I happily walked along the winter sidewalk, a scarf around my neck and a warm hat on my head. Skitter was walking next to me in her semi unicorn form, the only thing marking her as changeling were her insect like wings.
She was just as bundled up as I was against the freezing cold. Scarf, Jane hat and even a jacket. Changelings were actually more sensitive to cold than ponies even when shapeshifted. No shiver reflex.
“What's next on the list?” I asked her as we stopped at a cross section.
Skitter reached into her bag and pulled a scroll list out and unrolled it to have a look, “Uhm... jewelry order is done. We've been past the publisher and checked the numbers.”
I nodded, “Anything else?”
“Nothing on the list, sir.”
There was one thing left though. A gift for Skitter... and that was something insanely difficult to be able to arrange as she stuck to my side like glue as soon as I left home.
Then there was also the trouble of actually finding something for Skitter. For one thing she was not a pony. She basically had zero cares for material things and I wasn't even certain that she even understood half the reasons why ponies did things. She could copy them of course, she was a changeling infiltrator, but she didn't truly understand some of them.
Hopefully she'll like the necklace I commissioned while at the jewelers while she was browsing and keeping a eye on the door. A nice and simple silver chain with a small pendant of a silver moon with an emerald silhouette of a butterfly in flight in the middle. I think I managed to sneak it in while getting the earrings for Luna.
“Well then. Some tea would be nice then I think,” I said with a smile, “Perhaps some hot chocolate.”
That got a smile from the changeling, “That would be nice, sir.”
Chocolate was the one food it turned out that changelings cared about. Something about the taste reminded them of love apparently.
Turning to the right, I headed for the favorite cafe, “What to do after... I likely should be getting some writing done.”
The Terminator was actually a pretty good idea to work on. Classic story. Of course it would likely be more horror than action in the pony adaptation.
“Back to the castle after tea then?”
“Mmm. I think so,” I confirmed as we reached the cafe and I moved to push the door open only to find it locked.
Huh? They were almost never closed.
The light was on inside but it looked empty. Frowning to myself, I knocked on the door.
Silence.
“Maybe nopony is here,” Skitter suggested as she peeked into the empty window, “But I feel...” she started to say before she paused, “She is inside there, Silver Leaf. But she tastes awful.”
I blinked at her and knocked on the door again.
Nothing.
Fine then. Focusing on the lock, I slowly slipped my magic in between the door and door frame, feeling around before turning the lock, pushing the door open.
The shop was silent and I slowly entered, “Hello?” I asked softly without getting an answer. I glanced at Skitter who pointed towards the kitchens,
“In there, sir.”
Nodding I ducked in behind the counter and carefully pushed the door to the kitchen open to look inside. It was a small kitchen, but it had a great number of ovens and a bunch of other equipment I couldn't recognize.
What I did recognize though was Silver Leaf laying on the floor, curled up, her wings pulled around herself.
“Silver?” I asked quietly, “What's wrong?” as I moved up next to her, putting my hoof on her shoulder.
She twitched and looked up at me in surprise, her eyes filled with tears before she closed her eyes and looked away, “I-I'm sorry, L-lord Page. W-we are closed today.”
Frowning I settled down next to her I shook my head, “Forget about that Silver. What's wrong?” and put my frontleg around her.
Suddenly I had a pegasus bawling against my chest as I held her close, stroking her mane. I didn't say anything, simply holding her seemed to be the best thing I could do.
She cried for what seemed like a long time. I never knew how to handle a crying woman/mare so I just stroked her mane.
Silver slowly settled down into sniffles, trembling against me before she spoke up again, “M-... My father passed away two days ago.”
Oh. Oh no.
“Silver... I'm so, so sorry.” I whispered softly.
“H-heart attack. I-I found him in the morning. The doctors couldn't do anything,” Silver continued quietly.
That... that was horrible. I could think of very few things that would be worse to experience.
“Silver. You should be home. What are you doing here?” I asked and stroked her mane.
“D-daddy would have wanted the store to open. B-but when I got here I... I couldn't... I couldn't stop crying.”
I nodded, “I think he would like you to take care of yourself more. Come on,” I said and gently helped her up, “Let's take you home.”
“...I can't. That's...”
Oh.
“Then we take you somewhere else.” I continued gently as she leaned against my side, “Come, we have plenty of rooms at the castle.”
“But... I can't... I have to...”
“You can and you will. Come on.”
Silver settled down and allowed me to lead her out of the cafe.
How's the thumbs-up-scene gonna work in the sequel? I guess Arnie is gonna have to be a gryphon or something
7356631 Golem, he's probably going to be formed like a Minotaur.
7356634 If Page wants to keep with the gory parts from the source-material, he can always shape the terminator like a pony, and give it a pony-like exterior, and when it's ready to go all out, the hoof explodes into gryphon-like talons.
