28 It's Showtime!
Lyra Heartstrings - 1st of Midsummer 15 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: The Remnant, Equis #-0?????
Right. So… The clearing is totally safe, just me, my family, Sky, some sort of small aircraft off at the far end of the clearing. No obvious danger here.
I looked up to the sky, squinting for a second, trusting BB and Shy to cover the ground while I checked for-
“No inbound aircraft… Or visible meteorites,” I mumbled to myself.
So far, so safe. But on the other hand-
<Sorry, I can’t jury rig your helmet's active sonar into ground penatrating radar,> Cheer.ly appologised.
<Aww, damnnit…> I grumbled.
I heard Sky take a deep breath, and then stand up. “Right. Okay. This is a thing,” he grumbled. “Makes sense, this has been the year of absolutely no breaks from work.”
“Huh?” BB asked in confusion as I looked back down.
“Hello, new people the mysterious group of unknown ponies from the future have decided to try to throw at the problem, I am Sky Trigger,” Sky greeted irritably. “I live at the place your cohorts have co-opted into a base of operations. It’s three hundred kilometers south by south east from here. I assume you’ve already gotten the magical upgrades to bullshit your way through physics. They don't help as much as you think they will, see the three month long siege by an undead monarch and company, that I just had to live through.
“Said seige, by the way, being the reason I’m not giving you a lift. I am enjoying the first bucking weekend alone with my wife I’ve managed to get in nearly a year. A year which is probably the last one because your asshole teammates spend most of their time fucking around instead of trying to stop the doomsday cult working to break some super demon out of Tartarus. I’m not doing jack shit for the next three days. So scram! That way. Go!”
The crackling fire and rustling leaves filled the air for the next good long minute of awkward silence before I cleared my throat held up the VM, pointed to it and informed, “That…seriously sounds like it sucks ass. Sorry. Um, we’re not involved in that though. Like, at all. We've just been bouncing from universe to universe like a pingpong ball in a clothes dryer looking for the version of you who built this thing so I can give it back. Cuz you know, sort of like a dropped wallet.”
“Oh,” Sky said awkwardly.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Uhh... DO OVER!” Sky suddenly exclaimed as he slapped a hoof onto the watch on his opposite wrist.
“This model of the Utility Watch does not contain an Entropic Reversal Generator, boss,” Sai’s voice said from Sky’s wrist.
“BUCK!” Sky cursed. “Um… Pretend none of this just happened?”
I bit my lip to try and prevent myself from laughing my ass off. “Sure… Not sure everyone shares that opinion though.”
Bonbon nodded. “Personally, I’d really like to know what an Entropic Reversal Generator is?”
“Everypony! Look! There’s a little fuzzy caterpillar! He’s the most pretty vermilion you’ve ever seen!” Fluttershy called excitedly from halfway across the clearing.
“Is that Fluttershy?” Pinkie’s voice called from off towards the landed aircraft. “I thought you didn’t like three-”
“We have accidental guests, hon!” Sky interrupted, ears drooping in embarrassment. “Oh and mare who looks creepily like the sister I never had, an ERG is a very very handy device which puts everything except for you back exactly the way it was a certain number of seconds before you used it. You’d think I’d have one in all my watches… But, um… Power draw is a bitch and a half.”
I smiled. From the sounds of things we had our pony!
“So then, you can build ridiculously small devices with incredibly large power supplies! Awesome! Did you make this one?” I asked, slipping the VM off.
As I slid the leather case off my wrist, Sai beeped. “I’m having problems connecting to the SkyNet. The very last bit of the encryption code won’t validate. I think my hardware damage is getting worse. Even if this is the wrong boss, well, I really need repair.”
“That me sounds like it’s in pain boss,” Sky’s Sai said with actual emotion in the voice. “Think you can give him a few touch ups as a favor to me?”
Sky nodded. “Sure thing. Even if you didn’t ask… I mean, this implies a whole bunch of stuff about multiversal mechanics. I don't want to be at this for a long time though. This is still a possible last vacation.”
I nodded. “That’s fine. I understand, and I appreciate it.”
Sky took the VM in one hoof and began to inspect the case, nodding to himself. “Yeah, this is like something I would design… Before the incident with the Time Lawyers at least.”
“Wait,” BB and I asked together. “Time Lawyers?”
Sky nodded. “Yeah, it’s stupid, but it’s a thing. Some assholes in an ancient human civilization pass laws saying copywrite never expires, then later someone invented time travel, and BOOM, Time Lawyers are a thing. And they SUCK!
“Pro Tip: Always put at least seven small differences into anything historic or ancient you want to replicate. Anywho let’s pop this thing open and check her out… Other Sai, is it okay to open this with you on?”
I really, really wanted to call bullshit on that, but well… Yeah, that’s something humans would do. Especially human law firms.
“I believe so,” my Sai answered.
“Sorry… Our legal system kinda sucks,” I apologised.
As Sky began to pop the VM open, this universe's Pinkie trotted up, smiling happily and giving a happy wave to everyone. The first thing I noticed was she was dressed in a laytex bodysuit. Colored and patterned to resemble herself.
Shit… So… Yeah. We really interrupted something here.
“Hi little snakeie-girl! I’m Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie greeted, giving Bon a friendly snoot boop.
Bon nodded. “I ‘member.”
Pinkie head tilted for a moment, the split second of confusion passing almost faster than you could see it happen. “Oh! Sorry, I guess I’m out of the loop, that’s my fault though. I don’t like meetings. Good to see you again!” Pinkie said before turning to Fluttershy and calling. “Hi Shy! And hi um… Sky’s sister?”
Bonbon smiled. “Actually, I’m an android. Sky and I are unrelated. Though as he designed all of my components technically, I could be considered his daughter.”
Pinkie winced. “Oof… I hope not. A not-metal foal is heavy enough!” She said before beaming BB a smile over her own joke.
I couldn’t help but giggle at it myself.
Pinkie turned to me finally. “And hi Lyra!”
I felt a wave of surprise ripple over my body. “Wait, we’ve met?”
Pinkie shook her head. “No, but green and white hair in a short and straight style, lyre symbol on your pants, gold eyes, slightly over-eager medium pitched voice, smell like you’ve been digging through ancient underground places. You’re obviously a Lyra from an alternate dimension where everypony’s a human! Watch out for our Lyra, she might want your hands.”
“That’s a fair assessment,” I admitted. “And I met another me before. Don’t worry. Er, question… Not to kinkshame or anything, but why a bodysuit of yourself?”
“And why are you in it?” BB asked curiously.
Pinkie happily nodded towards Sky. “He likes them, my Winry Rockbell one is all sweaty, and I already had five of me in my party supply closet, so that was the easy part!”
Sky looked up from the VM’s guts, noticing Pinkie for the first time and groaning. “Hon… Why?”
“Because I have five best friends and we have parties. Duh!” Pinkie exclaimed, giving Sky a odd look.
“No! Why didn’t you change?” Sky groaned.
“Because it’s annoying to get in and out of these, and messy! The powder gets everywhere,” she grumbled.
“I built a vacuum bot for that…” He protested. “We have unexpected company!”
“Well if they don’t like it, tough!” Pinkie huffed. “It’s more reason to leave soon, so I get my Triggie all to myself!”
I blushed a little. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your evening.”
