The moon and its stately accompaniment of stars: they hold the gazes of two nightly alicorns, identical in all but clothes.
The one clad in regalia looks to her counterpart, the latter’s horn glowing blue. “It seems that raising the moon is noticeably more difficult than manipulating the stars for you. It is a much more delicate work, after all. Say… have you ever sewn or crocheted?”
A nod comes from the local Luna, adorned with nothing but a spare collar from her vice principal wardrobe. “Yes, I have. My sister was more adept at it, to say the least.”
A star slowly rises, but like a rock too heavy to bounce on the lake, it falls.
“Though, of course, I was adequate at it because I had fingers.”
More stars reach up, ascending but without the glory for they wobble.
The glow on her horn stops; the vice principal, exhausted. The princess could clock her other self’s stressed-out breathing.
“You are overthinking this, Lulu. It is true that they are stars and no mere objects, but you are not supposed to do this on your own.” She taps her own horn: a quiet thunk! thanks to her royal horseshoe. “You are not supposed to hold full sway magic. Remember: let the magic guide you. Direct your magic to the stars and let it take you there: let it help you make what you desire to make.”
A question pops into her head. “Although, what did you intend to make back there?”
The vice principal gives only a knowing grin. “I will let you judge for yourself. For one, it is one of my favorite things since childhood… and yours too, I believe.”
“Oh?” A blink and she is back to her professional teaching self. “Perhaps a good way to aid you is if you close your eyes and only remember the patch of stars over there… perhaps only then will you let go enough of yourself to let the magic flow through you.”
So the vice principal does. With a serene breath and a shutting of her eyes—chilly is the night, and the peace of the dark blue evening: right in her element—her horn glows, the tinkling of magic tickling her ears.
To the princess’s surprise and tears, the stars form a crescent constellation.
This is one of the more disturbing aspects of this setting. The entire universe got revamped at superluminal speed to Equestria's geocentric model. The stars are... What even are they anymore? Certainly not massive fusion reactors so far away their light takes years if not centuries to reach us. The Lunas would never be able to alter them in real time. What happened out there?
Great stuff thus far, but this one really perplexes me.
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This is honestly something I should've put more thought in. In hindsight, it's easy to see that talking about the stars' own transformation into something else is much more different and much more difficult to go around than former humans and their own predicament.
All I can know and say is that the universe maybe got smaller and the stars got much closer and much smaller to boot, or maybe the speed of light is much faster now which wouldn't be noticeable up close but would make it more in line with that laser scene from The Force Awakens.
Man, every time time I read a story set in this world, I just can't help but feel sad for everyone.
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I feel bad for any aliens out there who might've been destroyed when the universe shrank and went geocentric
Quite pleased to see more stories from this world. I'll be reading. It's nice to have fun little tidbits to just get into and absorb.
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Ah yes, “Writers Have No Sense of Scale”. Even with magic, that sort of thing is hard to avoid, especially if you want to preserve any kind of conservation laws.
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With any luck, the magic only went out to the heliopause and folded the system into a new pocket universe.
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I believe it is because there is an overwhelming sense of loss. Even with everyone helping, all the humans on this world have had their lives turned upside-down without asking for it. It's a disaster almost no one anticipated; thus, the suddenness adds to the tragedy.
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I'm running on the assumption that there are no aliens in this universe at all.
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The tidbit part is, in part, inspired by the format of the Oversaturated World's Group Precipitation. I also ran with that because it's not too taxing to write a scene or two instead of a full-blown chapter unlike with A Magic Turn of Events.
At any rate, I'm glad that you're enjoying it!
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Considering that she seems to be the main teacher at the Wonderbolts Academy, I'd think that it's a good idea for Spitfire to teach. Just that she has to be softer with former humans who've never had wings at all until very recently.
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At the very least, I can learn from this. It's also now I just learned what a heliopause is: the illustration for it looks gorgeous! Though the heliopause-only idea means that the rest of the universe isn't magical. My apologies to the space colonizers centuries down the line.
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To be honest, they are not that much different from their Equestrian counterparts. It is a matter of thinking how, say, Applejack would grow up and be like if, instead of being a pony in some rural farm, she's a human living in a farm by the edge of a city.
Still one of the most fascinating timelines I’ve seen in the fandom. Despite the depression and sadness everyone seems to be experiencing, I feel like their adaptation to no longer being human has gone remarkably well. Possibly too well, or maybe too fast.
Still, rooting to see AJ and her horses interacting. Love those guys!
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Part of how fast they're adapting is because I want this to be close to the original Equestria Girls/Friendship is Magic flavor as possible. Sure, I could go a more realistic route like with Pandemic, but then I'd be straying away from the tone that's characterized both this series and the canon material. Also, don't you worry: there will be some material regarding Cookie, Cinnamon, and Oakley! Just in their due time....
And: thanks for lifting my spirits up all that time ago, Beard. It gave me revived hope for my own series here.
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Fair enough! Having every character suffering from a nightmare-tier level of dismorphia would get old quick!
Also, yay! Best appul-horsies!!!
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Now you've got me thinking: what other characters would get upset over turning into a cute and cuddly pony? Off the top of my head, there's Scootaloo.
Man, this really needs more views. Seeing people adapt to change is so fascinating.