First Checklist Item [Misc Journal Shenanigans / Action]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

[ In the middle of the day, Luceti is treated to the following eloquent series of letters: ]

DDDDD

[ So this is what happens when a hoof gets ahold of a drawing-to-text synthesizer. This is followed by a voice post about three minutes later: ]

... triangle, a couple of straight lines, and a square have to do with...

[ Several minutes pass, and then a video materializes. The viewer may be greeted with a pair of huge, intense violet eyes. ]

A-ha!

[ The sight of this particular creature might seem out of place to anyone who doesn't know Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. You can now see a purple pony with a horn protruding from her mane. The horn is bathed in a magenta glow, as is a pointy stick that is way too close to the camera. Like mankind before her, Twilight is learning how to use tools. ]

Hi, um... anypony who's watching this! I'm Twilight Sparkle, and... I don't recognize these woods at all. [ She looks around, probably for the umpteenth time. Twilight's found herself deep within the forest, to the southeast. Not that she knows this. ] It doesn't look like any part of the Everfree Forest I've been to. [ A cloud parts and the sun shines in her face through the unseen treetops. Twilight shields her face with a hoof. ] Oh. Actually, I guess I could...

[ She looks back at herself and spreads her wings. Not her small Luceti wings, though. A huge pair of alicorn wings, of the same purple as her fur. She prepares to take off, then remembers the journal and hits it again with the stick. Video feed switches off. ]

---

[ Following this recording, the population of Luceti may witness a purple shape flying around the sky, observing the village from above. She'll circle a few times, trying to orient herself, before deciding to alight in the fountain square.

Two areas will grab Twilight's interest fairly quickly. First, she'll see her coronation outfit in the window of the clothing shop. She'll find this strange enough to go inside and consider buying it.

The other building she'll notice is the library (with a squee of excitement). Good luck extracting her from perusing the many, many, many tomes that now litter the floor. This is why Twilight needs an assistant librarian. What she wouldn't give for Spike right about now.

Feel free to interact with her in the square, at the clothing store, in the library, or in the air: she's several yards up but not out of shouting distance. ]

Comments

[Voice] | awesome because I NEEDED Twilight CR in my life. :'D

[semper_cogitans]

Yes, of c-course...

... I... p-presume you are a new i-indictment, then...? [Not the same Twilight he spoke to, in that case. He'll never quite get over how that feels - that rush of scientific curiosity that hits, when he realizes that yet another multiversion has passed into Luceti - someone almost-the-same but distinct.]

[Voice] | She is great. Also, so is new-iteration-confusion.

[fourthgenerationprincess]

[ She frowns. ] I don't think so. Why, was I convicted of a crime last time I was here? I don't remember anything from then.

Did I know you?

[Voice] | Yes. Robert calls everybody an "indictment" because he's dumb \8D/

[semper_cogitans]

[Yes, that just confirms it. But he'll need to pick better terminology; this was confusing.]

Ah - f-forgive me... by this, I meant... you are n-new to Luceti...

... It is... n-not the first time I have... spoken to... a version of you, no... [He says this like it's not particularly weird, which in itself might be strange.]

[Voice] | VOCAB WOOT.

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Oh! Well, yes, I only arrived a few days ago, so I'll have to relearn about anything I did last time I was here. Though maybe some of what I did is similar. This could be a fascinating experiment on the effect of temporal displacement on a pony's interactions with a new environment!

[ She continues talking over the very audible scratching of quill on paper. ] It's a pleasure to re-meet you, sir. May I ask your name?

[Voice] | \o/ Vocab!

[semper_cogitans]

[This is a new thing. Not that Robert minds at all in any way! In fact, he is now curious himself about the mechanisms of such a thing...]

My name is... P-Professor Robert Alexander Hastings... And, er, l-likewise it is... a pleasure to re-meet you, as well, Ms. Sparkle...

[fourthgenerationprincess]

So, what did we do last time we were here? I'm all ears!

[semper_cogitans]

Ah... w-well, our first interactions culminated in... an e-exchange of information about our respective species... as I r-recall, you - or, well, at least the y-you I spoke with - were unaware as to the d-details of Homo sapiens sapiens, my species...

