Group Precipitation

by FanOfMostEverything

Beyond the Stars, by Speckle

It wasn't that Abstract Cognition's house was small, far from it. Heck, even her bedroom was spacious enough for her to fly around without tumbling over the foot of her bed.

"...and there's this girl who has her own blog and she had some awesome theories of her own, one of them being that everyone has two Hero Titles as a result of the flux between Aspects..."

She even had a whiteboard in her room.

An honest to goodness whiteboard.

"...Like, say, if you were a Prince of Heart as your primary, you could also be seen as a Sylph of Mind, because the absence of emotional baggage gives you a better grasp on the logical functions of the mind.”

But the fact that Abby was currently buzzing around her person like a hummingbird high on sugar wasn't helping Twilight in terms of note-taking.

“That's—”

“Crazy complicated, I know, though she sorta inspired me to include a Double Hero Title for all of you," Abby continued to orbit the purple girl with a big, excited grin on her face, "Which then evolved into the singular Master Title for all seven of you, because you all honestly fit the bill for the term.”

Twilight blushed, looking away from the cluttered whiteboard. “I... wouldn't say that, exactly.”

It was only then that Abby stopped flying in circles, hovering motionless in midair, only moving her head to level the flattest look to ever be leveled by anyone at Twilight. “Out of all the humans on Earth, in this city, Magic itself chose you to be its personal avatar to discuss its very existence with the girl who is now endowed with cosmic power and quite literally holding together our known universe to keep it from evaporating. How does that not qualify either of you to have a Master Title?”

Well, when she put it like that... “... Um—”

“Heck, Jade 'Witch of Space' Harley needed help from her Denizen Echidna and a Fenestrated Wall to take her Session with her to the Alphaverse in order to win her team's Game," Arms now akimbo, Abby managed to aim one at Twilight, finger pointed for emphasis, "You and Sunset basically hacked your Game to win and got away with it.”

Needless to say, despite her research into the online 'comic' that had inspired the most recent magic system into existence, Twilight had no idea what Abby was talking about.

“.... Er....”

“You dive headfirst into the unknown with the intent to learn as much as you can for the greater good of science, ergo Seer of Void. But you've also been burdened by the knowledge you learn and, despite the aforementioned hacking, feel as though you're lagging behind despite the leaps in progress you’ve made, thus a Mage of Light," Abby's frustration evaporated as though a switch had been flipped, her giddiness returning to her features. “You embody the Knowledge Classes and the two Aspects associated with Understanding, so I figured you deserved a Title that captured the essence of both. Now, I admit, for a while I got tied up with Horsey's rule of single-syllable designations—”

“Wait, what?”

“—but then I figured that by combining Titles, that's basically creating a double-syllable system," Abby zoomed right up to Twilight, her grin reaching Pinkie Proportions. "That's why, in your chapter, I refer to you as the Scholar of Stars. Because that's what sages of old used to study for guidance, the stars.”

The glow that seemed to resonate deep within Abby's light purple eyes didn't unnerve Twilight in and of itself. The fact that both glows looked to be shaped like a pair of stylized suns, however, did. A pair of stylized suns that looked an awful lot like one of the cutouts that'd been Scotch-taped to Abby's thesis paper.

"That's...um..."

"And it totally has a thematic connection to your icon,” Zipping backwards to a respectable distance, Abby resumed her excited orbiting, “It's the perfect synergy!”

For the umpteenth time since she agreed for this little study session, Twilight Sparkle didn't know whether or not to be impressed by the other girl's drive or afraid.

Author's Note:

"Let me tell you about Homestuck" is as much a threat as an offer.

Comments

[Ri2]

...If I read Homestuck, would I understand this or just be more confused?

[prism heart]

9718875
I haven't read it but I believe the correct answer to your question is 'yes'. Take that as you will.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

I'm not following this, and I'm afraid of getting invested.

[Herald of Opera]

9718875
Anyone who claims to understand Homestuck is lying, up to and including Andrew Hussie himself.

[Jphyper]

This story is becoming too bogged down in overly-complicated details, becoming less of a story and more of an essay on the canon of the story. That's boring. Why do all these elemental magical aspects matter enough to devote entire chapters to them?

I'm not ready to give up on this story just yet, as the parts about Sunset Shimmer and the others of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep are still really good. It's all that other stuff that you're getting too carried away with. I'm not a fan of the Ravnica High stuff, either, but that I consider to be mostly a matter of personal preference and can usually overlook.

[FanOfMostEverything]

9719029
Remember, this isn't a single coherent story. It's a collection of ficlets designed to explore and expand the Oversaturated World, hence the Anthology tag.

Basically, it's going to be a mixed bag of narrative, world building, character exploration, people crowbarring in yet more crossovers over my feeble protests, and so forth. You really shouldn't give up on it because of what people come up with in a given week, since it's by no means an indication of what could be coming up.

Heck, you're welcome to be the change you want to see in the system. It's called Group Precipitation because it's a group participation project. As indicated by the credits in the chapter titles, I didn't actually write either of these week's entries. If you want some Rainboom and/or Shadowbolt shenanigans, feel free to offer some in the forum thread linked on the main story page.

[Bugsydor]

"Let me tell you about Homestuck" is as much a threat as an offer.

Isn't it just.

Dangit, now I'm gonna have to figure out what my secondary classpect is...

[A.P.O.N.I.]

9719068

Basically, it's going to be a mixed bag of narrative, world building,

Aye, there's the rub. Every story that engages in worldbuilding that we can't follow, that requires previous knowledge of a pre-existing IP, is another story that drives a wedge between the writers and the readers. You say that these are a collection of ficlets. Which title is the through line for the Oversaturated world, if not this? These do not come across as side-stories to the main line. Indeed, every other story comes across as a side story to this anthology.

[Neece]

9719376
I personally consider all those non-cannon until proven otherwise. It helps a lot.

[FanOfMostEverything]

9719376

These do not come across as side-stories to the main line. Indeed, every other story comes across as a side story to this anthology.

I'm not sure what led you to that conclusion, but it's definitely not the one I meant for people to reach. Have you read this thing's description?

[A.P.O.N.I.]

9720117
I realize the intent of this anthology. But how many of the stories of this world had their start in tales from this very anthology? Sure the bar that the adventurers start in has no importance to their story, but when adventure after adventure starts in the same bar, people start going to that bar to see what adventure starts there next. And before you know it, you've got a Vulgar Unicorn, or a Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. The bar has become the focus of the story.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

9721237
9720117
This is the backbone of Oversaturation, even more than the actual story Oversaturation... I wish it was more accessible to new readers.

[A.P.O.N.I.]

9729718
9720117
The other thing is that once you surrender moderation of the canonicity, are you still an a position to make definitive statements about the story's place in the canon?

[Crack-Fic Casey]

9729733
The absolute last thing I think we should do is limit what can be posted here, because that kind of open-ended freedom is why this AU is so big. If we had to do something different, maybe we could move or copy the plot-relevant chapters to a shorter anthology?

[A.P.O.N.I.]

9729736
I certainly wasn't arguing for posting limitations. I was saying that if, by analogue, in the city of Peopleopolis, you designate one corner as the place where people can freely congregate, regardless of the rules in the rest of the city, then that's where people will congregate. And if that corner is where most people hang out, and if that is where all the tourists go, then how truly can you say, "That's not the real Peopleopolis."

Also, is it me, or has the descriptive blurb for this anthology been significantly changed since we started having this discussion?

[FanOfMostEverything]

9729747
It's just you. I have not touched the blurb since you first raised this issue.