Widening the Lens [MLP ISOT] World Building/discussion thread #4

Ok weve filled up the previous discussion thread here http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=210420

The story thread is here http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=214975

So whos got any new stories coming up?

This Pic seemed appropriate for the thread Maybe it could be used as a follow up to those joint military exercises mentioned early in the story.

Derpy came in the front door to see her Earth Pony brother sitting in front of a TV.

"What are you watching?"

Before her hourglass-marked sibling could respond, a distinctive tune began to play.

"I'm a Doctor Who fan now. Doctor Who fans are cool!" Derpy raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Which episode is this?"

"Remembrance of the Daleks. I'm told it's a fan-favorite episode!"

Next story

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Focus on Equestria at 8
November 21st 2012


"Hello and welcome back to Focus on Equestria, your premiere news source on the post event world, I'm Ricchard Stratham and this is my Co-host Crimson Newsflash"

"Thank you Richard. In international news the Culinary world is abuzz with talk about the latest food craze to come out of Equestria. Zap Apple Jam has become the worlds most sort after food after it was discovered by famous food critic François Simon at the Equestrian foodstuffs section of the SIAL international food exibition last month in Paris."

"François, an infamously harsh critic, was immediatly enthralled by the product and gave it the highest rated review he has ever given in his career; declaring it to be the greatest culinary discovery since the begining of the spice trade to europe. Further adding to the storm of interest is the small supply of the now incredibly sort after ingrediant, after François' rave review famous chefs and restaurants from around the globe begun a fierce bidding war for the remaining supply which sold out within hours of the review. A single jar of Zap Apple Jam is now valued at over 300,000 euros and meals garnished with it are selling for thousands of dollars a plate in premiere restaurants."

"The bidding war between restaurants has continued intensly as world famous chefs attempt to reserve a share of the upcoming harvest which is expected to arrive in febuary of next year. Most surprisingly of all is the small size of the operation that produces the new craze; Zap Apple Jam is produced by a family owned and operated apple orchard 'Sweet Apple Acres' in the Equestrian town of ponyville. The cultivation of the famous Zap apples is a family secret as is the Jam recipie, interviews with locals have yeilded no useful information into the methods of the Apple family further fueling interest from around the globe."

"We now go to an exclusive interview with Miss Applejack, co-owner and operator of Sweet Apple Acres; and François Simon, the food critic responsible for the Zap apples amazing popularity"

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"Welcome to the studio Miss Apple and Bienvenue to you Monsieur Simon"

"Why thanks Mr Richard, Im so glad I could come on the show"
"Merci Monsieur Stratham"

"So Miss Apple this must have been a very exciting past few weeks for you and your family, how have you been handeling all of this?"

"Its been amazing!! I never thought in ma wild'st dreams that Sweet Apple Acres would become so famous! I honestly don't know what to do with all the money, ma brother Macintosh is better than than me at all those fancy mathmatics but he tells me that we paid of all our debts on the farm with a single jar of jam, a single jar!! I still can't belive it sitting here today!

When I first called my family from the fair and told them that hundreds of humans were trying to drown me in money to get some jam they didn't believe me!! Granny Apple accused me of getting into the hard cider HA!! Im apparently the avatar of honesty or somesuch and even ma own folks thought I must be lying its that unbelivable!"

"And how do you feel Mr Simon discovering this product and introducing it to the world?"


"Its magnifique! I have spent entire life as food critic and I have become famous for being harsh, I can always find something wrong with a restaurant and include it in my reviews, the chefs they hate me for it. But this! Never in my life have I tasted something that has truely atteindre la perfection! For the first time ever I could't say a thing wrong about a food!

Most extraordinaire of all I did not find this in some stuck up resteraunt in the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, No!! I found Perfection in a smear of jam on some toast sold by a humble orange poney from a small wooden stall at a food fair!! I couldn't be happier to introduce this to the world along with the amazing family that created this chef-d'oeuvre of food."

"Aww shucks Francis, Zap Apple Jam would be nothing without your help"

"As always miss Applejack your humility amazes me"

"So would you two be able to describe the moment you two first met that propelled zap apple jam to the heights of global cuisine?"

"Ah certainly would Mr Richard. Well I had just finished the spring apple harvest with ma family when I recived a letter from princess Celestia herself asking me to go to some big food festival in france with a bunch of other ponies, zebras, griffons and even a dragon; she said that we had been chosen to represent equestrian foodstuffs to the world.

