Her boredom had gotten out of hand, and Rainbow Dash felt an immense need to do something. There was really nothing for her to do alone in the bedroom, so she decided to try her hooves on a small walk around the house. Scouting the area, Daring Do would have called it. That certainly sounded a lot better than walking around, hoping for something to happen.
With a rested body, a refilled stomach and a tiny bit of willpower, the simple act of walking was surprisingly easy, though her skin was still sore and itched whenever her movement wrinkled it up. She opened the door and left the bedroom, entering a much larger room which didn't look like a hospital at all. If anything, it looked like a kitchen. From there she discovered a bathroom, a door leading to a hallway, and some sort of hybrid between living room and library. Judging by the amount of books, whoever lived here could challenge Twilight in eggheadedness. None of the books had readable titles.
Deciding that she wasn't particularly interested in unreadable books, she headed out into the hallway, which seemed to be shared with at least one other household. After descending a flight of stairs, she finally exited the building and walked out into the sunshine.
The scenery was only slightly reminiscent of Ponyville, and the color scheme was a little grimmer. The houses she could see were mostly identical to the one she was currently standing outside: They all seemed to have three floors, were all painted white, and were all made of smooth stone or some such. At least, she couldn't make out any wooden ones, even across the wide, dark road.
How dull.
As soon as she thought that, something that looked like a locomotive-less train carriage zoomed past her. Through its large windows, she noticed more creatures akin to the doctors, and from what she could make out, they looked just as bored as she. A brilliant idea entered her mind, and she smiled slyly.
They can keep their tests - I know the best one!
In a rush of adrenaline, she had caught up with the vehicle in eight seconds flat and passed it shortly after. Ha! Even without her wings, she was an excellent racer! Well, an excellent sprinter in any case. Her sudden burst of exertion left her very disoriented, causing her to trip and tumble straight into a bush by the wayside, where she lay still for a minute, resisting the urge to throw up and gathering the strength to move again. The fall itself didn't hurt at all, but the twigs left her bare skin both scratched and sore, doubly so after she had crawled out.
By the time she began to regain her bearings, her opponent had already disappeared from view. Further exploration revealed that only the door she had left open distinguished the house whence she came from its neighbors, and since she wasn't keen to get more lost than she already was, she decided to slowly make her way back inside.
The apartment was exactly as boring as she had left it, and her itchy skin and upset stomach did nothing to spruce it up. At least the knowledge that there were things here that could move decently fast cheered her up somewhat. Hopefully, there were even faster things around, ones she could race against while she recovered. It was too bad that the creatures neither seemed to have wings nor access to magic, so any meaningful race would be likely to happen on the ground. Still, once her feathers were grown, she could just fly back to Equestria anyway.
Maybe if Twilight dispels the wrap thingy on me, and casts it on one of the Wonderbolts instead, they'll actually be a challenge, she thought with a confident smile.
Continuing her scouting mission inside the house, she chose to start by taking a closer look at the library room. There, pedestal in the corner held up a green and blue sphere, on which there seemed to be engraved a map. She remembered someone saying something about the world really being a ball, but had never really given it much thought. Maybe, someday, she would fly all the way around it, and see for herself. After giving it a few spins and giving up on finding Equestria, she left it alone in favor of a large, curious picture frame that seemed to depict nothing but blackness. Closer inspection revealed a myriad of tiny buttons on its side, far too small for her large, clumsy hooves to press precisely, and an intricate network of cables that ran throughout the house.
As she followed the cables, she noticed that some of them were connected to the lights in the ceiling. Those, she had seen more and more often over the last couple of years, and they worked due to something called... electric? She didn't understand exactly how it worked, but she knew Ponyville had built a giant dam in order to get access to it. Maybe these creatures did have some sort of magic after all.
Deeming herself finished with the library, she rummaged through the kitchen in search of something edible that wasn't beans. Her dizziness was constantly threatening to make her vomit, and the last thing she needed was a more upset stomach. After a few minutes, she found some bread, but what she really wanted was some good old hay.
