Twilight: I can't really believe your story Anon, buildings with over 100 levels? Flying boats bigger than Ponyville? And yet there's no magic in your world? Please.
>Growing tired of Twilight's berating, you go out into the world to prove her wrong.
That's the prompt that started it all. So what is thread about? It's about Anon bring human science and inventions to Equestria and a disbelieving Twilight.
Thread Story List.
http://pastebin.com/XKLNjAAx
Previous thread: >>27200574
Posting this again, don't forget to vote http://www.strawpoll.me/10150893
PeteQ is back
Nothing of value was lost
All is right in the world
>Celestia
so whats happened to her?
did anon2 rebuild-ed her?
videorelated:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW56dMH0T2s
>>27294512
We always have.
Writefag is Kill posted in the moments before the last thread died, someone should repost it here.
>>27294533
>Challenger and GDNW are tied for the lead
Hurry up and pick one droid.
>>27295656
DO IT
Continuing RD science story, pastebin here:
http://pastebin.com/9H8f7A0s
>After a quick trip to your house to pick up some supplies, you and Dash return to the park
>You walk over to a lone tree, Dash hovering above you, playing with the stopwatch you gave her
>"Are we starting now?"
>You shake your head
"There's a little bit of setup, but I think we should do more than just an experiment anyway. Do you want to learn about the scientific method? How we do research on Earth?"
>Judging by her eager nods, Dash is more than happy to learn
>You shift the weight of the spool you're carrying. 100m of rope is pretty heavy. The backpack isn't helping either
>When you get to the tree, you scratch a mark into the mud with the toe of your shoe, then line the end of the rope up to it
>You grab a decent sized rock, and use it to weigh down that end of the rope
>Then you walk away from the tree, unspooling the rope as you go
"So. Here's the basics of the human scientific method"
>Dash stops fiddling with the stopwatch, swooping down to walk alongside you, looking up attentively
"We always start with a question. In this case, you asked me how I knew there was a speed of sound. So let's rephrase that slightly and ask 'Does sound travel instantaneously?'"
>Dash nods thoughtfully
>"Because if it doesn't, it's got to go at a certain speed?"
"Yes, very good."
>Dash nods again, smiling faintly
>She quickly wipes her smile away, trying to look serious
"Normally the next step would be to do background research. Has anyone else done an experiment that answers our question? What more can we learn about the subject? In this case, we'll just assume there's nothing to research."
>"What kind of stuff would we normally look for?"
>You shrug
>>27296217
"It depends. You may try and ask a specialist in that field, or even just read through as many research papers as you can that are relevant. You're looking to gain as much knowledge as possible for the next step."
>"What's the next step? Is it the experiment?"
"It's almost time for the experiment. But first, we need a hypothesis."
>"A hypothesis?"
"Yeah. A theory that we think answers out question. In our case, the hypothesis I'm proposing is 'sound does not travel instantaneously"
>It's not a great hypothesis, it could be worded a lot better. The key thing here, though, is to expose Dash to the core process. You can teach her in more depth later.
>Dash grins
>"Now it's experiment time?"
"Yup. Then it's experiment time. There's a whole over process for coming up with an experiment idea, and making sure it's good enough, but we'll talk about that another time."
>Dash hesitates
>"You promise?"
"Yeah, of course."
>You've finally reached the end of the spool of rope. You're now standing about a hundred meters away from the tree.
>With your foot, you scratch an X into the ground at the end of the rope, one line parallel to the rope, one line perpendicular to it
>"Anon? If we're talking now and I hear the sound at the time you move your lips, doesn't that mean your hypothesis is already wrong?"
>Huh.
>That's a fair point
"Nice one, RD. It's doesn't exactly invalidate my hypothesis, but I should make my hypothesis more clear. I think sound travels at a high speed, fast enough that you wouldn't notice a delay when you were talking to someone normally."
>Eh, may as well go all the way
"In fact, my hypothesis is 'the further you are away from a sound source, the longer it takes for you to hear the sound'."
>Dash nods, evidently satisfied
>You're impressed
>You knew she was interested in this stuff, but she seems to be really taking to it well, even the drier side.
>She's excited for more than just the hands-on part, and her enthusiasm's rubbing off on you
>>27296318
"Right. We're ready."
>Dash grins
>"We're starting the experiment?"
"Yup."
>You slip off your backpack, taking out a pair of pans
>Dash raises an eyebrow
>"What're those for?"
"The experiment. Here's what's gonna happen. I'll stand here and bang these pots above my head. You'll be standing at the tree, a hundred meters away. When you see the pots hit each other, start the stopwatch. When you hear them bang together, stop the stopwatch."
>"And if there's a delay, then we proved you hypothesis?"
>There's a little clarification needed there, but she's close enough.
>The experiment won't prove it, after all, just provide evidence for it
"That's right."
>You're waiting for her to ask about the rope, about why you measured the 100m
>"Awesome! I'll go to the tree now."
>Before you can say anything, Dash has, well, dashed.
>Damn. You'd wanted to explain that you could actually calculate the speed of sound if you knew the distance.
>Eh, you can tell her in a minute
>Dash gives you a wave. She's ready.
>Taking a pot in each hand, you hold out to the side
>Then you swing your arms up, the pans hitting each other with a load clang
>Rainbow Dash taps the stopwatch a moment later, then looks down
>Even from this distance, you can read the excitement in her body language as she reads the result, and see her big goofy grin
>Without any warning, she takes off, hurtling toward you, outstretched hoof holding the stopwatch
>"Look, Anon!"
>>27296334
>You smile broadly as she blurs toward you
>Why was she ever fighting this? She looks like she's having a blast
>She skids to a stop in front of you, thrusting out the stopwatch
>"Zero point three four seconds! You were right, Anon! It's not instantaneous!"
>She laughs and you join her
"Nice work, Lead Researcher Dash. The experiment supported the hypothesis!"
>You're not massively surprised by the result, but Dash's enthusiasm is infectious
>"Zero point three four, what's that? About three hundred meters per second? A bit less..."
>Hang on.
>You were expecting to have to show her that you could work that out
"You've calculated speed before."
>She waves a hoof dismissively
>"All the time. I gotta know how fast I'm going!"
>She flares out her wings proudly
>Huh
>Makes sense
>It's weird. The ponies don't really have any empirical system, or any scientific method. The experiment you've just done is simple, the kind of thing you'd do with a kid.
>It's not that you think Dash is stupid, not at all. It's just the right level to start at.
>Yet Dash was pretty comfortable working out the speed without any prompts from you
>It's going to be interesting finding out how advanced pony folk actually are in certain subjects
>You wonder if they have calculus... if not, it shouldn't be-
>"Anon?"
"Huh?"
>Dash is grinning at you
>"You zoned out."
"Sorry... had you asked something?"
>"Yeah, what's next?"
>>27296356
"Oh... after experimenting, we have to analyse our results and draw a conclusion."
>Dash nods
>"So we can say we were right, that sound goes at three hundred meters a second?"
>You shake your head
"Our result suggests that, but that wasn't our hypothesis."
>Dash's smile falters slightly as she thinks
>"It supports the hypothesis that sound doesn't travel instantaneously? Did we even need the rope and the stopwatch to prove that?"
>You shake your head
"Your observation was enough. I thought it might be interesting to get an idea of just how fast it was going, though."
>"Right. So, we did it? That's the whole scientific method?"
"Not quite. There are two more steps. The next thing we should do is communicate our results."
>She cocks her head
>"With who?"
"Well. No one, yet. Back on Earth, we would write a paper that would explain our hypothesis, the experiment and results and our conclusion. That would get published somewhere, and it would join the pool of background information. Remember when I said we should have done background research?"
>"Yeah, second step."
"Uh-huh. Well, in the future other people would be able to see our experiment and the results. Which would help them devise their own questions, hypotheses and experiments."
>Dash nods thoughtfully, then looks off into the distance, her gaze going blank
>Her mouth slowly hangs open
>"That's... that's..."
>Huh.
>Guess you broke Rainbow Dash.
>You don't have a receipt, but the store'll give you a replacement.
>This one should still be in its warranty.
"You OK there?"
>Dash practically jumps at your voice, spinning excitedly to face you
>"That's amazing! It's like a big- a big /pool/ of what we know!"
>>27296378
>You chuckle at her as she continues her outburst, bobbing with excitement
>"And then when we do experiments, other ponies can learn from them, and it means there's, like, an expanding..."
>She notices your amusement, and takes a second to compose herself, looking a little flustered.
>"Uh. I mean, your scientific method is pretty cool."
>Dash blushes a little
"Don't worry."
>You grin
"I feel the same way. It's funny, what you were saying about a pool of things we know."
>You pack the pans back into your bag
"One of the greatest scientists back on Earth, a chap called Isaac Newton, he said something you might appreciate. About how we build our understanding based on previous discoveries other people have made."
>Shouldering the backpack, you give Dash a smile
"He said 'If I have seen further, it is only be standing on the shoulders of giants'."
>Dash gives you a funny look
>Serious, a slight squint. You're not sure what to make of it
>After a moment, she speaks
>"Thanks, Anon. Thanks for showing me all this."
"It's a pleasure, Dash. Teaching people new things is always fun, doubly so when they're so keen to learn."
>She nods her agreement
>"I'm glad we did this. I want to do more, though."
>You nod
"Good. I'm more than happy to teach you. We can do more experiments, learn about how to create them. Hypothesis, writing results, analysing them... we can go into a lot more depth."
>Dash's looks up to you, her smile disappearing
>"Promise?"
>You're taken aback by Dash's sudden seriousness
"Yeah. Promise."
>A split second later, her smile is back.
>>27296431
>What you've shown her today is barely even scratching the surface. It's a taster, something to get her started.
>You need to teach her how to design an experiment, the importance of understanding errors, the necessity for repeatability, for accounting for statistical anomalies.
>She needs to learn how to communicate results in a clear way, needs to learn about the fundamentals of physics, chemistry.
>And the maths! Calculus, statistical analysis and probability, logic and proof theory.
>All those things will be necessary eventually. But for now, this will do.
>"What was the last step?"
"Huh?"
>"You said there were two more steps. Communicating is the second last, but what's the final one? How do we finish the scientific method?"
>To be completely honest, back on Earth communication /was/ the last step.
>But, like all things, even the scientific method isn't perfect. It had always struck you that there was one key step missing, and this was your chance to introduce it into an unbiased world.
"Ah, the final step. It's the most important, you know."
>"But what is it?"
>You grin
"We go celebrate. Pub?"
>>27296444
That's it for tonight. Hope you're enjoying it. Pastebin updated here:
http://pastebin.com/9H8f7A0s
As always, criticism greatly appreciated.
Something important I completely forgot to mention before this dump:
I'm not a scientist, I haven't studied it years. I'm rusty and, while I've tried to research things for accuracy, I'm sure there will be mistakes. If there's anything I post that's just flat out wrong (or even just a tiny bit off), call me out on it and I'll fix it in the pastebin. I want this story to be as good as possible. That's why I really appreciate feedback, whether it's things I'm doing right or wrong, grammar/spelling, dialogue, sentence structure or (as in this case) accuracy, the more I know, the better I can get.
I'll begin writing the next bit, which will be with Twilight and a bit more about the philosophy of science vs magic. I don't know when it'll be done, but it'll probably be a couple of days, at least.
On that note, are people more interested in the philosophy side, the science side or are people happy for me to continue writing about both?
>>27296518
Love it. Dont die on us again.
>>27294533
Okay, it's been long enough. Of course, the two leaders are tied. That means I'll have to choose for myself.
Get ready to meet theI can't pick. VOTE IN FAVOR OF ONE OF THEM DAMNIT.
>>27296518
Just remember: a theory is a model of how something works. A hypothesis is a projected result based on the theory. Not the other way around.
>>27296655
Checked.
I've made some changes in the pastebin to lines 719-740. Should be better, but let me know if it still needs work. Thanks for pointing the difference out, though. I'll bear it in mind for the future.
>>27296592
Alright. Challenger's ahead by one, and has been for some time now. Looks like that'll be the name.
>>27296518
nice to see you posting again. this was a good update too.
So... I uh... yeah...
>>27297623
Droid... what did you do?
>>27297671
Snipped a pic from the episode in a shifty resolution.
I mean, come on you can see the YouTube progress bar at the bottom.
>>27297816
Shitty resolution, blame autocorrect.
i'm gonna finish doing this /drawthreadfaggotry/ and make an update.
niim
>>27294898
Last mention had her getting the shadowbolts treatment.
>>27295463
Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Had to get going and couldn't wait for the new thread to come. I've made a standalone paste of just that update, rather do that than spam up this shiny new thread.
http://pastebin.com/2aq7CtWE
>>27299126
You might wanna update your pt2 pastebin to avoid confusion.
>>27297946
http://pastebin.com/KvQKUKGi
Fast forward a few days.
>the railroad has indeed been extended to glorious Cykablyatovia.
>I wonder if cykablyat means anything in russain.
"soon"
>you say to yourself, waiting on the 9:25 train to the motherland.
>the last couple of days were eventful.
>you sent out news of the new country via a googily eyed mare.
>it says in the title- "garunteed work and equal rights and pay for all who comes and joins Cykablyatovia."
>a couple of lines down it basically outlines the bill of rights.
>and then you wrote "clean slate, judged by actions after you become a citizen. All are needed."
>the mail mare who read that got to equal rights- and asked you where she can sign up.
>'hell yeah! Ground zero!' you thought to yourself as she packed her bags.
>so here she is, sitting next to you, waiting for the-
>oh, here it is.
"here, lets sit up front."
>you say that to the mare as you board the train.
>sitting down, you try firing up a friendly conversation.
"so, my names Anon and my middle name is Uh."
>smooth.
>"a middle name of Uh? That’s pretty neat, never heard of someone with that name."
>she talks like she's slightly out of control of her voice, and she sounds like she came right out of new york.
