My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know

[Kyouhen]

Just wanted to announce to the world at large that my next character is going to be a cleric.

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Now you just need to pick up every possible form of banishment spell, find a way to get your hands on Telekinesis (to the MOOOOooooonnnn!) and pick up a cannon.

...Wait, wasn't there a wizard feat or something that let you gain access to the spells in a domain?

Caution!

From memory, colored (fimo, modeling, etc.) clay doesn't operate like the like the stuff Kyouhen uses for his sculptures. And it doesn't do well when wetted. It becomes slimy, and can run. Theoretically, alcohol and a brush would be small enough in fluid dosage to not cause a mess, but it's gotta be done carefully.

Actually FIMO is what I use. I think that was the other reason why you want to avoid using water, because FIMO doesn't like water and ends up being a horrible mess. Alcohol vaporizes fast enough that it doesn't cause that problem as long as you don't drench the clay with it.

This a good, neigh, great thing, and you should be proud of it!

Also, Pinkie Pie as a parent? Equestria is not ready!

...Okay, maybe it didn't turn out as well as I hoped. It's supposed to be Pumpkin wearing one of those full-body baby suits.
Knew I should have put on some little stitches or something... Still stupidly happy with how it turned out though...

I have a feeling that any edition of that story that has unaccented AJ writing just won't sound like her in my head.

Actually that's a good point. It all really depends on if Thanqol wants to go for authenticity with the letters looking like letters or if he wants it to echo the thoughts of the characters instead of their writing. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume Twilight's reading the letters in Applejack's voice.

[Aotrs Commander]

X-Who?

I don't see what you-

*skullpalm*

Dammit, Lixie!

And, if by some insane chance, Lixie is not behind this insanity, I'm gonna do some serious mangling of innards when I do find out who is!

Um, the Emergancy guys are on their way, Commadore.

Good. The sooner we get Hopereaver fixed, the sooner we can get back to abnormal around here!

The First Draft of Yours Truly is Complete!

I has read it.

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I am pretty sure I'm not the target audience. (As, they say, duh.) Technically, it was to your usual standard, and I think the emotional content conveyed what you were trying to do, but... I mean, I've seen sadder stories - bit I don't tend to class sad stories as necessarily good, so that's sort of a neutral point.

Something didn't just gel with me, on a personal level, perhaps because of the format or something, I dunno. It wasn't funny (which is one of my first criterion for enjoyment, there weren't any explosions in it (and all the action was off-screen)... I think, maybe, the distance of the letter format put in is just a touch too much for unempathic engineer-minded necromancers to get their skulls around. While I have seen the concept work and this did for a fashion for me, I think it was a bit too much tell and not enough show for me personally.

And the core concept of the Applejack/Twilight romance passed me right by. It's not the pairing, because I'm not biased (except for that one exception), but when people ramble on about love and how great it is, I tend to just tune them out, whoever they are, because I have slightly less sense of romance than bowel surgery performed with a rusty spatula. With that being sort of the focus, with nothing else apart from that to distract me from it, that part just sort of...was. The words were there, the meaning understood, but the emotional impact was completely lost on the Lawful Evil, megalomanical, omnicidal, monstrous killing machine. It was, to borrow a Prachettian metaphor, a brick/dentistry situation. The sad and poigneitn parts, I think worked a but better for me.

I'd give you some points for Spike/Rarity, but it seemed too abrupt, and it was never mentioned again. Surely Twilight or Applejack or somepony would have had something to say about her decision?

On the whole, out of the three of your fics I've read, I liked this one the least. (Not that I disliked it, per se, I sorta neutralled it, which is probably the worst thing I can say, sorry!)

I think Easy as Lying was much more fun (being, as it is, comedy, which is much more up my alley.)

Which reminds me, you can start on that now again, can't you...? (When you've had a break and relax, and probably a revision of this, knowing you...)

[Draconi Redfir]

Paizo did.

