Substitute - AMA

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Ask Me Anything. Or the AMA. I think that’s how this works. I’ve compiled your questions and I think this is going to be a good time. I’m going to have quite a bit of fun with it, myself.

Read on to see where these questions lead and what answers may be waiting.

For this, I have three guests today. Say hello, everypony.

The infinitely while expanse ended in a single circular rug. Three ponies occupied the rug in the middle of nowhere, each sitting on shiny velvet cushions. Besides a low, ambient hum, everything was silent.

Sunset Shimmer blinked, glanced around, and then frowned. “Uh…”

Starlight Glimmer stood up with a huff. “Woah! What’s going on here?”

Yes, hello.

Queen Adamantine furrowed her brow. “Well… this certainly is a development. I was just a few moments ago placing unstew for my unponies. And now I am here with the two of you and this strange voice.”

Starlight gasped. “So I wasn’t the only one. I was helping out those alternate timelines just now.”

Yes, I would imagine that have some questions as to who I am and why you are here. I am RQK, and I’m the one running the show, as it were.

Sunset felt a blood vessel swell up within her head. “...Okay, RQK. Whatever. Mind telling us why you foalnapped us and brought us here?”

“Well, you see, your exploits are of interest to some people. And recently, I compiled a few of their questions. Some of them are for myself, of course, but they asked questions directed to you.”

Starlight trotted back to her cushion and sat back down. “Okay, so… this is an interview. Am I getting that right?”

That’s right.

“Okay, because I have some things to do back home,” Sunset said. “And I’m kinda on a schedule.”

Oh, don’t worry, you will be returned to the exact moment that you left. Really, this whole AMA, as it’s called, is non-canonical anyhow so, in addition to that, you won’t remember any of this.

“I see. So I need not be concerned with intervening events,” Adamantine said. “That’s… a relief, at any rate. I suppose that it is a little respite from these recent happenings.”

Sunset nodded. “That’s true.”

“The only thing that might make this better is if I could quench my thirst.”

A sealed cup with a small opening in the lid materialized beside Adamantine’s cushion. It was light-weight and, when drunk out of, would have been a regular coffee with one sugar. Just like you like it.

Adamantine raised her eyebrows and considered the cup. She took a sip, licked her lips, then nodded in approval. “Not bad. That is very accommodating of you.”

Of course. Now then, are we ready to begin?

Sunset shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Go ahead.”

Does the above question have any relevance to the story?

Wait, what?

Starlight blinked. “Uh, what question?”

Well, uh, this is awkward. Just hold on a moment. I’m going to look through my notes here… Okay, so turns out that this question was a follow-up to another question. Which… I haven’t even prompted yet.

Sunset snickered. “That’s a really good choice for a first question, RQK.”

Shut it, you. We’ll just come back to this one.

How did you come up with the idea of the crystal ball? Also, how did you manage to make the time loop seemingly stable?

The crystal ball came about because I knew that I needed a way for them to be in contact with the past. Back in the super early stages, the plot was a lot simpler and didn’t even have a stable time loop. Actually, I wasn’t even going for a happy ending back then.

And actually, around that time was when I started reading the IDW comics. In particular, the Return of Chrysalis arc used a crystal ball as a communication device. I can’t say exactly when I made the connection, there was a point where I definitely said, “Yeah, that’s it. That’s the thing I’m going to use. I’ll just impose the additional condition that it’s communicating back in time.”

And of course, the difference there was that the crystal ball in the comics communicated with some counterpart that Chrysalis had. That’s how Twilight and her friends were able to communicate with Chrysalis. But given that I was essentially making this crystal ball’s counterpart itself, I had to be a little more creative with how it behaved and operated. Hence, why it behaves the way it does in the stories.

As for making the time loop seemingly stable, I had to make some notes on that. I had a working timeline of all of the events in the story, which I essentially split into two parts; Twilight’s side, and Sunset and the other’s side. The results from Twilight’s side was fairly contained which, in effect, allowed me to make it completely depend on Sunset’s side. That took care of most of the difficulty.

The actual difficulty was making the loops cumulative. To accomplish that, I essentially created a packet of information A and said, “Okay, so when Sunset works on this, it will be A + B.” I then set up my timeline of events so that A + B would jump from the end of the events to the beginning of events, allowing Sunset to work with A + B. At that point, once she worked on it, it would be A + B + C. I think it took me at least a couple of months to figure that out.

