Dec
3rd
2013
Testing, testing (Through A Glass Darkly) · 12:00am Dec 3rd, 2013
Hi all. Seeing as I'm taking a short break from the work of actually writing Darkly to focus on setting up a solid foundation of worldbuilding, which will be incorporated into the story much more extensively than it has been before...
I want your questions about Darkly's world. Anything is fair game, from ancient history to what kind of music was playing at Rarity's club. Post them below in the comment section. I'd appreciate it a ton.
Edit: this is done for now.
Okay, since you said it. What music did Rarity have play in her club?
What was it that Twilight do to get in such good graces of The Princee?
What do the camps do and why are they there?
What determines belonging to a camp?
How did Fluttershy discover her special talent?
Does Rainbow Dash always dress in style?
Does "Prince" Blueblood even exist?
Does this dress make my butt look big?
Why does Mac help the sols if it could hurt his family?
Is Shining Armor still Twilight's brother?
Does Sweetie Belle exist? If so, where is she?
Does Scootaloo exist? If so, where is she?
Does Trixie exist? If so, where is she?
Does this world still have a tree of harmony? Will the vines comeback?
How did Nightmare Moon defeate Celly?
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Given the reference to a bass thumping in the background and the apparent time period—1000 A.D. (After Day) is roughly equivalent to 1900 Anno Domini give or take a few decades—I'm going with jazz.
Come on, man, this is actually in the story. "She reported her family to the camp administration,for some particularly egregious bit of unorthodoxy... She was brought to Luna’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and threw herself into the work."
They're comparable to the Soviet gulag. They serve a few purposes, including cheap labor, punishment, and isolation of dangerous individuals from mainstream society.
As with the Soviet gulags, almost anything could. Specifically, though, it's generally membership in some sort of organization that could be classified as solar. This can range from actual rebel groups to nonpolitical reformers to sun-worshippers.
What makes you think it's the same as it is in the canon universe?
Well, the Night Guard uniforms are pretty badass if you're into that kind of thing.
Yes, he shows up in chapter 3. And he is a prince, technically. He's distantly related to Luna (by adoption, and she really doesn't want to talk about it) and gets a pretty generous stipend from the government by dint of being a royal.
Yeah, sorry.
Some things are more important than family, at least to him. Applejack's the one who's driven almost entirely by trying to protect her family.
Yes. He escaped before he could be hanged, and in one of those casual venalities that are so common in police states, the camp authorities covered it up so as to avoid punishment.
Yes. She's living with Rarity's parents.
Yes. Currently? I think she's at the Cakes with the rest of the refugees, although they may have moved to another safehouse.
No clue.
No.
High-proof handwavium.
How does Nightmare Moon feel about pollution blotting out the night sky?
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It's mostly confined to the sky over Ponyville, which is the main industrial center of Equestria. Canterlot, being the administrative center, is much cleaner. Nightmare Moon thinks that it's a shame, but she hasn't bothered to take action, yet.
How effective are guns against alicorns?
Does Nightmare Moon view Twilight as another pawn or does she care for her?
What happened to Nightmare Moon's previous students?
Does Sunset Shimmer exist?
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Somewhat. Alicorns have an innate ability to heal themselves, but it can be depleted eventually.
Nightmare is using Twilight, but she cares for her. She's wary of getting too close, though, since so many personal students have died before her.
Killed, generally by the sols. To answer your next question, Sunset Shimmer was Twilight's immediate predecessor. She was found in her penthouse, having slashed her wrists. It was written off as a suicide.
Does Twilight wear any jewelry or identifying clothing?
Did the elements of harmony end up being used during the Battle: Royal?
Spike's favourite gemstones?
What's the general state on the existence of dragons? I mean, NMM messed with their birthing grounds, so is the race receding/extinct?
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Identification bracelets are standard issue to anypony working with the Equestrian government, but I imagine that's not what you were asking about.
No. I'll let you figure out why.
Emeralds.
As the existence of Spike would suggest, they're not extinct. To be specific, they're bred in small numbers by Nightmare Moon for various purposes. Their growth is usually accelerated by a regimen of magic to manipulate the usual process of maturation. Unfortunately for Spike, it's not pleasant.
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I was, actually. You say you wanted questions related to worldbuilding, and that's one of the things I'm interested in. Assuming that she's not running around au naturelle, what does our primary protagonist actually look like?
