It's a theoretically simple setup: five ponies on a train, deciding that playing a popular board game about the restructuring of a barren planet so that it can comfortably sustain life for the ponies of Equestria. They all compliment each other when it comes to forming the perfect group for a board game: Rainbow Dash brings her undeniable charisma to the table, Starlight Glimmer brings her brains, Rarity brings her panache, Applejack brings her delightfully sardonic wit, and Fluttershy's also just kind of there, I guess.
Theoretically, it shouldn't be a bad way to spend a couple of hours.
Theoretically.
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My entry into no writing competition whatsoever. The idea of deliberately sending yourself up to be graded like a bad entry on the fanfic equivalent of Hell's Kitchen doesn't really do anything for me, thank you very much.
Story is a work in progress. Expect to see new chapters Mon-Fri between 2:00 PM-5:00 PM CST, and that's a schedule I'm really going to try to keep to for a change of pace.
All my thanks to Flashgen for his help.
Elements of cover art are by Isaac Fryxelius, and will be taken down upon request.
Why isn't there a crossover tag?
Those tags though
I didn't say it while editing the chapters, but I really think your enjoyment of the game and sci-fi in general comes through in those narrative bits of game actions. Adds a lovely bit of flair and a little bit of character as well depending on who is making their move.
I blame Discord. I think he made the game a proxy for reality. They're actually terraforming mars! It would be something he'd do for kicks. Looking forward to more chapters.
9814111
Good catch! Fixed that one. Thanks. :)
9814186
I asked people before if using an emergent tags system would be okay, and was immediately shouted down about bait-and-switching and foregoing the appropriate trigger warnings, hence the disclosure.
9814436
Thanks for reminding me to upload the relevant photos, dude.
Excellent story so far. I'm watching intently to see where this goes!
Also, my money is on them being AI's based on the mind of their respective player. Any other takers?
I find myself wondering if that tunnel will emerge from Martian mountains.
Or the slopes of Hell.
Granted, depending on how everyone does, there may not be a difference. Looking forward to seeing what comes of this.
Now I half-expect you to walk in from one of the other cars. Or for all
fourfive players to speak as a chorus when the will controlling this scenario chooses to make itself known directly. Fascinating in its escalating creep factor thus far.The rainbowers and the rainbowed, as it were.
In any case, even the gag characterization is part of what isn't right. Hadn't expected that, but it's a brilliant touch. I can only imagine what they'll notice next.
Okay, the mystery is getting weirder, and I have several pet theories on what is going on/what has happened.
But dang if you haven't got me itching to find out the truth.
Well that's a lot of boding, not the good kind of boding either.
How exactly would you capture the energy of an asteroid impact? Most of the energy is going straight into the ground, so, yah. Still, if it works it works.
Honestly, I'm getting more and more intrigued by the mystery of why they're on the infinite looping train and what happened to Equestria. This is looking to be a very good story.
What if... Equestria died. But at the same time with everypony dying the Princesses and Discord took a gamble putting them on a train that is going towards where they are going. And as they are going there the terraforming of mars is being done based on their game. And how this magic is able to function in this... illogical way is because chaos magic is being used to sustain it and allow all of this to be possible.
Well. This is indeed some unpleasant boding. We'll have to see what future turns uncover before I can judge this any further.
I'm mildly disappointed that this didn't lead to Starlight punching Dash in the face.
In any case, that particular tonal inconsistency had been bothering me, but given how little we know about Equestria's solar system, I'd let it slide. I wonder how much else I've been glossing over.
It will be very interesting indeed to see what comes next, but I feel like Applejack has the wrong of it. Who knows what information might slip into that improv theater junk?
so not only this is a videogame, it's a bord game as well. neat
9820732
That was one of my possible conclusions!
But what if, at the end...
And I want to know how an apple farmer is conversant in advanced terraforming methodology...
Hmmm... the mystery deepens! ^_^ This is kind of reminding me a lot of the TV Show Lost... although this I trust to have a much more satisfying conclusion. ;-)
"Wait, what about Twilight's castle?"
"That was well-wishing and a lot of magic."
As for that ending... Huh. This is getting even more existential than I expected. We may be approaching the end, but I'm not sure who will have their egos intact enough to leave by the time they get there.
Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. Existence is self-evident.
How much should I read into this word choice? This entire story is becoming a fascinating exercise in borderline overanalysis. Also, I'm pretty sure Starlight is half a revelation away from realizing that none of them are real and the entire thing is actually a story on the Internet. And maybe only a few more steps away from inferring the existence of the impending series finale.
In any case, looking forward to more.
9828123
There's also the title to consider, "This is why you should never let ponies play Terraforming Mars". Perhaps this is some kind of shared lucid dream, and Starlight is massively overreacting. Got to remember, Starlight has a real depressive side to her, and she's been known to take an idea and run with it.
Well, post-terraformation, anyway.
Granted, at least two of those species are sapient on Equestria. Possibly all of them. But certain allowances must be made.
In any case... Yeah, this makes sense. I could definitely see Starlight deliberately perpetuating an eternal loop for fear of what may come at the end. She's been playing to win, but no one said what her victory condition was. Looking forward to seeing what Dash has to say as the final word, and what comes afterwards.
