Miracle CYOA

>>29693911
Last time we're Applejack and now I have no idea who we are. We're not knife Ludwig because she mentioned the knife talking to people twice, we're not the skull because she mentioned the skull didn't answer, and we're not pony Ludwig because she's with Applejack. The thing in the picture looks like a robot so I guess it could be Sabrina. Doesn't look anything like her the last time we saw her, though, and I don't think she has an "other me".

Okay, I give up. Go talk to Twilight and the "other me" I guess. Find out what's going on.

>>29693948
The skull.

>>29693954
Oh. I was confused by "What do you think, skull of mine?"

Bump.

I'll be honest. I don't really know how to play the skull. It's insane. I still say we go see what they are talking about, though, since I can't think of anything else. I know what AJ and the gang were trying to do. No idea what the skull's goals are.

>>29693948 >>29694550
I kick my skull closer to them to hear what they are talking about, trying to do it with at least a modicum of quietness. I wouldn't be opposed to giving purply a scare.
"You have failed thoroughly on your part of the deal." Purply sounds pissed at my other me, so I stay in the dark in case I may have to intervene. Not a good idea to fight in this rickety old tower.
"You are one to tell. Could you have killed the child by now?"
Purply doesn't answer at first, the only answer I need. How can a single mare be such a bitch? One that's not the knife of course.
"Could you have stopped AJ from going higher?" She asks finally.
"Not without killing her friend."
Purply's eye twitches, and she tries to stand upright but has to lean again on the wall. Is she wearing a disguise? In my home? That's so goddamn impolite... oh, that wing doesn't look well at all. Barely attached to her body, if my glances under her illusion are correct.
"I told you I need her alive." Purply doesn't sound all too glad about the fact.
"You have, yes. And she's still a nearly ideal vessel." My other me's blade vibrates with a mixture of emotions even I have problems reading. "One your escapades have heavily damaged by now, too. At this rate the only one I can wear here will be the earth pony."
"If you touch her..."
"If I wore her I wouldn't have to worry about you." Says my other me plainly, moonlight glinting on her blade.
Wait.
I look up to the sky in near panic, noticing the moon- not a white shapeless smudge, but an actual, well defined moon.
Oh pits.
Oh pits oh pits oh pits oh pits.
Luna can't see us like this! We are freaks! Freaks I say!
Purply seems to notice it too, her eyes lost on the moon for a moment. "Is she here?"
"How would I know?" Answers my other me immediately.
1/2

"Its your tower." Answers Purply just as fast.
I extend my senses deep into the brickwork of the tower and the euphoric, if dying, ever present song of the mycelium, querying the structural systems it uses to know when it needs to repair itself.
And just there. passing from the more ephemeral areas and coagulating into physical mass as she climbs down...
Luna, flying down at breakneck speeds, covering ephemeral the distances of Oneiros faster than anyone else could.
I'd recognize the elegant efficiency of her spells anywhere, even if I've never seen them closely.
"If you try to hurt her," Warns my other me even when my distress has barely reached its peak. "Our truce is over."
"If she stands in my way, I take care of her." States Purply mater-of-factly, forcing the spells that should regenerate her to, at least, pull her wing into a working status.
Several seconds pass, her breathing growing ragged as bone is forced into place and muscle slides into place, and all I can feel is my other's me searing emotions bleeding into mine-- a familiar, quiet murderous intent.

2/2

I really don't know what to do here. Should we step in and add our opinion? I'm still not even sure what the skull wants.

>>29695531
Alright, I genuinely thought enough of the skull was transpiring through her dialogue.
Right now, and I didn't have the place to say it before, the five or so posts that include the voice are decanonized-- It's been little enough that it won't be of much consequence to the players and it was, honestly, very baddly played off to the players (Albeit that's admittedly, to an extent, because the players missed things that would've given them context) and jarryingly sudden.
So let's do this now: You can go back to AJ waking up, get Twilight's PoV, or continue with this one. Your choice.

>>29696521
AJ please. I could try Twilight too but I don't know what bargain she's talking about.

