G5.05: Heart
James whimpered, moaned, then turned over. Her head felt like it was about to explode—the worst headache of her life. That probably didn’t mean much considering how old she was.
She opened one eye. James was on the ground in the brig. There were thick bars in front of her, though the openings were wide enough that she could see through them easily. There was noise coming from the other side of the room, but it took her a minute to wake up enough to understand it.
“Error—no implant detected,“ said the Forerunner, in the same, even voice.
Deadlight had removed the control panel from the side of the door, exposing the wires. He hadn’t tried to short the circuit so much as made a complete mess of things—a pointless endeavor. James was no expert, but she was smart enough to know that the bulkheads on the security office were made to resist tampering. An expert electrician might take days to get them open. An uneducated native…
The doors might’ve opened for him, if he’d left James conscious. But the implants could tell when she was conscious—there was no sense turning things on and opening things for someone who wasn’t even awake.
She sat up in the cell, groaning from the pain. She was still wearing her uniform, though Deadlight had removed everything from her pockets. Her ID badge was gone, along with her claw and multi-tool. None of them would do him any good—the badge she only carried as a memento, since it had her human face on it. He’d used the tool to get the panel off the wall, but it hadn’t helped him beyond that. The claw sat unused on the ground a few feet away from the cell. No use without implants.
I guess he shoved me back in here before the cell closed on its own. She didn’t know how long that would take—probably just a few minutes. How long will it take for the major to discover I’m missing and come looking for me?
James wasn’t really worried about herself—if Deadlight had wanted to hurt her, he could have. She clutched at her head as another wave of pain and nausea washed over her. He did hurt me. Just… not as bad as he thinks. Thank goodness for a composite skull.
“Why won’t the door open?” he asked, stalking back towards the cage, and glaring in at her. “Tell me how to get it open!”
“Everything about this plan is stupid,” she answered, her voice a pained groan. “Y-you think… what, you’re gonna go through that door and escape?” He was still wearing the bracelet. If he had taken it off, well… he might be dead on the floor. She didn’t know how much electricity it took to kill a pony.
“Yes,” he said flatly, gesturing at the door with her stolen multi-tool. “How to open it? I really escape capture and you are wrong I think. Found Celestia, I do not see this information will be punished.”
She rolled her eyes. “Deadlight. My boss will kill you if she catches you trying to run. You won’t be able to escape.”
“I did! I lock you there, don't you think?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, you didn’t.” She took a deep breath, rising to her hooves. Her head still pulsed whenever she moved too quickly, throbbing. But it didn’t feel like she had a concussion. Probably should check by sickbay just in case. Just because her body was sturdy didn’t mean she was invincible. “Forerunner, open brig lockup 1.”
“No prisoner detected. Lockup opening.” The hydraulic fluid began to flow again, and heavy steel bars lifted out of the way.
She stepped out, and couldn’t resist a slight grin at Deadlight’s frustrated expression. “See?” She pointed at the door. “You can’t even get a door open. You think you can get past the ‘magic’ protecting Othar?”
She swayed on her hooves a moment, resting one hoof on the wall for support. “Forerunner… shut lockup 1.”
The heavy steel gate began moving down again, lowering itself into place.
Deadlight didn’t attack her again. He slumped to the floor, his wings dropping to both sides. “It is fair is not. I am getting from you is worse than villains. I supposed you are able to escape here.”
“I guess?” The more he used the headset around her the more she wished she had waited to give it to him. But listening to his actual voice while it was translating was just too difficult. “Listen. If the major finds out you tried to escape, she’ll…” She shook her head. “I have no idea. Use it as an excuse to never let you out of your cell again, that’s for sure.”
James walked past him, and wasn’t surprised that he didn’t try to hurt her. He still had the knife on the ground in front of one hoof, and he hadn’t touched it.
James stopped in front of the wall, then reached up and crammed the wires into the opening. She put the panel back on over them. It didn’t light up—the screen was dead, the buttons non-responsive. But the plastic clicked snugly back at least. It would look convincing enough at a glance.
