In 2015, the Intragalactic Space and Aeronautics Coalition was formed by the Reformed League of Nations. Their primary objective is to collect data on potential candidates for deep space colonization. Never before has human kind joined together for a project of this magnitude. Taking full advantage of this opportunity, the bulk of Earth's remaining resources were poured into failed attempts to send prototype ships beyond the Solar System.
The last mission is upon them. The culmination of a decade of research has produced the 'Destiny', the last hope humanity has of sending a ship outside of the Solar System. Their Destiny leaves the system, only to end up in a world clear across the galaxy...
Chapters (5)
there are possibilities with this story. for now any way, I at least will watch
YELLOW ALERT: OUTER KUIPER BELT OBJECTS AVERAGE VELOCITY: 3.6 KILOMETERS PER SECOND.
"Jonah, it almost sounded like you said there were super-massive space rocks traveling nearly the speed of light outside our ship. I am so glad that's not the case right now."
WTF?
I'm bad at math, but 3.6 kilometers per second is nowhere near the speed of light, at least when using the metric system
299,792,458 meters per second
from a quick google search. Now, if a kilometer is like 1000 meters, roughly, and light in the metric system is 300 million meters per second, again roughly, then it should be around 300,000 kilometers per second.
300,000x1000= 300 million meters per second.
Or something. I don't know. I just know it's not 3.6 kilometers per second. That's slow as heck compared to light. :P
3361664
I can't believe it. That is something I honestly missed, final draft. I changed that, but I published without the change. I apologize.
3361856
It's alright, it's a simple mistake.
Just fix it before anyone else sees it. You don't want anyone thinking you're stupid or something.
3361872
Got it, I appreciate the observation! 3.6 km per second is faster than hypersonic speeds, definitely NOT the speed of light. Not many objects can pull that off. :P
everything looks good no major formating issues that causes my brain to cramp trying to read and somewhat decent grammar will watch for future developments
3361962
Yep.
Liked and favorited, by the way. I want to see how this develops.
I never read the original story, but... it looks good so far.
3361664 What about something traveling at 6.02214129(27)×10^23 metres per second?
3364027
I don't know?
I'm terrible at math. I just realized a very obvious mistake. I was just pointing it out.
Don't come to me with problems like that :P
3364682
His name. Dubious math is dubious. #aintnobodygottimefodat
3364796
Yeah, basically.
NYERGH,POTATISMUS
3364027
Why, I do believe that is a mole of meters-per-seconds!
3366541
Traveling at the speed of mole. Holey moley. Holy. Guacamole.
3364682 Well you clearly don't study chemistry, chemistry references for the win!
3368040
Yeah, I hated chemistry class. God, was that boring.
3368341 Have fun with your non-chemistry, I'll be over here turning rusty bikes and aluminium foil into deadly incendiary devices.
3368351
It's ok. I don't need to be the Unabomber :P
3368353 I'm talking melting reinforced steel doors.
3368362
Alright, then I don't need to be a vault robber :P
It's actually kind of scary though how you can make dangerous stuff out of household items. That's always been a little creepy to me. I could probably make a bomb right now out of what I had in my house if I knew what to do and I had the right kind of evil malicious intent
3368380 I have three grams of magnesium in my cupboard, and various other highly toxic chemicals, including ones that can be used to make highly potent corrosive acids. Anywho, Guten Nacht.
3368387
:D
awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/jon-stewart-colbert-bravo.gif
intelligence alround this chapter
Good god...Did you just fucking use shielding magic that can actually withstand a bullet? If this wasn't already interesting, you wouldv'e lost a viewer.
3369618
As we've seen in the canon, the Sparkle family has a strong affinity for magic, at least with the youngest generation. If you watch science fiction like Star Trek or Stargate, you'll note how obsolete technology, when put up against something like a force field, does not match up. You need something with immense, constant energy output 'such as' actual lasers (at least in my view) to penetrate those defenses.
I disregarded the distance between the protagonist and Twilight because I don't believe that with her proficiency in magic, and her relationship with her brother, that shielding against a handgun like the M1911 is an issue, as I clearly portrayed. Thoughts?
I don't know much about black holes and worm holes, but I think that's called the event horizon.
3369784
I think a hand gun like a 1911 would drain the shield if he fired a clip or two. An assault riffle would take much less. Twilight is not Shinning Armor so her shield won't be as strong as his. Even his got knocked down by a bunch of changelings that were hitting it at speeds far less than a bullet. Multiply the kinetic energy of the bullet when it hits and and how many times the shield gets hit, a gun wouldn't take much time to drain a personal shield if the the bullet is a decent size caliber like a .45 or 5.56 or 7.62. That's my thoughts though it's your story you can make however you want.
3369784 So, a small field of "purple sparkly energy" stops a lead/copper round going at a few hundred feet per second? I call bullshit.
3370188
Are you referring to the enormous shield Shining Armor constructed for the Royal Wedding? My general principle on shielding of this type is that it is as strong as the source of its power. Shining Armor specializes in defensive magic, plus high reserves of magical energy is in his bloodline. Keep in mind that with that example, he is providing defense for an entire castle town.
Personal shielding on a far lesser scale is being used by Twilight (Element of Magic). The discussion has to eventually come down to whether or not the ballistic properties of a round (or more) from the M1911 would penetrate the shield of a unicorn whose greatest talent is magic, and has a massive reserve of energy.
3368390 Don't mess with chemistry students, they WILL fuck your shit up.
3370160
And on this, you are correct. I did not use the proper nomenclature.
