Life, the universe, and everything

by Toraka

Rating: everyone
Tags:
Length: 3487

You read later'd this. I hope you are proud of yourself.

If you've reached this page, it means you're smart enough to click on a link. Congratulations. Below you will find an encyclopedia of things I think may need further explanation but couldn't explain them in detail within the fic itself.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-09 11:21:18 UTC

Ponyville Clinic

I've kept this on a need to know base, and it'd probably be best to continue so, but I feel like it needs to get out.

Reading Splitting aMid the Night, one might notice that something seems odd with the clinic Midnight works in later in the fic. As is described, it'd be far too small and miss many vital functions. However, there are good reasons why.

First off, the clinic was actually designed back in January, when An unknown sensation first shaped the universe that was going to host SatN. Then, I wasn't concerned too much with logic or anything. That is one reason.

Another, though, is that doing it like that allows for Midnight to become emotionally connected to her workplace. If it were even as big as the one shown in the show, months after I had to design the clinic, there'd have to be a greater staff and Midnight's relationship to her patients could hardly exceed business. By using a two pony staff, Midnight can be much closer to the action and also build a relationship with her patients. Would her talk with Fluttershy have happened if she was just one out of ten ponies taking care of her? Would she have befriended Ruby Pinch?

Scootaloo

*sigh* I'll have to talk about that, too, won't I?

Alright. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash share a kind of meta relationship that stretches across the planes of my multiverse. Allow me to compile the facts for you, clearing up all vague formulations.

In Perception, Rainbow performs a scouting mission, confirming that Scoots' parents are a threat to society. Consequently, they are likely assassinated. Glimmer says that she will be cared for and that her parents' deaths are necessary, but Dash nevertheless is laden with guilt forever after and does her best to secretly brighten up the chick's life, as shown in Strength, when she gives her private flying lessons.

In the same fic, it is also said more clearly that Scootaloo is not having the best life as an orphan.

In Sparky, before it is all ended, Rainbow flies off to make Scootaloo the legal heir of all of her possessions.

Octavinyl

In Splitting aMid the Night, Midnight joins a household already containing two ponies, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch.

To be honest, I did it solely because 'why the fuck not'. To equalise the huge fandom sin committed in shipping them together, they are portrayed as homosexual artists waiting for their big thing and passing the time with pussy petting. You know, just like their creator!

Octavinyl (the joint name refers to both of them together) serve little purpose in SatN, existing mostly to provide Midnight with life experience and as a live plot element. As shown, they may be bisexual, seeing as they invited Big Mac for a booty call.

A brief senryu concerning mare on mare reproduction

Mare on mare

Look, what do the two share?

Horn plus receptor

Fluttershy

I can't believe this is happening.

Alright, Fluttershy. Where to start. Probably best in chronological order.

Back in January 2012, after a certain event that I'd like not to talk about even though it was what helped me become what lays beyond humanity, I had to process it after having a mildly successful talk with Discipline Cow about it. So what better way to do so than to write about it using lesbian unicorn ponies. Using Twilight Sparkle was a fair no-brainer. Shipping, slightly harder. After reading Esperderek's works a bit before, I picked Midnight for her to fall in love with, originally as an exact copy of his.

Wow, I'm getting off track. The point is, the same reason Twilight names why she doesn't want to romance Shy is the one why I did not romance her in any other work. Back then, I was in full emotional mode, thinking that repressing emotions, to be beyond them, was unnatural. Depending on your definition, it may be. Anyhow, I felt that I could not dirty her innocence. It is fairly ironic that in doing so, I created perhaps the worst of all of my characters. Let's collect the thoughts.

At a young age, she entered the Assassin Brotherhoof, a little before Rainbow Dash did. She quickly progressed through the ranks, becoming a master before Dash even got to the rank of a novice. That didn't stop Rainbow from skipping most ranks and doing the same, of course. She fits extremely well with the Brotherhoof's motives and methods to the point of seemingly caring extremely little for pony life. (That may be a reason why she spends her days with animals.) While she does employ high stealth and prowess in combat, she is secretly being torn up by whispers of those who she slew.

After Glimmer's (un)timely death, Fluttershy took the place as Mentor for the Brotherhoof. Currently, she still holds that position despite Princess Luna's return.

