The wagon was an amazingly smooth ride, albeit a bit on the slow side. Although I certainly wasn't going to make Big Mac run. Eh, Twilight was probably too distracted today to keep track of time properly anyway. ...and if she had, surely she'd forgive me in her current mood. Heh.
Smiling gently to myself, I lay at the bottom of the wagon, feeling rather comfortable in the corner. There was leftover hay in the bottom of it, and it was nice to give my leg a rest, as frustrating as that was. Sweetie Belle gently massaged the shoulder after insisting loudly for a good five minutes, me trying to convince her that it wasn’t needed. Rainbow shot me a glare of death after the loud and annoying ‘debate’ had gone on too long, forcing me to relent and just let Sweetie do whatever. I guess she’d gotten tired of listening to us go back and forth? Apple Bloom had hopped out of the wagon and onto Big Mac's back instead, and was busy talking quietly with her siblings. Scootaloo was absolutely absorbed in Rainbow Dash's presence, which just left Tank and Spike. I stared quietly at the turtle, who stood a half-meter away from me. He stared back. We'd simply been watching each other the entire ride. He was a very wise looking tortoise, honestly. He seemed to actually understand the words spoken around him and carried out complex and detailed actions. I was used to animals being, well, animals. This was an interesting surprise.
Of course, I'd seen a few other pets, too. Opal was almost snooty in her mannerisms, but I think that was more a cat thing. Still, I could have sworn I saw her roll her eyes at me before. Winona was more loyal and trustworthy from what I saw, but still quite intelligent. I watched Apple Bloom play with her for a while when I was helping build the conveyor system. Owlowiscious was obviously intelligent, and I noticed he understood several things I said to him. With that much evidence, it looked like all the animals of Equestria were quite a bit smarter than normal. I'd have to remember that in my dealings with them. I wouldn't want to accidentally offend.
Zoning slightly, I gave a start as the cart slowed and Dash zipped into the air. Scootaloo rolled twice before I stopped her with my back leg, smiling at the dizzy filly for a moment before sitting up. Sweetie Belle gave me an endearing smile, and I patted her on the top of the head with my right forehoof. "Thank you for the massage, Sweetie," I added gently.
She grinned and hugged the leg I was using to pat her, earning a chuckle from me. She was so adorable sometimes. Well, most of the time. Rainbow interrupted anything I could have said, however, by shouting out, "Over here!" My eyes widened and I peeked to the left just in time to see the entire gathered crowd of ponies turn around and stare at the cart. Aww, crap. Not again! Instincts made me crouch back down again, mostly shielding myself using the wall of the cart. A storm of giggling sounded almost instantly, and I groaned.
"Ah, just the stallion I wanted to talk to! Moon Mender!" was called out from the stage. A tan looking mare with a white mane stood up at the podium, looking highly official. That must be 'Mayor Mare'? Oddly, her mane was white, not gray. She didn't look that old to me.
Both of us were interrupted by a squeaking noise as a yellow pegasus suddenly bumped up above the crowd, flailing momentarily as she grabbed onto the pink head under her. Fluttershy? "Ah! No, Pinkie. Put me down!" I 'heard' her whisper rapidly, embarrassment flooding down the link as she blushed fiercely at all the ponies looking at her now.
"Nope! Sorry, Fluttershy," Pinkie refused. My surprise doubled as the pink mare literally stood up and threw Fluttershy right at me! My eyes widened as Fluttershy let out a high-pitched squealing noise as she sailed through the air. Oddly, instead of just doing the logical thing and opening her wings up, taking to the sky, she instead went rigid. Her wings stuck out like an airplane and she sailed surprisingly well. I shook off being impressed and hopped up on the lip of the wagon, balancing carefully for that instant up on my two back legs as I caught Fluttershy out of the air, rolling backwards to cancel her momentum. My back armor skipped off the wagon as I rolled to a stop, cradling the now hiding Fluttershy, who was doing her best to cover herself with my body.
"Wow, good catch!" the mayor complimented, totally missing the point. I didn't even know how to respond to that. Instead, I looked down at Fluttershy to see if she was okay. At this range, I could pick up her biorhythms, and noticed that, unsurprisingly, her heart rate was through the roof. Also at this range, I was bombarded by the wonderful smells of fresh cut flowers coming off the mare, along with a slight honey smell in addition to that, which was new. All mares seemed to be as varying in smell as they were in coat color! The discovery was rather fascinating to me in a somewhat uncouth way. I knew I probably shouldn’t be paying so much attention to their smells suddenly but it was far from unpleasant.
She peeked up a moment later as she must have felt my concern. Her eyes softened and she smiled at me again before burying her face in my chest. Sweetie started 'aww'ing to my right. I sat up fully with Fluttershy again and the crowd started cheering. What was this all about?!
"I imagine you're wondering what this is about," the mayor guessed, almost word for word. I tilted my head, but nodded towards her. She had a microphone setup. My voice wouldn't carry that far. Err, my 'normal' voice wouldn't carry that far. Heh, but my other would get the crowd to scatter rather fast.
"It's quite simple. You've been here for weeks, drawn the attention of both Princesses, and fended off an attack on my town. Yet somehow, we haven't been officially introduced! Further, I wanted to extend my official thanks for everything you've done so far," she explained, nodding and gesturing towards me. The crowd started that hoof stomping thing again almost instantly as they all grinned at me. Perhaps it was akin to applause?
I gave my best sheepish smile while wanting to run in the other direction. I suddenly felt a little lightheaded, and had to fight down the urge to flee. There were way too many ponies here, and it was daylight so I could see them all this time. It helped that there weren't stage lights in my eyes this time.
Twilight teleported in next to the mayor suddenly and whispered something in her ear. I was momentarily curious again before the tan mare pulled the mic back up and nodded. "I'd almost forgotten that your leg is badly injured. Silly me, expecting you to come up here on stage! Ha! I must not pay enough attention to my secretary's memos as I should," she cooed, smiling out at the crowd. There was a polite wave of laughter, which confused me until I realized it was supposed to be a joke. Spike groaned next to me and sank below the wall of the cart. Was she always like this?
"Well, worry not. You stay right there in the cart. I'll come to you!" she exclaimed, hanging the mic back up with an awkward squeaking noise from the speakers. I winced, and in that brief moment, Twilight was gone from the stage. I turned to my left in time to see her reappear, literally into a pouncing motion.
Fluttershy gave a squeak as Twilight's forelegs wrapped around both of us. My eyes widened, then extended even more as Twilight wasted no time kissing me directly on the lips. Happy laughter and murmurs shot through the crowd as I gave a weak groan, getting pulled tighter against the mare. She pulled back almost five seconds later, licking a string of saliva away from her lips and leaving my head spinning. A certain tingle danced along my tongue as well, and I realized that she'd shot her magic into the kiss, too! It felt amazingly like Twilight, I decided. It was an odd sensation. Why had she-?
Oh. She gave me a wink and then gave Fluttershy a more relaxed, chaste kiss, causing the mare to have about the same reaction as me, interestingly enough. I was busy staring at Twilight, however. She wanted to kiss me like that, but she didn't want me getting paranoid about her being that forward, I guessed. Shooting her magic into me was definitely a good way to prove that it was indeed her.
My ears twitched a moment later, and I looked over at Fluttershy. She was still flushed, but she was whispering something rapidly, almost in chant as she looked down and over at my front, right leg. Eh? My ears swiveled around from their surprised, backwards position, and I picked up, "Be brave. Be brave. Be brave, Fluttershy. Assertive!"
I tilted my head, but she looked up at the same moment with a look that could only be described as fierce resolve and focus. Then she leaned up as well and pushed her lips up against mine. I was vaguely aware of the crowd going crazy somewhere to my left, but I really didn't care. All I was aware of was Twilight grinning against both of us, and Fluttershy's warm muzzle against mine as she pushed into me. Her hooves drifted just around my waist as she leaned into the kiss, in a timid and subtle possessive gesture. I certainly wasn't about to deny her.
Almost a full five seconds later, she finally pulled back, a bright red shade in her cheeks as she smiled shyly at me. More cheering hit, which was starting to get a bit annoying. Of course, I guess I shouldn't expect privacy up on a wagon in the middle of a large crowd of ponies. Wait, middle? Turning and confirming my peripheral concern, I noticed the wagon was indeed surrounded at this point. I got a bit flustered until I realized we were still moving. Big Mac pressed onwards, crowd or not, as he headed towards the southern exit of town. Noteworthy slipped out of the crowd a moment later and stepped in next to him, giving me a pleased nod before hooking himself up to the free harness, now that Applejack stepped out of it.
"Mender," the mayor called out, getting my attention. Shifting, I rotated around and saw her walking slowly along after the wagon, following us as we went. A large amount of stallions and younger foals were also with us, I noted. Considerably more than what I'd normally see in an entire day in Ponyville.
Walking to the back of the wagon, I lay down on the straw again and peeked down at her, giving a nod. "I'm glad I have a chance to talk with you before you go. Although I'd like to ask for a slightly longer audience once you get back. Official residence paperwork, and discussing what the future entails," she elaborated, giving me a patient smile. There was really only one way to translate that.
"Concerned about Princess Celestia's initiative, and Ponyville's involvement in it?" I guessed, tilting my head towards her.
She gave a smirk, and I realized I'd guessed right. "Mostly. I really do have residence paperwork for you to fill out, although I wouldn't say I'm concerned. It's an honor to have such a hero living here," she corrected.
"I'm not a hero," I returned almost instantly, eyes lowering a bit. No, I wouldn't... couldn't accept that title anymore. Heroes weren't involved in the wholesale slaughter of a few billion innocent lives. Brave? Not really. I was more pragmatic, really. I did what I had to do at any given time, regardless of how bitter it tasted. That sounded more like a soldier to me. Duty. Yeah, that was mine, I suppose.
She smiled but nodded, making me realize I'd just zoned out for a full ten seconds. Her eyes were softer than prior to my slip of awareness, and I wondered if I'd accidentally implied anything with my silence. Ah well. "I need to talk to Celestia more, but from what I've read so far, she's placing the research center of the initiative here. Given the, well, extent of what she wanted researched, I imagine a new facility is going to have to be built. I'd like to avoid any further damage to Ponyville if at all possible," I groaned, wondering how much the repairs to the library had cost. Nirru was an idiot. You don't fire off Slipstream in-atmosphere. Thankfully, hers was just a personal-sized engine.
"Is the research that dangerous?" the mayor asked, looking a bit surprised.
Twilight slipped up next to me, however, and nodded in my stead. "We're seeking defenses and counters against further extra-planar infiltrations. Given how powerful the last creature was, yes, any defenses we can muster will probably be rather dangerous before we finalize them," she warned, sounding professional yet a bit on the grim side. Fluttershy remained quiet on my other side. Well, technically on the other side of Sweetie Belle, who wormed her way in-between us, but the little filly hardly blocked all of Fluttershy, so I suppose it didn't matter.
The mayor frowned for a moment before looking over at me instead. "You truly fought the creature, then? That wasn't an exaggeration from the Princesses, I'm guessing," she reasoned, expression neutral.
"All I could manage was to contain it. It was extremely powerful. Luna was the one who removed it," I confirmed, technically telling the truth in an abstract way. Not that I was against lying if I had to, but it was easier to convince somepony if you could at least fall back on being truthful.
