Chapter 10: School's In
Chapter 10: School’s In
This was an important day for Second Chance, perhaps the very most important day since her arrival. She was more stressed about today than she had been about the Wrap-Up, or about her first day of magic lessons. But winter was over now, and spring had finally arrived. Spring brought many things to Equestria, one of which was the bane of young ponies the world over. School.
Ponyville had only one school, she had learned. Most ponies only went through primary school before they began their careers. Apparently that usually involved apprenticing with a master of whatever craft rather than technical college or something similar, though there were a few schools of higher learning in Equestria. Apparently Celestia operated one for Unicorns back in Canterlot, a sort of boarding school/primary/secondary school for promising students. That sounded great and all, but Chance was hardly jealous. She could only imagine the drama that would result from so many ambitious young people in one place. Just like her teacher had, Chance had her very own Princess as her personal instructor. That was enough to content her.
But it hadn't been enough for Twilight. "You're going to school, Second Chance, and I won't argue with you about it." Twilight was not human, but had she been, Chance easily could've imagined her standing over her and folding her arms with a glower. The expression of many a guardian in exactly the same position. It seemed a desire to avoid school was as trans-universal as ketchup.
"But... but... I've got you for my teacher Twilight! Books! I can already read some basic Equestrian! Just give me another month or two and I'll be fluent, I know I will! Besides, you don't make Spike go!"
Twilight had just shook her head. "Nope. Because Spike is a dragon. Equestria has no laws saying dragons have to go to school. Little fillies and colts though..."
"But..." She tried one last, desperate act. "I... I already went through school at home! I was... old... older..."
"Really?" Twilight looked at her with a faint smile. "Just how old were you, Chance?"
Chance struggled to remember the answer, frowning at nothing as she screwed up her concentration. "Uh... um... twenty... something. Years. Twenty something! Maybe if you sent me to college that would make sense, but..."
"Twenty something, huh?" Twilight repeated. "Well then, looks like you'll fit right into the class. I happen to know several of the other fillies will be right around your age." Chance had no idea if Twilight was telling the truth or just trying to make her more comfortable.
The green unicorn could only stare, her mouth hanging open. Of course, she hadn't ever asked how old her friends were before, or any of the other ponies for that matter? "W-wait..." She repeated, disbelieving. "They're... the crusaders, are they..."
"As young as you are." She nodded with apparent satisfaction. Chance thought she could see a smirk on Twilight’s face, as though she were impressed that she could convince the little filly of something completely insane. But there was no way she would actually ask the crusaders.
And it had worked. Chance's objections were quelled, as she contemplated the possible consequences of what she was being told. She had assumed that these ponies lived about as long as horses in her own world, which meant that they would have to have a very rapid childhood in order to mature in time for a life span of thirty to forty years. But if the early adolescents were in their twenties... how long could they live? Longer than her own people, even? Before technology had made aging more a guideline than a rule, anyway.
"How long do ponies live?"
She had abandoned her fight then, in surrender. The information was worth the trade of attending school. Not that she didn't think she could get the information elsewhere. Actually, she wasn't thinking at all. She had taken so much for granted about living here! "And wait! Your years have 365 days, right? So the figures match."
The princess nodded. "Same length. And ponies live..." She frowned, obviously considering her response. "A few centuries. Pegasi usually fall on the shorter end, and earth ponies on the longer end, with unicorns somewhere in the middle. Except for the really magical ones."
"Like princesses." Chance was brooding and silent then.
"I... suppose so. I'll let you know how I feel in a few centuries." She smiled, then returned her eyes to the mess on the bedroom floor. "Now get packing! You've got to be at the schoolhouse in less than an hour!"
Twilight seemed much less worried about Chance's ability to fend for herself out in Ponyville than she had been, because she let her walk to class all on her own. Well, she let her walk to Rarity's house on her own, and then walk with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo the rest of the way. Chance was practically bouncing when she reached the Boutique. She knocked, and didn't have to wait long before her friend emerged from inside with saddlebags of her own.
"Hi Chance! How's it goin'?"
Chance grinned. "Great! I just... Sweetie Belle, did you know Ponies live for centuries? That's the craziest thing I ever heard! Like, without any nanomachines or anything!"
The filly stared, as she usually did whenever Chance said something that didn't really translate well into Equestrian or that didn't make sense for a little filly to say. "Well duh! Did ponies not live that long where you come from?" And in the way of the young, rather than questioning what Chance had said, her friend merely accepted it and moved right along.
She shook her head. "I don't think so. Not without doctors helping, anyway. Lots of little doctors they put inside you to fix things before they went wrong."
Sweetie Belle giggled, right about the time that Scootaloo arrived on her scooter, wings vibrating rapidly to push her along. "Hey Scoots!” Sweetie Belle was still giggling. "Chance says that where she's from, they shrink down their doctors really small so they can fix you from the inside out!”
The little pegasus joined in. "You are too funny, Chance!" She grinned, giving Chance a firm pat before powering past them both, then swiveling back around to face them. She was still moving forward thanks to her constantly moving wings, though Chance could see that it was only a matter of time before she slammed into something. It wasn't as if the way to school was straight. Actually she had no idea which way the school was, but she was pretty sure it wasn't a straight line! "Where do you come up with such silly ideas, anyway?"
As usual, she didn't push the point, even though Chance was sure she was right. It wasn't as though she would ever prove it to these ponies, or that she needed to. So she decided to change the subject. "So... what sorta stuff do they teach us, anyway? It's been a really long time since I was in school."
"Oh, the usual boring stuff." That was Scootaloo again. “Reading, writing, math. History, science." She made an exaggerated yawning gesture. "It can put you right to sleep sometimes."
