Lyra Heartstrings - 13th of Faust 1,312 Classical Era - Noon
Multiverse Location: Equestria, Equis #0???? - The Prime (Distant Past)
The hell was back. The silver enclosed hell of absolutly fuck all to do. Spending the previous night gaming with Luna had been a mistake. Not that it wasn’t fun as hell, after a few games of chess she’d talked me into doing a remake of Doom’s co-op campaign. That had been a blast!
Thing was, yeah… The energy to do all that had to come from somewhere. In this case my gut, and I hadn’t eaten in awhile. Few days come to think of it.
Calories, the bane of biotech gamers everywhere.
Needless to say, I couldn’t do much more than be hungry and stare at the silver tent walls right now. And right now was completely goddamn silent! Starswirl had gone out to pick up the last deely bopper needed to make the spell of not-die for me. Moonbutt and Celestia were out training with their mother for the day. So the whatever was outside this foil envelope was completely silent.
Aside from the sounds of something bubbling at least. Oh mysterious bubbling thing which smells of cantaloupe and dark chocolate, with a hint of rose. What are you? Are you lunch? I could go for some lunch.
“Oh my god, I need to think of something other than food!” I exclaimed loud enough to make Bon ‘jump’ and look at me in surprise.
“Oh come on! You’ve seen me eat multiple times every day,” I accused. “Not all of us can have a rabbit once a month and be totally good.”
Bon gave me a look which I swore was a deadpan, before actual rolling her eyes! While not a zoologist I knew that snake eyes did not roll like that. I wanted to question how she did that, but it wasn’t like she could speak, and well, answers had to be coming soon right?
My thoughts were shattered as Bon reached over to my belt, sniffed at the pouches on my left side, opened one with her mouth, and took out one of my kit’s two ration bars which I had literally completely forgot about.
“... Whelp, I’m stupid,” I said decisively as Bon held the bar in her mouth with the deadpan stare resumed.
I took the bar from her mouth and opened the packaging, unclasping my helmet’s faceplate with the other. I couldn’t help but realize that I had been making a lot of dumb decisions the last few days. I also hadn’t had a bite the last few days.
That hadn’t been a problem before, military mods should let me go for three days without food. Wait no, that hadn’t been mods, that was the combat stims. God damnit Lyra! You need to remember to eat more, the suit’s only half the equation here.
I’d gotten through the first two bites of the chalky food substitute nutrient bar when a door somewhere off behind me creaked open and hoof steps clicked against the floor.
“Starswirl?” I asked, mouth somewhat full.
“Clover,” the wizard’s wife politely corrected. “He hasn’t gotten you out of that thing yet?”
“No, he said he had to pick up a… Um… Mystical sounding thing I can’t remember, cuz my VI’s too low on energy to run right now,” I explained, poorly.
“VI?” Clover asked curiously. “Ah yes! Luna mentioned that, an integrated assistant… How do you recharge it? Can I get one?”
“Eating food,” I explained. “Runs on calories, haven’t eaten in a few days now so-”
“What?!” Clover shouted. “That bearded idiot didn’t think to feed you!? How can you be absent minded you future seeing old coot!”
“Uh…” I said, not wanting to push the ‘marital spat is a go’ button.
“Let me get you something to eat,” Clover more ordered than asked.
“It’s cool, I got a ration bar. I forgot I had it,” I said not wanting her to go through any trouble.
With an explosive flash of dark green magic a short very plain looking white and black speckled mare in a burlap hooded cloak teleported into my tent. She eyed the bar, sniffed it, recoiled, and exclaimed, “That’s not food! That’s concentrated hatred!”
I sputtered and scooted backwards from Clover. “Shit! Warn a girl before you just fucking appear like that!”
“How can you even eat that…” Clover’s yellow eyes narrowed, flashing with arcane light for a second. “That’s dried algae! Why would you put that in your mouth!? Wait... Is that what your species is supposed to eat?”
“No, but it keeps you from dieing and real food is super expensive. You can’t vat grow it… Taste isn’t too bad,” I grunted, deciding to let the teleport go.
It was probably like the clothing thing. Ponies probably just expected unicorns to teleport.
Clover leaned in, actually fucking licked an unwrapped section of the bar, immediately went green, and teleported again. Judging by the sound of her retching, she’d literally teleported away just in time to avoid puking on me.
“Ugh… It tastes like hate too…” She groaned.
I wanted to laugh at the instant fucking karma, but well, that karma was good enough. Serves you right for licking someone else food bitch!
“Yeah so, gonna ask you to just not do that again and let me eat,” I said, wiping the bar clean on my flight suit's leg before taking another bite.
A zap and sizzling sound caught my attention, prompting me to turn and…see more foil wall. Yay…
“So happy Celestia invented a cleaning spell,” Clover muttered. “As for you, throw that garbage away. I’m getting you some food! Herbivore or omnivore?”
“You really don’t need to-”
“Yes I do! You are a guest in my house and I won't have you eating…that.” Clover adamantly insisted. “Herbivore or omnivore?”
“Carnivore,” I said snarkily.
Seriously, how do you know I don’t just eat meat?
“Really? With those teeth? Don’t be my husband,” Colver scolded.
“Omnivore,” I sighed. “Look you really don’t have to trouble yourself with-”
“I’m millennia old. Taking a few minutes to help someone is literally nothing to me. Now toss that wad of hate aside and get ready for proper bucking food!” Clover ordered in a voice reminiscent of a Drill Sergeant.
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” I snapped reflexively.
God damnit… Make it up to Captain, still snap to attention for the Sarge… Damn you, Pavlov!
I heard the distinct pop of a teleport spell, twice infact. One to my left, one from up the stairs. I had just enough time to wonder about the science behind instant transmission of objects before Clover appeared again, the flash of light reflecting off the sides of my tent rather blindingly.
“Behold! Actual food,” Clover said, her aura holding the best looking sandwich in the world!
Dark brown bread, with some sort of red and brown sauces slathered over bits of finely shredded meat, bits of some other light bread and darker specks of meat, and some kind of mushy white paste. It looked weird, but it smelled like heaven.
“I don’t care why you have meat, that looks too amazing to question!” I exclaimed, practically snatching the sandwich from her.
“It’s a griffon recipe, we have some of their mages come to call from time to time,” Clover explained, sitting down. “Excuse me Miss Snake. Also, since Pegasi need a little meat, we keep it in stock. You can have all you like, I believe there’s…turkey and sausage, pork sausage, and it’s mixed in there with cornbread, potatoes, and- Oh! You’re not allergic to cranberries, are you?”
“No idea, never had them. For that matter, what the hell is a turkey?” I asked, taking the first bite of-
Literal actual heaven! Holy shit! The phrase better than sex wasn’t bullshitting. It was a real thing!
Clover chuckled. “That’s about the reaction I expected for someone who's used to that slime. Care for some lunchtime conversation? Or perhaps a drink?”
“Uh… Oh shit, when was the last time I drank anything?” I exclaimed to myself.
Ohhhh shit. At Miyuki's. Literally more than two days ago. Sweet fucking physics! No wonder I wasn’t thinking at fucking all!
“Soooo I’m definitely dehydrated,” I admitted as Clover conjured a green glass bottle to my side in a flash of dark green.
“Drink up, don’t worry, it’s non-alcoholic. Also the glowing is normal and safe,” she instructed casually.
“Sandwich first,” I decided, tearing into the mound of goodness like the appropriate metaphor.
Clover shook her head. “I pity your species. Good food is essential to good living. Now then, you’ve been stuck in here for some time, would you prefer we take this conversation to the table?”
“Can’t leave the tent,” I grunted around the sandwich of the gods, “suit’s ripped.”
Clover facehooved hard enough for me to hear a clunk. “He didn’t fix your suit!?”
“... You’re fucking shitting me. That was an option!?” I demanded angrily.
“I thought you wanted to be in there! I- I’m going to smack the crap out of and then back into that doofus!” Clover swore angrily. “I know that a long term solution to the problem with transmutation is best, but he didn’t even think you might want to move around- Urrrgh!”
