Pretend There is Door! I Just Slammed It.
Three days had passed, three days of healing for Twilight Sparkle. Her appetite was a little better at least, and she was sleeping regularly. She even helped de-excavate the plot hole she’d created, blushing the whole way as they returned the dirt to its tunnel, and the books to their boxes. Things were definitely different in the wake of Twilight’s overthrow, and the Bearers were mostly agreed that Twilight was at least less... fragile this way.
In theory, Harmonizing would send the Travellers through the Rift, but with most of the Travellers willing to return, they could just walk through the thing, once it expanded into a Portal in their proximity. Plus ponies were worried whether there might be further consequences to a powerful magic shoving ponies through an interdimensional portal at high velocities. The role of the Elements it was decided would be to attempt to surround the area in a Harmonic field, allowing for the containment shell to be safely removed, preventing the naked Rift from moving, and preventing any further spatial anomalies, or Void incursions.
What had been thought a massive influx of Void monsters turned out to be nothing more than a bunch of very confused and recently transformed human beings. They universally chose to be sedated for the return trip, with a spell to knock them out for a brief period of time. Twilight Sparkle could certainly understand why. Her and Rainbow Dash’s brief experience with the... process had been excruciating, to say the least.
She hadn’t told any of the humans about the linguistic difficulties they may face as a consequence of this. Hopefully with the process completed smoothly in reverse, they wouldn’t even notice any drop in reading ability. Twilight herself was... recovering, definitely recovering, but it was a long and frustrating process. Her attempts to study alternatives to returning Rosy home were infuriatingly difficult for her to pursue, with Twilight constantly having to cross reference books on language that she should already have known.
The only hitch with this plan was the Elements of Harmony themselves. They were invariably very... overwhelming to use, so Twilight and the others would be unable to concentrate on or perceive much else while maintaining Harmony around the Rift. Twilight was fairly sure she could count down from 12 minutes though, which should be sufficient to get the bunch of pedestrians and researchers sedated and gently returned back through the portal to the world where they belonged.
But Twilight wouldn’t be able to see it happen. She had to stick to her role, and trust the princesses, the real princesses, could handle getting the human ponies through the portal. It felt... right to do so. She stood with her friends, in a hexagon around the new Rift site in the center of Ponyville. Some ponies looked on fearfully from windows, but the streets were empty. Science ponies surrounded the silvery egg, ready to try a controlled release. The guards stood alongside the human ponies, ready to put each of them to sleep and gently ease them through the portal.
Closing her eyes, Twilight sought out her friends. She felt Laughter, Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, and Generosity touch her heart one by one, as the power lifted them from the bonds of the earth, and she felt her hooves leave the floor. The power of Friendship called to her like an old companion now. It seemed like they’d barely met. Had it really been almost two decades?
Together, they released the magic of Friendship, and Twilight opened her eyes to brilliant white. She began quietly counting down. “BTQ, BDW, BDX...”
After about a minute of this, Magic felt the spirit of Laughter dancing around her own. “We’ve never used the Elements this long before, huh Twilight?” it sang.
“Can’t talk much Pinkie, BFB, BFQ... gotta keep counting down, BVW...” she replied distractedly.
“Roger dodger,” the spirit told her cheerfully. “I’m gonna go bug Fluttershy!”
Magic had to smile inwardly. She knew Laughter would never let Kindness feel used or neglected. Everything was gonna be okay.
“This is so weird,” Honesty told Magic coming to her in a disoriented fashion, “It’s like I’m flying but not flying. Where even is this place?”
10 minutes to go. “BQQ, WW, it’s not a place I think,” Magic replied, “But our hearts as one. WK, WG, sorry I’m busy counting, WJ...”
“Thanks Twi,” Honesty replied, “I know you won’t let us down.”
“Give her some space now,” Loyalty said cautioningly to the mercurial Honesty, “We don’t have no other way to know how long we been this way.”
Magic tuned them out then, happily counting down, trusting in her friends to take care of each other. It was as Honesty said, a strange experience stretching the use of the Elements out so long. Magic didn’t even feel like herself, like this. She felt... simpler. Her worries were limited to a simple count that was nearing its end.
“200 seconds, girls!” she declared, “BX, BY...” It wasn’t long before Magic had finished her countdown. “Alright, that should be it!” she sang to them.
“Oh good, so I can talk to you now?” Laughter chirrupped delightedly.
“About what?” Magic asked, admittedly curious.
“I dunno,” Laughter replied, “But I think Fluttershy has something she wanted to say.”
“I’m sorry,” Kindness told Magic serenely. “What I said to you wasn’t very nice at all. I felt like I had no choice, but I think we both get that wrong sometimes.”
“It needed to be said,” Magic replied gravely, “I need to ask myself those hard questions, and I might not be ready just yet, but I’m so glad to have a friend who can help me face them.”
“We all could have helped you more,” Generosity said with a ringing note of regret, “But what’s done is done. All we can do now is move forward, and be the better pony in the future.”
“I still say it weren’t all your fault, Twi,” Loyalty told Magic, “I ain’t denying you did wrong, but we all gotta own up to our part in this.”
“Please don’t deny where you were at fault,” Generosity pleaded, “But please don’t deny where you weren’t at fault.”
“We have to deal with what we get,” Honesty agreed, “You couldn’t have been any nicer to Rosy because you’re you, and you did exactly what Twilight Sparkle would do. And now you’ll do the right thing, because that’s who you are too.”
Loyalty smiled, and there wasn’t much that needed to be said that hadn’t already been said. She was calm about the situation, and it finally felt like they were coming together again as friends.
“C’mon, I wanna see everypony cheering already!” Laughter whined, “Are we ready to wake up or not?”
“It can’t hurt to give a few extra minutes, Pinkie,” Magic told her patiently, “And we’re not asleep right now, I don’t think. But yes, I do think it’s about time we ended this and took stock of the situation.”
“See you on the flip side!” Honesty said, pulling back to herself. The others pulled back smoothly in tune with each other, impossible not to really, because the imbalance would only pull you faster to correct it. Everypony had to be in agreement together to keep this Harmony alive. Together they started it, so together they finished it, and once again Twilight Sparkle felt her hooves come gently to rest on the earth. Also, she felt she had hooves again.
The light faded from her vision, as the sounds of ponies all around her arguing as one greeted her ears. She smiled and—wait, what? Arguing?
Twilight blinked the magic out of her eyes, as ponies were scrambling to and fro, shouting at each other in alarm. Her eyes snapped to the Rift which was... sealed up neatly in a silver egg, with ponies all around it carefully layering its surface in protection spells. Huh, that wasn’t a problem...
“You need us to go longer?” Rainbow Dash asked, worriedly hovering up from where she’d stood with the others.
“No need, the crisis has passed,” Princess Celestia told her, much to Twilight’s relief.
“Unfortunately, we could not get the Rift to open,” Princess Luna said gravely, much to Twilight’s stark horror. Half the ponies yelling she realized, were all ponies who did not yet know how to walk. Some were even crying, and not just the young ones.
“Why not?!” Twilight squawked in flustered alarm, “They’re all Travellers! As of literally three days ago! It should recognize them!”
“We’re not sure,” Luna replied cautiously, “The Trottingdale researchers have some hypotheses, but it seems yet a quite vexing situation.”
“What sort of hypotheses?” Twilight asked, frowning skeptically.
“We suspect,” a familiar dusky blue stallion said, stepping forward, “That their timelines may be crosslinked.”
“Dr. Harness,” Twilight said, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Dr. Sparkle,” he replied with a raised eyebrow on his ruggedly handsome expression.
“Dr. Sparkle?” Twilight said, taken aback a step at that.
“A bit unconventionally, but I did read your dissertation on Harmonic Elements,” he replied casually, “The princesses did just say that you were no longer a princess, right?”
“Well I, it’s just,” Twilight replied, flustered enough that her nervous wings spread beside her. “I suppose technically I am a... what did you... think of it?”
“Think of what?”
“My dissertation?” Twilight said meekly.
“Brilliant, if unimaginative,” he replied, unimpressed, “But I think there’s something more important going on right now.”
“Unimagi—!” Twilight clenched her teeth, “Fine. You said the timelines were... crosslinked? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“You don’t know?” he asked, his confidence slipping in honest confusion.
“I’m kind of rusty on some of my...” Twilight winced, “...terminology. I’m sure I’m familiar with the concept.”
“A crosslinking is like a tethering, or binding of fates,” he explained, and Twilight now knew exactly what he was talking about, but she remained silent out of politeness. “Think of it like a net, pulled through the Rift, and these poor ponies are caught in it. We could return them by feeding the net back through the hole, but... suffice to say there’s a rather stubborn fish who won’t approach the portal under any circumstances, keeping the net pulled tight.”
Veritably glowering at Twilight, he said, “And until Rosy Pink is found, nopony is going to be able to pass through the Rift, at least... not in the direction you want them to go. It’s been destabilized and inflamed, broken its tether on our earth, and hooked ever more irrevocably to that mare you can’t find.”
“Well maybe we shouldn’t... find her?” Twilight said trying to smile despite her dread, “There may be other ways to close the Rift.”
“I’m afraid that ship has sailed!” he exclaimed, strutting away in aggravation, “I don’t see how you could seal this Rift at this point unless you can find her, bring her here, return her home, then return everypony else, in the order that they arrived.”
“But she doesn’t want—”
Twilight’s words caught in her throat. She knew what she was going to say, but he looked at her judgementally, and... and it tasted bad. It tasted bad and she felt bad, and she was desperate to find some other way to get away. Twilight just stepped one hoof before another, backing away from the other... the o-other doctor. “Let me check my notes,” she said tightly. Without another word, Twilight Sparkle galloped away as fast as she could go.
“Twi? Wait!” called a distant farmpony’s voice behind her. This time however, they all followed her.
