Twilight Sparkle - magus, heroine and Princess - has learned of worlds overlapping Ungulatia in space and time. Though this has been a well known phenomenon, safely traveling to these other worlds has always eluded pony mages. But now - after years of research and careful experiments - she prepares herself for the most audacious of all experiments: stepping hoof on the surface of an alien world and returning safely! What wonders will she find once she walks through her magic portal?
This assumes that Equestria Girls never happened.
Chapters (1)
First
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Awesome story.
-Equinox_
Oh wait, that was Antarctica?
I thought she was in Siberia! 
Then again, what's the difference? 
... yeah yeah, I know, penguins and it being south and coldest place on Earth...
As soon as it mentioned the extreme weather I figured it either had to be Antarctica.
Didn't know about the Soviet Station there(I'm pretty sure there are/were scientists down there though, and a lot of penguins).
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Antarctica has little multicellular life outside the ocean ways. If she ended up in Siberia, she would probably see trees, lichen and such and that would destroy most of the premise of this story. Moral: Don't be sure of anything when you have a limited sample size - but feel free to speculate anyway.
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Were scientists. The station was in operation in 1958 for about a month during the Antarctic summer. In 1965, it was visited by an American team doing a continental traverse. And in 2007 and 2011 it was reached by other traverse teams. By now, it's mostly buried under compacted snow and ice. And it is FAR too distant from the ocean for penguins. Link.
6376752
Huh, interesting.
And 'down there' was in reference to Antarctica in general since there are multiple research stations down there, some of which are still used. There's just no, permanent human residents.
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I know EDIT: there are other stations and all. I thought you meant that particular station - and yeah, last bit of crust with no real permanent human habitation. Everyone is 'just visiting' so to speak.
EDIT: Clarified myself.
Yes, all of the yes!
This would make a great story!
Either in the form of a continuation of this segment or moving on to more worlds!
I found a plot hole.
There is no way in hell those booties are going to contain Pinkie Pie.
Also, this story reminds me of a Stargate episode with a similar gag. They wound up in Antarctica because of some shenanigans and decided they were on an ice planet.
6376902
Actually, I vaguely remember that one. They kept dialing home but not getting anything because they thought they were off planet or something. Yeah, I vaguely remember that.
Eh, maybe that informed this. Though the setting is slightly different - the wide open spaces of the surface vs. a cavern. Still, yeah. But no but yeah. Yeah.
6376942 I don't remember the details either, but that sounds about right to me. There are definite similarities as well as differences, but it is ultimately not that important.
I love it. Very fun little spin on HiE-PiE world exploration.
This story gets me in the mood for a good, detailed story in this style. Too bad I've already read most of those sorts of fics on the site. Good Human/Pony first contact fics are a treasure, and there will never be enough to satisfy my hunger.
Woah, a remarkable reading that I haven't came across in a long time. Nicely done!
Author, you better get her to explore that world more. Otherwise the committeee of Interdimensional Beings for the General Improvement of Civilizations will be angry at the status that you left it in.
6376986 Can you recommend some? This is the first i have seen that isn't HiE which i am kinda burnt out on.
I've wondered about that too. Why do PoEs always land in urban or suburban USA or Europe?
If I were writing this, I probably would have put it in the Sahara.
Or to make a longer and more thrilling tale, perhaps somewhere near Erta Ale in Ethiopia? Let ponies deal with lava lakes, acid lakes, harsh desert and AK-toting tribesmen. (Per Wikipedia: "Not much is known about Erta Ale, as the surrounding terrain is some of the most inhospitable on Earth and the native Afar people have a legendary reputation for viciousness towards outsiders.")
So...just a standalone?
Or merely Part 1 of many? Even if Twilight believes that the world is just an 'Iceworld,' there's so much more than could be looked at in one visit. I didn't even see her take extensive samples!
Please say she's returning to Earth?
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There's a few that I like but they all have their 'issues.' One of the reasons I don't do these is the language barrier - trying to imitate two different speakers of languages tends to become a group-effort charades game and just ugh. Since I know what everyone is saying, I can have 'waving arms furiously' mean something that in hindsight doesn't seem all that obvious.
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Well thank you!
