Long after the Event that transformed all of humanity into ponies, griffins, or other fanciful creatures, and sent most hurtling forward in time, many were still randomly popping out of the timestream. This was a real problem when it came to a whole airplane full of passengers arriving in mid air, and the pilots could no longer control their vessel. Who do you call in this situation? The Aeronautical Returnee Rescue Response Squad!
This is an episodic story which is a side-fic based in the "Ponies after People" universe from Starscribe's story - "The Last Pony on Earth".
Chapters (6)
Atleast we got the ARRRS to help us out. Dont stroke their ego too much though, they tend to be ARRRSholes.
This was light, humorous, and fun to read. Thank you.
6896074 Now now, the donkey wont take to kindly to that kinda plothole.
Neato,really well done!
-A snob on the internet
P.S OI!We changelings are mild mannerd!
I got more than a few laughs from this. It's a nice addition to the verse, from a perspective that's been hinted at but never really addressed directly. That pun on their initials was awesome though. Granted, they are more privateers than pirates
Enjoyed it - thanks!
Wow, I like and love this!
"Who do you call in this situation?" Ghostbusters?
It might not be accurate for modern aeronautics or traffic control but thats part of the story those things don't exist anymore they haven't existed for almost 33 Centuries
Those guys are seriously trolling the new-commers, all the way.
And today in mayday air crash investigation will the ponys land the plane ? :D
Just one thing: Former humans who are trained in radio communications would know that "over and out" is not a thing. "Over" means a reply is expected, while "out" means no reply is expected.
"Over and out", if it could be thought to mean anything, would be something like "reply all you like but I'm not listening". It is only found in Hollywood and other poorly researched media.
6896768
The flight computer is giving contradictory information. It says that the plane is both stalling AND overspeed. It's secretly a dirty thieving changeling.
Neat little story, and the idea of heroic air pirates just works really well.
Whatever it is, she has to tell everyone it's "Earhart".
Another great story from you Goldfur and another great illo from Kat that fits perfectly in the story!
Aw, I'm somewhat a bit saddened at the thought of gutting and scrapping that poor A380
6896197 Mild Mannered Changeling Reporter Cha'krent for the Equestrian Bugle?
very enjoyable read
Good thing one of the passengers wasnt a Buffalo, sudden asymetry of weight distribution and severe stressing of the pressurised airframe? Most unpleasant.
Then again, you can just see them looking down at the Deer in the next seat and saying.
[sunglasses]
Got Beef?
As someone who flies for a living, this would be one hell of a fucking panic for me.
6897833 maybe
This would be a great story to see continued. Think of their adventures from saving planes to what ever they do in their free time.
6898307 LOOK! Up in the sky! It's a Bird! It's a Pegasii! NO, it's SUPERMARE!
I haven't read this yet but I can see being in that situation, that pilot, and co pilot seat would never be the same after the return
6898578
If you're implying what I think you're implying, I'm sure there's a magic spell equivalent of really powerful bleach.
This was awesome!
Seven people have downvoted this story at time of writing. Seven people are morons who can't find the thumbs-up button and just clicked any old thing. This is great fun! I lost it at ARRRRRR. Let me know if you find it for me.
6897596 Sadly I doubt AE tech is up to producing the fuel or lubricants to say nothing of the dozens of other things needed to keep a modern airliner safely flying. The only other potential use would be as museum piece and even that takes upkeep
Interesting take, but it's a little hard to believe that they haven't got some kind of jet-like craft yet. Might just be the lack of context in this story (haven't read the main one yet). Of course if they just scrap every incoming jet, they won't have any tech examples to work from.
I would think by now, they might have make-shifts stairs or a ramp now, maybe even something like the loading things we have. Not clear what a 'sky-bridge' is here.
Do I need to read the other story first so this one makes sense?
6900038
Not really. All you have to do is accept the premise and enjoy the story.
6899907 The main story is complex, so there are a number of factors to take into account including a scarcity of resources, loss of knowledge, and wars that have thrown civilization practically back to the Stone Age, although a certain amount of that information is only in the info blog for people who want to write side-stories. the point is that at this particular time, civilization is back at the level that I've written about.
A sky-bridge is the proper name of those "loading things" that you board planes through. They certainly don't need them for their current airplanes.
6899902 Exactly right, and it's far too valuable for its equipment and materials to preserve as a museum piece.
6899755 The first downvote came so quickly after it went live that there's no way the person even read it! I fail to comprehend why people do this.
6898412
If I think of an entertaining idea, you can be sure I'll write it up!