In her warm, wooden library, Twilight Sparkle levitated book after book, flipping through one and discarding it before flipping through another. “Something, something, there’s gotta be something, she muttered fretfully, while her poor dragon assistant tried to navigate the storm of books to pick up the ones that had fallen. “What’s going on, Twilight?” he asked at her sudden hurry. Even Whatnot was poking her purple maned head in curiously at Twilight’s sudden urgency.
The other 11 ran into the library then, headed by Applejack who charged into Twilight’s reading room, exclaiming, “Hold on now, Twi!”
Twilight stopped, staring through the array of books floating frozen in the air at her friends clustering in through the doorway.
“Please, let us help you,” Rarity said, “This is not your burden to bear, alone.”
“Yeah, can you even read those?” Rainbow Dash asked critically, “We’re not as smart as you, but we can.”
“Ah ain’t so much of a book learner,” Applejack said, “But ah’ll be bucked if’n I don’t try. You’re doin’ the right thing in tryin’ to save Rosy, Twi. And this time ah mean it.”
“I don’t know how much help I can be,” Fluttershy said fussily, “But I won’t just stand by while you hurt yourself to save us all. I won’t!” she stomped.
“There’s gotta be something we can do,” Pinkie declared, “What kinda books do you need?”
Laying her book swarm in neat stacks on the floor, Twilight felt an almost unfamiliar warmth rise in her heart, as a small smile graced her face. “Thank you so much, all of you,” the lilac not-princess said, “I couldn’t have asked for better friends.”
She glanced between her friends, quickly summing up the situation. “I could use your help,” Twilight concluded with a nod, “Three of you could help me directly. Rainbow Dash, I need you to search my library for any otherworldly tales, preferably old, preferably journals.”
“Anything specific?” Dash asked.
“No, just whatever catches your eye,” Twilight said frankly, “Anything at all that could possibly help.” She looked at Pinkie Pie then, saying, “That’s where I need your help. I need you to look at the books Rainbow Dash collects, and pick out the right ones.”
“The right ones?” Pinkie asked, cocking her head.
“Yes, the ones that have what we’re looking for,” Twilight replied.
“What are we looking for?” Pinkie asked curiously.
“I have no idea!” Twilight replied cheerfully.
“Oh, okay then!” Pinkie said equally cheerfully.
A pause, and Twilight trotted up to a confused Rarity saying, “And you are going to help me read them. You and Whatnot, that is. Assist her however you can, to try and help me understand any words I may still have mixed up. And to... try to keep me down to earth in case I get stuck on some... crazy idea again.”
“An’ what about me and Fluttershah?” Applejack asked, “We ain’t exactly the best with books when it comes down to it. You need some refreshments, maybe?”
“Spike can handle snacks,” Twilight said hopefully, “Right, Spike?”
“R-right!” the little drake declared in surprise, saluting. “When you chose everypony else, I thought there for a minute that I was not chose.”
“Ooh yes, those would be perfect,” Twilight told the subsequently confused dragon, “Make them with extra salsa.” Then she smiled at Applejack saying, “You and Fluttershy have to help me, by helping ponies for me.”
Twilight’s smile tinged with sadness as she said, “I made a... mistake, that inadvertently got a lot of ponies hurt, and a lot of humans stranded far from home. I need you to help those ponies with... what happened to them, and what they... are now.” Twilight continued to face the orange furred farmer, saying, “Applejack, you knew Rosy Pink better than any of us. I think you have the best chance out of all of us to understand what the humans are going through.”
When Applejack nodded, Twilight turned to Fluttershy, saying, “I know you don’t like strangers, but I know you can push past that and help the poni—humans that need it. You saw through... everything that had shrouded Rosy Pink in a veil of fear and distrust. I need you to be there, to make sure they’re treated with as much... kindness as we can give.”
Twilight shook her head, sighing shakily. “It’s still hard looking at them and knowing what they... what they are, underneath that pony veneer. They seem so much like us, yet... well, it’s not my place any longer, to judge what risk they pose to the future of Equestria. I’m just glad you two can... save me from having to interact with them. If they mentioned fanart I don’t think I could... right, sorry. What I mean to say is, even if you’re not physically here, I’m truly grateful that you’re here to help me.”
“Ah understand, Twi,” Applejack said looking at Fluttershy and getting a subtle nod, “An’ Flutters does too. We’ll be with you in spirit, so good luck studying, but you leave the humans to us, y’hear?”
“Okay I found a bunch of books!” said a giant pile of books as it flew through the air into the reading room. “Where do you want ‘em?”
“Looks like that’s our cue,” Twilight said, casting a sorting spell that tugged the books out of Rainbow Dash’s arms and into neat piles arranged alphabetically, “Good luck to you two as well. Maybe we can finally end this here and n—” Twilight fell silent, then glanced around nervously. She shifted on her forehooves, before saying shakily, “I mean, m-maybe we can wait and see what we find, whether we end this here and now, or... sometime later.”
“Yee-haw!” Applejack cried triumphantly, rearing up and charging out of the library.
Sometime later, a few minutes perhaps, Fluttershy crept out from the library as well and went fluttering over the rooftops in a beeline for the medical tent. It was really more of a refugee tent at this point. The medical equipment had been removed and the cots and stretchers were taken away. Everypony present seemed unharmed, physically at least.
“The Tartarus is wrong with me...” a tear stricken foal was saying as Fluttershy poked on in. Applejack had already arrived, and was surrounded by a crowd. It looked like she had her hooves full with the questions they were firing her way, but this foal it seemed was more concerned with her own crying than asking questions. Fluttershy could deal with this little adorable foal at least. Foals were really not very intimidating, no matter how cutely they spoke of the darkest, deepest dungeon beyond the gates of life and death.
“Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy said, walking up to the foal, “Are you okay?”
It was a brick red filly with soft purple hair, a unicorn it looked like. “Of course I’m okay,” she said bitterly, “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m a cute little pony just like you, a cute little girl at that, and we can’t go back because the portal is broken, and I never even asked for this. I was just a technician! I just work on equipment, and I don’t even know the show and—” she choked back a sob, saying, “A-and I’m not just a pony but a little girl pony, and I can’t stop crying for no good reason!”
Fluttershy reached out a hoof, but the filly shied away from it, and Fluttershy could certainly understand the feeling. “I’m sorry if you’re feeling hurt right now,” she told the filly, keeping her hoof to herself. “I’m not sure what I have to offer you though. I can’t open the portal any more than you can. What you saw was the best me or my friends can do.”
The filly sniffled, but at least wasn’t crying anymore. “You’re one of the special ponies,” she said in vague realization, “They told us to watch the show but I didn’t believe it. I was just there to keep the equipment running. I don’t even know who you are, just that that rainbow shield you made was just... amazing.”
“Well, I’m Fluttershy,” Fluttershy said with a smile, “And it’s true, most ponies recognize me. I really do have some amazing friends. But it is nice to be able to introduce myself once in a while. May I ask what your name is?”
“M-martin,” the filly replied, “Martin Shomaker. T-the nurse said my first name translated, whatever that means.
“I don’t know precisely how it works,” Fluttershy admitted, “But a martin is a small, furbearing mammal, a relative of the otter or weasel. I don’t know what a sh—shemecker is.”
“It’s supposed to mean a shoe... maker,” Martin replied, “But now that I think of it, it doesn’t sound anything like the words shoe and maker. Most people’s names didn’t translate, they said. I guess that means...” She crossed her eyes looking at her own snout as she said, “You really do speak a different language? What am I speaking, then?”
“Equish, as far as I know,” Fluttershy replied, “It’s a very common language throughout Equestria, though there are a few provinces who still speak a second language from another land.”
“To me it just sounds like Equish, but...” the filly trailed off in sudden shock. “Equish E-quish. I can’t even...” and then she started tearing up again! She whined in distress, “I can’t even say the word Equish anymore. I d-don’t remember it! What happened to us? Th-this is...”
“It’s okay, come here just...” Fluttershy started, aiming to hug the filly, but the filly planted her hooves and shouted,
“No, it’s not! Shut up! I’m not a–a kid I’m a g-grown man!”
“Well, you know, I’m not a little kid-pony,” Fluttershy suggested, “But even so. I really do appreciate hugs when I’m feeling sad. You’re right that it’s not okay what happened to you, but it’s okay to be a foal if you are one, and it’s okay if you need to cry about it, even if you’re a...”
While Fluttershy found herself smothered in the tight death grip of a desperate hug, Applejack in the meantime was having one heck of a mean time fielding all these questions.
A mite before Flutters had shown up, Applejack had barely ducked in the tent, before somepony shouted,
“There she is!” and another one called out,
“It’s the Element of Honesty, everyone!”
“That ain’t precisely—” Applejack managed to get out before she was surrounded by very clumsy ponies, all looking to her and asking Applejack all sorts of questions, like, “How did you reach our universe?” and “How do the Elements of Harmony work?” and “Are you able to lie like in the show?” and “Will we ever be able to get home?” and “Is this real?”
Applejack sure was glad the Element of Honesty wasn’t here, because she’d give them the brutal truth. Applejack could see it now: Rainbow Dash would rush in in just like this, turn one ear at all these questions and say, “Buck this, I’m out,” before swooping out as fast as she came inside. And that’d be the honest truth.
Applejack, however, settled in, tipped her hat and said, “Okay everypony, one question at a time.” Her next few minutes were... bemusing to say the least.
“Th’ Rift appeared on its own one day, lettin’ loose a mare called Rosy Pink, who has since gone incommunicando. We thought you humans created it at first.”
“You keep true to yourself, an’ the Elements answer you, if’n they choose you as their Bearer. No they don’t talk, they just kinda... feel.”
“‘course ah cain lie! Anypony can lie. The hard part is when you gotta tell the truth.”
“You betcha you’ll get home, sure as sugar, but you might be here for awhile. Just take a look around an’ enjoy yourself for now. Equestria has a lot goin’ for it, if you let yourself take a moment to enjoy it.”
