Humans in Ponyville, Chapter 5
The area around the grass-roofed cottage gave Tandy flashbacks of her uncle’s pet store in Chicago. She had spent two years there as a teenager, ringing up customers, feeding animals and cleaning cages, all while trying to save up for her first car. It was because of that smell that the sixteen-year-old version of herself had sworn to never work with animals again.
At least Fluttershy put some effort into cleaning up after her animal friends, or the yard would have been a lot worse. Judging by the mass exodus of fuzzy and feathered critters that had streamed away from the cottage as she and Erika had approached, the cottage and surrounding area was one short step away from being a large petting zoo.
Fluttershy had matched her animals’ skittishness, hiding behind her flowing mane whenever she couldn’t just fade into the background. She was currently holed up inside her house discussing who-knows-what with Erika, the mousy brunette. Erika the little mouse and Fluttershy the animal caretaker, of course they’d get along.
Tandy snorted as she began drilling the holes needed to secure the mount for the wireless access point to the exterior wall. The fact that Erika had been invited inside of the home of the tiny little pegasus, who had seemed downright terrified of Tandy, had more than a little to do with her growing annoyance at the whole situation. Not to mention that she was out here trying to do a two-person job solo.
It was a sunny day, and Tandy’s irritation was helped along by the sweat prickling along her scalp. Today’s wig was one of her most uncomfortable, a thickly-layered shag cut in an alternating series of electric dark and light blues. It was chosen specifically to fit in with the Ponyville crowd and had earned her many admiring glances from the pony folk during her walk out to Fluttershy’s cottage, but it was hot as hell with the sun right on it.
Still… it was worth it, to look this good.
Tandy had gotten the last of the holes drilled and was getting ready to install the mount when she heard the front door open and close. Erika came around the side of the cottage a moment later, carrying her bag in one hand and frowning down at the grass under her feet as she approached.
“Finally ready to help?” Tandy asked, carefully wiping the sweat from her forehead with a cloth.
Erika jumped a little, a guilty look drifting across her face. She put the bag down with exaggerated care before nodding. “Sorry about that. Fluttershy had some questions about the Wi-Fi.”
“I figured.” Tandy shook her head as she came down the ladder. She glanced at Erika’s bag, sitting in the shade under Fluttershy’s house. Was it a little fuller than before she went in? “So, you want to unpack the AP while I sort out the cabling?”
“Sure thing,” Erika said, breaking out her box-cutter and setting to work.
~~*~~
“So, what’s with the hole?” the little yellow earth pony asked.
“I was kinda wonderin’ that myself,” Radio Wave said, the charcoal-colored unicorn glancing curiously at the hole Jerry had cut into the roof of the closet earlier that morning.
“The hole is attached to a newly-installed duct that vents out on the side of the house,” Jerry said. “This end of it is going to be fitted with a fan.”
He held up the fan in question, plastic with a metal collar and about the diameter of a dinner plate.
“Okay,” the filly said, arching an eyebrow. “But why?
“I was just about to ask that!” Radio Wave added in, grinning at the filly and ruffling her mane with a hoof. She grinned up at him, preening at the attention.
Jerry rolled his eyes. He was stuck with the stallion at the Mayor’s insistence. She’d wanted a local pony “expert” who could maintain the equipment, which made sense. Even though there was no way Radio Wave would be able to do much more than power cycle anything that wasn’t working.
As for the filly, for some incomprehensible reason Erin had decided that it was okay for Apple Bloom to sit and watch as much of the installation as she wanted to, provided that she stayed out of the way and didn’t touch anything. And then, of course, she’d vanished somewhere, leaving the filly with him.
“The equipment we’re installing here is going to generate some heat. We’re putting in ventilation so that the heat doesn’t build up—”
“And start a fire?” Apple Bloom asked, her eyes lighting up at the prospective mayhem.
“No, of course not. So that it doesn’t cause the equipment to get damaged. It would shut itself down before it got anywhere near hot enough to start a fire.”
“Oh, that’s good. I wouldn’t want the house to burn down.”
Jerry noticed her eyes wandering over to his open toolbox. She took one hesitant step, and then another.
“Nope,” Jerry said flatly, bringing her up short.
“I wasn’t gonna touch ‘em!” Apple Bloom protested. “I just wanted to look at ‘em!”
“What did I tell you before?” Jerry asked.
