Government and Bureaucracy
Unlike at Chakona, the Cosmic Lotus had to settle for a strict parking orbit. Space above the planet was far more crowded and tightly regulated, and there were no concessions for celebrity newcomers. The various scientists aboard the ship were not too concerned, however. They already had an enormous amount of data from the visit to the chakat home-world that needed study, and Earth could wait for more detailed examination. The Lotus did get a spot away from the usual commercial starships though, placed near Star Fleet’s enormous satellite headquarters. This was both a concession to the Equians’ importance and due consideration to security.
Wandering and Starry teleported over to the Pegasus to join Boyce and Rosepetal to shuttle over to the headquarters. As much as the Federation’s matter transmission technology fascinated the alicorns, both balked at the prospect of being transported by literally being disassembled and reassembled elsewhere. A slightly longer journey was quite acceptable, and once they had visited a place, they could get a lock on it again for pinpoint teleportation. A conscientious Security officer had raised this point, suggesting that it was unwise to give the visiting aliens that reference point. Starry countered with the fact that there was nothing stopping either alicorn from teleporting there anyway, but without an anchor point, she could turn up in a secure meeting room or the male’s bathroom. Having no argument to counter that, the officer dropped its objection.
Grand Admiral Tirarsk was at the shuttle bay to give the visitors a formal greeting. After returning the salutes of Boyce and Rosepetal, he said, “Welcome to you and your mate, Captain Path. I’m sure Admiral Kline has impressed upon you how much we have been looking forward to cementing relationships between your civilization and ours, and the benefits that we can both acquire from that association. You may be pleased to know that Admiral Kline and the Pegasus have been assigned to pursue that goal for the duration, and hopefully help your ship find its way home again. Meanwhile, I am here to facilitate your meeting with the Federation Grand Council.” He paused to indicate the female bear morph who had been patiently standing beside the Rakshani. “This is Senator Barr. She has been responsible for dealing with the Swarm situation since its inception, and now that you have become involved, she will be your intermediary with the Stellar Federation.” He stepped back to allow the senator to come forward.
Barr bent down to offer her broad hand to the ponies, and she shook hooves with both of them. “On behalf of the Stellar Federation, I welcome you to Earth. The Grand Council is looking forward to meeting with you. I must say that you have caused quite a stir among the normally staid Senate. Frankly, a large portion still does not believe in this magic of yours.”
Wandering chuckled. “Having experienced the reactions that we got on Chakona, I can well understand what you mean. Nevertheless, whether they believe or not, I hope that we can start forging some strong alliances.”
“Yes, that is our hope. Anyway, to start with, I invite you to come down planetside to my office where we can work out the details of your meeting with the Grand Council, who will be in your party, and the security arrangements for all involved.”
“Certainly, Senator. Once we have done that, is it possible to grant my crew visiting rights to your world like we did on Chakona?” Wandering asked.
“Ah – the political situation on Earth is a lot more complicated than on Chakona. That planet has a single world government, while Earth is a union of many nations, some of which are a bit more… difficult, shall we say, than others to deal with. Nothing that can’t be sorted out, but I suggest that we wait until after the meeting with the Grand Council to try to arrange anything. Many members may be more amenable to persuasion after that.”
Wandering nodded. “I understand completely, Madame Senator. Equus is somewhat similar, with a mixture of races and cultures, each of which with its own sensitivities.”
“Good. Now if you will accompany me to the transporter station, we can make our way to my workplace.”
“With respect, Senator, we decline to use your transporter devices.” Before the bear morph could object, Wandering continued, “We do have an alternative – we can teleport there.”
Barr frowned in puzzlement. “While I don’t object to that, how do you intend to find your way?”
Starry spoke up as she levitated an object from her saddle pack. “This is a mana beacon. Just take it to the place that you wish us to arrive at, and we can lock onto it for teleportation purposes.”
Barr looked at the device as it settled into her hand. “I see. Would I be able to teleport along with you?”
“That’s within our means, yes.”
Barr nodded and beckoned to her aide who had been quietly standing in the background. The man stepped up and took the beacon from Barr as she said, “Take this to the foyer of the Senate Building and contact me when you’re there.”
“Yes, Ms. Barr,” he replied and then turned to head off to the transporter station.
