“Alright, Alex, I’m here. Why did you want me to drive miles out of town and not tell anyone, exactly?” Moriah leaned closer to the headset, trying to tune out the annoying static coming from Alex’s end.
Another few seconds of frustration, and she heard the other pony’s voice. “Because I don’t want our newcomers to see yet. I’ll tell the others about it later.”
“You’re going to have to tell the immigrants something, Alex. I only told them you were out on business, but… are you really going to try and keep the HPI a secret?”
“Oh, no. We’re not allowed to tell them where we think they live, but other than that there’s nothing secret about the HPI. They want to have a corporate relationship with Earth’s ponies. They were founded ostensibly to protect our interests and preserve our culture.”
“Then why am I wearing the thaumic suppressor and meeting you five miles from Alexandria at five in the morning? You still haven’t answered.”
“It’s the Hummingbirds I don’t want the newcomers to see. One of them is staying behind: it’s gonna be our baby. You get to learn to fly it. I don’t want ponies to know where it’s parked who we can’t trust.” Moriah looked up into the early morning sky. She heard it before she saw it, though. A dull roar, a muffled jet engine as it tore across the sky. She saw it seconds later, though it looked like the aircraft was actually using its engines to decelerate.
Even after seeing them on several occasions, Moriah still couldn’t get over how impressive the aircraft looked. It astounded her such a sophisticated piece of hardware had been produced without creating more of a stir. Was the long range carrier the HPI called the Hummingbird the last and greatest aircraft produced in the fabled Area 51? And she was going to get to fly one? She wondered just how much Alex could be overestimating her abilities.
The jet engines died abruptly, replaced with rapidly spinning props as the nimble craft lowered itself down towards the field. This farmhouse was a full three miles off the highway, probably twenty miles away from Alexandria proper. The Hummingbird crushed short weeds with its landing struts as it touched down. Only when the rapidly spinning props finally stopped spinning did a ramp extend from inside and Alex emerge.
She looked the worse for wear. Paler than Moriah remembered, with bandages wrapped around one shoulder and a slight limp. There was some sort of device on one of her forelegs, though Moriah couldn’t say for certain what it was. She was still wearing the shackles, and made no effort to remove them.
A man emerged just behind her, wearing the bio-thaumic armor humans needed to survive outside the protection of their powerful shields. “Will you be needing me, ma’am?” The soldier’s voice came from within, strangely muffled by the suit he wore. Moriah felt nothing strange around the plane, which she supposed was the work of the dark metal wrapped around the stump of her horn.
“No, Captain Wright. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you for the safe flight back.” She turned, gesturing at Moriah. “This is Moriah, our pilot. She’ll be the one flying us.”
The man inside the suit chuckled, turning towards Moriah. “I hope it never comes to that. Still, the documentation is all on the computer. I showed Ms. Haggard how to get into simulator mode.” He reached forward, patting Moriah’s shoulder.
Unlike Sky, Moriah wasn’t the least bit intimidated to be around humans. It felt natural, the place where she belonged. Pity she hadn’t been good enough at anything to earn a spot in that bunker before the Event.
“I can’t even imagine the training it must take to fly that,” Moriah responded, glancing into the cavity of the ship in awe. She had never actually been aboard an HPI aircraft, and was more than a little eager to get a glance inside.
“A human pilot? I don’t want to think about it either!” He laughed again. “You’ve only got to be there in case something screwy happens to the computer. I didn’t touch the controls except to map the route.” He walked down the ramp, past her and towards the empty field. “Your boss gives me too much credit.”
Moriah could see a second aircraft moving in for approach, also keeping frighteningly low. Once it had landed, the captain waved a gloved hand, vanished up a ramp, and the Hummingbird took off again. It must’ve accelerated frighteningly fast, because even with the relatively flat ground it had vanished after less than twenty seconds. “What did he mean, Alex?”
Alex beamed, gesturing for her to follow her inside. “You wanna see? It’s pretty amazing.”
Moriah did. “But are you gonna be alright, Alex? I’m introducing you to the immigrants in…” She glanced down at her watch. “Two hours. Would you rather take a nap or something?”
“Nah.” Alex drew back her hooves, taking a key from around her neck and slipping it into the mechanism. They clicked off, striking the earth with a resonant thud their weight never would’ve suggested. Moriah could almost see the color and energy rush back into her, a faint power flowing up from the earth. It gave its strength freely to its favorite children, if what she had read about earth ponies was true.
