Chapter Three: The Miles We Travel, The Places We See
Chapter Three:
The Miles We Travel, The Places We See
“Perhaps one of the only positive pieces of advice that I was ever given was that supplied by an old courtier who observed: Only two rules really count. Never miss an opportunity to relieve yourself; never miss a chance to sit down and rest your feet.”
-King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland
Road To Ponyville
6:55 A.M.
September 7th
A ramshackle cart, made of bits and bobs from other smashed, destroyed, and rotten wagons and carts, rolled down the hill, nudging the slow, world weary owner in front of it. The mare behind the cart shafts looked down the road, eyes bleary with days of hunger and sleep deprivation. A wisp of silver hair fell from her mane, which she tucked back into the work-mares bun it had been tied in for quite some time. Sighing, she glanced about, hoping for some sign of civilization. She'd been on the road from Detrot for about five days, having only stopped in the small hamlet of Trotters Dell where she'd had to clean dishes for the towns watering hole to get a somewhat clean bed and a meal, and that had been on her second day out. Now, three days later, she was somewhere familiar, but not entirely sure of where she was.
Her blue coat was dirty, and she felt in need of a proper bath, not waving her hooves and legs through a small waterfall that could barely be called that at all. She noticed a fence line to her left, with a large orchard of apple trees growing inside. Though sparks in her mind were telling her that apples were familiar, and possibly involved in some former fiasco from her life, she trudged along. Apple orchards and fences meant some kind of civilization, right? She continued along, looking for a gate or something. Maybe if she talked to the owners, she could do some work in return for a bath and some food. She didn't know how to do farm work, but at this point she wasn't too proud to learn.
Finally, she saw a gate. After careful maneuvering, she managed to get herself and the ramshackle cart through it in one piece. Trotting through the early morning light, the first rays of the sun just barely peeking over the horizon, she wandered down one of several dirt paths running through the seemingly never-ending forest of apple trees. Finally, she noticed a clearing ahead where the orchard seemed to stop. Slowing to a halt, she glanced at the wide open space. Nearby burnt the remains of several campfires, dying down to cinders. Shapes sat huddled in the still dark morning, or lying down on the ground, wrapped in blankets. Wearily, she stopped, and unhitched herself.
A nearby shuffling sound made her heart run cold for a second. No pony could make that kind of noise, where was the clop of hooves on the ground. To her growing horror, amplified by her weariness, a tall gaunt shape walked out of the darkness, its long arms and legs swinging in a fashion she was unfamiliar with. It stopped, noticing the new, if ugly cart. Then it spoke in a low guttural sound, like no language she had heard either.
"Gdzie do cholery, że część z kałem krów pochodzi? Wygląda jak ślepej borsuk wykonana go w wichury."
("Where the hell did that piece of cow excrement come from? It looks like a blind badger made it in a windstorm.")
She whimpered for a second, covering her eyes in fear. The sound and the movement seemed to attract its gaze in her direction. Sounds like hoof falls, only different came in her direction, the voice angrier and more guttural now.
"Kto tam? Czy to ty George? Przysięgam będę kopać, że tłuszcz szyję same w dupę, jeśli jesteś osobą, która przeciągać to na mojej pościeli."
(“Whose there? Is that you George? I swear I'll kick that fat neck of yours up your ass if you're the one who dragged this over my bedding.")
The thing leaned down, noticing the blue coated, silver-maned pony lying prostrate on the ground, quivering in terror. Suddenly, he was startled as she let out a scream of terror, and fled off into the night, heading towards the Everfree forest by cutting through the orchard. Already, several men were jolted awake by the scream, and glanced at the upset Nowak, who was carrying his rifle in one hand and holding onto his hat with another, chasing after the fleeing figure.
""Czekaj, ja nie chciałem cię przestraszyć. Wróć mały niebieski kucyka! Woods nie są bezpieczne dla takich jak ty!"
("Wait, I didn't mean to startle you. Come back little blue pony! Woods are not safe for such as you!")
Nowak groaned. Great, he'd startled some traveling pony looking for a spot to rest, and now she was fleeing for the woods outside of Sweet Apple Acres. He mentally kicked himself for speaking in Polish in such a harsh tone. Of course the pony wouldn't have understood him, not when they spoke English. Nowak himself spoke it the best out of his family, being one of three who had been sent to the city schools at the age of twenty to learn it. But he slipped into the mother tongue of his family out of habit, due to the bilingual nature that his home had. Now he was chasing a frightened creature into still dark woods.
Ahead he saw her clear the fence, just barely brushing it, before rushing on in her terror, looking back to his huge form galumphing after. In her tired state she wouldn't be able to run much faster or further, but for now the adrenaline rush had kicked in. Onward she ran, outpacing the ill-exercised soldier. Groaning even more, he leaped over the fence, hat nearly flying off, and rifle nearly tripping him painfully. Behind him, he could hear more shouts, and more cries of soldiers following them. She was crossing a roadway ahead, and a good sixty-yards away from the treeline. He put on a short burst of speed, hollering at her in English to stop.
Behind her, the blue mare heard shouting, this time in accented Equestrian. The figure behind her was gaining, and she was slowly running out of steam. Yelling, she kept running, blindly and without heed to the dangers of the forest. She made a final leap, only to slam into the side of a furry backside. Reeling, she barely noticed the sharp teeth bare inches away from her face at first. When she did, her scream was stifled by her own throat, coming out a hoarse whisper.
It was a large, wolf-like creature, and indeed, it was a wolf. Its face was bare inches from hers, mouth taut in a hungry snarl. Around her she heard more growls, and noticed she was in the midst of the pack. Slowly, she closed her eyes, hoping the end would come swiftly. As the wolfs hot breath washed over here, and her eyes screwed shut for the inevitable final end, a large crack, like an overly large firecracker sounded, and hot blood smacked her in the face. Fearing it her own, she opened her eyes, only to find the body of the wolf in front of her slowly swaying, a hole blown through its head, messy and bloody. Topping over to one side, she noticed the rest of the pack was concentrating on something other than her. Turning, she saw the figure from before pointing a long, thin object at the pack, working some mechanism on it. A second wolf jumped at him, but it too was put down, bleeding from the heart. Now the pack was in confusion, for rarely had they come upon predators or creatures that stood up to them, aside from Timber Wolves or the occasional manticore. This thing with its stick of flame and death was new and unnerving. Finally a third wolf tried to attack, but was put down with two quick shots into its torso, bleeding profusely. The pack, bewildered, turned and ran off into the nearby woods, barely looking back over their shoulders at the strange creature. The blue mare turned to look up at the thing that had saved her, but her over-exertion caused her to faint into a deep, black, sleep....
Nowak looked down at the pony. This was going to be fun. Slinging the rifle on its shoulder band over his shoulder, he knelt down, and carefully picked her up. These ponies were damned heavier than he thought they would be. Struggling to carry her surprising heaviness, he put one foot awkwardly in front of the other, and managed to get a slow pace going, as headed back to camp. Off in the distance he could see the other who had been following behind slouching towards him, their gaits showing that they were tuckered out already from their sudden morning run.
“Alright. I've got her picked up. Now its only...half a mile back to camp. Damn...”
Shifting his weight, he started to slowly make his way back with the unconscious blue mare limp in his arms at a better clip, her silver mane drifting in the wind and her unicorn horn poking him somewhat in the arm, eliciting a spate cursing in Polish all the way back. Never again would he chase after a pony this early in the morning.
o.O.o.
Ponyville Hospital and Medical Center
7:16 A.M.
Rainbow Dash woke up sleepily, her gaze watery from the loud, and slightly impolite yawn that she gave. Fluttershy did not stir, her own delicate breathing barely making it across the room, but Twilight turned in her hospital bed, and gave a moan. The click of a door knob turning the tumblers in a lock woke up the cyan blue pegasus more to the world than a few seconds ago. In came Nurse Redheart and Doctor Tox, his glasses perched on his nose in an almost perpetually annoyed look.
“Ah, Miss Rainbow Dash, I see you're up. Good. Miss Sparkle is going to be run through some final tests, to make sure everything is fit and above board with her health. If things come in positive, she can go home with you in a couple of hours.”
“Okay doc...”
“Alright, good to know you understand. Now, some of these tests are ones that are a bit personal, so if you and Miss Fluttershy would be kind enough to find something else to occupy your time with during those sessions...”
“Oh...of course, heh, patient confi-, confidentally, err, privacy and all that.”
“Yes, that.”
He gave a small smile as he looked at Twilights charts.
“However, I doubt we shall find anything too wrong with her. At most Miss Sparkle will simple need a large amount of nutrient intake over the next couple of days to make up for all that she burned through last night. I'm sure as her friend you'll ensure she eats enough to make up for that.”
“Sure doc, its what friends do.”
“Of course. I'll be back in a bit to start the testing, but I wanted to come in and notify you of the information, and check on Miss Sparkle's immediate condition. All's in order on that issue, so need to worry.”
With that, he and Nurse Redheart left.
“More tests...wheee...”
Rainbow Dash noticed that Twilight was sitting up now, apparently having gotten up during the conversation. She trotted over, her rainbow tail flicking in concern.
“How you feeling Twilight?”
“Better than last night, but not as much as I wish. Ugh, there's this horrible pounding in my head like someone gave Pinkie Pie a pair of bongo drums.”
Rainbow gave a pained expression at that.
“That does sound pretty nasty.”
“I suppose it could be worse. It could be Pinkie with maraca's and a calliope.”
That was a mental and sound image that Rainbow Dash could do without. It wasn't that Pinkie was a bad pony per se...just that letting her have musical instruments tended to involve an over excessive amount of energy being put behind and into them, meaning she could be going at four in the morning whilst one was jamming a pillow on their head. And Rainbow Dash did consider Pinkie a good friend. She was also a useful interrogatory device, which they had used to try to coerce Applejack into spilling the beans over the Canterlot Rodeo about a month back. Of course, it hadn't worked out exactly as planned, but nonetheless, she was a warm pony most of the time who just took her normal look on life to some extremes.
“Speaking of Pinkie Pie, where is she?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged.
“Same place as Rarity? Last I remember, they were going to Sugarcube Corner then your library to get some things for you. Haven't seen them since last night.”
Twilight rubbed her chin with her left hoof, deep in concentration.
“Thats odd. Usually Pinkie and Rarity are pretty good about keeping track of time. Pinkie almost scarily so it seems. I wonder what happened to them?”
Rainbow Dash thought as well, before an idea came to her.
“Doctor Tox said that you were going to have some private tests later, right?”
“Yeah...”
“So, why don't Fluttershy and I go take a look around for them then? I'm sure that we'll get back before they release you from the hospital.”
Twilight thought, and nodded.
“Good idea Rainbow Dash. They can't have gotten too far away.”
o.O.o
Sweet Apple Acres
Apple Family Home
7:27 A.M.
Rarity awoke to find herself in a guest room of the Apple families, usually used when distant relations came over from far away. Gently yawning, she turned over to find the deep blue eyes of Pinkie Pie staring her straight in the face. After a few long seconds of doubly trying to catch her breath and stave off a sudden chest pain curiously close to being a heart attack, she managed to wheeze out a question.
“Pinkie, what are you doing in my bed?”
“Hiya Rarity, gee your such a sound sleeper, I've been up since six, and you won't believe all I've talked about and seen and heard, and touched, which is kinda odd sounding isn't it, and anyways there's the party to plan for....”
“Pinkie, I'm going to ask again, why are you in my bed?”
“Well see, the Princess needed somewhere to sleep once the sun came up, and I volunteered my room for her to use, so then I decided to come down to my bestest friend Rarity's room and spend some time with her for a while, and then things just got so tiring that I kinda fell asleep in your bed, but thats okay, because we are friends, aren't we Rarity?”
The big, sad eyes came out, and Rarity couldn't not help feel somewhat sorry for her friend.
“Alright Pinkie, alright, enough with the puppy dog eyes. Just please, ask a lady next time if it is okay.”
“Yay! Oh, I knew you were a good friend Rarity, and thats why I like spending so much time with you because you're so under...”
At this point, to stop the tidal wave of information gushing forth, Rarity plugged Pinkies mouth with a hoof, which only made her mumble incomprehensibly behind it.
“Pinkie, when I take the hoof away, I want you to answer in a complete, coherent, and normal paced speed, the answer to the following question. Have you seen Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy at all?”
Taking the hoof away, she waited. The pink pony seemed deep in concentration, rubbing both her head and chin in a thoughtful manner, before taking a deep breath.
“No.”
“Okay, well at least you were concise on that.”
Rarity mulled over that. For Pinkie, such a short answer was unusual. Just as she was about to ask another question, three small voices and giggles sounded outside her door.
“Oh no...”
She quietly walked over, and opened it, sending three fillies to the floor. Before her was Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and her own sister, Sweetie Belle.
“What are you three doing here, and up so early for anyway?”
“We had a Cutie Mark Crusader meeting today, and it was Apple Bloom's turn to host, since the clubhouse is in her families orchard.”
Rarity looked nervous for a second. She didn't want them to hang around these...soldiers, too much. It wasn't that she thought they were monsters, but Rarity knew how rough in language and tumble in action they could be. Though she had to admit, the leader of the group outside was certainly more of a gentlemen than a certain blond haired, thick skulled, unicorn dope she had the unfortunate history of being acquainted with.
“Sweetie Belle, I want you to promise me that you won't spend too much time near those...err, men, I think they're called, outside.”
“Awww....”
“No, listen to your big sister. I'm only doing this for your safety.”
“Fine.”
Crossing her legs, she sat on the floor, a pout on her face, while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shared a look.
“Sweetie Belle, those, men, as they're called are fighters, they're not the sort of people its safe to associate with. And I never said you couldn't talk to them....”
Sweetie Belle's eyes looked up for a second, less sad and angry then before.
“But I want you and the others to be careful, and if they tell you to do something for your safety, I want you to listen and not ignore it. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Rarity.”
Reaching down, Rarity gave Sweetie Belle a big hug, getting a wink from Apple Bloom, and a look of pure gagging from Scootaloo, whose face was contorted like she had sucked on pure lemon juice.
“All right, you three go behave yourselves. And remember what I told you.”
The three dashed out of the room, the calls of “oh gee, lets go see if they can help us with our cutie marks!”
Pinkie, who had in the meanwhile had been bawling at the emotional hug, was now rolling on the floor.
“Pinkie Pie, what are you doing darling?”
“Oh, just waiting till you were done. Rolling is fun see, whoo, whoo, whoo....”
Sighing, Rarity decided to go downstairs and get something to drink, as she hadn't eaten in dogs years it seemed. Pinkie kept rolling on the floor, laughing and talking about planning the biggest, bestest party she could think of for the new arrivals.
Downstairs, Rarity found a tired Big Macintosh and the man called Mays sitting at the table, playing a game of what looked like chess. Currently, Big Mac was winning. Mays was holding a mug in his right hand, and was pointing one of his fingers at Big Mac with a comical scowl on his face.
“You're not the simple farm type you lead others to believe, are you?”
“Nope.”
“One of these days I'll see if I can get more than those monosyllabic answers you seem to be fond of.”
“Maybe.”
Sighing, and sipping his tea, Mays shoved a piece across the board and slapped the small counter.
“Your turn, Big Red.”
Big Macintosh merely stared at the board with the concentration he seemed to give everything in life, and an expression of passive acceptance always seemed to be plastered on his face. Mays looked at their new arrival. She saw the gleam of the white canines for a second as he gave her a grin.
“Morning, Miss Rarity. How are things with you?”
She took a second to recall something to bring up.
“Err, everything is fine. I was wondering if I could help with anything involving those clothes you're wearing. You don't look like you have much else and they...probably...are a bit, how you say...”
“Odorous?”
“Yes, that's the word. Slightly like Spikey...I mean Spike after he's helped me with my garbage can.”
She gave a nervous grin. Rarity was a bit afraid of this tall, gangly creature, though she kept mentally telling herself that calling them creatures was rude. She also expected him to take offense at the comment on his and his mens odor. He surprised her.
“I'll admit, we haven't had a good bath in about three days, been in the field that long. Probably could do with a clean and a wash to the old khaki. And I'll probably have to shove some of the men into a nearby lake to get them to wash up. I'll see if I can't get a few men to help you, help pay off the price of quartering us here it's going to take on the Apples and the princess.”
He sipped his coffee, and went nearly bug-eyed when Big Mac finally made his move, putting Mays in checkmate.
“Goll durned equine chess master! You sneaky, orange maned, green-apple marked...marked...pony!”
“Eyup.”
The finger went up again, wavering like unicorns horn in battle at the cinnamon red pony across the table.
“When you have time, and I get back from escorting Miss Rarity about, I'm going to make you wipe that smug look off your face mister.”
“Perhaps.”
