The good of the many

by Dafaddah

Chapter 10: Webs for browsers

In the residential wing of Canterlot Castle, Dr. Laura Connor followed Minister Hoofing and Princess Luna as they approached the suite of one Twilight Sparkle. The palace guard had informed them that this is where Princess Celestia was currently located. While Laura and the Princess stood by, the Minister knocked at the ornate door.

A moment later the door opened, revealing a small and rather rotund reptilian face peering up at them. "Hello Princess Luna, Minister Hoofing. Is that who I think it is?" he examined Laura as if he expected her to jump him.

"Indeed, Spike. Perhaps if we come in we can do proper introductions?" said the old mare a bit archly.

"Oh, of course. My apologies. Please do come in." said Spike, whose coloration reminded Laura of nothing so much as one of those singing dragons on kids' shows.

When they had entered into the apartment's main room, they saw two others ponies there: a lavender unicorn, and a white alicorn, the biggest pony Laura had seen thus far.

"Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, and Twilight Sparkle, my guardian." When Spike said their names each of the two ponies bowed their head in greeting.

Princess Luna introduced Laura. "And may I introduce Dr. Laura Connor, chief scientist of the Celest project at CERN." Laura bowed her head as the other two had done.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Connor. This is my second such meeting with a human visitor in a very short time." said the white colored Princess. "I suspect you have many questions."

"Indeed, your Highness. But I must admit that Minister Hoofing and Princess Luna have already done an admirable job in terms of answering my basic questions. My immediate concern is to learn about your intentions towards me and towards my kind."

"Ah. That is indeed a complex and difficult issue," agreed Celestia. "Unless I'm mistaken, there are three avenues open to us in these regards. The first is to establish our motives and how we relate to your universe. The second is to convince you that we are not exaggerating the dire nature of the current circumstances and are indeed being honest and transparent with you. The third is to help equip you to independently verify this from within your own universe. If we manage these three things, will we have satisfied your concern?"

"This seems like a tall order, but I do agree in principal that this would likely suffice." said Laura cagily, not willing to commitment before the evidence was before her.

Sunset Hoofing chuckled warmly. "Be careful with this human, your Highness. She is as intelligent and slippery as any of the brightest ponies on my staff. Still, she has so far demonstrated a capacity for unflinching honesty, of which I very much approve."

"Well, then. It would seem you've already won Minister Hoofing's approval! So let's get started." She pointed a graceful white foreleg towards a group of cushions arranged in a circle nearby. "Shall we get comfortable first?"

"I'll get some tea and snacks," volunteered Spike, running off.

When everypony was resettled, the Princess resumed her explanations. "First there is the matter of our motivation. I believe you have had occasion to spend considerable time with many of the ponies working in the Ministry of Science, as well as a brief view of Canterlot. Let me ask you, what is your opinion of our citizens whom you have met?"

Laura gathered her thoughts. "The ponies I've met have all seemed to be generally nice individuals, and many of those at the Ministry demonstrated surpassing intelligence with a true passion for scientific investigation. Of those I saw outside the ministry, I would say that the citizens of Canterlot seem to be a rather energetic and happy lot. Also, I have been walking about with one of the co-rulers of the nation without an entourage of security guards, so personal security seems not to be much in question for either citizens or their rulers. Either that or your security forces are extremely discrete!"

Celestia grinned. "Minister Hoofing was correct as usual. You are both perceptive and honest. I know this was not necessarily a very broad sampling of Equestrian society, but you did arrive unannounced, and even after Princess Luna discovered your presence we gave you free rein to walk about and discover what you would. Equestria has nothing to hide, nor did we try to do so."

"I wondered why you let me pursue my investigation, even after it became evident I was being tailed," said the human.

"To explain what we could want from your world, let me first provide a social context for ours: many of the pressures that exist in your world are absent here. Everypony feels a deep emotional attachment to their fellows in the herd, so there is very little crime or violence in comparison to your world. As herbivores, anypony who is hungry can just graze wherever there is forage, and as the population is over 90% rural, finding grass or other plants to eat is never a problem. We do not consume fossil fuels as magic drives most of our power needs. Our air and waters are pristine. Our population is quite stable and we are under no threat of invasion from a foreign power. There is simply nothing material we would wish to take from your world.

"And then there is physics. In essence, any material contact between our worlds is impossible as our universes exist on separate branes in an m-brane structure.

"There are however many things we do get from your universe: information, knowledge, culture, music, technology. These we receive mostly through dreams, as in fact your world receives much the same from ours. So this is our mutual relationship: strangers from afar who can share ideas but never touch. We mean you no harm, and in fact appreciate and are grateful for what we have learned from our exchanges.

"Now we touch on the second point. This has to do with the m-brane convergence. Dr.Connor, how familiar are you with m-brane theory and the possible consequences of a brane collision?" enquired the white alicorn.

