Chapter 21 - Friendly Visit, Part 2
As Spike was wondering what he had gotten himself in to, he spotted a house a little ways to his left. It seemed like a nice two story building, with smoke rising from its chimney. Feeling a little overwhelmed, Spike headed for the building. Spike really hoped it was Scruffy’s house. He didn’t want to go back to wandering through the forest again.
When he closed in, Spike noticed a smaller building next to the first one, which Spike surmised to be a shed or barn of some kind. There was also a small garden, although he wasn’t sure if it was just for show or had vegetables growing in it. There was also a strange metal contraption with wheels and windows on it, which certainly looked like something Scruffy would have; it was so strange. It looked a little aged with some dirt on it. Perhaps it was a carriage of some kind? This one wasn’t as high as the ones Spike had seen in Appleloosa, but it looked like it could be pulled, and if he wasn’t mistaken, it had flashlights in the front.
Once Spike reached the house, he took notice of how big it actually was, and hesitated for a moment. This wasn’t a pony house, as it was clearly built for somepony much taller. But was this Scruffy’s house? Maybe it belonged to somepony else, and Spike was intruding on their property. Spike remembered his first encounter with Scruffy, and how odd it had been. If it wasn’t Scruffy who lived here, they wouldn’t be able to understand him at all, and might even be a little shocked to see him. Hopefully they won’t just try to drive him away.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out…” he said to himself, walked to what seemed to be the front door, and knocked four times.
At first there didn’t seem to be any reaction. Spike listened patiently, even pressing his head against the door, but when he heard nothing, he knocked again. This time, Spike could hear soft thuds coming from inside, circling around the house before finally coming to the front. A disheveled Scruffy opened the door, wearing lounge pants and a black and white striped shirt. His hair was a mess, his nose was runny, and he had a slightly ragged breath. Huh, Twilight and Fluttershy were right. He doesn’t seem to be feeling too well.
Because of Spike’s small stature, Scruffy didn’t spot him immediately, looking left and right for whoever knocked on the door. Spike had to cough to get his attention.
“Hi!” he greeted enthusiastically, glad that he had actually found Scruffy after all. Scruffy almost jumped back in surprise when it dawned on him that it was Spike outside his door.
“Shböig?” he asked in a nasally voice, and slapped a hand on to his mouth when he realized he didn’t have his amulet. He stared at Spike and mumbled something before sneezing. Scruffy looked much scruffier than usual.
“We came to check up on you, since you haven’t been to Ponyville. I guess you’ve been sick,” Spike exclaimed as he gave Scruffy a once over. “Did you catch a cold or something?” Scruffy nodded and blew his nose, sounding like an elephant using a trombone. He gazed at Spike with questioning eyes.
“-We?-” he muttered and tried to see if there was anypony else outside.
“Oh, ah, I accidentally got separated from the others... They’re still in the forest,” Spike sheepishly admitted.
“-How did you…-” Scruffy muttered to himself, before turning around and going inside. Spike gingerly peeked in from the doorway, observing the house as mysterious as its owner. Although, on a closer look, apart from the architecture, it didn’t seem as odd as he hoped it would.
Spike had imagined all sorts of super advanced things and gadgets in every corner of the house, but, boringly enough, it all looked fairly normal. There was a coat rack where he saw several coats hanging, including the camouflage jacket Scruffy had used the first few times they had seen him. There was a folding door past that and a small desk on the other side with a flower vase on top. Spike saw several narrow doors in the wall opposite to the desk, which were probably closets or something, and stairs leading up further down the corridor. The only strange thing he noticed was a weird metal panel up near the ceiling, which had over a dozen cylinders and switches on it.
Spike didn’t have the time to ponder its meaning, as Scruffy returned, sporting his magic amulet. He blew his nose again, and had to clear his throat before he could speak.
“Okay...ahem...hello, Spike,” Scruffy greeted back finally, his voice hoarse. “Jou here with...poni too?” When Spike nodded, he continued. “We go, mh, find pony. They no find here. I surpr-...supra-...a-amazed you findt heare.”
“Yeah. We split up to look for your house. Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack went the other direction, and Rainbow, Rarity and, Zecora came in this direction with me. I did lose sight of them… Though they should be somewhere close.”
