Blink
Twilight missed her old laboratory. The basement of the Golden Oaks library hadn't been a state of the art lab, by any means, but it had been her lab. She was familiar with it. Twilight could still recall the tick tock of the aged clock hanging from the wall in that basement. When she'd first set up shop there, she had immediately become frustrated with the incessant noise, and had resolved to have the clock removed as swiftly as possible. Of course, other things had come up and the clock's removal was constantly postponed for one reason or another. Eventually, though she still affected a plan of eventually getting rid of the thing, Twilight had grown comfortably accustomed to the constant tick tock.
Her new laboratory in her new castle had a silent clock; it was too quiet for her liking. Twilight resolved to have a ticking clock brought in as soon as possible.
Twilight sighed, breaking the oppressive silence of the large room. It was also bigger than her old lab, but she certainly wouldn't complain about that. The new laboratory was still underground, like the old one, but had almost twice as much floorspace to work with. Though of course, almost all of the available floorspace was hidden beneath machines, instruments, and lab tables.
With all of that room and equipment, Twilight was essentially free to experiment as much as she wanted with whatever she wanted. She had been taking advantage of it lately, but not with anything too ground-breaking. All of that was about to change, though, for Twilight had come up with a project that could very well change Equestria forever.
"Spike, did you bring the apples?" Twilight paused in affixing a pair of large black goggles over her eyes to glance aside at her draconic assistant.
"Yeah, I got a whole basket of 'em, just like you asked." Spike, standing nearby, hefted a basket of ripe red apples in his arms for emphasis. "Still not sure exactly why you needed these though..." he muttered.
Twilight cast a sidelong look his way. "Did I not explain what we're doing today?"
"Not at all," Spike deadpanned. "You leapt out of bed shouting something about 'solving Equestria' and then disappeared downstairs. Frankly, you're lucky I was able to make out 'one bushel of apples' from all the incoherent rambling you were doing."
Twilight grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Ah... I suppose I was less awake than I remember. Heh, sorry about that."
Spike shrugged. "Whatever. So... what are we doing?"
Twilight instantly brightened, and she turned to fully face Spike with an excited grin. "Teleportation!"
"..." Spike stared expectantly. When nothing else seemed forthcoming, he sighed and scratched his head with one claw. "Okay, I don't get it. You teleport all the time. What's so special about that?"
"That's just it, Spike," Twilight pointed out with a raised hoof, "I teleport all the time. Haven't you ever noticed that nopony else does?"
Spike blinked. "Hey yeah, now that you mention it, I don't think I've seen any other unicorns use that spell. Why is that?"
"The answer is simple enough, and is also the problem I aim to solve." Twilight nodded proudly. "Put bluntly, it simply takes too much magical power. There are very few unicorns in the world that can output the kind of magic required for the spell, and those that are powerful enough might not even know the spell, since it is actually extremely rare."
"Rare?" Spike asked.
"Yes." Twilight nodded absently. "It's curious, actually. You won't find teleportation in any major textbook or grimoire. I was fortunate enough to have access to the Royal Canterlot Library, and even then I only ever stumbled across one ancient tome that contained the spell."
Twilight tapped her chin and hummed in thought for a moment, but quickly shook her head and refocused. "But that's neither here nor there. The real problem is power consumption, as I already mentioned. I've always sort of taken for granted that I was even able to cast the spell, but now that I have access to such state-of-the-art magical science equipment, not to mention an increase in my own magical power, I should be able to do even more than that."
Her eyes gleamed as her grin grew wider still. "I should, in theory, be able to disassemble it!"
Twilight grinned at Spike. Spike stared back evenly. The room was utterly silent, and suddenly Spike missed the old clock as much as Twilight did. Finally, when the silence was just stretching into awkward territory, Spike set down the basket of apples and turned back to Twilight with his arms crossed.
"Cool."
Twilight blinked. "Cool?"
"Yeah, cool."
"Cool!?"
"Yeah, c—"
"Spike, this is so much more than just cool! This is world-changing!" Twilight was leaning forward so much that her horn was nearly brushing against Spike's spines.