“That’s it then. I am going to be trapped here forever. But I couldn't get through one door. Once you tell your major I’m over.”
James turned back to face him. “I never said I was gonna tell her. Everything I said could still work.” She flicked her tail towards the door. “I wanted them to meet you slowly. Make friends with you… realize there’s no reason to keep you locked up. I won’t tell them if you don’t.”
Deadlight rose to his hooves. He was taller than she was by a full head, and thicker too. And he doesn’t know how many samples we took. Not one more male template explorer is coming out female. Even the SEAL-team had been early enough on for the Forerunner to make corrections to its male members. Lucky bastards.
“Who are you, Melody?” he asked, so close she could feel his hot breath on her face. So close she could smell his scent, thick from weeks without a proper shower. “To trick you into outside of these foreigners captured, to help them? They... by transforming them, so you looked like them. That can help you break the curse?”
James couldn’t help it. She broke down into hysterical giggling. Deadlight only stared, his expression growing more concerned the longer he watched her.
“No,” she eventually managed to say. “I mean yes? I don’t know what you mean. Take the headset off for a second. Maybe the Eoch is easier.”
He did. “Did the others trick you, Melody? Were you cursed to look like them? We could both escape… fly back to Equestria together.”
She sighed. “I’ve never been to Equestria, Deadlight. And I can’t fly. You saw my wings before. The others are all worse. Except Martin. But…”
“Then why are you helping me? I just attacked you!”
She shrugged. Her head still throbbed a little, but it wasn’t so bad. The genetic engineering was doing its work. “Major Fischer attacked you. Besides, nothing’s broken.” She flexed her wings, going through some of the stretches he’d demonstrated for her. “See?”
There was a long silence. Deadlight stared at her for nearly a full minute before he spoke. “You really want to help me. You weren’t just coming here to make yourself feel less guilty.”
She nodded. “Who cares how I feel? I used to live in a van.” His expression only grew more confused, and she went on. “Look, the others would probably come too if their work wasn’t so important. I guess Karl could… but she’s so guilty about this she can’t face you. She talks to our boss, tries to convince her to let you go… I give her reports on how you’re doing.” She walked up to the door, scooping up her multi-tool from in front of him. Deadlight didn’t resist as she folded the blade and put it back into her pocket.
“So, do you want to see our city? It’s kinda small… we’re still building it. Well mostly I’m supposed to be building it… I can show you that too! The boring machine is really fun to watch!”
Deadlight put the headset back on his ear. “Say again?”
She did.
He considered, glancing between her, the cell, and back again. Then he stepped up beside her.
“You better not attack me when this door opens,” she said, glaring up at him. “There are security drones patrolling out there. If they see you hurt me, they’ll kill you.”
“Your guards kill the pony?”
She nodded. “Yes. But if you behave, they won’t do anything to you. Just do what I say… what anyone else says… and you’ll be fine.”
He nodded again, his whole body tensing. He smelled good, but… also like he needed a shower. She could take him there first—it was about time someone used the men’s side.
“Forerunner, open the door.” It slid open immediately.
James tensed, preparing for a blow. But this time, it didn’t come. Deadlight didn’t run either, though the hallway extended in front of him in both directions. She stepped forward through the doorway, and he followed, glancing nervously past her occasionally. There were no security drones rolling past just now, though there was no telling when they’d pass on their patrols again.
“Come on.” She grinned, pointing down the hall. “Does Equestria have hot showers? Cuz’ we do…”
Lucky Break went back to school a few days later, but that didn’t mean she could just go back to life as she knew it. Having a cutie mark changed things—it meant everypony at school asked her constantly about whether she had found a good teacher to apprentice under. It meant that even those who had supported her (like Knowing Look) now seemed hesitant to mention the future of scholarship that had previously seemed inevitable.
This despite the acceptance letter she got in the mail about a week after returning to class. Knowing Look smiled for her, encouraging her that ‘she shouldn’t feel pressured into making a decision that didn’t feel right.’
I don’t understand you people. What does having this tattoo have to do with anything? Why should it change how good I am with languages? She tried to ask, but not even Mom could give her a straight answer. Cutie marks were so fundamental to pony identity that exploring the boundaries of their impact ceased to even mean anything to the natives.
