AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 355
ARES III SOL 350
“I only wish it were that easy.”
The last page of Guards! Guards! had been read, with two dragons soaring out of the Discworld and out into deep space.
“I mean, all we need is a magic library full of the most powerful spells known to pony,” Starlight Glimmer groused. “Then we could just drop Fireball into it, tie a rope to his tail, tie the other end to the ship, and fly wherever we wanted.”
“I think love had some to do with it, too,” Cherry Berry said.
Fireball snorted, as eloquently as only a dragon can. Foolish pony notions deserved more snort than a mere pony snout could provide. And poor, deprived Mark, with that tiny nose of his- if he snorted you’d never hear it.
Unfortunately you couldn’t say the same thing about his wisecracks. “It speaks,” Mark said in response to the snort. “Come on, Fireball. I’ve been waiting the whole book for this. What did you think about the dragons in this book?”
“Yeah,” Dragonfly chipped in. “I thought you’d be all like Starlight, ‘it doesn’t work like that!’ and stuff.”
“I’m not Starlight,” Fireball said. “This magic, in the books, not our magic. These dragons not our dragons. No big deal.” He tapped the reading computer. “Swamp dragons, kind of sad. But big dragon? Almost like us. Almost like me.”
“How’s that?” Mark asked.
Fireball didn’t exactly know how to say it, even in Equestrian. “Need to think,” he muttered, and he went silent for half a minute while he did just that. “First is magic,” he said, once he had a clear idea. “Not the summon thing. That stupid- no, wait, not stupid, that’s wrong word. Summon thing is… interesting. Idea that, if you magic up a dragon, what you get reflects who you are? I like the idea. But it not fit me and mine.
“But rest of it? Our dragon lord’s father is big as mountain. Flies just fine. I have little wings. I fly just fine, not as fast as many, but good enough. Dragon in book hovers, floats like cloud, flies just like me. Thinks some like me, too. I know lots of dragons just as bad as this one, except not so quick to kill.”
Yeah, he’d thought that line would make the silence even deeper. But there were more thoughts to come. Thinking was like a pony train; get started, and it took a lot to stop it again.
“Harry Potter books, dragons just monsters. Not even real animals. All mean, violent, stupid. Ring books, only Smaug. He gloats like Boss Hogg. Not quite a person. Too… too… flat. But better than Potter dragons.
“But swamp dragons feel like real animals. Some angry, some old, some playful. And Errol really smart. I like Errol. And big dragon feel almost like people.” Again he tapped the computer. “Spitfire was right. This book is home. I want to read more.”
“Eh, I don’t know,” Starlight said. “I thought it was okay, I guess, but I thought Lord of the Rings had deeper themes. Though the Patrician’s talk about the necessity of evil… well, it was completely wrong, but it makes you wonder about the kind of mind that could really believe all that.”
“I do know,” Spitfire said. “And this good book. Guard… Vimes and them… like if griffons have a guard. Felt right. Felt like writer knew.”
“It did feel like being around Ponyville ponies,” Cherry said. “If half of them were violent crazies. I liked Potter better. There if someone died, it was a big deal. Discworld…”
“I never thought I’d read a book where anyone meets the Pale Horse face to face,” Dragonfly said. “But I like Death. If it really worked like that… it wouldn’t be so bad.” The changeling’s face, which still looked a little drawn despite months of feeding up, lacked its usual grin. “I don’t suppose Death ever gets his own book?”
“Several,” Mark replied. “I’ll have to check and see which ones NASA sent. They held back on Pyramids and Small Gods, and those two are among the best in the series.”
“Don’t care about Death,” Spitfire said. “I want more Guard. Unless there’s an army story.”
“Have to get through a couple more Guard stories before the two Discworld books about war,” Mark said.
“Okay. Then let’s do the next Guard book!” Dragonfly said.
“More murder?” Cherry Berry asked, sensing herself about to become a minority of one.
