Humanity's final dayby Aider5ChaptersPrologue: Total obliterationChapter 1: A whole new worldChapter 2: Town (Warning, spoilers from now onwards, read at own risk.)Prologue: Total obliterationIt was late at night as two humans rushed around in a large apartment. "David!" "Yes, Alexander?" "Have we got everything we need?" "Yes, would you like the list?" "Give it to me." "3 months worth of food, portable toilet and shower, a portable dinner table plus two chairs, all portable household appliances, basic plasma weaponry and utility tools, multiple holographic reusable planners, two advanced translators and 4 communication devices, two data pads and independent mobile wifi units, along with all necessary house modules for quick construction." "Good, and I presume we have extra clothing as well?" "Yep." "Ok, switch the portal on." The two humans were scientists, Alexander had multiple degrees and a very high quality education. David, on the other hand, was more laid back and didn't quite have the same education as Alexander, but was still well educated. The two had been friends for as long as they could remember, as young children they were neighbours, they quickly became friends after a couple of weeks. On top of being neighbours, they went to the same schools up until university. David had followed Alexander's instruction and had started the portal, he turned around to see Alexander staring at his data pad and quickly checking all the information the portal was sending him. "All good?" "So far, yes." "I may not have your fantastic scientific knowledge, but I sure as hell can build something. Am I right?" "Yes, David, you can build exceptionally well." "But of course I couldn't have built it without your help." "Those calculations may have been a bit hard at times, and I did have some sleepless nights, but in the end, it was you who built it." "But we make a hell of a team, right?" "Yes, we do indeed make a hell of a team." "How long till it's open?" "A minute, give or take. If it doesn't explode that is." "Well you should probably record a log entry on this while you have the time." "Yes, you're right." As he said this, the young man opened his data pad and initiated the personal log application. *Personal log - Day of destruction - 24th of july, 2047. Today I activated the portal, built by my good friend David, it should have a dark purple colour and have a swirling pattern visible in it, if my calculations are correct. The after effects, if there are any, are yet to be researched, as this is the first time we have activated it other than the room to room test two days ago with a smaller test model. I will attach a schematic of the portal for construction, if it winds up broken, we can fix it. On top of the schematic, I'll also attached all the necessary calculations for inter-dimension travel, in case this log is found by another being, and they wish to dimension jump like me and David. If we survive, I will also attach the dimensional code, in case anyone wishes to find us, and the coordinates. This concludes the log, this is Alexander Jonathan Francis, signing off. Personal log - conclusion* After Alexander finished his log, he looked to David, but then noticed that he was looking at the portal, seemingly deep in thought. "You know, it's funny." "What's funny?" "Well, Alexander, when you think about it, we wouldn't have completed this for another couple of years, if we weren't about to die that is." "You're right. But it's like that with all humans, no one wound have gotten as much done as they have now. Impending doom may mean death is coming, but we get even more than usual done when we're about to die." "Anyway, I double checked the list." David said, snapping out of his deep thoughts. "Ah, yes, good. Prepare to venture into the unknown in 30 seconds." Alexander said, also breaking from his thoughts. (20 Seconds later.) "10 seconds" Alexander said, looking at his data pad for the timer. "6" He said again, to ensure he and his friend could count down from five together. "5" The two said in unison. "4" "3" "2" The pair continued to count down in unison. "1" "FORWARD IN TO THE UNKNOWN!!!" They both shouted. Alexander ran into the portal first, fuelled almost solely by curiosity, closely followed by David. As the pair was pulled through the portal, they both shared the same, singular thought, which they both chose to express verbally. "It's been nice living on you Earth, but we gotta go!" After this, they both hit something, something hard, and they hit it fast. Author's Note Two stories, wow, never thought I'd say that, especially not this soon, or with this story. But anyway, thanks for reading, and if you find any spelling mistakes, missing or incorrect grammar or a lack of description, please comment, I'll appreciate it a lot. Chapter 1: A whole new worldAlexander woke to, well, he didn't really know yet, he was still thinking about what just happened. 'Ok. 1. Ow 2. Where? 