My Little Pony XXXIX: There is no Pegasus Mafia!

[Thanqol]

Hey AotRS: I deliver... fanart!

Spoiler

Show

And suddenly this debate took an awesome new direction.

Jayden: You sayin' I'm crazy?

Another topic: If we were to pit our OCs against each other in various comeptions, what would they be and how do you think it will all pan out?

That's vague to the point of being a non-question.

Though mine would win, obviously.

[Pendulous]

Two things, hope they haven't been mentioned:

Chris Rager is NOT the voice of Iron Will https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...18287581518198
Now I really wonder who it was

Second, March 15 a South Park episode will air called "My Little Brony". I can definitely see Randy becoming a brony, not sure about the kids.

[Deadly]

Synopsis for Season 2 finale.

Spoiler

Show

I believe the comments accurately describe my reaction. Wat.

In which Deadly is pessimistic

Spoiler

Show

Wut indeed!

If true (still kinda rumorish, I guess, but seems legit enough to me) that comes out of nowhere, which kinda bugs me. But I'll be fair and not pass judgment on Twilight's supposed brother yet. But they damn well not just drop him in without a good explanation.

Which is really what I'm worried about, this sudden feeling that we're not going to get any explanation for Cadence (or Twi's brother, for that matter), that it'll just be all "now there are three alicorns and a brother, magic! Ain't gotta explain sh**"

Hearth's Warming Eve all over with it's more-questions-than-it-answers, but worse

[Grif]

Heres a question for the masses. What would warfare look like in equestria? Would it be old fashioned medieval style of honor on the battle field? 2 armies meeting to engage, sending their commanders to negotiate before battle?

Or would it follow the WW1, WW2 urban fighting, trench warfare, artillery

Or prehaps the route of the league of legends, each faction selects champions to fight in an arena.

Possibly some elaborate game of magical horse?

Based on the current apparent tech levels? I suppose Napoleonic style wars would be prevalent, if firearms are present. As I see it, ponies have no way of accurately aiming weapons mounted on their backs/shoulders, and thus massed fire would be favoured. Cavalry charge will take a whole new meaning too.

This is of course, assuming we're not talking about strange ritual of honours to settle dispute and talking about all out warfare.

Though, Equestria being Equestria, it would probably be settled by diplomacy and the magic of friendship long before any sort of nasty fighting occurred.

[Thanqol]

In which Deadly is pessimistic

Before everypony gets pessimistic over a synopsis, remember that this team made the 'Surprise Party' plotline, which is one of the worst plotlines of all time, work and work amazingly.

Take each episode on it's merits, not on the merits of the fanfiction we generate based on the synopsis

[Deadly]

Before everypony gets pessimistic over a synopsis, remember that this team made the 'Surprise Party' plotline, which is one of the worst plotlines of all time, work and work amazingly.

Take each episode on it's merits, not on the merits of the fanfiction we generate based on the synopsis

Spoiler

Show

I have plenty faith in the writers, that they could make something good of the premise here. My concern is that they won't explain things not because they can't, but because they don't want to.

I think we've gotten it into our heads somehow that they're interested in world building, continuity and explaining background stuff. But they're not. They're interested primarily in telling stand-alone stories and jokes, and a lot of world building can limit their options in that regard. Explain too much now and you limit what you can do later without breaking that previously established background. Better to be vague so that you can do just about anything you like later on.

That's why Hearth's Warming Eve was vague, and why this one will be too, in all likelihood.

[Thanqol]

Spoiler

Show

I have plenty faith in the writers, that they could make something good of the premise here. My concern is that they won't explain things not because they can't, but because they don't want to.

I think we've gotten it into our heads somehow that they're interested in world building, continuity and explaining background stuff. But they're not. They're interested primarily in telling stand-alone stories and jokes, and a lot of world building can limit their options in that regard. Explain too much now and you limit what you can do later without breaking that previously established background. Better to be vague so that you can do just about anything you like later on.

That's why Hearth's Warming Eve was vague, and why this one will be too, in all likelihood.

Spoiler

Show

Honestly, I prefer it that way. I like worldbuilding too much to share it with the writers of the show. I enjoy being able to build a dynamic myth, ignoring some parts and accepting others as I need them.

Oh, and A Study In Rainbows got reviewed! And it's a good review! I don't know why I'm still giddily surprised every time someone says something remotely nice about something I've written, but I am, and I hope it never goes away~

[Sean Mirrsen]

Before everypony gets pessimistic over a synopsis, remember that this team made the 'Surprise Party' plotline, which is one of the worst plotlines of all time, work and work amazingly.

Take each episode on it's merits, not on the merits of the fanfiction we generate based on the synopsis

I'm rather pessimistic about most changes that appear out of nowhere, especially major additions like that one. It could be handled well, in which case the finale could well be on par with last season's Best Night Ever (as in, fairly good). If it's not handled well enough, which I'm considering to be more probable (given my current opinion that the writers don't care about the universe much anymore), the whole thing is going to crash and burn, at least figuratively speaking. Right now, I'll hold my judgement until I see what they do with the next three episodes, which seem to promise at least some kind of interesting happenings.

