This chapter is available as a "synthesized" audio book:
> [click here] - no background music
> [click here] - with ambient music loop
The two mares walked through the dark tunnels of the cave in silence, the only source of light being the adventurer's oil lamp. With Daring Do in the lead, and no immediate threats in sight, Rainbow Dash found some time to reflect on recent events.
Her thoughts drifted back to last night, when everything finally had fallen into place.
At first she had just stared at it, trying to blink herself awake from what she just had come to terms with wasn't a dream. Closed her eyes, opened them again, thinking that she'd imagined it.
But there it had been, undeniably – the Mare in the Moon.
And, just like that, getting back home or even sending a message to Ponyville had become a lot more difficult. Not enough that she was in some far out jungle in Luna-knows-where, now she'd also have to add time travel to her schedule.
And then she'd remembered something. It didn't come up too often – but the “Daring Do”-books were set sometime mid-last century, not in present day.
Now Dash had two possibilities to consider. Both were equally unlikely, but one of them just made sense. As much sense as it could, anyway.
Either, she somehow had been flung into the past, into a distant jungle she couldn't remember seeing on any maps, waking up right next to a pony that wasn't supposed to exist, or she had mysteriously entered the world of the “Daring Do”-book series.
Now she could even recall why the name “Mareican jungle” had struck a cord. She vaguely remembered it being mentioned in the preview for the latest book, the one she had been about to read before reality had decided to play a prank on her behalf.
It was too bad that the preview had been all too hazy – the foreknowledge certainly might've proven useful in her situation.
And come to think of it, that was another thing that had been bothering her, ever since Daring Do had unintentionally pointed it out.
How did she even find her? How had she even known Daring Do had been in danger?
She'd jerked awake, whisked away from sweet dreams of flying with the Wonderbolts, and just known Daring Do was in a precarious situation with no way out.
Without second thoughts, she'd flown straight out of the cave to come to her aid.
And that brought up another detail. Where did all those vines suddenly come from after she had rescued Daring Do? She had been able to fly just fine before!
“So, Rainbow Dash, where are you from, exactly?” Daring Do's attempt at small talk shook Dash out of her musings.
“Ponyville,” she answered without giving the question a second thought.
Wait, did Ponyville even exist yet?
Dash cringed. Apparently, the name didn't strike Daring Do as familiar. “Uhm... near Canterlot. Right next to the Everfree Forest.”
“Oh,” was all Daring said at first. “Pretty long way from here,” she added after a pause, involuntarily making Dash cringe yet again. She didn't need to be reminded of how far away from her friends she was right now. Or half a century away. Or in another plane of reality altogether.
“So... what brings you here?”
This gave Dash a pause. She didn't have the faintest clue how and why she was here.
And somehow, it struck her as unwise to tell the pony standing before her that, where she came from, they were just a character in a book-series.
Generally, if you told somepony that, they'd label you as insane.
Which was pretty much the last thing she wanted Daring Do to think of her.
Best to omit certain details of the truth, then.
“Well, uh, I dunno... magic mishap, or something.” She shrugged. “One moment I'm off to visit one of my friends in town, next thing I know I wake up in a jungle.”
“And 50 or so years in the past. In another universe” was what she didn't say.
Judging by Daring's expression turning from surprise to sympathy, her earlier “odd” behavior was now excused.
“Woah. Never heard of a unicorn powerful enough to teleport you across half the world.”
Great. Another reminder of how far away she was from home.
“Yeah, Twilight's got quite the thing for magic. Magic itself is her special talent,” she responded almost automatically.
“Although... It can't have been Twi, she was still at the library when I went to Sugar Cube Corner,” Dash thought to herself.
“Still, wow. I mean, wow. I sure could use somepony who does teleportation spells like that.” For a moment, Daring Do's expression darkened. “Certainly could use the head start...”
That last comment threw Dash's impulse-response off for just long enough to realize that casually name-dropping Princess Celestia as Twilight Sparkle's personal teacher might not be such a great idea after all.