3. Dirt, I'm laying in dirt. And 4. David, I need to get up and check on David, he might be hurt.' All these thoughts quickly made Alexander construct a plan mentally, he'd check if he was injured, get up, see where he was, and then he'd find David and see if he's injured. David, on the other hand, was laying down in dirt, and, well, thinking. 'Earth is gone, for all we know, we're the only survivors. We don't know where we are yet, it might be hostile, we might die soon.' Alexander had now stood up, he was relatively fine, just a headache and a slightly painful knee. "David?" Alexander calmly asked into the air around him. He had now observed that he was in a small town, it seemed to be around midnight. "David?!" He asked again, he was now starting to get worried for his friends safety. Then he saw it, his friend was laying face down in the dirt, just like he was seconds before. "David!" "Hmmm?" "David, are you alright?" Alexander said, barely able to think about anything but his friends safety. "Wait, Alexander?" "Oh thank god, you're alive." David started to move around, then got up. "You ok?" "Yeah, I'm checking on you." "Well, I think I'm good, shall we look around?" "Yes, but maybe we should wait until day." David looked around, and noticed that it was, in fact, the middle of the night. "Right." (9 hours later) Alexander and David had set up a basic house in the small town, and had eaten and then went to sleep. Alexander woke to an alarm beeping loudly, he got up, turned it off, and woke up David. "Why 8?" "Because we want to get out soon." "Fine." (Half an hour later) After waking up, David got dressed, ate breakfast, and gathered up all necessary items for the day, as had Alexander. The two walked out of the door of their makeshift hut, Alexander again going first. (Meanwhile, elsewhere.) It was a relatively routine day for Applejack, she'd woken up, had breakfast, then started working on the apple orchard. Now she was going into town to sell some products. It was quite a calm walk, not much happened nowadays. Other than the odd monster attack, life in pony ville was relatively peaceful, but for some reason, it wasn't quite like this today. As soon as Applejack walked into town, she noticed a small group of ponies gathered around some kind of structure in the middle of the street. So she decided to take a look, and being an Element of harmony, would probably end up investigating before anypony else. Well, this was unexpected. Some kind of equines had gathered around Alexander and David, almost instantly after they exited their very house-like structure. "What's all the fuss about?" "There's some kind of two legged hairless ape!" 'Hairless ape?' Applejack thought to herself 'now that's just plain Ol' weird.' "Let me through." Applejack commanded, this caused the small crowd to move aside. "Hello?" The odd equine asked, it's coat was orange, and it's eyes were green, it had some sort of hat atop it's head and spoke with a country accent. "Did... Did it just talk?" David asked, confused "Don't call her an 'it', David, that's rude." "But... 'She's' a... Horse." David stated, still confused, and now somewhat annoyed. "Um, hello? I'm Applejack, who might you be?" "Oh, yes. Please excuse my friends rudeness, I think he's still annoyed by waking up so early. To answer your question, I'm Alexander." Alexander answered, motioning to himself. "And this is my close friend, David." Alexander then motioned to David, who simply gave a tired wave. "Well it's nice to meet y'all. But, if you don't mind my asking, what are you?" "Well that's easy, We are humans, a highly advanced race from the planet Earth." "So what you're saying is that you're aliens?" Applejack asked, intrigued and confused all at the same time. "Well, yes, I suppose we are." "Hey Alexander. When are we gunna start looking around?" "Please David, I'm in the middle of a conversatio-" Alexander was cut off mid-sentence by Applejack "Well if you want to look around, I'd be happy to give you a quick tour." "Really?" Alexander asked causiosly, Causing Applejack to nod in approval. "Great! So when do we start?" He asked, he was almost hyper-active to get a tour of an alien town, given by an intelligent alien species. "Whenever you'd like to." "Great, so does that mean we can start right now?" "If your friend ready, then I don't see why not." After this comment, both Applejack and Alexander looked to David, awaiting his answer. "Sure, sounds nice, just let me get a couple of things first." "Actually, now that you mention it, I need to get some things too. We'll be right back." As Alexander said this, he walked over to David, who then entered their makeshift house, closely followed by Alexander. As he collected everything he would need, one single thought crossed Alexander's mind. 