"Okay, firstly," Spike used one finger to gently push Twilight away from him, "you change the world, like, once a week, so forgive me for not being too excited about that." He crossed his arms once more and offered a shrug. "And secondly, I still don't understand why teleportation is such a big deal, whether you disseminate it or not."
"Disassemble, Spike, but you make a fair point."
Spike blinked. "I do?"
"Yes, I did forget to explain why this is important!"
"Oh..."
Twilight brightened up once more, and she began pacing as she explained in a rapid tone. "You see, if I can disassemble the spell into its component magical parts, I can replicate those parts in gem-matrices and enchantments. Essentially, I'll be able to 'bottle' the teleportation spell in an amulet, or wand, or any sort of magically conductive object. This would let less magical unicorns activate the spell for a fraction of the original energy requirement, and recharge it a little bit at a time whenever they need to."
She paused in her pacing and pushed her goggles up to her forehead. "But you're right; my own personal teleportation was convenient, but it's not a huge deal for everypony else to live without it. The real beauty of this project is scalability. Once I create the spell matrix and enchant an item to cast a simple teleportation spell, creating a bigger one will be a breeze! Why, we could scale up to teleport rooms full of ponies, or entire buildings. Trains would become obsolete as ponies would be able to instantly warp from one city to another. Just hop on the Twilight Sparkle brand TelePad and away you go. One blink, and there you are at your destination."
Spike opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, he managed to utter, "Twilight Sparkle brand TelePad?"
Twilight blushed. "Okay, the name is a work in progress..."
"Well, you've sold me on the idea at least." Spike nodded.
Twilight reached out and rubbed his spines with a forehoof. "Always glad to have your support, my number one assistant."
She giggled as she turned and headed for one of the various machines filling the room. To a laypony, all of the devices and contraptions seemed similar enough that most couldn't tell them apart. Twilight, of course, knew each one like the back of her hoof, and this one in particular was among her favourites. While on the surface, it looked much the same as any of the other large stainless steel boxes covered in lights and switches, the Magic Auto-Analyzer was absolutely vital to her experiment, and—
No, wait, she was turning on the Full Spectrum Aura Detector. The Auto-Analyzer was two machines over. Fortunately for her dignity, it seemed Spike hadn't noticed.
"Hey, Twilight, I thought you needed the beep-whoosh machine first," Spike pointed out ever so helpfully.
Twilight whirled around with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yes, yes, I know we need the Ana— wait, beep-whoosh?"
Spike nodded. "Yeah, y'know, the beep-whoosh machine." He pointed at the Magic Auto-Analyzer as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"It's not a beep-whoosh machine!" Twilight exclaimed. "It's a very complex piece of magical analysis equipment, and it should be treated —and referred to— with respect!"
Spike shrugged. "It also goes beep-whoosh when you use it."
Twilight stared, gaping, for several moments, before finally letting out a defeated sigh. "Yeah, it does..." she muttered as she finally turned and walked to the correct machine.
As he watched Twilight set up the first of many devices needed for the day's work, Spike idly scratched the side of his neck and asked, "So how come nopony else has ever fiddled with teleportation magic?"
Twilight flipped several switches in order, and responded without pausing in the startup sequence, "Well, you'd actually be surprised how much magic gets lost or forgotten over the ages. As powerful and knowledgeable as they were, ancient unicorn scholars had awful documentation on their work. There's a good chance teleportation was a lost art before I stumbled upon it in the Royal Library."
"Is that why you're so crazy about taking notes?"
"I am not crazy about taking notes!" Twilight finally turned the last dial, and nodded in satisfaction as the machine whirred to life. "Spike, take a note that we successfully activated the Magic Auto-Analyzer."
Spike rolled his eyes, but picked up a quill and paper and did as he was asked without complaint.
The next few minutes were spent activating several more machines around the room, and setting up the materials. Twilight laid out several different magic-conducting materials, including a few gemstones, on a lab table in the center of the room. She also included a few basic spell matrix templates, for reference, and the bushel of apples for testing. Spike brought out a fire extinguisher, just in case.