>so, basically, a Yankee's fan
>"my name is Ditzy Doo, but most people coll me Doipy Hooves!"
"Derpy? That’s a pretty adorable name!"
>"yeah, most people call me that, but when they're reaaly liberal or retarded they call me muffins."
>"fuckin' twats."
>holy shit the mouth, its like she was human or something.
Actually doing finals so its slow going for green right now.
>>27300284
___
>"So! How's Cykablyatovia going to work? Constitutionally, I mean."
>you think to yourself.
"well, was basically going to do this- make myself sole ruler for my lifetime then have a constitution take place in my death."
>"you trust yourself not to go mad with power?" she says, switching to using her left eye to look at you.
"yeah, basically my thought is this- Cykablyatovia is going to be my brainchild, which means that I want to see the best of it."
>"Interesting, and, so- this constitution that’s going to be in place afterwards? Whats that going to be like?"
"well, probably going just use this-"
>as you say that, you pull a small booklet from your jacket.
>you hold it in front of derpy, and she reads it.
>"constitution of the united states of america."
"yeah, worked to make a super-power, I bet I could get it going."
>"but you're tsar right? Shouldn't that make you want to use the Rus-"
>she stiffens up.
>"uhh, nevermind."
>how does she? Eh, best leave well enough alone.
>two questions.
>should you use the US constitution or draft your own constitution?
>and, do you want to pressure derpy about knowing what a tsar is relative to royalty?
>>/discussion/
also, whatever is drafted and chosen with greatly impact the story. so, choose well, i guess.
Once finals are done, like, on friday or something, the green's going to start rolling in. mark my words- this green will get done.
Also, OOH! PETEQs BACK!
>>27300362
The US should be fine for the most part. Maybe nick some stuff from some other countries to form a sort of amalgam constitution
>>27300362
Perhaps take the New Zealand constitution? I'm pretty sure USA's works pretty well, but NZ IS the freest country in the world, after all.
>>27300362
>Cykablyatovia Constitution:
1. You do not talk about Cykablyatovia.
2. You DO NOT talk about Cykablyatovia.
3. If someone says 'stop' or goes limp, taps out the country is over.
4. Only two guys in Cykablyatovia at a time.
5. One Cykablyatovia at a time.
6. No shirts, no shoes.
7. Cykablyatovia will go on as long as it has to.
8. If this is your first night in Cykablyatovia, you have to Cykablyatov.
It's the perfect guideline for a free and just society.
>>27301860
Don't forget
9. CYKA BLYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
>>27300362
3 problems with US
1.first past the post makes 40/30/30 elections which can leave 60% unhappy and leads to 2
2. Rules against a 2 party system
3. NO ELECTORAL COLLEGE IF WE GET FAST TRANSPORT.
>>27300362
Go for drafting a new constitution, or at least outlining it. It can be heavily based on the US one, sure, but there's always room for improvement.
I thought you guys might like this. While rewatching It's About Time, I noticed on one of the blackboards (just before Twilight declared "monitor everything") you can see equations for special relativity. So some degree of science must exist in Equestria.
These threads are slow huh?
>>27304240
Very
Anyone got any music on this topic?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMSBBRhdFc4
>>27304719
How about this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7W0Nm8iHwk
>>27300362
>"eh, it's not like you need a constitution until you have enough to rule."
>she pauses for a moment.
>"but it is good to have rules."
>a couple of hours go by, and Derpy Breaks the silence, saying-
>"here's my thoughts, we have a couple of Celestian rules, like- don't murder, steal, stuff like that-"
"basics, essentials for keeping the people in line."
>"and here's how we'll enforce them."
>she looks around.
>"we approve citizens to be law enforcement alongside their regular day to day routine, and we have /a lot/ of them."
"that's a decent idea, derpy; but in the long run, we would have a lot of corruption."
>"then we'd have to have people apply for it, and then we'd have background checks. Basically make it like this-"
>she thinks for a moment.
>"one in three are certified to be law enforcement, they're given a weapon, like that-"
>she points to your handgun on your belt, since you became tsar you started brandishing your 9mm proudly, like a royal with her sword.
>"and a way to restrain people, like, a sedative."
"then they're given a reward for taking these people in, provided they have reason and evidence."
>"exactly!"
"well, that's fine and dandy, but, here's my thought, we do this, but we also have a police force- we can- we can have tiers of officers."
>"that might work"
>"tier ones are the civilians and tier two are patrolmans, tier three special task force units, and so on."
"well, we're looking at quite a big civilization here, I don't think ponies have a knack for crime as much as humans."
>"yeah, your right, but its always good to have, because who knows what the future might be like."
"yeah, but I don't want to be too draconian of a ruler."
>"your right, that might border on fascism kind of control, if that gets out of hand."
>"well, guns- as it says in your constitution, is a means to keep the government from getting out of control."
"then, lot's of guns?"
>"lots of weapons."
>When you're at Cedar Point and you're posting on 4chan
>>27305943
Well, he just created the KGB.
TIME FOR GREEN
>>27245426
>Soon, that office becomes just as familiar to you as the others
>And the staff get used to their roles fairly quickly
>The cable cars are sold to the city ahead of schedule, and by the end of the month they're operational
>For most, this is the first time they've ever been in something with a mechanical engine
>They don't move very fast, but lots of ponies are still amazed
>This mood of excitement is something you love about Arcadia
>It drives everyone to work collectively towards innovation
>It's the reason you've gotten as far as you have
>And it's the reason you're not worried as you walk across the street from the AMC offices to the first AMC store
>You're not using a dealership model, opting instead to sell the cars by the company itself, by salesponies that aren't dirty Jews paid on commission
>And today, two months after AMC's first day, it's your turn to be a showman again
>Because the AMC A-7 is about to be released to the public, to great fanfare
>It'll be even greater now than anything else, because the car's release will be on the front page of the first issue of Arcadia's first newspaper
>Though money doesn't matter to you, you've made a bit of it selling the ideas for inventions that you have neither the time nor the interest to create
>The printing press was one of them
>You step into the entrance and notice a crowd has already formed
>You pass through the archway at the other end of the room and enter the spacious showroom
>A podium has already been prepared for you
>>27307700
>double dubs
Checked.
>The crowd parts as you walk to the stage
>You step up to the podium and the crowd cheers
>And, once they die down, you begin
“Ladies and gentlemen, what’s under these tarps is the result of progress only Arcadia can claim. These machines will do nothing less than revolutionize every one of our lives. As we speak, roads are being built for quick routes out of the city, and a railroad is coming to connect us with Equestria. The world is growing smaller as we speak, and this invention will shrink things even further. I present to you the AMC A-7, this world’s first automobile!”
>You yank the tarp off the first car and the crowd falls silent for a brief moment, before erupting into cheers
“This is the four-door sedan model. It seats six passengers, and has controls adapted for all races. The engine has a top speed of 45 miles per hour, quick enough to drive across the city in under a minute. But this car can, and should, be used for longer trips. That’s why we’re building so many roads.”
>You walk over to the other tarps and the crowd braces themselves for another unveiling
“The A-7 comes in several different body styles. Right here is the two-door coupe-“
>You throw off the cover, and the crowd cheers again
“Along with the two-door convertible, as seen here.”
>You receive another round of applause
“These three models are all we are offering at this point, although I’d like that to change in the future. Prices start at around 800 dollars, and, again, that could change with production methods. Now, before I leave you today, I’d like to touch on how to purchase or test a car. This is currently the only AMC store in the city, and here is where all sales and test-drives will occur. There will be some models for immediate purchase, but most cars will be ordered. Ask a salesperson if you have any questions regarding the process, or myself while I’m here. I hope you’re as excited as I am. Thank you.”
>>27307715
>You receive one last round of applause as you step down from the stage
>Ponies surround you with questions, comments, and compliments
>You try to respond to everyone as best you could, always making your way outside
>As you walk through the glass front door, you meet Blue Midnight outside
“Blue! How’s factory production looking? I hope we have a few on their way, from the looks of things.”
>”We’ve been operational since 8 AM today. The first few cars should be on their way out right now, built right to specifications.”
“Great. Do the other employees know?”
>”Yep! They should be coming down now.”
>Right on cue, the door to the office building across the street opens, and the rest of AMC’s staff crosses the street
>Velvet Rain is the first to speak
>”How’d it go?”
“Let’s just say that I think we’ll need to make cars as fast as we can. Speaking of making cars, I think ours should be ready soon. Pile into the A-6, let’s go!”
>As a perk, your employees can buy cars at a heavy discount, and the first few cars that come off the line will be yours
>And when you get to the factory, you can see a row of brand new cars sitting outside the factory
>North Point is waiting to pick up the A-6, and she jumps in when you jump out
>You spot your new model fairly quickly
>It’s a red sedan sitting at the end of the row
>You open the door and can’t help but feel a bit proud as you sit in the driver’s seat
>In around a year, you made this possible
>As the rest of AMC’s office workers drive off in their new sedans, coupes, and convertibles, you look back to the factory
>Cars are already coming off of the assembly line again, and workers jump in them to drive them over to the store, where they’ll be added and quickly removed from the inventory
>When everyone else has left, you drive out of the small lot beside the factory
>You make the short trip home and park the car in the garage, right next to the A-6
>>27307722
AGAIN.
>Once you get back to your third floor studio, you go through your collection of technical drawings
>The telegraph seems like a nice project to start on
As usual, Pastebin updated. Link: http://pastebin.com/eufFYFaw
Also, as a bit of a guide, this is what Lancaster looks like at this point in the story. The short towers in the left half of the picture are, from right to left, the capitol building, city hall, an unnamed office building, the Lancaster Building, and several other unnamed apartment buildings.
im like, five hours into my research of the cold war, communism, capitalism, democracy and oligarchy. and the 60s in general, oh boy im ready for this next bit of the write.
>>27309374
Isn't research great?
>>27309382
fuckin' bomb
>>27309410
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNYe_UaWZ3U
>>27309333
Trips? Checking the shit out of that.
>>27307732
>It doesn't take long for you to build a telegraph
>About a week, really
>But in that week, you sell 100 cars
>There are only 800 people in Lancaster
>Clearly, whatever you're doing is good
>And, now that the telegraph is done, you've invited Princess Celestia to discuss linking Equestria and Arcadia
>Your response, though, is a bit unexpected
>"Right now, I would love nothing more than to see Lancaster again. But, as I am currently tied up discussing economic agreements with Saddle Arabia, I will be sending Princess Twilight Sparkle to oversee the project. The convoy will arrive on the 28th of September, 1906."
>That's Friday
>It's Wednesday
>Fuck
>Honestly, you put Twilight as far behind you as you possibly could
>Now, though, Celestia had to go and dig it all up again
>Not much you can do about now, though, so you've got to make a plan
>You quickly let North Point and Minuette know Twilight is coming, and they're pretty surprised
>Although Minuette, as usual, had some words of wisdom for you
>"Don't be an ass. I know you'll want to, but don't be an ass."
>And, with that in mind, you try to compose yourself as the chariot lands just outside of Lancaster
>>27309938
>Princess Twilight steps out of the chariot onto the unpaved road
>The second her hooves touch the ground, she's already being a dick
>"You know, for a city that Celestia says so much about, you still haven't the mind to put down cobblestone."
"Because we've made something better. Plus, you're outside town. We can't land in the street because there are cars on the road."
>"Cars?"
"You'll see. I've brought around mine, which I designed myself, thank you, so we can ride to my office. After that, I'll show you to your hotel room."
>"We'll see how it goes."
>You walk up to your car, and she seems a bit confused at first
>"And this is?"
"Our ride."
>You open the passenger door and, reluctantly, she steps in
>"How can this brick go anywhere without somepony to pull it?"
>Wordlessly, you turn the key, and the engine roars to life
>You put it in gear and start down the road, going as fast as you can
>Looking over, Twilight is pinned to her seat
>"Anonymous! What are you doing?"
>With that, you slow down
"Sorry, sometimes I get a bit carried away. This is the AMC A-7, designed by the Arcadian Motor Company, of which I am the founder. Completely self-propelled, and it runs on gasoline."
>"Gasoline?"
"Refined oil."
>"Oil?"
"That black stuff sitting underground that you ponies completely missed."
>>27309943
>"I find it hard to believe that you can make this thing run on only that."
"Well, believe it, Princess. If you want, I can show you the engine when we get to the capitol building. Speaking of which, here we are."
>You park the car and Twilight hops out
>She apparently didn't notice the skyscrapers when she flew in, because now she's craning her head upwards
>"Woah..."
>Passerby chuckle at the sight of such a regal Princess staring like a child
"Don't stare, now, there's plenty more on the inside."
>You open the door and she walks into the ornate lobby
>The building superintendent is playing the piano in the corner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PtpGBmr5E
>The music echoes off the marble walls and right into Twilight's ears
>"What kind of music is that?"
"They're calling it ragtime. Personally, I love it."
>You make your way to the elevators and wait for one to arrive
>Twilight seems surprised that you've stopped
>"Where are the stairs?"
"Stairs? Where we're going, we don't need stairs."
>On cue, the elevator arrives, and you step in
"Coming?"
>"In there?"
"Just get in and trust me."
>Reluctantly, she steps in, and the operator closes the gates
>The he pulls a lever, and up you go
>"Anonymous! It's- It's-"
"That's President Anonymous, thank you. And this is an elevator. It moves upwards."
>"By magic?"
>Even the operator laughs at that
"No, Princess, not magic. We don't need that here. This runs on electricity."
>"Electricity?"
>>27309951
"Yep. This entire city runs on electricity."
>"I'll have to see it to believe it."
"You're seeing it right now. There's no magic in this elevator, and there was no magic in the car."
>You reach the twelfth floor, and you make your way to your office
>Once you get there, you open all the windows and let the breeze flow through the room
>"How can we possibly this high up? Is this-"
"No. It is not magic. Nothing in this city runs on magic. Calling it magic disregards the years I spent building all of this. You may be able to raise your horn and do whatever you want, Princess, but most of us can't. Why do you think ponies have been leaving Equestria in droves? Because they don't want anything to do with you unicorns who think you're the master race!"