'Pastel... Coloured... Ponies... Fantastic! Who knows, maybe they have magic. Considering that an equine can speak, let alone knows English, makes them having magic seem all that less exciting, if they do of course.' Author's Note Oh goodie, another chapter. What am I, a wizard? Could be, if I had magic, like these ponies. Anyway, enough about that, and on to the thanks. Thank you for reading, if you see any errors, leave a comment, and I'll fix it as best I can, that is, if my editors don't tell me first. Chapter 2: Town (Warning, spoilers from now onwards, read at own risk.)Alexander and David had been following Applejack for a good half an hour now, and were nearing their final location, where they'd be dropped off. They were going to the local princess, Twilight Sparkle's, crystal castle. "So she is, "Science-y"?" David asked, confused by the word. "That's the best way I can describe her, yeah." Applejack replied. "Sounds like my kind of pony." Alexander stated. "Figured you'd say that about Twilight." "Speaking of Twilight, here's her castle. Well, goodbye, see you around?" "I wouldn't doubt it." Alexander replied, knocking on the crystal door. The sound of flipping and ruffling papers could be heard through the thin door, then a voice. "One second!" Shouted the voice from inside. Not long after, hooves could be heard hitting the crystal floor. "Hell-" Twilight was cut off mid-sentence by her own surprise. "Hello, Twilight I presume?" "Yes, hello. What are." Twilight paused, looking past the human. "Your names?" Twilight finished. "I am Alexander, he's David, we're humans, your friend Applejack sent us here, any other questions?" "Actually, yes, two. Where did you come from?" "Earth, mere seconds from it's destruction." "Have you ever heard of 'My Little Pony'?" "It sounds familiar, yes. Ah, yes, now I remember, it was a popular TV show in the early to mid 2010's." "How much do you know about it?" "Not much. But now that you mention it, this town seems a lot like some pictures of a certain 'Ponyville' from it." "Ok, well this is the Ponyville you're thinking of." "Ok, seems possible, infinite dimensions, any amount of possibilitys." (A bit of talking later.) "You know, you're not the first humans I've met, I met one named Johnathan yesterday, he had some injuries from a fall, but he's currently in the library reading." "How odd, my middle name is Johnathan. May I meet him?" "Ok, come in." At that, Twilight opened the door fully, letting the two humans inside. "Hey, John!" "Yeah, Twilight?" "There's someone here to meet you." "Hello?" John looked around the entrance to the library. "Hello! John I presume?" "Yeah, hi. Uh, you are?" "This is Alexander, that's David, they are apparently from 2047, they arrived yesterday." "Wait, 2047?! How?" "A portal that David made, Alexander did the calculations. Apparently they were mere seconds from Earths destruction when they went through." "What destroyed Earth?" "Meteor." "Not quite, a specially designed weapon that looks like a meteor or asteroid, but is actually known as a 'planet doomer' by its creators. It was designed to be indestructible by humans, our plasma weaponry didn't work against it, so me and David stopped work on everything else and poured all of our time into the portal." "So what, different planet?" "Different dimension." "Why?" "It was its original purpose, we didn't have time to re-adjust it." (More talking and a cup or two of tea and coffee later) "So, 2047 huh? What's it like?" "Panicked." "Before the planet doomer." "It was an age of technological marvel, left right and centre were people thinking about, creating and perfecting different bits of tech." Alexander remembered back to before the news of destruction. "Sounds like my kind of year." John stated "I brought my stuff with me, so did Alexander, wanna see?" David asked. "Really?" John asked, excited. "Yeah." David said, taking his bag off of his back. After removing his bag, he opened it up and a holographic display flickered to life above the now opened bag. David quickly started swiping across the display, eventually coming to an icon saying 'tech' underneath it, he tapped it and it opened up a list. After opening the list, David pushed his bag toward John and spoke. "Take a look, tap an icon and it'll pop up, the. Tap it again to get it out or tap the x in the corner to go back to the list." John quickly started swiping, looking at all the tech in front of him, this also interested Twilight, who was sitting next to him. "This is gunna be a long day." John stated, continuing to swipe and tap. "You can say that again." Twilight said, still mesmerised by the display. 'Well this went better than expected.' David thought to himself as he looked at the two staring at the display. 'They seem like good friends, good enough to live together, but then again, it's not like John has a home here other than this one.' Alexander thought as he looked at the pony and human staring at the display on his friends bag. Author's Note CROSSOVER. You might have seen this one coming if you read the blog post, but for those who didn't, surprise! Needless to say, reading this story or my other one first may have some spoilers for unpublished chapters. Spoilers for Life on two sides ahead, you've been warned. If you couldn't tell, this chapter takes place after John and Twilight have gone to Canterlot, read it if you're confused about anything in this chapter or the next, or even the one after that.
