Across the Sea of Time

by Meep the Changeling

Epilogue: Ah ponyfeathers...

Somepony

“Yes!” I cheered, jumping with glee, “We did it!”

Five nodded, a slim smile on her face. “I didn’t think we would pull it off but we did. Phoenix is building her city as she planned and Celestia is sending the elements to it where they will be safe.”

Discord nodded slowly. “Yes, and as an added bonus she is sending their families along too. That’s quite important too. We still have plenty to do girls, we can’t break out the lyre and boxes of bonbons yet.”

I nodded, sitting down with a smile. “True, but for the moment we can be relived we have made one change in the… One! You’re leg’s back! You don’t lose your leg now!”

One blinked, looked at her rear legs and smiled, “Maybe Five’s sight will be restored as well.”

“I doubt it.” Five muttered, “The fact remains that as long as I am blind, the Elements will die. Unless I was blinded by something other than Grogar’s bell in this new timeline we managed to produce… It’s hard to remember. Being outside time is rather annoying.”

Two trotted over to Five and gave her a tight hug, “Don’t worry! We’ll fix everything up lickitysplit and you’ll get to see again! We just need to keep influencing ponies to do just the right things. It’s working! We made a safe haven for everypony.”

Three nodded. Her face held a grim expression. “I hope Kaily is successful in raising an army.”

Discord gave her a questioning look along with the rest of us.

She pointed to the Array. “I’ve discovered why our ability to effect the world is limited. There is another person DMing as well.”

“Who?” I asked quickly.

“I can’t tell who, what, or where, but if you look here you can see that power is being split between us and them. If you look here you can see-”

“They are helping the remnants of the Tribunal! Tartarus’s Flames! Everypony, we need to get back to work.” I said focusing on the spell to resume my slim connection to the world.

There was still more work to be done.

Author's Note:

Ah yeah everypony! I finaly wrote somthing novel length!

Don't be sad that he story's over, because it's realy only just begun! Book 2a and book 2b are already out and will be updated at the same time.

Upon the Sea of Sky follows Kaily and the Twins in their quest to discover exactly what disaster is coming and what they can do about it. You can read it here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/268507/upon-the-sea-of-sky

Beneath the Sea of Sand follows up on events back at the Emerald Hive, focusing on the mane 6 living there for a year so Celestia can learn more about the hive. Don't worry, the old characters will be there too. You can follow it here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/268499/beneath-the-sea-of-sand

I recommend you read both of them, but you don't have to if you don't want to. Book Three will reunite the two groups and finish up the overarching story. You can follow one storyline or both. It's up to you! They are really only other books to help me organize the narrative.

Comments

[Meep the Changeling]

I was just thinking about how Phee would send letters to Celestia without Fax Machine Spike. Then I thought, Phee probably could replicate some kind of fax machine technology.

She cloned a fax machine dragon. Duh!

As for the beginning... This is a pretty good first act dontcha think?

---

Thanks for the grammar corrections.

[popmannn]

Good to see things shall be kicking into high gear Meep. (not like they haven't be already though)

[Meep the Changeling]

6027734 Pff, This only hit warp 1.3 of 9.9. We are still accelerating.

[Meep the Changeling]

6027740 Your suspicions... they are warranted.

[Meep the Changeling]

6028073

Taylor is getting a lot larger downstairs? Either shi is already pregnant, or Phe is reconfiguring the happy stick to make sure its capable of fulfilling super centaur Dinkies desires.

Partially that last one, and partially shi was big to begin with and girls clothes are not designed to fit even normal sized male bits comfortably. Additionally she's going to get some enlargement done voluntarily thanks to well, Dinky is NOT subtle with her dream messages and has things she likes.

[Booster Spice]

Warp 9.9?

Pfft.

This is Pathfinder.

We have Planes Walk.

Just wish I could get the basis of my research working. From the days of Elite.

Im working on the game engine for The Whole General Sort Of MishMash. It includes mature functions, for how else are you going to easily hybridise a ghost and a sword to make an Aegisslash. Actually, that would be intresting, for given classes, on an attack, you roll on sexual reproduction, and can succeed. I blame BedBugs.