>You sigh
"But anyways. Don't call it magic. It's not magic. Now let's get to business."
>Twilight, again, seems shocked
"I'm sorry. That's been seven years in the making."
>"No, it's okay. Princess Celestia sent me here to try and make friends with you again."
"That's funny, because I was under the impression she sent you here to coordinate our infrastructure."
>"Just build it and sell our half to us. I don't care about that right now. Anonymous-"
"President Anonymous."
>"President Anonymous, I'll be frank. I want you to come back to Ponyville. I miss you. The girls miss you. I know it's a lot to ask, but you've made your point. You've proved that you can live without magic. Just, please, put this behind you."
"You're retarded."
>"I'm sorry?"
"I'm not leaving this country, and, frankly, you must be retarded if you think I'm going to leave now. Hell no, I won't! I'm the president of a country that gave a shit before I packed my bags and left them! You give a shit after I did! So, I'm sorry, but I'm staying."
>"Anon-"
"This better be good."
>"I'm sorry."
"Good. You should have said that in 1899, before I left Ponyville. Because, when I did, you lost all hopes of getting me back. Period."
>>27309959
>"Okay then."
"I don't know what you expected."
>"I'm sorry."
"I accept your apology, but you really should be. All that talk of friendship and you kick someone out over a disagreement?"
>"That's why Celestia brought me here! For the past seven years I've been ashamed of myself!"
"Well, now that we've definitely settled it, let's begin anew. We've both been cruel, but we ended our disagreement. That's over. So you don't have to beat yourself up over it anymore."
>"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, let's get you to your room. It's in a building just nearby."
>"Another skyscraper? I rather like them."
"Yep, another skyscraper."
>You exit the building, hop in the car, and drive down the street to the hotel
>The top floor consists of two elegant suites, one of which is occupied by Twilight
>You take the elevator to the top and show her into the foyer
>She runs to the window and throws her head out
>"Oh, Anon, it's amazing up here!"
"It is a lovely view, that's for sure."
>She pulls herself back into the building and walks into the parlor
>It's decorated in whites and golds, with an air of elegance throughout
"This is the Celestial Suite. You'll be staying here for the night. Hotel staff will be up with a meal in about an hour. In the meantime, though, I have to go. Lots to do."
>"I understand."
"I'm glad you do. And once the telegraph is built, we can talk that much quicker. In the meantime, though, I bid you farewell."
>You exit the suite and take the elevator to the lobby
>The drive home is short and exhausting
>At least you've fixed things with Twilight, so you can move forward with a clear mind
>Your goal isn't proving Twilight wrong anymore
>It's proving everyone in this city who believes in the future of Arcadia right
Greetings, gentlemen. I have a story that I have been writing of which I have recently completed the latest installment that I believe will be of interest to this thread. The previous chapters can be found here:
Chapter 1: http://pastebin.com/40mr44VH
Chapter 2: http://pastebin.com/JJWvTEPe
Chapter 3: http://pastebin.com/vm9C1M2H
And, without further ado, here is Chapter 4.
>The candlelight does a casual tango along the walls over the library loft as you carefully dip a thick quill into a crystalline pot of ink and scrawl out the short phrase you began your ritual with:
>“Dear Princess Celestia,” the letter begins.
>“I apologize in my delay in writing this, as I have been quite occupied with recent events. Three days ago, a human known as Anonymous appeared in Ponyville. He is, obviously, from an alternate dimension, though not the same as that which the Crystal Mirror leads to, as he has no knowledge of the universe I visited. He arrived in Equestria via a portal of his own design, operating on mechanics that Equestrian technology could not hope to replicate. He looks down on our society as primitive. More vexing, however, is his philosophical bent. Anonymous, quite simply, rejects friendship on a philosophical level.”
>“I have dealt with many beings in my tutelage in the Magic of Friendship, many of whom had simply said that they have no need for friends, but this is not Anonymous’s way. He would probably see the reasons that others usually reject friendship for to be irrational. However, I remain ignorant of the source of his philosophy, and he is unlikely to be forthcoming with that information at this time.
Does anyone have any ideas for the elevation of Ponyville?
>>27310969
>“I only hope that I can eventually figure out how to teach Anonymous as much about the Magic of Friendship as he knows about physics. As always, I seek your counsel in this endeavor. If you have any advice to give, perhaps advice from some of your previous students or even from my earlier tutelage under you, than I would gladly accept it. I will also try to bring Anonymous before you at some point, as I am certain that you would like to meet him.
>“As always, your student,
>“Twilight Sparkle”
>Mornings were never your strong suit.
>You always preferred to stay up late into the night, flipping through a good book, huddled beneath the woolen blankets of your bed with a mug of black tea by your side.
>Fortunately, you learned a near-instant boiling spell a few weeks ago, and that should help you -
>You find Anonymous awake early in the morning, sitting at a table in your library, a stack of books and papers by his side.
>A yellow pencil sits in between his thumb and forefinger, the graphite currently being worked to a flat nib as it marches letter by letter across a formerly blank sheet.
>“Oh, good. You’re awake,” he says, before returning to his scribbling.
“A ‘good morning, Twilight,’ would be nice,” you say in response.
“Let’s assume I said that then, and move on,” he replies.
>Your lips form a paltry frown.
>“We have much work to do today,” Anonymous continues. “From your books, I have come to understand that Equestria has a very advanced picture of classical physics, up through electrodynamics, but no forays into the quantum realm. This will be a hindrance as we .progress in our research into the origin of magic.”
>>27310979
>Walking over to the desk, you take a look at the nearly illegible scrawl written on the sheets of paper, barely making out words like “electromagnetic interaction,” “W-boson,” and “quantum chromodynamics,” plus long rows of mathematical equations in symbols that seemed to simply melt into an illegible mess in the same way that sugar melts into boiling lead.
“You read all of those books?” you ask, lifting up one of the six heavy tomes with your telekinesis.
>“Skimmed for the most part. Read a few parts,” he says.
>Faintly, he mutters something that you can’t quite make out, but sounds something like “haven’t been sleeping much.”
“What?”
>“Nevermind. It’s irrelevant,” he says. “The point is, your understanding of force is completely out of date. This may be because of technological limitations, but, regardless, it will be a hindrance if we are attempting to determine the origins of forces.”
>He pauses for a moment.
>“My understanding of magic, so far, is that it is a force, in whatever sense you choose that to be. There are some pieces of the picture that I am beginning to build that you will not be able to understand if I do not teach you what we humans have learned past classical mechanics. Furthermore, I want to prevent covering ground that has already been tread.”
“What are you proposing?” you ask.
>“I’ve prepared a short quiz to determine if your knowledge of classical mechanics is up to standards.”
>Shuffling through his papers, Anonymous digs out a piece covered in what you can make out to be equations and diagrams.
>“Just get it back to me when you’re finished,” he says, then returns to writing.
>Frowning, you say:
“Anonymous, are you sure this is really necessary? I’m fairly familiar with physics. Or, at least, our physics.”
>>27310989
>“Then you shouldn’t have any qualms about showing me your abilities. In addition, I need to better understand your mathematical prowess. These problems should also test that; they cover most of the tools you will need to understand even the cutting edge of physics.”
“Maybe if you told me what your hypothesis is, then we could focus on what exactly we need to learn.”
>The pencil stops.
>“Very well. I do have a hypothesis.”
>Your purple ears perk up as Anonymous stands from his chair.
>“I have a hypothesis,” he speaks. “But I’m not certain how to test it.”
>“In the late 19th century, approximately 150 years before my time, we discovered that electricity and magnetism were one and the same, and they also produced light. This force was known as electromagnetism. It became one four fundamental interactions, four basic forces that define the universe. They are electromagnetism, gravity, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force. Each force produces a field of a certain strength and range, and has a particle or a group of particles, a focused point of that field, associated with it.”
“So, what are you saying?” you ask.
>“Hold on, there’s more. In the 1960s, about 60 years before my time, physicists hypothesized that there was a point where electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force became indistinguishable. We proved this to be true. From that, we deduced that there was a point where all four forces became indistinguishable from one another, perhaps at the beginning of the universe or at conditions that replicated that point. Despite our discovery of the graviton, thus completing the force particle chart, and solving the problems we had with merging gravity with the other four forces, we have yet to observe this possibility.”
“And?”
>>27310999
>“I have observed magic used to produce both electromagnetic interactions directly. I theorize that its capability to produce telekinesis and teleport objects to be gravitational interactions. From this, I have determined that magic appears to be a fusion of the electromagnetic and gravitational interactions. Gravity is supposed to be the first of the four forces to deunify, having the highest unification energy.”
>He turns and faces you directly.
>“Magic is a unification of all four fundamental forces.”
>Puzzling over Anonymous’s statements, you blink.
>Seeing as you’re giving him no response, Anonymous returns to the scratching of his pencil across the parchment.
“So, what do you plan to test? How do you want to prove that?”
>“Well, there are several things I wish to examine. Quantum effects, primarily. For one, I am interested in how telekinesis works, though this may have to wait for some preliminary results to determine if I can even understand the source of the phenomenon.”
“I think you may have to revise your theory. Telekinesis is understood as simply producing a force on the moved object -”
>“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way,” Anonymous says, cutting you off. “I’ve read a bit of your literature on the subject; it’s all wildly inaccurate.”
“How do you know that? You’re from a completely different universe -”
“Yes, yes where the laws of physics could be completely different. Of course. But, so far, I have no reason to assume the laws of physics are different here, beyond the addition of this field you call magic.”
>Pausing for a moment, Anonymous collects his thoughts again.
“So, to continue, if the force produced during telekinesis were a mere contact force, then it would be transferred, at root, by the electromagnetic force, as the charges of electron clouds around the atoms composing the objects in the collision repelled one another, transferring down the line and eventually producing motion,” he says.
>>27311006
>“But there is no contact involved in the telekinetic force produced, beyond the shimmering aura that appears around the object. The production of photons is generally not a response to a simple contact force, or at least, none that I know of. So there must be some other interaction occurring.”
>Sighing, he says, “I’m beginning to wonder whether this partnership was a completely waste of time. I almost would have been better off figuring these things out on my own.”
“No! It’s not! We can work through this and -” you begin to reply.
>“And what? Your theories of the fundamental forces of nature are completely out of date. Of course we can explain where the telekinetic force comes from in a classical sense. It’s just a force acted on the object opposing gravity. But which force is it? Where does that force truly germinate from? Where, Twilight?”
“I - I don’t know. My understanding of magic only goes so far. I understand what magic can do, but not how.”
>“And I don’t fully understand what magic can do, but how it could do it. We’ve gone over this many times. This is precisely why we must establish this foundation. So, I advise you to get to work quickly on that.”
“And what are you going to do?”
>“Study some more of your books. Fortunately, my current place of residence is a library. I may as well search the scholarship for some answers to questions I still have. There are many specifics that I need to factor into my hypothesis.”
“Then what exactly do you need me for?”
>“Clarification. Guidance. A source of the phenomena. Presumably, there are more recent developments that have not been written down yet, of which you may be privy to but your books... not. Plus, I am best when self-taught, and I am hoping you are as well, as you can expect no grand lectures on these subjects. We don’t have time for that. And, in the interest of that time, I should expect that exam back by the end of the day.”
“I’m not sure if I can do that.”
>The graphite snaps.
>>27311011
>“Why not?” he says in a low, growling tone.
“Well, I was planning on going to lunch with Rarity today, and I wanted to organize the east stacks and -”
>“You will make time for those things later. I hope you understand that this is far more important.”
“And you have to understand that you can’t just expect people to drop things for your needs. It’s not friendly. Weren’t you going to try to be friendly?”
>“Oh, good, we’re still all on about that nonsense.
“It is not nonsense!”
>“In comparison to the work we are trying to do here, it absolutely is. Do you even remotely understand that we are not only attempting to figure out one of the fundamental forces of your universe, but attempting to return me to mine. Furthermore, I’ve already extended an olive branch by asking for a research partnership, as opposed to simply figuring out these things on my own -”
“Which you still seem to be doing anyways....”
>“This is the preliminary research stage. Doing research on my own is by far the most efficient means. There will be later opportunities where a more direct partnership will be more efficient.”
>Groaning, you almost want to bang your head into a large, flat object, such as cinderblock wall, a wooden desk, or Anonymous’s stubbornness.
>“Oh, come now, don’t be like that. Patience is a necessary part of science.”
“No, it’s not that.”
>“Then what is it?”
“Do you know you are the most difficult sentient being to work with?”
>“Of course.”
>Frowning in response, you say:
“Well, seeing as you have given me no compelling reason to complete your quiz in a timely manner, I think I’ll perform the daily activities I was planning on doing beforehand. I have a very tight schedule to keep, and I prefer to do things that I actually enjoy or for people that actually seem to appreciate me. Have a pleasant day with your research, Anonymous.”
>You strut towards the door.
“I am going out.”
>Before Anonymous has a chance to retort, you slam the heavy oak door behind you.
>>27311020
>Lyme and Dare’s is a small cafe on the edge of town, catering more to those who knew that being the soft fluffy center of the bread was far superior to being the hard outer crust, but still appreciated the finer things in life.
>It was set on the bottom floor of a small, stone shop, with a large glass window revealing the moderately-lit interior filled with small booths and a front patio with large round umbrellas covering small, four-chaired tables.
>The menu was short, custom created by the chef every day, based on fresh-picked herbs and small plates of artisan greens and other relishes.
>“Eclectic and interesting!” the reviewers, and your friend, raved.
>Unfortunately, today you are distracted by your lunch salad of mustard greens and arugula with bleu cheese, strawberries, and a lemon-pomegranate-pepper vinaigrette by other things on your mind, namely a certain human from an alternate dimension who seems to not understand exactly what a “partnership” means.