Clover groaned and held her head in her hooves. “Excuse my husband’s idiocy. He gets far too wrapped up in what could be and what would be best to think about the little things sometimes. Where’s your suit damaged?”
I turned my leg so she could see the rip. Clover’s horn glowed as small sparks of dark green magic danced across the rip, forcing the synthetic material to flow back together as if it were healing flesh.
“Huh… For a simple charm that took quite a bit of energy. What sort of fabric is this made from?” Clover asked conversationally.
“About forty different synthetic materials laminated into a single sheet. No idea exactly what, but it’s radiation shielded, so yeah… It can absorb and deflect a lot of high energy particles,” I said, finishing off the last bite of sandwich.
“Mmm, yes that would do it,” Clover said with a nod only to look up at me with surprise as I finished the sandwich. “Oh! My that was fast. You must be very hungry. Do you need another?”
“I’m twice your size… Sorta makes that into a half portion,” I pointed out.
“Ah, yes. One moment,” Clover warned, vanishing in a burst of light yet again.
A heartbeat later she returned, presenting another sandwich, which was identical to the first one. Literally.
“How-” I began.
“Enchanted bottomless box of sandwiches,” Clover said proudly.
“Okay. How-”
“Wizard,” she explained.
“Fair enough,” I decided, tearing into the fresh sandwich.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’re probably sick of being asked questions about your home,” Clover said as she gave Bon a scritch behind her head with one hoof. “Is there anything about these lands you wish to know? You won't find a more knowledgeable scholar anywhere.”
“Not even your husband?” I asked.
She smiled. “He was my apprentice a long time ago. I have ages more first-hoof knowledge than he does… For history at least. He’s only surpassed me in some schools.”
I nodded slowly, thinking back on any questions I had. “Well, do you know what’s up with Bon?”
“Not yet, I will by this evening. I promise. I simply need more time for a potion to finish brewing so I can finish analyzing the wild magics at work here,” Clover said in a similar tone to a computer programmer explaining, ‘shit just takes time’.
Deciding not to press for an answer there, I searched for anything else. “Alright, could you help me find where I need to go to return this to it’s owner?” I asked tapping the VM on it’s side.
Clover nodded, giving me an apologetic look. “I could. However, Starswirl and I talked it over last night. While we could send you to your destination he is very insistent that you do it on your own. If we were to allow you to arrive via shortcut, many things which should be, won’t be.”
“Seriously?!” I asked incredulously, jaw dropping. “You could help but you won't because tampering with the way of the world?”
“No,” Clover said firmly. “We will not help because your journey, should you succeed, will not consume your life. And along the way, your actions, should you not fail, will mean great and important things to those you encounter.
“Sure, it’s not like you have to do this on your own to prevent the end of the world. But if we sent you where you wish to go, not only would you miss out on a valuable experience, but the lives of several others would be objectively worse. And if I am any judge of character… You’re enjoying your travels, are you not?”
Fuck. She had me there.
“Yeah,” I sighed, “I am… But still, it’s kinda frustrating to know someone can help but won’t.”
“We’re enabling you to breath freely,” Clover pointed out.
“Yeah, but-”
“And I’m giving you a box of sandwiches,” Clover added.
“Wait, you are?” I asked eagerly.
“Of course I am! It would be decidedly evil to send you along with only those foul things to eat,” Clover laughed. “Are we even?”
I bit my lip in thought and nodded my head. “Yeah, but only because these things are amazingly good.”
“Excellent, but really, those were not the sort of questions I thought you might have. You find yourself in another world and you only want to know about personal things… This doesn't seem like the sort of things a dimensional traveler would want to know. There has to be something about this place that interests you?” Clover prompted.
“Well, yeah. There is,” I admitted, her prompt having gotten my mind in the right place to remember a few things. “Luna was talking about a war, and after I said I was a soldier, she asked me if I was a changeling. I guess that means the war was between you guys and them. What was it over? Territory? Resources? Because fuck you?”
Clover’s ears drooped sadly, “I… No, I did say anything. Very well. You have a unique opportunity to learn something few of my kind know, and that almost none would believe.”
I opened the bottle Clover had given me earlier. From the sound of her tone, this was going to be good.
“There are none alive who know changelings as well as I do,” Clover began. “This is not a boast, I have seen everything from the fall of The Overmind, to the rise of their current empire, to the end of this last crusade. First hoof even, because I’m the one who sent their overmind to tartarus. Their empire exists because of me… Which puts this war on my head, but sadly it was not within my power to stop.”
I flinched. “Ah geez, I didn’t mean to bring something like that up! You don’t have to-”
“No, I think I’d rather talk about it to someone,” Clover said shaking her head slowly. “Many say this war happened simply because changelings feed on emotions, and as such they must prey on others to survive. That’s partially true, a little of this about food. But that’s not the reason they crusade.
“Others insist it must be because their tropical empire is freezing over, for whatever reason. They are being driven from their home just as ponykind was once driven from theirs. This is also untrue, changelings do not mind the cold… Though other species do, and changelings need other species to survive.
“The crusade was also not simply because they hate us, like what the King wishes his vassals to believe. Yes, changelings hate many elements of pony culture. But they are not so mindless as to strike out simply for hate’s sake. The things they hate about us are merely an excuse.”
“Then what’s the real reason?” I prompted, hoping to avoid what sounded like the start of a fourteen hour long old person ramble.
“Anguish,” Clover said bitterly. “To be a changeling is to live a life filled with anguish, depression, and feelings of crippling isolation. That’s why they gather in hives, thousands strong, and call said hives a unified family. It’s why all changelings are perfectly loyal to their hive’s queen. To try and capture even the barest shred of happiness, a changeling devotes themselves wholeheartedly to their hive and their queen… And for the common castes, that works.
“But, the Queens themselves are also changelings. They too suffer from the soul crushing loneliness. But unlike their underlings, they have no one to turn to. They have both the burden of ruling over countless lives, and the pain of being alone through that. While you or I would simply make a friend amongst your own hive… Well, the current queens are simply fools stuck in tradition and plagued by elitism.
“They don’t even befriend one another. Instead they work in a polite rivalry… The queens are a mess. Trust me, not a one of them is what you would call a good person. But they are intelligent, competitive, cunning… And bitter hate filled shells. All because they refuse to accept what changelings truly are and live a healthy lifestyle. So, they seek out things to unleash their anger upon. And so, we have the Crusades.”
“That’s a pretty big problem… But it sounds like you could solve it by killing the Queens. Their replacements would probably do better,” I said thoughtfully.
“If a changeling Queen could be easily killed, then I would have ended the war myself,” Clover said agreeingly. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case. I was only able to stop their overmind by clever manipulation and cunning trickery. They won't ever trust me again.”
“Wait! I can get how a wizard is basically immortal, but from the sounds of things, are changelings immortal too?” I asked.
“Far from it,” Clover dismissed with a hoof wave. “Queens simply do not suffer from age’s ravagings. Their bodies remain at their prime, but illness and injury can slay them all the same. The other castes live far shorter lives, less than a third of a pony’s life on average.
“It’s much like ants. I have a pet ant colony, their queen is forty years old and seems quite fine… Perhaps it’s simply an insect thing for the drones to die in mere years while the queen endures. Regardless, those thirteen individuals are very hard to destroy. I have a plan of attack for achieving their end, but well… It’s not something to discuss with a stranger. No offense.”
“None taken,” I said taking a swig of the shockingly sweet, soda like drink. “So then, you claim to know what changelings really are even though they don’t. What are they? How do they not know?”
Clover smiled. “I do. It’s sad really. I tried to tell them, but well, they do not trust me any longer. I got the knowledge straight from the overmind too. It didn’t mean for me to learn it either, this is something I only know from defeating it in a psychic duel and shattering it’s willpower into tiny fragments.
“The changeling’s misery is the result of one simple thing, they are not living as they are designed to.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that word choice important?”
“Very,” Clover insisted. “They are not natural creatures, not to say they are artificial, but their species was created. They did not come forth from the earth like all other creatures. No, changelings were created via some means in a time so long ago it feels ancient even to me.