Apple Bloom sighed. “You said you’d kick me out if I did anything dangerous, even if it ain’t your house.”
“Danged right,” Jerry replied with a satisfied nod. “I’ve seen people get badly injured with power tools. You treat them with respect, or you get hurt.”
“He’s right, kiddo,” Radio Wave added in. “Once saw a stallion near cut his leg off with a bandsaw because he wasn’t payin’ attention.”
The filly’s eyes widened. “No foolin’?” she squeaked, looking a little green.
“No foolin’,” Radio Wave replied somberly.
Apple Bloom’s eyes narrowed defiantly. “I’ve used power tools before, an’ I’m always careful.”
“Well, you aren’t using mine,” Jerry replied shortly as he worked the collar for the fan into the hole. “Your parents want to let you use their power tools, that’s their business.”
“Ain’t got no parents,” Apple Bloom muttered. Her whole body seemed to droop towards the floor as she said it, her ears sagging and her eyes looking down between her hooves. “They died when I was a baby.”
Jerry’s heart lurched briefly. “Sorry, Apple Bloom. I didn’t know.”
The filly sniffled and ran a fetlock across her muzzle. “S’okay. I don’t really remember ‘em much at all. My Granny, sis and big brother take good care of me.”
Jerry used the ensuing awkward silence to get some more work done. The collar snapped into place, and the fan clicked in a minute later. Then it was just a simple matter of running the power cord down to the outlet that Sparky the electrician had installed in the closet for them.
“The cord’s just gonna hang like that?” Apple Bloom asked. “You should tack it up, or somethin’.”
“That’s the plan,” Jerry said. “Just going to make sure it runs without wobbling before I finish up.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that! That makes sense.”
The fan started up with a quiet whirring noise. With the closet door shut, it was doubtful that Erin would even be able to tell that it was on. Which was kind of the point, really. The fan had a sensor that would turn up the speed as it sensed higher temperatures. He ran it manually through the various speeds to make sure it stayed put in its mount.
“I think that’s got it,” Jerry said a few minutes later with a satisfied nod. “Nice and tight, not so much as a wobble.”
“So, now you’re going to take care of the cord?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yes. Yes, I am,” he said with a sigh.
“Can I help?”
Jerry wasn’t psychic, but he had a horrible premonition at that moment. The future stretched out before him, a future consisting of unboxing and racking equipment, each step accompanied by the piping, curious voice of a little filly who was far too eager to be truly helpful.
It was going to be a long day.
~~*~~
Tom Carsten walked the streets of Ponyville, the bright sun beating down on his dust-covered, balding head. They’d made great progress today on the solar tiles, so they had opted to take an extended late lunch to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat.
Not that there was a whole lot left to do for his team. Erin Olsen’s house wasn’t exactly large, with its simple gable roof. Tearing off the thatch had been much easier than expected, easier even than removing shingles would have been. The most time-consuming part, assembling and installing the framework used to attach the solar tiles, had been completed in record time.
As he walked through the town full of tiny horse-people, it struck him as kind of amazing how almost-normal it was to him now. It had been a struggle at first, with the townsfolk a weird cross between adorable and creepy, and he’d had to keep reminding himself that these were actual sapient creatures and not some strange animal.
Sure, he’d still have the occasional moment of confusion or disorientation when looking at the ponies, but those moments were becoming more and more rare. When you got to know them, the ponies started to seem like normal, if somewhat fuzzy, people.
“Hiya!” a voice chirped behind him.
Well, most of them seemed normal. And then there was Pinkie Pie, the bright pink mare standing behind him and wearing a pair of saddlebags stuffed with what looked like rolls of wrapping paper. A creepy-looking stuffed bunny was slumped on her back, its button eyes staring blindly up at the sky.
“Hello, Miss Pie,” Tom said, smiling in spite of the way his nerves twanged at the sight of the hyperactive party mare. He’d lost a good chunk of his hero worship of the Element Bearers after the “Welcome to Ponyville” party she’d thrown for them, but Pinkie still put him on edge. Maybe it was the way she never seemed to breathe while talking, or the way she jittered and moved constantly. He doubted Pinkie could stay perfectly still even if she tried.
“So, whatcha doin’?” Pinkie asked, looking up at him with her innocent blue eyes.
“Just on my way to grab some lunch,” Tom replied.
“No other humans with you?” Pinkie asked. A shadow seemed to cross her face right then. “That’s kinda sad.”