[Meep the Changeling]

6028081 I mean no offense by this, but do you read ponyfics while drunk? Because some of your ideas seem to be influenced by something. Not a bad thing mind you, I'm just curious.

[Booster Spice]

6028087

Sorry, too many stories, too little sleep, and mentally deranged with a heavy tech basis.

[nioniosbbbb]

6028087 Damn you write too fast for me... I got too many fanfics to watch out for.

[Alahor]

Quick poll: what are everyponies favorite characters?

I'm partial to Kaily and the twins myself, with phee being a close third

[Crimson Eon]

10/10
meep, you managed to make me hate and love all of your characters, all of them...
still, awesome story, not the best, but still awesome.

wait... god is basically a DM, right?

[Meep the Changeling]

6028555 Amusingly, doomed jsut means it's going to happen like it or not. You can be doomed to win the lottery.

---

6029414

You turned him-her, into Unikitty...

By accident. I realized it two chapters later, went back made the description more unikitty like and rolled with it

I've only just started and with so much happening I'm surprisingly not bored, that's rare and I like it

Huzah! Good to know i did not waste my money minoring in creative writing

---

6029502 Seem's I've done my job as an author then!

---

6029595 I'm content with not being the best, as long as I'm well liked. Thanks for sticking with me through the first part of this madness! Lets see if you love the other books as much

[Meep the Changeling]

6028842 Lets be honest with each other, Discord's just Q taking a break from messing with Picard.

[ClockworkMage]

6029774 Huzzah! Correct use of 'doom' in fiction!

[Crimson Eon]

6029774 no problem!
an if your other books are half as good, I'll love them!

[Meep the Changeling]

6030071

Man, all these characters that hate their jobs. I must be so lucky to employed as a programmer in a position and at an employer that I pretty solidly love.

Based on the polls of the melinial generation, you are more fortunate than if you won the lottery. Because the odds of that are about half as good.

It's probably going to be a while, but I cannot wait for the Kaily & Tess reunion.

Book 3 :3

Anthro centaur celestial steed Dinky is a (possible) go!

T-3 days till that ship clears space dock.

Hmmnn. I wouldn't mind if this is more than a coincidence, but even if it is and Flash is simply a martyr I always appreciate an author who bothers to do something interesting with the poor boy. Well, boy may be inaccurate at this point if he spent any time in Phee's medical bay, heh. Shining would have such a fun heart attack to find yet another dead/AWOL soldier at the hive.

Oh it's more the cowincidence. I decided to skip the Tribunal and Arc war stories but as it's outlined... Flash is kind of a big deal. He's basically the pony version of Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming "Jack" Churchill. Only well, he died.

Why did I pick flash for that role? Because (click this then read on) FLASH! AHHHH! KING OF THE IMPOSSIBLE! Peace for every one of us. Stands for every one of us. He saved with a mighty hoof ever colt, every mare, every foal, every one of us! (I'll go hide in my fort of impenetrable geekdom now...)

All of the main six plus families will be moving to the hive? If one of the future's problems is that most of them are dead, moving them across the continent ought to throw a wrench into whatever happened.

That was the DMs's plan as shown in the epilogue. but it docent fix all of it. It just means that the worlds biggest heroes wont get insta-squicked on Dooms Day.

[djthomp]

Ahh, that's how I missed the sequels earlier, I accidently closed the tab after chapter 23 instead of moving on to the epilogue. Oops.

I'm definitely curious about whether whoever is DMing for the Tribunal is actively bad news, or if they're just working with the party they were handed and it just happens to be made of evil alignment characters. In other words, potential ally for the endgame?

[Meep the Changeling]

6031185 You will find out if you sail upon the sea of the sky!

[Meep the Changeling]

6031324

I calculated that the size of the Changeling Hive is somewhere between 160.000 and 42. (Although the second number is more guesswork than anything, but it can't be a coincidence...)

The hive contains 74,088 changelings, 12,893 hybrids (pony-ling), 8,422 ponies, 42 failed AGIs (not viably programed, basicaly jsut kids that can never grow up), 7 griffons, 2 dragons, 2 humans, 1 centaur, and a wolf.

I really liked the ending. You ended it at a fitting point, those who don't want to continue can safely disengage and the rest (plus me) can read on.

Thanks! That's another reason I'm splitting the series. A stopping point is good, as long as it gives something to continue on!