"You must be strong as well, then," she deduced. It wasn't a question, but it was a little too vague to my liking.
I shook my head weakly. "Twilight is far stronger than me. My strength is more in quick thinking, experience in combat, and just a bit of cleverness," I corrected, smiling finally afterwards. Twilight gave me a playful shove, and I didn't even need a connection to her to know what she implied with it. I know I tended to undervalue myself, but it felt more comfortable doing so.
"Psh! I've totally seen you fight before, and it's downright scary!" Rainbow teased, smirking at me out of the corner of my eye. I gave her a skeptical glance, but the mayor surprised me by snickering softly.
Glancing back over at her, I raised an eyebrow and she nodded, explaining, "I always find it a little bit scary when I see somepony do something they're really good at. Practiced motions that come naturally are pretty to watch, but knowing I'd never match up with them is a bit intimidating. I imagine combat is, due to its nature, even scarier." I absorbed her words for a moment before nodding again. Yeah, that made sense, I suppose.
"Still, your mark implies creation, not destruction. Your strong suit is engineering, is it?" she added, somehow changing the entire tone of her prior statement. She was okay with me, then? I couldn't read her very well. She gave off an air of wisdom, but I wasn't sure if it was just for show, or if she was actually wise. It wasn't an absolute thing like when talking to one of the Princesses.
"Engineering and enchantments is what I hope to make a living with. My specialty for magic is more defensive, however," I relayed, attention waning somewhat. Surely she'd heard as much already, though. What was she hoping to accomplish by asking me directly?
Twilight, who had been watching me instead, frowned and shifted back to the mayor, asking, "Can't this wait until he gets back? He's getting tired, and Fluttershy and I would like to properly say goodbye before he rests." It surprised me, but there was a certain air of irritation in her voice, mixed in with a dash of possessiveness. I glanced over at her, but she simply gave a frown towards the mare trailing after us.
"Oh! Yes, he's still healing. Certainly. I shall leave you all in peace, then," she agreed, bowing politely before turning around. The progression trailing the wagon had dwindled at this point, leaving only a handful of faces following that I recognized.
Pinkie herself dashed up much faster than I realized, leaving both Vinyl and Octavia momentarily in the dust. "Don't forget about me, Mender! Spike! I'll miss both of you!" she squealed, hopping up and hanging off the back of the wagon long enough to pull both of us into a bone crushing hug. I gasped and wiggled against her, wondering how she'd grabbed Spike too. He was at the front of the wagon!
"Aaaah, I'm not squishy, Pinkie, but I will be if you don't ease up..." Spike managed to whine, causing Twilight to giggle and light Pinkie up with magic, prying her off us.
"I just can't help myself! I'm not gonna get to see you all for a week and a half or more! So I've gotta try to squeeze two weeks of hugging into an instant!" she declared. Yikes! With Pinkie, two weeks of hugs might be enough to compress diamond.
The two musically inclined mares had caught up, and Octavia added, "I did say I'd be here to say goodbye to you. I'm not sure when we'll see each other again, but I do hope to visit quite a bit more often now. Vinyl has offered me a, uhm, what did you call those... things, again, Vinyl?" She hesitated and looked back at her DJ friend.
Vinyl shook her head weakly and sighed. "They're futons, Tavi. Any good pad worth its weight in swag has them. You don't get a more righteous sleeping arrangement than that," she explained, pumping her hoof into the air to emphasis 'righteous'. What was a futon? Obviously something somepony slept on, I supposed, but there wasn't any visual reference in my memories for one.
"Ah, yes. So long as I don't have to share it again. You should really get some, well, spray for your house, Vinyl. Or at least get rid of the empty pizza boxes. Those things are attracted to food in the first place, and if they get much bigger, you might need to burn them out instead..." Octavia warned, a hint of playful teasing in her voice.
Even with the shades on, I 'felt' as if Vinyl rolled her eyes. I think it was that oh so subtle head motion. "Hey, the mice deserve room and board, too, just like everypony else. We have an arrangement. I let them stay rent free, and they clean up the stale stuff I leave out for too long," she explained.
I blinked, and wondered if she really did have an arrangement with the rodents. Were they that smart? I added a note to ask Fluttershy about it later. Maybe it was just the mice? Could they talk, too? Heh, who knows? Maybe they were smarter than us, even? Twilight let out a weak, strained giggle, eyes shivering a little bit as she listened. Uh oh.
"You really shouldn't live like that, Vinyl. As you're a friend of my coltfriend, I suppose I could, I don't know, help you clean it up a little? Make it more orderly?" the lavender mare offered after a moment. I sensed an obsessive-compulsive trait to her sometimes.
The look she got in return was blank and far from amused. Lying there, I decided I'd rather not get involved at all, and shifted my attention to Fluttershy instead. The yellow pegasus was zoning out, and gave a small start of surprise when I shifted to look at her again. A gentle smile expanded upon her muzzle, her attention drifting back and being given entirely to me. That never ceased to amaze me. I wasn't used to somepony really, and I mean really, paying attention to me. Apart from the, well, problems I caused here so often, sometimes I felt like more a part of the background than anything. Everypony had jobs and duties while I just sort of drifted, making trouble for ponies.
Closing my eyes softly, I decided to see what would happen if I initiated for once. A second later, I worked up my courage and gently leaned forwards, resting my forehead softly against hers. A peek showed she was momentarily surprised before smiling wider and leaning into me as well. "It's sad that I have my friends to take care of. Well, not sad as in I don't like taking care of them. That's not what I meant! I just, um, kinda wish I could go with you this week. Are you sure you won't be too lonely?" Fluttershy asked softly, the words barely transferring over the small distance between us, but I easily heard it all because of our deeper link.
"I'll miss you two, but I'll have a lot of company. Spike, my fellow Crusaders, Big Mac, and now Tank," I pointed out. Spike hadn't been close enough to hear what we were talking about, but there was something about hearing your name being mentioned in a conversation that lets you pick it up a lot easier. His head snapped to full attention back to me, having only been passively listening to Vinyl, Octavia, and Twilight bicker about personal hygiene. If they kept this up, they were going to come to the camp with us regardless of their intention. I was also a bit surprised that Dash and Applejack had stuck around, too, the former still talking with Scootaloo and the latter walking with her brother and little sister up front. Although, now that I thought about it, I thought I heard Applejack mention she usually helped set up everypony at the cabins. Maybe Rainbow was sticking around because Applejack was, too? At least the mares didn't just toss us out to the cabins and leave it at that.
Fluttershy flushed lightly but smiled, nodding to me. "Oh, I know. I just wish I could be with you at the cabins, too," Fluttershy elaborated.
Spike smiled and nodded, now paying attention and probably guessing what had been said prior. "That would mean Mender and you would have to stay in a couple's cabin, though, wouldn't it? I was kinda looking forward to hanging out with him," he slipped in. Oh, they had couples' cabins? Well, I suppose that made sense. They were probably smaller and easier to make than the full size ones, and mates would want their privacy, especially during an estrus period, I'd imagine.
Fluttershy appeared pleased and nodded to Spike, adding, "Of course. You'd be able to hang out with him during the day, as well, of course! I'm not going to monopolize his time, and, um, I'll lecture Twilight sternly if she tries to as well." There was mild weight and conviction behind her words, which only went to prove she was serious about it. It still surprised me a little. She seemed focused on my needs and wants above and beyond her own. I guess I'd have to try extra hard to get her to accept things that she wanted, too.
"Wow, that's really kind of you, Fluttershy. I might have been, uh, a little worried about that. Twilight's been acting a little clingy lately," he whispered, looking past us at the now irate lavender unicorn. She wasn't even paying attention, so he didn't really have to worry.
"Probably just the heat, Spike. She'll probably return to normal after a couple weeks," I explained, attempting to console him a bit. In reality, I had no idea how long it would take for the hormones to get out of her system completely after estrus was over.
Fluttershy frowned and looked over at her as well. "Not so sure. Um, it's probably not my place to say, but I think she might be, well, figuring out what she wants more?" she tried to explain. Her peek showed a confused expression drifting over from me, and she squeaked, elaborating with, "Not that she didn't know before on some level. I think she's realizing how important you are to her, and your priority has gone up by a lot."
"She told Princess Celestia no to her face for you. I'd say that much is accurate, anyway," Spike added, nodding enthusiastically. That had surprised me, admittedly. It was tempting to accept her offer for her disk to at least feel what her emotions really were, but that was a shallow reason.
Sweetie Belle, who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation, finally stirred and looked up at Fluttershy. "Um, you seem really comfortable with Twilight, Fluttershy. Is being in a herd and sharing hard?" she asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Well, I saw where it came from, but didn't really know why she was curious.
Fluttershy didn't seem to mind, however, and smiled down at her as well. "It was a little difficult at first. Wanting to be with the pony you love is natural, but eventually it starts to feel like a really close family," she tried to explain. My ears swerved around and my heard skipped as I stared at her. Did she just say that?! She... loved me? Wasn't it a bit too soon for that?
"What if somepony wanted to join the herd? What would happen?" Sweetie asked next, only vaguely registering on my consciousness as I fought to decide if things were progressing too fast or slow. Sure, Fluttershy seemed worlds' more comfortable with being in a relationship, but love? Although, I had agreed to marry Twilight, now that I thought about it. Sure, it wasn't official yet, but the feelings and intent were there.
Pinkie suddenly almost landed on me, squishing me over and causing me to yelp and roll slightly. Holy hell! I forgot she was even here! "That's a tricky one, Silly! Herds usually only let ponies join that they know really, really well and trust. Plus, you have to at least care for everypony in the herd! Even then, afterwards, all members have to approve of you joining," she explained while Fluttershy recovered from her sudden appearance. Sweetie Belle blinked up at her, and then slowly turned a pink color. Eh? Oh, Pinkie's use of second pony tense? Surely the little filly realized the 'you' was just a hypothetical example, right? "So even for you and me, it wouldn't be an easy in! If you wanted to join Mender's herd, you'd have to get all three of them to agree to it, obviously! I'd have to as well!" she continued a moment later with a happy chirp, ruining my hypothetical comment completely. Well, at least it was still just an example. An example that was probably really awkward for the little filly, but I suppose that couldn't be helped.
Fluttershy gave a frown and muttered, "Um, Pinkie... Aren't you forgetting something?" Eh?
Pinkie blinked slowly, then perked up and nodded rapidly. The tempo shift made me a little dizzy. "Oh, and you have to be at least fourteen. Forgot about that," she added, giving two nods afterwards. Fourteen? Was that when they were legally considered an adult in pony society? Usually it was a certain fraction of their lifespan, which kind of made me wonder how long a pony lived for, on average. Granny Smith appeared ancient by pony standards, and surely the Princesses were some sort of immortal. At least functionally and biologically immortal, anyway, although if Luna's exile to the moon was any indication, they might be fully immortal.
Sweetie Belle looked more than a little flustered at this point, sitting up now as she shifted back and forth on her front hooves. "I didn't mean, um... but... wait. I have to wait two years to join a herd?!" she suddenly asked, eyes widening a little bit. Err, was that a bad thing? Oh, wait, she was twelve? Interesting. Now I wondered how old the others were. Late teens, early twenties maybe? I knew my old body, and thus, my mindset had been twenty-three before I was cloned. That didn't tell me much, however, as I didn't know how fast our years were in comparison to Equestria. I also didn't have a clue when my 'birthday' was at this point. Maybe it would be in Doctor Kyliona's notes when Keela sent them over?