Scowling, Mays drained the rest of his coffee, almost instantly regretting it when the still very hot liquid swirled down his throat.
“Gahkh... hot, hot...all right, I've got to go, but I'll see you later,”with a pointed finger once again emphasizing his words.
Nodding, Big Mac trotted off, most likely to supervise some of the chores around the farm. Mays, rubbing his tingling throat, stared after the receding figure of Big Mac, as did Rarity.
“How smart is that fellow?”
Rarity looked at the swishing tail of Big Macintosh and took a second to come up with a reply.
“Smarter than many first think, I believe.”
o.O.o
Sweet Apple Acres
Farmyard
7:40 A.M.
Private Lionel Brooks glanced up the book he was reading, being one of the few given a short break of rest, before being made to patch the fences surrounding the property. Those three were staring at him still.
“No, you can't touch the gun.”
“Please...”
“No, its not a toy. Guns are not for little children...or fillies, to play with. They're dangerous. Plus, your brother would use me as his plow-puller if I did something as insane as letting you play with a firearm.”
“Big Mac, he's not that bad.”
He put the book down, his right thumb keeping place.
“Not that bad, you say. When something resembling a Clydesdale, but with the intelligence that a human normally has, and possibly smaller temper, butts a gun in two, you don't argue whether he's nice. You argue whether you're going to have teeth in the morning if he gets upset because his young sister asked a very stupid man to let her touch, fire, and get injured by a gun. So the answer is no.”
“Hmmmph.”
He glared at her for a minute, and her glaring back. Her friends gave looks of sadness, anger, and a whole mixture of emotions that young people made. Rolling his eyes, he put the book away.
“Fine, I will teach you something. But not anything involving guns or firearms. Does that alleviate your distress and disappointment?”
They nodded. Ruffling in his bag, he got out a penny box of matches, and a pack of cards.
“Now then, whose ready to learn how to play Blackjack?”
The three of them turned to one another, their eyes wide as saucer plates, and he could sense a yell coming on.
“Cutie Mark Crusader Blackjack Players, Yay!”
“Oi vey...”
o.O.o
Near the Everfree Forest
7:46 A.M.
Sergeant Freiheart was overseeing the burial detail of the dead wolves from Nowak's morning adventure. Currently, six very grumpy, and very tired soldiers were using borrowed shovels to make deep graves, the deeper to better ensure that other wild creatures didn't dig them up and try to eat the corpses. Nothing worse than having bloated animal carcasses sitting in the sun, and not a vulture to be found. Thankfully, the men were only grumbling a little, which meant he didn't have to verbally encourage them as he usually did.
After about an hour, they had dug a fair sized hole, big enough for the three dead wolves to be dropped in and buried in.
“Alright lads, get that first big fellow in there. Nice and gentle, we don't want it exploding on you now due to buildup of gases inside them.
The men all gave him a look as if to say, thank you for the image sergeant. Ignoring it, he turned to look at Sweet Apple Acres. It was a nice orchard, orderly, and pleasant on the eyes. However, his mind wandered to the inhabitants of this world. Talking ponies were...odd. No, they were strange. Perhaps bizarre? Whatever they were, it was still a shock talking to them and acting as if they were normal...people. He'd been raised in a very Lutheran fashion, and though he had as yet to describe the beings as evil, or spawn of the devil, which he might not couch in those exact terms, it was certainly frightening in a way.
The men had by this point carefully lowered the final body into the ground. They'd now begin the process of covering them with lots, and lots of dirt, which the already tired soldiers were starting to get sick of looking at. The sergeant trusted his commanding officer to a degree. Certainly, the man had a way with words and such, but he was acting somewhat unprofessional around the men, acting more laid back and casual to some degree. Indeed, the men themselves seemed more inclined to look at the sky then do their assigned tasks, which encouraged them to be given a proper tongue lashing. Perhaps it was something in the air, for even Freiheart felt that he was loosing his touch.
Shaking his head, he watched as the men quickly shoved the dirt in over the bodies, hoping to be given some less disgusting task, like slopping the pigs or whitewashing a wall, anything that didn't involve dead bodies. Maybe he should take it slow for awhile. He hadn't had a proper holiday in years, the last time being when he'd gone to Cedar Point with his wife six years ago, and that'd only been for three days. Indeed, he felt his cares and pains somewhat slip away the longer he stayed here. As his thoughts again brought him back to reality, he saw they were pretty much done with the burial.
“Alright men, lets get back to the farm, and see what we do next.”
Sighing, the men hitched up their trousers, slung shovels over their shoulders, and lined up to head back. Nodding that they at least knew enough to get in line, he blew his whistle, and they began the march back to the farm. Nearing the entrance to the gates of the farm, he noticed the white and purple unicorn walking with Mays. Mays noticed him and returned Freihearts salute when it had been given.
“Sir, burial finished sir.”
“Good, sergeant. Now then, I want you to get the men to demob down to their...undergarments.”
He said this in a conspiratorial fashion.
“Sir.”
“Oh, don't act so teutonic and stoic. You're going to march most of these men to nearby lake, which Big Macintosh has agreed to show you to, and make the men take a bath. Partly because we all smell, and partly because its hygienic. You have your orders, carry them out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Turning, Freiheart began to yell at the men to get back to camp.
“You heard your commanding officer. Get ready to get demobbed!”
o.O.o.
Ponyville
Main Street
8:12 A.M.
Lyra was bored. Bored, bored, bored...bored. Usually she spent most of her days practicing her musical compositions, writing new ones, then playing them out on the various instruments she kept in the basement she shared with her two roommates, Bon Bon and Golden Harvest. It was also where she kept her more eclectic reading materials. Now she was out, looking for something to do to get away from the cramped basement.
“Ugh, why is life so boring.”
The mint-green unicorn trotted along, barely making eye contact with anyone. Normally, she spent her time writing, composing and reading, but for once she felt an all consuming boredom with everything, and her writers block struck like a snake, slowly causing her to lose all interest in her normal activities. Even reading the arcana she stored in a special box didn't interest her.
Some, especially those close to her, might call her obsessed about pony lore and legend. She put it that she was academically interested, which just happened to fill a large void of her normally easy life. For Lyra, the arcane and mystical were forgotten parts of pony history that needed to be appreciated. As she trotted down the street, she noticed that a lot of ponies were slowly stopping and parting. Wondering what was going on, she kept going on till she bonked her head into a pair of legs. A deep throated “oof” was the response from the injured party, and as she fell backwards onto her hinder, she noticed a tall, gaunt figure standing next to the unicorn known as Rarity, who was one of the Elements of Harmony.
The figure wobbled for a second, before righting itself. A wide brimmed hat, folded up on one side sat on its head. It reached down what could only be a...hand.
Inside Lyra's boredom popped, replaced by her innate curiosity. A real, live human. So the legends were true that such a race had existed on this planet before. She gave in to the curiosity over the fear she should have felt, and reached her hoof up, which he grabbed. Pulling her up back to her four footed stance, he tipped his hat. She noticed that like some local stallions that he had a large, bushy, wax-styled mustache growing on his upper lip, its ends curled at the points, an interesting affectation.
“Wow...”
“Err, hello, Miss...”
“Lyra, the names Lyra.”
He shook her hoof, his five fingers gripping her appendage in a firm, but not crushing hold. The human gave a smile that showed pearly white teeth, though one
“Well Miss Lyra. I didn't appear to be looking where I was going, and I knocked you down.”
She blushed.
“Actually, it was my fault. But I'm so excited to meet you. I've never met a really live human before. I thought you all were just part of Equestrian legend and ancient history.”
As she was about to continue, she noticed a look of confusion flash over his face. Lyra didn't know what to say.
“Are you alright?”
“Hmmm...yes. Humans as myths....huh.”
His face slid back into an amiable look.
“Well, Miss Lyra, it seems since I'm the first human you've met, I might as well make a good impression. Care to come with me and Miss Rarity here to her boutique for a bit? She's been kind enough to offer her services for assisting my men and I with our rather small clothing problem.”
Rarity nodded at this, and glanced at the mint-green unicorn who had briefly stopped their progress. The two unicorns knew each other informally as being different ends of society, Lyra being a daughter in a prominent Canterlot unicorn family, who had escaped to Ponyville to get away from the hustle and bustle of the capital. Which meant that the Canterlot fashion obsessed designer unicorn had asked Lyra during her first weeks living in Ponyville about the fashions, which Lyra had been at a loss to describe. Strangely, to Rarity's own bemused inner fashion critic, Lyra didn't wear dresses nearly as much as she wore more stallion oriented wear at formal occasions.
Lyra nearly attached herself to May's leg in her excitement, which his sudden panic nearly made him try to shake her off before she could cut off circulation down there.
“Are all of you ponies this clingy? Between you and the pink one...”
A shudder passed through his form, at the thought of the sight of those large blue eyes, just before a cupcake lodged itself in his throat earlier that morning. The soldiers in the platoon already were trading war stories of being assaulted by the speedy pink pony. Many claimed she could do things physically impossible, such as be somewhere before a man got there, or hide inside incredibly cramped spaces smaller than her own body. Mays thought that if she could be put into an enemies headquarters, they'd surrender within a day. Then he shuddered again. Some things were cruelty beyond compare. It wasn't that he hated her. She was nice enough, for a pony, but her exuberance and skill with baked goods (especially ensuring that people ate her baked goods) had put the fear of God in him.
“..I've been hugged more times than my mother ever did to me. Than again, mother was a strong believer in hardship makes you stronger, and enhances your faith. Ah, I remember the time my cousin Roark and I made the dumb mistake of falling into a beehive with a glue pot and burnt toast. Good times...good times.”
Snapping out of his revelry, he noticed the odd looks they were giving him.
“Heh, family memories. Anyways, what do you say?”
Lyra beamed a wide smile at him.
“I'll take that as a yes. You can close that smile. I believe your head will fall off if it gets wider.
Stepping carefully, he made a small space in the crowd for Lyra to stand on the other side of him. Meanwhile the unicorn looked up to the sky and thanked Celestia and Luna.
“Best...day...ever!”
o.O.o
Columbus, Ohio
Governor's Residence
9:49 A.M.
Governor George K. Nash glanced at the desk that sat in his office. On it sat a pile of letters, telegrams, and important files that he needed to review. Sighing, he looked out the window at yet another day of horrible weather. His assistant had organized them at least, which meant he wasn't forced to gaze through a pile of junk and trash. Sitting in the chair behind the desk, he stroked his mustache.
After about ten minutes, he's read a singular report on what the state senate was currently debating, and was currently reading messages involving political appointments that needed to be addressed. Then there was pile of telegrams he had to read. Slitting up the letter from one, noticed it was from the headquarters of the state militia.
“Wonder what cash allowance they're asking me to suggest to the Senate this month...”
He slit open the packet, and tipped out the message inside. It was marked important. Deciding it would meant he wouldn't have to read financial reports for another seven minutes, he began to read. His eyebrow raised in credulity. A mysterious orb, or bubble, appearing outside Xenia? Impossible, the soldier who reported this must have made a prank of the situation.
But he tapped his mustache with a pen. However, this report did sound too detailed to be fabricated on the cuff. If it was a hoax, a whole platoon had decided to walk off the face of the Earth, for Militia HQ reported that a second platoon in the area had lost all trace except for the soldier who had sent the report of the enemy platoon they had been wargaming with. In a way, it made a sick sense that there was a mysterious bubble men walked into and seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth.
He tapped the desk with his fingers, and thought deeply. This was a problem. He couldn't go off high-hauling to the Congress in Washington about this. Sure, as governor it was his prerogative to involve the federal government as he saw fit. And if this “bubble” really was something new, why, it was only fair that Ohioans benefit from its discovery, in a reasonable, well-thought manner. True, it could be the biggest hoax in recent state history, but if it was true...well, he believed that it bore investigating. And with the unfortunate things in New York state and Washington going on with the President's recovery, well...it made sense didn't it to have the state investigate first. However, it might be a good idea to inform Washington anyway. They were getting bees in their bonnets all the more sometimes when states ignored them and did their own things.
Taking out a pen and paper, he wrote a quick cable letter, and using his recently installed phone, called his secretary to have it delivered to the nearest telegraph office, and wired to Washington quickly. Sure, things would be weird, and they probably wouldn't believe the tale of a possibly drunken platoon, but their were too many odd ends not connecting. Firstly, why would a lone soldier concoct such a tale? Secondly, how could a whole platoon seem to vanish off the face of existence?
o.O.o
Ponyville Library
10:07 A.M.
Twilight had been finally allowed to be discharged from the hospital under the care of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and now Twilight sat on her bed, the cool darkness of the upper part of the library washing over her. She felt better than she had at the hospital, and had managed to keep down a daisy and watercress sandwich that Spike had made (not that there was anything wrong with his cooking, but solid food staying down was easier said than done). Now, she was just sitting, staring out the window at Ponyville. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had agreed to help Spike tidy up, and she could hear them muttering downstairs.
Sighing, she turned to look out the window. She noticed that a veritable flood of ponies was heading out towards the town hall off in the distance. Curious, she leaned forward, suddenly realizing her wooziness was still there, and loosing balance, toppled off the bed, along with a pillow and some of the sheets. As she griped at herself about getting tangled in them, she heard Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Spike quickly coming to her aid.
“Twilight, you okay?”
The exasperated look she gave the wall from her position on the floor completely missed her three friends.
“Yeah, I'm just a little woozy after all those tests. How much blood did they draw again?”
“It was a single hypo Twilight, not Spike's private tub you were ranting about on the way here.”
“You told them about that? Thanks, Twilight....”
Shaking her head as Rainbow Dash shoved a paw underneath her back, Twilight was slowly lifted back to her hooves, intact, if somewhat dizzy. Rainbow trotted to the window, and put her hooves on the sill.
“What's that big crowd doing heading toward Rarity's place?”
Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy came over to the sill as well.
“Oh my, that is a big crowd. I hope Rarity is okay.”
“I'm sure she is. But wouldn't she have come to check on Twilight? I mean, she promised to get some books last night with Pinkie at about forty after seven you said, but Luna disappeared at about the same time that Rarity would have arrived...”
Spike went silent.
“Spike?”
Spike looked nervously up at three staring at him intently.
“Look, in all the excitement, I forgot that Princess Luna disappeared last night. One minute she was here, the next she and her guards were gone. I thought she might have gone off to Canterlot or maybe to stretch her wings or something...”
Twilight pondered.
“It's only about a six minute walk from the hospital at a good pace, and Rarity and Pinkie left at about four-thirty-nine, which if they made it over here by four-forty-five or so, would have seen Princess Luna and her guards leave. Perhaps she caught them and they went with her?”
Fluttershy nodded, the logic seemingly making some odd sense to her.
“Then perhaps it's Rarity coming back?”
“Makes as much sense as anything else.”
“Maybe we should go greet her?”
Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight.
“Are you gonna be okay going out? If you can't sit up in bed without falling on the floor, I'd hate to see you walk outside.”
“Hah hah, funny Rainbow. C'mon, lets go.”
Twilight wobbled down the stairs, catching herself on the bannister, and giving a glare at the others that if they said anything, she'd make a stink about it. Making it to the door without injury or serious property destruction, they opened it to find the throng of ponies tight near the door.
“Excuse me, coming through...hey, watch that hoof. I've got a direct line to the Princesses, and I'm not afraid to use it.”
As the other ponies grouched about Twilight and her friends aggressive crowd control skills, they managed to slowly make their way to Rarity's Carousel Boutique, which was surrounded by ponies, including Mayor Mare. On spotting Twilight, she slowly trotted over.
“Twilight, you need to do something. Rarity has brought...well, I don't know what it is, but she's brought it to town, and now she, it and Lyra are inside. Half the townsfolk are getting worried about it.”
“Rarity and...Lyra?”
Mayor Mare nodded. Feeling an unfortunate feeling in her gut, Twilight merely glanced back at Spike, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.
“Of course we'll check Mayor Mare. You can be assured that if there's a threat, we'll take care of it.”
Showing a nervous appreciative smile, Mayor Mare stepped back from the door, which Twilight opened, and followed by her friends stepped into the boutique. From the private design rooms in back they could hear the familiar humming Rarity, while in the dressing room next door, Lyra's voice was speaking at an excited pace.
“Rarity?”
The humming stopped, and the purple coif of mane peaked out from the private designing rooms.
“Twilight, is that you darling? Oh, its good to see you're okay. Look, I'm working on something at the moment, but I'm sure Lyra and Mr. Mays would love to have you and Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, and Spike have a little chat with them, hmmm?”
“Uhh, okay. You sure you're okay Rarity?”
“Never better, darling. I'm in the zone right now, but I'll be right with you in a few minutes.”
