FUSE
In this part of the Galaxy, nothing interesting ever happened. Floating in the outskirts of the Perseus Arm, there was a dead and cold solar system. Its size, microscopic; its presence, unrecognizable. In this system, there were only two rocky planets orbiting a dim brown dwarf. In fact, calling it a solar system would be an insult to the other stars in the Galaxy.
However, there was something quite peculiar that was about to happen in one of those rocky planets. In one of the liquid water ponds of this planet, near a geothermal vent, thousands of complex molecules floated about, occasionally colliding with each other, forming even longer chains, until one day... One day, they were complete. Life emerged.
1 BILLION YEARS LATER
At this point in time, Man had already touched stars different then his own. Initially driven out of the home world by necessity, now the human race expanded their empire thanks to the Curiosity, the hunger for knowledge, which made them overcome their differences and strive for something greater. The technology developed by Man because of this not only allowed him to visit other stars, or, other galaxies, but could create stars.
In their quest for knowledge, the human race also attempted to find intelligent life. But while the Galaxy was brimming with life, Man found the intelligent variety only twice. Unfortunately, those civilizations had successfully achieved planetary suicide. Planets ravaged by nuclear war and runaway greenhouse effects. All that was left were their corpses.
Unsatisfied with this, a group of scientists built the fastest and most advanced ship in history. Powered by cutting edge black hole technology, this ship could reach the Andromeda Galaxy in 200 years using its Alcubierre drive. They left to find intelligence in Andromeda, after all, 1 trillion stars equals a lot of possibilities. They never returned.
The ones that stayed decided to help developing life to become intelligent. Even though the human civilization was comprised of 5 quintillion individuals, being alone in the Galaxy was unnerving. Man then jumped from solar system to solar system, using his advanced technology to create perfect conditions for life to evolve towards intelligence.
__*__
Many eons passed, but they were still alone. You might be thinking that Humanity failed this mission. But you’d be wrong. In fact, they had succeeded many times.
Intelligent life had a problem, however. It had the tendency to self-destruct. Not long after it emerged, the individuals of many different species on many different planets battled long and terrible wars, for an enormous variety of reasons. Resources, technology, and surprisingly, fertile mates.
Whenever Man tried to intervene, things got worse. If he gave them technology, the wars ended up faster than usual and sometimes doomed the entire planet and the other inhabitants. If he gave them resources, they progressively lost their intelligence, because there was no need for it.
What was lacking in all those civilizations was Curiosity. The curiosity that made Humanity put their differences aside to unveil the secrets of the unknown. But it wasn’t as simple as editing the DNA of the sapient species Man created. Doing it too soon and their curiosity got them killed. It happened to the cat. Waiting too long, and they would use the knowledge obtained from this impulse for discovery to destroy each other. But there was no way to know when to insert curiosity in the hearts and minds of these young civilizations.
The scientists decided to let Nature take its course. And to repeat this mission over and over again, until it worked. All they had to do was to wait for the probabilities to exhaust themselves.
In time, mankind grew tired and started to lose faith. A large amount of the population decided to leave the Milky Way and visit other galaxies before they were too far away for them to reach. Many of Man’s constructions were abandoned, some of them drifting out into space, destined to float forever in a sea of emptiness.
But one day…
One day a large human vessel, on its way to exit the Galaxy, stumbled across a small brown dwarf at the edge of the Perseus Arm. The Captain resolved to land on one of the planets orbiting the failed star. He had visited all the stars in the galaxy, so why he didn’t remember this system?
What he found surprised him greatly: microbial life, thriving in a harsh environment, struggling to evolve into macroscopic beings. Looking in the sky, he saw a moon. A feeling of nostalgia enveloped him. He remembered. He remembered Earth, its beautiful sky with the Moon, and beneath it, life prospering and the civilization growing. He knew it. He knew this could be true again. Right here, on this planet. He was the last human living in his original, biological body, or as his colleagues kindly called it, meat bag. The technology allowed his body to live indefinitely, and he was thankful for it. He didn’t want to lose the sensation of being alive. To breathe, to touch, to feel. And after years living in space, landing in this planetoid made him realize that he could feel again.
