You Are Located Here
Flynn, Logan, and Kepler were full of wide eyes. They had found a narrow gap between the mountain's cliffs and the furthest Edgeside platform of the abandoned city, and they had utilized the chaotic energy of the scoured metals to glide the wagon onto one of the elevated roads. Now they were slowly cruising through the upper heart of the vacant metropolis, making their way towards where the rest of the group had gathered.
As they glided along, they saw the figures of Rainbow, Ariel, and Wildcard flying overhead.
Kepler adjusted his spectacles. He gazed at them, then continued gawking at the rest of the urban surroundings.
Flynn mouthed curse words of amazement as his mechanical eye rotated in and out.
Logan was silent... contemplative... cautious. His gaze lingered more on their distant friends than anything else. He stared at a silver figure in particular...
Swooooooooosh! Ariel landed first. She turned to face the companions she had summoned there.
"Okay..." She stood in the middle of an elevated bridge, catching her breath. "...so I was flying around, and I found this." She pointed at a tall structure standing up in the middle of the courtyard behind her. A monolith. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a marker of some sort. Perhaps for giving directions."
"Yeah...?" Rainbow Dash flew down along with Wildcard. "...well, if that was the case, it'd have to have a bunch of writing on it."
"It does," Ariel said with a slight smirk. She stepped sideways, gesturing. "Feast your eyes."
Wildcard looked at Rainbow.
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. Slowly, she glided forward and hovered evenly with the tall black structure.
Sure enough, there were white etchings in the obsidian surface of the monolith. They were too small to be read at a distance. Rainbow guessed that they were designed purposefully to be read up close, and—judging from the writing's elevated distance from the floor below—they were meant to be read by beings who could fly... like she was right now.
Wildcard and Ariel crowded behind Rainbow, craning their necks to see the writing as well. Twilight, Applejack, and the others had to phase through the Heraldites to get close enough.
Rainbow's eyes darted left and right, studying each character and etching carefully. Her lips pursed, weathering swift, fervent breaths.
"Well, Rainbow?" Rarity looked aside. "Any thoughts?"
"See anything you recognize, Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.
"This..." Rainbow's ears twitched. "...this looks very familiar..." Her tail flicked. "I mean... I don't understand any of it. But the... the alphabet that's being used... the characters—" Her voice went silent as her eyes locked on something.
"What?" Pinkie leaned in closer, phasing through Rainbow's own face. "What is it? Whaaaaaat?"
Twilight gently shoved Pinkie away so Rainbow could no longer be blinded. "Rainbow Dash...?"
"This... this one tiny thingy right here..." Rainbow pointed at what resembled a blossoming flower with vibrant petals. "...this is one half of 'Eljunbyro.'"
Twilight's eyes widened. "You sure about that?!"
"Wait..." Ariel exchanged glances with Wildcard. "...did she say 'Eljunbyro?'"
"But it's not. It's just... using the same character..." Rainbow thought aloud. "The same language..."
Wildcard cocked his head aside.
"And..." Rainbow pointed at a round symbol with other circles inside. "...this looks a bit like 'Ynanhluutr.' Only... the stuff inside the big circle are different." She gulped. "Must be a different word..."
"Is this the same language the Xonans used?" Ariel asked.
Rainbow gulped. "Yes." She flew back a bit, shuddering slightly. "It is."
Wildcard gestured something.
Ariel nodded. "Yep. They sure did love using circles."
"Uh huh..." Rainbow sighed. "Lots and lots of circles..."
"There's a super big one up there," Ariel said, pointing towards the top of the monolith. "Like... bigger than all the rest. I figured it was the most important."
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked up at the top of the structure. She immediately did a double-take, her eyes widening. "Holy crap!"
Wildcard and Ariel flinched.
"What?!" Fluttershy clung to Rarity. "What is it—?!"
"Fluttershy!" Rarity whimpered. "Calm down—!"
Fwoooosh! Rainbow Dash flew straight up to the large symbol, gawking at it. "No... friggin'... way..."
"What is it, sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "What's gotten you so spooked?!"
Rainbow's eyes twitched as they followed segmented circles within circles, replete with thick dots occupying each empty space. "This... this is 'Urohringr.'" A gulp. "Straight up. It's friggin' Urohringr."
"You sure about that?" Pinkie asked.
"Sure as I am alive and ticking." Rainbow fought numbness as she continued to gawk at the hauntingly familiar emblem. "It's the same thing I saw guarding the inner chamber of Stratopolis... that showed up constantly in the texts that Pilate scavenged. And... and I'm pretty sure I even saw it deep down in the—" She stopped in mid-sentence. Pensively, she raised her hoof and pressed it against the monolith, making physical contact.
Nothing happened.
"Whewwwwwwwwww..." Rainbow Dash released her hoof and swiped her brow dry. "Not sure my friggin' heart can handle much more today..."