And with that, the door to her design studio went shut. Twilight glanced at the others, who gave shrugs of might as well back, though Fluttershy was the most reserved, and hung back a bit from the others. Slowly trotting to the dressing room door, they opened it to find Lyra sitting on a chair, legs dangling over the side, and talking to somepony blocked by the door. The four trotted in, as Lyra spied them, she stopped. As the four transferred their gaze from the mint-green unicorn to the pony behind the door, they realized that what was behind the door wasn't a pony. The tall gaunt figure looked like a cross between some of the greater apes found near zebra lands, and dragons, only without being covered in fur or scales, and certainly didn't have a tail.
“Hello ladies.”
o.O.o
Sweet Apple Acres
10:14 A.M.
Applejack woke up, her muscles sore, and her head pounding with a sleep-deprived headache. She found herself in her room, hat tucked neatly on a special hatstand nearby, and her mane still tied up in its ponytail. Stretching her legs, she swung out and onto the cool hardwood floor, and trotted over to the hatstand and grabbed her hat from its hook. Twirling it on her hoof, she managed to launch it into the air and onto her head with ease that showed years of practice at doing the trick.
Stepping out into the hallway, she noticed it was fairly quiet inside the house. Trotting down to Granny Smith's room, she noticed that her grandmother was asleep in bed, snoring peacefully under the covers.
“Ah, what happened last night. I can't quite remember correctly.”
Trotting downstairs, she smelled tea and toast being cooked in the kitchen. Deciding that getting some grub was the best idea, having not eaten anything much since the breakfast of the previous day, she headed on in. Peeking in, she saw sitting there at the table was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. And another one of them tall hairless things from the night before, holding a pack of playing cards, whilst setting it down on the table.
“Look, I've taught you blackjack, I've taught you poker, heck, I've taught you find the lady. I don't know much more than that. Heck, I barely even know Whist. That's what I've got left.”
“But we still haven't gotten our cutie marks yet.”
The big pairs of eyes of all three fillies of them unleashed themselves on his already weakened conscience towards upsetting small, pastel colored animals, especially horse like creatures .
“Alright, alright. Stop with the eyes. After this, if at the end of this game none of you are branded...”
“Cutie Marked.”
“..well, whatever you call those things on your flanks, I'm done with playing cards with you three. You'll just have to drag me into something else. Because let me tell you, I'm not losing like that again.”
He waggled a finger at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
“The two of you aren't reincarnated card sharps from the old Mississippi river boats are you? Because I've never seen anyone win quite that much before.”
Both grinned ear to ear, as they shoved their little piles of matches out, having taken most of his box in their playing of various hands of cards.
“Okay, I need coffee.”
“Coffee, we don't gots any coffee. Only tea.”
He slid a hand up his forehead, pushing back his bangs.
“You're kidding? You don't have coffee?”
“Yup. Mr. Mays finished the last batch this morning”
He shivered.
“Oh God, what sort of world have you opened to ours, where coffee is taken by officers? Is it some sort of divine judgement for last April, because I have reason for that...”
Dejectedly, he poured a cup of tea and began to drink it.
“I'm only drinking this for the caffeine jolt, or what little I'll get from it.”
Applejack decided it was best for now to go check on Big Macintosh, so she quietly walked to the front door, and heading out, noticed even more of them about. Spotting Big Mac chewing some of his hay a distance off, she broke into a trot, and soon was next to him. His forelegs were hitched over the top of a fence, and he was observing more of them marching about, fixing fences, and
“Whatcha doing Big Mac?”
“Watching.”
She saw that he was paying particular attention to the ones repainting the barn, who were arguing over spacing between one another
“Sure do make a mess of themselves.”
“Eyup.”
Applejack felt a stare at the back of her neck, and turned to see the Princess up, and looking at her.
“Uh, Princess Luna, I didn't know you was there.”
“No apologies are necessary, Applejack.”
Noticing the sudden silence following the princess addressing her, Applejack stood silently for a second, waiting to see if the dark alicorn would speak to her any more or if she was for something else.
“Applejack, you're considered the element of honesty, and one of the most dependable ponies in Ponyville...when you choose to ensure that honor before reason is put aside for the greater good.”
Tilting her head, it took the orange farm pony a moment to figure out what exactly the princess was saying. As far as she could translate, basically she was being told that her honor sometimes could impede better judgement. While somewhat riled at that, her memories pushed that back down with the memory of the infamous solo-applebucking incident two years ago.
“Walk with me, Applejack.”
Knowing that it was both a request, and a sort of royal command of sorts, Applejack slowly walked alongside Luna, who was concentrating on some space in the middle distance. Finally, after they'd left the farm proper, and were deep among the orchards, she again spoke to the confused farmer.
“I know you have not had a proper time to acclimate yourself to the new arrivals, Applejack, but I must ask, what is your honest opinion?”
Applejack kept walking, deep in thought for a second.
“As you said princess, I can't rightly say, partly because I have yet to actually talk to em'. A pony can't make judgements without good evidence of character.”
“Evidence of character, seems our sisters most faithful student has seen fit to rub off on you, Applejack.”
Blushing for a second, it took Applejack a second to reply.
“I suppose, though I might attribute it to good ol' Apple family sense. Granny Smith says that appearances can be deceiving, its what's their true nature is that you have to base things off of.”
The princess seemed to digest this.
“Yes, your words do have a traditional oral generational wisdom, which has a basis in past conflicts, but which has a strong basis in modern day social interactions.”
“Eh, what?”
“Your words have a ring of truth to them.”
“Oh. Sorry, its just that Twilight sometimes gets all wordy and fancy in her lingo.”
Luna nodded. However, her face turned back to one of contemplative concern as they continued on.
“The reason I ask, is because my sister will be returning shortly, and so far you are the only one of the Elements I have had time to talk about this with in any informal setting. Miss Rarity left to go back to town a while ago, and Miss Pinkie seems to be using her baked goods as a means of interrogation involving party planning.”
“Yeah, she gets like that. Wait, did you say Rarity went back to Ponyville? Did she go alone?”
“No, Second Lieutenant Mays went with her, though he's willing to be called mister at times. He said it had to do with helping her with making clothes for humans, and carrying back materials she might need to patch up their more...worn items.”
Applejack furrowed her brow at that.
“I hope they don't cause to much of a ruckus.”
Luna smiled.
“I hope not too. But I believe they'll be in good hands soon. I heard from one of the guards that came back that Twilight Sparkle will be soon gracing Ponyville with her presence again, after being released sometime this morning.”
“Twilight's okay?”
Luna nodded.
“I fear it was mainly exhaustion from shoving that much magic through a single individual unicorn, even one so gifted as Twilight. However, I doubt that even a depraved individual as Discord would have killed her then.”
“Why not?”
“Because it wouldn't have been funny. To see that she was used, how she may have, in some form or fashion, been used as something to bring about the end of Equestria? We know that Twilight Sparkle has...issues with responsibility and acceptance. To Discord, the more horrible thing to do would be to let her live to see how her magic, one of the most important things to her self, destroyed everything. It goes into a cruelty that I remember from the first time.”
Luna went quiet for a second, before resuming.
“However, our issue now is not what happened, but what may happen and our recourse on planning for the future. The future of Equestria and its citizens depends on acknowledging that what has happened is done. What we must do is see what lies before, lest we head to self-destruction. I ask only that you try to make a good impression on them. Perhaps, if we can win a victory here, we can win something larger in the future.”
Applejack looked at her fields. She saw how teams of them were helping prepare for the final harvest of the season, and saw how they were working hard, honestly, under the gaze of her brother.
“I suppose I'll try. Besides, Apple Bloom seems to have taken a shine to spending time near them, they can't be all that bad.”
“No. But I doubt ponies and their kind will ever have a full, peaceful accord. Our worlds are two different. And now that they are permanently joined, we must strive forward anyway.”
Luna paused, her mind thinking back.
“On a second matter, this morning, they tell of a pony who they saved from wolves following her panicked flight from the farm. While they have been keeping her in the barn for now, they state she has made mention of you before, and others of the Elements. They feel if perhaps a familiar face were to speak to her, they might be able to help her. Currently, she has yet to fully stay awake for more than a few seconds.”
“Sure thing, Princess. I always try to help the ponyfolk.”
“Good. I must meet my sister soon. However, I hope to hear how your day went, young Applejack.”
Luna unfolded her wings, and beating them with a gentle, yet powerful stroke, flew off to the part of the fields she had agreed to meet her sister in. Stretching her neck, Applejack headed back to the barn. A sick pony was a pony in need, and no matter the circumstances, an Apple always helped those in need. Outside stood two of the humans, their “guns” as she had overhead them being called earlier in their hands.
“You fellers got a sick pony in there I hear?”
“Yes ma'm. Our medical orderly Elijah tried helping her, but he's a human doc, not an equine doc. You hear to help, ma'm?”
Nodding, she waited as one opened the door at that response.
“Be careful ma'm. She's had flashes of magic from that horn of hers. Walt here spent ten minutes with a horrible morass of slimey, green hair.”
Applejack paused. That sounded familiar.
“Well, I'll try to be. You fellers can come in if I call.”
Standing at attention as she entered, Applejack had to remark to herself that at least they knew enough not to question a lady about her farm and where she could and couldn't go. Turning herself around for a second, she saw one of them leaning over a figure lying in a pile of hay.
“You the one they call Elijah?”
“Yes I am. You know anything about medical care for ponies?”
“Not as much as some of the doctors in town, but I know enough about basic care. Whose the injured one?”
He stood up, his body no longer blocking the view of the tired and emaciated party. Applejack took only a few seconds to recognize the face. The blue fur, the silver mane, both were familiar. The only part that wasn't familiar was the weak, pained expression on the formerly haughty face that had been in town over a year ago. Stepping back for a second, she leaned in.
“Trixie?”
o.O.o
Sagamore Hill, Long Island, New York
11:16 A.M.
Vice-President Roosevelt looked out at the large lawn that was part of the property of Sagamore, from the large wooden veranda in the back. Sagamore was his home away from Washington D.C., and the capital cities politics and squabbling. Here...here, he could get away from it all and enjoy some down time from what little the Vice-President did. Since the Senate usually had a President pro-tempore overseeing things half the time, and given the President's rather, cool relationship with his Vice-President acting on matter in the senate, Roosevelt had a lot of time to either visit and stump speech across the country, or relax.
Right now he was preparing for a trip to Mount Marcy, in North-Eastern New York State, where his family was already heading. His personal love of nature often meant he took the opportunity to visit and experience it first-hand as much as he could. It sometimes disappointed him when people ignored the resources that pure, unaltered nature could give, and saw nothing more than a cheap thing to be burned and built over. It disappointed, and in a way, angered him that nature could be treated like that.
He leaned on the railing, breathing in the somewhat cool autumn air slowly, and staring at the green, cool grass spreading off into the distance. It was magical in a sense, how connecting with nature could be. Sometimes he did wonder if preservation of animals included shooting them, but that thought didn't always occur. To him, conservation sometimes had to occur in some forms more than others, and while he knew that it might be a long time before anyone thought of large scale conservation seriously in government circles, the thought did come to him from time to time.
Leaning back and stretching, the bristly mustache on his face scratching his nose for a second as his mouth scrunched up in a yawn, he kept thinking of nature. Of politics, of the President's health, of things to do, and things that could be done. In all, he thought of the now and the future. What he didn't think of was exactly how his immediate future would play out beyond his trip. Certainly, one wouldn't imagine oneself as not only the first president to travel abroad while in office, but to travel to another world? Who would think of something as strange and patently ridiculous as that?
o.O.o
Canterlot Castle
Celestia's Private Chambers
11:41 A.M.
Luna had sent a message about twenty minutes ago, thanking her sister for responding so quickly to her last one. Celestia herself had been still worried about what exactly was going on at Sweet Apple Acres, and as promised, would arrive shortly. However, her sisters last letter had stated that it would be best if she didn't arrive directly at the farmstead, but at a secluded grove in one of the distant fields of the orchard, where they could talk in private. Sending one last letter with her acquiescence to the request, Celestia pondered the situation. Though Luna was still very much the behind the scenes political player she had been before...before the incident so long ago, she was still very much a youth in some ways, still at what could be called adolescence at times, prone to exuberant actions and secrecy of the youthful sort.
Smiling at happier days in recent months, where her sister had broken out of the self-imposed shell she had surrounded herself with following her being freed of the Nightmare, Celestia was still worried. That youthful naivety had been...well, partly part of the reason that she had fallen to the jealous rage and depression that had set off the events which had broken both sisters in a way so many years ago. The rather unfortunate belief that nopony had ever appreciated her nights, when she only had to look to the ponies who worked by night. Those that sought her moon in the safety of nightly travel, and others who could have told her, but were never asked. Celestia wanted to ensure that never again would the two sisters have such a thing to come between them. Indeed, Celestia had been delegating a lot more responsibility to the night court of Luna to show that she trusted her, that she was not simply Princess of the Night and Moon, Sovereign of the Stars, but that she was an equal and co-ruler of Equestria.
However, a deep part of her own mind constantly seemed to shout that this was more obvious than simply trying to communicate with her younger sister on a personal level. Indeed, the voice sometimes asked her in its unfortunately biting commentary, that the two had not had a good sister to sister talk in over three months, with the longest being over a span of two minutes and thirty-five seconds at a hurried breakfast one morning, and most of it involved hurried explanations, greetings, and goodbyes. Its further, and sometimes annoying commentary, continued on that she was again pushing her sister away, by not simply being her friend, rather than her co-ruler. Sighing, Celestia sipped at a cup of water she had forgotten she'd been holding telekinetically for the past two minutes.
A knock on her chamber door momentarily startled her, so quiet had it been.
“Your majesty? The second carriage is ready outside for you.”
Opening the door, she stared down at the guard who had knocked.
“Thank you Private Steel Shod. I shall be there presently.”
Saluting, the guard turned and headed back to where he had come from. Celestia finished the water, and magicked over the royal day vestments of state. However much she wished she could just wear normal clothes when she felt the inclination to do so, the fact remained that for many ponies, the princesses must look the part in public. And thus, Celestia and Luna tried to live up to that expectation, not only as a professional need, but perhaps, a personal one, for they both wondered how much their thousands of years of life were wrapped in being the rulers of Equestria, and not their own selves. Were they merely extensions of the crown, symbols of power and awe to those who needed something such as that to look up to? Was there actual character behind those masks of royalty, prestige, and so on? These were questions Celestia often wondered about, and sometimes made her think hard on. How much of herself was Celestia, and how much was Equestria?
Shaking her head, clearing them of those painful thoughts, she trotted out, where two guards near the door swung in step, one to each side of her, as she headed for a carriage yet again. Back to Ponyville, and to discover what it was that her sister had found from this portal of Discord's.
o.O.o
Carousel Boutique
Ponyville
12:02 P.M.
For a minute, Twilight and the three others behind her had simply stood in shock staring at the figure before them, who seemed nonchalant for whatever it was. Then they'd looked at the mint-green unicorn sitting across from it, and had seen how excited, nee, overjoyed she was being in the same room as it. Then they'd looked back at it, who was currently nervously rolling a white stick between what could only be talons or fingers, though they were not sharp like Spikes or a griffons, but rounded and somewhat thinner and longer.
“Well, this little social gathering has gotten off to a good start. I suppose I must start the introductions. My name is Daniel Mays, from Dayton, Ohio. I'm sure you fine ladies (upon noticing the rather masculine features of what could only be a small dragon hidden behind the body of the blue pony glaring at him) and gentleman know Miss Lyra.”
Lyra waved a hoof somewhat nervously.
“I'm afraid I don't know your names though. Rather rude, since I can't call you pony A, pony B, and so forth, can I?”
The four were startled still, and merely nodded. Finally, Lyra, deciding it was best to make introductions before the four in front of them forgot their own names, did it for them.
“Mr. Mays, these are some of Ponyville's more distinguished residents. The pegasus currently glaring at you is Rainbow Dash, the shy, reserved pegasus in back is Fluttershy, and the purple unicorn in front of you is Twilight Sparkle, along with her assistant Spike. Everyone in Ponyville knows them, being the Elements of Harmony and all..well, the first three anyway.”
He mused on that. The Elements of Harmony had been something Luna had glossed over, barely remarking on them other than that they had freed her from a prison of sorts, and they were considered a means of combating grave threats to the land, being the end of the line in terms of power. Which was worrying. While he wouldn't have said anything out loud, privately in his mind, he considered the implications. If two Princesses, both basically near-gods in physical form, could not overcome a great threat, but six fairly ordinary ponies to his eyes were the last hope...well, what sort of weapon could it be used as? Certainly, the power they wielded would cause many diplomats and leaders back home nervous.