I managed to work that put around the time I figured out how to implement the final twist.

Adamantine, why do you think that you, unlike the other versions of you, haven't opened a portal to a different dimension? Also if a solution is found for the crisis your people face, have you given any thought as to what you and they will do afterwards?

Adamantine sipped her coffee. “As I understand it, my counterparts were the ones that originally developed the methods with which to open these portals. I lack their knowledge so, naturally, I cannot do it myself. I would imagine that it is quite a complex spell that cannot so readily be derived.

She glanced to Starlight and Sunset. “But… as I think about it, a copy of that spell has been acquired. Has Twilight Sparkle shared it with you?”

Starlight nodded. “Yup, she has.”

“Interesting. She has withheld it from me. Quite knowingly, I might add.” She tilted her head. “Might you be willing to teach me?”

Starlight exchanged glances with Sunset. “Well… Honestly I don’t see why not. But we’re just going to forget everything after this is over, so…”

Adamantine cringed. “Ah, right, that. Then, that would make learning it an ultimately fruitless endeavor. No matter.”

She shifted in her cushion. “As to that second question… I suppose that I have given it some thought. Nothing very serious because my focus has been on actually solving the crisis. But…” She took a few moments to perplex. “I suppose… that I might try to introduce them to society at large. With the prime directive now complete, there is no reason for us to be so secretive anymore. I am certain that they might enjoy some of the contemporary amenities.”

Sunset chuckled. “Yeah. And what about you?”

Adamantine pointed to herself. “Me?”

It is part of the question.

Adamantine stroked her chin, humming thoughtfully. “Yes, yes. Of course, I would make myself available to all of them, to help them out with this transition. But… if not that…” She paused. “I suppose I would try to get into music. I am not entirely certain where I could take my harmonica but… I’m also open to picking up other instruments.”

Sunset grinned. “Hey, maybe we should jam together sometime. I’m pretty alright with a guitar.”

“That sounds lovely,” Adamantine replied, chuckling.

Have you accepted the light and love of our lord and savior Jesus Christ into your heart and life?

Starlight frowned. “Who is she and why haven’t I heard of her before?”

“They sound like a legend,” Adamantine said.

Jesus is a he. Also, it’s a human thing.

Starlight and Adamantine turned toward Sunset and stared her down.

Sunset raised a confused eyebrow. “What?”

This question is for me. Anywho, I am agnostic, so I have not explicitly accepted Jesus (note this also means I have not explicitly denied Jesus either). We humans, with our finite capacities, don’t have a certain explanation for why everything's the way it is (just the very existence of multiple religions is proof of this). Now, I’m not the type for blind belief; I want evidence. So, for now, the Christian-defined Jesus remains only one of several possibilities...

That said, I think he’d find me a fairly decent person!

Sunset, what did it feel like; casting and what are your feelings towards The Answer and what was it like compared to utilizing normal pre-casts, if there was indeed something different.

Sunset nodded. “Well, The Answer…”

Hold on a moment, Sunset. Before you answer that, I want to take this opportunity to delegate another question to you, since I think it’s closely related. I have any number of questions already.

“Okay.”

What is the answer? As in, what is its function?

“Oh, yeah, I see why you’d give me this one,” Sunset said. She stood up and cleared her throat. “Alright, listen. All of you have probably seen it by now. It’s a long and complex spell. Most spells are maybe a page or two in length, but this one was seventy. Which…” she stroked her chin, “okay, it’s actually closer to three hundred pages, but it’s compressed, and…”

Adamantine hummed. “That sounds very efficient.”

“Yeah. It’s very nice. But it’s very specific use.” She turned to Starlight and Adamantine. “So you know that when Twilight went down to the chamber for the first time, she runs into this thing and she decides she’s gotta kill it, you know? And she’s thinking… she’ll do that by teleporting into the door when it tries to come up. And since you can’t actually exist there, it would destroy both her and the Nameless,” Sunset said. “And what The Answer did was preserve just enough of her to put back together later.”

Pretty much. That should probably be a sufficient answer for now since a canonical explanation is coming up before the story is over.

“Great.”

I also want to add that a large part of The Answer was making a body for Twilight to come back to, especially since her old body was destroyed in the process of killing the Nameless. Which, as you might imagine… was really, really, hard.

Sunset pointed upwards. “Yeah. Pretty much. The spell literally had to call on the Rainbow Power in order to provide power for it. And… to gather all of the stones from around the world. I think it used that as material.”