Eventually, she noticed that the large, white machine letting out a silent hum had a door handle. Cautiously opening it, she was greeted by a light switching on, a cold front of air, and a plethora of different foods. Instantly recognizable were bottles of milk, and a transparent bag containing fresh fruits and vegetables. After helping herself to a few tasty tomatoes, she continued investigating the ingenious food-contraption's contents.
Her heart skipped a beat.
The object resting squarely in the middle of all the food caused her intestines to twist painfully. She had never seen anything more disgusting. It was unquestionably meat - some poor animal had been ground up and was being stored in a small pool of its own blood! She barely made it over to the kitchen sink before the vomit started gushing out of her mouth. A minute later, she had regurgitated what she could, and washed the mess down the drain. When the realization finally dawned, her eyes silently widened.
They are predators...
Before I get insulted for making Rainbow Dash look stupid, remember that she's a Flight School dropout and that electricity is quite rare in Equestria. She has her strengths, but knowledge about the brink of pony science isn't one of them. I bet you wish you could know how miss Twilight Sparkle would react to all of this, huh?
PS: I know horses generally eat anything, including meat. It's quite bad for their digestive system, though, so I'm using my right as an author to decide that the practice of eating those you can communicate with is a cultural taboo in Equestria, and since Fluttershy has been shown to speak with non-verbal creatures, that means almost all mammals and avians. In addition, I think we can all sympathize with Twilight when she's scared by whatever new dangerous carnivore Fluttershy is hanging around, be it bears, vipers or manticores. Just imagine having both your legs broken in a bear cave. You'd be pissing yourself even if the bears didn't do anything hostile.
Now I'm going on internet-less vacation until Thursday, so no new chapters until next week. I know you want me to finish the next fifty chapters as soon as possible, but I'll leave you with Gödel's famous incompleteness theorem:
"Any effectively generated theory capable of expressing elementary arithmetic cannot be both consistent and
big whoop some animals evolve to eat meat aint our fault Rainbow
866143 Fluttershy is shown feeding those animals fish, though. And no mention has been made of bears or other carnivores being evil. Animals in Equestria are almost certainly not sentient, and Fluttershy doesn't count. She wouldn't be the first animal lover to think they can talk to animals.
Poor Rainbow. Surprise, we're omnivores, and apex predators to boot.
Sciency news: dark matter filament detected through gravitational lensing.
866197
Angel the bunny seems to be sentient with its communication with Fluttershy (Unless you postulate that all her animal communication is hallucination, but that's a story for another fic), as do the birds in May the Best Pet win, and I don't think fish are counted among those they can communicate with.
I'm not trying to say that all carnivores are evil, but when she realizes that those you're living with might decide to eat you, can come as a shock. To make a parallel to how it would feel in reality, you're not sure a wolf would attack you (After all, could just be a wolf-looking tame dog), but when you meet one, you're still scared in case it does.
In any case, if it turns out nobody likes the way Rainbow Dash bounces between trust and skepticism, I might end up revising it. I'm quite open to the possibility of having made an error in judgement after being awake for 30hr+ :)
yes! i'm not the only one who miss used the word sentient.
awwww poor Rainbow.... unable to do anything interesting and then after a little run she comes back to go through the fridge and finds something dead in it. hopefully there is some way for them to get it across that she is safe. or at least establish that only certain animals are eaten and she is not one of them.
first she is like
but then she is like
and then she is like
and finally she was like
866143
Correction. All but insects and fish.
i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/5/18/ilRyNn6VgEWoBdxrAh_TjQ2.png
Additionally, Fluttershy had no qualms about dealing with bears or manticores, who are both intelligent and eat meat. Of course, that's Fluttershy. Dash has only been shown hanging around griffons, and you can make a case that they might eat exclusively fish. So, who knows what her attitude towards omnivores will be like. Hell, maybe she'd find them exciting as much as terrifying.