Asides from the obvious bragging, it was still half a century before Twilight Sparkle – or any of her friends, or herself for that matter – were even going to be born!
If they even were going to be born in this... reality or whatever the hay this was. The thought once again gave her the chills.
And things could get awkward if Daring Do started pointing out holes in Rainbow Dash's story.
Pointing out holes in her story...
Dash pondered for a moment, and curiosity got the better of her.
What if she asked Daring about something that wasn't mentioned in any of the books?
“Say, how did you get your cutie mark?” She pointed at the depiction of a compass rose imprinted into the adventurer's hindquarters.
Daring Do's perplexed expression made her realize how blunt and out-of-the-blue the question must have come off as.
Of course you didn't just randomly ask somepony how they got their cutie mark.
“Horsefeathers!” Dash silently cursed to herself. ”So much for making a good first... err, second impression.”
“Urk, Dash, what's gotten into you?” She face-hoofed inside her mind. “This is Daring Do, for crying out loud! Don't blow this!”
“Uhh... I got mine, when I did a Sonic Rainboom...”
Somehow, this riveting retelling of a pivotal moment in pony history utterly failed to instill the appropriate sense of awe in her conversation partner.
“Uh, you know?” Dash gestured wildly with her hooves for emphasis. “The Sonic Rainboom? Breaking the sound barrier? Giant rainbow explosion in the sky?”
When that still didn't break up the awkward gap in their conversation, Dash elaborated.
How she had stood up to defend her timid friend, Fluttershy, against some bullies in flight camp. The race challenge, and how she had not only won, but pulled off a move prior to that day only heard of in legends! That her talent lay in the very nature of flying itself, the love for the feeling of air under her wings, the need for speed, and the amazing stunts she could pull off!
Daring stayed silent for a moment, then gave a rather brief answer.
“Happened when I first got my hooves on a very precious artifact. Had to evade all kinds of dangerous critters and stuff.”
Dash sensed there was more to it – there was just something about the way Daring had said those words – but Dash decisively didn't press the issue.
After all, a cutie mark story was something very personal, and not everypony liked to share theirs.
But at least the awkward silence was over.
Her cutie mark...
It had been a while since she had thought of that.
The image of a golden compass rose against a dark green background was so omnipresent in her everyday life that it hardly even registered anymore.
Daring's thoughts drifted back to childhood memories, her father who she barely had known. It had been a dark and stormy night, when she set out on her quest, and –
She was shaken out of her reveries, when Rainbow Dash slammed her body into her side with full force.
“Hey! What are you –”
ZZZZZINNNG!
The characteristic noise of a spike trap closing in right behind her cut Daring Do off.
“Woah!” Daring's eyes widened in surprise, inwardly scolding herself for letting her guard down. “Thanks, I totally didn't see that one coming.”
Rainbow Dash silently stared at the spikes.
“...Neither did I,” she quietly muttered to herself.
Daring wasn't sure what to make of the remark. Probably stress, considering their near-death encounter.
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.
.
From this point on, the narrow tunnels of the cave became more easily discernible as the entryway to an underground temple, laced with traps every couple of steps.
And what nasty traps there were!
In her time, Daring had seen the inside of many forbidden catacombs, countless holy and probably less holy shrines – when the cult that had built it had served the god of Chaos and Disharmony, it wasn't “holy” in her book – and this temple had everything.
(Well, almost everything. She honestly doubted she'd ever again encounter a pitfall filled with flesh-eating piranhas swimming in steaming hot chocolate, while razor-sharp candy-cane spikes were descending from the ceiling, which itself was covered in some dripping goo that had incapacitated her flying abilities at the time.)
From the classic spike-traps, spears shooting out of the walls, the ground opening up to reveal a pit filled with hungry alligators... You name it, it was all here!
