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AlwaysDressesInStyle


No way of knowing, where we'll be going, our adventures never end.

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Aug
1st
2020

Story Notes: 16 (Lulu Luck) · 3:07am Aug 1st, 2020


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/165139

Remember how Hasbroken bumbled Honeybuzz/Bumblesweet as one pony with two names? Lulu Luck is another example of this. Lucky Swirl came out in the first wave of blind bags, while Lulu Luck came out a few months later in the second wave of blind bags. Lulu was the one to get the brushable, and Lucky Swirl was never heard from again (ignore that shallow depression in Lulu's backyard).


Source: from the collection of AlwaysDressesInStyle


Source: from the collection of AlwaysDressesInStyle

The first thing I want to mention is that if you've been keeping track of the timeline, everypony up until now was on the same bus with Snowcatcher. 'Today' was the same day for all of them, and they were the officially the first ponies through the portal (not counting diplomats, consuls, and ambassadors). Lulu Luck's timeline doesn't sync up with theirs, because she came through several months later. 'Today' is not the same 'today' as it was for every mare who's come before her, and most of the ones who come after her. Ploomette (up next!) also will have a different timeline, though she's only one to cross the portal before the others. Having everypony who crosses the portal check in at the consulate only works if there's a consul there to see. :raritywink:

Lulu Luck certainly crammed a lot into one chapter. I'd apologize for the length of this chapter, but that's becoming a bit of a running gag at this point. My original goal was 4,000-5,000 words per chapter (Lulu's chapter is more than triple that). I think it's safe to say that went out the window pretty quickly. These mares have stories to tell, they're gonna tell them, and Lulu Luck's story is well, a lulu. I'm not even sure Snowcatcher's chapter will top this one in length, though Ploomette's might. She has a very unique perspective, and it would be a shame to let that go to waste. This is your chance to ask questions regarding the setting and why things are the way they are: reply to this blog with your questions and I'll do my best to work the answers into Ploomette's chapter if at all possible.

Oh, and a bit of a teaser for Ploomette's chapter: we'll be meeting some of the ponies who've been living on Earth for the past few decades. All of the ones we'll be meeting are pegasi, and if you recognized Lulu's feline friend, you'll probably recognize these ponies too. Hearts will throb and the winds will whistle to the light of the North Star. Or something like that. We might even be in for a Surprise or two.

Lulu - A remarkable person, object or idea

Or in this case, pony. As such, I find it fitting that she has the most adventurous story of these mares. Lulu would argue she's not really a remarkable pony, most likely while hiding away in a lab stocked with all the latest & greatest tech.

I should probably apologize for Lulu's cutie mark story running for most of the chapter. To clarify, since we saw things from her viewpoint and she completely missed the event, her cutie mark appeared when she teleported off the crashing airship. Her special talent is actually luck, and she'd just survived several near-death experiences. She won't figure out what her talent really is until the second act. Right now though, she thinks her talent is walking.

Who says you can't mix action-adventure with slice-of-life? Seriously, there was a time FimFiction wouldn't let you use both tags on the same story.

As for the airship crash, that pays homage to the story this passed for 'longest thing I've ever written' since Pinkie Pie destroys the Goodyear blimp in that fic.


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/164899

Circuit Kitty? Gato Bell? Looks like the Abyssinians like cat puns as much as little ponies love horse puns.

Dr. Claw's Gadgets? But I thought Dr. Claw wanted to Eliminate Gadget!?


Source: https://www.deviantart.com/creekstarloc/art/Cybertronian-Searchlight-355865951

For those of you who've checked out my back catalog (especially A Nice Game Of Chess), you may have noticed a theme for me when it comes to naming Royal Guards. My Little Pony isn't the only Hasbro franchise I'm a fan of...

All of the guards in my stories share a name with an Autobot (while Nightmare Moon's guards are all Decepticons). Hasbro has shared multiple names between the franchises, with Seaspray, Rumble, Spike, and Beachcomber being a few examples.