“It njot easy, Spike. Come, we look where them. I tell you vhen walk,” Scruffy replied and knelt to put on some shoes.
“Are you sure? You don’t seem to be feeling too well…” Spike noted and patted Scruffy’s back when he had to cough again.
“It okai. I, uhh, sick latter when see Selestia and Lluna. Work too many I lhearn speak, now feel not well. It not bad; I walk.”
“Mmm, if you say so… Just make sure you don’t overexert yourself again. You’re way too big for me to carry you back here.” Spike’s comment caused Scruffy to chuckle.
“I try.”
********************
“How could you have lost him!?” Rarity angrily hissed at Rainbow. The poor pegasi’s head bobbed back and forth as Rarity vehemently shook her.
“B-b-but I j-just talked t-to you f-for a m-minute,” Rainbow desperately pleaded, her entire world shaking around like she was inside a ping pong ball.
“That was ONE minute too much!” Rarity said back, spitting fire, while Rainbow worried if her eyes would ever stop rolling in their sockets after this.
“Please, try to keep your emotions calm. We need to find our little friend; there is no time for qualm,” Zecora tried to reason with the enraged unicorn. After considering her words, Rarity finally let Rainbow go, who then held her head in her hooves to stop the world from spinning.
“You’re right… That was very unladylike like of me, I apologize,” Rarity said to Rainbow and helped her stand up. “But how do we find him. There’s no sign of him anywhere,” Rarity asked worriedly.
“H-he couldn’t have gone far. It’s only been a little while. And if he had seen something, I’m sure he would have shouted for us,” Rainbow pointed out.
“Then for the dragon’s tracks we must seek. Let’s search every nook and over every creek.”
The ponies and the zebra went to where Rainbow had parted from Spike. They knew the direction the little dragon had been heading, and with the aid of subtle clues Zecora found in the grass, they reached the pond shortly after.
“How do we know which ones are left by Spike?” Rarity asked once she realized that there were other tracks left by animals who had visited the pond. After studying them for a few moments, Zecora could only shake her head.
“Ponyfeathers…” Rainbow swore. “Should I fly ahead to see if I spot him?” she offered.
“This is not something you should do. The number of lost might go up to two,” Zecora said back.
“Hmph,” Rainbow harrumphed.
“We must simply go forward. We can’t just stand here idly,” Rarity complained.
“Perhaps it would be best to send for Twilight, and inform her and the others of our plight?” Zecora suggested.
“Sure, just tell me, and I’ll send the letter,” the newly arrived Spike said from behind them, with Scruffy in tow, surprising Rainbow badly enough that she smacked Rarity right in to the pond with her wings.
“Oh shoot!” Rainbow exclaimed, and, together with Zecora, quickly helped the flailing fashionista out of the water.
“Rarity! Are you okay?” Spike asked worriedly once Rarity was standing on dry land again.
“I-I-I’m f-fine,” she said between trembling lips, her usually immaculate mane and tail drooping and dripping with the dirty pond water.
“Uhh...sorry Rares...I didn’t meant to do that…” Rainbow quietly apologized, shrinking away when Rarity glanced at her mirthlessly.
“Home klose. Towel in hjome, I give jou,” Scruffy said, leading the group to the fallen tree.
“...W-well, at least we found Scruffy, eh?” Rainbow pointed out, hesitantly trying to brighten the sopping wet pony’s spirit, but gulped nervously when Rarity’s expression morphed in to a unamused frown.
“Yeah, I stumbled upon his home, and we were on our way to get you girls,” Spike piped up.
“Here,” Scruffy instructed, walking through the archway the tree formed with the ridge. To everypony’s surprise, the air within suddenly rippled, like a thin sheet of water, blurring everything on the other side. It returned to normal after a second, but Scruffy could not be seen.
“What was that?” Rainbow asked.
“I don’t know, but apparently, this is the only way to reach Scruffy’s home. Or, that’s what he said to me,” Spike explained and walked under the tree as well, causing the spectacle to repeat, even if he himself did not seem to notice. Spike, too, vanished.
“Spike!” Rarity exclaimed, dashing after him, with Rainbow and Zecora quickly following suit. When she reached the threshold, Rarity could feel pressure building up in her horn, like she was gathering magic in it, and it even let out several turquoise sparks. “Ouh…” she moaned, suddenly feeling weak in the legs.