... In exchange, you educated me about... the v-varieties of "pony" species on your planet...

[Though he doesn't recall her mentioning anything about unicorns with wings. Assuming he can even see the wings in the camera.]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Oh? So, I must have told you about earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns. Do humans have such a variety of species within themselves?

[semper_cogitans]

... "A-Alicorns"... that is a term u-unfamiliar to me...

As for my s-species... though there are various g-genetically-modified human subspecies, they are... m-meant for colonization purposes rather than being... naturally-occurring hominid subspecies. Until... genetic modification, Homo sapiens sapiens was the s-sole extant human subspecies on T-Terra...

[Not that there's anything bad about only having one extant human subspecies, but still. Ponies must have such an interesting evolutionary history!]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

I see. Well, ponies are technically all the same species, there's just different kinds of us. Some have wings, some have horns, some have neither. And I have both!

[semper_cogitans]

Ah, do you...? [He can't recall that last time, but maybe he just wasn't paying enough attention to the video. Even if that's unlikely. Or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that this is a distinctly different Twilight...]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Yeah. I probably didn't have them last time I was here; I only got them a few hours before I arrived this time.

[semper_cogitans]

That... e-explains things.

[Robert nods to himself in a decisive sort of way, and then turns his attention back to Twilight -] Are there... a-additional details you would like to h-hear about my species...?

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Any and all information you could give me would be very helpful, actually. I already met one who seemed to be an outlier in terms of appearance, and made the mistake of assuming he wasn't human. It... didn't work out so well. [ Oh, Beast. ]

[semper_cogitans]

[That... is actually quite an unusual case. Robert wouldn't be entirely sure how to explain it even though he has actually seen Beast's movie. It's a long story.]

Ah... well, Homo sapiens sapiens - or, at l-least, the genetic variants present on T-Terra in my multiversion - vary from a-approximately one decimal five to one decimal eight m-metres tall, and anywhere from... f-fifty to eighty kilograms in mass, on a-average... there are certainly humans who are... s-significantly different, but these ratios represent the... t-typical numbers for adult members of my species...

[fourthgenerationprincess]

[ Twilight's grabbed a nearby scroll and quill and has started jotting down these measurements, even though she's not familiar with all of the units. She stops and looks at him, tongue between her teeth. ]

Hmm. And where on the scale would you fall? For point of reference?

[semper_cogitans]

My height is... o-one decimal six four four, approximately, and my w-weight is, as of... m-most recent measurements, sixty-two decimal one four t-two...

...

... I am... r-rather small... [For a human, anyway. Also pale, but he'll get into that after.]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Could I see you to get some visual reference on that? [ She prepares some paper and ink, and scribbles down what he's said. ]

[semper_cogitans]

[In response, the man flicks on the video function of his journal.

His room - clean, organized and bearing the marks of compulsions that Twilight might recognize (and perhaps even empathize with) - comes into focus, along with the man himself - who looks as awkward as anything.]

Ah... how e-exactly will you effectively judge my h-height...? Do you not need... a measuring object of some sort...? [He doesn't have any precision instruments on him.]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

It'd be preferable! [ She stares at him with a quill in her mouth. ] Hmm. I can make something up. Can I come over there, or you here?

[semper_cogitans]

... I... s-suppose I could meet you d-directly where you are staying... [She is staying somewhere, right?] My home is... somewhat more d-difficult to access...

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Come to house 45 or the library. You don't live in the mountains or anything, do you?

[semper_cogitans]

... N-No. The... d-difficulty is... in something much different... [And magical. Which is a little reluctant to mention blatantly. After being afraid of being attacked once... he's not too keen on it happening again.]

[fourthgenerationprincess]

Well, that's all right. One human I've met here has friends who set deathtraps in his house. The pony house and the library are both accessible enough! And they have a limited number of open razor blades. The only thing you have to watch out for is Rainbow Dash's snoring.

Wow, the grammar on my last reply was bad, sorry about that

[semper_cogitans]

[...]

... Open razor b-blades sound... like a rather i-inefficient method or protecting one's h-homestead...

... In any case, I... would be glad to meet you at the l-library, Miss Sparkle...