For starters, Twilight simply placed an apple on a small metal platform attached to one of the machines, and teleported the apple across the room with a quick flash of magic. The machine instantly made a beep-whoosh sound and began printing a long and detailed graph. Twilight grinned. It was going to be a good day.
About an hour later, and many more apples teleported across many different machines, the experiment was going swimmingly. The room smelled of ozone, and a static tingle in the air caused some of Twilight's mane to stick out erratically.
"Spike, I think we're ready for me to begin my own analysis of the gathered data," Twilight announced, pushing her goggles up to her forehead.
"Finally!" Spike threw his arms in the air. At a swift glare from Twilight, he smiled sheepishly and kicked one foot against the floor. "Uh, I mean, that sounds awesome, Twilight! I can't wait to get started!"
Twilight sighed. "You can take a break, Spike. Your note-taking has been invaluable, but I can handle this next part on my own."
"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Spike very much hoped she didn't.
Twilight couldn't help her affectionate smile when he offered anyway. "Positive."
"Alright!" Spike tossed all the notes he'd taken onto a lab table and quickly scurried out of the room and up the stairs.
Twilight shook her head with a chuckle. Spike made for a wonderful assistant, and an even better friend, but he was still a kid at heart. It was easy to forget that with how much he took care of Twilight on a regular basis.
Refocusing on her work, Twilight lit her horn and swiftly laid out all the useful information she'd gathered in the form of countless print-outs and data sheets. She had to pull three tables together just to accommodate it all, but in the end she was able to quickly reference any data she might need to understand the spell at a fundamental level. Once she could identify each component spell on its own, she would be able to create matrices for them, and eventually set them up to work in unison to cast the larger, more complex teleportation spell.
Her excitement to spend the next few hours poring over paperwork was palpable. Twilight was an odd mare.
The first bit was spent simply dividing the spell into its apparent parts based on energy consumption and focus, without really knowing what those parts did. Much to Twilight's surprise, the spell seemed to be composed of very few pieces. Unless she was missing something, there were only four sub-spells forming the teleportation spell itself.
Such a development was unexpected, to say the least. Twilight had fully expected dozens of interwoven pieces, if only to explain the massive power requirement for the spell. Even something as simple as a moustache-creation spell had a dozen components, and the wing spell she'd cast on Rarity had hundreds. Though, admittedly, a good number of those components were simply several layers of redundant safety measures.
Twilight blinked.
"No, no, that would be absurd..." she muttered under her breath.
Surely, if the teleportation spell was created with no safety measures in place, she would have noticed. Still, it couldn't hurt to check. Twilight quickly analyzed the areas of the spell that she'd designated as the four components. The first, second, and fourth consumed the majority of the power. In fact, the third sub-spell seemed almost simple by comparison. She didn't look too closely for now, though, instead simply examining them for any sort of recognizable features that would identify some sort of safety mechanism.
As much as she hadn't wanted it to be true, Twilight couldn't say she was terribly surprised by what she found. To be more precise, what she didn't find. It was precisely as she'd suspected. None of the four components even slightly resembled safety measures.
Twilight sat down and leaned back, exhaling a long breath. She had to have been incredibly lucky, especially with the energy levels at play. There were a lot of ways spellcasting could go wrong, and going without proper safety precautions was just asking for trouble.
It was odd, though. Twilight had cast unsafe spells before, when she was still learning, and she had never been perfect at it. At the very least, she'd come out with a headache or a slight nosebleed each time, though never anything really bad. Yet, somehow, she had apparently been casting a massively powerful spell for years, completely lacking in any sort of safety, and come out completely unscathed. It just didn't make logical sense, yet there it was.
Twilight decided that further analysis was the only course of action.
So she dove back into the data. First things first, she had to go more detailed for each individual part of the spell. The first portion consumed the most energy, and was the most complex. With a bit of work, Twilight was able to isolate it and examine it. From what she could tell, it was an analysis spell. What's more, it was the single most comprehensive analysis spell she'd ever seen.