Sweetie Belle glared at her before adding her own contribution. "Oh, but you'll just love Miss Cheerilee! She's the nicest, most sweetest wonderfulest teacher you could ever meet!"
Chance had a hard time believing the pony she was talking to was really older than twenty. Then again, if ponies didn't age as fast, it was possible they didn't mature nearly as fast either. What did that mean for her? Chance didn't feel like she was any less mature, but... would she realize it if she was? She was going off to grade school again, and that hardly helped her feel mature.
The schoolhouse seemed to be a single room, as many similar structures were in far earlier days on Earth. Also in a similar way it seemed there was but one instructor who taught all the students here, arranged on desks that for the most part would have been quite content in any Earth schoolhouse. Unfortunately the instructor also felt it necessary to introduce her to the whole class. After hearing her speak for the first time, Chance lost any curiosity as to why she was called "Cheerilee".
"Welcome back to another exciting school year!" She said, standing at the front of the room. At a gesture, Chance walked slowly over to her. "I would like to introduce the newest member of your class." She looked down to the filly. "Go on then, introduce yourself! Tell us your name, and where you're from."
Chance gulped, then stepped forward. The other students looked on with expressions ranging between friendly smiles and mild boredom. This couldn't be that hard though, right? It was only her first day of school. In an alien world. Surrounded by children. Children that might be older than she was. Somehow. Whatever kind of sense that made. "Hi!" She said shyly, scratching at the ground with one hoof. That seemed to make more of an impact than she had expected, since the structure evidently had a dirt floor. "I'm, uh... Second Chance! And I'm from Seaddle."
The teacher, Cheerilee, smiled approvingly, and several of the students murmured words of greeting, some more enthusiastically than others. "Very good, Second Chance. I'm sure we're all eager to get to know you. Why don't you tell us one interesting fact about yourself before you take your seat, so we can all get to know you a little better."
She gulped. Chance had expected to be asked about where she was from, and she had already come up with a story with Twilight's help she could provide any pony who asked. She'd been using it for weeks. But what could she tell a classroom full of pony children? "And I... I like... to do magic!" She grinned, lifting her pencil from its usual place behind her right ear and spinning it around in the air in front of her before putting it back. This hardly impressed the children, nor was it anything unusual for a young unicorn. With a few more polite remarks she was allowed to take her seat at the only open desk in the classroom, near the back next to a younger colt with a white coat splotched with brown.
"Hi!" He whispered cheerfully, with just the hint of an accent. Was that a familiar accent? How did that translate, anyway? "I'm Pip Squeak! I'm from far away too. You'll love it here in Ponyville, I know I do!"
She smiled in return, looking away from him as she took her seat and removed her saddle-bags. Why couldn't she meet his eyes? "T-thanks. Good to meet you too." She was spared further embarrassment by the beginning of the lecture. This ought to be interesting. A single class for all age groups that apparently covered all of primary education. This room was the Ponyville equivalent of Elementary, Junior High, and High School. So would they be learning arithmetic or calculus?
Reading, as it turned out, with assignments that varied based on their respective levels. To her great chagrin, she was given work from "Level 1", when little Pip Squeak beside her was already on "Level 7". Fantastic. Regardless of how embarrassed she felt, her frustration only grew when she opened the thin booklet and saw it started with the Equestrian Alphabet. If any of the other ponies around her noticed though, they didn't laugh. Maybe pony schools didn't have bullies the way Earth schools did.
That suspicion lasted about as far as the playground. She was one of the last students to exit, feeling embarrassed and a little lonely as all the fillies and colts separated into their different groups. Spring was warm, and for accessories she only had her notebook and a pencil, same as always.
Then she heard the laughing, and emerged from the schoolhouse to see that Apple Bloom had tripped and fallen into a nasty-looking mud puddle near the building. Little ponies were laughing at her, lead by a pair of mean-looking fillies. Her own friends stood nearby, trying to rescue her from the mud. Chance felt like something had switched on a predictive algorithm in her head as Scootaloo took hold of Apple Bloom with her teeth and tried to pull her out with the help of her wings. Her brain might be fast enough to predict it, but by the time it had begun, it was too late.
These fillies were nearly as awkward as she was! Sweetie Belle seemed to realize what was going on, taking hold of Scootaloo with both forehooves and trying to stop her from being pulled in. She wasn't strong enough, and with a splash there were three muddy little fillies on the ground instead of one. The laughter escalated to raucous levels.
At least until Second Chance set her notebook down and stepped up into the circle, between the ponies who seemed to be leading the crowd and the unfortunates in the mud. Silence fell as all eyes went to Chance. She could tell exactly what was going on in the eyes of all the ponies around. She, the unknown quantity, was being sized up and analyzed. Which group would she belong to, the bullies or the bullied? Was she another predator or another victim?
Say whatever one might of Chance's mission, it suddenly felt like the entire world depended on this moment. The world slowed to a crawl as the gray filly wearing glasses turned to look at her with a smirk. "Pretty lame ponies we got here in Ponyville, huh?"
That was it, her opportunity! Chance could slide right into the crowd. She could be immune to the bullying forever, never have to dread coming to class. She wouldn't deny that there wasn't some wicked part deep down that had been laughing at the Crusaders. Trying to rescue Apple Bloom that way had been pretty stupid.
As she hesitated, she saw the eyes of the Crusaders going wide, watching her just as the crowd of little fillies and colts did. That was all the incentive she needed.
"I didn't notice." Chance said flatly, almost coldly. Then, with the highest jump she could manage, she leapt straight into the puddle with the Crusaders, screaming "CANNONBALL!" Her plan didn't go quite as well as she expected. Chance was even less coordinated than the Crusaders, and while similar, mud has radically different properties to water. She hit the puddle sideways with a stinging splat, flinging mud everywhere.