Moriah unlocked the restraint on her horn, tossing it down beside the shackles. She took a moment to try and sense the difference. She could feel very little more than before, except perhaps that she wasn’t being slowly strangled by an invisible cold. She tried to ground her hooves, tried to push her mind into the unfocused calm the books described as conducive to sensing thaumic fields. As usual, nothing happened.
“Oh, you get one of these!” Alex reached into her (totally ordinary) saddlebags and drew out a black bracelet like the one she was wearing. She tossed it lightly towards Moriah.
She caught it, turning it over in her hooves. It was thicker than she had first thought, maybe a quarter inch. It had quite a bit of heft, though nothing that would slow down the hooves of a pony. She swung it open, stuck her hoof inside, and clicked it closed. It began to hum, and she held it up to see a curved screen set into the plastic, filling with rapidly cycling text.
“Oh, I should probably warn-” Something stabbed into her leg, though not very deep. It took all her self-restraint not to bash the thing off right then. “It’s registering you as a user. They only gave us two. You’re the pilot, so you’re in.”
Sure enough, after a few more seconds, the bracelet chimed “User Registered” in a synthetic-sounding voice. Alex walked past her, waving her own bracelet on a patch of slightly elevated metal near the ramp. It retracted, closing off the interior of the aircraft. A second wave and it descended for them.
“Pretty neat, right?” She stepped up onto the ramp, hooves clopping with each step. Moriah followed, watching as the onboard lights came on with each step. The ramp actually took them up quite high, through a sloped area with six seats mounted on each side, retracted to keep the floor clear. “You don’t want to know what’s below us.”
“I… what?”
Alex gestured to a manhole-esque opening, a ladder visible through its transparent cover. “Down there. The soviets couldn’t do it, and we couldn’t do it, but we’re doing it now!” Where had all her energy come from? Did this thing have an espresso dispenser she hadn’t seen? Alex hadn’t been wearing the thaumic suppressor for an hour, she had been wearing it for days. Could getting magic back really make that much difference for a pony? “Power of the atom, taking us straight through the sky.”
Moriah took another glance at the hatch, and the radiation hazards printed there. She had to take a deep, deep breath. “This aircraft is… nuclear powered?”
Alex nodded, walking past the hatch towards what had to be the cockpit. “The technical details went over my head. I could repeat them back to you if you want, though! If you think you could make sense of-”
“No. I’ll read it myself. He said the manuals are all on the computer…” She hurried to catch up, stepping down into the slightly lowered cockpit. There was only one seat. As she neared it, she saw a display superimposed on curved plastic, including a projection of what was outside. The HPI never had windows on any of their vehicles. She stepped away again, and the display went dead. “Nice.”
Alex nodded, holding up her bracelet. “It uses these. They had to modify a few to fit our legs, but it actually isn’t that hard since they’re made to be worn over those bulky suits once they’re configured. Did you ever notice that all the HPI’s soldiers wear these things?” She sighed, resting against one of the slightly padded walls. “But nevermind this. I want to know about the new ponies!”
“One question first.” Moriah looked around the cockpit, then down towards her hooves. “Why did they give us a plane? A resource like this has got to be pretty scarce.”
“Oh, it’s not to keep.” Alex nodded, understanding. “They could remotely fly it back if they wanted at any moment. But we’re way more useful if we’re mobile. They’ve got assignments for us. In exchange for our hard work, we get to use this beautiful machine.” She tapped the soft felt with one hoof. “So answer the question, Moriah. What are the new ponies like?”
“Not all of them are ponies,” she responded, scanning the controls. They were not built for a pony, nor did they look like anything a pony had any chance of operating. How many thousands of people had been employed to build an aircraft like this? “The ponies actually come from three separate groups, so far as I can tell. Little cadre of military ponies put the idea of the caravan together. They don’t really seem to have any plans to stick around. Just came to ‘gather intelligence’ on what our bodies are and what they can do. I’m sure they’re eager to learn about what the Equestrians did to us, though I’m not sure if they’ll buy your story without-”
“I’m not going to show ponies the crystal until we can copy it!” Alex interrupted. “It’s fragile. Somebody steps on it or breaks it intentionally, and I don’t have any way to show anypony again. They’ll have to do with the book Princess Luna wrote about the Preservation.” She sighed. Whatever rush of energy returning magic to her had brought seemed to be fading. “What are the other groups?”