Twilight's mouth fell further and further open as she continued her examination of the spell pattern. It was almost unbelievable in its power and elegance. She couldn't say for certain yet, but Twilight was reasonably sure that this analysis spell could retrieve and store information on something down to the very assembly of its molecules. Though, oddly enough, it didn't seem to do anything with the information. It simply copied down the molecular make-up of whatever it was used on, then stored that information for... something that one of the other three components would do.
Strange, but not altogether enlightening. Twilight moved on to the next component.
The next one consumed considerably less energy, but still a lot. At first glance, it seemed almost similar to a come-to-life spell, but with a few notable changes. It didn't function by attaching itself to an object, but rather attached itself to... itself. Or, rather, to the teleportation spell as a whole. It seemed that this component would actually cause the spell to be autonomous, if only for a moment, and complete casting itself without any required input from the caster. It wasn't a completely alien concept, but Twilight had never really seen a use for the idea.
Still strange, and still frustratingly far from completing Twilight's understanding of how the spell functioned. Twilight sighed and rubbed her hooves over her tired eyes, then shuffled her papers around and moved on to the next component.
The next one was—
Twilight blinked. "What?"
She read the print-out again, then a third time just to be sure. Still, her mind was having a hard time accepting the information it was presented with. Twilight could feel a headache coming on as she forced herself to complete what was quickly becoming an absurd yet terrifying analysis.
The next one was a strangely simple destruction spell. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy, just complete matter erasure on an atomic level. It was the sort of thing one learned not to do pretty much back in magic kindergarten. And the importance of not doing it was reinforced for the remainder of one's magical education. Such spells were so dangerous, that even the Royal Guard was prohibited from using them for defense.
There was a good reason such spells were almost universally banned; they didn't simply destroy matter, they erased it. It wasn't disintegration, or combustion, or any spell that a sane unicorn would use to dispose of something. Matter erasure was an order of magnitude more dangerous than either of those.
And Twilight had no idea what it was being used for in her teleportation spell.
Desperate for some answer, she quickly examined the final piece of the spell. She could only hope that it would tie everything together in a sensible way. Unfortunately, it did precisely that.
The final portion of the spell was an extremely powerful conjuring spell. It used the information stored by the initial analysis spell, and was controlled by the come-to-life spell, to create an exact replica of the object on which the spell was cast.
This only happened after said object was completely and utterly destroyed and erased from existence.
The table in front of Twilight grew blurry and indistinct. Blackness crept into the edges of her vision, and she felt moments away from throwing up. It all pieced together perfectly. She wished, desperately wished, that it wasn't so clearly laid out, but there was no mistaking it.
The spell didn't teleport anything. It never had. The spell would scan any object, destroy it, and create an exact replica of the original object in a new place, all over a few milliseconds, of course. The new replica would retain all the same memories, since the scan was detailed enough to include everything, right down to brain chemistry. Not that the thought was very comforting.
"I... I've killed myself?" Twilight's voice was so tiny, she wasn't even sure it was hers. Then again, it really wasn't hers, technically. It belonged to a replica, one of hundreds and hundreds of precise, exact replicas of a mare named Twilight Sparkle; a mare that had killed herself shortly after discovering a new spell in an old dusty book she found in the Royal Canterlot Library.
So many times. She'd cast the spell so many times without any care at all. It explained why the lack of safety measures hadn't been a concern, at least. The only pony at risk was the one casting the spell, and, well, that pony would be erased from existence before any safety concerns would arise.
What happened to all the replicas that had been erased over the years? Had she just disproven the existence of a soul, or was there an afterlife somewhere filled with countless Twilight Sparkles? Not to mention her friends. All of them had been 'teleported' at least a couple times. They, like her, were no longer their original selves, but mere perfect replicas. Even Spike...
"Hey, Twilight!" The door to the lab burst open to reveal a grinning dragon half-hidden behind a high-stacked plate. "You've been down here a while, so I brought sandwiches!"