And while I too enjoy my own worldbuilding, Thanqol, it becomes pretty hard for someone without serious language/writing skills to talk about the show with others when they're not talking about the same version of the show. When headcanons collide, heads usually hurt. :P

[Thanqol]

And while I too enjoy my own worldbuilding, Thanqol, it becomes pretty hard for someone without serious language/writing skills to talk about the show with others when they're not talking about the same version of the show. When headcanons collide, heads usually hurt. :P

Tshhh, accept instead that the entire world is an Arcadian dream; that is, it operates on mutable time and narrative laws. Rainbow Dash wants to be a hero, so the entire town retcons itself into a disaster zone to support that desire. The hero wins because that's what heroes do. Ponies run faster when they're pulling carts because that invokes the narrative power of vehicles. It's all nonsense, but it's narratively consistent nonsense.

It's not a world, it's a beautiful, insane dream filled with lovely ponies and their fascinating minds.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I think we've gotten it into our heads somehow that they're interested in world building, continuity and explaining background stuff. But they're not. They're interested primarily in telling stand-alone stories and jokes, and a lot of world building can limit their options in that regard. Explain too much now and you limit what you can do later without breaking that previously established background. Better to be vague so that you can do just about anything you like later on.

You don't say.

Snark aside, yes. I can see why people would have thought that though. Going off the first episodes it did kinda look like we would get a more adventure-y show with world-building and continuity. More Avatar:TLA and less Lucky Star.

It's not a world, it's a beautiful, insane dream filled with lovely ponies and their fascinating minds.

I've taken this stance for a while now too. Maybe Equestria is a pocket in the Wyld. Maybe everything is actually made of Narrativium. It doesn't really matter. Reality in MLP is whatever it needs to be to tell a good story, causality and consistency be damned.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Tshhh, accept instead that the entire world is an Arcadian dream; that is, it operates on mutable time and narrative laws. Rainbow Dash wants to be a hero, so the entire town retcons itself into a disaster zone to support that desire. The hero wins because that's what heroes do. Ponies run faster when they're pulling carts because that invokes the narrative power of vehicles. It's all nonsense, but it's narratively consistent nonsense.

It's not a world, it's a beautiful, insane dream filled with lovely ponies and their fascinating minds.

You don't say.

I've taken this stance for a while now too. Maybe Equestria is a pocket in the Wyld. Maybe everything is actually made of Narrativium. It doesn't really matter. Reality in MLP is whatever it needs to be to tell a good story, causality and consistency be damned.

Well, see, this just makes for the exact kind of metaverse I hate with the burning intensity of a thousand thermonuclear fireballs. Trying to navigate one is an exercise in frustration of such magnitude that it's easier to forget it existed in the first place and "accidentally" pay no attention when some intermultiverse monstrosity decides to make a snack out of it. Figuratively speaking. When a universe literally runs on the whims of the authors, without any regard for internal consistency or common sense, it becomes impossible to associate with. I've brought up a few examples earlier, where the nature, lore, and logic of the FiM 'verse were uprooted and thrown into the shredder for the sake of a quick gag. They Just Don't Care. And that makes me very sad. So much wasted potential...

I've been seriously considering using what little standing I have here to get permission (somehow, still not sure what that actually entails) and collapse the whole thing into a physical 'verse. It'd kill the entirety of the canon and fanon, retroactively, which is why I've only been considering it, but it'd mean a good universe would get to exist on its own, without some "higher" intelligence dictating every twist and turn. None of you would remember it existed anyway...

[Deadly]

I would like to see some world building and continuity myself, I think that's what the show really needs by now to keep it and the fan fiction fresh and engaging in the long run. If it's all random and inconsistent it loses its meaning and power over time.

Having consistent world building won't limit anything for fan fiction or headcanons, quite the opposite. We can still do whatever we like, we can have alternate histories, alternate realities, alternate everythings and we'll have lots of fun with that just as now. But it'd be nice to know that the show itself is more than disconnected pieces, and know what the people behind it themselves think of the world.

It'd be like having the writers among us as fans, just another "fan" fiction. Except not made by fans.

[Tiki Snakes]

Tshhh, accept instead that the entire world is an Arcadian dream; that is, it operates on mutable time and narrative laws. Rainbow Dash wants to be a hero, so the entire town retcons itself into a disaster zone to support that desire. The hero wins because that's what heroes do. Ponies run faster when they're pulling carts because that invokes the narrative power of vehicles. It's all nonsense, but it's narratively consistent nonsense.

It's not a world, it's a beautiful, insane dream filled with lovely ponies and their fascinating minds.

On some levels, I find this unconvincing. Not only does it seem unnecessary, because quite frankly I've not noticed any serious problem, but it also is phrased a little more meta than I would like.

HOWEVER even though it is essentially unnecessary and rather like hunting rabbits with a fully automatic rocket launcher, something about the particular turn of phrase there really wins me over.

(Oh, and Pulp-Fiction Luna and Celestia works far better than it should, apparently. Good stuff.)