>>29696538
Snores...
I open my eyes, fully prepared to see an unknown ceiling.
No ceiling, only canopy. Is this bad? What if...
"Nanda?" I call, but there's no response."Winston. Leaf?"
There's no answer.
I stand to have a look around, feeling lightheaded... Mirria. She's Mirria. I am not traveling anymore. I am in the tower now.
Memories flood in quickly. Twilight. Ludwig, all three of them. Sarim, the closest thing to a spawn of the tower that's not twisted beyond any sort of sanity. Twilight. Heaviness floods me.
Mirria moves ever so slightly on her sleep,
There's more important things to worry about right now. I move the cover that someone put over us while we slept so that she won't be cold, trying to ignore the bandages around her wingsockets.
My hindlegs aren't well off either. The ache is noticeable, and the bandages make moving uncomfortable. Good enough to walk, though, as I am quick to test.
And to nearly misstep on the purple metal lump. It's quick to rearrange itself-- the plates floating and shifting to form a simile of a face.
"Warning:" It starts talking immediately. "All long range communication systems removed. Warning: Central batteries not found, estimate of six hours until depletion of emergency cells. Warning: Heavy tries to hijack all systems. Warning: Emergency situation registered on last boot: Administrator Twilight was revoked all credentials by Administrator Spike. Administrator Spike not found. Please, assign new Administrator."
Near it I see a small note, written in the annoyingly small characters I've come to fully expect from unicorn writing:
>Ludwig said she removed the radios so that Twilight couldn't track this down, and the thing wouldn't recognize me for some reason like it did for you.
>-Rarity.

>>29696957
Promote user Applejack to Administrator Applejack.

>>29696957
Tell them to put the batteries back into it. The radios I can understand but it's no use to us dead.

>>29697056 >>29697066
"What happened to your batteries?"
"They were made unstable during Administrator Twilight Sparkle's mass-radiation strategic strike. Their removal by the unidentified hijacker was ultimately approved by the local system."
I sigh, nodding. "Can you promote me?"
"Confirming request: User Applejack desires to be promoted to Administrator Applekack?"
"Yes."
"Acknowledged. Please stand by... local system does not find any basis to deny the request. Remote systems could not be contacted for query nor confirmation of it. Mainframe requires to be informed if the raised credentials are to be approved system-wide. Direct confirmation of identity will be required by mainframe."

>>29697216
Okay, we can manage that. We go talk to Ludwig and get her to reinstall the batteries and the radios but rig them up so they only transmit instead of receive. It informs the mainframe and we get to be administrator.

>>29697216
Ask it to tell us everything that happened with twilight and spike once we're authorized to know it

>>29697216
Mirria needs to sleep and we have a robot to fix. Find Ludwig.

>>29697303
>>29697312 >>29697474
I grab the head and, after some initial hesitation, throw it over my hips- noticing that my bags aren't there too.
"Sarim." I call, expecting the usual sound of earth shuffling just outside my field of vision.
Instead there's quiet whispering between the trees before a black shape hops down in front of me, his eyes sharp, "Yes?"
"A cat?" I ask, mildly surprised.
"Yes." He says simply, as willing to offer an explanation for this shape as he was for the crab. "You wanted to find my sister?" I nod. "Follow me, then."
It's not long before we reach Ludwig, tapping her hoof against a small tea table in boredom.
"Lud," I grab the head and leave it in the table in front of her. "I need you to fix the radios."
"You did read the note, didn't you?" She doesn't seem too pleased with me.
"Yes, and I need this thing to be able to at least send a message." I keep my eyes nailed on her.
"You send a message in here, and they find where it came from." She doesn't lower her gaze.
"I--"
"Look," Her hoof taps against the table harder this time, "I had to push Mirria's wing back into its socket after you stood there and believe me I hate doing anything that close to the column. And do you know how much radiation she took?" Her eyes start getting humid, "I definitely don't, nor am I in a good mood about it or know how to tell her 'Hey, you might have cancer by next week'."

>>29697764
Yes I feel bad for her too and want to do anything I can to help but you're changing the subject. I need the robot's help and to do that I need you not to take it apart. Twilight already knows we are in the tower. If it makes you feel better we can have it send the message from out on the catwalks so she doesn't know where we are in here.

