My Little Progress : Technology Isn't Magic - Thread 43:

>ALREADY
>DEAD
Fucking hell, just stop making these. A thread died for this pointless general.

>>30020679
I hope it was a glimmer thread ^:)

>>30020710
Those are obsolete, anon. The meme is dead. Move on.

>>30020760
He's from reddit, all he knows are unfunny dead memes.

>>30020763
I know, but it was worth a shot.

>>30020773
It's weird though, I thought the were only pissed at slave general, the must be part of the retards who raid /pol/ all the time, I guess slow by a month is an improvement for that kind of stupid.

Because that prompt is boring, try something NEW! Like God Game.

>>30020884
???

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>>30020762
>You can't improve on perfection.
Hasbro proves you wrong.

>>30020773

What about a story about anon who grew up in a refuge ship (Earth was experiencing minor overpopulation, also war, also oil drained out and as consequence famine because all our fertilizers are made out of carbon-based fuels) and all he knows are ship, but one day they arrive to their new home, but there is one little problem, planet is occupied.

By multiple races.

They land on surface and i don`t know, is that a Griffenstone, or Dragonlands, or maybe it is diamond dog kingdom?

Humans landing in ponylands or everfree are became cliche and we do not have much stories about anon interacting with other spicies of Equis.

>>30020923
Dragonlands sounds like the best choice, here. If there's a writefriend reading this, please write this.

>>30020923
I personally have a soft spot for diamond dogs in these types of scenario due to the whole dogs are man's best friend thing

>>30020923
>Going on little more than hazy telescope images from a probe around Neptune the last hope of mankind leaves the light of sol behind for a world deep within our stellar neighbor,alpha centuari. Lieutenant F.Anon is one of several advance scouts sent out several years ahead of the Ark ship to do what they can to up the habitability rating of the planet in preparation for the rest of the ark.

>>30021213
something seems off about it being
neptune imho

>>30021625
i just put neptune because its an object far away from earth that a telescope in orbit could probably get better images of systems closer by. Think of the hubble telescope, thats only in low earth orbit and that takes photos of things deeper within the galaxy.

>>30021776
that seems fair enough

>>30020896
I'm guessing he doesn't know know the difference between the words this and that and got them confused and also meant to link to some other post for context

>>30020923
Just curious but are you writing this or is it just a prompt? Either way I think the griffins might interesting due to them and humans being in a shit situation while pining for former glories

>9

>>30020923
Dragons.
>parts of the ship crash about the dragon lands, getting added to their hoards
>'knights' with armor made from starship plating
Some people would be frail as well, not able to walk or breathe the air properly because of growing up in low g areas of the ship(?)

>>30026351
The armor idea sounds really cool

>>30026351
that's a good question, I would assume the humans would have something to combat it, but that's a bit of a handwave

>>30027837
The Expanse came up with the idea of the 'juice' some sort of really powerful steroid that lets the body power through high g burns and intense pressures. it would give great motivation for the more able bodied though, they desperately want land to start healing their loved ones, even if they have to take it from the natives. Or a moon base, so the residents of Equis get treated to lights starting to pop up on their moon.

>>30027904
There's also the power armor approach which allows for some scenes where equestrian natives wonder what humans actually look like

>>30028674
>power armor

it is spoopy, you do not want to spoop the natives are you?

>>30029073
I doubt dragons who find power armor spooky if humans landed there

>>30027904
>moon base
Would luna be mad or fine with that?

>>30029950
Fine with it, until we start mining into it's rich crust.

Something, something, lewd pun, something, something, horse pussy.

>>30029994
mining into the moon causes a visual representation to appear on her ass

>>30030004
I think we've had something like this before...something to do with a self contained universe in her cutie mark...

>>30029950
I think she would find it somewhat touching people would want live on her moon

>>30030690
or view as disrespectful to alter what she views as hers

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I had this dumb story idea.

>Anon was an aeronautical engineer on Earth.
>Had a fetish for airships.
>Finds that ponies have balloons, but little to no way of controlling the direction of where said balloon went.
>Anon ends up building the first Airship, which he names it the Icarus.
>The Icarus model airship is a major success.
>But, however war starts to loom over the horizon has the various other nations realize that the airships can fly over Equestria's natural defenses and be strapped with weapons.

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>>30031197
Add some steampunk stuff like the Vinci air units from Rise of Legends, the personal planes from Atlantis: the lost empire, the airships from Guns of Icaus and a dispute between Pegasi City-States outside/inside Equestria.

>>30031197
I started writing a fic like this back in 2012.
It was great, self insert, autism, rainbow dash.
I was befriending a blacksmith kinda guy diamond dog and we were going to use magic gems to make stuff fly.

>>30031419
>self insert, autism.
Don't be too severe with yourself. Maybe you can salvage some parts of your story and add something new.

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>>30031443
m8, I /need/ to be severe with myself.
I mean, wtf, I was planning on marrying Dash, buy a theater or something together, adopt scootaloo and.. I can't even remember what other retarded shit I had planned. It was hip back then tho, everyone and their dogs were writing self inserts.
I'm still okay with my plans to use steampunk-lite tech with magic gems etc tho. I was going to go to dragonistan to get more dragon flame infused shit etc because Spike was still too smol
nvm that was autistic too haha

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>>30031561
Ok that's too much information. But still, try to salvage the ideas and try again but this time never go full retard.

>>30031578
Hey if I can go full /pol/ in a story he can go full retard.

>>30031589
Fair enough, Anon.

>>30031561
Well at least now you realize how bad you were

>Thread made two days ago
>Not an ounce of green
>Consists of bumps
Let it die

>>30032836
Kill yourself.

are nano-machines magic?
maybe we can get a story about then to answer this question

>>30033580
They're functionally magic

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>>30032836
There are 3 active writefags who are working on updates.
Kill yourself.

>>30033580
Metal Gear in Equestria when?

>>30034176
LP, WiK, and Portgate right?

plus CarpenterAnon said he should have something soon >>30017489

>>30035631
And Scotty too, I think

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>>30031393
Anon, you are speaking my language. I want moleponies fighting over caverns and flowtubes with those leviathan drill scorpions. I dig, I die, I dig again.

>>30036892
What if you like the three?
A 4channer?

>>30036918
you're a punk then

>>30036892
i like the aesthetic of dieselpunk, but i enjoy the technology of cyberpunk, can i have a mixture of both?

>>30037077
Isn`t it would be like ...


the environment we are living in?


But with car designs from the "lorax"?

>>30037077
I guess that would possibly

>>30036732
Which one of you main, Anon?:
Vinci, Alin or [Spoiler]Coutl[/Spoiler]

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>>30037895
I main zeke.

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>>30037911
>Jack-of-all-trades Vinci Mecha

>>30034546
I'm pretty sure there was one story here where Anon basically became like Big Boss in how he recruited people and organized things

>>30031393
>>30036732
>some old game I never hear
What the....

>>30039514
It's Rise of Legends, an RTS based in a fantasy world, where technology and magic co-exist

>Thread made three days ago
>Not an ounce of green
>Consists of bumps
Let it die

>>30041949
Stay mad, faggot.

>>30037077
I would enjoy having more dieselpunk mlp stuff

>>30041949
Technology is not alive to begin with so I cannot die.

Where in your brain does this compute in a way to make you think that technology is alive?

>>30021776
No that's gay. Hubble takes better pictures because it's outside the atmosphere - in these terms there would be no difference between Earth and neptune orbit. And even for something as close as the Centaury system, the difference in distance is absolutely negligible.
On the other hand, it's much easier to build a super duper amazing telescope in Earth orbit than send one to Neptune. Then there's the bandwidth problem - it takes a very long time to transfer any moderately large amount of data from far-away probes back to Earth.

>>30043211
you seem to really know your shit

>>30040081
Sounds like a good source of inspiration for these threads

>>30044415
yeah most stories just go pure tech instead of marrying the two ideas

>>30037077
go to the Empire State Building

>>30045549
That's a pretty good description i hadn't thought of

>>30041949
fuck you bump

>Thread made four days ago
>Not an ounce of green
>Consists of bumps
Let it die. This is exceeding even my expectations at this point.

>>30048035
If this thread triggers you then hide it instead of just whining.

>>30048057
>If you don't like the cancerous tumor growing on your head just put on a hat and ignore it

>>30048063
>calling one thread in a dry spell a cancerous tumor
You must be pretty mad right now. Maybe you should step away from your computer and take a bit of a break.

>>30048166
>babbys first time trying out the smug meme

>>30048063
Yeah but, like, this thread won't ever cause you harm.
While a tumor could be kinda, you know, deadly.
But if you can unironically compare those two things, then I would suggest you to seek help.

>>30048178
This thread and all the other contentless generals are the metaphorical cancerous tumors of /mlp/. Are you unironically autistic or just so bad at delivering a strawman it seems like it?

>>30048187
But /mlp/ is dying Anon, it's the circle of life.
And you sperging in every thread about 'hurr generals have no content' doesn't help.
You're literally that guy that cries about the climat changes while driving a Chrysler.
If anything, I believe you're the autistic one, I'm not actually browsing threads I dislike just to shit on them.

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>>30048199
>But /mlp/ is dying Anon, it's the circle of life.
No, it's not. We've gained a solid 1000 UIPs in the past month. Pic related.

>And you sperging in every thread about 'hurr generals have no content' doesn't help.
I fail to see how complaining about no content keeps people from making content.

>I'm not actually browsing threads I dislike just to shit on them.
The thing is that I used to be very active here. This was my mainstay general. Now I'm advocating for you remainders to just let it die. Like the birb threads and like the Little League threads, this generals life has come to an end. It's not just a 'dry spell' if it's been ongoing for months.

>>30048232
>we've gained IP
Yes, maybe because of the new season?
Who would've guessed! And these numbers are unique IP posts Anon, doesn't have much impact on the board's life if they all post once or twice a month.

>I-I don't see how me complaining keeps people from making content
Yes, but it clearly doesn't help anyone you dumbass. Since you didn't get my point, I'll clear it for you.
No one gives a fuck about your shitty opinion, and if all you want to do is shitpost about 'uh there's no content' then everyone's better off without you.

>B-but I used to love it here
But you don't anymore you faggot.
Use your fucking brain.

>I'm just advocating
Then go advocating on the streets and do something with your life, faggot.
If the thread dies, it dies, that's how it works.

>>30048253
>Who would've guessed! And these numbers are unique IP posts Anon, doesn't have much impact on the board's life if they all post once or twice a month.
I have physical proof and you have an assumption.

>No one gives a fuck about your shitty opinion, and if all you want to do is shitpost about 'uh there's no content' then everyone's better off without you.
In that case, should I disregard your entire post? It's just one big opinion. In fact, I should disregard everyone's opinion on everything, since because it's an opinion it's automatically wrong! You said that my complaints of no content keeps writers from making content. I said no it doesn't. You then changed the argument line. Fuck off.

