entrancelogs | + Chalk it to me!

Entry tags:

+ Chalk it to me! - Mingle Log +

Who: EVERYONE!
Where: Anywhere outside on Real Side, but mostly in the gardens!
When: 3/14-3/20
Rating: PG, warn if going higher than PG-13
Summary: Alice has invited everyone, Reals and Mirrors alike, to come color outside in the nice spring weather with magic chalk. Surely nothing could go wrong with that plan, right?
The Story:

Outside, the weather is absolutely beautiful. It's not too hot, but not too cold either, and no one would have ever realized there was snow on the ground yesterday if they hadn't been here to see it. The grass is green and everything is dry - no sign of melted snow anywhere at all. Flowers have begun to bloom and it truly looks as though it's been spring for some time already. The season has changed abruptly and now Wonderland's decided it's time for it to be nice out.

There are many paths through the gardens, the vendors, and the hedge maze that can be drawn on, but as Alice demonstrated in her post, there's no need at all to stick to pavement only. Even the air can be decorated with living drawings!

This is a log for people who want to come color outside or people who want to check out what others are doing out here. It isn't strictly to interact with Alice, but she'll be around and will have a top level.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That's pretty good. Clever way of using recourses that we have. I like it."

He casts his gaze the same way as hers, his ears folding back uneasily. His own Mirror is always a sore subject- a cause of concern for him whenever he lets himself think about it. It's never easy, seeing yourself at your worst. The worst thing is, that Mirror could have been his life, if he'd chosen differently. It never sits right.

"He's pretty awful, yeah. If you see a version of me walking around with glowing green eyes, just...avoid him."

"Why?"

She won't let you off that easily, Sunburst. She's far too curious.

Damn you and your ceaseless curiosity, Entrapta.

"He's...cruel. He tries to twist others into his worldview," his muzzle wrinkles. "He seems to think that everyone should reach their full potential and never settle for anything less. A very... the ends justify the means sort."

Which on paper sounds good, but in reality means that you have to sacrifice things that make you happy to be 'better'.

Entrapta leans against a pillar of hair, the cord she's been following still dangling from one hand. She looks like she doesn't quite understand.

"But shouldn't people try to reach their full potential?"

He shifts uncomfortably.

"I- well, to a degree?" he offers. "But not to the point where you forgo everything else. Things like...hobbies, friends, family. I did that once and it was awful. It made me miserable."

And ultimately, got him nowhere. No amount of practise or training or hard work could make up for his own shortcomings. All he did was cut himself off from ponies who he needed. From ponies who needed him.

With her head tilted to one side and a somewhat blank look, she looks like she still maybe doesn't get it. She's always foregone things other than her work--which was her hobby, the bots her family and friends, until...well, until real, human friends happened and then...

Well, that's a totally different story.

After a moment, she smiles.

"If you're happier now, than it's working for you."

They could write a book on that, him and her. A lesson that sometimes, no matter how important you think something is, it ends up being pretty pointless if you don't have anyone to share your successes with. He glances up with a smile.

"I am! I mean, okay, I'm still not exactly...uh the most sociable of ponies," at all, ever. "But I got a lot happier after I stopped trying to follow my destiny so hard."

"I don't know anything about destiny, really. I just know what I like to do, so I do it."

Sometimes to the detriment of herself and others, if she's honest.

"It's a pretty big deal where I cam from," is his tone a touch bitter? maybe. "When we reach a certain age, we get a mark on our flanks and it signifies our destiny- the special talent that'll be our path for life."

He shrugs. He hates the system if he's honest. It caused him nothing but pain and suffering for years. It's stupid and ponies still act like it's the be-all-and-end-all of their lives.

"But it can be read wrong and that ends up being a mess," he offers her a smile. "It's far better than to just do what you know you like to do."

"Well, to some extent, right? Because on a day to day basis, doing what you want doesn't always seem to work out for the best."