>Similarly, you are concerned about how he may have treated your seamstress friend, currently sitting across the small, round, metal table sipping from a small mug of tea.
>“I’ve been working on a absolutely fabulous new set,” Rarity says, having a bite of her roasted beet salad. “There’s this new fabric that I just ordered that’s divine. Soft, lightweight, supple, shimmers like a placid lake. You’ll have to take a look at it when it’s finished.”
“Yeah, absolutely. Right,” you reply.
>“Something wrong, darling?”
“Sorry, just a bit distracted.”
>“Has it been busy at the library lately? Or do you have some new friendship problem that you need help with?”
>>27311027
“No, nothing like that. I mean, the library has been almost quieter than usual. Probably, with school out and all, no fillies are coming in looking for research books for their book reports.... Hm. Maybe I need to do something to get more people into the library. Although, then again, maybe now isn’t the time for that, considering my... current guest.”
>Rarity takes a sip of tea.
>“So, how has your little pet project been going?”
“What? Oh, you mean -”
>“Anonymous! Have you made any progress with him?”
“Well, I think I’m getting through to him somehow. He offered for me to be his ‘research partner,’ but so far all he’s done is sit around and read books from my library. He’s completely insistent on doing everything as some sort of trade. He gave me this,” you say, pulling a sheet of white paper from your saddlebag, covered with what appear at first glance to be inane black scribblings.
>Rarity takes an incredulous look at it.
>“What is it?”
“A quiz of sorts. He wanted to know what how much mathematics and physics I already understand. He’s been incredibly pushy about it, for whatever reason, to the point that he expected me to miss our date to work on it. On the other hand, I’ve already looked over a few problems, and they seem solvable, but there’s one at the very end that seems to be vexing me, because I would have to make an assumption that I’m not quite certain about.”
>“Natural philosophy has never been my forte, Twilight, so I don’t know what help I can give,” Rarity says.
“I know,” you say, biting into a tea cookie and swallowing.
“How did it go yesterday with Anonymous?”
>“I mean, it was certainly different and interesting, taking measurements for a human, but it shouldn’t be that difficult to adapt some of my designs to his body structure,” Rarity says. “I think I may finally be able to make use of some design books I had for minotaur garments, but I may even then have to size those -”
>>27311039
“Not that. I mean, how was his behavior? How did you take him?”
>“To be frank, he was rather... well, he was rather....”
“Cold, calculating, distant, rude, blunt, and generally unfriendly?”
>“Well, I’m not so certain the degree he was the last three, but certainly the first few.”
>Taking another sip of tea and a bite of salad, she frowns.
>“He asked me some rather difficult questions. He’s not exactly one for casual smalltalk, he prefers a grand discussion about the nature of generosity itself. He was very curious about my Element.”
“What did he say?”
>“He was just going on about how generosity isn’t valuable because everything is just a tit-for-tat trade off, sort of like you were saying. Everything is just some sort of give and take to him. He seems to think that friends would only do things for one another to get their friends to do things in return. But I told him that if this were true, then we’d simply replace our friends with others who would give these things to us, and we don’t do that. We as friends have unique interactions that we share with one another.”
“I see. I agree. That’s a great thought, Rarity,” you say, nodding.
>“I certainly thought so, but Anonymous didn’t seem that convinced. He seems to think there must be some ‘flaw in my reasoning,’ as he put it. But he couldn’t think of what, and dropped the line of inquiry.”
“Strange. I’d imagine he would have been able to come up with a counter-argument on the spot but.... Oh well, he’ll probably come up with something.”
>“I think if you give Anonymous a bit of time, he’ll come around. We’ve never been incapable of showing anyone that friendship is worth far more than lonesomeness, and I’m sure Anonymous will come to see that as well. Now, are you sure you don’t have time for a little tea cake?”
“Oh, alright, I can’t resist. But this had better be quick. I really wanted to get around to organizing the east stacks today, and to stay on schedule I really need to get home.”
>>27311046
>“Garçon?” Rarity calls to the waiter, giggling a bit. “Two more cups of tea and two tea cakes.”
>You sit in a comfortable chair, reading a heavy textbook on elementary magical studies, as you have for the past 18 hours.
>Silence fills the library and your mind, Twilight being out with some friend doing something you couldn’t care less about.
>A stack of papers, covered in what appear at first glance to be inane black scribblings, sits on a nearby table, along with a pencil, the soft graphite ground down to a flat nib, as you hadn’t a chance to sharpen it.
>There are many things vexing you, most of which you had written down.
>First, that ponies had mostly been exploring what they could do with magic, as opposed to what it was.
>Then again, the catalogue of feats capable by “magic” seemed near limitless, so arguably that was not without good reason.
>Discovering some new spell to increase crop growth or automate manufacturing could often be more useful than figuring out the actual source of that spell, at least in the proximate sense.
>However, despite Equestria’s vast knowledge of “magic,” they lack any knowledge of physics from beyond around 1890 or any technology from beyond around 1920.
>That presented many limitations, including that calculations would mostly have to be done by hand.
>Although, you also suppose you could work out a way to use your hazard suit’s internal computers to handle some of the heavier calculations, if necessary, and perhaps construct a crude charging device to refill its batteries.
>Until then, time to learn to use a slide-rule, you muse with a wry chuckle, only to be interrupted by a loud, percussive knock on the door.
>You assume Twilight’s dragon servant, whose name you can’t be bothered to remember right now, will get it, and your hypothesis proves correct by softly audible pattering of stubby legs on the wooden floor and the creak of the heavy oak door opening.
>>27311057
>A conversation beginning on the threshold between the servant’s high-pitched, prepubescent male tones and another voice, colored in the brash twang of banjo-playing, cotton-picking, country-seceding, moonshine-running, and sibling-loving, slowly increases in volume as it moves toward you.
>You manage to pick out a few phrases: a pair of greetings; the guest asking if Twilight was home and if she could help with some problem; Spike answering in the negative, but stating that you were present and that you might be able to help.
>“Well, you can ask him, but I don’t know if he’ll be very keen,” you distinctly catch Spike says as the two finish their approach.
>“Heya, Anonymous,” the other voice says.
>You peer your narrowed eyes over the edge of your book like a cave dwelling creature emerging into the outside world.
>An orange horse with a blonde mane and a Stetson hat stands in front of you.
“Oh. Hello -”
>What has her name again?
>She has what looks like three red apples on her upper thigh, so it must be something to do with apples.
>Didn’t Twilight have a friend that was named like a brand of cereal or -
“- Applejack.”
>You return to your reading.
>“Ahem. Anonymous, I wanted to know if you could help me with somethin’,” Applejack says.
>Again, your eyes are forced to sneak above the pages.
“What?”
>“Well, it’s like I said a couple ‘a days ago. We’ve been have a pinch ‘a trouble with our threshin’ machine, and I was wonderin’ if you might be able to -”
“No. As I said a few days ago, my expertise is in theoretical physics, not mechanical engineering. There wouldn’t be anything I could do for you.”
>“Are ya sure? I mean, couldn’t ya at least just take a look at it or -”
“No.”
>Rubbing her hat against the back of her head, Applejack says, “I guess that was what I expected and all. I mean, if you really don’t think you could help, then I guess there’s no use tryin’ to convince you. Just gonna have to wait for Twilight to get back I guess....”
>>27311065
“Right.”
>Applejack begins to walk away.
>Turning a page of your book, you realize something.
“Although, I suppose there is something else that I... nevermind, it’s not important.”
>“You can’t just leave it at that. What is it?”
“Twilight has been bothering me about trying to be more friendly with people, and I’ve been trying to make an inquiry into what are supposedly the six primary ‘elements of friendship’ of sorts in this universe. They seem to have some sort of metaphysical significance. As such... you are the ‘Element of Honesty,’ are you not?”
>“Yeah. What about it?”
>Rising from your chair, you pace towards one of the windows.
“You see, I’ve done a bit of thought on the subject of honesty, and I haven’t come to a very satisfying conclusion for this next question. Why do you suppose that we value honesty, particularly in our relationships with other people? It seems to me that friendships are primarily based on, to put it bluntly, lying,” you say.
>“Why do you think that?” Applejack says, cocking an eyebrow.
“Oh, come now, surely you must understand this. We are forced to tell lies all the time to protect our friends feelings. We are pleasant and polite to people whom we have no particular liking to. We reserve our true feelings about unpleasant subjects so as not to upset people. There are long lists of “polite” behaviors that consist of being deceptive with our friends and not saying what we truly think.”
>Briefly looking towards the door, Applejack adjusts her hat slightly.
“It seems to me that we value deceit as much as honesty in our relationships with others. In fact, it doesn’t seem possible that we cannot be absolutely honest to anyone. For example, if a brutal axe murderer were to show up on your doorstep one day, asking where your friend was so that he could kill him, would you tell him?”
>“No, of course not,” Applejack says.
>You smile.
>>27311072
“And that would be lying. So, I think it is clear that honesty is not the absolute virtue that we so think it is. There are situations in which lying is more virtuous.”
>“Now, you just.... You just take a minute here and think about what you’re saying. Being honest with your friends is completely different than being honest with a murderer.”
“How so?”
>Applejack scratches her mane under her hat.
>“Look, I ain’t some rationalizing natural philosopher like you. I can’t come up with the most perfect argument that will just blow you away. But you’ve got this just twisted up view of how friendships work. Friends who have to always lie to each other... well, they just ain’t really friends.”
>Your eyes narrow.
>“Your friends are supposed to be the people who can be most honest to ya. You gotta have... uh... beings who can help you evaluate your own life, ponies or people or whatever that can help you realize who you are and if your life is good or bad or otherwise. They’re like a mirror on yourself. Your friends should be the people who can be most honest to you. Yeah, sure, it’s not absolute. Sometimes we have to say things that aren’t true to protect people. But, when it all comes down to it, when worst comes to worst, your friends should be the ones who’ll be honest with ya when others won’t.”
>Frowning, you pour over the response, the farm pony’s words echoing around your brain, until another interruption emerges.
“Oh, good, you’re back.”
>“Hello, Anonymous,” Twilight says. “And hello to you, Applejack. Did I interrupt something between you two?”
“Not at all,” you say. “Applejack and I were just having a brief inquiry into the nature of honesty. She seems to have made a good point for now, though I think I will be able to come up with a counterpoint at some point soon.”
>“Similar to what happened with Rarity yesterday? Except with generosity, of course,” Twilight says.
“How did you - oh, so that’s who you were having lunch with,” you say.
>>27311081
>“We’re going to talk about that later, by the way,” Twilight says, a bit more firmly.
“Very well,” you say with a short grimace.
>“And what about you, Applejack? Why did you need to seek out Anonymous?” Twilight asks.
>“Well, I wasn’t really lookin’ for him. I was actually lookin’ for you, but you weren’t here and all, so I decided to ask Anonymous here if he’d help with that broken thresher I told you about. There’ s a problem with the magical generator, and I thought you might be able to help with that.”
>You ears perk up at the mention of the words “magical generator.”
>Now, that is something you’d very much like to see, you think to yourself.
>Perhaps it will help you better understand magic’s relation with the electromagnetic force.
>Yes, this is an excellent idea.
>“Anonymous says he can’t really help with that, but I bet you can.”
>“Sure, I’ll take a look at it if I get some time,” Twilight says. “I’m really booked up today - I’ve got to organize the east stacks and sort out some new arrivals sent that Celestia sent me from her personal library - but I think I could get over there in a couple days.”
>“Alrighty then. Shouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“I would like to take a look at this ‘magical generator,’” you say. “There may actually be something I could do, plus I’d like to study how it works. I couldn’t do it today, as well, because I am... a bit too caught up in this research.”
>“Okay,” Applejack says. “Guess it can’t hurt to have two hands to help. See you guys then.”
>Applejack trots out the door, and Twilight abruptly slams it shut and glares a hole six feet deep into you.
>“What exactly have you been doing with my friends?” she asks.
“Is it not appropriate to have philosophical discussion with someone?”
>“Not when you first meet them!”
“Oh, please. Why waste time with empty platitudes when there is a far more interesting discussion to be had?”
>>27311083
>“Because - because it’s just not polite conversation to just ask someone what they believe about some philosophical topic, especially when you first meet them.”
“Well, I don’t care about that. There are far more important matters at hand. Your friends are literally the Platonic ideals of the ‘elements’ of friendship, or harmony, or whatever you want to call it, and I want to make an inquiry into that. Or are they not?”
>“Well, I don’t know what a Platonic ideal is.”
“Plato was an ancient philosopher who believed that there were absolute forms or ideals of things such as good or justice, a sort of metaphysical object or definition that everyone would agree was the absolute essence of the thing it represented. At least, that was how I always took it,” you explain.
>“Okay.... And, you think my friends are these forms made manifest?”
“Perhaps. That is a fairly close approximation to what I interpret these ‘Elements of Harmony’ to be. It would at least seem to me that your friends should have some deeper insight into their element.”
>“Okay, that might be true, but even so, do you really think that it’s okay to just go around asking people about their deepest philosophical beliefs?”
“I was just curious.”
>“You can’t just go around trying to get people into philosophical debates with you all the time. What, would you invite a bunch of people over to your house and then try and get them to determine the nature of justice with you?”
>You stifle a chuckle.
>“This isn’t funny!”
“I think you patently fail to see the humor in this situation, and probably couldn’t. Regardless, as I have told you before, I really don’t care about this whole ‘trying to be friendly’ thing. I have inquiries to make into the metaphysical and physical nature of your universe. I would rather make progress on those than relationships with others that I don’t care about.”
>>27311083
>Turning the next page of your book, you attempt to return to research, before Twilight levitates the text out of your hands and tosses it aside.
“I was reading that,” you say.
>“I thought we were having a discussion.”
“I thought the topic was closed. Don’t you have stacks to organize? And a problem set to complete for me, so that we may continue our research?”