Adamantine gasped. “Oh, really? I told Twilight Sparkle about those just yesterday. I am surprised that you have had prior experience with them.”

Sunset ruffled her mane. “Yeah, yeah. That was a thing. And then, so, you want to know what it’s like actually casting it. Or rather, I’m actually pre-casting the thing.” She turned. “Hey, Starlight, you want to tell them the problem with pre-casting?”

Starlight frowned. “Uhhhhh, which one?”

“The limit problem?”

Starlight jumped. “Oh! Right! That one. Yeah. So, basically, most unicorns can’t really do all the fancy things that Twilight and Sunset and I do. So, if somepony like Rarity tried to do Fiducia Compelus, she probably wouldn’t be able to cast it because she’s not able to do it. So… say she tries to pre-cast Fiducia Compelus.

“You’re building the entire spell before you cast it and then once you start it, you have to complete the spell. And so Rarity is now stuck trying to complete a spell that she can’t even do. It will literally force her to do it.”

Sunset sighed. “And it could kill her.”

Starlight cringed. “Well… yeah. Okay, maybe that’s like a worst case scenario, but… yeah, it can do a lot of damage.”

“So I’m standing there,” Sunset began, stepping forward, “and I’m casting this big seventy-page spell that does who-knows-what and I’m thinking, ‘Holy buck, my horn is probably going to explode because I can’t even do this.’ And there was a moment there that it started hurting and I tried resisting it, especially when it hijacked the Rainbow Power.

“But… It wasn’t. As bad. As how I felt when I turned into a she-demon. It was still a little bad, but we got through it.” Sunset shrugged. “And I guess once we let it just do it’s thing… I mean, the spell found everything that it needed to carry itself out, because it found the Rainbow Power. So I was good. After that, the cast was smooth sailing.”

Adamantine tilted her head. “So, what would happen if you performed it right now?”

Sunset deadpanned. “Uhhhhh, I’d die.”

Adamantine frowned. “Well, that is certainly something. Then, I wonder, why would anypony consider pre-casting anything?”

That’s easy. It gives you a lot of precision control over the spell. So, for example, if you’ve got something that’s very intricate, you can be sure to get it right beforehoof.

“Pretty much what RQK said,” Sunset said, trotting back to her seat. “With a spell that complex, I probably could have screwed it up several times over if I tried to cast it normally. Which that could have caused a whole buttload of stupid crap.”

Sunset, have you given any thought about what you'll do after graduation and do you ever still think about what you saw reflected in the mirror portal?

Sunset frowned. “Well, yeah. I like being with my friends. And I have good relations with a lot of other people at CHS. But… we’re all only going to be together for so long, and…”

She sighed. “We’re… probably going to go our separate ways after graduation. I mean, Rarity’s already been offered a position at a fashion school and Rainbow Dash’s been offered full-ride athletic scholarships to some big universities. And Fluttershy will probably go to vet school. But on the other hand, Applejack doesn’t need to go to college and Pinkie Pie… could go either way.

“And especially since, now, I have a life that I could come back to here. The human world is nice but… my friends are what I have over there. I think… if we’re able to think of a way to stay in touch, then I bet I’d come back to Equestria. Otherwise… I still have to think about that.”

In the meantime, I suppose that you can enjoy it as it lasts.

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, I can. And I will.

“And do I think about what I saw in the mirror portal? Honestly… yeah, I do. From time to time. Because that… it’s just… that’s all my past mistakes. I still have to remember who I used to be, after all. ….Makes me appreciate who I am now, and how much I’ve changed for the better. My past does not define me.”

Starlight, who had been listening in silence with her eyes glued to the carpet, looked up. Her eyes flickered a few times, hinting at thoughts flying through her mind. She chuckled and then nodded in agreement.

“Still wouldn’t mind a pair of wings, though.” Sunset laughed. “But I’ll survive.”

Is the crystal ball of Substitute the same one as used in Feedback? And if so, is it the same Twilight in the ball?

Yes and no. Yes in that it is the crystal ball that was used while fighting to save Twilight’s life, but there are certain implications that you may find that also give a “no” to that answer. I won’t say what those are because part of the fun (although I may have already spoiled it before).

But, when in doubt, assume that the answer is yes.