Pinkie nod nodded. “I know. It’s okay. Besides, I’m sure Sky can have you on your way quick, right?”
Sky nodded. “Yeah, probably. Just going to see if I can fix this thing’s hardware up a bit. It’s pretty beat. Could you get my toolbox from the Skyranger, Ponk?”
Pinkie nodded and trotted off, quickly returning with a small red toolbox.
“Wait, you can do this with hand tools?” I asked curiously.
“No,” Sky said seriously. “But I can do it with hoof tools.”
Pinkie facehooved. “We’re supposed to have a foal before you make those kinds of jokes!”
“Well, technically, I do. She’s over there,” Sky argued.
“But that would mean you can only technically make dad jokes,” Pinkie pouted.
“Right, and that was technically a dad joke,” Sky teased back with a playful wink.
Pinkie gave Sky a teasing glare in return for the wink. “Alright… But I’m watching you!” She said, giving him a quick hug and looking over his shoulder at his work.
Oh my god. They were an adorable couple! I hope Shy and I were like this after a few years.
“Right,” Sky said suddenly, turning to look over at me. “Well, if I did make this, then it’s from my future. Because I can tell you right off the bat that I’m only a third of the way through actually designing this chip right here.”
I stepped close enough to get a view of the VM. The chip Sky pointed to was one of the smaller ones, and personally, I didn’t see anything special about it. It just looked like your standard black nanoprocessor.
“What’s so special about it?” I asked curiously.
“Trade secret, sorry. But I can recognise it, and I haven't made any yet. But that doesn't mean I didn’t make this. Time travel is a thing… Mmm, no but this bit on the other hoof,” Sky hummed and looked at a few different parts. “Yeah half of this thing is changeling logic. The battery was definitely made by a mage. Looks like a backup battery I’d use for my lab, but shrunk and mass reduced.
“And you can see this whole string of processors, little tiny ones, all hardware and firmware, energy in, one job done, no software. No more than what’s needed, no less than what’s required. That’s how changelings build things. I didn’t make this. Not alone. I had help.”
“Does that mean you can fix it?” I asked, fearing the worst.
“Not completely, no. But I can fix up a few of the connections and… And… And who the flying fuck fixed this spell matrix!?” Sky exclaimed in anger shock.
“Uh, I did,” I admitted hesitantly.
“With what!? A hammer and chisel?” Sky asked, still in shock.
“N-no, I had to replace the original. I laser cut wafers of crystal and epoxied them together,” I admitted.
“I… You… And this thing opened a portal? Well shit. You are the single most lucky person I have ever met!” Sky exclaimed. “This thing is not grounded, the emitters are misaligned, and the spell matrix is missing a proper beam termination point. But, for literally being made of glue and substandard crystal, the fact this didn’t explode and kill you is phenomenal!”
“Hey! I did the best I could with the twenty second century tech at my disposal!” I objected.
Sky winced and gave the VM an apologetic look. “Shit, I’m sorry that happened to you, Sai.”
“Eh, it’s fine. She’s nice, and a bit handy. If something of a derp. Not as bad as your little brother though,” Sai mused.
Sky tilted his head. “I don’t have a little brother.”
“What is today’s date?” Sai asked.
“Um,” Sky glanced down at his watch. “it’s the first of Midsummer, fifteenth year. Era of Harmony, if that's useful.”
“Do you know a colt named Azur Lily?” Sai asked.
“Nope,” Sky answered.
“I think I might!” Pinkie exclaimed eagerly, before her ears drooped sadly, “No no… The spelling is different. Darn!”
<H-how can she even tell…> Cheer.ly pleaded.
<SHe’s making a joke, obviously,> I sighed.
<No! She looked sincere!> Cheer.ly objected.
I decided not to argue with myself.
“This is the wrong universe,” Sai sighed. “I apologize for the failed calculations, or perhaps the map was incorrect.”
Sky triple blinked. “You have a map of the multiverse?”
“That’s right,” Sai answered. “I stole it from a you who is a total bitch. She’s probably the reason my network card is broken.”
“One, your card is fine. I’m looking at it right now,” Sky said casually. “Two, is there seriously a girl version of me somewhere out there? Three, just how many universes are there?”
I nodded, deciding to answer for Sai. “Yeah there’s a girl you. She’s… A bit of a bitch. Steals inventions for other versions of herself. Also I was told there are infinite universes, but there are enough ‘root folders’ to require decimal values to identify them. Every universe that exists are variations on one of those whole numbered universes. And in turn those ‘roots’ are the first big deviations of a ‘Prime’ universe that spawned all similar universes.”
Sky nodded. “Yeah, we have a bit of multiverse theory here. It’s cool to know that there are lots of offshoots. If I were free to just science, I’d look into why there weren't more.”
“Still… My network card must be broken,” Sai objected. “Given the encryption type it’s impossible for all of the passcode to align save for the final bit.”
Sky frowned for a moment, looking thoughtful. “Hmm… Fair point. The passcode is four terrabits. That’s a bit long for that sort of a coincidence considering a sample size of say, a hundred and random generation.”
“Excuse me,” I asked, feeling my jaw slacken slightly. “Did you just say that your password.. Is four fucking terabits!?”
“Yeah, I know. Bit short really. But meh, not like anyone uses tech based communications besides me,” Sky rambled as he poked about at the VM’s guts. “Hey, Sai, mind giving me that map?”
“I would love to, but I’m not on the network,” Sai snarked.
Sky rolled his eyes. “Duh. I’ll plug you in first.”
“He plugs in?” I asked with a small frown.
“Yeah, see, here’s the jack,” Sky said, pointing to a small rectangular slot. “There just isn’t a hole for it in the case. Pinkie, can you run a cable from the Skyranger, please?”
“Sure thing Triggie!” Pinkie informed snapping a salute.
“I-I thought that was a headphone connector. Huh… Well I suppose it makes sense to have a data-link port on your prototype,” I mused, feeling satisfied with-
“Yep! Especially for keeping it charged while you're working with it,” Sky added.
“W-what?” I demanded.
“It’s a USB mini port. Data plus power connection, with a mana to electrical converter right here. You could plug this baby into any wall outlet in Equestria and get a full charge,” Sky said happily. “Whoever designed this was definitely thinking about-”
“IT PLUGS IN!?” I demanded. “Sai! Why the fuck did you not tell me that you could be plugged in?!”
“Because you didn’t have a charger, obviously,” Sai answered. “So that wasn’t a solution, now was it?”
“I could have got one!” I griped.
“Oh… Um… Yeah. Sorry,” Sai apologised, sounding serious.
Sky winced. “Oh man… Yeah you're definitely having some problems.”
“Sheesh, come on other me! You’re supposed to be smarter than this,” Sky’s Sai complained.
“I’m just the Core version,” my Sai grumbled in response.
“Here you go!” Pinkie said, handing a small white cable to Sky as she returned.
“W-wait a moment,” BB asked in shock. “I- I can see the name being the same, but that’s an actual USB cable!”
I squinted to get a better look at the small white cable’s connector.
<Holy crap! She’s right!> Cheer.ly exclaimed. <USB is a human invention, a relic of the early twenty first century.>
I opened my mouth to add to Bonbon’s question, but Pinkie cut me off. “Of course it is. Universal Serial Bus. Universal. Everypony everywhere uses it!”