“All okay?” Scruffy asked, having noticed the unexpected reaction, taking out a handkerchief and sneezing again.
“I feel...a bit dizzy,” Rarity replied, sitting down while Zecora looked her over.
“Woah! Scruffy, you don’t look too hot either,” Rainbow exclaimed when she finally realised the state he was in.
“Yjes, feel not, ah, well. I sick,” Scruffy replied, coughing several times.
“Ayyayyay. Sore throat and runny nose, that is clearly a flu. With the right herbs, I could mix you a brew,” Zecora offered.
“Thank you, but, not know hrerp, h-herrr-...uhh...flower,” Scruffy lamely said.
“It is fine. I can find many in the forest that will give you zest. Everypony go ahead. Our friend needs his rest.”
“Wait. Ah, when get all, kome un-unter tree, and, home k-k-close,” Scruffy instructed, pointing in the rough direction where his house was. Zecora nodded and trotted back, disappearing from sight.
“Let’s get you both quickly back to the house.” Spike looked to Scruffy and Rarity, urging them to go.
“I’d...appreciate that very much,” Rarity shuddered miserably, and the group proceeded forward.
“So, uhh, what was that thing?” Rainbow asked, nodding towards the archway.
“It ah, it...door. Go to….hmm, Egu-...Equustrrria,” Scruffy tried his best to explain. “I not really know.”
“Fair enough, I guess,” Rainbow shrugged. The party quickly made the few minute walk to Scruffy’s house and went inside.
********************
“Where are they?” Twilight muttered, pacing back and forth. She and the others who had gone north had waited for nearly 20 minutes at the designated meeting point.
“M-maybe they are just late?” Fluttershy hoped.
“But how could they be late? Rarity and Zecora are both very punctual, and I can’t imagine they’d fail to notice the passage of time...” Twilight countered.
“Y’all don’t think something bad happened?” Applejack worried out loud.
“But what if they found a huuuge berry bush, and ate all the berries, and now are too tired to move?” Pinkie pondered, getting funny looks from the others. Her muzzle was adorned with purple splotches from the blueberries she had found earlier and mercilessly devoured.
“Erm, I don’t think that’s what’s happened, Pinkie…” Twilight replied.
“Wait, I think I see Rainbow coming now,” Fluttershy interjected, pointing above the trees. Sure enough, the prismatic pegasus soon landed close by.
“There you are! We were starting to worry something had happened,” Twilight sighed in relief.
“Eh, sorry about that. We were busy and lost track of time,” Rainbow apologized with a nonchalant shrug. Twilight facehoofed to the amusement of Pinkie Pie.
“What were you busy with? Did you find Scruffy?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, we did. And it turns out you two were actually right, after all. The big doofus got himself a flu with all that hard studying he did for the Princesses’ visit. He’s been sick ever since that day.”
“Oh no,” both Twilight and Fluttershy gasped.
“It’s good that we came ‘n’ checked up on ‘im then,” Applejack noted.
“Yup. Zecora got some herbs from the forest, and she’s making something to help with his flu. We should probably hurry... She had hard time using Scruffy’s doohickeys,” Rainbow somewhat urgently nodded towards the direction she came from. They headed out without further delay at a brisk canter, Rainbow leading the way.
“So you found his home then? Where does he live? Is it a house? Are there others of his kind there? What about-” Twilight inquired in rapidfire mode, before Rainbow cut her off with a snort.
“Jeez Twilight, give me a chance to answer!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Yes, we found his home. He lives in a boringly ordinary looking house, or ‘quaint’, as Rarity put it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“O-oh?” Twilight’s disappointment seemed almost palpable.
“He does have lots of weird stuff lying around though, so don’t you worry that little egghead of yours. I’m sure you’ll be plenty busy,” Rainbow snickered, to which Twilight decided to simply boldly stick her tongue out, but could not help cracking a smile.
“Poor Scruffy, being sick for a week…” Fluttershy lamented. “I hope there was somepony to take care of him.”
“I don’t know. There wasn’t anypony else around at least. I did see a village in the distance,” Rainbow replied.
“A village? Wait, you could see a village?” Twilight interrupted.