6377127
The original name of the chapter was 'The Only One Ever.' Sorry, I have no plans to extend this in any way. Someone else can grab and run with it though, if they want to.
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Well, with how this was planned, the Sahara might've been okay - except that has some rather hearty life clinging to it. I wanted the suggestion to be a totally dead world. And that it tied into the cultural phenomenon the ponies have of windigos just lent itself to misunderstanding and wild speculation.
6377636
Standalone, one-shot. And Twilight was more concerned with surviving by the time she left the hut than to go back and grab some, say, meteorological documents or even the globe that was there. She was also feeling a bit down because of her already-present assumptions on the fate of this 'world' she was seeing.
6377744
From the cold, of course. She was frostbitten. The radiation is a by product of her exotic and unsustainable matter breaking down due to the new universe rules - and actually, if she hadn't been an alicorn with a huge natural reserve of magic and a tough body, she probably would have died before even getting to the hut.
By that logic, they've got a 1 in 4 shot of making landfall at all -- not just here, but on most habitable worlds! They'd probably figure that out eventually and try to send some kind of flying probe, but chances are it would crap out on every world with no magical field.
The good news is that now that they've confirmed traces of civilization here, they'd probably make more prepared return trips to study the abandoned Soviet post -- ones with appropriate gear to survive the cold, detect rough latitude, realize they took a very wrong turn at Albuquerque, and probably draw attention.
And then with our help they could send out gliders to other worlds.
I got one thing to say about this story. MOARMOARMOARMOARMOARMOAR
6377463
Sifting through my Favs looking for good First Contact fics which involve ponies going to Earth, here's the ones I would recommend (that aren't on permanent haitus/never got past the first couple chapters):
Voyage's End:
One-shot in which the Voyager space probe is found by Equestria, and its contents are studied.
Celestia Sleeps In:
In which Princess Celestia goes to a foreign planet to enjoy their sunrise, and is discovered by a human on the island she teleported onto. The unfinished (but still active) sequel directly continues the events that occur here, but there's quite a lot already written.
Twilight Makes First Contact:
Awesome fanfic about exactly what the title says. Filled with interesting cultural exchange, this one has actually given me several bits of headcanon. Unfortunately it's been a full year-and-a-half since the last update, but what is there is still worth reading.
Stardust:
A crossover with XCOM, but if you haven't played the game don't let that stop you. This fic does a great job keeping the reader informed, and I think it'd be just as enjoyable without knowledge of the game's events. Absolutely fantastic Pony-On-Earth fic.
Hopefully at least some of these are new to you and I've given you something good to read! Apologies to Minalkra for using his comment section for this discussion.
This story needs to continue.
I like the cultural/historical bias that comes into play, but there is one part of it that bugs me: Wendigos
As far as we know, Wendigos are a part of Pony history, and were defeated by a combination of sincere peace talks and unicorn magic. These two things probably weren't and aren't present in other species, however. If Wendigos were ever attracted to other species, like griffons, dragons, zebras etc. (and they should have been according to the Law of Averages) how did those other species deal with them? They couldn't have. I can only conclude that Wendigos only ever went after ponies, for whatever inexplicable reason.
I am a bit confused as to why Twilight assumes that humans were destroyed by Wendigos, when there are plenty of other species on her own planet who never had any interactions with them.
As it should be.
Moar?
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Well, I'm not going to go forward with this myself. It was a one-shot to me. If anyone else wants to build off this, they can shoot me a PM and I'll probably okay another writer's sequel. Or they can make it 'unofficial' and just not list this as a sequel. Whichever man.
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Funnily enough, every single one of those are on a list of mine in various ways. They all have 'issues' but I like them.
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That's a great many assumptions you have there. Admittedly, we don't have a complete view of Equestria but just because we don't know about the zebras or the dragons or the gryphons dealing with windigos doesn't mean they never did. Perhaps that's why dragons are solitary now - their empire was shattered and the only way they could deal with the threat as a species was to live solitary lives. Perhaps the zebras dealt with the windigos similarly to the ponies - or never had to deal with it at all because they never had the intense level of hatred the ponies had for one another. Perhaps the gryphons pride kept them from hating one another. We don't know.
