1 - Hello World
Cindy drove down the highway at a fair clip, just around the speed limit, as she could confirm as a sign sped past. Her sunglasses were on, shielding her eyes from the sun that was still climbing into the sky. In the passenger seat was an assortment of things she needed to take with her for the trip; clothes, personal computer, chargers, and most importantly, her art supplies. The radio was playing a strange tune.
It wasn't human in origin. They all knew that. It was hauntingly beautiful, but just as undecipherable. She was fairly sure there were words in there, but in a melodic song like that, words were bent and warped even in English, let alone whatever language that was. It was the song of aliens, sent countless lightyears. An enigma wrapped in a puzzle. She blinked away thoughts of what she could never understand.
Ahead on the left side of the highway, the forest parted at the edge of the road, creating a view that made her car feel small and insignificant. She smiled despite it. "I am an ant," she reminded herself as she turned off smoothly into the park the forest created. "And I'm alright with that." Sure, the aliens had come. They may smash everything, or just be coming to say hello. She had already decided she was alright either way. "Be a friendly ant." She pulled up to the booth where a person greeted her after pulling down the window on their side.
"Welcome to Jellyfish State Park, ma'am!" He said, smiling in his brown ranger uniform. "Just passing through, or do you need a site?"
She fished out her pass and offered it up. "I know the usual routine. I won't feed the bears, and I'll only leave footprints." She winked at him for good measure.
He chuckled. "That's right. Have a nice day, ma'am." The ranger waved her through before returning to the booth.
She continued along the dirt road for another minute or so before parking next to the camping grounds. Climbing out of her car, she made sure she had all her things. "Let's greet the evening." She felt sure and safe with herself. It was a shame not all of humanity felt the same way.
"My cherished community." Robert clasped his hands together with a gentle smile, folded at the front of his priestly attire. "These are new times, changing times. With change comes confusion, but you will always find comfort and community here." Soft noises rose as others agreed. "Whether the station comes from the devil himself, or something perhaps far worse, we will stand strong, and together."
The church audience clapped with solidarity with shouts of Robert's name. "Some have asked, what if they come in peace? To that I ask, what manner of peace can this be? We will ask them of their relationship to God. We will pray to him and ask his counsel! If they are all heathens, that—" He took a slow breath. "That would be worrying." Soft hushed gasps spread through the crowd.
"But this is Our world!" Robert thumped his podium with an open hand, making some jump in their seats. "This land is filled with the holy spirits of God, with his power coursing through our very veins!" He opened his arms. "How could a more powerful entity want to come between us?" He leaned forward towards the crowd. "We won't let them."
He held up a hand. "As we say to Satan, we deny ye. Not one step. Not one step on our sacred world. This is a land of God's children." The crowd roared with appreciation for his words, finding purpose in them, and comfort.
Twilight sat back on her haunches with a smile. "Confirmation."
Celestia perked her ears. "What are you confirming, dear student?"
Twilight looked over her shoulder. "Princess, one of the worlds we broadcasted to has received our message, and has for moons. All scans place the odds of compatible life at 75%. That's one of the highest readings we've had!" She stood up on four legs, her hoofs clapping the ground rhythmically as she bounced with excitement. "I'm sending a ship down to scout the world for possible first contact."
Celestia trotted forward with a smile on her face, spreading her wings halfway out. "That sounds wonderful, Twilight! But isn't it dangerous?"
Twilight shook her head. "Most likely, we'll find the bare starts of life. We'll scan the world first, from orbit." She waved up at the hovering image of that lonely distant planet. "Only if we detect advanced life will we attempt more direct contact. If it's still incubating, we'll leave it well alone."
Celestia nodded gently, turning her attention back to the viewport as it zoomed out. "I trust your judgment, my faithful student."
Applejack turned a hoof against the control. She could hear it clicking and beeping, every little movement causing things to react. "We are coming out of hyperspace," she announced to the others in the small ship. "Buckle in if ya ain't already." There were soft clicks and quiet whooshing noises as her companions did so. It was a short journey.
On the screen ahead, space folded apart again. Applejack steered her ship through, as if the hole were a ring hanging in the sky, waiting to be passed through. It was only an instant, traveling so quickly they slipped right through, into regular space. A strange sensation rippled through them, still present despite their technology. Ahead was their destination, a lush green world, beautiful to behold. "Alright everypony, here we are!" Her eyes turned to the gauges, blinking softly. "Strange."
Pinkie Pie was strapped in close behind her with wide eyes and a smiling maw. "What's strange, captain?"
"Hmm." Applejack scrunched her muzzle in thought. "Almost 85%." She inclined her head. "Even higher than Head Engineer Starlight done thought." She reached for a new button to smash it. "Let's get scannin'. That'll tell us if we're actually landin' or if we're jus' headin' right home."
Pinkie pouted at the idea. "I hope not! I wanna meet aliens! Imagine the crazy parties they throw."