>“Our research? All you’ve done is sit here and read! This test is just to make sure that I even remotely understand some things which you’ve told me humans discovered over 150 years ago. Why do you even need me for your research? Why should I even help you, considering that you’ve been so callous towards my friends? And when are we actually going to get to serious experimentation?”
“To answer the first question, I was attempting to make an overture as part of your desire that I try to be friendlier with people, but I guess that has utterly failed.”
>“As have all your other ‘attempts,’ if we can even call them that.”
>Blank silence fills the room.
“As for the second, what if I told you that my inquiries into your friends’ elements has been to answer some of my own objections about friendship?”
>“What do you mean?”
“It’s like you’ve said before. I’ve seen the supposed benefits of friendship, and determined them philosophically unsound. I think that all relationships ultimately are based on mutual exchange. I think that all relationships ultimately involve lying to the other person more than they involve being honest with each other. At least, those were in particular the objections I made to Applejack and Rarity’s elements. And yet, they were able to present counterarguments to my own. Decent counter-arguments,” you say, rubbing a hand against your cheek.
“I’ll come up with a counter myself, eventually, of course. There’s plenty of time for that, but, even so... things to consider in formulating a stronger position for myself.”
>“And what if you can’t?” Twilight asks.
>>27311091
“I can. There is no puzzle my mind cannot solve satisfactorily, given enough time. Now, as for the third -”
>You get up from your chair.
>If she really is going to be so insistent about this, you may as well humor her desire.
>You do have an experiment that you could perform right now, though you had hoped to delay it so that you could maybe find if the result had already been proven.
>However, you suppose that you could simply prove it yourself.
>Furthermore, you might be able to show Twilight just how unprepared she is for actual experimental work.
“You want real experimentation? Fine. We can begin right now.”
>You head towards the basement.
>“But I thought you had research -” Twilight says.
“Enough research. The best answers are found by experiment. So, we shall experiment. Now, come. I thought this was what you wanted?”
>Soon enough, chalk scrawls across a blackboard, an equation written behind it, an unwilling master teaching a new student.
“Classical physics lacks two key features of the universe,” you explain.
“The first... shall be dealt with at a later occasion, but, the second is quantization. At the fundamental level, energy and other properties exist in distinct numerical steps, as opposed to a continuum, as predicted by classical theory.”
>You pause for a moment while Twilight takes notes.
“We will prove this property now,” you say, walking over to your hazard suit and fiddling with something for a moment.
“This would normally be the time where you would ask questions, I think.”
>You begin writing a few more necessary equations on the board.
>A quill faintly scratches on parchment.
“Nothing, then? Good.”
>“Uh, Anonymous? Could you maybe just -” Twilight begins, before you cut her off.
“Oh, good. I was afraid for a second that you had gone mute.”
>“But -”
>>27311094
“Today, we will be testing the photoelectric effect. This is the observation that metals produce electric current when struck with light rays. We will be testing to see if this effect occurs with magically-generated photons.”
>“And what will that prove?”
“That magic is quantizable. If magic can produce some quantizable field - which, essentially, is what a photon is - then, presumably, the generative field behind the photons is, in turn, quantizable.”
>You rub your chin.
“Of course, we may run into some problems with the magical energy effect, but I think these will be surmountable. It may change some of the thresholds, but we are testing to see if the threshold even exists, not where it is.”
>Twilight scribbles down a few more notes, then asks, “So, what is a photon? And could you perhaps -”
“A photon is a quantized unit of electromagnetism. It is, in some sense, a ‘particle’ of light, though that is not quite an accurate definition. The precise explanation is that it is the force carrier particle - a gauge boson - of the electromagnetic force, which light is an expression of. Now, observe.”
>You point to an equation on the chalkboard.
“If we observe some light hitting an electrically charged plate, we should observe the following. First, there is a certain frequency below which no photoelectrons are produced. Second, there exists a stopping potential, that is to say, a negative voltage below which no photoelectrons are produced. And, third, there appears to be no time delay between the absorption of a photon, and the emission of an electron. Understood?”
>Twilight merely nods.
“Good. You seem to understanding this all better than I thought. These properties are reflected by the equations laid out here.”
>You point to a diagram on the board.
>>27311101
“Now, as for the apparatus - this is where I will begin to require your assistance. We require one metal plate on one side of an evacuated container and a separate metal plate with a small hole in it through which to shine light. Then, we connect the plates to a circuit containing a voltage source, an ammeter, and a variable resistor. By charging the solid plate with the source, we can use the light to knock off electrons - this is the photoelectric effect. The electrons will be attracted to the other plate because of the voltage difference, and we will then measure the intensity via the ammeter. Understood?”
>Again, Twilight merely nods, but, before you can get in another word, says, “Could you maybe slow down a bit? And I have a few more -”
“No. There’s no time for that. We have much experimentation to do and there is very little time to do it. We can deal with further explanations later.”
>Twilight sighs; you walk over to your workbench and set up the pair of former vacuum tubes you’ve fused to together to form your chamber.
>As per the experimental design, a grey metal plate sits in the middle of the chamber, which you have connected with some red and black wires to an exterior volt- and ammeter.
>Everything is prepared, except for the vacuum.
“Presumably, you have some spell to rid this vessel of air, do you not?”
>“Yes. I could think of something for that....”
>Twilight’s horn glows purple around the cylinder.
“Do be careful, though. There’s no telling what kind of residual effects that there may be. Try to minimize the duration of the phenomenon. If you can’t guarantee that, then we may have to find a more... troublesome means of evacuating the chamber,” you say.
>“I’ve never seen the spell I’m casting have affect anything after I’ve finished casting it. I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” Twilight says.
“I’m just taking precautions.”
>Twilight ends the spell, saying, “There. The chamber should be evacuated now.”
>>27311111
“Good. Then we can begin testing. We’ll start at one volt and continue at the most precise increment we can manage until I max out the power source....”
>Data collection proceeds smoothly and efficiently for the experiment, as it should.
>You have learned through years of experimentation that careful data collection always leads to good experimental results, and a rough calculation off of the first few dozen data points clearly indicates the notable properties of the photoelectric effect, such as the presence of a cutoff at low voltages - no current produced by the knocked off electrons.
>Twilight yawns.
>“How many more points?” she asks.
“Not much more. Patience. You asked to do science with me, and this is what we must do.”
>Eventually, you reach the maximum of your power source.
“Now, the truly interesting part begins,” you state. “We shall analyze the data we have recorded and determine whether magical power can replicate the same effects as pure electricity. Unfortunately, considering that I lack modern computing power, we will have to do the analysis... by hand.”
>“And how long do you expect that to take?” Twilight says, again yawning.
“Between the two of us, perhaps... three to five hours? That’s a rough estimate, of course.”
>Out of curiosity, you check your watch.
>It reads 6:34 PM.
>“It’s getting late,” Twilight says.
“And?”
>“So, maybe we should wait until morning?”
“And why should we do that? We’re here now. Any further delay will only lead to complications.”
>“Yes, that’s true. I’ve already re-scheduled some things I wanted to do today to tomorrow for the sake of this experiment. But, wouldn’t you prefer to work on this with a fresh mind? Continuing until late into the night does not sound like a way to do this well.”
>You frown, but relent.
“You’re right. We’ll finish this tomorrow. Perhaps I can find some way to automate the process somewhat in the meantime.”
>>27311117
>Walking over to your hazard suit, you pull a screwdriver from your pocket, shove the helmet on your head, and begin fiddling with the computer system.
>“Finished,” Twilight says.
“Finished?”
>From your comfortable leather armchair, you sit up.
>You had decided to take a break from your fiddling to do more research.
>If you could find a spell for automizing mathematical tasks, then perhaps Twilight could perform it to analyze the data.
>It would be better than taking apart your hazard suit, and even that you weren’t sure would work effectively.
>Twilight lifts her quill from the paper and telekinetically passes the page to you.
>You take the limp sheet of paper from her.
“I believed that one of the problems would stump you entirely, and that we would simply begin from there, but I guess I was wrong on that front.”
>You take a brief glance at the page, getting an overview of Twilight’s impeccably neat handwriting and checking the solutions to make sure they’re accurate.
>Then, you get to the final problem.
“How did you figure out the last problem?”
>“What?”
“You weren’t supposed to be able to solve the last problem. At least, not correctly.”
>“Why would you give me a problem that I wouldn’t have been able to solve?”
“Your physics still rely on what is known to me as Galilean relativity. That is to say, there is no absolute frame of reference for a state of rest. This comes into problems when you include the fact that light moves at a constant speed, regardless of reference frame, and acts as a speed maximum for all objects in the universe. Your solutions would have been completely incorrect, but, you seem to have figured out this property so as to solve the final problem. How?” you ask.
>>27311129
>“That... doesn’t really answer my question. But to answer yours... I guessed. Based on the fact that there’s been no verifiable proof of the existence of luminous aether or anything else that could act as a preferred reference frame for light, and that the speed of light seems to be constant in all directions. Both those have been proved rather recently, and they both contradict with your ‘Galilean relativity,’ as you put it,” Twilight answers.
“That’s a very good guess,” you state. “I hadn’t found any evidence in your books that Equestrian scientists were even considering such ideas.”
>“Yes, well the research into the luminous aether is rather recent. It’s a development from resulting properties of -”
“The Maxwellian equations of electromagnetism. Or, I guess, their counterpart here. I know,” you say.
>“I mean, it is a theoretical solution that solves the problem you gave me. I have no empirical evidence to back it up,” Twilight says.
>Getting up from your chair to pace around the room, you say:
“I assure you that with some brief experimentation - not even to the extent that we had experimented with the photoelectric effect today - we could prove that the speed of light is constant in all reference frames. The rest follows from some brief thought experiments about what one would observe were one to move at the speed of light.”
>You turn back to Twilight.
“Tell me. What would you observe?”
>“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. Think about it. If not soon, then in the morning.”
>Returning to your chair, you flip open your book again, as Twilight begins to attempt to dig a rut into the ground of the library as she takes up the pacing.
>About an hour later, the hoofsteps stop.
>“If you were to travel at the speed of light, and the speed of light is constant in all reference frames,” Twilight says, “Wouldn’t it look like time has stopped?”
“Not just ‘look like.’ Time would stop. As you approach the speed of light, time slows down, and eventually stops.”
>>27311135
>You smile.
“This very fact was discovered by one of the greatest physicists of my homeworld, and, now, just as you have done.”
>“What are you trying to say?” Twilight asks.
>You lean back in your chair.
“Nothing in particular. Just that you have... exceeded my expectations.”
And that concludes that. Comments, criticism, whatever, all appreciated. If enough people like this, I will cross-update this here as well again.
And here is the Pastebin: http://pastebin.com/cpJvVAUH
>peteq is back
Well, miracles DO happen
>>27311150
That's a fairly lengthy story you got there. Would you care to tell me what the story is about?
>>27311111
Finally, I have reason to use this.
>>27311740
You've already used it at least once. It's never going to work. Give up.
>>27311778
Don't worry, it's the last time I'm gonna use it. It's not like the world is going to end.
>>27311150
Read this in AiE the other day, was kinda hoping you'd post here
Where are you droid!? I want some hot battle-droid action!
>>27311150
I loved it.
Also, if you have Anon cave in, accept friendship and start being all buddy buddy with everyone, Ill be very, very disappointed.
Looking by whats already written that shouldn't come into play, but just for peace of mind I would like to say that something like this would absolutely ruin it for me.
So I found a thing...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCxHkeiTo2s
>>27314299
That was not supposed to ever reach the light of day mang. That's almost as bad as the Skyrim ones.
>>27311566
Anonymous is a genius with no friends who gets transported to Equestria via a wormhole. Now he must figure out a way back to his homeworld and maybe learn a lesson about friendship along the way.
>>27312407
I thought people here would enjoy it. Apparently, I was right.
>>27313067
You may end up being somewhat disappointed. I can't promise that Anon is going to be a static character, let me put it that way.
>>27315325
>I can't promise that Anon is going to be a static character
Its not that.
Characters doing ideal 180 in their worldviews/characterization always irked me, especially when from being an asshole to being good, especially when change is induced artificially by token good guy.
It comes to me as some kind of "brainwashing for the sake of good".
I hate brainwashing.
I despise 'for the greater good' thing.
One character dragging the other to their side of things, while the other is kicking and screaming and then just stops and accepts ones ideology as superior pisses me off to no end.
Characters meeting in the middle, interweaving their ideologies and enriching each others point of view without abandoning how they were seeing things at the beginning is that I like. A compromise of sorts.
Example,talk about friendship.
At the very base, the core from what friendship originates, Anon is right.
Its an exchange of knowledge, entertainment, security.
But its so intricate that in the bigger picture those core ideas dont matter, what matters is the end effect beneficial for everyone.
I came with analogy that Rarity would love.
This is a thread.
This is a dress.
Dress is made out of fabric, which is thousands, millions of threads intersecting one another.
But dress is not a thread, its more.
>>27315691
Yes, I can agree with that. It's not my intention to completely change Anon's character by force. I was more attempting imply that there will be change, but I don't want to give how much or when because spoilers.But the amount you're going for is about right.
>>27315710
Not the same Anon, but I read your first story and loved it. Even the bittersweet ending.
>>27315918
Thank you.
>>27305943
"ay, we've got, what, thirty years to make this constitution?"
>"yeah, you do, at least, I won't make a good politician."
"yeah, you would, what was your offical job title back in-"
>"postmaster general."
>ah, a glorified male mare.
"then, what’s your special talent? Blowing bubbles?"
>"I got it when I drowned another mare by accident."
>TOP OF THE MORNIN'!
>"… do you find that strange? Well, you should!"
>…
>"no need to hide your face" she says boldly, "I get that look all the time."
>no wonder she was looking for a clean slate.
>"yeah, I think I'll make it as an architect of sorts, in Cykablyatovia, I mean."
