Dear Journal,
Today was incredibly productive. It wasn’t the sort of productivity that just happened. It was hard to force it to be productive, but I managed. You would think that herding horse like creatures would be easy. As it turns out, it isn’t. Ponies, at least the ponies I have for company, can be quite difficult.
See, I’ve felt like I have a large enough group going now that we should start coordinating and planning group goals together. It’s not like being alone, when all the effort and all the reward for working hard just came down to what I did. Our group can be greater than the sum of its parts.
At least, maybe in some dreamworld version of reality. That’s saying something, since the world I live in these days is already so much like a dream. Been an animal for better than two straight weeks, a full half month now. Walking with confidence and even doing a little of that thing Sky calls trotting. Still not confident enough to try a canter, though I’m starting to feel like the instinct is all in there somewhere. I mean, I knew how to move my limbs when I first transformed, so I’m not sure why the connections required for all the different movement patterns couldn’t be in there too. Can’t baby horses stand and walk minutes after birth or something? I could ask Sky, but every time I ask about horses I end up getting more than I really want.
We don’t even really know that we are horses, anyways. Similar, absolutely. But is something true for a horse true for us? How did the ancient doctors study the human body? Oh, right. Corpses. Probably won’t be any volunteers for that.
So I got everyone together for a meeting to plan out what we would do next. Pretty simple. I asked everybody to list off their talents and skills, and got pretty much what I expected as answers. All of Joe’s stuff was computer-related somehow, which is just great when we barely need computers at all anymore. Of course, he’s also got that horn, which does expand his use considerably. Cloudy Skies, meanwhile, talked mostly about her farming experience. She also said something like “maybe one day I’ll be able to fly.”
Joseph objected to this, saying what I personally thought, that there was no way those stubby wings could get her off the ground. She responded by saying that a bone on his head couldn’t make him move things with his mind either, and “why would I have wings if I couldn’t fly?”
Joseph didn’t mention penguins or ostriches, and neither did I. Instead, we made a long series of lists. A list of lists, because everybody loves those. Glowjoe tried to leave twice, but I stopped him each time. He doesn’t really know how to argue, so it was easy enough to stop him. Even though he could, of course, lift me right out of his way with that stupid horn of his.
I started things off with a simple question: What did we want to happen to us ten years from now? Twenty years?
“Be human again” went to the top of the list, though interestingly enough neither of the others seemed to react either positively or negatively. Are they really adjusting that fast? Can’t be… there’s no way… don’t want to think about it. I’m not going to be alone. Not going to be alone. Not going to be alone.
Obviously we had no way of planning for this one, so I ignored it (and the wish things would go back to normal) in favor of things we could actually try to achieve. I put “found a successful colony” up beside “preserve human history and achievements”. (I printed them out beforehand so I wouldn’t have to write on the whiteboard with my mouth as much as possible).
I don’t know what I would’ve done if they didn’t agree. Joseph was immediately supportive of both goals, maybe a little more than I was comfortable (why make such a big deal out of supporting my ideas?), though he wanted to add “find out why this happened” to the board. I made him write it with his stupid magic. Of course his writing was stranger than the runes we’d seen on the street, and just as hard to read, but we got the idea.
Sky looked nervous, and despite prompting she couldn’t be made to offer anything by way of suggestion. She just said, “I like yours, those are fine.” And I didn’t press her.
Once we’d listed out everything we wanted long term (it’s quite a list. I’ll just insert it instead of referring in detail because it would take forever to go over everything we talked about. Plenty of these ideas weren’t mine, though I did jot them down afterwards), I’m sure more things will come to mind the more we think about it. Yeah, I know it’s a pretty pretentious agenda. We’re planning for a distant future, we’re allowed to make it as awesome as we can. In fact, I think we’re required to.
What about other survivors? What if they have radically different goals? What makes you qualified to be the ones that redefine the whole world?
If we run into another group of survivors, one with a better idea of what they’re doing than we do, then we’ll be happy to join their thing instead of asking them to join ours. But as it stands (didn’t tell the others this), I expect other survivors to be either unwilling or unable to think this far ahead.