"So, let me get this straight..." Ariel flew closer to Rainbow Dash. "This structure... this city is bearing the same ancient language and symbols that you saw back in Xona? And Stratopolis?" She blinked. "... ... ...even the Machine World?"
"Yes. It's the same. All of it." Rainbow Dash flew back, studying the monolith at a glance. "This entire city. It's..." She froze in mid-speech. She stole a glance at Wildcard and Ariel, then gazed over at her ghostly companions. "Twilight... girls... what if..." Her ears twitched as she gazed up at the stars. "...this is where they lived?"
"Where who lived?" Rarity asked.
"The ancient pegasi. The builders of Urohringr. Those who lived before the Sundering... maybe even those who caused it..." Rainbow took a deep breath. "This was their city. This is where they went about their daily lives. This is where they thrived... and where they eventually lost everything."
Twilight and the others were dumstruck.
Wildcard and Ariel looked nervously about the levels upon levels of empty urbanscape.
"Think about it..." Rainbow Dash murmured. "...if this place was built out of the same stuff that made the Sentinels... that made the mechanical intestines of Urohringr itself... then it's no wonder it's survived so long. And here? On the Dark Side? Devoid of the natural elements that characterize the Light Side? That would otherwise have blanketed or obscured or eroded it into nothingness? This... this is an ancient city frozen forever in time. A pre-prehistoric place. Like... we may totally be the first living souls to have stumbled upon this place in forever."
"Or... or maybe not..." Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash. "Chief Engineer Ranort. The Emeraldinians? Maybe they were here too?"
Rainbow looked around. "This place is so friggin' huge. I don't see how they would have left a mark."
"I wonder if they would have even understood all of this," Rarity remarked. "They didn't possess the same knowledge that the Austraeoh has gathered."
"Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy looked at their anchor. "...what if you were meant to discover this place?"
Silence.
"One thing's for certain..." Rainbow gazed at the monolith again. "...this is the absolute closest I've been to the ancient pegasi and their civilization." She gulped. "Not even Stratopolis is a drop in the bucket now..."
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Interesting.
Noice
I wonder what's it's made of, that it can look like glass or marble. Maybe even metal if the machine world is made of the same stuff.
And so our heroes discover that the city is so old, 'ancient' is a word that doesn't do it justice. But what else lurks in the ruined city of the ancient pegasi?
Tune in for our next episode "The Ancient Pegasi" or "Lords of the Ring!"
Not unexpected. The idea of being "meant" to encounter it is unsettling though.
The rings with gaps with dots in them reminds me of Cageworld, where thick shells are built like Dyson Spheres, nested, at the orbit of each planet, and then the planet is held in a gap in the shell as a way through apart from the ultra speed elevators.
The controlling computer goes a little crazy.
Is this going to be having to find and activate a pattern of monoliths iin a given sequence, or Cybertron just cannot be activated without a far bigger power source?
Okay... I was waiting for the second sentinel to show up, but I didn't expect it right here and now. I thought this was the city of the Spindlers and that they were a living civilization.
But it all makes sense now. The ancient pegasi are the Spindlers. This is what they meant, when they said their souls were too ancient to be harvestable. And when they got hold onto Vy'lyssa's soul, she was also long dead too, so it never meant that the Spindlers are actually alive right now.
But one thing is still weird. How did the ponies that were brought to the dark side as changeling food know about the Spindlers, if they were long dead? Maybe it's just the name they got from someone else and they never actually met them.
I imagine standing in a place where you know millions have died would give one a similar feeling to what the chapter is giving me now, a spooky chill going up one's spine. So Rainbow has found the land of her ancestors, hope something she can use is nearby, as her ancestors really made her life miserable. If it isn't nearby she likely won't find it. It would take years to search a city like this, even by air. Curious that it doesn't react to her touch, is it because there was nothing there to reactivate what she touched? Is it because the cities power source has long since died, having been deemed nonessential to Urorhingr's function? Or is there another reason why the tech is not reacting to her? Guess I will find out later.
An ancient pegasi city.
The sentinels were like their work vans then, as they scooted about doing maintenance and observation and other fun shit.
Hey Dash, see if you can find a dry dock, maybe the Pegasi had a way to maintain the Sentinels, you could get that one up and running.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
This whole thing reminds me of nothing more than in Breath of fire 3, when you cross the dark sea and the endless desert. You find a huge super advanced city, that was completely intact, but devoid of all people.
Boo! over rated!!!
....
...Well now...that is certainly something.
This still begs the question: If the Ancient Pegasi all died off, where are their bodies?
Unless, if what is in that Sentinel is what I think it is....
8557575
I'm petty sure the emerald expedition got the name 'spindlers' from the ponies they found that are believed to have escaped from the changlings.
Ok some answers are incoming bit by bit.