Regardless, just wanted to point that out. Your story is brilliant so far, and I have no doubt you'll handle the issue with equal intelligence.
866250
You've already written and published it. If you change it now those who already read it might get confused
Plus I'd like to see how that unfolds.
i think the chapter is fine she was already feeling sick and to see a piece of some unknown animal swimming in its own blood would make a lot of real people sick. seeing that in the fridge would be like you seeing a dead deer up close. you just need to put the thought in perspective and anyways it is a fan fiction anything is allowed and must be accepted (not that it has to be good) but i think it is reasonable. long story short, good work.
P.S. you had better keep writing while your gone and have something to show for it when next Friday rolls around... if not then perhaps Rainbow Dash will find you in the fridge.
but seriously now good work and have fun on your trip.
866197
Just a note. Bears are actually omnivores. They eat meat (primarily fish) but they also feast on berries a lot.
You know I never got how ponys are as smart ( or a little dumber?) as us  humans.  First they are herivoires so they do not get a lot of protein( and b12) which is needed for the brain. And secound their eyes take up a lot of their skull, their heads are not that big and they have huge eyes. Sorry wrote this on an old phone
You know I never got how ponys are as smart ( or a little dumber?) as us  humans.  First they are herivoires so they do not get a lot of protein( and b12) which is needed for the brain. And secound their eyes take up a lot of their skull, their heads are not that big and they have huge eyes. Sorry wrote this on an old phone
866318 Those are beavers in that picture, right? They're pure herbivores.
EDIT
Wait, no they're not, forgive my stupidity.
866597
i think they are ferrets their tails are too small to be beavers
866597
... They're weasels, ferrets maybe. Definitely mustelids, anyway.
Just caught up with this story. I'm really enjoying it. It seems like the real meat of the story is just starting (no pun intended), so I'm excited to see what you're gonna do with this.
866556
They're roughly as biologically capable as we are, but their society is lagging behind slightly on technological advances. That's mostly due to a relativist philosophy where everyone lives in harmony instead of having one based on challenging each other, like humans have. I'm a socialist at heart, but even I have to admit that capitalism and international arms races incite scientific discovery both for good and bad.
They do not get as much protein, but that doesn't mean they don't get ANY protein. While eating flowers do not contribute much to brain growth, they're not the only thing they ingest - they're shown to drink milk and eat both a variety of vegetables and pastry, which can contain quite a lot of important stuff. In addition, the human body is capable of synthesizing some vitamins on its own, so it's not unthinkable that ponies can synthesize B12 the way we humans synthesize B13.
866556
A large brain isn't necessarily important for intelligence. What is important is the surface area (in-case you didn't know, the crevices in our brains are to increase surface area, which increase the need for more brain cells). Some of the more recent evolution's of humans had larger brains, but smaller surface area.
As for the no protein thing, vegetables contain some protein, but things like nuts and beans have a lot. I just google'd up a chart, not too important though.
866616 866630
I believe they are River Otters, cousin to my beloved Sea Otter.
I really liked how Dash re-acted to discovering that humans eat meat. It come as a shock to anyone who is a vegitarian and was assuming that those taking care of them were as well.
As for the animals they certainly seem sentient and sapient in the show (Hurricane Fluttershy anyone?), though the level of actual intellegence is debatable. Some seem really smart, others not so much, just like with people really.
866696
Nah, check this picture of a ferret I found on GIS: ferretfriends.org/images/ferret_2.jpg
Contrast that to this picture of a river otter: ecologyadventure.edublogs.org/files/2010/04/River-Otter.jpg
The animals above are definitely ferrets. (Although both otters and ferrets are mustelids, so I'm right either way.)