Currently, he was dealing with three new ponies, one of whom had been responsi...no, Princess Luna had told him enough after the Applejack incident the night before about what had happened, that the one unicorn standing before him had been used. It was unfair to blame her, since so far nothing of any real damage had been done (other than possibly having him and his men considered deserters, but that thought was shunted carefully into a mental side yard of storage) so far. Best ensure to put the right foot forward. While Rarity and Pinkie had accepted him to a degree (the pink one more so than the elegant unicorn, who he felt had some reservations, but was trying to be polite and a good...something. Host wasn't the right word. Neighbor either. Certainly not friend.
Whatever Rarity's current relationship was, it was at least headway. But now these three were here, without Princess Luna to ease some things. Sure, he'd made what could be called a friend of sorts in Lyra, but currently she was examining the exact grain of the carpeting on the floor, trying to allow the conversation to pass over her. Finally, the purple unicorn indicated earlier as being named Twilight Sparkle broke the long silence.
“Right, well, this is getting kinda awkward. Yes, as Lyra said, I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and my ward slash assistant Spike. As you've already introduced your name, Mr. Mays, I have to ask, what are you?”
Mays twisted his eyes to the ceiling for a second.
“Would you believe me if I said I came here through a glowing, weird bubble from another world?”
Twilight nodded, her friends doing so as well.
“But what are you exactly? I mean, we've never seen anything like you before. Sorry if thats a little rude.”
“Eh, we're all rude at some point in our lives, might as well not get too badly hung up on it. Of course, I'm still trying make sure that I'm not going through a Nebuchadnezzar Phase myself.”
The look on their phases reminded him slang might not be universal everywhere.
“Err, tipsy, soused, four sheets to the wind, drunken?”
“Ohhh...”
In Ponyville, alcohol was a very controlled substance, due to some past incidents involving Berry Punch and the town flagpole and sunflower garden. No one dared give any to Pinkie Pie, for fear of what would happen if her high sugar buzz and alcohol were mixed in her mental cauldron of unpredictability. Indeed, the most alcoholic beverage recently created had been when the Apple Family left a few barrels accidentally sitting in the back of their barn over the last winter. The incident with Big Macintosh earlier in the spring still had not left the minds of many who had seen the sight of the normally quiet Big Mac stumbling down the street, singing about griffons and Twilight for a good five hours, before sprawling in a gutter outside Twilight's library, and mumbling about toys, Twilight and Smarty Pants. The lyrics of the griffon song were especially memorable....
“See the little griffon
See her little talons
Look at her little beaky-weaky
Isn't the griffon sweet?
....Yes!
See her preen her tail,
See her soar up high,
Look at her spread her wingy-wingies
Isn't the griffon sweet?
...Yes!”
Indeed, for several weeks the stallion had been quieter than usual afterward, and had been in an embarrassed self imposed exile from Ponyville by staying at Sweet Apple Acres. It had taken Fluttershy's coaxing and the fact that Applejack needed him to haul the large wagon into town for an important supply run, that he'd been able to leave the farm without a panic attack of nerves. However, they didn't need to worry about the incident being repeated, because Applejack and Apple Bloom had burned the remaining stuff in secret. And Twilight herself had remained politely silent on the issue, not mentioning the display that had occurred outside her home and which had featured her name sung drunkenly in the late afternoon by the large, red stallion.
Twilight looked up at the figure called Mays. His face seemed fairly kind, though she noticed the hard lines of a soldier, from all her days in Canterlot near the Royal Guards.
“If I must be precise, I am a Homo sapien, or “wise or learned man” in Latin. Other shorter words are man or human. Does that answer your question, or do I need to go deeper into the proposed lineage of my entire species according to Darwin's followers?”
“Yeah, I think that answers enough for now on that front. But what are you doing here, in Rarity's shop?”
“She offered to help patch up and clean some of my mens clothes, and I came to town to help her carry them back.”
“Couldn't she have done that herself?”
Rarity, finally finished, walked in.
“Of course, darling, but Mr. Mays wanted to be such a gentle..man, that I felt that it was impolite to refuse his offer. Besides, he offered to give me a basic pattern for humans anyway. They're anatomy is...so, well, different, that I needed a challenge. I've been bored for weeks, since I haven't had a single original idea for dresses or suits at all.”
The drama queen was coming out, and there was no stopping it.
“What was I to do, when someone who could give me inspiration offers to help me? And I've gotten all sorts of new ideas.”
The unicorn tossed her mane to one side, her work glasses settling on her nose a bit more firmly.
“Well, fine...that makes sense. But walking into the middle of Ponyville in broad daylight, with, with, him...sorry, what were you thinking? Half the town is in a state, and the Mayor asked for us to look in on this personally.”
“Twilight, perhaps we could, maybe, ask a bit more, before judging them to harshly, I mean, we want to oh, give a good report to the Mayor, right? That is, if you want to...”
Fluttershy kicked the floor nervously, as did Lyra across the room.
“Yeah, Fluttershy's got a point Twilight. We can't jump to conclusions before we know more, isn't that part of your whole egghead creed or something, Twilight?”
Glaring at Rainbow Dash, Twilight glanced back at Mays. Unusually for Rainbow Dash, who unusually wanted to buck first, ask questions later, had come up with a fairly logical idea.
“Alright, but we've still got a crowd of nervous ponies outside, and the Mayor can't wait on our answer forever. I suppose we'll just have to introduce him.”
Twilight turned on Lyra.
“Lyra, I know someponies have made assumptions about you because of your...interest in humans...”
The mint-green unicorn seemed to go moody at the memories of that sort of thing.
“...but, I need you to talk to Mr. Mays here and get as much information down in thirty minutes as possible. If we can get Mayor Mare to calm down enough, then perhaps the rest of Ponyville will as well. Rarity, you keep doing what you offered to help Mr. Mays with. We might be in a tight spot, but I suppose a promise is a promise.”
“Alright, darling. Mr. Mays, Lyra, if you'll please step into the next room for a second, I need to take some measurements. Lyra, there's pen and paper in the oak desk out in the main room, you can ask Mr. Mays all the questions you want while I'm measuring him.”
Lyra beamed. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“Rainbow, I need you and Fluttershy to stall the ponies outside from storming inside or fleeing Ponyville. Make sure to keep their attention as long as possible.”
“Oh yeah, I can show them my new routine I've been trying to get down to show to the Wonderbolts.”
“Okay...uhm, do I have to do anything loud? I don't think I can do..uh, loud.”
“No, just help Rainbow Dash if she needs it.”
“Oh dear...”
However, her slightly plaintive despair was lost as Rainbow Dash shoved her out the door, wings beating furiously for a second at the weight of the older, but extremely reserved Fluttershy held her back.
“C'mon Fluttershy, lets just do as Twilight says. Besides, I wanna show them my Demolition special.”
“Oh my...”
Twilight sat down, Spike at her side. Her composure broke down, as she listened from next door a three way conversation between Lyra asking question, Mays responding, and Rarity giving minor orders while taking measurements. Twilight fell onto her back, hooves spread akimbo, and a look of tiredness washed over her.
“Oh Spike, what will I tell the princess?”
“Tell her what? That you're managing the situation as you normally do, but organizing the best response available at the time? You've done this before, I don't think Princess Celestia is going to start ignoring you for trying to prevent a situation.”
She turned to him, her mane falling about her face.
“But Spike, what will she do when she discovers that Rarity brought something possibly dangerous to Ponyville, without writing her?”
“Snap out of it Twilight! She's not going to banish you or anything like that. She'll just probably want to discuss the decision with you, or something like that. Heck, she might even thank you for trying to make a tense situation less tense.”
Twilight rolled over for a second, before sitting up. She smacked one hoof into another.
“You're right Spike, I can't let my fears get the best of me. But I'm still kinda nervous.”
“Well don't be. You're Twilight Sparkle, the only pony in town to peacefully halt an Ursa Minor, who stopped Nightmare Moon, and believed in her friends enough in the end to defeat Discord. Whats a single human compared to that?”
A hint of a smile broke out across her face. Suddenly, she reached out and hugged her assistant in the biggest hug possible.
“Twilight...you're...crushing...me....”
Dropping him nervously, she rubbed the back of her neck.
“Sorry Spike, got a bit carried away.”
“Thats...okay.”
Falling to the floor, and out of breath, Spike gave her a thumbs up weakly, before gasping for breath some more.
“You write to the princess, I'll send it. Just give me a minute.”
“Alright Spike. You sure you're okay?”
“Never..uhgh, better.”
“You just lie there for a bit, I'll have that letter ready soon.”
Spike wheezed some more.
“You do that Twilight, you do that.”
o.O.o
Canterlot Castle
12:10 P.M.
Celestia glanced at the carriage that was waiting for her. Inside sat two nervous ponies from the diplomatic corps, usually used to dealing with the burro's across the sea, or the zebra's to the south-west. While they knew not what they were going to be doing, they knew it had to be important for the Princess to command that two of the best diplomats in the corps were to accompany her on a personal mission. Odd that they were being kept in the dark, but they had learned sometimes the state had secrets it needed kept secret.
“Is all ready?”
The captain of the guard, a protege of Iron Gait, by the name of Long Shanks, nodded, his trim beard marking him off as an officer in the royal guard.
“Yes your majesty. We can be at the scene within forty minutes, with the tailwinds that Canterlots weather control has managed to direct today.”
It was said with the military precision she had expected from captains of the guard. To the point, with little embellishment or half-truth's. It was something she admired about them, being able to tell her things without trying to overly please her all the time. Unlike many of the unicorn aristocracy in Canterlot, who wined and dined at the official gatherings with each other to try to get in her good graces. Most she found to be stuffy, arrogant, and boring, and the few she could stand and actually want to talk to too busy doing important things such as managing businesses or ensuring a smooth running of government beyond her immediate control. Those sorts might actually have had something worth saying at times, had not more, cloud-headed ponies, believing their natural superiority interjected themselves between the Princess and those they considered lower down the totem pole.
She nodded in a regal matter at both of them, and then as she entered the carriage, did so at the attentive captain of the guards. At her nod, he gave the order, and the carriage took off into the sky. Thankfully the pegasus weather control station in Canterlot had ensured the least amount of clouds between Canterlot and Sweet Apple Acres, thus ensuring no chances of rainstorms or the like. Deciding that breaking the ice so to speak with the two nervous diplomatic ponies would make the trip less tense, she turned to the male earth pony sitting right next to her.
“I'm afraid I haven't met the two of you before. There are so many ministers and employees, that it becomes hectic at times trying to remember my own name.”
The nervous grin he gave didn't give her much hope for a trip a bit looser of the tense air.
“I'm Straight Quill, and this,” he gestured to his female unicorn partner, “is Stiff Parchment, your majesty.”
He coughed for a second, in a rather nervous manner.
“Is something the matter?”
“No, your majesty, it is just that we were dragged off our last assignment without warning, and thus have no knowledge on what we are to be dealing with. Is it the griffons, or the burro's?”
She paused. What could she say, when her sister had sent barely enough to puzzle out herself on who or what they were dealing with?
“At this time, I can only say that it is a new party to the world political scene, and that you prepare yourself for the unpredictable.”
Both of the diplomatic ponies looked at each other, and gave a worried look. Sighing internally, she did wish that diplomatic ponies could learn to adjust to the unexplainable. It seemed like it would be a long ride to Ponyville now.
o.O.o
Sweet Apple Acres
3:49 P.M.
Princess Celestia was the first in the carriage who saw her sister sitting quietly in the clearing of apple trees, chewing on an apple with little care. If she had heard or seen the carriage arriving, she didn't seem to register it at all, merely continuing to eat the apple. As Celestia stepped out, followed by the two clerks from the diplomatic corps, her sister finally seemed to give notice of events occurring around her.
“Ah, sister, I see you have arrived at last.”
“Luna, are you alright?”
The elder alicorn sister trotted closer, as did Luna.
“Of course. Would I be standing here if I was incommoded or incapacitated dear sister? No, only my mind is working more than it has since I have been given a new lease on life, as some would say. The situation is bigger than thought before, Tia.”
Celestia quietly listened to Luna as she spoke. Sometimes it was better to be a listener than a questioner, because ponies would be more willing to speak if they felt they were free to speak without interruption or interrogation.
“Did you see the portal on your arrival dear sister?”
Celestia nodded.
“Good, otherwise I was afraid we'd have to fly back to it to show it to you. All is well on that front, though how much wellness this situation can be given with those portals across the planet and Equestria is frightening enough to contemplate.”
She gave a nervous look at her older sister.
“Tia, I do not know how to explain all that has happened in just a few words. All I ask is that you come with me to the main part of the farm. Then I think, the visual will explain more than the verbal.
Celestia nodded. This was part of the trust not only between two rules, but friends and sisters, even if she was worried about what she might find. Seeing the look of satisfaction slip across her younger sisters face, which then slid back to one of measured calm and study, she suppressed a internal giggle and an external smile from escaping at the quick change over her sister face. Turning, she beckoned the diplomatic corps ponies to follow behind the them.
“Your letters did not give me much to go on, Luna. Even if the visual might explain more than just words, I am still willing to hear anything you think might be valuable to preface what comes next with.”
Luna walked in silence for a bit before replying.
“Tia, the situation is rather delicate, so I believe that a light hoof is needed to ensure the best face of the Equestrian nation. Which is what I have been trying to do. The world they come from is certainly is different from out own, and some of the views they hold may seem very, very dangerous in some cases. But I feel that if we can show how peaceful we can be, we might be able to ford very troubled rivers with a bit more...ease than else wise we could.”
The look on Luna's face was one of firm conviction. Celestia tried to think of how hard it must be for Luna to have to get back into the diplomatic resolution mind frame of modern times. Deciding a more light-hearted question might help calm things down for a bit.
“Luna, how much did you have to use the Voice?”
Nervously averting her eyes, Luna responded.
“Only a few times. Mainly when assuring that our pitch in baseball was not considered foul.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. Baseball? What in Equestria could Luna have been up to? However, they were approaching the main part of the farm. From it, Celestia could hear the sound of several voices, arguing over something, among them Applejack's. As they entered the main part of the farm, it took even the Princess of the Sun and Day a second to realized what was different. And it took those on the farm a minute to realize that there was a large, white, rainbow-maned alicorn standing nearby, and watching them. Even Celestia herself paused, and her own composure briefly slipped. From legends even before the arrival of the alicorn sisters, stood what she knew from the old books and oral tales, the creatures known as humans. Luna gestured with a wing to them.
“Sister, meet the new arrivals.”
o.O.o
Carousel Boutique
4:09 P.M.
Rarity was annoyed. For one thing, she was used to ponies, who, while varying in body structure in various ways such as height, they were normally on the horizontal plane of design, not the vertical. Which wasn't difficult when dealing with someone short, like Spikey...er, Spike, she mentally corrected herself, it wasn't difficult when dealing with him at his current height. But humans must really drive whoever on their world made clothing to dismay and possibly some hint of insanity as well. It wasn't that she couldn't do the work. It was the fact that unlike ponies, they were harder to keep still. And apparently, needed to use their arms and hands to enunciate the finer points of their verbal communications. She'd had to stick Mays in the rear of the leg a couple of times to enunciate her own needs.
“So, does your world have ponies?”
“Yep. Mules, donkey's, horses, ponies, zebra's, they're all there in some shapely fashion or fashioned form.”
“And do they talk?”
“No. Most of the time they glare at you and attempt to throw you into a rose bush or some other painful object. They're smart, but they have yet to understand the concept of fire, let alone any language that doesn't involve snickering and neighing all the time.”
Lyra was speed writing as fast as her mental telekinesis could move her pen. Already, they'd filled up six pages out of a total twenty on hand, mainly ranging on yes or no questions, with extra details on what animals or beasts were similar or different between worlds. However, now they'd gotten onto the topic of technology.
“So, you don't have magic?”
“Not unless you count vaudeville and theater acts as magic. No, its pretty much steam and to some degree with newer technology, petroleum distillates that power our machinery.”
Rarity jabbed another pin into the back, eliciting a groan of pain from the owner of said leg.
“Gah, I didn't even move that time!”
“You did, right when I was taking an important measurement. Now, hold still.”
“Geez, you could just smack my hand next time. The back of my leg now feels sticky with some of that blood you've drawn with that thing.”
Rarity meanwhile kept on measuring. So thin, what did they not eat enough, or what?
“Ahem...”
“Sorry Lyra, little miss Vlad of Wallachia, or should I say, Ponyville, keeps trying to impale me. GAH. What now!”
“Sorry, slipped that time.”
“You wish.”
“Don't I...”
Lyra rolled her eyes. She had learned in the past hour or so that not only were humans mysterious, but they also used crude language and snide asides more than anypony she knew.
“Alright, if the two of you are done bickering yet.”
“NO!”
Lyra sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon. She sat back, and decided to take a nap as the human and Rarity went at it full tilt, each describing the other in terms that would make most of the Canterlot society types faint in surprise and shock.
o.O.o
Himmel Berg
Bundesvereinigung der Griffon Kurfürstentümer
4:28 P.M.