“They were made for a purpose, and as they live now, they can not fulfill that purpose. So they are miserable. Honestly, it makes perfect sense when you think about it. Though it might not be obvious until you are told…
“Changelings are designed to be the perfect companion. A changeling needs only some water and the love of another to live, they can take any physical shape one might desire, and they live to serve. No naturally formed creature would ever work that way, nature is too…violent. It would never produce a creature which requires the affection of sapient life as food.”
I triple blinked. Bioengineered species I understood, but. “Wait, you mean they literally eat emotion? How the flying fuck does that even work!?”
“No idea,” Clover grumbled. “If I could just work that out, I would. Well, without getting too angry at my own failures to discover the exact mechanism anyway. I can assure you that they really only need emotional energy to survive. A changeling can directly take it, or passively absorb it. Direct is dangerous without a strong emotional bond, passive does not provide them with much to eat. Unless there is… Umm... Fresh made love nearby,” Clover finished with an embarrassed cough.
“I don’t even remotely know how you would go about designing a creature like that,” I said shaking my head. “That’s way beyond my college Bioforming class’s scope.”
Clover’s eyes widened immensely. “Your species can create life!?”
“Yeah, it’s one of our most useful technologies,” I said with a proud smile. “Hell, I’m not natural. I’m rocking the Human Three-point-oh platform, with all the improvements and upgrades that brings. But yeah, humans create and modify lifeforms to suit our needs.”
“Is there any way your people might have-”
I shook my head to cut the mage off. “Sorry… We have no concept of magic. We couldn’t possibly have made a creature that literally lives on love.”
“Come again?” Clover asked in shock.
“We couldn’t make a creature that eats love, because my species does not know about magic. I’m definitely the first to know it’s a real thing,” I repeated.
“Y-you can make life without the use of magic?” Clover asked, stunned.
“Yeah,” I said casually. “I made some myself in school even.”
“How?” She asked.
“Science,” I replied.
“Fair enough,” Clover muttered. “But you definitely did not create changelings?”
“Nope,” I said as firmly as I could.
“A pitty…” Clover lamented. “Finding their original host species would solve many problems. Still, from the sound of it… Bah, I’m grasping at straws. All I know for sure is their creators are not from this continent.”
“How do you know that?” I asked, to invested in this conversation to let things wrap up. And Clover’s tone seemed to indicate she was wrapping up.
“Oh, well the overmind knew they had come here by ship. There is an inland sea between here and the Griffon kingdoms, but the changeling Empire is on the coast to our north west. Right on the beachhead. Additionally I’ve scoured this entire continent for any clue and have come up with nothing, despite three thousand years of searching. So they must have come from over the sea,” Clover explained.
“Humm… Well, you can teleport, maybe you should pop over and check,” I mused.
“I would, but teleportation doesn't allow for that. You must know where you're going and be familiar with the location,” Clover grumbled.
“Maybe you could try convincing the changelings working under the queens to find hosts of a different species,” I offered. “That would solve the problem by taking away the Queens real power, right?”
“Yes, but it will simply not happen. A changeling serves whomever they feel a bond for wholeheartedly. If a changeling truly loved you and you asked them to die, they would happily kill themselves. That’s the sort of mentality we are talking about here,” Clover sighed.
“Oh… Well shit. I’m out of ideas,” I said.
“As am I. Hence, ponykind and lingkind just got through another war… I’m sorry to have darkened your meal with this conversation,” Clover apologized.
“Nah, it’s alright. This was actually pretty cool to learn. Especially since I met a changeling a while back… She definitely seemed bitter and angry from a lack of companionship,” I mentioned.
Clover nodded. “I hope you better understand her suffering now.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but a loud whistling sound interrupted me.
“Oop! That’s the potion boiling. Best attend to that. If you need anything, walk on up and ask me. Since your suit’s fixed now,” Clover offered before vanishing in another burst of dark green.
“Will do!” I called towards where I thought the stairs were.
I felt really good for the first time in a long time. Hydrated, full, rested… Hopefully soon I’d also feel free to take my helmet off outside. Starswirl had to be back any minute now.
Lyra Heartstrings - 13th of Faust 1,312 Classical Era - Evening
Multiverse Location: Equestria, Equis #0???? - The Prime (Distant Past)
I had been completely right! Starswirl’s lab was awesome!
The room was hexagonal, but had a cool domed ceiling making it look like you were inside a bottle of some kind. Which was especially neat since the stone walls were covered in plaster to give them a smooth, uniform off white texturing which went really well with the lightly stained support beams which held the roof up and trimmed the walls.
The whole place was illuminated with little orbs of floating light. Nothing inside, just a light orb, floating around flipping off conventional physics. The floating motes of light gave the entire place a cheery, kind whimsical, happy feel which was only enhanced by every wall being covered in ether bookshelves or cabinets.
Everything was a storage space. Everything! The tables were supported by sets of drawers. Stools and chairs had pull out bins beneath them. The actual motherfucking floor had hatched compartments all over the place in which things were stored!
What was being stored? Hell if I know! Everything maybe, that was a distinct possibility. Everything, but mostly all of the chemistry equipment in the world. That shit was EVERYWHERE! Every single surface was covered with glass flasks, beakers, burners of bunsen, condensers, alembics… It was like a pharmaceutical company invaded a super fancy hotel's lobby.
What was the chemistry stuff doing? Fuck if I knew. Maybe everything. Almost all of it was in some stage of doing something. I’d spent a few hours looking at all of the things and trying to work out if I could understand any of it.
To my surprise, I had! I came upon a small experiment which seemed to be an attempt to purify gold by dissolving it and precipitating out the non-gold metals then reconstituting the then purified gold.
That was something I actually knew how to do thanks to my electronics hobbying, so I’d gone ahead and set up the proper reaction, and had evaporated the liquids away to leave the pure gold powder behind. That sort of thing takes a while, and just as I’d finished it, I heard a semi familiar voice clear his throat behind me.
“Ahem… I know that suit isolates you from the world, but some of the experiments here could kill you anyway,” Starswirl warned.
I turned around, seeing the wizard for the first time. He was kinda tall for a pony. Or at least, I think he was. Tall and thin. Also gray, the sort of gray you get if you started gray and faded out even more with age. He also had a goat-like beard, and piercing eyes which would have given him an intimidating and wise look… If he had not been wearing the stupidest hat int he world.
Who puts on a floppy cone wizard hat rimmed with bells? Honestly… It had to be a magic thing. Maybe some spells required you have on a stupid hat. There was no way he simply liked that hat.
… He totally just liked the hat. Didn’t he? Well, Lyra, you shouldn’t judge him for it.
“Yeah but I know how to do this one,” I replied. “You were trying to purify gold right?”
“Yes! I was. Did you do it?” He asked, gently pushing me aside to look at the flask. “Humm… Yes you seem to have done it. How did you isolate the gold?”
“It’s easy, I do it all the time to get pure gold for coating electrical contacts. You just dilute the dissolved impure gold solution in muriatic acid and then let it evaporate off. Then repeat that a few times till it’s less amber and more yellow. Then you toss in some sulphur dioxide, that reacts with the acid, and causes the gold to turn into powder, so you can then evaporate away the acid, and you’re left with the powdered pure elemental gold. You can just melt it into a single piece or do what have you,” I explained.
“Thank you! And the chemicals you used are which ones? I don’t recognise them by those names,” Starswirl asked.
I pointed out the two chemicals I had used, explaining I had used my suit’s systems to analyze the chemicals. It was a nice ten minutes of feeling smart as I showed a wizard how to do something. Even if it was something fairly simple.
“Well,” Starswirl said happily as I finished. “Now that you’ve helped me with getting pure gold dust on the cheap, I think it’s time we fix your breathing problem. Shall we?”
“Yes please!” I asked eagerly.
“Right, some things you should know…” Starswirl began in a tone indicating something was up. “I did some scrying last night, and I have decided it is for the best to send you on your way as soon as you can travel. Which means Clover and I will be charging your travel device for you shortly.”