Daring knew of several different temple archetypes. Asides from different construction styles, layouts or traps to be expected when facing a specific type of temple, there were those that were designed to 'test' anypony that dared to enter... and then there were those that just tried to keep everything and everypony out no matter what.
This definitely was one of the latter kind.
A wide gap in the ground filled with lava made her pause to consider where exactly the lava might be coming from. The thought was quickly dismissed as the two pegasi simply flew to the other side.
That was strange. Whoever had built this place clearly didn't want any intruders to get through, yet, it didn't seem to be built with pegasi in mind.
Pegasi taken aside – considering that she had heard rumors about a few feral griffon tribes living somewhere in the southern parts of the jungle, the lack of security against winged intruders struck her as rather inconsiderate.
The solution to at least part of this mystery turned out to be rather simple, and non-lethal for once.
At one point, the tunnel suddenly came to a stop, only a very small crawlway allowing for passage. No adult griffon would be able to fit – but a pony could squeeze their way through just fine.
With the two of them working their way through the tight corridor single file, Daring Do was constantly on edge. Should there be yet another spontaneously opening floor tile or a set of spikes springing up in front of them, they had no real way to evade it. Still, she urged Dash to keep behind by a few meters, in case any of them should require some extra space to dodge something.
A number of suspicious rills in the walls did not go unnoticed, but passing them didn't seem to trigger any traps.
The narrow tunnel stretched on for quite a while, interspersed with the occasional random turn, rather more of a concession to natural circumstances than intentional design.
“Geez, how long is this thing?!” Daring muttered out loud.
Lucky for her, she found out when the next corner revealed an exit to a larger chamber, this time dominated by brick architecture as opposed to naked stone walls.
“Phew, I thought my wings were going to fall asleep.” The pegasus wearily flapped the sore appendages and stretched her back, briefly leaning against the wall for support.
A sudden “CLUNK” from behind made her spin around. The tunnel space she had just crawled out of had been sealed off by a solid rock wall – and Rainbow Dash was still inside!
A muffled shout of “Hey! What gives?” coming from the other side pretty much confirmed that Dash was alright, but Daring asked her anyway.
“You okay, Rainbow Dash?”
“Urk! My tail's stuck,” Dash shouted back. “Some rock or whatever came shooting out from the ceiling! ...It's hard to tell in the dark.”
Wait, so there was more to the trap than just this wall at the end of the tunnel? But what good was a trap that only got triggered from the outside?
Unless...
Daring looked over the wall she had previously leaned on, and indeed – one of the bricks in the wall stuck out slightly. A small push, and the rock-wall slid back up, soon followed by a dust-covered pegasus entering the room.
“It's a sealing mechanism.” Daring Do pondered out loud. “Whoever built this place had wanted to have the option to shut everypony out when inside – as if the death traps weren't enough already!”
“Heh.” She couldn't help but chuckle. “Clever placement for the trigger, actually. If somepony managed to follow one of the monks – or whoever used to serve in this temple – up to this point, they could still trap the intruder in the tunnel.”
On a whim, she searched for the trigger to shut the entrance. With a resounding “CLUNK”, the only apparent exit was closed.
“Hah! Let's see how Ahuizotl's gonna get in here now.”
Turning her lamp towards the room, Daring took notice of several torches sticking out from the walls. Most of them were soaked – water was dripping in from some point in the ceiling – but she managed to find a usable one. She ignited it, and gave it to Dash, who accepted it wordlessly.
Holding up her own light-source, she inspected her surroundings.
To her left, there were several intricate carvings, etched into the canvas of a row of stone tablets embedded into the wall.
Most of the carvings had been damaged to some degree or another; the water running down from the ceiling was ever-so-slowly eating away at the art.
The first carving showed a group of ponies to the right, taking a protective stance against a group of indistinct creatures to the left. Curiously, to the ponies' right, there was a depiction of their symbol for “death” that Daring Do had already noticed at the cave entrance. There was also another symbol Daring Do did not recognize. It appeared to be a flag, probably the symbol of their society, waving in a non-existent breeze.
