Who is Applejack?
A mechanic working in a world of endless gears, trying her best to keep the Mesh up and running. She is just a small part of a much larger whole...
Chapters (1)
GMBlackjack
Joined 12th Jul, 2016 ·
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Hmm... This is interesting. *Adds to bookshelf*
2,329 Days =
6.3765854 Years
Interesting read. I... can't really write a proper review but I feel you've pulled off the setting and characters within quite well. 9/10
This world seems like one that would be lovely to expand upon. Though that will likely happen in another story.
Hm
I love it.
The setting reminds me of an anime, Clockwork Planet, about a planet literally made out of gears.
This is better than that anime, though. Lets me daydream of flying a galactic-arcship-level starship near the Mesh.
9636650 Or the famous silent film "Metropolis", in which the quasi slave-class workers were shown endlessly turning huge gears and wheels.
The irony at the time of its original release is that it was believed to be pro-communist by many, when in fact the attempted worker uprising in the film was a NEGATIVE development being instigated by the robot duplicate under the command of the vengeful and delusional Rotwang (heh heh, that name's funny because it means 'decaying wiener') and causes the workers' own living places to be destroyed and nearly results in all the their children drowning. The resolution is MEDIATION, where workers and the elite learn to overcome their differences, respect each other, and work together.
It was then adopted by Nazis and thought to be pro-fascist, when in fact it's co-creator Fritz Lang, despised them and fled Germany in 1933 to come to the USA. As with most propagandists, the nutzies totally missed the true points of the film's story, as stated above... and ended up destroying themselves in WWII, as the film suggests is the outcome of movements founded upon revenge and hatred.
The story is actually suggesting quite unambiguously that revenge-based revolution tends to be self-destructive to the lower classes and may only end up with a new and worse type of despot in charge, and often a megalomaniacal one at that (predicting Stalin and Mao, to a degree). As with the symbolism of the robot duplicate, such movements can be easily swayed by someone who APPEARS to be on the side of the 'little guy', when in fact such people are often merely puppets of someone else with a devious agenda.
This message is practically a warning about both fascism and communism (both being direct offshoots of socialism... look them up: Nazi = national socialism; the Bolsheviks called themselves 'democratic socialists' for the first decade or so), which both arose centered around the idea of the workers rising up and casting down their upper-class oppressors.
Also interesting about that film was its lasting impact on sci-fi. The idea of a prophesied mediator, the son of one of the highest elites, bringing the lower and upper classes together was the key driving plot point of "Dune" through Paul Atreides.
And then there's the imagery which became a part of one of the most acclaimed antagonist species in Star Trek; TNG. Behold!
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Maria_from_the_film_Metropolis%2C_on_display_at_the_Robot_Hall_of_Fame.jpg/800px-Maria_from_the_film_Metropolis%2C_on_display_at_the_Robot_Hall_of_Fame.jpg
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Borg_dockingstation.jpg
Hmm... seems their world is in terminal condition.
I'll be a merciful angel and grant it 'assisted suicide'... (holds out god-like right hand and levels a cataclysmic blast which vaporizes the planet in an instant, as if the little rock ball had been sitting directly in the path of a supernova.... type II, not a puny Ia... in fact, that's Alondro's name for the attack.) SUPERNOVA....*KABOOM!!* (It's friggin' awesome. Not an unintentional euphemism like Vegeta's 'Big Bang Attack'.. heh... that's still funny.)
This is an awesome story!
The ending was sad, though: an uneven balance of hope and despair, poking you with two different lessons and possibilities at once. Could the Apple Trees spell hope for the Mesh? Is everypony doomed? We the readers don't know. I can't decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I still love this story and am adding it to my faves for sure.
I would argue that a self-replicating food and oxygen supply absolutely qualifies as something that would help pony survival after the Mesh winds down for good. Still, I'm not upper management.
In any case, fascinating tale and setting. I have many questions about how this world came to be the way it is, but for now, I'm just grateful for the story. Thank you for it.
9637035
Question: without the lights of the Mesh, where would they get light? There's no sun.
-GM, master of suns.
I like this. Very Brave New World, especially with the deification of the machine. You could easily have made management straight villains wanting to eradicate the tree, and it's a much stronger story for having not done that. Well done.
9637313
Is there no sun, or are they underground? I thought it was the latter, because AJ doesn't see stars when she looks up. I'd be very surprised if, in the [implied] long span of time the Mesh has been active, nothing has ever accidentally breached the surface or run into the ceiling or anything.
Though I guess if they were underground there would still be bugs and such, wouldn't there?
9637733
I'd say it's the former, that there's no sun or stars. The description of Applejack looking up is kind of confusing, but the rest of the sentence seems to suggest that she's inside the office looking out, and that outside is nothing but endless black.
That was allegedly a form of execution, once upon a time.
An interesting world. The Mesh was clearly not always there. What happened to the sun and stars?
10113401
I never defined it - neither in this story, nor the others, nor Amber Ashes. . It's left to the imagination what happened, if anything.
-GM, master of inks.
I want to know more.
10859584
Read all the stories.
Read Amber Ashes.
Be enlightened.
-GM, master of enigmatic responses.
Hmmm yes...Cogs in the machine, serving the machine spirit and maintaining it so that in return the machine spirit provides, and life continues to survive. Alas, it is not a closed energy system, so it seems...
Much like the machine I see the gears working together with this and Last Hope. Alone, one gear accomplishes nothing and spins in place. Two or more mesh together to start performing work. The pieces are falling into place. Applejack's care for that tree will soon become more important than she realizes.
Interesting to see perspective of a life that has never seen anything green and alive growing out of the ground before, much less being able to tend to it. At least for the happy period of time, all the other ponies were eager to help Applejack tend to the apple tree. I guess typically I wouldn't expect to see something like that here. The Mesh is too important to other ponies.
Man, her mind's going to be absolutely blown if and when she gets out of the Mesh to the outer world.