“Wait,” I started with a frown. “but you said-”
“That it would take three days,” Starswirl agreed. “I did say that, yes. But… I did not look further ahead than that. After doing so, I… Luna is important to the future. If you remain here another night, something important will change and the world will suffer for it.”
I groaned. “Oh come on… Seriously?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“You won’t tell me, will you?” I asked irritably.
“You will wind up marrying her and staying in this timeline if you continue to interact with her here and now,” Starswirl said bluntly. “It might seem cruel or speciesist of me, but I can’t let that happen. Because if it does, Luna will have no interest in assisting Clover with a future project of hers, and as a result, Clover will never develop a spell vital for the survival future of ponykind as she will never get a volunteer to try it on.”
I triple blinked. “Uh… Come again?”
“It is critical for the future for Luna to remain eager to be appreciated. If you continue interacting with her, you decide to never leave this world. This prevents the better futures from happening,” Starswirl explained again.
“I… I thought you didn’t tell people their futures,” I objected, rather shocked at the notion he was presenting.
“I never tell someone the future they are going to experience,” Starswirl corrected. “But I will tell them of futures it is best to avoid. Please, you have to understand. Luna must volunteer to help Clover when the time comes. If she dose not, the possible futures for ponykind are much more dim.”
“We seriously get married if I stay here?” I asked, completely hung up on that statement.
Starswirl groaned. “Yes. You do. Is that so hard to believe?”
“Well… She is kind of cute. But I never saw myself as the sort to actually marry. I mean take a mate sure but… That will really happen?” I asked again.
“Yes,” Starswirl insisted.
“Are you fucking with me?” I asked.
“How could this conversation even remotely be construed as us having sex?” Starswirl sputtered.
I laughed, his flabbergasted expression knocking me out of the loop of incredulity. “Hahaaa! Your face!” I giggled. “Sorry, human expression. Right, so… If I stay here another night… Couldn’t I just not talk to Luna now that I know?”
Starswirl shook his head. “It’s best not to risk you changing your mind, or her convincing you to stop ignoring her. Or her bursting into your dreams and demanding an explanation.”
“And we seriously fall in love and get married after talking tomorrow?” I asked disbelievingly.
“No, you become friends after talking tomorrow, and you decide to stay here,” Starswirl explained. “A few months after that you become lovers, and then a year later you marry. This is in all futures wherein you remain here any longer than, er let's’ see… Ah! An hour from now.”
“But, the radon thing. I really need a solution for that!” I protested.
Starswirl nodded in agreement. “You do, and I also never break my word. So I did something I rarely do. I looked into a future where I make you a cure, and I wrote down the things I did. I spent the day thus far brewing a permanent mutagenic potion which will allow you to breath almost anything naturally occurring. Drink it and your home’s air, our air, presumably the air of most worlds, and even water you will find yourself perfectly able to breathe.”
“Wait,” I asked holding up a finger, “water?”
“Yes, that future me couldn’t work out how to make a potion which only let you breathe gases. So it includes most liquids too,” Starswirl said sagely. “I looked for other future me’s solutions, but all of the other ones turn your skin a mint green, and I didn’t think you’d want that.”
Actually, that would be pretty cool! I’d always loved that color. Still, I wasn’t going to complain about a fucking super environmental adaptation serum!
“Are you telling me that you have a potion which will let me breathe anything!?” I asked with joyful incredibly.
“Er well, no. Not everything, but most things,” Starswirl mused. “Hummm you should know the details. Oddly it doesn't prevent things specifically designed as a poison from harming you. It also will not let you breathe in a helium only atmosphere… Likewise you shouldn’t try to breath mercury or gallium. Basically only common atmospheric gases and most naturally occurring liquids.”
“That’s fucking awesome!” I exclaimed, not even bothered by those limitations.
“Whew! She likes it,” Starswirl exclaimed. “I personally saw it as a failure… Right. So. We have that potion. Clover knows what is happening to your pet, and I also stole the answer of where you have been from another future me. What do you want first?”
“Er, come again?” I asked.
“Which of those three things do you want first? We need to go now. Before Luna is finished with her lessons,” Starswirl urged.
Which of those three… “Bon, what’s with her?” I decided.
Starswirl nodded and turned towards the spiral staircase towards the south wall. “Clover! It’s time!” He called.
The black and white dappled mare appeared with that same flash of light, Bon loosely draped on her back as if my not-so-little-anaconda were laying on a tree branch.
“Do you ever walk anywhere?” I asked reflexively.
“I walk plenty of places. I just hate stairs,” Clover explained with a smile. “Are we seeing her off?”
“We are seeing her off,” Starswirl confirmed with a nod.
Clover’s horn pulsed with her aura, a small sandwich sized, dark oaken box appearing in front of me along with a small leather satchel with a shoulder strap.
“Here,” she offered. “Food and drink. I had to rush these, so you will only get three meals and one liter of water a day. No more than that I’m afraid.”
“Thank you,” I said accepting the items. “How do they work?”
“Open box, remove sandwhich. Open the bottle in the bag, drink water,” Clover instructed.
“... Well I feel dumb,” I muttered putting the box into the bag and slipping it over my shoulders.
“Don’t, most magical items have inane activation rituals,” Clover said with a dismissive hoof wave. “Now as for your scaled friend, she will be perfectly fine. She’s a very lucky girl, usually being saturated with wild magic will transform you into a monster, or something not alive.
“However, Bon here is slowly transforming into one of our world’s more rare peoples. A lamia. Her transformation should be finished within a week or two. As of right now she is quite sapient, just like you and I, only she is incapable of speech as her throat has yet to change.”
I nodded as a gesture to myself. “I thought she was getting people smart. Is… Is there anything I should know?”
“Yes,” Clover said with a nod. “She thinks you are her mother.”
Bon hissed and gave Clover a confused look.
“Sorry, I mean you are her mom,” Clover corrected.
I tilted my head to the side. “I, wa- No, actually that makes perfect sense… I meant like, you know, is she in pain? Is there anything to watch out for? I don’t know anything about magic, or transformations, or any of this.”
Clover’s mouth formed a little ‘o’. “No, she’s perfectly safe, and I managed to get rid of the pain. Just know that she will eventually grow a pair of dragon-like arms and talons, and her upper body will also reshape into something ironically like your own, among other small changes. It might not be a pretty process but well… You and especially Bon are lucky she’s not turning into a cragodile, or an animal mass of carnivorous vines.”
“Alright…and how did that happen so I don’t get mutated too?” I asked as seriously as I could.
“Most likely your portal device,” Clover informed. “Don’t worry she’s only been dosed once. Most likely when she first passed through it.”
“Ah, okay…” I looked over at Bon with a bit of concern, “I… I guess I should stop talking to you like a pet. Uh… Sorry.”
Bon tilted her head to the side and gave me a confused stare.
“So then, how about your little mystery next?” Starswirl asked.
“Yeah, sure,” I said shaking my head slowly. “Won't be as mind blowing to learn that my pet is turning into a snake girl…”
“Heh,” Starswirl said with a grin that instantly made me decide I was wrong about that. “Wherever you call home is not where you were conceived. From what I could find, your mother actually left your home dimension for a time, where she became pregnant with you. You then spent the first few months of your life in another dimension, separate from the one your were conceived in, all before your mother returned home. That’s sadly all I could learn.”
“Wait then… I’m not human?” I asked in alarm, heart skipping a beat.
“No, you are. Aside from a few sparks of magic in addition to those natural for your species, you are purely human,” Starswirl affirmed supportingly. “Besides, you grew up where you grew up. Your home is not where you were born after all. The important thing to take away from this is that because of whatever adventure your mother had… Well… You are something of an anomaly.
“Specifically, you should exist about five thousand years into the future. However, you’ve been unmoored, so to speak. Meaning you can safely live anywhen in time. The timeline won't care. Which is frankly astonishing.
“See, there’s a metaphysical property of time which normally will shunt things which have been displaced in time back to the point they naturally were. Meaning the longest possible amount of time one can remain in the past is three weeks, six years for the future, as that takes less energy. You however, are unaffected by this phenomenon, and could stay anywhen for as long as you like.