[Aotrs Commander]

Spoiler

Show

Hmm, true. I suppose I cannot argue with the bit about tech, but I must say my peice about spirit-binding: thing is, a spirit-bound creature is more like a mummy than anything like a Death Knight or a Lich proper. Yes, the advantages of having a more robust skill set is undeniable, but the underlieing fact is something you said yourself: you don't have much options about the matter.

First off, the whole point of a lich is to be immortal and to feel fine about the whole deal.

Spoiler

Show

See that, right there? That is why there are no star-spanning organisations of phylactery-bound liches. There is no SAFE. There is no garentee. Relying on the deceptive security of a phyactery is like relying on armour for protection. It's a last-ditch defence commonly confused with the first. Even wearing armour, you still endeavour not to get hit.

It's also one more thing you have to devote resources to hiding and protecting.

And with opponents who know what they're doing, it's easy enough to trace a soul right back to the phylactery (leaving aside the fact that even planar distances are only thousands of miles, not light-years and that transit from destroyed body to soul is not instantenous over that kind of distance).

And even then, with modern necromancy, a phylactery is no garentee of safety, because there is enough of you outside in your body that a good necromancer can use it; not too mention the even rarer but even more terrible magic attacks that can track right back down the link and kill you IN your phylactery AT THE SAME TIME as destroying your body.

No, it's a very dangerous universe out there, and the conceits around in low-tech fantasy just don't apply. The only relative security is power, technological, magic and personal, power enough to just flat-out not be killed in the first place; which is where spirit-binding has the significant advantage, because only some energy damage is permenant (in the sense that it heals at "natural" rates"). Crush me to literal powder under ten thousand tons of weight, and I'll rejuvenate within a few hours. Crush Xykon under the same weight, and he'd be growing back out of his phylactery.

This is, of course, leaving out the fact that it is impractical for anything other than a lone individual. Phylactery-binding can't be done to you, so it precludes any non-spell-caster or casters of below considerable strength, as well as anyone already dead (a lot of commission for the Aotrs are posthumous ones). It's extremely expensive - aside from time and effort, Spirit-Binding has not material cost; when I said earlier it was infinitely cheaper I wasn't actually exaggerating. ([Number] divided by zero is infinity...) Hiding and protecting one phylactery is one thing. What do you do about ten? Or a hundred? Or thousands, or millions? (Even a comparitively numerically small organisation like the Aotrs has (with our only twenty-six worlds, plus numerous out-posts) probably high tens of millions, if not low hundreds of millions in our ranks.)

It provides something else you have to guard, because it'd be worth launching attacks against - and it's not something you could hide, because even a cloaked facility in deep space need supplies, ships to transport the Liches back out etc etc... (and if you have that much of a technological advantage, you shouldn't be losing in the first place). And even if you replaced the phylacteries when they were destroyed, you'd be hemoharging resources. For the Aotrs to be composed of phylactery-bound Liches, you'd be looking at the sort of cost that buys you not starships, starfleets. (I don't know what the population of the Aotrs is overall, but let's assume it as "small" as the population of Britain, so about 60 million. Taking D&D's estimate of 120k gold per phylactery (as I've no idea what a real one is), and equating a GP to an equivilent currency, dollars, pounds, elmonits, whatever you want, that's 7 200 000 000 000 GP equivilents. Now, I could be way out either way on the population count, but the fagpacket calculation is still illustrative.) Not too mention, if again we follow D&D's implications, it may takes months to make a single one, so you're talking about not about time in lichhours, you're talking about lich-millenia.

..... Actualy, if you would not mind, I think we all would like to know a bit on how you became a lich, exactly. Think of it like your cuti-mark story, exept that it involves the blackest energies of the nether realms and potent magical effort.

Not much to tell. After attracting the attention of the Aotrs, they offered me a commission, I accepted and became a Lich.

As to what I did to attract the attention of the Aotrs...sorry, I'm afraid that's one of the very few times, I have to metaphorically smile politely, and say "that's classified."

Yeah, it's above even my pay-grade, that.

*qustions*

Let us just say that I have been collating data on the universe for not much shy of three decades, in one form or another. There are literally knocking on to close to three Lich-decades of information in one form or another. Ponythread is not really the place to addend all of it, considering the sheer amount of it. (A google search should turn up the write-up on the Jalyrkieons, and there is also "History of the Dark Wars Part I, which pertains to my current fantasy campaign world. (Which itself ties into real-world events, due to casual events way back in the galaxy-spanning Xakkath Demon Wars ten thousand years ago.)

If enough people were interested, I have idly toyed with starting a thread in Arts & Crafts for the purpose of show-casing some of it on occasion.



To answer some specific questions:

What system? All of them. Everything I run, whether it's D&D on some time-and-tech-locked backwater (where, like the real world, the Aotrs often have a suitable garrison somewhere) or a regular evening wargame, it all ties in. Currently, for the business end, we use Manouvre Group for the ground combat, my own Accelerate & Attack for the starship combat, and for the non-D&D roleplaying, Rolemaster (which actually better models the magic better).

