My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know

[Rebelhero]

If the last line in the description indicates a similarity, this story may interest you.

This link contained so much win it crashed the site...
The only issue i have is Apple/sparkle. Rainbow/Sparkle would fit better, but i like it more then AJ/TS...

[Soras Teva Gee]

This one and no...

You should totally have asked a chemistry prize that.

[TheAmishPirate]

I definitely agree with this.

It's sort of an insidious problem as well because most of the time Twilight is right. She's generally the most rational pony and usually the best problem solver, so it's difficult for her to learn a consistent lesson even after something like Feeling Pinkie Keen.

Query, however, whether this is a problem that actually needs fixing. It might be true that Twilight would be a better pony overall if she had a slightly more open worldview. However, most of the time, Twilight taking extra time to consider more viewpoints would result in a waste of time because Twilight is usually right. As long as she's not too stubborn, particularly with important matters, I don't think it's unreasonable for her to continue assuming that she knows what she's doing for the majority of issues.

A good point. What would need fixing, is the way that Twilight tends to see things as black-and-white. There IS magic. There IS NOT curses. There IS NOT Pinkie Sense. It's all about learning to be flexible, not immediately distrusting your vast knowledge because you've been wrong once or twice.

Oh I'd agree though we could argue finer points of pride versus arrogance as the best word here. I'm entirely sure this is deliberate on the part of Mrs Faust though. And definitely fodder for an episode's lesson.

Yep, but then it's more semantics then anything. I said pride when I likely meant arrogance, tomato, tomahto.


Thanks! This has helped a great deal in confirming my suspicions, and also giving me a clearer sense of what an "Ideal" Twilight would look like. I said I'd rehash my characters, and by Celestia's beard, I'll rehash the ever-loving tar out of them.

[Thanqol]

Mare In The Mirror Review p2:

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"I, no we need answers!

There's a lot of different ways that sentence can flow and where the emphasis can fall on that. A lot of different emotions that sentence can carry.

There's also a lot of sighing throughout this story. A sigh is such an easy quirk to use in writing; signifies tiredness, exasperation, concession - but it's so easily overused. Try to cut down.

"You don't know?!" Celestia stopped in front of her. The white alicorn looked like she didn't know what to make of herself, much less Trixie. "You were found screaming over my sister's body, covered in her blood! It looked like you had been trying to eat her, after stabbing her repeatedly in the neck with a piece of a broken mirror! And you tell me you don't know what happened!" Celestia yelled, seemingly on the verge of exploding. It was a rare, and terrifying sight.

Break this sentence up. Too expositional-y to be regular speech and it dilutes a powerful moment. There could be an entire conversation and a build up to the shouting, incoherent anger there.

Celestia took a deep breath and turned around. "She will recover. Apparently your aim with that shard was terrible, and you better thank your stars for that!" Celestia stood for a few seconds as if she considered sending Trixie to some distant star, or whether she should just roast her right here, then she simply walked back out of the room and shut the door behind her without saying more.

This doesn't quite follow either. Intense, sharp, powerful, emotions need short, jagged, snappy sentences.


The slow, languid pace that works so well in your horror scenes doesn't work in conversations or arguments. Getting the hang of fast-paced banter, dialogue, or arguments would definitely be a boon here.

"Was banishment truly the last option, or did you just give up on me too like you're giving up on Trixie now, on the mare of my heart?"

Again, break this up. Each sentence is a dagger, a knife, a sword slash. Each one hurts. Each comma can be a question mark, possibly even with a denial in between.

I am still unconvinced in your decision to have the characters openly discuss Nightmare Moon and speculate on her motives. That's really lessening the impact.


Rainbow Dash is ace. That's some of the best dialogue and reactions so far. The entire scene with her just functions; you've done much better with those powerful, bitter, consistent emotions than you have elsewhere in the story. Good work.


In general, the rest of this chapter was really strong! The problem with Trixie/Luna/Celestia was that they didn't have a firmly established dynamic you could riff of which was part of what was making their dialogue scenes really weak, but using the mane cast came with established dynamics and really strong personalities. This was good; this is an example of powerful characterisation in action, and the story really came alive during it.

[Anarion]

A good point. What would need fixing, is the way that Twilight tends to see things as black-and-white. There IS magic. There IS NOT curses. There IS NOT Pinkie Sense. It's all about learning to be flexible, not immediately distrusting your vast knowledge because you've been wrong once or twice.



Yep, but then it's more semantics then anything. I said pride when I likely meant arrogance, tomato, tomahto.


Thanks! This has helped a great deal in confirming my suspicions, and also giving me a clearer sense of what an "Ideal" Twilight would look like. I said I'd rehash my characters, and by Celestia's beard, I'll rehash the ever-loving tar out of them.

What would you want with an ideal Twilight though? I'm sure she would have an enjoyable and fulfilling life, but from a writing perspective she would be kinda boring. A character who correctly assesses her situation 90% of the time and listens to good advice the other 10% will just solve all her problems with minimal conflict.

[Thanqol]

A good point. What would need fixing, is the way that Twilight tends to see things as black-and-white. There IS magic. There IS NOT curses. There IS NOT Pinkie Sense. It's all about learning to be flexible, not immediately distrusting your vast knowledge because you've been wrong once or twice.

I came to these conclusions along with my assessment of Twilight as an Obrimos. She does have great strength, and she just has to be careful about where and how she applies that strength.

[otakuryoga]

since i havent seen anyone else post em...have some Lyra/Bonbon from the new drawfriend

Commence training for EPIC fight!

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Fox is reporting on Bronies again...respond appropriately.

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[Rebelhero]

Tengen Toppa pony lagann!

[Nameless]

I think just swooping in, posting a single image, and leaving will be my new thing.

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Away!

There are some things that should never be put represented visually.
This is one of those things...
*sets fire to*

[Lord Raziere]

Tengen Toppa pony lagann!

Listened to it. It was laaaaaame. I like both shows, so when I tell you it was lame….its lame. Its the honest truth.

[Kindablue]

Well, kinda. I mean, I can only dismiss it as entirely untrue, in that music is more than that. Music is an absence of the distracting noise of reality. I hear it all the time, a strange fairy melody in the waterpipes, or the churning of a gear straining, shaking its apparatus like pipes and drum accompanied by wind chimes. Music is part of the fundament.

But it's still a darn sight worth examining. Profound, if incorrect. Well, as incorrect as any paradigm can be.

Heh. That's almost exactly the thought that started this discussion, with that trite koan. I've always felt that the beginning is the best place to end.

Roleplaying is Magic

Looks cool. Doubt I'll participate, but it'll be fun to watch.

[Gaelbert]

Quotepost Part II: Act II: Homage to Canterlonia

I did some sculpting too. My Applejacks were hatless, and it was a crime against fashion! So I made them hats. The pictures aren’t finished products, I wasn’t able to colour them yet, but it’s still fun.

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Quotepost Part III: Top Fillies
(If anypony catches that reference I will be very impressed)

Erm... 17.

.////////////////////.

Hmm. I wasn’t too far off. I figured you were a college student.
But I figure that about almost everyone, so whaddyaknow?

Likewise. They may very well have only ordered half of season three as a precaution in case the show's popularity drops, which is smart business since it means they haven't paid for episodes no one wants to watch.

That was the reasoning I heard, they were only ordering half in case the interest tapered off.

Attention, ponythread artists.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Exciting! I will be participating.

Fun for the whole family!

Heh, the very first ponythread started out with a quiz like that. Brings back memories…

Impatiently waiting for the BCS title game to start. Bored otherwise.

Another American football fan! Exciting! I was beginning to think there were only two of us. (Druid Droid, you watch American football right?)

well, at least you named it properly instead of trying to call it the "national championship" game

Heh. I was hoping Alabama would win in a really bad game, something like 3-0, then Oklahoma State would be ranked No. 1. Then, since Stanford should have beat them, it would be almost like a Pac-12 team won the national championship. The rankings hate us, we have to be a little creative.

I am feeling pretty good today! In particular I am feeling San Francisco-y as that is where I am.

I’m from a city on the West Coast, best city in the whole wide wide world!
How are you liking it? I’m not actually there right now, but there’s a brony beach bonfire this Friday that I’ll be at if you can make it. (I can always hope)

Not really, gonna watch the game at a friend's house. Will get some fast food prior most likely. Usually each year on the Iron Bowl (Alabama vs. Auburn), one of my friends will cook some stuff and another will make some kick-ass dip, but the past couple years they haven't.


Well, the BCS is borked all to hell, and I don't think anybody with half a brain can deny that some kind of playoff would be better for the sport (not speaking money here). However, being from Alabama, I can't say I won't enjoy the game.

