This is where the main question in the Author’s Note of the current most recent chapter should be answered.

Current Question:
What is Ash’s Stand?

Just some brainstorming ideas:

1. Following on the idea of "nothing from outside this world", The Prowler. Dragon optional.

2. Following on the idea of a cupcake, a full cart of baked goods, perhaps with a picture of twins?

Flying character idea progression:

3a: Riddle Wing, blue and grey pegasus, Stand user, Stand is a long haired black leather jacketed pegasus called 「Immigrant Song」that causes affected beings to sing a foreign rock ballad, like a heartsong. Character is a gritty survivor looking for food to eat, and is mute, only communicating via Wingspeak (pegasus sign language) and thrown objects. Is a straightforward git er done personality.

3b: Same but as a machine race plane pony (planeasus?) with no Stand

3c: 3b is a fighting mech, similar to a Warframe, and Riddle Wing (3a) can zoop* out. Stand or no Stand, either way.

3d: (current version?) Zeta Wing, a transforming mini mech, that turns from small fighter plane into a mecha pegasus about pony size, similar to a Transformer or the Zeta Gundam. Female? Similar personality to the first idea, none of the limitations.

*zoop - the act of dividing out of an object, like how Pinkie pops up out of / from behind things that are physically impossible to hide in.

So far I like the idea of the ship Pinkie arrived on being what they're looking at possibly having it exorb/ being exorb into a plant being and being scavenged by some sort of airplane based Pony possibly Transformer or genetically modified Pegasus

What if it’s just literally SCP-999.

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I mean we should totally include that at some point but whatever they see is kind of shocking and well scp999 is utterly adorable and should totally meet them at some point it's not really the kind of thing that would get the reaction at the end of the chapter

First, what is SCP-999?

Second, transforming ponies? As in robots in disguise, err, airplanes/cars disguised as ponies? I'm going to register a dislike on that idea, not the least of which is the "no more cross dimension/cross franchises" from the entity.

Simply put, I'm not really a fan of Transformers, but in fairness, all I saw of it was a horrible 30 minute commercial series for toys. In fairness, if all I saw was the first generation of TV ponies, I'd probably feel that way about them as well.

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I was making a joke.
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On a more serious note, perhaps instead of something as extravagant as a machine merged plant or the like, maybe we do something a bit more mundane. I think it should be a massive set of bones of a long dead creature, something like the size of the leviathan dragon from Subnautica. By now, little plant growth has begun to creep up the bottom of the bones, yet they sill tower many, many feet above the pair. And the head which could be big enough to enclose canterlot within its jaws.

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The SCP Foundation is a fictional collaborative work about a organization secure contains and protects unusual objects and creatures SCP-999 is a adorable little slime blob that just inspires a feeling of happiness in you touching it soothes the nerves and brings on an almost euphoric feeling that is not addictive at all actually it's about the most harmless SCP there is and it's utterly adorable
Edit: link https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-999&ved=2ahUKEwjDnJaSyL3jAhU9wcQHHUZNDTMQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw0JWH0F5a5BQKPNX9z_11UZ

I don't think anyone's said hardcore no more crossovers we just have to be careful about how we implement any crossover ideas if we end up going with the Transformer Pony jet idea then we'll likely create a unique lore to it in our world and just go with the basic idea of jet engine that can turn into a pony and work from there

Harmless SCP?

There are no harmless SCP's. "Secure, contain, and ** PROTECT **".

It might be Mostly harmless.

Now, if it just causes you to feel all good and happy, and just a sense of "more please", it can be used to distract a group just before you launch a strike on them, acting as a significant first-strike surprise attack bonus.

Harmless? A weapon that you give to your enemy before you destroy them.

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There is one problem with your particular example in that our protagonist (can't remember her name to save my life) is able to incorporate bones she finds into herself meaning she could become a giant dragon I guess we could play off the fact that she doesn't know that yet and therefore wouldn't try but it's still a little on the nose I guess don't know if I'm using that term correctly

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3a was a little more interesting than mundane to begin with, but then everyone decided to start doing top trump escalation and now we're at the Standard Sci-Fi Plot level with mechas vs biotech and whatnot.

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I mean... did you expect the story to stay sane long?

No... but it would have been a break from the usual top trump escalation found in SotS and its sidestories.

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Yeah, well, screw the Entity. 'Outside interference' doesn't count when the visitors were there before it set that limitation, that's how I'm interpreting it. Also, this could very well be a universe where transformers already existed-- in this example, she was made in a factory that belonged to one of the world's factions.

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A giant fossil wouldn't have a Merodi communicator inside it. That's the primary reason we want the Merodi ship, with the secondary being the unique tech-merging plant beings that exist, and subsequent conflict with Zeta Wing. They could definitely come across fossils, though-- but definitely not one of that size in a junkyard.