Prologue: Total obliterationIt was late at night as two humans rushed around in a large apartment. "David!" "Yes, Alexander?" "Have we got everything we need?" "Yes, would you like the list?" "Give it to me." "3 months worth of food, portable toilet and shower, a portable dinner table plus two chairs, all portable household appliances, basic plasma weaponry and utility tools, multiple holographic reusable planners, two advanced translators and 4 communication devices, two data pads and independent mobile wifi units, along with all necessary house modules for quick construction." "Good, and I presume we have extra clothing as well?" "Yep." "Ok, switch the portal on." The two humans were scientists, Alexander had multiple degrees and a very high quality education. David, on the other hand, was more laid back and didn't quite have the same education as Alexander, but was still well educated. The two had been friends for as long as they could remember, as young children they were neighbours, they quickly became friends after a couple of weeks. On top of being neighbours, they went to the same schools up until university. David had followed Alexander's instruction and had started the portal, he turned around to see Alexander staring at his data pad and quickly checking all the information the portal was sending him. "All good?" "So far, yes." "I may not have your fantastic scientific knowledge, but I sure as hell can build something. Am I right?" "Yes, David, you can build exceptionally well." "But of course I couldn't have built it without your help." "Those calculations may have been a bit hard at times, and I did have some sleepless nights, but in the end, it was you who built it." "But we make a hell of a team, right?" "Yes, we do indeed make a hell of a team." "How long till it's open?" "A minute, give or take. If it doesn't explode that is." "Well you should probably record a log entry on this while you have the time." "Yes, you're right." As he said this, the young man opened his data pad and initiated the personal log application. *Personal log - Day of destruction - 24th of july, 2047. Today I activated the portal, built by my good friend David, it should have a dark purple colour and have a swirling pattern visible in it, if my calculations are correct. The after effects, if there are any, are yet to be researched, as this is the first time we have activated it other than the room to room test two days ago with a smaller test model. I will attach a schematic of the portal for construction, if it winds up broken, we can fix it. On top of the schematic, I'll also attached all the necessary calculations for inter-dimension travel, in case this log is found by another being, and they wish to dimension jump like me and David. If we survive, I will also attach the dimensional code, in case anyone wishes to find us, and the coordinates. This concludes the log, this is Alexander Jonathan Francis, signing off. Personal log - conclusion* After Alexander finished his log, he looked to David, but then noticed that he was looking at the portal, seemingly deep in thought. "You know, it's funny." "What's funny?" "Well, Alexander, when you think about it, we wouldn't have completed this for another couple of years, if we weren't about to die that is." "You're right. But it's like that with all humans, no one wound have gotten as much done as they have now. Impending doom may mean death is coming, but we get even more than usual done when we're about to die." "Anyway, I double checked the list." David said, snapping out of his deep thoughts. "Ah, yes, good. Prepare to venture into the unknown in 30 seconds." Alexander said, also breaking from his thoughts. (20 Seconds later.) "10 seconds" Alexander said, looking at his data pad for the timer. "6" He said again, to ensure he and his friend could count down from five together. "5" The two said in unison. "4" "3" "2" The pair continued to count down in unison. "1" "FORWARD IN TO THE UNKNOWN!!!" They both shouted. Alexander ran into the portal first, fuelled almost solely by curiosity, closely followed by David. As the pair was pulled through the portal, they both shared the same, singular thought, which they both chose to express verbally. "It's been nice living on you Earth, but we gotta go!" After this, they both hit something, something hard, and they hit it fast. Author's Note Two stories, wow, never thought I'd say that, especially not this soon, or with this story. But anyway, thanks for reading, and if you find any spelling mistakes, missing or incorrect grammar or a lack of description, please comment, I'll appreciate it a lot.