“Six ponies all came from the New York City settlement. Didn’t give me any specifics about why they came, just that they felt like they had better chances away from the city now that the world had ended. They brought three trailers, probably intend to live in them. We can get them moved into the park today once Adrian gets up.”
Alex nodded again. “Any others?”
“A handful of refugees they found along the way. Five, I think. I guess they’ve been isolated for a long time, maybe damaged by it. I couldn’t get anything useful out of them except that one of them came down from somewhere back east.”
“Hmm.” Alex looked thoughtful. “You said not all of them were ponies. Did you count which species were which? Ages, sexes, that sort of thing?”
Moriah nodded. “I couldn’t give it as precisely as you. More women than men. A few teenagers, the rest adults. Mostly ponies, but two of them aren’t. Sky called one of them a 'diamond dog', and the other one a griffon. What was the point of the spell making so many different species again? Wouldn’t it have been easier if we had all been one species?”
“I don’t know.” Alex looked down again. “Luna said something about having a balance. Magic moves through the ecosystem just like carbon or water does in ours. Without the right species, the ecosystem doesn’t work right. I don’t know why you need some species but not others. That’s too theoretical for our books.”
“Sounds like one of many mistakes those princesses made.”
“Maybe.” Alex started walking towards the exit, and Moriah had to hurry to catch up. “I’ve thought about how much better it could be. If they hadn’t sent people forward so far in time. If they had warned us of what they were going to do, so we could at least prepare ourselves, say goodbye to our families…” There was real anger there, and Moriah shared it. It was part of why she had remained loyal to Alex, despite all her other failings. At least her heart was in the right place.
“But then I think, as screwed up as this was, at least we’re alive to think it’s screwed up. If Equestria hadn’t interfered, we wouldn’t even be alive to hate them.” She shivered, and her eyes took on a haunted look. “I saw footage, Moriah. A volunteer exposed to a thaumic field… before everything really started. He didn’t die with dignity, Moriah. I wouldn’t wish that death on anyone. I can see how the Equestrians, after seeing that, would’ve felt they had to do something about it. Anyone who would sit by and let suffering like that happen when they had the power to help would be monsters.”
She followed Moriah to her car, scooping up the thaumic suppressors into her saddlebags as she went. Moriah said nothing, considering her words. Alex didn’t seem to expect a reply from her, because she kept going after another few minutes, once she had backed out onto the empty highway.
“Any other news?"
Moriah nodded. "Joseph got another broadcast, really brief just like the last one. Different voice."
"Did you get anywhere close to translating it?"
Moriah shook her head. "Unfortunately not. Joseph is fairly certain they haven't changed the cypher, so it's only a matter of time before he's 'brute forced' the thing. Whatever that means."
"Your guess is as good as mine. I brought a copy in case you wanted to look at it." Moriah removed a scrap of paper from one of her pockets, passing it to her. It read:
kum-b-kb-tul-zgzyz,-hkm-xqqhqpqr-k-min-pq-yqwqz-hkmmq-drvy-vri-mes-tul-dbbqf-wp-tul-f-kh-tul-tul-k-rh-kum-ndcb-bbqw-tul-tul-tul-dy-mes
Alex glanced at the paper once, then passed it back. "I got nothing. How about our friends? How are they doing?”
“How are they doing?” Moriah’s eyebrows went up. “You’ve been gone for three days. How much can really have changed?”
Alex shrugged. “Well, the last of the pregnant cows was set to deliver the day I left, and I know Sky’s been stressed about that. I also know Adrian’s been planning to ask her on a date, something with go-karts and model building… I helped him plan it!” Her weary expression turned proud, though it didn’t stay that way. “Oliver said he’d discovered something amazing about earth pony magic, but he refused to tell me before we could meet in person. Riley, obviously, figured out how to play Minecraft with hooves a week ago, and she really wanted me to see the replica of Alexandria she was working on, including some ‘ideas about things we could build one day.’
“Then there’s you. Joseph’s been telling me you were really close to being able to levitate, that he expected just a few more days before you got it. Not to mention all that work you’ve been doing into designs for a small-scale CHP plant. I’ve seen how much time you put into those books, and on the Kimballnet tracking parts down. Bet you planned on telling me you’d got a working design during the ride back.”