Tom shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I wanted to try that cafe near the town hall… Cafe Kartie, I think? The rest of the guys wanted to try one of the food carts at the market.”
“You’re all on your own? Well, I’m not hungry, but I suppose Mister Hugglebunny and I could walk you there!”
Tom was about to answer when a voice came from the stuffed rabbit on Pinkie’s back.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” the rabbit said in a doleful voice, “but I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Nevermind!” Pinkie said over her shoulder. She grinned at the rabbit and patted it with a hoof before turning back to Tom. “He’s such a good bunny, but he gets confused sometimes.” She cocked her head and frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“Did…” Tom pointed a trembling finger at the thing on Pinkie’s back. “Did that stuffed rabbit just talk?!”
“Well, of course he did!” Pinkie said. She bucked her hindquarters, startling him and causing the rabbit to cartwheel lazily through the air, only to be caught in her forehooves. “My friend Sunflower gave him to me. He’s got a special tummy, see?”
She pointed a hoof at the overalls that the rabbit was wearing, the front of which had been cut out and replaced with something glassy. Tom stared at it for a moment before it clicked in his head.
“Oh, it’s a tablet!” He let out a nerve-ridden laugh. “Thank God, I was worried it was some sort of magical talking plush rabbit or something.”
“Oh, he’s plenty magic, alright!” Pinkie said with a grin as she hugged the stuffed rabbit in her forelegs. “He knows all sorts of things, and he can do math problems like nopony’s business!”
“I suppose,” Tom replied with an awkward smile.
Pinkie tossed the rabbit back into the air as she got back to her hooves, and it somehow landed perfectly on her back without sliding off.
“Anyway,” Pinkie said. “Want us to walk with you?”
“I guess?”
“Come on, then!” Pinkie said as she skipped away, humming a cheerful little tune.
Tom walked alongside the pink mare as she pranced through town, smiling and waving cheerfully at the ponies she passed and always getting a smile and wave in return. Tom briefly wondered what it would be like to be on such good terms with so many different people.
Probably a lot more work than it’s worth, he decided.
Tom lapsed into silence as they walked, the strange plush rabbit weaving drunkenly from side-to-side on Pinkie’s back with every step she took. Just like that, the weird feeling came back to him, the omnipresent realization that, no matter how familiar some of it looked, he was still on an alien world.
“What’s with the heavy sigh?” Pinkie asked, a look of concern in her eyes.
“Sorry, it’s just… after all of this, I think I could use a vacation.”
“You don’t like it here?” Pinkie asked, pouting.
“Oh, no!” Tom said quickly, shaking his head. “No, it’s very nice here. The buildings are nice, and all the ponies are… uh… nice,” he finished with a wince.
Pinkie giggled.
“It’s just that…” Tom shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. It’s different from home, I guess. It’s not what I’m used to.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” Pinkie replied. “I visited an Earth town, and I watched a whole bunch of Earth movies that Sunflower gave me. It was almost like…” she trailed off for a moment, long enough for Tom to wonder if she simply forgot they were having a conversation, before she started up again. “It’s like, because it sometimes looks so close to what I think is normal, the stuff that isn’t normal stands out that much more.”
“Yeah…”
“And it makes you realize that your normal and my normal aren’t the same normals, so we get confused by all the different things that are normal on the other world that aren’t normal on our world, and that can make us stop and wonder, ‘just what is normal, anyway?’” She grinned up at him. “Or, at least it did. I stopped wondering that a while ago.”
“Uh…” Tom replied, not knowing what else to say.
“And this is the place, isn’t it?”
Tom glanced around, surprised to find that they’d covered the distance to the cafe already. “Yup.”
“Okay! Well, I hope you enjoy your lunch, and I’ll see you later!”
“Okay, bye” he said, but Pinkie was already trotting off in a different direction. He stared after her for a long moment. “Weird mare…” he said.
With a shrug, Tom started walking towards the cafe’s front door, his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the ground. After a little while, he started whistling a catchy little tune.
~~*~~
“Did you girls happen to walk past the movie theater on your way back to the hotel?” Michelle asked.
“Nope,” Tandy replied. She was sitting at the hotel room’s one tiny table, staring into a makeup mirror while clearing off the last of her foundation with a disposable wipe. She followed that up by tugging on one of her false eyelashes in order to remove it.