“U-USB is actually universal?” I stammered.
Sky and pinkie nodded. “Yup,” Sky said as he plugged the VM in, a small green light winking on, “Annnd you’re charging up! There we go. Can you access the public directory?”
“Yes,” Sai answered. “Here you are.”
“Thanks!” Sky exclaimed eagerly.
“So let me get this straight…” I sighed. “Two hundred and fifty million years-”
"Two hundred and fifty three. Don't forget the three, three's are important," Sky said adamantly.
I rolled my eyes. “Alright, two hundred and fifty three million years after the fall of man, the two things that survive it are stupid copyright laws, and the USB cable.”
Pinkie nod noded. “Also Hostess brand orange flavored cupcakes,” she added, completely seriously.
Sky nodded sagely in response.
“Okay then,” I said, shaking my head.
Sky tapped his hoof for a few seconds as I sat in silent contemplation of the oddities of this universe. Who was still manufacturing Hostess snacks? They had gone out of business in my universe. What happened differently here? Who distributed them to stores? Was Hostess still in business? One company passed down from human to pony as a sacred duty to continue producing a sugary snack cake?
Why the orange flavored cupcake? Why not the Twinkie? Wasn’t that supposed to be the, survives the end of the world food? Did Hostess change their branding of post-human civilization foods?
“Sai, can you show me that map yet?” Sky asked his watch impatiently.
“Yes Boss,” the AI answered, “but aren't you fixing-”
“There’s nothing here to fix that I can replace in the field,” Sky sighed. “But, if you could give this guy a backup onto a chip, I’ll get that passed off to Lyra here. That way you, er Lyra, can at least give the data this Core’s gathered to his maker.”
I winced. “He’s not broke that badly, is he?”
“Ehhh… I wouldn’t be surprised if he failed within a few more days. Should be good for a bit more use,” Sky said as the map flashed to life as a hologram in front of him.
Fifteen small orbs of light, each a different color, and each one but a single solid color. They drifted in irregular paths all around a common center, like planets orbiting a star, but in a full three dimensional movement, rather than along a flattish plane. At any given moment, any given orb was touching, grazing along the side of, or passing clean through one of its ‘companions’.
But that centerpoint was where it got interesting. That orb was highlighted by a simple blue circle, in such a way as to easily indicate ‘you are here’. In addition to that, every few seconds the orb vanished, flickering like a dying flashlight. Every time it vanished, the blue circle vanished as well, but the orbiting balls were not left without a centerpoint. No, when the center vanished, a different colored orb took its place.
“Woah!” Sky and I said together.
“Why’s the center one blinking?” Bonbon asked, seemingly unimpressed by this picture of the fucking multiverse.
So much made sense now! The random hops, were random, but the universe one could encounter had an order… Of sorts. It could be predict-
“Holy shit that bitch lied to me,” I realized in an instant. “She could have given me this and I could have just waited for the right moment and gone anywhere I liked.”
“Did you annoy her?” Pinkie asked curiously. “If she’s anything like my Triggie, if you annoy her, she spites you.”
“She didn’t like mom a lot,” Bon said shyly.
“Everypony! Really?” Sky demanded incredulously. “This map has us at the center of the multiverse! We’re the motherbucking Prime! This is a huge physics breakthrough and you’re complaining about something like that!?”
I gave Sky a small glare. Yes, the science was awesome, but realizing that I’d been lied to was also pretty fucking enraging.
“That’s well and good, but why is it blinking?” BB repeated. “Is the universe vanishing for a few seconds and then coming back? I really hope not.”
“If it is,” Sky mused. “Then everything is going back just the way it was. So that’s not a problem. But, Occam’s Razor, the simplest answer is probably the correct one. And since we’d need to invent a whole new field of physics to explain a whole universe turning off and on aga- Sai, that is, Lyra’s Sai… How many bits were you off by again?”
“Just one. The last one in the sequence,” Sai replied.
I frowned, wondering what he was on to. Physics had never been my strong suit and I didn’t even know the base science here.
“Right,” Sky said to himself. “That’s highly improbable. Nay impossible, even though nothing really is… And if we are the Prime-”
Sky suddenly went wide eyed with terror. “That’s what Grogar want’s with our world!” He exclaimed. “The Prime influences all of the other universes, and that means if-”
“If you can control this universe, you can control the other ones too,” I finished gravely. “Maybe you should fill me in on what’s happening here. I ca-”
Sky shook his head firmly. “No! No, that won't help. There’s a whole bunch of people with future knowledge who've already drug people from all across the timeline and other universes into this and personally I think they just made things different but equally as bad as they would have been.
“Seriously who solves a problem by creating a time loop and hoping it resolves in a way which favor...s…. You- Oh! Oh yes!”
Sky quickly folded up the VM, and hit one of the buttons, bringing the holographic interface up and quickly punching a few buttons. A few seconds later, he nodded and broke out into a huge grin.
“Collapse the loop at the beginning, it’s perfect! This timelines corrupted, rotten, diseased. So do what any doctor would do. Cut it out! But then, no… YES! Replace it with a suitable donor! But it would have to be one that was matching, or at least close enough. Like family. Wait! The other flashing one! OH YES! It’s already been done. I already fixed it. But haven’t, not yet. Yes yes yes! Haha!” Sky rambled franticly.
“Uh,” I said intelligently, unable to formulate a response.
“Grab your friends! I’m extrapolating the data here, trying to manually program a jump. If this opens a portal, then at some point in the future, I pull that off, and save the bucking world… Also if I’m correct, the Sky you’re looking for exists there, not here.” Sky explained.
“Are you sure that will work?” I asked fearfully. “That sounds extremely unsafe!”
“Ahahaha, I have no idea!” Sky exclaimed in a manic like glee.
Well that didn’t sound very reassuring...
“Pinkie, do the thing!” Sky ordered.
Pinkie nodded and gently tapped the VM. “Hey, be nice and work for Triggie, okay?”
“Thanks, Pinkie,” Sky thanked. “Now I’m sure.”
“I’m serious! Gather everyone around. This targeting system is almost toast, It won't be able to remember programmed coordinates for very long,” Sky warned.
Realizing how serious the situation was, I quickly nodded and spun on my heel to face Bon, who had just coiled up into a pile.
“Bon! Grab onto mommy’s waist,” I instructed. “BB, grab hold, too. Fluttershy! Come quick!”
I saw Fluttershy’s ears perk as I called her name. The buttery pegasus quickly ran over, almost tripping over a log.
“What? What is it?” She asked urgently. “Is anypony hurt?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Grab on. This Sky’s buying us a ticket to the right universe… If it exists.”
“It has to,” Sai said adamantly. “If it didn’t, how do I exist?”
“It’s possible that you were built anywhere else and this is all just coincidence,” Sky said quickly. “But if this portal opens, then you’re home free. I think I’ve worked out how it’s targeting goes… You should show up close to the USS Phoenix if this- There!”
Sky quickly snapped the VM’s case shut and tossed me the leather cuff, and the device separately.
“Hit it!” He said urgently.
I caught the device, almost dropping it as it tried to bounce off my palm. The second I had the device stable I hit the button.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then a few sparks of violet energy drifted down from a spot in the air in front of us. Then some more sparks, bigger, brighter. Finally a full shower of them, and then with a rippling sizzle and a pop from the VM’s casing, a portal opened up, this one MUCH more stable looking than any I had seen before.