“Yes.”
Of course that lead to more questions, and questions on questions, and pretty much could’ve continued forever. Applejack mostly wanted to ease everypony, or, everyhuman’s concerns in a way Pinkie Pie would’ve been better at, but Pinkie’s freaky talent for finding the exact right book was much more important than this, probably, maybe. So everypony, or everyhuman as it were, got second banana once again to Twilight’s latest scheme. Applejack wasn’t upset with having to play Pinkie Pie though. It felt more on the level this time. She was still determined to do the right thing, and right now the right thing was giving these ponies what peace of mind they could get, in the wake of a calamity like that Rift.
“How much do you know about humans?” asked a teal-haired lavender unicorn, a good deal calmer than the first time Applejack saw her.
“Not much t’be honest,” Applejack said with an apologetic smile, “Twi says ah know a lot, but she’s the one who’s been studying ‘em.”
“Why would she say that, then?” a sandy orange mare asked curiously.
“On account of ah worked with a human pony for... a year or so,” Applejack replied with a shrug, “Far as ah cain tell, y’all got a few quirks like bein’ open minded about some things, closed-minded about others. You’re naive in surprisin’ ways, though we must seem like that to you as well. But you’re all just ponies like the rest of us, an’ ah don’t see where to draw the line from one to the other when it comes to humans and ponies.”
“Oh, that’s um... okay, that makes...sense,” the mare replied warily, as if she were surprised it made sense. Applejack sure hoped these humans wouldn’t start getting all persnickety about stuff like her manner of speaking the way Rosy did.
Applejack started to feel a little calmer when she saw Fluttershy making the rounds, moving around behind everypony to help with the stragglers, and the strugglers. The human ponies definitely felt some manner of respect for Applejack, but she knew her greatest strength was in a team effort, with help from her friends, family and townsfolk. Fluttershy intercepted anypony trying to storm off, and... helped them in her own little way. And Applejack learned more about humanity than she ever wanted to know.
“So is everyhuman into ponies?” Applejack asked one in confusion, “Seems a strange thing for a world a’ humans to care about the affairs of ponykind.”
“We’re not, actually,” a purple filly said in an adorable voice that belied the words she said in it, “There’s only a small amount of fans, though they can be surprisingly dedicated, but for the most part none of us were particularly interested in it. Your world is a cartoon for selling toys to little girls, on our side of things.”
“Seems awfully coincidental y’all’d know about the carton then,” Applejack replied, squinting at the filly, “If’n there’s such a small amount of fans.”
The filly shrugged at that, or... tried to shrug and stumbled on her short little hooves. “The Marvel Comics fandom is way bigger as far as fantasies are concerned, but Dr. Strange didn’t bore a hole into our world and start communicating to us through it. Ponies did.”
“The show is pretty standard fare for diplomats on the project,” a dusky indigo colt offered, “It’s the best window we have into your culture.”
“Or your literal world, apparently,” a sandy orange mare put in, “We were pretty convinced that you weren’t ponies at all, but just aliens who were reeeeally big fans of my little pony.”
“Just aliens,” the purple filly snickered under her breath.
“I’d say this is impossible,” the mare continued, undaunted, “It’s uncanny how you are the ponies who we didn’t think could possibly exist. But I suppose standing here on...” she lifted a hoof, “...four hooves, talking to Applejack face-to-face actually is much more likely than meeting aliens from another planet. 100% likely, in fact, because you’re here, and SETI is still coming up dry.”
“SETI?” Applejack said, the word sounding peculiarly not-quite-foreign as it rolled off her tongue.
“The search for extra-terrestrial intelligence,” the mare clarified, “It’s a group that look for aliens on other planets up in the stars.”
“Up in the stars?” Applejack replied, confused, “But th’ planet’s right down here, way down below the stars!”
Blinking at her, the mare said carefully, “Our planet orbits the sun. Our sun is about a hundred times as wide as our planet, and our stars are just other suns, so impossibly distant that they just look like a tiny twinkle.”
“What is your sun?” the purple filly cut in, asking Applejack eagerly, “Can you grow crops without it? How big is it? How does it stay bright all the time? What—”
“One question at a time please,” Applejack said wearily. When the filly shut her trap, the farm pony smiled saying, “Thank ya kindly. Now ah’m just a farmer, so I cain’t give you the straight answer for a lotta things. But ah do know that while crops grow on account of sunlight, the light cain come from the ground on some occasions. Ah don’t wanna speculate, but without the sun, it might be possible to grow say, apples. You may-a heard of zap apples?”
“I... yeah,” the purple filly said, staring off at the wall of the tent in bemusement, “Can’t believe those things actually exist.”
“It’s just an example ah’m somewhat familiar with,” Applejack said, somewhat perturbed at the filly’s disbelieving stare at apples she couldn’t even see. “You’d have to get a book on night plants to find more. If ah recall... breadfruit cain grow in the dark? Oh and glow bulbs. But yeah, zap apples draw their light slowly from the earth, which is why they cain grow below the canopy in th’ Everfree. That’s also why you get a nasty shock if’n you try to buck ‘em.”
“Because they’re... electric?” the filly replied cautiously.
“They’re what?” Applejack asked looking back at the filly cluelessly, “No they’re just all fulla light. So much that it can discharge if you’re not careful. That’s why they have such funny growin’ habits. Ah’m not at liberty to divulge any more of the family secrets though. But light discharge is pretty basically what it’s all about.”
The filly bore a skeptical face that would’ve competed with Apple Bloom’s, back in the day she thought she could harvest zap apples early. This filly asked, “What do you get when light... discharges?”
“Uh, lightning?” Applejack said in confusion, “Do you not have lightnin’ in your world?”
The filly’s mouth dropped open, and now she just had a stunned expression on her face, staring at nothing while her brain went at a million miles a minute.
A different human pony was kind enough to clarify, a rough mare’s voice behind Applejack telling her in a haunted tone, “No, we have lightning. But I don’t think it’s the same lightning.”
Another pile of books with the lower torso of an azure pegasus flew into the back area. “Here’s some more,” Rainbow Dash announced, putting them in the rest of the pile with all the others.
“Okay, I think we’ve got enough books for now,” Twilight called out from ...somewhere in there. “Time to start sorting them!”
Twilight asked Rainbow Dash to go hover against the wall, while Pinkie went rifling through the source material looking for what they were looking for. “Ooh, this is, huh that is, wait, oh, bleh, wow, ewww, neat, huh? aha—wait no, hmm, yes! no! uhh” Pinkie continued to exclaim as she failed to comprehend exactly what she was reading at the speed it took her to get through all the books. Twilight and Rarity played point, making sure the books were undamaged as the eager pink horse flung them over her shoulder one by one.
Finally Pinkie had reached the last of the disorganized books. “Aww, there’s no more!” she whined, “And I thought I would find something!”
“It’s okay, this is a team effort, Pinkie,” Twilight told her, “Actually, Rainbow Dash is going to find the books we need.”
“I am?” Rainbow Dash asked, confused.
“Yes, just grab all the books that Pinkie liked the most,” Twilight said, “Top twelve, let’s say.”
“Alrighty then?” Rainbow said, swooping down and zipping among the stacks of books, winging out one or another to accumulate them on her rump. “These good?” she asked, standing before Twilight.
“These are perfect,” Twilight said confidently, levitating the books off of Rainbow Dash’s back. “While Rarity and I look through these, you and Pinkie can help return the books where you found them.”
“All the books?” Rainbow asked, looking around at the mountainous stacks in dismay, “What if we need something from them?”
“Trust me, if there’s any answers to be found, they’ll be in these books right here,” Twilight stated, bobbing the small stack of books still held in her magic. “You and Pinkie Pie are both absolutely brilliant when you don’t pay attention to it.”
“Thanks... I guess?” Rainbow asked, raising a hoof while Pinkie jumped forward and said,
“Thanks so much, Twilight! That was fun! But how do we know where to return the books?”
“I already sorted them by dewy decimal here on the floor,” Twilight replied, “So books that go in the same place should already be together. Check the tags for which shelf they go to. Ask Spike if you’re not sure where something goes. Now if you’ll excuse me...” She dramatically flipped open one of the books held in the air before her, scanning its contents, saying “I have a lot of...” Twilight trailed off then with a blush, and passed the book to Rarity, “We have a lot of reading to do.”
If you asked a young unicorn mare living alone in a Canterlot tower if this was the way she was going to conduct her research, you would have heard a rare laugh escape her at the utter impossibility of that scenario. Indeed, as a young unicorn mare from Trottingdale stared in confusion at the unfolding events, she could only worry that the princess had gone even further insane. When Spike pushed past her to help Rainbow Dash and Pinkie with the reshelving, it snapped Whatnot out of her paralysis, and she hesitantly trotted forward.
“Ah, Whatnot!” Rarity exclaimed in delight upon seeing her, “Just the mare we were thinking of. I don’t suppose you could remind Twilight how conjugations behave in reference to alliterations?”
“Oh, well you can think of it like a relationship between verbs, such that the tenses have to match in order to...” Whatnot continued, finding herself drawn in between the two ponies, excited more than anything else by the simple act of teaching Twilight Sparkle to perceive the world again, in its written form. When Twilight wanted to learn it was just pure joy to be able to teach her.
So the three read, quickly joined by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Between the oneun of them, there were still plenty of books around. But book by book, they started going through them searching for answers, munching contentedly on chips and salsa.
The creature must be stopped, before all is lost. Only the skystone at the peak of the Dauntless Ridge stands any chance of stopping its cruel games and freeing the ponies it has stolen away and wracked with unthinkable terrors. The way is perilous and jealously guarded by that which seeks to destroy us, but we have no other choice. The further it reaches its influence into our lands, the wider the wound grows. Those who near it feel themselves torn asunder, as if their very essence is being sliced away.