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Largely the same as she does in the canon universe.
River Street. What's it like? Is it actually near a river? What's the river like? Does it get many floating corpses? If so, what's the local attitude about it?
Polaris and Fifth. Why the name? What's it like? History of the place? What sort of buildings are there? If commercial/industrial, what sort of businesses? If it's an intersection, then consider these to be directed primarily at Polaris.
Luna's School for Gifted Unicorns. It's in Canterlot, I assume? How brutal/abusive is it?
How recent are the guns and other tech? Are there any Starswirl-esque prodigious inventors involved? Are the guns accommodating for ponies, a la Starlight Over Detrot? How wieldy vs. unwieldy are they? Are the guns pony-original tech, or did they start as a foreign technology? Either way, how has this affected things?
Somewhat related: since Nightmare Moon is breeding dragons, how has that affected things internationally?
The camps. Were Shining and Twilight born inside their camp, or were they born outside and shipped to the camp with their family?
Manehattan. Sort of random, I guess, but... you mentioned Ponyville being the industrial center, so what is Manehattan to Equestria? Do we have some sort of pony mafia there? If yes, do they have fedoras yet?
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The River District does border a river. It's not far south of the city center, so it's a useful commercial district. The pollution in the river makes the area smell fairly bad, though, so real estate is relatively cheap.
It is an intersection, named after the star Polaris. The location in particular isn't too special—it's just a warehouse converted into a halfway house for escapees from the camps. Applejack bought it for her brother.
You assume correctly. The school itself isn't particularly abusive—the objective isn't to break the students. It trains unicorns for the service of Nightmare Moon, as anything from plenipotentiaries (like Twilight) to scientists. The only thing brutal is the competition for excellence, which is vicious, and with high stakes. There have been a few ah, unexplained disappearances of students there.
The current guns? A few decades. The technology's been evolving for centuries, though. It is pony technology, by the way. The development of guns was accelerated by the Equestrian Empire's expansion into other species’ territory, since ponies are—for obvious reasons—less inherently capable in combat than other species like griffins and dragons. It’s also hard to run a police state with spears.
So yeah, they’re designed for pony use. The trigger mechanism is a little interesting. They fit over the hoof, and are fired by the same low-level magic that allows this sort of thing. images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111012170760/mlp/images/thumb/b/b8/Applejack...uhm..._what_S01E08.png/640px-Applejack...uhm..._what_S01E08.png . They’re pretty tricky to use if you’re not experienced, at least accurately.
This is related to the expansion I referenced in the above answer. Luna is really, by this point, empress of the darkened world. The dragons’ home mountains were invaded and subdued, with huge loss of life. The only dragons now are bred for the government, excepting a few escapees like Spike.
They were both born outside the camp, but Shining’s the only one who remembered life outside of it. For the first years of her life, the camp was all Twilight knew.
Manehatten’s a port city. It receives imports from all over the dark side of the world. It’s got its share of smugglers and other lowlifes, but I’m afraid I can’t comment on their headwear.
Thanks for the questions!
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River District, then. Noted. Well, I certainly hope they have fedoras in Manehattan. You're welcome, and I've got even more.
What's been done to counteract the lack of sunlight? Is there any sort of artificial oxygen production? How are plants grown without sunlight (I'm thinking of apples for Applejack's distillery here)? Are they grown using magic, or artificial sunlight, maybe?
If the Everfree has been deforested, where did its creatures go? Were they killed? Do they still pose a threat to Ponyville? Are there any other places in Equestria with a similar reputation? If so, where? What sort of history and creatures does it have?
Does the Crystal Empire exist? If so, what state is it in? Still in some realm outside space?
What sort of crap is getting dumped in Ponyville's river, and by what industries? Slag? Lead? Is there any sort of system to purify it for drinking, baking, bathing, etc.?
Where exactly is AJ's distillery (or, if she has multiple, the biggest) in Ponyville? Who runs it? Does (s)he have any distinct, well-known qualities, traits, etc.?
What's the situation with the changelings? Has Nightmare found them yet? If so, has she done anything to them like she has to the dragons? If so, what? If not, does she plan to?
What's up with the bison? Has Nightmare done anything to/with them?
Is there some centralized place where dragons (and others?) are altered? Is it done with spells, magic objects, or some sort of material (like F.E.V. of Fallout)? Has Nightmare ever subjected ponies to any alterations?
