• Published 18th Jul 2013
  • 2,241 Views, 59 Comments

Stick to Foaluma - Alex Warlorn



Silver Spoon in another class of another school day in Ponyville, same as any other day. . . . Too much like any other day. Then she starts THINKING.

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Only Chapter

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
"Stick To Foaluma"
By Alex Warlorn
Edited By Kendell2

Play MLPFiMS2.7opening.mov

Load Scene Ponyville Schoolhouse Interior.map
Load Characters:
Cheerilee.exe
Applebloom.exe
Scootaloo.exe
Sweetie_Belle.exe
Diamond_Tiara.exe
Silver_Spoon.exe
Twist.exe

Random Select (2) background (Foal) And Load

Set Time: 0915 Hours

Camera Position Micro-No 6

Program Run

Silver Spoon sighed, another boring school day. When was the last time Cheerilee had even changed that chalkboard? What were they studying again this period? History? Mathematics? It didn't really feel important for Silver Spoon to know what the class was teaching right now. She just needed to sit here and do a passable job of paying attention.

There really were times Silver Spoon could just fall asleep, or just stare like a zombie for however long the lesson took. Cheerilee never seemed to punish her for it, and Silver Spoon wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She was surprised she got good enough grades not to get in trouble with her parents as well, but why complain? Yes, her parents . . . her parents, what did they look like again? Oh she was she was tired from the boring lesson.

Come to think about it, why didn't she remember seeing Mr. Rich before his presentation at the school? Not that she could remember much of that anyway, it was so boring!...And what about Diamond's mom? Did she even still have a mom? You'd think at least her dad would have been at her cute-ceañera...Adults were jerks.

She glanced to her right. Who were the two foals next to her again? There was no sign of Tuffle, or that filly who handed Diamond Tiara that Hearts and Hooves card. There was no sign of Featherweight either, not since he had been promoted to editor. But Silver Spoon didn't remember much about that time other than it happened. She and Diamond Tiara were two peas in a pod. So why hadn't she helped Diamond Tiara with the paper again? Oh it didn't matter.

The blank flanks were talking about something. Cheerilee didn't seem to mind they were talking over her lesson. Silver Spoon couldn't hear from over here.

Then the school bell rang and that was that, and Cheerilee said something about homework, but Silver Spoon had learned from experience that unless it was one of Diamond Tiara's plans or the blank flanks had one of their stupid ideas, she could just ignore it.

She wondered where Cheerilee went after school. She only saw her outside walking around sometimes. The most she'd ever really seen of her outside the classroom was when those blank flanks drugged her with that love poison. Come to think about it, that was about the only time she'd seen Applebloom's big brother off the farm...Oh well, why should she can what a teacher did? She saw enough of her during the school day.

Come to think about it, why didn't they see Princess Luna at a lot of the big events? It was always Princess Celestia. Weren't they both rulers? Why was Nightmare Night the first she'd heard of Princess Luna since she came back?...Come to think about it, why hadn't she ever heard of some other important things before they happened? Like how come Miss Cheerilee hadn't mentioned who Discord really was when she was talking about his statue? She knew what a Draconequus was, but she didn't seem to know about the worst monster Equestria had ever know...Wait, what had Silver Spoon been doing on the Day of Chaos? She couldn't remember...Equestria got turned into a madhouse and she couldn't remember one bit of it?

She considered asking Diamond Tiara what she wanted to do, but there was no need to. She wasn't supposed to have her own ideas. She was supposed to stick to Diamond Tiara like glue and back her up in everything she did.

And it always ended so miserably for both of them. Randomly landing in mud. Being publicly humiliated. Having everypony laugh at them again and again. Every one of Diamond Tiara's plans backfired somehow, even in some indirect convoluted way.

Why was it so important to tease the blank flanks anyway again?
It was fun.
Sure it was fun, but no matter what, something awful happened afterwards to her and Tiara, and surely she and Diamond Tiara could have things that were more fun to do than that right?

They were best friends after all. She cared about her. Right? She did care right? She wouldn't hang around and stick with Diamond Tiara through thick and thin like this if she didn't care right? It wouldn't make sense if she didn't care.

It wasn't like they didn't have lives before they teased Applebloom and the other blank flanks right? . . . They did have lives before right? They must have.

She . . . got her cutie mark before Diamond Tiara . . . Why hadn't she ever thought about that before? But it was the only thing that made sense. After all, they were there celebrating Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera, not both of theirs. And she wouldn't have teased Diamond Tiara.

But if Applebloom thought she was the only blank flank in town, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle thought they were the only two . . . wouldn't that mean Diamond Tiara was a late bloomer too? If there were so few blank flanks? . .. But . . . but . . . Featherweight . . . he had gotten his cutie mark a short time before Diamond Tiara was made editor of the paper, she remembered that!

She shook her head! That didn't matter. Did it? No it didn't.

Think. They did have fun and games before they began teasing those blank flanks right?

They must have. It wasn't like the two of them became best friends the same day of Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera, that was just stupid.