“No,” Erika said, huddled up on one of the beds. Her voice sounded dull and distant, as if she had something heavy on her mind.
Tandy spared the little mouse a look. She was sitting down on the mattress with a pensive frown on her face and her knees drawn up to her chest. Her dark blue bag, the same one she’d had out at Fluttershy’s, sat between her and the wall, the fingers of her left hand running lightly over the zipper. Tandy was just about to ask her what was in it when Michelle spoke up again.
“The marquee reads The Wizard of Oz. That can’t be right, can it?”
Tandy blinked at her, her left set of eyelashes still longer than the other. “What, like the actual Wizard of Oz? Dorothy and the scarecrow and everything?”
“I don’t know!” Michelle threw up her hands, exasperated. “The theater was closed, and there were no ponies around who knew. But it seems like too big of a coincidence for it to be a different movie!”
“Erin must have given it to them, somehow,” Erika said, chewing on her right thumbnail. It was a bad habit of hers, and the clicking sound of her teeth biting through fingernail drove Tandy right up the wall. The girl could have been passably cute if she tried, but her nails were always so ragged and disgusting.
“Makes sense,” Tandy said, finally getting her left set of false eyelashes off. She’d only packed disposable ones for this trip, so they joined the right set in the small trash bin next to the table.
“Well, I don’t like it,” Michelle muttered.
Tandy lowered the disposable pad she was going to use to remove her eye shadow and gave the other woman a curious look. “Why not?”
“Well… I mean, it’s an old movie, right? What if the ponies don’t like it, or think it’s stupid?” Michelle clasped her hands together and frowned fiercely at nothing. “I mean, it’s not like they have a whole lot to judge our species by, and that’s a pretty silly movie. Aren’t there better ones we could show them to give a better impression?”
“Like what?” Tandy asked, turning back to her makeup mirror.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Michelle replied, sounding hopeless. “Something uplifting, something that shows us in our best light.”
“So, something with no conflict at all?” Tandy asked, not bothering to temper the sardonic tone in her voice as she cleared off her eyeshadow. “Some boring piece of propaganda?”
“That’s not at all what I said,” Michelle snapped. “Why do you always put words in my mouth?”
Tandy grunted. “Sorry,” she said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. It had been four days already with the three women sharing one room, and there were still three days left. Far too long to deal with Michele if she got into one of her snits. “It was kind of a rough day,” she said, casting a significant glance at Erika, who was still chewing on her fingernails and staring off into space.
Michelle caught her look, looking briefly at the younger woman on the bed. “Oh, I see.”
Tandy started pulling off her wig, which had a comb in the front and back that was designed to go into her natural hair to keep it in place. “I don’t know what’s up with her, but she’s been a space-case ever since we went to Fluttershy’s cottage.”
“What’s that about Fluttershy?” Erika asked, coming up out of whatever daydream she’d been lost in. Her left hand clenched the straps on the bag she’d been absentmindedly stroking earlier.
Something is definitely up with that bag, Tandy thought as she put her blue-on-blue wig on its stand. She took a moment to scratch furiously at her scalp before pulling a brush out of her bag.
“Wasn’t talking about Fluttershy,” Tandy said, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye while taking the brush to the wig. “I just mentioned that you’ve been out of it since we talked to her earlier.”
“Oh,” Erika said, her voice tight as she tensed up.
“Okay, that’s it,” Tandy said. She put the brush down and stood up. “What’s in the bag?”
The little mouse looked up at her with wide, scared eyes. “What?” she squeaked.
“The bag. The one you’ve been treating like a national treasure most of the day. That one right there,” Tandy said, pointing at it.
“N-nothing,” came the expected and obvious lie.
It wasn’t a large room. Tandy only needed two steps to reach Erika’s bed. “Come on, hand it over.”
“No!” Erika yelped, clutching the bag to her chest.
“Why not? You got something in there that will get you in trouble?”
This time, Erika’s “No!” was indignant rather than panicked.
“You didn’t steal something from her, did you?” Michelle asked, hands on her hips, every inch of her radiating a disapproving matronly aura.
Erika gaped at Michelle. “No, of course not!”
“Look, either you show us what’s in there, or I go get Jerry,” Tandy said. It was a bluff, of course. There was no way she’d be heading out of this room, wigless and sans makeup, for anything short of a bathroom trip or an emergency.
