Ponyville
CHAPTER 3
Octavia relished the feel of the water running down her mane as she stood on her hind legs and indulged in a long, long shower.
It wasn’t often that she had the chance to do so. Her ensemble was constantly playing in one city or another and when she was home, she had little time to herself, as she preferred to spend that time with her friends or even attempt small variations on her music with the aid of her roommate just for fun.
“Ah, just let the thoughts fade, Octy, you did well...” she sighed to herself. “You don’t have to worry about another concert for the next few weeks, things are fine. You can indulge... let go of the stress.”
She sighed again in contentment, just letting the water cascade down her hair until the door to the bathroom was slammed open.
Octavia’s eyes snapped open as she turned in surprise to look at her roommate, Vinyl Scratch, who had just barged in, with a wild look in her face. This is it! I knew she wanted me bad but this... she’s such a beast! Octy thought, blushing a bit. “Vi-vinyl! What are you doing?! I know I put the sign outside and-”
“Octy! I just got a message from Agent Green!” Vinyl interrupted. “She’s confirmed that she has her hooves on something created by humans! Even Agent Purple couldn’t disprove it!”
Feeling strangely disappointed, Octavia slumped. “Oh, so that’s it then, that’s why you barged in here with no respect to my privacy!”
Vinyl coughed, looking at her roommate as the shower kept pouring warm water on them. Her eyes roamed Octavia’s body. She looked... well, really, really nice, standing like that... it really showed how well toned Octavia’s body was, strangely enough. “Well... yes?” Vinyl ventured. Don’t blush! Don’t blush!
“Couldn’t this wait!?” Octavia demanded, as she turned off the faucet and dropped to her four hooves in annoyance and deftly wrapped a towel around her with her mouth.
“Yeeee- NO!” Vinyl shook her head. “Octy, they said that this human thing... it was doing strange things! Things nopony has ever seen before! Things that only humans could have created!”
Octavia rolled her eyes. “Yes, I do remember quite clearly how this aquaintance of yours... what was her name... Trixie, yes... how she could do things ‘no other unicorn could ever hope to do’. Plenty of tall tales and exaggerations that came crashing down around her in the most monumental fashion...”
“But we’re talking about Twilight Sparkle!” Vinyl insisted. “She’s Celestia’s apprentice! She’s probably next in line if something happens to Celestia herself!”
Octavia frowned. “What about Luna?”
“Meh, everypony knows she’ll be spaced again sooner or later.”
“And you wonder why you’re never invited to perform at the Castle,” Octavia sighed. She trotted past her roommate giving her a playful slap to the muzzle with her tail. “Just so you know, I gave Luna one of your cds and she liked it!”
“Long live the Lunar Republic!” Vinyl called back as she took a deep breath, trying to remember that aroma forever. “I’ve already called an air taxi, so you should get ready!”
Octavia stopped. “Ready for what?”
“The adventure of our lives!” Vinyl smiled. “Don’t forget your Cello!”
o.0.o
Twilight paced in front of Lyra’s home. They had all run out and closed the door behind them and soon the noises had died down. Still, they had managed to send a message to ‘Agent White’ via Lyra’s pre-ensorcelled paper.
“Tell me again, Lyra, why exactly did you buy something like that? Instant messaging is expensive unless you have a dragon, like Spike.” Twilight asked.
Lyra looked at her. “For situations like this! Sure, at 50 bits a page it’s a little expensive, but then again I never thought I would really get to use it anytime soon!”
“Well, you did and we’re glad you did, since doing it means that we have more friends to help us!” Spike said.
“Hm... speaking of friends... maybe I should ask Rainbow Dash or Applejack for-”
“No!” Lyra stepped in front of Twilight with a resolute look. “There’s already too many of us involved, and you made a promise!”
Twilight blinked. “I did?”
“You did,” Spike confirmed with a nod. “When we were sworn into the Hand Society you promised not to get others who were not involved in Society business when called to duty.”
Twilight’s eyebrow twitched. “I did? When was this?”
Spike thought for a moment. “A couple of months ago, when you came back from partying all night at Canterlot for your birthday only to find that Pinkie had organized another party for you at the library, she got a lot of Applejack’s Special Reserve Cider and all those salt-licks... do you remember?”
Twilight shuddered. “Spike... I thought we would never speak of that night again.”
“Regardless you swore allegiance to the Hand Society that night, Twilight,” Lyra said.
“But I was drunk! And you never told me this when I said I wasn’t part of it!” Twilight complained.