What is a "Merodi"?

(If it's SotS related, I'm up to chapter 13, please try not to spoil)

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Spoilers.

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It's an SOTS thing. You should find out soon.

3a was a little more interesting than mundane to begin with, but then everyone decided to start doing top trump escalation and now we're at the Standard Sci-Fi Plot level with mechas vs biotech and whatnot.

In that case, lets go right to the top. Lets add in a drill and an iron.

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Well 80 percent of the people that are here are fans of it and a good number of those people are authors in their own right Plus this is a comment driven story with more freedom than I've ever seen before in one of these so of course there's going to be crazy escalation

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We went from survivors of an apocalyptic ruin straight to sentient plants vs sentient machines cyborgs and great war precursors, multiverse, and so on. There's nothing in the middle, no buildup, just straight from zero to ZOMG.

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Well within the story there'll probably be build up we're figuring out the world and back stories for our stuff now so it's not inconsistent I don't think anyone wants a lore dump in the second chapter to explain all this

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We kinda just spiraled when we tried to answer what Siggy and Flow saw and then tried to answer why they were there to avoid the Entity which required explaining they were here already, which led to escalation on the background info.

At least no one is asking what I meant by a drill and an iron.

FLCL and Gurren Lagann.

Hold off on the leviatan bones, it's a great idea but let's save that for a dramatic powerup, maybe put it in the backstory/geography so that it can be there for when it's needed.

To go back to real basics in answering the question, it's clearly something incongruous and out of place, but not obvious, or Sigrun and Forge would have seen it earlier, unless it was able to move itself into place. So probably not a Merodi ship, unless it has an AI or one of Pinkie's companion's still aboard.

Hey, I wonder if a ship's AI can get around that nineteen-character limit the Entity has imposed?

Unsure if people are checking the comments of the chapter due to having this place now, so I will also post my questions here so that they can be answered

• What is the name of our new plant-y friend?
• How far through the meld with the ship might they be? This could take a while after all.
• Is the ship in a junk valley, or on top of a junk hill? Or is it like how someone else suggested; the figurative cherry on top of a large elaborately balanced junk tower?
• Is Zeta already there, or will she turn up after Sigrún and Forge meet Planty McPlantface (WIP name)?
• How does the Merodi ship look? Is it covered in vines due to unfinished meld which is undergoing, or is it looking very planty, or are there only small vines just starting to creep around it to start the meld?
• How long does it take to meld anyway?

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We haven't came up with a name yet for plant pony. At this point anybody can give them a name. I propose Lesly for now until someone comes up with something better.

I do't think Zeta is there at the moment, but comes in about a minute.

I think the ship is in the process of being melded by the plant pony as Sigrun and Forge found it.

As for the other questions, maybe other people got ideas.

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Answering your last question. It probably depends on how big the object is and how long it was there?

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And I just realized Ponygood answered these questions on the comments section, woops.

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Callalils which is a play on Calla lilies might be a bit on the nose if you look up flower meaning and depending on what we go with in the end it may not match their personality or form but I figured it's a starting point

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That sounds alright...although the plant ponies probably know each other by distinct pheromones rather then names so Siggy and Forge will have to name it. Lily sounds cute.

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Siggy and Forge. Sounds like a bad Cartoon Network cartoon.

So a final comment before I bow out of story development then.

I will strongly recommend that you all try to keep your power level below 8000. Once you allow the power level to go over 9000, it's only a matter of time before you are exponentially growing until you are challenging gods for their authority to destroy whole universes as unfair and unjust.

I cannot reply fast enough to a new chapter to be considered; that's very clear this time around. Absorbing, transforming plant creatures have wiped out everything that might be something else.

Let me toss out one final thought before I leave. If you are going to have a plant, and want three groups, why not animal, vegetable, and mineral? As I understand it, you've got an absorbing plant, a transforming machine, so all you need is some sort of form changing animal ... actually, that's our undead protagonist, isn't it? :-)

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I would stick around in the background if I were you. You seem to have a decent perspective and ask good questions. Later on the bandwagon might get less crowded and you'll be able to have easier input. :)

So Omni, what are the leading ideas currently?

I'm gonna suggest its ether making Prowlers or more plane/machine ponys.

From the main comments:

The factory is making widgets.

"What the hell is a widget?"

Some random useless consumer trinket, made from recycled materials? The factory is still running because it never got the order to stop production or change production?

Perhaps this is where we meet Zeta again, and find out more about the Machines. She could help talk to the factory and get it to stop making useless objects.

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I like that idea. And what we got from this chapter is that there are literal very big fish in the sea and that Siggy is no longer from another world. However, that also means that Alex isn't either and is now in this world.

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This also means Stands exist in this world...