"Hey, relax. Ya got your whole life ahead of ya to find that special somepony, you know," Vinyl cut in a moment later.
My ears perked and I suddenly realized their conversation had ground to a halt over the series of noises Pinkie had caused us to make in surprise. Plus, Sweetie Belle's outburst had been kinda loud. The little filly gave an embarrassed groan and scooted backwards using her front legs, burrowing under my tail and hiding in it a moment later. I snickered at her display, and Fluttershy simply smiled back at her.
Rainbow smirked suddenly, and I inwardly groaned. I knew her well enough to see a 'hoof in mouth' statement coming a kilometer off. "Why the rush anyway, Sweetie Belle? It sounds like you might already have a colt you're interested in," she pointed out coyly a moment later. Yup, there it was. If Sweetie hadn't told us, she obviously didn't want to tell us. Surely, Rainbow could have deduced that.
Scootaloo groaned weakly next to her and shook her head. "Don't remind me. She talks about him a lot!" she protested, shoulders sagging. Oh crap. Rainbow was rubbing off on her.
Sweetie perked up and yelped out, "Scootaloo! You Pinkie Promised not to tell anypony!" My eyes widened and Pinkie gasped dramatically, suddenly right in the orange filly's very surprised looking face.
"What?! You broke a Pinkie Promise?" she demanded, eyes narrowing at Scootaloo a moment later.
"Whoa! N-No, Pinkie! I promised not to tell anypony who he was, not that she had a crush! Besides, they already guessed it," Scootaloo tried to defend.
"It's not a crush! B-But please, don't say anything else?" Sweetie begged softly.
That I had to nod in agreement with. "She's right, Scootaloo. If she'd wanted us knowing, she would have said so herself. She's your friend, so neither you or Rainbow should tease her about it," I chided, a little upset that they couldn't think of this themselves.
Rainbow puffed up slightly and gave me an indignant stare. "Hey! It's all in good fun, Mender. I wasn't going to press her for names or anything. You need to relax," she defended.
Octavia sighed and spoke up as well, adding, "I think I more agree with Mender. It's all in good fun... for you two, Rainbow. I'm sure you know what it's like to be teased and how 'not' fun it is." She pointed it out as if from personal experience, and I glanced back at her gently. She wore a neutral expression, but gave me a small nod and smile when she caught me looking.
Rainbow shifted her glare to Octavia instead, and I recognized that expression. Her legs flexed as she moved to shove past me, but I extended my foreleg out to my left and blocked her. "Hey, let me through! She doesn't know anything about me and she's trying to judge me like that!" Dash demanded, glaring past me still.
"Hey, come on. Let's all just get along!" Pinkie tried to plead, moving more to my right so she could direct it at everypony at once.
"Dash, she's not judging you. She's just trying to give you Sweetie's perspe-" I started to explain. I'd forgotten how impatient the cyan mare could be sometimes. She took off at point blank range to me, her wing feathers slapping across my muzzle as she went up. She neglected to take into account the cart movement and wind speed, however.
Gasping, I gave out a wince as her back left hoof clipped my left elbow, sending a moderate spike of pain up my leg. Okay, yeah. I should have turned around and blocked her with the other leg. I was an idiot. Why did I even consider that my injured leg would stop her in the first place?
"Rainbow!" both Twilight and Applejack shouted out almost instantly. The pegasus must have felt the hoof clip me, because she spun around almost instantly before they even said anything. Her eyes widened before I looked down and away from her, focusing on lowering the nerve sensitivity in my leg with a bit of careful adjustments. Who needed pain medication when you were an unstable organic cyborg? Another perk! Gotta stay positive, Mender.
"Ah! Oh no, no, I didn't mean to do that, Mender! I'm sorry!" Rainbow apologized almost instantly, looking surprisingly horrified for the rather low magnitude of the accident in question.
I shook my head gently, cutting her off before it spiraled out of control, given the death glares she was getting from four different directions. "It was just an accident, Dash. Plus it wasn't even that bad of a nick. I'll be fine," I assured, nodding up towards her as I lightly set the hoof down. A gentle and warm numbness drifted through it, and it felt heavy as my internal medicine started working on both pain relief and regeneration. The damage was minimal at best.
Rainbow didn't exactly look convinced and drifted down again to land behind Fluttershy, next to me. The yellow mare had hopped up again alongside Sweetie, and both were checking my left foreleg over carefully. Rainbow watched them, ears rapidly lowering. I didn't want her to feel badly over it. Wait, had that actually managed to defuse the situation? Huh. I didn't realize there were perks to being an idiot and getting myself injured!
"Ya gotta cool yer jets, Rainbow! There's no need ta get so defensive. All Octavia meant was ta try ta see it from Sweetie's perspective," Applejack lectured, slowing so she was walking next to the wagon instead so she could give her cyan friend a stern glare. Wasn't that what I said?
Unlike mine, Applejack's words looked like they hit Rainbow in the face with a sledgehammer. Huh. Either my defusing of the situation had gotten her to actually listen, or there was weight due to who was saying it. "I know. I'm sorry, Octavia. Sweetie Belle. It's perfectly fine that you have a crush, and there's nothing wrong with it," she admitted, crouching down closer to the little filly who was still partially hiding in my tail. It didn't seem that strange to me, but I was a little curious as to who it was. Still, I wasn't about to ask her. After everything I just tried to prove, that would be highly rude and inappropriate.
Sweetie Belle looked entirely unsure of how to deal with Rainbow and just nodded twice before slipping back down into my tail a ways. She'd be traumatized after she hit a growth spurt and couldn't fit in there anymore. Fluttershy nodded twice a second later. Ever so gently, she leaned down and kissed the inside of my elbow between the brace lines, then smiled up at me. "It's not hurt at all," she added softly.
Even having already known that, her happy tone, smile, and general affection made me feel even better regardless. I kissed the top of her head, causing a light pink tint with so many ponies watching. My mouth opened and I got half of the 'thank you' out before Vinyl suddenly started snickering.
"Wow. I'm so gonna get diabetes just from watching you three. You're so adorable that it's a little sickening," she admitted blatantly.
I raised my eyebrow over at her grinning form, but Octavia smirked next to her and shook her head. "Admit it, Vinyl. You're jealous. You just want an oh-so sweet coltfriend like Fluttershy and Twilight have," she chirped coyly, continuing to look straight ahead to make herself particularly immune to the death glare her friend resorted to.
"Hey, I'm totally cool with being single! Don't forget our pact as the troublemaking bachelorettes of Canterlot Musical Academy!" Vinyl reminded. Wait, what?! That statement made my brain stall on so many levels.
Twilight perked up and looked at the two of them curiously. "Wait, both of you went to the musical academy in Canterlot?" she asked, suddenly very interested. Well, I suppose she could relate academically.
"Roommates for four years. Equestria forbid! Passed all my classes with an A- average? Wonderful. Granted highest honors in leading my own section in the orchestra? Quite nice. Hold no less than sixty-nine solos and duets for the Canterlot elite while founding a social club for musical study? Excellent. What does everypony remember of my academy days? That our room vibrated the entire fourth floor and I liked to occasionally relax with a glass of wine," she complained. I noticed there wasn't much actual bitterness to it deep down. At least a part of her was amused at that outcome, I decided.
"A glass? You do remember that amazing swinging maneuver off the third story balcony in the recital room, don't you? Oh, wait. No, you probably wouldn't remember that," Vinyl chirped, grinning now.
Octavia sighed and lowered her head, looking a bit exasperated. Pinkie was hopping up and down at this point, however. "Oh, oh, oh! I had no idea you were such an awesome party pony, Tavi! We should totally hang out and go dancing or listen to music or compare amazing maneuver notes or...!" Pinkie started offering, earning a wince from the gray mare. Rainbow started laughing again, and Vinyl's grin widened. Well, at least Dash wasn't feeling so bad now. Pity it appeared to all transfer to Octavia instead.
"There's nothing wrong with that, Octavia. That's why I liked you in the first place. You were almost the most relaxed pony at the party," I offered, shifting to look at her fully. She perked up and met my gaze for a moment before smiling softly and nodding.
"Admittedly, I don't much care for how posh the Canterlot Elite get. While I'm not against living with a bit of dignity, they shoot right past that into the egotistical levels," she muttered, giving a weak eye roll.
I didn't think Vinyl could grin much wider without snapping her jaw. "Exactly! There's the Tavi I love! Besides, you don't need a stallion to complete your identity. Most of them are only after one thing, and then dump ya. You so don't need that. I know I don't!" she added, nodding twice.
Wait, what? That I hadn't expected, and had to pick it apart in my head before I realized how actually bitter that had sounded. It screamed unfortunate experiences. I lost my small smile as I looked over at Vinyl instead. Octavia did as well, giving her friend a questioning glance.
"Vinyl, don't tell me you still haven't moved on after-" she started to ask softly.
"Don't! Don't even say it. It's in the past, and we promised not to talk about it anymore," Vinyl warned.
Octavia dropped into a slightly more incredulous expression, looking somewhat annoyed instead. "I promised no such thing. You demanded I not, then wandered off to drink for six hours and cause three thousand seven hundred bits of property damage to the school!" she corrected. Err, should we be hearing this?
"Psh, I so did not! I... err, wait. No, I remember the bill afterwards. Oh yeah, and his hospital fees. Dang it, Tavi! Just shush for a while," the DJ groaned out, exhaling weakly and adjusting her thick shades again. Hospital? Suddenly, I earned a healthy amount of fear-based respect for the mare.
Everything had paused as we stared blankly at Vinyl. She bumped into the back of the wagon as it stopped moving, and that's when I realized that Big Mac and Noteworthy were staring around the side and back at her. She looked between all of us before flailing her hooves in the air a bit. "What?! He so deserved it! Almost every stallion is exactly the same way! All his friends stood up for him, too," she defended, showing a far less relaxed side of herself I wasn't used to. Despite her thick, nonchalant exterior, I realized that she was actually rather resentful deep down. That made me a little sad.
"Vinyl, not every stallion is like that. Most in Ponyville are rather good-natured and kind. A lot of it is probably their upbringing and culture they're exposed to," Twilight reasoned softly, also adding a certain amount of theory into it, of course. Although, that wasn't entirely true, but she admitted that. If it was, shouldn't I be a complete monster?
Vinyl scrunched her nose up at her, but Fluttershy nodded rapidly next to me, her eyes getting much larger. "Yes! I was surprised by the same thing. I, um, thought that all stallions were rough and, well, rather pushy. Of course, I'd never really gotten to know any of them," she admitted, pausing for a moment before smiling over at me and nodding. I smiled back, personally very happy I was the stallion she picked to get to know. "But Mender is oh-so gentle with me and so cuddly and polite and assuring and respectful and-" she started rapidly gushing next, swaying back and forth. Eh?!
The barrage of compliments immediately caused me to shrink a little and blush again. Twilight giggled, interrupting with, "I think you've shown your point wonderfully, Fluttershy."
The yellow mare looked momentarily sheepish before nodding slowly. "Oh, um, sorry. Yeah. I really, really care for Mender and am oh-so glad he proved me wrong. Now I feel silly for even thinking that way to begin with," she summarized quietly.
I nodded, turning back to Vinyl and Octavia a second later. I started and tipped my neck back and away as I saw the DJ staring purposefully and intently at me. An exceedingly awkward ten seconds passed where she did nothing but stare before she roughly exhaled from her nose in a puff.