I do like the bowl system, but yeah. It’s fun,it’s exciting, it’s unpredictable, it’s not a good way to determine a national champion.

yeah thats why i refer to it as the Bull Carp(hint 2 letters are scrambled in this word(further hint: it it the 2nd and 3rd letters)) System

and i am rootin for Alabama to win in a real ugly stinker of a sloppy game so that the other poll will vote Oklahoma State as champs and we get one more stake to drive into the BCS

Haha! A man of similar tastes! I approve.

1) We HAVE to set up a way to meet at the con. You all know I was going to be there and not meeting each of you is a shame on my part.

2) Which of these do you think would be more appealing to MLP fans?

A standard board game
A card based board game like the OotS game
A standard card game like poker or Uno
A trading card game

I have all four designed but only have time develop one.

I'd prefer a standard board game. I'm not a huge fan of trading card games, and a standard card game doesn't sound pony enough.

OPERATION FAUST

Ooh, I do hope I can join you on this adventure.

I disagree. Wind the clock back to September and you could make exactly the same argument about Luna, but today "Luna Eclipsed" is the second favorite episode among bronies that answered the recent EQD poll for the Valentine's marathon

And that’s exactly what was running through my mind as I was typing it out. But I just don’t see lightning striking twice. Luna was a princess, a villain, and an adorable pony. They had a lot to work with. But with Trixie? As much as I hate to say it, in the show she was only a two bit charlatan, a stage magician, a fraud.
But. If anpony can do it, it would be Studio B and the amazing people who work on the show. So I have some hope.

*Hugs Gaelbert*

It's nice to have you back among us.

I read it the first time you posted, and I read it again then. I *was* planning to respond, but... the honest truth is that it really did read like a "farewell forever" message - one that you didn't even post yourself. So, the unfortunate result of that train of thought was "why bother replying to something you will never see?", so it never got posted. Yes, I realise now that I should have sent an email, but I'm an idiot like that sometimes; and I got distracted by other concerns.

Anyway, I re-iterate that it's good to have you back in Ponythread.



Unfortunately those images are blocked at work, but I'll try to check them out when I get home (time permitting). All I can say for now from reading through those massive posts is that your creative impluses are certainly inspirational.

I actually really wanted to post it myself. However, when I went on hiatus, I had a friend of mine change the password to my account. Then, when I thought I was mentally in the appropriate place to pursue ponies again, I would ask for the account password. As it turned out, she didn’t change the password at all, nor did she log out. She had faith in my self-discipline. And she was right to think so. So that was pretty cool, but neither here nor there.
I didn’t post it myself because I couldn’t.
Sounded like a farewell message?
Hmmm.
Well yes, I suppose I can see how it reads like that. I didn’t mean it to, but whaddayaknow?
Anyways, I’m glad to be back. But I’d suggest you look at the images yourself before you say anything I’ve done is inspirational. Perhaps some of it, but others… well, if you’ve heard the song then you know what I mean.

I totally understand, but what you're missing is that "Ponies becoming a fad" already came and went.

That surge of folks who say "love and tolerance" an mean beat you to the point of flatulence? That is the ironic pony crowd; the ones who say "light problems on fire!" but wear fluttershy instead of Gir on their shirts.

Just like with clop, shipping, or grimdark. There are those for whom pony is just a medium, or characters they like drawing, despite the content. And yet we are all still here Wong awesome. For every ironic pony, there is one person who legitimately stops and wonders "am I dong the right thing? I could be nicer, couldn't I?" I am far more worried about folks being nice to the point of sterility. Aggression happens. As Areta would say, fighting is natural. Only premeditation is immoral.

This is all true. You have a way of putting things into perspective, my friend.

The end comes when you say; "Enough!"
As soon as you stop caring about irony, it becomes water off a duck's back.

To use a strong example; censorship of saucy material. The guy who combs through everything looking for porn has porn on the mind more, and is a slave to porn much more, than the guy who casually flips through a booklet, who has it on the mind more than the guy who knows about it but doesn't care.

Being a hipster is a label. As soon as your actions no longer qualify you're free. And to be fair, there is a difference Between hipster and contrarian; it's one thing to dislike the people brought in by going mane stream, it's another to have liked MLP:FiM solely because no one else did.

Search your heart, mate. Are you here because you like the show or the fandom? Or are you here because no one else was at the time?

I should be fully honest here. I don’t get the hipster label. I don’t understand it. It is meaningless to me. I tend to like things associated with “hipsterism,” whatever that means. But when I say I like something, I like it. I don’t mess around with irony. Nothing is more confusing to me than pretending to like something. It’s just weird. Everything I do, I try to do authentically. When I look around and see people behaving in certain ways because they want to fulfill some sort of “vision” or “look,” it pains me. Do what you want because you want to, not because you saw it somewhere and want to relive some sort of spectacle. Live authentically.
I’m here because I like pastel coloured cartoon ponies teaching me lessons about friendship. And I like the sort of people who like pastel coloured cartoon ponies teaching them about friendship. If that’s not a good enough reason, then I don’t know what to do.

I myself have a mixed view on violence. I hate it. Enough that I need to be good at it. See, there's this thing I call the monkey dance, where each person does some sort of escalatory action towards the other, resulting in one guy physically assaulting the other and both sides saying, "he started it!". It is my stance that, if escalation is happening, I will evaluate, and either walk away, or if need be dial it to 11. That is, violence is occasionally necessary; malice never is.

So if there is a problem that could best be solved by guerrilla warfare, guerrilla warfare it is! But as soon as the other side capitulates, you need to stop.

Or as my Da put it, "don't start no $%!¥, don't take no*$%!¥".

Not sure how a conversation about R34 Pony content turned towards violence, but I can roll with that. I view violence as three separate entities. The first is your typical, physical, man on man violence. The next two… well, that line of conversation will eventually pass the forum limits. Anyways, throughout my life I’ve had a fascination with military history and strategy. Borderline obsession at some points. I’ve never really understood why, but some of it has come in handy in the few altercations I’ve been involved in. I like strategy. If you don’t have a underlying strategy, you’re going to have problems getting anywhere.

See, I've seen that described as Sloth. One of the most slothful traits is Perfectionism. "I'll turn it. In later when it's perfect! It's not done now, and I can't do anything else until this is done" is a complex rationale for not really doing anything. That is the full body of why I am against specialization; if you put in another hundred hours or so to tweak your form, you gain a 0.001% increase in the end product. You also are a full 20 days or so behind Thanqol on art progress. That time investment reaps so much more on brand new endeavors than on perfecting an already top-end craft. Plus, of you spend that extra dressing time learning to draw, eventually they will overlap; fashion will help your composition, and your compositional skills will begin to inform how well you dress. You don't get synergy from a single skill.

While I believe that’s a complex issue for a lot of people, that doesn’t seem to be my personal problem. If anything, I’ll turn something in before it’s actually ready than the opposite.
As for specialization, I want to both agree and disagree with you on that. I personally don’t specialize a whole lot. I study many fields, play multiple sports, spread myself over a wide variety of interests. And it works for me. I love when I get the chance to apply knowledge I’ve gained from one field into a different one. Inter-disciplinary studies, while sounding like a boring academic term, excites me.
But at the same time, there’s something wondrous about a human focusing every fiber of their being to a goal, fighting the limit of the human capacity, and achieving it. The works that Paganini played were beautiful in their own right. But when you add in his level of ability, his years of practice, and his fight against the very limits of humanity to go rocketing into regions no man or woman had ever been able to explore? It’s awe-inspiring.

This sounds like we disagree on degrees for 'derivative'.

Let's say you write a unique story; we'll call it Wonderland.
If Thanqol, Phoe, DBC, Raz, and Esper all write stories, relatively simultaneously, and then I wrote a story that pulled from all of them, it would be derivative.

But to my understanding, the work each of them wrote would also be derivative, even though it was just exploring ground in Wonderland you yourself touched but never tapped.

Tolkien drew from a collective mythos. That is derivative, whether or not he more fully defined the mythos thereby. Tolkien's work is phenomenal. It is good without being groundbreaking; in fact, that very lack of being edgy is part of his style. It reads like history; nothing new, plenty grand. That doing wonderfully with pre-existing components, without having to add new bits is actually what I found so entrancing about darthbobcat's work. He didn't so much write MLP stuff as he seemed to present old stuff in such a wonderful new light. Everything he wrote, I could see being utterly canonical (which feels weird, considering this includes; LARPing conventions, humans, demon overlords, mane6 strike force) and that's a different sort of masterful, a different sort of skill that I cannot help but compliment.

So too, does Tolkien live up to the greats such as DarthBobcat :smallbiggrin;

Really? That seems to be entirely what I was trying to say.

ooh! Ooh! I have an answer to this!
I am a sovereign being. The answer as to which is the correct rubric is whichever I need at the time.

That sounds entirely too reasonable.

You misunderstand; that's like saying the left leg doesn't want to be a leg, because then its just like the right leg. Even though the important thing is that the stork can walk.

