Octavia smiled softly to herself as she made her way through Maverick Hunter HQ. Everything seemed to be going exactly as it needed to be, and her 'nudges' had been quite effective. Admittedly, Zero and Colonel still fought each other at every possible opportunity, but they did it in the training sim with scores instead of out in the field with possibly lethal consequences. The only unnerving part of it was how creative they were getting with the duels. The training sim was designed to simulate any possible battle environment and situation, but Octavia didn't see why they had to be so imaginative to whack each other with swords.
Admittedly, a good portion of the female Hunters and Navigators were very appreciative of the samurai beach duel scenario they'd concocted, where Zero and Colonel were clad only in flip-flops and fundoshis. Octavia didn't really see the point.
Sigma hadn't manifested since his defeat at the starport, so what Maverick activity that had manifested had been easily dealt with. The cells were full, but were slowly emptying as the Mavericks were rehabilitated or decommissioned as each case required.
All in all, Octavia was quite happy with the present...but the future concerned her. As such, like she always did with such concerns, she went to a special door in the HQ, one she had arranged with Dr. Ciel - rest her soul - to have installed just for her, along with the equipment behind it. The door itself was oddly marked, as it had pictures instead of words. A fish, a teacup, and a train. Approaching the door, she sighed theatrically, rolling her eyes to the heavens.
"Passcode accepted," the computer spoke. "Welcome, Octavia." The door irised open for her, and she stepped inside.
Cabinets lined the walls, each marked with the names of people, Reploids, places, and other obscure details. Octavia smiled as she looked over them. Each cabinet held in depth psychological profiles of those she knew, labeled by name and time period. This was where she planned her future actions to guide events in ways she felt they needed to go. This is where she planned her guilt trips.
Or, as the door said, her Gill-T Trips.
Of course, she didn't make these plans alone. In the back was a computer with access to...an unusual network. It didn't register on any network scans from any other computer detail, but the information provided was always reliable...even if the one providing it was incredibly strange. Approaching the computer, Octavia placed her hooves on the console.
The screen lit up, and a familiar symbol appeared. The Greek letter Pi, with an emoji grin under it, a symbol referred to in old math texts as Pi-D, a teaching aid for remembering the circumference of a circle.(1) Unlike the symbol in the texts, though, this one appeared bright pink. Although the one behind the symbol had given no name, Octavia had come to refer to them as 'Pink Pi-D'.
"Grettings-" "Octave-" "-ya!" Pink Pi-D greeted, using various sound clips spliced together from who knew where to speak, as usual.
"Greetings, Pi-D," Octavia replied. "As we planned, it went off without a hitch. The projected 'Repliforce War' never occurred. As an unexpected bonus, Colonel and Zero worked out their own differences, so that particular guilt trip won't be necessary."
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" "You are amazing!"
"I still don't know how you manage to predict possible future events so accurately," Octavia muttered.
"...are you ever going to give me a more specific answer for how you do things?" Octavia groaned.
Octavia sighed, shaking her head. "So...what does the future hold?"
"Death..." "Destruction..." "Battle..." "Drama..." "Boobies!"
Octavia blinked a bit. "Umm..."
"One of these things is not like the others!"
"So the future's not looking so good," Octavia murmured. "Is there any way I can work to change that course?"
"All-" "Idiot-" "-ball!" "-s-" "-have dropped."
"Damn," Octavia muttered. "So we're coming up on a real serious challenge, then?"
"Yes yes yes yes yes!"
Octavia sighed forlornly. "A pity. I guess there won't be any more need for guilt trips then. They've been...fun."
"Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!" As this sound clip played, more images of the Pink Pi-D appeared on the screen.
Octavia couldn't suppress her chuckle. "Yes, I suppose there is such a thing as too much fun," she replied. "Still...I hope we can whether the storm..."
"Built to last! The future's in the past!"
Octavia smiled. "Yes...Father and Uncle Zero will save the day somehow. That's what they do."