Sharp Talons and Eagle Nose were brothers, and they enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. Considered by their peers to be the best hunters in all of the Kurfürstentum des Hochwaldes, they were known for their prowess and skill, their ability to lead the hunted animal on, before closing in for the kill in a sudden strike. No other hunters had ever won more trophies, of both the pelt and metal kind. They'd even been awarded by the Emperor for their skills during the great Imperial Hunt of 1890. Now, they were soaring over the lands owned by their father, one of the many electorate princes of the Bundesvereinigung der Griffon Kurfürstentümer, looking for something new.
It was true the brother had hunted many things. They'd killed everything from rabbits to vultures, deer to even the occasional pony that had become “lost“ amongst their vast estates. They did not entirely believe that the practice of the higher court that since ponies and griffons were at peace, they did not need to kill an equally sentient being. But for the two, they believed in the superiority of the griffonic race. That the years of peace made those in court weak from not having tasted the flesh of one of their kinds oldest enemies.
And not much else was safe from them. Both showed the scars of intense battles, for they fought and hunted hard. Sharp Talon's left foot was still gnarled to a degree from their experiences hunting down an Ursa Minor, which had left eighteen of their best beaters dead before the two had struck the killing blow. They made deals with the local magistrate of justice that they would met their own brand of punishment on the criminals caught by the local constables. Many times villagers would see a wagon of prisoners escorted out of the local holding houses, and trundle up to the villa on the Himmel Berg where the two lived most of the year, only to return an hour later empty.
Now, they soared high above the clouds, heading to the west, to the little hunting cottage the two used for some of their more exciting and dangerous hunts.
“Brother, what are your plans for this weekend?“
Sharp Talon cast his right eye in a curious answer to see what his older brother would answer with.
“I'm sure as always that we will find much to hunt. Certainly, after that last pathetic batch of prisoners the magistrate hauled out of the cells, we could do with something more suitable for nobility such as ourselves?“
His younger brother nodded in agreement. There had only been one prisoner worthy of the hunt, who had nearly slipped away after evading them in the forest for several hours, but had been caught when he had made the mistake of trying to use the river as an escape route and to cover his tracks. In repayment for a worthy hunt, he'd been given a quick, painless death, and his body placed in a cremation they gave all their worthy foes. Very few had their ashes in the special pots that decorated the brothers trophy room marking a worthy mark of honor.
Suddenly, the elder brother spotted something new. His thick, Himmel Berg accent cut through the High Old Griffonic tongue the two used to style themselves as the princes of old, compared to that abomination called Equestrian.
“Brother, what is that I spy?“
The younger brother looked. There was a giant bubble of writhing energy sitting in the midst of the forest, and big enough to fly through.
“I'm not sure elder brother, but whatever it is, bears investigation. Do you not agree?“
“Yes...I do, perhaps we can find something interesting on the other side.“
The two turned majestically in the sky, at a turn that would have made a Wonderbolt jealous with its grace. They headed towards the bubble, not sure of what they'd find. Hopefully, there might be something worth hunting.
o.O.o
Hof, Bavaria
German Empire
4:35 P.M.
Constable Dietrich Bernhardt of the Hof Police, glanced at his pocket watch and silently swore. Half-past four and it was yet another boring Saturday afternoon. He shielded his eyes against the fairly bright sun hanging overhead, and groused that there wasn't anything to cover the sun. Tsking, he pulled down the policemans shako he wore and continued on his beat. Hof was fairly vibrant city on the German border, sitting on the river Saale, and a fairly decent place to live, even if it wasn't up to the modern cities of Berlin or Düsseldorf.
Currently his route took him to some of the more remote areas outside the city, and for that he needed his bicycle. Hitching one leg over the seat, he leant over the handle bars and began to pedal. His route was one of the longer ones, sometimes extending out into the countryside proper surrounding Hof. Humming a tune he'd heard recently being played by a wandering musician, he was oblivious to the world for some time. As he neared the end of his route, he heard a scream of terror, and as he looked around to find the source, a little girl came running from behind a house.
"Mutter, Vater, Mutter, Vater ...."
(Mother, father, Mother, father)
Climbing off his bike, he caught her as she ran towards him.
"Kleines Mädchen, was ist denn los?"
("Little girl, what is the matter?")
Her eyes showed terror in them, and she could only blurt out a few things in her panic.
"Die Klauen .... riesigen Adlern .... Mutter, Vater ... Monster"
("The claws....giant eagles....mother, father...monsters")
Dietrich didn't know what she was talking about, but he could tell her terror was real. He unholstered the revolver he had at his hip. Perhaps someone had attacked her family and her mind did not know how to effectively say what had happened. If so, it was best to have a firearm at hand should he encounter some violent brigands. He approached the rear of the house. A rank, familiar odor came to his nose. It was almost like the smell of the slaughterhouses he had worked in years earlier.
As turned the corner, he noticed two things. One was the odor was much stronger now. The second was the creature leaning over a body. Stepping forward, his mind raced as it recognized exactly what it was. A griffon for sure, with the leonine lower body, and the raptor upper body were familiar as being part of some of the Christian lore of the Catholic church and being part of Germanic legends. He also saw that the things beak was stained red. He thumbed the hammer on his revolver, which drew its attention. Its pupils shrank as it regarded him. It made a move as if to come at him, but he noticed it glance over his shoulder, and heard the light flapping of wings. Dietrich darted for a nearby tree, with a second griffon close behind. Ducking under a branch just barely, he heard it smack into it. Had to get somewhere where his back wasn't exposed. The first one from before was charging now, but he fired off a shot from his gun, hitting it in the middle of one of its wings.
The shriek it gave startled him less than the fact it began cursing in German.
"In der Kaiser-Namen, das tut weh wie die infernoes der Unterwelt!"
("In the emperors name, that hurts like the infernoes of the underworld!")
While it stopped, he snapped off two more shots, hoping to hit it somewhere. Apparently he hadn't, as it scurried off, while its twin continued to hunt him. The injured one he could see hiding behind a overturned wheelbarrow, and it shouted to its twin.
“Bruder, hast du die unverschämten Affen gefunden?"
("Brother, have you found the impertinent ape?")
"Nein Sharp Talon, ist er unter dem Baum."
("No Sharp Talon, he's under the tree.")
Great, thought Dietrich, they're smart. And angry. I've got smart and angry bird-lions hunting me. Daring to look up, he could see the shape of the other one glide overhead. Glancing back at the one behind the barrow, he saw it peek its head over the top. He had three shots left. Hand wobbling, he aimed from behind the tree at its head, and pulled the trigger. It only took a second for the result to become clear. The scream of pain and rage from the one overhead told him he must have succeeded, and looking back, saw the form of the griffon behind the barrow, sprawled dead in the dirt.
A furious beating of wings grabbed his attention again. It seemed to be heading to the south-west, away from town and the scene of the fight. Waiting a second, he came out. The second griffon was gone. Dietrich thought of the little girl and headed back to the street out front. Already a crowd was gathering nearby, and he saw the little girl clutching the dress of a nearby neighbor. A nearby businessman in suit and tie, who seemed to represent the crowd, came forward.
“Offizier, was ist denn los? Wir hörten Schüsse und Geschrei. "
(“Officer what is the matter? We heard gunfire and screaming.“)
Dietrich holstered his gun. How to explain. From nearby, he heard the shouts of a couple more of his fellow officers. Up came Sgt. Krup and Officer Bilderbeck.
"Officer Bernhardt, was ist los? Wir haben gerade von einer Frau sagen, dass geflügelte Ungeheuer angegriffen hatte jemand angesprochen worden, und dass es Schüsse auch. Pflege zu beantworten?"
("Officer Bernhardt, what is going on? We've just been accosted by a woman saying that winged monsters had attacked someone, and that there was gunfire as well. Care to answer?")
Dietrich rubbed the back of his neck, then scratched his hair, pushing his short shako forward. He was still trying to understand all what had transpired himself. Sgt. Krup meanwhile was getting impatient.
"Sergeant, ich glaube es. Besten, wenn Sie mir folgen aus dem allein zurück, und ich denke, es wäre klug, diese Menschen zurückhalten."
("Sergeant, I think it best if you follow me out to the back. Alone, and I think it would be wise to keep these people back." )
Glaring, but agreeing, Krup ordered officer Bilderbeck to stand on duty, and wait till more officers arrived. Grimly, he followed Dietrich out back, his own nose wrinkling at the smell. However, he soon understood why Dietrich had wanted to keep people back. There were not only the bodies of the girls young parents, certainly not a pretty sight now...but also the remains of a large, and undeniably real griffon, part of its head taken by a bullet.
"Mutter Gottes. Was zum Teufel ist das für ein Ding?"
("Mother of God. What the hell is that thing?")
Dietrich didn't say anything. He could already here more police officers out front, keeping the crowd back. Whatever this thing was, it had a brother according to the dialect those things had shared between them. And if it had a brother, and they were smart...well, that was not a good thing to dwell on right now. However, one thing that he didn't think about at the moment was where it had come from....
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“See the little griffon
See her little talons
Look at her little beaky-weaky
Isn't the griffon sweet?
....Yes!
See her preen her tail,
See her soar up high,
Look at her spread her wingy-wingies
Isn't the griffon sweet?
...Yes!”
Oh dear! I'm sure this incident could have been more embarrassing with a lost bet, an ostrich feather up the bottom, and suspiciously shaped vegetables, but thankfully things didn't go that far.
Great chapter. Things just got complicated with the Griffons and Germans.
The BdGK sounds like a HRE analogue. Am I to assume that there's a Griffon version of Prussia and Austria vying for supremacy within this confederation?
I'm no native German speaker (I'm only in the process of learning this dreaded language), but "Bundesvereinigung" sounds a bit odd to me. I've only seen that word used in a business or administrative context, not a geopolitical one. The Swiss Confederation, on the other hand, is an "Eidgenossenschaft," which I think would be a better word. Or just "Bund." Also, according to German Wikipedia at least, the proper word for griffon is "Greif." So in the end, I would (tentatively) translate "Confederation of Griffon Electorates" as "Eidgenossenschaft der Greif-Kurfürstentümer." I'm kinda iffy on whether griffon in there is supposed to be a noun or an adjective, or a separate word or a compound, because German is just confusing like that.
I noticed some grammar errors here and there, like sentences ending without any periods. I also spotted Luna saying that Rarity and Mays were in safe "hands," which should be hooves.
But anyways, nice chapter. Like to see where things go from here.
208875
1.Oh dear! I'm sure this incident could have been more embarrassing with a lost bet, an ostrich feather up the bottom, and suspiciously shaped vegetables, but thankfully things didn't go that far
A. It was my way of doing that Blackadder joke without having that particular fictional character from Earth actually exist.
2.)Great chapter. Things just got complicated with the Griffons and Germans.
The BdGK sounds like a HRE analogue. Am I to assume that there's a Griffon version of Prussia and Austria vying for supremacy within this confederation?
A. It is a HRE analogue, and there are Griffon versions of the aforementioned nations, but they come into play later. However, the Prussian analogue also has the our world industrial properties of the Rhurland area, making it a political, military and economic power all in one, but is uses its first big stick, political clout, to ensure things go its way first...
3. ) I'm no native German speaker (I'm only in the process of learning this dreaded language), but "Bundesvereinigung" sounds a bit odd to me. I've only seen that word used in a business or administrative context, not a geopolitical one. The Swiss Confederation, on the other hand, is an "Eidgenossenschaft," which I think would be a better word. Or just "Bund." Also, according to German Wikipedia at least, the proper word for griffon is "Greif." So in the end, I would (tentatively) translate "Confederation of Griffon Electorates" as "Eidgenossenschaft der Greif-Kurfürstentümer." I'm kinda iffy on whether griffon in there is supposed to be a noun or an adjective, or a separate word or a compound, because German is just confusing like that.
A. This is partially due to translation convention. While they use German, it is a griffonic version of German, as stated it is “High Old Griffonic”, which has some different conventions from our real world German. Therefore, they have words or conventions which are both similar and different than our worlds German languange. Consider also that German would sound slightly different from our mouth structure, to one going through a large, raptors beak, and you have some variances there.
Also, the Bundesvereinigung is used due to the rather tenous nature of Griffonic politics (basically Roman Empire style assassinations and backstabbing occuring a lot), its considered more of a business and administrative coalition so to speak, than any actual nation. Thus, they would use a less geopolitical name, and one that reflects the wider held views of griffons in power on the exact nature of the states that make it up.
4.) I noticed some grammar errors here and there, like sentences ending without any periods. I also spotted Luna saying that Rarity and Mays were in safe "hands," which should be hooves.
A. While that is a mistake, its a bit on her part, as she's unconciously dealing with ponies, which have hooves, and humans which have hands. Simple slip of the tongue when dealing with a stressful situation.
Those mistakes will be checked over and fixed sometime by Sunday.
Now, I know some of these are not ideal answers, but they're the explanations I came up for myself when writing this, so I felt it fit to explain my reasonings for some things.
I wonder how this will effect history. Will Germany and the Griffons go to war?...Probably. Griffons are carnivorous, head strong creatures. War is something they look forward to.
I can't wait until the next chapter.
209767
Well, history is going to change for Germany in a way. All I can say is, they're going to get their place in the sun. Also, by the end of chapter nine, Kaiser Wilhelm II will either become badass, or a complete monster, dependent on ones own personal feelings on some matters. And the Griffons are going to discover that simply being the best warriors on one world does mean its a universal standard everywhere else.
Also, the next chapter is going to reveal where the other portals are besides the ones in America and Germany. Mainly so people don't think this is entirely Amerocentric in tone, but also to show the more global perspective.
Another fairly good chapter. The only major problems that I've noticed is that seems to be heading toward "humanity wank" somewhat especially given the time period that this is supposed to be taking place.
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A valid concern. Yes, humans currently will have the stronger edge. Equestria is a land free from great strife (except when Discord or other magical malevolent entities decide to muck about). Certainly, on an industrial scale, we're better off economically in some cases.
However, things aren't going to be totally great. For example, the Eight Nation Alliance has forced the Chinese government to make another "unbalanced treaty" at the end of the Boxer Rebellion. Lot of resentment right there. The Russo-Japanese war is around the corner, and in exactly 13 years, the Great War will begin (which ends up killing almost a whole generation off throughout Europe). Also, there's racial, sexual, and age tensions up the wazoo. African-Americans are treated like third-class citizens in the states in some zones, almost like the last war never happened. In Europe, simmering ethnic tensions and nationalism are bubbling, and the Austria-Hungarian and Russian thrones sit precariously, balanced between quiet mutterings on the oppressiveness of their regimes, and full out rebellion/revolution.
In Asia, we see how Japan is going to collide with Russia and China, especially after World War I and the Manchurian issue comes about. In Africa, we have colonies sitting uncomfortably close to one another, and tribal lands shunted about, which will create huge political problems down the road (Rwanda in the 1990's is one example of Colonial empires mucking about and leaving political scars that would cause trouble).
Looking at all this, humans at the turn of the century are a massive group of beings that don't get along, are fairly disharmonious, and certainly not unified under any sort of leadership groups that would allow for greater harmony as in Equestria. Plus, there's all the other animals on the planet Equestria is located. Manticores, Hydra's, Dragons, Ursa's, Timber Wolves, etc, which will cause massive damage to Earth if they get through and breed in any number.
I'm not going to lie, for now humanity has the edge currently. But 1901 technology is not post-WWII technology. We've still got bolt action rifles being accepted, and tactics and strategy for wars that date back almost half a century. How does a society without flight, even in primitive form, stop a huge, rampaging dragon? Imagine one unleashed in Paris, St. Petersburg, or Istanbul. Nothing short of rail-artillery would be able to hurt it enough.
And thats not going into the magic which exists in Equestria, but not on our world. To be frank, on their home turf, Equestrians, if given time, preparation, and the like, would be able to do something (especially if they have nations here who want to help them).
I'm trying not make humanity the "bestest species ever evolved", and if it does come across that way, blame someone trying to write and edit this in seven days, so it can be released the next week (that, and author is a moron who can't write worth pig spit if you feel that fits better).
And I will say it write now. Things will not go perfectly for Equestria and Earth all the time. In fact, by about chapter seven, there's gonna be some who don't like the situation, and will take it out on both sides, because the concept is so alien, so unearthly, that they feel this cannot be. Equestrians are going to be sickened to some degree by the racism, sexism, ageism, ethnic conflict, war, etc, that humans inflict on each other. And humans are going to look at a world with talking magical ponies, ruled by godesses in physical form, and be genuinely afraid. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to have both sides wipe each other out (thats dark even beyond my standards for the second book I've got in mind).