The bear turned back to the alicorns. “Are you sure that your beacon will function properly after going through the Transporter?”
Starry replied, “I had to redesign it to compensate for molecular disassembly and recompilation, but it has been tested and will work as specified.”
“Excellent. May we keep it as a permanent beacon for the Senate?”
“Aren’t you concerned about security?”
“For starters, the Federation already has teleporters who could bypass security if they wanted to, and I suspect that you could too. At least this way we can guide new visitors to a suitable arrival point, and in the worst case, we could destroy it.”
They were not kept waiting long before the senator’s aide called in. At that point, Admiral Tirarsk said, “It was a pleasure to meet you both, and I look forward to talking with you again in the near future. I leave you in the Senator’s capable hands. Farewell, Captain Path, Lieutenant Commander Path.”
The alicorns said farewell and Starry lit up her horn. Moments later, they and the senator stood in the airy foyer of the Senate Building. Like all such edifices, it was large and impressive, decorated to please the eyes of visitors. They had materialized near a security checkpoint beyond which the general public was not allowed, and Barr stepped up to the guard’s desk.
“These are the guests that I informed you that I would be bringing back,” she said even as biometric devices confirmed her identity.
The guard eyed the two alicorns curiously before nodding. “Yes, ma’am. I have their passes right here.” He held up two I.D. cards with clips. If your guests will step forward for biometric scans to link with their passes, we can have you on your way through promptly.”
Wandering stepped up to the scanning machine and placed his hoof on a sensor plate. He then stated his name when instructed to do so, and then he was handed his new I.D. card which he clipped to his uniform. Starry followed suit, and then they all proceeded through the security checkpoint.
“What happens if we don’t have one of these cards and we try to go through?” Starry asked.
“A force-field would block you,” Barr replied.
“What about teleporters?”
“Admittedly they are nearly impossible to block, but without I.D. tags such as those you were given coupled with a dynamic permissions list, they would immediately trigger an alarm, and guards would quickly swarm them.”
“Ah! So if I teleported back in here later, I would get a nasty surprise,” Starry said with a grin.
The senator smiled back. “Precisely.”
They were led to the bear morph’s office, encountering various other senators and their staff along the way, and garnering mixed responses. Most were genuinely curious and fascinated by the strange sight though. They entered Barr’s outer office where the aide stopped, but the others were ushered into the inner office and invited to make themselves comfortable. The senator offered the ponies refreshments before settling down in the heavy-duty chair designed for burly morphs like herself.
“Now – let’s get down to business…”
The Stellar Federation Grand Senate gathered in the huge auditorium. Every race had all their representatives there for this once-in-a-lifetime event. While some of those gathered here this day had been around to welcome the Faleshkarti into the Federation, none had encountered representatives of an entire world of magical beings before. While some wondered how this would affect the Federation beyond help against the Swarm, others were drawn by pure curiosity, not the least of which were the Terran representatives who were fascinated by the comparisons with creatures of legend from Earth’s past.
The Speaker of the House, a female Caitian, pressed a button in front of her, and the deep notes of a tolling bell sounded throughout the auditorium. By the third stroke, the room had become silent. She stood up and said, “This special session of the Federation Senate is now open. We are gathered today to be addressed by representatives of the newly discovered world of Equus. I call upon Captain Wandering Path to take the stand.”
Having learned a lesson from the impromptu performance on Chakona, rather than just walk up to the podium from the wings, Wandering teleported several meters above it and flew in a lazy circle down to land just behind the stand. As intended, this caused quite a stir, and he folded his wings and waited until the murmuring died down. When the room was quiet once more, he began his speech.
“Gentlebeings of the Stellar Federation, as the appointed envoy of the world of Equus, I bring you greetings on behalf of the many races of our planet. I know that you are curious about us, and with this in mind, I wish to introduce you to a number of my crewmates from our ship, the Cosmic Lotus. I am an alicorn, a subspecies of the pony race. Others include unicorns as represented by Random Dawn, pegasi such as Epic Prose, earth ponies such as Emerald Green, thestrals as represented by Shadowcry, and crystal ponies such as Albite Feldspar.”
The named ponies walked up to the podium as they were announced and stood quietly gazing at the audience. They had been chosen by lottery from among those who had expressed interest in being at the presentation, and they took the opportunity to indulge their own curiosity.