I don’t have Cloudy Skies's talent for animals or cooking, I’m probably not as smart as Joseph. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let humanity waste away. Something already took my humanity away, and at present there’s nothing I can do to bring it back. If I can’t get my body back, then I’ll make sure whatever did this doesn’t win. If humans are all gone, but their knowledge and culture survives in some form, then it hasn’t really won. We owe it to the billions before us to keep whatever we can of humanity alive. I will drag GlowJoe and Sky bucking and screaming to survival if that’s what it takes.
Long-term planning was actually the fun part, since it basically involved writing our grocery list to the universe without much to back it up. The next part, the near-term planning, was much harder (and harder to keep my companions invested). In the end, we came up with the following plan: remain in the city of Los Angeles for one year. This will give us time to decide on a future relocation site, plan in detail for the colony, and continue searching for survivors. In order of priority, we (mostly me), made the following short list of our plans and goals. Practical, as you can see. All things we can start on right now and get done within days or weeks.
We’ll have to do much more, obviously. This list is only the beginning. There are plenty of apparently minor issues I’ll devote what free time I can to (like designing clothes that are actually comfortable to wear and don’t threaten to rip when you move your legs too much). I want to research those weird marks, see which culture they correspond to. “Rob” a bank and burn lots of money. Hah, money. Remember when that was a thing?
I wonder if we can find the original Coca-Cola recipe before it’s lost to history. I’ve continued to drink it without apparent side-effects, though I know I’ve got a year tops before all the Coke in the world has gone bad. Future generations deserve to know that taste.
See how well I focus? (Not very). Now imagine how much worse the others have to be that I’m the one who has to keep them on task. It’s a little discouraging.
On the plus side, I used all the time when things got off-task to draw while I waited for things to get focused again. I was sitting across from Cloudy Skies, so I drew her. I think I'm really getting better. I look at what I made my first day and wonder how I possibly could've scratched out something so ugly.
I think we’re probably almost out of water. I hear the pump downstairs whining whenever I turn on the tap, and occasionally I get this awful rushing sound. It’s too bad, because there’s plenty of clean water all over the city. We won’t die of dehydration, in any case. But the convenience of having a quick shower in heat and privacy will be a sore thing to lose. We’ll have to accelerate the water stuff in our planning.
Joseph is apparently the master of gadgets, and he told us about a thing called an “atmospheric water generator”. He searched his “Kimballnet” (real humble guy), and determined that our local office store sells them. How he knew to backup common company websites, God only knows. Humidity here is quite low, so it would be a HUGE energy hog to produce as much as we use on a regular basis.
We do have one advantage, though: unlimited fuel. With such a low population but such a large area to scavenge from, we probably have enough fuel stored in gas stations and trucks and facilities in this city to last us until all the fuel in the world is rotten. Tomorrow all of us are going to go to a hardware store together and pick out a nice generator for the house, I’m thinking one of those huge 20 kilowatt standby generators. While the real owners of this house seemed concerned about the environment, very little I’ve found suggests they were preparing for any sort of disaster. Otherwise, I’m sure they’d already have one of these ready. A system that large will also give us the freedom to run an air-conditioner when we choose to. God, I can feel that cold air blowing down my face already.
It gets pretty hot inside during the day. I’ve thought on and off about using our pool (while we still can) to relax, but now that Joseph’s around I think that option is right out. What would horse swimwear even look like? Shame, really. The water level has dropped a few inches since we got here, and it’s bound to only go down unless there’s a large rain or something. Would covering it stop it from evaporating so fast? It’s already in a glass enclosure, for some reason. Winter use I guess, because that’s environmentally friendly. Guess I should close all the windows to discourage evaporation. If we’re not going to be using it anyway…
Guess it’s finally hitting me that we can actually make a community now. I’m crossing my hooves for another few survivors nearby, hopefully enough to balance out the gender ratio a little better. Right now, the only balance I’m comfortable with is being as far from the ratio as possible. Sky seems like she’ll be the first to adapt, and good for her. Joseph, well… he’s probably never had sex in his life anyway.