>>30048253
>But you don't anymore you faggot.
No shit. You said that "at least I'm not browsing generals I dislike to complain in them", and I replied with that yes, when this was more of a general and not bump city I did like it. I have experience and history with this thread and I'm not purely shitposting.

>If the thread dies, it dies, that's how it works.
It's already dead. You are the maggots in its corpse, futilely trying to wiggle around enough to make it seem alive.

>>30048296
Yeah, no, sorry anon but I'm not reading all your shit.
Stop posting in threads you don't like.
Faggot.

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>>30048304

>>30048320
>le autism maymay
It's past your bedtime.

>>30048408
>>30048174

>>30048411
Wow, that's even funnier the second time.

>>30048232
Do you just not read anything we're posting?

>>30048540
No, he's a shitposter

>>30036732
CarpenterAnon can we get a status update?

>>30050584
I'd say there will be green either tonight or tommorrow morning.Definitely by Thursday. Finals goofed up my flow and I'm having to get back into it.

>>30050618
That's great to hear

>>30050618
Hopefully an update will get that shitposter to shut up

>>30052126
I wouldn't count on it, shitposters gonna shitpost

I had an idea of a pair of anons send to monitor Pony planet. Also the idea of Technological Enlightment (AKA: breaking the Prime Directive and showing the wonders of future technology) is possible in the greentext.

>>30053750
I would be down to read that

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>>30053750
>"Yes, I repeat, there appears to be a pink pony floating in a balloon right next to our space station. She's waving and making faces."
>"Yes, our space station is in space."
>"No, I have no idea."

>>30050035
>Tenno in equistria when?

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>>30054811
When a Warframe fan decides to write one

>>30054575
>>30054611

Welp I got green light. I'll play a little of Stellaris for the first part

>>30055699
good luck writing your story

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Prologue

>Be Scientist aboard the ISS Faust
>The Terran Science Directorate need a report of those planets
>Surveying isn't fun.
>The last time the ship sensors detected an object orbiting a G class star at high speed.
>It was an odd piece of ceramic from ancient times
>This was a waste of my time
>The gravitic sensors detect something
>High energy concentrations detected
>oh_shit.png
>A fleet of space amoeba
>time to go lads
"Activate the warpdrive, NOW"
>"Sir, we require more energy for the FTL travel to be succesful."
"Deactivate the shields and redirect the energy to the warpdrive"
>You need to get out of this place before these creatures wreck your shit
"Come on, what's the hold up?"
>"We need to establish the coordinates."
"Go to anywhere, but please we need to GET THE FUCK OUT!"
>The warp bubble wraps the vessel
>Then in an instant, everything became blurry.
>You and your crew woke up in another star system
>But this one is different than the others
"Activate the Hyperlane Map"
>The map of the entire galaxy was shown.
>A series of dots and lines were shown
>These are stars and their paths for those whose ships has the hyperdrive FTL system
>But you are in the void, according to the map
>Are the sensors broken or a god-like entity is playing a joke?
>Whatever this star system is hiding must have value.
>You survey every celestial body
>But things kick when you took a look on the 3rd planet
>It's inhabited with an anomaly
>This is going to be amazing

>>30056251
Maor

>>30056996
Bump the thread, i have to add some details on the first chapter

>>30056251
This seems like a good start

At some point you need to post Empire Screen, but don't do it too early as it will give away how story might go

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>>30057240
One of my luckiest runs but still i have to tweak some things (with mods). Also I may modify the game with the in-game commands

>>30057348
Example: Instant_build
>pic related

>>30057348
>gaming with 768p resolution in 2017

Good for you that Paradox optimizes their games for 720p

Now share how that was your luckiest run?

>>30057837
Well, the sol system was closer to my frontiers. Even if the human race finished themselves with nuclear fire, the cockroach race is a Tomb world adaptative species.

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You all know how these few weeks are
next chapter's pushed back a week, sorry

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>>30058160
Meanwhile I'll bump this thread with green

>First day at work
>You are Anonymous Tiberius Incognito
>This is the year 2321
>And you are in a transport ship
>You packed your stuff
>And left the planet, with your old routine down there
>The Science Directorate made all the arrangements for your important task
>Planet Monitoring
>In a beginning seems a bit boring
>At least is better than archiving reports and organizing paperwork
>The cubicle was very tight
>But this changes everything
>A comfortable workspace
>Your own room
>Even a decent mess hall with an excellent food materializer
>But your are not alone in this
>Seat next to you is your partner
>Checking his status in his social network
>Starbook is now a big enterprise that owns an entire colony of synthetics as main HQ
>They need a huge and cool place to place the servers and mechanic employees
>And an artic planet was chosen

>>30056251
>odd piece of ceramic
I see what you did there

Guys, I have issues with the captcha. I can't post on my computer.

>>30057953
My luckiest run was when I had entire galactic arm all to my self, AI spawned literally everywhere else. Travelling Top to bottom of my empire with fastest normal hyperdrive took 36 months..

>>30058224
Synths running Starbook
>AI uprising soon fellow stardweller.
AI uprising when?
>NOW

>>30058905
No AI uprising to the AI Citizenship Rights imposed in 2217.
Also I'm posting on my phone. The captcha on my computer have an error and I'm too lazy to write the chapter with my index finger.

>>30058959
I tried again in my laptop and i can't post from it.

>>30058959
>>30059107
Yeah, it's the new bot fucking shits up.
Use the original form and the reply button on top of the thread Anon.
It'll ask you a second captcha to confirm you're not a bot.
Happens whenever you try to post big greens.

>>30059143
Thanks Anon.

>>30058224
>Anyways he turned his sight towards me
>"I don't know what to expect of the new station but it will be great, don't you think... um..."
"Anonymous, T. Incognito. And your name is?"
>"Oscar. Oscar Price Fairchild"
"Yeah, I think it's the breath of change i needed."
>"Really? I was hoping someone shared the same feeling, or almost something similar."
>Huh?
"Huh?"
>"You see, I got an awful job in th administrative sector of the Directorate."
>"And I always felt a little bit alone. So much work, no time to socialize."
>"I got my Starbook account and a Jumblr blog with a small group of followers that..."
>Ugh, a Tricenturian scum.
>"...but never in my life as an assistant, I had this kind of conversation."
>Ok maybe there are hope for him.
>"I always mess the first dialog."
>Sensors detect parmesan in the environment
"But you didn't mess that up."
>"Really? Huh, maybe that happen when I'm under pressure."
"Or maybe in a room full of people."
>The guy almost spew italian cuisine from his suit.
>He seems chill. A bit obnoxious, but chill.

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>>30059178
>The conversation started to kill the time we had inside the transport
>It was uncomfortable in the beginning but then he started to enjoy it
>After the warp bubble vanishes, a solar system similar to Sol was displayed in the windows of the vessel
>The place in particular was close to the edge of the galaxy
>The Directorate had to build a Frontier Outpust to keep it in our borders
>There is a station situated over the orbit 3rd planet.
>This is our place, and looks FANtastic.
>The report of the ISS Faust said that the sensors discovered an anomaly.
>Aside from having a diverse mix of sentient lifeforms, the planet doesn't have a magnetic field.
>And somehow it's rotating like a normal planet.
>The strangest thing is that there are more sentient races in the planet.
>I heard of Factions starting with one sub-species
>But another sentient, no... More than 5 sentient species (and maybe more) living in the same planet?
>And the survey detect 5 variations of the Equine species.
>The Directorate wants answers of those enigmas
>And if they are tolerant enough, it's possible to do a Technological Enlightment.
>Well a couple of weeks of monitoring might be interesting.

>>30059178
>Oscar Price Fairchild
it's weird seeing a normal human name in a mlp greentext

>>30059602
Read the first initials, anon
Solve the puzzle

Alrighty, I got something for you guys. Its not much, but I wanted to get this part out of the way before I moved on.

>Matresses are hard.
>Well they're soft but...
>You're no seamster.
>As you finish up the last of the stitching, your eyes take in the monstrosity of a bed you have created.
>The frame was fine, this is you your talking about.
>No, the matress is a cobbled mess of tarp and prarie grass that you had managed to sew together with an awl and some cordage.
>Time to test it you guess.
>laying down on it felt really nice, no surprise considering that you had been sleeping on the rocky floor for the past week or so.
>"Aaahhh.... This will do. Will need to buy a real one later though."
>As you get up you see some of the grass trying to push through the seam.
>It isn't perfect but it will do.
>With that your cabin is furnished with all the basic amenites.
>Drawers and cabinets line the walls of the cabin, and a worktable has been put together on the far end of the room.
>You step out through the now fully functional door and gaze at the sea.
>There's a storm coming in, looks like you'll see how waterproof your shack really is.

>>30060082
>You've gone over every nook and cranny, making sure that the seals will hold against the wind and rain.
>Now all you have to do is wait.
*wind gust*
>It's here.
>The shack begins to shake as the walls are buffeted by wind and rain.
>Drips of water fall from the roof, you take mental note of where for later.
>You see lightning through the cracks of your door.
>One missisippi
>Two missisippi
>Three missisippi
>Four missisi- where's the thunder?
>you crack open the door against the wind and look outside.
>You see a lone boat struggling against the waves.
>It wasn't lightning, it was a lantern.
>You could only watch as the small ship was pushed closer and closer to the ragged shores of your rock beach.
>You see where this is heading.
>You put on the raincoat Twinkles gave you and hurried outside.
*SMASH*
*CREAK*

>>30060088
>The boat had made its landing on the beach, though it was a rough one indeed.
>You run up to the wreckage, looking for any signs of life.
>"HELLO! IS ANYONE ONBOARD THIS SHIP!"You yelled against the raging storm.
>"AAHH!"
>Well that is about the closest you'll get to "HELP ME!" at the moment.
>You plunge into the ship though one of the gashes left by the rocks.
>You are treated to the image of a small creature trapped under a wardrobe.
"AAAHH ITS CRUSHING ME!" The small creature yells out.
>Using that strength you prided yourself on, you easily lift the furniture off it and carry it back to the relative safety of your cabin. In the light of your fireplace you find yourself cradling a light blue unicorn.
>It looks up at your face and soon loses consciousness.
>You lay the pony on your bed and wrap it in your sleeping bag.
>"Well floor, its just you and me again." as you lay down a small segment of tarp and drift off to the sound of rain and wind.
>"I'm gonna need another mattress...."

>>30060082
>>30060088
>>30060144
Welp, that's all of it for now. Should be back on a relatively stable schedule again. It's a bit rough, but it'll do for now.

