Appendix 2: Maps (Warning: Possible Spoilers)
Below are the maps acquired by Nebula's crew at Rocas Rojas in Chapter 6, including Twilight Sparkle's added notes. They contain mild spoilers for certain events. They are not necessary to understand the story, but may be enjoyable to study as the action progresses. To that end, I've noted what chapters should be read before looking at each map, if you want to completely avoid all spoilers.
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Chapter 8
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Chapter 11
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YAY - MAPS!
now is there visible where Nebula entered the world? I see where Twi and Ao met Burros but not actual entry point
Love the notes on the maps.
But do any of these roads lead to Shrewsbury?
8056973 note in the down left side on the NWT one.., it's Aproximate according to Miss NightShader
I love it when someone actually makes a map of their fictional world.
8056985
8057024
aha
thanks
I completely missed that... unremarkable note
Fought Ironhoof?
Is he like the big overlord of this world who cut off mana flow from the world so he could rule with an Iron Hoof?
8057742
You're welcome!
And of course Twilight would have to remark about how crappy the maps are and add snarky notes and/or corrections... this is so damn awesome!
8060229
Actually, Twilight is a hero because, no matter how much trouble she's caused with her foolish overconfidence, she's always put her own life on the line to make it right and been smart, cunning and pragmatic enough to achieve that in the end. As for Skyla? She's just a spoiled little girl with an idealistic view of reality who is facing the world outside of her aunts' utopia for the first time.
8060665 Again, Buck! That!
Twilight and the rest of the ponies are heroes because they do what is right, because they stand up for those in need of protection, because they will not abide tyranny, hatred, abuse. Are they perfect? No. They screw up, as you noted, but they learn from it and fix those mistakes. They are heroes, becuase when they see a situation like this, they will not stand for it and seek to do whatever they can to help those in need.
Not just stand back and ramble about how "Oh, but things might have been worse before" or junk like that, what the hell does it matter? What metters is what is happening now. "Oh but it'll fall eventually" yeah fat lot of comfort that will be for the gnerations that live in slavery and die in suffering till that happens. Making rather pathetic excuses for why not to act?, hell no, no reason you gave means a damn thing.
Flurry Heart sees a situation that is simply WRONG, and even if it does not concern her, even if she could move on, never look back, and never have to deal with this again, she wants to help, wants to do the right thing. Are there issue with that? Yes, as Twilight pointed out, but they are issues of logistics, of if they can do anything major, or just how much they can do, not a single question of 'should they' that is a full on "Of course."
Is it being idealistic..... of course.... that is the whole POINT, that is the narrative 'verse this is, what damn show do you think this is set in where idealism isn't what sees things through in the end?
8060305 Maybe just liiiiitle bit, I men, it had a few good points here and there, it's not like I utterly loved every moment and it just got better and better all the time, not at all.. it's just.. decently written, that's all.. I'm not that into it......... baka
8060798 It was going on kind of in the background of The Twilight Enigma, and Rarity was kind of the replacement. They didn't topple the old regime and put Rarity in charge, rather they topple the old Sultan, paved the way for the one of his sons that wasn't a useless asshole to take over, who Rarity ended up marrying.
8068000
Hyperbole, darling!
8074224
I'm using the 17th Century term, which covered a bunch of things, including large crossbows. A ballista is a very specific weapon that uses two levers and torsion springs instead of a single bow, and it fell out of use in the late Middle Ages... and I'm being entirely too pedantic, here, aren't I?
8074296
Yeah, but can either of those launch a 90kg payload over 300 metres using only counterweight? No. No they cannot.
8074322
Trebuchets are the best!
do i need to read the other stories before i read this one?
8074429
I totally wasn't inspired from a certain scene in Disney's Mulan, involving a tower, imperials, and a certain small red dragon!8076170
That's unfortunate. Violence and death are certainly valid subjects for stories, and they can be parts of excellent stories. But when they occur so casually and thoughtlessly it's hard to square with ponies in general or this series, at least until this point.