I wasn't so sure about going until I asked my friends and they all practacily begged to come with me, ahh simply couldn't refuse, rarity was insuffer'ble and pinkie was bouncing of the celing shouting about the 'Moulin Rouge' or somesuch. So I grabbed a few crates of apples and a few jars of zap apple jam and found myself on an airship head'd to Paris. When we all got to Paris me and the girls split up to go enjoy themselves. Rarity headed of to marvel over shops and fashion in town; Twilight was busy chattering away with some bigwigs from the magic academy, they went to some place called CERN; Dash shot off to the horizon, she shouted something about 'updrafts' and 'Mt Blanc'...And Pinkie dragged off poor Fluttershy singing about nightclubs...

Anyway so I was sitting at my little wooden stand I'd brought with me from home in the equestrian pavilion at the big food fair, the fair wasn't to begin for a few hours. The griffons were in a different section with their kebab things, I can't stand the smell; the Zebras were brewing up some wicked smelling soup in those big cauldrens they use, and the dragon fella was grinding up gemstones for something.....then Francis showed up"

"Merci, madame Apple. As usual with the big food fairs they let us famous food critics go through a few hours before opening to avoid all the crowds, normally I prefer to mingle with the crowds but this time I went early, perhaps fate? As I was walking through the fair I saw all the usual; over-advertised big towering stalls all competing to be seen, chefs shouting at subordinates and showing off their knife work....all the things I can't stand.

Then I happened upon the equestrian envoy, It was certainly a shock to find myself trying food made by another species. I had a sample of some wonderful soup the Zebras were constantly adding things to while chanting, trying to talk to them was impossible though as they were rhyming in english and it made no sense to me, I think in french. I had the courage to visit the stall run by the 20 meter reptile, he had a collection of interesting new spices that he insisted were ground up gemstones!! I didn't belive him until he ground up a fist sized ruby and offered me some, I declined, my appitite ruined when I realised I had paid thousands of euros for my wifes ruby earings just a week before and here it was been offered free on a cracker!!

I was about to leave and have a look at the usual boring human foods when I noticed a small wooden stall in a corner with an orange pony in a cowboy hat. I was amazed, all the pomp, splendor and dazzle of the rest of the fair and here was a humble farmer with a simple wooden stall, a few barrels of apples and some assorted homemade pastries. I thought to myself that if someone, somepony?, was brave enough to simply trust in their cuisine, and not in flashy advertising, they must be truely honest about their cooking."

"Well I'd been sitting there for about an hour, I had cooked up all my food the night b'fore so all I had to do was set up my stall and wait, Then this Human fella turned up and had a look at the Zebras and the Dragon, I had a bit of a laugh at him trying to understand the Zebras. He was walking past towards the exit and I thought he wasn't going to bother to look at ma apples, then he stoped and looked at ma stall with this weird look on his face for a minute like he was amazed at something.

He walked up and asked me if he could try the best thing I had on offer, so I opened a jar of zap apple jam.."

"I still have no idea how you open jars with hooves..."

"Its easier than it looks...anyway so i put some jam on a bit of toast and gave it to him, he looked at it funny for a bit then took a bite. His face went all weird and his eyes grew massive, I thought I had gone an killed him, but he swallowed it and started raving like a loon in french waving his arms and shouting "fantastique!!, magnifique!!, superbe!!" over and over. Now I thought he was mad at me and tried to apologise, he laughed and then told me it was the best darn thing he'd ever tasted and he was going to make me famous!!! He then ran off shouting about a review.....to be honest I thought him to be nuts."

"HA yes I can imagine I would have looked démentiel, but it was truely the most amazing thing I had ever eaten, I simply had to tell the world so I ran off and wrote my review....and so rest is history"

"Thats an amazing story Miss Apple and Monsieur Simon, So you are now working together to promte and distribute Zap Apple Jam to the world you must be very proud to have put equestrian cuisine on the map"

"Of course, and even though Sweet Apple Acres is now 'A major export indusdry' according to the princesses, its still my family and freinds that matter, I've already promised to give most of the profits back to ma hometown to pay them back for all the help they've given me and my family over the years. Our little farm can now afford to hire extra workers, and were gonna need them if were going to fill the demand for Zap apples!!"

"A truely inspirational story and work ethic Miss Apple. Do you have any news about Sweet Apple Acres future plans for the coming year?"

"Well last year our Cider sold out everyday we could produce it and ponies were camping out overnight to get some, With cider season starting in a few weeks things are gonna be intristin' "

"Well thank you Miss Apple and Monsieur Simon for coming on the show today and I wish you and your business all the best"

"Thanks Mr Richard its been great!"
"Merci beaucoup it has been a pleasure"

"And now back to the studio..."