“YES!” Sky practically squeed. “It exists! I just need to finish this loop out! Sai, get to work on calculating the changes needed, I’ll handle working out how to buck with their time loop. Pinkie, the moment they vanish, I’m in the best mood of my goddamn life and you’re going to share it!”
“This had better be it…” Sai warned. “Because the spell matrix just died.”
“Fuck,” I exclaimed.
Not wanting to waste time, I reached out and touched the portal’s face. Unlike every other time, there was no sharp yank. Instead it felt like I was simply floating upwards out of a pool of water. A gentle, simple tug forwards.
So that’s what it felt like to use an unbroken portal device… Or um, a properly programmed portal device.
Maybe that streak of bad luck had finally run out! Maybe now everything would-
The portal spat us out onto icy desert sands. A sentence which would be paradoxical if the world wasn’t lit by the pale purplish orange of pre-dawn. Anyone who’d ever been in one knew deserts were cold as hell at night. But this felt, colder than that.
I had just enough time to stand up and spot a sandy hill off to my right a few miles or so away across the sand dunes before Sai eagerly exclaimed. “SkyNet access acquired! This is i-”
Sai was cut off mid sentence by a series of three loud beeps and a crackle of radio static. I had just enough time to wonder if he broke completely before a voice crackled over the speaker.
“Captain Skriit to all hooves, condition blue, repeat, condition blue. Civilians are to move to secure areas. Military forces are to move as instructed. Airwaves are for disaster management purposes until further notice,” the voice said in the steely iron tone of a seasoned commander who had just been warned of some truly serious shit.
“Ohhhhhh fuck,” BB and I cursed together.
“What’s wrong? What’s a condition blue?” Fluttershy asked fearfully, looking around the sands.
“I don’t know, we used a different system,” I admitted. “But that Captain is definitely ready to deal with something big.”
Hello horrible luck. Thanks for the break last hop. That was nice of you.
“In old sci-fi shows I like, Blue Alert usually means an environmental hazard. Or the ship is landing,” BB mused.
Shy winced. “Oh my! These are the badlands, which means it’s probably a flash flood or a big storm… We need to find shelt-”
“-Sorry about that,” Sai apologised. “Emergency frequency broadcasts override normal func-”
Sai’s voice vanished in a second series of three beeps and puff of static. This time a mare’s voice came on the radio.
“Disaster Management channels are now open sir!” She informed.
“Everyone quiet! We’d better listen,” I insisted.
“Excellent,” the Captain from before continued. “All Emergency Responders, we have two tasks to deal with today. First and foremost, the extra heavy rainfall Dodge Junction ordered flooded a few aquifers we previously did not know about. They were made of clay walled pockets in a cliffside. They’ve burst, and now we have a flash flood on the way.
“Scouts report we have thirty minutes before the flood hits. We are talking about more water than the Badlands have seen in… Since they became badlands. It’s fine on the hard packed earth to the north, but if that much water seeps into the sand around the hive… I don’t think i need to explain how bad the structural issues will be as the hull resettles.
“Commander Jirr, take Field Army Alpha, and dig any channels needed to keep that water off us. Move out!”
“Aye Captain!” A male voice answered immediately.
“On to problem two. Which is far more immediate. The floodwaters have driven a few tatzelwurms our way. The Regulars have most of them already moving in a direction which will miss our hive… But there’s a big bull in the bunch. It wasn’t scared into changing direction. We just pissed him right he buck off and… Yes, Sky?”
“You’re saying we have wormsign?” Sky’s voice asked eagerly.
“This isn’t a joke, Sky!” The Captain rebuked, “If that worm impacts the hull, we will lose a few decks! It would fill up an entire replicator bay!”
“So then, we have wormsign the likes of which even Faust has never seen?” A female voice asked.
The captain groaned loudly as the sound of two hooves smacking together came over the radio. “Lieutenant, do not encourage your brother!” The captain ordered.
“Will all due respect, Captain, we’ve trained for this day,” Sky objected. “Honestly, I’m more worried about the flooding. Not sure there’s enough time to dig big enough channels.”
“If that’s how you feel, why don’t you try taking care of the tatzelwurm yourself? It’s ten minutes out due directly north west,” the captain ask-ordered.
“Sure thing, But I assume I’ll have more backup than my sis here. Right?” Sky asked.
“Naturally,” the Captain confirmed. “Commander Essk, get our Pegasi in the air and have them try to scare the beast off with thunder and lightning. If that fails, kill it at all costs. It cannot impact the hull. Oh and be sure to give Sky room to work. At least for a few minutes. Move out! We don't have much time.”
I took a deep breath as the radio went silent. “This-” I managed to say before Bon yelped in fright.
“The floor is moving!” She exclaimed pointing behind us franticly.
I spun to look. A literal hill of sand rolled across the dunes, like a tumor that had broken loose from the body and was rolling around just under the skin. The terrifying mound left a visible trough in it’s wake as it sped towards us like a freight train.
“Seems about right,” I said with a grim nod. “Hey, Sai, is that hill Sky’s place?”
“Yes,” he answered. “By the way, I’m the full version of myself now. I’ve let Sky know you’re here. He wants to talk. I hope you can do that while running.”
“Yeah probably, but…” I glanced back at the advancing mountain of sand. “Yeah no. We’ve got to get there fast but running too slow. Shy, BB, carry bon, we’re flying!”
Bon squirmed on the sand. “But I don’t like flying…”
I knelt down to get as close to eye level as I could, and gently turned her head to look at the no longer that distant mound of sand.
“Hon, that is a big underground monster, and it wants to eat you,” I said firmly.
Bon eeped and coiled up into a small ball.
“So we need to fly, okay?” I added.
“Flying is good!” Bon decided.
BB and Shy quickly picked up the rather terrified Bon, taking to the air as swiftly as they could manage. Seconds later the air was filled with a loud droning buzzing, like a million ancient aircraft were flying over- Oh. Shit…
The sky was filled with changelings, a good smattering of pegasi amongst them. It looked like ‘Field Army’ ment ‘a fuckton’, or more specificly, at least eight thousand. Yeah, assuming they could dig like bugs, that would probably be more than enough to divert flood waters.
I unfolded my wings, flapping to gain altitude in a pretty shitty take off. As fun as flying was, I hadn’t exactly had much of a chance to get good at it yet. Still, being able to get off the ground and away from the fucking underground death monster is good.
“Sai, go ahead and put me through now,” I said as I started to fly towards the hill as fast as I possibly could.
“You’ve been on,” Sky’s voice replied. “D-do you seriously have a foal with you?”
Oh. Oops…
“Yeah, I know, not ideal. She followed me, long story,” I explained poorly.
“We don't really have time for long stories, but just to clarify… You’re a human?” Sky asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“And you’re from another dimension, coming here to return some of my tech?” He asked.
“Also yes,” I replied. “So um, can you give us any safe place to go? There’s a really big sand worm or whatever on our asses.”
Sky snorted. “Oh please, they’re not that big. One good blast from a medium cannon should-”
“Uh, Sky… It’s in sensor range now,” a mare said worriedly. “Cap wasn’t shitting us. It’s at least a kilometer long.”
