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What would you do if you've gone where no mare has gone before, and have no idea how to get back?
Rainbow Dash found herself alone in a strange, magicless world governed by entirely different natural laws than Equestria, ruled by a race who thought themselves the only sentient species in the universe...
There is a self-consistent science in Equestria, but it isn't the same as the one in our universe. I have made several postulates for the differences which should be in accordance with the show.
This will all be explored in detail in later chapters.
really great addition. You seem to have captured exactly how people would react if a Pegasus had randomly crashed inside of a particle accelerator through an extra dimensional wormhole. I'm guessing it was twilight's spell that saved dash's life but if there was simply different circumstances in the epicenter of the event, it would make sense. maybe it was the shielding itself that caused said conditions as it failed due to a different set of physics taking over as she entered an alternate universe. OH! what if they realize that the frequency at which her quantum foam resonates is different or can we actually measure that in more that just theory now? /nerd-ed
Thanks for the feedback, but my reasoning goes as follows.
When you take a measurement, you report it in the unit of the scale, and convert it later (To prevent miscommunication when you convert it in your head - especially important when dealing with imperial units). I chose grams because most weights-scales intended for humans round off at the second decimal mark, and so to measure Rainbow Dash's weight, you'd use a tool with higher accuracy - Which would report in grams.
this is great!
you should write moar k? ur real good at it
10th boom?
let me state the physical impossibility's here (constructive critisizm alert)
1) an object can not go the speed of light or it would have to have infinante mass.
2) drag cannot be reduced or that would break the laws of physics, the only place where the laws can be broken is in a black hole
3) multiple sonic booms cannot be acheved after that the mock cone that forms around an object (indicating it has broken the sound barrier) becomes acuter.
4) time can only be slowed in the black hole.
5) pretty shure rainbow would have died.
but other than that its pretty good
i can be your proof reader for physical impossibility's if you want, im kinda an egghead
... ok im a HUGE egg head.
>>531014 There's a reasonable explanation for all of this:
magic.
All of what you said may be true in our world, but all that kind of goes out the window when you go into the world of My Little Pony , as they have a very different definition of physics than we do.
While your offer is appreciated, I'm a physicist myself, so some of the fun for me lies in taking into account the physics.
The whole reason I wanted to write this story was to explore some of the physical differences between Equestria and our world, and eventually offer a field theoretical explanation of how Magic works.
1. The speed of light is not conserved in Equestria - I never said anything in our world moved at the speed of light. I said the neutrinos from the CERN experiment had an apparent speed higher than c, in accordance to the OPERA anomaly.
2. Magic can circumvent "our" ideas of physics to a certain degree. To make a simile, if you were in a capsule falling from space to earth, the "effective drag" would have been negated somewhat by the force of gravity. If an observer from a world without gravity was to see this, they would consider it magic. An aerodynamic shape would also reduce the drag experienced.
3. The picture that goes with the story is sort of foreshadowing an explanation of this. If you understand it from just that, kudos to you.
4. Actually, time only STOPS in a black hole. It's slowed all the time both due to attractor fields such as gravity (See General theory of relativity) and the relative motion of inertial systems. (See the Special theory of Relativity)
5. She would have, but the "Wrap" Twilight cast has some interesting properties that limited the damage. Ever wondered why the USS Enterprise from Star Trek doesn't get blown up by space dust when it goes to warp?
Thanks for the feedback though, if you find other things confusing, I'll be more than happy to address it.
Well, until the last sentence, everyone was happy.
soooo... in fan fics we can write anything we want?!?!
THE POSSIBILITY'S!!!!!
First off, I re-read your initial comment.
1) A particle moving at light speed would not have infinite mass, it would have no mass at all. If it had mass, it would have had infinite momentum and energy, which I think was the point you were trying to convey.
As to what you can do with fanfics...
Yes, you can write anything, but it doesn't mean you should.
For instance, making Twilight be Opalesence's little sister and also the mother of Scootaloo AND Celestia doesn't make sense to anyone who has watched the series, and would most likely be poorly received.