"architect? You good with making plans? Becaus-"
>"no, I mean, an architect of /death/."
>TOP OF THE.
"well, that got dark really fast."
>"well, no, not death, more so, defense, I want to make sure everybody is safe."
"you mean, like, a military advisor? Or, eh, a commander in chief?"
>"no, I'll let the leader lead, like, a defense minister, national security advisor, general, those kinds of things."
>that’s a really strange career for someone like her.
>oh well, this is Cykablyatovia afterall.
"yeah, I'll give you a shot."
>"Really? That’s great, anon?! No- no crawling up the ranks or anything?!"
"what ranks?"
>"yeah, your right."
>>27316197
_______-
A couple of hours later.
>The train station is packed with ponies. And a lot of other races, all with bags.
>Welp, seems they got your memo.
>"seems they got your memo-"
>stop being pinkie pie, please.
"well, I guess we can start by facing the crowd."
>you grab your bags, put on your heavy crown, and get off the train.
>they start murmuring, and the train departs behind you, leaving the new Cykablyatovia behind you.
>okay, something inspirational.
"I AM ANON! EXCUSE ME! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION!"
>nothing.
>you pull out your handgun, and point it up.
>everyone quiets down without you having to fire.
>great, now your feared.
"I am the new tsar! Tsar anon the inventor! You have come here for equality? Is that right?"
>you hear a few murmurs of people translating what your saying to other ponies, whom probably don't know English.
"we'll all get to that! I'll lay the ground rules in a moment!"
>…
"But first! I need you all to get in line! I must catalog you all as the first citizens of Cykablyatovia!"
>in a moment, you have a line.
>you turn to Derpy.
"Derpy, get me my clipboard and graph paper."
>soon, you have your paper, pen, and board.
"please state your name, race, and nationality! That last one should only have a single answer, What is it!?"
>unanimously, they answer.
>"CYKABLYATOVIAN!"
>"your god-damned right." derpy huffs under her breath.
"As an abreviation!" you continue, "we're going to call ourselves Cykan's! that’s okay, right?"
>"YEAH!"
"well, alright then! Lets get this party started!"
time to end the SOL section and move to the 'oh yeah!' section.
>>27316419
Boom, end of Chapter, what is it now, 4?
>>27316419
>cykablyatovian
>not Cyki,
Aside from my plural form autism, its nice. I expect Derp horse will play a big role.
>>27316828
I would've preferred removekebabia a little more than what he's got, it just rolls off the tongue easier.
>>27316930
was going to use the runner-ups of names as city names. like, anongrad being the capital.
>>27317684
ok man, wtf is going on with your name?
>>27316419
Is Derpy Stalin?
>>27317735
nothing is wrong with my name, what are you talking about?
>>27317852
Why, nothing at all, anything wrong with mine?
>>27317684
>>27317852
These names remind me of Covenant ship names...
>>27317852
ayy, you're not me, do i have to tripfag?
also, drew tsaranon.
>>27318081
That's pretty good! I'd try to draw the Anon in my story if it weren't for the fact that I can't draw to save my life.
>>27318128
got any sort of details? i can draw him, won't shade it though, can't shade to save my life.
here's the version without any shading, the better version in my opinion.
i mean, i grasp the concept of shading,(should see my paper work) but i don't know how to use gimp for shading.
>>27318342
>>27318247
You'd do that? That would be amazing! I described his formal attire at the beginning of the Canterlot bit in my story, but if you wait until tomorrow morning when I can think of setting better, I could make a better description.
>>27318407
aight, i'll wait.
>>27294448
bump
Has anyone written about anon arriving in Equestria soon after Celestia banished Luna. Perhaps she's depressed, Equestria falling apart, etc.
>>27320042
Not in this thread
>>27320042
I think you are looking for AiE
>>27318610
Okay, I think I found something. I tried drawing something simple, but this just looks better. Anon would be wearing a uniform similar to the warrant officer outfit in this pic, maybe with a few couple changes, like replacing the star on the shoulder with the CIS insignia.
>>27320651
As for the cape and hat, he'd have something in the style of the ones on the uniform on the far right in pic related. Also, forgot first pic, will post in reply.
>>27320651
Forgot pic
>>27320653
Another thing with this one, you could also replace the insignia on the cap with that of the CIS, just google search for that one. Thanks again for drawing this, based idea.
>>27320651
just copy the 40k commissar uniform, style and performance. Could hide armor under it too.
>>27320660
That looks good too, I just wanted to make something original.
If he wants to draw either one, he can.
will delivar later.
>>27321086
ok
>>27321086
Based
Thematic music bump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cd36WJ79z4
>>27299672
Done. Speaking of, my pt 2 paste is getting pretty big. I'm not having trouble with tabs crashing yet, but I'm thinking of splitting it again. It's kinda clumsy to have such big 'chapters' and it's likely difficult for new readers to find their place if they navigate away for whatever reason. On the other hand I don't want to move anything from this paste to a new one for fear of confusing people reading right now. Thoughts?
>You are Rainbow Dash.
>You aren't in any mood for this nonsense.
“What does it mean I can't help? I can make a Sonic. Rainboom. There has to be SOMETHING useful you could do with that speed!”
>“I'm sorry Rainbow, but I don't think that will impress it. I'll relay the message anyway.”
“Not impressed? How could anyone not be impressed by that?”
>“Why are you trying to show off to this thing?”
“It’s not about showing off, Twilight. I wanna get in on this.”
>”Rainbow! You don’t know how dangerous it is down there. Sure Luna’s being guided through, but that place makes a pit full of cobras look like… like… like a not dangerous thing!”
>You raise one brow as you stare at her, hovering just off the ground.
”Your eloquence is an inspiration to us all."
>“Dash, it’s BAD down there. When we first got here, Celestia was hit an instant after cresting the hill. And you know what happened? The shot tore through her shield spell, her armor, through her flesh. Luna got hit next, going down a SECOND later at very most. A gaping hole right through her chest, despite nearly every unicorn in Equestria’s military powering a shield.”
“I know what those cannons are capable of.”
>”Did you know that they aim themselves?”
>That’s… uh…
>”Or that their projectiles can explode too?”
>She pokes at the weird glowy thing for a bit.
>A heavy silence hangs over you as the words sink in.
>>27322748
>”I’m being told that there are 20580 cannons in that complex. TWENTY THOUSAND. Do you know what that means?”
“Yeah. That the ape is insane. There’s no need for that many if one could down Celestia.”
>”Dash…”
“Okay, okay. It means that if they get a shot at me I’m gone. I still wanna help out.”
>”Why? Why would you ever want to risk your life like that?”
“Some day, when this is all over, foals will be forced to read history books about this. What will those books say? Will they say that the Titans got what they wanted? Will they say that pony kind just rolled over and submitted? No. The history books are going to say that we fought back. They’re going to say that I fought back. If the way to fight back is to quietly break some weird machines then that’s what I’m going to do. And if I’m really lucky? They’ll say that Rainbow Dash beat the tar out of a Titan. If I get hurt in the process, so be it!”
>”I’d rather it didn’t come to that.”
“Twilight, are you trying to keep me here? Are you trying to protect me?”
>She doesn’t answer.
>You’re pretty sure you nailed it.
“Stop being so selfish.”
>”What?”
“If the legends are even close to true, having a Titan around would be really bad news, right? That affects the whole WORLD. Not just us. Can you imagine how Fluttershy would handle another era of strife? If I can tilt the odds in our favour even a little, shouldn’t I?”
>She doesn’t answer for a while.
>Finally, she lets out a long suffering sigh.
>>27322757
>”Right. The dome is apparently safe to fly over as long as you stay low, the cannons are all on the inside, and the weird thing I’m talking to has control over the ‘narrow light’ weapons. Not sure what those are, but they’re what’s supposed to keep attackers off the dome. As long as you stay low enough that those really tall cannons that occasionally poke out over the top can’t aim at you, nothing can hit you. We’ve got equipment incoming. Rainbow, come back safe. PROMISE me you’ll be safe.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
>”If you aren’t… I’m going to make sure that the books say your coat was bright green!”
“Don’t worry, I plan on coming back. They’re going to want a model for the statues.”
>It’s true though.
>You fully expect you’ll be safe.
>The cannons can’t move, you just need to make sure there’s something between you and them.
>Fly over the completed parts of the dome and you’ll be fine.
>A familiar ring of light appears, this one much smaller than before.
>A faint falling star appears in the sky.
>Another metal box, this one much smaller than the previous, slams into the ground
>Dirt flies into the air making a small crater.
>If this keeps up there’ll be a lake on this mountaintop.
>The box unfolds itself, and inside you see…
“Goggles, a few balls, and a couple clip on earrings?”
>Not even fancy earrings or anything.
>Not that you’d wear those, just that it seems strange.
>Just small black clips.
>Without moving from the table, Twilight levitates them and clamps them on your ears.
>They’re kinda uncomfortable.
>Not painful or anything, just annoying.
>She brings the goggles up to your eyes and slides them on.
“Neat!”
>In the top left of your vision, there’s a number.
>As you move your eyes it rapidly changes.
>Before long you figure it out.
>It’s telling you how far away things are.
>>27322766
>Directly above is an altimeter, not that you need it.
>And looking out at the dome, you see some of the panels have turned green, and others bright red.
>You nudge the goggles aside and peek under them.
>Those panels lose their colouration.
“Unlike Luna, we’re not going to lose contact with you. Says here that the goggles can be controlled to change what they show you. It’s going to guide you through a safe flight path.”
>You turn to look at Twilight.
>A label appears below her.
>’Crazy pony’
>You turn and look at the balls.
>’Lightweight explosives.’
>”We don’t have enough time to take control of everything, so you’re going to help smash the rest. There are four bombs there, and you’ve got four targets that should be safe to approach. Fly up to the cannons that are poking out of the dome, throw those into the gaps they use to aim, and STAY LOW.”
>You jump slightly.
>You can HEAR Twilight.
>Right next to you.
>Didn’t expect that.
>”The ear clips. They’re transmitting my voice. Somehow.”
“So I get voices in my head and some goggles? No cool armor like Luna got?”
>”Do you want to fly while wearing something that heavy?”
>No.
>You do not.
>You grab your saddlebags.
>You throw the bombs in.
>They really ARE light.
>If you painted them white, you could probably pass them off as baseballs.
>How big of a blast could they make?
>You take flight, and immediately bright red flashing letters appear before your eyes.
[DECREASE ALTITUDE IMMEDIATELY]
>One of the tall cannons below gets highlighted in yellow.
>’Firing in 1.6 seconds’
>You think you might have seen it start tilting down towards you.
>But you don’t want long enough to be sure.
>You pull in your wings and drop like a stone.
>Seconds before crashing, you extend them and hold them against the strong winds, shooting yourself forward.
>As the green pathway below you quickly slips by, Twilight’s voice returns.
>>27322783
>“Stay low! Those cannons poking out top are strong enough to destroy METEORS. You don’t want to get hit.”
“Crazy ape. Why would it need to blow up meteors?”
>”Because Luna rained them down on it.”
>WHAT.
>Twilight can hear you?
“How can you hear me?”
>”Something built into the goggles. Not sure why I don’t just hear the wind.”
“So… meteorites? I didn’t know she could do that.”
>”No kidding. Princess Celestia and Luna can be really scary when they want to be. Shiney more or less had me convinced that they could hardly fight at all, and in some ways he’s right. They hold themselves back most of the time. Sure, they’re still exceptionally powerful then, but get a few good battlemages out there and they’ll struggle. But when they let loose…”
“Luna scares herself and knocks off her own horn?”
>”Yeah, but before that. You don’t want to force their hoof.”
“So, I kinda get why I’m safe out here? Apparently the weapons that should be blowing me apart are being controlled by the good guys, and the other ones are either being blocked by the walls or too tall to aim at me. But why not just send the machines to do this?”
>”We’re still trying to surprise them. Luna’s quite insistent that the Titan can dig through the ape’s memories, and it remembers us trying to break its stuff. If a pony is responsible it won’t seem unusual. If a machine is responsible, it’ll be obvious that something is taking things over.”
“Won’t it remember making the thing that we’re working with?”
>”Maybe eventually. Think of it like a giant library.”
“Of course you’d bring up books.”
>>27322800
>”You have access to all this information, and let’s even say you have an index so it’s easy to look things up, but you don’t know off the top of your head what’s in there. If you think to look something up you can find it easy enough, but even if you spent weeks in there, if I walked up to you and asked what the thaumatic potential of a charged cassiterite stone in an arcane field of a given strength?”
“I’d have no idea what you’re talking about. Gotcha.”
>”We’re banking an awful lot on the Titan not understanding what it finds. Hopefully all these things are too alien to it to make any sense.”
>You continue to cruise past the sleek metallic dome, the green band below you growing progressively more narrow.
>You look to your destination as you pick up speed.
>’96.8 KM’
“How big IS this thing?”
>”Big. It nearly covers the entire badlands. Almost five hundred kilometers in diameter.”
“Well how in the hay is Luna supposed to finish in…”
>’T-36212 seconds’
“In however long we have left?”
>”She can’t. We’re not taking everything down, just the most important parts. Nearly everything in there has backups but there’s only one digsite. There are a few other things that don’t have spares, but I don’t really get what they’re… what’s that Spike? Oh. Some things take too much space to put everywhere. We’re just trying to get our hooves on the really important stuff.”
[DECREASE ALTITUDE IMMEDIATELY]
>You see the tip of a cannon off in the distance highlighted in yellow.
>You drop further, and the dome climbs higher.
>Before long you’re forced to touch down.
>The green path takes a sharp turn to the right, much to your confusion.
>You look around.
>Cannons highlighted in yellow BEHIND walls.
>>27322813
“I think this thing’s broke. It’s warning me about things even though their shot is blocked.”
>”Relaying that message… Oh. Oh wow. Okay, so projectiles don’t travel in a straight line. They arc. These things are smart enough to use that, shooting almost straight up and having the shot fall on you.”