She didn’t include anything about them in her reports back to her human contemporaries. And they, in return, didn’t tell her very much at all about what they were doing, except that Olivia “anticipated she would have a thriving city to return to when her mission was complete,” and that she “wouldn’t have to visit Landfall Base again.”
College was still a tantalizing option, though it probably would have been moreso if there wasn’t an even more demanding puzzle a little over twenty-eight kilometers to the north. Some of the infrastructure of the ring itself was up there, undisturbed, and yet still known to at least some of the ponies. Something was in there, something that called to her even in her sleep.
Unfortunately for her, she would need an Alicorn if she ever wanted to make any progress in her investigation.
In searching for ways she might contact the young princess Flurry Heart, it took her another week to realize her two difficulties might have related solutions.
Flurry Heart had an excellent public image, but part of that was probably because all the newspapers got their license to publish from Flurry Heart’s mother. None of them would dare hint at her scandalous activities. But Lucky heard from a friend who heard from a bouncer of a popular club in town that Flurry Heart loved to spend her time and money listening to artists and doing all the other things ponies commonly did at clubs.
Lucky Break was not a famous artist, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t fake it.
“It’s simple,” she explained to her mom one evening, once they’d finished dinner. “All I have to do is buy a fancy enough outfit, then pay the cover charge for a few nights. The Diamond Lounge has an hour at the end of each night where visitors can play, so… I walk up on stage all fancy, and I can play some cool Earth music, and…”
Lightning Dust looked skeptically across the table at her. “That sounds simple,” she said, “and expensive. I have some idea what places like that charge. You’d need to be wearing… what, a thousand bits worth of outfit?”
Lucky winced. “Probably… two thousand. There’s this popular designer… if you aren’t wearing her stuff, you don’t get in. And that’s… what she charges.”
“Two thousand bits.” Lightning Dust shook her head. “Lucky, sweetheart. I make five hundred bits a month. Most apprentices make half of that. You’ll be saving for a year just to get through the door.”
“I could rob a bank,” Lucky said, though she wasn’t looking at a bank. She looked up at the painting, where she knew Lightning Dust kept their stash of emergency funds. Half of what she earned each month went behind that painting, ready to fund their flight across the country and settling somewhere new if they were ever discovered.
“Absolutely not.” Mom rose with a sudden jerk, gathered both of their plates, and made her way to the sink. “Lucky, I’m under investigation right now after your cutie mark… adventure. We might have to fly tomorrow. Even if nothing happens, you’re trying to get the attention of a princess. We went over that, remember?” Dust turned around to face her again. Her expression was sympathetic at least. “I know how much you want to get in. But if you want to find a way through that door, you’ll just have to save up on your own.”
Lucky grumbled, scratching at the ground in frustration. “I could apprentice with you.”
“No!” Lightning Dust answered, her voice a sudden, worried shout. “No. Where I work is…” She shook her head. “No, sweetheart. You can work in the city. There are lots of places that will hire a smart pony like you. Maybe you could do something with old words, or numbers, or…”
Or I could write back to the college and let them accept me. They’d given her a full ride—though apparently every new student got that. Maybe when I graduate I’ll be legitimate, and I can just ask a princess to come with me.
Lucky Break could do that, but it might take years. She could also take matters into her own hooves right now.
She started looking around the Crystal Empire for work. There was plenty of it—it was about as easy to find as it had been back on Earth so long as you didn’t care how little you were paid or how demeaning the labor. Almost everywhere wanted a two-year commitment from her, or wanted her to quit school, or both. Lucky wasn’t willing to give either, and so she kept looking for an opportunity.
That opportunity came another week or so later, when Lightning Dust was called away on a “business trip.” Dust didn’t say exactly what the trip involved, just that she was going to be gone for three days, and that Lucky was to “stay out of trouble” until she got back from Canterlot.
Lucky Break promised she would, of course. But she was lying. She had every intention of getting into a great deal of trouble.