Heck i dont even consider myself a real brony and i'd play it.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Heck i dont even consider myself a real brony and i'd play it.

I neither consider myself a real brony nor have any real interest in PnP RPGs, and I'd play it too.

[Kairaven]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly is Complete!

So, impressions and suggestions that you can feel fine to ignore.

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Is it still Hoofwriting when an unicorn writes with magic?

I find it slightly off that Rarity somehow mistakenly sent the draft letter to Fancy Pants, and that she did not somehow panic or DRAMA over it.

Also, short, one to three sentenced letter is not an efficient means of correspondence, especially without dragonmail. I am more inclined to believe that it is an excerpt from a whole letter rather than the entirety of the letter itself. that is, unless pony society has reach the level of technological advancement that allows e-mail like system, but then our favored Mail mare would be out of jobs. (maybe she can work for EPS instead. (Equestria Package Service))



I really enjoyed your last visit. I can hardly believe how fast you’ve become. I mean, I always knew you were the best, but ever since you started training with the Wonderbolts you’ve become even better. That move you did, last time, where you tied those clouds together with that rainbow? It was SO amazing that it made me feel like shouting! woo hoo.

slight added flavor, feel free to ignore.

it is also rather unlikely for Rarity to suddently drop off into silence with her friends, a letter from her to Twi or AJ stating that her new business responsibilities keep her from writing would be good. She is Too lady-like to be so inconsiderate. hmmph!

Separate Rarity's letter to Princess from her adventure Journal. A journal is like a correspondence to one's self and can stand alone on it's own. title it excerpt from Rarity's journal if you don't want to write day to day journal entries.

How did Derpy find the address of a sky pirate, that mail mare is amazing, which kind of makes the occational misplaced letter that much unlikely, she is such an enigma of competancy and failure.

What is the time frame? If the Main 6 are all away for so long to have careers and adventure, and Apple Bloom has her cutie mark and is no doubt a proper mare, how is it that Pipsqueak is still so young? Especially it seems that pony development seems to be more advanced than human. I wouldn't mind a young adult Pipsqueak Writing to his favorite Princess, or perhap hints of Lunasqueak like so many on the web likes to do. But the time differences seems rather jarring.

Luna's Sun raising can be written as a letter or note from Luna to Celestia in keeping with the correspondence theme.

Phoe is right, RD's story didn't have an ending. Use newpaper announcements for short celebratory event or obituary, depends on the mood you wish to create. perhaps a centennial headline about a certain dragon and lady? hmm...

lastly....

Dear muffin
I am accused of missing a letter, me? can you believe it? How can it be possible that I of all mare missed a letter. unless...gaaassp! that trip with the Doctor! quick muffin, to the Tardis!
signed
Ditzy Doo

[legomaster00156]

It ocurred to me that the ponies use the same days of the week as us, but they obviously do have the same source of the words: Norse mythology. Anyone care to speculate on how their weekdays' names were chosen?

[Gamerlord]

It ocurred to me that the ponies use the same days of the week as us, but they obviously do have the same source of the words: Norse mythology. Anyone care to speculate on how their weekdays' names were chosen?

Wasn't there a theory within these threads that Pinkie was related to Loki?

[TheAmishPirate]

It ocurred to me that the ponies use the same days of the week as us, but they obviously do have the same source of the words: Norse mythology. Anyone care to speculate on how their weekdays' names were chosen?

They totally have Norse mythology. Pinkie Pie works directly under Loki, after all. Gah, Loki'd!

In all honesty, I have no idea. Maybe they were named for ancient ponies who shared the names of Norse mythological figures? Ooh, better idea, each day has its own story behind how it got its name. Like maybe Sunday was the first day Celestia raised the sun after taking the throne, freeing the unicorns to explore other types of magic. Friday is the day some clever pony discovered how to fry food, possibly the day doughnuts were created. Something like that.