On a completely unrelated note; the symbol you use between paragraphs reminds me of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (plus DnD/Pathfinder)...

Well i did remake the guide logo with a changeling hoof :3

That reminds me that I maybe should start tabletop games sometime; I really would like too, but just can't seem to find a german version of the rules and such stuff.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ Here's the full text of the Pathfinder rules on a webpage you can translate via google!

I don't think I have any last negative words for you, to drag this story through the mud; mostly because there are very few negative things to say and even those fall into the delicate area of nitpicking.

Dawww shucks, you're too nice. There has to be SOMETHING I can work to improve at.

[djthomp]

6030126 Whoops, forgot to respond to this:

FLASH! AHHHH! KING OF THE IMPOSSIBLE! Peace for every one of us. Stands for every one of us. He saved with a mighty hoof ever colt, every mare, every foal, every one of us! (I'll go hide in my fort of impenetrable geekdom now...)

Hell. Yeah.

[Meep the Changeling]

6032611 Since the last name Gordon means "guarded hill" It's close enough to Flash Sentry for me to run with that epic joke. I don't get why people hate his character. First actually nice male in the show gets dumped on just because his parallel universe counterpart had a high school crush.

[Meep the Changeling]

6033901 Thanks! I'll fix that one up :3

[Meep the Changeling]

6035657 Volumes technically. If I were to publish these they would be in one binding but separate sections within the binding. So, volumes of a longer story.

Glad you're enjoying it!

[Meep the Changeling]

6043102 Late to the party? My friend, read, comment! I reply to all of them! (Usually)

Also the series is still ongoing. This is just the first volume. It ends at a point where you could put down the book if you liked.

[Meep the Changeling]

6043153 I'm sorry you don't like it. I'm sure there are other stories more to your linking.

For the record, I actually know a lot about genetics. However, this is a Science-Fantasy story with technology that rearranges energy into mater as desired. Do you think an AI with ulterior motives would tell humans she knows are from an era where religion was still a thing that she's simply flash growing a new body via a replicator and cramming their consciousness into it then recycling the old body? Hell no 21st century people would object to that, and she needed them.

You might want to look into narrative tropes a bit more though, say for example Blue and Orange morality which is what I am writing Phoenix as going by. Also who says she gets her way?

[Flufflefan]

...people do realize that authors write a story because they enjoy the world they've created, and the conflicts inherent to that, right?

Am I missing something here were its a bad thing that Meep has put some of her own likes/fetishes/whatever Faxfox is babbling on about?

(Tldr: isn't that kind of thing the point of writing your own stories?)

[Meep the Changeling]

6044290 Pssst, you press the little [>>] button next to a comment to reply to it Also great to see you here finally!

[Meep the Changeling]

6043691 I'm glad you are liking it! Enjoy!

[Flufflefan]

6044883 Quite. Finally decided to stop lurking and actually participate a bit

[Meep the Changeling]

6050161 Yes, yes he is.

[Meep the Changeling]

6064247 I take it you're liking this crazy train! Hold on to your butt!

[b300mussolini]

i very much enjoyed this story and i plan on reading the second parts as well. it was well written, had good pacing, unexpected plot twists and for a sci-fy type story you avoided or minimized the tech-NO babble which for someone who understands a lot of what is being said with tech-NO babble is a god send in my book.

i will fully admit i am not a star trek fan, (partly because it was before my time partly because the tech-No babble in the few episodes i watched was like the screeching cry of a thousand tungsten needles on a ceramic sheet) but i found this story with all of its trekie references and shout outs enjoyable.

i only had three issues with this story, of which one is more of a personal view of the world kind of gripe, one i realized was a personal sexual preference of yours that i sorta share (inner scientist just wanted to call you out on a certain line) and the last being an all to common theme with stories on this site, sadly.

the first issues i had was a line Armored heart said about he/shes being a better genetic model, which is flat out wrong. it is basically and all or nothing roll of the dice seeing as genetic mutations will spread quickly through the population until you reach a state of genetic sterilization in which no more genetic mutations occur and the animal is question is evolutionary dead. this result has been documented in certain types of snakes.

my personal grip is just about perfect societies in general but seeing as how we don't know yet if the BBEG doesn't succeed in wrecking everyone's stuff i will keep it to myself.

but my last issue is the negative view of humans as a whole. What happened to cause you to dislike humanity so much, to believe that the average joe walking down the street is such a complete and utter dick wad? it is a common theme on the site and well i feel it is just plain wrong, as someone who sees it the other way i would really like to get your thoughts it, if you wouldn't mind sharing some of your time.