The old painting had been in the apartment when they moved in, depicting a badly-drawn landscape probably painted by an apprentice honing their craft. Lucky lowered it carefully to the ground about two hours after waving goodbye to Dust, careful to leave no visible marks that it’d been changed.
With any luck, I’ll have most of the bits back up here before Dust gets back. She’ll never be the wiser.
It wasn’t the worst plan she’d ever come up with. Dresses by Silver Hem could be returned if you had a good reason. Even if she couldn’t come up with something, she could always sell it to someone else. And even if that didn’t work, making a new discovery was sure to make Princess Flurry Heart willing to help spot her a few bits.
Lucky got herself an appointment with Silver Hem later that afternoon. The dress didn’t have to be original, so it wouldn’t take long, just an hour or so for a fitting. By that evening, she was ready for phase two.
Pony rites about adulthood were strange things. She didn’t feel any bigger than she’d been before her cutie mark, but that didn’t matter. Showing it (and paying the cover charge of 200 more stolen bits) was the only proof of adulthood Lucky needed to get into the Diamond Lounge.
Lucky had never been anywhere like this—not during either of her lifetimes.
The Diamond Lounge had two floors, a lower dance floor and stage with a bar, and upper balconies for those too important to be seen walking around with ordinary ponies.
Lucky found she was one of the youngest ponies in the room, the least interesting to mares and stallions alike, despite her correct assessment of the popular fashion.
But for all that, the music coming from the stage was bland classical quartet. Wealthy young ponies enjoyed incredibly small plates and alcohol in delicate crystal glasses.
Lucky shuffled her way to the bar, feeling all her confidence from her fancy dress drain away as she realized she was barely even tall enough to reach the counter. I can’t give up now. I might not be able to get my bits back. This is my only chance.
She still had her guitar, slung across her back about as gracefully as a piece of luggage. At least the black carbon fiber of the collapsible instrument drew some interested looks from the ponies around the room.
“Excuse me,” she said, to the stallion behind the bar. Older than most of the ponies in here, with unusually red eyes. “Tonight’s one of the nights you allow outside talent on the stage, right?”
Lucky might not be rich, but she could imitate the way rich ponies talked with great skill. She copied their inflections, their intonations, the occasional word of Mundus Eoch to add flare. She probably sounded better than most of them did.
“Talent,” he repeated, not matching the same high-class tone of the rest of the ponies all around them at all. If anything, he sounded like Dust. “Sure is. You can hear how well that is working out tonight. You look like a pony who has something interesting.”
“I do,” she said, standing as tall as she could. It didn’t really help—she felt like a fraud. Lightning Dust had made her a strong flyer, but she hadn’t taught her anything about high society. Everything Lucky Break knew about these ponies either came from books, rumors, or the newspaper.
Lucky tapped the side of her guitar with one wing. “Nobody in this room has heard anything like it.”
Not a difficult promise to keep. Pony guitars had only four strings, and were another orchestral instrument. Even her cutie mark didn’t look quite right. Well it’s wrong in lots of ways. It should be about languages.
The barkeep only laughed. “I won’t hold you to that promise, sweetheart.” He leaned closer to her conspiratorially, passing a short glass across the table. Something green glowed from within, very faintly. Lots of ponies were drinking them.
“O-oh, I don’t…” She didn’t want to say: ‘don’t have the money to pay for that’, though it was true. Lucky still had a few hundred bits left over, but she’d need them to outfit them for their expedition into the unknown. Unless I want to try and pawn off my armor. Olivia would be thrilled I did that.
“No charge,” he insisted, levitating the glass to the edge of the table. Stupid unicorns and their cheating powers.
“I’ll get you one song. Make it good—these aren’t the sort of ponies you want thinking you’re boring. Or you’ll never play anywhere worth playing.”
He leaned closer, so close she could smell his breath. He spoke in a low whisper. “Once embarked upon, this chain of causality collapses the wave one way or the other. Are you prepared for the consequences?”
She blinked, her mouth hanging open. “W-what are you.”
“Please.” He straightened, grinning an obviously-forced smile at her. “Drink it all, Lucky Break. I’ll have someone get back to you with your time.”