[Alex Star]

It ocurred to me that the ponies use the same days of the week as us, but they obviously do have the same source of the words: Norse mythology. Anyone care to speculate on how their weekdays' names were chosen?

There is an episode and I can't recall which one, and being at work I can't check back easily to find it. Where mention of the "world outside Equestria" is made. Something about how the natural laws are different and whatnot. A simple deduction from this would be to assume that Equestria exists to Earth in the same way as the Harry Potter universe exists.

The two exist in tandem only in the MLP FiM universe there is very limited awareness of the two worlds. Except for the fact that a veil which has been breached (perhaps only by a limited few) does exist between the two.

[legomaster00156]

There is an episode and I can't recall which one, and being at work I can't check back easily to find it. Where mention of the "world outside Equestria" is made. Something about how the natural laws are different and whatnot. A simple deduction from this would be to assume that Equestria exists to Earth in the same way as the Harry Potter universe exists.

The two exist in tandem only in the MLP FiM universe there is very limited awareness of the two worlds. Except for the fact that a veil which has been breached (perhaps only by a limited few) does exist between the two.

Limited awareness, meaning that only Pinkie Pie sees the breach.

[Gaelbert]

There is an episode and I can't recall which one, and being at work I can't check back easily to find it. Where mention of the "world outside Equestria" is made. Something about how the natural laws are different and whatnot. A simple deduction from this would be to assume that Equestria exists to Earth in the same way as the Harry Potter universe exists.

The two exist in tandem only in the MLP FiM universe there is very limited awareness of the two worlds. Except for the fact that a veil which has been breached (perhaps only by a limited few) does exist between the two.

Are you sure about that? I would think that if somepony ever said that, the fandom would have gone crazy. Are you thinking of when Jayson Thiesson made some sort of offhand comment about Equestria having borders? Because that was all he said then, and then he walked back on it, saying that might not even be true.

[Kyouhen]

Are you sure about that? I would think that if somepony ever said that, the fandom would have gone crazy. Are you thinking of when Jayson Thiesson made some sort of offhand comment about Equestria having borders? Because that was all he said then, and then he walked back on it, saying that might not even be true.

I think Alex might be talking about Bridle Gossip, when the ponies are going on about how horrible the Everfree Forest is. That's the only case I can think of where the ponies discuss a world where things function differently from the world they're used to.

[Athaniar]

Heck i dont even consider myself a real brony and i'd play it.

I neither consider myself a real brony nor have any real interest in PnP RPGs, and I'd play it too.

Hey, as long as you like the show (and isn't part of the target demographic, I guess), you are a brony. We will not divide ourselves into "true fans" and stuff like that.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Hey, as long as you like the show (and isn't part of the target demographic, I guess), you are a brony. We will not divide ourselves into "true fans" and stuff like that.

Eh, it's more of a "how deep in the game are you" thing. You'll never see me use the -pony equivalents of "somebody" or "everybody", I won't substitute "hand" or "foot" for "hoof", I stay away from most memes, don't invent crazy shippings (except that one time) and don't buy show merch. I still like the show though, and I like the community that sprung up around it, so that makes me a "peripheral part of the periphery demographic".

Is there such a thing as self-segregation? Because I think that's what I'm doing...

[Pokonic]

They totally have Norse mythology. Pinkie Pie works directly under Loki, after all. Gah, Loki'd!

In all honesty, I have no idea. Maybe they were named for ancient ponies who shared the names of Norse mythological figures? Ooh, better idea, each day has its own story behind how it got its name. Like maybe Sunday was the first day Celestia raised the sun after taking the throne, freeing the unicorns to explore other types of magic. Friday is the day some clever pony discovered how to fry food, possibly the day doughnuts were created. Something like that.

Thursday is actualy Firsday, which is the tree that most of the older buildings are made from.

[TheAmishPirate]

Hey, as long as you like the show (and isn't part of the target demographic, I guess), you are a brony. We will not divide ourselves into "true fans" and stuff like that.