On a scale of xenomorphs to Tom Cruise, how alien are pony rifle designs? I imagine they'd have to be pretty strange, considering. Do they need to use their mouths to grip/operate them?
Other than dragonfire, do they have anything like radios, telegraphs, etc.? What's the state of Equestrian ships? Do they have steamships, ironclads, etc., or are they more (or less) advanced? Do they have airships? If so, is there anything unusual about them (for example, dragonfire/magic propulsion)?
Considering the gun laws that must exist, how successful have ponies been at getting around them? Anyone in particular known for being able to get guns?
Does Equestria have paper/cloth money? Are there denominations larger or smaller than a bit? If so, what are they, and what are they made of?
Is there any sort of State Church of Luna/the Night?
What's Nightmare Moon's position on drugs? What about alcohol? Is the government position on either different? If so, why?
How filthy are the ponies in and around Ponyville?
How much of Applejack's (extended) family is still alive? Is Granny Smith still kicking?
Is Pinkie's cutie mark still three balloons? If not, what is it?
Is there some kind of conflict between Dash and Shining in their past, or is it just a personality clash?
What, if anything, does Blueblood do, besides visiting brothels and drinking himself stupid?
Does Fancy Pants exist? If so, has his role changed from canon? If yes, how much and in what ways?
Does Cadence exist? Is she an alicorn? If yes, was she born that way? If not, how, when, and where did she ascend? Is she still alive? If not, where is she buried? Does/did she ever know Shining and/or Twilight? How is/was her relationship with Nightmare Moon? How about with the sols?
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I'll try to hit all your points in this response. The main thing done to get plants to grow in the dark is to change their source of energy from light to magic. They can use the ambient magic to fuel photosynthesis, although it's easier in places with strong magical flows like the Everfree. Oxygen was a little easier. There's a fair bit of convection of air from the dayside to the nightside, which means neither is experiencing incredibly nasty temperatures. Phytoplankton in the dayside's oceans are still fine, so there's enough oxygen.
They were largely killed, yes. I'm not discounting the possibility of stray hydras here and there--I don't know if I believe the rumors about the sewers, but they're out there-- but for the most part they're gone. There's nowhere in the original Equestrian borders that's untouched by ponies. Outside, sure.
Yes.
All of the above, probably. Think of the Thames in the 1850s. It's used whenever convenient to get rid of whatever. Purification is patchy at best.
It's a few miles south of the city's center, south of the river. AJ runs it, nominally, but she's a busy mare and doesn't mind handing the job off to any number of trustworthy relatives.
I'm just going to say this: yes to some of your questions there.
They're gone, with the exception of a few tribes surviving (barely) in the Badlands.
Spells. There's a physiological component to the growth that can be triggered through some rather tricky (and, for the dragon, painful) telekinesis. From there, there's also a psychological component, which helps keep the size constant. It's a careful balance between greed and unhappy restraint.
They're pretty strange looking, fitting over the hoof as they do. Rifles? They're essentially the same as the hoofguns, albeit longer. They take a lot of leg strength to hold up and aim properly, but work on the same principles.
No radios or long-range telegraphs. Telegraphs don't have repeater stations or cross-country lines. With dragonfire, it's not really relevant. It's worth keeping in mind that the economy in the Equestrian Empire is pretty state-oriented; Pinkie's rock farm was collectivized, for instance. Like fascist states (more on that later), it's not dogmatic about the economic system, but you can be damn sure that if the princess doesn't benefit from it, it doesn't happen. Steamships exist, although ironclad warships are a bit invalidated by the existence of dragons. Airships are generally fairly crude, but do exist.
Well, the resistance tries to hold on to what they can find. That's mostly military or Night Guard weapons, though, for obvious reasons. Applejack can get guns, usually from contacts in Appleloosa, but she's rarely interested in sharing with non-Apples. Guns are improvised, but in small numbers.
Paper money, with denominations as small as a tenth-bit and various larger bills, up to 500-bit.
Sort of. It's a combination of a personality cult centered around Luna, hypernationalist fervor, and some ideas centered around the struggles of the Night.
Most drugs are technically illegal, although considering that the Night Guard leaves enforcement of those particular laws to comparatively toothless local cops, it's not a priority. Applejack does a bit of dealing on the side. Drinking is frowned upon for government officials, but legal. Nightmare Moon doesn't dictate every aspect of policy, but purges of officials who contradict her even slightly are frequent and bloody.