Why am I even thinking about this? Other survivors would mean we can do more. Make ourselves more stable, venture out further, reach even more people. I figure this house could comfortably house about six. Four bedrooms, but it wouldn’t be hard for two to double-up.
Something about Joseph has made Sky much shyer than she used to be. Don’t know what that would be; he’s not the one not wearing pants (thank God!). She says even less than usual if he’s around. Further evidence of abuse?
Whatever, I’ll keep helping where I can. I know the others need time to work on hobbies, because “honest hard work” doesn’t seem to do it for them like it does me. Joseph’s got his video games, which is perfect for our limited electrical situation, but all I’ve seen Sky do is cook. I wonder if she likes doing something else. Maybe it would help her if I expressed some interest and offered to help her.
Shut up, I don’t have ulterior motives. I just think there’s something special about the first person you see after so long in isolation. Like I owe her somehow.
Fed Huan before bed. He seemed a little bummed, as though he were upset that I hadn’t gone wandering today and taken him with me. I promised to make up for it tomorrow, and he seemed to understand. Almost two weeks of this, and it’s still weird. I wonder if I’m the one who’s going crazy. Maybe being a horse only makes me think animals are smarter than they really are. Maybe being human let me see the truth, and now I’m drowning in an illusion. Whatever, it doesn’t really matter. Huan saved my life.
Joseph still won't talk about how he learned how to use magic. He doesn't seem to spend any time practicing during the day (though he doesn't seem to practice walking anytime either). I asked him twice about where he had learned, and he wouldn't give me anything useful. Just that he had "seen something." Something that made him bold enough to try it. Freakin' garbage. You're lucky we need you so bad Mr. Stallion, or you'd be out on your stupid smart backward pants ass.
Oh, probably I’ll start writing shorter responses unless something really cool happens. I’m going to devote a little more of my time to sketching and writing with my mouth. If you see my entries switch to an awkward, awful handwriting, you’ll know why.
—A
6062095
6062113
It could be because he is in his early teens and that's when boys usually grow taller than the girls. I was the same height as my mom when I was 11. I was taller than her and most of my older sisters at 12-13.
A is female.
And it should be on Glowjoe's "Kimballnet," but gasoline only lasts about a year before it goes bad. So they better use as much as they can now.... and learn to make biodiesel or something else to fuel their generator.
Evidence for mare...
And evidence for stallion...
Damnit.
The theory he was male but now is female is getting evidence...
great chapter as always
hmm gender still hidden, I really want to know what it is.
Seems legit.
It's neat to actually have the lists available without breaking up the text with them, like the lectures in Anathem or The Story of B.
A is totally a girl, pretty much confirmed, I think.
Also, they need to all sit down and have a night playing Mario Party or something. There's Wii games you can play without having to press buttons, right?
6058504
You could also just use the tip of your nose.
Oh. I see. Figures. Or maybe I'm misinterpreting. But I don't think so.
EDIT: Just read this comment:
6062251
This theory makes so much sense. If A is female, then Sky wouldn't have any reason to be uncomfortable around her - now that Joseph's around, that's all changed. A seems to be taking the situation worst out of the trio, and is having the most difficulty with their body. The quotes in the above comment would indicate that he is jealous of Joseph who got to keep their gender, but still psychologically would be attracted to females. Remember, his only audience right now is himself, so that could be who he's trying to convince when he says 'no ulterior motives'. Food for thought.
I just compared the first picture A drew (the one about his pony form), to pictures of mares and stallions from mlp, and I think he's a mare. The snout looks more closer to a mare's than a stallion's.
Also, author, are you going to be telling us his gender at some point? Or just leave us to wonder? Also, do you draw those pictures yourself? If you do, do you draw them on paper or on the computer?