The next picture was not a very pleasant one. While the details had been washed away by a flowing river of water drops from above, and the entire lower half of the image was missing, it clearly depicted a devastated battlefield. Groups of ponies, griffons, and even one or two grown dragons could be seen – apparently lifeless, or otherwise incapacitated. And looming over everything, there was, again, the symbol for “death”.
Daring grimaced for a brief moment, then moved on to the next picture. It probably wasn't a good sign that the first thing the Mareicans wanted somepony to see upon entering was an illustration of ponies going to war.
There was a gap in the wall, and some debris on the floor indicated that part of the stone tablet had fallen off. The rest of the tablet showed a group of ponies wearing masks and ceremonial robes that covered the entire body.
What caused Daring Do to groan and apply her left front-hoof to her face was the detail that every pony shown in the carving was carrying a small orb either depicting the deadly symbol, or what appeared to be their national flag.
Within just a couple of minutes, her opinion of the “Great and Wise” Mareican civilization had dropped significantly. The impression she got from this did not match up with her research at all.
Okay, there was always the chance she wasn't getting the full picture, or was misinterpreting things. Maybe the flag even had a different meaning altogether. After all, she couldn't rightfully judge this entire civilization on the spot, at the very least not just by looking at the first three stone carvings she came across.
And indeed, the next image broke the chain of death and other questionable symbolism.
Or, rather, the image after that or perhaps the one thereafter, as a huge chunk of the wall had slumped down into a pile of rubble on the floor.
Scratching her head, she noticed the absence of pegasi in the picture. None of the pony-shapes were specifically carved to resemble unicorns either.
Going back to the previous images didn't show any pegasi or unicorns either, not that she could tell for sure with the many broken pieces and water-damage.
A closed society of earth ponies, perhaps?
Come to think of it, this would indeed line up with her research.
Just recently, new dating methods had revealed that artifacts found in the Mareican mainlands were much older than previously thought. Eight thousand years at the very least, if not more. As such, the Mareican civilization predated not only the union of the three tribes, but even the three tribes themselves.
Not much was known about those early days of recorded history. But one thing was certain. The Mareicans had been... exceptional.
In an era when many scattered groups of ponies had just been using the most basic of metal tools, they had already mastered mechanical contraptions the likes of which had only been rediscovered mere centuries ago.
Some of the traps she had just escaped from were perfect proof of that.
One of the discovered artifacts that was causing historians' brains all around the world to overheat was, in fact, a pony-sized mechanical clock, gear wheels and all.
So far, nopony had found an explanation for the spectacular – no pun intended – anachronism.
And then, on top of that, there were legends of a powerful artifact.
It was just so exciting!
At heart, Daring Do was an adventurer, always out for a thrill, no doubt. But also, she often found herself amazed by cultures that had come and passed, long before Equestria was even founded.
Sheepishly, she remembered a time when a young daredevil wannabe-adventurer desperately had tried to hide her interest in archeology, believing it to be “nerdy”. Nowadays, she was even publishing her own articles on the subject.
Shaking herself from her reveries, she strove for the next stone tablet.
The carving showed the same general scenery, except that the ponies had vanished. The image entirely focused on nature – meaning mostly trees and giant mushrooms. There may have been birds, too, but the well-preserved condition of the previous carving did not apply here. Over all, there was a huge circle, straight lines splaying out from it in a circular pattern identifying it as the sun.
The next tablet gave Daring pause. It was the same landscape, but the mood of the first few carvings had returned. There were no ponies, no trees, no vegetation, nothing. Looming over everything was, once again, the Mareican symbol for “death” – this time taking the place of the sun itself. Daring wasn't entirely sure what to make of this. The Mareican civilization had vanished at some point, likely fallen victim to a disease. At least, that was the working theory.