[Meep the Changeling]

6075494 I'm glad you enjoyed it! I do like when people read my work and tell me what they think. I'm going to answer your questions as best I can, but this might get a little long. Also please don't think I'm being rude or dislike you. I don't. I'm just a bit blunt.

the first issues i had was a line Armored heart said about he/shes being a better genetic model, which is flat out wrong.

Did you put the right character name there? I don't recall her saying that. But I do understand what you meant. I think you misunderstood what I was saying, which is simply that some genes are better than others in a given population. This as an objectively true fact, and while I am not a biology expert, what I did cover in that field for my Masters has suggested genetic modification could remove harmful segments and replace them with better ones. Better ones could, in theory, be created from scratch as well.

This story is an argument for removing the natural from natural selection for our own benefit.

my personal grip is just about perfect societies in general but seeing as how we don't know yet if the BBEG doesn't succeed in wrecking everyone's stuff i will keep it to myself.

The idea that a post-scarcity society is prefect is... wrong from my PoV. Just because no one has to work and can do anything they want doesn't mean conflict wont still arise. How could it? Let's say someone want's to run a brothel because they think it would be fun. They ind like minded people to do it wit them, get a location for it and... are instantly protested because people living there want to live a certain way. Inter-personal conflicts and ideological clashes will only become more frequent in a post-scarcity economy.

There also will be people who oppose such a world from even existing. See how many people get angry when we simply suggest raising minimum wage to something people can afford to live on? Imagine if no one had to work, how completely pissed people with the idea that you must earn your life will get/be.

Also, it's sci-fi. Internal threats to a society and conflicts are not even half the deck of cards. https://youtu.be/tZdanb02280?t=11s

So a society where all your needs are met immediately isn't prefect.

my last issue is the negative view of humans as a whole. What happened to cause you to dislike humanity so much, to believe that the average joe walking down the street is such a complete and utter dick wad?

Well, it's kinda true. We have scientifically proven that actual facts do not matter to humans, whatever worldview we maintain overrides any evidence to the contrary no matter how real it is. We insist on sticking to traditions despite the fact they are harmful and based on fiction because the benefits they apply to select groups are loved by those in those groups because they feel they elevate them over everyone else. We insist on using a system of distributing goods which makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer. We murder each other over differences in the gender you prefer to have sex with. If you don't identify as cisgender humans will set you on fire in many different places. We have parts of the world crawling with people who kill others because they insist their god has a bigger dick than your god.

Meanwhile we refuse to change easily changeable problems which are resulting in us cooking away our planet's biosphere because people refuse to believe it's happening in the face of all the evidence that it is. Also because god forbid they ever spend money on upgrading infrastructure. We have created horrifying weapons of mass destruction, which is fine IMO, but the people guarding them are very often found asleep on the job by pizza delivery guys (yes really. 4 times last year in the US alone), and the guy who is in charge of those facilities was arrested for being so drunk he beat up a band in a Russian bar when they said he couldn't sing with them.

There are a few individual humans I like, and I know there are good ones out there. But scientifically, the evidence I have been presented across my life shows humans to be predominately gibbering, insane, violent creatures who are selfish, greedy, and uncaring about the status of our species as a whole. So I really do no like my species, though I do like individuals within it.

As such this story paints what I can see our species' future being, assuming we can survive the runaway greenhouse effect we refuse to believe we created despite the fact we did.