Magic can be vary variable in how it is utilised; the most common version (and the one the Aotrs use) is based on mana, from which spells are cast. Like most magic system with the exception of D&D, in fact (or to D&D's psionics). (Life mirrors art and all that.) Despite my (now much-more infrequent) humourous references, and the occasional name in homage to D&D, my magic is in fact nothing like it. Spells are generally used, since they are a) safer, and b) much more efficient. Direct mana-molding, i.e. the manipulation of mana to effective achive the effect of a spell you don't know from first principles, is extremely difficult and only very powerful casters even have the reserves to attempt it.

At last count, there are at least forty major powers - currently - active in the galaxy, of which I have written up data on perhaps half to a third, in greater or lesser detail. (There's not as much to say about the Herosine Empire, for example, give that they are a human power.) Nor is that and exhaustive list, as there are countless smaller minor powers and races, as well as major races not currently active in the community at large. The largest amount of data, is of course, on the Aotrs, because they are the ones I know best.

(The Cybertanks have been around so long and so prevalently that it is was years before I bothered to give them a right-up, and mainly then because I was doing a new ground army, and I like to add the flavour text to the Shipyards model descriptions, for a bit more of a professional touch.)

Bleakbane, hows the study of the Jalkerions(?)....that pony like race. havent heard anything about them in a long time.

Nothing new there, at the moment, I'm afraid.

Hey AotRS: I deliver... fanart!

Spoiler

Show

That is awesome.

(Though if I met a real Cybertank capable of stretching it's turret up like that I wouldn't know whether to laugh or be worried.)

Tshhh, accept instead that the entire world is an Arcadian dream; that is, it operates on mutable time and narrative laws. Rainbow Dash wants to be a hero, so the entire town retcons itself into a disaster zone to support that desire. The hero wins because that's what heroes do. Ponies run faster when they're pulling carts because that invokes the narrative power of vehicles. It's all nonsense, but it's narratively consistent nonsense.

It's not a world, it's a beautiful, insane dream filled with lovely ponies and their fascinating minds.

If it comes to that being the only viable interpretation, in the end, I fear MLP may slip from it's pedastal in my view. I don't find there is ever an excuse not to be internally consistent, and personally I find the whole MST3K mantra idea something faintly risable. And I don't really care if you're writing for children¹, adults or small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri, "because plot says so" makes me as angry at authorial laziness as "it's magic, I don't have to explain it." I don't care if you're not even very good at it, if you show me you're at least trying.

Given what is said in above, though, I imagine I don't have to explain why I feel this way...!

Well, see, this just makes for the exact kind of metaverse I hate with the burning intensity of a thousand thermonuclear fireballs. Trying to navigate one is an exercise in frustration of such magnitude that it's easier to forget it existed in the first place and "accidentally" pay no attention when some intermultiverse monstrosity decides to make a snack out of it. Figuratively speaking. When a universe literally runs on the whims of the authors, without any regard for internal consistency or common sense, it becomes impossible to associate with. I've brought up a few examples earlier, where the nature, lore, and logic of the FiM 'verse were uprooted and thrown into the shredder for the sake of a quick gag. They Just Don't Care. And that makes me very sad. So much wasted potential...

So, yeah, what he said.



¹For crying out loud, if Rev Awdry did it with Thomas the freaking Tank Engine in the books, everyone else had better at least make an effort.

And you know what? KIDS DO NOTICE. They may just assume the person involved is an idiot and got it wrong (as I assumed as a child in Starfleet when the dialogue in the clip shows was different to the original, and in which they spliced the story of two episodes together - I just assumed Shiro Hagen was a complete moron), but they DO notice inconsistencies. So the statement "it's for kids" holds no weight with me. It's an excuse, not a reason.

[Thanqol]

That is awesome.

(Though if I met a real Cybertank capable of stretching it's turret up like that I wouldn't know whether to laugh or be worried.)

Glad you like it! I'll get around to doing a full paints picture about something of yours one of these days. Just keep posting awesome stuff, the more you talk the more likely it'll happen. I'm still intending to do full coloured uniform designs for the AotRS troopers, got the uniform post bookmarked for that reason.


Cybertank: NOPE *Raises turret*

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I've brought up a few examples earlier, where the nature, lore, and logic of the FiM 'verse were uprooted and thrown into the shredder for the sake of a quick gag. They Just Don't Care. And that makes me very sad. So much wasted potential...

Yeah, see that's the thing. I'm not that sure there actually was any nature, lore, consistency and/or logic to begin with. Superficially, it may have looked like it. But actually? I'm not sure there actually was any, outside of the Pilot two-parter.

But then again, I may be projecting my lack of interest in consistency/lore/logic/what have you. I don't dislike it, mind. But in the context of the MLP show, I really don't care if it's there or not. A matter of taste, to be sure. I blame it on being a Wonderland creature.

[Anarion]

[spoiler]
If it comes to that being the only viable interpretation, in the end, I fear MLP may slip from it's pedastal in my view. I don't find there is ever an excuse not to be internally consistent, and personally I find the whole MST3K mantra idea something faintly risable. And I don't really care if you're writing for children¹, adults or small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri, "because plot says so" makes me as angry at authorial laziness as "it's magic, I don't have to explain it." I don't care if you're not even very good at it, if you show me you're at least trying.

Given what is said in above, though, I imagine I don't have to explain why I feel this way...!



So, yeah, what he said.