866672
Personally I list Equestria and MLP:FiM as having Schizotech. The first season tech seemed to be around turn of the 20th century level. The train the Appleoosa was pulled by stallions rather than running on steam for instance. This changed in the second season when the train became steam powered, the dam was added and we have things like video games in the town square for the little colts and fillys to play on. Tech seemed to jump to late-20th in the second season. But they still use wash basins instead of washing machines. Yet they do have refridgeration if memory serves. I believe I saw a fridge in the scene at the start of Sisterhooves Social when Sweetie Belle was trying to cook Rarity breakfast.
866715
Hmmm, true the markings look closer to the Ferret, but the whole living in the river bank under the bridge seems more River Otter to me... But you're right, they are certainly mustelids. I'll give it to you that they are Ferrets. I certainly don't know enough about them to say they wouldn't choose to live in a riverbank and appearance wise they are closer.
866725
I went through that scene, and couldn't find any fridge. Went through it again, and just noticed how cereal + carrots + stirring = fried eggs.
866767
Hmmm, I must have imagined the fridge then.
866767
wait but they ate eggs? that would support that perhaps eating an animal is not such a bad thing as one would think... there is no need to stress this though... anyway i still think that it is a good well written chapter and even if her reaction is wrong (its not) its still funny and a good end point. plus that would make her more likely to question how safe she is. lets hope she does not try to run now.
867186 In a nutshell:
Lets hope she doesn't overreact.
Hey we cant help eating meat bacon is just so nice.
866143
Ah, forgive me if I have missed on obvious point, but where did we learn that Rainbow is a Flight School dropout? As I recall, her past has been mentioned, briefly, twice in canon - in Griffon the Brush Off, where we discover she went to Flight Camp, and The Cutie Mark Chronicles, where we discover that, at Flight Camp, she unleashed the first Sonic Rainboom in defense of Fluttershy (who -literally- dropped out).
Other than that bit of fridge logic, this is another brilliant chapter.
867396 Sonic Rainboom.
Paraphrased:
Randompony: "Ha ha! It's Rainbow Crash! Get kicked out of any more flight schools?"
Rainbow: "I didn't get kicked out."
Randompony: "Face it, Rainbow Crash. School had too many rules and not enough nap times for you."
And she doesn't say anything more to deny it, which seems to be saying that she dropped out of her own volition.
Umm...Gilda? Was she not a member of a predatory species and a close friend of Rainbow Dashes? Wouldn't Rainbow have some personal experience around predatory animals? Wouldn't Rainbow have also seen from being around the humans that they are obviously omnivorous so then honestly from both those sets of experiences it'd seem like she'd be the LEAST likely canon Pony to freak out over this. Anyway, other then the meat thing lovely and entertaining story and a fun chapter.
Am I the only one bothered that, after being bedridden and barely able to move that Rainbow dash is suddenly, without any in-between, not only fit enough to walk on her own, but to temporarily outrun a car? Even between her bubble and it being a residential neighborhood, that's just suspension of disbelief-breaking for me. Setting the time-frame aside, I'd think Flora would have someone keeping watch on her to prevent this sort of exploration(or encounter with another human) long before Dash got to the point of being able to do this.
Makes sense she'd be scared of what she doesn't completely understand, especially from her viewpoint. Potentially thinks when they're done testing, they're just gonna kill and eat her. Enough to strike fear into any sentient trapped with a bunch of creatures they know nothing about.
Just read this in one sitting. Insanely well written, with an interesting backstory and compelling human characters (though they appear a little one-dimensional at times. Take Fauna for example). In light of the newly confirmed Higgs-boson (or at least similar particle) I would appreciate you exploring that for a bit.
Anyway, I enjoyed the story a lot so far and it eanred a place with my other favourites. What I would like to see is a flashback to equestria, to her friends trying to find her. She has, after all, been gone a few days now (at least given time progresses at a near-parallel speed).
Have a good one!
867567
Oh - well, okay, _that's_ where he got the idea from - and as much as I dislike it, it _is_ a viable theory.