Erika, bag clutched white-knuckled to her chest, looked desperately between the pair of them. Finally she sighed as her shoulders slumped. “Fine. But you have to promise to keep it a secret.”
Tandy exchanged a glance with Michelle, who was frowning. “If you stole something—” she started.
“I didn’t steal anything!” Erika muttered. “Fluttershy gave these to me! You can even ask her, if you don’t believe me.”
“Fine,” Tandy said with a roll of her eyes. “Enough with the mystery, already. Just show us what’s in there.”
Erika sighed again as she unzipped her bag. She reached inside and pulled out several glossy magazines.
“Uh. Fashion magazines?” Michelle asked reaching for them. She scowled as Erika jerked them out of her reach.
“Pony fashion magazines,” Erika clarified.
“Is that Fluttershy on the cover of that one?” Tandy asked, pointing.
Erika winced. “Yeah. When we were talking, she mentioned she used to be a model—”
Tandy burst out laughing. “What? Little Miss Run-from-the-camera was a model?”
“I think it’s a big part of why she runs from the camera,” Erika replied with a thunderous scowl. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience for her.”
“Uh, do you know how much that’s worth?” Michelle asked, her hand twitching towards the magazine.
“Of course I do,” Erika said, hastily putting the magazines back in the bag.
“I wanted to look at those!” Michelle whined.
“No. I didn’t even want you to know I had them,” Erika reminded her.
“There are magazines and news channels offering millions for decent pictures of Fluttershy,” Tandy said, feeling faint. It had been drummed into their heads since day one that they weren’t allowed to take pictures of the ponies without their permission. Especially Fluttershy, considering the harm it could do to human/pony relations if it was discovered that a camera-happy human was harassing one of Equestria’s national heroes. “For so many pictures that good, we’re talking an early retirement for all three of us.”
“Don’t get any funny ideas,” Erika said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
“Why did Fluttershy give those to you?” Tandy asked. “Did she know how much they’d be worth on Earth?”
Erika grimaced. “I might have mentioned it. I wished I hadn’t. She told me she wants me to sell them.”
“So, why?” Tandy asked, honestly confused. “If she hates being in the spotlight so much, why ask you to do that?”
“And, are you going to share the money?” Michelle asked. It was all Tandy could do to not roll her eyes at the woman’s obvious greed.
“She wants me to give the money to animal shelters,” Erika replied sullenly, hugging the bag to her chest. “She said she wants to do good, to help out.” She straightened a little and added proudly, “She trusts me to do it for her.”
So long, early retirement, Tandy thought ruefully. “So, that’s why you’ve been out of it all day?”
Erika shook her head. “I’ve been out of it all day because I’m not sure if I should do it or not.”
“She asked you to, though,” Michelle said, eyes glued to the bag. “If you don’t want to, I can!”
Erika’s answering sneer showed what she thought of that idea. “I’m not sure I want to cause a media frenzy with Fluttershy at the center of it. She’s a really nice person. And she’s my friend.”
Tandy nodded. “Makes sense that you’d be conflicted, I guess. I’d say go for it, though. The kind of money that’s being offered, someone is going to get a picture of her eventually. If it’s going to happen anyway, it may as well be on her terms.”
Erika gnawed on her thumb again for a few seconds while she considered that. “Yeah. Okay. I guess you’re right. And, that way, I can make sure that the money goes where she wants it.”
“So, now that it’s all settled, can I see the magazines?” Michelle asked.
“No.”
“Aw, come on! I promise I’ll be careful with them!”
“No!”
Tandy sighed and returned to the room’s single small table to finish prepping her wig for storage. The other two women kept squabbling the whole while, with Michelle getting more and more whiny as the minutes stretched on. It eventually got to the point where she was ready to snap at the two of them to shut up when she heard a rattling noise.
“Uh, did you two hear that?” she asked.
“Hear what?” Michelle asked.
The rattling noise repeated itself. “That,” Tandy said, pointing at the window. With the shade drawn, there was no way of seeing what was outside.
Michelle frowned at the window. “You think it’s the wind?”
“I don’t think so,” Tandy replied as the rattling happened again.
She marched over to the window, grabbed the cord and gave it a quick yank. The shade went up, revealing the startled face of a very young pony with an orange coat and a purple mane. Tandy vaguely remembered seeing this particular filly a day or two ago.