“Bullshit!” Sky exclaimed.
“Look for yourself,” she said urgently.
“Oh. Well… Shit. The one time Cap decides not to exaggerate, and instead understates it...” Sky groaned.
I took a deep breath and looked back for a second. We weren't really managing to gain any ground on the worm, in fact, I think it was still getting closer… It’s rolling mass of displaced sand looked to be moving a little faster.
“So uh, I don’t think we can make it to the hill. How high can these things reach out of the ground?” I asked urgently.
“Are you flying!?” Sky sputtered.
“Yeah, why?” I asked with a frown.
How was that a bad thing?
“LAND! Land now before the pegasi squads start to-”
A brilliant blue bolt of lightning exploded just in front of me. Followed by a second to the left, and then suddenly I was in a forest of lightning bolts. The smell of burnt sand and ozone filled my nose in the same way rotting meat instantly filled a room.
I didn’t even have a curse that came to mind. All I had was pure terror.
I fell to instinct, doing my best to dodge the artillery barrage of electrical arcs. My entire mind focused on the impossible task of not even clipping a single one.
“A little lightning isn’t going to scare off a worm this big!” The mare exclaimed.
“Sai, is she still alive?” Sky asked urgently.
“Yes, and I have her location triangulated,” the AI answered.
“Ayna, power up hanger three, and get your own rig powered up too. I want you able to drop in for backup,” Sky ordered as I was nearly fried by three separate bolts.
I honestly had no idea how I was even paying attention to their conversation in this maelstrom of pure fucking chaos.
“On it!” Ayna exclaimed.
I spotted BB and Shy. They still had Bon and were faring oddly better than I was. As if the motherfuckers throwing lightning saw them and were not- Oh… Right… Bigger ‘target’ They could probably see them, but not me. Fuck.
“Sky,” The Captain's voice called. “I’m reading power diversions to hanger three-”
“Fuck you, I’m using it!” Sky interrupted.
“But-” The captain began.
“No! Fuck you! It actually IS as big as you claimed! Pony-portable weapons won't scratch it. Given it’s size and thus age, magic won't even fucking effect it. All we got is pure physical force to use, and this thing is huge! I’m using the right tool for this job,” Sky exclaimed.
“Launching that thing from the hull will-”
“Ayna and I got the launch mechanism working right. I won't break shit this time,” Sky objected. “Look, I didn’t get to use it for Chrysalis Two: Electric Bugaloo, or when Ponyville got attacked a bit later, or when those griffons decided to attack brother’s wedding, or even when Twilight’s nightmare animated that massive timberwolf! I’m using it now, because it’s the right tool for the job, the sheer weight and size will draw this fuck’s attention, and it’s been collecting dust for three fucking years!”
I dove low as a bolt sizzled downwards at a slanted angle. I literally felt the heat of the bolt charr a line of paint off my wings. Damn that felt weird! And also almost scared the piss out of me.
“... Fine, but only because the alternative is the hive is destroyed,” the captain sighed.
“Ayna, matter displacer and teleporter charged?” Sky asked
“Hit it!” Ayna announced followed by a warning. “Everyone outside and in the air, ascend to a minimum safe altitude of one hundred meters.”
A bolt slammed squarely into my back, throwing me out of the sky in the same way a massive hand would have slapped me straight into the ground. I hit the sand, skidding along for a few feet face first into a dune. Everything on my front half hurt like hell, but my back felt okay. I guess my jacket was decent at protecting me from pegasi-lightning.
Knowing I didn’t have time to lay down and let the pain go away, I pushed myself to my feet, getting ready to sprint, or take off. I couldn’t really decide which one to do.
The hill in front of me exploded in a series of small blue flashes, as if a dozen lightning bolts struck the same place at the same time and left behind a double helix vapor trail. I threw one hand up in front of my eyes, blinded by the light for a split second. When I put my hand down, there was Sky, standing atop the dune and for whatever reason dressed in a double-breasted black suit, white shirt, and black tie with a single white stripe.
<... I may be loopy from that hit, but I swear I know that suit,> Cheer.ly mused.
Now that she mentioned it that was a vaguely familiar look. Maybe the general businessman sort of-
Sky raised his right arm up, sleeve pulling back to reveal a watch. “Big Sai,” he announced. “It’s showtime!”
I had just enough time to think, ‘Oh right! The suit’s from that old show Bonbon made me watch,’ before the ground shook hard enough for me to loose my footing in the loose sand.
Seconds later a massive metal fist erupted from the ground just beneath Sky, rising into the air a short distance before I felt a jolt as well as what had to be a mech pushed itself up from the sand. A second jolt, and the movement stopped, accompanied by the faint and distant squee from Bonbon.
I watched as Sky hopped off the fist, landing next to me with a clang as the mech’s neck slid up to reveal a glass bubble encased cockpit. Sky, loosened his tie, wings flapping as she hopped into the cockpit, sat down in the single seat and nodded to a second behind him.
“You coming in or what?” He asked.
He didn’t need to ask me twice. Lightning and sandworm out there, mecha in here. Even a two year old could do that math.
I quickly scrambled into the cockpit, almost tripping over the uneven floor and masses of cables as I made my way to the small passenger's spot just behind the pilot’s seat. Right as I got settled, the neck lowered back into place, sealing off the cockpit, but providing a window to see ahead. And showed the single most massive creature I had ever seen in my life burst up from the sand like something out of a horror movie.
It definitely was a kilometer long, and I didn’t know exactly how long that was, but when this thing looked to be at least two city blocks long, yeah, apply a big unit to its length. It’s three way snapping jaws dripped sand like the buckets of impossibly huge backhoes. Three tentacle like tongues lashed out, failing like the limbs of an angry squid.
Sky winced. “Ooo, yep, that’s a territory defending response. He’s gotta go.”
“You think this mech can take that thing?” I asked incredulously.
Sky nodded. “Yep! He’s as screen accurate as Time Lawyers will allow. Now I’ve waited three years for this, so if you don’t mind...”
A pair of curved arms slid down, allowing joysticks to slide out into Sky’s reach. At the same time a trio of oval shaped monitors slide up wards, flashing to life with a green and black text scrolling across with the message, ‘Cast in the name of Luna, ye not guilty.’
Sky reached down to the floor, picking up a pair of boots with mechanical attachments, which revealed themselves to be hand-like robotic manipulators as he slid them onto his forelegs.
“The one problem with replicating tech from fantasy fiction… It’s never designed with hooves in mind, heh,” he chuckled.
<I like this version!> Cheer.ly announced.
The worm reared up to a height equivalent to a fucking skyscraper, and roared. It actually roared. Holy shit! Pants nearly darkened!
<Oh calm down, it’s only a few meters taller than this thing,> Cheer.ly chided.
“Big Sai, and Action!” Sky announced with a mixture of glee and determination.
To my amusement, the command actually began to pipe some music in over the cockpit’s speakers. Then with a slow, lumbering lurch the entire mech began to walk forwards. It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t graceful. But even from inside the cockpit you could feel the raw power in each and every step.
The mech stomped forward towards the worm, the worm lashed out with it’s entire upper body like a whip, Sky twisted the joysticks and the mech’s forearms swung upwards, blocking both our view out the window. And with a loud crunch that pushed us backwards, blocked the worm’s strike.