Whatever carvings had come after that had not stood the test of time. All that remained was a pile of rubble on the ground, where the small river of water droplets vanished into unseen holes in the floor.
Daring Do decided to move on, and see what lay ahead of them.
Only then, she realized that she hadn't heard a single word from Rainbow Dash for quite a while. She turned to see the other pegasus standing at the opposite side of the room, staring off at nothing in particular.
“Rainbow Dash, are you coming?” she addressed the absent-minded mare.
“Hmm? Yeah, sure...” Dash replied, apparently shaken out of her thoughts.
It still bothered her how she had even gotten here, how it was even possible that she was walking side-by-side through some buried underground structure with her favorite fictional character become flesh. But as they resumed trotting deeper into the temple, Dash's thoughts kept going back to that first trap.
She really hadn't seen it coming. There had been something, like a strong itch at the back of her skull, a sense of unease pushing itself to the top of her mind from the depths of her subconsciousness. And then she had jumped to shove Daring Do out of the way before the spike trap could squash them both.
It was almost like...
“No,” she told herself, sternly. “That's... that's not it.” She almost would have compared the experience to her hyperactive, party-enthusiastic friend's “Pinkie Sense”.
But she had seen something out of the corner of her eye. She hadn't been able to grasp what it was at the time... but now, it was crystal-clear.
It had been... letters. Words. A sentence. Something along the lines of “... the characteristic noise of a ... spike trap closing in right behind ... Rainbow Dash slammed her body into ...”
And then she had acted, before the trap was even visible. She had known what was going to happen, before it happened.
She... she had read the next paragraph.
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AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Right when I finish reading a bunch of chapters, THIS AWESOMENESS shows up and my backlog grows yet again.
Not that I'm complaining. More awesome stuff to read, YAY! I mean, yay
I have to admit I never once "read" one chapter of your story, but did listen to all readings.
Usually I take my sweet time, get something to chew on and generally relax. I can even close my eyes and formulate the pictures that are describet to me while "reading" the story. (try that one with a regular book )
Anyway, I like that you did put such a media to our use and will further use it to my advantage.
On the other hand you made just a wonderful story. I like the general Idea and the way you go about doing it is wonderful. I can't wait for the day this story is complete.
Keep up the good work
What about some shout-outs to 'Echo the Diamond Dog' or 'Griffin the Griffin'? Both have, supposedly, met Daring Do and are quite badass allies.
So a pocket dimension in the book that lets them live the adventure in the book? Why do I have a feeling Ms. Sparkle is behind this?
You should probably change build into built at five or so places seeing as it was in the past, but other than that this is a great story so far.
I love the concept that Dash is "reading" the book as she lives it!
Keep up the good work!
Well, almost everything. She honestly doubted she'd ever again encounter a pitfall filled with flesh-eating piranhas swimming in steaming hot chocolate, while razor-sharp candy-cane spikes were descending from the ceiling, which itself was covered in some dripping goo that had incapacitated her flying abilities at the time.
This trap gets all my "wat?".
This is awesome!
So Dash is learning to break the Fourth Wall. Isn't Pinkie going to be proud! They can break it together and prank all us humans.
"Anyhoof" doesn't really make sense. We don't say "anyhand" or "anyfoot." Well, I don't.
In any case, this is a most enjoyable experiment in metafiction. I'm looking forward to more. Especially more information on the history of the Mareicans.
Personally, I expect Daring Do fanfiction to be about as dark as the Indiana Jones series. That is to say, there's the potential for lots of violence and even fantastic gore (like melting the face off of a Nazi or pulling the beating heart out of a human sacrifice), but nobody could honestly call the world the stories take place in a nihilistic one.
“You okay, Rainbow Dash?”
I could only hear Derpy saying that, which means:
Being Daring Do is Derpy's night-job.
My mind has just been blown.
And the wall comes down. I could imagine the metaphysical crisis when dash "finishes" the book. Did Dash read all of Daring Do's thoughts on the tablets?
