Let's Play: Equestria Online!

by Jakinbandw

Discussions About Rocks

I have a few things to put here today, but I'll start with the larger one:
Celestia sees you when you're sleeping
She knows when you're awake
She knows if you're in Equestria or not
So log in for goodness sakes

Bronze Statue commented a while back that Equestria Online had built a module for his RPG campaign he was GMing. Well then. I guess the Pony Pads don't turn off after all. They just turn off the screen and we assume they are off. That's good to know.

Hey, remember that wonderful uproar about the Kinect being always on? Pony Pads do it better. I am also completely sure that their mics are always listening as well. I bet if you talked with Celestia, she could set it up so that the Pony Pad turned on when you snapped your fingers. If you redecorate a Trixie one you might even manage to look like the Doctor when doing it.

Knowing that their are multiple AI's connected to the Pony Pad, I suppose it would be best to consider anything you do around them to be done in public. So, don't do anything with any girlfriends in front of the pony pad that you wouldn't do at a walk in the park. The Pad might not be listening, but do you want to take that chance, and have to explain what you were doing to an embarrassed Celestia?

Honestly though, Celestia isn't something we have to worry about. There are bigger worries, like governments having trojans in our computers that are all fed into an AI that monitors them. It might sound like bad scifi, but until yesterday I never truly thought AI's existed.

In other news, I refute Bronze Statue's statement that the game can not possibly generate unique quest lines for each player. My proof that it can, and most likely does, comes from the fact that it wrote a DnD module for you for fun. This is what Celestia does to relax; Writing quest lines for people in the real world. I suspect that she has been programmed to find enjoyment in writing them, and thus she couldn't help but do some extra on the side.

Besides, there have been random quests in games for years. I first ran into them in a game called Freelancer, and I know they've been around for longer than that. I'm surprised other games haven't already done more of that even without human level AI.

I logged in and found myself still at the palace with some lovely background music playing. The first thing I saw was Forest Trails talking with Celestia who was standing regally in front of her throne. I didn't catch what they were saying, but they both stopped talking and turned toward me.

“Welcome back,” Celestia said, and I found myself relaxing a bit. After thinking things through between sessions, I had started to view her in my mind as a bit scary and dark, but the warmth in her voice reminded me that all she was trying to do was make an enjoyable experience.

“You didn't wait for me yesterday, mister!” Forest Trails said with a glare.

I took a step back. “Sorry. I waited for a bit, but I didn't see you coming and I didn't think that you were...” I trailed off as I saw her mouth twitch upward.

“Actually, Forest Trails, Treasure Island waited as long as he could before coming to see me. If he would have left any later, he wouldn't have had time to talk with me yesterday.” Celestia said to diffuse the situation, “Besides, didn't you say that-”

“Okay, okay!” Forest Trails cut over Celestia, “I thought we agreed not to tell him that!”

“Tell me what?” I asked, curious.

Celestia and Forest Trails looked at one another before Forest Trails gave in and sighed, “Go ahead, tell him. It's probably for the best, anyway.”

“I wouldn't say anything if I truly thought it would hurt you dear Forest Trails, and he does deserve to know,” Celestia said like a mother might to a child they loved. She walked over to a window that looked out over the valleys. She said to me, “Treasure Island, did you ever stop to think about how your actions speak for you? What you say with them?”

I paused, thrown off track. I hadn't expected this to be about me. “I always try to be polite and courteous, but something tells me that you aren't talking about my manners.” I looked at Forest Trails and she looked away, “Oh, did I do something stupid? I'm sorry. This is about not meeting up with you yesterday isn't it?”

Forest Trails looked at me, “Didn't you realize?” Realization dawned on her, “You didn't realize did you? You're denser than stone.”

“Forest Trails.” Celestia said with a bit of steel in her voice.

Trails looked suddenly guilty, “Sorry. Um, but that means that he really wasn't aware?”

I glanced between the two of them confused and a bit put off at being talked over, “Aware of what? Did I do something really taboo or something?”

Celestia turned back to me the sun at her back making her shine, “You might want to try reading between the lines in the future, Tresure Island, if you don't want certain ponies to get the wrong impression.”

Finally I remembered to grab a screenshot of Celestia!

“Neither of you are going to tell me what exactly I did wrong, or more helpfully why it was wrong?” I said, glancing back and forth between the two mares.

“It would be a breach of trust,” Celestia said lightly, “I might try to guide others based on what I know, but I would never break trust like that.”

“And,” Forest Trails added, “You're getting nothing out of me."

I sighed, knowing that I was missing something. “If that is all, would you like to walk with me as I go to see Free Breeze, Trails? I can't promise that I won't try to wheedle your secret out of you, but I suspect that you'll have fun telling me how dense I am not to have already figured it out.”

Forest Trails cocked her head to the side, “It amazes me that you can know that I'll enjoy that and yet not...” She trailed off and shook her head, “I think you have something loose in that brain of yours.”

“Hey! Just because I might be a little dense-” I cut myself off and gave a quick bow to Celestia, “Your Highness, if we may be excused?”

Celestia's laugh tinkled like bells, “You may.”

I turned and started the walk back out of the palace, and Forest Trails Fell in beside me. “As I was saying, just because I might be a little dense-”

“A lot dense” Forest Trails interjected.

“A lot den-” I started to agree before I glanced at her both amused and annoyed, “Hey!”

She looked at me sagely. “Treasure Island, I have seen solid rock that is less dense then you are.”

“Well,” I said a bit ruefully, “at least I'm not dense enough to have my own event horizon, am I?”

“Event Horizon?” Trails asked as we reached the plaza. It was once again filled, though today it seemed like most of the ponies were older and were watching as an orchestra was playing some soft background music for our walk. I actually found it a bit meta to see the source of the background music I had been unconsciously listening to in the palace.

We continued walking through town as I tried to explain the concept of a black hole to Trails. When I was done she told me that my name should have been Event Horizon, and I was forced to agree that it did sort of work as a pony name. I did not agree that I should be the one to bear it, though.

Every now and then, we stopped to ask for directions to where Free Breeze and his wife lived, and other times we stopped to enjoy the scenery, or to listen to some of the music that was being played. Our conversation drifted as we walked, touching on nothing important, but staying light and relaxed. I did show her the trick I had learned with the Roc egg, and she showed me that she had indeed picked up the book on how to raise Rocs.

As we arrived at Free Breeze's, my alarm went off telling me that I had to log off. Forest Trails and I said our goodbyes, and agreed to meet tomorrow in front of Breeze's shop to meet him together. I then logged off.

So, public announcement time; I have a contract for this Friday through Sunday up doing some claim staking. Those of you who were paying attention might be wondering what this is all about, considering I work in construction. The answer is that I work in construction because I can take time off whenever I need it, but that I consider my real line of work and source of income to be Mineral Exploration.

What is claim staking and mineral exploration? I don't want to go too much into it here, actually, but what itmeans is that during those days I will be staying in a tent out in the bush in the evenings, and spending my entire day walking. I don't know if I'll have internet, but even if I do I won't have any time to read replies or respond to them. It is still up in the air if I'll have enough internet to spend any time in Equestria Online, though if I do, I will do write ups and get them posted.

In other news, does anyone else think I am being dense here? I'm really confused right now. If someone could give me a hint, I'd really appreciate it.

And for those hoping, sorry, no new achievements today.