A minor nitpick with your reasoning, if I may - you claim that her silence after the initial insult is proof that she did drop out. However, due to the fact that the second bully jumps in at that precise moment, deriding her successfully producing a Sonic Rainboom, it is equally likely she was more interested in defending _that_ achievement (as it does seem like something she would deem more important) - at which point Fluttershy effectively assumes control of the argument until the antagonists leave. Thus, one can claim that she was not given the opportunity to provide further defense of her Flight School graduation/attendence, and that even had she been, she would have chosen instead to defend the Sonic Rainboom, as the more insulting claim.
Now Rainbow, Let's be reasonable about this. Just because they eat meat dosnt mean the'll eat yo-......... oh who am i kidding your just going to overreact anyway!
867673
first off she can smash through solid rock and get back up and apparently the ALICE detector and survive magic shield or otherwise. why would she not have a quick recovery its RD we are talking about here. think of when she hurt her wing... she was up and going in a few days from a broken bone. in this case its just a flesh wound. there is nothing physically wrong with her she is just a little burnt and malnourished so it is perfectly believable.
and again because i fell like i must say every time i post good work on the story so far keep it up
868103
And if RBD's recovery was really that fast, Flora would have noticed! The only way for her not to is if there was absolutely no in-between in Rainbow's recovery... she would have had to have been so unable to move that Flora would dismiss any possibility of her moving around or hurting herself before Flora left(and consider the feeding method here; if Rainbow was mobile, Flora would not have to spoonfeed her beans. Breakfast would quickly reveal whether or not Rainbow could manage even the tiniest smidgen of mobility.), and then before she came back that exact same day, suddenly be strong enough to outrun a car the next. It just doesn't pan out.
That said, this is not "a flesh wound". This is second degree burns over her entire body, and lungs damaged from inhaling liquid helium used to keep equipment at temperatures barely above absolute zero. No injury Rainbow Dash has ever taken in the show even holds a candle to this.
868220
one way or another it is RD we have here. can't we just leave it as a testimony to her awesome? and another thing... have you ever tried to do something after not eating for 2-3 days? it is possible her inability to move was just a lack of food.
868679
It doesn't matter what caused caused her lack of energy, or that it's rainbow dash; If she were strong enough to do any of the things in this chapter, Flora would have noticed and arranged for someone to keep track of her to make sure that Rainbow didn't hurt herself trying to move around. There's an explanation lacking here; if there's something special about why Rainbow Dash could suddenly become this fit after being so immobile that she had to be spoon-fed hours ago, why isn't it being discussed by the narrative, or thought about by Rainbow Dash?
868695
she did not have to be spoon fed for one they just did it assuming she was a dumb animal. and the doors were closed anyway they must have assumed she would be fine in the room
868714
Do you feed your dog or cat with a spoon? No, you use a dish because it allows the animal to eat however much it chooses to, and is the least inconvenient for the person doing the feeding... any animal can figure out how to eat food that is placed in front of it, no matter how stupid; and Rainbow Dash has already shown to Flora that she is at LEAST the most intelligent non-human species on the planet, if not equal to humans outright. Knowing that, I highly doubt that she would make the mistake of believing that RBD would be stopped by a door, nevermind that even that makes the assumption that an animal that doesn't know what it's doing might hurt itself otherwise without leaving. Your interpretation of the situation requires Flora to be incredibly incompetent, especially considering her rapt focus on Rainbow Dash as a subject of study. Nothing in the story so far suggests this to be the case.
868738
have you ever met an animal with hoofs that can open doors? and flora only learned this after she was fed the initial time. but as for spoon feeding i have actually spoon fed animals before. why? because they were weak and needed help plus the refused to eat out of a dish because the didn't like the food.