¹For crying out loud, if Rev Awdry did it with Thomas the freaking Tank Engine in the books, everyone else had better at least make an effort.

And you know what? KIDS DO NOTICE. They may just assume the person involved is an idiot and got it wrong (as I assumed as a child in Starfleet when the dialogue in the clip shows was different to the original, and in which they spliced the story of two episodes together - I just assumed Shiro Hagen was a complete moron), but they DO notice inconsistencies. So the statement "it's for kids" holds no weight with me. It's an excuse, not a reason.

I'll throw out my opinion on this one in a moment, but first, you used "risible" in a sentence. That's the first time I've ever seen anyone actually use it naturally. *Squee!*

*ahem* Right, the world-building. I hope I haven't contributed to this problem. Although I complained earlier that the writers have made some errors in world-building, I don't think they've done a terrible job. Actually, I think season 2 has done a good job of being relatively restrained. Season 1 established Ponyville, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Appleloosa, Manehattan, the Everfree forest, froggy-bottom bog and probably more that I'm forgetting. Those were all new locations and, frankly, if season 2 had kept throwing out locales at that rate, it would have become too large and unwieldy. Instead, season 2 has spent its time fleshing out these various locales, mostly done well, but with a few mistakes.

The other thing to keep in mind is that we don't have a fight between two extremes here. The choice is not Thanqol's dream world idea vs. a perfectly consistent 100% accurate physical location that always obeys its own rules. Rather, the setting exists on a continuum somewhere in the middle. If I had to place it, I think it's actually pretty close to Simpsons version of Springfield right now. That is, there is a basic layout of consistent areas such as Twilight's home, Sugarcube corner, and Sweet Apple Acres. Then laid over this consistent setting are new areas as the plot demands, which can fade out of existence just as easily as the Springfield monorail or burlesque house.

Finally, I want to point out that complaints about character personality don't go in the same category as world-building. If you want to point out that during Season 1, the window of Twilight's library moved into 3+ different locations, that's an example of inconsistent architecture (that apparently bothers nopony). But if you want to say Applejack or Fluttershy acted out of character at some point, that's much more subjective. Especially since real people act out of character all the time. Sometimes we don't really know someone's character, or we know her character, but her mind classifies activities in a way that differs from ours so that consistent for her is not consistent for us.

In sum, if you catch a mistake or don't like how something was done, you can certainly point that out. But I think we're premature to argue that all consistency, continuity and world-building have been thrown out of the series for some variation of the plane of Limbo.

[Thanqol]

In sum, if you catch a mistake or don't like how something was done, you can certainly point that out. But I think we're premature to argue that all consistency, continuity and world-building have been thrown out of the series for some variation of the plane of Limbo.

But I like Limbo . When nothing's true no one can tell when I'm lying.

[otakuryoga]

Magic can be vary variable in how it is utilised; the most common version (and the one the Aotrs use) is based on mana, from which spells are cast. Like most magic system with the exception of D&D, in fact (or to D&D's psionics). (Life mirrors art and all that.) Despite my (now much-more infrequent) humourous references, and the occasional name in homage to D&D, my magic is in fact nothing like it. Spells are generally used, since they are a) safer, and b) much more efficient. Direct mana-molding, i.e. the manipulation of mana to effective achive the effect of a spell you don't know from first principles, is extremely difficult and only very powerful casters even have the reserves to attempt it.

and of course mishaps while mana-moulding are usually much more Dramatic...as you can see by the current avatar for the Commodore

[Titanium Fox]

Given the nature of the show, it's no suprise that a team-up works best. Okay, so if we're going with a Dream Team: I'd say go with the Rarity/AJ ticket. That gets us Rarity's diplomatic skills and AJ's dependability. I'd think Rarity would be the better public face, but you could still make it work with AJ as President.

Twilight probably shouldn't get elected at all. Instead, she should earn a permanent job as a high-ranking civil servant or government contractor. Pinkie can run the Super PAC. Fluttershy wouldn't want to get in the spotlight in the first place, and Dash needs to be kept as far away from the Big Red Button as possible.

After her treatment of Spike in S1, I'm a little surprised people still find this behavior surprising.

You could put Dashie 200,000 miles away from the big red button, and she'd still be able to get to it in ten seconds flat if she felt so inclined.

We're going dream team now? Great. I vote for all of them. Twilight could be the president, Rarity could be in charge of public/foreign relations, Applejack as minister of labour/agriculture, Fluttershy as environmental minister, Pinkie Pie can be the minister of entertainment and Rainbow Dash gets to be in charge of the military.

...Come to think of it, I'm voting for Twilight. She goes to her friends when she has a problem, and there's no doubt in my mind that she'd put the rest of the ponies in important positions as advisers to help her out. By voting for Twilight we'd be voting for everypony.

Given the nature of the show, it's really not surprising this works. Each and every pony of the mane six works well to cover the other's flaws, it's like they were designed to be a team. Maybe something like fate has brought them together, through some sort of mystical element, each pony representing one...

...Wait.

Anyway, Chapter 16 of Mare in the Mirror, nearing the grand conclusion at last.

I fell off the boat with this back at like chapter 2. I really need to catch back up.