>>30060159
glad to have you back

>>30059320
I'll continue the green soon. I need to get my ideas straight

boop

>>30060082
reading this part made think of that "primitive technology" guy on youtube being in equestria

>>30026351
>>30027837
>>30027904
Actually the "juice" was used exclusively for high-g burns and was shown to be rather toxic in the Eros chase episode, not to mention the discomfort and, possibly, the pain it causes. I can only guess the effects of it's prolonged use, but at the very least it would fry the liver and destroy the kidneys.
What you need is the stuff martians used that helped organism to adapt to the Earth's gravity.
That is unless the gravity in those sections of the ship was so low that they're closer to belters than martians with the low-g adaptation. If that's the case they're pretty much fucked, unless the ship lands in the lake or something. And they'd have to fill the ship with water too, whether intentionally or due to leaks caused by the crash-landing.

>>30057348
What's that game again? Reminds me of Civs.

>>30061888
Paradox interactive's newest sci-fi game. Essentially a space 4X in the same style as their Hearts of Iron and Europa universalis series.

>>30061888
Look for Stellaris on steam. This game has a discount.

>>30062241
>>30061929
I've been meaning to get into that, I probably should think about getting a copy while it's on sale

>>30062804
It's even cheaper with the humble bundle monthly

>>30061929
>>30062241
Is it good? Let me rephrase that, is it good for someone who's not very familiar with 4X games?

To stay on topic, is there any green about Equestria and Earth being in parallel dimensions with occasional portals opening, ponies and humans getting misplaced into other dimension and weird stuff in general happening? Sort of like in Fringe.
>inb4: how's it related to the thread?
It's caused by some secret experiments, both magical in horseland, and technological on Earth.

>>30063785
Every 4x are overwhelming if you never did any.
But stellaris is quite noob friendly.
I mean, you'll get fucked in the ass for the first 20 or so hours, don't expect to be able to win your first campaign. But other than that, it's quite intuitive.
Also, billions of mods.

The only thing that ponies know of humanity is this video
https://youtu.be/xuCn8ux2gbs

How do the ponies react to Anon when he arrives?

>>30064037
they'd probably get that this video's not 100% serious of historically/scientifically accurate

probably

>>30063785
The systems are simplistic enough to be picked up by a new player but the game's depth comes from the randomness and chance events.

However it should be noted that the game can be very...slow at times or dull depending on what you find fun.

If you want to spend your time as a warrior, flying from world to world torching empires and enslaving cultures you will find you quickly face endless revolts, many enemies and such.

If you however enjoy multiplayer the game is apparently much better. As the AI can be a bit...special at times.

>>30063785
>To stay on topic, is there any green about Equestria and Earth being in parallel dimensions with occasional portals opening, ponies and humans getting misplaced into other dimension and weird stuff in general happening?

There's not nearly enough green. DO IT.

...and yeah, you're not exactly the first to come up with "muh scientific large hardon collider portals"/"poners a-sperimenting with magic and find parallel worlds portals." But if you can write it well and make it work--well, like the Big Giant Head said: show us what you got.

>>30063621

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>tfw french horse is dead

>>30067018
I just wanna see more of Anon the Betrayed

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>>30067107
And I just want to see Lyra try more spy stuff, its been two weeks already....

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>no time for a new chapter of part II this week, have to wait another week to complete it
>currently trying to attract readers on FimFic by joining a bunch of groups
>some 2000 word fanfic with a 2:1 like-dislike ratio that's been abandoned for over two years gets more popular than the 40000 word fanfic with a 15:1 ratio

Can I join the pain zone as well?

>>30067205
We should get a WiK in the next few days, He's pretty consistent on his update speed

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>>30067018
He promised he would return.
Just you wait.

the state of the current technology invented by humans allows me to view and bump this thread

i want magos back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy-sVTaZRPk

>>30067018
y u do dis 2 me

the thread is dead isnt it?

>>30071457
It's deader than fried chicken, Anonymous. Just like the fandom.

>>30071457
>>30071515
Well we did just have an update by CarpenterAnon and a new story by a new writer, so I wouldn't say we're dead yet

>>30072016
still you would think there would be more activity

>>30071515
>>30072016
>>30072475
Well we're not quite dead yet. I will be trying to update every wednesday or thursday for the foreseeable future. Also >>30069353
I too want him back.

>>30072871
You're the stellaris guy right?

I want dick biscuit back

And that anon with a robot daughter guy who's name I forgot.

>>30073136
Oh and that guy who always changed his name to synonyms of itself

My concept of an ideal span

maybe if we turned to magic we can get the writers back?

What if ponyland is actually a surviving remnants of an advanced civilization?
And the "magic" is an extremely advanced technology.
Each pony tribe bears a specific genetic imprint that allows them to interface with the "magic" technology in a specific way, like earth ponies going full senator with nanomachines enhancing their bodies, unicorns manipulating energy and etc. Every other race is either a purposely-bred servants, runaway experiments or mutated pets or pests, in case of bugbutts
Then Anon happens and starts to unravel this millennia-old mystery.
I'm not sure how alicorns fit into this picture yet, perhaps they're a pinnacle of "magic" interface evolution or something...
>>30073136
It was Eden I believe.

>>30072871
ah shit keep forgetting my name on these things.

>>30074794
bit of a bad habit to have

>>30074295
I feel like I've seen this idea before, but I can't remember where

>>30076182
I've seen this before too, a crossover between Halo and MLP if I remember rightly...

>>30076623
sounds about right

>>30069353
I could really go for some adeptus mechanicus in equestria

>>30070847

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>>30020391
Any stories with planes or spaceships?

>>30079178
Yoohoo's dealt with airships, sadly the fic is dead

https://pastebin.com/PYUyfYwj

>>30079178
I wrote a one shot about planes for these threads a long time ago, I'll see if I can find it and repost it

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>>30080283
>Today started like any other day
>But there was something special about today
>Twilight had called a town meeting
>What for?
>Nobody knew for sure
>All she told us was that today marked the beginning of a new era in flight
>Naturally Rainbow Dash was excited
>In one of the nearby fields there was something hidden under a large canvas sheet
>And you're pretty sure you know what it is

>A few weeks ago she came over to visit
>It was the first time you let anyone in after you and your apartment suddenly appeared in ponyville
>While she was over she intrigued by a poster you had hanging on the wall
>It was of Roy Brown's Sopwith Camel vs The Red Baron's Fokker Dr.I
>She was surprised to learn we has such flying machines
>She was even more surprised to learn that the poster was of planes around 100 years old
>She wanted to learn everything about this new way to fly
>Unfortunately you weren't some living encyclopedia that could tell her everything
>All you could tell her were the basics
>Stuff like how they moved forward (propellers pushing the air)
>How they maneuvered in the air (Flaps that redirect the air)
>When she asked "Why does The Fokker have 3 wings to the Sopwith's 2"
>You didn't know but you guessed that more wings equals more lift
>Ever since then she had been busy working on some "top secret" project

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>>30080318
>It seems like today will be the day we see her progress
>Twilight walks on to the stage
>"Mares and gentlecolts I would like say thank for joining with me on this soon to be historic day"
>She sure seems pleased with herself
>"For you see thanks to Anon I learned of a whole new type of flying machine"
>Rainbow dash seems to deflate a little at that.
>Guess she wanted something that could improve her own speed
>"Machines that can move faster than any flying ship"
>That slightly perks her up at the mention of speed
>"Machines that humans have used and improved upon for over hundred"
>"I present to the first airplane! And it's first flight"
>She used her magic to lift the sheet up and reveal her masterpiece

Pic Related

>It seems she took your guess on the reason for number of wings seriously
>The resulting crash was partially your fault

>>30080325
It's not much, just something I quickly whipped up one time when the thread was going through a bit of slow time

>>30080325
>It seems she took your guess on the reason for number of wings seriously

1/2

Biplanes and triplanes were created during the WWI era for exactly that reason. More lift = tighter turning radius and faster time to turn a certain number of degrees. Aircraft of a hundred years ago had what are by current standards extremely underpowered engines that were tremendously heavy for the little power they gave out, and needed all the help they could get, both to get off the ground and to bank into an elevator-assisted turn.

The Fokker Triplane climbed very well and was a deadly, agile machine for a pilot who knew how to make it turn--but it was slow, because all those wings also meant more drag.

Monoplanes, with a single pair of wings, existed even then, BUT had high "wing loading" expressed as pounds of airplane per square foot of wing, and making bigger wings out of wood and canvas just made big fragile wings that would tear off in a dive. Actually that happened with all the designs back then--it was really easy to get going so fast in a steep dive that the airplane would just fall apart around you, and you'd die. The RAF's records showed they lost a lot more pilots in training than in actual combat.

Anyway, until the early 1930s some countries still used biplane fighters, even the British had biplane fighters in service at the beginning of World War I like the Gloster Gladiator.

What changed was partially things like Daimler-Benz fuel-injected engines created in the 1930s, which had unprecedented raw power and power-to-weight ratio that didn't need multiple sets of wings to climb or turn respectably, and the monoplane's lower drag, plus retractable undercarriage, made the new designs like the BF109 terrifyingly fast compared to even advanced biplanes like the Gladiator. The Bf109 couldn't turn nearly as well as, say, a Fokker Triplane--but it was so much faster, and could climb and accelerate so much faster that there was no comparison.

>>30080871
2/2

See, one of the other aspects of fighter aircraft design, that the Germans caught onto early, is that "maneuverability" means more than just being able to turn tighter circles and swing the plane's nose around faster than the other guy, though the early production 109s were certainly no slouches in that department. It also meant: allowing the pilot to put himself in a place of advantage to take the initiative. The 109 was by the standards of the day a tremendously fast ship. The 109's pilot could decide whether he wanted to stop and mix it up with the guy flying the Gladiator or not. The 109 was faster, climbed faster, accelerated faster, handled better in a steep dive. The 109's pilot was the one who got to decide where and when he wanted to fight, and could break off the attack and leave whenever he wanted to--and climb and gain altitude and come back and dive from above on his hapless foe in the waddling little underpowered Gladiator.

Soon enough other nations got in on this idea, resulting in the wartime's common designs like the A6M, the Grumman Wildcat, the Spitfire, and so on, some of which served until the end of the war, some of which were found very quickly to be obsolete.

And then jet engines came along, allowing the pilot of a Me262 or a P80 or a Gloster Meteor to run away and climb away from anything that was propeller driven, to come back or not, diving from above, at a time and place of his own choosing. Sound familiar?

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>>30067107
>[sleepy zombie noises]
maybe this week i will return

>>30081400
ahhhh zombie!

>>30080916
you sure know your airplane history

>>30078105

>>30081400
looking forward to it

Here's my shot at making an airplane in poneworld the technical edition.
Part 1
>It's been about 7 years since you got transfered to this world.
>This colourful... simplistic world of ponies.
>Be Anon, ex-Air Traffic Controller and part time plane enthusiast.
"Hey Anon, ready for the big opening?"
>Oh, that's your advisor.
>Celestia appointed "savant" to work with you.
>But before we continue here's a little briefing how you get where you are now and what happened.