3370417
I think bullets should have a chance against personal shields, it could be like a clip or two to take down the shield with a 1911, and less when using an assault riffle, otherwise the magic is op if bullets have very little effect. Got to remember a 45 caliber bullet is hitting the shield with a lot more force than a arrow or crossbow bolt, so it would make sense for it to drain her shields a lot even with massive reserves of energy. Also people tend to get cranky when human weapons are beat by magic, especially guns.
3371759
I think it is definitely fair for firearms to have a chance. I'll do some more research on weapon ballistics beyond what I've learned so far. Always a great opportunity to learn.
Great. Now he's captured because Twilight was too curious for her own good.
If I were in the human's position, I would refuse to answer questions or cooperate until all my gear had been returned, including my gun.
3368387
It's "Gute Nacht"; "Nacht" is female in German, and "Guten" would requite a male noun to follow (like e.g. "Tag" ("day")).
3374906 Does care, I last spoke, or wrote for that matter, german four or five years ago, don't except me to remember much.
I'd say a shield bubble the of 2-3m would suffice to protect Twilight. Shining Armor's shield was at least 200 times that diameter (and surface area grows squared for a sphere, so every doubling of diameter means 4 times the surface), and only shattered after he had been severely weakened by Chrysalis, and after hundreds, possibly thousand of changelings had collided with it multiple times – yes, they're slower than a bullet, but they also have a lot more weight.
The question would rather be if Twilight tuned her shield spell to such an attack, I guess, but now that she knows what to deflect, she, being at 100% power and only having to protect such a small volume would probably be able to withstand this quite some time.
My opinion.
somehow this story took my interest, i didn't actually read it yet , im just waiting for a few chapt to show up before jumping into it. Anyhow Ill be waitingpbs.twimg.com/media/BK75RdSCMAEoXlk.jpg
this fic is awesome keep up the awesome work. Oh and I almost forgot...seoenquirer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/firstpost.jpg
This seems kinda... donno.. not quite right with regards to how your main char reacts to different things. Too emotional mostly. Astronauts are chosen not only based on capabilities, but also how well they get along with others and deal with stressful situations. One minute Tom is sobbing and babbling about celestia pointing a gun at him, the next he is grabbing the gun getting ready to shoot them if they take a step towards him... after they trusted him enough to loose his bindings. Same kind of thing in the previous chapter when he could hear twilight and spike talking, and him taking pot shots at them.
If you havent, try watching Apollo 13... How things were handled is pretty representative to what actually happened, and should give a pretty good idea how other (not related) stressful/tense situations are handled. Even if said situation is not covered in training, it would still be handled in a logical fashion (because of what it means to be an astronaut). What Tom does in this chapter and the previous one is not very logical at all.
33915946
I can see where you are coming from, especially the point about his emotions being in flux. I think my intention with this character's reactions was not to assume he was given preparation for contact with alien races. The only danger he was meant to face were the natural phenomenae, such as asteroids and black holes.
Tom is also dealing with a heavy burden to give the human race a chance to survive. To be put into a situation where he has lost control of everything he required to complete his mission...that's pretty stressful.
Regardless, I will look out for how he responds to certain situations; he isn't a wimp, but I think in at least this situation, his distress can at least be understood.
This fic is awesome but I think that it's going a bit too fast.
Maybe I'm just not used to first contact in two chapters...
3392819
I am also accustomed to stories where the protagonist is given ample time to adjust to new surroundings, gain his/her balance and footing, and explore foreign territory. As another reader commented earlier, the irregular behavior towards situations that you'd believe someone trained to be an astronaut could handle might make little sense.
However, imagine being tossed into a pitch-black room in another part of the world, then when you finally peer out into the outside world of that room for a brief moment, you are snatched into darkness, and you end up in another foreign place...that might upset you and your rational mind a bit.
If he was made to look like a pony on the outside, but still be human - i.e., he would still have hands, not hooves, but they'd look like that - I'd be okay, but turning him outright into a pony does not sit well with me.
Sorry, it's just ticks me off when either a human or a pony is made to change species; I'm just tired of that kind of deal.
Again, if he only looked like, but didn't actually have, four legs, then I'd be okay. This... It sounds permanent from how Celestia is portraying it, and the forced change of name...
Again, I'm sorry. I don't intend to cause any loss of imagination, concentration, or courage. I'm just being critical. Please feel free to ignore me.
3555916
In the first draft of the story, it was something I had to really struggle with when I decided to write this part. Which route was I going to take with this?
In short, the reason I went with a full-blown transformation rather than just the illusion of a pony was to force the protagonist into a position where he would have to relate to the alien society in 'every' aspect, including physically.
Had I not written it this way, there would be a hurdle to overcome trying to reconcile his typically 'human' behaviors with how this society tends to act. I think either path can be compelling, but for the goals of this story, it made more sense for me to choose the path that is familiar to most. There is a chance to make this tale unique, even if it means using a device that is common.
3556533
Okay, but the transformation isn't permanent is it?
Sorry for any offense or bad feelings my previous comment caused. If you want me to change it, I will.
3556727
Oh, you didn't cause any bad feelings at all! I enjoy seeing the criticisms because it grants me insight into what readers appreciate about storytelling and what they can see. Sometimes, I'll get comments about aspects of my writing that I did not see before, and it is always good to become self-aware of how you tell the story.
I cannot say right now whether or not it is a permanent change, mainly because that's not for the reader to know yet. ;)
I'm looking to come off hiatus, but don't hold your breath. I still need to plan ahead for the two stories I currently have.
Next chapter is nearly completed.