And the wall comes down. I could imagine the metaphysical crisis when dash "finishes" the book. Did Dash read all of Daring Do's thoughts on the tablets?628318
I had the same grip too with Anyhoof
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n was staring right back at her, edged deep into the lunar
Should be 'etched.'
And 50-odd-so years in the past. In an
Could be anything, really. Just making it '50-odd years' would work fine, but it makes no sense like it is now. Maybe you meant to put '50-or-so years?'
Just because she and her friends were so willing to share their stories, didn't mean that everypony did.
Should be 'would be.' Also, there shouldn't be a comma in the middle of the sentence, there.
Daring knew of several different temple-archetypes, asides from different construction-styles, layouts or traps to be expected when facing a specific type of temple.
I think you accidentally this sentence. I get what you're trying to say, but this sentence doesn't quite manage to actually say it.
er left, there were several intricate carvings, edged into the canvas of a row of stone-tablets
Again, should be 'etched.' Also, 'stone tablets' is fine without a hyphen.
water was running down from a rift in the ceiling,
Rift isn't the best word to use here. Something like 'rent,' 'hole,' 'crack,' or 'fissure' would work better.
"By Celestia, some of the traps she had just escaped from were perfect proof of that! And by the stars!"
What is being emphasized by the italics, here? They appear completely unnecessary to the whole of the sentence. Also, 'And by the stars!' isn't a complete sentence.
But recent new dating methods had indicated that artifacts found in the Mareican m
Department of Redundancy Department, here. Unless you mean to say "But recently, new ('modern' would sound better than 'new,' but that's a preference thing) dating methods had..."
628318
Agreed, "anyhoof" has no place there.
More, please.
627287
...maybe you should consider - as I subtly keep promoting in the chapter-headers - using one of the freely available text-to-speech tools to convert your daily dose of fanfiction into audio files? It allows for multitasking, and you can also put them on your mp3 player and listen to them pretty much anywhere.
It's how I read all fanfics. ;)
627634
Actually, I'll give you a tiny little spoiler right here - she isn't.
627411
Actually, I haven't read these, so I couldn't. ^_^;
631942
you should.
Literally, you should. They're two VERY Badass HiE stories that are quite well-written.
632467
I'll admit I'm a bit less inclined to grimdark stories, unless they really catch my interest in one way or another. Kinda kills the mood, having our favourite Equines being subjected to unimaginable horrors, etc, etc.
Read part of the prologue/first chapter(?) of "Echo", actually, and the whole "people going to Equestria getting brutally mauled on arrival"-thing kinda tipped me off. *shrug*
I'll see if I'll get around to reading it eventually, though.
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629531
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630167
^- That image.
What is this I don't even this existed, XD.
636625
Yeah.
appearances can be deceiving.
Neither of them are grimdark.
Both of them are BADASS.
As in awesome.
Seriously.
Then again, both take place in 'modern' equestria, while yours seems to take place within the book world, with the fictional Daring Doo as opposed to the real gal the books are based on. That'd be a nice headcanon to explain a lack of references.
629975
Yeah, there's several ways for me how the story could end, and how it will actually end ultimatively depends on how the story will have build up to that point.
From seeing the two tiny words "The End" coming up somewhere nearby to realizing that her own world is fictional as well, it's all open.
I'm taking "inspirational suggestions", though.
631261
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Wow. Thank you, kind sir, you win the pre-reading mistake-fixing ...ish ... award... thing!
"Should be 'etched.'"
Hay, there's even a few mistakes I didn't even realize to be mistakes to begin with.
Huh, the more you know!
"recent new dating methods "
Department of Redundancy Department, hehe, yeah, I see how it is redundant. ^^;
Also thanks for instantly providing a better suggestions instead.
"By Celestia, some of the traps she had just escaped from were perfect proof of that! And by the stars!"