Chapter 1: A whole new worldAlexander woke to, well, he didn't really know yet, he was still thinking about what just happened. 'Ok. 1. Ow 2. Where? 3. Dirt, I'm laying in dirt. And 4. David, I need to get up and check on David, he might be hurt.' All these thoughts quickly made Alexander construct a plan mentally, he'd check if he was injured, get up, see where he was, and then he'd find David and see if he's injured. David, on the other hand, was laying down in dirt, and, well, thinking. 'Earth is gone, for all we know, we're the only survivors. We don't know where we are yet, it might be hostile, we might die soon.' Alexander had now stood up, he was relatively fine, just a headache and a slightly painful knee. "David?" Alexander calmly asked into the air around him. He had now observed that he was in a small town, it seemed to be around midnight. "David?!" He asked again, he was now starting to get worried for his friends safety. Then he saw it, his friend was laying face down in the dirt, just like he was seconds before. "David!" "Hmmm?" "David, are you alright?" Alexander said, barely able to think about anything but his friends safety. "Wait, Alexander?" "Oh thank god, you're alive." David started to move around, then got up. "You ok?" "Yeah, I'm checking on you." "Well, I think I'm good, shall we look around?" "Yes, but maybe we should wait until day." David looked around, and noticed that it was, in fact, the middle of the night. "Right." (9 hours later) Alexander and David had set up a basic house in the small town, and had eaten and then went to sleep. Alexander woke to an alarm beeping loudly, he got up, turned it off, and woke up David. "Why 8?" "Because we want to get out soon." "Fine." (Half an hour later) After waking up, David got dressed, ate breakfast, and gathered up all necessary items for the day, as had Alexander. The two walked out of the door of their makeshift hut, Alexander again going first. (Meanwhile, elsewhere.) It was a relatively routine day for Applejack, she'd woken up, had breakfast, then started working on the apple orchard. Now she was going into town to sell some products. It was quite a calm walk, not much happened nowadays. Other than the odd monster attack, life in pony ville was relatively peaceful, but for some reason, it wasn't quite like this today. As soon as Applejack walked into town, she noticed a small group of ponies gathered around some kind of structure in the middle of the street. So she decided to take a look, and being an Element of harmony, would probably end up investigating before anypony else. Well, this was unexpected. Some kind of equines had gathered around Alexander and David, almost instantly after they exited their very house-like structure. "What's all the fuss about?" "There's some kind of two legged hairless ape!" 'Hairless ape?' Applejack thought to herself 'now that's just plain Ol' weird.' "Let me through." Applejack commanded, this caused the small crowd to move aside. "Hello?" The odd equine asked, it's coat was orange, and it's eyes were green, it had some sort of hat atop it's head and spoke with a country accent. "Did... Did it just talk?" David asked, confused "Don't call her an 'it', David, that's rude." "But... 'She's' a... Horse." David stated, still confused, and now somewhat annoyed. "Um, hello? I'm Applejack, who might you be?" "Oh, yes. Please excuse my friends rudeness, I think he's still annoyed by waking up so early. To answer your question, I'm Alexander." Alexander answered, motioning to himself. "And this is my close friend, David." Alexander then motioned to David, who simply gave a tired wave. "Well it's nice to meet y'all. But, if you don't mind my asking, what are you?" "Well that's easy, We are humans, a highly advanced race from the planet Earth." "So what you're saying is that you're aliens?" Applejack asked, intrigued and confused all at the same time. "Well, yes, I suppose we are." "Hey Alexander. When are we gunna start looking around?" "Please David, I'm in the middle of a conversatio-" Alexander was cut off mid-sentence by Applejack "Well if you want to look around, I'd be happy to give you a quick tour." "Really?" Alexander asked causiosly, Causing Applejack to nod in approval. "Great! So when do we start?" He asked, he was almost hyper-active to get a tour of an alien town, given by an intelligent alien species. "Whenever you'd like to." "Great, so does that mean we can start right now?" "If your friend ready, then I don't see why not." After this comment, both Applejack and Alexander looked to David, awaiting his answer. "Sure, sounds nice, just let me get a couple of things first." "Actually, now that you mention it, I need to get some things too. We'll be right back." As Alexander said this, he walked over to David, who then entered their makeshift house, closely followed by Alexander. As he collected everything he would need, one single thought crossed Alexander's mind. 'Pastel... Coloured... Ponies... Fantastic! Who knows, maybe they have magic. Considering that an equine can speak, let alone knows English, makes them having magic seem all that less exciting, if they do of course.' Author's Note Oh goodie, another chapter. What am I, a wizard? Could be, if I had magic, like these ponies. Anyway, enough about that, and on to the thanks. Thank you for reading, if you see any errors, leave a comment, and I'll fix it as best I can, that is, if my editors don't tell me first.