---
It was a bright sunny summer morning of 2010. You woke up and were getting ready to have breakfast and have your before work coffee. The TV was on with news as the anchor was being a smartass as they played unrelated video clips of Julian Assange leaking more documents. You sighed and turned the TV off, to concentrate at your breakfast, bacon and eggs.
After you finished up and washed the dishes you grabbed your briefcase, heading for the door. The commute was boring. Reaching the airport you put on your badge and go through staff screening. Going out into the open you begin walking to the tower. Entering the tower the coworkers from previous shift were shouting at each other over basically nothing. Taking your seat you login to the radar and all your monitors come alive, a squawk 7700 appeared on the screen and you tuned your radio to their frequency and pressed the push to talk key.
"This is ATC, aircraft squawking 77 hundred please identify and state your mayday."
>"Air Traffic Control, this is Romeo Alpha Bravo 6 8 we are in a cessna 172. We haven't heard anything from you and we've been circling the airport for an hour now. We are low on fuel and I think something blue is attached to us and we can see rainbow hair flailing in the wind behind us. Over."
"Roger that, Romeo Alpha Bravo 6 8. Climb to flight level 020, turn 090, VFR approach, clreared to land. Do you need ground assistance?"
>"Roger. Climb FL020, turn left 090, VFR. Yes please. Over."

>>30083654
Part 2
"Ground assistance is awaiting, they'll be waiting your final approach and follow you on the side ramp until your full stop. Over."
>"ATC this is Romeo Alpha Bravo 6 8. Short final. Over."
"We see you, and I think that's a plastic mold stuck to your plane with rainbow hair."
"Romeone Alpha Bravo 6 8, the blue plastic with rainbow hair dislodged itself and has gone space shuttle status. You are clear to land. It could have been a drone with a bag stuck to it."
>"Roger, Romeo Alpha Bravo 6 8"
Boom!
'Dafuq was that, did the RAF send a super sonic jet to parade an airshow and shoot a sonic boom?'

And all has faded to black. Then came the ringing in your ear. 'Ah great, am I that old to pass out and hear things.'
---

>"Everypony, say welcome to the royal sisters" Your advisor said into the microphone as a hybrid Airbus H175-P approached and was circling to land 50 ft behind us.
>Another 2 MG-520 hybrids were circling around the Marine One.
>The 2 tall winged unicorns came out and came on stage.
>The crown was clapping, or rather stomping the ground to make noise.
>"Hello everyone. We are here today to officially open every airport that has been built in the last few years. We won't be opening them one at a time, and in 1 hour there will be the first official departure from each airport." Celestia said.
>Luna not being able to maintain her excitement, pushed Celestia off to the side to speak at the podium.
>"We are happy to announce that the Royal Air Force will be replacing..."
>There she goes again, she's practically the defence ministry and she's been given a new toy.
>"...flight deliveries and civilian transport at a fraction of the time and half the cost..."
>Butter them up and they'll take the bad news well too.

>>30083659
Part 3
>"Now Anon is here to speak. Anon."
"Thank you princesses, thank you all. It is a great pleasure to finalise this project but the trouble has only started. Since nobody has an aviation training or a license other than the few humans that were transported here that day, we will begin pilot recruitment and free flight training will be provided to all. This usually takes up to 6 months theory training and a few hundred hours of flight time to get your license."
>"EEEEE!" The blue excited mare started squeaking.
"So leave your resumes at the local town council and we'll get back to you. Thank you, that was all."
>The crowd began stomping again, and the few humans clapping.
>Leaving the podium you nod your head to your adviser to follow.

>"Anon, that was amazing!" Said the yellow unicorn with a drum of spilled fuel as cutiemark.
"Don't be so enthusiastic, now we have to train about 5000 ponies to fly the planes, another 300 to be tower operators, plus all the maintenance staff."
>"That can't be too hard, we've already built a couple planes and the airports."
"That's just the manufacturing after the diagrams we had when we came and all the information we knew about them. Flying is another can of worms to open."
>"What could go wrong?" He raised his eyebrows and looked innocent like the stuff we've been through wasn't enough.
"Imagine this scenario, some new pilot gets excited during his first solo flight and does a barrel roll, then goes space shuttle status without contacting NASA on departures and plummets towards the ground just to recover in time. Meanwhile pulling 2.1G's and all the passengers shitting themselves out of fear."
>"I see your point but that is a 1 in a million chance of happening." He beamed.
"I've got to admire your optimism Leaky, but I'm a realist not an optimist."

Name the adviser, and 2 upcoming characters.

>>30083664
are the upcoming characters human or pony?

>>30083841
Pone, 2 female and one bro.
Also open cutiemark season, ie beekeper pone sucking a seagull into the slammer.

>>30083848
My advice is to just use this http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_ponies and grab whatever suits your needs. It helps keep things simple

>>30083664
Good

>>30083664
>space shuttle status
I don't think I've ever heard that term before used as a verb

>>30083664
Interesting idea, Hope to see more

>>30083664
>At the town hall the aviation recruitment agency has just finished setting their office up.
>A brown pegasus pushing the last filing cabinet in place, turns to his coworker with worry on his face.
>"I don't know Jay, I wonder if we're equipped to handle the influx"
>Jay, an earth pony with a plane wing as his cutiemark takes a seat and sighs.
>"Sure, just remember to not get personal with the applicants. You tend to take your sweet time with everything."
>"Excuse you, I'll have you know I graduated top in Anon's training and have over 9000 flight hours-"
>"Yeah yeah yeah, cut the neighing and sit down. Right about now the princesses are finished with the opening speech and they must have finished telling them about the recruitment."
>"Forget I said anything, Mr know it all."


>At the airport Anon goes into the tower to show the princesses how it's all handled.
"Here's the radar screens, that connect to the radar stations at each end of the runway, and the radar dish above the tower."
>The princesses both nodded in unison, but the purple one kept raising her hoof to ask a question.
>"How does the 3 radars pinpoint the location of any flying objects?!"
"Good question, the 2 radars at each end of the airport are pretty wide apart, and the one up here is giving a contrast on the XYZ scale. Radar works by bouncing radio waves off of objects, it allows us to locate the range, angle and velocity of the object. In this case, the planes. But we also see every pegasus in flight so we can route the planes in a way they don't collide with pegasi."
>You could see her eyes getting bigger by the second as she had her hoof in the air again.
>"So how are the 3 radar outputs combined into one screen?" Purple smart beamed again.
"That's done on the computers we have from earth. You can ask Jeff for software specifics, but we're running Linux and it's mostly done in Python."
>She finally lowered her hoof and put it under her chin to rub it.

>>30087528
>"Anon, how did you manage to build the equipment for the other airports?" Celestia for once being inquizitive.
"When we asked for ponies to help us, we got a few that could manipulate materials at a micro scale and we asked him to build replicas of the existing computers, screens, equipment and on large scale the planes and helicopters. And because in this world we don't have the fuel our models were based on, a few of our engineers found crystals around the world that would produce high amounts of energy if it came in contact with light."


>"Before take off checklist" A yellow unicorn said, sitting in the captain's chair.
>"Prepare for take off.. announced" The first officer announced, then took a breath and got ready to announce everything with one breath.
>"Exterior lights are taxi-off, strobe-on, landing-on, flaps-green, flight-director-on, auto-throttle-armed, transpondercode-set-TA-RA, and we've got the take off clearance. Everything ready for take off captain, how about you give some juice to this puppy."
>"Roger dodger." The unicorn pushed the throttle slowly to about the middle and then gave it another nudge to push it all the way up.
>"Use the pedals to keep us nice and centered so we don't go and plough the dirt on the side of the runway."
>Human humour, maybe it's also used in equestria, maybe not but the captain smirked on that remark.
>"V1... Rotate and nice job on the take off."
>Pulling on the joystick back, the captain widened her eyes as the plane pitched up and the shaking stopped.
>"After take off checklist"
>Starting to push buttons and switches, she stutters for a bit but cracking her voice she announces.
>"Gear up, autopilot on, both nav on, flaps up, landing lights off. And off we are to the crystal kingdom."
>"Good job on that Captain, I expect this cargo flight will take about 4 hours so if you want to have a hot drink you'll have to wait until we get to cruising altitude."

>>30087543
>"Good job on that Captain, I expect this cargo flight will take about 4 hours so if you want to have a hot drink you'll have to wait until we get to cruising altitude."
I sense bad things happening to their flight in the near future

>>30088068
things can never go simply

>>30087543
>"Roger Foxtrot Xray Heavy, have a nice trip. ATC over." A human controller said into the headset for the cargo plane that recently departed.
>"I give that take off a 7/10, must be Henry instructing the new captain."
>"George, give the mare a break. It's probably the first cargo flight other than training. They've got about half a million pounds of weight."
>Smirking, the human returned his gaze to the radar screen.


>"Why do you want to become a pilot?"
>"Because it's awesome! I mean I can't fly on my own, but now I can fly a plane!" Excitement.exe is using 100% of brainpower.
>"And how old are you?" The brown pegasus asked the clearly underage earth pony.
>"16 and a half" He said gleefully, looking ready to do something indecent with the chair he's sat on.
>"We're happy for your excitement, but we need applicants to be taller. Have this brochure there's dates with upcoming airshows. You can ask your parents to bring you."
>"Awhh. When I grow taller can I come and apply again?" He sunk in the chair, looking up at the pegasus with puppy eyes.
>"Sure, take care now little guy"
>On the other side of the office at the desk of the grumpy earth pony he's just filed another applicant.
>Reaching for a new application he noticed he's ran out of application forms and looked at Jay whose stack of applications is still barely touched.
>Walking up and silently leaning around Jay's shoulder he whispers.
>"Can I borrow half of your stack of applications?"
>Jay shook a bit and jerked to the side, surprised by how close Greg sneaked up on him.
>"B-but... did you finish yours?" Aggitated he babbled, reaching for the paper on his desk.
>"All out of forms. How many did you do so far...?"
>"A-A a few... Okay, 3. You were right, I chat up everypony."
>"Do you want to try my advice? Send the inadequate away. Don't be their friend. If they need a reason, ask them what can they contribute to our glorious princesses air force."
>"I'll go get coffee."