“Wouldn’t that take a really long time? Like, what if I move?”
>”They can shoot bombs, Rainbow. BIG ones. They don’t need to hit, they really don’t even need to be close.”
>Walking along the gentle slope, you finally come to an opening.
>The massive barrel of one of the meteorite cannons sticks out of the top, a large gap around it allowing for the barrel to move.
>A big red ring surrounds the gap, you can’t get close enough to peek in much to your chagrin.
>You pick up one of the small bombs, and hurl it into the hole.
>Nothing happens.
“It’s a dud.”
>”Ponies don’t have that kind of explosive, we’ll be figured out when they go off. They’ll detonate later once all our cards are on the table.”
>With that anticlimax, you proceed to the next dig site.
That’s it. Paste updated at http://pastebin.com/430ryWVh
It is at this point that Writefag realized he hadn’t really given a sense of scale in a while. I’d already finished writing this before noticing and had to wedge it in. Hopefully it wasn’t too clumsy.
>>27322833
Fantastic as always, and yes, split the pastebin.
>>27311111
>those digits
Ride eternal, Brother- shiny and chrome!
>>27307732
You better make the autobahn
Bump for drawfaggotry
What ever happened to that green about Anon bringing Earth culture to Equestria? That one had potential.
>>27296518
I heard from a few recent kids shows the last step is to share your findings. This confused me.
>>27326525
Why? A result isn't useful to the wider scientific community if no one knows what that result is
>>27325144
here droid, took a lil creative liberty.
if there's too much of an issue here, feel free to call me out on my bullshit and ill do something more along the lines of muh tsar anon.
>>27326693
That;s actually a lot better than some of the things I was thinking of, great job!
>>27327854
if i have the time later, i'll do a bit of a cleaner one.
>>27328217
I was thinking something a little more inspired by the 40k commissar like the other Anon said, but this is good too. Really appreciate it.
>>27281665
>You're Anonymous
>You're in your office the capital building of this city, Byullenstan
>The origin of that name is quite the tale itself
>Something about taking it from yaks?
>You can't quite remember it clearly
>Looking down to the majestic city, you see foreigners and your citizens mixed into the crowds, exploring the city to their hearts' contents
>You turn away from the window to be greeted with droids walking to and fro, frantically working on last minute touches to your presentation
>Your ship is going to be amazing
>How will everybody react though?
>Surely more than a couple of them would be afraid of what looks like a floating city to them
>Your droids should be able to handle it
>Other than that though, there seems like nothing can go wrong
>Only, one problem
>You need a name for it
>Something that invokes power, and shows that you're no joking matter
>You wouldn't want to fly in a ship named something like 'Grievous did Nothing Wrong', would you?
>A door springs open on the other side of the room, and FI enters
>Your advisor wastes no time, approaching you quickly
>"General, we need to speak for a moment. Follow me, please."
"What's wrong, FI? Did something happen?"
>"This way, sir. It's urgent."
>FI leads you to the elevator, and hits the button for the bottom floor
>"Sir, something's been troubling me lately. I know that I'm a droid, and cannot process true emotions, but I can't help but feel like the being named Discord is up to something. Why would he do so much for you so quickly, and ask nothing in return?"
"Well, I could say the same for you, FI. Remember Canterlot? When you came with our first HMP droids and a new ship? And everything else you've done?"
>>27330766
>"That's different sir, I'm a droid. I'm programmed to serve. Your new accomplice, however, is not. Meatbags have tendencies to show greed, and a lust for power, and he seems no different. I'm calculating a 87.6% chance of deceit. I suggest you watch for anything suspicious General."
>He has a point
>Discord HAS been acting odd lately
>FI has never failed you before, why not listen to him now?
"I understand, FI. I'll keep an eye out."
>"Thank you, sir. Now, onto another topic. Our big moment is in merely two hours, and the city patrols have reported that the visitors seem anxious. What will you do to make the most out of this?"
"I thought you were my advisor, not a journalist!"
>"I'm sorry, sir. This is a big thing for the confederacy, and I don't want it to merely be wasted potential. I'll do my best to keep the questions at a minimum."
"Alright, seems fair. We just need to shock them, make them shake where they stand. The image of a floating behemoth should be more than enough to sway them, but we need more than that. What do you think we should name it? I haven't been able to think of anything good besides maybe the Odyssey, or maybe the Columbia."
>"How about the Challenger, sir? It could be a testament to our cause to stand up to this foreign Empire, to show that we could stand a chance against a more powerful enemy."
>The Challenger?
>That has some surprising weight to it
>Perfect
"FI, that's perfect! Not only does it sound intimidating, but the meaning behind it fits exactly with what we are!"
>"I serve to impress, sir."
"Hmph, that you do ,FI."
>The elevator stops, and the doors open
>>27330773
Smaller update, but I've been burned out lately.
>>27330785
You're one based guy, Droid Anon. Don't ever change.
>>27330785
I always feared you would get burned out
>>27331505
I'm just trying to figure out what I could do to move the plot forward, and how to not write it like a high-school student.
Legitimate spoiler belowI'm also trying to record some footage for some incoming space battles that will happen further in the story.
>>27330785
not Boaty McBoatface....
>>27331944
Only two people said anything about boaty mcboatface, and besides, I think Challenger fits his story better anyway.
>>27331956
so the ship is going to explode shortly after launch?
>>27331976
You can count on it Anon!
>>27332098
https://youtu.be/6udk1B0iSCk
>>27332098
one of my idea's of a good time is doing a short story green to get my creative juices going, and i see a possibility for a non canon bit with the challenger being destroyed via a space battle. very dramatic, very engrossing, very easy to write, go ahead, try it. it's probably going to help you alot
these gets tho.
>>27332148shit, i don't think i can post that, nobody report me, okay?
>>27332152
Reported :^)
More spoilers, read at your own will.I might do it in the main story, or i might do it in a one shot. The challenger is gonna get kaboom'ed, and it most certainly will be dramatic. It'll be near the end though, when the men in white show up.
>>27332152
Er... ignore what I said in the spoiler, I read your post wrong. Would be interesting to see how you'd play it out.
>>27332148
Fucken saved! That was funny.
>>27332289
wait, you wan't me to write a green where the challenger gets shredded?you already know what im going to say before you even look at thisof course i would.
>>27332384
Non-canon of courseDo it however you want, surprise me. Doesn't have to be imperial mary-sues
:^)
>>27332384
>>27332397
Can you two drop the trips when not delivering?
ktksbump
>>27332682
F-fine.I feel... naked. Anonymous, but naked.
>>27332945
damn droid im doing everything for you.
but god damn am i enjoying the hell out of it.
>>27333765
Never said you had to, but I appreciate it greatly.
I'll gladly return the favor.
>>27333765
>"Commander!"
>you were pinged, and that woke you from your daydream.
>That time it was IT-76, you're left front Ion MAC gun droid.
>you push the pad and reveal his head.
"go ahead, IT."
>before it says anything you're lucid of what's happening.
>its shown up on the hologram, and you noticed that immediately
>"Thirteen I-Class Star destroyers accompanied by one Super star destroyer."
>he pauses for a moment.
>"orders, sir."
"it’s the 501st, it has to be. That's vader's ship."
>you say that as you point to a zoomed shot of the Super star destroyer.
>you open up your comms.
"alright, droids, we've flown right into an enemy blockade, not just any, CIS. We're knee deep in the fist of vader."
>there's no morale change…. They have no emotions, afterall.
>you've got not more than two capitol ships, one of them, the challenger, you are heading currently.
>the other one, the Trixie, is entirely automaton.
>it has three MAC guns, it is a regular CIS capitol ship. Yours, however, is built entirely to bust other ships.
>the Falchion Class you call it. It has 72 MAC guns capable of firing 60 rounds before depleting.
>you were able to do it when celestia helped design a new round, made from magic, instead of plasma, is three times more powerful, and half the cost.
>but, you don't have the armor those destroyers have.
"we need all 72 MACs firing, burn their imperial hides, turn the sky green with the heir of your dark magic!"
>and with that, you close the comms.
>>27334165
"alright, droids, we've flown right into an enemy blockade, not just any, CIS. We're knee deep in the fist of vader."
>there's no morale change…. They have no emotions, afterall.
>you've got not more than two capitol ships, one of them, the challenger, you are heading currently.
>the other one, the Trixie, is entirely automaton.
>it has three MAC guns, it is a regular CIS capitol ship. Yours, however, is built entirely to bust other ships.
>the Falchion Class you call it. It has 72 MAC guns capable of firing 60 rounds before depleting.
>you were able to do it when celestia helped design a new round, made from magic, instead of plasma, is three times more powerful, and half the cost.
>but, you don't have the armor those destroyers have.
"we need all 72 MACs firing, burn their imperial hides, turn the sky green with the heir of your dark magic!"
>and with that, you close the comms.
>"sir! Starbort si-"
BOOM
>that's a mac, probably from the SSD. That main gun is no joke.
"Where we at, SI-22 whats the damage?!"
>"large hole, sir, two hundred meters wide- four guns down!"
"transfer auxiliary magic bat-"
>"already done, sir."
"How many of tho-"
>"nine, sir, a projected 3 more destroyed before the armor gives in."
"twelve ships per one falchion? Holy crap, I'm making more of the-" BOOM!
>"another blast, sir, we've lost all power on the starboard side"
>we can't take more of this.
>"SI, get an armored pod ready, aim it at the SSD."
>SI turns to his counterpart, the shipboard AI codenamed "Pinecone"
>she turns to you.
>"sir, believe me, just, aim the pod at vaders ship. I you have a projected 73% chance of making it onboard, afterwards, what you do is all you."
BOOM!
>we have no time.
>>27334243
"im with pinecone. Get a pod ready."
>you turn to your royal guards.
"BG-2, get my saber. Make it an orange crystal."
>you look towards one of your door guards.
"blaster."
>and with that, you force pull his blaster to your hands
>you take off towards the pod.
>in a matter of moments, it seems, your shot out like a cannon, going half the speed of light.
>you watch trixie as she's destroyed by the last two star destroyers left standing.
>it wasn't in vain, in a last ditch effort by the on-board AI, codenamed Luna flew whats left of the Trixie into one of the star destroyers.
>it was too much for the reactor, and you see both of them explode into rocking nuclear fire.
>that slightly knocked you off course, making you hit the bridge instead of the outside door.
>so much for steal-
BOOM
>okay. Now.
"who's first?"
>the bridge decompresses for a moment, then a shield turns on and fresh oxygen is blasted in.
>everyone is slightly jostled, sans you, whom is able to keep a foothold.
>it was like shooting fish in a barrel, and the storm troopers ability to aim helped a lot in that.
>all that's left is vader.
>vader.
>where's the bastard?
>uh oh.
"son of a-"
BOOOM!
What happened then was unforeseeable, vader was never on the ship, and, as a precaution, all imperial capitol super star destroyers are set to explode if all the life signs on the bridge commanders died.
So, here you are, game over.
Well
"shit"might make a confrontation with vader should i do another non-canon bit, but i'm saving that for another day.
>>27334256
That's pretty good, I like how you did that.
I'll be writing more when I can.
>You step out of your command pod and onto the uneven ground on which it had landed.
>The re-entry was pretty rough, and you don't think that the ponies were expecting something so jarring.
>Frankly, you're just happy that the parachute didn't fail.
>"Ah-ah-ah-anon?"
>Twilight tries to climb out of the pod but she just sort of flops down onto the ground.
>"Is-is-is... oh Celestia.... Is... normal?"
>Is she asking is that sort of landing is normal?
>You sure hope so; because that's the question you're going to answer.
"Just about, Twi. We WERE falling from several hundred kilometres above the ground and travelling fast enough to nearly RUIN my heat shielding."
>You resist the urge to run your gloved hand fondly over the surface of the ablative heat shield.
>You learned that lesson after your SECOND case of third-degree burns, thank you.
>You turn around when you hear a retching sound and catch Rainbow Dash, head sticking out of the pod door, being violently ill all over the side of your re-entry craft.
"Fucking hell, Rainbow! I told you: no eating before we left!"
>>"I didn't think... hah... that it would be... so fast... urh... wh-aabluruURRAHAHHAA"
>No no NO GET OUT OF THERE RAINBOW DASH
"Don't go back in!"
>FUCK
>Do you have any idea how long it'll take to get the smell of pony-vomit out of the interior of your command pod?
>This is the LAST time you take any pony other than the Princesses up with you to your space station.
>>27336486
Continue ?
>>27336486
Needs more battle droids
>>27336955How can I say no when your pic is such a delightful offering?Bear in mind, I'm basing all my knowledge of space travel on the dozens and dozens of hours I've spent playing Kerbal Space Program.
>"Fair A-Anonymous, art thou sure that this is safe?"
>Luna scuffs her hooves as best she can while being strapped onto the passenger (aka co-pilot) seat.
"Absolutely not, but it's worth a shot."
>"Wh-"
"COUNTDOWN FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONE LIFT-OFF"
>"N-no, wait! I want to get off!"
"It's too late for that, Princess."
>The entire rocket begins to shake as the solid rocket boosters strain against the launch towers.
"It's always been too late."
>You hammer button that activates the next stage of your rocket: liquid fuel and the release clamp that had been chaining you to Equestria.
>Luna shrieks as the sudden increase in G's press the two of you against your seats and you go higher and higher.
>>27337096
"Fifty metres per second...."
>You throttle up to 75%, careful not to put too much strain on your craft.
>Lord knows the solid fuel rockets will tear you apart if you go too fast in too thick an atmosphere.
>Backwards re-entry is NOT something you want to deal with again.
"One-hundred metres per second..."
>"Anonymous! How did we let thou talketh us into this?!"
>Honestly, you don't know.
"I figured you'd be pretty hesitant to go back into space, really."
>You turn your attention back to the spinning dials.