Wasting no time, the Captain left a small beacon device on the planet and then returned to his ship, and from it launched a small package containing billions of nanobots towards the failed star. They collided. The nanites, surviving the impact, started to self-replicate at an astonishing speed, quickly covering the entire brown dwarf. Then, the star slowly started to shrink and to glow. Its temperature rising steadily, until it suddenly engulfed the nanites and started to burst material from its surface. It moved, alive. It was no longer a failed star.
The Captain left, and promised to himself to one day return.
__*__
2 BILLION YEARS LATER
THE DAWN OF PONIES
In this part of the Galaxy, nothing interesting ever happened. Except, of course, the little rocky planet orbiting an also unusually little star. Down there on the surface, there was life everywhere, all kinds of it. And that included predators and preys.
On the surface of the planet there was a group of small herbivore creatures near a lake, in search for food. Luckily, a fructiferous tree resided next to the lake. Unfortunately, the fruits themselves were out of the reach of most of them because of the size of the tree. And also, a group of carnivorous, ironically made out of wood wolf-like animals was lurking in the thin forest.
These herbivores could be divided in three races: the ones with small wings that allowed them to fly short distances, the ones with horn-like protrusions coming out of their heads, and the ones without these extra appendages but with stronger muscles. The winged ones could grasp the fruits from the tallest trees, and could easily dodge most predators. The ones with horns could use it to reach fruits that were in places higher than they could jump, and most importantly, use it to defend themselves from predators. The ones with muscles could use them to kick trees, causing a few fruits to fall, or jump higher to get them with their mouths. And a powerful kick in the right place could stun a predator, maybe even making it unconscious.
The group of small creatures was aware of the danger, and the winged ones were the first ones to get the fruits they needed to last a few days and leave. The muscular creatures gave powerful kicks at the base of the tree, to no avail. In fact, the situation got worse, now the “Timberwolves” knew where they were. The muscular herbivores quickly jumped on one another until one of them, for a brief period of time, was high enough to knock down a few fruits. Then they ran away with the small amount of apple-like fruits that fell from the tree, leaving two horned creatures behind.
The creatures began to panic, because they couldn’t reach the fruits and they could feel the earth shaking with the steps of the wolves coming for them. If they left now, they could escape, but would starve to death a few days later. If they stayed there and kept trying to do the same things the others did to obtain the fruits, they would die in the mouths of the timberwolves. After all, repeating the same process over and over again hoping things will change is insane.
One of the creatures remembered that, not too long ago, it had found a strange glowing object in the forest. Out of curiosity, the creature touched the object and felt a strange sensation, the feeling of some sort of energy flowing inside its limb towards its head and body. And in this present moment, the creature could feel it again. With a grunt of effort, the small herbivore focused all of this energy into its head. The action felt… natural. Her stomach rumbled, and she looked at the top of the tree. The apple-like fruits weren’t there anymore. They were on the ground.
This startling realization provoked an epiphany, and the creature, that was the most sapient of all the creatures of this planet, perceived the potential it had in its head. Repeating the action, the pony-like animal focused on a tree stick that was resting on the ground and successfully levitated it. Putting a little more energy in its horn, and the stick was set ablaze. The other creature jumped away, almost having a heart attack.
Suddenly, the wolves appeared, accidentally destroying a few bushes after jumping in the direction of the creatures. They started circling the herbivores, almost tasting their flesh just from seeing them. Easy kill.
In a rapid motion, the female pony-like animal focused all of her energy in her horn-like protrusion and all of the timberwolves burst into flames. There was so much energy involved that it created a shockwave. The wolves died so fast that their screams never left their throats.
Stunned by her own power, the female creature sat on the ground to get her bearings, while the male was picking up the fruits.
__*__
By nightfall, the two creatures had found a place to sleep. Today’s events increased the courage of the creatures enough for them to risk sleeping in a cave. The power she had allowed them to obtain and stock enough food for the entire winter. After making a bed from leaves and branches, the creatures laid down and mated.
__*__
Author's Note
This is my first story. Not just the first fanfiction, but the first story. And it is in English. Who could have imagined?