“Even better. The next book focuses on the Assassins’ Guild,” Mark said. “Assassins are people who are specially trained to kill other people- one on one, not in an army or anything like that.”
“Awww.”
“Sounds good,” Fireball said.
“Eh, all right,” Starlight said. “I’ve been reading more of those books by Rex Stout. I like them better than Agatha Christie’s books, except maybe Orient Express. But more Discworld sounds good.”
“All right,” Mark said. “We’ll begin that tomorrow. Let’s go back to the Hab and get lunch.”
Obviously the tow truck was off doing some cable tv work somewhere....
I wonder how Fireball would react to Anne McCaffrey's dragons.
Reaper man is going to Blow their minds if NASA sent it.
Pratchett received letters concerning his portrayal of Death from terminally ill fans.
Hoping that when their time came that Death was as kind as he portrayed.
Those letters affected Sir Terry immensely.
I quite liked this chapter, character commentary is a guilty pleasure of mine. Their comments of how the Discworld feels like home is, oddly heartwarming. Come to think of it, considering how Great A'tuin swims through the void, there is no particular reason that the two worlds shouldn't literally cross paths at some point. Twilight would blow such a gasket over that astronomical phenomena.
In other news, nay! The political angst shall last forever! Unending pathos shall blot out the very sun! yadda, yadda, yadda, economy, something, something, polls, ect. ect. anonymous concerned citizens knowledgeable about the situation, DOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!
The grim reaper is something they could look into after all humans have a weird thing for death about after left and hell and more
All Discworld books are lighter. Even those with quite dark themes are written in quite lively language and in a way that makes you smile. Also, I still think if they ever want to understand human religion, they should read Small Gods, which were his first social satire in that series, written before Men at Arms.
No other human book explains human motivations in the way equestrian would understand. :P
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Too pony, not given enough credit.
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Probably not well. Only being able to breathe fire after eating special rocks and then throwing up the ash? Being telepathically linked to weak humans? Not being as smart as humans? (otherwise they could just fly up and take care of Thread by themselves) Dying when their rider does? Being too 'good'.
I haven't read them but the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik might be more interesting to him as the dragons are more main characters. They're still ridden by humans though.
Interesting seeing Fireball's views on dragons in literature. I might have to give the Discworld books a read.
As for the political commenters, I wish we could build a wall to keep them out. But we all know that never works.
How long did it take you to write all this? or do you just work a few ahead?>
9050736 Dear Princess Celestia,
I just saw a turtle with four elephants on its back while stargazing tonight. What is going on!!
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
P.S. Yes, I mean a real turtle and real elephants, with what looked like a giant pie plate on their backs!
P.P.S. A real turtle! Female, I think.
Dear Princess Twilight
That is a chelys galactica. They're quite rare, and you are very fortunate to have seen one.
Sincerely,
Princess Luna, Guardian of the Ebon Veil
I started this book on Saturday and Monday night I'm caught up to Sol 350.
It's been a good ride so far, you're doing justice to every book you've referenced as well.
The author notes about each day and your personal motivation feel like they should be blog's while the technical stuff should be the only stuff in the A/N.
IMO:
It just adds unnecessary talk to when I use TTS while tasking and adulting. Three pages of personal life in most chapters, while in a serious and mildly fun story, just break the rhythm.
Anyway, the story rocks like something Maud would smirk at and I look forward to the future of the HAB, and it's denizens.
P.S.
Waiting for Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy and related references (specifically towels for their trips).
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About that. Death, I mean. "The reason we (humans) see Death as a human skeleton is because we killed all the other monsters we ran into, save ourselves and Death.So, therefor, what better way to show respect to Death than to give it the form of the only monster we could not kill?"
I can't remember who said it, or where I picked it up, sorry.
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The dragons in the Temeraire series may be ridden by humans, but their crews and many of the nations of that world treat the dragons as people in their own right, and the dragons do have military authority with their crew.