Her perhaps most notable, for our purposes at least, assassination would probably be that of Daylight, mother of Midnight. That sounds like that little psycho is some kind of goddess, doesn't it. Mother of Midnight, it does! Anyway, she performed it relatively early on the day Midnight got her cutie mark, while said unicorn was watching. I wonder if there might be a connection between the two. It's obvious it was one of her first assassinations as the victim didn't die quickly and instead bled out out of various holes Fluttershy had sloppily torn, after a fairly long time in which she could still talk to her daughter. See, that conclusively proves that Midnight is clearly younger than the mane cast.

Later on, Fluttershy was struck by lightning while returning from a mission. (They do have a habit to have lightning take them down, don't they.) Thus, she had still been fully dressed in her Assassin robes, which was a picture that Midnight recognised. After almost being killed by Midnight, though she couldn't given that Fluttershy was not the monster she had imagined, but a normal pony, Shy is extremely sorry for her previous deeds, though there seems to be a silent agreement between the Brotherhoof and Midnight that she be left alone as she does not want any part in what killed Daylight.

As she doesn't seem to show any of her mass murderer attitudes during normal life, it further reinforces the question how much there is to Fluttershy's mind, and how much of it is intentional on her part.

Midnight's dad

Dusk Shine. Think about it. How else could Midnight have "Twilight"'s genes?

Now that that's out of the way, he is another character that serves little purpose in SatN for various reasons. Firstly, characterising him would consume too much space for almost no gain. Also, Midnight does love him, but cares little about him. Thus, to reflect her perspective in the fic, he has a very low presence and is never described as she never inspects him. Also also, she is very independent and trusts almost nopony, especially when still in Canterlot, which means that she draws little on him to outline that.

... little else. Basically, he's a walking plot element.

The Multiverse

Midnight travels through it quite a bit during her stay in Ponyville. It is unclear whether she actually does spiritual travels or is just dreaming it. Both explanations hold their perks and disadvantages, (why does she dream of killing Twilight?) and I have no interest in revealing the secret right now. Basically, the Multiverse theory is what allows me to scavenge failed projects of mine into filler material for her, as well as picking up worlds I like particularly. On that note, Mirrodin is actually a mechanical plane, though I guess it'd fit if she popped in after the invasion. Magic: the Gathering, FYI.

Also, the Multiverse travels hold NO significance to the plot other than how she reacts to different stimuli. Just thought I'd get that out of the way.

Family dilemmas

SatN? Actually, more of Chroma. Yes, I worry even about that! Look at me, being all consistent and stuff!

So, let's see. Twilight says in One that Shining Armour did not care to mention his foals with Cadence. But why wouldn't Twilight know about it?

Well, given how openly she handles her family, it wouldn't be surprising if Midnight was actually a fourth degree cousin of her, would it. Uh, off the point. Which is, she stays in Ponyville pretty much exclusively, whereas Shining is in Canterlot. That alone already means little contact, despite stuff like dragon mail and - oh shut up.

To answer why she didn't know about them is to know when the story happens. Fortunately, we actually have some clear hints on that. At least they're clear to me! While SatN's canon as is would probably contradict it as is... fuck, it's actually two decades instead of a single year. Abort!

Uh, anyhow. The point is, SatN happens some after the show's canon, and Chroma starts some ahead of SatN as it is right now. A month, perhaps. They are already in a relationship at this point. Basically, let's say that Midnight 'died' some little time after Daylight's conception, as even she would be held back by the thought of a foal. As Daylight is a bit under Midnight's current age by the time One really plays, in other words, 16 (ha!), that does hold up. (20.92 - (Midnight)) years after the initial unity, they finally tried and succeeded at conception. And I completely forgot where I was going.

Oh yes, you see, Shining Armour is somewhat of a coward. Or perhaps not. Well, somehow, Cadence did magically become pregnant not too long after their wedding, so when Twilight comes to Canterlot for Midnight's burial, pregnant, of course, they already have some little foals, but he doesn't mention that fact because well, his sister's wife is being buried there!

Neither when she comes back again to Canterlot, this time in high pregnancy. No, she does not go to the Ponyville clinic for that, figure out why yourself.

