Break & Meld

Ramblings Musings on the Metaphysics, Physics, and History of Equus

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

I write these musings now as I currently find myself in a position to speak on these matters in a way I can claim through years of reading countless works no other has ever been able to in recorded pony history. In short, I’ve inherited the memories of a being from outside our world. None of my observations can yet claim to prove from where these memories come in relation to Equus other than that it is at least not within the same galaxy. My understanding of the physical relations of celestial bodies has been radically changed, though I’ll need to confirm my suspicions with thorough observation and experimentation. Honestly, some of the implications frighten me. I’ve never feared our ruler’s duty to raise and lower the sun and moon as much as I do right now.

I’ve been granted a rudimentary understanding of metaphysical and physical theories which have not yet appeared in Equestrian academia. Non-Euclidean space as a standard such as the saddle universe concept, bubble universes, rotating black holes allowing for travel into other universes, etc. The time I could dedicate to each of these topics would be vast if only I could understand the underlying mathematical concepts which prove them. My memories only grant me limited math concepts such as E=MC^2 (Energy is equal to Mass times the square of the speed of light) which does little to help me replicate the findings. I’ve read a paper by an upcoming physicist which posits a similar equation.

I’ve already made a note to find that paper again and give it another read.

Thankfully, most of the physics lines up between my two sets of memories at least in observation. I can drop an apple and it will fall and land the same way I’d expect it to. The technologies of Equestria still have to obey the natural order, even if that natural order now includes the interaction with a magical field. The ability to draw power from this field is something that was long abandoned in our history. The history of Clover the Clever includes mention of a material that could store power drawn from the field, though its usage led to drastic consequences and all sources of it known at the time were destroyed. I understand, from the perspective of peace loving ponies, why this was done, but I can only imagine where our society would be if we still had access to this resource. Alas, our technology is reliant on using magic to pull and return power to the field in order to do work on physical objects. This limitation has led us to using physical interactions to generate power. Steam is always a good power generator, and we do use it extensively. Though there is still much room for improvement.

Though I initially hoped these musings wouldn’t become informal and incoherent, I’m afraid they have. A strange effect of having these new memories is how they’ve affected my abilities. As Twilight I’ve spent my entire life dedicated to academia and am well versed in writing in a formal tone. As Mary—though I had completed some college—I was nowhere near as comparable to Twilight’s abilities. As Mary, I failed Calculus II three times.

Another comparison between my memories which offers strange insight is the following: As Mary, I watched—and readily enjoyed—a ‘Television Show’ (a thing which has not yet been invented in Equestria, but can be compared to a moving picture show) by the name of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. This show was a work of fiction which invented the world of Equestria as a fantasy setting and followed the journey of myself—Twilight Sparkle—and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony on our various adventures and goings on. However, the situation I find myself in now, from Mary’s perspective, can not be simply explained as having been transported to this fictional world. There are numerous differences between what Mary’s memories tell me of Equestria and what Twilight’s memories tell. To put it in so few words, the Equus I find myself in now is real. This world is not a fantasy cartoon made for children, but a living breathing place which has a storied history that makes sense. If I were to compare it to Mary’s memories I’d say it’s similar to the “Equestria at War” setting, but with less of a bias towards the human understanding of how history ‘should go’.

There are blimps, trains, and automobiles in this world, but still our society is so ‘backward’ from the human perspective. War is a distant memory, though I have no doubt that if forces align we could be pulled into war all the same. Our society is afraid of war. The drive to avoid war has molded every aspect of Equestria. Still we have guards in shining armor and spears, show pieces which are nothing more than a ruse to appease the populace into thinking that they are safe whilst being a force which, in reality, can do very little. Too many actors pull strings to gut our defense and rob us of systems which could very easily make sure lives are saved without intruding on the everyday citizen.

I want everypony to be safe. The world I came from reveled in war too much. I’ve seen the images of piles of bodies. I turned away to continue eating my breakfast. I’ve seen the images of the chambers they cattled scores of innocent men, women, and children into in order to fill their lungs with toxic gasses, killing them. And I felt so very little. I’ve handled weapons of death, and became knowledgeable in their workings. I had fun being told I was a surprisingly good shot. I’ve simulated war again and again as a pass time, counting the recruits as just numbers on a page, laughing at how humorous it was that millions had died. It was fun, I thought—and sickeningly I sometimes still do think it is fun—to play war. There is an allure to war, an allure I fear is in all ponies. I wonder if that is why our society beats the drum of peace so loudly, because if we were to hear how our psyche cries for violence we’d be tempted to give in.

