Ivory spires that put to shame the mountain they're grafted to. Thousands of lives perched on a slab of iron bolted to the side of a cliff, with an artificial sun doin' its best to warm the shadows underneath. Then there's the cybertech changin' the face of ponykind, rubbin' right up against magic the likes of which the world ain't seen for centuries. This, all of this, is New Canterlot. A magical place, in the dangerous way. Everythin' you ever dreamed of, and everythin' you ever feared. For what it's worth, good luck out there... I think you're gonna need it.
Setting inspired by Shadowrun, for both of you who care.
Chapters (8)
Quite interesting. Please continue!
I'm loving this story so far. Can't wait to read more!
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My life has been crazy lately-- you don't want to know what my work week is like-- but I'm working on a few things for this! I suppose you can all guess who's up to be introduced next.
First, though, a short prologue bit to make it so my beginning isn't so glacially slow. Does anyone know how to change the order of chapters? Is such a thing possible?
'Pologies for the accidental downvote. Will read
i like this so far, but it is a bit confusing sometimes. i'll have to do some research on shadowrun.
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This hopefully won't need any knowledge of Shadowrun to make sense. I intentionally kept everything strictly contained; there is no specific crossover material from Shadowrun whatsoever. All characters, organizations, and events have been hardcore ponified and are totally made for this fic-universe rather than crossing over and merging.
Regardless, this project has fallen by the wayside for now (but I WILL get back to it!) Follow me if you want to see what I'm working on now once it goes up (which should be soon)
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sounds fair. watch i shall.
Hey y'all.
This chapter ACTUALLY HAS THE CHARACTER that's on the cover image in it.
Sorry that it ends on a cliffhanger.
As long as there's something to follow it.
Came here from the reviews, I'm impressed.
Yeah it's rotten of me to cut it off like this, but going on for much longer would've been boring, don't you agree?
I'll write more of Professor Daybreak's magic theory explorations eventually, even if I just write it in a google doc and say "here, here's some world-building if you really want it."
Don't worry, a real chapter is sorta-almost plotted, along with another intermission bit to provide background for Spectra.
This is a very interesting look at the world you've built. I must say, you haven't failed to pique my curiosity even more. Bravo!
I personally hope this gets a huge audience compared to now.
I was able to put this song together nicely, giving it a sexy kind of theme with a touch of vacuous pop music, and I never had to use that rhyming website.
Unfortunately, I cannot claim this as truly original work. This song is my own lyrics to a song that you probably know very well--even the synths that Victoria sings over are supposed to be those of this certain song.
It should be clear if you read the extended lyrics.
Nice, intriguing chapter. Looking forward to the next
Totally a minor thing, but I really love how the end was in blue text, like a hyperlink. When I moused over it to check, I was confused that a url didn't pop up. then I realized that it's an in-universe hyperlink. Well done.
So, let me get this straight:
Twilight's Analopony is a professor of history at the premier university in the nation.
Applejack's Analopony is a farmer of hydroponically produced goods who also may-or-may-not have dealings with the less-than-legal aspects of the City.
Rainbow's Analopony is a cybernetically not-crippled super pegasus with guns in her wings who is apparently some sort of gang leader/gunmare for hire.
Rarity's Analopony is a pop-star (can you give us a genre for what you ripped off?) because the internet and is also a supremely powerful Shadow-Broker-esque figure.
Fluttershy's Analopony is a professional thief with a slightly absurd amount of flying ability and agility.
What the hell?! It's like you made everyone about 80 times more badass and possibly 80 times less likely to pull off an Elements-of-Harmony style friendship. I don't even.
Hence: You epic win.
MLP and Shadowrun? Please, sir, I'd like some more!
I like it. A lot!
This... looks awesome. Haven't been on here in awhile but this is certainly a great story to restart my readin' with.
Took this story long enough to get on EQD.
Even before reading, favorited.
This is one of the most brilliant subversions of "Show, don't Tell," I've ever come across.
Shadowrun and Ponies? Instant Fave and Follow.