“What the…”
The filly quickly lifted a very old-fashioned camera and pressed a hoof on the button. A loud “pop” sounded, and a blinding flash went off right in Tandy’s face. She reeled back with a shout, trying in vain to blink away the bright spots.
“I got a picture of one!” she heard the filly yell.
“Our cover’s blown!” another voice shouted back from ground level. “Get out of there, Scoots!”
One particularly horrifying thought hit Tandy like a freight train. That little filly had a picture of her, without makeup and with her natural hair still pinned down unflatteringly close to her scalp. She lunged for the window, throwing it open, which caused the filly to yelp in shock.
“Give me that camera!” Tandy shouted as she made a grab for it.
The filly yelped and leapt backwards off of the ladder that was propped up against the exterior wall of the inn. Tandy made a desperate grab for her and missed, but her terror at the filly’s inevitable fall turned to confusion and then understanding as a set of tiny wings on her back started buzzing. Rather than plummeting to her doom, the filly drifted towards the earth like thistledown, where two other fillies were attempting to hold the bottom of the ladder still.
Tandy leaned out of the window and stared down at the three fillies, who looked back up at her with wide eyes. The little orange pegasus lifted the camera and, with a loud “pop!”, took another picture.
“You little brats!” Tandy roared, shaking her fist at them. “You’d better hand over that camera!”
“Leg it!” the earth pony filly hollered.
The three fillies scampered off into the late-evening gloom. Tandy growled and strode to the door of the little room. She nabbed a big, floppy hat off of a hook by the door and jammed it down over her head, to at least try and guard her dignity once outside. As she flung open the door in order to pursue the troublemaking trio, she heard a smug Erika talking to Michelle.
“See? Not everyone wants to have their pictures ogled at by aliens.”
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I think Tandy just had her daily recommended allowance of Irony.
Cutie Mark Crusaders + Human modern technology
What can possibly go wrong?
Hahaha! You better run CMC the crazy lady is going to get you! Hahaha
Perfect chapter right there.
I hope the picture gets on the newspaper
6544819 We're going to need a bigger fire extinguisher.
The Crusaders popped up at what is both the best and the worse time, depending on how you look at it
Headed off the tension before it could burst but caused a new issue XD
Wonderful. Also, I loved Tandy's pony wig.
Fluttershy is always conspicuously absent in Hoopy's work. It's not a bad decision -- character overload is a serious problem with most stories that try to showcase the entire Mane Six. But with stories as long and varied as Sunflower, it quickly becomes noticeable that any time a big event comes up, Rarity invites Fluttershy to a quiet side trip somewhere else. Snippets like this, though, make it very clear that for whatever reason Hoopy rarely writes Fluttershy, he has a good understanding of her. Selling her photo spread by proxy is a very Fluttershy move.
Excellent chapter.
lol Priceless way to end it. Karma strikes hard. XD
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Wizard of Oz seems a good choice.
Was that set in 'present day' (1939) or 1900 (Book first published) Kansas ?
That's near where Equestria is currently, give or take.
And the ponies love musicals.
The marquee should have said it was a 'foreign film'.
How does MGM feel about a 100 year old movie playing on an alien planet?
(Blows dust off of stacks of DVDs.)
6544819
6545407
MGM UNTAPPED MARKET FINDERS, YAY!
You should know just from Samuel Goldwin's general attitude that Metro-Goldwin-Meyers is all about the monies.
Millions for Fluttershy pictures huh? Sounds about right. As long as you charge triple for the centerfold.
ZA MAGIKS!!!!!
Considering that Apple Bloom remodeled the inside of that club house by herself, I'd say that 6544819 's worry is somewhat unfounded. Now if we include the other two, then we have reason to worry.
Nice, fun little chapter.
6544819
That's like asking to open up Pandora's box.
6544819 "How did this happen?! Trees don't even have that much sap!"
6544878
We're going to need a bigger firetruck.
Wait... Scootaloo with a Camera? Which would mean Ponyville Confidential... Maybe? I know we've seen Shining in Project: Sunflower, but I don't remember too many mentions of Cadance, but the Wedding's already happened because of the Changling Plotline in the main story... and Discord is still Stone, but Keep Calm and Flutter On is coming up in story... Za?
Where in the heck in the timeline are we? I R COnfUzD...
6546699 We're going to need to quadruple the budget for all the emergency services and stockpile the popcorn.....Not necessarily in that order
....