The crowd of ponies had to retreat several paces as mud went everywhere. Several of them seemed to think better of staying close to them. That included the bullies, who walked slowly by with matching sneers. "Well look at that, Silver Spoon, the new blank flank got herself stuck!" She spoke truly. Chance's side had sunk deep enough that she couldn't move two of her legs.
The gray filly, Silver Spoon she supposed, echoed the first filly's cruel giggle. "You've got that right Diamond Tiara. Looks like she's gonna fit in just fine with all the other losers." Satisfied, they walked away, the ponies that were left of the crowd following after them. Many gave them sympathetic looks, but none of the others who had seen seemed to want to dare the wrath of the bullies. Chance didn't blame them.
"Aww Chance, you didn't have to do that!" Apple Bloom called from somewhere behind her. She couldn't actually see, since she was stuck facing forward. "Either did you two, for that matter. I could'a got myself out!"
"No way!" Scootaloo replied. "You were stuck enough to get me stuck, which means you were... double stuck!"
"Now we're triple stuck." Sweetie Belle added. What was in this dirt here, anyway? Concrete? Quicksand? Or maybe they were just that weak. As Chance surveyed the ground around them for anything that might get them out without getting even messier and nastier, her eyes instantly jumped to the side of the building, where a green garden hose was coiled by a spigot. Seriously? She could travel across the vast reaches of space and time, crossing between worlds, and they had those stupid heavy green hoses here too! They probably tangled up just as easy as back on Earth.
"Hold on! We don't need to look even sillier getting out." Chance concentrated, and the hose obeyed, uncoiling from the side of the building even as the valve twisted itself open. Twisting those stupid valves when they got stuck was much easier with magic than it had ever been with hands. Once the hose was near her, she poured it down the sides of her body, and came loose in a matter of moments. Once she had climbed free of the mud, she lowered the hose near Sweetie Belle, who happened to be closest. The little Crusader winced away at first, until she saw what Chance was doing. Then she grinned, and wiggled herself free of the mud.
"You're some sort of genius, Chance!" She exclaimed when she was free, watching eagerly as her remaining compadres were released from their muddy prison.
"Nah. I just couldn't let those jerks laugh at you guys like that. I didn't know ponies came in mean."
"Some do." Scootaloo said as she climbed free of the mud, shaking herself off like a dog. It did little to get the mud off, but plenty to splatter the rest of them. They all glared in unison, and she blushed. "S-sorry."
"We can use the hose to wash it off in a minute." Chance urged her, then retaliated by spraying the little pegasus in the face with the hose. Scootaloo spluttered and glared, but the others giggled, and Chance returned to the labor of freeing Apple Bloom, pretending not to notice her threatening looks. Apple Bloom was in worse than any of the others, as though the mud had been trying to swallow her alive. She could only wonder if the bullies had used some of that vague earth-pony magic to make this happen, or perhaps Apple Bloom had inadvertently. Then again, it might also be some weird perfect storm of water and soil concentration. Where the hay was their teacher?
Chance saw no sign of her as they tugged Apple Bloom free, an effort that required all three of the free ponies in cooperative effort to achieve. Then there was the washing off, which proved much easier than it would've been if they'd all been dressed. Only the earth filly had any trouble there (on account of her bow), and even then she didn't seem to be bothered by it. "I've got plenty of others, I can' just wash it when I get home." It didn't matter how many times she heard it, Chance always smiled at that accent. It was almost eerie how similar it sounded to the way people talked back on Earth. "Anyway, those jerks interrupted what I wanted to tell you!" She leaned in closer, as though she was about to share some secret. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle leaned in to hear her, but Chance just stood there feeling awkward and lonely again. These three were such good friends, and she had no business messing that up.
Then she noticed they were waiting for her, Apple Bloom gesturing for her to join them. "Hurry Chance, this is important!" It was all she could do not to giggle at the sight, three multihued ponies with soaking manes impugning her urgency. This is my life now. What would Dr. Donnelly think? Colonel Edison would probably crap himself. The thought came and went so fast she didn't even stop to wonder who those people were. She was much more interested in what Apple Bloom, her friend, had to say.
"I was on my way to school this mornin' same as always." She began. "When I passed by the strangest thing. You girls have got to see it. I bet we could sneak away real quick before recess is over, and be back with plenty a’ time."
"Is that a good idea?" Chance asked, a little nervously.
"We're not really known for having good ideas." Scootaloo offered, before nodding eagerly. "Come on! It's probably half over already with that stupid mud."
Chance hesitated for a moment, then followed as quickly as she could. These three were the experts. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
* * *
"And here it is. The weirdest thing in all of Ponyville!"
Chance had a feeling she knew where they were going as they turned sharply toward the forest. Her fears of not getting back to class on time were quickly replaced with a different kind of fear, a fear that she was getting herself into a situation that she very much didn't want to be. The others noticed as she began to slow, and several times Scootaloo had to prompt her to hurry up, else they end up late for class.
Sure enough, the clearing Apple Bloom led them to was one Second Chance had seen before. Or... been exposed to before, at any rate. She didn't have eyes last time she was here. Her memories of that time were even fuzzier than her growing recollection of Earth, but it was not a pleasant thought. She had not enjoyed a bodiless existence. If it hadn't been for Twilight Sparkle, she still might be floating here, disembodied.
"It feels funny." Sweetie Belle complained from beside her, seeming unwilling to enter the clearing. Actually, all four of them were, though Apple Bloom came closest. Where once had been a thin layer of snow, the grass had sprung back, and was growing in luscious green. Kindof. A circular pattern had been burned into the soil, a graceful spiral about fifty meters across with dancing mathematical formulae represented by each twist and turn of the graph. Where the soil was darkened it seemed no living thing would grow. Indeed, even the insects seem loathe to land there. Chance could feel it too, with her growing magical sensitivity. It was a feeling of... a sudden, painful pressure equalization. Like going up in a plane, then coming down again. Only the pressure was against her horn, not her ears, and made her whole body feel fuzzy.