“How did you…” She clutched at the glass with one hoof. “How did you know my name?”
“Lucky guess.” He winked, then vanished behind the bar.
The drink he’d given her wasn’t alcohol, at least not anything like what she had tasted before. It was one of the most disgusting, repulsive things she’d ever had—worse than the vegetarian burrito flavor of dried food supplement (her previous winner of worst-tasting thing). Grass was better.
But she finished the glass, as instructed. And as the moments passed, she started to feel a bit better. Less nervous about her set to come. I made it onto an alien world, I can handle one song. How hard can it be to impress a princess?
Lucky Break stepped out onto the empty stage, shifting uncomfortably in her powder-blue dress. The slight chime of the gemstones sewn into its several layers was the only sound—aside from a few hushed whispers from all around the room.
She couldn’t really make any of them out, but Lucky found that she didn’t care what they said. I must be drunk. Tiny body, never had alcohol before… it’s liquid courage. But if Lucky Break was drunk, she didn’t feel it. She didn’t fall over, didn’t sway, and didn’t seem to be moving more sluggishly than anypony else.
She didn’t even care that this plan was monumentally stupid. Her family was at risk, and here she was throwing all their money away so she could maybe impress a princess and maybe have a private moment to recruit her to join in an archeological expedition? How stupid was she?
One of her wings started to shake, and she resisted the urge to start preening it in front of everyone. These were mostly unicorns and crystal ponies—they wouldn’t understand. Even the ones with wings would scoff at the equivalent of chewing her fingernails in public.
Lucky stepped right out onto the edge of the stage, and dramatically expanded the guitar. Gears turned quickly, and the head expanded to full size. I wish this thing was electric. I could play Johnny B Good and go back to the future.
The joke was on them—Lucky was already very far into the future. No way of telling how much, but… quite a bit further than 2015.
From the front of the stage, Lucky could get her first good look at the balconies. There, in the largest center box, was the princess.
She’d heard ponies (even her mom) describe time with princesses with words like reverence and awe. For them, meeting the princesses was a religious experience. That seemed true about Flurry Heart, because she was alone in her box. There were no friends sitting with her—not even a guard. She looked monumentally bored, barely even watching the stage at all.
This is my chance. Lucky looked right up at her, holding up the guitar with one wing. “My name is Lucky,” she said. “And this song is for the princess.”
She started playing. The whispering stopped. The giggles stopped, and everyone listened.
The Diamond Lounge got the best musicians who passed through the Crystal Empire, and many of them had musical cutie marks. Lucky Break wasn’t in any way unique in that respect. But she was the only one with a human instrument, and whole musical styles that Equestria had no names for. Lucky Break was not better than the other musicians these ponies had heard, but she was different.
Lucky lost herself in the music. Apparently, the audience did too, because she wasn’t asked to leave the stage after one song. The dance floor filled with ponies, trying (and failing) to adapt the slow formality of their dances to melodies that were far too upbeat for them.
By the time she did finish playing, the Diamond Lounge had been closed for over an hour and the stage was littered with the things rich ponies had thrown at her hooves.
The exhaustion hit her like a bag of concrete, and Lucky found it was suddenly difficult to stand. No. Focus. I can’t waste this chance. Lucky hadn’t been watching very many of the ponies in the club—though she was attentive to their reactions as she moved through the songs she knew.
The princess was still there, not looking the least bit tired—though now that the lights were on and the haze had cleared, Lucky could see that she really wasn’t that much older than herself. She leaned over the edge of the box, gesturing once with a hoof. It was all the leave Lucky needed.
As she made to leave the stage, she stepped on one of the little rocks the audience had thrown towards her. She whimpered, pulling back her hoof and holding it up to inspect the damage. Had the ponies been throwing glass at her?
Her eyes widened as the thumb-sized diamond caught the light, sparkling snowy white. The ponies hadn’t given her bits, they’d given her gems.
“Excuse me, Mr.…” She trailed off awkwardly, meeting the barkeep’s eyes. “I don’t have any pockets. Could I get, like… a bag or something?” She looked down at the stage. “For all this?”