Since your little fiction of awesome is gonna contain ludicrous amounts of actual !!science!!, why not go the whole way in sci-fi hardness and make Rainbow Dash alien in origin, perhaps with no genetic relationship with our tree (no common ancestor within our tree), or even better, a set of different nucleobase and an alternate nucleic acid structure/chemistry
>>547078 Berate me if I'm wrong but, if Dash were to be (hypothetically) a carbon based lifeform (using carbon to bond with other ions), has demonstrated to breathe (cellular respiration), and forest exist in her homeworld (photosynthesis), wouldn't using glucose as an energy source not be too far fetched? And if so, would that not rectify your little conundrum?
Well, based on those facts, does the idea that the nucleobase and nucleic acid are the same seem too far-fetched?
Considering, as you said, there are trees, they eat sucrose (Sugarcube corner), there are rabbits, eagles, and many other facets that are similar to our world, saying "Nope, all those features have a different gene system and just look and work like they're the same" seems like asking for too much suspension of disbelief. I would rather handle those similarities in a different way.
Or, since I haven't explicitly stated that there was a genetic match in any of the tests, you could make the argument that Christina's reaction simply was due to the similarities of the phenotypes.
>>547296 Keyword, similar. Natural selection tends to veer towards positive traits and given a similar environment to evolve in, similar traits rather than completely alien ones are somewhat to be expected (i.e. A species that photosynthesis would tend to evolve towards maximizing surface area unless other factors prohibits them from doing so [The cold, dry weather favoring needle like leaves in coniferous tress]).
Also, I would gladly put the tag of "starfish aliens" on many of the creatures on the show (Such as creatures with the apparent head of a bird; body of a reptile with bat like wings [cockatrice], or a giant 4 headed dinosaur like creature [hydra], maybe even flying; fire breathing reptiles that only grow their wings in their adolescence [dragon]. Maybe you could even give an explanation to Dash's world's similarity to greek mythology though suggestion of an equestrian visit some two thousand years ago.
As the show loves to stylize their animals, it could also be argued that the difference in proportions in the animals can make them look alien to a human observer.
Not to mention, a difference in structure and nucleobase has already been observed in nature, mainly the difference between DNA (double helix; AGCT[T= thymine]; tertiary structure [B-DNA; Z-DNA]; some extremophiles substituting phosphorus with arsenic in arsenic rich environments.) and RNA ([mostly] single helix; AGCU[U= Uracil]). A carbon based organism with a different set of nucleobase could hypothetically react similarly (Compared to our not so alien domestic organisms.) to most organic compounds, of course some of them nutrients won't work on said organism (Mainly the proteins and amino acids found naturally on earth.) and said organism would likely be reliably immune to viruses and most bacteria despite a lack of an immune system against those single celled buggers (Which is a good thing considering the... um... relatively short lifespan of an animal without a working immune system.).
Alternatively, you could always add a little "alternate universe" tag to your story and turn Dash's world into one that's truly alien to the reader (In a way, "alternate universe" may be accurate in more ways than one.).
I would like to apologize in advance if my short rant reads like its imposing on your creativity, I just want to see a rather rare, potentially very hard sci-fi fic (One containing ludicrous amounts of legit science.) scratch metaphorical diamonds.
Not at all, I appreciate the feedback and discussion, especially with someone who appears to know his science. For the record, the story is already tagged alternate universe, and I think you're already reading quite a bit into the future of my story ;)
I would love to do what you've suggested, but the thing is, I'm not a biochemist by profession, I'm a physics student, and if I were to "invent" an alternate genetic system for the ponies that isn't DNA, I would have to go into specifics on a molecular level which I'm not sure I'm equipped to handle.
I could use the other systems found on earth. However, considering the many mammalian traits the magical ponies exhibit, then classifying them with the genetic system of viruses or extremophiles seems even less likely than DNA.
The existence of what you classify as "Starfish aliens" I would explain with the fact that some creatures would take advantage of magic while evolving, and so you get unicorns, firebreathing dragons, regenerating hydras and phoenixes, et cetera.