>>29697764
If you don't want to help then fine, be that way. At least give him his batteries back so he doesn't die and I'll just go exploring for something that might help us or something.

slump

>>29698913

bemp

>>29697884 >>29697836
"Look."
"I don't want to--"
"Look." I repeat, grabbing her hoof as gently as I can before she taps the table again, "Look, I am stressed by all this, I am trying to fix things and still don't know how, and I shouldn't have but for a moment it was too much for me and I stood there talking." I take a deep breath to remain calm, realizing I am grabbing her arm too strongly, "But right now I need you help to start fixing things. Can you do that for her?"
She holds my gaze for a moment, not trying to pull her hoof from my grasp, "Fine." She pushes me away from her with telekinesis, and I decide not to resist it.
"Can you put back its batteries?"
"Sure, if you want it to explode after an hour or so." She keeps her face as clean of expressions as she can.
"And can we use the radios outside, then?"
"Yes." She sits for a moment longer, as if wanting to say something else, but stands. "I'll need space to work."
It's several minutes later that the she turns the head back on, in the old office near Sarim's door, moonlight falling over us.
"Warning!" An electric arc jumps from the horn to Ludwig, making her step back with a yelp. "Systems hijacked! Radio contact established. Pinging mainframe... all ok. Requesting repair units. Requesting queued commands. Requesting mission. Requesting acknowledgement of User Applejack's promotion to Administrator Applejack." There's a moment of silence, "Mainframe finds User Applejack as a valid candidate. Requesting information processing units for adequate confirmation of identity... Estimated time to arrival: Four minutes, forty seven seconds."
It falls completely silent after that, its eyes staring dead ahead unblinkingly. A while passes without anyone saying anything.

1/2

"Applejack." Ludwig doesn't look away from the head, nursing the small points where her fur is charred. "You'll tell Mirria about the radiation."
A moment of pregnant silence passes, and several small spheres float into the room, beams of light washing over me.
"Identity confirmed to be User Applejack." Comes a voice from the larger one, oddly familiar to me. "Mainframe approved the promotion of User Applejack to Administrator Applejack."

2/2

>>29703396
I will. Meanwhile you can disable the radio before we take it back inside. Then we can finally get some answers from it.

>>29703764
What do you ask? I'd rather not have a two lines long update.

>>29703981
What happened with Twilight? What do you know about what she is doing? What did she send you here to do? What do you know about the tower? What are your capabilities?

>>29703981
What were the events between you, Spike, and Twilight that led up to all this?

>>29704052
>>29703764
>>29704170
"I'll tell her." I nod at Ludwig, who nods back and trots out of the room without a look back.
"Will you answer what I ask?" I turn back to the three spheres that scanned me. "About Twilight? And this Spike?"
"Information contained in their personal areas is accessible only to they themselves. Your credentials, however, give you access to all non user-private information stored in any component of the system." The voice is maddeningly familiar, but I shrug it off for now.
"What happened to Twilight?" I ask first.
"Administrator Twilight was deemed unfit for rule by Administrator Spike minutes before the appearance of the being Administrator Twilight has referred to as 'The giant', on account of severely overstepping her legal boundaries while a guest of Queen Reddo of Surane and, as the system understands it, directly causing the arrival of the giant. Administrator Twilight is believed to be suffering cardiac arrhythmia, lethally high blood pressure, and severe magical overload on the cranial and spinal areas."
"And what were you doing here?"
A minute of silence passes, "It's not clear if the question refers to the local information unit or to the arcology as a whole."
"The thing on the sky."
"If it's not required anywhere else, the arcology defaults to following Administrator Twilight Sparkle on high orbit."

1/2

"Then what is the last thing she told you to do?"
"The last orders given by Administrator Twilight conflicted with Administrator Spike's standing orders of not overstepping legal boundaries. The arcology has no legal relevance in Surane's lands. The last orders were to scan the subspatial area overlapping with Surane's territory."
"And what did you find?"
"The arcology could not resolve the contradiction, and thus didn't do any active scan."
"What can you do, then? Your arcology?"
"The arcology is not property of the local system. The arcology was designed as a self-sufficient, airtight manufacturing and investigation complex, initially intended to study the effects of microgravity but expanded to several other, less specialized purposes such as the study of artificial inteligence, implantation of alicornian cellular growths on non-alicorns, and the posibility of artificially creating earthbones."
I nod, rubbing my closed eyes, "You surveil everything, don't you?"
"The arcology passively collects data unless directly requested not to by an Administrator or high enough legal authority, yes."
"What happened between Twilight and this Spike before all this?"
Several minutes pass before it answers. "After User Applejack was heavily wounded by an unknown anomalous entity, Administrator Twilight severaly outstepped her legal rights in Surane in her punishment of the entity. Administrator Spike deemed her unfit for rule and demoted her to a civilian with the authority granted to him by Princess Luna on account of alluded madness, and proceeded to physically disable Administrator Twilight. Following this, the giant appeared and Administrator Spike fought it for twelve hours before a combination of blood loss, organ damage, bone damage, tissue damage, and nervous tissue damage killed him. Administrator Twilight removed the mechanisms that restrained her shortly after this."