“I honestly thank you for existing and letting me analyze you, because you’re oddness in this respect has helped me make a physics breakthrough. One which might help me develop a means to stay in a time period longer.”
“Huh… So that means I actually could stay here as long as I liked…” I mused.
“Quite! It also means it may be possible for me to invent a solution to the temporal snapback issue. Which opens up many possibilities. So again, thank you,” Starswirl thanked happily.
“And, you’re certain that I am human?” I asked.
Clover nodded. “Yes. Your present species is most certainly authentic and not any form of illusion or crude transmutation. However, you might have been born as something else. But if you were, the transformation magic used is on par with a changeling’s. Prefect biological replication. You are a human as it stands right now.”
“Besides, you have lived your whole life as your present species,” Starswirl grunted. “Even if you turned into a pony right now, you would still think like a human and act like a human. What you are is a fusion of mind and body.”
“That’s true I suppose,” I mused, the brewing existential crisis dying down. “But… What did my mom do? And why…”
Starswirl shrugged. “Your home is temporarily quite distant from this world. I couldn’t see things in more detail than what I have given you.”
“Damn… I guess I can ask her when I get back,” I said decisively.
I really really really had to know. Exactly what the fuck my mom had done and why were eating away at my mind. But on the other hand, I was already in the middle of my own quest so to speak. Also there wasn’t anything I could do to learn more right now.
Hell there wasn’t anything a fuckmothering wizard who could see time could do to learn more right now! I had to just move on and come back to this later...
“So, how about that potion?” I asked with a sigh.
Starswirl nodded, his horn glowing yellow as he levitated a flask of purplish liquid over to-
“Hey! The cantaloupe and dark chocolate smelling thing!” I exclaimed in mild surprise as the flask drew near enough for me to smell the thick liquid.
“Yeah, I have no idea what makes it smell like that… It doesn't have either of those in it.” Starswirl mused thoughtfully.
“What’s i- Wait, no, please don’t tell me…” I decided.
“Wise decision,” Starswirl chuckled. “Right, pop the helmet off and drink all of it.”
“A-all of it?” I asked, taking the at least two liter container in my hand.
Clover reached over and lightly smacked Starswirl on the back of the head. “She actually would have done it you dick!”
“Ow! Sheesh, blame me for wanting to have a little fun!” He griped. “Just take a sip. You only need a mouthfull.”
“Then why did you make so much?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You need that much water to boil the ingredients down into the proper form,” Starswirl answered.
“Uh, is it safe to drink it like this or should I set up the tent again?” I asked cautiously.
“Just drink it here. Any radon you breathe in will be harmless once you swallow that stuff,” Clover soothed.
“Alright… But what about the radiation from it?” I asked doubly cautiously.
“Meh, future you from the timeline this stuff comes from was fine,” Starswirl said with a shrug.
“Alright…” I said apprehensively.
Reaching up I gripped the release for my faceplate, took a deep breath, opened the plate with a hiss of air. As quickly as I could I raised the rather heavy flask to my lips and-
Took a swing of the foulest stuff imaginable! I gagged, sputtered, almost choked, and managed to spray the mouthful across the room.
“This tastes nothing like how it smells!” I exclaimed.
“Yeah all potions taste gross. Now drink that before you die,” Clover urged.
“Fuck! Right!” I exclaimed, tipping my head back and pouring it down my throat to avoid it touching my tongue.
It failed. It still tasted like liquid ass from a public restroom at a bar.
Hands shaking from the foulness of what I had just drank, I set the flask on a nearby table before I dropped it. I could feel the effects of radon poisoning already. I was getting lightheaded as oxygen stopped reaching my brain. My vision started to blurr in a very discomforting way.
“I don’t think it worked…” I groaned wearily.
Then suddenly, my head cleared.
“No, wait…” I took a few deep breaths, waited for a few seconds, nothing. “Huh. Right. All good now. Thanks! I owe you one.”
“You do,” Starswirl agreed. “So let’s get you on your way. Clover, shall we?”
Clover nodded. “Right. Farewell, Lyra. Should you end up in our universe again, please come visit. I’ll still be here.”
For a split second Starswirl’s face twisted into a truly sad frown. But then with a flash of yellow and dark green magic the two unicorns directed their aura’s to the VM on my wrist. The device glowed brightly in the grip of their magic for several seconds before the glowing auras vanished as quickly as they came.
“Ow…” Sai groaned. “What the hay was that?”
“Oh neat! It’s an intelligent item,” Clover exclaimed happily. “Apologies, my good spirit. We simply gave you the energy you need to function.”
“Well it kinda hurt,” Sai grumped.
I shook my head and looked over at Bon. “Come on, we should get going… I’d like to stay but yeah, we don't want to piss off a wizard who wants us to leave.”
Bon nodded and slid off Clover’s back and over to me, quickly climbing up my leg to cling to my back and shoulders.
“Also uh… Sorry about petting you and stuff,” I apologized.
“Oh no! She likes that. I asked her via telepathy,” Clover urged.
Bon nodded in agreement.
“Alright then,” I retracted. “Sorry. Just a weird situation and shit. Right, let’s go.”
I flipped the cover off the VM and hit the button, opening a portal a few feet in front of me which thankfully didn’t suck in either of the wizards.
I sighed sadly as I looked at the portal. It actually would be nice to stay here. Not for Luna, but because somehow, this place felt comfortable. Like how home never had.
“Alright, bye. See you again sometime with any luck,” I said slowly.
“You don’t,” Starswirl said firmly but apologetically.
“Don’t be a dick to her like that!” Clover scolded. “You have a good time and ignore whatever possible future he was seeing where you don’t see us again!”
With one last apprehensive bite of my lip I stepped forward and entered the portal.
“How far ahead did you look to check for side effects?” I heard Clover ask faintly as the portal engulfed me.
“Uh, about an hour. Why?” Starswirl responded just as the world vanished completely.
Son of a bitch!
How much foreshadowing can we add in one chapter? The answer: ALL THE FORESHADOWING!
The amount of skype shenanigans that took place editing this chapter. Hoooo doggy, we managed to fill 6 hours over 2 days... But hey, at least we capped it of in a very crimson contesting aqua manner.
7273502 Yeah this edit round took for bucking ever...
7273503 You can't say we didn't have fun though.
7273513 Wrong. I can. The statement would however be false.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/12/8/1039666__safe_oc_monochrome_oc+only_comic_tumblr_ask_dialogue_food_offscreen+character.png
7273640 Horsewife is best pony comic.
Oh man, I think this is one of my favorite chapters so far! Hehe,
And Bon becoming a Lamia? Did NOT see that coming! But I like the idea, will be very interesting when she gets far enough in the transformation to start speaking. That is something I am looking forward to now heh.
Also, hehe I like what you did there with my mix of scents I let you use. :P And of course Lyra, everyone knows potions rarely taste good! If they did, then everypony would be drinking them like crazy and all sorts of chaos would ensue! (I bet Discord would like that though hehe.)
All in all, great chapter like always Meep! And I really do hope she gets to see Starswirl and Clover again, as I want to read more on them. :P
7273678 Thanks :D I'm glad you enjoied it. Also yes, I needed a good scent for a potion to have and you provided one. Thanks!
She and all gamers in her time period are suddenly assaulted by waves of jealousy from the gamers of the 21'st century with a venomous hatred... Well, gamers who have read this anyway.
For a moment I was confused. And then I remembered some lore from your pervious stories. Namely, that Clover was the last (first? Nah. Doubt it.) changeling to fully finish her transformation up until present time in beta. Also that most of the changeling problems after this point was Celestia's fault.
You have absolutely no idea how jealous this makes me...
Heheheh. Let the good times roll!
7273748 Glad you're having fun... However, needing 8k calories daily to run your games gets expenci- Oh wait, basic food rations are free so long as you agree to sign up for the draft.