And after that, well, they just didn't have much contact. Shining is the captain of the royal guard and Twilight has all of her duties plus raising a foal who, by the looks of it, has all of her mothers' talents.

G and I

Okay, this is a bit confusing, so I'll explain it here.

In SatN59, while Midnight is within Twilight's mind, Noon and Glimmer (the one from the shitty story which is no longer up) meet, then vanish to talk personally. During the introduction to that scene, Noon says to actually be from a kind of imaginary (?) guardians, still leaving open exactly what she is. Glimmer is actually a ghost of the past and Noon mentions that they both led to the other's death, implying that she herself may be a deceased pony.

Glimmer's dialogue tells that, apparently, she knew both Noon (if she was once mortal in another shape) and Midnight. Taking into account that Glimmer was the Brotherhoof's Mentor at her time whereas at least Daylight was a templar, the conflict gets increasingly ridiculed as sworn enemies embrace each other in their daily lives. However, it is not entirely reasonless, as Glimmer was a handy foalsitter and thus believable to have known FillyNight. Y'know, before STAB STAB.

Actually, Glimmer was prosecuted and executed. Oh drama!

The Magic Flow

Starting off with something easy, the Magic Flow.

This is a concept introduced in Splitting aMid the Night. After first subconsciously using it for the power of Pegasus Eye, Midnight then discovered its true nature. It is portrayed as a parallel dimension to Equestria. All objects exist simultaneously within the Flow and the real world.

However, it does not follow the normal dimension's rules, as there is no matter in the flow, rather is everything present in its energy form, easily bendable for those with the will. It is also very easy to see the true nature of things and ponies due to the weak binding that spells have within the Flow to what they are enchanting and the fact that ponies' adjustment towards the viewer is visible Assassin's Creed style through different coloring. For that reason, the Flow is also referred to as 'the real world, as it actually is'.

Ponies other than Midnight know little about the Magic Flow. They theorise that it is the source of all magic (precisely, the leylines within grant strength to magic based on distance, Midnight could confirm that theory due to being able to actually see the lines) and that particularly gifted unicorns and the princesses are able to see the world as it actually is (a claim which Midnight delivers proof against).

Ponies may be born particularly close to or far from the Magic Flow, which directly determines their magical talent and may culminate in the ability to use it in various situations. At time of writing, the known powers are:

-Pegasus (Eagle) Eye, wielded by Midnight and Rainbow Dash, though it is unclear how well the latter can control it. It is not excludable that she permanently views reality through the Magic Flow.

-Receiving notions from the Flow. Noon claims that Midnight has this ability.

-Giving up one's physical form to travel through the Flow unburdened by the laws of physics. Midnight has used this a few times before and has come to call it the extended Pegasus Eye.

Shapie

Before we start off, the singular is spelled with ie, not y.

Introduced in Chroma, this particular breed of equine surpasses classification. It is the result of Changeling and pony pairing, which was made possible with Queen Chrysalis' peace offer. Technically, the Changeling part of them outweighs pony, causing them to visually appear as one. However, nopony has ever seen what a Shapie really looks like, as they choose a pony shape late in embryonic development and stick to it for the rest of their lives.

Despite being part pony, the Shapie retains her morphing abilities. Even before acquiring mastery over it, they are often seen slightly modifying their looks both randomly and on purpose. While they could thus utilise the full power of a shapeshifter to their advantage, there are multiple agreements both spoken and not, saying that those integrated into pony society with the ability to change their appearance do not do so excessively in order to remain recognisable. A Shapie can, however, temporarily change her physical appearance to make use of magic or wings. By nature, all Shapies who have a horn in their current state are talented at illusion and alteration magic, though less so in spells used only by ponies which would have little use to an invasive Changeling.

Shapies can not pick the appearance of their cutie mark. They are connected to the hive mind from birth and can naturally feel all pony emotions, yet have not lost their ancestors' ability to feed off of love. Further research in crossing Shapies with purebred Changelings and ponies is required to determine how far those traits do or do not stay.

Signature Spells

This has been explained in-story fairly clearly, but okay.

Every phenotypical unicorn (that includes Shapies choosing unicorn as their primary shape) has magic to aid them with their special talent. Twilight Sparkle said that much herself. Yet, what would be the point of magic schools like CSFGU if everypony had just what helped them do what their butt says they do? That is a question which I had to tackle, given that I'd portrait a pony in the height of her education.