"Okay, I admit, for everything I know about Mender, I realize he's significantly different than the type of stallion I was talking about. But he's a rarity! Definitely not the norm," she assured stubbornly. In all honesty, I didn't know if I should be happy she supported me, or sad that she thought so little of the others.
Before I could say anything, however, Applejack surprisingly cut in. "What about mah brother? Or Noteworthy? Caramel? There are plenty o' good stallions in town that ain't tha 'love 'em an' leave 'em' type," she pointed out, sounding even more stubborn. Uh oh. Neither mare was likely to back down, which made me a bit concerned as to where this was going. The day was young, and I had plenty of opportunity left to meet my pain and accident quotas.
"Hey, I'm totally a nice guy, too!" Spike cut in, crossing his arms over his chest and looking a bit offended.
Smiling, I attempted to appease him as best I could. "She didn't list you too because you're not single, Spike. Aren't you already completely devoted to Rarity?" I pointed out calmly.
Twilight smirked at me and Vinyl relaxed, smiling at the little dragon. "Totally, Spike. I already knew you were a great guy! She didn't even have to say anything," she assured, giving him an exaggerated winking motion. Well, actually it kinda had to be exaggerated when she wore those huge shades...
"R-Really? Oh, I mean, of course my reputation precedes me," he muttered, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. Everypony grinned at that point. Heh, I just hoped Rarity had really considered my words that night.
Regardless of the disruption, the wagon soon continued along the path, as we were lagging a bit behind everypony now. Pinkie, Octavia, and Vinyl headed back towards Ponyville, Pinkie herself departing with a promise to chew Rarity out for not being there. They'd said she had an order to fill and was too busy, but I had a sneaking suspicion she didn't trust herself under the effects of the estrus cycle around me. It was just strange thinking about her actually liking me like that. It definitely didn't have that same tingle that I got whenever I thought about Fluttershy and Twilight.
The rest of the trip went uneventfully, Twilight and Fluttershy staying on as well to 'make sure I was comfortable,' as they so endearingly reasoned. To be honest, I didn't really want to leave them either. Not seeing either of them for two weeks was going to be hard. That was almost half the time I'd been in Equestria! Heck, that was an appreciable percentage of the time I'd been 'alive' in general. As myself anyway, rather than him.
"Which cabin was yers again, Brother? Ah'll help ya haul tha things in," Applejack offered, once the wagon finally came to a stop. Things? I peeked at the rest of the contents of the wagon. Apart from the seven ponies and dragon, I noticed several general personal effects that must have been Big Mac's, and a ton of broken farming equipment. That confused me a bit, I wasn't going to lie. All three siblings treated it like normal, however, so I decided not to ask.
Instead, I stood up and silently took in the surroundings from over the lip of the wagon. We were in a sizable meadow of sorts, with the taller grass cleared in a large area for a few dozen quaint structures. Most were rather large, easily able to fit half a dozen ponies comfortably. Smaller ones were towards the back of the area, and I guessed those were the couples' cabins. There was a small stream flowing through, slicing the field in half. Three wooden bridges were built over it and spread out for ease of access. It was far more set up than I thought it would be! The sunlight drifted down from overhead and the flowers speckled throughout the area gave a colorful, natural vibe to the place. Whitetail Woods was far more pleasant than the Everfree.
"It's a nice place. Are you really sure you don't want me staying here with you, too? There are available couple cabins..." Twilight reminded softly, glancing over at me.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow towards Twilight, who had no clue being pointed in the other direction. "Uh, that's so not a good idea, Twi. You kinda know that," she pointed out, noticing her visual cue wasn't getting attention.
Twilight sighed, not turning back to look at her and instead just lowering her head. "I know. I just don't want Mender to be without both of us for two weeks," she muttered, not exactly sounding like she knew, honestly. I felt conflicted, because I kinda wanted her to stay too, but the consequences were too great.
Something clicked a moment later in my head, and I felt my chest grow cold. Oh, oh hell. Could I even get either of them pregnant in the first place? Admittedly, I had no idea if my parts down there functioned properly, and if so, if I was compatible with them to begin with. Why hadn't I thought of that before?! Fluttershy had said that she really wanted foals...
"Uh, are you okay, Mender?" Rainbow suddenly asked. I snapped out of it in time to notice all seven other cart occupants staring at me with concern. My cheeks felt cold, and I realized I must have paled considerably. Dang. I really should talk to Tia and see if she could give me poker face lessons. If even Rainbow noticed, who was the least observant of the Elements, I was in trouble!
"Ah, sorry. I'm fine. Just was thinking too much," I attempted to assure. Twilight's eyes narrowed at me before I even finished the sentence, and I knew they weren't going to buy that. She didn't have to say anything, and I simply sighed, shaking my head. "Fine, I just suddenly realized that, um, I might not exactly be compatible with a normal pony. Everypony here knows I'm an alien. What if I, um, can't be the father of a pony in the first place?" I admitted.
Twilight went from annoyed to curious looking; her ears twitched slightly as I practically saw her mentally jumping all over the new mystery. Fluttershy frowned instead and pulled my left foreleg against her chest in a re-assuring gesture. "We'll find a way, Mender. Even if you aren't compatible, you and Twilight are the smartest ponies I know. If you work together..." she suggested hopefully. I smiled gently at her. I'd expected to have to comfort her, not the other way around.
"I'd have to run some tests and get samples to be sure. If you were still in the form of your old race, I'd probably immediately say no, but there's a possibility that your genes also changed with your new, pony form. If your chromosome count matches up with ours, that significantly improves the chances," Twilight explained quietly, mostly to herself, it would seem, as there was no request for input there.
Rainbow suddenly perked up, eyes widening drastically. The three Crusaders shifted their attention to her in confusion at the motion. Well, more confusion, as they didn't appear to fully understand what we were talking about anyway. "Wait, are you saying that Mender can't get a mare pregnant?" she suddenly asked, ears perked into the air as she stared at me. Uh, isn't that what I just said?
"What?! No!" Sweetie yelped, eyes widening at the same speed her ears fell, and she turned around rapidly to look at all three of us with rather sad eyes. "But, but, little foals are so cute and you really need to start your own family and, and," she started stuttering. Heh. She was such the matchmaker.
"We're not sure yet, Sweetie Belle. Like I said, I'll need to run a few tests first. After estrus is over, of course," Twilight explained yet again, blushing a little at that last part. Really? I figured she'd want something to do during the couple weeks, and she usually liked experiments. Huh.
Rainbow's ear twitched slightly and she looked back over at Twilight. "Wait, why are you waiting until after estrus to find out? If he can't get a mare pregnant, wouldn't that mean it's totally fine to stay here with him? Uh, you and Fluttershy, I mean, of course," she pointed out, flushing a little and looking away. Okay, something was up with her...
Twilight looked less than amused at her, and Fluttershy quickly looked over at Rainbow instead. "Twilight wants to wait until she's ready to mate, and that wouldn't be possible if she stayed," I heard the yellow mare whisper through my mind, aimed at Rainbow of course. The cyan pegasus looked momentarily shocked before flattening her ears back.
"She's crazy! Consequence-free sex during your heat? What mare wouldn't want that?!" Rainbow mentally shot back, looking exasperated now. The Crusaders, the reason I imagine this conversation had shifted to the mental plane, looked back and forth between the two pegasi.
"They're talkin' in each other's heads, Ah bet," Apple Bloom deduced a moment later.
Scootaloo looked less than pleased and immediately asked, "What? Why?! Why don't they just talk out loud?"
Fluttershy lightly shook her head towards Dash, mentally adding, "Her heat isn't as bad as yours is, Dash." Oh, it wasn't?
"Adult stuff," I warned, shaking my head to Scootaloo instead. They probably were used to hearing that, of course.
Twilight raised an eyebrow to me. "Do I want to know?" she asked hesitantly a moment later.
"So?! My heat is terrible! It's taken every ounce of willpower I have not to pounce him off the wagon, haul him up to a cloud, and rut his brains out," Rainbow mentally shot back, sounding upset now and... wait, what?!
My eyes shot open wide, cheeks heating up to maximum temperature almost instantly. I probably matched a beet in color, now. It took no hesitation at all for me to shake my head to Twilight. "No, no you most definitely do not," I added, just to be sure.
Rainbow looked perplexed and I rapidly looked away, earning a cough from Fluttershy. "Uhm, I probably shouldn't tell you this, and I'm sorry. Uh, Mender can kind of hear everything we say," Fluttershy mentally whispered back to her friend.
Rainbow's eyes slowly expanded to the size of mine, her cheeks flaring up as well as her mouth dropping open. I'd never seen such a good look of shocked horror and embarrassment before. Twilight gave both of us a confused look and I inwardly groaned. This most certainly wasn't awkward as all hell. Depending on how long everypony decided to stay here with us, this was going to be a long day...
* * * * *
Quietly, I lay there relaxing. It was only the afternoon and I was already tired. That, and more than a little hungry. It had taken an agonizing ten full minutes to say goodbye to both Twilight and Fluttershy. I disliked saying goodbye at all, which didn't help matters. It reminded me too much of the times where I almost had to say goodbye forever, which weren't exactly pleasant memories. No! I refused to dwell on the details, and pushed it further out of my mind.
Positive, Mender! Gotta think positive! Uh, Rainbow! She had been easy to deal with. She just freaked out for a good thirty seconds and flew away, leaving everypony apart from Fluttershy and I utterly confused. Twilight grilled me on that too for a while, but I refused to give any answers whatsoever and insisted she go ask Rainbow instead, of course. The answers wouldn't be pleasant for her, probably, and they technically weren't mine to give in the first place. The whole conversation had felt kinda like eavesdropping, which always left a bad taste in my mouth.
Damn it! Stay positive, Mender! Hmm. Oh, I hadn't seen Spike or the Crusaders in about two hours! Wait, no, I was lonely, so that wasn't a good thing. I strained harder and realized just how lonely I really was. Movement danced around me as everypony went about their daily business. The stallions seemed to function perfectly fine without the mares around. Casual chatting, a couple games with strangely shaped balls, and the little foals being adorable and playing with each other gave me plenty to watch to shove away the boredom. Still, I didn't see anypony I knew, which lead me to believe that I really didn't know many ponies.
Okay, I sucked at staying positive, it would seem. Even that statement there was negative, which was a little amusing to say the least. Heh. There's a positive! Kinda! I could laugh at myself when I was an idiot. Hmm. Weak, but it was the best I had. Oh, another positive! Ponies weren't currently throwing rocks at me.
Giving up, I dropped my head down in the grass and zoned out again, peeking back inside of myself to see how things were doing. DNA was sorted out, everything except the gravity drive was repaired, and with my new calculations, that would be a disaster to turn off in order to fix. My new work-around was far gentler. I was in the process now of building an auxiliary slot to plug the fixed gravity dampener chip into. That would let me plug both of them in at once, and pull out the old one without interrupting the power supply. I really didn't want to kill anypony with tidal forces or sink into the ground like it was air.
That just left the notes. A lot of them appeared to be from Doctor Kyliona herself, but I bet Keela had quite a bit more of them. It had been a couple days since I talked with her. Maybe I should do that later tonight? A dark part of me considered doing it right now and waking her up like she'd done to me so often, but I decided against it. That would be rude, my inner Fluttershy reminded.
