Sep
10th
2017
Coming Soon: "The Iron Horse" Afterword and FAQ! · 3:58am Sep 10th, 2017
So, I'm writing an afterword for The Iron Horse, and I wanted to also take the time to answer any lingering questions readers might have. Therefore, if you've finished the book, please leave a comment on this blog post with any lingering questions you have about Turing Test's journey. I'll be glad to answer anything! I should note that you needn't ask "Will you write a sequel?" I intend to answer that already...
For now, all I'll say is that it's a strange feeling knowing you've spent two years writing a book that's the size of War and Peace about a robot horse. And you know what? It was time well-spent. 
Report
The Hat Man · 726 views
· Story: The Iron Horse: Everything's Better With Robots!
·
#FAQ
#Afterword
#Coming Soon
Is there a possibility of a spin-off of Turing Test exploring the Equestria Girls world?
And no, don't point me to the April Fools story. I already read that.
I've literally put off reading The Iron Horse until the thing got marked complete. Welp. I got some reading to do.
Magic conch, will Turing and Maud ever get maaaaaried~?
Will 001 be "adopted" by the apples?
Will 004 ever have a sense of humor?
Why won't 002-chan notice me?
Is Twilight Turing Tests legal mom?
Why didn't 002 punch the living daylights out of Cobbler when she had the chance?
WHEEEERE IS 002 GOIIIING?
4663831
Out of curiosity, where did you leave off?
4663870
First few chapters, last I remembered. That was back from when I wanted to do a crossover with your story and my own AU, but the story in question kinda... died, and I just kinda started to forget all about it.
I have yet to finish, but I've been dreading the end -- does Techquestria win? Do they at least come to a fair compromise with Equestria? Or are they just brushed aside and all the problems in Equestria are never fixed? Knowing the answer would make it much easier to read the rest for me.
Also, what is Equestria going to do about the inevitable creation of artifical super-intellegence that is able to incrementally self-improve itself and, eventually, either become the bringer of a golden age or, more likely, consumes all matter in Equestria and converts it into quills?
4663872
Well, the bad news is that there's a lot left to catch up on. The good news is that I think if you liked the early stuff you'll probably like the rest of it a lot.
4663885
Yup.
4663876
And sofas?
4663876
Well, if you REALLY don't mind the mildest of spoilers:
Does TechQuestria win? No.
Do they come up with a compromise? Yes. (But not until after an epic showdown.)
Are all TechQuestria's problems fixed? Some, but they'll move forward to solve the others.
As for the other questions, those are within the purview of a possible sequel.
4663918
Yes, but the ratio of quills to sofas has to be EXACTLY thirty-seven quills for every point-oh-three [addendum] sofas. Note the decimal: that is in error. That's why it's so crazy, see: it's trying to make the perfect amount of sofas and quills, but it's always off by part of a sofa due to being programmed in base ten (and parts of sofas are not efficient according to its main values, so that just cannot do), so it calculates that to make the ratio perfect it has to make infinite quills and sofas. Thus, the entire universe, and all universes, needs to be converted into infinite quills.
In short, an extemely dumb, extremely intelligent, narrow AI destroys the multiverse because Twilight Sparkle decided that tripple-checking her coding without sleeping for three days straight -- while out of coffee -- was a brilliant idea. But hey -- at least she'll never run out of quills or sofas.
What will be the backlash for all of this. I know Techquestria is now its own Nation. However a lot of people were angry at Celestia for her technophobia. There are now citizens of Equestria that are purely mechanical. Are there plans to to make more and if so what are the ethics of this. Does Pony deserve the ability to create life? There's also the question of how far can the tech go. We may have robots but who's to say we won't eventually have cyborgs or Androids. For all you know RoboCop could be around the corner Or Worse the Terminator could be around the corner. On a lesser note maybe computers will now become a thing. The runic technology is more than sufficient at holding large amounts of data and processing it. It would be a more matter of instead of putting the mind of a pony in the machine simply letting the machine stay a machine. I mean can you imagine the equestrian internet. This literally opens the door for so much sci-fi. Especially since you have sci-fi back with magic. Magical technology is more powerful than regular technology. Sorry if this seems Randy it's just the World building opportunities are so goddamn huge with this setup. I know you're doing a sequel so I don't expect you to answer all of this but even a hint of the future would be most appreciated.
4663991
Well, that's an awful lot to cover, but I'll try to answer some of that in the FAQ.