>>30089611
>Anonymous has gone and boarded a Learjet with the princesses, the purple one and a few guards offering to take them back to Canterlot.
>"Anon, can I come and sit with you in the cockpit?"
>Oh no, princess smarty pants has more questions. You worry she'll ask to fly the plane.
>"Sure, but no touching. Here, wear this." Tossing her a headset you sit down at the controls.
>She swiftly sits down next to you, adjusting the microphone.
>"Anon, why all the different models for planes?"
"Different purposes, big planes are for transporting passengers and or cargo, small ones are either mail carry or it means it's carrying someone important. Now can I start this puppy and get into the air?"
>"I won't say another word."
>You begin by switching the battery on, then the avionics, then you turn the ignition on for both engines and start the switch for engine one.
>The engine starting can be felt, and Twilight looks intently at what you do.
>Looking at the board you see the engine has started, so you turn off it's starter and activate engine 2 doing the same after it starts.
>You turn on the de-icing and contact the tower.
"ATC this is Air Force One, requesting permission to taxi to the active runway and east bound departure for Canterlot International."
>"Air Force One, you are cleared to IFR to Canterlot International airport via the PNY01 departure, EHF transition, then as filed. Initial altitude 5000, expecting 170 in 10 minutes, departure on 124.3, squawk 7201, Ponyville.
"Initial 5000, expect 150 in 10 minutes, 124.3, squawk 7201"
>You put the IFR clearance into the instruments faster than they can confirm it.
>"Readback is correct, Air Force One. Have a nice flight"
>You push the throttle forward and begin steering the plane along the yellow markings on the taxiway.
"This is the boring part, take a look around the place. I'll turn on the seatbelt signs."

>>30087416
Rainbow Dash's face creeps me out in that pic

>>30089621
Couldn't ponies just teleport things instead of planes?

>>30090824
Not long distances, and those who could teleport can only bring small packages with them.
Magic is only make things levitate up to 20 ft away from the one casting, fireworks and playing rave music, unless you're one of the main characters and the plot requires you to fight a boss battle at the end of the season.
From that one scene where Twilicorn teleported through a wall she couldn't teleport Spike with him.

>>30082937

Wow. 212 replies already?
>Half the thread is people saying the thread's dead.
Oh.


Is despair anon still around? Haven’t heard from them in a while.


>Four days had passed since then.
>Four days since Lyra had discovered that Applejack wasn’t herself.
>Lyra had made no progress since then.
>She’d gone to her classes and practiced as instructed, but beyond that she’d mostly just stayed around the house.
>Waiting for a certain somepony to return.
>Lyra was starting to worry and she didn’t want to miss the second her Bonny came home.
>She grew ever more anxious as time went on, getting excited each time a Pony passed by.
>They all disappointed her.
>Lyra couldn’t help but feel some irritation each time a Pony walked by their home.
>She judged them all guilty of the grievous sin of not being Bon-Bon.
>Her Bonny had never been gone so long, and after learning what she was doing while she was out, Lyra couldn’t help but worry.
>Night was about to fall yet again when the front door swung open.
>Lyra sprinted to the front with a goofy grin plastered on her face.
>Bon-Bon slowly dragged herself over the threshold into their shared home.
>She was a mess.
>Her mane and tail were beyond disheveled.
>And Bon-Bon’s eyes were all but closed.
>It seems as though there was in fact a limit to her energy.
>And it had long ago been reached.

“You’re back! I was getting so worried!”

>Bon-Bon stepped forward.
>She grabbed Lyra in a loving embrace.
>And started snoring.
>Bon-Bon had passed out on her hooves.
>It was a strange sight having the normally energetic pony fall asleep like that.
>Lyra was used to her room mate having limitless stamina.
>Seeing her so drained felt wrong.
>Lyra awkwardly disentangled herself from the sleepy hug and levitated the unconscious super-spy to the washroom.
>To her great dismay Bon-Bon still didn’t awaken even as Lyra began cleaning her.
>She was breathing, and her heart rate was steady.
>But she was downright catatonic.

>>30092745
>Lyra had to keep propping her friend up as the much needed bathing went on.
>The water came out black when Lyra finished the first round of shampoo.
>Black, but not red.
>Bon-Bon seemed to be unharmed from whatever she’d been doing.
>Filthy and exhausted.
>But not a scratch on her that Lyra could see.
>Bon-Bon had said that Sweetie Drops wasn’t supposed to fight the monsters.
>Had she spent all that time just gathering information?
>Had she avoided any and all violence?
>Or, was she just that good?
>So good in a fight that she could walk away without being touched?
>Lyra didn’t know.
>Nor did she care.
>She was just glad that Bon-Bon had returned home safe.
>Even if her coat did seem to be more dirt than fur at the moment.
>It took some time and care and a LOT of scrubbing to do it, but Lyra finally got her friend cleaned up.
>Next was drying and brushing.
>Detangling the entire furry coat was a daunting task.
>It was far easier to maintain one’s coat than it was to return it to order.
>But Lyra was determined to finish the job, even if she had to do it one hair at a time.
>To Lyra’s great dismay she found clear signs of starvation on the dirty pony.
>Ribs protruded visibly beneath her matted coat.
>Whatever had happened, Bon-Bon had been through more than any pony should ever have to face.
>Lyra was nearly done, and STILL Bon-Bon didn’t awaken.
>She still refused to move, or speak, or even snore.
>She’d gone away to do spy stuff, and came back half dead and unresponsive.
>Lyra decided that this was the perfect time to panic.
>She started started shaking the comatose pony frantically.

“Bonny! Wake up! WAKE UP! You’ve been poisoned!”

>It wasn’t working!
>She needed to snap her out of it somehow!
>Lyra raised her hoof to slap her room mate.
>And special agent Sweetie Drops’ leg shot out with blinding speed and intercepted.

>>30092753
>She lept over Lyra and took a combat stance, reaching to her back to grab something from her absent saddle bags.
>She took a moment to look around.
>And when she saw naught but a cowering Lyra she relaxed.
>Her eyes started to close again.

“No, you need to stay awake! You’ve been poisoned!”

>Sweetie Drops returned to alertness once more.

>”When? How?”

“I don’t know!”

>Bon-Bon gave a look that seemed torn between frustration and disbelief.

>”You don’t know?”

>It wasn’t a question.
>It was a demand.
>A demand that details be provided immediately.

“You just- you weren’t moving or anything! Even when I was bathing you, you didn’t move at all!”

>”Oh.”

>It was hard to tell with her weary face, but Lyra was pretty sure she looked relieved.

>”No, that wasn’t poison. I- I’m fine. I’ll be okay. Good night.”

>Bon-Bon clumsily walked to their bedroom.

“Are you sure? Like, absolutely sure?”

>”Yeah. Thanks for cleaning me up.”

>Bon-Bon climbed into bed.
>She failed to get the blankets over herself before blacking out again.
>Lyra lovingly tucked the exhausted superspy in before joining her in bed.
>Not that she was ready to sleep.
>Far from it, Lyra was wide awake.
>She just didn’t want to let Bon-Bon out of her sights.
>There was something clearly wrong with the mare, and Lyra wasn’t planning on taking any chances.
>Breath in, and out.
>Steady heartbeat, though somewhat rapid for a sleeping pony.
>She seemed to be plagued by night terrors of some sort.
>Her legs kept kicking out ineffectual as she tossed and turned.

“Hush now quiet now it’s time to lay your sleepy head…”

>Lyra began to softly sing the lullaby to try and sooth her friend.
>Her trained voice flowed smoothly and sweetly.
>And soon, Bon-Bon had stopped her fussing.
>Lyra never stopped watching throughout the night.
>Morning came and went without incident.

>>30092759
>It was lucky that Lyra’s lessons weren’t scheduled for this day, since she wouldn’t have gone anyway.
>She was still worried about Bon-Bon.
>She’d never seen her so exhausted.
>And Lyra wasn’t entirely convinced her friend hadn’t been poisoned.
>There was no way she’d leave the sleeping pony’s side until she was absolutely certain all was well.
>Bon-Bon continued breathing softly, hinting at calm rest.
>It wasn’t until early afternoon that that changed.
>A quick jolt followed by Bon-Bon sitting up in a flash.
>She surveyed her surroundings.
>And found all to be well.

>”Did you stay up all night?”

“I was worried about you”

>Lyra couldn’t deny that she was tired.
>But the thought of sleep hadn’t entered her mind.

>”Why? I’m fine.”

>Said the pony who collapsed in the doorway coated in filth.

>”Were you crying?”

“No.”

>A little.

“I thought you’d been poisoned.”

>”I was just overworked.”

>She tried to get up.
>But her legs gave out, dropping the pony on the floor.
>Lyra scrambled to help her.

“This is more than just overworked! What happened to you?”

>”Lyra, please. Please stop asking questions.”

>The normal firm confidence was missing from her voice.
>Instead she seemed uncertain and plaintive.
>Bon-Bon was begging.

>”This is the only place I can let my guard down. Everywhere else I go, I have to pretend to be somepony I’m not. I have to walk around, acting like I’m just an ordinary, ignorant mare. When I’m here I don’t have to hide who I am. Please don’t take that away from me.”

“It’s classified, then. And you can’t tell me?”

>She nodded.

“Promise me you’re going to be okay?”

>”I’m expected to have fully recovered in about two weeks. I’ve been given a month off just to be safe though.”

>>30092765
“That’s not very reassuring.”

>”It was a rough op. But everypony walked away in one piece, and now Tartarus has a couple new residents. I’ve never seen princess Celestia so angry.”

>Lyra honestly couldn’t imagine princess Celestia angry.
>She always looked so serene.
>Lyra had several questions.
>She elected to ask just one of them.

“Is there anything I can do to help make you feel better?”

>”Feed me?”

>Less than an hour later Bon-Bon was asleep once more.
>She’d eaten enough to make Twilight’s stomach hurt and drank enough to drown a fish before she laid down with a contented smile.
>Lyra’s fears had been greatly assuaged upon seeing the super-spy pony return to wakefulness, even if it had only been for a short while.
>Lyra figured it was finally safe to leave the house for a much needed grocery run.
>She tossed some bits and plastics in her saddlebags before heading down to the marketplace.
>Where once there had been a bustling collection of humble carts and stands there now stood massive concrete structures and superstores.
>Isles of boxed, wrapped, and frozen good of all varieties offered themselves to Lyra with bright colourful packaging.
>This place had always been a monument to capitalism; a show of just how far ponies were willing to go to turn a profit.
>In the yesteryear this had manifest in different ways.
>Be it price gouging the meek through ruthless haggling, or outright deception there was never a lack of merchants seeking to fill their coffers.
>These days they’d taken a new approach.
>Haggling took valuable time, and the crown had been ruthless in their pursuit of honest business practices, so the stores had been forced to adapt.
>And adapt they did.
>No single sale was significant to these stores any longer, instead they relied on incredible volume.
>Millions of bits flowed in and out of these buildings every year as the owners did everything in their power to whip the populace into a buying frenzy.