Moriah was stunned. She drove on without speaking for several seconds, before squeaking, “Y-You remember all that?”
Alex nodded. “Not like I do with visual stuff. People aren’t books. But… I guess I do.” She leaned back, and looked for a moment as surprised as Moriah herself. “Guess I never really thought about it.”
Moriah didn’t tell her about any of those things, though she could’ve now that she had been reminded about them. Instead she said something she had been thinking about for a long time, something she had been putting off since forever. “Sorry!”
The younger mare tilted her head to one side. “Sorry?”
Moriah had to struggle to get the words out, but struggle she did. “All those months ago. You reminded me of some things I was trying to forget. I… lost control of my magic. Could’ve killed you. Caused some pretty… long-term damage. I’m sorry.”
She almost couldn’t bear to look at Alex to see her reaction. She did though. She couldn’t not look after how long she’d been putting this off. Alex didn’t look upset. Actually, she was smiling.
What kind of missions could the HPI have anyway? Is everypony simply going to be delivery ponies or something?
No wait, maybe they need help expanding their communications net in case there are other human groups out there.
There we go. 6:04 MDT on July 31, 2015. You won me over, Moriah.
Well
hehe I like Moriah when she isn't being a jerk. It's kinda funny with the way she talked during the others chapters I'd have thought she'd be more vengefully, but she seems really well balanced here.
Ooooo, neat.
Hahaha, and suddenly Alex had transformed into Littlepip, frequent injuries included.
Also neat.
A nuclear powered airplane! That's not neat, that's awesome!
It occurs to me that planning help from the bright minds in the HPI bunker might be very helpful for Alexandria in both the short and long term, assuming that is what we're talking about with those assignments. At the very least, I can't quite imagine they won't be acting helpful towards their main pony settlement contacts.
Oooo, several groups of settlers.
Also awesome.
About time for that apology.
That was an apology long over due Moriah. Particularly considering you've been raging against the Equestrian's for what they did to you. Still, I'm proud of you for actually doing it.
I think it was a mistake glossing over what a magic overdose death looks like.
The poor planning on the Equestrian's part could be far more easily forgiven with a more concrete source for that 10000 year over-reaction. A man melting and screaming in agony from what they consider Friendship made manifest would have been a far more concrete source of that then a 'non-dignified death.'
Because right now, unless the Equestrians are so long-lived that 10000 years is to them what a decade or so is to us, then that is still the type and magnitude of error that picking graphite as a moderator was for the Chernobyl reactor.
Hell, I'd understand a flat thousand since magic/destiny apparently likes that number and it could have been seen as a unfortunate design-flaw not amendable in time, but ten millennial is such a silly number to pick I'm frankly glad the 'humans' are furious at it in-story.
A very overdue apology indeed.
However that conversation and seeing that Alex didn't seem to blame Moriah (anymore?) for turning her younger... it seems to be the final push she needs to stop having her hate/anger/hurt on the forced transformation and broken horn dominate her.
Wait. what? how?
even if she managed to walk around in minecraft, I doubt she would be able to fend of creatures of the night.
though for such a large build she might be using creative mode.
though I am curious to how she's been doing. I think her perspective would be an interesting one.
Aw, Moriah too tsundere for her own good. nice that she's finally said sorry.
6267112 Ten millenia seeming to be like a human decade or so? From Luna's point of view I can believe that if you realize it isn't at an individual level but at a society level (Luna's cited reason for the time displacement was having a society able to accept to new arrivals). Equestria has two benevolent unaging alicorn Princesses to lead them, so that should make Equestrian's society one very stable and resilient.
6267143
Well, that's simple. Don't mine at night.
Also, forgot to comment on my original post because I was rushing off to get to work: Pip-
boysbucks! FoE prequel confirmed. ;)Is no one considering that that the anklets the hp made might able to drug those wearing it, potentially with something lethal if its given the right signal? Or said 'volunteers' get uppity?
6267244 Im sorta seeing it more as a retrofit of human design to ensure that if a person was going to be exposed to the magic field, it would at least ensure a quick painless death, over the screaming horror that is said individuals soul being scooped out by an uncaring universe. And really, this is humanity we are talking about, its best and worst, and with their dependence actually being vital to the pony's and others of this place to help them. Can you not see them packing insurance to in the worst case scenario?