[CelestAI]

Once again, a wonderful read, if a bit short. I like the idea of another gm, it is a good plot twist. I can not wait till your next installment of this series. Keep up the good work batling. :D

[Meep the Changeling]

6083695 Check the author's note in the epilouge :3 The sequels are in progress now!

[CelestAI]

6083706 Excellent! I am going to save this story to memory. :D

[Meep the Changeling]

6083718 Huzah!

[Meep the Changeling]

6087392 Yes, yes you doo my good sir or mam!

[Meep the Changeling]

6087520 Or that time he summoned a marachi band to throw a party on Picard's bridge. Stupid post-beard Ricker.

[Meep the Changeling]

6087583 The Hazard Team on Voyager was concerted part of the command crew despite being a military unit and had red uniforms. See? http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/startrek/images/b/b4/Hazard_suit.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20070404070929

[Super57]

6087520 All are yes XD

[Flufflefan]

6087837

You have a problem with furries...on the main pony fanfiction website for the net?

Me thinks you took a wrong turn on your way to Normal, Boringstown.
Also, you fail at reading. A good portion of this fic is about the difference between the dream of Humanity as a species, and the reality of Mankind as a species.

Here's a hint: The two are not the same thing.

[Queuefka Palazzo]

6092813

I don't have a problem with furries, I just have no interest in reading indulgent furfaggotry; I'm not here to read Meep brag about how awesome and sexy his characters are.

My problem isn't that mankind apparently failed to live up to Star Trek's dream, that's fine. The path to success is razor thin, and we only have to fall once to lose our way. My problem is that these characters, who claim to love Star Trek for its dream, are so quick to cast aside mankind for how it was when they were a part of it. The point of Star Trek is to show us what we can be if we work together, not to say we're beyond redemption, but these edgy, misanthropic assholes seem to have missed that. Mankind's failure is a tragedy, and "Oh, whach'ya gonna do?" is not an appropriate response for who these characters said they were.

[Meep the Changeling]

6095511 *She said.

Also if that's your thoughts have you concerted who the characters are besides what they said they are? These are three random nerds working minimum wage jobs. Do you really think they could/would instantly live up to what they call themselves? Very few people are what they claim to be. Did you maybe think this story is the journey where they become what they said they were but in truth were not? That maybe at the end of the story random nerds who are okay but not great people become great people? That I might be employing character growth and development?

By the way, if you take off your rose tinted glasses, humans suck pretty hard core mote of the time. It's actually a realistic world view to say humans suck. We are literally baking the biosphere off this rock right now, just so some of us can have some more pieces of paper more easily with which to acquire or power over others.

This story is is about building a better world on the ashes of the past. The human characters are not the cream of the crop. That's the freaking point.

As for "furfagotry", first that's a very stupid term. Sex appeal is so ingrained into most of the cultures of this planet I am frankly laughing at you being disgusted by me attempting to add a little sex appeal to a fictional character. Second, if you kept reading you would learn the in universe reasons for that. Namely, rouge AI for once didn't go the "kill all meatbags" rout.

All that said, this is a story on the internet written for fun as a gift for my girlfriend. I really don't care if you like it or not, because you are not the person it's meant for, nor are you part of the large number of people who enjoy it. If you don't like it, don't read it.

[Queuefka Palazzo]

6095543

I don't care about their personal growth because they've done nothing but annoy me. I don't find misanthropy to be an attractive character trait, and if they don't care about mankind's extinction now, I can't see them ever caring about it. It's a pretty fucking big deal, and saying "they're not the cream of the crop" doesn't make their indifference any more bearable.

My problem isn't that you're trying to make the story sexy. My problem is what you wrote was boring. It's like listening to someone constantly humblebrag about themselves after you've committed to spending time with them. I'm insulting your furfaggotry because you wasted my time with your fetishes, not because I have a problem with them. Your execution was poor.

All that said, this is a story on the internet written for fun as a gift for my girlfriend. I really don't care if you like it or not, because you are not the person it's meant for, nor are you part of the large number of people who enjoy it. If you don't like it, don't read it.

We have already established that I am not going to continue reading it. Now we have established you're incapable of accepting criticism, and therefore likely will not improve as an author.

Ultimately my problem is I came here for Star Trek, and you didn't deliver within 30k words. That's really all that matters here. You betrayed the expectations that your story description and prolog clearly established I should have.

[Meep the Changeling]

6099050 Er, I'm sorry I didn't quite understand that. Could you rephrase it?

[Flufflefan]

6099865 Huh, like what? I cant remember any, and I've read it a coupla times.

I think specific examples might be more helpful to Meep.

[popmannn]

6095592 Welp, then don't read anymore.