“Yeah, it was, maybe, a few kilometers away and down the hill. And as far as I saw, the houses looked similar to Scruffy’s, so I guess his kind live there. I didn’t get a good look though, only glanced at it. Didn’t bother to look carefully.”
“But I thought there ain’t any villages between Ponyville and Appleloosa,” Applejack pondered.
“There aren’t. At least, not on any map I’ve seen. Was it out in the open?” Twilight pressed for details.
“Yeah, like I said, just down the hill from Scruffy’s home, and I can tell you why it isn’t on the maps. You actually have to go through some fancy magic thingy to get to his house, I think.”
“‘A fancy magic thingy?’ What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“There was this bent over tree that you have to walk under, and it gave me chills when I did. Rarity’s horn even sparked a couple of times,” Rainbow explained. “Scruffy said that it’s a ‘door’ or something.”
“A door… I’d have to study it to be sure, but it could be…hmm,” Twilight mumbled to herself, going so deep in to her thoughts that Applejack had to subtly guide her so that she didn’t veer off and run right in to a tree.
“What could it be, Twilight?” Fluttershy prompted when the purple unicorn didn’t seem to offer any answers.
“Hm? Oh! I thought that it could be a portal of some kind, but that’s just a hypothesis. It could be something entirely different. Fluttershy, have you ever heard of the Breezies?”
“Oh yes! They are the most adorable, tiny creatures ever. I’d just love to meet some one day,” Fluttershy gushed, a happy smile etched on to her face.
“What the heck are Breezies?” Rainbow quietly asked Applejack and Pinkie, who both shook their heads uncertainly.
“Then, as you might know, Breezie lands are actually usually protected by portals. The portals are kept closed most of the time, to make sure that no outside dangers get to where their homes are, which can be in an entirely different place from the portal. We don’t actually know all that much about the Breezies, or their homes, but they do need to gather pollen from outside their lands for their own crops, we presume. I mean, they could just eat it for all we know, but various experts on Breezies claim that the pollen is necessary for the well being of their ecosystem.” Twilight took a short breather as she recalled any other relevant information. “Ponies actually often help Breezies when they migrate, during which the Breezies also gather the pollen. In return, the Breezies take care of the forests in which their homes are located. Except for Everfree, of course, no Breezies live there. Anyway, I just wondered if Scruffy’s people had something similar to protect them, and that’s why we haven’t had contact with them before?” Twilight explained in a long ramble. Everypony else’s eyes glazed over as they tried to processes the tsunami of information.
“Erm...w-well, I’m sure we can ask…” Fluttershy finally answered once she regained her wits.
“Let’s just hope Twilight can keep herself from going crazy long enough to ask any questions,” Rainbow snorted quietly to herself, but not quietly enough.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the annoyed purple pony turned and asked.
“Because Scruffy just has so much strange stuff in his house! That small thing he carries around with him? It has nothing on the other stuff.”
“N-nothing? Are you saying he has even more advanced non-magical devices?” Twilight stammered, her eyes going wide.
“Yup, although I don’t know about the magic part. For example, he has this huge, boxy thing which kinda looks like the big brother of the small doohickey. It’s so cool! It has moving pictures and the things in the pictures make sounds!” Rainbow explained with excitement usually reserved only for topics such as the Wonderbolts or Daring Do.
“Now hol’ on a minute,” Applejack stopped her while Twilight’s jaw was hanging open low enough for her to trip on it. “What do you mean ‘moving pictures’?” she asked, confused.
“The things in the pictures move, AJ! Like, if you took a photo of Granny Smith, uh, I dunno, cooking or something, she would still move in the photo!”
“Oh!” Applejack exclaimed, finally understanding what Rainbow was saying.
“That sounds super-duper-mega-ultra-AMAZING-fun-time! Hurry hurry, I want to see it!” With that, Pinkie picked up the speed to full gallop, forcing the others to speed up as well or be left in the dust.
“T-this...this is...what...how…b-but it has to be some kind of magic, there’s no way...” Twilight sputtered, trying to wrap her head around the fact that Scruffy had such brilliant sounding devices that seemed to defy all logic. Rainbow glanced at the librarian and could imagine the gears in her head struggling to keep up. Pity. She would have liked to mention the rest but was afraid her friend’s head would explode from the sheer awesomeness.
