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Fridge / The Writing on the Wall

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As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.


  • Understanding the true meaning of the writing on the wall.
    This is not a place of honor. No great deed is commemorated here. Nothing of value is here.
    • Especially chilling if the reader is already familiar with the text beforehand, as they can figure out exactly what the building is from the very first line of deciphered text.
  • Further horror: the structure is 70,000 years old. The inner seal is only 26,000 years old, an age that corresponds to one of the inscriptions on the titular wall. At least one previous group of explorers made the same mistake as Daring Do and company, and presumably suffered the same horrific fate. They may have even unintentionally set the stage for the tragedy of Daring Do's expedition by entering the storage chamber and tampering with the containers holding the nuclear waste, creating conditions that produced the otherwise unrealistically high levels of radiation the ponies are exposed to.

  • The fact that the whole story depends on none of the archaeologists and scientists having the least bit of curiosity and/or caution to check for radiation. Semi-justified in that the story happens about 70,000 years in the future (long after humanity has passed on) and that humans had done stupid things while digging up artifacts as well (read about the "curse of the pharaohs").)
    • They don't know what radiation is at all. The doctor examining Dark Horizon's body says that he was broken down at the cellular level, but doesn't know any way to make that happen without magic. None of them understand what's happening, all they know is that what's in the tomb is the cause. Hence them immediately assuming bacteria or disease of some sort, and not even considering ionizing radiation. Not to mention after Ahuizotl and his men leave, they decide to stay in quarantine near the site, and risk more doses of rads. If they knew the first thing about radiation, they'd wouldn't be doing any of that.

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