Wandering continued with his speech. “While ponies are one of the major races of Equus, we are far from the only one. Some of our closest allies include the griffons such as Brimstone, changelings represented by Steam Shift, zebras such as Skye Path, diamond dogs such as Rockjaw, minotaurs like Steel Grip, and last but far from least, dragons such as Eon Path.”
The audience spontaneously applauded the crew representatives who grinned and lapped up the attention; in the case of Steam Shift, this was quite literally.
“These and so many other races not on our ship represent a world united in Harmony and vision for our future. The Cosmic Lotus represents that spirit in our quest to learn more about our universe and to meet others who may share that vision. It was with great wonder and delight that we encountered your Federation after travelling so far from our home, and while we had our initial difficulties, we quickly found common ground. We have come to learn, but we have found that we also need to teach. Ours is a universe filled with magic as well as science, and together we can do so much more.”
Wandering paused for a moment and his expression grew more serious. “However, we have seen how the Federation is threatened by a monstrous race that appears to be inimical to all other sapient species. You have reached out to us for help, and we have listened. The Cosmic Lotus project was started by House Path, a family-led institution that trains warrior-scholars sworn to defend those in need. The Swarm poses a threat to your worlds and perhaps to ours as well, but only we have the means of countering their greatest weapon. We will work with you to neutralize their threat and bring peace and harmony back to your worlds.”
The alicorn had to pause as cheers and applause broke out among the representatives. As it died down, he continued. “My friends, today we start on a journey of mutual discovery. Not everything that we discover about each other will be wonderful, but it is an opportunity for both of us to grow and learn. You have welcomed us into your world, and we look forward to welcoming you into ours. We may have come from a world of magic, but the magic of friendship is truly universal. Thank you for making our world that much bigger.”
Wandering then stepped back from the podium and the crowd started cheering loudly. The Speaker allowed it to continue for a short while before calling for order. She thanked Wandering and the rest for appearing before the council and then called on one of the representatives who wished to make a speech in return. While the rest of the crew got to escape, the alicorn settled in to endure a long series of speeches from each of the member worlds. It had been many years since he had needed to practice patience under these circumstances, but he soon remembered that it never got any easier.
Wandering eventually got to join his shipmates elsewhere in the building. A room had been prepared with snacks and beverages, and they mingled with members of the diplomatic corps and assistants to the senators while they waited for the speeches to end. The crowd grew as those senators joined them, many eager to have a chat with Wandering or one of the crew. It seemed a wonderful icebreaker as the two sides got to be better acquainted before the formal talks began in earnest. Thankfully, Wandering did not have to be a part of that. He was just the face of the pioneering spirit of Equus and as the one who had made First Contact with the Federation, the person who represented his world best to the curious peoples of the interstellar union. After this, both sides would settle into formal negotiations with experienced ambassadors and their staff. Today though, it was all smiles and light conversation.
“Foul demon!”
Wandering’s ears pricked up and his head swiveled to the source of that loud outburst. His eyes landed upon a male human who held an object in front of him, practically in the face of a very startled Steam Shift. The changeling seemed to be trembling and the alicorn used his network connection to discover why. He was immediately glad that he could not taste emotions like a changeling could because Shift was being flooded with feelings of revulsion and hatred from this one man. Wandering immediately started trotting in their direction.
“I am not a d-demon, s-sir,” Steam Shift stuttered a little as he tried to shrink away from the livid human.
“Do not deny what is obvious to one of the Faith! You may have cast your spell over everyone else, but my eyes are clear. Your aspect is that of one of the minions of Hell, and I cast thee out!” The man appeared to start to strike Steam Shift with the wooden device in his hand, only to have it halted by the glow of Wandering’s magic.
The alicorn interposed himself between the man and his shivering crew member. “What do you think you are doing, sir?!” he asked forcefully.
The man’s fierce gaze shifted to the alicorn. “You profess to using magic, do you not?”
“Of course,” Wandering replied, wondering what that had to do with the situation.
The man cast his gaze around the room at the other senators in triumphant vindication. “You hear that? He confesses his use of the Dark Arts and he associates with demons! Do not get beguiled by their deceitful words as they will lead you on the path of damnation!”