Ponies think I have no fear, but I’ve never been more afraid. Please let these not be my last words, for what we are facing is beyond anything Equestria has ever suffered, and to save us all I must venture into the belly of the beast. If I do not return, I’d like Windy to know that I’m sorry I ever turned your words against you, and hurt you with my resentment and scorn. I’ve asked you for so much, and yet you never asked for me to bear you. It was my decision alone, possibly my greatest mistake, but you have made up for my foolishness a thousand times over, in your own fashion.
You are a very different pony than me, and I try to accept this, even though my mouth marches ahead of my intents. But for all the times I’ve resented you for hindering me and holding me back, I’ve never forgotten the day you came out of me and entered this world. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, second only to the time that I was victorious over the grulls of Agnarak.
- Firewing, second captain, third division
I don’t know if I can put the bravery of Firewing into words. When I say that I’m glad she perished in the assault on the nedelfir from beyond the bounds of the world, it is not in contempt, but rather a sort of respect. She lived hard and fast, and never looked back, and I can think of no fate she would have preferred other than to go down in a blaze of glory. I was told she perished with a smile on her face.
It is purely for selfish reasons that I still yearn for her company. She saved us all, and I wish I could have been there to say goodbye. I wish I could tell her that all is forgiven, that I never truly hated her. I will never live up to her name, and I’m at peace with that, but I wish I could tell her that her blood still runs in my veins. Not me, but my foals, and their foals will meet and surpass her exacting standards.
She may have perished hurling that thing back into the Rift from whence it came, but I know she will be dancing in the Fields over her success. Thanks to her deeds, Equestria is safe for simple scribes like myself to bring children into the world, and raise those children to realize their fullest potential. Perhaps my foals, or my grandfoals will find friendship in a strange new filly with a fiery personality, because I don’t think anything could keep that pony’s spirit down for long.
I thank you Firewing. My wives thank you, Firewing. Now rest in peace already, before your headlong charge into danger gets the lot of us all killed.
- Windy Quill an Stormwind of Firewing
“Oh these eulogies are such poetry,” Rarity said, wiping tears from her eyes, “Pure heartfelt remembrances of such noble ponies gone past.”
“Firewing died though!” Rainbow Dash declared with an angry stomp, “Right when she won! And she didn’t even get to tell Windy all that stuff! What kind of story has the hero go and die like that?”
Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash, choosing her words carefully when she said, “The last story, Rainbow Dash. Everypony has something that they don’t walk away from, and all too often they leave behind regrets, and words that they wish they had said.”
“Well, not me,” Rainbow Dash declared intently, “I’d just go up to my foals if I could and say hey! You go be an egghead all you want and I’ll still love uh... giving birth to you or something...”
“This is the only final words and eulogy that mentions a Rift though,” Twilight said glumly, “And all it tells us is to throw Rosy through it to solve the problem. Literally!”
“Perhaps this book on the interdimensional gateway to san...guana...?” a certain blue unicorn suggested shyly, “It um, it’d talk about how they kept it from going wild, at least.”
The Sanguana ruins are truly an incredible and mysterious place. We are still so far from understanding the civilization from which they emerged, or what ended their realm. What were the stone markers intended for? What was in the divided tower? Why were the mystical keys in the shape of horseshoes, if the inhabitants had lion paws? Alas, while the rift remains stable and sound, the fragment beyond it has begun to disintegrate. Failures in causality, doors both open and closed, solid stone crumbling and hollow. The size of explorable area grows smaller every day, and we’re not finding any more puzzles, secrets, or keys that reveal anything not already beyond reach.
As explained in the chapter on stabilization, the Rift was stabilized by physically bonding it to a mirror crafted from the artifact that came through the rift in the first place. Using the properties of the reflective realm, we created a permanent gateway to another space! Hopefully ponies hence will find solace in this guide, if for no other reason than to stablize any Rifts that appear, before they go wild. The natural decay of any fragments found on the other side should impose a finite limit on how much damage it can do, but that damage could still be significant, and grave. I shudder to think of the possibility of one of these appearing in a populated area.
“This is it!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly, as Whatnot finished reading, “All we have to do is find Rosy Pink and craft her into a mirror, then travel back in time to before I did anything at all, since this technique is completely useless against an inflamed Rift!”
“No. Time travel,” Rainbow Dash said without humor.
“Yes I know, just... it’s the best lead we have so far,” Twilight said, with a sympathetic look at the dejected Whatnot, “If we can figure out how to... de-inflame the Rift... then maybe we can stabilize it on a more permanent basis. As long as somepony doesn’t keep coming along and breaking the containment vessel.”
“Twilight...” Rarity said, putting her hoof across the princess’s withers.
“No, Rarity,” Twilight said, levitating her hoof away, “I messed up. I messed up really badly. We need to keep looking. I need to make this right again.”
“You and me both, sister,” Rarity grumbled, as Rainbow Dash shot forward saying,
“Here’s one where the Traveller stayed!” She held forth a tome of police reports, that Rarity then read.
I am privileged to record (to my knowledge) the first account of a Rift closing, while its Traveller remained in our fair land. Admittedly more cases are strongly suspected to exist. Even this case is left unclear. The truth remains wrapped in mystery and hearsay, for without a Rift to close, there is no way to tell if a Rift has closed.
On Showers 110, VSK A.D., Dreamy Drizzle went missing while foraging for mushrooms in the Luftvale. The following diary entries were written during this time in a nature diary she had been carrying, un-dated, but they have been roughly grouped by week.
Week 1
Everything is right, yet still the crack is there. My family tells me not to mind it. My friends don’t see it. I have a wonderful life. My teacher thinks I am her best student she told me once. I want to be an architect and build big buildings that have no cracks in them.
Mama takes us out on picnics where we get to walk beyond the farms, through the most beautiful woods. It has been beautiful in the spring this year, with tasty flowers blooming everywhere. When I become a big, important pony who always has things to do, I will always make time to take my daughter on these walks.
My sister came through the crack. She’s always been here. She tells me not to worry about it. We were playing outside and then she wasn’t, but then she came back through the crack and tells me this happens from time to time.
My father has strange faces sometimes. It’s okay though. He loves me, and I love him, and he says I’m such a good filly who always pays attention in school and doesn’t mind the crack. My mother doesn’t have faces, but I wish she would remember my name right.
Week 2
My teacher came through the crack. She told me that the whole schoolhouse is everything I’ve ever dreamed of, and I told her it’d be silly to dream about school. The other students thought this was funny, and Silver May shared her juice with me, so it’s okay. She said it was made from my water, but I don’t make any water.
I wish I still had dreams. I’m so tired, but there’s always something to do. The other students came through the crack.
Why is there always a crack? I want it to not be there. Everything in my life is right, but I want the crack to go away. Silver May tells me not to mind the crack, but I’m so tired, maybe I could sleep through there. Maybe I could find juice that doesn’t make my tummy hurt. Maybe I could find water that stops making me thirsty.
Week 3
Yesterday I slept. It just happened, that I was in school and then everypony was shouting in my face to wake up. I didn’t want to wake up but they were so scared. They didn’t want me to ever close my eyes again. I asked my teacher if I could blink, and she said okay, but I don’t think she’s happy with me.
I can’t stay any longer. Mama came through the crack and cried, because she loved me and wanted me to stay with her always. She said she was so lonely. I tried giving her my teddy, but she just tore it to pieces and said it wasn’t right, that it wasn’t somepony, like I am.
The doctor came through the crack and said I can no longer drink because the water is making me sick. She said that I hadn’t long to live, so I’d be leaving them anyway. I guess I have to
Week 4
Silver May came through the crack and cried. She said she wanted to go with me. She said she wanted to be, that she didn’t want to be alone. I told her to come with me, but she was afraid of the water. The water came through the crack but it was no good, and she was no good, she told me. I told her I didn’t want to go if she had to be lonely. Mama came through the crack so she could give me a big, warm hug.
I wish I could stay. I wish they all didn’t have to be alone. Papa is stern with me, telling me that I am sick, and the only place I can get well is through the crack. He hates the crack, and he loves the crack, because it brought him to me.
I want to bring Papa with me. He says I cannot, but I can bring this diary with me. But I always had this diary, and my teddy, when I came through the crack. I have to put my teddy in a box because she’s sick too, and torn to pieces because Mama doesn’t want to be alone.
I cannot push Mama, but perhaps Silver May will come through the crack. She’s smaller than me, so even if I am really tired, and sick from the dry water, perhaps I can push her through the crack. They all are afraid of the crack, but they say the crack is the only place that can help me, and I’m afraid of the crack. So maybe it is the only place that can help them, too.
Search parties found no sign of Dreamy Drizzle, until four weeks later, when she was found severly malnourished at the base of a ravine, along with a shredded plush toy and her nature diary, thanks to the filly now known as Silver May.
The Traveller appears to be of early school age, the same age as Dreamy Drizzle. She is a healthy earth pony, with no problems drinking or eating, though apparently it is a novel experience to her. Any abilities she claimed seem to no longer be available in her current state, but she will remain on observation for the time being.
While tempting to write her off as an imaginative little filly, the fact remains that the real Silver May has been living alive and well three houses down from Dreamy Drizzle’s residence. There is no evidence of her twin’s existence before this day, nor of how she knew where to lead ponies to Dreamy Drizzle. Though possessing a knowledge far beyond a filly of her age, this second Silver displays a striking ignorance of the world, claiming she could only zar-al-ne-ma (sic) which possibly corresponds to a magical probe of the surrounding area. All signs point to her being a Traveller, yet no Rift has been found.
Silver May’s hypothesis may be the most likely to be true. As near as anypony can get out of her, she claimed to be a survivor of some world ending calamity that involved weaponized algebra. The reason she gave for the Rift closing without her return was that there was nothing left on the other side. A similar phenomenon to the Sanguana portal, which closed once the ruins had fully decayed into the Void, leaving the mirror inert but intact.