“Certainly,” he said, grinning at her. “I’ll take care of it. You should focus on the princess.”
Lucky nodded appreciatively, collapsing her guitar back into its storage size, before slinging it back over her shoulder and heading towards the stairs. The bouncers were still there—instead of stopping her, one of them asked for her autograph.
Most of the boxes were as empty as the dance floor, save for the most important. Lucky ducked through an open doorway, and was suddenly before the princess.
I’m almost there. Don’t fall asleep now.
Flurry Heart was like a pegasus, and not. Her wings were wider, fuller. Her body was leaner, taller, her horn twice as long as other unicorns their age. She was probably only a few centimeters taller than Lucky. At least, she would’ve been if she were standing. Flurry Heart was reclining on a large, comfortable sofa, big enough for several ponies. She was still alone.
Lucky Break stood in front of it, bowing as she had seen other ponies do. It was probably slow with her tiredness, and far more awkward.
Flurry Heart’s expression changed to annoyance before she’d even inclined her head more than a degree. “No, no. Don’t do that, Lucky. Nopony who can play music like you should bow to me. That’s my mom’s thing. I’d rather just talk.”
Lucky straightened, sitting down on her haunches. That way she’d be as close to eye-level with the young princess as she could be.
“That’s better. Why haven’t I heard of you before, Lucky?”
She shook her head. “Honestly I don’t perform very often. Most ponies probably haven’t heard of me.”
“I hadn’t heard your songs either,” she said. “It’s the same boring stuff every night up here. Ponies pretending to enjoy songs written before anypony was born. Just what kind of music was it?”
“Lots of kinds,” she answered honestly. “Rock, Country, R&B… turns out you can do a lot with a guitar.”
The princess looked unimpressed. “What brings a sophisticated act like yours out of Canterlot? I don’t know what they paid you, but I bet you could make… twice as much down there. More.”
“They didn’t pay me,” she said. “The patrons gave me some, though. I dunno how much yet… I didn’t get a good look at it.” It was probably worth more than she’d ever seen in one place. But saying that wouldn’t help her. “I have to be honest with you, princess. I’m not here to play music. The Crystal Empire is…” She imitated Flurry Heart’s own unamused tone. “Like you said. It’s very pretty, but not much going on. But there are other reasons to visit.”
“Really?” She sat up, rolling her eyes. “I haven’t found any.”
Lucky Break rose to her hooves, stepping a little closer to where the princess reclined. “Did you know that there are forbidden places a day’s flying north of the Crystal Empire, Princess? Places where nopony has ever gone before?”
Her face lit up, even brighter than it had during the music. Her perfect posture broke down and she leaned forward, intense. “There isn’t anything up there. Just snow and ice too cold to live in. Unless you’re talking about the yaks, but those are so far west.”
Just don’t think about how this has absolutely nothing to do with music, and everything will be great.
“Not the yaks.” Lucky reached into the folds of her dress, removing the map she’d stashed there. It was well-worn from the last trip up above the boundary, with numerous additions she had penned on their way out. They described land-formations they had seen, which they’d used to find their way back to Equestria. That, or find their way back to the door.
She felt the princess take the map in her magic grip, and she let go, retreating a little as she inspected it. Flurry Heart was standing on the cushion now, all semblance of royal decorum gone. “Where’d you get this? This language… it looks really old.”
“It’s a lost language,” she said. “I’m the only pony in Equestria who speaks it.” The Forerunner and its crew were south of Equestria’s borders, so still technically true. “Some of my singing tonight used it. It’s called English.”
“It’s just like Daring Do…” Flurry Heart muttered, setting the map down on the sofa beside her. Her tail had begun to twitch back and forth eagerly. Her excitement was contagious—Lucky could feel it too. It was almost enough for her to stop feeling tired. “And nopony knows about this? Not even my mom?”
“As far as I know,” she said, avoiding her eyes. “If any princess but you knew about this, wouldn’t they have already sent an expedition? But I looked in every library in the city—none of them mention it.”