“What in the name of Harmony are you talking about?” Wandering asked with a perplexed expression on his face.
“Do not seek to ensnare me in your honeyed words, warlock! God has commanded that we do not suffer those of your kind to live, and you and your demonic horde shall be repelled by those of the true Faith!”
“Senator O’Hara, I require that you leave this meeting at once,” came a familiar stern voice from beside Wandering.
The stallion looked around to see Boyce with a thunderous look on his face, accompanied by Sergeant Harrakar. The Rakshani had his hand on his sidearm, but although he had not drawn the weapon, it was evident that he was prepared to use it if necessary.
O’Hara turned to Boyce and scowled. “Admiral Kline! I am not surprised that one who dallies with those not of his species would defend such as these when instead you should be locking them away from the good people of Earth.”
“You have said quite enough, Senator. Harrakar will escort you out now. I suggest that you cooperate as my sergeant is not known for his patience with racist fools.”
The senator seemed almost ready to refuse, but the nearly eight-foot-tall felinoid was enough to intimidate even the most belligerent of humans. Even so, O’Hara did not leave quietly. He continued to rant even as Harrakar’s hand tightened on his shoulder to forcefully guide him out of the room.
“What was that all about, Boyce?” Wandering asked as the hushed room slowly began to fill with conversation once more.
“Senator O’Hara represents the Holy Christian Kingdom of North America, a small nation on Earth. They have some extreme and prejudiced views based on religion.”
“So that rant was all about religion? Why would he turn on us like that though? How have we offended him?”
“It’s more a case of them using religion as an excuse for being bigoted and masking hatred. O’Hara just happens to be one of the worst fundamentalists, and he has taken your use of magic and the appearance of some of your crew as signs of evil. Don’t listen to him though. I am a Christian, but despite the name of the nation he represents, their values are as far from true Christianity as they can get.”
“Why do you allow him to spread his disharmony then?”
“We have no choice. To be part of the Stellar Federation, a world must be represented by a single world government, with all the nations agreeing to abide by the rulings of the Senate. The United Nations Terran World Government has to accept senators from the HCKNA to conform to this rule, and as much as we would prefer otherwise, we cannot expel them for their behavior. Their representatives take advantage of that situation to press their own agendas, but fortunately, they are almost always outnumbered. We cannot prevent incidents like this from occurring though; we can only prepare for their near inevitability.”
“That seems so much worse than it was like on Chakona.”
Boyce nodded. “I would like to say that this is an isolated situation, but there have been problems with other fanatical groups as well. It’s the major reason why Goldfur made the decision to move the family to Chakona.”
“It seems that the Swarm isn’t the only threat to your civilization.”
The human sighed. “I’d love to argue with you about that, but I fear you may be right. Maybe your world can help with that too.”
Wandering gave Boyce an empathetic look. “On my world, Princess Celestia spent a millennium bringing peace to Equestria, and House Path another century building on its work to help unite the races of Equus. It may take some time, but we would be willing to do our part.” The stallion paused and then smiled with a touch of chagrin. “Of course, that is not for me to decide. However, I’m sure our ambassador and her team will be of a similar viewpoint.”
Boyce nodded. “I’m not expecting miracles, Wandering. I just choose to be optimistic.”
“I suppose that’s for the best. Right now though, I had better check with Steam Shift to see if he’s okay.”
The changeling had already gotten support from his other crewmates though, and the overwhelmingly positive mood in the room had restored the emotivore’s equilibrium. Steam Shift adjusted his trademark blue scarf and started responding to the concerned questions of the other senators, so Wandering went back to schmoozing with their hosts.
“So, when will my crew get to go on shore leave, Mister Shepherd?” Wandering asked the Terran bureaucrat. “On Chakona, the Prime Minister handed out visas to all of us as soon as we arrived.”
“This is Earth, not Chakona,” the canine morph replied sourly. “We have stricter rules and requirements. Everyone must go through the same procedure, and that takes time.”
Wandering Path fumed. He had encountered obstinate bureaucracy on Equus during his years of travelling around the world, but these Terrans seemed to have raised it to an art form. Aside from the special event at the Senate, no one from the Cosmic Lotus had been allowed to visit the planet yet besides himself as designated envoy. When Destined had arrived, bringing with him the Equian ambassador appointed to the Stellar Federation, they were both kept waiting an extraordinary amount of time verifying their credentials. Apparently, Wandering had been spared that fate due to Boyce’s foresight in arranging most things beforehand, but that had only applied to the special event. Now his crew wanted to enjoy exploring a new world, but none had yet to be given clearance.