“Great... just great!” Twilight said in a very pleasant voice, “All we have to do is destroy the entire world, until the humans all get cast into the Void! The Rift will close, and everything will be just hunky dory.”
“That rift never got inflamed, though,” Pinkie Pie pointed out quietly.
“I’m joking, Pinkie,” Twilight groaned at the quiet party pony, “There is no way anything is going to be hunky dory at this rate. Even if we could to it, destroying the human world is not even a thinkable option! We can’t count on an inflamed rift to remain stabilized, and the human world sure isn’t going to disintegrate back into the Void on its own. Could this possibly get any worse?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Pinkie snapped angrily, “I meant that I found a book about the last time there was a Rift in Equestria, that got inflamed. I don’t think any of the others were you know, moving and bellowing and...”
They stared at each other for a moment.
Scrunching her eyes shut, the pink pony stuck out the book she had been reading in Twilight’s face saying, “Just read it.”
Twilight sighed, and pushed the book out of her face, shifting it instead to Whatnot’s face. Pinkie didn’t seem particular about who read it though, so Whatnot began to read.
The great burst of heat and light was both felt and seen across all of Equestria, but in the aftermath, no sign could be seen of the Invader nor the Calamitous Rift, whose deadly realm has been forever sealed away. Would that we had known of the terrible consequence of destroying that infernal source of pain and woe. No sign of the noble four could be found in the ashes of the once beautiful Greatwood, but let nopony forget their sacrifice.
These 10 ponies gave their lives to smite the inflamed Rift leading to its terrible realm that threatened our own. By the blessings of the Celestial Princess, they sent the realm screaming into the Void, shattering the Rift inflamed, and destroying the Invader’s power. No longer would that fiery font of shadows wreak havoc as it carved through our lands, bellowing like an enraged beast. For bringing a swift end to his threat on our homes and our people, the Noble Four will always be remembered as heroes. Celestia Invictus Dei!
“I don’t recall any place in Equestria called the Greatwood,” Rarity said speculatively.
“Of course you don’t. They just said it got destroyed,” Rainbow Dash replied with a roll of her eyes.
“Or the ...noble four,” Rarity murmured.
“It said there was no sign of them...” Rainbow Dash replied in a more subdued manner.
It was at that point that Twilight’s murmuring became audible, though the only thing she said was the word “no” over and over again. She galloped heedlessly out of the room, and still chanting frantically, returned with a ponderous tome floating behind her marked “Celestial Decrees years YQ-XQ”
Slapping it down with a thud and lifting open its thick cover, Twilight began flipping through the dates. Every pony slowly clustered around the ‘no’ing princess, until Twilight settled on a date, fell silent, looked and... lifted her head.
Looking at Rarity, Twilight pointed at the entry with her hoof with a trembling smile saying, “Could you please read this entry? It’s a little... archaic.”
Harmony 13, YF
Pronounced thusly for all to witness, may it be known that pursuant to the fact that the Greatwood is no longer a wood, and pursuant to the sentiment that the Greatwood is no longer great, it shall be decreed that the lands formerly known as the Greatwood will heretoforth be called the Badlands until cometh the day that they are once again capable of sustaining life.
“The Badlands,” Rainbow Dash said unbelievingly, as everypony else didn’t seem to be able to speak.
“It would seem so, darling,” Rarity said, rather wishing she had read the words “White Tail Woods” instead.
“The Badlands,” Rainbow Dash continued flatly, hovering there above the quiet crowd.
“Mmhmm,” Rarity said in a distant tone.
Swinging her hoof to point beyond the library walls, Rainbow Dash hollered,
“That thing is three blocks away!!”
Seeing tears striking the pages of Celestial Decrees years YQ-XQ, Pinkie Pie didn’t say anything, but just settled to sit beside and give a gentle hug to the former princess, who hunched forward, shoulders shaking. Despite not getting any response, Pinkie asked, “You okay, Twilight?”
Twilight Sparkle buried her head in her hooves and cried bitter tears, moaning, “What have I done?”
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Despite it all. I am still happy they are getting better.
What does that say about me? About humanity?
Any whosit, just the badlands? Seems a little small given the energy involved in time/dimensional travel. Theoretically anyway.
Also, dont worry about it twiggy, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it. And if you cant... well just listen to Tom Lehrer's advice
And now story came full circle
8377970
You've looked at the latest map of Equestria, right?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/8/4/1502416__safe_edit_my+little+pony-colon-+the+movie_spoiler-colon-my+little+pony+movie_airship_appleloosa_badlands_canterlot_cloudsdale_crystal+empire_d.png
That big chunk southeast of Appleloosa? Yeah, THAT'S the badlands. So " a little small" or not, given that the current rift is smack dab in the middle of Ponyville, I'd say that's still worthy of an "OH CRAP".
8377970
It's too late! We're all doomed! Damned before our creation! Oh the humanity!
Well, imagine the biggest explosion humanity ever could have created. Now multiply it by 10.
8378073
Foreshadowing!
8378093
While I doubt that map's drawn to scale, seeing as they just slapped on a big stretch of land on the west when they realized "oh shit the ocean isn't here!" yeah, the Badlands are pretty big. Incidentally, you might notice a significant difference my story makes with the current "official" map.
8378288
Yes I'm aware that the map isn't to scale, nor perfectly lines up with your fic's version of Equestria. The point was that, while not exactly a 'large' area in cosmic scale, if things go south, the rift will likely take out Ponyville, Canterlot, and a good chunk of the heart of Equestira if it goes up.
Okay! At last, the chapter and I are available for each other at the same time! I have been looking forward to this. :)
"the plot hole"
It took me a moment to get it. :D
"linguistic difficulties they may face as a"
"they might face"?
"which should have been sufficient to"
"which should be sufficient to"?
"She began counting down. BTQ, BDW, BDX..."
HEEEEEE!!! :D
...Huh. Somewhat confusing new data, though. Interesting. :)
Ooh, wait, she'd be doing seconds... or the equivalent...
"happily counting down trusting in her friends"
"down, trusting" or "down and trusting"?
This is going... hopefully yet worryingly well.
"but he looked at her judgementally"
Yeah, he... well, kind of hard to say he doesn't have some justification.
"Oh, I see, so when I say that the Rift is fine as it is and should be left alone, and we're actually better off not closing it, you're so sure we have to find this Rosy Pink that you attack my team and enchant the thing to rampage through town. But now, when I'm saying that we do need to find Rosy Pink and close the Rift, suddenly you think we should leave it alone? The scientist in me wants to see what happens if I start saying we should leave it alone again."
"When you chose everypony else, I thought there for a minute that I was not chose."
..."was not chosen"? Though that still seems a really odd sentence to me...
"the subsequently confused dragon"
He's not th--
Oh.
...Okay, the joke's funny, but I think it might be putting a bit too much strain on the text. :D
(...And now I'm hungry...)
"“Yee-haw!” Applejack cried triumphantly"
Without context, it would likely be rather opaque just how good "now, or... sometime later" is. :)
"Some time later"
Hm. That sounds to me like more time than would be accounted for just by the differences in their speeds.
Hm. "Tartarus" an effect of the translation/transformation magic?
"They told us to watch the show"
...Interesting. Who is "They"? And how much information about the situation might have been correctly deduced, guessed, or acquired on the other side?
"to introduce myself once and a while"
"once in a"?
"the filly replies"
"replied"?
"the element of Honesty"
"Element"?
"settled in, tipped her hat and said"
"hat, and"?
"was still determined to put doing the right thing"
Is there a missing word there? If not, what does the "put" do?
"family and townsfolk"
"family, and"?
"know about the carton then"
"cartoon"? Or is Applejack mispronouncing an unfamiliar word?
Ah. So they did know something about what was on the other side.
And "communicating"? Now I wonder which purple pony they might have picked up doing that... Which could be a problem.
"We were pretty convinced that you weren’t ponies at all, but just aliens who were reeeeally big fans of my little pony."
Hah! :D
"Applejack said somewhat perturbed at the filly’s"
"said, somewhat"?
Ah, different physics. :)
"mare alone in Canterlot tower"
"in a Canterlot"?
"stared in confusion at the unfolding events she could only"
"events, she"?
"So the three read, quickly joined by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Between the four of them"
Uh... 3+2=4? Should that first one be "two", or the second one "oneun"?
Interesting cultural details in the texts.
"It um, it’d talk about how they kept it from going wild, at least."
Hm. Why "it'd"? How does she know?
"The size of explorable area grows"
"of the explorable"?
"across the princess’s withers"
A mistake of the story's text (calling her a princess here), or reflecting Rarity's view of Twilight's station?
"“You and me both, sister,” Rarity grumbled"
Interesting.
...Uh... okay, and this text is... strange...
Huh. Interesting. And, of course, as I was starting to think by the end and as seems to have been confirmed, there's no reason that Traveller had to have been originally a human.
...I'm not sure what would happen if a detonating inflamed rift ran up against the magic of the Everfree, but I suspect it could well be worse than the detonating inflamed rift alone. And the Everfree's only one one side of town anyway. So... yeah.
Well, hey, maybe Discord could fix this! You know you have a solution to him after he's done! What could go wrong? :D
8378288
"Well, imagine the biggest explosion humanity ever could have created. Now multiply it by 10."
Hm, well, "could" is difficult, so let's start with the tested-yield Tsar Bomba. Heading over to the trusty Atomic Rockets Boom Table, that's 2.1*10^17 J. 2.0*10^18 J is only a 9.0 earthquake on the Richter scale, and 4.0*10^18 is only a 9.2. Still not exactly tiny, of course, on a human or pony scale.
Also, I think I've been making more progress with the Clever numerals. I've run out of data for the moment, but I'm pretty sure that they're base 16 positional notation and that I've gotten the values of ten of the 16 numerals, with some likely restrictions on the others.
