My Little Progress : Technology Isn't Magic - Thread 32

Starting off with some greentext

>Not every day in Equestria can be one of fun and adventure
>Some days pass be with nothing interesting happening
>This was on of those days
>Today was a day of tedium and boredom
>Looking to find something to pass the time you visited the library in Ponyville.
>The library was mostly empty
>Save for the Librarian and her trusty assistant Spike
>Looking up from her book she smiles warmly at you
>"Oh Hey Anon! What brings you here today?"
"Looking for a good book to read, things have been going pretty slowly lately"
>Her face practically beams at your answer
>"Well Anon, might I recommend the Daring Do series. They're mine and Rainbow Dash's favorite"
>Wait Rainbow Dash likes a book series?
>Wait Rainbow Dash Reads?
>You always thought she was just some hotshot jock type.
"Dash never really struck me as the reading type"

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>"Oh she wasn't but one day while flying she crashed and broke a bone in one of her wings"
You winces when Twilight Mentions that
>"She was in the hospital for a few days while it healed"
>Only a few days huh
>That seems pretty fast for a broken bone
"How bad was the break?"
"The bone was snapped into two pieces"
>Well shit that's like impossibly fast
>"Why did you want know?"
"That's a lot faster that what I would expect back home on earth"

>She perks up at this
>She really likes it when you talk about earth
>Even if she sometimes doesn't believe you
>"How long it would take back on earth?"
"Depends on a lot of factors, but could take a few weeks"
>Twilight reels back
"Could take a few months"
>Her jaw drops at this
>"That's certainly a lot longer than I anticipated, I'm glad we have magic that helps mending bones."
"Not gonna lie, I'm a bit envious of that myself. Took humanity a while how to figure out fixing broken bones"
>Twilight's face was a mixture of curiosity and shock.
>"What did humans about broken bones before that?"

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>And now you regret having the conversation
>What are you supposed to say?
>Well Twilight we used to chop off people's limbs if they broke them
>I guess I'll have to be delicate about this.
"Well for minor fractures where the bone is mostly intact they would just bandage it really tight and avoid physical exertion that effects that bone"
>Twilight nods her head.
>"But what about bones that broke into multiple pieces?"
"Until we had some form a surgery the answer was "What happens to wild animals that break bones and don't get help?""
>Twilight lets out a small gasp in shock
"Then surgery came around and the answer became amputation"
>"That's barbaric!" Twilight shouts in outrage

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"It was that or die because of shards ripping blood vessels, marrow entering the bloodstream and clogging hearts, or any other number of complications"
>Twilight visibly deflates
>God you feel like such a shitbag now.
>Still you continue
"They would lose a limb but save their life. We didn't have time to try and figure out another way safely"
>And now she's depressed
>"I'm sorry Anon for yelling like that. Humans obviously were just trying to do the best they could with what they had"
>Quick Anon make her feel better
"Relax Twilight, I understand why you would think that way, and I appreciate that you understand why we did what did, So I forgive you"

She looks up to you with a hopeful look.
>"Thanks, Anon."
"No problem Twilight"
>"So how did humanity figure out actually healing broken bones?"
>Ahh crap we're here.
>I don't want to tell her the story with the war and the soldier
>But I don't have time to come up with a better story
"Well what happened was that these countries were at war"
>Twilight gasps in shock and has visibly refrain from yelling again
"During a battle, a soldier was injured pretty badly"
"They were going to have to amputate his arm"
"But the enemy was going to capture the city and they had to evacuate"

>Twilight is shaking and looking away
>Fear
>Anger
>You don't know
"There wasn't time for the procedure"
"So they set the bone back into position..."
She cringed at the mental image
"And tied the arm real tight to prevent the pieces from moving"
"It took a few weeks before they were able to settle down and operate on the soldier"
"But when they did they discovered that his arm was healed"

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>"So no more amputations?"
>She looks up, hoping to hear you respond with "No more amputations"
>Sorry Twilight
"Only under extreme situations"
She deflates again
"Bright side we just started work on making robot body parts that can replace lost limbs and function like real limbs!"
>She looks up to you with a smile on face
>She lets out a giggle.
>"I know you're just trying yo make me feel better, but I do appreciate the joke. Robot body parts, you think I would just believe that?"

There we go, I decided to finally write something for this thread, How did I do?

>>28449222
It's at this point Anon removes his high-quality prosthetic and scares the stripe out of Twilight's mane.

>>28449241
First for the storytelling.
I rather like the concept, and the execution was solid. It felt a little bit like a lecture? I don't know how to disentangle that from the subject matter, and if you can't it's still definitely worth reading. If you can however, that could make it more enjoyable. Bretty gud and I want more.


The technical half of your writing is where you fail. Your lack of punctuation is atrocious. Most of your sentences don't have a full stop of any sort. Granted that's very common around these parts so maybe you don't care. If for whatever reason you do decide to eschew proper punctuation, at least make it consistent so it doesn't come across as a mistake. Also
>Some days pass be
>This was on of those
>You winces

Please proceed, I wish to see more from you.

holy shit, this thread is back!!!!!

BTW, Writefag_is_Kill's huge story may be rather hard to navigate from his multiple pastes, so here's a .txt file with the story so far

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ex554b273p17vgp/Writefag_Is_Kill_Steel_Sanctuary.txt?dl=0

This story now numbers 142,242 words and 822,202 characters

>>28449222
please continue! also checked

I'd like to see more, but the story of the soldier getting a bone set is bunk. The practice of setting bones so that they heal correctly has been around since the fifth century BC, and was practiced by the Greeks and Romans. The ancient Norse would re-break a bone that had set incorrectly and splint it again.

https://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/break-a-leg-fracture-treatment-in-iron-age-and-roman-britain/

>>28449880
Rome advanced surgical sciences, Muslims perfected medicine, and the Chinese discovered physical therapy.

>>28449935
yeah but the Germans killed a bunch of Jews

Aryans - 1
Blacks - -316

>>28449143
http://milesmathis.com/hawk3.pdf
Hawking was replaced with a doppelganger in the 80s.

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How mathematically advanced are ponies?

We know that they know enough trigonometry to approximate Pi to some digits, enough calculus to estimate the strength of materials of arbitrary shapes/volumes. But what else?

>>28450026
they likely have less advanced mathematics due to the ability to use magic to assist in construction that would typically require mathematics, such as complex architecture

>>28449423
>hiding your prosthesis
>making your augmentations look "natural"
01000001 01100010 01110011 01101111 01101100 01110101 01110100 01100101 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01100111 01110101 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110

>>28450096
Magos Anon is that you?

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>>28450096
Right? Preposterous.

>>28447748
Yeah, I'm pretty lazy about updating the paste. Sorry about that. It's fixed now. http://pastebin.com/8R51kA1N

>>28447775 The capitalised words in quotes are what was changed. You're supposed to infer what the original document said based on Luna's thoughts. Basically, Twilight wrecked a bunch of stuff, and thanks to Anon's warning Luna changed the document to mean 'everything's fine' by replacing three words, just to see how bad it could be. Did others have trouble with this passage? Should I tweak it for clarity?

>>28447912
>>28448201
It's been four days. I'm not kill, you're impatient.

>>28450607
>>28450096
I knew I was in the right thread.


>You are Rarity.
>You are firmly gripping your shears.
>There’s somepony prowling around near your boutique.
>Who?
>You’re not sure.
>But you have a bad feeling about them.
>Ever since ponies found out you didn’t hate the new Spike, well…
>You’re being lumped in with them.
>The ‘Heartless’ as they’re called.
>Or Zaius’ chosen.
>You despise the former.
>And dislike the latter.
>Mostly because Spike says that Zaius isn’t his name, and that everypony’s saying it wrong anyway.
>You’re not entirely sure how the name of its homeland got out, but you don’t care about that right now.
>What matters is that they’re banging on your front door.
>You just keep pretending you’re not home.
>If they kick it down, you’ll pounce and plunge the shears in their neck.

>”AUGH! Rarity, I know you’re in there!”

“Twilight?”

>That changes everything!

“Okay, umm, step back from the door and I’ll open it!”

>You hear a frustrated groan followed by heavy hoofsteps.
>You poke your nose up and peer through the window.
>It’s Twilight, no doubt about that.
>You drop your sheers and open the door.

“Quick! Hurry in before anypony else comes by!”

>She teleports in.
>And you’re reminded that the locked door was never a meaningful barrier.

>>28450711
>Suddenly you feel VERY insecure.
>You close the apparently useless door.

“Why didn’t you do that in the first place? If I may be so bold as to ask.”

>”It’d be really rude. Besides, you would have stabbed me, right?”

“My stars! I’d never hurt you, Twilight!”

>”Then why were you hiding by the door with a deadly weapon in hoof?”

>How did…
>Did she see that?

>”The entire storefront is a display window. Everypony can see you.”

>You can immediately feel a blush forming.

“Oh. Umm… I didn’t know it was you, Twilight! Please don’t think I’d EVER try to do you harm!”

>”Don’t worry. I believe you. Can we go in a bit further? We need to talk, and I don’t want to be overheard.”

>You’re duly amazed that she’d forget your appalling behaviour so readily.
>Perhaps her time at the front has inured her to such things?
>You lead her to the dining room.

“May I offer you some tea?”

>”No thanks. I can’t stay that long. Way too much stuff to do.”

>She sits at the table before using her magic to pull a chair out for you.
>Proper decorum would have been to-
>No, no. She’s trying.
>You shan’t harp on her for that mistake.
>Even if a PRINCESS should know better.
>You graciously take the seat.

>“I’m trying to understand ponies. You don’t fit my current model.”

“I’m… uncertain how to respond to that.”

>”With honesty, I hope. Hrm. That’s another piece that doesn’t fit. Now’s probably not a good time though. I had a recent… revelation on the nature of ponies. And now that I’m the sole ruler of Equestria it’s very important that I understand how ponies think.”

“I’m sorry, sole ruler?”

>”Princess Celestia’s dead, and Luna’s missing.”

>You can feel your face growing pale.
>Paler.
>Celestia. Dead?
>It can’t possibly be!

“Please, Twilight! You musn’t jest about such things!”

>You can hear the pleading and desperation in your own voice.

>>28450720
>“You were there. You saw her. It’s only gotten worse. Please, focus. It falls on me to lead Equestria, and I don’t like what I see. Ponyville’s a shadow of its former self. I think all of Equestria’s going to follow.”

>Celestia.
>Dead.
>And all of Equestria’s going to be like the madness beyond your walls?

>”We’re told that ponies are peace loving creatures. That we’re friendly, kind, honest, loyal… you know the list. I suppose it’s true after a fashion. But first and foremost we are self serving.”

“Twilight, I’m sorry, but I’ve no clue what you’re talking about.”

>You’re lost.
>Perplexed.
>And most of all worried.

>”I learned something about myself. Looked deep inside, and do you know what I saw? A selfish, violent, hateful wretch. I suppose it’s a bit presumptuous to say that everypony’s like that, but since basically everypony that’s walked the path I stumbled onto turned out to be awful, I think it’s a fair bet.

>You’re so confused.
>It almost sounds like she’s lumping herself in with Sombra!