“How long before we get those visas?”
“No more than three business days, Captain Path. Of course, tomorrow is Saturday, so please take the weekend into account.”
“Five days?! Are you kidding me?!” Wandering shouted. “You were instructed to expedite these things for us, not take a holiday in between receiving our information and giving us our visas.”
The dog frowned. “We are expediting them. Normal procedures require up to twenty-one days.”
Wandering blinked in the stunned realization that the bureaucrat was perfectly serious in his assertion that they were working on the applications exceptionally fast. In the face of such obstinate adherence to procedure, there was little that he could do. He sighed before asking, “Can I show you something, Mister Shepherd?”
Shepherd looked puzzled. “I suppose so, but it won’t affect the handling of your applications.”
Wandering smiled thinly. “We shall see.” His horn lit up and he teleported them both out of the office.
Shepherd was held up by Wandering’s magic until he could assume a standing position after being taken from his seat. Then he froze in shock as he saw what was outside the window of the starship that he now stood inside. A few hundred kilometers below them was the ocean with clouds scudding across the sky. The coastline of Africa was just approaching, and so was the night sky.
“You… you kidnapped me!” Shepherd gasped.
“No, I asked if I could show you something and you said ‘yes’. I’ll take you back momentarily, but I wanted you to see things from our perspective. We travelled for years in space to reach Chakona and we spent our first time on a planet in over a decade for a mere two weeks there. We would have loved to have stayed for far longer, but our responsibilities brought us here to Earth. Now that we have arrived, we all long to spend more time under open skies.” Wandering gestured behind him, and Shepherd turned to see a plain corridor leading away from the observation room. “That was our view for over ten years. We may be hardy explorers, but even we need to feel the freedom of unfettered access to a friendly world after all this time. We need to rest and recreate, and seeing your world just outside the window and knowing that it’s within easy reach is sheer torture as we are kept waiting. Can’t you understand how we feel?”
Shepherd fidgeted and would not meet Wandering’s eyes. “I wouldn’t know – I’ve never left my country before, let alone Earth.”
“Then let me ask you this – how would you feel if you asked me to take you back to your office right this moment, but I told you that I happily would do so, but only after you submitted a travel permission form which will take five days to process?”
“I thought you said you haven’t kidnapped me?”
Wandering shrugged. “Don’t blame me for the bureaucracy that holds things up.”
Shepherd was quiet for a long time before he said at last. “You have made your point. May we return now?”
The alicorn nodded and teleported them back to Shepherd’s office. The dog morph promptly sat down at his desk and started tapping on his computer’s keyboard. Without looking up, he said, “Your applications have been submitted. You may go now. Your visas will be forwarded upon completion of processing.”
The alicorn sighed. “Goodbye, Mister Shepherd.”
“Enjoy your visit, Captain Path.”
Wandering teleported back to his stateroom and found Starry there already.
“How did it go?” the mare asked.
“Not good. We’re probably stuck up here for five days except for any special events like yesterday.”
Starry’s ears drooped. “That sucks.”
“I tried my best. Maybe I should try to get Star Fleet to exert some pressure on our behalf?”
“Didn’t Boyce already say that there’s a limit to what they can do? Their authority is mostly off-world.”
“Yeah. I’m not optimistic.”
“At least a couple of the crew aren’t in too much of a hurry. Techbird has finished the computer interface that translates between Federation protocols and our own. It’s working really well and she’s been raiding the Terran internet ever since for data. Radiance Point has been taking advantage of that too.”
“To each their own. Too bad I can’t give the rest of the crew any good news. I’ll break it to them after dinner.”
Wandering spent most of the rest of the day either in his office or on the bridge to avoid unwanted questions. Nevertheless, dinnertime came around quicker than he preferred, and he reluctantly headed to the mess hall in the company of Starry to give him support. At least the crew let him eat in peace before pestering him with questions. Inevitably the moment came when Random Dawn came over to inquire about the status of shore leave as there were several crew members who could do with another break soon. Wandering was about to reply when his personal comm beeped with a message. He read it and a grin slowly spread on his face. He got up and walked over to the stage before turning to look at the room full of expectant faces.