>>30092768
>And it was working.
>Marketing had gone from being an art to a refined science.
>Bon-Bon had pointed out just how well placed each and every item was on their last outing together, and it worried Lyra.
>Highly sought items were placed as far from the entrance as possible to force ponies to spend longer in the stores.
>High profit items had more artful and eye catching displays.
>Prices were given in as many different ways as possible to make comparison difficult or impossible.
>Shopping had before been an exercise in barter.
>Ponies had fought over prices, with the most savvy and charismatic coming out on top.
>Now shopping was an exercise in restraint.
>Those who had the discipline to ignore the impulse buys and the patience to compare prices were the winners.
>It was better this way, Lyra figured.
>No less manipulative, but at least less time was wasted.
>But still she had concerns.
>How long before the science of marketing was perfected?
>How long before it was the merchants, not the ponies, who chose what the ponies bought?

“Hay, flour, carrots, peanut butter…”

>How did that pony know what she was buying?
>Lyra made her way to the clerk.
>And she waited.
>The line was moving relatively quickly though.
>As she approached the front and placed her items on the turntable, she noticed something different.
>The cash register had been replaced.
>The formerly bulky adding machine was gone, and in its place was a smooth and sleek display with a thin keypad.
>It was different than the one she’d seen, no longer printing out text in an angry green that was hard on the eyes.
>But still there was no doubt.
>This thing was the same kind of machine as she’d seen in Twilight’s home.

“Say, what’s the deal with the new thing?”

>”I dunno. Boss said we’re using it now. Called it a computer.”

>Computer.
>Something that computes.
>A machine that does math.
>This thing was 037.
>Didn’t it say that they were delaying the release?

>>30092776
>It was then that Lyra realised she had no idea how old those notes were.

>”That’ll be 38 bits. Do you have your membership card?”

>Several pieces fell into place at once.
>A device that does math and stores data sat before her.
>The clerk had just input all her purchases into it.
>And now they were asking for a membership card.
>A tiny piece of plastic that had a unique number on it that was associated with her.
>The grocery store was monitoring her purchases.
>Had they been feeding these machines that data all along?
>Was this how that pony knew what her shopping habits were?

>”Ma’am?”

“I, uhh, I forgot it.”


>”Alright. You could have earned 7 points.”

>0.07 bits.
>She was selling her shopping habits for hundredths of a bit.
>If Lyra was right, then this was how that mystery pony knew what she was buying.
>Which means that THEY were somehow involved with this store.
>She paid for her purchases and loaded them up in her saddlebags in a hurry.
>She suddenly didn’t feel comfortable in that building.
>As she walked through the automatic doors she couldn’t help but eye the security cameras warily.
>Lyra dropped off her purchases at home before heading out to the library.
>Discount Delectables, the grocery store, was somehow involved in this mystery.
>Either they were affiliated, or they were selling the information.
>Which meant that the owner probably knew something useful.
>All Lyra had to do was find out who owned it.
>Should be simple.
>Or so she thought.
>It wasn’t until she arrived at the library that Lyra discovered she had no idea what to search for.
>How does one research corporate ownership?
>’Computers’ had been installed to help ponies find what they were after, but Lyra didn’t know how to use them.
>Nor did she trust them.
>Nearly an hour later she’d made absolutely no progress.

>>30092780
>She’d parked herself off in a corner and was sitting down to read a tome on retail law in vain hopes that there might be some useful insight.

>”Discount Delectables is a subsidiary or R&A incorporated.”

>Lyra jumped.
>That voice had come from behind her.
>She whipped her head around to find a peculiar sight.
>The pony who was speaking to her had an ethereal quality about them, almost as though she could walk straight through them.
>Lyra could definitely see through them when they stood still.
>Whoever it was was almost totally transparent.
>When they moved however, the colours behind them moved with them in an eerie manner.
>It looked almost like a pony shaped cutout of the wall was walking half steps before blending into the background.

>”R&A is a holding company, owns a lot of other big names. Rarity is the sole owner at the moment. They’re not publicly traded so that’s unlikely to change.”

“Who are you!?”

>”Quiet, this is a library. I’m a pony who’s concerned about what kind of world we’re going to be leaving our foals.”

>Lyra could almost recognise the voice of that mare.
>She was masking it, but even so Lyra couldn’t help but feel she knew this pony personally.

>”Were you expecting a straightforward answer? I’ve been watching you closely. Good find on Applejack back there.”

>Lyra could only barely see their mouth moving as the colours of the wall bled together in strange ways.

“You saw that? But how?”

>”Your ocular enhancement system looks for tiny chips implanted in ponies that send out a unique signal. If you’ve donated blood you have one.”

>Lyra had not.
>She’d been meaning to, but Bon-Bon had always found a way to delay the process.
>She now knew why.
>It was reassuring in a strange way.
>Not the fact that they were being tagged in secret, that was horrifying to Lyra.

>>30092786
>Rather, she was happy to be reminded that Bon-Bon always had her back, even if she didn’t say it.

>”I cut mine out, so those things don’t see me.”

“But where were you hiding? I was so careful.”

>”Non-pegasi never think to look up.”

>Lyra couldn’t help but blush a bit at that.
>That was such an obvious mistake to make.

>”I could use your help. There’s a narrow opening tonight where we can swipe some gear from a delivery cart. Security should be light since they’re trying not to draw attention.”


“Why me?”

>”Because I like you, Lyra. And I trust you. I still don’t want to give you my name just in case you get captured or something, but you’re a good pony. You’re going to use this stuff for the right reasons.”

“Okay, but why anypony?”

>”Because I need help.”

>That seemed simple enough.
>Lyra wasn’t entirely certain she could trust this pony though.
>This could be some kind of trap.
>Or maybe they were going to use her as a decoy at the end of the heist so they could escape.

>”Meet me in the bushes behind the post office at 10. Bring a disguise and whatever gear you’ve got.”

“Wait, before you go, what is it we’re after here?”

>”Honestly? Not sure.”

>The mystery mare walked away.
>Lyra did her best to keep track of their movements.
>A strange blur here, a weird colouration there…
>They took flight.
>And slammed right into a bookshelf.
>The shelf fell over knocking down the adjacent shelves, spreading out until half the books in the building lay on the floor.

“Derpy?”

>It wouldn’t have been Lyra’s first guess.
>But few ponies were half that clumsy.
>The odd pony shaped illusion climbed out of the wreckage and stumbled toward the door.
>All eyes were on it at this point.
>It walked headlong into the checkout desk while heading out, successfully knocking everything on the floor.
>It was definitely Derpy.

>>30092790
>Lyra was just hopeful that the ditzy mailmare could come up with a good alibi.
>There was no way she was supposed to have half that chameleon dealy.
>Lyra really had no way of helping though.
>All she could really do was hope that Derpy could take care of herself.

“She’s doomed.”

>Hopefully Twilight goes easy on her.
>Lyra had some time before the planned heist.
>And she was planning on going.
>Derpy was trustworthy.
>Incompetent and clumsy, but trustworthy.
>She had many questions for the wall eyed pegasus
>They’d have to wait.
>It wasn’t like they couldn’t talk things over later on.
>Lyra knew where she lived.
>And Lyra was eager to investigate something else.
>Or rather somepony else.
>Rarity.
>She was closely tied to both Twilight AND Applejack.
>Lyra probably would have looked into her sooner or later anyway.
>But now she was learning that Rarity was apparently a business mogul?
>When had that happened?
>She was off to Carousel Boutique.
>The boutique was largely unchanged
>The surrounding area however, had changed dramatically.
>Large ugly concrete structures towered over the carousel from all sides.
>They stood almost threateningly, as though the city was intent on devouring this one oasis of rural life.
>Lyra approached the front door.
>She hadn’t really thought this through.
>The fact of the matter was she wasn’t sure what to do once she went inside.
>But she pressed on anyway.
>Inside was a strange sight.
>There were no dresses.
>No cloth.
>Nothing.
>The store was almost totally barren.
>All save for one white unicorn sitting against the back wall.
>She was making no effort to hide her despair.
>Rarity wept openly and dramatically in the unlit room.
>She seemed oblivious to Lyra’s presence.
>Lyra couldn’t help herself.
>This pony was probably the enemy.
>But even so she couldn’t help but pity them.

“Rarity, what’s wrong?”

>>30092791
>She spoke without thinking.
>Rarity jumped as though she’d been struck.
>She attempted to collect herself.
>It was a partial success.
>Lyra couldn’t help but notice something strange.
>Rarity’s eye-liner was immaculate.
>It hadn’t run at all.
>She was crying, but had not shed a single tear.

>”What are you doing here, Lyra?”

>She sounded confrontational.
>Lyra was starting to feel unwelcome.

“I came to do some shopping. But…”

>Lyra gestured at the empty room.
>Rarity seemed to believe the lie.
>She stared at Lyra intently, eyes just slightly too wide open.
>And somewhat unfocused.

>”Oh, I’m afraid the boutique has been closed for quite some time now. I simply didn’t have the time to run it anymore.”

>There were many valid questions.
>Lyra hesitated a moment trying to figure out which one to ask.
>As it turned out, though, Rarity was more than willing to speak on her own.

>”I do miss my dear boutique. There’s not a day that goes by where it doesn’t call to me, pleading to be made fabulous once more. Oh how I yearn to spread the gift of FASHION to the masses. Perhaps someday I might return to it. But for now my duty calls.”

>Lyra was almost in shock.
>She’d been getting used to having to pry for every scrap of information.
>Getting details out of this mess was like pulling teeth.
>And here Rarity was giving it all away freely.

“Why are you so busy? Like, what do you do without your boutique?”

>”Oh. That. I manage my other businesses.”

“Okay, but, you clearly don’t want to. Why don’t you just leave it behind and go back to your boutique? Why not do what you love?”

>Rarity seemed to stare off into the distance for a while.
>There was something very much wrong with her eyes.
>Lyra was pretty sure she knew what it was.

>>30092796
>”I don’t do it for myself. Were it up to me I’d do exactly as you say. But… It’s hard for one to understand the power of money when they’ve never had it. With these bits I can change the world, and this world desperately needs changing. Have you seen the rot that is consuming this city? Of course you have, you had to brave it to come here. Hopefully I’ve some wealth left when this is all over, that I may reverse it.”

>Lyra barely held her smile in check.
>Rarity had just fumbled.
>Bad.
>She’d basically admitted that her money wasn’t for fixing up the city as she was claiming.
>There was something else it was going to.
>Which meant her enterprises weren’t just there to get information.
>What was it they were buying?
>And how many bits did it take?
>Lyra was reminded of the note that said their budget was strained.
>If she could get some grasp on how much money Rarity was making, maybe she could get a feel for their operating budget?
>Perhaps that would offer some insight into the scope of their plans?
>Lyra had one more angle to investigate.

>”I’m sorry Darling, but I must ask you to go. I’ve places to be and things to do.”

“Alright, Rarity. I hope things start going better for you soon.”