Some of the rest, though, would fall into the category of a potential sequel and perhaps I should state that I have not committed to doing a full sequel just yet.
If you ultimately decide not to do a sequel then I just really want to know what happened with those two worshipers of Sombra. Oh my their names Escape me at this moment. I'll probably remember them after this post and edited it, because that was a real cliffhanger.
Is there going to be a print copy?
Well. I have about 2 questions.
1. Is Robot-pony Marriage legal? If so, how do make foal?
and
2. Will there be a sequel, or some continuation in the same 'Verse (Turing-Verse? Test-Verse?), because the end was a bit of a cliffhanger. Y'know, with Grace and all.
What happens with Maud now that Turing is a fulltime Canterlot pony with her new job?
It would be nice a clarification of *what* changes happened in Equestria's political system after the compromise, in comparison to what it is before.
What happens with Maud and those King Sombra worshipers?
4663819
4663854
4663861
4663969
4663991
4663999
4664058
4664062
4664072
4664114
4664263
Hey folks, just letting you know that I've collected your questions and will try to answer them in the Afterword/FAQ. Thanks or all the submissions so far!
And if you're a different reader with a different question (or even one of the above people with another burning question), feel free to add it! I'll take questions right up until the Afterword is released!
What will happen with Grace and Glory?
4664740
It's been asked, but rest assured, I'll answer that one.
I'm a little late to the party and need to get to sleep ASAP for work tomorrow, so I'm just getting my two questions out there right now. Sorry if these have been asked already.
1. The glowing blue eyes chick: Ugh, she's SO evil. Will she be stopped soon?
2. Is the Care Taker the one from Star Trek: Voyager and Equestria is in the Gamma Quadrant?
...were Glory and Grace's abilities removed or not? I seem to remember a mention that their special powers were gone...
OhMyGosh OhMyGosh OhMyGosh OhMyGosh OhMyGosh OhMyGosh!! I will read it!
1. When is it coming out?
2. Where is Unit 004 living? You mentioned it but you did not specifically state where.
3.What is going to happen to my Turing Pie ship?!?!?!
4. When am i going to calm down?!!!!
4668266
1-3, you’ll have to find out.
4, I recommend against calming down. Barely contained enthusiasm has worked pretty well for me so far.
4664058
I really do hope that this is a thing because this story is cool and deserves a place on my bookshelf.
What fimfiction story do you recommend which also has a technology theme?
I forgot to ask, i don't think so but is the cross over with pony.exe canon? I really hope not and I honestly don't think it is but you can never know.
4674496
That one, I can answer definitively: no, it is not canon. Just think of it as a “What if” scenario and that’s about it.
4671751
Honestly, not many come to mind. The few that I’ve really enjoyed are on a really long hiatus. I know a few others that seem popular, but I haven’t had a chance to read them yet, so I couldn’t judge. Honestly, I didn’t quite see a story that was up my alley... so I wrote one that was.
4674841
There's one story which I like and also has a technology theme and that is https://www.fimfiction.net/story/189736/dexters-lab-equestria
However, this dude takes ages until he brings out another chapter ;_; . The good thing is though that his chapters are more than 15000 words long, so I guess I can't complain :/
Will Turing ever call Twilight "mom"?
What of the rest of the Pie family? What do they think of Turing?
4683205
Probably not. Despite Twilight’s role as Turing’s caretaker, Turing sees her as a best friend and mentor, but would never refer to her as “Mother” over “Twilight Sparkle.”
4683278
regardless, I will shi-
...
what is a word for family-shipping?
(with family instead of romance)
Who was the most attractive and intelligent member of your editing team?
4695546
GenerousGypsy and Reese, respectively.
That Knight Templar guy was a close second in both categories. Do you know him? You have such similar names...
I know it's not a question, but I would love to see how Turing test would interact with Athena and crusader from the fic Legacy.
4696142
That’s probably not going to happen, I’m sorry to say.
4696291
That's ok, I reader can dream. Oh! Will cobbler create anymore robots in the future?
4696051
%#*?!
4697069
Aw, you know I love ya, you big galoot.
4697254
Do you think that you could do a oneshot or a short multichapter story about Turing Test being accidentally dragged into the time loop event with Twilight, Spike, and Starlight at the season 5 finale? I like to see her reactions regarding facing Twilight's old enemies.
4700730
Well, I’ll be commenting on this, but I was actually thinking of writing a story that would look at Turing’s fate in some of the alternate universes seen in the S5 finale.
Tentatively, it would be called “Fragments of Time.”