Now, to expand upon the widget factory idea.

The factory had a programming bug in its work order thread. Someone was being funny and added an order to make -1 Widget. Because of this, the factory will continue to make widgets until it hits the end of the data counter. Shouldn't be too bad, right? Well, this factory's software uses a 64-bit integer. It has to make 9.2 pentillion widgets before the work order thread crashes with an error, if it even does that. And either out of stubborn machine pride or because it is not a sapient machine, the factory will make those 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 widgets!

Is this bad? Yes. The factory sends out worker drones to harvest the area of usable materials, recycling where possible. It needs metals, plastics, and wood (for boxes), to make widgets, and also builds onsite warehouses to store them. Once the area is depleted of resources, it moves on, recalling the drones and transforming into a walking quadrupedal machine, not unlike an AT-AT in size and form. It also defends itself with a hybrid beam cannon up front, AAA batteries (flak guns, not Energizers lol) topside, point defense guns underneath, and missile banks on its flanks.

Needless to say, it may decide plantoids are valid construction material, since it is lacking in wood right now.

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So the wing ponies may try to catch the very thing that may kill them? Aren't they afraid of the Plantoids?

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This may not be a wingpony factory.... it may be a rogue mobile assembler. It doesn't care about sentiments, only that it completes the work orders on the queue.

Besides, the plants are very vulnerable to getting diced up by the worker drones' mining tools, which may include cutting beams and other very deadly if you used them as weapons tools.

Factory machine logic, excerpt of the work thread

... event_product_started(&productName, &productCount) { productCount=productCount-1; if(productCount==0) factory.controller.productionComplete(&productName); else factory.controller.makeProduct(&productName); } ...

Problem? The user interface lets you type in a negative number manually, and no one thought there would be a stupid like that, so no one added a check to make sure all numbers are positive. Because of it, the factory will never reach 0, since it counts down the production from the amount entered. If you ask -1, it counts down to -2, -3, etc. It can never reach 0, but will crash with an underflow error at -9.2 pentillion. Yeah.

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So there is more than one Factory?
That would make sense actually.

Oh come on, a runaway paperclip machine? A simple programming bug? That's your answer?

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Do you want to suggest anything, or do you want to just complain about it?

Not that complaining about something is inherently bad... but if you do, you should probably give good reasons why something is complaint-worthy. Actually, I can think of several for this widget-making Factory, but I want to see what you have to say first.

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Instead of complaining about the lack of detail, how about you add to it. Maybe the widget factory was exploited? Hacked? Actually it's manevolent and altered its own hardware to justify it?

I have only stated a how the factory went into runaway production. I have not stated why. Go on, give it a try.

As stated in the Opinion List^TM placed within the main comments by yours truly, the -1 widgets idea could work well in two ways: way numero uno (1) could be to show how everyone works under pressure, as this would be our first real conflict which can’t be easily talked out of. Formation of usefulness numero dos (2) is dependant on what the widgets are, and this must be discussed in detail or the Entity could make them either useless, or detrimental to the survival of the group (we probably need a name for our main characters as a whole, but that is not the current priority).

This is the problem. This is why I will not participate.

I'm not saying that "a runaway factory that won't ever stop" is a bad idea. I'm not saying that it's a good idea.

As a story idea, it's a concept that has been done to death.
As a "realistic" problem, sure, programming bugs like that are very real programming bugs.

Somehow, the idea that "someone has said this, so others must build on what has been said" -- that's the issue.

That's what kills this for me.

Can someone come up with a unique concept on "runaway factory"? Sure. That person is not me.

Can people come up with other ideas that have nothing to do with a runaway factory? Sure. Why not.
Would such an idea be listened to, or has this group, in two chapters now, demonstrated that "first to post an idea gets that idea incorporated somehow" is far more accurate than "people get a chance to toss ideas in for brainstorming".

What is the factory making? Well, here's a bunch of ideas that I can toss out as brainstorming.

1. Paperclips. Yes, it's absolutely cliche -- but what's the controlling software for this? Is there an AGI controller, can it be talked to, can it's situation be explained, can you convince it to change?
2. Brain uploading equipment. Mother of planets, has CelestAI been here and been responsible for this planet turning into a wasteland?
3. Wilderness survival backpack gear. Truly a wonder -- the factory is making exactly what our protagonists need. How ... lucky? Fortunate? Sign of some powerful guardian watching us? What is Discord up to around here anyways?
4. Mecha Ponies. We just saw one. It had to be made somewhere.

Brainstorming ideas is fun.
Arbitrarily saying "some said it's in an infinite loop, so that must be true"?

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I genuinely cannot recall reading a story with a runaway factory in it, could you please give me a list of all of the stories you know of that use this trope as a driving point/starting point for anything of impact in the story?