Staring at a couple stallions playing ball, I realized that honestly, I was kind of happy that not everything revolved around my problems and activities. I'd caused so much fuss lately that it was getting frustrating every time something fell into place that caused me to pull things out of the norm around here. I wanted to be a normal pony, cybernetics be damned. Although Clocky could stay. He was my friend.
Smiling at the thought, I shakily stood up again and wandered a bit more. I'd been laying for a good half an hour, and my leg felt better again, so I guessed it was time for more exercise. Big Mac was sitting in front of our group's cabin still, working on reattaching the straps of a large plow, I noted. I'd offered to help him an hour ago, and it was about as productive as offering an apple to a brick wall. You couldn't get anywhere without throwing the thing. My example kind of broke down there, I decided. Still, I understood where he came from. He was like Applejack. This couple of weeks was irritating for him because he couldn't do anything, so he hauled a bunch of broken equipment along with him and repaired it while he was here, so he at least felt useful. I wasn't about to take that away from him, even if it made me feel about the opposite of useful.
My somewhat brisk stroll led me down towards the river a few minutes later. Peeking in, I was amazed at how absolutely clear the water looked. I'd never seen water like this back in the other dimension. Everything had to be run through a purifier in order to get the gore, radiation, and bile out of it. Now that I thought about it, I was kind of happy to label those particular memories as his, and not mine. I shuddered while staring down at the water, being very glad I was here rather than there.
As much as it was a problem for me to want to feel useful here, it was even worse over there. Literally, my only job had been coming up with more efficient ways to end the lives of others, preferably in mass. No, his job was that. I kept trying to remind myself of that. It was weird feeling like two entirely different individuals. His life was so bleak compared to this one. I kind of pitied him, which was weird considering he was kinda me. Nothing had ever gone my, err, his way there. No mate, no friends, no family, crap job, no respect, no anything really. The clinical, cold, unfeeling breeding programs even turned him down. It was no secret he thought of suicide a couple of times.
There was no point in keeping it a secret. It was dealt with casually in the barracks. Saying goodbye forever was easy there. That felt the most hollow about it. Worse yet, there were perks for doing so. Sure, the voluntary breeding list was heavily regulated and screened. Even though it wasn't even a mate, it still meant that you could have a child if you were lucky. Some didn't even get on that. That led to another 'solution' the council thought up.
Government sponsored euthanizing booths had been installed in quite a few locations in the city. Overpopulation for our planets had definitely been a problem, and there were already way too many males, so the solution? Offer the males who voluntarily offed themselves one free next of kin to be born, post-mortem. The booths did it all! It was as convenient as getting in and pushing a button. You didn't even need to waste the effort hitting yes for an 'are you sure' question. Clamps and a bit drill would pop up from the seat, take a sample and gore you at the same time, and then the booth would spray you down with acid until you dissolved. Rather clean, if not a bit on the noisy side. The smell wasn't exactly pleasant either.
The benefit? One less male while the government got a small chance that the new Keldarian being born would be female instead. That was wining for them all around. You got assured that your legacy would go on, which was important to some males. Further, if you did have obscure family somewhere, the remaining members got entered into a lottery! Whoever won out of the few thousand contestants each month got a free upgrade one social status level! Yeah, a few families encouraged kids to use the booths in mass, too. That was pleasant. The first nine runners up at least got a twenty-credit gift card. I think the acid used to murder their loved one cost a little more than that, though.
Snickering weakly, I stared down at the water, looking at my own morose reflection. Was it any surprise that I was so totally fine with being a pony? Of living in Equestria instead? I'd rather slice off all four of my legs than go back to the other dimension. Not that it would matter much, as they'd just grow back, but it's the thought that counts. Not that it further mattered. The Keldarians didn't exist as a species anymore. Just yet another mark on the massive list of species the Grosh wiped out, I'd imagine. That was the biggest mystery. Why? What were they so afraid of?
Our strange, furless 'allies' weren’t much better. They weren't local. I knew that much. Galaxies, star clusters, star systems... Nothing from any of our scans. We thought we were alone until they came. They were a blight at first, honestly. They came with fast and aggressive traditions, advanced weaponry, faster than light travel, and a few thousand diseases we'd never even seen before. Eh. A few hundred thousand less males weren't that important, right? Our culture jumped up easily a thousand years after their arrival. If I had to honestly guess, they were what killed us.
It had never been about the Grosh before then. We were magic users and tribesmen. Culture was everything. Sacred cleanliness was second only to divinity. We had no gods so much as we believed everything had a life force. Mana. Magic. Whatever you wanted to call it. Our allies called it animism. I never cared, learning about it in school.
By the time 'I' was born, it was gone. Magic used to be sacred. It was practiced with moderation and used with respect for the betterment of all. Their culture warped us. Quick and easy instant gratification became prized above all else. The Grosh didn't kill us. We were dead long before that. Another reason I wanted none of that technology here in Equestria. Of course, we only found out later that our very magic had been dooming us with its overuse. Maybe something somewhere had a sense of humor? Or maybe it was just vindictive. The more we used and abused magic, the lower our female birth rates fell. By the time I was born, the ratio had been about thirty-seven to one on a good day. We were doomed and we knew it. But the council just kept pushing.
Now I understood it. They were never out for preserving our race. They only wanted the most for themselves before everything went to hell. The Grosh following our allies to our system was just the last in a series of dominoes. And I'd thought it was weird that our allies showed up with their entire planet, warping it through space using amazing and massive wormhole technology. They were really fond of that planet. They started to help us fight them off, but the Grosh just kept coming.
I remembered everything now. Generations had been spent fighting the Grosh. We were cannon fodder. What better way to cull the horrible male population than send ninety percent of them off to fight a hopeless war against abominations? It bought them time, I realized now. Three weeks before the end, the council vanished. No more contact or voices over the loudspeakers informing us of our 'sacred' duty to die for them. No more laws passed. No more judgments or courts. Most thought they were meeting in secret somewhere and planning a great counter-offensive. Idiots. They ran away. Our allies' planet disappeared the same day. Undoubtedly, they moved on to find a new race to use as fodder to hold off the Grosh for a while. If they gave us their technology, we could fight the Grosh for them and they wouldn't have to sacrifice much of anything. It was brilliant, if not monstrous.
My eyes focused slowly back in again as I stared into the river. I snapped back to attention just in time to see the reflection of Carrot Top sitting directly next to me. I gave out a panicked yelp almost instantly and flailed sideways in surprise before falling into the very water I'd been watching. Sitting back up again, I looked back at her as she giggled in amusement, a soft smile on her face.
"You looked too deep in thought for being on vacation, so I figured I'd come and cheer you up! I have laundry to do, so if you wanna join me to chat, you can," she offered, gesturing towards the baskets tied to each of her sides. I followed her nodding gesture a second later and saw two stallions and another mare down the stream a little ways further, also washing clothes.
It only took me a moment to decide, already being mind-numbingly bored. I didn't want to return to my thoughts, that was for sure. "Um, okay. I was rather bored, you're right," I agreed, skipping over the darker answer in light of a white lie.
Carrot Top nodded gently to me before helping me out of the stream. Both of us walked in relative silence towards the other three ponies. Maybe I really did need to stop thinking so much? Inner monologue tended to be bad for my health, I noticed. Deciding to try to relax for the rest of the day, I followed after my reasonably new friend.
3334626
Whaaaat...
That's like the second image I've posted that you haven't been able to see. It's still working on my end... something fishy goin' on here,
Oh well, it was just a picture of a street sign that read 'Morningwood Way',
Another Hitchhiker's Guide Reference.
Also, fun mental conversations....
yup sounds like something human kind would do... but we would probably bring the other planet with us, more room to work with.
3334615
You know where to find me.
Hiding in a boreal forest Douglas fir tree
-Eclipse
Mender should totally find a way to program an AI into clocky. Though he should avoid making it ask "I see you are trying to look at a file, want some help?"
Damn... this went from Adorable cuteness to downright depressing...
...
Btw the suicide booths... i cant get the ones from Futurama out of my Head... kind ruined the impact for me
also Rainbow
3334626
I refer you to the cat that ran away.
Why are there couple's cabins? Didn't couples stay in Ponyville? I thought it was unheard of to send your coltfriend away for the estrus?
At the cabins at last
Rainbow really is 'fast'
So 2 weeks without his mares
Let's see how he fairs
I doubt any will last a week
Sucks to find out you could be unable to foal
Another way karma is taking its tole?
I doubt you'd be that evil
So I wait another week
For the curiosity relief I seek
And so now bid you adieu
And good luck writing too
-Eclipse
Great chapter, this one. Menders little internal monologue was rather interesting to hear. I imagine some sort of awkwardness is going to happen with Carrot Top. But, given Menders luck, I shouldn't say 'Imagine', but instead say "Am positively f***ing CERTAIN!!!' .
Either way, good job, and see you next week.
3302987
I guess tail smell (pheromones) would be more clear. I like how you are oddly descriptive of each mares scent, mainly because I don't remember you describing smells that often throughout the stories. (If you are actually have been describing scents, then I guess the physical abuse descriptions sick with me more...)
~Momentai
hahaha at the Rainbow wanting to rut his brains out. that was great. I was actually kinda hoping she would attempt it and bring him to the clouds before reconsidering and dropping him. I guess that's mean of me to think, isn't it? but anyways, this would make Dash considering Mender for a relationship considering she could pick any other stallion. for all they have done with each other soo far and still to come I can defiantly see her joining the herd. somehow convincing AJ to join of course. aggghhhh why do I have to be so impatient!
Sweetie belle is kinda making her crush super obvious. but at the same time it seems too obvious so It must be another pony and she does just really like Mender as a friend. even tho if she has to wait 2 years (dam that doesn't seem like shed mature enough by then) well be on like chapter 647 or something before then lol. not that I mind reading that much of course
Im actually kinda curious if sweetie belle is acting as a spy for rarity. maby to get him to reveal his feelings about rarity to her or something. idk just a weird though
only been a few hours and hes always bored and thinking deep on his otherselfs past. can only imagine after a couple weeks
Careful Mender, you are talking to the apps.
Why doesn't Twilight do the tests while she waits? There should be more then enough blood samples from him scattered across Ponyville to do her DNA tests.
3335864
I wouldn't call it human hate, I would call it "Race of space-faring beings that share many significant qualities with humans" hate, maybe. It's never directly stated that The Allies are human, just heavily implied. You never know, they could secretly be the, er, race of space faring birds? I dunno, Kiro is good at skirting the subject, even if just barely.
3334626 So Sweetie has a crush AND another form of a huge obsession?!
I know Rainbow said she wanted to rut Mender with no strings attached to Fluttershy, but I'm counting it anyway.
Four of the mane six down, two to go.
3335079
Ponyville's population is mostly composed of single mares unless most of them are lesbians.
3336080
Space birds, seriously? Birds with a dead language called Latin and the ability to export animals like horses and dogs to a zoo on a moon under the control of the Keldarians? No the "allies" are humans.
Great stuff! all this talk of his civilization, Grosh, and the allies is getting me worried though. I really hope your not planning for them to show up in Equestria. Of course if they did, He could just Annihilate their entire planet. But then again we all know he'd have a really hard time convincing himself to do it. Just please don't fuck up equestria with a war or advancing their tech way to far.
'
Fluttershy, how could you? You are killing me with the cute overload!