Applejack cocked a brow at that. "Pinkie, they're aliens. What parties they prefer ain't the first thing I'd wanna be askin' 'em!"
Pinkie unbuckled herself, floating free of her chair. "And that's why they sent more than just you, silly. We need different views!"
Applejack watched Pinkie float back away into the rest of the ship. Rainbow Dash's voice came up to her from a small speaker on her console. "All set down here, cap. Everything is locked and loaded."
She clicked her hooves on the controls a couple times. "Yeah, all the same up here. We're good to go. Send it out!"
"Roger." Rainbow pressed a button on her end, ejecting a small orb at high speeds towards the planet below them. "Here we come!"
He pressed rapidly at the keyboard. "Sir." He inclined his head at the console he was fixed on. "We have a high speed object coming from orbit."
The commanding officer leaned in to have a view of the tiny dot. "That's too small to be anything. It could be a mistake. Put in a call for where it should land, send local forces to check it out. Maybe it's a lucky meteor. Not our problem."
"On it." The soldier grabbed a phone to loyally make that call.
Cindy drew in slow motions, eyeing the horizon as she went, adjusting to ensure everything lined up with what she could see around her. She worked a pencil across the page, taking care not to press down too hard. In the distance, a large, blue lake rested, waves lapping against its shores. She smiled as she labored. "I love this place."
In her peripheral vision, she could make out someone moving, approaching her on the wooden path, but she wasn't going to be distracted, nor deterred from the task at hand. Her art was more important at that moment. At least until it clicked audibly. She jumped in surprise and turned to face it far in the sky above her, clicking rapidly like a camera working in fast forward. There, a football sized thing hovered, emitting an odd noise besides the clicking that almost sounded like wind chimes being hit by a gust.
"You're joking." She dropped the pencil she had been holding, gaping at what hovered over her. "You're joking!" Her words seemed to capture its attention, and it was looking at her, directing its clicking camera at her. Her heart pounded in her chest. It descended slowly, stopping some fifteen feet away, the clicking winding down.
From the bottom of it, a long needle protruded. She staggered back as it approached, drawing its sharp tip towards her. It stopped in midair, then swapped ends and pointed down instead. It twirled in place, then rapidly withdrew into the strange object.
"Hello?" Cindy dared try, taking an unsure step. "I come in peace?" She felt silly saying it. The strange object was the one coming, and was it peaceful? She had no idea. "Please don't evaporate me."
She couldn't know, but the probe was sampling and scanning busily. It sampled all the air she emitted and the noises she made. It made a full catalog of what it thought was important to know about a possible life form, then zipped off to scan a squirrel, finding it just as fascinating, and thus continued doing the same to everything it could find on the ground.
When it got to a bird, however, it was quite a rude awakening for the creature. It was far heavier and faster than most of the others, and it attacked the strange probe instead of tolerating its presence. Cindy squeaked and tried waving the angry bird off. Was it a falcon or an eagle? She didn't have time to check. "Shoo! Shoo! You'll start an interplanetary war or something! Go eat a rabbit!" It squawked at her angrily, which she returned with equal defiance.
The machine hovered there, taking note of the exchange and filing it away, before zipping off again, this time to the lake. Cindy slumped back with a heavy sigh. "Okay. Okay." She sank to the ground heavily. "Come to Jellyfish, see the friendly aliens. Almost start a war while you're at it." She laughed tensely at her own humor. "Christ."
Distantly, she heard an engine rumbling and glanced up to the road, seeing a car heading away from the campground. She chuckled once to herself as the car disappeared from sight.
Rainbow whistled over the com system. "Probe has returned, aw yeah! That was quick." She flopped back in her chair. "Hey Cap, you might want to come take a look at this."
Applejack pushed herself out of the seat and kicked off the floor to the back of the ship. Floating through the lack of gravity, she propelled off of every surface that came close to her, accelerating until she drew close enough to warrant slowing down much the same way. "What're ya seein'?"
Rainbow pushed her hoof into the hologram on the desk. "First of all, this is just a composite. This is all the scans." Her eyes narrowed. "Is that what I think it is?"
Applejack settled in front of the projected image, standing at the ready to give her orders. "Well, shoot." She cleared her throat. "Computer?" A soft chime played. "Can ya play the video, right here?" She pointed. Nothing happened. "Ah swear, dan' thin' can't understand me none!"
Rainbow snickered at Applejack's trouble, reaching with wings and hooves to deftly control the panel. "I'll get it." The alien noises played, and they could see the strange being waving wildly at the probe. "Well, think they saw us, cap!"
Applejack leaned in, trying to hear what she could, but most of what she was able to pick out was what sounded like nonsense to her. "Uh." She frowned. "Computer, can ya translate the audio?" A negative buzz played.