How would genders work in Terminator, though? Because it would be weird to flip them like for James Bond.
7356640 What about the classic clothing stealing scene? How will you adapt to a society that doesn't use any clothing? Maybe a cool jacket or something?
And yes, the thumb thing scene can be play like Blackjack's prosthetic forelegs. But, will the ponies understand it?
img10.deviantart.net/cff9/i/2014/106/1/1/_foe__ph__blackjack_by_favmir-d6wc8fw.jpg
orig04.deviantart.net/f575/f/2013/185/4/e/all_hail_queen_blackjack_by_shark_sheep-d6bzxbl.png
pre05.deviantart.net/3622/th/pre/f/2014/160/e/f/blackjack_and_stygius_by_vector_brony-d7lp7s1.png
Or this:
derpicdn.net/img/2013/2/8/237072/large.png
7356653 Maybe if the other species in Equestria with digits have similar gestures, and they're widespread knowledge with ponies. I think Spike gives a thumbs-up when he's hanging of from Twilight's tail in Cloudsdale.
I hope Page doesn't write Rise of the Machines. Though if he gender-flips the bad-guy, that scene with the inflating bosom would be all kinds of weird and funny
7356668 Yeah...I would prefer that it would end at the second movie...but i still watch the third because of all the special effects being entertaining to me. Salvation is so-so, and I feels it is missing something critical. Genesis...I don't know what is going on.
7356702 Haven't seen Genesis, but that just makes me think of old Sega-games and the voice of Phil Collins. I think I would've liked Salvation better if Mr Bale had just gone to the toilet between takes
Wow good chapter. The feels tho.
-BFBL
Poor Silver. Page should hook her up with Cloud. Find a silver lining in that cloud....I'm sorry.
7356915
Didn't see that coming.
Does anyone else see the inherent consequences of introducing a story about abusing time travel to kill your opponent by killing their parents, in a world where we find out at least one villain is able and willing to use time travel to defeat her opponent?
7356915 Dude! The puns, all the puns!
7356915
s2.quickmeme.com/img/8d/8db99ee4758e36b878d954bd385841606629afaaadbb93dec41f9809cb4cbae5.jpg
7357229
Considering that Twilight has met and interacted with him in the past and the fact that his patronage by Luna is instrumental in his becoming a published author, Twilight not existing may have a butterfly effect that makes it so that Blank Page either never becomes a published author, never writes an adaptation of The Terminator, or writes it at late enough date that Starlight’s time travel and subsequent redemption takes place first: it’s entirely possible that any attempt to take out Twilight’s parents results in a paradox, thus ensuring that that particular chain of events never takes place.
7357491
The paradox never stopped the other alternative timelines from existing though we can assume that Starlight doesn't go back in time in those.
7357517 I Think it depends on whether we assume that time is forking and multiple worlds exist or it is linear and only one world can exist at a time. I am inclined to believe it is the former.
7357404 meh
Personally I would like to see the ponies reaction to a ponified Highlander.
A bunch of immortal ponies beheading each other for a prophecied prize for the last alive?
And the big twist ending on what the prize turns out to be? Should be interesting...
7357538 I used to have the same dream over and over. so nope, not only in fiction.
My recurring dream was really boring, though. I'm walking outside one of my classrooms from grade-school during a sunny day when I trip and fall. Not very dramatic, but it was still recurring for years.
7358151
Well, that answers that.
7357922 I forget, what was the plot of highlander?
7356749 The new movie was bad, effects were good, music on point, but the plot was all over the place.....
7359148
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander_(film)
This should explain it, hopefully.
7359155 heck, even the premise and general idea was solid.for a story built on a time loop, cumulative loops is actually pretty cool, and I don't see it used that often in time travel.
7358151 And Inception-type dreams aren't just in fiction.
I have actually had a five-layer dream before, where I not only go to sleep several times, but I also wake up several times as well. It's incredibly annoying to get ready for the day and have it all reset multiple times.
I have also had lucid dreams before, but I never had complete control.
I see what you did there. I'm both proud and disgusted. Congrats.
8208058
Chocolate actually affects our emotions
Daughter of discord
Time can be a cherished friend or a mercyless beast stalking until it finaly strikes
... I think I would immensely enjoy reading a chapter or two of that. Having a few excerpts from these books Page is writing here and there would make for awesome side-stories.
I reread, and... Isn't Terminator not a Horror title? It's more Action/Sci-fi type, no? Horror is usually when you, as a viewer, have fear. You don't know what will happen, and death is either grotesque and or painful. In Terminator you might not know what will hapen, but you know what you are dealing with. A Machine, and guns, either conventional or futuristic.
11079687
I think he is more talking from the perspective of ponies. They get scared easier than us so action to us could be horror to them
10964254
I fully support this suggestion.
Unfortunately a fate that will befall us all.
11637446
The Eternal Night calls us all to rest eventually