Carrot Top being there was a bit of a surprise. She must be in one of the couples' cabins with Written Script?
Part of me wants to know how much of this statement is Science Twily and how much is Estrus Twily.
3334626
That's what I meant by the first wall, not the fourth. Think of it as him just assuming the possibility of him being in a book, but not fully acknowledging it or knowing it to be fact, which is what breaking the fourth wall would be.
Was that the sound of the other horseshoe dropping?
Mender had the exact same reaction as I did.
Also, that was Moon Menderish®
Right, so it's kinda confirmed that her crush is Mender. Dash? She wants to rut him right there? Guess her barn door swings both ways, huh?
Mender not able to father children? If that is the case, I will reach through the internet and punch you in the ovaries!!! Also... can I go kill that stallion who messed Vinyl about?
3336598
I don't think I will ever use a statement quite like this ever again, but:
I think that's the estrus talking, Twilight.
Dragging earth around with us? That's pretty cool.
Oooooooh...ouch. And I'm positive he really wouldn't liked being whisked off up to a cloud for 'that'.
These "allies" intrigue me.
Also, my impending doom alarm is going off.
3334971
Same here. Futurama suicide booths. Lol.
3335917 As long as Clocky doesn't start talking in an overly-reassuring-and-also-condescending female tone, he should be okay.
3334891 What?!? At least buy me a drink first, sheesh.
"Wait, had that actually managed to defuse the situation? Huh. I didn't realize there were perks to being an idiot and getting myself injured!"
Dude, it's your superpower. Getting yourself hurt is your ultimate icebreaker.
Of course Mender is going to have to fight more invaders. After all, he's about to fix his gravity issue and he needs something to keep him constantly injured. Then again, Twilight and Fluttershy might be the type of girls who get incredibly aggressive and irritable while pregnant...
3339062
3334891
*GeorgeTakei*
Same goes for Forgiveness!Rainbow Dash, too. inb4shenanigans@cabins
No, Mender, please no. Don't realize this. You're the type to take things upon yourself to spare others. Don't start meta-ing to fix arguments and awkwardness at the expense of your health. Stay oblivious, you.
...gah... but... Mender... I didn't expect anything different from you but still! Well, besides Scootaloo's "guessed already" line, still is room for potential long-play trolling and it is actually Button or Rumble or... Big Mac? Not many canon guys she gets shipped with, but then again not many guys in general.
Came with quite interesting backstory for the Keldarians I didn't expect to get and Rainbow pushing her own shipping. Had suspected, before she thought what she was actually thinking, that her mind had somehow gone to 'Oh, if no pregnancy makes it okay, maybe that means I can somehow maneuver AJ into taking a couples cabin with me.' Logic full of holes, but heat would likely ruin logic. Like how she didn't consider sex on a cloud doesn't work for him.
Great as always, enjoyed as always, shiptease us more and we'll riot you eloquent bastard.
Oh and 3334621 grararhgrarghgrarghgrghgrrarargh… I love the story too much to be anti being trolled. I have been whipped.
Hmm, sort of a philosophical chapter this week, for a lot of it anyway. Guess that means my comment's going to end up a fairly serious one.
And just to contradict myself, huh, Mender seems to have completely forgotten about his encounter with Gummy, as he was listing off his impressions of all their pets. How could he forget how intimately acquainted he became with Gummy's gullet? And for that matter... ...that scene might have slipped someone else's mind too 3334628 But yeah, I was hoping to see Mender's analysis of Gummy's intelligence. He's a tough one to figure out what goes through his head.
Aww, Rainbow stole my joke. I was going to say something about her wanting to pounce Mender, because she never said anything about not liking stallions at all, but then she beat me to it. Ah well, Dash embarrassing the hell out of herself was funnier anyway. Plus it was also kind of a bit of poetic justice, after the way she was bugging Sweetie Belle. That was a good demonstration of why she's always been my least favorite of the Mane Six. Not that I dislike her, but her sort of aggressiveness rubs me the wrong way sometimes. Light-hearted teasing is one thing, but she's definitely the sort to take it too far and start making the other pony feel bad, without actually meaning to, or likely even noticing. It's important to take into consideration who exactly is being teased, and how they're reacting to it, because some can play along just fine, like AJ and Rarity are tough enough to take some good-natured ribbing, but some others will just get stressed, especially depending on the topic. And ironically, Dash is the worst when it comes to the exact sort of teasing she obviously hates being on the receiving end of, considering how secretive she is about showing affection for Tank or Scootaloo, or anyone, really. Not the most empathetic pony ever, really, but I guess she's working on it.
Suuure, Sweetie, asking about herds had absolutely nothing to do with yourself. I'm certain that was purely idle curiosity at play there. Now to just wait and see how Mender reacts when he realizes who her crush is. You'd think he'd be a little less blind on that issue by now, considering how much romantic interest has been pointed at him already. But yeah, herds are complicated. Just from a purely practical standpoint, each additional member is harder than the last to add successfully, and more likely to create imbalances in the whole situation. When it's just a simple couple, only two individuals involved, it's simply a matter of a single romantic bond, dependent on two sets of feelings being reciprocated. Throw in a third participant to create a herd, and suddenly it's three bonds instead of one, A to B, B to C, C to A. Then a fourth member of the group really starts getting tricky, with six connections that all have to balance out, or twelve sets of emotions at play. No wonder Equestria doesn't usually allow more than five members in a herd, because with six involved, you'd need to have ponies saying "I love you" in thirty different directions, and have every single one of them mean it just as much as the others, if that's even possible. Otherwise the group starts getting into those uneven shapes we talked about a while back that focus more attention on some ponies than others, and would almost inevitably start creating feelings of jealousy or power imbalances. And no matter what size the group is, what if two members of the herd have a falling out with each other, but none of the others? It wouldn't be as simple as just breaking up, like a regular couple. Neither of them would want to leave the rest of the herd, but they might both want the other one out, which would create rifts that could easily start pulling the entire group apart instead of just those two. Yeah, very complexicated. Three participants is fairly workable, while four would just about need a nearly perfect situation. It's possible to make it work, yes, but very tough. What if one member of the herd just kinda reluctantly goes along with allowing a new pony to join just to make the others happy, while their own feelings are only lukewarm, considering that new pony as merely a friend? And that new pony who wants to join is just about bound to be more interested in some of the members than others. Neither of those situations seem like they quite fit the concept of what herds are supposed to be, but maybe they could even out over time. Those are just hypothetical problems, of course, not guaranteed to happen, but each additional member makes them significantly more likely. And then as I've said before, to me, the bigger the group is, the less meaningful each connection, and the more casual the whole situation seems, but that one's just my own personal opinion that I'm already trying to bend for the current trio. In any case, Sweetie really has her work cut out for her if she wants to join their herd one day, but I suppose those two years give her a good opportunity to covertly wiggle her way into their hearts for her best possible chance of making it actually work.
Hmm, and then Vinyl's bitterness about stallions broaches a whole other romantic topic I could get into, but not sure if I should, since it's basically debating another one of those headcanon comparisons where I don't really personally believe that's how it works for ponies, but at the same time I don't want to say other perspectives are wrong. Well, trying to give the short version, since magic is such an integral part of ponies' lives, built into their very physiology, and because their social bonds are literally infused with magic, it makes me think that, for ponies, there's no such thing as "scoring" and such attitudes that humans often have, treating sex as an end goal, and entering into relationships to use each other, insincerely. Rather, I think sex for them is purely a secondary thing, a physical and literally magical expression of love, and that relationships in general are genuinely because they want those magically infused bonds with each other, not any sort of exploitation, so Vinyl's assertion that most stallions "are only after one thing" isn't an attitude that would even exist in Equestria. Sure, she might be exaggerating out of anger, but she's mad at the guy rather than the situation, seeming convinced he used in her one way or another. In any case, like I said, that's just how I see it, and I've yet to see any story portray them that way, regardless. Of course that's not exactly the first something happened in this story that touched on that concept anyway, so yeah.
So anyway, next topic, I wonder how thoroughly they can actually study such things as whether Mender can become a father. Twilight implies she has the ability to do a DNA analysis, but I would've thought ponies' ability to study such things would be pretty minimal, since they don't exactly seem to have a lot of high-tech facilities. Hmm... well, who knows, when magic is involved. They could easily have spells specifically designed to enhance research techniques well beyond what their technology alone might allow, so maybe they do understand DNA beyond the mere concept. And as for getting samples from Mender, well, at this point Twilight can probably just take any random scoop of dirt from anywhere in Ponyville, and she'll end up with a nice sample of his blood, at the very least.
And then plugging in two gravity-contol chips at the same time accidentally does just the opposite of what he's trying to avoid, and he ends up creating some sort of negative gravity, throwing out a massive force push instead that sends everything hurtling away from him. I'm now imagining Mender at the center of a blast like that scene in the Heart's and Hooves Day episode when all the mares were piled on top of Big Mac until he went boom.
Hmm, how does Mender know so much detail about how those suicide booths worked? He knows what they smelled like, even? Those things must've been everywhere (either that or he stopped just short of pushing the button, himself). Convenient for murder, anyway. Just shove in someone you don't like, with some device to push the button automatically so that you don't get grabbed too, then poof, all done. And from the sounds of it, no one would really care enough to investigate anyway, so that probably happened quite a bit. Yup, definitely a cheery place. I could start talking quite a bit about Mender's view of humanity as well, but this comment has already delved into plenty of personal opinions, so I think I'm gonna skip that particular topic for now. I'll just leave it as the silver-lining comment that at least that bit of history left Mender with the solid stance that he's not going to try to advance Equestria's industry or anything. Technology is kinda like rain: a little bit is very nice and helpful, and the individual drops might be good things, even lifesaving, but collectively, if you just keep pouring in more and more, faster and faster, you might end up washing everything else away. So anyway, for my closing thought on this chapter, I wonder where the Keldarian council went. Very suspicious, especially since Kyliona stayed behind. Keela was in contact with them later on, though, right? So I suppose they simply abandoned ship, so to speak, rather than something even sneakier.
damn, that's some mass effect shit right there.
sounds like fun
the suicide booths were a little bit Futurama based, no?
What does carrot top do there?
This chapter was well balanced. Relationships, menders history + early life, humour, and sweetie bell
But I'm still waiting for
shit to fuck upthings to escalate...Cya next chapter
Trap trap trap trap trap trap trap
I am conflicted on what to feel about Sweetie Belle. On the one hand she is being massively adorable with her apparent super crush on Mender (assuming that it's indeed Mender and not some other pony. That would be one hell of a twist.) but on the other hand I feel like she's only going to end up getting hurt if she continues on with it.
Speaking of getting hurt, Vinyl's past experience with relationships really struck a chord with me. There's this girl I know... she's one of my closest, dearest friends, and she has had some.... pretty bad experiences with guys in the past.. And that's putting it a little lightly. It constantly kills me to see the impact they've had on her; even if she doesn't make it loudly known like Vinyl did here (quite the opposite, I'd say), if you were to know her and see the way she feels about herself, you'd probably be able to see just what I'm saying.. and to see even a fictional character such as Vinyl Scratch experience something like that, it just causes this powerful flood of emotions. Nobody should have to be changed in such a way due to somebody else's selfishness, even if they're just a character in an online fanfiction...