I you define a relationship as being a greater being, and each person is a constituent part, then you would begin to understand Thanqol's point. I swing a bat at a ball; at the point of contact the bat goes "crack" and the ball goes "zip!" and an entire world of physics is transferred between ten in only those two sounds. Perfect unison makes the bat an ball a unit, but does not make a bat a ball or a ball a bat.

Related; frost and I stand on a field. We just cut down the enemy healer and are being charged by a shieldsman on his side an a florentiner on mine. We look at each other.

He squints a bit, lifts his chin. I smarm my right brow, nod once.

We both stab out towards our targets in a feint; pull up sharp on the lead foot, retract, poise in cat stance (I hear his was actually a T stance, he's much less a ballerina than I). We both rotate clockwise bringing the boffers up in salute, while jumping as a unit spinning counterclockwise, land, and bring the swords down to rip into enemy guard from an unexpected direction.

And that whole thing was coordinated in the heat of a fight with a chin and a nod.
The shieldsman was blocking an archer who took my armor with a torso blow, and the florentiner was berserk and had a 10 count between dying and having to leave the field, so awesome as that was we should have just got out of dodge... Heh.

The combination of the strength of two humans into a greater whole is beautiful. When two people work so seamlessly together that they act as if one, their action resonates more with me than if they were competing against each other. But the beauty comes from the fact that they are two individual beings. They may join together to create a greater whole, but they never lose their individuality. It’s like, uh… Legos. The creative potential you have with two small Legos is far greater than having just one large Lego piece. With two pieces, you can combine them to create a larger piece, but you can always rearrange them if the situation calls for it. With one piece it’s just… boring. I’ve travelled a fair distance from the point by now, but you catch my general drift?

Those feminists do exist. They are feminist in 'technically this is how we make labels from Latin' though. The prevailing thought seems to be "when someone is down, someone else is up. So that up person should be me, not you." and revolves around establishing a global matriarchy in place of a global patriarchy.

This is utterly antithetical to me, personally. If me and you are in a system, it doesn't matter whether I'm ascendant or descendant. I'm always the other person, so I can act from a centered, caring perspective. So boosting someone else up at your expense is fine, but keeping someone else down so you are bigger in relation like that? It makes me nauseous.

Oh, I certainly believe that there are feminists who believe that. I just don’t think they’re a terribly representative sample, nor are they really worth wasting a few lines of a rap song on. I run with some pretty hardcore feminists, and none of them have ever said anything of that nature.

From having been that guy who spent 20 hours on a post only to get a single comment; don't fret yerself none, sugarcube. Generally, lack of a comment on ponythread means "I can't say anything more than what you or your current responders have said" rather than being a sign of ignorance.

That didn’t come out quite how I wanted it. I wasn’t offended or hurt or anything, I literally just thought it was a little bit funny. In fact, I meant to post a picture of Bon Bon underneath to keep the mood light. But apparently somewhere in the process of editing 30+ pages of quotepost, the image was deleted.

That sinking feeling where I realize no matter how torn up I am about it, I'm not going to get around to reading something important to somepony anytime soon.

Luckily, there is a secret weapon; my device has both bookmarks and a "reading list". I may be able to bring this up there, and have a bunch of fics for when I can't do anything else. Heck, Mare in the Mirror is there, I think.

I can do this!

Derp. Apparently I’m having a hard time putting my intentions into words. I was mainly just posting those fics there to remind myself of them, to get myself to work on them in the future. I’m certainly not going to tell people not to read them, but I’m not asking anypony to right now. So yeah. Don’t feel bad.

Oh god I'm so sorry are you ok?
That is one of the worst feelings ever and it pains me that you have had to go through it

It’s not fun, but I’ve faced off against much worse. Yelling into a microphone is surprisingly helpful at burning off stress. Not that big of a deal. I’m already working on transforming the libretto into a different medium, and we’ll see if my beats surface in some other works.

See, this is too abstract. I can use it to put forth a different theory that seems supported however, and one that is more of a cause/effective relationship. I want to call it causative, but you just did a study so I feel outscienced XD

What you're failing to take into account is who posts what. We have had folks drop out from ponythread. EsperDerek's last post that I can recall was him saying "IRC ate me, but I'll try to stick around." I haven't actually seen a post from Kris Strife in months; since before I even began planning to go to BroNYCon. BillyBobJoe seems to be the reverse, only poking his head in since we were so neat on the IRC (apologies for maybe putting words in your mouth though, BBJ).

We have split. We have predominantly thread ponies, predominantly chat ponies, and a body of mixed ponies. there are just those of us who, having less individual stuff to slog through, have wedged in tighter to fill the gap (to use a visual metaphor). I post more often. Some other folks do too.

So we have kind of "lost" ponies to IRC which is what we feared. What we are really finding is that it's not so bad, and we actually benefit from folks having a place to vent their faster-paced insanity. I myself tend to jump on IRC for about ten minutes¹ when I need to talk to somepony, rather than unsung the GitP PM service.

So what we feared (a split) did occur, it just didn't have the result we thought it would.

If that makes any sense. I'm suddenly loopy... *stares at a Trophy* Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

As far as motivations and causes go, I can really only speak for myself. I know, personally, that the IRC has caused me to be both more active in the IRC community and the thread. I’m not going to look up the numbers, but I’m pretty sure that I’ve been both more active and produced more content in the thread since the IRC was formed. Why? That’s a good question. I’ll have to get back to you on that.

Ooh, really? Man, I had to slap down like, $7 for mine! Totally worth it though.*

I think I actually paid $2.99 for it. Two bits just sounded like an actual phrase.

You are now second best pony, behind Santa Clause!Kpenguin. u.u

¹: though let's be honest. We can count the number of times I actually left IRC that fast on a single hoof... >///<;

Santa Claus!Kpenguin? I must have missed that one.

Holy epic quoteposts Batman!

I've been vaguely following the thread for the last couple of weeks while being too busy to get into the conversation, but this is too much. I think I noticed a Hemingway reference, a few variations of existential philosophy, and something about making rhymes for Tyranids. Bravo ponythread, bravo. *slow claps*

Anywho, just thought I should post and mention I'm still alive. I was pretty interested in the fact that Hasbro has contracted themselves into not distributing their own show internationally. Always interesting to realize that we're missing a huge piece of the puzzle and I'd bet those contracts were very lucrative if Hasbro agreed to limit its own distribution rights.

@Gaelbert: glad to have you back. I read through your letter and found it very touching. As someone with neither the time nor inclination to do art and none of the time (but a little inclination) to write creatively, I particularly appreciate it. My hope being here is that I can say some interesting things, spark some discussion about the episodes, and maybe inspire some good ideas from other people, or at least have a good conversation. I keep coming back because everyone here is incredibly interesting.

@Gaelbert again: Much respect for a mathematical study of the IRC. That takes a lot of time and thought to do right, but I really respect you for actually trying to answer the question with evidence as opposed to opinion, intuition, or gut reaction.

You’re a law school pony, right? I want to be you in a few years. I think I mentioned it before, but if you do any analysis of Hasbro’s actions and options (am I right in remembering you hinted at that?), I would love to read it. I love to read papers. It’s a flaw of mine.

Obvious answers: "You're going to LOVE ME!" "Works every time!" "Yay!"

Once I get another set of tags I'm going to name my Medigun to "Twilight Sparkle's Bedside Manner" with the desc of "Tough love, baby!"

I ended up going with "You're going to LOVE me!" with a description of "I mean, if that's okay with you..."
Good call, my friend!

It is three in the morning here, so I'ma just say this:

1) Gaelbert! Welcome back! *hugs*

2) I did read your letter, and you're on my list of "People I really ought to talk to". Except I'm horrible at remember to chat at people.

3) Thank you so much for doing your analysis. It's good to see the hard facts about this.

I'd say more, but that's about all the mental fortitude I have at this hour. Night!

I did read that, actually, though with it being on the IRC, and you being self-exiled from Ponythread, I didn't make a response here as it didn't seem like you'd get it... And, then, of course, despite making mental note of it for future reference, succumbed to my usual incompetance and allowed it to be driven out by other things... One thing drives out another, as Barliman Butterbur always said.

(And which I frequently echo, it must be said, as unless directly prompted by email and/or PM, and I am pretty terrible about contacting people for non-wargames-related updates... I got an email just after Christmas from the guy who left on Monday group after about ten years, and realised I'd completely forgotten to email him about what happened, as well as to check up, like all year... I am just dreadful at this sort of thing... Even when stuff is sitting in my inbox and marked as unread to remind me about it, it takes ages for me to get around to doing it...)

Though by the looks of it, I'm in good company...!

I think the lesson to be learned here, if any, is when making such a grand gesture, do it in a place where people are more likely to notice and/or remember, (such as ponythread itself!) because we all have memories like sieves!

I wouldn't have bet money on hip-hop being the logical conclusion of the musique concrète movement, but it really was.