Twilight gasped and quickly wiped her eyes. She faked a quick smile as she turned to face Spike. "Oh, Spike. Thank you."
Spike chuckled. "No, problem. I know how you get sometimes. You'd forget to eat for days if I wasn't around, you know?"
The little giggle that escaped Twilight surprised her with how genuine it was. Spike set the tray of sandwiches down on a table, then turned to Twilight's table full of data and print-outs.
"Jeeze, that's a whole lot of magic... stuff." He scratched his chin idly. "You make any sense of it or what?"
Twilight stared for a few moments, breathing slowly and carefully. Finally, she spoke through a quiet breath, "Nope. I don't think this particular experiment is going anywhere, to be honest."
"Aww, really?" Spike crossed his arms. "You didn't find out anything cool?"
"Nothing you need to worry about."
Spike smirked. "I think Celestia's rubbing off on you. You're getting cryptic."
The both shared a small chuckle, before Spike asked, "So, you're sure that it's a total dead end?"
Twilight shivered, but gave a quick nod.
"Hmm. Oh well." Spike shrugged and turned to the tray of sandwiches.
"Oh well?" Twilight repeated, aghast.
"Yeah, oh well." Spike tossed half a sandwich in his mouth, and went on through a mouthful of crumbs, "I mean, sure, it's too bad that it worked out that way, but you're the best magician around. If you can't do anything about it, then you can't do anything about it. Dwelling on it won't change anything, so I say forget about it and move on, y'know?" He paused to take another bite. "No sense worrying about something you can't change."
Silence fell over the room for a moment as Twilight thought over what Spike had said. Spike, for his part, continued to obliviously munch on a sandwich, humming in satisfaction. It was so easy for Twilight to forget that he was just a kid at heart, especially given how much he took care of her at times.
"Oh, Spike." Twilight giggled and pulled him in close for a tight hug. "I love you, you know that?"
"Oh come on!" Spike wriggled in her grip. "Way to get sappy, Twilight!"
"Hmmmm," Twilight hummed happily.
After a few more moments of futile struggle, Spike finally relented. He twitched, then slowly, awkwardly wrapped his tiny arms as far as they could go around Twilight.
"I... I g-guess I love you too." A beat. "Now will you let me go?"
"No."
"...okay." Spike buried his face in the soft fur of Twilight's chest, but only so that she wouldn't see the dumb smile and warm blush adorning his face.
Twilight lit her horn and aimed a simple disintegration spell at the papers covering the three lab tables, reducing them to a scattering of white powder in the blink of an eye.
She held Spike dearly, feeling the warm scales pressed against her. He was real, she was real, and that was all that mattered.
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mmm. bit interesting. though the whole idea is iffy. ponies are a lot more than chemicals after all.
and that is more or less kinda fact considering magicks.
This was exactly what I expected it to be from the description. And watching The Twilight Zone *snerk*
And this line was worth the entire story:
You brilliant sonofabitch.
This is a simply beautiful way to explain teleportation.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Yoink.
Star Trek doesn't necessarily have a different answer.
http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/13437/in-star-trek-does-the-original-die-in-teleportation
6056748
Well, it does go beep-whoosh when you use it.
6056756
Adorable story.
6056788
Nifty! Not that I'm surprised the idea has been used before, I suppose.
6056799 and 6056807
Glad you enjoyed it! And yeah, I never really used to write stories this short, but it's a new thing I'm trying out before I kick off some new long-form stories. It was lots of fun to write, so I guess I'll do a few more.
Zap, you could have made this really, really sad. You did not.
...
Thank you very much.
-Spirit (Yeast and Treacle)
That... was...
Holy crap.
I just got a new appreciation for life.
Just... wow.
Killing yourself, then resurrection?
No wonder it's banned.
It's the best type of necromancy.
The kind you don't know about.
The kind that kills you and brings you back to life in an instant.
The question I have is: did she ever use the teleportation spell again after that?