Eh, it's more of a "how deep in the game are you" thing. You'll never see me use the -pony equivalents of "somebody" or "everybody", I won't substitute "hand" or "foot" for "hoof", I stay away from most memes, don't invent crazy shippings (except that one time) and don't buy show merch. I still like the show though, and I like the community that sprung up around it, so that makes me a "peripheral part of the periphery demographic".

Is there such a thing as self-segregation? Because I think that's what I'm doing...

That's not divisions of fans and "true fans", or even demographic nonsense.

No, it's simply stages of infection.

[Lord Raziere]

Good thing I've taken my sanity shots then. Years ago.

[Zevox]

Eh, it's more of a "how deep in the game are you" thing. You'll never see me use the -pony equivalents of "somebody" or "everybody", I won't substitute "hand" or "foot" for "hoof", I stay away from most memes, don't invent crazy shippings (except that one time) and don't buy show merch. I still like the show though, and I like the community that sprung up around it, so that makes me a "peripheral part of the periphery demographic".

Is there such a thing as self-segregation? Because I think that's what I'm doing...

Everything you just said about yourself applies to me too, but I consider myself a Brony. Don't see why I wouldn't - it's just the term for older fans of the show, which I am.

Zevox

[Sean Mirrsen]

That's not divisions of fans and "true fans", or even demographic nonsense.

No, it's simply stages of infection.

Heh, I suppose you could look at it like that. Yeah, maaaaaaaybe at some point I'll go deeper, but I don't quite see it happening with things as they are. Russia is "deep south" when it comes to pony things.

edit: @Zevox: True enough, "brony" is a pretty broad concept (as is "furry"), but whether or not you associate yourself with a fandom is somewhat different from whether or not you qualify to be in it.

[Lix Lorn]

I'm sorry. I've had a couple false starts, but... I can't push you to the head of the queue. I can't. One of the principles that makes us all friends here is that no one of us has "seniority".

Huh. Really? I totally see seniority...
Phoe and Esper at the top, then you and Thanqol... I think I'm about level with Aotrs, but I couldn't say where anyone is.

Siuis => Limit Break: Omniquote

===> Lixie: Fondly regard omniquote.

Yes. This is what I was trying to say, with the addendum that even though something might not be intentional, it doesn’t mean it’s not important.

So what you're saying is that we were aggressively agreeing.

No worries. I gladly accept hugs.

(Unrelated hug)

*groan*

OMIGOSH YOU...

Hey ponythread. I-Aaaaaaargh! Thanqol! What the heck...?

Liiiiixie?

What did you do to him?!

Huh? (distracted) What did I-

I was wondering if people would notice.

Aaaaaaaaargh!

Hey!

...

Go ahead. Have fun.

^_^

Wait, what? I thought I canceled... well, I meant to. Keep Masky. Have fun.

...I have won this so many ways.

I don't see what you-

*skullpalm*

Dammit, Lixie!

And, if by some insane chance, Lixie is not behind this insanity, I'm gonna do some serious mangling of innards when I do find out who is!

Um, the Emergancy guys are on their way, Commadore.

Good. The sooner we get Hopereaver fixed, the sooner we can get back to abnormal around here!

Oh hey that... (twigs that it's a secret)

It ocurred to me that the ponies use the same days of the week as us, but they obviously do have the same source of the words: Norse mythology. Anyone care to speculate on how their weekdays' names were chosen?

From Goat mythology, of course!

[Pokonic]

From Goat mythology, of course!

Naturaly, dont say that to the deerish folk. Or is it elkish?

[Gaelbert]

Huh. Really? I totally see seniority...
Phoe and Esper at the top, then you and Thanqol... I think I'm about level with Aotrs, but I couldn't say where anyone is.