2/2
Going to bed

>>29704244
How did she punish the entity? I shudder to think how bad it must have been to make Spike consider her unfit.

>>29704934
"What did she do to the entity?"
"Requesting audio logs, please wait..." There's a moment of silence.
"Notice: This audio is intended to be played fully for legal and information purposes. Any edition or partial reproduction of it is punishable by law.
"Log saved in long-term storage up to a minute before the command was issued:
Another voice, this one startlingly similar to that of the balls, comes out:
> "Take them to an hospital, Quibra. And turn yourself in too."
>There's the sound of someone in plate armor running away.
> "I overreacted. Yes." Says Twilight after a minute.
> "Twilight, what did you do?"
> "Spike, don't be so glum. It'll give you warts!"
> "What did you do?"
> "Sheesh, it isn't like I am that far gone,"
> "You sound like Discord." Was all he said.
> "What?" No small amount of rage entered her voice.
> "Will you tell her what you did?" Insisted Spike, "What you did in her name?"
> "It's what she'd do for me."
> "No. It isn't, if you aren't telling me what it is."
>There's a long while of silence.
> "I put it with the earthbones."
>Spike started talking a few times, his voice weary, "I didn't want to do this... From this moment and until further notice Princess Twilight Sparkle is, under the authority of Star Paladin Spike and the Astral Alicorn Sisters, declared unfit to rule and relieved of her authority-"
> "Remove that order!" Shouted Twilight, the sound of running hooves in the background, "Remove it r--"
She was interrupted suddenly, her voice replaced by choked gasps.
> "I am sorry." Spike sounded like he's making a tremendous physical effort. "I really am... and relieved of her authority due to overstepping her duties as an ambassador including but not limited to war crimes such as exceedingly cruel punishment, and lastly unlawful, possibly permanent, entrapment of a sapient being under the jurisdiction of the state of Surane and the of Princess Luna as caretaker of Oneiros."

1/3

The log pauses the audio momentarily: "This command matched the databases, and it was accepted by the recording systems Administrator Spike summoned. As of this point, Administrator Twilight was only allowed access to the medical areas of the arcology."

> "Take--" Twilight wheezes for air, "Take this off me."
> "No can do. We are going back to Equestria."

The audio stops, "This is the full extent of the recording saved in long-term storage."
"She put them with the earthbones?" I ask as soon as it ends. "What does that mean?"
"Requesting audio logs...

2/3

>"Alright," Started Twilight, the sounds of metalworking in the background, "Earthbones, earthbones. First of all, deep, their caves are nearly three fourths of the way to the core of our world. Second, very high pressure, about seven thousand pascals. It varies a lot depending on tectonic activity. Third, very high temperature, about five hundred cee. Fourth and last, very toxic. I theorize instead of air you'd have chlorine, ozone, and yes I know what I am saying here, gasified mercury."
> "You done with that?" Said the voice I now recognize to be Spike in the background, the hammering stopping for a moment.
> "Gimme a sec!" Shouted Twilight, "What I think is most fascinating is the effects of the cellular automata Magic has talked with me about, however. They are so complex -so large and mindbogglingly old, and their senses so sharp- that their presence is felt in all levels. Sound, sight, magic, everything."
>"Hear her jizz." Added Spike jokingly.
> "Spiiiiiiiike. Anyway, what I was saying-- I don't think anything can resist the... the overlap with something so factually eminent.
> "So my theory is that, if anyone went unprotected, they'd experience a full sensorial blackout. Entire chunks of their cognitive process would simply disable to prevent a mind-shattering overload- no sight, no sound, no taste, no tact, I even wonder if their sense of time would go away too, and if this happens- would each second be millenia, or would millenia be less than a second?"
> "Twiliiiiiiight." Called Spike again.
> "I am goooiiiiiiiiing."

The tape ends, "Other public audio logs which may contain relevant information are labeled under Earth Bone's research logbooks, Tee Ees Pee Jee, and Foreign Relationships."

3/3

>>29707127
All of them please.

Paused for a bit to do the washing

Bump while writing update.

