A Muffin For Muffins

by BatwingCandlewaxxe

Appendix

Appendix

Ditzy Doo's journal transcribed for publication by Redline Proof; original submitted to the Canterlot University Library's rare and unique book collection.

Excerpt from Princess Twilight Sparkle's notes on the First Edition, annotated:
"Sigilistics" is the foundation of all magical theory, the symbolic underpinnings of magic manipulation and spellweaving. It's the magical equivalent of mathematics, with basic sigilistics being analogous to simple arithmetic; and advanced sigilistics to calculus.

Excerpt from Cloudsdale Oncology Clinic's publication "Pegasus Oncology Cross-Reference Guide, Eighth Edition":
Calamular Follicle Carcinoma, aka Calamus Rot, is a rare and hard to detect cancer that affects Pegasus ponies, Griffons, and certain large birds. It starts in the follicles of feathers, mainly flight feathers. Unlike other follicular cancers, it doesn't kill the feathers, but makes flying increasingly painful. In its early stages, the pain is typically assumed to be due to overexertion, irritation from over-preening or feather mites, or in more serious cases, recurring low-grade feather flu due to the paraneoplastic symptoms. In the rare cases where it is diagnosed early, treatment with a combination of medication and magic has proven reasonably effective, with a life expectancy of 10-20 years. Unlike most other cancers, CFC is not known to affect the immune system, so opportunistic infections are not a significant consideration. Tumour cells are highly invasive and metastasize quickly. By the time the pain is severe, and the symptoms obvious enough to be diagnosed as cancer-related, it is nearly always at stage 4, and average life expectancy is 3-6 months. At that point, only palliative care is possible, no effective treatments have yet been found.

Excerpt from Princess Twilight Sparkle's publication "Application and Consequence of magus Meadowbrook's intelligence enhancement spell suite; revised with post-mortem evaluation of subject Ditzy Doo." Presented to Canterlot University by Princess Twilight Sparkle and reviewed by the Chair of Experimental Magic:

The Fine Structures of the brain are a set of white-matter nerve channels that only exist in creatures that have magical potential; eg. Equus ferus sapiens terra, pegasus, and unicornis (the three Pony tribes) and Equus zebra sapiens (Zebras); or which are partially magical in composition, eg. Equus fata sapiens (Breezies). Fine structures support the cerebral cortex, channelling mana and enabling communication between the various components of the brain. All ponies possess these structures, although they are most pronounced in unicorns, where they are particularly concentrated in the alicornal bulb at the base of the horn, and enable common unicorn abilities such as telekinesis and spellcasting. In pegasi they enable flight, cloudwalking, and arcane physical abilities. In earth ponies they provide the ability to directly sense and manipulate the complex properties of plants and soil. Breakdown of the Fine Structures is typically caused by mana overload, neural degeneration, or traumatic brain injury. Symptoms of overload can vary, but most commonly manifest as similar to disorganized schizophrenia. Fine Structure channels start leaking mana, causing communication disruption and cross-communication between various regions of the brain. In minor cases, this manifests as disorientation, incoherent thought patterns, migraine, and/or sleep disturbances resulting in unusually vivid and unpleasant dreams, ephialtes nocturnus in the most severe manifestations. If the breakdown is degenerative, then further symptoms manifest, typically synaesthesia, hallucination, delusions, eventually culminating in frequent episodes of florid psychosis. In the most severe cases, this leads to neural burnout and death. Caught early, treatments are available that can reverse the breakdown and restore normal functioning. The later it is caught, or the more severe the case, the more difficult this is to do. By the time psychosis manifests, reversal is typically not possible, but the disorder can be managed, and symptoms minimized.

The case of Ditzy Doo is an atypical presentation, as Meadowbrook's intelligence enhancement spell's unstable primary component caused the Fine Structures to overload, while the other components served to create a network of protective pseudo-structures that re-channeled the leakage and prevented degeneration while they remained stable. The breakdown of the pseudo-structures in the degenerative phase resulted in the documented episodes of temporal lobe and generalized epilepsy. These pseudo-structures are also what created the subject's cognitive multi-focal ability and the extremely rapid increase in memory retention and information processing. Due to the inherent instability of the primary component, there is no way to predict how long this process will take in any particular individual, variance is estimated between a few months and three years, but the end result in every case is increasingly frequent neurogenic pain (migraine and/or neuralgia) followed by intermittent absence seizures and/or tonic-clonic seizures, and finally death from cortex failure. It is highly unlikely that Meadowbrook even realized this was happening, as the effect of the spell on the Fine Structures is indirect (and knowledge of pony neurology was still in its infancy), although he recognized enough of the instability of the primary component to establish several levels of exceedingly and unnecessarily complex protective buffers. Only three sapient subjects were ever documented: one pony and one donkey treated by Meadowbrook himself, and Ditzy Doo. The donkey, whose name was not recorded, was treated with an earlier version of the spell lacking some of the protective components, and only lasted roughly nine weeks. The other, an Earth pony named Dry Grass, survived two years and eight months, but little else is known about her. Animal tests by Meadowbrook and others resulted in survival rates between fourteen weeks and three years.