I quoted this with the intention of saying something, but then upon reading the quote I realized my statement has little to do with it. But you know what? I don’t care. I’m going to say it anyways.
I hesitate to pronounce something the “conclusion” of a movement, particularly while we’re in the thick of things. Maybe, with a few hundred years of distance, we can create some sort of coherent narrative of a movement, but at the time? People have a way of doing surprising things. That’s why, although I don’t see where art and culture in general can possibly move from post-modernism that isn’t rehashing old ground, I’m not worried. We’ll probably see some amazing things in the future, and I can’t wait.

The '5 year old' school of art demonstrates, to me, neither of those things. It's reliance on brand name and social expectations; the arrogant certainty that I can do whatever I want and people will buy it because I'm famous. And that's what gets to me; the idea that one does not need to apply oneself and seek greatness, seek improvement and instead retail garbage. Like they've lost their inner editor and instead wallow in mediocrity. And then an echo room of posers forms around them, refusing to believe that the famous artist could do any wrong and they're just not 'deep' enough to get it, so they lavish praise on something that is plainly bad.

It seems that the both of us start from the same assumption, and then take it to different sides. I, too, believe in the death of the author. For me, though, that means a decreased importance on technical skills. I don’t mean to discount them entirely. Technical abilities are often needed to help someone express their inspiration through art, and greater technical abilities mean the artist has more flexibility in expressing herself. But technical abilities alone aren’t enough to make something interesting. Art needs inspiration, heart, soul. A piece of art with great technical prowess but little emotional impact is boring and useless to me, whereas a piece of art with little technical abilities but visionary and breathtaking in its emotional scope will stay with me forever. Technical ability makes it easier to tap into this well, but it isn’t necessary to do so.
Sound crazy? Let me give some real world examples. Yngwie Malmsteen is one of the most technically talented guitarists in the world. He’s also incredibly boring. I’d much rather listen to a low-fi recording of one of Hello Saferide’s songs (as much as I love her, she’s a mediocre musician at best). My guess is the average listener would as well.
And this might sound heresy, particularly coming from someone who wishes to be an author himself, but when I say I believe the author is dead, I really mean it. I don’t lay any claim to dominance over the texts I write myself. I try to include certain themes, I can try to take the characters in certain directions, but that doesn’t mean I am the master of the text. I don’t even consider myself the author of the text. I consider my role as something of a translator. I see concepts and ideas from the realm of inspiration, and I try to translate that into a coherent narrative I can share with others.
The stories I write, the stories others write, they exist independently of their authors. They’ve existed always, they’re eternal. You can see glimpses and flashes of the same stories in different works from throughout history. The authors don’t consciously create these stories. They seep into your subconscious, then eventually get to the point where they can be made explicit. When I read a novel, the parts that I find interesting aren’t the parts that an author makes explicit. They’re the assumptions, the underlying ideology of the novel. The assumptions the author thought so basic that she didn’t even need to outright mention them. Trying to peel back the superficial layers of text to get back to the underlying ideology and the original story (might they be the same thing?) is what I see as the goal of literary criticism and theory.
Does that sound mystical, metaphysical? Perhaps. But when you look at art history, do you remember the perfectly proportioned neo-classical pieces or the Pre-Raphaelites? I remember the latter. I’ll choose the Surrealists over the Social Realists any day of the week. In general, actually, my thought and interest tends to revolve around the Surrealists, particularly their more ideological cousin, the Situationists. Andre Breton and Guy Debord (oops, spoiled it) are two of my “intellectual role models” (whatever that means). At the heart though, I’m a hopeless Romantic. Hopeless in the sense that, while I buy most of Romanticism, I just can’t accept the ideal of the “heroic artist.”
Pable Picasso once said “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, and a lifetime to learn to paint like a child.” I think there’s some truth to that. I had the good fortune to attend one of his exhibits in San Francisco a while back. I was shocked to see his early work, his work before Cubism. It was technically brilliant, perfectly proportioned, highly realistic. And it was also incredibly dull. Far more exciting for me were his warped paintings, Guernica, sketches for the Women of Avignon. Even before I understood the concept of portraying motion and the passing of time in a still painting, his works captivated me. After, they became my obsession. And I think that’s part of it. If an illiterate person were to look at The Brothers Karamazov, they would see thousands of small lines. They might think the lines were aesthetically pleasing, but likely they wouldn’t be impressed. But an illiterate’s criticism of The Brothers Karamazov wouldn’t be likely to sway anyone. You need to learn to read before you can even grasp at its genius. I feel there’s a parallel there between the more recent, less representative arts and learning to read. You need to put time into learning to “read” these paintings, discovering their context, before you can truly preside over them in judgment (as if you could ever do that). Decrying them without an attempt to understand them is just the same as the illiterate’s criticism I mentioned above.
So what is there in a work of art? There’s the art (the spirit of it), the viewer’s interpretation, and the author function. I tend to privilege the first two.

So let’s look at an example, shall we?

Oooh one of my favourite quotes is about this
'An english major reads a sentence of a book, and reads the phrase 'blue curtains'. He proclaims "Ah, the blue represents the main character's depression and loneliness."
A writer writes the phrase 'blue curtains'. He means "The curtains are ------- blue, alright?"'

This is just a short fictional snipped. I can’t put it into context (or, I can, but I don’t want to go into that), so my options are somewhat limited.
First, if an English major ever said “Oh, this means this,” I would be sorely tempted to punch him. Art is far too beautiful for one to one representation, and the books that try are pitiful (Animal Farm, I’m looking at you).
Second, the author says “the curtains are [expletive] blue, alright?”, implying that they’re just blue. No reason behind it. Except we know that’s not true. There was an image, something in the author’s head that compelled him to mention the curtains were blue. He didn’t need to, there was nothing forcing him to. Writing is similar to photography in that it is as much defined by what it leaves out than by what it includes. People seem to think photography is realism. That is not the case. When someone takes a photograph, they choose the content of the photo, they choose the angle of the shot, the height of the shot, the lighting, everything. All of these decisions leave room for the “actual content” to be coloured by the artist’s perception, the artist’s inspiration. So every time you look at a photograph, you don’t see things as they actually were. You see things how the photographer wants you to see them.
With writing, this is even more so. The author has full control over what goes in a book, and what doesn’t go in. If it’s in the book, there’s a reason for it being there. Otherwise it wouldn’t be there. So let’s return to our example. Why blue? Why mention the colour at all? In fact, why mention the curtain? Why even use a house at all? The author is trying to recreate an image from his memory. What is that scene, why use it? What sort of feelings does the author attach to the image? Without looking at more, I couldn’t tell you. But there’s something there, whether the author knows it or not.
Did I lose you? It is a tenuous argument. I’ll end with a final example. An author writes an incredibly racist book, portraying certain groups in an incredibly negative and demeaning light. The text is unambiguously racist. But the author says it isn’t racist. Do you trust the author, or do you trust the text?

How do you phone people do this? Posting on an iPod is tough.
Anyway I had another involved pony dream that started with the announcement that MLP was all part of a deal between Hasbro and Celestia to get humanity used to the idea of magical ponies before revealing the actual existence of Equestria to the world, and ended with Topaz attending a Bronycon with Lyra and Bon Bon. Good times.

If only…

Good to see somepony else has a little MPD going on.

”Hey! We don’t have multiple personalities, do we Mudworthy?”
”I don’t know. Let me check. Hey Bob? We have any personalities in here?”
”Nope, I don’t think so Mudworthy.”
”None in here Gale!”
”Then it’s decided. We don’t have multiple personalities, silly.”

[quote]I actually didn't reply because I didn't agree with the decision at all. I thought the decision to leave was poorly reasoned, short-term and made on entirely the wrong foundations. And I was proved right, because here you are.

Leaving something you genuinely like, and people you care about, because it's associated vaguely with something you don't like - that's what DBC did, that's what Raz did for a while. I thought both of them were completely mistaken for making that decision. I know that there are 'right' reasons to leave this community, but I did not think that this was one of them.

And so, rather than argue with a letter posted via proxy, which would essentially be arguing with myself, I passed it over.

(This is all as I understand it; not fully comprehending the situation was also a factor in remaining quiet)[,quote]

Whoa there sugarcube (I hope that didn’t come across as patronizing). At no point was I ever planning to leave forever. I just wanted some time to back up, look at my life, reevaluate my priorities, and make sure my time was going to healthy things. I cut some things out, I came back to some others. As of now, it looks like I made some good decisions. Without that break, I might not have started drawing. While I hesitate to say it was good of me to leave, I will say that good has come of my break.
And it’s a little more than “associated vaguely with something I don’t like.” I came under personal attack from bronies I thought were my friends, both on Internet communities and real life. It was so unexpected, I wanted to seal any potential vulnerabilities before I was hit again. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried about this community. But at the time, I couldn’t be sure.

Am I hearing correctly the word "Remix" shouted over the regular song with no other changes? That's... like the musical equivalent of drawing angry eyebrows and a goatee on a picture.

