pluperfect, n. the past perfect verb tense.
pluperfect, adj. more than perfect; excessively precise or complete.
A weekend with all her friends away, a shelf full of books, and Haycartes' Method- the spell that lets a pony see a book from the inside. It seemed like a perfect relaxing weekend for Twilight Sparkle- with a little tweak to the spell, that is.
Then she woke up inside the story... as the main character... with the main character's memories... and the main character's thoughts trying to override her own...
... and she can't remember how to get back out.
Another daily-writing attempt combined with reading new books.
Chapters (49)
Mwa-ha-ha! I love the concept. Now to read it!
Well, I have never heard of, nor read, the original that you are working with. And, I do want to see more of this.
But ... are you really planning on doing a pony version of a 10 book series on a daily basis?
I'd strongly suggest that at some point you consider abridging, or going off the rails, or something. I cannot see that being anything but burn-out.
Oh bloody hell man...
This is NOT The Maretain! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep your health in mind with this one!
I was wondering, how on earth do you sustain a daily update schedule? It sounds exhausting.
And the story's gotten off to a good start by the way
Never read this book, but I'm curious to see how this new project goes.
Ooh boy here we go again...
And Sandstorm's right, you might want to take it easier this time.
Interesting, we'll have to see what Twilight is able to do going off the rails without making the book angry or something.
At the least, straining the spell by making it work outside the original parameters to draw in extra knowledge could be the key to breaking it.
Heh, I wonder what Twilight will think when she talks to Sunset and finds out just how accurate Equestrian historical 'sci-fi' is.
Well, this is substantially darker than your previous works. Which is saying something given ‘stranded on a dead world’ was your last plot.
Closest I ever came to Hornblower is the Honor Harrington series, which I’m told is basically Hornblower In Space!
Twilight, you done goofed!
Seriously, how are you going to handle all twenty books? That sounds like a lot.
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Twenty, Twilight got a bunch of books she's never read before including some from Sunset's world. This isn't necessarily going to be the whole Hornsparker series.
Interested already, this is pretty ambitious and I can't wait to see what happens!
9483649 Oh, the chapter I wrote yesterday goes a lot darker even than this. I was tempted to put the "Dark" tag on this story because of it... and since (spoilers) the next book on Twilight's shelf is a ponyfied Harry Dresden volume, it might get that tag yet.
Thursday Next meets the noble race of Yith, with Prachettian mind-body dissonance thrown in for good measure. Oh, this is going to be fun, especially when Twilight gets to Sunset's loaners. Eagerly looking forward to more.
Promising. Continue. Get more KoFi.
Hmm is this one of the mess up of the spell or a typo?
of being permanently
9484372 The first bobble is due to the main character of the original book being male- indeed, there are only two female named characters in the entire novel. (And not many more than that in the entire book series.) And most of the book is looking at the main character's intensely self-critical thoughts.
Think this should be in italics.
9485410 So it should.
Huh. If I didn't know any better, I'd expect Pinkie to captain that vessel.
In any case, seeing Twilight rub Hornsparker's nose in her manufactured drama was a delight. Now comes the tricky part. We know what the protagonist needs to do, but Twilight's already taken the story a bit off the rails. Whether she can steer everything to a generally positive conclusion—or find enough time to remember the counterspell—remains to be seen.
Hmm right... Is Hornsparker originally male in Twilight's book and gender changed to accommodate Twilight self image or she is a mare also in the book?
*Internally Screams*
Between the Tartan Day in Cayce on the 6th and the con on the 5th, I think you just helped me book my whole weekend
9485496
Captain is male in the book
9485478 In the original book the Spanish ship is the Natividad. I hope I don't have to explain why I changed that.
9485496 In the original book I'm working from, Horatio Hornblower is very male indeed, in a society and profession where females are not valued in any way whatever. Obviously that doesn't work in pony society (ruled by princesses), so Bray to Quarters features a female protagonist. (Which doesn't help with my writing this story, since the spine of the book I'm working from stubbornly continues to read Beat to Quarters...)
How daring of you to tackle this project! Know that I have treasured the Hornblower books all my life.