The worm pulled itself back to flail at us again, this time, Sky stepped in, throwing a punch at the base of the worm’s raised neck. The first hit with a sound like a bat smacking into wet concrete. The worm roared again, pulling it’s body backwards, ripping itself off of the massive steel fist that embedded itself in its flesh with a wet ripping sound.
The worm’s tongues lashed out, scraping across the mech with the distinct sound of metal being ground away.
“Come on, you can do better than that,” Sky taunted, stepping forward and landing another heavy punch, this one solidly in the worm’s upraised neck.
As the fist buried itself into the colossal creature, it arched forwards, slamming it’s mouth down over the mech’s head, engulfing the cockpit and who knew how much else of the body.
“Oh dear sweet physics no! This thing has lazer eyes, right!?” I asked, more than a little panicked.
Sky turned around, using the gloves to raise a finger to his lips and shush me be before turning back to face out the window.
“Hey, the least you could do is buy me dinner first...” The pegasus quipped, a quick flick of the controls causing the mech to quickly raise both arms, lifting the worms’ jaws off of itself with a creak of strained hydraulics, then throw the worm away from us.
“Good… Good,” I breathed in relief.
The worm hissed angrily as it coiled its body up, quickly spitting it’s tongues at us, the appendages coiling around the mech like loops of chain, binding the arms to it’s sides.
“HEY! No tongue!” Sky yelled in anger. “I Pinkie Promised nopony else gets tongue!”
I felt the mech tip sideways as the worm began to try and topple us over. Assuming the impact would kill me if I flew across the cockpit I latched onto the back of the chair, putting all of my strength into hold onto the seat just as the worm reared it’s head back, pulling us both upside down and into the air.
“It’s okay, artificial gravity. You won't fall. Though you do feel the current orientation,” Sky promised before turning back to the controls.
“Fat lot of good that will do if this thing eats us!” I objected.
Sure enough, the worm opened it’s jaws wide. Yep, it was set to try and swallow us, and that gaping maw had a lot of small cutting, grinding, and wiggling tentacle like blades at the back of it’s throat…
“Yeah, don’t know about you, but this is easily the second worst date I’ve ever been on,” Sky snarked.
Hoping the snark ment this thing could do more than just punch, I decided to trust Sky. After all, if it did eat us, presumably, we could try to cut our way out. Anything that big had to digest slowly.
Oh. Maybe he wanted it to eat us so he could kill it that wa-
Sky gave the mech’s foot pedals a few taps, kicking the legs to make physics do it’s thing and rotate us in mid air. The now twisted tongues wavered, wobbled, then toppled unable to keep us upright in the new position, dropping us back to the ground. The mech hit the sand sideways, quickly standing back up without Sky having to do a thing.
The moment we were standing upright, Sky gave both sticks a big push, the sticks seeming to have more than a little resistance to them. The mech responded by throwing its arms open wide, snapping the worms tongues off at several points.
The worm roared in pain as it recoiled back, a trail of green blood painted onto the sand as it moved.
Sky grinned, and walked the mech forward towards the pained worm. “Well this has been fun and all,” he said to the monster, “but unfortunately for you, I’m married. So…”
Using the thumb of his gloves, Sky flicked a cap up on the right control stick and pressed the button which had been hidden beneath it. I felt the entire mech lurch as a small explosion seemed to come from the right arm.
<Oh yeah! The punchy thing,> Cheer.ly mused. <I always wondered how the piston translated its energy into a shockwave like->
Sky pulled the stick all the way back as far as it would go. The mech responded by winding up a massive right cross. Then, he slammed the stick forward as fast as he could while yelling, “BYE BYE, WORMIE!”, as the giant fist plowed directly into the worm just below its head.
The punch continued as it raised the creature up into the air, Sky hitting the button as second time as the punch reached the end of its ark. The primed piston slammed forward releasing a giant pressurized shock wave from around the fist. The worm’s body exploded at the impact site, its pink flesh rupturing like an apple under a sledge hammer, the punch literally decapitating it.
<-that.> Cheer.ly finished. <Um… I… I really want to see this thing’s blue prints!>
As the remaining bits fell to the ground, the screen lit up once more to show a black and white image of a female changeling wearing a neutral expression. It took a bit of squinting but I recognised her as Ayna. She looked a bit less…out of it than her counterpart.
“It’s not moving from where I’m looking at it… But you’re closer. Is it dead?” She asked.
Sky squinted out the window for a moment then nodded. “Yeah, kinda overkill on my part but it was fun. Send out a cleanup crew to collect any resources we need off it,” he said with a happy sigh.
“Already on it,” Ayna replied before the screen flicked off.
“Mmmm…” Sky moaned happily. “That was better than sex! But uhh, don’t tell my wife I said that.”
“Umm…” I mused, not really having anything to say to that.
Sky turned around in his seat to face me. “So, I’m Sky Trigger, USS Phoenix's Chief Engineer. And you are?”
It suddenly occurred to me that I could be in this universe for some time, and I was talking to someone who I really, really did not want to fail a first impression with.
And that he was also a big of a nerd as Bonbon.
“Uhh, R. Lyra Heartstrings?” I said, hoping I made the right reference.
Sky broke out into a huge grin. “HA! I like you already. Right. Let’s grab your friends, park this thing and then, I don’t know, grab some lunch while you explain why you're here, and also how?”
“What about the flash flood?” I asked with a frown.
“Three thousand changelings can dig one hell of a trench in half an hour. I’m sure we’re fine,” Sky dismissed.
I mulled it over for a moment then nodded. “Lunch sounds great, actually. But shouldn’t it be breakfast? The sun’s just coming up.”
Sky shook his head. “It’s actually like, just before noon. Celestia’s birthday was yesterday, she’s probably sleeping off the hangover. Come on, let’s give your friends their first mech ride!”
“Er, fair warning, my sister might actually die from fangirling if she’s allowed to come in here,” I warned.
Sky laughed. “Heh, I like making new friends.”
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I could talk about all the references and allusions we crammed in. Or how I rewrote some Sky lines. Or how I literally wrote the last part and Meep rewrote it to her format. But in the end, only one thing needs to be said...
IT'S SHOWTIME!
7462702 Too bad we can't embed music in the chapter to have it play when a line is read...
They can't be any worse than Ninja Lawyer Assassins. They like to tie you up in red tape, both legally and literally.
i38.photobucket.com/albums/e108/bombercom/Lawyer%20Female_zpswfrqwnrh.jpg
I dub the worm Muad'Dib.
7462740
You just won 40 awesome points.
7462754
Aw yeah, that's like four or five Cards Against Humanity games right there.
And with this chapter, this story officially reached over 200k! *pulls out party cannon and pulls the trigger, scattering confettii and glitter everywhere.* Congratulations!
Hehe Poor Sky. You silly stallion you.
Yep that is Pinkie alright. Our silly little mare. Always with the crazy outfits.
I agree cute as 'pie' heh hehheh.
and I sure hope you two are Lyra. 
Awwww WE WERE SO CLOSE!
Woah, dodged quite the bullet there Lyra! You must have lady luck on your side. In one case at least...
Oh colt, hilarious.
Well, I would say those are a few good things to survive. ^.^
nuh uh uh, now don't start that! It always acts like a jinx!