You just keep telling yourself that, A. And A, use Glowjoe's computers to contact the rest of the human race. We want to know how the
experimentapocalypse is going.Y'know, now that they're no longer big, heavy humans and instead they're tiny, light equines, I bet they could try and rig up a small hot-air balloon or something. Maybe even a diminutive airship if they had the right minds and materials. It'd certainly help in looking for survivors.
And so the gender ambiguity continues. Herding ponies seems to be like herding cats. At least, herding Sky and Glowjoe is. Nice to see that A is attempting to take charge and lead them towards a brighter future.
Nice inverse of common Equestria, the gender ratio is a lot more favored on the male side here, well, a little more anyway.
And people are being uncooperative, Sky is becoming the leading example by giving no real name, caring about animals before her own situation, and so on and so forth.
She also has a history of abuse apparently.
Alright then.
Then after this chapter,they took Joe on a small trip,and beat the crap out of him.
Also,nice work again Star!
((Apparently there's still a few people out there thinking it's Starscribe drawing all these entry sketches.))
I bet people want a Cloudy Skies picture in here, so here's one.
40.media.tumblr.com/a760f6031f7e0cbba6e8919754d9888a/tumblr_npibx2kQX31rsmidfo1_500.png
It's also in my tumblr (along with all the other images I've ever drawn for the story, some even a day early if you're into it.)
I'm sorry A but even if you could find the location where the recipe is stored by any chance you still have to deal with an very high grade vault. So unless you run into a survivor who was one of the couple people knowing the recipe you'll have better luck trying to break into area 51.
6062251 A could be bi or a lesbian, you know.
6063171 If you were a lesbian, would you practically spell it out like that in your diary?
If so, then you are one creepy lesbian, seeing how it's so important for you to be lesbian. It's just a thing about you, nothing really special. Now if you were an alien in disguise...
And a stupid one, THAT I could understand.
6063199 What I meant is that A saying "I don't have ulterior motives" doesn't say anything about A being male or female.
6062303 True, though having a cold would be very annoying.
6063225 Seeing how someone else said him being a mechanic points him to more being male, since there were more males than females, this points him to more being male too, seeing how there are more males attracted to females than females (attracted to females).
No clear evidence, as Mr. Stallion (which I count as practically shouting it into our faces), but both together give said theory a greater foothold.
Hmmm... I'm starting to wonder, Is this the beginning of equestria as we know it?
Those lists look like something that'd be sensible after a more conventional disaster scenario like nuclear war, not the ponygeddon. Poor A, making the lists pretty much him/herself... determined, afraid and increasingly lonely.
Cipher:
Most decrypters here have probably thought of that already, but would anyone share their thoughts/results?
The possible clues in chapter 12 should be "video game" at the first mention of the circle and "pattern" at the second one.
There are two ciphers from video games I know of: Assassin's Creed II and Final Fantasy X (the Al Bhed language).
The mention of 'pattern' made me think of a tabula recta as a second layer of encryption for that. Keyless, I guess?
Anyone tried all that already?
6063079 If properly stored, MAYBE. But most of it isn't properly stored. If it is airtight in a clean, stainless steel container with little oxygen, and is periodically stirred, it will last for years. But that isn't the usual storage procedure.... not even at gas stations. In the tank of a car it won't even last from summer to winter. The very thing that allows for unleaded gas to resist moisture and stay fresh for at least the short term is the very thing (the additives) that go all gummy after six months to a year. The longevity depends on whether the container is airtight, the blend, temperature, container, etc. But most of the gasoline available to "A" is going to be suspect--- or even disastrous-- to use within a year.
No matter what, they're going to have to find an alternative to gasoline sooner rather than later. For a small community, methane (from plant waste), biodiesel, ethanol or hemp oil from hemp plants are options. (look up the multiple industrial and medical uses of hemp. It's a blippin' miracle plant. Rope, soap, cloth, paper edible high nutrient flour and oils, burnable oil, and 1 acre produces more paper than 4 acres of trees, with almost none of the pollutants needed for wood paper.... medical uses of marijuana.... Just for starters...)