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Hope you enjoy it guys

The food critic is based of a real guy i read about here http://www.departures.com/articles/could-this-be-the-most-feared-food-critic-in-the

I also abused the hell out of an english to french dictonary for his dialouge.
Im kind of unsure about applejacks speach, I tried to make it sound like her but writing in a texan accent is kinda hard Id be happy to rewrite it a bit if its too out of character.

Twilights little trip to CERN is going to be the focus of my next story, hijinks will ensue.....along with SCIENCE!!
Im not sure about writing Pinkie and fluttershys missadventures in paris' club scene, someone more brave can take that one if they want.

Weta Out

Pretty good.

Hopefuly I don't disrupt any existing cannon in the story line by making the Apple family multi millionares

It will be interesting.... especially if someone TRIES to value their "dollar" at eight Equestrian bits.

Probably a talking point of the gold standard kooks.

TBH, a return to the gold standard would be just as disruptive to the American economy as rampant inflation. A "strong" dollar would mean MORE manufacturing going overseas.

Hm. the Amish might find that they have a lot of orders for their carriage-work, especially as a trendy thing for the idle rich. "Isn't it darling? And would you believe that it was made without an iota of magic?"

I'm want to see Derpy being invited to tape an Ancient Aliens segment only to get into an argument with the Centauri looking guy...

"Ancient Ponies!"

"Ancient Humans!"

"Ancient Ponies!"

"Ancient Humans!"

"Ancient Ponies!"

"Ancient Humans!"

Twilight Sparkle sat back and snorted in amusement. A discussion of Spacebattles had been established on badly written novels and Twilight (hoping to add a few human-written novels to the Ponyville Library, while also knowing which ones to avoid) was following the topic with interest. Her curiosity had been piqued by someone nominating the 'Twilight' novels, whereupon she had requested clarification.

What had followed was a highly-detailed, vitrol-spewing tirade on just HOW bad the series was. At least the rant was punctuated with amusing images with captions like 'PURGE THE ABOMINATION' and 'THAT'S NOT ROMANTIC, THAT'S CREEPY!'

But the best image (in Twilight Sparkle's opinon) was of herself drawn in the style of that My Little Pony show, levitating a copy of the book, going 'What the FUCK is this SHIT?' While she couldn't imagine herself using such language, it was funny nonetheless.

Ha that was great! We need more of Spacebattles twilight, shes crazy enough to fit right in. She would be straight too the Sci-Fi tecnical discussion to argue about calcs!

Anyway heres a short news snippit
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"In entertainment news tonight we bring you the latest news about upcoming blockbuster movies this summer."

"Acclaimed New Zealand film director Sir Peter Jackson has announced that he has signed a contract with the equestrian writer Inkpot Quill, author of the popular Daring-Do adventure series; to produce a movie adaption of the popular series.

The Daring-Do series is a collection of fiction novels that tell the tale of Daring-Do, a brave young Pegasus mare who goes on dangerous adventures to recover lost treasures and civilisations, Daring is often opposed by a group of criminals who seek to steal the treasures and use them for their own evil purposes. The book series begins with Daring-Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone which was first published 23 years BTE (before transition event) Popularity of the series has exploded in the wake of the event finding millions of new human fans who praise it for its originality and action. The series has also become popuar with prominant womans rights activists who praise the depiction of a confident young mare who dosn't need to be constantly saved by males, seeing her as an excelent role model for girls of all species.

The announcement of the movie adaption and choice of director has created a storm of interest in possible adaptions of other equestrian books to the big screen with multiple studios looking at biopics of famous equestrian historical figures such as Star Swirl the bearded.

The first film in the series Daring-Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone is currently in pre-production and shooting is expected to begin in 2nd quarter of 2013 with a tentative release date of summer 2014. The film is to be distributed world wide by paramount pictures and is to be shot in a new true 3D format that has been developed by Weta Workshops in partnership with the royal equestrian magic acadamy (REMA); the new format promises true 3D without the need for glasses and also will include comprehensive smellvision adding a whole new dimension to the cinimatic experiance.

Speculation as to who will play the role of Daring-Do is running rampant, unverified reports suggest that Jackson has been in contact with Rainbow Dash, renouned athlete and member of the world famous 'Mane Six'. When asked about her possible role Miss Dash replied "No comment" and flew of at high speed further fueling speculation to her possible role in the film.

Author Inkpot Quill has also announced this week that the next book in the Daring-Do series will be released in time for Hearths warming day; the story will take part in the world post transition and will have Daring-Do travel across the human world trying to stop a dark conspiricy to throw the world into chaos. Mr Quill hopes that the series popularity with humans will continue to grow thanking his human and equestrian fans for their support."