Hmmm so many questions, so many possible stories to hear...
LOVED this chapter! And sorry I didn't reply/recact to more parts, think I might have sprained my arm at work or something (as my whole right arm and lower part of my thumb(can't think of the word right now) are in pain and since that is my dominant writing hand yeah....
this little changeling can't write as much as she wants to.
7462857
Wooo! 30K left to go for the minimum total :D
He's honestly just a colt that got bigger and learned how to adult when others are looking >>
XD See that Mr. Zel? You have a Challenger for puns!
Human magic, actualy. Humans are slightly more fortunate than any other species in the same circumstances would be. Not much, but enough to make the difference in those little chances.
She could have got one at any given store... or just asked to barrow somepony's cable for charging whatever enchanted item they use.
Well, I would say those are a few good things to survive. ^.^
The irony gods, they always have an ear out for you >>
And perhaps I shall write them!
Owch! Real quick, get a ziploc bag, fill it with about 3 cups of water and add in 1/4th cup of salt, mix it up and freeze it. While it's freezing take a sock and stuff some uncooked rice into it and tie it off. Nuke the rice sock till it's warm and let it rest on your arm for a while, then put the homemade icepack onto your arm once the heat pad is cool. Should help the sprain.
7462889
*cheers* indeed! You can do it!
I know how that is, I feel the same. Heh I am SUCH a filly still a lot of the time.
Let the challenge commence
!
Hmm that works too, And hey, if even a small margin helps take advantage of it!
If only she had realized it. *le sigh*
Indeed they are! So many phrases they listen for and then make things go crazy for you.
I hope you will, even if they are just one-shots/shorts.
Oh I have a gel heating and cooling thing I just popped into the freezer, (forgot about it until just now actually lol) so got to wait an hour at least for it to get cold enough. And I has no salt really, nor rice (silly mouse got into my bag and I had to throw it away.
and we haven't caught the little miscreant yet.) But did take some ibuprofen and it has helped a little bit at least. Took the edge off until I can get my gel pad out of the freezer.
If I were Sky I'd jut smacked the time lawyers into next tuesday.. Your goverment is gone, your country is gone.. I don;t care if you can time travel your laws have no meaning here. I'd say smack them into the moon or sun but certain other parties might object. Otherwise i can seem certain entities pushing for it
7462907
And his sis is just a changebug of the same notions.
Quite
Twilight Sparkle and the Terrifying Timber
That's good!
THe poor lil meese have to eat too
I always leave some breadcrumbs nad rice grains out in a lil pile by the mantance room door. That way the mice go there for shelter from the literal deadly cold and get to not-die too.
7462927 The first, sure. The second, also yes. But eventually, you get tired of the infinite line of vat grown lawyers and agree to some reasonable demands.
7462933
*nods* exactly! Who needs to grow up, when you can just have bigger and better 'toys' as your 'body' gets bigger eh?
I'd read it. ^.^
Indeed, hopefully it will help!
Oh I agree, and would leave stuff out for them if it wouldn't bring in the ants as well. (My basement, always attracting those little critters...) that and it leaves its poo all over my stuff, which is not healthy for me. Though its not cold or anything here, not even 'too' hot. Not sure why the little one moved in this time of year, plenty of stuff outside for it right now.
7462951
Like a goldfish, a child's toys grow larger in preportion to that child's size...
One nice thing about Alaska. Our ants are itty bitty. And your common every day beatles eat them, but not your stuff. SO we dont got to worry about ants.
7462956
*nods* Exactly! The bigger our 'bowl' the bigger we can grow.
I wish ours were, and the last batch that came in were also 'stink ants' and made the house smell like rotten coconut, bleh! Don't see a ton of beetles, but a TON of spiders, big fat ones too. Not any black widows, but a BIG spider is still a BIG spider.
7462970 We have these tiny little beetles, smaller than a dime but a lil bit. They are basically black with a lil amber strip across the shell horizontally. You'll see a few around your house, but never in your food. It's interesting.
7462983
Hmm sound like some cool little beetles. Only beetle like things we have are a brown-black, sometimes with an orange stripe on them. But yeah they never go after our food. We more often find them dead on the floor than anything else.
7462988 I usualy see them struggling to climb mount pants-kaykay-left-in-the-bathroomon-the-floor. A preportianly massive climb for such a small creature.
7462999
Indeed, that would be quite the climb! For us if we do see them alive, they are trying to climb the stairs to the front door, possibly. (I guess they enter from somewhere down here then want to go upstairs? idk...)
Holy Crap, this chapter went right into craziness didn't it. Bloody hilarious though. A very nice Dune reference, Time Lawyers, Hostess still somehow existing, this chapter had everything!
Sorry, but this chapter just sorta broke the last bits of the story immersion to me. I thank you for the ride so far, but this is where I get off. I wish this the best of finishing.
Sounds an awful lot like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNeikvoqQ-s
On a side note, when I saw the name "Big Sai", at first I thought of the silver robot from this, but it eventually became clear that you're probably referencing something completely different:
(I still like the part in the intro where his arms flip open and a whole bunch of guns and missiles and stuff come out though...
)
7463055 No problem! Glad you had fun with it so far :) Sad to see you go, but well, not everything is for everyone. (And I know I'm a bit silly with my stories.)
7463037 I'm glad you liked it. I had fun writing it. Sometimes you just need to get the sillyness out of your system :)
7463067
The Big Guy and Rusty was a great show. But I'm actually referencing this sadly underappreciated anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IvMFmmw8-o That's just the Episode 1 fight scene too :P, Roger dosent even break out any of Big O's real weaponry.
(The specific mecha was the request of my Editor, as Sky Trigger is his OC and his inclusion in my stories from time to time is sort of my thank you for his work. I'd always planned on Beta's Sky having a mecha... or two. He just got to pick the 'skin' so to speak.)
Doesn't sky know about drinking on dates you always avoid the one with the worm, oh wait they were only serving Punch.
That mech was a Big O hell yea moment for me.
If sky is the brain of a lot of operations does this make his wife and him pinkie and the brain?
Loved the chapter also poor sky and pinkie never getting a vacation, then again when you have anything at all to do with making time travel or dimensional travel stuff you are cosmically messed with not by just your universe anymore but every universe.
7463133
This is precisely why the Prime (Beta) universe was long long long ago shielded from the influence of other multiverses via mindblowingly complex sorcery. Basically, you can only go there if fate says you do.
7463138 That's pretty neat, the bits you add in on comments it makes the comments like a mini treasure hunt.
7463143 I know :D Why do you think I comment so much?
7463202
If you are writing any kind of chaos god, that's exactly how things should seem. Like bullshit, untill you think about it, and then you realise, that no. It works.
Right. Bout of them operate by slightly different rules than anything else... and the universe just abides by whatever they do.
Exactly. You can't put an order to chaos. Not without destroying chaos in the process at least.
7462937 There is NOTHING reasonable about their demands
7463223 While I agree, it's pritty hard to beat a force with infinite time and wealth. (After all they can just go back in time, invest one penny, go foreword in time and have a billion bucks...) SInce it happens to be US Copywrite Law, you only need to have seven diffrences between two works to be concitered diffrent works legaly. So you know, change a few proportions by a plank with, a color shade or three, and there you go. Also don't let them find out about your things in the first place.
