The Associated Worlds

For anyone with absolutely no idea what the channel description is talking about, it's this: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/327837/friendship-is-sufficiently-advanced

Cordial Nova

Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced

A first-in scout from the Associated Worlds investigates a very odd star system.

Overmind 12/29/2017 12:53 PM

NVMD

12:54

Miss-read.

is it really a crossover if the author writes it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_(fiction)

Crossover (fiction)

A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, unauthorized efforts by f...

14:35

Seems to me it fits the criteria pretty well.

Hussah!

I don’t know how common it is for creators to write crossovers with their own works, but I’ll admit I wrote a Zootopia/Para-Imperium one-shot.

Is this still alive? Because it was pretty cool.

Still, despite the lack of recent updates. I plan on having a new chapter out in what’s left of this year.

Awesome. Look forward to it.

@Zarpaulek I've seen it happen once or twice in sci fi literature, and far more frequently in comic book series.

I said 2017, and darn it, it might be smaller than I planned, but it's in 2017: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/327837/12/friendship-is-sufficiently-advanced/x-you-must-attend-your-party-before-venturing-forth-part-i

Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced

A first-in scout from the Associated Worlds investigates a very odd star system.

Congrats

Neat (edited)

This was good to read.

\o/

Yay!

So, this version of Lyra is obsessed with Precursors rather than humans?

15:18

"Are you an Ancient?" "Well, I'm only one hundred and twenty-six..." (edited)

Yeah, I figured it might make a good alternate obsession.

15:24

With even an eensy wee overlap.

Cordelia should be glad that it's Pinkie, and not Fluffle Puff.

oh, that link starts at chapter 10

21:01

not chapter 1

21:01

>.>

That link was for the new chapter.

You just sold a book with this

He got two books?

I'm not a fast reader, I'll get t'other one eventually

)

@charliii Thanks! Hope you enjoy it.

It's perfect!

2

Well, only update can improve enjoyment.

#Subtle

#somuchediting

wanted to ask about probable update to meeting of the friends.

Ah, is this still a thing? Is maybe the more pressing question?

It is still a thing, but the recent six 80-hr weeks for $CONTRACT have been murder on my productivity, if good for the my cash flow.

Ouch

23:42

80-hr week is a murder on many things...

Oh Wow.

23:42

That's no fun.

And it’s sort of third tier, after $CONTRACT and regular fiction and maintaining something resembling habitability around here.

Yeah, I get that.

Yeah, it was a big ball of suck. Pre-release crunch time - you know how it goes.

knows it all to well, is kinda on the post-crunch anti-burnout slowdown

feels like I haven't stopped crunching in weeks

Yay, more ponies!

I swear I'm going to make more progress on this particular splinter in 2019.

Yay!

"Mission status is shiny-optimal" I like this designation. I am imagining it in terms of "We've hit a jackpot!"

6

Do you know that using our blood nano to teleport is surprisingly easy, but highly non-intuitive?

~~crashing your ship is probably non-optimal, but that was a miscommunication~~

Unless you're Twilight Sparkle, in which case you can do it without thinking about it.

oh, there was an update on this?

Check #announcements @o11o1

neat'

For those awaiting more FiSA... ...well, there's not yet more FiSA. But there is a new side stories and notes collection, and it begins with a new short happening elsewhere in the Advancedverse:

18:02

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/429457/fisa-side-stories-and-notes

Cordial Nova

FiSA: Side Stories and Notes

Vignettes from elsewhere in the Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced universe

the page links appear to be mislabeled

How so?

the link that purports to go to 2 cut snippets goes to 2 battle of eclipse. following links are off by one.

I moved a chapter around at the last minute. Refreshing should clear it up, I think.

ok, that fixed it

Yay!

02:21

And lazerpone

Yes yay!

05:39

More advancedverse is good

@Overmind plz ban

Swordsage'd

@Overmind plz ban now!

intermediary: you can also block them

Target designated for artillery and ortillery barrage.

This particular breed doesn't hang around. The other server I run gets one every day or two.

@Tassadar Hold your butts. I sleep occasionally.

You were labeled as online! And also, you're the only mod.

What just happened?

A spammer was in the server advertising something untoward.

untoward Galaxy's greatest understatement.

I'm quite annoyed at whoever is sending this lot; I assume they figured the same invite brute Force as the previous lot.

10:04

But are less innocuous.

Spammer? Was it something about sex dating -- ?

Yes, unfortunately.