With the speed they were moving at, it didn’t take too long for them to reach the fallen tree, with Rainbow guiding the rest of the mares to it.
“Under here,” she said, unceremoniously walking through the passageway, causing the air to ripple again. The others followed after, with Twilight going last. But as she entered the threshold, instead of the usual reaction, the air surged around her. Twilight’s horn seemed to power up on it’s own, sparking, and there were even a few arcs of power that shot out from it, illuminating rows of magic runes on the bark of the tree and the stony ridge forming the archway. Twilight was too surprised by the stormy reaction and simply stood still for the few seconds as it petered out.
“Twilight!” the others exclaimed once the light show ceased. A slowly blinking Twilight walked the rest of the way through the archway, her mane singed and pointing every which way. If they hadn’t been worried for her, Pinkie and Rainbow would have burst out laughing.
“I-I’m fine,” she managed to say as she took a few shaky steps towards them.
“Oh no,” Fluttershy immediately started to fuss over her, checking for burns and other possible wounds.
“N-no, it’s okay... I’m fine. It was just... Well I’m not sure what it was exactly… Something seemed to react with my magic in a very unexpected way. It- … It felt like something tried to access my magic, but failed...” Twilight said as she sat down, trying to calm her beating heart.
“Wow, it’s all so pretty,” Pinkie piped up, examining all the glowing runes that were now visible. Countless white runes, like tiny stars, were etched for the entire length of the passageway, shining with what seemed like renewed energy. There were lines and swirls in complex patterns amidst the runes.
“Careful there, Pinkie. We don’t know if it’s safe to get close to,” Applejack warned, content to stay as far away as possible.
“It… It should be fine. Rainbow, didn’t you mention that Rarity also got a reaction when she went through?” Twilight asked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Her horn sparked a few times, but nothing even close to that,” Rainbow replied, also eyeing the magic scribbling with suspicion.
“I think the magic that’s in there only responds to unicorns… Or maybe just large quantities of magic. It should be safe, as long as it didn’t get damaged or anything,” Twilight explained.
“Hmm, there’s a few spots that are empty,” Pinkie said, tracing the bare spots with her hooves. It felt like there should be something in them, as the rings of twinkling lights around each spot seemed incomplete without them.
“Oh horseapples,” Twilight swore under her breath, quickly getting up to examine them, but staying far enough to not accidentally trigger anything else.
“Oh, be careful Twilight,” Fluttershy worriedly called out.
“Is it still working? Please tell me it’s still working, and we are not stranded in...wherever this is!” Rainbow hoped.
“...It seems to be fine for the most part...since the spellwork is glowing and all,” Twilight mumbled offhoofedly, carefully scanning the entire length of the archway. “There are empty spots, like you said Pinkie… I wonder what’s missing from them...and if they are missing because of what happened.”
“Well, one way to test if it works is to try it out!” Pinkie said jubilantly and, before anypony could react, hopped forward.
“Pinkie!” the others cried out, but Pinkie had already disappeared in to the rippling air.
Have a nice week everypony. 
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18 second mark:
yep twilight welcome to the (prepare for pun) Twilight zone
Awe-some!
Twilight mind is literly about to be blown! Xp
I am worried about the sparking magic thing, something not right.
That sounds completely not good.
Darn it Pinkie you don't randomly jump into a portal that the resident expert is exercising caution about. Let's hope she doesn't hurt herself when she ends up where she went.
I wonder if they'll get stuck in earth. Wouldn't last long since it's not the idea of the story, but could be interesting. Specially the constant nerdgasm Twilight would have with the internet.
8775748
If she could read all the information there.
What is the likelihood that our human was infected with a disease native to equestria, and may result in an epidemic or pandemic?
Can hardly wait for the next chapter.
“Now hol’ on a minute,” Applejack stopped her while Twilight’s jaw was hanging open low enough for her to trip on it. “What do you mean ‘moving pictures’?” she asked, confused.
Welp, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Good job, Ponk.
Dammit Pinkie
Quibble Pants: But wait! We have actually seen a movie projector used in the TV show, remember? It was in "Hurricane Fluttershy", where they used a 1950s style portable projector with sound to exposit how water is funneled up to Cloudsdale.