6056849
I had the very same thought myself. Decided that I didn't much feel like taking it in the sad direction.
6056856
I never thought my writing would impact anyone so greatly.
Heh, but really, I'm glad you liked it.
6056861
Probably not!
this story would probably be better if you weren't a smelly nerd
7.8/10 too much Duke Zaap Nator.
6056904
"Beautifully written. A plain and simple masterpiece of the English language. Never again will I experience joy the likes of which I experienced today."
4/10 - IGN.com
Funny, that's how teleportation works in real life.
Yes, scientists have discovered teleportation. But whenever they teleport a particle, it erases that particle from existence and creates a new one. The main reasons they haven't tested it on living things is for that exact reason.
Either you did your research, or you got lucky. Either way, kudos.
Hmm... further thoughts are occurring to me.
1) With the destruction component removed this would be a flawless cloning spell. And while I can understand her not wanting to teleport anymore (basic survival instinct) I can see her wanting to test a few theories.
2) Actually, without the safety components you mentioned, teleporting would probably be really hard, wouldn't it? The fact that the original is destroyed makes it irrelevant, but if she were to clones herself as I mentioned above, I'm guessing it would succeed but she almost certainly suffer some kind of backlash. Probably put herself in a coma or something.
3) Another thing I can see her doing is eventually coming to the conclusion that the teleport-death is better than actual death from something else, and using some kind of bottled cloning spell that, on her actual death, automatically triggers and creates a backup clone of her. She'd have to make sure the scan was as up-to-date as possible, but if she could do it then she could make death into a temporary setback of losing a few memories (depending on when she last backed up her Twilight-clonepad (TM))
This is a very old and common Sci-Fi idea... and it's not really explored very well here except to explain it to the reader. Such a technology/spell would have numerous unfortunate implications... which Twilight deals with by not thinking about it.
Seriously, with something like this you can make perfect clones of yourself, just remove the part about destroying the original and make a copy of yourself where you need to be. Really, this only creates the illusion that the teleported you is the same as the original. Imagine if the spell was misscasted so that it created a Twilight, but the part that destroys the original ended up going really slowly. The new Twilight has a few minutes in which to save the old Twilight from dying. Should she? Or, because they're perfect copies of each other, does it even matter that the old Twilight is dying an incredibly painful death? There's more discussion possible but I just used those examples because I want to be brief.
Judging by your comments, you came up with this yourself instead of reading it from somewhere else, which is impressive, but I'm afraid that you simply did not do your research. Also, in the context of the story itself, not having safety spells doesn't make sense since even the slightest error in the analyzing or creation parts of the spell could easily make an imperfect copy with enough errors to be dead on arrival. Any badly replicated organ (brain, heart, lungs, veins, skin, legs, neck, etc.) could easily be fatal very quickly, or even if not fatal very noticeable.
6056936
That's Quantum teleportation, which might not be the only possible form of teleportation but is the one Scientists have been experimenting with on extremely++ tiny scales. Infact, lemme quote the Wikipedia article:
You could use it to "teleport" something physically but only if you had perfect information of how to reassemble it and the 3D printer to do so. On the plus side, the theoretical range is unlimited!
This seems an unlikely way for a magic teleportation spell to work, but that's fine.
It's just that when you have temporary transformation and don't actually need to go faster than the speed of light, there are less philosophically troublesome methods you can use.
Twilight should probably go implement one of them.
(in G1, it was pretty explicit that teleportation worked by travelling through hyperspace, since there was a whole episode where all the unicorns in Paradise Estate got trapped there)
6056937 As to your point #3, you might want to look up a short story by John Varley called "The Phantom of Kansas."
In it, the protagonist wakes up in a new body, feeling grateful that he'd chosen to pay the exorbitant fees for weekly backups, as he had been murdered again. He sets out to find his murderer, and then it gets crazy.
This is exactly why I do not like the method of entry to equestria in Friendship is Optimal.
6056881 I was just... amazed. I was overcome with so many conflicting emotions. I will never look at teleportation the same again.