7273689
You're welcome! It was no problem at all, after all, what are fellow changelings for but to help each other no? And what a yummy scent for a potion to have! (heh I kind of want to make something like that now. Not potion wise but like... if only cantaloupe was in season around Christmas! I would totally make dark chocolate covered cantaloupe (or attempt to anyway) and something to make the rose scent... *is obviously not much of a cook heh, regular or candy wise.:P* and give em out for Christmas. heh I could call them 'essence of Chrysalis.' XD)
Edit:
And then I do a simple search, and found a recipe for candied rose petals and rose sugar. Hehe maybe I can make these things work! Hardest thing would probably be finding organic rose petals. My parents have rose bushes at home I 'could' possibly use but they are too far away for that. And getting them at the store, who knows what pesticides they might have been sprayed with before hand?
Clover was the diamond queen from 'The queen is dead/All hail the queen' I had a feeling she was going to be! Also Starswirl for best troll wizard!
I wonder if Luna will know about Lyra from her other self's, that would be interesting. And poor Luna can't get a break can she? Meets someone but they can't stay because things wont go quite right, sad times.
Now will Bon be snarky like Sai, or will she be the opposite end of the scale? I can see it now...
Ah.... so SOMETHING is about to happen to Lyra, but what and will it be good or bad?
Also lets hope Lyra didn't just plop down in the middle of the ARC war, that will get VERY bad very fast.
7273887 It would be very very bad for her to plop down in the middle of ARC...
Speaking of Pavlov, I accidentally conditioned myself to salivate everytime I read or think "Pavlov".
7274052 I accidentally conditioned myself to write when I'm bored.
Wait, what? I've not heard of a Doom with a co-op campaign before. Is this a future-Doom, or do I need to go scouring the net? Co-op Doom could be fun!
No kidding, you've kinda been neglecting yourself, Lyra. Yes, the atmosphere may be full of die, but Sky gave you that tent before you left Mysuki! Oy.
I want. I'd love to be able to have an 8k calories a day diet with it all just going to powering gaming and surfing the interwebs! (May also be that I very much enjoy trying new dishes, and being able to do so without worrying about weight would be awesome!)
Nope, not lunch, but maybe more important.
To which I'm sure Bon would counter (if she could) that that's a mammal problem, not hers.
But Lyra, marital spat is always a go with a healthy, loving couple. They'll always have something the other does that bugs them, and that mock-hostile banter is healthy.
I'll concede that real food is probably expensive back home for you Lyra, but I will vehemently disagree with you there. Dried algae is nasty! (See above comment about enjoying trying new foods. Yes, I have tried such. I very much regretted it. Plain seaweed is a little better, and would be fine if not for the thick aftertaste.)
heh While Clover may have deserved that for licking someone else's food....she is still an expert on whether or not something tastes like hatred. Probably isn't meant to mean that there is literal hatred in the ration bar, just that they really are that nasty. (And K-Rats, which that seems like, are supposed to be even worse than the dried algae I tried....)
Starswirl the Bearded, absent-minded snark cannon. Twilight would be devastated to learn he isn't the picture of dignity she holds up on that pedestal. Of course, he'd probably find knocking that pedestal over quite amusing before trying to reassure her that her admiration isn't completely misplaced.
So very true, especially for officers that started out as enlisted. Snapping to for a senior petty officer or chief (Navy and Coast Guard) or a sergeant (other branches) is so ingrained that someone watching the unit's officers will often see them reflexively stiffen a bit even if they aren't the one being addressed.
Turkey-day sammiches, all the yum! Seriously, turkey and ham, cranberry jam, a light dosing of gravy, and either stuffing or mashed potatoes (I much prefer potatoes) makes an unbelievably good sammich!
Feel so sorry for Lyra....no good foods to try back in her home time period.
What the hell drink is that that glows? Actually, if the glow is normal and safe, and it's non-alcoholic, that'd be neat to try. Man, you could prank people by taking a swig of that and stumbling into a room before faking a fall and coughing out a glowing liquid....though it could easily cause a panic, too, I suppose.
Hear, hear! (I seem to be going on about food a lot in this chapter....)
See Clover's earlier comment about someone who can no longer actually see the trees, only the forest. Starswirl's talent seems to have left him unable to see the small picture.
"Magic! Don't gotta explain shit!"
This is the best explanation I've seen for why a super-powerful character won't help a fledgling hero on their quest. If they'd just come out and say that instead of insisting on being the vague mentor, many stories would probably be much better. It gives a much stronger sense of purpose than some vague dodge about why they can't or won't help.
That really is a very bitter tale of the changeling race's true roots. Considering who and what Clover is, her pain is almost tangible...even if Lyra doesn't quite see that yet. It leaves a number of unanswered questions, though...and ones that may never actually be answered. How did the Overmind take over? Was that willing, or was control siezed? Did it take over right after their creators vanished, or was it some time later? How did the Overmind learn that truth? Who were the changelings' progenitors, and what happened to them? This was certainly after the disappearance of the humans, so who is this other race?
That simple fact likely doesn't help the situation, either.
You might want to broaden that a bit, Clover....though no telling if she's a Traveler yet by this point. I get the impression that they may not have been from this planet.
The best part here is that neither of them is shown as superior. And Starswirl's remark here shows that he had other ways to purify the gold, but the way Lyra knew how to do it is cheaper. That's something you do very well, Meeps, intermingling magic and science with neither shown as simply superior.
Ah....right....the ascension spell that Clover develops, the one that Jade, Lily, and David went through so much pain to keep away from Chryssalis.
That will prove useful if Lyra ends up in seapony land.
Clover's a practical mage, not one of those silly ninnies that can't accept the idea of magic becoming better if it is made simpler and easily grasped by everyone.
Now that will be interesting. I wonder if lamias are still so rare in more modern Equestrias, or even still extant since this is before Discord's cruel-insanity period. If they do still exist and aren't so rare anymore, I wonder how the ponies see them.
Yeah....don't confuse the adopted child until she's grown enough that she can understand. Then you can explain that Lyra's not her birth mom.
Lyra, this is what we call tempting Murphy.
And now Lyra has another reason to go home, temporarily at the very least. Mom has some 'splainin' to do.
Yeah....that's probably a good idea when trying a new food, too. Try it blind. You can ask much later what was in it, otherwise you can end up with preconceived prejudices in tasting it that really isn't fair to the cook just because something sounds really strange to you.
Lyra, you're derp, not stupid. When has any medicine ever tasted good if it was actually effective?
The pain of loving one who is ageless....or being ageless while one's loved ones are not.
Yup, he needs another smacking. Hopefully the side effects are minor or benign.
Lots of exposition again this chapter, but you provided it in a good way. We've answered most of the questions raised in earlier chapters, but got a couple other new questions in the bargain. Good closure for the earlier mysteries while still moving everything forward. Looking forward to where we're heading next!
7274076 There's a co-op System Shock 2 you can get on steam, I'm pritty sure there's a co-op Doom II as well.
That tent full of not-die, ya derp!
Internal snek thoughts, "Darn it mom... I need hands so I can facepalm!"
THis seems so true...
Well the non-millitary versions are GMO crops that are flavored in all sorts of ways. It's not so bad.
I don't know... if they have a crystalline molecular structure, and the AI that makes the stuff just realy hates it's job, that might get imbued with a bit of emotive energy...
Alternatively, maybe she DOES know what he was actually like, and is waiting till she gets old enough to have the excuse to emulate her hero...
Changeling wine. It's mostly sugar water and happyness.
I was hungry >>
Yep, the Kreia School of Mentoring Adventurers is honestly the best way to go about it. Advice, but do not complete for them. Give assistance, but only when necessary. Guide, but do not lead. Shape the stage, but do not let them know it. Too bad Kraie is evil, if she weren't she's be the greatest mentor in all of fiction.
She's also lamenting her age there. Yes she has a happy home, but she's seen a lot of pain and her life's work so far has been to end it... But she only made it arguably worse.
Not yet, that's post Luna nad Tia's rise.
Well, see, that's because I deconstructed both concepts completely. Magic, at it's very heart, is the act of applying knowledge to solve a problem. Science, at its very heart, is the act of applying knowledge to solve a problem. Science and magic are not opposing forces, they are twin brothers. There is no need for them to fight.