Continues to be fun. I’m still trying to decide how much of Twilight’s thoughts on how awful and inefficient the navy is are her not getting it and how many are from how things are different with ponies and magic. Because on the one hand it sounds very much like she’s doing the classical intellectual mistake of thinking she knows everything about a subject she learned about five minutes ago. On the other hand, those really would change a lot.
Because in our world, at least, the British Navy conquered the world. Whatever their many many flaws they were clearly doing something right.
Good for Twilight, INSISTING on treating the loyal and trusted companion like a, you know, loyal and trusted companion.
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Clearly it’s actualy referring to CELESTIA’S birth
9485650 Twilight is from a world where (a) actual war is almost unknown, and (b) magic is pervasive and could, potentially, eliminate much of the hard labor required to run a sailing ship.
But even in our world, there were numerous ways the navies could have improved if not for the stranglehold of tradition.
Okay, now this is getting interesting! I have no knowledge of the source material, but how many chapters are you planning to dedicate to each book?
Basically Quantum Leap but with books
A
9485567
The proper name for the ship "Cumpleanos" would be "Cumpleaños" (= Birthday), with "ñ". "Cumpleanos" (with "n") isn't even a Spanish word. It's... well... :-)
Año: year.
Ano: anus.
So, "cumpleanos" is a combination of the verb "cumplir" (= to reach, turn, or have a birthday) and the plural of anus. :-)
Greetings from Maredrid, I mean, Spain.
9486007
So a reasonable if stretched translation for the name would be 'grasping assholes'? For a bunch of greedy revolutionaries, seems perfect. Carry on.
might mess an ordinary reader - might miss an ordinary reader
get through the both - get through them both
I think it's off to a solid start, and I want to keep reading and see where you take if from here.
9485773 Depends on how the book is structured, but for the moment I'm aiming at one chapter per chapter. (Only my chapters will perforce be much shorter than in the originals.)
9486007 I am aware. Unfortunately I have to do a workaround of a Unicode number to get an enye (tilde above N) rather than a tilde by itself, and I figured that most who care would presume I meant the more common Spanish word.
9485637 Well, that's the big catch, isn't it?
9486160 The ship actually belongs to the colonial overlords... which to be honest makes it fit even better.
Twlight said. - Twilight said.
around the hauses - around the hawsers
Still following along and happy with the way things are filling out.
18th-century seafaring procedurals can be intensely technical, and I'm glad you've decided to avoid most of that.
9486596
You could always try using the compose key. Then you just have to type Compose+~+n. If you’re on Windows, you may need to install an extension such as WinCompose; the compose key is natively supported on Linux.
Weeeell, mutilation is probably out of question even during good old times, but regular clipping would have worked well enough
9486929
Given their fanon culture I’m surprised you wouldn’t have gotten regular volunteers for the marines :p
9487444 There are plenty of pegasi in the marines (in the story) for more or less that reason. Hence the pegasus scouts leading the ship into harbor.
I notice that Hornsparker isn't questioning Twilight as much...
Makes me wonder if all that time being forced into submission made her dig through Twilight's memories and realize that she is a force not to cross
Majordom said - Majordomo said
seemed deterimed - seemed determined
The pace is starting to pick up and I'm finding this to be an enjoyable read, fitting well with the body of your work.
How typical. A mere mortal with delusions of divinity. He must be exterminated.
Last year has definitely left its mark.
Going through the supply list, the alfalfa and potatoes kinda lept out and earned a momentary raised eyebrow.
9488340 Well, I can't exactly go with the original book and have a pony ship load up with brined beef and salt pork...
Even weirder:
The original title of this book when it was first published in Britain was The Happy Return...
Mike
It appears I've woefully underestimated "good old times" in my previous comment
A picture is, I'm told, worth a thousand words. Apparently most of them for the mental image of this guy are "nope" at varying volumes and inflections.
9488469 Well, if the trip out is horrendous enough, ANY return is a happy return.
Oh dear. This is going to be... complicated. Still, interesting to see the behavior of the character's mind. Some things are too important to let slide... and others to horrifying to maintain the mental pressure needed for dominance. Cooperation seems like the best strategy, but the challenge there is getting the two sides in a cooperative state. Good thing one of them is the Princess of Friendship.
9488143
As the bookhorse gazes into you, you have no choice but to also gaze into the bookhorse.