They are bots, we got a handful in the last days already. (edited)

Not going to post the side notes on the Patreon, but here's a new one: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/429457/6/fisa-side-stories-and-notes/6-on-griffonstone

FiSA: Side Stories and Notes

Vignettes from elsewhere in the Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced universe

So, the new season added another chapter of ancient Equestrian history.

19:33

Would this make Grogar, Father of Monsters, First Emperor of Equestira a Precursor in the Advancedverse? (edited)

Minor sidefluff in passing: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/429457/9/fisa-side-stories-and-notes/9-the-ravens-inkwell

FiSA: Side Stories and Notes

Vignettes from elsewhere in the Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced universe

I'm guessing canonical character with a continuity glitch?

Yep. But this way is funnier.

Agreed

Pony gun

Whose work?

Baron Engel, his sig is center bottom

...How the hell do you have a hand?

Telekinesis

Creates force field blades (edited)

16:37

Cuts wall clean in half

using mage hand to use the fighters weapon

Although, really, you don't need a gun when your psychokinesis is more than capable of accelerating pebbles to lethal velocity.

They never do that in MLP, which is why the magic system is BS

perhaps the telekinesis is not strong enough to sever the bonds of matter

A.T Field intensifies

so forceblades might not be a thing for a self-consistent reason

Or, seeing as it's Twilight Sparkle , you can basically make arbitrary revisions to the laws of physics with your brain.

Also why do the unicorns not rule over the other ponies (who don't even have opposable thumbs) like gods with their FUCKING MAGIC? (edited)

They're, er, nice?

Why can't you use the magic field to crush a whole army?

that's not how geopolitics works but OK

literally

Depends on how civilized your species is.

Not how human geopolitics works.

I get the sense that geopolitics work rather a bit different for a people who have friendship as one of their core principles.

Also, because each tribe has its very own I WIN button, which is why the three-way conflict in the backstory ended up with an Everybody Loses scenario.

what are the others'?

The pegasi can whip up a hurricane - or insert other severe weather condition here - and park it over you until your territory looks like Atlantis.

So gold old fashioned MAD is in play

nontransitive cycle best balance technique

Meanwhile, earth pony magic is responsible for Equestria's impossibly good agricultural yields. Apart from the implicit power that goes along with "it's our power that lets you have a non-subsistence civilization", imagine how that works thrown into reverse. You really manage to piss off the earths, you're gonna be living in an infertile wasteland.

Can't the unicorns just magic food out of nowhere because fuck conservation of matter? The powerful ones, at least

(Leaving aside the more questionable other forms of geomancy which may also be in play.)

16:45

Conservation of energy is the problem there, I think. Food ex nihilo takes more out of you than it puts back in.

In any case, how many unicorns are powerful enough to do that sort of thing?

Very few.

(Would they be rendered without magic if somebody snapped off their horn?)

16:46

Sniper team aims for magic horn

This also makes a Fallout scenario work, if all 3 pressed the Big Red Button

Bullet bounces off kinetic shield.

uses anti-magic field bullet

We dont have context for true 3-way MAD

16:48

Which is the enviroment in play

or we could just hit it hard enough that it uses up all the magic energy sustaining a field that can take such a huge amount of energy

16:48

no doubt send them flying

Although, if you're going to try using modern Earth armaments, the unicorn you should be terrified of is Rarity , whose psychokinetic dexterity is off the scale. Imagine all the pins in all the grenades in your unit being pulled simultanously.

4 way, actually, as (whoever the dark moon ponies were) cant plot rule a dead world

Then we shall use the element of stealthium and surprisate

@Unknown welcome to Fallout:Equestria. Been going strong for a couple years now. I think the story is finished, but it's a long one.

surprisate is a compound though

not to mention plotonium

@Overmind Aha, but what if my grenades are neurally activated? no pins to pull here

well that's a techlevel jump and a half

"well what if..." Goalpost moved

Or just activated with a digital semiconductor switch?

Although, really the best take on the whole thing is Admiral Biscuit's War Were Declared : https://www.fimfiction.net/story/220826/war-were-declared

Admiral Biscuit

War Were Declared

President Cheney declares war on Equestria.

I don't think they have EW on hand

Ah yes, the classic Modern Military vs high fantasy conflict

I can feel the GATE intensifying

The series of escalations, naturally, ends with: 'Mr. President? She replied—and I quote—'Thus far, civilians on your side have not been involved in large numbers. Should you chose to use your so-called 'nuclear' option on one of our cities, I will have no choice but to respond with our 'fusion' option. My sister has proposed seeing if I can control your sun well enough to make a mile-wide straight-line path from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. with a small portion of your sun. She irreverently calls it “Bowling for Humans.” That is kinder than her earlier suggestion of reuniting the moon with the Earth.'