Searchlight is a Ford RS200... that's more than meets the eye. :pinkiegasp: A G1 Autobot, he's one of the Throttlebots.


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/2131084

So Lulu knows Catrina? G1 for the win! There's a lot of undeserved hate for the earlier generations of MLP in the fandom. G1 Tirek was way more badass than G4's version. G1 Tirek also cranked up the creepiness to the point where one wonders if he had a white panel van emblazoned with 'free candy' parked behind the castle. Which, thinking back to G1, probably would've been a more effective way of catching ponies than sending Scorpan to foalnap them. The way I see it, Wind Whistler would wake up one day to find no other ponies around, and then facehoof at how easily all her friends had been captured. Then she'd enjoy the peace and quiet of solitude rescue them... eventually.


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/2308853

The Storm King's affable evil, while Tempest is always so serious. They've got a dynamic that's fun to write. Pity they killed him off in the movie, because otherwise he would've made a great addition to the 'Legion of Doom' Grogar Discord put together. But let's face it, the series couldn't afford to pick up Liev Schreiber for a few episodes. This was my first time writing both of them, and if not for how many other projects I have in my 'started but not completed' heap, I'd entertain the notion of writing a story of their various adventures up to their attempted conquest of Equestria.

Tempest refrains from killing Lulu Luck. Yeah, there's a chance Lulu would've fallen to her doom if the wind kicked up (especially if they encountered a storm), or if they turned too sharply. Tempest did the best she could under the circumstances. With her heel-face turn in the movie, it wouldn't make sense for her to try murdering an innocent little filly. Even in this 'It's you or her' scenario, Fizzlepop Berrytwist isn't a cold-blooded killer.

I'm not sure when I started to like writing villains, but I'm going to blame Cozy Glow for it.


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/1759857

In the official comics, it was noted one of the Storm King's airships crashed in New Horseleans (bottom right corner of the above image). And now we know the rest of the story. :raritywink:


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/1315787

I've heard of dual citizenship, but I think Lulu Luck's trying to collect the full set of nationalities. She's a native Equestrian, an honorary Abyssinian, and now that she's through the portal, potentially looking to become a naturalized American citizen.

Before the portal opened, she would've been all for moving to Abyssinia (hence her trip there). But humans have better tech than the felines.

As for her receiving an honorary citizenship to Abyssinia, I'm basing it on this:

Citizenship by investment. Some countries give citizenship to people who make a substantial monetary investment in their country. There are three countries in Europe, where this is possible: Malta, Cyprus, and Austria; and several in the Caribbean, including Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Lucia. These countries all grant citizenship immediately, provided that due diligence is passed, without a requirement for any physical presence in the country. -Wikipedia

Granted, the investment in this case is the kingdom's own money, but for a kingdom left penniless by the Storm King, they're grateful to get their money back. What else can they offer aside from a reward, citizenship, and a title? And since it was the princesses who recovered the rest of their treasure from the defeated fleet in Canterlot, Lulu's the only one they can ceremoniously make the offer to. In order to give her a title, they need to bestow upon her citizenship first, even if she never sets hoof in Abyssinia. On a side note, she's not only the first pony to be awarded a feline title, she's also the first pony to be granted citizenship. Rumor has it she may be the first non-feline of any species awarded either distinction.

Baroness is the female form of baron, a noble title with roots meaning man; servant, soldier, mercenary. The last of which could certainly be considered appropriate for a pony who took down the airship of an enemy of the kingdom.

Lulu's shy, introverted, and hates being the center of attention. She looks back on what happened and thinks 'it was no big deal' and 'they're celebrating my failure' as opposed to thinking of it as her mounting the only resistance to the invasion. This goes beyond being modest, she's actually embarrassed by the attention because she doesn't think she deserves it. She'd be thrilled if somepony recognized her for her achievements in her field of interest: combining magic and technology.


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/344886

She also has a bit of a sense of humor, and she absolutely trolled Ploomette. Speaking of Ploomette, she's up next!


Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/213362

Comments ( 9 )

Hmm, now I'm wondering how callsigns would work for Equestrians... (After all, with that habit of disassembling/reassembling/modifying... The FCC tends to take a dim view of that sort of activity with most wireless devices. Amateur radio on the other hand basically encourages it, as long as you follow the rules about wattages and what you're allowed to do in which frequency bands and so on.)

I can only assume that either the ITU would assign a unique prefix for Equestria (or just Equus in general), or Lulu would use the regional prefix of her residence rather than the prefix of the country of her nationality. So something like KA2AAA (with the A being any letter other than maybe X), though I bet she'd study up and get a 2x1 or 1x2 callsign pretty quickly from the sound of it.

More info and a helpful chart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_licensing_in_the_United_States#Call_signs

(Reminds me, sometime I should get more into this stuff again, study up some, maybe upgrade my license even from tech class (was no-code tech class when I got it, which they've since merged with what was tech plus class) now that they've dropped the code requirement from the higher license classes... I suppose that a good start would be to buy or build a proper radio instead of just the half-busted old 2m handheld that I currently have...)

Dan
Dan #2 · Aug 1st, 2020 · · ·

I'm a dual citizen on account of having a full Irish grandfather. Though my Irish passport expired a decade ago and I never bothered renewing it. A laptop is probably the last thing Lulu should get. She's a tinkerer. She should get a test bench case or HTPC case with handles that's easy to transport and store in an RV and build her own, or something like the Dragonbox Pyra or Raspberry Pi which encourages modding.

https://www.newegg.com/black-cooler-master-haf-series-atx-desktop/p/N82E16811119265

Thanks for writing, story and blog both. :)

"I think it's safe to say that went out the window pretty quickly." Just like Lulu did. :trollestia:

Also G 1 Grogar was a necromancer from Tambelon, who was pretty eager to eradicate all life in the world, they would never use him again in G 4 :rainbowwild:

Luck must be the best possible cutie mark to have for the vast majority of ponies.

5326532

I don't think she needs to worry about running afoul of the FCC - she plans on keeping the devices intact (and hence functional) as long as she's living on Earth. Unless she upgrades/replaces them, in which case then the old ones are then fair game to take apart and see what makes them tick. Then rebuild & upgrade/improve.

I could very much see her becoming a ham radio enthusiast. I'm really not sure how that would work... Since Equus isn't physically part of Earth, would they assign Equestria, Abyssinia, etc. their own prefixes? Or would immigrants to Earth use call signs corresponding to their (temporary or permanent) adopted home? I'm thinking it would be the latter, and that KA2xxx would be an accurate starting point for her. And yes, if she's going to jump in, she's going to try to master it. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.

Her goal is to bring as much of Earth's tech back to Equestria as she can, fuse it with magic, and then start manufacturing it. She wants ponies to use these various gadgets to improve the quality of life back home.

For example: There's obviously no infrastructure in place for an internet equivalent in Equestria, and laying cables and/or building towers across the nation would take years. But magic? Imagine a wireless countrywide network, with 100% stability and security, all powered by magic. This is the kind of thing she envisions.

5326681

"I think it's safe to say that went out the window pretty quickly." Just like Lulu did.

:rainbowwild:

Also G 1 Grogar was a necromancer from Tambelon, who was pretty eager to eradicate all life in the world, they would never use him again in G 4

They could've toned him down like they did Tirek.

Dan

5327920

But magic? Imagine a wireless countrywide network, with 100% stability and security, all powered by magic

In a few years, she'll get the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal after delivering a lecture on magically imprinting crystal relays to use a loop invariant theorem for a secure token ring WAN where the magical data packets' origin and exit points can't be determined due to unique encapsulated quine code in each header modifying each relay state.

And then she cosplays as Hedy Lamarr at a human party.

Well... cellular network require a fraction of the infrastructure... that’s why in countries like Nigeria they just jumped from nothing to widespread cellular phone.

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