I have the power of a princess of Equestria. Only Celestia and Luna can overrule my decrees, or the privy council if it is able to come to a consensus on a veto. I have a duty to protect this land and everycreature that inhabits it.

God willing I will fulfill this duty.

Musings On Pony Names

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

There are various aspects to pony naming convention, which change between groups and over time. There are always outliers as well, as a name is simply that, a name given from one to another. Here we will focus on names as understood through the social contract as the identifier for a pony. As societies developed the need for keeping track of one pony versus another went beyond simple social bonds and in-groups but to lists and tallies for tax and writs of purchase and the assigning of property.

For all of recorded pony history the standard has been that pony names are composed of one or more words which already have meaning. Language’s have changed and evolved over time, but this standard remains the same. So ingrained is this standard, that even in our discussions of ancient figures, whose names no longer hold meaning, their names are instead translated.

However, this is not the whole story, for another tradition longer than our history records stays with us still. The inclusion of names which have no meaning into the string of words which do. This naming convention is most contemporarily common amongst traditionalist earth ponies, but can be found in all ponies and in all classes. There are some groups that lean into the tradition of non-word names even more by including non-word names in the first name. With the creation of identification systems such as the one currently in use in Equestria which give out unique numbers to each pony birthed, there is no need for an additional layer of variability from one pony’s name to another.

The standard for names in Equestria is a first name which can be multiple words long, an optional middle name which follows in the aforementioned style of not being a word, and a last name which is usually carried along the mother’s side which is a single word.

Now having the perspective of Mary’s memories, the non-word names are what fascinate me most. Every instance I can find of a pony with a non-word name is also a name from Mary’s world. There are even ponies with Mary in their name—including me! The creation of these non-word names is something which I’ve spent sorely little time researching, and I have much interest in understanding where they come from. In Mary’s world name’s do have meaning, but they’re often a meaning lost to time or simply from another language, though there are exceptions. Last names, like Cook and Baker exist, but also names like Alexander which have some meaning to it from the language it originally came from, but I don’t know it! I wonder if our non-word names have a similar heritage.

As previously mentioned, ancient names are often translated, and I wonder if these non-word names are simply ancient words left untranslated!

Note to research this topic!

Musings On Starswirl the Bearded

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

~~He’s actually an asshole.~~

Musings On Electronics & Electricity

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

Within the last one-hundred years our understanding of electricity has dramatically increased, and now inventions such as the light bulb find a place in most households. Power poles connect many homes and workplaces to a public infrastructure of electricity generation. Great dams and coal fired steam plants power the modern world. Electronics has not been an area of focus for me, but now I have much greater interest in it. Equestria is on the cusp of early electromechanical computing, and it is a field ripe to expand rapidly. Even with my rudimentary understanding of the development of electrical computing, I’m sure I could—with great effort—become a leader in the field. Mary had four fifths of a computer science degree, but Twilight graduated top of her class at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

The implementation of electronic computing is various and will have lasting impacts on every industry imaginable. Computing can be used to handle a variety of tasks to improve the efficiency of everypony’s life and work. However, the early years of computing will find their use limited. In Mary’s world, as with so many technologies of the time, computing was pushed heavily for its use in warfare. Computers designed to calculate the trajectories of artillery and naval gunnery were at their time the peak of computing. Vast quantities of money and talent was poured into computing in order to win that horrid war. The same could be said of the field of radiological materials.

The Manhattan project, one of humanity’s greatest scientific undertakings, bringing together some of the brightest minds of a generation, in order to create the pinnacle of destructive weapons: a bomb which could destroy an entire city. The creation of the atomic bomb was one of the defining moments of humanity, it sits along peers as prestigious as the creation of fire and agriculture themselves.

I have no doubt that such a device could be manufactured in our world in only a few decades if Equestria pushed its economic weight towards it.

I have no doubt that the creation of such a device would hold just as terrible consequences.

However, it is fundamentally the same principle which allows the atomic bomb to operate that also allows nuclear power to do the same. Fission energy is the best method of energy generation I’ve ever known possible. Fusion was always only theoretical. Our current reliance on coal power will only get us so far, and already Equestria is starting to feel the effects of it. Even with pegasi to manage the great clouds of smog that coal burning produces, still it is a growing concern. Sure, there is the potential of wind power and solar power, but those have always proven to be best used as a backup.