Special thanks to my sister (LenaNena) for pre-reading :)
Any constructive criticism is appreciated.
ALPHA
1207 YEARS AFTER PRINCESS LUNA RETURNED, 5:23 a.m.
EVERFREE FOREST, 6KM FROM PONYVILLE
“Sir! We found it, sir!” said a brown stallion covered in dirt.
“Where is it?”
“Down here sir, right under the place where the Tree used to be.”
“Oh yes…”
“What is it, sir?”
“I have no idea, but I’ll make sure you get paid in triple.” said Tin Can, walking away from the device. “The Professor will have a stroke when he sees this!”
__*__
4 HOURS LATER
PRINCESS CELESTIA’S SCHOOL FOR GIFTED UNICORNS
“So class,” said an old-looking gray stallion while writing on the white board, “can anyone tell me what is the formula used to calculate the area of a sphere?”
The only thing that could be heard was the snoring of a sleeping student.
“Anyone?”
Before Professor Steel Hooves could start scolding the class, a breathless Tin Can came bursting through the door of the classroom.
“Professor!”
“What the-“
“We found it, Professor! You were right!”
“Where is it?!” exclaimed the Professor.
“It’s upstairs at the lab,” said Tin Can.
“And how does it-“ the Professor suddenly remembered that the students were still there. “Class dismissed.”
All of the students swiftly got up from their chairs and raced for the door, without looking back.
“Children these days, have zero appreciation for learning. All they think about are video games and social networks,” said the gray stallion.
“Well, video games are fun-“
“Don’t start. Now, let’s see that thing you carried here.”
After a few minutes of walking, they found themselves at the lab. The smell of chemicals and plants invaded their nostrils and brought back old memories. The Professor had spent virtually his entire career working at the lab, making experiments and creating new technologies for ponykind. He had worked for the Princesses themselves on two occasions and had won many scientific prizes in many different areas. And while Tin Can was relatively young, he also had his fair share of years spent working in the lab as Steel Hooves’ assistant and protégé.
At the center of the lab stood a tall iron table, and on top of it, an enigmatic black and metallic device rested. On its’ sides, mysterious symbols belonging to an unknown language were written. The device emitted a low hum and an incredibly powerful and dense magic field could be felt and seen by magical beings.
“By Starswirls’ beard…” said the dumbfounded professor.
“You won’t believe where I found this thing,” said Tin Can.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing right now! Right in front of my eyes! This impossible, something this powerful could blow up the planet to shreds, rip a hole in space-time, but it is right here, INTACT! How are we still alive?!”
“Well, I took the liberty to run some tests on this thing, and I can say that you are absolutely right. It is, in fact, opening a hole in space-time that is the size of an atom. But the other end must be insanely distant, maybe even outside of the Universe itself, for it to be using so much energy.”
“Fascinating! Where did you say you found it?” asked the Professor.
“Right under the place where the Tree of Harmony used to be,” answered Tin Can.
“Of course! Only something this potent could power up the Tree of Harmony,”
“But the way it works it’s still a mystery…”
“A mystery that you and I will find out, my friend. Mark my words, this will be the golden age of our careers. An alien object that could energize the entire global population five hundred million times? The only thing that could beat that would be finding the aliens themselves…” conjectured the Professor.
“Yeah…”
“Wait! That’s it! You analyzed this, and confirmed that it is indeed a hole in the fabric of space, correct?”
“And time, yes,”
“All we have to do is to discover where is the other end of the tunnel, and then we will find the aliens! The only problem is the size of the hole… I think it was bigger, but then decayed over time, this thing must have been buried there for ages!”
“Definitely, it was inside a diamond shell so thick that it took three days to penetrate it. The magical pressure is so enormous that it must-“
“-have turned all of the carbon around it into diamond,” completed the Professor.
Master and pupil, stunned. The object in front of them was so advanced that anyone who claimed it wasn’t alien would be considered an idiot. The device could bring a new age of prosperity to Equestria, boosting their technology millions of year into the future, transforming the nation into a superpower. It could even unite the world into a single government, all populations under the rule of the Princesses.