The fact it needs, or was designed to gather blood samples, or at least is capable of monitoring that. Sorta makes me think of also a delivery means. With how back against the wall they are, humanity will do everything it can to survive.
40.media.tumblr.com/f8ce7349c19ab0b60901ac4382c34f85/tumblr_nsc96uXYqi1rsmidfo1_1280.png
She needs a hug stat!!!
A nuclear powered aircraft
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/5/4/617053.gif
That's just plain awesome
And it's about damn time Moirah
"Oh yeah, you're standing on a tiny nuclear reactor" would make me take a deep, deep breath too, Moriah.
Well Happy Birthday to YOU!
The image of Alex tells me that she will do anything to help preserve the human race. Even volunteer for some invasive testing. At least that's what I assume those bandages are for.
6266902 Heh, has anybody ever thanked Alex for doing anything? She does the most out of the whole group and all she gets from most of them is either ignored or complained to because something is inconvenient. Joe definitely has his uses, but his terrible attitude needs a TON of work. My best friend is an I.T. tech for the NAVY. He is a social recluse and has no patience for people who are not as smart as he is but even HE isn't as much of a jerk as Joe is. The guy spends his time playing Pokemon instead of... I don't know... PAYING ATTENTION TO THINGS THAT MIGHT DECIDE IF THE GROUP LIVES OR DIES!?
Alex called him lazy, I say it was a drastic understatement. I'm not selling him short for what he did with backing up files before the internet went completely down and I'm not dismissing what he did to get the satellites working for the group. I am fussing about how he is not motivated to do anything else on his own and he complains bitterly whenever somebody else asks him to do something. He is extremely valuable as an individual, but he makes it difficult for anybody to be around him. He is needed and he knows it, but instead of stepping up and volunteering to help like an adult, he whines and complains and throws around insults like a kindergartner. Would you thank somebody for helping you if you had to all but physically force them to help you? No, you would want to spend as little time around them as possible. Joe doesn't like the way things are, but HE is the root of the issue of why things are so bad for himself. He just needs to grow up, put on some big-boy panties, and stop complaining about having to work when his own life depends on it.
Dammit, somebody beat me to the PipBuck comment...
With this format, all the characters are a lot more likeable because they're not seen through Alex's skewed perspective. Moriah's actually... pretty cool, I guess?
6267275 We ultimately don't know, but i'll reserve the chance to go 'I thought so' if its something underhanded from this. But eh, i just see the worst of humanity coming into play here. Desperation brings out so many of our worst traits.
Moriah... back up the list~
FINALLY, after so freaking long, SO FREAKING LONG, she apologizes, about freaking time.
Although, it is rather out of left field... I don't know, seemed kind of disconnected to the topic at hand.
So then, here we are, the plane is flying, the crystals are under lock and key, and now they have to convince other pony people that a alternative dimension of aliens managed to save them from an out worldly radiation by turning them into ponies and other assorted creatures... well that's going to be fun.
Well, if all else fails, GET IN THE BAG!
Yeah... so then, the edge off her has lifted, and things seem to be getting better, maybe we're just seeing her best moments right now, but still, it's good to see she regrets her previous actions, and that her and Alex share sentiments about the actions that the princesses took being unexpected and usually unneeded.
So then, to the future!
Can't remember if we've seen them properly before, but do Alex's shackles seem to say something in the pigpen cipher that was used in Sunset's magic circle? Really neat little detail, if so.
Very nice to see Moriah's apology too. Alex and Moriah play off each other quite well, I think, and it's good to see that settled.
6267018 Woah, hold your ponies.
I was having fun with the question of in how many ways this untested, unverified, un-debugged spell could go wrong and why this may be so, as usual.
Anyway, I obviously shouldn't have used your post to speculate about the how and why of the spell mechanics. Damn those tempting minefields...
6267112 As for the humans being angry this still goes back to the whole "being turned into weird ass animals > fucking dying in painful, yet magical, agony"
Well, that was a long time coming. Still, at least Moriah finally got it out.
Also, new toy! Well, not really. It's for official HPI business. Still, something very nice for Moriah. No wonder she felt compelled to apologize.
Also also, long-term magic deprivation is not good for little ponies. Good to know.
I am looking forward to Alex's first meeting with the new refugees. That should be quite an experience, especially the first time she demonstrates her eidetic memory.