Computing will be used extensively in fission power generation, but it will need to get to an adequate level for it to be capable of processing the needs of that field. For the advancement of computing, I don’t see there being a market amongst consumers or most industries for the massive room spanning computers that will make up the early stages. Government money will be needed to lubricate the wheels of progress, so attention must be paid to what uses the government would need. Much of Equestria’s governmental record keeping is done using pen and paper and filing cabinets, sometimes ink and quill, this could be replaced by computing.

I realize I’ll live long enough to see the creation of video games.

Musings On Magical Electronics

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

There are concepts Mary has toyed with which now fascinate me as an area of research. The idea of creating complex arrays of spell matrices is one that has never been done before. The level of precision engineering and timing required would be astonishing. With electricity and micro-computing this may become possible, but the venture would be far off into the future.

But now I have time, I have hundreds of years to wait, and this future will come relatively soon compared to my extended lifespan.

The utilities that spell matrices could have are astonishing. I have nowhere near the ability to predict truly how capable the technology would be, but I suspect the upper-bounds of its capabilities to be able to produce products similar to what is seen in “Fallout: Equestria”. Which, while a grim comparison, does show that the technology could be used to do much good as there are many devices from that setting that genuinely improve the life of the average pony.

Automatons may be closer to being created here than they were in Mary’s world.

Musings On The Gender Spectrum

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

Sadly the current understanding of sex and gender is not as advanced as I’d hope. I can only pray that other ponies would understand Mary’s circumstance and position as a woman, despite her birth. For now, I plan to keep Mary’s transgender identity a secret. There’s no reason anypony would need to know, besides, half of me is still a cis mare, and that has to count for something.

Twilight never delved much into the topic, so much of my observations are surface level, but I suspect that pony society is similar to what was seen in most human societies like in Asia, wherein as long as you pass then you’ll be fine.

I know Mary was a big fan of the idea that Trixie was transgender, and while it is a wild accusation and I have no reason to believe it is true, there is all reason to suspect that there may be ponies out there with a similar story to Trixie who are trans. Many transgender ponies in Equestria probably do live away from where they grew up, and many of them are probably used to traveling from town to town whenever their secret is uncovered.

I hope I won’t ever have to do the same. I realize now the implications of my situation as a nearly immortal princess make the issue of keeping Mary’s identity secret even more important. Still, as a nearly immortal princess I will have a say in how Equestria’s opinions on this matter change over the generations.

Musings On Sex & Sexuality

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

There are some facets of Equestrian society's views on sex and sexuality that differ from Mary’s human societies, or are generally important to note. Places in which there is a difference will be noted.

• Ponies are accustomed to presenting nude in public as an everyday occurrence.

  • Human society places importance on at least the genitals always being covered, with only very few exceptions.

• Nudity is more or less common from community to community, though almost never regarded as impolite except at formal events.

  • Public Nudity is outlawed in the vast majority of human societies.

• While being nude in public is acceptable, being aroused in public is something which is expected to happen on occasion but met with disdain if not immediately suppressed and hidden, such as by lowering the tail to hide the genitals.

  • Public displays of arousal are not as common an issue in Human society as the genitals are kept hidden anyway. But, similarly, humans are expected to hide their arousal in public if it is noticeable.

• Pegasi wings can react to excitement by unfurling, this includes sexual arousal. This kind of excitement is also expected to be suppressed in a public setting.

• Ponies consider the act of sex itself something to be left in privacy.

• Ponies exhibit a bias to producing females, with the population stabilizing at 60% female 40% male.

  • Humans only exhibit a slight bias towards females, closer to 51% female 49% male.

• The above does not hold up in times of stress and war, where the split becomes 50-50.

  • No change seems to happen in humans.

• Due to the long peace, ponies are very accepting of ponies going without a partner, though this dynamic has somewhat been replaced by same-sex relations.

  • Human society has long derided those who stay widowed and only recently became more accepting.

• Ponies have, within the past two hundred years, slowly become more accepting of same-sex relationships.

• Very recently magical methods have been determined and readily spread to allow for a pony to temporarily change their sexual organs. Readily spread, but not readily accepted in polite society. Using these spells has become a very popular secret amongst many lesbian couples to allow for insemination, in addition to being used simply for pleasure by various individuals. Being seen in public with the opposite genitals will likely lead to that individual being branded a transsexual and ostracized.

• Due to the female-male split, female-female relationships are preferred above male-male ones.

  • Human society seems to not have a preference.

• Certain sexual activities are considered deviant, some to the point of illegality such as pedophilia.