It is good that Mender has found some way to keep his mind away from brooding over dark stuff- something I can't rightly criticize him for; I pretty much do the same thing. Similarly to how Mender will get lost in thought and sort of let everything spiral down from there, if I have any sort of negative thoughts in my head I'll usually listen to music to try and clear things up. Sounds like a good idea, but I mostly make pretty bad choices of music during these times, because it's always gloomy and somewhat depressing and does quite the opposite of helping (I suppose I sort of relate it to how Mender started thinking about how lucky he was to be in Equestria, and then the train of thought started getting darker and darker with each new subject until it came to suicide booths and the death of a species' cultural identity). Then any of the dark and depressing thoughts in my head sort of just sit there and stew, and I don't make much of an attempt to get myself out of it because I don't really have any other way to effectively deal with it. Unless, of course, something similar to what just happened to Mender occurs- an external party comes along and provides some form of relief.
Anyway, I've spent far too many characters in this comment talking about myself and not the story. It was pretty amusing to see how Dash and her heat felt about Mender, especially considering the fact that there were Big Macintosh and Noteworthy standing right there and she still mentioned that it would be Mender she would be pouncing (and not one of those other two fine stallions). I would say "is there something going on here we ought to know about, Dashie?" but then I remember that there is still a certain apple of her eye to consider. Perhaps it was all just a matter of proximity, or maybe the fact that out of the three of them, Mender would be the easiest to just... carry off into the clouds and then rut with until the end of time. After all, he's easily the most docile guy around Ponyville (if not all of Equestria) when it comes to dealing with mares. He's excused, though, on account of his Keldarian background.
I guess all that's left for now is to wonder how exactly he's going to spend two weeks away from Twilight and Fluttershy and (hopefully) with nothing big to worry about. Maybe Big Mac will finally relent and let him help with the broken farming equipment? Oh, what am I saying? That's like leaning up against a brick wall and hoping it'll let you through. I swear, those Apple family ponies are made of stubbornite or something.
MFW mender was explaining the war with the gorsh
Wait, so I get why Nurse Redheart is staying at the camp, but why Carrot Top and the other mares?
The phrase here is en masse, from French. If you prefer it to be in English, you would want in a mass. In mass sounds like everyone is congealing together into a wicked nasty dough (and is grammatically incorrect, even if it evokes the right mental images).
Other than that, no complaints. Still an awesome story, you're still awesome, etc.
Wow....humans are dicks.....
And poor Keldarians, I wouldn't want to be one of them. Also, I'm interested to see if it was just the heat talking or if Rainbow is possibly hiding yet another crush. (Personally, I hope for the later.) I mean her and Mender have been through so much together! Anyway great chapter, I'm looking forward to the next one!
Now to wait for the next chapter in 2 days.... dear Luna I hate the waiting. Love the story though. But I may have just realized something; It might not matter to an author when an individual states that they love a story as good as this one. With as many ponies that have already liked/favorited the story already, the author probably values a single 'like' as if it were a penny. Congratulations you have $10.49 in 'likes'.
That being said I realize that probably isn't true because the many individual ponies that like a story are what make the writer feel good about their stories, so I will continue to spread the gratitude of a like when I truly enjoy someone's work and give them an honest opinion should I think it makes a difference or if I make any more realizations. I must remember to thank my friend Skijarama for introducing this as pinkie would: a sugary treat and shoving it down my throat. You both have my gratitude and I eagerly await the next chapter with all your other adoring readers. I hope you're one of the nice writers that appreciates what you do for us. I think this is the longest comment I've ever posted! Hmm, I feel good about this post.
Ok. Here i am. Almost a week after the publishing of this chapter and i am finally ready to talk about my reaction and it was as following:
“Ah! The internal consistency!
Where did it go!?
I don’t know!
I cant find it!
Ah!”
I know that this is a serious accusation and that is why i decided to reread both MP (Memory Pending) and FP (Forgiveness Pending) in their entirety. The time to my disposal is limited however and i have “only” reread FP until C38.
Anyway this reread changed my perspective and created more problems while solving other.
A good example of a problem disappearing was this:
This chapter clearly states that their allies warped their entire planet in from another star cluster/galaxy. My reaction was: So their allies are capable of warping entire planets from who knows where but sending mender through slipstream with X% of the Keldarian homeworld was thought of as beyond their capabilities… strange i thought that their warp was slightly less useful than slipstream.
This slip was related to my rather muddled memory of this sentence:
(FP C25)
Other problems however was amplified by this rereading however. Problems like the length of the Keldarian-Grosh war.
MP C2 clearly states that:
indicating a extremely short war.
FP C35 however states that:
indicating a extremely long war or short memory.
MP C2 and FP C35 are clearly contradicting.
That is clearly a contradiction it becomes worse if you if you contrast this with this chapter and Menders statement that:
The most confusing version is obviously MP C2 since it implies that Menders homeworld was covered in gore and bile for no explicable reason and radiation for a significantly more plausible reason. FP C35 is significantly less confusing since it only implies that mender spent his entire life close to the front on a world that is currently under attack and yes that includes the school with the crazy teacher from FP C27.
This chapter however lends support to the latest version of "reality".
My next set of problem is mostly centered around ESC (Earth Sphere Councile aka the allies).
Problem 1:
This problem is related to some inconsistency's in ESC's actions after warping to the proximity of the Keldarian systems
MP C2 indirectly states that ESC controls 4 "worlds" before the war and that they lost 3 to the Grosh. The chapter also states that the Keldarains controlled 8 worlds before the war and i am having grate troubles with reconciling that with using Menders people as cannon fodder.
Problem 2:
Transmitted several thousand diseases? Seriously? That's more then the approximately 1500 diseases transferred to humanity from the rest of the animals on earth during the last 100 000 years. Anyway a transfer rate that huge suggests that keldarians are extremely biologicaly similar to humans. Family of grate apes kind of similar.
Problem 3:
How long has the ESC ben around the keldarians?
Mender stated in this chapter that they have fought with the Grosh for generation so lets say 100 years to make the math easy.
The ESC controlled 4 worlds prior to the Grosh onslaught and that means that they had enough time to terraform and increase their population enough to use this new worlds. This takes another couple centenary to achieve and every year is another year that the Grosh fails to find them in.
That is an absurdly long timespan if you plan to raise cannon fodder.
That is however the shortest timespan available . The longest is based of menders statement that ESC's culture warped their culture from a more "pure" society toward selfishness in contrast with this statement from Keela in FP C33
This might push the arrival of ESC back more then 3000 years.but then on the other hand "pure" might mean governed by a totalitarian theocracy which is no different from their current regime.
That is it for this rant. I'm not really don but i tired an i hope that i managed to relay my thoughts in an reasonably ordered fashion in spite of my exhaustion and i really hop that i didn't butcher my one arguments or that i accidentally swapped a good argument for a flashy one.
3334722 - MrAskAPirate
Ooooh! Then I remember seeing it originally! But when I went back to review the comments and reply, it stopped working. The last one did that too. This is weird.
3334770 - Ranakastrasz
I enjoy the series. Plus, head conversations are the best. Especially if you answer yourself.
3334841 - plp855
Mender's missing a few key details, so his viewpoint is as biased as one would expect. To him, it looks like they just up and abandoned the Keldarians.
3334946 - mrclootis
He was considering giving it a feedback awareness for fast database searching. Then he could ask it questions and it would return data from his databases.
3334971 - Enmar
Some of my chapters have wildly varying emotions to them, yes. I try not to restrict myself to just one tone per chapter. The introspection towards the end was a nice break I feel. Sadly, I haven't been able to watch much Futurama, however.
3334975 - Skijarama
I remember it. Heh.
3335079 - Zer0prototype
You'll find out more on those later. Some couples don't want to stay in Ponyville and rent a couple cabin where the stallions are. More privacy and less having to deal with a pheromone cloud. The stallions get time off regardless, even if they stay in Ponyville. It's REALLY hard to work with all that floating around.
3335159 - Black Sun Eclipse
Rainbow has needs too. But no, it's actually not two weeks. I think there's a bit of discrepancy in Rarity's dramatic ranting from earlier. Summer heat is usually about a week and a half for them, and fall heat is about a week.
That would be very, very cruel, yes. We'll have to wait and see about him being able to have foals or not. Although you're switching up your styles again, I notice.
3335179 - Skijarama
Carrot Top? Nah. Things get awkward about her in the future, but not with her. So you're close I guess? You'll have to wait and see. *works on upgrading his chapter listing creator in a way to assist you*
3335571 - PhantomKirby
He is indeed noticing them more now. With Twilight, it was hard NOT to, but it's more like he's just amused by the change and curiously sampling the smells of the mares he's closest to? Okay, no, still sounded creepy. I give up. *rewrote that sentence like, seven times*
(1/5)
3335657 - Buckin Bronco
Heh, AJ might be a tad hard to convince. Rainbow might like him like that, but it's hard to tell. I wouldn't call this definite proof. Heck, it might be just because he's the lightest stallion there, so easiest to carry.
Ha! That would be a weird twist. But obviously it's not happening. Personally, I doubt I'd actually record every single moment of two years time as well, if the only goal is to get to that one point. Heh.
*one week later* Mender ->
3335864 - LMessenger
Oh? Wait, is this you actually assuming that the opinion of one character, who may or may not be well informed on the issues being complained about, is the summary message bound to the entire fic?
3335917 - Guardian Talon
If talking to the apps was the worst of his problems, I'd be concerned about that.
DNA tests would be easy enough. No, she has to test a different bodily fluid in order to find out if he's capable of reproducing with ponies.
3336080 - Empour
Ha! Even I would have a hard time acknowledging that it's not humans. That fact isn't relevant to the fic though, so will probably never be mentioned. Also, it's not hatred but merely the fact that you're listening to a faulty narrator. You have no idea if what he's saying is fact or not, which obviously controls his anger towards the issue. He's biased due to not knowing all the details. I can't say that he's WRONG of course, but he MIGHT be.
3336138 - aebed
MAYBE!
3336271 - nissen92
I think that was actually called sarcasm.
3336421 - Midnight Blues
I stated way, way back in a blog towards the beginning of this if I recall. Humans have no place or appearance in this fic whatsoever. Final word. They don't show up. No teasers or alluding to it, or even spoilers.
3336444 - Majk
Fluttershy does that... Just wait til the arc after this one...
3336596 - Allonso Bronyguy
Ding ding! You win!
3336598 - Medlimakar
Probably a little of both. We all know how conflicted Twilight can be...
3336669 - Narishia98
*nod nod* True enough. I was more implying that he was obviously just joking about the reference, not seriously acknowledging any of it.
3336776 - MrAskAPirate
Nice ponification! Hard to say how much information Mender actually has though, so it's literally impossible to tell at the moment.
3337427 - Sergiovan
I'm deeply amused by the invention of Moon Menderish®. It was quite a surprise to all involved, though!
3338173 - Lucky424
Kinda confirmed? How about a new chapter to fix that! Also, Dash stated a WHILE ago that she was 'bisexual', but there seems to be something weird revolving around that so meh? I have no idea. Well, I do, but as an uninvolved third party, I don't.
But... but... I don't have ovaries. Also, Vinyl probably did enough damage to him already, so there's probably no need.
(2/5)
3338436 - Willsons
We're attached to that planet.
3338880 - RoboRed
A part of him would like it, and the other 95% would be screaming in horror. Was the next chapter enough impending doom for you so far?