Awesome chapter, as always.
Well, a Hummingbird tricked out with excellent speakers flying in, playing Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' would certainly make any would be ne'er-do-well's think twice about trying to take ov- WHAT?!? Moriah APOLOGIZED?!?!
{Sits back stunned}.
Okay... so maybe she isn't so bad after all... That was really... dang...
Interesting wording. Were you a candidate?
But you remember them from really close up?
Well, that's settled then
Oh, hi Gaia. Very nice description of the 'recharge' effect.
I really, really liked this chapter. So much character development going on. Delightful! And on a related note, Alex now has every detail of that grisly footage etched into her perfect memory forever...
Last but not least: that picture! This has to be the best and most expressive so far. Would make me want to know the story behind it all by its own.
And vaults, invasive testing and PipBucks.
And pony bondage. *cough*
Perfect chapter is perfect.
6267216 HAHA XD it doesn't matter what time of day you go mining in minecraft. if the place is dark, stuff is gonna spawn. and undground caves tend to be dark before you go through and put torches up.
6268601 Dude. Click the link.
6268869 I've already seen the video. though I hadn't realized there was a link when I had first read that.
6267416 I lawd so hard when i saw big boy panties and was about to ask if it had pictures of strawberries or flowers on it xD
6267209 Oh boy, I may be a little out of my depth here...
With this message several of my theories were blown out of the water.
I've got this strange feeling that Alex is increasingly the pony with the plan. She's juggling all these balls so seamlessly and is tracking all the various threads so well that I can't believe that she's still making things up as she goes along. As angry as she is, I think Moriah is beginning to see her point of view on lots of things.
Now, am I the only one who expected Alex to respond to Moriah's apology by saying: "Oh, My Little Pony, you are already forgiven!" in a way very reminiscent of a certain sun-princess?
Now... I wonder how Alex got hurt like that? That aside, when I first saw the picture, I thought that Alex had somehow obtained a Pip-Buck 3000 because the elbow pad looked like the computer's screen!
I find the fact that Alex can recall info but not understand it interesting. Basically a walking library (of Alexandria), a depositary rather than practitioner. Initially I was worried that the ability would lessen the need for other experts, but this seems like a nice way to avoid that. Now to see if this ability is part of the cutie mark or that secret meeting... Though I guess it could be a function of both.
6271851 Well not in that way, but it has been heavily hinted that Alex is kinda in the position to become a de-facto princess.
Another one of those times where I wait a little while and there are tons of comments to respond to. Let's see about getting this done before tomorrow so I don't drown.
6265205
Oh, I'm sure there are people for whom that is the case. It's hard to tell (Indeed, there's not surefire way to know) whether someone was transformed correctly or due to some error. I imagine figuring that out was a matter of serious soul-searching for Alex last story. We never got to read it, because she was so self-conscious about it she never wrote it down at all. I think she knew (or at least had a very good idea) that her journal might be a historical document someday, and so she didn't want to write about that. Not when future generations might be using it to learn about what life was like right after the Event.
6265250
Not this coming week, but the one following, unfortunately. It's Cloudy Skies next, then Oliver.
6265966
This statement is making numerous assumptions about the spell, assumptions that may or may not be safe. A few of them very much aren't, so let me point those out.
1. The elements of the transformation were explicitly dictated.
It's very clear from the previous story that Equestrians barely understand human physiology. They had a few corpses to study, plus whatever medical data they got over the radio before the HPI's predecessor severed all ties.
Imagine the difficulty of what he Equestrians had to do. They had a few braindead humans, and whatever humans had told them. They still don't understand what makes humans vulnerable to magic. Know anything about the pharmaceutical industry? Humans have excellent understanding of our own bodies, and we have tons of animals we can study that we've evolved beside and have similar chemistry.
Imagine an alien species arrived tomorrow and we had to make a drug to keep them alive on earth, and we couldn't get close to study them without killing them. Most drugs take a decade or more before they're made available to the public. Often that involves computer simulations, then simple animal trials (mice, ect), closer animal trials (pigs, monkeys, ect), then small scale and then large scale human clinical trials.
Now imagine the thing that the aliens who arrive on earth are allergic to is the oxygen in the air, and for some reason we can only use oxygen-based compounds in the drug. This is the impossible situation the Equestrians found themselves in. Frankly, it's a cosmic miracle their spell didn't just kill everyone faster. If you're going with the most likely outcome, that was probably it.