There’s actually a story behind that one. It came as the result of a conversation a friend and I were having about music and copyright laws. Essentially, while it’s perfectly legal to yell “Remix” over a copyrighted Beatles’ because it’s so stupid it falls under satire/parody uses, in order to actually create something useful and productive through sampling part of, say, Yellow Submarine, I would have to pay millions of dollars.
Actually, this might be a good time to announce the impending release of my multimedia release, “On Elysian Fields Doth My True Lovers Lie.” It’ll be a remix album, a graphic novel, and a series of companion essays all rolled into one. Keep your eye on the headlines, we’re sure to make it to the top of the charts.

You also are a full 20 days or so behind Thanqol on art progress.

You hear that Thanqol? I’m coming for yo-

Oh, these certainly have potential. Stick with it!

Wait, you’re encouraging me? Well, that takes the fun out of it.

nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd

That said, thanks for settling this. It's good to have a definitive answer.

Ahem. Please see Appendix A: Part V:

“Quite. Now Gale Daze, tell me honestly. Do you consider yourself a nerd?”
“Guy, if making an empirical analysis of the influence one online pony community has on another pony medium makes me a nerd, then I just don’t know what to tell you.”

I should point out, though, things like this don’t lend themselves to definite answers. No matter how much scientific rigour I applied, I would still be dealing with very wet, very messy organic lifeforms. They never really act like you expect them to. And for that, I’m thankful.

Poetry has a version of this too in the form of imaginary Australian, Urn Malley.

Just because he was imaginary doesn’t mean the poems don’t have meaning.

I'll give a personal example of this. I visited the UC Berkeley art museum a couple years ago. It has a bunch of weird stuff, most of which is not very good, since it's a college museum and it's giving new artists and art students a chance to show off their work. But it does have a few permanent pieces. One of these, which I noticed from across a gallery room (I'd estimate I was ~30-40 feet away), struck me as especially interesting, even though it was basically paint thrown on canvas. It had a pattern and coloring that drew me to it as being better than most of the other works around it for reasons that I find difficult to articulate. When I got closer to it, I then noticed the artist was Jackson Pollock and had an "oh hey, that guy's famous" moment. The man literally threw paint on canvas, which any 5 year old could do. But he did so in a recognizable and consistent manner that proved extremely popular. I consider that skill, and his works are art in my opinion.

Was that the Berkeley Art Museum? I go there a lot, but mainly for the architecture. It radiates power.

@Gaelbert: First off, let me apologize for not emailing you. It was on my list
over the holidays but I don't want to make excuses so let me just say I'm sorry, your departure and return were on my mind and I'm very glad to see you back!

Second, I'm glad you liked/noticed my quantum mechanics via ponies! I don't think I can make a fan fic from it but I might do future installments if anypony is interested. Also, you're correct in supposing that my first point is at least partially related to successive approximations and that sort of thing.

Also also, I like the statistical analysis. Definitely a neat project whatever the conclusions.

Also x3 combo: I look forward to seeing you in the drawthread!

No worries, friend. Like I said, I’m not mad. Not at all. I have no right to be mad even if I wanted to be.

I was kidding a little about the fanfic, but I would appreciate hearing more in the future. Broadening my horizons and whatnot, dontchaknow?

Ooh, that’s right. I should post those pictures over there…
Tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow, I swear!

Ohhh-hhh, you haven't heard the half of it. I'm an English major. Every artist is seeking deeper meaning. Even made-up poets who's secret authors came out and admitted they were trolling poetry critics get treated with deathly seriousness about the deeper meaning that secretly inspired their actions. And there's no way to produce an 'inferior' work because everything has a secret meaning.

I thought you were art/commerce double major? Something of that nature?

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What’s this? Do I have a new webcomic to follow?

Which one, the gorn story or the RP?

The Republic is plebeian doggerel worthy only of my contempt! And Titus Andronicus isn’t terribly good either. It’s one of his earlier works.

Also, because the quote button randomly drops quotes, my top 5 episodes:

5. Over a Barrel. This is one that I appreciated more on rewatching, and more recently. There are many ways the studio could have made the episode highly offensive, but they played smart. The pie throwing was a master stroke.

4. Luna Eclipsed. Princess Luna stole the show.

3. Sisterhooves Social. Best pony and best Crusader, Sweetie Belle’s drawing melted my heart.

2. Suited for Success. Great song, best pony in her element. I love seeing Rarity engrossed in her art. As I keep saying and will continue to say until this becomes acknowledged, Rarity is like David Hemmings from Blow Up. She’s at her most beautiful when at work. And I’ve always loved tailors.

1. Sweet and Elite. Great song and best pony. Airships and Canterlot. Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis. Dorky Twilight and angry Opal. Need I say more?

On SiuS’ picture of the kitties and the blanket:
That’s too much adorable for one man to handle. You need to share some of your kitties with the rest of us.

On the topic of how the break has changed our opinions on ponies, I’ve noticed it really has with mine. Drawing Fluttershy has made me realize how incredibly beautiful she is. I already knew she was cute, but there’s something about her hair. And her face. And her body. And her plo-tail. Her tail, I meant. I can see how she would work as a supermodel pony.
I also gained a greater appreciation for Rainbow Dash. This is something I had been expecting to happen, and then it did. I know I had made some flippant offhand comments earlier about her loyalty, perhaps putting it in question, but I was never being too serious. She has her issues, definitely. Some of them grate on my nerves, but all of them make her a more engaging character. What really got me, though, were her actions in Over a Barrel. Siding with the buffalos added a nuance to her character, one I hadn’t seen before. Rainbow Dash doesn’t practice blind loyalty in the face of incontrovertible evidence. She’s loyal to her friends, yes, but what I learned is that she’s loyal to ideals. She’s loyal to the idea of justice and fair play. None of the Mane 6 really cared what went on in Over a Barrel, but Rainbow Dash did. That’s why I’m giving her the title of JUSTICE PONY!
Also, I took my Rainbow Dash figure with me every time I went driving. She helped me drive a fifth faster.
Speaking of which, I drove the family car a little over break. It has a nice stereo, and one I was more than happy to use. I can’t tell you how cool I felt blasting Pull Up to Da Target by Mic the Mic, volume to the max and bass boosted as loud as possible, sitting with Rainbow Dash on the dashboard as I pulled up to the Target. I pulled up to the Target playing Pull Up to Da Target with Rainbow Dash on my dash. And then I got ponies.
So yeah. Life is good.


Heh. I like hearing myself type.
I do like making a quotepost. It’s fun going through after the fact, and not have to feel pressured into posting fast. And it’s like SiuS said, none of these posts were here until I opened up the thread and starting reading from where I left off. I would like to do this more in the future, I just don’t want to do the whole “drop off the edge of the world” for a month thing. So I guess that means I need to start saying more about less? That doesn’t sound right… Oh, you know what?
PONIES!

[Aotrs Commander]

Guh... Twice in one night... Gotta be be careful...

I've heard the phrase "hoofin' it" used before. For some reason, the only example that comes to mind is a Powerpuff Girls episode where they moved to the town of Citysville, and they were banned from using their superpowers due to gross property damage. Flying back from the mayor's office, they were ordered to land on account of the new ban on superpowers. They stood there, in the pouring rain, and Blossom said, "Well. It looks like we're hoofin' it."

Why the only other example of this phrase that I can remember comes from another Lauren Faust show? Your guess is as good as mine.

Oddly enough, that was my first thought too. One feels the Twilight Zone theme should cut in about now...

[Thanqol]

It seems that the both of us start from the same assumption, and then take it to different sides. I, too, believe in the death of the author. For me, though, that means a decreased importance on technical skills. I don’t mean to discount them entirely. Technical abilities are often needed to help someone express their inspiration through art, and greater technical abilities mean the artist has more flexibility in expressing herself. But technical abilities alone aren’t enough to make something interesting. Art needs inspiration, heart, soul. A piece of art with great technical prowess but little emotional impact is boring and useless to me, whereas a piece of art with little technical abilities but visionary and breathtaking in its emotional scope will stay with me forever. Technical ability makes it easier to tap into this well, but it isn’t necessary to do so.
Sound crazy? Let me give some real world examples. Yngwie Malmsteen is one of the most technically talented guitarists in the world. He’s also incredibly boring. I’d much rather listen to a low-fi recording of one of Hello Saferide’s songs (as much as I love her, she’s a mediocre musician at best). My guess is the average listener would as well.

I actually disagree with this. With regards to music, I love the technical precision and perfection of electronic music. I love trance music in particular. A lot of it doesn't have particularly clear emotion, but it does demonstrate genius. Technical prowess means a lot to me.

Emotion does play a part, and is unquestionably a huge part of music. But some of the most emotionally powerful songs I've heard, songs that move me when I hear them - I gradually lose interest in them, and they drop into the background of my library.

My one standard for music is 'Music which doesn't suck'; within that, I listen to anything. But I don't give bonus points for effort.