"What do you think it is?" Scootaloo took a few brave paces forward onto the grass and brown artwork. As she did, her whole body seemed to get heavier, and her normally flighty stature became as earthbound as the others. "Eww. It's heavy!" The pegasus retreated to the safety of the edge, and without realizing it the fillies all got closer to each other, huddling together against the strange unknown.
Apple Bloom supplied an answer. "It's got to be evil magic! I remember one night, about a month ago, Applejack left the house in a big hurry, said she had to meet up with her friends and take care somethin' mighty dangerous!" She looked out on the circle. The others eyes went wide, apparently absorbing the story. "I bet something real nasty came out of the Everfree, and tried to get to Ponyville! The elements all got together and blew the harmony out of it!"
"Blew the harmony out of it? Don't you mean put the harmony into it?" Sweetie Belle repeated, looking confused.
"Whatever! Could you imagine if this thing had got into Ponyville? I bet nothin' will ever grow here again."
Chance wanted to remain quiet, she really did! These fillies had their own answers, and there was no sense suggesting anything different. They couldn't handle the truth, not what she knew. But remaining silent felt so dishonest, she couldn't just stand there! She interrupted their murmuring by stepping past them, walking slowly a few paces into the circle.
Somepony gasped behind her, and Scootaloo called "Be careful! It might be dangerous!"
Chance nodded, facing the three of them. She tried not to feel guilty, but it was hard not to. How much could she tell them? How much could anypony know about the truth of where she came from? It felt awful lying to them. "Not as long as we don't stay too long, or try to eat the dirt. It's radioactive."
"Radi-what?" Sweetie Belle repeated, looking confused.
"Radioactive." She said again. "Like... poison. There's something else funny about this place, but I dunno what's causing it. Something funny with the magic."
"Are you saying you do know what made this?" Apple Bloom gestured at the designs.
She nodded. "It's called a Hawking Rift." She looked up. Of course, the rift was completely invisible, as any tear in spacetime ought to be to the naked eye. Maybe Twilight could see it with that Sight of hers, but even then Chance doubted that very much. It couldn't be very large, probably not even molecules across. "It's how you travel between worlds. When it first opens, it releases a huge burst of radiation that can poison anything nearby." She looked back down to the ground, where the consequences of her statement were obvious. "It's a good thing nopony was here when it appeared, or they could've been really sick."
"Ooh, ooh!" Sweetie Belle suddenly got excited. "I think I've heard of this radi-stuff before!"
The others turned to look at her. "You... have?" Apple Bloom asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah! See, Rarity talked about it! Cuz'... cuz' she finds lots of her own gems. Apparently lots of the rocks she uses have bits of this soft metal stuff that can get ponies really sick. She has this spell to make it go away. It gets hot for a second, and then all the radiations go away."
"You think if we got her to cast that spell here, things could grow again?" Apple Bloom asked, reaching out with one hoof and scratching at the scorched earth. Seeing it this way seemed to bring her genuine distress. Chance couldn't blame her. Seeing her planet this way had hurt Second Chance too.
Sweetie Belle nodded. "If it's only the radi-stuff that's stopping things from growing, sure! Maybe she could teach me the spell, then I could come and do it!"
Her words sunk in. "Wait." Chance darted over, standing only inches away. "You're saying... there's some simple, easy magic that makes nuclear radiation just... go away? Without making anypony sick?"
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yep! Well, easy for my sister, anyway. But that's probably because it has to do with her special talent. Making things pretty, and all. Nothing pretty about a sick pony."
Chance wanted desperately to learn more. But there was no time. A bell had started ringing somewhere in the near distance, a bell the four of them instantly recognized. No words were needed. Without another glance at the scar the rift had left behind, all four fillies bolted for the schoolhouse, galloping as quickly as they could.
At least ponies could move fast.
So fast, in fact, they didn’t notice the little bits and pieces of broken electronics scattered in the field, in various stages of rust and decay. A few were even blinking.
* * *
Ponyville was abuzz the next day, the day Twilight Sparkle's generator was finally delivered. For all her excitement to get started, the princess had been called away to Canterlot on important business. Apparently she had written to the company that was making it for her and told them they had to bring it by after school was dismissed.
As such, it was her loyal apprentice who wandered outside to accept the delivery, looking about as confused as she felt. Winter was over now, and Chance wore about as little as any other pony. With the exception of a pencil behind her ear and a notepad slung across her neck, which she kept at hoof in case she learned something she wanted to record.
It wasn't the sound of ponies murmuring confusedly to each other that so attracted her attention, though. Ponies were always talking happily in Ponyville. Rather, it was the sound of an engine, something she hadn't heard since arriving in Ponyville. The sound seemed to be strange to the natives as well, because ponies had completely cleared the streets as the sound got closer, long before its source was even in view. Then she saw it, and her eyes went wide.
It was like something out of a history book that hadn't ever been written. About the size of a hovertruck, though it had crude wooden wheels and belched steam at uneven intervals. The front of the craft was a cabin of some kind, with wooden walls and a glass roof. She could practically feel her teeth vibrating as she watched the way the wheels bumped and scraped at every little rock and rut in the road. She supposed these ponies didn't know about ground effect, did they?
"Not them again." Spike emerged from the library behind her, wearing an apron and wielding a broom.