Pointy Head: True, but that was an exception to the show's own rules. The directive of the producers was that Equestria's technology is not advanced beyond the Edwardian era—or roughly 1900 to 1910 at the upper limit. They only exceeded that limit rarely, when it was felt necessary to move the story forward. Is it really "canon" when they explicitly break their own rules?
Quibble Pants: But wait! Were not silent films being shown and produced already by 1900? If it were the same in Equestria, that would make motion pictures a state-of-the-art technology, but not entirely unknown.
Pointy Head: You raise a valid point. And yet, if one disregards the obvious anachronism of Hurricane Fluttershy, I don't recall that we've ever seen motion pictures used in any other episodes.
Zobeid: Allow me to settle the issue! The first motion picture projector was jointly invented by Flim and Flam. Then the volatile celluloid film burst into flames and burned the theater to the ground, and all attempts to make similar devices were banned by royal edict. QED.
8775727
What? No! That's stupid, and will just mean she can keep doing it as nothing happens! We WANT soemthing to happen, to smarten her up. Let her lose a leg or something. That'll teach her!
Just hope Pinkie didn't rip the dimension to other place beside Scuffy's house.
...Hmmmm, what if she pop out in Disneyland?
*insert clever doctor who joke* encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSWG91Z6AnO3Yge0fkuMncIykCDTthEEv2Svvj9hRMIIDZ0w1dY
Nice cliff hanger you got there
8775936
Don't the CMC go to a theater during Babs Seed?
8775960
If she rips it enough, it will become Didney Lun.
8776024
It was Elliotts idea. 
Thank you.
8775936
As Zobeid points out, and I love his inner monologue btw, this was of exception in the show, and there hasn't been much of that since. To me, it makes more sense that the ponies would have projectors for slides or something, but it's not widespread technology yet. They can use it for education purposes, but not much else. And, since I love the idea of their little minds blowing from seeing a cool thing like a TV or something, I'm going to keep ignoring that one scene in Hurricane Fluttershy. 
8775888
Oh right! This is something I should have remembered to mention in the AN. We remembered that episode too, and I promptly decided to ignore it.
8776354
Right... Pointy Head.
8775936
My thoughts are that their technology follows different patterns of development because of magic and different physical and cultural factors. For instance, magic has been shown as easy for visual display, but creating sounds may take more practice (pony visual processing must be greater due to the size of their ocular cavities). Therefore, the field of photography has old projectors while audio equipment is state-of-the-art.
We had almost the exact same debate you made up.
8775727
Nothing to worry about. It's a portal--which means it only goes between Scruffy's world and Equestria.
Unless Pinkie does something utterly stupid and breaks it somehow...
....which could potentially strand them all there...
...or....
images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51MDrKcbN6L._SX298_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
...it gets the attention of other interested parties
But what's the odds of either of those happening?
Well, good news, Spike found Scruffy almost right away yay!
Bad news, everyone might be stranded now.
Not entirely unexpected news - Pinkie jumped at the opportunity for an adventure.
Next chapter: she'll get back nonchalantly.
Or not. We'll see!
8776500
pointy–headed…
→ http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pointy-headed
→ https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pointy-head
You should know that it's OK for a unicorn to call another unicorn a pointy-head, but if an earth pony or pegasus says it, then it's kind of… you know…
8776848
I think he used that term in a completely correct way.
8775802
<100%>
8776354
Regarding moving pictures. If you had shown a color TV to someone from 1910 who had seen silent movies, they would have been absolutely astounded! MOVING COLOR PICTURES WITH SOUND! Notice also, that the referenced "Hurricane Fluttershy" episode uses black and white animation, and not pictures of actual ponies. Implying that the ponies have not yet invented a MOVIE camera. Everything is basically one-frame-at-a-time pictures strung together, just like how the pre-computer cartoons were created.
In which case, a fluidly moving color picture would be an amazing sight.
All the people talking about the scene in hurricane fluttershy being the example of 'moving pictures' seem to have forgotten the movie theatre scene, I don't remember which episode it was (i think it was the one where babs seed was introduced) but there was a scene with a movie theatre, and there's also the scene in the hearts and hooves day episode with button mash on an arcade machine
Hmm. My predictuon is that they're all going to force their way into his home/village to look at everything, despite ehat he wants. Plus their reason for looking for him is kinda reduculous, why would him not spending nearly every day in ponyville ever be cause for alarm?