>>30092799
>Lyra was surprised to find she meant the words earnestly.
>Rarity was one of ‘them’, but even so Lyra couldn’t help but pity her.
>It was clear Rarity wasn’t in this for herself.
>She was miserable as things were.
>Rarity was doing this for others in the hopes of making something better.
>Else she was the greatest actor of all time.
>Could their goals be noble?
>Could it be that they’re doing the right thing?
>Lyra needed to know more.
>But she did know something for sure.
>Rarity had no eyes.
>Sure, she had blue balls where her eyes were meant to be.
>But they were fake.
>No tears filled them despite Rarity’s weeping.
>She didn’t blink even once.
>And they never quite focused right.
>Was Rarity blind?
>She seemed to know where Lyra was, but maybe that was based on sound?
>Lyra was going to have to investigate further.
>But for now she had other plans.
>It was time to meet up with Derpy.

That's it.

Life's been kicking my ass lately so I didn't have nearly as long as I normally like to edit this. Hopefully it doesn't show too much, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some nasty errors in there.

Don't worry. I won't spend too much time on finances. While the bits are a key clue in the whole mix, I understand that accounting is boring. We won't have Lyra following a long paper trail.
At least not on screen.

>>30092791
>>30092790
I'm definitely sensing some body snatching shenanigans happening.

>>30089621
>Flipping a few switches a chime can be heard throughout the plane and you begin.
"Attention, the seatbelt sign has been turned on. Please take a seat and fasten your seatbelt. We will be taxiing to the end of the runway and taking off for an eastbound departure towards Canterlot International. This will be a short 30 minute flight, if you want a drink there is bottled water in the mini-fridges under each desk. Enjoy the flight."
>Approaching ramp 01 you stop short of the runway to put on your seatbelt.
>Looking left and right you see no other aircraft and you roll onto the runway and floor it.
"Reaching V1, Rotate. Gear up, autopilot on."
>Flipping the big switch in the middle of the dashboard the gear down sign turns off and the gear up sign shortly lights up.
>Pressing the autopilot button the plane starts to bank to the left aligning to 150.


>"Damn, was that Anon taking off in such a graceful rush?"
>"Duh, add 1+1 together. He was touring the princesses and is probably taking them back to Canterlot."
>Silence takes over the tower as every airplane is either dispatched or isn't scheduled to fly for the next couple hours.
>"Wanna play darts?"


>"Foxtrot Xray Heavy, this is air traffic control for Crystal Kingdom International Airport. How copy?"
>"Copy you 5 by 5 by another 5 captain boss man. Requesting permission to land. Foxtrot Xray Heavy"
>"Foxtrot Xray Heavy, we have your clearance ready, advise when ready to copy."
>"Ready, Foxtrot Xray Heavy."
>"Foxtrot Xray Heavy, you are cleared to land on runway 07 right, heading 270 expect 350 in 3 minutes, VFR maintain VFR."
>"Runway 07 right, 270, expect 350 in 3, VFR approach. Foxtrot Xray Heavy."
>"Readback is correct, we'll be watching your landing closely. ATC"
>"Captain, we're set on approach vectors. You'll be landing this baby visually. So how about we reduce some speed and extend the flaps."
>"Copy that."

>>30093411
>Twisting a few knobs the plane slows down and begins to pitch towards the airport runway, moving the flaps lever into full the slowing down plane still maintains flight.
>Something must be wrong because the plane begins drifting to the side.
>"Tower this is Foxtrot Xray Heavy, forgot to ask this but how are we for crosswinds?"
>"Foxtrot Xray Heavy, winds are moderate to heavy 040@020."
>"Roger that, Foxtrot Xray Heavy. Over."
>"How about this for a change Captain, we'll be doing a crab approach and tokyo drift onto the runway."
>"B-but what if I don't make i-it."
>"If something will go wrong I'll me here to assist you. We are 2 miles to the runway so how about we lower our gears."
>"Gear down. Autopilot off, landing lights on."
>Approaching the runway, the plane lost altitude constantly.
>Turning the plane 30 degrees to face the wind, the shaking stopped momentarily and began gliding towards the runway.
>'Minimums, minimums. 200.' the GPWS called out indicating just how close they were to the ground.
>"Nice and steady, zero throttle and pitch the plane up a bit."
>'100...50, 40, 30, 20, 10. RETARD!'
>The captain was looking extremely stressed but First Officer George was calm and leaning back into his chair.
>The plane shook as it touched down with its rear wheels, running for a few seconds before gently touching the front wheels down and beginning to center itself on the runway.
>"Reverse thrust." George said as he reached for the small lever on the throttle.
>Rumbling as the engines began generating reverse thrust decellerating the plane.
>"Tower we have a touchdown, slowing down and proceeding to taxi on exit 07 right. Foxtrot Xray Heavy"
>"Roger that, that was a brilliant landing. See you in the terminal, tower out."

>>30093416
>"I'm back!... Jay?"
>"Got you a cup of coffee."
>The brown pegasus couldn't be seen anywhere and his desk was empty.
>Setting the cup of coffee down on Jay's desk, the grumpy earth pony grabbed Jay's application forms and sat down.
>Rows after rows of applicants, but Jay nowhere to be seen.
>The crowd bagan running out at around 4 in the evening and same with the application forms.
>He decided to call it a day and began closing up.
>Looking at Jay's desk he wonders if he's upset the poor pegasus.
>'Better go look for him, I wouldn't want his death on my mind.'
>He thought to himself and finished closing the office, turning the sign around which said 'Open tomorrow morning'.
>Stepping outside of town hall, he noticed his coworker sitting on the steps.
>"Jay? What are you doing?"
>Not reacting to his friend's question, the pegasus was immersed in his world of thoughts.
>Sitting down next to Jay, he thought he'd snap him out of whatever he's in by touching the wings just lightly enough to creep Jay out.
>Jerking away in a surprised movement, Jay's wings shot erect.
>"Haha, that got a reaction out of you. Why do you mope around? Did I upset you?"
>"Trev, no. I managed to upset myself. I tried doing it how you told me, and I just cried."
>Wrapping a hoof around the pegasus and giving him a shake he began.
>"How about you only do stuff you are comfortable doing. After all, what works for me might not work for you."
>Sniffling for a bit, the pegasus looked at Trev taking a loud breath.
>"Wanna sleep over? We can watch nature documentaries."
>"BORING! Lets watch the conspiracy theory thing that's coming up at midnight and lasts till early morning."
>"But the humans aren't secretly controlling our government."
>"That's what they want you to think, you need to watch it!"
>Both had a laugh at that remark.

>>30093422
Your story kind of reminds me of scotty's if scotty's was about planes instead of city building

>>30093650
What ever happened to Scotty?

>>30094227
He doesn't update too often. As far as I know he's still working on his green.

>>30094716
What this guy said, I remember multiple times I started thinking he's dead only for him to suddenly post

>>30095554
inb4 Scotty posts in next 15 minutes

>>30094716
If I remember my dates correctly Scotty posts green every 2-3 weeks, sometimes a tad faster.

>>30095783
When was the last time he posted?

>>30096280
April 19th so almost a full month ago

>>30092823
Was hoping that the secret helper wouldnt be shown so soon, never saw Derpy coming though. I really should look up more...

>>30098084
I'm about 50/50 on whether this is a fake out. I think I remember WiK hinted that the helper was someone who was someone who could quickly find out about and hide Lyra search through Twilight's castle, and further hinted they were close to Twilight. Also there was a line earlier about the secret helper having "an awkward gait, almost as though the pony moving wasn’t familiar with their legs.". Now that simply could either be Derpy's regular gait or something else, possibly Glimmer controlling someone remotely through magic. It feels way too early for this reveal

boop

>>30098548
>>30098084
The other one was a unicorn. Not only could they teleport, they failed a spell of some sort. This one's a pegasus. They're seperate ponies. Or an alicorn.

>>30099781
They're separate ponies physically, but would it be possible they're the same one mentally?

fire the emergency booster engines

>>30101831

>>30102506

>>30103619
This reminds me of a scene from a certain fanfiction where Purplesnort is talking with a human about calculus and writing figures on a blackboard, and he interrupts her to ask why a certain symbol she is drawing looks like a monkey fucking a football.

>>30103667
you wouldn't happen to remember what fanfic that's from?

>>30103852
Quantum Castaways by Dusttraveller. The human--he has a name, he's not "Anonymous"--is half crazy and really, really vulgar. That story's Twilight Sparkle is picking up a really nasty vocabulary from him. Also, oddly--and I like this about it--it's a "guy and a mare are stuck on a desert island" fic where there's no interspecies romance, no interspecies boinking, going on. One section kind of implies that the human character masturbates, a LOT, to keep himself from going there with Purplesmart, whom he sees as childlike, and to him this would be a violation of trust.

>>30103901
>no interspecies romance, no interspecies boinking, going on.
That is a nice change of pace

>>30093422
>>"But the humans aren't secretly controlling our government."
>>"That's what they want you to think, you need to watch it!"
>>Both had a laugh at that remark.
I feel like this is going to be important

>>30104109
Yeah. They obviously care very, very much for one another. But if she has any sexual feelings whatsoever she doesn't speak of them aloud. And the human, in one chapter--well, she notices he keeps going off into the woods alone. When she asks what he's doing, he says "yoga practice," and it's pretty obvious that he's going out there to fap.

>>30104540
>yoga practice
What a weird excuse

>>30105484
He's a weird guy. U U U U

>>30103068

>>30105601
I see what you did there

>>30078902
>That gauss warning
Triggers me every time.

>>30106966
Never noticed that, now i cant help but be triggered as well
Thanks Anon

>>30106966
>>30107303
I'm not familiar with magnets and gauss so what's the issue?

>>30107749
5 gauss is an extremely weak field. Fridge magnets are generally much stronger.

>>30107749
MRI Machines have a 5 Gauss line, so you would think that that's really strong, until you realize an average fridge magnet is 50 gauss.

>>30108022
Man I hate MRI machines
I don't even have claustrophobia but sitting in those goddamn tubes for an hour is horrible.

>>30108673
I think it's fair to say most people wouldn't want to ne in a space that small for an hour

I keep hearing people say things like "you can't be in an MRI if you have fillings in your teeth, the magnets will rip them right out" and "my brother's cousin's best friend's brother in law saw a guy who had worked as a welder and had little bits of metal embedded in his skin get in an MRI machine and it tore these big bloody holes in his arms" and "if you get in an MRI with change in your pockets the magnets will tear the coins out and make holes in your clothes." Is this all bullshit? Is 5 gauss the number, or is it 5 kilogauss or something retardedly powerful like that?

I've heard that they can use superconducting magnets to do "transcranial magnetic stimulation" on people with persistent depression, and supposedly it was discovered when it was found that, after hours, janitors were fucking around with one hospital's MRI machine, sticking their heads right next to one of the magnetic assemblies, and they would laugh like idiots and say they were getting high from it.