Killing and resurrecting yourself...
(Enters brooding room to think about life.)
The only reason is because my OC, (My Profile pic,) is unique in the fact that, even though, he's a shapeshifter, he's not a changeling. And thanks to said shapeshifting, he has the abilities of whatever he's mimicking. He always keeps a bit of unicorn in him so he can use other types of magic
Including Teleportation.
You can see where I'm getting at.
6056937
I would consider using this idea if it didn't make my characters a bit ridiculous.
I guess my only question is a minor one of characterization.
We've never seen Spike once try to break out of a hug or seem upset to be given one. Why did you feel it necessary to include it? Surprised by a hug in this situation, yes... but Spike frequently hugs and is hugged. Your not the first author I've seen go down this track with him, and I'm always left wondering why the author thought it was important to do so. Not "calling you out" or anything, just asking.
In all the respects, an interesting piece, and I hope it does well.
Quite plausible, though I wonder what her thoughts will be when she realises that Nightmare Moon/Luna also did it.
6057331
I saw him struggling only for show. Like he was happy to hug Twilight, but felt the need to act above such sappy things.
Funnily enough, I had originally included a line after he asks to be let go, mentioning that he desperately hoped she would say no, but decided the line was unnecessary.
All of that being said, I now realize that this may be more of a fanon than canon character trait for Spike. It is a common enough young boy behavior, to act tough and aloof in the face of sap no matter how much they enjoy said sap, but I suppose that behavior isn't exhibited by Spike much in the show. The closest example I could come up with would be his pretend disgust at receiving a Gala ticket, but it's not a perfect connection.
In all honesty, I think 'futile' was just poor word choice on my part. Might change that later to better indicate the struggle was for show...
Anyway, glad you found it interesting.
Thanks for the comment!
6057415
It really wasn't that big an issue, and I don't mean to blow it out of proportion. It didn't detract from the story, it's just something that I've noticed more and more authors doing. Even people like Cold in Gardez who are usually so careful about characterization have done it, so don't feel bad or anything. Yeah, most boys do stuff like that, but Spike is hardly "normal."
Best of luck with this story! It's climbing pretty quick and the Featured Bar is pretty vulnerable right now, so good luck!
Hopefully Twilight realizes that the end result is really no different than getting around the usual way, and stops being weirded out by it.
Or, at least, is inspired to develop her own, less-unsettling version...
I enjoyed it. 10/10, well worth the wait
Can't remember the exact time frame beyond it being years, but every atom in the body is eventually replaced with new ones. Twilight's spell pretty much does the same thing instantly.
I'm assuming Twilight will stop using teleportation outside of emergencies. If each one does send a soul to an afterlife, I bet this batch was confused:
derpicdn.net/img/2012/11/12/149353/full.gif
6057192 Ayup. Just remove the "destroy the original" aspect and see how willing you are to go for it now...
Awww... Twilight is missing out on the fun. Just rip that erasure portion out and you have a targeted clone summoning spell! A purple pony for EVERYPONY!
And this does not merit a Dark tag ... why?
(One would think Celestia would notice her student teleporting about...
)
6056936
I think you are confusing teleportation with quantum teleportation, which has nothing to do with the transmition of matter, just the quantum states of entangled atoms. Meaning you play with one atom at location X, and it's pair at location Y does the same thing. At this time there has been zero success in replicating this with anything above the sub-atomic level.
What the author appears to have used for his inspiration is the "Star Trek" theory of teleportation, which is exactly as stated in this story.
6057564
Not different for everypony but the original, who is destroyed.
Also, I guessed what the story is about before even reading it
I do not see why Princess Twilight Sparkle is upset. Her spell disassembles an object here and reassembles it there. I wrote about the physics of UnicornTeleportation, under the assumption that one displaces spacetime:
The Physics of UnicornTeleportation
Unlike your story, this kind of teleportation uses General Relativity and displaces, rather than disassembles reassembles.