"Two-hundred metres per second..."
>Your boosters are nearly out of fuel. It's about time to jettison them.
"Aaaannd.... Now! I hope nopony lives directly below us, Luna!"
>"What."
>You slam your fist into the "next stage" button and brace yourself for the sickening -jerk- as the spent boosters fall away.
>"Anonymous! Thou hast doomed innocent ponies! Thou shalt be pun-"
>You gently pat her muzzle to quiet her.
"Look out the window, Princess."
>She does so with a parting glare, and then visibly sags in relief when she spots parachutes gently guiding the boosters down to the ground.
>Shit's expensive, yo.
"Throttle up to 100%. We are currently at... Three-hundred-fifty metres per second at approximately forty-five kilometres above the surface of Equestria."
>You gesture with one hand outside of the craft.
"Drink it in, Princess."More later; going shopping for some shit right now
>>27337108
>tfw another Anon gets Luna into space via ship before you doIt's still gonna happen in my story though.I know, drop the trip, I'm just letting this one slip. Working on next dump.
>>27337283
Maybe, but you're doing it with style.It's all good. I'm a fan of your story, btw, and I'm looking forward to more from you.
>>27337108
>Once you've reached 54,000 metres above the surface of the planet, you turn off your engines and decrease your thrusters down to 0%.
"And now, we play the waiting game."
>You turn to Luna, who is visibly shaking.
"The most dangerous game of all."
>"Wh-why did th-thou stop? Art we... art we in space yet?"
>You know, for somepony who'd been banished to the moon, Luna knows remarkably little about how to space.
"Not yet, Princess. Right now my computer is telling me that our apoapsis is just a hair over seventy-five kilometres."
>You tap the computer screen to encourage Luna to look at the visualization that's being displayed.
"But right now, we're going too slow to be in orbit. We'll reach seventy-five kilometres and then we'll begin to slow down. After that, we'll fall right back down to the ground going about eight-hundred metres per second."
>Luna's gaze doesn't shift from the little animation of a pixel-ship rising up (following a bright-blue line) to 75km and then falling back down onto the surface of the planet.
>The little explosion animation at the end probably wasn't the best idea for you to include.
>Oh, dear, she's shaking again.
>>27337622
"Which is why!"
>Your shout causes Luna to jump and, more importantly, make her too busy glaring hatefully at you to focus on panicking.
"Which is why once we hit our highest point, the apoapsis, we'll turn the thrusters back on and make ourselves go faster. Around two kilometres per second sounds about right."
>You press a few more buttons and a new animation starts playing.
>It's the same one as before, only the little pixel ship gets a two-frame animation of fire behind it where its thrusters are.
>The blue line it's been following stretches out in both directions until its shape follows the curvature of the planet.
"Being in orbit is falling, Princess. But the thing is, our goal is to fall SO FAST that our lateral movement is great enough that the path of our falling is the same shape as the planet we're orbiting."
>"We... but if we goeth faster, wouldn't that mean that we shalt hit the ground harder?"
"No, Luna. You need to start thinkingwith portalsin three dimensions.
>The animation zooms out to show the pixel ship circling the planet over and over.
"We'll be falling SO FAST that we'll miss the ground."
>Luna blinks in confusion and looks back and forth between you and the screen.
>You're pretty sure she gets it.
"That's why it feels like we're floating right now, Princess. We're in free-fall, only we won't hit the ground unless we slow this craft down first."
>BEEP BEEP BEEP
>Luna shrieks and clutches her chest with her strange horse-hoof.
>Your ship is notifying you that you're approaching your highest point.
"Get ready, Luna! I'm about to turn the thrusters back on."
>You grip your control interface (aka two control sticks) and get ready to flip the switch to make this fucker fly.
"This is going to be the point where I get us into a stable orbit."
>"W-wait! We understand what thou art doing, but we still wish to go back down! We miss our country and our comfortable cushions!"
>>27337622
EXPLAIN THESE, YOU REPUBLIC SYMPATHIZER
>>27337630
"Luna, do you have any idea how expensive it is to produce rocket fuel?"
>Sniffling, she turns to you.
>"H-how exp-"
"Too expensive!"
>And with that you turn your engines back on and throttle up to 100%.
>The increase in G's pushes you against your seat once more and you grin like a maniac.
>Luna isn't taking it as well as you are.
>She somehow manages to escape her seatbelt and decided that your lap was the place to be.
>Luckily for you, her mane is ethereal and you can still see your controls even though you have a horse burying its muzzle in your neck.
>"S-sister, save us! Send it to the moon!"
"I can do that too, you know."
>Terrified sobbing is your only response.
>Celestia promised not to banish you on the condition that you take her up to space next time.
>>27337632
There is no "Republic" on Kerbin, sir. Only our country's Space Program.
Here's a link to this short story's pastebin if y'all want to check it and maybe some other stuff out
http://pastebin.com/K30Mugfd
>>27337636
10/10 would traumatize moonhorse again.
>>27337676
Space travel terrifying Luna is the greatest of ironies. Glad you enjoyed it, friend.
>>27337636
i want to see more
Hi guys, just a quick update in case anyone was wondering. I'm writing the story during my daily commute, and working on something different but related while I'm at home. There'll be an update at the weekend for sure. I'm still lurking in the thread, and I'll let you guys know if that changes and I put this on hold again for a while.
page 7 bump
Bumping with glorious capital ship
>>27330773
>One hour and thirty minutes later
>"So you're saying that you won some competition to become lord of the dragons? Yeah... not buying it. I mean, you're only a baby !"
>"But it's true! Honest!"
>You're Twilight
>You've been enjoying the city so far
>The sights have been nice, and the scenery beautiful
>This is surprising for the Badlands
>However, Spike began to retell his story of the Gauntlet of Fire
>Rainbow doesn't believe him
>These two have been berating each other like this for the last twenty minutes, and honestly
>They're starting to get on your nerves
"Well, take a look around, Dash. A ling time ago, I said things like this were merely works of fiction."
>You point to one of the nearby vehicles
>"Y-yeah, so?"
"But look at what's happened! I was wrong, yet I thought that I was right because I hadn't seen it before! While it's alright to take something that might seem ridiculous like a joke, at least consider it for a moment. It could help you out, ya know!"
>Rainbow rolls her eyes
>"Pssh, I'm not here for a life lesson Twilight, I want to see this thing they're unveiling! And besides, do you actually believe this is true?"
>>27341624
For once, I actually forgot my name. Odd.
>Rarity butts in
>"She was there, Rainbow. If I were you, I'd spend less time dealing with these petty arguments, and more time taking in the grandeur of this place! The architects behind this did an absolutely amazing job!"
>"C'mon Rarity, now all of a sudden you're involved too? Might as well tell me the part about the part where Daring Do shows up!"
>Rarity steps back for a moment, before retorting
>"Why, of all the ponies to act so rudely! Especially in public!"
>This is all starting to hurt your head
>"Enough is enough! All o' you need to calm down! Ah don't know what the hay has gotten into all of you, but you're draggin' attention and actin' like hooligans!"
>"B-but-!"
>"No buts, Rainbow. Y'all just need to keep quiet now, you hear? We've got twenty minutes until this show, and I don't want it spoiled 'cus the three of ya don't want to simmer down."
>The rest of them remain silent
>"Now, we done here? I'd like to see this shop over yonder before we run out of time."
>The ponies and dragon nod their head in reply
>"Good. Now let's go."
>The eight of you resume your trek, only to be interrupted by a flash of light
>You turn towards the source of it, and a small smile starts to creep onto your face
Something to bump the thread, hopefully more tomorrow.
>>27341722
>>27341746
>>27341745
Is this supposed to be spam?
>>27341722
>>27341745
>>27341746
>>27341754
I don't get it.>>27341764
So is a piece of shit, go to the art thread for this garbage and keep you spam to yourself.
>>27341779
hide and report it you fag.
>>27341826
Don't look at me like that, orangeman. It's for the best. I don't like it and you don't like it, but it has to be done.
>>27341830
Sup /b/. How're things going on in there?
>>27341649
>>27341649
not only did you adopt my format for a slide, you also forgot your name for a slide.
my sides are in orbit.
>>27341845
the greatest of ironies
>>27341870
Shit, sorry to hear that. What's with the orange-pear guy btw? I haven't seen it before now.
>>27341910
Saved.
>>27341916
Eat a dick.
>>27341916
Cool. If I asked you nicely, do you think you could throw a few orange-pear guys over at Marital Difficulties? Those guys are total fucking cucks and they deserve it.
>>27341932
this.
>>27341932
Seconded
>>27341932
Or go to one of the shit CYOAs or slave pony general or something. Those sons of bitches deserve it.
>>27341954
Slave general did nothing wrong, though if you see a guy named Ekans ruin his day.
>>27341950
awesome. i love it when /mlb/ happens.
the best part is that we all go to /b/ too.
>>27341950
Post this pic over at Marital Difficulties. This is them - this is what they represent.
C'mon, /b/, quit fuckin' around and get back to work.
>>27341978
Shut the fuck up, Good Time.
>>27341990
what happens if i decide to shitpost too? you wouldn't report one of your writefags, would you?
>>27342012
>Shad
>>27342004
...........
N-no, of course.... of course not.
>>27342012
>Anus crippled
This triggers my autism
hey /b/, as long as you post good shit, i'm sure nobody ITT would report you, so- keep it up.
looks like the spam is over
>>27342734
Not really spam, /b/ is getting shittier and shittier with their 'raids'
>>27342911
Anyone else remember when /b/ used to actually generate lulz?
>>27343069
no. anything good?
>>27341649
Good job
>>27344127
bump
>>27344842
I see you have enough arms for a hostile take over of a air port, hows it hanging /k/ommando?
bump for more ponies in space
>>27345333
Trips demand it Droid
>>27346218
droid or the kerbal asshole I'm happy with either
>>27346999
>>27346999
>>27346211
>>27345333
I can't hold against the power of these gets, starting work on it now.
>>27347176
http://imgur.com/1ah9XBg
Happy to help, Droid.
page 7 bump
>>27341649
>Looking into the sky, you see a multitude of royal chariots descending to the ground
>The locals don't seem to be as enthusiastic as you are
>"Who is that? And aren't the foreigners supposed to land in the city port?"
>"Yeah, who do they think they are?"
>You know exactly who this is
>Why did she choose to make an entrance like this though?
>The chariots land in the middle of the square, and a group starts to form around them
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5WT_Zq3oY0 (Start at 9:50, end at 10:43)
>A squad of guardsponies exit the first chariot, followed by Celestia herself
>"Is that...?"
>"I think it is! If she's here, then whatever's happening today must be important!"
>"Well duh, the government invited political leaders from all over Equus! Of course it's important!"
>The other chariots begin to unload, Equestrian official piling out of them
>When the guards notice the commotion, they begin to form a perimeter around their princess
>Upon seeing you, she calls you over
>"Twilight, over here!"
"Coming princess! Follow me girls."
>You and your friends make your way through the crowd, and eventually arrive beside Celestia
>>27349056
"Hi princess!"
>"Hello Twilight, and greetings, element bearers. Before we get to doing anything, I need to tell you something. When I returned to Canterlot, I made quite a shocking discovery. Apparently, just minutes after we left, Luna just disappeared out of thin air. The medical staff had no idea what to do, and merely waited for me to come back."
>You and your friends gasp at the news
"W-what!? There's no possible way! Only magical beings can teleport others, and even then, teleportation is an advanced spell! Who could have done this?"
>"That's what I fear Twilight. While I still hold my suspicions of the human, he obviously wasn't the one who took her. We'll just need to keep following that wicked riddle, and hope that we get her back."
"Of course, I almost forgot about that! While I may have mixed feelings about this, don't think I'll turn my back on you princess. All of us will be by your side!"
>She smiles at this, and giggles
>"Good, I appreciate your help. Now, I believe that your brother should be arriving soon. Let's hope he isn't late."
>As if on cue, another pair of chariots appear in the sky
>They look different from Equestrian models, studded in beautiful gems and crystals
>By now the guards have managed to get the crowd to disperse, leaving you all to your duties
>The imperial chariots touch the ground, in a similar fashion as the previous ones
>Just as before, crystal guards exit first, before Cadence and Shining leave their seats
>The two trot over to you quickly, followed by their guards
>"Twily! How are you?"
>You hug your brother while Cadence greets the others
>You can't help but laugh for some reason
Have a random image with this one
>>27349220
"I'm fine Shining, how has the baby been?"
>"Flurry? Well, while she's toned the magic down a notch, believe me when I say that it's still been stressful."
"It could certainly be worse, have you forgotten about the heart?"
>"How could I forget? That could have been such a catastrophe!"
>You sigh
"It's great to see you again Shining. Now, this event is going to be start-"
>You're interrupted when a giant blue figure appears on a nearby pad of sorts
>It appears to be Anonymous!
>"What's this?"
>"I don't know, listen!"
>"Fine, fine, don't have to get like that."
>"Greetings, citizens of the Confederacy, and to all of our guests today. As you know, the Confederate Government is hosting a grand event, one that will shake the very planet! Due to complications within our systems, this will be pushed forward, and will start in exactly five minutes. I advise everyone make their way to the Grand Stage on the edge of the city before we begin. That is all."
>The image fizzles out in a way
>"What in Tartarus was that?"
>Celestia responds to the crystal princess sharply
>"I have no idea, Cadence. Maybe we should do as he says, and head to this stage he speaks of. I must say though, the look of this place doesn't seem to be the most inviting. At least for me."
>"But what if we don't make it on time? Looking at this map, we're on the other side of the city!"
>Celestia smiles at Cadence, and lights her horn before she realizes her mistake
>In a flash, everypony is now standing at the edge of a very large crowd
Das it for now, ship coming tomorrow.
>>27349229
I'm totally not hyped right now
Nope
Completely cool
>>27349229
Oh shit boys here we go
>>27350198
'ere we go boyz.