"You know the ponies who made this?" Chance's eyes went wide as she watched the vehicle park in front of the library. There were two yellow stallions inside, horns aglow as they operated the same craft. Like a standard hovertruck, the back was flat, and something large and rectangular had been tied down with thin rope to prevent it from moving around. Strange world or not, Chance recognized the gears and twisting turbines instantly, even though she had never seen their like before. This was clearly the generator Twilight had mentioned, the one that would power whatever the surprise was Twilight would tell her about when she got back. Her teacher had trusted the delivery and installation to her. She would not let her down.
"Excuse me, miss?" One of the stallions climbed out from the cabin, while his brother continued to recline on what appeared to be a sofa inside. "Would you happen to know where we could find the good princess?"
"Hey! You've got some nerve coming back to Ponyville after last time!" The dragon stepped between the stallion and Chance, blocking him from her sight. "Take your weird machine and get out!"
Chance blinked, swooning. The yellow stallion was tall, strong, and clearly brilliant. Her little filly heart hardly knew what to do, and she couldn't tell which was most attractive. Was it the stallion, or his incredible machine? It was a close race, but the machine won in the end. Ignoring Spike, ignoring the stranger, Chance galloped past them both to the edge of the machine, where the bulk of its operating mechanisms seemed to be located. Her mechanical mind turned over them as she looked, turning what her eyes perceived into a working understanding of its operation in a matter of seconds. "Your hovertruck is incredible!" She called, beaming as wide as any little filly could smile. "Beautifully simple! I had no idea magic could be used this way!"
Even as she watched, the little craft coughed and sputtered as the engine died, with its various belts and gears seizing momentarily. Naturally, she could see exactly what the problem was.
But she didn't say so, because she didn't get the chance. "Easy there, filly! We wouldn't want you to lose your hoof in there!" The stallion pushed Chance gently off the edge of the craft, where she looked up with annoyance at having her thoughts interrupted.
"What seems to be the trouble, brother of mine?" The yellow-furred stallion's brother emerged from the cab, donning a hat that matched his brother's. He trotted over to them, with an equal level of confidence. Chance saw no reason for him not to be. Not only was he as attractive as his brother, but he had to be equally brilliant. "Ahh." He looked over the three of them, Spike looking angry and Chance entranced by the machine, and seemed to take only moments to wrap his head around it all. He turned his eyes back to the dragon, lowering his head a little in a mock-bow. "My dear reptilian friend, you have us all wrong! My brother and I aren't here to cause trouble!"
"Absolutely not!" His twin put in, leading Chance back to the library, struggling the whole way. She didn't want to go! She wanted to tell them what their machine was missing! Dangit, she didn't have the entire archive for nothing! Whatever the archive was. "We're here at the request of the Princess herself, who commissioned my brother and I to produce this wonderful little contraption." He gestured to the back of the strange vehicle, where the generator was resting. "Of course, she might not have known to expect the two of us, as the order was made to Fennel Electric, one of our many subsidiary-"
Spike interrupted. "Wait, you're saying Twilight wanted you to come here?"
"That is what I said, isn't it Flim?"
"Of course, Flam. Maybe the dragon's got something in his ears."
The stallion, Flim, shook his head. "He doesn't seem to have any."
"You know, that might be exactly his problem."
They did not get to continue, because Chance stepped up to the two of them, past Spike. "Excuse me." She cleared her throat, and both of them looked at her. Before they could belittle her, she went on. "I'm Twilight's apprentice. I'm supposed to make sure everything's okay with the generator, and pay you." She stepped past them again, pulling the pencil out from behind her ear with magic, and lifting the notebook too. Magic was wonderful. Being able to pick up two things at once, and make them do what she wanted while her body did other things.
"Your hovertruck has problems going up hills sometimes, doesn't it? Right when it gets to the top? And whenever you stop it. The engine seizes up, and I bet you lose a belt or two."
They stared at her. They weren't the only ones. A little crowd of ponies had formed around the truck, all of which seemed to recognize these two. Their expressions were less than entirely friendly. Eventually, the one without the mustache spluttered, and nodded. Was that Flim, or Flam? She had heard their names, but she didn't know which was which. They looked so similar, and sounded almost the same too! "Y-yes Miss. Our latest engines produce much more power, but they do tend to be less reliable."
"How did you know?" The other one asked, his eyes narrowing suddenly. "You're not with the competition, are you? I'll have you know these designs are proprietary!"
Chance shook her head. "It wouldn't be much of a competition if I was." She tore off the page she was writing on, floating it over to them. "You've got three compression cylinders here." She gestured with a hoof at each one, propping herself up the way she had been, before she had been so rudely interrupted. She then began to recite the information her brain had given her. She wasn't sure where it came from, but come it did. Just like when she thought about math, or science. "You don't have a governor on your engine. Your engine just goes as fast as you let it, and that isn't necessarily a good thing. Whenever the load changes, there's a chance the offset between your cylinders will cause one of them to catch, and the engine will seize. Like it did when you got here."
"But-" They were speechless, staring down at the little filly with the notepad and pencil like she was crazy. "What does this thing do?" One of them, she couldn't say which, passed the sketch back.
"This is what the governor needs to look like! Well, it's the really primitive centrifugal kind, so it would be rubbish if you cared about getting things too precise. But this is just a truck, so precise speeds don't matter as much anyway. This part is free spinning, and as it spins, it connects to a gear on your driveshaft right here." She gestured with the pencil. "Your engine won't seize anymore, promise! Well... not from changing the load, anyway." She turned back to the engine. "I would need to get a really good look to be that sure, and I don't have the time with as busy as Twilight keeps me."
"You know, brother of mine... I think she may be on to something with this governor idea! Didn't I always tell you the seizing problem had something to do with the extra cylinders?"
A light seemed to have come on in their eyes as they looked between the sketch and the filly who had drawn it. It was a sight Chance did not like, because she had also seen it in the eyes of sharks as they caught a tasty fish. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. But they were so... tall! So handsome! And so smart! She had to show them she was smart too, right?