  • For the most part these seem to coincide with what was common in the United States around 50 years ago, with the exception of previously mentioned same-sex relations and polyamory which is legal and only rarely derided, though its practice is still rare. I suspect this is due to the female-male split.

• There, as always, are deviants in one or more of the above regards.

Musings On Theology & Ethics

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

Theology does exist in Equus in so much as one can point to a philosophy which is proven wrong and say that it was founded on bad presumptions. Philosophy is the Equus understanding of determining the world, but these philosophies will either include or presume things such as the metaphysics behind the world similarly to theology. The leading philosophy of Equestria today can be traced back to Tranquil Hops’ theory of harmonic absolutism. Though this has been expounded upon by later works into the more modern understandings of nationalism.

Most of pony philosophy is focused on the group and not the individual. My instincts from Mary’s memories would want to chalk this up to a sort of ‘herd mentality’ amongst ponies and other similar species. I’m afraid it’s a very convincing argument. This understanding of ponies as being overly concerned with the group explains our society’s ability to keep the peace despite ourselves. Though nationalism and similar philosophies have led to colonialism and expansionism, they’ve been useful. I’ve seen this story before. I have no answer to it, and I’m afraid I’ll have to answer the question in the future.

Equestria is expanding, becoming more capitalistic and colonialist, and surely much suffering will and has come from it.

I’m no “Caramel Marks” nor “Karl Marx”, but I’m not sure if this is the best outcome.

Still, it’s the only reality I know, from both perspectives.

Still, theology remains unsolved. Simply, where did our world come from? I’m surprised at how little material there is on the subject, or perhaps Twilight was too absorbed in what could be proven to investigate it.

I have no proof of God. The idea that I’m here in the first place, I would dare to say lends credence that the Christian God was just a myth. There is no evidence of his doings in this world. There is no text that mentions him, nor followers that espouse his name.

But, what made this world?

Musings On Firearms

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

If it is derived that the national security of Equestria and personal freedoms of ponies can be enhanced while creating a safe and healthy society by increasing our weapon technology then Mary’s knowledge may come in useful.

Mary by no means was a gunsmith, nor particularly knowledgeable in the history of firearms, but there’s enough there to work off of. Equestria has, and makes regular use, of fireworks. In addition, though a Griffon invention imported to Equestria, one can find the occasional simple cannon. However, the implementation of explosively driven projectiles has not matured. Pony portable firearms, while do exist in other parts of the world, are not used by any forces in Equestria. Therefore our current understanding of explosive powders is not to the standard needed for the most capable firearms, and would most likely only be able to create black powder muskets if unaided by other factors. However, we can aid this development, and if I can find the right mix of combustible and oxygenating materials I may be able to reproduce smokeless powder.

I’ve already made note to order many different materials to use for future experiments in this regard.

The smithing required for firearms is at the level that, with enough oversight into the refinements of the working of the metal, could be easily made to create bolt action rifles or better given little time.

If I were to dedicate myself to this craft now, then I could expect to see automatic rifles within ten years. This conclusion is based on the following assumptions:

• I would have access through government funding to a factory and the means to staff and equip it
• I would be able to staff a research and development team

With the above resources, perhaps multiple groups focusing on different efforts, I believe we could be able to get our defense technology up to the ‘world war’ level within that ten year period.

I’ve already made a note to compile this finding along with explanations of the technology being sought after in a future report to Princess Celestia.

I trust her judgment more than mine on this matter, but she needs to know her options. If Equestria is ever threatened by war, she needs to know the time it will take to reach this level of defense.

~~Shit~~

Dear Princess Celestia,

This letter will be delivered along with another missive explaining my current circumstance. If you have not read that one, please do so now as its context is needed.

Tirek has escaped from Tartarus.

I recommend an immediate reactivation of S.M.I.L.E. in service of the crown with the task of finding and capturing Tirek.

Your faithful student,
-Twilight Mary Sparkle

Dear Princess Celestia,

I write to inform you of an important development within myself, a development which I fear may be of importance not only to you personally, but to the national security of Equestria.

Before I tell you of this circumstance, I wish to write to you informally, as I know it will be my last time to do so before your understanding of me is forever changed:

Celestia, you’ve been my teacher for so much of my life. It is through you I have grown into the pony which has kept Equestria safe, nurtured friendships, and—at least according to you—matured enough to become a princess. I can never repay you enough. Even as I write, my heart beats with passion for my eternal appreciation. Through everything I tell you, I want you to know this: Thank you. Really, thank you.

