but it might be a good Plot device to really kick in the fact that Humanity is spiraling into the complete unknown, and trying to but the brakes on.
I eagerly await more.
1685631 The next chapter will do more to differentiate those characters, hopefully. Unfortunately, it's not my strong suit, characterization and character description. Well, the only way to improve is to try. Avoiding handwaving isn't too hard, I find, and makes things more interesting. Although, there are things that are handwaved, like the very existance of FTL travel. That's just about a genre standard, though.
Ok. I'm good with this. Just don't pull a 'Celestia is a God' card. Please?
1687869 I'd never planned on it.
1688342 Good... good... this pleases me greatly
Really great chapter, i cant wait for more. I really cant wait until the language barrier is broken ( sorta)
1432942>>1531532>>1540807>>1541395 and all the rest...
Here to both add my research (preliminary as it is) and finally review this fic.
First, Inco, let me say that this was, quite literally, one of the best fics I have ever read. Period. This is going in the Compendium of Highest Honors.
But on to the substance of my message, and first to address the fic itself.
The main issue that I see here is the liberalism with science, although that is minor. What I mean is, the only potential issues have been already stated: Nukes, Asteroids, Quarantine, and the rest.
Otherwise, this was a very enthralling read, so damn you, Inco, I can't find much fault with it
.
But to address the issues mentioned by others (and to play Devil's Advocate, because I love doing that), and to first deal with the "3 body system" comment:
I define "magic" as an "application of energy." Simply put, it allows one to bend the rules a bit. Considering Celestia and Luna's magnitude of power, it would allow them to bend the rules, or in this case move giant celestial objects, quite a bit.
This point isn't necessarily bad: It'd take an insurmountable amount of energy just to simply ALTER the bodies' orbits, let alone MAINTAIN them, but it is probably possible to do so.
Secondly, what if the "sun" and "moon" were to be far smaller than we imagine? We fall prey (as pointed out) to the assumption that everything will be like previously observed phenomena. But if the bodies were to be far smaller, and far closer, then it'd be much easier to move them (and harder to observe them). Consider the angular velocity difference. That'd make it easier, right?
Then on the subject of nuclear warheads:
That is probably the biggest issue with Eclipse itself (aside from the fact that they seem to lack proper quarantine facilities in their Lunas), as everyone has already stated. However, I'd like to propose an alternative solution (not involving nukes).
Laser ablation, provided that the shielding is thick enough. Which, for a trip between the stars, it should be.
--
Hope that helped a bit?
IX
Hmm... could you reveal the type of nuclear reactor they are using?
Sorry, it’s my only gripe, when you just put nuclear that can mean quite a few different things, I’m not asking for specifics just a type (just say fusion and I’ll be happy 
), other than that I’m loving everything about this story.
I agree with your writing of the Skipper’s reaction you have for magic. It’s not a new concept for humans, it’s just that we’ve never seen it happen before in front of us, so it would be rather foolish of them to just start trying to explain something when they are in a completely different place and have no real way to gather data on it, so you might as well just call it what it is, magic. I also like that humanity has actually ‘grown-up’, not the pretend crap we’re doing now-a-days, but real learning from our mistakes, if this were to happen today I feel someone would have already opened fire (especially after Twilight teleported the first time), so it’s nice to read a story where humans aren’t acting like a bunch a children. All in all, a great chapter for an awesome story.
1694126
And a perfect example of how I've always picture the 'sun' in Equestria, I always figured that it was a heck of a lot smaller (maybe white dwarf in size (I know that’s still terribly large but I figure the planet to be as big as Jupiter, if not bigger (hey, an improbable sun deserves an improbable planet))) and actually in a rather large orbit when compared to our own sun. In fact, I figure the moon is huge (about the size of Earth) and is actually at the half the distance that the sun is at. This the land of magical pastel ponies, why would there be logic is the real question.
1694386 Sorry for the vagueness of 'nuclear,' I'd say most likely high-efficiency fusion reactors, possibly coupled with breeders to supplement the fuel supply, which is intended to be resupplied by resources on their destination planet. (If I understand the concept of a 'breeder reactor' correctly.)