Depends on class, generally.
Granny Smith and Apple Bloom are still alive, as is Big Mac. Applejack's being careful to keep them out of the public eye, though.
Three flames.
Holy questions, Batman. Yes, she exists; yes, she's alive; yes, she knows Shining, but Twilight only by reputation.
The question about Nightmare Moon is a little complicated. You've noticed that she goes by Luna now? With the pace at which society is changing, it was suggested to her, plausibly, that returning her name to the older "Luna" might give the impression that she's attempting to preserve Equestria's glorious past while embracing the future. Fast-forward a few years. It's one thing to get everypony to call you Luna, but another for them to believe it. When Cadence showed up on the scene, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Another alicorn could help cement Luna's legitimacy. So she was pretty quickly "invited" into the service of Nightmare Moon as her spokespony. It was around this time that Shining pulled off his first major operation. He was active in Canterlot at that point, and became entranced- some say obsessed- with Cadence. He managed to get enough resources--including the blueprints to the castle--to pull it off with the help of a young Fluttershy, breaking Cadence out.
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You're... welcome? And thanks for all the answers. And guess what?
I have more.
Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all. I guess we'll be seeing them later on. Fun for the whole... sleeper cell?
The sols we've been shown so far aren't really sleepers, I guess... but come to think of it, do the sols have any? And, separately, how big is their little resistance?
If the rifles fit over the hoof, does the barrel mount to the leg? It seems like a bad choice to mount it directly to the hoof, with the balance.
Are there any specialized locations where dragons are taken to be grown? If so, where? Any infamous ones in particular? I'm thinking of places like Nova Prospekt for processing/"growing" dragons. And if not, are there any such places for changelings?
How filthy are the sols, generally? Fluttershy and Pinkie are pretty filthy, if I remember, and I'm guessing Rainbow Dash is cleaner since she's in the Night Guard, but what about the others?
How common are the dragons she's breeding? From how Rarity spoke, it sounded like there weren't very many, but if she has enough to obsolete telegraphs?
Are gryffins still alive under the Evil Empire? If so, where are the majority of them? Are they spread out, or concentrated in some area in particular, like in former gryffin cities or in the camps?
Do butchers exist at all in pony cities? If so, how are they treated? Is leather in any common use? Does Nightmare use any leather herself? Either way, what is her opinion about it?
Where is Cadence now? How much freedom does she have with the sols? Is she any more free than under Nightmare's 'care'?
What are the buildings in Ponyville made of, generally? Is there any particular architectural style in vogue there? What is the library made of, if anything different?
Building materials and architecture in Canterlot?
What sort of finances/financial backing do the sols have? Not much, I'm guessing?
I'm assuming Shining's resistance isn't the first group of sols. How old is it? How many have come before it, and how successful were they? Did any of them have any historically significant or otherwise well-known members? I'm assuming Luna/Nightmare would have kept them out of the history books and maybe the news as well, but how much does this group of sols know about past resistances, other than that they obviously didn't succeed in the end?
How did the first few decades after Luna's coup go? First few centuries?
How much of the industry of Ponyville is state-owned, vs. private? How different is the balance for different industries? I'm guessing that metal-processing and gun manufacturing are mostly state-owned (is that about right?), but what about others?
What are some of the most significant/important areas in Ponyville? Any significant or (in)famous factories, industrial areas, etc.?
How are the governor's (Filthy's) accommodations? I assume Filthy has an office; where is it, and what does it look like from the outside? From the inside?
Where do Applejack and Twilight normally meet? I know their last one was at the library, but if I recall, in the first one it seemed like Twilight was coming to her. Where did they meet that time? Applejack's office? If so, where in Ponyville is that?
You mentioned Appleloosa? How much of the West (or equivalent direction thereof) is settled?
There are a few you seem to have missed. Was that a no to them? Well, anyway... .
Has Nightmare ever subjected ponies to any alterations? For example, like bat-ponies in canon. Has she ever experimented on ponies trying to do something like that?
Does Fancy Pants exist? If so, has his role changed from canon? If yes, how much and in what ways?
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I'm tapped out. Expect answers to some questions in the next chapter.
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Heh, good. I was starting to run out of questions.
I have a questions about our main "heroes" after pinkies explanation of his CM. Could you tell us about the Cutie Marks of the rest and how they got them?