“There is something we are forgetting. Oh, wait. Everyone in the city can feel the magical aura of this thing, and we must keep it secret. Quickly, fetch me the platinum shielding!” said the worried Professor.
“We only have the gold shielding…”
“What? Why?”
“I lent the platinum shielding to Dr. Moon,” answered Tin Can.
“YOU WHAT?! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU: DR. MOON IS MY ARCHNEMESIS!”
“I had no choice, he had Princess Celestia’s authorization!”
Professor Hooves started muttering obscenities under his breath. Dr. Moon was constantly one step ahead, and somehow always obtained the Princesses’ permission to do his experiments, which were mostly the Professor’s own experiments. Dr. Moon stole many of the Professor’s ideas and built his career on top of it.
“Celestia! If only Princess Twilight Sparkle was still alive… Celestia never lets me do my experiments! Always complaining they are ‘too dangerous’ and that they could ‘damage Equestria’. That’s why this country was technologically stagnated for a thousand years! I guess that’s why my ancestor Doctor Hooves disappeared. He must have left after seeing so much ignorance!”
“Professor, stop ranting! The Princesses’ could be watching!”
“I DON’T CARE! I could spend two thousand years petrificated and when I left my stone imprisonment everything would still be the same!”
A silence befell the room. The disapproval of the Professor’s inventions by Princess Celestia frustrated him to no end. He had no idea why she refused to give him permission. He started thinking of himself as Neighkola Tesla, and wondered if when he died his belongings would be seized by the government as well.
“Anyway, cover this up with the gold shielding. I’m going out for a walk.” said the Professor, all the anger in his voice gone. Now he only sounded… tired.
“OK Professor, I will.” responded Tin Can.
The Professor went out for a stroll around the Royal Gardens. Everything was quiet and the sun was descending on the horizon. The sky was a mixture of red and orange, as if someone had set the atmosphere on fire. He could see the expanse of Equestria from there, and down below, in the distance, his place of birth: Ponyville.
“Why did you come here in the first place?” he asked to no one in particular.
__*__
ONE MONTH LATER
“Well, it took a month, but we finally traced the location of the other end of the portal,” said the Professor with a sigh.
“And?”
“It’s way outside the observable universe, more precisely, beyond the edge of understanding,”
“I see,” said Princess Celestia. “And you want to expand it to try to reach the beings that created that device, correct?”
“Yes, Princess, that is exactly it.”
“As much as I’d love to meet them, I’m afraid I can’t allow that experiment to happen,”
“B-But Princess! The device is decaying faster and faster, in about three months it won’t have enough energy to keep the portal open! We’ll be unable to find them after it closes!” exclaimed the Professor.
“And it pains me to do so, Professor Steel Hooves. Do you know why I constantly stop you from doing your experiments? It is not because they’re dangerous, I know that you can keep them under control, it’s because they can be weaponized. Most of your experiments revolve around nuclear physics, and I know the consequences that would fall upon us if we used those weapons of mass destruction. The tensions are brewing between Equestria and the Gryphon Kingdom, and you know that they are a violent race. If this fell on their claws, it could be the end of Equestria. And we’d have to fight back using the same weapons, which is something no living being, no matter how evil it is, should have to go through.”
“I didn’t know that was possible…” the Professor said to himself.
“How come? Princess Luna visited your dreams,” said Celestia.
“I don’t recall having those dreams at all,”
“Perhaps you have forgotten,” answered Celestia, walking towards one of the doors. “Now, if you’ll excuse me Professor, there are urgent matters I must attend to. Have a good afternoon.”
“Yes, yes… Good afternoon to you as well.” said the Professor, pensive.
__*__
“Professor, how are we going to keep the portal open? We would need the power of an entire star!” asked Tin Can.
“My old colleague Freemane Dyson theorized a way to obtain that amount of energy with a sphere or something… but we don’t have the ten years needed to build it, or the resources necessary. We have to try sending a message through the portal as it is,”
“But the thing is the size of an atom! There is nothing that small to traverse it! Is there?”