"Twilight's apprentice, you say?" Flam approached her, grinning. "You might have a future in engineering, miss."
"Chance." She supplied, though she couldn't meet his eyes and she began to retreat a pace or two. "Second Chance."
"Indeed!" The other spoke up from beside his brother. "We can see why the Princess would have taken an interest in you. Fennel Electric would love an aspiring little engineer like you, when you're done being cramped in a musty library all day. We tour all over Equestria selling our inventions! Pretty exciting life for a young mare. Lots of interesting ponies to meet along the way!"
She frowned. "I... I don't think I'll be done here anytime soon." She looked back to the truck. "Can you bring the generator around the back? Twilight wants you to set it up behind the library, in the lot just behind the tree. She says there's already a water hookup there you can use." Without another word, she turned and darted inside, blushing the whole way.
Spike followed her, hopping up onto the couch even as she buried her head in her hooves and did her best disappearing impression. Even her best was less than impressive. "Uh... Chance? What's wrong?"
She shivered all over, and didn't answer for several seconds. Outside, the two sales ponies had started up their engine and drove their truck around to the back of the library, so that unloading could begin. She looked up, blinking away her frightened tears. "You don't wanna know, Spike." She answered, her voice quavering.
He shook his head. "Course I do! No pony should have to deal with being sad all alone. Twilight is always there for me, and she would expect me to be here for you." He put a claw on her shoulder, in a comforting sort of way.
"A Sphere of Uranium 233. 15 Kilograms. Two interlocking sections, and one explosive. Supercritical."
Spike just stared. "Uh... what?"
She looked away, whimpering. "A low-grade fission explosive. Extremely primitive, but I'm sure ponies are only a few decades away from being able to refine the ore enough. Maybe less, with your magic."
The dragon did not seem any less confused.
"Spike, I... look, what if you were dangerous? Like... what if you could hurt your friends, if you weren't careful? You could never know if anything you were about to do was going to have awful consequences." She whimpered again. "I'm afraid I might hurt somepony, just by being here. The things I know... I might not be as good at magic as Twilight, probably won't ever be. But... I know things that could ruin your whole world!"
Spike nodded gravely. "Oh. I think I understand now."
Chance blinked down at him. "You... you do?"
"Sure I do!" he insisted, standing a little straighter beside her. "What do you think it's like being the only dragon in an all-pony society? I breathe fire! And I've got these babies." He raised one of his claws so she could see how sharp it was. "Not to mention how strong dragonhide is. Molten lava is no problem for me. Ponies are so fragile compared to dragons! It sounds like what you're feeling is something like that."
She stared, and her answer was a quiet mutter. "That's... I suppose that's pretty similar."
He nodded again. "You just can't let it get to you, Chance. No matter how scared or worried you are about everypony, there's no point dwelling on it. Ponies are stronger than you think, and so are you. You'll figure out what you can do to help, and what you can’t do."
There was nothing for it. Chance reached out and embraced the baby dragon. She released him quickly though, and got to her hooves. "Thanks, Spike. At least I'm not the only one." She found her notebook and the pencil, and walked down the stairs. "I think I'll go make sure they don't try to rip off Twilight."
Spike followed close behind. "That's a good idea. Those two are trouble. I bet they won't be able to trick you though!"
She shook her head. "Not with machines." She frowned, heading for the back door. "They can try if they want, but they won't see a bit."
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This story just keeps getting better and better.
I hope she falls for Spike, that would be very interesting to see that pla
y out lol.
4187313
Hah. That sure would be unexpected. Wonder what Spike would think about that.
4182395
Thanks! I'll admit, this is the only writing project I've allowed to occupy my time since picking it up. That's helped. I was a little worried that going to PAX this coming weekend would ruin my update schedule, but I've since finished chapters through next Tuesday, so the updates will continue uninterrupted even though I won't be able to write this coming weekend. Never fear!
Also, yes. Humans do seem to be acting pretty crazy. What could be going on? What could the future hold? DUN DUN DUN.
4181007
Just keep going! The questions will all be answered by the end. Except for the ones that the Sequel is meant to answer, of course. But everything else will be solved! And if not, there's always the comments I suppose.
4174966
I've said it before in these comments: Chance had a pretty difficult life. That reality we'll see more and more as time goes on. But she won't be alone to cope with it all, so she has that to be thankful for at least.
4187431 True he would be conflicted at first, but he never had someone show romantic interest in him before that was genuine. That would be a very large factor that could, and since the more and more time seems to go on the closer those two seem. I think she would have a easy time in flipping those feeling for Rarity over to her.
To what? TO WHAT?
I presume she's talking about her bow, but you might want to make that more clear.
4187451
CURSE YOU GOOGLE DOCS! These omission errors are the hardest to notice. Maybe I'll write a program in java real quick to search for and verify these problems this coming week. No I won't, finals are coming up. Well, perhaps after finals then. This is getting absurd.
all the intensive she needed.
Spike interrupted. "Wait, you're saying Twilight wanted you to come here?"
A good chapter, everyone else seems to have caught gdoc's messups so I got nothing to add on that.
Here's a little tip though: when Applebloom speaks or any Apple speaks, use 'ah' 'ah'm' and 'ah'll' instead of 'I' 'I'm' and 'I'll'. Small thing, but does a lot
Keep up the good work
Oooh. Ahhh.
*record scratch sound*
)
Wait, what? the CMC are in their twenties? They age like Elves?
So the reason SC is a foal is that's a direct translation of her chronological age? Wierd to think If I got 'ported over to this version of Equestria, I'd be as young as Rainbow Dash or a bit under... ( 40-something...
So Dash's cake did have candles on the other side, then.