16:59

The lesson of this is that one should not pick fights with Kardashev Level II individuals .

Hmm, but what if I send cyborg ninja squads to attack?

Cyborg Ninja Pony Magical Girls

NO

17:00

you are banished

new favorite anime

remove weeb

CEASE.

Although, if you're going to try using modern Earth armaments, the unicorn you should be terrified of is Rarity , whose psychokinetic dexterity is off the scale. Imagine all the pins in all the grenades in your unit being pulled simultanously.

Steps to Exploding Grenade 1. Remove Jungle Clip 2. Pull Pin 3. Throw the Jungle Clip holds the pin and spoon on, the pin holds the spoon on as well, three guesses as to where the Jungle Clip got it's name, the Spoon when removed (spring loaded) starts the fuse

@Enderminion I'm pretty certain the first two guesses as to why the jungle clip was invented don't count either

nope

Discord, agent of petty chaos, would be a lot more evil for the eldrae

I'd hate (or perhaps love, in a schadenfreude sense) to see what they'd think of Tirek, though... A thief, a slaver and one who wantonly destroys beauty and awesomeness for the power to be better at enslaving?

“You get an F+ for effort and dedication But you still need to die Right Now” (edited)

I do like the fic where he gets fed an... Amulet constructed out of magically shrunk swords and pikes. And eats magic holding things safe. While it's in the middle of his throat

Weather control satellites should be designated Pegasui.

Given that they're likely to better at large-scale manipulations rather than the small-scale, they may end up designated Megasi .

3

(Assuming, that is, they do not end up being named the Rainbow Dash Orbital Weather Management Platforms of Undiluted Awesome .)

rdowmpua ?

18:05

ponders if that acronym can be re-arranged to something pronouncible

hmm

20:48

arr dou wump ua?

20:49

rolls off the tongue

Space pirate Rarity? https://www.deviantart.com/baron-engel/art/Boarding-Party-829113815

even for rarity, boob tubes do NOT work that way

Artists do not know how boobs work...

19:04

(Apparently even when they have 'em. I have a whole album full of furry art committing much the same sin; suffice it to say the artist ought to have known better from experience.)

often the commissioner insists

Ah, that would explain it.

Staying faithful to contract sometimes requires sacrifices, after all Also skinsuits don’t work like that

(I bought a ton of damaged pieces from her, because the person who originally commissioned them didn't pick them up and hadn't for two years, then they got coked.)

I've had more than one commissioned artist drop off the face of the earth

19:09

Another time I had co-commissioned something with the artist's boyfriend, then they broke up.

19:13

MLP crossing over with something less fantasy than itself

Haha

petition for #wyrmverse

Not sure we need a channel for a fanfic I'm probably not writing?

didn't you already tho

21:03

like it's on the site and everything

Just a first chapter with a declaration that it's fairly unlikely there were more to follow. Probably. Maybe.

we demand more

No no no he has too many projects already.

No.

01:15

Enough worm

01:16

It's "compelling" setting that's written by absolute hack of a writer

I essentialy have no tastes so I can't tell

01:19

if it's written better than your typical D-grade fanfiction, it's all the same to me

It’s pulp as hell, but that isn’t a bad thing. It could use an editing pass, though.

It's a disabled guy's fun side project that blew up beyond expectations

I enjoyed it. I think if people enjoy it, that's good enough writing.

4

The more I see about Worm, the less I want to touch it with a ten-foot pole.

SB exploded into Worm fanfics. Exploded enough to demand separate subforum for Worm fics to prevent them from masking everything else

Given the fact that it’s one of the longest single works, I’m not suprised

It's also a universe that desperately needs a hug.

Filled with characters that need therapy

So is WH40K, but...

I don't know. The Wormverse feels like it needs a hug. The 40K galaxy feels like it needs a bitch-slap.

I was talking about the therapy part.

But Worm is more poignant in that regard due to being character based vs worldstate based

Depends on the degree of therapy involved. To me, the distinction is probably because while both universes are deeply fucked, the former feels less like essentially every inhabitant of said universe is busily working away to ensure that it continues to get more and more fucked.

There’s hope. These people haven’t sunk below human baseline. And similarly for the charecter level stuff

Or, looked at another way, the question "Is there someone(s) around here we could empower with the consequences that the universe becomes a genuinely better place?"