In my experience working with repressive regimes, it's usually not the elite and favored who end up manning the front lines and the watchtowers on the edge of the frontier. It's the lower echelons of society, the hopeless or the disfavored. I'd expect more slaves than slavers in that tower. And, certainly, Twilight & Co had no way of knowing which was which.
The lack of introspection here is disappointing.
8076883
No, really; none! Not yet, anyway.
8080166
I am wont to disregard your argument on account of its ramshackle nature and poor reasoning, but the spelling (or lack thereof) is the cherry on top. Words. my dear fellow, exist for a reason. We must not be vague, nor give in to popular misconceptions, when using them. I additionally assure you that the naval and terrestrial usages of "catapault" are divorced in certain respects, and it is the former we use here. "Catapault" is the entirely correct form for usage aboard naval vessels, when describing any non-gunpowder projectile launcher.
P.S.: Next time you go on a rant intended to make you seem intellectually formidable, ensure you have the ability to spell the words you're arguing about.
P.P.S: It's spelled "pterosaur". "Ter-o-sor" not "ter-a-sor"
8076561 Why? not every story needs to get bogged down in moralizing, introspective angsting over every little thing. They are bad guys, our crew are good guys, let's enjoy the show as they kick the bad guys asses. Sometimes simple, direct, and above all FUN straight up good/evil fight with no twists, not shocking reveals, no grim and gritty blech is great. And sorely needed more often now a days as everything races to be as cynical, depressing, and 'gritty' as possible.
Did we need some long, angsting scene of Indiana getting drunk and weeping about how horrible he is after he shot the dude with the swords? No.
A big, moralizing speech about all the 'innocent' officers just following orders that got killed when the Death Star got blown up? No.
The story is being exactly what it is meant to be, lighthearted fun in seeing a small ragtag crew of good guys kick the ass of an evil, oppressive empire. There is nothing 'disappointing' in it at all. This is glorious and so glad for a story that doesn't take itself to super seriously.
8074431
I honestly don't know. There's a lot of summation in the beginning, so... maybe not?
Give it a shot, and if you don't have a decent idea of what's going on by the end of chapter two, the answer is no. But from there on it's pretty straight-forward.
8076170 In most stories, I wouldn't care--I've read and enjoyed fics where ponies fight with pies and those where unicorns conjure and throw razor blades. But in your last 3 stories you established that in iisaw-land, rescuing enemy combatants from death is standard operating procedure for Equestrians--a practice Twilight only eschewed when she was well and truly furious. You also wrote a blog post saying that book 3 was largely Twilight freaking out over how she killed Nightmare Moon in book 2. So Twilight's lack of concern for the lives of her enemies in this story sticks out.
8083853 Different circumstances. For one, she's had years to come to grips with that as well as years of being a privateer that we know had no issues with dropping an airship of pirates out of the skies with no remorse. This is perfectly in keeping with how she's been since that story.
Second and more importantly, the thing with The Nightmare wasn't because she 'killed' her, but rather how she did so. It wasn't killing in the heat of battle, it was cold, calculated betrayal. She helped Celetia set up the Nightmare to be murdered by winning it's trust.. and then breaking it, lying to it, all the while knowing what was going to happen. She didn't just kill The Nightmare... she helped murder her. That is the key difference here.
Further, Twilight, especially this Twilight, is highly smart and practical. She isn't going to gratuitously cause death, and likely will save any ponies she can, but at the same time she does not know just what they can do and so can't pull her punches at all. Flurry's life is on the line here, why would she hold anything back or in anyway do something that might make things any riskier then they already are?
8084193
Yes. That.
8083853
Well, like I've said above, she hasn't killed anypony yet. The attack targeted the big weapons, and the destruction of the tower was meant to awe the local militia into surrendering, so they wouldn't have to kill anypony.
I guess I should make that clearer.Added a couple of sentences after the attack to make it clear.
Which doesn't mean Twilight won't kill as quickly and efficiently as possible if it's necessary.
8084732 I think the new sentences help a lot! Nicely done.
8084781
Thanks!