Last night, I awoke to find that I had gained the memories of another life. I tell you sincerely I have lived two lives—I truly have. This other life I’ve lived was as a human named Mary, a being from far far away. Mary is very different from the Twilight you know, though still very similar in some regards. In particular, I want you to know that Mary actually knew of Twilight in her life, though Twilight did not know of her. It is from this that Mary grew to admire Twilight a great deal, and wished she could be her.

To dissuade your assumptious fears, no Mary is not the reason behind this occurrence and I still don’t know what caused it. Mary only knew of Twilight through fiction, I should add that that’s very important: Twilight was a fictional character from Mary’s perspective. It’s actually because of this that I have some knowledge of potential future events that I’ll be more than happy to divulge to you, including in another letter attached to this one.

Celestia, I have great fear of how you’ll judge me. It feels like I’m writing to you for the first time, though we’ve shared countless letters.

Most importantly of all, what I said at the beginning is still true. I’m still so grateful to have been your student and to be your student still as a princess. I want nothing more than to fulfill the role set out for me to the best of my ability and to bring peace and friendship to all.

At the moment of writing I’m spending my time in my library compiling my memories into writings as best as I can, though Spike is not here to send this letter so I’ll probably be doing something else by the time you receive this.

I’m afraid there is too much to write. It would take an autobiography of Mary’s entire life to get across a fraction of what I feel now. So, I will not attempt to condense it much here.

I look forward to hearing from you, and perhaps seeing you, soon.

Your faithful student,
-Twilight Mary Sparkle

P.S. I’ve decided to incorporate Mary’s name as my middle name, since I had none before. Her life is as much a part of me as Twilight’s and it felt only fitting to me.

P.S.S. You can still call me Twilight Sparkle or just Twilight in conversation of course.

Musings On War

By Twilight Mary Sparkle

War is what creates a nation, for no nation exists without war or the threat of war to keep its borders. As long as the capacity for war exists within the heart of any single creature, this axiom will stand.

It is therefore of vital importance that a nation is equipped for war. This does not mean having a standing army at all times, for if that idea was taken to its extreme then every citizen would be armed. Nations must plan to face all potential opposition. If a nation is able to keep no army, yet be able to create one fast enough to defend itself, and that is the best solution then it must be done. If a nation keeps no army, and is not able to create one fast enough, however, it will surely fail.

Being able to determine readiness for all possibilities is vital, yet none can predict the future, so caution is always the best answer. If you think you need an army ready in two years, be ready to make an army in one. If you think you need an army in one year, you should have an army already made. If you think you need an army of 100,000 then make one of 500,000.

Ultimately war is a game of multiple players. There is no way to predict your opponent with total accuracy, so precautions must be taken.

Ponies have become disgusted by war, yet there is ample evidence that there exists forces which stand against Equestria which do not share in this revulsion—the Changelings stand as a prime example.

It is for these above reasons that Equestria must improve its defensive capabilities.

I have knowledge of other possible timelines. If the elements of harmony fail, then Equestria will become subjugated or destroyed, and it will be awful for all involved. The elements are tied to six ponies, who are all just as capable of perishing as any other living being. Once the other five die of old age, there will be little else to defend Equestria but my own strength. Under my supervision, this will not stay the case.

I’ve decided to turn this musing into a letter to you, Dear Celestia, sorry this opening is included so late into the writing. I felt it best to let the words speak for themselves.

I’ve begun work on a preliminary report of the situation of Equestria as I understand it, though if given the proper resources and time I would love to gather some intelligence heads from your governance to help me in creating a more accurate and detailed understanding.

I know you Celestia, now more than I ever have. If you remember from my previous letters, then you’ll know I have some extra-ordinary knowledge and that includes you. I know how much you want to protect Equestria, but I know how much you fear war. I only hope we can meet at a middle ground in order to truly protect ourselves from it.

No matter what, I will always trust in your judgment.

Your faithful student,
-Twilight Mary Sparkle

Twilight carefully placed the quill into a nearby holder for it as she stared past the rough paper she’d just written on, her eyes focusing on some point beyond it. The wood floor against her haunch pressed into her muscles. She shifted in place, but the uncomforting feeling stuck like a parasite. It kindled in her lungs, her forehooves becoming heavy as she felt it spread outward. She sighed, leaning her head back. She closed her eyes and mentally beat herself for writing such a terrible thing.

Her gaze returned to the parchment, with a blank expression she burned it in the fire of a quick spell, and swiftly it was replaced by a new one.