>>29708387

>>29709500

>>29707154
"Play all of them." I plant my rump firmly on the ground.
"There are two thousand, nine hundred, eighty-four audio recordings under the foreign relationships label. Administrator Twilight set a recommended playback order in the 'Earth bones research' label. Administrator Spike set a recommended playback order for User Applejack, User Fluttershy, User, User Pinkie Pie, User Rainbow Dash in the 'Tee Es Pee Jee' label. Do you wish to hear them?" I nod. "Due to the volume of files playback will start before the download is complete. This shouldn't become noticeable to the user at any moment..."

> "We are doing this." There were several metallic clanks on the background. "We are making a probe that can resist the conditions expected in the eartbones' cave systems."
> "And I am keeping her from entering the probe to have a look down there." Half-laughed Spike.
> "Yyyeah. If you are new to my research logs, Spike keeps me from going a liiiiiittle bit too intense with the research."
> "Once I wrote a twenty pages-long romance between her and a test tube." Adds Spike. “Luna helped.”
> "And I burned it. Let me get this done." Twilight sighed. "While I -and countless others- had always wanted direct samples from the earthbones, historically it's been unachievable. The first records mentioning them, dating to times before the first Three Tribes War, are precisely putting emphasis on how hard it is to achieve. Take into account than at this time of history, geomancy was possibly more advanced than it is today."
> "If this probe works -if we can acquire a fragment from the earthbones- there is no way to explain how significant could it be. We'd confirm their makeup, and finally shut up the people who refutes their existence."
> "Love and tolerance everyone."

1/6

> "Shut up Spike. I'd also love to confirm if the Crystal Heart and Tree of Harmony are related to the earthbones, as Cadance and me have theorized for years now.
> "You forgot the risks."
> "Oh, yeah. Risks. Alright. Earthbones, earthbones. First of all...."

> "This is the fourth mayor audio log of our try to dig into the earthbones, and the second I'll add to my playlist. After several tries -detailed on previous logs, and with the resources spent noted on the respective sheets- and experiencing third degree burns on my hooves, we've made a model of the probe that, as a matter of fact, reached the earthbones."
> "It’s slipping!" Spike's voice sounds strained.
> "Right, it slipped my mind. There?"
> "I think so, yeah."
> "Back with you. I've got to be fast, so I'll explain it shortly:
> "Situation: The probe successfully reached the earthbones.
> "An unknown force is currently holding the probe down. This is very suboptimal.
> "The probe's systems do not answer the pings. Also suboptimal, might be caused by unrelated interference.
> "We confirmed, before the situation started, that the probe had collected samples. Optimal, might be what caused the aforementioned problems to happen."
> "Spike is using his non-measly strength to try pulling the probe back up by its wire, but it seems like the unknown entity has strength to match his own. Possibly more, I still haven't tested adding my also non-measly magical strength to his.
> "I will now help. I don't know if my interference could have any adverse effect, which is in itself suboptimal too.
>There's the sound of scraping metal, and of air being blasted away- something I remember only happened when Twilight uses extreme amounts of magic.

2/6

> "I am not applying three hundred thaums of strength, by my own guess, over a three meters area of a thirty centimeters-radius carbon-wire and cobalt wire reinforced by several spells." She didn't sound strained. "Still within what most well trained unicorns can output, especially in a material as receptive to magic as cobalt. The resistance still matches our strength." She didn't sound pleased.
> "I am now applying six hundred thaums. This would normally take at least two unicorns. Suboptimal results."
> "Two thousand thaums. Suboptimal results."
> "Four thousand thaums. This would be enough to lift an adult ursa. Thoroughly suboptimal." The wind, still growing in intensity, comes together with the crack of thunder. "I will now add secondary measures to keep the radiation and electrical side-products contained."
> "Ten thousand thaums. Reaching Quags-Clover effect. Results thoroughly suboptimal."
> "Spike is now being affected by the heat I am producing. Extending shielding to him. Twenty-five thousand thaums, five of which are keeping the spell's side effects from affecting its core program."
> "I added another three cores to the spell to assist its processing capabilities after a buffer overflow. Fifty thousand thaums. I decided to create several subspaces that attract its side effects rather than trying to contain them directly. Results still suboptimal, the probe is raising but the heat will start affecting the wire's integrity before it reaches us. Estimated time to arrival: about a week." Her voice was cracking under the strain.
> "I will now try to combine my magic with Spike's flame to force an inverse deliver across an extremely long distance. Exact values are in the sensor logs."