“What happened?”

>”I fumbled. Dropped all pretense of doing the right thing for just a few seconds. It was abundantly clear that that’s what I was meant to do. It felt so RIGHT.”

>Her breathing quickens.
>Her eyes grow wide.
>You can see her tremble with excitement.
>Then three deep breaths.
>And she’s back to normal.
>You have no idea what that was, but it’s certainly worrying.

>”It felt right, but it’s wrong. We’re meant to be a small herd. We’re meant to protect our herd and grow it, and damn the consequences. It’s our nature. And it turns ugly fast. When I learned that Princess Celestia was editing our history books, I was shocked.”

>Twilight is leaning back in her seat so lackadaisically.
>Not a care in the world as she accuses THE PRINCESS of censorship.

“She did what now?”

>>28450730
>”But it all makes sense now. Equestria is built on a lie, and she was trying to maintain it. She dreamt of a world where everyone was part of the same in group. Where we all pretended we were the same herd. Where everyone was considered a friend or family member. Where pony and non-pony alike would love and respect each other. Not because any of this is true, or even makes sense. But if she could convince us it was? We’d be tripping over ourselves for the chance to help others. She wanted it because it would lead to peace, harmony, and prosperity.”

“I’m sorry Twilight, but I don’t follow. What are you going on about?”

>”Say Sweetie Belle was an adult. She couldn’t find work. She was out on the streets, cold and alone. I don’t even need to ask what you’d do. Damn near everypony would do the same for their family.”

>A revolting hypothetical.
>And such crude language!

>”Say you saw a beggar in the streets in the exact same situation. Only meaningful difference is they’re not related to you. What do you do?”

“Well, I couldn’t let them in my house! They could be dangerous! I’d direct them to the shelter I help fund-

>”Yeah, yeah. You’re generous and all that. But how many ponies would just pretend they didn’t see anything? You’re a freak, Rarity. And that’s a good thing. We could use more freaks. Tell me. Why are you so generous? Why do you give freely to strangers?”

“I can't say. It's simply who I am.”

>She scowls, clearly not satisfied with your answer.
>You can't help but notice her eyelid twitching.

>”Well, we're going to have to have fun finding out, aren’t we?”

>>28450739
>You are Anonymous.
>You are frustrated.
>All of your experiments with the strange force, the ‘horse power’ as you've started calling it, are failing.
>In some ways that's not bad. Data is data.
>But you need a breakthrough of some sort.
>You still have no working hypothesis on how it works, and no results from your tests.
>All you've got is ways to interfere with it, courtesy of lizard bro.
>And while it's nice to have options should another space clam attack, you want more.
>You want to use it yourself.
>Perhaps if you were to try-

>”I can't do it.”

>Translated horse words reach your ears.
>You probably weren't meant to hear them, but you've been keeping a close eye on the black one.
>Listening in on her failed attempts, groans of frustration, and occasional cursing has been an annoying distraction.
>Even though your body is no longer on that planet, you don't intend to leave her near your stuff unsurprised.

>”I'm sorry, Tia. I can't. I don't get it. I don't understand any of this.”

>You check one of the many cameras trained on her.
>You're unaccustomed to their faces and have a great deal of difficulty reading them, but even so one quick glance speaks volumes.
>Downcast unfocused eyes, sagging lips, relaxed facial muscles…
>She's beyond depressed.
>Perhaps she knows you’re watching and is trying to garner sympathy?
>She lets out a deep, morose sigh before standing.
>She slowly walks away from the small heap of ruined electronics she’d made, leaving your ‘bots to remove the worthless circuits and faulty servos.
>She looks up to the top of your dome, bathing her face in the harsh artificial lighting.
>Her eyes are reddened.
>Moisture dots her face.
>Has she been crying?
>Does that mean the same thing for them?

>”What was I thinking. Me? Do something right? Not without you.”

>A quick search of their literature suggests it does.
>She pushes past a thick cloud of robots as they hurry to supply your motor assembly.

>>28450751
>And she walks toward IT.
>A dull grey half meter tall cube.
>All that’s left of her sister.
>You order your bots to pull away from it, and give her some space.

>”Can you hear me? Are you listening?”

>Inside that cube resides most of a brain, a few cybernetic components, and a hell of a lot of life support.
>No sensory systems just yet.
>You’d brought it in relatively early on, expecting her to have finished up by now.
>Nearly a week later and she has nothing to show for her efforts.
>Save for a bunch of scrap.
>She cuddles up against the box.

>”You’re cold. Let me warm you up.”

>You object to that!
>She’s not cold.
>The internal temperature is perfectly regulated.
>PERFECTLY!

>”I know how much you hate the cold.”

>She drapes her wings over the box as she lay next to it.
>You’re almost certain now that she’s just putting on a show.
>But there’s an easy way to check.
>Her brain is still chock full of your probes.
>A quick readout says…


“Oh.”

>There’s basically no serotonin there.
>Dopamine levels are a joke.
>You’re not entirely sure how she’s functioning.
>But that’s not really your problem.
>Why should you care for her suffering?
>It’s not like you owe her anything.
>And the horses have caused you plenty of trouble.
>Besides.
>You’ve already bent over backwards to help them.
>You can’t ever go home because of them.
>It’s not your fault she’s too stupid to grasp basic robotics.
>You even gave her the blueprints!

>”I’m trying, but I don’t think I can do it. I don’t think I can bring you back. Don’t worry though, we’ll be together again soon. One way or another.”

…

>Damn.
>Damn you and your pity.
>You WERE going to test cascade effects on energy buildup to see if you could use multiple gems to power a single action.
>But now it looks like you’ve got to clear your schedule.
>You divert one of your bots to go and ‘talk’ to her.

>>28450755
>Not that it’s necessary, you don’t need to have anything macroscopic anywhere near them to talk to them.
>But you’ve noticed that she’s uncomfortable talking to ‘thin air’.
>What to say…
>You probably shouldn’t come out and say you were spying on her.
>Or that you still have brain probes active.

“How’s it going? Getting close?”

>She scrambles to her hooves and takes a few steps away from the cube.
>You don’t need brain probes to tell you she’s embarrased.
>And so she should be.
>She’s basically talking to a brain in a jar.

>”Umm, ahem, not too great? I’m sorry, I know you want me gone, but I’m trying. Please just give me a little more time! I can do this! I just need a little longer!”

>She’s bowing.
>Groveling really.
>She thinks you’re getting impatient. That you want her out of your sanctuary. That you’re going to pull the plug if she doesn’t finish up soon.
>Two out of three isn’t bad.
>You had a different plan to speed things up though.

“Do you need help? I can walk you through the process.”

>”Truely? You’d lend a hoof?”

>Hoof.

“Yes. But you owe me another one. We’ll start with the frame. Come along, you’re going to learn how to weld.”

That's it.
Paste updated at http://pastebin.com/8R51kA1N

I tried for more emotion this time. Not sure how well it turned out. Could I get some feedback on this? Was it clear where Luna was heading when she said they'd be together soon?

I haven't been following your story for a long time, Writefag.

I've been waiting until it's finished so I can read it all in one go because I'm a very impatient man when it comes to waiting for updates.

>>28450763
I'm pretty sure you meant suicide, doesn't make sense that she would think that would work, seeing how she just learned that there is no "soul"

>>28450769
Fair enough. I don't want to give you an estimate on when it'll be done since I'll be wrong, but it's coming.

>>28450970
A valid objection. I don't intend to change it though. Perhaps she's not thinking clearly, perhaps she's just being poetic, perhaps she's in denial, who knows? Still, I must admit you have a point. It's not reasonable for her to think that. I'm going to say her emotions are getting the better of her and brush this under the rug. Not because I thought of all that, but because it's a reasonable excuse, and pity is important for the progression of the plot.

Good catch.

>>28450763
This was a good update

>>28450711
4 days is pretty quick for an update from you. I wasn't expecting another one for at least 3 more days. Still, I'm not complaining. At least it updates on a somewhat regular basis.

>>28450711
It was very confusingly written. I've never had problems following anything in your story besides that report.

>>28451227
I have no idea what the fuck is going on in this mess anymore, but it seems to be going nowhere slow.

Tf2 Engineer making a dispencer shop in equestria when?

>>28452711
I can picture Twilight driving herself insane trying to figure out how dispensers work.

>>28357359
>You’re lucky Ash doesn’t know how to snugly tie down a human efficiently
>You were able to use the trick where you put your wrists together sideways instead of flatways and get more wiggle room
>Now all you had to do was untie your feet before she managed to break your waifu’s wings
>Fuck this pony rope, for real
>Ash is still busy doing whatever it is she does, trying to seduce Sunset or something, you can’t tell
>You untie your feet as quietly as you can, and when her back is turned to you, you pounce from your seat like a mighty jaguar after a gazelle
>You don’t yell as you do
>Why alert her?
>You take the rope still in your hands and wrap it around her neck, causing her to drop the hammer
>The sounds of a choking gray Unicorn fill the room as you pull harder on the rope, your sheer rage fueling you
>Unfortunately it wasn’t gonna be that easy
>Trained in CQC, you feel her manage to flip you over her and send you into the glass on the other side of the room
>You hear it crack as you hit the floor
>”Ahaa, I see you can’t keep yourself away, Anon~”
>You rise to your feet
>She’s brandishing that sledgehammer menacingly, her aura of magic enveloping it
>”But you know it’z rude not you wait your turn. I’m going to have to punish you, mon cheri~”
>Fug
>That’s a big hammer
>What do?
>How does one defeat a small poner with a hammer?
>THROW YOUR JACKET AT HER
>With it obscuring her vision for a second, you pick her up and punt her across the room
>Granted, the room was quite tiny, so she managed to hit the ceiling and a wall
>She’s better at recovering from something like that than you are
>”Mmph, a stallion after mine own heart, I zee~”
>What
>”I say when you’re allowed to hurt me, Anon. You’re being a very naughty pony right now.”
“I’m no horse.”
>She growls playfully. “You’ve got zat right.”
>You shudder
>Creepy mare is still creepy

>>28453595
>You figure you’ve only got so long before someone else comes in on the other side of the glass and sees what’s going on
>You and Sunset have to get out of here, and fast
>But she’s still tied down, and you doubt that she’s just gonna sit by and let you untie her
>So you’re hatching a little plan
>You just need to know how much force it takes to break a chair with a pony
>You duck low, avoiding getting your head taking off by a swing of that breaching hammer
>”Hold still mon cheri and I won’t hit anyzing vital~”
>You doubt that assertion
>You rush her, getting in close so that the hammer isn’t as useful
>You really should’ve taken up boxing when your dad offered it
>Well, you’re in, now what do?
>You easily heft the pony and grab her by the haunches, your hands sliding down her toned flanks to grab onto her hindlegs proper
>You swear you can hear her moan a little as you get a good grip
>Just as you feel her starting to do some crazy special forces shit, you give her a good swing, using her to break Sunset’s chair
>Wood splinters and you hear cracking
>You aren’t sure how much was wood and if any was bone or not
>Sunset goes sprawling to the floor and quickly works herself out of her bindings
>You don’t really have time for it
>You quickly scoop up the Prench pilot poner and exit through the door
>You don’t look back, just in case you see a very angry special forces mare coming after you
>So now you’re presented with nothing but samey corridors
>There’s signs pointing every which way
>You’re on the lookout for any form of exit sign
>Anything at all
>There’s mandatory fire laws and such in horseland, right?
>There’s no possible way that someone would be so incompetent as to not PUT UP ANY FUCKING EXIT SIGNS, WOULD THEY?
>”Anonnnnn don’t run away from me, zere’s so many zings you have to tell me still!”
>Oh that’s nice, she hasn’t lost sight of her original goal
>How swell