4188127 4187959
It's possible, or there weren't the right number of candles to represent her age, or each candle represented more than one. Of course, I did intend to leave this matter somewhat vague, with Chance not positive about Twilight's honesty in the matter. I did this because, just because I personally feel that a longer lifespan means that a childhood would last longer and that the mane 6 could be older than we might think, that doesn't at all mean my opinion would be universal.
Thus, the reader may freely interpret for themselves. Do ponies live that long, or was Twilight just trying to make Chance feel better about going to school? You decide!
4187560
I'll keep that in mind for future chapters. I don't think I'll edit this one, though. At least not about that.
30 years of Elementary School...
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/315/8/d/twilight_sparkle_holding_a_book_vector_by_tardisbrony-d5koohw.png
so. jealous.
4188378 Thats up to you friend
I'm just trying to be helpful (and oddly enough tend to get one or two downvotes when I do 
... oh well 
)
4188452
Not from me! I appreciate your being helpful!
Second Chance invents the atom bomb! :D
4188522 hehe, not like I was gonna let a bit of negativity stop me
4188378
Going strictly by canon, ponies living for centuries… actually might fly!
After all, they’ve been wrapping up winter in Ponyville for hundreds of years, and Granny Smith was there at the founding of Ponyville and seemed quite young then. Modus ponens gives us the answer.
4187525
Heh, it's almost better to just copy-paste from the Googledoc window into FimFic's window. I mean really, what causes the loss of so much data? It's just text yet I hear this story or woe from so many writers trying to transfer from one site to the other. You'd think there would be some sort of crude size checking at the very least to verify the data made it. (Must be a bug in the Google APIs that no one's discovered yet that causes the loss)
Anyways... OMG... Bits of metal and blinky lights?! And nopony noticed it the day Second Chance showed up? I dunno, maybe everypony was just not terribly observant or that junk popped in after the ponies left. Also, did Rarity already do her anti-rad magic on the site or is it still 'hot'? It would make readers sad if the Crusaders got their cutie marks in Radiation Exposure and Sickness.
On the flip side, I have to wonder if the magic pulled out is now a matching patch of magic-radiation on the far side of that portal. Granted, it's unfocused and as random as the Everfree like some real life example of a sparkly fairy glen (with dancing motes and other Disney-esque touches) in the middle of the Moon Base's experiment room.
I got a bad feeling about this!
4197662 agreed
Well, glad chance talked down dt and ss. Typical those two are jerks to the new girl when she doesn't agree with their cruelty towards others. A maofoy first meets potter situation if ever I saw one.
I rally don't like how film and flam acted after they saw chance's skills in mechanical knowledge. I get the feeling they'll be looking to get her working with them at some point, the cheap bastards.
Chapter 10: SCIENCE!
After the great outing that was last chapter, this one felt a lot more tame in comparison. I was a tad disappoint, but all the same, not every chapter can be action packed and awesome. Seaddle, huh? Looks like great minds think alike after all. If you remember, I came up with the same pun in my comment a few chapters ago. Speaking of school, that part of the chapter was alright, but all that exciting, but all the same, I think the story needed a bit of that slice of life at this point. The rest of the chapter dived right back into adventure, adding more SCIENCE into the mix, equestrian SCIENCE, even! Everyone seem to hate on the Flim and Flams brothers, but personally, I like them a lot. Sure, they use slightly disloyal schemes, especially in their second episode where I feel they were Flanderized, but I think they represent a part of Equestria's society that isn't shown enough, the technological ponies. We have seen many great inventions in their world, from video games to a freaking dam, but very little of actual engineering. Being an Engineer myself, those brothers were quite refreshing to see.
In this story, I have a feeling you will redeem them a bit, even if I expect a bit of bit scamming. See what I did there? Heh. It's interesting to see that Chance is apparently into smart people, and not really surprising either. She is a smart pony/person. I don't have much else to say, so I will use this opportunity to mention a few things I may have forgot in previous chapters. First, I saw Derpy Hooves in chapter 8. That sly, silly mare. Second, the age of ponies is quite an interesting thing. Granny Smith was shown to be over 300 years old, after all. Finally, hmm... I think I forgot what was the third thing again. Likely something in chapter 9. Maybe about Lyra? Oh well. Lyra and Luna best ponies!
4191441 I know, I use a free version of office word and it comes with wordcount, lol!
4188378 I generally headcanon them to live about as long as humans of nowadays can.
I hate to sound like an ass, but that long lifespan thing was just stupid and the whole thing, especially the implications, made me ill. Okay, even if they didn't reach physical maturity for a very long time, that doesn't mean they would remain naive children until their thirties. Mental maturity depends far more on experience, thus age, than it does how close your body is to being fully grown. That's a central theme to the movie, Jack, for crying out loud. At best, you could say development of the frontal lobe, and thus reasoning skills are slow, but I don't think that would have such a massive impact as to have 20+ year olds running around acting like they're 8 year old humans. What about scholastic endeavor? Are ponies so pathetic that it takes them two or three times as long to learn stuff we do in ten years? Not to mention from the way Twilight mentions unicorn age depending on magic levels, it makes it out so the magic is what keeps them alive, so does that mean magically strong unicorns age slower than others? If anything, it would have at least been more believable that ponies reach physical maturity at a, for lack of a better term, human speed, but simply remain in their prime for much longer before they started deteriorating. That would better explain how immature ponies always seem to act. All in all, leaving it up in the air for the readers to decide if it was true as you claim you did (which you didn't really because of Sweetie saying this: "Well duh! Did ponies not live that long where you come from?") does little to lessen how ridiculous the notion is, and actually feels more like a cop out. It's like you knew the idea wasn't very good, and so didn't want to be held down by the decision to put it in anyway.