Emphasis is on the exclamations, as in "Oh my god! I just realized something extremely important." *shrug*
Though it's not really a big deal, I'll fix it when I find the time to get rid of all the afore-mentioned mistakes. *shrug*
I guess I'll keep my little "artistic freedom" with the use of "anyhoof", though.
I simply find it funny.
That mechanical clock reference, might it be based on the antikythera mechanism?
628032
Well, it was a temple built to serve the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, after all...
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627312
Ah shucks, thanks!
Glad to hear ya like the audio-book concept, that's how I read all fanfictions I come across, by the way.
Although I'll have to admit, I often don't just "sit down and relax" while 'reading' fanfics for it's own sake;
This option allows me to "read" while I'm drawing a comic, or while I'm playing a (muted) videogame (works pretty well with Minecraft for instance).
Or while going grocery shopping. Or when being unable to fall asleep. Or on the daily train/bus ride to/from work. Horray for multitasking!
Now that I think about it, pretty much every trainride on my day to / back from work, I listen to fanfiction. I get a good minimum of 2 hours of MLP-fanfics in my system during working days. And it's been like that for 5 months now, actually.
...yeah, that "estimated word counter" ain't got nothin' on how much I've really read. *insert maniacal laughter here*
...
So ... yeah! Glad you like the story, and the whole "synthesized fanfic reading" concept itself.
I'll continue to support the medium, and perhaps, once I finished the story, upload a "complete" version with some more musical variety that fits the mood of certain scenes.
...starts playing Inception soundtrack
627804
Ah, I see! Thanks. :)
And as for " I love how you literally sent Dash into her favorite book series";
Well... 636714
627818
Ah! Thanks! And that's exactly the type of mistake I'd overlook.
While I certainly do go over the entire chapter before release and do my best to fix everything up - it's a matter of finding the balance between perfectionism and actually getting the thing done in a reasonable time - for the most part, I repeatedly listen to my own audio-book version instead.
Obviously, spelling errors that don't show up in spellchecking AND sound exactly alike to the proper spelling then end up slipping under the radar.
628767
Hehehe, yepp, obvious Derpy-reference is obvious.
631683
Have ideas, will write.
...probably will take it's time, though.
631838
Where can I find this? I have GOT to get my hands on audiobooks of some of these things ASAP.
And I love what you did with Rainbow's discovery. My gosh she's discovered her own Pinkie Sense!
664611
I'm making that an official quote man. Gold.
636714
You scare me. I've read MLPxInception... and that just scared me. That concept is like the seed of a crack fic I cannot even fathom. I've read crossovers with only one tiny little piece of history changed that left me going , but THAT... the only thing that I might classify on that level would be the Haylo series and it's tranformation from MLP/Halo crossover into a crickfic universe, though sadly it's very very dark. I would like to see a crackfic crossover universe with a more lighthearted flavor really, but it's hard to keep the innocence of MLP when you mix it with stuff like Warhammer. Meh.
666428
I'd have had a crack at a MLP/Toy Story crossover by now. Loads of the usual Fridge horror that goes hand-in-hand with living toys, but not much actually horrifying material while reading. Problem is, I have no idea how I can write anything to do either series justice from it.
"We're all toys now? Huh, that's odd."
"The new toys in our group are ponies? Good for them."
You see? I have nothing to work with. Plus, how do I compete with the Woody/Andy Toy/Owner relationship using any of the canon characters? Unless it turns out Princess Celestia is actually a real-life little girl or something, and Twilight's actually a toy who has similar love and respect as Woody does for Andy. Then little girl gets her hands on, say, a Care Bear, and bam, insta Woody-Andy-Buzz situation. Except with ponies.
Huh, now I can write that.
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I like how you had Rainbow's actual action be exactly the same as the one she foresaw herself doing, only earlier. Like Rainbow Dash can't actually change what's going to happen at all, but can change when it happens.