868767
Hooves? No specific examples. But my grandparents once had a cat named Patches who could work a doorknob, despite similarly lacking hands. And as this chapter clearly points out, Rainbow Dash can open them. Rainbow is intelligent, Flora knows she is intelligent, and you don't have to be a scientist to consider the possibility that she could operate a doorknob... especially not with the pop culture of Jurassic Park's velociraptors in the public mind.
As for why I asked if you feed your dog or cat with a spoon, I answered that with the very next sentence; so I'll be more specific this time. Do you spoonfeed your pets under normal circumstances, and without trying to feed them with a bowl first? To quote, "she did not have to be spoon fed for one they just did it assuming she was a dumb animal". Rainbow has been fed beans more than once, and as shown by her thoughts within the story, she acknowledges that she has to eat to regain her strength, so while she didn't necessarily like the beans, she was never refusing to eat them. Assuming that Flora would not notice this despite her keen attention to Rainbow's behavior, and knowledge of her intelligence again requires her to be incompetent, while the story on the whole bills her as the exact opposite.
But all of this is besides the larger point: Rainbow Dash's miraculous recovery is unexplained. The story offers no explanation for why, after being completely bedridden and spoonfed that she could do everything in this chapter, and why she could get the point of being able to do these things without Flora noticing. It entirely leaves the reader to try and come up with their own assumptions as to why the logical continuation of the circumstances in the previous chapters did not happen, and doesn't even go so far as to mention that what is now happening is unusual. It's as though part of the plot is outright missing; which is of course why the term for such things is a plot hole. That's what my problem is with this whole thing.
868815
ok i see what you are trying to say but nowhere in here does it make reference to time. it could have been 11am when Flora left and now it is 6pm and Rainbow has been sitting around all day. she gets bored easily and as we know will do anything to get un-bored. the fact she is so dizzy and has an upset stomach implies that she is not well at all therefor still healing. remember how the room smelled of drugs? is it not plausible that before the influence of the drugs was keeping her down and now they are wearing off? Flora assumes she is capable of communication on a simple basis not that she lives in a house with doors and power with pets of her own in a full blown monarchical society. after all at the moment they think she is the only one.
868963
And if any of that is the case, the story still does not explain or allude to it; and 5 hours is still too short a time for Rainbow to go from "unable to move" to "can race a car". As for the possibility of it being due to drugs wearing off, this again relies on Flora being incompetent, or at best that rainbow dash makes them wear off quicker; but an explanation like that requires actual mention, and as I've been saying, this story does not give any such explanation.
And I repeat, Flora knows Rainbow has near-human intellect, and/or someone who taught her how to count and who knows what else! Why wouldn't she think that RBD could notice, and mimic the act of opening a door, assuming she hasn't already(Something that would almost certainly have already happened in the 'someone already taught her to count' scenario that Flora considered, which technically is what actually happened; monarchical society and all that). Underestimating RBD's intellect just isn't a plausible explanation, unless you accept that Flora is incompetent, which I do not.
Anyways, this back and forth has gone on too long already; it's going in circles, and I don't want to clutter up the comments any more than we already have, so I won't be making any further replies.
Whatever happens with this chapter, be it revised, replaced, or left as-is, I look forward to the next.
869060
another issue is the fact that this story is unfinished. the way this story is going so far in the next bit we will hear from one of the humans witch may provide an explanation. as it seems as nether of us is winning this argument the thing to do would be wait and watch
Meddle not in the affairs of humans; for their tiny teeth remain pointy, and you taste good with ketchup.
Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOQdBLHrLk
866250
It does seem a little out of character for her.
869060
You bring up a fair point. The way I imagined it, it's an adrenaline rush that allows her to exert herself so suddenly, but I didn't specify that.
As for Flora, she has no reason to believe Rainbow Dash is inclined to leave, whether intelligent or not. After all, she's being fed in that bed.
Thanks for the honest feedback!
PS: it's a living area, where the speed limit is something like 30 km/h, so we're not talking fastest horse alive... yet.
869259
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCR8CR6GZ5Q