And this might sound heresy, particularly coming from someone who wishes to be an author himself, but when I say I believe the author is dead, I really mean it. I don’t lay any claim to dominance over the texts I write myself. I try to include certain themes, I can try to take the characters in certain directions, but that doesn’t mean I am the master of the text. I don’t even consider myself the author of the text. I consider my role as something of a translator. I see concepts and ideas from the realm of inspiration, and I try to translate that into a coherent narrative I can share with others.
The stories I write, the stories others write, they exist independently of their authors. They’ve existed always, they’re eternal. You can see glimpses and flashes of the same stories in different works from throughout history. The authors don’t consciously create these stories. They seep into your subconscious, then eventually get to the point where they can be made explicit. When I read a novel, the parts that I find interesting aren’t the parts that an author makes explicit. They’re the assumptions, the underlying ideology of the novel. The assumptions the author thought so basic that she didn’t even need to outright mention them. Trying to peel back the superficial layers of text to get back to the underlying ideology and the original story (might they be the same thing?) is what I see as the goal of literary criticism and theory.

I don't disagree with the sentiment, but I have a hard time accepting it as the complete sentiment. There are moments where I as an author get to make conscious choices about what goes in the story. I believe that my decisions and knowledge inform how I go about it. And I believe that the process of writing allows me to change my underlying assumptions and ideology explicitly to explore new ones.

When I wrote The One You Least Suspect, it had the basic assumption that libertarian deregulation was a good thing. This was quite contrary to my own beliefs and foundational assumptions.

For me, writing isn't about tapping into another realm, or translating thoughts into words. It's about exploration, an inwards journey, a way to craft and redefine the self. I emerge different from it. I don't believe I am a translator, I do not believe that I exist without agency when writing. I believe that other people who read what I do should know how I think; the writing should have communicated that. But I do believe I have made deliberate changes to who I am through the process.

Did I lose you? It is a tenuous argument. I’ll end with a final example. An author writes an incredibly racist book, portraying certain groups in an incredibly negative and demeaning light. The text is unambiguously racist. But the author says it isn’t racist. Do you trust the author, or do you trust the text?

I don't quite see how this backs up your broader argument; this is the most basic application of the death of author concept. The author is just a guy with an opinion, and I should include, understand, integrate, and transcend that opinion but I should not 'trust' it. If my reading tells me the book is 'unambiguously' racist, I question my reading rather than 'the text'. The end result is you trust no one and nothing except the truth.

”Hey! We don’t have multiple personalities, do we Mudworthy?”
”I don’t know. Let me check. Hey Bob? We have any personalities in here?”
”Nope, I don’t think so Mudworthy.”
”None in here Gale!”
”Then it’s decided. We don’t have multiple personalities, silly.”

Charger: A lack of situational awareness is a sign of weakness. Although it is perhaps our definition at fault; multiple personalities implies a broken mind. A healthy mind is capable of supporting perspectives and worldviews beyond it's own. We call these kinds of integrated perspectives 'Thought Patterns'.

Jayden: Are you saying we're not crazy?

Charger: I'm saying that our existence does not mean we are crazy. You, personally however, are pants-on-head crazy.

Whoa there sugarcube (I hope that didn’t come across as patronizing). At no point was I ever planning to leave forever. I just wanted some time to back up, look at my life, reevaluate my priorities, and make sure my time was going to healthy things. I cut some things out, I came back to some others. As of now, it looks like I made some good decisions. Without that break, I might not have started drawing. While I hesitate to say it was good of me to leave, I will say that good has come of my break.
And it’s a little more than “associated vaguely with something I don’t like.” I came under personal attack from bronies I thought were my friends, both on Internet communities and real life. It was so unexpected, I wanted to seal any potential vulnerabilities before I was hit again. As it turned out, I needn’t have worried about this community. But at the time, I couldn’t be sure.

A sentiment I can much more supportive of. Perspective is so easy to lose on the internet, and taking time to re-establish it is a worthy goal.

There’s actually a story behind that one. It came as the result of a conversation a friend and I were having about music and copyright laws. Essentially, while it’s perfectly legal to yell “Remix” over a copyrighted Beatles’ because it’s so stupid it falls under satire/parody uses, in order to actually create something useful and productive through sampling part of, say, Yellow Submarine, I would have to pay millions of dollars.
Actually, this might be a good time to announce the impending release of my multimedia release, “On Elysian Fields Doth My True Lovers Lie.” It’ll be a remix album, a graphic novel, and a series of companion essays all rolled into one. Keep your eye on the headlines, we’re sure to make it to the top of the charts.

A curiously fascinating point of protest. A shame you had to murder a pony song to make it.

You hear that Thanqol? I’m coming for yo-

Wait, you’re encouraging me? Well, that takes the fun out of it.

Oh, I can encourage you. I can encourage you freely. Encouragement is cheap. Because I know you'll never ever catch up with me.

Others have tried. They've failed. Still more are trying. It's only a matter of time before they fail too. I know for a fact that I am better than everypony else here, that when I commit to things I alone have the strength of will to see them through to the end. No one else can contest me, not seriously.

And so I can be fairly free with my encouragement. If I'm free with my encouragement, chances are you'll draw more pictures of my characters before you inevitably burn out and fail, and I value people drawing pictures of my characters. Selfish motives are present behind every honeyed word.

And at the end of the day, you shall fail and I shall succeed. It's not your fault. It's just a case of me being better than you. And I can be magnanimous in victory.


Charger: You weren't meant to ever say that out loud.
Discord'd Mask: They wanted a challenge.

Just because he was imaginary doesn’t mean the poems don’t have meaning.

It's first year poetry class all over again!

*Dives out plate glass window*

I thought you were art/commerce double major? Something of that nature?

Arts, majoring in English with a few side Philosophy courses, commerce, majoring in Management with a broad sampling of economics, finance, statistics, etc.

On the topic of how the break has changed our opinions on ponies, I’ve noticed it really has with mine. Drawing Fluttershy has made me realize how incredibly beautiful she is. I already knew she was cute, but there’s something about her hair. And her face. And her body. And her plo-tail. Her tail, I meant. I can see how she would work as a supermodel pony.

Ah! I know, right?

I also gained a greater appreciation for Rainbow Dash. This is something I had been expecting to happen, and then it did. I know I had made some flippant offhand comments earlier about her loyalty, perhaps putting it in question, but I was never being too serious. She has her issues, definitely. Some of them grate on my nerves, but all of them make her a more engaging character. What really got me, though, were her actions in Over a Barrel. Siding with the buffalos added a nuance to her character, one I hadn’t seen before. Rainbow Dash doesn’t practice blind loyalty in the face of incontrovertible evidence. She’s loyal to her friends, yes, but what I learned is that she’s loyal to ideals. She’s loyal to the idea of justice and fair play. None of the Mane 6 really cared what went on in Over a Barrel, but Rainbow Dash did. That’s why I’m giving her the title of JUSTICE PONY!

*Sagely nod*



Also, tomorrow stands an above zero chance of being the best day ever. But we'll see. Don't want to jinx it.

[Kindablue]

I hesitate to pronounce something the “conclusion” of a movement, particularly while we’re in the thick of things. Maybe, with a few hundred years of distance, we can create some sort of coherent narrative of a movement, but at the time? People have a way of doing surprising things. That’s why, although I don’t see where art and culture in general can possibly move from post-modernism that isn’t rehashing old ground, I’m not worried. We’ll probably see some amazing things in the future, and I can’t wait.

Point taken, though I meant that no one seriously identifies themselves with the musique concrète movement anymore.

[Deadly]

Mare In The Mirror Review p2:

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There's also a lot of sighing throughout this story. A sigh is such an easy quirk to use in writing; signifies tiredness, exasperation, concession - but it's so easily overused. Try to cut down.

Again, saving most of my response for the finish line.

Just want to say, yes! Dammit, I hate sighs exactly because I can't help it, they just sneak in all. the. time! And they slip right past my notice even when I try to look for them. I need to make a list of words to use search/replace on. "sigh" and "however" will be on the very top of said list.

Glad you liked the Ponyville part. Rainbow Dash is a lot of fun. It's really interesting to read your commentary on this story. I can't wait to hear more.

[Noctemwolf]

Again, saving most of my response for the finish line.

Just want to say, yes! Dammit, I hate sighs exactly because I can't help it, they just sneak in all. the. time! And they slip right past my notice even when I try to look for them. I need to make a list of words to use search/replace on. "sigh" and "however" will be on the very top of said list.

Glad you liked the Ponyville part. Rainbow Dash is a lot of fun. It's really interesting to read your commentary on this story. I can't wait to hear more.

I'm giving Fillystata a read. I've just finished chapter 3. I think I need to go back and give it a good look over. I always feel like things move much to quickly in stories, but then again I could just be reading a little fast. I always rush through things... ANYWAYS...