3/6

>The next time she talked, her voice became slower or faster seemingly at random. "Approximate output: A hundred thousand thaums, of which three fourths are fueling the inverse delivery. The spell is having adverse effects on the flow of time right now, which I am sure will be interesting to someone. While the installation is also being adversely affected, the repair systems still can keep with the stress. The resistance presented by the probe also seems to be increasing steadily."
>There were several minutes of silence, only interrupted by the roar of fire.
> "Our combined output right now, and this is very much a guess, must be bordering the three hundred thousand thaums right now. Even I and Spike are noticing the strain which is in itself thoroughly suboptimal." Her voice still warped like before, slowing down and going faster, "Ontological sequence is starting to break down, as the ballpen embedded in my leg for no apparent reason proves."
> "Twilight?"
> "Celestia?"
> "I thought you called me?"
> "I haven't."
> "Girls? A hand?" Interrupted Spike.
> "Oh? Oh, you are being brutish again... What have I told you about four-phasic cores? And the program could be improved here, and here..."
> "Spike, remind me to call Celestia later."
> "See? You could've saved some with this. Now, let's see if we can get this done in time for tea."
>They didn't talk for several minutes, the wind fluctuating all the while.
> "Spike's flame is now making its way here at three fourths of the speed of sound, which means the mass of the probe has seemingly increas--." Twilight was interrupted by the screeching of metal, which was interrupted almost immediately.
> "That could've gone very badly." Said Celestia.
> "Thanks."
> "I thought of exactly one hundred, twenty-eight ways it could've gone badly in the time it took me to move."
> "Thanks."
> "Resume your sciencing," Celestia said jokingly, "I'll clean things up. And you rest, Spike."
> "But--"
> "Now you rest, Spike."
> "Fine."

4/6

> "Anyway," Twilight cleared her throat, "The probe seems to have mutated into a gollem-like creature which was apparently adamant in staying down... which I now understand, seeing how rapidly are its tissues degenerating outside that peculiar atmosphere." Her voice grows odd.
> "It wasn't sapient." Said Celestia. "The nervous system can barely be called such."
> "I still find you doing that unnerving."
> "I do my thing and you do yours."
> "I will. It has grown several predator-type limbs, seemingly focused in strength... but I am getting sidetracked. This may mean we'll have to forego any material capable of reacting to magic."
> "I will do a dissection and try to find out why this happened exactly. Overall results..."
> "Twilight? Is this what you wanted?" Asked Celestia.
> "Wh-- Oh. The sample's fine." Twilight was silent for a moment. "Overall results... not as suboptimal as they might've been, thanks to my friends."

> "After thorough study, we have found that the probe had no intelligence of its own. Spike theorizes the earthbones were manipulating it to defend themselves, perceiving the sample collecting as a threat."
> "Magic is currently bridging communication with the local cellular automata, as she is one of them."

> "Magic has been unsuccessful in convincing the cellular automata -what some prefer to call 'Spirits'- to allow us to colect samples. While Magic was not able to understand all of the message, since their eminence makes any message both extremely large and extremely abstract, the gist seems to be that earthbones grow so massively slowly that even the sample we took, weighting twenty grams, took centuries to grow.
> "I wonder if we are as strange to them as they are for us? Do they feel the same, soft ping of jealousy about our comparative simplicity and skill at working in small timeframes as I feel about their eminence? Do they see us as gods living on the surface, the same way some see them as the gods deep inside our world?"

5/6

> "Going back to the main topic, one of the spirits -which I believe might be the Tree of Harmony, since Magic mentioned it being her father- agreed to try explaining their functioning to a limited degree."
> "By harmony... I still shudder when I think of the implications of Magic calling me her mother and the Tree her father. I very much didn't do that."

> "This log is nearly a year after the last. The Tree caused a Harmony event without consulting us, which is to say at least very, very impolite. I didn't ever think Fluttershy would go chide the Tree."
> "Anyway, I have what seems like the schematics of an earthbone... although I don't understand it fully. The materials and composition are clear to me of course, as well as the timeline of its growth, but I'll be damned if I know what 'Thirty grams of pragmatism-enabled reasoning will be applied to all surrounding areas' means, or how to get a 'Dichontological hexanary processing unit of modest capabilities.', as it seems to be necessary to 'Monitor the non-linear divergences of individual think-groups'."
> "No, scratch that, a basic verbal analysis is enough for me to guess what it could mean, but I feel like I am missing massive amounts of context, like I am reading schematics made by and for aliens."
> "Tartarus, that might just be a very valid definition of what I am doing right now."
> "What I'll do, since I don't see any other reasonable way of action, is to let it grow and monitor it regularly, since the Tree's not giving Magic any answers. It seems like even explaining this to me wasn't well liked by other automatas."