>>28453602
>You are Twilight Sparkle
>You are currently making your way into the castle throne room
>Inside as usual is Princess Celestia
>She tilts her head curiously as you enter
>”Ah, hello Twilight! What a coincidence.”
“A coincidence? Why’s that?”
>”I was just about to send you a letter. We’ve received word back from Prance. It appears that both Anon and Sunset Airlines have been apprehended.”
“What?!”
>That fast?
>But how?
>”Indeed. Supposedly they were caught taking refuge in Horssau and captured from there. What is it you wanted to see me about?”
“P-Princess Celestia, they’re innocent!”
>She looks at you for a moment before rising off of her throne
>”Twilight, what’s this all about?”
“I… I framed Sunset. I was the one that planted the fake salt in her ship, I was the one that hurt her, not the other way around. All of that “assault on a princess” and “possession of contraband” was all a lie!”
>All the while your mentor stands there, listening with rapt attention and nodding
>”Well, I can certainly say this is a surprising turn of events. While I’m not thrilled that my star pupil would lie to me for any reason, I do appreciate you coming to tell me the truth.”
>She walks elegantly towards you, placing a hoof on your back
>”Tell me Twilight, what do you plan to do about this?”
“Well, I have to rescue them. I got them into the mess they’re in now, I have to help get them out.”

>>28453611
>You see Celestia’s expression change to that of understanding
>”Twilight, you of all ponies know that I don’t condone of lawbreaking. However, I’ll just clear this little meeting from the ledger.”
>You smile, just a bit
>”It’ll be like it never even happened. And I won’t mention it to anypony. You should run along and do what you can to help your friends. I’ll do what I can to clear their names here in Equestria, though I doubt that it will do them any good in Prance.”
>You bow graciously and quickly gallop out of the room
>You make your way out of sight of the guards and focus on your magic

Gotta split the posts because I fucked the character count

>>28453621
>You knew roughly the area where Horssau was
>You pictured it in your mind
>The rolling waters
>The floating glaciers
>The falling snow
>You didn’t like to use this new magic
>But it was the fastest way you were going to find out where Anon and Sunset were
>You had no idea where in Prance they were, and you hoped that you could find some clues
>Once again you used your magic to cut open a rift before you
>And you jumped in
>On the other side you land, hooves in snow as the rift closes behind you
>You didn’t want to bring your friends along in this
>Getting them embroiled in all this trouble wasn’t something you could do to them
>You trot along, looking for Sunset’s ship
>You hoped that whoever had captured them didn’t bring her ship in as well
>Le Rossignol was surprisingly, not that hard to find
>In an entire harbor of aquatic vessels, the one that floated in the air was the odd one out
>Even from here though, you could definitely see something was wrong
>You sped up your pace
>There were no ponies milling about on the deck, and you could see the cabin windows broken
>There was a weird cube on the deck
>Judging from the material it was made of, you almost figured it to be like one of the bracelets Sunset wore, but something about it seemed different
>You swear you’d read something about this before
>Something about big blocks of the stuff being used for mass teleportation to a fixed point
>You trot around the snow dusted deck of the ship
>Was that…
>You inch closer and bend down, tentatively touching the motionless pony laying on the deck in a pool of her own dried blood
>No, she was gone
>Something terrible happened here
>You’re almost scared to check below deck
>You decide to not do so
>You enter through the blasted off doors into Sunset’s quarters
>Nopony
>Not a sound

>>28453625
>Your horn glows as you scan the area for traces of magic
>Most was congealed downstairs, some traces could be found in the captain’s quarters, and interestingly enough, there was quite a bit pooled inside the strange cube
>You trot over and brush away some snow from its surface, looking into it as it reflected the night stars
>Hm
>Curious
>You step back a bit and cast an activation spell on it
>You watch as it begins to light up and start pulling you in towards it
>You really hope this works
>You steel yourself and jump through
.
.
.
>You are Anon
>You are running away from a crazed torturepony as you dodge vaporizing blasts of magic
>And occasionally a sledgehammer
>Your longer legs keep you ahead of her for the most part
>But it’s only a matter of time before whoever she’s called in for backup arrives
>And you don’t think you can manage to take on an entire team of well-trained tactical poners with your bare hands
>You tip over a filing cabinet behind you as you keep running down a corridor
>It occurs to you that you have no idea where you’re running to
>”A-Anon, quick! Take a left!”
>You slide a bit as you change direction and start running down another corridor, this one lined with many different panels of glass
>You glance at them as you pass, but can see nothing
>You hope that none of the rest of Sunset’s crew is going through what you and she were
>You doubt that those poners could manage to stay calm under the kind of interrogation you two had gotten
>You eventually end up in a large hangar
>Unfortunately, so do a bunch of poners with riot shields
>Shields weren’t exactly new tech, but these looked a lot like the riot shields back on Earth
>You wondered what exactly they needed them for
>Magic, most likely

>>28453633
>You aren’t quite sure how long this is supposed to take
>You’d never used one of these devices before
>But when the white light faded, you were some sort of large room, a hangar of some sort
>For more airships it seemed
>You peer around the propellers and your eyes widen as you see Anon sprint and slide into the same room, chased by a gray mare and cut off by a group of ponies with shields
>Oh no
>Looks like they were in the middle of an escape attempt
>But there’s no way they could make it through all that
>You had to do something
>You didn’t want to get THIS involved
>But it didn’t seem like there was any other way
>You take a deep breath and leap out from hiding
“Anon! Sunset!”
.
.
.
>Oh fuck, now Twiggles is here
>Could this situation get any worse?
>Talk about being stuck between a rock and another fucking rock
>You watch as Ash stalks closer, twirling about the sledgehammer
>”Anonnnn I’m going to hit you wiz zis a lot. You didn’t have to run from me.”
>You see her lunge forward when suddenly a tentacle shoots out from behind you and embeds itself into Ash’s flesh
>She stops
>She looks down
>”What ze…”
>With a cracking like a whip the tendril fling Ash to the side in a spray of poner blood
>As she’s flying through the air you see that it had ripped out of her and almost ripped off her right foreleg at the shoulder
>It was only being held on through tendon and muscle as she hurtled through the side of a ship
>Well
>Alright then
“Twi, what the fuck?!”
>”Anon, I’ll explain later, alright? We’re leaving!”
>Her horn glows again, with a strange color unlike her own, as she seems to tear open the air in front of her
>As magical blasts of energy start hurtling towards you, you grab Sunset and fling yourself through
>You really hoped this wasn’t just gonna lead into some OTHER rape dungeon
>You open a single eye and look around
>You were… Back on the deck of Sunset’s ship
>Uh

>>28453645
“Twilight? What was that all about? Why are you here?”
>Sunset has since gotten up and is standing defensively in front of you
>”No no! I-I’m here to help you!”
>”Why should I ever believe you?!”
>”I know that you don’t have any reason to believe me, but would I have saved BOTH of you if I didn’t want to help you somehow?”
>Well, she has a point
>Sort of
>You’re still a bit wary of her intentions
“So why exactly ARE you here, then?”
>”I want to help you!”
>”Help us? Help us wiz what, hm? Framing me for somezing else even worse?”
>”I want to help you un-besmirch your reputation. I’ve already got Princess Celestia doing what she can to clear your name over in Equestria, I just have to somehow manage to do so over there in Prance. Hopefully it shouldn’t be too difficult…”
>She pauses for a moment
>”And if I can’t do that, then as the Princess of Friendship, I will at least try to help keep you safe from the Prench army.”
>As she and Sunset “discuss” things, you focus on trying to get yourself fixed up
>Starting with your nail-less fingers
>Fuck these hurt like a bitch in the cold air
>You go to make your way into the Captain’s quarters, stepping over coathorse as you do
>Poor gal
>You sigh and rummage through the cabinets for the bandages
>Upon finding them, you take a seat on the bed and start patching yourself up
>You’ll have to leave some for Sunset, she’s pretty fucked up too
>As you pay attention to yourself, you start to get that odd “off” feeling
>Like there’s something watching you
>It’s that part of you from centuries before, trying to warn you about predators
>You look up from your torso
>Just in time for you to be tackled to the ground
>You can never catch a break, can you?
>You hold your forearm up against the throat of (assumedly) the pony attacking you

>>28453655
>It’s
>Coathorse?
>But she’s dead!
>She’s got a hole straight through her forehead and everything
>She gnashes and snarls at you as familiar looking tendrils squirm from the wound in her skull
>Even so, you swear you can hear her speaking
>”Ccccapitaine. We heard something c-c-crash-“
>She opens her mouth wider, a mass of tentacles writhing about from her mouth, feeling the air
>Feeling your face OH GOD THEY’RE SLIMY GET THEM OFF
>”Monnn dieu!”
>The off voice of coathorse calls out
>You remember how warm she was
>Not anymore
>You pry your foot underneath her belly and fling her off
>She goes flying out one of the broken windows
>You hear a splash as she lands in the water
>Well
>Alright then
>Both Sunset and Twilight rush in
>Could’ve been a little quicker on the draw there, guys
>”Mon cheri, what happened?”
>You sit up and look around
“Twilight. Now I want you to be honest. Did you, or did you not, just bring coathorse back to life to try and kill me?”
>”What? No! I would never! Why would I do that? I said I’m here to help you!”
>”G-Gale Force iz dead?”
>Ah fuck
“Not… Anymore? I think?”
>Sunset’s eye twitches
>She turns to Twilight and it looks like she’s about to start going off on her
>When one of the belowdeck hatches flings open
>All is silent before the sounds of screaming start to emanate from the hatch
>But it can’t just be normal screaming
>That’d be too easy to deal with
>No this…
>This is horrid, hellish screaming from the deepest depths itself
>”Capitaine. Hhhhhhh-elp us.”
>”Stay. B-Backk, get away!”
>”M-M-Momm, dad. I-m sssso-sorry.”
>Fuck
>It wasn’t just coathorse
>What remained of Sunset’s crew was now filing out of their quarters
>They too held wounds, most likely inflicted by the ponies that apprehended you
>But now their bodies held a strange purple hue, and black ooze poured from their orifices where tentacles now writhe from
“Twilight, what the hell did you do?”