3200 years? come on, we went from the ox and cart to the space shuttle in less than 200... and that WITHOUT the advantage of having archives of books and blueprints for building it! I could buy it being 100 years later or so, with people still getting over the shock--- but 32 centuries? between the legacy of human scientific knowledge, the constant but accelerating influx of time-refugees with scientific, mechanical and engineering backgrounds, and the sudden gift of Pony magic, the "collapse" would be reversed within a matter of a few generations. Hell, there would probably be pony settlements on other planets by that point.
Flipside, even the sturdiest runway wouldn't last 3,000+ years without constant maintenance. Look up any of the "world after humans" videos on Youtube for an idea on how frighteningly fast even the most well-build of modern human constructions would crumble if they were completely abandoned.
6900135 Oh yes, it's quite possible that they could build up again despite the handicaps, and get right back to warring and killing themselves off also. The problem is while they may have been transformed physically, at heart they're still human, and still harbor human stupidities. The problem is that you are only counting the ups and not the downs. This is set in the period of one of the big ups after a huge down.
Aside from that, I am constrained by the original author's stated time-frame. If you want to be picky about the runway, let's just say that they built the new one on top of the old, so it's strong enough still. Let's face it - otherwise none of those airplanes will ever be able to land safely otherwise.
6900185 You're ignoring what I have already pointed out:
1) That humanity, even while still being nothing but human, surpassed in 200 years what you have the ponies taking 3000 to even approach.
2) The new pony civilization has the added advantage of all of humanity's archived knowledge, a constant influx of citizens fresh from the "lost" civilization (imagine a world where every few decades someone like Da Vinci, Einstein, Edison, or Tesla popped out of the time-stream), all the infrastructure of Man left lying fallow to be salvaged, A massive drop in population pressure, the knowledge of another entire world (the Library brought over in the original story) and MAGIC.
Look, I know it gives people a great big ol' Greenpeace-boner to imagine our rotten, horrible civilization crumbling, lo, unto the very dust from which it came, but the practical reality is that in order for the arising Pony civilization to have made so little progress in 3200 years with all those ridiculous advantages, they would have had to spend the entire time doing absolutely nothing but lying on their sides, eating grass that grew within reach, and making "pppbbblt" sounds with their lips.
6899902
Yeah, I can understand the reasons, I'm pretty much just mourning the loss of such a craft I guess.
Though there's one use I could think of that would fit the grand purpose it used to serve.
A swanky, upscale housing block
6900280 You aren't dealing with time but a change in mentality a change in needs of the community. Can't even guess as to world population. Sadly making complex electronics and the composites used on an airbus 380 is a potentially messy business. At least a third of the pony population can fly without an airplane.
This was a greatly amusing read, good job!
flightradar24.com shows us that there are 10,000-15,000 planes in the air at any given moment. With people returning over the course of 10,000 years, we've got somewhere between 1 and 5 flights popping up per year, on average.
Seems like a less-than-fulfilling job, if your goal is to fly again. Obviously, if you're more interested in saving lives or scavenging technology it could be better, but if flying is the goal, I think there are better options.
I never made this connection before, but suddenly Ponies After People reminds me so much of the Peace War series. Folks are popped into stasis, and no one quite knows when they'll pop out, but they do know if an airplane is up there and one wing of it is down here.
(Also, I now agree more than ever with the sentiments expressed in a certain other PaP story . . .)
Absolutely enchanting! Very well done!
This made me laugh. A lot. Even more so when I read it in an Aussie accent.
Excellent execution of the "World population gets turned into ponies" theme.
#1 This was great!
#2 Where can I get more of this good stuff? Momma needs another hit <3
This story. I liked it. Good job on getting featured with writing only a side-story, Goldfur. I do believe this is the first PAP side-story I've seen featured on just its release.
Now, onto my actual opinion on it: as I stated above, I liked it. It was a good story with some light comedy to it. (Especially that motto. I love that motto!) However, I do feel as if there could be a lot more to this. Granted, just having the A-Triple-R-S group save plane after plane would get boring, I feel as if it could still be expanded upon somehow. Anyway, that aside, I do look forward to possibly seeing something of a continuation of this story in the future. I'm also kinda curious of what else you have in mind for the future of Earth in this universe. While Starscribe did make out some stuff, she didn't give us too much to go on for the writing part; she left a lot of the universe open, which I actually like.
Overall, good story, Goldfur. You deserved the feature
6901476 Love that username!
While I conceived of this story as a one-shot, believe me, if I think of another good idea, I'll be sure to write it up.
Well, that was fun, fluffy, mindless entertainment... Yay!
Not to interject any scrap of logic here... But why didn't they deploy the emergency-landing slides to get the passengers off of the aircraft, or have simple ramps available that they could wheel up to it, or even just prop up against the fuselage or the wings? Panic-stricken ponified people aren't going to easily accept an invisible force lifting them out into what looks like a long drop to the pavement. They'd likely rather have something solid underfoot.