Project Pegasus

by BronySpielberg

Civilization

Everybody's got rides. What we have here are living biological attractions so astounding they'll capture the

imagination of the entire planet. We spared no expense. -John Hammond- "Jurassic Park"

A pair of colorful ponies emerged from the shadow of the trees onto a sun-drenched hilltop. The village opened before them in the distance like a page out of a fairy-tale storybook. Most of the buildings had thatched roofs and a certain charm, accented here and there with banners and other trappings of the medieval era. He was starting to feel like this pony thing might not be such a drag after all. Matt found it incredible that this "ride" was even possible. There he stopped himself, before this fancy tin can got any further inside his head! It was, after all, still just another machine that was sure to have a gremlin running loose somewhere. His usual job was to ensure a new ride's systems would function the way the manufacturer had intended on Opening Day and and each to come. A ride performing normally, in Matt's mind was just waiting to strand unsuspecting guests in some precarious spot. Soft human flesh and cold steel moving at high speeds make for a volatile mix.

They had even had a name for this phenomenon. "Walt's Folly" they called it. Walt Disney fathered more than just the idea of the modern theme park. He was an industry pioneer for the use of computers as control systems for complex new rides. Not to mention his trademark "secret weapon", Audio-Animatronics. The crude methods of 1950's technology actually proved to be a boon at first. Their robust "solid-state" components had a very low rate of failure. Naturally, Walt's rivals followed suit. As the computers themselves became more complicated, so did the ambitious plans of the men behind the "magic" and their machines that made it. By the 1980's microchips, switches and cables were joining the nuts and bolts as parts essential to an attraction's well-being. "Computer Trouble" had quickly risen to become the number one reason for downtime, and emergencies. The CPU just didn't care if its passengers were 80 feet above terra firma when it felt like taking a shit. Matt had made a living of preventing that very thing, and setting it straight when it did rear its ugly head.

They passed by a tall clock tower, the hands pointed at nine and twelve. Trotting down a dirt path, the town seemed to be little over a half mile further. Across a small creek, what initially appeared to be a very large bush surrounded by birdhouses turned out to be a grass roofed cottage. As he admired this pastoral tableau, it was Sarah who broke the silence.

"That house belongs to Fluttershy. She's Ponyville's resident animal whisperer, and my second favorite pony. I absolutely had to make sure I got her birdhouses just right!" Sarah was an architect by trade and had designed the houses and buildings.

"Flutter-who? Why do they always give these things stupid names?" he groused. Sarah just scowled back. They continued on in silence for a bit. Other than a breeze here and there rustling through the foliage, there was no other sound than the footfalls of their flat hooves. This Matt found odd. In the real world, the outdoors in spring could be a noisy place but here it seemed oddly deserted. Nothing stirred in the undergrowth, no birds in the trees. Where was everything? It was as if the area was dead.

"Whew! Do ya smell what the Rock's been cookin'?" Matt exclaimed as the unmistakable aroma of manure offended his new nostrils. A cattle barn hove into view as they rounded the bend. "You never were one to settle for half-ass when it comes to theming!" The orange pony bellowed with laughter at his own crude jest but the smell was the only sign of the barn's residents as they passed it by.

"Detail is my religion, dear Hutch. I've been in here every day for the last two years putting all this together and the whole time I've been finding ways to incorporate humour. You would be the one to laugh at my version of a poo joke." Through the trees to the right Matt could see a large pond shimmering in the sun. "In December, that will be the center of our Hearth's Warming Eve event, ice skating. We'll snow the whole place over and do some bobsled runs down Hill o' Doom below the dam there." Looking up, atop a steep hill he could see the imposing presence of a massive blue wall, shrouded in the mists of a magnificent waterfall downstream. A pair of stone pegusus sat sentinel atop the dam, their diamond eyes gleaming. It was breathtaking to behold. The little town sat in a valley ringed by looming mountains all around. The greatest of them sat directly across, its peak obscured by a black smudge of smoke against the otherwise radiant sky.

"Is that one volcanic?" Matt inquired of his companion.

"Even better, that's the home to the star of one our high-level adventures. You're looking at Mount Dragonshy." Matt considered this and felt just a twinge of something he'd felt when he looked over the edge of a three hundred foot drop atop a lift hill. Fear.

"Can it get down from there?"

"I suppose it could go wherever it wanted, if that's what it really wanted to do. It won't though. Animal behaviour is controlled by their coding which is all Ann...well, Edwin's department anyway."

"Ann?"

"Anne. Edwin's fiance. She passed away a couple of months ago from a brain tumor. She was kinda the team's pet. Everyone loved her and they seemed so happy together. It gave us all quite a scare, given the nature of our work here but according to Edwin she had been ill for years and just didn't want anyone to know. He was devastated. Hasn't really been the same since. Damn shame. The two of them are responsible for the behavior every living thing here, well, minus ourselves of course. Anne worked for the circus, he's a programmer. It was this project that brought them together."

"Wow. That's terrible," Matt digested all that for a moment. For the first time he started to consider what physical complications could arise from the prolonged use of this machine. "Good to know you think this thing doesn't cause cancer, but how can you be so sure? Radiation of all kinds affect human physiology. I'd like to know more about what exactly this thing does to your insides before we start putting real people in here, especially children!" Matt considered how a ride was given its daily inspection. After looking it over to make sure all the important parts were present; you gave it a spin with all the seats empty to see if it would fall apart on you. Next, a couple of staffers would strap themselves in for the next run and if they returned in one piece then you could open up. He thought about the way the process implied that a ride operator's life was cheap in comparison to the park's visitors. This ride, if it could even be called that, would be in that third phase; employee testing. Matt gave a little thought to his condition at that moment. He was being used as a bright orange guinea pig! "So, you and the team really think this thing's safe..."

"Of course it is. Nothing in here can really hurt you. It's all just a dream." Something Matt saw in her eyes led him to believe that there was a bit more to it than that.

Matt glanced at a cluster of tents festooned with banners that fluttered in the slight breeze. Just a bridge stood between them and what appeared to be the center of town. Rather than grill his companion further he decided that he'd be the judge of that later. After all, he was here now. It was a little too late to be thinking of turning back and Sarah's hooves were already clunking their way across the bridge toward the town square.

Comments

[pendrake72]

5444755

In reference to getting an Editor &/or Proofreader(s), FimFiction does offer assistance in that regard...

~ a. Looking For Editors

~ b. The Proofreader Group

Remember the guideline: You should have only one (1) Editor, but you can have multiple (2+) Proofreaders.

[MCA]

Boring. Way too boring and fast.

[Scohinyha Sanka]

Interesting premise will track this for sure.

7078614
Not really to be honest it's setting the stage.

[MCA]

7078677
Having a guy in a pink Porsche get to a magical world in less than 2000 words isn't really setting the stage. I know nothing of the guy, and have no reason to be interested.

[BronySpielberg]

Erm, I'm losing people and getting downvotes with the word count I have. I'm not going to make longer chapters until I get some better feedback.

[MCA]

7079241
git gud

From the thread;

>The double doors slid open and a tsunami of air conditioning rushed out to mingle with the sticky humidity of a Central Florida afternoon.

Don't you think this is way too exagerrated?

Also, even the first dialogue is misplaced, along with the needlessly long paragraph not even telling me anything I'd want to know. About the same for most of the first chapter, even more with it being extremely short to introduce us to such an ambitious project and world.

LAN, MMORPG, CRT, those mean nothing to me, and I'm not spending any time googling their meaning, as it's not my job. Overall, again, the first chapter is dry, undescriptive, extremely fast-paced and boring.