>>28453667
>”I-I didn’t do anything! It must’ve been when I activated that cube, the residual magic must have seeped out and done this!”
>Sunset looks traumatized
>A nearby barrel explodes into green flames, revealing a changeling
>Great
>Fantastic
>Could this day get any worse?
>”Captain Sunset! Anon! You’re back! H-Here, let me help you!”
>What
>Oh shit you recognized that bugvoice
>It was the one you threw by her horn back in the Badlands
>Had she been on the ship the whole time?
>She’s holding your weapons, and Sunset’s
>She tosses them to the both of you and takes up position beside you
>”W-Who are you?”
>”Don’t worry about it Captain, I can explain after we take care of this.”
>First Twilight has to explain things
>Now this changeling
>Oh joy
>Can’t you just get a break?
>Just one break?
>No you were going to have to re-kill Sunset’s crew
>Sunset was going to have to re-kill her crew
>What kind of cruel irony was this?
>The group of corrupted ponies descends upon you, Twilight, Sunset, and the bug
>Twilight’s horn glows and a magical field expands, pushing them all back, sending a few overboard
“How are we even supposed to stop them?”
>Were they like zombies?
>It didn’t seem like it, seeing as how coathorse had a hole through her head
>Perhaps…
>Maybe just getting rid of the problem didn’t have to entail killing them
“Sunset, go start the ship. Twi, the bug and I will take care of things down here.”
>She looks at you with tears in her eyes, before fluttering up to the helm to start the ship
“Twilight, bug, just help toss them overboard. We don’t know how to deal with them.”
>”I have a name!”
“Not important right now, bug.”
>You can feel the vibrations through the deck as the propellers start up and the ship beings to ascend
>Twilight uses her magic to fling the screaming, crying ponies off the deck
>You can hear them reliving their last moments even ass you throw them away

>>28453683
>It doesn’t take long
>Despite their appearance, they still only had the strength of the mares they used to be
>It still didn’t make getting rid of them any easier
>You hold what used to be Grape Shot at arm’s length
>She does nothing but scream and sob even as the tendrils coming from her arms try and rake at your skin and grab you
>You sigh softly and close your eyes as you drop her overboard
>You turn away and sit down on the steps leading up to the helm
>Now it was just you
>Sunset
>Twilight
>And bug
>What a great day this had been
>You stand up and look over at the changeling
“Hey bug, help me push this cube off the edge.”
>She rolls her eyes and gets up, trotting over to help you
>A couple of heaves and hos later and it was hurtling down
>Hopefully into the water
>You lean against the ship’s railing and cross your arms over your chest
>You wince a bit
>Right
>You were fucking BRANDED
>You’ve got to find a way to fix that
>Maybe you could ask Twi about it
>Or something
>Right now you just needed to sit down
>Sit down and rest
>You slowly slump down to the deck of the ship and close your eyes
>Despite the cold, it’s not too hard for you to fall asleep
>After all you’d gone through, it was a welcome respite


And there we go
Apologies for the massive hiatus between this update and the last one, a lot of shit had happened in the past week. Life stuff and whatnot.
Pastebin's updated
http://pastebin.com/PYUyfYwj

>>28453695
that was fucking brutal

>>28453645
>Equestrian royalty assaulting Prench forces
>aiding in the escape of criminals
Can you say 'international incident'?
I hope Ash gets better.

>>28453667
Oh man, poor coathorse

>>28453695
I feel like this "welcome respite" won't last long

>>28453957
Unless a character is explicitly confirmed dead,
I assume they'll be returning to the story later on.

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>>28455632
Yeah, so many poners to see dead.

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>>28455662

>>28452140
Hrm. That's a problem. I'll amend that then. It's been rewritten in the paste, and I have a standalone of the changed part in case anybody's interested. If anyone bothers to read it, please tell me if it's clear what's going on. And if not I'm all ears on how to fix it. http://pastebin.com/7Zft7paV

>>28452225
Could you be a bit more specific? What parts have left you confused? If you have a specific or actionable criticism then by all means do say.

>>28455924
Last thing I have a reasonable recall of was luna talking to him about helping the ponies fucked up from the magic disappearing for a while, now celestia is a brain in a jar or some shit, and everything is crazy.

>>28453695
This was a terrible update.

I mean, first, why the hell did Twilight go from 100 to 0 so quickly? And then everything on the ship was rushed as hell. Considering how long I've been waiting this was disappointing.

>>28455680
And then there's this /a/ faggot who keeps spamming the threads with his edgy despair garbage.

>>28453178
I can picture Twilight driving herself insane with literally anything. It's not like she's an epitome of mental stability.

>>28453695
>pushing infested poners off the ship
>near a populated area
>chock full of means of long-distance transportation
Zombie apocalypse anyone?

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>Celestia in a jar
Cyberponies being LIBERATED when?

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>>28456742
>"I do not like this 'Nameless' you call me. Is that not a name? Does that not make it, how is word, 'paradoxical'?"
>"Say it correctly, Luna, in my native tongue."
>"Anonym..."
>"… ous"

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>>28456476
What are you talking about? She is a perfectly sane pony

Page 8 bump for Ash's injury being merely a flesh wound.

>>28450763
YAAAAASSSSS

>>28455924
What happened to the day 1 report? Where does the 'trip to the library' fit into twilight's schedule?
This is much more clear, but it could still answer a few more questions.

>>28456319
It's a good thing I don't write just to please you then
>100 to 0
The eldritch parasite doesn't have full control over worst horse yet and she's got a relatively strong will
>rushed threat on ship
There has to be a rise and fall to everything, and keeping the "action" high for too long burns a reader out, at least it does to me. The corrupted crew is supposed to lead into a reflectory period where bug can explain shit, Twiggles can explain shit, and Sunset can reevaluate her life. But I'm saving that for the next update

>>28459374
Speaking of the next update, any idea when that'll come out?

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>>28459939
Soon™

I'm trying to make sure it doesn't take as long as this last one did
The only reason this one took so long is because I'd had an entire week or so of doctor's appointments, and I'd been caught up in co-op vidya with a friend

>>28450763
>It’s not your fault she’s too stupid to grasp basic robotics.
>You even gave her the blueprints!

I think that Anon conveniently forgot about the tech level of ponies.

>“Yes. But you owe me another one. We’ll start with the frame. Come along, you’re going to learn how to weld.”
It´s more like he set her up,just so he could get another IOU from her.

Page 8 bump for Twilight's actions resulting in the deaths of countless ponies after the Prench declare war against Equestria.

Page 9 bump for Ash did nothing wrong, except not breaking Anon's legs when she had the chance.

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>>28459965

doing a dump instead of a daily writeNpost due to an internet shitout this last weekend

>>28463659
So when are you going to post your it? Or did your internet "shitout again.

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>>28464503
you must've had a bad day.
pastebin.com/KvQKUKGi
>It's about ten thirty now. The games at 1:25, and your lunch destination so happens to be a sports bar with this whole 'surf city' thing going on. It overlooks the beach from two floors up and, if you land the good seats, you can be stunned at how beautiful the view is.
>You want the girls to see this.
>after that you grab about three gears and go screaming up the interstate ramp and down the i-5
>You pull off into mission valley and subsequently into your storage locker.
>You get another 500 dollars from the register and go off back towards the beach.
>By the time you get to mission beach it's noon, about right time for lunch.
>You pull into a Safeway parking lot and the four of you hitch a cabbie to the seaside.
>You get out and smell the salt, Pinkie smiling almost as hard as Rainbow.
>Twilight grabs a bit of the sand into her hand and pinches it between her fingers, prattling under her breath.
>But she returns after you signal her to 'come along'. Sand falling from her hands.
>You take a bit of a walk down the boardwalk, and turn off onto what is known as Belmont park.
>Belmont park wasn't too impressive, a few small 'kiddie rides' and a couple of tourist shops. But there were two things that really kept people coming back to this place.
>Well, three- but you have to really be here at near midnight for number three to apply.
>The four of you sit down on a nearby table.
>The Icecream shop and the Roller Coaster were the biggest attractions.
>Otherwise you walked the boardwalk or went to the beach.
>There were no 'surfing spots' in this particular area, that was reserved to pacific beach and a couple of spots north of where

>>28465065
>You turn to the girls, whom are fanning themselves on the table.
>"What now? Twilight says with a huff of inquiry.
>You simply mumble to yourself and play with your fingers before spouting-
"Okay. Coaster, then ice-cream."
>You point a finger at the large wooden structure, with perfect timing- as a railcar goes flying by at impressive speeds, the people on there screaming, one shouting 'KAMAKAZE MOTHERFU-'.
>They fly away before you could figure out what his second word was.
>"I wanna touch it" Rainbow says, clasping her hands together and a sparkle in her eye.>Adversely, you audibly hear Sparkle cringe. And Pinkie just stares, admiring its intimidation factor.
>You look over to Twilight.
"You don't have anything to worry about. Humans are very advanced and test everything greatly before allowing it to be run."
>she turns back.
>"I don't know, anon. I don't think I want to risk that. It's wood. And without magic I- Wood has it's limits."
>You chuckle.
"This coaster has been running solid for 20 years, being run hundreds of times a day."
>"We're jinxing it. I know we are." she replies.
"Then knock on wood."
>"I don't think I'm going to like living in a tree after this."
>You nearly drag twilight over the ticket booth, you pay the 32 dollars required for all four of you to run once.
>Each step up the ramp into the initial entrance is baby steps due to Twilight's respect for gravity.
>You give the teenager four tickets whom with a smile show you to the carts.
Reassuring twilight, you get into the middle and argue that "You should sit with me, you'll have a bit more comfort."
You tack on "The back is the most intense, so if you want, you should sit there."
>"Awesome!" she says, lost in a bit of ecstasy.
>About five more people get on, the people check the restraints and you set off.

>>28465101
>It lurches forward Twilight putting both hands on the rails with such intensity that boulder would feel soft.
>It dives down into a tunnel, and Twilight screams- Rainbow and pinkie falling inaline with her. You cackle, having ridden it nearly ten times now… it's just fun instead of adrenaline.
>Then it goes through the steady climb, Twilight's hair already frazzled all to hell.
>It stops at the top, and nosedives down, creating a feeling of impending doom.
>The sound grinds on Twilights Eardrums and compounds with her screaming
>She couldn't get off, and you knew it.
>You just hope that she doesn't like, disown you as a friend when she gets off.
>The ride seems over before it even started, and you four get off in the slur of the moment.
>Twilight has to sit down on the exit steps, and Rainbow runs up to hug you.
>With a cheer, she says "Tsar that was AWESOM-"
>Pinkie peels her off from spouting her generic rainbow-isms.
>It was about 1PM now, and about 25 minutes from kickoff, fifteen minutes from the second story sports bar, and about 20 minutes from tacos.
>You scoop up Twilight, whom is still is having a hard time comprehending what just happened.
>You four walk down the steps, with Twilight still silent.