What's factual and what's bullshit here?

Obligatory equine content follows.

In poni hospitals a highly trained unicorn can perform a PMRI (Pony Magical Resonance Imagery) scan on you in a matter of seconds so there's no waiting around in a tube.

>>30109365
Considering how complicated MRIs are I would find hard to believe it could be done without machine assistance

>>30109365
The 5 gauss line is a marker that designates the point at which the magnetic force from the MRI when activated is 5 gauss. It's basically how far away you have to be for the magnetic force of the MRI to be negligible. Modern MRI operate at a wide range of magnetic intensities, but 1.5 tesla (15,000 gauss) is pretty common for medical MRI.

>>30110259
Maybe, maybe not. I suppose it depends on how capable you think the ponies are with magic and how well magic can accomplish complex tasks. Or, more to the point, how you want to handle it for a story. Just make it plausible and try to stay consistent.

>>30110616
Okay, that makes sense.

I'm finally back. This update admittedly isn't the best, because I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things, but it's still an update.

>The next morning, once you sit down at the breakfast table in your private dining room, you notice that the small status update you provided the Lancaster Review made it to the front page.
>It makes you roll your eyes a little.
>You know for a fact that the building that stole the title of tallest in the world from the Cobalt Building, the Stanford Building, will open on Stanford Street and Second Avenue tomorrow.
>You’ve even planned a trip there to take in the awe-inspiring views of Lancaster from yet another angle.
>But even an event like that cannot shake the public’s fascination with the explorers you recruited.
>It’s almost religious.
>That day, no matter where you go, passerby stop to ask you about how the convoys are doing.
>Naturally trying to avoid brushing anyone off, you end up late to quite a few meetings that day.
>You receive more transmissions from the convoys that night, just as you do the night after that, and the night after that, and so on.
>Now that the wireless transmitters have been more or less broken in, you spend a little bit more time interacting with the various convoys each night.
>The updates in the Lancaster Review grow shorter too with each day, as more of the information you receive is withheld for various reasons.
>But, eventually, the messages grow more distant and the signals become shakier.
>Then, one by one, the convoys fall off the map.
>The days when they were unreachable were by far the most stressful.
>You don’t think that Morse code was able to capture just how delighted you were when, one by one, they all came back within range.

>>30111472
>The first convoy returns on February 10.
>The south convoy arrives at the meeting point just west of Lancaster, on the dusty road linking the growing city with the more quaint townships.
>There, the classified equipment that the explorers took with them is loaded onto several A-9 delivery sedans and taken back to the Arcadian Innovation Company’s headquarters from whence they came.
>The explorers themselves are loaded into a few staff cars and taken to the Executive House.
>You gather them all in the Reception Room on the ground floor and sit down on a plush chair in the circle of various chairs and tables pulled out from against the curved walls.
>A few of them help themselves to the coffee that the staff bring out, while others wait for you to say something.
>And everyone in the room turns to you when you do.
“Alright, let’s get to business. Who wants to go first?”
>Every hoof–and more than one talon–in the room is quickly raised.


>You are Aurora.
>And you’re standing behind President Anonymous himself, on a temporary stage behind the Executive Mansion in front of a massive crowd, as he takes part in a short celebration and gives you his well-wishes.
>When he stops in front of you and shakes your hoof, your breath catches in your throat.
>Sure, you were overjoyed when you were accepted into the explorers’ training program, beating thousands of other, much more qualified applicants, and you pushed through the rigorous training, even when your friends were dropping like flies.
>But now?
>You’re nervous as hell.
>When top brass from the AIC showed up one day and gave the convoy’s griffons a secretive explanation of some new technology, the weight of what you were doing started to make itself known.
>And then when you saw the new instruments yourself, your heart started racing.
>Just like most of the crowd, you immediately panicked when the first shot was fired.

>>30111475
>Of course, it was clear across the room and pointed away from you, and the instructor certainly knew what he was doing.
>But it was still terrifying!
>You got used to it eventually, though, and it’s not like you’ll have to use them, anyway.
>But you’re still lucky that you didn’t have to learn how to operate a firearm.
>After she got back from her first training session, your bunkmate, Greta, kept flinching whenever she heard a loud noise.
>But soon the shock wore off, and now, as you drive the vehicle you’ve been assigned to with Greta sitting at the other end of the bench seat, you’re both filled with the same nervous pride as all the other explorers.
>After the short, slow, boring drive through Lancaster, you took your place in the radial arrangement of vehicles, all pointed in straight lines towards your respective destinations.
>You do one final check of your vehicle before you leave, as do the other explorers.
>Every spare part in the massive inventory you’re bringing with you is accounted for, as is every tool you’d possibly need.
>You could take apart every vehicle in the convoy in an afternoon if you wanted to.
>Once you’re done circling around the car, you crank it to life and hop in your seat.
>”You ready?”
“Let’s do this.”
>The car in front of you leaps forward, and you put your own vehicle in gear and feather the clutch.
>Off you go.
>You make conversation with Greta as the day progresses.
>On a whim, you ask her how she made it to Arcadia.
>”Oh, it’s not an interesting story, really. My family came to Equestria when I was twelve. We lived in a grimy tenement in Manehatten on the Lower East Side with a bunch of other griffons who immigrated there with us. I hated the place, and I figured that if I worked hard enough I could get out of there and make a name for myself.”
>She hangs her elbow out the window and shifts in her seat.

>>30111482
>”Guess how that went. My parents passed on not long after we arrived, so I had to take care of my little siblings.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
>”Don’t be. They weren’t long for this world when they arrived here.”
>She sighs.
>”That’s actually why they came to Equestria. My father got sick very easily, and he was hoping Equestria’s hospitals were better than the Griffon Kingdoms.”
“Were they?”
>”Well, the pony hospitals are, but not the ones for griffons.”
“There are separate hospitals for griffons in Manehattan?”
>She sits up looks at you.
>”Are you kidding?”
“What?”
>”They’re all across Equestria.”
>A little embarrassed, you quickly busy yourself with the various gauges on the dashboard.
>”I’m guessing you didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t. There weren’t many griffons where I grew up.”
>”Where was that?”
“Los Pegasus.”
>”But you’re not a pegasus.”
“Why do you think I came here?”
>Greta snorts, the hint of a smile returning to her face.
>”So you do get it, then. Really, the only reason I heard about this place was because someone who lived across the street from us for a while came out here in ‘04. It was a big deal then. He kept going on about all the different technologies that were being developed in Lancaster. We all knew the stories, but nobody fully believed him.”
“Until?”
>She leans back, thinking for a moment.
>”I think it was the time he sent a photograph with his letter. We thought they were drawings at first, but when my little brother couldn’t erase the pictures, the entire building packed up and came over here.”
“That’s a pretty good story. I was interested in coming over here when I heard they had invented horseless carriages, but at first I thought they had to be insanely expensive.”
>”And then somebody told you the price tag.”
“Yep. Moved out here the next month. I would have come sooner, too, if I had sold my workshop faster.”

>>30111491
>And so the drive continues.
>When you’re not making conversation you’re either focusing on driving or enjoying the scenery.
>Arcadia’s scenery never ceases to amaze.

And that’s it for now. I know it’s not the longest, but I’ve been in a slump since April, and it took a lot of effort to get this out. I tried not to make the backstory too edgy, but I don’t know if I pulled that off well or not. I’m still pretty rusty.

As usual, the pastebin is updated. Link: https://pastebin.com/eufFYFaw

>>30111497
Hey you're alive! That's good to know.

Also as is tradition fuck you Scotty

>>30111491
>”I think it was the time he sent a photograph with his letter. We thought they were drawings at first, but when my little brother couldn’t erase the pictures, the entire building packed up and came over here.”

This part really warmed my heart reading it

>>30115092
Poor Treekicker. Is she wearing some kind of powered armor or did some nasty from the Everfree Forest eat her bottom half, requiring some rather elaborate cybernetic prosthetics that don't even have naughty bits?

>>30115120
Judging by the sad look I think it's the later

>>30115120
>>30115361
What a cruel fate

Chapter 14, brought to you by laziness

"You know...when I walked through that portal to another world...the first thing I noticed was how clean it was, how beautiful and unperverted that clearing was, how nature had blessed it with such beauty and liveliness...
The second thing I saw was the rotting carcass of a gargantuan beast."
-Ethan Fawkner, Memoirs of the Other Side

>Two hours had passed. Security had swapped out personnel, trading tired eyes and exhausted visages for coffee-invigorated guards.
>Another two hours, and the last pieces of weaponry were fished out from the back of the armory. Why there was a mounted grenade launcher in there, nobody knew.
>Yet another two hours, and a few daring scientists tiptoed up to the portal, their instruments pointed at the other side.
>Two more hours. The scientists wouldn't back off, even at the pleading of the Kevlar-plated guards. It was comical, the white-coated men and women still probing the enormous ellipse even while tall men with guns were pulling them back away from the alien meadow.
>Then, two hours later, the PA came on. An announcement was made, and the scientists made way for the engineers, who hesitantly walked up towards the portal. Blades of grass gently swayed in the early morning sun, some of them leaning just over the edge between the two worlds. They looked at each other, collectively taking a deep breath as they prepared themselves, and stepped over the barrier onto a whole new planet, crates in tow...

>>30116248

-Andrew-
>They had run tests on him, questioned him, and he was still stuck in the stupid room.
>After they had brought the three wounded aliens (and the two not so wounded ones) across, Andrew and his two friends were taken to the infirmary. The doctors insisted that he submit to all of their tests, but he countered by saying he was fine - he had been there for weeks, he didn't need to get a complete checkup done - and they let him off on the condition that he come back later. They still did some basic evaluations, though, and three hours passed before he was once again carted off to clean himself up. He was given a fresh set of clothes from his room after he showered and shaved, and it was nice to get into something other than his old uniform.
>Then they took him to be questioned.
>Questioning was a bit too hostile of a term. The room was actually a spare storage space somewhere in the back of the Offices area, furnished with a folding table and six padded folding chairs. They had even brought a sandwich and some much-appreciated coffee from the cafeteria, which Andrew gladly accepted. And he didn't mind talking to the camera and the two interviewers about what had happened on the other side; it was relaxing, unloading the events of the past two weeks and answering any questions that came up.
>But now? They had told him to wait as they walked out of the room, the camera still on its tripod. Thirty minutes later, and he was still waiting there, growing more and more impatient with each passing moment.
>The door handle suddenly twisted counter-clockwide, and the door swung open with a squeak. A man in a suit and tie took a step into the room and motioned for him to follow.
>"Where are we going?" Andrew asked as he stood up from the table.
>"We're bringing you to the other two survivors. You'll be doing a group interview for the next couple of hours. Come," the man beckoned.