So, I hope that my explanation, even if not entirely satisfactory, at least was something of an attempt to explain my thought processes on your concern. I hope you keep reading, and I'll try to keep any sort of overpowering or "Earth/Equestria-wanking" on the down low or try to kill it before it grows.
Thanks, and have a good week.
LV
I have to disagree on this somewhat. While the majority of the nation is largely free of troubles, there's no reason to think that the nations that don't have immortal rulers at the helm aren't going to have the usual wars or steady military advancements that any real word nation has. Not to mention the how some parts of the wildlife and even plants seem to range from absurdly dangerous to almost deathworld-lite when considered seriously.
Technology and magitech equivalent certainly more then likely to have progressed in some other directions but I can't really see Earth having some type of super advantage. Most military technology even up to the very early fifties isn't going to be anything particular new but instead the refinement of things that have been in use in some form for decades if not in the case of centuries. Not saying that there aren't areas where isn't going to surprise Equestria as I can think several but it probably should be a two way street.
The only mindbogglingly piece of military tech that I can really think (for Equestria) that Earth would have in OTL is the development of atomic bombs and rocketry. Most everything else are things that Equestria already has like aerial capability or a reason to have already some type of equivalent like a magical version of radar or to least have started consideration of.
Interestingly enough given the existence of magic and magitech which would probably let various nations cut a few corners and cheat a bit, along with how going by Fausts comments Equestria-the-Nation is technologically speaking at least in the late fifties I could see a lot of Equestia-the-World's military tech falling closer to steampunk and clockwork.
...Possibly with their equivalent of a tank, if they have one, being closer to Wells original idea of the Land Ironclads.
Tactics are a entirely different story but that should hit both ways with both worlds having their own areas of experience; though I could easily see humanity having more experience in general war.
Just curious on hearing your thoughts on this but why?
Not to mention the utter hell that was the Congo Free State.
Or Europe forcing their social mores and mindset onto North Africa and later following WWI the Middle East, which ironically was in some ways a tad more modern in how they viewed certain things. Or current Banana Wars that the United States is happily doing in Central America at this time.
To be fair Equestria-the-nation does have racism at leas to some degree and have been shown to be at least somewhat standoffish when it comes to other races. It's largely the more modern and current form of racism but it does seem to exist to some degree. And don't forget that the nation itself is basically the superpower of its world, ruled by a immortal ruler who seems to genuinely care for her subjects, has a standard of living that seems fairly equal to the first world, and the ability to control the weather and nature. All that together is going to make any nation a absurdly happy and harmonious place to live. Judging the rest of the world by them is possibly equivalent of judging Earth by Holland or Switzerland.
It also helps that Ponyville is basically a small prosperous town.
Or the plant life which is possibly even worse and has is unfortunately for the people living nearby even more likely to get across and spread.
But this also brings up one of the areas which would spur potential military technology and tactics for Equestrai-the-world out of necessity. Even in real life wildlife could be hazardous for settlers, here we have creatures that could potentially wipe out unlucky nations by themselves in the case of the larger or smarter ones.
And that's not getting into the ones are just malicious who now that I think of it might try to get to Earth simply to spread misery.
...Thinking about it and I suspect that most early tactics on the Equestrai-the-world side would've started out as hit and run tactics that evolved into a Blitzkrieg like mindset. The general mindset of trying to slug it out or zerg rushing would be too dangerous given the various monster and more magical species but I think I'll consider that some other time.
Or the Ursa Majors which would be far, far worse.
But more seriously one of the main reason that I was raising complaints is that once Earth starts getting over it's shock when it comes Equestria and the general public gets off their high at the thought of benevolent technologically and spiritually advanced aliens (pony looking or not, quite a few prominent people are going to have a metaphorical high from this), if doesn't have the ability to show that can defend themselves to a sufficient level then various nations are Earth are going to attempt 'rape of the Americas and Africa MKII', with the potential for even more racism and genocide.
Possibly Equestria-the-world being more advanced then Earth military wise but quite a bit less knowledgeable in how to actually use their abilities in a general conflict?
Thanks! That seems to becoming something of a bad epidemic in the humans meet Equestria stories.
Don't have the Equestrian's be too innocent please. The racism and ethnic issues, along with wars probably exist to some degree one their world. Though more then likely nowhere near how bad it is even in the better parts of Earth right now.
Religious issues certainly are going to be ...interesting with the existence of Celestia and Luna. Also is there any chance to see how this might effect some of the more interesting characters of the time? This is near the end of benevolent alien phrase and near when people started to get very the interested in the paranormal and pseudo-science, quite a few of them pretty damn prominent world shaking figures. Equestria's existence should cause some interesting ripples.
Not to mention how this might effect the writings of Arthur C Doyle who had a fairly large interest in the paranormal, Wells who helped to somewhat usher in the end the benevolent alien phrase when released War of the Worlds, and Lovecraft who is well ...Lovecraft. More seriously Equestria's existence is going to cause problems for Marxism as it is currently and possibly boost the basic framework behind fascism a degree.
Also I wouldn't be too surprised by some of the soldiers currently in Equestria trying to offer some the ponies business deals. Given that if this Equestria is similar to the canon one it has a lot things that people would be interested in buying just on the civilian market, something that at least some of the soldiers are probably going to realize pretty quickly.
Yep and thanks! And I certainly will continue reading I might not always agree with you but this is being a great fic and I'll admit I'm not completely innocent either given that lean somewhat toward Equestria wankery at times.
Same.
Edit: This turned out to quite a bit larger then I thought it would; sorry about that.
how fun the griffans think there a threat to humans when in all reality griffans to humans are little more than canon fodder even back than
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1.) I have to disagree on this somewhat. While the majority of the nation is largely free of troubles, there's no reason to think that the nations that don't have immortal rulers at the helm aren't going to have the usual wars or steady military advancements that any real word nation has. Not to mention the how some parts of the wildlife and even plants seem to range from absurdly dangerous to almost deathworld-lite when considered seriously.
Technology and magitech equivalent certainly more then likely to have progressed in some other directions but I can't really see Earth having some type of super advantage. Most military technology even up to the very early fifties isn't going to be anything particular new but instead the refinement of things that have been in use in some form for decades if not in the case of centuries. Not saying that there aren't areas where isn't going to surprise Equestria as I can think several but it probably should be a two way street.
The only mindbogglingly piece of military tech that I can really think (for Equestria) that Earth would have in OTL is the development of atomic bombs and rocketry. Most everything else are things that Equestria already has like aerial capability or a reason to have already some type of equivalent like a magical version of radar or to least have started consideration of.
Interestingly enough given the existence of magic and magitech which would probably let various nations cut a few corners and cheat a bit, along with how going by Fausts comments Equestria-the-Nation is technologically speaking at least in the late fifties I could see a lot of Equestia-the-World's military tech falling closer to steampunk and clockwork.
...Possibly with their equivalent of a tank, if they have one, being closer to Wells original idea of the Land Ironclads.
Tactics are a entirely different story but that should hit both ways with both worlds having their own areas of experience; though I could easily see humanity having more experience in general war.
A. I they had a great advantage for a permanent amount of time. But its more of an immediate advantage in some cases, in that since we're highly industrialized for war in many nations at the time (given the high arms production of the times, what with Gatling, Maxim, Nordenfelt, Browning, and Colt to name a few being among the largest). Not that that means we'd win. It just means that in preparation for war, humanity concievably could have a short term starting advantage in the fight. Let us take Rainbow Dash. She has the sonic rainboom, and the sonic rainbomb, which is basically a small yield tactical explosion as far as we've seen. Should with age, and skill, she can make that explosion in fact bigger, and more destructive...well, lets just say that right there Equestria has an advantage.
Equestria is not totally unprepared for war, its just that since there has been no war in recent memory as far as we know, they're in a time of keeping the peace through diplomacy when they can. That doesn't mean they'll shy away from fighting, but I think I see the princesses using the “silk glove, steel hoof” idea, that they want maintain peacful coexistance, but should they be forced to use violence. Not a good thought.
And yes, this will have some magitek/clocktech/early dieseltech equipment due to running into the magical abilities of Equestrians.
Aerial capability is the Equestrians strong point. They have entire cities (Cloudsdale for example) that are home to ponies for who the sky is their domain. Humans have yet to develop practical heavier than air, and in Germany, Zeppelins are not popular enough to warrant any great need of them just yet. So, Equestria rules the skies in early wars. However as H.G. Wells wrote in “The War in the Air”, you can rule the skies, but if you can't rule the ground or the sea, air power only gets you so far.
Technologically, Equestria is all over the map, so pinning down exactly what they have, and how it works is complicated, since some of the things they create or own are either anologs to earth devices, or something impossible for anything in 1901 to replicate (The Flim Flam Brothers Apple-Picker/Cider Press for one, is highly sophisticated in that regard).
2.) Just curious on hearing your thoughts on this but why?
A. Equestria is a singular entity nation that is the only one we've seen in detail. As far as its possible to tell, the economy is very insular, if only because the writers don't want to go too far beyond the borders because they're concentrating on local issues, and abroad just complicates things. Also, consider the fact the Apple Family has a virtual monopoly on apple growing and selling in Equestria (there may be others, but the size and widespread nature means that there may not be many places where you won't have heard of Apple family apples). While this is a lot of guesswork and personal world-building (you take what you have and extrapolate it) on it, it is a bit of problem in 1901. While the world did not have the global economic ties yet that would exist today, it has the beginnings of cause and effect that would result in Wall Street of 29'.
However, this does not mean Equestria is behind Earth entirely. Certainly, they've got some good things going for them. For example, they've got gems sticking about like nobodies business. Certainly, any types of gems found on Equestria that are not found on Earth, are going to make that a semi-lucrative business. Of course the problem is over-supply and loweing demand because of a flooded market. However, again, we don't know enough about the economic background of Equestria to judge them as well as we could Earth nations at the time. Thus, we can only guess and create based on what we have, which from what is there, is a industrializing, agrarian society with technology falling between 1880 and 1980 (video games in 80 style arcade machines vs pony powered machinery such as the cherry sorter/Apple Family apple press)
While
3.) Not to mention the utter hell that was the Congo Free State.. Or Europe forcing their social mores and mindset onto North Africa and later following WWI the Middle East, which ironically was in some ways a tad more modern in how they viewed certain things. Or current Banana Wars that the United States is happily doing in Central America at this time.
Well, early 20th century Earth was not a nice place to be at times. Certainly, out of the colonial powers Belgiums treatment of its little colonies were pretty horrid. But none can really claim a clean and honorous slate. Germany has/will make an example of the Chinese following the Boxer Rebellion, the U.S. And its Philippine War, and our related South American ventures, Britain and Indian independence, Russia and...well, actually Russia's pretty screwed up whether it had colonies or not. And thats not even including the rest as well.
4.)To be fair Equestria-the-nation does have racism at least to some degree and have been shown to be at least somewhat standoffish when it comes to other races. It's largely the more modern and current form of racism but it does seem to exist to some degree. And don't forget that the nation itself is basically the superpower of its world, ruled by a immortal ruler who seems to genuinely care for her subjects, has a standard of living that seems fairly equal to the first world, and the ability to control the weather and nature. All that together is going to make any nation a absurdly happy and harmonious place to live. Judging the rest of the world by them is possibly equivalent of judging Earth by Holland or Switzerland.
It also helps that Ponyville is basically a small prosperous town.
A.) Yes, this is very true. However, the fact we don't know more about the rest of the world is a problem. Is the lands beyond Equestria's borders wild-lands like the Everfree? Did Discord create monsters and such that still exist, but stay out of the lands protected by the alicorn sisters? We don't know, and thus we can only base Equestria on what we see. We can guess, and we can insinuate, and create, but that doesn't mean we're right. So for sure, there is a very high chance of Equestria being a pony version of Switzerland or some such nation in a world much more like our own in political strife. As one who writes these things, I have to guess and make up stuff for storytelling purposes at times.
5.) Or the plant life which is possibly even worse and has is unfortunately for the people living nearby even more likely to get across and spread.
But this also brings up one of the areas which would spur potential military technology and tactics for Equestrai-the-world out of necessity. Even in real life wildlife could be hazardous for settlers, here we have creatures that could potentially wipe out unlucky nations by themselves in the case of the larger or smarter ones.
And that's not getting into the ones are just malicious who now that I think of it might try to get to Earth simply to spread misery.
...Thinking about it and I suspect that most early tactics on the Equestrai-the-world side would've started out as hit and run tactics that evolved into a Blitzkrieg like mindset. The general mindset of trying to slug it out or zerg rushing would be too dangerous given the various monster and more magical species but I think I'll consider that some other time.
A.
This is true. Many of the creatures from Equestria are either semi-intellgient enough to have sentience (dragons, griffons, and diamond dogs all have some form of sentience, though in the first case it might vary a bit). Ursa Majors and full grown, powerful dragons could certainly run roughshod over any Earthly nation, certainly. Until the advent of airplanes, higher power explosives, and better guns and artillery, an Ursa Major has little that can kill it. Enough firepower might cause it to either a.) get really, really, really, really pissed, or b.) decide that its had enough and head somewhere quieter. It might take WWII era tech to actually wound it mortally.
And as you said, there's the flora. Consider poison joke. If a tactical retreat is made through a poison joke field, and some form of skin contact is made (for example, loose pant legs, brushing against it, falling in, etc), and later, you have a whole bunch of soldiers who aren't gonna be doing any sort of soldiering (or at least effectively doing so), without access to the cure.
6.) Or the Ursa Majors which would be far, far worse.
But more seriously one of the main reason that I was raising complaints is that once Earth starts getting over it's shock when it comes Equestria and the general public gets off their high at the thought of benevolent technologically and spiritually advanced aliens (pony looking or not, quite a few prominent people are going to have a metaphorical high from this), if doesn't have the ability to show that can defend themselves to a sufficient level then various nations are Earth are going to attempt 'rape of the Americas and Africa MKII', with the potential for even more racism and genocide.
Possibly Equestria-the-world being more advanced then Earth military wise but quite a bit less knowledgeable in how to actually use their abilities in a general conflict?
A.) Yes, that may be so in some cases. I wouldn't put is past a group such as the Diamond Dogs to be more advanced than they let on (just that some of them are dumber than fenceposts...)
Plus, we know there are donkey's out there, since Twilight meets a mule in Applebucking Season, and that reguires a horse and a donkey for one to be born. On another site, another fan had the idea of donkeys having a vaguely conquistadorish society, with primitive firearms to boot. Now, I'll not have that same idea (plagurizing is bad), but the concept of a donkey and mule based society in general is a good idea. Plus, there are plenty of other animals that can be adapted as well.
As for “Scramble for Equestria”, the problem is that there are only a few portals, and some in countries, not unclaimed land or colonies on Earth. Plus, some might not be discovered for decades if they're especially remote, and thus would be impractical to shove armies through. Yes, some nations are going to invade (I've started that up with Germany agains the griffons), but what other ones can actually go through besides the United States and Germany is still a mystery right now.
Also, Equestria the nation has three main trump cards if it came to fighting. The Princesses (Control the sun and the moon, plus are very powerful in magic), the Elements of Harmony (lord knows what that could do if they had to weaponize it as an actual weapon, rather than as a tool of imprisonment), and finally, the control of the weather through the pegasi. All of these give the nation some advances over Earth forces, and may be used as “if you invade, you better be prepared for the long haul”.
7.) Thanks! That seems to becoming something of a bad epidemic in the humans meet Equestria stories.
Yeah. Humans fall into three categories really in real life and in fiction like this (and even this is broadly over simplifying. There are completely normal humans, who just want to get through life with the modicum of pain and suffering (middle ground), those who are burned forever into history as names of cursing or horror (extreme negative), and those who are saints among men (extemem positive). Now, I've read some fics where humans are either pretty decent, or at least middle ground, i.e. they just want to stay alive, and don't really act as saints nor demons.
In this, I'm going to try to show the middle ground. We're bad in a lot of respects, but we're good in others. For example, making war into almost an artform and our extreme poverty at the time are examples of the extreme negatives. But, the fact we can be kind, compassionate, and inventive for good purposes is an example middle ground/extreme good. Thats partially what makes us at least interesting. We're hypocrites in a lot of cases, but we're interesting hypocrites. As much as we can teach the ponies, the more we can learn in return. We're not the best, we're just there. Extremes are there, and I can't ignore that we had extremely good people, and extemely bad people kicking about.
8.) Don't have the Equestrian's be too innocent please. The racism and ethnic issues, along with wars probably exist to some degree one their world. Though more then likely nowhere near how bad it is even in the better parts of Earth right now.