And putting up fences "so not everyone has to carry a weapon."---- bad, bad mindset. Start right, with bearing arms and defending oneself as both a moral right and a moral social obligation. Don't let people get in the habit of counting on tall fences to keep them safe or armed guards to come rescue them. Fences can keep things out, but they can also trap things in, and armed guards inevitably end up pointing their guns inward.
the more immediate issue is "a"s imminent breakdown. (Give this character a name and a gender, dammit, it's a distraction from the story!) The other two ponies are acting like Asperger's cases--- folding in on themselves. Cloudy seems focused on the animals to exclusion of all else; the new stallion is a typical computer-introvert. They need to wake up and notice their number three is coming apart at the seams.
6063473
Uh... please don't accidentally start a gun rights discussion here with morality statements.
Apart from that, fences make much more sense if their only function is to keep out animals, not as a defensive measure against other people. No armed guards needed... and I'm not sure ponies will ever be quick enough on the draw to successfully fight off a night attack by feral dogs without casualties or at the very least loss of precious (sapient) livestock.
Yeah, I'd go with fences. Survival first, frontier spirit later. After all, there will be no new settlers arriving to replace those who died heroically. Also: unicorns.
Wait, we're looking at the new Mane Six, aren't we?
Sky
Joe
A?
Also, ten bits says Joe is a brony.
And I'm gonna pull a one-eighty, and decide that A is female.
To the people trying to decide on his/her sexual orientation: they're ponies. That kinda puts a damper on things, especially since they won't be feeling like themselves.
40.media.tumblr.com/47da31dc10ab7063814bfaad81e97ef6/tumblr_npidi5WE8n1rsmidfo1_1280.png
Compare that to the drawing he made of sky on May 30th
41.media.tumblr.com/ea0c6ff9603cafbe099b0488e15b4836/tumblr_np3a9d0RUS1rsmidfo1_540.png
Alex's drawing skills have really improved a lot. And he did all of that with his mouth!?
6063620 nope.
Actually the cipher is an old schoolyard one. The Tic Tac Toe code.
fincher.org/Misc/2010-03-18-CodesForKids1.jpg
6063597 just being shorthanded, not a literal diagnosis. Just underlining that they seem focused on the trivial rather than the long-term.
Of course we're getting this from A's perspective, so it's biased. The way A got pissed because GlowJoe decided to dedicate some time to his games... well. Really, GlowJoe probably singlehandedly did more to save the human/pony race than the other two combined... the entire contents of Wikipedia? Epic salvage, my man. Literally everything to take humanity from the stone age to the space age. I think he's earned a little downtime with his Xbox. Besides, like I said--- you gotta take time to play, to keep your brain flexible. It's a vital survival thing, quite literally.
A seems to be trying to salvage his/her sense of self worth (PICK A GENDER AT LEAST DAMMIT) by fixating on doing the "doomsday prepper colony" thing. In retrospect, the other two have made choices that are probably better geared towards saving humanity/ponanity than A has... finding livestock, salvaging critical human knowledge from oblivion (RAID A LIBRARY ALREADY)....
A also seems to be projecting his/her loss of self-esteem at essentially being crippled onto the other two, seeing them as self-absorbed and lacking "vital skills necessary for survival." Ignoring that A's own skills (mechanic?) are rapidly becoming outdated. His approach towards finding other ponies have been fixated on utilizing his narrow fields of expertise, at the expense of better and more practical solutions . For example, a radio broadcast only audible to people with working radios, in a world with no electricity--- vs. setting up a beacon visible to the naked eye. Opting for an off-the-grid, essentially luxury house, rather than securing a farmhouse, which would have more space, a lower level of tech, farm equipment, housing, tools, as well as substantial material supplies, all at a much lower tech level making it easier to maintain. Not attempting to re-domesticate some of the stray dogs with the rapidly spoiling meat in the stores. So on and so forth. In his/her own way "A" is even more blinkered than the other two.