Don't forget about the other eyes she has, which won her election with 322% of the vote.

So, outside of voting Fluttershy, I vote Princess Celestia, so we can colonize the moon.

Wouldn't the pony to go to for that be Luna, since she lived there for 1000 years? I mean, hell, she probably already has. I know I would if I had an infinite supply of magic and a millennium to kill.

Well, I'm already pre-upgraded, with a self-reinforcing system. But hey, I wouldn't say no to any further upgrades.

Technically, as I suppose you can spirit-bind someone into something that's not a corpse (well, a necromancer of my skill can, anyway), so you could be bound into a robot body or something. But there's a bit of a difference between spirit-binding and spirit-binding effectively (i.e. with optimal and faster accumulation of spirit vessel will-reinforcement). There's a lot of technical explanation, but the lies-to-children version of it is it's easier to bind something effectively, into something that's already attuned to it (e.g. it's own body etc). If I bind a soul into a pebble, it's not a pebble-shaped Lich, it's a pebble with a soul bound into it, even if I'm not contraining it. If you bound something into a random robot your found, you might get something only barely better than an animated zombie.

We do have a process whereby a Lich is fused with what amounts of War Droid, which forms our Desolation Commandos. But you have to be a special sort of person to be able to undergo the trauma that bestows... Put it this way, the Desolation Commandos freak ME out.

Me too! They're... They just feel wrong, even to a Lich.



Still, if there was a way to do it sensibly and optimally, I'd be first in line...

Isn't robotic necromancy how The Druid Droid was created? Or is he still just an enigma we're not meant to understand?

Well, I watched a lot of Ghost in the Shell but stopped paying attention to the boring parts, so, um, I guess the next guy up would be Freakazoid. So, yeah, sure, depending on how it looks like on my checking account, what it looks like on me, and how many towers I can break and repair and break again, sign me up.

I really need to catch up on that series... Jeez, I fell off the boat with a lot of things.

Virtual self?

Hello! I am Technus, Manipulator of machines, Lord of all gadgetry, Wizard of integrated circuitry!

I miss that show so much. Now I want to go watch it... CONFOUND YOU PONIES, YOU DRIVE ME TO NOSTALGIA.

Synopsis for Season 2 finale.

Spoiler

Show

I believe the comments accurately describe my reaction. Wat.

Season 2 Finale Synopsis

Spoiler

Show

I... will admit I'm not looking forward to this episode. They will have to do this very well, and with their current track record of iffiness in Season 2, I'm not sure how confident I will be that they will actually pull it off right.

I foresee a world where everyone's facebook accounts is connected to the cybernetics internet; just by looking at someone you can see their status, if they're looking for relationship or a conversation, or even if they just want to be left alone.

You could eat at a shopping mall and put up a digital sign saying 'Bored. Talk to me?' and thus silently invite passerby to sit down and have a conversation. Your cybernetics would also import contact lists, music tastes, friends - "Oh, you know Robert? I was in high school with him!". Filters could similarly be put up; members of a brony group for example would see other bronies clearly while keeping it hidden from others.

There are privacy issues, naturally, and having this kind of information freely available about everyone would redefine human social conduct. I also see it as the most logical and inevitable conclusion of the advances made in facial recognition/photography, portable computing, facebook and social media, and biotech advances.

I think it'd be fascinating. Privacy issues, identity theft, all problems as usual, but it seems the logical conclusion of the direction our technology is heading in.

Umm... Thanqol? I just want to point you towards this. It's already began, Facebook is integrating heavily into real life already.

KLM Meet & Seat.

Presumably there'd be privacy and filter settings on your end, too - you wouldn't have to know the tragic backstory of every other person in the food court. You could, for instance, set it to only show the names and data of single young men. Or, if you're Pinkie Pie, filter out everyone except people who are having a bad day.

We already have incredible access to information through the internet; I expect us to simply become less and less reliant on external technology to access that information.

EDIT: I'm not even saying this is ideal or desirable; my own thought is just that the impact would be fascinating. I'm just saying that this is probable given a basic extrapolation of existing technological tends.

You know, I hate Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and every other example of Social Media that we have today. I use Twitter and Facebook specifically for what they were designed for. Mass updates about my life in the form of status updates. I do not use Facebook for Birthday Wishes, Events, Games, anything of the sort; and I certainly do not use Facebook for anything that integrates it with another site. Their lack of regard for privacy and the user as a whole is abhorent; and it's a sad day in society where I can have to have a Facebook account to function online.

... RE Season finale.

Spoiler

Show

Given their track record this season... I am highly highly highly HIGHLY highly skeptical. In my opinion, they didn't pull off their LAST two parter well. Sure, discord is a cool character, but all season, they've been trying to shove too much into too little time, and this is the sort of plot where there's a huge risk of it.

Hey, I think the first two parter this season was absolutely fantastic. They used the "I like Chaos" gag a grand total of one times too many; the only time it felt old was when Discord was sitting in the throne. Other than that, those are probably my favorite two episodes of the season.

And I fell behind in the thread.

Eh, it happens, don't worry too much about it. I fell behind five threads, and eventually I went "The heck with this, letting these posts rack up is keeping me from my friends" and skipped it.