9829599
I did think of this, yes. Establishing a healthy ecosystem with a wide variety of inhabitants is a lot easier than reconstructing biological sapience, even for species that have the capacity for sapience and were sapient before everything went south. Good catch, though.
Dot's one of the strangest purgatory/afterlifes I've ever heard of. And they never did explain how all those non-Equestrian planets got involved.
What happens if you miss your connection? Well either you end up doing the spiritual equivalent of a Dutchman, which is even less fun than it sounds like, or something has to go get you with all the drama and overtime pay that such things entail.
9831252
It's not a pony afterlife: Rainbow Dash (and the other figments of her imagination) helped make it, but it's not really for ponies, hence why the names are strange and not at all ponylike. One interpretation is that it's more of a "trial run" afterlife, really, as the last incentive to show how fulfilling Dash's actual afterlife is going to be before she gets to proper work on an actual planet out in the post-mortal equivalent of the Equestrian solar system.
I say "interpretation" because death of the author is in full effect, and I've had cases before where what's been going on in a story I've written has apparently been something besides what I originally intended. If you've got a better theory, by all means run with it.
9831277
Well I don't know about better...
It was mentioned that she'd been there a while, I had a thought that it might have gone down something like Angel Beats, if you've ever seen that, only rather more personal. There might have been some sort of karmic guide thingamawhatsit that was supposed to get her up to speed, who Dash either offended or was forced to leave after it's charge couldn't get with the system.
But Dash is a very good learner, in a subconscious observational kind of way, and retained the information somewhere in the back of her head even after she set herself loose to drift. An indeterminate period of spiritual sensory-deprivation leads to some pretty impressive hallucinations, and her subconscious eventually figures it out. From then on the story unfolds.
Does that fit?
9831297
I do like it, yes.
Amazing.
One of the most fascinating journeys to the hereafter I've ever seen. The meaning of "Neighthon" is lost on me, but this was still an awesome read from start to finish. Thank you for one of the most unique Let's Plays I've ever read.
9831356
I was hoping someone would ask about that.
"Neighthon" is pony wordplay on Aethon/Aithon: canonically, one of the steeds of Ares. As Roman deities co-oped a heck of a lot of elements from Greek deities, so too was Aethon/Aithon co-opted and became a canonical steel of Ares' Roman successor. You might have heard of the name of that guy...
Similarly, Myrtle - though not strictly Crepe Myrtle - was the flower most commonly associated with Venus during the iron age-antiquity period: beyond its assumed magical/medical properties and certain associations made with evergreen plants, it also just looked (and looks) really pretty, (assumedly) like the goddess herself.
Well, that certainly didn't end the way I thought it would... but it was certainly really nifty in a bittersweet sort of way, actually. ^_^ An excellent job all around, hon.
Also, because it reminded me of this...
That looks just like my train home from Dads at Hull rail station.
I think Ill put this with Hard Reset, and Beyond Between. As I cant seem to remember as much these days.
I really hope this months gaming group doesnt decide to have this one out, though Ill have to ask them if anytones played it.
One more week to go.
Hee. I love the setup here. I love the narration of what they're doing... with varying degrees of enthusiasm
I'm... surprised by Rainbow Dash getting so into the narrative, but hey, cool, go for it. (I'm not sure if her card is Soletta, or from the Venus Next expansion which I haven't played.)
About the only bit I don't like is the excessively meek Fluttershy, and the other ponies forgetting about her/ignoring her. That's a bit too five years ago for me, and it strikes me as unkind on AJ's part.
Last chapter the "annoyingly long train ride" seemed perfectly reasonable justification for the fic. This chapter it's getting a bit more disturbing, more like they're actually dead or stuck in limbo until the game ends or something. I'm certainly intrigued, anyway
BTW, the end-of-chapter images are broken for me. Maybe upload them to something like Imgur?
Okay, I am delighted to discover that the annoyingly clichéd handling of Fluttershy was in fact meant to feel wrong. Nice. (As long as it doesn't put readers off before they get to this point.)
In which case, hmm, maybe Rainbow Dash's unexpected eloquence is to be investigated next?
Wow. I had considered the "dead" hypothesis, and it didn't seem to quite fit. Perhaps something like simulated personalities inside an AI, on the way to take over government of Mars?
But Starlight has something else in mind, and I do not yet know what.
i'm calling it fluttershy wins
Sets of mouths? Are these ponies or eldritch horrors.
Also, yeah, Fluttershy's gonna win my making Mars green, isn't she?
And ooh, fancy 3D terrain tiles, nice.
poring
Huh.
...
...
...
So why shouldn't we let ponies play Terraforming Mars? And is this RD's afterlife, or is she somehow being reincarnated many generations after Equestria's fall? And what about her friends, will she be seeing them?
9831277
Huh, that sounds a bit like the Mormon belief of exaltation.
For a moment I thought that they are playing a video game. When you are playing a corporation that is establishing a colony on Mars. Terraforming might not be one of your priorities. You have to find a way to get people comfortable enough to live on the planet, and the planet has to make a profit.
I was told before I read this that it was not what I expected.
Down is up and up is down. 10/10, would not expect again.