Well, that took longer than expected. Also, the Big O reference was pretty nice.
7463250 What took longer? I'm cuierious.
7463288 Lyra getting to her target destination, and I noticed a typo in your response to my comment
7463290 Yeah this is easily my longest story :) (and I make a lot of otypes.)
That's actually horrifying. Not the USB-no, eternal copyright and the corresponding time lawyers (especially time lawyers). Just imagining the headache they must cause for an entire civilization-especially if they have seemingly infinite resources to just keep going-is the stuff of nightmares.
I can't tell if this is a spelling error or you're making a joke on Pinkie being a seer.
BB, this has been a long time coming for you-everyone gets some short of massive shock when they're inevitably confronted with something that makes doesn't seem to make logical sense in this fic, you just managed to avoid it for a little while.
Ohh, I like this Sky!
So...this reality's Sky has been dying to use a giant mecha based off an anime (if I was reading that right) for years and was repeatedly cockblocked on that end? Ouch-at least he finally got to use it.
Oh, and the local Tatzlwurms can grow to be over a kilometer long. Oh god, I'm getting flashbacks to Kalros and every thresher maw from Mass Effect. In fact, I'd I think Kalros is probably bigger than this one was by a good margin (around 3 km if I remember an estimate correctly, and easily capable of smashing a 160 m tall reaper destroyer and dragging it underground)
Oh god
What if they had babies?
Sorry about the Mass Effect digression. Just comparing.
Anyway, that was a fun, exhilarating chapter, although I must say you kind of blatantly sidelined Fluttershy this chapter. She barely got any lines this chapter and was was barely mentioned during many of the scenes-I get that the focus isn't on her, but she's often just not mentioned or speaks up where you'd think she might.
7463336 :D <3 I supper appreciate the long thoughtful comment. ^^ Thank you.
There are many many reasons why the Prime (Beta) is hard for 9 to see. One of them is the anti-layer shielding erected by Starswirl The Bearded. It makes it impossible to intentionally go to Beta unless A you are fated to go there B a god does it C you have been there before and do not practice the law as your trade. This makes it hard for inter-temporal layers to find copy write violators on Beta.
Thanks! Fixed it.
Alpha's sky is an actual mad scientist, Read Richards style. Beta's is that, plus the sorcery needed to cheat at engineering >> Personality wise, they are almost he same.
Yep, Specificly this Anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TidD9pxmoYk
(Fair warning, while good, the Big O was Lost before there was a Lost. People are still debating what the ending means 13 years later... and three of the theories have roughly equal claim to being true. It's like Brazil. Ever see the movie Brazil?)
That was done on Popmannn's request. Sky Trigger is his OC (THough I've used himt he most XD ) It's my thankyou for his hard work. Putting him into a story as an important character.
Yeah, Thresher Maws could get bigger than this, but at one KM these guys are on par with the oldest of the Shai-Hulud, better known as the sandworms from Dune.
Never apologize for seating a conversation to the last decade's greatest scifi.
I did, didn't I? My bad. I'll make up for that next time :)
7463336 Pfft, copyrights are already practically permanent, just look at Disney and Microsoft. Or Apple. The law just makes it easier to sue. Time traveling's new though.
7463408 Can you imagine if Disney's layers got ahold of a timemachiene? MAJOR headache... Especialy since Disny owns all of the following companies, and all of the companies they own.
A&E, Lucas Films, Marvel COmics, ESPN, Hulu, 21st Century Fox, the ABC Television Group, The History Channel, the Tele-Munich Television Media Participation Limited Partnership (THat's German, if the long name didn't give that away), Times Square Studios,
Silver Creek Pictures, Inc., Catalyst Investments, LLC (Yep, Disney owns a fucking bank), POW! Entertainment, Reedy Creek Energy Services BVCC, Inc., Sphero (A robotics firm), 20 different major real estate companies, and this is like... a 10th of the total list.
Seriously. Disney probably owns about 1/3rd of anything in the US via owning an asslode of companies....
7463449 Yeah uh, monopoly laws don't really get enforced either... So uh, yeah. Write your politician today and be sure to include obligatory
bribescampaign donations, and advise against extending copyright laws!First off I would like to say, CALLED IT!! Sure things didn't go wrong, but still not the right place, though I did pick up on the Prim/Alpha time line references. pones from the future pulling others from across time/space/universes, you BETTER finished that series!
Poor Sky so over worked, at least you have the pink with you!
Ah! here we are, in the correct- HOLY FUCKING LUNA!!! That thing is huge! At least Lyra got to ride and not be the one trying not to die this time, that fight sean was awesome too!!
Wait, we have how much more to go? if each chapter is an average of 7K (ranging from 6-8K), we have a minimum of 4-5 chapters left, HOW MUCH MORE AWESOME CAN BE CONTAINED IN HERE!!!!!
7463582
I wrote that a little over 3 months ago. Meep just used it and reworded it a bit into her writing style.
"Minimum", that is the key word there. 30k more words minimum.
The insanity is off the charts, and I love it.
7463102 Thank you for being understanding on this matter. And I do wish the best for it. Some things do click, some things dont, but may the muse keep you busy.
7463920
Me thinks we are in for quite the adventure yet
I couldn't resist this one:
And for the bad joke:
7463582 F
OR DID THEY!?!
Technicaly I just did. You know now how it ends. Also all of Beta is also technically a 'what happens next?'
All Pinks belong with a Sky. The vote to pass this rule was unanimous.
I see someone looked up the Big O. Motherfucker is as tall as the USS Defiant (star trek)!
230k total word count is my minimum wordcount for this story. I want to keep it close to that, but I'll go over if the plot demands it. (I'm keeping this kind of short for reasons of wanting to adapt this to a novel later I'll need room to add chapters to make the framing device, and I dont want to backtrack over 500k words and have to rework all of that...
7463967 Hey, no problem. I have buttons that instantly kill my like of a story too. We all do. Heck, If I didn't have a sizable audience who liked this, I'd be asking you what I could do better. Feedback of all kinds is good.
"It definitely was a kilometer long, and I didn’t know exactly how long that was, but when this thing looked to be at least two city blocks long, yeah, apply a big unit to its length."
Lyra is military. She knows exactly how long a kilometer is, and can probably eyeball it to within a few tens of meters.
7465078 In her world's future, since Europe and Asia unite into one opposiong hostile force to the Americas (both contanents are ruled by one government), Lyra has never been taught the metric system as that would be 'harboring elements of the enemy culture'. Furthermore, like everyone in her scociety, she's been discouraged from utilizing anything Euro or Asian in terms of culture (save for the Japanese), as that is barbaric, primitive, and uncultured. Or so sayth the gov, who will totally vanish you if you disagree publicly.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/4e/b9/4e/4eb94e35a4cfd0052c208cdbae5f63c6.jpg
... kinky
now I'm imagining a mad scientist caveman, thanks
for, or from?
that would be 4,000,000,000,000 individual binary characters in a password, if I did my math right. O_0 (I think that takes about 500 gigs of space, that's a whole fucking hard drive for a lot people out there)
so I can use a mouse and keyboard with my time travel device?
AWESOME!
I wonder how long it will be before they dig up something russian XD
little snek friends, not food :c