Certainly people have contributed different amounts to the fandom, and post different quantities of content, but as far as seniority goes? As long as you're a ponythread member, you matter just as much to me as anyone else. That general spirit of egalitarianism and inclusiveness is one of the main aspects that keeps me here.

So what you're saying is that we were aggressively agreeing.

No! Defintely yes!

(Unrelated hug)

Gaelbert gladly accepts the hugs and repays in kind.

[Metahuman1]

{Scrubbed}

[AlterForm]

Huh. Really? I totally see seniority...
Phoe and Esper at the top, then you and Thanqol... I think I'm about level with Aotrs, but I couldn't say where anyone is.

Can I be Ponythread's Scruffy, who joined at some indeterminate time in the past and pops in randomly from time to time? ( Agreed with any sort of seniority being pointless since the threads go quickly enough that everyone is "old guard" in the space of a couple weeks anyway :P)

PS Thanqol: will read YT at some point. probably this weekend when I grab some free time

[Aotrs Commander]

Huh. Really? I totally see seniority...
Phoe and Esper at the top, then you and Thanqol... I think I'm about level with Aotrs, but I couldn't say where anyone is.

*splutter*

What do you mean I'm not at the top!?!? Sacriledge!!!

Huh? (distracted) What did I-

Aaaaaaaaargh!

...

Okay, so not Lixie, then...

Who else coud be doing... *skullpalm*

Midnight. Obviously.

*sigh* That unicorn will never learn...

Somepony get her in here, I want to have words with her about this transformation thing she's done to Thanq and Tiki!

Oh hey that... (twigs that it's a secret)

What's a secret?

You people are being very strange today.

I'm beginning to think you're all up to something, and I mean more than I usually do!

[Sean Mirrsen]

...

Okay, so not Lixie, then...

Who else coud be doing... *skullpalm*

Midnight. Obviously.

*sigh* That unicorn will never learn...

Somepony get her in here, I want to have words with her about this transformation thing she's done to Thanq and Tiki!

Well, it could, theoretically, be me.. As a Multiverse Controller I have a (somewhat) strict policy of non-interference, but I tend to be a bad influence wherever I appear regardless. It's even worse with fourth-wall aware and universe-jumping ponies around. I mean, I'm not even supposed to be visible, let alone tangible, but somehow Pinkie keeps finding me whenever my avatar pops in for a gander at the scenery.

[Kindablue]

Ha! Just you wait until my sophomore album. It will revolutionize and renew the movement.

There's a brilliant documentary about Delia Derbyshire called The Sculptress of Sound that you should definitely check out. An Electric Storm by her band White Noise is one of my favorite albums.

[Gaelbert]

legomaster00156: Deaf: Vinyl's Tale: A Review:

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"Oh, yeah: and I'm as deaf as a dead pony."
I don't know how I feel about that metaphor. The word "pony" doesn't sound like it fits there. Maybe try "horse," as that would bring to mind the phrase "beating a dead horse" but recontextualize it, making it new and interesting. Alternatively, something like "deaf as a doornail" would work. It has delicious alliteration, making it sound more alive.

"Most of them assume that I can hear the music I play with such skill."
This sentence could use some streamlining. It sounds a little awkward and starts to bog down in the middle.

"I had picked up on ways to excite a crowd, having been taught by the old DJ of the club."
This sentence has the same problem. I think if you combined the two parts, maybe something like "The old DJ taught me some ways to excite a crowd." Try to avoid passive sentences, things like "having been taught." You should be much more aggressive, especially in a story so short as this.

"concealing my violet eyes with a deep blue to match my mane."
Same thing here. A lot of colours, a lot of adjectives. A short story needs to get to its point fast, grab the reader immediately, and then punch them. Chopping out any extraneous descriptions, anything that's not vitally necessary for the story, is a good start to that.

"Then somepony started talking about a missing guest, and I stopped the music to help look."
This is introduced rather quickly, and so it doesn't seem too important to the reader. I'd try to emphasize this, maybe using it as the first sentence in a new paragraph. Also, how does a guest go missing in a club? Guests come in and leave all the time, what would make someone think that there's anything more to this?