Ah, this is one of those big things. I agree, they've got their own problems in some cases in these same areas. But given the nature of the show, we don't see exactly how bad it is. In the two most blatant examples Bridle Gossip and Over a Barrel, we have examples of racism (to a degree on how strange Zecora looks to the residents of Ponyville) and a kinda awkward parable on native vs settlers of the old West (Buffalos vs ponies). Both of these indicate that Equestria isn't the pure as driven snow land we could see it as. However, compared to nations on Earth, they're postively lightweight in some regard. For example, the residents of Ponyvilles take to Zecora, and while some of her stuff is considered odd, she's accepted pretty well (Mayor Mare introduced her as our friend Zecora, which seems to indicate acceptance during Nightmare Night), and the fact that ponies could kill the buffalo, if they had to (horses kicks are might powerful, and Earth ponies are supposed to be the strongest physically in Equestria) but they choose to use other methods of fighting them. In our world, removal came at the point of cannon and repeating rifles.
These however, are also part of the shows way of demonstrating how differences can be overcome and resolutions, even if kind of awkwardly done so, can be found.
It isn't just racism though. There is a very strong classism that while not so prevelant in the smaller communities such as Ponyville (being a sort of mixing ground so to speak). This is very apparent in Canterlot and Manehattan, where the upper class unicorns and nouveau riche such as the Oranges, are either complete and utter cads, twits, or jerks. They're stuffy, pretentious and very classist, and this is no where more evident than the “what is a rooster” incident of Applejacks earlier life, which shows that they pretend to be knowledgable about things when they don't really know much. Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, Fancypants is an exception, being a high class pony who sets trends and seems to not care about where you are from, but what you can do with your talents.
Equestrians are just as prone to human foibles as us, just perhaps in a more contained, less socially ingrained way than it can be here. That is what makes the show good, is that there are ponies who are like a lot of humans, some are decent, some are snobby, some are classy but kind, others are pretending to be classy but are rude jerks.
9.) Religious issues certainly are going to be ...interesting with the existence of Celestia and Luna. Also is there any chance to see how this might effect some of the more interesting characters of the time? This is near the end of benevolent alien phrase and near when people started to get very the interested in the paranormal and pseudo-science, quite a few of them pretty damn prominent world shaking figures. Equestria's existence should cause some interesting ripples.
Not to mention how this might effect the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle who had a fairly large interest in the paranormal, Wells who helped to somewhat usher in the end the benevolent alien phrase when released War of the Worlds, and Lovecraft who is well ...Lovecraft. More seriously Equestria's existence is going to cause problems for Marxism as it is currently and possibly boost the basic framework behind fascism a degree.
Also I wouldn't be too surprised by some of the soldiers currently in Equestria trying to offer some the ponies business deals. Given that if this Equestria is similar to the canon one it has a lot things that people would be interested in buying just on the civilian market, something that at least some of the soldiers are probably going to realize pretty quickly.
A.) Yes, religion is going to be interesting. Certainly, there's going to be arguments on divintiy of ponies with massive powers. Magic is going to cause some problems, if people who think it devils work get involved (instead of say, looking at it as something else.)
Doyle is gonna be in there somewhere. Certainly, he'll have more to go on then some photo of cardboard fairies taken by a couple of young girls to base his spiritualism and whatnot on. Wells was mainly doing a take that to a degree at the British Empire proper and imperialism in general, and I think his views on an all powerful (in both the legal and physical sense) dualarchy (two princesses with fantastic powers) ruling over a land, is probably going to either make him write something on it, or go into a mild depression that the basic idea that some of his ideas just went out the window possibly...
Lovecraft as you say, is Lovecraft. Discord is going to be a royal validation for his own view that there are things beyond our understanding. Course, that depends when, and if he starts writing.
The political ramifications are going to be every which way. Marxism is going to see a society where there are certainly capitalist issues up the wazoo, but that two royal rulers who aren't ineffective dunces or power-mad (let us look over at Billy II and Nicky II for proper examples), and genuinely have created, if not the perfect state, at least one where half the basic sins of our world are less or non-existent in some cases. Fascism is a trickier one to predict, as will other political ideals.
As for the soldiers, well, one has to wait and see....
Now again, none of this can entirely adequetly explain my reasonings for some things (chalk that up to some sleep deprevation and college taking my time and throwing it out the window for a proper answer. If some don't make sense, don't worry, its just that my brain decided to take a holiday. I do like readers who respond and make valid criticisms in a work, because it allows me to better myself and the work. I can't always adequetly answer everything, because while some of this is planned, other parts come at the spur of the moment, and kind of play havoc with any sense of sense I'm trying to instill.
Also, I will try to address any and all valid complaints in the story when I can, and while some of the stuff the reader will have to sit back and believe in the MST3K mantra “Its just a story, I really should relax” for most of it, if your complaint is about something that does seriously detract from the story, I'm welcome to your comments.
So, with this equally drawn out response to a response, again, I say thanks.
LV
Thanks all.
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Domination of the sky and ability to rip people to little chunks somewhat does make them a threat, espeailly if they also possessed the increased toughness and strengh that most of ponies seem to have.
True enough, though I'd suspect it'd become less of a advantage more of something relatively quickly even if neither of the princess's never lifted a hoof. One of the larger advantages that ponies (or at least pegsi and earth ponies) have are the more basic and general powers that most of the entire race has at some level ....which when you start considering them can be somewhat terrifying. The sonic rainbomb for example is impressive but probably not something a lot of pegsi can do, where as just a few weather ponies working together could fairly easily weaponize the weather to produce things like class five tornadoes and massive storms too just being mean and snowing a army under ten feet of snow.
True that.
Interestingly enough I could see most of the older manuals of warfare on Equestria-the-world (and you really need to come with a name for the place) from back before Celestia and Luna appeared being largely similar to modern military tactics and strategy at least to some degree ..which could have some interesting effects on Earth depending on who first manages to get their hands onto to and get it translated.
A lot of the lessons learned OTL during WWI and WWII are things that the three pony tribes would've been confronted with early-on in their history given both their powers and the various monsters, a depressingly large number of which appear at least somewhat sentient (though that just might be Darwinism in action killing off the dumber ones). A book written by a earth pony on tactics is probably going to emphasize things like guerrilla warfare and subversive techniques simply because those would've have had the best chance of working against either of the unicorn or pegsi tribes during any of the periods of interracial conflict much less some of the larger monsters. Almost anything else would probably be rather short and messy.
Though most of said manuals probably did got happily shelved long ago once the ponies decided to live in peace and harmony with each other and then got two physical gods.
Not to mention pegsi who apparently can reach mach speeds and sheer amount of knowledge that they would have on aerial tactics.
But more seriously Equestria shouldn't have that much difficulty holding their own on the ground. Pegsi by themselves could break just about any conventional military force at this point in time through their ability to control the weather and if they where willing to get nasty about it could also devastate just about any nation. Unicorns are basically a mix of walking artillery platforms and special forces mixed into one; if one of decided to put a 'Want-It-Need-It' spell on something and then teleport into a middle of a bunch of troops... and that doesn't even go into their ability to put people to sleep or illusion and invisibility, or various other spells.
And Earth ponies are basically organic terraformers given their abilities to influence plants and animals. They might not be as direct or overtly powerful as the other two tribes but they have the potential to be even nastier on some levels on the long term.
Even without Celestai and Luna, the three tribes would still have have likely been one of the major powers on their world ...thinking about it and the founding of Equestria must have been damn terrifying to any of the other powers what where nearby.
Interestingly submarines and actually now that I think of it most navel technology is something that Equestria is going to be at a disadvantage. It's a area in which they've had no really reason to make any real major advances given all the other options that they've had to getting around.
Going by what Faust has said then Equestria is fairly modernized technologically speaking. They do have things like refrigerators, electricity, radios, computers or at least computing technology and a lot of the other things that you'd expect to find in the last thirty years. Things like cars or even anything more then the more trains weren't exactly needed when earth ponies can apparently pull a train at around the same speed that a bullet train can go at.
Just how important is that, that two sides match technologically?
It would be utterly different and highly interesting to see how various nations on Earth react toward what amounts to a magical and technological advanced race and see how both sides adopt. Also I'd also suggest spacebattles if you'd like help on finding out all what might be in Equestria; there are some real fans of FIM over-there and tend to go over the major details of each episode and can also help on prereading and probably have some good comments on things.
They do have some pretty large cities like Manehatten which suggests at least some outside trade; especially as Equestria would've had some massive advantages over any other power given the abilities of the three tribes. Something that Celestia and Luna's arrival would merely have strengthened as it meant that they wouldn't have to worry so hard by being ravaged by some super-monster or something similar. Magitech and then later also technological devices, produce produced by earth ponies kept largely fresh by either unicorns or earth ponies, banking for much the same reason that Switzerland became the banking center of the world, weather control, collages and universities, ect.
Industrially speaking they've probably also already become largely switched over to having machines do a lot of the work in factories like they do here in OTL. Their hooves might be a lot, lot more flexible then any real life creatures but there is a limit to how much they'd be able to make and hiring unicorns in order to TK things would get costly ...which probably also explains why they might have switched in some areas from magitech to technological. Unicorns would probably still be hired to do fine-tuning and hold specialized jobs but not be quite so absurdly important.
I'd say that probably has more to do with racial and cutie mark talents then anything else. Earth ponies pretty much are going to utterly dominate any fields dealing with agriculture given their power over nature and cutie marks mean that once a family or organization that has gotten past the second and third generation focusing on a thing, that their going to have a monopoly on producing that said item in its best form. Other families might see apples that last longer or are perhaps a bit more tasty but Apple Family can sell the the most at cheaper prices.
...It does help too that the Apple Family is pretty much less of a single family or two and instead seems to be a entire clan that scattered across Equestrai, something that also gives them a major advantage in selling things.
To be fair ponyville is a small agriculture town out in the country and we do know that they have pretty major sized cities that seem well industrialized in the modern sense of the word. The pony powered machinery actually makes quite a bit sense when you consider just strong Equestrians seem to be. Earth ponies for example going by what we see in show physically stronger and more durable then any land animal in real life. Their ability to pull something at bullet train speeds with just few other ponies means that a lot machinery that we use to deal with heavily objects or to operate other machinery would either be something of a downgrade from a earth ponies physical abilities or a lot more expensive then just hiring one or two more ponies.
Just thought that the Congo Free State certainly deserved a mention in the list of things that would currently be going on in Africa at this point.
Don't forget Unicorn magic, and that they can possibly pool their power together...
I was thinking more of the superhumanism that seems to be running around. Smarter then any other race, stronger then a earth pony, needed to save the ponies because they're utterly incapable doing it themselves, awing every Equestrian that meet, ect...
Though what what you commented is also something of a problem.
Agreed.
On ther other hand this probably one of the better times introduce it given how the paranormal is already starting to become popular among the upper class. On magic I can see things sorta going like they did in Gurps Technomagic in which had magic returning following WWII where greed and needs of the moment wins out over fears of witchcraft and religious fears.
Certainly once the government realizes the advantage to be had of hiring weather ponies and farmers, which their should be at least soldiers from such backgrounds, are quickly going to realize the advantages of having a partnership with a earth pony interested in farming. Combined with the dangers of other governments getting their hands of magitech and the popular opinion at this point almost expecting that another race might have advanced 'mental powers' I wonder if they'll just try to say that ponies are epsers or psionics instead of mentioning magic.
...Ye gods I didn't consider it but psudoscience is probably going it a boost in this timeline, or at least stay around longer.
Yay! That should be interesting; I can certinally see Twilight being a major fan of the Sherlock Holmes.
True but the 'War of the Worlds' from what I understand is what help introduce the idea that if humanity encountered a advanced race that it'd probably treat humanity like how the Western World was at that time treating Africa and New Zealand into popular culture. On the other hand there are aspects of it that he probably would just love.
It'll be interesting to see what you might do with him.
Point. Hadn't considered it'd be a while for he really started his writing career.
Wonder if the existence of Celestia and Luna means that cosmic horrors in this timeline are going to featuring the equivalent to the Elder Gods, or if writers are going to say something like that either that humans just aren't important enough to have their own gods or ponies are actually things man-was-not-meant-to-know.
On the other hand some of core tents are going to have been proven flat false such as how supernatural apparently does exist and that there things could be considered gods.
Hobbes's Leviathan is probably going to suddenly become popular again. But I was mainly thinking that it might boost fascism might come about because elements of Equestria culture are things that I suspect that fascism might try to claim shows there 'rightnous' of their ideals.
...Which is somewhat frightning given how damn popular it used to be.
More then alright, Don't feel the need to rush this is something that will staying interesting even if it takes several weeks or a month or two between chapters.
Thanks! And I will do my best to keep that in mind, as I do sometimes lose sight of that.
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1.) True enough, though I'd suspect it'd become less of a advantage more of something relatively quickly even if neither of the princess's never lifted a hoof. One of the larger advantages that ponies (or at least pegsi and earth ponies) have are the more basic and general powers that most of the entire race has at some level ....which when you start considering them can be somewhat terrifying. The sonic rainbomb for example is impressive but probably not something a lot of pegsi can do, where as just a few weather ponies working together could fairly easily weaponize the weather to produce things like class five tornadoes and massive storms too just being mean and snowing a army under ten feet of snow.
A.) Yes, that is true. Pegasi in Equestria can control the weather with a finite hoof so to speak. They control all weather in most urban or heavily populated rural areas, and do indeed make it so that life can get along in Equestria without bother. However, this is also a world where magic exists.
Meanwhile, magic doesn't exist on Earth. There will be magic crossing over, but think of it like an empty water bottle being put into a full sink of water. The water in the sink goes into the bottle, but once its filled, it can't be pulled out and refilled or emptied. So, Equestria has enough magic for it to work, but on our home turf, while they'll be able to control the weather, they'll have the problem of the lesser control because there isn't enough background magic like back home. Its an equalizer. Neither humans nor ponies are overly powerful on the other turf. Mainly this is also to prevent the whole “if ponies can do magic, why can't humans?”
2.) True that.
Interestingly enough I could see most of the older manuals of warfare on Equestria-the-world (and you really need to come with a name for the place) from back before Celestia and Luna appeared being largely similar to modern military tactics and strategy at least to some degree ..which could have some interesting effects on Earth depending on who first manages to get their hands onto to and get it translated.
A lot of the lessons learned OTL during WWI and WWII are things that the three pony tribes would've been confronted with early-on in their history given both their powers and the various monsters, a depressingly large number of which appear at least somewhat sentient (though that just might be Darwinism in action killing off the dumber ones). A book written by a earth pony on tactics is probably going to emphasize things like guerrilla warfare and subversive techniques simply because those would've have had the best chance of working against either of the unicorn or pegsi tribes during any of the periods of interracial conflict much less some of the larger monsters. Almost anything else would probably be rather short and messy.
Though most of said manuals probably did got happily shelved long ago once the ponies decided to live in peace and harmony with each other and then got two physical gods.
A.) This may be true. But consider this. The American Civil War, while technically modern, still had a large use of tactics almost Napoleonic in terms of how armies manuvered in the field. And now things are changing where it is no longer a single battle will win or lose a war, but a series of protacted campaigns that cost time, money, and blood to win.
Add into the pre-WWI resistance to understanding new technologies as being beneficial to the next war (Europeans, fighting one another, what rot sir, what rot). While it isn't true that every officer everywhere was a ninny or dunderhead, there was resistance in a lot of ingrained parts of numerous armies to adapting to new times, mainly because of tradition and money (always important that, got to keep it cheap, else people will complain we're spending more on Maxim guns than on subways or agriculture...).
Also, in this universe, WWI is going to be like ours in terms of how its fought, but more exact specifics are a bit more...vague. Sure, there's plenty the ponies can teach us, but wanting to is the important thing. And that all depends if the books are kept in actually useful places, or dinged up in a broken lavatory in the bottom of a planning office, with the words “Beware the Leopard” on a small card on the lavatory door being their location.
3.) Not to mention pegsi who apparently can reach mach speeds and sheer amount of knowledge that they would have on aerial tactics.
But more seriously Equestria shouldn't have that much difficulty holding their own on the ground. Pegsi by themselves could break just about any conventional military force at this point in time through their ability to control the weather and if they where willing to get nasty about it could also devastate just about any nation. Unicorns are basically a mix of walking artillery platforms and special forces mixed into one; if one of decided to put a 'Want-It-Need-It' spell on something and then teleport into a middle of a bunch of troops... and that doesn't even go into their ability to put people to sleep or illusion and invisibility, or various other spells.
And Earth ponies are basically organic terraformers given their abilities to influence plants and animals. They might not be as direct or overtly powerful as the other two tribes but they have the potential to be even nastier on some levels on the long term.
Even without Celestai and Luna, the three tribes would still have have likely been one of the major powers on their world ...thinking about it and the founding of Equestria must have been damn terrifying to any of the other powers what where nearby.
Interestingly submarines and actually now that I think of it most navel technology is something that Equestria is going to be at a disadvantage. It's a area in which they've had no really reason to make any real major advances given all the other options that they've had to getting around.
