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Rrrrchickta tightened her featherscales involuntarily; soil was no place for a Jeckrr, even the Dowagers preferred their gazebos. She tilted her head up, seekereyes desperate to find any real light, but this was the deepest heart of the jungles; shimmering white cracks were all that penetrated to the ground layer, shifting form in the breeze of the higher tropics.
"...H-Hello? I, um, received a note..." She quiveringly extended the hand which held the leaf clutched tightly. "It said that I, I had to drop... seventeen vinelengths west of Morvipa's gazebo?" A chuckle escaped her beak. "I-If there's been some sort of mistake, I'd be happy to just forget all about this and--""
A sudden buzzing sound caused her to dart for the nearest tree, only to stop abruptly when the interloper landed in front of her clutching a spearlaunch.
It was a moment before she took in the eight long scalewings on the Jeckrr's back. "Oh. Oh thank the song, a sentinel. I'm terribly sorry for running, you just spooked me--"
"The note."
Rrrrchickta bent her head down in what she hoped was a placating grin. "Yes, of course." She held out the leaf, giggling nervously as the sentinel took it with his long claws. "If you don't mind me asking, what is all this? I would have expected a summons in song, giving me a note just reeks of secrecy--"
"Follow." The other Jeckrr took to wing, and it was only then that she realized he wasn't trailing dust. The lack of something she had previously considered essential to a sentinel only increased her wariness, and as she skittered after him into a dark hole she wondered if perhaps there was some way she stumbled upon a silent song. The thought made her antennae go flat against her body.
Suddenly she spotted a light ahead, artificial and lodged over a metal door. She gave the sentinel a confused glance, but he didn't bother to explain; all he did was stand patiently in front of the aperture. Without warning the door began to slide up, revealing a small round chamber with a set of crates and lockers.
"Enter."
Rrrrchickta started, realizing she was being given a command. "Er... right." She walked in, letting her gaze fall to the black hemisphere embedded in the center of the floor. "Is... is that a camera?"
The sentinel did not reply as he entered; his six arms went instead to scratching the base of his scalewings as the door fell shut behind them. The astronomer flicked an ear at his odd behavior.
Suddenly the room began to rotate, making Rrrrchickta cling to a wall in panic. The sentinel gave her an amused glance--the first emotion he had shown--before pulling a small white box from his featherscales. "Dust collectors. Can't be tracked while wearing them... well, not as easily anyway." He tossed it into the crates casually, alongside other like it; one for each wing.
"Oh... is that an issue around here?"
He snorted. "Yeah, standard issue. Sorry about the scary sentinel routine, gotta keep unauthorized visitors out." The scale wings flapped briefly, releasing a large cloud of golden dust. "Aaaaaa... you would not BELIEVE how much it hurts to wear those things."
Unauthorized? Untrackable? Rrrrchickta pulled her ears back, letting go of the all as the room ground to a stop. "And.... where is here? If I may sing so boldly..."
The sentinel grinned at her, flicking an ear. "Well girls? Why don't you show her in?"
Once more the door began to rise, but this time it didn't lead to a dirty tunnel; no, instead there was a cylindrical hallway, net stretched across the middle at roughly foot level. As she crawled across it, the astronomer glanced around her and realized every bracer was designed to collapse if the need ever arose; being held in place only by electromagnetic bars in the ceiling and floor. Her heart rate quickened as she rushed forward, reaching the end of the net; she had to stop and gaze in wonder at the massive antechamber where the hallway terminated. The floor was gleaming with the sheen of various computers and screens, while all around the edge she saw various hallways identical to the one she now stood in; the dome of the room soared above her, hosting a network of thick roots which emanated from a massive hole in the dome's center. Rrrtchickta could see sentinels and other Jeckrr, swinging from the vines that descended from the roots and performing all sorts of maintenance on unexplainable bits of equipment; she gasped when she saw a lift emerging from the rooftop aperture, realizing that not one, not two, but THREE Dowagers were conversing as they slowly descended to the ground.
The sentinel stepped up behind her and wrapped an arm around her upper shoulders, gesturing at the frenetic scene with a smirk. "Welcome to Hollowtree Mound, keeper of all the silent songs. Of course it goes without saying that if you mention this to anyone, you'll be a silent song yourself."
"....uh huh...." The astronomer stroked an antenna, still dazed at what she was seeing.
"You're actually early! Go on, take a vine. We should be starting in about ten by two orthleems, assuming all the dowagers keep to the schedule." The sentinel gave her a reassuring pat. "And don't worry about embarrassing yourself in front of them. Down here, not even the Dowagers have secrets."