There was no if-then statement in the spell. It did not appear to consider body very much at all. Everyone pretty much comes out in their healthy range, be they young or old. Obviously they weren't able to keep the species the same, such as designing a human form that could survive in magic (The HPI might be able to do that, but Equestria never really stood a chance). Likewise with biological sex.
2. Your future comment (which I'll respond to part of here), along with this one, make the unsafe assumption that gender is perceived the same way in Equestria as it is on earth. Given we're dealing with an alien planet (and indeed, with the evidence in the show, we can safely infer there are important differences).
The spell worked by looking at a person's soul and trying to make the best Equestrian body it could to match. No consideration of their existing body was part of the equation, but for many people I would expect these two factors to intersect. However, because the spell was built by an alien culture, it's entirely possible (and perhaps likely), that traits humans would identify as "male", Equestrians might build into the spell as "female" and vice-versa.
I don't think of the spell as having gender-switches "included" or "excluded." The spell was a desperate, almost hopeless gambit to preserve a neighbor the princesses barely knew, let alone understood. It betrays numerous cultural differences and parts of missing understanding (like the timescale for humans to return, 10,000 years? Ouch!). Granted, there is probably some small minority (statistics I found indicate those who identify as transsexual account for about .3% of the population in most areas). I expect any changses that extend beyond this small minority (we have no indication either Moriah or Alex were, and good evidence Alex was a well-adjusted male who was romantically active), were miss-categorized by the spell on the basis of cultural differences, or just on the difference between a human soul and a pony one.
Such differences even exist on earth, where species evolved together (for instance, the male sex hormone in birds is Estrogen, not Testosterone).
I'm sure the princess would have liked to exclude it if they even suspected it would happen, but I think it's easy to see how it could. Their knowledge of humanity was in its infancy, they're alien being, and the spell's main goal was just a rush to keep humanity alive, and let us sort ourselves out when that was all said and done. I don't think sparing anyone insult every entered into the equation. As much as it would've in an ideal spell. The preservation spell was not ideal.
6266074
The spell didn't consider body much, so I'm sure they'd have all their limbs again. I can't imagine that would be a bad thing. I'm actually kinda surprised nobody's written about it.
6266795
Hah, yeah. But honestly, we're probably better off with as few people tinkering with time as possible.
6266871
I might or might not change the text, but it is important to remember that the illustrations are more to help with the story, not specify the canon of the universe. Likewise, I would expect the text and the illustrations to diverge somewhat. It won't be the end of the world.
6266884
That would be wonderful if she could. Unfortunately, Riley's in the first generation. She's got nobody to look up to and learn that being a changeling is okay. Let's hope that doesn't end with her making being a changeling not okay by going totally off the deep end and giving them a bad name for future generations.
6266902
I wouldn't call this situation equivalent to some nanny-doctor. Oliver's world has very very few people in it. He doesn't live in a world with seven billion people. Further, and more important, a modern "good" doctor wouldn't treat a close personal friend at all, they'd hand them over to someone else because of the conflict of interest. Neither option is available here. Oliver is Adrian's friend, and friends don't let friends get themselves hurt (or killed) if they can do something to help.
6266971
I'm guessing they want them to find and bring things, particularly in areas with lots of ponies. Remember that having ponies nearby presents an extreme danger of exposure for the HPI, even with their armor. They're safest to spend as little time around ponies as possible.
6266973
At least one reader, yay!
6267006
Too short for it's own chapter I guess.
6267007
Moriah has an abrasive personality, but I didn't want to write her outright bad, mean, evil, ect.
6267018
I already addressed most of these points previously, but I'd like to add (since we're talking about show canon here), that there are numerous possible interpretations of the canon besides the one you present here. Namely, that gender-switching is impossible. I actually the episode as conveying the exact opposite message to the one you interpreted. I see the fact that Twilight used the "gender-switch" thing as part of her performance as proof that the idea for the spell exists in the Equestrian consciousness, and it fit in well as a way of impressing Trixie with her power.
Trixie's shock at seeing it can be interpreted in many ways besides "this is impossible." I personally see her reaction as amazement that Twilight would stoop to her level and attack someone's identity the way Trixie herself did in numerous ways during the episode. Not "this magic is impossible", so much as "I can't believe she would do this."