(side note: per the problem with using bear mace? Goggles. or a visor or face mask, if the goggles are too small for big pony eyes. Also look into cattle prods and tasers.)
"A" is focused on rebuilding the world from the top down. The other two are doing it in the proper direction: from the ground up. The simpler things they have done will go farther to reestablish civilization. Fretting about things like governance at this point is an abstraction, and a distraction... and invitation to turn their budding hypothetical settlement into another Town of the Equals.
Definitely thinking Joe is a brony after this chapter.
One of the important details with a story like this is, does this human world have MLP:FIM? And, of course, it is rarely revealed.
I REAAAAAALLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYY SHIP ALEX X SKY!!!!
Cipher:
I'm just gonna put this idea out there, for everyone trying to solve it.
What if Starscribe just took a bunch of random ciphers and encoded the message.
I believe that A was a male and was transformed into a female.
From chapter 2:
6064690 If it does it would have to take place in season one when a lot fewer people had heard of it and also Joe isn't telling us anything. But if he were a brony he'd have to know Sky can fly.
6064926
Isn't that just referring to the loss of hands, feet and the gaining of hooves etc?
The fact that he wants to balance the gender ratio is way more evidence that A is male.
6063457
Code Related:
Strictly speaking, Al Bhed is not a cipher, it is an actual language. Additionally I have checked the cipher from AC2, and it is not a ceaser shift of anything. I havent looked at that Tabula Recta though.
I'm gonna feel ignorant for this, but what is a GVCS?
6062253
Lots of people think they no! Seems like we've covered both of them, so some of them are bound to be right!
6062285
Yeah, I thought some people might care about what A was actually planning, but I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the story for those who don't care about survival crap. Merely having the option open seemed a happy medium.
6062303
Too bad you can't count on getting the good mini-games. Stupid Joseph would win everything with his cheating magic.
6062304
It seems like ponies would be more able to survive on a really flat diet in ways that humans couldn't. Most horses seem to eat pretty much the same thing every day. Somehow I doubt that dry pancake mix has all the vital nutrients a pony needs, though.
And no, I can't promise or even suggest this is gong to be a story where everything goes smooth. Though it does go that way in some chapters, so you can kinda pretend with the characters that things are going to be that stable forever. Then, like them, you can have your hopes dashed.
6062431
I know this has been answered already, but I'm not an artist. Zutcha does all the art for me, and he's absolutely fantastic. We normally have streaming sessions where he'll sketch them out the night before the chapters come out (though my vacation has disrupted that somewhat)
As to the gender, I don't think A will EVER write an entry where they say "I am female today." Or "Saw my junk again today, it's so good to be male." However, the longer life goes on, the more evidence there's going to be. A isn't trying to hide being male or female, it just isn't important. I think the number of tiny suggestions will be so large by that point as to be conclusive. Oh, and if I ever write anything 3rd person from this universe, if A appears, then it'll be obvious from the first pronoun.
6062450
If only it were possible. I have to think Joe tried that too. Like many programmers (myself included), he seems to have downplayed the ideas that didn't work and only made a big deal about the things he actually accomplished.
6062601
A purple hot air balloon. They can fly it to ponyville to make some friends just in time to stop nightmare moon.
6062613
I feel like doing the general survival stuff is A's way of contributing as much as possible to the group. Without a passion for any weird projects, it's an effective way to make sure they last long enough for saving mankind's achievements to matter.
6062843
Yes, absolutely. A has a complete, normal name. We just haven't heard it, because like most people, A doesn't remind themselves of their own name constantly.
6062941
I think that's the peril of being so generally ambitious the way A is. Focusing on one thing is different when you start each day with "I'm gonna save the human race!" Guess that's why most of us have more modest goals.
6062954
You're lucky this was decided before chapter one (would've been hard to write consistently if I didn't know), or else I might change the next chapter just for spite! >.>
Nah, but seriously. We'll see! You'll all see! (insane laughter)
6063079
I think lots of the different colors represent sections headings and dividers. I chose postbin because it's a safe place I could put the text where people could view it without having to fear for the safety of their computers. The originals had fancy fonts (ugly fonts) and colors to help distinguish that sort of thing, but they were sadly lost in translation to online. I didn't like the idea of posting them as images, so...