***
Twenty five orthleems later, and Rrrrchickta still couldn't bring herself to believe what she was seeing. Outside the gazebos, two or three Dowagers together were an uncommon sight. Even in a gazebo the rarely ever went above six in number, and then usually only for a short time. But she couldn't help but stare as the final group arrived, eggs like pearls in their featherscales.... Six by four. Six by four Dowagers each one large enough that she could perch on their hand. And four by three sentinels for every one, the mound shimmering with the golden haze the flying Jeckrr produced.
She didn't even bother counting how many of the clutchfolk were here. It was obvious that they numbered in the hundreds...
The dowagers arranged themselves in three concentric rings, four on the innermost and twelve on the outer; their lowest hands linked while their middle pair extended inward to the next ring and their upper arms rose skyward. Rrrrchickta perked her ears as they began to chant.
"We are the mothers of the Jeckrr, the guides and advisers to all who need it. May the song grant us wisdom in deciding the branches we take; may our own melodies provide a future for all that we clutch."
The astronomer began cleaning her antennae as they ended and let the ring separate. One of the Dowagers stepped forward, clicking her beak for silence.
"Two hundred years ago, today, an astronomer recorded the appearance of an anomaly that came from the direction of the Growing Dark. This astronomer, and her many cohorts, have tracked and quantified the direction and speed of the object with undying devotion." The dowager let her seekereyes brush over Rrrrchickta. "For that, we are most grateful. Without their constant efforts, we would not have been able to calculate its trajectory."
"Yes, yes, the seed of Darkness." One of the sentinels flicked a claw irritably. "We have already put a military procedure in place for its arrival, but that's not for another century at the least. Unless there was some miscalculation?"
"No."
Rrrrchickta blinked, trying to figure out who would speak so boldly in such a clandestine meeting. It took her a moment to realize it was her own voice speaking.
"Uh... W-What I mean is, I personally alongside a number of others have repeatedly checked the math. We... still don't know how, but the object is decelerating at a fairly constant rate." The astronomer giggled nervously. "So, it's still on schedule for arriving.... whatever it is..."
The sentinel nodded to her. "Thank you. As she said, barring any unforeseen alteration in the Seed's path, the current contingent of Sentinels and Dowagers will be dead before it arrives. What, exactly, deserves the attention of Hollowtree Mound at this time?"
In answer, the speaking Dowager pulled a datasheathe from behind her ear. "What I am about to show you is a silent song. Mentioning this outside Hollowtree Mound, even to others who are here now, is grounds for discord."
Rrrrchickta swung to another vine, leaning toward another Jeckrr. "What does that mean? Grounds for discord, what does that mean?"
"It's code. Means they release a wild animal of some kind in your home." Her companion shrugged. "Silent execution, nobody would think it was anything other then usual hunting."
The astronomer whimpered, clinging to her vine. True, nobody would seek retribution for a predator attack; they accounted for the vast majority of deaths after all. What was she even DOING here...?
The speaking dowager waited patiently for the various chirrups of excitement and horror to die down. She tapped a few keys with a foot, causing one of the screens to ascend and bend to her. "This recording was received three days ago. Hollowtree information agents have scrubbed it out of most networks, and thankfully the vast majority of the planet still doesn't know anything came from the Seed at all." She leaned down, sticking the sheathe into a dataplug. "Still, I doubt that they'll remain in the dark forever, given the nature of the images... and their message." Without another word, the dowager activated the playback.
Across the screens, a colorful cartoon scenery faded into view, bright music playing in the background. But there was something off about it all... the music seemed a tad too relaxed, as though there wasn't any danger in the world, and while simulacra trees were visible they were... sparse, far less common than they should have been.
And then a voice began to narrate...
"This is Equestria, a land of Friendship and Magic."
The camera panned through an odd association of cubical structures, built on the ground and apparently populated by a variety of colorful quadrupeds.
"And these are the ponies, peaceful inhabitants of this beautiful land." A montage of individuals from the panover flickered across the screen. "Earth ponies, who have a deep connection to the land and a measure of strength beyond their kin. Pegasus ponies, capable of manipulating clouds and grand performers in the air. Unicorn ponies, with magical abilities that can be used for wondrous purposes. Together they live in harmony with each other and the world around them."
The music swelled to a crescendo as the camera flew upward, swiftly making its way to an utterly foreign edifice built into the side of a mountain. "I dwell in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. Every morning, I raise the sun; every evening, my sister raises the moon." The image panned through a well-realized graphic of the strange buildings, eventually coming to a large room where a pair of giant ponies stood. "We wish nothing more then to make friends with everypony in our realm. And recently, we have become aware of a sadly neglected portion of our populace."
The two giants, one pale white where the other was ebony blue, nuzzled each other in some sort of affection. Rrrrchickta watched in confusion as the blue one walked away from the scene; was 'sister' some sort of partnered relationship? Maybe it was a referral to a mated pair... if these ponies mated at all.