Further, we've seen numerous transformations that are much more complex than changing someone's biological sex. Twilight made her parents into plants, has made her friends into breezies (the latter of which was controlled, willful, and seemed to take little effort on her part). Biologically the differences here are MUCH GREATER in both cases than keeping species the same and changing sex.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my interpretation is any more or less true than yours. Except that since this is my story...
Within the context of the story, it is certain the Equestrians have the ability to alter someone's sex. Look no further than the magical might necessary to transform the entire planet into ponies, gryphons, ect. Transforming someone from male to female of the same species is MUCH EASIER than making them into a magical horse, or even a stranger creature (such as a changing) with an entirely alien biology.
So yes, there's one interpretation of the show canon that makes TG-esque spells impossible. There are others (the majority if we judge purely based on the number of stories that include it in some way), where it is quite possible. Your interpretation is valid, but unless you got Meghan McCarthy or one of the other writers to say "yeah, that's exactly what we meant, it's not inherrently more correct or more true than what other fans speculate. To me, it's far less about what Trixie thinks (which could be seen in many ways) and more about the other things we've seen magic do (such as move planets, change species and age, travel through time, ect).
I find it unlikely that sex-changing magic has been very throughly researched in Equestria (as you say, gender-dysphoria is quite rare). What happened with the preservation spell was not gender reassignment, though. It was manufacturing a totally new body, with no regard for what the previous one was. Fundamentally, if we accept they have to give humans pony bodies, we also by necessity accept they have the magic to make new bodies, and there is no fundamental force preventing that magic from creating bodies that are a different gender from the original.
6267075
Better late than never!
6267112
We will see it. By the end, I mean. I didn't want to use up my opportunity just having Alex describe it, though. I think it's something you've got to see to appreciate. Well, see in scene form anyway, instead of dialogue.
6267143
I'm sure she'd be playing creative if she's trying to recreate the town. I have to imagine that having to survive every day would take away some of the thrill of playing survival. Not sure how she's doing it, though. Maybe a comically-large keyboard, or a joystick? Joystick sounds easier, if it's one with multi-axis...
6267209
It, huh? X.x
6267236
It's possible, but probably not likely. The HPI probably don't even know how most drugs even work on ponies, much less have reason to try and use them unwillingly.
6267409
Yep, that's almost certainly what happened to her. Last story Alex said she would die for humanity without hesitation. I think we're just seeing more evidence that's true.
6267455
I really like it. Writing this way is more fun too. More work, granted, but... worth it. Getting to see the characters more the way they see themselves, instead of purely through a biased narrator.
6270229
Nope, no pandering there! I didn't even have any way of knowing there was anyone who liked codes in the readership when I threw in the number station. I only learned that from the comments after I included the code.
6271851
Hah, I wish! I doubt it's anywhere near as advanced as a pip-boy, though.
6273065
Yeah, I did want to make sure it was something that wouldn't break the drama of the storyk and a character who can understand anything instantly would do that. I think this is a good middle ground.
6275200
Yeah, it's a good compromise. Though I could imagine it getting really annoying for Alex once people get cell phones back online.
"Alex, what is that little thing on the end of shoelaces called?"
"It's an aglet. But seriously stop using me as a replacement Siri!"
"But I grew up in the age of Google! I needs my instant gratification trivia!"
On a side note, too bad the technology to use Ham Radios to create an internet connection is pretty rare nowadays, it would really help distribution of those books. Same thing with the Outernet Project.
I think you meant to put "your".
I hate to be a Grammar Nazi but screw it, I gonna be a Grammar Nazi. That sentence is a double negative and it is not proper grammar. please fix it.
Wait.... that bracelet thing..... is that a pipbuck??? from the Fallout Equestria fanfic?????? cuz the picture and the description seems so much like a pipbuck XD
@starscribe
hum ok diamond dog and now a griffin. how will they react to a dragon after all they are out there some ware.
I'm working on a story myself, but my writing is nowhere near as good as yours, Starscribe.
6279662
Correction, the sentence is of the form of double negative that is grammatically correct. Reference. Reference Two.
As referenced in the above links, double negatives in this form have a connotation of caution implied through its use. Hope that clarifies things. :)
Thank you, Alex, oh my God.
Honestly, I'd be shocked if they didn't try to contact people generally, but were out of time.
Also yay! Moriah character growth!