Been a little busy with something else today...

Spoiler

Show

...yeah, that. So the thread has produced numerous pages that I don't have time to catch up on, sorry. But I've spent some time on Ponibooru today too, and wanted to share a couple of pictures, so here, have some cute:

Spoiler

Show

Zevox

I still need to beat Mass Effect 2 Aaaaaargh. I only finally finished Mass Effect 1 two days ago finally, and now I'm trying to sprint through 2 in between work and D&D sessions over the next month.

Two things, hope they haven't been mentioned:

Chris Rager is NOT the voice of Iron Will https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...18287581518198
Now I really wonder who it was

Second, March 15 a South Park episode will air called "My Little Brony". I can definitely see Randy becoming a brony, not sure about the kids.

I really think the South Park Episode is a hoax personally.

Before everypony gets pessimistic over a synopsis, remember that this team made the 'Surprise Party' plotline, which is one of the worst plotlines of all time, work and work amazingly.

Take each episode on it's merits, not on the merits of the fanfiction we generate based on the synopsis

This actually raises an interesting point. Hey, if they're gonna actually do that and it's not a fake there's nothing we can do, so we'll just have to wait and see, and have faith they'll pull it out of the fire.

[Anarion]

But I like Limbo . When nothing's true no one can tell when I'm lying.

Yeah about that. Since you're powerful enough to reshape reality wherever you go anyway, you kind of have the pocket version of Limbo on your person.

Also, you got press coverage, so you're temporarily prohibited from complaining about any topic whatsoever.

[Aotrs Commander]

I'll throw out my opinion on this one in a moment, but first, you used "risible" in a sentence. That's the first time I've ever seen anyone actually use it naturally. *Squee!*

It's funny how sometimes words just come to me.

Mind you, I have been known to read the dictionary, so.

(Okay, yes, it was the "I" section and was mainly for funny adjectives starting with "in" for naming my NAC fleet but that's still reading the dictionary, isn't it?)

In sum, if you catch a mistake or don't like how something was done, you can certainly point that out. But I think we're premature to argue that all consistency, continuity and world-building have been thrown out of the series for some variation of the plane of Limbo.

I did say "if."

I don't think it's there yet - maybe even fairly far from there - but the potential for it to do that seems closer than it did.

Time, as always, will tell.

and of course mishaps while mana-moulding are usually much more Dramatic...as you can see by the current avatar for the Commodore

Quite.

[Thanqol]

Yeah about that. Since you're powerful enough to reshape reality wherever you go anyway, you kind of have the pocket version of Limbo on your person.

I'll have you know that I reshape no realities other than the ones in people's heads.

(Which are the only ones that matter)

Also, you got press coverage, so you're temporarily prohibited from complaining about any topic whatsoever.

Third time in my life I've made the news. Aw yea.

[OracleofWuffing]

Wouldn't the pony to go to for that be Luna, since she lived there for 1000 years? I mean, hell, she probably already has. I know I would if I had an infinite supply of magic and a millennium to kill.

She lived there for 1000 years, but considering the duality between the two sisters and how Celestia was unseen until the sun rose in episode 2, it is implied that Luna would have the power to send someone to the sun. Don't get me wrong, the sun's awesome, I mean, free solar energy and all, but it was colonized ages ago, and the rent's outrageous.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Tshhh, accept instead that the entire world is an Arcadian dream; that is, it operates on mutable time and narrative laws. Rainbow Dash wants to be a hero, so the entire town retcons itself into a disaster zone to support that desire. The hero wins because that's what heroes do. Ponies run faster when they're pulling carts because that invokes the narrative power of vehicles. It's all nonsense, but it's narratively consistent nonsense.

It's not a world, it's a beautiful, insane dream filled with lovely ponies and their fascinating minds.

*snaps fingers* I remember what this reminded me of. Justice League, episodes 18/19, "Legends". A parallel universe where the entire world was destroyed in a war, and one mutant child among the few survivors develops reality warping powers of such magnitude that he is able to literally simulate the entire world as it was before the war, following superhero tropes and cliches, trapping the other survivors in his imagination/reality. Of course, he's more than a little twisted, both mentally and physically, but Thanqol's description evokes images of a world where there is a similar child, making the universe run on the power of imagination and trapping the inhabitants within.

Yeah, see that's the thing. I'm not that sure there actually was any nature, lore, consistency and/or logic to begin with. Superficially, it may have looked like it. But actually? I'm not sure there actually was any, outside of the Pilot two-parter.

One of these days I'll actually sit down and analyze every S1 episode to see for sure. But as far as I can remember, we've had far less "randomness" in the first season. From the establishing episodes onward, we have had events and happenings that were consistent with what one could expect of a magical, fantastic land at an unspecified point in time equivalent to 18th-19th century of the real US of A. A swarm of all-devouring flying furballs of the forest, ponies pulling a train into the "wild west" populated by native buffalo, a cockatrice, a hydra, a dragon - even interspersed by simple things like an apple harvest season or a fashion show, the universe remained true to its own general premise. It also kept to conventions it had itself established in regards to pony capabilities, or at the very least tried to, limiting instances of marshmallow golem stunt doubles to dramatically appropriate scenes. Landmarks, if new ones needed to be introduced, were at the very least explained and stylistically appropriate, and did not stray far from what one could expect to see in the given setting. In other words, for the entirety of Season 1 I never once felt like I was looking at a pony version of Springfield, this kind of generic town where you can set a scene anywhere just because "it's a town, a [needed location] probably exists in it, so we don't need to explain it". A lot of things combine here, and together they create this indescribable feeling that when I'm watching, for instance, Putting Your Hoof Down, Friend In Deed or Mare-Do-Well, I'm not actually watching an episode of the same show that I've watched the first season of.