“Lost Temple of the English,” Flurry Heart muttered, a grin spreading across her face. “So… what, you came here to pass the time? While you… explore the ruins? You must be a talented explorer… and being a musician would give you a great cover to speak with all the ponies who matter. Even Mom would let you into the castle if you played like you did tonight.”
“I am a very experienced explorer,” she said, with perfect conviction now. There was no need to lie, even if the rest of what Flurry Heart had invented was ridiculous. Hadn’t she noticed just how small Lucky was? Maybe the dress made her look older. But if she hadn’t figured it out, Lucky wasn’t about to say anything. “Nopony you have ever met has traveled further than I have. Now that Daring Do is retired…”
She straightened, making to tip an invisible hat. “I’m sure a princess like you is far too busy to leave the castle. Maybe I could… visit again, when I return from my adventure.”
“No.” Flurry Heart hopped to the ground. “Aunt Twilight used to go on adventures all the time. Even Mom had a few. You might get to this English place, only to find you need a princess for something! You should probably take me.”
Not an order. Lucky lowered her head again, but not enough to count as a bow. “That’s a great idea, princess! But…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “It has to be a secret. If anypony found out, they might want to go instead, and not let you come. You know how adults are. Everything’s too dangerous. But it’s just a day’s flight north! You can fly great, can’t you Princess?”
“Yes.” She nodded, grinning back. “I’m very good at keeping secrets, Lucky. That’s one of the first things a princess has to learn.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.034 seconds
Total duration
943 users online
216,303 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
New chapter when new mlp s7 episode on aired ?
So cruel
Well, that isn't ominous in the slightest.
It seems Melody is far more patient and nice than I thought, and Lucky is likewise more rebellious. Good chapter Star!
Played her. Like. A fiddle.
Or, you know, a guitar, in this case.
I seriously think there is a big conspiracy here, and the princesses ARE involved. I always liked the idea Equestria's fairy tale veneer was held up by lots of shadowy doings and the princesses are the heads of the legit and shadow government. An secret society dedicated to discovering things most ponies never question, like what came before and what is in the hostile parts of the world is an idea I like.
Older Flurry Heart wants to become a Princess Who Does Stuff. Not surprising. There's a reason Cadance was so happy with the outcome of Three's a Crowd.
8389288
Either he's part of the Illumareati, or Discord. Probably the latter considering the chaos around lucky.
8389307
Question is, who's playing who? Like Flurry said, keeping secrets is the first thing a princess has to learn.
Oh man, really can't wait till the next chapter now. Things are getting really interesting on Lucky's end. Her plan worked beautifully
oh flurry, darling, you just got played SO hard.
Translation: "prepare for unforeseen consequences" ©G-Man.
8389288
Vortigaunts in Equestria?
Awesome story.
Keep going !!
You write well.
I almost feel sorry for how easily Flurry Heart was manipulated. Then again, she is going to get the adventure she wants, so it's not like she isn't getting anything out of it. In fact, what she helps discover will be greater than anything Daring do did, so it's a win-win.
Yeah right, especially Celestia
But wait, why the barkeeper knows her name ?
That's some "The Matrix has you" level shit right there.
That barkeep is TOTALLY Discord. He has 'unusually red eyes', after all.
8389396
heh if that's who I think it is, there is only one being on that ringworld that thinks in probabilities
So Celestia is actively keeping the secret hidden, Discord and Twilight are trying to help Lucky, Flurry Heart knows about the secret to some extent, Cadence is likely in the same boat as Twilight, and Luna is nowhere to be found.
Ah, Discord; we can always count on you to be both entertaining, and effortlessly ominous.
Just put the diamonds in the safe and tell Lightning that they've been in the Crystal Empire so long that the money "went native".
Hooray for kid's(or teen) gullibility! Also, Flurry Heart is a few year younger(Biologically) than Lucky right? Damn, Flurry is bloody tall even when she's younger, alicorn gene work fast.
Lucky's well on track for alicornhood then...