"Enough to know that, theoretically at least, any such occurrence would produce an explosion of unprecedented magnitude, or as one of my colleagues has put it: 'ruin our whole day forever'!"

"Indeed. Now I will have to ask you to take one element of this explanation on faith: that my sister and I have both lived a very long time, millennia as you count years. I have in my long life encountered two occasions of approaching brane collisions. The first one Luna and I faced together over a thousand years ago. The second about 500 years ago I faced alone.

"The only way to avert a brane collision is essentially to create a positive pressure between the universes. Thankfully, this pressure does not have to be exerted over the entirety of space, but rather only those locations where the branes are approaching each other, of which there is only ever one. If that point can be precisely located, a relatively small pressure may be enough to avert the disaster."

"Why is there only one?" asked Laura.

The two Princesses looked at each other. With a look of determination, the younger princess answered. "This is because there is usually a source of energy drawing the branes together. This almost never occurs naturally."

Laura rose up, indignant. "You mean this crisis was created?!"

Celestia raised a placating hoof. "The two previous occurrences were the aftermaths of magical altercations of very significant power in this universe."

"However, this occurrence appears to have its origin in the human universe." declared Luna. Surprise showed on everypony's face but Minister Hoofing's.

"And how have you determined that?" interjected Laura.

Luna replied calmly. "In the locus of greatest proximity, information begins to leak more freely between universes. That is why we have 'perceptual exchange' events nearby, hence your assumption of Glowball's body. Your investigations today seems to indicate that the source may be a large tubular structure, one that does not exist in our world. Therefore it must be located in yours. Also, we saw the look on your face when Slide Rule showed you his 3D plot. You recognized the structure, did you not?"

Laura was struck speechless. She had come to much the same conclusion.

Princess Celestia looked beseechingly at the human. "Dr. Connor, time is short. Is what my sister says true?"

"Yes, I cannot refute it." whispered Laura.

"Then I believe we have come to the third point in our discussion. We need you to verify this information and help us pinpoint the precise location of the convergence. It may even be possible for you to disrupt the force currently drawing the two branes together. Minister Hoofing and my sister will assist you in these preparations. I have to prepare the means to exert the positive pressure between universes. We may also need the assistance of another person in your universe, with which my student Twilight Sparkle has been exchanging perceptions. She has devised a plan on how to coordinate our efforts, please work with her in these regards.

"So Dr. Connor, do we have your support?" Celestia stared at the human intently.

"I have to make such a decision on so little information. And of much of what you have told me I only have on your word. But I must admit, that the situation in the human world fits closely with what you have presented, and what I have observed. And I cannot imagine a more dire circumstance than a brane collision in proximity to our worlds. Despite the fact that all this is not much, it is enough to convince me to continue working with you. So you have my cooperation, until such a time as I change my mind." concluded Laura with a crooked smile.

"We are grateful, Dr, Connor. The survival of both our worlds depends on our joint success. Good luck, we shall meet again later tonight." Celestia rose, and the rest of the company followed suit, bowing as the white alicorn exited Twilight Sparkle's apartments.

Twilight looked at the gathered faces. "Okay, let me explain my cunning plan to allow us to coordinate between universes and team members. Spike, get me my sleeping cap!"

***

Glowball was getting nervous. It had become obvious that Peter was starting to get annoyed that she was still in his office. Her illicit use of his computer had been one of the most intense information gathering experiences of her life. She wanted more, but she knew she had to leave before he became suspicious of her. The trouble was that she had no clue where her office was in the complex warren of buildings she had spent the morning visiting. She had an idea on how to find it, but to implement it she had to get away from Peter, and hope that scientific research departments here functioned much as they did in Equestria.

"Hey Peter," she said while standing up, "Time for a bio-break. I'll be back in a few," she said rising up.

"Sure. But don't try any tricks to get away from me."

Glowball's wince must have show in her face.

Peter smiled and explained, "I promised Abigail to get you to the entrance on time for her to pick you up, and I take my commitments seriously!"

"Sheesh, who's the the boss around here, anyway?" She gave him a severe look, before leaving the office in an ersatz huff. 'Phew!' she thought as soon as she was out in the corridor, 'This guy and Rock Candy should get together sometime. Talk about twins separated at birth.'

She now began phase two of her plan. If this department was organized like her own, the chief's office would not be too far from her assistant's. She glanced in both directions and chose to go to her left. Luckily, each office had a name plate next to the door identifying its occupant. First door down was full of machines spitting out paper with printed text on them. The plate next to the door read 'Printers'. The plate for the one after that read 'Gloria Schmidt'. Glowball was passing the open door when a voice called out: "There you are!"

