Myou've Gotta be Kidding Me

by DataPacRat

Little Town on the Prairie

We'd finally crossed the border back into Equestria - and the rain had slipped away, though the clouds hadn't, quite.

I was in the workshop, doing one of the most important, if least glamorous, parts of the CAT WHISKER project - writing out the documentation so that other ponies could replicate my work, and build pulse-radios for themselves. As I was trying to figure out how to describe the importance of the capacitance of the antenna without actually using any technical jargon, a hoof knocked on my door. I swept all the papers into the document safe before seeing what was what.

Red informed me, "Slight problem. You know the rebuilding for NOVA BURST?" I nodded - that was the pseudo-napalm dispenser I'd had built into the Alicorn, a version of which had dumped the concentrated poison joke on the Pillar estate. "Looks like somepony hammered some nails in the wrong place - the port overflow ballast tank's got a leak."

"Anything we can do about it?"

"Well, we didn't need it yet, so we can just dump the starboard overflow ballast tank to match. We can try making a field repair - and now that we're back in civilization, we can buy some decent lumber and hardware to make it, instead of making do with chopping wood ourselves."

"Hm... Our schedule is still flexible - and Blueblood would be annoyed if I gave him the Alicorn back in less than perfect condition, and might be less amenable to future borrowings. So let's get that hardware. Will Stalliongrad have it?"

"Of course. Actually, just about any town we stop at would."

"Then let's find a town to stop at."

---

"You know," I said to Red, "the way things've been going, I at least half expected to find the town under siege by monsters, or putting up guards against slaver raids, or that it had some sort of deep dark secret that we'd happen across, or was the site of some noble's plotting, or some individual who wanted to escape their boring life by joining our merry band. But - everypony here farms, or helps the ones who farm, and they just seem... reasonably happy about the whole arrangement."

"So?"

"It's just... nice to know that at least some of Equestria is living up to its promise."

Comments

[Mad Pancake]

It's... nice.

[Barrel-of-fun]

Is this chapter finished? certainly doesn't seem like it

Anyways, I really don't understand why this story doesn't have more thumbs up. Its funny, its well-written, it updates frequently and with decent sized chapters. It is one of the few chessgame stories where the main character isn't ridiculously overpowered (not that I would want to fight against Missy, you never win against smart people). If anything it is this story that will make the whole 'Endgame' for the Chessgame of the Gods group a viable, and believable, story arc. Missys ability to gather the individuals needed as well as the resources needed to supply them might actually allow it to go ahead in a realistic manner. The chess pieces have plenty of muscle to throw around but its going to take a lot of brains to point that muscle in the right direction for it to be most effective and I believe that Missy has the brains needed to do that.

Thanks for the wonderful introspective read. I know have to go and consider my place in society and in the overall plan of humanity.

[DataPacRat]

1010179

1010226
Is this chapter finished? certainly doesn't seem like it
Sometimes, it's worth reminding the hero(ine) that the place they're working so hard for, actually is worth defending. Yesterday, I realized that outside of Ponyville itself, there haven't been too many positive depictions of Equestria: corrupt nobles, slaver raids, monster attacks, criminal gangs, and so on and so on. So I wanted to insert at least one place where none of that bad stuff was happening, as a representative of all such places. Unfortunately, part of the reason such places aren't mentioned too often in fiction is that, well, once you've said they're there, there's not much else you can say about them. I couldn't think of a single thing to add to this chapter that wouldn't work against the peacefulness of the town - so when I finally went to bed that night, I just posted what I had, to clear the slate for the next chapter.

I really don't understand why this story doesn't have more thumbs up.
Go ahead and tell your friends, tell your neighbors, see if you can find the ones who thumbs-downed it to change their minds, bribe the site programmers to adjust the feature-box algorithms to get more people to see it...

Thanks for the wonderful introspective read.
And thank you for the carefully considered positive feedback.

[Forevermore]

1011372 Totally agree, it's nice to see that at least some of the world isn't in need of fixing. I'm not sure if I would count Ponyville as a peaceful town though, they tend to get up to their fair share of shenanigans and catastrophes.

About the only thing you could've included in this chapter would have been Missy walking down the street, being greeted by friendly stranger, and being handed a free apple "just for visiting". But all that would really serve would be to emphasize the open and friendly nature of the town, so in my personal opinion you made the right call with just keeping this one short and to the point.

[drone009]

1012275 whatever that avatar is, I love it!