What I chose is that theoretically, everypony can do every magic. That, however, would once again make any differentiation obsolete. To represent the influence of special talents, everypony acquires a special spell once she gets her cutie mark, which is often a highly powered version, but can be performed without much effort. Also, similiar spells (with a like rune configuration) take less work to learn and perform as well.

Signature spells are usually, as the name implies, unique to a pony. Of course, that is not entirely true. With a fitting amount of effort, anypony can perform any signature spell as those are nothing special intra se, but it is much harder for them than for the original owner of the spell. A seeming exception to this rule is Twilight Sparkle, who apparently does not have a signature spell of her own (or she forgot it), but can copy anypony else's with equally little difficulty. (She has already done Rarity's and Shining Armour's) It is unclear if she genuinely can copy every spell as the owner could cast it or if she simply does not experience strain due to her extensive talent.

Chroma's plot - Actual spoilers!

Alright. Chroma is more than just a way to use a ME3 ending.

Okay, no, it's not. Still, more thought went into it than I could portray.

What was going on in the first ending? It's implied that the Queen had planned for it all to happen as it did. The question is where Midnight came from. Most likely, it actually is her shade, given that Twilight is NOT connected to the hive mind and the Queen never really bothered with Midnight. She also directly opposes the Queen and her interests. Other than Mirage whom she considers almost a daughter due to her Changeling side, Midnight just never had anything that'd interest her. Also, she 'died' soon after being connected to the mind.

So what about Few? First off, neither of those chapters was actually supposed to be in the story, but they were handy for when I just wanted to write. Like Few, which I wrote at 2 AM. You're welcome.

While there are no definite answers, it's strongly implied that Mirage has been controlled - indoctrinated, if you will - by the Queen. But how could that work? Well, We've learned that she secretly rebred Changelings and rebuilt the actual hive mind. But only actual Changelings (or Shapies, anyhow) were connected to that due to its nature. Thus, the Queen could plot without Daylight finding out, but she couldn't directly control her either. But if she wanted any hopes of doing a quick takeover, she'd need control over all, not only Changelings. Thus, she had to bait Daylight into recasting the spell and controlling the hive mind, but simulatenously becoming a part of it.

As such, the Queen could then take back over and rule everyone. But what about Twilight's apparition? An illusion brought into Daylight's mind using the weak link that she did have to the Queen. Doesn't she seem quite out of character? No motherly love, not even any recognition. That's because all the Queen had to work with were Daylight's memories of her. Also, how would Twilight notice Daylight calling out to Mirage, which the Queen enforced to be not answered?

After slaying her wife and daughter, Mirage joined the offensive on the ponies semi-voluntarily. As one of those who ushered in the new age however, she became a hero for both sides by slaying the Queen. Or maybe she didn't. I'll leave that up to you. After that, she recorded the time capsule, which unfortunately had to be used as intended.

Slightly more serious mareXmare reproduction explained

So, if you've seen Midnight's pedigree, you might have noticed that Daylight was the first in quite a bit to actually use a stallion for her reproductive purposes. But why is that?

You see, two mares reproducing is actually fairly easy. Have one unicorn and do what comes naturally. Yes, I do support the theory of magical orgasm.

But even if neither of the pair has a horn, there are supporting spells which can provide temporaries of what is needed to oneself or others, in case it's necessary or you're not into horns. Despite that, it is logical that regions like Canterlot have a significantly higher population of mares.

Exactly why that happens so often is easily explained. See, a foal growing up with two mothers will certainly have some preferences towards which gender to love. Not to mention that Equestria's population is 95% female, which also has cause in that two mares will only produce more fillies. So unless you can get ten of 'em pregnant each season (actually a moderate feat for wild stallions -_-_--) you're on a dying species.

Ironic, coming to think of it, that I specialised in homosexual mares exactly because they could not reproduce. And, hell, let's make it possible for magic to impregnate somepony even if she's not in heat. Because why the fuck not.

I now have the unquenchable desire to have Midnight identify a secret filly fooler at work because her (the patient's) pregnancy is far off rhythm with the heat.