"Oh god! The singing! It's so bad!"
"Face our G1 wrath, foolish land dweller!"
Modern unicorns learn Clover's theroms and styling if they choose to become technomancers or arcanoengineers.
They still exist in modern Equestria, but their species is slow breeding. The largest population is 322 and lives in Hollow Shades. Most ponies think they are a kind of monster, rather than a people. But few fear them, as well, they can't eat a pony and survive.
"Look, hon, I'm not your birth mom."
"I know. Cuz I'm not a mammal. You're my layed mom."
*facepalm*
Unless she finds her elsewhere. Or perhaps her father.
Halls brand cough drops. But they used up the universe's single equipment slot for a good tasting and functional medicine :c
Or, he knows what lies ahead...
Act I compleate. Act II begins... with a not-quite batpone, an airship, and a case of beer.
7274119
That'd be quite the inversion. And I'm sure that Rainbow and Pinkie would find no end of amusement in Twilight metamorphosing into a snark cannon.
So was I while reading.....
What's this from? I'm not familiar with a 'Kreia'.
Don't know many brothers? Brothers fight constantly!
Excellent! I've been looking forward to these guys showing up.
7274163
Knights of the Old Republic II. A Star Wars RPG for PC from the early 2000's and a title regarded as a true gaming classic.
drill instructors be trollin like dat
ya know meep, I should start making a list of things in your universe that need to be sciencified
definitely not a bioengineered sex'bot' (actual companion more likely)
aww, she coulda wrote a note for moony, now she gonna cri
7274213
Right. Cuz sex is better with a romantic relationship. Thus, companions.
Don't worry. Luna wont be crying. She docent have tearducts at this stage of her life.
7274224 where can I register for changling ownership?
sonofhel.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/horrified-face.jpg
I will cri for her
7274237 You'll want to head for Kepler-452b, you should get there in time for the first production run to start of you leave now and use existing tech.
Also yes, ocular birth defects are horrific.
7274241 ...
but I'd be ded.
...
stasis it is!
yeah, for some reason I don't make eye juice when my nostrils are over producing.
it sucks.
can't wait to see your next universe though
7274163
Pop's about to blow your mind...
Small picture nothing. He looked into the future an saw that if he didnt fix her suit, his wife would do it and provide her with interesting information that would help her grow and better her character.
media.giphy.com/media/TlK63EWmJDBa5MjIr6g/giphy.gif
So an atmosphere with radon is toxic to humans, but ponies are fine without it; its okay to eat a sandwich made in a radon environment, and presumably made from stuff grown in that environment; you can smell things while in an environment suit; and a snake from the same place as a human who developed breathing the same air is fine in any environment because magic is like 'yeah alright, snakes are cool'
I don't think I understand biology. Can Lyra breath stuff like lava now? What about something like aerogel? Sand? Plasma? Can she survive a hard vacuum? Does she even need red blood cells anymore? How does work plz?
7273922 is that going to be a thing?
Ha! Called it on lamia'bon! Also awn, Lyra if official mommy now
My two bits on this one? They get to reunite in present time prime timeline. They'd be so cute together... also a quite weird family. A human, an Alicorn princess waifu and a magic mutated lamia daughter.
Birthdays must be a riot
Is the bottomless box of sandwich all the same kind of sandwich? Because that would get pretty bland after a while. o_0
7274698 Radon is toxic to humans mainly cause it's heavier than air. When you breath it in, it sits in your lungs unless you were to hang yourself upside down to drain it. It will slowly fill your lungs and start suffocating you. That aside, it is radioactive and emits alpha particles, and while admittedly not terribly dangerous, not good for long term exposure. Snakes have higher rad resistance than humans so Bon would likely be fine in that sense. Also it helps that she is not really an upright creature so she could push the radon out when she breaths. Also when the transformation started on the first portal, one of the first changes was the ability to breath said air like the locals.
The locals actually use radon as part of their biology. For instance, pones use it to help remove lactic acid in their muscles. This means they can live without it but their stamina will suck donk. And lastly, Starswirl specified naturally occurring surface gases and liquids within reason. Lava, while probably she could breath it, would be moot since she would very quickly burn to death. Aerogel is an extremely porous solid so also no. Sand is also a loosely packed solid so still no. Plasma is not a gas, its ionized matter, the 4th state of matter, so definitely not. And finally, a hard vacuum is a vacuum, a lack of an atmosphere, so hell to the no. It's not so much as she breaths it, but more when she does, the spell converts some of it into oxygen and nitrogen for her to absorb. While simultaneously protecting her lungs and airways from damage from said materials. So aside form a full helium environment, anything really on the periodic table that is a natural gas is a go, same with naturally occurring liquids. No poisons, no compounds.
Hope that clears up a few things for ya.
7274796 It's basically SCP-458. The contained sammich is whatever the person who opens it subconsciously thinks is the best possible sammich. So you start trying new foods and the sammich changes to add or remove things that make for a better tasting sammich to you.
7274698
Yes. While ponies do use radon for certain biological processes, they can function without it in a limited capacity. You will notice Clover wasn't doing more than sitting and talking. For Ponies, as I mentioned in story, radon helps them recover stamina. As such they could exist in an oxy-nitro only atmosphere, they just wouldn't be able to be very physically active. Remember? Neighponese prison guards use a radon blocking spell as a means of prisoner restraint.
Actually, yes. The radioactivity of radon is realy only dangerous when it's decay products bind to dust and stuff and that gets into the lungs. The problem is your body wont ever push fine particulates that get into your lungs out, so it can sit there for a long as time and irradiate you. In the intestines you'd flush it out realy quickly and be fine. Radon and it's decay products produce alpha particles, the least damaging kind of ionizing radiation. It's realy only dangerous to breathe.
You can if it's equipped with a system to analise the atmosphere and transmits the information to your brain. Remember, Lyra's the suit's CPU. The chemical analysis hardware in the suit talks to her, and then she smells whatever is outside the suit without having breathed it in as the data is reconstructed into brain patterns. Why would you want this? Survival purposes, you will often smell a fire before it can be seen, animal's kills are things you want to avoid so it wont attack you and you'll smell them first too, while you are safe from gas attacks in the suit, they are usually accompanied by dudes in suits with guns, so you'd want to be able to smell chemical weaponry especially since most of it is colorless and some of it is highly corrosive and could damage your suit...
Yeah. The funny thing is Lyra woulda been fine too if she didn't go through in a sealed suit...
Well, I'm not a biologist, but I'll help as best I can.
Lava: No, while lava is a liquid, it's also over 700 C. Her lungs would flash vaporize and death would occure from the heat alone even before she had time to try and inhale.
Aerogel: No. This stuff is actually a solid.
Sand: Also a solid.
Plasma: See lava (Even 'cold plasmas' are several thousand degrees centigrade.)
Hard vacuum: No, there's nothing to breathe there. Lyra is not a Tardigrade. Or a member of Friza Clan.
What can she breathe? Gases which are at the temperatures a human is able to endure. Liquids of water level thickness. In ether case, they MUST contain oxygen. It's a mutagen not an enchantment. All it did is create a new organ which processes stuff before it hits the lungs. All this allows her to do is ignore the harmful effects of other substances by filtering out everything but the O2. You will get clarification later in story.
7274704 Possibly. No spoilers on future hops.
7274710
Lyra: "Look, Bon, I'm not your birth mom."
Bon: "Right. Because I'm a reptile."
"Er, what?"
"That would make you my laid mom. Because eggs are not birthed."
*facepalm*
"See! I told you I've been studying."
I assure you they will meet again.
7274796 Yes. The box makes whatever you find to be the best possible sandwich. And yes that will get old, but it will keep you alive and healthy. It's also better than dried GM algae bars and whatever you can forage on the journey.
7275180
Ain't there somes snakes that are ovoviviparous? Couldn't bon2 be one of those, for the lulz?
Need moar now. Moar. NOW
7275260 Sorry, but the anaconda is egg hatchy. And my lamias are also hatched and also sort of birthed (The mother has an internal pouch to carry her young around in.)