Seriously though, she's being tracked by Discord (or whoever), who seems to know something about what lies in her future, Twilight pointed her in the direction of this thing in the same kind of manner as Celestia pointing Twilight at her challenges, and now she's convinced Flurry to accompany her. Maybe the world needs an alicorn of humans to integrate the newcomers?
Liking this story. And where it seems to be going.
Also:
Flurry Heart was like putty in Lucky's hooves.
8389288
I can't help but feel that this refers to not just Lucky's adventure as a whole, but also in the more immediate sense in terms of her relationship with Lightning. That is to say, that despite her apparent success and the likelihood that she'll be able to recoup the financial loss of the dress, Lightning will find out and there will be some sort of repercussions. That stresses me out a little bit.
8389470
Diamond Dogs most likely will be involved, taking either Flurry Heart, Lucky, or Dust as a hostage. As for how they would detain alicorn that almost destroyed Equestria multiple times?.. I dunno, with some Daring Do-level super-suppressor artifacts or something.
It occurred to me that if the theory that the ring was built by future humans is correct, then rather than being a stand-in representing an alien language, Esperanto could actually be what the Equestrians are speaking, or some language descended from it. A spacefaring civilization would have great use for a standardized language, and Esperanto would make a likely candidate.
Wow. James II is very forgiving. True, Deadlight's escape attempt amounted to little even injury-wise thanks to his enhanced skull, but I would have at least guilt-tripped him for cold-cocking me. James must have it bad for Deadlight.
Anyway, that was most satisfying conclusion and I look forward to his (and our) tour of the city.
Plus James I is right on track to make some proper trouble so there is much to anticipate.
8389454
Dear god please do this.
Wouldn't it be funny if you had to use English to open the door, and the orignal language of the ring was english?
Oh, I am absolutely sure that nothing bad will come of Lucky's theft. Nothing bad whatsoever. In a similar vein, her adventure with Flurry will go just as planned and there will be no surprises. Also, Melody shows Deadlight around without any incident and none of the other crew members has even the slightest objection to this. Yes, that's exactly how the next chapter will go, I'm sure of it.
I wonder what Discord's interest is in all this. He seems to be on Lucky's side ... though probably for his own inscrutable reasons.
8389575
I'm totally not lying to you right now.
Can confirm 100% true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5cqyQWRUKw
8389596
Dude spiked her drink with something, spiked everyone's drink. Or maybe it's some magic that lets you drink booze without getting sloshed or some crap. Doubt it, though.
8389603
The Poe's law is 2 powerful 4 me.
I KNEW IT! The Intergalatic British Empire was responsible for all of this!
Lightning Dust is going to be astounded at the amount of sheer wealth that Lucky Break is bringing back... Although the first thing she will think is that Lucky actually DID rob a bank.
Being an alicorn means keeping secrets huh? Xp
The plot thickens. C.f.
Told ya he wouldn't have a chance if breaking out, he couldn't even get past the door!
8389388
Not played. Recruited. Lucky hasn't lied to her or asked for anything really.
Nice to have some more bits. Maybe she can keep the dress?
Okay, before I really read this story, I need to know. What's with the chapter naming scheme?
8389710
there are different generations of colonists, each labeled with a version number.
8389715
So, the original character only has three chapters?
8389719
no, more characters get added, but the original generations remain.
8389723
Ah, so the different titles are just introducing new characters/points of view. Okay, I'll find out which soon enough. Thanks!
8389731
of course not all of them introduce new characters, it might represent recalculations by the main probe.
8389739
Still, "new people"
Nice
8389481
Lucky would have recognized any similarities between equish and earth languages. Apparently it's very different.
8389288
8389470
With how ominous that sounds, I think it means really large scale things. Like the secrets of the ringworld getting revealed.
Discord
I wonder how he is connected to the ancients that constructed the ring and just how much he knows.
I would think Cadance would try to do something so Flurry wouldn't be so bored. She had adventures, her sister-in-law had adventures, Celestia and Luna had adventures; it would hazard a guess that Flurry will also want some dangerous excitement.
8389481
Not if this is hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years, in the future. As could be the case. The language deviation in that time is so great that the only true similarities would be that the human brain can still learn it.