Since Pink Pi-D was not forthcoming with anything more to say, Octavia turned to leave. Once her hooves left the console, it dimmed and went dark. "I'd best work on my combat training, then," she muttered. "I'm not going to be left behind, and I'm not going to be a burden. If a big fight's coming our way, then I'm going to be there to stand my ground."
Leaving the chamber and sealing it behind her, she made her way towards the training sim. "I just hope Colonel and Uncle Zero aren't still monopolizing the systems," she grumbled. "I'd think Iris at least would have dragged Uncle Zero away for something..."
Arriving at the sim, Octavia couldn't help but groan. Iris was in the sim, standing atop a tall tower and giving off playful 'screams of terror'. Down below, Zero was dressed up as a hero straight out of a video game, with Colonel dressed as a rather excessive 'villain'. "Am I the only sane one here?" she groaned.
"Give him the chair!" Alia shouted out from the audience, leading to Zero smashing a chair over Colonel's head.
"Thank you for such prompt confirmation," Octavia sighed, turning to find a different sim to train in. "Come, Classic."
(1) Dedicated to one of my favorite math teachers, who used this to teach us.
Okay, here's a fun game you can try, find the Pinkie Pie in each story, I'm pretty sure there's at least one in each.
(No, the one that appears when they return doesn't count.)
Why, hello, obscure Gravity Falls reference!
So Pinkie will be the driving force behind the formation of the My Little Pwny's team, why am I not surprised. With how much Pinkie is crossing over with all the rest of the stories I am left to wonder how she keeps getting all the information about how all the universes where ment to go without all of her friends interference? Still nice chapter and I would love ve to see CiCi and Octavia work together to Gide the future into a better outcome.
6841579
Telltale Sam and Max games, actually. It's from the C.O.P.S.' song.
Now that's just spooky with the Sam and Max reference. I was LITERLLY listening to that song while reading this.
Jeez...it almost like pinkie joined pony S.H.I.E.L.D....Ohhh god did Tats already write a Pinkie story? Please tell me she didn't get the power cosmic...
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
6841601 I thought this was what you were going for.
6841643
No. She got demigod and demi-titan powers from Greece.
6841673
Never watched Gravity Falls. Don't plan on doing so.
Well, that was amusing.
6841679 *spit takes Coca-Cola*
WHY?!
Admittedly, the first 3/4 of season one is completely filler. But then they completely fleshed out the whole fucking lore in the final quarter, and season two!
...OK, I probably shouldn't ask this, but the title (and resulting horde of plotbunnies) begs the question: Will we be seeing a variant of the Sigma Virus that will work like Reploid Ponyfication?
Oh, that not-so-subtle Pinkie cameo Not to mention the last part
6841725 The Chapter title's a portmanteau of the words Pony and Pontification, which means lecturing in a way.
6841601 'Is it true that there is a Pinkie Pie in each of yor stories?
6841643 yes he did it is in the mature section. because she is the daughter of the God of War.
She scares the Greek pantheon.
... Right... 'nudges'... I like how that's phrased.
If I had to deal with that kind of thing, I'd start acting like a ronin. Not the masterless samurai like Zero sort of was in his series, but just a guy who who realizes he can't really do much, so he just sits in his one-room apartment eating ramen, hoping things'll get better when he knows they never would, and just keep on keeping on. Maybe some girl will fall from the sky and he makes sense of his life, but we all know he never will. Life isn't an anime, after all, it's just a fanfiction where I'm rooting for the bad guy even though I'm not supposed to.
Waaait... you mean, all those times when she changed things by saying things that would undoubtedly change things for the lamer, it was because of a computer by a "Pink Pi-D"?... Thank you very much, now I know who to blame OTHER than you (The character who already appeared, not the application that was a big part of your past).