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>>28465139
>>28465139
>By the time you four had made their way down the beach to the bar it was about 10 after.
>Twilight finally speaks, saying "Because I could not stop for death…"
You turn, saying "Eh?"
>"…He kindly stopped for me."
"Twilight, you're scaring me."
>"The Carriage held just but ourselves and Immortality."
"Okay. Moving on."
>Twilight spoke more after that, finally getting a grip on herself.
>You made it upstairs and, whaddayaknow, they don't ID at the door.
>You sit down, and order for the girls, calling over four servings of fish tacos.
>The Commentators behind you were commenting on Phillip Rivers and 'his offense' while you guys waited.
>Finally the plates come over and, finally a bit hungry- you dig in.
>The taco stops five inches from your face, you could smell the oils drilling into your lungs.
With a huff, you say "I'm Guy Fiueri…" you see a bit of saliva slip from your lip.
"And… And we're rolling out looking for America's greatest d-dinners, drive-ins, and d-dives."
>You take a bite, Pinkie goes ahead as well, but not before squirting some lime juice on top of the cabbage.
>The Legendary Taco Went to war with your taste buds, finally San Diego was Flavortown, USA.
>And this was the Town Fish.
"Holy shit- that was intense."
>You place the taco down and turn to watch some football.

Gonna write some more tonight

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>>28450763
>It's more edgelord sparkle

She acts like what dumb people believe smart people act like and it's wearing thin. Even the 14 year olds who say their geniuses on facebook have more self awareness.

>>28465065
More like I can come across as being an asshole without realizing it until it's too late. I was just curious why after two hours there wasn't an update after what was seemingly a post about an incoming update. I actually genuinely thought it was possible you were having more internet problems after a weekend of bad/and, or nonexistent internet.

>>28465907
It was the lone quote that did it.

also, updated bin to accompany some updates

>>28466613
http://pastebin.com/KvQKUKGi

of course, i have to forget the bin

>>28467447
I wish peteQ was still around

>>28467927
Yeah Science RD was cute

Crumpets

>>28467927
>>28468122
Sorry, I'm still getting over a tragic loss

>>28469302
Well, if it cheers you up, just know that someone out there deeply appreciates the time you put into your green thus far.
Curious-about-the-world Dash is best Dash.

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I hate going back on my word, but I got my wisdom teeth taken out today and boy do I sure love trying to write while jacked up on pain meds
Expect a slight delay, sorry

>>28471895
No worries mate, I had the same thing done a while back, I know how powerful those drugs are.

>>28471895
These happy fun time pain meds, or 'good night see you in two days' pain meds?
Cause if its the former, pop some pills and let the drugs write the story for you.

>10

>>28471895
Hope you had a good dentist.

>>28471895
I have three of my wisdom teeth fully grown without any problems.

Small update to prove I'm not dead.

>>28364704
>Now, armed with your sketches, it’s time to create a few working models
>Your plan is to make two boards to test the connection and link your two phones
>You begin by moving the house’s phone lines out to your workshop, where you’ll put the finished switchboards
>Then you create the wooden frame that will hold all the wiring
>It takes a while longer than you expected, mostly because of overtime at AMC
>Most Arcadians who were residents when the A-7 was released already own one, and AMC’s average consumer has only lived in Arcadia for two months
>In fact, most bought a car before a house
>This seems like bad news for the business, but with 200 immigrants a day, AMC is doing rather well
>Your job so far has been to acquire more tooling and expand factory production
>But after that problem is solved, it’s back to the telephone
>You pick up right where you started off with the wooden frame for the switchboards sitting unloved in your garage for the past two weeks
>Filling in the circuitry is as easy as creating the plugs and running the maze of wiring between the two boards
>You gave the phone in your office phone number 1011, so that switchboard is board 10X
>The phone in Minuette’s study is number 2011, so that switchboard is board 20X
>Since you’re only connecting two boards and two numbers together, most plugs and switches don’t serve a purpose and are there pretty much only for decoration
>It doesn’t take that long to get everything done, and soon enough you’re ready to test them

>>28473239
>North Point canters upstair to your studio’s improved phone with a and Minuette waits downstairs in her study
>You walk through the house into the backyard and give her a thumbs-up from the backyard
>Her head ducks back inside the house, and you run into the garage
>As soon as you put on the headset, the line rings
>You flick the switch to take the call, and North Point is on the other end
>”Anon?”
”Yes?”
>”Let’s see if this works.”
“On it.”
>You connect switch 1011 with plug 2A and rush to the other switchboard, connect plug 1A with switch 2011 and watch the light turn on underneath it
>You flick the master switch off to disconnect yourself from the call and sit back in your chair
>You did it
>You made telephones, a completely new technology, a viable option for a city of of thousands in mere months
>Now to actually implement it

I know it's hardly anything but I'm mostly doing some long-term story planning right now. Pastebin is updated. Link: http://pastebin.com/eufFYFaw

>>28473252
For some reason everytime I read an update to your story I get the urge to listen to "Life is Beautiful" from the Deadly Premonition OST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzvXBFwcyek

>>28473252
Fuck you, Scotty!

10

>>28475351
2 cute

SUPER EMERGENCY BUMP.

>>28475351
I want to make my own little Flutterbot to help around the house and keep me company.

Because lets be honest, that's as close as we'll ever get to pones.

>>28479270
Wasn't there a story in these threads about Robot-Equestria or something

>>28479617
>robot equestria
No thanks. I just want my own single botpone.

>>28479617
There was one indeed. Alas, it joined the ranks of the dead.

>>28479739
That's a damn shame.

>>28481166
I would love more fighter jet fighter RD

5gtre

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Where are you magos anon.
Is it time yet?

>>28483541
He's actually only started watching the show a little while ago. So that's eating up his time

>>28484259
Thats fair then.
I renember those first times.
Lovely times.

>>28465899
Pretty much hold out for peteq's improbable update. Thats the only one I bother to read here.

It'd be neat to see a green with the society where Celestia ruthlessly suppresses technology as in the op because day of a wasp and spider is her real backstory

I think it would make things more even handed. But I am far from an unbiased party.

>>28484768
>It'd be neat to see a green with the society where Celestia ruthlessly suppresses technology
There was a green about it one time. It's long dead now though.

>>28484789
Didn't Celestia frame Anon for crime, and them Luna broke him out or something like that

>>28485579
Nah, the CMC were breaking him out. The green died then.

Author was DickBiscuit.

>>28486456
I could have sworn Luna was involved because she hated Celestia repressing tech and letting it regress since Luna was imprisoned

>>28486456
>>28485579
>>28484789
>>28486893
sounds interesting enough, wish it wasn't dead though

>>28487733
>wish it wasn't dead though
Aren't we all mate, aren't we all?..

>>28488011
life truly is suffering for us fans isn't it.

>>28492508

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>>28483541
>>28484259
Soon.
Just watched Caslte Mane-ia.
I didn't realise how much shit was in the Castle of the Two Sisters, so I have to rethink some of the coming update.
So that's delayed it a by just little bit.
But soon.

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>>28495285
hype

>>28491138
indeed

>>28495285
any estimate on when we can expect the next update?

>>28499126

goto Page_1

>>28500387

A long time ago he came
We could not move as fast as him
We could not comprehend
And for this he was shamed

We met him with closed arms
For that is the equestrian way
He ran into the everfree
And we missed him for four hundred days

When he left he kindly stopped for us
And we could not make him move
For steel triumphed magic
For he had rose to prove

From behind him came his machines
Full of grief and anguish
He ordered them to move
And our Friendship could not stop this

For in the beginning we were scared
Deep deep down inside
Of what the ape was capable of
And so he moved us to the side

He was there for one reason
the portal in my castle
With room for just one man
And he went without a hastle

a millenium has passed
and yet- feels shorter than the day
he tightened his boots
and pulled out our roots
and left for eternity

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>>28502785
I was not expecting to see poetry. Still, it was interesting to read

http://www.strawpoll.me/11304884

Please vote in this strawpoll!

Hiro, the admin of 4chan, has requested each board reach a consensus on a board-related issue on /qa/, here
>>>/qa/682745
After that, many boards started a meta thread for discussion on a consensus.

/mlp/ has been debating in the meta discussion thread, here >>28492594 ,and is voting to allow spoilered porn images.

Hiro himself requested this, so please vote!!!!

>>28504016

praise Omnissiah

Are we kill? Cause we seem pretty kill.

>>28465244
man it would feel good to be back on the 'active writer's list'

>By the first half you and rainbow had bet on opposite teams to win.
>The other girls were admiring the 'Orange Crush' that was brought to them.
>The chargers were up a touchdown, and by half time Rainbow seemed to know the very basics of what was happening.
>the Browns had gotten a field goal, and were trailing by four points.
>It begun to look grim for rainbow dash after the Chargers kicked a field goal of their own, making it 10-3.
>The girls had burned through the four or five orange sodas by the end game, and you paid the waiter, plus tip of course.
>What kind of human would you be if you didn't pay tip?
>You four casually get up and walk out the door, down the steps, back down the beach.
>The group piles into a cab, and you head back to the store where your car is.
>In a moment you were back on the I-5 heading for the storage locker.
>You chirp into the gate, push your combination, and pull up to your locker.
>Ponk fires up again.
>"I want more orange soda, anon! you think we can get some more?"
>You jolt back-
"That stuff has more calories in it than a cupcake, you know that right?"
>Pinkie looks back at you, with a look that says 'and how many of those do you fucking think I eat a day? Kiddo.'
"You're right. Fine, on the way to the village we'll stop off for more."
>It was five at the time, and traffic would make it about 7 before you got to seaport village, the place you were going to both eat dinner and watch the sunset.
>You grab a few more 'Advanced Nuclear Physics Journals V1, 2, and 3.' and a 'Nuclear Physics vol1.' with a few normal 'Advanced Engineering' textbooks.

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>>28509900
>You marvel just as much as Twilight on 'why do you have all these books'.
>It was really a mixture of kleptomaniacs and 'working at the campus library' that did it for you.
>Twilight just thought you were a librarian for the longest time.
>it took her a while to ask 'does this dude look like he knows the Dewey Decimal System?'
>Of course you knew her answer to that question, but you digress.
>You throw the books in the trunk and head off.

>>28509900
Huh, I thought I put you back on the active writers list. I must have forgotten to save the changes. Oh well it's fixed now

>>28509900
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcFKlEfu_eU

this song fits really well in this green, for some reason.

>>28510958
You're absolutely right.

>>28488656
>"Lyra, stop playing with yourself and get out"
>"Caaaaaan do!"
And thus the ejection handle was pulled, and it was awesome. "3 weeks in traction" awesome.

>>28509909
and he's back!
i don't know if this is said enough, or at all.

but keep doing what you're doing. i like it, you're temporary fuck off made you a better writer.

also, you said a while ago something about changing your name, and then phase 2 started posting, are you the same person?

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>>28511870

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>>28511870
lyra is adorablest pone

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>>28450038
>they likely have less advanced mathematics due to the ability to use magic to assist in construction that would typically require mathematics, such as complex architecture
We do not know that. For all we know, even the simplest spells and incantations require advanced mathematical knowledge to be able to properly use, or they might have simply pursued mathematics as a game, without being able to see applicable uses for it in real life.

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Is there ANY story where Twilight actually behaves In-character and believes Anon about his species accomplishments (with or without explicit proof of them)?

It's just ridiculous how obtuse this thread makes her out to be, when she's clearly an avid researcher and mare of science herself.

>>28513510
Nope. This thread shits on her pretty hard for some reason. Might try to fix that at some point.