Love the idea of the pony-ish wig.
The best approach here really would be to figure out some way to incorporate her into the process. I suppose Jerry doesn't know Apple Bloom like we do and that she might actually be helpful if properly directed.
Mister Hugglebunny is so wonderfully creepy.
Current guess about the bag, Fluttershy managed her first cross-dimensional pet adoption.
Okay, maybe not. Not a bad plan, though.
Make that a really decent plan.
Hahaha! Cheese it, girls!
That's nice of her, good to get kids interested in new things, poor Jerry though.
Good explanation about what is considered "normal". For all its familiarity with Earth I wonder if it would be easier to try to get people to accept Equestria as simply a different culture, rather than an alien world.
I think Erin has the right idea perhaps. If you show old movies first they are likely to appreciate and enjoy them more than if you show them new movies first then old ones after.
Tough call, but this is true. They don't need to even take any pictures of Fluttershy either, just buy a copy of the magazines off somepony else.
Cue Yakety Sax
What pinkie pie was describing is something akin to the uncanny valley talked about in art/games. Where something is so realistic it's Hard to tell apart from reality, which makes it easy to get comfortable around it. but its 'just' different enough that when something happens that causes you to look more closely at it you can tell, and then suddenly that similarity becomes unsettling and it becomes hard to reconcile that feeling of familiarity with the feeling of discomfort you now get from the same thing.
6545407
I'd say it's marching its army of lawyers.
6555612
100 years...?
Not in the public domain yet?
Assuming MGM still exists in some form or another, maybe
they could make a deal for the Equestrian films.
Not sure if there would be much demand on Earth
after an initial curiosity interest.
Maybe the movie scripts could be rewritten for biped actors?
(On Earth, Hollywood's most creative writers are in accounting.)
Also... new clients!
It's the razor vs razor blade principle.
Install the infrastructure below cost, then sell them
Netflix-like subscriptions.
6556427
Do you really think Hollywood movies will ever be in the public domain? Copyright doesn't depend on age, it depends on lawyers.
It's not that MGM can't extend its tentacles to Equestria, it's that Erin did so unlawfully, without their approval/ knowledge/ financial gain.
MGM can't sue ponies, but it sure can sue Project Harmonics.
Are you kidding me, it's an alien species which speaks English.
Imagine bronycons x1,000,000.
6557614 Remember that this story is set after life on Earth was nearly snuffed out. Last ditch research by Harmonics and the timely intervention of the ponies and Malachite were what saved it. Suing any of these would be one of the worst PR moves imaginable, and that's assuming that IP law is even the same in the 2030's and that the corporate entities holding movie copyrights still exist. Additionally, distribution rights may have been granted in gratitude, purchased by Harmonics or the government for cultural exchange, or eventually sold to pony movie theaters for redistribution or public showings.
The movies Erin/Sunflower put on the gift tablets could very well have their own legitimate end-user licenses. That's the least Earth could do after Harmonics installed a kill-switch in her brain.
6559081
Corporate lawyers. Corporate lawyers would sue Jesus if they think the Son of God will settle.
Besides, MGM wouldn't be suing ponies, or even World Heroine Erin. They'd be suing Project Harmonics, meaning suing the federal gov't. The gov't gets sued everyday; no PR damage whatsoever.
Based on the text of the story, it's obvious Erin didn't think of copyrights whatsoever. She just loaded the movies onto her tablets and gave them to private users, which is all legal. Trouble is those private users are now going to distribute the media for public consumption in theatres. That's not allowed even if you don't charge for tickets.
6559220 I listed plenty of other conditions you disregarded, but it's not worth arguing about if you prefer your side of the story or only read the first two sentences of other comments.
6562558
I had decided that there's no need to comment on your other reasons which basically amount to "Corporations are nice people, and will show ponies gratitude by not suing the US gov't."
Can it happen? Maybe, but there's no reason for it to happen. If MGM really loves ponies, it can make pony movies/shows, or audition for pony actors. It doesn't have to relinquish copyright on old human movies; such a move makes no sense. And if it did happen, Erin should have been astounded by it and mentioned it in passing.
Skimming my previous posts, I don't see any personal attacks or aggressive tone. If you consider this simple explanation an "argument", feel free not to reply.