Dramatis Personae
Canon Characters:
Ditzy Doo (aka Derpy Hooves)
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Roseluck
Cherilee
Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy
Pinkie Pie
Rarity
Applejack
Princess Luna
Princess Celestia
Princess Cadance
Zecora
Sunset Shimmer
Original Characters:
Quick Line (a pegasus)
Misty Peak (another pegasus)
Flowing Script (a unicorn)
Index Card (an earth pony)
Compound Sigil (a unicorn)
Redline Proof (a unicorn)
Bountiful Pasture (an earth pony)
Muffins (a mouse)

Author's Note:

I hadn't originally planned to publish this appendix, but certain people insisted, and I bowed to the pressure.

Comments

[Cadiefly]

This has been a truly riveting piece. From start to finish, I was engrossed by Ditzy Doo's journey through her intellectual endeavors. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Thank you.

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

8041709

Thank you for your comment, I'm very glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

[Cadiefly]

8041849

Of course! And I'll anxiously await for your epic later on. You take a lot more time in preparation for your art than I, and it shows. I don't doubt for a second that I can learn a lot from you through your work.

[Orbiting Kettle]

Predictable, and yet this is a very good thing here, as we are following a tragedy to its inevitable conclusion.

I liked this quite a lot, I appreciated the evolution and regression of the prose, I loved Ditzy's attitude and approach to the world, and I cared for her and those surrounding her.

Thank you for having written this.

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

8082033

I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

[trombrony98]

This... hurts me right in the feels.😭

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

8213207

Is that a bad thing?

[trombrony98]

8213246
No, this story is excellent. It just... Almost made me cry. And very few things can make me cry. Miss Saigon can’t even make me cry.
8213258
Yes.

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

8213369

I’m glad to hear it had an impact, and that you liked it.

I was wondering if anyone would get that reference.

[alarajrogers]

Wow. I thought I knew where this was going to go based on the book, but I was taken by surprise by Derpy/Ditzy's ultimate fate.

I liked how, because this is ponies and they're inherently kinder and nicer than humans, you didn't dwell nearly so much on the darkness like in Flowers for Algernon; her co-workers at the post office aren't really her friends and they like to make fun of her, but none of the rest of it was there. In particular her relationship with her mother and her sadness about what happened to her was really moving and sweet, and I liked her friendships with everypony.

I did kind of wonder -- if she's seeking to unify magic and she has that epiphany that there's chaos at the core, I wonder why no one suggested she talk to Discord. On the other hand it's really ambiguous as to how well even he understands what he does, so it might not have helped. (Also for story reasons... his affinity with chaos means he might have seen what was going to happen to her long before anyone else did.)

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

8910750

Yeah, given the world, it definitely couldn't have been as dark as the original, I couldn't see anypony being as outright malicious, it just wouldn't have felt right. I tried to keep the level of bullying on roughly the same level as the show, taking Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as my main models for how far I could go and still make it fit the world.

I thought having her become close friends with the mane 6 felt a little much, maybe a hair unrealistic, but it just sort of grew organically from what I was writing, so I went with it. Still not sure about it, to be honest. Her friendship with Roseluck felt more natural to me, and that was my favorite part of the story.

I was also a bit worried that she ended up a bit of a Sympathy Sue in the end.

As for Discord, I did have some of that in mind, but I just couldn't see him becoming anything but a nuisance, he doesn't really strike me as a reliable research partner. And, as you noted, being a creature of chaos, he may not really understand the nature of chaos. At the very least, he likely wouldn't understand it sufficiently from the systematic perspective that serious research needs, but I can see Twilight and Sunset trying to pin him down for experiments at some point.

Anyway, thanks for your comments!

[CoffeeMinion]

Wow. I mean it had to end this way, that was clear from the outset. But what an emotional journey.

Top marks. Excellent and enjoyable work.

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

8916969

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[mishun]

In pegasi they enable flight, cloudwalking, and arcane physical abilities.

So, freshly beheaded pegasus body would fall though clouds, but the head would not?

Animal tests by Meadowbrook and others resulted in survival rates between fourteen weeks and three years.

If Twilight knew that, why did she use that spell on poor Derpy?

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

9710574

Twilight didn't necessarily know that before using the spell; and she does have a tendency to rush into things involving magic, without fully considering the potential consequences ("Lesson Zero", "Magical Mystery Cure").

[Alias_The_J]

Just binged this in a night; had me tearing up at the end.

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

10323578
Thanks for the comment. Glad you liked it.

[Kit Wolfkat]

I honestly can't read anymore of this. It's too much!
This is a truly heartbreaking and beautiful fic!
This deserves more views man.

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

10390826
Thanks, glad you liked it.

[Trixie Hugger]

I discovered MLP nearly one year ago. This story with a few others is the core of my love for the MLP fictional universe and its fandom.

BatwingCandlewaxxe, i don´t know if you received the mail that i sent you months ago, but i would like to thank you again. This story strucked my inner self on a disturbing but wonderful way.

[BatwingCandlewaxxe]

11563645
I don't recall receiving any message from you, but I'm glad to hear that you liked it.