13:01

(If the answer to this is "The Orks, obviously, because while they would plunge the galaxy in to even more eternal waaaagh than it has already, at least there's no actual malice to them. They just like that sort of thing." you maybe should consider noping out on this one.)

40k is much harder to fix than Worm Other routes I’ve seen is just giving someone impossibly effective psychological therapy. Literally giving the setting and people in it a hug

I'm pretty sure by 'verse standards of divergence that might amount to "So, we can fix this universe if we basically brain-wipe everyone and implant better people in their bodies."

It’s still noticeable how many “what if Taylor was sane by some standard” fics are out there

13:10

In any world of superpowers, having a cool head is the most powerful thing

On the other hand, there's a decent argument to be made (and in the 'verse, generally accepted) that the people who move the world, generally speaking, are all nuts .

taylor had a snowball's chance in the path of a superzorcher of staying sane

13:12

considering what she went through

Sanity, after all, is usually defined as "within a low standard deviation of the collective norm". The mass of sane people, therefore, are the negative feedback reinforcers of the status quo.

13:13

Lunatics get shit done.

Hence why most superheroes are somewhat nuts Keeping their insanity constructive is important. Teams without such capacity end up in Civil War type scenarios.

13:18

And in the verse, the Gaurdians of Our Harmony exist on the scale of civilization

I feel like MLP is what you get if you ask "Is there someone(s) around here we could empower with the consequences that the universe becomes a genuinely better place?", and come back with: "Yes. Yes there is. There are several someones, in fact, and I, Princess Celestia, have the power to make it so. Mi Amore Cadenza, Twilight Sparkle, I pick you. Be empowered and bring awesomeness to the universe and drag everyone else along with you, cheering exuberantly!" (edited)

1

Where they themselves did the process ages ago

Randomness: "There is not a sufficient body of evidence to suggest that transplanting the core knowledge of ancient alien civilizations into human minds will always lead to inappropriate giggling and the broadcasting of 'sufficiently epic' film soundtracks during Endbringer fights, but currently there is a 1::1 correlation between the two." - PRT internal memo "SPIDER LEGION! DIVE!" - Taylor Hebert, three days earlier

SPIDER LEGION

"You know that making self-replicating Tinker tech gets you a kill order!" "Oops?"

(This is shortly after it is revealed that, in some cases, ancient cosmic wisdom boils down to "We should kill them and take their stuff.")

On one hand, she has a kill order for self-replicating Tinker tech, but on the other hand that tech pushed back Leviathan in record time, resulted in the lowest number of casualties for any endbringer fight so far, and are already helping repair the city.

"Why are you stunning gang members and dumping them outside the city limits?" "Just doing my job, ma'am!" The disturbingly cute spider-bot saluted. "I'm a Mr. Justice (tm)! I was created to protect and serve the good people of Brockton Bay in these trying post-Leviathan times." "...so why are you dumping them there naked ?" "Okay, that's just because it's funny."

https://d.facdn.net/art/baroncoon/1584402067/1584402067.baroncoon_the_big_apple.jpg gives advancedverse vibes

What kind of applied phlebotinum would it take for the Imperial Legions to consider humongous mecha?

"this culture solves disputes via ritualised combat in humongous mecha. To their credit, they mock armies that then try to use the things in proper warfare. And they say they won't listen to us unless we join in. Right-o lads, I know some of you have secretly mourned the practicalities of warfare that prevented us from doing this before, so lets get cracking!"

3

Dune-type "negate non-classical weapons" shields?

Holtzman shields would freeze a mech solid.

Eh, probably, but the specific hard-sci-fi implications of the actual dune technology aren't the point

08:58

The point is "If you have a magic field that forces you to fight with swords and spears and bows, then mechs/power armor is a sensible technological means of magic those things more powerful"

If you've got that sort of sufficiently magic field, then your appropriate technological path is archmages.

Yea but an archmage in a mech might be even better than one or the other.

The question was "What applied phlebotinum" not "What sensible activity of normal physics"

Maybe some kind of bizarre set of weakly-godlike-being-enforced rules that humongous mecha happen to abuse loopholes in?

I mean, yes, but what specific loopholes?

I think if it can recognize suitably archaic weapons we may have moved beyond phlebotinium and into the realm of Alien Space Bats. (As in, frex, Dies the Fire .)

It's better hard scifi to pick one or two changes that have the implications you want and follow through than it is to handwave it with a weakly godlike being, I feel