3339055 - DouglasFir
3339276 - Pickleless
*wonders at the downvote in mild confusion* Heh, I guess you could call that a superpower.
Ha! Your levels of meta are breaking things. But he'd better head back to Ponyville if he wants to make that last one come true...
3339513 - Rune Heart
I got yelled at the last time I started shipping my readers, so I try not to do that. But yeah, Rainbow really blew it there. Heh.
3340126 - QuietPonder
Eh, he'll probably forget in time for the next problem anyway.
Huh. Normally I see more Rumble x Scootaloo in that case. Oh, and Button didn't even EXIST in the fanon expanded canon when I was writing this, so that's a bit of a stretch. Wait, why am I even talking about this when you already know the answer due to the new chapter?!
Heh, yeah, she'd have to hold on REALLY tightly, or he'd probably end up having a rather rough landing. I think it's safe to assume there was pretty much no logic present to anything going through her mind at that point.
Ha! I always tease. It's in my nature. I wasn't teasing about the vignettes though. There are significant AJ x MM ones, if you peeked at that blog I released about them. Up to and including an AJ x RD x MM.
3340566 - Periphery
Ha! Defeating your own statement in the first place is rather silly. Gummy's too difficult to figure out though. He's a shady one! Mender hasn't forgotten about him so much as he doesn't really want to remember what the inside of his mouth looked like. There's no better first impression than latching onto somepony's FACE with your mouth.
That whole scene kinda made her notice that she wasn't exactly helping with her teasing there, yeah. Rainbow herself is very dual-natured when it comes to teasing of course, and frequently doesn't consider her targets. AJ, Rarity, or Pinkie are totally fine with it obviously, and are likely to fire back in good amounts, but it can stress others out a bit, you're right. I think the only one she doesn't do that to is Fluttershy. So I guess you could say she deserved that scene?
Heh, I'm not so sure he's blind in this case as her age is throwing him off. He literally hasn't even considered her like that subconsciously. Also, you're very right. Honestly, 'larger' herds, as in, more than four members, probably are mostly unbalanced. In those cases, you're probably looking at a pair or two small herds joining another due to one partner, and the other just saying it's okay. It's not how it's technically supposed to work, but I guess friendship is 'good enough' for the members that don't completely 'love' each other. Further, yes, this is exactly why it's restricted in size unless your situation is very, very complex. Like the Elements of Harmony if they decided out of pure insanity to form a 'herd'. Being a totally unique instance, that's probably one of the few exceptions. So in this case, Sweetie actually benefits from having two years or so before even being considered. It gives the three herd members time to stabilize themselves as well as her to get to know each of them in turn.
Heh, we talked about this via Skype already, but I suppose it also deserves a public note. I'm not normally one big on spoilers, but I expected somepony to comment on it, so I guess this one's rather light on the scale of reveals. Vinyl's issue isn't with sex. In that light, she liked it just as much as the stallion in question did, more than likely. Her issue was with abuse of feelings and attempting to 'control' what she did and didn't do. I won't go into details beyond that, but it might be covered more in the story later. As towards sex itself, I tend to headcanon it as less taboo for the ponies as it is for humans, so not as much negativity is associated with it.
HA! No, Twilight's not doing a DNA analysis. Mender could with his equipment, but she's merely testing the capacity of his gametes with female comparisons via magic. She's aware of DNA, but they don't have scientific equipment capable of analyzing it. Most of that kind of science is spell-based, ironically enough.
Heh, as amusing as that would be, it would probably tear the planet in half. Mender's density, due to his size, is 2.32696E+22. That's several orders of magnitude above a neutron star. Really small area of effect due to his size, but an absolutely absurd gravity gradient. If that was REVERSED somehow, everything within say, one meter of him would suddenly find itself shoved away from him at a meager 402,135,355,588 meters per second. I should point out that the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. I literally have no idea what this would do to everything around him apart from what could probably be described as a sizable nuclear explosion. Ultimately, his Cutie Mark should have been a black hole...
Mender's very familiar with the booths, but that's all I'll say on that regard at the moment. So yeah, REALLY cheery place. But that said, you're dead on as usual. Mender has no, and I repeat, absolutely no intention of giving technology to Equestria. He knows where it leads and personally feels the ponies don't need that. He'll stick to enchantments and engineering small scale things to improve their lives himself. As for the council, no, you haven't seen the last of them... They're still around. Keela WAS in contact with them too, at one point. Apparently not anymore...
3340855 - Biscuits
Some of it is Mass Effect inspired, yes. Although no. I've only watched maybe two episodes of Futurama, and neither had the booths. They're of my own devising.
(3/5)
3341130 - Starburst
She's in a couple's cabin with her husband, who escapes Ponyville each year so he may continue to write during Estrus without smells making his head go 'oooh, shiny distraction'. Also, is the newest chapter enough escalation for you?
3342170 - Blaise Brony
What is?
3343710 - Unwitting Brony
Heh, I guess your prediction with Sweetie Belle is starting to come true as of the most recent chapter.
It's probably personal for a lot of ponies. But that happens quite frequently in our world. Probably less so with Equestria's culture, but feelings still get hurt, undoubtedly. It takes a long time to move past things like that, but maybe Vinyl as well can be happy again in the future with a partner. Hard to say what the future holds.
That's written from personal experience. Once you start considering something dark, it's often quite easy to let it spiral out of control. Distracting yourself is a good, realistic approach to solving that. So honestly, Carrot wandering in and snapping him out of it was probably the best thing to happen in that situation. She did so intentionally, as he looked like that's what he was doing. She's heard good things about Mender from Big Mac, too.
Mender is pretty easygoing, but he'd probably have words of protest to that particular situation. But he IS the lightest stallion there, so probably the easiest to carry. Of course, maybe she IS hiding something. She kinda rocketed out of there before anypony could ask her otherwise, so until she gets confronted on the issue, that's going to be a mystery it would seem.
A week and change. So not TOO bad. The summer estrus is slightly longer, and more potent. It'll still probably be unpleasant though, especially for a fledgling herd that hasn't really even settled yet. Further, yes, the Apples appear to be REALLY stubborn. You'll see later that Apple Bloom mimics some of those traits as well.
3343787 - TheLightningColt
Uh... that's not really... are you trying to tell me something?
3345771 - Hawkflight
Couple cabins are available for rent that are slightly apart from the other cabins, for those stallions with mates/herds that want to get away from Ponyville to fresher air, per say. They're for stallions who are accompanied by mares as well. Written Script is one of those stallions who likes to avoid Ponyville during Estrus, and Carrot is his partner.
3349060 - sorenxoras
I got confused until I saw what chapter you were commenting on.
3349177 - StyrofoamPie
I'm sorry. I'll remember for future writings.
3349461 - sorenxoras
*waits until after the next one*
3349581 - sorenxoras
Glad you switched your opinion now that it was explained more. The contrast between your two comments is amusing.
3350217 - FlyingChurro
Oh, quite. Sometimes the feeling transitions are quite painful. Mender feels it too from time to time.
3353922 - Edanite Phoenix
I'm glad you liked. It was a good time for Mender to do some thinking, and it felt naturally placed there once he was left to his own devices for a bit. Of course, lingering thoughts back to your original's dimension aren't always pleasant. Heh.
3354164 - sorenxoras
He doesn't have a 'program' written up for wings yet. If he tried to make them on the fly, pun intended, they probably wouldn't be formed very well. Further, you saw how well he adapted to WALKING when he first landed in Equestria. I imagine there'd be much flying into trees, and Rainbow laughing hysterically.
(4/5)
3357507 - sorenxoras
Somepony needs to re-read that part. She didn't hear it over the music. She was talking to the crowd and track switching when Twilight screamed it out. Heh.
3357689 - sorenxoras
I'm glad I'm able to get a rise out of you then. Just don't stress yourself. You don't want to injure anything.
3358652 - sorenxoras
Oh, not true. It's one of the reasons I reply to every single comment. I value each and every favorite, like, and discussion on the story. Each one means that somewhere out there, an individual every bit as real and important as me has read my work and decided that they enjoyed it enough to recommend it, and give it a little part of their day. That's amazing when I consider it, if not a little on the intimidating side due to my shy nature.
Ah! Skijarama. I was going to ask you how you found the fic so recently. He does very, very nice audio readings of the chapters. *nod nod* I'm working on getting more implementation for his readings so I can get him more exposure. Anyways, I thank you for giving my fic a try!
3365119 - nissen92
Oooh, this should be fun.
Slipstream
You're a bit confused here. The differences between the spatial warping the allies use and Slipstream are fairly easy to point out. The warp only goes in straight lines, and once you're inside of the warp, there's no turning around. However, the benefit is that they can move a LOT of mass with it with reasonably low energy requirements for the act.
Slipstream is more flexible. It can be turned while moving with computer calculations, and is somewhat 'faster' than the warping effect, but uses up more energy for the mass it has to move. Further, the shock wasn't that they moved 'Mender' into Slipstream, but the fact that they did so with all that mass, and then didn't just activate Slipstream, but pushed him out of the dimension itself somehow. They still don't know how that happened.
Timing
Yup, the first instance indicated there was retconned. The 'war' lasted a while as the Grosh weren't really devoting much resources to it at first. Mender's original was born and grew up on a border world with heavy combat and extreme poverty levels. He got through one of the training regimes by the skin of his teeth there with good enough 'grades' to be considered for officer's school. He was then moved to the homeworld to attend officer classes before forming the special unit that you're familiar with him being in. Even outside of heavy combat colonies however, there's quite a bit of gore and remains that plague their ecosystem. Their 'industry' had no care whatsoever for the environment using improper fission reactors to power things. Further, 'disposing' of trouble-making slaves was fairly common with their absurd male birthrate. Hence filters needed, as it got into a lot of places.
Problem 1
This will probably never be covered so meh. Your choice if you want spoilers or not.
ESC moved into the area and 'took' four planets, including 'Earth' which is used as their primary base, which they obviously already had. The extent of their terraforming is totally irrelevant. This is undocumented years in the future, so you have nothing to compare technology to. You may assume whatever you wish. Regardless, they encountered the Keldarians, who at that stage, were still planet locked. They advanced them to space-faring, and then helped them claim additional planets in their solar system with their technology. Seven additional planets, specifically. I've no idea where you're getting consistency issues here. It's never 'officially' stated that they also used the Keldarians as cannon fodder. Mender says that.
Problem 2
Heh, oooh, this one is fun. Assuming that nothing political happened, things haven't significantly changed in the last few [insert unknown amount of time here] between now and the Keldarians meeting the humans to create far nastier viruses, virus mutations didn't occur, that there was no intentional biological manipulation, or the fact that Mender might not be absolutely correct or might have embellished, yes, you'd be absolutely right.
Problem 3
There is no direct comparison here that you're making to be contrasted. If you're curious, it's irrelevant, but the allies were in contact with the Keldarians for the better part of two hundred years. Terraforming as a comparison is pointless, because you don't know the technological levels involved or exactly how far (Assumed to be really, really far...) into the future this is compared to modern days.
To the other half of that issue, yes, the Keldarians have been having their magic-induced breeding problem for a few thousand years, it steadily getting worse and worse. Their culture has never supported many 'freedoms' after it started happening. So when she says the first 'free' ones, she means of anything attempting to control the males' behaviors. This is also one of the main reasons they were still planet locked.
I hope this answers your questions.
(5/5)