I'm back everyone! You may begin your rejoicing while I begin reading.
Twilight wants to go to the library and she's trying to convince Flathoof to let her go alone so that she can study NPC without raising questions or distractions from her friends.
Flathoof is taking the somewhat reasonable position of "not a chance in hell." On the one hand, yeah, he can't let Twi go out alone, but on the other, he can't really expect all six of them to be in his presence at all times for an entire week and still get anything done.
I can certainly appreciate Twilight's desire to study without any of her friends there though. Especially Pinkie Pie.
Ah yes, good old Rules Lawyer -ing. The only way a Lawful Good paladin can survive in this sort of society. Lockwood is trying to convince him to pull a loophole out of his ass to let them split the party. Wait...splitting the party is never a good idea. DON'T DO IT FLATFOOT!
Twilight Sparkle turned a bright red, “W-what?”
Flathoof, already red in coat, would have turned redder had that not been the case, “Hey now, d-don’t accuse me of that kind of-”
That's right Flathoof, listen to those honey-soaked words of your good friend that will lead you down a path of ruin and despair, aka "splitting the party."
And it's decided, the party is splitting. Now, who is going with who? My shipper senses are a tingling, so I'm guessing that Flathoof is going to go with Twilight.
Lockwood is starting to expound on just how many ponies he knows, and it looks like he knows everypony. Or at least everypony that is both useful and good. He should probably be a little more careful what he lets slip how much he doesn't like the way the city is run though. He still hasn't confirmed that they're not informants of some sort.
Called it! Flathoof is going with Twilight! Unlike Applejack, I think this one has a good chance of turning into actual, real shipping.
Poor Lockwood. You're only just now realizing what you volunteered for by offering to watch the other five are you?
Ganon FLCL really is getting better about the run-on sentences. He still has an inordinate fondness for semicolons, but the hyphens have all but disappeared.
They're arriving at the library, and I must say, I like this Archimedes fellow. You'll always know where you stand with him.
Ha ha! Archimedes out-Rules-Lawyered Flathoof!
I have a sneaking suspicion that there's more to Archimedes than meets the eye. I might just be paranoid though.
Wait, does this mean Applejack is going to be alone with Flathoof for a whole hour? What will this do to the shipping!?
Twilight, stop pretending to want to be a librarian and actually become a librarian there. It is literally the best thing you could do for you and your friends at this moment.
Applejack's going to be alone with Flathoof for more than an hour? And he's buying her coffee? All right Gannon, you're just fucking with my head now. I'm going to switch my shipping prediction back to Applefoot. I swear to Celestia though, if this becomes a love triangle I'll...
Hmm. If there's otherworld counterparts for Macintosh, Celestia, and Luna, does that mean there's counterparts for the mane six too?
Applejack and Flathoof are talking about his family now. I guess I'm about to find out.
Ha ha, they took the "Macintosh is good with math" version of his character. I always like that one. Good for shipping him with Luna.
And with Flathoof's descripton of his family, it looks like not. I don't get the feeling that "Pattycake" is Applejack's counterpart in any way whatsoever.
Flathoof still lives with his parents! No wonder he's single.
Scene cuts back to the other ponies at the apartment.
Die Pinkie! I stab at thee with an ice-pick!
Yeah RD. Twilight's going to get you home so quick it'll make your head spin.
RD and Rarity are arguing about whether or not preparing for the worst means they don't have faith in Twilight. Rarity is right of course, but she's a bit of a bitch in this story so I don't want to side with her.
SHUT UP ABOUT THE DAMN PARTY PINKIE PIE! YOUR PARTIES SUCK ANYWAYS!
-sigh- I know that these little loyalty spats are par for the course in this sort of story, but that doesn't mean I'll ever find them anything more than tedious. I just hope it doesn't escalate into a party schism.
I have this going on the other screen and it is both hypnotic and very distracting.
Damn plot bouncing up and down, how am I supposed to read while you're doing that?
Fluttershy is stepping out into the hallway because everypony else has decided to try and summon Discord. A janitor goes by and drops a notebook...
It seems Shadowstep has found Tick Tock.
Tick Tock is revealing all her findings to The Doctor, and of course Shadowstep as well. Pinkie Pie seems to have some strange energy readings coming off her. I think I remember reading that she gets fourth-wall powers further down the line. I'll bet this has something to do with it.
Uh oh. She called Fluttershy cute. I can see where this is going.
And Doctor Whooves has finally figured out it's the mane six who went through the portal, and just how screwed he is.
Now we get some exposition on what the Elements are for.
Oh shit. Without them in their own universe, Discord is going to break out again.
Four weeks before Discord gets out, a month before the mane six can get home. They might be able to get back in time to stop him breaking free.
So here's the lowdown. The bearers of the elements of harmony are throwing off the balance in favor of law in this world, and chaos in their own world simply by being in the wrong place. They can't wait a month for a natural portal to open so they need to get the Celestia expy to open one for them. That means going to Utopia. Oh, and Shadowstep is hearing all of this because she's decided that it's all right to break normal security protocols just this once.
Good thing Tick Tock has very good reflexes because Shadowstep just induced combat.
Shadowstep! Stop acting like a two-bit penny-dreadful villain!
I notice that Ganon FLCL has a bit of a problem with using the passive voice. It's normally not too bad, but it really has no place in an action scene like this. And there's a lot of typos in this scene too.
Please tell me that at some point in this story, Shadowstep yells "Sneak attack, bitch!" That would be the most awesome thing in the world.
Ooh, Shadowstep managed to drag her out the window. Looks like she's going to get to enjoy the fine art of defenestration. I'm fairly sure she's going to survive this encounter, but I don't know how.
Oh wait, he's going down to confirm. I take back the noob comment. Still, you need to develop some Genre Savvy.
All in all, this chapter was quite good. Except for the fight scene, there wasn't very much in the writing technique that tore me out of the story. It seems this really is the point where it starts getting good.
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