Shadowrun eh? I was considering writing one myself but now I guess I'll have to stick to that "Sword of the Stars" crossover I'm working on.
I'm getting a serious Ghost in the Shell Vibe going with this, if GitS was more about the initial recruiting of section 9 rather than after its members formed up.
Victoria seems like you took the job of vinyl scratch, stole the V and tacked it on Octavia's name, and gave her Rarity's air of high society.
Great story btw, keep it up. I want to see the reincarnation of pinkie.
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Subversion? What do you mean?
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I try to get away with not calling this a crossover, because it doesn't use any Shadowrun-canon. There's no Great Ghost Dance, no Renraku Arcology, no blood mages or bug spirits. Still, this story does owe a lot to Shadowrun. The Awakening is the main one--the whole reason I wanted to write this fic is because of the idea of pony magic coming and going like it does in Shadowrun/Earthdawn/(arguably) Eclipse Phase.
The funny thing about Shadowrun is that it had to catch up to the real world when 2010 ended up having more advanced tech than their vision of 2050! So when SR4 moved us to 2070, Shadowrunners suddenly gained access to massive storage space and wi-fi. Also, the Internet stopped looking like hilarious Tron-style geometric shapes and lights.
And we're still making advances past even the 2070s--Shadowrun 4th did not anticipate cloud-based computing or Twitter.
So, while the technology level is inspired by Shadowrun, the tech doesn't really draw on Shadowrun specifics. That aspect probably owes more to Human Revolution. Just like the 2070s did to Shadowrun, Deus Ex: Human Revolution takes Deus Ex and makes it catch up to the real world. I will hopefully be able to write a few bits addressing transhumanism (transequinism) and the social implications of cybertechnology.
And, of course, there's the all-original concept of the fact that the magic being awakened is happy pony magic from the age of unicorns and rainbows. Magic powered by the basic goodness in pony hearts, the kind of magic that was once thought of as being powered by friendship. This is the magic that's barging its way into the world of Deus Ex.
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My own idea would be that some sort of circuit-frying magic field encompassed Equestria from the reign of Discord until the 1011 winter solstice, then technological progress exploded. Actually with the new episode I could have made it Discord who directly introduces things like the Matrix.
And why mention Eclipse Phase, I'm pretty sure there's no magic whatsoever, just psionics caused by a virus written by a Kardashev III entity. I'd also call EP philosophically at odds with Shadowrun, and most other cyberpunk actually.
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Cyberpunk--real cyberpunk, which Shadowrun is not--is all about corporations and how evil they are. Cybertechnology is supposed to represent the *dangers* of technology. Eclipse Phase is too far removed from that to be "at odds with" it. There are no evil corporations in Eclipse Phase, or if there are, you can raise them a middle hoof and farcast away.
Unlike when "real" cyberpunk was being written, in today's day and age everything about cyberpunk is real. Human Revolution is the best example of modern "post-cyberpunk" I can think of. This is cyberpunk that was not written in the 90s when corporations were scary and technology was dangerous. Corporations in real life are horrifyingly similar to cyberpunk corporations, and "the network of information controlling everything" and "robot limbs replacing your humanity" are things that we are actively developing and using. We don't have ANYTHING like the same perspective that "real" cyberpunk authors did.
You should totally read the wiki page's very short section on post-cyberpunk.
Oh, and I say Eclipse Phase is the 8th Age because it was made by the same game company. I'm not the only one making the argument either. Think about it--the Horrors destroyed the world, and now a new age is starting--arguably one that has magic in it.
See, if an Awakened person goes into outer space, they lose all their powers and become Mundane, and possibly go insane. It's like a reverse background count: there is no magic out there! Think about that. If the Awakening happened and everyone was living in outer space, what would happen? Maybe the nanoswarms are magic nanoswarms! The book's GM section even mentions the possibility of Omega-level asyncs that can throw fucking fireballs and basically do whatever kind of magic shit the GM feels like.
What's with all the deleted comments? Wow.
So...is she like a princess? I hope so.