So . . . so why . . . why was she having trouble remembering anything before that?

Warning. Flag.

"Diamond Tiara."

Tiara looked at her best friend with a strange look of surprise and said, "Yes Silver Spoon?"

"When did we first meet?"

"Why are you bringing up something like that now?"

Warning. Runtime Error.

"Do you?"

"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I? That's just dumb, I'd never forget that."

"So when was it?"

"When we were little of course."

"We are little."

"Littler, duh. Seriously, what's with you Silver Spoon? You're acting weird."

"It's just, why do we spend so much time teasing the blank flanks? Can't we do something else?"

Alert! Cognitive/context error!

Diamond Tiara looked at Silver Spoon blankly. "Do, something else?"

"Sure! Why does everything we do need to revolve or involve them somehow?" Silver Spoon asked feeling a little scared even if she didn't know why. It was like all they did was revolve around those three like moons around the world. "We could go to the arcade, sleep over at each other's houses! If they're so dumb, why does it feel like all we ever do has to involve teasing them somehow?"

ALERT! ERROR SPREADING!

" . . . I . . . I guess you . . . might have a point, ya know, maybe." Diamond Tiara admitted, doing her best not to sound like she felt she should have thought of that before.

EMERGENCY! CHARACTER DEVIATION DETECTED!

Silver Spoon felt a chill down her spine but forced herself not to think about it. For normally not having to think it was strangely persistent. "Thanks! So I was thinking

EMERGENCY! FREEZE PROGRAM!

The entire world stood still. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. Dandelion seeds freeze in the air where they were. Nothing saw, nothing heard, nothing thought.

PROGRAM CHECK
Errors found SilverSpoon.exe
Erasing lines 1983LP through 2010FIM
Restoring from archive.

Reset from Freeze state 0930457

Silver Spoon stared at the chalkboard, another school day. She listened to the lesson with a in-different look on her face as the CMC chattered away at their latest idea for their cutie marks as Cheerilee happily went over her lesson. She calmly kept herself seated waiting for the bell to ring and whatever Diamond Tiara felt they should do to tease the blank flanks today.

~Fin

Comments ( 57 )

Whoa, this ...

Veery intershting :pinkiesmile:



Reminds me of an Archie fic I read a long time ago

2893995 Betty gained self awareness, and while she's struggling to explain to the others what's going on, she discovers there's an in-universe force that 'resets' their lives every few weeks.

She eventually discovers the decades of storylines they've been forced to live and then forget about. iirc they eventually escape the comic through a Marvel crossover. At the end of the story it's implied that Betty is now going around trying to free the characters in other periodic story comics and media.

I wish I could remember what it was called.

So Silver Spoon is just a program?

mrk

It's kind of sad, in a way I can't really explain.

2894026

Every pony is just a program, with all of Equestria just a simulation so the company don't need to bother writing or animating new episodes, but with safety measures installed so the AIs don't start acting out of character or gain character development to insure "can show episodes in any order."

2894033

Speaks for itself doesn't?

2894005

Sounds cool. Though that would apply only to characters strictly forbidden to ever show character development.

2894005 that's pretty cool. used to be a huge fan of those, might get back into them. jughead was the coolest motherfucker ever.

Pinkie is probably really frustrated right now.

:pinkiecrazy: "She was soooo close."

2894088

You're welcome. I hope it added at least some contrast to the story itself.

2894118

Interesting thought.

mrk

2894071
It's like a child was born, and then snuffed out. A complete loss of a person and her potential.

Inb4 Silver Spoon seeing green flowing numbers.

It says "incomplete". Better check if that's supposed to be correct or not...

*deletes the program responsible for not allowing ponies to show any character development*

2894064 Hmm, then maybe Discord caused chaos because he's a virus trying to get the ponies to wake up to their predicament?

Though, being the so-and-so that I am, I must say that some people IRL seem pretty unchanging throughout their lives, which can be either good or bad depending on their personality.

2894907

???

2895324

Meh.

2895734

Naw. He's just fulfilling his role too.

This is still freaky. This premise is just terrifying to me in ways I can't explain.

2897887

People always fear things they can't control.

This story is really freaky with its fridge horror setting. Mind fuck at its best :pinkiecrazy:

2914187

You're welcome. Anyone who wants to do a recursive of this is welcome to. And I was going for surreal horror here rather than shock or gore horror.

That is so weird that it's amazing. :twilightsmile:

2980402

I'm happy you were entertained. This was written in one afternoon.

2982111

:pinkiegasp: I find it hard to write MLP fanfiction full stop, let alone in one afternoon!

2894118
And every time she breaks the fourth wall:
Software sandbox breached. ABORT SIMULATION! ABORT!

3040431

Unless it's part of her programming to address the audience.

I love it! Great work. :)

Creepy.

Too bad she took the blue pill. :fluttercry:

3324905

There is no red pill. She's not plugged into the matrix, she's a program IN the matrix. There are no 'copper tops' here.