Temeraire himself is just as much a primary protagonist as his captian, and is typically the considered the smartest member of the crew, though that's not true of all the dragons.
As far as this chapter is concerned...poor Cherry is really feeling it being the most pacifist member of the crew. Starlight is an evil wizardess, Spitfire and Dragonfly are both military, with Dragonfly additionally being a spy/saboteur, and Fireball is an action loving dragon.
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What about the "How to Train Your Dragon" or Inheritance series?
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thats a good ponit, but ya we put death in everything movie video games art and many other type of media its just sad at times
I can just imagine Fireball when he gets home, having with him a few sets of his new favorite books, and actually reading them from time to time. much to the confusion of other dragons.
"Thinking was like a pony train; get started, and it"
"Thinking was like a pony train: get started, and it"?
"They held back on Pyramids and Small Gods"
Interesting; I wonder why? Hm. Well, they both deal with religion, and there's Djelibeybi's government...
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I think Fireball would really appreciate Saphira's character in the Inheritance Cycle. Actually, scratch that... he would probably really appreciate the dragons in that series period. I'd actually love to see the Equestrians' reactions to that series, come to think of it...
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It has the same "problems" that DreamKitsune mentioned with Anne McCaffrey's dragons (of Pern) - that of the dragons having riders. Well, HTTYD has that too, so I dunno. I liked both series, though. Can't comment on Dragonriders of Pern.
Oh! And early-ish congratulations on getting 10,000 views for this story!
ETA: Wait, there's 14k comments. So there's a good chance I read that wrong. Oh well, someone's bound to correct me.
if only we could all be so lucky.
too bad, fireball might have enjoyed eragon, or deltora quest. i get your likely trying to stick to nasa mentality of adult important titles, but technically they did throw in harry potter.
another good one is dragon riders of pern, the whole group might enjoy 'dragonsdawn'
For some reason, I'd like to know what Fireball would think of Shadowrun dragons
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If you use the site's TTS feature, the author's notes aren't included in the readings.
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I'm not sure what the 10001 means, but if you mouse-over it, it shows 746780 views.
Someone needs to remote access the laptop and change the wallpaper to DEATH and Pinkie playing chess.
Then when they aint looking, she can wave at them.
As for the dragons?
As long as the magic lasts.
Theyll be together, for a Very, Long, Time.
Ooooh, you don't want to get into philosophical discussions about good and evil with humanity, Starlight. It never ends well.
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Hey I resent that remark ... give us time the human race is working very hard at trying to kill itself ... we just haven't developed a world killing virus yet or theirs not enough pissed off people to start world war 3 yet.
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It reads way to slow. I've got mine set at almost double conversion talking speed. I love horse words and the human brain can process even faster speech, but i need it just about double so I can get whatever story I'm reading while doing stuff.
All this talk about philosophy makes me want to see the stranded ponies discuss “Mark Watney Syndrome”, where they assume Equestrians who don’t understand Hyoo-man culture will think they’ve gone insane.
Disco music, Dukes of Hazard, writing fanfiction, etc.
Mark good-naturedly acknowledges that “they’re all mad here”, but objects to their narrow definition of sanity. To quote Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: “sometimes you need to go a little crazy to stay sane”.
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9050846 I work ahead when I can, but it's difficult. Right now I have no buffer, and I think it shows in the quality of work.
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I seriously want one of the books to be Tom Clancy, I am fairly sure that the ponies will like it.
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Maybe they just didn't think the crew would appreciate stories that feature deserts so heavily. Of course, if they sent Jingo, then it may indeed be the religion issue.
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Oh, I didn't think of the desert matter... but, as you say, Jingo, and unless they were really strapped for space to the point they'd have to discard some books anyway, it seems like sending the whole collection and letting the people on Mars pick would be a better option.
9051403 Definitely FIVE, and no more. (And to be honest, I lean more towards four.)
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Honestly, I think Fireball might just forgive Paolini for that particular transgression... you have to remember that there was quite a bit of world building that went on, and how reliant that was on the dragons prior to the pact that formed the Riders. From where Fireball sits, it must be pretty fucking cool to realize that the fate of an entire plane of existence is dependent on the condition of your species...