6562674 Before you decide you know what it "amounted to" and make yet another comment to the effect, you should probably finish reading mine first. It's not what you think or say it is. Also funny that you make the assertion that you weren't slinging personal attacks, when I never said you were. Is that what you think I meant when I said this wasn't worth arguing about? Do you know what an argument is?
Or are you just trying to warp what I say to match your pre-written response database? Because if so, that actually is a bit insulting.
But I'm pretty much ready to chalk it down to you being Youtube-difficult and let you get on with it all on your lonesome.
Peace.
Oops!
I didn't mean to start an argument.
Maybe Hoopy will mention a mutually satisfactory resolution.
A 2026 rewrite of copyright laws?
The U.N. SETI group saying copyrights don't apply offworld?
Shake hands and agree to disagree.
6562755
Raising your virtual hackles and using words like "you disregarded" or "not worth arguing about if you" after a simple 3rd-person reply by me, was either intentional on your part or you choose your words poorly and dismissively. I guess anyone who counter-reasons your reasons is considered hostile by you.
Riiiight, your hackles aren't showing.
At any rate, if you actually read my short explanations, you would have seen that I had identified and indirectly addressed all your points. You're not a robot, use some correlative recognition.
6563518
Those solutions-in-passing would be adequate. This is a minor fridge logic point, after all.
6563518 Did you? I just remember posting a comment and all but directly being called a corporate stooge. Anyhow, I see no reason a kiss-and-make-up wouldn't be a meaningless gesture when the other party is clearly taking the p**s under a mutual umbrella of internet anonymity.
I don't think the story needs minor legal dynamics fleshed out. It's fine to accept that whatever the case may be, it's been or is being hammered out somewhere in the background. Maybe if Hoopy does a Phoenix Wright crossover ...
6564077 I've been on the internet long enough (read: BBS's) to know when someone's having a go at me. For the sake of closure, I'm going to give you one last hurrah of my time, in a style you might find more easily digestible:
6 reasons why a lawsuit may not be possible or sought after in the post-apocalyptic 2030's:
1) Affected IP holders no longer exist as private/corporate entities.
2) Affected IP holders, and by extension their legal representatives, do not want or are not allowed to sue the joint saviors of humanity, whether actual or publicly perceived.
3) Transdimensional piracy inadmissible to court.
4) Copyright law has changed, and possible cases have been rendered moot.
5) PR legislation for "first contact" through nationalization or agreement (poss. all films prior to a certain date now in public domain).
6) Assorted licenses and copies were legally obtained.
6 reasons why this conversation is irritating:
1) An argument is not inherently hostile.
2) Declaring that you are not being hostile. I did not say you were being hostile.
3) Applying absurd generalizations (to paraphrase, "just corporate schlock") to dismiss someone's comment without doing the courtesy of reading more than one or two sentences.
4) The "umad" defense. Not every "raised hackle" you cause is a pristine moment of apex trolldom where the other party is spinning around on the floor frothing. A more accurate representation would be your opponent blandly staring at the screen wondering if you're real.
5) Perpetual downvote slappyfight.
6) Continuing to bait me into continuing an unrewarding, one-sided discussion with a stonewaller when I've already said I'm done.
6569437
Are you serious?
How about this, since you're unable to do it: I'm done.
I forgot what Tandy looks like. Why does she need a wig and makeup? Can someone recap what each one of these human characters looks like?
6571283 I'm guessing Tandy is sort of analogous to Rarity. For the wigs, maybe she just likes to be able to change her hair wildly from time to time. She seems to get on well with the ponies with it. You can get a lot of info it from the named Chapter 1, and perhaps a bit from Sunflower's perspective in the other story, but I agree that a cast of characters would be nice.
I can't tell if Apple Bloom is excited or scared (although I'm concerned that it's the former)
Wow. The salt regarding copyrights.
Pretty sure it mentioned Erin spending tons on all the copies of movies for the tablets. So they're probably not public domain.
Why wouldn't mgm license the theaters to play the movies anyways?
I mean, think about it. Media corporation hears about completely new planet full of beings who've never even heard of their most popular films? No shit they'll be champing at the bit to get them out there! Sure the small "public viewings" in the library might be a gray area, but... Even in real life, such things occur, so there must be ways to do it.
It would be interesting to see what percentage of the ponies
think Dorothy should have stayed in Oz.
(She was a fool to leave. Her Kansas sucked!
L. Frank Baum had her and her
family move to Oz in a subsequent book.)
love it this is a really good side story super good work.