Epilogue, Credits & Acknowledgements
Accelerando
Epilogue
Vinyl Scratch, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash suddenly found themselves back in the small round room in Canterlot Castle.
Vinyl Scratch, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack suddenly found themselves back in the small round room in Canterlot Castle.
“Much better,” Pinkamena commented darkly, her eye on the ceiling.
“It was a trap—I knew it!” Applejack exclaimed. “Everything that just happened was a dream, just like I suspected.”
“It was?” asked Rainbow. “Wait, was this like that thing you went through, Twilight? When the Dragon Emperor’s wizard made you think the world had ended?”
“Yes,” Twilight answered, “only this time you were doing the dreaming, and we were the ones stuck with the consequences.”
“Me?” said Rainbow. “And I didn’t even get to face off against an agent of the Emperor like you did—what a gyp!”
Twilight shook her head. “Only you, Rainbow Dash, only you.”
Vinyl Scratch scratched her head and asked, “So you’re telling us that those times Trixie tried to kill us was all you?”
“Well...” Rainbow hedged, rubbing the side of her neck with a hoof.
“And Cloud Kicker?” asked Pinkie with a horrified look on her face.
“No! No, that felt really weird when I did that,” Rainbow answered. “On top of the general...yuck of it. Wait, there was that voice...I think the Dragon Emperor did try to get to me...and I totally fell for it.” She dropped her head in shame, before she made a realization. “So that means...you saved me, Pinkie. Both of you, in fact.” She did a double-take when she realized that it was Pinkamena that she was now pointing at.
“Dashie,” Pinkamena said brightly as she took the pegasus aside, “we need to talk.”
~ ~ ~
“Applejack, it’s good to see you here,” Twilight said gladly to the orange earth pony looking curiously around the room. She was relieved that there was now one less dream they’d have to navigate through. “So, how did you figure it out? Hopefully we can use the same technique again in the next dream.”
“The next dream?” Applejack asked incredulously.
“Yeah, that’s the nature of the Dragon Emperor’s spell: we’re forced to go through everypony’s dream in order to break out. So far we’ve been in my dream and Pinkie Pie’s dream.”
Applejack’s jaw dropped. “You were in Pinkie Pie’s head?” she asked once she had recovered. “How did you make it out with your noggin in one piece?”
“You know, I’m not really sure...” Twilight said, her eyes unfocusing as she tried in vain to remember the details of the dream. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and noticed that Pinkamena and Rainbow Dash were talking to each other in low voices a few steps away. Or rather, Pinkamena was talking, and Rainbow Dash was looking more and more enthusiastic at what she was hearing.
Applejack put on a small smile of amusement. “I suppose it ain’t important,” she said. “Now as to how I figured out this dream business, I just sorta had this weird feeling the whole day that something wasn’t right.”
“That, and she accidentally overheard our plans after I lured Dashie down to Ponyville,” Pinkie added, pushing her head into the conversation.
“Well, I suppose that might be how it happened,” Applejack said slowly. “You know, the details are gettin’ kinda fuzzy.”
“Yeah,” said Twilight, “it’s a dream, so that tends to happen. And Pinkie, I thought you were talking to...” She looked around, to see Pinkamena and Rainbow Dash in the same conversation as before, which showed no signs that it had ever been interrupted. Pinkie herself was nowhere to be seen. “Huh. Nevermind. So, any questions?”
Applejack looked over at Vinyl Scratch, then back to Twilight. “I got a question for each of you. Vinyl, what are you doing here if nopony has been in your dreams yet? And Twilight, where’s Spike? I distinctly remember that he was in on this whole dream business, although I could have sworn we didn’t bring him.”
“Ooh, can I go first?” Twilight asked Vinyl.
Vinyl tilted her head incredulously. “Are...are you waving your hoof in the air, Twilight? Because it sure sounds like it. I’m not your teacher, you know.”
“Ah...heh, sorry,” said Twilight, putting down her hoof.
Vinyl chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. Sure, you can go ahead.”
“Thanks! You see, Applejack, what you saw was not really Spike. In fact, given that we’re kind of in a ‘dream waiting room’ right now, and considering the stunt that I’m pretty sure Pinkie Pie just pulled on us, I’m pretty sure I ought to be able to do...this!” She closed her eyes and concentrated for a few seconds. Applejack expected Twilight to cast a spell, but it appeared that she was up to something completely different.
With a sudden “pop!”, Spike the dragon suddenly materialized in the room. Since his head had appeared level with Twilight’s, he then dropped his own body length down to the ground.
“Oof!” Spike exclaimed. He then got up and dusted himself off as he looked around. “Hello again. Where are we now?”