I know who H.P Lovecraft is (As well as that he created Cthulhu), but beyond that I know very little about his work, so any review I can give won't be good on that standpoint.

Truthfully, I've liked the whole thing so far.

(Spoilered due to possible spoiling):

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I like this whole idea going on that there's some kind of dark secret in Twilight's family history. In chapter three, I did notice you switched from Twilight's viewpoint into Trixie's rather suddenly. Understandable, as whatever it is Twilight's doing in the Attic should remain a mystery to the reader as well as everyone else. I don't know... the transition just seemed rather sudden to me.
Trixie being Jealous. D'awww.
and goodness... Suicide? Death? Blood and Burning?
Not that I particularly mind... I enjoy a really good story.

More from me when I reread and continue.

Don't expect anything as in depth as Thanqol... Please.

My review's will probably be rather vague and unfounded, with little bits of what I think about certain parts interspersed...

[Thanqol]

Again, saving most of my response for the finish line.

Just want to say, yes! Dammit, I hate sighs exactly because I can't help it, they just sneak in all. the. time! And they slip right past my notice even when I try to look for them. I need to make a list of words to use search/replace on. "sigh" and "however" will be on the very top of said list.

Glad you liked the Ponyville part. Rainbow Dash is a lot of fun. It's really interesting to read your commentary on this story. I can't wait to hear more.

The other bad one in writing in general, but not necessarily this story, is 'shrugging'. Shrugging is super bad and should never be used.

Mare in the Mirror Review de Triad: Wherein We Find The Third Part

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I've figured out why you shouldn't use the words 'Nightmare Moon', and why that's such a drag on the story.

Because we know who Nightmare Moon is.

Nightmare Moon exists within the context of the show. In the absence of other information, which you haven't provided, we fill in any gaps with show-NMM. And she's nowhere near as scary as anything else in this series.

If you want to use her as a concept, you absolutely must distance her from the show version. Celestia and Luna talk about her like she's a threat but everything threatening she's done she's done off-camera and in the past. You're competing for concept space with many non-threatening images of NMM, such as today's Friendship is STILL Magic. This is an example of seeding; by using the words NMM so early you bring a whole bunch of concepts and ideas with it, and the majority of those don't remotely fit with the type of story you're trying to tell.

The answer, and the only real answer to this is to not say the words. Avoid them for as long as possible. Make the moment when they're uttered a whispered revelation, a condemnation - "Nightmare Moon!". When the monster is so well established that we know exactly what she is in your story and we can be afraid of her.

Interestingly, I believe you could still have the characters talk about her if you so chose. Just don't name her, or treat the topic with anything other than the dread it deserves.

I'm reminded of this insight when I came to this point in the story

She burst through the leafy cover of the forest and into the last light of the day. She blinked at the light and scanned the forest below. Something in the distance caught her eye and she looked up to see several figures flying towards the north, carrying a large net beneath them. Trixie narrowed her eyes. "Griffons! They have our friends!" she called and set off after them at top speed. But the griffons were already far ahead. Untrained and tired as she was Trixie knew she could not catch up with them. She came to a halt and cursed as Luna came out of the forest behind her.

You used the word 'griffons' and suddenly aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllll the menace is instantly gone. We know the parameters of the threat and the fandom and all it's irreverent context asserts itself. We don't know what griffons mean in your story yet, so you have to now establish a threat from a nonthreatening entity.

Grey worked as a terrifying villain because there was no context for her in the show or fandom. We were on our own, and all the rules were broken. With griffons, who Equestria Daily is currently waging a mock pie war against?

I'm not even saying don't use griffons. I'm saying establish what griffons are in your story before you say the word. Even a physical description of how fearsome they are would suffice.

Slightly related to this, 'chased them for a little while and then gave up and complained to Luna' is a super-duper disappointing action sequence and breaks the flow just as much as anything else; right up until this point the story was progressing very smoothly.

Pinkie frowned and struggled against the ropes. "I am not plump! And this is not funny! Let us go!"

Frowning is not the appropriate reaction for Pinkamina here. "Snarled".


And yeah, the griffon slave camp just kinda... falls flat. There's a disconnect between Gilda the kinda-jerk and murderous slave traders that you haven't taken any steps to bridge. It's the first time I don't really buy that this is possible. Until now you had included grimdark concepts in what seemed like a pretty standard Ponyverse, and the dissonance produced horror. I think a switch to a flat-out grimdark universe loses something. Now bad things are a matter of course, not a horrifying exception.

I love the Great and Courageous Fluttershy segment, but I really think there's a better way to express it, which'd be more in keeping with the tone of the story.

The hoof steps came to a halt not far behind Trixie's head. "You may call me Manna. Manna Sparkle, the name my mother gave me. And what I want, Trixie, is revenge!

She said, twirling her luxurious black moustache.

Holy expositionblock Batman.

Rather than having this communicated through a giant monologue from a character we just met, I think there's scope for Manna to be more terse and focused on her work, and Trixie uses her brief statements to put together the pieces. Make Trixie's realisation dawn alongside ours. Have her figure it out from the casually dropped clues of Manna. Make her say the words.

The best monologue is the one you trick the PCs into making on your behalf.

"You came here for 'answers', or should I say certain forbidden knowledge by a certain long dead pony? You are a puppet, Trixie, and guess who's pulling the strings.

Question mark at the end here.

Also:

"You came here for answers?" Her laughter was full of bitterness, with an edge of hysteria. "Answers? You are a puppet, Trixie. A puppet who doesn't even know her master."



The exposition box text kinda soured this last chapter for me. There point where Trixie called Manna on her bluff was great, and everything after she regained consciousness proper was poor. What I said about the moustache twirling summarises this scene in it's entirety, which is a pity because I meant that as a one-off joke.

A monologue is the most nonthreatening form of villainous communication. Any other way is better. If there's any way to avoid a monologue, do so. There's a reason we don't find AotRS scary, and that's because he monologues, about everything, all the time.

And, if you're reading this AotRS, we love you for it.

There are still many, many great moments through this, you just sometimes fumble the follow-through, which is a definite pity.

Don't expect anything as in depth as Thanqol... Please.

WEAKLING!

[Deadly]

I'm giving Fillystata a read. I've just finished chapter 3. I think I need to go back and give it a good look over. I always feel like things move much to quickly in stories, but then again I could just be reading a little fast. I always rush through things... ANYWAYS...

I know who H.P Lovecraft is (As well as that he created Cthulhu), but beyond that I know very little about his work, so any review I can give won't be good on that standpoint.

Truthfully, I've liked the whole thing so far.

(Spoilered due to possible spoiling):

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I like this whole idea going on that there's some kind of dark secret in Twilight's family history. In chapter three, I did notice you switched from Twilight's viewpoint into Trixie's rather suddenly. Understandable, as whatever it is Twilight's doing in the Attic should remain a mystery to the reader as well as everyone else. I don't know... the transition just seemed rather sudden to me.
Trixie being Jealous. D'awww.
and goodness... Suicide? Death? Blood and Burning?
Not that I particularly mind... I enjoy a really good story.

More from me when I reread and continue.

Don't expect anything as in depth as Thanqol... Please.

My review's will probably be rather vague and unfounded, with little bits of what I think about certain parts interspersed...

No worries, all reviews are welcome, both short and sweet as well as long and deep. Also, the story may be inspired by a Lovecraft story but I wouldn't begin to compare my writing to anything like Lovecraft. Both because that'd be very pretentious, but also because I have my own style and don't want to copy another's.

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The shift to Trixie's perspective was rather sudden, mostly for the reasons you mentioned. I'm glad you like the story so far, though. Even if it's... somewhat dark :)

The other bad one in writing in general, but not necessarily this story, is 'shrugging'. Shrugging is super bad and should never be used.

Mare in the Mirror Review de Triad: Wherein We Find The Third Part

Halfway to the end, yay!

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Chapter five got a lot of critique, so much that it made me kinda concerned. Everyone seemed to have some problem with the griffon part, and I never could figure out exactly what. I got the impression people though it was... off the track, too unrelated to the story, which made me a bit sad... for reasons I'll get back to when you're done.

Your thoughts are interesting, however. Something I hadn't quite considered.

[TheAmishPirate]

What would you want with an ideal Twilight though? I'm sure she would have an enjoyable and fulfilling life, but from a writing perspective she would be kinda boring. A character who correctly assesses her situation 90% of the time and listens to good advice the other 10% will just solve all her problems with minimal conflict.

I meant "Ideal" in terms of the writing exercise I was doing, not the Twilight I was putting in my story. Sorry for not being specific.

[Thanqol]

Long Distance has been renamed Yours Truly

And it just got a fairly hefty update.

This entire sequence was absolutely not in the game plan. It came out of nowhere, blindsiding me. And I think it might be some of the best writing I've ever done.

There's still a little distance to go in the story.

[otakuryoga]

I think just swooping in, posting a single image, and leaving will be my new thing.