8080301
The period after Words should be a comma.
8089744 Fine, who am I to argue with a Twilight footnote?
That in mind....I just noticed a major flaw in this chapter....... NO FOOTNOTES! That's it, story has jumped the shark.. it's all over....
8089888
How in the heck did that happen?
Wait... what?
8085029
Right, but it's clearly a typo. The keys are directly adjacent to one another.
8090745
I did wonder about that.
8090807
8090745
8090793
Antiquated only in the sense that they mostly aren't used any longer. Crossbow types are easier to repair and maintain, and both can be done by less skilled ponies. An airship in flight can undergo a huge variation in humidity and temperature (and other factors) that can play havoc with the torsion-spring setup.
8091260
Ah, thanks.
Are the giant crossbows still inferior in performance, or do they do something like shifting the difficulty into manufacturing (being made of carefully composited rare or synthetic materials, for instance)? If so, I'm guessing the Nebula carries spares, since the catapults would be extremely difficult to repair in the field otherwise?
And if they are still inferior in performance, that says some interesting things about Equestria's military, or at least the airship branch of it.
8091456
Yes, the crossbow-style catapults are inferior to the performance of ballistae under optimal conditions, but are much tougher and more reliable in adverse conditions. (Nebula carries lots of spare parts for everything possible!) Incidentally, her net launchers are ballista-style catapults, because a big wad of net, weights, and a parachute would be nearly impossible to throw across a one-piece bow without tangling it or totally messing up its trajectory.
Hmn... maybe I need to make an addition to the diagrams chapter.
Nebula is a rather special case, anyway. The more "normal" Equestrian Air Service ships hardly use physical projectiles at all. Massed unicorn magic is the norm for them.
8091271
Damnit, iisaw beat me to the Zebra Fire comment.....
Still, it's almost like.. this has all been planned out or something....
8091492 So, while writing this... did you foresee that the term used for the ships weapons would be the biggest source of discussion and criticism? Think we've had more talking about the proper term for them then about the whole 'Twilight killing ponies" thing.
8091492
Ah, thanks.
"Nebula is a rather special case, anyway. The more "normal" Equestrian Air Service ships hardly use physical projectiles at all. Massed unicorn magic is the norm for them."
Ahhh, okay, thanks! So the ballista catapults are antiquated but not, in general, in favor of crossbow catapults. That makes more sense.
8092040
It's always something!
Considering that Twilight sunk an airship by throwing ponies at it in the last book, I was just a teeny bit puzzled by that... but since two people mentioned it, it was good feedback.
8105467
You're welcome!
8106346
Darned close! I doubt I'd do much better off the top of my head. I think Twi is missing Ket, too!
8106346 My attempt at top of my head: Khaatarekket. I remember the first part, at least, because I always pronounced both a's, heheh.
8108186 Well if they do, not like this Empire stands a chance. They rely wholly on magic gems, and what mana they can enslave unicorns to fill them with. If Equestria brings the fight to this dimension, they can have unicorns back in Equestria charging storage gems far faster and more efficiently then the Empire could, so beat them easily in resources. While if these ponies invade Equestria, the fact all their front line fighters are earth ponies and pegasi means they won't be able to take advantage of the higher magic field here, leaving them open to be taken out easily by Equestria far more versatile casters.
8110780
With the latest episode, this is all trotting dangerously close to canon
8115447
I know, right?
Best Aunt Twilight, way OP Flurry, and Grogar, for Celestia's sake!
8120448
Oops! Thanks!
8121410
8125143
Thanks for taking the time to do your "reaction" comments as you go. They're really fun to read!
Yup. I know that song well enough to sing it in my sleep.
But then I've also experienced the other end of the scale. Imagine a 3" bulkhead that's rusted clear through and was repaired by duct-taping pieces of cardboard over it. I shit you not, this was the forward exterior bulkhead of the house of a converted C4 tanker I sailed on. Nobody did any maintenance or cleaning except for the galley and quarters. She was bought as cheap surplus and the owners were just going to sail her 'til she sank. Terrifying.