I'm also pretty sure that there are 64 Equestrian seconds per the Equestrian minute in this universe.
Oh, huh. Also, I wonder what "A.D." is in this world. After Discord? Hadn't noticed that before.
8378841
I said "could" because Tsar Bomba was originally intended to be 100 megatons, but logistical problems and worries about the pilots being able to escape caused them to scale it down to 50.
Yeah, it took you two whole chapters!
I think the harshest critic of Twilight Sparkle has to be herself.
Sounds like you've got a real chip on your shoulder about it!
It was supposed to be kind of a fakeout, since when the story did that previously it involved this huge time skip over ridiculously significant events.
Well she's not precisely mispronouncing it, but yes she'd be pretty unfamiliar with it.
Today is not a good day to be a physicist.
DANGIT i forgot about Whatnot!
Which I hope I didn't totally screw up leaving errors and contradictions to bite me in the butt at a later date.
Considering the rarity of these rifts, I think it's highly unlikely that a world dominated by giant, furless, bipedal river apes would stumble upon Equestria more than once.
Anyway, thanks for corrections. Some important fixes, there.
I have no idea if there's enough info in this chapter to figure out the Clever Numerals.
8380451
"I said "could" because Tsar Bomba was originally intended to be 100 megatons, but logistical problems and worries about the pilots being able to escape caused them to scale it down to 50."
100 megatons is still far smaller than we could have done, though, even with just existing devices.
"Yeah, it took you two whole chapters!
"
Oh, huh, that was available to think of before the story named it, wasn't it? :)
"Sounds like you've got a real chip on your shoulder about it!
"
Humph. :)
"It was supposed to be kind of a fakeout, since when the story did that previously it involved this huge time skip over ridiculously significant events."
Ah. Didn't work for me, sorry.
"Well she's not precisely mispronouncing it, but yes she'd be pretty unfamiliar with it."
Thanks.
"Today is not a good day to be a physicist."
On the contrary, I think that it is an excellent day to be a physicist!
"DANGIT i forgot about Whatnot!"
Sorry. :)
"Which I hope I didn't totally screw up leaving errors and contradictions to bite me in the butt at a later date."
Not sure what exactly they'd contradict? I haven't noticed any yet, though. Good luck.
"Considering the rarity of these rifts, I think it's highly unlikely that a world dominated by giant, furless, bipedal river apes would stumble upon Equestria more than once."
Assuming that it was fully random, aye, though it could also be a situation where rifts form much more easily between some verses than others.
"I have no idea if there's enough info in this chapter to figure out the Clever Numerals."
Well, if it contains enough to fully figure them out, I haven't figured out how, but it did let me, I think, make quite a bit of progress!
8380611
Tomorrow is an excellent day to be a physicist, but for now all they can do is stare.
The proper response is "You're welcome."
I'd just send you a pony multiplication table and be done with it, but it seems like you're having fun figuring it out on your own!
Really? I thought 100 megatons was a pretty massive undertaking. It'd still cost a huge amount of time and resources to prepare, even today, and I didn't think anyone bothered with it. Tsar Bomba was the world's biggest firecracker, and having proven our ability to produce such a gigantic boom, we don't need to do any further.
Well there was that one verse who had a sort of green skinned humanlike creature, with a nice suit, and a question mark for a face. He's been... dealt with though.
8380827
"Tomorrow is an excellent day to be a physicist, but for now all they can do is stare."
Ah. :)
"The proper response is "You're welcome.""
Ah, then sorry, thank you, and "you're welcome". :)
"I'd just send you a pony multiplication table and be done with it, but it seems like you're having fun figuring it out on your own!"
Oh, aye! I would like confirmation once I have a full system, but I have been enjoying this!
"Really? I thought 100 megatons was a pretty massive undertaking. It'd still cost a huge amount of time and resources to prepare, even today, and I didn't think anyone bothered with it. Tsar Bomba was the world's biggest firecracker, and having proven our ability to produce such a gigantic boom, we don't need to do any further."
Sure, but "could" is about capability alone, not whether something is ludicrous or not. I mean, at the most basic level, duct taping a single other bomb to a Tsar Bomba and wiring their firing systems together to go at the same time would make a bigger bomb. "Could" wouldn't be met by every nuclear and conventional bomb on the planet currently or during the height of the Cold War piled into one big mountain (and on top of a volcano, let's say), since there are still parts of society not dedicated to the Biggest Boom.
...
I'm gathering that I may have been taking it too literally, though.
"Well there was that one verse who had a sort of green skinned humanlike creature, with a nice suit, and a question mark for a face. He's been... dealt with though."
:)
(To each their own, but I don't really get stories using that...)
8380854
He's a foul talking everyman rebel. It's really easy to relate to him for people. And he has an adorable conflict with Twilight Sparkle, who's more on the polite and "things make sense" side. Since his mask hides his face, no author can claim ownership of him, so you can use him as a character without persecution or pressure to ask permission.
Plus, he makes an absolutely utterly heart-stoppingly adorable little filly.
8380906
"He's a foul talking everyman rebel. It's really easy to relate to him for people. And he has an adorable conflict with Twilight Sparkle, who's more on the polite"
But--
"and "things make sense" side"
Yes, that.
"Since his mask hides his face, no author can claim ownership of him, so you can use him as a character without persecution or pressure to ask permission."
Is that really that big an issue? A newly-created character would have even more freedom.
(Though I didn't realize it was even this defined; I thought it was just the appearance and the name. Thanks for the explanation.)
"Plus, he makes an absolutely utterly heart-stoppingly adorable little filly."
:)
8380827
Despite its record-setting yield, Tsar Bomba was a crude rush job which was built in response to a political mandate by Khrushchev. With a timetable of only sixteen weeks to go from initial concept to live detonation, the researchers did not even have time to carry out a proper mathematical analysis; the weapon design was made entirely with estimates and approximation, frantically tweaked with design modifications being carried out up to and throughout the actual assembly of the test device.
Tsar Bomba thus adopted an extremely brute force approach to achieving the mandated design yield, prioritizing guaranteed achievement of the dictated power level over all else and constrained only by the maximum mass and weight which could be lifted by the Tu-95 bomber. Note for comparison that the largest American thermonuclear warhead, the B41, achieved half the yield (25 megatons vs 50 megatons) for less than one-fifth the mass (4, 850 kilograms versus 27,000 kilograms).
The key technical point, however, is that both the Bomba and the B41 were three-stage thermonuclear devices rather than the typical two-stage design. Somewhat confusingly, a three-stage device is actually four nuclear stages, fission-fusion-fusion-fission; the eponymous third stage is the second fusion stage, and the successful engineering of a three-stage device theoretically enables unlimited yield nuclear weapons, since there is no inherent upper constraint on the size of the second fusion stage.
8382124
'k. I don't know much about nukes tbh. I just like how the biggest bomb in history had a death toll of zero.
8381486
In case you missed the memo, original creations are terrible. Thanks to corporate copyright laws, inspiration is illegal, and attribution theft is mandated by law, basically. It's hard to provide examples since it's a bunch of literal coverup conspiracies, but take for instance My Little Pony and that one skit from Fantasia in 1940.
But the funny thing is... people like preserving attribution, and honoring their sources of inspiration, and working together to create something better than they could have done alone. "Anon" gets popular by virtue of the fact that he's free to copy, and a lot of interesting stuff has been done with the concept, that others can build upon.
So yes, it's a big issue. You should use characters other people created, since characters you create without their input will almost all universally suck.
4chan is just autistic that way. Anon's got a lot of lore, but it's all unauthoritative, so give him green skin or a mask, whatever wets your whistle.
8382762
"In case you missed the memo, original creations are terrible."
Well, some of them.
"Thanks to corporate copyright laws, inspiration is illegal"
To a degree.
"and attribution theft is mandated by law, basically"
I didn't find a clear definition when I searched just now, so, to clarify, by "attribution theft", you mean being inspired by something but claiming one wasn't, or something like that?
"It's hard to provide examples since it's a bunch of literal coverup conspiracies, but take for instance My Little Pony and that one skit from Fantasia in 1940."
Oh, I don't recall having seen that; thanks.
"But the funny thing is... people like preserving attribution, and honoring their sources of inspiration, and working together to create something better than they could have done alone."
That seems to be the case a good bit of the time, aye.
""Anon" gets popular by virtue of the fact that he's free to copy, and a lot of interesting stuff has been done with the concept, that others can build upon."
Huh. Still seems odd to me, but maybe I just don't know enough of the below-mentioned lore.
"So yes, it's a big issue. You should use characters other people created, since characters you create without their input will almost all universally suck."
...I don't think I'm getting you here, sorry. In the first place, to create a character without any inspiration from anything else seems quite difficult and perhaps impossible, but there's also quite a bit of room between that and using wholly a character created by others with minimal modification. I'm not saying that that, or something approximating it, can never be good, but... I don't know. I feel like I'm misunderstanding something here.
"4chan is just autistic that way. Anon's got a lot of lore, but it's all unauthoritative, so give him green skin or a mask, whatever wets your whistle."
Ah. So a lot of different commonly recognized features to choose from?
8382824
What, are you suggesting I'm exaggerating for dramatic effect? The very nerve!
I mean attribution theft as in not giving someone credit for having copied them.
I guess I'm just railing against the prevailing attitude that a character is better if they're not "stolen" or that "fan" creations are to be taken less seriously than "the official" creation. So instead I point out that a character is worse if they're not "stolen" and "fan" creations are usually better than official stuff, but under legal threat, so nobody'll fund them. I'm not saying using a character verbatim is good, but the real magic lies in taking someone's idea, or character, or setting, and building off of it by adding your own ideas.
Just a disclaimer: I don't recommend you ever go to 4chan because it's a waste of time, and ridiculously censored. But yes, Anon is what you might think of as a Jungian archetype, which can be interpreted by people differently, but gains strength through recognized commonality.