6/6
Any questions before going to the next?

>>29710948
It's nice to know that Twilight was also frustrated by otherworldly being not wanting to explain things. Ask the automata if the earthbones share any properties with or bear any resemblance to the building blocks of the tower, the giant, or anything else seen here. Then go on to the next set of logs.

>>29711018
"Does the tower have any similarity with the earthbones?" I ask when the recordings seem to be over.
"Processing question... the tower was artificially created to thrive in extremely harsh environments with little use of external resources and seems to be capable of incredible degrees of self maintenance. The earthbones have been found to be naturally naturally occurring and to support extreme conditions by being nearly impervious to damage. There are no similarities that the system is aware of."
"And anything else? The giant?"
"Processing question... The giant exhibits properties extremely similar to those of lifeforms affected by the earthbones. Administrator Twilight's magical signature has recently shifted to one similar to the magical flows inside the earthbones." There's a moment of silence. "The earthbones have also been called the lakes of magic. They balance atmosphere magic across the world, ensuring that no area is starved from or overloaded by magic."

Paused. I'll write the Tee Es Pee Jee logs tomorrow, and skip the foreign relationships logs since they are just politics.

>>29711913
>skip the foreign relationships logs since they are just politics
Could I at least get the highlights?

> "Hi."
>There was only silence for a while.
> "If you are hearing this, it probably means things have gone very badly." Said Spike.
> "It was originally in Twilight's user area... I wonder if you know what that is. But it was originally there. I made it public discretely, and added some patterns to the mainframe's speech so that, in certain conditions, it'd be very likely to mention it to you four. One of said conditions is Twilight doing something so extreme that Celestia, Luna, or me demote her.
> "Hopefuly Twi won't find out and make it private again before that happens... if that happens." He corrected himself.
> "I have the utmost confidence that, if things reach that point and I am not around, it won't be Twi's fault. That she still has it in herself to love me after I betray her... but if it happens and she thinks it's her fault,
> "Tell her I can't forgive her, because I never blamed her in the first place.

1/6
Posting part of it now because today I didn't have time to get more done. I'll probably post the rest around tomorrow.

> "This is Twilight Sparkle, and..." Her voice was filled with static.
> "Is this how I do this?
> "Just say my name and talk about my day?
> "I never cared about journals. Before I got friends, I didn't see the point- and maybe, just maybe, I was afraid that day after day would be filled with 'I read old books and escaped from any social interaction that didn't involve my close family or Celestia'. After I got friends it seemed like a waste of time, why write about my friends when I could be spending time with them?
> "And now, when I am exhausted every day by healing Fluttershy... when I am experiencing, for the first time in decades, true exhaustion... Spike gives me one of those new small tape recorders.
> "It's so dumb.
> "It's so useless.
> "It's so... so inferior in quality to what I could build myself, if I cared to.
> "It's so mindful and so caring and so silly and so like him to do it.
> "He wanted me to talk with someone about how I feel, even if that someone was only a recorder. So I'll do it for him.
> "How I feel, how I feel... I feel cold, which I am aware is because I am not suffering the fever of magical overload I hadn't noticed in decades. I feel itchy, because I am undergoing what might be best defined as a cold monkey. I feel slow, because I had to disable the charms that improve my reflexes. I feel hungry, because my metabolism is going berserk to keep up with the day to day effort of, well, generating mass from energy. It's the only way I have of making the delicate structures required to repair Fluttershy's spinal chord and save her from a life as an invalid.
> "I've got to go. Twilight out."

2/6

> "This is Twilight Sparkle, and I am busy but Spike made me record this anyway."
>There was an explosion in the background.
> "As you have probably heard, dearest intruder of my privacy, things are blowing up, and it's most definitely not being done for sport.""
>Another explosion.
> "Well, knowing my luck it might just be being done for sport.""
>There was a high-pitched whistle.
> "Rudharcs are very odd creatures," There was the sound of wind passing by the microphone. "Heavy, stone-skinned reptilians with a sulfurous smell, about half the size of the elephants they so like to predate on."
>There was a beastly wail.
> "And, as most animals with a magical affinity to fire, sudden changes on temperature are definitely effective on combating them. It disrupts their natural magic, which I know from experience is very disorientating.
> "I have to admit something," There was a crash. "I was trying to narrate there, you--!" Another crash, and the sound of bone shattering.
> "Oh damn it." Twilight panted, "I hate it when this happens. Spike!"
>He answered something, his voice small and unintelligible among the static.
> "Alright, I'll do it!" There were several more loud whistles. "What was I saying...? Oh, yes, I've got to admit that lately I've began finding enjoyment in fighting unarmed.
> "Maybe its the honesty of it. It's just you and the others, with the tools nature gave you and wit.
> "Or maybe it's that someone trying to kill you is so much kinder than politics can be at times." She laughed drily, which was interrupted by a burst of static. "--ld've broken it, you animal!"
> "Anyway, Twilight out."