“Well,” Lyra coughed. “I... thought you were saying that to have Plausible deniability... so I never pressed you.”
“Plausible-” Twilight’s eyes widened. “What the hay did you think we would be doing that I would ever need Plausible deniability?!”
“Shh!” Lyra put her hoof on Twilight’s mouth. “You’re being too loud!”
“Hey, girls! I think I see them!” Spike said, pointing up.
Both unicorns looked up as a chariot painted in yellow with a black and yellow checkered line in the middle and pulled by four pegasi landed in front of Lyra’s house.
“Heartstring Household,” the lead pegasus said. “Please watch your step and thank you for using Air Cab.”
“Thank you, good sir!” Octavia said as she pulled her Cello case out of the cab.
“I’ve left your tip in the car so you can get it when you get home!” Vinyl said.
“Thank you, ma’am!” the lead pegasus nodded just before they took off.
“Vinyl, how kind of you!” Octavia remarked. “I thought you had spent all your money on the fare! I was more than willing to pay for the tip!”
“It’s okay, Octy! I got it! I just hope they like it!”
That gave the gray earth pony pause. “Like it? What do you mean?” she glared at Vinyl. “What type of ‘tip’ did you leave them?”
“A sandwich!” Vinyl replied in stride. “Daffodil and daisy. Made by me! Delicious!”
“Weren’t you eating a sandwich on the way?”
Vinyl looked uncomfortable. “Um... yeah?”
“It wouldn’t be the sandwich you ‘left’ would it?”
Vinyl lowered her head.
“Vinyl Scratch,” Octavia glared at her roommate. “Tell me you didn’t leave a half-eaten sandwich as tip for the four pegasi that dragged us all the way here in a conveniently short time!”
“I... I didn’t?” Vinyl looked up. “It was more like, three fourths left...”
Octavia sighed. “We’re taking the train back. I just hope this trip is worth the aggravation... I might never be able to use their services again!”
“It’s worth it,” Lyra said walking up to them. “It’s really worth it! Octy... Scratch... I finally found it! Proof! And it’s irrefutable!” her smile almost lit up the night.
“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves...” Twilight said, stepping up to them. “‘Irrefutable’ might be a bit too much...”
“Agent Purple,” Vinyl nodded.
Twilight arched an eyebrow and nodded back. “Vinyl.”
“Twilight, nice to see you,” Octavia smiled.
“Agent Gray, how are you?” Spike waved.
“Thank you for remembering the code names, Agent Zippo,” Lyra said.
“I hate that nickname,” Spike growled. “It’s all your fault, Vinyl!”
Vinyl chuckled. “Well, Lyra wanted something that sounded mysterious so...”
Twilight sighed. “Are we really going to do this? Let’s all be adults and one baby and call each other by our names, okay?”
“I say we leave it to a vote!” Lyra said. “Now, if you want us to call ourselves by code name vote 1...”
“No,” Octavia stomped her hoof down. “What is this? One of those ‘Dungeons and Humans choose your own adventure’ stories? I say we just call each other by name and be done with it.”
“But-” Vinyl started, only to wince at Octavia’s glare. “Yeah... I can live with that.”
Lyra sighed. “Fine. But we should really take a look at that box now...”
Twilight nodded. “Perhaps with our combined intellects, Octavia and I can figure out what that thing is.”
The group cautiously walked up to Lyra’s door. Twilight’s horn lit up and the knob turned.
“Heeeeeeey...” Vinyl suddenly said. “What do you mean Octy and you? What about me and Lyra?!”
“Exactly what you think!” Twilight whispered harshly. “Now, let’s go in, and be careful, Vinyl, Lyra, be ready to cast a shield if we need it!”
“I don’t know that spell!” Vinyl whispered back. “My magic is focused on music!”
Twilight groaned and glanced at Lyra.
Lyra sheepishly levitated her lyre and strummed it.
“Great,” Twilight deadpanned.
She opened the door fully and the group stepped in. There was a light shimmering in the living room where Lyra, Twilight and Spike had left the box.
“Okay gang, the box was doing something strange when we ran out, so be careful...” Twilight whispered.
“Gang? Seriously Twilight, you need to think of a better term...” Vinyl said. “That sounds so dorky.”
Spike snickered. “It is!”
“Aw, our Twilight is adorkable!” Lyra poked Twilight’s withers.
“Stop it!” Twilight snapped.
“Yes, please behave,” Octavia frowned. “This is not the time to behave like teenagers.”
“But, Octy, we’re barely young adults, despite what her Adorkableness would like to say.”