7276359 All the great thinkers have been wrong about something. Newton though the universe was static. Nope! It expands. Einstein was certain the universe was defined. Nope! Everything's a probability wave, see Quantum Mechanics. Steven Hawking thought many things about black holes. He has retracted claims many times after being proven wrong via various means.
Interestingly enough, Newton being wrong about the universe being static has some very cool implications. For one, the "Conservation of Energy" is bunk. Dark energy, which drives universal expansion is in fact being created from nothing... Somehow. Le Source!
7275162
Sorry, I was really tired when I wrote that. I didn't do any research into radon or anything and just posted it.
I completely forgot about them. Something just seemed odd about one species being able to survive in an atmosphere they weren't made for but the other not. So radiation gives ponies stamina? There's not much else you could do with radon.
My thoughts here were that the plants and animals going into the sandwich would probably use the radon like the ponies do and probably have higher concentrations of it in their cells to store it. Also, Alpha particles are actually more damaging but easier to block. Fluids full of Beta particle emitters are commonly injected as a way of tracking blood flow. Breathing, ingesting, or injecting alpha emitters is dangerous.
That is awesome and I want one.
Aerogel: I was asking about this because its porous enough that its still mostly air.
Sand: Can act as a fluid under certain circumstances.
Other: Under normal circumstances, there isn't enough O2 in water for a person to breath. I figured that it wasn't necessary.
7275013
I researched the hell outta this. You're talking about this. When we breath, the only real difference between what we inhale and exhale is the O2 and CO2. All the problems with radon, even in areas with high concentrations, are cancer related. But, we're not just talking about high concentrations. We're talking ridiculously high, to the point that 20% of the air is radon. Assuming that the relative concentrations of the other gasses is about the same, Lyra would have 4/5ths the oxygen she is used to. And that is about equivalent to... 2000m which is about as high as... Flagstaff, Arizona and while going from sea level to the foothills would be uncomfortable, it would not be lethal.
However, it is radioactive like you said. At 20% concentration we're looking at about 1x10^19 Bq/m^3, which is about 2x10^20 sieverts, which I think is about 1x10^21 rad. Now the actual value is probably less because the available surface area is a lot less than 1m^3 (can penetrate about 4x10^-5m; human is about 2m^2; so >8x10^18 rad) but anything over 10000 rad is lethal. if there were any cracks in Sai's casing (maybe a surface area of 5x10^-3 m; 2x10^14 rad) he'd be dead. Frankly, I'm surprised anypony has been able to make micro-circuitry, let alone a full AI. How the hell is anything alive!? (1x10^-7m^2;4x10^9 rad) This shit could kill Tardigrades!!
But yeah its entirely due to radiation poisoning. Or maybe the Maillard reaction. Either way radiation. I think the spell would need to fundamentally change Lyra's biology, more than acting as a oxygen-making filter thing.
7276502
Don't sweat it. I had to double check my old study on the stuff. It's a weird substance.
Well... I guess so. My decisions may be arbitrary, but I stick to them as best I can. SO in this case, ponies must somehow incorporate alpha particles into their circulatory system. Perhaps that's a part of their arcane biology. (Still working on pony anatomy for my AU.)
I read the exact opposite... The wiki there docent have a source for the alpha health risk, but I'll go and double check this one out. Not that it's a problem for local life, radioresistance would increase accordingly. See Chernobyl wildlife doing fine... And even better than normal for some things. Still though, I might have made a bad science here... and if so, ah well. We all make errors.
So do I! And thank god engineers do too! We could have something like this within 10 years if a certain MIT team keeps getting funded ^>^
Fair enough... Maybe she could bite into a chunk and get a bit of air. But still your lungs hold like what, 2 Liters of air? You'd need a LOT of areogel for that.
Yeah, but it's still just tiny solid particles. Also, would the medieval era wizard describe sand as a liquid? I think not.
As for water... Well, you got me there. The potion will also have to have made Lyra's body much more efficient in terms of how much oxygen she needs to use.
By the way, I'm actually loving the fact that a fan of mine cares enough to go all science nerd on my story. Makes me feel like I'm doing well. Cuz you know, I can make people care about these little niggling details. High hoof! ^.^ /)
Oh and good luck arguing with my bro! He's more stubborn than an anvil super glued to the ground.
7274264 Or he didn't look and just forgot. =p
There's one thing I don't get about the timescale of the AU. How did Sol go nova in just 250 million years after present day?
7276699 It was detonated via a WMD in an attempt to destroy the human's homeworld. It failed to do so. Astonishingly enough.
7276558
(\ Most of the stories I read don't even try to have science, which is fine, but it means that I don't get to have fun like this. So thank you too.
Just about everything I said has sources linked, so I'll take on all challengers! Bring it on, Meep-bro
7276945 On the sources topic, you linked a wiki. Which is fine IMO. Howeaver the specific bit you linked the wiki for was not cited on the wiki, and I distinctly remember reading that alpha is harmless to consume. So I simply wondered if you had a cited source on that. Cuz I know I am fallible.
7276953 First thing I found for "consuming alpha emitters"
If I'm reading the citations right, it should be in either "Ionizing radiation injuries and illnesses" or "Polonium-210: A Volatile Radioelement in Cigarettes" unfortunately neither are easily available so here's some other stuff.
If I had to guess what’s in the article, saying that alpha is more damaging than beta, it would probably say that while alpha particles are slower (about .05c) than beta particles (about .75c), alpha particles have significantly more energy, because a helium nucleus has significantly more mass than an electron. Also I just learned about Cherenkov Radiation so thanks for that too.
Wait. Wait wait wait. Wait. Wait.
Wait.
How the flying fuck is the atmosphere 20% radon anyway? Its most stable isotope has a half life of 4 days! And it was 20% in the future! In the past there would be a crazy amount of radon! It's only produced by more radioactive decay so the atmosphere would be even hotter; like hot enough to melt metal! How is everything not irradiated, poisoned, crushed, and ON FIRE?! Where is all of it coming from? Even if the Great Basin thing is just keeping it at 20%, there should be rivers of molten lead running through a sea of fire! 4.5x10^15 kg of matter would be being converted to energy every 4 days assuming the atmosphere isn't heavier than ours is! What fucking magic is stopping everything from being on fire?! How are things not dead!?
7277293 "How!"
...Magic.
7277293 It's most stable natural isotope has a half life of 4 days. We will get to that in story soonish.
Arguably, the bane of non-biotech gamers, too.
With an integrated personal assistant VI, Lyra really doesn't have much of an excuse for not remembering to eat. Part of the problem, sure, but easily part of the solution too.
Sounds like a good sandwich.
It's like thanksgiving on a couple slices of rye. No wonder that Starswirl lost track of time.
Oh hey, that's convenient.
Ooo, nice.
It kind of funny how Clover is leaving out that one crucial detail about her and changelings, but I suppose it makes sense to not just blab that everywhere.
Ooo. Given the state of things later one, sounds like some of this plan works, some does not.
Changelings as a designed species? Hmn. I'm kind of suspicious that it really is a human created problem, just one from some number of centuries past Lyra's time.
Ooo. The alicorn ascension spell, I'm guessing?
Again, ooo.
Lamia Bon is a go!
Interesting.
Hah!
7277950
Yeah, but at least your system wont shut down if you skipped lunch.
Yup. She shouldn't have turned off diet alerts. Annoying? Yes. Helpful? Also yes.
The Turkyday Sandwich is a VERY good Sandwich.
Yes, but that's not something to let others know. Starswirl knows, and if anyone else did she would be attacked, and mabey killed if they were stealthy enough.
It could be. Though 250 million years is a long long time. Plenty of time for a civilization to rise, fall, and be forgotten.
Yes, Luna volunteers to try and get some well deserved attention for once. Celestia wont let her younger sister out do her.
7277831 just as well. My math is off by several orders of magnitude because tried. If it were a normal radon atmosphere, it would probably still be unsurvivable, but not by as much. Is the "unnatural" radon still radioactive? Cause if not, I already did calcs suggest that it would be fine to breath.