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Well I've already gone and made Applejack a world famous milionare so naturally I had to go and make Rainbow dash an action movie star
Twilight is on track to being the next Einstien/Tesla.........and Fluttershy is going to get her own special chance of fame as co-star with David Attenborough in a tv series about equestrian wildlife.

All coming up in my next few stories, keep tuned in to Focus on Equestria

Hmmm. My faux-SB-er being "shipped" with Luna, *redacted* needs a proper screen name... or would *redacted* actually be allowed?

"Cutie Mark Crusader Internet Explorers!"

"Yeah we'll explore this internet place."

"And get our cutie marks for doing it!!!"

"Hmmm, Sweetie whats this 4 Chan place?"

"No clue Scootaloo. Click the link we are exploring the internet."

Why would you do that?!

Because it sounds like something they would do and since no one is their to WARN them about 4chan. Plus there are worse places on the Internet.

And then they were script-kiddies.

Those three managed to release Discord. 4chan has nothing on them. Bye 4chan, you're not perfect.

"Ancient Bronies!"

"Ancient Pumans!"

"Rock'n'roll!"

Oh god, I just realized something. What would the ponies think of the .mov series? shed.mov is gonna traumatize some ponies.

I'm wondering if the show itself would still exist as it does now or become something of a reality show like 'The Real World' or something, considering it might be simpler (for a given value of simple) to follow the mane six around with cameras and stuff vs having to create episodes from scratch.

Or they could become executive producers or somesuch thing I dunno.

"Mister Thiessen..." Twilight said with a haunted look in her eyes. "... If Princess Celestia approves it, you should still make your show the way you were." Seeing his look of confusion, Twilight got to her hooves. "There's something you should see."

Jayson followed Twilight through the palace, drawing curious glances from sightseers from across Equestria, but not as many from the palace staff. He understood why when Princess Luna walked by talking with a young man wearing a Pipsqueak the Pirate t-shirt which had obviously been modified in Equestria from the bejeweled embroidery replacing the word balloon with Equestrian script.

He grew nervous as he realized they were approaching the Royal Statue Garden. Twilight led him through the maze until they came upon four royal guards standing stoically beside an archway.

"State your business." One of them called out, not even moving his head.

"An object lesson for Mister Theissen, by Royal Order Seventeen, Scroll One Thousand, Five Hundred Two, Paragraph Three." Twilight turned back to Jayson and smiled gently, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "For what it's worth, I think you shouldn't have too much trouble with this, but *redacted* had terrible nightmares for a week."

A bemused look crossed Jayson's face. "How did you pronounce those asterisks? And how did I know there were any there?"

Twilight nodded, as though a hypothesis had been proven. "Don't worry about it. It's like Pinkie Sense. But... just to be on the safe side... would you mind putting one of your hands on my withers?"

He complied, and was awed at the sudden warmth that flowed up his arm. "This is incredible!"

"Hold on to that feeling." Twilight groaned. "You're going to need to remember it." With that, she led Jayson through the arch, and into terror.

He immediately knew what the statue before him was, but where the design from the show was whimsically frightening, the genuine article was, for lack of a better term, eldritch. Twilight was right, he needed her warmth. Unbidden, strange words entered his mind.

Code:

Ia! Ia!

DISCORD ftagn!

It's a good snippet, but I have no clue what, who or why.

Discord's statue looks NOTHING like the one shown in FIM. It's far more disturbing and is probably a good example of Lovecraft's SAN-check-inducing art.

To be more specific, what preceeded this, who is this person and why is Twilight Sparkle showing him Discord?

Because, although I'm not sure I've read all the snippets, I have kept up with the thread fairly well - And I cannot recall a previous mention of this person.

He's the director of My Little Pony:Freindship is magic

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2149505/

and you call yourself a brony

Oh and nice story there by the way, im liking Eldrich discord, may I add my own addition...

"So twilight, did....did it actually rain chocolate milk like in the show?"
"Well......no.....it was actually raining blood" *shudders*
"Oh god thats horrrible I can't.....wait what about Pinkie?, she obviously acted different from in the episode, right?"
"Actually the show was kind of spot on about that.....we would prefer NOT to remember that"

As intriguing as it is I'm not sure how I feel about Lovecraft!Discord. Sure, he could fit the bill easily but wouldn't it mean that Cthulhu and his buddies are also around? Or is it just Discord screwing with Theissen?

Probably him screwing with his head. He is a being of Chaos and Insanity after all. So does that mean this is something like how he looks: