friendyousohard | 18th Spell: [Video/Action for Route 36]

[The gear clicks on to show what looks like a room out of an old, rustic cabin, a fairly small one with two benches on the sides, next to windows. Three girls are lounging around in it and four backpacks litter the floor. The view holds there for a few moments... long enough to tell that the "room" is moving.]

I have to admit, this really did work out quite well.

[The gear turns around to show off Twilight's smiling face.]

Amazing what you can put together with a little teamwork, isn't it? I'm still not sure how we'll get this thing over some of the terrain Johto and Kanto have to offer, not to mention traveling between regions, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, as the saying goes.

At any rate, we're about to make our stop so I can show the outside- [Twilight's interrupted by a sudden whinny from outside.] What the... Dash! What's going on?

[There's a bit of a clamor as she shoves herself up to one of the windows along with the gear (and, judging by the noises, all of the other girls as well) and the resultant view of the outside shows a small group of Yanma buzzing by, clearly agitated by the giant intruder in their midst.]

... Well, I should have expected this thing would draw some extra attention. Sorry everyone, I'll have to finish what I was saying later.

[She clicks off the feed.]

[OOC: So, Applejack decided a while ago that the pony group needed a wagon, so she built one! (With mod permission, of course.) This is its first journey, and Twilight will be showing the rest thing off after they deal with their little infestation. Questions about it will be fielded mostly by either Twi or AJ.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...why didn't he think of that]

...That's... a fairly ingenious idea. I'm surprised more people don't think of it, to be honest.

I really find it hard to believe that the natives never seem to have thought of it. Many of them have domesticated Pokemon like Miltank that would be perfect for pulling something like this. I mean, admittedly the travelling conditions aren't perfect, you've never had a trip this bumpy, but it's still an improvement timewise and provides mobile shelter along with a way to rest your legs while still continuing your trip.

And yet... I can't take credit for the idea either. That goes to my friend Applejack, a farmgirl who's used this sort of thing all her life.

The most that they seem to have come up with has been the bicycle, which I would imagine is roughly the same in terms of how well it deals with the terrain while failing to provide any protection from the elements. This sort of thing doesn't even seem that difficult to put it together...

Well, that makes perfect sense. Isn't there a farm near Olivine, though? Surely they'd have some use for this sort of thing.

The bicycle and that train... which is such a jump in levels of technology that it still leaves me flabbergasted. There should be several designs in between those two, but I've seen no evidence of it. They go from walking and riding Pokemon, to cycling, straight to enormous boats and trains... well, one train, as far as I've been able to determine, but still. If they can create those, this should be far from beyond them. I mean, I have the blueprints sitting right inside.

[A tacit invitation to ask to see them if he's interested, right there.]

Indeed there is, a dairy farm if I recall correctly. Which means it's covered in Miltank, and while they aren't ideal, they could easily pull something like this. I'm starting to think I should make copies of the blueprints and start selling them to the locals.

Precisely. Of course, given that they seem to prioritize Pokemon over most matters, they may not have cars and the sort of infrastructure that would come with them because of the risk of pollution, but wagons wouldn't cause that sort of problem.

Well, if you wouldn't mind giving me a copy, I'd be happy to look them over. It's not something that should be too difficult to put together...

[...after all, building things is kind of like doing crafts on a larger scale, right?

Right?]

There is a point there... especially if they're propelled by fossil fuels. Equestria severely limits the use of coal and the like for precisely that reason.

[She beams widely at his interest.]

Certainly I can do that! Would you like to see the originals now, or would you rather I copied them down onto a file on the gear and sent them so you can check them over at your leisure?

That's understandable enough. Furthermore... magic is more commonplace than in some worlds, isn't it? Or am I misremembering something?

I think I'd prefer a file of some kind, in case I do decide to go through with it.

No, you're correct. Uni... Magic users make up about a third of the population, which I'm pretty sure is much higher than in your world, and probably a few others besides, not even counting worlds like this one which have no magic.

Consider it done! I've already got a file saved and ready just in case someone was interested. I'll transfer it to you shortly.

[...sometimes Kayneth forgets that one of his closer associates in Johto is a magical purple unicorn, and then he is reminded all of a sudden

and it is always really confusing...]

An entire third of the population? Well, I have to say, I wouldn't mind something like that... though is it just, er...

[...it is so weird continuing this line of discussion, he kind of guesses it's unicorns from what she said but he has to be sure]

[She pauses a brief moment, considering how to best answer this, before deciding he'd probably work best with just a straightforward, direct explanation.]

Unicorns, yes. Well, Alicorns too, but there are only three of those in existence. It's the horn, you see. Since it's directly connected to the brain, it serves as a superb magical catalyst, allowing us to focus our own energy with that of the outside world and cause magical phenomena with comparative ease. The feeling of a familiar spell is very similar to giving orders to one's limbs, which is why telekinesis is the one spell that pretty much all of us know.

...Alicorns? I thought that was simply the horn of a unicorn itself. Well, I'm sure it means something different to you-I don't believe I've heard of them outside that context.

[maybe you should read some modern fantasy bro]

And... yes, that certainly makes sense to me. We don't have anything centralized like that outside of Mage Crests, but those aren't quite the same and it's still easier for us to use external catalysts.

Oh, sorry, I forgot I hadn't mentioned that term before. An Alicorn in Equestria refers to a pony with the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. They're very rare, quite powerful, and all three of them are looked to as the leaders of Equestria.

[She nods at that explanation.] I more or less figured that was the case. Humans aren't really built to utilize the magical paradigm I grew up with. It's a pity magic is just completely removed here, or I could probably spend quite some time doing studies on human magic.

Ah, I see. My world's mythology features both unicorns and pegasi, so those are familiar enough to me... but I can't recall any myth where they're combined. Still, that does make some amount of sense, if they're that powerful.

Well, I'd be happy to discuss it with you, although it would admittedly be lacking something without a demonstration. It would be possible if any of those blackouts happen again, but that's a bit risky due to the fact that we can't count on retaining anything we learn during that time period.

18th Spell: [Video/Action for Route 36]

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