I won't comment too much on your "earlier visit from equestria" part, but I'll leave you with something to think about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHEe00mBXkc
>>547673 I'm not a biochemist either (I'm an IT student yay!), so I can't help you "invent" alien genetic systems without getting my "invention" shot right through Tartarus by any half-serious peer review. You could always collaborate with someone more qualified though, I'm fairly confident an actual biochemist can at least forge a plausible unconventional genetic model. Failing that, just hinting that Dash's genetic structure, chemistry, bla bla bla is unconventional/unique from our tree of life without going into detail might work too (Some sci-fi writers like to do this.), and although this does tend to decrease the level of sci-fi hardness dramatically if it is presented wrongly (a.k.a.The ignorance about the subject becomes so blatantly obvious it burns.), it beats just flipping the magic card.
Playing with the concept of alternate and parallel universes could also provide the audience with a fictitious explanation to the seemingly magical biological compatibility between life from Dash's world and ours... I assume, but I guess I might be basing this on shaky ground due to a lack of data to work with (Having Dash not react violently to Lorazepam and big red juicy apples is just not enough to form any conclusive statements either than perhaps "Those two things didn't cause her to die a horrible, instant death." The fact that the blanket{?} covering her smelled bad and burns her skin may be the result of her second degree burns, or that not all chemicals that work on a human is compatible with her, perhaps the non-newtonian gas still surrounding her, or maybe I'm reading too much into this and the burning is just the result of an ethanol sterilized blanket over said burns. ). Where was I... Oh, I could already imagine a world in which its inhabitants has evolved almost parallel to our world but not quite.
On to magic! Isn't magic just insufficiently understood science? And if the magic in Dash's world is consistent and repeatable, wouldn't that make it the physics of her world? To quote the webcomic Girl Genius "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!"
On a less related note, I love how you placed a language barrier between the humans and Dash, not many writers and tv shows do that (Take english speaking; life sucking aliens from another galaxy in Stargate: Atlantis for example.).
After watching the video... huh, french haute couture, the last visit was much more recent than I thought.
If I was writing a standalone science fiction book, I would love to collaborate with a biochemist (And a linguist and an engineer, for that matter), and scratch metaphorical diamonds, as it were. As it stands, it's "just" a fanfiction of copyrighted work, and I'll have to devise a different explanation. I do have a little something in mind, though, and it's not just yelping "Magic!" - It'll be based on postulates that you'd have to be working at CERN to refute (And indeed will be established there in my story), so hopefully I won't be breaking anyone's immersion with it.
As to the video: I was more thinking of the fact that the Orion constellation is visible both from Equestria and Earth. The "French" part I assume just refers to place where people speak in Fancy! After all, I'm not letting the pony language be English.
As to the magic/science: I agree completely. Some facets of magic will be explained later on via scientific inquiry.
As to the antibiotic blanket: I don't know if you've ever had antibiotics be poured on a burn wound to sterilize it, but it smells awful and feels even worse, so you can't really read anything out from it other than the fact that Rainbow can feel pain, so she has a nervous system.
As to the language compliment: Thanks! Since the story is set on contemporary Earth, I can't play with the Universal Communicator from Star Trek or similar things, and if I hadn't placed a language barrier there, even I wouldn't have been able to take it seriously.
Edit: And the Lorazepam was never administered to Rainbow Dash, there wasn't enough time.
>>548555 Orion constellation, how could I have missed that. It could mean Dash's world (Equestria is a country on a planet, not the whole planet [The planet's name was never reveled].) and earth is pretty close astronomical wise though. It would have been fun (but [reasonably] cruel) to have Dash react negatively, maybe even violently to the Lorazepam (Sort of like an allergic reaction.), It'll create some drama for the doctors at the hospital and makes them more cautious around prescribing drugs to a currently unknown physiology, six-limb, non-newtonian gas emitting alien.
Edit: Never mind about Equestria and Earth being very close astronomical wise, I'm betting their in the same spot, just in different realities.
I'm not saying they sedated the concussed man.
But... I'm not saying they didn't.
References for this chapter:
Good chapter... now I have a bone to pick with you. The classifications, couple problems 1) A donkey is in the same Genus as horses as zebras: Equus. 2) Subfamily is a very specific thing, what the Doc would be proposing is a new genus.
Overall a good chapter, and the ending is just perfect.