The mare in human form was beginning to think her luck had deserted her. She was hoping to avoid further complications. She put on what she hoped was an 'I'm busy leave me alone' expression, and turned back to the door. "Hello Gloria. What's up?"

"Well, Dr. Connor, you've been all over the place this morning and haven't signed off the time sheets or the monthly report. I have them printing next door, give me a moment and I'll get them for you to sign."

"Sure," responded Glowball. "Take your time."

Gloria gave her a funny look, as if this was not what she had expected, but then must have decided not to look a gift pony in the mouth and hurried off to the printers.

Glowball quickly scanned the room's contents, and grinned in victory. She could not believe her luck! This must be her secretary. As a further proof that this was her lucky day, right there on the wall in Gloria's office was a floor plan of the department and its offices. She quickly located Peter's, Gloria's and her own on the plan. It was indeed the next one down the corridor from Gloria's. She also saw the location of the restrooms, which was in truth becoming a pressing need.

Gloria returned with a bunch of papers clutched in her hand and a pen. Moving to her desk she placed them on its surface, and gave the pen to Glowball, who looked at the forms and signed wherever there was a likely looking line. She had to purposely look away while signing and her hand seemed to 'remember' what it needed to do. She really needed to investigate how this was possible! However, first things first.

"Say Gloria, I seem to have forgotten my computer password." She looked at the female human innocently.

"Not again! Here - and please try to memorize it this time." She scribbled on a little yellow square and peeled off the top sheet, giving it to Glowball. She noted that the underside was annoyingly sticky under one end.

"Thanks." Glowball beat a hasty exit and went the remaining short distance to her office, entering and closing the door after her. "Phew!" This time she said it aloud. Like a foal on Hearth's Warming morning, she rushed over to the computer, and used one finger at a time to type in her password. It worked! She now had unlimited and unsupervised access to the mother load of all knowledge! She cackled in glee, rubbing her hands together while trying to make up her mind what she would look up first on the 'web'.

Just then there was a knock on her door. Hiding her irritation at the interruption, she called out: "Enter."

It was Peter. "I thought you said you'd be right back." He looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, I got sidetracked signing some forms."

"As usual. We'll the departmental meeting starts in ten minutes, so you just have time to go before we head to the conference room. I'll wait for you here."

Glowball tried not to let her frustration show, as she made haste for the restroom. 'Grrrr.,' she growled inwardly, 'this guy must be Rock Candy's evil twin. Can an evil pony even have an evil twin? Does this make Peter the evil-er twin?' Her rumination crashed to a halt when she saw that there were two doors, with funny symbols on them, where the plan had shown the entrance to the restrooms should be. Which one was the right one? She waited in indecision for a minute when another of the bipeds entered through the right hand door. That must be the correct door, so she entered. The lone occupant was standing against a wall obviously urinating into some white porcelain looking contraption. His eyes grew wide as he saw Glowball.

"Hey chief, are you looking for someone?" he asked, his face getting a deep shade of red as he continued his business.

Feeling that something was not quite right, Glowball backed out of the room in haste. Furthermore, she had absolutely no idea how a mare, uh female human, would use those wall devices. With all the sounds of rushing water about, it was becoming somewhat more urgent to figure it out as well.

She waited again outside the washrooms, until this time a female human arrived and entered the left hand door. Wanting to make sure that she could learn by observation she followed the female inside. There were none of the wall contraptions, just individual stalls. She found an open one and entered.

A few minutes later Glowball exited the washroom feeling relieved in more than one sense of the word. The plumbing - human female and commode in the stall - weren't so hard to figure out after all. She resolved to remember the pictogram on the door so as to not repeat the embarrassment in the future, and walked back to 'her' office.

Peter was standing at the door. "Let's go," he said.

Glowball looked in dismay at the cheerfully glowing computer screen on her desk, fully aware that she would be delayed from galloping through its infinite grassy fields of knowledge, browsing wherever the data was sweetest. She turned and followed Peter, walking as if she was under a cloud.

She was still grumbling under her breath when the first shockwave hit.

Comments

[Dafaddah]

Hello dear readers,

Here is chapter 10: intrigue, diplomacy, sleeping caps, herbivores, browsers, plumbing and data-lust!

Dafaddah

[Corona Blaze]

more please!

[Mythee]

Waarghgh shockwave?! Ohboyo. Also. Awesome plot developments. 8D The pacing is very enjoyable!

[BenRG]

Oops. Gravitational foreshock waves from the approaching branes. This is = "Not a Good Thing".

[Ponygon]

This chapter is as far as I've got in the time since I last typed to you. I'm really enjoying the story so far (I tend to read these stories on my Kindle E-reader—it's easier on the eyes). One thing I can't help but wonder though is why Twilight's and Glowball's 'perceptual exchanges' are so geogrpahically divergent, given that the source of the convergence appears (so far) to be the LHC.