“Applejack,” said Twilight proudly, “let me introduce you to Dream Spike, my imaginary friend.”
Applejack’s jaw dropped for the second time in the last ten minutes. “What...but...I...”
Any further ruminations were interrupted by the extremely bizarre sight and sound of Pinkamena laughing.
~ ~ ~
A few minutes earlier, Pinkamena had pulled Rainbow Dash as far away from the others as was possible in the small room. “So I need to ask you about this dream before we both forget it, Dashie,” she said in a low voice.
Rainbow smiled brightly. “Ask away!” she exclaimed.
“In the dreams so far,” Pinkamena said, “the dreamer was getting replaced with Vinyl Scratch. So I’d say your original dream was about you and your Rainbooms, right?”
“That’s right,” Rainbow replied, leaning forward slightly.
“And I’m positive that you wanted me, or at least Pinkie Pie, to get the part that you instead gave to Fluttershy.”
“Yes...” said Rainbow, leaning forward even more.
“Twilight said her dream was about a theory that she was trying out, so—”
“Yes, yes, that’s exactly what my dream was!” Rainbow said. She was trying her best to keep her voice down, but it was getting harder and harder for her.
“Sonic Rainbooms...and me,” said Pinkamena. “You were trying to figure out Pinkie Pie, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I was trying to do,” said Rainbow. “So, how close did I get?”
Pinkamena sat down and put a hoof to her chin. “So let me see if I got this straight,” she said slowly. “You think that your Sonic Rainbooms somehow open temporary portals to the otherworldly dimension that is the source of all magic in Equestria, and that the first time you did this, a godlike being of pure magic was accidentally let into this universe, and that she’s been spending all the time since then renting a room in the back of my head. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes, yes!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to work you two out ever since I found out there were two of you to begin with. So is that it? Is that what Pinkie really is?”
Pinkamena chuckled. And then she laughed. And then she broke out into a full-bellied guffaw that descended into some of the second most-disturbing cackles that Rainbow Dash had ever heard.
She laughed for five minutes straight, as all her friends looked—or, in Vinyl Scratch’s case, listened—on in mixed awe and apprehension.
It did not escape Rainbow Dash’s attention that she never answered the question.
Credits and Acknowledgements
Thanks go to my loyal editor, Burraku_Pansa, for finding all of the nits that I missed picking the first time.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is copyright Hasbro, with extra credit given to Lauren Faust for creating Friendship Is Magic, and for the crew at Studio B for keeping the dream alive for three years now. The characters of Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3, Pinkie Pie/Pinkamena Diane Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Octavia, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon, Iron Will, Spike, Zecora, Applejack, Mayor Mare, “Parula”, The Great and Powerful Trixie, Photo Finish, Angel, “Cloud Kicker”, Merry May, Medley, Rainbowshine, Big MacIntosh, Scootaloo, the Wonderbolts, Smarty Pants, Daring Do and Ahuizotl, parasprites, the locations of Equestria, Cloudsdale, the Unicorn Range (from the official map of Equestria), Ponyville, Carousel Boutique, the Golden Oaks Library, Sugar Cube Corner, Sweet Apple Acres, Froggy Bottom Bog, the Everfree Forest, Tartarus (or at least the version that appears in the series), Canterlot and the concepts of Hearts and Hooves Day, Magical Kindergarten and the Elements of Harmony are taken from that source, with any deviations from canon being entirely my doing (including the details of Rainbow and Fluttershy’s families, the former’s secret knowledge of music, and pretty much anything regarding Vinyl Scratch). My original contributions include the Second Pony-Dragon War (which started in my earlier fanfic “[Redacted]”), the Ancients (who go all the way back to “Javelin”), Equestria Acoustics (“Javelin”), the character of Jeff (first named here, but implied in some way or another from the beginning), the Best Young Musician Competition (modeled after the Best Young Flyer Competition from the “Sonic Rainboom” episode of Friendship Is Magic, written by M. A. Larson), my theory of pony piano chords (seriously, how does Frederick Horseshoepin do it?), the Visual Music-boom (modeled after Rainbow’s Sonic Rainboom), the fae (introduced in “Luna and the Tree Ponies”), Lux and Umber (the derivation of which should be obvious), Waking Terror (introduced in “Whopper of the Year”), Fire Bane and the name “Fire Boom” for Rainbow Dash (derived from Firefly, Lauren Faust’s inspiration for Rainbow), the (second) Dragon Emperor (introduced in “[Redacted]”), Bigby’s Book of Non-Unicorn Magic (first appearance in “The Perfect Little Village of Ponyville”), the terrifying hen demon, “Wheatstraw” as Fluttershy’s last name (taken from “The Best of All Possible Worlds”, which is otherwise not canon for this story), Stungpetal and her entire catalog of works, The Pop-Up Book of the Pony Mind (from “The Perfect Little Village of Ponyville”), and Daring Do and the Weathermare’s Gambit.
The cover illustration is modeled after the “Scottie’s Nightmare” sequence from Vertigo (1958, directed by Alfred Hitchcock). Chicago IX: Greatest Hits is an album by, of course, Chicago, from 1975. Apple Jacks is a brand of cereal manufactured by Kellogg’s—their slogan in the 1990’s was “we eat what we like”. Now That’s What I Call Classic Rock Hits is an entry in EMI’s Now series of song compilation albums, from 2012, devoted to classic rock of the 1970s—it includes the songs “25 or 6 to 4” (by Chicago from 1970, featured in my earlier story “The Perfect Little Village of Ponyville”), “Locomotive Breath” (by Jethro Tull from 1971), “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” (by Meat Loaf from 1977) and “Crazy on You” (by Heart from 1976).
The Year 7015 is from my own idiosyncratic dating system which goes back to the beginning of Celestia and Luna’s reign. It corresponds to the middle of the second season of the show, except for the fact that second and third season episodes are only acknowledged in this series when it’s convenient.
“Trough of Youth” is the pony form of the “Fountain of Youth”. “Maretoven” is pony for “Beethoven”, as in Ludwig van. “Chopsticks” is pony for “Chopsticks” by Euphemia Allen (originally named “The Celebrated Chop Waltz” and written by the composer under a male pseudonym in 1877, when she was only sixteen years old). The “Revolutionary Etude” by “Chopping the Dragon” is actually the Revolutionary Étude (Étude Op. 10 No. 12, or “Étude on the Bombardment of Warsaw”) by Frédéric Chopin, written circa 1831—it commemorates Poland’s failed revolution against Russia, the November Uprising of 1831. The sheet music used was the C. F. Peters edition of 1879, taken from the Petrucci Music Library. “Bitalian” is pony for “Italian”, the language used to notate music.
Twilight “messing with time” comes from the episode “It’s About Time”. “The Flight of the Bumblebee” is a musical piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, taken from the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan from 1899. “Etheric trope” is pony for “TV trope”, as the “Etheric” is Equestria’s version of radio, and ponies haven’t invented TV yet.
The “Box-Ball Law” is Rainbow Dash’s mangling of the “Square-cube rule”, which explains why elephants have to be so blocky while mice can be much more delicate in structure. “Madragon” (“Mad Dragon”) is Equestria’s answer to Godzilla (Tomoyuki Tanaka, Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsubaraya for the Toho film studio, 1954), and Vinyl correctly described how his roar was created. The “Green Flashlight” is equivalent to the Green Lantern (John Boome, Gil Kane, Bill Finger and Martin Nodell for DC Comics, 1940), and the “Yellow Flash” is the Flash (Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert for DC Comics, 1940).
“Cracker Jacks” are pony for “Cracker Jacks” (a product of Frito-Lay). “Two dreams ago” is a reference to the events of “The Perfect Little Village of Ponyville”. Smarty Pants comes from the FIM episode “Lesson Zero”, written by Meghan McCarthy. “Roasting your own eyeballs” is a reference to a particularly gruesome scene in the otherwise random fanfic “Masquerade”. “Everybody knows Pinkie” was introduced in “Javelin”, and used as a running joke in my stories ever since. “Standards and Practices” is the name given to the department in a broadcast TV network responsible for keeping the content safe from causing unwanted controversy or legal attention—the censor, in other words. Pinkie Pie’s song is taken from “Witch Doctor” (Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as David Seville, 1958). A tinfoil hat is the stereotypical protection that the paranoid are supposed to block having their thoughts read or influenced by the nebulous “Them” that keeps persecuting their lives. Yes, I am explaining absolutely everything. And I’m not done yet.
“Apples and apple accessories” is a reference to the “propane and propane accessories” sales line uttered by the character Hank Hill from King of the Hill (Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for Fox, 1997)—the character is sometimes compared to Applejack. Applejack and Vinyl Scratch discuss the events of the episodes “Friendship Is Magic, Part 1” and “Friendship Is Magic, Part 2”, both written by Lauren Faust. “Fancy” as a pony synonym for “French” comes from the episode “The Cutie Pox”, written by Amy Keating Rogers—which makes three Season Two episodes I wasn’t supposed to reference in this alternate-universe Equestria. Rainbow’s exclamation of “pinfeathers” refers to the way new feathers on birds grow in—I’ve observed that they find them to be pretty uncomfortable. “Shetland Day” refers to the breed of pony, but also the Scottish islands they are named after, hence the reference to a kilt. The Complete Dream Book by “Hollow Way” is a reference to an actual book of the same name written by Gillian Holloway from 2006. The fan-named character of Parula appeared in the episode “The Return of Harmony Part 2” written by M. A. Larson—there was no indication given in the episode that she was related to Fluttershy, other than having the same manestyle.
The music Parula plays in Chapter 6 is my backwards arrangement of “Aquarium”, from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns from 1885. “Kickens” is pony for the author Charles Dickens. Trixie’s line about saying “Neigh” if Twilight begged for mercy was lifted from Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, 1986.
The big piece of music played in Chapter 7 is my arrangement of “Nightmare Night” by Wooden Toaster, specifically the piano version by Firelance2014. “Cloud Kicker”, like Parula, is the fan name for an as-yet unnamed pony. Her team consists of Blossomforth, “Lightning Bolt” (the white-coated, blue-maned mare), Medley (the blue-green mare), Merry May and Rainbowshine. “Incidental Pegasus #2” is the official name used for Cloud Kicker by the animators of Friendship Is Magic. Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone is the Daring Do book that Rainbow Dash was reading in the second season episode “Read It and Weep”, written by Cindy Morrow (that’s four!). F.S. Braveheart is the name given for the author of the Daring Do series in the fanfic “The Many Secret Origins of Scootaloo”, by defender2222.
“Greed growth” and the fire ruby are both references to the episode “Secret of my Excess”, written by M. A. Larson (five!). “DDAPA” stands for the Daring Do Amateur Press Association—fanzines made by APAs were the primary means by which fanfiction was distributed before the rise of the Internet. “Coyotl” is the original Aztec name for the coyote, and means “trickster”.
“Canterday” is the list of days of the week created by Baxil on the Ponies & Pegasi (Pony4e) board in this post. Harvest and other the 90 day seasons come from Loyal2Luna’s calendar.
Pinkie’s parade description liberally quotes from the lyrics of “Seventy-Six Trombones”, from The Music Man by Meredith Wilson (1957). Haywaii Five-O is the theme song to Hawaii Five-O, created by Leonard Freeman in 1968; the song is by Morton Stevens and was performed by The Ventures (check out those sideburns!). “The Firehouse Five Plus Two” is a reference to the Dixieland jazz band made up of Walt Disney animators and artists, led by Ward Kimball on trombone. “I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, numbered or predicted! My life is my own!” is a quote from The Prisoner (created by Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein for ITV in 1967)—“predicted” is my Pinkie-specific addition. And finally, the “clown hammer” reference harks back to “Masquerade”.
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I make up for an eight month gap between the last chapter and this one by putting out the first chapter of sequel immediately: go here to read "The Mistress of Dreams".
This is like the third story I follow that's updated at way-too-late o'clock tonight
Procrastination is the great demigod that controls us all.
T
4256426
At least some of it seems to be caused by tab characters before the closing brackets. IIRC, you do your writing in Word. Maybe they're creeping in somehow there?
4256699
Yeah, but when I posted those chapters six months ago, they were fine--I'd never let something like that slip through. So this must have happened since then.
4257006
Oh, in that case, blame Knighty. Just another item on the long, long list bugs here....
Wait: what's with the greyed-out and stuck-through text at the beginning of this chapter? And the greyed-out "Rarity" in the acknowledgements? Was Rarity supposed to have awakened instead?
8080591
Rarity, and gray "Rarity" in the credits: Rarity being forced to wear that atrocious dress by Narrator Rainbow Dash shocked her into self awareness, just like being able to see did for Vinyl at the start of Perfect Little Village. But Rarity is a lucid dreamer, so she was able to exit the dream entirely. Once she did so, the reality of the dream altered so that she never existed. You'll find out what happened to Rarity in The Mistress of Dreams.
The gray text: Accelerando is the third story in the Thought Experiments series, the one set in Rainbow Dash's dream. The Mistress of Dreams is the fifth one. The fourth story, Applejack's story, was called The Stranger. However, it turned out to be a very personal story for me, and a bit painful to imagine other people reading, so I hid it, and furthermore vowed never to reply to any comments made on it by anybody who does manage to track it down. Suffice it to say that The Stranger ends with reality being re-written at Pinkamena's insistence, making Applejack self-aware without having to go through her own dream anymore, and thereby making that story superfluous. So you don't have to read it, unless you really, really want to. Ugh, and I just broke Rule #5.
Good to know that Rarity just awakened. I was worried she got paradoxed out of existence during the time battle.
In any case, another thrilling installment. No comic book would be complete without the editor breathing down the writer's neck. Onward!
Not in any way related to the Accelerando sci-fi novel?
bluh
You can has review!