"I didn't think anything of it, until he ordered me to keep playing the beats, and to not stop until he told me to. I almost argued, but I decided it was best to keep ponies entertained rather than panicked."
Put yourself in Vinyl's shoes here. Someone comes up to you during the middle of your job, and starts ordering you to keep playing music? I agree that she would continue to play the music, but I imagine she would have a little more to say to the earth pony. And I don't see why she would think, at that point, that if she stopped playing the music the guests would be panicked. I see you're foreshadowing up to something (obviously), but at that point Vinyl herself wouldn't have known that. Music does occasionally stop in a club, and generally the guests don't panic if it does. They might get upset, possibly angry, but they wouldn't panic unless something else happened.

"About 5 minutes later, the pony came running back in, chasing a black mare with her Cutie Mark blotted out. The mare seemed to be incredibly annoyed by the music... and it stuck to the ceiling to hide itself."
I would be a a little more specific with my nouns here. Specify the earth pony, and then use "her" instead of "it" to talk about the black mare.

"some weird screwdriver thing turning the volume up to about 20 times it's normal maximum."
I get that we, as the readers, know the Doctor refers to it as a sonic screwdriver, but if you'd never seen it before? Vinyl probably wouldn't identify it as a screwdriver if it's turning the volume up. She might say it looked a little like a screwdriver, but she wouldn't make the full connection there.

"my glasses shattered under the force of the sonic, and I nearly went blind to boot."
Same thing here. I'd suggest just calling it "the force of the sound" instead of "sonic." Sonic doesn't really make sense here.

"Lots of ponies - friends, family, fans - came to visit me and talk to me, but they'd all heard the news. I was deaf. Forever."
This makes sense, but it doesn't mesh up with the part at the beginning where she mentions that some people don't know she's deaf. I'd suggest changing one of those parts (probably at the beginning) to make it a little more consistent.

Some overall thoughts:
It's eight years on, but I still think she would mention some of the pain it caused her. Music is her cutie mark after all, a representation of her soul. And then it got cut off. That's one of the most painful things anyone can go through, but she sounds awfully nonchalant about it within the story. That's the part that interests me. How does she get through the pain? How does she adapt to her circumstances? I get that some musicians can be deaf, but only the extraordinarily strong and powerful ones. How does Vinyl get to a place where she can make music without ever hearing it? That would be an amazing story, one that I'd love to see you write.

This reminds me of the parts in Doctor Who where the companion thinks about all s/he's done with the Doctor, how s/he's changed and all that. You do the casual and whimsical style well, I just don't know if I'd use that with this piece. It just depends on what you're going for.

[Soras Teva Gee]

There is an episode and I can't recall which one, and being at work I can't check back easily to find it. Where mention of the "world outside Equestria" is made. Something about how the natural laws are different and whatnot. A simple deduction from this would be to assume that Equestria exists to Earth in the same way as the Harry Potter universe exists.

The two exist in tandem only in the MLP FiM universe there is very limited awareness of the two worlds. Except for the fact that a veil which has been breached (perhaps only by a limited few) does exist between the two.

That's sounds like Bridle Gossip's commentary on Everfree Forest where such shocking sights as the clouds moving on their own can be seen. Implying that beyond the bounds of pony control things simply go as we expect.

[Kyouhen]

Just sticking this here to make sure Thanqol sees it.

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Also Thanqol, thank you for getting me doing the daily painting thing. My roommates and I have this thing where there's weekly challenges that we get a small amount of experience for doing, and when we hit 100xp we get to take something from The Loot Bowl. (There's a Loot Tax every Friday where we have to throw something into the bowl) I just noticed that "Make a piece of art" was on the board and worth 15xp, so I'm getting some pretty stupid amounts of experience this week.