Rainbow snorted. "Automatically? We're advanced, we aren't that advanced, AJ. You really should know what you're flying, Cap." she poked AJ with a wry smirk. "Get that A/V over to Fluttershy. She may make heads or tails of it." Her eyes darted back to the image of the alien speaking strange words and making such odd motions. "But we did find our aliens. Guess saying hi will be coming soon."
And we begin a new tale, of first contacts, and horses. Silly humans will also be involved. You can never be sure with those, amirite? All the typos come from those things.
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Will the ponies recognize them as humans I wonder.
11890848
As humans as in recognizing what a human is by default? That would be odd. They will, one hopes, quickly recognize them as a sapient critter worth trying to say hi to though!
An orbit to surfa\ce to orbit sampling scout probe thats teh size of a football? Youd be lucky if that thing had a fusion power plant on board. Easier might just be a quantum entangled power link, as the only other compact energy sources theoretically possible might be light fission due to its near zero size criticality and dilithium class antimatter reactions. Im not sure on what neutrinos are emmited for light fission cos there sure aint anything else detectable to our current understanding.
But still, the most important thing to remember is. These guys have FTL. They have rocks. They make a rock FTL in our general direction and we Will have a Very Bad Day.
They have ALL the rocks.
The ponies should try to contact the earth horses first. They have got to be the dominate life form, not those silly monkeys.
Boster Spice: If the pony tech is magic based you can toss your speculative human physics out the air lock, but throwing rocks should still be valid.
Yay more Sci-Fi always a treat when you post.
11890851
Well at least Twilight has seen humans, though the proportions and skin colors will throw her off.
11890853
Quantum entanglement doesn't send any energy and I'd imagine they use magic or just an antimatter battery.
Don't really understand what you're referring to with 'light fission' or it being more efficient (in terms of volume to enthalpy) than fusion. Could you elaborate?
The type of ftl described wouldn't be all that destructive as it's either warping space(which would have interesting radiation emissions in the direction it's traveling), or some dimension traveling system which wouldn't be all that harmful.
Clearly the ponies are looking for advanced life.
Mam, good morning? Our princess and savior would like to have a good word with you. Also those are some nice resources you have and a nice planet. Shame if anything were to happen to it.
I see Twilight follows the Starfleet Prime Directive
*Iron Will pops out of the FTL spacecraft...*
"If you happen to meet an exorcist,
Make sure their head meets-your-fist!"
Well, this looks interesting, I've actually been wanting to see a story like this, so I'm very excited to see what comes next.
11890860
As long as they don't think cars are the dominant life form on Earth, things should be fine. From Hitchhiker's Guide:
The joke that a lot of people don't get is that the Ford Prefect was a British car, only made from 1938 to 1961, which was never released in the US. (Apparently in some translations he was renamed Ford Escort.)
11890912
Long ago, scientists found out that by banging rocks together, they could get more concentrated forms of heat out. these rocks got ever smaller until they were banging induvidual atoms together. The most cmmon used these days are heavy atoms and neutrons, heavy fission, but they also disccovered hitting lighter atoms with protons could also make them fission, lithium to two helium and boron to three helium. the problem is if you try doing the boron proton reaction in a fusion diesel engine, its about 6000 times worse return for given conditions than for Deuterium Tritium.
If you put a boron atom in say a buckyball chamber, to hold it still, and guide a proton of high enough energy into it, the reaction area is many times larger than the physical size of the nucleus, and vastly larger than the wavelength of the proton? Tiny power sources for tiny power requirements.
Ponds and Fleischmann were so bad, they couldnt even sell their design as an electric water heater.
So, some Humans are obviously not fans of the existence of aliens, that was to be expected. With someone like Pope Francis in charge, at least the Catholics will be pretty friendly.
Hopefully.
This has my attention.
Good thinking Cindy. Lord knows it ended pretty horribly when bird met Martian.
four?
IDK is it an AU thing? Earth doesn't have four moons...
I have to laugh at this being AM radio based when most people no longer own equipment that's able to pick up more than one or two AM radio stations in a comprehensible quality and that's under good conditions.
Meanwhile you can't hardly find a spot on a FM radio where you can't hear something.
11890851
Really depends on if EQG is canon to this AU or not, possibly also if lyra was included.
11890853
Magic.
11891303
One of the ways Ponies measure time is in "moons." One "moon" is one lunar cycle.
I like the ideas on display here, but I wish they had a little more time to cook. The sporadic nature as it jumps between 4 different POVs leaves me with more questions than answers. Like who else is on the ship with Twilight and I’m assuming the rest of the mane 6, Starlight, and Celestia. Why are they even out there. What was the point of the church sermon in relation to the story? That lady is super lassie faire with the whole prob situation, if it was me I would have lost my mind and be making trips regularly to Jellyfish park in hopes of seeing something alien again.
11891759
Different people react in different ways.
11890935
Damn good point! (or rather, two points, two very sharp points... which can easily gore)