I'm still claiming that this city may predate the ancient pegasi. The pegasi may have just been to most recent civilization that existed post-sundering when the alicorns came 'round. Civilizations exist on the scale of thousands to tens of thousands of years; a fragment of a megastructure could've been drifting for tens to hundreds of millions of years. Without some analogue to plate tectonics, I would expect a wind-erosion resistant building to stand indefinitely.
8557606 Isn't that a funny thought as well? Given that Rainbow is an Austraeoh, she is most likely standing in the city where a countless number of her own direct ancestors lived and died...
8557523 8557524 Both of your comments go quite well with your avatars, given the situation.
8557795 The Sundering was countless millennia ago. Even if nothing destroyed their bodies then, they would have long turned to dust. Also, keep in mind that at least some of them must have survived, otherwise there'd be no pegasi today.
Oh no, the Smooze already got them!
Sorry not sorry.8557606
It also shows how "empty" the current Light Side really is, if you compare it to the former inner habitat. The population of this city alone can exceed that of a continent on the other side.
"stratopolis is a myth."
8557610
They've only found a single piece of the sentinel. The light side one had dozens upon dozens of buildings.
To be honest I wasn’t expecting that but it makes sense.
It is possible that the ancient pegasai are the spindlers. This city is where the name was written back at darkreach. Maybe the swindlers could be remnants of the angels civilization. Or perhaps they are a race that decided to inhabit the city after the angels abandoned it for whatever reason. Also, I like calling the ancient pegasai angels. It gives them a more mysterious and cool vibe. Another thought, if the modern day pony races are the result of the alicorns using harmonic magic on the angels, why don't they know anything about them? We're the angels descendants so lost and confused that they could not remember anything about their past. And the divines, they are said to have hatched from an egg laid by another divine. Why was that divine there in the first place if that was the home of the angels? There are so many unanswered questions and unsolved mysteries. It's so amazing and enraging.
Getting a few Stargate SG-1 vibes here and I'm excited to see what else they'll find in the city, maybe even some more lore on Urohringr
Still two each, I hope. Because euuugh.
....
And
8559189
As long as it isn't brain parasites or giant insects or alien viruses or nanobots or space vampires or...
Ah, who am I kidding. If Stratopolis was any indication, what they'll find here will be worse.
Edit: Another parallel is the Ancient Precursor Race having a penchant for building massive ring-shaped artifacts I guess.
And now I want to know if they had an Internet equivalent.
Death by dum-dum.
You bring me gum-gum?
Pleasepleaseplease let them find a way to read the ancient text. There must be more worldbuilding!
I miss when things were simple like Stratopolis.
Ah jeez...
8557747
Why are you like this?
8562152
Stratopolid? Simple?
Boi, you're definition of simple is pre-equestrian
Hypothesis time?
So what I and some others have gathered is that the rings are meant to be a Dyson Sphere. Outer habitation rings with interior foci rings to capture and disseminate energy from either a black hole (or more likely) a star. Sentinels act as buffers and possible energy transference links.
The engine within the plane is still running. Kind of. Most of it is dormant due to its power source being obviously gone but there is still has some residual power of the star still left; the red flame.
Either the star imploded or exploded at some pre-history moment or the dark form that is known to us as chaos caused it to rupture. Either way the population, which had likely taken shelter in the machine died when the power "went out", mostly perished somewhere inside. The dark side was charred beyond recognition in the ensuing cataclysm due to the sun in either scenario.
RD is a direct descendent of the old race, one that could harness or hold the suns power within their bodies in some form or function. Magically or otherwise. Rainbow has been traveling to each joint in the circuitry and kickstarting the internal engine with the raw energy she holds in her body. She is literally carrying a piece of a star within her like a battery. This is why she can touch things and power them on.
The alicorns who are beings from beyond the penumbra of the universe found the shred of Dyson sphere and habitated the non-charred side. Some of the surviving members of the ancient civilization, likely kept alive in the heart of the rings engine, finally escaped to the other side of the plane when they found life above. These members integrated into pony society and started Dash's lineage. We found one of these in a cave in the first book, carrying a book of his legacy.
9140012
I believe that Urohringr was once a Dyson Sphere, and that ancient pegasi did make it to the light side once the alicorns lit it up, but I dontbelieve thestar exploded. Otherwise, there would be evidence of harm in this city, and there would have been much less unique life than we've seen. My theory is that the star at the center was close to collapse, and the ancient pegasi purposely broke the sphere, perhaps in hope that they would find another star to settle around in the distant future, which would explain why we keep seeing Urohringr's desire to be put back together- it was meant to come apart, but also to come together again, a design any civilization with the intelligence to create a Dyson Sphere would realise the need for, since not even a star could power them forever.
8561844
I mean, could Kepler read them. I suspect Mortuana May know something about it, but then again....she may not know of it.
Did we actually find the language that all the crazy words come from?
Hoo boy, then what's hiding in here?