“My fellow crewmates, pack your bags – you’re going on holiday as of tomorrow!”
While Wandering was happy that Shepherd had apparently bypassed the usual channels to process the visas, the alicorn was careful to quickly and thoroughly provide the few extra details that the dog morph had requested in his follow-up message. Then he was kept busy with his crew’s shore leave applications. Unlike at Chakona, he had to keep a skeleton crew in reserve, so he had to defer a couple of the requests. Those would get compensation later, but for now, those who needed it most got priority. At least with Techbird, Galena, and Radiance Point willingly remaining aboard for now, that simplified things a lot.
He and Starry got an invitation to meet Forestwalker and Goldfur’s parents, and they joined Boyce and his wives at a gathering at their family home in Australia. Chakats Longstripe and Desertsand were curious to meet the ponies that their daughters had told them about, and Boyce was a beloved son-in-law who never failed to drop by when he visited Earth. Both stallion and mare were delighted to accept an offer to show them around the local national forest that Forestwalker had spent much of hir life exploring, earning hir adult name.
Duty called for Boyce, and he and the Pegasus were gone the next day, but the crew of the Cosmic Lotus enjoyed themselves in various ways. Some took the opportunity to pursue the professions or hobbies that they could not use aboard the starship, such as Ortzi. While Helen had to leave with hir ship, the griffon pursued his interest in geology. Some of his friends travelled with him, partly out of similar interests and partly as an excuse to hike around and see something of this new world.
Some pegasi nearly accidentally caused an incident when a passing aircar driver was severely distracted by the sight of them having an impromptu hoofball game on a cloud that they had pushed into shape for the purpose. The authorities politely asked them to find a more appropriate location for their fun, closely followed by some entrepreneurs who wanted to sign them up for Earth’s first ever aerial sport that did not involve a machine of some kind, or even a parachute. Considering the ratings that the news of the incident had gotten, people were already counting the dollars.
As the only alicorn capable of teleporting the extreme distance from Equus to Earth, Destined was kept busy ferrying people back and forth and was appointed his world’s primary representative. He still left the main burden of negotiations with the Federation Special Council to the expert ambassador, although he took back the results of the day’s discussions to Equus for debate by the World Council. As such things go, weeks went by while the Lotus awaited the results.
Nearly six weeks had passed before Wandering got a call from the Pegasus one morning.
Boyce’s smiling face filled the screen. “Good morning, Captain Path. I have some exciting news for you.”
“Oh? What would that be, Admiral?”
“We’ve been hosting a team of scientists who have been investigating the wormhole through which you passed, and the six moonlets in particular. Do you recall the markings on them?”
“The runes? Sure.”
“We know what they are. The scientists are kicking themselves for not identifying them sooner. However, they never expected to find anything like them way out in the Chakastra system.”
“Well? Don’t keep me in suspense – what are they?”
“They’re of Terran origin – Celtic runes to be precise, dating back to the age of myths and legends. My friend, we may be on the verge of discovering why there are so many similarities between our two cultures.”
Wandering blinked in stunned surprise. Techbird was going to freak out when she heard about this!
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Fairly interesting chapter. We do love our bureaucracy at times it seems to our own hindrance.. Seen this with even cities and towns where bureaucracy literally spends months to achieve anything while another can do the same thing in days
Cosmic Lotus is one of the reasons I tend to stay up far later than I probably should.
Worth it.
1) Radiance Point could work on a way to make bureaucracies work faster, but even he knows it would not be worth the effort. Is it not said that against bureaucracies, the gods themselves labor in vain?
2) Just who is the Equestrian envoy to the Federation? I have a couple of ideas, but I shant speculate.
3) Can anyone picture what would happen if Radiance and Sunrise went to Las Vegas for three days? I wonder who would put the 'no, you don't!' order down... Wandering before departure, or the Las Vegas authorities a day later?
Oh buggers. I know of a few other artists that could help maychance. The only major difference is that their turn around time isn't anywhere near as fast as Fox's.
How would that work?
Nice with yet another chapter.
Hm, is it me, or does the Speaker change gender from female to male?