As for the humans' maturity? They're here to ask for permission to land, of course they're nice. Though, you're right, they're not out to pick fights in any way whatsoever; they're simply well-prepared for it, and they're inclined to be nice, because the last thing they want to do is have to eliminate or crush into submission a sentient race (or three... or four... however many there are in Equestria, there's tons of 'em) to accomplish their mission, pretty much completely failing at what they set out to do in the first place--put lessons into action.
1694126 Compendium of Highest Honors? Well, I feel... honored. I don't deserve all of the credit; my pre-readers have helped out more than a little.
To address your points: They make lots of sense, and I'll keep 'em in mind. Though I don't want to do more retcons, I may consider changing a few little things. However, I don't think I'll be changing the sizes and distances in bodies, but the laser thing is a very entertaining (and hilarious, as presented by XKCD, like everything else) idea, and one of the craziest methods of moving something I've ever heard of, behind that one drive that entailed dumping nukes behind you and riding the shockwave. Still, I'm partial to the ship's railgun systems, which are easier to use without, y'know, blowing everything up/sending it away thanks to their variable yield (as a result of scaling down the power of the electromagnets, if I understand the principles of such things), and might be more energy-efficient than a bunch of huge lasers (a number of which there'd have to be; turning a ship like Eclipse around takes a little while, definitely enough time to get hit by something out to ruin its day). As for magic? Well, I feel like, in the context of this story, treating it as a different form of energy altogether, separate from, but able to effect, other energies, something that we know is pretty much impossible due to reactive forces and all that. (But... we don't have magic anywhere on Earth, so how could we tell? There's quite a few ways of interpreting it.)
I'm really glad you liked this.
1695264
Well, I figure that’s what you meant when you wrote nuclear since we are in the process of building a large-scale fusion reactor in France (our second reactor to be exact), so it would make sense that it would be a nuclear fusion reactor and not a fission one. Oh man, I actually had an entire post explaining about the differences in power between the two types, even going so far as to bring in different generations of fission reactors (ugh, even the possible, almost magical, conversion ratio of a reactor/engine strong enough for fission power to hit FTL, we would be talking hundreds of petawatts in order for it to even possibly work). And I do believe you are right when it comes to breeders, but then again with fusion, fuel isn’t really an issue, since it can run on Hydrogen (which is everywhere and in everything), and also considering fusions almost crazy conversion ratio. It looks like the first gen will have a 50 units of energy turn into 500 units of energy after one run, so fuel probably wouldn’t be an issue but stale oxygen could be, I think it could cause you to go a little stir crazy at some point. (sorry, kind of rambled there
)
…
I'm done rambling for now.
1695519
It doesn't need to necessarily be FTL; only fast enough. And about the breeder reactors: They breed fissile material during fission events. Implied in this Chicago Sun article and quoted more explicitly in the Wikipedia article (as if that says anything, lol). However, that's not to say that they couldn't and shouldn't be used in place of fusion reactors, at least temporarily or as an auxilary power source -- they are VEEERY efficient... In fact, one could go so far as to say that, since fusion reactors have inherent flaws (instability, actually kickstarting the process, maintaining it, etc.), breeders might be even better.
1695264
Two sentences:
1) RAAAAAAIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLGGGGUUUUNNNNSSSS are the best weapons. Ever. (Well, not really, but they're frickin' badass)
2) Don't worry; your fic is fine without the retcons. Reviewers just like to pick through every single word and mess with everyone.
1696353
Ah, you're right, I didn't think of that on both accounts, if the reactor has a constant stream of fuel then only real issue is starting it the first time and keeping it on and more than likely the reactor for this ship would be the most stable of it's line, so in essence you would be cutting the work in half (I was going to make a list but it's too numerous, so you're right that the reactors should have breeders attached to them, it makes the most amount of sense
).
1696506
Breeders only work in the way you're thinking about them with fission, though (to my knowledge).
But yeah, glad we are in agreement.
1696545
Well, I figured they would have modded them in some fashion to work with fusion reactors...
and now you're my first watcher... exactly as planned.
Don't know if I'll ever actually write a fic (it's possible, I have ideas but I'm easily distracted) or a blog but it's nice, thanks. 
1696621
What fashion do you propose?
And you can move it to a user page or some other medium if'n ya think that we're spamming the comments too much...