But, like I said, this requires further unbiased analysis. Once I carve out a decent chunk of time, I think I'll go through the S1 episodes in succession again and see what my analytic routines can pick up this time.

[AlterForm]

Pardon me while I take this to its logical conclusion and/or get the last word.

My platonic ideal daughter ain't marrying no mortal man! Marriages are metaphors for the merging, conflict and propagation of ideas, not vectors for biological reproduction!

∴ No mortal shall marry a joke which has gone on too long. (MeP)
∴ My daughter is mortal. (SiM)
∴ My daughter ain't marrying no joke that's gone on too long! (SiP)

[Thanqol]

*snaps fingers* I remember what this reminded me of. Justice League, episodes 18/19, "Legends". A parallel universe where the entire world was destroyed in a war, and one mutant child among the few survivors develops reality warping powers of such magnitude that he is able to literally simulate the entire world as it was before the war, following superhero tropes and cliches, trapping the other survivors in his imagination/reality. Of course, he's more than a little twisted, both mentally and physically, but Thanqol's description evokes images of a world where there is a similar child, making the universe run on the power of imagination and trapping the inhabitants within.

I run Changeling: The Lost. That's pretty much the premise of the game.

(also, a great series/episode)

Pardon me while I take this to its logical conclusion and/or get the last word.

∴ No mortal shall marry a joke which has gone on too long. (MeP)
∴ My daughter is mortal. (SiM)
∴ My daughter ain't marrying no joke that's gone on too long! (SiP)

I concede the point, if only to save my daughter for somepony who'll pay a better dowry.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Rather, the setting exists on a continuum somewhere in the middle. If I had to place it, I think it's actually pretty close to Simpsons version of Springfield right now. That is, there is a basic layout of consistent areas such as Twilight's home, Sugarcube corner, and Sweet Apple Acres. Then laid over this consistent setting are new areas as the plot demands, which can fade out of existence just as easily as the Springfield monorail or burlesque house.

The comparison to the Simpson's Springfield is a very good one. I agreed earlier with Thanqol, thinking he was being humorously hyperbolic rather than literal. I'm less sure now, so I'll elaborate on my own opinion:

If anything is mutable, you can't even be sure you're looking the same series from one episode to the next. It's something that can be made to work, but it pretty much has to be stated explicitly (Excel Saga sorta does this, for instance). When saying that reality is whatever it needs to be to tell a good story, I forget to mention the assumption that some degree of consistency and functioning internal logic is required to tell a good story.

And I do think MLP does maintain sufficient consistency in it's locales that each is recognisable as the same place from one visit to the next. And the overall flavour of the world is quite consistent as well. But that's all the consistency that's strictly required to tell the sorts of stories MLP has been telling. Indeed, a world with stricter internal consistency would actually be stifling to some of the stories, especially as the series goes on.

Somewhat like Burn's Casino, the Ponyville Dam might as well no longer exist... Until it's needed again, in which case it will have always been there. Even though wasn't always there last episode.

But, like I said, this requires further unbiased analysis. Once I carve out a decent chunk of time, I think I'll go through the S1 episodes in succession again and see what my analytic routines can pick up this time.

It most certainly does. And I'd be delighted to read your analisis. My own impression regarding the lack of consistency is similarly unfounded, after all. I suspect you'll have an easier time if you set the assumed tech level at very late 19th, early 20th, though. We have microphones as early as Fall Weather Friends, and this pic from the Cutie Mark Chronicles shows what appears to be a radio antenna on top of the Empire State Building.

[Kd7sov]

Y'all are insane, you know that? Thirty-nine threads...

('Course, I'm even more insane, what with trying to catch up through all of them.)

Anyway, hey there, Playground Ponythread! Feel free to call me KD; lots of people do. Fluttershy's my favorite, Tom and Iron Will are duking it out for the Best Pony title.

As far as what appears to be the current topic, yeah, it's really not as S1 established it. Which bugs me, but apart from MMDW it's not enough to really make me uncomfortable.

[Thanqol]

The comparison to the Simpson's Springfield is a very good one. I agreed earlier with Thanqol, thinking he was being humorously hyperbolic rather than literal. I'm less sure now, so I'll elaborate on my own opinion:

Ahahahah!

No, I was being predominately hyperbolic. Your point is closer to the reality I truly believe in. I'm too tired to type out anything coherent beyond that. I've tried, and believe me, it's not working.

Anyway, hey there, Playground Ponythread!

Hey hey! Good luck on your archive binge! I'd love to hear your thoughts on what we've made of ourselves over these threads