As to it being the same Twilight in the ball, no. From a world’s perspective, the Twilight in the ball was in the world below them, which is nine days into the past. The Twilight talking to them via the ball is in the world above them, which is nine days into the future. Although, that would make that future Twilight the exact same Twilight that debriefed Sunset after performing The Answer.

Starlight raised a hoof into the air. “If it’s all the same to you, there’s just one Twilight.”

Perhaps you should tell that to the Twilight Sparkles of the alternate timelines.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yeah, tell that to the Twilight that lives in the human world.”

Starlight blinked, leaning forward in her seat. “Wait wait wait, what? There’s a… Twilight over there?”

“Buckin’... there’s everypony over there. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy… Celestia is there…”

Indeed. There is not just one you. And, I believe, this makes for a great segue into the next question.

In Feedback the worlds were described as layered. Do the parallel universes also have this effect?

Sunset leaned forward. “Huh, let me see if I can try this one.”

Go ahead.

Sunset stood up and started pacing around the floor. “So, yeah. The worlds are layered. I guess RQK kinda just talked about that here just a second ago. So, you’re asking if the parallel timelines are also layered? And the parallel universes? I want to say yes.

“And the reason that I say that...” Sunset paused, considering her words. “I mean, future Twilight can already use her crystal ball to look into those alternate timelines, so she has access there. Which makes sense, because we can just go back and forth between them already. So it’s like… uh… it’s like uh…”

“It is like a system,” Adamantine offered.

Sunset jabbed her hoof in Adamantine’s direction. “Yeah, that. So like, the entire system is a layer. Right? And then you have another system that’s layered on top of us. And then on top of them. And so on.”

“What about those alternate timelines,” Starlight began, “because I think about this… Actually, I’ve been thinking about it a lot since all this began, and… these timelines… they diverged a few years ago, way back when I stopped the Rainboom. Shouldn’t the crystal ball have existed back then?”

“Oh, if that is the the case,” Adamantine said, sitting up, “then those crystal balls should behave in the same ways.”

“Which would mean they’re connected with layers above and below, too.” Sunset stamped her hoof. “There you have it. That’s it right there.”

To give a more technical picture of what’s going on, we might consider some 3-dimensional coordinate system. Alternate realities like Canterlot High and the Mirror World (see the comics for that one) would live on the x-axis while alternate timelines might exist on the y-axis,. Thus, you could describe any world by its reality component and its timeline component. Taking the conventions set by the story thus far, we might denote a Canterlot High in some timeline where King Sombra waged war as Canterlot High S.

In the same manner, we might thus consider the layering of worlds as was used in Feedback to live on the z-axis, where traveling one unit up or down the z-axis is a nine day time difference. Thus, we might denote a Canterlot High S that is in the same layer as yourself as Canterlot High S 0, whereas an Equestria where Tirek reigned that happens to be 36 days into the future (which will be 4 layers above you) would be Equestria T +4.

Some things to keep in mind; because there can certainly be any number of variations among each of the axes, these conditions also occur;

-∞ < x < ∞
-∞ < y < ∞
-∞ < z < ∞

The z infinite can be readily proven (as was during when saving Twilight).

Adamantine chuckled. “I always like it when I get the chance to sit down for a mathematics lecture. Because it makes me feel fairly intelligent even when I don’t understand one hundred percent of what I am being told.”

Sunset shrugged, trotting back toward her cushion. “Makes sense to me. I pretty much invented the infinite, after all.”

Tell yourself that.

For Starlight: What are your thoughts on Sunset Shimmer? Also please don't be so hard on yourself, you could hardly have known all this would happen at the time.

Starlight hung her head. “That’s… what I keep trying to tell myself. I mean… on one hoof…” she stared at her raised hoof, “I… did do it. I did it. And… I can’t take it back. I can’t undo the damage that I did to those other worlds, I…”

Starlight buried her face in her hooves and sighed deeply. She kept silent for a few moments.

Adamantine leaned forward with a concerned frown. “Are you alright, Starlight?”

Starlight shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. I just needed a moment.

“It’s just… Twilight told me here just recently that I didn’t do it all. I didn’t start a war. I didn’t bring eternal night. That’s not me. Never was. If… I had known what would have happened… I wouldn’t have done it.”

Starlight smiled. “I guess… I’m happy that Twilight was a better mare than I am. I’m glad that I’m her friend and student. And… I mean,” she crossed her forehooves and snickered, “I did enjoy being Twilight’s only student. And then Sunset comes along and blows that to heck.”