8775960
I don't think DisneyLand is prepared for Pinkie Pie...
Pretty sure all the Disneylands combined aren't prepared for Pinkie Pie.
(Remember when people wonder how Twilight would react to the internet?)
8777294
Clearly, ponies value video games above all other technologies. Guess they have their priorities straight.
8777668
There's actually a reasonable explanation as to why they have video games but are lower in other technologies, and that's magics existence, as with magic so common, it's not as necessary to have other technologies as magic can substitute for it, but entertainment is still always going to have more research put into it
8777336
No new posts on Youtube/ Fim for two weeks, and everyone thinks you died...
8775748
I do wonder how long Twilight will be in love with the internet? It shouldn't take her long to "stumble" across the darker side if she's just throwing search subjects at Google.
As for the portal, the horn sparks could be related to the magic-deficiency of Earth? I'm thinking of an analogy of deep-sea diving or leaving a pressurized plane at 30,000 feet where the atmosphere has a lot less pressure. As for runes and places they're possibly missing; a count down of uses before the portal is exhausted? Maybe a timer for how long it stays open? Heck, maybe it's extra space where you jot in new runes to change the destination?
8779490
Or just missing/damaged safety filters? Like where the 'transformation to a local species as camouflage' is in the EqG portal? Or something to stop visitors to Equestria from bringing back potentially dangerous magical artifacts? Or given Finland's geographic location it could be something to keep out the 'damn dirty Dutch' without wasting money training guard deers and attaching frekin' lasers to their heads.
8777294
While the machine Button Mash was playing on looks like a late 70s early 80s model in shape we don't see the game itself.
Coin operated electromechanical games have existed since the 1890s. It could be one of those in an anachronistic cabinet.
8780257
I think the assumption in this story may be that the arcade works like a modern one but with magic. That’s just my guess though.
I'm thinking the runes work like the ones on Stargate where activating different sequences changes the destination.
8779694
There are only two things I can't stand in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch.
- Headwind
8802217
Whatever
Canon Equestria definitely has some pretty advanced tech, even if a little different from ours (like Fallout's tech is different, for example). All the lighting, fridges and other appliances, all the Viynyl's equipment, arcades and even computers. (Advanced computers may still be expensive as heck, thus big businesses trying to make more money with advanced arcade games while Twilight uses relatively primitive hardware which is probably a decade old for her private research.) Ponyville even has it's own hydroelectric dam, for Faust's sake! Consumption has to be massive! There are no wires anywhere, but I still think it's magic-assisted wireless electricity, and even if it's pure magic it's all the same from practical standpoint. The only thing that ponies noticeably lack is wireless communications of any kind, including radio and TV. That may be due to magical interference from wireless electricity, or just not having discovered the right kind of magic if it's not electricity at all, in any case compounded by the fact that Equestria is less than a day across by a train and pegasi are much faster even if less resilient.
tl;dr: Canon Twilight simply cannot be that surprised with Scruffy's tech. Their tech cannot be more than about 30 years behind, even if not that widespread. At most she may be mildly curious (by her standards) that it uses no magic. (Though the Internet would blow Twi's mind regardless.)
Conclusion: This is just an AU, one of many, in which ponies are noticeably less technologically advanced than in canon. No point in comparing canon pony tech to Scruffy's.
8811230
That's all open to interpretation, and they write the show that way on purpose. The tech level is just whatever it needs to be.
8811495
Sorry! What I was really looking for is collapsible text (i.e. click button to show it) for my long braindump, but alas there isn't such a thing here. That braindump alone takes a whole screen on my phone, while small text is still perfectly readable. Didn't quite think that it would be different on PC.
8811658
Don't sweat it.
8775960
Then she'll fit right in and no one will be the wiser.
8776848
Accurate?
Super excited for the next chapter!! Good work!!
And so, with the missing Stargate symbols, Pinkie ended up in Grimdarkquestria, where everypony was a murderous psycho cannibal.
She managed to fit right in, however...
8828360
"SG-1 here.....one impact on the Iris."
8775802
Hi. Here from the year 2020, stuck in quarantine.
I think I know what he caught...