>>28513897
you do that. This thread could always use more greentext

>>28513510
>>28513897
>>28514639
The green where Sun Butt sent Anon to prison for spreading knowledge had Twilight Spergle that supported Anon, albeit she started off as a doubter.
rip

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>>28513510
Seeing as how the prompt itself is portraying Twilight out of character apparently, this general was doomed from the start.
May as well pack up and go home

Oh, and Twi a shit is a pretty good reason

>>28515003
And which one would that be?
I'm kinda new here.

>>28516305
Pretty sure he sure he talking about dickbiscuit.

http://pastebin.com/V3GFLXkj

Be warned ded story

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>You can drop the act now, Anon, it's your last chance.
>There's no possible way your big metal bird thing can beat Rainbow Dash in a race.
>It's metal! You aren't even going to be able to get it off the ground!
>Just admit you're lying and we can cancel this race and keep you from embarrassing yourself further.
>Nopony will think less of you, Anon, though at this point, I don't think anypony can.

>>28516566
Considering Rainbow Dash is seemingly be fast enough to produce the magical equivalent of a sonic boom I'd say that whatever contraption Anon has built using only materials and production methods he could had found in Ponyville is definitely not going to be faster than her unless he's gotten magical help or has been working on it for decades by now.

>>28516444
Thank you.

>>28513510
my green was literally written because of me having the same thought
http://pastebin.com/KvQKUKGi

i wanted someone else to write about it, but everybody was 'lol u' and i was like 'k fine'

>>28516882
ir it came to him from earth.

*Climbs in SR71*
*Fucks Off*

gonna continue in a moment.

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I love this these threads.

>>28509909
>>28510958
i love that fucking album so much like holy shit.
>>28512354
i am Phase 2, but i think the detailed nature of the other green throws people off
>After a bit of crafty weaving, you dive up a frontage road and get back into gaslamp.
>You park just outside of the seaport village, after checking your watch, it was about 6:30
>And the girls were hungry again.
>Ben and Jerry's and orange soda for Pinkie (and the girls, too.)
>Whats for dinner around here? You think to yourself.
>There's a bar nearby here, they sell steaks.
>That's too obvious.
>Ooh, there's that one hotdog joint.
>That'll probably be good enough.
"Okay! /That way/ is some of the best ice cream in the city."
>You point another direction.
"And the our dinner is /that way/."
>"Ooh!" Pinkie says.
>You expect her to say more, but she closes her mouth after that.
>Your head goes from side to side, switching from ice cream to food, gaging which was further away.
Earning a shock from your friends, you bellow "To the left!" before stoutly going left.

>>28518486
Every fucking time.
>After a bout of steps you're at the door for Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.
>Pinkie, knowing the drill, steps up to the counter and orders the 'Chocolate Americone Dream'.
>Rainbow Dash Doesn't want any, and twilight goes for vanilla.
>Of all the flavors, Twilight…
>You step up.
"One… err- give me that chocolate one there…"
>You point to a particularly tantalizing one.
>He scoops some into a bowl and divvies the goodies out, and you pay with a twenty dollar bill.
>After another bout of walking, you're standing at the docks area.
>A great revelation blows through your mind as you realize that the fucking Aircraft Carrier dubbed the 'Ronald Ragan' is sitting right in view.
>And all the other ships.
>You start shaking with excitement.
>You get to explain the military to these neigh vanilla ponies.
>Hell, one of them is eating van-
>You just notices that you used neigh in your sentence to yourself.
Chuckling, you say "Pony Humor" under your breath.
>Pinkie chuckles too- before adding "Good one, Anon."
>Bringing yourself back to light, you sit the girls down on the docks, faced right in sight of the glorious warship
"That, girls." you point to the grey mass of steel-
>You pause. Getting the girls attention.
"Is a man made ship."
>The eyes widen.
>"What's it for? It's huge… unnecessarily so."
>You gulp.
"It's- its made for shipping, naturally. It ships and delivers."
>'Yeah, like death.' you think to yourself.
>Pinkie Gasps and her jaw goes agape.
>Shit.

>>28518596
>You shake your head.
>'Sorry' you think.
>Pinkie nods, the other girls don't notice this exchange, with exception of the gasp.
>At that moment, Twilight turned and said something like 'that's a bit of an overreaction'
>Or at least you think she said that, all you heard was 'Overreaction'
>You start explaining their questions afterwards like nothing happened-
>How do you ship it?
>How does it not sink?
>Especially in rough conditions?
>You ask plenty of questions, pinkie even asks a few, like 'how do they get through ice without fire magic?
>She probably expected you to say something like 'Flamethrowers', and was surprised when you got into ice breaking.
>You didn't particularly know the ice breaking ways, but you were pretty sure that it was all in the shape.
>After a quick watch check, you find that it was '8:00'
>And that meant a sunset.
>You get up off the docks, and grab a few hot dogs, bringing them back to a few hungry females.
>They chomp the substance down, but neither you or Pinkie were hungry, so you opted to eat tomorrow.

>>28518825
>The sun was near to touch the water, and you started up with the deep thoughts.
>Pinkie gets Twilights attention, and says something like 'watch this'.
>You start thinking out loud.
"The Sun disappears for us, but rises elsewhere."
>…
"That's neat. You can't have a sunset without a sunrise for someone else."
>…
"There… there will always be someone looking east for their sunrise."
"And- without fail… it rises."
"We are those people a lot of the times, aren't we?" You turn your head to Twilight.
>Twilight nods, a bit of onion falling from her dinner.
"Where does the Sunlight end, and the Starlight begin?"
>"Are they not the same thing?" Twilight says.
"Doesn't Daytimes' ending bring darkness? Or- is it a gate to millions of it's brothers?"
>"The sunlight…" Twilight says. "It hand's itself off to the stars, and the moon, to watch us."
>Twilight starts up, saying "There's always balance in light and dark, you can't have darkness without light for someone else."
>"Even Celestia had to raise the moon. Even she had to experience darkness."
"But Luna was different, was she not?"
>Rainbow Dash and Pinkie are kind of agape at the conversation right now.
>"Luna found light in the darkness, she found beauty in it, a true optimist to find the stars in the darkness."
>Rainbow speaks up- "Don't forget her being banished because of her living in such darkness. Though."
>Twilight turns to Rainbow, saying "Yes. But now she's sees the value and vibrancy of the night, she did a thousand years ago, too- she rebelled when nobody else saw it. It was frustrating to her."
>"You're right."
>You're just smiling at them, and they quickly shake their heads.
"Now you see why I enjoy my sunsets. Here-"you say warmly, through your smile-"Let's get back to Equestria."

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Soon.

For real this time.

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>>28519149
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89F5fpvwPr0

i imagine that your droids are forced to listen to this during battle.

>>28519270
kek

While that story is long gone, I'm going to attempt to revive this: http://pastebin.com/yMC4JgwT

If not I'll figure something else out.

>>28519149
>>28519385
>Droid Anon
literally who

>Anonymous, the Earthling alien and Ponyville famous inventor has recently sold the rights of another of his quirky inventions to several Manehattan and Canterlot magnates.
>The 'Spinning Jenny', as it's inventor called it, is said to be able to weave much more fabric than multiple ponies combined.

>After revolutionizing the weaving industry of Equestria, Anonymous was later on torn to pieces by an angry mob of recently unemployed ponies who accused him of 'making [them] obsolete' by getting them fired from their jobs and replaced with his alien invention.

>>28519753
>>28519753
Writefag from a while back.He started writing a star wars crossover in these thread. It was about an officer from the Confederacy of Independent Systems creating a city state with an army of droids. He was also working on a story that was basically jurassic park in equestria.

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>>28519149
>>28519385

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>>28497215
Right now.

Pastebin:
http://pastebin.com/jydxcGfx

>BOOKS!
>Lots of books.
>Actually, an inconvenient amount of books.
>Also tapestries, displays and furnishings oh my.
>But mostly books.
>You are reading three held in mechadendrites as you continue to explore the castle.
>Well, the term ‘reading’ may be a stretch.
>You are actually transferring pict captures of each page into your memory coils.
>You would get to processing all of the data at a later point.
>Still, you skimmed through the some of the picts of one of the texts.
>Just like the hound creatures had spoken, it was written in a language roughly the same as Low Gothic.
>Though the style was more reminiscent of High Gothic or Linguia Technis.
>You’d guess this was written by the dominant species that the dog organism indicated to.
>You’d also guess these books to be exceedingly old.
>Though they’ve certainly survived better than castle itself.
>Perhaps a battle happened here that caused additional damage to it.

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>>28522130
>How very odd.
>You kept spotting references to equines within the text.
>You also kept seeing horse like creates depicted on the remnants of banners.
>It’s possible whoever once owned this place had an odd fixa-
>You’ve stepped on a pressure plate.
>The floor falls beneath you.

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>>28522133
https://youtu.be/mef6mNP9de8
>You appear to have been dropped into a small trap room.
>Beyond the cramped conditions, there appears to be no immediate danger within.
>With the rest of the castle being clearly build at a pre industrial level of technology, the mechanism that triggered this must be quite ingenious.
>Especially considering the sensitivity it would have needed to possess despite the balanced weight distribution afforded by your insectile legs.
>Perhaps it was designed for creatures much more little than you.
>You spot a small viewing space in one of the walls.
>Before a second thought passes, you activate your axe’s power field and swing it at the wall.
>It crumbles on the first swing, time clearly having robbed it of any structural integrity.
>Then you notice the corridor lying past the shattered obstruction.
>More specifically, you notice what the corridor is full of.
>Horse armour.
>Lots of horse armour.

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>>28522139
>You quickly scan back through the pict captures.
>In what you have already recorded you realise there to be one particular word that appears an inordinate amount of times.
>Within the 65.8% of the three books that you had recorded, there are over a thousand instances of the word ‘pony’.
>A small amount of actual reading confirms it.
>The species that wrote these books call themselves ponies.
>Well, that explains what the dog creature was trying to tell you.
>The dominant race seems to be a species of horse based organisms
…
>Well.
...
>Could be worse.
>Probably.
…
>Perhaps if Magos Biologis Phi-G3t was here with you.
>Or perhaps if it had been daemons.
>Or perhaps if it had been daemons and the Biologis was with you.
>That would have been worse.
“01110011 01101001 01100111 01101000”

https://youtu.be/-6ZaCY0sToo

More soon, either later today or if not, then this weekend.

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>>28522130
>>28519149
Two writefags I enjoy are returning. What a way to start the day

>>28522148
I just had thought. Are the minotaurs in Equestria going to turn out to just be WH40K beastmen?

>>28524109
I feel like Magos already answered this, but I'm too lazy check

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>>28519149

>>28525258
soon?

>>28525883
Soon.

>>28513485
>For all we know, even the simplest spells and incantations require advanced mathematical knowledge to be able to properly use
we know this is not true. See Twilight Time

>or they might have simply pursued mathematics as a game, without being able to see applicable uses for it in real life
Which is why I said "likely". You are correct, we don't know. I am basing my headcanon on how we have seen ponies behave in the show, creating solutions to problems in a manner similar to humans. If math does not solve a problem, it is unlikely that they would pursue the srudy of it. As you said, howvever, they may do it for other reasons

>>28522148
see you never again

>>28528201
>"May I ask /why/ does 'it' have a blade where the horn is supposed to be?"