And maybe a little bit lazy.
6063171
Maybe a unicorn could teleport them to the other side! Granted, Joseph has shown no sign of being capable of anything other than levitation and a little glow, so... Probably not terribly likely.
6063206
Thank you! Not as easy to foster that feeling as I had thought initially.
6063277
Several have suggested that theory.
6063400
And without any specialized skills/knowledge for the task. Although, given they know basically nothing about ponies, it makes sense that would be the sort of thing A would plan for. Their only basis for comparison is real world disasters.
6063473
In the short term, we've observed A using diesel engines for just about everything, be that generators or vehicles. I think A is already seeing the long-term, even though diesel is going to last them for a long time to come.
I'm not sure the fences thing is A's defense plan. There doesn't seem to be a defense plan for other thinking beings, because there have been so few of them. I'm sure if A had been required to fight someone since the disaster happened, or there were evidence of other survivor groups, self-defense would be part of the agenda. As it stands, the fence is there for pest control.
And perhaps more generally, making this (and other) sub-optimal decisions is just part of being human (well, maybe not that anymore) for A. Like anyone else, A can only make the best decision with the information they have. A city-dweller who has spent their life in safety and never encountered an intelligent enemy is not likely to prioritize gun ownership for example, whatever its advantages might be.
I'm not sure if I've said so before, but A wondering about something != me wondering about it. Not that I don't appreciate it when people talk about things like fuel degrading and stuff. I think of it more as information for fellow readers who might be curious, since A can't hear the comments and I already had to look up the answer to do the writing.
6063537
All I can say is A's going to talk about themselves exactly as much as makes sense for the personality of the character. Unfortunately, being in a survival situation, that's probably what most of the journals will be about.
6064118
Yes, that's true. I wonder how long it would take in a body like that to start thinking differently. Or if you'd just be attracted to humans for the rest of your life and never feel anything for ponies. WE MAY NEVER KNOW.
6064238
Frequent practice. It's not like A is learning how to draw, just learning how to use the mouth for precision things. Ponies all do it, so it must be possible to learn.
6064690
I think it's buried in the comments, but I've explicitly stated that MLP doesn't exist in the universe. I just don't think it's as fun if it does.
6064387 Definitely right. A's clinging to his humanity tooth and
nailhoof... I really felt sorry for him at the paragraph where A wants to focus on converting a vehicle, obviously subconsciously refusing to learn to walk properly. Because horsebeast.Also, new priority: shirts, of all things.
Yep, A's more or less sabotaging his own dream of a viable colony. But then the dream is about a human colony ("Sky maybe. Not me. Never me.") and thus is doomed to fail. That kind of disconnect is unhealthy for your sanity... which is becoming increasingly obvious.
Poor A.
6064838 Starscribe wrote that the code could be deciphered "if you really care". That's the reason for all the enthusiasm. :) A random cipher would be unbreakable.
6065365 The AC2 isn't a shift, no. Just a different way to fill the grids. I incorrectly called the Al Bhed a cipher because I'm lazy ;) But it is a translation of the alphabet to a different alphabet and therefore could be used to encode something. Just looking for videogame references really. Also, Bioshock Infinite has a tabula recta which looks like a beautiful 'pattern' in a screenshot.
Anyway, I'm just still having fun with this :)
6065525 well, adapting a vehicle WOULD be a good idea. might as well use the gas while they have it... and a u-haul truck or the like would let them move a hella lot more material. Besides, LA is a big place; pony or not you wouldn't want to walk everywhere.
You say that "A writing their name/gender is unlikely, because they wouldn't be reminding themselves of that all the time."
