History Fanfic / Arrow18MissionLogs

** For Equus, they are finally starting to unify in a Federation, which may make their world more peaceful. However, the reason it's happening is that they now know that there are aliens out there, and their star system is an anomaly which may draw unwanted attention. The humans proved nice, but what if the next group to find them isn't so nice?

* EntertaininglyWrong: Because Randy's pictures of unicorns, cockatrices, etc. are all drawings or paintings, Twilight assumes they've gone extinct on Earth, not realizing they're fictional there.
** Further, it leads to a fascinating misunderstanding when Celestia notes that all the "monsters" have been exagerated, while horse-like creatures have their attractive features accentuated. It leads Celestia to think that these drawings are artistic interpretations of real creatures on Earth, and that humans managed to wipe out all the dangerous creatures there.
** Randy initially thinks that because he came in after dark, the locals might not have noticed him coming down. He thinks it's a slim chance, since there was a sonic boom, but it's plausible. He later learns that he ''buzzed Canterlot at Mach 2,'' so they ''absolutely'' knew he was there.

* KryptoniteFactor: Due to his AntiMagic properties, even eye contact from Randy is described as an unpleasant electrical shock by [[spoiler:Queen Chrysalis]]. Randy describes it as smacking a dog on the nose with a newspaper. It's this fact that [[spoiler: forces Chrysalis to the negotiating table.]]
** Apparently extremely high pitched noises are capable of causing unicorns extreme pain. Twilight describes one such devices as making it feel like "My horn is on fire." She then crushes the device into a tiny ball of metal.
** Bursts of electricity can also be this for Unicorns, though this seems to only have been tested on Twilight- after getting zapped by a homemade taser, she's unable to do magic for a while.
* MadeOfIron: Luna [[spoiler: Is able to survive injuries that force Randy to have both of his legs amputated, whereas all she gets is a few burns and feathers that need regrowing.]]

* MoodWhiplash: [[spoiler: Chapter 14 is almost over and Randy is starting the prep work to leave the planet for the last time in a while. The next entry is an error report that shows that the ship exploded.]]

* TheNicknamer: Because Randy can't understand ponies, until he gets a good translation of their name, he resorts to this. For example, Chrysalis was "Mothra."
** Technically all the names that Randy gives the ponies are this; they're translations of the pony names into English and not the actual sounds that ponies identify themselves as.

* OutsideContextProblem: An alien lands in Equestria, who happens to be immune to much of their magics.
** A letter from Princess Celestia makes her worries clear- she hasn't had something truly surprising to her since Luna became Nightmare Moon, at this point. For this reason, despite not having met Randy at that point, she feared him.

** Why does earth have mythology that includes actual, real creatures from Equestria? As Twilight points out, there's no way that creatures that evolved 3,750 light years apart could be ''so'' close to one another- it'd be impossible.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Rainbow Dash proves to be extremely claustrophobic once in Randy's spaceship, going into a panic attack during takeoff.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Chrysalis]] has a rather tragic MyGodWhatHaveIDone, and even her first appearance in her true form has her looking completely pitiful while trying to get out of a thunderstorm.

** All the "Pony Names" used by Randy are an example of this- they're the closest translation he has to what their names are in his language, but not their actual names, as those would be spoken in another dialect.
* AntiMagic: Much like in the [[Fanfic/SleepingWithTheGirls author's other major story]], Randy is essentially immune to all forms of magic, including [[TakenForGranite Cockatrice Stares]], Luna's Dream Walking and [[spoiler: Changeling Love siphoning.]]
** [[spoiler: Changeling shapeshifting is also affected. When Chrysalis tries to shapeshift into Randy, the result just screams creepy.]]

* ArtisticLicenseSpace: InUniverse, this is why humans sent Randy to Equestria in the first place- the star system ''does not make sense'' the way that humans understand orbital mechanics. Equestria is an earth-sized world with a main-sequence star orbiting it every twenty-four hours, and it and the local moon do so at a rate that is very uneven with no discernable cause. It's even ''dangerous'', according to the ponies- because the Equestrian system doesn't make sense, Randy might not be the last alien who comes to check it out...
*** Further, it's all on Celestia to control it. If anything happens to her, there's a good chance Equus will be plunged into the star or fired off out of the system.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Randy is injured after the Ravenstar malfunctions while taking off, losing both legs. But he survives thanks to Luna, and has managed to help forge a good relationship between Earth and Equus (as well as between the Equestrians and the Changelings), and more humans will be coming to Equestria soon]].

* DoingInTheWizard: This happens to some of the magic of Equestria. Unicorn magic (namely telekinesis and teleportation) has a basis in the stories version of FTL, Changeling's ability to feed on love is described more like feeding on energy (with love being a conduit by which they do so), and when Changelings shapeshift, they first hit their target with a small burst of X-rays, presumably to see what the full structure looks like.
** Randy's epiphany and simulations about the Equestrian System, based on his understanding of magic and how it relates to FTL theory, accidentally triggered a HeelFaceTurn in Chrysalis. [[spoiler: It turns out that Celestia is necessary to keep the sun moving. Without her, it's entirely possible that Equestria would have plunged into the sun. Chrysalis does not take the revelation that an attempt to make herself stronger and provide for her 'lings nearly wiped out the entire planet well.]]

** [[spoiler: Changeling shapeshifting is also affected. When Chrysalis tries to shapeshift into Randy, the result just screams UncannyValley.]]

* RealityEnsues: Pinkie tries to invite Randy to a Party, then gets very, very mad when he doesn't show up. It takes her ranting at him for quite some time before she remembers that he can't read, write, or speak their language.
** Part of the process of astronaut training is psychological screening, not to mention training to prepare for everything that will happen in a voyage to space. While it is amusing that Twilight modified some of his space suits for travel to the mothership, Rainbow Dash received absolutely none of that training or screening and freaks out once zero gravity starts kicking in.
** Randy can't really speak the local language- his physiology, vocal cords, and more aren't shaped right for it.

* RealityEnsues: Pinkie tries to invite Randy to a Party, then gets very, very mad when he doesn't show up. It takes her ranting at him for quite some time before she remembers that he can't read or write their language.