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Away!

i couldnt help but read that speech bubble in the voice of the Old Spice guy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Isaiah_Mustafa.jpg

[Aotrs Commander]

Stuff came, and so I snatched the use of my Mum's camera quick, and she's sliding off to Austraila for three weeks this afternoon...

Non-pony:

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First off, ages ago, I said I'd dig out some of my 25mm Undead stuff as a rough indicator of what the Aotrs armour looks like, so I did that! (Again, the actual armour is only fairly close to this, but these fall in the preveiw of "close enough" for my purposes. So, take the models with a grain of salt, as they weren't done with the intention of being me and Hopereaver!)

So, I found out a me, a Hopereaver and a WarDroid. I was surprised, actually, to find a Snake Launcher dude who was actually surprisingly close - sans helmet and everything! (My skull is not as bashed up though!) But under the circumstances, that's actually not too far off at all. The Darkmistress isn't very like Hopereaver, though (hair's wrong colour -

- And my make-up applications skills are not as bad as the Jokers!

-quite! And *skullpalm* also Hopereaver's armour is actually fully covering like, mine, which I just noticed as I type this, I didn't paint on the model (what with it being intended a Dark Mistress (i.e. from Dungeon Keeper), so actually is even less right, but I was in a bit of a hurry because I wanted to get done before Mum left. Oh well!

The WarDroid is not far off though.



The secret proj walker-girl-robots came in, too:

And a picture with the me for scale.


And finally, you may recall I tried doing a skull, and this is what it looks like in situ on the Keening Abyss (open mouth)


and Hoarfrost (closed mouth).


Quite successful, no?

[Capt. Ido Nos]

i couldnt help but read that speech bubble in the voice of the Old Spice guy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Isaiah_Mustafa.jpg

UPDATE: All of my posts are now supposed to be read in the voice of Isaiah Mustafa.

This even applies retroactively. In time, that is. You have always read my posts in the sound of his deep, soothing voice of pure manliness.

Away!

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Ack! Not only did you do everything he mentioned, but you even threw rocket launchers in too!

So... awesome...

I-

I have been defeated.

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Thanks. But your sadface make all

Uuurrr... That was an experience, to say the least...

Now I-

Hey, boss, lookit!



Wha-

*skulldoublesplode*

...

*explodes*

I'm making people explode and it's a good thing! I'm glad you liked it

I think just swooping in, posting a single image, and leaving will be my new thing.

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Away!

OH SWEET CELESTIA KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE

Stuff came, and so I snatched the use of my Mum's camera quick, and she's sliding off to Austraila for three weeks this afternoon...

Those look pretty dang nice. The walker bot manages to look like an adorably deadly puppy in that pic with you.

[Lix Lorn]

The latest Homestuck update also features a shout-out to Friendship is Magic. Spot the Rainbow Dash (spoilers, naturally)!

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This. This is a good thing.

(saw it first)

Oh, now we can speculate about whether or not the presence of Rainbow Dash will alter the temporal structure of the universe, reappear in 200-500 strips, or lead to the creation of a new fan troll Oh wait, that last one already happened.

Yeah, don't kid yourselves, there was a troll-dash within a week of MLP becoming a thing. xD

In fact, a lot of depth can be faked I you're proficient at making death about sex, and sex about death.

I'd like to nominate pony as a third option by the way. Everything is about sex, death or ponies.

Agreed.

This is just a short fictional snipped. I can’t put it into context (or, I can, but I don’t want to go into that), so my options are somewhat limited.
First, if an English major ever said “Oh, this means this,” I would be sorely tempted to punch him. Art is far too beautiful for one to one representation, and the books that try are pitiful (Animal Farm, I’m looking at you).
Second, the author says “the curtains are [expletive] blue, alright?”, implying that they’re just blue. No reason behind it. Except we know that’s not true. There was an image, something in the author’s head that compelled him to mention the curtains were blue. He didn’t need to, there was nothing forcing him to. Writing is similar to photography in that it is as much defined by what it leaves out than by what it includes. People seem to think photography is realism. That is not the case. When someone takes a photograph, they choose the content of the photo, they choose the angle of the shot, the height of the shot, the lighting, everything. All of these decisions leave room for the “actual content” to be coloured by the artist’s perception, the artist’s inspiration. So every time you look at a photograph, you don’t see things as they actually were. You see things how the photographer wants you to see them.
With writing, this is even more so. The author has full control over what goes in a book, and what doesn’t go in. If it’s in the book, there’s a reason for it being there. Otherwise it wouldn’t be there. So let’s return to our example. Why blue? Why mention the colour at all? In fact, why mention the curtain? Why even use a house at all? The author is trying to recreate an image from his memory. What is that scene, why use it? What sort of feelings does the author attach to the image? Without looking at more, I couldn’t tell you. But there’s something there, whether the author knows it or not.
Did I lose you? It is a tenuous argument. I’ll end with a final example. An author writes an incredibly racist book, portraying certain groups in an incredibly negative and demeaning light. The text is unambiguously racist. But the author says it isn’t racist. Do you trust the author, or do you trust the text?

I'm not trying to make the point that the author knows his story best, I'm just saying that the author might pick blue for a minor reason, or arbitrarily. Everything that goes in affects the text, but it's not all intentional.

[Thanqol]

Oooo, this year's Derpy Day is coming up.

This means I should start getting ready for Operation: Indiscriminate Friendship.

This is going to be fun.

[Kyouhen]

Oh, I can encourage you. I can encourage you freely. Encouragement is cheap. Because I know you'll never ever catch up with me.

Others have tried. They've failed. Still more are trying. It's only a matter of time before they fail too. I know for a fact that I am better than everypony else here, that when I commit to things I alone have the strength of will to see them through to the end. No one else can contest me, not seriously.

And so I can be fairly free with my encouragement. If I'm free with my encouragement, chances are you'll draw more pictures of my characters before you inevitably burn out and fail, and I value people drawing pictures of my characters. Selfish motives are present behind every honeyed word.

And at the end of the day, you shall fail and I shall succeed. It's not your fault. It's just a case of me being better than you. And I can be magnanimous in victory.


Charger: You weren't meant to ever say that out loud.
Discord'd Mask: They wanted a challenge.

As someone who was eager to dig into the latest ATG only to have it delayed, I have only one response to this.

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State your terms, sir!

Stuff came, and so I snatched the use of my Mum's camera quick, and she's sliding off to Austraila for three weeks this afternoon...

Non-pony:

Spoiler

Show

First off, ages ago, I said I'd dig out some of my 25mm Undead stuff as a rough indicator of what the Aotrs armour looks like, so I did that! (Again, the actual armour is only fairly close to this, but these fall in the preveiw of "close enough" for my purposes. So, take the models with a grain of salt, as they weren't done with the intention of being me and Hopereaver!)

So, I found out a me, a Hopereaver and a WarDroid. I was surprised, actually, to find a Snake Launcher dude who was actually surprisingly close - sans helmet and everything! (My skull is not as bashed up though!) But under the circumstances, that's actually not too far off at all. The Darkmistress isn't very like Hopereaver, though (hair's wrong colour -

- And my make-up applications skills are not as bad as the Jokers!

-quite! And *skullpalm* also Hopereaver's armour is actually fully covering like, mine, which I just noticed as I type this, I didn't paint on the model (what with it being intended a Dark Mistress (i.e. from Dungeon Keeper), so actually is even less right, but I was in a bit of a hurry because I wanted to get done before Mum left. Oh well!

The WarDroid is not far off though.



The secret proj walker-girl-robots came in, too:

And a picture with the me for scale.


And finally, you may recall I tried doing a skull, and this is what it looks like in situ on the Keening Abyss (open mouth)


and Hoarfrost (closed mouth).


Quite successful, no?

Wow, those new models look great! I really need to build myself a 3D printer or something. Too lazy to send in orders to other companies. Must have printer.

[Capt. Ido Nos]

Oooo, this year's Derpy Day is coming up.

This means I should start getting ready for Operation: Indiscriminate Friendship.

This is going to be fun.

Wait wait WHAT IS THIS GLORIOUS DAY?

[Thanqol]

As someone who was eager to dig into the latest ATG only to have it delayed, I have only one response to this.

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State your terms, sir!

My terms are do a single drawing every single day, no excuses, for longer than I have. I'm at 240 days and counting. Doesn't have to be a good drawing, just has to get done.

Wait wait WHAT IS THIS GLORIOUS DAY?

Derpy Day is the first of march IIRC. The rules are you have to eat a muffin, take a picture of yourself walleyed (or doing your best to manage it), and send a letter to someone.

If you're ME and CRAZY, you have to give sixty muffins to random strangers in the street, get those strangers to sing a song from My Little Pony (Last year it was Evil Enchantress, this year I'm thinkin' Cupcakes), and get the internet to write you hundreds of uplifting letters and distribute those letters to random strangers.

Best day.