I am curious as well as to who the ambassador is, would be funny if it was Discord!!!!!!!!
I'd like to see the reaction if Eon decided to take another spa soak with tourists watching!!!!!
and don't worry about the picture my friend. not every chapter needs one.
8805698
I noticed that, too.
8805698
8805709
It's a chang...! Wait, my bad. ;)
I was waiting for one of the HCKNA to show up and spoil things. Wandering and the others had better watch their back carefully with those fanatics taking interest in them...
Only ten years to get to a new planet. Then they get to wait in line.
Oh my. Now this is incredibly intriguing!
Also, Senator O’Hara... bleh, extremists. I'm looking forward to the moment he'll get his ass handed over to him by a beautifully constructed argument that will destroy every speck of the fecal matter his mouth spouts.
8805698
8805709
Oops! Fixed.
Bigots and Politics
The 2 most annoying thing about in the univers
8805775
Or let him meet whit Celestia
That would be an intresting event
8805802
I so want that to happen now.
Or even better - Discord! He's the closest thing to a deity their world has.
8805802 8805813 just Flix would be an experience and he's as likely as Discord to put up with it.. BY Earthly definitions mostly ancient Luna, Celestia and Candance are gods
Called it! I knew those tightwad assholes from HCKNA would make a scene. That whole group gives true, honest Christians a bad name.
Which is the point I suppose, the nation is a mockery of the very worse of racial and religious bigotry after all.
8805889
I'm just wondering when we'll see Humans First too. Almost makes me want to start writing chakaverse stories again - I have a wonderful sick H1 fanatic of a priest who'd just love to shoot a pony or too... 😈
8805775
Hell there cause already hurt by the existence Of Goldendale.
8806292
I needed to read that multiple times and I still am not certain whether I understand what you are talking about
ok, i think discord can finally make his appearance even if he can't do it there physically........lol.
but through a walkie talkie instead......lol.
the age of myths and legends surely must have discord involved in it a lot.
like in some myths or legends where merlin can use magic.......lol.
and king arthur acquired a magical sword.......lol.
dragons also at one point of time exist on earth too before they all went missing which most likely someone go and teleport them all to equus and equestria.
any mythical creatures that exist on equestria most likely formerly come from earth......lol.
it will be interesting to compare the history of equestira and earth if you ask me.
also, i wouldn't be surprise if the ambassador is a dragon. maybe spike of all people.
8806526
Goldendale is Goldfur's Twin sister. Result of a transporter being damaged during a human first bombing. Ironically the only victim was a human male named Dale Perkins. The transporter works like this. it's scan you and separates you into three parts. Mind, mass, and DNA. When the bomb went off they had his mind and mass but not DNA. THey had Goldfur's though so made a clone of her body to save him.
THe religious bigots believe Morphs have no soul yet Dale was human and had one so hard to say morphs don't when you have a morph with one.
Did Starswirl work with Myrddin or are they one in the same?
8806922
Ah, I see. Yay, explanations! Thanks
8806955
it is a very interesting sub story of Goldies. I suggest checking it out.
Here's the itinerary; we will be teleported to Las Vegas, maybe with the Points, and have four days to see the sights. Then I have arranged for a chakat guide to take us west through the Grand Canyon before turning north and ending in Salt Lake City
I still think the Amazon rainforest is a better attract...
Kale, the only way that that's going to happen is if I shove you in a cocoon and carry you around the in entire time. Also no carrying around knives until we leave Vegas, i don't want a repeat of the council security incident.
Hoo boy ... Senator O'Hara reminds me of quite a few fanatics I unfortunately have to deal with on a regular basis ... guess all us decent folk have moved on by the 24th century (unless I'm really mis-remembering your timeline). Or is it just that there's enough retrograde tail-for-brains types to consistently elect a slate of putrid road apples? And why the heck couldn't Boyce have arranged for them to submit the paperwork for the visas before they left Chakona? Lemmee guess ... interservice friction between Star Fleet and the civilian authorities.
this reminded me of a book, "moonwar", where a fanatical group had decided that Nanotechnology was evil, and wanted to murder everyone on the Moon...at least some of the common solders caught up in the mess saw reason when someone compared them to Nazis.
Any chance we could get a crossover with Allen's Tales of the Folly?