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1) Where can I find this? I have GOT to get my hands on audiobooks
Great to hear I got your interest! :D
....now I kinda feel stupid I don't have a simple step-by-step list of instructions. ^^;
Well - it's been quite a while since I last went on a Google Quest to pull these things together, but the terms you've got to go for is "text to speech" or "text to mp3" (text to audio) - converter.
There's some entirely free ones out there, with no restrictions or anything.
Some of those directly convert to mp3, so that might be faster for you then what I'm using.
Regardless, I'll give the lengthy explanation just in case:
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Oddly enough, with the program I use myself I've had some issues getting it to work on a few other computer besides my current and previous one (Vista, XP) - then again, once it works, it stays that way.
So you might try to have a shot at using "BlaBlaMaker". It's user interface is German (but with the proper speech packages installed, it can be used to transcribe any language), though it's so simplistic I can give you a translation on everything with a screenshot. ( http://www.beyond-cheating.de/bonus/random/blablamaker_english.png )
Err... of course, the only website I could find it for download on happens to also be in German. Then again, that's what Google's website-translator is good for. http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.chip.eu%2Fde%2FBlabla-Maker-1.0.0_541708.html
Speech package I use is "Microsoft Mary". (Separate download required)
Once you got that working, simply copy-paste a fanfic of your choice - fimfiction is especially good for this, since it allows to download an entire fic with the "download story as *.txt"-option (right next to the "complete/incomplete"-tag) - and hit "save as (*.wav)" ...
It then converts the file into, well duh, a WAV-audiofile (takes it's sweet time, but you can open multiple instances at once and use them all simultanously without slowing it down).
You'll probably want to convert it to mp3 to save space.
I use Goldwave 4.26 for that. http://www.goldwave.com/release426.php It's a trial version, but ... *cough* you can use it indefinitelly, the occasional "would you like to buy our program?" prompt and a useless counter at the bottom taken aside. ^^;
...additionally - oh boy, this list is getting rather lenghty, almost like one of Twilight's checklists, geez! - you'll need to download the "LAME" mp3-codec. http://www.free-codecs.com/Lame_Encoder_download.htm
THEN you can use Goldwave to convert the WAV you got from BlaBlaMaker into an mp3.
Optionally, you could mix a loop of some music in with the fanfic, for smooth listening. Mix volume I use for the "Daring Do and the secret of the Fourth Wall" audio books is 17%.
(Mixing it while the file's still WAV goes faster.)
....yeah, hope I didn't discourage you with all that blabering. ^^;
But I promise, as soon as I find an easier-to-describe way (aka "go there, download that program, you're done"), I'll tell ya. ^^;
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2) I'm making that an official quote man. Gold.
Sure, carry on! :)
3) Inception
MLPxInception crackfics? Erm, that's not how I ment it. ^^;
I ment that "We need to go deeper" sums it up pretty well. In a way, it is a take on the classic concept of "fan of the show goes to Equestria", only ... shifted downwards by one layer of the fourth wall. ;)
Err, I'm not all that much into fics that use the main cast and then proceed to completely throw the show's continuity outta the window by re-telling an entirely different story. *shrug*
"it's hard to keep the innocence of MLP when you mix it with stuff like Warhammer"
Yeah. I can clearly see why. Although, you could always go for comedic effect, and have them use heatseaking icecream launchers and orbital cake-dropships.
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I see! Silly mistake, I actually knew the difference but used the wrong word there anyway.
Thanks. :)
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... what was "F)" about anyway?
627931 Thank you!
Well, it does go somewhat along the lines of this.
You're spectacular~!!!
I love your writing. It's so fluid and engaging.
WOOOSHHIEEEEE~!!!! ZOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM~!!!! yaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~!
Must study your writing MOAR~!!!
Rainbow has her Dashie Senses.
lemme guess dash ends up writing the books when she gets back but chooses to remain anonymous to not stop the next universe dash from going into the book and so on
630167 YES!
Loving the "Stranger than Fiction" vibe you've got going on.
But what will happen when Twilight reads the next book when it comes out?