Chapter 2: Town (Warning, spoilers from now onwards, read at own risk.)Alexander and David had been following Applejack for a good half an hour now, and were nearing their final location, where they'd be dropped off. They were going to the local princess, Twilight Sparkle's, crystal castle. "So she is, "Science-y"?" David asked, confused by the word. "That's the best way I can describe her, yeah." Applejack replied. "Sounds like my kind of pony." Alexander stated. "Figured you'd say that about Twilight." "Speaking of Twilight, here's her castle. Well, goodbye, see you around?" "I wouldn't doubt it." Alexander replied, knocking on the crystal door. The sound of flipping and ruffling papers could be heard through the thin door, then a voice. "One second!" Shouted the voice from inside. Not long after, hooves could be heard hitting the crystal floor. "Hell-" Twilight was cut off mid-sentence by her own surprise. "Hello, Twilight I presume?" "Yes, hello. What are." Twilight paused, looking past the human. "Your names?" Twilight finished. "I am Alexander, he's David, we're humans, your friend Applejack sent us here, any other questions?" "Actually, yes, two. Where did you come from?" "Earth, mere seconds from it's destruction." "Have you ever heard of 'My Little Pony'?" "It sounds familiar, yes. Ah, yes, now I remember, it was a popular TV show in the early to mid 2010's." "How much do you know about it?" "Not much. But now that you mention it, this town seems a lot like some pictures of a certain 'Ponyville' from it." "Ok, well this is the Ponyville you're thinking of." "Ok, seems possible, infinite dimensions, any amount of possibilitys." (A bit of talking later.) "You know, you're not the first humans I've met, I met one named Johnathan yesterday, he had some injuries from a fall, but he's currently in the library reading." "How odd, my middle name is Johnathan. May I meet him?" "Ok, come in." At that, Twilight opened the door fully, letting the two humans inside. "Hey, John!" "Yeah, Twilight?" "There's someone here to meet you." "Hello?" John looked around the entrance to the library. "Hello! John I presume?" "Yeah, hi. Uh, you are?" "This is Alexander, that's David, they are apparently from 2047, they arrived yesterday." "Wait, 2047?! How?" "A portal that David made, Alexander did the calculations. Apparently they were mere seconds from Earths destruction when they went through." "What destroyed Earth?" "Meteor." "Not quite, a specially designed weapon that looks like a meteor or asteroid, but is actually known as a 'planet doomer' by its creators. It was designed to be indestructible by humans, our plasma weaponry didn't work against it, so me and David stopped work on everything else and poured all of our time into the portal." "So what, different planet?" "Different dimension." "Why?" "It was its original purpose, we didn't have time to re-adjust it." (More talking and a cup or two of tea and coffee later) "So, 2047 huh? What's it like?" "Panicked." "Before the planet doomer." "It was an age of technological marvel, left right and centre were people thinking about, creating and perfecting different bits of tech." Alexander remembered back to before the news of destruction. "Sounds like my kind of year." John stated "I brought my stuff with me, so did Alexander, wanna see?" David asked. "Really?" John asked, excited. "Yeah." David said, taking his bag off of his back. After removing his bag, he opened it up and a holographic display flickered to life above the now opened bag. David quickly started swiping across the display, eventually coming to an icon saying 'tech' underneath it, he tapped it and it opened up a list. After opening the list, David pushed his bag toward John and spoke. "Take a look, tap an icon and it'll pop up, the. Tap it again to get it out or tap the x in the corner to go back to the list." John quickly started swiping, looking at all the tech in front of him, this also interested Twilight, who was sitting next to him. "This is gunna be a long day." John stated, continuing to swipe and tap. "You can say that again." Twilight said, still mesmerised by the display. 'Well this went better than expected.' David thought to himself as he looked at the two staring at the display. 'They seem like good friends, good enough to live together, but then again, it's not like John has a home here other than this one.' Alexander thought as he looked at the pony and human staring at the display on his friends bag. Author's Note CROSSOVER. You might have seen this one coming if you read the blog post, but for those who didn't, surprise! Needless to say, reading this story or my other one first may have some spoilers for unpublished chapters. Spoilers for Life on two sides ahead, you've been warned. If you couldn't tell, this chapter takes place after John and Twilight have gone to Canterlot, read it if you're confused about anything in this chapter or the next, or even the one after that.