8808911
There are no plans to get involved with the Folly. In fact, this is about two decades ahead of the current Folly storyline, so I really don't know how I would approach that idea.
8809110
Rats.
Was worth a shot.
I just had a scary thought... what if Radiance Point or Sunrise Flight got into a shouting match with Senator O'Hara? The curses will be flying then!
I like the solution Luna wanted to try for bureaucracy in one story a chainsaw.. Sad to say Celestia stopped her then again she was going to use it on the bureaucrats themselves
If anyone thinks the HCK is bad now, wait until they figure out that the changelings are the actual origin of Earth's succubus/incubus legends.
8805737
Well, that’s Terran beraucracy.
It's a true form of art.
8812152
Oh, it's gonna get better than just that. because if you think about it, EVERY single mythical creature that was known on Earth probably exists on Equus.
Can you see the faces of all the scientists and other professionals when they figure out that what they thought was just a myth or an out right made up story, is actually REAL!!!!!!
*ROFLMFAO* when that happens the Chaos it creates would make Discord and Flix weap!!!!!!
Not sure if the commentary on the current state of Australian immigration was intended or not....
8808509 Well, given that I plan of using nanotech to rewire all human brains into exact copies of my own, thus making myself effectively immortal...
But then, 7 billion copies of me would be a GOOD thing! Humanity would at last achieve perfection! (And everyone immediately sides with the 'nanotech=evil' guy)
"Apparently, we're all part of a giant multi-crossover fanfic someone's writing!"
Deadpool blinks, pausing his pen, "Ah hell, they're on to me."
Oh, eww. I'm gonna need my interstellar emigration visa approved before that happens, please...
I see the cockroaches of Westboro Baptist managed to survive the Gene Wars...
... and have unfortunately spread like cancer...
Yup, definitely sounds like Westboro Baptist Church.
Giving us Christians a bad name.
So.
In this chapter, Wandering Path extorts special treatment from a bureaucrat by threatening him with false imprisonment. Wandering does this not because the mission requires him to get planetside as soon as possible and thus he's forced to resort to questionable means, but because he just didn't feel like waiting (at least, I saw nothing to indicate it was mission critical he get planetside as soon as possible). These visitors are members of a previously unseen race with largely unverified intentions, so presumably the whole process is under some level of scrutiny. Presumably someone, somewhere is going to wonder how his crew got their visas approved so impossibly fast, and presumably Mr. Shephard had to have done something he wasn't supposed to in order to get them approved so fast (for example, forging a higher-up's credentials).
This would've been interesting if it was meant to reflect poorly on Wandering, and it creates a difficulty for him later. For example, he learns that Mr. Shephard was fired because of what Wandering coerced him to do. Another possibility: someone whose cooperation he needs becomes suspicious toward him because they found out he coerced a customs worker into bypassing whatever security checks are presumably being done during those 3 business days, and now the think Wandering has something to hide. Then we could see Wandering try to navigate this hurdle while having an "oh, I was being a dick" realization.
I realize this is a lot of attention given to one small scene in a very large work, but I assume you put it in the story for a reason, and in my case at least, I don't think it had the impact you intended.
Could be very interesting to see a story about a unicorn in the Holy Christian Kingdom of North America, where they would probably view their magic as witchcraft/satanic.
10469272
I lived in the same city as WBC a few years back. Between people like them and some of our current Beaureaucratic issues...A Eqquan invasion might be a good thing.
8805635
It’s taken me years to reluctantly come to this conclusion, but at least sometimes bureaucracy taking its sweet time can be a good thing. Sure, it’s generally annoying when you have some urgent matter you need them to help you with...but then consider that you’re not the only one who has to deal with it and that, since we don’t exactly live in a perfect world where we all get along 24/7, the same red tape can also helpfully slow down others who might deliberately or otherwise be trying to get things done that just so happen to run against your own interests.
I mean, right here in Goldfur’s universe the same customs and procedures pretty much have to be in part responsible for the fact that those Holy Kingdom nutcases don’t get into everybody else’s faces even more than they already do -- if they want to go somewhere outside their borders to stage a rally against whatever unholy abomination has roused their ire this week, they, too, have to put up with the same formalities and paperwork as everyone else or else risk trouble with the law wherever it is that they show up.