3/6

> "This is Twilight... I can't do it today.
> "Too tired. I found a particularly damaged area of Fluttershy's column, and repairing it took so much from me I slept for twenty hours straight after that. I think Spike fed me while I slept, but haven't asked him yet, largely because my legs aren't working.
> "And my head is killing me.
> "And my jaw hurts."
>There was a long while filled only by static.
> "Someone's calling me and the feeling is returning to my legs. Twilight out."

> "This is Twilight Sparkle, and I think I might have killed a bird.
> "I really shouldn't be worked up about a wild animal, but I am, and I guess this is the kind of situations Spike gave me the recorder for. A confidant that won't judge me-- isn't that the function of confessing in some religions?
> "I didn't intend to hurt it. The small bird, I mean. I was walking to Zecora's grave and intended to shield it from a lynx. The shield was seemingly airtight and generated too much heat for such a small creature.
>There was a moment of silence.
> "It's not breathing anymore... ouch. I really thought I could do something about it.
> "Better bury it. Twilight out."

> "This is Twilight Sparkle, and I have a broken arm.
> "I only wanted to slap a fly away with my magic.
> "Thank Harmony the anesthetic charms activated almost immediately, as well as the repair ones. There shouldn't be any sign of the damage in a few minutes.
> "Now I am even more hungry than I was before. Twilight out.

4/6

> "This is Twilight Sparkle, and I believe I am growing stronger.
> "I hadn't ever considered doing magical excercise-- The focus of my training, through my youth, was in control. I was afraid one of my outbursts -like the one that hatched Spike- might hurt someone, and my parent's decision was ultimately medication. With Celestia's blessing, I spent those first three years under her tutelage with my magic heavily stunted and learning to focus as little of it as I could for any given task.
> "This proved to be the right decision, on several ways. I learned theory before learning many spells, with Celestia dropping just enough noticeable advancement for me to stay motivated, and the result is the Twilight everyone assumes to be a magical prodigy-- one capable of making spells on the fly like no one's business, a world-class arcanist.
> "I wish I could explain them at times, explain them that, functionally, I am a magical brute who had to learn to measure her strength. I can make up spells on the fly because I need to-- normal spell formulas have side effects that, while unnoticeable when casted by most people, can be extremely dangerous when I am the one using them.
> "Damn... I am sure Trixie would try to motivate me if she heard this. She'd tell me to remember that I am the Great and Powerful Twilight. I am powerful, I am not that great.I just got good enough friends that it looks like that.
> "What was I going to talk about?
> "Oh, yeah. Strength.

5/6

> "While I had known exertion sporadically in my adult life -One of the earliest cases I remember is when I had to lift an Ursa Minor- it'd been very much something that happened to other people for me. In most cases, there were only three possible scenarios when I was threatened: Either I crushed it with sheer power, my friends helped me reason with it, or said something had so much sheer power that it wasn't reasonable to consider doing anything about it. It was on a scale of magnitude alien even to me.
> "The only exceptions I can think of are Discord, because his power is, by its very nature, impossible to measure, and Tirek, because after what he did to Fluttershy I am not willing to use reason. Two exceptions that only made the pattern more noticeable.
> "Fluttershy's broken back is a completely different problem. My raw power isn't enough to repair the damage immediately. Even Discord's isn't, and Celestia knows the poor guy's putting effort on it.
> "The result is, we are both exerting ourselves in a day to day basis. When he starts I go to sleep and when he rests I start again. And even like this it'll take us two to three years to be done.
> "I am not sure if he can grow stronger at all -it may very well be that he can only find ways to use his energy more efficiently- but I definitely have noticed an increase in stamina since we started.
> "Twilight out. It's my turn with Fluttershy.

6/6

So much lore.

>>29717540