8382891
"
"What, are you suggesting I'm exaggerating for dramatic effect? The very nerve!
...Ah. No, actually, I don't think I'd really thought of that much. :D
(Perhaps I was more tired than I thought; that wasn't the first time I was overliteral today.)
"I mean attribution theft as in not giving someone credit for having copied them."
I think I get it; thanks.
"I guess I'm just railing against the prevailing attitude that a character is better if they're not "stolen" or that "fan" creations are to be taken less seriously than "the official" creation."
Ah. Not sure I've had much contact with that attitude, and though I knew it existed, I don't think I knew it was that widespread.
...Wait. Rereading what you wrote, I don't know which time I'm misreading... are you saying that that the attitude simultaneously says that characters are better if they're original but original characters shouldn't be taken as seriously?
"So instead I point out that a character is worse if they're not "stolen""
I am confused about what you mean here, likely related to my confusion above, sorry.
"and "fan" creations are usually better than official stuff, but under legal threat, so nobody'll fund them. I'm not saying using a character verbatim is good, but the real magic lies in taking someone's idea, or character, or setting, and building off of it by adding your own ideas."
...Interesting. Huh. I don't think I'd thought of it in those terms before, but I can think of quite a few examples. Not sure how universal it is, but with regard to the modern world, well, my reading is admittedly not, I think, a representative sample, but I do often expect the good fanfics to be better then their source canons in some way.
"Just a disclaimer: I don't recommend you ever go to 4chan because it's a waste of time, and ridiculously censored."
Huh. I'm surprised to hear about the censorship; my secondhand impression was that it was pretty free. Didn't and don't really have any plans to check it out myself, but thanks for the advice.
"But yes, Anon is what you might think of as a Jungian archetype, which can be interpreted by people differently, but gains strength through recognized commonality."
Interesting; thanks.
By the way, I was reading a bit more of Glorious, and a... slight problem I noticed: Between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, Nick appears to change from a unicorn to a pegasus without anyone remarking on this, at least as far as I've read so far.
Oh, I hope you don't mind me talking about that here.
8383021
It's a really hypocritical attitude. People will defend their pony OC as if permission were needed just to talk about them or draw them, but then disparage their own work saying that the official show OCs are better than any fan creation, by virtue of being the OCs of people who bought the idea and "own" it. It's a hierarchy of persecution, really. You agree to be persecuted yourself, so that you can persecute others who "steal" the leftover ideas you managed to "own." There's this thing on deviantart called "closed species" that—sigh.
Original characters are worse. The more original, the less likely they are to be good. People are better at building on ideas than creating ideas. Trying to be original is artificially isolating yourself, a self feedback loop iike a mic next to a speaker. That contradicts anyone claiming that persecuting "idea thieves" is a good thing.
Yeah, they trick people into thinking it isn't censored, but try posting a pony called "Milky Way" on /mlp/ and you'll be banned faster than you can say "improbable anatomy." No porn, not even potentially suggestive artwork, even greentext erotica gets sporadic bans for trumped up reasons. Oh and on 4chan, the mods are encouraged to be inconsistent and favoritist so that people are never sure exactly what's not allowed. Basically 4chan staff encourage shitposters, which makes them appear to be tolerant and open, because if they allow that asshole to post, how could they possibly be censoring anything?
8383068
I don't mind, and I don't think the staff minds, but if they do, they'll let us know if it's a problem. Thanks so much. I don't recall ever conceiving of Nick as a unicorn, in any revision or draft, so that's pretty strange. Maybe he's just really horny.
Wow, now I'm reading through it and this unicorn thing is actually pretty clever, even though I still don't remember writing it.
8385480
"It's a really hypocritical attitude."
Ah, so I wasn't reading you wrong.
"People will defend their pony OC as if permission were needed just to talk about them or draw them, but then disparage their own work saying that the official show OCs are better than any fan creation, by virtue of being the OCs of people who bought the idea and "own" it. It's a hierarchy of persecution, really. You agree to be persecuted yourself, so that you can persecute others who "steal" the leftover ideas you managed to "own.""
Huh. Not the only place this sort of thing shows up, but I hadn't thought of this as that.
"There's this thing on deviantart called "closed species" that—sigh."
Someone creates a species, then gets very mad if anyone else tries to use that species without an invitation?
"Original characters are worse. The more original, the less likely they are to be good. People are better at building on ideas than creating ideas. Trying to be original is artificially isolating yourself, a self feedback loop iike a mic next to a speaker. That contradicts anyone claiming that persecuting "idea thieves" is a good thing."
Hard to even define "original", too, and trying to be original isn't just artificially isolating yourself, it's still based on what others have done, just by avoidance rather than imitation. And technically something like "breathes air" could be seen as an inspired trait.
"Yeah, they trick people into thinking it isn't censored, but try posting a pony called "Milky Way" on /mlp/ and you'll be banned faster than you can say "improbable anatomy." No porn, not even potentially suggestive artwork, even greentext erotica gets sporadic bans for trumped up reasons. Oh and on 4chan, the mods are encouraged to be inconsistent and favoritist so that people are never sure exactly what's not allowed. Basically 4chan staff encourage shitposters, which makes them appear to be tolerant and open, because if they allow that asshole to post, how could they possibly be censoring anything?"
...Huh. That's... strange. Why?
"I don't mind, and I don't think the staff minds, but if they do, they'll let us know if it's a problem."
Thanks.
"Wow, now I'm reading through it and this unicorn thing is actually pretty clever, even though I still don't remember writing it.
"
Huh. Well... you've been nicely (not counting the potential bother of rewrites) surprised by your own work, then?
8385893
Someone adds a fish tail to a pegasus pony, then gets people's work taken down if they try to use that species without permission.
Huh, I never thought of it that way before, actually.
So that people like you will mistakenly say "4chan is really uncensored and free." It gets them more traffic, and keeps people from finding a real solution, instead of just using 4chan and pretending they did. That then forces people to use 4chan, instead of something actually uncensored, because everyone else concerned with censorship spends all their time on 4chan.
Nice is a matter of perspective, but yes, it was interesting flipping a coin to see which tribe's thematic elements to keep regarding Nick.
8386072
"Someone adds a fish tail to a pegasus pony, then gets people's work taken down if they try to use that species without permission."
Ah. Well, that's... nice.
"Huh, I never thought of it that way before, actually."
Ah, glad I could be the one sharing an idea with you, then. :)
"So that people like you will mistakenly say "4chan is really uncensored and free." It gets them more traffic, and keeps people from finding a real solution, instead of just using 4chan and pretending they did. That then forces people to use 4chan, instead of something actually uncensored, because everyone else concerned with censorship spends all their time on 4chan."
Ah. Well, still didn't work in my case, since I didn't go there anyway, but I can see how that would be a problem for a lot of people.
If they don't mind leaving some examples of otherwise censored things uncensored, though, what's the reason for censoring those things at all? Are they thinking that a little leakage leads to a tighter seal overall, or is it just a power trip where they enjoy taking things away from people?
"Nice is a matter of perspective, but yes, it was interesting flipping a coin to see which tribe's thematic elements to keep regarding Nick."
Ah. :)
...Last time I kept repeating "Huh" at the start of sentences, this time "Ah". Oh well. Too short on time at the moment to go back and rewrite things into less repetitive prose.
8386109
I meant you'd maybe get people who wanted an uncensored discussion to go there. Maybe.
Well, for me it's "well."
Annoys the poop outta me when I go back and read it.
8386279
"I meant you'd maybe get people who wanted an uncensored discussion to go there. Maybe."
Right, but if they want to give the impression of an uncensored discussion and don't mind letting censorship slip sometimes, why not have an actually uncensored, or at least less censored, discussion? Less work for them, too.
"Well, for me it's "well."
Annoys the poop outta me when I go back and read it."
Huh. Ah, well, sorry. :)
8386974
Then they get people trying to shut down the site, and/or take it over and implement censorship. People with a whole lot of money...
Well, it's not so bad. Well, maybe it is a little bad.
8387502
"Then they get people trying to shut down the site, and/or take it over and implement censorship. People with a whole lot of money..."
Ah. Better than some motives, at least.
"Well, it's not so bad. Well, maybe it is a little bad."
:)
Did she have identity issues back at home? Similar to how WL is strongly implied to have had them, but never stated one way or the other. In either case, having that foal is the key to their happiness. They even have a similar hair color, one being pink, the other purple. While the latter may be unpleasant, she usually means well. Rosy is a manipulative bitch who will threaten an entire universe for her own selfish desires. They can't hold this thing forever. She even messed up a "friend's" mind because of it.
When WL screwed up one of her best friends, she was legitimately sorry, and actively took measures to avoid any more incidents like that. I think this purple haired witch would gladly murder this sociopath and throw her corpse through to preserve both sides, or whatever is threatened. Plus, Rosy has trapped even more non ponies over here, and cares not about it.
I think WL, in spite of being somewhat abusive to her son, is likely a good mother. She did say at one point she wished he was not a fool. And she gave him a good smack to bring him to his senses, and reprimanded him for foolishly messing around with dangerous plants. And disposed of them before they could do any permanent damage. I think this harlot would let hers run around recklessly and wreak havoc, to hell with their safety. Only her, and maybe their, fun is all that matters, consequences be damned. It's a young child trapped in a man/mare's body. Say what you will about WL, she had her son's heath and safety on her mind, and didn't waver with it. And she loved her father, and mourned his loss.
8389783
I think it's safe to say she had a few identity issues back at home. Yes, Rosy is a selfish, manipulative bitch. Also a mare who would let her foals run rampant, without much supervision. I have to correct you on one thing though. Twilight Sparkle is not a witch. She is a doctor.
From Chapter 6 of Glorious:
"He doesn’t know she’s a pony."
"She doesn’t know he’s a pony."?
Also, I find it curious that all three of them just seem to be assuming that ponies menstruate.