I would beg to differ. That would be the FIRST THING anyone would write in a journal. "My name is X. I am Y years old, Male/female, and this is my journal of what happened after..." And considering the dysmorphia trauma A is undergoing, it would likely become a mantra. "I am a man/woman, a human being, I am a mechanic and an electrical engineer with a degree, I am not an animal, I am a human being...."
6065542
Agree to disagree on that. Evidence is clear that the journal was existing for some time prior to the disaster. Assuming A ever felt this need to restate their own identity (which I uncompromisingly assert is not a thing) that information woud've been on earlier pages. The part of the journal we see is an artificial slice, it's quite definitively not its own book.
A has asserted the thing that A values most of a regular basis: their humanity. This we see again and again in each entry. But nothing's happened to take their name away, so there's no reason to explain that again when anyone reading the journal could either look at previous entries (or more likely the inside of the front cover, the only place I've found a name in any of the journals I've kept my whole life).
You could take the fact A doesn't state a sex as evidence to mean that A hasn't felt this has been "lost" either the way humanity has, and use it to dismiss the theories that A was one sex and is now another. OR you might make the argument that this is still possible on the grounds that A has been made so insecure and uncomfortable about their own sex they refuse to talk about it at all, building psychological pressure towards some inevitable rupture.
Again more generally, I would hesitate to use the word "anyone" to describe the behavior of such a rich and varied race as humanity. The very fact I disagree with you (which I absolutely continue to do) indicates there is dissent among the predictions made of how someone might behave. Maybe you would react in the way you describe. Maybe A reacts differently.
Sorry if you're not diggin' it, though. I can see how it might be frustrating.
You know, recently I've been wondering about the trope of every single human who ever sees a pegasus instantly knowing that the wings shouldn't be enough physically to get them off the ground. Do people really, actually know this as independent knowledge not sourced from the fandom? I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be my reaction in the slightest were I to see a flying pony.
Good short and long-term plans.
Current theory about A: she's a mare, has always been female, and is a lesbian. That's the best I can come up with that explains the evidence we're seeing that is suggesting both mare and stallion.
6066067 When your wings are shorter than the length and height of your body, it's fairly likely that you will be incapable of flight. Only small insects break the rule, especially the 'enigmatic case of the bumblebee' and their incredibly small wing-to-body ratio.
6070075 I'm not saying it's not true, I fully understand that it is. My question is how many people simply know that it is outside of being told in some fashion. I'm suspicious that it's not as obvious of an observation as the fandom typically portrays it.
Is he just a particularly strong unicorn? Because most ordinary Equestrian unicorns have pretty weak TK. They lift and manipulate about what an ordinary person can easily carry with 2 hands. Glowjoe is a walking baby Akira, and that's not normal outside of powerful unicorns like Twilight.
It's understandable Glowjoe isn't "as invested". It's not that he doesn't care; city-slickers just can't think along these terms easily. So he's probably just nodding and going "Yeah that sounds good, whatever you think is good."
Why? I don't get it.
And no, for God's sake I don't give a flying buck what A's gender/ethnicity is. It's almost making the comments unreadable.
6070158
It's very obvious when a pony has wings that small, that it can't fly (by Earth standards). Even city-dwellers are familiar with flightless birds, courtesy of poultry.
Why is Joe so reluctant to talk about how he learnt to use his magic? Prediction: Joe is a Brony. He's still trying to work out if he's in a dream or a nightmare.
Seriously, I don't think that's likely. Starscribe would have been at least peripherally aware that he'd turned into a My Little Pony if the show existed in this time line. That said, I can't see any other explanation. A tech-head like him who probably constantly ODs on comic books and superhero shows should be calling it 'telekinesis'. The specific use of 'magic' does seem to suggest some type of fantasy influence on him.
If Joe backed up the Internet down to such minutiae as "common company websites", he might have archived other resources, useful in his field — API documentation; coding resources and the like. If the group can salvage devices such as microcontrollers, or even hook up a PC to interface with the rest of their hardware (maybe by a serial bus), automating processes like solar power generation and machinery like these atmo water gens should be a lot easier to accomplish than if they were doing it by purely electromechanical means.