>>28528201
Was this made by Greg?

>>28528333
If I had to guess it's because it amuses Vinyl Scratch

>>28524518
Looking through the archives I didn't really find anything

>>28530907

>>28532126

>>28528344
It was apparently made by someone called "AnkokuFang"

>>28533475
Wow, I honestly thought it was from when Greg started drawing his own pones, and was beginning to get decent at it
https://youtu.be/VMSvTrA59tw

>>28533982
Yeah I can see why you would think that.

>>28530907

>>28522148
Just caught up on your story and you’re doing an exemplary job of capturing the feel of 40K. Looking forward to more. Curious as to where you’re taking this though; should I expect it to be a 400 kB behemoth when it’s completed or are your goals more modest than that?

>>28534940

>>28536052

>>28450096
Tech priest pls go

>>28538285

>>28539100

>>28449143

>>28535514
Personally I'm hoping it lasts for a while

>>28458950
This is pretty helpful. Thanks.

>>28460443
I can see why you'd think that. Not what I was going for. This update should explain. Hopefully I didn't screw this up. I usually do when I try to get fancy.

>>28465899
Damn it, you're right. Daily reminder that I'm a hack.
Hopefully this will serve as a palate cleanser.

>You are Anonymous.
>You aren’t a teacher.
>You’re not used to actually explaining stuff.
>Handing out information is easy enough, but walking them through it?
>That takes much more time.

”This is a curve welder. Curve? Eh, close enough. The name isn’t important.”

>The black one sits before a metal workbench, SOMEHOW holding a welding torch in her hooves.
>The protective protective hood and flame retarding apron look ridiculous upon her.
>She clearly doesn’t like them, but when the sparks start flying she’ll be glad they’re there.

”What is important is what it does. Raise that hood, you don’t need it yet.”

>She eagerly does so.

”This is a simple, versatile device device that can be used fuse two different metal. You ponies use rivets, but that takes a lot longer to do and the rivets themselves are weak points.”

>”Yes. I’d been told that this was quite significant. Many ponies were amazed when we first saw your metal work.”

>And you were amazed when you saw theirs.
>Just not in the same way.

>”First make sure you’re grounded.”

>“Sorry, if I may ask. How does this work?

”You may. We have a significant negative lightning charge on one end and a positive charge on the other. If you complete the circuit through the atmosphere you generate a lot of heat which melts the rod.”

>“Negative lightning?”

>>28542405
>Wait.
>Their language doesn’t differentiate lightning and electricity.
>They don’t have a word for electron.
>They don’t seem to have electronic devices of any sort.
>Damn it all.
>You could have seen this coming if you’d spent five second to think about it.
>But you didn’t.
>You were too busy puzzling out the horsepower problem.
>To no avail, at that.

”Do you know how lightning works?”

>“Well, it’s usually pegasus magic that causes-”

”That’s a no. I owe you an apology. I gave you an impossible task. If I’d been thinking about things and not caught up in my own projects- bah. Whatever. I get that you’ve not learned as much as I about how reality works. Your kind haven’t disentangled nearly as many mysteries. What I failed to take into account is that we aren’t just different societies, we’re different species. I assumed you’d be able to figure these things out the way I did. But there was a critical difference.”

>”Yes, I realise that you’re smarter than I.”

“That’s not what I was getting at. See, I never learned how lightning works.”

>”What?”

”I never learned that the same way as you never learned how to breath. It was deemed so important that this knowledge was written into our genes several centuries ago.”

>“You knew how it worked from the moment you were born?”

>Technically the supra cerebrum isn’t fully formed until around the age of thirty, so not from birth.
>But that’s not really relevant.

“Pretty much.”

>Even across the species barrier you can see the look of awe on her face.

>”Astounding. So you needn’t study? No need to spend years in school?”

>You let out a deep laugh.
>She doesn’t hear it, though.
>You’re trying to keep emotional cues from reaching them.
>Trying to stay cold and impersonal.
>Not because you want to be mysterious or anything.
>But because they’ll almost certainly be misread.

>>28542409
>You know that tone is important in their tongue, but you’re not sure in what ways.

>”I was in school for decades. Granted I spent half that time intoxicated or asleep.”

“Why do you need that if you can know these things from birth?”

>Ah.
>A good question.
>She’s paying attention.
>And thinking.
>And probing for more information…

“Why do you ask?”

>You’re not afraid she’ll use this knowledge against you.
>Even if you do tell her, you can’t see how she could use it against you.
>Besides.
>You’re pretty sure at this point that this one doesn’t want to fight anymore.
>Demanding brain surgery was a pretty good indicator.
>She spends a little bit of time chewing her lip.
>You’re pretty sure that means she’s thinking?

>”I think I’m envious. I missed out on a lot of Equestria’s history, but even so. I’ve put a lot of effort into this land. Celestia and I, we’ve tried to make ponies the best they can be. Even though it’s mostly her, doing, I was… proud? Yes. I was proud of what we’d done. What we’d become. Equestria is the greatest nation in the world, and ponies have proven themselves the best species. Yes, I’ve said it. Call me a bigot, I care not.”

>You’re almost obligated to agree.
>You’ve seen other countries around here.
>Even if horse land is backwards as all getout, at least they have nice architecture.
>Functioning railroads.
>Some of the other shitholes on this rock don’t even have running water.

“Okay, so you’re doing better than the gryphons then. What’s the problem?”

>”Our achievements feel hollow now. You say we’re better than the gryphons, it’s true. But is that really such a great achievement? How can I be proud of our hot air balloons when you could fly me here faster than sound? How can I brag about our medicine when you can cure the dead? How can I admire our cities when you can build all this on your own?”

>>28542414
>She gestures vaguely about her, not pointing at anything in particular.

>”Some call you Zaius-”

“Zeus. I’m from ZEUS FIVE. Not Zaius! And it’s not even my name! I should have never told Spike where I’m from...”

>”Zaius, the god of lightning. The greatest of the gods! The one who slew the Titans, the one who now live atop his mountain overlooking the world.”

>She gestures towards your space elevator.
>Not a mountain, but you can see why they’d call it that.
>It starts broad and rises up to a point- a peak, rather.
>And they’re not used to anything being taller than a mountain.

>”They say these things because they can’t comprehend how any mortal could manage what you’ve done. They can’t even imagine ponies building what you’ve built in your short time here. And truth be told, I can’t either. Even standing here in the middle of it all and seeing it with my own eyes, it feels like a fever dream.”

“And you want to to be able to make stuff like this too?”

>”Or at very least be able to understand it.”

>You’re not sure what to make of that.
>Need you say anything?
>Need you do anything?
>Of course not. That’s the wrong question.
>SHOULD you do anything?
>Assuming first of all that you can ensure your own safety and dominance, would it be right to interfere in this way?
>And would you not then be obligated to do the same for every species on this rock?

>”You aren’t going to answer, are you?”

>Right.
>She wanted to know why some of your knowledge was innate and the rest wasn’t.

>>28542421
“There are practical limits to how much you can write into a genome. Make it too large and it grows unstable. Try to fit too many important sequences into a genome of a limited size and suddenly any damage or mutation becomes a major problem. I’m rubbing up against both of those problems. Unless somebody can find a way to make it more stable, or maybe even replace it entirely with a better method of encoding, you couldn’t add anything to me without first taking something away.”

>”And an innate knowledge of lightning was chosen?”

“What we’ve become can’t be sustained without a highly advanced society to back it up. We first chose what would be needed to survive in case it all fell apart, and second was what we’d need to rebuild it all. Mastery of lightning is non-negotiable for the latter. And in many of our colonies, the former.”

>You’re starting to think she’s serious.
>That she’ll actually try to push horse kind into genetic engineering.
>You’ll need to decide soon.
>How much are you willing to tell them?
>You’ve been sharing knowledge pretty freely so far, but this?
>There are so many ways it could go wrong, and you don’t want to be complicit in that.
>And worse, they might actually pose a credible threat some day.
>You’d best distract her before she starts getting to the actionable information.

“Let’s get back to it. Mask down.”

>”Do I have to? I don’t like this thing. I can hardly see anything under here.”

>She lowers it regardless.

“Do you want to go blind? Because that’s an option.”

>”You never had to wear one…”

>She mutters it under her breath.
>Odds are you weren’t meant to hear.
>Too bad.

>>28542405
I think you dropped this

>Writefag_Is_Kill !7TFBnF3qxo

>>28542431
“Because your eyes are made of flesh. Mine aren’t. Now. Make sure you’re grounded. Great. Only grasp it by the handle. Someday you’re going to have to explain how you do that with hooves, it doesn’t make any sense. Now. When you’re ready, use your rear hoof to step on that pedal. That rod is choc full of lightning now so don’t touch it. When you’re ready, lightly brush one of the metal cylinders you're trying to fuse, then pull it back a little bit right away. Try not to panic when it starts sparking.”

>She’s going to freak out when it arcs.
>You’re calling it right now.
>It gets closer.
>Almost there...

>”WAUGH!”

>A bright flash emanates from the center of the table.
>She recoils in fear.
>Thankfully, she stepped off the pedal when she freaked out.
>Exactly as you'd hoped.

>”Ah. Uh, I’m sorry! I know you told me not to, but it was just so sudden!”

>You can’t really see much behind the apron and mask, but you’re pretty sure she’s embarrassed.

“I did the exact same thing when I first did that a few months ago.”

>”You’d never done this before arriving?”

“Naa. We make the machines do it for us back home. Take as many attempts as you need, I’ve got plenty of rods.”

>It’s true.
>You overproduced these quite a while ago.
>And you don’t use them anymore anyway.
>It’s all friction welding now.
>When your bots weld at all.

“Nice and steady. Try for a consistent stream of molten metal, don’t totally detach from the pool. You want to completely fill the seam, no air bubbles.”

>You set her to it and return to your thoughts.
>Passively watching of course.
>But mostly thinking.
>She’s going to ask you to genetically modify them.
>You’re sure of it.
>Is it dangerous? Would they devote their new form to do you harm?
>You’re pretty sure the black one wouldn’t, but what of the others?
>Would it be just to help them alone?
>Surely not. You’d have to help all the others.

>>28542432
Woops. Thank ya.

>It’d be a colossal undertaking, assuming you can even do it!
>The horsepower interaction with their cells would surely ruin your designs.
>And who are you to decide? To choose what their species shall become?
>Why should an outsider determine the nature of their very being?
>On the other hand…
>If they’re struggling and failing, is it right to leave them?
>To condemn them to their inferior minds and bodies until they one day solve the problem for themselves?
>What if they never manage?
>What if they’re just not smart enough?
>Or if they were designed with some sort of mental roadblock to stop them from doing that?
>Periodically you return your focus to the future metallurgist.
>And promptly return to your thoughts.
>Time passes. Her hooves grow steadier.
>You still have no answer.
>And finally…
>She puts down the torch and lifts her hood.
>She stares at two fused rods.
>Superficially they look acceptable.
>You suspect a more indepth look would reveal a great deal of flaws.
>But it’s a good start.
>She steps back with a big goofy grin adorned on her face and jumps around for a little while.
>You don’t have your answer yet.
>You’ve no idea what to do when she finally asks.
>Whether it’d be right or wrong.
>But that can wait a little longer.
>For now?
>You’ve got a horse to teach.
>And a horse to build.