Octavia’s lips twitched. “Fair enough, but you should have a limit to your teasing, Vinyl.”
“No, I shouldn’t.”
“Shh!” Twilight growled. “Do you want the box to notice us?!”
Spike snorted. “It’s a box, Twilight, how could it-”
“GREETINGS!”
Twilight’s horn flashed so suddenly the others barely had time to gasp as they were flung all over the room while the purple unicorn jumped so high her horn scratched the ceiling.
The group fell down on their stomachs and faces and stared in surprise and fear as the box emitted a light that formed some sort of white translucent field around them.
“GREETINGS... SPECIES: EQUUS FERUS CABALLUS... PONIES. AND DRACONIS OCCIDENTALIS: DRAGON. UPADTING DATABASE: SENTIENT RACES. I AM G*zziorhg*” The box said, although its name sounded more like garbled and scratchy sounds than an actual name. “I HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO INTERFACE WITH ANY SENTIENT SPECIES AND ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ANSWERED WITH MY EXTENSIVE DATABASE AND ALSO INFORM YOU OF THE INEVITABLE RETURN OF-”
“Are humans real!?” Lyra asked suddenly.
“HUMANS... SPECIES: HOMO SAPIENS. SENTIENT RACE OF BIPEDS ORIGINATING ON THE THIRD PLANET (DESIGNATION: EARTH) OF THE SOL SYSTEM-”
“Yeah, yeah, are they real?” Lyra interrupted yet again.
“YES.”
“YEEEEEEEEEEEES!” Lyra shouted, doing a pirouette as her horn flashed and her lyre levitated and started playing a merry tune.
“EQUUS FERUS CABALLUS... UPDATING DATABASE: UNICORN VARIATION DETECTED. UNICORN CONSIDERED MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE. ADDING ENTRY TO ‘CONFIRMED LEGENDS’”
“Lyra! Calm down!” Twilight said, her horn glowing and stopping the bouncing unicorn in place. “Do you realize what we have here?! A complete encyclopedia that I believe covers entire worlds! More cultures than just simply humans!”
“Do you know of a way we could get hands?” Octavia spoke once Twilight’s and Lyra’s attention was on each other.
Instantly Lyra’s and Vinyl’s eyes were on the box as Twilight rolled her eyes.
“THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS IN WHICH SUCH MUTATION OR UPGRADE CAN BE ACHIEVED.” The box said, to Twilight’s surprise. “WITH SCANNED LEVEL OF LOCAL TECHNOLOGY, IT IS CURRENTLY IMPOSSIBLE IN THIS WORLD.”
The look of utter defeat in the other’s eyes made Twilight sigh as the next logical question popped in her mind. I know I’m going to regret this... “Box, you said in this world. Is there a way to go to another world and have it done?”
“COMPUTING: POSSIBILITY HIGH. THIS UNIT IS EQUIPPED WITH ENOUGH MEMORY TO TAKE A TRAJECTORY TO THE CLOSEST SOURCE OF POTENTIAL TECHNOLOGY OUTSIDE OF THIS PLANET.” Several numbers flashed on the miniature dome of light. “DO YOU WISH TO GO TO THE NEXT AVAILABLE SOURCE?”
The ponies exchanged glances.
o.o.o
Vote:
1: “YES! I WANT HANDS!” Lyra shouted.
2: “We should really think about this, as... enthusiastic... as you all are, we don’t know where we’re going to end up...” Twilight said. “We should really, really contact somepony that knows more about this, or if not, at least do more research...”
3: “Think about it Twilight!” Spike said, eyes flashing with curiosity. “All the worlds we have never imagined! Whole races, cultures... gems! Other dragons that are not jerks!”
Voting ends: March 21st at Midnight EST
Voting Closed!
Results:
Option 1: 7 Votes
Option 2: 7 Votes
Option 3: 20 Votes!
Note: After voting is done, depending on the choice a second round of votes might be required. That set will be updated on the blog and 'tagged' for this story, so if you are tracking it you should know it's there even if you don't have me on your 'watch' list for some obscure reason ^_^
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FIRST!
I vote number 1 for the names, and then number 3! :3
3: “Think about it Twilight!” Spike said, eyes flashing with curiosity. “All the worlds we have never imagined! Whole races, cultures... gems! Other dragons that are not jerks!”
Doubtless Lyra would be ignored, and choice two doesn't sound too thrilling.
1!
Oh god... Oh god! Ummm... ummm!!! I don't know what option to vote on! Uhh... how about... option...