A.) Yes, I agree on many points. The pegasi rule the sky, the earth ponies the land, and the unicorns magic. Combined, they are part of the reason Equestria would still be a formidable power, even without the sisters.
Personally, a scene I'm looking forward to writing is Sopwith Camels landing on a pegasi airstrip (the planes and pilots having been given a version of Twilights cloud walking spell to allow them to walk/land on clouds), and a bunch of RAF and pegasi fighters get plastered in a nearby tavern after the last mission.
Thinking about it, humans with heavy traditional firepower, plus moving cloud-airstrips, combined with pegasi and their weather abilities, is also a intreguing thought. Not only would there be as much constant worry about being caught on the ground so to speak, but fighter cover could be extended to early bombers, because of the cloudbases ability to move with a front or force as needed.
4.) Going by what Faust has said then Equestria is fairly modernized technologically speaking. They do have things like refrigerators, electricity, radios, computers or at least computing technology and a lot of the other things that you'd expect to find in the last thirty years. Things like cars or even anything more then the more trains weren't exactly needed when earth ponies can apparently pull a train at around the same speed that a bullet train can go at.
Just how important is that, that two sides match technologically?
It would be utterly different and highly interesting to see how various nations on Earth react toward what amounts to a magical and technological advanced race and see how both sides adopt. Also I'd also suggest spacebattles if you'd like help on finding out all what might be in Equestria; there are some real fans of FIM over-there and tend to go over the major details of each episode and can also help on prereading and probably have some good comments on things.
A.) I'm not saying they're not advanced. Just that they have a healthy dose of what TVTropes likes to call “Schizo Tech”, different technologies from period making it to another. As I stated, they have electricity (hydroelectric dam in “Mare Do Well”, and lights in the hospital in “Read it and Weep”) do indicate it exists. Its just that some of it is partially to differentiate how Equestria is different from other worlds, and partially do to writers doing different things. So, they have a wide spread, leaning in heavy modern standards on some issues, but not so much in others I believe, because the need may not be there for certain items that it needs to go to full-scale production.
5.) They do have some pretty large cities like Manehatten which suggests at least some outside trade; especially as Equestria would've had some massive advantages over any other power given the abilities of the three tribes. Something that Celestia and Luna's arrival would merely have strengthened as it meant that they wouldn't have to worry so hard by being ravaged by some super-monster or something similar. Magitech and then later also technological devices, produce produced by earth ponies kept largely fresh by either unicorns or earth ponies, banking for much the same reason that Switzerland became the banking center of the world, weather control, collages and universities, ect.
Industrially speaking they've probably also already become largely switched over to having machines do a lot of the work in factories like they do here in OTL. Their hooves might be a lot, lot more flexible then any real life creatures but there is a limit to how much they'd be able to make and hiring unicorns in order to TK things would get costly ...which probably also explains why they might have switched in some areas from magitech to technological. Unicorns would probably still be hired to do fine-tuning and hold specialized jobs but not be quite so absurdly important.
A.) True. Such cities as Manehatten and Fillydelphia are most likely large, urban cities with a strong industrial core nearby (Manehatten I would hazard, would be similar to our world Manhattan, as being a banking center, corporation headquarters area, and cultural center, with industry concentrated in outlying districts.
And the unicorn thing makes sense, since the Hearth's Warming Eve seems to hint at the division of society somewhat similar to modern times (Unicorns in Canterlot at least are aristocracy, or a major part of it, Pegasi are still head-strong in some cases, but are the controllers of the weather, and Earth ponies are still agricultural masters.
6.) I'd say that probably has more to do with racial and cutie mark talents then anything else. Earth ponies pretty much are going to utterly dominate any fields dealing with agriculture given their power over nature and cutie marks mean that once a family or organization that has gotten past the second and third generation focusing on a thing, that their going to have a monopoly on producing that said item in its best form. Other families might see apples that last longer or are perhaps a bit more tasty but Apple Family can sell the the most at cheaper prices.
...It does help too that the Apple Family is pretty much less of a single family or two and instead seems to be a entire clan that scattered across Equestria, something that also gives them a major advantage in selling things.
A.) True. Earth ponies will have a natural inclination to be masters or at least involved greatly in agricultural endeavors. And the Apples are technically a possible legal definition of monopoly in some ways. Having a wide-spread access to almost all means of growing of the fruit, and certainly do hold a market on the local cider market in Ponyville (though “Cider Squeezy 6000” hints there may be more families besides the apples out there).
Speaking of the two fast-talking, glad-rag wearing unicorns, they're about to learn what happens when the Apple Family is backed by human lawyers...
7.) To be fair ponyville is a small agriculture town out in the country and we do know that they have pretty major sized cities that seem well industrialized in the modern sense of the word. The pony powered machinery actually makes quite a bit sense when you consider just strong Equestrians seem to be. Earth ponies for example going by what we see in show physically stronger and more durable then any land animal in real life. Their ability to pull something at bullet train speeds with just few other ponies means that a lot machinery that we use to deal with heavily objects or to operate other machinery would either be something of a downgrade from a earth ponies physical abilities or a lot more expensive then just hiring one or two more ponies.
A.) True, though again, they're also pulling passenger trains, with possible freight as well (given we never see more than the interiors of a few cars. Earth trains are mainly freight based, meaning they have to be more powerful to pull a heavier load, in more cars, than the ponies would need (given size to weight ratios of the cars, and their capacity, plus the type of cargo that might be transported.
Also, since we don't know the exact distances between Appleloosa, Dodge Junction, Canterlot, and Ponyville, its hard to say. Plus, the train-ponies were seen in one episode. Since then, its been the colorful, non-pony pulled one thats been seen.
8.) Just thought that the Congo Free State certainly deserved a mention in the list of things that would currently be going on in Africa at this point.
A.) Of course, as is a bunch of other crap that will bite not only the native tribes in the butt in about ninety years, but the colonial empires as well. Africa is one of those hodge-podge of problem areas that isn't going to be easy to fix with the way things have been sorted out amongst the powers.
9.) Don't forget Unicorn magic, and that they can possibly pool their power together...
A.) This is true. But given that a lot of them have different talents for magic, might make it harder to coordinate them into a force where they have the same goal, if not all can do the same magic (telekensis or whatever the pick up objects magic is probably the most common shared magic between unicorns). Unless of course they are used to simply amplify a magic spell cast by someone stronger, but who needs a boost (such as Twilight).
10.) I was thinking more of the superhumanism that seems to be running around. Smarter then any other race, stronger then a earth pony, needed to save the ponies because they're utterly incapable doing it themselves, awing every Equestrian that meet, ect...
Though what what you commented is also something of a problem.
A.) Oh, that won't appear, hopefully. There will be those who know some stuff more than perhaps the normal Equestrian, but that doesn't mean they're superhuman. Both sides, especially humans are going to ruin things at times. Humans have their strengths, and their weaknesses, as do ponies. It won't be “Mays, Super-Human”, but “Mays, Affable klutz of an Officer and Audience Surrogate”.
There's a difference between genuine talents that are hard for one side to duplicate, and just saying “best is best because I say so”.
Human leaders will be vain, boastful, prideful, despicable, likeable, kind, caring, adventurous, craven, and more.
However, I do plan on having one of them and a certain conservationist take a certain prideful unicorn stallion on a hiking trip into Yosemite as a favor to his aunts and to teach him a lesson....
11.) On ther other hand this probably one of the better times introduce it given how the paranormal is already starting to become popular among the upper class. On magic I can see things sorta going like they did in Gurps Technomagic in which had magic returning following WWII where greed and needs of the moment wins out over fears of witchcraft and religious fears.
Certainly once the government realizes the advantage to be had of hiring weather ponies and farmers, which their should be at least soldiers from such backgrounds, are quickly going to realize the advantages of having a partnership with a earth pony interested in farming. Combined with the dangers of other governments getting their hands of magitech and the popular opinion at this point almost expecting that another race might have advanced 'mental powers' I wonder if they'll just try to say that ponies are epsers or psionics instead of mentioning magic.
...Ye gods I didn't consider it but psudoscience is probably going it a boost in this timeline, or at least stay around longer.
A.) Ah, psudoscience, one of those wonderful things that is both fascinating to remember that only a few hundred years ago, we believed in such twaddle more than we do now.
As for pegasi on Earth, as mentioned, they'll have a harder time controlling the weather here. Sure, they can, but if it takes a much higher amount to have weather be controlled as well as it does there, problems may arise. Certainly, ecological locations might be changed by unforeseen consequences of trying to do so..
12.) Yay! That should be interesting; I can certinally see Twilight being a major fan of the Sherlock Holmes.
A.) Yes, I can see that as well. I could also see her and a certain, also slightly OCD Serbian electrical scientist getting together on some stuff. Though she's going to have to convince him that atomic theory is true....
13.) True but the 'War of the Worlds' from what I understand is what help introduce the idea that if humanity encountered a advanced race that it'd probably treat humanity like how the Western World was at that time treating Africa and New Zealand into popular culture. On the other hand there are aspects of it that he probably would just love.
It'll be interesting to see what you might do with him.
A. A.) Mainly, making his works less political as they got after his big scientific-adventure/romances he wrote in the 1890's. Not that political commentary is bad...just not so much it delves into author tract land as he kinda did.
14.) Point. Hadn't considered it'd be a while for he really started his writing career.
Wonder if the existence of Celestia and Luna means that cosmic horrors in this timeline are going to featuring the equivalent to the Elder Gods, or if writers are going to say something like that either that humans just aren't important enough to have their own gods or ponies are actually things man-was-not-meant-to-know.
A.) That would be interesting. Certainly I could see him getting all jumpy about not only those he designated under-races such as the Welsh , but also ponies, if things go OTL...or he might end up writing the stories as parables against such things as Discord and the Nightmare.
15.) On the other hand some of core tents are going to have been proven flat false such as how supernatural apparently does exist and that there things could be considered gods.
A.) Certainly, though some may attempt to expain it as “using natural physical laws to physically change things through the application of higher applied science,” route.
16.) Hobbes's Leviathan is probably going to suddenly become popular again. But I was mainly thinking that it might boost fascism might come about because elements of Equestria culture are things that I suspect that fascism might try to claim shows there 'rightnous' of their ideals.
...Which is somewhat frightning given how damn popular it used to be.
A.) Oh yes, this is going to be a thing where some things might become stronger or at least more wide-spread than in our world if things go one way or another. At the least, a strong authoritarianism might rise.
17.) More then alright, Don't feel the need to rush this is something that will staying interesting even if it takes several weeks or a month or two between chapters.
A.) Oh, I don't plan on it. I've got a less involved story that I'm writing which is basically Equestria in a MLP version of 1920's Prohibition America OTL, as a writers block circumventive inspiration. Might post it when I'm satisfied with it...
18.) Thanks! And I will do my best to keep that in mind, as I do sometimes lose sight of that.
A.) Understandable. Though a writer does need to be told from time to time when they've headed down the path to the road of degredation of a stories quality and so forth.
Ah, gotcha. I wasn't getting that Earth was largely magic empty, that does sorta changes and add a interesting spin to things. Hmm... given the prevalence of both various legends of magic and the number of mythical creatures that can be found on Equestria does this mean that there's a chance that smaller and weaker gates might have appeared in the past?
Though even if magic hasn't existed on Earth before this probably going to still going to tie various archeologists up into knots on whether various legends are actually primitive superstitions and attempts to explain things that they couldn't understand or if they might have actually have happened to some degree. Especially given how the ruins of Troy would've just been recently rediscovered a few years before.
True but that was largely because it was the 'first' truly modern war and even then near the middle of the ACW newer tactics where being adapted by both sides. The Equestrains would've had the advantage or disadvantage, depending on who you ask, of having generations to refine their tactics and strategies around their innate abilities and possibly more importantly the need to do so. Until they hit their equivalent of the industrial revolution they wouldn't be able to afford to keep losing the type of numbers that Napoleonic and even early WWI tactics would have cost them. And that's just in usual interracial and cultural conflict along with civil wars that all civilizations have gone through since the start of the bronze age which is going to have a high turnover rate.
Factor in the various monsters several of whom are either big or powerful enough to squash entire armies or kingdoms some of which possess powers to make such tactics a good way to get dead. Not trying to say that I see them being innately any better or worse then humans military wise; just that I basically see Darwinism forcing them to adopt military strategies and tactics closer to modern day military forces then what the nations of 1901 use for much same reasons that happened following WWI.
To a degree though there where still battles even up into WWII that could have won or lost the war. Though I'll admit I am being overly nitpicky.
True enough neither France or Britain for example are likely to spend that much trying to consider Equestrian tactics or how they might apply to human warfare at least among the people with the power to do anything about it. Tsarist Russia might but that has large possibility of them going completely overboard to point of absurdity and doing even worse then if they had never bothered given their track record for the next two wars. And Italy unless it suddenly goes through a massive housecleaning will most likely ignore it even if you waved it in their face and spoke slowly.
On the other hand the Germans' while rather conservative where military realists on how war had changed and probably where the best adapted military-wise pre-WWI; certainly they seem to be the only ones to realize that helmets neither suddenly made soldiers into cowards and actually would help save lives. Japan at this point has yet to go batshit crazy and ignore reality, and is the nation probably to be the most open to new ideas -- at least scientific and military ones for next few years and probably as a culture might have a somewhat easier time trying to deal with Equestria to a small degree. Something that now that I think about it, most non-Western cultures would probably find it easier then their fellow Western nations. Or at least have less issues on certain things.
And I have to admit I was being tad bit American centric, given that it should be soon getting a number of intelligent forward thinking and more importantly influential figures that recognized the need for modernization in military thanks to mess that was the Spanish-American War and the fact that TR's been been pushing for (and stepping on a number of toes) since he was the assistant secretary of the navy on the need for a modernized military.
...And I have a hard time believing that he at least wouldn't try and get at a look at how Equestria might have tried to wage in the past imperialist that he is.
Not that I'm saying that any of the nations would suddenly start following said tactics but I could easily at least see certain ones giving them a good luck at least somewhat seriously especially after human air power comes to the table and they suddenly have a need for a new type of tactics.
Agreed. Also is this version WWI going to be be largely the same as OTL with same participants and sides or are you planning on using one other other potential sparks that could have set things off?
Airships!
....Or cloudships I guess. Heh, didn't consider it but quite a few pieces of Pulp science probably have a reasonable alternative of getting made in this verse thanks to magic.
How so?
The Appleloosa train ponies are probably used for frontier and poorer towns that either can't afford the fancier ones or have other things that it'd be more practical to spend bits on.
...Telekinesis could be nasty using 'rod from god' approach. But more seriously said spells wouldn't need to complicated or advanced in order to be useful and highly deadly. Get them trained so that they're used to working with other unicorns and teach them a small set of basic spells (as in five to seven) to practice until they can at least use them (and hopefully pool the spell together to increase it's strength), and you have your unicorn military force. The biggest need would be for their CO's to be trained to think outside the box when it came to using their powers to their greatest advantage.
Be pretty useful for the more specialized unicorns or more complicated and difficult spells. And even the basic spells could be devastating if amplified across a battlefield.
Ok, thank you!
Agreed.
...If that's who I think it is that should be fairly interesting. Now that I think of there are some vague similarities between the two, well before said conservationist's father died.
True that.
While potentially risky ecologically I can easily see the government hiring both pegsi and earth ponies to help to try and migrate some of the massive damage of the dust bowl. Which could have some interesting effects socially...
Interestingly enough I could also see him getting long quite well with Fluttershy as well given his love for animals.
Just realized but once people start actually realizing what a cutie mark is I can see a number of horror and science-fiction writers using it in their works ...not to mention what political writers might say about it.
Wouldn't be any crazier then a lot of the other theories floating around at this. Of course I can see Twilight accidentally helping to fuel this given her complete dislike for the idea of the supernatural ...which is probably going to cause more then a few headaches for human visitors given said statement is coming from a unicorn specializing in magic.
Sounds potentially interesting.
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Just realized it but TR is going to love the idea of the Everfree Forest. I could easily see him doing his expedition into the unknown in Equestria-the-world instead of the Amazon if things go the same and he retires from politics. Also given some of things are happening on Earth and the possibility of them spilling over into the Equestria!Earth along with how Earth is slowly gaining magic, are the Windigoes going to play in part in this story at some point?
Interestingly one result that I can see from Equestria!Earth's existence becoming public knowledge is how it might effect Einstein is likely to re-become Jewish religiously instead of just culturally which may or may not have some interesting effects down the road.
you working on another chapter still or is it on hiatus?
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Temporary hiatus. College and all the work that it entails has sucked me for time, and with one thing and another, I just didn't have time to update this. But this will be updated once summer vacation starts, following end of term exams.
Man.. the summer is almost over already and still waiting for the update... You still writing?