//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Situation Report // Story: An echo across the universe // by Altia Sky //------------------------------// Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle had been researching for most of the day. "Argh, although I understand how it works, I don't understand how it's possible to pick up a signal outside our world" sighed Twilight in front of some old books talking about magical artifacts. "Come on, Twilight, you're the professional here, do you usually have any idea how it works?" replied Starlight. "No, for once, Starlight, I don't understand at all. How is this possible? I've looked in all the books that describe more or less similar events, but none of them has given me an answer close enough to the current situation" replied Twilight, exasperated by the situation. "Twilight, Starlight, I think I've figured out how this works!" exclaimed Spike, storming into the throne room of Twilight Castle. "What?" replied Twilight, looking a little bewildered. "Think Twilight, let's look at a similar situation in Equestria. When I send messages with dragon fire, the message transforms into smoke before it reaches its destination. And if we draw a parallel with the current situation, let's imagine that the prototype device is me and the magic waves are the message. So the waves are like smoke, they go everywhere, and the more powerful the device is, the greater the chance of receiving messages", explained Spike. "Indeed, it makes sense. But why are we picking up messages from another world?" replied Starlight. "I don't know for sure that this other world also uses magic, but I suppose the frequency of the magic waves and the waves they send out are, by chance, on the same sort of frequency ?" resumed Spike. "It's true that this would explain a lot of things, but the best thing would be to improve the device in order to better capture these strange messages, and maybe even decipher them" exclaimed Twilight. "I suppose we'll be working on this all the rest of the day?" said Starlight with a sigh. "Isn't it exciting?" replied Twilight, unable to hide her excitement. A good part of the day went by, and the two ponies and the dragon set to work together on the construction of a capturing device, far more powerful than the original one. It took them a while to come up with the perfect solution to create a device that would capture the signal efficiently and without loss. But building it wasn't enough. You also have to calibrate it. Which took quite a while. Fortunately, as Twilight Sparkle is a maniac, all the notes on the first prototype were available. "How's it going?" said Applejack, who had just entered the throne room with a basket full of apples on his back. "How about a little break?" The two ponies and the dragon nodded in agreement; indeed, they had spent most of the day working and hadn't had time to take a break - their other friends joined them later. Applejack had asked them to come, and most of them were rather curious to see what Twilight had come up with to clear up this story, but above all they were driven by curiosity about the strange messages they'd received since yesterday. After a well-deserved break, the eight of them found themselves in the throne room next to the device, waiting feverishly for the machine to be activated, while Twilight made the final adjustments, adding her signal amplifier to the device. "Just a few more connections and it should work," announced Twilight. Twilight switched on the machine, which made only white noise, always the same crackling sound, but this time she had thought to keep all magical objects away, so as not to create any more disturbance than necessary. Twilight set about calibrating her device until she began to receive those famous messages. Barely audible at first, she had to isolate the frequency and then find a way to amplify the signal on that frequency. Almost!" exclaimed Twilight, "that should do it". the parasite noises had practically disappeared - they could still be heard, but very faintly. however, there was no sound to the message for a long time. "Maybe there is no one?" said Fluttershy. However, Fluttershy had spoken a little too quickly, and noise began to be heard, nothing like voices but more like the sound of movement in a room like footsteps and many other noises. All of a sudden, sizzling sounds could be heard, as if someone had just plugged a device into the frequency like the sounds that made a microphone when you plug it in. "The connection still not established?" shouted a foreign deep voice into the microphone. "No, Colonel, the 731st Division doesn't answer." It was a lower, more delicate voice that had just replied to the first voice. The ponies present were transfixed by this exchange: not only were they picking up something, but it didn't seem to be coming from Equestria. Everything suggested that it was a conversation between two living beings. From the sound alone, it was impossible to determine their exact nature: were they ponies? Were they griffins? Or some other creature? "Sir, here's the report you asked, Sir" a third voice was heard. "Thank you, Corporal" replied the first voice. Suddenly, the first voice seemed to be speaking to the second. "Pass it on to campaign HQ" said the first voice in an insistent tone. "Everything's in place to transmit the report," replied the second voice. "Brumaire 24, year 150 of the revolutionary calendar, the 34th imperial division has just crossed the front line, the 231st and 49th revolutionary regiments are routed. The Imperial advance has just been halted by the 16th support artillery battalion. Global status report from the front. Our initiative is broken. Now transmit all this to campaign HQ and clear the frequency" "Aye, sir." Then there were no more messages. As the protagonists of these exchanges had just said, there was radio silence. Although the ponies gathered around Twilight didn't understand much of what had just happened, they had nevertheless established the presence of a few people. After careful consideration, they deduced that these exchanges seemed to have taken place during a war or conflict, which only confirmed Twilight's theory that this was indeed another world. After all, there was no major conflict going on in Equestria. But above all, the year was not a good one. Year 150 ? From the revolutionary calendar ? What kind of calendar it is ? and mostly what revolution? After so much effort in trying to unravel the mystery, it's getting thicker all the time. However, a few elements were added to the current situation. "It was, how shall I say, short, but intense" said Twilight Sparkle, who had previously asked Spike to take notes. "It looks like terrible things are happening" murmured Fluttershy. "they look like they're in big trouble" exclaimed Rarity. "Yeah," agreed Applejack. "But the real question here is who are the bad guys and who are the good guys?" asked Rainbow Dash. "As in every conflict, I don't think everything is black and white. We've just gotten involved in a situation that seems to be completely beyond us, and from where we stand, we have no control over events. I think the least we can hope for is that the creatures we've just heard are safe," Twilight replied. The ponies understood that there would be no new messages for the day. This would give them time to take a breather and absorb what had just happened. Twilight would probably spend another night reflecting on the events, but the night would be a saving grace and a source of advice. There's a good chance that new information will emerge tomorrow.