“Wow, get out. I was here first,” Sunset countered, leaping to her hooves.

“How was it that you put it? ‘Studying abroad?’” She snorted. “Twilight’s student my flank, you’re going to some other school.”

“It’s called long distance teaching.”

“It’s called reading lessons out of a book. I do all that and I go to office hours.”

“Hey, if you’re that slow a learner, that’s your problem.”

Adamantine snorted mid-sip, causing some coffee to drip out of her nose. She gripped at it, still fighting some chuckles.

Starlight snorted but found herself distracted by Adamantine. Sunset also looked over with a raised eyebrow.

Wow.

“Whatever,” Starlight said. “I did enjoy that. But… seriously though… what do I think of Sunset? I see a lot of myself in her. Just, you know, because she’s been where I’ve been before. And she got better and… knowing she did it makes me think that I can do it too. I guess I find that inspiring.

“I know we’ve only had a few days with each other but… you seem pretty smart and driven and… it sounds to me like you’ve done some really neat things in the past, too. I mean, you got to be Celestia’s student once. That must have been pretty nice.”

Sunset chuckled and nodded.

“And… I would believe it,” Starlight continued. “I know I gave you a hard time for hitting air half the time when we were on that train, but still… I have no doubt that you are amazing at magic. Maybe a little out of shape, sure. But… you’re skilled, and… you’ve been pretty nice, too.” Starlight blushed. “I feel incredibly lucky to have you as a friend.”

Sunset giggled in response and then stepped forward. “Starlight… I’m glad to have you as a friend too.”

The two mares embraced, both with large, content smiles on their faces.

Aw.

Adamantine wiped some last bits of coffee from her muzzle and then smiled herself.

Starlight and Sunset broke their embrace, and, after sharing one final nod with each other, returned to their respective cushions and sat down.

That was a very good response.

“I agree,” Adamantine said.

I think this is a good point to move on to the next question.

Assuming that the wasteland was caused by The Nameless, what does that imply about when Twi and Glimmer went to there in season 5. Were they in danger?.

Before we can actually answer this question, it stands to reason to decide whether The Nameless actually caused the wasteland. There’s no evidence for or against it (although an argument can be made that the Nameless is capable of causing the wasteland). Naturally, saying no to that question tells us nothing, so the more interesting answer assumes that, yes, the Nameless caused the wasteland.

Adamantine hummed. “I wonder if my alternate selves could have discussed the causes behind their worlds. Certainly, my counterpart from Equestria W may have mentioned it at some point. Perhaps we shall have to talk to them once we make contact.”

Indeed. Now, I myself don’t really know much about the Nameless, despite creating it. I would imagine that Adamantine knows much more about it than I do. Adamantine, if you would attempt to answer this…

Adamantine drank from her coffee cup, humming in acknowledgment. “As I understand it, you were there for a minute, perhaps two minutes at the most,” she said, looking to Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight nodded. “That’s right.”

“I would imagine that if it indeed was the case that this… wasteland was a timeline where the Great Benefactor escaped, then you would have indeed been in great danger. From some of the things that I have heard, it shares some characteristics with the Tantabus, if that helps you to imagine it. It would have been able to find you quickly and reduce you to nothing in short order, I think.”

A deal of color left Starlight’s face and she swallowed. “U-uh, w-w-well… that’s… good that we got out then.”

Adamantine pointed to Starlight, “but again, there may be some details that I have gotten wrong and, anyways, we don’t know for certain if the Great Benefactor was actually there. Not yet, at least.”

Starlight slumped in her seat. “That’s a relief. Phew,” she said, wiping some proverbial sweat off her brow.

Does the above question have any relevance to the story?

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “RQK?”

No, it has no relevance. A little bit of logic may answer for you as to why that is!

And there we have it. That concludes the AMA. Goodness, that was a lot longer than I expected it to be. Good work, everypony.

Adamantine nodded in approval. “That was actually quite fun.”

Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, actually. It kinda was.”

“Thanks for having us along,” Starlight said.

Absolutely.

Comments

[Mellow]

This truly was a lot of fun and not just because I love discussing temporal mechanics! I would love if this could happen again later on in the story. Say; right after a huge turning point in the narrative?

Also the response to how Starlight feels about Sunset was an amazing one and incredibly heartwarming to boot. I can only hope the best for them in their future endevours.

Thank you for doing this AMA, RQK I never knew how much I wanted it until I did.