You know... I'm starting to question things right now. I'll admit that doing things that change life for the better is pretty cool... but what does it matter if it's not done in an entertaining way? Sure, it's kind of funny, but it doesn't quite capture the moment very well. It's like Undertale in a way. A person can manage to make it to Undyne without killing anyone or making bad decisions and be entertained by how she over the top she gets in how upset by how the cake is a lie or whatever. Another person manages to do an almost No Mercy run and you're entertained by what she says in a more negative way. Then someone decides to do their own interpretation, forgets what made the event so cool in the first place, and all you're left with is a couple jokes without exploring the scope of those jokes. Seeing all the stuff between the events is entertaining, but it doesn't feel EARNED. It's like comparing a fanfiction where Ash is automatically improved from the get-go and wrecks everyone in his path as opposed to a fanfiction where Ash LEARNS to become a better trainer, while still feeling like this is the Ash Ketchum we're familiar instead of some OC with the same name.
tl;dr The things in-between important events are cool, and they're great at expanding characters (depending on the personality/drive of the pony), but the events themselves don't seem as important or cool as they COULD be, you know?
6841807
...dunno.
6841725
6841795
I was using pontification as "to think aloud about something at length". Or, in terms of stories, to give exposition.
6841928
Don't worry. I'm pretty sure you'll like how I handle the future events.
I'm also pretty sure you'll love what I have planned for Sigma in the rest of the story. His presence no longer ends with X5 as was originally planned.
6841939 Wait, you mean the good guys are actually going to feel EMOTIONS when they start doing stuff? I hope so. Who knows, maybe it's time I gave Cadence a second chance. I mean, hey, if you decided to do something that was ridiculous, it doesn't mean it impacts the story as a whole, it just means you slipped into a trend. Who knows maybe I'll "Tatsurou" the event in question to lighten the mood.
6841844 And I was wondering about the end of Chryssie's pwny-verse story...jeez I'd hate to see what happens as a result if Celly gets a story...especially if she and luna end up in Boktai...
Um... so aside from everyone being F*CKING INSANE!!!
Was that Pinkie Pie? Where is she in all of this?
"All idiot ball s have dropped"
I'm lost. Care to explain, anyone?
6842091
'Holding an idiot ball' refers to when a character specifically acts like an idiot - or far stupider than normal - for the sake of a specific plot point or story arc. For example, the plot calls for something specific to not be revealed until a specific point, so no character - no matter how smart they are - will see it until then.
A lot of 'how it should have ended' stuff specifically involves giving the characters involved their usual level of intelligence and perception, allowing them to resolve the situation much faster. This is referred to as 'dropping the idiot ball'.
Basically, "All the idiot balls have been dropped" means that there aren't any future endeavors that can resolved by making sure the main characters don't act stupid.
6841931 ... Fair enough.
6842103 So MLP: FiM is holding an idiot ball long enough for a full episode... except for episode 100 where all background characters have no idiot balls to hold as they prep for Cranky's wedding.
Lesson Zero and X4 are the best examples, I guess. Twilight or Colonel could avoid that one dumb decision. Twilight explains her problem: no harm done. Colonel... your story.
"Idiot ball" makes sense now. Thanks!
6841575 There is one story where that is insultingly easy. She shows up in the first chapter.
Very well put. there are actually a couple of good life lessons in that last bit, too!
Really, this system was obviously based on Pinkie Pie. Don't sweat it. some things don't need to be explained in detail.
The secret is to know when to stop.
6841931 Ah, the other meaning
Wow.... so that's how she got so good at Guilt Trips.
6841844 6841643 And they love her cupcakes.
6841939 Apparently that was the plan but Capcom decided to milk the series for all they could.
6842103 Awesome explanation.
6842103 Basically, it's about how most if not all episodes of MLP are actually written they way they are...because no sapient creature alive could be as dumb as the ponies on that show at times...
Pretty sure that the answer to that is yes, unless plotting with a Pink Pi-D counts as insane, that is.
When you think about it: Pi even looks like π
Ha nice one!
The Circle song, the catchiest song ever created!
...Oh my Celestia, Pinkie's gone AI.
Okay so bad stuff is actually going to happen.
6842103
This is probably the best explanation of that phrase I've ever heard. Kudos.
so a manifestation of pinkie has been the reason octavia has been so good at guilt slinging? HOW DID I MISS THAT the first read through?