At least according to some people.

"Oh yes. We still have to have...jobs and the like. Though honestly, most ponies pick up jobs that link into their special talents."

Which means you have some ponies who's destiny is to be a fabulous fashion designer and some who are destined to serve fast food all their lives. It's a really dumb system.

"But true, complete indulgence is probably a bad idea."

"Probably."

She pauses, then laughs.

"Well, I'm not sure how much I really believe that. I mean, sometimes, you have to keep going with what you're doing because the possibilities if you succeed are just too great to give up!"

Even if it means almost being killed by robot zombies again.

"I mean, take First Ones tech at home. Finding fully intact crystals is so rare, that when you do find out, you can't just not try to crack its code! Even if it turns out to virally take over all tech within its sphere of influence in order to protect itself!"

Wow, this is getting weirdly specific.

That is weirdly specific, Entrapta, and he's not sure if he should be worried or not. That sounds like a thing he should probably be worried about. He doesn't know much about technology at all, but words like 'take over' and 'virally' are never good words. No sir.

"Um. That sounds...really dangerous?" he thinks, probably. "I mean...yeah, in your position I probably would have done that too. So I have no place to talk really. But still."

He absolutely pushed for a stupidly dangerous thing once and it nearly dropped an eldritch horror on his world again. But it was solved with the power of friendship like every other damn problem in his world is solved.

"Well, the errors from the first time around prepared me for the second time I tried it, which was much more successful."

It also helped that the crystal was broken the second time and therefore not functioning properly anymore anyway.

She stops walking as she comes to the end of the cord and transfers it from her hair to her hand, looking at it.

"I guess this is as far as she got."

"That...is true, yes. And the errors clearly weren't fatal, so that's...at least something. We learn from our mistakes, and all that."

He peers at the cord, adjusting his glasses with a forehoof.

"Hmmm, at least it's better than I expected."

"I'll have to remind her to keep going. But I can't really blame her. It's a long way from the basement to the Core, when you think of it in footage of cable."

She probably would have done it in one session without a break, because that's how she rolls, but she's learned to meet others where they are. Apparently where her Mirror is is "slow."

"Oh yes, it's a distance- and if she's not as focused as you...well, it makes sense she'd get distracted," it'd be like asking Pinkie to watch paint dry- which he's aware has happened once, with mixed results. "But she tried and that's what matters."

"Yeah, she reminds me a little of someone I know at home." Scorpia certainly tries hard at whatever it is she happens to be doing at a given time. Which is often standing around talking about Catra. "Except she's not as friendly."

She lays the cord back down on the floor where she found it and looks down the hall. She's so tempted to go find the Core herself, but has been told it's a terrible idea. And sometimes, when she's told that, she listens.

"That's...nice though. Having that reminder."

His Mirror doesn't remind him of anyone- something he's a little glad of. He doubts he'd especially get along with anypony back home if they were like him. He'd very much prefer to study the Core too- but his sense of self-preservation wins out on this one.

"Still. It's a start."

"Yeah. And hopefully, it won't be too much longer before she's got the cord all the way there and we can get some results!"

She glances around the nondescript hallway, then gestures toward one of the empty mirror frames with her hair.

"I guess I'll go back over. The chalk looked pretty interesting. I bet I can find some fun experiments for its use!"

"There you go! There's something positive about all this."

He kind of hopes. He nods, excited.

"Oh yes. I've been taking the chalk to pieces, trying to understand the magical properties. I'm sure some science might shed a little more light on it, though."

"We can compare notes! I'm sure we'll find out more that way."

He beams. It's honestly so nice to have somebody to share his research with. Though there are a few in Wonderland who want to understand how the place works, none put quite as much work in as Entrapta does. It's nice to see.

"Oh, we can absolutely do that!"

Entrapta claps her hands happily, then with a wave of her hair, heads back to the other side of the mirror.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

+ Chalk it to me! - Mingle Log +

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