"Diana had once told Fauna to "either make some friends or suffer mental health problems". What a ridiculous notion. She mentally dominated everyone! The future of scientific discovery did not depend on her making friends, it depended on her being able to keep a cool head and fix the mess everyone else made of things."
This sure sounds familiar.
Hey, I'm very much alive ;)
My exam period just ended, so now I'm back in the game for the summer! Going to a medieval festival for the weekend, but the next chapter should be up next week. Sorry for the wait!
For the record, I've been editing chapters a bit for the sake of trying to get featured on EqD. If I ever become too "Physics textbook-y", please do call me out on it :)
I don't really mind your "physics textbook-y" approach to your fic; in fact, accurate (so far) physics jargon is what sets this fine novel apart from the hundreds of "Human wakes up in Equestria, with no explanation how he got there." type fics.
Also, if I were you, I won't bother with EqD; with so many fics being featured there, and so much more stuff going on there, you will be disappointed to think you'll get anything more than an "I did it!" bragging trophy for your efforts.
If you want to expand your viewership, you should aim for the fimfiction feature box instead (The little white box at the top of the page.). You'll get far more exposure that way and the longer you manage to keep your fic up there, the more exposure you'll get.
As for the wait, I forgive you wholeheartedly, I am a student myself and I know how easy it is for those nasty papers and projects to gobble up your free time not unlike a malnutrition, starving Zimbabwean kid to a Mcdonald's happy meal.
While I appreciate your appreciation, I still think I can do better than suddenly writing paragraphs about what properties quark-gluon plasma exhibit, when I could have written the relevant parts into dialogue or exposition.
I doubt I'll get a feature-box feature without EqD readers. This style of fic just doesn't appeal as much to "normal" people to get there on its own ;)
If I actively pursue an EqD feature, I might gain enough momentum to make it!
Voyager has Kes and Neelix, but in return it has the EMH, making it awesome. Good Voyager episodes were as good as good TNG episodes, I would say.
>>732517 Oh how wrong you are, I myself found your fic from the short time it appeared on the feature-box. Just think about it, you've got EqD posting so much stuff on top of fiction that no one would blame you if you missed the fiction post; and even then, your fic is in competition with some ten other fics in the same post. I just don't see a huge magic increase in readership should you manage to get featured on EqD. If I were you, I won't actively pursue EqD feature, I would actively pursue fimfiction featurebox.
(p.s. If you want the perspective of a reader, I can tell you I tend not to check EqD for fiction. If I want fiction, I'll start scanning the popular stories section; and I check the feature-box everytime I login regardless of whether I need more new fiction.)
(p.p.s About 4 in 5 stories on the feature-box never made it (or the authors never bothered) to EqD. Though don't take my word on it, your a scientist in training, you should verify this claim by typing down the featured titles into EqD's search box.)
I have been on the feature box? o.O
I concluded it hadn't been there since my friend's HiE romance story has been consistently thrice as popular as mine, but I never saw his fic in the feature-box. I checked the "Feature-box rules" and it seemed to be automatic, based on the influx on readers. That's why I thought a few coming over from EqD would help putting me up there :)
I won't let the EqD chase stop me from writing new chapters, of course!
"Can you identify what went wrong?" Fauna inquired.
"We just don't know."
Sorry for the wait! I've just finished my exam period with plenty of ideas for the story, so for the summer vacation, updates should come as soon as I can put them into good words. On a related note, words are hard.
Thanks for not shying away despite encountering an unknown term!
Basically, it's the detector apparatus for one of the experiments being run at the Large Hadron Collider (Which is the particle accelerator itself), where they smash lead ions together, and use the detector to see what comes out. What they expect can be quite complex, but I can tell you they didn't expect a Rainbow Dash ;)
ALICE itself is an acronym for A Large Ion Collision Experiment, signifying that they use lead, which is a lot heavier than the hydrogen normally used in particle accelerators.
Some relevant references for people who enjoy learning about things with interesting properties:
Custard (Non-Newtonian Liquid)
You can actually act out the above scene with this method, as long as you have cornstarch and an RD plushie you don't like.
A liquid with inherently no entropy and no viscosity. I find this liquid to be the most confusing part of reality.
Stating the fact the fourth wall exists as a literal wall,
The fourth wall...
seemed to have broken itself
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