Merry Chrismahannakwanzakuh! · 3:23pm Dec 25th, 2013
Just wanted to wish you all a very happy non-denominational holiday time period, and that you all have the best time you can have at your present time.
And, so this isn't just fluff, but has substance too;
A small (Most of the current chapter) snippet of FTL:
The human’s weeping didn’t last as long as Twilight thought it would, and soon the human was just sullenly looking at the ground, his frame slack and yielding to her persuasive motions. Yielding didn’t imply swiftness, and it took Twilight the better part of five minutes to get him moving back towards the library. His pace was glacially slow, and every step seemed to come later than the one before it, delayed more and more by Abderus’ emotional state. The six mares formed a loose circle about the human, nearly unconsciously seeking to protect him from the outside, and seeking to keep him from departing once again. Even Twilight was only barely aware of what she was doing, her mind too consumed with trying to understand what Abderus was thinking, and the rationale that would prompt his actions. The biggest fear that Twilight had, during the walk, was that somepony would come out onto the street and witness the strange being now in their midst. While they had taken kindly to the presence of all manner of strange beings in the past, she was worried that harboring a predator might be going just a bit further than her status would let her.
Thankfully, the walk passed by without incident, thanks, in no small part, to Pinkie’s unnaturally natural ability to seemingly detect whenever somepony was approaching. Due to the fact that they had hidden themselves more than a dozen times the trip from town square to the tree took nearly half an hour. How Abderus managed to avoid detection during his brief trip baffled Twilight, but she knew better than to look too deeply into matters such as this. The human didn’t object once to his treatment, gentle as it was, for the entire duration of their trip back. Honestly, though, the human’s complete indifference was beginning to concern the alicorn, as he hadn’t even acknowledged the fact that he’d been spoken to several times during the walk.
Upon entering the library, though, he went immediately to his room, not saying a word to anypony. Before Twilight, or any of them, could do something, the human reemerged from his room with several pieces of parchment and a quill clutched in his hands. Without a word he began writing quickly upon the sheets, ignoring the presence of the seven others within the room. Twilight was the first to approach. “Abderus, are you okay? What are --”
“Math. Abderus talk later. Math now. Important.”
“Oh.” Twilight looked at her friends, desperate for some kind of suggestion on how to proceed. When none was forthcoming, she looked back at the hunched over biped. “If you need anything, feel free to ask. We’ll be here for the time being.” The human didn’t even look up, and Twilight felt just a tiny stab of disappointment at being ignored.
Twilight was gently dozing on the couch when she felt something gently prod her soft belly. Her eyes cracked open slowly, letting in the dim light of the full moon. Abderus was sitting beside her, his eyes bloodshot and blotchy spots marring the area beneath his eyes. As the mare’s mind caught up with her body, she felt a stab of fear when she realized that she was fully exposed to the machinations of the predator. The fear nearly vanished after just a heartbeat when she remembered that Abderus had yet to show any true signs of malicious intent. Save for one outburst that was just a bit provoked.
“Math done.” The human pointed to a sheet of parchment with a number circled several times. It took the mare several long moments to figure out that the number was in the human’s own numerical system. She had spent some time looking at it, and it took her only a few minutes to translate it into the Equestrian counting system. As the number took shape in her mind, she was baffled by what the human could possibly be doing with such a large sum. With more than fifty digits, in base ten, the number was a good bit longer in the base eight system favored by Equestria. As she looked at the mathematics presented she was overwhelmed, understanding only a tiny bit more than half of what was being shown to her. The pilot seemed fairly insistent in showing her what he had done, and that she should understand. He pointed to one of the many numbers on the parchment, and then he lowered the paper, and motioned for Twilight to follow.
She did so, with only a bit of concern, until they entered Abderus’ room, where she saw several dozen pages littered about the room. Abderus grabbed several sheets with just a line on them, and then he laid them out. He pointed at them, and spoke a single term in his own language. The human held up the pages to his arm, holding them there, and gesturing several times along the length. It took only a moment of the gesture for Twilight to understand the human’s meaning. The distance he had drawn out was a special unit of measure for him. As she looked at the distance, the number that Abderus had shown her took on some small shred of meaning. She looked at the page again, trying to now put it into a unit that she understood better than the one the human had shown her. As the figures rolled in her mind, converting from one division of length to the next largest she quickly ran out of lengths that had any meaning in Equestrian society.
“Abderus, that number you showed me... Why di --”
“Not done, Twilight. More.” He held out another page, this one with a new number on it, far larger than the previous one. “Time.”
“Abderus, I don’t understand. Nothing could be this old. Even Equestria itself isn’t this old. The Sun isn’t even this old.” She looked back to the distance, and then, again, at the time. “Abderus, I don’t quite understand what you’re getting at. We’ve already covered that you know how to do math. And that your math is more advanced than mine. Or, at least, more advanced than I can readily understand.”
“Abderus far from home. Abderus gone from home long time.” The human paused for a moment as he furrowed his brow. “Abderus alone.” The mare just looked back at him, trying to understand, when, in a burst of clarity she looked, again, at the numbers. The human just watched the mare as she finally understood just what the human was going through mentally. The mare opened her mouth, but the human shook his head, killing her words before they could be given life. “Abderus...” He shook his head again, anger flashing across his features. “I want go... I want to go home. But... But I have no home.” Once he finished speaking, he fell back onto his butt, and then he just looked down at the paper he held in his hands.
Twilight hadn’t seen that one in particular, but she was still trying to truly absorb just what the human had just told her. “I’m sorry.” The human looked up at her for a moment, before returning his gaze to the paper. “Abderus.” The human looked back up at her, his eyes brimming with tears.
“Abderus scared, Twilight.”
So, that said, and done, I wish all of you the best.
You'll probably not hear from me again until next year.
Till then, Sursum Aeternum!
-Jet Howitzer
Merry Christmas :D
Merry late Christmas!
YES! Can't wait for the next chapter and I'm especially happy to hear that the above sample was just a small part of the upcoming installment. Damn, it feels good to receive updates on quality stories.
Well, anyway, go have some happy non-denominational winter time festivities yourself, you handsome dog, you.