(There's also the question of whether pony births are as bad as human ones, but that seems more uncertain; there's no particular reason I'm thinking of why ponies would have to menstruate, but they do have rather large heads.)
...And, by the way, are there really a significant number of adults who don't know what menstruation is? As I recall, my parents told me what it was long before I knew that sexual intercourse was a thing.
"“I’m a lovebird!” Nick pipes up cheerfully. “Meadowsweet’s a love...gerbil.”"
Is that a remnant of Nick being a pegasus?
"“We’re decent,” I say, shooting him a look."
Actually, I looked back to make sure, and I don't think Nick was ever mentioned withdrawing this time.
I'm not sure they've actually figured out Twilight/"Twilight"'s plan. Some things seem to be pointing to her being a changeling, others not, the expected police raid never showed up, the information on the computer seemed potentially suspiciously easy to find, and while the information in the notebook was harder, it seemed a bit oddly detailed and explanatory... and why tear those pages out instead of taking with her or destroying the entire notebook? I think Twilight/"Twilight" may be playing this at a yet deeper level.
edit before posing but after looking several pages back for the calendar stuff below:
Oooh, also, there's this bit in Chapter 2:
"If I knew what Twilight was doing, I probably would have burst out of my house, and blindly galloped down the street to give myself up at the nearest police station."
But in the version of the plan as our protagonists understand it in Chapters 5 and 6, the police are believed compromised; it's explicitly said that going to them would be a bad idea. So if going to the police would actually have been a good idea with Twilight's true plan...
...Also, with a bit of research and calculation (I actually looked up 1166 BCE on Wikipedia before "YOLD") I've figured out that the page creation timestamps are in the Discordian calendar, but the page for Chapter 6 seems to have been created a day before those for Chapters 4 and 5. Curious.
(Not currently sure exactly how to convert between the Discordian and Gregorian calendars, but I don't think that should be a problem here.)
8390937
there are people who still think that wolves howl at the moon.
I know there are guys who are never taught what menstruation is. How many of them never went researching for themselves? No clue. Are there really a significant number of 30 year olds who haven't gotten laid, yet?
Huh? Why do you keep finding corrections that happened during that massive rewrite... oh, it looks like my website just... stopped updating halfway through them. Alright, check again.
That was one of the things I had to give up. It was kind of a lame joke, anyway.
Ponies are pretty virile, but not enough to maintain an erection while unconscious!
I'm particularly proud of that completely useless feature of my story webpage generator.
Anyway, check again. I made sure the website updated this time.
8391671
"there are people who still think that wolves howl at the moon."
Oh. Uh... I'll admit that I was one of them until just now.
"I know there are guys who are never taught what menstruation is. How many of them never went researching for themselves? No clue."
Ah.
"Are there really a significant number of 30 year olds who haven't gotten laid, yet?"
I don't know.
"Huh? Why do you keep finding corrections that happened during that massive rewrite... oh, it looks like my website just... stopped updating halfway through them. Alright, check again."
I've only time to check for those particular things at the moment, I'm afraid, rather than reread in a general check (and there were some smaller things I noticed that I didn't report due to time constraints and the venue anyway, sorry) but sure. Let's see...
Oh, hm, things seem to have been reorganized.
Looks like the lovebird thing is gone.
Nick now withdraws.
Oh, and those were the only two.
Also, the timestamps appear to have straightened out.
"That was one of the things I had to give up. It was kind of a lame joke, anyway."
Sorry.
"Ponies are pretty virile, but not enough to maintain an erection while unconscious!"
Aye, it seemed like not an unreasonable assumption, but as nothing about it was mentioned, when it would presumably be noticeable, the text seemed to actually be implying the reverse.
"I'm particularly proud of that completely useless feature of my story webpage generator."
:)
"Anyway, check again. I made sure the website updated this time."
Aye, looks like it.
8391766
Wolves are creatures of the sun as much as beavers, cats or ponies. They howl upwards, because it makes the sound carry farther. They howl at night, because that's when they can't coordinate by sight. Humans see that, jump to conclusions, and now you've got wolves on your t-shirt howling at a moon. The reality is that humans are the ones who live by the moon's cycle, and since humans aren't generally in the vicinity of other apes, they're the only ones who do. Those wolves howling at the moon are humans howling at the moon, projecting their own inclinations onto a reality that doesn't quite fit.
Incidentally, the timestamps are when the file was generated, so if I edit typoes in chapter 4, it gets a later date than chapter 5.
The proper response is "You're welcome."
No, you must read everything in detail the moment I tell you to! It's not like I was just giving you a head's up. Clearly I want you to read everything on the spot and form elaborate commentary right now, this very minute. Lives are at stake, man!
8392629
"
"Wolves are creatures of the sun as much as beavers, cats or ponies. They howl upwards, because it makes the sound carry farther. They howl at night, because that's when they can't coordinate by sight. Humans see that, jump to conclusions, and now you've got wolves on your t-shirt howling at a moon. The reality is that humans are the ones who live by the moon's cycle, and since humans aren't generally in the vicinity of other apes, they're the only ones who do. Those wolves howling at the moon are humans howling at the moon, projecting their own inclinations onto a reality that doesn't quite fit.
Huh. Thanks. I knew that wolf-to-wolf communication was involved, but that was about it.
Though I'm curious what exactly you mean about humans living by the moon's cycle; I can think of several possibilities.
"Incidentally, the timestamps are when the file was generated, so if I edit typoes in chapter 4, it gets a later date than chapter 5."
Ah, thanks.
"The proper response is "You're welcome."
"
Oh, you're welcome, then. :)
"No, you must read everything in detail the moment I tell you to! It's not like I was just giving you a head's up. Clearly I want you to read everything on the spot and form elaborate commentary right now, this very minute. Lives are at stake, man!
"
Fortunately, my sarcasm detector was sensitive enough to pick this up. Thanks. :)
Reading Chapter 7 of Glorious:
Ah, after a bit of confusion, I see you changed the plan a bit. I was wondering why it was Room 315 (IIRC) specifically.
"she twirls in the air, ten holds threateningly"
"then"?
"So that means every guy who turned into a mare did so not because of her, but because of something about... himself."
Well, not necessarily; there are a number of possible mechanisms. I don't think that there's enough evidence yet to draw a hard conclusion in favor of one or another.
I also started reading the Fallout Equestria story, and though I haven't gotten far yet, I found this little gem in the first chapter:
"emblazoned with the number P that marked all uniforms in Stable 2"
So there's another question mark in my notes filled in!~ :D
Though, if P=2, Z can't be 2, which means year ZDP from Feeding Problems must be >=1000, according to my notes. Don't remember the exact context, but I'd only listed that as an elevated probability of Z being 2, so apparently it was nothing really firm. Let's see, current possible values for ZDP are, in Base 10, 1394, 2418, and 2674, I believe. Might look back at that at some point when I have more time.
8392643
Er, I'm just talking about menstruation. Wolves have estrus, once a year, triggered by sunlight.
No it's worse than that. I made the plan, then forgot about the plan, then frantically tried to remember the plan, jamming something in there trying to guess at what the plan was. Then I remembered the plan, and couldn't believe how stupid it was what I actually wrote. A... hotel room?
She's definitely grasping at straws...
Nononono don't oh my god don't it is the worst holy superman jesus don't look at it it's hideous
8392751
"Er, I'm just talking about menstruation. Wolves have estrus, once a year, triggered by sunlight."
Oh, that was one of my ideas, but I was also thinking it might be something like "humans are much more capable in nights with brighter moons". Thanks for the clarification.
edit: Oh, and is that a common thing, then, sunlight-level-triggered estrus? I knew that horses had it from picking up pony-related stuff, but I don't remember researching or stumbling across triggers for other species with estrus cycles. Or, in fact, much of a list of species with estrus cycles.
"No it's worse than that. I made the plan, then forgot about the plan, then frantically tried to remember the plan, jamming something in there trying to guess at what the plan was. Then I remembered the plan, and couldn't believe how stupid it was what I actually wrote."
Oh, sorry.
"A... hotel room?
"
Huh. I thought it was Room 315 in the convention center (which was a quarter of the Hall of the Moon this year and a quarter of the Hall of the Sun last year). Yeah, a hotel room... doesn't make that much sense there, as far as I can see.
"She's definitely grasping at straws..."
Ah.
"Nononono don't oh my god don't it is the worst holy superman jesus don't look at it it's hideous
"
Oh. Uh. I kind of already read several chapters? And only stopped there because I decided that I really, really shouldn't put off going to bed long enough to read the next one.
"
"
:)
(...Though that kind of sends a mixed message with the above, you realize.)
(Also, I'm currently assuming you're joking about not wanting me to read it, but just in case you're serious, please let me know. And it would probably be good to put some sort of password access on those pages, but the fact that you haven't done such a thing seems a major sign you are indeed joking.)
8392805
Ferrets, horses, deer, cows, wolves, cats, rats, lions, felines, rabbits, salmon, foxes, weasels, bears, otters, buffalo, sparrows, eagles, practically everything has a reproductive cycle determined by sunlight, not one cycling on a monthly basis. If a female gets pregnant, or gives birth at the wrong time of year she or her offspring are very likely to perish in the cold, or starve from hunger. The only things crazy enough to reproduce independently of the sun pretty much have to evolve at tropical or subtropical latitudes, like say for instance, apes.
For some reason I had it in my mind that the convention met at a hotel. This, despite knowing about the Baltimore Convention Center for years, having seen videos of it, and totally not envying all the cartoon ponies running around it.
Oh no, I'm too late! What ever shall I do?
Seriously though, that story isn't bad persay... it's just the one story that I can't share literally anywhere on the Internet. It's against every policy of every site I've ever seen. Except maybe pastebin. I have no idea why I keep writing it.
Yeah, that'll really get me fame and recognition, blocking the few people who do read my stories from reading my stories.