And that is what real teleportation is. I can't imagine how it would feel to be Twilight right now. The way you wrote it, I felt dread just like Twilight did. Very emotional. You are a great writer to make me feel emotional for a story that is less than 10,000 words.
It would be amazing to have a sequel of Twilight breaking down while crying to Celestia. She has to tell her, especially if she wants the spell, and future creation of said spell, to never be used again. Telling her friends is out of the question though, it would break them.
6058515 You don't see how she is upset? In this story she dies and is cloned, anyone would be horrified to know that you were born the last time you teleported, and every other version of you died.
Imagine how happy she must of been the first time she teleported, and she was most likely a filly. Yet in reality, that spell was the end of the real Twilight Sparkle. Even worse, she killed all of her friends every time she teleported them. Think about that.
Still not convinced that she died? Imagine taking out the deconstruction spell. That would make two copies of Twilight, which means that the copy is a copy, and the original is real.
After reading the comments, I have come to the conclusion that some people just don't understand the implications of this and why she reacted the way she did. She just discovered that she was born the last time she was teleported. She has to live with the knowledge that she never existed until previous hers killed themselves over and over and over again until the end result was her. She was most likely close to using the teleport spell again as well, which means she knows that she almost died for good, and then someone else will replace her. Someone that is a carbon copy of her.
This is one of the darkest things I can possibly imagine. No... It is the darkest thing I can imagine.
6058584
Everytime she falls asleep, her mind stops. When she wakes it restarts. She already lacks continuity of existence.
6058654 I see you still don't get it, do you? Sleep doesn't cause you to cease to exist, it causes you to go into standby mode. Your brain, which is you, is always running, even if you are not conscious.
Let's think about this in another way. Say you have two portable hard drives, and then you fill one with information. You then copy one of them to the other perfectly. Does destroying the original make the new one the original?
6058654
I am not the data of myself. If you created an exact copy of me, and then killed the copy, 'I' would not have died, but there was also a living person that was killed. You can't define a person by talking strictly about 'what' they are. Is the difference between when you are awake and when you are asleep sufficient to claim that the original you is dead? Maybe, but then you could claim the same thing happens whenever you have a haircut.
Come now, Twilight, you're a mad scientist. The obvious next step is to try disabling the destruction component of the teleport spell and seeing what happens!
6056936 Well, that and the fact that living things are substantially larger than atoms.
6058569 I second the sequel request. Or as an alternative, the mane 6 get into another dangerous situation. Twilight then teleports them out of instinct, to save them. Then she immediately realises what she just did and has a breakdown, resulting in her telling the others that she just killed them. The rest of the mane 6 then get really confused.
Incidentally, speaking as someone that doesn't believe in the existence of a soul or an afterlife, I find this somewhat less horrifying. I would probably stop using the spell except in life or death situations, but I wouldn't dwell on it. Of course, I'm not Twilight, and I could totally see why she would freak out.
missing the " at the end there.
Wait, I'm confused.
First there is a spell that thoroughly scans something, then a spell that destroys said something, a spell that brings to life something with the specifications the first spell got, and a last spell that that ties everything together... does that last component also determine where the new object is created?
Man, I love magical theory...
No wait, this is EXACTLY like cutting and pasting stuff
Great Story!
6058411 Eh, it doesn't really matter that the 'original' is destroyed. Twilight isn't a noun, she's a verb, so to speak. People aren't things, they're what things do; there's still an indistinguishable collection of matter behaving like a Twilight, without divergence or lack of continuity.
6058959 Well, obviously.
...
OR ARE THEY?
*Illuminati music plays*
This reminds me of an old philosophical question: If a man in a swamp is struck by lightning and completely annihilated, but another bolt of lighting strikes somewhere else in the swamp and makes an absolutely perfect copy of him, is he truly destroyed?
Anyway, the way that I think souls work, she is neither sending hundreds of herself to the afterlife nor disproving the existence of souls. I believe that souls are extra-material entities made to operate a very specific selection of material components (ie, a body). If that body is destroyed, but then a perfect copy is instantly rebuilt elsewhere, that soul simply moves on to the replica.