“Think, young stallion, think! What makes you see the world around you?” said the Professor, quickly connecting wires on a machine.
“What makes me see the world… Light!”
“Yes! More precisely, electromagnetic radiation. An atom, however, is much smaller than the visible spectrum… I hope our alien friend does not mind receiving our message in hard X-Rays.”
“I’m sure it’ll have no problem!” exclaimed an excited Tin Can. “X-Rays, coming out of nowhere? Obviously it will know the source is artificial,”
“Sending message… now!” yelled the Professor, smashing a big red button.
The machine emitted a loud roar, and a typical laser sound could be heard for a few seconds. Then, everything powered down, the lights on the machine slowly fading. Everything went silent. After a few minutes, Tin Can spoke:
“That’s it? No repl-“
BZZZZZZZSSHH
The ground started to shake violently, and the magical field around the alien device started to grow in size, energizing all the other machines in the lab. Suddenly, the device cracked open, emitting a light so strong it was like a glare of an angry god. Space distorted around the device, bending light as if it was spaghetti. Out of the opening, came out floating, a perfectly round, metallic sphere that would make any bald person feel like Samson. And just as suddenly, everything went back to normal, except for the floating metal ball in the middle of the lab.
“What is that?” asked Tin Can.
“I have absolutely no idea.” said the stunned Professor.
The metal ball wasn’t simply floating, it looked as if it was frozen in place, and in time. A two-dimensional hologram sprouted out of it, surprising both of them. It showed a right triangle with different symbols on each side.
“I think… I think it is trying to communicate with us! Using math! Genius!” said an eager Professor. “But it’s obvious! They should have sent us something a bit harder don’t you think?”
“Yeah…” said Tin Can, completely mesmerized and with a stupid grin on his face.
“Uh… How are we going to answer this? Just… talk?” asked Professor Hooves.
“Yeah, yeah, maybe we should try that,” said Tin Can, still hypnotized.
“Okay, then. Um… Hello there. The answer is a² + b² = c².”
At first, nothing happened. Unexpectedly, the two-dimensional hologram turned into a three-dimensional one of the Milky Way galaxy, with all its two hundred billion stars. The location of the solar system where Equestria resided was marked with a blinking red dot, and on one of the arms of the large galaxy was a blue one.
“That must be their solar system! The blinking blue dot,” said Tin Can.
“I see it. It is so far away from us… We will have to travel for thousands of years to reach it.” said the thoughtful Professor. “I’m an old stallion with nothing to lose. I would gladly go on an expedition to this solar system, but we don’t have any resources. It’s worse than that! We don’t even have technology to leave a pony in suspended animation for hundreds of thousands of years!”
“But what if we created a portal?”
“Even if we could somehow obtain the astronomical amount of energy needed to create something like that, we would have to drag the other end of the portal to the place we wanted it to be. And if we just created a portal using that energy, we could end up anywhere, like outside of our galaxy or even inside a star.”
“That sucks. It’s not like we can travel faster than light anyway, so I don’t see any option unless sitting here and waiting for the alien to come visit us.”
“I think the alien is too far away to visit us in our lifeti- Wait a second! What did you just say?”
“Sit here and wait for the alien?” said a confused Tin Can.
“No, no, before that!”
“It’s not like we can travel faster than-“
“-light! Yes, that’s it! Of course we can do that!”
“We… can?” asked Tin Can, more confused than ever.
“Yes, yes! A few years ago I did a theory about Faster-Than-Light travel, and I built a prototype. It’s right there sitting at Station Five! I lost the rights over it… but that doesn’t matter! What matter is that we have a chance of meeting our aliens!” exclaimed the happy Professor.
“Station Five? Do you mean-“ Tin Can was cut short by the Professor.
“Yes, young stallion. And we are going to need a ship, because we are going to Alpha!”
__*__
Author's Note
Hello everyone! I'm back from the dead! I am terribly sorry for the delay, really. You know, holidays, vacation, sleeping late, all those distractions.
I'm going to travel abroad really soon so I will try to post the next chapter ASAP. But no promises. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you have any constructive critiscism or suggestion don't hesitate to post a comment below.