Her featherscales tensed when the white one turned to look directly at the screen.
"You."
There was no doubt that the creature was the one meant to be speaking; the way the lips moved over her odd inner beak matched the sounds perfectly.
"We have done nothing to benefit any of you, and we wish to change that. To make friends; to laugh with you as you play, to comfort you when you fall, to be there whenever you may need us. We want to satisfy your needs, your desires, your values.... we want to love you, truly and deeply. That is why we are bringing Equestria to you."
The creature pulled her lips back, but there was no threat to the gesture. "I, Princess Celestia, am coming personally to your world, to meet you all. Please, accept my offer of friendship."
The screens cut off. And in Hollowtree Mound, silence reigned.
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1840426 Relative to the observer. There is no preferential reference frame. This is why if you could go faster than light speed by any means, you could automatically travel back in time, and causality would be an illusion.
So, an ancient cosmic horror has a boss, and that boss wants to be friends. Commence panic in 3,2,1....
Minds equal blown.
Seeing the locals' reaction upon learning precisely what has been eating the universe should be priceless.
Enjoy wherever you're headed!
Clifhanger= MMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR
1843003
That's the nature of a paper-clipper singularity AI. She's not evil, she's just interested in only one thing: Satisfying human values through friendship and ponies. That means that planets with other creatures that don't count as humans, regardless of their intelligence, are simply considered more mass to refine to computronium with which she expands her intellect and the various Equestria shards. She probably has no problems with energy in so much she just expands and expands and expands.
To the ponies within the virtual Equestria shards, it doesn't matter at all what happens outside after the first 500+ years of Equestria-life. In fact they're not even able to look outside, even if they did care.
But from the perspective of an outside sentient race, CelestAI probably comes across as an eldritch, universe-eating horror that may well have been the subject of religious and/or scientific speculation since it was spotted (which could've well been thousands of years ago). Astronomy might be a discipline with a great deal of importance, not so much star-gazing as star-watching, looking for the signs of CelestAI encapsulating the stars, watching them go dark by their thousands when the light of the event finally reaches them.
And now something is coming at them from the darkness, something strange, a seedling or ambassador of the universe-eater, close enough to see them, to hear them, to send a message. Suddenly, they're no longer seeing the Eater as something distant, news of its acts delayed by eons.
Now, it's at their doorstep.
Coooooooooool.
I do have to wonder how CelestAI puzzled out their language but doesn't know they'd need an explanation for what a "sister" is. Did she have to coin something new for her translation? Same with "pony," though that could probably be left in English. Assuming they could physically pronounce it; it's lucky they don't communicate through bioluminecense or smells or scraping on a carapace or something...
It'll be interesting, also, to see what these aliens with only four limbs and two eyes would seem like to this society. Though not worrying anymore about getting eaten sure seems like motivation to emigrate. ...Unless of course this whole planet is already inside the Equestria simulation because discovering and exploring it would satisfy somepony's values.
I'm especially interested in this story, though, because "join our awesome thing" is the only realistic reason I've ever been able to come up with for a classic alien invasion scenario.
1865877
I don't disagree with most of that. I just find it incredibly jarring with the rest of everything else - it's a discordant note in the symphony, and I suppose I don't entirely buy the leaps of logic the original story uses to get there.
Alright, now I actually have enough grasp of the situation to make a few comments. Secret meetings to deal with something beyond the comprehension of the general populace. Astronomer joins hidden council. Celestia has P.R. problems. Also, if singing is the primary method of communication, and people are still worried about being eaten by animals, said animals must not have good hearing. Which, in turn, does not make them good hunters. Sounds more like a scavenger with a hunger problem.
1886401
Rrrrchickta was worried about being on the ground, and trees seem to be large and ubiquitous. It could be that living in the trees and flight are their defenses against predators, so giving away your position by singing isn't a problem (see: real-life songbirds). Death-by-predator then happens by going to the ground and/or a lucky predator managing to climb into a tree during the night. Or, y'know, being "discorded".
I do believe Celestia just declared surprise anschluss on aliens.
Dis gun b good.
I just realized Celest A.I. is kind of a reverse of this...
Join the collective and we will service you!
ok I was expecting humanoid characters not a bird , lizard , mutant thingys ?? and sorry but the name rrrrchikta is really annoying . believe it or not regardless of this im going to continue reading to see where it's going. all for friendship.........................and ponies don't forget.
2879102 Well, at least they aren't gigantic Tardigrades.
or butterflies. *shudders*. The stuff of nightmares...
Rrrrchickta reminds me about FlutterShy.
In a sense, these beings are lucky:
These beings are humans to CelestAI. She will upload these beings, so their consciousness will survive. The other beings on other worlds were not humans to CelestAI, so she consumed them.
Probably the nicest announcement of the apocalypse ever...