Personally, I think every species had dealings with windigos and dealt with them according to their species requirements - such as outlined above. Until (Unless) the show writers deal with that aspect of the show, it's all head canon and all head canon is as valid as any other unless it explicitly contradicts the show in one form or another. I don't see the outline above as contradicting the show myself so I'm going with it.
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Unless someone else picks it up, this is all there will be of this. Sorry.
6378559
Honestly? Yes. EqG ruins
livesfanfics. I don't like it. Nope, not at all.Human ignorance can be adorable sometimes. Others, it's annoying.
6378454
ooh! more stories to read.
(Also: Awesome ending
)
Ah, that explains stuff.
But you made one unforgivable sin. A wrong so bad it will forever blight this story with its disgrace.
You called a gramophone a phonograph!
But otherwise pretty good, needed more Soviet National Anthem though.
A Bond Villain who wants to melt the ice causing sea levels to rise which would flood all the coastal cities in the world in order to raise his property values by giving himself beach front property?
6378754
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph
"In it's later form, known as a gramophone (trademarked 1887 ...)"
Which would Twilight know it as, the human trademarked name or the generic name? Admittedly, I have only ever really called it a phonograph or record player myself though I've heard of gramophone before - so really, either-or in this case. Given my head canon regarding the roughly equivalent time period Equestria is experiencing, I think phonograph fits better as an earlier word for the same essential device.
Edit: And now reading the entirety of the Wikipedia entry, I see its a stylistic choice based on where the reader is in the world. Yay me for reading my own links! Whoops.
Nice story. One small technical quibble: the sun may be constantly visible during the long south polar year, but it doesn't stay still: the planet is still rotating, so it moves in a circle above the horizon.
I want more! Or at least I would if you did decide to continue it. Great piece.
6378952
Yes, generally the very first bit in the US section, where we differentiate gramophones as the more modern disc type players and only use phonographs for the early wax cylinder players. (Which were a piece of junk because the wax couldn't handle repeated usage.)
But ehh, maybe Equestria's different. But personally I like the differential naming because they are quite different devices.
(The UK also uses this differential method.)
6379028
Strangely enough, I live in the US and it's entirely the opposite for me. I've never heard gramophone in conversation but I've spoken to many people about the phonograph in my den.
Different strokes ...
EDIT: And I just had a conversation with my old man and he calls it a gramophone ... I guess I'm just weird and those people were humoring me ...
A nice touch with that "motionless" sun, got me thinking that was some kind of AU Earth for a while.
So it's this station:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Southern_Pol_of_Inaccessibility_Henry_Cookson_team_n2i.JPG
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Southern_Pol_of_Inaccessibility_Henry_Cookson_team_n2i.JPG
looks comfy ;)
--
to
6379055 Then young padawan, you must slap those people on their heads.
Interestingly when you look at the Soviet station it looks almost like it was intentionally designed as to show off Lenin's bust when it was buried.
sorpolen2011.npolar.no/opencms/export/sites/sorpolen2011/en/diary-images/Utilgjengelighetspolen_Orheim.jpg
uturncrossfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/keep-calm-and-give-me-more-13.png
MOAR MOAR MOAR MOAR MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Other than researchers and penguins and such, who lives in Antarctica?
I hate it when an author makes a fantastic open-ended ending to a story, because it makes me feel bad for wanting a sequel.
I shouldn't, but there it is.
Haha, Antarctica during the Winter, eh? Noice.
I'll be ready for moar to read.
6379157
Deez nut
6379157 Actually, even penguins don't live in Antarctica; common misconception though, don't worry.
6379240
Ah, don't feel bad. It's completely natural to want a continuation to a story as open as that.
I for one, want to see them try to explore a bit more of the same planet and wind up in the middle of the Sahara.
It's an intriguing story. What makes it unique is that unlike most random teleportation stories, Twilight ends up instead in one of the least hospitable areas. Secondly, Twilight ends up drawing conclusions based of the mechanics of her own world.
I really hope there is more.
6379451 Actually, penguins do live in Antarctica. You're thinking of Polar Bears. Penguins live almost exclusively in Antarctica, with some other cases finding them as far north as the Galapagos Islands by the equator.