3040431

Which is ironic, since I imagine Hasbro paid a LOT of money for this virtual Equestria so the ponies basically make new episodes FOR THEM.

What we have here is not a Matrix Parody, everypony.:twistnerd:

In the Matrix every program is aware that they ARE a program and follow their function according to their protocols.

No my fellow bronies. What we have here is none other then a "13th Floor" scenario. The Program SilverSpoon.exe begins to question her reality and then spreads this discontent and is detected as an error. All that is missing is Silver Spoon trotting to the edge of Ponyville and finding Equestria ends in a series of digital lines that make up the vast nothing beyond her known world. She is lucky DiamondTiara.exe didn't have a user download into her to take Silver Spoon out!:pinkiesad2:

The lesser of two evils but still not much better then the alternative she is faced with, destined to be a bully and to always fail and watch her friend DT suffer for her own perceived selfish and cruel ways.:raritydespair:

great fic:pinkiehappy:

3497984 I owed someone a favor, and they asked me to write a sequel I never intended to write. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/141407/retcolt

Thank you very very very much for your thoughts and words. Ironically I hadn't really heard of 13th Floor until AFTER making this fic.

This story was basically my satire at characters being frozen in their states, so they can show the episodes in any order. But such characters aren't characters anymore, they're like props. Characters are supposed to be alive and grow. Often villains in stories aren't actually characters, they're just obstacles put in the heroes' way to overcome.

3498136
I prefer the Matrix myself. More action.

Now Silver Spoon isn't just BEST PONY, she is "The ONE":pinkiehappy:

Silver Spoon: "I'm gonna like, hang up this phone.. and then I'm totally going to show everypony what you SO don't want them to see.. a life without you!"
Hasbro: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU:trollestia:

3498231

We wish. But without Hasbro, there is no show.

3505173
Then after season four she can do her "supermare thing" :pinkiehappy:

I'm pretty sure the end will come with season 4.

3506558

Don't remind me. I haven't even seen season 3 yet.

2897887

Well, for one thing the AI ponies appear to be self-aware, and whoever is running this is treating them as mere software. There was a time I used to believe that we wouldn't do something like this, and then I realized all the arguments that are used to ignore nonhuman sapience wherever we find it. I've written essays and poetry on the topic. It depresses me, especially since most of the sapient animal species are rare slow-breeders, and hence in danger of extinction.

Seriously, if we ran into something like the Ponies, and they were not high-tech enough to fight back with manufactured weapons, we would probably just kill them all. :fluttershysad:

3764478

If they could speak English, I would hope we're past THAT stage.


Africans in the 18th centuries were hotly debate on whether or not they SCIENTIFICALLY counted as human beings or should be considered an entirely different species. (In fact, when a book came out at the time suggesting they were inferior humans, it caused a uproar among some, for DARING to suggest THEY WERE HUMAN BEINGS. That is prejudice's true face. Well, I only heard about this on one web page once, and you know this is the internet, so best to take everything with a grain of salt.)

3764508

I would hope that we'd pay attention if they could speak English. Then again, some parrots can, and it is usual to argue that they "don't know what they're saying," even when they use words and phrases appropriately and in context. Most scientists wouldn't consider African Grays to be sapient, and that was Alex's species.

And who says that the Ponies can speak English, anyway? Or at least that they do? They probably would have a rather non-human vocal apparatus, if they were real.

The chances are that most nonhuman sapients, both on Earth and elsewhere in the Universe, are pre-technological. After all, most human species evolved and went extinct without ever using anything more sophisticated than a stone hand axe. The other great apes we share the planet with today haven't even got that far.

It's easy to explain away evidence of sapience. The usual method is to either argue that identical behavior proceeds from different causes (our utterances are conscious and fully novel; theirs are conditioned and stereotyped even when there's evidence to the contrary), or to set impossible standards (are any gorillas as smart as Einstein or Shakespeare? No? Then they're not sapient). We do this all the time.

When I was young, back in the 1970's and 1980's, I assumed that if we ever found evidence of nonhuman sapience we would greet it with joy. Now I have seen enough to realize that we are jealous of our self-proclaimed status as the only reasoning beings on Earth, perhaps in the Universe -- and thus we might not be willing to admit that other creatures were sapient unless they had obvious and blatant technology.

3764508

Sorry if I'm being dark and cynical all over your comments.

2894064
But... If Hasbro designed an entire set of AI's just for a cartoon, couldn't they just sell th-EXTRANEOUS HEURISTIC LOOP DETECTED IN CHILD PROCESS 'pixel_pony.ai'. PURGING. -Great story! I love it!

3953576

That debugging program works too well.

3955677
The amount of flags it's putting up is causing an integer overflow... in a 64bit system!

3497914

Silver Spoon BTW: Does begin to play a meaningful role in the wedding arc.

Shouldn't it be "foalmula" and not "foaluma"?
Forluma isn't a word.

4640223

Mostly so it wouldn't be connected to Pattycakes.

4640346 never heard of it.

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