Later…

>You are Luna.
>You are exhausted.
>It’s been some time since HE started guiding you.
>Days? Weeks?
>You’ve lost track.
>Time has less meaning within Sanctuary.
>The eternal artificial light makes a mockery of day and night.
>And you’ve yet to see a clock you can understand.
>You’re hoping it hasn’t been too long.
>Equestria was in rough shape when you left.
>And you fear that it’ll decay further in your absence.
>When you can spare a thought that is.
>By and large you’ve been focused on your task.
>And even if Equestria burns to the ground in your absence?
>To Tartarus with it.

>>28542440
>You’ll stay here for millennia if that’s what it takes.
>You’ve learned much, and come far.
>How far do you yet have to go?
>You can only imagine.
>But right now, the future looks bright.
>A few more turns of your spanner and you step back to admire your work.
>You push your sweat drenched mane aside as you gaze upon the frame.
>Your sister’s new body.
>Painstakingly crafted and lovingly polished, each piece gleams with a brilliant metallic sheen.
>Every part is carefully shaped and filed, perfectly matching her natural form.
>Almost perfectly.
>Were her colours right and her mane and tail present, you might not notice a difference from a distance.
>Up close the artificial nature of her body becomes readily apparent.
>Interlocking plates working together to make her flexible, her empty eyes gazing at nothing, her rigid stance, far too steady for a real pony to hold.
>But finally, after countless attempts and retries, you’re satisfied.

>”You really love her, don’t you.”

>You’ve grown used to that.
>To his voice coming from the ether.
>To his seeing your every move.
>In Sanctuary, everything serves as his eyes and ears.
>It’s unpleasant.
>But tolerable.

“More words can convey.”

>”It shows. You’ve done a good job for an organic.”

>A compliment?
>From HIM?
>You are greatly honored.

“I thank you. For everything.”

>”We’re not done yet. Right now it’s just a lump of metal.”

“Yes. I’m afraid I’ll need tutelage for what comes next.”

>”In time. But first, we have some aesthetic things to cover. Not sure how much you care about them, but if you want to fix it now’s the time. Her rump was bigger than that.”

“Indeed. She was quite self concious about it.”

>”So that was intentional. Does the cutie mark matter?”

“Immensely.”

>”Alright, hold on a bit.”

>Before long once of the strange floating discs comes by.
>It’s holding a rather large squeezable tube and a bundle of rags.

>>28542448
>It drops them by you and goes about on its way.

>”Paint her cutie mark on. Get a good thick layer.”

>You pick up the tube and squeeze a bit of goo onto the cloth.
>It comes out as an odd green.

“Oh. I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s the wrong colour.”

>”I know. We’ll get to that.”

>You shrug and go back to your work.
>Painstakingly drawing it upon the metallic rump, wiping away the errors with excessive care.
>Hours pass before the first one stands.
>A perfect representation of the sun shaped mark that’s been etched into your mind over countless years.
>You turn to the second half.
>Again, hours pass.
>Or at least that’s your estimation.
>It could well be longer.
>You doubt it’s shorter.
>Until finally it stands.
>In the perfect shape of her cutie mark.
>Ugly green and all.

>”Stand back.”

>You comply.
>One of the flying discs comes by.
>And sprays a thick mist of white paint up her new body.
>None adheres to the green cutie mark.

>”UV cure. You might want to step away for a while. Unless you like sunburns.”

>You’re not sure what that means.
>Except the sunburn part.
>You’ve only felt the sear of your sister’s sun a few times before.
>The warmth turning into a stinging flame that stays with you for days to come.
>You step away.

>”Now we wait. You should rest, you’ve been at it for quite a while.”

“I doubt I could. I’m too excited!”

>”You’ve been awake for nearly three days.”

>So long?
>Wait a second.
>Is he concerned for you?
>An interesting development.
>You can’t imagine why he’d care about you at all.

…

>’Sorry, idiom. Doesn’t translate. I’m saying I respect that greatly.’
>’Consider it a gift, or maybe an apology…’
>’Keep it up and I might just start liking you.’

>No.
>There’s no way.
>He’d never like a pony. Never forgive them.
>There must be some other explanation.

“I’ve stayed awake longer for less important projects.”

>>28542453
>”If you’re certain. We’ll proceed to the next step then.”

“I thought you said it had to cure?”

>”Done.”

“That was fast. It barely qualified as waiting.”


>”It did for me. I get bored easily. Wipe off the protective film. Take off her rump plates.”

>You comply.
>The thick waxy substance easily comes off to reveal a shiny, unpainted outline of Celestia’s cutie mark.
>The plates pop out of their slots with only minor difficulty.
>They’re intended to be removable so you can get at the inner workings for repairs.
>You’re not quite sure why they’re being taken off now.
>The moment they’re removed, one of the flying discs grabs them and flies off.
>It drops them in a vat not too far off.

>”That stuff’s poisonous. Might wanna stay back.”

>Why is he dumping them in poison?
>Better question…

“Why do you have a big vat of poison?”

>”Cyanide’s useful.”


>VERY poisonous.
>Your eyes aren’t quite sharp enough to be certain from this distance, but you think you see some wires being lead into the vats.
>A few seconds later, the plates are removed.
>They get dipped into a different vat briefly.
>Then returned to you.
>The white paint seems unchanged, blending in perfectly with the rest of the body.
>But the previously exposed metal, the cutiemark you painstakingly painted, has been covered with brilliant gold.
>She’ll love it.

Later still…

>Again, you’ve no clue how much time has passed.
>Exhaustion forced you to rest at some point, so it’s been a while.
>Countless wires and chips, innumerable motors.
>You hardly understand any of it.
>But you’re following the instructions, and you’ve been repeatedly assured that everything’s fine.

“Solder it into- yeah. You get it.”

>A small drop of easily molten metal drips onto the strange board.
>Your first attempt resulted in a discarded ‘chip’, the solder splattering and making a ‘short circuit’.
>Your second and third were barely better.

>>28542460
>But eventually you managed to connect the wires ‘just so’.
>You have no idea how these things work.
>And when you asked him how, he strangely deflected the question.
>”It’d take too long to explain.”
>He’s been rather open and forthright with information until now.
>Does he fear what may happen should you learn?
>Or is it truly such a daunting proposal that he simply doesn’t have the time?
>You’re not certain.
>Eventually the final drop lands, and you step back to admire your work.

>”Well, it took longer than I’d planned, but you did it. Time to run the test sequences.”

>The metal shell moves strangely, each joint twitching slightly as he runs through them.

>”The eyes are powered but I’m only getting one channel on their signal.”

>Again you’re unsure what that means.
>But you do know one thing.
>You need to fix it.
>You walk up to your sister’s body and twist out its left eye.
>It pops out of its socket to reveal a tangle of wires within.
>Wires to feel touch, to smell, to see.
>Wires filling an empty cavern that should hold the most important part of all.
>And sure enough, one tiny little wire, a thin little piece of metal insulated in a strange blue material, hangs loose.
>After some fussing you secure it snugly in place.

>”There we go. Close her up, we’ll continue testing.”

>The ‘eye’ screws back into place with ease.
>Even though you made it, you’re constantly amazed by this body.
>How quickly it can be opened and closed.
>How readily pieces can be swapped out.
>It could take weeks to mend a broken bone.
>But this thing?
>You could replace a leg in minutes.
>Assuming you had a spare ready.
>Is this what it was like for him when Discord took his arm?
>A minor setback, a nuisance rather than a problem?
>You dare not ask.
>Best that he forget his hardships, lest you raise his ire.
>The amazing construct continues to twitch and shake.
>Each fake muscle reacting in sequence, each joint coming to life.

>>28542467
>A few failures make themselves known.
>Some easily repaired, some massive hindrances.
>The hours tick down, your excitement grows.
>But through it all a question burns at the back of your mind.

“Would it not have been faster had you done this?”

>”Much.”

“I do not wish to sound ungrateful, but I’m genuinely curious. Why have me do it? Your time is precious and you claim you’re impatient, yet you took the time to guide me through this. You could have saved a great deal of time had you done this yourself, correct?”

>”It’ll save time in the long run. If she’s going to live thousands of years longer, I don’t want to have to repair her every time she trips.”

>Repair?
>That’s…
>You hadn’t considered that.

“She’ll no longer heal, then?”

>”Nope. It’s your job to keep her intact. I’ll provide spare parts though. Not going to rely on you for that.”

>You feel confident that your smiths could make the frame.
>So he must be referring to the other parts.
>The ones he refuses to explain.
>The ones that would ‘take too long to explain.’

“Would it not save time in the long run to teach me how to make those too?”

>You can’t see his face.
>You can’t hear his real voice.
>And yet you can feel the disdain dripping from his every word.
>Whether it’s genuine or imagined is unclear.

>”Wouldn’t do you any good. Even if you knew how it worked you wouldn’t be able to manufacture them. Unless your machinery is precise to 5 nanometers.”

>You must have misheard.
>His works verge on miraculous, but that?

“How small?”

>”About a four thousandth the width of your mane hairs.”

>He’s serious.
>Completely serious.
>You’ve held in your hooves feats of incomprehensible engineering.
>Precision beyond compare, unmatched finesse, and yet…
>Produced en mass.
>When you damaged them, he discarded them.
>How could such a wonder be disposable?
>The number machines you sabotaged to spite the Titan…

>>28542475
>How precise were they?
>Sanctuary said they could fail were a single atom out of place.
>You’d not really let that sink in at the time, being preoccupied with more urgent issues.
>Such an impossible feat, yet there was no hesitation when you were told to destroy them.
>Impossible for you to create.
>Expandable for him.
>There’s no longer room for doubt.
>You can’t match his works.
>Save for magic, he is better than you.
>Better than any pony could ever hope to be.
>But perhaps…
>Perhaps there is another way.
>Perhaps if you were MORE than a mere pony?
>Then you might understand.
>Then you might be as great as he.
>Wise beyond measure.
>Clever beyond comprehension.
>Able to slay Titans, cure the dead, end aging.
>If Celestia shall live he’s granted you the greatest gift you could ever hope for.
>You’d love to grant the same gift to others some day.
>You can’t as you are.
>But perhaps you might as you shall be.
>You’ve decided.
>You won’t accept the limits of ponykind.
>You shall transcend.

>”I think we’re ready. Except one small detail.”

“Which is?”

>”The magic slowing down time.”

“Is that all? I’ll need sand.”

>A simple dispel glyph should suffice.
>Minutes later you stand in the middle of it.

>”All I see is a series of concentric circles with some weird runes in between them.”

“Glyphs, not runes.”

>”And this’ll deal with the magic?”

“You can move her, yes? Just move her into the middle.”

>She beings walking.
>WALKING!
>You built it, and it can walk unaided.
>Despite your shortcomings you take great pride in that.
>She- it steps into the middle of the ritual circle.
>And without pomp or circumstance…