I'm surprised the ponies didn't have more to say about Patrician Lord Vetinari then they did.
I mean, from a certain point of view he's basically the human equivalent of a Prince of Politics/Manipulation. Always a scheme, always a plan, and even when they fail he still wins. Nobody really likes him or what he does, but only idiots and/or monsters won't add (with extreme begrudging) that he's basically the perfect man for ruling the god-infested mess that is Anch-Morpork.
...Unless you're saving that discussion for a later Guards book when the man's near unnatural winning streak slash magnificent bastard-hood becomes more apparent, of course.
(And the same for what's clearly The King not picking up his crown, come to think about it. That might weird-out such a monarch focused bunch of cultures just a bit)
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Pern has a lot of sex-baggage too, and of the 'consent, what's that?' variety, so I doubt NASA would even consider that one.
*Cough.* Tent Peg statement. *Cough.*
I've heard that the series tried to move away from that in later years, but the dragon heat/flights the riders have no say in thing is to my knowledge still a central part of those stories, so seems rather short-sighted to make a real dragon read that sort of stuff.
...Probably hilarious once the fires all been put out, but still rather short-sighted in a first-contact scenario.
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dunno which of those points is more irking, the fact that I've read the series and trying something like thats usually treated with utmost severity. or the fact that the series was written by an elderly irish woman who had very strong views on that subject.
if your talking about the result of the emotional bond, you didn't cover the basics properly because riders overcome that relatively early on into there careers, if you didn't liek the series thats your thing, but don't start dropping miscommunications about it.
9052565 She wasn't elderly when she started writing it... in the mid-1960s.
EDIT: Tell you how old the Dragonriders of Pern is... a chapter of Dragonsong was in one of my junior high English readers. That was a considerable time ago...
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the implication is still wrong, the series deserves a little more respect then that at least. especially as several of the authors already mentioned where known for having there own strong opinions regarding the race and/or gender of others. macaffery may not be the most prolific of authors but she is one of the more revolutionary sci-fi authors out there. hell she made dragons a thing of science fiction rather then fantasy.
seems awfully disrespectful to be making implications like that about her work.
i'd like to share something interesting:
i read an issue of "PCGamer" today, and it had a two-page article about an interesting "mission" someone made using KSP's new mission generator:
it's called "the Dunatian".
yes, it's essentially "the martian" recreated in KSP!
it recreates the supply rocket flights, the Hermes maneuvers and the rover drives.
the reviewer even mentioned how he crashed a rover by going too fast!
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I just was not sure.
And now I hate this Starlight too. YOU DO NOT DISS THE HERCULE!!
I wonder if they get to, or have gotten to Monstrous Regiment.
That could be an interesting discussion or two.
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Da fuq is Hercule?
This is probably only because I recently re-read it again (for like the 3rd time), but I really hope that at some point Spitfire gets to read Black Hawk Down. I know it probably wouldn't make sense to her or the others, but as I said, it's probably only because I read it again not that long ago, and it came to mind.
But if Spitfire DID read it, I do wonder how she would react.
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Hercule Poirot. The more famous of Christie's 2 recurring characters. I prefer Miss Jane Marple (the other )
Several. Starting w Jingo & Monstrous Regiment
But Pratchett was NOT a big fan of the military
My favorite would be Hogfather. IMO, it really captures the Christmas spirit
Oh goddammit. Did you do that on purpose?
Of course, the edge of the Discworld has no escape velocity. You can just jump off and end up floating into space, I guess
Heehee. The discworld books excel in worldbuilding.
Everyone likes Discworld's Death. He's a great guy
Ohhhh, yes, and they are glorious!
"Monstrous Regiment" counts, I guess. But it's one huge elaborate joke about Earth gender roles, so dunno if they'd really get that