Option 1!!!
Why do you ask? For no matter what vote we take, Lyra would yell something like that out, no matter what we voted on
PS: Though I think we should have an option 4: Grab Pinkie Pie
PPS: Did this entire post without using the letter (sounds like...) "see". Why? For that button is broken on this keyboard!
This one is a hard. Mmm... Lyra screaming would be fun... but I'd like the group to get bigger before an interdimentional travel occurs...
I vote 2.
#3
Uhhh.... Number three?
3: “Think about it Twilight!” Spike said, eyes flashing with curiosity. “All the worlds we have never imagined! Whole races, cultures... gems! Other dragons that are not jerks!”
Spike is of course giving the best answer to convince Twilight!
Adventures of the Hand Society in SPAAAAACE!
Psh well #1, obviously. I mean srsly. Guize. Srsly.
Also why is Lyra "Agent Blue". She's green. Colgate/Roamna is the blue one.
Also why do they need technology? They have magic!
Also: http://evil-dec0y.deviantart.com/art/Lyra-s-wish-Trixie-s-revenge-290582820
3: “Think about it Twilight!” Spike said, eyes flashing with curiosity. “All the worlds we have never imagined! Whole races, cultures... gems! Other dragons that are not jerks!”
Okay; I know I'm probably getting annoying with my overly long and in depth comments, but I'm going to do another one here. The first and second ones are probably going to be the more dramatic elements of the story; but, there's a saying 'Hope for the best and prepare for the worst'. While I'm not suggesting that the box is an inherently malicious item, it seems to be a machine designed with a fixed series of responses and abilities; ergo, it's judgement is literally non-existent as it just does what it's programmed to. Because of this, I would advise against them actually using either of it's functions until such a time as they better understand it; they risk other ponies freaking out if they come back with hands, and they risk the possible inhabitants of any world they visit being either hostile toward other beings, or being so alien to them that they may see them as something to be dissected and studied.
While I have argued against them contacting Celestia in the last two chapters, I feel it would be prudent to finally bring her (or SOMEPONY) in on this whole thing so that they have somepony to either protect them from whatever happens, or can provide something of an outside perspective if nothing else. My vote is for Number 2 this time; if only because it's better to play things like this as safe as possible.
(And seriously, sorry for my overly in depth comments; I like making them.)
Three. Ponies (and a dragon) in spaaaaaaaaace!
Number 1. THEY wouldn't listen to Lyra, but BOX WILL AND IT'S ALL THAT MATTERS.
1. Let's get this show on the road!
3.
3.
I want to say 2 for logical reasons. Fuck it I choose 3 though
I vote 3
3.
Dimension-hopping adventures FTW!
NUMBER 3
It'll be cool to see Spike take some initiative and display his adventurous side.
I like #3 but would love at least two more weird computer lines, I have a great time reading them without emotion
Also, I wonder what is returning...... it could be humans, but Lyra interrupted it before it could say.
Run mindlessly towards adventure! 1!
I vote 2.
1 will result in crazy stuff. I vote 1!
Why is everyone voting 1 and 3? Once we gather our party and venture forth, we'll be stuck with just Spike, Lyra, Twilight, Vinyl and Octavia for the rest of the story. Option two is the one that will let us pick up some new party members.
I vote 2.
2
3
I think 2 or 3.
Mainly 3, me thinks.
BTW - “Meh, everypony knows she’ll be spaced again sooner or later.” Best line ever.
I vote 2. Let's get some logic up in this.
I vote 3.
2, I vote for 2.
Edit 1: changed vote from 3 to 2.
344327
My guess is that, unless it was a typo, Trixie was the one that made the scrolls, so when Lyra sent them out, it still registered that Trixie cast the original spell. Lyra just triggered it.
348340
What? The only reference to Trixie was that silly comic I linked to.
i vote number 3
348389
I said it was my only guess dammit! STOP JUDGING ME!!!
348452
No.
img.ponibooru.org/_images/a7a24b2738263ffff3f3f3a935540875/21363%20-%202000AD%20Angel_Bunny%20carrot%20crossover%20I_am_the_law%20judge_dredd.png
3.
Numero 3.
I know it's already too late, but I still think number 1 would be the best.
WAITAMINUTE.
The box from Mass Effect 3! Holy shit! Nice touch, dude.
Looking at the seasons now, that line is incredibly ironic...
Also... Zippo is the best nickname for Spike. Hands down.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3823826 Re-reading this, I think you're the only person that ever caught on to that XD