The inclusion of such a ridiculous idea knocked this story down so many pegs that I can barely bring myself to finish it, but I'll push on. I've put too much time in to do otherwise. Though I'm done reading this for the night, I'm to frustrated to even finish this chapter.
"Spicket" is spigot. "Impuning" is impugning.
And the clumsy crush-thing or whatever going on with SC and Flim/Flam was pretty bad. It was fumbling around with the other sorts of emotions you were trying to convey.
4499946
Yeah, that bit was completely ridiculous, but I can pretend it didn't exist.
Well Granny Smith would have to be at least 3 or 400. She was around since the founding of Ponyville, and that was supposed to be a few hundred years before the show picks up, at least as far as i remember.
And this is why Sweetie does NOT count as a dictionary. :facehoof;
>Kindof
kek
4499946 this is something I actually agree with. I've seen their age potential being so high before, but this time really bothers me due to the maturity growth being so slow. It's bad enough they aren't well taught, but being both stupid and lacking in development doesn't make any sense. In my mind they wouldn't be able to survive as a species (mainly because they depend on intelligence) And, even more so, be able to become so technologically advanced.
Okay, with the age thing, I seriously thought Twilight was just screwing with Chance to get her to go to school.
Are you seriously saying in this setting ponies live for centuries? Because that's flipping stupid. Saying the CMC are in their twenties is even dumber.
I'm just gonna pretend Twilight was screwing with Chance so I can keep enjoying this story.
Ok... this was out of the blue...
What brought this on?
4499946 If you had scrolled up in the comments, you might have seen something relevant.
Such as this:
7055624 the uranium part was Chance saying how close ponies are to a radioactive weapon and any advances she gives them may result in them progressing to fast and cause a nuclear holocaust similar to what happened on earth. That's why she told spike she had knowledge that could hurt ponies
Am I bad for shipping Spike and Chance
7376583
I'm hoping there's more to this than just a nuclear war. Starscribe seems relatively knowledgeable about science and tech, yet he includes elements of both nuclear winter and long-term radiation in his 'dead Earth' description. A 15 megaton bomb could, in a Goldilocks scenario, potentially cause a firestorm which sends smoke and dust into the stratosphere. These weapons do not, however, cause long term irradiation of the area of detonation. For the short, immediate release of energy of a fission bomb, the half-life of the irradiated materials will, by nature, be very short. So there would have to be significant, unprecedented dirty bombing as well, if the world was to remain irradiated.
4499946
Been a while sense I read this fic, but I recall the same feeling the first time, and I quit for the same reasons. Similar to the idea of an Earth that is both irradiated and in an eternal nuclear winter. Reading it now, I find it helps if I dissociate both Earth and Equestria from their 'real' counterparts. I can then more-easily gloss over those other stupid sections.
Putting the CMC in their twenties is friggen hilarious. I think it just became my new headcanon.
8076992
Agree, great fic but the aging thing is out of whack... It would make a lot of character behavior unreasonable. Do ponies mature incredibly slowly? If yes, where are the 'actual' 10 to 13 year old fillies and colts? Do they look and act the exact same?
And if ponies age into the hundreds, what is the progression of maturity? Where does it become relevant for ancient ponies to impart different experiences to the intermediate 20-40 year old ponies? If they don't and instead act like 30 year olds even though they are over 100, what is even the point considering all the questions it would raise?
Maybe the author is trying to imply that ponies are long-lived and age slowly, but there would be better ways to do this that would fit with everything Canon and common-sense wise... I'm going to just ignore this age bit as it seems to have no impact and the author hasn't made it a part of his otherwise wonderful story.
Finally... Uranium compreasion pit nuclear weapons (sphere of uranium) were exceedingly rare... uranium tended to be used in the early guys -type weapons, and then later on as tampers for more modern weapons. Plutonium and uranium-plutonium amalgams were the most common weapon types to have spheres of. Not sure if this is Second Chance hiding her cards on the true tech, or her adapting to the fact that Equestrian would not have the breeder reactors needed to make the non-naturally occuring plutonium (not that they'd have uranium enrichment tech such as centrifuges or gaseous diffusion plants either, which would be necessary for an HEU weapon).
Good story author.
8419660
In terms of the ACTUAL ages of the CMC there IS a doubt. Second Chance even said it, that Twilight might just be LYING about their ACTUAL ages, just to make her feel better. There's no way to know, without Second Chance asking someone else, which she REFUSES to do, or else she feels as if she'll look like a fool. Thus if Twilight IS lying it's the PERFECT lie, much like how Salesmen typically go "Hey you're smart, so you know what this is worth". Which is actually INSIDIOUS, because if you then ask about or look stuff up, suddenly you have to admit that you are NOT as smart and Knowledgeable as the Salesmen thought you were. No one likes looking like a fool.
Then again maybe Twilight IS correct. After all look at how people are in Today's Society @ 13 Years of Age, compared to the Middle Ages or Biblical Times. Back then at 13 you were considered to be 100% adult. Yet today you are barely even a Teenager! You have a full 5 years, before you even meet the BASIC requirements of adult! Not even getting into how many places you have to be even OLDER just to obtain Alcohol legally.
8076992
Well it's difficult to know exactly how many bombs were used and their makeup in what I assume to be the Great War that caused all of the Nuclear Winter. Not only that, but with so many in VR space, it is difficult to grasp just how much time has truly passed. Even more so when the Quick & Easy option is just to shove a bunch of your civilization into VR.
Though I don't know NEARLY enough about Half Life of Radition and various kinds of Nuclear Weapons to be able to say what impact a massive amount of Nuclear Weaponry would have upon Earth. Not only that, but we don't really know if there is any Time Dilation between Earth & Equestria. Meaning we do NOT know if 1 Earth Year = 1 Equestria Year.
NO!